Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
What issue do Iowa voters most often say is critical? You might be surprised
Intensity Therapeutics unveiled lab results showing its drug candidate to treat cancer successfully induced T cell immunity in mice, a key goal for the tests.

Westport-based Intensity Therapeutics announced the results in conjunction with a meeting of the American Academy of Cancer Research, with a vaccine researcher from the National Cancer Institute presenting the results alongside CEO Lewis Bender.

Intensity Therapeutics is in the process of recruiting patients in the United States and Canada to participate in clinical studies of its proposed INT230-6 treatment, which is designed to disperse through tumors and diffuse into cancer cells.

The direct killing action and immune response data generated in rodent models from our lead drug INT230-6 are impressive, Bender said in a written statement. Should the protective T cell immunity occur in humans, then INT230-6 could represent an important advance in the treatment of certain solid tumor cancers, potentially providing oncologists with a less toxic means to destroy visible tumors, eliminate metastases and prevent disease recurrence.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-354-1047; www.twitter.com/casoulman
State lawmakers in Nebraska are considering a new bill that would allow for the use of medical marijuana, which would make it the first heartland state to do so.

A traditionally red state, Nebraska joined Oklahoma in suing Colorado after the Rocky Mountain State approved adult-use marijuana in 2014. The two states argued that growers in Colorado were illegally selling marijuana in their states.

However, Nebraska now could potentially join the list of states where medical marijuana is allowed. Lawmakers currently are considering a bill from State Senator Anna Wishart called the Medical Cannabis Act, which would allow use of medical marijuana in certain cases.

Related: Colorado Considers End Run if Feds Crack Down on Recreational Marijuana

Wishart, a freshman member of the senate who won election last November, represents the Lincoln area.

The bill passed out of committee in March and will now go to the Senate floor. Opposition is expected by members of the Senate. The head of the Nebraska State Patrol has already testified against the bill, as has a representative of the state attorney generals office.

Goverbir Pete Ricketts also opposed a similar measure last year.

Still, Wishart told the Omaha World Herald she is optimistic that members will listen to their constituents who are desperately asking them to legalize this form of treatment.

Help For Patients

As with many states that have legalized medical marijuana, the Nebraska bill would allow those suffering from certain chronic or severe diseases and conditions to use medical marijuana with a doctors prescription.

They include glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Tourettes syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, seizures and severe and persistent muscle spasms. Those with cancer or a diagnosis of having less than a year to live who also experience chronic pain or nausea would also qualify.

Patients would need to submit all the required paperwork to the state along with a physicians prescription. The program would be open only to Nebraska residents who enroll in a state registry. The program would be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a departure from many states, the Nebraska law would not allow patients to smoke marijuana. Instead, it would require use through pills, liquids, lotions or a vaporizer.

Related: Hurdles and Hopes in the Development, Production and Distribution of Cannabis

If approved, the program would begin July 1, 2018.

New Territory for Marijuana

However, the details of the bill, which mostly mirror those in other states, seems less relevant in the national picture than the political and geographical position of Nebraska.

More than half of American states have some form of legalized marijuana. But, despite polls showing support nationwide for medical marijuana, the legalization effort has, to date, skipped two large sections of the country: the midwest and the south.

Both are filled primarily with red states, and a recent poll show that Republicans and seniors are the two demographic groups that remain most opposed to legalized marijuana.

This map from Governing magazine offers a quick picture of the current state of affairs for legalized marijuana. While there are exceptions  North Dakota and Minnesota  the middle of the country from Texas to South Dakota has yet to approve any form of legalized marijuana, even for severe medical conditions.

Also, most of the South has yet to legalize medical marijuana. The exceptions are Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana. Nebraska could join those states as breaking new ground in a region where state leaders have been hesitant to follow the medical marijuana legalization trend.

Related:

Marijuana In the Midwest? Nebraska Lawmakers Consider Cannabis Legalization.

Colorado Considers End Run if Feds Crack Down on Recreational Marijuana

Hurdles and Hopes in the Development, Production and Distribution of Cannabis



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NORWALK  Edward J. Musante Jr., who has helped pitch Norwalks business environment for three decades, will step down this summer as president of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Norwalk.

Musante, president and CEO for nearly 15 years, informed the chambers executive committee on Tuesday that he plans to retire Aug. 31.

I have been incredibly fortunate to have worked in jobs that I loved and have had the opportunity to meet and work with truly wonderful people, Musante said in a statement. I am proud to have been associated for most of my adult life with this great place known as Norwalk.

Marc J. Grenier, chairman of the chambers board of directors, said the organization is enormously indebted to Musante for his contributions during his 15-tenure as president and CEO.

The chamber has evolved into the preeminent regional business-advocacy organization thanks to his leadership and his hands-on approach to work for the benefit of the chambers members, Grenier said. Chief among Eds many accomplishments were his efforts to solidify the chambers financial position, eliminating debt and increasing its cash reserves.

Musante described the chambers push for affordable housing to accommodate a local workforce as one of the organizations greatest priorities during his tenure.

We were really the only organization that championed the affordable workforce housing zoning regulation, Musante told The Hour. It required the projects to have set aside for affordable housing.

Musante became chamber president in 2002 after 14 years as executive director of the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency. He had barely been chosen to head the agency when it moved its offices from South Main Street in SoNo to the new City Hall on East Avenue. He described 1988 as an exciting year in Norwalk.

A month after the new City Hall opened, the Maritime Aquarium opened, Musante said. It was a big year in Norwalks history.

In the early 1990s, Musante helped create the citys first economic development program. The effort resulted in several high-profile Fortune 500 companies coming to Norwalk and transformed Norwalk from a waning manufacturing town to a thriving corporate center, according to the chamber.

In an email Tuesday, Musante told chamber members that he would be leaving the organization with very mixed emotions.

I have loved the work that I have done at the Chamber and cherish the wonderful relationships that I have made with the staff, Board Members and Chamber Members over the past fifteen years, Musante wrote. To say that it has been a dream job for me would be an understatement.

Grenier said the chamber has created a committee, which will begin searching immediately for Musantes successor. The committee includes past chairwoman Terri Polley and board members Harry Carey, Charles Chuck Presbury and Michael Sutton.

Musante said he and his wife, Janice, look forward to beginning a new chapter in their lives. They plan to visit family and friends and to travel in United States and abroad.

rkoch@hearstmediact.com
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

NORWALK  Dozens of community members gathered Monday evening to help see the Town Green turn blue.

They donned blue t-shirts, blue jackets and blue hats, And  after a short ceremony  cheered as they counted to three and watched the lights in the gazebo turn on to give the surrounding park a blue-ish glow.

It was all a part of the annual Gazebo Lighting Ceremony for Autism Awareness Month.

If its April in Norwalk, the Town Green turns blue, said Jeff Spahr, Norwalks Deputy Corporation Counsel, a parent of a special needs son and organizer of the annual event.

For the rest of April the gazebo at Town Green will light up blue each night. Its part of the larger Light It Up Blue Autism Awareness Campaign that is conducted every year.

Thousands of iconic landmarks around the world  including the likes of the White House and the Empire State Building  light up blue to raise awareness of autism, one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the U.S. that currently affects 1 in 68 children, according to Autism Speaks.

The idea took root in Norwalk four years ago. Spahr had been honoring Autism Awareness Month during April for several years prior by setting up displays at the citys libraries.

Then, I started to get intrigued by the Light It Up Blue campaign, Spahr said.

He asked himself what he could do for Norwalk. He thought of lighting up the cupola on the top of City Hall, but doing so logistically wouldnt be so practical.

Then I asked, so what really speaks for Norwalk, Spahr said. And then I thought, the gazebo on the green. Its in the middle of town. Its everything.

So for the past four years, at the beginning of April a growing number of people would come out for the annual ceremony of speeches and lighting of the gazebo.

The first year, Spahr said, about five to 10 people showed. This year, dozens of community members, school leaders, and state representatives made their way to the Town Green to show their support.

Mayor Harry Rilling presented the citys proclamation and made brief remarks.

With education comes awareness. With awareness comes progress, Rilling said. And we know that with early detection and proper intervention we can afford the opportunity for young people with special needs to develop to their full potential.

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, read a proclamation from Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and expressed his support for the annual opportunity to raise awareness.

What Ive noticed about tonight is that every year this group grows larger and larger and that there is so much more awareness, Duff said. ...I think its really wonderful how we as a community come together that we do as Norwalkers and as folks of the state of Connecticut come together to recognize the strengths that we all have and how it all fits into that puzzle.

Superintendent of School Steven Adamowski; Board of Education Member Sherelle Harris; Rep. Fred Wilms, R-Norwalk; Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton and Rep. Terrie Wood, R-Darien, were also in attendance. Some of the citys firefighters and police officers also made an appearance.

Spahr said its increasingly important to raise awareness for autism in Norwalk among the uncertainty that exist in the future resources for the care of the special needs community, including the new presidential leaderships push for changes to education and possible upcoming changes to state special education funding,

There is this increasing awareness of autism, so that's good, Spahr said. But I think the community needs to come together to reassure themselves that the needs of the children are being met.

KSchultz@thehour.com; 203-354-1049; @kevinedschultz
If youve been plugged into the entrepreneurial world at all in the past decade or so, youve probably heard people describe how they want all their employees to live and breathe the company culture. The metaphor here is designed to imply a deep commitment to that culture -- usually defined as its values, character and priorities.

It's a commitment so deep that it can no longer be distinguished from employees' own individual values, character and priorities.

Related: 10 Examples of Companies With Fantastic Cultures

Its also an interesting vision, and one that certainly has its merits: When all your employees are so deeply committed to the company, theyll be willing to work harder for their shared goals and more likely to work together. Theyll also contribute more positively to the overall environment, creating an accelerating feedback loop that makes the culture even stronger.

However,a living and breathing company culture takes the idea of culture to an extreme that yields more than a handful of downsides, and the only reason the concept exists is because of our arguably temporary obsession with the importance of company culture.

The rise of company culture

Organizational culture has been a concept in business and management since at least the 1970s, but its only recently that corporate culture has become a buzzword. You could argue that this is so because more business leaders are discovering the true objective value of a positive company culture; Id argue, however, that its something closer to a fad.

Company culture started to accelerate in popularity once people started realizing that many tech startups in the Silicon Valley region -- which turned into multi-billion-dollar juggernauts -- all had surprising cultural features in common that broke from traditional office environments.

Related: Large-Sized Companies: The Best Company Cultures in 2017

Obscure furniture, casual dress codes and a youthful energy were and still are stereotypically common features in this context, and they fuel a false association: Specifically, both culture and financial success differentiate these companies, so surely the two factors must be connected.

The end result is a still-growing obsession with creating a unique and modern corporate culture -- one that employees must live and breathe to allow for that culture's full benefits.

How company culture can go too far

This illustration shouldnt convince you that corporate culture is bad or unnecessary; in fact, Id still argue that its critical for a businesss success. But, we should be careful not to overestimate cultures benefits, and avoid shoving it down workers throats.

Company culture can go too far, in at least the following ways:

Homogeneity. Some of the best ideas in the world are the ones you didnt see coming. They come from outside sources and outside perspectives, or arise from uncomfortable situations. Accordingly, having a diverse environment, with many different minds and perspectives, is important to a businesss survival. Being too rigid and too serious about your company culture encourages a kind of homogeneity; if all your employees think and act alike, theyll all solve problems the same way, which will limit your growth and put you at risk for bigger problems down the road.

Some of the best ideas in the world are the ones you didnt see coming. They come from outside sources and outside perspectives, or arise from uncomfortable situations. Accordingly, having a diverse environment, with many different minds and perspectives, is important to a businesss survival. Being too rigid and too serious about your company culture encourages a kind of homogeneity; if all your employees think and act alike, theyll all solve problems the same way, which will limit your growth and put you at risk for bigger problems down the road. Stress and pressure. Using the phrase living and breathing company culture implies that working for this company is as important as life itself. While some people thrive in high-pressure environments, chronic stress isnt good for anybody. If you make your workers feel like nothing matters except their work, eventually they will begin to suffer lower morale and display lowered productivity.

Using the phrase living and breathing company culture implies that working for this company is as important as life itself. While some people thrive in high-pressure environments, chronic stress isnt good for anybody. If you make your workers feel like nothing matters except their work, eventually they will begin to suffer lower morale and display lowered productivity. Polarization. Approaching company culture with this extreme level will also polarize your newest hires and job candidates. Its true that youll naturally attract some people who already fall in line with your company values, but youll also scare away some serious talent who may differ with you on a handful of key points. Is that scenario really worth it?

Approaching company culture with this extreme level will also polarize your newest hires and job candidates. Its true that youll naturally attract some people who already fall in line with your company values, but youll also scare away some serious talent who may differ with you on a handful of key points. Is that scenario really worth it? Misplaced values. Dont forget, this is still a business, and your bottom line is profitability. Company culture is a useful way to make your workers happier and more productive, but the living and breathing angle can sometimes interfere with that vision. For example, if an employees deviation from your cultural norms ends up earning better results for your business, you shouldnt complain or reprimand the employee.

Dont forget, this is still a business, and your bottom line is profitability. Company culture is a useful way to make your workers happier and more productive, but the living and breathing angle can sometimes interfere with that vision. For example, if an employees deviation from your cultural norms ends up earning better results for your business, you shouldnt complain or reprimand the employee. Cult vibes. Finally, to a more subjective point: Enforcing your company culture too strictly or seriously gives off some serious cult vibes. This is off-putting to employees, clients and customers alike -- so try not to turn your brand into a corporate brainwashing scheme.

Finding the right balance

Remember, company culture is still important, and your employees should fit, to some degree, into that culture. The key is to find the balance between nurturing that culture and mandating it. Its different for every business; depending on your size, your niche and your personal preferences, you may end up settling on one end of the spectrum or the other.

Related: How These 8 Founders Are Innovating Company Culture

There isnt a single right answer, but you owe it to your staff and the future of your business to give it some serious analysis.

Related:



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Five businesses failed to comply with Nebraska alcohol laws in a check of 84 Hall County businesses Friday, carried out by the Nebraska State Patrol, Grand Island Police Department and Hall County Sheriffs Department.

The five businesses that failed the check were:

-- Coffins Corner at 519 N. Eddy Street.

-- Quality Inn & Conference Center/Riverfront Grille & Lounge at Highway 281 and Interstate 80.

-- Super Bowl at 1010 Bismark Road.

-- Prairie Pride Brewing Co., 115 E. South Front St.

-- Pump & Pantry No. 4 at 103 W. Highway 2 in Cairo.

A total of 79 businesses were in compliance or closed at the time of the checks.
The Nebraska attorney generals office has issued a letter saying the Northwest school board violated the Nebraska Open Meetings Act on Dec. 12, 2016, when it voted to close Chapman School.

However, the letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Natalee J. Hart says the violation has since been cured. That happened on Feb. 13 when the board approved a motion to repurpose the Chapman building as a K-5 attendance site and pursue an alternative education site.

Chapman School supporters contacted the attorney generals office claiming that the Dec. 12, 2016, meeting violated the Open Meetings Act because the agenda only said, District Restructure, followed by, Rationale: Continue discussion and develop a plan for the future structure of the district.

Chapman supporters said the Dec. 12 agenda should have specifically said the board would take a vote to close Chapman School.

Northwest officials, however, said a series of public meetings from September through November 2016 that included discussion of closing one or more of the districts K-8 schools should have provided sufficient notice that closing Chapman School was a possibility at the Dec. 12 meeting.

They also noted that the board heard hours of public comment  including opposition to closing Chapman School  before it voted to close the school beginning with the 2017-18 school year.

The letter notes that, at one time, the sufficiency of an agenda item might be measured, at least to some degree, in the context of other meetings of the public body immediately prior to the public meeting in question. However, the letter says that, in 2006, the Legislature approved LB898 because of a sense that lack of specificity in meeting agendas was a major issue of concern around the state.

The letter says the intent of LB898 was to require public bodies to include sufficient detail in their agendas regarding issues to be discussed or acted upon. The change was to ensure that members of the public not be forced to look at past agendas in order to understand the issues to be discussed at any given meeting or the actions to be taken by a public body.

The letter says an attempt to cure the open meetings violation on Jan. 9 was not successful. At that January meeting, the board deadlocked 3-3 on rescinding the action it took at the previous months meeting.

Two other findings in the letter favored the Northwest districts actions.

Chapman supporters argued that they should have been allowed to express opposition to closing the school not only during the public comment portion of the agenda but also when the agenda item itself came up for consideration.

But the letter from the attorney generals office says, There is no absolute right for members of the public to address a public body at any given meeting or on any given agenda item, so long as there is some time at some meetings set aside for public comment.

The letter concludes, Public comment was permitted at the Dec. 12, 2016, board meeting and was held for over two hours. Much of that comment concerned district restructuring. The board is not required to allow public comment during each particular agenda item.

The third complaint made by Chapman supporters was that they were denied being placed on the Jan. 9 meeting agenda concerning the closure of Chapman School.

The letter states, There is no right under the Open Meetings Act for a member of the public to request to be placed on a public bodys agenda. ... As the formation of an agenda is entirely within the purview of the board, the board has not violated the Open Meetings Act as to this portion of your complaints.
HASTINGS  The Northwest High School jazz bands Monday morning performance at the Hastings College Jazz Festival was the bands third jazz festival appearance this year.

Northwest Band Director Shawn Pfanstiel said each venue offers something a little different. One thing Pfanstiel likes about the Hastings College Jazz Festival is that the clinicians who critique the bands tend to be more from the performance side of music than the director side of the ledger.

So the Hastings College clinicians often give a slightly different perspective to the high school musicians.

At Grand Island Senior Highs Islander Jazz Festival, Pfanstiel said, the clinicians are typically from Nebraska and tend to be high school or college band directors. Especially if they come from a high school, the clinicians may be responsible for directing everything from marching band to concert band to jazz band.

In addition to being performers, he said, the Hastings College clinicians often seem to be a little bit more rooted in jazz.

The Hastings College Jazz Festival clinicians  Mike Larson and Sarah Cosano  did not hit Pfanstiels description in all of the particulars, but they did check off a lot of the boxes.

Cosano, who is an alto saxophone player, said shes working on her doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an adjunct faculty member at Creighton University. She plans to join the U.S. Air Force, where she will be playing in concert band and jazz band.

Asked if she considers herself primarily a jazz musician, Cosano replied, I like to do a little bit of everything. She and her husband took their own band out to play for a cruise ship line, which gave them the opportunity to play a lot of jazz for passengers.

I had my training in classical, but I love jazz, Cosano said. Her training in technique was from classical music, where musicians are expected to perform the score as written. Jazz may require a certain precision when playing, but much of jazz is rooted in improvisation.

She told students from one jazz group to focus more on putting energy in their playing and not to worry quite as much about keeping a tight sound. Thats likely not what she would normally advise for most jazz compositions, but she said the primary goal for this particular piece was to get the audience to feel the energy.

Larson, who is from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., said he also has one foot planted firmly in classical music and the other in jazz. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory and has a masters degree in classical trombone, but he also was a jazz teaching assistant at the conservatory.

In the Twin Cities, I am the principal trombone in the Mankato Symphony, and Im also a founding member and lead bone player of the Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, he said.

Larson said the Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, a nonprofit big band, has been in existence for 25 years, with 13 CDs to its credit.

Both the clinicians were enthusiastic when critiquing the high school musicians, giving them tips on how to bring more color and life to their music.

Larson told the Northwest rhythm section they could play with a little bit different feel behind three different solos, the first for an alto second, the second for trumpet and the third for trombone.

Cosano worked with the Northwest band on putting more emphasis on some deftly timed internal accent beats to bring more variety to their playing.

For the Hastings High School jazz band, Cosano said some of the musicians were playing a very old style jazz, especially with a muted trumpet solo reminiscent of early jazz. She wondered whether the rest of the band might lean into that old-style jazz more, with the saxophone section adding more vibrato.

She said the band sounded good, and she could tell the band members are listening to each other as they play.

Lil Darlin is hard, isnt it? Cosano said to the Hastings jazz band of the deceptively simple and languid tune. Its so exposed.

Hastings High Band Director Erin Beave said the clinicians working with the students are really at the heart of any jazz festival. The clinicians may work with an individual musician or an entire section and say, Hey, try this, or You know, have you thought about this? This might be a little different.

Beave said the clinicians often suggest really good ideas that we havent tried.

Other area bands that played during the Hastings College Jazz Festival included Hastings St. Cecilia, Grand Island Senior High I and Grand Island Senior High II, as well as Hastings Middle School.

Larson will stay in Hastings to play with the Hastings College Jazz Ensemble in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at French Memorial Chapel. Another featured artist will be Justin Kisor, who teaches trumpet at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and plays with the Tri-Cities Jazz Orchestra. The concert also will feature adult musicians and band directors from Central Nebraska.
ALDA  A fire Tuesday afternoon destroyed a vacant wood-frame structure on the northern edge of the Heartland Public Shooting Park.

The one-story building was at the intersection of Stolley Park and Alda roads.

Firefighters were alerted to the fire at about 1:30 p.m. By 2 p.m., the only elevated portion of the building remaining was a brick chimney, with small flames continuing on the floor of the building.

No one was injured, said Chuck Hoffman, chief of the Grand Island Rural Fire Department. He did not know the cause of the fire.

The building was on Heartland Public Shooting Park property and belonged to the city, said Bill Starkey, superintendent of the shooting park.

Starkey said the building had been abandoned for a long time.

Wed removed all the asbestos from it just weeks ago, Starkey said.

The shooting park planned to demolish the building at some point in time, Starkey said.

He believed the building was virtually empty.

There wasnt anything to speak of in there, as far as I know, Starkey said.

As the fire burned, firefighters protected utility lines and a vehicle nearby.

We had grass fires to the south that were set by the original fire of the building, and we extinguished those so they didnt extend into the shooting park, Hoffman said.

A couple of utility poles caught fire and were extinguished by firefighters. They stayed busy keeping the poles wet and protecting nearby trees and brush.

The Alda Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the fire.

Starkey wouldnt venture a guess as to the cause of the fire.

Ill leave that up to the professionals, he said.

The building was south of the ARS Nebraska, not far from the intersection of Old Potash Highway and Alda Road.
Facebook has officially announced plans to build a massive data center south of Papillion.

The announcement from the social media giant came at a press conference Tuesday morning at Papillion City Hall attended by Gov. Pete Ricketts, Papillion Mayor David Black and a Facebook representative.

The data center project has long been in the works. Using the code name Project Raven, Facebook has already gone through multiple layers of approval from Papillion as well as finalized land negotiations. Property owners werent told in advance who was buying their land.

The data center campus will occupy a 146-acre site north of Capehart Road at Nebraska Highway 50. Capehart Road is still gravel here, in a more rural part of Sarpy County.

The data center will have a total of four 610,000-square-foot buildings east and west of Highway 50. A tunnel under the highway will connect the two campuses. The center will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its largest shift of workers will have fewer than 150 employees, according to the projects final plat.

Facebook will be in good company in Sarpy County, which already boasts data centers from Yahoo, Fidelity, Cabelas and Travelers. Facebook also built a $300 million data center in Altoona, Iowa, in 2015.
Recent news reports suggest the White House is considering a legislative strategy to pair tax reform and infrastructure together. Combining these objectives makes sense.

Conversations are beginning in Washington on how to provide relief for American families through tax reform. In the coming months, Congress will thoroughly examine the merits of proposals to update our outdated tax code. For too long, its inefficiencies have slowed business growth and kept Americans locked out of opportunity.

A closer look into our international tax system further illustrates this point. Currently, corporations headquartered in our country pay a U.S. corporate income tax on all income, including profits earned overseas. Foreign subsidiaries of American companies are hit twice: by the foreign country where the income was earned, and by the United States.

The model we use now is commonly known as a worldwide system. Under this structure, U.S. companies stand at a disadvantage to our foreign competitors. Most often, no matter where our competitors are headquartered, they only pay tax to the country where they operate.

Theres talk of moving away from this and going instead to a territorial tax system. Most or all of corporate tax income earned abroad would be exempt from taxation. With this shift, we could level the playing field.

Under the current U.S. system, a corporation pays income tax when it returns, or repatriates, its foreign earnings from overseas. Before bringing the money home, the corporation can hold it offshore to avoid paying U.S. income tax. Estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation determine U.S. corporations are sitting on upwards of $2.6 trillion offshore.

As part of a transition to a new system, some have suggested setting a reasonable, one-time tax rate to bring that money back and reinvest it here in America. Should this happen, much of the new revenue will likely be used to lower the corporate tax rate. But there are other smart ways to use some of it, too.

I support using a portion of these tax reform revenues to fund infrastructure investments. I believe infrastructure is a core duty of the federal government. Investments in infrastructure strengthen our economy, public safety, and national security.

But as we think about an infrastructure package, we should avoid falling into the trap of stimulus style spending for its own sake. States know best their own transportation needs, not the federal government. And theres no need to create a new program that works for various transportation projects in urban and rural states. We already have one.

In 2015, Congress passed the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and President Obama signed it into law. The FAST Act was the first long-term highway bill in more than a decade. In it, Congress established a formula freight program that provides every state with annual, guaranteed funding. Because of the freight program, states will have greater flexibility to work with key stakeholders and local officials to develop strategic investments in transportation.

How does it work?

The program funnels transportation funds to states and allows them to decide, on their terms, how to use it. The only stipulation: projects must somehow be connected to enhancing freight transportation movements. Railway-highway grade separations, truck-only lanes, and highway or bridge projects are examples of possible uses. By dedicating funding for rural and urban freight corridors, the program enhances the flow of commercial traffic and increases safety on our nations roads.

The true beauty of this program is it offers states the opportunity to make critical investments that best meet their specific geographic and infrastructure needs. For example, Nebraska can elect to invest in a rail-grade crossing or a truck parking lot along a rural road. At the same time, California could choose to invest in on-dock rail projects at our nations largest port complex, located just outside of Los Angeles. The national freight program works for all states, without leaving any behind.

As Congress and the Trump administration work to address our nations infrastructure needs with revenue from tax reform, expanding the national freight program should be an idea on the table. It would be a wise investment in Americas future.
Now that the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has met with defeat in the House of Representatives, the nation looks at our government in Washington and asks, Where do we go from here?

At the moment, the outlook doesnt seem very promising. Obamacare remains in place, but experts agree that it is heading for financial trouble. Tax reform has moved up on President Trumps agenda, but as yet there are few indications on exactly what changes will be proposed. Uncertain would be an accurate description about current conditions in Washington.

Most issues highlighted by Republicans and Democrats in last years elections remain unaddressed so far this year. Deficits and debt, foreign policy dangers, tax and immigration reforms  these and other long-standing matters await resolutions. And nobody should think the nations health care problems will somehow disappear.

In addressing important issues, bipartisan cooperation between Republican and Democrats was rare during the eight years of the Obama administration. Unfortunately, instead of a fresh start with a new administration, more of the same is being offered.

There are plenty of people who are parties to this state of affairs. A list could start with President Trump, who successfully ran against Washington by promising to drain the swamp. Now the president is Washington, and he seems to have trouble making the transition. Many of his policy initiatives hold promise for bipartisan cooperation, but the presidents fondness for tweets often blunts efforts toward finding common ground.

On the Democratic side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer makes no bones about his intractable opposition to everything proposed by the president or a Republican Congress. His hostility to Neil Gorsuchs nomination to the Supreme Court defies any rational standard, as even former President Obamas associates agree that Gorsuch is eminently qualified for the position.

Too many people in Washington have an all or nothing response to legislation designed to address national problems. They have no belief in the notion of compromise as the way to bring about effective law-making. The result is stalemate and festering problems with issues such as immigration, or no support for fixing problems like Obamacare.

An effective politician is one who can build bridges to the opposition, toward the goal of setting policies that have broad support and lasting effect. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were excellent models for finding consensus with the opposite party, and we encourage President Trump and other leaders to follow their examples.
UPDATE: No stores in Grand Island area will be affected at this time.

Payless Inc., the bargain shoe store, filed for bankruptcy to slash debt as the retail spiral persists.

The chain sought Chapter 11 protection in St. Louis, listing less than $10 billion in liabilities and less than $1 billion in assets.

The Topeka, Kansas-based company employs almost 22,000 people, according to its website, and has more than 4,000 stores in 30 countries. In the weeks before the filing, it was said to be considering closing as many as 500 locations, Bloomberg News reported.

U.S. retailers have been trying to navigate changing consumer habits, including a shift to online shopping and fewer visits to the mall. In the past year, clothing chains American Apparel and Limited Stores have begun shutting down retail operations, while dressmaker BCBG Max Azria and discount chain Gordmans Stores filed for bankruptcy with plans to auction their assets. Even a behemoth like Sears Holdings Corp. has warned investors that its prospects to continue as a going concern are dimming.

Payless has a $520 million term loan due in 2021 and a $145 million loan maturing the following year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Moodys Investors Service and S&P Global both downgraded the companys debt in February because of falling revenue and mounting obligations.

Payless sprouted from a lone store that opened in 1956 in Topeka, offering low prices and customer self-service. The chain has been owned by private-equity firms Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital Partners since a 2012 buyout, part of the split of publicly traded Collective Brands Inc.
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.
Question: I live and work in Illinois. Recently, I went out for a few drinks with some of my co-workers after work, and I wound up having way too many. I had no business driving. Had I thought about it, I would not have driven, but I was not thinking. I wound up getting into an accident, and a police officer showed up. Needless to say, I am now charged with Driving Under the Influence. To be honest, I do not remember a lot about that night. I got a letter in the mail from the Illinois Secretary of State's Office saying that my driver's license would be suspended as a result of my arrest. I was shocked to hear this, because I submitted to their breath test, the results of which I am embarrassed by, so I will spare you. I thought my driver's license could be suspended only if I was convicted or something. I did not realize I could have my driver's license suspended while my case is pending. A co-worker of mine said that his brother got a DUI, and the same thing happened to him. Later on, I spoke with my brother, who does not live in Illinois, and was told that there is no suspension after an arrest for DUI in his state. Can you explain to me how it is that I can have my driver's license suspended even though my DUI is still pending?

I appreciate your question, and thank you for asking it. Driver's license suspensions are something that can be extremely complex, especially in the State of Illinois, and are a unique area of law in which most lawyers do not practice.

For those readers in another state, it is important to note that the Secretary of State's Office is the state of Illinois' driver's license issuing body. Different states will call their issuing bodies different things, and I want to make sure that all readers are on the same page.

In the State of Illinois, every single person in the state who drives is presumed to drive under the legal limit. When a person drives on Illinois roadways, that person tacitly consents to submit to a test after arrested for the offense of Driving Under the Influence. This is why the suspension of your license while your case is pending.

Whether the readers of this article realize it or not, every single person who is arrested for Driving Under the Influence suffers a suspension of his or license as a result. This particular suspension is called a Statutory Summary Suspension. The length of the Statutory Summary Suspension will depend on whether or not a person submitted to testing, and whether that testing was on or of breath, blood, or urine. The statutory summary suspension is longer when a person refuses to submit to testing.

This is not the case with every single state. This is why your brother never heard of it before. Not every state will suspend a person's license prior to that person being found guilty or pleading guilty to the offense of DUI, let alone that person's being actually convicted of the offense.

Furthermore, the Statutory Summary Suspension that you received notice of is entirely separate and civil in nature, even though it is entirely tied to your Driving Under the Influence case. For this reason, a person can have his or her driver's license suspended under a Statutory Summary Suspension, even though he or she is found not guilty of the underlying offense of Driving Under the Influence.

To make matters even more complicated, in the State of Illinois, there are several dispositions  or sentences  that are available for the offense of Driving Under the Influence. With the majority of those dispositions, a conviction is entered, and only one of them is a non-conviction. After a person is convicted of the offense of Driving Under the Influence, that person will suffer a further revocation of his or her license.

I use the word revocation here deliberately. The differences between a suspension and a revocation are several, but it is easiest to distinguish them in one of two ways. The first is that a suspension is generally for a shorter period of time than a revocation is for. The second difference between them involves how a person can get his or her license back afterward. It is typically more difficult to get one's driver's license reinstated after that license has been revoked.

Much of this might seem shocking to most readers, but it is important to keep in mind that, believe it or not, everything I have described above has been upheld as constitutional by the Illinois state Supreme Court.

Have questions for Brendan Bukalski? E-mail him at askthelawyer@gmail.com, or write him, c/o The Edwardsville Intelligencer, 117 N. 2nd St., Edwardsville, IL 62025.

Editor's note  the answers provided in this column are general in nature, and should not be relied upon as legal advice or interpreted as creating an attorney-client relationship. As a general rule, all specific legal problems should be handled by an individual's personal attorney. Any submissions to the author are subject to being published and to being modified prior to publication.
The Wildey is bringing country music and classic rock back to the stage for the month of April.

General Manager of the Wildey Theatre Al Canal said there are several good shows coming to town.

Weve got a lighter month but plenty of good things, Canal said.

First up is the band Little Texas performing at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 15.

The country music group includes Porter Howell on lead vocals and guitar, Dwayne OBrien on vocals and rhythm guitar, Duane Propes on vocals and bass guitar and Del Gray on the drums. The band has received three Grammy nominations and honors from the Academy of Country Music for Vocal Group of the Year and the Country Music Association for Album of the Year.

Fan-favorite hits include songs, God Blessed Texas, What Might Have Been, My Love, Some Guys Have All the Love, Rebel, and others.

Canal said the band has quite the reputation in the industry.

Very well liked; they had top 10 songs on the country charts. Were trying to branch out into country a little bit more. Here, country is fairly popular; plenty of country fans, he said.

Tickets for the show range between $40 and $45 each and can be purchased online at the Wildeys website.

For more information about the band, visit www.littletexasonline.com.

The next week, Garry Tallent of the E Street Band will be taking the mic at 8 p.m., Friday, April 21. Featuring upbeat Americana and rock hits, Canal said this will be a show you wont want to miss.

Canal said the Wildey was lucky to get Tallent to perform this month, given his touring schedule.

From Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Garry is the only original member left of the E Street Band. Hes in-between touring with Bruce; he took about 16 dates around the country. We were lucky to be the one to get him, he said. Im really looking forward to that one.

Tallent is currently on tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

He has also performed with artists Sonny Burgess, Julian Dawson, The Delevantes, Steve Earle, Steve Forbert, the Hoopsnakes, Even Johns and His H-Bombs, Robert Earl Keen Jr., Greg Trooper and others.

Tickets for the show range between $27.50 and $30, pending on seating. They can be purchased online at the Wildeys website.

For more information about Garry Tallent, visit his website at www.garrytallent.com.

The last week of April will feature Johnny A. at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 29. Based in Massachusetts, the guitarist will be bringing his signature sound to the Edwardsville area.

Canal said the performance will be all instrumental but definitely worth checking out.

Johnny A. is no stranger to the music world. Although he is pursuing a solo career, Johnny has also been recognized by Gibson, as his name is placed on a signature guitar.

Johnnys album Driven is anticipated to be released this coming June.

Tickets for the show are $20 each and can be purchased on the Wildeys website. For more information about Johnny, visit his website at www.johnnya.com.

For more information about these upcoming shows or to purchase tickets, visit the Wildeys website at www.wildeytheatre.com or call 618-307-2053.
On Wednesday, April 5, at 7 p.m., Jim Weingartner, Professor Emeritus of History at SIUE, will examine the role played by the Christian churches of the World War I warring nations. Interested community members are invited to attend.

This presentation is one of a series of events celebrating the churchs 100th anniversary. St. Andrews is located at 406 Hillsboro in downtown Edwardsville.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Syafiq Hasyim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017

The Jakarta gubernatorial election has escalated another dimension outside the political race  a massive and systematic use of religion to win votes.

This is actually not new to our elections. What makes the difference in the Jakarta election is the historic, first use of the Blasphemy Law in a gubernatorial election to charge one candidate, the incumbent Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, for allegedly insulting Islam.

The controversy opens not only legal, but, more importantly, theological debates about Islam. However, propagators of the Blasphemy Law seem to dominate Islamic public discourse here.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 13:02 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde787eea 4 Art & Culture Peranakan,Chinese-Indonesian-residents,batik,exhibition,textile,Museum Free

Even for people new to batik, its easy to differentiate between the fabrics produced along the coasts of Java and the inland batik keraton made in Surakarta, or Solo, as the town is popularly known, and Yogyakarta. The elements that distinguish batik pesisir are mostly the variations of color and motifs as opposed to solemn brown, black and white with philosophy-laden motifs that characterize the batik used only by the royal families in the past.

Batik pesisir is more populist and even until now it can be used by anybody on any occasion, said Notty J. Mahdi, a researcher from the Indonesian Anthropology Research Forum (FKAI).

In a public discussion to open an exhibition at the Textile Museum in Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta on March 21, she revealed the historical traces of the assimilated Chinese community living along the Java coast, also known as Peranakan.

They sailed with the fleets of Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho to Indonesia. They arrived at the ports that extended along the coast from Semarang to Tuban, she said.

Read also: Peranakan culture: Major influence on batik, fashion

Batik pesisir is currently used in reference to the batik made in the coastal cities of Cirebon and Indramayu in West Java, Semarang, Pekalongan and Lasem in Central Java as well as Tuban and Madura in East Java.

From research, Notty found that in the past, batik pesisir was not mass produced as the textile was primarily a mere pastime activity for farming women waiting for the harvest season.

They sold it for little money and they could customize the motifs as requested by buyers or foreign traders. Thats the reason batik pesisir has no binding rules as in who, how and where to wear it.

The ongoing exhibition Peranakan Influence in Batik Pesisir Motifs displays at least 60 fabrics from the collection of Tumbu Ramelan, the chairperson of the Indonesia Batik Gallery and an executive at the Indonesia Batik Foundation.

We work together with the researchers to disseminate information and knowledge to the public in the hope that people can better understand and appreciate batik, Tumbu said at the opening of the exhibition organized by the batik foundation and FKAI.

The cultural assimilation enriched the motifs in batik pesisir with flowers, animals and mythical beasts such as dragons and phoenix, or qilin. European-influenced motifs such as horse-drawn carriages can also be detected.

The red hue, which could only be produced in Lasem, is of Chinese-influence, while Pekalongan is still recognized for its special blue dye.

Read also: Five tips to host a Peranakan-themed wedding

Although batik pesisir did not hold any strict rules, Notty said there was a custom in Peranakan culture that differentiated the wearers by the colors of the batik.

Color talks: In Peranakan culture, women were once differentiated by the colors of their batik.(JP/Bagas Rahadian)

Single women wore bright colors such as pink and after marriage they were supposed to wear red. The older they get, they would wear blue, symbolizing the sky. On their burial, they were supposed to wear batik dominated by white colors.

The flower motifs can also tell the marital status of the wearer but that only happened in the past. Such customs no longer apply nowadays.

Another interesting fact is that Peranakan-influenced batik was only developed along the coastal areas despite trading activities and assimilation through marriage, which might have brought the motifs and the colors to other parts of Indonesia, or even overseas.

The batik artisans of Peranakan families mostly lived along the coastal areas for generations, said Notty.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Leanne Italie (Associated Press) New York, United States  Tue, April 4, 2017

When Kendall Jenner isn't strutting down a runway in wings, cheesing as Marilyn Monroe on video or flea market shopping with Paris Jackson, you might look for her outside.

Whether it's next to a pool or on a motorbike, enjoying the great outdoors is one of those things the 21-year-old does just for herself.

"I'm born and raised in LA. Even as a kid I was always outside with my little sister. We were in the mud being stupid," the Kardashian clan member told The Associated Press with a laugh in a recent telephone interview from her hometown.

Since, with her on-fire modeling career taking her all over the world, she's had to grab Kendall time when she can.

Read also: Trudeau jokes he'll fight actor Matthew Perry in rematch

"I've had those moments where you kind of need to just take care of yourself and say no to a certain thing," Jenner said. "I think that's key."

Also key when life gets too hectic: stepping away from her phone, even deleting the apps for Instagram or Twitter  for a time.

"I love setting my phone down and really trying to enjoy something that's right in front of me," she said.

Jenner is the latest celebrity to star in a Pepsi "Live for Now Moments" video and responded this way when asked if she misses those childhood times with sis Kylie: "Of course I do. I'm a big kid. I still love being outside and, like, in the dirt."

Is stepping back and saying "no" when she feels life spinning too fast something that comes easy?

"I've never been a yes person," Jenner said. "If I don't want to do something I probably am not going to do it."
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Seth Borenstein (Associated Press) Washington  Tue, April 4, 2017

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 worlds 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.(Earth Vision Institute via AP/Matthew Kennedy)

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.

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 worlds 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.(Extreme Ice Survey via AP/James Balog)

Read also: How the Kampar people adapt to floods

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.

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 worlds 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.(Extreme Ice Survey via AP/James Balog)

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."
School administrators in Jakarta have every reason to worry that the implementation of the computer-based national examinations could face difficulties given spotty internet connections and the trouble-prone electricity grid.

In Menteng, Central Jakarta, administrators of state vocational school SMK 10 called an internet service provider and state electricity company PLN to send technicians to ensure that there would be no disruption in the internet connection or electricity supply.

SMK 10 was not alone. Many schools had earlier written to internet provider PT Telkom and to PLN to get guarantees that the two basic services would operate without disruption over the next four days when thousands of vocational school students take the exam.

Despite the precautions, problems have persisted. In North Jakarta, a brief power outage after the exam started at 7:30 a.m. forced 17 students from SMK Benteng Gading to take part of their test in nearby SMK 9, before returning to their classroom.

All of Jakartas 2,940 schools, are taking part the computerbased exams this year, a significant increase compared to last year, when only 47 percent of schools were involved.

More than 7.7 millions students from 98,000 junior and senior high schools across the country are expected to take their national exams in the coming weeks, with 48.93 percent sitting computer-based exams.

Students at vocational schools will take the test this week, while senior and junior high schools exams are scheduled to take it in the following weeks.

The country has 1,327,246 vocational school students in 9.829 schools and 88.6 percent of them are taking the computer-based exam.

This year, only six provinces are running the computer-based exam, Bangka Belitung, Jakarta, East Java, South Kalimantan and South Sulawesi and Yogyakarta.

The Culture and Education Ministry has said that the primary problem that prevents schools from conducting computer-based exams is a shortage of internetconnected computers.

The ministrys coordinator for computer-based national exams, Ari Santoso, said at least 48,000 schools in the country lacked enough computers for all their students.

The ministry, however, was not responsible for providing computers or internet connections, Ari said.

Honestly this is not the Culture and Education Ministrys problem, Ari said, adding that individual schools should provide their own electricity and internet connections, and that the ministry could not provide for them.

Separately, the ministrys head of education assessment, Nizam, said steps had been taken to make sure that the IT networks used in the national exam would not be compromised by hackers.

Last week, Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy warned hackers to stay away from the ministrys computer network during the implementation of the national exams.

In fact, we asked all IT and hackers communities to secure the process of the national exams as part of their contribution to the [education] of Indonesias students, Nizam said.

He said the ministry had collaborated with the National Encryption body to secure the national exams.

Meanwhile, school administrators in the regions continue to struggle with basic infrastructure.

With our schools 1 Mbps internet connection we have to download and send data from four of our local servers to the central server, it could take hours or maybe a couple of days for us to finish the sync process, Ignasius Endar, a teacher from SMK 1 Nabire, Papua, said on Monday. (dis/hol)

------

Rizal Harahap, Ruslan Sangadji, Djemi Amnifu, Markus Makur, Nethy Dharma Somba, Suherdjoko, and Agnes Anya contributed to this story.
Kolkata, Apr 4 (IBNS): Tanishq, one of Indiaas largest and most-loved jewellery brands, continues its successful retail journey with the launch of its latest store in Kolkata on Tuesday.

This store is the 207th store in Tanishqs large and growing retail network. Inaugurated by Rajeshwari Srinivasan, AVP and Regional Business Head  East, Titan Company Limited and Anirban Banerjee, Regional Business Manager, East, this is the 8th Tanishq store in Kolkata and the 35th store in the East. Also in attendance was Ms. Swastika Mukherjee, the leading Bengali actress.



Spanning over 2500 square feet, the Baguihati store houses the latest collections from Tanishq, which has something special for every woman. To celebrate this new launch, Tanishq is offering its customers a free 0.20-gram gold coin on every purchase of 10 grams of gold jewellery. This offer is valid from Apr 4 to 6.

Sharing her thoughts on the launch of the Tanishq store, Rajeshwari Srinivasan, AVP and Regional Business Head  East, Titan Company Limited said, It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of our latest store at Kolkata. The city is an extremely important market for us and we will keep raising the bar through unique designs, superior craftsmanship and enhanced shopping experience to ensure our customers get the best jewellery-buying experience at Tanishq.



The new store situated on VIP Road houses the latest collection from Tanishq, such as Shubham  which brings to life the magnificence of Indian temples through elegant heirloom pieces. Keeping to its promise of offering the bestinclass jewellery to its customers, the store also houses Niloufer  a diamond and ruby encrusted collection that draws inspiration from the timeless Lotus flower.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Liza Yosephine and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4 2017

Cultural norms and religious interpretation could risk undermining access to healthcare services, says United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health Dainius Puras.

Understandably, religious, cultural norms and values are different in each country, but its interpretation should not be counterproductive to public health services or to undermine human rights, Puras said during a press briefing at the conclusion of his visit in Jakarta on Monday.

He noted that because barriers persisted to the realization of sexual and reproductive rights, women and other groups were exposed to different forms of violence and discrimination, and called for mental health services to be stepped up, strengthened and mainstreamed.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4 2017

Indonesian Export Financing Agency (LPEI or Indonesia Eximbank) has issued a US$500 million unsecured Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) with a seven-year tenure for debt refinancing and supporting long-term expansion of export financing.

Indonesia Eximbank director Raharjo Adisusanto said the EMTN has a 3.9 percent annual coupon rate, much lower than the initial 4.2 percent coupon as it was 10 times oversubscribed, receiving orders worth a total of $5 billion.

The 3.9 percent annual coupon means it is 25 basis points above the governments global bond, Raharjo said in a statement on Saturday.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 18:32 2043 a291276806121264c0bd211cde799271 1 Business Freeport-Indonesia,special-mining-license-IUPK,contracts-of-work-CoW Free

Copper and gold mining giant Freeport Indonesia has obtained a special mining permit (IUPK), which will be effective for eight months, starting on Feb. 10, while the firm continues to negotiate with the government.

With the eight-month IUPK in place, Freeport Indonesia will be able to export its [copper] concentrates and pay export duties. While the IUPK has been issued, we will also still respect their contract of work [CoW], said Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry secretary-general Teguh Pamudji at a press conference on Tuesday.

Freeport Indonesia will be allowed to export 1.11 million wet metric tons (wmt) of copper concentrate for a year. It will be evaluated after the first six months, taking into account the progress of smelter construction in Gresik, East Java.

(Read also: Freeport accepts govt terms)

During the next few months, the government and Freeport Indonesia will discuss investment stability, future operations, divestment and the companys plans to build a smelter, Teguh said.

The miner will be allowed to return to its CoW if a mutual agreement between Freeport Indonesia and the government cannot be made by October. However, it will not be allowed to export any copper concentrates.

Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport McMoRan, has refused to accept the demand from the government that it must convert its CoW into an IUPK. The company argues that an IUPK would effectively annul its CoW signed in 1991.

Freeport previously said it did not want to give up the rights listed in its present CoW. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 12:55 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde786647 1 Business land-acquisition,government,project Free

The Finance Ministry through its State Asset Management Agency (LMAN), a public agency responsible for state asset management, launched on Tuesday a new scheme to fund land acquisition for the countrys national strategic projects (PSN).

As part of the new scheme, two public bodies, the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 23 toll road companies (BUJTs).

Among the 23 companies are state-owned construction firm PT Hutama Karya and PT Jasamarga Manado Bitung, a subsidiary of state-owned toll road operator Jasa Marga that is responsible for the Manado-Bitung toll road development project in North Sulawesi.

(Read also: Road project hampered by complicated state-land acquisition)

Infrastructure development is vulnerable to delays. Ill ask LMAN to study and share its knowledge to solve the issue [of land acquisition], said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in her speech during the launch.

Land acquisition is a significant hurdle faced by the Indonesian authorities in infrastructure development.

Under a 2016 presidential regulation, LMAN should plan for funding and the utilization of land banks as well as pay compensation for land acquisition to support the governments infrastructure development programs.

The agency was approved in 2015 by the House of Representatives as a public service agency under the Finance Ministrys Directorate General of State Assets. The agency commenced operations in December last year.

The government allocated the agency state capital worth Rp 16 trillion (US$1.2 billion) and Rp 20 trillion in the 2016 and 2017 state budgets, respectively. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 17:13 2043 a291276806121264c0bd211cde7940da 1 Business sovereign-wealth-fund,post-graduate-education,scholarship-program Free

The government will establish a sovereign wealth fund to finance a scholarship program for postgraduate education, starting from the 2018 budget year.

The government will save some of the budget to form the fund, said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

"The 20 percent budget allocation for education must not be spent on routine activities only. We must allocate some for the education fund," he said during a meeting to discuss the 2018 budget at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Since the tenure of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the government has consistently allocated 20 percent of the budget for education, as it is stipulated in the Constitution.

Jokowi did not specify how much would be allocated per year but stated that the fund was expected to reach Rp 400 trillion (US$30 billion) in 2030.

"We already made calculations. We could have Rp 400 trillion in education eternal funds in 2030. It can be used for postgraduate education," he said.

(Read also: Government allocates Rp 22.5t for scholarships)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the fund would then be merged with the current Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP), which was jointly managed by the Finance Ministry, Culture and Education Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 11:08 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde782ec8 1 Business Indosat-Ooredoo,bonds,issuance Free

Telecommunications provider PT Indosat, also known as Indosat Ooredoo, plans to issue bonds in the second quarter to decrease the foreign portion of its total debt from 12 to 9 percent.

Indosat Ooredoo president director Alexander Rusli said on Monday that his company was still looking for the right underwriter for the bond issuance.

Were also still discussing the exact value of the bonds, he said.

The company last year decreased its foreign debt by 58.3 percent to US$180 million from $432.1 million in 2015, according to a memo released on the companys official website.

(Read also: Indosat Ooredoo net income soars 184.4 percent)

Alexander said his company also planned to submit a proposal to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in the coming weeks for the extension of the companys permit for continuous bond offerings in the next three years,

Indosat Ooredoo last year recorded a 9 percent increase in its consolidated revenues to Rp 29.2 trillion (US$2.19 billion), of which 43 percent was booked from data services, 32 percent from call services, 21 percent from SMS services and 5 percent from value-added services. (yon/bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 19:01 2043 a291276806121264c0bd211cde799390 1 City #JakartaElection2017,debate,moderator Free

The Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) has appointed former news anchor Ira Koesno as the moderator for the official candidate debate ahead of the runoff in the capitals gubernatorial election.

After receiving suggestions and corrections, we decided to appoint Ira Koesno as the moderator, commission head Sumarno said on Monday as quoted by Kompas.

(Read also: Jakarta election debate to be held in mid-April)

Sumarno said the commission had met several difficulties in picking a moderator as they were looking for someone who was perceived as neutral and independent. He said that the commission finally chose Ira due to her experience in moderating candidate debates.

Ira previously moderated the first official debate on Jan. 13. She is also known for moderating the presidential candidate debate during the 2014 election.

The debate is scheduled to be held at Bidakara hotel in Pancoran, South Jakarta, on April 12, a week prior to voting day. (kkk)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Semarang  Tue, April 4 2017

A boat carrying fuel to Karimunjawa Islands exploded at Ngemplak Port, Jepara regency, Central Java, on Friday, killing one and disrupting fuel distribution to the resort island.

The captain of the boat died and three crew members injured in the accident were taken to a hospital.

The boat was carrying 18 drums of biodiesel and 36 drums of Pertalite. None of the drums, each of which had a capacity of 200 liters of fuel, were destroyed in the accident, said the spokesperson of state-owned energy company Pertaminas Central Java region, Andar Titi Lestari.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Tue, April 4 2017

The Denpasar Police have arrested a Russian woman for the alleged possession of 0.37 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

The woman, identified only as GNA, was arrested on Jl. Dewi Sri in Kuta on March 23 following a tip-off.

She told the police she bought the drug from someone at Kerobokan Prison. Were investigating who supplied the drug, Denpasar Police narcotics division chief Comr. I Gede Ganefo said over the weekend.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4 2017

The implementation of the countrys sustainability standards for the palm oil industry, known as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), has done little to curb deforestation and land conflicts, according to a report by Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI).

FWI data showed that during the formative years of the ISPO between 2009 and 2013, deforestation  the main driver of deadly forest fires in the worlds largest palm oil producer two years ago  occurred on around half a million hectares of land used for oil palm plantations.

The figure was equal to around 22 percent of total deforestation in concession areas in the country, FWI executive director Soelthon Gussetya Nanggara said recently.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
New York, Apr 4 (IBNS): Next time you bite into a chocolate bar, think of Africa. The continent produces nearly 70 percent of the worldas cocoa, a growing output that requires carving more than 325,000 acres of new farmland from forests every year a a drop in the bucket of overall agricultural expansion there.

That expansion is the subject of a new Stanford study that provides the first comprehensive assessment of how international demand for commodity crops, such as cocoa, is affecting sub-Saharan Africas tropical forests, second in size only to the Amazon. The findings, published in Environmental Research Letters, suggest reason for hope if policymakers tailor decisions regarding deforestation around the regions unique dynamics and uncertainties.

We are starting to better understand issues related to large-scale agricultural expansion in the tropics, said lead author Elsa Ordway, a graduate student in Stanfords School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. In Africa, we have the opportunity to take lessons learned from other regions and recommend preventive policies.

In particular, the study recommends policies that would alleviate poverty in local regions and incentivize forest conservation rather than the widespread deforestation that has accompanied agricultural expansion in other regions.

Into Africa

As international markets have swelled and integrated, production of in-demand crops such as soy and oil palm has moved away from areas where land is scarce and where natural resource regulations are robust. Production has instead moved to tropical regions such as Southeast Asia and South America. Brazil and Indonesia alone accounted for more than 60 percent of global tropical deforestation from 2000 to 2005, largely due to agricultural expansion.

Sub-Saharan Africa, with its abundant cheap land and labor, would seem an obvious next step for multinational companies looking to expand farther. Since 2015, agricultural production in the region has grown at the fastest rate globally, and cropland is predicted to expand more than 10 percent by 2025.

Although deforestation rates in Africa remain well below those in South America and Southeast Asia, the region has lost an area of intact forest about the size of Iceland since 2000.

These African forests, contained primarily in the Congo Basin, represent almost 30 percent of the worlds total and are an important source of local income. In addition to regulating climate, safeguarding water quality and controlling disease, the forests feed and provide subsistence means to at least 100 million people living nearby. Forest products such as logs generate an average of 6 percent of sub-Saharan Africas gross domestic product  triple the world average.

Expansion of commodity crop production in sub-Saharan Africa has so far been driven primarily by small- and medium-scale local farmers who boost the regional economy and can expand with less disruption to forests. But big change is knocking at the door. In recent years, multinational companies have bought up a land area larger than Costa Rica in the heavily forested Congo Basin, mostly for crops such as oil palm and soy.

As the multinationals move in, they are more likely to acquire land by clearing intact forest due to property conflicts resulting from the regions land tenure complexities. However, the studys authors suggest Africa could be spared the massive deforestation that large-scale monoculture has wrought on regions such as Southeast Asia by implementing policies that prioritize forest conservation and local control of the land.

Civil society, policymakers and private companies can benefit from many years of trial-and-error with anti-deforestation policies in South America and Southeast Asia to design more effective interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, said co-author Eric Lambin, the George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

Among the possible solutions: promoting investment that ensures small and medium-scale farmers continue to drive agricultural expansion in order to alleviate poverty and avoid land tenure conflicts, encouraging shade cultivation of crops such as cocoa to incentivize forest cover conservation, and finding ways to engage African consumers  currently the primary market for most locally produced commodity crops  on deforestation issues.

Future forest losses could be better mitigated via policies that address the shifting influence of domestic and international markets, said co-author Greg Asner, a professor in Stanfords School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

In the meantime, the studys findings could inform the zero-deforestation commitments made by dozens of international companies and help countries adhere to their commitments under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Lambin is a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Asner is a staff scientist in the Carnegie Institution for Sciences Department of Global Ecology.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Stanford Global Development & Poverty Initiative, Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, Stanford Center for African Studies Graduate Fellowship Program and a McGee-Levorsen Research Grant.



Photo: World Bank/Curt Carnemark
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan  Tue, April 4 2017

Philanthropist Tahir ended his visit to Jordan by providing a total of US$2.2 million for the welfare of Syrian refugees being sheltered in the Hashemite kingdom.

Tahir provided $1 million in the form of allowances of $80 per family per month as well as providing $1.2 million to install solar panels at schools educating Syrian children.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 06:19 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde775c00 1 National e-ID,graft-trial,nazaruddin,Andi-Narogong,anas-urbaningrum,Democratic-party,PDI-P Free

Former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin explained how money siphoned from a funds earmarked for the electronic identity card (e-ID) project was allegedly distributed to House of Representatives members.

In his testimony in the case's trial hearing on Monday, Nazaruddin mentioned a meeting between him, lobbyist Andi Narogong, who is also a suspect in the case, and former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum to talk about how the e-ID project would be approved.

The meeting resulted in a list of House members and Home Ministry officials specifying how much money each of them was to receive. He said Andi had always kept him updated on whether the funding had been received.

"Anas got Rp 500 billion that he used for his campaign to become the chairman of the Democratic Party," he said.

Nazaruddin added that the former deputy chairman of House Commission II overseeing home affairs, Khatibul Umam Wiranu, also from the Democratic Party, had received US$400,000.

"Khatibul used the money for his campaign in [mass organization] GP Ansors chairman election," he said.

Nazaruddin, at that time also a lawmaker, said Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Ganjar Pranowo, Commission II's former deputy chairman, got $500,000.

"Ganjar was supposed to receive US$150,000 but he refused it. He wanted the same amount that the Commission II chief received," he said.

Now a convict in multiple graft cases, Nazaruddin was at the center of government procurement projects during former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonos administration. (rdi/wit)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara  Tue, April 4, 2017 21:43 2043 a291276806121264c0bd211cde79b33a 1 National West-Nusa-Tenggara,MigrantWorkers,migrant-workers,human-trafficking,Lombok,#migrants,#MigrantWorkers Free

The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police have thwarted an attempt to send off seven illegal Indonesian female migrant workers via Lombok International Airport that allegedly involved Immigration Office personnel and security officers at the airport.

Initially, they were to be dispatched as Indonesian migrant workers to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, but it was later found they didnt have proper documents. The attempt was successfully foiled at the airport. There are indications that this was a case of attempted human trafficking, NTB Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Tribudi Pangastuti told The Jakarta Post in Mataram on Monday.

Tribudi said a team from the Central Lombok Polices criminal investigation unit moved to prevent the women leaving on March 29 after they received a public report.

The seven women are all from NTB and aged between 25 and 35 years.

They were about to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When questioned by Central Lombok Police officers, they said they were to be sent to Abu Dhabi to work in that country. They were later taken into custody because it was suspected they were victims of human trafficking, said Tribudi.

After preventing their departure, she further said, the police had expanded their investigation and now suspected the involvement of Ram, 29, a non-permanent immigration worker; LT, 42, an airport security officer; and a porter identified only as Jon, 49.

Two of them have been arrested and we are still pursuing LT, who remains at large, said Tribudi. (ebf)
The Jakarta Police revealed on Monday their preliminary findings following Thursday nights arrest of five treason suspects, including the leader of hard-line organization the Muslim Peoples Forum (FUI) Muhammad Al-Khaththath, prior to a rally in the capital.

Al-Khaththath, who was the rally coordinator, was arrested at the Kempinski Hotel in Central Jakarta, hours before the rally, which demanded the incarceration of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy, was staged.

Besides Al Khaththath, the other four suspects have been named as Diko Nugraha, Andre, Irwansyah and Zainuddin Arsyad, all senior members of various Muslim organizations.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono alleged the suspects had held secret discussions plotting the overthrow of the government.

Two of the suspects, Al-Khaththath and Irwansyah, began drawing up their plot to topple the government during their first two meetings in Kalibata, South Jakarta, and Menteng, Central Jakarta, said Argo, who did not reveal the exact dates of the meetings.

There were detailed plans to occupy the House of Representatives, including plans on logistics and routes. They even planned to ram trucks into the back gate of the House [in order to break into the complex], said Argo.

The suspects mapped seven entrances and a network of underground sewers that could be used by a mob to enter the House and subdue it, he said.

Afterward, the suspects started discussing how to fund their action, including funds that were channeled to finance the rally, he said.

Based on the investigation, we found that they needed Rp 3 billion [US$225,000] in funding to execute their treason plot. However, we are still looking into that to discover the details, said Argo. All the detainees have been charged under articles 107 and 110 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on treason, which carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment.

The suspects denied the allegations, Argo said, adding that AlKhaththath had refused to sign the polices dossiers.

The police confiscated several smartphones and laptops, a banner that read Muslim governor for Jakarta, several posters and two books that allegedly recorded the suspects spending for the foiled treason attempt.

Argo also reaffirmed that the suspects detained last Friday were not related to the suspects who were arrested before the Dec. 2 rally last year on similar charges.

Meanwhile, the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Councils Fatwa (GNPF-MUI) held a press conference on Monday to voice its support for Al-Khaththath and urge the police to release him and the other suspects.

A lawyer from GNPF-MUIs advocacy team, Nasrullah Nasution, expressed his puzzlement about the arrests and said that his organization would do its best to get Khaththath released.

The GNPF-MUI, he said, would prioritize Khaththaths release before the release of the others. (dea)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Edith M. Lederer (Associated Press) United Nations  Tue, April 4, 2017

US 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.

US 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 US 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 US mainland.

China has supported the six sanctions resolution but Haley said it needs to fully implement the sanctions  as do other UN 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?" (**)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Vivian Salma (Associated Press) Washington  Tue, April 4, 2017

President Donald Trump signaled a new era in US-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 US 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, US 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 US "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 US aid.

Egypt is among the top recipients of US 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 US 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 US 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.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Jill Colvin contributed to this report. (**)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 21:22 2043 a291276806121264c0bd211cde79a3c2 1 National DPD,dpd-speaker-replacement,#DPD,Oesman-Sapta,Oesman-Sapta-Odang,Jakarta-police,fighting Free

Two Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members, Benny Rhamdani and Delis Jurkason Hehi, were reported to the Jakarta Police for allegedly attacking fellow councillor Muhammad Afnan Hadikusumo.

Benny laughed at Afnans move, saying the accusation did not make sense. His accusation that I attacked him is illogical, Benny said as quoted by kompas.com on Tuesday.

He acknowledged that during a tense-filled DPD plenary session on Monday evening, he told Afnan to leave the podium. He pulled Afnan by the arm and demanded he immediately leave the podium when Ahmad Nawardi, a DPD member from East Java, was addressing the room.

(Read also: New DPD speaker defends legality of his election)

Benny said he did so to avoid a chaotic situation or a fight between Afnan and Ahmad. The councillor also insisted he did not hit Afnan as accused and was ready to prove it. Benny said the incident could be seen in video footage. He did not deny the possibility of reporting Afnan to the police in return.

We can prove whether or not his accusation is true and of course we have a right to report him to the police too, said Benny.

Delis shared a similar concern. Feeling disappointed with Afnans move to report him to the police over allegedly attacking him, Delis is considering reporting Afnan to the police.

Im still considering it because he is in fact a friend. But if he does not withdraw his police report against me and he cannot prove his accusation, I will report him to the police in return, said Delis. (dis/ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 10:13 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde780e98 1 National Wantimpres,#Wantimpres,KPK-Law-revision,KPK,KPK-chairman-Agus-Rahardjo,corruption-eradication,corruption,#KPK Free

The presidential advisory board (Wantimpres) has expressed its rejection of a plan to revise the 2002 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, as it says the revision may degrade the commissions antigraft work.

Speaking after his meeting with KPK commissioners on Monday, Wantimpres member Sidarto Danusubroto said the antigraft body was still needed in Indonesia. He said the commissions role eradicating corruption in the country even needed to be strengthened.

The KPK is needed for the development of this nation, so we are against all attempts to degrade its role and existence, he told journalists at the State Palace.

Sidarto said Wantimpres would push for the immediate adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Indonesia had ratified the UNCAC in September 2006, but had not yet adopted it.

If we adopt the UNCAC, KPK investigators can extend their actions to private corporations, not only be limited to government institutions, just like what Hong Kong and South Korea have done. Ninety percent of their corruption cases come from private enterprises, he said.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said he welcomes the support from Wantimpres. He said the 2002 KPK Law revision should strengthen the commission instead of weakening it.

The revision should not increase the gap between our anticorruption law and the UNCAC. Instead, the government should issue a law to implement the UNCAC as soon as possible, Agus said.

Wantimpres chairman Sri Adiningsih said corruption problems had spread to local administrations. Indonesia still had from 20 to 40 percent financial leakage from its state budgets. With such an amount of money, we can build this nation for our next generation, she said. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 5 2017

The Jakarta administration has ensured the availability of rice in the capital throughout the Idul Fitri holiday from June 25 to 27.

Acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono said Jakarta usually needed 2,500 to 3,000 tons of rice per day. During the Idul Fitri holiday, demand for rice, the countrys main staple food, is predicted to increase up to 3,300 tons per day.

Despite the predicted increase in demand, the capital has enough rice stock to last through the holiday, he said.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Tangerang  Wed, April 5 2017

Tangerang city plans to develop a light rail transit (LRT) network connecting the city to South Tangerang, a senior official has said.

Tangerang Mayor Arief Rachadiono Wismansyah said the city was looking to team up with PT Banten Metro Transit Indonesia to build the network.

We need a mode of mass transportation to reduce our dependence on private vehicles, Arief was quoted as saying by tempo.co on Tuesday.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
New York, Apr 4 (IBNS): Hookah-tobacco users might want to rethink how they heat up their water pipes, based on research by chemists at the University of Cincinnati.

The gooey, flavorful tobacco in hookah pipes is normally burned with specially made charcoal briquettes, which can contain heavy metals or other toxins. But a study by UC graduate student Ryan Saadawi found that a popular alternative  electric heating disks sold in most tobacco shops  might be far more harmful to your health.

The study heated the same hookah tobacco with two types of commercially available charcoal and an electric heat source sometimes called e-charcoal.

Were never supposed to be surprised in science. I was shocked and excited to open a whole new field of research just based on temperature, said Saadawi, lead author of a paper he presented April 2 at the American Chemical Society conference in San Francisco, California.

Saadawi, 30, of Cincinnati, has been studying this popular form of tobacco use for years.

The practice of smoking tobacco with a water pipe called a hookah began hundreds of years ago in southeast Asia and spread across the Middle East. Today, hookah tobacco is smoked around the world. Many cities in the United States have hookah cafes where people get together to smoke socially.

Unlike e-cigarettes, which heat liquid into a vapor, hookah pipes burn real tobacco mixed with glycerine and flavorings.

The researchers designed an experiment to examine the toxicity of hookah smoke on human lung cells. In particular, Saadawi wanted to measure the toxic effects of the charcoal commonly used to burn tobacco in hookah pipes.

The UC research team includes doctoral students Amberlie Clutterbuck, Madison Nashu and assistant research professor Julio Landero Figueroa.

For the latest study, the UC researchers compared two types of commercially available charcoal using the same hookah tobacco. A chemical analysis revealed one charcoal contained a higher concentration of heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead than the other.

They subjected lung cells to an extract of the resulting hookah smoke at different dilutions. The sample taken from the lower-toxin charcoal killed about 10 percent of the lung cells after 48 hours. The second sample, which used charcoal laced with heavy metals, killed about 25 percent of the lung cells.

Then Saadawi and his research team at the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences compared these results to hookah smoke from tobacco burned electronically by a ceramic disk (sometimes called e-coal). They figured the electronic heat source would provide a good control group to compare with the different charcoals. Instead, they found something surprising.

The smoke generated by the electronic heat source killed a whopping 80 percent of the lung cells.

The results didnt make sense. My hypothesis was to find more dead lung cells in toxic charcoal, he said.

Saadawi said heavy metals in charcoal are just one potential health risk inherent to smoking a hookah pipe.

He suspects the culprits that killed the lung cells were volatile organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are released when organic material such as tobacco burns. These compounds have been linked to a variety of cancers, including lung cancer.

While both heat sources initially heated the tobacco to 300 degrees Celsius, the electronic coal consistently kept the tobacco hotter than the burning charcoal, which drops in temperature with every inhalation from the hookah pipe.

While its just a theory, Saadawi said, he thinks the consistently hotter e-coal released more hydrocarbons, which killed more lung cells.

"The contaminated charcoal had the potential to be more toxic. But that wasn't the reality," Saadawi said.



Landero Figueroa is continuing the hookah research with undergraduate students. Now they are trying to narrow down which family of hydrocarbons is most harmful.

The team started the research under the late UC chemistry professor Joseph Caruso, who died in 2015.

Saadawi is quickly becoming an expert in hookah-tobacco science. The research teams literature review had found tens of thousands of published studies on cigarette smoking but comparatively few on the use of a hookah. The challenge was designing an experimental protocol from scratch, Saadawi said.

Previously, he and other UC researchers studied the toxicity of steam stones, porous rocks infused with flavoring that are heated in hookah pipes instead of tobacco to create a smoking vapor. And in a comparative study, Saadawi found that hookah smoke contained lower concentrations of four heavy metals he isolated compared to cigarette smoke.

The UC research is timely as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration exerted regulatory authority over hookah tobacco for the first time last year.

Everyone is surprised it was not regulated [before]. Most young people assume that since it was not regulated, it had to be a better alternative than cigarettes, Landero Figueroa said. The FDA wants to regulate hookah tobacco. But to regulate it, first they have to understand where the toxins are coming from.

The UC research is especially relevant because use of hookah tobacco is on the rise among high school and college students, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly one in five high school students reported smoking hookah pipes during the previous year, according to a 2014 study by New York Universitys Center for Drug Use and HIV Research published in the journal Pediatrics. That study found that many adolescents and young adults believe hookah tobacco is less harmful to their health and less addictive than cigarettes, a claim that has not been proven, Saadawi said.

Its not an easy question to answer: which one is worse? Saadawi said. If you wanted to really answer it, youd have to do many more studies.

Saadawi conducted his research in the medical lab of associate professor Michael Borchers, an immunologist and molecular biologist at the university.

Borchers studies the chronic health effects of cigarette smoking in his lab at the UC College of Medicine. He also examines the immune function of smokers for the Veterans Administration. In particular, he studies chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.

It destroys lung tissue where gas exchange occurs and causes bronchitis and inflammation around the airways, he said.

Borchers said it is worthwhile to examine whether hookah smokers can succumb to the same kinds of cardiopulmonary diseases as chronic cigarette smokers.

But there is far more variability in smoking hookah pipes compared to cigarettes, he said. Some hookah smokers might inhale more or less smoke than others.

They say the dose makes the poison. The dose is really a huge part of it, he said. If you just nip at it for 20 minutes, youre probably not going to smoke a cigarettes worth of tobacco. But if you take lots of deep draws, youll smoke three cigarettes worth.

Over time this can make a big difference in exposure, he said.

It usually takes a long time to get sick from smoking, he said.

Saadawi, a former smoker, said he doesnt want anyone to misinterpret his studies to suggest that hookah is somehow better for your cardiovascular health than cigarettes.

I do not condone any smoking. Im not saying quit smoking cigarettes and start hookah, he said. All smoking is bad for you.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 5 2017

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has convened Muslim clerics from regions across the country at the State Palace amid allegations that hard-line Islamic groups are planning large rallies in five cities as part of a plot to overthrow him.

The meeting on Tuesday took place just days after the Jakarta Police arrested five alleged instigators of the latest sectarian rally against Jakartas Christian governor, Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, on March 31 on treason charges. The authorities have accused them of trying to oust Jokowi by occupying the House of Representatives.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Manila  Tue, April 4, 2017

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sacked his interior secretary and close political ally amid reports of alleged corruption in what his officials said Tuesday was a warning that he would not tolerate any wrongdoing even in his Cabinet.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte announced the dismissal of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismail Sueno at the end of a Cabinet meeting late Monday after asking him some questions, citing loss of trust and confidence.

Sueno was in charge of local governments and the national police, making him among the most powerful Cabinet members. He has denied any wrongdoing in the past but has yet to speak on his dismissal.

"The summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr. Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet," Abella said in a statement.

Sueno was among political allies who convinced Duterte, a longtime mayor of southern Davao city, to run for the presidency last year "but this did not deter the president from pursuing his drive for a trustworthy government by addressing issues like corruption," Abella said.

Duterte, 72, won last year's elections on a wide margin on a promise to fight crimes, particularly illegal drugs, corruption and terrorism. Since he took office in June, Duterte's anti-drug crackdown has left thousands of suspects dead, alarming Western governments led by the United States and the European Union and U.N. rights officials.

Sueno had a reported rift with his three undersecretaries, who accused him of corruption, shielding a politician linked to illegal drugs, and other wrongdoings. Abella said the president checked those accusations before he decided to dismiss Sueno.

He is the highest official to be removed from office over alleged wrongdoing, though Duterte has fired a number of lower-ranking officials in other government agencies.

It's not clear if Sueno will be formally investigated and possibly prosecuted.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 4, 2017 13:00 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde7871b4 4 News Wonderful-Indonesia,wonderful-indonesia-restaurant,restaurant,China,traveling,tourism,#tourism,travel,#traveling,#restaurant Free

The Tourism Ministry inaugurated a restaurant named Wonderful Indonesia located on the 25th floor of Peony Plaza Hotel in Luoyang, Henang province, China, on Saturday.

The ministry's deputy for overseas promotion, I Gde Pitana, said as quoted by kompas.com that the restaurant aimed to help promote the ministrys Wonderful Indonesia campaign.

During the event, Pitana introduced the archipelago's 10 new priority tourist destinations to the audience. He also notified those present about Indonesias new free-visa policy for Chinese tourists.

(Read also: Visiting Lapopu, the highest waterfall in East Nusa Tenggara)

Traditional Indonesian dances, such as the Gending Sriwijaya Dance and the Garuda Dance, were performed to spice up the event.

Two artists from Malang, East Java, Yoseph Agus Kristian and Ajik Rachmad Suhendar, performed the Garuda Dance wearing carnival costumes weighing up to 30 kilograms.

The restaurant will remain a permanent establishment at one of the top dining spots in the city.

The hotels owner, Wei Dong, said that although he had never visited Indonesia, he had often heard of Balis beauty.

I'm sure the restaurant will be successful and will help introduce other Indonesian destinations aside from Bali." (mas)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Markus Makur (The Jakarta Post) West Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara  Tue, April 4, 2017 14:25 2044 a291276806121264c0bd211cde78baf3 1 Destinations Manupeu-Tanah-Daru-National-Park,Laiwangi-Wanggameti-National-Park,MaTaLaWa-National-Park,national-park,Tourist,tourist-destination,#tourism,travel,#traveling,#travel Free

Sumba Island in East Nusa Tenggara is known for its natural and cultural attractions, such as savannahs, sandalwood horses, traditional villages and the Pasola (ancient war ritual) Festival. In addition to those attractions, the island also has Manupeu Tanah Danu and Laiwangi Wangameti National Parks (MaTaLaWa National Park) in West Sumba regency.

Officially integrated in 2016, the MaTaLaWa National Park is home to 84 species of birds, 10 species of mammals, 49 species of butterflies, 29 species of reptiles, 173 different types of trees and more.

The head of ecotourism at the conservation center, Suwartono, told The Jakarta Post that BirdLife International had recognized MaTaLaWa National Park as an important bird and biodiversity area (IBAs) as it hosts 10 species of birds endemic to Sumba, such as the kakatua jambul kuning (Yellow-crested cockatoo).

(Read also: Foreign cruise ships flock to Komodo Island)

In addition to its these native birds, Suwartono said that MaTaLaWa National Park also boasts three big waterfalls, namely the Lapopu, the Laputi and the Matayangu.

The natural habitat on Sumba Island, specifically in MaTaLaWa National Park, makes the area suitable to host a bird-watching festival and cave attractions.

To boost tourism, Suwartono said the area needs to develop its infrastructure, such as a road to the national park, accommodations and support from locals. (asw)
Toronto, Apr 4 (IBNS): A new study aBiodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-beinga by Tero Mustonen and Kaisu Mustonen has been published on Friday in science, indicating some species moving to cooler areas of the planet to survive the climate change, media reports said.

The study laid emphasis on climate change consideration to go simultaneously with effects of biodiversity redistribution but unfortunately this is not being incorporated in most of the strategies of adaptation, CBCNews reports said.

Authors of the study, Tero Mustonen and Kaisu Mustonen, said climate change had been shifting the geography of life, which can have direct impact on the work of the human beings causing the disruption of the ecological structure of the planet, CBCNews reports said.

Sockeye salmon is just one example of species which are being impacted by warming ocean water and more acidic conditions caused by climate change.

These species, as reported by Tero and Kaisu, need cool water for their habitat in order to survive.

It is the biggest change in species underway for 25,000 years and that will have profound consequences for this province," he said about British Columbia where its iconic salmon is already being affected by warmer ocean temperatures.

The authors were of the opinion that the humanity was entering a century of unprecedented change.

The report of the study further said, "shifts will leave winners and losers in their wake, radically reshaping the pattern of human well-being between regions and different sectors and potentially leading to substantial conflict," CBCNews reports said.

The authors of the study were hoping that policy makers will be convinced to consider the well-being of species while managing climate change.

Mustonens were very optimistic of their research findings of the traditional knowledge possessed by First Nation about halting climate change efforts to safeguard the habitats of different species.

Average citizens, urged Mustonens, should promote restoration and maintenance of watersheds within their own communities.

"The endemic species of this place, for example the Fraser [River] catchment area, salmon and all the other species, here could have more resilience when there's more natural habitat or restored habitat," said Mustonen.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj, Image of Sockeye salmon: Wikipedia)
A mans neck was slashed in a fight on the Bowery near Stanton Street last night. The victim is hospitalized in stable condition. No arrests have been made as of yet. [DNAinfo]

There have been 7 burglaries in the past month in several East Village buildings. [EV Grieve]

The L-Train shutdown will be shorter than expected  concerns raised about the contractor hired to repair the tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. [New York Times]

The next East Side Coastal Resiliency meeting takes place tonight. [NYC.gov]

A 21-year-old NYU student is joining the crowded race to succeed Council member Rosie Mendez. [New York Post]

Not-for-profit, community-based developers say they are being left on the sidelines as the de Blasio administration pursues its affordable housing agenda. [City Limits]

Mapping the odors of the city  and visiting New Yorks smelliest block, which is, of course, on the Lower East Side. [The New Yorker]
Kolkata, Apr 4 (IBNS): Palak Kumar and Sudeep Saurabh from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur and Dipankar Sarma and Tushar Jain from National Institute of Technology Silchar were the top two teams at the Zone 2 finals of Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2017, held in Kolkata.

These teams will now compete against the top two teams from the other four zones, in the ultimate battle to win the 13th edition of the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2017 at the National Finals to be held in Mumbai. Rishabh Jain and Shubham Agarwal from ICAI emerged as the winners of Kolkata regional round of Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2017.

The Kolkata regional round preceded the zonal final. The names of the rounds and pattern of the quiz was themed around contemporary games. Each segment of the quiz was divided in three rounds titled League of Legends, Need for Strategy, and Game of Crowns.

The quiz was hosted by ace quizmaster Giri Balasubramaniam, better known as Pickbrain who kept the contestants and audience constantly engaged.

Rishabh Jain and Shubham Agarwal from ICAI defeated 71 teams to win the Kolkata regional round.

The runners-up position was bagged by Sailesh Mishra and Baibaswata B. Jena from College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar.

The winners of the national finals will receive a grand prize of Rs. 5,00,000* along with the coveted Tata Crucible Trophy.

The winners of the regional rounds and runners-up were awarded a prize money of Rs. 75,000* and Rs. 35,000* respectively.

The zonal finals saw fascinating performances from all the teams. As the quiz progressed, the duo from NIT Jamshedpur looked evidently better prepared than the others and took an early lead. The battle for the second spot took a turn as some teams chose aggression and other teams remained cautious.

The duo from NIT Silchar which had won at Shillong, a new location introduced by the Tata group, played brilliantly well to get to the runner-up title.

Congratulating the winners for the event, Vinaya Verma, CEO mjunction said, The quality of quizzing is great here, and to succeed, one not only needs to be knowledgeable but also keep their cool and not panic, and trust their partner. I see a lot of intellect, teamwork and passion in the quizzing. I would like to congratulate everybody out here and hats-off to Tata Crucible Campus Quiz for organising the same.
A parliamentary report has called on Theresa May to provide evidence to back up her claim that leaving the European Union without a trade deal would be better than a bad deal.

Here are some of the questions being asked about the no deal option.

What kind of a trade deal do we have at the moment?

Single market arrangements allow businesses to trade goods freely across Europe without tariffs and under a single regulatory system.

The market in services is not yet complete but there are important agreements, such as passporting for financial firms to operate throughout Europe.

Are these arrangements only for EU members?

A few non-EU members are part of the single market, including members of the European Economic Area like Norway and Iceland, as well as Switzerland, which has a series of bilateral agreements.

But May has said she wants the UK to leave the single market, mainly to stop free movement of people.

So whats the deal for countries outside the single market?

(David Davies/PA)

They can face taxes and duties  known as tariffs  on goods and services exported to the EU. And they can also face non-tariff barriers, such as quotas for imports of certain products.

They are also likely to be required to comply with EU regulations on product quality, safety, environmental protection and workers rights.

Is there any way round this?

Yes. More than 50 countries have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the EU, allowing them varying degrees of access to the single market.

But most relate mainly to goods, rather than the services which make up the bulk of the UKs exports. The EUs recently-agreed CETA deal with Canada will eliminate 98% of tariffs if implemented.

So what is May looking for?

(Facundo Arrizabalaga/PA)

The Government is aiming for a comprehensive FTA, tailor-made for Britain, which offers the freest and most frictionless trade possible in goods and services between the UK and the EU.

Critics argue that this will take as long as a decade to negotiate, but ministers insist that it can be done within the two-year Brexit deadline because UK and EU legal and regulatory systems are already aligned thanks to the single market.

Why might we end up without a deal?

May insists she wants agreement, but has also warned that no deal is better than a bad deal. Many observers view this as a tactic to increase pressure on the EU to offer good terms. But ministers insist that they are preparing for the possibility that she could walk away from the negotiating table.

Many things could make a deal bad  perhaps because it limits UK-based banks access to continental markets, demands punitive multibillion-pound payments from Britain or insists on continued freedom of movement of workers in return for trade access.

What happens if we dont get a deal?

(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Britain would fall back on the tariffs agreed at the World Trade Organisation. These are complex and vary from product to product  in 2013, the EU imposed average 2.3% tariffs on non-agricultural imports, but 10% on cars  but have the effect of making goods and services more expensive in EU markets and therefore less attractive to consumers, potentially hitting exports.

Quotas could be imposed on imports from the UK. And Britain would also lose access to all the FTAs negotiated by the EU with other countries and may be forced to renegotiate them in order to keep trade flowing.

And is that a bad thing?

Opinions are widely divided. Pro-EU Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said that crashing out on WTO rules would be economically disastrous for the UK. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was perfectly okay.

Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee that the Government has made no assessment of the possible cost. That is what the cross-party committee is now demanding from the Government.
A crowdfunder hoping to raise money for Reker Ahmed, a 17-year-old asylum seeker left with a bleed on his brain and other serious injuries after being attacked by around 20 people, has raised over 500% of its target in just a few days.

Kurdish Iranian Ahmed was chased and attacked while waiting at a bus stop after people discovered he was an asylum seeker in a suspected hate crime that has left the teenager fighting for his life.

Over 20,000 had been raised at the time of writing, from a total of 1,138 backers.

The JustGiving page hoped to raise 3,500 (JustGiving)

The crowdfunder reads: We want to help him overcome this horrible ordeal and show that he is loved and welcome here in the United Kingdom. Your small act of kindness will undoubtably (sic) make a big difference to his life at this critical time. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Feeling valued and loved is a very basic need that we can all be part of, all of us have an opportunity to make a difference for this young man. This will go along way to ensuring he sees the best after witnessing the very worst.

Comments left by supporters echoed those sentiments, condemning the attack that also left two of Ahmeds friends with minor injuries.

Reker Ahmed. Tonight think of him, pray for him, hold him in the Light  whatever is your way. He came to our country for refuge.  Jill Segger (@quakerpen) April 3, 2017

Detective Superintendent Jane 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.

Daryl Davis, 20, leaves Croydon Magistrates Court (Steve Parsons/PA)

Police said 16 people had been arrested in connection with the attack  with five people charged with violent disorder having faced the magistrates on Monday and a 17-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man also set to appear in court on Tuesday.

Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses during the short hearing.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and siblings Danyelle and Daryl Davis were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.
Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here

You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: 

Home Page
Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs  MGS88 Minimal Deposit  Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit   2 Menit Metode Deposit  Bank Transfer,  Pulsa,  E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik  Slot Online,  Judi Bola,  Casino Online,  Togel Online,  Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin  Pragmatic Play,  PGSoft,  MicroGaming,  Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang  Gates of Olympus,  Sweet Bonanza,  Wild West Gold,  Starlight Princess Win Rate 98%

RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap

Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku

Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time

Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami.

Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi.

Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh.

Apa itu RTP Live?

RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal.

Apa itu RTP Slot?

RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah.

Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar.

Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting?

Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan.

Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan.

Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini

Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya :

Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP.

Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini

Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi:

RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%)

Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik.

Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot

Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar.

Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot:

RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar.

Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini

Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot.

Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini:

Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB

MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya

MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia.

Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia.

Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong.

Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam.

Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT

Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini.
New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS) : India has warned China against creating "an artificial controversy" around the Dali Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, NDTV reports.

India has pointed out that the Tibetan spiritual leader has visited the north-eastern state in the past, and that "no additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India."

China has regularly denounced the Dalai Lama's visits to the region as it sees it as an attempt to strengthen India's territorial claims.

China said on Friday last that it was "resolutely opposed" to the visit, and urged India to "avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue".

India has always maintained that Arunachal is an integral part of India.

The Dalai Lama's visit to the state comes eight years after his previous visit.

Meanwhile, the spritual leader on Tuesday deferred his trip to Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang due to inclement weather.

According to the Times of India, the Dalai Lama was set to leave Guwahati by a chopper, but the bad weather has forced him to travel by road and change his stop to Bomdila.

After staying at Bomdila, where he will make a public appearance on Wednesday, he will proceed to Tawang, just 25 km away from the McMahon Line that demarcates the imaginary bouindary between India and China.

China claims the territory as its own.

The Dalai Lama will stay at Tawang till April 7.
New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): The Union Government has liberalised its visa regime to promote tourism, business travel and attract potential investors to India, the Office of the Home Minister (HMO) of India tweeted on Tuesday.

The Ministry said that with effect from April 1, e-visa has been sub-divided into three categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa.

The e-visa facility has been extended to the nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports and three Indian ports.

"The window for application under e-visa scheme has been increased from 30 days to 120 days," tweeted HMO.

Duration of stay on e-visa has been increased from 30 days to 60 days with double entry on e-tourist and e-business visa and triple entry on e-medical visa.

The HMO said that separate immigration counters and facilitation desks have been created to assist medical tourists at six major Indian airports.

A new category of visa titled Intern (I) Visa has been rolled out for foreigners intending to pursue intership in India, said the HMO.

Those interested to shoot films in India can now avail a Film (F) Visa. Under this new category, visitors can get a visa with maximum duration of one year and multiple entry facility, the Ministry said.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu said in a series of tweets:

" #VisaReforms aims to promote India as a filming destination through film visas."

"Film Facilitation Office to act as a single window system, ensuring required permissions would be given in time bound manner."

"Visa Liberalisation & FFO to facilitate foreign film makers to showcase beauty of India to the world in a hassle free manner!"

The new rules, effective from April 1, are expected to draw more travellers to India.
New Delhi/Bengaluru, Apr 4 (IBNS): Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, on Tuesday, expressed shock over the incident of illegal sand miners attacking District Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis in Udupi, Karnataka.

"Shocked to hear about illegal miners attack on deputy commissioner of #Udupi. Appreciate young officer Ms. Francis," he tweeted.

Udupi District Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis and Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag were allegedly assaulted by a group of sand miners when the law enforcement officers raided an illegal sand extraction site on Sunday night, according to media reports.

According to media reports, several people have been arrested from Halnad and Kandlur for their alleged involvement.

Tweeted BS Yeddyurappa, BJP's Karanataka state president and former chief minister, "Strongly condemn the attack on Udupi dy commissioner & assistant commissioner.Under congress rule state is turning into Rowdy & Goonda state."

Image: twitter.com/MVenkaiahNaidu
On Demand

We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet.

In-Room VDO
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Gandhinagar, Apr 4 (IBNS): Senior IPS officer Geeta Johari was appointed as the new Director General of Police of Gujarat on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Johri, succeeds PP Pandey, an accused in the much debated Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Pandey is out on bail.

Currently, she is the managing director of the Gujarat Police Housing Board, media reports said.

Media reports quoted Pradeepsinh Jadeja, the state minister for home as saying that Johari has been given the additional charge as she is the senior-most IPS officer in the state.

In 2015, a special court discharged Johari from the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case where the CBI had filed a charge sheet against her claiming that she had botched up the investigation into the case, according to media reports.

Image: AIRNews Twitter
Kolkata, Apr 4 (IBNS): A Kolkata court on Tuesday granted permission to the city police to search the offices of suspended Enforcement Directorate (ED) official Manoj Kumar in connection with an extortion case, registered at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station months ago.

According to reports, a city-based chartered accountant, Kamal Somani, lodged a complaint at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station in south Kolkata in February, alleging that one Pradeep Kumar Hirawat had started extorting money from him months after an ED team, led by Manoj Kumar, raided his office.

Following the complaint was lodged, Kolkata Police started probe into it and arrested the primary accused Pradeep Kumar Hirawat.

A police official said that during interrogation Pradeep Kumar Hirawat claimed that he was working for ED official Manoj Kumar and he had extorted money from the chartered accountant after being directed by the senior ED official.

Kolkata Police had called Manoj Kumar several times for interrogation, but Manoj Kumar avoided all summons.

Days ago, Kolkata Police moved to Bankshall Court appealing for permission to search Manoj Kumar's ED and Customs offices and the court on Tuesday granted the plea.

A senior official of city police told IBNS that they will raid the offices of suspended ED official very soon.

Manoj Kumar was ED's investigating officer (IO) in Rose Valley chit fund scam and months ago he was removed from his post after a Kolkata Police released a CCTV footage where he was seen moving with the wife of the ponzi firm's arrested chairman, according to reports.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
Rollover results in passenger being injured after being enjected

The highway patrol and Watertown Fire Rescue responded to a rollover accident on Saturday. Passenger was thrown from the vehicle, sustaining injuries.
New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari has expressed his grief at the loss of life in explosions at St. Petersburg, Russia.

In a message, he said that terrorism is a threat to all pluralist and open societies and we need to act together for dealing with this menace.

Following is the text of Vice President's message:



"I am grieved to learn of the loss of civilians lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.



Terrorism is a threat to all pluralist and open societies and we need to act together for dealing with this menace.

We stand with the people and Government of Russia in their moment of grief and pray for the bereaved families and early recovery of the injured.
Kolkata, Apr 4 (IBNS): A middle-aged woman was allegedly molested and assaulted by drunken gang members for protesting against drinking alcohol in public at Saheb Bagan area under Thakurpukur Police Station limits in Kolkata's Behala (West) area on Monday, reports said.

According to reports, few men gathered at the locality regularly to drink alcohol in public and the woman protested against it on Monday night.

She told those men to stop having alcohol.

Thereafter, the drunk gang allegedly attacked the lady and molested her.

Her minor daughter was also beaten up by the attackers and her cloth was torn by them when she reportedly tried to save her mother.

The woman was injured in the incident and was rushed to Vidyasagar Hospital nearby.

her family claimed that when they went to lodge a complaint at local police station, a duty officer advised them to settle the dispute out of police station.

Later, an FIR was lodged at Thakurpukur Police Station on Tuesday morning.

However, police have started investigation into the case while none has been arrested so far, reports said.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
As anti-alcohol protesters take different ways to take on the liquor traders from burning and looting shops, protesting on roads, going on rampage, etc in different cities of Uttar Pradesh, people here have taken an entirely different way of protest. In Madhavpuram locality of the city, the residents of the area are chanting mantras and singing bhajans outside the liquor shop uninterrupted throughout the day and night.

The protest started in Madhavpuram locality of the city on March 31 when a liquor contractor shifted his shops from the main road to two rental shops near the police post of the area where there was already a country liquor shop . The contractor had to shift the shops in view of the Supreme Court orders. But it became unacceptable to the residents of the colony, specially the women who were opposing opening of another liquor shop when one was already there. Showing their protest, the enraged residents came out on streets and demanded that both the shops be moved from there.

The police, however, tried to pacify the protesters and asked them to call their protest off. But the residents refused to go unless their demand be accepted. They sat on a dharna outside the shops raising their demand.

Meanwhile, in large number, the women of the locality started joining the sit-in protest. A tent was put up there and these women started chanting mantras and sang bhajan one after another.

The protesters also managed some pictures of the deities which were put there. Gradually, the local shopkeepers also started extending their support to the residents on this issue.

"They should shift the liquor shops if people do not want them to be here," Sapna, a local resident, said, adding that people drink openly and also create scene at times. This creates an indecent environment. She is hopeful that such a different attempt of residents to protest will definitely force them to shift the liquor shops.

It may be noted that there have been protests against the liquor shops across the state in recent past. In Lucknow and Agra, the liquor shops were burnt while in Moradabad people jammed the road. In Balia, they looted the liquor shop. In Gorakhpur, people went to the police with their complaint, whereas in Varanasi, they took to the streets. But in Madhavpuram in Meerut, the residents took refuge in god.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two persons in connection with its crackdown on 500 shell companies suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money.

The agency identified the two as G D Reddy and K Liakath Ali and said they have been arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in separate cases during follow-up action against the shell companies.

The ED had conducted raids on April 1 across 16 states with sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down allegedly dubious and suspicious firms which the agency believes are the backbone of black money in the country.

These teams had visited at least 110 locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar and Indore besides some in Haryana.

The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.

Shell companies are firms set up with nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies and no dividend income or high amount of cash-in-hand.

Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.
New York, Apr 4(Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres has condemned on Mondayas explosion on the metro in Russiaas second largest city of St. Petersburg and underlined need to bring those responsible to justice.

According to a statement issued by Guterres spokesperson, the UN chief expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government as well as to people of Russia.

He also underscored that those responsible for the appalling act must be held accountable.

According to reports, at least ten people were killed in the blast that hit a train as it was travelling between two underground stations. Dozens more are also said to have been injured.

Photo: UN

Source: www.justearthnews.com
The Allahabad High Court on Monday 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.
Keen to make a dent in the Left Fronts citadel in the north eastern state of Tripura, the BJP plans to embark on a statewide mass mobilisation campaign against the Manik Sarkar-led Left front government there with the help of its three frontal organisations, OBC Morcha, Youth Morcha and Mahila Morcha, in preparation for the 2018 assembly elections in the state.

BJP president Amit Shah will camp in the state for two days from 7 May to work out details of the partys plans and programmes for the ensuing polls besides organisational fine-tuning to take on the LF government. The OBC Morcha, Youth Morcha and Mahila Morcha will play a key role in Shahs electoral strategy for Tripura.

Ahead of Shahs visit, the BJP Tripura in-charge Sunil Deodhar is expected to arrive in the national capital to hold consultations. BJP state president Bipal Deb has said the party plans to take on the chief minister and press for his resignation over the termination of 10,223 teachers in the wake of a Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court on March 29 had upheld a Tripura High Court order for dismissal of 10,323 teachers and asked the state government to initiate a fresh recruitment process by May 31 and complete it by December 31.
The central government has sanctioned Rs.150 crore for the construction of markets in Manipur's hill areas, officials said on Tuesday.

The news was confirmed on Monday night and Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that the construction work would start shortly.

In Manipur, all markets are exclusively run by women.

The unique Ima market, a conglomeration of three women's market complexes in Imphal city, is world famous.

"The government is giving more importance to the hill areas in developmental work. Manipur cannot forge ahead without developing the hill areas which constitute 80 per cent of the total size of the state", the Chief Minister said.

Trust deficit is the main cause for the widening communal chasm in Manipur, he said.

"We are doing everything possible for a rapprochement among different groups".

Weapon Zimik, president of Tangkhul Naga Long said that "When the Chief Minister visits Ukhrul on April 11, all sections of people shall accord a warm welcome to him."

When former Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had visited Ukhrul earlier, there was a shutdown and the security personnel did not allow him and his colleagues to get out of their helicopter.

Tribal organisations dubbed O Ibobi Singh as "communal and anti-tribal".
The Kerala government's decision on an all-party meet to discuss the apex court's ban on liquor vends along highways has got a jolt, with the Congress-led UDF supporting the ban.

Following this setback, a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday morning, asked Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh to see that a petition is filed in the apex court.

The petition will seek three months' time to shift the 207 of the 850 retail liquor outlets owned by the state that come under the purview of the ban order.

The outlets have already downed shutters from April 1 in compliance with the Supreme Court directive of December 2016 banning liquor vends within 500 metres on either side of state and national highways.

"We are of the firm opinion that liquor is not good, but there are people in Kerala who have to consume it. If they don't get liquor, then they will be forced to drink other intoxicants, which could lead to their death," State Excise Minister G. Sudhakaran told reporters here, soon after the meeting.

"With this reality in mind before us, we will file the petition on Monday which will ask for three months' time to shift these outlets," Sudhakaran added.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters that the Left government is in a Catch-22 situation.

The situation arose because they always opposed whatever the earlier government did, Chandy said.

"Our policy was based on the Udayabhanu Commission Report, that was appointed by K. Karunakaran, then A.K. Antony (1995) banned arrack," he said.

"When I was in office (in 2005) I decided to hit the road of total prohibition in 10 years time by reaching there in a phased manner," the Congress leader said.

But the Left, then in opposition, fought the UDF policy tooth and nail and gave an impression that "they had something up their sleeve", Chandy said adding "and now they are in dire straits".

"We are of the firm opinion that the apex court guidelines be followed and when a new retail outlet is opened, it has to be done where there is not going to be any opposition," he said.

It should not be done through confrontation, Chandy said, "As it's the women and children who protest the opening of the new vends".

State Finance Minister Thomas Issac is the one feeling the heat as the state stands to lose around Rs.10 crore revenue daily.

At least 1,749 places that used to sell liquor, beer, wine and toddy have not been able to carry on business since the commencement of the new fiscal.

"Things are tough on account of this revenue loss and hence we have to look for alternative revenues to make up for this loss," said Issac.

According to the latest estimates on account of the new order, around 24,000 workers have lost their job while another 10,000 indirect jobs have disappeared.

"Suicide is the only option left before me, as with this new order I have lost my job. I have a family if something does not happen quickly, then I really will have just one option," said an angry toddy shop worker.

On Tuesday, serpentine queues were seen in front of the remaining liquor vends and tipplers were up against this order.

"We need liquor everyday and if we don't get it, then we will start to distil our own brew. Let us see what will happen then," said an angry tippler.

Another innovative suggestion to end this impasse was to allow liquor to be sold through ration shops, as accountability would then be easy and streamlined.
Hit hard by the Supreme Court's (SC) order banning liquor sale close to 500 meters of the state and national highways, liquor vends are searching for alternatives sites for their business. But finding suitable sites 500 meters away from state and national highway immediately is proving an uphill task as not many sites are available for lease or rent in the Chandigarh and adjoining Panchkula and Mohali.

The main worry for the proprietors is the accessibility of the new place which is in the budget. But property dealers and landlords are also looking to profit from their desperation by multiplying the rates for their commercial properties.Some of the bars

and pubs have bought the new place with the joint effort with other business.

"Moving our old microbrewery itself will take two-three months, however, with Gods grace we found a small place in a brief time," The Brew Estate, Elante manager Narinder Singh said.

"Having another microbrewery has certainly spared us from some per cent of misfortune amid this boycott. Our principle criteria for looking the place that it ought not be put on the state and national highway yet some place on inward streets," said Pawan Kumar, manager, The Great Bear.

More than 5,000 people are estimated to lose their jobs in Chandigarh since their working place  liquor vends  falls under under the 500 meter rule. The vends owners and the people have been constantly protesting outside their places along with lit candles.

We are going to approach the apex court, this matter needs more speculation for a

better cause and business in the future. We all are waiting for the April 17 (date of SC hearing in the case) hoping that will bring us some peace and joy, Arvinder Pal Singh, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh. Over 20 crore of loss has been estimated by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh so far.
Rajasthan has denotified certain sections of state highways passing through populous towns, days after the Supreme Court order banning liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways came into effect.

The chief engineer of the Public Works Department, however, said that the process of denotification has nothing to do with the apex court directive.

Shivlahri Sharma said the status of state highway has been revoked for only those stretches passing through populous areas where bypass roads had been constructed.

When a bypass is constructed, the old section (of the highway) which passes through the city and town become left-out stretches. Since there cannot be two highways of the same number at the same location, the left-out sections come under the local body and lose the status of highway, he said.

As per an estimate, nearly 450 liquor shops were located on such stretches.

The status of state highway has been relinquished only for those stretches which are passing through the limits of local bodies and are connected through a bypass, Sharma said.

He said that the order was issued recently for such roads on approximately 20 locations in the state and the same will be done in case of such left-out sections of state highways where bypasses have been constructed.

The officer said the same provision exists for national highways as well.

This process has no connection with liquor shops, he claimed.

According to the state excise department, close to 2,800 shops were located on national and state highways.

The Supreme Court in its March 31 order had said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways would have to shut down from April 1.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday offered condolences on the deaths of people in blasts in a metro train in Russia's St. Petersburg city.

"Saddened about the loss of lives due to the explosion My condolences to the bereaved families," she tweeted.

At least 10 persons were killed and dozens injured in the twin explosions on Monday.
While many highways are turning dry and state like Rajasthan on Tuesday denotified its national highways as urban roads in the wake of the Supreme Court order on liquor sale ban within 500 metres of highways, the highways in the Northeastern state Manipur is set to witness a change of a different kind.

Manipur is gearing up with a new Highway Protection Force. State Chief Minister Biren Singh on April 2 announced that the Centre has granted the demand to raise four India Reserve Battalions for protection to the people and free passage of vehicles on the national highways. The battalions will be deployed on its national highways connecting two states  Nagaland and Assam. The meeting was attended by leaders of the state Transporters' Association.

"To ensure free movement of Manipur vehicles on Imphal-Dimapur road, Biren said he would sign an agreement with his Nagaland counterpart in the presence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The National Highway 2 runs from Imphal, capital of Manipur, to Dimapur in Nagaland. It was earlier known as NH-39. The Center in 2011 renamed it NH-2.

Plagued with complicated political problems with no solutions in sight and frequent shutdowns and road blockades, people transporting goods and travelling on the state national highways have been bearing the brunt of it all. In view of it, the new state government has stepped up to address the issue.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday chaired the first cabinet meeting of the state after taking charge as chief minister.

After becoming the state chief minister, Adityanath had made a series of announcements, including closure of illegal slaughterhouses, formation of anti-Romeo squads, ban on chewing of tobacco in office and loan waiver for farmers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto promised to waive loans of small and marginal farmers. The state has 1.8 crore marginal farmers and about 30 lakh small farmers.

Other key promises such as electricity in rural areas and an ordinance on slaughterhouses are expected to be taken up at the cabinet meeting.

"Uttar Pradesh has been deprived till now, but the state will not be neglected anymore," the chief minister had said after his arrival in his home constituency Gorakhpur on March 25.

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'sabka haath, sabhka vikaas' slogan, Adityanath had said he will implement Modis vision.
Police on Tuesday released CCTV footage showing two women fighting off armed men that averted a bank robbery in Gurugram.

Vimla Devi (45) and Poonam (28), employees of State Bank of India's money transfer branch in Badshahpur, overpowered Deepak (25) and Mohit (25) when they tried to loot the bank.

Police Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said the two women would be rewarded and honoured.

The footage showed the thieves entering the bank on Monday afternoon and pulling out pistols from a bag. They tried to take on Vimla and Poonam at gun point.

At the time of the incident, the women were alone in the branch. Instead of surrendering, they snatched the pistols and raised an alarm.
New York, Apr 4(Just Earth News): The United Nations advisory body on issues related to population and development on Monday kicked off its annual session, with a focus on changing population age structures and sustainable development.

Population ageing and population decline have now become key issues for a growing number of Member States, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo told the opening segment of the Commission on Population and Developments fiftieth annual session, which will run at UN Headquarters through 7 April.

He also noted that with global fertility at, or even below, fertility level, international migration is becoming the main driver of population change for a number of countries.

Noting that demographic trends and population policies have evolved over the past decades, Wu stressed the important role of the Commission.

John Wilmoth, Director, Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that continued success in reducing death rates, including among older persons and for deaths due to heart disease, cancer and other causes previously considered intractable, has contributed to the further ageing of the worlds population.

He said that between 2015 and 2050, the population aged 65 or older in Europe will increase from 23 to 28 per cent. In North America, the corresponding percentage will rise from 18 to 23 per cent. By 2050, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania will all have more than 18 per cent of their populations at ages 65 and above.

In ageing societies, social protection mechanisms, pension systems and health care programmes are being adjusted and strengthened. Womens participation in the workforce is being supported more than ever before, and some countries are slowly pushing up the age of retirement.

Meanwhile, due to a relatively slow decline in rates of fertility, many parts of Africa will retain a young population for decades to come, he said. Nevertheless, as the birth rate continues to fall due in part to continuing investments in sexual and reproductive health, there will be an opportunity for a demographic dividend.

As the relatively large youth cohorts of on Monday enter the labour force of tomorrow, they will be responsible, on average, for a smaller number of children requiring their support, while the size of the older population will still be relatively small, he said.

If this future population of workers is empowered by having access to health care, education and opportunities for employment, countries will be in a good position to reap the full benefit of the favourable demographic situation caused by the temporary bulge in the age distribution as it passes through the working ages, he added.

In a statement delivered by his Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chef de Cabinet, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said that progress in providing access to education and to sexual and reproductive health-care services, especially for girls and women, has improved the lives of women and children, and has led to falling birth rates in many countries.

When this trend is accompanied by investments in human capital, espcially for youth, a demographic dividend can result, accelerating a countrys economic growth, he said.

That dividend can be further enhanced with increased labour force participation by women, who must be empowered and afforded the same education and employment opportunities as men, Guterres said, stressing that men also must do their part, by sharing in household work and caregiving responsibilities.

The former head of the UN refugee agency said that international migration can also help address the challenges of population ageing, by adding workers to the population and reducing the average age, encouraging all governments to facilitate migration that is safe, orderly and regular.

On Mondays opening session also featured a keynote address by EliyaZulu, Executive Director of the African Institute for Development Policy in Nairobi, on the topic of Changing age structures and sustainable development in youthful societies.

In 2018, the General Assembly will convene an intergovernmental conference on international migration for adopting a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The Commission on Population and Development may choose as its theme for its session in 2018 Sustainable cities, human mobility and international migration.

Photo: Aisha Faquir/World Bank

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant following a case that was filed against her for making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki.

A local court in Ludhiana had issued an arrest warrant against her for the remark. The warrant was issued on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for hurting religious sentiments of the Valmiki community with her comments on a TV programme.

Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the hearing held on March 9 despite the court issuing her repeated summons.
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.
The Army jawan who was arrested on Monday for carrying two grenades in his luggage at Srinagar airport got released on bail on Tuesday.

Soldier Bhopal Mukhia of 17 J-K Rifles alleged that a senior officer had asked him to carry the grenades and hand them to a person in Delhi.

Mukhia was posted near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri.

Army sources said that the jawan belongs to Darjeeling and has accepted that he was carrying grenades, saying it was for causing blast in rivers to catch fish.

The soldier was to board a flight to Delhi. He was lodged at the local police station for questioning.
Lawyer-politician Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna in relation to the formation of anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Hindu organisations are up in arms against the Swaraj Abhiyan founder after he said that he opposed the anti-Romeo squads as they violated the spirit of love and had questioned if the Uttar Pradesh government would even harass Lord Krishna, whom he termed a "legendary eve teaser".

Bhushan on Tuesday tweeted: "I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads and Krishna was inappropriately phrased and unintentionally hurt sentiments of many people. Apologize and delete it."

Bhushan on Sunday tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"

While a demonstration was held outside his residence in Noida, protests also took place in Pratapgarh, Firozabad and Hathras.

Police said they have stepped up vigil and would not allow anybody to take law in their hands.

Security has been beefed up following a threat from a Bajrang Dal functionary in Firozabad who announced a Rs 1 lakh bounty on the head of the eminent social activist and lawyer.

City coordinator of Bajrang Dal in Firozabad Aachman Upadhya said he will give Rs 1 lakh to anyone who brings the head of Bhushan.

Sadhus in Mathura have filed a complaint against Prashant Bhushan in Govardhan and have staged a protest in Vrindavan.

Office bearers of the Hindu Jagran March who met senior police officials in Hathras said they will not tolerate such a comment against Hindu gods.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has threatened to launch a stir in Allahabad against the lawyer and VHP workers burnt an effigy of Bhushan in Pratapgarh.

A case has also been filed against Bhushan in the CJM court in Maharajganj under sections 295 A and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. May 20 has been fixed as the date of hearing.
Even as China fumed over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India today refused to budge from its stand that the Tibetan spiritual leader was free to go anywhere in India, underlining that no artificial controversy should be created around his trip to the North-eastern state.

"The government has clearly stated on several occasions that HHDL (His Holiness the Dalai Lama) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the MEA said as the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal threatened to snowball into a major issue in Sino-Indian relations in the backdrop of a host of unhealthy developments in their ties in recent months.

Emphasising that no additional colour should be ascribed to the Dalai Lamas religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India, New Delhi pointed out that the Tibetan leader had visited the state six times in the past between 1983 and 2009.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, meanwhile, said there was nothing political about the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal. There is no political angle behind His Holinesss visit.It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of IndiaChina should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs, he was quoted as saying.

China has made protestations over the activities of the Dalai Lama in India in the past as well but this time around it has at least trice objected to his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, baffling the mandarins at the foreign office. A Chinese spokesperson last week said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.

To this, a source here said that instead of accusing India of ignoring its sensitivity, China should do some self- introspection on how it had been paying little heed to Indias concerns even on the issue of terrorism. In this regard, the source pointed out how China had continued to stonewall Indias attempt to get JeM chief Masood Azhar listed as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council. Another major issue that had upset India in recent months was Chinas continued blocking of Indias bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China was also ignoring Indias territorial concerns with regard to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which would pass through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it South Tibet. Besides, it accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activities in Tibet ever since he and his supporters escaped from China in 1959.
Expressing concern over China's objection to the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said that the Dalai Lama's visit is purely religious in nature and there is no need to create 'artificial controversy' over his visit.

"The visit is purely religious in nature and there should be no political angle given to that," the Union minister was quoted as saying by a news agency. He added that there was no need to create 'artificial controversy' over Dalai Lama's visit.

Saying that India never interferes in the internal matter of China, he said China should also stay away from interfering in India's internal matters.

"India never interferes in the internal affairs of China. We expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters," he said.

"People of Arunachal Pradesh desire to have good neighbourly relations with people of China. We never intend to have any problem with our neighbours," he said.

China reportedly claims that Arunachal Pradesh is part of South Tibet and calls Dharamshala-based Dalai Lama a separatist, who wants to carve out an independent Tibet within the Chinese mainland.
New Delhi on Tuesday made it clear to the new administration in the US that there was no room for third party mediation in the resolution of issues between India and Pakistan.

The governments position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasnt changed, MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in response to US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haleys statement that President Donald Trump himself might get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian neighbours.

The spokesperson said India expected the global community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continued to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
Pakistani troops resorted to mortar shelling and firing by automatic weapons along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district on Tuesday.

"There was unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army in Rajouri on Tuesday, using 82 mm mortars, automatic weapons," a defence spokesman was quoted as saying by a news agency.

"Indian Army personnel took positions and responded befittingly to the Pakistani firing," the spokesman said, adding that intermittent firing was going on.

Earlier on Monday Pakistan opened fire at the Indian troops in Digwar sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian security forces have also retaliated.

The ceasefire violation from the Pakistan side 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.
The Railways has roped in self-help groups (SHGs) for providing local cuisine in running trains through station-based e-catering service.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), the catering arm of railways, has empanelled nine SHGs to provide authentic regional food cooked in hygienic conditions at 10 stations including Adra, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Mysore, Ernakulam and Vishahapatnam.

Passengers of all trains originating or stopping at these stations can avail of the facility of SHG cooked food through e-catering. Currently, 11 lakh meals are served daily in trains across the country out of which private caterers provide the majority of meals.

The Railways had launched the station-based e-catering facility last year to widen the scope of catering options for train travellers. The local cuisine scheme was started to encourage self-help groups to participate in the public transporter's catering system and also to provide multiple options for passengers, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

To begin with, nine SHGs have come forward to provide popular local cuisine at 10 stations and it is expected that more SHGs would join the scheme, he said. Railways has announced a new catering policy with the aim of providing quality food at rail premises and reducing the number of complaints against the existing catering system. Railways receives about 25 complaints against food quality in a day which are being addressed, the official said.

The new catering policy envisages separation of cooking from distribution of food on trains and encourages e-catering system. Involvement of SHGs in e-catering provides scope for employment generation and proliferation of the scheme is expected in the days to come.
Meghalaya's powerful Khasi Student's Union (KSU) on Tuesday asked the Central government and the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) to stop persuading the people to allow them to mine uranium in the state.

"They (government authorities) have already known that there has been a strong opposition against uranium mining, but they keep persuading the people," KSU supremo Lambokstarwell Marngar said addressing the gathering while observing April 4 as "Sngi Kyrsiew Ri" or Khasi National Awakening Day.

The Khasi National Awakening Day is observed across Khasi-Jaintia hills to commemorate the day freedom fighter U Tirot Sing Syiem waged a war in 1829 against the British.

"Therefore, if violence breaks out in the state because of this (uranium) issue, the Centre, state government and UCIL and Atomic Minerals Directorate will be held responsible," Marngar warned.

Observing the awakening day under the theme "say no to uranium mining", thousand of KSU activists marched took out a protest march to AMD office here, voicing out their vociferous opposition against the plan to extract uranium deposits from South West Khasi Hills district.

The activists also burnt down effigies of AMD and UCIL as mark of protest.

"For the past 27 years, the UCIL has been making attempt to mine uranium in Meghalaya, but they have failed to achieved their plan as the people are against the mining of this highly radioactive mineral which will annihilate the indigenous people of the state," said North East Students' Organisation (NESO) chairman, Samuel B. Jyrwa.

"Had we not agitated since that time, we do not know what will happen now. They have used all sorts of tactics to convince the people. Now they should realise that uranium is a forgotten issue," he added.

He also cited how the indigenous people at Jharkhand's Jadugoda have suffered due to the ill-effects of uranium mining.

Last month, a team of UCIL officials led by their Chairman and Managing Director, C.K. Asnani held a closed-door meeting with five anti-mining groups seeking their views and opinions on Kylleng Pyndengsohiong Mawthabah (KPM) uranium mining project that has been stalled for over two decades.

However, the leaders of the various groups, including the KSU asked the UCIL officials to scrap the proposal, saying they will not allow anyone to mine this radioactive mineral in Meghalaya

UCIL had proposed to set up an open-cast uranium mining and processing
New York, Apr 4(Just Earth News): The United Nations humanitarian community is working closely with Colombian authorities as Government-led search-and-rescue efforts are underway in the countryas Putamayo province after deadly landslides over the weekend.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to speak with President Juan Manuel Santos about the efforts and any urgent needs later on Monday, his spokesperson told journalists in New York.

The Secretary-General spoke yesterday with Ambassador Maria Emma Majia Velez, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN, and conveyed his condolences to the people and Government of Colombia, the spokesperson said.

Quoting UN humanitarian sources, the spokesperson said that more than 250 people were killed and many more are missing or injured, including children.

The United Nations commends Colombia for its efforts to ensure that immediate humanitarian needs are being met, the spokesperson said, adding that the Organization stands ready to offer assistance.

Photo: Local UN Coordination Team in Mocoa

Source: www.justearthnews.com
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley on Tuesday to promote trade and investments between the two countries.

Hammond is visiting India to participate in the UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue.

According to the British High Commission, the ninth UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) is hosted by the Indian Finance Minister.

The high-level talks are aimed at deepeningthe UK's economic and trading relationship with India and showcasing Britain as one of the best places in the world to do business, it said.

It added that the EFD will involve a series of events over the two-day period, including discussions on trade, financial services, and infrastructure.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, will also take part in the dialogue with Jaitley.

Hammond will also visit Mumbai where he would meet Indian FinTech start-ups at Barclays RISE, as well as the Chairman of Mahindra group.

As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India, he said.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said the India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue will enable both the sides to explore the immense shared economic opportunities lying ahead.

I look forward to discussing how the UK Government's industrial strategy will increase the prospects for shared trade, investment and energy innovation between our two great countries, Clark said.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade, MarkGarnier said that there are huge opportunities for UK businesses as it has the skills, expertise and technology to meet India's demands.
Saint Petersburg in Russia is a long way from Aleppo in Syria.Yet a sinister thread surfaced on Monday when ten people were killed in a Metro explosion in the historical Russian city. Till the morning of Tuesday, no group in Russia had claimed responsibility; this has made confusion worse confounded. Suffice it to register that more than the Kremlin's intervention in Chechnya, suspicion has increasingly been riveted to the ISIS in Syria. Is it possible that Moscow's offensive against the Caliphate, most particularly in Aleppo and Damascus, has prompted the Islamists to retaliate? Mondays explosion has been described by the Kremlin as the worst act of terror outside southern Russia since a 2011 suicide attack at Moscows Domodedovo airport, which killed 37 people. A not dissimilar blast had convulsed the Moscow Underground some years back; the explosion was then ignited by the Black Widows, so-called, of Chechnya. Though the possible involvement of the Chechen rebels cannot readily be ruled out, the number of such attacks has declined dramatically in recent years.

The demand for Chechen independence isn't as vociferous as it was at least a decade ago; to an extent it has been overshadowed by Russia's expansionist design in Ukraine. If contemporary geopolitics is any indication, Vladimir Putin's resolve to confront the ISIS in Syria has, as it now turns out, made the scenario decidedly explosive within Russia though he has spoken in favour of a probe into "all variants". There is significant circumstantial evidence that Russian security services ignored the movement of suspected militants who have left the country for Syria. It was generally presumed that they would be less of a threat outside Russia than inside. Furthermore, many Muslims from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia have reportedly been radicalised while working on construction sites in Russia. They too have subsequently left for Syria.

President Putin has directed investigators to probe the disaster from "all possible angles ~ accidental, criminal and first of all terrorist". Further comment must await the outcome of the investigation, yet there is little doubt that he has to countenance a powder-keg of Russian adventurism ~ on the side of Bashr al-Assad ~ and fundamentalist fury. The first is primarily his creation. The risk of a catastrophe was dangerously real ever since the expansionism in Ukraine was followed by adventurism ~ exemplified by bombardment from the skies ~ in Syria.

The slaughter in Russia's Metro lends a hideous dimension to terrorist strategy in a country whose public transportation network has been ever so vulnerable. Post the suppression of the Chechen rebellion, the Kremlin's military intervention in Syria has made Russia a potential target for ISIS attacks. This succinctly is Monday's signal from St Petersburg.
Unlike the diffident and risk-averse Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi is unquestionably one of the most audacious politicians that India has seen. What is more, he seems to be able to get away with his derring-do. His most courageous gamble was demonetisation which has paid him handsome electoral dividends. Now, he has taken a hugely risky step by approving of the choice of the Hindu hardliner, Yogi Adityanath, as the UP chief minister.

If Modi can pull it off, he will be able to kill two birds with one stone. For one, he can expect a tough outlier who has been outside the system till now to crack down on the lawless elements so that the Prime Ministers dream of making the state an Uttam Pradesh comes true. Secondly, if Yogi can do so on an impartial basis, it will mark the beginning of a new phase in UPs and the Hindutva camps politics.

Most people will keep their fingers crossed on the second point. But judging from what the new chief minister told parliament  he is still an M.P. ~ and at a public meeting in Gorakhpur, where he heads a monastery, about his commitment to Modis sabka saath, sabha vikas mantra, he is likely to function in a non-partisan manner. Besides, no one can know better than Yogi that if he doesnt, then all of Modis efforts towards vikas and a softening of the saffron brotherhoods anti-minority image will go for a toss. It is this particular endeavour of the prime minister which will be in focus now. And who better to implement it than the former rabble rouser whose anti-Muslim and anti-Christian diatribes can fill pages of a Google download.

If demonetisation was a surgical strike against the parallel economy, the Yogis selection is directed against the RSS-led saffron brotherhoods nine-decade-old project to convert India into a Hindu rashtra. That doesnt mean that Modi wants to turn the majoritarian BJP into a carbon copy of the secular Congress.

But it does mean that the ideas which the saffron stalwarts of the past like VD Savarkar and MS Golwalkar advocated about making the minorities second class citizens will no longer enjoy official blessings.

Instead, what Modi wants to ensure is that the government will pursue raj dharma ~ the phrase which Atal Behari Vajpayee used in Modis presence in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots of 2002 to highlight the principle of a governments neutrality. And Modi presumably expects Yogi to follow this path as well.

Only time will tell to what extent the latter will be able to suppress what can only be considered his natural, anti-minority instincts. But as a member of the BJP, he must be aware that any move which undermines Modis agenda will be politically fatal for the party.

Modi, on the other hand, seems to believe that if he himself can change from being a textbook fascist, as sociologist Ashis Nandy said, or a modern-day Nero, as the Supreme Court called him in the context of the Gujarat riots, or a killer of thousands, as Manmohan Singh alleged, to be an avatar of modernity and progress, to quote Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, then so can Yogi. Only time will show whether such a metamorphosis can indeed take place. But any indication that Yogi is no longer an anti-minority hate-monger is bound to be deeply resented by the other hardliners of the Sangh parivar such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. Even the Shiv Sena of the extended saffron brotherhood will feel uneasy for, if anything, the Yogis adherence to law and order will mean that the antics of these groups against courting couples on Valentines day will no longer be tolerated.

Already, Yogi has told the anti-Romeo squads in UP not to harass boys and girls if they are seen together. He has also said that he will follow the norms laid down by the National Green Tribunal on abattoirs.

These are some of the fallouts which will show whether the Yogi has really changed his spots. For instance, will the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the parivars student wing, be forced to check its physical intimidation of the anti-national Leftist students ? The views of the RSS are not yet known, but it is obvious that the Hindu supremacist outfit will not be overjoyed with the possibility of one of its poster boys turning over a new leaf.

Modi is apparently following a two-pronged strategy. Even as he had clamped down earlier on Yogis ghar wapsi and love jehad campaigns about the reconversion of Muslims back to Hinduism and stopping Hindu-Muslim love affairs, he allowed the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, to address the nation on state-controlled media on Vijayadashami day and filled important institutional posts with RSS nominees who are generally regarded as being unqualified.

The so-called saffronization of education is also continuing apace with the Rajasthan University withdrawing foreign authors from the commerce syllabus and replacing them with the Vedas, the Bhagwad Gita, the writings of Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi and courses in yoga to make the students aware of the great contributions made by the Indian scriptures, religious figures and Indian philosophy, as a former head of the syllabus revision committee said.

The belief, therefore, that Modi represents modernity and progress is not wholly true. But he does seem to believe in law and order in order to facilitate investments, for which he deserves two cheers.

The writer is a former Assistant Editor, The Statesman.
Do our security leaders watch too much cable TV? If they did, they would accept that the fright in Scare Tactics eventually fizzled out and all ended in a good laugh. Yet it is a different brand of humour that emerges when the bluff is called, and the joke is on those who tried to scare adversaries into submission ~ often it provokes even more hostility. Weeks back the Army chief warned that his soldiers would go helter skelter after Kashmiri youth threw stones to distract the troops on counter-militancy missions. It had as little impact as the much-hyped surgical strikes had on preventing terrorists from using launch pads in POK to disrupt normality in the Valley. Now the Director-General of the J&K Police has cautioned those misguided young persons that they would be committing suicide if they persisted with their harassment of the security forces: even coming up with the profound observation that a bullet does not know whom it will hit. Clearly hurting, the security forces at large have also made it apparent the they have yet to formulate a strategy that will nullify the supporting-fire being extended to militants/terrorists by highly-motivated, perhaps even radicalised, local folk who see themselves getting increasingly involved in the dubious bid for azadi.

The strategy-deficit is not limited to the uniformed community ~ the union home minister has only recently asserted in Parliament that our security forces are responding the way they are expected to. Apart from expressing confidence about who will emerge victorious (not mentioning at what cost that victory would be achieved), Mr Rajnath Singh echoed the forces charge that those backing the stone-pelters (from across the border?) had made a fine-art of using social media to mobilise the youth within minutes of an anti-militancy operation being initiated ~ another pointer to who held the strategy trumps.

There has been little dissipation in the unrest witnessed last June since the killing of Burhan Wani, and there are signs of a hot summer in the offing. The state government is truly out of its depths: time was when Mehboobi Mufti wielded some influence with the azadi agitiators, but that evaporated when the desire for the gaddi saw her link up with the BJP. And Raisina Hill is too distant from the Kashmir Valley to trigger a revised approach, revive a policy along the lines of what had stamped Atal Bihari Vajpayee distinct. It requires persons with large hearts to shed the baggage of the past and script a new history ~ not those obsessed with pellet-guns, and who live in a fools paradise when jingoistic TV channels slam as anti-national all those who recommend a non-military approach to restoring tranquility across the Pir Panjal.
On 25 March 2017, a Kolkata newspaper reported that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to inaugurate the newest district of the state  Burdwan Industrial (Asansol-Durgapur) on 7 April, barely two days after inaugurating the new Jhargram district. At a function to be held at the historic Polo Ground in Asansol, she will announce the setting up of the new district. The district administration has already started preparations for her programme. Asansol, the oldest industrial town in the country will become the new district headquarters.

Partition in 1947 saw the rich province of Bengal divided into East Pakistan and West Bengal. Kolkata, once the capital of British India and the second city of Empire, declined in significance to the state capital of West Bengal and the next few decades witnessed the loss of power, flight of capital and investment and political turmoil.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front took over power in 1977 and ruled for 34 years until they were defeated by the Trinamul Congress under Mamata Banerjee in 2011 and virtually routed in 2014. Under the Left Front, the districts of Dinajpur, Medinipur and 24 Parganas were sub-divided into Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur, Purba and Paschim Medinipur and North and South 24 Parganas.

Under the Trinamul regime, Kalimpong in Darjeeling district was created a separate district last month, consisting of the Kalimpong Municipality and three community development blocks, namely, Kalimpong I, Kalimpong II and Gorubathan. And now the state government is all set to create the newest district by bifurcating Burdwan and consolidating Asansol as a leading district headquarters.

Is the division of West Bengal into smaller and smaller administrative units going to be an effective policy? Friedrich Ratzel wrote in his Politische Geographie of 1897 that the state is an organism attached to the land, which, like other organisms in nature, passes through a developmental cycle. Like natural organisms, states must also grow or die as they cannot stand still. States were seen to be involved in an ongoing struggle for survival like other natural organisms. The struggle was manifest in the states efforts to acquire larger and larger territories as living spaces to support their growing populations  this was the central idea behind the concept of Lebensraum (living space), according to R. D. Dikshit writing in 1997.

It may be analysed in the political context of the subdivision of West Bengal into a multiplicity of regional administrative units. The concept of a region is a fundamental one in geography. A region was defined by Vidal de la Blache as a domain where many dissimilar beings, artificially brought together, have subsequently adapted themselves to a common existence while Herbertson defined it as a complex of land, water, air, plant, animal and man regarded in their special relationships as together constituting a definite, characteristic portion of the earths surface.The earth surface has been classified into several categories. A process closely allied to classification is logical division, where a class is taken as an universe and divided into subclasses based on some logical principle. Instead of seeing similarities, we look for differences; instead of building up, we are involved in breaking down. Divisions are not absolute and should be changed with new information. It is vital to keep updating the regional systems with reviews of data. If an area is to be divided into regions, then all parts of the area must be assigned to one region and each to one region only. Regions of the same order should be based upon the same property. To this should be added that regional boundaries are frequently coalesced with political, economic and social boundaries.

Mousumi Ghosh writes in 2016 that Asansol city in the western part of the Barddhaman district in West Bengal is a model of a city which owes its existence to a spatially concentrated mineral deposit, coal. It is the nodal centre of the vast Raniganj coal belt. Coal is the chief resource which initiated the process of capital circulation in this region(It) is an important railway junction station in eastern India Very few cities in India and no other places in West Bengal have such (a) juxtaposition of natural and built space like collieries, agricultural lands, villages as well as very important rail and road networks, junction rail station, basic and heavy industries and different ancillary industries and a bustling trade and transport centreAsansol has an urban area of 127.87 sq km. The population (was) 475,439 (and) (p)opulation density was 3718 per sq km (in 2001)(t)he Asansol Municipal Corporation was formed in 1994 by amalgamating Asansol municipality, Asansol blocks and the Burnpur Notified Area. The area of the Raniganj coal field is 1530 sq kmAsansol has an excellent strategic locationin the border region of Bengal and Jharkhand.

The Draft Development Plan (2008-2013) of Asansol Municipal Corporation put the population of the Asansol Durgapur Planning Area at 3.2 million (2011), 4 million (2021) and 4.45 million (2025). The larger the population, the greater the need for division, to try to bring about administrative efficiency, create more employment and generate political and economic capital.

The division of Kalimpong from Darjeeling may be seen as a political move to spread socio-economic and socio-cultural development in tricky north Bengal. The division of Barddhaman (formerly Burdwan) is possibly an economic move, as the area of the new district is a treasury with vast income-generating ability, required in the divide and rule tactics of West Bengal.

The writer is Honorary Associate, Centre for Urban Economic Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Apart from undertaking various expeditions beyond Earth, scientsts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have joined a partnership created to develop self-driving cars using radar, lasers, the Global Positioning System and computer vision.

In response to the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) request last year for proposals for a pilot programme to perfect the technology behind self-driving cars, the Central Florida Automated Vehicle Partnership was formed.

DOT selected the Central Florida partnership as one of 10 proving ground pilot sites around the country to encourage testing and communicating information about automated vehicle technologies.

NASA playing a role in developing automated vehicles is another example of applying the agency's technology to everyday life, Amy Houts Gilfriche, NASA Partnership Development manager in Center Planning and Development, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The space center also has a unique transportation testing capability, professional staff, instrumentation, processes and technical expertise to test existing autonomous vehicles and develop new sensors.

In addition, the Kennedy Centre may provide a controlled testing facility, which offers a contained environment with a vast road network and secure access.

While the extent of Kennedy's role has not yet been determined, the centre already has electric vehicle charging stations and could provide many different test sites for driving tests.

"The safety implications of this technology are tremendous. Some of the most significant factors to traffic crashes today are distracted and fatigued drivers. This is a unique opportunity to take that out of the equation and make our streets and highways safer," Gilfriche 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.
Much of the British Isles is known to be a mound of chalk, deposited over ancient bedrock and covered with soil, except at Dover and plain of Salisbury, where the whiteness is exposed. A wall of chalk continues eastwards under the English Channel and appears again at Cap Gris Nez, on the French coast. A chalk ridge is understood to have once bridged the channel and theories of how it came to be breached have remained conjectures.

And in the same week that Prime Minister Theresa May has set in motion the UKs economic separation from the European Union, Sanjeev Gupta, Jenny S Collier, David Garcia-Moreno, Francesca Oggioni, Alain Trentesaux, Kris Vanneste, Marc De Batist, Thierry Camelbeeck, Graeme Potter, Brigitte Van Vliet-Lanoe and John CR Arthur from institutes in London, Somerset and Surrey in the UK and in Belgium and France report in the journal, Nature Communications, recent improvements in our understanding of how the physical, chalk connection between the British Isles and mainland Europe gave way to the English Channel. This is Brexit 1.0  the Brexit nobody voted for, remarks Gupta of Imperial College, London.

The chalk in the White Cliffs of Dover, extending across the Channel to north-west France, was deposited on the rock below in a warmer world a hundred million years ago, when this part of the Earth was under water. Calcium carbonate, in the shells of single celled algae, the Coccoliths, sank to the bottom of the sea and gradually built up the mound that forms large parts of present day Britain. Rising of the Earths crust and recession of sea water into ice sheets when the planet cooled lifted the land mass into view, with the British Isles connected by the chalk ridge with the rest of Europe. And then, during the ice age, 450,000 years ago, the waters receded even more and the entire English Channel was dry, a frozen landscape covered, at best, by sparse shrubbery.

The current understanding of how the chalk ridge was worn down and the now busy waterway, the English Channel, came to be, is that melting of icebergs created a vast pond in the North Sea, and the water was held back from flowing further south by the wall of chalk between Britain and Europe. Continued melt and discharge from rivers, the paper says, led to a spill-over, which breached the wall and released a mega-flood into the low lying plain beyond the ridge. There is a network of valleys eroded in the bedrock in centre of the English Channel, which have the signs of high magnitude flood flows that have been interpreted as the result of catastrophic drainage of the build-up of glacial water, the paper says.

There are also other models of both less violent and sudden breakdown of the barrier, where the lake to the north of the chalk ridge need not be proposed, or where there are other explanations for the furrows eroded in the downstream channel. The models, however, have not been tested, as there is little detailed data about the geological features of the sea bed in the places where the chalk ridge is considered to have been breached, the paper says.

The first significant bit of information about the Channel seabed was what was discovered when the route for the Channel Tunnel, the undersea rail link between England and France, which runs as deep as 75 metres below the sea bed, was being surveyed. The direct route revealed a set of kilometres-wide depressions in the rock, filled with sand and gravel sediment. How the depressions, which were named Fosse Dangeard (the word, fosse means deep), arose was not understood but the tunnel route had to be changed. An explanation of the depressions being caused by the waterfalls, which is like what has now been found to be the case, was attempted, but dropped for lack of detailed data to support the idea.

What the authors of the paper in Nature Communications have now done is to collate a great deal of the latest information, from maps of the seabed, geophysical data and maps of the bedrock, obtained by bouncing shock waves off the sea bottom, to piece together an explanation of how the data could all fit together. While the depth map was created using sonar based seabed surveys, the map of the bedrock was created using seismic reflections where vibrations that pass through the seabed get partially reflected when they meet the underlying bedrock. The reflected waves are picked up by an array of sensors and the structure of the reflecting surface can then be worked out.

The depth map of the seabed shows a path of flow, a valley, the Lobourg Channel, which passes through the Dover Strait and into a network of valleys eroded in the bedrock further southwest, the paper says. The continuity of the Lobourg Channel and the eroded network downstream suggests that they form part of the same drainage system. And then, the path of flow, in the central part of the Dover Strait, contains the enigmatic collection of one-to-four kilometres-wide depressions. This group, the Fosse Dangeard, consists of seven main depressions, which go down as far as 140 metres deep, with flank slopes as steep as 15?. Detailed analyses of the orientation, disposition and the nature of sediment with which the depressions are filled indicate that they are plunge pools, drilled into bedrock where kilometre-wide waterfalls landed, just as was suggested by Alec Smith, Bedford College, London, in 1985. It is difficult to reconcile the depth of these features with any process of formation by flow of water or tidal erosion, the paper says. The depth of erosion, in fact, suggests that the waterfall was from substantial height, the paper adds.

The picture painted is thus of a huge rock ridge made of chalk joining Britain to France, looking more like the frozen tundra in Siberia than the green environment we know today  a cold world dotted with waterfalls plunging over the iconic white chalk escarpment of the White Cliffs of Dover, to use the words of Jenny Collier of Imperial College. While this was the landscape of waterfalls is the first stage of the collapse, that explains the depressions in the seabed, it appears that this was the first stage, to be followed by a second, catastrophic breakdown and flood, that explains the erosion of valleys the bedrock downstream. Perhaps part of the ice sheet broke off, collapsing into the lake, causing a surge that carved a path for the water to cascade off the chalk ridge and an earth tremor weakened the ridge and caused the chalk ridge to collapse, says Collier.

Improved understanding of how the Dover Strait was opened helps model how northwest European meltwater drained into the north Atlantic. It would also be useful to fix the time of when Britain became isolated from mainland Europe and the early human colonisation of the breakaway island, says the paper.

The writer can be contacted at [email protected]
Indian televisions hottie Nia Sharma of Jamai Raja fame has been distressed since Monday as her instagram account allegedly got hacked.

The hacker, in fact, left a message for her followers before deleting the 26 year-old actors instagram account @niasharma90.

The message said chill you alldeleting this accountNia is a b***hand not feeling for hergoodbye

Sharma was ranked Number three in the Top 50 Sexiest Asian Women List by British-based Eastern Eye newspaper.

Nia took her to Twitter to express her pain and posted a number of tweets.

WTF! My instagram was her first tweet followed by multiple retweets, Nia tweeted: What pleasures do they derive out of hacking an account??? I enjoyed my instagram the most.. Thanx can't do it anymore.!!

She even retweeted the hackers message and said I may be a b***h but loved my instagram a lot.. please release it if you're done playing?

The actor expressed her pain on Twitter and said that it feels like she has lost an organ as she had been enjoying instagram lately.
Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday deplored the suspected chemical attack in northwestern Syria in which at least 58 people were killed and dozens injured, calling it "a crime against humanity".

"The news of a chemical attack against defenceless civilians in Syria and the bombing of hospitals where victims were receiving treatment is distressing," Alfano said, referring to Tuesday's attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

"Italy will be at the forefront criticism of the attack at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council requested by France and Britain," he went on.

"And tomorrow (on Wednesday) during the international conference on Syria taking place in Brussels, it will lead condemnation of the use of weapons of mass destruction against the Syrian people and demand that those responsible for this crime against humanity are identified."

Britain-based The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian warplanes had caused many people to choke.

Later, aircraft fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists said.
Image: Screen Grab from YouTube

Moscow, Apr 4 (IBNS): At least 11 people have died in the twin underground stations blast, which rocked Russia's St. Petersburg on Monday afternoon, reports said.

The explosion also left 45 others injured.

The Russian authorities have identified the killer, a man in his 20's, local Tass news agency reported.

Following the incident, St Petersburg authorities have declared a three-day mourning.

Meanwhile, world leaders have condemned the incident.

Condoling the loss, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted on Monday, "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at St. Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims."

Extending his support, US President Donald trump spoke to his Russian counterpart Valdimir Putin by phone.

"Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated," a White House statement read.
The death toll from the landslides that destroyed part of Colombia's Mocoa city has risen to 273, according to the Colombian President.

"We have counted the number of people who have unfortunately died. The latest figure is 273 people dead and 262 injured," Juan Manuel Santos told the media on Monday.

He added that 193 autopsies have been performed and 100 bodies have been delivered to relatives, Efe news reported.

Santos also inspected all activities that his government has been carrying out to assist the residents of Mocoa, a city home to more than 45,000 people.

He said the next phase of the government's efforts will be focusing on "prevention and public health", with a vaccination campaign against tetanus, hepatitis A, chickenpox, whooping cough and rabies.

Santos said there are five places being prepared as shelters, which will be equipped with water, electricity and food.

"There are 2,700 people in shelters and the idea is to evacuate schools as soon as possible so that children can return to class," he said.

The mudslides in the southern Colombian city were caused by the overflow of three rivers as a result of a heavy downpour on Friday night, which subsequently swept away several neighbourhoods.

Santos also declared on Monday a state of economic, social and ecological emergency to deal with the tragedy, and appointed Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas as manager of the reconstruction work.

"There has been a full process of identifying the victims. There are already 255 people registered and we hope to finalise that number by the end of the week," Santos added.

The President also noted that thousands of toilet kits, blankets, mats and masks have been distributed so far, as well as 31 tank trucks for water distribution and five drinking-water plants.
As much as 15 kg of heroin was recovered from a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on Tuesday at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

According to the national flag carrier, the heroine was recovered from a plane parked in the hangar.

"PIA's security department, with the assistance of Anti-Narcotics Force, has recovered approximately 15 kg of heroin from an aircraft which was at the hangar in Karachi undergoing (a) C check," PIA spokesperson Daniyal Gilani said in a statement.

"The matter is being investigated by all agencies concerned," the statement added.

PIA, founded in 1955, staved off several attempts made to smuggle illegal drugs on its flights in the past.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement has sought the US' intervention against alleged genocide extra-judicial killings, human rights violations and ban on its leader's freedom of speech in Pakistan.

Members of the MQM held a peaceful demonstration against Pakistan in front of the White House on Sunday. Holding placards, the protesters demanded the arrest of those involved in the extra-judicial killings of MQM workers.

Carrying MQM flags and portraits of missing and deceased workers, they demanded that their missing loved ones be recovered forthwith from illegal detention of law-enforcement agencies and presented in courts.

Addressing the demonstration, the MQM US central organiser Mateen Yousuf condemned human rights violations by security forces in Karachi.

Despite all sorts of brutalities being perpetrated by the government, supporters and activists of the party are determined and have faith in the party and its chief Altaf Hussain, Yousuf said.

In his remarks, he urged the United Nations, the US administration and human rights organisations to take notice of the state atrocities in Karachi.

He demanded stern action against those security personals who are involved in extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of MQM workers.
North Korea has warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.

The warning comes as President Donald Trump threatened the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.

The isolated state has quickened its missile programme in recent months, with a volley of tests it says are putting it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.

US-based analysts have said North Korea appears to be preparing a new atomic test. It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.

North Korea's foreign ministry yesterday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The reckless actions are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a war, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its nuclear deterrent through sanctions is the wildest dream.

Now that the US fails to face up to the trend of times but incites confrontation to strangle the DPRK (North Korea), the DPRK is left with no option but to take necessary counteraction against it.

The world will soon witness what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hideous and reckless sanctions racket, he said without elaborating.

North Korea frequently makes unspecific threats in its state media.

The statement comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The comment by the North's foreign ministry spokesman came hours before the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill relisting the North as a state sponsor of terror, along with a resolution denouncing the North's nuclear and missile development.

The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanctions last week, seeking to further isolate the country's economy.

Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after the Trump-Xi meeting.

It is most likely to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of its army on April 25 with either a sixth nuclear test, or the launch of a satellite or an ICBM test, Yang said.
Pakistan has suspended issuance of visas on arrival to foreigners in a bid to streamline the visa regime and avoid any irregularities in the database.

Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, during a high-level meeting yesterday, asked officials to revise and update visa rules besides introduction of online visa regime to bring in transparency and minimise discretion in the whole process, the Express Tribune reported.

Indifference to this responsibility in addressing the problems of the people will invite serious notice and action, he added.

Noting that a lot of good work has been done in the issuance of visas and areas of immigration, he said a lot more still needs to be done to streamline the system and remove various lacunas in it.

With the launching of the online visa application and online visa regime, the interior minister said that any anomaly in issuance of visas would be effectively eliminated.

He said a central visa database is essential as it would enable Pakistani state institutions to keep a tab on all those travelling to Pakistan on any visa category.

To ensure strict surveillance of Pakistan s land, sea and air route entry and exit points on borders, Nisar ordered speedy completion of concept paper for modern Immigration and Border Control Department (IBCD).

The minister said that as a first step, a separate body of IBCD should be set up under the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

He said modern immigration department would strengthen border control management of the country which is currently managed by the FIA.
A Pakistani money changer known for his ties with Indian don Dawood Ibrahim has been jailed for 68 months in the US for conspiring to commit money laundering, it was reported on Tuesday.

Altaf Khanani, who has already spent over a year in a Miami jail, was also fined $250,000 by a Florida court, Dawn online reported. He was sentenced on March 29.

The remaining 13 counts of committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution for Khanani's cooperation in the probe.

According to the US Treasury Department, his clientele included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian crime groups and designated terrorist organisations.

"Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the Treasury Department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Indian security agencies say Ibrahim, originally an Indian, lives in Pakistan now as a Pakistani citizen. Islamabad denies this.

Khanani agreed to plead guilty and "make a full, accurate and complete disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.

The agreement said the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing as Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.

The probe involved coordination from six law enforcement agencies from three countries  the US, Australia and the UAE.

Khanani and Kalia International (KKI) was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world.

Khanani has intimate knowledge of the bank accounts and intermediaries used by the groups whose money he was moving.

The court committed Khanani to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, with a recommendation that he serve his time in a local facility in Florida.

Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

Khanani was in June 2015 indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a $250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.
The National Archives and Records Administration has told the White House to keep each of President Donald Trump's tweets, even those he deletes or corrects, and the White House has agreed.

The head of the archives, David S Ferriero, told two Democratic senators in a letter last week that the White House has assured him it's saving all Trump's Twitter blasts.

The archives contacted the White House about the matter because the Presidential Records Act requires such correspondence to be preserved for history.

Ferriero did not say when the agency contacted White House officials to remind them about the records requirement, but officials briefed the White House counsel's office about the law on February 2, according to the archivist's letter to Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tom Carper of Delaware.

The archivist's letter, dated March 30, doesn't describe precisely how the White House is saving Trump's tweets. The Obama administration used an automated system to isolate and preserve copies of President Barack Obama's tweets.

McCaskill and Carper raised the issue of Trump's tweets in early March following a spate of instances in which the president had deleted or altered earlier tweets. The two senators had previously raised concerns about Trump's tweets in a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn.

The two senators also pressed the archives for information about reports that some White House staffers had been ordered to avoid emails or use smartphone apps that do not preserve emails because of Trump administration concerns about leaks to the media.

Ferriero told them he was aware of those press reports but said that White House guidance to all employees expressly forbids the use of such apps. Ferriero also said he was not aware of government officials who have been instructed to avoid using email as a method of work-related communication.

Trump's almost-daily use of his official White House Twitter account and his separate private Twitter account has been heavily scrutinised by the media and by political friends and foes since his November election and even more so since his inauguration.

Three minutes before he took the oath of office in January, Trump tweeted from his private account that he was honered to serve you, the great American people, as your 45th President of the United States. The misspelled word in the tweet was later altered to honored and then the tweet was deleted entirely.

Unlike the archives' clear guidance on saving Trump's tweets, the agency has not provided any guidance to government agencies about preserving communications to and from Trump's smartphones and agencies have not requested guidance, Ferriero said.
A Russian citizen of Kyrgyz origin was identified as the perpetrator of the terror attack that left 14 dead on the St Petersburg metro, Russian authorities announced.

The spokeswoman for the chief Russian investigators Svetlana Petrenko on Tuesday, said the assailant was identified as Akbarzhon Jalilov using genetic analysis and security camera footage of Monday's attack, Efe news reported.

She said criminal investigators found traces of his DNA on the explosive suitcase that had been left behind in the Ploschad Vosstania station, which was deactivated by police before it could be detonated.

On Monday, Jalilov allegedly detonated an explosive on the St Petersburg metro between the central Sennaya Square and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations, killing at least 14 persons and leaving over 50 injured.

The Kyrgyz and Russian Foreign Ministers met on Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the attack.

Abdyldaev said it could not yet be determined whether or not the assailant was a member of the Islamic State terror organization.

The 22-year-old Jalilov, who worked at a garage in St Petersburg, was born in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, but obtained Russian nationality in 2011.

To prevent further attacks, Russian authorities have reinforced security measures across St Petersburg and Moscow at public transport stations, public buildings, squares, schools and kindergartens.
US President Donald Trump donated the first quarter of his presidential salary  a total of $78,333  to the National Park Service, the White House announced.

At his daily press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer displayed the cheque with Trump's donation and handed it to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Efe news reported.

The National Park Service, which celebrated its centennial last year, is tasked with protecting and maintaining the country's national parks and monuments, including US battlefields and Trump is "proud" to contribute part of his yearly salary to that "important mission", Spicer said.

The White House had announced in March that Trump was going to fulfill his promise to donate his salary as President, which amounts to a gross of $400,000 per year.

During the election campaign, the mogul promised that if he won last November's presidential balloting, he would either donate his salary or return it to the Department of the Treasury.

Trump's fortune amounts to as much at $3.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
The US House of Representatives has approved a request by the State Department to put North Korea back on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, from which the it was removed in 2008.

The lower house adopted the resolution late Monday with 394 votes in favour and only one against, weeks after Pyongyang tested a rocket engine and following multiple missile and nuclear tests, Efe news reported.

North Korea was delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2008 in an attempt by former US President George W. Bush to negotiate its disarmament.

In the past, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have featured in the list drawn up by the state department, and which now includes countries such as Sudan, Syria and Iran.

The House of Representatives also approved 398-3, a resolution condemning North Korea's efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the two resolutions are "concrete actions" to hold North Korea accountable for its actions and called former US President Barack Obama's policies towards Pyongyang a failure.
New York, Apr 4(Just Earth News): A avanguard brigadea of UN Peacekeepers which can be deployed within 60 days to new trouble-spots, would have been aimpossiblea to envisage just two years ago.

But not any longer, according to Herve Ladsous, the out-going Peacekeeping chief, who said in his final interview with UN News that the department (DPKO) had become more efficient in recent years, without lowering the quality of often life-saving services it provides around the world.



Around 126 countries contribute civilian, military and police personnel to DPKO, which has well over 100,000 people on active duty.



Ladsous explained to UN News how the department had been able to cut the budget from $US8.2 billion down to $US7.2 billion since 2011, when he took on the job.



UN News: During Friday's press conference, you said the entire budget for peacekeeping operations worldwide is down US $7.2 billion and that the cost for each peacekeeper fell 16 per cent in recent years. How did you manage that without hurting day-to-day operations?



Herve Ladsous: Simply by being more efficient, and I have to stress without lowering the quality of the equipment or the services we were providing. I think it shows that we want to be good stewards of the resources that are given to us.



UN News: If there were to be further budgetary cuts, how would this affect the UN?



Herve Ladsous: Well I of course note that it is for the Security Council to decide on our mandate, and on our ceilings of staffing. We will have to stress that in some circumstances, reductions might have operational consequences on the ground. But we will remain, as ever, in very close touch with all the Member States of the Council and, further down the road of course, with the Fifth Committee (Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions).



UN News: You've touted the technological advances that are helping to improve the work of peacekeepers on the ground  can you give us some examples?



Herve Ladsous: Of course. The obvious one is the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are now becoming standard in most of our operations  both the big drones and the smaller ones. But I do stress surveillance drones, of course not tactical machines. But it's also about getting detection radars for weapon attacks; it's about tethered balloons  to watch over a city like Bangui, with cameras and thermal senses  which really allow us to see what is happening.



UN News: If you look at all the conflicts that are taking place on the ground, it seems that the peacekeeping operations have had to stretch a bit to be able to accommodate all these crises. What has it been like?



Herve Ladsous: Stretch, yes of course, but when we had the peacekeeping summit two years ago, it translated into many offers by contributors of troops and police, both old and newer ones.



We've had to operationalize these offers and now we have reached a point where we will have the capacity to deploy a vanguard brigade within thirty to sixty days, which simply was impossible only two years ago. So, stretch I'm not sure is really the word.



The problem, though, has to do with the enablers and with the equipment of certain units, and we are constantly working with those countries to help and improve. We are trying to be creative, to address those issues in the most effective way.



UN News: The Department of Peacekeeping Operations has managed to get more recruits from the global north compared to the global south which has been contributing more troops over the years. What has changed?



Herve Ladsous: I think this was one of the subjects on which I worked a lot over these five years because it seemed to me that the situation was unfair. The burden was not shared equally. We haven't reached a point where we can say the job is done but certainly there has been a trend and when we look at the mission in Mali, MINUSMA, you have no less than seventeen European countries  European Union countries  who are represented by staff or personnel of that mission.



In the Central African Republic I have not forgotten that it was the Europeans, indeed, who came to provide a kind of buffering between the African Union and a full deployment of the UN troops. So I think this is something that has to be encouraged because ten years ago many of those countries were heavily involved in Afghanistan.



Now that of course has disappeared essentially from the screens and I think they came to realize that coming back to peacekeeping in the UN context is something that is desirable.



UN News: Your department has also been trying to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping operations, but women are still underrepresented and why is that?



Herve Ladsous: That is true and of course, we haven't made as much progress as I would have wished but of course you have to be aware that the sociology of the armies of the main countries of the world is not a very feminine one. So we can hardly be expected to do much better than the Member States who provide us the personnel. We are doing rather a little better for police personnel. We stand, I think, right now at 12 per cent and the goal is that we may reach twenty per cent, which I think we may be able to do. Also I have set a goal for military officers  staff officers  to get also 20 per cent of female officers, as soon as possible. But it requires a lot of work, and of course, the active cooperation of those countries who contribute troops and police.



UN News: It must have been frustrating for your department in cases where there is no peace to keep, for example in Mali, South Sudan 



It's a shame that a few people, you know, smear the reputation of the vast majority of the peacekeepers and, of course, we should not forget the member states who contribute the troops and police have to do their share. It's not only the responsibility of the secretariat



Herve Ladsous: Exactly, that's true. I was in South Sudan last week, and it's the same. You see, this has been a trend that the Security Council gives us mandates, but in contexts which are not exactly those that we would hope to find. So of course one of the permanent goals for those missions  and it's been certainly the case in Mali, it is the case presently in South Sudan  is to try to support those particular countries of the region who try to engineer a peace agreement, and of course implementing those agreements then becomes our responsibility. But there have been some very delicate transitions and of course situations which exposed our people to greater risk obviously.



I haven't forgotten the short-lived supervision mission that we dispatched to Syria in 2012. After four months we concluded that. This was not for us, definitely. There was no peace, nor was there any hope at the time of seeing the process developing.



UN News: The issue of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN staff in countries like CAR, DRC, Haiti, just to name few, made big splashes in the news and tainted the name of peacekeepers, although it is a system wide problem. Do you feel that DPKO handled this issue correctly and is it on the right path to rid itself of the scourge?



Herve Ladsous: I think we have always taken this very seriously. The new Secretary-General has put even more emphasis by putting out his plan of action which builds and prolongs a number of things which we had already done. I think it is absolutely a necessity.



UN Photo/ Sylvain Liechti











Source: www.justearthnews.com






The US has withdrawn funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that promotes family planning in over 150 countries, a media report said.

The Department of State on Monday referred to the presidential directive from January and a provision called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment  enacted for the first time in 1985 as part of a US appropriations law prohibiting foreign aid to any organisation that the administration determines is involved in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation, the BBC reported.

"This determination was made based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," it said.

This is the first of the promised cuts to US financial contributions to the UN by President Donald Trump's administration.

In response, the UNFPA said it "regrets the decision" and called the claims "erroneous" and that all of its work promotes the rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.

In total $32.5 million in funds is being withdrawn for the 2017 financial year, the BBC reported.

With the support of the US, last year UNFPA said it was able to save the lives of thousands of women from dying during pregnancy and childbirth, prevent unintended pregnancies, and unsafe abortions.

The money that had been allocated to the UNFPA for the fiscal year 2017 will be "transferred and reprogrammed to the Global Health Programmes account," the State Department said.

The account will be used by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support family planning, maternal and reproductive health activities in developing countries, it added.
Former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto lashed out on Tuesday at Nawaz Sharif-led government for "not doing much against terrorism during last two years".

"The country (Pakistan) has made no progress against terrorism and is standing exactly where it was two years ago," claimed Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Bilawal Bhutto while addressing a mammoth rally held to mark the 38th death anniversary of party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Bilawal cautioned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about the dangerous game of undermining federation by allocating huge funds for certain areas.

"Mian Sahib, you are playing a dangerous game. What do you want to prove by approving Rs 37 billion gas project for an area," he said.

Regarding the glamorous political life of PPP's founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Bilawal maintained that it (April 4) was the darkest day in the history of Pakistan.

"On this day, the leader who defeated dictators was hanged," Bilawal said.

The 28-year-old chairman enquired about the progress made during the PML-N's current stint and added that billions of rupees were being spent in an extravagant fashion to advertise this progress.

Asif Ali Zardari said in his speech that PPP was not afraid of people who were targeting the party.

Zardari maintained that he was waiting for the Panama papers verdict to chalk out the future strategy and claimed that his party was ready for parliamentary elections even in 2017.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.


remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
In this 2012 file photo, masked Somali pirate Hassan stands near a Taiwanese fishing vessel that washed up on shore after the pirates were paid a ransom and released the crew, in the once-bustling pirate den of Hobyo, Somalia.
Job Title: Driver

Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Position No.: 10016828

Vacancy Notice: 13/2017

Reports to: Senior Administrative Assistant

Duty Station: Uganda

Post Grade: GL2

About UNHCR:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international protection to refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate concerning issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Job Summary: The Driver is mainly responsible for up keep and maintenance of the assigned UNHCR vehicle(s) as per technical guidance and specifications established by the organisation. The incumbent will be required to follow strict instructions and security guidance provided by the supervisor. While the basic function of a driver is to drive the official vehicles of UNHCR, he/she may be called upon to perform minor maintenance and repair of UNHCR vehicles. The incumbent has regular contacts with staff within UNHCR office and with service providers outside UNHCR involving a limited exchange of information.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Drive UNHCR vehicles for the transport of authorized passengers and delivery and collection of mail, documents, UNHCR pouch and other items.

Meet official personnel at the airport and facilitate immigration and customs formalities as required.

Carry out the day-to-day maintenance of the assigned vehicles; check oil, water, battery, brakes, tyres, etc. and ensure that the assigned UNHCR vehicles are road worthy and maintained up to the established security standards.

Conduct minor repairs and arrange for other repairs and ensure that the vehicle is kept clean.

Ensure that the steps required by rules and regulations are taken in case of involvement in accident.

Log official trips, daily mileage, gas consumption, oil changes, greasing, etc.

Perform any other related duties as required by the Administrative/Finance Associate

Key Performance Indicators:

Assigned UNHCR vehicles are properly maintained and equipped as per technical guidance and specifications established by the Organisation.

Local traffic rules and regulations are strictly observed.

Instructions and security guidance provided by the supervisor and security focal point are strictly followed by the Driver and the passengers during the journey

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the United Nations UNHCR Driver job vacancy should have completed Primary Education or equivalent technical or commercial school.

At least two years of previous job experience relevant to the function.

Driving licence, knowledge of driving rules and regulations and skills in minor vehicle repair.

Vehicle classes B, CM, CH, DL, & DM

Good knowledge of English.

Excellent communication skills

Good knowledge of English and Swahili

Good mechanical skills are desired

Ability to work in remote areas.

How to Apply:

All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions after reviewing the job details.

Deadline: 14th April 2017
But the tribe has a long way to go
Filmmaker Roman Polanski on Monday lost another bid to end his 1970s rape case without serving more jail time when a Los Angeles judge ruled the French-Polish director could not seek relief from the courts while still a fugitive.

Polanski, who lives in France, failed to advance any substantially new arguments in the four-decade-old case involving a 13-year-old girl during a volley of recent legal filings and a hearing in March, Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon said.

Gordon, in a 13-page written ruling, said Polanski, 83, "cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it."

France, where Polanski was born to Polish parents, has refused to extradite the filmmaker, who did not travel to Los Angeles in 2003 to accept the Academy Award he won for directing the World War II film The Pianist.

During the March hearing Polanski's attorney, Harland Braun, asked Gordon to rule that his client had served his time behind bars in 1977, when he spent 42 days in jail while awaiting sentencing for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.

With that assurance, the director would fly from Paris immediately to the United States for sentencing, Braun said.

Following Gordon's ruling, Braun said the judge had failed to address the "central issue" in the case - emails that he claims show that the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior court had violated court rules by telling a colleague how to handle the high-profile.

"You're not going to find a word about that (in Gordon's ruling). He simply ignores it," Braun said. "Rather than lecture Roman Polanski and all the lawyers, talk about the emails."

Polanski's case has been a cause celebre for 40 years when, following 1977 guilty plea and time in jail, he fled the United States, fearing a plea bargain with prosecutors would be overruled and that he would get a lengthy prison term.

Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and Tess, was arrested on US warrants in both Poland and Switzerland during the past decade, but both countries ultimately declined to extradite him.

Victim Samantha Geimer has said she believes Polanski's exile has been punishment enough.

Braun has said Polanski wants to visit the California grave of his wife, Sharon Tate, who was murdered in Los Angeles by followers of Charles Manson in 1969.
Gujarat, on April 4, got its first woman DGP, with the appointment of 1982-batch IPS officer Geetha Johri.

Gujarat DGP Geetha Johri | PTI

Johri takes over charge as DGP in-charge from P.P.Pandey, who resigned four days ago, anticipating an adverse ruling in connection with a PIL filed by former police officer Julio Ribeiro. Ribeiro had challenged the appointment of Pandey as DGP in-charge, given that the latter is an accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

MoS Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, on Tuesday, said that the state government has accepted Pandey's resignation and decided to appoint Johri as the state police chief.

Johri told media persons that her priority would be to address issues faced by women and added that anyone could approach her. Johri said the state's law and order was good and she would strive to ensure that it remained so.

Gujarat will witness numerous VIP and VVIP visits in 2017 as the state goes to polls by end of the year.

Johri has served in Vadodara, Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar among other places.

She is also credited with taking on don Abdul Latif; Bollywood blockbuster Raees is based on his life.

Moreover, it has been reported that it was based on her investigations that top police officers, including D.G.Vanjhara, were arrested in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. However, critics contended that the investigation was not perfect.
Prof. Asher Susser, director of external affairs at the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern Studies in Tel Aviv University, has a regret. He hasn't been to India earlier.

Hailed as one of the foremost experts in Middle East history, Susser was in India last week to take part in an international conference organised by the O.P.Jindal Global University, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University. He concluded the two-day visit with a resolve: He will come again. Excerpts from an interview with Prof. Susser.

It has been 25 years since India and Israel established diplomatic relations. Now, the prime minister of the country is visiting Israel for the first time. What are the factors cementing this relationship?

India and Israel have several common interests in the field of security, technology and economy. But that is not all. Israel has very difficult relationships with its immediate neighbours. The association with India was a great breakthrough for Israel. It cemented Israel's legitimacy in the comity of nations. Without this relationship with India, Israel's diplomacy is not complete. We ought to engage key countries of the worldnot just the United States, European Union or others. India is a major player in the global scene today, and an emerging power. We ought to be engaged with India.

What prompted that reach-out? Was it the end of the Cold War?

Even during the Cold War, there were no bilateral problems. There were no issues of historical underpinnings. This was not the case with several countries in Europe, where the Jewish experience was not a very happy one. So we could forge an easy and natural relationship, which we couldn't do with, say, Poland or Germany. The end of the Cold War became a turning point when India and Israel found that there were several common interests. It became very easy to reach out. Don't forget Oslo. We made that breakthrough in the Oslo accord [when Israel recognised Palestine's right for self-determination]. It made it easy for India and several other nations to reach out to Israel.

Palestine had always been an issue. India has always maintained a stand that was disapproving of Israel's policy on Palestine.

We know that India supported the other side. But that was nothing compared to our problems with many European countries. India's stand on the issue did not create any significant negative impact.

Is there a convergence of strategic interests now?

The relationship today is more than strategic. The ties have matured into several other areas, such as science and technology, economy and so on. Now, we can cooperate even in ensuring energy security.

Energy security?

Israel has discovered very large natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean. We can even export natural gas. Earlier, we used to say that Israel had no natural resource. Now we are in a position to export natural gas. India would be interested.

Let us talk about India. Israel has been supplying a lot of technology that several others are not ready to part with. We know how you had shared your surveillance capabilities during the Kargil conflict.

Israel has the capability to supply certain technologies without much dependence on others. Acquiring from Israel, you will find, will not involve the elbow-wrenching that you may experience from some of the great powers. We are not a great power. So we can't do elbow-wrenching.

But our world views are different. Israel, as we see, is a security-obsessed state. We claim to have a more rounded outlook which determines our diplomatic conduct.

That is because we were born in a conflict situation and that continues. We can't deny the problems we are living with. The Middle East has been one of the most unstable regions in the world. Now, it is exporting instability to Europe. The state system has been weakened in the Middle East. This is creating a fertile ground for non-state actors to emerge powerful. Look at what Europe is facing today. It is not terrorism, but massive immigration that is changing the character of the societies. Terrorism is not the key problem for them, migration is. Europe has a population deficit. Middle East has a population surplus. Europe needs immigrants in the work force, because their population is ageing. They can't resolve this dilemma. So that's the issue in Europe. Not terrorism.

Is terrorism the new threat that Israel faces?

This threat is not existential, unlike the military threat from other states that we were faced with earlier. We are not worried that Israel will collapse because of terrorism. This threat can't be tackled with military power of the state, it has to be tackled with better policing, surveillance and intelligence. This needs cooperation across state agencies. We both have experience tackling this. We can learn from each other.

You mean, the convergence of interests is not strategic alone.

No. These are not strategic, but micro-tactical. This is a threat others are also facing. It will not imperil, say, the global or regional balance of power. This threat is at a working level of the police and the intelligence.

The world is changing again, as it did in the early 1990s when relations were established. The US, which was the most dynamic global power active in the Middle East, is showing signs of world-weariness. Whereas, under Vladimir Putin, Russia is making a strategic comeback. What do you foresee in the years to come?

We do have some issues with Russia's role in the Middle East. But then, we should also remember that Russia is the only outside power today that is engaging all the actors in the Middle East. Our air force and the Russian air force have found ways of operating together on the basis of certain understanding. And you see how often Netanyahu is going to Moscow. The Russians also have a stake in Israel. There are a million ex-Russians in Israel. Russia always had cultural ties with them. So it is a huge change from the Cold War days. Today we have a balanced relationship with Russia, just as you have. If we have problems with Russia, they can be resolved. What they are doing in Syria is good for us. On other issues, we are at least communicating. Earlier, we were not.

Would China be the new power that fills the vacuum in the Middle East? We have a competitive relationship with China. How is Israel viewing this?

Israel has a very good relationship with China, but not as advanced as our relations with India. The rise of China will also depend on the US. If the US reasserts vis-a-vis China in the Pacific, China will find it difficult. But if the US takes a backseat, that is different. Russia wouldn't have been so assertive in Syria, had the US been more upfront.

What about China in the Middle East?

Does China have the strength to reach out to the Mediterranean? I doubt. Also that depends on how much the US would allow it.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.

By Ilma Hasan: In a strong message to China ahead of Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh today, India has asked the Chinese administration to stop creating "artificial controversy" and asserted that the territorial integrity of the north-eastern state cannot be questioned.

Addressing reporters in New Delhi, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju - who hails from Arunachal Pradesh - today said India does not interfere in the internal matters of China, and expect Beijing to do the same.

advertisement

"The territorial integrity of Arunachal Pradesh cannot be questioned. The people of the state are upset by some calling it as a disputed territory. I would like to appeal to Chinese to not rake up this issue," he said.

STAY OUT OF OUR INTERNAL AFFAIRS: INDIA TO CHINA

Rijiju said India respects the 'One-China' policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate. India does not interfere in our neighbours' internal matters and we expect the same from them," the minister said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh today, during which he was scheduled to hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdila and other areas.

Though the Tibetan spiritual leader has cancelled his visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh due to bad weather, he will be going to Bomdila later today, a visit opposed by China, which considers Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of southernmost Tibet.

Rijiju called Dalai's proposed visit to Tawang "purely religious" with no "political angle" to it. "Dalai Lama is entering Arunachal Pradesh today. He will have five-day rituals there. I will be joining him tomorrow after Parliament sessions. The visit is purely religious, there should be no political angle to it," he said.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh will cause "serious damage" to the bilateral ties.

Also read | Dalai Lama cancels Tawang visit due to bad weather, to travel by road to Arunachal's Bomdila instead

WATCH VIDEO

--- ENDS ---
Nine accused, all employees of a regional TV channel which aired the controversial sleaze tapes of a minister, surrendered before the Crime Branch on Tuesday.

An FIR had been registered on Friday against nine channel officials for airing an audio purportedly of then transport minister A.K.Saseendran, where he was heard having a lewd conversation with a woman on phone.



The audio was aired on Sunday and caused a furore, and within hours, Saseendran announced his resignation from the cabinet.



The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, smarting under this shock revelation, on Wednesday decided to appoint a judicial probe.



When it surfaced that the TV channel was doing an unprofessional and unethical act, the government on Thursday asked for a police probe and appointed a special team.



The CEO of the channel and senior journalist R. Ajithkumar went live on the channel on Thursday night, extending an unconditional apology by retracting from their earlier stand and admitted that it was a sting operation and not a real incident as they claimed earlier.

They said the lady who spoke to Saseendran was one of their staffers and not a housewife, who had come to meet the minister, as claimed by the channel, ever since the news was telecast on Sunday.



Despite the apology coming, the state government, especially Vijayan, is in no mood to relent.



The police registered the FIR against Ajithkumar and eight others. A few of the charges levelled against them are non-bailable.




Pakistan should stop abetting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and let peace return to the state, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Tuesday.

Addressing an election rally in Dooru where her brother Tasaduq Hussain Sayeed is contesting, she said, "Allow peace to return to Jammu and Kashmir by stopping abetting militancy."

She said unemployment was the main problem for the youths in the state. "Unemployment is the biggest challenge and we will address it effectively."

Tassaduq's main opponent is G.A. Mir of the Congress, who is the joint candidate of the Congress and the National Conference.
India is using the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to upset China. New Delhi should deliver on its political commitments to Beijing on Tibet related issues, state-run Chinese media said on Tuesday.

The 14th Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang, bordering China, will hurt Sino-Indian ties because China opposes any official invitations to him, the Global Times quoted an unnamed Chinese analyst as saying.

"The Dalai's visit to the controversial area, especially Tawang, which China hopes will be returned, will affect relations between China and India," an analyst from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the paper on condition of anonymity.

"India (is) using Dalai Lama's visit to upset Beijing," the paper quoted the analyst as saying.

The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader today arrived at Bomdila in West Kameng district, marking the beginning of his nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"India should deliver its political commitments to China on Tibet-related issues, including opposition to separatists," he said, noting that China would take steps against any government which invites the Dalai Lama.

He said Tawang is also the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, which gives the place religious meaning to Tibetans.

Reacting to Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks that the Dalai Lama's visit is "purely religious," and that there is no political angle behind it, the expert said that "this is not the first time India has used the Dalai Lama to express its displeasure to China, especially when bilateral talks fail to include their demands or to pander to domestic anti-China issues".

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, which is currently on a holiday for the Tomb sweeping festival, has not responded to a query seeking its reaction to external affairs ministry remarks as well as comments by Rijju over the Tibetan spiritual leaders visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as southern Tibet.
Stating that the Trump administration will try and find its place to be a part of efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley has suggested that President Donald Trump may participate in the mediation process.

Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward, Haley said in a press conference.

When asked whether the U.S. would make any effort to get India and Pakistan to engage in peace talks, she said, I would expect that the (Trump) administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be a part of that (process)".

We dont think we should wait till something happens. We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up, and so we want to see if we can be a part of that, the US envoy added.

I think that will be something that you will see members of the (US) National Security Council participate in, but also wouldnt be surprised if the president participates in that as well, she said.

With reports of US President Donald Trump offering to personally get involved to resolve India-Pakistan issues, New Delhi on Tuesday reasserted that its position for bilateral redressal of all issues between the two South Asian neighbours has not changed.



"Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

The UN has been continuously voicing concerns over the continuing tensions between India and Pakistan.
A defining moment in the long history of the Indian National Congress was in the afternoon of September 28, 2013a moment that screamed change. Party vice president Rahul Gandhi stormed into the Press Club in Delhi, where Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken was holding a press conference. Rahul snatched the microphone and said the United Progressive Alliance governments ordinance to negate a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted MPs and MLAs was complete nonsense that should be torn up and thrown away.

It was the moment when Rahul took charge of the party. For only a day earlier had the senior ministers discussed with Congress president Sonia Gandhi a point flagged by the President of Indiawhat would they do if the Supreme Court strikes down the ordinance? Sonia discussed the issue late into the evening, and decided that the cabinet would reconsider the ordinance after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned from Washington, and they would withdraw it.

It cannot be that Rahul was unaware of this. Yet he chose to do it his way, said a senior party leader. This one incident, he said, pointed to what to expect of Rahul and what the Congress might have to prepare for with him in charge.

That theatrical outburst, though well-intentioned and strategised, resulted in sporadic suggestions that Rahul be made party president. Four years down the line, the frequency of that demand has somewhat subsided. The party has been reduced to 44 members in the Lok Sabha, and it rules in just four statesKarnataka, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and the recently reclaimed Punjab. It was rejected by people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, and in Manipur and Goa it failed to spot and grab the opportunity.

The victory in Punjab is widely attributed to the freedom Captain Amarinder Singh got to do things in his own way.

The earlier assembly polls were a big miss for the party, with a frightening reality sinking in among Congressmen and people who believe in the party that the BJPs dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat (Congress-free India) was indeed round the corner.

And, Rahul continues to remain vice president even as many leaders clamour for the return of Sonia in decision making. Congress cant be managed like a private limited firm. It is a large, mass-based party with a long history, said Satyavrat Chaturvedi, partys chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. Sonias style was more like Jawaharlal Nehru. Sometimes she was too democratic. On every issue, shed consult seniors in the Congress, discuss issues threadbare and take a sound decision based on the advice of her senior colleagues. She also met Congress workers, and so had inputs from grassroots level, which led to socially and politically appropriate decisions. He said the current decision-making system did not follow this procedure.

After the Lok Sabha election debacle in 2014, Chaturvedi had said that the Congress needed a cardiac surgery, not a cosmetic change. Parties win and lose in democracy, but they needed an honest and ruthless introspection, based on which they should rectify mistakes, he said. People in the country, the party workers and a person like me expected that. It has been three years now and not a leaf has moved. It hurts everyone. We expected those who lost to take a back seat. There is no dearth of talent to put up a Congress that can face the challenges, meet the aspirations of every section, he said.

Senior leader A.K. Antony has headed three committees on different occasions to find the reasons for the partys election debacles. A party leader said none of the recommendations has been acted upon. Another one said though no Congress leader had seen the reports, BJP president Amit Shah had, and he had been using it to his partys benefit. Apparently, an important observation Antony made was that the Congress was seen as appeasing the minorities, which did not go down well with the Hindus.

Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha

A senior party leader said many things had gone wrong with what Rahul did in the partylike how the elections were held in the Youth Congress and the National Students Union. Youth is our strength. In the old days, Sanjay Gandhi brought people who are still serving the party. The people who came with Rajiv Gandhi, too, have done very well for the party. But, Rahuls experimental way of bringing new life and energy has failed, he said.

In the old days, leaders seamlessly moved from the NSUI to the Youth Congress to the Congress, and the people in all three were well connected and coordinated. Now, that culture is gone. There is no coordination between the seniors and the juniors, said the leader.

It is not that Rahul did everything wrong. He put the spotlight on Kalawati in one of his early speeches in support of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill, and spent time in the house of a widow whose husband had committed suicide. He thundered in his own way at the Kisan Khet Mazdoor Rally, and contributed to the Narendra Modi governments controversial Land Bill falling by the way. His suit-boot ki sarkar phrase was echoed by other Congressmen. But, as a former Congress MLA said, they were not exactly what the party men needed. If I want to meet him now, it does not help if I am given time six months later, he said. There is simply no such thing as accessibility.

And, not many are happy with outsiders hijacking the party. Lately, so many outsiders have come into the party, and become part of the high command; they even distribute tickets, said a leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Congress always depended on and trusted the workers, the ordinary Congressmen. Now there is PK [Prashant Kishor, the poll strategist]. We win in his surveys, but lose the actual elections. 

Apart from his sister Priyanka Vadra, Rahul is said

to consult K. Raju, former joint secretary of the National Advisory Council, on most matters. Mohan Gopal, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, also guides him often. At Rahuls office, Kaushal Vidyarthee and Sachin Rao form his research team; the former also keeps an eye on his appointments. At the party office, general secretaries C.P. Joshi and Madhusudan Mistry are said to be close to him. And, he discusses issues with Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajiv Satav and Jitin Prasada whenever he feels like.

He, however, fails miserably when he addresses the mass. He cannot establish a connect with the people. The communication style has to be improved if we are to take on the BJP that communicates well and does nothing on the ground, said a Congress worker, who was waiting outside the party headquarters on Akbar Road to see a leader. Another man thought Rahul needed to brush up on his Hindi.

Rahuls inability to be decisive was visible when he dithered over the alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. For months he was bashing Akhilesh, and when they eventually decided to fight in partnership, it was too late. Workers need some time to absorb such things. The result of the alliance was disastrous. Timing is key in politics, said a leader from Uttar Pradesh.

Many leaders say Rahuls tasks should begin with open-hearted, closed door deliberations. But, he has not initiated it yet. Instead, we are wasting time talking about the BJPs claim that Muslim women voted for them, said a former MLA. Then he should nurture strong regional leaders. When you dont allow that leaders to develop and instead go with personal likes and dislikes, the leadership weakens, the central leadership weakens and the party loses ground, said Chaturvedi.

Despite the sporadic cries for a leadership change, no prominent leader in the party supports the idea. Asking Rahul to resign is not the solution. Unfortunately, we are hearing such talk in some quarters. But, that is not the answer. More important is to rectify mistakes, learn from debacles, said Chaturvedi.

What most party men and state leaders are looking for is not immediately getting back to power, but rejuvenation of the party. They expect the leadership to act quickly. They see in their partys health and strength, the health and strength of Indian democracy. There is no crisis of leadership in the Congress. The BJP is creating a communal flare up, misleading people. It will not take long for the people to see through their statements and actions. When that happens, they will have only the Congress as an option across the country, and Rahul Gandhi will be seen as a hero, said Shakeel Ansari, former party secretary.

Amarinder Singh also has no doubts about an early comeback of the party. The results in Punjab, Manipur and Goa have shown that the Congress remains a force to reckon with.Let the process of empowerment of regional leaders move forward with even more aggression than before. Let the process of ticket allocation be completed well in advance so that selected candidates can reach out to the voters without having to look over their shoulder for a last-minute surprise, he said.

Rahul clearly needs to listen to state leaders, and give them freedom for the Congress to revive.
It was 10.30pm and Sevnica in Slovenia was slumbering. The towns 5,000-strong population had called it a day; the streets were silent. Only one bar remained open. As I headed in, a sozzled customer made a noisy exit, supported by his girlfriend. The decor was surprising, a retro homage to Gustav Klimt; the beer was brown and gassy. You know this First Lady, she is from here, said Gregor, the only other customer, as I sat down. We had a party for the election, but nobody really cares. He was wrong, though: I cared. I wanted to know how this nondescript Slovenian town had influenced the first lady of the United States.

Melanija Knavs, as she was called before she became Melania Trump, grew up in Sevnica when Slovenia was part of Titos Yugoslavia. Her parents, Viktor and Amalija, were a car dealer and textile factory pattern cutter, respectively. Mr and Mrs Knavs still own a house in Sevnica, as it happens; but these days, like their daughter, they live in America.

Gregor was more interested in what was going on in Sevnica the following day: the Salamiada, an annual festival of salami (of which Sevnica produces over 150 kinds). Excitingly, only men are allowed to attend. Go there, he urged me. Its near the church. Eat salami, drink much. Later, I would realise that Melania has infiltrated even this bastion of testosterone: this year, a new variety of salami was being debuted. Its name: First Lady.

Glory and joy: Chef Elvis Suhodoljac prepares Presidents Burger in Melania Trumps hometown

Sevnicas one hotel was closed. I disturbed a police van loitering in the darkness and followed the railway tracks towards the youth hostel. It was located on the top floor of the secondary school, access via the fire escape. Inside, Valerija and her momthe schools cleaning ladyshowed me a bed. The morning arrived with bright sunshine and a crescendo of childrens chatter. From the fire escape, Valerija pointed out Sevnicas main sights: the twinkling River Sava, Grad Sevnica (a 12th century castle), the genuinely pretty old town, and the not so pretty new. It may not be the next must do city break but Sevnica has plenty to engage visitors on a day trip from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

I live in Melanijas old apartment, said Valerija. It has three small bedrooms. Very normal. Are you are going to Salamiada? Women are banned. Its just men. They drink, eat salami, then end up with a striptease in the bar. At least, thats what usually happens.

Melania-themed honey on sale

At Grad Sevnica, manager Rok Petancic met me in the gift shop. Wine and chocolate were arrayed with tea and face cream, resplendent in florid, gold-on-black, First Lady branding. In the next room, a catwalk was being prepared for a fashion show. Its for the local shoe company, said Rok. Their new White House line. Fluffy silver slippers were displayed nearby.

There are First Lady tours now, he went on. Sometimes its a little bit bothering. Too many people in a bus to see the house. What do people here think about President Donald Trump, I asked. We all have our opinion. Melania is making things happen. Its public relations. Talking of public relations, around town there were no photographs of Melania. The first ladys lawyers, apparently, have instructed businesses to cease commercialising her image or name.

Down in the old town, I hooked up with Tanja and Jurij Gruden, who were producing a documentary for Slovenian TV with their crew. Theyve just had this thing happen to them, said Tanja about Sevnica. They didnt ask for it. We drove to Naselje Heroja Maroka, a working class area where Valerijas family now occupies Melanias old apartment.

They say she always pushed herself, said Tanja. Always going out, but never part of the crowd. We surveyed the brutal multi-storey Communist-era blocks. Shall we see where she moved to? asked Jurij. On a nearby estate of detached villas, one property was marked out by an impressive array of CCTV cameras. The lawn was neatly mown, paintwork freshly donebut the only sign of life was a black cat trotting furtively by. The family owns this but they moved to the US, said Tanja. They visit sometimes.

Later we called at patisserie Julija, home of the Torte Melanija cake. I was lying awake after the election result, and thought we must do something, owner Nusa Vidmar told me. We were surprised. Everybody buys it. The family has tried it and liked it. I asked Nusa whether she had plans for a Donald cake? Oh no, she said, seriously. Its about herher success. She was one of us.

The White House line slippers

Id seen the sights of Sevnica and eaten all the pies. There was only one thing left to do. A big bloke controlled the entrance to the Salamiada, gatekeeper to a wonderland of cured pork. He let us in, even the distinctly uncomfortable Tanja. Platters of salami circulated. Short, stout men with sharp knives carved legs of ham. Huddles of grinning butchers were up to their elbows, arms stained red, in raw minced pork and spices.

The elderly master of ceremonies read out A letter from Melanija describing how flattered she was to have a new salami named after her. I assume it was fake news, but there was no way of telling. Then he launched a competition to guess the weight of a monster salami; Melanjika, or Little Melanija, a sausage 6 feet long and willowy as a supermodel.

There was a shout behind usan illegal woman was being expelled from the Salamiada, Sevnicas own mini travel ban. I minded my own business, asked Jurij about his documentarys production schedule. We want to be quick. We want to be first, he said. Who knows? She may not be first lady for long.

Melanias house where she lived with her parents

The first lady

* Melania Trump, 46, was born in Sevnica in Slovenia. Her parents, Viktor and Amalija, were a car dealer and textile factory pattern cutter, respectively.

* A successful model, Melania began modelling at age five and has posed for magazine covers. She became a permanent resident of the US in 2001.

* She married Donald Trump in 2005 after meeting him for the first time in 1998 at a fashion week party. In 2006, the couple had a son, Barron.

* Melania is fluent in English, French, Slovenian, German and Serbian.
As the mercury soars, PepsiCo is feeling the heat in Kerala. The global beverages major has been accused of drawing excess water at its Palakkad plant, and has faced threats of boycott in the state as well as in Tamil Nadu.

While critics, including former Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, have said the company has been overdrawing water for its plant, PepsiCo has denied any such misuse and has argued that it drew well within the limit of six lakh litres per day permitted by the Kerala High Court in 2011. The local authorities in Palakkad district, citing the severe drought in the region, had asked PepsiCo to reduce its withdrawal to one fourth of the entitlement starting February 3. The company did so, thus affecting its production and leading to loss of jobs. D. Shivakumar, PepsiCos India CEO, argued that the company had not only stood by the limits approved by the High Court, but had also taken up activities to make villages in the neighbourhood self-sufficient.

Recently, the local village panchayat had asked the company to stop withdrawing water altogether for six months. PepsiCo did not do so, insisting that the allegations of misuse were completely unfounded. On the basis of available long-term secondary data and field checks, the extraction of water is not affecting any borewell, open well and other water discharges in any of the villages around the plant, said a PepsiCo spokesperson. The plant, which commenced production in 2001, makes carbonated drinks and packaged drinking water.

Recently, the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES), a trade body representing retailers in Kerala, had announced that its members would not sell colas from mid-March, but that decision has been put on hold for now. The association had cited health reasons for the boycott, and instead wanted to promote indigenous drinks, including tender coconut water, as a healthier option.

Kerala is an important market for us. Apart from the Palakkad plant, we have a large facility in Kochi, where we manufacture Quaker Oats. We were 12.75 billion litre water positive as of the end of 2015, and are committed to the state, said Shivakumar.

Regarding criticism that its products have high amounts of sugar and salt, the company has now created a new taglineperformance with purposewith the intention of reducing its use of sugar and salt, and will be focusing more on products with nutritional value. The company has conveyed this to retailers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Ahmedabad ACP Manjita Vanzara conducted a raid on a gambling den wearing a burqa. Cops arrested 28 men and recovered Rs 28 lakh cash during the operation.

By Gopi Maniar Ghanghar : This one is straight out from a Bollywood masala flick. Clad in a burqa, ACP Manjita Vanzara raided a gambling den in Ahmedabad arresting 28 people. Acting on specific inputs, a team of Ahmedabad police raided a building in Millatnagar area of the city on Monday (April 3).

Several attempts were made in the past to arrest the kingpin of the gambling racket red handed, however, the criminals were alerted before any police action.

advertisement

HOW THE SECRET OPERATION UNFOLDED

ACP Manjita Vanzara receives inputs through informers about gambling centre being operated from a building in the congested lanes of Isanpur area of Millatnagar. Vanzara decides to raid the spot wearing a burqa. In fact, she asked every member of the raiding party to change to burqa or pathan suits. First, a couple of constables scanned the area to locate the actual spot. After confirming the address, the cops alerted the team lead by Vanzara. Vanzara and one of the members of her team entered the den. The two spent some time inside the building scanning every nook and corner. The ACP then informed raiding party to swoop down on the building. Gamblers were caught unawares. Before they could react and escape, police had surrounded the building. Cops arrested 28 people from the spot and also recovered Rs 1.14 lakh cash. A case has been registered and further investigation is on to get to the top bosses of the gambling racket in the city. Vanzara said that she was in constant touch with her superiors during the whole operation.

ALSO READ:

Axis Bank branch raided in Ahmedabad, Rs 89 crore transactions under scanner

Ahmedabad: Pani puri seller sent to jail for mixing toilet cleaner in tamarind water

--- ENDS ---
"In the Aircel-Maxis deal, taking into account the face value of the foreign investment, the FIPB submitted the case to the Finance Minister. In my capacity as the then Finance Minister, I granted my approval to it in the normal course of business", said Chidambaram.

By Supriya Bhardwaj: A day after the Enforcement Directorate submitted its report on P Chidambaram's role in the Aircel-Maxis case to the Supreme Court, the Congress leader today said he had approved of the deal "in the normal course of business" in his capacity as the then Finance Minister.

In a written statement, Chidambaram said, "The Foreign Investment Promotion Board consists of five secretaries to the government. They examine the cases and recommend their approval or rejection. They apply the rules/guidelines and submit each case to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) or the Finance Minister depending upon the value of the investment."

advertisement

The CBI on April 3 told the Supreme Court that it was investigating the senior Congress leader's role in giving a clearance to Maxis -- a Malaysian form -- to buy 100 per cent shares of Aircel.

CHIDAMBARAM'S RESPONSE

In response to this, Chidambaram said, "In the Aircel-Maxis case, taking into account the face value of the foreign investment, the FIPB submitted the case to the Finance Minister and sought his approval. In my capacity as the then Finance Minister, I granted my approval to it in the normal course of business. CBI has recorded statements from every official who dealt with the case. Everyone, including the then secretary and the additional secretary, has affirmed that the case was rightly submitted to the Finance Minister, who was a competent authority to grant approval and that the approval was granted in the normal course of business."

The Supreme Court had last month asked Subramanian Swamy, who had filed the petition, to provide 'concrete documentary proof' of Chidambaram's role.

Also read | Aircel-Maxis case: ED submits report on P Chidambaram's role to Supreme Court

Also read | Aircel-Maxis Deal: Subramanian Swamy alleges involvement of Chidambaram, son; BJP stays away

WATCH VIDEO

--- ENDS ---
Here are 6 mistakes that might be stopping you from getting that promotion.

By India Today Web Desk: It's that time of the year again. That time, when everyone at your workplace is filled with anguish and nervousness of what lies ahead. Will you get that promotion? Is all the hard work going to pay off? Will the pay hike be significant? But much before these doubts are curbed comes the appraisal period which is both, crucial and essential.

advertisement

So as you gear up for the war that appraisals are, we get to you six mistakes you might be making while filling that form.

1. Underestimating yourself: Please give yourself some credit. Mention your achievements and do NOT let self-doubt pull you down.

2. Overestimating yourself: Yes, the appraisal form is yours and yours alone, but that doesn't mean you need be annoyingly pompous or vain. Highlighting your achievements is acceptable, essential even, but lying or sugar-coating about something that you've not achieved can never speak well of you.

Also Read: Ace That Appraisal: A checklist to help you get through that pesky appraisal #LikeABoss

3. Backbiting: Appraisal meetings are organised to assess YOUR growth and potential, not to talk ill about your colleagues. Don't use them as a sad excuse to vent your frustration because that's anything but ideal.

4. Not mentioning your weaknesses: You're not flawless. Crisis management and mending mistakes are great skills to have and for those to come into play, you must be exposed to situations that are anything but perfect.

5. Victimising yourself: Yes you've had to cover up for your colleagues multiple times, but this is not the time to crib about it. Speak about how it helped you in the bargain and how you became well-versed with multi-tasking.

6. Not talking about what you bring to the team: You're talking about yourself--great. But what about the folks you're working with? What about the times you've given valuable inputs for something that wasn't related to you at all? Speak about those times.

--- ENDS ---
The jawan was to board an IndiGo flight when security personnel raised an alarm after detecting something suspicious in his luggage. On further scanning, a live bullet was recovered from his bag.

By India Today Web Desk: An Army jawan was held at Srinagar airport after a live bullet was recovered from his luggage during security check.

The jawan was to board an IndiGo flight when security personnel raised an alarm after detecting something suspicious in his luggage. On further scanning, a live bullet was recovered from his bag. The soldier Pandia Raj, who was proceeding to Delhi on leave, was handed over to the army for further investigation.

advertisement

The incident comes just over 24 hours after a soldier was apprehended at the airport with two grenades in his luggage moments before he was to board a chartered Air India flight to New Delhi.

WHAT HAPPENED ON MONDAY (APRIL 3)

Bhopal 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 Srinagar airport. He had claimed that the grenades had been given to him by a 'superior official' for transporting these to Delhi

Director General of Police S P Vaid had said the jawan will face action as per the law.

"He will face action according to the law. Be it an army jawan, a policeman or a civilian, everyone will have to face action," he told reporters.

Asked whether it was a hijacking bid, the DGP said: "I cannot say anything on that."

In February too, a jawan was arrested for trying to carry live bullets inside his baggage.

ALSO READ:

Army jawan arrested with 2 grenades at Srinagar airport, was about to fly to Delhi

40 years of bloodshed benefitted none; choose tourism, not terror: PM Modi to Kashmiri youth

--- ENDS ---
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Volunteers from the Barel Rescue Unit in Bat Yam donated their time and energies to assist delivering kimcha dpischa boxes to the local needy in time for Pesach. Many of the recipients are Holocaust survivors living in the area.





(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Barel Unit)
A court rejected a petition filed by the Peleg faction seeking to overturn the decision by Jerusalem Convention Hall officials to cancel their planned kenos chizuk. The hall management decided to cancel the planned event, which was intended to give a chizuk to the Peleg faction and talmidim who refuse to report to induction centers to register with the IDF as per the instructions of HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Auerbach Shlita.

Peleg officials explain there is no doubt convention center officials are bowing to political pressure as the management was quite well aware of the exact purpose of the event when they booked the venue.

Members of the Peleg vaad add There is no doubt the hall decided to sabotage the event at the last moment in response to mounting pressure from political elements who fear the large response that was expected to attend and express its determination of Bnei Torah who believe in the Torah conscience and instructions of Gedolei Yisrael in the struggle against gezeiras shmad.

Peleg officials quote weekend reports appearing in the Yisrael Hayom newspaper in which chareidi politicians were quoted speaking out harshly against the kenos.

Vaad officials add The same political figures knew that despite the open frustration they express. The IDF would not come to arrest the thousands attending the kenos who gathered under one roof as such a step is impossible that will only prove that this is an unprecedented phenomenon that the army cannot face. As a result, the same political parties decided to take the cowardly and humiliating step of canceling the event and made sure that the pressure exerted on the halls management was taken into account.

The convention center management on Sunday 6 Nissan announced the cancellation of the event.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Bayit Yehudi party MK Moti Yogev is taking an opposing position from party leader Naftali Bennet, siding with the position of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against Bennet.

While he did not attack Bennet directly, Yogev did state The Likud criticism of Bennet is justified, speaking to Kol Chai Radio host Moti Lavi.

Likud claims that the Education Ministry, which is under Bennets responsibility, textbooks that are inciteful are being used in school in the Arab sector of the eastern capital.

When asked what is discussed on the matter during cabinet meetings, Yogev, who is not a cabinet minister, stated I am not at those meetings but the matter should be discussed and opposed.

In its criticism, Likud calls on the Education Minister (Bennet) to enforce regulations and the curriculum, admitting this is difficult in some eastern Jerusalem area schools.

Yogev was asked who he supports in the race for party leader since today, there are a number of candidates. Yogev explained that he already stated he would support Bennet, adding There is much to repair however, stating We must know that the foundation of the party is Toras Yisrael and I hope this is fixed.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A bill is being introduced by MK (Yesh Atid) Elazar Stern calling to deduct the sum of the salaries paid to terrorists by the PA (Palestinian Authority) from the tax funds processed by Israel and turned over to the PA.

According to the Yediot Achronot report, the bill was introduced before the Knesset adjourned for spring recess and Stern calculates NIS 1.1 billion should be deducted from PA tax funds as this was paid to terrorists annually.

Israel collects taxes that are relevant to the PA and several times annually transfers the tax funds to the PA administration. Stern wants the sum paid to terrorists deducted from the transfer. Stern explains by transferring all the tax funds, which are used in part to fund terrorism, Israel is assisting in funding and encouraging terrorist activities.

The bill enjoys support from a number of MKs from various parties including Machane Tzioni, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Police investigating a hit and run case that occurred in Beit Shemesh a number of days ago announce an arrest has been made. The accident occurred at 8:30PM on motzei Shabbos as a pedestrian was struck on Yehuda Ben-Zeev Street and the driver fled the scene. The victim, a 15-year-old male, was transported to the trauma unit of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in serious condition.

Police accident investigators operating on the scene determined the victim was struck by the right side of the vehicle. They moved in on Monday 7 Nissan and located the vehicle with a cracked headlight lens and the technicians were able to match evidence on the scene with the broken light. The owner of the vehicle is a 39-year-old Beit Shemesh resident, who was placed under arrest and was to be arraigned later in the day.



(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Police Spokesman Unit)
Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar-Siman signed a new regulation that will compel food manufacturers to include nutritional profiling on food labels towards encouraging increased health awareness. The new regulation will compel a red symbol for certain unwanted ingredients such as trans fats, excess salt and sugar. Implementation of the new regulation will be gradual from now to 2020.

A green symbol will signal a recommended item in the hope of encouraging shoppers to opt for more healthy food shopping.

A committee was appointed in April 2016 to formulate regulations towards developing the accepted or recommended nutritional profile basing it greatly on international standards. Committee members visited factories and met with many persons involved in the food industry.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
After weeks on the defensive, President Donald Trump has stepped up his efforts to dispute and downplay revelations stemming from the investigations into the Kremlins interference in last years election and possible Russian ties to his campaign associates.

The White House has said the real story is not about Russia  its about how Obama administration officials allegedly leaked and mishandled classified material about Americans. Trump and his aides have accused former officials of inappropriately disclosing  or unmasking  the names of Trump associates whose conversations were picked up by U.S. intelligences agencies.

Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends, Trump tweeted Monday morning. Spied on before nomination. The real story.

The White House has not pointed to any hard evidence to support such allegations, and instead has relied on media reports from some of the same publications Trump derides as fake news.

The truth is buried somewhere in classified material that is illegal to disclose. Heres a look at what the White House believes is real story.



THE FLYNN AFFAIR

Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn following news reports that Flynn misled the White House about his contacts with Russias ambassador to the U.S. But the White House says the problem is that Flynns conversations were in the news at all.

The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Trump tweeted after firing Flynn in February.

The White House has called for investigations into the disclosure of multiple intercepted conversations that Flynn had with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the inauguration. The government routinely monitors the communications of foreign officials in the U.S. Its illegal to publicly disclose such classified information.

Officially, the White House said Flynn was forced to resign because he had given inaccurate descriptions of the discussions to Vice President Mike Pence and others in the White House. But Trump has continued to defend Flynn, suggesting he was only fired because information about his contacts came out in the media.

Michael Flynn, Gen. Flynn is a wonderful man, Trump said. I think hes been treated very, very unfairly by the media.



THE DEEP STATE?

White House officials say some Obama holdovers are part of a so-called deep state out to tear Trump down.

This week, the White House latched onto a month-old television interview from an Obama administration official who said she encouraged congressional aides to gather as much information on Russia as possible before the inauguration.

Evelyn Farkas, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense, said she feared that information would disappear after President Barack Obama left office.

Spicer called Farkas comments devastating and said they raised serious concerns on whether or not there was an organized and widespread effort by the Obama administration to use and leak highly sensitive intelligence information for political purposes.

Farkas was no longer in government when she urged officials to collect intelligence on the staff, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians. She left the Pentagon in 2015, just over a year before the election. She says she was offering advice to associates and did not pass on actual information.

Obama administration officials have acknowledged that there were efforts to preserve information that could be related to the Russian investigations, as was first reported in The New York Times. Former Obama officials contend that intelligence was not publicly leaked, but disseminated to pockets of the government where officials had clearance to see classified reports.

Still, Farkas herself connected the concerns among government officials about the Trump campaigns possible ties to Russia to the information winding up in the press.

Thats why you have the leaking, Farkas said in the March 2 interview on MSNBC. People are worried.



THE HILL WEIGHS IN

The White House has embraced a top Republicans assertion that information about Trump associates were improperly spread around the government in the final days of the Obama administration. It appears the White House played a role in helping House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., acquire some of that information.

Nunes announced last week that he had seen intelligence reports showing that Trump aides communications were picked up through routine surveillance. But he said their identities may have been improperly revealed. The California congressman later said he viewed the reports at the White House.

The White House contends that Nunes information  which has not been made public  validates Trumps explosive claim that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper. Nunes has disputed that but still says he found the reports troubling.

The White Houses apparent involvement in helping Nunes access the information has overshadowed what Trump officials contend are real concerns about how much information about Americans is disseminated in intelligence reports. Trump has asked the House and Senate intelligence committees to include the matter in their Russia investigations.



CAMPAIGN MODE

Trump won the election, but thinks its his vanquished opponent whose ties to Russia should be investigated.

Some of the White Houses allegations against Clinton stem from her four years as secretary of state, a role that gave her ample reasons to have frequent contacts with Russia.

To deflect questions about Trumps friendly rhetoric toward Russia, the White House points to the fact that Clinton was a central figure in the Obama administrations attempt to reset relations with Moscow  an effort that crumbled after Vladimir Putin took back the presidency.

When you compare the two sides in terms of whos actually engaging with Russia, trying to strengthen them, trying to act with them, trying to interact with them, it is night and day between our actions and her actions, Spicer said.

Rex Tillerson, Trumps secretary of state, has deep ties to Russia from his time running ExxonMobil and cutting oil deals with Moscow.

The White House has also tried to link Clinton to Russias purchase of a controlling stake in a mining company with operations in the U.S., arguing that she was responsible for selling off one-fifth of our countrys uranium.

The Clinton-led State Department was among nine U.S. government agencies that had to approve the purchase of Uranium One. According to Politifact, some investors in the company had relationships with former President Bill Clinton and donated to the Clinton Foundation. However, the fact checking site says most of those donations occurred well before Clinton became secretary of state and was in position to have a say in the agreement.

(AP)
New Hampshire voters can keep taking pictures of themselves and their completed ballots.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the states 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 states prohibition on ballot selfies, while a judge in Colorado said voters could take pictures of themselves with their ballots.

New Hampshires 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 didnt approve of the candidates and posted a photo of the ballot online.

Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for ACLU-NH, called the Supreme Courts 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 generals office declined to comment Monday.

(AP)
By Brijesh Pandey: Row over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's legal bill continues. Today BJP fielded HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on the issue of proposal of Delhi government to foot the legal bill of Kejriwal running into crore to his lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

Prakash Javadekar hit out at the Delhi CM and said that it is wrong for the Delhi government to foot the bill of a personal, civil and criminal case which has been filed by Arun Jaitley. This was an attempt on the part of Arvind Kejriwal to defame Jaitley and his family so why will the government pay the bill and whatever the bill is should be paid by Kejriwal from his own pocket.

advertisement

Attacking Delhi CM, Javadekar said that this is not a case on Delhi government but a personal case against Kejriwal. Arun Jaitley is the finance minister of India but he is paying his legal fees from his own pocket. It is the habit of Arvind Kejriwal to level charges against people and then run away.

There are seven cases of defamation against Arvind Kejriwal and if its fees comes to Rs 100 crore then will the Delhi public pay this money as well? AAP is busy looting the public money in this fashion. They don't have money to fight against dengue, they dont have money to clean Delhi but when it comes to paying Rs 4 crore to defend himself as an individual then he has all the resources. By paying the public money for his private case he is fooling the public.

Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has hit back at the BJP and said that all this is part of a larger conspiracy. He said, "This case has been going on for the last one and a half years. But it has been raised now as the government wants to deflect the EVM issue but we will keep on fighting it."

Also Read:

Why Arvind Kejriwal may end up paying Ram Jethmalani more than Rs 10 crore damage Arun Jaitley seeks

Kejriwal wants aam aadmi to pay Ram Jethmalani's Rs 3.8 crore fee, lawyer says service free for 'poor' Jethmalani to Jaitley in defamation hearing: You tested your reputation in Lok Sabha polls and lost by over 1 lakh votes

--- ENDS ---
As the alarming trend towards legalizing physician assisted suicide makes inroads across the nation and around the globe, Agudath Israel of America has filed an amicus curiae brief in a major case that will be heard by the highest court in New York, the New York State Court of Appeals.

The case, Myers v. Schneiderman, is an effort by proponents of physician assisted suicide to use the courts to overturn New Yorks current ban on assisted suicide. The plaintiffs argue that existing end of life laws were never intended to restrict terminally ill, mentally competent patients from deciding that they no longer wanted to live, and that such persons enjoy a constitutional right to enlist their doctors help in committing suicide. The lower courts rejected this claim, but now it is before the states highest court.

In its friend of the court brief, Agudath Israel pointed to the experience of its Chayim Aruchim division, which has handled hundreds of cases where critically ill patients and their families have been subjected to relentless pressure to allow physicians to withhold lifesaving treatment in end of life situations.

In a very significant number of cases, the health care facilities have simply refused to provide the treatment the patient or his health care proxy requested, claiming that the patients quality of life is so diminished that there is no point in pursuing treatment, stated the brief. In our experience, health care facilities have withdrawn nutrition, hydration, medication, and other forms of life support from patients even over the adamant objections of the health-care decision-makers for the patient, and against the explicit wishes of the patient as stated in the patients advanced health care directive.

The brief noted that legalizing physician assisted suicide would serve to give doctors and others in the medical arena extra ammunition in their quest to divest themselves of the responsibility of treating critically ill patients. It would add another pressure point they may exercise in dealing with such patients: the fact that the patient would now have the right to enlist medical intervention to hasten his own death.

The Agudah brief, prepared by Mordechai Biser, general counsel for Chayim Aruchim, Avrohom Weinstock, Agudath Israels associate director of education affairs, and University of Pennsylvania law student Reuven Rosen, concluded its legal analysis with a plea to the court to affirm the decision of the lower courts, and thereby uphold the sanctity of human life.

In a related development, Agudath Israel advocates continued to press the case against physician assisted suicide in the New York State legislature, which is considering proposed legislation that would permit the practice.

Whether in the courts or in the legislature, declared Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudath Israels executive vice president, we must stand firm against the dangerous movement to turn healers into killers. This is simply unacceptable in any society that considers itself civilized.

The Court of Appeals has set May 30, 2017 as the date on which it will hear oral arguments in the Myers case.

(YWN Headquarters  NYC)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheich and Department Chief Rabbi Chief Inspector Rami Barchiyahu visited with Rishon LTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita and Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita to sell the departments chametz.

They exchanged good wishes and then got down to business, the sale of all the chametz of Israel Police in its locations around the country.





(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday, 7 Nissan, issued the following statement following the bombing attack in St. Petersburg that claimed over ten lives and left many injured.

On behalf of the Government of Israel, I send condolences to President Putin and to the families of those who were murdered, following todays bombing on the St. Petersburg subway.

The citizens of Israel stand alongside the Russian people at this difficult time.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[VIDEOS & PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

A Jerusalem police spokesman reports on Tuesday morning 8 Nissan that ten persons taking part in Peleg protests in the capital were arrested on Monday night. Police report Peleg protests took place on Yirmiyahu, Shamgar and Bar Ilan Streets.

Those arrested blocked vehicles and buses in the streets and refused to comply with police instructions to get up and clear the area.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held Syrian town killed 100 people and injured 400 others, a medical relief group said, and some medics treating the wounded were later struck by rubble when an aircraft reportedly bombed a hospital.

A hospital in Syrias northern Idlib province was hit soon after the area was bombarded with a suspected chemical agent, an AFP correspondent reported.

There was no comment from the government in Damascus or any international agency in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, the site of Tuesdays alleged attack.

Tuesdays reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EUs High Representative Federica Mogherini.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun before noon and an investigation was underway.

The Syrian activists had no information on what agent could have been used in the assault. They claimed the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

It was also not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or wounds sustained in the airstrikes. Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating, activist said.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin  also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred  said the hospital there is equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was also struck, early on in the Syrian uprising. The Sarmin hospital is about 31 miles away from the scene of the attack.

Because of the number of wounded, they have been distributed around in rural Idlib, he told The Associated Press by phone. There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas.

Chlorine gas doesnt cause such convulsions, he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.

He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.

He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

A Turkey-based Syrian man whose niece, her husband and one-year-old daughter were among those killed, said the warplanes struck early, as residents were still in their beds. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for the safety of family members back in Syria.

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. It is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

Claims of chemical weapons attacks, particularly the use of the chlorine agent, are not uncommon in Syrias conflict. The worst attack was what a U.N. report said was an attack by toxic sarin gas in August 2013 on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians.

The Syrian Coalition, an opposition group based outside the country, said government planes carried out the airstrike on Khan Sheikhoun, south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital.

It said the planes fired missiles carrying poisonous gases, killing dozens of people, many of them women and children. The coalition described the attack as a horrifying massacre.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun show limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe; others appear foaming at the mouth.

A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam for fears for his own safety said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light. He published video of the patients on his Twitter account.

Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties, and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure.

The oppositions Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, which released photos showing paramedics washing down victims, has not published a casualty toll.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months in the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

Also, a joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one involving mustard gas.

(AP)
An Israel Prison Authority parole board has agreed to a request from attorneys of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, releasing him from prison to house arrest to permit him to receive medical treatment under house arrest.

In a plea bargain agreement, the rabbi five months ago, was convicted of assault and he accepted an 18-month prison term. Due to his illness, he has been receiving treatment in a prison hospital in Ramle and on Sunday, 6 Nissan, his request to be released on medical grounds was granted, provided he remain under house arrest. A private security company will monitor the house arrest at the rabbis expense.

The decision of the parole board also stipulated that Rabbi Berland must take the necessary measures to ensure that no harm comes to anyone who complained against him.

The prosecution has asked to place the release on hold to permit time to decide if it wishes to file an appeal.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Jordans King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after a recent summit hosted by the monarch renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood.

Could the revived Arab plan, coupled with Trumps stated eagerness to strike a deal, signal an opening for restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks?

Heres a look ahead.

WHATS ON THE TABLE?

At their annual summit last week, Arab leaders renewed an offer they first made to Israel in 2002  recognition by dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in exchange for allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Israel has balked, among other things, at the envisioned scope of withdrawal from the lands it captured in 1967 and unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the initial proposal.

With the summit declaration to back his case, Jordans king will be able to tell Trump that Arab leaders are serious about achieving what Jordans foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, described as the historic reconciliation between Israel and the whole Arab world.

But the king will couple the enticing prospect of regional peace with a warning. Jordan argues that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the root of regional turmoil and that, if allowed to fester, it will undercut the Trump administrations Mideast goals of containing Iran and defeating Islamic State extremists.

WILL TRUMP ENGAGE?

Trumps international envoy, Jason Greenblatt, told Arab leaders on the sidelines of last weeks summit in Jordan that the U.S. president has a personal interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian deal and that he believes it is doable.

Trump hasnt said what kind of agreement he seeks, but appears to have backed away from initial suggestions that he could envision alternatives to the globally backed two-state solution that has been supported by previous U.S. presidents.

For now, Trump envoys are trying to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction on war-won lands and ease economic restrictions on Palestinians  a traditional U.S. move when trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Greenblatt also won praise from Palestinian officials, who say he was surprisingly open to their concerns during his recent listening tour in the region.

A RARE OPENING?

Early on, Trump positioned himself as a staunch Israel supporter, eliciting alarm in parts of the Arab world and cheers among Israeli hard-liners.

The administration has since tried to adjust the balance on some issues, seeking a settlement slowdown and holding off on a promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem. U.S. ally Jordan, custodian of a major Muslim-run shrine in Jerusalem, has warned such a move would fuel extremism.

Some argue that recent events could create an opening for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations  despite perceptions that the Trump White House hasnt formulated a clear Mideast strategy.

Trumps personal interest in a deal contrasts with his predecessor Barack Obamas more hands-off approach, and the current presidents amicable relationship with Netanyahu could give him greater leverage with Israel, said Jordanian analyst Musa Shteiwi.

Another key ingredient  broad Arab support for negotiations  will be delivered by Jordans king on Wednesday.

There is an opening, said Shteiwi, head of the Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank at Jordan University. We should be cautiously optimistic.

WHAT DOES JORDAN WANT?

The White House meeting will affirm the kings traditional role as Mideast mediator and raise his profile as an arbiter of Arab consensus.

Jordan seeks a solid U.S. promise that Washington will try to revive peace efforts, most importantly by persuading Israel to engage in credible talks on Palestinian statehood, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters about diplomatic efforts.

There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian talks since gaps widened with Netanyahus 2009 election. Netanyahu hasnt formally reneged on the principle of a two-state solution, but has stopped short of mentioning it in recent weeks, and most of his Cabinet members oppose the idea.

WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL?

Netanyahu reportedly told Cabinet ministers last week that its important for Israel to show goodwill and not be seen by Trump as an obstacle to any U.S. initiative. Still, talks with the U.S. on slowing settlement construction havent led to results and Israel last week approved a new settlement  the first in 20 years  billed by Netanyahu as keeping a previous promise to settlers. At the same time, Netanyahu reportedly proposed unilateral Israeli construction limits.

Netanyahu envoy Michael Oren, who recently met with Greenblatt, said on Monday that Israel wants Arab states to take concrete steps to show that they are not just talking about peace, but actually mean it.

This would include aspects of normalization, Oren said, but did not elaborate. He described a process of mutual goodwill gestures that could gradually lead to a peace agreement.

WHAT ELSE WILL COME UP?

Another important issue for Jordan will be the fight against the Islamic State group, which controls territory in neighboring Iraq and Syria. The militants have shown with a series of recent attacks that they pose an internal and external threat to pro-Western Jordan.

Jordan has been part of a U.S.-led military coalition against IS for the past two years, hosting Western military trainers and carrying out airstrikes against IS targets. A senior White House official last week portrayed Jordan as a critical U.S. partner in the fight against the extremists.

Jordanian and U.S. interests appear to converge, with both seeking to step up the anti-IS campaign.

(AP)
The White House said Tuesday that a suspected chemical attack by the Syrian government against civilians Tuesday cannot be ignored by the civilized world, but it fell short of offering a plan of action.

Spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesdays attack in Syrias rebel-held northern Idlib is heinous and reprehensible describing it as a catastrophe made worse by the inaction of the Obama administration.

Spicer said the White House has received a number of phone calls from European allies questioning how it would address the problem, pressing President Donald Trumps America First administration to take a bold position on this civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and prompted the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Im not ready to talk about our next step but well talk about that soon, he said.

The attack Tuesday, in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, is believed to have killed dozens of people, activists on the ground describing the attack as among the worst in the countrys six-year civil war.

These heinous actions by the Bashar Assad regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution, Spicer said. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.

President Barack Obama gave the Assad government an ultimatum that the use of chemical weapons in any circumstance would result in consequences. But those consequences never came  the landscape growing more complicated by the rise of radical groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, and later, the Islamic State group. And while government-backed forces are blamed for launching unrelenting attacks on civilians opposing his rule, many warn that removing Assad now would only create a vacuum for those groups to overrun the country.

Syrian opposition activists claimed that the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes. Russias Defense Ministry categorically rejected the claims.

Russias role in Syria was a matter of extreme contention between Moscow and Washington under the Obama administration. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry called for both Syria and Russia to be investigated for war crimes in connection with attacks on civilians.

In Turkey on Thursday, Trumps Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was touting a new message: The longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.

Spicer would not say whether the White House believes Russia played a role in Tuesdays attack, saying simply that Trump has been briefed and is extremely alarmed by this intolerable act.

Spicer rejected the notion that there is a comfort level with Assad Tuesday, describing the administrations position as a reflection of a political reality. He would not elaborate.

(AP)
Arvind Kejriwal has got one of biggest legal names, Ram Jethmalani, defending him in the defamation cases filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Ram Jethmalani is believed to be one of the most expensive lawyers in the country.

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once again finds himself in the storm's eye.

Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief, reportedly wants the aam aadmi to pay his legal bills to the tune of Rs 3.8 crore. The expense is reportedly a result of lawyers defending him in the defamation cases filed against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

advertisement

Arvind Kejriwal has got Ram Jethmalani, one of the biggest legal eagles in the country, defending him in the cases. It is widely believed that Ram Jethmalani is one of the most expensive lawyers.

According to an NDTV report, Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has signed the bills and forwarded them to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for clearance.

RAM JETHMALANI SPEAKS

Reacting to the reports, Ram Jethmalani said if the Delhi government or Arvind Kejriwal cannot pay him, he will appear free of cost for his client. "I will treat him (Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients," said Jethmalani.

"I charge only the rich but for poor I work for free," Ram Jethmalani said, adding that "all this is instigated by Mr Jaitley who is afraid of my cross-examination".

Kejriwal has not stolen the money, proper bills have been submitted to LG, Jethmalani said and vowed to fight the case despite the political conspiracy.

Defending his client, Ram Jethmalani said, "This is not a case in personal capacity. The case comes from his comments while he was the CM".

LG Anil Baijal has sought the opinion of experts on the matter.

WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY

Ram Jethmalani has reportedly charged Rs 1 crore in retainership and Rs 22 lakh for every appearance in the court.

According to AAP leaders, Ram Jethmalani had initially offered to represent Arvind Kejriwal free of cost in the defamation cases filed by Arun Jaitley. However, nine months after taking the cases, Jethmalani started sending bills to the chief minister.

. @ArvindKejriwal paid Rs 4 Crore Delhi Public money to Mr Ram jethmalanai in his personal legal case (Sh Jaitly Defmiantion case) pic.twitter.com/aR2wNwpN8N- Tajinder Pal S Bagga (@TajinderBagga) April 3, 2017

Senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders said that Manish Sisodia has sent the bills totaling Rs 3.8 crore to the Lieutenant Governor, NDTV quoted them.

ARUN JAITLEY vs ARVIND KEJRIWAL

Arun Jaitley filed civil and criminal defamation cases against Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha, Ashutosh and Deepak Bajpai.

advertisement

The cases relate to Arvind Kejriwal and the other accused making statements alleging that Arun Jaitley was involved in a Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam during his time at the cricketing body.

Arun Jaitley alleged that that the six accused made false accusations against him in order to score political points and in the process cause irreversible damage Jaitley's reputation.

Arun Jaitley, who is also a lawyer, has sought Rs 10 crore in damages.

(with inputs from Anusha Soni)

ALSO READ:

Jethmalani to Jaitley in defamation hearing: You tested your reputation in Lok Sabha polls and lost by over 1 lakh votes

Jaitley defamation case: Lawyer issued death threats to Kejriwal, says AAP's Raghav Chadha

ALSO WATCH: Will work for free for Kejriwal if he can't pay fees: Ram Jethmalani

--- ENDS ---
The FIRs were registered on the orders of the court that was hearing the plea of 10 such vendors who were not paid their dues for more than a year.

By Sneha Agrawal: After drawing flak from vendors for not paying their dues, askmebazaar.com is in more trouble as it has been slapped with 10 FIRs.

The FIRs were registered on the orders of the court that was hearing the plea of 10 such vendors who were not paid their dues for more than a year. Counsel for the vendors, Akhil Sachar and Shikha Pandey, told the court that when their clients approached the office of the e-commerce site, they were intimidated and asked not to show up for payment.

advertisement

"We told court that the firm had committed fraud of more than Rs 5 crore and kept the vendors waiting for their own money," the counsel argued. As per the merchant contract form, the askmebazaar portal would sell products of the vendors. After successful transaction with the buyer, it collected payment on behalf of the vendor and paid the amount after deducting transport and logistics fee within 15 days.

Metropolitan magistrate Pankaj Sharma directed police to register a case against askmebazaar.com after allowing a complaint by a firm that the portal cheated it.

The court decided to go ahead with its directions on the basis of initial reports filed by the police. "Facts disclose ex-facie commission of cognizable offences and in the considered view of the court, field investigation by police is required in this case," the court observed.

Mail Today tried contacting askmebazaar but did not receive any response. In December 2016 too, 200 employees had filed a case against now-defunct e-commerce portal askmebazaar.com in Delhi High Court to recover their dues. They claimed Rs 80 crore towards salaries were due since June 2016, when the company shut down its operations without even notifying them.

Getit's ecommerce sites under AskMe brand had suspended operations in August as funds dried up following an investor-management tussle and after an unsuccessful buyout bid, the management led by CEO Sanjiv Gupta left the company.

Astro and Sanjiv Gupta's team have since been battling it out in the National Company Law Tribunal over liabilities ownership.

ALSO READ | E-commerce expected to create 1.45 million jobs by 2021: Report

ALSO READ | Mobile Wallets face threat from e-commerce, social apps: Study

--- ENDS ---
CEO of the year: Tesco boss Dave Lewis failed to show at the recent Stock Market Awards

Tescos 3.5 million-a-year boss Dave Lewis failed to show at the recent UK Stock Market Awards on Londons Piccadilly, where he was named chief executive of the year.

Organisers explained Drastic Dave was busy burning the midnight oil dealing with the accounting mess which saw Tesco slapped with a 129 million fine from the Serious Fraud Office.

Hell need to do a few more late shifts to earn that back, muttered toothsome compere Katie Derham.

Following the raid on several of its offices by the tax authorities, Credit Suisse took out a double-page advertisement in yesterdays Financial Times to assert its zero tolerance policy toward tax evasion.

The bank had already blitzed three separate Sunday newspapers with the same advert the day before. A tad de trop, as they say in Zurich? My advertising expert estimates the cost of their pompous grand-standing at 228,000.

The Bank of Englands gangly, shoot-from-the-hip chief economist Andy Haldane, 49, tells an audience in San Francisco that during the 1920s the Banks Governor would signal his opinion on a matter by moving his eyebrows. He says: The eyebrows were, in a way, a primitive form of emoji.

Remember Haldanes comments about economic forecasting being in crisis after the referendum? His pro-Remain boss Mark Carneys eyebrows barely stopped twitching for weeks.

Is Goldman Sachs as concerned about Brexit as it says? The banks newly-published international annual report reveals its London operation expanded last year. Pay is up too. The average salary among its UK staff now stands at 336,000.

Asked to name his Death-Row meal, Berry Bross shaven-haired chief executive, ex-Navy man Dan Jago, 56, replies: White truffle risotto with a glass of Barolo. Roast chicken with nine different vegetables and a glass of lovely claret. Then a small glass of Kings Ginger liqueur to finish.

Fussy little beggar, isnt he?

Have you any gossip for our City diary? Email: mrdeedes@dailymail.co.uk
Panmure Gordon, the venerable London stockbroker being taken over by a consortium headed by former Barclay's chief executive Bob Diamond, has returned to profit after suffering significant losses last year.

Panmure recovered from an 18.8million loss to achieve an annual pre-tax profit of 1.5m. The growth was driven by a 41 per cent increase in corporate finance and other fee income to 18million, and a 22 per cent rise in net commission and fee income to 28million.

Chief executive Patric Johnson said: '2016 was a year of consolidation and focus for the core business as we continued implementing our sector-based corporate-driven model accompanied by our unwavering commitment to quality in everything that we do.'

The 140 year old firm is located next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City

'We have returned four successive quarters of profitability, made a significant strategic investment, re-established our US broker dealer and concentrated on ensuring we match our service expectations with our clients' requirements.'

Johnson added that the 2017 macro landscape continues to be 'challenging.'

The welcome bounce back to profitability comes as the Diamond consortium is poised to complete a takeover of the 140-year-old firm with backing from Qatari bank QInvest, which already holds around 43 per cent of Panmure.

The proposed 100p per share deal values Panmure at 15.5million and represents a 68 per cent premium on the value of the shares immediately before news of the approach broke.

Bob Diamond is set to buy out Panmure Gordon alongside his Qatari backers

Panmure's board has recommended the offer to shareholders. Once complete, Panmure will be de-listed from the London market and taken into private ownership.

The move marks a comeback for Diamond, who quit Barclays after the bank's 290 million Libor-rigging settlement in 2012.
Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a European Commission probe into Government proposals to spare the bank from being forced to sell off its Williams & Glyn branch network.

Shares in the bank slipped by over 1 per cent to 237p on Tuesday as the market digested the news that the bank had hit yet another stumbling block in its obstacle-strewn recovery from the financial crisis.

As a condition of the bank's Government bailout during the financial crisis, the EU approved a restructuring plan whereby RBS agreed to sell Williams & Glyn by the end of 2017 to alleviate competition concerns.

Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a European Commission probe into proposals aiming to spare it from selling off its Williams & Glyn branch network.

The bank has struggled to offload the branches though, so in February the Treasury proposed scrapping the sale and putting a 750million plan to boost competition in the banking market in place instead.

Today however it became clear that the Commission is yet to be convinced the new proposal will do enough to ease its concerns over the impact RBS is having on competition in UK retail banking.

Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: 'RBS is the leading bank in the UK SME banking market and received significant state support during the financial crisis.'

'The Commission is now seeking the views of all interested parties on an alternative package proposed by the UK to replace RBS's commitment to divest Williams & Glyn.'

'We can only accept this proposal if it has the same positive effect on competition as the divestment of Williams & Glyn would have had. This is important for fair competition.'

The EU's competition watchdog added that it will 'carefully review' the responses before taking a final decision on whether or not to accept the alternative plan.

The European Commission is now seeking the views of 'all interested parties' on RBS.

The Treasury said it has already started on a market testing exercise to ensure that the proposed new package does increase competition.

A Treasury spokesman said: 'This is an important step forward in the process of resolving one of RBS' most significant legacy issues.'

'We look forward to working with relevant parties to ensure the proposed plan delivers increased competition in the UK's business banking market as effectively as possible.'

The Government still owns 72 per cent of RBS and has said it is not planning to return it to private hands until sometime after 2020.
Burberry is bolstering its beauty business

Burberry is bolstering its beauty business by joining forces with US make-up and fragrance firm Coty.

The licensing agreement will start in October 2017 and will see the luxury brand taking the creative lead and the American beauty giant using its global distribution network.

Christopher Bailey, Burberry chief executive, said: Working with a global partner of their scale will help drive the next phase of Burberry beautys development.

Burberry has already launched luxury fragrances Mr Burberry and My Burberry and revamped its make-up range.

Coty, which owns Rimmel London and Wella, swooped for British hair products firm GHD in a 420 million deal last October.
The future of a key British engineering firm has been thrown into doubt after a Canadian predator launched a 2.1billion takeover bid.

Epsom-based WS Atkins, which is involved in the design of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station and the construction of Crossrail and HS2, may soon fall into foreign hands  despite Prime Minister Theresa Mays pledge to safeguard firms at the heart of crucial British infrastructure.

Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin, the largest engineering and construction company in Canada, is seeking to buy the firm at 20.8p per share  a 35 per cent premium on Atkins Friday closing price.

Epsom-based WS Atkins, which is involved in the the construction of Crossrail (seen above), may soon fall into foreign hands

But documents seen by the Mail reveal Atkins could be on a draft list of 13 national infrastructure areas which could be protected from foreign takeovers.

This draft letter has been sent to leading chief executives asking them which companies should be protected from foreign takeovers.

The list suggested by the Government includes firms in chemicals, civil nuclear communications, defence, emergency services, energy, finance, food, government, health, space, transport and water  which have been judged to need protection due to the potential danger to the public should they fall into the wrong hands.

As well as nuclear power and building projects, Atkins is also involved in the Thames Tideway  a major sewer project  and in the building of Birmingham New Street Station.

The proposed sale has sparked concerns from industry insiders, who are worried the British engineering industry will lose key assets as it grapples with repeated takeovers.

Nico MacDonald, chief executive of The Research & Development Society, which represents areas of R&D in Britain, said the UK industry offers overseas firms something they cant get in their own country.

He said: Losing British engineers to overseas takeovers undermines an area where the UK is already really strong and that is regrettable.

SNC-Lavalin has a history of snapping up British rivals, and bought London-listed engineer Kentz for 1.2billion in 2014.

Atkins indicated it would be prepared to recommend the offer to shareholders, subject to them reaching an agreement on the other terms and conditions of the offer.

If successful, the firm will be the latest to fall into foreign hands following the slump in sterling since Brexit, which has made UK companies more attractive to overseas buyers.

In August Japans Softbank took advantage of the weak pound to buy Britains biggest technology company ARM Holdings for 24.3billion, while Chinese giant Ctrip bought travel website Skyscanner for 1.4billion last month.

Shares jumped as much as 30 per cent following the news, before settling up 26.6 per cent, or 410p, to 1950p.

The company however said there could be no certainty an offer would be made.




By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI) 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.

advertisement

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 PYK SK SK

--- ENDS ---
MATSAPHA  Police quashed what could have been a violent scenario when VOCTIM students allegedly set alight an open veld at the institution while protesting.



The police were compelled to use a Casspir and a water cannon to disperse the demonstrating students yesterday.

The incident took place at Gwamile Vocational and Commercial Training Institute (VOCTIM) yesterday afternoon.



During the clash, some students were allegedly assaulted with batons by the police from their hostel to the institutions gate and the Casspir and water canon were used to drive them away from the establishment towards the University of Swaziland (UNISWA), Kwaluseni Campus. The students, who were organised under the banner of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), boycotted classes yesterday and demonstrated inside the institution premises.



Their main grievance was that last Thursday, government-sponsored students were sent home by the administration to ask for E6 000 examination fee. Apparently, government had not paid this fee.



It is worth noting that this was the first academic year government sponsored the institutions students.

The students argued that the agreement form they signed when they were granted the scholarship stipulated that government would pay everything, including the examination fees.



They said their parents could not raise so much money within such a short space of time since the deadline for paying the examination fee was March 30, 2017.



Furthermore, the students complained about the institutions boarding master.

They alleged that he imposed high fines on them should they be found to have committed an offence. For example, one of the students said they were once fined E1 500 for coming back to their hostel late and drunk, yet they were not carrying alcohol.
LOBAMBA  He said, she said! This was the picture painted by Nkilongo Member of Parliament (MP) Hans Steffen when he said the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Jabulile Mashwama, had confirmed to him that indeed an agreement had been entered into by the Swazi government and Vitol, a fuel storage company originally from Switzerland.



MP Steffen told the House of Assembly yesterday that the minister had called him on Saturday to state that the parties had entered into an agreement concerning the Phuzamoya Oil or Fuel Reserve Facility.



He said he was now confused because just last week Thursday, the acting Attorney General Sifiso Khumalo had informed the House that there was no agreement, or even a drafted one because if there was an existence of such, his office would have knowledge of it because they handled contracts which government entered into.



However, on Saturday I got a call from the minister saying there is a signed agreement, said Steffen.

Making his submission, the MP said he was curious about the agreement as he had an investor from the United States of America (USA) who was in the process of dismantling a fuel refinery in that country to set up at Nkilongo, which would bring about 600 jobs.

He said the refinery if set up in Swaziland would produce about 100 million of litres of fuel per month.

MP Steffen told the MPs that Swaziland used around 30 million litres of fuel per month and the excess would be exported so that the country would make revenue.



He said he was, therefore, concerned that Vitol would allegedly be collecting about 55 cents per litre of the fuel that was stored at Phuzamoya, which would make about E200 million per year and since the agreement with government was for 20 years, about E6 billion in total would be taken out of the country.
The fact-finding committee, constituted after the CWC received several complaints from UP, has demanded a CBI enquiry into the matter.

By Balkrishna: Azam Khan, one of the most controversial ministers in the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government, seems to be heading for some serious trouble. Barely a fortnight after the Samajwadi Party suffered a humiliating defeat in Uttar Pradesh, a report by the fact-finding committee of the Central Waqf Council (CWC) has indicted Khan of corruption, mismanagement and misuse of office.

Among several important portfolios that Khan held during the SP regime, his role as minister for Waqf properties is under scanner. The fact-finding committee, constituted after the CWC received several complaints from UP, has demanded a CBI enquiry into the matter.

advertisement

The committee was headed by Syed Ejaz Abbas Naqvi, who is also the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand Waqf boards. On Sunday, Naqvi submitted two separate reports about the Sunni and Shia Waqf boards that elaborated how Khan as minister misused his position to grab properties under the Board.

WHAT THE REPORT POINTS OUT

The report says that Khan made a trust and diverted funds from Waqf properties to it. Also, necessary action to save the Waqf properties were not taken by agencies concerned under his pressure.

The report points out about discrepancies in maintaining rent collection records on Waqf properties. While the actual rent for each of the shops as per market value was Rs 5,000, a nominal rent of `5 was shown on paper. There are 1.3 lakh shops under the Sunni Waqf Board and 23,000 shops under the Shia Waqf Board.

Speaking to Mail Today, Naqvi said there are concrete evidences against Khan. "The shopkeepers were charged under the market rate, but it was not shown on paper. If you calculate the rent on the market price of these shops, it will be in crores," Naqvi said.

"The other discrepancy was that Khan made a scheme under his trust - Maulana Johar Ali Education Trust - and misused Waqf properties. The fee of Rampur Public School is much higher than private schools. In fact, it should not charge any fee," Naqvi added.

The report, which has been accessed by Mail Today, lists out FIRs that have been filed in the past against these irregularities. However, no action was taken, and the report demands dissolving the current committees of the Sunni and Shia Waqf boards.

COMMITTEE DEMANDS CBI ENQUIRY

It also demands a CBI enquiry and introduction of a white paper in the state assembly on the failure of the Waqf boards from their aims and objectives.

The report recommended that the Uttar Pradesh Waqf Board be dissolved immediately and all the accused officials be barred from entering Waqf offices pending investigation. "The fact-finding committee has asked Azam Khan to submit his reply, but he has failed to do so. I will send all these reports to Union minority affairs minister Mukhar Abbas Naqvi for necessary action," Naqvi added.

advertisement

When asked about the allegations, Azam Khan said he is 'absolutely clean' and the allegations are baseless. He said it is normal for a new government to probe the doings of an outgoing government. Alleging that he is being framed, Khan said he is ready to undergo any punishment if the charges against him are proved true.

ALSO READ | Report on Waqf properties may land Azam Khan in trouble for allegedly diverting funds

ALSO READ | 'Did Modiji ask you to do this?' Azam Khan threatens government officials for stopping his car

ALSO WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: SP leader Azam Khan accused of Rs 400 crore fraud by Shia cleric

--- ENDS ---
MBABANE  The Crown contends that releasing SWAPA President Mduduzi Bhembe and lawyer Sanele Mabila from custody will cause a sense of shock and outrage in the community and society at large.



It is alleged that the outrage might lead to public disorder and the members of the public would never have confidence in the countrys criminal justice system.

According to the Crown, the smuggled persons family members were still aggrieved by Bhembes alleged actions.

Bhembe was further described as a flight risk as he had relatives at Jozini in South Africa.

The arrest of the two came about after the police made a link in the story of the Swazi man who was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa with the suspended Mbekelweni head teacher. Bhembe is alleged to have smuggled the man, who was handed down two life sentences by the South African courts for trafficking three minors and a rape case. He was arrested by members of the Serious Crimes Unit (LUKHOZI) with his attorney, Mabila.



The Serious Crimes Unit, which had been working hand in hand with the Hawks in South Africa in this case, apprehended Bhembe at his home in Siphofaneni. The duo, in Bhembe and lawyer Mabila, want to be released on bail but the Crown, which is represented by Beauty Fakudze, is vigorously opposing their applications.



In his opposing papers, Inspector Bhekani Shiba stated that once released on bail, Bhembe might interfere with or intimidate State witnesses and he was arrested and charged, among other things, for the same reason; interfering with a State witness. May I further State that the person so smuggled is a State witness in the charges faced by both accused persons (Bhembe and Mabila) as well as malpractice occasioned at Mbekelweni High School where he was a security officer, submitted Inspector Shiba.
The demonstrators also lodged a complaint with the police, demanding that a criminal case be filed against the Supreme Court lawyer.

By India Today Web Desk: Lawyer-politician Prashant Bhushan has apologised for his controversial remarks on Hindu Lord Krishna, a day after the Swaraj Abhiyan leader's effigy was burnt in Mathura and Vrindavan in the latest expression of furore following his tweet on Sunday.

Earlier yesterday, activists of Sudarshan Vahini had defaced the lawyer's house as a mark of protest.

advertisement

The demonstrators also lodged a complaint with the police, demanding that a criminal case be filed against the Supreme Court lawyer.

"Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve-teaser. Would (UP CM Yogi) Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?" Bhushan had tweeted.

His views, expressed to criticise the anti-Romeo drive in Uttar Pradesh, had triggered a row following which he was booked for hurting religious feelings.

The effigy was burnt at the Nagar Palika crossing in Vrindavan amid the chanting of slogans.

PROTESTERS DEMAND BHUSHAN'S ARREST

"We all want him to be arrested as he has tried to spoil the environment with his objectionable tweet on Lord Krishna", said Fuldol Maharaj.

Two applications in Vrindavan and one in Goverdhan have been given to the police for filing of the FIR by the local Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leaders who participated in the effigy-burning, police said.

After his remarks led to widespread outrage, Bhushan in his defence had claimed that his remarks had been distorted and misconstrued and that he had no intention of hurting anybody's religious feelings.

Outraged over the incident, activists of an outfit called Sudarshan Vahini had yesterday defaced Bhushan's house by painting black ink on it.

(WITH INPUTS FROM PTI)

Also read | Prashant Bhushan's anti-Krishna tweet faces backlash; Sudarshan Vahini men deface his house

Also read | Bhushan calls Lord Krishna 'legendary Eve teaser,' asks if Adityanath will call his teams 'Anti-Krishna squads'

Watch video | After calling Lord Krishna 'legendary eve-teaser,' Prashant Bhushan apologises

--- ENDS ---
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Patrick Donachie

Denny Meyer remembered the story his mother told him as a child, when she fled Germany in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, when the Nazi regime encouraged citizens to ransack Jewish businesses and religious institutions.

Meyers mother was 26, and thoroughly assimilated, but shortly after the 1938 calamity she bought a ticket for Holland, with her eventual destination being America. Her passport was stamped J for Jew.

She saw what was happening; the writing was on the wall, Meyer said. Most people didnt want to face reality.

More than a month later, she landed in Ellis Island, passing the Statue of Liberty. She waited without papers as a refugee for more than a month before her request was processed and she was released with work papers. Meyer said she received five cents for the ferry to cross the river, saying it was the only welfare she ever got.

Meyer said his mother taught him that nothing was more important than American freedom, and he said this decree had guided him throughout his life as a civil rights activist, a service member of the Armed Forces, and now an activist for gay veterans and members of the military. He has made his home in Queens for more than two decades, continuing to fight for the causes close to his heart.

His activist career began at the age of 13, on a picket line outside a supermarket in Long Island that refused to serve black customers. The protesters were surprised to see a young child ready to protest, but offered him a placard. Meyer said he took a rock to the head thrown from a counter-protester, leading him to see that the change he sought would take longer than he ever expected.

In college in 1968, Meyer saw a group of anti-war protesters burning the American flag, which he said upset him. He decided it was time to pay my country back for my familys freedom. He enlisted and served for 10 years altogether in both the Navy and Army.

I was pretty young, 19 years old. Whenever young men join the military, theyre gung-ho, and they dont realize theyre going to get their brains blown out, Meyer said. The reality didnt sink in until much later.

Meyer was facing an additional challenge that he could not reveal to fellow service members. At 15, he had realized he was gay, coming out to a friend for the first time during the 1964 Worlds Fair in Flushing. In the service, stationed on an aircraft carrier, he could not reveal his identity for fear of reprisal.

In those days, we served in silence. You had to be hyper vigilant everyday of your life. If you were talking about what you did during the weekend, you had to change the gender, he said. If they told a crude joke, youd have to laugh. You also couldnt acknowledge anyone else who was gay.

Meyer never disclosed his sexual orientation during his time in the Navy. He worked on data retrieval before finishing his stint in the Navy, and eventually got a federal job for the Department of the Army overseeing the administration of Army Reserve units in San Francisco, and subsequently joined the reserves. He later decided he did not want to continue his military career.

After 10 years, I had enough, he said. I got tired of looking over my shoulder in the supermarket to see if anyone from the unit would see me with my partner.

At the time, many in San Franciscos gay community were suffering from HIV or AIDS, including Meyers partner for 20 years. Meyer said it felt like there were two types of people in the city at the time: those who were dying and those who were their caretakers. In 1990, Meyers partner died, leaving him heartbroken, and he decided to return to his hometown of New York, eventually finding an apartment in Queens. He settled into civilian life before undergoing his own health battle in a bout with cancer. After encountering discrimination when trying to sign up for Veterans Association health benefits, he decided to contact the American Veterans for Equal Rights, and spoke to a retired colonel about the New York chapter.

Wheres the New York chapter? Meyer recalled asking the colonel. He said, Theres none, you start it!

Meyer started outreach for the chapter during the 2002 Queens Pride Parade, attracting interest from more than two dozen gay veterans. Meyer continues his work as an advocate for gay veterans and equal rights, publishing work on his site Gay Military Signal, and speaking to universities and other gatherings when invited. He says he is trying to pass the torch to a younger crowd of activists, faced with a presidential administration that Meyer considers to be a unique threat to the country.

Everyone thinks the battle for gay rights is over, Meyer said. It isnt.

Meyer has continued to protest the Trump administration, joining other veterans and community members at a rally outside Queens Borough Hall a few weeks ago.

Times have changed, he said, explaining his reasoning for attending the rally. The reason I was there is my mother was an illegal immigrant. And Im a veteran. So much for the idea that immigrants are here to destroy the country.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Mark Hallum

The introduction of Select Bus Service to Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards has been hotly contested by the residents of southern Queens since the city Department of Transportation announced the service change in December 2015. Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, officially announced the launch would proceed this spring.

The detractors have been outspoken in their opposition to the plan, claiming the reconfiguration of corridors and stops is dangerous for riders and will worsen already hemorrhaging traffic conditions through the neighborhood. But the mayor has included the introduction of the bus service and the subsequent rebuilds to curbs and bus stops in his Vision Zero initiative following the winter thaw.

Dangerous street have to change, de Blasio said. We want to get the word out: Were moving lanes, adding new space for pedestrians and making it safer to cross intersectionsall to keep your family safe. These changes have helped make each of the last three years under Vision Zero safer at last.

Mayor de Blasio announced the SBS plan would launch would proceed as part of a series of improvements across the city as the weather warms.

DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said at a news conference March 21 that the SBS plan might fall victim to a cut in funding from the federal government as a result of the President Donald Trumps budget proposal.

I think there are a couple of areas that the presidents budget singles out, Trottenberg said. One is the TIGER grants that as the mayor said have been a source of support for Vision Zero and other projects here in New York. The second is what is called the New Starts programs, which is new capital grants, and as you have seen in the news, that potentially could affect the Gateway Tunnel, the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway, and the bigger capital buildout of our Woodhaven Boulevard Select Bus Service project.

The route will reconfigure lanes and eliminate left turns at major intersections as well as install bus stops in the median of Woodhaven Boulevard, which opponents fear will create unsafe conditions along the corridor and interrupt the flow of traffic.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) has been active in opposing the plan alongside his constituents.

My district needs to see an improvement in transportation opportunities. However, the plans being put forth by MTA and NYC Department of Transportation create many short and long-term issues for my constituents, Addabbo said. I firmly oppose plans for Select Bus Service along Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards until all issues, including those involving safety and local business, are addressed.

Resident Charles Jusino, who spoke at an August demonstration against SBS, said a bus stop in the median would be dangerous because the number of people who gather at the current stop in front of Queens County Savings Bank would crowd out the median where they would be expected to wait in the future.

Philip McManus, chairman of the Queens Public Transit Committee, said the traffic patterns will not only become more congested, but they could change altogether to affect residential parts of the neighborhood.

If you have a glass and you fill it up to the top and you put something else in there, whats going to happen? Its going to overflow. And where is it going to go? Its going to go into your residential streets, McManus said. People are going to adapt to this and avoid this roadway, and thats going to hurt business and your property values.

Other speakers at the rally cited roll-over traffic accidents, which have involved the median where DOT plans to put the new bus stops, as well as the citys failure to remove snow around the current stop during Snowstorm Jonas.
Even before the euphoria over the massive mandate in UP elections died down, the party is already gearing up for the 2019 general elections.

BJP will send its ministers across the country, including UP and Kolkata, for the outreach programme.

By Siddhartha Rai: Riding on a wave of successive electoral victories, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become a war engine of sorts.

Even before the euphoria over the massive mandate in UP elections died down, the party is already gearing up for the 2019 general elections. The idea is to cross the 362-seat mark that constitutes a two-third majority in Lok Sabha.

advertisement

The party would be killing several 'political birds' with the same stone as the campaign has been planned between April 6 - its foundation day - and April 14, the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

MASSIVE OUTREACH PROGRAMME PLANNED

While the party has been on cloud nine after the overwhelming success in the recently concluded Odisha panchayat polls and has decided to hold its national executive meeting in Bhubaneshwar on April 15 and 16, the saffron outfit has also planned a massive outreach programme aimed at reaching its over 11 crore members across the country.

According to the latest programme of the party, all such 200-odd Parliamentary seats have to be targeted that the party lost in the last general elections. According to party's national general secretary senior leaders of the party would be visiting all such seats that the party lost last time.

"MPs will also be made to attend programmes not just in their constituencies, but also one adjacent to it," said Yadav, himself a Rajya Sabha MP.

FOCUS ON CONSTITUENCIES WHERE PARTY LOST IN 2014

According to national general secretary Anil Jain, in-charge of this massive outreach programme, while the plan is to cover all the Parliamentary constituencies across the country, the focus would obviously be those where the party lost in 2014.

According to plans, national president Amit Shah would be going to Hyderabad, finance minister Arun Jaitley to Bangalore, textile minister Smriti Irani to north Kolkata and Congress bastion Amethi, while Union home minister Rajnath Singh would be attending holding event in south Kolkata. Apart from others, Gadkari would be going to Nizamabad, Dharmendra Pradhan to Guna, while Piyush Goyal would be going to Rohtak.

Moreover, the party is also making efforts to reach its booth-level activists and members via the 'Shakti Kendra Sammelan'. In the BJP, a group of 10 booths is called a Shakti Kendra.

BHIM APP TO BE POPULARISED

At these centres, the cadre and members would be tutored on the party's and the central government's achievements.

The BHIM app would also be popularised among the activists as part of the Union's vision of a cashless economy as well as to further the Dalit agenda of the party that paid off handsomely in the UP elections.

advertisement

As part of the education of the party members at the booth level, they would be apprised about the GST and the new Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes.

ALSO READ | 2019 elections will be fought on mobile, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

ALSO READ | Amid tampering row, Election Commission to replace 9 lakh EVMs before 2019

--- ENDS ---
A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said.

The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons.

The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke and some to foam at the mouth.

Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid.

"We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time neither in past or in future," the Syrian army command said in a statement.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.

Reuters photographs showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets were lined up on the ground.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a man with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost-naked children squirming on the floor.

The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would be the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for that attack. Damascus blamed rebels.

A senior U.S. State Department official said it appeared that the attack blamed on Assad amounted to a war crime.

Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib\s health authority, said hospitals in the province were overflowing with victims.

"This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine," he told a news conference.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defense workers said.

The civil defense, also known as the White Helmets  a rescue service that operates in opposition areas  said jets struck one of its centers in the area and the nearby medical point.

The White House called the attack an "intolerable act" and said President Donald Trump was alarmed by the reports.

French President Francois Hollande directly blamed Syrian government forces and said President Bashar al-Assad\s allies were emboldening him to act with impunity.

Assad has enjoyed staunch military backing from Iran and Russia in the war.

Britain said he would be guilty of a war crime if it were proved that his regime was responsible. British Prime Minister Theresa May called for an investigation into the attack.

The United Nations envoy for Syria said the "horrific" chemical attack had come from the air. The U.N. Security Council is expected to be briefed on the attack on Wednesday.

In February, Russia, backed by China, cast its seventh veto to protect Assad\s government from council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the conflict.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war had used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

A joint U.N.-OPCW report published in October said government forces used chlorine in a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib province in March 2015. An earlier report by the same team blamed Syrian government troops for chlorine attacks in Talmenes in March 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015. It also said Islamic State had used sulfur mustard gas.

The OPCW said it had begun "gathering and analyzing information from all available sources" about the suspected Khan Sheikhoun attack.

Turkey, which backs the anti-Assad opposition, said the attack could derail Russian-backed diplomatic efforts to shore up a ceasefire.

Turkey\s state-run Anadolu news agency said 15 people hurt in the attack, mostly women and children, had been taken to Turkey.

Footage from Turkey\s Dogan news agency showed at least four people being brought out of ambulances on stretchers in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli by medical staff wearing face masks. One was a young boy.

An official at the Turkish Health Ministry said Turkey\s disaster management agency was first "scanning those arriving for chemical weapons, then decontaminating them from chemicals" before they could be taken to hospital.

Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by anti-Assad rebels  both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and powerful Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the suspected attack, Turkish presidential sources said. They said the two leaders had also emphasized the importance of maintaining the much-violated Syrian ceasefire.

Idlib\s population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months as Assad has gained the upper hand in the war.

The United States has also launched a spate of air strikes in Idlib this year, targeting jihadist insurgents.

Following the 2013 attack, Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal, averting the threat of U.S.-led military intervention.

Under the deal, Syria agreed to give up its toxic arsenal and surrendered 1,300 tonnes of toxic weapons and industrial chemicals to the international community for destruction.

U.N.-OPCW investigators found, however, that it continued to use chlorine, which is widely available and difficult to trace, in so-called barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters.

Although chlorine is not a banned substance, the use of any chemical is banned under 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Syria is a member.

Damascus has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and created the world\s worst refugee crisis.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Beaver County identifies mail-in voters with undated ballots

Anyone on the list should visit the Beaver County elections office by 8 p.m. Tuesday to make the necessary corrections.
The BJP has perhaps realised that Kartikey's entry into the electoral arena is just a matter of time and has now started saying there is nothing wrong if he actually makes a foray into politics.

By Hemender Sharma: In a classic case of double standards on dynastic politics, the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh does not see anything wrong in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's silent, but consistent attempts to usher his son Kartikey into politics.

Kartikey Chouhan, the elder son of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, recently delivered a speech at Jait, the chief minister's ancestral village on the banks of river Narmada, during the ongoing Namami Devi Narmada Yatra. The Yatra is aimed at turning river conservation into a mass movement, but the focus at the Jait event clearly was on Kartikey Chouhan. Apart from what he spoke, the highlight of the event was that he got prominence over several ministers who were present and Chief Minister Chouhan and his wife were in attendance.

advertisement

Kartikey's entry into electoral arena is just a matter of time

The BJP has perhaps realised that Kartikey's entry into the electoral arena is just a matter of time and has now started saying there is nothing wrong if he actually makes a foray into politics.

"Everyone knows that the chief minister does not go to his constituency. He takes care of the remaining constituencies in the state, and all political work in Budhni is taken care of by Kartikey. He has worked in ABVP and has gradually moved up, and is now working for the BJP. He has established his credentials on his merit," BJP spokesman Dr Hitesh Vajpayee said, while talking to India Today.

This is not the first time that Kartikey has given signals of where his interests lie.

In January this year, he was the chief guest at a prize distribution function in Budhni, and in June last year, he had addressed a public event for voters awareness in Nasrullaganj.

Congress hopes BJP will now stop talking about dynastic politics

The Opposition Congress, for now, hopes that continues barbs thrown at it for practising dynastic politics will stop.

" We have no issues on any one joining politics, but if the BJP now says anything on dynastic politics they should be ashamed of themselves," Congress spokesman KK Mishra said.

Kartikey Chouhan is a law graduate from Symbiosis College in Pune, and in the past, he has expressed his desire to serve people. He will be 24 in 2018 when Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls and will not be eligible to contest elections. BJP insiders are now guessing if he will be making a direct entry into the Lok Sabha in 2019.

Also read:

Is MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son Kartikey being ushered into politics?

--- ENDS ---
ALBANY - Homeowners fearful of how the proposed ReZone Albany may impact their residential neighborhoods going forward, expressed concern about higher density use and a lack of cohesion in some areas.

City officials said the rezone aligns zoning designations with how buildings and land are being used and provides guidance for growth in an area. It also eliminates what has become zoning by variance, with property owners routinely having to seek exceptions to the city's complicated network of rules for building.

Developers and many business owners have praised the new zoning, saying that itll spur economic development and will make things more predictable when it comes to opening a new business.

However, several Albany homeowners Monday called for changes, and asked the Common Council to take their time with moving forward on the plan.

The over 300-page document has been a culmination of roughly two years of officials and community members meeting to create the plan. The city hosted several workshops and worked with many neighborhoods to address concerns throughout the process.

Buckingham Pond neighborhood resident William Rehfuss said the rezone could alter the residential neighborhood going forward.

This is a bucolic residential neighborhood. One of the last few in the city, the Lenox Avenue resident said. The proposed changes have a substantial detrimental effect on what is a residential, low-density neighborhood that probably will result in decreased property values since no one wants tall towers moving in their backyards, denying them their right to privacy.

Shawn Morris, a Delaware Area Neighborhood Association board member, said the proposed new zoning in her community seems to bounce from designation to designation, block by block and sometimes parcel by parcel.

For example, the Delaware Avenue library would be zoned mixed use neighborhood center amidst a two-family residential zoning district. Across the street sits several retail stores, restaurants and Spectrum 8 Theatres, which would be zoned neighborhood commercial.

We all hope its a library forever, but it might not be, and it just seems to open it up to a lot of possibilities that would not compliment residential life in that very close proximity, Morris said.

West Lawrence Street resident Julie Elsen expressed concern on the impact of higher density development in her neighborhood where homes are assessed between $300,000 and $400,000.

We actually pay our taxes without the advantage of abatements and (payments-in-lieu-of-taxes), she said. If the value of our property plummets, can the city afford to lose our taxes while waiving the taxes for the developers of these parcels?

While some who spoke poked holes in the plan, Hollywood Avenue resident Eric Huntington said the rezone has been a long, collaborative process that should move forward. Huntington sat on the city's citizens advisory committee during the rezone development, and has been a project manager for over 15 years.

He pointed out that moving forward doesnt mean that changes cant be made in the future.

Lets see how it performs, Huntington said. Lets say its good enough now, and we can change it. Its not cast in stone.
AMSTERDAM -- An autopsy is scheduled Wednesday to determine the cause of death of a pregnant woman who was found dead in a home that caught fire on Monday, according Amsterdam Police Chief Greg Culick.

Speaking on Tuesday, Culick said the 24-year-old woman appears to have suffered from smoke inhalation. She died as rescuers took her to St. Mary's Hospital Monday.
ALBANY  A Schenectady man pleaded guilty Monday to felony drug charges, District Attorney P. David Soares' office said Tuesday.

Maliem Murphy, 20, pleaded guilty before Judge Debra Young in Albany County Court to criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Albany police arrested Murphy on May 25 on Broadway selling crack cocaine.

He also faced separate charges of selling drugs in Cohoes as well as criminal possession of a forged instrument in Menands. The guilty plea satisfied both charges, the DA's office said.

A separate indictment against Murphy on a charge of criminal possession of a weapon is pending, the DA's office said.

Murphy faces 5 1/2 years in State Prison when he is sentenced on June 15.
Albany

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo first revealed what would become Start-Up NY during an appearance at Albany Nanotech in May 2013, he told the crowd that job creation was the state's "number one mission."

On Monday, Empire State Development reported 757 jobs were created last year by 141 companies in the tax-free zones the program established, double the number of a year earlier, but still just a fraction of the state's more than 8 million jobs.

Employees and their employers together have saved an estimated $6.1 million in taxes, $3.9 million of that in personal income taxes. And the annual report said that Start-Up had attracted 21 companies from out of state to move here, committing to create 697 jobs over five years. Two companies arrived from other countries, committing to another 27 jobs.

And 41 were expanding to New York state from outside the state or country, committing to 742 jobs over a five-year period.

The fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy said Monday on its blog that the program "lost almost as many new job commitments as it added during 2016." The blog posting went on to point out that the 178 jobs pledged in the Southern Tier over the next five years was about half the number that will be lost when a single cheese processing plant outside Elmira closes later this spring.

A November Empire Center analysis "found the program was hemorrhaging participants, and that five-year job creation commitments were being withdrawn almost as quickly as they were being added."

In some parts of the Capital Region, including Troy and Schenectady, newly formed tech firmshave touted the program. The report Monday said that 25 companies were participating and have committed to creating 481 jobs over a five-year period, while investing a total of $17.9 million.

The Capital Region overall gained 7,200 jobs, 5,800 of them in the private sector, in the 12-month period through February, nearly 10 times the number created statewide by Start-Up NY.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

The program has also drawn criticism for the money spent promoting it, by some accounts more than $50 million since it was first proposed.

Cuomo is seeking to rebrand Start-Up, calling it instead the Excelsior Business Program.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Albany

New Yorkers agree on at least one thing: No one should go hungry.

An overwhelming 96 percent of Empire State residents say everyone should have access to food, according to a survey released Tuesday by Siena Research Institute.

A majority of the 804 respondents also said there are significant barriers between low-income people and access to food, including affordability, meal planning and transportation.

Additionally, the survey found, roughly half of New Yorkers donate food or money to a charity that focuses on hunger. That volunteerism comes at a time when Capital Region food pantries are providing meals and services at record levels.

In 2015, food-insecure people made more than 244,000 visits to local food banks, according to Capital District Food Pantries, a coalition of 56 pantries that distribute food in Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. The role of such organizations has increased in recent years as the number of food-insecure people locally topped 82,000, according to Feeding America.

Some organizations have had to expand their facilities to handle the uptick. The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Colonie, for example, is currently seeking $500,000 in state funding for a $2 million expansion of its 62,000-square-foot facility from which more than 100,000 pounds of food are moved in and out each day.

The growing demand is due at least in part to decades-long wage stagnation, said Mark Quandt, Regional Food Bank executive director.He said that since the 1980s, the facility has served more and more people who are working full-time, but still unable to afford basic necessities. That has been exacerbated, he said, as post-recession gains increasingly go to the wealthiest Americans. (Between 2009-2012, the wealthiest one percent of Americans captured 91 percent of all income gains, according to research by University of California Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez.)

Statewide, about one in eight New Yorkers received food from a local pantry or meals program, according to Siena, and 17 percent use government programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That number is much higher among poorer New Yorkers, with 28 percent of New Yorkers earning less than $50,000 annually having used food banks and 40 percent relying on some form of government assistance.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

The US. Department of Agriculture reported that about 43.6 million people - or 7 percent of all Americans - use food stamps under SNAP, a number that has grown in the last two decades as eligibility requirements were broadened under President George W. Bush and as fallout from the 2008 recession worsened.

A 2016 report from Feeding America found 14 percent of New Yorkers do not have access to adequate food resources.

RDownen@timesunion.com - 518-454-5018 - Follow @RobertDownenTU
By Press Trust of India: From K J M Varma

Beijing, Apr 4 (PTI) China today strongly condemned the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in Russia that killed 14 people and expressed willingness to work with the country to tackle the threat of terrorism.

"China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the terrorist attack. China extends profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.

advertisement

Calling terrorism a common enemy of the mankind, Hua said China is willing to work with Russia and the international community to tackle the threat and challenges of terrorism to maintain world peace and security, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russias second-largest city yesterday, killing 14 people and wounding about 40.

The security services in Kyrgyzstan today said the suicide bomber was from the Central Asian country. PTI KJV KJ AKJ KJ

--- ENDS ---
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 bridges 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.

Though the design called for footings to be buried in a deep layer of stone held in place by metal sheeting, neither was installed, and a thinner layer of riprap around the footings was improperly maintained.

Those killed included Edward G. Meyer, 61, of Albany, and Donald F. Hughes, 59, and Robert G. Hoffman, 46, both of DeFreestville, the three bowlers who worked together at Niagara Mohawk; Mary Lou Peck, 47, and her daughter Kristen, 22, of Northumberland, who were traveling to a Utica suburb for a baby shower; Roland Charbonneau and Dr. Jackson Carey Dalton, the Shriners from Canada; Douglas and Evangelina Shive, 68 and 70, driving from their home in Manchester, N.H., to see relatives in Texas; and John Ninham, 39, of Green Bay, the truck driver.

The collapse had an impact that lasts to this day, said Carol Breen, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

After the Schoharie Bridge collapse, the federal Highway Administration made diving inspections a routine, she said. We do a regular inspections every two years but at least once every five years, we send divers in for a bridges that have underwater piers.

This way, the state aims to detect the kind of erosion that brought down the Schoharie Bridge.

tobrien@timesunion.com  518-454-5092  @timobrientu
St. Petersburg, Russia

A large explosion blew a hole in the side of train as it traveled between two central St. Petersburg metro stations Monday, killing at least 11 people and sending panicked commuters diving for cover in what Russian authorities were investigating as a possible terrorist attack.

At least two suspects were sought, officials said, but they gave no immediate details on identities or any suspected affiliation in the blast, which prompted calls for increased security measures in the country's public spaces.

Even as authorities probed the scene of the explosion  which left more than 30 people injured  a separate shrapnel-filled explosive device was found and disarmed at another subway station. The discovery further focused the probe on a possible coordinated plot, and Russia's Investigative Committee said it was looking into the incident as a possible terrorist attack.

Security forces fanned out on extra patrols as police helicopters crisscrossed overhead in one of the city's most celebrated, and tourist-visited, neighborhoods. The area around the Sennaya Ploshchad station is near some of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg, and was the setting of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment."

Shortly after the blast, the St. Petersburg subway system was shut down as a precaution, and security was boosted around the city, where Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding talks with Belarusan leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrei Przhezdomsky, spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, said the blast was caused by "an unidentified explosive device" in one of the cars as the train traveled from Sennaya Ploshchad station, one of the main interchanges of the city's subway system, at about 2:40 p.m.

The operator was able to get the train to the next station, where authorities reached the victims, Przhezdomsky said on state television.

The St. Petersburg office of the Federal Security Service said in a statement that an "unexploded device" filled with shrapnel was found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station. "The device was defused by a bomb squad. No one was injured," the statement said.

Russia's health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said seven people died at the scene, one died en route to the hospital and two more while undergoing treatment. She said six people remained in serious condition, raising the possibility that the death toll could rise. Authorities late Monday said an 11th person had died.

"Law enforcement agencies and the special services are working on it, and they will do everything to find out the causes of the incident and make a full assessment of what happened," Putin said in televised remarks at the meeting with Lukashenko. "Naturally, we always probe all theories, both domestic and criminal ones, primarily actions of a terrorist nature."

Although there were no official statements about the direction of the investigation, Rossiya-24 reported that authorities have video of a possible suspect entering the Sennaya Ploshchad station. Social media were circulating what some Russian agencies called a screen grab of the picture, but it was unclear whether the image was an official one.

The picture shows a man with a long beard, wearing black clothing and a kufi cap  all indicative of observers of strict Sunni Islam in the North Caucasus of southern Russia.

Islamist militants from the North Caucasus have been blamed in more than a dozen major terrorist attacks in Russia since the country fought two civil wars in Chechnya.
Washington

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 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 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."

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.
The town of Thurles was in mourning this morning following the death of Sr Xavier O'Dwyer, a much loved member of the Ursuline Community who shaped the lives of many hundreds of young people in their formative years.

Sr. Xavier, who had reached an advanced age, was Principal in Scoil Angela, the Ursuline primary school, and had taught generations of boys and girls, gently guiding them until their departure to either the boys school or to secondary level.

She was very prominent in the St. Joseph's Thurles Conference of St. Vincent de Paul Society where she earned the highest honour some years ago. She was extremely well regarded locally and was a beloved teacher to all who walked the corridors of Scoil Angela.

A native of Booleen, Bansha she had been ill for just a short time and when news of her death became known last night there was widespread sadness. Many tributes were paid to her on social media as past pupils recalled their days under her guidance and shared their memories.

She passed away peacefully, in the presence of her Community. She was predeceased by her brother Patrick and her sister Betty. She is also deeply regretted by her sisters Kathleen (Crotty) and Joan (O'Dwyer), her nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, her Ursuline Community and Congregation and her colleagues and pupils (past and present) in Scoil Angela.

Her remains are reposing in the New Convent Oratory today Tuesday 4th April from 3pm to 6pm. Entrance to new Convent via Sec School, Templemore Road or Ulster Bank, Carpark, Thurles. Evening Prayers at 6pm. Funeral Mass on Wednesday 5th April in the Cathedral of the Assumption at 11am, followed by burial in the convent cemetery.

May her soul rest in eternal peace.
The 14th Dalai Lama will now travel by road to Bomdilla in Arunachal Pradesh, instead of going to Tawang. This since there's been heavy snowfall in Tawang for the past 3 days.

By Manogya Loiwal : Bad weather in Assam has forced the Dalai Lama, who was scheduled to fly to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh from Guwahati, to go to Bomdilla.

The 14th Dalai Lama will now travel by road to Bomdilla in Arunachal Pradesh, instead of going to Tawang.

This since there's been heavy snowfall in Tawang for the past 3 days.

advertisement

He is expected to reach Bomdilla sometime in the evening. The road route is being cleared for his journey.

Many are looking forward to the spiritual leader's historic trip to Bomdilla, despite opposition from China.

(WITH INPUTS FROM YUVRAJ MEHTA IN ARUNACHAL)

WATCH VIDEO | As China fumes, Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal's Tawang cancelled, to visit Bomdilla now

--- ENDS ---
Barr Group Offers Essential Embedded Software Development Courses in Germany

Barr Group, the Embedded Systems Experts, will be bringing its popular "Embedded Software Boot Camp" and brand new "Best Practices for Designing Safe & Secure Embedded Systems" courses to Munich, Germany in May and June respectively. These courses teach some of the embedded systems industry's best practices that are essential for designing safer, more secure devices.

"This year's Embedded Systems Safety & Security Survey shed light on some troubling oversights that are occurring in the embedded systems industry during product development," said Barr Group CEO Andrew Girson. "Our hope is that by bringing the Embedded Software Boot Camp and our new Best Practices for Designing Safe & Secure Embedded Systems courses to engineers and developers in Europe, we can help development teams improve their ability to design more robust products."

The following courses will be held this spring in Munich:

Embedded Software Boot Camp (2-5 May 2017)

Embedded programmers of all levels will learn through a combination of lectures and hands-on training how to use the C programming language to create portable device drivers, use real-time operating systems, and more. Attendees will independently complete nearly a dozen hands-on programming exercises, including a large capstone project.

Best Practices for Designing Safe & Secure Embedded Systems (19-22 June 2017)





Best Practices for Designing Safe Embedded Systems and Best Practices for Designing Secure Embedded Systems. Each two-day course can be taken independently, or bundled together as a four-day course at a discounted rate.

To see Barr Group's complete public training calendar, go to https://barrgroup.com/training.

For more information on Barr Group's Training Services and Consulting services, go to www.barrgroup.com or contact [email protected].

About Barr Group

Barr Group, The Embedded Systems Experts, is an independent provider of world-class product design, training, and corporate and legal technical consulting services for the embedded systems industry. Founded by internationally known experts in the design of safe and secure embedded systems, Barr Group is driven by its mission to help companies improve the overall reliability and security of all embedded system-based applications. Applications strengthened as a result of services and resources provided by Barr Group include those in the automotive, medical, defense, industrial controls, consumer electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) markets. Barr Group has assisted thousands of engineers in the development of safer, more reliable electronic products through its Embedded C Coding Standard TM and continues to push the embedded systems industry forward with the annual release of Barr Group's Embedded Systems Safety & Security Survey TM. For more information about Barr Group, go to www.barrgroup.com.

Barr Group, The Embedded Systems Experts, Embedded C Coding Standard, Embedded Systems Safety & Security Survey, Embedded Software Boot Camp, Embedded Android (News - Alert) Boot Camp, and Embedded Security Boot Camp are trademarks or service marks of Integrated Embedded, LLC d/b/a Barr Group.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005500/en/
INVESTOR ALERT: Khang & Khang LLP Announces an Investigation of Banco Popular Espanol, S.A. and Encourages Investors with Losses to Contact the Firm

Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces that it is investigating claims against Banco Popular Espanol, S.A. ("Banco" or the "Company") (Other OTC: BPESY) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.

If you purchased shares of Banco and want more information, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA (News - Alert) 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at [email protected].

The investigaion concerns whether Banco and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated federal securities laws. On April 3, 2017, the Company announced that an internal audit identified financial shortcomings related to its 2016 capital increase, and announced the resignation of the Company's CEO Pedro Larena.







If you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at [email protected].

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403006657/en/
[April 03, 2017] FreeConferenceCall.com Brings Free International Conference Calling to India

LONG BEACH, California, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers, businesses and organizations across India gain instant access to simple and secure conferencing and collaboration services - for free FreeConferenceCall.com is now available in India. Users can now access international conferencing services to communicate with family, friends, customers and colleagues in India - absolutely free. FreeConferenceCall.com provides callers in India with instant local access to its reliable and secure conferencing and collaboration services. Conferencing within India includes: high definition audio, screen sharing and video with up to 1,000 participants at no cost. Customers recently ranked the FreeConferenceCall.com web conferencing software the highest amongst its competitors for usability. By following a few simple steps, users can teach, manage projects, conduct religious meetings, work emotely or connect and reunite with family anywhere in the world.



"We're excited about this new geographical extension of our services into one of the largest and most dynamic telecommunications markets in the world," said Josh Lowenthal, president of FreeConferenceCall.com. "The Indian diaspora is rich with communities and businesses that can benefit from streamlined access to conference calling services. We look forward to helping the Indian population connect and collaborate at home and around the world." India currently has the second-largest telecommunication market, with the third highest number of internet users in the world. According to the latest UN survey on international migrant trends, India's diaspora population is the largest in the world with 16 million Indian people living outside of their country in 2015. India itself hosted 5.2 million migrants in 2015.

Whether conducting collaborative business meetings or speaking with family and friends, people across India can now use conference calling without limits. Users gain simple and free access to high-quality audio conferencing-no downloads or purchases required. In addition, the ability to host and join calls with others around the world using this full-featured mobile audio conferencing service will revolutionize the way people in India communicate while on the go in India. "At FreeConferenceCall.com, we are dedicated to bringing free and easy-to-use international group calling services to all corners of the earth," said Lowenthal. "We are delighted to add India to our ever-growing list of countries that we serve. India is an amazing market and we're proud to provide free high-quality conferencing solutions. We are truly offering the Indian population with the means to transform the way they communicate and connect across multiple destinations around the world."

Contact: Haley Steinhauser, [email protected] , +1-562-437-1411

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] ALSO expands cloud marketplace platform reach with Bezeq International

Emmen, Switzerland, April 4, 2017



ALSO and Bezeq International sign Platform as a Service (PaaS) partnership for the ALSO Cloud Marketplace to reach Israel, with plans to expand further in the region

Fifth strategic partnership expands ALSO Cloud Marketplace PaaS ALSO (SIX: ALSN) and Bezeq International have signed a strategic partnership to expand a wide range of Software as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service cloud services to SMB and Enterprise customers in Israel. Both companies are joining forces to make the ALSO Cloud Marketplace Platform as a Service (PaaS) available to Bezeq International's Channel partners.



ALSO is enabling Bezeq International to expand a wide range of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service to their customers, as well as a broad catalogue of managed services and connectivity services. Accelerated by the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP), the platform leverages new, vertical focused offerings for Channel partners.



"We continue to expand our partnerships in new regions, providing us with more opportunities for growth. Bezeq International joins a group of strong partnerships we have earlier announced in the UK and Ireland, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle-East and South America. By adding new regions to the platform, the entire network of partners grows stronger, creating value for the entire group," said Gustavo Moller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO Holding AG.



"Bezeq International has been a pioneer of cloud services in Israel, with a strong track record of successful expansion in this new business area. Our first source of success is our focus on customer experience, where we have been recognized as a top-tier player in our market. Our strong partnerships with leading vendors and service providers such as Microsoft and Rackspace represent a second source of success. For the ALSO Cloud Marketplace, both key areas are present and we are very much looking forward to working together," said Eyal Zafrir, VP Business Sector & Business Development of Bezeq International.



Earlier in March 2017, ALSO announced a strategic partnership with Intcomex to make the ALSO Cloud Marketplace available to over 50,000 Channel partners in South America and the Caribbean. In October 2016, ALSO agreed on a strategic partnership with Innovix Distribution to make the ALSO Cloud Marketplace available to 5,500 of Innovix's Channel partners starting in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, with plans to expand further in the region. Earlier in June of the same year, ALSO signed a strategic partnership with Logicom to provide the marketplae platform to more than 10,000 Logicom partners in 13 countries in Southern Europe and the Middle East, with plans to expand further in the region. In December 2015, ALSO and Westcoast agreed on a strategic cooperation to bring the ALSO Cloud Marketplace platform to Westcoast customers in the UK and Ireland.







Direct link to the press release: http://www.also.com/goto/20170404en



Contact person ALSO Holding AG:

Brunswick Group GmbH

Dr. Marc Langendorf, Director

Phone: +49 89 80 99 025 17

E-mail: [email protected]





Contact person Bezeq International:

Bezeq International

Avi Zohar, Indirect Sales Channel Manager

Phone: +972 -50-4014-601

E-Mail: [email protected]



ALSO Holding AG (Emmen/Switzerland) brings providers and buyers of the ICT industry together. The company offers services at all levels of the ICT value chain from a single source. In the European B2B marketplace, ALSO bundles logistics services, financial services, supply services, solution services, digital services, and IT services together into individual service packages. ALSO's portfolio contains more than 188 000 articles from some 500 vendors. The Group has around 3 520 employees throughout Europe (annual average 2016). In fiscal year 2016 (closing on December 31), the company generated net sales of 8.0 billion euros. The majority shareholder of ALSO Holding AG is the Droege Group, Dusseldorf, Germany. Further information is available at http://www.also.com



Droege Group

(Major shareholder)

Droege Group (founded in 1988) is an independent advisory and investment company entirely family-owned. The company acts as a specialist for tailor-made transformation programs aiming to enhance corporate value. Droege Group combines its corporate family-run structure and capital strength into a family-equity business model. The group carries out direct investments with own equity in corporate subsidiaries and medium-sized companies in "special situations". With the guiding principle "Implementation - following all the rules of art," the group is a pioneer of implementation-oriented corporate development. Droege Group proves its implementation excellence daily within its own portfolio. The entrepreneurial platforms of the Droege Group are aligned to current megatrends (knowledge, connectivity, prevention, demography, shopping 4.0, future work). Enthusiasm for quality, innovation and speed determines the company's development. As a result the Droege Group has successfully positioned itself within the market, both nationally and internationally and operates in 30 countries. More information: https://www.droege-group.com



Bezeq International (Israel) Bezeq International (BI), Israel's leading internet and international telecommunications provider, was founded in 1996 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bezeq, the Israeli Telecommunications Corp. Ltd, Israel's largest telecom group. Today, Bezeq International is considered a market-leader in all of its core fields of expertise, providing comprehensive communications solutions in Internet, Telephony (International, Domestic and Intra-Organizational), IT and Cloud Computing Services, Hosting, Data Communications and Information Security Solutions. Further information is available at https://www.bezeqint.net/english



Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the ALSO management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation, and performance of our Group. The Group accepts no responsibility for updating these forward-looking statements or adapting them to future events or developments.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation

Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation



Nokia Corporation

Stock Exchange Release

April 4, 2017 at 09:00 (CET +1)

Notice is given to the shareholders of Nokia Corporation (the "Company") of the Annual General Meeting to be held on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at Helsinki Messukeskus, Messuaukio 1, Helsinki, Finland. The reception of persons who have registered for the Meeting will commence at 12:30 p.m. Matters on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting At the Annual General Meeting, the following matters will be considered: Opening of the Meeting Matters of order for the Meeting Election of the persons to confirm the minutes and to verify the counting of votes Recording the legal convening of the Meeting and quorum Recording the attendance at the Meeting and adoption of the list of votes Presentation of the Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors and the auditor's report for the year 2016 Review by the President and CEO Adoption of the Annual Accounts Resolution on the use of the profit shown on the balance sheet and the payment of dividend The Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that an ordinary dividend of EUR 0.17 per share be paid for the fiscal year 2016. The dividend would be paid to shareholders registered in the Register of Shareholders of the Company on the record date of the dividend payment, May 26, 2017. The Board proposes that the dividend will be paid on or about June 9, 2017. The actual dividend pay date outside Finland will be determined by the practices of the intermediary banks transferring the dividend payments. Resolution on the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability Resolution on the remuneration to the members of the Board of Directors The Board's Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the annual fee payable to the Board members elected at the same meeting for a term ending at the Annual General Meeting in 2018 remains on the following levels: EUR 440 000 for the Chair of the Board, EUR 185 000 for the Vice Chair of the Board and EUR 160 000 for each Board member. In addition, the Committee proposes that the Chair of the Audit Committee and the Chair of the Personnel Committee will each receive an additional annual fee of EUR 30 000 and other members of the Audit Committee an additional annual fee of EUR 15 000 each. The Committee further proposes that a meeting fee for Board and Committee meetings be paid to all the other Board members, except the Chair of the Board, based on travel required between the Board member's home location and the location of a meeting. The meeting fee would be paid for a maximum of seven meetings per term and be paid as follows: EUR 5 000 per meeting requiring intercontinental travel and EUR 2 000 per meeting requiring continental travel. The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee proposes that approximately 40 per cent of the annual fee be paid in Nokia shares purchased from the market, or alternatively by using treasury shares held by the Company. The meeting fee would be paid in cash. In line with the current Nokia policy, the directors shall retain until the end of their directorship such number of shares that corresponds to the number of shares they have received as Board remuneration during their first three years of service in the Board (the net amount received after deducting those shares needed to offset any costs relating to the acquisition of the shares, including taxes). Resolution on the number of members of the Board of Directors The Board's Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the number of Board members be ten (10). Election of members of the Board of Directors The Board's Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the following current Nokia Board members be re-elected as members of the Board for a term ending at the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2018: Bruce Brown, Louis R. Hughes, Jean C. Monty, Elizabeth Nelson, Olivier Piou, Risto Siilasmaa, Carla Smits-Nusteling and Kari Stadigh. In addition, the Committee proposes that Jeanette Horan, who is a former executive of IBM and Edward Kozel, who is an independent consultant and an investor, be elected as new members of the Board of Directors for the same term. Resolution on the remuneration of the Auditor The Board's Audit Committee proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the auditor to be lected at the Annual General Meeting be reimbursed based on the invoice of the auditor and in compliance with the purchase policy approved by the Audit Committee.



Election of Auditor The Board's Audit Committee proposes to the Annual General Meeting that PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy be re-elected as the auditor of the Company for the fiscal year 2017. Authorization to the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase the Company's own shares The Board proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 560 million Nokia shares by using funds in the unrestricted equity. Repurchases will reduce funds available for distribution of profits. The shares may be repurchased in order to optimize the capital structure of the Company and are expected to be cancelled. In addition, shares may be repurchased in order to meet obligations arising from debt financial instruments that are exchangeable into equity instruments, to settle equity-based incentive plans for employees of Nokia Group or of its associated companies, or to be transferred for other purposes such as financing or carrying out acquisitions.

The shares may be repurchased either through a tender offer made to all the shareholders on equal terms or in another proportion than that of the shares held by current shareholders (directed repurchase). It is proposed that the authorization be effective until November 23, 2018 and terminate the corresponding authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting on June 16, 2016. Authorization to the Board of Directors to resolve to issue shares and special rights entitling to shares The Board proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board to resolve to issue a maximum of 560 million shares through issuance of shares or special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act in one or more issues during the effective period of the authorization. The Board may issue either new shares or treasury shares held by the Company. The Board proposes that the authorization may be used to develop the Company's capital structure, diversify the shareholder base, finance or carry out acquisitions or other arrangements, settle the Company's equity-based incentive plans, or for other purposes resolved by the Board. It is proposed that the authorization includes the right for the Board to resolve on all the terms and conditions of the issuance of shares and such special rights, including to whom shares or special rights may be issued as well as the consideration to be paid. The authorization thereby includes the right to deviate from the shareholders' pre-emptive rights within the limits set by law. It is proposed that the authorization be effective until November 23, 2018 and terminate the corresponding authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting on June 16, 2016. The authorization does not terminate the authorization by the Extraordinary General Meeting held on December 2, 2015 granted to the Board for issuance of shares in order to implement the combination of Nokia and Alcatel Lucent. Closing of the Meeting Documents of the Annual General Meeting The proposals of the Board of Directors and its Committees relating to the agenda of the Annual General Meeting as well as this notice are available on the Company's website at www.nokia.com/agm. The "Nokia in 2016" annual report, which includes the Company's Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors and the auditor's report, is available on the above-mentioned website. The proposals and the annual report will also be available at the Meeting. Copies of these documents and of this notice will be sent to shareholders upon request. Instructions for the participants in the Annual General Meeting The right to participate and registration Each shareholder, who on May 11, 2017 is registered in the Register of Shareholders of the Company, has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting. A shareholder, whose shares are registered on his/her Finnish book-entry account, is automatically registered in the Register of Shareholders of the Company. If you do not have a Finnish book-entry account see section 4. Holders of Nominee registered shares. A shareholder, with a Finnish book-entry account, who wishes to participate in the Annual General Meeting, must register for the Meeting by giving prior notice of attendance no later than on May 16, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. (Finnish time) by which time the registration needs to be received by the Company. Such notice can be given: through the Company's website at www.nokia.com/agm; b) by telephone to +358 20 770 6870 from Monday to Friday at 09:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Finnish time); or by letter to the Register of Shareholders, Nokia Corporation, P.O. Box 226, Fl-00045 NOKIA GROUP. In connection with the registration, a shareholder is required to notify his/her name, personal identification number, address, telephone number, the name of a possible assistant and the name and the personal identification number of a possible proxy representative. Advance voting service A shareholder, who has a Finnish book-entry account, may vote in advance on certain items on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting through the Company's website from April 4, 2017 until 4:00 p.m. (Finnish time) on May 16, 2017. Unless a shareholder voting in advance will be present in person or by proxy in the Meeting, he/she may not be able to exercise his/her right under the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act to request information or a vote in the meeting and if decision proposals regarding certain agenda item have changed after the beginning of the advance voting period, his/her possibility to vote on such item may be restricted. The conditions and other instructions relating to the electronic advance voting may be found on the Company's website www.nokia.com/agm. The Finnish book-entry account number of the shareholder is needed for voting in advance. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney A shareholder may participate in the Annual General Meeting and exercise his/her rights at the Meeting by proxy. A proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy document or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate his/her right to represent the shareholder at the Annual General Meeting. Should a shareholder participate in the meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares in different book-entry accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the Annual General Meeting. Powers of attorney should be delivered in original to Nokia's Register of Shareholders at the above mentioned address or via email to [email protected] before the last date for registration. Holders of nominee registered shares A holder of nominee registered shares is advised without delay to request from his/her custodian bank the necessary instructions regarding registration in the Register of Shareholders of the Company, issuing of proxy documents and registration for the Annual General Meeting. The account management organization of the custodian bank shall register a holder of nominee registered shares, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, to be entered in the temporary Register of Shareholder of the Company at the latest on May 18, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. (Finnish time). Further information on these matters can also be found on the Company's website www.nokia.com/agm. Other instructions and information On the date of this notice of the Annual General Meeting the total number of shares in Nokia Corporation and votes represented by such shares is 5 836 055 012. Doors of the meeting venue will open at 12:30 p.m. The shareholders, their representatives and possible assistants are required to prove their identity at the entrance. The participants are kindly invited to the coffee reception before the Meeting. The Meeting will be conducted primarily in Finnish, and simultaneous translation will be available into Swedish and English, and as necessary, into Finnish. Pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 25 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act, a shareholder who has given prior notice of attendance and is present at the Annual General Meeting has the right to request information with respect to the matters to be considered at the Meeting. March 29, 2017 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

About Nokia Nokia is a global leader innovating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing. From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com Media Inquiries Nokia

Communications

Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900

Email: [email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] NANOBIOTIX : Nanobiotix expands its clinical development in Head and Neck cancer and Immuno-Oncology ; new clinical data to be presented at ASCO

NANOBIOTIX EXPANDS ITS CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER AND IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY

NEW CLINICAL DATA TO BE PRESENTED AT ASCO Paris, France and Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 4, 2017 - NANOBIOTIX (Euronext: NANO - ISIN: FR0011341205), a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering new approaches to the treatment of cancer, today announced the expansion and acceleration of its clinical development activities. These include: Acceleration of the head and neck cancer program. Phase I/II data will be presented at ASCO in June

Expansion of Nanobiotix's Immuno-Oncology program into patients focused on the objective of turning cold tumors into hot tumors. Nanobiotix will present the first clinical data from this program mid year NBTXR3: New programs and upcoming data Presentation of the Phase I/II data of Nanobiotix's European head and neck trial with NBTXR3 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June. Nanobiotix is preparing the next clinical trials of the head and neck cancer program. Based on the value of the data to be presented in June, the Company will determine the fastest pathway to the U.S. and European markets. Presentation of the first clinical data from Nanobiotix's new clinical program in Immuno-Oncology mid year. Based on the preclinical proof of concept presented in November 2016 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Nanobiotix initiated an exploratory clinical biomarkers study in soft tissue sarcoma patients (data from Nanobiotix's phase II/III trial in soft tissues sarcoma). This trial investigates whether NBTXR3 could play a role in Immuno-Oncology by turning cold tumors into hot tumors (compared with radiotherapy alone). Ongoing activities Continuation of the Phase II/III trial in soft tissue sarcoma with NBTXR3, recommended by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC), which evaluated the safety and efficacy data of two thirds of the patients in the "Act.in.Sarc" study. As planned and communicated, the completion of the patient recruitment process for this trial is expected by the end of Q2 2017, with data, except for long-term follow-up, expected by the end of 2017. Nanobiotix will continue to develop NBTXR3 in other indications: These include prostate cancer (Phase I/II), liver cancers (Hepatocellular Phase I/II and liver cancer metastases Phase I/II), rectum cancer (Phase I/II - by PhrmaEngine) and head and neck cancers in patients receiving chemotherapy (Phase I/II - by PharmaEngine). In H2 2017, the prostate cancer indication should deliver preliminary safety and feasibility data. Additionally, before the end of 2017, Nanobiotix aims to complete patient recruitment for the Phase I part in liver cancers, and may proceed to select the patient population for the dose-expansion part of the trial (Phase II).



In parallel, Nanobiotix is accelerating its market preparations for NBTXR3's launch on the European market. The first approval (CE marking) in Europe is expected in H2 2017.



*** About NANOBIOTIX: www.nanobiotix.com

Nanobiotix (Euronext: NANO / ISIN: FR0011341205) is a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer. The Company's first-in-class, proprietary technology, NanoXray, enhances radiotherapy energy with a view to provide a new, more efficient treatment for cancer patients. NanoXray products are compatible with current radiotherapy treatments and are meant to treat potentially a wide variety of solid tumors including soft tissue sarcoma, head and neck cancers, liver cancers, prostate cancer, breast cancer, glioblastoma, etc., via multiple routes of administration. NBTXR3 is being evaluated in: soft tissue sarcoma (STS), head and neck cancers, prostate cancer, and liver cancers (primary and metastases). Additionally, head and neck cancer and rectal cancer trials led by Nanobiotix's Taiwanese partner, PharmaEngine, are underway in the Asia Pacific region. The Company has filed in August 2016 for market approval (CE Marking) in Europe for its lead product NBTXR3. The Company started in 2016 a new preclinical research program in Immuno-oncology with its lead product NBTXR3, which could have the potential to bring a new dimension to cancer immunotherapies. Nanobiotix is listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (ISIN: FR0011341205, Euronext ticker: NANO, Bloomberg: NANO: FP). The Company Headquarter is based in Paris, France. Affiliate in Cambridge, United States. Contact Nanobiotix



Sarah Gaubert

Director, Communications & Public Affairs

+33 (0)1 40 26 07 55

[email protected] /

[email protected]











Noel Kurdi

Director, Investor Relations

+1 (646) 241-4400

[email protected] / [email protected] Media relations



France - Springbok Consultants

Marina Rosoff

+33 (0)6 71 58 00 34

[email protected]



United States - RooneyPartners

Marion Janic

+1 (212) 223-4017

[email protected] Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Nanobiotix and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Nanobiotix considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in the update of the reference document of Nanobiotix filed with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers) under number D.16-0732-A01 on December 27, 2016 (a copy of which is available on www.nanobiotix.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Nanobiotix operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Nanobiotix or not currently considered material by Nanobiotix. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Nanobiotix to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Nanobiotix shares in any country. At the moment NBTXR3 does not bear a CE mark and is not permitted to be placed on the market or put into service until NBTXR3 has obtained a CE mark.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Blockchain, IoT and Artificial Intelligence to Take a Leading Role in DES - Digital Business World Congress

MADRID, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 18,000 professionals from the world over, more than 450 speakers and almost 200 conferences with more than 1,200 hours of expertise from the greatest experts in digital transformation The second edition of DES Digital Business World Congress (DES2017), the world's largest international forum on digital transformation, will take place in Madrid (IFEMA) over the 23, 24 and 25 May. International experts in Cyber-security, the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, Cloud, Blockchain, Big data and analytics and leadership, diversity and talent in the new age of digitalisation will be present at the event. To secure your place at the event please get your pass here https://www.des-madrid.com/visit/registration/ . (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/485725/DES2017_Digital_Business_World_Congress_Brochure.jpg )

Companies including Accenture, Fujitsu, IBM, Wipro, LinkedIn, Mediacloud, Microsoft, EMC, Everis, Google, HP Enterprise, Huawei, Intel, T-Systems, Vmware, Berepublic, Altran, CA Technologies, Dynatrace, Ericsson, FHios, Improove, Konica Minolta, Lenovo, SAS, Schneider Electric, Seidor, Siemens and UST Global have already placed their trust in DES Digital Business World Congress as a meeting point for digital transformation. Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence join current trends like Cyber-security and IoT The word's largest digital transformation congress will once again bring together the knowledge of more than 450 international speakers on subjects such as Digital Leadership, Cloud, IoT, Cyber-security, Big Data and Analytics, as well as up-and-coming technologies such as Blockchain, AI and Robotics, in an international congress with a total of more than 120 hours of conferences.



Alex Tapscott, co-author of 'Blockchain Revolution: How the technology behind Bitcoin is changing money, business and the world' will set forth the theory of how Blockchain will lead to a new landscape of development in areas as diverse as health, education, government and public administration, finance and business. Artificial Intelligence will have a female spokesperson in DES2017; Anita Schjll, who will explain the Iris AI project, an artificial intelligence system that will work as a scientific research assistant, helping to find the necessary information within multiple sources. With time, this system will acquire knowledge, turning it into an autonomous investigator.

Other names that stand out in the panel of speakers include Susan Fonseca , founder of [email protected] (a global association of female innovators) and founder of the Singularity University (SU) a business incubator and think-tank of future leaders that leverages exponential start-ups. In her presentation, Fonseca will cover the theme of diversity within the business world, the integration of genders and cultures, and the role of technology as a facilitator of this process. Alongside her, Martha Heller, writer of the book 'The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership' will analyse the challenges that CIOs have to overcome to become key elements in fostering the digital transformation of their companies in her talk. Roya Mahboob, one of the first Afghan women to become CEO of an IT company, and founder of Women's Annex, a platform that gives women from Afghanistan and Central Asia the chance to tell their stories to the world. In 2013, Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for her work in constructing Internet classrooms in secondary schools across Afghanistan. More information about the line-up of speakers that will be attending DES - Digital Business World Congress here: https://www.des-madrid.com/congress/2017-speakers/ Notes to Editors Should you require further information of the event or should you be interested in interviewer any of the speakers of the event, please don't hesitate to contact us. Contact: Juliana Lorenzo

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +34-917-69-15-31, +34-673-270-351

Address: Paseo de la Castellana 18, 7a Planta - 28046 Madrid (Spain)

For more information, please visit: www.des-madrid.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Inventus Power Expands Presence in Asia Pacific Region

WOODRIDGE, Illinois and SHANGHAI, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Inventus Power, a systems manufacturer of battery packs, chargers and power supplies for the consumer, commercial, medical and military markets, today announced an expansion in the Asia Pacific region with the addition of key personnel for technical and customer facing roles. To lead this expanded team, Inventus Power has hired a new General Manager of Asia Operations and Sales, Kenneth Yan, and Vice President of Human Resources, Nuo Ma, both of whom will be based in Shanghai. Inventus Power supplies power solutions to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that have experienced increased demand and localized production for their products in Asia. The company plans to add significant staff in customer service roles such as program management and applications engineering and will also build the sales and marketing team to expand the Asian customer base. Supply chain staff will be added to support an established group of engineers and manufacturing experts in the company's Asian facilities. Concurrent investment in other important geographical regions enhances Inventus Power's ability to provide tailored regional responsiveness and support to global OEMs. "With this investment in staffing, we are executing on our strategic growth plan and better supporting our global customer base," said Patrick Trippel, President and CEO of Inventus Power. "A strong presence in Asia is crucial to our success and I am excited to have strong team members onboard to build and unify our global brand." As General Manager for Asia Operations and Sales, Mr. Yan is responsible for driving the development and execution of value maximizing strategies across the company's Asia operations to ensure high levels of efficiency, customer service and continuous process & performance improvement. He brings more than 17 years' operations experience to Inentus Power from companies such as TWS, A123 and Delphi. Mr. Yan is a seasoned industrial leader with a strong technical background, commercial operations experience and international exposure. He holds a master's degree from North Umbria University in the UK and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tianjin University in China.



"I am excited to be a part of the team at Inventus Power, the leader in innovative portable power systems for leading OEMs around the globe," said Kenneth Yan, General Manager for Asia Operations and Sales. "The company's commitment to expansion in the Asia Pacific region is supported by the added staff in every functional area."

Ms. Nuo Ma serves as Vice President, Global Human Resources for this location. She is responsible for leading all HR teams to create and execute management strategies that allow Inventus Power to attract, develop and retain the best talent worldwide, while building a culture of engagement, agility and innovation. Ms. Ma also oversees global communications to ensure that the organization is maintaining strong, clear and consistent communication across all locations. She brings more than 22 years of Business and senior HR leadership experience to Inventus Power from Henkel Corporation, a multinational Fortune 500 chemical and consumer goods company. During her tenure at Henkel, Ms. Ma designed and implemented a systematic and comprehensive talent management process; elevated the leadership team through organizational re-design, effectively led M&A activities, and promoted improvement processes and enhancements that strengthen the organization's culture, effectiveness and winning capabilities. She holds an MBA degree from Tianjin University in China.

Inventus Power, which was created through the merger of ICCNexergy and Palladium Energy, is the leading single-source manufacturer for rechargeable power systems, consistently delivering safe, reliable, high-performing batteries, chargers and power supplies that enhance the design of OEM products. With this addition, Inventus Power widens its footprint to include 250 degreed engineers and a multi-tiered sales channel extending throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia to have the broad capabilities needed to take major applications to a global marketplace.

About Inventus Power:

Inventus Power, founded in 1960, is the world's largest power systems manufacturer that integrates and delivers battery packs, chargers & docking stations and power supplies across the consumer, commercial, medical and military & government markets and is located in ten countries across four continents. With headquarters in Woodridge, Ill. and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China and Malaysia, we are globally positioned to be a catalyst for our customers' success. Inventus Power utilizes decades of design, engineering and market expertise to apply innovative technology to our OEM customers' devices, and ensures a reliable, high quality product through our vertically integrated processes and performance testing capabilities. For more information about Inventus Power, please visit inventuspower.com and follow @inventuspower. Global Media Contact:

Hayley Luz

1 425.918.2742

[email protected] Asia Media Contact:

Veronica Jiang

[email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] National Cyber Security Alliance and Better Business Bureau Remind All Internet Users to Do a Digital Spring Cleaning and Clear Out Cyber Clutter

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Better Business Bureau (BBB) are encouraging consumers to get their online lives in good order by conducting a thorough cleanse of their cyber clutter and make "digital spring cleaning" an annual ritual to help protect valuable personal data. A NCSA survey found that preventing identity theft is a top safety concern for Americans, but there are several easy steps that everyone should do that will go a long way in tidying up digital disorder. "Chances are that over the years you've accumulated lots of digital clutter that can impact your cybersecurity posture. It's critical to remember that just as you shred sensitive paper documents before discarding, you should properly destroy important electronic data," said Michael Kaiser, NCSA's executive director. "By following a few easy-to-use digital spring cleaning tips, you can be significantly safer and more secure online. In addition, you will have a renewed peace of mind that you are helping to protect yourself, your family and the community at large. NCSA and BBB want everyone to enjoy the internet's extraordinary benefits with increased confidence." "Just as we urge people to safely shred old paper records, BBB is also urging consumers and businesses to make sure that electronic files are properly disposed of when no longer needed," said Bill Fanelli, chief information officer with the Council of Better Business Bureaus. "Old hard drives, data sticks, cell phones, tabletsanything that contains sensitive data should securely destroyed. Digital spring cleaning also means deleting old files, updating passwords and taking other steps to make sure your private information stays private." Many BBBs are hosting Secure Your ID Day shredding events in April. Refreshing your online life is a relatively simple process. NCSA has identified our top, trouble-free tips that everyone should follow this spring. Keep a clean machine: Ensure all software on internet-connected devices  including PCs, smartphones and tablets  is up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware.

Ensure all software on internet-connected devices  including PCs, smartphones and tablets  is up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware. Lock down your login : Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media. Begin your spring cleaning by fortifying your online accounts and enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device.

Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media. Begin your spring cleaning by fortifying your online accounts and enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device. Declutter your mobile life: Most of us have apps we no longer use and some that need updating. Delete unused apps and keep others current, including the operating system on your mobile device. An added benefit of deleting unused apps is more storage space and longer battery life. Actively manage your location services, Bluetooth, microphone and camera  making sure apps use them appropriately.

Most of us have apps we no longer use and some that need updating. Delete unused apps and keep others current, including the operating system on your mobile device. An added benefit of deleting unused apps is more storage space and longer battery life. Actively manage your location services, Bluetooth, microphone and camera  making sure apps use them appropriately. Do a digital file purge: Perform a good, thorough review of your online files. Tend to your digital records, PCs, phones and any device with storage just as you do for paper files. Get started by doing the following: Clean up your email : Save only those emails you really need and unsubscribe to email you no longer need/want to receive. Back it up : Copy important data to a secure cloud site or another computer or drive where it cn be safely stored. Password protect backup drives. Make sure to back up your files before getting rid of a device, too.

Perform a good, thorough review of your online files. Tend to your digital records, PCs, phones and any device with storage just as you do for paper files. Get started by doing the following: Own your online presence: Review the privacy and security settings on websites you use to be sure that they remain set to your comfort level for sharing. It's OK to limit how and with whom you share information. Here are some user-friendly tips to help with the safe disposal of electronically stored data. Prep your data in advance of participating in BBB's Secure Your ID Day:

Review the privacy and security settings on websites you use to be sure that they remain set to your comfort level for sharing. It's OK to limit how and with whom you share information. Here are some user-friendly tips to help with the safe disposal of electronically stored data. Prep your data in advance of participating in BBB's Secure Your ID Day: Know what devices to digitally "shred": Computers and mobile phones aren't the only devices that capture and store sensitive, personal data. External hard drives and USBs, tape drives, embedded flash memory, wearables, networking equipment and office tools like copiers, printers and fax machines all contain valuable, personal information.

Computers and mobile phones aren't the only devices that capture and store sensitive, personal data. External hard drives and USBs, tape drives, embedded flash memory, wearables, networking equipment and office tools like copiers, printers and fax machines all contain valuable, personal information. Clear out stockpiles: If you have a stash of old hard drives or other devices  even if they're in a locked storage area  information still exists and could be stolen. Don't wait: wipe and/or destroy unneeded hard drives as soon as possible.

If you have a stash of old hard drives or other devices  even if they're in a locked storage area  information still exists and could be stolen. Don't wait: wipe and/or destroy unneeded hard drives as soon as possible. Empty your trash or recycle bin on all devices and be certain to wipe and overwrite: Simply deleting and emptying the trash isn't enough to completely get rid of a file. You must permanently delete old files. Use a program that deletes the data, "wipes" it from your device and then overwrites it by putting random data in place of your information ? that then cannot be retrieved. Various overwriting and wiping tools are available for electronic devices. For devices like tape drives, remove any identifying information that may be written on labels before disposal, and use embedded flash memory or networking or office equipment to perform a full factory reset and verify that no potentially sensitive information still exists on the device.

Simply deleting and emptying the trash isn't enough to completely get rid of a file. You must permanently delete old files. Use a program that deletes the data, "wipes" it from your device and then overwrites it by putting random data in place of your information ? that then cannot be retrieved. Decide what to do with the device : Once the device is clean, you can sell it, trade it in, give it away, recycle it or have it destroyed. Note the following: Failed drives still contain data : On failed drives, wiping often fails, too; shredding/destruction is the practical disposal approach for failed drives. Avoid returning these drives to the manufacturer; you can purchase support that allows you to keep it  and then destroy it. To be "shredded," a hard drive must be chipped into small pieces : Using a hammer to hit a drive only slows down a determined cybercriminal; instead, use a trusted shredding company to dispose of your old hard drives. Device shredding can often be the most time- and cost-effective option for disposing of a large number of drives.

: Once the device is clean, you can sell it, trade it in, give it away, recycle it or have it destroyed. Note the following:



Events and Resources #ChatSTC Twitter Chat: Refresh Your Online Life With a Digital Spring Cleaning , Thursday, April 20 , 3 p.m. EDT / noon PDT  NCSA and the BBB encourage everyone to make digital spring cleaning an annual ritual to help protect their personal data. Join @STOPTHNKCONNECT for a Twitter chat on simple steps consumers and organizations can take to be more #CyberAware this spring and all year round. We'll also share NCSA's latest digital spring cleaning tips. Use #ChatSTC to join!

,  NCSA and the BBB encourage everyone to make digital spring cleaning an annual ritual to help protect their personal data. Join @STOPTHNKCONNECT for a Twitter chat on simple steps consumers and organizations can take to be more #CyberAware this spring and all year round. We'll also share NCSA's latest digital spring cleaning tips. Use #ChatSTC to join! BBB Secure Your ID Day, Saturday, April 22 , various locations across the United States  BBBs across North America will host this helpful identity theft prevention event featuring FREE on-site shredding, electronic recycling, plus tips to protect your identity. Click here to find a list of participating BBBs.

 BBBs across will host this helpful identity theft prevention event featuring FREE on-site shredding, electronic recycling, plus tips to protect your identity. Click here to find a list of participating BBBs. NCSA ? Here's a handy list of digital spring cleaning tips: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/resources/do-a-digital-spring-cleaning-and-clear-out-cyber-clutter

? Here's a handy list of digital spring cleaning tips: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/resources/do-a-digital-spring-cleaning-and-clear-out-cyber-clutter NCSA ? Help others get their houses in order by hanging posters around the office: staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/posters/

? Help others get their houses in order by hanging posters around the office: staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/posters/ NCSA ? Check your privacy settings: staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/check-your-privacy-settings/

? Check your privacy settings: staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/check-your-privacy-settings/ NCSA ? Keep a clean machine! Use these free security checkups to learn how: staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/free-security-check-ups/

? Keep a clean machine! Use these free security checkups to learn how: staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/free-security-check-ups/ BBB  Check out bbb.org/secure-your-id-day for more information on shredding events and tips on what to save and for how long. Businesses should check out bbb.org/cybersecurity for "5 Steps to Better Business Cybersecurity."

Check out bbb.org/secure-your-id-day for more information on shredding events and tips on what to save and for how long. Businesses should check out bbb.org/cybersecurity for "5 Steps to Better Business Cybersecurity." U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ? The Protecting Your Digital Home Tip Card: Many of the items in our homes  our thermostats, coffee machines and music speakers  are now connected to the internet and store sensitive, personal information. As you go through and clean your house this spring, take note in each room which devices or appliances are connected to the internet. In this tip card, DHS provides five simple steps you can take today to secure your digital home and devices to protect you and your family from online threats. About The National Cyber Security Alliance

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is the nation's leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NCSA's Board of Directors, which includes representatives from ADP; Aetna; AT&T Services, Inc.; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackBerry Corporation; CDK Global; Cisco; Comcast Corporation; ESET North America; Facebook; Google; Intel Corporation; LifeLock, Inc. (a Symantec company); Logical Operations; Mastercard; Microsoft Corp.; NXP Semiconductors; PayPal; PKWARE; Raytheon; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; Salesforce; SANS Institute; Symantec; TeleSign and Visa Inc. NCSA's core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October); Data Privacy Day (January 28) and STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the global online safety awareness and education campaign co-founded by NCSA and the Anti Phishing Working Group, with federal government leadership from DHS. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/.

ABOUT BBB

For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2016, people turned to BBB more than 167 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review and industry self-regulation. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-cyber-security-alliance-and-better-business-bureau-remind-all-internet-users-to-do-a-digital-spring-cleaning-and-clear-out-cyber-clutter-300433829.html SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Healthgrades Announces Outstanding Patient Experience and Patient Safety Excellence Award Recipients

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, today announced recipients of the Healthgrades 2017 Outstanding Patient Experience Award and the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award. Healthgrades 2017 Outstanding Patient Experience Award In 2017, 443 hospitals received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, representing the top 15% of hospitals in the nation for patient experience. Healthgrades analyzed Patient Experience Surveys over an eight-year period to identify questions most closely associated with a top overall rating of 9 or 10 and a response of "Yes, I would recommend this hospital." The response that had the highest correlation to both ratings was "nurses always communicate well." Read more about the Healthgrades analysis. "More than ever before, consumers have access to transparent information to assess care quality before making important healthcare decisions," said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. "It's not surprising that consumers are more satisfied with hospitals that prioritize communication between patients and staff. It is a very important aspect of the provider-patient relationship and hospitals that invest in creating a highly communicative culture appeal to consumers." Healthgrades evaluated 3,489 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), covering admissions from April 2015 - March 2016 in order to identify hospital performance in this area. Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award In 2017, there were 460 hospitals across the nation that achieved the Healthgrades Patient SafetyExcellence Award. On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided* if all hospitals performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.



This distinction places an elite group of hospital recipients within the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated for their superior performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays. Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients were determined by evaluating the occurrence of observed incidents and expected performance for 13 Patient Safety Indicators as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). According to the Healthgrades analysis outlined in a related infographic, hospitals that received an award in patient safety were always equally or more likely than non-recipient hospitals to exhibit superior outcomes in specialty areas (including joint replacement, orthopedics, spinal surgery, cardiology and pulmonary care), and often more likely to achieve a 5-star rating in in-hospital mortality and complication outcomes, as compared to non-recipient hospitals.

"The Healthgrades research reveals hospitals that prioritize patient safety are also more likely to achieve high quality outcomes for their patients," said Dr. Bowman. "What does this mean to the average healthcare consumer? That they should put hospitals with high marks in patient safety at the top of their list for care. Healthgrades provides this information because it is a critical piece for evaluating care options and can help instill confidence in consumers determining where to turn to." Access a complete list of the award recipients. View Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies. Contact Healthgrades if you are an award recipient for tips on sharing your achievement with consumers. *Statistics are based on Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which includes application of AHRQ QI software to MedPAR data for years 2013 through 2015 and represent three year estimates for Medicare patients only. About Healthgrades Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Today, more than one million people a day use the Healthgrades website to search, compare and connect with hospitals and physicians based on the most important measures when selecting a healthcare provider: experience, hospital quality and patient satisfaction. For more information about Healthgrades, visit http://www.healthgrades.com or download the Healthgrades iPhone app. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005544/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Shivani Tijori, wife of Deepak Tijori, has now broken her silence on the entire hullabaloo over throwing her husband out of their house and their marriage being null and void.

By India Today Web Desk: Deepak Tijori was in gossip columns last week over a piece of news that said that the yesteryear actor was thrown out of his house by his wife Shivani, only to later find out that their marriage was null and void to begin with.

For the uninitiated, Tijori's wife apparently kicked him out of their Goregaon house a week ago. And only after the Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander actor reached his counsellor to discuss the issue at hand did he realise that Shivani hadn't divorced her ex-husband before tying the knot with him.

advertisement

A website quoted a source as saying, "Deepak barely manages to enter his house. Shivani allows him to use only one room. Worse still, Shivani has strictly told the servants that they should neither give him food nor clean his room." It seems that Deepak, suddenly finding himself unwelcome in his own house, is mostly living in PGs or crashing at a friend's."

While Deepak and Shivani are currently locked in a bitter legal battle, the latter has now broken her silence on the entire issue.

Shivani told DNA, "Deepak Tijori, my husband of 22-plus years and the father of our young daughter, has crossed all limits and has over-stepped the domains of decency, morality, sensitivity, sensibility and above all, the premises of every legality. I choose not to speak at all, simply because the matter between us is sub-judice."

Shivani added, "As an honest and responsible litigant, I have nothing to hide or fear. Let the courts decide based on the facts. I am positive that the truth shall prevail."

Shivani's sister Kunika defended her and dismissed all allegations as false a week ago. Kunika said, "Obviously, someone is putting the story in the press so that the court gets prejudice because they are in court for divorce and their alimony settlement has to be done. Can a person be married for 26 years and realize that their marriage is null and void? I don't know of my sister not being divorced and getting married to Deepak Tijori. That (Shivani's first husband) person also got married again, so that means his marriage is also null and void? It is all rubbish."

Shivani, apparently, has filed for maintenance under 125 CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) saying, "I am a deserted wife. I cannot maintain my expenses. My husband is liable to do the needful for me and my daughter." Deepak hit back at her with a case of 'nullity' against her.

While the case sees fresh twists and turns each day, only time will be probably be able to tell what exactly is the truth.

advertisement

ALSO READ: Deepak Tijori discovers Shivani is not his wife after she throws him out of their house

ALSO READ: Deepak Tijori not thrown out of house, lives with girlfriend at times, says wife Shivani's sister Kunika

ALSO WATCH: Brangelina to Ranbir-Katrina, the biggest celebrity splits of 2016

--- ENDS ---
[April 04, 2017]

Appen Signs Distributor Agreement with Nuance Communications

SYDNEY, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Appen Limited, a global leader in speech and technology services, announced today that it has signed an agreement to become a distributor for 40 speech and language databases developed by Nuance Communications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Appen has been selected as distributor for its EU funded databases in languages including Arabic, Japanese, Polish and Swiss German, and in database types ranging from telephone conversations to microphone speech for consumer devices, from pronunciation lexicons to speech data for text-to-speech development.

"Appen is committed to providing our customers with both breadth and depth of linguistic support," said Phil Hall, SVP Language Resources for Appen. "The distribution agreement with Nuance Communications allows us to continue that mission as we work with clients around the world to support the development of the next generation in speech-based solutions".

Robrecht Comeyne, Senior Manager Linguistic Resources from Nuance Communications aded, "Appen's global reach and longstanding experience in production and distribution of speech databases make them an excellent distribution partner for our high-quality language databases."







To learn more about Appen's language catalog and to request a quote, visit appen.com.

About Appen

Appen is a global language technology solutions provider with capability in over 180 languages and 130 countries, serving global technology companies, automakers and government agencies.

Appen offers high quality large scale training data, linguistic models and consulting services to assist the development of technology products and services that rely on natural languages including smartphones, digital assistants, social media, content analytics, software, e-commerce platforms, automobiles, government security and intelligence, consumer electronics (game and TV consoles), cloud services and search technology.

About Nuance

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com .

Media contact: Jodie Ruby, VP of Marketing, +1 866 673 6996

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/appen-signs-distributor-agreement-with-nuance-communications-300434064.html

SOURCE Appen
[April 04, 2017] Ugam Announces Customer Summit on "Analytics to Accelerate Digital"

NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ugam, a global leader in managed analytics, announces its upcoming Ugam Customer Summit, "Analytics to Accelerate Digital." The two-day event will take place on April 56, 2017 at the Ritz-Carlton in Half-Moon Bay, California. The summit brings together an exclusive group of senior leaders from some of the top retailers and manufacturers to network and discuss curated content on analytics success in a digital world. Some of the topics include: Analytics, Machine Learning and AI: State of the Art and Future

Digital Disruption in the Beauty Industry - The Evolving Role of Analytics

Evolution of Marketplaces

Design Thinking for Digital Transformation "Retail is undergoing tremendous change, which is evident in evolving shopper behavior. In thisenvironment, it is pertinent for retailers and manufacturers to embrace data-driven decision making," said Sunil Mirani, Ugam CEO. "The diverse lineup of industry experts and the interactive format of the summit will ensure that every attendee leaves with relevant and applicable takeaways to accelerate their digital strategies."



About Ugam

Ugam is a global leader in managed analytics that helps retailers, brands and market research firms transform big data into valuable insights. The company's unique managed services offering combines a proprietary big data technology platform with deep domain knowledge and analytics expertise to empower clients to make decisions that improve their business. For retailers, online marketplaces and brands, Ugam supports better merchandising, marketing and channel management decisions through the use of analytics. For market research firms and insight-based consultancies, Ugam offers a portfolio of solutions, including end-to-end research operations, technology transitioning support, and data warehousing, visualization and reporting that enables them to better serve their clients. Five of the top 10 U.S. retailers, four of the leading Australian retailers, many of the world's largest brands and online marketplaces, and 13 of the top 25 market research firms work with Ugam because of its ability to deliver high-quality insights with unmatched customer experience. Contact:

Veera Fernandes

Ugam

[email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ugam-announces-customer-summit-on-analytics-to-accelerate-digital-300433346.html SOURCE Ugam

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Thursday is the New Friday to Recharge This Spring

LONDON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- It's long been suspected, but new data from wireless charging company Chargifi confirms that Thursday is indeed the new Friday. Analysing a data set of 10,000 charging sessions since the beginning of this year, the company has identified that 3pm on a Thursday is the busiest day of the week when it comes to re-charging our batteries. OnePoll research commissioned by Chargifi[*] has demonstrated that 'Battery Anxiety' is at its peak when it comes to our social lives; with most people charging up devices on a Thursday afternoon, prior to the rest of the evening's activities. Indeed, one in five of us (22%) say that the worst time to run out of battery is on the way to meet our friends and family, with 19% saying it is when we are travelling abroad or to a meeting. Being 'charged up' is clearly critical to a night on the town with almost half of people (44%) saying wireless charging should be made an amenity in public spaces, taking precedence over bottomless drinks and cloakrooms. Chargifi gives venues such as coffee shops, bars, hotels and work spaces, the ability to offer customers a free wireless charging service for their devices. The company was born after its CEO and Co-Founder, Dan Bladen, went travellng for six months and found many of the places he visited weren't set up to let him charge his devices, leaving him cut off from the outside world.



Dan Bladen comments, "People rely on their devices for everything today, from organising their social life to managing their working day, so providing convenient power whenever and wherever people need it is what we do. We've all seen how Dell is incorporating wireless charging technology into their latest laptop. Wireless charging is a necessity in venues and workspaces across the country - this data demonstrates the importance of providing convenient power whether you're looking to engage more customers or improve employees' productivity."

Adam Blaskey, CEO at The Clubhouse, London's leading business club agrees, "We installed Chargifi at The Clubhouse because we wanted to create an inspirational, productive, space for our clients to meet and work. With an average charging time of 45 minutes we can see that for our members and visitors, charging as an absolute necessity to a productive environment." About Chargifi Founded in 2013 by Dan Bladen and Charlie Cannell, Chargifi operates in nine international markets. Its head office in UK and major presence in the US give it a foothold in some of the most progressive markets in the tech world. Chargifi's network of global partners support the growth of its global network in countries including Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Russia. Chargifi has an experienced board including co-founder and non-executive director Charlie Cannell, who is currently Digital Director at Inflexion Private Equity and COO Peter Wallace who has been chief financial officer for some of the world's most high-profile companies including Publicis Groupe Media, Aegis Media UK, and mobile advertising company, AD Maxim. http://chargifi.com/ [*]OnePoll research was conducted between 06/10/2016 and 13/10/2016 with 2,000 respondents

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Unite Private Networks Announces Expansion into Allen, TX

DALLAS, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unite Private Networks (UPN), a leading provider of high-capacity, fiber-based communication networks is pleased to announce another network expansion in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro.

Attachments accompanying this release are available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d720e0ab-544c-404f-8250-1d5250760a6a //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e2703cc1-3736-49d5-ac50-ca7bfb1e6077 The new infrastructure extends throughout Allen, along route 121 and 75 corridors leading to Allen, and connects the network to downtown Dallas, adding to UPNs nearly 800 mile fiber network in the metro. Business customers will now have access to dark fiber or lit services that are scalable from 100 mbps to 100 gbps, as well as a suite of other products.



This build-out adds to other recent network expansion activities in the broader Dallas/Fort Worth metro, including Frisco and Plano, said James Edison Regional Sales Director for Unite Private Networks. The fiber expansion will allow triple-path redundancy for Allen businesses and data centers back to UPNs core network. This gives our customers the ability to connect to the extensive list of data centers on the UPN network in Dallas, as well as access to metro Ethernet, dark fiber, Internet, wavelengths, and custom-built options all powered by a low-latency carrier-grade, 100 percent fiber-optic network. About Unite Private Networks: UPN provides high-bandwidth, fiber-based communications networks and services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers across a 20 state service area. Service offerings include dark and lit fiber, private line, metro-optical Ethernet, Internet access, data center services, and other customized solutions. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, UPN has been providing customer focused communications solutions since 1998. For more information on UPN, please visit www.uniteprivatenetworks.com, or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Brandi Tubb 816-903-9400 [email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] NeoTherma Oncology Announces FDA Granted Its Vectron Thermal Device for Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough Device Designation within Expedited Access Pathway

WICHITA, Kan., April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoTherma Oncology, (NTO) a privately held medical device company developing novel non-invasive treatments for solid tumors, today announces that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the companys petition to admit its Vectron TTx treatment for Pancreatic Cancer as Breakthrough Device under FDAs Expedited Access Pathway (EAP).

Signed by President Obama in December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act added a new section (515C) to the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act (FDCA) to codify a process for priority review of Breakthrough Devices offering more effective treatment of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating human disease or conditions under FDAs Expedited Access for Pre Market Approval (EAP) guidance. The EAP program dramatically accelerates access to novel treatments to address unmet medical needs for patients and their physicians to innovative or breakthrough treatments. The Vectron TTx integrates a novel application of electromagnetic field physics with cutting edge MRI thermographic imaging and computational simulation in a medical device that promises to be a disruptive adjuvant treatment for pancreatic and other cancers. Evidence indicates that modestly raising the temperature in the tumor microenvironment from the normal core temperature of 37C to ~ 42C significantly increases the effectiveness of radio-, chemo- and immunotherapies with negligible additional side effects  plus its own direct cancer cell killing effects. The first planned clinical target is pancreatc cancer, the most deadly of the common cancers with an 8% 5-year survival rate. The NTO system demonstrated impressive capability to heat deep tissues in a large in vivo porcine model, said Paul Stauffer, Director of Thermal Oncology Physics at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital after witnessing preclinical animal testing. This new treatment approach appears poised to make a significant impact on treatment of difficult to reach deep tissue diseases like pancreatic cancer and other intrathoracic tumors.







The EAP pathway is an incredible opportunity to speed FDA approval of breakthrough treatments, and we are honored to have Vectron TTx be so designated by the FDA, said Dr. Michael Wandell CEO of NeoTherma Oncology. As a result, we are now working closely with the FDA to reduce the time to get our noninvasive treatment to patients, while meeting FDAs high standards of valid scientific evidence demonstrating the safety and effectiveness, potentially improving these patients quality of life and life expectancy. In clinical practice and, certainly, with pancreatic cancer we are searching for distinct new treatments to improve patient outcomes. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are only marginally successful in treatment of pancreatic cancer, often at the expense of side effects which can impact quality of life, said Mark Hurwitz, the Vice Chair for Quality, Safety and Performance Excellence and Director of Thermal Oncology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The ability to improve drug access to the tumor for the chemotherapy and enhance the anti-neoplastic effects of radiation therapy, if proven by the NTO device, may potentiate both therapies to benefit the patient.

About Pancreatic Cancer

The American Cancer Society1 estimates that 53,670 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed in 2017. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in both men and women, with an estimated 43,090 deaths in 2017. Less than 20% of patients are candidates for surgery. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are treatment options but rarely produce a cure. For all stages combined, the 5-year relative survival rate is 8%. About Neotherma Oncology

NeoTherma Oncology is a private, developmental stage medical device company developing the proprietary Vectron Thermal Treatment (TTx) system for solid tumors. Our technology is based on applying a safe, non-invasive, nonionizing electromagnetic field to produce local fever-range temperatures in tumor tissue, intended to increase the effectiveness of anticancer radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. More information is available at www.neothermaoncology.com CAUTION: The Vectron device is investigational and is not yet available for human clinical studies nor available for sale. 1 American Cancer Society  Cancer Facts and Figures 2017. Contact: Erik Miller 512-461-0197 [email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] RECO selects Humber College-NIIT Canada as new education provider for aspiring Ontario real estate professionals

TORONTO, April 4, 2017 /CNW/ - The Real Estate Council of Ontario announced today that the consortium of Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning and NIIT Canada will be the future provider of registration education for aspiring real estate salespersons and brokers (commonly called real estate agents) in the province. After a rigorous Request for Proposal (RFP) process, Humber and NIIT Canada were selected to design, develop, administer and deliver the New Program. Their innovative solution best met the requirements set out in the RFP. The New Program will launch on July 1, 2019. Students enrolling until that date will enroll with the current provider, the OREA Real Estate College. "We're pleased to announce that the New Program will be developed by this partnership of two innovative leaders in professional education," said RECO Registrar Joseph Richer. "The New Program will bring together the best in local real estate knowledge and education delivery, and leading edge expertise in program development. It will help ensure that students are practice-ready when they begin their real estate careers." "Humber has a strong industry reputation for credential testing and delivery of professional designation programs," said Alister Mathieson, vice-president, Advancement and External Affairs, Humber College. "Further, Humber is closely connected with our local and provincial communities, and the opportunity to deliver specialized education and skills to real estate salespersons and brokers will help contribute to Ontario's economy as newly trained professionals enter the workforce." "NIIT Canada is trulyhonored to have been selected as the provider of the real estate professional training programs to RECO. We are looking forward to developing the highest quality of training programs for Ontario's real estate professionals. Canada is a very important market for us and we are committed to expanding our operations in Canada, specifically Ontario, through our Toronto office to better serve the needs of our Canadian customers," said Sapnesh Lalla, President, NIIT Corporate Learning Group.



This milestone follows a four-year process that included: extensive research and consultation with the real estate sector, education providers and regulatory bodies; the distribution of a white paper on RECO's vision for registration education; and a public RFP that was distributed broadly. Upon its launch in July 2019, the New Program will offer courses in-class, in real-time virtual classrooms, and through self-paced e-learning modules to more than 12,000 students annually.

More information is available on RECO's website. About RECO: The Real Estate Council of Ontario regulates real estate professionals in the province on behalf of the Ontario government by enforcing the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA 2002). We protect the public interest through a fair, safe and informed marketplace. RECO holds registered brokers and salespersons to professional standards, protects the public interest, and enhances consumer confidence in the real estate profession. In addition, RECO strives to educate consumers to ensure they understand the benefits of a regulated real estate sector. About Humber College: Established in 1967, Humber College is one of Canada's leading post-secondary institutions offering programs to over 29,200 full-time students and 23,000 continuing education students. Humber College partners with government, industry and community in the development and delivery of customized training programs, and government and industry credential testing programs, including: Ontario Building Code certification examinations, and programs for IHM Property Management and Condominium Management and Administration. From the 1980s through to 2000, Humber College was a delivery partner of the original Real Estate Education Program, delivering courses to over 18,000 students. About NIIT Learning Solutions (Canada) Limited: NIIT Learning Solutions (Canada) Limited is a subsidiary of NIIT Limited, a global leader in skills and talent development, established in 1981. NIIT Limited offers multi-disciplinary learning management and training delivery solutions to institutions, individuals, and corporations in over 40 countries. NIIT's comprehensive suite of Managed Training Services includes custom curriculum design and content development, learning administration and delivery, strategic sourcing, learning technology, and advisory services. NIIT's global customers include leading global energy and petrochemical companies headquartered in Europe; some of the largest multi-national banks, insurance, and financial services companies in North America; and market-leading global technology companies. The Learning and Performance Institute, UK has internationally accredited NIIT as a forward-thinking, reputable provider, committed to learner outcomes, performance development, and customer satisfaction. SOURCE Real Estate Council of Ontario

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Share Rocket and BIA/Kelsey Announce Partnership to Deliver Local TV Station Social Media Ratings Data

BIA/Kelsey, the leading research and consulting company focused on traditional and digital media, today announced a new alliance with Share Rocket, a leader in social media ratings for the broadcast industry. The partnership will include a variety of industry initiatives designed to examine social media audiences of local TV stations. Featured in the partnership is the addition of Share Rocket's station-level social media data for the top 100 U.S. local television markets to BIA/Kelsey's data and analytical software, MEDIA Access Pro, and the firm's new advertising dashboard product, ADVantage. "Broadcasters are intent on monetizing the value of their social audieces, especially as consumers turn to multiple channels and devices to consume content," said Rick Ducey, managing director, BIA/Kelsey. "Our goal in working with Share Rocket is to offer social data to broadcasters that will help them create a social currency around their audiences. We will deliver this information via industry 'how to' papers and within our own software products that industry professionals use daily."



According to BIA/Kelsey forecasts, the social media advertising industry in the U.S. will grow to $31.5 billion by 2021, from $14.9 billion in 2016. The firm has been tracking a consistent shift from traditional media channels with more ad spend shifting towards online, digital and mobile platforms. One example of this trend is revealed in a recent Share Rocket study that indicates that local TV Facebook (News - Alert) pages are growing 48 percent year over year versus Facebook's seven percent overall average audience growth in the U.S. "As distribution channels evolve, ratings solutions and transactional currencies are the next logical step beyond standard metrics and analytics tools for broadcasters to determine the best next steps for their social channels," said Chris Kraft, CEO, Share Rocket. "Share Rocket delivers the share-based metrics broadcasters need to better understand their social audiences and improve performance both for consumers and advertisers. We are excited to partner with BIA/Kelsey to bring this data directly to broadcasters."

TV broadcasters could realize some of the $10 billion that will be spent in locally targeted social advertising by 2021 by using their high value and premium news content to develop news packages specifically for social channels that could reach different audience segments than over-the-air alone. The firms are co-authoring a new paper to examine the social media roadmap for broadcasters. To reserve a copy, click now. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005845/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Southwest Capital Bank Expands ATM Channel with the Help of Cummins Allison

Southwest Capital Bank, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, installed 35 cash-dispensing ATMs from Cummins Allison, the leading innovator and provider of coin, currency and check processing technology as well as ATMs, to increase its presence at convenience stores located throughout the state of New Mexico. "We're constantly searching for additional ways to bring more convenience and access to our customers," said Richard Torrez, customer support manager, Southwest Capital Bank. "The Southwest Capital Bank-branded ATMs meet our customers' cash access needs in a way that works best for them - in the conveniently located stores that are already part of their lives," said Torrez. "In addition they meet the needs of many types of non-customers including travelers in need of spending cash." Superior experience Southwest Capital bank started working with Cummins Allison when they replaced two of their six bank branch ATMs. "We had an extremely positive experience with them so when one of our small business customers approached us looking for a new ATM fleet because their existing ones were frequently out of service, we reached out to Cummins Allison." "We were looking for cost-effective ATMs that were not only reliable but fulfilled our modern brand image," said Torrez. "We were impressed by the look and the uptime, and, for any bank, keeping ATMs up and running means increased revenues," said Torrez.



All 35 ATMs were installed in less than two weeks. "It's the relationships, the customer service and attention to detail that Cummins Allison offers that had the ATMs up and running well before scheduled," said Torrez. Customer-centric provider

Once a financial institution has made the decision to replace or add to its ATM fleet, it's critical to select the technology that best meets their needs. Equally important is choosing a partner that is focused on delivering superior service and support throughout the entire process. "When choosing technology like this, the sea of 'sameness' is ever present, but what really differentiated Cummins Allison from other providers is the level of service and care I received from them," Torrez commented. "From the beginning to end, I have nothing but positive things to say. They picked up the ball and never dropped it." "Any technology roll-out of this size requires seamless collaboration between customer and ATM partner," said Bob Gibson, vice president, branch operations, Cummins Allison. "Successful deployment of this significant ATM installation demonstrates our ability to scale with our customers' needs and demonstrates our commitment to helping Southwest Capital Bank expand its brand presence." For more information on Cummins Allison's ATMs visit: www.cumminsallison.com/atm About Southwest Capital Bank Southwest Capital Bank is among the very few family owned banks in the nation and prides itself on a history of long-term relationships. The familiar, conservative leadership of the Levenson family means continuity and stability for their customers-many of whom come from families that have themselves been part of the New Mexico landscape for generations. Being a family bank in a place where family comes first, they know what it's like to work together, struggle together, and prosper together. They understand what it is to have a business and a family in New Mexico. About Cummins Allison Cummins Allison is the leading innovator and provider of check, currency and coin handling solutions, as well as full-function ATMs. Our world-class sales and service network includes hundreds of local representatives in more than 50 offices in North America, 6 wholly-owned subsidiaries and is represented in more than 70 countries around the world. For more information about our award-winning solutions, visit www.cumminsallison.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005920/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Merz Appoints Bob Rhatigan as President and Chief Executive Officer in North America

Merz Pharma, a global leader in aesthetics and neurotoxins, today announced the appointment of Bob Rhatigan as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Merz North America and Patrick Urban as Chief Commercial Officer, effective immediately. Both Mr. Rhatigan and Mr. Urban will be based in Raleigh, NC. "The global leadership team and I have great confidence that Bob Rhatigan has the strategic vision, extensive industry knowledge and operational experience that is needed to drive growth and lead Merz North America to continued success," said Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz Pharma. "He has a proven track record of accomplishments and unparalleled experience that bring great benefit to our company's aesthetics and neurotoxins portfolio. Bob also brings a personal style that is fully aligned with our values and culture, making him a natural fit for the team." In his new role, Mr. Rhatigan will assume responsibility for Merz's business in North America, leading strategy and operations across the US and Canada. Mr. Rhatigan will join Merz's global management board and will report directly to Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz Pharma Group. Prior to joining Merz, Mr. Rhatigan served as Senior Vice President of Allergan's Facial Aesthetics business, overseeing the US launches and commercial success of their key aesthetic injectable brands and growing the division into a $700M business. While at Allergan, he also served as Senior Vice President, General Manager and Chief Executive of SkinMedica, leading all aspects of the global SkinMedica business as well as the integration of SkinMedica into Allergan. Most recently, Bob Rhatigan served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Alphaeon Corporation, a healthcare company focused on the lifestyle medical space.



"I am honored and excited to lead the Merz North America team to an even higher level of achievement and ensure a successful future for the organization. We have a well-rounded and strong portfolio in which I see clear potential," said Mr. Rhatigan. "I am fortunate to work with a deeply experienced senior leadership team as we continue to target innovative approaches and growth opportunities with a strategic focus on our aesthetics and neurotoxins business. We will remain committed to being a trusted partner for our customers to provide long-term value as well as meet the evolving needs of our patients." In addition, Patrick Urban, who most recently served as interim President and CEO for Merz North America, has accepted the role of Chief Commercial Officer, reporting directly to Bob Rhatigan. In this newly-created position, Mr. Urban will play a critical role in driving the commercial success of the Merz Aesthetics portfolio.

Mr. Urban brings more than 20 years of commercial experience in the U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device industries to his new role as Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, Urban held the role of Vice President, US Aesthetics Sales, where he was responsible for the management of Merz North America's U.S.-based aesthetics sales force. Prior to joining Merz, Patrick Urban served as Vice President, U.S. Sales for Ulthera, Inc., joining Ulthera in October 2009 as the organization's first sales leader, serving as a key conduit between Ulthera's National Accounts team, OUS sales force and Global Marketing function. As Merz's largest subsidiary, Merz North America is a significant contributor to the company's global business in both aesthetics and neurotoxins. Merz North America is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with additional locations in Mesa, Arizona, Franksville, Wisconsin and Toronto, Canada. About Merz Pharma Group With approximately 3,000 employees and 34 subsidiaries worldwide, Merz is a global leader in Aesthetics and Neurotoxins. Privately held for more than 100 years, the company is distinguished by its in-house research and development, solid financial strength and continuous growth. Complementing its unique portfolio of products for minimally invasive and non-invasive skin rejuvenation and tightening, Merz also develops neurotoxin therapy for the treatment of movement disorders. Skincare products and a range of OTC medicines are also included in offerings from the company, which is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. In fiscal year 2015/16, Merz Pharma Group generated revenue of EUR 1,092.9 million. More information is available at www.merz.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006018/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Protective Services Agencies Nationwide Deploy "SafeSignal," AlertMedia's Patented New Emergency Communications Technology, to Protect Caseworkers

Tens of thousands of caseworkers employed by protective services and mental health agencies across the U.S. are now equipped with AlertMedia's SafeSignal, a groundbreaking mobile technology that provides safety and security for people working in high-risk situations. Personal safety has become a major concern for caseworkers at agencies nationwide, as incidents of violence against them are becoming increasingly common. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 48% of all non-fatal injuries from assaults and violent acts in an occupational setting took place in health care and social services settings. The patented SafeSignal mobile app from AlertMedia works in combination with a tether inserted into a smartphone to provide a "zero-button" distress signal. When the tether is disconnected, even from a locked phone, an audible alarm is activated and the distress signal, along with critical details about the SafeSignal user's location and situation, is relayed to local law enforcement. Caseworkers never have to unlock their phone, search for an app, or push a single button to get an emergency response. "Our staff interacts in the community in challenging, high-risk situations. We were looking for a solution that would give our workers an instant connection to law enforcement, but also an increased level of safety confidnce," said Penelope Doherty, Texas DFPS Worker Safety Support Manager. "After a harrowing close call, we needed something that works without pressing any buttons, on a locked phone, and with monitoring team support. As a result, SafeSignal has been deployed to our nearly 9,000 caseworkers statewide."



Several other family protective services agencies across the country, including the states of Kansas, New Mexico, West Virginia and Vermont, are now protecting their workers with SafeSignal, while dozens of other states are evaluating the solution. The AlertMedia emergency communications platform and SafeSignal app are preventing crime and violence before it happens, improving law enforcement response times, and reducing costs related to employee turnover. "The inherent risks of child protection work follow our staff far beyond the doors of our offices and at any time of the day; with SafeSignal we were able to give our workers a tangible safety resource that would enable them to have fingertip access to help no matter the circumstance. SafeSignal's monitoring team enabled us to provide 24/7 coverage to our workforce without any increase in workload and with expertise that we would not have been able to match," said Shannon Morton, Staff Safety Coordinator for Vermont Department for Children and Families.

A survey by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees found that 90% of child welfare workers experienced verbal threats, 30% experienced physical attacks, and 13% had been threatened with weapons. The patented SafeSignal app and tether was developed with these types of workers and situations in mind, where an attack or other conditions would make it impossible for a worker to unlock a phone, or find and tap buttons on a screen. "The unfortunate reality is that people being assaulted don't have time to call 911 or even press a single button. And even if they could make a call, it's very difficult under extreme circumstances for them to communicate their location and other details," said Brian Cruver, founder and CEO of AlertMedia. "SafeSignal users can get help without pressing a button, without even looking at their device. And our monitoring team has all the location details and situation information to coordinate a response with local law enforcement." About AlertMedia AlertMedia keeps people safe, informed, and connected. The company's patented SafeSignal technology gives workers in dangerous situations both a powerful deterrent and a coordinated response from law enforcement. As the fastest growing company in the emergency communications industry, AlertMedia is helping organizations around the world improve their critical notifications, protect their people, and reduce risk. For more information, please call (800) 826-0777 or visit alertmedia.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006075/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The US is concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself may get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists, Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN said on Monday.

By Indo-Asian News Service: The US is concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself may get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists, Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN said on Monday.

"This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.

advertisement

"I would expect that the administration going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process)."

She added, "And also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates as well."

India has opposed external involvement in bilateral issues with Pakistan.

During his campaign in 2016, Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, but was careful to add that it was only if the two nations wanted him to.

In an interview to The Hindustan Times he said that he "would be honoured" to be a moderator. "I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator."

Haley was answering a question from a reporter at her news conference on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April.

The reporter pointed out that India does not want an interlocutor for talks with Pakistan, while Islamabad wanted the US or another country to facilitate talks between them and asked if the US would get the leaders of the two countries to talk.

With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson keeping a low public profile and generally avoiding the media, Haley is emerging as the public face of US diplomacy making her presence felt in the media aided by her cabinet status.

Her statement about India-Pakistan relations, therefore, assume importance and it is the first high-level Trump administration statement on India's relations with Pakistan.

While it is not clear what steps the US could take, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in May when the two could discuss it.

Former President Barack Obama also had said during his 2008 campaign that the US should mediate the Kashmir dispute. The offer met with strong opposition in India and he did not actively follow it up when he became President.

"We don't think we should wait until something happens" Haley said. "We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so want to see if we can be a part of that."

advertisement

"So, that will be something you will see, that is something that members of the National Security Council participate in," she said.

--- ENDS ---
[April 04, 2017] Celebrating Survivors: Drawing Strength from Dialogue and Dance

39-year-old woman diagnosed with breast cancer guided by hopefulness and intuition. Caregiver turned support group coordinator and mentor. Pink-dyed hair to spark dialogue and determination among those confronted with breast cancer. From the bedside to communities from coast to coast, these are just a few ways clinicians and healthcare facilities are helping to make strides every day to help reduce the number of lives lost to this devastating disease. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006140/en/ Nearly 1,000 nurses danced at Medline's 12th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Breakfast (Photo: Business Wire) Medline today honored the strength and courage of patients, survivors and caregivers at its 12th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Breakfast. The event, happening in conjunction with the 2017 Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Surgical Conference & Expo in Boston, included nearly a thousand nurses participating in an inspiring dance. "Clinicians are on the frontlines of care and play a vital role in helping patients navigate the raw and often scary path of cancer," says Karen Frey, philanthropy manager, Medline. "For Medline, this important gathering serves as a reminder that youare not alone in this fight. Together, we stand bound by a united goal to celebrate strength and eradicate breast cancer, all through the help of our communities and a call to action nationwide."



Asleep at the Wheel In 2014, Noelle LeVeaux, this year's keynote speaker, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She quickly learned to juggle three jobs - marketing executive, single mom of two girls and manager of her own health. These jobs are what inspired her to start a blog titled "Confessions of a Single Mom with Cancer." She says the ripple effect of the diagnosis has brought greater clarity about her desire to live.

"For so many of us, our everyday busyness and stress often leaves us asleep at the wheel of life. Being diagnosed with cancer taught me that it's critical to be awake," says LeVeaux. "The support of my friends, family and care team, gave me the courage to make changes in my life to fight uncertainty and fear." Medline and Its Breast Cancer Mission A woman's breast cancer detection journey can be filled with fear. To help create a comfortable, friendly and open dialogue about breast cancer between nurses and patients, Medline, a global medical supplies distributor, introduced the first pink exam gloves in 2009. In 2011, the company created the Medline Pink Glove Dance Competition, the only campaign to unite thousands of healthcare professionals, patients, survivors and communities - all through the joy of dancing. As part of a commitment spanning more than a decade, Medline has donated $1.7 million to breast cancer awareness, research and early detection screenings. In addition, the company has provided free, on-site mammograms to employees with more than 1,500 screenings to date. Join in or follow the conversation about this breast cancer awareness initiative by using #MedlineAtAORN. Learn more about the company's commitment at http://www.medline.com/about-us/breast-cancer-awareness/. About Medline Medline is a global manufacturer and distributor serving the healthcare industry with medical supplies and clinical solutions that help customers achieve both clinical and financial success. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., the company offers 350,000+ medical devices and support services through more than 1,200 direct sales representatives who are dedicated points of contact for customers across the continuum of care. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or http://www.medline.com/social-media to connect with Medline on its social media channels. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006140/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Erik Phelps Joins Tempus as Executive Vice President and General Counsel

CHICAGO, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tempus, a technology company that enables physicians to deliver personalized cancer care, has hired Erik Phelps to serve as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Phelps will be responsible for a broad range of legal areas for the company, including general corporate matters and strategy. Prior to joining Tempus, Phelps served as General Counsel at Epic, a software company that provides electronic health records for medical groups, hospitals and healthcare organizations. Before that, he served as a partner at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Madison, WI where he focused on software licensing and technology related work, including with early-stage companies. He earned his bachelors degree from Beloit College and his J.D. from George Washington University Law School. Erik spent nearly a decade driving and supporting the growth of one of the largest healthcare technology providers in the world, said Eric Lefkofsky, Co-founder and CEO at Tempus. As Tempus continues to scale and partner with large hospital systems and academic centers, we felt it was important to bring on a seasoned leader with strategy and operations experience to accelerate our work to make personalized treatment a reality for patients diagnosed with cancr.



Tempus has established itself in short order as an innovator with the potential to transform the industry, said Phelps, General Counsel at Tempus. The opportunity to join this data-driven healthcare leader was something that I couldnt pass up. Tempus has recruited a world-class team of accomplished geneticists, computational biologists, data scientists and software engineers who have developed the software and analytic tools that form the foundation of an operating system to battle cancer. The company provides molecular sequencing and clinical analysis for top academic centers, hospital systems, associations, and healthcare providers such as Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvanias Abramson Cancer Center, Northwesterns Lurie Cancer Center, and the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

About Tempus:

Tempus is a technology company that is building the worlds largest library of molecular and clinical data and an operating system to make that data accessible and useful. We enable physicians to deliver personalized cancer care for patients through our interactive analytical and machine learning platform. We provide genomic sequencing services and analyze molecular and therapeutic data to empower physicians to make real-time, data-driven decisions. Our goal is for each patient to benefit from the treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with tools that learn as we gather more data. For more information, visit tempus.com and follow us on Facebook (Tempus Labs) and Twitter (@TempusLabs). For more information on Eric Lefkofsky, visit lefkofsky.com.

Contact: Tempus Clo Ewing Director of Communications [email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] LCHB: California Family Files Suit to Hold Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Accountable for Deadly Injuries Suffered by Father and Son in Jeep Liberty Explosion and Fire and to Warn Other Drivers of Lethal Jeep Fire Risks

Rick Patterson of Southern California plaintiffs' law firm Owen Patterson & Owen and Fabrice N. Vincent of the national plaintiffs' law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, announce that Nancy Urquiza Avila, Jacqueline Almanza Urquiza, and Yaritza Angulo Urquiza, residents of Oxnard, California, have filed a personal injury lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against FCA US LLC ("Fiat Chrysler Automobiles") and certain other parties for the lethal injuries suffered by Cesar Almanza Garcia and Cesar Almanza Urquiza in an explosion and fire in their Jeep Liberty that occurred as a result of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' failure to effectively and safely recall the 2002 Jeep Liberty to meaningfully protect occupants from extraordinary risks of fuel-fed fires following read-end collisions. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006219/en/ Cesar Almanza Garcia, Nancy Urquiza Avila, Cesar Almanza Urquiza, and Jacqueline Almanza Urquiza. (Photo: Business Wire) On December 4, 2016, this close-knit family of five was headed to Oregon on the I-5 Freeway, north of Santa Clarita, when Baldemar Cervantes Rivas, an agent and employee of Cervantes Brothers Trucking, negligently struck the rear of Cesar Almanza Garcia's 2002 Jeep Liberty, in which Almanza was driving his family. The ensuing explosion and fuel-fed fire caused severe burn injuries to the three survivors, and killed Mr. Almanza and their three-year-old son Cesar Almanza Urquiza. The complaint in the case alleges that the 2002 Jeep Liberty and 2.5 million vehicles like it (1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee; 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty) are defective because the rear fuel tank was placed between the rear bumper and rear axle, a placement that makes vehicles prone to explode and burn when struck in the rear (like the Ford (News - Alert) Pinto and Ford Crown Victoria); placing a fuel tank midship (between the axles and side rails) has been known for decades to best protect occupants. The complaint further alleges that in the 2002 Jeep Liberty and 2.5 million similar vehicles the fuel tank is placed low, under the bumper, where it is most easily pierced in rear-end collisions (making it even worse than other rear-mounted fuel tank vehicle designs). As reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, over 75 deaths, 58 injuries, and 90 incidents to-date are attributed to the Jeep fuel tank defect. The Jeep Liberty driven by Cesar Almanza Garcia was recalled in 2014 by defendant Fiat Chrysler Automobiles because of fuel-fed fires occurring in exactly such situations (rear-end strikes). The complaint alleges that the rcall was outrageously deficient and defective because it failed to effectively fix the defect, bypassing the installation of an inexpensive plastic fire shield/panel that when pierced emits a fire suppressant powder, and instead of truly fixing the problem only adding a rear trailer hitch -- equipment that was never designed or intended to protect a gas tank -- to affected vehicles with the notion that a rear trailer hitch would provide a small physical impediment to mitigate accident-caused fuel fires. The complaint alleges that an alternative plastic fire shield/panel is a proven superior fix, in that it has been deployed in 25,000 U.S. Military and Ford Crown Victoria vehicles to successfully protect occupants from similar vehicle-impact, fuel-fed fires. As the complaint concludes, had the fuel tank been properly located, properly protected, and/or properly recalled, the Almanza and Urquiza family would have avoided burn injuries and deaths.



"It is heartbreaking to consider that the tragedy and death suffered by the Almanza and Urquiza family could have been prevented had Fiat Chrysler Automobiles accepted its responsibilities to its customers and adequately and safely protected its vehicles," noted plaintiffs' co-counsel Fabrice Vincent. "We hope our lawsuit will help raise awareness of the serious explosion and fire dangers still present in thousands of similar Jeep Liberty and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles." In this case, the 2002 Jeep Liberty did have a trailer hitch on it and instead of properly protecting the fuel tank and the vehicle occupants, the trailer hitch harpooned into the fuel tank, causing and/or contributing to the occupants' burn injuries and deaths.

The complaint seeks actual damages for plaintiffs' injuries and the loss of their loved ones, as well as punitive damages for, among other things, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' sale and marketing of a dangerous and defective product, failure to properly recall and protect that product, fraud and malice in the knowing concealment of the true dangers of the subject vehicle, and wanton and willful disregard of the safety and well-being of purchasers like the Almanza and Urquiza family. The complaint additionally calls upon Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to warn consumers, vehicle owners and lessees, and the public that trailer hitches are potentially hazardous and deadly when mounted on its vehicles with rear fuel tanks. Plaintiffs ask Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to consider recalling all affected vehicles for installation of the plastic fire shield/panel, a proven-effective alternative to adding a rear trailer hitch. Legal Resources for Jeep Fire Victims Please visit www.lieffcabraser.com/jeepfires for more information and the answers to frequently-asked questions about Jeep Liberty and Jeep Grand Cherokee accident-caused fuel-fed fires. If you or a family member have been injured in a Jeep Liberty accident or Jeep Grand Cherokee accident where impact damage caused a fuel-fed fire, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you about your case. Please call us toll-free at 1 800-541-7358 or complete the contact form at www.lieffcabraser.com/jeepfires. We will promptly review your case for free, confidentially, and in a caring and compassionate manner. About Owen Patterson & Owen For almost four decades, Owen Patterson & Owen have been committed to making every day count by striving for positive results for the people we represent. Founded in 1977, our firm has always stood for results, experience and integrity. Over the years, we have obtained settlements and verdicts totaling several hundred million dollars. Our attorneys played an instrumental role in obtaining a $4.85 billion settlement for the victims of the dangerous drug Vioxx. Included on Law and Politics' list of Super Lawyers and named one of the Top 25 lawyers by Valley Magazine, members of our team have also held a wide range of leadership positions in important legal organizations including president of the Santa Clarita Bar Association. We are sincere about doing what is right for the people we represent in personal injury cases. About Lieff Cabraser Recognized as "one of the nation's premier plaintiffs' firms" by The American Lawyer, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a seventy-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Seattle. Our firm has successfully represented thousands of vehicle injury victims across America in individual lawsuits. U.S. News and Best Lawyers named Lieff Cabraser as their 2016 "Law Firm of the Year" for representing plaintiffs in class actions and mass torts, and we were recognized in 2016 by Law360 as one of the Top 50 Firms for Litigation in America and by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 10 Plaintiffs firms in the country. Attorney Advertising Notice This press release may be considered attorney advertising in certain jurisdictions. Any testimonial or endorsement does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006219/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Burns & Levinson Launches New Brand Identity and Website

BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Burns & Levinson has launched a new brand identity to reflect the client-centric, high-level legal services the firm provides for its regional, national and international clientele. The new visual identity  a deep purple circle  and typography represent the high-energy, full-service, hands-on, personalized approach every client receives from Burns & Levinson. The firm also unveiled a newly created website in conjunction with the unveiling of its brand. Burns' new brand identity is built around the concept of "Amazing Clients," which echoes the firm's decades of serving clients who are amazing at what they do and Burns' ability to amaze clients with an intense focus on long-lasting relationships, high quality work, top-notch service, big firm know-how, and impressive results. The website features many of these collaborative "amazing client/amazing firm" stories. The new website also highlights Burns' holistic and novel approach to serving clients in every facet of their business and personal life. The firm's practice groups are divided into two core areas  "Your Business" and "Your Life"  which reflects the firm's value added focus on meeting clients' business and personal legal needs. Overall, the brand and website showcase Burns' singular focus on strong client relationships  not billable hours  and the firm's driving vision to always go above and beyond to ensure clients' success. As a Boston-based firm with over 125 attorneys, Burns is big enough to represent clients in complex and sophisticated matters, yet small enough to provide highly responsive, direct partner-level, proactive advice in a more cost effective and efficient way. "At Burns & Levinson, we practice law differently. We offer clients a can-do entrepreneurial style of lawyering that we believe is unique to our firm," said David P. Rosenblatt, managing partner at Burns & Levinson. "Our client service model is partner-driven, which means that clients work directly with our most experienced and resourceful attorneys to find solutions to their most complex problems." While many of Boston's top local law firms have embraced the "bigger is better" approach to practicing law, Burns has seized the opportunity to turn its client-centered approach, prestigious national recognition in its core practice areas, smaller and more personalized service orientation, and deep roots in New England into a competitive advantage. "Our clients' personal and business success is always our top priority," said Rosenblatt. "We are thrilled that our new external identity more accurately matches who we are and how clients perceive us in the marketplace. It is exciting to bring that idea full circle and have it reflected in our new brand image and website." Burns spent one year developing its new brand and website, and the process involved extensive market research as well as in-depth internal research of clients' experiences and the firm's client service standards. About Burns & Levinson LLP

At Burns & Levinson, we provide high-level, client-centric and results-oriented legal services to our regional, national and international clients. We are a full-service law firm with over 125 lawyers in Boston, Providence and other regional offices. Our areas of expertise include: business/finance, business litigation, divorce/family law, emerging companies/venture capital, employment, estate planning, government investigations, intellectual property, M&A/private equity, probate/trust litigation, and real estate. We partner with our clients to solve their business and personal legal issues in a collaborative, creative, and cost-effective way. For more information, visit Burns & Levinson at www.burnslev.com.







Contact:



Amy Blumenthal

Blumenthal & Associates

617.879.1511

[email protected]



Kristen Weller

Director of Marketing & Business Development

617.345.3555

[email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/burns--levinson-launches-new-brand-identity-and-website-300434460.html SOURCE Burns & Levinson LLP

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] In Ramp Up to Fully Autonomous Systems, the User is being Ignored

BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last 15 years, semi-autonomous features offered by OEMs have arguably been a series of partially automated parking and driving systems that are mostly accurate and sometimes comfortable, but rarely easy to discover or use. A new report from the In-Vehicle UX (IVX) group at Strategy Analytics, "In Ramp Up to Fully Autonomous Systems, the User is Being Ignored", assessed the on-going transition from semi-autonomous features in vehicles, to fully autonomous systems. Crucially, systems must be designed from the human outward, rather than from the system inward, to ensure successful uptake. Current semi-autonomous driving and parking systems have not excelled, primarily due to poor human-machine-interfaces (HMI). In research undertaken by Strategy analytics, first-time users often had extreme difficulty mastering the controls related to these features and correctly interpreting relevant iconography and messages. Even the most basic task such as determining whether the system was "on," was difficult. However, while consumers continue to show interest in autonomous transportation systems, many are pessimistic about them due to a lack of trust; and this will be a major obstacle to overcome. Click here for report: http://s-link.cc/1jL



Derek Viita, Senior Analyst and report author commented, "It is becoming clear that media coverage of early incidents with autonomous driving features is coloring early consumer perceptions of these systems. The rush by non-traditional transport companies to beta-test concepts before they are road-or-user-ready has led to a number of incidents being portrayed negatively in the media." Chris Schreiner, Director of Syndicated Research, agreed. "Added to positive media coverage, the user experience of semi-autonomous driving and parking systems could also improve greatly. For example, warnings that use multiple output modalities lead to a faster reaction time and a quicker hand-off back to the autonomous system than warnings that use just one modality. This would go a long way toward establishing consumer trust in future fully autonomous transport experiences."

About Strategy Analytics Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. www.StrategyAnalytics.com. About In-vehicle UX The In-vehicle UX group forms part of the User Experience Innovation Practice (UXIP) at Strategy Analytics. Focusing on user behaviors, motivations and interests within in-vehicle, mobile device, connected home and media & services research areas, UXIP helps clients meet consumer needs, develop usable solutions and deliver compelling user experiences. Extensive expertise and highly experienced in large-scale survey work, in-depth interviews, focus groups and observational sessions, UXIP's research methodology allows strategic user-centric analysis on the potential for new technologies that would otherwise be unavailable. Providing actionable insight, go-to-market strategies and business recommendations, UXIP is a leading supplier of consumer knowledge to the technology industry. Click here for more information. Press Contacts US Contact: Derek Viita, +1 617 614 0772, [email protected] European Contact: Diane O'Neill, +44 (0)1908 423 669, [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/in-ramp-up-to-fully-autonomous-systems-the-user-is-being-ignored-300434539.html SOURCE Strategy Analytics

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Leidos to Support Department of Homeland Security via Prime Contract to Operate its NextGen Security Operations Center

RESTON, Va., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a global science and technology company, today announced it will support the Department of Homeland Security by providing comprehensive cybersecurity and threat mitigation services to operate the NextGen Security Operations Center. The single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a one-year base period of performance, six one-year options, and a total contract value of $395 million if all options are exercised. The contract was originally awarded to Lockheed Martin's Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) business. Leidos merged with IS&GS in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction that was completed on August 16, 2016. Work will be performed primarily in Washington, D.C. The award builds on Leidos' proven cybersecurity and large-scale IT transformation solutions. This program will enable DHS to further enhance its proactive cyber intelligence operations center by leveraging Leidos' advanced cyber methodologies and capabilities. "Given the DHS mission, its network is a critical part of the U.S. national security infrastructure. This program will help DHS address the adaptive nature of cyber threats in order to thwart future attacks," said Leidos Civil Group President, Angie Heise. "This contract award extends Leidos' broad cybersecurity portfolio, and is evidence that our detection, protection, and risk mitigation technologies are trusted solutions for U.S. government agencies." About Leidos Leidos is a global science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 30, 2016, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.







Contact: Melissa Koskovich Jennifer Moffett

(571) 526-6850 (571) 526-6852

[email protected] [email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leidos-to-support-department-of-homeland-security-via-prime-contract-to-operate-its-nextgen-security-operations-center-300434431.html SOURCE Leidos

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] MGIC Announces Partnership with PreApp 1003

MILWAUKEE, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC), the nation's first private mortgage insurer, announced today the availability of mortgage insurance through PreApp 1003, a cloud-based mortgage pre-qualification system. PreApp 1003 customers can now price loans with MGIC mortgage insurance without leaving the system. This integration  unique to PreApp 1003 and MGIC  allows loan officers to provide their borrowers accurate, real-time mortgage loan rates that require mortgage insurance. This automation helps improve the point-of-sale experience of the loan origination process by saving time and increasing precision. "PreApp 1003 just got even more efficient for a loan originator to pre-qualify a prospective borrower from a mobile device," said Dru Brents, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PreApp 1003. "With MGIC mortgage insurance now embedded in the system, loan originators can work DTI ratios more quickly and accurately." "PreApp 1003 is the best tool out there for both the client and loan officer experience," said JP Hussey, Producing Branch Manager at GMH Mortgag. "Data has also shown that 35% of all applications this year will be from millennials, who work on the go, just like loan officers. Having quick, mobile access to accurate MGIC mortgage insurance rates in PreApp 1003 is a critical part of this pre-qualification process."



"Our integration with PreApp 1003 addresses the need for quick pricing in the mortgage loan pre-approval process," said Margaret Crowley, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience at MGIC. "This partnership demonstrates our continued dedication to offering automated solutions to our customers." About MGIC

MGIC, the principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corporation, this year celebrates 60 years of serving the mortgage finance industry. As the founder of modern private mortgage insurance, MGIC is committed to providing products and services that make originating affordable low-down-payment mortgages safer for the financial institutions served. Fulfilling this vital role helps families achieve homeownership sooner. At February 28, 2017, MGIC had $182.9 billion of primary insurance in force covering approximately 1 million mortgages.

About PreApp 1003

Founded in 2015, Houston-based PreApp 1003 was created to fill a growing need for mortgage loan officers to easily and securely prequalify mortgage applicants from the convenience of their mobile devices. Being a cloud-based, text-initiated system, PreApp 1003 helps from the point of referral, to obtaining credit, calculating ratios and funds to close, to issuing closing cost worksheets and conditional pre-approval letters. It is simply the most efficient way for a Mortgage Loan Originator to pre-qualify a prospective borrower all from a mobile device. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mgic-announces-partnership-with-preapp-1003-300434520.html SOURCE MGIC Investment Corporation

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Andrew Crouch Joins Zayo Group as President and COO

Zayo Group (News - Alert) Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) announced today that it has named industry veteran Andrew Crouch as president and chief operating officer. Crouch's start date will be April 27. Crouch will be a key member of the executive management team and will oversee Zayo's business operations. He will be based in Denver, Colorado and will report to Zayo's chairman and CEO Dan Caruso (News - Alert). "My priority over the past year has been to assemble an invigorated post-IPO executive team," said Caruso. "Andrew is the capstone of this initiative to position Zayo for the future." Crouch was most recently regional president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) for Level 3 Communications (News - Alert), where he also was responsible for its Global Accounts Division. Crouch joined Level 3 in 2001 and has since held a variety of executive positions leading marketing, product and commercial organizations, including regional president of North America and Asia-Pacific. Prior to joining Level 3, Crouch worked at British Telecom and Concert Communications, a joint venture between British Telecom and AT&T (News - Alert). "Andrew rose through the sales and marketing functions, and has extensive global experience in running large scale organizations similar to Zayo," added Caruso, "He is exactly what Zayo needs to drive our continued growth as the global leader in communications infrastructure." "Though I admire Zayo's track record, my focus is on where we can take Zayo over the next five years," said Crouch. "In a world that has an insatiable need for bandwidth, we will leverage Zayo's vast infrastructure to enable our customers to deliver innovative and impactful services." During the past 15 years, Crouch has worked with many Zayo executives, including Caruso.



Crouch will oversee Zayo's global Communications Infrastructure business which consists of Fiber Solutions, Transport, Enterprise Networks, and Colocation segments, and its Allstream business. Shared functions, such as Sales and Customer Service, will also report into Crouch. Chris Morley, Zayo's current president and COO, will remain with Zayo during a transition period. "Chris was integral to Zayo's success over its first 10 years and will be sorely missed," said Caruso. "On behalf of our shareholders, customers and employees, we thank Chris for his many contributions."

Zayo will announce its fiscal third quarter results in early May. As an update to prior guidance, bookings for the March quarter were strong in comparison to the prior quarter and consistent with expectations set by management during the March 17, 2017 investor call. For more information about Zayo, please visit zayo.com. About Zayo Group Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure to the world's leading businesses. Customers include wireless and wireline carriers, media and content companies and finance, healthcare and other large enterprises. Zayo's 126,000-network in North America and Europe includes extensive metro connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers. In addition to high capacity dark fiber, wavelength, Ethernet and other connectivity solutions, Zayo offers colocation and cloud infrastructure in its carrier-neutral data centers. Zayo provides clients with flexible, customized solutions and self-service through Tranzact, an innovative online platform for managing and purchasing bandwidth and services. For more information, visit zayo.com. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words, and variations of words such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "continue," "will," "should," and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements will be achieved and actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. For additional information on these and other factors that could affect our forward-looking statements, see our risk factors, as they may be amended from time to time, set forth in our filings with the SEC (News - Alert), including our 10-K dated August 25, 2016. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006411/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[April 04, 2017] Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Markets in Europe 2017-2022

NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Border Security Market 2015-2020 CAGR: 15.5%. Granulated by 40 Submarkets



With 1.8 million asylum seekers (UN reports) crossing Western Europe's external borders in 2015, the European border security agencies are facing challenges with a far greater reach than ever before. More than 1000 ISIS-trained jihadists returning to Europe every year, coupled with the surge of migrants to Europe are alarming concerns; as present capabilities of the European border, coast guard, intelligence services and immigration agencies simply cannot meet these challenges.





Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04795573/Smart-Borders-Immigration-Enforcement-Border-Security-Markets-in-Europe-.html







The EU-Turkey deal (if implemented) might lead to a significant decrease in the flow of refugees (by March-April 2016 the rate of migrants entering Greece declined by 90%). However, the agreement faces formidable practical, political and legal challenges (e.g., each and every one of the 22 EU parliaments has to endorse the treaty).



In the aftermath of the migration crisis and the Paris and Brussels terror attacks, a major overhaul of the Western European border security and immigration infrastructure, strategy, border security technology development and funding is already underway.



Following a 2010 to 2015 annual market growth of 10-13% the 2015 to 2020 annual border security market will surge by 104%.



The "European Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Markets  2016-2022" report is the most comprehensive review of the border security market available today. It provides a detailed and reasoned roadmap of this growing security market.



The European Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Market is boosted by the following drivers:

- The Western European border security, coast guards, immigration agencies and intelligence agencies are ill-equipped to counter the surge of refugees and 21st century jihadists who use sophisticated means to return to the continent.

- The Schengen Area is comprised of 26 European countries that have abolished border control at their common borders. Several Schengen Area governments reinstated border checkpoints by 2015.

- Europe cannot build a wall to keep out refugees and terrorists or enlist millions of border guards who would need to watch every inch of its over 10,000 land borders and 80,000 coastlines.

- Europol estimates that up to 5,000 European jihadists have already returned to Western Europe after obtaining combat experience on the battlefields of the Middle East.

- On 15 December 2015, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new agency that would replace and succeed Frontex, having a stronger role and mandate, and forming a "European Border and Coast Guard" along with national authorities for border management.

- Of Europe's approximately 50 countries, Russia has by far the longest coastline as well as the longest land border.

- Western Europe, the largest economy in the world with a 2015 GDP of approximately $22 trillion (vs. the U.S. $17.5 trillion), can invest "whatever it takes" to protect its citizens from the looming jeopardies of mass migration and terrorism using advanced border security technologies.

- The border security and immigration enforcement industry faces a considerable challenge in seeking to provide the necessary solutions to current and future threats. At the same time, this challenge presents multi-billion USD opportunities to the defense, ICT and security industries able to deliver effective functions, integrate systems, and maximize security and productivity per $ invested.

- According to European intelligence services, ISIS has approximately 5000 original European blank passports which can be used by jihadists returning to the EU.

- The EU and the rest of the European border security and immigration infrastructure enforcement market for products and services are served by local defense and security companies. Even with a preference for locally manufactured products, foreign products can usually strongly compete on the basis of cost-performance. They do ot encounter any EU direct trade barriers or quotas. Non-tariff, indirect trade barriers may be the approval process of dual use goods, which include many security market products.







This Europe Border Security report is a resource for executives with interests in the border security system market. It has been explicitly customized for the security industry and other decision-makers in order to identify business opportunities, developing technologies, market trends and risks, as well as to benchmark business plans.

* Customers who purchase a multi-readers license of the report will get the "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry  2016 Edition" report free of charge. Single-reader license customers will get a 50% discount for the Industry report.



Questions answered in this 289-page report + one* reports include:

- What will the border security market size and trends be during 2016-2022?

- Which are the submarkets that provide attractive business opportunities?

- Who are the decision-makers?

- What drives the immigration enforcement & border security agencies to purchase products and services?

- What are the customers looking for?

- What are the technology & services trends?

- What is the market SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)?

- What are the challenges to market penetration & growth?





With 289 pages, 31 tables and 49 figures, the "European Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Markets  2016-2022" report covers 12 countries and regions, 4 technologies and 3 revenue source submarkets, offering for each of them 2015 data and assessments, and 2016-2022 forecasts and analyses.



Why Buy this Report?



A. Border Security Market data is analyzed via 3 key orthogonal perspectives:

With a highly fragmented market we address the "money trail"  each dollar spent  via the following 3 viewpoints:



- By 12 Country and Region Markets:

1. UK

2. France

3. Holland & Belgium

4. Sweden , Norway , Finland & Denmark

5. Germany

6. Austria & Switzerland

7. Italy

8. Spain

9. Poland

10. Hungary & Czech Republic

11. Russia

12. Rest of Europe



- By 3 Revenue Sources including:

1. Products Sales Revenues

2. After Sale Revenues Including: Maintenance, Service, Upgrades & Refurbishment

3. Other Revenues Including: Planning, Training, Consulting, Contracted Services & Government Funded R&D



- By 4 Technologies:

1. Automatic Border Control (ABC) Systems

2. Border & Perimeter Barriers

3. Visa Issuance IT Systems

4. Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Technologies



B. Detailed market analysis frameworks for each of the market sectors, including:

1. Market drivers & inhibitors

2. Business opportunities

3. SWOT analysis

4. Competitive analysis

5. Business environment

6. The 2015-2022 market segmented by 36 submarkets



C. The Europe Border Security report includes the following 5 appendices:

1. Appendix A: European Homeland Security & Public Safety Related Product Standards

2. Appendix B: The European Union Challenges and Outlook

3. Appendix C: Europe Migration Crisis & Border Security

4. Appendix D: Abbreviations



D. The border security market report addresses over 300 European Homeland Security and Public Safety standards (including links)



E. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry  2016 Edition" report provides the following insights and analysis of the industry including:

- The Global Industry 2016 status

- Effects of Emerging Technologies on the Industry

- The Market Trends

- Vendor  Government Relationship

- Geopolitical Outlook 2016-2022

- The Industry Business Models & Strategies

- Market Entry Challenges

- The Industry: Supply-Side & Demand-Side Analysis

- Market Entry Strategies

- Price Elasticity

- Past Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Events



F. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry  2016 Edition" report provides a May 2016 updated extensive data

(including company profile, recent annual revenues, key executives, homeland security and public safety products, and contact info.) of the leading 119 Homeland Security and Public Safety vendors including:

1. 3M

2. 3i-MIND

3. 3VR

4. 3xLOGIC

5. ABB

6. Accenture

7. ACTi Corporation

8. ADT Security Services

9. AeroVironment Inc.

10. Agent Video Intelligence

11. Airbus Defence and Space

12. Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia Group)

13. ALPHAOPEN

14. American Science & Engineering Inc.

15. Anixter

16. Aralia Systems

17. AT&T Inc.

18. Augusta Systems

19. Austal

20. Avigilon Corporation

21. Aware

22. Axis

23. AxxonSoft

24. Ayonix

25. BAE Systems

26. BioEnable Technologies Pvt Ltd

27. BioLink Solutions

28. Boeing

29. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc

30. Bosch Security Systems

31. Bruker Corporation

32. BT

33. Camero

34. Cassidian

35. CelPlan

36. China Security & Surveillance, Inc.

37. Cisco Systems

38. Citilog

39. Cognitec Systems GmbH

40. Computer Network Limited (CNL)

41. Computer Sciences Corporation

42. CrossMatch

43. Diebold

44. DRS Technologies Inc.

45. DVTel

46. Elbit Systems Ltd.

47. Elsag Datamat

48. Emerson Electric

49. Ericsson

50. ESRI

51. FaceFirst

52. Finmeccanica SpA

53. Firetide

54. Fulcrum Biometrics LLC

55. G4S

56. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.

57. General Dynamics Corporation

58. Getac Technology Corporation

59. Hanwha Techwin

60. Harris Corporation

61. Hewlett Packard Enterprise

62. Hexagon AB

63. Honeywell International Inc.

64. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd

65. IBM

66. IndigoVision

67. Intel Security

68. IntuVision Inc

69. iOmniscient

70. IPConfigure

71. IPS Intelligent Video Analytics

72. Iris ID Systems, Inc.

73. IriTech Inc.

74. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.

75. ISS

76. L-3 Security & Detection Systems

77. Leidos, Inc.

78. Lockheed Martin Corporation

79. MACROSCOP

80. MDS

81. Mer group

82. Milestone Systems A/S

83. Mirasys

84. Motorola Solutions, Inc.

85. National Instruments

86. NEC Corporation

87. NICE Systems

88. Northrop Grumman Corporation

89. Nuance Communications, Inc.

90. ObjectVideo

91. Panasonic Corporation

92. Pelco

93. Pivot3

94. Proximex

95. QinetiQ Limited

96. Rapiscan Systems, Inc.

97. Raytheon

98. Rockwell Collins , Inc.

99. Safran S.A.

100. Salient Sciences

101. Schneider Electric

102. SeeTec

103. Siemens

104. Smart China (Holdings) Limited

105. Smiths Detection Inc.

106. Sony Corp.

107. Speech Technology Center

108. Suprema Inc.

109. Synectics Plc

110. Tandu Technologies & Security Systems Ltd

111. Texas Instruments

112. Textron Inc.

113. Thales Group

114. Total Recall

115. Unisys Corporation

116. Verint

117. Vialogy LLC

118. Vigilant Technology

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04795573/Smart-Borders-Immigration-Enforcement-Border-Security-Markets-in-Europe-.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com

__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smart-borders-immigration-enforcement--border-security-markets-in-europe-2017-2022-300434690.html SOURCE Reportlinker

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Announces an Investigation Concerning Possible Breaches of Fiduciary Duty by Certain Officers and Directors of Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust

Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust (NYSE:RPT) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty. To obtain additional information, go to:

http://zlk.9nl.com/ramco-gershenson-rpt

or contact Joseph E. Lvi, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.







Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006485/en/
It comes as the administration is shifting its focus to tax reform and possibly a major investment in infrastructure.

By Reuters: President Donald Trump plans to hold a town hall meeting with about 50 business leaders on Tuesday at the White House to talk about ways of improving the business climate, his administration said on Monday.

The meeting, which will include the chief executives of Citigroup Inc, Blackstone Group LP, JetBlue Airways Corp , Mastercard Inc and the New York Stock Exchange, will involve discussions on infrastructure, modernizing government, workforce development and creating a pro-business climate.

advertisement

It comes as the administration is shifting its focus to tax reform and possibly a major investment in infrastructure after suffering a major setback when a Trump-backed healthcare reform package failed to win enough support to pass the House of Representatives.

POLICIES TO CREATE PRO-BUSINESS CLIMATE

The town hall is an "opportunity to discuss policies to create a pro-business climate with top Partnership CEOs from all industries," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said

Trump has held a series of meetings with chief executives and other business leaders since taking office in January as he has prodded companies to add US jobs and asked how government could reduce regulations to boost economic growth.

The town hall is scheduled to last an hour and 45 minutes and include banking, private equity and hedge funds, insurance companies and others. Also taking part will be Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and a senior adviser.

Among the business leaders attending are senior executives from General Electric, Hearst, HSBC Bank USA, Interpublic Group, Vornado Realty Trust, Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co.

REVITALISE AMERICAN ECONOMY

Trump, who was a real estate mogul before entering the White House, has pledged to use his business acumen to revitalise the American economy and create millions of jobs.

While the Republican president has begun the process of rolling back some labor and environmental regulations that he said were harming businesses, the administration has yet to secure a significant legislative victory to support his efforts to boost the economy.

Trump has also proposed sweeping cuts in government regulations and signed an executive order to roll back some energy rules.

Last week, the White House said Trump had named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, already a White House senior adviser, to take on the additional task of overseeing an effort to overhaul the federal government.

ALSO READ | America first, who's second? As 21 countries claim the spot, we know India comes even before first

--- ENDS ---
Election day information: voting times, polling centers and races

Residents will have their final chance to cast votes in local races on Nov. 8, including seats on both the NLCS and MCS boards and Sheriff.
By India Today Web Desk: Recently, Dulquer Salmaan's wife Amal Sufiya was spotted at a wedding with a baby bump. Since then, rumours of Amal being pregnant have been doing the rounds on the internet.

Confirming the news, a source was quoted by The Times Of India as saying, "Yes, Amal is carrying and is expected to deliver the baby by the end of May or June first week." However, we await an official confirmation regarding the same.

advertisement

Amal Sufia, who hails from North India, is an architect by profession. The couple entered the wedlock on December 22, 2011.

On their 5th wedding anniversary last year, Dulquer took to Facebook to share an adorable picture with Amal Sufiya. He wrote, "How you married a cartoon like me I'll never know ! But thanks baby ! Happy Anniversary !! 5 years flew by like 5 blinks ! I'm so sorry I'm not home this year. I promise to make it up to you when I get back."

Meanwhile, Dulquer Salmaan is currently shooting for his next titled CIA: Comrade in America. Dulquer is teaming up with filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar for a Malayalam-Tamil bilingual titled Solo.

SEE PIC: Dhyan Sreenivasan gets engaged to Arpita Sebastian

ALSO READ | Vishal's Namma Ani wins Producers' Council elections

SEE PIC: Arjun celebrates son Allu Ayaan's birthday in Goa

--- ENDS ---
The operating system that powers many Samsung smart TVs, smart watches and smartphones is full of security holes and can easily be hacked into remotely, an Israeli researcher says.

(Image credit: The Tizen-powered interface on a Samsung smart TV. Credit: Samsung)

"It may be the worst code I've ever seen," Equus Software researcher Amihai Neiderman told Vice Motherboard's Kim Zetter. "Everything you can do wrong there, they do it."

The software in question is Tizen, a Linux-based mobile OS similar to Android. Tizen runs on Samsung Gear smartwatches, Samsung Gear Fit fitness bands, some Samsung smart cameras, low-end Samsung smartphones sold in India and other countries, and on every Samsung smart TV made since 2015.

MORE: Galaxy S8 Facial Recognition Has a Big Flaw

Neiderman was scheduled to deliver a presentation on his Tizen findings today at the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit in St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

He told Zetter that of the many security flaws he found in Tizen, the worst was one that let him attack Samsung's TizenStore app store to inject malware into a Samsung smart TV.

"If Amihai Neidermans findings are accurate, it is alarming that Samsung is shipping smart TVs, smartwatches and mobile phones with many serious security flaws," said Michael Patterson, CEO of networking-security software maker Plixer International. "Given that Tizen is currently running on 30 million devices (smart TVs and smartwatches) and that Samsung plans to have 10 million Tizen phones this year, the potential for these devices to become members of the next big botnet is very real."

Tizen apps are authenticated before installation, Neiderman told Zetter, but an elementary attack known as a heap overflow lets you seize control before the authentication is enforced. The attack should in principle work on any Tizen-powered device, not just a smart TV.

If Neiderman reveals the details of this method of attack in his presentation, owners of Tizen-powered devices may want to take them offline until the vulnerability is fixed.

Tom's Guide has reached out to Samsung for comment and will update this story when we receive a reply.
Music has always been seen as a transformative force in the world, capable of changing everything from moods to attitudes on its way to impacting society as a whole and even governmental policy. Over the years, weve seen single songs or lyrics become forces for change, borrowed and repurposed for the sake of various causes, but in todays social and political climate, just how much of a difference can a protest anthem make?

To find out, weve spoken to Nahko Bear, the leader of Nahko and Medicine For The People, a band who place themselves and theirsongs on the frontlines of musical protests in an effort to affect real change.

Nahko and his outfit are a world music band that deliver their healing powers in strong dosages of optimistic power for their fans  or, as they call them, their tribe. Alas, you do not need to be part of the tribe to take part in the medicinal nature of their music, you just have to open up your ears and enjoy the curative groove.

Nakho Bear, an American who started out in Portland, Oregon, and with a mixed background of Apache, Puerto Rican and Filipino heritage is truly a man of numerous cultural influences. With his band, he preaches about positive energy, positive politics and personal growth, through a musical filter that is soulful and funky and dipped in the batter of world music.

Music has always been a tool for building bridges and I think that is exactly what we are doing with them.

Prior to his return to the Byron Bay Bluesfest 2017, Nakho caught up with us for a brief chat about politics, music and the art of the protest song. He sounded refreshed and upbeat after a bit of time away from performing.

Weve had the last month off so I went traveling from New Zealand to Ecuador and had some vacation/schooling on indigenous affairs in that area. When we come out to Australia we will be getting back onto the bandwagon of playing music around the world and I look forward to that, Nakho said.

If you have heard his music, you know he writes songs with a social conscious and he is an activist off the stage. We need energy like this in our community, and asked Nakho about his take on the protest song in the world today.

I think if you look at the protest songs of our ancestors and of different eras of social justice and environmental resistance to the big guys, those songs have lived for so long. They have helped us through so many layers of teaching and I think that the songs that we are now writing have the capacity to run the gamut of healing and we are seeing and feeling it, mused Nakho.

I tend to think that the songs will outlive us and they will have a life of their own after they are released into the world. We will see them live on the street to the jungles to the houses of people we never imagined would listen to them. I think they are absolutely imperative for this time. Music has always been a tool for building bridges and I think that is exactly what we are doing with them. There is no question to me that I should be writing these kinds of songs and sharing them, but also, that this is their time, said Nakho thoughtfully.

We have been waiting for something even more drastic to shift within the paradigm of politics to bring a majority of people from their passive or their neutral state to their active state. It does feel like we are at that point. Music is the language that everyone can agree upon and it is a powerful tool to usher us into that era, Nakho said.

artists like Chance The Rapper, even John Legend and Lady Gaga came out with a couple of tracks and they nailed it

So where are some of the best protest songs coming from?

I see a lot of protest songs coming out right now and we saw a lot of music coming out about the protests in Standing Rock. This is not a bad thing, but it is still art. There are still songs that you believe in and its good dialogue but its just not great art because, well, its not that good. For instance, I am a huge fan of Neil Young but his pipeline protest song (Indian Givers) was just not that great. He gave it a shot, but I think maybe artists like Chance The Rapper, even John Legend and Lady Gaga came out with a couple of tracks and they nailed it, they were talking about real shit, said Nakho

Art and politics, in short, they have always held hands together and sometimes the collaboration and the energy between what artists are engaged in and how they express it have made great art. Are we entering a time of greater political expression through music?

I feel like the era of that time is that there were more artists standing for what they believed in. In the 60s you did not have a choice but to be involved with politics or to have a political stance. I feel like we are being ushered into another time where we are going to see things be that way. You are going to have to be vocal if you want to be accepted and believed. It is going to be part of what we talk about, Nakho answered.

The music of this group is wordy, vibrant and engaging. Seeing them perform, you get a sense that they are active within their art and showing up off the stage to continue their activism.

Nakho works closely with the Honor The Earth Organisation, a Native America environmental group formed over 20 years ago by Winona la Duke and The Indigo Girls. He partakes in activism and protecting water rights, and various other projects when time permits. This is part of his journey.

There are a lot of messages in the songs because there is a lot to learn in life. I think the overarching tone of our music is empathy which umbrellas many things like forgiveness, grace and compassion. Also, it backs it up with a fierce sense of idealism and tradition, a respect for Mother Nature and a very old school way of thinking of just living in harmony with your surroundings and allowing life to take its course. It is about living a life of service to some degree, Nakho finished.

The grassroots music that comes out of oppression and rebellion and the art of resistance are a driving force in what we do.

Making music that moves peoples feet as much as it engages their minds is not always an easy process. We asked Nakho where his creative process begins and how it keeps moving forward with himself and his fellow musicians.

The force is strong with us (laughs). The absolute love for music and, I think, with observing some of my mentors and peers just staying in music, it is just a daily thing. It is not a practice, it is just what it is. You are hearing music, playing music, composing it in your mind, practicing and performing  and its a lifestyle.

Nakho has been writing the music and he said that Paul Simons thoughts on collaboration are how he and his band work. In essence, he brings the songs to the other musicians and they add their two cents. Everyone that is part of the collective just does their thing and flavours the music with their own spices.

I would suggest that the forces of nature and how we translate poems and politics, of course. Traditional ways of Indigenous people telling stories of traveling, and the interesting process of generational divides, and the stories of working class people inspire the way we create.

The grassroots music that comes out of oppression and rebellion and the art of resistance are a driving force in what we do.

Nahko and Medicine For The People are heading to Australia for Byron Bays Bluesfest from April 13-17, but youll also be able to catch them when they head to Melbournes 170 Russell on April 12, Sydneys Metro Theatre on April 13, and Brisbanes The Triffid on April 16  tickets on sale now.
Paul Janeway, the voice of the frankly brilliant soul outfit St Paul and the Broken Bones, joins us from his home in Birmingham, Alabama to tell us what has been happening in his world. Having just had a narrow escape with a tree coming down on his neighbours house, he sounded happy to be alive and in very good spirits.

With his Southern drawl dripping down the phone, we begin talking about the journey thats brought he and his band this far, and will give them an extra push all the way to Australia this month to play Bluesfest in Byron Bay, along with a run of headline shows.

I am one of those people that kinda keeps their head down and keeps working. I love what I do, and I love that I have the ability to do this for a living, and I am very grateful for that, Janeway begins. I am not very good at, and I have to get better at it, at sitting back and thinking we have done this, this and this.

Its like we have a tour and then we are going to be in Texas tomorrow and I kind of think that is what I have to focus on, or I think new record, or I think Australia. I dont really sit back and say, look at what we have done, he laughs.

I was playing guitar and singing and I got a reaction out of people  and I was kind of wondering why. I had never really heard my voice until then.

With two stellar albums under their belt, Half The City from 2014 and the evocative Sea Of Noise from 2016, the road has been blessed, and some might point towards Janeways former training to become a preacher. The one thing he definitely picked up from that training is his stage persona, which genuinely has to be witnessed (can I have a witness?) to be believed  think Al Green meets Otis Redding coming from a guy who looks like (and once trained to be) an accountant. It is truly an amazing instrument, but how has it evolved?

Well, it is actually the way I always kind of sounded, Janeway says. I think as time has gone on it has a little bit more heartbreak in it, and I think thats kind of life, which is the best way I can put it. It is a little rough around the edges and I never really knew what to do with it.

I know I had this thing but I was very comfortable and I grew up listening to gospel and a little bit of soul music so I was comfortable in that realm, and it was my bread and butter, and I knew I could do that, Janeway says. I just never thought of even the possibility of doing this band thing because it takes so many people to be involved and I was not exactly this big social butterfly that knew, you know what I mean, a lot of people.

I first sang in church when I was four years old, so I have been singing since I was little. Really, to me, the idea of performing the way we are now, the way I got here, was I first performed at an open mic night. I kind of fell in love with it and I was playing guitar and singing and I got a reaction out of people  and I was kind of wondering why. I had never really heard my voice until then.

I knew I was not a good guitar player, yeah, I knew that, Janeway chuckles. I am a mediocre guitar player so I knew I was not blowing them away there. It was just one of those things that developed over time, and I kind of sound the way I sound. I cant really say I was trying to do this or that, its just the way it comes out.

I didnt grow up listening to [The Rolling Stones], so it was not as if I dreamed about this my whole life  but the rest of the guys did

Sea Of Noise is a fabulous record and suffers no sophomore release failures after the glowing success of the more retro-soul influenced first album. The band ventured out of their Muscle Shoals comfort zone and headed to Nashville to record their follow-up.

For the second record and recording in Nashville, it was a situation that I knew by the time the first record came out, as we had to sit on the first one for about a year, that the first record represented the past, Janeway reveals. I knew with the second one we were going to change. It was not like we lost ourselves, to me it was a progression and I was happy with that.

Recording in Nashville, everything is available. If you need a certain kind of mic, or a certain type of instrument, Nashville is such a music town you just say lets go get it. You have all the toys and to me that is way more appealing than the first time we camped at home and did it in Muscle Shoals.

All the artists that I love and the way that I view music is that you have to continuously evolve and you have to be true to you and not be something that you are not, but to evolve and that is the way it always will be, he muses.

Garnering attention with their live shows and their sound, the band have some fans in extraordinary places. The Rolling Stones invited them to open for them on their tour and at least one famous musician is a big fan.

It was a very surreal thing. It is bizarre because I didnt grow up listening to [The Rolling Stones], so it was not as if I dreamed about this my whole life  but the rest of the guys did. My mentality was still, I am a competitive person, and when you choose us as an opener, we are going to bring it!

I thought, were going to try our hardest to make sure you dont want us to open for you again. That is the kind of mentality we have, but when you do that with The Rolling Stones, well Paul trails off.

Elton John has been a fan of the band for a while and he has been super kind to us. He had this charity event in Los Angeles for this Oscars party and he really loved the song Ill Be Your Woman on the new record. He asked us if we minded that he sang and, well, we said of course! We emailed back and forth and it was very surreal. He has been so supportive of the band and it was a weird experience.

There were so many really famous celebrities and we were like well, we are here. We did what we did, I picked up a chair off the floor and threw it on the stage, and they all loved it, Janeway laughs.

St. Paul And The Broken Bones arent an act to change for anybody, or outside expectations  theyve followed their own path for this long, and as long as the audience is with them, theyll keep following their own path as far as it takes them.

You can catch St Paul and the Broken Bones when they arrive in Australia for Bluesfest from April 13-17, and theyll be playing a run of shows at The Triffid in Brisbane on April 12, Sydneys Metro Theatre on April 19, and Melbournes 170 Russell on April 20, with tickets on sale now.
ED arrested G Dhananjaya Reddy, an engineering graduate, from Bengaluru for allegedly floating more than 20 shell companies.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested two people in separate cases for allegedly running shell companies.

In the first case, the ED arrested G Dhananjaya Reddy, an engineering graduate in Industrial Production, for allegedly floating more than 20 shell companies.

The accused, who belongs to Bengaluru, obtained loans through dubious means by submitting forged documents and impersonation. He defrauded United Bank of India and other banks of more than Rs 70 crore.

advertisement

HIS MODUS OPERANDI

"He had submitted forged documents of several immovable properties as third-party collateral to the banks and had got loans sanctioned in the name of various shell companies," an ED official said.

Part of his modus operandi was to transfer the funds from the shell companies in India to the companies he had floated in Dubai and do round-tripping of funds to evade tax.

According to the official, the accused would never repay the loan and was a wilful defaulter. He was produced before the Special PMLA Court in Bengaluru and remanded in ED custody for two days.

ARREST FROM CHENNAI

In the second case, K Liakath Ali was arrested in Chennai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for remitting foreign exchange through shell companies using fake documents.

He allegedly duped the Indian Bank's Thousand Lights Branch using eight shell companies and remitted USD 11,778,120 (Rs 78 crore approx) out of India on the basis of forged Bill of Entries without affecting any actual imports.

The Indian Bank had flagged the issue and the Chennai Customs confirmed that the bills were fabricated. The Customs referred the matter to the Enforcement Directorate for a detailed investigation.

An FIR was registered by the Central Crime Branch of Chennai Police and action under the PMLA was initiated against Liakath Ali.

USING MULTIPLE PAN CARDS

The Enforcement Directorate investigation identified Eliyas Peer Mohamed and Liakath Ali, both brothers, as masterminds who floated the shell companies and operated firms with the names of Galaxy Impex, Green International, Snow City & Co., etc.

Further investigation revealed that the accused were in possession of multiple PAN cards and used them to open accounts with various banks.

Liakath Ali was produced before the court of judicial magistrate and remanded in judicial custody. Further, funds totalling about Rs 20 crore, which were parked in different bank accounts, have been frozen.

(with inputs from IANS)

ALSO READ:

ED raids: Mystery of a fake Interpol agent who had stripped naked before I-T team

advertisement

Enforcement Directorate raids over 100 locations in 16 states, uncovers 2300 shell companies

ALSO WATCH

--- ENDS ---
Of course Bob Dylan wasnt excited about winning the Nobel Prize For Literature. The least-Dylan thing in the entire world is to be chuffed by winning an award, so it wasnt too surprising that he didnt bother to acknowledge it for a month, skipped out on the official dinner, and basically kept doing weird covers albums and wielding iron sculptures instead (really though).

Dylan finally relented and accepted the award in person at a private ceremony in Stockholm over the weekend, attended by only 12 people, In case you thought he was happy about having to turn up at an awards do, he wore a black hoodie to the event. Moms spaghetti, indeed.
Flames shoot from vehicle along Summit Street KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A FOX 4 viewer captured the above image of flames shooting from a vehicle near 27th and Summit streets Tuesday morning. The fire appears to have occurred around 7:15 a.m. Officials have not said what caused the vehicle to become engulfed in flames.

Remember that today. . . Take a look at car danger we usually overlook but deserves a quick glance:
Turnout is expected to fall below 10% of all registered voters.

There are so many fond conceptions of "journalism" and newspapers but the reality is that in the glory days of print media -- Most publications simply served as hack mouthpieces for political factions and big biz. Endorsements are the legacy of machine politics and reflect institutional bias from news organizations who otherwise constantly tout their objectivity.

It's election day in Kansas City.Even after protests throughout the nation and so many rallies and political chest-thumping from both sides of the aisle . . . Most people tend to overlook municipal Democracy and the very real choices that will impact their lives and wallets directly.Part of the reason local turnout is so abysmal is due to lackluster coverage of the issues from mainstream media outlets. This time around the Mayor got away with skipping any debate or critical discussion of rising taxes and not a single media outlet or pundit called him on it. Moreover, discussion of local political issues is limited to about a dozen regulars on public TV that mostly go un-watched. Worst of all, the geo-politics of Kansas City prevent much interaction betwixt disparate groups who often live in a world of their own even amid this small Midwestern town.A glimmer of hope: The Internets has offered some change to the status quo and locals who do want to engage can find more than enough mainstream and alternative info online regarding just about any local issue up for a vote.Still, one tragic legacy of the dead tree media era continues to haunt independent online publishers . . . The sordid question of endorsements.Through the course of this blog we've only endorsed 2 people and that was because the MSM coverage was so horrifically unfair that it deserved direct opposition.Very much like life . . .Similarly, when people tell me what to do, I mostly tune out. While an opinion, a great story or a revelation can be fascinating and inspirational. Handing down marching orders by way of endorsement is an authoritarian legacy of old school political corruption disguised as newspaper journalistic tradition.Don't get it twisted, TKC is a place to share stories, info and opinion . . . But endorsements are part of the mainstream media hypocrisy that's quickly fading in the digital era when every denizen of social media has the potential to become a power broker.As always, we share our view and offer a place for locals to do the same. In the end, you decide . . .
"Kansas City Mayor Sly James talks with Cascade Media Group about the issues that are on the upcoming ballot, and why East Side residents should continue to remain politically active."

Take a glimpse of a polite urban core conversation that deserves just a bit of attention despite an overall lackluster campaign from Mayor Sly and the Dover Group among inner-city denizens.You decide . . .
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is the state's first chief executive to set up nonprofit groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money from unknown donors. The governor's chief advisor, Austin Chambers, says there's nothing unusual about it - and he's right.
Teenagers take the lead once again this year, as their thoughts and voices are expressed in new works by playwrights from Greece and abroad. The Youth Theatre Festival strikes again!

This years event, addressed to middle and high school students, has teenagers tackling contemporary Greek and international plays in accordance with the law of 5s, meaning that:

-5 contemporary Greek playwrights are to write 5 new plays.

-5 celebrated contemporary works from abroad are to be added to the Festivals repertory.

-5 young directors are to work with the Grasshopper Youth company to bring to life, direct and stage new teenage productions.

The playwrights will work with the teenage groups in class for around a month. Using their expertise, they will help the teenage participants express the thoughts and quests of their age group in the works that emerge from the intensive workshop. Then they will spring into action, joining forces with the students, directors and actors to stage the productions we will be seeing on the OCCs Upper Stage.

When: 7-9 April (Festival)

For more information, visit the events link here.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Twenty three students from the 4th Veria high school who were on a school trip to St Petersburg are safe, Greeces general consul to the city, Panos Beglitis, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Monday.

Beglitis said the students were visiting Tsarskoye Selo when the blast happened at the metro station, a town located 24 kilometers south from St Petersburg. He said he spoke with the students professor, Mr. Theotokidis, who assured him that he is in continuous contact with the president of the Greek association to check those who are outside the city and record the ongoing developments.

The Greek General Consulate in the city is in communication with Russian police and the foreign ministry to specify if there are any Greek citizens among the victims.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The value of real estate transactions in Dubai, UAE, reached Dh77 billion ($21 billion) through 20,000 deals during the first quarter of 2017, said Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director general of Dubai Land Department.



Bin Mejren explained that according to the Land Department's data analysis, there is an increase in the value of transactions by 45 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2016.



This indicates that the real estate market in Dubai is preparing for a new phase of momentum and the rise and strong results achieved during the first quarter of this year was not surprising but expected, especially with the sustainable growth that the real estate market is currently witnessing.



He added that the total value of real estate investments reached more than Dh40 billion ($10.8 billion) through 15,501 investment transactions.



Bin Mejren was speaking at a media gathering as part of the Ask the Leader initiative organised by the Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition 2017. On the second day of the exhibition, DLD received a wide range of visitors interested in the real estate sector, as well as a group of media representatives.



Bin Mejren hosted the meeting with the media and public alongside Marwan bin Ghalita, CEO of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and answered questions and inquiries. Bin Mejren also launched the Know Your Rights as a Real Estate Investor in Dubai guide in cooperation with Al Tamimi & Company.



Visitors at the Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition 2017 (Digae) were invited to a press conference announcing the launch of the guide, which is being issued in cooperation between DLD and Al Tamimi & Co.



The event was also attended by Husam Hourani, managing partner of Al Tamimi, who participated to provide more details about the guide and its aim to highlight the investor rights guaranteed by the emirates laws and regulations.



Commenting on the new guide, Bin Mejren said: "Through its various departments, DLD is keen to cooperate with all concerned parties in the public and private sectors to spread awareness and a safe real estate culture among citizens, residents and visitors by informing them of their rights and duties. This book will certainly help to inform investors about their rights, and is also a tool for promoting a safe and stable investment environment for investors seeking opportunities in Dubai  a haven for world-class investments.



Hourani said: We are delighted to be partnering with DLD in this exciting initiative. The guide provides those interested in investing in Dubais real estate sector with comprehensive information to ensure they have all of the information they need to make well-informed decisions and protect their investments.



DLD is participating under the theme Dubai LandInnovative AchievementsGlobal Leadership and will be part of the following three events this year: Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition (Digae), International Property Show (IPS), and Future Cities Show.  TradeArabia News Service
The UAE today discussed opportunities to enhance economic and trade cooperation with Asian, European and African countries during the 7th Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Dubai, UAE.



The UAEs Minister of Economy, Eng Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, received a number of senior government officials and heads of regional and international organisations from these countries.



The AIM 2017 concluded its three-day session today (April 4), at the Dubai World Trade Centre under the theme International Investment, Path to Competitiveness & Development.



The meetings focused on enhancing economic and trade cooperation and reviewing major investment opportunities offered by each side as well as possible investment partnerships that can advance mutual development goals and help boost trade flows, said a statement.



Among the sectors discussed for their potential to boost regional and international development partnerships were aviation, agriculture, logistics, mining, and renewable energy, it said.



The sessions were attended by Ministry officials Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary for Foreign Trade and Industry, and Juma Mohammed Al Kait, assistant undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs, along with other senior ministry figures and advisors.



Eng Al Mansoori discussed the strengthening of economic and trade ties with Russia during his meeting with Sergey Cheremin, Russias Minister of Economy and International Relations, it said.



They also agreed to maintain close cooperation while exploring wider horizons for pushing their relations to more advanced levels to better serve their common interests. They committed to offering investment opportunities in several vital sectors, most notably transport, aviation, IT, finance and banking and tourism, the last of which has been posting particularly high growth rates, it added.



During the meeting with the delegation headed by Xia Baolong, Communist Party secretary of Chinas Zhejiang Province, the two sides agreed to focus more on investment opportunities in logistics services and transportation.



Moreover, they also committed to intensifying their coordination in support of Chinas Silk Road development initiative. The participants expressed their pleasure at the high level of cooperation in air transport and aviation buoyed by initiatives such as an Open Skies agreement serving the best interests of their nations.



Eng Al Mansoori also discussed areas of cooperation with the Republic of Macedonia during his meeting with Jerry Naumoff, Minister of State for Foreign Investments; and Arlind Zekegiri, Minister of Foreign Direct Investment.



They pointed out the importance of organising more bilateral visits and meetings at the governmental and private levels to exchange information on important investment opportunities and areas of cooperation and share expertise, focusing on sectors prioritised by the economic agendas of their respective countries.



The meetings with the ministers of trade and industry of African countries, on the other hand, centred on investment prospects in agriculture, mining, renewable energy and infrastructure, all of which are foreseen to energize regional and international development partnerships in light of global efforts to ensure sustainable growth.



During his meeting with Dr Abrahao Pio dos Santos, Minister of Economy of Angola; Eng Al Mansoori emphasised the importance of strengthening cooperation in agriculture and food industries in line with the UAEs prioritisation of food security, taking into consideration Angolas extensive natural resources.



The Angolan Minister outlined local investment incentives in various sectors, most notably agriculture, mining, diamonds, and precious stones. He also pointed out his government's commitment to overcoming all investment obstacles and providing facilities that can boost the presence of UAE investors in the Angolan market.



During the meeting with Sylvia Lucas, Premier of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, the parties discussed opportunities for cooperation in the fields of mining, renewable energy, and logistics. They praised the high level of cooperation in aviation and air transport between their countries.



The premier said that her country is interested in attracting more UAE investments in the fields of infrastructure development, renewable energy, hospitality and tourism, explaining that South Africa has a variety of tourist destinations that offer very promising investment opportunities into related infrastructure.



During his meeting with the Republic of Malis Minister of Investment Promotion and Private Sector, Al Mansoori talked about developing mechanisms for advancing bilateral economic and commercial relations and benefitting more from the elements, capabilities and resources available in both countries.



Malis Minister of Investment reviewed various opportunities for further promoting bilateral trade, specifically in agricultural crops and livestock.



He said that his countrys government is providing more facilities for investors in these sectors to establish manufacturing stages for raw materials to add value to the national economy.



The UAE Minister of Economy also held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Sri Lanka; the head of the export and investment promotion agency of El Salvador; Mukhisa Kituyi, secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and Dr Nael Al Kabariti, president of the Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
By Press Trust of India: Ahmedabad, Apr 4 (PTI) Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri was today appointed as the new Gujarat DGP following the resignation of incumbent P P Pandey.

The 1982-batch IPS officer is the first woman to become the Gujarat police chief. At present, the 59-year-old is the Managing Director of Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation (GSPHC), a post she will continue to hold.

advertisement

Making the announcement at Gandhinagar, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said the government has accepted the resignation of Pandey.

Johri will replace Pandey, who had to put in his papers after his appointment was challenged by former top cop Julio Riberio in the Supreme Court.

Riberio had filed a plea seeking a direction for removal of Pandey on several grounds including that CBI had filed charge sheet against him and others in the case of alleged fake encounter killing of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan. He had also challenged Pandeys extension as in-charge DGP.

"We have accepted the resignation of P P Pandey. Our Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today appointed Geetha Johri, the senior most IPS officer at present, as the new DGP in-charge of Gujarat," said Jadeja.

The minister said Johri would continue to serve as the MD of GSPHC.

Yesterday, Pandey, a 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, expressed his willingness to step down, an offer accepted by the state government.

As per the government records, Johri was born on November 28, 1957.

Talking to the media after being appointed to the top post, she said her priority will be to address problems faced by women and to maintain law and order.

"I will assume the office immediately. Being the first woman DGP of the state, my priority will be to address the problems of women. They can come to me anytime and I will try my best to solve their problems," she said in Gandhinagar.

"Gujarat already has a peaceful atmosphere. It will be my duty to maintain law and order. Since this is an election year, I will have to ensure peace during polls," she added.

In her career spanning almost 35 years, Johri has seen many ups and downs.

In the beginning of her career, she shot into limelight while serving as DCP in the city during mid 1990s.

At that time, she raided the den of slain underworld don Abdul Latif in highly sensitive Dariyapur area and managed to catch Latifs key aide Sharif Khan.

advertisement

In the recent past, she was in news for her role in the SIT probing post-Godhra riots and as investigating officer in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases.

In 2010, the Supreme Court asked Johri to dissociate herself from the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots following some allegations.

In 2015, a special CBI court dropped charges against Johri in connection with the Sohrabuddin and Prajapati fake encounter cases for want of mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for her prosecution.

The CBI had alleged Johri delayed investigations into the Prajapati case and destroyed some case records.

In the same year, the government promoted Johri from the rank of Additional DGP to DGP.

Johri had filed the first investigation report in the apex court on the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and sudden disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi which eventually led to the arrest of three then serving IPS officers, including D G Vanzara. PTI PJT PD RSY IKA

--- ENDS ---
Archaeologists have discovered the ancient Roman city of Ucetia in the south of France, which was believed to be lost for more than 2,000 years. The existence of the city has been only known in scripts and artifacts in Nimes, a French settlement of the Romans.

Scientists have, at the moment, exposed an area worth 4,000 meters squared of mosaics and edifices predating France's colonialism. "Prior to our work, we knew that there had been a Roman city called Ucetia only because its name was mentioned on stela in Nimes, alongside 11 other names of Roman towns in the area," Philippe Cayn from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research told the International Business Times.

Archaeologists were only aware of the city's existence through the discovery of ancient slabs in Nimes where it refers to "VCETIAE" or Ucetia. The scientists have hypothesized that Ucetia might be the old name for Uzes, a town north of Nimes.

According to News.com.au, the team has found geometric designs with different bird species inscribed to it. Dolium vases were unearthed, which show that the Roman city has been lush in farming and trade of goods and wine. A possible hypocaust heating system was thought to be installed in the city as well. Before that, there might be a chance that a room was set up in historic times to be a kitchen area with bread ovens.

The archaeological team was sent to Uzes for excavation as a precautionary move, especially when the town will be constructing a school on the site. The local town authorities were concerned that the building might be on top of an ancient ruin, which has been proven correct by the archaeologists.

Science Alert reported that the site had been occupied since the first century up to the seventh century with a disruption during the third and fourth era which scientists couldn't conclude on what happened. The town Uzes was thought to be a connection of Nimes, a city fondly called as the "French Rome," because it was a prosperous metropolis during the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus in the first century.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Airbnb is more than just a bed and breakfast rental or an Experience site. The company wanted everyone to feel they belong and be accepted as who they are. That's why Airbnb created a friendship ring to raise awareness for the Australian LGBTQI community in support for marriage equality where it's not yet legal.

The campaign, "Until We All Belong," was launched on April 3 and allows people all over the world to wear a simple black ring that does not fully form a circle. Designed by Marc Newson, the acceptance rings of Airbnb symbolize the community trying to "close the gap" in gender equality, especially in marriage.

Airbnb states on its website that they see marriage as an important aspect for one person to belong. While most Australians accept marriage equality, the country bans same-sex marriage under the Australian Parliament and was rejected by the High Court of Australia.

The Australian Labor Party supports same-sex marriage, but their members may be free to practice their beliefs as well. The high court did find the term "marriage" constitutes and includes same-sex marriage; therefore, there is no constitutional barrier to the country and its citizens in passing for same-sex marriage in the coming years.

"Openness and belonging are at the heart of Airbnb - it's at the core of what we do every day ... This is an opportunity for people to show their support for marriage equality - not just those within the LGBTQI+ community, but for anyone to make their support for a brother, sister, parent, friend or loved one known," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said, Mashable reported.

While about two-thirds of the country, consisting of locals and politicians vying for same-sex marriage, wanted to enact the law on marriage again, there hasn't been a significant move yet on the government side. The acceptance ring hopes to promote the need for lawmakers to take a second look at the laws.

The rings are purchased with no profits made as the wearers would only handle the package and handling costs of the item.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Take a break and get away from the stress that life brings you by experiencing the ultimate pampering treatments in some of the hottest spa hotels in the world. From and Italian monastery to a natural hot spring, listed here are five places that are perfect for a spa getaway.

Aman Sveti Stefan, Montenegro. There no better way to unwind and relax than to have yourself pampered in a private island resort. According to the Aman website, this 15-century old village which was turned into a resort provides guests a peaceful and serene haven complete with restaurants nestled on clifftops, a swimming pool and a private beach.

Hotel Sahrai, Morocco. Despite being surrounded by the crowded and chaotic ancient city of Fez, holidaymakers can still find seclusion in the relaxing environment of Hotel Sahrai. According to to the Daily Mail, the hotel boasts of its spa that includes five treatment rooms, a slate pool and a steamy Moroccan bathhouse.

Monastero Santa Rosa, Italy. Nestled on the cliffs of the Amalfi coast, this 17th-century paradisiacal retreat house was once a monastery. But now, it's a safe haven for guests where they can avail of the different facilities of the spa such as hydro pools, steam baths and saunas.

Alavya, Turkey. Located within the Alacati village, this resort is best described as a "holistic hideaway." Visitors can avail a wide selection of pampering treatments such as detox programs and infrared sauna. Not to mention, you can also experience the beautiful village of Alacati where you can do yoga or take windsurfing lessons.

Es Cucons, Ibiza. Most holidaymakers go to Ibiza because of its vibrant nightlife but its spa services are also stepping up deserving a spot in your itineraries. The Es Cucons offers the perfect blissful retreat for guests with its outdoor spa that includes treatment facilities and steam baths.

Get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and book a trip to these hottest spa hotels. You'll have the most unforgettable spa experiences in your life if you visit these places.



See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
A staff from the British Airways airlines has been getting criticism from a lot of people lately after denying an elderly woman to use the toilet during a flight. The flight coming from Los Angeles was bound for London and for 13 hours, the 87-year-old woman was left soaking in wet clothes.

Upon boarding the plane, passenger Kocharik Tsamouzian felt that she really needed to go the bathroom but was told by a cabin crew that she wasn't allowed to do so. The Telegraph reported that a cabin crew member even appeared to have blocked Tsamouzian's path when she approached the toilet.

The flight ended up getting delayed and despite asking multiple times to use the bathroom, she was denied of her request again and again. For 90 minutes, the plane was on the runway waiting for its turn to take off, which resulted in Mrs. Tsamouzian getting herself wet in her clothes.

For the next 13 hours of the flight that was bound for London, she was in her wet clothes uncomfortable and in tears since she didn't have extra clothes to change with. According to the Daily Mail, she was offered 40 (about $50) as compensation by the airline company.

But Mrs. Tsamouzian's daughter, Aida Behroozi, thought that the offer wasn't enough for the inconvenience that it caused her mother and expressed that it was an insult. "My mother was saying, I'm an old lady you have to let me go," Behroozi said, "but the air hostess stood in front of her seat blocking her from getting up."

Now, Mrs. Tsamouzian expressed that she doesn't want to fly with British Airways again. The airline company is well aware of the whole incident and has been in contact with her to express its apologies for the bad experience.

According to The Telegraph, Mrs. Tsamouzian was not allowed to use the loo for health and safety reasons. The plane has started moving, and following the rules of the Civil Aviation Authority, passengers should all be seated.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Sri Lanka is slowly getting back on its feet. The country suffered 20 years from a civil war, and back in 2004, it was devastated by a tsunami that almost destroyed the whole country. But now, it's an up and coming tourist destination some visitors think could be the next Bali or Thailand.

Sri Lanka is a tropical island located on the southern tip of India. If you're wishing for an unforgettable vacation filled with pristine beaches and beautiful culture, then this country is the place to be. Here are some reasons why you should visit Sri Lanka his year:

The food. Travel writer Lou Blair shared to News.com.au how the Sri Lankan cuisine has captured her heart. Its cuisine is mostly shaped by its history and culture, with some dishes so inherently unique you wouldn't find them anywhere else in the world. In Lou's words, "Coconut sambal, roti, dried fish and chilli-cakes for breakfast? Thank you."

It's an up and coming surfing destination. The Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka is slowly making a name for itself in the surfing world because of its high waves fit for surfing leisurely or for sport. If you want to catch the best waves, make sure to visit between the months of April and October. And according to the Standard UK, if you crave for a more high-end surfing experience, then check out Soul and Surf at the country's southern coast.

Genuine Sri Lankan hospitality. Sri Lanka is not a hostile country; the locals are friendly enough to make you feel at home. According to Lou, there a number of local hosts who are more than happy to share their culture and food with you. Also, compared to India, you'll find that Sri Lankans quite grasp the meaning of personal boundaries, meaning you won't be really that hassled in the street when locals are trying to sell you goods.

The abundance of cultural heritage. The country's culture and history are so beautiful that there are a number of world heritage sites guests must visit in their spare time. The country is colonized by a number of countries back in the day, including Britain, Netherlands, and Portugal, and the influence of these countries to Sri Lanka are evident today. Try visiting the fortified town of Galle, the Golden Temple of Dambulla, and the Sacred City of Kandy.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Festivities all over the world have great significance on the character, origin, cultures and traditions of a community. Some festivals are celebrated in commemoration of a person or an event while others are observed for thanksgiving or in relation to religion or belief.

According to Lonely Planet, one of the best ways to appreciate a place or a country is to actually witness and experience its festivities. This month of April, here are some of the best festivities in the world that you can explore and experience.

Holy Week. Celebrated during the Easter week, this festivity is mostly celebrated in countries dominated by Catholics such as Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Guatemala, Philippines, Honduras and Costa Rica. In some countries, most establishments and business are suspended in commemoration of the street processions and re-enactments of the Passion of Christ and Way of the Cross. Holy Week includes the observation of Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday.

Walpurgisnacht (Witches' Night). The Walpurgisnacht, also known as the Witches' Night, will be celebrated in Brocken, Harz Mountains, Germany on the 30th of April. The local German folklore believes that warlocks and witches gathered for a meeting in the highest peak of the Harz Mountains. Over 35,000 visitors come in their witch costumes and dance around fires all through the night. Aside from Germany, Walpurgisnacht is also observed in other European countries such as Sweden and the Czech Republic.

London Coffee Festival. If you are the type of person who cannot live without having a sip of coffee, then this is where you should probably go. The London Coffee Festival is celebrated in Brick Lane, London from April 6 to April 9. This event is the largest event in the UK that is dedicated to coffee of all kinds. According to Time Out, the London Coffee Festival features coffee demonstrations, workshops, live music performances and a massive selection of the best coffee beans in all of UK.

Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos. This festival is also known as the Moors and Christians Festival. It is celebrated in most cities and towns in Spain from April 22 to 24. Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos is in commemoration to the combats and battles between the Christians and the Moors from the 8th to the 15th century. People dress in Christian or Moor costumes that are inspired by the fashion during the medieval period. There is also a live marching band which plays marchas cristianas, pasodobles and marchas moras.

Sisters' Meal Festival. Celebrated in China from April 11 to 13, the Sisters' Meal Festival is considered to be the oldest "Valentine's Day" in Asia. It is part of the country's celebration of spring and love and is a significant event for the Chinese Miao ethnic people. During the Sisters' Meal Festival, young men choose their own liking from the roster of young single women who they want to marry in the future and thereafter sing a song for them. There are also other activities including horse racing, Miao ethnic performances and bullfighting.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Responsible Travel, a UK online travel agency, announced that the company will withdraw and stop offering tours that include zoo visits to its consumers. Said travel agency is known to be one of the largest promoters of environmentally-responsible holiday tours.

Responsible Travel is the first travel agency in the world to consider dropping zoos in trips that the company offers. Aside from the said endeavor, Responsible Travel also pledges to continue working with rescue centers and animal facilities.

Responsible Travel has more than 5,000 responsible holiday tours and works with 375 tour operators. The online travel agency said that keeping the animals, especially those which are endangered, in zoos is inhumane and there is no any valid reason for the captivity of animals.

In a report by BBC News, Responsible Travel CEO Justin Francis came up to a realization that the zoos are no longer significant after he watched a program in BBC TV called "Should we close our zoos?" "They are relics of the past, and the arguments to justify keeping animals in captivity no longer stand up," Francis said.

Six of Responsible Travel's trips with zoo visits that were posted on its website have already been removed, The Guardian reports. While no zoos from the United Kingdom are involved in the drop made by the agency, most of the trips included zoos from Southeast Asian countries.

Aside from the withdrawal of holiday trips, Responsible Travel has proposed a new set of guidelines that the company will observe with regard to the types of animal facilities it will still continue to include in its tour offerings. However, Responsible Travel confirms that the company will not omit rescue and rehabilitation centers, as well as breeding center for rare animals in its trips.

Francis has also expressed his hopes that other travel companies will follow Responsible Travel's purpose. Further, he asks them to join Responsible Travel in making a move towards change in connection with the unnecessary and unethical actions of zoos all over the world.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
By Press Trust of India: picture

New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) The annual national ranking of educational institutions released by HRD Ministry needs more participants to present a "credible" picture to the public, academicians have pointed out.

The second edition of the NDA governments ambitious project-- National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)-- was released yesterday by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.

advertisement

While prestigious institutions like IISc Bangalore, several IITs and IIMs figured in the top 10 lists released under six categories, there were some "surprises" with several "not-so-reputed" colleges making it to the list, way above prominent institutions.

While some prominent DU colleges including St Stephens, Ramjas and Hindu College did not participate in the process, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm (ARSD) College has been ranked above prestigious LSR College for Women and Kolkatas St. Xaviers.

Other prestigious Delhi colleges which did not apply were Hansraj, Kirori Mal, Jesus and Mary, Kamala Nehru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa, Daulat Ram College and Gargi.

A total of 2,995 institutions participated this time against last years 3,563 participants.

Academicians point out that participation of more institutions will present a credible picture.

"There were certain loopholes in the ranking parameters in the last edition but the government has rectified them this year. However, if the prominent institutions dont participate they will of course decide the ranking from those who have participated but it does not reflect a clear picture," a senior Delhi University professor said.

"For a school student who will join college in an year or two, if he or she goes by the list, ARSD is the college to struggle for and Stephens will be a complete no. How misleading is that?" he added.

Dinesh Khattar, acting principal of Kirori Mal college said, "We would have loved to be part of the process but were busy with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection and the application needed a lot of homework. We will apply next year onwards."

HRD ministry officials attribute the lack of participation to stringent norms under the NIRF.

"There are very stringent norms for those participating in the ranking. The institutions are required to submit an affidavit declaring infrastructure availability, developmental plans and much more.

"This could have been the reason behind lesser participation. Also there are not much institutions which have been maintaining the data sought by us for analysis under NIRF, so they may participate in coming years," an HRD official said.

advertisement

The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.

The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a core committee set up by the ministry to identify the broad parameters for ranking universities and institutions.

The parameters broadly cover: Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practices; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity; and Perception.

Unlike last year, this time the ranking was released under six categories-- Overall, Colleges, Universities, Management, Engineering and Pharmacy.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, the first Indian institution to make it to the top 10 in a global ranking, has been ranked at the top. Jawaharlal Nehru University, ranked third last year, has been placed at the second position this year.

Along with the IISC and the JNU, seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) make the top 10 of the list.

The Hyderabad University, ranked fourth last year, has slipped to the seventh, and Jamia Millia Islamia, which was at the 83rd position, has shot up to rank 20.

advertisement

Delhi Universitys Miranda House has been adjudged the best college in the country followed by Chennais Loyola College. Five other DU colleges have made it to the top 10 of the list of colleges. PTI GJS TIR

--- ENDS ---
We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best productslearn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

Thankfully, a few companies realized that something we chew for long periods of time should be as natural as possible. These companies looked back to the ancient cultures that have been chewing plant gums for millennia to determine the plant-based ingredients they used to design safe, healthy, modern gum recipes we can now enjoy.

You may not even think much about whats in your gum. But there is a reason that it can last forever on a sidewalk, under a desk or on a famous wall in Seattle . Thats because most mainstream gums are made of petroleum-based chemicals that take centuries to degrade. Perhaps 80% to 90% of chewing gum is not disposed of properlymaking it the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts. Removing this plastic waste can be a costly and time-consuming process.

A woman-owned business, Glee also has a similar line of sugar-free certified vegan gums that use xylitol from birch trees and certified non-GMO corn cobs as the sweetener.

Glee Gums gum base is made from chicle that according to Glee is sustainably harvested from rainforests of Central America, along with candelilla wax and dehydrated citrus peels. The other ingredients are safe and recognizable, like beeswax and carnauba wax. Even the colors come from simple, plant-based ingredients like chlorophyll, red beets, and black currant.

Many mainstream gums are individually wrapped in wrappers that contain plastic or a mixture of paper and aluminum foil that is difficult to recycle . If you feel guilty throwing away those individual wrappers, you can order Glee Classic Vintage Gum in recyclable cardboard boxes wrapped in compostable cellophane, 55-piece pouches that are fully compostable, or in a bulk cardboard tube .

The gum is more sticky and less elastic than mainstream gums but has a satisfying texture. This gum base is similar to the source of natural latex so if you have latex allergies, approach with caution.

Certified Organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Bioagricert , Chicza Organic Mayan Rainforest Chewing Gum is made in a traditional way with all organic ingredients, including an organic gum base made from 100% chicle. Chicza is transparent about the source of its chiclea forest community known as the Consorcio Chiclero harvests the sap sustainably from living chicozapote or sapodilla trees in the rainforests of Chetumal, Mexico.

For some of us, mint is the only important flavor for gum. If thats you, then Project 7 Clean Chewing Gum may be your best choice. Made with real peppermint and spearmint from family farms in the Oregon and Washington, their Everest Peppermint and Spearmint Farms flavors are sure to satisfy. This vegan, non-GMO gum contains no artificial colors , sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives. Made in United States, this gum contains only the sweetener xylitol, peppermint oil and spearmint oil, glycerine, gum arabic, spirulina extract, stevia, sunflower lecithin, and carnauba wax. However, Project 7 is not transparent about what their gum base is made of and their packaging doesnt mention that it is plastic-free or biodegradable so there is still some question there.

The chewing texture that lasts well without losing flavor too quickly. You can choose from a nine-piece blister pack or 55-piece resealable bags.

The Pur Company offers eight flavors that include old school favorites and some unique flavors youll find nowhere else. Pur was founded in 2010 with the goal the goal of getting artificial sweeteners and processed sugars out of foods and other consumer products. Perhaps the best part is that its made from just a few vegan, non-GMO ingredients sourced from Europe and made in Switzerlandxylitol, gum base, gum arabic, natural flavors , carnauba wax, tocopherols. The natural flavors vary depending on the flavor of gum.

Whether you like to mix things up with a variety of flavors, or you like to try multiple flavors until you find your favorites, some of us prefer a gum brand that offers more than the standard bubble gum and mint. We also want that flavor to be pleasant and lasting without an artificial aftertaste.

Unlike most of the other natural gum companies, The Humble Company focuses on dental health. Thats why it established the Humble Smile Foundation , which not only donates dental health products to communities in more than 37 countries, but also focuses on public health education, and the development of public health policy. You can feel good knowing your purchases support these programs that have impacted more than 64,000 children around the world.

Thankfully, switching to a natural chewing gum doesnt have to be expensive. Natural chewing gum from The Humble Company cost only about 25 cents per piece. Each of The Humble Companys oral care products was designed by dentists while also considering its impact on the planet. This line of natural chewing gums is made from just seven or eight vegan, cruelty-free, plant-based ingredients. The sweetener in this gum, xylitol, is derived from xylose, a naturally occurring sugar in the sap of woody plants. The Humble Company doesnt define whats in its natural gum base, they only say that it comes from trees.

Simply Gum is also kosher certified. Those sensitive to xylitol, a natural sweetener commonly used in natural gums, will be pleased that this gum is xylitol-free.

The chewwhich is softer and more sticky than typical gumcomes from a natural biodegradable chicle base made from chicle, candelilla wax, and citric acid. Chicle is a milky latex sap from the sapodilla tree, which Simply sources from Central America. Candelilla is a flowering plant in the spurge family and citric acid is a common natural preservative. Simple uses plant-based oils for its flavors and purposely excludes artificial ingredients common to mainstream gums like artificial sweeteners and plastics.

To earn Treehugger's Best Overall spot, a gum must be affordable, flavorful, and made from healthy plant-based ingredients. The chew also has to be pleasing and lasting. Simply Gum brand chewing gum meets all these criteria and more. Made in the Brooklyn, NY by a woman-owned company, this gums recognizable plant-based ingredientslike organic raw cane sugar, organic vegetable glycerin and organic rice flourare Non-GMO Project Certified and Vegan Certified.

Final Verdict We like Simply Gum because its affordable while also being flavorful and made from chicle and healthy plant-based ingredients. Its also made in Brooklyn, NY by a woman-owned company and comes in a variety of flavors. If you chew a lot of gum, consider buying Glee Gum in bulk in a simple recyclable cardboard tube. This sustainable chicle-based gum is also plant-based, flavorful and from a woman-owned business.

What to Look for in All-Natural Chewing Gum

Of course, no product can be perfect because it requires the harvest of natural resources. But some manufacturers have found ways to harvest those resources more sustainably, while providing workers with living wages and safe working conditions.

In many cases, all-natural chewing gums use sustainably harvested chiclegum that consists of the coagulated milky latex of the sapodilla tree (Manilkara zapota), a tropical fruit tree principally from Yucatan and regions of Central America. When these forests are managed sustainably, the sap is extracted without killing the tree and then minimally processed to form the gum base. Many of these forests have been managed for generations within families by workers called chicleros. When choosing an all-natural gum, flavor and texture are paramount, but also look for those brands that mention how they support chicleros with living wages and safe working conditions, especially those that are certified fair trade.

Gum Base

The gum base is the part of the gum that gives it the chewy feeling you experience. Although most gums in the old days were originally made from chicle made from the sap of the sapodilla tree, that changed in the 20th century as mainstream gum manufacturers searched for more affordable ingredients. They began using a long list of synthetic and petroleum-derived ingredients like polyisobutylene (a petroleum-based rubber used to make the inner tubes of tires) and polyvinyl acetate, also known as white glue.

Check the label ingredients list to determine what the brand uses for its gum base. Those that list gum base without explanation often include these plastic-based ingredients. Look for those brands whose gum base is transparently described on the label. Most natural brands have returned to chicle harvested from Mexico or Central America. Those that note that the chicle is sustainably harvested or hold fair trade or other sustainability certifications add the additional assurance that the sapodilla trees are not harmed during harvest and that workers are fairly compensated.

Sweetener

Many mainstream gums have employed cheaper, artificial sweeteners like aspartame to achieve the satisfying sweetness we count on in a gum. However, these sweeteners aren't natural and some people prefer to avoid them. Unless you are diabetic, try to choose gum that uses plant-based sugars like honey, agave, or table sugar (sucrose).

Flavors, Colors, and Preservatives

We often take the flavor, color, and shelf-life of our gum for granted. We assume that gum sold in stores wouldnt contain questionable ingredients. But there is a wide variety of lab-derived chemicals used in mainstream gums to give us powerful flavors and colors. Synthetic preservatives are also used to keep gum from being degraded naturally by bacteria and fungi.

When choosing gum, look for flavors imparted by oils derived from plants or foods you recognize. Artificial flavors trick your taste buds but can often be spotted by a chemical aftertaste. Similarly, the color of your gum should match the chicle gum base, often a dull tan or gray, or should be augmented by natural food dyes derived from colorful foods like beets, berries, and chlorophyll. Avoid gums that get their color from ingredients with the word dye in them.

Many natural chewing gums use only citric acid or similar natural preservative to prevent spoiling and prolong shelf life. Check the ingredients label. The more transparent brands will indicate which ingredients are acting as a preservative. Others will note that they are artificial preservative-free. The most common natural, plant-based preservatives include citric acid derived from citrus fruits or the citrus fruits themselves like lemon juice or grapefruit seed extract. Salts, sugars and rosemary extract are also commonly used natural preservatives. Avoid gums that use synthetic chemical preservatives whenever possible.



Frequently Asked Questions Is harvesting chicle sustainable? According to the Arbor Day Foundation, harvesting chicle has been sustainable for decades. The sap is extracted in a way similar to the way we harvest syrup from maple trees. Using chicle in all-natural gum can actually help protect the forest because it is more valuable to the local community intact. That's because indigenous communities who harvest chicle are the best protectors of the forest, and buying their products provides them with valuable income.

Can you make your own natural gum at home? There are a wide variety of recipes and how to videos available online that will help you make your own gum at home. Most recipes combine a sweetener, a flavor, and a gum base. The sweeteners are often powdered sugar, corn or rice syrup, or stevia. The gum base might be sorbitol powder or beeswax. Suggested flavors are accomplished with natural flavor oils such as spearmint, orange or other extracts. Some recipes also suggest you add food coloring or other food-based dyes for color but leaving them out doesnt affect the flavor or consistency. It can be a fun family project but often requires adult supervision because the ingredients are melted or heated together on a stove or in a microwave.

Why Trust Treehugger?

Lorraine Wilde has been chewing gum since she could convince her parents to give it up at the age of five. She tries to learn as much as she can about the cutting edge of environmental science, technology, health, and conservation. When researching these brands, Lorraine evaluated the type and quality of the ingredients, the companys research and development and their business ethics.

Lorraine holds a Masters degree in environmental science with an emphasis on toxicology. She is a firm believer that consumers can make informed and environmentally-conscious choices to protect our planet.
When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best productslearn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

Whether you are new to sustainable makeup or hoping to discover fresh brands to add to your bag, weve racked up the best sustainable makeup brands.

I see some people get stressed about changing their makeup routine to be sustainable and then they dont want to do it, says Dartford. Its not about being perfect. Its about trying to make small steps and compromises.

As a consumer, it can be overwhelming to cut through the greenwashing and find products that are making an impact while still providing the quality of makeup you desire. Thats why we spoke with Lou Dartford , a UK-based makeup artist specializing in green makeup for the past decade. Shes seen sustainability go from being an afterthought to a priority in the beauty industry, and with that the availability and effectiveness of sustainable makeup drastically improve. She says the definition of sustainable makeup is constantly changing and both makeup professionals and consumers have to constantly learn and adjust.

Clean is one of the buzziest words in the makeup industry, with retailers like Sephora and Ulta curating their own lists of clean brands and makeup manufacturers themselves touting products as clean, natural and/or organic. But what actually separates sustainable makeup from the rest?

Best Overall: Elate Cosmetics 4.8 Elate Cosmetics View On Elatebeauty.com Elate Cosmetics Now Offers 'Perfectly Imperfect' Packaging There is a reason why Elate is the favorite cosmetics company of Treehugger Senior Editor Katherine Martinko. From the packaging to the ingredients, Elate addresses nearly all sides of sustainability, making it our top overall choice. Using bamboo, glass, aluminum, and seed paper, the brands packaging is about 75% waste-free. The ingredients are around 75% organic and 100% vegan and cruelty free as certified by Leaping Bunny. While it often feels like some makeup brands try to sell you as many different products as possible, Elate focuses on creating your capsule collection, similar to the idea of a capsule closet with your essential. You can take a quick quiz or choose from pre-made capsule beauty kits that combine the colors for your eyes and complexion. The palettes are made from water treated bamboo, and will fit any Elate magnetic pans. EyeColours eye shadows come in recyclable aluminum pans, which you can buy refills of so you never run out of your capsule collection. The brand is also B Corp certified and offers less than perfect products for a discounted price through its Perfectly Imperfect Program, rather than throwing them away.

Best Budget: Pacifica Beauty 4.5 Courtesy of Pacifica View On Pacificabeauty.com View On Ulta Just walk down the drugstore's makeup aisle, and Pacificas whimsical, bohemian packaging alone may make you want to try this line. Launched in 1996 with perfumes and candles, the brand has expanded its offerings to makeup, skincare, and nail care. Pacifica is committed to 100% vegan, cruelty-free formulas. Its eyeshadows and blushes are bright and vivid, proving that sustainable makeup doesnt have to be demure and muted. If you are just switching to clean or vegan makeup, check out the Clean Makeup Kit, which bundles four bestsellers (Alight BB Cream, Cherry Cheekstain, Glow Stick Lip Oil and Stellar Gaze Mascara) at an affordable price. The brand has also partnered with Preserve to recycle used beauty containers into razors and toothbrushes. Simply create a return for the plastic packing online and the brand will email you a prepaid shipping label. Recycling will even earn you points through a rewards program.

Best Splurge: Kjaer Weis Kjaer Weis View On Credo Beauty View On Kjaerweis.com View On Neiman Marcus For some, one of the joys of makeup is that feeling of luxury of getting all dolled up. Switching over to sustainable makeup doesnt mean you have to give that up. Kjaer Weis offers organic, runway-ready products in beautiful packaging. Its hard to believe the glam metal and lacquered paper cases are refillable, but they are. With products that look this good on you and on your vanity, youll want to click refill. The brands ingredients are sustainably-sourced with the formulas and are certified organic by one of two leading European certifications for COSMOS or CCPB. The online glossary allows you to look up each ingredient and see which product it is in. Makeup artist Lou Dartford says the brands Invisible Touch Liquid Foundation is one of her favorite products from 2020 due to its luminous, buildable coverage. The foundation uses Spilanthes acmella flower (an herb also sometimes called the toothache plant) extract as natures botox to relax facial muscles and boost collagen structure. The 9 Best Natural Mascaras of 2022

Best for Organic Ingredients: RMS RMS Beauty View On Amazon View On Sephora View On Credo Beauty When it comes to organic makeup, there is no uniform set of criteria to certify a product as organic in the United States. Instead, you can look at the labels and check if individual ingredients are certified organic. Almost all of the ingredients in RMS Beauty Products are certified organic by the USDA and indicated on label. They also stay away from GMO ingredients. Started in 2009 by makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift, RMS has not only revolutionized clean beauty but beauty in general. She was the first to create a luminizer, which is one of Megan Markles favorite products (view on RMS). The line is known for lightweight, buildable products that improve the look of the skin from the inside out. Lou Dartford says RMS Un Cover-Up Concealer (view on RMS) is one of the first natural concealers in her kit that actually worked. It is like an extension of skincare and the minerals will adjust to your natural skin tone, says Dartford.

Best Vegan: Juice Beauty View On Credo Beauty View On Juicebeauty.com View On Ulta Vegan can be a tricky claim as some clean beauty brands still use ingredients like beeswax, pearl powder, and/or carmine, which is sourced from the Cochineal beetle. Juice Beauty is certified vegan by the American Vegetarian Association as well as cruelty free by PETA and Leaping Bunny and has the USDA Organic seal on products that have 95% to 98% organic ingredients. Founded by entrepreneur Karen Behnke, the brand is also committed to sustainable packaging and production. Juice Beauty aims to eliminate the use of virgin plastic with about 40% of products currently in glass containers. The makeup collection is built upon PHYTO-PIGMENTS and cold-pressed oils that deliver vibrant color, illuminate skin, and blur imperfections. Its no surprise the brand is a celebrity favorite.

Best Plastic-Free: Clean Faced Cosmetics Courtesy of Etsy View On Etsy If you are ready to commit to going completely plastic and waste free with your makeup routine, then you have to check out Clean Faced Cosmetics on Etsy. From eyeshadows to blushes, these formulas come in refillable tins that you can ship back for a refill. Even the mascara comes in a glass vial with a metal cap that can be reused or recycled. Made in Michigan from the owners kitchen, Clean Face Cosmetics uses plant-based ingredients like cocoa and turmeric powder to color the products. Consider it a no-fluff approach to enhance your natural beauty.

Best Shade Range: LYS Beauty Courtesy of LYS View On Sephora View On Lysbeauty.com Finding the right shade of foundation is a challenge for many with deep skin tones; adding the criteria of sustainability makes the hunt even harder. With the mission to diversify the clean beauty industry, LYS Beauty is solving that problem. The Triple Fix Serum Foundation ranges from porcelain to deep golden espresso. Its also loaded with nourishing ingredients like soothing ashwagandha, hydrating hyaluronic acid, revitalizing turmeric ,and replenishing avocado oil. Despite the impressive ingredients, a bottle only costs $22, in accordance with the brands value to stay under $30 per product. The company also offers blush and bronzer for all skin tones. Started by makeup artist Tisha Thompson, LYS is the first black-owned Sephora Clean Color Cosmetics brand. Its formulas are cruelty free, vegan, and free of gluten, talc, fragrance, mineral oil, and SLS. LYS uses FSC-certified folding cartons, and packaging featuring glass and tubes using 30% post-consumer recycled materials. The 9 Best Natural Blushes of 2022

Best EWG Certified: W3LL People Courtesy of W3LL People View On Credo Beauty View On The Detox Market View On Ulta Theres clean beauty and then theres super clean beauty. W3LL People considers itself to be super clean with its EWG certification, meaning that more than 35 of its products are certified by the Environmental Working Group for meeting non-toxic standards. The brand has banned 1,700 ingredients and instead focuses on using plant powered ingredients from Fair Trade facilities. However, they are still in the process of removing organic beeswax, pearl powder, and carmines to reach their goal of becoming 100% vegan. In terms of packaging, boxes are printed on FSC-Certified paper, and they are exploring ways to utilize corn, sugar, and post-recycled materials in containers. When shopping on W3LLs site, you can see which products are EWG certified, like the Nudist Multi-Use Cream Stick (view on W3LL) or the Expressionist Pro Mascara (view on W3LL) which uses castor and sunflower seed oil to nourish the lashes. This transparency is one of our favorite features of the brand.
Hrithik Roshan, after a day of stories linking him to Polish model Angela Krislinzki, has finally received an apology from the latter.

By India Today Web Desk: Hrithik Roshan found his name linked to Polish model-actor Angela Krislinzki in the most bizarre of ways possible this morning. A daily carried an interview of Angela, in which she could not stop gushing about Roshan. The result? Hrithik began being linked with Angela.

Angela Krislinzki has been giving multiple statements in the media naming the actor, something that set the grapevine abuzz with rumours that Hrithik is taking her under his wing, a la his Kites co-star Barbara Mori.

advertisement

Refuting her claims, Hrithik tweeted this morning, "My dear lady, who are you and why are u lying. (sic)"

In response to Hrithik's claims, Angela has now apologised to the Bollywood actor for the inconvenience caused, blaming the entire fiasco on 'misleading headlines'.

In her statement, Angela wrote, "I respect u a lot sir and I am sorry for such misleading headlines. It's really hurtful. I have admired you as an actor just like millions others but I have been fortunate enough to work with you in two tvcs.. when I say mentor i meant some who inspired my life in right direction.. this all began during the pressmeet of my film someone asked me how i thought of entering acting inspite of foreign looks so i replied when i was shooting with hrithik roshan his few inspirational words inspired me.. he said work on yourself your acting nobody can stop you. My looks are also different but its your performance is that outbeats anything... that day changed and life and my acting journey began.. the article only speaks about how inspirational you have been to me just like you have been to million others. I would like to apologise for any inconvenience occurred to you. (sic)"

Reverting to her apology, Hrithik said, "Yes misleading headlines indeed. Graceful of you to clarify and apologise though. Wishing you the best for your career (sic)"

@angelakrislinzk Yes misleading headlines indeed. Graceful of you to clarify and apologise though. Wishing you the best for your career- Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) April 4, 2017

In her interview to DNA, Angela said, "Like every other newcomer, I had a crush on Hrithik when I worked with him for the first time in a commercial. When I told him about my half-Spanish background, he was reminded about the old-world charm of Valencia and Spain. He was supportive and gave me acting tips."

Krislinzki went on to add that Hrithik was a mentor and friend.

"I was under the impression that he had forgotten me. After all, he is a star who shoots umpteen ads with several young models. But he called out to me and remembered all the conversations we'd had and the fact that my dad was from Valencia. He also asked me jokingly whether the colour of my eyes was real. When I signed a movie in the South. He also inquired about the maker and assured me that this film would definitely take me places," the tabloid quoted her as saying.

advertisement

She also claimed in the interview, "I consider Hrithik a mentor and keep him informed. I showed him a song from my last south release, Size Zero and he liked it immensely. Later, I I even sent him the first look and trailer of my upcoming film Rogue and he was impressed."

While it is not quite sure how 'misleading headlines' could have resulted in the entire mess (including the fact that apparently Angela has been sending Hrithik the first look and trailer, etc. of her upcoming film), only time will be able to provide us with an answer it seems.

ALSO READ | Hrithik Roshan on being linked with Angela Krislinzki: Who are you and why are you lying?

ALSO READ: Hrithik Roshan opens up about getting married again

ALSO WATCH | Hrithik Roshan on stories about his personal life: Fine with both the truth and lies

--- ENDS ---
Apart from military ties and Teesta agreement, information and broadcasting (I&B), civil nuclear research, geological science, third line of credit by India and power and fuel development will also be discussed during the bilateral meet.

On April 10, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to attend a event that will highlight the business environment of both the countries and emphasise on investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: As many as 33 agreements and memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh are expected to be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's upcoming visit to India.

Confirming PM Hasina's schedule for India from April 7-10, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said, "The relation between the two countries has reached a new height."

He recounted the invites extended to Bangladesh Prime Minister by PM Modi and later by President Pranab Mukherjee to not only visit India but also stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan during her visit.

advertisement

On signing agreements on military cooperation, foreign minister Ali added that MoUs will be signed on the same.

DETAILS OF HASINA'S SCHEDULED VISIT

He said, "It's not a secret, you will learn everything, he added. About Teesta agreement, he said, "Our relations are in that position now, where we're talking about a variety of topics."

Apart from military ties and Teesta agreement, information and broadcasting (I&B), civil nuclear research, geological science, third line of credit by India and power and fuel development will also be discussed during the bilateral meet.

Both prime ministers will inaugurate the Birol-Radhikapur railway line, passenger bus service on Khulna-Kolkata route and seal the deal of Tripura's Palatana electricity project to provide 60 MW to Bangladesh.

On April 10, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to attend a event that will highlight the business environment of both the countries and emphasise on investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

In addition, 1,661 Indian soldiers who were martyred during the 1971 War of Liberation will be honored posthumously during Hasina's visit.

Bangladesh prime minister's entourage will include the foreign minister, minister for liberation war, law and justice minister, water resources minister, economic advisor to PM, among others.

Also read: What triple talaq? Man in Riyadh divorces wife in Hyderabad through a newspaper ad

Also read: West Bengal: Trinamool leader puts up video provocating people to beat former minister like a dog

Also read: Nashik: 15-year-old girl raped by police constable

--- ENDS ---
All security agencies are now verifying the information and working to rule out any such attempt.

The Coast Guard had been long tracking developments in the case.

By Saurabh Vaktania: The Mumbai city has been put on alert after the Indian Coast Guard sent a fax to Mumbai Police and other security agencies on Monday regarding an attempt of infiltration.

The intel input was about three ISIS terrorists trying to gain access to the city via sea route.

The Coast Guard had been long tracking developments in the case.

advertisement

A senior Mumbai Police official said, "The information is received from the Coast Guard through fax. We are taking all necessary precautions and getting details about the suspects from the information provided to us."

All security agencies are now verifying the information and working to rule out any such attempt.

Also Watch: Red alert issued in Mumbai after Coast Guards warn of attack by ISIS suspects

Also read: Mumbai: Man uploads video on suicide tutorial before jumping to death from Bandra hotel

Also read: Mumbai: 2 people arrested for making hoax bomb threat

Also read: Pakistani man known for ties with 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim jailed in US

--- ENDS ---
Girja Shankar Kaura

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Israel in June, Air India is set to connect Delhi with Tel Aviv three times a week from May 16.

Israel, having emerged as a key West Asian ally, Tel Aviv as a new destination for the national carrier will not only help bolster diplomatic ties in the near future, but would help put India as a key destination for the large number of Israelis.

Earlier, with dates for Prime Minister Modis visit not confirmed, Air India was also not sure about when to kick off the flights to the Israeli city.

However, reports now suggest that the Prime Minister is expected to be in Israel in June and as such the national carrier has also finalised its launch date as May 16 and would operate Boeing-787 Dreamliners three times a week to Tel Aviv.

Furthering strategic ties with West Asia has been a priority of the BJP-led NDA government. This year, the two countries also mark 25 years of diplomatic relationship and Prime Minister Modis visit to Israel would add to the strategic importance that the West Asian country holds for India.

Israel has emerged as one of Indias key defence suppliers, with supplies totalling $1 billion in the past five years.

In the past, Air India used to operate Airbus A-310 from Mumbai to Israel but had discontinued it.

Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani and commercial director Pankaj Srivastava had visited Jerusalem recently to finalise the details and logistics for the starting of the flight. At present, there is only one flight by Israels national carrier El-Al from Mumbai, which is the only direct connection between the two countries.
Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, April 4

After hotels and restaurants, Timber Market situated in Sector 26 faces closure as the Chandigarh pollution Control Committee (CPCC) has filed criminal cases against traders for violating provisos of the Pollution Control Acts.

While the court of the Civil Judge, Chandigarh, issued summon to traders of the Timber Market, Sector 26, the traders opposed the action of the CPCC and met Home Secretary Anurgal Agrawal. They said the filing the case was unjustified and unwarranted.

In the complaint to the court, the Senior Scientific Officer of the CPCC has said the traders did not obtain consent to operate in terms of Section 25 /26 of the Water (prevention and control of the pollution) Act 1974 and Section 21 the Air (prevention and control of the Pollution) Act 1981. The complaint said the traders continued to run the saw mills without getting the consent required under the law.

Violation of the Acts invites imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 1 year and six months which may extend to six years.

The summons of the court has created panic among the traders who approached the Home secretary and the Member of Parliament on the issue. Saurabh Joshi, former Councillor, who led the delegation of traders to the Home Secretary, said the decision of filing the case against all the traders is unjustified.

Gurcharan Singh Virdi, a timber trader, said, The action of the CPCC has baffled us as all the traders got the permission to operate after the notices were served on them last year.

He said that after completing the formalities, the CPCC issued them permission to establish and operate, but despite that they received the summons from the court recently.

Sandeep Khosla, another trader, said they were allotted the shops for the timber business and registered with various departments under the Factories Act. Rajneesh Sharma, a trader, said, No officer has ever approached us for years and suddenly they find that the shops are running without permission from the CPCC. He said on one hand, the department was giving them the permission and on the other, it was filing criminal cases. Saurabh Joshi said the matter had already been apprised to the Member of the Parliament, the Home Secretary and the Deputy Commissioner.

Birendra Choudhary, Member Secretary, could not be contacted for comment on the issue.
Hasan Suroor

NINE months after voting to leave the EU, Britain formally filed for divorce last week, triggering what is expected to be a tortuous minimum two-year process of negotiations about the terms of the breakup. If the timings were intended to spoil the EUs big 60th anniversary bash, the Brits clearly succeeded in souring the mood, turning the occasion into more like a wake for a departed partner with fears of more defections to come, given the wave of euroscepticism sweeping Europe. France, a founding member, could be next out the door if far right Marine Le Pen wins the presidential election next month and follows up on her threat of a Frexit. History will remember 2017 as a year of humiliation for the EU the year when it was dumped by one of its oldest allies  rather than celebration of arguably the most ambitious post-War project to unite a divided Europe.

Notwithstanding its dubious merit, theres a point to Brexit. It represents a wider suspicion of the EUs methods and its goals. Its bloated, overbearing and largely unaccountable bureaucracy  the so-called Eurocracy  is deeply detested even in friendly capitals. The other contentious issue is the push towards ever closer political and economic integration overriding national sovereignty of its members. Brexit represents a reaction against both  the stranglehold of bureaucracy, and attempts to create a European super state. Brexit has prompted calls for a looser union with greater respect for national sovereignty of its constituents. A multi-speed Europe where smaller nations will be allowed room to operate at their own space is among the other suggestions being debated.

Meanwhile, as Britains divorce papers (a six-page document signed by Theresa May) arrived in Brussels, a mournful Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, declared that there were going to be no winners. Theres no reason to pretend that this is a happy day... Theres nothing to win in this process and I am talking about both sides. He also warned that the negotiations were set to be difficult, complex and sometimes even confrontational. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, called the imminent breakup a tragedy. But he had come not so much to praise Caesar, as it were, as to warn others against following into Britains suicidal footsteps, as he saw it. He feared for the stability of Europe if the EU was weakened by defections or internal strife  of which there is plenty among its 28 (soon to be reduced to 27) members, especially among East Europeans. The man responsible for the crisis, according to him, was David Cameron who gambledaway both Britain and Europes future by calling a risky referendum simply to appease his party hardliners. Ive met in my life two big destroyers: Gorbachev who destroyed the Soviet Union, and Cameron who destroyed the United Kingdom, he said.

Juncker is given to exaggeration, but he is right both about the gravity of the crisis facing the EU, and Camerons role in Brexit. First, Cameron displayed a cowardly lack of will to stand up to his party bullies baying for a referendum; and, having succumbed to the pressure, he exhibited extraordinary smugness in relying on Brits famed common sense to pull it off for him. Either he didnt anticipate, or typically didnt care, that Brexit fundamentalists were determined to go to any lengths lying, misleading, spreading xenophobia  to win. As the full implications of Brexit emerge, its becoming increasingly clear that it was sold to the nation on a false prospectus. The cost of Brexit was deliberately concealed from the public while its supposed benefits were grossly exaggerated. It was presented as a magic wand that would rid the country of all those bothersome immigrants; solve the NHS funding crisis with an extra 350 million a week; restore national sovereignty, and make Britain great again.

The gap between the Promised Land and the reality couldnt be more stark. Theres an argument that if people knew then what they know now about Brexit many may not have voted for it. As The Times writer Rachel Sylvester pointed out, It is hard to think of any political issue on which there has been a bigger gap between the emotive slogans of the referendum campaign and the hard-headed detail of negotiations... The fiction that you can.... have your cake and eat it is about to crash into the facts of a tortuous negotiation.

The message coming out of Brussels on an almost daily basis is that it would be a very costly divorce for Britain. All 27 EU members, overcoming internal differences, have closed ranks, making clear that a final settlement would have to be on their terms. It will not be easy. Im not divorced but Ive seen people divorcing, EUs competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager warned.

This is the first time that an EU member is leaving, which means that both London and Brussels find themselves in an entirely uncharted territory. And given the high stakes, both are positioning themselves for maximum effect. The crucial difference is that Brussels has numbers on its side: its Britain vs the Rest. Even before talks have begun, a furious row has broken out over the format. While Britain is insisting that the terms of the withdrawal and its future relationship with Europe must be discussed simultaneously, EU leaders have ruled out negotiations on future partnership unless the terms of separation are sorted out first. And this includes a whopping 50 billion divorce bill that the EU insists Britain must pay before substantive talks on other issues can even begin. The amount is said to represent Britains long-term financial liabilities as an EU member. Britain has rejected the demand saying it doesnt recognise the figure.

There is concern that if negotiations stretch beyond the two-year official time frame, it would plunge Britain into a period of prolonged uncertainly which would have an adverse effect on its already fragile economy. There are also fears for the future of the UK with Scotland and Northern Ireland, both of which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, demanding a decisive say in Brexit negotiations. Scotland has ratcheted up its demand for a second independence referendum to decide its own destiny; and if the final deal doesnt meet its expectations, calls for secession will intensify. From all accounts, Britain looks like its headed for a messy divorce, but even more messy could be its fallout for the survival of Her Majestys kingdom.
Sushant Chandra

THE closure of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Allahabad High Court marks an end of a glorious era and ushers in a new one  adorned by hopes and promises of reinstating the majesty and regal traditions of the court. This sesquicentennial merits a recount of the cherished past that is etched in the marble of the hallowed central marble hall. The hallowed portals have witnessed and savoured many tales.

The genesis of the Allahabad High Court can be traced back to the Indian High Courts Act, 1861  a law that marked the unification of Indian judicial system under the patronage of the Crown. The Bombay High Court, the Madras High Court and the Calcutta High Court were the first three high courts that were established under the Act of 1861. The Allahabad High Court was the fourth to be established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 by Crown through a Letters Patent. Established in 1866, its seat was in Agra and it was then called the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces. Sir Walter Morgan was the first Chief Justice, along with five other puisne judges. A few years later, the seat of the High Court was changed from Agra to Allahabad and the designation altered to "the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad" in 1919 by a supplementary Letters Patent. The Allahabad High Court has housed ideas, ideals and philosophies of different generations. These have contributed in achieving freedom for India, the making of a modern state and in creating a rights-based regime. I wish to explore how values of righteousness, generosity and fearlessness constitute the moral spirit of the Allahabad High Court and need to be preserved.

To illustrate this, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha's righteousness, in the famous Indira Gandhi case has been broached. It is well documented how Indira Gandhi, through the then Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice DS Mathur, induced Justice Sinha to render the verdict in her favour but Justice Sinha's righteousness trumped all considerations. He refused to toe the political line and valiantly rejected the fate that Indira Gandhi chose for him. As some jurists put it, this judgment led to imposition of the notorious Emergency in 1977. Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha's courage in not being swayed by political coercion will certainly inform the preamble to the Judges' code of ethics. The courage and righteousness that he displayed, still echoes in the corridors of the Allahabad High Court, and continues to fuel the fire in the belly of lawyers and judges alike. Posterity would judge the Allahabad High Court on its ability to promote values of merit, surpassing the egos of its members. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru's gesture to lobby for Justice Sir Shah Sulaiman's name for a membership to the then newly created Federal Court  the apex court in India, under the Government of India Act, 1935 would bear testimony to the higher ideals of magnanimity that its members have displayed. Despite the ego tussle between Sir Sapru and Justice Sulaiman, Sir Sapru rose above all human limitations and lobbied for Justice Sulaiman for a seat in the Federal Court, as he was the best the country had. This was an endorsement of the view that merit must prevail over all other considerations.

In his farewell speech, Justice Sulaiman remarked that, "Sir Sapru kicked me high but he kicked me high enough". It is a rare virtue to harness generosity in a way that promotes values of merit. It is this blend of qualities that distinguishes a great society from a mediocre one. It promotes happiness and creates opportunity for merit.

I would conclude my narration on the moral constitution of the Allahabad High Court with the reference to Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Mishra, a lawyer, leader and, most important, a human being par excellence. He was the fourth Advocate-General of Uttar Pradesh and the longest-serving one as he had served for more than 17 years. Known for his impeccable command over the English language, he secured 150/150 in the English essay paper as part of the Indian Civil Services Examination in 1926. Sir Arthur Quiller Couch  the English professor who corrected his paper, remarked in a letter written to Professor Dunn of the Allahabad University: "It is the Englishmen who have conquered India but it is only KL Mishra who conquered English!" Fali Nariman recounts in his memoir how KL Mishra poked fun at Nani Palkhivala during the hearing of Golaknath's case, and possibly he was the only one who could have done this. The interpretation to the amendment clause, as offered by Nani Palkhivala, suggesting reading theory of implied limitation into the amendment clause was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1967. It was KL Mishra's submission that, plain English cannot be subverted to suit any particular point of view that prevailed and informed the operating part of the judgment.

As Gustav Mahler puts it: "Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire". It is this tradition of righteousness, magnanimity and intellectual brilliance which has constituted the moral fabric of this illustrious court. The past has passed the baton to the present generation. It is entirely up to this generation now to worship the ashes or preserve the fire.

The writer is Assistant Director, Legal Aid Clinic, Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat
Charan Singh

PUNJAB has a new government led by an experienced Chief Minister who has an opportunity to turn around the ailing state suffering from high unemployment and low growth. Punjab has had a unique history. In a short time, from a semi-arid land, thanks to Green Revolution, it became the granary of the country and the richest state of India. These good times were short lived.

Historically, in the mid-1960s, India was passing through severe drought conditions, and it was a challenge to feed 50 crore people, of which nearly half were below the poverty line. Food aid, globally, was difficult and was largely used to manipulate geo-political decisions. Hence, to be truly independent, it was crucial to ensure national food security. Punjab, though short of rainfall, was considered perfect for an experiment of high-yielding variety of seeds. The Green Revolution, ably supported by canal and tube-well irrigation, and minimum support price of the government, ensured food security but changed the cropping pattern in Punjab.

In 1971, 39 per cent of the land area was under wheat, 7 per cent under rice, and 55 per cent under various crops like gram, maize, cotton, bajra and groundnut. By 2015, 49 per cent was under wheat, 41 per cent under rice and 10 per cent under others. In terms of per cent share of major crops in production, the story was obviously similar.

The high dependence on rice and wheat, and over-exploitation of land led to unforeseen complex problems. The rapidly depleting water table in face of non-adoption of micro-irrigation, and high toxicity of soil because of over-use of fertilisers and pesticides led to unfolding of health issues reflected in the high incidence of cancer and kidney failure. The state, given its critical fiscal situation, cannot support present levels of standard of living through subsidies. There are no employment opportunities for the youth, who are increasingly turning to drugs - a recipe for a social disaster.

Alternate models of growth

The academia and policy makers of Punjab need to start examining alternate models of growth to transit from mono-emphasis on agriculture to tripolar dependence on agriculture, industry and services. To have sustainable agriculture, Punjab needs to expedite alternatives like exploring floriculture and horticulture. To meet challenges, agricultural university needs to support these endeavours as it did in the past for rice and wheat. Similarly, there is an urgent need to go in for agro-processing of agricultural produce, and that too by farmers' collectives, to yield additional income and employment.

There is no escape from industrialisation. Punjab has to decide as to which are new industries that can be attracted and then provide suitable incentives while taking advantage of the Centre's successful "Make-in-India" campaign. In India, illustratively, the aerospace industry has been booming in the last few years, especially, in South India. Aerospace industry plans an investment of a trillion US dollars and capacity to create 2 million jobs. Presently, there are only few assembly facilities in places like Bangalore.

Similarly, Punjab is known for its crafts and skills in jewellery, carved furniture, embroidery, phulkari, soft toys for children, specialised food items, and leather products.The need is to explore synergy in labour-intensive crafts and MSMEs. The government could consider supporting the marketing of such products.

The largest scope for growth is in services sector, and Punjab could explore medical tourism which is being encouraged by the Central government. Annually, about 2 lakh tourists arrive, mainly from neighbouring countries, the Middle East and Africa to Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Given that the Centre is already promoting pilgrimage tourism, there is a need to develop tourist-circuits of historical and pilgrim venues of different faiths in Punjab. Religious tourism can have a multiple effect on employment generation as it promotes local culture, handicrafts, and cuisine. Finally, farm tourism which has been successful in Kerala and Maharashtra, should also be strengthened in Punjab.

Skill development

In view of the protectionist policy being pursued by advanced countries, especially the USA and some countries in Europe, Punjab needs to take advantage of the Central government's policy of skill development. The Centre has already signed MoUs for skill development with several countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore, the European Union, and France. The government's Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana aims to train and certify Indian workforce keen on overseas employment in select sectors and job roles in line with international standards to facilitate overseas employment opportunity.

Similar to the look-East policy, India can also consider strengthening its trade and cultural relations in the North-West by creating in Punjab a trading hub of goods and services for Central-Asian countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and even Afghanistan. These Central-Asian republics can be connected to India through Punjab rather than the extensive long sea route from Mumbai. Interestingly, Zahedan in Iran is already connected by an all-weather road and 1,676-km broad gauge railway line to Amritsar.

Finally, there is an urgent need to strengthen the state planning board which can help inspire multilateral lenders like the World Bank as well as experts from universities like Harvard and Stanford, to give advice on development plans. A professionally managed planning board could serve as an anchor to steadily steer Punjab into high growth.

Punjab has been in the forefront of providing food security to the nation but now it needs help. The band-aid approach would not be able to cure the ailing economy of Punjab which is in the ICU and therefore, this time thorough diagnostic tests are required to honestly identify the specific root causes of the disease. On completing the "identification" exercise, the Punjab government needs to prepare a road map, with milestones, based on wider consultations.

The road map, given the critical situation, would have to be implemented in mission mode and diligently sequenced so that the health of the economy is restored without harming the sentiments of people or disrupting normal economic activity. It would have to be a very carefully planned surgical operation, given the sensitive circumstances. Reviving the ailing economy would be a lasting contribution of the experienced Chief Minister to the land of his forefathers.





The writer is a Professor in the Department of Economics & Social Sciences, IIM Bangalore
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, April 4

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off 17 advanced life support (ALS) ambulances in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today.

These ambulances have been provided to the state Health Department by the Union Minister under the MPLAD fund scheme.

Prabhu said these ambulances, costing Rs 3.5 crore, would serve as emergency reach-out to needy patients in the far-flung areas, thereby strengthening healthcare services in the state.

These ambulances are for Ambala City, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Sonepat, SHKM Medical College, Mewat, Kalpana Chawla Medical College, Karnal, Maharaja Agarsen Medical College, Hisar, and three ambulances for Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the Haryana Government was focusing on opening medical colleges in every district to meet the demand of doctors in the state. These institutes would be established either in the government sector or in the public-private-partnership mode, he added.

Health Minister Anil Vij said that the government was considering setting up trauma centres at every 50 km in the state in order to reduce the number of casualties in road accidents.
December 12, 2010. 4.30am. On that foggy winter morning, Bhupen Hazarika, a 27-year-old home guard deployed at the Kaziranga National Park (KNP), had just woken up. He had to get ready to take charge from the night patrol team, which was returning to the Tutoni anti-poaching camp, in the Bagori range of the park. Suddenly, he heard some noise, in the distance.

Curious, he went out with his .303 rifle and a torch. A colleague of his from the night patrol team was taking cover behind a tree. As he looked around, Hazarika noticed a shadow, hidden in the tall grass to the right of his colleague, about to take aim at him. Without wasting a second, Hazarika opened fire at the shadow and started chasing another that leapt out of the bushes.

advertisement

A couple of minutes later, when the figure did not stop despite repeated warnings, Hazarika shot him in the leg. The man fell, but before anyone could reach him, he put a pistol to his head and shot himself. He was later identified as Uttam Patir, a Mising tribal from Dhanbari village, 20 km away from where he died.

Two years later, Hazarika was given the Vanya Prani Mitra Award, constituted by the World Wildlife Foundation, India, and the Assam forest department in recognition of outstanding contribution to wildlife conservation.

Yet the apparent hero from the frontlines of the war against poaching was painted among the villains in a documentary BBC aired last month. Titled Killing for Conservation, the feature castigated Kaziranga authorities for "exceptional measures" against poachers and what amounted to 'shoot at sight' orders.

The documentary has since invited a storm of indignation, with the environment ministry and the National Tiger Conservation Authority seeking the blacklisting of the channel's South Asia correspondent Justin Rowlatt, who made the documentary, and banning the channel from filming in any tiger reserve for five years.

Fifty-five poachers have been killed inside the park between 2013 and 2016. "There is no shoot at sight order," asserts Dr Satyendra Singh, director of KNP. Digging into the issue, India Today found that there has indeed never been a "shoot at sight" order issued inside KNP. But the government in 2010 provided forest guards immunity from prosecution in use of firearms under Section 197(2) of the CrPC, which states: "No Court shall take cognizance of any offence alleged to have been committed by any member of the Armed Forces... while acting... in the discharge of his official duty". But then again, a report by then KNP director, M.K. Yadav, to the Gauhati High Court in 2014, did say that Kaziranga park guards are encouraged to execute suspected poachers on sight.

"We don't encourage killing, our focus is on catching poachers," asserts Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal (see interview: "My government is committed to taking action"). "People are shot dead only when they don't respond to warnings." "Killing is the last resort," KNP director Singh reiterates. "What the BBC documentary fails to mention is that 265 poachers have been arrested in the same period."

advertisement

According to Assam forest minister Promila Rani Brahma, 705 poachers have been identified, of whom 661 have been arrested since 2001. Of the 265 poachers arrested between 2013 and 2016, only six have been convicted, 11 have been released, the rest are facing trial. "For faster trials," says Sonowal, "we have set up wildlife fast-track courts in 10 districts adjoining KNP."

Do or Die Poaching

There is a saying around Kaziranga: Hoy Kharga, Nohoy Swarga (either the rhino horn or heaven). Poachers know exactly what it means to go into protected forest for a rhino horn, and they come prepared to die in the bargain. "How do you handle criminals who don't fear death?" asks Pallav Kumar Deka, deputy conservator of forests (attached to the director's office).

"They come here either to kill or get killed. In the dead of the night, offence remains our best defence." He claims that the forest guards are up against a strong nexus of poachers, who are often armed with AK-series rifles. "There have been instances of insurgent groups getting involved in poaching," says Assam Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Bikash Brahma.

advertisement

Spread over an area of almost 900 sq km, KNP is one of India' oldest wildlife conservancy reserves, first notified in 1905 and constituted as reserved forest three years later, with 228 sq km specially established for the conservation and protection of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Unicornis) whose numbers then were estimated at 40. A classic conservation success story, the rhino population at KNP has doubled in the past two decades-from 1,164 in 1993 to 2,401 in 2015. At KNP, the population density of the one-horned rhino, an IUCN Red Listed species, is 5.59 per sq km, the highest in the world.

The increase in rhino numbers has been followed by an increase in poaching-151 rhinos have been killed between 2006 and 2016, 54 in 2013-2014 alone. "There is a serious threat to the rhino," says Firoz Ahmed, a senior biologist at Aaranyak, a Guwahati-based environmental NGO, which works closely with Kaziranga authorities. "There is a mistaken perception in China and Vietnam that the rhino horn has aphrodisiacal qualities for which they are ready to pay astronomical sums."

advertisement

Sharp-shooting poachers are often hired from neighbouring Nagaland and Manipur. The poached horn first makes its way to Dimapur in Nagaland, about 150 km east of KNP. This is the initial transit point where poachers get paid and from where the horns travel to Moreh in Manipur, a town bordering Myanmar. If the horn fetches Rs 1.5 lakh in Assam, its value touches crores once it crosses the international border. "In Myanmar, it sells for Rs 2 crore and in China for Rs 3 crore," state forest minister Brahma told the state assembly last year.

Hence the KNP authorities' ruthless anti-poaching drive, which includes 'neutralising' poachers when spotted, was encouraged perhaps by the measure of success in some African parks. A 2014 paper in the Dutch Journal of Environmental Economics and Management analysed anti-poaching techniques in the country and noted that parks which utilised 'shoot to kill' tactics saw "reduced poaching at a faster pace than any other method, as poachers feared for their lives if caught poaching".

But Is It 'Murder'?

However, the random killing of people in the name of protecting the rhino is coming in for widespread criticism from human rights activists. Story after story tumbles out of adjoining villages. Of Biju, who, his widow Renumai claims, was abducted by forest guards from Panbari Adarsha Mising village, and whose body was later found at the Nagaon Civil Hospital. "They have not shown us a copy of the FIR or the post-mortem report till today," says Renumai.

Then there was Gaonburha Kealing, a mentally challenged teenager who had strayed into the park in search of his cows on a December night in 2013, and was shot dead when he did not respond to warnings by the forest guards.

Horen Doley, 30, went missing in 2014. His bullet-ridden body was later found in KNP, the official records declared him a poacher. He was a close friend of forest ranger Saleem Ahmed, his family claims, yet Horen's body lay unidentified. "Ahmed used to visit our home," says Horen's father Ajit. "How come he could not identify Horen's body? Why was he not arrested if he was a poacher?" Ahmed, who has since been transferred from Kaziranga, did not respond to calls.

Dipen Sawro, a 35-year-old father of two, had been offered work in the park by a forest guard. But Sawro too, like Horen, went missing in 2014. His body was later found buried inside KNP with a bullet wound to his head. But unlike Horen, Sawro was not declared a poacher. A murder case has been registered.

Sitting in the verandah of Renumai's thatched hut, Pranab Doley, an alumnus of the Tata School of Social Sciences in Mumbai and now a tribal rights activist and advisor to NGO Jipal, alleges that public sentiment against poaching coupled with the immunity from prosecution has turned the park guards into trigger-happy killers. "The officials are under tremendous pressure to show some action against poaching, which cannot happen at a rampant scale without some collusion", he says. "To show results, they kill innocent tribals." Significantly, he adds, "If they have been killing violent poachers armed with AK-series rifles, why do the forest guards recover only .303 rifles from the killed poachers? Why has a single forest guard not got injured?"

Doley's colleague and Jipal founder Soneswar Narah professes 100 per cent commitment to the conservation of the rhino, but the duo claims it must not be at the cost of the lives of the locals. "These suspected poachers are often shot in the face," says Narah. "And photographed such that you cant see their faces."

KNP director Singh responds to Jipal's allegations with a peculiarly diversionary argument saying that of the 55 poachers killed since 2013, only four were tribals. "And the fact that there was no claimant to 34 bodies shows that the poachers killed inside the park were not locals; 17 of them were from minority communities from the northern bank of the Brahmaputra," he says.

Environmental activists working around the park say the truth lies somewhere in between. "There have been cases of mistaken identities," says an activist who prefers to remain anonymous. "The poor socio-economic condition of the local communities abets poaching. Park authorities also nurture local spies to keep tabs. These spies sometimes frame innocents to settle personal scores. But such instances are too few to be seen as any kind of trend."

Prevention First

"Every time I meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he asks me about the status of poaching in KNP," says Sonowal. The emphasis is not surprising, since rhino poaching was a key issue in the BJP campaigns in the state for the 2014 Lok Sabha election and the assembly polls. The one-horned rhino, the state symbol, is an emotive issue in Assam and poaching is seen as an attack on Assamese pride.

The state government is now focusing on preventive measures. Sonowal has instructed the superintendents of the districts abutting the park-Karbi Anglong, Golaghat, Sonitpur and Jorhat-to keep a stricter eye on poaching networks.

Just 100 metres away from KNP's Agoratoli range is the Tamuli Pathar village. Deputy Conservator of Forest Deka showcases it as an example of collaboration between park authorities and fringe villages in conservation efforts. Funded by the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation, a joint initiative of the state government and funding agency Agence Francaise de Developpment, the eco-development committee of the village has bought four handlooms and eight sewing machines, to help several women earn a livelihood.

It has also organised computer training for 10 students. "The idea is to offer livelihood and job opportunities so that poor people in the fringe villages don't fall prey to the lure of easy money offered by poachers," says Deka. Soon to be adopted as an ideal village by the forest department, the 150 Koch-Rajbongshi households here are working as a human barrier against prospective poachers. Last year, the villagers handed over four youths from the village to the police for their alleged involvement in poaching.

'Killers' or 'Protectors'?

Today, 954 forest personnel guard the park round the clock. They are supported by 285 Assam Police Special Rhino Protection Force commandos. However, while the police force uses SLRs, the forest personnel have to make do with .303 rifles. There is also no regular training for the guards. A 2014 CAG report tabled in the assembly says that none of the wildlife guards at KNP was given any training from 2008-09 to 2012-13 and they have had no firing practice as the fresher training module contains only theoretical training. Some of the guards cannot even hold their guns in combat position. Besides, as the report pointed out, "a large number of weapons are lying unserviceable. The available arms are old and have become defective and are prone to misfire."

Several of the guards are also well past their prime. Fifty-seven-year-old Amulya Bordoloi, for instance, was sent to KNP two years ago. Having worked most of his life in the social forestry department, he is hardly equipped with skills required in the wildlife division.

There are 178 anti-poaching camps in the park, including two on mechanised boats. The ones on land are 24 ft by 36 ft structures standing on four concrete pillars, with a tin roof and walls which are part concrete and part bamboo. Each camp can house 4-6 guards. The guards did not have electricity to even charge their wireless sets till WWF-India last year donated 178 solar-generated inverters. The organisation had also provided 17 night vision devices but these remain with the senior officials. The guards rely mostly on the seven 'electronic eyes' or the electronic surveillance towers, and the nearly 300 camera traps Aaranyak installed for tiger census.

"It's wrong to paint the guards as trigger happy," says Dr Rathin Barman, deputy director of the Wildlife Trust of India for its projects in the northeast. "Often having to use the barrel of their guns to clear thickets, their rifles get jammed. On several occasions, when wild animals attack them, they cant even fire blanks to drive them away." Five guards were injured and one died in an animal attack in February.

It has been six years since that fateful morning in December 2010. Bhupen Hazarika is now at the Debeshwari anti-poaching camp. The Rs 25,000 cash prize that came with his Vanya Prani Mitra Award in 2012 is long gone; he has still not been regularised. The death of Jibon, the guard who died in the rhino attack in February, is playing on Hazarikas mind. Jibon was his colleague. n

INTERVIEW

"My government is committed to taking action"

In an exclusive interview with India Today, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal counters charges of extra-judicial killings in KNP.

Q. Is NGO Jipals claim that Kaziranga forest guards are killing innocent locals to show increase in number of killed poachers true?

A. These claims are false and baseless. Only those who go inside the national park with the intention of poaching get killed at the hands of frontline staff in the cross-fire.

Q. It also says forest officials and police are in collusion with poachers.

A. My government is committed to taking action against any person/ official/ agency involved in poaching. One forest and one police official have been recently arrested in rhino poaching cases.

Q. Jipal also says park authorities have been encroaching on tribal land and that tribal communities should be given patta (land title)...

A. All the six additions made to KNP have been via proper government notifications. However, we are working on compensation for genuinely affected families in the second, third and fifth additions.

Q. How do you propose to combat rhino poaching?

A. On August 11, 2016, we held a workshop with various wildlife organisations. Based on their opinion, we have devised action for intelligence enforcement, technology application and community participation. We are in the process of recruiting local youth into the special task force. We have deployed 50 additional home guards and forest guards each. Park guards will also be provided 63 AK-47 rifles, 85 INSAS rifles, 434 SLRs and 100 pistols. The necessary approval for the use of drones has been received. An additional Rs 25 crore will be provided to KNP for infrastructure.

Q. The National Green Tribunal slammed the previous Congress government for not declaring Kaziranga an eco-sensitive zone. Will you?

A. Kaziranga is a national park and tiger reserve. The rules are more stringent. An eco-sensitive zone has to be constituted in the area outside KNP. Our government has already sent the environment ministry a draft notification.

--- ENDS ---
Gurugram, April 4

The police on Tuesday released a CCTV footage showing two women fighting off armed men, averting a bank robbery here.

Vimla Devi (45) and Poonam (28), employees of the State Bank of Indias money transfer branch in Badshahpur, overpowered Deepak (25) and Mohit (25) when they tried to loot the bank.

Police Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said the two women would be rewarded and honoured.

The CCTV footage showed the thieves entering the bank on Monday afternoon and pulling out pistols from a bag. At the time of the incident, the women were alone in the branch. Instead of surrendering, they snatched the pistols and raised the alarm.  IANS
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 2

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for extending full support to her government during the Kashmir unrest in 2016 in which over 100 people were killed in five months.

Lauding Modis leadership and determination, she termed him a strong leader who could take bold decisions. Last year was not good for the state. I am thankful to the PM who kept Home Minister Rajnath Singh with us during the difficult times. I alone couldnt have done anything and it was due to your support that the situation today is under control, Mehbooba said while addressing the gathering at Udhampur this evening after Modi inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri tunnel.

I am happy that you are a strong person and you do whatever you commit, the CM said after congratulating the PM for the UP elections win.

Citing her fathers decision of joining hands with the BJP for the betterment of the state, she said, Since 1947, we fought three wars (with Pakistan) and won but still our strength is democracy. My father believed in democracy and through it everything can be solved.

Speaking about the inauguration of Indias longest road tunnel at Udhampur today, she said, The tunnel will not only cut distance but will also bring Kashmiri people closer to India. I am hopeful that you will help in making a new J&K and bring the state out of trouble, the Chief Minister said.

Mehbooba extended the invitation to tour operators to visit Kashmir and enjoy its beauty.
Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 4

A visit to government-run hospital is enough to gauge the extent of rot in health institutions in Jammu and Kashmir, despite billions of rupees invested in health care during the past two decades.

Under the Prime Ministers Reconstruction Programme (PMRP) initiated under the then Congress-led UPA government in 2004-05 there was a large-scale construction of new hospitals but the capacity and manpower of the old hospitals were not increased.

Various committees constituted to monitor the functioning of health institutions had repeatedly taken exception to increase in number of referral cases from private nursing homes, as they are having inadequate facilities to deal with them, which in turn put burden on government hospitals.

SMGS Hospital

Jammu is still grappling with lack of proper infrastructure for childbirth and treatment and does not have full-fledged maternity hospital for neo-natal care. Though Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital, inaugurated by the last ruler of J&K Maharaja Hari Singh in 1940, was build to act as an independent maternity hospital, but successive governments have failed to create necessary infrastructure during the last 70 years. It presents a dismal picture of misplaced priorities of successive government.

There is no paediatric surgeon to carry out critical operations on newborns in case of emergency and they are shifted to the medical college for treatment, a clear violation of the norms set by the Medical Council of India (MCI). There is a shortage of ventilators and only two and three, out of existing seven, are available at a time.

The 550-bedded hospital has a daily admission of 800 to 1,000 patients on an average burdening the existing infrastructure and manpower. Once you enter the hospital, which specialises in paediatrics, gynaecology, ENT and skin diseases, chaos become visible with overcrowded wards and people sleeping or sitting in alleys. Moreover, the condition of the labour room and neo-natal ICU, equipped with modern gadgets, is also very poor as it has to cater to the entire Jammu region.

Every corridor in the building is crowded with patients and attendants. Wards cater to double the number of patients and newborns than their capacities. In such a situation the chances of infection increases. The new block constructed with modern gadgets is no different and para-medics have been hired on contract basis to assist the doctors.

Medical Superintendent, SMGS Hospital, Dr Dara Singh said, Paediatric surgery is conducted at GMC and not in SMGS Hospital. We have submitted our requirements to the government from time to time and it has to take decision.

Accepting that the hospital is under huge pressure, Dr Dara Singh said they could not stop accepting referral cases as district hospitals faced manpower and equipment crunch.

GMCH, Jammu

Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) started functioning in 1973 and was supposed to provide specialised treatment and carry critical surgeries on patients apart from serving as a medical college to churn out doctors. However, due to years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities, the standard of the institution is on decline.

The emergency ward, supposed to be of the highest standard, is lacking various basic facilities. Even the basic facility of an enquiry counter does not exist in the hospital where thousands of patients, not only from Jammu, but also from other districts of the region, visit for treatment. There are only 19 ventilators in the medical college and its associated hospitals leading to a virtual race between the attendants of critically ill patients in case of emergency.

Pendency of surgery cases is huge and at times patients are given date stretching three months to six months as required specialist doctors are not available.

A few months back a relative was admitted to the medical college late in the night and doctors recommended X-ray, ultrasound and CAT scan, but no operator was available in any of the facility and we have to wait till morning. It was a shocking experience, said Sanjeev Kumar, a local resident.

Moreover, shortage of faculty in the key departments is also a blatant violation of the standing rules of the MCI. Dialysis units, AC plants, lifts, water supply are mostly run by ad hoc workers, who have not been receiving salaries for months. When it comes to sanitation, there is a lot to be desired. The bathrooms in the hospital are overflowing with sewage and dirty water. The pipes are leaking on every floor.

Superspeciality Hospital

Soaring building and its shiny windows make it look futuristic and luxurious but after visitors walk through the doors, rot in the health sector is clearly visible. The Superspecialty Hospital, Jammu, has become a symbol of bad planning as it has become an ineffective institution.

Spread on 45 kanals, the hospital was completed at the cost of Rs 120 crore in 2012. It was supposed to compete with the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), but on ground the hospital has become an extended OPD block of the medical college.

Though the indoor OPD in six superspecialties,  cardiology, cardio thoracic surgery, urology, neurology, neuro surgery and pephrology  is functioning but no critical operation or procedure is conducted in the absence of required technical staff forcing people to shift patients to private hospitals outside Jammu and Kashmir after getting routine treatment.

The high-tech hospital with six important departments fully functional depends on a tubewell dug on the premises for its water requirement as the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has so far failed to provide a dedicated supply connection as per requirement.

The Superspecialty Hospital has six operation theatres (OTs), two of neuro surgery, two of the urology department and two of the CTVS department (cardiology) but due to the shortage of specialist doctors most of them remain non-functional even for emergency cases.

However, Dr Manoj Chalotra, Medical Superintendent (Superspeciality Hospital) said the government had assured that critical requirements would be fulfilled. When asked about the shortage of paramedics and specialist doctors, Dr Chalotra said the government had taken up the required steps to fill the vacancies.

Then NC-Congress government in 2013 had proposed to invite Medanta, a New Delhi-based private hospital, to run some of the specialties but the proposal was shelved as they wanted to bring their own staff, which was unacceptable to the government.

The 500-bedded hospital has no ventilator. The commissioning of oxygen chamber has been delayed. There is no fully functional pathological lab and required staff and doctors have not been made available. In the absence of required funds, no regular maintenance of AC plants, gas plant, elevators (lifts), DG sets installed in the Superspeciality Hospital is carried out.

Nearly 819 posts of various categories have been created for the hospital, but recruitment process has been delayed due to lack of funds.

Overcrowding hits patient care

The bed capacity in different hospitals under two Government Medical Colleges in J&K (Srinagar and Jammu) and associated hospitals is 12,965  6,967 in Kashmir and 5,998 in the Jammu region. However, in Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, and its associate hospitals  SMGS Maternity Hospital, Chest Disease Hospital and Psychiatry Disease Hospital  two to three patients are forced to share a single bed, paramedical staff is scarce and at times patients remain unattended for hours. Due to the influx of patients from district and sub-district hospitals to GMCs in two capital cities, patient care is compromised and the institutions look like a big market place as referral from district hospitals adds to the crowd.
New Delhi, April 4

The CBI has started its probe into the murder of trader Shravan Sahu who was shot dead outside his residence allegedly for pursuing the case of his sons killing by a gangster.

The 61-year-old trader had been gunned down by bike-borne assailants near his residence in Daalmandi locality under Saadatganj police station.

He was pursing the murder case of his son Ayush who had allegedly been gunned down in October 2013 in Thakurganj area by gangster Aqeel, who had threatened the trader to stop pursuing the case.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising Justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Sanjay Harkauli, had also asked the agency to probe why no security was given to Sahu.

The then state government under Akhilesh Yadav had told the court it had no objection to the CBI probing the case.

Within 15 days, the Lucknow police had claimed to have solved the case by identifying seven sharp-shooters, including Aqeel, who was the mastermind.

The agency has now registered an FIR in the case under charges of criminal conspiracy and murder. PTI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

India today said no artificial controversy should be created around the ongoing visit of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to Tawang. India also pointed out that it has always respected the One China policy and expects China to reciprocate.

China has made its unhappiness over Indias nod to the visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang very clear. In a statement, Beijing warned Delhi that the visit of His Holiness could also cause serious damage to the India-China relationship.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

However, a closer look at Indias recent actions, clearly indicate this government is not shying away from using the Tibet card to push China into a corner. Chinas sensitivities when it comes to the Dalai Lama have always been vocal. People privy to the developments said India recognises that Tibet-Dalai Lama is a leverage the government can use when Beijing plays hard ball.

For India, Chinas obstinate stand on blocking its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its use of veto to block the designation of Masood Azhar as terrorist at the UN have been the stumbling blocks in the bilateral relationship.

The Ministry of External Affairs today said the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people and that no additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who himself is a Buddhist from Arunachal Pradesh, asked China not to interfere in Indias internal affairs, saying India respects the One China policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

Not a political trip: Rijiju

"There is no political angle behind His Holiness visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs"  Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

The Delhi Government has asked schools in the national capital to refuse admission to students who are associated with any banned outfit. This has invited the wrath of social activists, with many demanding the withdrawal of the clause.

According to the recent model code of conduct issued by the Directorate of Education, association with any banned organisation has been described as a forbidden practice and may result in either denial of admission to a new student or expulsion of a student if any such thing is found.

The circular, which among a host of guidelines, also mentions holding of any protest demonstration as a forbidden practice, but does not define banned organisations.

The circular is primarily for students from Class 6 to 12, especially those coming from disturbed areas even as the code of conduct is applicable for students from nursery to Class 12. Other pointers mentioned in the model code include absence from classes without permission, bullying, rowdyism and rude behaviour, eve-teasing, smoking, chewing gutkha, use of drugs, gambling and bringing to school electronic gadgets, including mobile phones.

The penalty for violating the guidelines ranges from written warning to student and parents, suspension for a specified period to expulsion or rustication from school.

Terming the latest clause absurd, lawyer and activist Ashok Agarwal said: Ever heard a three-year-old associated with a terror group or any banned outfit? Even if some grown-up children are found to have any such association, they need to be counselled and not be denied admission.

Nursery quota: SC seeks response from Centre, UP
Washington, April 4

Presence of terror safe havens in Pakistan, aggressive Chinese behaviour and the Afghanistan situation dominated last months meeting between US Defence Secretary Gen James Mattis (retd) and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, according to an American defence official.

They talked a lot about China...the concern about China sometimes bullying some of its neighbours in the region. There was concern about that, a US defence official told PTI about the Mattis-Doval meeting at the Pentagon on March 24.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

This was the highest-level interaction of Mattis with a top Indian official after becoming the Defence Secretary.

China is also very important to the US with regard to the North Korea situation, said the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan and Afghanistan were the two major topics of discussion between the two leaders, the official said.

They talked about Pakistan, the official said, adding that Doval talked more on the issue than Mattis.

There was not a whole lot specifics. We have a number of concerns with respect to Pakistan...counter-terrorism, nuclear weapons. They talked a little bit about that. It is obviously a concern of Indias and it is an important player in the region and the world, the defence official said.

The US would like to see Pakistan in a situation with it where they could have a productive relationship, the official said.

They talked a lot about Afghanistan...and the need to try to get it...just finish it (the war). It has been going on (for) too long, the defence official said.

The official explained that this meant finish the operations and leave (Afghanistan) in a stable state.

While successive US administrations have praised Indias developmental assistance in Afghanistan, some recent media reports both in India and the US have referred to Trump Administrations desire of enhanced military role of India in the war-torn country.

The official said he did not recall any such conversation during the Pentagon meeting.

Reflecting on the meeting, the official said the Defence Secretary is very keen on India.

Mattis recognises the important role that it plays in the region and the world and its unique position vis-a-vis Pakistan, vis-a-vis China, said the defence official.

Secretary Mattis wanted to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said.

The Secretary was interested in listening from the NSA what India;s perspective was on most of these issues, both regional and global.

I think, the NSA probably did most of the talking. It bodes well for the future. I think, he (Mattis) wants to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said in response to a question.

Doval made a quiet visit to the United States for a few days around March 20, during which he also met the Homeland Security Secretary Gen John Kelly (retd) and US National Security Adviser Lt Gen HR McMaster. PTI
Karachi, April 4

A Pakistani money changer known for his ties with Indian don Dawood Ibrahim has been jailed for 68 months in the US for conspiring to commit money laundering, it was reported on Tuesday.

Altaf Khanani, who has already spent over a year in a Miami jail, was also fined $250,000 by a Florida court, Dawn online reported. He was sentenced on March 29.

The remaining 13 counts of committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution for Khanani's cooperation in the probe.

According to the US Treasury Department, his clientele included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian crime groups and designated terrorist organisations.

"Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the Treasury Department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Indian security agencies say Ibrahim, originally an Indian, lives in Pakistan now as a Pakistani citizen. Islamabad denies this.

Khanani agreed to plead guilty and "make a full, accurate and complete disclosure... of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.

The agreement said the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing as Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.

The probe involved coordination from six law enforcement agencies from three countries, the US, Australia and the UAE.

Khanani and Kalia International (KKI) was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world.

Khanani has intimate knowledge of the bank accounts and intermediaries used by the groups whose money he was moving.

The court committed Khanani to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, with a recommendation that he serve his time in a local facility in Florida.

Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

Khanani was in June 2015 indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a $250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.

IANS
The finance minister went on record to say that there is an acute shortage of currency and many treasuries are running out of cash even for their basic requirements.

By Rohini Swamy: When Thomas Isaac, the Kerala finance minister released his book critiquing demonetisation, it was as if he has a promotion that the state exchequer would be badly hit.

The finance minister went on record to say that there is an acute shortage of currency and many treasuries are running out of cash even for their basic requirements.

advertisement

"We have received just 50 per cent of our requisition. The Kottayam treasury obtained only Rs 50 lakh when they had requested for Rs 1.5 crore. This has been attributed to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) not providing enough currency. ATM's are also running dry say many in Kerala," Isaac said.

"The RBI and the other officials have been contacted so that the money can be disbursed as soon as possible. The RBI has become an instrument in the hands of the central government to provide currency to those states where elections are being held," alleged Isaac.

The finance minister further said that they will have to tighten their purses, if the currency issue is not solved with immediate effect.

"Pensioners in the state will get affected if action is not initiated immediately," Isaac added.

In May last year, Isaac had asserted that the state treasury had just Rs 700 crore which was contrary to the claim made by the Oomen Chandy of UDF government that there was a balance of Rs 1009 crore.

Also read:

Pay day chaos: Treasuries run dry in Kerala, mob burns PM's effigy in Uttar Pradesh

Kerala demands bank status for state treasury, cooperatives

--- ENDS ---
BOSASSO, April 4

Pirates who hijacked an Indian cargo dhow with 11 crew on board have moved the vessel to an undisclosed location within Galmudug waters off the Somali coast until their ransom demands are met, a pirate leader said on Tuesday.

The vessel, Al Kausar, was initially taken to El Hur, near the port of Hobyo in Somalia's semi-autonomous Galmudug state but was then moved to avoid approaching security personnel, pirates said.

Pirate leader Aw Kombe said negotiations were ongoing with businessmen in Kismayu over the release of Al Kausar, which was seized on Saturday.

"The traders want the dhow released without (any) ransom (being paid) but my friends say they (will) not release it without (getting) at least some cash," he added. "They are still discussing."

The Al Kausar was commandeered in the vicinity of Socotra Island while en route from Dubai to Puntland's port of Bosasso, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area.

A pirate who only gave his name as Aden told Reuters by phone from Harardhere: "The pirate leader on board heard Galmudug forces advancing to attack it. The dhow has now gone far into the ocean but is still in Galmudug waters". Harardhere was also a major pirate base at the height of the hijackings in 2011.

Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a riskier route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs.

An oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board was hijacked last month but was released within a few days after a clash with Puntland's marine force.

That was the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012.

There was also some confusion about identity and origin of Al Kausar's hijackers.

Burhan Warsame, Galmudug's minister for ports and sea transport, said the same pirates who seized the oil tanker last month "must have hijacked this dhow".

But Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, the former general director of Puntland's anti-piracy agency, said the dhow's location made it more likely that the pirates were from Galmudug.

Kombe, who headed the pirate gang that commandeered the oil tanker, said there were four groups of pirates from Puntland "who are still in ocean hunting for ships to hijack".

"The pirates holding it must be our friends from Galmudug state," Kombe said.  Reuters
Lucknow, April 4

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday cleared a Rs 36,359-crore proposal allowing waiver of loans for marginal and small farmers of the state.

Briefing the press after the meeting, Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said that with this, the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, during assembly polls to farmers of the state, has been fulfilled.

He also said that of the total 2.30 crore farmers in UP, 92.5 per cent or 2.15 crore were small and marginal.

The waiver applies to loans taken by these farmers against seeds for wheat and paddy crops, besides pesticides and fertilisers.

In all, the sum being waived comes to a total of Rs 30,729 crore, the minister said. The waiver would apply to loan amounts of Rs 1 lakh.

Singh also said that there were around seven lakh farmers who defaulted on loans taken and now bore the non-performing asset tag. The government has also decided to write off all their loans, amounting to Rs 5,630 crore.

In all, the loan waiver amount cleared by the state cabinet is to the tune of Rs 36,359 crore, he said.

Singh noted that since the state was bound by the law on fiscal discipline that puts a condition to cap fiscal deficit to under 3 per cent of the GDP, the state would raise funds for the loan waiver through a 'Kisan Relief Bond'.

Modalities of this bond are being worked out and it would be cleared during the forthcoming budget session of the state assembly, he added. The loan waiver would apply to all banks, including cooperative banks.

Other sops extended to the farmers of the state include enhancing the target of wheat purchase in the first phase to 80 lakh tonnes, opening up of 5,000 wheat purchase centres and giving of Rs 10 per quintal against carrying and stocking charges over the Rs 1,625 minimum support price.

The Chief Minister also constituted a committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and comprising ministers Dara Singh and Surya Pratap Shahi to find out ways to provide relief to the state's potato growers. IANS
Lucknow, April 4

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday denied any "overzealous" crackdown by authorities on abattoirs in the state and stated there would be no compromise on illegal slaughterhouses.

Announcing the state cabinet's decisions, Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said: "There will be no compromise on illegal slaughterhouses. The ones that have applied for renewal of licenses would be considered and their licences would be renewed". He said that so far 26 illegal abattoirs have been sealed by the authorities across the state and added that there has been no "overzealous" crackdown by the authorities.  IANS
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, April 4

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh today approved waiver of farm loans, totalling Rs 36,359 crore, benefiting 86 lakh farmers, as promised by the BJP during the Assembly elections.

The decision was taken at the first Cabinet meeting.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Senior minister Siddhartha Nath Singh said the waiver also included a loan amount of Rs 5,630 crore taken by nearly seven lakh farmers.

Sources claimed the government would take a loan either from the Centre or other financial institutions. The PM had declared at a rally that he would ensure the BJP government at its first Cabinet meeting takes the decision to waive farmers loan.

The Cabinet approved Anti-Romeo Squads. Development works in Varanasi, the PMs constituency, also figured at the meeting.

Congress RS Surjewala said the waiver excluded a large section of farmers. UP has 2.33 crore farmers, of which 2.15 crore are small and marginal farmers. As many as 64.14 lakh farmers have taken a loan of Rs 86, 241 crore from banks. Cooperative bank loan is Rs 6,000 crore. This loan is of two kinds, crop and term loan, but unfortunately the UP Governments decision covers only crop loans and not term loans, he said.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur), April 4

Three alleged Congress party workers brutally beat up a SAD municipal councillor with sharp-edged weapons here, a video of the incident going viral on Tuesday.

Batala SSP Deepak Hilori said the police were looking into the matter.

At the time of filing this report, the police had yet to register a case despite the fact that the video clearly shows the assailants beating up sitting SAD councillor Parvez Masih with sharp-edged weapons.

The accused have been identified as Prem Masih, alias Dungal, and his sons Robby and Ajay.

Earlier, the cops went into denial mode but when the video went viral they admitted that the attack took place.

The accused are known for their proximity to Cabinet Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

Bajwa said he knew nothing about the incident and also denied pressurising the SSP from negotiating a compromise between the parties.

The SSP said he was not under pressure as was being made to believe by the Kahlons. The law will take its own course. I am still investigating the incident and a case will be made out after investigations are complete, he said.
Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, April 4

Illegal mining continues unabated in the Sutlej belt in Moga and Ferozepur districts.

Over the past few weeks, many cases of illegal mining had come to the fore. Recently, fake weighing slips aimed at evading government taxes were found in circulation in these areas. These have allegedly been issued by mining contractors to transporters in connivance with local politicians.

The Moga Police confiscated three vehicles laden with illegal sand from the river belt and arrested two persons on Sunday. A criminal case under Sections 379, 468, 471 and 474 of the IPC and Section 21 of the Mining and Minerals Regulation Development Act, 1957, was registered against them.

Sub-Inspector Jarnail Singh, who is investigating the case, said fake weighing slips were recovered from the drivers of these vehicles. No taxes were paid by them to the government, he added.

Similarly, Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Dharamkot, was arrested along with a tractor-trailer laden with sand. A criminal case was registered against him under the Mining and Minerals Regulation Development Act, 1957.

On March 31, the police raided a farm at Sherpur Taiba village situated along the banks of the Sutlej river and confiscated two tractor-trailers laden with sand. Narinderjit Singh, in-charge of the raiding party, said the sand was illegally extracted from the fields of a local resident. On seeing the police, a few persons who were extracting the sand ran away. A case under the Mining and Minerals Regulation Development Act, 1957, has been registered against unknown persons and further investigations were on to nab the owners of these vehicles and those who were extracting the sand, the police said.

On March 28, the police arrested two persons identified as Gulab Singh and Jaswant Singh of Mahla Kalan village on the allegations of illegal mining and registered a criminal case against them.

Preliminary reports suggest that the illegally mined sand was not only transported in far-flung areas of the district but also dispatched to many other districts of the state.

Sources said illegal mining was being carried out in Peer Mohammad, Waris Wala Jattan, Khurki, Kareem Wala, Malang Shah Wala and its adjoining villages in Ferozepur district bordering Moga district.

Similar activities were also being carried out at Karaiwala, Kot Mohammad Khan, Sherpur Taiba, Melak and other villages of the Sutlej belt in Moga.

Further, a police officer said the anomalies in weighing slips indicated a nexus between government officials and sand mafia.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 4

Power Minister Gurjit Rana said on Wednesday that there would be no revision in power tariff for industries, a day after reports said the state government was likely to announce revised rates by the end of the month.

The minister said the state government was not bound to follow Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commissions recommendations, if it were to suggest revising power charges in the state.

Rana however remained vague about whether domestic supply charges would witness a revision, saying only that it would remain affordable and that the state government must bear in mind Chief Minister Amarinder Singhs election promise.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Rana said the state government was likely to send out a press note by evening.

A few months ago, PSPCL had submitted its ARR of Rs 31,000 crore for 2017-18 before the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC).

DS Bains, PSERC chairman, said the commission was calculating the companys profits and losses, before it could decide tariffs.
Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 4

A bumper opium crop in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is set to pose a big challenge for the Congress government in the state, which has promised to end the drug menace in four weeks.

A special task force (STF) headed by ADGP Harpreet Sidhu was recently formed by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to root out drugs from the state.

It is after a gap of two years that these two states have witnessed a bumper opium crop. Its harvesting begins in the first week of April. Peddlers use every means to smuggle drugs into Punjab.

A police officer said: The drive against drugs during the Akali-BJP regime was helped by a low yield of opium in these two states. The price of opium has fallen drastically owing to high yield this year. To make more money, peddlers will make more attempts to smuggle the narcotic into Punjab.

Officials at the Narcotics Control Bureau of India, which has an office in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, have confirmed the reports of a bumper crop.

Kaustubh Sharma, Director, NCB, Chandigarh zone, which checks drug smuggling in north India, said: We have reports that the price of good quality opium has fallen to Rs 50,000 per kg from Rs 1.25 lakh last year. He said the Jodhpur branch had been keeping tabs on the smugglers. It recently seized 32 kg of opium.

Sources said the STF had devised a four-phase plan to check drugs and the top priority was to check the flow of intoxicants from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where it was grown legally.
Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 4

Three persons were killed and 16 injured when a truck ran over devotees during a Shobha Yatra (religious procession) taken out to mark Rama Navami celebrations here this evening.

The deceased included two women, Kusum Gill and Vinni Rajput. The body of a man was yet to be identified. Three of the critically injured, including four children, were referred to local super-specialty hospitals, while the rest were taken to the Civil Hospital here.

Vinod, a witness, said he and others were walking in front of the slow-moving truck, which was part of the procession. The driver seemed to be a novice. When the Shobha Yatra reached the shoe bazaar in Jyoti Chowk around 6pm, he lost control of the vehicle and mowed down people, Vinod said.

The police said the driver, Amit, seemed to have accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes. A worker at a florists shop, he didnt have a driving licence. A preliminary investigation revealed that the regular driver, Gurmeet Singh, had handed over the truck to Amit before the mishap. Both have been arrested.

Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma said the police were interrogating the duo. Congress MLAs Rajinder Beri, Sushil Rinku and Bawa Henry and former BJP legislator KD Bhandari, besides senior officials, visited the Civil Hospital. Health Minister Brahm Mohindra told the DC to provide free treatment to the injured. The government announced Rs 1 lakh compensation each for the kin of the deceased.
Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 4

A day after he made it clear that a hike in power tariff was imminent, Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh said today that that there was no question of the Congress going back on its poll promise of providing affordable power.

The minister had said yesterday:  power rates are unaffordable, but consumers will have to take the bitter pill.

In a damage-control exercise, the state said in a statement issued today: The ministers remarks referring to the power regulator were made in the light of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commissions recommendations on power pricing. The government will take any decision based on the promises made in the manifesto, keeping in view the peoples interests.

Talking to mediapersons in Jalandhar today, the minister said the tariff would not be hiked as the CM had made a commitment to the people of Punjab during the elections. He said other ways would be explored to cap the power rates. We will try to keep the production cost as low as possible. We will buy quality coal, he said.

The governments power subsidy bill is expected to go up by almost Rs 1,200 crore, even as Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has raised its annual revenue requirement by Rs 5,000 crore. The regulator has already said that the government would have to foot the power subsidy bill for any category of consumers.

(With inputs from Gagandeep Singh, Jalandhar)
Noticing that even after the Supreme Court's order the shop was run with police protection, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) called for a protest where hundreds of students and local residents participated.

By Pramod Madhav: Protests have broken across Tamil Nadu against the government-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor shops still being operated near highways even after the Supreme Court issued orders to close them down immediately.

Residents of 4th Street in Salem have constantly raised complaints about the state government's decision to run a liquor shop at a crowded spot. Noticing that even after the Supreme Court's order the shop was run with police protection, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) called for a protest where hundreds of students and local residents participated.

advertisement

Hundreds of police personnel were brought for providing security to the liquor shop. When the DYFI volunteers tried to march towards the liquor shop, demanding it to be closed, police stopped them with brute force injuring many students including women.

The protesters were then forcibly removed from the area and taken to police vans for arrest. As the scuffle intensified, volunteers pushed away the cops and laid down under the police vans next to the tyres shocking the cops.

"They are wearing khaki uniform and are hurting us. They don't respect the Supreme Court's order. Police is itself selling liquor here. Too many women have lost their husbands because of liquor addiction and we wanted them to follow the Supreme Court's order and close the shops. We were protesting in a peaceful manner but the cops attacked us pushing us to do such things," said DYFI leader Selvam.

Also read:

Dry way on the highway: Supreme Court's 2016 ban on liquor sales comes into effect today

Tamil Nadu government struggles to find new locations after Supreme Court orders closing of highway liquor shops

Also watch:

Highways turn dryways after liquor ban: Rs 65,000 crore at stake, 1 million jobs may be on the line

--- ENDS ---
Beirut, April 4

A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed at least 58 persons, including 11 children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitor, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack, believed to have been carried out by Syrian army jets, caused many people to choke, and some had foam coming out of their mouths. All the children were under the age of eight.

This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine, said Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlibs health authority. The attack had killed more than 50 people and wounded 300, he said.

Most of the hospitals in Idlib province are now overflowing with wounded people, Khalil told a news conference in Idlib.

The air strikes that hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the south of rebel-held Idlib, killed at least 58 persons, said the Observatory, a British-based war monitoring group.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defence workers said.

The civil defence, also known as the White Helmets  a rescue service that operates in opposition areas of Syria  said jets struck one of its centres in the area and the nearby medical point.

It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near the capital in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack. Damascus blamed rebels.

The Syrian military source on Tuesday denied allegations that government forces had used chemical weapons.

The army has not and does not use them, not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place, the source said.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war have used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin. A joint UN-OPCW report published last October said government forces used chlorine in a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib province in March 2015. An earlier report by the same team blamed Syrian government troops for chlorine attacks in Talmenes in March 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015. It also said Islamic State had used sulfur mustard gas. The OPCW had no immediate comment on Tuesday.  Reuters

Toxic arsenal

Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a US-Russian deal, averting the threat of US-led military intervention.

Under the deal, Syria agreed to give up its toxic arsenal and surrendered 1,300 tonnes of toxic weapons and industrial chemicals to the international community for destruction.

UN-OPCW investigators found, however, that it continued to use chlorine, which is widely available and difficult to trace, in so-called barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters.

Although chlorine is not a banned substance, the use of any chemical is banned under 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Syria is a member

Unlucky Idlib faces the heat

Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by anti-Assad rebels, both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and Islamist factions, including the former Qaida-linked Nusra Front

Idlibs population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months
Islamabad, April 4

Pakistan today defended the appointment of its former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of a Saudi-led multi-national military coalition against terrorism, saying the alliance is not against any country, a day after Iran raised its concern on the issue.

The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today said during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here.

The meeting discussed the issue of clearance given to former army chief to lead the Saudi-led 41-nation military alliance and Pakistans relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran. Referring to ex-army chief's appointment, Janjua said, any retired military officer is free to accept any job.

Her remarks came a day after Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic republics 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.  PTI
Kabul, April 4

Afghanistan today sacked 12 army officers, including two Generals, for negligence over an insurgent attack on the countrys largest military hospital, which pointed to a intelligence failure.

Gunmen disguised as doctors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital in Kabul last month, with multiple surviving staff saying insiders, including two interns, were among the attackers.

The military head of intelligence and the official in charge of medical support were among those who have been dismissed and will face prosecution, the defence ministry said. They have been sacked for negligence of duty over the hospital attack, ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said.

The carnage inside the heavily guarded hospital was a major embarrassment for the military, spotlighting how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government institutions in Afghanistan.

The defence ministry denies that insiders were involved and asserts that only 50 people were killed. But security sources and the survivors, some of whom counted bodies, told AFP that the death toll exceeded 100.  AFP
London, April 3

Britain will wait until the end of the month to find out what guidelines the other members of the European Union have agreed regarding issues such as Gibraltar, Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said on Monday.

The future of Gibraltar has become the first dispute of the exit talks since May filed the formal divorce papers, with the EU draft joint position saying any agreement on the British outpost on Spains southern tip had to be agreed between Spain and Britain.

These are draft guidelines that were issued ... We will wait and see what is agreed by the 27 (EU nations), the he said. Britains Brexit minister David Davis held a friendly and constructive meeting with Spains Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis in Madrid today as part of a pre-arranged visit, the spokesman said, during which he raised the Gibraltar issue .

On Sunday, an ex-leader of Mays party, Michael Howard, said she would be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as then PM Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said Madrid was taken aback by such comments. The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone which the UK has adopted, a country known for being phlegmatic.  Reuters
London, April 4

Tougher and more expensive visa rules announced by the UK Home Office last year are set to take effect from Thursday, affecting Indians and other nationals from outside the European Union (EU).

The Tier 2 category of visas, a route used by many Indians and other nationals from outside the EU, will undergo major set of changes under the new rules.

Companies in the UK hiring workers from outside the EU, such as Indians, will have to shell out an additional 1,000-pound annual "Immigration Skills Charge", announced in March last year.

"Set at 1,000 pounds per employee per year, and a reduced rate of 364 pounds for small or charitable organisations, it (Immigration Skills Charge) is designed to cut down on the number of businesses taking on migrant workers and incentivise training British staff to fill those jobs," the UK Home Office said, in reference to the new levy.

An exemption to the charge will mean that it will not apply to PhD-level jobs and international students switching from student visas to working visas  "a key protection to help retain the talented workers and students who are vital in helping the British economy grow", the Home Office added.

The latest charge is among wider changes made to the Tier 2 visa regime in an effort to cut immigration numbers from countries outside the EU and tighten visa regulations.

Most recently, the UK government had announced that professionals such as teachers, nurses and social workers from countries like India who apply for a Tier 2 visa to live and work in the UK will need to provide a certificate from their home country authorities with their applications disclosing whether they have any criminal convictions.

Under plans becoming effective from this week, skilled migrants applying within the Tier 2 category for these specific professions will now be required to provide a criminal record check certificate from any countries they have lived in for more than 12 months in the past 10 years.

An applicant's partner, or a partner wishing to join an existing skilled migrant worker in the same sectors, will also be asked to produce a certificate.

The requirement could be waived where it is deemed not "reasonably practicable" to obtain a certificate, such as if a country or authority does not produce such documents.

Some of the other changes include those applying for a Tier 2 Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) visa being required to pay a health surcharge of 200 pounds per person per year.

Any dependents of the main applicant will also have to pay around the same amount as the main applicant.

The minimum salary level that UK-based sponsors can offer a Tier 2 (General) worker has been increased from 25,000 pounds to 30,000 pounds for experienced workers.

Some jobs in the health and education sectors are exempted from this higher threshold until July 2019.

The Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term Staff category has been closed, which implies that all workers applying under this route, except graduate trainees, must qualify under a single salary threshold of 41,500 pounds.

The latest rules are part of a number of tougher measures being introduced after a review by the UK's independent Migration Advisory Committee recommended changes to the visa system last year.

It has already been announced that the minimum salary threshold before a Tier 2 visa is granted to skilled workers from outside the EU will rise from 20,800 pounds a year to 30,000 pounds for most jobs.

Also, chemistry teachers are being removed from a list of UK "shortage occupations" but those who teach combined science, computer science and Mandarin are being added to the list.

Jobs on the shortage occupations list imply relatively easier visa norms for applicants from outside the EU.  PTI
Washington April 4

The US government plans to stop funding the United Nations Population Fund because of the organisations coercive family planning practices, including providing abortions, officials in Washington have said.

According to a State Department official, President Donald Trump has instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that US taxpayer dollars do not fund organisations or programmes that support or participate in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation. The funding cut would go into effect during the 2017 fiscal year, the official said in a statement.

The decision to terminate US donations to the UN agency was based on the fact that Chinas family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies, the statement said.

The determination will result in withholding $32.5 million of fiscal year 2017 funding, provided for UNFPA, it said. The organisation, which provides reproductive health and birth control services in more than 150 countries and territories, said early today that it regrets the decision by Washington to deny any future funding for its life-saving work the world over.  AFP

Internet providers can sell info now

After his press secretary blasted it as an example of rampant government overreach, President Donald Trump has signed a bill into law that could eventually allow Internet providers to sell information about their customers browsing habits

The Bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information

Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies. The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books

National Archives to White House: Save all Trump tweets

The National Archives and Records Administration has told the White House to keep each of President Donald Trumps tweets, even those he deletes or corrects. The archives contacted the WH because the Presidential Records Act requires such correspondence to be preserved for history

The archivists letter, dated March 30, doesnt describe precisely how the White House is saving Trumps tweets. The Obama administration used an automated system to isolate and preserve copies of President Barack Obamas tweets
Washington, April 4

The White House on Tuesday blamed the chemical weapons attack in Syria's Idlib province directly on the government of President Bashar al-Assad and said the incident was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilised world."

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration's weakness and irresolution," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a briefing.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army command denied it had carried out a suspected chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib that killed dozens of people, including children.

"We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future," the army statement said.

The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013.  Reuters
TWIC check at Port of Tacoma. Photo: Port of Tacoma

A bipartisan measure that aims to make the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential program more effective by ensuring a risk-based security model for surface transportation facilities was reintroduced in the Senate on March 30.

The Surface Transportation and Maritime Security Act (S.763) was reintroduced jointly by Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation, and Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

According to the quartet of senators, the legislation is substantially similar to a bill introduced late in the last Congress. It would address deficiencies in the Transportation Security Administrations efforts to protect rail, transit, highway, and maritime passenger and freight transportation.

Thune said in a statement that the bill would address concerns, raised by independent government watchdog agencies, that TSA is not adequately positioned to identify security risks across different modes of transportation or effectively support federal, state, local and private providers of transportation security.

He also noted that TSA has previously stated in testimony to Congress that it spends only 3% of its budget on surface transportation security.

Per Thune, highlights of the bill include provisions that would:

Enhance Risk-Based Security Planning

Require the TSA Administrator to conduct a risk analysis and implement a risk-based security model for surface transportation facilities

Mandate risk-based budgeting for surface transportation security focusing resources on current threats with annual reviews of program effectiveness

Increase Canine Explosive-Detection Teams

Authorize as many as 70 additional canine teams to work in surface transportation security as soon as possible

Require a review of the number, location, and utilization of canine teams in surface transportation security to ensure effective use

Following this review and the implementation of recommendations, TSA may then raise the total number of canine teams to 200 or higher as identified in TSAs risk-based analysis

Increase Transparency

Establish a Surface Transportation Advisory Committee to provide stakeholders and the public with the opportunity to coordinate with the agency and comment on policy and pending regulations

Require that TSA budget submissions clearly indicate which resources will be used for surface transportation security and which will be dedicated to aviation

Direct TSA to regularly update Congress on the status of long overdue surface transportation rulemakings

To keep Americans safe, Congress must continually focus attention on areas of neglect and potential weakness to keep them from becoming targets for terrorism, said Thune. The Senate Commerce Committee will soon vote on these important reforms for the TSA.

The American Trucking Associations applauded the reintroduction of the bill. As it stands now, professional truck drivers are still subject to a number of duplicative background checks and other hurdles in order to move Americas most hazardous freight and access sensitive areas of the supply chain, said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.

We appreciate the efforts of Senators Thune, Nelson, Fischer and Booker for recognizing that while some scrutiny is necessary, we should look to make the process simpler and less redundant for drivers and we thank them for including these necessary reforms to the TWIC program in this important legislation, he continued. This bill is a good first step toward improving the credentialing process and we look forward to working with the Committee as it moves forward.

Pointing out that he had testified before the committee last year on the credentialing process, Spear said trucking appreciates that the members of the Committee heard those concerns, took them seriously and have introduced legislation aimed at addressing them.

ATA noted that the measure is also supported by other trucking lobbies, including the National Tank Truck Carriers and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

NTTC President Dan Furth said the group thanked the senators for their efforts to reduce the burden of these overlapping background checks on our drivers while still working to keep our supply chain secure.

No group is more concerned with transportation security than the truckers moving the cargo, added OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. For too long, these hard working men and women have been frustrated with the bureaucracy and costs of duplicative and redundant background checks. They deserve a better system. While there is much more that needs to be accomplished, the Surface Transportation and Maritime Security Act is a significant step in the right direction.
The rally that travelled from parts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra was taken out to highlight farmers' issues in the state and also to primarily demand loan waiver for farmers.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: The 'Sangharsh Yatra' taken up by a united Opposition in Maharashtra concluded in Panvel near Mumbai on Tuesday. The rally that travelled from parts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra was taken out to highlight farmers' issues in the state and also to primarily demand loan waiver for farmers.

The concluding rally was attended by top NCP and Congress leaders including former Union Agriculture Minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, former Congress Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan, Narayan Rane, leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Dhananjay Munde, Samajwadi Party's Abu Azmi, People's Republican Party's Jogendra Kawade among others.

advertisement

Speaking on the occasion, Sharad Pawar alleged that the BJP govt was insensitive towards farmers.

"The Centre helped nationalized banks that were unable to recover bad loans in the tune of Rs 2.80 lakh correspondence. If you can help the high and mighty, you should also help farmers, or else we are not going to sit idle," said Pawar.

Pawar also questioned the Centre saying that if Mammogram Singh govt could waive off farmers' loan, why can't the Narendra Modi govt?

Former Chief Minister and president of Maharashtra Congress Committee Ashok Chavan too launched a scathing attack on the BJP govt.

" More than 9 thousand farmers have committed suicides during the BJP rule. The policies of this govt are anti-farmer. Our 'Sangharsh Yatra' will force the govt to announce a loan waiver for farmers," said Chavan.

Former CM Narayan Rane targeted CM Devendra Fadnavis saying that the same Fadnavis who demanded charging the govt with Sec 302 over farmers' suicide is now silent on the issue.

The 'Sangharsh Yatra' travelled through 16 districts in the state covering 2500-km. The Yatra also ran into controversy when BJP took a dig at the Yatra calling it a rally in an air-conditioned Mercedes Benz bus.

Also read:

Farm loan waiver: BJP takes jibe at Opposition parties for launching sangharsh yatra in Mercedes

--- ENDS ---
The People's Front of India members took to streets to protest against custodial torture that an accused was being subjected to in prison.

According to police, the protestors had not taken any prior permission to hold a demonstration in the area that made it illegal.

By Rohini Swamy: The Mangalore police today resorted to lathicharge to disburse protestors trying to lay siege on the police commissioner's office in the city.

The mob belonging to the outfit- People's Front of India were agitating to seek justice for Khuraishi, an accused arrested for attempt to murder a Hindutva leader, Prakash Raj.

This is what happened: PFI members alleged that the Mangalore Police arrested Khuraishi just before he was to appear in court for the case. They also said that he was being subjected to third degree torture in prison. The unruly mob not only hurled stones at government offices but also halted the traffic for nearly two hours. According to police, the protestors had not taken any prior permission to hold a demonstration in the area that made it illegal. They further blamed the police authorities of framing him in false petty case. A week after Khuraishi's family had been running pillar to post looking for him, the police produced him in court for a petty case, said the PFI members. Khuraishi is currently admitted in a hospital owing to some kidney-related problem. "The demand now is to arrest the police officials who wrongfully arrested Khuraishi and also to help the family by giving them compensation," the protestors demanded.

advertisement

Also read: Will slit our throats at Jantar Mantar, if government takes no action: Protesting Tamil Nadu farmers

Also read: Liquor shops run by Tamil Nadu government defy ban; protests flare up

--- ENDS ---
Despite a slow start to the week, Naam Shabana starring Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu is expected to do well over the next ten days.

By India Today Web Desk: After witnessing a surge in box-office collections in the weekend, Naam Shabana's train slowed a little, as expected, on Monday.

However, the spy thriller starring Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu is still on the right side of the box-office line because word of mouth and reviews are on the film's side.

Now, Naam Shabana has two entire weeks ahead to rake in moolah given that the next big Bollywood release, Begum Jaan, hits the theatres on April 14. That gives the film a ten-day window to make hay while the sun shines.

advertisement

Here is the day by day breakdown of Naam Shabana's box-office collection:

Day 1: Friday (March 31): Rs 5.12 crore

Day 2: Saturday (April 1): Rs 6.37 crore

Day 3: Sunday (April 2): Rs 6.37 crore

Day 4: Monday (April 3): Rs 4.5 crore

Total box-office collection of Naam Shabana after five days: Rs 23.26 crore

Naam Shabana is the prequel to the 2015 film Baby. It is also a spin-off of that film because while Taapsee Pannu's Shabana Khan was a minor but effective supporting character in the first film, Naam Shabana revolves entirely around her character and her origins.

Akshay Kumar reprises his role from Baby as Ajay Singh Rajput and plays a crucical role in the second-half of the film. Other cast members include Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa and Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran who plays the prime antagonist.

ALSO READ: NAAM SHABANA MOVIE REVIEW

ALSO WATCH: NAAM SHABANA REVIEW - what works and what doesn't

--- ENDS ---


The finale for Married at First Sight has given Nine their biggest audience of the 2017 ratings year.

1.39m viewers eclipsed 1.38m viewers the night before, beating out MKRs 1.21m viewers.

TENs Modern Family double was in fourth place behind Australian Story and 7:30.

ABC titles improved as Four Corners led in 8:30 titles (save for earlier shows that trailed over) with 708,000 viewers, ahead of a House Husbands double and movies elsewhere.

Seven News and A Current Affair both won their timeslots.

New entry The Chefs Line has been merged as simulcast figures from SBS and SBS Food Network into one figure.

Meanwhile round #1 of the battle between breakfast shows -Hawaii vs Bowral- has gone to Bowral.

Nine led in primary share but multichannels pushed Seven network across the line with 30.9% then Nine 29.9%, ABC 18.6%, TEN 14.8% and SBS 5.9%.

My Kitchen Rules (1.21m) led for Seven then Seven News (1.18m / 1.15m), Home and Away (820,000), The Chase (633,000 / 410,000) and Movie: Fast & Furious (345,000).

Married at First Sight (1.39m) was #1 for Nine then Nine News (1.08m / 1.07m), A Current Affair (939,000), House Husbands (637,000 / 435,000) and Hot Seat (535,000 / 303,000). Footy Classified drew 105,000 / 55,000.

ABC News (803,000), Australian Story (716,000), Media Watch (712,000), Four Corners (708,000), 7:30 (676,000) and Q & A (484,000) comprised ABCs night.

The Project (573,000 / 399,000) led for TEN, then TEN Eyewitness News (529,000), Family Feud (360,000), Modern Family (343,000 / 305,000) and Movie: Spy (336,000).

On SBS it was Michael Mosley: Trust Me Im a Doctor (229,000), Simon Reeves Turkey (228,000), SBS World News (169,000) and SAS: Who Dares Wins (77,000).

Peppa Pig pounced on multichannels at 216,000.

Today: 309,000

Sunrise: 288,000

ABC News Breakfast: 115,000 / 52,000

OzTAM Overnights: Monday 3 April 2017
George Calombaris-owned restaurants The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic underpaid staff to the tune of $2.6m in salary errors dating back to 2011.

The bungle by the MAdE Group, of which the MasterChef judge is founder and director, was only recently uncovered by independent analysis commissioned by the company, despite being first notified in 2015 by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The discrepancies left some employees underpaid and others overpaid with an average back payment to employees just over $16,000.

The MasterChef judge has apologised to 162 members of his 430-strong team .

You, our amazing team, are the key to our success. I am so sorry we have messed up and let you down on a fundamental issue, he wrote to staff.

I am devastated by what has happened and we have been working extremely hard to fix this. I want to be clear that getting it right means ensuring that every single one of our team members is paid what they are entitled to under the industry award, and that any outstanding money owed to staff is rectified as our highest priority.

Any team members overpaid will not be asked to pay back any money, the email to staff said. Those people will retain the same payments they are now on.

Employees at his Greek street food restaurant chain Jimmy Grants were not affected.

Source: News.com.au, Fairfax
UK comedy series Chewing Gum return to Netflix today.

The series stars Michaela Coel as a Beyonce-obsessed virgin who is fast finding out that the more she learns about the world, the less she understands.

This aired in the UK in January.

Tracey Gordon is a 24-year-old religious Beyonce-obsessed virgin. Growing up through the church, with her strict preacher Mother, she has ended up rather underdeveloped in certain areas  but Tracey wants more. We follow Tracey as she embarks on her journey into adulthood, crashing her way through what she should and shouldnt be doing.

Tuesday April 4 on Netflix.
President Donald Trump is getting his own US late night show, in the form of comedian Anthony Atamanuik on Comedy Central.

It will see the impersonator hosting his own weekly series, The President Show, as the Trump character (take that Alec Baldwin?) from the fake-Oval Office.

Just like a certain chief executive in Washington, The President Show gleefully tosses out the rulebook of its predecessors, said the network of series in a press release on Monday.

Laughing at the president is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department, Atamanuik said in a statement. But our political system is too broken for us to be content joking about one man, even though he is a disastrous silly little toddler boy. Mostly Id just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if were lucky, end up in prison!

The network describes the series as featuring no unfair questions from reporters, no awkward photo ops with German ladies and no bedtimes. Just a fun show where he can put his unique Trumpian spin on such late-night staples as desk segments, field pieces and guest interviews.

Should be perfect for late night tweets.

Vice President Mike Pence will be played by Peter Grosz (The Colbert Report).

Its not known if the series will be screened in Australia as yet, but could potentially screen on Foxtels Comedy Channel.

Source: Hollywood Reporter
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) The apex consumer commission has directed a hospital in Chennai to pay Rs three lakh for medical negligence which led to the death of a 15-year-old boy in 2000.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) upheld the Tamil Nadu state consumer commissions decision dismissing the Billroth hospitals appeal while asking it to pay Rs 10,000 as legal cost besides the compensation.

advertisement

A district forum had in 2006 directed the hospital to pay the compensation to Chennai-resident R Vijaylakshmi for wrongly diagnosing and treating her son for measles, instead of Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), a life-threatening skin condition that is usually caused by a reaction to drugs.

The hospital, which was held guilty by the forum, had moved the state commission against the order but was denied relief again.

The hospital contended that the forum and the state commission had erred in holding the hospital guilty and said that as soon as they diagnosed the disease, they ensured the service of a dermatologist.

"Bearing in mind the fact that the deceased was a young boy of 15 years of age, the amount of compensation awarded cannot be held to be excessive by any standards. Consequently, the Revision Petition fails and is dismissed accordingly with costs quantified at Rs 10,000," the NCDRC bench headed by its President Justice D K Jain said.

According to the complaint, the boy was admitted to the hospital on July 11, 2000 and doctors gave him treatment for Measles but two days later the doctors diagnosed TEN disease.

The dermatologist, who was treating the boy, told the NCDRC that early diagnosis of TEN would have definitely helped to save the patient. PTI RRT AG SKV RT

--- ENDS ---
Seventeen-year-old Santos Colon Junior pleaded guilty as an adult to attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

By AP: A New Jersey teenager has admitted plotting to kill Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia in 2015.

Seventeen-year-old Santos Colon Junior pleaded guilty as an adult to attempting to provide material support to terrorists. The Lindenwold resident faces up to 15 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say Colon admitted plotting the assassination during a nearly two-month period in the weeks leading up to the pope's visit.

advertisement

The plot involved using a sniper to shoot the pope during a Mass and setting off explosive devices nearby.

Colon engaged someone he thought would be the sniper but was an undercover FBI employee. Prosecutors say Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to buy materials to make explosive devices.

Prosecutors haven't identified a motive. Sentencing hasn't been scheduled.

ALSO READ | Pope Francis, Micheal Keaton, and many other famous people think it's time to give Trump a chance

--- ENDS ---
The UN Foundation recently formalized its cooperation with the Governments of Ghana and Uganda in supporting a new project in the energy, health, and gender nexus. The project, which aims to power a total of 62 un-electrified or under-electrified primary care health facilities across both countries, adding an estimated 240 kWp of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to the health sector, is made possible by the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under its Sustainable Energy for Women and Girls programme.

The goal of the project is to enable improved delivery of health services  primarily for maternal and child health  in primary health care facilities, through improved access to modern, affordable, and sustainable electricity services. Speaking on behalf of the UN Foundation, Pete Ogden, Vice President for Energy, Climate, and the Environment, said: Sustainable and reliable electricity is critical to providing quality health services, but is often unavailable or insufficient at the primary health care level. With support from the UK government, the UN Foundation is working to demonstrate the importance of the energy-health nexus, through the implementation of this project and our broader work with partners and Sustainable Energy for All. With this project, we will continue to show how Sustainable Development Goal 7  ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all  can facilitate progress on the other SDGs.

To guide the delivery on this project and to ensure it is embedded within each countrys respective public health infrastructure and energy plans, the UN Foundation is cooperating with the Ministry of Health in Uganda, the Ghana Health Service, and the Ministry of Energy in Ghana.

The UN Foundation has selected the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and its partners, Power World Ltd in Ghana and All In Trade Ltd in Uganda, to design, supply, install, and maintain facility-wide solar PV solutions at each of the 62 facilities. SELF Executive Director, Robert Freling said, Having installed solar systems in over 100 health facilities in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, we have seen the profound difference that access to modern energy can make in the quality of rural health care. Partnering with the UN Foundation, we look forward to creating a sustainable model of clinic electrification that can be replicated around the world. Among the project components are remote monitoring tools, advanced training at multiple levels, and development of a long-term sustainability roadmap to ensure the impacts are sustained over time.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a key partner of the UN Foundation on the project and will carry out an independent impact evaluation study to determine what impact improved access to power has on the functionality of and the health services offered by the selected health facilities.

This project is one of several initiatives being carried out by the UN Foundation under a broader program of work, Energy for Womens and Childrens Health, which is co-led by the UN Foundation, WHO, and UN Women. The program began under the auspices of Sustainable Energy for All.

###

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: www.unfoundation.org.

About WHO:

WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries, monitoring and assessing health trends and improving global health security. For more information about WHO and its work, visit www.who.int

About SELF:

The Solar Electric Light Fund is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC that has spent more than 25 years designing and implementing innovative solar solutions to energy poverty. These solutions form the basis of SELFs Whole Village Development Modelan integrated approach that uses solar energy to improve the health, education, and economic well-being of rural communities in the developing world.

About the UK Department for International Development (DFID):

The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UKs work to end extreme poverty. Through its programmes, it tackles global challenges including poverty and disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict. DFID aims to build a safer, healthier, more prosperous world for people in developing countries and in the UK too.

CONTACTS:

Luc Severi, Energy Access Manager (lseveri@unfoundation.org) at the UN Foundation
In a quiet textile workshop in northern Germany, far from the dangers and turmoil of war, Syrian refugees Mohammed Alsahani and his son Yousef measure, cut and stitch sailcloth to precise designs.

The pair have found work with a sailmaker near the port of Kiel, repairing damaged sails and making sunshades, clothing and accessories from old sailcloth, poring over bolts of the hard-wearing fabric draped across wooden workbenches.

Mohammed, who used to make curtains in Damascus, has adapted his skills to meet the demands of life on the Baltic coast. Together with his younger son, Yousef, he works full-time at Coastworxx, a textile workshop near the city.

Mohammed was surprised how easily he made the switch to sewing sails. I remember the first time we had a sail that had to be repaired, said Mohammed, 51, speaking through a translator.

Id never done that before, but I just watched what the others did. The next one I did by myself. I was very glad to see I could do this job.

Germany: Sailmaking workshop hires Syrian refugees

Coastworxx's chief executive, sailmaker Christian Lubbe, was delighted to find so many enthusiastic and skilled textile workers among Kiels newest arrivals. His small workforce of nine now includes four asylum-seekers and refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.

Mohammed and Yousef are much better than some of the Germans Ive had as trainees, Christian said. We dont need many words. Mohammed and I understand each other because he knows everything about the work. I just show him the designs and it works out.

We have a big chance with these guys to get these jobs done and keep these small companies going.

German companies that rely on craft skills suffer from a labour shortage, he said.

Now a lot of people have come here with the skills, who are able and willing. We have a big chance with these guys to get these jobs done and keep these small companies going.

Both sides benefit. For Mohammed and his family, who faced a long ordeal to reach and be reunited in Germany, finding work at Coastworxx has made a vital difference to their struggle to rebuild their lives.

Im so happy to have the work, said Yousef, 23, who plans one day to set up his own workshop with Mohammed and his brother Ahmed. Its a very good thing for us to work. Also for Germany, I think. Ive learned a lot from my father.

As a teenager in Damascus, Yousef often helped in his fathers workshop, where, besides curtains, they made bespoke light fittings, mosaics and tiles. As war closed in, Yousef, then 18, fled alone to Turkey to avoid being drawn into the fighting.

A year later, Ahmed followed. Then, only after many friends and his nephew had been killed, Mohammed also left in spring 2014, taking Yousefs young sister Hanan and his mother, Soozanne.

I worked so hard in Damascus, and then the war came, said Mohammed, fighting back tears. So many people were killed in Syria, every day. One day it will end. All wars have to end. But Im sad because so many had to die. Were just people. We just want to live.

Yousef (right), 23, lays out a boat cover he repaired with colleague Markus Hafner, 18, at the Coastworxx factory near Kiel, in northern Germany.  UNHCR/Gerhard Westrich

From Turkey, Mohammed and Ahmed decided to go on to Europe and send for the women once they were safe. They reached Greece on a flimsy rubber boat, paid smugglers to fly them to Switzerland, and then took a train to northern Germany.

Yousef, meanwhile, took a different route. Working alone as a carpenter in Turkey, he saved enough money to travel to Italy. In late 2014, he boarded a boat, paying thousands of euros to smugglers and trusting them with his life.

However, disaster struck at sea. The smugglers turned on the 73 passengers, claiming they had not received their money, and said they would divert the boat elsewhere. Eleven days later, the boat arrived on the Egyptian coast.

They know were just human beings who need help, that we just want to live without war.

None of the passengers, including Yousef, were carrying official documents. The group was arrested and taken to a police detention facility. The charges against them were dropped, but it was another eight months before they were released.

You dont know what that felt like, being in prison and not knowing what would happen, Yousef said. All my money was gone. Every day I asked myself, how do I get out?

He remained in contact with his family by phone, but they were unable to help him.

"I worked so hard in Damascus, and then the war came," says Mohammed, 51. He now works with his son Yousef at the sailmaking company Coastworxx near Kiel, Germany.  UNHCR/Gerhard Westrich

In Damascus, Yousef, 23, used to make curtains with his father. Now refugees in Kiel, Germany, they put their skills to good use at a sail-making company named Coastworxx.  UNHCR/Gerhard Westrich

Yousef ties down a boat cover he repaired with his father Mohammed at the Kiel sailmaking company Coastworxx.  UNHCR/Gerhard Westrich

"It's really amazing  so many German people have helped us," says curtain maker Mohammed (left), 51, who now works with his son Yousef at the Kiel sailmaking company Coastworxx.  UNHCR/Gerhard Westrich

In June 2015, delegations from Sweden, France and Germany agreed to resettle the prisoners to Europe. A relieved Yousef found himself on a flight to Germany, on his way to join his father and brother in Kiel. Soon afterwards, his mother and sister arrived from Turkey as part of a family reunification programme.

About this time, a chance meeting brought sailmaker Christian into contact with Mohammed, Yousef and Ahmed. After a trial period, Christian employed Mohammed and Yousef full-time in his workshop. Ahmed, 25, is planning to return to university.

Mohammed shares a flat near the workshop with his 44-year-old wife and daughter Hanan, 15, who is in secondary school. Last autumn, Yousef also moved into his own place after initially living with a German host family.

Its really amazing  so many German people have helped us, said Yousef, in the German he has learned from his student friends. He spends a lot of his free time with Christian and his family. We eat together, we go for walks, we go surfing. We do a lot together. After living in the prison so long I wanted to think about positive things.

Its very beautiful here, especially in summer, he said. Germany has become a second homeland for me. The people here are very good. Everyone here knows what has happened in Syria. They know were just human beings who need help, that we just want to live without war.
A four-year-old Syrian refugee stands barefoot outside her family's shelter in an informal settlement in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.  UNHCR/Dalia Khamissy

GENEVA - As a major international conference on Syria gets underway today, vital assistance for millions of refugees and the communities hosting them could face substantial cuts due to a lack of funding, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning.

The Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, on April 4 and 5, comes at a time of uncertainty for Syria. Negotiations are underway to end six years of bloody war, but serious flare-ups of fighting continue on the ground.

The conference also comes at a time of growing humanitarian need, with 13.5 million people requiring assistance within Syria  including 6.3 million internally displaced people  and over five million refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries.

The situation is getting desperate, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement. We are already seeing children who arent able to go to school, families who cannot access adequate shelter or provide for their basic needs.

The ongoing conflict remains the largest displacement crisis in the world. But despite the growing needs of those forced to flee their homes, many are instead facing potential cuts to services because of a lack of funding.

We recognize and applaud the donations made so far, but the simple truth is that funding isnt keeping up with needs.

An appeal for the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, or 3RP, for 2017 was launched in Helsinki in January - seeking US$4.63 billion. So far, only US$433 millon -- or 9 per cent of the funding sought -- has been received, aggravating an already precarious situation

Last years plan received just 63 per cent (US$2.88 billion) of the US$4.54 billion requested. This has left Syrian refugees  over 70 per cent of whom are women and children  facing the prospect of deep cuts to health, shelter, protection and other services.

The funds are vital to supporting the most vulnerable, like Mariam, a 32-year-old mother of five from Aleppo who has been living in Jordan since 2012. Since early last year, she has been receiving UNHCR monthly cash assistance to help her and her family meet some of their basic living costs.

Before receiving UNHCR cash assistance, I had to send my two eldest children to work instead of attending school, she said. This academic year, they are back to their studies and doing well. Without this monthly support, I will be obliged to take them out of school.

Previously, Mariam had racked up debts, simply to cover basic expenses such as rent and utilities, as well as items such as clothing. And as the funding gap grows, the impact of a lack of resources is already being felt by many.

We recognize and applaud the donations made so far, but the simple truth is that funding isnt keeping up with needs, added Grandi.

(With additional reporting by Scott Craig in Jordan)
By Press Trust of India: Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 4 (PTI) Scientists have discovered a new species of long legged, tree-dwelling crabs in Western Ghats of Kerala.

The new species named Kani maranjandu after the Kani tribe in Kerala, are substantially different from other congeners.

The characteristic traits of the crab include the structure of its hard upper shell, its male abdominal structure and reproductive parts and diagnostic elongated walking legs, which no other genus has, said researchers from University of Kerala.

advertisement

This is the first report of its kind to offer a record of an arboreal crab - a species that lives in trees.

The survey of the freshwater crab fauna started in 2014 in the Westerns Ghats in Kerala. People from the Kani tribe reported sightings of a long legged tree crabs in the area.

After a year, researchers were finally able to capture a female specimen and later a large adult male.

"As water holding hollows in large trees are essential for the survival of this unique species, the discovery also stress the need for conservation of large trees in the degraded forest ecosystems of the Western Ghats," said Biju Kumar of University of Kerala.

"It also highlights how little we know about the actual biodiversity that resides in these forests and the efforts that must still be made to find and study the many undoubted new species that still live there," Kumar said.

Then finding was published in The Journal of Crustacean Biology. PTI APA SAR SAR

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Peshawar, Apr 4 (PTI) A top court in Pakistan today directed the government to add the Kalash community, the countrys smallest religious group, in the census form, days after the same court ordered the inclusion of minority Sikhs in the Muslim-majority nations first census in 19 years.

A two-judge bench comprising of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah of the The Peshawar High Court (PHC) asked the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to include the Kalash religion on the national census form prior to the second phase of the exercise starting on April 25.

advertisement

Kalash, the religion followed by some 4,000 members of the Kalash community, lies between Islam and an ancient form of Hinduism.

Dwelling in the folds of the stony Hindu Kush mountains in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the tribe draws its lineage from the ancient Middle East or even from soldiers of Alexander the Greats army, academics say.

The PHCs order came after it heard a writ petition filed by members of the Kalash community on March 21.

The petitioners had requested the court for the inclusion of the Kalash tribe in the census form as a separate entity with a distinct language, religion and culture, The Express Tribune reported.

Sabir Awan, the petitioners lawyer, told the court that the Kalash people subscribe to one of the oldest known religions of the region, and that their members continue to live in three remote villages in district Chitral.

Awan cautioned that exclusion of the religion from the census form would be an injustice to the community and a violation of law, which guarantees equal rights to all its citizens. He pointed out that almost all major religions were included in the form except Kalash.

Members of the Kalash community present at the court appreciated the decision.

"Its a landmark decision and is a victory for the people of Kalash," Wazir Zada, a member of Kalash was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

Earlier in February, the people of Chitral had threatened to boycott the census for omitting the Kalash religion and 13 other languages being spoken in the district from the enumeration form.

On March 22, the PHC had ordered authorities to ensure separate counting of Sikhs in the nationwide census, after the community members filed a plea for not being counted among the religions included in the national head-count, the first since 1998.

The PHC ordered that the section of Sikhism be included in the religion column in the census form.

The first phase of the 6th census which started on March 15 had clubbed Sikhs with the Scheduled Castes of the country while separately counting the Muslims, Hindus, Christians and some other groups. PTI AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
The University of Flordia has announced that they have selected Will Atkins as Executive Director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, effective immediately. The position supports and empowers underserved communities.

As new leader of the Division of Student Affairs, Atkins will be tasked to educate, empower and mobilize students, campus stakeholders and community partners towards creating an inclusive, affirming, and just campus community. Atkins would oversee the department of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs that include Black Affairs, Hispanic-Latino Affairs, Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer Affairs, and Intercultural Engagement.

The Division of Student Affairs brought four candidates to Gainesville for on-campus interviews during the search process. The finalists were reviewed by stakeholder feedback, strengths and weaknesses, and extensive reference checks with the candidates' current and former employers and faculty members.

UF was looking for an individual with strategic vision and leadership, strong communication skills, experience with advocacy, and a history of meaningful collaborations, among other attributes, The UF News reported.

After a thourgh national search from a robust and competitive appkicant and finalist pool, Dr. David Parrott, UF's vice president for Student Affairs said Atkins brings experience from several large universities. Atkins was the interim leader of MCDA for six months. The university will greatly benefit his leadership, compassion and commitment to excellence said Parrott.

During his time serving as interim Executive Director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs and past roles at the University of Florida, Miami University, and University of Michigan, Atkins has a tested and proven track record of professinalism, leadership and relationship building skills. He co-lead the Black Student Affairs Task Force, launched an intercultural dialogue series, and organized the Town Hall with President Kent Fuchs.

Dr. Mary Kay Carodine, assistant vice president for Student Affairs said Atkins has a strong foundation in social justice education, serving underrepresented students and working on campus climate initiatives and assessment. His excellent relationships and collaborations is sure to make a substantial and lasting impact on campus.
The ICR or Institute for Cancer Research is now considered to be the top ranked research facility that provides discoveries for patients today. The fight against cancer is gaining momentum today, especially with the US, doubling down on cancer research to expedite the development of treatment and finally a cure.

The Institute for Cancer Research have been in the forefront of discoveries in cancer research because of its ability to work with industries in general. This is according to a poll posted by the Times Higher Education rankings placing the instate among the top research facility in active collaboration with industries. This is an important factor in medical development as the main obstacle for providing the cure for cancer is if the cure itself is affordable to begin with.

At the moment, major cancer treatments are out of reach to people in the lower echelons of society, where most of the death come from. However, with the growing force backing up cancer research, this might change in the near future.

As reported by Live Science, former Vice president Joe Biden urges everyone, especially the current administration to double down on cancer research. Despite the budget cuts being proposed by the Trump administration, the former VP desires that the budget for cancer research be increased to the maximum limit the government can provide.

The current administration proposes a massive $5.8 billion budget cut on Health, which will affect cancer research as a result. Proposed 2018 budget will definitely be a blow on the progress on various research in medicine, especially on cancer, which is among the top reasons for death in the country. With this looming in the horizon, hopes for finding the ultimate cure for cancer rests on foreign research facilities such as the Institute for Cancer Research based in London.
By Press Trust of India: London, Apr 4 (PTI) A poor standard of English among foreign pilots operating in the skies above the UK is increasing the risk of an air disaster, a report commissioned by the countrys civil aviation regulator has found.

The investigation carried out on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found there were hundreds of incidents of miscommunication involving commercial aircraft in the UK airspace over an 18-month period, Sky News reported.

advertisement

In one incident, a pilot taxied on to a runway at a Midlands airport without permission.

Another mid-air event involved confusion over left and right on an approach to Manchester Airport.

The authority commissioned the independent review to assess whether there were any dangers from these incidents.

It identified that there was a risk of "serious" accidents at home and abroad.

A total of 267 incidents that required reporting, called mandatory occurrence reports (MOR), were based on language problems during the period under examination.

The report said that cheating in exams, corruption and inadequate testing was partly to blame.

Rather than being examined, the report found some foreign language speakers had been granted certificates of English proficiency on "sweetheart" deals, through "handshakes" or "via friends".

The research, by academic Dr Barbara Clark, found "alleged evidence of cheating", whereby a candidate had passed the tests after just 10 days of studying -- a "nearly impossible" achievement.

Some pilots flying in UK airspace "appear to lack the minimum proficiency in English", the report said, while air traffic controllers outside Britain do not always have sufficient English to communicate with pilots even though they have been obliged to meet an industry standard since 2008.

For the safety of the UK travelling public, it is imperative that all pilots and controllers working in international aviation have the proficiency to communicate clearly and succinctly in all situations, routine and non-routine, the report said.

"Language-related miscommunication, including lack of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) proficiency standards, certainly has the potential to be the cause of serious incidents or even accidents," it said.

To work in international civil aviation, pilots and controllers are required to gain a Level 4 qualification in English from the ICAO.

But the report said it found there were enough non-UK pilots and controllers with below-standard English skills to give "grounds to suspect cheating on aviation English exams".

A CAA spokesman said it was discussing the findings with the UKs Department for Transport.

advertisement

"We will be studying this research and will work with ICAO, other international regulators and the wider aviation industry on any actions that can help (to) enhance safety," he said. PTI ASK AKJ ASK

--- ENDS ---
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.
After giving birth in the absence of a doctor in a government hospital, the woman was told that her newborn baby has died. When she took the infant to the burial ground, the baby girl started crying.

By Sharat Kumar: In Rajasthan's Bundi district, a shocking incident shed some light on the sad state of affairs of the health department.

A woman had to give birth in the absence of a doctor in a government hospital in Bundi, and the male nurse who assisted her during the delivery told her that her child was dead and should be taken to the burial ground.

advertisement

All this happened in the absence of a doctor.

Following the male nurse's advice, the family took the new born for the burial. But few minutes before the burial the child started crying and that's when everyone realised that the baby girl is still alive.

They again went to the hospital and complained against the male nurse who misguided them. When the deputy superintendent saw a ruckus, he went on to defend the nurse and said that since the child is born weak, there are hardly any chances of survival. He in fact did not even try saving the newborn's life.

Photo: Sharat Kumar/Aaj Tak

Residents of Bundi district are appalled by this incident of negligence and questioned the hospital authorities that if the infant had not cried before the burial then because of the wrong information given to them, the family would have buried her alive. Not only that, deliveries being done in the absence of doctors raises many questions about the functioning of the hospital.

Deputy controller Dr OP Verma defended his staff and said that the baby girl was born premature and since there was no movement at the time of birth, she was declared dead.

However, the family members believe that if immediately after delivery the infant would have been shifted to the ICU then her health would not have deteriorated.

Also read: Liquor ban: Rajasthan denotifies highways within city limits

Also read: SC order affects 2,800 liquor shops in Rajasthan

Also watch:

--- ENDS ---
The court in Punjab had issued the arrest warrant after the actress failed to appear before it on March 9 in a case filed against her for allegedly making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki.

By India Today Web Desk: The Punjab Police police denied the arrest of Rakhi Sawant, the controversial TV and Bollywood actor, following an arrest warrant issued by a court.

But a spokesperson for the TV and Bollywood actress said she has surrendered. "Rakhi is with the police. She has surrendered," spokesperson Parul Chawla said on telephone from Mumbai, claiming she had a Whatsapp conversation with the controversial actress.

advertisement

Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said, "There is no confirmation on her arrest. Non bailable warrant had been issued by Ludhiana court against Rakhi Sawant, Ludhiana police has gone to Mumbai."

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner of Police Dharuman Nimbale said a police team which had gone to Mumbai to execute the arrest warrant against Rakhi was returning as they failed to find her at the given address.

He said the Ludhiana police will seek fresh directions from the court for further action.

The court in Punjab had issued the arrest warrant after the actress failed to appear before it on March 9 in a case filed against her for allegedly making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki.

The complainant had accused Rakhi of hurting the religious sentiments of the Valmiki community. The case will be next heard on April 10.

WATCH: I am BJP's daughter, says Rakhi Sawant

--- ENDS ---
Ram Jethmalani said he will treat Arvind Kejriwal as one of his "poor clients" and defend him in the court for free. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, also a lawyer, has filed the defamation cases against the Delhi chief minister.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani today said he will fight the defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for free.

Jethmalani made the comments after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denounced the Delhi government's decision to pay a bill of Rs 3.8 crore to the lawyer from the public exchequer.

But even as Jethmalani, a former BJP MP, declared that he won't charge money from Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister's aides and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) justified the decision to pay the lawyer from government funds.

advertisement

"I charge only the rich but for the poor I work for free. If the (Delhi) government doesn't pay or he (Kejriwal) can't pay, I will appear for free. (I) will treat him as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani told the media.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ARVIND KEJRIWAL-JETHMALANI CONTROVERSY: Ram Jethmalani said he was keen on cross-examining Arun Jaitley over the alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) when Jaitley headed it. "I will appear in the case even if Kejriwal can't pay," he added. He accused Jaitley of instigating all this because the Minister was "afraid of my cross-examination". The BJP earlier demanded to know why the public should pay for Kejriwal's case. "Defamation cases are personal cases against Kejriwal, not against the Chief Minister of Delhi. Hence, Kejriwal should fight these cases with personal, not public money," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said. Jaitley in 2015 filed civil and criminal defamation cases against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders after they alleged irregularities in the DDCA. In his civil defamation suit, Arun Jaitley has sought Rs 10 crore in damages from the AAP leaders. "There are seven defamation cases against him (Kejriwal) as far as I know. This may total up to (Rs) 100 crore. Will he make the people of Delhi pay the 100 crore?" Javadekar asked. But Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia maintained that the case Kejriwal was fighting against Jaitley was a public and not a private issue. "There were allegations of corruption in DDCA. Our government formed a committee to probe this matter and free cricket from corruption," CM Arvind Kejriwal's deputy Manish Sisodia said. "The defamation case was filed by those who feared they would be caught in the probe. This is a public matter, and not pertaining to Kejriwal's private property. It is proper that the government bears the expenses of the case," Manish Sisodia said. Sisodia also alleged that the issue had been raised now to divert attention away from the issue of faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs). AAP leader Ashish Khetan too defended the Delhi government's decision and said unlike "rich" Jaitley, Kejriwal was "penniless". He accused Jaitley of making money defending "big people involved in big scams". The cases relate to Arvind Kejriwal and the other accused making statements alleging that Arun Jaitley was involved in a Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam during his time at the cricketing body. Jaitley was the president of DDCA for nearly 13 years.

ALSO READ:

Why Arvind Kejriwal may end up paying Ram Jethmalani more than Rs 10 crore damage Arun Jaitley seeks

Kejriwal a compulsive defamer, why should govt pay for his personal legal cases: Javadekar

Jethmalani to Jaitley in defamation hearing: You tested your reputation in Lok Sabha polls and lost by over 1 lakh votes

ALSO WATCH

--- ENDS ---


Last night, GRAMMY nominated pop star Leona Lewis celebrated her 32nd birthday at Magic Mike Live Las Vegas, a new sizzling 360-degree dance and acrobatic striptease spectacular offered exclusively at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas (Photo credit: Magic Mike Live Las Vegas).

Joined by a large group of friends, Lewis was ecstatic as she joined a packed crowd in cheering on 13 of the worlds hottest and most talented men. The audience also enjoyed a surprise appearance by Magic Mike star Channing Tatum, who thanked guests for coming to the show.

Following the performance, Lewis reveled in a private meet-and-greet with the guys, posing for photos and sharing enthusiasm for the show with the cast.
Meach Yady, chief of agricultural marketing at Cambodias Department of Planning and Statistics, said Cambodia wants Vietnamese firms to invest more in its agriculture and diversify their investments.- VNS Photo

Meach Yady, chief of agricultural marketing at the Cambodian Department of Planning and Statistics, said his country has invested a lot in agriculture but the sector has not developed commensurately.

He was speaking at a meeting held in HCM City last Friday to introduce the International Exhibition and Conference on Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture, Fisheries for Cambodia and Myanmar

Cambodia imports large quantities of fisheries products, animal feed, fruits and vegetables, dairy, and other agricultural products including 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 can invest in growing rice, cassava, maize, mung beans, vegetables, rubber, livestock, and fisheries, he said.

Businesses can invest in expanding fragrant rice cultivation or rice milling targeting niche and specific markets, and in the rice seed industry, he said.

Besides, investment to produce quality inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides to increase productivity is also needed because farmers complain about the poor quality of imported inputs and possibly fraudulent labelling by unreliable suppliers, he said.

The cassava sector needs investment to make quality chips and pellets complying with international standards for export to China and Korea, while mung bean production has been hampered by the poor quality of seeds and therefore requires investment in seed production, he said.

He also called on Vietnamese firms to invest in vegetable production and processing as his country imports large volumes from Viet Nam.

Investment in harvesting equipment and post-harvest processes is required to reduce losses during harvest and transportation, he said.

Many Vietnamese firms have invested in Cambodia, mostly in rubber, cassava, and sugarcane, and his country wants them to invest more as well as in more sectors, he said.

U Hnin Oo, vice president of the Myanmar Fishery Federation, said his country wants to boost exports of fisheries, but few of its processing facilities meet EU markets.

Since Viet Nam is strong in fisheries exports, his country wants to co-operate with Vietnamese firms, he said.

Besides fisheries, livestock breeding also offers investment opportunities for foreign investors, including Vietnamese, he said.

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 or joint ventures with local individuals or relevant Government departments or organisations, he explained.

International exhibitions

The exhibition -- two of them, to be held from August 2 to 4 in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and from September 27 to 29 in Yangon in Myanmar -- would offer Vietnamese firms a good opportunity to understand more about those markets and explore business and investment opportunities, delegates said.

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, it said.

In addition to showcasing 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.
The island off the coast of Kien Giang Province has witnessed an amazing transformation, with a series of world-class projects being developed to turn the island into a special economic zone and a tourist hub of not only the region, but also the world.

A model of Intercontinental Phu Quoc, developed by BIM Group in its Phu Quoc Marina Complex.- Photo BIM Group

Phu Quoc, planned as one of three exclusive economic zones in Viet Nam, has introduced incentives such as zero land lease fee, 50 per cent discount on personal income tax and corporate income tax, which has made investment here even more attractive.

The infrastructure system on the island is also developing rapidly with the expansion of the airport and the road system across the island.

Phu Quoc international Airport. - File Photo

Notably, the Prime Minister has given the nod to developing a casino project on the island, which experts see as a potential breakthrough for the islands tourism industry in particular and for socio-economic development in general. The Government has also agreed to allow Vietnamese to play in casinos under a pilot project.

A number of developers, namely Vingroup, BIM Group, Sun Group and CEO Group, have flocked to the island and poured money into building mega resort and recreation projects. Individual investors have also raced to buy land on the island, lifting prices by some three times within just a few months, especially beachfront land.

A report by Savills Viet Nam showed that 80 per cent of buyers of property assets on Phu Quoc Island came from Ha Noi and 15 per cent came from HCM City, mainly for investment and holiday purposes.
Chrysanthemums harvesting in Ha Dong flower village, Da Lat City. - VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Dung

The company wants to co-operate for up to 50 years in Da Lat and the entire Lam Dong province, said former Counsellor from Vietnamese embassy in Japan Dao 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, Da 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 Da 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 Dong Province has a total flower growing area of 7,760ha with an annual output of more than 2.4 billion flower branches, of which Da Lat and its neighbourhood make up 70 per cent of acreage and production.

Da Lat has built a common brand called Da Lat Flower used by some 110 grower households.

Earnings from the local floriculture sector currently reach VND750 million (US$33,000) per hectare annually.
Devotees all across the world celebrate the birth of Lord Rama on the auspicious day of Ram Navami.

By India Today Web Desk: Celebrated on the occasion of Lord Rama's birthday, Ram Navami is a Hindu spring festival, observed on the ninth and last day of Chaitra Navratri.

Ram Navami marks the arrival of Lord Vishnu's seventh avatar, Rama. The day generally falls in the Gregorian months of March or April, every year. Though the festival is specifically important to the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism, Rama is worshipped all across the world by a lot of devotees on this day.

advertisement

While many Vaishnava Hindus visit temples, others worship at home where miniature idols of infant Rama are bathed and clothed, before being placed in a cradle. The ceremony is accompanied by Rama Katha recitals (stories of Rama), or bhajan or kirtan (a religious song). A lot of devotees also observe fast on this auspicious day.

Picture courtesy: Facebook/Raghunath Mandir Madhapar

While the festival originates from the legend of Rama, it also includes reverence for Sita, Lakshmana and Hanumana, owing to their important connection to the Lord's story.

Also Read:President greets people on Ram Navami

Picture courtesy: Facebook/ISKON-DELHI

One can witness elaborate rituals on Ram Navami in several Indian regions, especially Ayodhya, Sita Samahit Sthal(Uttar Pardesh), Sitamarhi(Bihar), Bhadrachalam (Telangana), Vontimitta (Andhra Pradesh) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu). In Ayodhya in particular, devotees take a dip in the sacred river of Sarayu, before visiting the Rama temple. In some places, people conduct chariot processsions or Rathyatras, also known as Shobha yatras of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanumana. Besides, charity events and community meals are also organised by several temples and Vaishnava organisations as part of the celebration.

And it is not just India that observes Ram Navami. Several other international destinations with Hindu population like Durban, Trinidad, Fiji and Nepal, among others, also celebrate the day in all pomp and glory.

--- ENDS ---
Britain's Johanna Konta withdraws from the WTA Charleston event due to injury. (AFP/JULIAN FINNEY)

Konta, 25, who became the first British woman to win the Miami Open with victory over Caroline Wozniacki on Saturday, was the highest-ranked seed due to play in Charleston.

"Charleston is a great tournament and I was really looking forward to taking part," Konta said in a statement.

"I was battling a slight shoulder injury and sickness during Miami which has taken hold since the end of the tournament."

With Konta out, Madison Keys becomes the highest ranked player in the tournament.

Venus Williams is also due to take part in the clay-court event.
Viet Nam is an attractive destination for investors because of its stable political environment, favourable economic conditions and attractive demographics.- Photo moit.gov.vn

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.
The new 50-euro note contains several anti-forgery features. (AFP/ERIC PIERMONT)

The new orange-coloured note issued by the European Central Bank incorporates a transparent window featuring a picture of "Europa", a goddess from Greek mythology, on a metallic strip.

In another forgery-busting move, the figures five and zero on the note are emerald-coloured but change colour when it is moved from side to side.

"This is a very innovative note in terms of security," Bank of France official Gilles Vaysset said during a presentation of the note in Paris.

"There are also lots of security measures which are hidden within the note," said the Bank of France's director of banknote production Erick Lacourrege.

Officials stressed however that the old 50-euro note - currently the most-used banknote in the eurozone - would not lose its value while it was phased out.

Around 6.5 billion of the new 50-euro notes will be printed.

The Bank of France said that the euro was one of the least counterfeited currencies in the world.
Viet Nam has targeted turning tourism into the spearhead economic sector of the northwest region by 2030.-Photo vov.vn

At a conference on developing tourism into the leading economic sector of the region in the next 13 years, Lenh said it was necessary for local authorities to pour large investment in tourism services, create jobs and reduce poverty for local residents.

Many delegates said that tourism development in the northwest was restricted and had not tapped its potential. Although ethnic minority culture was rich and unique, the region still faced difficulties such as poor socio-economic infrastructure and transport links.

They also mentioned a disturbing fact that in recent years, many tourist destinations in the region had faced environmental pollution due to littering. Overcharging and cheating visitors had affected the image of the region.

Vu The Binh, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association said that most important factor to develop tourism in the northwest was co-ordination.

He said locals seemed to stay out of tourism services as the benefits to them from tourism was limited, adding that community tourism was good for the regions tourism, but had not been exploited effectively.

In addition, a shortage of skilled human resources for local tourism was an important issue. The region could not build a sustainable market due to this weakness, he added.

To improve regional tourism, Ngo Hoai Trung, deputy head of Vietnam Tourism Administration suggested six solutions, including improving peoples awareness on the importance of boosting tourism, improving the quality of tourism resources, increasing the quality of services, promoting the regional tourism potential, building tourism indicators suitable with the reality of regional tourism and ensuring sustainable development for tourism.

Lenh of the Northwest Steering Committee said the committee would co-ordinate with localities to develop tourism development strategies and tourism products for each locality.

In addition, apart from improving transport infrastructure to tourist sites, it is necessary to strengthen environmental management and ensure security for visitors.

Many delegates suggested promoting regional tourism to attract more domestic and international tourists and encourage and support the development of natural and eco-friendly tourism such as ecotourism, village tourism and adventure tourism.

Lenh said the committee would listen to the opinions of delegates and propose tourism development policies to the Government.
A souvenir shop in Tuan Chau Ward, Ha Long City is forced to close on Sunday. - Photo zing.vn

Zing.vn reported that on April 1 the advertising boards of all shops and centres were dismantled.

Earlier on March 31, Ha Long City Peoples Committee sent an urgent message to Quang Ninh Province Tourism Union and ward-level peoples committees to direct relevant offices to work with local authorities to force the shops to close by 1pm on March 31.

The 15 shops and business centres fell short of standards on quality for serving tourists specified in the provinces temporary management regulations on business tours, according to the citys Peoples Committee.

Ealier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked vice chairperson of the Quang Ninh Province Peoples Committee Vu Thi Thu Thuy to inspect souvenir shops and business centres which, according to local media reports, advertised as only serving Chinese tourists in the city.

On March, 30, Quang Ninh Provinces Tourism Department announced that it would withdraw licences of the 15 aforementioned shops and centres.

The citys Peoples Committee has asked authorities of wards to re-examine the granting of land-use licences for these shops and centres, and inspect agencies which organised tours for Chinese visitors.

Quang Ninh Provinces Tourism Department reported that tourism inspectors have issued 43 fines for violations of travel business regulations since early this year.
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

Trump signed an order late last week that he promises will stop "foreign importers that cheat." Under the executive order, countries with large trade imbalances with the United States will be closely scrutinized for a 90 day period while the administration holds talks with manufacturers, service providers, farmers and consumers to identify ongoing problems.

Among the Asian countries singled out by Trump as the largest abusers of free trade were China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, India, Taiwan and Indonesia. "They're cheaters! From now on, those who break the rules will face the consequences and they'll be very severe consequences," the president said.

Trump is due to meet the President of China, Xi Jinping, later this week at his Florida estate. Long singled out as a country that has taken the most advantage of trade loopholes, Trump's trade agenda will likely be a major talking point along with North Korea and the fight against extremism.

Uncertainty in Asia

But for the rest of Asia, Trump's trade order has officials baffled and unsure of what steps to take. Some have chosen to ignore the executive order altogether while others have blasted the move and said it would affect US companies operating in Asia.

In Indonesia, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said that the country had nothing to worry about regarding the order because it exported commodities and manufactured goods to the US that did not compete with those produced in that country.

What we produce are not goods that compete with theirs, not like those from China. [The US] might think that the things they import are goods that beat out their own products, but the products from Indonesia are not the same as they make, he said.

Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Ka Chuan said that his country was neither responsible for nor taking advantage of the United States trade deficit.

Perhaps US president Donald Trump does not know there is a huge presence of American manufacturers in Malaysia such as Intel and Western Digital due to the low production cost here, he said. Ong added that American firms based here would be affected if the administration led by US president Donald Trump were to punish Malaysia for its low production costs,

If Trump were to punish us for this, the American firms will be the ones dealt a severe blow, he said.

Meanwhile senior officials from Thailand and the United States held a meeting in Bangkok on Monday to discuss the executive order according to Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn.

Apiradi said that problems between Thailand and the United States could be thrashed out in ongoing negotiations on a trade and investment partnership known as the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.

But exporters in Thailand continued to express their concern that protectionism by the United States could threaten their business.

What concerned me the most is that the image of Thai products in the US market could be tarnished in the eyes of consumers, should they be misled into believing that Thai traders cheat their counterparts,said Nopporn Thepsitha, president of the Thai National Shippers Council.

Nopporn added that all businesses and trade groups should be prepared to review their policies regarding exports to the United States.

The way forward

Speaking at a Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in the Philippines, Lord Desai, professor of the London School of Economics and Political Science, said President Trumps protectionist policy may have shaken the world but eventually, he will need to work with economic players.

Nobody can control an economy as large as America, he said.

Danny Quah, professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, added that Asia believes in a world of full of win-win propositions. This narrative should be shared to President Trump.

Trump thinks that America is losing because Asia is winning. We need to tell him of this win-win proposition, said.
Some Silicon Valley companies have protested President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, saying it could hurt their access to talent. (AFP/Josh Edelson)

The moves include new measures announced on Monday (Apr 3) to detect "fraud and abuse" in the H-1B visa programme, 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 programme 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 programme - 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 favour 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 disfavoured 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 programme 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 on 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 programme" 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."
Photo : nasa.gov

The US space agency had already pushed back the launch by a day to Tuesday.

If technicians are able to finish their repairs as planned, Discovery and its six American astronauts will now launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 3:52 pm (1952 GMT) Wednesday, NASA test director Jeff Spaulding said.

The flight to the orbiting International Space Station is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011.
Swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien

Vien finished first in the womens 400m medley with a time of 4:44.94. She continued her dominance in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:00.51.

The Can Tho-born swimmer also came to second in the 400m freestyle after clocking a time of 4:16.45.

Overseas Vietnamese swimmer Le Nguyen Paul also performed well. Paul won gold in the mens 200m medley with a time of 2:03.86. He also took silver medals in the 100m butterfly with a time of 55.34secs and 100m backstroke with a time of 56.18secs.

To prepare for coming international tournaments, Vien and Hoang Quy Phuoc are training abroad. Phuoc is training in Hungary.

Lam Quang Nhat and Tran Duy Khoi are training in Thailand from April 1 to June 20 and then they will leave for China from July 1.
What is the target of VPBA by holding this forum?

The forum is aimed at helping private firms understand the policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam and state regulations more clearly. Thereby, participating private firms will become more confident with their investments and business in Vietnam.

This forum will be a place for participants to discuss the current situation of private firms and will look for solutions for them to flourish in the future when Vietnam is more deeply integrated into the world economy.

We expect that the forum will raise the business spirit of the entrepreneurs. They are the warriors at the forefront of developing the country.

What is the current situation of private businesses in Vietnam?

Over the last decades, private businesses have sharply increased in quantity and gradually increased in quality, which plays an important role in developing the national economy and stabilising Vietnamese politics and society.

At present, there are about 600,000 private enterprises and 3.5 million individual business households in Vietnam. These private businesses contribute 40 per cent of the overall GDP, 30 per cent of the export turnover, and create 50 per cent of domestic jobs. Private businesses are predominant in sectors like commerce, services, constructions, industry, and handicraft. Private businesses have developed all over the country, with the highest concentration in urban areas or localities with many favourable conditions for firms.

Most private enterprises operate at a small scale (96 per cent of private firms are small and medium-sized), have a limited capital, out of date manufacturing technology, weak corporate governance and competitive capacity. Not many Vietnamese private companies invest into manufacturing. Many of these do not seriously obey the Vietnamese labour code when hiring employees and there are rampant violations of the law, tax evasion, commercial fraud, and illegal business activities in the private sphere.

According to recent research, Vietnamese private companies percentage contribution to the GDP in recent years has been approximately ten per cent, a slight increase compared to the 8.5 per cent in 2006. Despite the three-decade development history, generally, Vietnamese companies in the private sector do not flourish as expected.

Meanwhile, informal non-farming individual business households have constrained the development of regional private businesses. The informality is demonstrated in the lack of detailed bookkeeping, legal violations, and the lack of transparent corporate governance.

So what are the solutions to promote private business in the future?

First of all, it is necessary to unify the Vietnamese business community. Also, we should promote cooperation and joint ventures among firms, including foreign-invested ones. Successful cooperation will become the strength of the Vietnamese business community, which can improve the national economy.

Besides, private firms should expand, they should join high value-added sectors. Moreover, they should expand their business areas, enter remote regions where people live in poverty, contribute partly to poverty reduction, create more job opportunities in rural areas, develop new rural areas, and enhance peoples standard of living.

New enterprises should develop based on their creativity to catch up with start-ups worldwide.

Enhancing competitive capacity is the only way to utilise opportunities and avoid risks when our country integrates deeper into the global economy and joins the new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs). To enhance competitive capacity, firms should have a suitable business strategy, invest more in human resources, and pay attention to corporate governance.

Regarding business culture, firms should build a transparent and honest corporate governance, develop through by their own abilities, obey the laws actively participate in social activities, and avoid commercial fraud, counterfeit production, tax evasion, speculation, and so on.

Lastly, individual business households should operate their business as stipulated in the law on enterprise and decrease informality.
Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav reminded while reminding PM Narendra Modi of his poll promises asked when will he start implementing his ambitious plans of providing job to 2 crore people.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav today launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to speak the truth on the occasion of Ram Navami. Reminding PM Modi of his election promise that he made during 2014 Lok Sabha elections campaigning, Tejaswi asked when will he start implementing his ambitious plans.

"Respected PM, at least on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami today, please speak the truth on when implementation will start on your poll promise of providing jobs to 2 crore youths every year?" Tejaswi asked.

advertisement

Tejashwi's remark came in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tweet greeting people on Ram Navami.

"On the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami, I greet the people of the country," the prime minister had tweeted.

This is not the first time that Tejaswi has directed his jibe at PM Modi. In fact last month, when Bihar celebrated its foundation day on March 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had greeted the people of the state. However, Lalu Prasad's minister son had criticised the PM describing PM tweet as "hollow greeting".

Tejaswi, then had slammed PM Modi maintaining that Bihar which gave BJP 31 MPs in Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the long pending demand of the state of being granted a special status is still not been met despite the Modi government completing three years in power.

ALSO READ:

Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav dares PM on alleged links of BJP members with ISI

JD (U) leader's tweets indicate all is not well with grand alliance in Bihar

Bihar: Clamour grows within RJD for Tejaswi as CM, Lalu says he is the future

--- ENDS ---
Officials in southern Afghanistan said an overnight airstrike killed at least 22 Taliban insurgents, including 18 would-be suicide bombers.

Regional corps commander Lieutenant General Daud Shah Wafadar told VOA on Tuesday that the strike had targeted a major training center in Shamulzayi district of troubled Zabul province.

He said three Pakistani trainers and the head of the Taliban's so-called provincial military commission were also among those killed. The general added that bombers trained at the center had been responsible for numerous deadly attacks in southern Afghan provinces.

Taliban officials have not yet responded to claims about whether the facility struck was one that they used.

The Afghan Air Force used A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft in the operation, according to officials.

The United States has so far delivered 12 A-29s to Afghanistan, including four sent last month to try to boost close-air attack capabilities of Afghan forces for the 2017 fighting season.

Border crossing

The Afghan district where Monday night's airstrike occurred borders Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. Afghan officials maintain Shamulzayi serves as a key route for insurgents entering from the neighboring country. Atta Jan Haqbayan, head of Zabul's provincial council, told VOA that the militants control a large portion of the district and have created a border checkpoint.

The insurgents pass through Shamalzai as they bring their wounded fighters into Pakistan for treatment, according to Afghan government and media reports.

In addition to an active Taliban presence across Zabul province, the Islamic State group is also reportedly present there. The provincial governor last year said IS was getting stronger and, in some areas, had taken over rival Taliban positions.

Central Asian militants, including members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), have been in the province since 2007 and fought alongside the Taliban against the Afghan government. But the militants pledged allegiance to IS after the Taliban announced its disassociation with international terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, and abandoned plans to support the spread of terrorist activities into central Asia.

'Hotline' conversation

Hours after he shared details of the successful airstrike with media, Wafadar spoke by phone to his Pakistani counterpart, Lieutenant General Amir Riaz.

While Afghan officials have not released any details, the Pakistan military said that it was the first "hotline communication" between the two commanders.

"Both sides discussed issues related to Pak-Afghan border, expressed satisfaction over establishment of hotline communication and vowed to continue such interactions in future," according to the media wing of the Pakistan army.

The southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, which are mostly controlled by the Taliban, also border Baluchistan. Afghan officials alleged the Pakistani province hosts Taliban leaders and sanctuaries. The allegations and counterallegations have strained relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, though both sides deny allowing terrorists to use their territory for cross-border attacks.
A Red Cross report says African countries are failing their internally displaced people. Reversing that trend was the subject of a high level meeting of the International Red Cross and the African Union that wrapped up Tuesday in Zimbabwe.

Africa has about 13 million internally displaced people, a third of the global number of IDPs, and more than double the amount of refugees on the continent.

By definition, refugees flee across a national border, while IDPs leave their homes but stay within their own country.

African Union Commission head of humanitarian affairs, refugees and displaced people Olabisi Dare says the situation of IDPs in Africa is very critical, dire and worsening.

"...The issues that are generating internal displacement [are] multiplying and deepening by the day. One of the key things is that some of the situations are protracted situations. We are talking about displacements in countries like Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic [of Congo]. For some time, as a result of dwindling conflicts, the numbers went down. But it went up again because of new situations. Here we are talking about Boko Haram situation, the Sahel situation and the Malian situation, he says.

Dare spoke to VOA on the sidelines of this weeks meeting in Zimbabwe to look at how African nations can better implement the Kampala Convention.

Created in 2009, the A.U. convention binds governments to protect the rights and wellbeing of IDPs forced to flee their homes because of conflict, violence, disasters and human rights abuses. Just 25 of the 55 AU member states have signed and ratified the convention. Some other countries, like Kenya, that are not signatories, have their own IDP laws.

But in a report this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross says African countries are coming up short on those commitments.

The ICRC presented 25 recommendations for improvements, including dialogue with IDP communities to ensure their meaningful participation in elections and other decision making.

CRC global IDP advisor Angela Cotroneo played a key role in the recent research and consultation with the African Union.

Internally displaced persons in situations of armed conflicts are the most vulnerable civilians. The ICRC is present in Africa and we work on behalf of persons affected by armed conflicts and other violence and we experience every day, they are difficult, situations of IDPs. Very often, they lack access to essential services such as health care, education, employment. Sometimes, they continue to be concerned about their safety and security, Cotroneo says.

She said governments need to seek out input from vulnerable groups to ensure their needs are met.

The experts agree African countries must also address the root causes of internal displacement, which in most cases is armed conflict.
Millions of Hindus across the world celebrate Ram's birthday today. Here are five legends about the Maryada Purushottama or the Perfect Man.

By India Today Web Desk: Ram(a), the eldest son of Ayodhya's King Dasharath(a) and his first wife Kausalya, is believed to be the seventh, human incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but was hailed a lord because of his qualities. The qualities gave him different names. From "Shri Ram(a)" that means "the giver of happiness" to "Parasmai" that means "the supreme lord", Ram has 108 names.

advertisement

RAM NAVAMI

Millions of Hindus across the world celebrate Ram Navami or the birthday of Lord Ram reciting stories of his valour, chariot processions and fasting. Ram Navami falls on the ninth day of Chaitra Navaratri. Ram temples across India will witness massive celebrations today.

It is interesting to note that on Ram Navami, Ram's wife Sita, brother Lakshman and close aide Hunaman are given due regard and are worshipped alongside.

FYI || Why did Ram ensure Lakshman dies before him? ||

LORD VISHNU AS RAM

Ram symbolises the good and is the destroyer of evil. Lord Vishnu's incarnation as Ram was to prove to the human race that being extraordinary is humanly possible. Ram, with his life, showed human beings how to face obstacles without compromising on justness or dharma (a collection of rights, duties, code of conduct and virtues).

Ram, since his childhood, showed how to be a perfect son, a perfect brother, grew up to become a respected man with the best of virtues and then showed how to be the perfect husband, how to deal with evil forces and obstacles in life, how to be a perfect king (a manager, essentially) and how to leave behind a legacy.

FYI || How Lord Ram freed Ahalya from her curse ||

Here are some legends about the exemplary man:

RAM ATONED KILLING RAVAN

Ravan, the character believed to symbolise evil, was a great scholar. A story behind Ravan having ten heads says that the ten heads symbolises the six shastras and the four vedas he mastered.

Ravan, was the great-great-grandson of Lord Brahma, a Brahmin. Ram was a Kshatriya. By killing Ravan, Ram committed a sin, and instead of misunderstanding it as a person belonging to a caste that is apparently ranked lower to the other, the sin was of killing a custodian of Brahma-gyan or the knowledge of God, Devdutt Pattanaik explains.

It is believed that Ram built a Shiva temple in Rameshwaram to wash away the sin of killing Ravan.

RAM RESPECTED RAVAN'S KNOWLEDGE, CONSIDERED HIM GURU

advertisement

At the end of the battle between good and evil, that is Ram and Ravan, when Ram finally managed to shoot a fatal arrow at Ravan's navel, learning only that could kill him, Ram sent his brother Lakshman to Ravan with a request -- to impart his knowledge to Lakshman before he dies.

Lakshman went to Ravan, stood next to Ravan's head and requested him to share his wisdom, only to see Ravan's turning his face away. Annoyed, Lakshman went back to Ram complaining about Ravan's arrogance. Ram told Lakshman that to be a student one should be willing to let go of your ego and submit yourself to the guru and that standing next to Ravan's head was not the right thing to do. Ram went near Ravan, stood at his feet with folded hands and requested the "evil" king to share his knowledge.

Ravan saluted Ram, Devdutt Pattanaik writes, and tells him he wished he could be Ram's teacher than being an enemy. Ravan shared the most important lesson he learned in life with Ram, saying, "things that are bad for you seduce you easily".

RAM'S AGNIPAREEKSHA FOR SITA

advertisement

When talking about the episode where Ram made Sita go through an "agnipareeksha" or the test of fire, the context is often not discussed.

Ram, Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravan and making Vibhishana the king of Lanka. The story is often narrated saying, Ram, on learning that there was widespread rumours about Sita's "purity" in Ayodhya, ordered the test of fire to prove she was, indeed, pure. When the episode is narrated this way, it is normal for people to associate "purity" with "virginity" and mistake Ram for a suspectful, underconfident husband. But that was not the case.

Ram and Sita loved each other so much that Ram had vowed to be a "one-woman-man" -- contrary to the practise of kings -- and Sita survived being away from Ram (in Lanka) only by being immersed in thoughts about her husband. The time Ram and Sita got back to Ayodhya, Ram noticed unfaithful relationships on the rise.

Sita's purity that people questioned was not about her virgnity, but loyalty. Since people witnessed disloyal relationships in the society, they suspected even their queen could have been so. It is to set an example to the people of his kingdom that Ram ordered the test of fire, that being faithful to just one human being is possible and is recommended, and not because he did not trust his wife.

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
One potential bidder on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico wanted to know if authorities would rush to help if workers came under hostile attack. Another asked if employees can carry firearms in states with strict gun control laws and if the government would indemnify them for using deadly force.

With bids due Tuesday on the first design contracts, interested companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative job.



A U.S. official with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details haven't been made public said four to 10 bidders are expected to be chosen to build prototypes.

Prototypes to be built in San Diego



They will be constructed on a roughly quarter-mile (400-meter) strip of federally owned land in San Diego within 120 feet (37 meters) of the border, though a final decision has not been made on the precise spot, the official said. The government anticipates spending $200,000 to $500,000 on each prototype.



The Border Patrol and local police would establish a buffer zone around the construction site if necessary, the U.S. official said. The San Diego police and sheriff's departments said Monday they will respect constitutional rights to free speech and assembly for any peaceful, law-abiding protesters.

Enrique Morones, executive director of Border Angels, said his group plans to protest.



There will be a lot of different activity  protests, prayer vigils  on both sides of the wall, said Morones, whose immigrant advocacy group is based in San Diego. We pray and hope that they're peaceful.

Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga, chief executive of The Penna Group LLC, a general contractor in Fort Worth, Texas, said he has received about a dozen death threats since publicly expressing interest in bidding, including one from a woman who told him she hired a private investigator to trail him.

Evangelista-Ysasaga said he bid in part because he wants broad immigration reform. Securing the border, he said, is a prerequisite for granting a path to citizenship to millions in the U.S. illegally.

We didn't enter this lightly, he said. We looked at it and said we have to be a productive part of the solution.

Wall part of Trump's campaign

Building a wall on the Mexican border was a cornerstone of Trump's presidential campaign and a flashpoint for his detractors.

The multibillion-dollar project along the 2,000-mile border has many outspoken critics, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, which said last week that Mexican companies expressing interest were betraying their country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that it would pick multiple contractors to build prototypes by around June 1 and will name only the winning bidders. The agency said last month that the prototypes should be about 30 feet (9 meters) long and 18 to 30 feet (5.5 to 9 meters) high.

Security plan part of the bid

The winning bidders must submit a security plan with details including fall back positions, evacuation routines and methods, muster area, medical staff members/availability, number of security personnel, qualifications, years of experience, etc. in the event of a hostile attack, according to the solicitation. A chain-link fence with barbed wire around the construction site is required. The agency said it won't provide security.

Bidders are also asked to demonstrate experience executing high-profile, high-visibility and politically contentious projects.

The agency, responding to questions from companies on a website for government contractors, said the Border Patrol would respond as needed if there is a hostile attack, but companies were responsible for security. The government won't allow waivers from state gun laws or indemnify companies whose workers use deadly force.

Over 200 companies show interest



The website for contractors lists more than 200 companies that signed up for email notifications on the design contract but it's unclear how many of those will apply. Bidders must have done border security or similar projects worth $25 million in the past five years to qualify.

Ronald Colburn, Border Patrol deputy chief when hundreds of miles of fences were built under President George W. Bush's administration, said companies should plan on training workers to know when to seek cover and stay put and when to retreat.

Most of those organizations are probably fairly accustomed to that, said Colburn, who retired in 2009. Some of them may be learning for the first time, that kind of risk at the borders.
Bulgaria's largest party, the center-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.

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)
Anti-government demonstrators clashed with security forces in Venezuelas capital Tuesday, as pressure mounted within and outside the country for President Nicolas Maduro to quickly restore democratic norms and ease a years-long political and humanitarian crisis.

Protesters  buoyed by the Organization of American States Monday-night resolution demanding government reforms  marched toward the National Assembly building in Caracas but were met with riot police wielding pepper spray, tear gas and water cannons. Witnesses told Reuters news service that National Assembly leader Julio Borges and Lilian Tintori, the wife of prominent political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez, were among those hit with pepper spray.

The demonstrators had come out to endorse the opposition-led National Assemblys scheduled debate Tuesday on unseating Supreme Court justices. Last Wednesday night, the justices announced theyd decided to take control of the legislature  a ruling that some critics characterized as giving Maduro license for a dictatorship. The governments of United States, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru also denounced the ruling.

On Saturday, the Venezuelan court reversed that decision  but, as Reuters news service noted, it left intact new authority for the president to negotiate oil deals without congressional approval.

Days of rage

Demonstrators  both pro- and anti-government  have taken to the streets of Caracas since then.

On Tuesday, Maduro supporters living in a state housing project tossed trash at protesters marching along a wide Caracas avenue, Reuters reported. It also quoted opposition marcher Bernardo Sanchez as saying pro-government gangs with guns "started to shoot in the air." Sanchez said he was hit in the thigh by a bullet.

Tuesdays street scuffles came hours after the OAS, at an emergency session Monday evening in Washington, approved a resolution condemning the Venezuelan Supreme Courts decisions as unconstitutional and "incompatible with democratic practice."

The resolution by the OAS Permanent Council calls for Maduros Socialist Party government to cooperate in regional talks and to respect separation of powers. It calls for restoring democratic norms, by scheduling long-delayed regional elections, releasing political prisoners and allowing humanitarian aid. Especially since petroleum prices began sinking two years ago, the oil-rich country has been beset with rising crime and extreme shortages of food and other basic goods.

Of the OAS' 34 member states, 21 were represented. Seventeen supported the declaration and four abstained: the Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Venezuela condemned the measure.

In a message broadcast in Venezuela Monday evening, Maduro denounced the organization, saying it "intends to become an Inquisition court to persecute Venezuela.

"We reject and repudiate the coup d'etat in the OAS," said Maduro, who has accused the imperialist United States of working with opposition parties to oust him. He was elected president after Hugo Chavez died in early 2013.

Possible case for The Hague?

On Tuesday, an opposition lawmaker said that unless Maduro quickly responds to the OAS resolution, his critics will press the matter at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

"It is Maduro who has the key in his hand to open the door and solve problems  call for elections, release political prisoners, put in place a humanitarian channel," Williams Davila Barrio, a member of the National Assembly said in an interview at VOA headquarters in Washington.

Davila said it was "very important" that the OAS "for the first time clearly put on paper" its expectations for Maduro and his administration to work with the organization in addressing problems.

Otherwise, "you have to take him to court"  the International Court in the Hague, Davila said of the Venezuelan president. He said opponents are building a case against Maduro, with "several files, several denunciations, several accusations. I believe that all this is part of a set of violations of international criminal law, international humanitarian law."

Milestone in Venezuelas history

Like the OAS, the regional trade bloc Mercosur on Saturday issued a statement urging Venezuela to take "immediate concrete measures" to restore separation of powers.

Maria Corina Machado, an opposition leader and former member of the National Assembly, described the unfolding events as "extremely important."

Speaking in Caracas, she said that "what happened this week in Mercosur, what happened yesterday in the Organization of American States is a milestone in the history of Venezuela, in the fight against dictatorship."

Last week, pro-government National Assembly member Eustoquio Contreras acknowledged in an interview with VOAs Spanish Service that Venezuela faces a crisis. But, he blamed part of that on political intolerance.

"Nicolas Maduro is a well-intentioned man who is making a great effort to solve the problems," he said.

VOA Spanish Service correspondent Alvaro Algarro contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela, with Vero Balderas and Gioconda Tapia Reynolds reporting from Washington.
Cholera is spreading in Somalia, further complicating drought relief efforts as the country teeters on famine. Health officials are complaining about a lack of access to some areas due to security challenges.

Health workers say at least 300 new cases and dozens of deaths are reported each day.

World Health Organization Cholera expert Abdinasir Abubakar said the situation may worsen in a few weeks.

I think it is good for people to understand also this time of the year is not cholera season for Somalia. The actual cholera season will start during the rainy season, which is probably in a few weeks' time. So, we describe this as off-season and we are expecting in a few weeks' time when the rain comes, probably the trend of cholera will be probably even double or triple, said Abubakar.

The health agency says about 5.5 million people in Somalia are at risk of contracting waterborne diseases like cholera.

The drought affecting most of eastern Africa has made the situation worse, leaving many Somalis without access to clean water and food.

According to medical aid agencies, more than 25,000 people were affected with cholera in the past three months, at least 450 have died.

Health ministry official Isaac Mursal said it is difficult to control the disease and the new cases are interfering with their daily operations.

He said it is challenging to distribute medicines to two or five villages for a day and then get new cholera cases in 10 villages. He said sometimes medicine that was meant for one village is distributed to four or five villages.

Abubakar said medics are finding it hard to access some areas due to insecurity.

We are struggling, and we are trying to do what we can do, but what is hampering the control of outbreak is access; many of the locations in Somalia are inaccessible, and we are finding it very difficult to do the control measures," he said.

Aid agencies are getting access to central Somalia, and other parts of the country except for southern regions where al-Shabab is in control. In those regions there have been 950 cases of cholera and 80 deaths since the beginning of the year.

More than six million Somalis, half the population, need food, water and medical assistance.
A few hours after 20-year-old Zeena escaped Islamic State militants in Mosul on Monday, she is at a makeshift bus station where fleeing Mosul residents gather to be assigned tents or catch buses to relatives' homes. As it starts to rain, Zeena says she and her family are among the lucky ones.

When militants caught women attempting to flee a few days ago, she says, female IS guards arrested them and took their money and gold. But as Iraqi forces get closer to defeating the militants, violence has escalated and whole families are being executed.

Parts of Mosul still held by IS are defended by the most fanatic and best-trained among the extremist group, say soldiers. And families fleeing say civilians are trapped in a death grip.

Ali, a 21-year-old father of one that fled IS-militants late Sunday, stands nearby. "My brother just called me from our neighborhood," he says, "IS caught 30 people after we fled last night and killed them. They hung some of the bodies on the bridge as a warning to others that want to run."

Ali's bare feet sink into the mud. "One of my shoes got stuck while I was running, so I left them," he explains, shrugging.

Families, says Ali, are now left with terrible choices. If you run from IS, you may be executed. If you stay, you will certainly be used as a human shield and could die in the Iraqi and coalition offensive. If you survive the offensive, IS militants may kill you in counterattacks as they hurl mortars, sniper fire and suicide bombers into Iraqi-controlled neighborhoods.

And if the war continues much longer, he says, already hungry families in the battle zones could starve.

"They are burning our identification cards and stealing our money," he adds. "There is no transportation, so we are burying bodies in our yards."

Current battle

During the past week, the war in Mosul has become notably less accessible, with journalists banned from some areas, and granted limited access to others.

But soldiers fighting on the frontlines say they are still moving forward, albeit slowly, into Mosul's Old City, one of the most complicated battles they have faced, and toward the final fourth of the city.

"IS militants are surrounded and they are fighting with everything they have," says Captain Mohammad Sadeek, of the Golden Division's Diwaniya Battalion stationed on the frontlines in New Mosul, where hundreds of civilians have been killed in airstrikes in recent weeks. "It's their last area and they want to hold it or die."

The number of foreign fighters on the frontlines has increased notably, Sadeek adds, saying he's recently seen bodies of fighters that appeared to be Russian or Chinese.

Foreign IS militants may be better trained and better armed, adds Captain Raad Qasim of the Golden Division's Najaf Battalion, also stationed on the frontlines, but those are not the only reasons they are more dangerous in battle.

"The foreign fighters are stuck," he explains. "Locals may be able to escape and blend back into society, but foreigners have no choice but to fight to the death."

Additionally, say soldiers and civilians, foreign fighters in general tend to be more fanatic, as 100 percent of them gave up their homeland and families for IS ideology.

"We are fighting in really close quarters," says Qasim. "Sometimes we enter a house, clear it, and suicide bombers follow us inside."

These close quarters are slowing the battle as soldiers work to protect civilian "human shields," adds Sabah Numan, the spokesman for Iraqi Counterterrorism Services in Baghad. "The enemy knows there is no place to withdraw."

Battles to come

Close-quarter fighting will continue, and become more difficult as Iraqi forces move forward, says Sadeek. Some of IS's last areas are as crowded as the Old City, with streets too narrow for tanks.

These areas may be even more difficult to navigate, he adds, because they are unplanned and unorganized, with unlimited places to hide. "But they can't get any more ammunition," he continues optimistically. "They are surrounded."

For months, IS militants have been pushing civilians into this section of Mosul, most notably neighborhoods called Tamouz 17, which is thought to be the heart of IS support, and Tenek, which locals say could be a point of focus because it is near a large IS bomb and weapon production area.

Families fear the battles in these areas will result in unprecedented IS violence toward civilians, despite military efforts to protect them.

When IS first came to Tenek, explains Mohammad Khalid, a 27-year-old father of three from the area, many residents joined the group. New IS members treated former friends and neighbors as strangers, to be punished like everyone else if IS rules were broken.

In Tenek, like elsewhere in Mosul, IS became increasingly unpopular and eventually loathed as the group became more violent and strict. "At the beginning, some people thought they were a real Islamic group," Khalid explains.

As the rain subsides, Zeena and her friends prepare to board a bus to Iraqi-controlled eastern Mosul, where bombs are less frequent and students are back in class.

Zeena removes the black veil covering not her face, but a box in her hand. She escaped with her green parakeet, Mimi. "She has a soul," Zeena explains. "We have lost so much and we wanted to save her."
Scores of civilians in northern Syria have been killed and hundreds of others wounded in a toxic gas attack that observers, diplomats and analysts are blaming on forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and their Russian allies.

An umbrella organization of Western relief groups early Tuesday put the death toll at the Idlib provincial town of Khan Sheikhoun at 100 with more than 350 others stricken.

Russia has "categorically denied" any role in the attack. Syria's government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons against civilians throughout the six-year war.

The United Nations Security Council will address the bombings at Khan Sheikhoun in an emergency session Wednesday morning.

Far to the south, monitors from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 25 others, many of them women and children, were killed Tuesday in airstrikes at several sites east of Damascus.

'Horrifying massacre'

The gas attack at Kahn Sheikhoun, described by the opposition Syrian National Coalition as a "horrifying massacre," is widely believed to be the worst such violation of international law in war-ravaged Syria since 2013, when a U.N. probe found credible evidence that sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians near Damascus.

In the latest of many declarations of outrage, the global relief agency UNICEF said, "These attacks must do more than provoke our outrage; they must compel action by those with the power and the ability to bring an end to this devastating violence."

Earlier Tuesday, a reporter for the French news agency said one missile at Khan Sheikhoun slammed into a hospital where some of the victims were being treated, bringing down rubble on medics as they struggled to treat victims.

The attack, which caught many of the towns residents sleeping in their beds, came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria hosted by the European Unions chief foreign affairs official, Federica Mogherini.

At one point Tuesday, government-owned media outlets suggested that a conventional airstrike on rebel targets at Khan Sheikhoun may have hit a rebel chemical weapons factory or stockpile.

The Syrian National Coalition called Tuesday for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, blaming the airstrikes on the regime of the criminal Bashar. In a statement, it said government warplanes fired missiles carrying poisonous gas.

The coalition urged U.N. officials to "open an immediate investigation" and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable.

The reported attack on Khan Sheikhoun to the west of Aleppo and south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, is the third claimed chemical weapons attack in just over a week in Syria. Another two blamed on the Syrian government were reported in Hama province, not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

The type of chemical agent used Tuesday is not clear, but some opposition websites said highly toxic sarin gas may have been employed. Some medics working on the victims also pointed to sarin as the agent most likely used.

We have no doubt that this is a sarin attack, said Dr. Shajul Islam, a British medic working in a clinic, which received three of the victims. He posted a video on Twitter showing the victims with pinpoint pupils, which were unresponsive when light was shone on their eyes.

Syrian opposition member Omer Idlibi told VOA's Kurdish service "all the symptoms from the victims say that its sarin gas.

"The medical situation is very bad, due to the lack of hospitals and because the regime targeted all the field hospitals used for treating victims," he added.

Earlier this year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian government of mounting eight chlorine gas attacks on insurgent-controlled areas during the final weeks of the battle for Aleppo.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and international chemical weapons experts blamed the Syrian government for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

Idlib province is one of the last strongholds of anti-Assad rebels and U.N. analysts estimate there are nearly a million displaced Syrians in the province, many from Aleppo.
Arab and Egyptian media reacted mostly favorably to the reception given to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by U.S. President Donald Trump. Sissi's Islamist opponents either condemned the visit or ignored it completely.

Most Arab and Egyptian news channels broke into their newscasts to carry Sissis meeting with Trump at the White House live, describing the talks between the two men as cordial and positive.

Arab media underscored the theme of combating terrorism, and Sissis emphasis of the subject while meeting Trump received kudos.

WATCH: Trump Pledges His Support of Egypt

The Egyptian president stressed he was impressed by Trumps personality and his eagerness to tackle the issue of terrorism, which he termed a devilish and devious ideology that kills innocents and destroys peoples and security.

University of Paris political science Professor Khattar Abou Diab says Sissi's visit to Washington represents a sea-change in U.S. foreign policy toward the Arab world.

He says the new Trump foreign policy marks the end of the regime change era and that a pragmatic interpretation of national interests has taken hold. Egypt, he argues, is at the forefront of those friendly nations fighting terrorism, so the United States has decided to support it.

The popular Cairo daily, Youm 7, carried a photo showing the two presidents shaking hands, while quoting Trump saying military cooperation between Egypt and the U.S. will be greater than at any time in the past. The United States gave Egypt $1.3 billion in aid last year.

Egyptian TV underscored an offer Sissi made at the Arab summit last week to fight terrorism on an ideological level.

Sissi says terrorism must be tackled on all levels, starting with a military response, then followed by efforts to improve the economic situation, along with an ideological battle, using educational and religious institutions, including Egypts venerable Al Azhar University.

Qatari-owned al Jazeera TV broadcast video of a small anti-Sissi demonstration in front of the White House.

Egyptian state TV, however, highlighted a pro-Sissi demonstration in elsewhere in Washington, with supporters chanting slogans in favor of Sissi and Trump.

Egypts banned Muslim Brotherhood organization did not mention the Sissi visit on its official English website, although Arab media quoted former Brotherhood official Amr Darraj as denouncing the visit. Many top leaders of the Brotherhood, which was ousted from power by Sissi-led military in July 2013, are serving jail sentences.
Democracy scores declined in 2016 in more than half of the 29 countries surveyed in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Eurasia, according to Freedom House, a U.S.-based pro-democracy watchdog organization.

This is the second-biggest decline in the annual report's 22-year history and is attributed to the rise of populism in the "Nations in Transit" region, where "leaders are openly attacking liberal democracies."

Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has the lowest ranking in Central Europe, according to the Freedom House report.

Orban "has created a kind of model for member states, even for the European Union, to reject democracy," Nate Schenkkan, project director at Freedom House, told VOA. "He talks about it openly. It's part of his vocabulary to say that he doesn't accept the idea of democracy the EU has enshrined in its treaty, that the U.S. has historically tried to advance. He believes these things are false and hostile to the Hungarian nation."

The report also criticized Poland under the ruling Law and Justice party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The report cited attacks by populist leaders in both countries on constitutional courts and the system of checks and balances, as well as the transformation of public media into "propaganda arms."

In response to the report, Hungary's government press office said Tuesday, "Freedom of the press fully prevails in Hungary. Every political opinion can find room and be published in the Hungarian press. Hungarian citizens can exercise their democratic rights in free elections."

Populism

According to Freedom House report: "The spectacular breakdown of democracy in these countries should serve as a warning about the fragility of the institutions that are necessary for liberal democracy, especially in settings where political norms have shallow roots and where populists are able to tap into broad social disaffection."

Sergey Aleksashenko, the former deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia and now senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a research and policy group in Washington, told VOA, "It is a normal and usual situation in many countries, moreover because during transition and crises, people like to have simple answers on very complicated questions."

"Populism can maybe be successful," he added, "but it can never lead to a result that democracy can. As people live 5, 10, 15, 20 years in a populist regime, sooner or later they'll find their lives [are] much worse than their neighbors."

The best example, he says, is Venezuela: "It was one of the richest countries in South America relying on oil, but 15 years of populist policy and declining oil prices, in fact, collapsed the country."

Russia

Russia was ranked near the bottom of the survey, even though the report acknowledges a highly developed civil society continues to exist, along with some independent media.

"We may say there's some freedom of internet, but ... 80 percent of the Russian population receives news from TV and there's no television station that's not controlled by the government," Aleksashenko said. "You might argue there's some freedom, of course there is ... but it's not freedom of information. And in my personal view, it's a serious misjudgment of what's going on in Russia."

Balkans

In the Balkans, the democracy scores improved for two countries  Montenegro and Croatia  and declined for four countries. According to the survey, Macedonia's score is nearing the low point of 2001, when there was ethnic conflict in the country; Serbia's score reached its lowest point since 2003, despite its progress in the European Union accession negotiations.

But Aleksashenko cautioned the Balkan countries should not be compared to the Western European countries because they've had to build institutions, governmental and state cultures from scratch in the past two decades.

Eurasia

In Eurasia, the survey put Kyrgyzstan back into the category of Consolidated Authoritarian Regimes, a classification it had left after competitive parliamentary elections in 2011.

"Where civil society is persecuted or oppressed or unable to operate, where there's no free media, where there's no judicial independence, where there's kleptocracy or state capture, that's where we have a consolidated authoritarian regime," Freedom Houses Schenkkan said.

The report said corruption in Eurasia declined in five of the 12 countries, but reached new highs in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Bright spots

In Belarus, Schenkkan said, "what you had in 2016 was a continuation of the trend from 2015 where there is a very slight, but real, relaxation in the political control by the [Alexander] Lukashenko regime."

Freedom House pointed to Ukraine, Romania and Kosovo as bright spots in the survey. The Romanian government addressed outstanding issues such as problems in the voting process during the previous year. In Ukraine and Kosovo, modest gains due to gradual structural reforms were made, but they face obstacles to deeper transformation that could derail their progress.

The Freedom House "Nations in Transit" report evaluates the state of democracy in 29 formerly communist countries from Central Europe to the Balkans to Central Asia.
German officials met Tuesday with a German-Turkish journalist imprisoned in Istanbul for the first time since his incarceration, saying he was doing well but voicing concerns that he was being kept in jail for political purposes and calling for his release.



German Foreign Ministry official Michael Roth, a deputy foreign minister, told reporters that Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel met with Consul General Georg Birgelen and a German consulate attorney in prison.



He's doing well overall given the circumstances, but is finding the solitary confinement a great strain, Roth said.

It was the first consular contact Yucel has been allowed since he was arrested on charges of producing terrorist propaganda and incitement to hatred - accusations he denies. He was taken into custody in mid-February after reporting on a hacker attack on the email account of the country's energy minister and formally arrested later in the month.



Roth thanked Turkey for providing access to Yucel, and said Germany expects to be able to continue to send consular officials to meet with him and is working to have him freed.



He's obviously being made a political project of, Roth said, noting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had mentioned the case.



The case has a political and a legal dimension.



Roth said Yucel is only one of more than 100 journalists who are being detained in Turkey - something he said had been brought up in talks with officials there.



Rule of law, democracy and press freedom played a large role in all conversations, he said. And I emphasized once more that it's not just about one case ... but about the situation of journalists in Turkey in general.



The case has been one of several issues that have led to increased friction between Germany and Turkey in recent months.



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 last year sparked the first round of tensions between the two countries.



Turkish officials' attempts to rally support among their citizens living in Germany last month for a referendum over whether to expand Erdogan's power then 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.



Roth said part of the purpose of his visit to Turkey was also to try to ensure no further escalation, saying that the Nazi comparisons were completely unacceptable and deeply hurt Germany.
With China's preferred candidate selected as Hong Kong's next chief executive, another blow to the morale of the city's democracy activists, their young leaders are taking a page from Beijing's playbook and preparing for a long battle.

At the leafy campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, there is little sign of the fervor that drove thousands of students to stage the Umbrella Movement street protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill for months in 2014.

"We still all care about Hong Kong's social issues, democracy, Beijing's interference," said Ceci Chow, a third-year nursing student, as she waited on campus beside a bronze statue of the 'goddess of democracy'. But she concedes there might not be the same "driving force" for action.

Student union leaders like Cheryl Chu and Thomas Lee agree that the commitment is still there, but they doubt mass protests are the way to go, for now.

The Umbrella Movement ultimately failed to persuade Beijing to grant full democracy in elections for Chief Executive, so Carrie Lam will assume the post in July thanks to the backing last month of an electoral college packed with mostly Beijing loyalists.

In the run-up to Lam's victory, student leaders eschewed public protests and opted instead to use social media, leaflets and street booths to present their case that the election was undemocratic.

"We need to look further in future, and look at how to slowly make the people close to us change a little. Only then will we feel that we can achieve something tangible in future," said Lee.

Many activist leaders have been weighed down by legal battles. One day after Lam's selection, nine were charged with public nuisance offences for their part in the protests, and more arrests could follow.

Victories in last September's elections to the city's legislature, when one in five voters backed younger candidates including Umbrella Movement leaders and self-determination advocates, rapidly turned sour when two newly elected legislators were disqualified. Beijing and a local court ruled Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching had not taken their oaths properly after inserting a dig at China.

The government has since sought to disqualify four more pro-democracy lawmakers for invalid oaths, while two others charged for inciting the Umbrella protests might be removed if they are jailed for over a month.

'Never rest'

For some young people like Derek Lam, 23, a theology student who has been arrested five times in two years for various protests, there is a financial cost to their activism.

Lam has not been convicted, but says his high-profile arrests mean he now struggles to find work and might not be able to graduate if he fails to pay his half-year school fee of HK$24,000 (US$3,090).

But the setbacks have not deterred him.

"The Chinese Communist Party will never rest, so we can't rest as well ... Luckily, we have 30 years, and after 30 years our opponents will not be the people who are in power now, but people our age. So a lot depends on how we influence our peers now."

This July, on the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China from British rule, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the city. But while many activists are appalled by what they see as a gradual ratcheting up of Chinese control during the 50-year period of transitional autonomy agreed with Britain, they are not expecting a protest on the scale of 2014.

"The fight for democracy doesn't just take place on the streets," said Joshua Wong, the public face of the Umbrella Movement, who was just 17 when the protests began. "And the fight for Hong Kong's autonomy doesn't take place in years. We are talking about a battle of 20, 30 years."

The challenge for Beijing is that many of Hong Kong's young people, rather than growing to accept China's growing role in the city's affairs, have become further estranged from the mainland and are increasingly warming to a localism movement that puts the city's autonomy, interests and culture first.

"The youths in Hong Kong are now more eager to step up and say we're Hong Kongers, we love Hong Kong and distinguish ourselves from the Chinese. There is a very strong Hong Kong identity, and this will not waver," said Wong Ching-tak, 20, the president of the University of Hong Kong's Student Union.

Disqualified legislators Leung and Yau hope that identity will mobilize supporters when the next battleground issue crops up.

"There will be a last war ... There will be a very large-scale social movement that emerges," Leung said. "And it will determine whether there's still a road ahead for Hong Kong as we know it, or not."
A Gurgaon based company known as Rasoi Wheels turned an old Maruti van in to a mobile kitchen which provides hygienically-packed meal boxes and transports 30,000 meals every month to the underprivileged.

By India Today Web Desk:

Angels do exist. Sometimes they have wings but sometimes they have wheels.

Working for the benefit of the underpriviledged, a Gurugram based company known as Rasoi wheels turned an old Maruti van in to a mobile kitchen which provides hygienically-packed meal boxes at affordable prices. The van transports 30,000 meals every month from its 800 sq. ft base kitchen.

advertisement

The company provides them with things they can use for their daily use as well encouraging better hygiene. They also facilitate them with educational opportunities.

One of the co-owners also told India Today that the company also provides free surgeries and medicines to the children as well.

"There are old age people, there are slum schools, there are orphanages which we have associations and tie-ups with now, where, on a daily basis we are sending almost 1,000 meals," said Atul Kapoor, one of the co-owners of Rasoi Wheels.

Following their company's mantra "Giving has not made anyone poor", Rasoi Wheels is definitely bringing a great change in the society with their forward thinking to push the poverty-stricken population of our nation.

FYI || Ride or glide: Chinese mechanic turns old car into a boat-car ||

Take a look:

Also watch: Chinese Fire Truck with Multiple Rocket Launchers Will Destroy Blaze

--- ENDS ---
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."
Saying no artificial controversy should be created around the visit of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, India has called on China not to interfere in its internal affairs.

The Dalai Lama arrived Tuesday in the border territory that is also partially claimed by China. But his stop at the famous Tawang monastery where he is due to deliver sermons was delayed due to bad weather.

The Buddhist monks visit to the sensitive eastern Himalayan region has become a flashpoint between the two Asian neighbors and analysts say it could lead to a diplomatic chill.

Following strident Chinese objections to the visit, Indias junior home minister, Kiren Rijiju, said Tuesday India had never interfered in Chinas internal affairs and expected the same from its Asian neighbor.

We also never questioned the Chinese sovereignty and India has respectfully adhered to One China policy. So we expect China should also not interfere in our internal matters, said Rijiju, who is the Prime Minister Narendra Modis point man on Tibetan relations. Being a democratic and secular country, India cannot stop or restrict the visit or program of any religious leader in our country.

China last week warned India the Dalai Lamas visit to what it called a disputed territory will damage relations and urged New Delhi against taking any actions that would complicate a boundary dispute between the two countries.

China disputes religious nature

Rijiju, who is also a Buddhist, is scheduled to be in Arunachal Pradesh during the Dalai Lamas trip. He says he is going as a devotee, but some commentators in China say the federal ministers presence indicates the Buddhist monks visit is not purely religious as India maintains.

But New Delhi reiterated the visit has no political significance, pointing out this is not the first time the Dalai Lama will be in Arunachal Pradesh. Indias Foreign Ministry said in a statement "no additional color should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India.

The Dalai Lama also went to Arunachal Pradesh eight years ago in 2009.

Analysts say although Beijing routinely opposes visits by foreign dignitaries to the sensitive border state, including the Dalai Lamas previous visit, its objections have been far sharper this time.

But India is determined to brush off those warnings, says Jayadeva Ranade at the Center for China Analysis and Strategy in New Delhi, adding that Beijing has also not been sensitive to Indian concerns in the past year on a range of issues.

He says, If the Chinese try and apply pressure, that will not work. They have to concede to our core interests and then there can be compromises which can be worked out.

Indian analysts ascribe the growing chill in ties between India and China to Beijings increasingly closer relations with New Delhis archrival - Pakistan.
The U.S. plane maker Boeing said Tuesday it agreed to sell 30 of its 737 MAX jets to Iran's Aseman Airlines, a deal worth $3 billion.

The sale marks the second such Boeing deal made possible by the 2015 nuclear agreement signed by former U.S. president Barack Obama to relieve sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. IranAir struck a $16.6 billion deal with the company in December for 80 planes.

"Boeing confirms the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airline's intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion, the plane maker said in a statement. The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs.

Aseman Airlines is scheduled to start receiving the aircraft in 2022, though the deal is still contingent on approval from the U.S. government.

The nuclear agreement limited Irans nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump heavily criticized the deal during his election campaign and has said he would like to see in renegotiated.

Aseman Airlines flies both domestic and international flights from Iran. The European Union banned the airline in December, citing safety concerns.

The deal is expected to create or sustain 18,000 jobs, Boeing said.
A spokesman for Islamic State is lashing out at the United States and President Donald Trump in what some see as an attempt to rally the terror groups fighters.

In a new, nearly 37-minute-long audio message published Tuesday by IS propagandists on Telegram and other social media, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said the U.S. was drowning with no one to save it.

You are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye," al-Muhajir said. There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.

He also said the U.S. should die of spite.

A nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated," al-Muhajir warned.

The message, titled "So be patient. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth," is the first from al-Muhajir since December of last year when he urged supporters to target their enemies wherever they are and "burn the ground under their feet."

US plan against IS

The new audio comes as President Trump has made destroying IS his top foreign policy priority. Some analysts say the terror group targeting Trump in its latest message should come as no surprise.

"They carefully track coverage of the group in news stories, and they know just what buttons to push to ensure major media organizations will pay attention to this address," said Michael S. Smith, II, a terrorism analyst who has consulted in the past with both the White House and members of Congress.

"There is a myriad of jabs at [former U.S. President Barack] Obama in official Islamic State propaganda and we'd see the same thing if Hillary [Clinton] had been elected," Smith added. "On Election Day, the group said the only difference between Trump and Clinton is that the latter is more skilled with political correctness and 'sorcery.' "

Other terror analysts also see the audio message from al-Muhajir as little more than an attempt to rally the group's remaining forces.

"Nothing new in #ISIS spokesman speech," SITE Intelligence Group Director Rita Katz said in a Tweet. "Rather calls for support for #ISIS in time of weakness while lauding fighters and supporters."

U.S. officials have said that while IS remains dangerous, its fighting force in Iraq and Syria has been whittled down to about 12,000 to 15,000 fighters, while the amount of territory the group controls has shrunk by about 65 percent.

Lost ground, forces

Islamic State fighters have also lost most of the self-declared caliphates Iraqi capital of Mosul to U.S.-backed forces. And its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa is also coming under increased pressure.

Still, al-Muhajir brazenly predicted the capitals of Iraq and Jordan would fall to IS forces, as would Saudi Arabia. And he told fighters in Mosul and Tal Afar in Iraq, and those defending Raqqa, that now is the greatest moment of the groups jihad, though he also warned it is also at a dangerous turning point.

A generation was raised in the caliphate state and they are on the ready to give their lives for the sake of their religion, he warned.

The IS spokesman also reached out to the groups supporters in the West and elsewhere, urging more attacks.

To the supporter of the caliphate in America, Russia and Europe, the enemys interest can easily be targeted by you, al-Muhajir said. Make the enemy busy with itself so they can be distracted from targeting the nation of Islam.
Jordan's King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after a recent summit hosted by the monarch renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood.

Could the revived Arab plan, coupled with Trump's stated eagerness to strike a deal, signal an opening for restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks?

Here's a look ahead.

What's on the table?

At their annual summit last week, Arab leaders renewed an offer they first made to Israel in 2002 - recognition by dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in exchange for allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Israel has balked, among other things, at the envisioned scope of withdrawal from the lands it captured in 1967 and unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the initial proposal.

With the summit declaration to back his case, Jordan's king will be able to tell Trump that Arab leaders are serious about achieving what Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, described as the "historic reconciliation between Israel and the whole Arab world."

But the king will couple the enticing prospect of regional peace with a warning. Jordan argues that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the root of regional turmoil and that, if allowed to fester, it will undercut the Trump administration's Mideast goals of containing Iran and defeating Islamic State extremists.
An innovator at Kenyas Lake Victoria has turned an invasion of water hyacinth into a business opportunity, making paper from the weed that he sells in local shops. The initiative is creating jobs and supporting environmental sustainability.

Michael Otieno began making paper from water hyacinth ten years ago. The flowering weed is a nuisance to fishermen. It depletes fish stocks, affecting thousands of livelihoods.



Known as the paper man by locals, Otieno has perfected his daily routine. Every morning, he goes into Lake Victoria to search for raw material. Once the hyacinth is harvested, it is cut into small pieces before being boiled to soften it.



Otieno started his Takawiri Initiative to provide income and jobs for locals.



According to the World Bank, Lake Victoria supports around 40 million people in East Africa, with nearly half of those residents living on less than $1.25 a day.



Otieno now employs up to 30 people, though the business has its challenges.

One - is technology; the machines we are using are locally fabricated, and, two, we also, its a capital-intensive project, therefore it needs a lot of resources, Otieno says.

Edward Orato, a local artists, runs a curio shop in Kisumu city on the banks of Lake Victoria. Since he started using the hyacinth paper, he hasnt looked back.

I like the paper since its not expensive. Its also easily available. As an artist, I think it has a unique texture. The fibers give my paintings an edge. 

The Takawiri Initiative got a start-up $60,000 grant from a Kenyan government agency tasked with environmental research and sustainability promotion. Joshua MAnampiu, a top official with the National Environment Trust Fund (NETFUND), says assistance on the ground-level is important.



Definitely, we understand the scarcity of finance or the inability of finance to trickle down to the people who really need it and that is why NETFUND is there, to ensure that even though theres a lot of funding that is there for climate change, it must trickle down to the grassroots, to the people who really need it, MAnampiu says.

For Otieno and his staff, the water hyacinth is proving to be a blessing in disguise.
A New Jersey teen has pleaded guilty to participating in a plot to try to kill Pope Francis in 2015 during a public Mass in Philadelphia, according to a statement by federal prosecutors.

Santos Colon, 17, admitted on Monday in a federal court in Camden, New Jersey, that he attempted to conspire with a sniper to shoot the pope during his visit in Philadelphia and set off explosive devices in surrounding areas.

Colon engaged with someone he thought would be the sniper from June 30 to Aug. 14, 2015, but the person was actually an undercover FBI employee, according to prosecutors. The attack did not take place, and FBI agents arrested Colon in 2015.

"Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to purchase materials to make explosive devices," prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.

Matthew Reilly, New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office's spokesman, said on Tuesday that there was nothing in the court documents that addressed a possible motivation. Some media outlets had reported Colon's actions were part of a plot inspired by Islamic State, known by some as ISIS.

"There is no mention of ISIS or any specific organization in any of the court papers or in any of the factual basis questions he was asked in court during the plea hearing," Reilly said in a email to Reuters.

A U.S. citizen from Lindenwold, New Jersey, Colon was charged as an adult on Monday with one count of attempting to provide material support to terrorists. A conviction could result in up to 15 years in prison.

Colon's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The teen also faces a fine of $250,000, or twice the amount of any financial gain or loss from the offense, prosecutors said. No date has been set for sentencing and the investigation is ongoing.

The pope visited Philadelphia on Sept. 26 and 27, 2015, to hold a public Mass, attracting hundreds of thousands of people during his biggest event in the United States.
Nigeria's government and military are not doing enough to ensure the release of 195 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls held by Boko Haram Islamic extremists for nearly three years, the Bring Back Our Girls group said Tuesday.



It called for speedy negotiations to bring them home before next week's third anniversary of the mass abduction that outraged the world.



The movement also asked why two dozen of the Chibok girls freed last year have been held for months of alleged rehabilitation instead of being reunited with their families.



"It remains a puzzle to us that even their parents are not very informed on what the program of rehabilitation that the federal government is allegedly implementing seeks to achieve," it said.



The group published a letter sent to the government in January, saying it has never been answered. "We are not satisfied with the conduct of the federal government and the military establishment," the letter said.



Nigerian officials did not respond to requests for comment.



Boko Haram's mass abduction of 276 girls from a boarding school in April 2014 brought promises to help free them from around the world.



Dozens quickly escaped, and 21 were freed in October through negotiations with Boko Haram mediated by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.



The government denied a ransom was paid and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.



At that time, officials said they were pressing on with negotiations and expected the release of a second group of 83 girls "very soon." No more have been freed.
The outgoing head of the United Nations' World Food Program said Monday she is certain the U.S. Congress will reject the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts for U.N. aid agencies, saying "No one in America believes that 'America First' means that other people must die.''



Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, whose friendship with former President Barack Obama predated his presidency, on Tuesday winds up five years of leading the world's largest anti-hunger humanitarian organization. The Trump administration tapped former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley to replace her, and U.N. officials appointed him last week.



In a blunt interview on the eve of her departure, Cousin joined Congressional Democrats and Republicans in criticizing the administration's proposal to reduce funding for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development by roughly 31 percent in the next fiscal year. Congress, in negotiation with the administration, has the final say on the budget.



"I sincerely believe that no American wants to see images of starving babies,'' Cousin said.



The United States is the largest contributor to the World Food Program, which serves some 80 million needy people with emergency food aid and other food assistance in conflict zones, refugee camps and natural disasters around the world.



The amount of money the administration has proposed for the food program hasn't been released. The WFP enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, suggesting it won't be as deeply cut as other U.N. programs.



But Cousin, who was Obama's ambassador to the U.N.'s three food agencies before she was named to lead WFP, was clear that the White House's proposal was inadequate and contrary to U.S. interests in her view.



"The budget that has been suggested by the administration does not reflect the generosity of the American people,'' she said. "I'm hopeful that the administration will recognize that the security of the United States is directly related'' to ensuring food security and development opportunities for poor people around the world.



"The policies of the Obama administration will reflect that they 'got' that,'' Cousin added. "The policies of the Trump administration would suggest that they don't believe that that is the case.''



The U.S. has provided the program with $2 billion a year for the past three years, more than Germany, Britain, Canada and Japan combined. The WFP contributions are voluntary, unlike the assessed contributions the U.S. is billed for the U.N.'s general and peacekeeping budgets.



Cousin said Germany and the European Union have already stepped in to increase their voluntary contributions, as has the private sector.



"But that does not fill the gap of a significant reduction in U.S. contributions,'' she said. "However, I do not believe at this point that this Congress will pass legislation where babies begin to die. I don't think the American people will allow it. And that is what will happen.''





The United Nations has warned that the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the U.N. was founded in 1945, with more than 20 million people in four countries facing possible famine: South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and northeast Nigeria. Already, famine has been declared in parts of South Sudan.



"No one in America believes that 'America First' means that other people must die,'' she said.



Cousin said she plans to remain engaged in food security, access to clean water and related issues when she takes up a position as lecturer and visiting fellow at Stanford University starting in September.
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.

Pakistan denies charges of harassment

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.

After over 30 years, family returns to Afghanistan

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.

Afghan government continues to struggle

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.
By Press Trust of India: From Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Apr 3 (PTI) Relatives of a family of seven people, who committed suicide by blowing themselves up when security personnel stormed their hideout in northeastern Bangladesh, have declined to take their bodies for burial, saying they do not want to be part of a "stigma".

The seven, including five children, were identified from family photographs found inside the hideout the police raided last week.

advertisement

"They have expressed their unwillingness to accept the bodies saying they dont want to be part of the stigma caused by their (slain) kin," northeastern Moulvibazars police chief Mohammad Shahjalal told reporters.

He said in-laws of Lokman Hossain identified them from a family photograph as the bodies were beyond recognition after the powerful suicide blast.

Shahjalal said Hossains father-in-law Abu Bakar came to Moulvibazar in northwestern Dinajpur after being called for identification.

"But they declined to receive the bodies for subsequent rituals and burials fearing that could stigmatise the rest of the family," the officer said.

He said Bakar told police, his slain daughter Shirina Akhtar, had called him last after polices elite SWAT team raided the house where the militant couple lived with five daughters with youngest one being just seven-month-old.

Hossain, 45, and his wife, both operatives of Islamic State-inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB), blew themselves up along with their five daughters on March 29 night on the face of a raid on their hideout on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town.

Security officials had said the blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside.

"The forensic examinations could confirm the casualty figure but we assume they are seven or eight in number," polices counter terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam had said.

The police launched Operation Hit Back to flush out militants from their hideouts after they failed to convince them to surrender.

"Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied. They launched counter attacks by throwing grenades and bombs whenever we tried to approach them," Islam said.

Earlier, relatives refused to accept bodies of four slain Islamists killed in police encounters in southeastern Chittagong last month.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack. PTI AR MRJ AKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
France will not give in to demands for an "unrealistic" 2.5 billion euro ($2.7 billion) aid package for French Guiana, which has been swept by social unrest, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday.

After the French territory in South America was disrupted by protests and a general strike, Paris sent two ministers last week for talks with a coalition representing the demonstrators.

The protests, which pose a challenge to the government in Paris three weeks before a presidential election, began with demands for tougher measures against crime, but also reflect a deeper malaise in the territory which suffers from high unemployment.

The government offered a 1 billion euro aid plan but the protest movement demanded an emergency 2.5 billion euro plan in talks over the weekend.

After a ministerial meeting in Paris to review the situation, Cazeneuve said it would be easy for the government to "take the easy way out and promise an unrealistic amount of financial aid" before handing over responsibility to the next government.

"That is not the idea that we have of responsibility," he told reporters.

Cazeneuve called for negotiations to continue, saying 11 agreements had been reached in areas such as security and justice, fishing, transport, mining, agriculture and energy.

Union leader Davy Rimane, a spokesman for the protesters, told RTL radio that the movement would meet to decide its next steps.

"The prime minister's statement has in no way blunted our determination for Guiana to get out of this stagnation," he said. "We can't go on like this ... We are heading for a social catastrophe."

"That is why we say to the government: We must launch an emergency plan for this sum of 2.5 billion euros," he said.

The U.S. State Department warned American citizens last month to avoid travel to French Guiana due to widespread protests it said had the potential to become violent in the main cities of Kourou and Cayenne.

Labor protests in the overseas French department bordering Brazil and Suriname have also caused the indefinite postponement of the planned launch of an Ariane 5 rocket carrying communications satellites for Brazil and South Korea.

($1 = 0.9376 euros)
Philippine fishermen along the front lines of a bitterly contested tract of the South China Sea say fishing stocks are declining partly because of unstoppable intrusions from Chinese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese competitors.



The number of fish has fallen about 50 percent since 2010 off the coast of Masinloc, the Philippine city closest to Scarborough Shoal, contested by Manila and Beijing since 2012, according to Franklin Cattigay, the local Philippine Coast Guard commander.

The problems in an already poor archipelago dependent largely on the sea may add pressure on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to cement a new friendship with China, following Beijings pledge of $24 billion in aid and investment in October, or to invite the U.S. navy back to continue joint coastal patrols against foreign vessels.

China effectively controls access to the 150-square-kilometer shoal, a prime fishing ground 198 kilometers away from Masinloc.



Boats from China, Taiwan and Vietnam use illegal techniques such as explosives and bright nighttime lights to draw fish said Cattigay .



Vessels from China are roaming there and they are not authorizing the Philippines to go there, he said as he gestured into the South China Sea just west of his outdoor workspace next to the major Masinloc fish market. Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, they are all there.



Nowadays fish is not [like] before, its fairly limited because of so many people using illegal fishing, most especially the other countries using super lights, he said.



Declining stocks plus pressure from China have prompted many of citys roughly 3,000 registered fishermen to fan out along the Philippine coast or try to make it on catches of smaller fish. Nationwide, millions of people live off the sea.



Just three 40-person Philippine vessels from Masinloc, a city of 49,000 people, regularly trawl around Scarborough Shoal, said a city government fisheries staff person who did not want to be identified. The city doesnt tell them to stay away from Scarborough Shoal but a lot avoid it anyway because of the risks, he said.

China has two patrol boats at the shoal and bars Filipinos from entry, fishermen say. China began occupying Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcropping visible above the waves, in 2012 after a tense standoff with the Philippines that soured relations until Duterte took office in June.



China claims more than 90 percent of the wider South China Sea. Some of that claim clashes with a Philippine exclusive economic zone from Masinlocs Luzon Island south to Palawan.



Taiwan also calls the whole 3.5 million-square-kilometer resource-rich sea its own. Vietnam has a smaller claim, but like China has landfilled some of the seas islets near fisheries and undersea fossil fuel exploration sites.

Vietnamese fishing boats have been seen near the Philippine coast about 48 km offshore, the city staff person said.



Two hours into the sea are Vietnamese, five boats finding octopus and fish, two hours, there, said Roy Sevilla, 34, a Masinloc fisherman of 20 years as he pointed northwest from his boat moorage under a dilapidated pier.

Other people along the clear waters and mangrove tree-lined coasts of Masinloc work in groups to gut, dry and sell fish just a few inches long rather than prizes such as tuna or lapu lapu. On Tuesday, vendors at the public market were selling mainly small squid and eels.



Fishing closer to the coast of the city northwest of Manila fetches just three tons of fish per trip, down from the 10 to 15 tons he would expect from Scarborough Shoal, veteran fisherman Butch Ortega said.

We have the Chinese patrol, so we cannot go, said Ortega as he stood knee deep in the water tending to a boat.

Dutertes engagement with China, he believes, has not covered access to Scarborough.

Last month the president said his country had no way of fighting China if it went ahead with plans reported by Chinese media to build a monitoring station on the shoal. He also has not moved on a proposal announced last year to declare the shoal a marine sanctuary.

From May through August, Beijing is scheduled to declare a fishing moratorium over much of the sea. Masinloc locals say theyre unlikely to observe it and that China does not now turn their boats away from disputed tracts outside the shoal.

But Chinese naval, coast guard and fishing vessels may overwhelm the sea in ways that Southeast Asian claimants cannot hope to match, said Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Philippines, the island of Borneo and the Natuna Islands of Indonesia would feel Chinese enforcement of the moratorium, Poling said. Malaysia and Brunei compete with China for rights to tracts of the sea north of Borneo.

Theyll be swamping waters off the coast of Borneo and off the Natunas and then theyll also presumably be pushing the Philippines out of places like the Scarborough Shoal, he said. What the Chinese want here is for the Southeast Asians to just stop resisting, just accept the new world order in Asia centered around China and Chinas historic rights.

An association of fishing boats from Zambales province, including Masinloc, have drafted a resolution to Duterte, the coast guard commander said. They want the president to let U.S. naval vessels resume helping the Philippines, which is militarily weaker than China, patrol the coastlines.

The coast guard alone lacks resources to patrol for foreign boats, he said, advocating more help from Washington. Filipino fisherman also use illegal techniques to catch fish, he added.



A stronger friendship with China may generate more aid and investment for the Philippines, analysts in Manila say, but may ultimately anger Filipinos who want their leader to safeguard national territory.
A new poll released Tuesday shows Americans attitudes toward China are improving over years past, before a planned meeting later this week between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

The timing of the polls release appears to be good news for Xi, whose visit coincides with the highest U.S. China favorability rating since 2011. According to the Pew Research Center poll, 44 percent of Americans say they view China favorably, up from 37 percent last year.

Between 2012 and 2016, the approval rating hovered between 37 and 38 percent.

According to the report accompanying the poll, these shifts in views of China are taking place amid improving assessments of the U.S. economy. It said the number of Americans who are concerned about the large amount of U.S. debt held by China and the number of jobs lost to China has dropped significantly since 2012.

According to the Pew report, 78 percent of Americans saw the large amount of debt as a serious problem in 2012. In 2017 that number dropped to 60 percent. Similarly, 61 percent saw the trade deficit as a serious problem in 2012, compared to 44 percent in 2017.

The trade deficits and job losses to China played a large role in Trumps run for president, he repeatedly accused China of killing U.S. jobs while using its debt holdings to bolster its own economy.

Trump has predicted the talks with Xi will be difficult, due to the massive trade deficit with China. Hes also threatened to use the crucial U.S.-China trade ties to put pressure on China to do more to rein in North Korea.

In an interview with the Financial Times Sunday, he said if China doesnt solve the problem, we will.

The poll showed Americans are less threatened today Chinas military strength than they are by Chinas economic powers. Fifty-two percent of Americans said they were more concerned about Chinas economy, compared to 36 percent who said they were more concerned about the countrys military strength.

It also showed a clear division between older Americans, who were more likely to view China unfavorably, and younger Americans. According to the Pew poll, 57 percent of 18-29 year-olds view China favorably, while 37 percent hold a negative view of the country.

Among those above 50 years old, 36 percent view China favorably, while 55 percent view the country negatively.

The poll was conducted between February 16 and March 15. Pew Research estimates its margin of error at three percentage points.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the North Korea nuclear issue later this month.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters Monday that Tillerson's briefing to member states will take place April 28  well after this week's summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida.

"I think a lot is going to depend on what happens between now and the end of the month," Haley said at a news conference marking the U.S. assumption of the U.N. Security Council presidency for April. "Because with the conversations we are having and the decisions China makes, that will really spell out where at least the U.S. wants to go."

Haley said the two leaders' summit "will be very, very important" on a number of levels, but particularly on the issue of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The rogue nation has stepped up its ballistic missile tests and conducted five nuclear tests in the past decade. Experts say a sixth nuclear test could happen soon.

"I think 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 are concerned about North Korea," Haley said. "I think this administration wants to see them act, and I think they are going to pressure them to do that."

She said China hopefully will respond favorably. "That's the goal of this weekend, is to make sure that China shows that they are willing to act on North Korea because we know at the end of the day, the only one that North Korea is really going to respond to is China," Haley said.

In an interview with London's Financial Times, Trump said that if China is not going to solve the problem of North Korea, "we will."

"China has a great influence over North Korea," he told the newspaper. "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."

Haley said the discussions between presidents Trump and Xi also will cover economic issues, but that "the way that the weekend will go will very much depend on how that conversation with North Korea is."

"The president has made it very clear that he needs to see actions from China," she said.
The presidents of Russia and Belarus said on Monday they had resolved all disputes over energy, signaling a rapprochement at a time when both leaders are grappling with street protests and the threat of new Western sanctions hangs over Minsk.

At a meeting in St. Petersburg, held while the Russian city was reeling from a deadly bombing on a metro train, Russia agreed to refinance Belarus' debt while Belarus will pay back more than $720 million in arrears for gas supplies.

According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia will also renew oil supplies to Belarus of 24 million tons a year and Russia's Gazprom will give Belarus discounts on gas supplies in 2018 and 2019.

It is an abrupt departure from their recent squabbles and suggests Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko is moving his country back towards Moscow's orbit after a period of courting closer ties with the West.

"Today we have no differences remaining. We will move ahead, we will strengthen our relations within the framework of the union state," President Vladimir Putin said at a joint news conference.

Putin said their two governments would implement the two leaders' agreement within the next 10 days, and that a "road map" had been agreed for energy cooperation up to 2020.

Russia and Belarus are traditional allies but relations became strained after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014, a move Lukashenko described as a "bad precedent."

Russia cut the subsidies it uses to keep its one-time Soviet vassal afloat, worsening an economic downturn in Belarus that fueled a wave of unrest against Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state for nearly a quarter of a century.

Lukashenko's blunt suppression of street demonstrations has threatened to undo his efforts to court the West and risks the return of European Union sanctions that were mostly lifted just over a year ago.

The Russian authorities have also cracked down on street protests that broke out in March against corruption.

"We see what's happening around us, and we just want to preserve the stability of Russia and Belarus," said Lukashenko.

"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."

At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 were injured when an explosion tore through a train carriage in a St. Petersburg metro tunnel in what authorities called a probable terrorist attack.
Saudi Arabia says it is intensifying cooperation with the United States in fighting Islamic State militants  a move driven by pressure on Riyadh but also its warming ties to a new U.S. administration that shares Saudi concerns about Iran.



Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir touted his nations role in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, or IS, on a visit to Washington last month. Speaking alongside his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Jubeir said Riyadh is intensifying its work with the coalition, flying what he called the second largest number of sorties over Syria, after the U.S.



The U.S. Defense Department says the U.S.-led coalition carried out 7,840 airstrikes on IS targets in Syria as of March 28, as part of an operation that began in August 2014. It says U.S. warplanes conducted all but 371 of those strikes, with the remainder conducted by 11 other nations: Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE.

Non-military efforts



Riyadh also has been highlighting its campaign to stop the flow of Saudi money and recruits to IS. A July 2016 fact sheet posted on the website of the Saudi embassy in Washington says Riyadh is a co-chair, with the U.S. and Italy, of the Counter ISIL Finance Group, a coalition established in 2015 to disrupt IS financing.



Other anti-IS steps spotlighted in the Saudi fact sheet include the arrests of 2,800 terror suspects since 2015 and an aggressive public education campaign by official clerics  to discredit the group. Tillerson acknowledged the Saudi assistance to the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition when he addressed coalition representatives in Washington on March 22, saying Saudi Arabia and Egypt in particular have important roles to play in combating the message of IS and other radical Islamic terrorist groups.



One reason for the U.S. emphasis on Saudi Arabias important role could be that Riyadh has long faced accusations of fueling the rise of IS in the years before Saudi forces started fighting the group. Critics say the strict form of Islam historically backed by the Saudi ruling family, Wahhabism, served as an inspiration to IS. They also say Riyadh has not done enough to stop the minority of Saudis who support IS from transferring cash to the group.

The Saudis used to support extremist groups for various reasons  there is no doubt about it, said Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the U.N., in an interview with VOAs Afghan service in Washington. And they admit to that.



Abbas Kadhim, a foreign policy analyst at SAIS-Johns Hopkins, believes Saudi Arabia wants to clean up its image. Going after IS is part of trying to divert attention from how involved they have been in the genesis of this evil, Kadhim told VOA Persian in a separate interview.



Saudi officials see such criticism as unfair and point to the domestic crackdown on Islamist militancy as proof of their counter-terrorism agenda.



The Saudi king and his son, the deputy crown prince, have stated clearly that they regard Sunni Islamist extremism as a threat to themselves, Khalilzad said. They are embracing modernization and seeking to distance from the extremist groups, but this is going to take a long time, given their mixed record.

Regional conflicts



Kadhim said another factor driving Riyadhs desire to bolster the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition is that the Sunni forces of Saudi Arabia are stretched as they fight Sunni IS militants in Syria and Iranian-backed Shiite militants in other regional conflicts. The Saudis are bogged down on several fronts right now (besides Syria)  one of them is Yemen and the other is Bahrain, he said.



A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting in Yemen since March 2015, using airstrikes and naval forces against Iran-allied Shiite Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict. Riyadh also sent hundreds of ground troops to Bahrain in 2011 as part of a Gulf Cooperation Council force to help the island nations minority Sunni rulers suppress a sometimes violent uprising by majority Shiites. The GCC force remains in place.



In his March 23 remarks alongside Tillerson, Saudi foreign minister Jubeir said Riyadh is always looking for ways to expand this (anti-IS) coalition. Kadhim said Jubeir was sending an underlying message. When Saudis want to bring in other allies, it is just a way to say, we really have given everything when we can give - now it is time to recruit more allies to give you what we cannot provide. 

New US administration



In its first two months, the Trump administration has had several high-level contacts with Saudi leaders, signaling a U.S. desire for a closer Saudi partnership after ties cooled under President Barack Obama, who irked Riyadh by pursuing dialogue and a nuclear deal with its regional foe, Iran.



Khalilzad said President Donald Trumps tougher stance toward Iran has created an opening for U.S.-Saudi cooperation. There is a fear in this administration that Iran is becoming too hegemonic, that it is destabilizing the region by supporting militia groups, weakening states and increasing the chance of producing vacuums in which terrorism can grow, he said. So to have a balance of power in the region, the U.S. is strengthening support for Saudi Arabia and other states in the region such as Israel.



But the warming U.S.-Saudi relationship has not removed all disagreements about fighting terrorism, according to Thomas Lippman, an American journalist and analyst at Washingtons Middle East Institute. The Saudi view of what groups are dangerous militants and what groups are simply fighting the good fight is not necessarily the same as ours, he told VOA Persian.



A February report by the Belgium-based International Crisis Group said the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has engaged in tacit alliances with Sunni fighters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or at least turned a blind eye to them, as long as they have assisted in attacking the common enemy  namely, the Shiite Houthis. Washington considers AQAP a terrorist group. A Saudi interior ministry official downplayed the significance of the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida last month, saying it has been weakened by attacks from various adversaries.



Americans have been asking for generations, what is the value of this partnership with a country, Saudi Arabia, whose social, educational, religious and political values are so antithetical to our own, Lippman said. And the answer has always been the same -- they have something we need, we have something they need. Its a transactional partnership and as long as the al-Saud family is in power, it will continue.



This report was produced in collaboration with VOAs Persian Service, Afghan Service and Mehdi Jedinia of VOAs Extremism Watch Desk.
Observers warn piracy is making a comeback along the coast of Somalia, after gunmen hijacked two ships in 48 hours and took them to an area known as a pirate haven.

On Monday, pirates hijacked a Pakistani boat, Salama 1, soon after seizing an Indian-owned boat, MSV Al Kausar.

The mayor of Hobyo, a town on the central Somali coast, tells VOA Somali the Al Kausar, with 11 crew members, is now anchored off the nearby village of El Hur. The Salama 1 was reportedly headed to the same area with an unknown number of crew.

Hobyo was a central base for Somali pirates who hijacked dozens of ships for ransom earlier this decade.

Mayor Abdillahi Ahmed Ali says his town has rested from piracy but now fears the hijackers have re-emerged to cause more problems.

"Piracy is back," said Ali. Things cant be the same; we need to have consultations on how to confront it.

The Salama 1 hijacking was the fourth piracy attack in three weeks. On March 13 pirates hijacked the Sri Lankan-flagged oil tanker Aris 13. It was taken to the coast of Alula town in Puntland but released three days later, after regional Somali forces threatened force. No ransom was paid although local officials said the pirates were given immunity from prosecution.

Then, on March 24, pirates seized the MV Casayr, a Somali fishing boat, to use as a "mother ship" to attack other ships at sea. Ten Yemeni crew aboard the boat were reportedly dumped on shore.

The former director of intelligence in Somalia's Puntland region, Abdi Hassan Hussein, agrees piracy is re-emerging in the region. He says there are organized groups in advanced preparations to conduct attacks.

There are more than eight groups who are want to engage piracy activities, some of them already went into the sea, some are in preparation and some have already carried out attacks, Hussein told VOA Somali.

It [piracy] may increase in the coming days if the Somali government and the international community fail to take action to prevent these incidents."

Hussein believes Yemenis are involved in piracy, supplying the Somali pirates with logistics such as vessels, weapons, ammunition, GPS, fuel and engines. He said the Yemenis who are helping the Somali pirates are taking advantage of the chaos in their own country.

The Yemenis are not the pirates but they are facilitating it, they are investors, Hussein said.

Hijackings had disappeared

At their peak in the early 2010s, Somali pirate gangs were responsible for hundreds of attacks on commercial ships traveling in the Gulf of Aden, the western Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

According to annual reports compiled by the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates hijacked 49 ships in 2010 and took more than 1,000 crew members hostage. The pirates and their backers sometimes split windfalls of over $5 million for the release of a ship and its crew.

But Somali piracy virtually disappeared just three years later, after international navies began regular patrols of shipping lanes and ships took new security measures, in some cases carrying armed guards on board.

In all of 2016, the IMB recorded only two pirate attacks near Somalia, neither of which resulted in a hijacking.

So far, the pirates have not made any demands in regards to the two newly-captured ships. Both are believed to be commercial dhows that were carrying goods to Somalia.

Ali said local elders have opened talks with pirates on the Indian boat, and said he wants the Somali government and regional officials to help secure the release of the boat and crew.

We will exercise whatever means possible to make sure to release those innocents being held by the pirates, Ali said.
Authorities in southern Somalia are searching for four men working on a polio vaccination campaign who were kidnapped by suspected al-Shabab militants.

The two aid workers and two drivers, all Somali nationals, were abducted Sunday near the town of Luuq in the Gedo region. They were believed to be working on a program funded by the World Health Organization but hired by local authorities.

"The two aid workers were busy mobilizing the people and preparing children for vaccines," said Mohamed Hussein Ganey, the chairman of Luuq.

The men were well known in the city. Authorities say they are working to make sure the men are returned unharmed.

"We are trying to free them, but we don't know a place to go. They are taking them to a new direction," Ganey told VOA's Somali service Tuesday. "This is unfortunate, and other aid workers are shocked. There is insecurity and risk for everyone."

The WHO's Somalia branch said it heard reports of an incident near Luuq, but did not believe it involved WHO staff members.

"We received reports of a security incident involving one or more members of the local community hired by local authorities for polio vaccination campaigns. According to our information, no WHO staff was involved in the incident," WHO Somalia said in a written statement.

Colonel Deeq Abdi Khaliif, commander of the Somali army in Luuq, says the workers were in their homes Sunday when gunmen broke in, took them by force and drove them to a remote area.

"At 4 a.m. local time, Maganey village, close to Luuq, was attacked by gunmen from al-Shabab, and [they] kidnapped the ... men who were contractors for WHO. We are now pursuing them to free the abducted men," Khaliif told VOA's Somali service.

Before the kidnapping, the aid workers had received death threats indicating that al-Shabab objected to what they were doing. The al-Qaida-linked extremist group has not allowed polio vaccination programs in districts it controls.

The group has also spread false rumors that the vaccines contain the AIDS virus or cause sterility. The campaign has led some parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated.

Despite efforts by international organizations to eradicate the disease, polio outbreaks persist in Somalia. A 2015 WHO report said that 420,000 children living in parts of Somalia not under government control had not been vaccinated.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged his administration's support for Egypt's effort to defeat terrorism and violent extremist groups. During a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi Monday at the White House, Trump also spoke of his plans to increase spending on U.S. defense to meet the terrorist threat.
President Donald Trump is to host Chinese President Xi Jinping beginning Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the southern United States. But the atmosphere may not turn out to be as warm as the Florida weather.



Trump telegraphed on Twitter his prognosis for his first encounter with China's president, saying it will be a very difficult discussion, since the U.S. can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses.

At a White House meeting last week, Trump told U.S.-based manufacturers they will find it interesting to watch his meeting with Xi.

I look very much forward to meeting him and the delegation. And we'll see what happens, Trump said.

The Chinese leader likely won't arrive empty-handed.



I foresee that the Chinese will send Xi here with a pretty large and generous gift package, in terms of domestic infrastructure investment here in the United States, and help President Trump to create jobs that he had promised to the voters, Stimson Center Senior Associate Yun Sun told VOA.

'Something crazy could happen ...'

Some China watchers caution that not everything may go according to script, as this early in the Trump administration much is still unwritten.

Something crazy could happen unexpected, certainly. You know one tweet could change the trajectory of the meeting to some extent, says Scott Kennedy, deputy director of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). But I expect it's going to be a lot of complaining without a lot of negotiation, specifically, and then the Chinese will leave nervous, anxious. And eventually the other shoe will drop.

There is a significant chance Trump makes a comment which Xi could read as a shift in U.S. policy, predicts Cato Institute policy analyst Eric Gomez. However, given Trump's struggle with facts I suspect that Xi will also place greater value on U.S. actions rather than words.

Gomez tells VOA considering the new administration's demonstration that its word is not always its bond, Xi would be foolish to take every statement at face value.

There is also a perception, both in Washington and Beijing, of an ideological split in the Trump White House between a nationalistic-driven, anti-China faction and a more pragmatic group, especially in terms of trade policy.

Meeting a test for Trump



Some analysts see Xi's primary goal during the visit is to get a sense of the man in the White House with whom he'll be presumably negotiating for years to come.

This is really to test Donald Trump's mettle, says Harry Kazianis, who directs defense studies at The Center for the National Interest.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has noted several big problems between the United States and China.



Everything from the South China Sea to trade to North Korea. There are big issues of national and economic security that need to get addressed, he told reporters. And I think there's going to be a lot on the table when it comes to that over the two days that they will talk.

The president, before getting to the White House last year, talked tough about China. He vowed punitive trade measures. But there has been no such action, so far.

The 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the United States  that has not happened. The currency-manipulator label that he promised has not happened, notes Yun.

One China policy

China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, sent White House senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who is the president's son-in-law, drafts of a joint statement the two countries could issue at the conclusion of the summit, according to The New York Times.

Close attention will be paid to any final wording on the One China policy  a highly volatile issue for Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.

The United States switched it diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. But the policy was recently thrown into disarray when Trump accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president.

Xi reportedly would not get on the phone with Trump until the U.S. president reaffirmed the policy.

Trump's America-first agenda and desire to reduce Washington's global leadership comes as China is extending its reach around the world, noted the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language daily in Hong Kong, in an article headlined Trump vs Xi: prepare for a clash of views on big global issues.

Watch related video report

Some Trump stances favor China

The Trump administration is actually viewed as taking some stances helpful to China's goals, such as withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and, so far, it has not authorized any freedom of navigation exercises in the disputed South China Sea waters and airspace Beijing claims as its own. It has kept in place, however, some Obama administration polices Beijing does not like, such as reaffirming Washington's defense treaty with Tokyo that covers the Senkaku islands, held by Japan and claimed by China.

On the navigation patrols by the U.S. military, which China deems provocative, I wouldn't be surprised if the new administration would look to take more robust measures than the Obama administration, says Andrew Small, senior Transatlantic fellow with the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

But on territorial issues during the meeting in Florida this week, Small on VOA's Encounters program, predicted there won't be a consensus reached on this.

'Trade is the wild card'

It is a region, however, where the United States retains tremendous leverage due to its vast alliance relationships that have withstood the test of time, compared to China only being able to point to North Korea as a significant ally, said Kazianis on the same VOA program.



But America's reputation in the Asia-Pacific region has been somewhat tarnished with the Trump Administration's rejection of the TPP.



Im afraid China is the winner out of this new trade policy, laments Small.

Trade is the wild card. If the administration takes the very hardline positions that Trump promised during the campaign, then America's China policy would be much more confrontational than it was under the Obama administration, says Gomez at the Cato Institute.

The senior advisor on China at CSIS, Christopher Johnson, expresses concern that top Chinese government officials regard the U.S. president akin to an Asian businessman or a potentate, with whom they can sort of have a very transactional relationship.



That caricature-like assessment could lead to disappointment for Xi, cautions Johnson, who expects President Trump to stand firm when it comes to his belief on the trade imbalance.

Kazianis agrees, predicting that when it comes to trade President Trump in private is going to take a very hard line.
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) The strike by resident doctors, protesting against the assault on a colleague by allegedly the relatives of a patient, in West Delhis Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital entered its second day today.

The strike affected the services in the hospital, including the emeregency which is being run by a few senior doctors with help of skeletal staff.

advertisement

Resident doctors of some other Delhi government hospitals today extended support to the protest by observing a "token strike" in their respective hospitals.

The resident doctors yesterday went on an indefinite strike after one of their colleagues and hospital guards were allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient on Sunday.

Three persons have been arrested in the case and it was found that one of the accused had served as a guard in the hospital before. He alleged that his wife was not attended by the doctors in time.

The strike affected the services in the hospital as the out-patient department (OPD) remained shut and 40 routine surgeries were cancelled yesterday.

The protest by doctors comes barely two weeks after resident doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against a series of assaults on doctors.

President of the resident doctors association at DDU hospital, Sumit Paria said the incident occurred around 11 PM on Sunday when a woman came to the emergency with complaints of abdomen pain.

"She was given primary treatment and was sent to the labour room for examination. As it was taking some time, the relatives of the patient demanded the doctors examine their patient first.

"They then suddenly started abusing the doctors and even assaulted the senior resident doctor on duty," Paria said.

According to Paria, the group of people appeared after a few minutes and started beating the guards standing in front of the emergency door.

When the senior resident doctor intervened, he too was beaten up.

"Other female doctors in the emergency department locked themselves in toilets and the room of chief medical officer. The door to the CO office was broken down by the relatives. We do not know the cause of the assault as the pregnant woman they were with had already been sent to the labour room," he added.

The protesting doctors are demanding enhanced security at the hospital premises.

"Their representation has been forwarded to the Health Secretary. The patient was attended and her problems were solve. So the reason for such an aggression is not known," Dr A K Mehta, the medical superintendent of the hospital said.

advertisement

Dr Sanjay, CMO, DDU Hospital had given a written complaint wherein he alleged that the attendants of the patient Pooja attacked and physically assaulted special security guard Vikram Chauhan and a senior doctor Shashank Srivastav while on duty.

The accused had also damaged property.

A case was registered at Hari Nagar police station and three accused Amresh Kumar, Mukesh and Nirmal Kumar were arrested and sent to judicial custody.

Amresh had worked as a guard at the hospital and he claimed that his wife was not attended to properly. PTI PLB AAR

--- ENDS ---
After his press secretary blasted it as an example of rampant government overreach, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Monday that could eventually allow internet providers to sell information about their customers' browsing habits.



The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information. Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.



The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.



With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalized in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.





Internet companies like Google don't have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.



White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the president's support for the bill was part of a larger effort "to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth.''



"The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others,'' picking the winners and losers, he said.



Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.



Undoing the regulation leaves people's online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information  but it doesn't spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.



The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.



Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.



Broadband providers don't fall under the trade commission's jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.



Trump signed three other bills Monday, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.
U.S. President Donald Trump is suggesting that Susan Rice, the national security adviser for his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, spied on conversations Trump aides had with foreign nationals last year and sought to unmask their identities for political gain, an allegation Rice said Tuesday was "absolutely false."

Rice, in an interview with MSNBC, said there is no truth to Trump's claim a month ago that Obama wiretapped him, an allegation also widely debunked by U.S. lawmakers and intelligence officials. But Trump, in a string of Twitter comments the last two days, has approvingly cited news accounts alleging that Rice "ordered spy docs on Trump."

Rice said that in her key White House posting she reviewed U.S. intelligence reports on a daily basis. She added it was "not uncommon" for her to ask intelligence gatherers to reveal the name of a U.S. individual captured as talking with foreign agents during routine surveillance.

She said the same information was then provided to country's secretary of state, defense secretary and director of national intelligence as part of their jobs to protect U.S. national security.

Rice said none of the information was used in any political context against the Trump campaign in his run for the White House last year. She denied one U.S. media account that she had compiled "a spreadsheet" of the names of Trump officials purportedly captured by the eavesdropping. Rice said "nothing of the sort" existed, but that it was "possible" that some Trump aides were picked up as part of the "incidental collection" of the eavesdropping.

Some lawmakers have called for Rice to testify before congressional panels investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. election in an effort to help Trump win, but Rice, in the interview, declined to commit to her testifying.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he would not weigh in on who should testify. But he said of Rice, "I do think there is a sharp contrast between a few weeks when she was very public in saying she quote had nothing, didnt have any clue" about surveillance reports... And yet now were finding out that you know, she is trying to figure out how she can go through some kind of friendly way of-of discussing this.

In one tweet Monday, Trump said, "There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented."

Trump has not produced any evidence to support his wiretapping claim, and recently has said that his allegation was meant to refer more broadly to Obama-era surveillance of him and his aides during the long presidential campaign that culminated in his unexpected victory in last November's election.

Officials familiar with U.S. national security operations say that as the country's national security adviser, Rice had the legal authority to monitor routine U.S. eavesdropping of foreign officials' calls with Americans. But the names of Americans involved in the calls cannot be legally disclosed and none have been, other than that of another former national security adviser, retired U.S. Army General Michael Flynn.

Trump ousted Flynn in February after just 24 days on the job when eavesdropping showed that Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington in the weeks before Trump assumed power.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded earlier this year that Russia meddled in the U.S. election in an effort to help Trump defeat his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now, the country's top law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is probing whether Trump aides criminally colluded with Russian agents to boost Trump's chances of winning.

In addition, the intelligence committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are conducting investigations about the Russian interference in the election and contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian agents.
The U.N. refugee agency warns a lack of funding is threatening life-saving assistance for millions of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them. In advance of a ministerial pledging conference in Brussels, the UNHCR is appealing to the international community to support the United Nations' multi-billion-dollar appeal.

Syrias war, which has entered its seventh year, has reached another tragic milestone. A few days ago, the UNHCR reported the number of Syrians who have fled to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey now tops 5 million.

These refugees and many others who have made the perilous journey to Europe and beyond are in desperate need of aid; but, the UNHCR warns all face drastic cuts in life-saving assistance because there is no money to support them.

Agency spokesman Babar Baloch says the United Nations has received just 9 percent of the $4.6 billion it needs to help refugees and host communities in the five neighboring countries as well as more than 13 million Syrians living inside Syria. Of this appeal, he says the UNHCR requires $1.4 billion for operations this year.

Things are getting quite desperate. If the funding support is not there, children may not be going to the schools. Services, basic services like shelter, water, sanitation, health may also suffer, he says.

Baloch says U.N. agencies are pinning their hopes on the ministerial conference that opens in Brussels Wednesday. He tells VOA he hopes the world will realize that much is at stake for the Syrian refugees and will respond to their needs.

Let us not forget that the host communities have been stepping forward shouldering this burden. We cannot leave the region alone to take care of these refugees. Turkey has around 3 million, one million in a small country like Lebanon as well. A majority of these refugees are women and children, Baloch says.

U.N. agencies say all areas of assistance will be curtailed this year without adequate funding. They warn food and cash assistance to the refugees will be reduced or cut by mid-year, threatening the stability and security of the region.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the country's top law enforcement official, has ordered a sweeping review of federal consent decrees reached with local police departments aimed at improving their relationships with the communities they serve, to see if they hinder tough law enforcement.

Since 2009, when former President Barack Obama was in office, the U.S. Justice Department that Sessions now heads had opened investigations into the practices of 25 law enforcement agencies and was enforcing agreements it reached with 14 of them.

But Sessions, who has often attacked the effectiveness of the decrees reached by Obama law enforcement officials, ordered key aides to review the agreements to see whether they meet the law enforcement aims of President Donald Trump, including one declaring that "the individual misdeeds of bad actors should not impugn the work police officers perform in keeping American communities safe.

The agreements reached in recent years with local police departments often came after civil unrest in which largely white police departments were accused of violating the rights of minorities in street confrontations. In some cases, later investigations showed that police had acted properly, while in other instances criminal charges were filed against police officers for the excessive use of force. Some of the criminal cases are still pending in U.S. courts.

Months-long investigations of the police departments often revealed underlying hostility toward minority, often poorer residents in their communities. The consent decrees sought to improve police-community relations through police outreach programs and better training.

Sessions's review, announced Monday, came as the Justice Department sought to delay a court hearing on a proposed consent decree with the Baltimore, Maryland police department in the eastern part of the country. It was a plan developed after street disturbances that stemmed from the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a black man arrested by police. He died a short time later while in police custody. Six police officers were charged with criminal wrongdoing in the incident, but three were acquitted, with the charges against the other three then dropped.

Baltimore officials said they opposed a delay in the court review of the city's consent decree.

The Justice Department said Sessions and "the new leadership... are actively developing strategies to support the thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country that seek to prevent crime and protect the public." It said the Justice Department "is working to ensure that those initiatives effectively dovetail with robust enforcement of federal laws designed to preserve and protect civil rights.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deeply regrets the United States decision to cut funding to the U.N. Population Fund, which provides life-saving care to millions of women and girls around the world.



The Trump administration said Monday it would no longer fund the program, because it has determined that it supports, or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China.



A spokesman for Guterres said Tuesday the U.N. chief believes this decision is based on an inaccurate perception of the nature and importance of the work of UNFPA" and he urged donors to increase their support for the fund.

In 2015, UNFPA received $979 million in total contributions for its work in more than 150 countries. The United States provided nearly $76 million to the funds core budget and specific programs and initiatives, making it one of the top international donors.



UNFPA issued its own statement Tuesday, rejecting the U.S. accusation that it supports coercive abortion and forced sterilization in China.



UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination, it said. Indeed, United Nations member states have long described UNFPAs work in China as a force for good.





For decades, China had a one-child policy for couples and last year revised it to a two-child policy, which it has been accused of using forced sterilization and abortions to enforce.



The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, UNFPA said. With previous United States contributions, UNFPA was combating gender-based violence and reducing the scourge of maternal deaths in the worlds most fragile settings, in areas of conflict and natural disasters, including Iraq, Nepal, Sudan, Syria, the Philippines, Ukraine and Yemen.



UNFPA provides family planning assistance to poor and vulnerable women.

According to the fund, in 2015 it helped 18 million women gain access to contraceptives and reproductive health services, preventing more than 12 million unintended pregnancies and 4.4 million abortions. It also works to reduce HIV/AIDS and end fistula and female genital mutilation.



We are very concerned about the Americans cutting the funds to the UNFPA, Swedens U.N. Ambassador Olof Skoog told reporters. We think UNFPA is doing a great job, we support them. We think they save lives of women and girls around the world, not least in the developing world.

Sweden is the top contributor to the funds core budget, giving more than $57 million in 2015 and an additional $32 million to specific initiatives.



The United Kingdom continues to support that part of the United Nations, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said when asked what he thought about the U.S. decision. Britain gave nearly $200 million to UNFPA in 2015.





U.S. reproductive health care provider Planned Parenthood slammed the Trump administration for putting politics before womens health.



The administration is once again relying on alternative facts to undermine women's access to health care, said Latanya Mapp Frett, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global. Instead of helping women, extreme politicians are cutting off access to the U.N. agency thats best positioned to prevent and reform coercive reproductive health practices.



She said withdrawing U.S. support would have a devastating impact on UNFPA and hurt the lives of the people they serve.

The Trump administration has resumed the so-called Mexico City Policy established by former president Ronald Reagan in 1984. The policy declared "the United States does not consider abortion an acceptable element of family planning programs and will no longer contribute to those of which it is a part."

The policy has been in effect for 17 of the past 32 years during every Republican administration, and rescinded under every Democratic one, including under Barack Obama.

One of the Trump policys expanded requirements is the United States not contribute to any organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.

In general, conservative Americans oppose abortion on demand, the so-called right to life, while liberal Americans support legal abortion, the so-called right to choose.
White House officials made a new offer to conservative House Republicans late Monday on the GOP's failed health care bill, hoping to resuscitate a measure that crashed spectacularly less than two weeks ago.

Vice President Mike Pence and two top White House officials made the offer in a closed-door meeting with members of the House Freedom Caucus, according to a participant. Opposition from the hard-line group, which has around three dozen conservative Republicans, contributed to circumstances that forced House Speaker Paul Ryan to withdraw the bill from a March 24 vote that would have produced a certain defeat.

Under the White House offer, states would be allowed to apply for waivers from several coverage requirements that President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law imposed on insurers.

These include an Affordable Care Act provision prohibiting insurance companies from declining to write policies for people with serious diseases. Conservatives have argued that such requirements have the effect of inflating insurance costs.

Freedom Caucus members said they wanted to see the White House offer in writing _ which is expected Tuesday _ before deciding whether to accept it.

Also at Monday's meeting were White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney. The participant spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private strategy session.

Another participant - Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. - said the group would make no decisions until it reviews the language but called the session a "good meeting" in a text message.

But Meadows also said, "There is no deal in principle" at this time.

It was unclear whether GOP moderates would accept the proposed changes. When Ryan, R-Wis., pulled the legislation from the House last month, he also faced opposition from moderate GOP lawmakers upset that it went too far with cuts in Medicaid coverage for the poor and higher premiums for many low earners and people in their 50s and 60s.

Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., a leader of the moderate House Tuesday Group, was among moderate lawmakers who met with officials at the White House on Monday, a GOP aide said.

The Freedom Caucus has drawn the most wrath from the White House for its opposition to the bill. Some fellow House Republicans have also criticized members of the conservative group, accusing them of inflexibility that led to the downfall of the bill to replace "Obamacare," a top GOP legislative priority.

Six days after the House bill crashed, Trump tweeted that the Freedom Caucus "will hurt the entire Republican agenda" if they don't start cooperating. He added, "We must fight them" in 2018, a reference to their re-election campaigns.

Several caucus members, who tend to represent safely Republican districts, tweeted back defiantly. But some have stressed a desire to move the legislation along if provisions are added that they believe would contain insurance costs.
South Sudanese army soldiers killed as many as 16 people in a town near the Ugandan border, witnesses said.

Hundreds of locals fled into Uganda following Monday's violence in the town of Parjok.

Witnesses said men wearing uniforms of the South Sudan army arrested more than 10 young people and executed them.

A deputy spokesman for the army, Brigadier General Santo Dominic, said the troops had killed people whom he described as "bandits."

The general told VOA's South Sudan in Focus that his forces had gone on the attack after he received reports that bandits were looting buildings and killing civilians.

Lam Paul Gabriel, deputy spokesman for the rebel SPLM-IO, said it was the soldiers who did the looting and killing. He said a community leader who went to rescue students trapped in a primary school was shot and killed by the army.

"They also went to a health unit and found a health worker, and he was slaughtered," Gabriel said. "They grabbed everything from the school, they destroyed the hospital completely, especially in the market center, and they destroyed all the shops and looted everything from the shops."

Both Dominic and Gabriel said 16 people had been killed.

Governor plans visit

Tobiolo Alberio Oromo, governor of Imotong state, said he didn't have enough information to report casualty figures, but he confirmed that South Sudanese troops were in Parjok conducting military operations.

"I received a call from one of the community leaders on the ground, and [he] informed me that there is fighting on the ground," he told VOA. "Then this morning I managed to get information, and they say the situation needs the state government to come in."

The governor said he was planning to visit the area to assess damages and determine what happened in Parjok.

"I want to make sure that I go to the area, and if people have fled the area, they must come back as well, as to ensure humanitarian workers assess the situation," he said.

Violence associated with South Sudan's three-and-a-half-year civil war has driven more than 1.6 million people out of the country, according to the latest statistics from the U.N. refugee agency. More than 750,000 are living in Uganda.
Monitors and civil defense workers alleged Tuesday that Syrian government or Russian warplanes carried out a toxic gas attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds more.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, a coalition of Western humanitarian and medical organizations, put the death toll at 100 with more than 350 injured.

Syrian opposition activists described the attack as among the worst in the country's brutal six-year civil war and the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, dubbed it a horrifying massacre.

Russia has "categorically denied" any role in the attack. Syria's government denied using chemical weapons against civilians.

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting discuss the incident on Wednesday morning.

The Idlib Media Center of pro-opposition activists and rescue workers known as the White Helmets posted video footage and still photographs of the aftermath of the airstrike on the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

The footage appeared to show a young girl hooked up to a ventilator and the bodies of several children being covered with a blanket.

In other videos, medics can be be seen trying to resuscitate a small girl and assisting adults struggling with breathing difficulties. One picture showed rescue workers placing the body of a man into the back of a truck.

Locals say they expect the death toll to rise.

People choked, vomited or fainted minutes after the attack, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group that gathers information from activists on the ground. The group said it had received initial reports of the attack from medics in the town.

The Observatory said at least 11 children are among the dead.

The French news agency (AFP) later reported from one of its journalists in Khan Sheikhoun that a missile slammed into a hospital where some of the victims were being treated, bringing rubble down on medics as they struggled to treat victims.

US reacts

In Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer condemned the "intolerable attack" and said the U.S. holds the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible. He also said the "heinous actions" of the regime were the result of "weakness" by the previous administration of Barack Obama.

The attack, which caught many of the towns residents sleeping in their beds, came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria hosted by the European Unions chief foreign affairs official, Federica Mogherini.

The Assad government has repeatedly denied that its warplanes carry out raids with chemical weapons. Last week, officials in the Syrian capital dismissed all such allegations as devoid of truth.

Government-owned media outlets suggested Tuesday that the airstrike may have hit a rebel chemical weapons factory or stockpile.

The Syrian National Coalition called Tuesday for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, blaming the airstrikes on the regime of the criminal Bashar. In a statement, it said government warplanes fired missiles carrying poisonous gas.

The coalition urged U.N. officials to "open an immediate investigation" and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable.

The reported attack on Khan Sheikhoun to the west of Aleppo and south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, is the third claimed chemical weapons attack in just over a week in Syria. Another two blamed on the Syrian government were reported in Hama province, not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Chemicals used

What chemical agent was used is not clear, but some opposition websites said highly toxic sarin gas may have been employed. Some medics working on the victims also pointed to sarin as the agent most likely used.

We have no doubt that this is a sarin attack, said Dr. Shajul Islam, a British medic working in a clinic, which received three of the victims. He posted a video on Twitter showing the victims with pinpoint pupils, which were unresponsive when light was shone on their eyes.



Omer Idlibi, a member of the opposition group Syria Revolutionaries, told VOA's Kurdish service "all the symptoms from the victims point to sarin gas. "The medical situation is very bad, due to the lack of hospitals and because the regime targeted all the field hospitals used for treating victims," he added.

A U.N. investigation found credible evidence that sarin was used in August 2013 attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians. In most alleged chemical weapons attacks since then, the agent thought to be used most often has been chlorine.

Rebel groups have also been accused in the past of using chlorine in rocket attacks, and the Islamic State terror group has been blamed for a mustard gas attack in Syria.

British medical expert David Nott told Britains Sky News he was unsure whether the agent used was chlorine or sarin but said if the latter, he would expect the death toll to climb rapidly.

New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian government of mounting eight chlorine gas attacks on insurgent-controlled areas during the final weeks of the battle for Aleppo last year.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog blamed the Syrian government for at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas.

Rebel groups walked out of Russian-brokered peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan earlier this month in protest at what they said were ongoing violations of a cease-fire.

Idlib province is one of the last redoubts of anti-Assad rebels and the United Nations estimates there are nearly a million displaced Syrians in the province, many from Aleppo.
We accept many different kinds of announcements. Just click on the button below and submit a form.

Go to forms
A plea by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, to end his 40-year -old rape case, has been rejected.

By Indo-Asian News Service: A judge in Los Angeles has rejected Oscar-winning filmmaker-actor Roman Polanski's plea to resolve his 40-year-old rape case.

Polanski's plea was heard on Monday, reports variety.com.

In a 13-page ruling, judge Scott Gordon found that Polanski cannot put the case behind him so long as he refuses to return to the US and submit to the court's jurisdiction.

advertisement

"Polanski cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it," Gordon wrote.

California courts have repeatedly held that Polanski cannot litigate the case from afar.

The famed director fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl. His attorneys have said that judge Laurence Rittenband engaged in misconduct by revoking on a pledge not to sentence Polanski to prison time, the website said.

Polanski is a citizen of France and is not subject to extradition there. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has repeatedly sought to extradite him when he travels to other countries but without success.

Resolving the case would allow the 83-year-old director to travel more freely and to return to the US.

The director didn't attend the 75th Academy Awards in 2003 when he was given the Best Director honour for The Pianist.

OPINION | Bernardo Bertolucci, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen: When will our idols understand consent?

ALSO WATCH: Oscars 2017 highs and lows, Moonlight-La La Land goof-up and Priyanka Chopra on the red carpet

--- ENDS ---
Although there was little to debate on in the meeting, the then powerful head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, closed with the following remarks:

"We have to prevent Castros victory" and he withheld from confessing that for several months, he had been taking radical measures in pursuit of this objective."

Right from the beginning, US espionage considered that the Cuban leader had such extraordinary qualities, that he was the lynch pin for the revolution to triumph. Because of this, accomplishing his physical elimination was a fundamental aim and sometime that US espionage had been plotting for more than 50 years, concocting 600 plans and attempts to attack the Commander-in-Chief.

While this meeting was taking place in Washington, the North American Aller

Robert Nye failed in his attempt to mislead the bearded men in the Sierra Maestra with his facade of youthful idealism and his insistence that would like to fight beside Fidel Castro. It was suspicious when with total immunity he evaded the siege of the army and presented himself in the rebel camp, hiding his true identity as an FBI agent and sniper, serving Fulgencio Batistas dictatorship.

Five days after that meeting of top officials in the North American government, Nye was arrested with a gun with telescopic vision, with which he confessed that he was contemplating assassinating the Commander-in-Chief, and this with the complicity of the Batista army and support from the North American secret services.

That Nye was neutralized so effectively was no fortuitous matter; it was due to the powers of discernment of the Revolutions top leaders. These men, right from the insurrectional stage, conceived work in the security domain and by August 1958, the then chief of the II Frente Oriental Frank Pais, Commander Raul Castro, established a Rebel Intelligence Service (the Spanish acronym for which is SIR) to investigate and to keep an eye on the internal and external security of the Revolutionary Army of 26 July.

With this fledgling rebel security service, the foundations were laid for the future Security Organs to maintain an indissoluble unity with the people. Its first mission was to guarantee the security of the revolutionary leaders, in particular, to preserve the life of the Commander-in-Chief.

Shortly after the triumph, on 13 January 1959, the repressive bodies run by tyranny were disbanded and by Fidels order, the Department of Investigation of the Revolutionary Army (the Spanish acronym for which is DIER) was established on the battlefield of Columbia. This would be nourished by members of the Rebel Army and the Clandestine Struggle, who for the most part, would be young, humble men, with a basic level of education, all under thirty.

Thursday, 26 March 1959 was a day of tremendous activity for the Intelligence Service of the Revolutionary National Police  one of the agencies that together with the DIER tackled enemy work. Why? Because on that day, a plan to assassinate Fidel was taken apart. And the Batistas that had fled to the US participated in this plan.

Some days later, another similar attempt remained without effect. This time with the consent of the Dictator Leonidas Trujillo, of the Dominican Republic, where they were preparing actions aimed at a similar end.

Then Fidel took the decision to merge the group of existing intelligence and counter-intelligence agencies existing at that time, into one body. These organs were the DIER, the National Revolutionary Police (G-2 PNR) and Marina de Guerra. The new organ preserved the name of the DIER, and 26 March is taken to be the date on which the State Security Organs were established.

Thus began a long history, bringing 58 years of victories for the security services of the first triumphant Revolution in the Western hemisphere, which would confront and would destroy dozens of strategies conceived by the CIA, for direct aggression, terrorism, criminal uprisings, plans for assassination and subversion against the island.

In actual fact, Allen Dulles, would only hold this position for less than three years after declaring at that meeting held in the Christmas period of 1958, the need to finish off Fidel and the Revolution. So Dulles devoted all his energies to trying to replicate the operation that put an end to the progressive regime of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954.

But defeat at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, sealed his fate and he had to abandon office that same year, defeated and humiliated. Little did he know that was only the beginning.
On the heels of the Lucca Comics (the International Festival of Comic Strips), from 10 -11 April the Tuscan city will host yet another international event, again fictional in nature. This will be the G7 Summit of Foreign Ministers.

This is the most important of the 11 meetings (taking place at Florence, Rome, Lucca, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Turin, Bergamo and Milan) with which the Gentiloni government in the year that Italy holds the presidency of the G7, prepares (without keeping an eye on the costs) the Summit that will take place at Taormina on 26 May and 27 May. The G7 consists of the 6 biggest Nato countries  the United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy  and Japan, the most important US ally and a Nato partner in the Asia Pacific region, where the Pentagon is lining up against China an increasing number of forces, including nuclear forces.

So what is taking place at Lucca with the G7, meeting to examine the current foreign policy and international security issues will in fact be a USA/Nato meeting. This will confirm what the foreign ministers of the Alliance have already said when they met in Brussels on 31 March [2017]: [the need] to ensure the security of Europe, placed in danger by a Russia that increasingly desires to assert itself and that, after the illegal annexation of Crimea, keeps on violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine with its aggressive actions.

This is why in 2014, Russia was suspended from the G8  or rather, the G7 which was enlarged in 1997 when Russia was allowed entry into this exclusive club [1]. The fundamental reason is that todays Russia is no longer in the deep crisis it was in the Nineties when under President Yeltsin, it was subject to the interests of Western Powers. Its internal and political fabric has now been reconstructed and it has created its own sphere of international relations, notably with China. So Russia, under President Putin, has regained the rank of a great power. This is why the US/Nato decided to use the Maidan Square putsch, and the attack on the Russians of Ukraine by Neo-Nazi militia armed and trained for this purpose, to trigger a chain reaction that brought the Cold War back to Europe, with an increasingly dangerous confrontation, also on the nuclear level.

At the same time, the G7 Foreign Ministers Summit will re-declare that the security of Europe is put in danger by what Nato defines as turbulence and violence in North Africa and the Middle East, in particular in Libya, Syria and Iraq and by the ensuing terrorism on our streets. This is the fiction.

The reality is that it is in fact the six Nato powers, represented at the G7 Foreign Ministers Summit, that are the chief culprits for all this turbulence and violence, provoked through the destruction of the Libyan State and by the attempt to destroy the Syrian state using the same blue print. Yet the latter attempt failed due to Russia intervening in support of the governmental forces and war resuming in Iraq. A planned offensive where (as concrete evidence documents) Islamic terrorism has been used to attack these states (ruled by secular governments) from within and to spread fear of attacks throughout Europe. This is targeted at justifying the projection of stability beyond our borders (confirmed at the Nato meeting held on 31 March), that is, the projection of other military forces in areas in Africa and the Middle East that are the most important, strategically and economically.

Following all this is the dramatic exodus of millions of persons that, uprooted from their lands, risk their lives (often losing them) to reach Europe. An exodus that was not a spur-of-the moment decision, but a planned with a clear mind, providing a strategic instrument to feed tensions and conflicts [2].

In the meanwhile, the G7 Foreign Ministers Summit will express concern and deep feeling for the drama, where the migrants are the chief protagonists.
Slowly, the Trump administration is organising its new Middle East policy.

After having reformed the National Security Council, after having exchanged intelligence with the Russian army, after having forbidden his men to continue to support the jihadists wherever they may be, and after having launched genuine attacks on them in Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Somalia, the new President of the United States has announced that he is putting an end to his countrys interference in Syrian politics.

The US ambassador to the Security Council, Nikki Haley, did not stop at announcing that overthrowing President el-Assad was no longer Washingtons  priority  - she clearly declared that only the Syrian people had the right to chose its own President. Her declaration was immediately confirmed by the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

In order to understand the progress this indicates, lets remember that since 2012, the Feltman plan has been working for the abrogation of the sovereignty of the Syrian People.

Let it be known  with Donald Trump, the White House has finally converted to democracy, in other words -  Government of the People by the People, for the People , according to the famous phrase of Abraham Lincoln. The United States are in the process of becoming a normal power. They are abandoning their imperialist ambition. They have renounced the Wolfowitz doctrine of global domination. They once again recognise that all Humans are born equal, whether they are Westerners or not.

The astonishment of the member states of NATO was as great as the measure of the event  and because since 9/11 they have been using the concept of democracy completely back to front, they said nothing.

Finally, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Marc Ayrault, spoke up.  The question is not to enquire whether or not we must throw Assad out , he declared.  The question is to know whether the imternational community will respect its own engagements . Translation -  The question is not to enquire what the Syrians want, but whether or not the United States and its allies (the  Friends of Syria ) will respect the promise of the Obama administration to re-establish a French mandate for Syria. 

For Francois Hollandes team, and since bad news never arrives alone, Ankara was the first to drop Paris. After a visit with Rex Tillerson, Erdogan announced that he was giving up the idea of creating a  safe zone  in Manbij and Rakka - an elegant way of admitting that he was unable to extend to Syria the illegal occupation that Turkey has maintained in Cyprus since 1974. So thats the end of the Franco-Turkish alliance.

In any case, the return of NATO to international law has begun. It joins the position of Syria, which has defended it with its own blood, and that of Russia and China, which protected them by seven successive vetos at the Security Council.

The next step is the one already taken by Syria in July 2012  that is, to convince the whole of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to stop manipulating international terrorism. That is to admit that the current version of the Muslim Brotherhood is not an Arab brotherhood at all, but a branch of the British Secret Services  and to recognise the fact that they are not Muslims, but hide behind the Qran in order to push forward the cause of Anglo-Israeli imperialism.
Clubhouse Gibraltar Acquires Employment Placement

Clubhouse Gibraltar have announced that they have started a new Transitional Employment Placement (TEP) at Central Clinic. The job placement covers general receptionist duties such as answering the telephone and general office duties.

A spokesperson for Clubhouse Gibraltar said, "Maxine Goodall is extremely pleased to have been given this opportunity which has helped to boost her self confidence and giving her a purpose in life. She has previous office experience and has also been instrumental in re-organising the reception work at Clubhouse. Her new employers are extremely pleased with her work."

"The goals of TEPs are to help members gain work experience, build up their confidence and self worth, establish current references, and thereby put them in a stronger position to fully rejoin society through paid work. Clubhouse members have a duty of responsibility to look after the placement to ensure the long term viability of the placement. Other Clubhouse members will be eagerly waiting for the possibility of being selected whilst also gaining experience and training of a similar nature at the Clubhouse. At the same time Employers are privileged to have the support of Clubhouse staff to provided job coverage and ongoing training on and off site."

Providing employment placements is one of the cornerstones of the Clubhouse model which is a restorative community for people who have a history of mental illness. Clubhouse philosophy is built on the belief that people can recover from severe mental illness to lead personally satisfying lives. Alongside this, a Clubhouse provides opportunities to help people develop to their full potential.

Clubhouse Gibraltar is continually looking for potential employers to discuss the possibility of a transitional or other employment opportunities.

"We are proud to offer a support structure that is second to none and are able to assist with matching member skills and personalities to different jobs. Additionally when the placement is terminated there will always be a suitable replacement available to give employers continuity, reliability and a seamless service."

If you would like to find out more about their Employment Program or discuss this further, Clubhouse have said they will be able to provide you with information and a presentation if desired. Employment is an essential part of recovery and wellness and they are asking the Community to be aware of their social responsibility.

'By enabling individuals to have an opportunity to work a few hours a week in a real employment you are helping them along the road to becoming productive citizens.'
Fabian Vinet on The European Councils Draft Guidelines

When Vox contacted me and asked for a comment on the content of the draft Guidelines published by the European Council in reply to Theresa Mays letter triggering the process that will deliver Britains divorce from the EU, I was glad to agree. For close to two decades and until shortly prior to entering politics, I contributed the then physical newspapers weekly Rock Around The Rock music column and so, for many years, its Editor, the late and always charismatic Eddie Campello, was a friend.

Times may have changed in the intervening years, but at least one thing has remained a constant: Gibraltars need - but also its ability - to defend what is rightfully ours; our determination to fight for what is right and fair; making our small voice heard in the face of the injustices some out there remain intent on imposing upon us.

The Chief Minister was of course entirely correct in describing the proposed singling out of Gibraltar - that is to say, the statement, currently in draft form, that post-Brexit agreements will only apply to Gibraltar with Spains consent - as unnecessary, unjustified and unacceptable. Such a clause would have been discriminatory even had Gibraltar overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU. The fact that the Council has wished to purposefully impose, at Spains behest, a proviso that specifically affects those of us who had most enthusiastically voted to retain our links with the European Union, merely serves to add insult to injury. It says more about the EUs institutions than it does of Spain. At this stage, however, and as unhelpful as the draft Guidelines are, the fact is that, until such time as they may or may not be formally adopted as the official position of the Council, they remain a draft and, as such, capable of amendment. It remains to be seen what diplomacy and the days to come will deliver.

What is a certainty is that the prospect of war is as unlikely as Spains approach is immature, hateful and selfish. Lord Howards comments linking the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar were clearly intended as a manifestation of Britains resolve in protecting our rights and our sovereignty. It is a moot point whether the vocal architecture - if I may call it that - was or not a little clumsy, but the former Conservative Party leader was simply articulating the firmness of Britains position regarding our sovereignty. Nothing more. The media elected to misconstrue the real message because, of course, a declaration of war sells more papers than supportive rhetoric.

Be that as it may, let us be clear. Nobody realistically believes Gibraltar's sovereignty is at stake. We are and will continue to be exclusively British. That will remain unchanged. Comments by the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and others on respecting our wishes and allaying any possible sovereignty-related concerns are, while welcome, not the full story. The real issue upon which the UK Government needs to placate concerns and fears is in ensuring the Rock is not left out of trade and other deals. It is on that point we need the strongest of UK assurances. Whether or not they will be forthcoming remains to be seen, but the fact that our Chief Minister appears to enjoy such an excellent, close working relationship with the UK Government at the highest levels is a positive that cannot be dismissed.

The positives do not necessarily end there. Eternal optimists for whom all clouds come equipped with a silver lining may form the view that Article 22 may not be such a bad thing, all things considered, and heres why: It has laid the cards on the table. It has galvanised support for Gibraltar. It has ensured the British government must now be seen to be defending our interests. There have been instances in the not too distant past where extensive negotiations have come close to breaking down literally at the eleventh hour, with Spain throwing a Gibraltar-shaped spanner in the works and the British either not having been able or willing to do their homework, resulting in the Rock being sacrificed for the sake of an agreement by midnight. This time, there can be no surprise. This time, everyone knows who we are dealing with. This time, it will be even less defensible to ignore Gibraltars needs and realities.
This week on the Vulture TV Podcast, we were both very excited to discuss the Big Little Lies finale, and very sad to say good-bye to the show, which has been a bright spot in a gloomy winter. We discuss how much of the finale plays out in silence, and why that was such a powerful choice for such a plot-driven episode. Plus, we give our thoughts on the murderer, the shows final image, and our general take on the alternately hilarious and moving series.



Tune in to the Vulture TV Podcast, produced by the Slate Groups Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please send us your burning TV questions! Tweet us @Vulture or email tvquestions@vulture.com.
Last night, Late Night With Seth Meyers welcomed extremely fake Breitbart spokesperson Jeffrey Sims to the show to offer a clear, concise analysis of the conservative media outlets approach to news. Which is tough, because normal phrasing and pronunciation just do not seem to gel with the Breitbart message. The absurd and surreal market, however? Jeffrey Sims has it covered. You wouldnt think a conversation that revolved in part around Milo Yiannopouloss infamous pedophilia-comment debacle would get that silly that fast  but, hey, thats Bop Bop News for you.
After news broke that Michael Flynn is willing to testify before a congressional hearing in exchange for immunity, Seth Meyers decided to take A Closer Look into the reasons why someone might want immunity. Flynn, President Trumps former national security adviser who left office after just 24 days after lying about communications with Russian officials, could want immunity for many reasons, but, according to a clip of a politically savvy talking head by the name of Michael Flynn, theres one real probable reason. When you are given immunity it means you probably have committed a crime, Flynn said on television. Of course, his old boss wasnt much help on this subject either. If youre not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for? Trump asked, before he knew someone he hired for his cabinet would eventually want it. If only they, and America, had a time machine.
US President Donald Trump offered the full support of the United States government in responding to the attack that killed 11 people and bringing those responsible to justice.

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. (Photo: Reuters)

By Reuters: A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and injured 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims.

advertisement

Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, whose door was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station.

TRUMP OFFERS CONDOLENCES

US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to offer condolences to the victims of the bomb blast, the White House said in a statement.

"President Trump offered the full support of the United States government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice," the statement said.

"Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated," it said.

Russia has in the past experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russia's North Caucasus region. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russia's military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for Islamic State attacks, security experts say.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

Earlier, Russian media had broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. But Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries.

The news agency, quoting an unnamed law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.

If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad in a fight against Islamist militants.

But some sections of Russian society may see the metro bombing as proof that Putin's decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets.

Two years ago, the Islamic State group said it brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.

advertisement

BLOODY FACES

Soon after the blast happened at 2:40 p.m., ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away an injured passenger.

"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," St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika, who said he was at the station where the blast happened, told Reuters by phone. "Many were crying."

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

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.

advertisement

Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion amplified 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."

ALL STATIONS CLOSED

Officials had earlier on Monday put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their injuries in hospital.

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 Russian-speaking 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.

advertisement

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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.

Also Read:

St. Petersburg metro blast: Putin says considering all causes including terrorism

St. Petersburg Metro bombings: 10 dead, 50 injured as 2 bombs rip through Metro coaches

--- ENDS ---
Before you ask: Yes, this is really the voice of Sharon Stone, the movie star. Say it loud: Stone loves Maxine Waters, and shes really proud. Because its 2017 and everything is a Mad Lib now, the Basic Instinct actress recorded a spoken-word poem sharing her respect for the California representative and calling out Bill OReilly for his racist, sexist joke at Waterss expense. Say it loud, Stone says. Shes strong and were proud. Stone shared the video on her Instagram account, confirming that she did the voice work, and crediting Shelly Goldstein for the lyrics and James Brown and Alfred Ellis for the original inspiration. Lets file this under: Her Heart Was in the Right Place.
Young Thug Photo: Albert Urso/Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows

Young Thug has reportedly been cleared of the felony gun and drug charges he faced after a 2015 police raid of his house in Sandy Spring, Georgia. According to TMZ, the rappers lawyers argued to the judge that the search warrant was improperly obtained and therefore the evidence and case should be thrown out. The judge agreed, clearing Young Thug of felony cocaine possession, felony marijuana possession, and three counts of felony gun possession.
The producer and main cast of the show recently conducted a Facebook live chat session with their fans, and let us just say, we now know quite a few things about the new season of the show.

By India Today Web Desk: The hugely popular show Sarabhai vs Sarabhai is making a return in our lives this summer. The main cast of the show recently conducted a live Facebook chat session along with the producer of the show, JD Majethia. And some secrets were revealed.

Interesting new characters

During the chat session, the producer introduced a new character called Guddu. Guddu will be introduced in the show as Sahil and Monisha's son.

advertisement

Apparently Guddu will be representing the quirkiest traits of the main cast.

And we will also get to see other new characters on the show. And they will all be as crazy as the main cast, the makers promised during the chat.

The more, the merrier!

Rosesh on hunt for a bride

Our momma's boy is still single. This time the search for Mrs Rosesh will be actively driven by Indravadan.

We can already see how this is going to end.

Producer and writer Aatish Kapadia to portray Kachha Kela

Yes, you read that right.

Remember when his character had recited a poem called Kaccha Kela?

Yeah. Now he is going to be one. We are as confused as you are, but it sounds fun, and we can't wait!

Deven Bhojani aka Dushyant will direct the show

Yes, the talented actor who essayed the role of the very technical Dushyant will be seen in a brand new avatar in the new season. Deven will be directing the show. And we are sure that he will do a great job of it.

Also read: Sarabhai vs Sarabhai to return this summer; full details inside

Rosesh the poet

Things sure have changed as far as the new season of the show is concerned, but one thing has remained constant. And thank God for that.

We are talking about Rosesh's first love---poetry.

In fact, Rosesh even recited a poem during the live chat session:

Aya Aya Sarabhai family phir se machane dhoom,

Sabki dhadkane karengi dhoom dhoom pat pat dhoom,

Puraane namoono ke saath naye bhi honge Hotstar par,

Together they willl fill the house,

Aur house dikhega cute-cute, gulu-gulu, jaise momma ka brocade blouse.

The show's new season will premiere on Hotstar.

--- ENDS ---
The U.S. Armys Jazz Ambassadors of Washington, D.C., will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Jones Concert Hall in Baylors Glennis McCrary Music Building.

The 19-member ensemble is the official touring big band of the U.S. Army. The bands diverse repertoire includes big band swing, bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, standards, popular tunes, Dixieland, vocals and patriotic selections.

The concert is free, but tickets are required. Tickets must be picked in the front lobby of the Glennis McCrary Music Building during regular business hours.

WMCRTA time correction

The Waco McLennan County Retired Teachers Association will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stilwell Retirement Center, 5400 Laurel Lake Drive.

The time was incorrectly listed in Mondays Briefly column.

Daryl Meyer, program director for Nurse Family Partnership at Baylor Scott and White Hillcrest, will be the guest speaker.

For more information, call Lynn Allen at 715-0934.

Kiwanis Seniors

The Waco Kiwanis Seniors will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Golden Corral, 618 N. Valley Mills Drive.

Amanda Herring, marketing manager for Heartis Senior Living, will be the guest speaker.

For more information, call Dick Rood at 399-0072.

Do Tell: True Stories

A Do Tell: True Stories at the Hippo series will continue at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Waco Hippodrome.

Baylor University professor Bob Darden will present the half-hour program, which will feature meaningful stories during the Lenten season.

The free program is being sponsored by six Waco-area churches.
Federal officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 153 criminal aliens and others, including 24 from the Austin/Waco-area, during a 12-day enforcement action, authorities stated Monday.

ICE enforcement and removal operations officers made arrests between March 20 and March 31, netting 138 men and 15 women during their enforcement efforts. In addition to the 24 people arrested in the Austin and Waco areas, 62 were arrested in San Antonio, 29 were arrested in Laredo and 38 were arrested in Harlingen, according to a press release.

Foreign nationals were targeted by ICE officers had prior criminal convictions, according to the release. Officers stated that 137 of the 153 arrested subject had criminal histories including aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual assault, vehicular manslaughter and alien smuggling, prostitution, and cocaine possession, among others.

Those arrested throughout the South Texas region included nationals from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Canada, and El Salvador.

Of the 153 arrested, 33 were presented to the U.S. Attorneys Office to face criminal prosecution on charges of re-entry after deportation, the release stated. The others arrested during the operation are being processed administratively for deportation.

Authorities said those who have outstanding orders of removal, or who illegally re-entered the U.S. after being deported, are subject to immediate removal.

ICEs primary immigration enforcement efforts target convicted criminal aliens, Daniel Bible, field office director for ERO in San Antonio, said in a statement. Consequently, our operations improve overall public safety by removing these criminals from our streets, and ultimately from our country.
Joyce was born May 7, 1928 in Pottsville to John David and Virginia (Virgie) Simmons. She was raised in Penelope and graduated from Penelope High School in 1946. Joyce married Cecil D. "Shorty" Childre on June 7, 1947 and they lived all of their life in Mount Calm where she lived for her family and church family. She was the music director at First Baptist Church of Mount Calm for over 45 years and taught music from her home for over 40 years. She was a member of the Singing Seniors of Baylor University and served as the music director of First United Methodist Church of Hubbard for four and a half years. Joyce was a member of the National, State and Waco Music Teacher Associations & a member of the Federation of Music Clubs. She was a director of the Birome Water Supply Corporation and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star # 49 as well as serving as president of the Mount Calm Study Club and as a board member of the Mount Calm Cemetery Association. For many years Joyce served as president of the W.M.U. later known as Women On Mission and on the Mount Calm Senior Citizens Organization. On August 28, 2016, Joyce was honored with the Joyce Childre Day and Musical Celebration at First Baptist Church of Mount Calm.
By Hemender Sharma: The Supreme Court decision to ban sale of liquor within 500 meters of national and state highways has created a desperate situation for the Madhya Pradesh excise department in Vidisha.

Of the three liquor outlets that have been forced to pull down shutters on a state highway in the Toppura area, two are in the process of relocation outside the 500 meter limit, while there are no takers for the third -- an outlet that used to sell country-made liquor. In response, the MP excise department has created a mobile liquor outlet that is selling country-made liquor from a three-wheeler.

advertisement

"The sale is in not very good, but people have turned to this mobile liquor shop. There is demand for country-made liquor," an excise department official manning the mobile liquor shop told India Today.

Madhya Pradesh Excise Minister Jayant Malliya, who claims he is in favor of total prohibition in the state, was at loss of words when confronted with the Vidisha reality.

"I think it is an act of some over exited official who must have thought there would be revenue loss, but I do not approve this," Malliya said, while talking to India Today. He was, however, non committal on whether action would be taken against the official who had ordered the opening of the mobile liquor shop.

Malliya was also non-committal on how he proposed to bring about total prohibition in the state.

"I don't care for revenue loss. No matter how much the revenue loss, we will manage it, but women should ensure that their husbands do not go to liquor shops. If people stop going to liquor shops they will automatically shut down," he said.

He also welcomed the agitations that have been initiated by women calling for closure of liquor shops in several parts of the state.

The Opposition Congress has slammed the government for its response on sale of liquor through mobile shop.

"This is typical double speak of the ruling party and the excise minister. One the one hand, he is saying he wants complete prohibition, while on the other hand, his department is selling liquor through a mobile shop when there were no takers for the country made liquor shop. Can any department act contrary to the wishes of the minister and if that is actually the case he has no right to continue as minister," Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said.

Also read:

Dry way on the highway: Supreme Court's 2016 ban on liquor sales comes into effect today

No liquor shops on national, state highways from April 1: Supreme Court

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
Edgar Moody

Sept. 11, 1929 - March 30, 2017

Edgar Lee Moody, a good and faithful servant of the Lord, peacefully passed away on March 30, 2017. His service will be 11:00 a.m., Thursday, April 6, in the Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Chapel, with the burial at 1:00 p.m., at Waco Memorial Park. Visitation will begin one hour prior to the service at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey.

Ed was born to Hazel and Myrtle Moody in Mart, Texas, on September 11, 1929. He was one of four siblings, including Charles Moody, Martha Stephens, and Wayne Moody.

On March 21, 1959, Ed and Pat Moody married, and they recently celebrated their 65th year of marriage. Ed and Pat were an example to many of how to love and cherish your spouse. Ed bravely served his country as a soldier in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After graduating from Baylor with an accounting degree, Ed became a Certified Public Accountant. In 1966, the Moody family moved to Marlin, Texas, where he built a successful career and raised a family. A founding partner of Parrish, Moody and Fikes, Ed spent a career helping clients pay no more than their fair share of income taxes.

Ed was active in many service, professional, and community organizations. He was a Deacon at First Baptist Church of Marlin, and served as President of the local Chamber of Commerce, President of the Lions Club, President of the Texas Society of CPAs, a Boy Scout Master, a member of the United Way, a board member of the Marlin Country Club, and an officer on the local Little League, along with several other community organizations. In short, Ed lived a life of service to his community.

Ed was a loving husband, father, brother, grandfather, and great-grandfather. His leadership and compassion were an example to those around him. Ed and Pat have a wonderful family legacy, including three sons and two daughters-in-law, Debra and Gregg Moody of Belton, Jeff Moody of Phoenix, and Amy and Brett Moody of Houston; 12 grandchildren, Kayla Moody, Kacie Trevino, Claire Moody, Erin Moody, Carter Moody, Chloe Moody, Cate Moody, Duke Moody, Peter Moody, Boone Moody, Shawna Kinsey, and David Plaehn; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Above all else, Ed's life and legacy will live on through the promise of Exodus 20:6, The Lord shows his steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Ed was a man of faith and integrity.

Mr. Moody is survived by his loving wife, Pat, and his brother, Wayne.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to First Baptist Church of Marlin.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our "Tribute Wall" at www.WHBfamily.com.
Near the end of the 2016 campaign I wrote a column called Imagine a Sane Donald Trump, lamenting that I believed he was crazy, and too bad. Too bad because his broad policy assertions, or impulses, suggested he understood that 2008 and the years just after (the crash and the weak recovery) had changed everything in America, and that the country was going to choose, in coming decades, one of two paths  a moderate populism or socialism  and that the former was vastly to be preferred, for reasons of the nations health.

A gifted politician could make his party the leader toward that path, which includes being supportive and encouraging of business but willing to harness government to alleviate the distress of the abandoned working class and the anxious middle class; strong on defense but neither aggressive nor dreamy in world affairs; realistic and non-radical on social issues while unmistakably committed to protecting the freedoms of the greatest cohering force in America, its churches; and aware that our nations immigration reality was a scandal created by both parties and must be redressed.

The priority must be stabilizing and strengthening what we have and encouraging wherever possible an atmosphere of peacefulness and respect. Thats where I am  or rather what I think is politically desirable.

Looking at the administration 70 days in, things do not, in these areas, look promising. Trumps stupid tweets have now resulted in the Russia probe. That will help opioid addicts in Ohio. Last Thursday he may have launched a Republican civil war: The Freedom Caucus had better get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & the Dems, in 2018! That will help promote harmony. His staff has failed to absorb the obvious fact that Mr. Trump was so outsized, colorful and freakish a character that their primary job was to be the opposite  sober, low-key, reassuring. Instead they have seemed to compete with him for outlandishness.

Whatever your feelings and views, whatever was said behind closed doors, in the photo-op the president of the United States must shake the German chancellors hand. Not only because youre a gentleman, not only because it is your job to represent America with grace, but because a requirement of your office is to show respect for a great nation with which we have a history, part of that history constituting a jewel in the crown of 20th-century world diplomacy.

It amazes me that in his dealings with the health-care bill Mr. Trump revealed that he has no deep knowledge of who his base is, who his people are. Ive never seen that in politics. But Mr. Trumps supporters didnt like the bill. If they had wanted a Republican president who deals only with the Right, to produce a rightist bill, they would have chosen Ted Cruz. Instead they chose someone outside conservatism who backed big-ticket spending on infrastructure and opposed cutting entitlements, which suggested hed be working with Democrats, too.

A president dealing with a national issue that arouses anxieties has to take time and speak repeatedly on the plan and the goal, with the kind of specificity that encourages confidence. You win the argument, then you win legislatively, Newt Gingrich said in an interview last week, paraphrasing Margaret Thatcher. And a president must always appear to be leading, not meekly tagging leaders within the Congress.

Seventy days is only 70 days. Mr. Trumps supporters will give him time. During the campaign I spoke often to a friend in north Georgia, a Trump supporter who was a Democrat and voted for Barack Obama. She is unshaken. Mr. Trump is making the kind of mistakes a new president makes, she says now. Hes having growing pains. Because hes not a politician.

Hes not. But he is the holder of the highest political office in the land, which requires some political discipline.

Robert Sherwood, the playwright who was Franklin D. Roosevelts speechwriter throughout the war, saw him as subtle, high-minded and one of the great showmen of presidential history. Sherwoods biographer, Harriet Hyman Alonso, quotes Sherwood on how sometimes FDR spoke to him as if he were an actor who had been reading my lines. After a speech in Philadelphia, the president asked Sherwood if he thought the timing in a section of the speech was good. Sherwood called it perfect. Roosevelt then gave him one of his sly looks and asked, Do you think [Alfred] Lunt could have done it any better?  Lunt was the great stage actor of the day.

That is the public part of the presidency, which we see so much now that we think its all there is. But there is a private presidency. It is in private that Mr. Trump does his tweeting. It is in private, in the office, that a crisis comes over the transom, and is announced by the national security adviser. Maybe the mad boy-king of North Korea will decide its a good day to see if his missiles can hit Los Angeles. Maybe a sleeper cell of terrorists will decide its a good day to show its woke.

Crisis reveals the character, the essential nature of a White House. Seventy days in, that is my worry.
Trucking rampage

This has nothing to do with politics, race, diversity or crime  issues that are more often addressed than most readers would like. It has to do with a much-ignored public safety issue. Interstate 35 has been undergoing major improvements and the Texas Department of Transportation has been doing a great job. My concern is the nearly daily accidents  mostly involving 18-wheelers  that cause major delays and property damage along with deaths and the maiming of many survivors.

Currently a major problem exists between Temple and Bruceville-Eddy where I-35 lanes are often abruptly narrowed into two lanes with no shoulders, concrete barriers on both sides and abrupt turns. Sadly, the Department of Public Safety totally ignores public safety by allowing large numbers of 18-wheelers to freely wander back and forth between lanes, often occupying restricted passing lanes and showing an ever-increasing disregard for smaller vehicles sharing the same road limitations. Long delays, often as long as an hour for a regular 15-minute drive, occur that back up traffic far south and north of the incident area. Hardly a day passes without a major traffic incident in hazardous sections of I-35 with little concern by our authorities.

If the DPS is really committed to public safety, troopers should start vigorously enforcing trucking road regulations and even consider restricting the hours that truckers can use the interstate. This would help prevent traffic accidents, delays and injury to construction workers, travelers, emergency personnel responding to accidents and, for that matter, troopers themselves.

Bogdan Chumak, Bruceville-Eddy

Invasion Texas!

Spring has sprung! People are enjoying their yards, doing yardwork and planting. Local nurseries and big-box stores are advertising all the plants and shrubs they have for sale and on sale.

Among shrubs advertised for sale recently in Trib advertisements are Wax Leaf Ligustrum and Wax Leaf Privet. These are highly invasive shrubs originally imported from Japan that are wreaking havoc and devastating the natural beauty of Texas and many other Southern states. They can grow to be 40 feet tall with trunks 16 inches in diameter. The dense canopy robs natural-growth Texas trees such as elm, oak and cedar of sunlight and water. Birds ingest the berries and plant them everywhere uncontrollably. They grow very rapidly.

My wife and I have been eradicating these species from property adjacent to our land and have probably eliminated over 200 trees. Last week I noticed the city of Waco doing the same in a creek off Waco Drive. There is currently movement, interest and consumer input at the Texas Department of Agriculture to prohibit sale of these shrubs.

I urge all Waco and Texas nurseries and retailers to please voluntarily stop the sale of these shrubs.

J.L. Rader, Waco
PRAGUE  The Nebraska Czechs of Prague have found a new Czech-Slovak queen in Emily Berry of Waverly.

Berry was crowned March 31 at Kolach Korner in Prague.

Im excited to learn more knowledge about my heritage and share and spread it with other people, Berry said.

The 22-year old said it was by chance that she will represent the Prague chapter for the upcoming year.

She is the elementary music and beginning band instructor in Eagle and met Steve Steager, a member of the Nebraska Czechs of Prague, at a band clinic about three weeks prior to her crowning.

I was interested from the moment he started talking about it, she said.

The daughter of Jay and Shannon (Eaton) Berry, Berry has family in the Linwood, Schuyler and Prague area.

And of course, she also has some Czechoslovakian roots.

Berrys great-great grandmother on her mothers side emigrated from Bratislava, Slovakia.

Berry has had the opportunity to get a glimpse of her heritage up close. On a mission trip to Slovakia, she drove through Bratislava.

That was cool, she said. They call it a hidden treasure because there are not a lot of tourists.

As the Prague Czech-Slovak queen, Berry will represent the chapter across the state in parades, festivals and other appearances.

Her appearances across the state will help her prepare for her biggest appearance June 24 at the state Czech queen competition in Clarkson.

I already know what Im going to do for my talent, she said. Ill play clarinet polka.

Berry wasted no time practicing, and performed the night of her crowning onstage with Jim Kucera.

But Fridays crowning was not her first meeting with the polka player. Kucera was Berrys music teacher in Waverly.

So it was really special to play with him, she said.

Berrys reign as the Prague Chapter Czech-Slovak Queen follows Michaela Steagers, who was crowned in 2015. Steager was crowned as the state queen shortly after, and is now in the last months of her reign as Miss Czech-Slovak U.S.

Steager has nothing but appreciation for the Prague Czech Chapter in helping her journey to the national title.

The whole community gives back a lot and shows their appreciation, she said.
The suspect has been identified as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995.

General view of emergency services attending the scene outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Photo: Reuters)

By Reuters: A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and wounded 45 was probably carried out by a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, authorities from the predominantly Muslim central Asian state said on Tuesday.

The explosion was a suspected suicide bombing by a perpetrator with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying late on Monday. A spokesman for the Kyrgyz GKNB security service identified the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995, but provided no other details.

advertisement

Russia has been on particular alert against attacks on its soil in reprisal for its military intervention in Syria, where Moscow's forces have been supporting troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State group has repeatedly threatened revenge attacks.

If it is confirmed that the bomber was linked to radical Islmists, some sections of Russian society could see it as proof that Moscow's decision to intervene in Syria has made civilians into targets.

NO IMMEDIATE CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY

Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of six million, is a close political ally of Moscow and hosts a Russian military airbase.

Late on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the site of the blast, which made a huge hole in the side of a carriage and blew of the door, 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 Sennaya Ploshad station at around 2:40 p.m. (1140 GMT).

Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.

St Petersburg television showed footage of the corpse of a bearded man they said was the perpetrator. The man resembled footage of a man captured on closed circuit television who Russian media said was a suspect.

Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

Authorities closed all St. Petersburg metro stations. The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

CONSIDERING ALL CAUSES: PUTIN

Putin said on Monday the government was considering all possible causes for the blasts in St Petersburg's metro system, including terrorism.

advertisement

"I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause (of the blasts)," Putin, at a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, said.

"The causes are not clear, it's too early. We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime," he added.

BLOODY FACES

Soon after the blast happened at 2:40 p.m., ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away an injured passenger.

"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," St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika, who said he was at the station where the blast happened, told Reuters by phone. "Many were crying."

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

advertisement

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 amplified 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."

Also Read:

St Petersburg metro blast: Putin says considering all causes including terrorism

advertisement

Trump offers condolences to Putin after St. Petersburg blast that killed 11 people

Also watch: St Petersburg metro bombing: Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen likely suspect

--- ENDS ---
When President Donald Trump became the commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces, he accepted the responsibility to protect my country against enemies, foreign and domestic. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull shares the same responsibility to protect Australians.

Do these leaders understand that a key component of national security and global stability is climate change and the instability it is already causing around the world? The intersection of these two issues is already striking the world in unexpected ways, as climate change interacts with other pre-existing problems to become an accelerant to instability. The consequences include overwhelming humanitarian crises, forced migrations like those we are witnessing around the Mediterranean, and a breakdown in the human systems that make our societies work.

Indeed, Trump's Defence Secretary, Marine Corps General Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis, said recently: "Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today. It is appropriate for the combatant commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning."

Take Syria. From 2006 to 2010, 60 per cent of Syria had its worst long-term drought and crop failures since civilisation began. About 800,000 people in rural areas had lost their livelihood by 2009. Two to three million people were driven into extreme poverty, and 1.5 million migrated to Syrian cities, which had already received a similar number of Iraqi war refugees.
Acrimony over the future of school funding has deepened, with federal and state education ministers to meet later this week despite not having a proposal for a post-2017 funding model to discuss.

In a sign little progress is expected to be made on a new four-year school funding deal, Education Minister Simon Birmingham has written to his state counterparts to request an extra meeting with them in June.

The meeting would lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to strike a final deal with state and territory leaders later that month.

Labor states and the federal government are blaming each other for the lack of funding certainty for next year onwards, which has alarmed the Catholic and independent school sectors.
Far better for me to put my mind to use. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term "flow" for the state of "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake." In a state of flow, he says, "the ego falls away." This is the best description I've come across for the feeling I have when I'm immersed in writing or reporting. I remember finishing a daylong project in Iowa City last year, ahead of the Iowa caucus, and realising that all the worries that had entered the city with me had been pushed aside by the voices of the people I talked to, by the process of fitting them all together. To work, for me, is to care for the self by putting the self aside.

It is a privilege to be able to use work in this way. I had the freedom to choose my career, and it keeps me challenged and engaged. For many Americans, work is not like this. Many Americans cannot access paid work at all, or work long hours for less than a living wage. Many, especially women and especially women of colour, work at jobs that primarily require them to care for others; laying the self aside may not feel particularly relaxing if you're constantly forced to put others first. For many, self-care, if available at all, is that which replenishes energy drained by work.

Knowing all this, I want self-care through work to be a privilege women can ask for, and, if we are in a position to do so, advocate for on behalf of others. Some of the people who have cared for me the most in my life, who have helped me the most to care for myself, have been women who, at low moments for me, gave me exciting work to do and the time and space in which to do it. I remain incredibly grateful to them  specifically to my graduate thesis adviser and my boss at my first journalism job  and I hope I can offer to others the same thing they offered me.

Work, of course, is not merely distraction, and part of making work function as self-care is considering its impact. Especially as someone perhaps less affected by the Trump administration than others, I'm interested in ways to make my work both self-care and other-care.

Like Katherine Boo, I don't believe journalists "give voice to the voiceless"  everyone has a voice, and one of the best things we can offer is our ability to listen. I am trying harder than ever to listen now.
The man who installed a recording device at Lloyd Rayney's home before his wife was murdered has walked off the stand while testifying in the Perth barrister's defamation trial, claiming to be stressed.

On his second day of testimony, IT expert Timothy Pearson was grilled about his involvement in Mr Rayney's case and a previous allegation that Mr Pearson supplied drugs to colleagues when he worked at the Department of Consumer Protection.

Mr Rayney is suing the West Australian government for being named as the prime and only suspect in the murder of his wife Corryn. Credit:AAP

Footage was played to the court showing officers searching a workstation and Mr Pearson denying two small bags of powder belonged to him.

But during his testimony on Tuesday, Mr Pearson suddenly walked off the stand, before returning to his seat and saying it was "too stressful".
Tokyo: Japan has allowed its envoy to South Korea to return to Seoul, three months after he was recalled in a dispute arising from the sensitive issue of Korean women forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine would return to his post on Tuesday, as would Yasuhiro Morimoto, the consul general in Busan, South Korea's second-largest city. Both were recalled in January as a protest to a statue commemorating the so-called comfort women, which Korean activists had erected outside the Busan consulate.

Members of a civic group unveil a statue symbolising women forced into wartime military brothels in front of the Japanese Consulate in Busan, South Korea, in December. Credit:AAP

The statue - a life-size, bronze figure of a barefoot girl wearing traditional Korean dress - remains in place, and the countries have reached no agreement about it.

But Mr Kishida said the diplomats would return nevertheless, citing a pressing need "for close communication with the South Korean government" to help deal with North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile development.
Russian investigators said the bomb was set off by a suicide bomber and identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

By AP: A 22-year-old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St. Petersburg subway that killed 14 people, Russian investigators said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second biggest and Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister on Tuesday said the death toll had risen from 11 to 14 and said 49 people are still hospitalized. Authorities did not say whether the suicide attacker was included among the14. The City Hall said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured, but would not offer details. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens was killed in the attack.

advertisement

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near the site of explosion. Every corner and window-sill at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station was covered with red and white carnations on Tuesday.

A portrait of one of victims is placed between flowers at a symbolic memorial at Tekhnologichesky Institute subway station in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

Russian investigators said the bomb was set off by a suicide bomber and identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the man's DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and de-activated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the man's identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

The entire subway system in St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova, one who did take the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

Monday's explosion occurred as the train traveled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

"I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

advertisement

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities, who said it helped evacuation efforts and reduced the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

Oleg Alexeyev, 53, who trains sniffer dogs for the police, went to the Technological Institute station Tuesday morning to lay flowers in memory of those who died nearby.

"I traveled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, lays flowers at a place near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017.

Four stations on the subway were closed again Tuesday due to a bomb threat, but later reopened.

St. Petersburg is home to a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants in Russia hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.

advertisement

Patriach Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a service at Moscow's main cathedral on Tuesday for those who died.

"This terrorist act is a threat to all of us, all our nation," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The Eiffel Tower will remain dark overnight to honor the victims of the St. Petersburg bombing, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a tweet that carried the hashtag #NousSommesUnis (We Are United).

Meanwhile, officials in Berlin were being criticized for not bathing the Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Russian flag, even though the city in the past has lit the gate with colors of various countries that have suffered terror attacks.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants. 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.

Separately, in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, two policemen were killed in the early hours on Tuesday in a suspected Islamic militant attack. Alexander Zhilkin, governor of the region, said the attackers were on the run.

advertisement

Also Read:

St Petersburg metro blast: Putin says considering all causes including terrorism

Trump offers condolences to Putin after St. Petersburg blast that killed 11 people

Also watch: St Petersburg metro bombing: Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen likely suspect

--- ENDS ---
The girl, who hails from Natham in Dindigul, was on her way to school when the boy stalked her near the bus stop. When he insisted that she start loving him and she paid him no heed, he slit her throat with a blade and his own later.

By Pramod Madhav: In a shocking case of unrequited love, a school boy in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul slit the throat of the girl he loved when she did not reciprocate his feelings towards her.

The girl, who hails from Natham in Dindigul, was on her way to school when the boy stalked her near the bus stop. In an argument that ensued, he insisted that she love him back. The girl paid no heed to the boy and began walking away.

advertisement

Realising that the girl didn't even bother to consider his proposal, the body took out a blade he had hidden and before anyone around could react, he slit her throat. The onlookers rushed to her rescue seeing the girl bleeding profusely and crying for help. Before they could catch hold of the boy-attacker, he slit his throat too.

DUO RUSHED TO GOVT HOSPITAL FOR MEDICAL AID

The duo was rushed to the nearby Natham government hospital for immediate medical attention.

Doctors have sutured their wounds and kept them under observation.

This is the second incident in a week's time in Tamil Nadu of a jilted lover attempting to cause harm to his beloved. On Saturday, a woman near Chennai was beaten to death by her loved with a hammer after she said she wanted to break-up with him.

Also read | Tamil Nadu: 4-year-old killed by woman after child's father finds out about her affair

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Bhubaneshwar, Apr 4 (PTI) Tata Motors today launched its new StyleBack Tata Tigor car, meant for the young and fast-paced generation, in Odisha.

S N Barman, vice president sales, passenger vehicle business unit of Tata Motors said the Tigor embodies changing preferences of today?s milieu who increasingly prefer stylish cars.

With its excellent value proposition and unique features the Tigor will serve a wide range of customers raising the benchmark in this new segment, he said.

advertisement

"Our mission is to ensure that we continue to offer the latest and the best in terms of features, design, performance and aspiration. We have seen a substantial demand for our new generation cars and the Tigor will further accelerate this pace helping expand our dealer network for sales and service,? said Barman.

With its stunning, break-free and revolutionary design, the Tata Tigor is set to build on Tata Motors? existing passenger vehicle portfolio and address needs of the ever evolving customer.

In just over two months of the HEXA launch, Tata Motors is launching yet another innovation and an exciting offering in a new segment.

The Company has trained around 6000 sales consultants to cater its new generation products like Tiago, Hexa and now the Tigor, across 650 sales outlets and more than 500 service touch points. Tata Motors plans to add 200 sales touch points in FY 17-18, he said. PTI SKN RG

--- ENDS ---
At the invitation of Mr. Ahmed Alkhalifa President of Bahrain Customs and WCO Vice-Chair for the North of Africa, Near and Middle East (MENA) region, the 45th Regional Meeting of Directors General of Customs was held in Cairo at the League of Arab States Headquarters on 3 April 2017 with the support of the Egyptian Customs Administration.

Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya presented the current key priorities of the WCO, concentrating on trade facilitation; e-commerce and digital Customs; security; illicit financial flows; and Customs-Tax cooperation.

Delegates supported these areas of priority work and also referred to the question of performance measurement and their concerns about the methodology used by international ranking exercises, such as "Doing Business".

The meeting also heard a presentation by Morocco on the impact on Customs of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement which had recently entered into force, as well as reports on the activities of the Regional Office for Capacity Building and from the region's Technical Attache based in the WCO's Capacity Building Directorate.

Delegates expressed appreciation for the hospitality extended to them by the Egyptian Customs Administration, headed by Dr. Abdel Azeez El Magdy, during their stay in Cairo.
In the period 27-31 March 2017 the WCO delivered a National Workshop on the Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (as amended), known as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC).

The RKC is a WCO legal instrument regarded by the entire international Customs community as a blueprint for modern Customs in the 21st Century. The accession to the RKC is perceived as an important milestone in any countrys endeavours to further promote legitimate trade and effective Customs controls. As of today the number of Contracting Parties to the RKC is 108.

The RKC Awareness and Self-Assessment Tools workshop took place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan with the active involvement of 33 participants from 13 state institutions, including the State Customs Service, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the Ministry of Justice and the Parliament of Turkmenistan. The workshop was conducted with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank that supported the event also in its capacity as the Secretariat of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC).

The core objectives of the workshop were to inform the participants of the benefits of acceding to the RKC, to improve their understanding of the RKC provisions as well as to build their skills to use the WCO self-assessment tools to assess the compliance of the national legislation with the provisions of the RKC.

After the official opening of the workshop by Mr. Guvanch Rejebov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Development, the participants were informed of the Turkmenistan Customs Service modernisation efforts.

The WCO experts provided detailed guidance on the principles of the RKC, the rights and obligations of the Contracting Parties to the Convention, as well as the provisions of the Body, the General Annex and the Specific Annexes thereof. With the support of the WCO experts, the workshop participants conducted a preliminary assessment of the compliance of some of the provisions of the RKC General Annex and two of the Specific Annexes to the Convention vis-a-vis Turkmenistans national legislation. The national regulations were found to be largely compliant with the RKC provisions selected for the analysis.

During the workshop closing session, the WCO experts provided recommendations on the actions to be undertaken towards Turkmenistans accession to the RKC and expressed their appreciation for the excellent organisational arrangements. At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Development also expressed his gratitude to the WCO for the support provided.
The emergence of e-commerce is rapidly changing the domestic and international business landscape. The growth in cross-border e-commerce is also impacting the application of Customs regulations. Against this backdrop, the World Customs Organization (WCO) has embarked on several e-commerce projects including the launch of the E-commerce Working Group and in-country fieldwork that focuses on Customs-Business co-operation, trade facilitation, compliance, revenue, and other e-commerce related matters. The research is enabling the WCO to collect technical and policy information on cross-border e-commerce with the purpose of identifying Customs best practices and possibly developing new tools.

The first WCO research mission on cross-border e-commerce took place 21-28 March 2017 in China, where the e-commerce infrastructure is well-established, and was conducted by Robert Ireland (Head of the WCO Research Unit) and Hao Wu (also from the WCO Research Unit).

With the support of China Customs, the WCO officials visited local Customs offices, other government agencies, and e-commerce enterprises. The Customs offices of Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou presented their Customs procedures for controlling and facilitating cross-border e-commerce. The WCO delegation also met with the Management Committee of Hangzhou Cross-border Comprehensive Pilot Area; the Authority of Shenzhen Qianhai; Alibaba; SF Express; and YTO Express. In addition, the Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation of ICC China hosted a roundtable meeting with the WCO delegation, where the participants discussed e-commerce and border regulations.

The WCO delegation also met with representatives from the Shanghai Customs College, where they discussed topics for research and the upcoming WCO PICARD Conference.

Due to the excellent coordination and cooperation, the research mission was very fruitful in gathering the e-commerce experiences of China Customs, local government agencies, and the private sector, said Mr. Ireland. Going forward, the WCO will publish research on this topic for the benefit of all WCO Members, the private sector, and other relevant stakeholders.
By Press Trust of India: From Aditi Khanna

London, Apr 4 (PTI) Two 15-year-old boys broke into the grounds of the Parliament and were arrested, Scotland Yard said today, days after the deadly Westminster terror attack that killed four people.

The Metropolitan Police said the incident was not being treated as "terrorist-related" and the two boys were arrested and have been released on bail until May.

advertisement

"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 Met Police statement said.

"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," it added.

The police stressed that the trespasser did not gain access to any building.

The security breach follows Khalid Masoods attack on the Parliament complex at the Palace of Westminster.

Four people died and 50 injured when lone attacker Masood rammed a car into pedestrians on the bridge, before crashing his vehicle and fatally stabbing an on-duty police officer in the grounds of Parliament. Masood was shot dead by police at the scene. PTI AK AMS

--- ENDS ---
For April 7th, the BJP plan as of now is that Amit Shah will be having food with a Dalit family and will then be meeting some intellectuals of the city apart from meetings with the booth-level workers at the exhibition ground.

By Vidya : As a part of its nationwide strategy, BJP president Amit Shah will be reaching Hyderabad on 7th of April to hold meetings with over 14,000 booth-level workers in Telangana. The BJP Foundation Day to Ambedkar Jayanti programme will not just have Shah visiting Hyderabad, but Nitin Gadkari too will be coming to Nizamabad

Prakash Javedekar will be at Bhongir while Purshottambhai Rupala will be going to Mehboobnagar among others.

advertisement

For 7th April, the BJP plan as of now is that Amit Shah will be having food with a Dalit family and will then be meeting some intellectuals of the city apart from meetings with the booth-level workers at the exhibition ground.

"In South India especially in Telangana, BJP will be strengthened and we want to continue the Modi wave after winning the UP elections. These meetings will strengthen the party structure as well," said the lone BJP MP from Telangana, Bandaru Dattatreya.

Dattatreya elaborated that there are 1400 booths in a parliamentary constituency and we want 10 people from each booth to come for these meetings. So, the turn out expected on 7th at Hyderabad is expected to be huge. The party has one MP, and five MLAs in the 119 Assembly constituencies in state.

Rajasingh from Maharajganj, Dr Laxman from Mashirabad, Kishan Reddy from Amberpeth, C Ramachandra Reddy from Khairatabad and NVS Prabhakar from Uppal are MLAs in city area. The party has only five corporators in Hyderabad as well, however, Dattatreya said that with the moves that have been planned,

BJP will emerge as the alternative to the ruling TRS government. Telangana too will be going to polls during the general election season in 2019.

S Narendar, a party worker from Amberpeth Assembly constituency, said that there are 272 polling booths in his constituency and they "will try to get as many workers to come to meet shah and get inspired".

Padma Venkat Reddy, who had contested the council election last year from Bagh Amberpeth, feels that taking the programmes like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao schemes do not have enough publicity so it's important that people get to know about it.

"There is not enough publicity and the present government is claiming that it is being done by them so we need to reach out to the people and tell them what all Modi is doing for them," says Padma, who wants to contest the Assembly election too, given a chance.

advertisement

Also read:BJP gearing up for 2019 general elections; aims to cross 362-mark

BJPs drive to focus on Lok Sabha seats it lost in 2014

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Apr 4 (PTI) Three Bangladeshi patients, suffering from an incurable muscular dystrophy, today underwent first stem cell therapy at a Navi Mumbai based treatment centre.

"We applied a simple therapy to the patients. We took out the stem cells from their bone marrow in the hip bone and after the required processing we injected it back into their body.

advertisement

"We will wait for the results as to how they respond to such treatment. Meanwhile, physiotherapy and occupational therapy is being offered to them as well," Avantika Patil, coordinator between the patients and the treating centre told PTI.

Patil, is part of the team of NeuroGen, a brain and spine institute that keeps the track of its patients.

"We learnt about the patients through an article in an international newspaper and decided to contact them as we specialise in treating such diseases.

"I am also in contact with one Noor Khan from Bangladesh, an activist who helped the three patients to furnish documents and visa procedures," she said.

A Mumbai-based organisation specialising in such diseases, Meditourz, in collaboration with NeuroGen based in Navi Mumbai, offered to provide treatment to them.

The trio have been suffering from a rare disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy since their birth. This is a genetic disorder which causes progressive muscle degeneration and patients rarely live beyond 30 years of age, Patil said.

Among the three, Shorab (8 year old) is having a mild disorder and early medical intervention will definitely help in terms of less painful life. Compared to him, the disease is progressive in other two patients, she said.

Tofazzal Hossain, a fruit vendor from rural Meherpur in Bangladesh, had sought mercy killing for his sons - Abdus (24) and Rahinul (14) - and grandson Shorab from his government as he could not afford the cost of their treatment.

The Navi Mumbai based centre approached the three patients through Indian government and expressed willingness to provide treatment to the disease.

Air India also offered free round trip tickets to the six persons -- three patients and three caretakers accompanying them to Mumbai from Kolkata following an appeal from Alok Sharma, neurosurgeon at the NeuroGen.

"The three patients and the three persons accompanying them took this evenings Air India flight from Kolkata to Mumbai and will also return by an Air India flight after treatment - entirely free of any charges," Air India said in a statement. PTI ND RMT

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
Airlines have demanded that their sector is prioritised in the forthcoming two years of negotiations to ensure there is no disruption to flights.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said the maintenance of visa-free travel between the EU and UK after Brexit was among its key priorities.

By Reuters: Britain should aim to secure visa-free travel between the UK and the European Union in upcoming negotiations to leave the bloc, an association of travel agents said on Tuesday, adding that a transitional deal could also help the sector.

Britain formally began its divorce from the European Union on March 29, and airlines have demanded that their sector is prioritised in the forthcoming two years of negotiations to ensure there is no disruption to flights.

advertisement

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said the maintenance of visa-free travel between the EU and UK after Brexit was among its key priorities.

Other goals for ABTA included the protection of Britons' ability to travel freely to Europe and beyond and safeguards for consumer rights, as well as stability and growth opportunities for British businesses.

"Travel and tourism is one of the UK's largest industries and it is vital that the Government makes sure it can continue to thrive during and after the negotiations," said Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA.

The trade body also said a transitional arrangement may be needed, to give consumers certainty given that some holidays are sold a year and a half in advance.

Currently Britain is due to leave the European Union in March 2019, whether or not an agreement over the terms of its departure can be reached.

Unlike trade arrangements, which will default to World Trade Organisation rules if no deal is reached, the aviation sector has "no international fall-back option," the ABTA report said.

ALSO READ | UK: Queen Elizabeth II gives PM May royal approval to begin Brexit

ALSO READ | UK PM Theresa May files formal Brexit divorce papers, 'we already miss you' says EU

--- ENDS ---
The ninth UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) is hosted by the Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

By Press Trust of India: British Finance Minister Philip Hammond will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley today to promote trade and investments between the two countries.

Hammond is visiting India to participate in the UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue.

According to the British High Commission, the ninth UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) is hosted by the Indian Finance Minister.

advertisement

The high-level talks are aimed at deepening the UK's economic and trading relationship with India and showcasing Britain as one of the best places in the world to do business, it said.

It added that the EFD will involve a series of events over the two-day period, including discussions on trade, financial services, and infrastructure.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, will also take part in the dialogue with Jaitley.

Hammond will also visit Mumbai where he would meet Indian FinTech start-ups at Barclays RISE, as well as the Chairman of Mahindra group.

KEEN TO BOOST TIES WITH INDIA, SAYS UK

"As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India," he said.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said the India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue will enable both the sides to explore the immense shared economic opportunities lying ahead.

"I look forward to discussing how the UK Government's industrial strategy will increase the prospects for shared trade, investment and energy innovation between our two great countries," Clark said.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade, Mark Garnier said that there are huge opportunities for UK businesses as it has the skills, expertise and technology to meet India's demands.

ALSO READ| How to deal with Trump

ALSO READ| Jaishankar meets US NSA, discuss bilateral ties

--- ENDS ---
WSU Womens Center Holds Rally Against Sexual Violence

April 3, 2017

OGDEN, Utah  Weber State Universitys Womens Center will host Take Back the Night, a march and rally to unite community members in the fight against sexual violence on April 14 at 7 p.m.

The march will begin at the Ogden Amphitheater (343 E. 25th St.) at 7 p.m. Participants will walk around two city blocks and return to the amphitheater.

Following the march, a speak out will offer a safe place for discussions about violence or sexual assault. Participants can share their experience or offer support to victims through spoken word, music, performance art or any other form that best delivers their message.

The Womens Center will also recognize Rep. Angela Romero for the success of her 2017 legislative work, including a bill that would test all unprocessed rape kits in Utah.

"Take Back the Night is meant to amplify the voices of victims and survivors of sexual and relationship violence, said Stephanie McClure, Womens Center director. It is an event where each and every one of us can come together and show our support for victims and survivors. We can collectively take a stance against violence and start the process of healing."

Participants will have several opportunities to make signs for the event prior to the march. A sign-making party will be held in the Shepherd Union Atrium on April 11 from noon-5 p.m. Students can also visit the Womens Center in the Shepherd Union Room 322 to make a sign or an awareness raising T-shirt to be displayed in the Clothesline Project, an exhibit about the effects of sexual violence, anytime from April 10-13, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Participants can also make a sign or T-shirt on the day of the march, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ogden Amphitheater.

The Womens Center consistently advocates for social justice and a healthy campus experience. Last month, Ogdens City Council honored the Womens Center for its efforts in addressing sexual assault and promoting opportunities for survivors to heal.

We are grateful for the incredible efforts of the Womens Center and other organizations in our community to put an end to sexual assault, Ogden City Council Chair Marcia White said. We encourage residents to join us this month as advocates for victims by attending WSUs Take Back the Night event and speaking out against this intolerable crime.

Take Back the Night events have been held on campuses and in communities around the globe for more than 30 years. This is the second year WSU will hold its own march.

"Whether you are a victim or survivor of sexual and relationship violence or a community supporter, Take Back the Night is a solidarity event where we get the opportunity to build community, use our collective voice to take a stand against violence and demand that our rights, our safety and wellbeing are protected and supported, McClure said.

On the day of the event, Waffle Love (109 25th St.) will donate 10 percent of every purchase to the Womens Center when a customer mentions Take Back the Night.

Visit the Womens Center website at weber.edu/womenscenter or Take Back the Nights Facebook page at facebook.com/events/277242512731964/ for more information.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 04, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 04, 2017 | 09:55 AM | PADUCAH, KY

Paducah Economic Development has announced a major expansion of UACJ Automotive Whitehall Industries.



The combination of UWHs capabilities and the significantly increased demand has created the need for additional fabrication capacity, according to the news release issued by Paducah Economic Development.



The news release says the expansion consists of a 56,000 square foot expansion to the plant in Paducah with a total investment of nearly $3.3 million. The new expansion will include machining centers, robotics and additional fabrication equipment. The expansion is expected to create 50 new jobs by July 2018, many of them as early as the 4th quarter of 2017.



Paducah Economic Developments number one mission is to help our local businesses succeed and grow, said Paducah Economic Developments President and CEO Scott Darnell. The best and most sustainable type of growth for Paducah is that which comes from our local industries. Whitehall is a tremendous corporation for our community and we are proud to partner with them to continue their success.



We are pleased that the new owners of Whitehall Industries have chosen to increase their investment in McCracken County, said Judge Executive Bob Leeper. I believe this is recognition of a strong and capable workforce. We look forward to the continued success of Whitehall Industries in our community.



Mayor Brandi Harless commented We are extremely excited about the continued success of Whitehall Industries. Paducah is proud to be a part of Kentuckys mission to be the advanced manufacturing hub and our commitment to Whitehall is evidence of that. We feel that more partnerships with innovative companies such as Whitehall will continue to solidify Paducahs position in the new economy.



Whitehall Industries originally broke ground in 2013 when they decided to locate in Paducah.




Calvert City to help get letters to Santa
By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 04, 2017 | 10:55 AM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY

A traffic stop Sunday night led to methamphetamine charges for a Gilbertsville man.

According to the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, deputies were sent to the Purchase Parkway where a vehicle was reportedly being driven at 25 mph and weaving all over the road.

Deputies found the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. The driver, 50-year-old Timothy Howe, was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs second offense, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was lodged in the Marshall County Detention Center.
Loading...

Laura Wade is the scourge of the Bullingdon Club, apparently. Her play Posh  and the film that followed it, The Riot Club  has so besmirched the Buller's reputation that, these days, no self-respecting Old Etonian would be seen dead in a mustard waistcoast. Far from a move that makes you for life, it's become a form of career suicide.

Having premiered precisely as two former members, Messrs Cameron and Osborne, moved into Downing Street, Posh landed as a withering satire on the upper echelons of establishment power. It showed a fictional Oxford student dining society  definitely not the Bullingdon for very good legal reasons  returning to life as a host of silver-spooned students drink themselves near-blind, gorge themselves near-stupid and wreak havoc on a small country pub. It became a big hit: as much a blast of boys-behaving-really-really-really-badly as a staged Punch cartoon.

Posh is very much an all-male affair, so an all-female production is an intriguing idea, but it's one that director Cressida Carre rather lets slide. Her Riot Clubbers appear in cravats and tails with big, salon-fresh hairstyles. It's not drag exactly, they're not playing men, but it is a kind of male impersonation. They slouch. They manspread. They pump their groins. Like Melissa McCarthy's take on Sean Spicer, the mode is a means of lampooning. The trouble is Wade's script lampoons in itself. Doubling up does it no favours.

Otherwise, to borrow a phrase, this is about women getting their mitts on some choice male parts  and fair enough. Just as the History Boys did alright for themselves, a lot of the Posh lads have got good things going. Why shouldn't young women get the same sort of launch pads early on in their careers? It's all sorts of galling that, for all their brio and brilliance, none of the Ladies of Perpetual Succour have been snapped up for stardom as yet.

There's meat in the gesture. Posh is a play about privilege, so cross-gender casting  even just for the simple opportunity of it  does its bit to overturn that. It's a smash-and-grab job, essentially. Take the plum roles and run. The problem is that Cressida Carre's approach never fully lets women really own that. In fact, it positively works against them.

Playing the parts much as men might, it becomes a case of anything you can do, we can do just as well, thankyouverymuch. Only not like this they can't; not like for like. It's painfully obvious that none of them have stepped inside a room without women, let alone a male psyche. Inevitably, the whole thing's a tad off; the joshing, the jinks, the powerplay. It just smells wrong. The rhythm's off. The details are out. These aren't male insecurities, urges or egos, but approximations of them. Everything's played from outside. Every character's judged and, so, the drama deflates.

Wade's play was always a pretty blunt instrument, and it needs flint-sharp performances to sustain itself. With the Buller Boys out of power, it's lost some of its political sting too and, while Carre makes a case for fresh topicality with Theresa May in the top job, it's a hard sell.

Instead, the charred black walls of Sara Perks design suggest that the damage has already been done. The aesthetic is of devils dining at hell's kitchen as a candleabra swings overhead. Between scenes, the Rioteers spin through slow-mo, strobe-lit bacchanals to raucous punk classics. For all their fineries, these are the real yobs. They have smashed more shit than any anarchist ever could. The tone, at times, is almost mournful.

That said, Wade's play has its own exuberance and, even off-the-boil, it's enjoyable for all its excess. What's missing here is the ugliness, the danger, the threat  all the stuff that really sticks in the craw. Serena Jennings can't find the vitriol underneath the Riot Club's ringleader, Alistair Ryle  the snarl that slowly bares its teeth  and neither Amani Zardoe nor Cassie Bradley muster the cutthroat rivalry of two proud, entitled shitbags outspending one another. Molly Hanson gives sanctimonious swagger to Toby "Tubes" Maitland that unravels in drink, and Alice Brittain leans back and looks down at the world as golden boy Harry, but mostly, more gets lost than gained.

True, the casting highlights the ladsladslads' chauvinism at the table, and the boasts of "pussy" and blow-jobs all seem rather pathetic  but then they always did. Indeed, it changes less than you'd think. Smashing the joint to pieces still seems more affronting than crass attempts at sexual assault. It probably shouldn't.

Posh runs at the Pleasance until 22 April.
Loading...

John Fowles' never-before-seen version of Marivaux's rom-com is a double date that could be doubly dated: it's a 1983 translation of a 1730 French play, in which two potential lovers swap places with their servants to better get the measure of one another. Needless to say, both the well-bred pair and their waiting staff mutually fall for their opposite number, all while believing them to be unmarriably the wrong class.

Naturally, class will out: the posh people simply can't help but prove terribly refined while the low-lifes remain crude and comic. And there's not a jot of will-they-won't-they. They so obviously will  indeed, both pairs are engaging in manipulative tricks so the other will prove the extent of their romantic will-power. Still, there's an irresistible symmetry to the story, and in Paul Miller's trotting production it's easy to be scooped along for a fine old ride.

That's partly because Miller has quite rightly followed Fowles' own note that the driver of the play is "violent physical attraction". This is an hour and a half of lust-at-first-sight, of pure infatuation, in all its knee-trembling, giddy glory. Chemistry smoulders in all four corners of the stage. Claire Lams as Louisa the maid snaps her fan and bats her eyelashes, but her seduction techniques are soon fired by real love; as John Brass the manservant, Keir Charles' trouser twitching and tackle-rearranging ain't subtle, but his vulgar impersonation of a foppish lord amuses.

Ashley Zhangazha has a noble desperation as the rich, straight-man suitor Richard, but the real star of the night is Dorothea Myer-Bennett, whose Sylvia is very much the heroine of the play. The most multifaceted character, one minute she's coolly supercilious and the next utterly love-sick, and Myer-Bennett oscillates between feistily confident lucidity and tremulous heart-sore panic, while always imbuing this woman with real intelligence.

Maviraux was famous enough for his sparkling style that the somewhat disparaging term marivaudage' was coined after him. There's certainly a fizzy wit to Fowles' translation, which updates the action to Regency England, but it does still sound thoroughly mannered. This isn't really a problem: the play's all about pretence and performance, after all. Miller ups this by having the cast, in this intimate in-the-round space, address lots of scoffing or scornful lines very directly to the audience.

Simon Daw's set stages the whole thing under a canopy of roses and tealights, which cues you in to the romantic tone. Miller is not interested in exploring potential murkiness: the weird cruelty of deceiving someone you love as a test is glossed, and any queasiness at the fact that it's Sylvia's father who gleefully gets the whole trick going  and that she at one point pretends, ew, to fancy her brother to further dupe Richard  are mostly played for blustery laughs.

It's all as frothy and bustling as a Regency frock, and about as relevant to the modern day. But it certainly makes for an enjoyable evening, and has an elevating performance at its heart.

The Lottery of Love is at the Orange Tree Theatre until 13 May.
DEADLINE IS TUESDAY APRIL 11TH FOR LEGISLATION TO TAKE AWAY LOCAL CONTROL OF THE CITY'S WATER SYSTEM

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SAY CITY WATER CUSTOMERSD OUTSIDE THE CITY ARE UNDER-REPRESENTED

CITY OFFICIALS STRONGLY OPPOSE LOSING COTROL OF THE CITY WATER SYSTEM

The deadline will be next Tuesday April 11th for introducing legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly that would comply with a request by county commissioner Bill Lapsley and a three-member majority of county commissioners to take control of Hendersonvilles water system away from the city and place it under the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

The commissioners recently made the argument, primarily led by Commissioner Lapsley, a former city water department employee, that over 70 per cent of Hendersonvilles water customers live outside the city and they would be better represented if the system is controlled by a state agency

State Representative Chuck McGrady says hes still considering all his optionsone of which would be to place control of the city water system under the North Carolina Local Government Commission. The utilities commissions is made up of seven members, all appointed by the governor; The LGC or Local Government Commission is comprised of nine members, including the elected state treasurer, state auditor, secretary of state, secretary of revenue, three members appointed by the governor and two appointed by the General Assembly. McGrady says no deciusion has been made on what option hell pursue.

He says hes been working mostly on Ashevilles water situationand now has assurances from the City of Asheville there will be no differential or higher rates charged to Ashevilles water customers in Henderson County. He says there are still sewage related issues to be resolved.

The county commissioners resolution asking for legislation to take control of the citys water system away has been met with strong opposition from city officials and whatever form any bill McGrady introduces will have to be approved by both the state house and senate and signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper.

And if legislation taking away control of the citys water system clears all those hurdles, it could still face a court challenge., An attempt was made a few years ago to take Ashevilles water system away and create a new regional water and sewer authority; Asheville sued; and the state supreme court ruled in Ashevilles favor just before Christmas last year and left control of their water system with the City of Asheville.

By Larry Freeman
Without naming China, Nikki Haley, said the US would take the lead in getting sanctions imposed or look for other ways to take action if faced with Security Council vetoes.

By India Today Web Desk: Displaying an aggressive stand on terrorism, United States today made it clear that it would ensure that sanctions are imposed on terrorists by the United Nations.

US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley said Washington would take the lead in getting sanctions imposed or look for other ways to take action if faced with Security Council vetoes.

advertisement

Haley's statement comes at a time when India's attempt to get UN sanction on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar has been repeatedly blocked by China.

Without naming China, Nikki Haley, who assumed the presidency of the Security Council for April, said vetoes would not "preclude the US from acting an it certainly doesn't preclude us from seeing if we can change that as well".

HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT US STAND ON TERRORISM: Describing the US administration as "more aggressive", Haley, who has a cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's government, said that to fight terrorism "the administration is very much looking at all these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list". "We want to make sure that we are calling out those that we want to call out. We want to make sure that we are leading towards a result and not sitting back and allowing things to happen," Nikki Haley said. As a permanent member of the Security Council, China has used its veto to protect Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who was behind the attack on an air force base in Pathankot, from being included in a list of terrorists who face UN action. China also provided cover for Pakistan, when it released on bail Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lakshar-e-Taiba commander who masterminded the 2008 attack on Mumbai which killed more than 160 people. He was already on the UN list of those facing sanctions as terrorists. Haley did not name China in her remarks. "Are we going to have people who veto certain issues," she asked and answered, "Yes." "But that doesn't preclude the US from acting and it certainly doesn't preclude us from seeing if we can change that as well," Nikki Haley said. "So our goal," Haley said, "is to get more done together, then we do separately, and if we cannot get it done separately, then we move in another direction and still get the same things done."

(inputs from IANS)

ALSO READ:

US move for a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar blocked again by China

In latest snub, China blocks India's move to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar at UN

Masood Azhar: China editorial admits 'regional stability' more important than terror

ALSO WATCH

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Apr 4 (PTI) The US and Egypt have agreed to work together in combating terrorism and restoring peace in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump "strongly backed" his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, disregarding the human rights concerns over the ex-generals regime.

Trump and Sisi held a series of meetings at the White House yesterday and expressed their mutual interest in supporting the Israelis and Palestinians in moving toward a genuine and lasting peace.

advertisement

Sisi is on his first six-day visit to the US as Egyptian President during which he is expected to meet top US leaders. Hosni Mubarak was the last Egyptian president who was at the White House in 2010 to attend Middle East peace talks.

"We will do that together. We will fight terrorism and other things. And were going to be friends for a long, long period of time. We have a great bond with the people of Egypt," Trump said in his joint media appearance with al-Sisi at the Oval Office.

"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. We have strong backing," Trump said.

The two leaders agreed on the critical importance of advancing peace throughout the Middle East including in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, the White House said.

"The United States and Egypt stand fully committed to addressing critical bilateral and international issues in a spirit of mutual respect and open cooperation," a readout of the meeting said.

"Trump reaffirmed our deep and abiding commitment to Egypts security, stability, and prosperity, and pledged continued support to Egypts ongoing fight against terrorism and Egypts historic economic reform programme," it said.

The two leaders also agreed to continue with coordinating military, diplomatic and political efforts to defeat terrorism.

Both recognised that terrorism cannot be defeated solely by military force and pledged to explore ways to address the economic, social, political and ideological factors that fuel terrorism, the White House said.

During their interactions, Trump applauded al-Sisis "courageous efforts" in promoting moderate understanding of Islam, the White House said, adding that they agreed on the necessity of recognising the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world. (MORE) PTI LKJ MRJ ASK AKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---
This shop uses cookies and other technologies to operate the shopping basket and improve the usability of the Wild Places Publishing website. Continued use of this site indicates your acceptance of our privacy and cookies policy, and our terms and conditions. We do not set advertising cookies. For more information about cookies see our FAQ.

close
8 people, including 4 children were injured in a rollover accident on Interstate 96 early Monday morning.

It happened in Lowell Township just before 2AM.

State Police say the vehicle was headed from Detroit to Muskegon when it abruptly drove into the median and rolled over.

Police say several of the passengers, whose injuries mostly include cuts and bruises, were not wearing seat belts. Police believe a defective car part may be to blame, but they are still investigating.
Here are eight things you need to know about the new reforms to India's visa policy.

By India Today Web Desk: The Office of the Home Minister of India tweeted a series of reforms to India's visa policy approved by the Union Cabinet. The reforms are aimed at promoting tourism, business travel and attract investors to the country.

Starting April 1, the reforms will be applicable on all the applications.

Here are 8 things you need to know: E-visa has been sub-divided into three categories namely, e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa. E-visa facility is now available to the nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports and 3 Indian ports. The duration of stay on e-visa has been increased from 30 to 60 days. Applicants can get double entry on e-tourist and e-business visa and triple entry on e-medical visa. The window for application under e-visa scheme has been increased from 30 days to 120 days. Now, six major Indian airports will have separate immigration counters and facilitation desks to assist medical tourist. A new category of visa titled Intern (I) Visa has been introduced for foreigners wanting to pursue internship in India. With a duration of one year and a facility of multiple entry, a new category of visa- Film (F) visa has been introduced.

advertisement

Also read: Now you just need one visa to travel across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

Also read: No more H-1B visas for computer programmers, hints US Homeland dept

Also read: Trump administration announces steps to combat H-1B visa abuse, issues new guidelines

--- ENDS ---
It noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide and suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."

By Press Trust of India: In a significant order, the Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of all drought-hit farmers and restrained cooperative societies and banks from recovering their dues.

It noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide and suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."

advertisement

A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and M V Muralidaran gave the order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association.

"We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the Advocate General also reiterated the same. The government is already single handedly shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore."

In this difficult situation, the central government cannot be a silent spectator and should come forward to extend help to the state government to share the burden, the court said.

It directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of 2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres.

"We further direct the department to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench said.

The Association alleged that government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal and to direct authorities to give relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of extent of land owned.

The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement today at the principal seat.

"In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said.

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) World Health Organisation has for the first time in ten years launched a new policy guidance on malaria elimination, which provides countries with strategies aimed at achieving elimination of the disease.

Malaria is a public health problem in several parts of of the country with over 10 lakh malaria cases being registered last year.

advertisement

The 2017 framework for malaria elimination was officially released at a global forum attended by national programme managers from the E2020, a group of countries that, according to WHO, have the potential to reach zero indigenous cases of the disease by 2020.

"The new guidance recognises that malaria transmission represents a continuum and it is designed to support all malaria-endemic countries. Programme actions are highlighted across the spectrum of transmission intensity, from high to very low," it said.

The new framework includes a streamlined process for WHO certification of malaria elimination and clarifies the threshold for reestablishment of transmission.

It offers new guidance on setting targets and systems to verify malaria-free areas within a countrys borders, which can be an important foundation for future national certification.

About 95 per cent population in the country resides in malaria endemic areas and 80 per cent of malaria reported in the country is confined to areas consisting 20 per cent of population residing in tribal, hilly, difficult and inaccessible areas, according to National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

According to the Programme, last year, there were 10,59,437 cases of malaria in India, while 242 people died due to the disease.

India had last year launched the National Framework for MalariaElimination (NFME) 2016-2030, which outlines the countrys strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030.

According to WHO estimates, an increasing number of countries are moving towards malaria elimination.

In 2000, an estimated 13 countries had fewer than 1000 cases of malaria and by 2015, 33 countries had achieved this milestone.

Similarly, the number of countries with fewer than 100 cases of malaria, and with fewer than 10 cases of the disease, has increased sharply since 2000.

In April 2016, WHO identified 21 countries with the potential to achieve zero indigenous cases of malaria by 2020.

The analysis, published on World Malaria Day, was based on trends in malaria case incidence between 2000 and 2014, the declared malaria objectives of affected countries and the informed opinions of WHO experts in the field.

Together, these 21 countries represent the "E-2020".

The new guidance was developed over the course of 18 months by the WHO Secretariat and an independent Evidence Review Group chaired by Rick Steketee, Director of the Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA).

advertisement

It involved a broad process of consultation with national programme managers and culminated in a final review in September 2016 by the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC).

"This guidance builds on and is fully aligned with WHOs Global Technical Strategy for Malaria, a 15-year framework for all countries working to control and eliminate malaria.

"Malaria elimination in at least 10 countries is one of the strategys near-term targets for 2020," WHO said. PTI TDS KIS

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took days for the authorities to learn about the toddlers death.

When it finally hit the courts, the judge initially ensured her name was kept from public view. And now even a guilty plea from her mother, whose prolonged assaults and neglect led to her murder, is not enough for the childs name to be seen on the public record when justice is finally done.

A publication ban imposed by the court on Monday prevents the Free Press from naming the child, whose case the newspaper has been chronicling for nearly three years. Moreover, documents obtained by the Free Press show the extent to which the child-welfare system has gone to cloak the circumstances of her death, including recommendations emanating from the case.

Its been nearly three years since the 21-month-old girl died after being returned to her parents by Child and Family Services.

Months of neglect and abuse led to the death of the girl on an Interlake First Nation, the toddlers mother has admitted. The childs mother pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Monday, admitting she repeatedly assaulted the little girl and didnt properly feed her.

Neither the mother nor the child can be identified under a publication ban that was imposed Monday for reasons that remain unclear. Court of Queens Bench Justice Douglas Abra ordered the ban, which the Crown agreed with in court, without citing any section of the Criminal Code that would allow for such a ban.

The Free Press is complying with the court order even though it appears the court did not have jurisdiction to impose it.

Both parents were charged in their daughters death. The fathers criminal allegations of manslaughter and failing to provide the necessaries of life are to be tested at a jury trial scheduled to begin in February 2018.

The little girl died on July 17, 2014, after she was taken to hospital in Hodgson, where medical staff saw signs of severe neglect and abuse, Crown attorney Daniel Chaput told court. The child died of internal injuries caused by a beating she suffered earlier that day, court heard.

Malnutrition and repeated and prolonged historical abuse also contributed to the toddlers death, Chaput said.

Whats quite clear is that the accused failed to provide the necessaries of life to the victim, including nourishment and medical treatment over a prolonged period of time, he said. Were not talking days; were not talking weeks. Were talking months. And (the accused) knew that in so doing she was likely to cause the health of the victim to be endangered permanently.

Justice Abra accepted the 38-year-old womans guilty plea.

You admit that your mistreatment of your child resulted in your childs death? he asked her.

Yes, the mother said.

She is set to be sentenced on July 26, when Crown and defence lawyers are expected to agree on a recommended period of parole ineligibility. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Defence lawyer Mike Cook has requested a private assessment, known as a Gladue report, to determine how intergenerational trauma has affected the accused. The report will be used to inform the judges opinion before the accused receives her life sentence.

My client tearfully, and remorsefully, entered a guilty plea today for causing the death of her young child. It was a very brave thing to do. She has had a very difficult life full of Gladue factors such as murder in her immediate family, being personally traumatized in residential school, familial sexual abuse, personal addictions, domestic violence and hopelessness, Cook said in a statement to the Free Press Monday.

She is committed to receiving help to recover from so many instances of personal tragedy and to be a much better mother to her older children in time, he said.

Prior to her death, the little girl had spent time as a ward of Child and Family Services. The child was taken into foster care at birth after the parents had older children removed from their home. She was returned to live with her parents about a year before she died. RCMP laid criminal charges against the girls parents in January 2015 after a lengthy investigation.

In a recent response to a Free Press freedom of information request, the Families Department blacked out entire pages  save for the odd word  on six cabinet minister briefing notes prepared on the case over a two-year period.

The department cited confidentiality clauses under Manitoba law for the heavy redactions.

Two child-welfare agencies  Intertribal CFS and Peguis CFS  are named in the documents.

Blocked out from a January 2017 document were nine apparent recommendations for action emanating from the case.

The briefing notes provided background information on the case, its current status and cautionary notes to the minister not to reveal the name of the child.

They even reported on media interest in the childs death. One briefing note blacked out 11 lines of text regarding media inquiries. It also noted that the department had received a freedom of information request about the case, and that the issuer of the request, dissatisfied with the response, had filed a complaint with the provincial Ombudsman.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Katie May

Reporter Katie May is a general-assignment reporter for the Free Press. Read full biography
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says she is looking forward to signing a health funding agreement with Manitoba in the very near future.

Philpott made the remark Tuesday, a day after Premier Brian Pallister removed a major stumbling block to renewed negotiations between the two levels of government.

Asked about the status of the talks following a cabinet meeting in Ottawa, the federal minister said she was hopeful that an agreement could be reached soon.

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Files Federal Heath Minister Jane Philpott believes a health deal between the federal government and Manitoba could be worked out soon.

Of course, we know the people of Manitoba recognize, like Canadians across the country, that there are needs in the areas of home care and mental health. And they would, Im sure, be pleased to get those extra resources to support those areas, she told a group of reporters.

An audio recording of Philpotts remarks was obtained by the Free Press.

Late Tuesday Pallister confirmed that talks have resumed.

Discussions continue and we will continue to negotiate the best we can for the good of Manitobans, he said outside the legislature.

Pallister did an about-face Monday after weeks of tough talk on health-care funding negotiations with Ottawa. He withdrew a demand for a written assurance that federal funding for an advanced manufacturing facility in Winnipeg, dubbed Factory of the Future, does not hinge on Manitoba signing the new national health deal.

Manitoba alleges that a federal official linked the two matters during talks earlier this year, derailing the negotiations.

Pallister repeated his insistence on a written assurance even after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau verbally expressed his support for Factory of the Future during a Winnipeg visit last Wednesday.

But the premier said Monday hed reconsidered his position.

On reflection, I think I should take the word of the prime minister on things like this, he said.

Pallister said he is now willing to resume talks on the health deal. Manitoba is the lone holdout; all other provinces and territories have signed health deals with Ottawa.

Manitoba, like other provinces, is assured of an annual three per cent increase in the Canada Health Transfer over the next 10 years.

Once it signs a deal with Ottawa, it will receive additional funds from a new $11.5-billion federal pot of money devoted to mental-health and home-care services. In the first year of the accord, the amount of money Manitoba would expect to receive for these services is relatively small  $10.8 million. However, that amount ramps up over the course of the 10-year agreement.

Pallister said Manitoba is also seeking a side deal  similar to what several other provinces have negotiated  that would provide federal help in the battle to combat opioid addiction and kidney disease. Manitoba also wants to resolve an outstanding issue regarding the funding of medevac services for northern First Nations residents.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/04/2017 (2045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Water from the Fisher River was slowly receding Monday at Peguis First Nation after flooding caused by ice jams forced evacuations from more than 80 homes in the community during the weekend.

Chief Glenn Hudson said the floodwater has receded only about 15 centimetres and the community, located about 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg, has been inundated with water.

Were holding steady at 84 evacuations, Hudson said, reached by cellphone while he toured the community on Monday.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS High water along Highway 3 near Brunkild on Monday limits traffic to one lane behind a temporary dike.

Its starting to recede, but we still have washed-out roads and obviously concerns regarding the safety of infrastructure throughout the community.

Premier Brian Pallister told reporters late Monday afternoon he had spoken to Hudson on Monday morning.

Pallister said the Tories had pushed for permanent flood protection for Peguis when they were still in opposition.

Well be looking for a federal partnership on that project.

As of Monday afternoon, 194 people were out of their homes  190 from Peguis, Long Plain, Fisher River, and Sioux Valley Dakota First Nations, and four from Petersfield, said Doug McMahon, assistant deputy minister of Manitoba Infrastructure.

There are eight local states of emergency, he said.

This is a very early runoff, McMahon said. Levels on tributaries are levelling off and even declining.

McMahon said water levels in the Melita, Souris, and Wawanesa areas are expected to remain manageable given current weather conditions. Were well below 2011 levels, he said.

McMahon noted ice jams normally produce higher water levels than do the regular flow of runoff.

In any area that could affect water levels in Manitoba, we havent seen any precipitation events in the short term forecasts that concern us, McMahon said.

Pallister told the legislature conditions look hopeful, but its a little early to breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

In Peguis, floodwater reached some homes; although other homes were dry, they had to be evacuated because water had cut off road access to them. Hudson said it is too early to tell whether some homes may be lost.

Weve had a few (homes) inundated by floodwaters but people have been evacuated so once the water recedes, well assess that, he said.

He said the evacuees are staying in two Winnipeg hotels.

Hudson said crews in Peguis used excavators on Sunday to clear ice jams.

Thats helping the water recede, along with the cold weather. Last night, it went down to -2 C, so those things are favourable in terms of allowing the water to flow faster, he said.

Pallister told reporters he has visited 38 communities and Infrastructure Minister Blaine Pedersen has been to even more  but not while people are fighting flood waters. Those were pre-emptive visits, the premier said.

I just didnt take a photo crew, I didnt throw a sandbag, Pallister said. Theyre fighting for their survival.

I dont believe in going out and getting in the way of people fighting for their survival  they dont want you in the way, Pallister declared.

Flood fears were much lower in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Things are going very well, city spokesman Ken Allen said. Environment Canadas forecast for the week  sunshine and above-normal temperatures  will help the citys flood-planning and operations.

The situation has stabilized, Allen said.

The water level on the Red at James Avenue was at 19.2 feet. While water levels there are expected to stay around 19 ft. this week, a minor increase may still occur in the next two days as ice moves on the Assiniboine River.

The province said the Red River is expected to crest today or Wednesday.

Outside the city, the situation remained tense. Overland flooding continued Monday across much of southern Manitoba, mostly due to ice jams in the drainage network, major rivers and smaller tributaries, Manitoba Infrastructures Hydrologic Forecast Centre said in a news bulletin.

Netley Creek was continuing to run very high because ice jamming on the Red River was slowing the creek from draining into the river.

At St. Adolphe and Brunkild, partial ring dike closures were underway or completed.

The Manitoba government said eight states of local emergency had been registered with the province as of Monday: the municipalities of Prairie Lakes, Grassland, Brenda-Waskada, Dufferin, Grey, La Broquerie and Two Borders, and the Town of Carman.

In addition to Peguis, evacuations have also taken place at the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. The Canadian Red Cross is working with both communities to provide assistance.

High water advisories issued by the province remained in effect Monday for the Overflowing, Valley and Vermillion rivers. A flood watch was issued for the lower Assiniboine River from Portage la Prairie to Headingley due to possible ice issues. Flood watches remained in effect for the Woody, Whitemud and Red Deer rivers.

Meanwhile, the flood watch was lifted from the Whitemouth River.

Flood warnings were issued for Birdtail Creek, the Turtle River and the upper Assiniboine River between the Shellmouth Dam and Holland.

For Swan River near Minitonas, Fisher River downstream of Dallas, the Morris River, Pipestone Creek and the Red River and Netley Creek near Petersfield, flood warnings remained in effect due to ice jamming.

At Gretna, the province said it was removing the partial dike closure at the border on Monday.

Water levels and flows on the Pembina River were stabilizing Monday as ice jams subsided. The Pembina at Windygates was nearing its second crest, expected to be lower than the first peak.

On the Assinboine River, the Portage Diversion began operation on Friday morning to limit flows on the lower Assiniboine River and to minimize ice jams.

The Assiniboine Rivers major tributaries were still increasing including Birdtail and Silver creeks, Arrow, Oak, Little Saskatchewan, Little Souris and Cypress rivers. The Souris River and its tributaries were continuing to increase due to the run-off from the melt.

Highway 75 will remain open, McMahon told the news conference, but a decision will be made on whether use of a ramp in Morris will be necessary based on conditions over the next few days.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.canick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Gurpreet Singhs parents sent their 19-year-old son from India to Winnipeg to study hotel and hospitality management, the plan was hed work hard and start a successful business.

Five years later, hes driving a cab and gets his scalp slashed open outside a North End 7-Eleven early Friday.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Gurpreet Singh parts his hair near where he was stabbed.

That sharp blade made me think Im going to die, the soft-spoken 24-year-old said at home Monday, dabbing the 10-centimetre gash doctors stitched up just above his right temple. The Sikh man, who has never cut his hair out of respect for his deeply religious mother back in Punjab, lost a big chunk of his hair in the attack, as well.

My religion has been assaulted. His head hurts but the emotional wound is just as deep.

I havent told my parents, he said. My mother, shes my world. If I tell her this has happened to me, shell be crying. How bad she will feel.

On Friday at around 2 a.m., the Unicity Taxi driver stopped during his 12-hour shift to pick up a few things at the 7-Eleven at Salter Street and Flora Avenue. A young man, a little taller than he is, wearing a red hoodie was standing in the middle of a store aisle. I said, Excuse me so I could get by him, Singh said. The same person left the store without paying for an armful of items and was taunting Singh Come outside  youre a tough guy you want to fight? 

Singh waited for him to leave. I dont want any trouble. When it appeared the person had left, Singh went outside and tried getting in his cab. Thats when he was attacked by the person in the red hoodie.

He shouted, Hey buddy  stop. You want to fight? I was scared. Singh said he was grabbed by the collar and the attacker pulled out what looked like a small machete and told him to give him his jacket. I tried to grab the hand thats holding the knife and pushed him toward the store.

Then he felt the knife slice into his scalp. The attacker fled and people at the store gathered round. The clerk went outside and held a paper towel over his gash.

It was a deep cut and bleeding a lot.

A woman called 911. My whole body was shivering. I was in too much pain.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Holding a bandage to dab and clean his wound, Gurpreet Singh describes how he was stabbed last Friday, gaining stitches and a long scar and losing a long braid central to his upbringing as a Sikh.

An ambulance took him to Seven Oaks General Hospital. Police arrived to take his statement and told him a suspect had been arrested. Two Unicity drivers showed up to support him. Fellow drivers have become like family, said Singh who didnt know a soul when he arrived in Winnipeg at age 19.

After finishing his education at the Winnipeg Technical College, he said he couldnt find a job in the hospitality industry so he drove for a Handi-Transit provider then for Unicity Taxi.

I never planned I would be driving a cab  it was just for a time, said Singh, who never imagined it could be life threatening.

I was thinking nothing like this is going to happen.  He was thinking hed work hard and be successful and happy.

I have a lot to do in my life, Singh said. I have a lot of goals  to establish a business. And to make his parents proud.

Theyve done a lot for me, he said. They paid for my college tuition and to send me here to have a better future and a better life. No parents send their children to die like this. Hes sent his parents gifts and money and was hoping to return to India to visit them this summer for the first time since he left. Thats on hold now.

If his parents find out whats happened to him in Canada, theyll be horrified, he said. Theyre going to say, come home. 

Singh says hell never drive a cab again but isnt sure what hell do next. He shares an apartment with his younger brother, aged 20, who recently joined him in Canada.

Inside the brothers tidy suite in a newer block in south Winnipeg, theres a super hero poster in the living room next to a Sikh religious wall-hanging. There are stuffed Alvin and the Chipmunks characters in the kitchen and Homer Simpson slippers on the living room floor.

The younger Singh is holding down two jobs  as a Domo gas bar attendant and a security guard. His older brother isnt too worried about his younger siblings safety. Hes taller and stronger. Hes a tough guy. He goes to the gym. Hes planning to study criminology, Singh said.

He wants to be a police officer. Hes vowed to pick up extra shifts to help his older brother as long as he promises not to get behind the wheel of a taxicab again. For now, he isnt sure what hell do once he heals.

He said he feels no anger towards his attacker or the need for revenge.

The only thing I feel is scared. A lot.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Describing Adityanath's move as a bold step, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should also announce relief for Maharashtra farmers.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has congratulated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for announcing loan waiver for farmers of the state.

Describing Adityanath's move as a bold step, Uddhav said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should also announce relief for farmers of the state.

"By taking the decision to waive off loans, Yogi Adityanath has given a big relief to farmers. I congratulate him for this bold decision. Maharashtra CM should now follow his footsteps and announce loan waiver," Uddhav said in press statement.

advertisement

UDDHAV TAKES A DIG AT BJP

The Shiv Sena chief showered praise on Adityanath but at the same time didn't hesitate from taking a dig at alliance partner BJP.

"It is a matter of pride that Yogi Adityanath fulfilled the poll promise in his first ever cabinet meeting. He has also shown that his promise wasn't just a chunavi jumlaa," Uddhav quipped.

"If the biggest state in the country like Uttar Pradesh can announce loan waiver then why should a state like Maharashtra stay behind?" he asked.

"Farmers in Maharashtra are committing suicide not only because of drought, loss of crops but also due to burden of loans. The government should clear the 7/12 extract is what our demand is and will continue to be," Uddhav added.

The Shiv Sena has been aggressively demanding a loan waiver for farmers in Maharashtra. The party also joined the Opposition's protests in the ongoing budget session over the demand. Shiv Sena members have also disrupted the proceedings of the House on several occasions.

WATCH: Uttar Pradesh government waives off small, medium farmer loans

ALSO READ:

In first cabinet meet, Yogi Adityanath keeps election promise, waives farmers' loan upto Rs 1 lakh

Yogi Adityanath's first interview after taking charge of UP, says Ayodhya issue should be resolved through talks

Shiv Sena 2.0: How Uddhav Thackeray-led party fought many battles to come on top

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/04/2017 (2045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Pallister says hes ready to negotiate a health-care funding deal with Ottawa  even without written assurances the feds have withdrawn an alleged threat that had brought discussions to a standstill.

The premier said he will now take Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his word that funding for a promised $60-million aerospace and automobile research hub  dubbed Factory of the Future  is not at risk.

Manitoba had accused Ottawa of linking the projects fate to the province agreeing to the health-funding accord all other provinces and territories have signed.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister said his government would be announcing its plan for health-care reform later this week.

On reflection, I think I should take the word of the prime minister on things like this, Pallister told reporters Monday.

He said it was unfair to continue to demand in writing Ottawas commitment to Factory of the Future after Trudeau offered verbal assurances in Winnipeg last week that he was committed to the project.

Theres a verbal commitment you have reported on, he said. Therefore, lets take the federal government at its word. It wasnt (Manitoba federal cabinet minister) Jim Carr who threatened; it was a negotiator. Lets give my federal colleagues some credit for assuring Manitobans that there is no longer a threat. I take them at their word. There is no more threat.

While most of the provinces and territories said they were unsatisfied with the health deal on the table last December, they signed one by one after receiving assurances of funding for specific health concerns, such as the battle against opioid abuse in some cases.

Pallister said he is now willing to resume negotiations with Ottawa on the deal. As is the case nationally, Manitoba is assured of a three per cent annual increase in overall funding, plus additional dollars from an $11.5-billion pot of cash for mental-health services and home care.

Pallister also wanted additional funding commitments to battle opioid addiction and deal with Canadas highest per-capita kidney disease rates, along with a resolution to the outstanding issue of medevac payments for the transfer of northern First Nations residents requiring hospitalization.

Meanwhile, the premier said his government would be announcing its plan for health-care reform later this week. He refused to provide any details.

Its going to be pretty meaty, and its going to be subject of a lot of debate, he said. And were excited about that. Were not going to run away from the challenges we face.

Were 10th out of 10 (among provinces) in access to health care. Were 10th out of 10 in too many categories for us to do anything but try to get better results for Manitobans.

A cabinet spokeswoman later clarified that the province will be participating in a health-care announcement led by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority this week. She said the government will also release the results of its pre-budget consultations, which contain more than 6,000 responses from stakeholders.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I was on my way to the Kings Head Pub Friday evening when I spotted the rarest of spring sightings in Winnipeg.

A lone, backpack-toting tourist.

He was standing on the corner of Princess Street and William Avenue, and at first I only suspected he wasnt from here because, as I crossed the street, he plucked a small camera from his backpack and began snapping a photo of the early spring Exchange District in all its grey-sky and grit-glutted-gutter glory.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg has its charms for a Connecticut traveller.

No, he said when I asked if he was was a local. Im from Connecticut.

But, he added, Ive been here three times.

At least thats what I thought the young man in the blue L.L. Bean ball cap said.

Before I could ask if I heard him correctly, he confirmed it.

I was here last year. And before that in 2012.

So the latest trip makes it three visits in five years. Maybe he keeps coming back because he made some new friends on his first or second trip to Friendly Manitoba.

But no, thats not it.

I havent met anyone personally, he said. I want to get to meet more people personally. But its more like I just like visiting the city just want to see more of the sights.

More of the sights? It was at that point I offered my name and occupation and he introduced himself as Jonathan Lindsey. And volunteered what he does for a living.

I drive a truck, he said.

I asked Jonathan if thats how he first took an interest in Winnipeg, trucking through here. But no, he said he doesnt drive long-distance. At least not behind the wheel.

I take the Greyhound here and then I take the city bus to get around.

So what is it about Winnipeg that he likes so much that keeps him coming back as if it were home?

The 37-year-old American said it was because of what he called the atmosphere.

The fact that its an old city. Its big enough that there are things to do, but its pretty small. The fact that  this sounds like an irony as a tourist  its not really, you know it doesnt have that tourist

I finishing the sentence for him.

Feel?

Yeah, he agreed. When I come here I feel more like a local.

Just then, as if he had been cued for the scene, a local walked by and greeted Lindsey. They had met at the Kings Head, a quaint place where Lindsey goes to meet the locals.

So Ill be seeing this in the paper? Lindsey asked after his acquaintance from the pub had passed by.

I said, yes, if that was OK with him.

Im just a regular, average person, Lindsey said.

Well, I responded, you are, and you arent.

Not when hes a tourist who habitually returns to Winnipeg because well, I was still trying to figure that out. How did he even find us in the first place?

I just you know, as Americans, I dont think we visit Canada a lot.

And being from the northeast part of the United States, Lindsey added, he decided to head west  where people from the northeast dont visit.

GORDON SINCLAIR JR / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Tourist Jonathan Lindsey calls Winnipeg his favourite North American vacation destination.

I asked what his favourite local places are, other than The Kings Head.

He said he has enjoyed the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Fort Whyte Alive, where he went hiking around this time.

I wondered if he had ever made a summer trip.

You know, I would like to come here in the summer, to see what its like.

Maybe, if he returns in the summer for his fourth visit, he would enjoy Assiniboine Park.

Ive actually been there, Lindsey said. I visited the zoo; they have a really nice exhibit.

OK, how about Louis Riels grave?

Hed been there, too.

There must be places he likes to visit other than little cold, old Winnipeg. Other places Greyhound can take him, and where he vacations just for a change.

But apparently not. Winnipeg is it.

Primarily, its my favourite place. I would say pretty much my favourite city right now in North America.

I was still struggling with, why Winnipeg?

Did you just throw a dart at map on the wall? I asked half-jokingly. How did you find us?

I dont know, Lindsey responded.

He does know, of course, and 10 minutes of probing Lindsey, he got to what drew him to us in the first place.

Its like Ive kind of been interested in this area, he said.

What seems to have interested him in particular is Winnipeg being home to one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos on the continent.

Im, like, half Filipino.

Ok, I think I get it now. This really does feel like home to him.

He was leaving the next day and before he bused it back east, I was going to tell him about Folklorama, but Im sure hell discover that when he returns one summer. At the invitation, I hope, of the local Filipino community or Tourism Winnipeg. Or, even better yet, both.

In the meantime, Im going to bestow my own honour on Jonathan Lindsey: Tourist of the Year. What the heck, lets make that Tourist of the Decade.

No one but our faithful flocks of migratory birds is even close.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO  How much should the federal government pay toward health-care costs?

Hardly a week goes by without this thorny issue being disputed between federal and provincial governments  even now that the federal budget has been tabled and health accord agreements have been reached, one by one.

Theres considerable scope for inflating or deflating the numbers on both sides.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Federal Minister of Health Jane Philpott

The simple solution often repeated is that health costs should be shared between the federal government and the provinces 50-50.

But this is far from simple  and very misleading.

The old model of shared-cost financing (with the federal government paying about half) has not existed since 1977.

At that time, the shared-cost model was replaced with a block transfer of funds  with roughly half of the new transfer being in the form of tax points. The federal government reduced its tax rate, allowing provinces to increase their rates without any net effect on the taxpayer.

So, since 1977, the federal cash contribution toward health care has been roughly 25 per cent of provincial medicare expenditures. Today, provincial governments routinely  and conveniently  ignore the tax points when calculating how much money they receive for health care from the federal government.

To make matters more confusing, the block transfer (called the Canada Health Transfer) is not earmarked for provincial health ministries to spend on health care. Instead, the transfer goes into provincial general revenue  and its up to the provinces where and how they spend it.

This funding system makes it impossible to know whether a Canada Health Transfer dollar from Ottawa ends up being spent on health care.

Additionally, the cost-shared model didnt cover all provincial health expenditures. Federal money was directed only to universal coverage for medically-required hospital and medical-care services. This still applies  the Canada Health Act definition of insured services only requires provinces to cover hospital and medical-care (largely doctor) services, although they can (and often do) go beyond that.

So how much does the federal government contribute to health care?

If we very roughly estimate the federal contribution to provincial spending on hospital and physician services  without counting the tax points or including all provincial health spending  we end up with a federal cash contribution of close to 30 per cent.

Why, then, is there the perception of a funding crisis? Why are the provinces crying foul when it comes to health-care funding?

One key reason is that the way we deliver health care has changed.

Provincial governments spend considerably on items that arent insured under the Canada Health Act. This includes outpatient prescription drugs (since drugs administered in hospitals must be covered), long-term care, home care, rehabilitation, dental care and mental health.

There are no national standards or conditions on covering these services.

Researchers long have pointed out the potential for improving outcomes and cutting costs if provinces and territories worked together to identify and implement best practices and potentially gain buying power. Some of this is now, thankfully, beginning to happen (e.g., purchasing pharmaceuticals on a national basis).

So rather than squabbling over whether the federal government is contributing its fair share, its time to move on. We need federal and provincial governments to talk about the important areas of health care never required to be covered by medicare. This is particularly pertinent as technology allows more care to be delivered by non-physicians in homes and in the community.

Provinces are spending more in health arenas outside of the Canada Health Act, with considerable coverage variability across jurisdictions.

Our governments need to work out a 21st-century health arrangement. Filling these gaps with better and more cost-effective coverage should be the focus of first ministers.

Targeted funding for some of the home care and mental-health programs in the bilateral agreements could be a first step. But they still omit critical cost drivers such as pharmacare, dental care and rehabilitation.

Its time we started constructing a better health-care future for all Canadians.

Greg Marchildon and Raisa Deber are expert advisers with EvidenceNetwork.ca and professors in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

 Troy Media
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadas sesquicentennial  the party to end all parties  arrives this year. Approximately half a billion dollars apparently will be spent on celebrating our great nations birthday, with a breadth of celebratory opportunities. A good chunk of the money allocated reportedly will be spent on community infrastructure and the sprucing up of public facilities.

But there are many special one-offs in the works, including the Passport 150 app  which helps you collect virtual badges while enjoying Canada Day celebrations  and the Red Couch Tour, during which artists will carry a red sofa across the country, upon which Canadians can share their thoughts on what it means to live in Canada.

And, of course, celebrations will culminate in the requisite Parliament Hill party in our nations capital.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES From left, Daryl Redsky, consultation officer, Chief Erwin Redsky, both of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, and Phil Cesario, design project manager at PM Associates Ltd. go over the final design drawings for Freedom Road in November 2016

Canadians love a good party. But I cant help but feel conflicted about the celebration mentality when so much about this country still stinks in terms of equality.

Arguably, some things have changed over the last 150 years. Our days of head taxes, forcibly removing people from their lands, preventing certain groups from access to economic opportunities and removing generations of children from their families are (more or less) over.

Unfortunately, the oppressive social experiences of groups affected by nation-building in Canada continue.

For example, First Nations across the country today are struggling with well over 100 boil-water advisories  many of which are defined as long-term. In the case of Shoal Lake 40, long-term means theyve been boiling their water since Jean Chretien was prime minister.

And despite the fact that in 2016 Ottawa promised that boil-water advisories would be eradicated on First Nations within five years, a recent report by the David Suzuki Foundation cautions that this is unlikely to happen. This is in part due to insufficient infrastructure funding on Canadian reserves and that despite the acknowledgement of the problem, First Nations drinking water projects often take between five and 10 years to complete at a minimum, with delays related to funding and shifts in political priorities.

Not that any of that will stop us from having a half-billion-dollar Canada Day party.

As a settler Canadian, I struggle with my relationship to Canada. Although not perfect, my lived experience as a white, heterosexual, cisgender, middle-class Canadian woman is pretty OK.

On the other hand, there are moments when I am shocked and sickened by how deeply divergent our stories as Canadians can be.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Shoal Lake 40 First Nation and tour its Museum of Canada Human Rights Violations. The museum was created in response to the CMHR in Winnipeg, which at its onset promoted its connection to water as a symbol of freedom and basic human rights. After 100 years of Shoal Lake 40 experiencing violations to both, the community felt it was time to tell its story and hoped that Canadians would listen.

The museum  humbly housed in the skating rink  provides a context of oppression beyond what is normally reported. This includes a cornucopia of examples of marginalization, including citys efforts to prevent land development in the 1980s and 90s, in order to protect Winnipegs water supply.

Germane to the discussion of potable water on reserves is that when the running water on Shoal Lake 40 was installed in the early 90s, engineers alerted the government to the fact that the system being proposed for the reserve was not adequate.

But the government was unresponsive. If Winnipeg didnt have a water treatment system, why should Shoal Lake 40 get one? However, by the mid 90s, Winnipeg had finally caught up to the rest of the nation with a state-of-the-art water treatment facility. In 2017, Shoal Lake 40 residents are still rinsing their dishes with water from big plastic jugs.

Visiting the reserve was both a sad and beautiful experience. Our official tour guide, Stewart Redsky, is a man who laughs a lot. He talks a lot about his family, including his five grandchildren. But in between his very regular Canadian stories, he shows us the open pit where sewage is dumped on the reserve, a result of full septic tanks and fields that cannot be properly attended to because of the extent of the failing infrastructure.

The spot was chosen to best prevent runoff from interfering with the reserves water source, but theres little doubt that some sewage makes its way there. Redsky said that when members bathe their loved ones, they tie cloths over the water taps to ensure that any effluent that has made its way into the water is caught. If I am relieved that Freedom Road is coming, I can only begin to imagine how he feels.

And it is coming  finally  with work set to start any day. Interestingly, the engineering report of the proposed project has no reference to Freedom Road, the name reflective of the last 100 years of Shoal Lake 40 families lived experiences in a seasonal prison. At first, this seems like hair-splitting. But language is power, and works to create specific contexts. If Freedom Road is taken away, its just another example of deliberate forgetting within a Canadian historical context.

Toward the end of the tour, as if reading my mind, Redsky stated that the museum is not about making anyone feel guilty. He adds that the tours are simply about remembering what end of the pipe we are on and the implications of that for everyone.

As settler Canadians, we often feel guilt about our connection to Indigenous injustices. But guilt does no one any good. Learning and remembering are important first steps in acting not out of guilt, but out of responsibility.

So yes, Ill probably go to The Forks on July 1. My kid will get her face painted with a Canadian flag and itll be fun. But at the end of the day, when I turn on the tap to wash the flag off her face, I will think of those Shoal Lake 40 families and I will remember that we need to be doing much, much better.

Dez Wengrowich is a former broadcaster who has returned to university to study sociology. She lives in Winnipeg.
Democrats on the House intelligence committee were briefed Tuesday on the contents of intelligence documents that White House staff provided to House intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, and could travel as soon as Tuesday to review the documents themselves.
WASHINGTON  What an amazing, terrific, incredible son-in-law!

Whether or not we have daughters, we should all be so lucky as to have someone like Jared Kushner, the husband of President Donald Trumps elder daughter, in our lives.

Ivankas hubby has so mesmerized Trump he was selected to lead the administrations campaign-to-White-House transition and was tasked with filling key staff positions, including Cabinet posts.

Then Trump made Kushner, a 36-year-old with no government experience, his senior adviser. Hes also to work on relations with countries such as China and key allies such as Mexico and, oh yes, peace in the Middle East. Really.

And on Kushners 67th day in Washington, Trump also made him head of a brand new Office of American Innovation. (Stephen Colbert was wrong; it is not being called the Bureau of Obvious Nepotism.)

Not that Kushner has actually been inside many federal agencies but he is now charged with overhauling the federal bureaucracy and fulfilling Trumps many campaign promises. (Unfortunately, Kushner was vacationing in Aspen, Colo., when the ill-fated effort to repeal and replace of Obamacare was not happening. Also, because he is an Orthodox Jew, Kushner cant work on Friday nights or Saturdays.)

One of Kushners tasks is to decide which branches of government to privatize, giving Big Business a well-deserved opportunity to get its hands on fulfilling lucrative taxpayer needs.

Kushner is a well-known commodity in New Yorks posh social circles; he inherited the reins of a lucrative real estate business from his father, who was put in prison by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie when he was a U.S. attorney. Fittingly, Kushner took the transition team away from Christie, who was supposed to be in charge until it actually happened. Christie also was not given a coveted Cabinet position in the administration. Kushner has stepped down as CEO of his familys business.

The White House says the new Office of American Innovation will bring to government the best, most lucrative practices of great American business corporations. (Perhaps they forgot such corporations dont fill key posts with sons-in-law.)

Kushner will give talented business friends the potentially lucrative opportunity to swoop, like SWAT teams, into federal agencies, where they will prod and pull, examine technology and data, and experiment with ways to make government offices smaller.

While Kushner was heading the transition office, he held, along with his wife and his two brothers-in-law who run the Trump business empire, a meeting with the head of a Russian bank that is under U.S. sanctions because of Russias annexation of Crimea and war in Ukraine. Kushner also met with the Russian ambassador before Trump was sworn in.

Kushner says he gladly will testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees on whether he discussed lifting sanctions, which would have been illegal. Kushner is expected to say he did nothing wrong. Congress is also investigating the extent of Russias interference in the November presidential election.

Meanwhile, the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation of the Trump teams stunning number of connections with Russia and whether anything was treasonous.

But amid the swirling conflicts of interest involving the Trump administration, at least one has ended. The Kushner family business says it and a Chinese company that bought the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel have ended talks over a $4 billion Manhattan real estate deal.

As Kushner begins his overhaul mission, will he and his team oversee potentially lucrative government contracts? Why, yes, they will. If the team thinks contracts should be awarded to new bidders, that could well happen. The Washington Post says Kushner is especially proud that his team has no government experts but is culled from business and has a broad mandate to reform the federal bureaucracy. Already, emails are flying back and forth with suggestions from various business interests.

The Kushner SWAT team is spreading its wings as the federal bureaucracy is reeling from Trumps proposed budget, which takes huge swaths from agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department.

Will government look different? Yes. Will it be more efficient? We dont know. Will it be smaller? We dont know. Will there be more corruption? We dont know. Will some people make money off of this? They always do.

Trump has sent no details of any of his promises to Capitol Hill. He hasnt given us any plans on health care, corporate and individual tax cuts, infrastructure investments, entitlement reform, or how to pay for any of it. Nothing.
Royall art teacher Val Banks made a decision late in her career that changed her life.

Banks, who teaches K-12 students at Royall, loved art so much she wanted to pass on her passion to others. After spending 25 years in various art related occupations, Banks chose to pursue a teaching degree. She spent 10 years in the Portage School District before moving to Royall about two years ago.

In February, Banks was named the Wisconsin Art Education Association (WAEA) Teacher of the Month. The association selects one teacher every month across the state to receive the award.

I was quite touched by the honor, Banks said. There are a lot of art teachers in the state, but sometimes I think there are not enough of us.

Banks was nominated by fellow art educators throughout the state and was humbled to earn the prestigious award.

Its kind of neat that were nominated through peers because its a way for teachers to acknowledge what your colleagues are doing in and outside of the classroom, Banks said.

As her son was finishing high school, Banks went back to college to earn her teaching certification. For a couple years, both Banks and her son were in college at the same time, which made life challenging at times.

We cut back on a lot of things to make it work, Banks said. My last semester I had to do student teaching and you dont get paid for student teaching. I had to work nights and weekends on the side. It was tough but it paid off. Its been very rewarding.

Banks values art in everyday life and strives to pass on appreciation for art to her students. While school districts have cut back on art and music programs to trim budgets, Banks believes its an essential part of education. She would like to see it become a core course.

I tell the kids that everything around them is art and they themselves are walking works of art, Banks said. From the glasses you wear to the way you dress. It is the largest and the most growing profession out there because there is art in everything. Art is all around us, but we dont think about it like that.

Art allows people to express their individuality. We need to take art and use it in other curriculums.

While some teachers might find it difficult to teach all grade levels, Banks embraces the challenge. She will transition from instructing third graders one hour to high school kids the next.

I like the variety and the unexpected pleasures that come from the different grade levels, Banks said. You have to be pretty flexible and go with the flow when you teach K-12. I like it because it keeps me fresh all day long. Some teachers only have kids for one year, but I get them for multiple years and I get to see that growth, that maturity. Its very rewarding for me to see that.

Royall High School sophomores Gabby Bond and Destany Lawry are taking an advanced art class under Banks tutelage. The students enjoy Banks sense of humor and creative teaching methods. If students hit roadblocks on a project, Banks will work with them to overcome their obstacles.

Banks personality was a warm welcome for Lawry who came to Royall from Tomah this school year. Lawry is currently working on a word-burned owl project.

Its nice because its a smaller school and I get a lot more attention and feedback, Lawry said. She helped me a lot with this owl because Ive never done wood burning before. She made me look at the whole picture. She also helped us break out of our element, get out of our comfort zone and try something different.

Banks guidance has helped students find their strengths and maximize them. Bond has a talent for working with colored pencils but only did small sketches before taking Banks class.

She always tells me to do more and I like that, Bond said. I always liked drawing with colored pencils but I would just do these little projects.
Items are listed under the day of the event only, running as space permits prior to the event. To submit items, call 745-3511, email jcutsforth@capitalnewspapers.com or visit www.portagedailyregister.com. Include name and phone number.

TODAY

Knitting and crocheting group: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgwater St., Portage. Bring your projects and share your progress with friends. We will also be doing knit-alongs where we work on a project together. The first project we will be working on is a leftovers sweater, using leftover yarn from other projects. A free pattern will be provided. Feel free to bring your lunch along with your knitting.

Photography Interest Group: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Northwoods Inc., Highway 51 South, Portage. Meet with fellow photographers to share photos and tips, explore new ideas and inspire creativity for upcoming events. Call Fred Baewer with questions at 608-742-4691.

Preschool Story Time: 10 a.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children ages 3 to 5 (siblings welcome). This week we kick-off spring with the Bunny Hop. Preschoolers will hear bunny stories, sing songs, and try dancing the hop. Only new families need to register and can be done by calling the Childrens Desk at 742-4959, ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us.

Teen Tuesdays: 4 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Teen Tuesdays will be held every Tuesday through May 9. The program is for students in 6th through 12th grades. Programs vary by week but crafts, movies and games are regular components, and snacks are provided.

Zumba Toning: 4:30 p.m. Woodridge Primary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5

Blood drive: Randolph Red Cross blood drive, 9 am. to 2 p.m. Randolph High School, 110 Meadowood Drive, Randolph. Download the American Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767 to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required.

Clinic: 8 a.m. to noon, Columbia County Public Health Walk-In Clinic, Columbia County Division of Health, 2652 Murphy Road, Portage. Use door No. 4. Bring childs immunization record. Visit www.co.columbia.wi.us for more information.

Free blood pressure screenings: 1 to 5 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. No appointment necessary. Call 745-6405 for more information. Do not eat, smoke, drink caffeine or exercise for 30 minutes prior.

Free Healthy Cooking Classes: 6 p.m. Portage Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2100 Highway 33 East, Portage. Learn to make some of your favorite foods and some new foods in a healthier way. This is the first of three weeks of classes. Bring a friend and enjoy sampling delicious food. Recipes will be available. Call 608-742-3322 if you have questions or to enroll.

G.G.s: 1:30 p.m. Hostess is Pat Atkinson and the program is by Heather Miller.

Preschool Story Time: 10 a.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children ages 3 to 5 (siblings welcome). This week we kick-off spring with the Bunny Hop. Preschoolers will hear bunny stories, sing songs, and try dancing the hop. Only new families need to register and can be done by calling the Childrens Desk at 742-4959, ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us.

Senior meal: 11:30 a.m. Portage Area Senior Citizens Group, Municipal Building, 115 W. Pleasant St., Portage. The meal will be provided by the Columbia County Nutrition Center. If you wish to have a meal, call Lois Williams at 608-697-5800 by noon Tuesday to register. The cost is a cash donation which will be directly put back into the nutrition program. The meeting will start at noon with cards to follow.

St. Vincent de Paul free medical clinic: 9 a.m. to noon. Wilz Drugs lower level, 140 E. Cook St., Portage. No appointments needed. Information needed is name, date of birth and a contact number. A foot clinic is available every week. The clinic can do exams and prescribe medications. Physical therapist available. Discounted medications are available at Wilz and Walmart. Call Bonny Oestreich, RN, at 608-234-0159 for information.

Zumba/Zumba Toning: 5 p.m. Montello. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.

Zumba: 5:30 p.m. 1208 Northport Road (the former Freedom Carpeting building). This is a $5 drop-in class. For more information, contact Deb at DJMACK00001@yahoo.com or Rena at 697-6713.

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

Bingo: 6:30 p.m. Endeavor Lions Club Bingo, Endeavor-Moundville Fire Department, Endeavor.

Making A Difference Study Group: 9 to 10:30 am. Portage Public Library, Bidwell Room, 253 W. Edgewater St. Portage. Making a Difference is a group that is meeting to turn concerns into action. Open to the public. What are your concerns?

Museum: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Portage World War II Museum, 119 E. Cook St., Portage. Free tours for veterans every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tours take 2 1/2 hours. For information, call 608-697-3690.

Museum at the Portage: 804 MacFarlane Road, Portage. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in April and May; and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday in June, July and August. Admission is free.

Portage Family Skate Park public meeting: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. All interested people are welcome to attend. Meetings will be held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Cancellations will be announced on our Facebook page. Call 608-742-4959 for more information.

Toddler Thursday: 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. (choose one time slot), Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children ages 18 to 36 months. Its Alligator Pie time with lots of alligator activities. Only new families need to register and can be done by calling the Childrens Desk at 742-4959, ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us.

FRIDAY, APRIL 7

Art exhibit: Portage Center for the Arts Drury Gallery presents the Area High School Student Exhibit, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Portage High School and Lodi Area Homeschool Organization will be featured. Opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. The gallery is open from 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Call 742-5655 for more information.

Fish fry: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus fish fry, Knights of Columbus Hall, 918 Silver Lake Drive, Portage. Cocktails at 4 p.m. Public invited. Cost is $10.75.

Hope House support group: 1 to 2 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Has domestic violence touched your life in some way? Find connections with supportive individuals who have similar life experiences as you at Hope Houses newest support group. All are welcome. Held on the first and third Friday of the month. For more information, contact Katie Fluger, outreach advocate, at 608-356-9123.

Seniors Bowling Social: 1 p.m. Fireball Lanes, 817 E. Wisconsin St., Portage. Cost is $6 and includes three games of bowling and shoe rental.

Unique Singles: 5 p.m. Suzys Steak and Seafood Restaurant, 2701 County Highway CX, Portage. All single men and women older than age 50 welcome. The group is strictly social with no dues or officers.

SATURDAY, APRIL 8

Endeavor Wisconsin Committee to Protect All Pensions: 10 a.m. Endeavor/Moundville Fire Station/Bingo Hall, 631 S. Limits Road, Endeavor. Active workers, retirees, spouses and all people concerned about stopping retirement theft are invited to attend. For more information, visit http://mycspensionhandsoff.com.

Fundraiser for Carol Heisz: 5:30 to 9 p.m. Trails Lounge, 125 Wauona Trail, Portage. Carol will be there. 100 percent of bar sales and 50 percent of food sales will be donated. Choice of jumbo shrimp or 10 oz. prime rib dinner for $17.99. If you intend to come for the fundraiser dinner, please make reservations with your entree choice so we can be prepared. Call 608-742-2325. There will also be a silent auction. We will also be open to the public with our regular menu.

Griefshare support group: 10 a.m. to noon, Portage United Methodist Church, 1804 New Pinery Road, Portage. Offered to individuals suffering from the loss of loved one(s). Meetings are held weekly on Saturdays. Call Laurie at 608-450-1081 or Jen at 608-345-8928 or visit www.griefshare.org for more information.

Harmony for the Homeless Concert: 7 p.m. Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Enjoy an evening listening to the sweet harmonies of The Flannels with Mike Powers. In addition to melodic tunes, indulge in some refreshments and go home with a prize or two with the drawing and silent auction. Purchase tickets at the Chamber of Commerce, Portage Center of the Arts or at the door on the evening of the event. Tickets are $15 each.

Museum at the Portage: 804 MacFarlane Road, Portage. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in April and May; and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday in June, July and August. Admission is free.

Pardeeville Class of 2018 Prom: 8 to 11 p.m. Wyocena Community Center, 165 Dodge St., Wyocena. The theme is Once Upon a Time. Grand March at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10.

SUNDAY, APRIL 9

Lodi Valley Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance full moon hike: Meet at the West Point side of the Merrimac Ferry at 7 p.m. and walk south on the trail to take in the views of Lake Wisconsin, Paradise Island and the moon. Depending on how energetic everyone is we might go further. The moon rises about 6 p.m., but we will probably still need to rely on flashlights and headlamps. Please wear appropriate clothing for the weather and bring along a flashlight or headlamp. Leashed dogs are welcome. Watch for the yellow Ice Age Trail Event signs. For directions visit: https://goo.gl/maps/5SdNk.

Zumba: 5:30 p.m. Rusch Elementary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.
Haugen to join U.S. Army

Trey W. Haugen has joined the United States Army under the Delayed Entry Program.

The program gives young men and women the opportunity to delay reporting for military training for 270 days while they finish their educations and prepare for their military careers.

As a recruit, the new soldier will learn new skills while serving the country and will become eligible to receive more than $37,440 toward a college education and $50,000 for repayment of qualifying college loans.

After completion of basic military training, the soldier may receive advanced individual training in a career job specialty prior to being assigned to a permanent duty station.

He will report to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for basic training in August.

Haugen is the son of Thad and Lisa Haugen of Reedsburg and a 2012 graduate of Reedsburg Area High School.
The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to waive off farmers' loan of upto Rs 1 lakh. The BJP, which won 312 seats in Assembly election, had promised to waive loans of small and marginal farmers.

By India Today Web Desk: Delivering on the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll promise, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today waived off farmers' loan of upto Rs 1 lakh. The decision taken in the first meeting of Adityanath Cabinet will add a burden of Rs 30,729 crore on the state exchequer and benefit nearly 2.15 crore farmers.

Briefing mediapersons after a 90-minute meeting of the cabinet, senior minister Siddharth Nath Singh and Srikant Sharma said Rs 30,729 crore was required for waiving loans of small and marginal farmers.

advertisement

Besides, there were about 7 lakh other farmers who had taken loans which turned into non-performing assets (NPAs). In order to bring them back into the mainstream, their outstanding dues of Rs 5,630 crore have also been written off.

The BJP, which won a massive majority bagging 312 seats in the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly, 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 during campaigning that writing off farm loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

BIG TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CABINET MEET: All loans for crops will be waived off from all nationalised, cooperatives banks. Only small and marginal farmers will be benefited. Rs 1 lakh loan will be waived off. Rs 5,630 crore loan non-performing assets (NPA) will also be waived off, which will benefit 7 lakh farmers also. Farmers to get Rs 10 more than minimum support price per quintal.

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.

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.

With inputs from Balkrishna

ALSO READ:

Yogi Adityanath's first interview after taking charge of UP, says Ayodhya issue should be resolved through talks

Yogi Adityanath gives Uttar Pradesh's bureaucracy the jitters

Allahabad: With PM Modi, CJI Khehar on stage, Adityanath says law is supreme

Watch the video here:

--- ENDS ---
A classic story has received an update for Reedsburg Area High Schools spring play.

Students and staff are rehearsing for 12 Angry Jurors, an adaptation of the critically acclaimed 12 Angry Men.

Shows are set for 7 p.m. April 21-22 and 2 p.m. April 23. Tickets will cost $6 at the door; advanced sales are not available.

Director Brian Pittman said he found an updated script online and, with help from students, tweaked it to tell a modern tale about doing the right thing in the face of opposition.

I liked the script. I liked the concept, he said.

Like the original production, 12 Angry Jurors takes place entirely in a jury room. At first it looks like a quick decision; everyone seems to agree the teenage suspect committed murder. But one juror has questions, raising the ire of her hot, tired and irritated fellow jurors. Despite rage and insults, she persists in explaining the reasons for her doubt.

Pittman said changes were made to reflect todays society. 12 Angry Men was set in the 1950s and had an all-white, all-male cast. The current show has a more diverse jury.

The shows theme and most of the dialogue remain the same as 12 Angry Men.

Pittman said Reedsburg has never done this play but he thought it would be a good fit for current students. Many actors are returning from falls production of Almost, Maine, which advanced to the state level in a theater competition.

It just looked really good for the talent pool we have, he said.

The show also has a theme of social justice, Pittman said. People are interested in crime and punishment and dont want to see violations committed for the sake of convenience.

He added that 12 Angry Jurors is unlike most other productions because the cast is on stage the entire time. Its tough for young actors because they need to constantly be aware of their presence. More importantly, they need to behave as if they were always being noticed by the audience.

Spring break has cut into rehearsal time, so everyone has hit the ground running. About 20 students work behind the scenes to make and adjust sets, operate lights, finish costumes and fill in where they are needed, Pittman added.

More details about theater at Reedsburg Area High School can be found on the Drama Clubs webpage, www.rahsdrama.org.
Wisconsin students and their parents deserve better than a delusional superintendent of schools. Tony Evers has rated all schools in Wisconsin Great. Who does he think he is fooling? I guess it is because he is the one who has to take responsibility for the failing schools in Wisconsin. After all, he has had the top position for eight years. Perhaps he is too busy going to cocktail parties and catered events to take a look at Milwaukee, Madison, and other failing schools. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Old Mutual donates R3m to support students

The funds will be allocated to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying commerce, mathematics, engineering, information technology and law.

Old Mutual has contributed R3 million to the tuition and residence costs of students at Wits. The donation is directed at assisting students who cannot afford to pay university fees, but also do not qualify for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding.

The funds will be allocated to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying commerce (with a focus on actuarial and accounting studies), mathematics, engineering, information technology and law. Where appropriate, Old Mutual will also offer vacation work.

Iain Williamson, Finance Director and Interim CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets, handed over the cheque to Professor Tawana Kupe, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Advancement, Human Resources and Transformation, and Peter Bezuidenhoudt, Director of the Advancement, Development and Fundraising Office (DFO), on Tuesday, 4 April 2017.

The DFO is in the process of identifying qualifying beneficiaries.

Williamson said: As a responsible business, we know we have a vital role to play in helping to build a better and more inclusive society. This is why we make significant investments in socioeconomic development and actively support a range of education initiatives. Universities in turn play a vital role in providing the skills, research and innovations that the future success of the financial services industry depends on.

Williamson added that the Centre for Software Engineering, run by Professor Barry Dwolatzky, is spearheading the kind of fintech learnings and innovation that can be of great benefit to financial services organisations and their customers, as innovations help to meet rapidly changing customer needs.One example is the Tshimologong Digital Precinct, an initiative that promotes the launch of successful ICT start-ups that create jobs and accelerate skills development.

Professor Kupe thanked Old Mutual for their contribution to the success of youth and the education sector in South Africa. We are grateful for this assistance from Old Mutual and hope it inspires others in the sector to come forward to help alleviate South Africas tertiary funding crisis, he said.

Adequate financial support ensures that students are able to focus on their studies and are not burdened by financial stress. A student who has adequate financial assistance is more likely to obtain excellent academic results and contribute meaningfully to the economy and society. Furthermore, this support means that universities are able to maintain world-class research standards."

The University of the Witwatersrand is ranked as one of the top two in all international rankings on the continent. Wits is committed to academic and research excellence and to remaining globally competitive and locally responsive.
Agra farmers wait with baited breath for loan waiver to be cleared in Yogi Adityanath's first cabinet meet.

A total of 425 branches of 27 public sector banks had distributed loans to as many as 82,000 farmers in Agra. I

By Siraj Qureshi: During the electoral campaign for the 2017 UP Assembly elections, both PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah had promised loan waiver for farmers if the party wins.

So, when Yogi Adityanath assumed office as the chief minister on March 19, the overjoyed farmers waited with baited breath for their dreams to turn into reality soon.

Yogi Adityanath government's first cabinet meet is slated for today evening and it remains to be seen if the Uttar Pradesh BJP government delivers on its promise.

advertisement

AGRA FARMERS EYE LOAN RELIEF

If the loan waiver is cleared today, then about Rs 1800 crore would be waived off for Agra farmers who are in debt of over Rs 7000 crore.

A total of 425 branches of 27 public sector banks had distributed loans to as many as 82,000 farmers in Agra. In the past financial year alone, the banks distributed Rs 1753 crore under agricultural loans out of which Rs 350 crore were marked as Non Performing Assets (NPAs).

FARMERS STOPPED PAYING INTEREST AT THE MENTION OF WAIVER

Mohammed Ansar, a farmer from Shamshabad area of Agra said, "Farmers had stopped paying installments of the loans ever since all the political parties promised loan waiver in October last year when the electoral campaigns started."

He further said that a farmer gets two years time to repay a crop loan and if he in unable to pay, it is classified as an NPA.

Continuous installments attract 3 per cent subsidy on interest from the government but it being an electoral year, many farmers stopped paying their loan installments and having defaulted, also lost this subsidy.

Lead bank manager Pankaj Saxena told India Today,"All banks have been asked to submit their agricultural loan details to the government and most of them have already submitted the details."

Also read: CM Yogi Adityanath to hold first UP cabinet meet today; farm loan waiver, electricity for everyone top agenda

Also read: Marathon meetings, strict deadlines: CM Yogi puts UP's ministers and babus on the line

Also read: CM Yogi Adityanath gives Uttar Pradesh's bureaucracy the jitters

--- ENDS ---
Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Commercial Banking and Global Wholesale Banking. It offers deposits and other bank funding instruments; debit and credit cards; digital prepaid solutions; payment platform; loyalty programs; employee benefit vouchers; payroll loans; digital lending and online debt renegotiation services; mortgages; home equity financing products; consumer credit; and local loans, commercial and trade finance, guarantees, structured loans, and cash management and funding solutions, as well as on-lending transfer services. It also provides funding and financial advisory services related to projects, origination and distribution of fixed-income securities in the debt capital markets, financing of acquisitions and syndicated loans, other structured financing arrangements, and subordinated debt and energy efficiency transactions; advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets transactions; and stock brokerage and advisory, equity, and equity research services. In addition, the company structures and offers foreign exchange, derivative, and investment products for institutional investors, and corporate and retail customers; and provides market making services. Further, it offers instant payment services; range of products and services focused on the agribusiness sector; microfinance services; and online automotive listing and digital car insurance solutions, as well as digital trading platform. Additionally, it provides its financial services and products to its customers through multichannel distribution network comprising branches, mini-branches, ATMs, call centers, Internet banking, and mobile banking. Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit

Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:

Portfolio Monitoring

Top Stock Lists

Premium Reports

Stock Screeners

Live News Feed

Premium Support

Free for your first month.
American Midstream Partners, LP provides midstream infrastructure that links the producers of natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), condensate, and specialty chemicals to various intermediate and end-use markets in the United States and Mexico. Its Gas Gathering and Processing Services segment offers services to producers of natural gas and crude oil, including transporting raw natural gas and crude oil from various receipt points through gathering systems, treating the raw natural gas, processing raw natural gas to separate the NGLs from the natural gas, fractionating NGLs, and selling or delivering pipeline-quality natural gas and NGLs. The company's Liquid Pipelines and Services segment transports, purchases, and sells crude oil. Its Natural Gas Transportation Services segment transports and delivers natural gas from producing wells, receipt points, or pipeline interconnects for shippers, local distribution companies, and utilities, as well as industrial, commercial, and power generation customers. The company's Offshore Pipelines and Services segment gathers and transports natural gas from receipt points to other pipeline interconnects, onshore facilities, and other delivery points. Its Terminalling Services segment provides petroleum products, distillates, chemicals, and agricultural products storage services at its marine terminals for commodity brokers, refiners, and chemical manufacturers. As of May 10, 2018, the company owned approximately 5,100 miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines; gas processing plants and fractionation facilities; an offshore semisubmersible floating production system with nameplate processing capacity of 90 thousand barrels per day of crude oil and 220 million cubic feet per day of natural gas; and terminal sites with approximately 6.7 million barrels of storage capacity. American Midstream GP, LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
B&G Foods, Inc. manufactures, sells, and distributes a portfolio of shelf-stable and frozen foods, and household products in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company's products include frozen and canned vegetables, vegetables, canola and other cooking oils, vegetable shortening, cooking sprays, oatmeal and other hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, wine vinegar, maple syrups, molasses, salad dressings, pizza crusts, Mexican-style sauces, dry soups, taco shells and kits, salsas, pickles, peppers, tomato-based products, baking powder and soda, corn starch, cookies and crackers, nut clusters, and other specialty products. It markets its products under various brands, including Ac'cent, B&G, B&M, Back to Nature, Baker's Joy, Bear Creek Country Kitchens, Brer Rabbit, Canoleo, Cary's, Clabber Girl, Cream of Rice, Cream of Wheat, Crisco, Dash, Davis, Devonsheer, Don Pepino, Durkee, Emeril's, Grandma's Molasses, Green Giant, Joan of Arc, Las Palmas, Le Sueur, MacDonald's, Mama Mary's, Maple Grove Farms of Vermont, McCann's, Molly McButter, New York Flatbreads, New York Style, Old London, Ortega, Polaner, Red Devil, Regina, Rumford, Sa-son, Sclafani, Spice Islands, Spring Tree, Sugar Twin, Tone's, Trappey's, TrueNorth, Underwood, Vermont Maid, Victoria, and Weber and Wright's. The company also sells, markets, and distributes household products under the Static Guard brand. It sells and distributes its products directly, as well as through a network of independent brokers and distributors to supermarket chains, foodservice outlets, mass merchants, warehouse clubs, non-food outlets, and specialty distributors. The company was formerly known as B&G Foods Holdings Corp. and changed its name to B&G Foods, Inc. in October 2004. B&G Foods, Inc. was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, a technology company, focuses in the areas of automation and digitalization in Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. It operates through Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, Mobility, Siemens Healthineers, and Siemens Financial Services segments. The Digital Industries segment offers automation systems and software for factories, numerical control systems, motors, drives and inverters, and integrated automation systems for machine tools and production machines; process control systems, machine-to-machine communication products, sensors and radio frequency identification systems; software for production and product lifecycle management, and simulation and testing of mechatronic systems; and cloud-based industrial Internet of Things operating systems. The Smart Infrastructure segment offers products, systems, solutions, services, and software to support sustainable transition in energy generation from fossil and renewable sources; sustainable buildings and communities; and buildings, electrification, and electrical products. The Mobility segment provides passenger and freight transportation, such as vehicles, trams and light rail, and commuter trains, as well as trains and passenger coaches; locomotives for freight or passenger transport and solutions for automated transportation; products and solutions for rail automation; electrification products; and intermodal solutions. The Siemens Healthineers segment develops, manufactures, and sells various diagnostic and therapeutic products and services; and provides clinical consulting services. The Siemens Financial Services segment offers debt and equity investments; leasing, lending, and working capital financing solutions; and equipment, project, and structured financing solutions. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.
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.

By India Today Web Desk: The first cabinet meeting of the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government will take place in Lucknow today.

The meeting will be presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Shastri Bhavan.

Five big agenda topics: Road, water, electricity and purification of the Ganga are the key issues likely to be discussed. The meet will focus on the loan waiver programme for farmers which is likely to be approved. Key issue of ordinance on slaughterhouses is likely to be taken up. According to sources, discussion wheat purchase, and construction of a stadium in Ghazipur are also on agenda. There may be alteration and changes in some schemes or the name of schemes launched by the Akhilesh government.

advertisement

The programme was a major poll promise made by the BJP during the state assembly poll campaign.

Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Sahi said the government was committed to fulfilling its promise to farmers and modalities in this regard were being worked out.

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.

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.

WATCH: Yogi Adityanath era begins in Uttar Pradesh

Among other issues, the regulation of school fees and measures to crackdown on those who cheat during exams are also likely to be discussed during the meeting.

Since the new government was formed on March 19, there have been informal meetings of the state cabinet ministers but no official meeting.

Also Read:

Marathon meetings, strict deadlines: CM Yogi puts UP's ministers and babus on the line

From India Today Magazine: Up and about

CM Yogi Adityanath gives Uttar Pradesh's bureaucracy the jitters

Yogi Adityanath's first interview after taking charge of UP, says Ayodhya issue should be resolved through talks

How UP's meat business was run before Yogi Adityanath cracked the whipWATCH | India Today special: How Gorakhpur welcomed Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath

--- ENDS ---
The following companies are subsidiares of Amphenol: ARCAS Automotive Group (Luxco 1) S.a.r.l., AUXEL FTG, AUXEL FTG India Pvt Ltd., AUXEL FTG Shanghai Co., AUXEL S.A.S., Air LB International Development S.A., All Systems Broadband, Amphenol (Changzhou) Advanced Connector Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Connector Systems Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Maryland), Amphenol (Ningde) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Qujing) Technology Co., Amphenol (Tianjin) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Xiamen) High Speed Cable Co., Amphenol Adronics, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Germany GmbH, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Puerto Rico, Amphenol Air LB GmbH, Amphenol Air LB North America Inc., Amphenol Air LB SAS, Amphenol Alden Products Company, Amphenol Alden Products Mexico, Amphenol Antenna Solutions, Amphenol Assemble Tech (Xiamen) Co., Amphenol Australia Pty Ltd, Amphenol Automotive Connection Systems (Changzhou) Co., Amphenol Bar-Tec, Amphenol Benelux B.V., Amphenol Borisch Technologies, Amphenol CNT (Xian) Technology Co. Ltd., Amphenol Cables On Demand Corp., Amphenol Canada Acquisition Corporation, Amphenol Canada Corp., Amphenol Comercial, Amphenol Commercial Interconnect Korea Co., Amphenol Commercial Products (Chengdu) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Commercial and Industrial UK, Amphenol ConneXus AB, Amphenol ConneXus Ou, Amphenol Custom Cable, Amphenol DC Electronics, Amphenol Daeshin Electronics and Precision Co., Amphenol EEC, Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Amphenol East Asia Limited, Amphenol FCI, Amphenol FCI Asia Pte. Ltd., Amphenol FCI Connectors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Fiber Optic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Finland Oy, Amphenol France Acquisition SAS, Amphenol France SAS, Amphenol Germany GmbH, Amphenol Gesellschaft m.b.H., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Baicheng) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Yulin) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Holding UK, Amphenol Intercon Systems, Amphenol Interconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Interconnect Products Corporation, Amphenol Interconnect South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Amphenol International Ltd., Amphenol Invotec Limited, Amphenol Italia S.r.l., Amphenol JET (Haiyan) Interconnect Technology Co., Amphenol Japan Ltd., Amphenol Kai-Jack (Shenzhen) Inc., Amphenol LTW Technology Co., Amphenol Limited, Amphenol MCP Korea Limited, Amphenol Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol Middle East Enterprises FZE, Amphenol Nelson Dunn Technologies, Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 1 B.V., Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 2 B.V., Amphenol Omniconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Optimize Manufacturing Co., Amphenol Optimize Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol PCD, Amphenol PCD (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Phitek Limited, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Amphenol Provens SAS, Amphenol RF Asia Limited, Amphenol Sensing Korea Company Limited, Amphenol Shouh Min Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Socapex SAS, Amphenol Sunpool (Liaoning) Automotive Electronics Co., Amphenol T&M Antennas, Amphenol TCS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol TCS Ireland Limited, Amphenol TCS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol TFC Fios E Cabos do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol TFC MDE Participacoes Ltda., Amphenol TFC do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol Taiwan Corporation, Amphenol Technical Products International Co., Amphenol Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Technology (Zhuhai) Co., Amphenol Technology Macedonia Dooel Kocani, Amphenol Tecvox LLC, Amphenol Tel-Ad Ltd., Amphenol Thermometrics, Amphenol Thermometrics (UK) Limited, Amphenol Times Microwave Electronics (Shanghai) Limited, Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH, Amphenol Tuchel Industrial GmbH, Amphenol Tunisia LLC, Amphenol USHoldco Inc., Amphenol-Borg Limited, Amphenol-Borg Pension Trustees Limited, Amphenol-TFC (Changzhou) Communication Equipment Co., Anytek Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, Anytek International (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Anytek International Co. Ltd., Anytek Technology Corporation Ltd, Asia Connector Services, Berg UK Ltd., Blueline Product Limited, C&S Antennas, C&S Antennas Limited, CSA Limited, Casco Automotive (Suzhou) Co., Casco Automotive Group, Casco Automotive Singapore Pte., Casco Automotive Tunisia S.a.r.l., Casco Holdings Co. Limited, Casco Holdings GmbH, Casco Imos Italia S.r.l., Casco Logistics GmbH, Casco Products Corporation, Casco Schoeller GmbH, Casco do Brasil Ltda., Cemm Thome Corporation, Cemm Thome SK, Cemm-Mex, Changzhou Amphenol Fuyang Communication Equipment Co., ContactServe (Proprietary) Limited, East Asia Connector Services, Edwin Deutgen Kunstofftechnik GmbH, Ehrlich Werkzeug & Geratebau GmbH, FCI Besancon SA, FCI Connectors (Shanghai) Ltd., FCI Connectors Canada, FCI Connectors Dongguan Ltd, FCI Connectors Hong Kong Limited, FCI Connectors Italia S.r.l., FCI Connectors Korea Ltd., FCI Connectors Malaysia Sdn Bhd, FCI Connectors Sweden A.B., FCI Connectors UK Ltd., FCI Deutschland GmbH, FCI Electronics Hungary Kft, FCI GBS India Private Limited, FCI Japan K.K., FCI Nantong Ltd, FCI OEN Connectors Limited, FCI PRC Limited, FCI Taiwan Limited, FCI USA LLC, FCIs-Hertogenbosch B.V., FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna GmbH & Co. KG, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna Verwaltungs GmbH, Fiber Systems International, Filec Production SAS, Filec SAS, Friedrich Gohringer Elektrotechnik GmbH, GE - Advanced Sensors Business, Guangzhou Amphenol Electronics Co., Guangzhou Amphenol Sincere Flex Circuits Co., Guangzhou FEP Automotive Electric Co., Hangzhou Amphenol JET Interconnect Technology Co., Hangzhou Amphenol Phoenix Telecom Parts Co., Holland Electronics, Intelligente Sensorsysteme Dresden GmbH, Invotec Circuits Holdings Limited, Invotec Circuits Limited, Invotec Group Limited, Invotec Holdings Limited, Ionix Aerospace Limited, Ionix Holdings Limited, Ionix Systems Limited, Ionix Systems Ou, Jaybeam Limited, Jaybeam Wireless SAS, KE Elektronik GmbH, KE Ostrov  Elektrik, KE Presov Elektrik, Konnektech, Kunshan Amphenol Zhengri Electronics Co., LPL Technologies Holding GmbH, LTW Technology (Samoa) Co., LTW Top Tech (Samoa) Co., Lectric SARL, Martec Limited, Mocorp Holding A/S, Nantong Docharm Amphenol Electronics Co., PROCOM, PT Casco SEA, PerLoga Personal und Logistik GmbH, Piezotech, Piher Sensors & Controls S.A., Piher Sensors And Controls, Precision Cable Manufacturing Corp. de Mexico, Procom A/S, Procom Antennas AB, Procom France SARL, Pyle-National Ltd., RSI International Limited, S.C.I. Palin, SEFEE SA, SGX Europe SP. z.o.o., SGX Sensortech (IS) Limited, SGX Sensortech China Holdco Limited, SGX Sensortech China Limited, SGX Sensortech GmbH, SGX Sensortech SA, SSI Control Technologies, STEMFI SA, SV Microwave, Shanghai Amphenol Airwave Communication Electronics Co., Shanghai Amphenol Electronics Technology Co., Shanghai Tecvox Trading Co., Shenyang Amphenol Sunpool Automotive Electronics Co., Sine Systems Corporation, Skymasts Antennas Ltd., Societe dEtudes et de Fabrications Electroniques et Electriques, Spectra Strip Limited, TCS Japan K.K., TFC South America S.A., Tecvox Europe S.r.l., Telect, Telect Mfg., Telect de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Teradyne Connection Systems, Thermometrics Mexico, Tianjin Amphenol KAE Co., Times Fiber Canada Limited, Times Fiber Communications, Times Microwave Systems, Times Wire and Cable Company, U-Jin Cable Industrial Co., Zhongshan Feisaide Electromechanical Co., and i2s-sensors.

Read More
The following companies are subsidiares of International Flavors & Fragrances: 1456111 Ontario Limited, A. Boake Roberts And Company (Holding) Limited, ASA Ventures Inc., Agtech Products Inc., Alpris Ltd., Amco SP Z.O.O, ApS Syntetic, Aroma S.A., Aromatics Holdings Limited, Aromco Ltd., Aromor, Arvin Company, Asian Investments Inc., Atelier du Parfumeur IFF Grasse SAS, BKF Vision Ltd, BSA India Food Ingr. P. Ltd., Belden Company, Branch office of DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, Bremil Industria e Comercio de Ingredientes Alimenticos Ltda. , Bremil S/A Industria De Produtos Alimenticos , Bush Boake Allen (New Zealand) Limited, Bush Boake Allen (Pension Trustees) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Australia Pty Ltd, Bush Boake Allen Benelux B.V., Bush Boake Allen Chile S.A., Bush Boake Allen Controladora S.A. de C.V., Bush Boake Allen Enterprises Limited, Bush Boake Allen Holdings (U.K.) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Limited, Bush Boake Allen Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Bush Boake Allen do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, Chemical Process Materials and Equipment S.A., CitraSource Holdings L.L.C., Columbia PhytoTechnology LLC, Columbia Phytotechnology LLC, Cometra ApS, Crestmont Investment Co., Cultor Oy, DDP Specialty Products Germany GmbH & Co. KG, DDP Specialty Products Poland Sp. z.o.o., DSP Germany N&B Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Daivd Michael Netherlands B.V., Dandy Lions Limited, Danisco (China) Co. Ltd., Danisco (China) Holding Co. Ltd., Danisco (India) Private Limited, Danisco (Zhangjiagang) Textural Ingredients Co. Ltd., Danisco Argentina S.A., Danisco Australia Pty Limited, Danisco Austria GmbH, Danisco B.V., Danisco Biosciences (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Danisco Brasil Ltda., Danisco Canada Inc., Danisco Chile S.A., Danisco Colombia Ltda., Danisco Cultor (Switzerland) AG, Danisco Cultor Sweden AB, Danisco Cultor Trading Ltda., Danisco Czech Republic a.s., Danisco Deutschland GmbH, Danisco Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Danisco Egypt Trading LLC, Danisco Flexible Brasil Ltda, Danisco France SAS, Danisco Guatemala S.A., Danisco Holding USA Inc., Danisco Holdings (UK) Ltd., Danisco Holland B.V., Danisco Ingredients Belgium N.V., Danisco Italia S.p.A., Danisco Japan Limited, Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Danisco Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Danisco Mexico S.A. de C.V., Danisco New Zealand Limited, Danisco Nutrition & Bioscience Greece Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Malaysia SDN. BHD., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Taiwan Limited, Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India Private Ltd, Danisco Peru S.A.C., Danisco Poland Sp. z.o.o, Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Danisco South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Danisco Switzerland AG, Danisco UK Ltd., Danisco US Inc., Danisco USA Inc., Danisco Ukraine LLC, Danisco Zaandam BV, David Michael & Company (Canada) 1986 Ltd., David Michael Europe S.A.S., Du Pont de Nemours Nigeria Limited, DuPont (Shanghai) Enterprise Co. Ltd., DuPont Acquisition LLC, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, DuPont Denmark Holding ApS, DuPont Electronics Holding LLC, DuPont LA Holding 1 BV, DuPont Lanka (Private) Limited, DuPont Nutrition (Thailand) Ltd, DuPont Nutrition Biosciences ApS, DuPont Nutrition Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, DuPont Nutrition Food Ingredients (Beijing) Co. Ltd., DuPont Nutrition Ingredientes BRASIL LTDA, DuPont Nutrition International, DuPont Nutrition Ireland, DuPont Nutrition Italy SRL (f/k/a FMC Chemical Italy SrL), DuPont Nutrition Manufacturing UK Limited, DuPont Nutrition Mexicana S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Mexico S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Norge AS, DuPont Nutrition Philippines Inc., DuPont Nutrition USA Inc, DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences Iberica S.L., DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, DuPont S&C Holding LLC, DuPont Shineway Luohe Food Company Limited , DuPont Shineway Luohe Protein Company Limited , DuPont US Holding LLC, DuPont de Nemours Kenya Limited, ERELEM, ETOL SK s.r.o., ETOL-RUS Ltd., Eden Essentials Inc., Envoltec Industria de Embalagens Ltda. , Enzymotec Australia PTY LTD, Enzymotec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Enzymotec USA Inc., Etol Aroma Ve Baharat Gida Urunleri San.Ve Tic.a.s., Etol JVE d.o.o., Etol Proizvodnja Arom D.O.O, Etol Skopje DRUSTVO ZA TRGOVIJA ETOL UVOZ-IZVOZ DOOEL, FYMSA Real Estate LLC (23), FYMSA del Caribe S.R.L , Fangchen International Trading Ltd. (6), Finnfeeds Finland Oy, Finnfeeds Oy, Finnsugar Bioproducts Inc., Flavor Systems International Inc., Flavors and Essences UK Limited, FoodBlenders Limited, Foreign Trade Representative of Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fragrance Resources, Fragrance Resources (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fragrance Resources Asia Pacific Ltd., Frutarom (Asia Pacific) Limited, Frutarom (Marketing) S.R.L., Frutarom (UK) Holdings Limited, Frutarom (UK) Ltd., Frutarom - Etol (UK) Limited, Frutarom Belgium N.V., Frutarom Chile S.A., Frutarom Czech Republic S.r.o, Frutarom Do Brazil Industria E Comercio Ltda., Frutarom Etol RO SRL, Frutarom Etol Ukraine LLC., Frutarom F&F Trading (Shanghai) Co., Frutarom Finance EUR AG, Frutarom Flavors (Kushan) Co Ltd., Frutarom Flavors Mexico S.A. de C.V., Frutarom Flavours (India) Private Limited (14), Frutarom France S.A.R.L, Frutarom Germany GmbH, Frutarom Gida Urunleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Frutarom Global Ltd., Frutarom GmbH, Frutarom Industries Ld, Frutarom Industries Ltd., Frutarom Italy S.r.l, Frutarom Kenya Limited, Frutarom Ltd., Frutarom Netherlands B.V., Frutarom Nigeria Limited, Frutarom Nordic A/S Flachsmann Scandinavia A/S Aksel Holm-Essensfabrik A / S, Frutarom Norway A.S, Frutarom Peru S.A. (Montana Food activity), Frutarom Production GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Austria GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Germany GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Switzerland AG, Frutarom Savory Solutions Ukraine, Frutarom Switzerland Finance CHF AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance GBP AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance MXN AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance USD AG, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Frutarom Trade & Marketing (1990) Ltd., Frutarom UK Investments Limited, Frutarom USA Holding Inc., Frutarom USA Inc., Frutarom do Brasil GRU Industria e Comercio Ltda., Genencor (China) Bio-Products Co. Ltd., Genencor International B.V., Genencor International BVBA, Genencor International Holding BV, Genencor International Indiana Inc., Genencor International Oy, Genencor International Wisconsin Inc., Genencor Mauritius Ltd., Genentech Ventures Inc., Grow Company Inc., Hagelin Flv (UK) Ltd., Hexachem Sociedad Anonima, IB EMEA Holding 2 B.V., IFF (BVI) Limited, IFF (Korea) Inc., IFF Aroma Esans Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF Augusta Holdings LLC, IFF Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, IFF Benicarlo S.L., IFF Bio-Technology (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., IFF Capital Services, IFF Chemical Holdings Inc., IFF Delaware Holdings LLC, IFF Essencias e Fragrancias Ltda., IFF Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., IFF Fragrance GmbH, IFF Hungary Global Kft, IFF International Inc., IFF Latin American Holdings (Espana) S.L., IFF Mexico Manufactura S.A. de C.V., IFF Murcia Natural Ingredients S.L., IFF Sabores y Fragancias de Chile Ltda., IFF Turkey Aroma Ve Esans Urunleri Satis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF West Africa Limited, IFF Worldwide LLC, Ingrediants dooel Skopje, Institut Europeen de Biologie Cellulaire, International Aroma Group, International Flavors & Fragrances (Canada) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Caribe) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (China) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Greater Asia) Pte. Ltd, International Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Hong Kong) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Japan) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Middle East) FZ-LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances (Myanmar) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Nederland) Holding B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Philippines) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (Poland) Sp. z o.o., International Flavors & Fragrances (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, International Flavors & Fragrances (ZhangJiagang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zimbabwe) (Private) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances Ardenne S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding I SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding II SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding III SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Holdings LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Chile) Limitada, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Espana) S.A., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Hungary) Kft, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Nederland) B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Norden) AB, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Rus), International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (Deutschland) GmbH, International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (France) SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Irish Acquisition Company Limited, International Flavors and Fragrances Colombia S.A.S., International Flavors and Fragrances I.F.F. (Israel) Ltd., International Flavors and Fragrances IFF (South Africa), International Flavors and Fragrances Ingredients Ltd, International Flavors e Fragrances IFF (Italia) S.r.l., International Flavours & Fragrances (Australia) Pty Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (CIL) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (GB) Holdings Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Mauritius) Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (NZ) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Pension Trustees) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Thailand) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances I.F.F. (Great Britain) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances India Private Limited (13), International Frutarom Corporation, Inventive Food Technology (ZQ) Ltd., Inventive Technology Ltd., Irish Flavours and Fragrances Limited, K-Vision Consulting and Investments Ltd, Kelp Industries Pty. Ltd, Leagel GmbH (11), Leagel S.r.l. (19), Les Ingredients Alimentaires BSA Inc., Les Laboratories Bio ForeXtra Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Australia Pty Ltd, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Canada Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics S.A.S., M.P. Equity Holdings Ltd, MISR Company for Aromatic products, Manseg S.A., Mark Services Holdings Inc., N&B Chemicals Germany GmbH, N&B EMEA Holding B.V., N&B Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B International Holding B.V., N&B NL BV - Saudi Branch, N&B Real Estate Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B Services BV, N&B Switzerland  UAE Branch, N&H EMEA Holding 1 BV, N&H EMEA Holding 2 BV, N&H EMEA Holding B.V., N&H International Holding 1 B.V., N&H International Holding 3 BV, N&H Switzerland Holding Sarl, Nardi Armoas Ltda., Neptune Merger Sub I Inc., Neptune Merger Sub II LLC, New Asia Holdco B.V., Nutra-Lease Ltd. (16), Nutrition & Bioscience (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Nutrition & Bioscience (Switzerland) GmbH, Nutrition & Bioscience (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nutrition & Bioscience Pakistan (Private) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences (Finland) Oy, Nutrition & Biosciences (France) SAS, Nutrition & Biosciences (Sweden) AB, Nutrition & Biosciences (UK) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences Argentina S.A.U., Nutrition & Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Brasil Ingredientes Ltda., Nutrition & Biosciences Canada Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Chile SpA, Nutrition & Biosciences Colombia S.A.S, Nutrition & Biosciences Hong Kong Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Hungary Limited Liability Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Inc., Nutrition & Biosciences Italy S.r.l., Nutrition & Biosciences Japan K.K., Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Nutrition & Biosciences Netherlands B.V., Nutrition & Biosciences New Zealand Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences USA 1 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 2 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 3 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences Vietnam Company Limited, Nutrition Biosciences USA 4 Inc, Nutrition and Biosciences South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Nutrition and Biosciences Spain S.L., OOO WIBERG Rus, P.T. Essence Indonesia, PARMA FA, PIASA USA (24), PM Taiwan Inc., PT Blue Cube Indonesia, PTI Astana LLC, PTI CA LLC, PTI Center LLC, PTI Group of Companies LLC (GK PTI), PTI-BEL TUE, PTI-MOL LLC, PTI-NN LLC, PTI-Ukraine LLC, Platinum Absolut LLC, Pointer Specialty Chemicals LLC, Protein Technologies Do Brasil Ltda., Protein Technologies International Asia Pacific LLC, Protein Technologies International Development LLC, Protein Technologies International Europe LLC, Proveedores de Ingenieria Alimentaria S.A. de C.V. ("PIASA") (17), Prowin International Ltd., Pucheng Yongfang Fragrance Technology Co. Ltd. , Redbrook (UK) Limited, Redbrook Blentech Limited, Redbrook Ingredient Services Limited, Rene Laurent SAS, Representaciones FYMSA S.A. de C.V (FYMSA) (18), Rohm and Haas Wood Treatment LLC, SP EMEA Holding 8 BV, SP Holding IB Inc., SP Nutrition and Health (Singapore) Inc., Sabormax Industria de Alimentos e Representacao Ltda., Savoury Flavours (Holding) Limited, Savoury Flavours Ltd., Solae (UK) Limited, Solae Argentina S.A., Solae Australia Pty Limited, Solae Belgium N.V., Solae Company India Private Limited, Solae Denmark ApS, Solae Deutschland GmbH (f/k/a CSY Agri-Processing (Deutschland) GmbH), Solae Do Brasil Industria E Comercio De Alimentos Ltda., Solae Europe S.A., Solae Holdings LLC, Solae Investimentos LTDA, Solae LLC (SMLLC of Solae Holdings), Solae Overseas B.V., Solae Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Solae de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly PTI Mexico), Solae do Brasil Holdings Ltda., Sonarome Private Limited (15), Southern Cross Botanicals Pty Ltd, Specialty Products Balkans d.o.o., Specialty Products FZE, Specialty Products N&H Inc, Specialty Products US LLC, Speximo AB, TNI Investments NV, Tastepoint Flavors (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Tastepoint Inc., Tastepoint OOO, Tastepoint Polska Sp.z o.o, Tastepoint SA (Pty) Ltd., Tastepoint Tovarna arom in etericnih olj d.o.o., Taura Natural Ingredients (Australia) Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients (North America) Inc., Taura Natural Ingredients Holdings Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients Ltd., Taura Natural Ingredients NV, Tekhnomol Soya Products LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Foote & Jenks Corporation, The Mighty Company Limited (21), Thorungaverksmidjan HF (12), UFC America Inc., Unique Flavors Proprietary Limited, Unique Food Solutions Proprietary Limited, Unique Ingredients Limited, VAYA PHARMA HONKG LTD, VITIVA proizvodnja in storitve d.d., Vantodio Holdings Limited, Vaya Pharma Inc., Vaya Pharma Pte Ltd. (20), Venezuela Protein Technologies Internationla -PTI C.A., W.W. Holdings Inc., WIBERG Italia S.r.l., Wiberg Baharat San.Tic.A.S, Wiberg Canada Inc., Wiberg Corporation of California, Wiberg Corporation., Yderns 1 ApS, ZAO Danisco, extrakt chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH, iDrug Delivery Inc.(Delaware) (22), nternational Flavors & Fragrances S.R.L., van Ameringen-Haebler Inc., and world wide WIBERG GmbH.

Read More




China News on Women





Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page
Foratom calls for transitional agreements for UK

04 April 2017

Share

Foratom, the European nuclear trade body, has said the UK should be granted an extension of European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) provisions if new agreements have not been concluded within the two-year withdrawal period.

On 29 March, British Prime Minister Theresa May officially launched the two-year process for the UK to leave the European Union and the Euratom Treaty, by 29 March 2019 at the latest.

A UK parliamentary committee was told in February that the country's nuclear industry will need more than two years of Brexit negotiations to prepare for a departure from Euratom. The country's numerous arrangements with EU member states would each need to be replicated and this could take a decade, industry experts told the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee.

"After officially triggering the process of withdrawing from the Euratom Treaty, the UK should comply with the provisions of the Euratom Treaty until new agreements replacing the current ones are concluded."



Jean-Pol Poncelet,

Foratom director general

In a statement yesterday, Foratom said transitional arrangements between the UK and Euratom may be needed to give enough time to set up new agreements replacing Euratom.

"Being part of the Euratom Community enables new build, decommissioning, R&D and other programs of work to continue without any disruption," said Foratom director general Jean-Pol Poncelet. "Therefore, after officially triggering the process of withdrawing from the Euratom Treaty, the UK should comply with the provisions of the Euratom Treaty until new agreements replacing the current ones are concluded."

"The new arrangements, post Euratom, should involve the UK, the remaining 27 EU member states, third countries (including the US, Japan and Canada who have Nuclear Cooperation Agreements within the Euratom framework) and international institutions such as the International Atomic Energy Agency," Euratom said.

The trade body warned that, without alternative agreements, the UK's withdrawal from Euratom would have an impact on, among other areas, the free movement of goods and skills in the nuclear sector. "Leaving the Euratom Community may therefore result in an interruption to regular trade with the EU."

Foratom stressed, "Leaving Euratom would not result in the UK industry being less safe, as the UK has a robust and well-established domestic civil nuclear regulator and safety regime." However, having left Euratom the UK will need to establish a framework to comply with its international nuclear safeguards commitments.

Other key areas which could be impacted by the UK's withdrawal from the Euratom Treaty include the supply of nuclear fuel and research on nuclear energy.

The UK government announced in late January the UK intends to leave Euratom in explanatory notes to a bill it published authorising Brexit. While the Euratom Community is a separate legal entity from the EU, it is governed by the bloc's institutions. Foratom said then it agreed with the UK's Nuclear Industry Association "in highlighting that the European nuclear industry's preferred position is to maintain the UK's membership of Euratom".

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Horizon applies for Wylfa Newydd site licence

04 April 2017

Share

Horizon Nuclear Power announced today it has applied for a nuclear site licence for the proposed development of Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant in North Wales. Established in 2009 and acquired by Hitachi in November 2012, Horizon plans to deploy the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) at two sites - Wylfa Newydd, which is on the Isle of Anglesey, and Oldbury-on-Severn, in South Gloucestershire.

Andy Bevan, nuclear site licence manager (left) and Anthony Webb, director of safety and licensing, with the Wylfa Newydd site licence application (Image: Horizon)

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales announced on 22 March they expect to complete the Generic Design Assessment of the UK ABWR in December. A site licence meanwhile is one of the main permissions a developer needs to build and operate a new nuclear power plant.

Anthony Webb, Horizon's safety and licensing director, said: "Today's announcement marks a significant development in the maturity and growth of Horizon as we get ready to build and operate our lead site at Wylfa Newydd. We already have a proven technology, aligned with experienced leadership, and we are rapidly building the wider capability and organisation to help ensure success. Our focus will now be fully on providing the ONR with confidence in our ability to safely deliver this crucial project."

Receipt of the application by the ONR "now triggers a rigorous 19-month program of assessment and intervention to establish whether Horizon can demonstrate it will be in control of all safety related activities on its site", the company said.

The ONR said it would now review the application, "carrying out robust assessments of the applicant's organisation capability, governance arrangements and competence to be a nuclear site-licence holder". It will also assess the adequacy of Horizon's technical safety plans.

Mike Finnerty, deputy chief nuclear inspector and director of the ONR's New Reactors Program, said: "This is the first licence application for a new nuclear power station since 2011, and over the past three years we have been engaged with Horizon, providing them advice on the licensing process and the robust requirements expected of a nuclear site licensee."

The ONR will only grant a nuclear site licence "once it is satisfied that Horizon has met the 36 Licence Conditions and licensee obligations required to demonstrate it is capable and competent to install, operate and decommission a nuclear facility," Horizon said. "If licensed, Horizon will then be regulated by the ONR for the full lifecycle of the site from construction to decommissioning," it added.

In preparation for today's announcement, Horizon recently created a Site Licence Company Board to be chaired by Duncan Hawthorne, Horizon CEO. The company also appointed industry experts William Doig and Ken Petrunik as independent non-executive directors "to strengthen the board's nuclear credentials", Horizon said.

The nuclear site licence application comes as Horizon prepares to undertake its final stage of community consultation in the summer ahead of submitting its development consent order later this year, and as its UK ABWR reactor technology progresses through the fourth and final stage of its GDA.

If consent is granted, Horizon aims to receive all the necessary permissions by the end of 2018.

Horizon is developing plans to build at least 5400 MWe of new nuclear power generation capacity at Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury-on-Severn. Its power station sites will employ 850 people each once operational with a construction workforce of between 8000 and 10,000.

Horizon Nuclear Power Wylfa Ltd is the Horizon group company that submitted the site licence application to the ONR. It is a separate legal entity that, if granted a nuclear site licence, will be the Site Licence Company responsible for the construction and operation of Wylfa Newydd.

The ONR grants a nuclear site licence under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 for the installation and operation of a nuclear reactor. This covers the full life cycle from construction to operation and through to decommissioning. A standard set of 36 Licence Conditions is attached to each licence that requires Site Licence Companies to implement adequate arrangements to ensure compliance. Prior to a nuclear site licence being granted, a Site Licence Company has to demonstrate it is a suitable legal entity that is able to discharge its regulatory obligations.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
European delegation charts progress in Kyrgyzstan

04 April 2017

Share

A joint delegation from the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has held talks with the government of Kyrgyzstan on addressing the environmental legacy of uranium mining in Central Asia.

EBRD, EU and Kyrgyz delegations meet (Image: Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic)



Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed an important uranium-producing region in the former Soviet Union, and more than 9000 tonnes of uranium were produced in Kyrgyzstan's Mailuu-Suu district between 1946 and 1967, and the Kara Balta Mining Combine was set up in the 1950s to mine and process ore near Bishkek. Uranium mining had ceased by the mid-1990s, leaving large accumulations of radioactive contaminated material in waste dumps and tailing sites. Very little remediation work has been done at these sites.

The joint EBRD and EU delegation visited Kyrgyzstan from 28 to 31 March to discuss developments with the Kyrzgyz government. EU environmental remediation efforts in the region aim to facilitate the rehabilitation of radioactive and contaminated uranium production sites to mitigate environmental and public health risks. The EBRD, at the request of the European Commission, in 2015 set up a new fund - the Environmental Remediation Account (ERA) for Central Asia - to finance projects to rehabilitate the region's former uranium mines and processing sites.

Kyrgyzstan's minister of emergency situations, Kubatbek Aiylchievich Boronov, said urgent measures were needed for environmentally unstable uranium legacy sites in Mailuu-Suu, Min-Kush and Shekaftar. "I am confident that today we have reached the next stage of our cooperation, where we can tackle the problems through specific programs and projects aimed to protect human health and the environment, both at the national and regional levels," he said.

Cesare de Montis, head of the delegation from the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic, said environmental remediation in the country was part of the EU's overall environmental strategy for Central Asia. "Addressing the legacy of uranium mining will assist the Kyrgyz Republic in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by improving the living conditions of the people affected by these legacy sites," he said.

Balthasar Lindauer, EBRD deputy director for nuclear safety, said discussions with the Kyrgyz government had been "very open and fruitful". He said the delegation was pleased with Kyrgyzstan's readiness to engage with the program and to play an active role in its implementation. "We are confident that with all parties working together we will be able to make real progress in the coming years," he said.

Operations will be guided by a strategic master plan, prepared under the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The plan defines priority sites and the estimated cost of remediation work, and is in the final stages of preparation. A first examination of two Kyrgyz sites has estimated remediation costs of 30 million ($32 million), according to the EBRD.



The findings from an EU-funded environmental impact study and feasibility for Min-Kush and Shekaftar, which provide the technical basis for remediation work, have been presented to the government. A study of the Mailuu-Suu site is due for completion by the end of 2018.

The EU has already contributed 16.5 million to the ERA, but the fund is seeking further support from the international community. The government has committed to take a leading role in efforts to mobilise further funds, the delegation said.

Kyrgyzstan has been invited to participate in the next assembly meeting of the ERA's contributors, which is scheduled to take place at the EBRD's London headquarters in July.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Whats in it for the EU?

04 April 2017

Share

Article 50 has been triggered and Brexit really does mean Brexit. Now begins the arduous task of negotiating the UK's divorce from the European Union, and there is one simple test the European Commission will be applying to every one of the UK government's demands, writes Tom Greatrex.

That test is: "What's in it for us?" And for many issues, answering this question will be difficult.

Why would the EU want to allow passporting for the City of London? Why would they allow unfettered access to the single market? Why would they want to make it easy for UK citizens to travel to and from the EU?

Fortunately for the nuclear industry, replacing the benefits of the UK's membership of the European Atomic Community (Euratom) - which without an agreed implementation period will cease on 29 March 2019 - is in the interest of both the UK and European nuclear industries.

"For the UK, again, the benefits of having a close relationship with Euratom are obvious. For the EU less so but as with any divorce, money will ease the friction."

This is not to say the solutions to the challenges brought about by the UK's withdrawal from Euratom will be straightforward or quick to solve. The process will be difficult, time-consuming and there is always the concern politics could cloud the interests of business.

Away from Brussels, the first step in the negotiation must be agreeing a replacement Voluntary Offer Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for a new UK safeguards regime. Safeguarding is the critical process whereby inspectors check nuclear material is in the right place and being used for its intended purpose.

To be clear, this is not about the safety of the UK's nuclear reactors or the workers on site; all safety inspections and monitoring is carried out by the UK's independent Office for Nuclear Regulation and this will continue to be the case outside Euratom.

Once a new safeguards regime is in place, negotiations can move onto agreeing a Nuclear Co-operation Agreement with Euratom, and gaining third country status to help facilitate the trade of nuclear material, goods, people and services between the UK and the European Union.

For the UK, the benefits of having third country status are obvious. The UK is working on new build and decommissioning projects across Europe and as one of the early pioneers of nuclear energy, the industry has a wealth of exportable talent and expertise.

And for the EU, the benefits are equally obvious. The UK is one of the largest nuclear markets in the world with work covering all aspects of the fuel cycle, across new build, operations, decommissioning, R&D and waste management.

The UK's annual decommissioning budget is just over 3.0 billion ($3.7 billion), a new build program worth more than 60 billion is under way and multi-million pound refurbishments are being carried out across each of the UK's existing stations. Why shut the door or make access to these opportunities more difficult?

The next stage of the negotiation with the EU will be agreeing a contract for the UK to continue its involvement in the EU's various nuclear R&D programs. Euratom currently facilitates the UK's participation, through the Fusion for Energy (F4E) Joint Undertaking, on the JET and ITER nuclear fusion programs. It also allows the UK to gain from important research into the geological disposal of radioactive waste.

The UK has been a significant net beneficiary under the current relationship, but with the JET test reactor located in Oxfordshire, the Brexit decision has undoubtedly cast a shadow over the future. The contract with Euratom for JET runs out in 2018, but it was expected to be extended to at least 2020 and potentially further to 2024, and negotiations on this extension cannot wait until 2019.

For the UK, again, the benefits of having a close relationship with Euratom are obvious. For the EU less so but as with any divorce, money will ease the friction.

If Euratom were to cancel the contract, the EU would be cutting of its nose to spite its face. JET is an important program of work which is feeding critical information for the much larger ITER reactor program in the South of France. Shutting down the program now simply doesn't make sense and transporting the test reactor to the continent is simply not feasible.

Moving on to ITER, the program is largely funded by the Euratom Community but has many international partners: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA. If the UK government is keen to help fund the program outside of the EU, there will surely be no objection. The issue for industry is to convince the UK government why it makes sense to continue to be involved. Luckily a simple argument.

The UK's participation in the project allows UK companies to benefit financially, and so far the supply chain has won contracts worth 500 million ($532 million) and this number was expected to rise to at least 1 billion. More importantly, international collaboration on a project this important will keep the UK at the top table of nuclear nations, an ambition the government has reiterated several times.

And this is the key, if the UK is to continue to be a major player in the nuclear industry and many other international sectors, the government must maintain as close a relationship as possible with the European Union. To do so it must clearly explain why this is in the EU's interest.

Tom Greatrex

Comments? Please send them to editor@world-nuclear-news.org

Tom Greatrex has been chief executive of the UK's Nuclear Industry Association since February 2016. Previously, he was the Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West and shadow energy minister.

Related topics
Email Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter

Daren Blomquist

Kings County (Brooklyn), New York (121.4 percent)

Santa Cruz County, California (111.9 percent)

Marin County, California (109.9 percent)

New York County (Manhattan), New York (100.5 percent)

Maui County, Hawaii (100.2 percent).

Clayton County, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area (10.8 percent)

Baltimore City, Maryland (11.8 percent)

Bibb County, Georgia, in the Macon metro area (12.2 percent)

Saginaw County, Michigan, in the Saginaw metro area (12.4 percent)

Trumbull County, Ohio, in the Youngstown metro area (12.5 percent)

Wayne County, Michigan, in the Detroit metro area (12.6 percent)

Richmond County, Georgia, in the Augusta metro area (14.2 percent)

Cuyahoga County, Ohio in the Cleveland metro area (14.4 percent)

Saint Lawrence County, New York, in the Ogdensburg-Massena metro area (14.6 percent)

Summit County, Ohio, in the Akron metro area (14.7 percent)

Greene County, Ohio, in the Dayton metro area (14.7 percent)

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (14.8 percent).

Sign Up Free | The WPJ Weekly Newsletter Relevant real estate news.

Actionable market intelligence.

Right to your inbox every week. Go Thank you for your interest!

You will now be receiving our Weekly Real Estate Newsletter.

Real Estate Listings Showcase

According to ATTOM Data Solutions' Q1 2017 U.S. Home Affordability Index, one in every four county U.S. housing markets analyzed for the report were less affordable than their historic affordability averages in the first quarter of 2017.A total of 95 counties out of 379 counties analyzed for the report (25 percent) posted an affordability index below 100 in Q1 2017 -- the highest share of markets below the normal affordability index of 100 since Q4 2009. An affordability index below 100 means that the share of averages wages needed to buy a median-priced home is above the historic average for a given market.Nationally the affordability index in the first quarter of 2017 was 103, down from 108 in the previous quarter and down from 119 a year ago to the lowest level since Q4 2008 -- a more than eight-year low. The index of 103 translates to 33.6 percent of average weekly wages needed to buy a median-priced home nationwide, below the historic average of 34.6 percent but the highest share of wages needed since Q4 2008."Home affordability continued to worsen in the first quarter, not surprising given the continued strong growth in home prices combined with the recent rise in mortgage rates," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. "Stronger wage growth is the silver lining in this report, outpacing home price growth in more than half of the markets for the first time since Q1 2012, when median home prices were still falling nationwide. If that pattern continues, it will help turn the tide in the eroding home affordability trend."Average wage earners would need to spend more than 43 percent of their income -- the maximum debt-to-income ratio allowed for a "qualified mortgage" under guidelines from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) -- to buy a median-priced home in 97 of the 379 counties (26 percent) analyzed for the report.Markets above the 43 percent threshold included Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California; Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, New York (Manhattan) and Bronx counties in New York City; King and Snohomish counties in the Seattle metro area; Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties in the Bay Area of Northern California; and nine counties in the Washington, D.C. metro area."Many homebuyers have been priced out of the Seattle housing market, forcing them to buy in other counties and commute," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle housing market, where all three counties in the metro area posted worsening affordability compared to a year ago. "The data also shows that the affordability level in King County has eroded to levels we haven't seen since 2010. Moreover, I believe that it will get worse before it gets better thanks to our growing population, inadequate infrastructure, and land constraints, which are all driving up home prices in and around the Seattle area."Average wage earners would need to spend more than 100 percent of their income to buy a median-priced home in five of the 379 counties analyzed:Average wage earners would need to spend less than 15 percent of their income to buy a median-priced home in 12 of the 379 counties analyzed:"Consumer confidence is increasing, as we are seeing a year-over-year wage increase. The wage increase, coupled with shortage of inventory, is creating a market where we are seeing median home prices increase over historic pricing," said Matthew Watercutter, senior regional vice president and broker of record for HER Realtors, covering the Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati markets in Ohio. "This is good news for sellers, but there is still great news for buyers. The percentage of wages needed to buy have decreased, which shows the median wages are growing at a faster pace than the sales prices. This means that Central, Western and Southwestern Ohio are still among the most affordable places to live in the nation."Annual wage growth outpaced annual growth in median home prices in 199 of the 379 counties (53 percent) analyzed in the report. It was the highest percentage of counties with wage growth outpacing home price growth since home prices bottomed out nationwide in Q1 2012.In contrast to the trend over the past year, however, home price growth has consistently outpaced wage growth over the past five years of the housing recovery. A total of 363 of the 379 counties (96 percent) have seen home prices rise at a faster pace than wages since hitting bottom, and nationwide median home prices have increased 57 percent since hitting bottom in Q1 2012 while average weekly wages have increased 4 percent during the same time period.Counter to the national trend, affordability improved compared to a year ago in 35 of the 379 counties (9 percent) analyzed in the report. Annual wage growth outpaced home price growth in all 35 of the counties with improving affordability.Counties with improving affordability included Kings County (Brooklyn), New York; Fulton County, Georgia in the Atlanta metro area; San Francisco County, California; Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and New Castle County, Delaware in the Philadelphia metro area; and Summit County, Ohio in the Akron metro area.
A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took
Albertas trade union-backed New Democratic Party (NDP) government has responded to the economic crisis produced by the collapse in oil prices by targeting working people.

In its latest budget, tabled March 21, Rachel Notleys two year-old NDP government served notice of a coming multi-year wage-freeze for public sector workers, most of whom are low paid, while lavishing additional tax credits and other financial incentives on business. Finance Minister Joe Ceci claimed the incentives would help diversify Albertas economy and get off the oil and gas roller coaster.

In truth, the NDPs budget relies heavily on revenues from these resources. The NDP are betting that the West Texas Intermediate oil price, currently just under $49 US a barrel, will hit $68 US a barrel by 2020. This is much lower than the $98 US a barrel such oil averaged in the years prior to 2014, when prices plummeted by more than 60 percent. Even assuming this projection comes to pass, Albertas provincial debt is forecast to reach $45 billion by March 31, 2018 and $71.1 billion by March 31, 2020. If oil prices do not increase in line with the NDPs optimistic predictions over the next three years, the deficit will be higher, potentially much higher.

The NDP plan will see Albertas debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio rise to 10.5 percent, more than triple what it was in 2015, but still far and away the smallest of any Canadian province. Notley is vowing to balance Albertas budget in six years, a goal which will inevitably require the imposition of further austerity measures on Albertas already financially squeezed working class.

The NDPs second full budget reaffirmed the so-called Alberta advantagethe ultra-low tax regime for corporations that the Conservatives fashioned during their decades of rule over Alberta. Ceci boasted that Alberta will continue to have a tax advantage over every other province in Canada. He added that he expected Alberta to lead the way nationally with a growth rate of 2.6 percent in 2017. This is far less impressive than it sounds when one takes into account the sharp economic contraction since 2014 and the devastation caused by the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

Despite the conservative, pro-big business character of the NDP budget, much of Albertas and Canadas business and political elite denounced it as fiscally irresponsible, and demanded the countrys only NDP provincial government cut funding for public and social services much more aggressively. Bond rating agencies Moodys Investor Services and DBRS Ltd. responded to the budget by saying that they are reviewing the provinces credit rating. A credit rate cut would raise debt servicing costs, adding further pressure on the government to slash spending.

Under the social-democratic NDP, spending on health care and education has been sharply constrained despite continued population growth; public sector wages have been targeted for restraint; and income, fuel, and municipal taxes and government fees have all been hiked. Meanwhile, unemployment has risen sharply.

As of January 1, 2017, a new Carbon Tax must be paid on any carbon-creating good or service that is consumed and this in a province with a very cold winter climate, where most people drive and where everyone must heat their homes most of the year. The Carbon Tax is expected to bring in $1.27 billion over three years. Last months budget said the province will spend $1.27 billion over the same period on a Green Infrastructure Fund, which will provide business opportunities for Green entrepreneurs.

Also hitting working class Alberta families in the wallet is a 6 percent increase in the provincial education tax portion of municipal tax bills in Edmonton.

Statistics Canada reported unemployment climbed to 8.1 percent in Edmonton and to 9.8 percent in Calgary in January, far higher than the current average Canadian national rate of 6.8 percent. Yet the budget contained no significant job creation measures. Instead the Notley government continues to promote a scheme, copied from the Obama administration, where employers receive short-term subsidies for hiring new workers.

The province committed a paltry $100 million to integrate existing drinking water systems with First Nations Reservations, in an effort to reduce the number of boil-water advisories on reservations. Due to unsafe water, thirteen Alberta First Nations Reservations are currently under boil-water advisories issued by Health Canada. Everyone on these reservations must buy clean water to drink, cook and wash. The budget committed a similarly derisory $120 million to building affordable housing for Indigenous people moving off-reservation into towns or cities, where they can be exploited as cheap labour.

The Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE) collective agreement, which covers 87,000 provincial government workers, is up for renegotiation this year. In July 2016, after two years of unsuccessful negotiations, a government-appointed arbitrator imposed a contact on AUPE members employed by Alberta Health Services (AHS). The AHS workers received a minuscule 2 percent wage increase in each of the first two years of the contract and a 1 percent increase in the third year, retroactive to 2014.

Now, with all the public sector contracts set to expire at the same time, the government, by allocating not a penny for increased labour costs in its budget, has all but proclaimed that it intends to freeze its unionized workers wages, as it has already done with non-unionized provincial staff. The NDP is counting on its political allies in the trade union bureaucracy to impose this on a recalcitrant membership, obviating the need for the government to impose concession contracts by decree.

The Notley governments determination to offload the economic crisis onto the backs of working people comes as no surprise. Whenever the NDP has held power at the provincial level, it has launched devastating attacks on public services and workers in order to balance budgets and uphold the interests of big business. In the 1990s, NDP governments in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario imposed sweeping public-spending cuts and wage- and job-cutting social contracts.

At the federal level, the NDP has shifted so far to the right that it is virtually indistinguishable from the big business Liberals. Like social-democratic parties around the world, the NDP places fiscal discipline and austerity measures and support for imperialist military interventions abroad at the centre of its program.

The NDPs right-wing, anti-working class agenda has been lauded by the Canadian ruling elite. The Globe and Mail, the mouthpiece of Bay Street, recently enthused over Notleys role in working with Alberta big business to secure close relations with Trump administration. At the end of February, Notley became the first Canadian premier to travel to Washington to lobby the Trump Administration and arrange business deals.

On March 24, Notleys top wish was granted when Trump approved the Keystone XL pipeline. In an interview that day with Global News Edmonton, Notley revealingly showed whose class interests she represents. She said, while also referring to other oil pipeline projects, We actually can use Keystone XL, Kinder Morgan, and frankly Energy East, and we could use all of them to move our product. This would make Albertas oil and gas economy more compelling for investors, the NDP premier declared.
Last summer, the Ford Foundation, one of the most powerful private foundations in the world, announced that it was organizing to channel $100 million to the Black Lives Movement over the next six years.

By partnering with Borealis Philanthropy, Movement Strategy Center and Benedict Consulting to found the Black-Led Movement Fund, Ford has made six-year investments in the organizations and networks that compose the Movement for Black Lives, according to the Ford Foundation web site. In a statement of support, Ford called for the group to grow and prosper. We want to nurture bold experiments and help the movement build the solid foundation that will enable it to flourish.

In the wake of the monetary commitment by the big-business foundation network, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has explicitly embraced black capitalism. It appears the group is now well positioned to cash in on the well-known #BLM Twitter hashtag. Announcing its first big initiative for 2017, BLM cofounder Patrisse Cullors stated that it would be partnering with the Fortune 500 New York ad agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT) to create the biggest and most easily accessible black business database in the country.

BLM joins the ranks of prestigious JWT clientele including HSBC Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Shell Oil. JWT also represents the US Marine Corps. CEO Lynn Power suggested that the BLM partnership would provide the advertising firm with an opportunity to shape culture positively. I am really glad that our partnership with Black Lives Matter is giving us the opportunity to play a truly active role, she enthused.

The joint project, Backing Black Business, is a nationwide interactive map of black-owned enterprises. This virtual Google-based directory has nothing to do with opposing police violence, from which Black Lives Matter ostensibly emerged. Cullors nevertheless portrayed the venture as enabling blacks to have somewhere for us to go and feel seen and safe, concluding, In these uncertain times, we need these places more than ever.

Such developments may come as a surprise to those who embraced the sentiment that black lives matter because they saw it as an oppositional rebuke to the militarization of police and the disproportionate police murder of African Americans. Many did not realize that the political aims and nature of Black Lives Matter were of an entirely different nature.

In fact, the election of Donald Trump has served to put even more distance between the large layers of workers and young people opposed to police violence and the privileged upper middle class layer that Black Lives Matter represents. The latter, developments have shown, are leveraging #BLM as a brand to make a name for themselves, find lucrative sinecures and, more generally, get on the gravy train.

BLMs most recent scheme is even more crass than Backing Black Business. In February, BLM launched a black debit card underwritten by OneUnited Bank. A historic partnership has been born between OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the country, and #BlackLivesMatter to organize the $1.2 trillion in spending power of Black people and launch the Amir card during Black History Month, boasts OneUniteds web site.

The debit card project is a part of a larger campaign by black multimillionaire celebrities, including Beyonce, Solange and Queen Latifah, to promote investment in black-owned banks. Describing the Amir debit card as another form of black empowerment, BLM spokeswoman Melina Abdullah called it important on a lot of levels. She said it will feature the face of this beautiful black boy who will evoke for many folks people like Trayvon Martin.

BLM has invested its money in OneUnited since its inception, according to Abdullah, who is also the chair of the Pan-African Studies Department at California State University, Los Angeles.

Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer of OneUnited, and the wife of its chairman and CEO, Kevin Cohee, echoed Abdullahs sales pitch, adding that when I hand [the Amir card] to someone, Im saying to them that black lives do matter, that black money does matter and that we are an important consumer. Debit card holders will receive regular notices requesting BLM donations, the bank noted.

The dubious history of the bank has apparently been no barrier to the partnership with BLM. OneUnited, the recipient of a generous Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loan in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, was subject to federal audit when it failed to meet the terms of the agreement.

The audit provoked a minor scandal when it was revealed that the bank had provided CEO Cohee a lavish lifestyle including a leased Porsche, a handsome living allowance, an $880,000 condo in Miami Beach, and $26,500 per month to lease a mansion in Santa Monica, California. The governments generosity, it was widely suspected, was connected to the fact that Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waterss husband, who was also on the banks board of directors and owned stock in the company, stood to lose over $350,000 if the bank failed.

The racialist and pro-capitalist politics of Black Lives Matter

From the beginning, the mothers of the movement Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometiwho collectively adopted the famous hashtagspecifically opposed uniting blacks, whites and immigrants against the brutal class-war policies of the capitalist state. Instead, the group did its best to confine anti-police violence protests within the framework of the capitalist system and push a racialist and pro-capitalist agenda.

Even prior to 2013, however, all three of the cofounders had developed close ties to corporations, foundations, academia and/or government-sponsored agencies. Tometi, in particular, was a well-known quantity in these circles. She had spoken at the UN (presenting at the Global Forum on Migration and Commission on the Status of Women), had been to the White House and met with Obama liaison Heather Foster, and addressed the Aspen Institute, a high-level think tank associated with the US military and intelligence community.

With one eye on the mounting protests and another on their hopes for a future Hillary Clinton administration, the group created a political platform in August 2016 entitled Vision 4 Black Lives. It was initiated by an amalgam of non-hierarchical but affiliated groups under the BLM umbrella. The platform centers on the demand for ending the war on Black people.

Promoting racial exclusivity, it calls for reparations for past and continuing harms, divestment from institutions that harm black people, the right to high-quality education for black people, a federal jobs program for black people, community control and black self-determination. Along the same lines, it calls for the defense of black immigrants, despite the plight of tens of millions of non-black immigrants as a result of imperialist war and exploitation the world over.

While these racialist demands are the axis of the Vision 4 Black Lives program, it also includes a smattering of democratic demands including free education for all, special protections for queer and trans students, free health services, free day care, and cuts to military expenditures. The BLM program lines up with a race-based variant of the humanitarian pro-imperialist agenda, critiquing American wars as unjust and destructive to Black communities globally.

The central purpose of Vision 4 Black Lives, and Black Lives Matter, has nothing to do with securing education, health care or other social rights for any section of the working class. It is to divide the working class, subordinate opposition to the Democratic Party and win more opportunities for privileged sections of the upper middle class.

The BLM program makes no bones about its entirely bourgeois, legislative orientation. Congress would have to amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005, or the DOJ [Department of Justice] has some discretion in how much funding it awards to police departments, etc., the program states. That is, the Democrats can be pressured to implement reforms.

The real substance of the groups policies is the unremitting injection of racial divisions and animosity into the movement of opposition to police violence. It aims to update the age-old tactic of divide and conquer, seeking to prevent the unity of the working classblack, white and immigrantfrom challenging the capitalist system, the source of the deepening social and political oppression.

For this service to the bourgeois state, they are well rewarded. The Ford Foundationwith its long history stretching from its CIA fronts in the 1940s and the promotion of black capitalism in Detroit in the aftermath of the 1967 riotsprovided a financial anchor for BLMs expansion.

The Ford Foundation enlisted other such philanthro-capitalists: the Hill-Snowden Foundation, Solidaire (Ford Foundation and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, granddaughter of the oil and gas tycoon H.L. Hunt), the NoVo Foundation (started by Warren Buffetts son Peter and daughter-in-law Jennifer Buffett in 2006), the Association of Black Foundation Executives (Kellogg Foundation and JPMorgan Chase and its Black Organization for Leadership Development [BOLD]), the Neighborhood Funders GroupFunders for Justice (also funded by Ford), among others.

In addition to the money, the leadership of BLM has been showered with honorariums, awards and junkets, both in the US and internationally. Cullors was made Woman of the Year for Justice Speakers by Glamour magazine, made Worlds Greatest Leader by Fortune magazine and awarded an honorary doctorate from Clarkson University.

The media and the state

While spontaneous protests began to adopt the #BLM hashtag as opposition to police violence developed, it was the promotion by the bourgeois media that brought #BLM into national prominence. A study, Beyond the Hashtags, by Deen Freelon, Charlton C. McIlwaine and Meredith D. Clark, noted this fact, pointing to the large role of mainstream media and corporations.

This media role became obvious as social tensions reached a boiling point with the brutal gunning down of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and the acquittal of the killer of Michael Brown in November 2014. The corporate-controlled press responded to the outpouring of opposition among both black and white youth by consistently describing Black Lives Matter representatives as the official opposition to police violence.

As data accumulated by killedbypolice.net and other news media sources underscored the fact that police killings were directed against poor and working class whites as well as inner-city blacks, the issues of social inequality, poverty and class began to take center stage. The more universal slogan All Lives Matter came into wide use.

BLM denounced the specter of growing class unity and decried All Lives Matter as illegitimate and even racist. The group focused its demands on black community control, federal tracking of police killings by race and affirmative-action-type government programs.

BLM personnel meanwhile were being groomed for top-level official positions. Leading Black Lives Matter spokespersons made repeated trips to the White House in 2015 and 2016 to hold meetings with President Obama and his representatives. The Democratic Party was conferring official authority upon the group. During a meeting in February 2016, Obama went even further, praising DeRay Mckesson and Brittany Packnett, two Black Lives Matter leaders. They are much better organizers than I was when I was their age, and I am confident that they are going to take America to new heights.

Later in July, at a separate meeting with Obama, Mckesson and Packnett agreed that Packnett would serve as an official representative on Obamas Task Force for 21st Century Policing, with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and National Association of Police Organizations President Michael McHale.

These remarkable meetings of top Black Lives Matter associates with the US president and his top police agencies demonstrated that the group had no objection to being incorporated into the state apparatus. Indeed, a seat at the table was their aim. Anticipating further positions in the next administration, Black Lives Matter associates Mckesson, Packnett and Johnetta Netta Elzie met with Hillary Clinton in October 2015 for a lengthy 90-minute meeting on policy questions. Clinton was then the frontrunner for US president as well as the CIA and intelligence communitys preferred candidate.

The Sanders factor

During this period, the campaign of Bernie Sanders for president began to rally unexpectedly large crowds, and the ruling elites became increasingly nervous. Fraudulently presenting himself as a socialist advocating political revolution against the billionaire class, Sanders won the support of large numbers of youth and workers.

It was in this context that decisions were taken to provide support to the divisive racialist agenda of BLM at the highest levels of government. This policy decision was in tandem with Clintons escalating drumbeat of identity politics, which she increasingly relied upon as a political counterweight to Sanders, even using the mantra Black Lives Matter in her campaign speeches. For their part, BLM leaders Mckesson and Packnett endorsed Clinton; Garza, while not endorsing, said she cast her vote for Clinton.

BLM is now being compensated for its role in seeking to shore up support for capitalism. However, they will get little traction peddling the discredited old canard, first advanced by President Richard Nixon in the late 1960s, that millionaire black businesspeople represent some kind of advance for the black population as a whole.

Class differentiation is, in fact, now greater within the African American community than in society at large. While the majority of black families are living in or near poverty, the number of black millionaires has grown to 35,000. But this small group, and those immediately below its gilded ranks, are the well-off layers and social interests for which Black Lives Matter speaks.

BLMs hostility to the working class and reactionary rhetoric play an ever more dangerous role in the current political climate, dovetailing with the extreme right wing and legitimizing racialism.

Their assessment of the election of Donald Trump demonized the white working class, a view also promoted by Hillary Clinton, the New York Times and other pro-Democratic Party media. Utterly hostile to the unification of the working class against the class-war policies of the new government, BLM sees the possibility of opportunities under the Trump administration. Vowing to train 300 black leaders to take positions on school boards, city councils, neighborhood councils, and every branch of government, the group looks to a further political future within the Democratic Party.

Under unprecedented conditions of imperialist war, social inequality and state repression, Black Lives Matter finds themselves now eagerly entering bourgeois politics and embracing black business schemes. Moreover, their bent for self-enrichment has a logical conclusion. To maintain a seat at the table, they will collaborate even with the likes of Trump.

The use and promotion of Black Lives Matter by key elements of the capitalist state demonstrate once again the class role of identity politics. For workers and young people looking for a way to fight, the social physiognomy and political program of Black Lives Matter stand as an object lesson on the role of bourgeois class forces and the reactionary dead-end of racial politics.
Three people were killed and four were critically injured Monday after a boiler exploded in a building in the industrial area of Kosciusko near downtown St. Louis, Missouri. An engineer was immediately killed by the early morning blast at the Loy-Lange Box Company, a factory making corrugated products, packaging and shipping containers. Another two workers were killed when a van-sized piece of the boiler, which had been shot into the air, crashed into the offices of Faultless Healthcare Linens laundry more than 500 feet away.

In addition to the three killed, at least two are in critical condition and two others are seriously injured, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Two of those killed at the Faultless administrative office were part of a group of three new hires that were just filling out their paperwork when the boiler piece, weighing a ton or more, crushed and killed two of the three new employees.

Mark Spence, the Chief Operating Officer at Faultless, described the crashing object as an enormous tank. The piece of the boiler debris was 10 to 13 feet in length and at least 3.5 feet in diameter.

According to the St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, one person was trapped under the boiler debris in the Faultless office. More than sixty-five firefighters of the St. Louis Fire Department responded to a call within 15 minutes. They removed the object trapping the victim, but the boiler piece was still extremely hot. The injured worker survived but is in critical condition.

More than three buildings were damaged by the boiler room explosion at Loy-Lange. A piece of pipe about eight feet long hurtled into the roof of Pioneer Industrial Corporation, although no one was hurt. The explosion blast also launched pipe into the windshield of a nearby truck that was parked across the street from Loy-Lange.

The US Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation into the case and all the fatalities involved, and whether there were safety violations. According to police reports, one of those killed was 59-year-old Kenneth Trentham, one of three licensed engineers assigned to the boilers operations at Loy-Lange.

Remarkably, the state of Missouri requires factories in every city except St. Louis to have state inspections every two years. The city of St. Louis does not require any inspections of boilers. However, every company with industrial boilers is required to have licensed engineers on duty whenever a boiler is in operation. Trentham was one of the licensed engineers on staff with an up-to-date license and training.

While OSHA is charged with investigating any safety violations involved with the boiler, Loy-Lange, founded in 1897, has a long record of safety violations. Moreover, the company had two boilers, including the one that exploded, and both date to the 1960s.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Loy-Lange has been found in violation of federal safety guidelines at least three times since 2014. In February 2014, OSHA found serious violations of standards for preventing injury from the release of stored energy by properly shutting down equipment. The company failed to carry out its annual inspections of energy-related machines and failed to train employees adequately. For such serious violations, OSHA gave the company a slap on the wrist and fined them a mere $2,450.

In November of 2014, the company was found in violation again. The issues then included defective forklifts operating without lights, damages to safety chain latches, and missing guardrails on the boilers. The company was fined $6,556 in penalties then. Recently, in October 2016, the company was fined $3,741 for holes in the floor and aisles in poor repair.

While the investigation into the boiler is not concluded, such older infrastructure tends to fail more frequently without proper maintenance. A worker with experience fixing boilers told the World Socialist Web Site that boilers can explode for many reasons, including the failure of the safety valve to prevent the pressure from overwhelming the system, as well as corrosion of critical parts and low levels of water causing overheating. It is also possible that even when a boiler is functioning properly, they may leak water or air to release pressure. Sometimes safety features are deliberately removed to prevent leaking.

Given the companys long record of safety violations, he said, it was possible the boiler was damaged beyond repair but the company did not want to spend money to replace it. The engineer may have been sent to improvise a quick fix effectively keeping a ticking time-bomb going.

OSHAs spokesperson, Scott Allen, tried to soften the seriousness of the companys violations: Loy-Langes past OSHA history does indicate several serious safety violations, ones that could potentially have seriously injured the workers, but we have other companies that we have on the severe violator protection program that literally have hundreds of thousands of dollars in violations. The company did come into compliance once these issues were addressed with them and paid the penalties once OSHA identified them to the company.

Allen added that while the explosion was tragic, he hoped they could prevent [such incidents] in the future. Such toothless statements only encourage large employers to cut corners on safety and writing off the fines as a cost of doing business.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has yet to publish the statistics of occupational fatalities in 2016, its 2015 report points out that a total of 4,836 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2015, an increase from 2014. The number of deaths in 2015 was the highest since 2008.

According to the BLS report, the majority of deaths occurred in transportation and roadway incidents; falls and slips; contact with objects and equipment; exposure to harmful chemical substance or environments; and fires and explosions. Workers in the transportation industry saw incidents rise by more than nine percent since 2014, and they accounted for more than 26 percent of occupational fatalities in 2015.

A more damning assessment of class relations in the United States by the Center for Disease Control found that each year employers report four million nonfatal injuries and 55,000 fatal work-related injuries and illnesses, far greater than the average of 30,000 annual deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

Repeated safety violations by cost-cutting corporations and the lack of any serious enforcement by government authorities illustrate how the lives and limbs of workers are routinely sacrificed for profit. This will only accelerate as the Trump administration decimates what is left of OSHA and lifts virtually all restrictions on corporate profit-making in the name of eliminating job killing regulations.
Late Friday night and Saturday morning, sudden floods and a deafening avalanche swept through entire neighborhoods in the Colombian city of Mocoa, located in the impoverished southern department of Putumayo. The devastating mudslides left hundreds of casualties, while thousands of families lost their homes and belongings. As of Monday, the Red Cross had announced 254 dead, 43 of them children, hundreds more injured and no official number of missing persons.

Nine months ago, the Colombian Geologic Service had warned the Putumayo local government about the need to relocate entire neighborhoods, which had been recently urbanized on former riverbeds and areas at risk of landslides. The deaths caused by the disaster in Mocoa, as well as the floods in Peru that killed over 100 people, and those in Ecuador that left 21 dead, are entirely preventable. They are the product of the capitalist system. Such disastrous weather events are expected to grow in frequency as the effects of global warming wreak havoc on the poorest parts of the world.

Three days after the deluge, the desperation of many had not receded as they continue to check the lists outside of the makeshift morgue and to tirelessly dig into the mud and rubble to find those missing. The government has announced that an insulting $87 monthly stipend for three months will be provided to families that have lost their homes, even though officials have said that reconstruction efforts will take at least one year.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos visited the stricken area and declared a state of emergency. In spite of his remarks and the announcements that potable water tankers, food, and mattresses were being sent, those at the shelters complain that these are still in short supply. Half of the city still has no electricity.

The small hospital at Mocoa collapsed immediately, unable to attend the numerous victims, and all fresh water sources were destroyed, leading the Putumayo governor to declare a sanitary emergency on Saturday.

There is no physical, logistical, or medical infrastructure to attend the injured from this tragedy, but we are doing as much as we can with whatever is available, an anesthesiologist told El Espectador.

Many from nearby towns rushed in to help with the search-and-rescue efforts on Saturday and Sunday. Initially, the deployment of rescue teams, equipment and aid depended on the local airport 40 minutes away since all of the roads crossing the mountains into the city were blocked by landslides.

The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies reported that almost 129mm of rain fell on Mocoa in just three hours on Friday night, which represents about 30 percent of the average rainfall for the entire month. Three rivers that cross the city overflowed, producing landslides and flash floods that destroyed 17 neighborhoods, affecting several thousand of the 42,000 residents of the city.

Many of the neighborhoods close to the rivers have almost disappeared, commented the mayor, Jose Antonio Castro.

The National University has already emitted a warning that, out of the 2,440 urban municipalities, 385 are at risk of landslides and the damming of floodwaters. Other meteorologists have cautioned that the rainy season continues to intensify until May.

The Los Angeles Times reported that as far back as 1989, the Agricultural Ministry reported that a disaster of such proportions was likely unless efforts were taken to reinforce the riverbanks, channel water away from the town and restore some of the forest. Government officials, on their part, have blamed the lack of a territorial ordinance plan for the region, but only 3 percent of the country has a functioning plan.

This is not the first time the Colombian ruling class has ignored pleas by scientists and experts to prevent such a disaster. In the Colombian town of Armero, 25,000 people died in 1985 from volcanically induced mudflows, even though volcanologists had called for the evacuation of the town at least two months before.

After enormous floods during La Nina event in 2011-12, the Santos administration acknowledged that droughts and major rain events had become more extreme than in the last 50 years, and that Colombia will be one of the countries most affected by climate change. Nonetheless, as extreme weather events continue, no serious measures have been taken to protect vulnerable communities.

The governments 2014-18 Strategic Plan for the Putumayo Department recognized the dire infrastructural conditions. They found that there is a 72.6 percent housing deficit, while 63.7 percent of households were in precarious conditions, compared to a 25.8 percent national average.

Other infrastructure is urgently lacking. For instance, only 44 percent of the region has a sewage system compared to 82 percent for Colombia and 97.1 percent for Latin America. In spite of this, the strategic plan dedicates most resources to facilitate the fast extraction of resources from the region and spends virtually nothing on safer housing.

More than half of Putumayos production comes from mining and crude oil, while illegal coca leaf farming is rampant and has engulfed the region in decades-long warfare between drug cartels, paramilitary units, and guerrilla groups.

While the 2014 plan pledged the construction of a new hospital in Mocoa, it was never built. Seeking to cover up this important factor, the health minister, Alejandro Gaviria Uribe, announced on Sunday that the construction of the new hospital will be accelerated.

Similar figures for the regionincluding the lack of availability of middle or higher education, illiteracy, stunted growth from malnutrition, infant mortality and the homicide rateare much higher than the already alarming national averages. Over 90 percent of the departments working age population is either unemployed or working informally. According to 2013 official government data, the index of multidimensional poverty is 79 percent for the Putumayo department and 53 percent for the city of Mocoa.

The Attorney Generals office has sent 45 prosecutors and forensic specialists to the affected area to seek who to blame in order to appease the growing social indignation and disguise the ruling classs indifference to such suffering.
A sharp clash took place at Fridays NATO meeting between German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democrats, SPD) and his American counterpart Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson demanded that NATOs European members and Germany in particular issue a statement on how they intend to meet the goal of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence with annual milestones and progress commitments. According to the official text of Tillersons remarks, published on the US State Departments website, he added, Allies that do not have a concrete plan to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2024 need to establish one now. Such plans are to be presented prior to the NATO conference in Brussels on 25 May.

Gabriel bluntly responded that he thought it was completely unrealistic to believe that Germany will reach an annual military budget of more than 70 billion. He was aware of no politician who believes that this is achievable or even desirable in our country. In addition, he had absolutely no idea where we would put all of the aircraft carriers that we would have to buy in order to invest 70 billion in the German army every year.

Gabriels remarks have nothing to do with pacifism. The Social Democrat Foreign Minister left no doubt about his commitment to the substantial rearming of the German army which was agreed to by his predecessor Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) at NATOs 2014 summit in Wales. We have a planit is called a budget plan, Gabriel said. We are increasing military spending, but on a scale that we deem responsible.

Gabriels message was clear: Germany is rearming and preparing an expansion of its policy of military interventions, but only on its own terms. We Germans are currently spending a lot of money on accepting refugees. They come because military interventions went wrong. And because there was no stabilisation afterwards. So we know what it means when the only focus is on military spending, he stated.

This was a thinly-veiled criticism of the US-led wars in the Middle East, against which Gabriel counterposes an imperialist European foreign policy dominated by Berlin.

In his speech in the German parliament (Bundestag) on continuing the German-European intervention in Mali, the foreign minister stated on Thursday, Europe is being asked more than ever before to be a global actor, which is also ready to assume responsibility, and this is even though the European Union was not constructed as a global political actor. It was never made for that. Despite this, we cannot be indifferent to the conflicts going on around us.

The deployment of German soldiers as part of the European training mission EUTM Mali shows that where Europe is ready to do so, we engage jointly and can certainly achieve good results. It was a European strength that we deal with crises with a broad range of instruments: with diplomatic, civilian and police capabilities, and also militarily.

A few days earlier, Gabriel announced a new orientation for Germanys Asia policy and stated, In many areas of international politics, we are currently experiencing crises, upheavals and new dynamics. One has the sense that this world is being measured anewand everybody is using their own tape measure to do so. One thing is clear: Asias rising powers will play a key role in this.

This is the old language of German imperialism. In the new scramble among the imperialist powers for raw materials, markets and cheap labour, Germany is once again laying claim to a place in the sun. The task is to intensify [German] relations with Asia and organise them more strategically so they correspond to the rapidly rising significance of this region with 4 billion inhabitants and rapidly growing sales markets, Gabriel wrote.

He had decided, therefore, to establish an independent Asia department within the Foreign Ministry for the first time, which will better consolidate and further expand our regional competencies. It was high time that the composition of our team in the Foreign Ministry appropriately reflects the further growth of Asias weight.

But this could only be a first step. It is vital that Asia be seen as the key region of the future in our thinking and daily politicsin the Foreign Ministry, in the federal government and in the EU. Ultimately, the road to resolving our global task runs ever more frequently through Asia.

As in the periods prior to the first and second World Wars, the global tasks of German imperialism are leading to growing conflicts with the United States and these will culminate in trade war and military conflict unless the working class intervenes.

On the same day as the clash with Tillerson, Gabriel demanded that the EU resist the anti-dumping measures against European steel producers being pushed for by the United States. He acknowledged the proceedings with a large degree of incomprehension. The goal was clear to him, American industry is to be protected by disadvantaging the better German steel industry.

There was no question that the United States was practicing trade warfare and was thereby violating international trade law so as to secure a competitive advantage for their companies, according to Gabriel. A clear position had to be taken against the US government and the EU now had to consider whether to file a complaint with the WTO. I would strongly support that.

In a comment on Monday, the Suddeutsche Zeitung warned, Trump has to realise: if America adopts protectionist measures, Germany, the EU and China will adopt counter-measures, immediately, ruthlessly and without compromise. This would involve direct consequences, counter-tariffs, other penalties, but also publicly effective lawsuits at the WTO. Europe and China would have the privilege of being strong enough for such a course.

The author, Marc Beise, then gave free rein to his great power fantasies for Germany, noting, That also applies to Germany, which likes to play small politically, but which as an economic power is a great power that can afford to assert itself.
The French Overseas and Interior ministers, Ericka Bareigts and Matthias Fekl, arrived in French Guiana this weekend, as France's Socialist Party (PS) government tried to end the general strike that has lasted for over a week in this overseas department of France in South America. Talks between a delegation of 50 people led by the Make Guiana Take Off collective and the two ministers began on Saturday.

Immediately on arrival in Guiana, on the balcony of the police prefecture, Bareigts declared, After so many years, the honor falls to me to give, beyond my small person, beyond the authority I have, my excuses to the Guyanese people.

Bareigts and Fekl supposedly made 30 promises involving over 1 billion over five to 10 years, according to the investments being considered. The government has listened to and understood the aspirations and the demands of the Guyanese people, declared Fekl, before he left Saturday to return to metropolitan France.

The promises involve 85 million on health, including 60 million to modernize the hospital center in Cayenne and re-balance its treasury since, according to Bareigts, it is no longer able to pay its bills. For education, there is supposedly 400 million, including 60 million for the construction of new junior or senior high schools. On the problem of the lack of housing, the state claimed it would give up 200,000 hectares of land in order to allow for the construction of new housing, and in particular rent-controlled housing.

Nevertheless, the Make Guiana Take Off collective rejected the measures proposed by the ministers, stating that these measures did not respond to the Guianese peoples demands. What is taking place is the biggest protest ever organized in French Guiana, police officials state. They have counted 8,000 protesters in Cayenne and 3,500 at Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, the two largest cities of the department, whose total population is only 250,000.

Above all, given the election calendar and the reactionary policies of the PS, which led a savage policy of austerity and police repression against working people, none of its promises are credible. Bareigts's promises will be immediately placed in question, as soon as the new government comes in after the presidential elections on May 7.

Le Monde described a total lack of understanding between, on the one hand, a movement that, while it is very pacific, feels that it expresses a historic ambition, and a government whose days are numbered. At the same time, the newspaper, which is politically close to the PS government, insisted that the PS cannot go beyond what is possible, that is, significantly improve living conditions in French Guiana.

What the PS government did agree to, however, as police prefect Martin Jaeger underlined, was to send 25 policemen and 23 paramilitary police to reinforce the national and paramilitary police. In addition, the deployment of a squad of mobile guards in Cayenne is to be made permanent.

Paris is desperate to rapidly end the Guianese general strike before it provokes broader solidarity struggles in metropolitan France. The PS has imposed a state of emergency, giving police virtually unlimited authority, that it used to repress workers and youth who were demonstrating in particular during protests against the reactionary PS labor law. Nonetheless, the first solidarity protest for the Guianese strikers was held yesterday in Paris. Some 100 people reportedly attended.

The balance sheet of the struggle against the labor law underscores that Guyanese workers must take their struggle out of the hands of the unions and develop a broader political struggle, both in metropolitan France and in overseas territories, against the PS and the entire ruling class. It would be politically suicidal to leave the union bureaucracies in control of the struggle. They are hostile to the mobilization of the workers against the PS, which they support and which they helped get elected in 2012 by calling for a PS vote.

The trade union federations mobilized no opposition to PS austerity measures prior to the labor law protest, which they were compelled to organizeas in the current strike in Guianaonly because explosive political anger was building against the law, above all among youth. However, they never had any intention of organizing a political struggle to bring down the PS government and the reactionary state of emergency it has imposed.

Above all, everything indicates that the trade unions and the various collectives allied to them are secretly negotiating with the state, behind workers' backs, to try to strangle the struggle.

The prefect of Guiana, who has been trying to end the strikes since the first blockades went up, has made clear he is semi-officially in contact with a collective. He declared, Despite notification that we should not prematurely talk to the inter-ministerial delegation, I am in contact with many representatives of the social, health, agricultural, and economic world. These people consider that it is useful to lay out their concerns, but they want to remain discreet, until they get a green light to move closer to us.

These semi-official contacts with the prefect and the enthusiastic support for Bareigts underscore the role played by forces in and around the collectives that are claiming to direct the general strike. Far from defending workers' aspirations, they are discussing with the PS how to end the strike, so that they would be left only with crumbs, despite their broad mobilization.

Guianese workers can expect nothing from negotiations between the collectives and the state, which is preparing to boost the strength of police units tasked with repressing their struggles, either under the PS government or the government that will follow it.
Around 8,000 people joined a protest held in Paris on Sunday by Asian organizations against the murder of Chinese immigrant Liu Shaoyo on March 26 by police. Protesters were also defying a reactionary media campaigned, launched by French domestic intelligence services, insinuating that their opposition to the extra-judicial execution of the 56-year-old father of five children is simply a state operation launched by China.

A banner was stretched around the statue in the center of Republic Square, that read Police killers, we want justice. Protesters carried banners that read Truth, justice, dignity or I love France.

One youth, Chen Hui, told the press that he had come to the protest so as not to be the next one to be killed by a policeman, adding that he feared that the Asian community would now be a target of police violence.

Sacha Lin-Jung, one of the organizers of the protest who also leads the Chinese Living in France non-governmental organization (NGO), wrote on Twitter: Police violence affects all French people. We are raising our voices today in order to fulfill our responsibilities. He added that the goal of the demonstration was to put pressure and support the family, to establish the truth and to struggle against police violence.

The murder, coming only weeks after the police rape of Theo in the working class district of Aulnay-sous-Bois, points to the rapid rise of police brutality against people of all ethnic origins under Frances state of emergency.

According to Lius daughters, police battered down the door to their apartment in a popular neighborhood of Paris and, without warning, shot their father, who had scissors in his hands to cut up a fish he was cooking. They say Liu made no physical contact with police.

Police presented multiple versions of events, without ever explaining why they shot Liu. First, it claimed that he took his scissors and attacked one of the policemen, wounding him and forcing him to go to the hospital in a relatively urgent state. Then it declared that in fact, the policeman had not been wounded at all, and that his bullet-proof vest stopped Lius scissors. However, neither account explains why police would have had to shoot and kill Liu.

The incident compelled the Chinese government to publicly ask France to protect its citizens on French soil and to also fully bring to light what happened in this matter.

French domestic intelligence has reacted to the popular protests by launching a reactionary media campaign, seeking to discredit the Liu familys supporters, and more broadly all the organizations in the Chinese community hostile to police violencewhich it implies are agents either of Beijing or the Chinese mob.

On March 30, Le Parisien published an article summarizing a note of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI). It reportedly alleges that the Chinese mob, including a big fish tied to prostitution and gambling, is trying to infiltrate the protests. It also claimed that someone close to the Chinese Communist Party and a secret agent, both of whom have infiltrated the NGO movement in France, were joining the protests because Beijing is very nervous about the operations of mafia networks.

At the same time, according to Le Parisien, the DGSI complained that protesters were rejecting all accusations that they were being manipulated by Beijing or the mob: Indeed, the movement is gathering many young people, who are very militant, and who do not want to hear anything about Beijings influence or mafia groups.

The next day, FranceInfo published extracts from another DGSI briefing which, this time, placed the blame squarely on the Chinese authorities, which it said are actively implicated in leading the protests. The passages cited from this note sought to whip up suspicion and hysteria against the protesters. It added that Chinese NGOs in France are very directly manipulated by Chinese diplomatic and consular authorities and seem unusually mobilized.

The Liu familys lawyer, Calvin Job, rejected the intelligence services insinuations against the protesters, calling them defamatory.

This is the response we see systematically whenever there is an issue of police violence, Job noted. Considering the recent cases, like that of Theo, when they began to really attract attention, then things came out about a supposed abusive use of public funds by the family of the young Theo. Today, they want to make us believe that, since the citizens of the Chinese community are not sufficiently mature to organize themselves and to protest the injustices they are suffering, they are necessarily being manipulated!

These attempts to establish an amalgam between the Republic Square protest and the activities of spies and the mob is a sinister and absurd provocation, aiming essentially to de-legitimize and ultimately illegalize all opposition to police violence and the state of emergency in France.

An innocent man was murdered by police and people of all ethnic origins in cities and suburbs across France fear they could be next. By throwing accusations against one or another NGO, without presenting any proof but simply on the say-so of unidentified intelligence officials, the security forces are trying to discredit the legitimate anger of the thousands who have exercised their constitutionally-protected right to protest.

Class tensions are explosive in France and across Europe. Tens of millions of European workers are unemployed; the PS government is deeply unpopular after having crushed protests against its retrogressive labor law; and France has been under a semi-permanent state of emergency that has suspended basic democratic rights for a year and a half. However, according to Frances spies, social anger and opposition today are the fault of Chinese agents!

The security forces decision to present such arguments must be taken as a warning to working people. Aware of the social gulf separating the elite from the masses, they are preparing arguments that equate all protest with treason and would thus justify banning protests and any NGO or organization that they consider to be an obstacle. Ultimately it is a sign of the deep political crisis in France, and of the panic and isolation of the ruling class.
An impeachment motion by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) against Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, the parliamentary speaker, failed last week following a violent confrontation. The motion was part of ongoing moves to oust President Abdulla Yameen and his government by Mohammed Nasheed, the pro-US MDP leader and former president.

While the MDP only has 26 MPs in the 85-member parliament, it hoped several parliamentarians from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) which supports Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, would break ranks and vote with the opposition. Gayoom, a long-time leader of the PPM and president of the Maldives from 1978-2008, has opposed Yameenhis half-brotherafter being marginalised in the party.

MDP lawmakers began a protest in parliament, claiming that the ruling coalition had changed the usual electronic voting system, in order to conceal how MPs voted on the impeachment motion. Military officers were called in by the speaker to remove 13 protesting MPs from the parliament. The opposition claimed that MPs were manhandled and dragged from the chamber.

The impeachment motion was voted down by 48 MPs. The public, media, and non-government organisations were barred from parliament house during the vote.

While increasingly isolated, President Yameen is attempting to muzzle the opposition and block its attempts to oust the president. Nasheed told the Economic Times that there are currently 1,700 political activists, either under threat, on trial or in jail. Nasheed and his party, however, have no concern for the democratic rights of the Maldivian people.

The infighting between the opposition and President Yameen is bound up with US and Indian geo-political manoeuvres against China. The Maldives, an archipelago of 1,192 islands with a population of just 400,000, is strategically located astride major sea lanes across the Indian Ocean.

Following the failure of the impeachment motion, Yameen sacked Gayoom as the nominal president of the PPM. Gayooms three-decade rule of the Maldives ended in 2008 when Nasheed became the first president elected in a contested election. Nasheed and Gayoom recently announced an alliance to oppose Yameen.

Before launching the impeachment resolution, Nasheed said: If we succeed, as we expect, the president will be reduced to a lame duck and will have to carry out reforms reversing the anti-democratic measures he has introduced. Nasheed claims that he is attempting to make the forthcoming 2018 presidential election free and fair.

Nasheed wants the removal of a law introduced last year by Yameen banning anyone convicted of terrorism from running for president. The anti-democratic law was specifically introduced to prevent Nasheed from contesting the election. MDP leader Nasheed was charged and convicted of terrorism, after ordering the arrest and detention of former Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed in 2012. Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years jail but was later released under pressure from the US and Britain.

Nasheed is openly attempting to bring the countrys foreign policy into line with Washingtons agenda. Speaking to Colombo-based foreign correspondents on Wednesday, he said that if elected, his government would change the terms of China-funded projects in Maldives. We will learn from the experience of the Sri Lankan Ports Minister Arjuna Ranatunga in re-negotiating the deal over Chinese built Hambantota project, he said.

Nasheeds comments are significant. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in January 2015, following a regime-change operation against former President Mahinda Rajapakse orchestrated by the US with the backing of India. The US was hostile to Rajapakses close relations with Beijing.

After coming to power, Sirisena and his new government suspended all Chinese-funded projectsthe terms of these projects are still under discussionand has developed close political and military relations with the US.

Nasheed said that Chinese loans constitute about 70 to 80 percent of foreign debt and if elected his administration would seek the restitution of transactions and properties unlawfully seized from citizens by the government. The MDP has attacked the Yameen government over the 99-year land leases granted to Chinese companies that open the way for Beijing to build a permanent base in the archipelago.

Nasheed accuses Yameen of corruption and authoritarianism. He told Colombo-based journalists that the US, EU and Canada were openly supporting the Maldives opposition and suggested that he had behind-the-scenes support from India and Sri Lanka.

Former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has called on Nasheed and Gayoom to come together against Yameen. This, she declared, would ensure democratic governance and the guarantee of civil and political rights. Kumaratunga was a major player in the Washington inspired regime-change operations against Rajapakse in Sri Lanka.

The US embassy to Sri Lanka and Maldives also issued a statement on March 28 favouring Nasheed. We call on the government to restore faith in democratic processes by ensuring free and impartial proceedings in parliament, it said, and that irregularities over the impeachment motion had impeded a free and fair vote in the Maldives parliament.

The US-based Foreign Policy magazine has also backed Nasheed. In an article entitled Democracy is Drowning in Maldives on March 29, it states that his decision to run for office has guaranteed a game-changing year not only for his own political carrier but also for the future of democracy in the South Asian Island.

While the Yameen government is authoritarian and anti-democratic, Nasheed is not concerned about future of democracy in Maldives. In power, Nasheed used the state apparatus to suppress opposition protests. The MDP leader is attempting to integrate Maldives into the US war preparation against China. Like Sri Lanka, Washington is determined to secure this strategically important location in the Indian Ocean as a key component of any future war.
Ahead of his meeting this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump issued a blunt, menacing warning to Beijing to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs  or else. Speaking to the Financial Times, he declared: If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all that I am telling you.

Trump outlined the ultimatum that he intends to deliver to Xi: 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.

Trumps threats have only one meaning: if the Chinese government is not prepared to economically cripple or oust the Pyongyang regime, the US is prepared to use every means at its disposal, including its massive military might, against North Korea. As US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson emphasised during his trip to Asia last month, all options, including war with North Korea, are on the table.

Whatever measures the US might initially take, Trump made absolutely clear that he was prepared to attack North Korea and could do so with no notice. I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East, he told the newspaper. Where they say  We will be attacking Mosul in four months.  Why are they talking? There is no reason to talk.

Behind closed doors, the Trump administration has been preparing for a war with North Korea that will not only be catastrophic for the Korean people on the divided peninsula but could drag in other major powers, including China, Russia and Japan.

The White House has just completed a review of US policy towards North Korea ahead of Xis meeting with Trump. While the options reportedly include heavy sanctions not only against North Korea but also Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang, the Trump administration would not stop there.

During his recent trip, Tillerson declared that the Obama administrations policy of incrementally increased sanctionsdubbed strategic patiencehad failed. He also ruled out any immediate negotiations with Pyongyang. All of the remaining optionscyber warfare, provocations and covert operations to destabilise the North Korean regime and military action of various formsthreaten to rapidly plunge the region into war.

The Financial Times asked Trump: Do you think you can solve it [North Korea] without Chinas help? His utter recklessness is summed up in his one word reply: Totally. Asked the same question again, he responded: I dont have to say any more. Totally.

The incalculable consequences of war on the Korean Peninsula were summed up by Obamas defence secretary, Ashton Carter, who has long been a supporter of military strikes on North Korea. Speaking to ABC News on Sunday, Carter declared that he was not optimistic about pressuring China to take action against North Korea.

Carter insisted that the military option had to remain on the table then, with callous indifference to the human suffering involved, sketched what would happen in the wake of a US pre-emptive strike on North Korea. It is quite possible that they [Pyongyang] would  launch an attempted invasion of South Korea. As I said, Im confident of the outcome of that war, which would be the defeat of North Korea.

But I need to caution you. This is a war that would have an intensity of violence associated with it that we havent seen since the last Korean War. Seoul is right there on the borders of the DMZ [border with North Korea], so even though the outcome is certain, it is a very destructive war, Carter declared.

Carter knows of what he speaks. As assistant defence secretary in the Clinton administration, he was deeply involved in planning for the war with North Korea in 1994 that was called off at the last minute when the Pentagon conservatively estimated the likely outcome300,000 to 500,000 South Korean and American military casualties, not counting the death toll in North Korea and civilian dead and injured.

The death toll in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953 ran into the millions. Casualties in a war today in which North Korea as well as the US have nuclear weapons and could use nuclear weapons would be far higher. US Defence Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis has already warned that any attempt by Pyongyang to use its nuclear weapons would be met with an effective and overwhelming responsethat is, nuclear annihilation.

The Korean War was the only time that China and the United States directly fought a war. The strategic position of the Korean Peninsula in North East Asia has made it a focus for invasions and wars for more than a centuryinvolving not only the United States and China, but also Japan and Russia. The danger is that a new war would rapidly drag in other military powers, including those armed with nuclear weapons.

The danger of world war arises not simply as a result of the erratic and reckless behaviour of Trump. Rather, his irrationality is a product of the profound crisis of American and global capitalism and the determination of the US ruling class for whom he speaks to exploit its current military dominance to arrest its historic declinewhatever the outcome. A quarter century of military provocations and invasions in the Middle East and Central Asia are now coalescing into a confrontation with major US rivalsabove all, China and Russia.

The reaction of the North Korean regime to the growing threat of war is utterly reactionary. Its missile and nuclear tests play directly into Washingtons hands by providing a pretext for war. Moreover, Pyongyangs nationalist bombast and bloodcurdling threats against the US, Japan and South Korea only heighten the danger of war and sow divisions in the international working class.

Unlike the criminal US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 or the more recent wars in the Middle East, the countdown to war against North Korea is not being made public. Nevertheless it is proceeding with a relentless logic. Workers around the globe cannot afford to wake up one morning to find that the US has bombed North Korea and the world stands on the brink of a nuclear war.

The only means for halting the drive to war is to put an end to its sourcethe bankrupt profit system and its division of the world into rival nation statesthrough the building of a unified anti-war movement of the working class based on socialist internationalism.
On Monday, April 3, at about 2:40 PM, an explosion occurred on a subway car in St. Petersburg that was traveling between the Sennaya Square and the Technological Institute metro stations. Eleven people were killed and around 50 people, including children, were injured.

The power of the blast indicated an equivalent of 300 grams of TNT. One more explosive device was found and defused at the station at Uprising Square. It was 3 to 5 times more powerful.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case for a suspected terrorist act, although it announced that it was verifying other possibilities. No terrorist groups have so far taken responsibility for what has happened.

Soon after the explosion, all metro stations in St. Petersburg were closed, and security measures were increased at places where people gather, on public transportation and at the Pulkovo airport.

For several hours, the city of five million was practically paralyzed, since remaining city transport could not handle the flood of passengers, the bulk of whom usually use the metro. No panic or disorder was observed in the city as thousands of inhabitants had to walk long distances on foot.

The governor of Petersburg, Georgy Poltavchenko, declared three days of mourning for the victims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Petersburg on the day of the terrorist act. He was meeting with participants of a media forum under the aegis of the pro-Kremlin All-Russian Popular Front, as well as with the President of Belorussia, Aleksandr Lukashenko. During his discussion with the Belorussian leader, Putin made a brief statement, expressing sympathy for the victims and saying that security organs and special services are at work and doing everything in order to discover the causes of what happened and give a full evaluation of what had occurred.

Later he placed flowers at the Technological Institute metro station.

During the investigation, two people were declared to be under suspicion for preparing the explosions. In addition, according to an unnamed source in the security forces, the explosion in the St. Petersburg metro might have been caused by a suicide terrorist who tentatively appeared to be a 23-year-old from Central Asia who was connected with radical Islamic groups.

For now, it is impossible with any degree of certainty to say who is guilty of this crime, whose victims were dozens of peaceful citizens. However, there are undoubtedly factors which may have played a role in this tragic event.

Primarily, in the course of the last 25 years, Russia has repeatedly encountered manifestations of Islamic terrorism, whose growth in many regions of the former Soviet Unionin particular, in the Northern Caucasus and in Central Asiahas been aided by the catastrophic social consequences of the restoration of capitalism carried out by the former Stalinist bureaucracy and accompanied by an outburst of national, ethnic and religious conflicts.

Russia conducted two bloody wars in Chechnya (in 1994-1996, and also in 1999 to the beginning of the 2000s), killing tens of thousands of people. Many cities of this republic in the Northern Caucasus were turned into ruins, including its capital, Grozny.

The growth of Islamic fundamentalism was also aided by the policies of leading powers in the West, in particular the United States, who viewed it as an instrument for advancing their own interests in the region, by weakening Russia internally and destroying its territorial integrity.

For the last year and a half, Russia has been drawn into the civil war in Syria on the side of the government of Bashar al-Assad, conducting military operations against a number of Islamic armed groups supported by the USA, European powers, Turkey and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf.

In an extraordinary statement last year, US State Department Spokesman John Kirby said at a news conference that unless Russia stops the violence in Syria, Extremist groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities.

According to the media accounts, several thousand emigrants from the former USSR are fighting in the ranks of the anti-government coalition. After painful defeats at the hands of Damascus, achieved in part due to bombing by Russian air forces, leading to the loss of Aleppo by the Islamic armed opposition at the end of last year, many of these fighters could return to their native land in search of revenge.
President Donald Trump welcomed the bloodstained military dictator of Egypt, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to the White House Monday, giving a public demonstration of support for a regime that has slaughtered thousands, crushing the revolutionary uprising of millions of workers and youth that inspired the world in 2011, and currently jails tens of thousands of political opponents and dissidents.

More than a thousand Egyptians are facing death sentences handed down by kangaroo courts where they could not present a defense and in which no evidence was actually submitted. Others are jailed for life, including the elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose government was overthrown by el-Sisi in a military coup in July 2013.

This bloody record did not give Trump the slightest pause, as he shook el-Sisis hand vigorouslyin notable contrast to his refusal to make the same gesture when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was his guest last month. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt, Trump said, as he stood side-by-side in the Oval Office with the chief oppressor of the Egyptian people.

You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me, Trump told el-Sisi. I just want to let everybody know that we are very much behind President el-Sisi, he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.

The Egyptian president responded with extravagant flattery of Trump, declaring, Since we met last September, Ive had a deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality, especially as you are standing very strong in counterterrorism field. The Egyptian regime has made no objection to Trumps effortsin the name of counterterrorismto ban visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, including two of Egypts neighbors, Libya and Sudan.

A White House statement announcing the visit of el-Sisi listed only two issues on the agenda for the meeting, terrorism and economic reform. The most important issues were unstated: The escalation of US military intervention throughout the Middle East and Washingtons efforts to mobilize its client states, military dictators and oil despots alike, in support.

Egypt is the second-largest recipient of US military and economic aid in the region, trailing only Israel. However, despite huge weapons purchases, including fighter jets, armored vehicles and advanced weaponry, there are no Egyptian warplanes taking part in the US-led bombing of Iraq and Syria. Egypt has also rejected requests from Saudi Arabia to back the coalition of Gulf monarchies waging war in Yemen against Houthi rebels who overthrew the Saudi-backed regime of President Abdrabbuh Mansur al-Hadi.

Egyptian officials have resisted the pressure for such military contributions because of security crises on both the eastern and western borders: Islamist guerrilla attacks in the Sinai peninsula, and the civil war in neighboring Libya. Even more significant is the continuing fear of a social explosion at home, six years after the mass movement that brought down the military regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The most critical function of the massive Egyptian military apparatus, funded by $77 billion in US aid over three decades, is to police a population of 90 million, by far the largest in the Arab world.

Trump has ostentatiously discarded the occasional human rights rhetoric of the Obama and Bush administrations. However, he has not yet rescinded some of the restrictions imposed on Egyptian military purchases during the period after el-Sisis coup. At the time, Obama felt compelled to posture as a critic of the most violent acts of repression, even while maintaining security ties with Cairo, including $1.3 billion in annual military aid.

In particular, el-Sisi is seeking the restoration of cash-flow financing, a particularly favorable method of military assistance that allows Egypt to buy US military equipment on easy, long-term credit terms. Observers in the Egyptian mediaall subject to state censorshipsuggested that expanded Egyptian cooperation with US military efforts against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria might be the price to be paid for restoration of the long-term credits.

Despite Trumps enthusiastic embrace of el-Sisi, both as a candidate and as president, his initial budget request to Congress included sharp cuts in foreign aid that would have devastating consequences for the bankrupt Egyptian economy. On military aid, the Trump budget guaranteed continued funding for Israel but not for Egypt, which was said to be still under evaluation.

The official unemployment rate in Egypt is 12.7 percent, compared to 9 percent in 2011, when discontent over the economy was a driving force in the revolution that overthrew the Mubarak dictatorship. Youth unemployment is estimated at more than 30 percent.

President el-Sisi met with his financial paymasters at the World Bank even before visiting Trump at the White House. He also met with Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, and was to meet later in the week with officials of the International Monetary Fund. At each stop, including the White House, el-Sisi pledged to continue his program of economic reform, which involves slashing subsidies for consumer goods like bread and further opening the Egyptian economy to foreign investment.

Last month the cut in subsidies for bread, demanded by the IMF, triggered riots in many cities. In a commentary in Foreign Policy magazine, Zeinab Abul-Magd of Oberlin College wrote, The riots reveal that, underneath this tranquility, a war is raging between the countrys domineering army and its civilian poor, adding, The stability of Egypts military regime is not guaranteed to last.

El-Sisi has devoted himself to shoring up his support within the military establishment, lavishly funding state investments in enterprises run by military officers. Last month his regime engineered the release from prison of the former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, quashing his conviction on corruption charges.

Trumps meeting with el-Sisi is part of a US foreign policy offensive throughout the Middle East. Later in the week Jordans King Abdullah visits the White Houseanother US-backed despot who is under mounting pressure to contribute more to the military campaign in Iraq and Syria.

Last weekend Trump dispatched his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Iraq, accompanying General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and White House counterterrorism adviser Thomas Bossert. He is participating in talks with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad and getting a first-hand look at the Iraqi military siege of Mosul, where US warplanes have slaughtered hundreds of civilians in relentless bombing.

The 36-year-old Kushner, scion of a billion-dollar real estate family, has no foreign policy experience, but has a growing portfolio, including China, Mexico and the Middle East, which stamps him as the crown prince of an increasingly dynastic regime.

The Dunford-Kushner mission follows press reports that the Pentagon will no longer announce or confirm the movement of troops into or out of Iraq and Syria, following orders from Trumps National Security Council. A Pentagon official told the Los Angeles Times that the purpose was to maintain tactical surprise, ensure operational security and force protection.

The real purpose, however, is to conceal from the American people, and from world public opinion, the ongoing escalation of US military operations in the region, which includes recent deployments of 400 Marines into northern Syria and 300 paratroopers to reinforce the Iraqi onslaught on Mosul.

The Trump administration has also approved the sale of F-16 warplanes to Bahrains monarchy, suspended for years because of savage repression of the Shiite majority in that country. King Hamad responded with an intensification of the repression, approving a constitutional amendment Monday allowing military courts to try civilians for offenses against the state of emergency which has been in effect since 2011.

The author also recommends:

Washington rolls out red carpet for the butcher of Cairo

[3 April 2017]


 :     ,   ,   

  ,        , -     28         .
South Koreas pseudo-left group Workers Solidarity (WS) is responding to the impeachment and removal of former President Park Geun-hye by deepening its orientation to US imperialism. It is trying to line up workers behind maneuvers of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to replace Park with a president pledged to support the US-led war drive against North Korea and China.

WS published a statement on March 10, the day of Parks removal, entitled Happiness! Park Geun-hye removed from office: Now lets eliminate Parks legacy.

WS writes, This is only the start of the work to change and renovate an unequal and unjust society that was worsened by Park Geun-hye. Even if the Park administration leaves office through a presidential election, we must wait 60 days. Taking advantage of this, textbooks glorifying dictatorship are still circulating and US weapons of mass destruction such as THAAD are quickly coming. Pain and attacks on labor rights have not been completely stopped.

While there is undoubtedly popular jubilation at the ouster of a right-wing president, the daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee, certain truths must be told. Parks ouster was a reaction to escalating fears of war and outrage with South Koreas corporate conglomerates or chaebol in the working class, as job cuts and youth unemployment mount. However, she was not toppled by the working class, but by the courts and sections of the South Korean ruling class working with the support of US imperialism.

In contrast to the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, when Washington and the CIA initially protected Hosni Mubarak as he slaughtered workers in a desperate attempt to keep him in power, at no point did Washington attempt to defend Park. Instead, it tacitly endorsed her removal. On December 9, as the National Assembly impeached Park, State Department spokesman Mark Toner gave Washingtons blessing, saying the US is there with Korea as it undergoes this political change and transition.

Why does WS tell its readers to wait 60 days before political opposition to the South Korean ruling class can proceed? This is because WS is waiting for the 60-day period for new presidential elections that are set to bring a DPK president to office. That is, WS is orienting to bringing to power a government that would maintain the military alliance with Washington, continue attacks on the working class, and oppose all attempts to mobilize broader international opposition in the working class to the danger of war in Asia.

While US imperialism may prefer the conservatives, which led a string of US-backed South Korean military dictatorships in the 20th century, both Washington and WS know that the Democrats will carry out pro-militarist and pro-austerity policies.

The DPK administrations of Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and Noh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) both enforced US demands, sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. They were deeply discredited among workers by their imposition of IMF austerity measures after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisiswhich ultimately allowed Park and the conservatives Lee Myung-bak and then Park Geun-hye to return to power.

DPK presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, who leads the polls by a wide margin, is assuring Washington that he will not oppose its agendatelling the New York Times that he is Americas friend and that the US-South Korea military alliance is a pillar of our diplomacy. WS endorsed Moon, Nohs former chief of staff, when he ran for president against Park in 2012.

Moon is now dancing around the issue of US deployments of THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems to South Korea, indicating that he might support delayingthough not cancelingtheir installation. This is a cynical attempt to appeal to mass opposition to US militarism in South Korea, while signaling that he will not disturb Seouls support for the US pivot to Asia.

WS propaganda is entirely directed to promoting illusions in the Democrats, their trade union supporters in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and more broadly the middle class milieu that led the so-called pro-democracy movement of the 1970s and 1980s.

In a November 19 article WS wrote, The method (for intensifying the anti-Park movement) is to encourage the movements that are demanding the retraction of the so-called labor reforms pushed by Parkthe Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) strike to stop labor reform, the struggle to repeal the state-authored history textbooks, the Sewol ferry truth investigation movement, the movement to retract the THAAD deploymentand to unite them with the (Park) resignation movement.

In a February 7 article, WS approvingly quoted from the KCTU as it called for escalating the attempts to respond to growing working class anger by installing a DPK president. The KCTU wrote, Opposition parties should think straightwe cannot be complacent and just talk about [a] presidential election when Park is fighting tooth and nail against the impeachment.

This propaganda reflects WS own origins in political movements hostile to Trotskyism and to the working class. Established in 1990 from forces drawn from the democracy movement, WS based itself on the anti-communism espoused by the Democrats and their supporters, taking a state-capitalist position denouncing the former Soviet Union and China as imperialist countries. WS is allied to the pseudo-left Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Great Britain.

WS hailed the KCTU as an alternative for workers, joining the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in 1999, the political wing of the KCTU at the time. WS left the DLP when it became the Unified Progressive Party, which was disbanded in 2014 by the same court that removed Park.

In fact, the KCTU and its political orientation to the Democrats proved to be a historical deadend. The KCTU has isolated strikes, most notably during the 2009 Ssangyong auto plant occupation, as well as during the 2013 railway workers strike, which was conducted so as to limit the impact on the economy and then shut down after union offices were raided by police.

These bankrupt, anti-working class organizations can and will only produce disasters faced with the real and escalating danger of a Second Korean War and an all-out war between the United States and China. To the extent that WS addresses the US military build-up in East Asia at all, it falsely denounces China as an imperialist power no different than Washington.

Commenting on Chinese anger against THAAD on March 3, WS wrote: The THAAD deployment while exacerbating the competition between imperialism is further destabilizing the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, Korea may even take on the cost of the deployment. In a recent speech to Congress, Trump strongly demanded that allies take on additional military costs.

The US war drive against China is not a competition between imperialist powers, but a policy to prop up its rapidly fading global hegemony by a reckless and aggressive assertion of US military might. By dismissing China as one imperialist power among many, WS is backing Washington's propaganda claims that Beijing is the aggressor in the East and South China Seas.

To the extent that WS criticizes the THAAD deployment, it is from the standpoint of privileged layers of South Korean society for which it speaks. It has tactical differences with Washington over how to proceed against China and, very importantly from the WS standpoint, how much of the bill for the war drive the South Korean bourgeoisie will pay. However, these flow from the strategic and profit interests of the political and corporate establishment in South Korea, now the worlds 11th largest economy, not from opposition to war among workers and youth.

Mass disillusionment with Park and the chaebol, like the US-led war drive in Asia, are the product of a deep crisis of capitalism. It will not be resolved by new elections and the installation of a new representative of South Korean capital in Cheongwadae or the presidential Blue House, but a politically independent movement of the working class in America and in Asia against war from a revolutionary socialist and internationalist perspective. WS would face such a movement not as an ally, but as determined enemy.
The brutal life sentences handed down by an Indian court against 13 former workers at Maruti Suzukis Manesar plant highlight the brutal conditions facing autoworkers in India and throughout the so-called developing world. Another 18 workers were convicted on lesser charges in the frame-up, which was aimed at silencing worker opposition to the sweatshop conditions at Maruti Suzuki and other giant transnational corporations operating in India.

The Indian ruling establishment is offering up workers in the country as a low cost labor force as part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India campaign. Government officials, along with Maruti Suzuki management, intend to make a brutal example of these workers to reassure investors of a continuing supply of cheap, highly exploited labor.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is a subsidiary of global conglomerate Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) headquartered and based in Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan on the Pacific Coast of the main island Honshu. It is Japans fourth largest automaker and is typical of the giant, transnational auto corporations that scour the world in search of the cheapest labor and lowest production costs. Suzukis main focus is on maintaining a low cost labor force as it competes in the low cost car market. According to the companys website, its story was about revolutionary cars that delivered great performance, efficiency and environment friendliness with low cost of ownership.

SMC claims close to 50 percent (46.8) share in Indias passenger vehicle market. Maruti Suzuki says it exports cars to 125 countries, regularly exporting to countries such as Sri Lanka, Chile, Philippines, Peru and Bolivia. Its net profit in fiscal year 2015-16 was 45.7 billion rupees (US $700 million). In 2015 aggregate car production at Maruti Suzuki India reached 1.5 million units.

SMC, Maruti Suzukis parent, is currently headed by Toshihiro Suzuki, son of former Chairman Osamu Suzuki. The older Suzuki stepped down, handing power over to his son in 2016 in the midst of a scandal involving the companys use of fuel economy testing methods that were not compliant with government standards. An internal probe had determined that the company had not been compliant with domestic standards since 2010.

Suzuki currently makes automobiles, motorcycles and outboard motors for boats. According to the companys 2016 annual report SMC sold 2,960,000 vehicles in fiscal 2016, including 650,000 vehicles in Japan, 230,000 in Europe and 1,890,000 in Asia and 190,000 other. It also sold 1,150,000 motorcycles in Asia.

Number 488 on Forbes top 2,000 global companies, Suzuki had net sales of $28.2 billion in fiscal 2016 with total assets of $24 billion. Its net income was over $1 billion in 2016, and Suzukis profit margin of over eight percent surpassed Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan last year.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited was set up as joint venture between Indian Government and SMC in 1983, before being privatized in 2002 after the Indian government sold its controlling interests. Suzuki currently owns 54.2 percent of the MSILs shares. The companys shares, which are traded on the Bombay and New Delhi stock exchanges, have more than tripled in value since 2012.

In keeping with Maruti Suzukis focus on low production costs, among its 25,000 work force in India there are 13,250 regular employees and 12,000 contractual, temporary employees. It is highly significant that the victimization of the Maruti Suzuki workers followed their rebellion against a company-controlled union and the demands of their new union in 2012 to abolish the hated contract labor system, which pays temporary workers 14,000 rupees (US $214) a month, or less than half the salary of permanent workers.

Maruti Suzuki has been identified by Japan and India as a very profitable venture for both countries and Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava has been honored by both the Indian and Japanese governments. In 2011, the Japanese government awarded Bhargava the royal honor of The Order of the Rising Sun bestowed by Emperor Akihito. He was also conferred the Padma Bushan, a top-class honor, by Indian President Shri Pranab Mukherjee in 2015.

Maruti Suzuki has received fulsome praise from the corporate sector of India. Fortune Magazine listed Maruti Suzuki as the countrys fourth most admired company and Indias popular English language TV channel NDTV named Maruti Suzuki Car Manufacturer of the year in 2016.

While maintaining a huge pool of underpaid contractual, temporary workers under oppressive conditions, the company boasts on its website, Marutians across the country all united by a common bond. Its not a work force, but people power at work, an empowerment team that is quite unlike any other.

The Suzuki Group Code of Conduct, dated April 2016, goes on to say Suzuki group will be aware of international norms pertaining to human rights and respect fundamental human rights with reference to laws in each country or region. Also we will cooperate with each other as a member of Suzuki Group to create a working environment with no discrimination by personal attributes or harassments.

Of course this rhetoric is only for the consumption of general public and the customers, and has nothing to do with the brutal reality of the Maruti Suzuki regime in the factories.

The company has manufacturing plants in Manesar (600 acres) and Gurgaon (300 acres) in Haryana State, and its newest production facility started operations in Gujarat in 2017. It boasts annual production of 1.5 million cars, or one car every 12 seconds. In 2012, when management was attacking the workers at the Manesar factory, the company was trying to produce a car within 44 seconds. Victimized workers had showed powerful determination to fight against these slave-labour conditions. With the witch-hunt of leading workers, Maruti Suzuki management has intensified the exploitation in the plants.

While SMCs main subsidiary is Maruti Suzuki in India, it has other manufacturing facilities outside of Japan. For the most part its manufacturing plants are spread among East Asian, South East Asian, and South Asian countries that Japanese imperialism was seeking to dominate before and during the Second World War.

There are three motorcycle and two automobile manufacturing facilities in China, two manufacturing facilities in Thailand, and other automobile plants in Indonesia (PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor), Pakistan (Pak Suzuki Motor Co.), Vietnam (Vietnam Suzuki Corporation), Philippines (Suzuki Phillipines, Inc.), Myanmar (Suzuki (Myanmar) Motor Co.), Cambodia and Laos. Suzuki also manufactures in Hungary and Egypt. Seventy percent of the Suzuki sales are outside of Japan.

In Japan itself SMC is known for the manufacture of minicars, tiny automobiles smaller than American subcompact vehicles, popular because of the extremely crowded conditions in major cities. It operates six production plants in Japan and employs about 15,000 workers there. Suzuki stopped selling cars in the United States in 2012 and in Canada in 2013, although it still sells motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and marine products in those countries.

Suzukis history

Suzukis history dates back to 1909 when it was started by Michio Suzuki as Suzuki Loom Works in Hamamatsu. Originally Suzuki built weaving looms for Japans silk industry and exported overseas. At the time, textiles were one of Japans leading industries. The company went public in 1920 and took the name Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company.

With the explosion of Japanese militarism in the 1930s, the Japanese government requisitioned Suzuki for war-related production. It had started a venture for small cars in 1937 but had to stop due to the Japanese governments decision at the onset of the World War II that civilian passenger cars were a non-essential commodity. During the war it produced war materiel for the Japanese military.

The companys Hamamatsu plant reportedly escaped major damage during the war, though its supplier network was devastated. At war's end it dismissed 2,900 regular employees, the majority of whom were women, as well as 800 conscripted workers and 110 Korean prisoners of war.

Facing a decline in demand for woven products, the company began in 1947 developing a plan for the production of motorized vehicles. In 1952, Suzuki began production of a motorized bicycle and in 1954 it began passenger car production.

A wave of militant labor struggles swept Japan in the immediate wake of World War II. In 1947, a massive movement built up toward a general strike with revolutionary implications. However, the Japanese Communist Party sabotaged the general strike, calling it off and subordinating the movement to the dictates of the US occupation forces headed by General Douglas MacArthur, which it claimed were democratizing Japan.

Workers at Suzuki unionized and engaged in a series of militant struggles, including strikes and occupations, winning a first contract in August 1948. In 1949, Suzuki joined with other employers and the US occupation government to launch a counteroffensive against independent unions based on frenzied anti-communism. With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, alleged communists were purged from government positions, state and national public enterprises as well as private industry.

When Suzuki imposed a wage cut and workers went on strike in response, management used the police and occupation forces to attack the workers. Management went on to form what amounted to a company union and carried out a purge of left-wing and militant workers. Suzuki eventually succeeded in defeating the strike and imposing its own union on the workforce. The union acceeded to demands for wage cuts and production increases and generally supported management.

Meanwhile, the company introduced performance-based pay and instituted wage discrimination against female employees. This was combined with the erasure of job descriptions and job classifications. Until 1958 the standard workweek was 48 hours. Semi-annual bonuses constituted a large portion of worker compensation.

This so-called enterprise union model later became a central pillar in the introduction of lean production pioneered by Suzuki and other Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Nissan. This went along with the formation of so-called employer-worker committees, such as quality circles, aimed at driving up production and profits.

Lean production became a model implemented by auto producers all over the world. In the United States, the Big Three automakers in Detroit began an assault on workers jobs, wages and benefitis beginning in the 1980s, securing the support of the United Auto Workers for the implementation of corporatist union-management programs based on the Japanese precedent.

While brutally exploiting its workforce in Japan, Suzuki looked overseas for sources of even cheaper labor and potentially greater profits.

As early as 1958, Suzuki began to harness cheap labor from Indonesia by establishing auto parts supply in that country. By 1978, it began its first overseas car assembly operation in Pakistan.

Expanding global operations

With the expansion of globalized production in the 1980s, SMC vastly increased its overseas operations.

In the early 1980s, Suzuki had a breakthrough in India as Indira Gandhis Congress government showed interest in welcoming Suzuki into the vast Indian market. In April 1982 Suzuki signed a basic agreement with the Congress government for joint production of Suzuki cars. Maruti Udyog Ltd., a joint venture between SMC and the Indian government began its production in December 1983, with the Indian government initially owning a controlling share in the renamed Maruti Suzuki.

Also in 1982, Suzuki signed an agreement with Pakistans military ruler General Muhammad Zia ul-Haqs to manufacture cars. At the signing Suzuki owned only 25 percent in the venture but later increased its holding to 73 percent. Pak Suzuki now claims 60 percent of the Pakistani automobile market.

Suzuki also established joint ventures and manufacturing facilities in Hungary, China and Egypt. Subsidiaries and joint ventures were established by SMC for sales and technology transfer in Spain, New Zealand, France, Germany, the US and Canada. In 1996, Suzuki began its production of motorcycles in Vietnam and signed an agreement for car production in 1998 in Myanmar. In 1999 Suzuki also opened manufacturing facilities in Thailand, and in Argentina in the following year. In 2006, a new manufacturing facility was set up in Vietnam for motorcycles.

Suzuki also entered into various production related agreements with General Motors (GM) in the United States, South Koreas Daewoo Group and Mazda Motor Corporation in the 1980s. In 1989 it established a joint venture with GM and ran a huge factory southwest of Toronto, under the name of Canadian Automotive Manufacturing, Inc. (CAMI). GM, which also produced cars with Suzuki in Colombia, bought 20 percent of SMCs shares before divesting in 2008, on the eve of GMs bankruptcy.

In 2009-10, Volkswagen bought a $2.5 billion (or 20 percent) stake in SMC and entered a strategic global partnership with the company but the German auto giant ended the deal shortly afterwards.

This is the historical background to the corporate-government vendetta against the heroic Maruti Suzuki autoworkers. Globally organized transnational corporations, with the full backing of Indias major capitalist partiesthe Congress Party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)want to make India the sweatshop of the world and the benchmark for a brutal assault against wages, benefits and working conditions for autoworkers all over the world.

This underscores the importance for all workers of the international campaign initiated by the International Committee of the Fourth International for the release of the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers. Only by mobilizing the strength of the international working class can this frame-up be defeated as part of a counteroffensive by workers against global capitalism. We urge workers to make this campaign known as widely as possible and to support the demand for the immediate freedom of these class-war prisoners.

The ICFI has launched an online petition demanding the release of the Maruti Suzuki workers. We call on all our readers to sign this petition and to join a Facebook page set up to organize and mobilize support.
Latin America

Protest against economic policies of Argentinas government draws 150,000

An estimated 150,000 workers and young people demonstrated in Buenos Aires on March 30 to protest the austerity measures imposed by the right-wing government of President Mauricio Macri. The protest follows a national strike by tens of thousands of teachers against skyrocketing prices and a call by the largest national unions for a general strike on April 5-6.

The protest, called by unions and opposition political parties, converged on the Plaza de Mayo, where CTA (Central de Trabajadores de la ArgentinaArgentine Central Workers Union) and CGT (General Confederation of Labor) federations made demagogic remarks exposing their political bankruptcy and treachery. CTA head Hugo Yasky led a chant of Vamos a volveri.e., Lets go backreferring to the previous administration of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Yasky made no mention of the austerity measures that the Kirchner government had imposed during her 2007-2015 administration, leading to disaffection from her Justicialist party and the victory of the right-wing PRO (Republican Proposal) Partys Macri, who has since ramped up the attacks on the working class. According to government figures, some 30 percent of Argentines fall below the official poverty line.

Argentine doctors, health workers hold 48-hour strike

Doctors and health professionals stopped work on March 29 and 30 in 80 public hospitals in Buenos Aires province. Their union, Cicop, which has called nine such limited actions so far this year, said it was seeking a salary raise and the defense of the right to protest. Union officials warned their struggle plan would continue if Governor Maria Eugenia Vidal does not respond. Cicop announced its members will participate in the upcoming nationwide general strike called by the CGT and CTA labor federations for April 5 and 6 to protest Macris austerity policies.

Protests in Brazil oppose attacks on pensions and jobs

All 26 of Brazils states, as well as its Federal District, saw protests March 31 against two proposed changes to laws regarding pensions and contract labor. The proposed measures are part of the Michel Temer administrations agenda of making the working class bear the brunt of the nations economic crisis.

One law would change the eligibility for drawing a pension from 30 years of employment for women and 35 for men to requiring the worker to reach 65 years of age. The other would make it easier for businesses to employ contract laborers, as well as allowing for a longer period before they would be required to change the workers status to permanent.

In Sao Paolo, about 70,000 protesters gathered in the city center, while 15,000 converged on Rio de Janeiro. Other protests had smaller crowds. Union officials, most aligned with the Workers Party (PT), denounced the golpistas (coup participants) who removed PT President Dilma Rousseff last August. In their speeches, the bureaucrats tried to foster illusions that the return of the corrupt PT to power would stop the deterioration of working-class living standards.

Puerto Rican public school teachers protest Department of Education policies

Public school teachers, parents and students held a protest March 31 in front of the Department of Education headquarters in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, to demand Education Secretary Julia Keleher prioritize student needs over demands of the fiscal control board.

That entity is currently devising and imposing austerity measures in response to the islands fiscal crisis, and education has been hit hard. One specific target of the protest is Kelehers announcement that over 300 public schools are slated for closure. More than 7,000 teachers and 60,000 students would be impacted by the shutdowns.

Other planned measures are reduction of workdayswhich would lead to lowered income as well as possible firingsand evaluations that teachers describe as punitive. One teacher told El Voce that increased workloads, also part of the boards plans, would return teachers to slave labor, where wed have to dedicate three, four and up to six hours after 3:00.

The teachers are affiliated with an organization called the Broad Front in Defense of Public Schools (Fadep), and are members of the Puerto Rico Teachers Federation (FMPR).

The United States

Yale shuttle bus drivers threaten to strike

Drivers who operate the fleet of shuttle busses for Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, have threatened to strike this week if an agreement between First Transit and the Teamsters union is not reached. Around 80 drivers provide day-time and night-time pickups, a Yale-New Haven Hospital and Veterans Administration shuttle, and after-hour services for students, staff and faculty.

Drivers who currently begin at $13.49 an hour are seeking a $2.00-per-hour raise, health care benefits and paid holidays. While the Teamsters union is imposing a news blackout, a worker who spoke with the New Haven Independent said none of the unionized drivers, even those who currently work full-time, receive benefits or holidays. About half of the drivers work full-time (40 or more hours per week) and half part-time.

At a union meeting several months ago, the driver told the Independent, the drivers agreed that they could not take the companys offer of a 2.5 percent wage increase, and the union entered a second round of negotiations with First Transit. Negotiations seemed slow, the driver saidthey and others were not entirely sure that Teamsters had their best interests in mind, or could negotiate for them successfully. Then at a meeting in early February, around 50 of 80 signed a petition to strike near the end of the month.

We work hard, and this is what we get, the driver said. I believe what we ask for is fair. Were part of that. Its like nobody recognizes our job.

UAW pushes through sellout deal at Arconic plant in Cleveland

United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 150 reported that workers had ratified a new three-year labor agreement Sunday, which covers 640 aluminum workers at the Arconic plant in Cleveland, Ohio. The deal includes a meager 3.0 percent wage increase in the first two years and a 2.5 percent raise in the final year. The raises will be offset by increased out-of-pocket health care costs.

According to a worker at the plant who contacted the World Socialist Web Site, the contract expired on February 1 with the company playing hardball, including a last, best offer that raised insurance and made vacations an earned benefit subject to reductions if workers missed time for sick leave. They banked on the second-tier employees passing it because we have a little more of them, he said, referring to the designation of lower-paid workers the UAW sanctioned. Noting that the UAW had kept workers in the dark, he said Arconic had recorded record sales and profits last year, including $228 million in sales just from our location. Meanwhile, the company said workers did not meet their threshold for profit-sharing checks.

Arconic, which was formed through a 2016 spin-off from aluminum giant Alcoa, is a major supplier for General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Airbus and Ford. The company, which saw its profit margins more than double between 2008 and 2016, recently told shareholders that over the next three yearswhich covers the period of the new UAW contractit intends to increase profit margins from 16.6 percent to 19.0 percent.

West Virginia legislation to deny striking workers unemployment benefits

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed a Republican-sponsored bill that will bar striking workers from receiving unemployment benefits. The 57-42 house vote comes after the state Senate voted by a 22-11 margin along party lines back in February to approve the measure.

The bill would also deny striking workers who have been locked out or have been permanently replaced from receiving benefits.

The unions, which for years relied on paltry jobless payments to protect their strike funds, hardly ever call strikes anymore. Mike Caputo, a Democratic representative from Marion who is also an international vice president for the United Mine Workers of America, revealed that strikes in West Virginia are so few and far between.  This system has worked for many, many years, I dont know anybody in recent history thats receiving unemployment benefits; I dont even know anybody in recent history whos been on strike in West Virginia.

Canada

Canada Bread locks out workers in Quebec and BC

The Canada Bread Company, which is part of Mexican multinational Grupo Bimbo, locked out its workers at a distribution center in Laval, Quebec, northeast of Montreal, last weekend and in Langley, British Columbia.

The 120 workers involved are represented by the Syndicat des Travailleuses et Travailleurs de Distribution Multi-Marques-LavalCSN. They are fighting a concession-laden contract proposal from Canada Bread, which has also threatened to lock out another 160 workers in the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco, Workers and Grain Millers union (BCTGM).

The union says Canada Bread has been blocking pension payments for years, and last month, employees in Toronto occupied its offices for the same reason.

Quebec transit workers on rotating strike

Transit workers in Gatineau, Quebec, across the river from Ottawa, staged their third one-day strike last week as part of ongoing job action that began in January with an overtime ban and refusal to wear uniforms.

Drivers and mechanics, who are members of the Syndicat uni du transport (SUT), are employed by the Societe de transport de lOutaouais (STO) and have been working without a contract since the end of 2014. The union has been in mediation since November, but there are still outstanding issues around wages, vacation time and job security.

The STO failed in its applications to have the drivers deemed an essential service, so as to ban their strike. Arbitration has been proposed, but there is still no agreement on what form it should take.
The case against Shahini, who had returned to Iran to visit his mother after her Alzheimers diagnosis, was reportedly based on such things as his social media posts and an interview that he gave to a foreign-based media outlet. These and other supposedly subversive statements and activities were regarded by the Iranian judiciary as forming the picture of someone who likely to be cooperating with hostile governments or otherwise undermining national security.

Naturally, his case has been widely regarded as a prominent example of the danger that dual nationals face in Iran purely on the basis of their affiliations with Western entities. His sentence was longer than that of other recent arrestees of this sort, and the reasons for the exceptional punishment were never articulated by the judiciary or other Iranian officials who have commented publicly on his case. However, by some accounts, one such arrestee has actually been given a capital sentence, although this is in dispute.

Iran News Update previously reported that the judiciary had announced a death sentence in an anonymous case whose description seemed to match that of Karam Vafadari, a Tehran gallery owner who holds American citizenship and has been accused, along with his wife, of displaying and selling obscene materials. The Center for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, among other commentators, has accused Western media of ignoring this case, but some Western outlets seem to have either failed to make the connection to the judiciarys announcement or have disregarded it as unsubstantiated.

The AP is among these, and its report on Shahinis bail release names Vafadari as one of the dual nationals currently in detention, but also declares that he has not yet been tried or sentenced. In this sense, the AP is more optimistic than various commentators on the Iranian human rights situation. Still, the report does not seem to overstate the importance of Shahinis release, insofar as it acknowledges that the conditions of that release are still unknown.

For instance, it is not clear whether Shahini will have the opportunity to leave the country now that he has arranged to pay his bail of 62,000 dollars. If he must remain in Iran, he will be subject to re-arrest at any time  a fate that has certainly befalling other political prisoners who had previously been released, including not only those who had made bail but also those who had been granted early release on the basis of life-threatening medical conditions.

In the broadest sense, Shahini himself falls into this category. That is to say, his release came only after a weeks-long hunger strike, which began on February 15 whereupon Shahini attested that he would be willing to continue the protest until the point of death. Similar hunger strikes have occasionally won successes in recent months, although generally not until the prisoners in question suffered severe health consequences, and even then not until they had garnered demonstrated sympathy or even large-scale protests among the national populace.

As with Shahinis dubious bail-release, the resolutions to these cases are rarely, if ever, definitive. For instance, in the well-known case of Arash Sadeghi, the more than two-month hunger strike was only aimed at securing the release of his wife, who had been ordered to begin a sentence on the basis of fictional writing found in a personal notebook. Even after public protests and social media campaigns necessitated a response from the judiciary, Sadeghis wife was only granted conditional release pending the review of her case.

In other instances, hunger strikes have been brought to an end through deception. The brothers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian, who are serving sentences on the basis of their running an online music streaming platform, have re-started hunger strikes that were ended after authorities falsely promised that their demands would be addressed. It is too early to say whether or not Shahinis release is another example of this sort of deception, aimed at both ending his hunger strike and changing the media narrative about his case before he is returned to prison.

Whatever the case, there are a great many political prisoners who remain incarcerated in the Islamic Republic, whose cases may or may not be subject to the same sorts of internal and external pressures as was Shahinis. Among them is the British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, for whom Monday marked one year since the day she was arrested and separated from her two-year-old daughter, who has been barred from returning to her father in Britain.

Certainly, there is a great deal of advocacy on Zaghari-Ratcliffes behalf, but none of that advocacy is coming directly from the British government. The Telegraph reports that this was the subject of an Amnesty International statement and a rally on Sunday, neither of which was the first instance of Zaghari-Ratcliffes family and supporters criticizing the government for inaction or accusing it of prioritizing potential economic relations with Iran ahead of the lives of dual nationals.

The Telegraph notes that British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has continually refused to meet with Zaghari-Ratcliffes husband Richard Ratcliffe. By contrast, US President Donald Trump was quick to meet with the family of Robert Levinson, who has been missing in Iran since 2007. This reportedly inspired a great deal of confidence in the Trump administrations willingness to directly confront the issue of Iranian hostage-taking. This is in keeping with a generally confrontational tone toward Iran, and it is certainly possible that the offer of bail for Shahini is an instance of the Iranian regime scaling back its own confrontations out of fear of escalating consequences.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The City of Tallahassee says that is closely monitoring the current weather situation and has city crews from police, fire, utilities, traffic engineering, and streets and drainage on standby.

The city says that in case the power goes out due to high winds and downed trees, electric crews will be on duty overnight and ready to be deployed, with extra staffing on call as needed.

If you do experience a power outage, city utility customers can call 891-4YOU (4968) to report power outages and can also report them using talgov.com/you/outage or the citys free mobile app, DigiTally.

On the app, you can report address impacted by the outage and get updates as power is restored.

Citizens are encouraged to monitor local weather conditions by visiting the NWS-Tallahasee Weather Forecast office website here
COLQUITT COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a Colquitt County quintuple murder suspect.

The district's attorney's office officially filed to seek the death penalty in the Jeffery Peacock case.

He is the man accused of shooting and killing his five friends then setting the house on fire in may of 2016.

District attorney Brad Shealey says the date of Peacock's first appearance is unclear.
But Reuters underscores the fact that Tehrans argument disregards the fact that Saudi Arabia has taken at least some actions to weaken Sunni terrorist elements, cutting them off from financial channels and arresting individuals operating inside of Saudi territory. By contrast, Iran has only increased its sponsorship of familiar terrorist elements like Hezbollah, as well as promoting new organizations in other territories, many of which have reportedly been modeled on the Hezbollah model as it exists in Lebanon.

During the latter half of March, it was widely reported that Iran had increased its support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are arguably foremost among the emerging Hezbollah-like entities in the broader region. These reports emphasized the acquisition of weapons capabilities that the Yemeni rebel group could not have acquired without foreign assistance. Furthermore, it was already well established that Iran had been committed to providing this assistance since the beginning of the Yemeni Civil War.

Several weapons caches had been intercepted by Western powers enforcing the international blockade, and smaller shipments are believed to have broken through the blockade using fishing boats, thus providing the Houthi with missiles that have penetrated deep into Saudi territory as well as targeting at least one US Navy ship.

On Monday, the concerns about the escalation of these activities were broadened to emphasize Iranian influence in Bahrain as well as Yemen. The Washington Post published an in-depth article based on the release of information from Bahraini law enforcement agencies regarding the various weapons caches that have been seized and linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran over the course of the past three years.

While the Post noted that the repressive track record of Bahrains Sunni-minority government make these accounts questionable in their own right, it also pointed out that the information had been independently verified. Some explosives that had been found within the extremely large weapons seizures were still in Iranian military packaging, and Western experts highlighted a connection between seized bomb components and the explosive devices used against the US military by Iraqi insurgents who were known to be affiliated with Tehran.

The Post report also noted that Western and particularly American officials had come to view the massive weapons caches as part of an escalating Iranian effort to destabilize the region. These officials have in turn come to show more willingness to confront those efforts, as evidenced for instance by German and American arrests and sanctions of persons affiliated with the al-Ashtar Brigades, the most prominent Bahraini militant organization affiliated with Iran.

Various commentators on American foreign policy have also urged the US and its allies to expand upon these confrontations, as by deepening American influence over the Abadi government in Iraq, in order to counterbalance the ongoing Iranian effort to acquire a permanent foothold through direct political influence and the operation of Shiite paramilitary groups that have become difficult to distinguish from the Iraqi military.

Tehran routinely denies that it is backing the Houthi rebels or otherwise asserting control over regional power-players. But sometimes these denials seem contradictory in their own right. For instance, the English-language Iranian propaganda network Press TV quoted Foreign Ministry Bahrem Qasemi as saying that Iran is committed to Irans territorial integrity and national sovereignty. But these comments came in the context of clear intervention in Iraqs domestic affairs, with Tehran declaring that it would not accept the display of provincial flags alongside the Iraqi national flag.

These statements reflected a decision made by the Abadi government regarding attempts to display the provincial flag in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Kirkuk, where there is a prominent separatist movement. An analysis that appeared in Riyadh Vision on Monday can be seen as adding context to this story, insofar as it connects the issue of Kurdish separatism not only to Irans efforts to wield power over Iraqi affairs, but also to efforts to preserve or salvage relations between Iran and Turkey.

The Riyadh Vision article highlighted the fact that Iranian controls over that separatist movement have apparently helped to prevent the escalation of a similar movement inside Turkeys own Kurdish population, which has in turn given Turkey more incentive to retain positive relations with Iran. But the broader phenomenon of Iranian imperialism has seriously challenged this incentive, particularly in light of Irans success in saving the Bashar al-Assad government from overthrow in Syria, where the Turkish government supports moderate Sunni rebels.

Consequently, the article describes Iranian-Turkish relations as being at a historically low point. It also concludes that this situation is a simultaneous response to the divergent foreign policy interests of the two countries and to the reemergence of US leadership in the Middle East following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The new administrations apparent willingness to confront Iran has given Turkey an opportunity to draw closer to the West and break away from both Iran and Russia, which had formerly been seen as part of a tripartite alliance that might have presented a serious challenge to Western interests.

Al Monitor commented further upon this situation in an earlier article which stated that both the US and Saudi Arabia had adopted a policy in Syria that involved promoting Moscows and Ankaras roles in negotiating a political solution to the Syrian Civil War, thereby exploiting the differences that Iranian officials have acknowledged between their interests and those of Russian counterparts.

While Al Monitor indicates that this strategy would push Iran even further to the sidelines of the existing political process, it also notes that in absence of further constraints it would only embolden the Islamic Republic to focus on persistent military objectives. The evident Iranian view is that it has no option other than military victory in Syria, and the recent reports of ongoing arms transfers to Yemen and Bahrain suggest that the same perspective applies throughout the region.
With the help of tips from the public, authorities said they are getting closer to finding two inmates who escaped from the Yakima County jail
You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Along with the increased demand for U.S. citizenship, the potential for fra
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A determination on the cause of death for a 20-year-old Yakima County jail inmate likely won't come until early next week.
[April 03, 2017]

Advancing to 8K - Chroma Launches Super-Hi Vision Test Solutions

TAOYUAN, Taiwan, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With the NHK in Japan performed 8K (Super-Hi Vision) ultra-high resolution video broadcast test in August 2016, the display industry will be officially entering into the 8K era for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Chroma ATE Inc. launches its 8K super-hi vision test solution to cope with the testing demands of 8K SHV resolution (7680x4320 / 8192x4320) in the market. Chroma ATE Inc. is a world leading supplier of precision Test and Measurement Instrumentation, Automated Test Systems, Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, Turnkey Test and Automation Solutions.

The Chroma 8K SHV test solution adopts modular design with different signals or power modules to meet the diversified test requirements in free combination. It as high flexibility, strong scalability, and supports a variety of mainstream industry communication interfaces; in addition it has built-in various testing functions to provide customers a new generation of automated test equipment with high-speed, high-standard and multi-function.







The Chroma 2918 FPD Tester supports full [email protected]/120Hz resolution, and the unique FPD Master, GO / NO GO software for fast editing and testing process can be applied to suit production line needs.

The Chroma 2238 Video Pattern Generator supports resolutions up to [email protected] with an intuitive and easy to use graphical touch panel and software interface, providing users a smoother operation experience. Furthermore, it also carries a separate graphics engine that can output a maximum of four different resolutions and test patterns at the same time.

Chroma ATE Inc. will exhibit its newest 8K SHV test solution during FINETECH JAPAN (April 5-7) at Tokyo Big Sight (Booth no.: 41-6). We sincerely invite you to experience the new trend of measurement and look forward to meeting you at this event.

Product Contacts:

CHROMA ATE, INC. (U.S.A.), Tel: +1-949-421-0355; Toll Free +1-800-478-2026

CHROMA ATE INC. (HEADQUARTERS), Tel: +886-3-3279999

CHROMA ATE EUROPE B.V., Tel: +31-318-648282

CHROMA JAPAN CORP, Tel: +81-45-542-1118

CHROMA ELECTRONICS (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD., Tel: +86-755-2664-4598

QUANTEL PTE LTD., Tel: +65-6745-3200

[email protected]

www.chromaate.com

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170306/8521701415LOGO
[April 04, 2017] Students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Launch Uniquely Designed Product Collection at the World-Renowned Milan Design Week

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC (News - Alert)), a global leader in art and design education, announced the launch of whatnot x West Supply, a collection of uniquely designed objects created by students studying in the school's Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) department. The collection will be revealed at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during Milan Design Week in Italy, April 4-9. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005047/en/ Rest Awhile incense burner by Miiko He (MDes 2017), School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Photo: Business Wire) This is the 10th year the school is showcasing work from its students at the annual international design fair. This year, SAIC partnered with West Supply, a Chicago-based artisanal foundry and fabricator of designer furnishings, lighting and fine art, to develop a collection of heirloom-quality objects in glass and bronze. Students worked with form, texture and finish to develop products that respond to light in unique and innovative ways. Encompassing furniture, lighting and accessories, the projects include: A side table which relies on the placement, tension and weight of each individual part to make the object,

A floor lamp that captures the gesture of shaping molten glass,

A rhizomatic modular candelabra,

A blown-glass drinking vessel inspired by the eyed-kylix used in ancient Greek symposia,

A parametrically derived table-top reflector designed to scatter light,

A color-mixing luminaire that reunites Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy,

An undulating and translucent glass funerary urn,

Colorful cast glass desk accessories to bring out the inner child,

A faceted cast-bronze hand-held mirror that conveys the inevitable passage of time though a sequence of patinas,

A cast-glass ghost of a traditional Chinese bowl,

A glass-and-bronze display tray that references the manipulation of water in roman aqueduct,

An incense burner in cast-glass and bronze that asks us to contemplate the intersection of man and nature,

A table-top mirror that exploits the fragility of matter at the scale of molecules and galaxies,

An illusionistic desk accessory in patinated cast-bronze where 2D graphics and 3D form are intertwined, and

A wall-mounted cast-glass luminaire that captures the movement of fabric caught by the wind.



whatnot x West Supply Collection consists of 15 products, each of which has been hand-cast and hand-finished by West Supply's team of skilled technicians, drawing upon many years of experience producing high-quality metal and glass objects for artists, architects and designers. SAIC is one of only a few American colleges whose students have the opportunity to participate in the annual Milan Design Week. The products created are entirely conceived, designed and produced by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in SAIC's yearlong Milan External Partnerships class, taught and curated by Professors Helen Maria Nugent and Tim Parsons (News - Alert).

"The School of the Art Institute of Chicago launched the Milan External Partnerships class 10 years ago to give students invaluable real-world experience and the opportunity to show their work alongside some of the world's most renowned designers during Milan Design Week," said SAIC Professor Helen Maria Nugent. "Working with West Supply, students were able to pursue their ideas from start to finish, bring product design through the development process and understand the impact of materials and production on the design." Milan Design Week runs April 4-9, and SAIC's whatnot x West Supply Collection will be featured and sold at the Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Salone del Mobile, Via Matteo Bandello 14, 20123 Milano. The products will also be on display in Chicago at SAIC's LeRoy Neiman Center, 37 South Wabash Avenue this spring. To access high-resolution images and bios of the student designers, or to learn more about whatnot x West Supply, visit saic.edu/whatnot. About the whatnot Studio The whatnot studio brings design experiments to life as real products. Positioned as a commercial brand, whatnot is also a progressive educational platform focused on creative inquiry matched to iteration, systems of production and the nuances of the marketplace. The yearlong class gives students the space and time to find their voice as independent designers and the resources to produce fully realized, original products that are launched to the public during Milan Design Week. This is the 10th consecutive year in which emerging designers from SAIC will debut new work in Milan. SAIC's whatnot x West Supply Collection is created through the Milan External Partnerships Studio as part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects department. The Milan External Partnerships Studio course, directed by professors Helen Maria Nugent and Tim Parsons, takes students through the entire product development process from conceptualization to production. About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world's most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC's undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world-as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. For more information, please visit saic.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005047/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
He fights for the Temple Mount, but he is a man of peace. He is a hot-tempered redhead, but he believes in dialogue. He hates disputes, but he cant remain silent in the face of injustice. He has a remarkably cynical sense of humor, but he is dead serious and speaks with almost prophetic passion. He is a member of the Likud, but is not afraid to confront senior party members and even vote with the opposition.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



We accompanied MK Yehuda Glick for a day as the Israeli parliament wrapped up its winter session to understand how he skips between extremes and brings opposites together. It wasnt easy chasing such a hyperactive person down the Knessets corridors, between meetings and discussions, especially in the midst of his war of attrition against the strongest man in the coalition, MK David Bitan.

The war, which has been going on behind the scenes for a long time, was made public early last week in a post Glick wrote on his Facebook page. Before heading for battle, he qualified that his comments were constructive criticism from a lawmaker who has had enough and was speaking out of pain, love and admiration for the government and its leader.

Yehuda Glick at the Knesset, last week. A prime minister cannot give the police an illegal order' (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Glick wrote in his post that when he was recently invited to a social coalition event, he expected to hear words of gratitude to the many people who have been working night and day to help the MKs. He was very disappointed, however, by the fact that the entire evening was a display of admiration to one man, the man who organized the event for himself. One by one, different speakers got on the stage, carrying a single message: We have been blessed by Heaven to have a person with real divine powers. A man who is as sweet as honey and completely perfect. A diligent and gentle person who easily got through the entire Knesset winter session.

If thats what everyone thought, so be it. But, God Almighty, so much hypocrisy, Glick added in his post. We are talking about a coalition chairman who has managed to get into quarrels with so many of his coalition members. We are talking about a man who causes all of us to put on a bullet-proof vest every Saturday evening, because who knows what he said this time that well have to explain. How many times have I heard people say, We have never had such an aggressive coalition chairman? I could go on, but I really have no interest in doing that.

Nevertheless, Glick keeps criticizing the way the coalition, which he is part of, is being run.

Shouldnt such criticism be made in person? Why take it all out on Facebook?

Do you have any idea how long Ive been trying to meet with the prime minister? Ten months. Ive turned to him both in writing and in person. Ive met with all his associates. Netanyahu wont give me even five minutes. With Bitan himself its impossible to talk. I make sure to keep saying hello to him, although he ignores me.

I had no other way. This isnt personal criticism against Bitan. Its a matter of principle. I believe that we must create in the Knesset a pleasant and respectable work environment. Turning a social coalition event into an event worshipping one man is terrible. Bitan is a good person and he has good goals, but I dont believe in aggressive conduct and in threats. The way I see it, machoistic behavior points to weakness, not to strength.

Disregard for Knesset members

Glick personally experienced the aggressive behavior he is talking about. He says that when he dared oppose the Muezzin Bill, which limits the use of loudspeakers in the Muslim call for prayer, Bitan approached him at the Knesset and told himin front of other astonished MKsthat if he did not vote as he was ordered to, Bitan would make sure that NIS 65 million that were allotted to Judea and Samaria would not be transferred.

That was not the first friction between the two. According to Glick, in the previous times he took a personal standlike criticizing IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a neutralized terrorist to death, or the prime ministers lengthy response to an investigative report on journalist Ilana Dayans television showBitan said he would make sure it would be his last term in the Knesset. Another thing Bitan is likely unhappy with is Glicks support for awarding the Israel Prize to artist Yair Garbuz . Bitan, the strict master sergeant, is incapable of containing rebellious and independent soldiers like Glick.

Coalition Chairman David Bitan. Glick is defying and harming Likud (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Bitan is not making empty threats: He has been stonewalling every bill proposed by Glick for a long time now. Every time, before a bill of mine was brought to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation for discussion, I spoke to all the ministers, who promised to vote for it. The next day, the bill wasnt approved. I asked what had happened, and they explained that Bitan had told the ministers to vote against it. When I asked Bitan why he had instructed them to do so, he said to me: Because its a stupid bill. Just like that, without any arguments, without discussing it with me.

The coalition chairman has a scornful, insulting and offensive way of talking. The faction is being run without any debates. We are told what to think on all the issues on the agenda. We are dictated what to vote. No one has any regard for the Knesset members. The biggest partys MKs are disciplined soldiers. No one cares about their opinions, and if they dont stand at attention and salutethey are punished. I run into so many frustrated MKs in the Knessets corridors. Bitan has managed to get into quarrels with so many Likud MKs: Miki Zohar, Sharren Haskel, Nava Boker, Yoav Kisch, and more. These frictions and frustrations are the coals that could set fire to the coalition and lead to its collapse, against our will.

After this kind of criticism, you have a very small chance of succeeding in the next primary elections in the Likud. Doesnt it bother you?

No. I had no plans on having a political career. On the contrary, I promised my wife that there was no chance I would be elected to the Knesset. The polls predicted 22 Knesset seats for the Likud, and I was in the 33rd slot on the list. Whats the conclusion? Dont believe polls and dont believe men. I live in the present. I am making the most of this term. There are Knesset members who are constantly worried about whether they will be reelected, and that affects their actions in the present. Im not like that. I dont run from a bar mitzvah to a bris either. I believe that, at the end of the day, members of the Likud Central Committee appreciate me for who I am. And if they don't, I have a lot to do outside the Knesset.

Thanks to Bitan, since Glick was sworn in as MK 10 months ago, only one of his bills has passed a preliminary reading: A proposal for an epinephrine autoinjector in every school. In light of the situation, he has decided to focus on creating lobbies in the Knesset.

He established the Lobby to Strengthen the Relations between Jews and Muslims and co-chairs it with MK Zouheir Bahloul (Zionist Union). The two led the opposition to the Muezzin Bill together. He calls his office Jerusalem of Peace, and this slogan adorns his official stationary, his business card and the offices door.

A significant part of Glicks time is devoted to meetings with Muslims and Christians. He recently hosted in his office two Muslim activists from Turkey, a doctor and a media personality. The two visited Glick in order to present him with a computerized model of the Temple they created. They imagine the Temple being built next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, out of an understanding that the Temple Mount should be a house of prayer for all religions.

Glick is moved by the gesture, but snaps back to reality. We are not at a stage in which something practical can be done, he clarifies to the guests. The goal is to make people understand. Just like the State of Israel was established by the United Nations, the Temple should be built at the consent of the worlds nations.

Glick leans back on his recliner chair and closes his eyes. He is incapable of sitting up straight for long. His house in the settlement of Otniel is also filled with special chairs for him. The excruciating back pains he suffers from are the result of the assassination attempt he survived in October 2014. But why have three separate houses of prayer? he straightens up and opens his eyes in front of the slightly embarrassed Turks. We need one house of prayer in which the believers of all religions will pray.

Sara Netanyahu is a cordial woman

In the meantime, until the Turkish vision is realized, Jews are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, and Glick himself cant even visit the Mount. The person who is preventing MKs access to the site is the prime minister. For 10 months, Glick has been trying to understand the meaning of the prohibition. He met with the attorney general and with the Knessets legal advisor and even invited police representatives to a discussion at the Knesset. They all pointed at one person who is insisting on banning MKs entry to the holy site.

Recently, Glick and MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi) established the Lobby for Strengthening the Jewish Connection to the Temple Mount. I view the Temple Mount as a very important issue, he says. For a long time now, Knesset members have been illegally barred from entering the Mount. This contradicts the basic laws of freedom of movement and freedom of worship. It contradicts the immunity law and the Protection of Holy Places Law. All legal advisors and the heads of the police say that I am right. The prime minister is refusing to meet with me, so in November I relayed a message to him that I would be forced to petition the High Court of Justice against him.

Glick at the Temple Mount. Wants Arab MKs to join the petition (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

The message did not change Netanyahus stance. One of the prime ministers associates hinted that Glick would actually be helping Netanyahu by turning to the High Court. After all, is there anything that serves Netanyahu better than removing the responsibility from his shoulders and rolling it over to the High Court? Why should he be accused of setting the Middle East on fire when there are judges in Jerusalem?

Glicks move would be the first time in which a Likud MK petitions the court against a prime minister from his own party. I have no choice, he says. This discrimination is intolerable. I would very much have liked to submit the petition together with Arab MKs, but unfortunately, they wont cooperate with me on the Temple Mount. All the legal advisors tell me chances are very high that the court will accept my petition. A prime minister cannot give the police an illegal order.

What do you think about Netanyahus conductdeciding to open and to close the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) based on his whims?

The Israel Broadcasting Authority and the workers high salaries reached levels that required an intervention. Long and profound discussions were held. The prime minister made a decision, which wasnt easy, to embark on a new path. He must stick to this move undauntedly and, as importantly, sensitively. The highest price is being paid by employees who have worked devotedly for many years and are now being forced to go home. We must be attentive to their distress. This applies to the IPBC workers as well, whose future is unclear.

Is it a healthy situation for politicians to intervene in public media?

The press must be free. In a country like ours, there is an interest in ensuring that we have a public channel that offers the wonderful variety of the Israeli society, while reflecting the patriotic feelings of the Return to Zion after 2,000 years. Politicians desire to influence the nature of the broadcasting and to protect the public interest is understandable, and its not illegitimate just like the desire of other elements to influence is not illegitimate, as long as we maintain a balance and offer a maximum variety of voices.

Netanyahu says the IPBC has been taken over by leftists. Do you agree with that? Is the press leftist?

I dont know all the IPBC journalists. Being leftist is not a crime. Every person comes with a set of values and world views. The public channel must not be painted in one color. I do expect every journalist to be professional and credible and not to let anyone off easy. My impression is not that this is a leftist channel. Kalman Liebskind is in my opinion an example of a professional journalist, although he comes with a world viewbut it's not leftist.

Netanyahus claims that the media have been unfair to him are not groundless. Over the years, he and his family have not always been treated fairly. I would just like to note that I didnt know Sara Netanyahu personally. The image I had of her (from the media) was of some kind of a monster. But when she arrived as guest at the Lobby for Encouraging the Study of the Bible, which I chair, I discovered a very cordial woman who moved all the participants with her stories about the home she grew up in.

Was it right to threaten to dissolve the government over the IPBC?

Rocking the country with an election campaign is wrong. We've had enough of allegedly-public broadcasting representing the minoritys stand. On the other hand, Netanyahu is the person who decided to open the IPBC, and at this point its wrong to turn back the clock.

In any event, who do you think will be the next prime minister?

I dont agree with those who are already eulogizing Netanyahu. He will lead the state for many years to come. Even if there is criticism against him here and there, this government is generally doing an excellent job both in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy, and there is no better prime minister around.

It seems that the Right isnt really governing and is failing to advance its vision. How is it possible that under Netanyahu, Amona was evacuated and houses were demolished in Ofra ?

Thats a tough question. The day Amona was evacuated, I was seriously disappointed. I am very disappointed that we have yet to see a significant construction momentum in Judea and Samaria. The population there is growing, but not at the pace that we would like it to. Its wrong, however, to say that the Right is not governing. There would have been no growth in Judea and Samaria under a left-wing government. I believe that we must annex all of Judea and Samaria. Unfortunately, the Right doesnt have the courage to do so, for now.

Fighting prostitution

As the Knessets winter session comes to a close, Glick also points to his own failures and disappointments. His failures, as far as he is concerned, include comments on issues he had insufficient knowledge of, as well as interrupting fellow lawmakers.

But in general, as a person who has been in the Knesset for less than a year, I look back with satisfaction at the variety of issues I was involved in, he says. I worked in lobbies encouraging Bible studies and strengthening the connection to the Temple Mount. I raised public awareness to issues like post-natal depression and the distress of divorced men, and I fought against things like smoking and prostitution. I plan to continue my work until prostitution clients are convicted and smoking is dramatically reduced.

The center of gravity of Glicks activity in the Knesset, however, focuses on pushing for a change in the internal Israeli discourse, in creating a model of a right-wing ideologist who also supports human rights and pursues peace.

It was difficult seeing the polarization between Jews and Arabs and among Jews during this term, he says. Unfortunately, even the moderate members of the Joint List have adopted radical Palestinian views, while at the same time quite a few Jewish Knesset members are earning a living from fanning the flames instead of aiming to strengthen our life together.

There are many ethical members of Knesset as well. I have a lot of appreciation for the thorough work of the two chairs of the committees I am active in: Yakov Margi (Shas) in the Education Committee and Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) in the Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. I have met new friends who I appreciate outside the party, like Merav Ben Ari (Kulanu), Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid) and Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin (Zionist Union), and inside the party, like Amir Ohana and Sharren Haskel.

There are also Knesset members, however, who are not proposing laws but are rather proposing declarations. Oren Hazan tried to convince me to support the Muezzin Bill. He told me that the government planned to stonewall the bill before its last reading, so why dont I just vote for it. I agree that the muezzin noise should be dealt with, but it should be done through dialogue rather than in a populist manner.

I see lawmakers who finish addressing the plenum, go outside and say: Did you see how I let him have it? In my eyes, the goal is not to let someone have it. On the contrary. Zandberg told me she came to the Knesset to promote discourse, not create it. My goal is the complete opposite. I came to the Knesset to advance a respectable dialogue.

Bitan: Glick is defying and harming Likud

Coalition Chairman David Bitan said in response to Glicks comments about him: Yehuda Glick was elected to the Knesset on behalf of the Likud, yet he acts against the coalition and the faction, while defying and undermining them. The results of my work prove the opposite of his claims. As coalition chairman, I have led compromises through team work, made decisions and passed hundreds of bills, including the Arrangements Law and the State Budget. If Glick had put as much effort into team work for the sake of the movement he represents in the Knesset as the effort he puts into pleasing the media, I am certain he could have been an efficient MK. I have no intention of showing any empathy towards someone who votes against Likud and the coalition.
The likely suspect in a deadly blast in the Russian city of St. Petersburg is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, Interfax news agency cited Kyrgyzstan's security service as saying on Tuesday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



A blast in a St. Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 14 people and wounded 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims.

Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, the door of which was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station.



Russia has experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russia's North Caucasus region in the past. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russia's military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for attacks by the Islamic State group, security experts say.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

Earlier, Russian media broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. However, Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries.

The news agency, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.

If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar Assad in a fight against Islamist militants.

However, some sections of Russian society could see the metro bombing as proof that Putin's decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets.

Two years ago, ISIS said it had brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to Putin in a phone call late on Monday, the White House said in a statement, offering the support of the US government. The two leaders "agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated", the statement said.

China also condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi offering condolences and support in a statement that said "China resolutely opposed all types of terrorism."

Bloody faces

Soon after the blast happened at 2:40p.m., ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away a wounded passenger.

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, St. Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika told Reuters by phone.

"Many were crying," said Chaika, who was at the station where the blast happened.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

Video from the scene showed wounded 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 amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.

Anna Sventik, a St. Petersburg resident, said she 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."

All stations closed

Earlier on Monday, officials had put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their wounds in hospital.

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 Russian-speaking rebels returning from Syria, where they have fought alongside Islamic State, and is 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.

More than 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 theater 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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
The Israel Prisons Service Parole Board accepted Rabbi Eliezer Berland's petition for an early release from prison for the purpose of receiving medical treatment, and he is set to spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Rabbi Berland, a leader of one of the main factions of the Breslov Hasidism, fled Israel in 2013 following allegations of sex crimes committed against women. He moved between Morocco, the Netherlands and South Africa, until he was finally arrested in Johannesburg and extradited to Israel.

Five months ago, as part of a plea bargain, Rabbi Berland was convicted of two counts of indecent assault and one count of assault, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland (Photo: Amit Shabi)

Since the rabbi suffers from cancer, he served his sentence in the medical center of the prison service in Ramla. On Sunday, the parole board accepted his attorneys petition to release him from prison for medical treatment.

According to the decision, the rabbi will stay in a hotel in the Hadassah Hospital compound in Jerusalem under full house arrest conditions, for the remainder of his prison sentence. The house arrest will be supervised by a private security company and the rabbi will bear all costs of both hotel and security.

The decision of the parole board also emphasized that the rabbi must take all necessary measures to ensure that no harm will ever come to anyone who complained against him.

The State Attorneys Office requested to suspend the release in practice in order to consider whether to appeal the decision.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
For the first time in years, thousands of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails are threatening to initiate a mass hunger strike.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Security prisoners associated with both Fatah and Hamas are expected to take part in the strike, which is being led by Marwan Barghouti.

The strike is set to begin on Palestinian Prisoners' Day (April 17) and will coincide with rallies and demonstrations held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip meant to show solidarity with security prisoners incarcerated in Israel.

Marwan Barghouti in court (Photo: Reuters)

However, recent talks between prisoner representatives and Israeli security officials, headed by the Israel Prison Service (IPS), have been ongoing in an attempt to stop the strike before it begins. The sides have yet to come to an agreement.

Ynet has obtained a copy of the full list of demands prisoners sent to IPS officials. The list includes 13 demands, of which two are considered critical for Fatah prisoners.

Copy of note submitted to IPS officials by Palestinian prisoners

The first central demand is that the IPS install public telephones in blocks, similar to the ones that exist in criminal facilities, so that prisoners may call their families.

Currently, the only way prisoners may contact their families by telephone is by limited access to prison phones and mobile phones illegally smuggled into facilities.

The second key demand also includes the Red Cross and family visits.

The demand first stipulates that prisoners want the international aid organization to restore a policy of two visits per month for prisoners' families. Nine months ago, the Red Cross decreased the number of visits per month for families to one, due to financial constraints.

The Red Cross finances a portion of travel expenses to bring prisoners' families from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to visit their relatives convicted of security offenses in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian security prisoners (Photo: Gadi Kablo)

Second, prisoners are demanding that visits be extended from 45 minutes to 90 minutes and that Israel not prevent immediate and extended family members with security-related offenses from visiting. Additionally, prisoners are also demanding that they be allowed to be photographed with their families once every three months.

A Palestinian official involved in the matter told Ynet that compromises and agreements can be made regarding the rest of the prisoners' demands, but the two central demands mentioned above are the most significant for prisoners.

"The prisoners suggested to the IPS that every prisoner be able to call one telephone number of a relative every two weeks for a specified time. They are also willing to accept the IPS monitoring the calls," said the official. "There is no reason why (PM Yitzhak Rabin's murderer) Yigal Amir, who is defined as a security prisoner, should be able to talk to his family and them not."

Palestinian sources close to Barghouti told Ynet that he is not eager to fight authorities, but according to them, he feels that he has no other option other than initiating a hunger strike.

Relations between Barghouti and Fatah leadership have been tense in recent weeks after he was not elected to be Mahmoud Abbas's deputy, despite winning the primaries held at the seventh Fatah convention two months ago.

The same sources claim that the strike is not intended to be a show of strength vis-a-vis Abbas. "Although he did not gain the majority in Fatah leadership, he has already gained support within the movement," they said.

(Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg)
Police Internal Affairs filed an indictment against two former Border Police officers who attacked an unarmed Palestinian who was suspected of being a terrorist.

According to the indictment, the two arrived in the Christian Quarter in the Old City following a report of a stabbing attack.

When they noticed the complainant, they suspected that he was the assailant. They approached him and one of police officers hit him with the butt of his weapon, without informing him that he was being arrested or detained and without questioning him first. When the complainant asked the defendants to explain their actions, the defendants responded by cursing him and physically assaulted him with their fists and rifles.
US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have discussed the possibility of holding an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in the United States this summer, the leading Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported on Tuesday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, reportedly raised the initiative with Arab officials.

"One of the ideas that was raised in the Egyptian-American meetings in Washington is holding a peace summit hosted by the United States this summer," American sources told the London-based paper.

Trump and al-Sisi meet at the White House (Photo: AP)

According to the report, the Trump administration expects Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf nations to play an active part in motivating the Palestinian side to return to the negotiating table.

During their White House meeting on Monday , al-Sisi presented to Trump the Arab nations' position on the conflict, which calls for a "just solution for the Palestinian issue based on the Arab peace initiative, and opposes moving the American embassy to Jerusalem."

Trump moved to reset US relations with al-Sisi after the prior Obama administration's strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamist militants.

"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 said.

Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology.

The American and Egyptian presidents discussed the renewal of annual joint training exercises between the two militaries, which have been put on halt following the ouster of former Egyptian Mohammed Morsi.

A joint statement said Trump and Sisi agreed that Islamist militants could not be defeated solely by military force. It said the leaders "agreed on the necessity of recognizing the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world."

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.

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 Morsi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Morsi's rule. Morsi, 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.
The farce that had taken place before our eyes for weeks, known as the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) crisis, came to an end only last Thursday afternoon, after five meetings. We live in a country with so many urgent matters, and the question we are left with at the end of this soap opera is what does Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Did he really seek elections, wanting to weaken Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on the way and turn him into an illegitimate candidate, or did he finally realize what Likud members and the other coalition parties had tried to make clear to him again and againthat they would not allow elections now, which is why he should come out of this affair with as many achievements as possible?

And he did come out of it with achievements. Regardless of what we hear in the press conferences or in commentaries about who won and who lost, it is already clear that the IPBC is facing a grim fate. Granted, it will go live, and almost on the original date set by Kahlon, but this is not the launch it hoped for. Most of the journalists hired for the news division, which wont go on the air, will be fired. Instead, we will get the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) employees, who owe the preservation of their workplace to Israels royal couple.

Netanyahu with Finance Minister Kahlon. Even if the prime minister presents himself as the winner, he hasnt come out of this affair looking very good (Photo: Amit Shabi)

So what have we got? The new IPBC is actually a meat restaurant that only serves dessert. Kahlons main achievement, it seems, apart from not deviating from the budget, is freezing the media supervision law. He will likely point out that the IPBC heads, CEO Eldad Koblenz and Chairman Gil Omer, got to keep their jobs, although he himself gave up on them a long time ago. I doubt they see that as an achievement, now that the heart of the IPBCthe news divisionhas been uprooted. The fact that the news divisions board of directors and CEO will be appointed by a committee headed by a judge is likely seen by Kahlon as another achievement. We will know if this is indeed an achievement only when we see who has been selected to serve in that committee and how many of its members are Netanyahus associates.

Even if Netanyahu presents himself as the winner, he hasnt come out of this affair looking very good. Its sad and even embarrassing to see what the prime minister has been preoccupied with all these weeks, and to realize that the main thing on his mind is who will be the IPBCs main news anchor and who will be its economic reporter. Its just pathetic.

Kahlon has expressed a lot of gratitude to legal experts, who he believes solved this mess. There is no doubt that the attorney general played an important role here. I already wrote last week that, legally, it would have been very difficult to defend Koblenz and Omers dismissal. The law would have had to be amended.

What got Netanyahu in trouble was mainly his associates comments. It looks like they helped him a bit too much with statements like the ones made by Coalition Chairman David Bitan, that the IPBC is a leftist, snobbish organization. What would they have told the court when asked why they wanted to shut down the IPBC? Netanyahu would not have been able to innocently claim that it was a matter of cost or efficiency. Bitan and Culture Minister Miri Regev already made it clear that it was all about wanting to control, to influence, and that is something Netanyahu has apparently achieved.

Dont be confused, however: Netanyahu is clearly looking for elections, even if it wont happen this time around. He found out that the IPBC is not a good enough excuse. But the prime minister does have two good reasons to go to elections: First of all, the police investigations against him. Even if the investigators are taking their time, it will eventually happen, and the investigations will lead to an indictment, at least in the illicit gifts affair

The second thing is the diplomatic issue. The joy over Donald Trumps election was apparently premature: The weird man sitting in the White House seems quite determined to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and his special envoy, Jason Greenblatt, appears to be a profound and thorough person. He is traveling all over the place, meeting with anyone who has any influence or opinion on the conflict and forming a full and detailed picture of the problemand perhaps of the solution toofor himself and for the president.

Netanyahu appears to be very worried about this odd combination between the thorough, diligent and sensible envoy, and the short-tempered president, who is so concerned about his image. This is not Barack Obama. Netanyahu wont be able to resist a plan presented by Trump and Greenblatt. And for that, Netanyahu needs a different government, a different coalition.

Now all he has to do is find the right excuse.

(Translated and edited by Sandy Livak-Furmanski)
A US federal judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Germany over claims of a Nazi-era theft from Jewish dealers of a celebrated collection of gilded medieval art treasures.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



It was the first time a US court had agreed to hear Nazi art theft claims against Germany, said Nicholas O'Donnell, an attorney for the heirs of three Jewish art dealers who say the Nazis terrorized their families in 1935 into selling the collection at far below market price.

The claim against Germany seeks the return of the Welfenschatz collection, which includes centuries-old gem-studded busts of saints and golden crucifixes.

From left, Zacharias Max Hackenbroch, Julius Falk Goldschmidt and Saemy Rosenberg, three of the Jewish collectors who purchased the Welfenschatz in 1929 (Photo: Gerald Stiebel)

Germany had asked for the case to be thrown out, arguing that a US court did not have jurisdiction to deal with the matter.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled on Friday, however, in federal court in Washington that since the Nazis organized plunder of Jewish property was part and parcel of their later genocide of the Jewsa crime under international lawthe court had jurisdiction to hear the case.

Photo: Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin (Photo: Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin)

Germany argued the case had already been heard before a German commission assessing Nazi-era property claims, which found the low sales price was a product of a collapse in the art market during the Great Depressionnot because the Jewish art collectors were persecuted.

"This is a dispute that was already resolved on the merits in Germany, and it doesn't belong in a US court," Germany's attorney, Jonathan Freiman, said in an email.

The Welfenschatz was collected for centuries by the Brunswick Cathedral in Brunswick, Germany, according to court records. In 1929, a group of Jewish art dealers in Germany bought the art from the Duke of Brunswick.

Photo: Bode Museum, Berlin

Six years later, the dealers sold the art to the state of Prussia, then being administered by prominent Nazi official Hermann Goering. Pressure from the Nazis caused the dealers to sell for just 35 percent of its market value, lawyers for the heirs said.

O'Donnell told Reuters in an interview that the money the dealers received was deposited into a bank account they were unable to access because it was blocked by the Nazis.

Much of that money was ultimately seized as "flight taxes" by the Nazis who forced Jews to pay exorbitant fees to be allowed to leave Germany.

O'Donnell said the transaction was orchestrated by Goering at the behest of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who discussed in letters their effort to save the Welfenschatz."

A few months after the sale was completed, Goering presented Hitler the Welfenschatz as a surprise gift during a ceremony, according to court records.
Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon has postulated that the High Court of Justice would reject the agreement reached between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which would then entail a return to the drawing board: the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) will be established as planned and the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) will be shut down.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The Journalists Association filed a petition to the High Court of Justice on Monday following the new compromise outline on the fate of the IPBC, according to which the IPBCs news division will close and a separate news division will be opened in its stead.

The Journalists Association has asked the court to cancel the outline, including the separation between the IPBC and the news division, and prevent it from becoming law. The Association also demanded that the prime minister, the finance minister and the acting communications minister cease their interference with the identity of the IPBC directors and journalists.

IPBC employees protest in Tel Aviv (Photo: Reuters)

Labor Party member Eldad Yaniv also petitioned the High Court of Justice against the agreement, saying that Netanyahu should refrain from dealing with the matter since he resigned from his position as communications minister. Supreme Court Justice Yitzchak Amit ordered the state to respond to the request for an interim injunction by next Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Histadrut Labor Federation announced a general labor dispute on Monday, claiming that "the employees of the IBA and the IPBC are being abused, while groups of workers are pit against each other."

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he is determined that the establishment of the IPBC will reflect the political independence of the existing Public Broadcasting Law.

Sources close to the attorney general dismissed the attacks on him, which claimed he had enabled the elimination of public broadcasting when he prepared Netanyahu's outline, and failed to prevent Netanyahu from meddling with the IPBC due to the conflicts of interest that had forced him to leave the Ministry of Communications to begin with.

(Photo: Motti Kimch, Avi Chai)

According to his aides, the attorney general noted two red lines and made it clear that if they were not respected, he would declare the law unconstitutional and would refrain from defending it at the High Court.

Sources close to the attorney general clarified that the attorney general attended the final deliberations in order to ensure the decisions concerning the bill proposal or the outline were legal.

Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht criticized the outline of the compromise, with claims being made that following his criticism, he was excluded from it.

Contrary to Lichts reservations concerning the agreement, Deputy AG Raz Nizri, State Attorney Shai Nitzan, and the heads of the High Court of Justice's Petitions Department, supported the agreement.

According to sources, "there are different views between jurists and they are legitimate, but at the end of the say, only one makes the decision and that is the AG.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
Two former Border Police officers were indicted Tuesday for assaulting a Palestinian resident of Jerusalems Old City who they thought was a terrorist.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



According to the indictment, Yosef Abadi, 22, from Rishon Lezion, and Oshri Ohayon, 23, from Beit Shemesh, had assaulted a Palestinian with the butt of their rifle and even threatened to kill him, because they thought he was suspected of having carried out a stabbing attack.

The two arrived at the Christian Quarter in the Old City in May 2016 following a report of a stabbing attack. When they noticed a Palestinian walking by, they suspected that he was the assailant, even though he was unarmed.

(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

They approached him, and one of the soldiers struck him with the butt of his rifle, without informing him that he was being arrested or detained and without questioning him.

When the Palestinian asked the policemen what they were doing, they cursed at him and one of them grabbed his neck in a chokehold, pressing him face first into the door of a nearby shop.

At this point, the Border Police officers struck him with their rifles and punched him in the back, head, and waist, and even cocked their weapons, goading another policeman in the area to "Shoot him."

The Palestinian asked them to stop, telling them he had a baby. When he tried to turn around and face them, one of the officers hit him in the testicles. Then the officer said to his companion, "Shoot him, shoot him, here is the knife," and the two continued to beat him. They finally departed, leaving the injured Palestinian behind.

The Palestinian called out, saying he would complain against them in Internal Affairs. At hearing his words, one of the policemen turned, approached him, cocked his weapon and hit him again in the chest.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
A video of a woman has surfaced on an anonymous YouTube channel claiming not only to be the lover of former Hezbollah military leader Mustafa Badreddine , but also that the terrorist leader was murdered by his own terror organization.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The explosive claims ostensibly lend credibility to the Israeli position that it had no part in the assassination.

However, the revelation also brings up awkward questions for Hezbollah, chief of which being whether or not Badreddine's killing was really an Israeli plot or an act of internal house cleaning.

Mustafa Badreddine

The video purports to show a statement by a former lover of Badreddine, who was reported to be womanizer.

In the statement, the unidentified woman claimed that Badreddine "knew that Hezbollah leadership wanted to kill him."

The video was uploaded to a YouTube account with the name "Truth." The woman spoke with an electronically-distorted voice and her back to the camera to maintain anonymity.

"Mustafa and I met at a restaurant and it was love at first sightour relationship over the years was one of love, understanding and total honesty. He would keep my secrets and I would keep his," said the woman.

Funeral of Mustafa Badreddine (Photo: AP)

She went on to say, "Truthfully, I have never met such a brave man who was afraid of nothing. I am sure the knife of treachery killed him."

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot has said that an internal organizational conflict led to the assassination, which took place in the Damascus region on May 13, 2016.

Eisenkot cited a report on the incident by the Al Arabiya network claiming that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani gave the order.

Arab media and the killing

The investigative report by Al Arabiya went on to claim that a missile did not kill Badreddine, but rather close range shooting. It based its claims on independent evidence that cannot be verified such as satellite photos of the assassination location, reports by anti-Hezbollah news sources and recorded telephone conversations between Damascus Airport workers.

In addition to Al Arabiya, online Saudi newspaper Elaph reported that "Hezbollah is chasing after Lebanese Shiites who have serious information on the organization."

Badreddine and Hassan Nasrallah

According to the article, a well-informed Lebanese source claimed that Al Arabiya's investigation of Bedraddine's death embarrassed Hezbollah and caused "excessive irritation" among senior members of the organization.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai responded to the Al Arabiya report with a mocking tone, saying, "If you're looking for a laugh and you have nothing to do, check out this amusing bit of science fiction, 'How Nasrallah killed Badreddine?'"

Al Rai continued to point the finger at Israel, alleging that a surface-to-surface missile struck the building Hezbollah was using, which was also housing weapons and ammunition for the Syrian army.

The Kuwaiti paper also quoted "informed sources" who claimed that the building was struck shortly after Soleimani left, meaning that Israel waited for him to leave in order to avoid causing a serious international incident by killing him.

(Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg)
Representatives of all religions in the country arrived Sunday at the Magen Avot Synagogue of Rabbi Mordechai Abergel, the island's chief rabbi, to hear a Muslim imam apologizing for anti-Semitic remarks. The court handed down his sentence on Monday: a $4,000 fine.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



For a month now the affair has been stirring up the small yet influential republic. It began in February, after a video clip showing the Muslim Imam Nullah Muhammad Abdul Jamil, praying and saying, "Allah will help us against the Jews and the Christians." The video soon became viral.

Rabbi Abergel with the Imam (Photo: The Straits Times)

But while in Israel such an expression would have stirred some light public protest, in a country where spitting out gum incurrs a heavy finethe religious leader's harsh statement could not be overlooked: the police announced opening a criminal investigation, and Buddhist, Christian and Muslim clerics held a meeting with the senior members of the Jewish community.

Jamil was forced to publicly state: "I am remorseful for the inconvenience, the tension, and the trauma that I caused to this peaceful country." He also made it clear to the synagogue and media that his statements against the Jews and the Christians were not a quoted from the Quran, but rather from "an ancient text originating in India, in the village from which he came to Singapore."

The event was published in the last few days with great prominence in the local media. The widely distributed Singaporean newspaper Straits Times reported that the 47-year-old Muslim leader had made it unequivocally clear that he understood he must practice his faith according to Singapore's social norms and rules.

Yakoub Ibrahim, the Minister for Muslim Affairs, stated that the apology was clearly accepted by leaders of all religions in Singapore, including Muslims. But the story did not end with that: the authorities made it clear that they perceived the incident very seriously. The police announced that they had completed the investigation and transferred the material to the justice system, where it would be decided whether to prosecute the Imam.

At the same time, the authorities are considering deporting Jamil from a country with a predominantly Buddhist population, while Christians and Muslims make up a small minority of about 15 percent. Incidentally, the Jewish community is particularly small, with only 1,500 people, in a country with a population of about 4.5 million.

Singapore's Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergil refused to comment on the affair. "This is sensitive in some respects, both on the side of the authorities and on the side of the community. The story is well known in Singapore. He asked for forgiveness, and one must read between the lines," he said.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
Referring to the suspected gas attack in the northwestern Syrias Idlib that day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on Tuesday, The pictures that come to us should shake every human being.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The prime minister was speaking at the state memorial ceremony for Israels sixth president, Chaim Herzog.

Some of those killed in Idlib (Photo: AP)

The State of Israel strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons in any situation, especially on civilians and innocent children, Netanyahu said. I saw pictures of gape-mouthed and wide-eyed children who died from suffocation.

Netanyahu called on the international community to fulfill its obligations from 2013 and complete the removal of chemical weapons from Syria. If this is not done, there is no value to international commitments and treaties, said the prime minister. The brutal war raging near our borders has been going on for six years, and this war underscores the great imperative of the State of Israel to defend ourselves.

According to reports in Syria, the use of poison gas was used in the morning bombing of Khan Sheikhoun. Medical sources reported that the victims showed signs that strengthen the suspicion of a chemical attack, including fainting, suffocation and foaming at the mouth.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) asked Netanyahu to convene an urgent discussion on the chemical, saying that the discussion should deal with the humanitarian aspect, the security impact on the region, the significance of the use of chemical weapons and the systematic genocide going on in Syria.

According to the minister, the attack on civilians using chemical weapons requires renewed security assessments by the Israeli Security Cabinet.

(Translated and edited by J. Herzog)
For 1,418 days, Jewish photographer Yevgeny Khaldei documented the harsh scenes of World War II. Khaldei, who was sent on a mission by the Soviet news agency TASS, became famous for the famous photograph of soldiers of the Red Army waving the Soviet flag over the Reichstag building in Berlin with the fall of the Nazis in May 1945.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Khaldeis photos are being republished after his daughter recently won a 15-year legal battle over the copyright of thousands of negatives and printed photographs of her father. He documented survivors of the Budapest ghetto, Russian combat squadrons, and scenes of horror on the Eastern Front.

The famous Reichstag photo (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

The nearly destroyed Reichstag (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

Soviet soldiers before a propaganda poster announcing impending victory (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

Churchill, Truman and Stalin in Potsdam (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

During the war, women in the Soviet Union had equal rights on the battlefield. The pictures show women in the air force, but they were also in tanks. Something that always comes up in the stories of the German soldiers is when they hit a Soviet tank that caught on fire and some a lady exited instead of the male soldier they were expecting, they didnt know how to react.

Red Army soldiers at rest from warfare (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

Survivors of the Budapest ghetto in 1945 (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

Soviet air force combat pilots (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

Khaldei went to the front armed with a camera only after his family was murdered in the invasion of the Soviet Union. He photographed the liberation of Europe from the Nazis and concerned citizens searching for their relatives among those killed in the streets.

Goering in the Nuremberg Trials (Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

(Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei, downloaded from russiainphoto.ru)

During the Nuremberg Trials, Hermann Goring was enraged that a Jewish photographer was photographing him and strived to hide his face.

Three years after the war, Khaldei was fired from the news agency. He then worked for seven years for the state newspaper Pravda, from which he was eventually forced to retire. He died in 1997.

(Translated and edited by J. Herzog)
The French Foreign ministry said Tuesday it is monitoring with concern the situation of a journalist arrested in the Libyan city of Benghazi for having covered a concert which brought together women and men.

The ministry's spokesman, Romain Nadal, said Abdallah Douma, a journalist working with news agency AFP, "was released but is still being questioned by police services in Benghazi".

"We are mobilized to obtain his definitive release," he added in a written statement, without providing more details.

Nadal reaffirmed France's commitment to freedom of the press and protection of journalists everywhere in the world.
BEIRUT  Following a suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria's rebel-held northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, France's foreign minister condemned the "atrocious act" and both France and Britain called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting over the suspected attack. The Security Council will meet Wednesday morning

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, posting to social media, When I saw pictures of babies suffocating from a chemical attack in Syria, I was shocked and outraged. There's no, none, no excuse whatsoever for the deliberate attacks on civilians and on children, especially with cruel and outlawed chemical weapons. I call on the international community to fulfill its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria.

His sentiments were echoed by Israels ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, who similarly posted, The world cannot be silent in the face of the horrific massacre in Syria and allow this devastation to repeat itself. The UN must act immediately to put an end to the use of any chemical weapons and ensure their removal from Syrian territory. This is the UN's true purpose and it must fulfill this fundamental responsibility.

Israeli President Rivlin wrote, "The pictures we are seeing today from Syria and the reports of the massacre of children, of civilians, with chemical weapons, are a stain on all humanity. The international community in its entirety must come together to bring an end to this murderous madness, and ensure that such scenes will never be repeated anywhere.

"I call on the leaders of the international communityand among them the leading powersto act now, without delay, to stop these criminal, murderous acts taking place in Syria by the hand of the Assad regime, and to work urgently to remove all stockpiles of chemical weapons from Syrian territory.

"We, as a people which survived the greatest of atrocities and rose from the ashes to be a strong and secure nation, we will do all we can to continue to aid the survivors of the horrors in Syria. We know all too well how dangerous silence can be, and we cannot remain mute."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump is "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack and said it was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world."

Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

Eyewitnesses said the attack was carried out by jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments, but both Moscow and Damascus denied responsibility.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, show limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe; others appear foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll from the gas attack at 58, saying there were 11 children among the dead. Meanwhile, the Idlib Media Center said dozens of people had been killed.

The media center published footage of medical workers appearing to intubate an unresponsive man stripped down to his underwear and hooking up a little girl foaming at the mouth to a ventilator. It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes occurring in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, the site of Tuesday's alleged attack.

Tuesday's reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini.

Assad regime denies responsibility

In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons amid international outrage.

Those weapons have been destroyed, but member states of the OPCW have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything in 2013. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

A statement by the Syrian government said it "categorically rejects" using any chemical or poisonous agents in Khan Sheikhoun today and says it did not and will not use them in any place or any time in the past or future.

It held rebels responsible, saying they attacked their own territory in order to distract from their losses across the country. The Russian Defense Ministry also denied any involvement

Dr. AbdulHaj Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of patients in the Tuesday attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors are struggling to deal with the victims, amid a shortage of facilities and medical supplies, and the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem, is in short supply.

Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals. "If they got the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

Mohammed Tennari, AbdulHaj's brother and a radiologist, said Tuesday's attack was more severe than previous chemical attacks his province has witnessed, most of them using chlorine cylinders.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe. There were no deaths, not in those numbers," he said, adding the final number is unclear given the chaos that has prevailed. The doctor, who testified before the UN in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell but it was mixed with other things, "toxic gas which causes poison and death."

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency is contacting health providers from Idlib to get more information about Tuesday's incident.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

The Syrian activists claimed the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by Syrian government or Russian warplanes. Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating, they said.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarminalso in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferredsaid the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.

"There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth," he told The Associated Press by phone.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. "Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions," he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 am. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.

He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.

He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

A Turkey-based Syrian man whose niece, her husband and one-year-old daughter were among those killed, said the warplanes struck early, as residents were still in their beds. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for the safety of family members back in Syria.

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. It is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months in the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.
A decision by the city of Berlin not to illuminate its most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, in the colours of the Russian flag to show solidarity with St Petersburg after an attack has provoked anger, with critics calling it a scandal.

In the past after attacks in other countries, the city has beamed the colours of flags of France, Turkey, Britain and the Netherlands onto the Brandenburg Gate, which divided East and West Berlin in the Cold War.
Youre never too old to try something new. Thats why nearly 50 Baby Boomers from across greater New York City will travel to Israel for the very first time April 29-May 5 to celebrate the Jewish states 69th Independence Day and to mark the UJA-Federation of New Yorks century of supporting the Jewish community and Israel.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 during the post-war years of Americas economic surge, will be embarking on their maiden journey to Israel as part of the largest UJA-Federation mission to the country in years, the William Rosenwald Mission, featuring 300 visitors on a multi-track trip.

Barbara Baumstein and Carl Eckstein.

The Baby Boomers Overview of Israel will see historic places like Jerusalems Old City, Tzfat and Ceasarea, cultural sites like the Museum for the History of Society and Democracy in Israel at Tel Avivs Yitzhak Rabin Center and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Tel Avivs Neve Tzedek and Nachalat Binyamin.

Among the Baby Boomers will be sisters Sandra Hellman, 74, and Zita Bernstein, 66, both of whom are visiting Israel for the first time. For Hellman and Bernstein, the Baby Boomer mission offers the sisters a chance to realize a lifelong dreamthough not for all the same reasons.

While Zita is looking forward to swimming in the Dead Sea and shopping, in addition to seeing historic sites, Sandra has been a longtime student of the Holocaust and puts the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and memorial atop her must-do list for Israel.

Sandra, who has suffered from serious respiratory ailments and lung cancer, among other challenges, said: I am happy to be alive to realize the one thing Ive always wanted to do my whole lifevisit Israel.

Other Baby Boomer mission participants include Carl Eckstein, 68, who has never been to Israel, and his significant other, Barbara Baumstein, 67.

I visited Southeast Asia and Italy this year, but theres no place I am looking forward to experiencing more than Israelthis is something Ive been wanting to do for as along as I can remember, said Eckstein. Ive heard from so many people including Barbara how amazing Israel isI cant wait to see for myself!

Theres no better way to celebrate UJA-Federations century of Jewish community building and Israels 69th anniversary of independence than with this incredible, inspiring mission, said UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric S. Goldstein. Whether hiking in the footsteps of our forefathers, or gaining insights from Israels high-tech entrepreneurs, participants will experience their Jewish homeland in powerfully new ways and come away with memories that will last a lifetime.

UJA Federation of New York was founded in 1917, when Jews across the New York area pioneered the idea of bringing a network of different charitable agencies and institutions under one federated systemand has provided many billions of dollars to support the State of Israel since its inception.
The United Nations says it isn't in a position to independently verify reports of a chemical attack in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province but Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply disturbed" at the incident.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief extends "his heartfelt condolences to victims of the incident and their families."
[April 04, 2017] 6WIND Announces Secure Site-to-Site VPN Solutions for COTS Servers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 6WIND, a high-performance networking software company, today announced its Secure Site-to-Site VPN solution for data center inter-connection. The solution is based on 6WIND Turbo IPsec software, a widely deployed product for high performance networking infrastructure with requirements of 10 Gbps and beyond. 6WIND Turbo IPsec provides IPsec VPNs on Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) servers at less than 50% of legacy hardware system costs. 6WIND Turbo IPsec can be deployed bare metal or in a virtual machine with the same functionalities and performance, enabling a seamless transition to virtualization. IPsec VPN solutions are critical to create secure, high speed communication tunnels between trusted endpoints across the Internet. Since IP networks are inherently insecure, IPsec VPNs provide the encryption and authentication techniques required to maintain data confidentiality and integrity. However, network capacity growth requires scalable throughput, which was previously only possible through hardware IPsec VPN gateways that delivered performance at the expense of vendor lock-in and high costs. There is a market need for alternatives to avoid sacrificing security and performance while reducing costs and vendor lock-in. Leading cloud-based data centers are leveraging 6WIND Turbo IPsec software with standard Linux applications on COTS servers as an alternative to expensive big name system vendors. 6WIND's Secure Site-to-Site VPN solutions provide an alternative using software with the following benefits: High Performance IPsec: Linear scalability of performance by simply adding processing cores regardless of deployment onfiguration (bare metal or virtualized). 12 Gbps of encrypted IPsec traffic per core can scale a 10-core Intel server to more than 100 Gbps 7 Gbps per core when combining IPsec, virtual routing, filtering and IP tunneling features Traffic loads scale across 10, 40 and 100G connectivity

Linear scalability of performance by simply adding processing cores regardless of deployment onfiguration (bare metal or virtualized). Complete Security Feature Set & Resiliency: Combines virtual routing, IP tunneling, filtering and high availability to create the required security features to clearly separate trusted and untrusted networks with port and system level redundancy.

Combines virtual routing, IP tunneling, filtering and high availability to create the required security features to clearly separate trusted and untrusted networks with port and system level redundancy. Management and Monitoring: Provides industry-standard CLI and XML-based management, SNMP, and works seamlessly with management and monitoring tools that support Linux.

Provides industry-standard CLI and XML-based management, SNMP, and works seamlessly with management and monitoring tools that support Linux. Virtualization Readiness: Complete virtual appliance option with support for Linux KVM, VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors with same software used on bare metal and the same performance.



Demonstration at Open Networking Summit, Santa Clara, April 4-6

We will demonstrate 6WIND's software for Secure Site-to-Site VPNs in addition to Mobile Infrastructure Security solutions at the ONS conference in booth #325. Additional Resources 6WIND Solution Brief for Secure Site-to-Site VPNs:

http://www.6wind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Site-to-Site-VPN-solution-brief.pdf 6WIND Demo Video for Secure Site-to-Site VPNs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL387B6D-Og About 6WIND 6WIND's networking software solves performance and time-to-market challenges for OEMs and Network Builders. The company's packet processing software and software appliances are optimized for cost-effective hardware, such as Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) servers, with a choice of multicore processors to deliver a wide variety of networking and security protocols and features. 6WIND is based near Paris, France with regional offices in China, South Korea and the United States. For more information, visit http://www.6wind.com. Company Contact:

Kelly LeBlanc

VP of Marketing for 6WIND

Phone: +1 (408) 508-6732

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/6wind-announces-secure-site-to-site-vpn-solutions-for-cots-servers-300434165.html SOURCE 6WIND

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The European Union has expressed frustration with Israel over its demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, with the EU ambassador taking the unusual step of reading out a joint statement denouncing the practice.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



At a meeting last week with the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs newly appointed director general, the ambassador delivered a stern diplomatic message, saying Israel was failing in its international legal obligations and needed to change policy.

The issue came to a head after Israel issued demolition orders last month against 42 homes in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, where EU member states Belgium and Italy have funded a school and helped build structures for the local population of around 150.





A demolished Bedouin village (Photo: AP)

The practice of enforcement measures such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes and humanitarian assets (including EU-funded) and the obstruction of delivery of humanitarian assistance are contrary to Israels obligations under international law, Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said, with envoys from all EU member states present.

We therefore call on Israel, as the occupying power, to meet its obligations vis-a-vis the Palestinian population completely stop these demolitions and confiscations and allow full access of humanitarian assistance.



The Israeli MFA summoned Faaborg-Andersens deputy on Monday, a ministry spokesman said. Mark Gallagher was told that illegal construction was dealt with according to the law and that Israel was perplexed by the EUs obsessive involvement in the matter.

The clampdown against Khan al-Ahmar, located in a sensitive area of the West Bank that Israel has earmarked for settlement expansion, is the latest in a series of demolitions that have been roundly condemned by the EU and the United Nations.

Israel says the demolitions are necessary because the building was carried out without a permit in an area of the West Bank, known as Area C, where Israel retains full control. Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their own state together with Gaza and east Jerusalem.

The EU says Israel rarely issues permits in Area C and is concerned that by blocking Palestinian development there and demolishing structures that are built, it is actively undermining the viability of any future Palestinian state.

Figures from the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs show that Israel has sharply stepped up demolitions in Area C over the past year.

While between 450 and 560 Palestinian structures were demolished each year from 20122015, the number jumped to 876 in 2016, and in January this year alone there were 121 demolitions. More than 1,200 people were displaced last year.

To underscore concern about the threat to Khan al-Ahmar, delegations from EU embassies have been visiting the site regularly. Officials hope public diplomacy might help secure an Israeli Supreme Court injunction against the demolitions.

That worked with an earlier demolition order targeting the Palestinian village of Susiya, in the southern West Bank.

Were not giving up, said one EU diplomat, while acknowledging that it was an uphill battle to stop the demolitions. We have to be realistic.
Two reputed associates of the New Jersey crime family believed to be the model for HBO's "The Sopranos" are headed to prison for their roles in a drug distribution ring.

Federal prosecutors say 33-year-old Rosario Pali, of Linden, was sentenced Tuesday to more than six years in prison, while 39-year-old Nicholas DeGidio, of Union, got a year-and-a-half term. Both had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine.

Prosecutors say both men are associates of the DeCavalcante crime family. Prosecutors say the family engaged in numerous offenses, including murder, extortion and fraud.

DeGidio and Pali were among 10 reputed members of the crime family arrested in March 2015.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Despite an effort to unite Nebraska farmers and business owners behind a sweeping tax plan, the groups remain sharply divided over which taxes to cut and some worry the opposing views could make already difficult changes all but impossible.

The package championed by Gov. Pete Ricketts remains in limbo as lawmakers approach the 60th day of this years 90-day session. At issue is a dispute between organizations that want to lower income taxes and those that want to reverse surging property taxes on farm and ranchland.

Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, the chairman of the Revenue Committee, said hes hopeful the groups could reach a compromise, but hes absolutely concerned the spat could derail the whole package.

Unfortunately, these special interest groups just cant help themselves, Smith said. They put their stake in the ground and appear to be so rigid that theyre willing to allow everything to fail.

The governors proposal would lower Nebraskas top income tax bracket in phases, from 6.84 percent to 5.99 percent, in years when state revenue growth exceeds 3.5 percent. It also would cap the yearly growth of statewide aggregate land values when calculating taxes and change the way land is valued so that it more closely reflects a farmers potential income.

Ricketts said its crucial to keep the measures together because any tax package will need support from at least 33 senators to overcome an expected filibuster. Neither income nor property tax measures are likely to pass if forced to stand alone, he said.

Theres no doubt this is a challenge, Ricketts said last week. Its a lot of work to be able to find something we can all agree on, but thats really what the people sent us here for  to work on these difficult challenges and find compromise.

Farm advocates said the package wouldnt help much and instead support eliminating sales tax exemptions or a higher state sales tax to offset property taxes. Business groups strongly oppose that proposal, arguing income tax cuts would keep the state competitive and that property taxes are strictly a local issue.

Some senators say lawmakers shouldnt even consider tax cuts when the state faces longer-term challenges with its prison system, mental health services and an aging population thats likely to rely on government programs.

Nebraska also faces a projected $288 million revenue shortfall in its upcoming two-year budget. Even though the income tax cuts wouldnt take effect until 2020 if state revenue recovers, Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus said he hasnt seen any indication the states budget situation will improve.

Its really difficult to float a boat when you have no water, Schumacher said.

Lawmakers have focused mostly on property taxes in recent years because of a 2013 legislative study that found Nebraskas property taxes are higher than national and regional averages.

Senators should focus on rebalancing the three revenue streams to place less emphasis on property taxes, said Trent Fellers, a spokesman for Reform Nebraskas Future, a group aligned with the Nebraska Farm Bureau.

We think all of the focus needs to be on property taxes, Fellers said. That issue has been there for years and hasnt gone away. People across Nebraska want to see something meaningful happen on property taxes.

Statewide agricultural property taxes have soared by nearly 164 percent over the last 10 years, according to the Nebraska Department of Revenue. Local governments collected $1.2 billion in property taxes from farm and ranchland last year, up from $455 million in 2006.

Groups pushing for the income tax cut acknowledge the need to address property taxes but said its not a state issue because only local governments levy property taxes. Cutting income taxes will require state spending restraint, and using state money to lower property taxes will make major changes harder, said Jamie Karl, a vice president for the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

You cant address local tax spikes by doing tax shifts, Karl said. Tax shifts will not affect local property tax rates. That has been tried again and again and again. It just hasnt worked.

Karl said cutting individual income tax rates would help businesses because roughly 90 percent file as individuals rather than corporations.

He also pointed to a 1990 vote that raised the states sales and income taxes to pay for additional school aid, with the promise of lowering property taxes. The plan initially worked, but by 1992 property taxes had jumped by roughly 10 percent.

Steve Nelson, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, said state government influences property taxes through unfunded mandates and restrictions on local governments.

The state has a huge part in this, he said.

Nelson said lawmakers still have ample time to address property taxes even though theyre almost two-thirds of the way through the session. Nelson said his group doesnt oppose efforts to address income and property taxes, but argued that property taxes are a more pressing concern.

If the Legislature fails to deal with it in a meaningful way, it doesnt mean it will go away, Nelson said. That problem will still exist. The need to do something will only grow stronger.
Uganda: More than 3,000 South Sudanese fled into neighbouring Uganda on Tuesday after government soldiers attacked the border town of Pajok, killing men, women and children indiscriminately, refugees said.

The attack by government SPLA forces is the latest to hit southern towns near the Ugandan border as a three-year civil war spreads across the world`s youngest nation.

South Sudan government officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

"If you ran, you got shot. If you got arrested you got slaughtered," said 35-year-old Lokang Jacky, drawing his index finger across his throat for emphasis.

Refugees and Ugandan intelligence officials said fighting started at 8:00 a.m. on Monday with a three-pronged assault on the town, which is normally home to 50,000 people.

"The town is completely empty," a pastor who gave his name as Mondaa said. "If they catch anybody, they will kill them."

In late March, rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar said they freed prisoners from a jail in another border town of Kajo-Keji around 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital Juba.

But the government disputed this, saying the rebels had raided a prison, freed a number of people it described as prisoners-of-war, then left.

South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but slid into violence in late 2013 when rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his then-deputy Machar ignited a civil war that has often followed ethnic lines.

The conflict has displaced millions from their homes, split much of the population along ethnic lines and paralysed agriculture, leaving the country facing famine, according to the United Nations.
Columbia: US President Donald Trump set human rights scandals aside to welcome Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House 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.

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.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."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."
Cairo: Islamic State said on Tuesday the United States was drowning and "being run by an idiot".

In the first official remarks by the group referring to President Donald Trump since he took office, spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer said, ''America you have drowned and there is no saviour, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye."

"... There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is," he said in a recording released on Tuesday on messaging network Telegram.

Trump has made defeating Islamic State a priority of his presidency.

U.S.-backed forces are fighting to retake Islamic State`s two biggest cities - Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

"Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated," al-Muhajer said.

Trump is examining ways to accelerate the U.S.-led coalition campaign that U.S. and Iraqi officials say has so far been largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

The loss of Mosul, Islamic State`s last major stronghold in Iraq, would deal a major defeat to Islamic State.

US and Iraqi officials are preparing for smaller battles after the city is recaptured and expect the group to go underground to fight as a traditional insurgency.
New Delhi: Days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles, the National Green Tribunal has directed public sector oil companies to submit a roadmap to phase out all such diesel tankers which are not Bharat Stage-IV compliant.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum to hold a meeting along with representatives of their contractors and devise a mechanism to remove BS-III oil tankers.

The Supreme Court had earlier imposed a ban on sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant in India from April 1 when the new emission norms came into force.

'As far as the BS-III compliant vehicles run by the contractors under the tenders are concerned, within two weeks the Managing Directors of all the three companies along with representatives of the contractors shall hold a meeting and submit to the Tribunal a complete programme in regard to phasing out of all the diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old and are BS-III compliant,' the bench said.

The apex environment watchdog, however, directed the authorities not to renew registration of these vehicles in Delhi-NCR in the meanwhile.

The NGT had earlier directed oil companies to immediately stop plying Bharat Stage-I and Bharat Stage-II vehicles in the National Capital Region for transporting petrol or petroleum products.

The direction came while hearing a batch of petitions filed by various contractors seeking registration of new BS-IV compliant diesel vehicles purchased for transport of petrol from company depots to identified petrol pumps in Delhi-NCR.

The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted by the government to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.

These norms were introduced in India in 2000, when the Bharat Stage norms were adopted by the then government, based on the European emission norms.

Each stage specifies a certain limit on the pollutants released, which is controlled by the type of fuel made by the oil companies and the upgradations and modifications made by the auto firms to their vehicles to control the pollutants released from the vehicle.
Pic courtesy: Thinkstock Photos

Lord Ram  also known as Maryada Purushotttam Ram  the man of great principles  is one of the many revered Hindu Gods, worshipped by millions across the globe.

Sanatana Dharma  popular as Hinduism  is not a religion but a way of life. Every aspect of this faith is symbolic. Indian epics and sacred texts teach humanity, the fundamentals of life on earth and thereafter.

Ramayana, has been written, re-written and reproduced in many languages by great saints and scholars. But the crux of the sacred epic remains the same. The life of Lord Ram is in itself a lesson to be learned, followed and adhered to.

Heres taking a look at why, one could aspire to be like Lord Ram:

Devout Son:

Ram, the eldest son of King Dasaratha, could have claimed his right to the throne of Ayodhya but instead chose to give it away to his younger brother Bharat, at the insistence of his step-mother Kaikeyi.

King Dasharatha, who loved his eldest child the most of all his sons, was helpless, as Kaikeyi abused one of the boons promised by her husband years before. Shedemanded Ram's exile and kingdom for her son Bharata.

Lesson: Love and respect parents. Make sacrifices for younger siblings and those in need. Give importance to family values.

Faithful Husband:

Lord Ram left no stone unturned to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of Lankeshwar or Ravana, who abducted her. Separation from Sita left Ram immeasurably agonised. However, the will and determination to find her, made him wage a war against Ravana, so that he could respectfully take her back home.

Later, after becoming the King of Ayodhya, Ram was compelled to ask Sita to leave the kingdom, after his subjects question him of his wifes integrity. As a King, it was his duty to keep his subjects happy. And hence he had to choose his people over his wife. But despite being a king, who could marry any number of women, Ram chose not to remarry. He remained loyal to his wife - Sita alone and remained Eka Patni Vrata, one who vowed to have only one wife.

Lesson: Be loyal to your spouse.

An Able King:

Ram belonged to the Suryavanshi dynasty, which produced kings of great valour. The fact that he decided to give in to his subjects demand of sacrificing his wife, whose purity was challenged, proves Rams responsibilities towards them. He received flak for abandoning his wife, but did not go against his Dharma.

The biggest dharma of a king is to keep his subjects happy.

Lesson: Do your duty, and adhere to your dharma.

A Helpful Friend:

Lord Ram helped Sugreeva fight his greedy brother Bali. Sugreeva was made the king of Kishkinda. The Lord also thanked Vibhishana by crowning him as the King of Lanka.

Both Sugreeva and Vibhishana helped Ram in the war against Ravana.

Lesson: Be grateful, helpful.

A Compassionate Human Being:

This compassionate Prince of the great Suryavanshi clan didnt have any reservation in eating the fruits (ber) already tasted by poor old woman Shabari.

While trying to find Sita, Ram noticed a squirrel helping the vanarsena build a bridge across the ocean. He picked the tiny being in his hands and gently stroked it with compassion to acknowledge its efforts.

Lesson: Be loving and a gentle human being.
Rupesh Dutta /IANS

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.
Saeed Naqvi/IANS

In Ahmed Kathrada`s death in Johannesburg at age 87, students of South African history have lost a precious resource person with a unique perspective on one of the world`s great national liberation movements -- how it peaked, then lost its fizz.



On February 11, 1990, I was among the willing throng of the world`s journalists, waiting outside Victor Verster prison near Cape Town, waiting for history`s most iconic political prisoner to walk free after 27 years in the Apartheid regime`s captivity. It is difficult to communicate the heady excitement of the moment.



It might interest anti-meat enthusiasts in India that the first meal out of prison Mandela asked for was "Indian curry and rice". His host for the night, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, tossed in a few more items to make it more decorative. That is when I first met Kathrada or "Kathy" as everyone, including Mandela, affectionately called him. Out of prison Mandela seemed to constantly require by his side a transistor radio set to one frequency, BBC`s Africa Calling, and, if possible, Kathy.



Mandela`s dependence on Kathy manifested itself when he occupied the President`s office in Pretoria. Kathy was given the adjacent room as his adviser. Although, he had become the second-most powerful man in South Africa, he was so modest in his mannerisms that he almost looked embarrassed holding high office.



Kathy had spent almost as many years as Mandela in jail, most of it in the same prison, Robben Island, a turbulent boat ride away from Cape Town, a more vicious version of Alcatraz from San Francisco.



It was in the yard of the prison where the plot was hatched to smuggle out chapters of the "Long March to Freedom". In this project, Kathy became the lynchpin.



In 50 years of journalism, it has remained one of my most cherished stories for a singular reason: Mandela confided in me all the details (they became common later) in his Johannesburg bungalow after he had handed over the Presidency to his successor, Thabo Mbeki.



Throughout the narrative (with an impish smile) he played with Amina Cachalia`a hand. I shall dilate on this fascinating digression later.



The conspirators had rationed out the work according to their respective talents. "I would hand over the first draft to Kathy to check out factual details -- you see, I have never in my life met anyone with a better memory." Only after Kathy had edited the draft was it shown to "comrade Walter Sisulu for ideological consistency".



"All this could be arranged from cell to cell -- which overlooked the yard, where prisoners assembled before being taken to the lime quarries for their day`s labour."



The next step was loaded with high voltage suspense: how was the final draft to be smuggled past the heavily guarded gate to the prisoner`s cages?



The genius for this vital step was Laloo Chiba, with silver hair and eyebrows, a wheatish complexion and eyes which were unexpectedly blue. "He had a talent for very fine, miniaturised writing." From a matchbox, he would slide out the card-board tray stacked with match sticks. Keep the sticks in a drawer, and carefully steam out the rectangular paper, the size of a large postage stamp.



Chiba would pack a thousand words on the reverse side of this "postage stamp"; another thousand on the cardboard. With grains of cooked rice, the paper was neatly stuck to the bottom of the tray.



At the appointed hour, when there were no guards in the courtyard, the match box was tossed out of the window, to be picked up in the morning by one of the "conspirators". It was left to the resourcefulness of "Comrade" Mac Maharaj to smuggle the manuscript out of Apartheid South Africa.



Having sacrificed their lives for South Africa`s liberation, did leaders like "Kathy" depart with a sense of fulfillment? He spent his last years as a guide at Robben Island. That was more nostalgia for the years of struggle than a celebration of victory. Yes, the yoke of apartheid was lifted. But, at this distance in time, that was all.



When South African Communists (most of them doubled up as The ANC for tactical reasons) returned from the Italian Communist stalwart Enrico Berlinguer`s funeral in June 1984, described by historian Paul Ginsborg as "the greatest spontaneous civic demonstration in the history of the Italian Republic", there were stars in their eyes. Mikhail Gorbachev, though, still a few months shy of taking over as the Soviet leader, was among the world statesmen at the funeral. The Left seemed to be on the ascendant everywhere - in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Afghanistan. ANC/Communist leaders like Sisulu, Kathy and Joe Slovo hoped to win riding that crest.



Ironically, Gorbachev lost control of his Glasnost, Perestroika agenda. He supervised the liquidation of the Soviet Empire. History took an unimaginable turn.



There was now no question of any victory for SA leaders. The victorious system`s project was globalization. Freed of the Soviet fear, the West would now, for its own convenience, open the prison doors for Mandela and his cohorts to walk free. They would be brought into focus as pliant victors.



Gavin Relly, chairman of Anglo-American, South Africa`s most powerful company, told me on camera that "Mandela would, we hope, pursue sensible economic policies". It may not have been a degrading bargain (Kathy protested) but a bargain it was.



The first Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, was not in Robben Island. In fact, in 1994, the World Economic Forum selected him as "Global Leader for Tomorrow".



Where South Africa has been led is in plain view. Similarities with our own partitioned freedom from a Britain exhausted by war are purely coincidental.
Anil K. Rajvanshi/IANS

Last month, my mother, who is 92, fell in the bathroom and broke her pelvic bone. I live in the rural town of Phaltan in western Maharashtra and to get a simple X-ray done was a nightmare.



We called the local orthopaedics hospital and they sent a ramshackle ambulance. How an old Maruti Omni van got permission to ply as an ambulance is anybody`s guess. Even a healthy passenger would feel sick and his/her bones would be rattled in that ambulance while going over the potholed roads of Phaltan. Some of the worst roads in the country are in Maharashtra, especially in rural Maharashtra.



The driver of the ambulance also doubled up as the paramedic and his callous and non-empathetic attitude almost broke my mother`s heel. He almost threw my mother on the stretcher! Most of the ambulances in rural areas are like that with hardly any facility to help the patient. I had to use an old saree to tie my mother to the stretcher so that her broken pelvis did not shake very much.



At the hospital, after a good deal of arguing, we got her X-ray done quite quickly. Otherwise it takes forever to get it done. Since the pelvic bone was fractured, the doctor advised complete bed rest and told us to take her home. In such cases, there is no surgery needed but just plain bed rest so that the broken bone heals by itself. That is also the reason why I did not take her to Pune for treatment.



We brought her home and were immediately confronted by the stark reality of who will take care of her nursing needs. We tried to locate nursing care in Phaltan but were unsuccessful. Even the hospitals do not provide that facility. The relatives of patients do that in most rural hospitals.



Finally, after great difficulty and searching, we got a 24-hour help (who had almost no training as a nurse) from Pune. This helped relieve our emotional and physical stress.



Searching the net and talking to my doctor friends, I have finally been able to convert my mother`s room into a home health-care facility. This includes the adjustable hospital bed with an air mattress and a specially fabricated small wheel-chair, which can navigate the narrow passages of the house and can go into the bathroom. I feel I could get all this done because of our resources and ability to spend time searching for solutions on the net. Most of the rural population does not have this luxury.



Another tragedy in rural areas is that no doctor wants to do a home visit. No matter how ill or old the patient is, they insist that he/she should be brought to the hospital or their clinic. I was able to get a person who was not an MBBS doctor but could administer saline or do basic dressing for bed sores. That was a partial relief.



Secondly, I was greatly helped by my brother, who is an orthopaedic surgeon in Australia. He constantly advised us on the basic care and his telemedicine greatly helped us.



Very frequently I have seen that in rural -- and also in urban -- areas, the missing ingredient in patient care is good nursing facilities. Putting a patient in hospital (whether he or she is terminally ill or suffering from non-life-threatening ailments) means endless headache for relatives, who have to stay in the hospital, undertake the nursing care of the patient and run continuously to get medicines and medical supplies. Besides, the hospitals charge exorbitant amounts for surgeries and for lots of unnecessary tests performed on the patient.



The government has mooted quite a number of good schemes which provide hospitalisation for below poverty line (BPL) patients and take care of their bills through insurance cover. Yet I have seen these schemes misused by doctors and hospitals where they admit the patients at the slightest pretext and charge them the full amount even for minor ailments. The money is then paid to the hospital by the insurance company.



Our medical care system in rural areas is, therefore, quite broken with very greedy doctors and hospitals that, in collusion with insurance agents, fleece both the patients and the government.



A hospice or home-care health system might alleviate this problem greatly.



This system will rely on specialised agencies that provide trained nurses (at nominal cost) for homes, simple equipment like small wheelchairs, beds, commodes and the like, and qualified doctors on duty who can respond through the internet or mobile phone to the queries from the nurses - and, in an emergency, make home visits. At present there are no such agencies but they are urgently needed.



For the terminally ill, a home-care system which provides nursing care and basic equipment will be extremely helpful. He/she will be surrounded by family and nursing care given by trained nurses will help relieve the pain.



Financially, this system will be much more viable than having a dedicated hospice facility. The financial arrangements on how the government can help organisations in facilitating such a system need to be worked out. A possible solution could be to provide insurance coverage for such a home-care system.



Also such a facility can provide home-care for patients who are discharged from the hospitals. Too often, relatives and the family have to provide prolonged post-operative care --which they are ill-equipped to do. Such a facility could be a boon for those patients.



In urban areas, better medical facilities, including good ambulances, can provide timely care. In rural areas, in the absence of such facilities it is very necessary to have a home-care facility.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two persons in connection with its crackdown on 500 shell companies suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money.

The agency identified the two as G D Reddy and K Liakath Ali and said they have been arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in separate cases during follow-up action against the shell companies.

The ED had conducted raids on April 1 across 16 states with sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down allegedly dubious and suspicious firms which the agency believes are the "backbone" of black money in the country.

These teams had visited at least 110 locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar and Indore besides some in Haryana.

The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.

Shell companies are firms set up with nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies and no dividend income or high amount of cash-in-hand.

Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.
New Delhi: Continuing its crackdown on shell companies and money laundering, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested two people and attached properties worth over Rs 100 crore in multiple locations across the country.



The ED arrested G. Dhananjaya Reddy from Bengaluru and K. Liakath Ali from Chennai in separate cases of alleged money laundering. It attached assets worth over Rs 61 crore in the multi-crore synthetic drug racket case in Punjab, while in Chhattisgarh it attached assets worth Rs 36 crore of suspended IAS officer B.L. Agrawal, who is alleged to have laundered money through numerous fake bank accounts.



The agency also attached assets worth Rs 5 crore in connection with the money laundering case against Surat-based "hawala operator" Afroz Fatta and his associates.



Informing about the twin arrests, an ED official told IANS that Reddy had floated more than 20 shell companies and obtained loans through dubious means.



An engineering graduate from Bengaluru, Reddy defrauded United Bank of India of Rs 70 crore by "submitting forged or fake documents and by impersonation".



Facing three cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), he was sent to two days` ED custody by a Bengaluru court.



The second accused Liakath Ali -- nabbed from Chennai -- was involved in cheating Indian Bank, Thousand Lights Branch, Chennai, using eight shell companies and remitted $11,778,120 (Rs 78 crore) out of India, against forged Bill of Entries without effecting any actual imports, said the official.



Ali and his brother Eliyas Peer Mohamed masterminded the fraud by opening fictitious accounts in the names of shell companies like Galaxy Impex, Green International, and Snow City and Company.



The agency attached over Rs 36 crore worth of properties of Agarwal, who was the Principal Secretary (Higher Education) in the Chhattisgarh government, and was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).



The attached property belongs to Agarwal and Raipur-based Prime Ispat Ltd, a company owned by his brothers.



According to the Directorate, Agarwal laundered money amassed by him through various fake bank accounts.



With "active connivance of bank officials", Agarwal is alleged to have opened 446 benami bank accounts in the names of villagers in the Union Bank of India, Raipur.



The agency said that the funds were moved from the benami bank accounts to 13 shell companies operated by Agrawal, by way of investment.



The CBI had in 2010 registered cases against Agarwal on charges relating to impersonation, cheating and disproportionate assets. The Chhattisgarh Police, too, had registered a disproportionate assets case against him.



Meanwhile, in the multi-crore rupee drug racket in Punjab, the ED effected attachment of Rs 61.61 crore worth of properties of Amritsar-based businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal and his kin.



The attached properties include showrooms, agriculture land, houses and seven luxury cars.



Probing the money laundering aspect in the scam against several state politicians, the ED so far has attached Rs 95 crore worth of properties.



The agency also attached Rs 5 crore worth of assets belonging to Madanlal Jain, an accused in a money laundering case involving Hawala operator Afroz Fatta.



Through a chain of shell companies, Fatta and his accomplices are alleged to have funneled over Rs 5,000 crore to foreign based companies.



The ED on April 1 conducted nationwide searches at over 100 premises in 16 states against 300 shell companies.
Turkey: Kurdish militants detonated a bomb which killed three Turkish soldiers in southeast Turkey, a provincial governor`s office said on Tuesday, adding that five rebels were killed in clashes in the region.

The violence occurred as the military conducted operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Uludere area of Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq, the governor`s office said. It did not say when the deaths occurred.

Five Turkish soldiers were also wounded in the remotely-detonated bomb blast, the statement said, adding that army operations in the area were continuing.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK`s insurgency, which it launched against the Turkish state in 1984. It is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July 2015 the mainly Kurdish southeast has suffered some of the worst violence since the conflict began.

In the last five months alone, the Turkish armed forces have killed 886 PKK militants in southeast Turkey and the mountains of northern Iraq where the PKK leadership is based, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday.
Brussels: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday ruled to uphold a visa ban on an Iranian student who applied to German universities to study "sensitive security topics".

The student had a masters degree from a university that is subject to European Union (EU) restrictive measures, as it supports the Iranian government, and she had received a scholarship for a doctorate in information technology security in Germany, with a particular focus on the security of mobile systems and their protocols, Efe news reported.

"The Court observes in this respect that the collection of confidential information in western countries, internal repression or, more generally, human rights violations are purposes contrary to the maintenance of public security," said the ruling.

According to the ECJ, national authorities have the right to reject visas for public security reasons, though they must state proper reasons for the visas` refusal.

The German government had tried to justify its decision by claiming that the knowledge she could acquire could be later misused in Iran for malicious purposes, such as gathering confidential information in Europe.

The German court that first refused to grant the student a visa consulted with the ECJ to clarify EU countries` scope with regards to rejecting visas for security purposes in a way that would not interfere with the European directive on the promotion of the EU as a world centre of excellence in education.

The ECJ ruling considered that it was up to national authorities to decide whether a visa applicant posed a security threat and the German court would have to decide whether her rejection was justified.

"The German court will have to ascertain whether the decision to refuse the student a visa is based on duly justified grounds and a sufficiently solid factual basis," the ruling added.
London: Two 15-year-old boys broke into the grounds of the Parliament and were arrested, Scotland Yard said on Tuesday, days after the deadly Westminster terror attack that killed four people.

The Metropolitan Police said the incident was not being treated as "terrorist-related" and the two boys were arrested and have been released on bail until May.

"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 Met Police statement said.

"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," it added.

The police stressed that the trespasser did not gain access to any building.

The security breach follows Khalid Masood's attack on the Parliament complex at the Palace of Westminster.

Four people died and 50 injured when lone attacker Masood rammed a car into pedestrians on the bridge, before crashing his vehicle and fatally stabbing an on-duty police officer in the grounds of Parliament. Masood was shot dead by police at the scene.
[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press occasion on the explosion that occurred on a subway in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation at the Prime Ministers Office.

The Prime Minister said the following,

I would first like to offer my condolences to the victims and extend my sympathy to all those who were affected. Terrorism is absolutely intolerable. Japan stands in solidarity with President Putin and the people of Russia during these difficult circumstances. Japan is resolved to combat terrorism in close cooperation with the international community.






New Delhi: After Supreme Court's refusal to allow liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways to sell liquor, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul) has now come up with a unique solution to help thousands of highway liquor shop owners who are likely to be affected by it.

The Managing Director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul) has now proposed converting nearly 16,000 liquor vends into Amul milk bars and contribute to building a healthy nation.

RS Sodhi, Amul MD, took to micro-blogging website Twitter to push forward his suggestion, in the light of the Supreme Courts recent ruling against liquor shops, hotels and pubs along national and state highways.

We invite all these 16000 liquor shops/ bars to open @Amul milk bar for gainful employment and healthy nation building. R S Sodhi, Sodhi tweeted.

The apex court ban is likely to affect one million jobs, according to NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant.

The unique proposal from the Amul MD came days after the apex court refused to allow liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways to sell liquor, in view of road accidents due to drunk driving.

In the case of areas where the population is below 20,000, the limit was reduced to 220 metres.

The apex court order came into effect on April 1.

The top court completely relaxed its order for two states, Sikkim and Meghalaya, owing to topographical constraints.

In a move to avoid the apex courts ruling, the Rajasthan Public Works Department (PWD) denotified state highways to urban roads on Tuesday, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said the government is inviting suggestions to explore a middle path to help hoteliers and restaurant owners affected by the ruling.
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday accused the centre government of harassing and destablising the state government, alleging that central agencies like the ED and CBI were being misused against political opponents.

Terming the action being taken against him as a "well-planned conspiracy" to destroy his public image in the run-up to the assembly polls, he said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was concealing facts and giving out a "concocted" value of the assets seized by it just to "sensationalise" the matter.

"The Centre had been using its full might to harass and destablise a duly elected government and the ED and the CBI were being misused to probe `bogus` charges, even though nothing incriminating had been found so far," Singh said in a statement.

Noting one could expect political opponents to distort facts to derive mileage, he said it was a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency was behaving in such a manner.

The ED on Monday attached the Rs 27.29 crore Delhi farmhouse of Singh in a money laundering case.

The ED`s move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 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.

The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister said that the farmland in question was purchased for only Rs 1.20 crore by the company Ms Mapple, promoted by his son Vikrmaditya.

According to the statement, Virbhadra Singh had given Rs 90 lakh to his son from his personal account through proper banking channels and the remaining amount was paid from his personal accrued funds. "His family took friendly loans amounting to Rs 5.90 crore from V Chandersekhar and the amount had been paid back in full with interest long time back and accounted for tax appropriately," it said, adding that the said property was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore but the ED gave its value at Rs 27 crore.

"It turns out that an officer Ajay Singh, whose wife is a BJP MLA from UP, was assigned the duty of assessing Maple as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi... instead of assessing the revenue, he made malafide conclusions that the property was worth Rs 27 crore.

He was supposed to assess the incomes. Now the ED was using the baseless revenue assessment figure of Rs 27 crore to sensatonalise the matter to malign and defame him (Singh)," the statement said.

Singh said that all this was a matter of record yet he and his family members were being harassed and persecuted using multiple central agencies since 2013, and the "extent to which these agencies were being misused could be judged from the fact that even marriages of daughters and helping son to build a legitimate career was being construed as a criminal offence and draconian laws were being made applicable in matters which were of revenue nature and non-cognizable".

Singh said that he would take appropriate legal remedies to contest all persecution and not only come out clean but also politically victorious as the people of Himachal had full faith in him.
Hyderabad: Acting on a complaint made by a woman, the Telangana Police on Tuesday arrested her husband for sending a triple talaq message through a postcard.

According to reports, Mohammad Haneef (38), a supervisor at a textile showroom, was arrested in Kukatpally.

He got married to a 26-year-old woman from Talabkatta on March 9.

A day after the marriage, Haneef left the house and informed his wife that he is undergoing a treatment at a private hospital, reported oneindia.

On March 19, the wife received a postcard from Haneef in which he had written talaq three times and said that the decision was taken in presence of two people.

He later gave her a call regarding the same.



The woman then went back to her parental house in Talabkatta and apprised her parents of the the incident.

The police registered a case of cheating and arrested Haneef from his house.

Triple talaq is a controversial Muslim practice that has been debated and is being challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court is likely to take up the matter whether or not to ban the practice on May 11.
New Delhi: The government is mulling ways to deport over 10,000 Rohingya Muslims, who belong to Myanmar but are currently living in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir government is also exploring ways on how to identify and deport them.

The Rohingya Muslims, who are mostly living in Jammu and Samba districts, entered into the state illegally through either Indo-Bangladesh border or Indo-Myanmar border or travelling through the Bay of Bengal.

The issue of Rohingya Muslims 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 SP Vaid on Monday.

"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.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: China should refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of India, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju reiterated on Tuesday amid continuous Beijing's objections to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Minister of State for Home said Arunachal Pradesh is India's inseparable part.

The Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh is completely religious and no political purpose should be derived from it, said Rijiju.

He further said that India respects 'one-China' policy, but also expects Beijing's reciprocal attitude.

"There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs," he told reporters here.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and a "full-fledged state".

"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that soon it would be resolved.

"I appeal to China not to rake up Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as a status of the state can't be questioned," he said.

Meanwhile, the External Affairs Ministry said today that no "artificial controversy" should be created around the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit.

The Ministry also asserted that the government has clearly stated on several occasions that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected by the Indian people.

"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," the Ministry said in a release.

The government, therefore, urges that no "artificial controversy" should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, it said.

During his Arunachal Pradesh trip, the Dalai Lama will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.

The Dalai Lama, who was set to reach Tawang today, was forced to change his schedule due to bad weather, and will now reach Bomdila by evening. The Tibetan Spiritual leader will make a public appearance in Bomdila tomorrow. After staying there for two days, he will proceed to Tawang.

China has been voicing its displeasure over the visit of the Tibetan leader to Tawang for a Buddhist festival, saying by allowing it, India was risking "serious damage" in the ties between the two nations.

China considers Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of southernmost Tibet.

India has maintained that the Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere in the country and has visited the northeastern state in the past too.
New Delhi: Two days after Prashant Bhushan called Lord Krishna a 'legendary eve teaser', the lawyer on Tuesday apologised for it after controversy erupted over it.

Taking to Twitter, Prashant Bhushan wrote, "I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads&Krishna was inappropriately phrased&unintentionally hurt sentiments of many ppl. Apologize&delete it (sic)."

I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads&Krishna was inappropriately phrased&unintentionally hurt sentiments of many ppl. Apologize&delete it  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 4, 2017

Bhushan has been facing flak for his tweet insulting Lord Krishna.

Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Bagga had also filed a complaint against Prashant Bhushan for 'derogatory' tweet against Lord Krishna.

What did he tweet on Lord Krishna?

Prashant Bhushan tweeted, "Romeo loved just one lady,while Krishna was a legendary Eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes AntiKrishna squads?"

Bhushan gave this comment in response to a tweet by Swaraj India's Chief Spokesperson Anupam.

Screenshot of deleted tweet

Anupam had written on Twitter, "Anti Romeo Squad: India's tribute to Shakespeare! Won't b surprised if England, to fight eveteasing, forms Anti Krishn Squad in retaliation!"
New Delhi: In an apparent snub to the United States, India on Tuesday maintained that its position regarding the bilateral redressal of all issues with Pakistan remains unchanged.

The Indian govt believes that all disputes with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally and without third party mediation, the External Affairs Ministry said in response to a US suggestion that President Donald Trump could play a role in de-escalating tension between India and Pakistan.

"The government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed. We of course expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

The reaction from the MEA came after US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that US would "try and find its place in efforts to de-escalate India-Pak tensions and not wait till something happens."

The US is concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself may get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists, Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, said on Monday.

"I would expect that the administration going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process)."

She added, "And also wouldn`t be surprised if the President participates as well."

India has so far opposed any external involvement in bilateral issues with Pakistan.

Attacking Islamabad for its support to terror, India said, "the terrorism emanating from Pakistan continues to be single biggest threat to peace in our region and beyond."

"We of course expect international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.
Beijing: India is using the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to upset China and New Delhi should deliver on its political commitments to Beijing on Tibet related issues, state-run Chinese media said on Tuesday.

The 14th Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang bordering China will hurt Sino-Indian ties because China opposes any official invitations to him, the Global Times quoted an unnamed Chinese analyst as saying.

"The Dalai's visit to the controversial area, especially Tawang, which China hopes will be returned, will affect relations between China and India," an analyst from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the paper on condition of anonymity.

"India (is) using Dalai Lama's visit to upset Beijing," the paper quoted the analyst as saying.

The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader today arrived at Bomdila in West Kameng district, marking the beginning of his nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"India should deliver its political commitments to China on Tibet-related issues, including opposition to separatists," he said, noting that China would take steps against any government which invites the Dalai Lama.

He said Tawang is also the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, which gives the place religious meaning to Tibetans.

Reacting to Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks that the Dalai Lama's visit is "purely religious," and that there is no political angle behind it, the expert said this is not the first time India has used the Dalai Lama to express its displeasure to China, especially when bilateral talks fail to include their demands or to "pander to domestic anti-China issues".

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, which is currently on a holiday for the Tomb sweeping festival, has not responded to a query seeking its reaction to External Affairs Ministry remarks as well as comments by Rijju over the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as southern Tibet.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Marijuana had earlier said that no political motive should be attributed to the Tibetan spiritual leader's trip to the northeastern state.

"India has always been non-interfering in the neighbours' internal affairs in our approach," Rijiju told reporters here.

"In the same manner, we expect the same from our neighbours," he said.

"When Dalai Lamaji is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement and he is not there with any political motive."

Rijiju, who himself hails from Arunachal Pradesh and is scheduled to go there on Wednesday to meet the Dalai Lama, said India has never questioned China's sovereignty and "has respectfully adhered to the one-China policy".

"So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters," he stated.

With PTI inputs
Singapore: The Islamic religious leader who made offensive comments against Christians and Jews will be repatriated.

Imam Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, hailing from India had been working in Singapore at the Jamae Chulia Mosque since 2010 on a work permit, the Straits Times reported.

The Imam pleaded guilty yesterday for promoting hatred between the two communities on religious grounds and bringing in disharmony.

"Nalla has paid the fine. He will be repatriated," said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement on Monday.

Earlier in February, a video of the Imam was circulated online, in which he was seen reciting a prayer in Arabic that read "God help us against Jews and Christians".

Last Friday, he apologised for his remarks and also clarified that that the text was not from the Quran but from an old Arabic text having its roots in his village in India.

The Imam apologised to a group of leaders of various religious groups, including those from the Christian faith on Friday.

Meanwhile, the police have issued strict warning to other two Muslims Singaporeans connected with the video.

Out of the two, one had uploaded the video on Facebook while the other had supported the Imam's remarks.

However, the two have tendered public apologies through the MHA.
Lucknow: Senior BJP leader and MP Subramanian Swamy will meet UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Reportedly, the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will be an important part of the discussion when the two leaders meet.

Talking to media, Swamy confirmed, "He (UP CM) told me - come to Lucknow we'll have meeting. Yes I'll certainly discuss Ram temple but this is unofficial meet."

According to sources, Ram Circuit will also be discussed.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma met Yogi Adityanath and discussed various issues pertaining to UP tourism.

The Supreme Court had directed to resolve the sensitive issue of rebuilding the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya out-of-court.

The top court's direction came after Subramanian Swamy sought an urgent hearing with the Supreme Court to appeal for the building of a Ram Mandir in the much disputed Ayodhya site.
New Delhi/Beijing: China has announced that it would establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province, similar to those established in Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The New Area, about 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing, will span three counties that sit at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei`s provincial capital Shijiazhuang.

Xiongan New Area will eventually cover an area nearly three times that of New York, the Guardian quoting official sources said.

This is another new area with national significance after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area, according to a circular issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council.

The move is a "major historic and strategic choice made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core," said the circular.

The move will help phase out non-capital functions from Beijing, explore a new model of optimized development in densely-populated areas, and restructure the urban layout in the region, according to the circular.

The New Area will cover around 100 square km initially and will be expanded to 200 square km in mid-term and about 2,000 square km in the long-term.

It is the latest step in China`s efforts to reduce traffic, air pollution, and population growth in overcrowded, smoggy Beijing.

Authorities hope that the Xiongan New Area will be a new centre for growth in the world`s second-largest economy, which last year expanded at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century.

The decision to set up Xiongan New Area is a key stroke in solving urban woes and creating new growth, said a commentary carried by the website of the People`s Daily, flagship newspaper of the CPC.

Xiongan and Tongzhou will form "two wings" for Beijing and create new room of development for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the commentary said.

With Agency Inputs
New Delhi: United Kingdom Chancellor of Exchequer P. Hammond on Tuesday said that extradition request for liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been made by India, adding it will be proper for the concerned ministers to discuss it.

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that extradition of absconding Mallya has been certified by Secretary of State of the U.K. Government and soon a warrant would be released against him."Somewhere in the month in the month of February, the home office of the U.K. Government conveyed that India`s request for extradition of Mallya has been certified by Secretary of State and sent to Westminster Magistrate court," MEA official spokesperson Gopal Bagley told the media here.

Earlier in March, the Supreme Court fast-tracked the proceedings against Mallya and reserved its order on contempt proceedings against him for allegedly diverting $40 million to his children`s accounts in foreign banks in violation of court orders.A bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit reserved its order on whether or not Mallya was guilty of contempt and what action should be taken to bring back the money.

The court concluded the proceedings after a three-and-a-half-hour hearing during which the Centre contended that Mallya was mocking the Indian system after fleeing the country. It said the government was holding talks with U.K. authorities to get him deported.The apex court had started proceedings against Mallya a year ago and had issued notice to him on March 8, 2016 on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for recovery of about Rs. 9,000 crore which the businessman and his companies owed to them.The liquor baron, however, fled the country days before the apex court took up the case against him.

Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi urged the court to direct Mallya to bring back the $40 million which he had received from Diageo. He told the bench that Mallya had breached court orders and his refusal to bring back the money had aggravated the breach and he should be directed to appear personally before the court.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked Pakistan to stop backing militancy in the state and enable restoration of peace so that a dialogue process could begin.

"It is my appeal to those across (the border) that they should renew the policy of not supporting militancy or the gun that they had adopted during (Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee's time," she said addressing an election meeting in Dooru in Anantnag constituency.

"Help us restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir and then talks will take place here and across (PoK) as well," she added.

The Chief Minister was campaining for Mufti Tassaduq Hussain, her brother and ruling PDP candidate for by-poll to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat vacated by her last year.

Mehbooba said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"Narendra Modi went on his own to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new hope was attached to it but unfortunately Pathankot (terror attack) happened," the Chief Minister said.

"These (tense) times will not last forever. Vajpayeeji used to say that you can change friends but not the neighbours. We have to live with each other cordially," she added.
Jabalpur: Referring to factionalism in his party, the AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said that nobody can save Congressmen if they fail to change themselves.

"If Congressmen don't improve now, then nobody can save them," Singh told reporters when asked about overall 'groupism' in the party.

"People who have scant respect for the party and try to dominate others, should go in midst of people and work for them. Everybody should be respected in the party," Singh said.

Responding to a query on the Congress' failure to form government in Goa despite emerging the single largest party in Assembly polls, Singh said, "wallets were opened (in Goa), which, we couldn't do."

Singh, who is in-charge of Goa affairs of Congress, said that he has been "wrongly accused of holidaying in Goa and for the failure of the Congress to form government there."

Eventually, the BJP under Manohar Parrikar formed government in the coastal state though the saffron party had finished second behind the Congress in the polls.

A section of leaders in Congress in Goa had blamed Singh for letting Goa slip out of hands of the party which had won 17 seats in the 40-member House, whereas BJP was restricted to 13.

"Had I gone for tourism in Goa, then my party couldn't have improved its tally to 17 seats from 6 and emerged as the single largest party," he said, adding that the Congress had fought for India's Independence and will continue to struggle for the cause of common people.
Mumbai: A fire broke out on Tuesday in a warehouse in suburban Kurla here but no casualties have been reported, fire officials said.

The blaze erupted around 2 PM in a foot-wear and plastic godown near Eastern Express Highway in Kurla, Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale said.

Six fire engines and seven tankers have been pressed into service to douse the flames, which have been brought under control now, he said.

No injuries or casualties have been reported in the incident until now, he said.

The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, the fire official said.
New Delhi: Motorola is all set to launch the Moto G5 in India on Tuesday. The phone will be Amazon exclusive.

Motorola has tweeted:

Set your alarm for 12:15 pm tomorrow to tune into the live unveiling of the #motog5 & watch the event as it happens! https://t.co/yW2t5Kce44  Moto India (@Moto_IND) April 3, 2017

The much anticipated Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus were launched at Mobile World Congress 2017 (MWC), the world`s largest mobile industry event being held in Barcelona.

The Moto G5 Plus was launched in India last month.

Lenovo-owned Motorola's Moto G5 has a 2,800 mAh battery offering up to 24 hours of battery life.

Moreover, users can be always connected thanks to its rapid charging, which enables hours of battery with only a few minutes of charge, Xinhua news agency reported.

With a Snapdragon 430 processor, the Moto G5 has a 13 MP rear camera with autofocus software and a 5-inch screen with Full HD resolution.
Mumbai: A 24-year-old youth committed suicide by jumping out of the window of a five-star hotel in Bandra (West) on Monday evening.

The incident took place at Taj Lands End Hotel at around 6.30 pm.

Just before doing so, Arjun Bharadwaj shot a video and uploaded it on a social networking site.

In the Facebook Live video, he is heard saying it is a tutorial about how to (commit) suicide.

He can also be seen consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes in the one minute and 43 seconds long video.

As per police, Bhardwaj left nine short suicide notes on the table in room number 1925.

The third year B.Com student of Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics in Vile Parle (West) had checked into the hotel at 3.00 am on Monday.

A security official at the hotel said that the youth broke the window glass using a chair.

"Bharadwaj checked in into the hotel around 3 am. He stayed in the room all day. The video shows that he had cigarette, alcohol, and food before committing suicide," said a police officer of the Bandra police station.

After he broke the glass, he jumped through the window. He left a suicide note saying he was badly depressed, addicted to drugs and hence took the step, said Nivrutti Thakare, the senior inspector at the Bandra police station.

"He wrote that no one should be held responsible for his decision. He also said sorry to his parents in the note," said a police officer.

As soon as the incident came to light, Bharadwaj was rushed to Leelavati Hospital but was declared brought dead.

It was later found out that he had been staying as a paying guest in Andheri (West) for the last four years.

"It seems he was under depression because he repeatedly failed in his third year engineering exams," said police.

Bhardwaj hailed from Bengaluru.

An accidental death report has been registered in the case.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police urged youngsters to reach out to them. Deeply bereaved with suicide of a young boy in the city. We urge the youngsters to reach out to us #WeAreListening, tweeted Mumbai Police.
New Delhi: In the face of China`s protest over the Dalai Lama`s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday that no political motive should be attributed to the Tibetan spiritual leader`s trip to the northeastern state.

"India has always been non-interfering in the neighbours` internal affairs in our approach," Rijiju told reporters here.

"In the same manner, we expect the same from our neighbours," he said.

"When Dalai Lamaji is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement and he is not there with any political motive."

Rijiju, who himself hails from Arunachal Pradesh and is scheduled to go there on Wednesday to meet the Dalai Lama, said India has never questioned China`s sovereignty and "has respectfully adhered to the one-China policy".

"So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters," he stated.

Asserting that Arunachal Pradesh is not a disputed territory, the Minister said: "We have certain issues with regard to delineation of the boundary on the spots, on the ground along McMohan Line because it is not being demarcated on the ground.

That is why there is a talk between the special representatives of India and China and the people of Arunachal Pradesh hope that an amicable solution can be reached in the foreseeable future time."

Rijiju`s remarks came after India`s official statement earlier in the day that no "additional colour" should be given to the Dalai Lama`s visit this month.

"The government has clearly stated on several occasions that HHDL (His Highness Dalai Lama) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," it said.

"The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh."

China in March said ties with India would be hit if New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing.

China`s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Beijing was concerned over India permitting the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the northeastern state of India.

Geng said China was strictly opposed to the impending visit by the Dalai Lama.

"China is strongly opposed to the Dalai Lama visiting disputed areas," he told a regular press briefing.

Geng said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it South Tibet. Besides, it accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activities in Tibet.

According to the Dalai Lama`s office, from April 5 to 7 he will give teachings at Yiga Choezin in Tawang. On April 10, he will offer teachings at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang.

A day later, the Dalai Lama will be at the Buddha Park in Bomdila and on April 12 he will talk at Thupten Gatsal Ling in Itanagar.

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is home to one of the most sacred Buddhist monasteries.

The Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled into exile in 1959. Moreover, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century.
Itanagar: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has rescheduled his visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh as his chopper could not take off due to inclement weather in the region and will instead reach Bomdila in the state by road from Guwahati on Tuesday.

The Dalai Lama is expected to reach Bomdila in West Kameng district by late evening, his private secretary said.

Tomorrow, the spiritual leader is scheduled to visit Dirang, 14 kilometers from Bomdila and on Thursday he will go to Tawang before visiting Itanagar on April 12.

The Dalai Lama will deliver a discourse at the Buddha Park in Bomdila tomorrow.

On April 6, he will give teachings at Dirang and confer the 'Avalokiteshvara Permission' at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in the morning.

From April 8 to 10, the Dalai Lama will deliver discourses in Tawang.

The Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh comes eight years after his previous visit in 2009.

The previous visit came exactly 50 years after he had passed through the town on his way from Lhasa in Tibet to India.

Amid persistent Chinese objections to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh, India said today that no "artificial controversy" should be created around the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit.
New Delhi: Ace comedian Kapil Sharma was away from social media for quite some time now. It was being said that the 36-year-old actor has been staying offline due to the much-talked-about Sunil Grover mid-flight fight controversy. But, interestingly, the 'Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon' hunk was up to something else all this while.

Kapil on Monday took to Twitter to inform his followers that he has been shooting in the forests of Rajasthan. And, this is the reason why he was not active on the social media. "Thank u all for ur love n best wishes.. shooting in forests of rajasthan .. so couldn't come on line.. love always..stay happy," he tweeted.

The 'The Kapil Sharma Show' star was not online even on his birthday. Hence, he also thanked all his fans and friends for the warm wishes.

Thank u all for ur love n best wishes.. shooting in forests of rajasthan .. so couldn't come on line.. love always..stay happy  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) 3 April 2017

Kapil recently made headlines for misbehaving with Sunil in an inebriated state. As a result, some of the most popular faces of his television program have boycott his show.

It is still not clear whether or not Kapil and Sunil will join forces once again!
New Delhi: It wouldnt be wrong to say that actor Hrithik Roshan is one of the best dancers that Bollywood has ever produced. But, can you ever imagine, what would happen if the Greek god of B-Town joins forces with the Bhojpuri music.

Let us tell you! The result would be totally epic. How do we know? Well, some notorious minds on the social media recently mashed up Duggu's dance from 'Kaho Naa .. Pyaar Hai' with popular song 'Lagawelu Jab Lipastic'.

And, oh boy, the clip is breaking the internet. It is hilarious yet interesting enough to set your foot tapping. Have a look:

The video was shared on Facebook by DailySocial.
New Delhi: Ever since Kamya Punjabi announced late Pratyusha Banerjee's last short film, things have turned out to be pretty rough for her. Now, it is being said that the 37-year-old actress can can even land up in jail for six months for releasing it.

The story of the 18-minute short film (produced by Stay Tuned Media) revolves around the depression and ego that drives a young girl to commit suicide.

Pratyusha had essayed the role of the female lead and the name of the main male character in the film is Rahul. The late actress's Pratyusha's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh filed a defamation case against Punjabi assuming the character was a depiction of his personality. According to reports, Singh managed to get a stay order on the film.

However, according to Kamya, she reportedly didnt receive any stay order and this is the reason why she went ahead with the online release of the film.

"I don't know why Kamya Punjabi is in denial. Her maid had signed on its receipt. She can be jailed for 6 months for contempt of Court. She is not understanding the gravity of the Court order.,"DNA quoted Rahul's lawyer as saying.

He further said, "I hope she takes advice from some lawyer."

More details awaited.

(With IANS inputs)
Mumbai: Vinod Khanna has been hospitalised due to "severe dehydration". Khanna was hospitalised in HN Reliance Foundation and Research Centre in Girgaum on Friday night.

His son, Rahul, says the doctors are looking to discharge him soon.

"Dad was hospitalised on Friday for severe dehydration. The situation was quickly brought under control, he's doing much better and the doctors are looking to discharge him soon," Rahul told PTI.

"Our family is most grateful for the extraordinary care he's been receiving at the hospital and we are touched by all the good wishes pouring in," he adds.

Hospital sources also confirmed that the actor is recovering well and is much better.
New Delhi: New Delhi: After a gap of five years, State Bank of India has decided to reintroduce penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts from April 1, and revised charges on other services, including ATMs.

The new charges will also be applicable for account holders of the five associate banks including Mahila Bank that have merged with SBI.

The country's largest bank will permit savings bank account holders to deposit cash three times a month free of charges and levy Rs 50 plus service tax on every transaction beyond that.

In case of current account, the levy could go as high as Rs 20,000.

Check out the following chart and know about the new changes.

Here is what you should know about Cheque books

One Time Locker Registration Charge is now Rs 500 plus service tax for Small/ Medium lockers while Rs 1000 plus service tax for Large/Extra large ones.

Breaking open of Locker:Loss of Key or Non-Payment of Locker Rent will cost 1000 plus service tax, in addition, actual expenditure incurred for breaking open the locker and changing the lock by manufacturers of lockers will also be levied.

Locker Visit Charges (All sizes): 12 visits free. Thereafter: Rs 100 plus service tax per visit.

*Chart sourced from SBI Website
Pune: In a shocking incident, a daughter of a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Yavatmal district of Maharashtra was on Monday attacked allegedly by a spurned man with a sharp weapon in Wakad area in Pune.

The 22-year-old woman sustained injuries on her hands in the incident which took place outside the premises of the college in which she studied.

Ashwini is the younger daughter of MLA Sanjeev Reddy Bodkurwar from Wani-Yavatmal constituency.

As per police, the suspect, a 25-year-old native of Haryana, was studying MBA along with the woman at the college in Wakad.

Rajesh Praveenkumar Bakshi (23) alias Raj has been arrested under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.

According to the police, the suspect 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 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 is being treated at a private hospital here.

According to mid-day, the attack took place after the girl complained against the man to her college management.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: In 1953, renowned physicist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Arthur Converse, a science teacher, in reply to a two-page questionnaire submitted by him.

Today, in 2017, the letter concerning electrostatic theory and special relativity has managed to fetch a whopping USD 53,503 at an auction.

With an opening price of USD 15,000, the letter was bought by an unidentified person.

The letter had been in the Converse family's possession for many years, said Sam Heller, a spokesman for the Nate D Sanders Auctions auctions that sold the letter.

The letter's envelope indicated it was sent from 'Room 115' of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, on September 7, 1953 and seems to answer questions about Einstein's theory of relativity and how to reconcile the theory with experiments, 'Live Science' reported.

Converse was a science teacher and had sent Einstein a questionnaire regarding experiments with electroscopes, which are charge-measuring instruments.

The famous physicist also wrote an opening page that says one should expect to measure a potential difference, a voltage, whose level depends on the distance from the Earth's surface.

Einstein wrote that the only assumption one needs to make is that there is some difference in the charge of the surface of the Earth and the upper atmosphere and that the electroscope, in this case, would behave as though it were inside a charged sphere.

One question bears a question mark and a bit of mathematical notation from the famous physicist, who appeared to think the query was poorly phrased and defined.

In response, Einstein said there is no problem with explaining an experimental result with "standard electrostatic theory."

"It is clear to the reader [that] Einstein was interested in Converse's questions and generous in his considerate response," said Nate Sanders, owner of Nate D Sanders Auctions.

"These documents provide a rare glimpse into Einstein's generous nature and willingness to help teachers better understand and communicate his theories," Nate said.

(With PTI inputs)
Washington: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has travelled half the distance from Pluto and will continue on its path through the outer regions of the solar system.

According to NASA, the spacecraft is now heading towards its next target, 2014 MU69, which is the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) and the probe will fly past it on January 1, 2019.

The spacecraft was 782.45 million kms beyond Pluto and the same distance from MU69.

Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado said, "It's fantastic to have completed half the journey to our next flyby; that flyby will set the record for the most distant world ever explored in the history of civilization".

New Horizons will begin a new period of hibernation later this week.

In fact, the spacecraft will be sleeping through the April 7 halfway timing marker to MU69 because mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland will have put the spacecraft into hibernation two hours beforehand.

In addition to its historic Pluto encounter and 16 subsequent months of relaying the data from that encounter back to Earth, New Horizons has made breakthrough, distant observations of a dozen Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs).

It has collected unique data on the dust and charged-particle environment of the Kuiper Belt and studied the hydrogen gas that permeates the vast space surrounding the Sun, called the heliosphere.

Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist from APL said, "The January 2019 MU69 flyby is the next big event for us, but New Horizons is truly a mission to more broadly explore the Kuiper Belt."

Weaver added, "In addition to MU69, we plan to study more than two-dozen other KBOs in the distance and measure the charged particle and dust environment all the way across the Kuiper Belt".

New Horizons spacecraft is currently 5.7 billion kms from Earth. At that distance, a radio signal sent from the operations team - and travelling at light speed - needs about five hours and 20 minutes to reach the spacecraft.

(With IANS inputs)
Rameswaram (TN): Eighteeen of 38 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy between March 21 and 26, were released by the island nation today and will be handed over to India this afternoon, officials said.

Sri Lankan naval personnel will hand over the fishermen to the Indian Coast Guard at the International Maritime Boundary Line at 12 noon, 'Q' branch Inspector Kennedy and Assistant Director (Fisheries) Kulangainathan said.

The fishermen would later proceed to Karaikal and reach there by around 4 PM, they said.

On March 21, 10 fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing near Katchatheevu on charges of crossing the IMBL.

The following day, 16 more fishermen from Nagapattinam and Rameswaram districts were arrested in two separate incidents on the same charge.

On March 26, 12 fishermen from Pudukottai district were arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in the island nation's territorial waters.
Mumbai: The return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya after winning a fierce battle against Demon King Ravana in Lanka marks the victory of good over evil. The Prince of Ayodhya returned to his place of birth after living in exile for fourteen long years with his wife Sita and younger brother Lakshman.

During their 14 year long journey, the trio, was forced by circumstances to visit a number of places.

This Diwali, if you wish to retrace the journey of Shri Ram, heres an article that will help you know the places that were once visited by the divine man himself:

Ayodhya:

Ram Janmabhoomi or Ayodhya is a pious destination for all the devotees of Lord Ram. This is the place where the Lord was born to queen mother Kaushalya and King Dasharath.

Prayag:

After crossing the mighty Ganga, Ram, Lakshman and Sita arrived at Prayag to Sage Bharadwajs Ashram. It is believed that the sage suggested them to stay in Chitrakoot.

Chitrakoot:

Rams younger brother  Bharat  is believed to have visisted this place when the Lord was in excile to request him to get back to Ayodhya after learning all what his mother Kaikeyi did to his faher-like-brother.

Panchavati:

This is the place where Shurpanakha, sister of Ravana tried to entice Lord Ram. She eventually got a befitting response from Lakshman, who cut her nose as punishment.

Kishkinda:

This is believed to be the place where Lord Ram helped Sugreeva ascend the throne after killing Bali.

Rameshwaram:

Ram and Lakshman were helped by Sugreevas monkey army to build a bridge over the ocean to reach Lanka where Sita was held hostage by Ravan.

Lanka:

This is the place which is believed to have witnessed the battle between the good and the evil. Lord Ram won the war against demon king Ravan, freed his wife Sita and took her back to Ayodhya.
Lucknow: The first Cabinet meeting of the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government will take place here on Tuesday.

The meeting will be presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Shastri Bhavan.

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.

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. Since then, there have been informal meetings of the state cabinet ministers but no official meeting.

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 PTI earlier.

Some officers were of the opinion that the cabinet could take a decision and formulate a policy in this regard later, but the Chief Minister insisted that the decision was taken once the policy was clear, so that there were no hurdles.

Following this, senior officers were engaged in working on various options before the matter could be placed before the cabinet.

(With Agency inputs)
Lucknow: Giving a push to the much talked about Ramayana Museum in Ayodhya, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma on Tuesday met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and held detailed deliberations on starting the project, part of the Ramayana circuit of his ministry.

"We had a detailed discussion on the works related to Ramayana museum which had run into some problems during the previous government even though the Union government was all set to release Rs 154 crore for the project," Sharma said after the meeting.

"I have full faith that the central and state governments will work together to boost tourism and spiritual tourism in the state and UP will become a hub of tourism in the country," he said.

Soon after taking over the reins of the state, the Chief Minister had on March 21 met Mahesh Sharma in Delhi and reportedly discussed the construction of Ramayana museum in Ayodhya.

BJP sources had said Adityanath has accepted the Centre's proposal for the museum and agreed to provide land for it in a week's time.

Sharma, who promised that work will also be undertaken for developing the Buddhist circuit and Sonebhadra for boosting tourism, had in October last year visited Ayodhya. He had also talked about building a Ramayana museum just before the Assembly polls in UP.

The previous Samajwadi Party government had identified a 25-acre plot for the museum which is some 15 km away from the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex.

The museum will be part of the Ramayana Circuit for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 225 crore, with Rs 151 crore exclusively for Ayodhya, which would be the hub of the circuit.

"Ram is in the heart of millions of people. As the Tourism Minister, I have to see how Ayodhya can be developed, how Ramayana circuit can be developed from tourism point of view," the minister had said, drawing criticism from political opponents who termed it as an attempt at polarisation of Hindu votes.

Sharma had earned the wrath of rivals including BSP supremo Mayawati, Congress and the DMK. These parties had accused the Modi government of linking religion with politics and also questioned the timing of the move.

The Union govenrment has identified three circuits - Ramayana Circuit, Krishna Circuit and Buddhist Circuit - to boost religious tourism in the country.

Sources in the government said there were plans to connect Ramayana-related sites in Nepal and Sri Lanka with the proposed museum which would portray the epic journey of Lord Rama.

The government also plans to hold an International Ramayana Conclave in Ayodhya or Chitrakoot district to be attended by delegates from about 12 countries, sources said. The date for the conclave has not yet been finalised.
Ghaziabad: Two men were involved in the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl here in Uttar Pradesh and one of them has been arrested, police said on Tuesday.

Police arrested Shakti Khan at Indirapuram on a tip. He admitted to his involvement in the crime, Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar told the media here.

The officer said Khan admitted that he and Afroz raped the girl before Afroz murdered her. A court has sent Khan to judicial custody.

The girl, who went missing on Friday, was found dead in a house under construction on Saturday night.

Afroz was a tenant of the girl`s family but had been asked to vacate his accommodation. Residents said Afroz shifted to a nearby house but held a grudge against the family.
Lucknow: Delivering on BJP's poll promise to small and marginal farmers, the Yogi Adityanath cabinet on Tuesday decided to waive off farmers crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh, totalling a staggering Rs 36,359 crore, at its very first meeting.

The move will benefit over 2.15 crore farmers, besides 7 lakh others who had secured loans which turned into non- performing assets (NPAs).

The Yogi Adityanath cabinet decided to float Kisan Rahat Bonds for raising Rs 36,359 crore required for waiving loans of small and marginal farmers who form 92.5 per cent of the total 2.30 lakh farmers in the state.

31 , 2016             ,  31 , 2017        #Farmers pic.twitter.com/CxrlaPRnDM  CM Office, GoUP (@CMOfficeUP) April 4, 2017

The decision comes a fortnight after Adityanath took over the reins of the state on March 19 after BJP and its allies stormed to power in the 403-member Assembly capturing 325 seats, an over three-fourth majority.

Briefing mediapersons after a 90-minute meeting of the cabinet, minister Siddharth Nath Singh and Srikant Sharma said Rs 30,729 crore was required for waiving loans of small and marginal farmers.

Besides, there were about 7 lakh other farmers who had taken loans which turned into non-performing assets ((NPAs). In order to bring them back into the mainstream, their outstanding dues of Rs 5,630 crore have also been written off.

The loan waiver promise was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state party president Keshav Prasad Maurya and it is the duty of the government to fulfil the promise made in BJP's 'sankalp patra' (manifesto) and the Yogi government was moving ahead in this direction, the two ministers said.

In the past, farmers in the state had suffered because of successive drought and hailstorm.

Singh said Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act mandated that no state can allow its fiscal deficit to grow beyond three per cent of its GDP. Hence, funds for meeting the expenditure on loan waiver would be raised through Kisan Rahat Bonds.

Taking into account the problems faced by potato growers, who face immense hardship in case of bumper crops, the cabinet decided to set up a three-member committe headed by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to see how they can get adequate remuneration for their produce.

The ministers said the committee will also look at how to help the potato growers.

The ministers said the cabinet also decided to raise by Rs 10 per quintal the minimum support price for wheat procurement as loading and unloading charges. The MSP for wheat it Rs 1,680 per quintal.

A target of 80 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procurement has been fixed for this season and, in the first phase, half of it will be procured, they said. The ministers said instructions have been issued to ensure direct procurement from farmers and that they should not be harassed.

In order to check illegal mining, the cabinet decided to constitute a group of ministers. The GoM headed by Maurya will give its report in a week.

The ministers said the cabinet also took up the issue of investments in UP for setting up industries so the youth get better employment opportunities in the state itself.

For this, a five-member GoM headed by another Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has been constituted. It would visit other states and study their industrial policies.

The GoM will study the policies of BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh among others for preparing an industrial policy for UP for enhanced investment through a single window system.
Brussels: The regime of Bashar al-Assad bears "primary responsibility" for a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in Syria, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said today.

"Today the news is awful," Mogherini said in an interview with media organisations in Brussels on the sidelines of a EU-UN conference that was meant to focus on the post-conflict situation in Syria.

"But this is a dramatic reminder that the situation on the ground continues to be dramatic in many parts of Syria," Mogherini said.

"Obviously there is a primary responsibility there of the regime because it has responsibility of protecting its people not attacking its people."

The EU and the UN are co-chairing a two-day conference to follow up on a London meeting last year which raised $11 billion (10 billion euros) for aid programmes to help the devastated country.

It is also looking at "post-agreement assistance" once troubled UN-backed peace talks move forward, the EU said.

Former Italian foreign minister Mogherini admitted it was surreal" to be talking about the post-conflict situation but said the world had to plan ahead.

"I know it can sound surreal to start planning peace when in middle of conflict but... You hear this more than anything else, they want peace and want to get out of this terrible situation," she said.

The conference aimed to keep funding at the level of the London conference for three years and check if London pledges have been delivered on.

"The message is on the human side we do not want to see the human support for Syria and Syrians diminishing," she said.
Brussels: Fourteen migrants were injured on Tuesday when a van crashed into a highway safety barrier during a police car chase in Belgium, prosecutors said.

Five of the seriously wounded, who include two minors, are in a critical condition, Belgian prosecutors said in a statement.

Police first spotted the vehicle early Tuesday driving on the wrong side of the road about 40 kilometres (24 miles) south of Brussels, and a car chase ensued.

All the victims were illegal migrants to Belgium, the statement added.

Police said the driver of the van was under arrest and would be questioned later in the day.

Belgium is a major transit point for human traffickers who arrange to move illegal migrants across the English Channel to Britain.
Manila: China and Southeast Asian countries have made progress in talks on a code of conduct for the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine acting foreign minister said on Tuesday.

China claims almost the entire waterway, through which about $5 trillion in sea-borne goods pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

"We have made good progress on coming up with a framework for a code on conduct with China," Philippine Acting Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said, adding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China were more than halfway through identifying the contents.

"From a scale of 1-10, we are at the upper level. Remember, we were starting from zero in January. There have been a number of elements agreed and we would definitely have a framework on which to embark a serious negotiation on a code of conduct."

Negotiators from China and ASEAN have met in Indonesia and Cambodia in the last two months to try to come up with a final draft, which could be approved ahead of the August meeting by Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila.

Manalo also said Manila would hold talks with Beijing next month to tackle "issues of concern regarding the South China Sea", including China`s militarisation of several manmade islands in the Spratly Islands.

The bilateral mechanism is one of two dialogues held by China with claimant states. The other is with Vietnam.

The United States, the Philippines and Vietnam have protested against China`s militarisation of the Spratlys.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea when they meet on Thursday and Friday at Trump`s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Beirut: A suspected gas attack, believed to be by Syrian government jets, killed at least 58 people including 11 children under the age of eight in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a war monitor and medical workers said.

A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming out of their mouths, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical sources who described it as a sign of a gas attack.

The air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the south of rebel-held Idlib, also wounded more than 60 people, said the Observatory, a British-based war monitoring group.

Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib`s health authority, said the attack had killed more than 50 people and wounded 300.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a reported victim with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost naked children squirming on the floor.

The Syrian military source denied allegations that government forces had used chemical weapons, dismissing the accounts as rebel propaganda.

The Army "has not and does not use them, not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place," the source said.

A joint inquiry for the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog has previously accused government forces of toxic gas attacks.

Damascus has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year-old war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and created the world`s worst refugee crisis.

Reuters photos showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets were lined up on the ground.

Warplanes continued to pound the town after the attack, including near a medical point where victims were being treated, the Observatory said.

Most of the town`s streets had become empty, a witness said.

The Syrian conflict pits President Bashar al-Assad`s government, helped by Russia and Iranian-backed militias, against a wide array of rebel groups, including some supported by Turkey, the United States, and Gulf monarchies.

Syrian and Russian air strikes have pounded various parts of Idlib, according to the Observatory, despite a ceasefire that Turkey and Russia brokered in December.

The province contains the largest populated area controlled by rebels - both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Idlib`s population has ballooned with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months.

US air strikes since January have also hit several areas in the rural province where jihadists have a powerful presence.
Since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, I thought it might be a good idea to shed a little light on the issue of child abuse in our communities, and highlight a resource that is available for the victims and their families. In fiscal year 2016, there were 245,388 calls to the Child Abuse Hotline in Illinois. Of those there were 20,102 indicated reports of abuse or neglect in Illinois that led to case openings. 90 percent of local foster care kids have been neglected and 10 percent have experienced abuse. Sadly, neglect causes more long-term harm to children.

The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) must bring the facts to the court which decides if there is enough evidence to prove a child was abused or neglected. If there is enough evidence, the judge awards temporary custody to DCFS and a court case begins.

A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer is then appointed to the case.

Kristen Bertrand, Executive Director of CASA of East Central Illinois, provided me with a lot of information about this topic and CASA. CASA volunteers are highly trained and look out for the best interests of the children only. CASA does not duplicate the services of DCFS. They observe parent visits and monitor what services the parents are completing. More importantly so they can advocate for the children, they really get to know the childrens strengths and areas of growth, their wishes, needs, educational strengths, and their relationships with the parents and siblings, etc., so that they can be a voice in court for those children - asking for what is in their best interests. Reunification with parents may or may not be what is best for the children. CASA volunteers meet the needs of our community by ensuring that the needs of abused and neglected children are being met, by investigating into their current and former way of life, and by reporting their findings to the juvenile court, giving the juvenile judge a broader platform from which to make decisions. Breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect then aids the entire community by improving classrooms, reducing poverty rates, reducing teen pregnancies, and helping children become responsible and caring adults.

CASA of East Central Illinois covers Coles and Cumberland County and is located at 651 Jackson Avenue in Charleston. They report that in 2016, advocates gave 123 children a voice in court and there are currently 88 children that are wards of the state in both counties.

Anyone wanting to contact CASA can call 217-348-0599 or check out their website at www.casaeci.org This organization is a wonderful resource available in our area.
Washington: US President Donald Trump spoke on Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and pledged Washington`s "full support" for Moscow`s response to the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro, the White House said.



Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. Russian authorities said they were probing an "act of terror."



"President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice," the White House said in a statement about the phone call.



"Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated."



There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion in Saint Petersburg, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists.



Earlier Monday at a White House event, Trump described the attack as "a terrible thing."



Trump`s phone call with Putin comes as the US Congress investigates Russian interference in last year`s Presidential Election.



American intelligence alleges that Putin directed a campaign to tip the US election in Trump`s favor.
Baghdad: The US-led international coalition on Tuesday bombed Islamic State (IS) positions in Iraq's Mosul city, killing four key commanders, military officials here said.

According to a statement issued by the Military Intelligence, the coalition airstrikes hit several positions in the al-Tanak neighbourhood in western Mosul, Efe news reported.

The warplanes of the international coalition resumed bombings on Tuesday after a 16-hour suspension of operations due to bad weather.

On February 19, Iraqi security forces began an offensive in western Mosul, two weeks after concluding operations to expel IS from the eastern section of the city.

The IS seized Mosul in 2014.
London: The deadly bomb blast in St Petersburg shows the need for joint efforts against global terrorism, Russian agency RIA Novosti quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.



"(This tragedy in St Petersburg) once again shows the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil," Lavrov said at a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldayev.



The attack which has now killed 14 people is now thought to have been carried out by a man born in Kyrgyzstan.


London: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz held meetings with a parliamentary delegation from Britain at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, a statement said.

During the meeting, the two countries discussed strengthening of cooperation in the areas of trade and investment.

Aziz "highlighted the progress made by Pakistan during the last four years in counter-terrorism, economic development and democratic consolidation," the press release said.

The delegation recognised the role the country has played in "promoting international peace and security as well as its contribution in regional stability," the press release said.

Commending the role of Pakistani diaspora in Britain, the delegation called for greater interaction between the two countries.

The adviser also gave a briefing to the delegation regarding the country`s "efforts for regional peace and initiatives aimed at promoting regional connectivity."

Aziz also apprised the delegation of the human rights violations taking place in Jammu and Kashmir and the current state of Pakistan-India relations, the statement said.

The Britain delegation arrived in Pakistan on April 2 and will conclude its visit on April 8.
Islamabad: A Pakistani money changer, known to have links with terror outfits like the LeT, JeM and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been sentenced to 68 months in prison and slapped with a hefty fine of USD 250,000 by a US court for laundering money for militants and criminal groups.

Altaf Khanani was one of the principal directors of Khanani and Kalia International (KKI), a leading money exchange and transfer company, which had been involved in money laundering for over a decade.

He was convicted on March 29 by a United States District Court in Florida after spending more than a year in a Miami jail, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Khanani was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit laundering.

The remaining 13 counts of actually committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution, which cited Khanani's cooperation in the investigation after he agreed to plead guilty and "to make a full, accurate and complete disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offense conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.

The agreement says the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing because Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.

For over a decade, KKI was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world for a clientele that the US Treasury department says included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian organised crime groups and designated terrorist organisations, the report said.

"Altaf Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Dawood Ibrahim, al-Qaida, and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the treasury department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.

Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

In June 2015, Khanani was indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a USD 250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The investigation spanned across the US, Australia and the UAE and was carried out by multiple law enforcement bodies, including the DEA, FBI, US Customs and Border Protection, Australian Federal Police, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the UAE Police and Central Bank.

He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.

Initially he pleaded not guilty to all charges and demanded a jury trial. But on November 1 last year, changed his plea to guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and the US Attorney's Office agreed to drop the other 13 counts and seek leniency in sentencing in return for his cooperation in the investigation.
Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has fired the interior minister, his spokesman said Tuesday as infighting and corruption allegations rock his government.

Ismael Sueno, who supervised Duterte`s war on drugs that has left thousands dead, was fired on the spot at a cabinet meeting late Monday, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

"The summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the cabinet," Abella added.

He did not say what these decisions were, but added the sacking formed part of Duterte`s "drive for a trustworthy government by addressing issues like corruption".

In a statement issued Monday, hours before his sacking, Sueno, 69, vigorously denied any involvement in corruption, blaming other followers of Duterte for circulating such allegations against him.

"My advocacy against corruption has been strong. My belief is the same as President Duterte in fighting this. So this accusation against me is impossible," said Sueno, a former provincial governor and city mayor.

Sueno said he was being badmouthed by three junior ministers in the Department of the Interior and Local Government, like him also appointed by Duterte.

Asked if Sueno might face further charges, Abella told reporters: "Let us wait for the president to take his subsequent actions."

Sueno`s sacking comes a month after Perfecto Yasay left his post as foreign minister after Congress ruled that he lied to them over his US citizenship.

Abella said the loss of another cabinet member was not a sign of trouble but proof that Duterte was serious about restoring trust in government.

He did not say who would replace Sueno, though there has been speculation Duterte would appoint Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, son of the late Philippine dictator.

Former senator Marcos Jnr lost the vice presidential election last year but is contesting the outcome at an election tribunal.

In Congress, two other close Duterte allies, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Congressman Antonio Floirendo, have been publicly feuding for weeks with Duterte trying to stay out of the quarrel.

Alvarez has accused Floirendo, a key contributor in the Duterte election campaign, of corruption, but Floirendo denies the charge.

Duterte won election by a landslide in May largely on his promise to launch a war on illegal drugs.

Although the campaign has proved popular at home, the president has faced international criticism for thousands of killings that human rights advocates say were carried out as part of the anti-drug initiative.

The government denies the allegations.
Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to remove the Kurdish flag hoisted in the disputed oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, warning that its strong relations with Ankara were at risk.

Provincial councillors in Kirkuk province voted last month to fly the Kurdish regional flag, a move that angered Turkey which warily eyes Kurdish ambitions due to its own large Kurdish minority.

"I certainly find it wrong to fly a second flag in Kirkuk other than the national (Iraqi) flag," Erdogan told a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

"I am calling on the Iraqi Kurdish regional administration -- go back from this mistake as soon as possible," the president said.

Turkey enjoys burgeoning trade and energy ties with Iraq`s autonomous Kurdish region, with its leader Massud Barzani a frequent visitor to Ankara.

Barzani and his faction are seen as opponents of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey since 1984 and still keeps its rear bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.

But Ankara says it opposed flying the flag because it does not want any change to the demographic make-up of Kirkuk, which is also home to Turkmens and Arabs as well as a very small number of Christians.

"You would break your relations with Turkey," Erdogan warned.

"We enjoy good relations right now. Do not break them. Take those flags as soon as possible."

"Otherwise, pardon me but you will have to take a step back from the point we have reached now."

Iraqi Kurds have mooted holding a referendum on Kirkuk`s status, a move that would risk a full blown crisis in relations with Turkey.

The United Nations has also warned that the decision to fly the Kurdish flag over the citadel in Kirkuk could inflame tensions.

Erdogan and other Turkish leaders regard Kirkuk as part of Turkey`s regional sphere of influence, noting that it was for centuries part of the Ottoman Empire before its defeat in World War I.
Singapore: Battle-hardened Southeast Asian Islamic State (IS) fighters returning from the Middle East following the group's setbacks are expected to rebase in the southern Philippines, a security conference heard on Tuesday.

Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups, said speakers at the Milipol conference on homeland security in Singapore.

"Currently, IS is moving towards creating a territory in southern Philippines. The most recent communication issued by IS has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines," counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told the conference.

"Our forecast for 2017 is that the threat in this region will grow because of the creation of an IS nucleus in the southern Philippines," added Gunaratna.

"The instability in the southern Philippines and the availability of weapons, internal displacement, refugee flows... Create the ripe conditions for foreign terrorists to come," he told AFP after his speech.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam also told the conference that the southern Philippines "is becoming an area that is difficult to control despite the best efforts of the Philippine government".

"So that is an area that can serve as a sanctuary for returning fighters from the Middle East. It can be a place where would-be terrorists can go... They can train, arms seem to move fairly easily into that area," Shanmugam added.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy. Hundreds of radicals from the region, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, have flocked to join IS in Iraq and Syria.

But as IS suffers battlefield setbacks, officials and analysts fear these fighters would return to their home region.

Southeast Asia suffered its first IS-linked attack in January last year when extremists launched a deadly suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta.

In Mindanao, which has long battled a Muslim insurgency, a handful of groups have sworn allegiance to IS
Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday defended the appointment of former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of a Saudi-led multi-national military coalition saying the alliance is not against any country, a day after Iran raised its concern on the issue.

"The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country," Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Tuesday said during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here.

The meeting discussed the issue of clearance given to former army chief to lead the Saudi-led 41-nation military alliance and Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Referring to ex-army chief's appointment, Janjua said, "any retired military officer is free to accept any job."

Her remarks came a day after Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic republic'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.

Gen Sharif, who retired as Pakistan's army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim NATO', this month.

Janjua said Pakistan remains committed to its policy of non-interference in the conflicts of Muslim countries and ruled out any change in the policy regarding Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

She said Pakistan and Iran enjoy cordial and brotherly relations and have no border dispute between them.

Pakistan is trying to reduce tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, she said, but acknowledged that her country was finding it hard to maintain balance in ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the wake of appointment of Gen Sharif.

"It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Iran's interests," she said.

Gen Sharif will not act against Iran as the head of the military alliance, she asserted.

The former army chief's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the retired general to join a foreign military alliance.

Pakistan government is under pressure from opposition as it was asked by parliament in 2015 through a resolution to stay neutral in the conflict in Yemen.

It is feared that the alliance may be forced to intervene in Yemen in the name of tackling terrorism.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that statements by the Pakistan government and foreign office were contradictory.

He warned against any tilt towards Iran or Saudi Arabia in the conflict.

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.
Bangkok: Thailand's government on Tuesday agreed to buy 10 tanks from China for USD 58 million in the latest defence spending by a junta with a taste for Chinese hardware.

The military is replacing its US-made M41 rolling stock with Chinese VT-4 tanks, as it continues to upgrade its equipment three years after seizing power from a civilian government.

The Southeast Asian country has already snapped up 28 Chinese tanks and secured around $380 million for a submarine -- with cash being sought for two more.

Today the cabinet approved the purchase of 10 more VT-4s for around two billion baht ($58 million), Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.

"These are to replace the M41 tanks which we have used since World War II," he added.

Thailand is facing a decade-long insurgency in its southernmost provinces but rarely deploys tanks there.

Its last international conflict came during border skirmishes with Cambodia in 2011.

The kingdom's well-oiled military has ousted two elected governments in the last decade.

In parallel the defence budget has nearly tripled to around $6 billion.

Thailand's generosity to its armed forces has raised eyebrows, especially given the stuttering post-coup economy.

Critics say the military -- which boasts one of the highest proportion of generals in the world -- has a penchant for non-essential big ticket purchases, including an aircraft carrier which currently has no aircraft.

China has soaked up Thai defence spending.

That has raised questions over the kingdom's relationship with its oldest ally -- the US -- whose own policies towards Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia have been cast into uncertainty by the rise of protectionist President Donald Trump.

Thailand is among 16 countries that the US has a trade deficit with, something Trump's administration has promised to probe.

Thai junta leader and premier, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, on Tuesday urged his country not to "panic" as the US is yet to threaten action against the countries it has a trade imbalance with.
CHARLESTON -- A New York Christian college dean is the last of four finalists in the running for the No. 2 leadership spot at Eastern Illinois University and will be speaking to the campus community today.

Sibdas Ghosh, dean of Arts and Sciences at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., is scheduled to speak with students, faculty and staff today and Wednesday.

Ghosh is attempting to nab the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs position that will be vacant come sometime in the summer.

This will tie in to the departure of Blair Lord.

Lord, current EIU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, is retiring from the position sometime this summer. Early last year, Lord announced his retirement for June 2017 after a "no confidence" vote by faculty against him.

Whoever takes over the role will oversee academic departments and various services including financial aid, admissions, Booth Library, minority affairs and others. The provost is also a second to the university president.

Ghosh, also a biology professor at Iona College, hails from a smaller school than that of Eastern's with a student population of more than 4,000.

At the Catholic college serving the metro New York City area, Ghosh has overseen 30 undergraduate and seven graduate programs since 2013.

Ghosh also heads the Center for Social Research and the Center for Educational Excellence at the college, as well as leading the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic, according to his resume.

Ghosh studied in several aspects of biology throughout various areas in the world. He got a bachelor's in Botany Honors in India. He then earned two more degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level in the United Kingdom. He rounded out his education with a doctorate in Molecular Biology in Canada.

He will be talking with student, faculty and staff at three separate open sessions today.

The student body session is scheduled for 1-1:50 p.m. in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the University Union; faculty session, 2-2:50 p.m. in the same room; and staff session, 11:05 -11-50 a.m. in the same room Wednesday.
Brussels: The European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Tuesday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held "primary responsibility", after a suspected gas attack killed at least 58 people.

"Today the news is awful. This is a dramatic reminder that the situation on the ground still continues to be dramatic in many parts of Syria," Mogherini told reporters.

"Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people."
District of Columbia: The White House on Tuesday confirmed a "reprehensible" and "intolerable" chemical attack had taken place in Syria and pinned the blame squarely on Bashar al-Assad`s regime.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump had been briefed extensively on the attack, and suggested it was in the "best interest" of the Syrians for Assad not to lead the country.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible," Spicer said, saying the administration was "confident" in its assessment that Assad was to blame.

Earlier today, the European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said that Assad held 'primary responsibility', after a suspected gas attack killed at least 58 people.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council will be briefed tomorrow at the request of Britain and France, on a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.

A suspected gas attack, believed to be by Syrian government jets, killed at least 58 people including 11 children under the age of eight in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday.

However, the Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming out of their mouths, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical sources who described it as a sign of a gas attack.

The air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the south of rebel-held Idlib, also wounded more than 60 people, said the Observatory, a British-based war monitoring group.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. A year ago, once again violating the ceasefire Azerbaijan launched a large-scale aggression against Artsakh, and the Defense Army soldiers gave respective response to the Azerbaijani forces: they were pushed back, however, dozens of Armenian soldiers, as well as civilians were killed for the defense of the Homeland, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan said in an interview with Armenpress.

The people united within a day, the Diaspora communities started to show participation or assistance through various measures to Artsakh, they stood together with it. The Artsakh authorities opened a special account, many people provided monetary assistance, protests, meetings, rallies, parliamentary discussions were held in various countries of the world for the support of Artsakh people and they managed to present the truth in different states by revealing the real face of aggression. Foreign political figures, reporters, artists, scientists joined them. The Parliament of Chile condemned Azerbaijans actions, the European, Armenian organizations engaged in the process, everyone knew the goal of an aggressor, she said.

The Minister said there were various proposals and forms for assistance: one wanted to come, renovate the soldiers house, the other one was sending his wedding ring to the first married soldier. It is worth mentioning that our compatriots of the CIS space gave hundreds of vehicles, night vision devices, various supplies facilitating the soldiers military service to the Defense Army. I must highlight the role of Armenian National Committee representatives who carried out huge work especially in Europe and US. Azerbaijans actions, military crimes they committed against soldiers, civilians were presented to political circles of various states. Those are issues which must be definitely investigated, Hranush Hakobyan said. She added the Diaspora really played a key role not only during the days following the April events, but also during the whole year.

It was difficult to stop the young people from many regions who wanted to visit Artsakh and were ready to fight for the defense of the Fatherland. Last year the 8th Pan-Armenian Forum of Journalists was held in Artsakh, hundreds of reporters held meetings with soldiers in the border, they saw their courage and pride, as well as their readiness to defend the Fatherland, the Minister said.

She stated that the Diaspora till now continues assisting Artsakh, soldiers in the border: several days ago 25 tons of aid was sent to Artsakh. There is a grandmother from France who every month sends packages to soldiers. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Army, we have launched a movement: Diaspora children sent thousands of letters to soldiers in the border. The assistance to Artsakh is continuous, and we as well must take various measures to make the Artsakh issue, its history more available for the Diaspora youth, Minister Hakobyan said.

Asked what support was exactly provided to the families of fallen soldiers, she said: The assistance of Diaspora-Armenians was coordinated through the cooperation with the Defense Ministry and we tried to send every assistance of Diaspora to families of fallen or disabled soldiers with their participation, Hranush Hakobyan said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The latest reforms in Armenias various administration fields and the factor of PM Karapetyan contributed to the Republican Partys victory in the parliamentary election.

Analysing the election processes, political scientist Garik Keryan told ARMENPRESS overall the results were expected.

All analysts and analytical centers mostly forecasted this kind of results. Indeed, there is logic in the fact that the ruling Republican party won. In the latest period, the appointment of the new prime minister, reforms, lessening of tax burden, new business methods, and implementation of new customs and tax policies contributed to it. We saw that these werent simply promises, these were real events. All this significantly increased the rating of the ruling party, Keryan said.

Keryan highlighted Prime Minister Karen Karapetyans factor. His image and new approaches in work gave results.

His interactions with the society for over half a year implanted the belief among the voters that the ruling political force will make fundamental reforms for improving the social-economic situation, he said.

For Keryan, the fact that the Tsarukyan bloc made it to the second place was also expected, because the image of the political force is entirely based on Gagik Tsarukyans charisma as a philanthropist and businessman.

The charity he had done in the previous 10-15 years gained very serious political capital for him. Naturally expectations from this political force were high. Many thought that Tsarukyan, being in the parliament, will be able to work in this manner. This belief took many to the polling stations to vote for the Tsarukyan bloc, he said.

Speaking on the Yelk alliance, the political scientist said the active political and campaigning work of this political force in the recent months was very effective.

But the people voted not for the Yelk blocs program, but rather for the personal charisma of its members. Being in the political field for many years, Nikol Pashinyan has a serious political image, Edmon Marukyan has very principles and effective political activities in the parliament, he found large support within the public, it was especially seen during the local self-governing election in Vanadzor. Aram Sargsyan is one of the old timers of the political field, a person not yet discredited in politics. The harmonious activities of these 3 leaders, their political image, ensured the party to pass the 7% threshold, he said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces made 60 ceasefire breaches in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, the defense ministry of the Republic of Artsakh told ARMENPRESS.

On April 3 and overnight April 4 Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime 60 times, firing more than 900 shots at Artsakh positions from various caliber firearms, including sniper rifles.

The Defense Army continued their service confidently and took countermeasures in case of necessity", the ministry said in a statement.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will be represented for the first time in the Cannes Film Market (Marche du Film) in 2017 in the Village International/Pantiero section  N226 paviliion.

The ministry of culture of Armenia discussed the participation bids for the Film Market of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

The ministry told ARMENPRESS 12 film projects were presented.

The following projects were selected by the jury.

Bars Media  Auroras sunrise

Sergo Ustyan  Exchange

Arthur Sukiasyan  The wounded city

The culture ministry had formed a special commission for the participation at the Film Market of the Cannes Film Festival, which is scheduled for May 17-28.

The commissions chairman is Arsen Baghdasaryan (filmmaking expert), members  Guzh Tadevosyan (representative of culture ministry), Hovhannes Galstyan (filmmaker, founder of Cinema center), Vardan Abovyan (producer, representative of Armenias national cinema center), Arman Yeritsyan (director), Narine Mkrtchyan (director).

The culture ministry is willing to present the film projects which didnt make it in the selection course in the Cannes film market, in case of receiving appropriate materials from the authors.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia released the U.S. statement on the parliamentary election held in Armenia on April 2.

Armenpress presents the full statement:

The U. S. Embassy congratulates the people of Armenia on their April 2 parliamentary election, following a period of widespread competition among various parties and blocs in an environment that allowed all viewpoints access to the media.

Election day was generally calm and orderly across Armenia and voters were able to freely exercise their right to vote. The U.S. Embassy concurs with the preliminary conclusions of the OSCEs Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Mission which assessed elections to have been well administered and fundamental freedoms generally respected, while noting the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying and pressure on voters.

We urge the Armenian government, political parties, and civil society to work together to address these concerns through existing or new legal and enforcement mechanisms.

For 25 years, the United States has been committed to supporting Armenia as it seeks to develop its democratic processes and institutions. During this election, we were proud to partner with the Armenian government, opposition political parties, and civil society  as well as with the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations Development Program  in implementing new voter identification technology. With the help of this new technology, procedures within polling stations on April 2 were generally administered without major incident and within guidelines set forth by Armenian electoral laws.

The United States will continue to monitor and analyze reports from international and domestic election observers, as well as the adjudication of election grievances during the post-election period.

Now that the election results are known, we encourage all parties  the government, the opposition, and civil society  to continue engaging in peaceful debate and discussion.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan issued a statement on the parliamentary election held on April 2, promising to spare no effort to build new Armenia.

Armenpress presents the full statement:

Dear compatriots,

The regular parliamentary elections were held on April 2. For all sectors of the society it is indisputable that the elections were held at a higher level than in previous years.

I want to thank all citizens of Armenia that took part in the election to demonstrate their active and responsible civic stance. The vote our team received is obliging. We clearly understand the responsibility we assume and are committed to implementing the mandate of changes given by people to us.

Consistent and hard work is expected for us in near future. Undoubtedly, there are a lot of things to do, however, we are not afraid of hard path. I say this from my heart.

I promise to make all efforts to create NEW ARMENIA so that every citizen of our country feels himself/herself better than previously.

Sincerely yours,

Karen Karapetyan.






YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbuls patriarchal vicar Archbishop Aram Ateshyan and patriarchal locum tenens-elect Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Germany, had a meeting in Istanbul which gave no positive results, Agos Armenian language department editor Bagrat Estukyan told ARMENPRESS.

The meeting was held with the participation of Aram Ateshyan, Garegin Bekchyan, and two non-clergy persons. Ateshyan said although Bekchyan has been elected as locum tenens, he cannot pass on his powers. He said Garegin Bekchyan can do what he can as locum tenens. It turns out that Bekchyan doesnt assume all powers. If he has no capacity to act, cant give orders, therefore he cannot prepare the patriarchal election process, Estukyan said.

According to him, during the April 1 meeting with the deputy governor of Istanbul, it was mentioned that after the April 16 referendum the patriarchal election process will be addressed. Garegin Bekchyans actions remain unknown.

Estukyan said Bekchyan returned to Istanbul on April 2.

It was scheduled for him to enter the Mother Church with a welcoming ceremony, however during the previous days Ateshyan prohibited all priests from taking part in the event. They even tried to lock the Church doors.

The doors of the Church were opened when Garegin Bekchyan and Sahak Mashalyan arrived. The planned ceremony didnt take place, only a prayer was held. We are living rather unfortunate days for our Church, we are living days worth remembering with shame in history, Estukyan said.
Tuesday, April 04, 2017 "Big Three" Emerge From Crowded ABQ Mayoral Field, BernCo Credibility Questioned And The Late Lobbyist Bob Gold Tim Keller The Alligators and insiders who predicted early on that Tim Keller would be the only ABQ mayoral candidate to qualify for public financing and were



They are: Dem State Auditor Keller, ABQ GOP City Councilor Dan Lewis and former NM Dem Party Chairman and attorney Brian Colon.



Keller managed to collect 6,000, five dollar individual contributions to qualify for $380,000 in public financing for the race, far surpassing the needed 3,802 donations. Only Lewis and Colon are expected to be able to match that $380,000 with private fund-raising. And that's the major reason why they are the Big Three.



Former BernCo Commissioner Deanna Archuleta and GOP BernCo Commissioner Wayne Johnson are in the next tier in the 14 person field. Questions remain about most of the other candidates being able to garner the necessary 3,000 petition signatures to qualify for the ballot. They are due April 28. Many of them will certainly not file enough valid signatures and the Big Three will then loom even larger as we head into the month of May.



BERNCO CREDIBILITY



First the Bernalillo County Commission tells us they need (



That widely opposed three sixteenths of a cent gross receipts tax hike that takes the city rate to 7.5 percent comes amid an



APD AND SESSIONS



Here's high impact



Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered Justice Department officials to review reform agreements with troubled police forces nationwide, saying it was necessary to ensure these pacts do not work against the Trump administrations goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime.



APD and the Berry administration entered a consent decree with Justice in 2014. Now it appears that the leash they're on could get looser. That's going to be cause for worry as APD has already been seen as stalling reforms.



FROM 9 TO 5



Politicians in New Mexico often have very interesting backgrounds, like



Former Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz talked about growing up picking onions in the summer near Hatch. He said when he was 9, he worked from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., picking the vegetables on his knees in 100-degree heat without breaks.



Democrat De La Cruz served two terms on the BernCo Commission, You might call him one "tough hombre."



TOO MUCH McCLURE?



Self-described "independent reader" John Ingram writes:



Joe: Apparently, "conservative reader" McClure (whom you quote way too often in our humble opinion) has conveniently forgotten that the overwhelming majority of New Mexican voters cast their ballots against this NYC oligarch, tweeter-in-chief who now occupies the people's White House. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham has demonstrated repeatedly the courage of her convictions. As such, she reflects the political will of New Mexico's voters. Michelle will make an excellent governor.



McClure wrote that Grisham's heavy attacks on Trump could hurt NM if she were elected Governor. One reason we quote him, John, is it often kick-starts the conversation.



BOB GOLD







Robert L. "Bob Gold" Goldsborough Sr., age 86, of Santa Fe passed away peacefully surrounded by his family March 23. With a golden voice to last the ages, Bob had an early start in broadcasting that led to a career in politics and consulting. His personal efforts led to the passage of the first New Mexico Lottery Bill and he had a run for Governor which he cynically referred to as more of a "walk." He spent his retirement enjoying the backyard birds with his favorite bird of 65 years, Doris, and enjoying the best tastes of everything Santa Fe had to offer.



In 1990, when he made that short-lived run for the Democratic Guv nomination, his slogan, as we recall, was: "Good as Gold."



This is the home of New Mexico politics.







Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.



( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017 The Alligators and insiders who predicted early on that Tim Keller would be the only ABQ mayoral candidate to qualify for public financing and were proven right over the weekend, now have another take on the fast approaching October 3 contest. They are now saying of the 14 candidates in the contest, a "Big Three" has emerged and chances are good that one of them will be your next mayor.They are: Dem State Auditor Keller, ABQ GOP City Councilor Dan Lewis and former NM Dem Party Chairman and attorney Brian Colon.Keller managed to collect 6,000, five dollar individual contributions to qualify for $380,000 in public financing for the race, far surpassing the needed 3,802 donations. Only Lewis and Colon are expected to be able to match that $380,000 with private fund-raising. And that's the major reason why they are the Big Three.Former BernCo Commissioner Deanna Archuleta and GOP BernCo Commissioner Wayne Johnson are in the next tier in the 14 person field. Questions remain about most of the other candidates being able to garner the necessary 3,000 petition signatures to qualify for the ballot. They are due April 28. Many of them will certainly not file enough valid signatures and the Big Three will then loom even larger as we head into the month of May.First the Bernalillo County Commission tells us they need ( and approved ) a $30 million gross receipts tax increase to plug a projected deficit. But the deficit turns out to be only $8 million. Then they tell us they got a heckuva deal on the Alvarado Square downtown property, paying $4.1 million , but only later do they tell us that the remodeling will cost another $33 million way up from the $15 million it first said in 2015.. Why this drip, drip from the county commission and county manager that only serves to damage their credibility?That widely opposed three sixteenths of a cent gross receipts tax hike that takes the city rate to 7.5 percent comes amid an historic slowing in BernCo population growth. In April 2010, the Census estimated county population at 662,564. In July of 2016 Census said the population was 676,593. That's very little growth and that's why the county is having trouble managing the now oversized government it constructed in the go-go years. Sometimes the austerity hawks are needed to swoop down and reorder the agenda.Here's high impact news for ABQ and APD:APD and the Berry administration entered a consent decree with Justice in 2014. Now it appears that the leash they're on could get looser. That's going to be cause for worry as APD has already been seen as stalling reforms.Politicians in New Mexico often have very interesting backgrounds, like this one Democrat De La Cruz served two terms on the BernCo Commission, You might call him one "tough hombre."Self-described "independent reader" John Ingram writes:McClure wrote that Grisham's heavy attacks on Trump could hurt NM if she were elected Governor. One reason we quote him, John, is it often kick-starts the conversation.This one didn't receive much attention but Bob Gold was a major player on the Santa Fe scene, perhaps most notably as the longtime lobbyist for the NM Retail Association. He was also a noted broadcaster and was a member of the NM Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame . Here's more on his death In 1990, when he made that short-lived run for the Democratic Guv nomination, his slogan, as we recall, was: "Good as Gold."This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)
RIGA, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The national news agencies of Armenia and Latvia, ARMENPRESS and LETA, signed a cooperation agreement, which will enable to boost information exchange and specialized partnership between the two agencies, ARMENPRESS correspondent reports from Riga.

The document was signed by Aram Ananyan, director of ARMENPRESS, and Juris Mendzins, member of the Board of LETA.

The agreement signed between the national news agencies of Armenia and Latvia is a good opportunity for strengthening professional cooperation, as well as boost information exchange. We believe the signing of the agreement will open a new chapter of partnership for the two agencies, director of ARMENPRESS Aram Ananyan said.

Head of the Latvian agency Juris Mendzins underscored the significance of information exchange between the two agencies. The signing of the document was greatly highlighted, and it was mentioned that numerous joint projects can be realized.

The sides expressed willingness on holding mutually enriching events on experience exchange.

The agreement will also enable the leading agencies of the two countries to exchange photos.

The document was signed within the framework of Armenian Culture Days in Latvia.

LETA is one of the largest Baltic news agencies, which provides multi-language coverage of the political, economic, social and cultural life of the Baltic region. It was established in 1919.

ARMENPRESS news agency was established on December 18, 1918. It is a state news agency. The agency is the oldest in Armenia. At the moment it produces eleven newslines in four languages. ARMENPRESS has signed bilateral cooperation agreements with more than 20 leading news agencies of the world, nearly 1/3 being signed during the last 5 years.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The XIV consultation session of CIS member state heads of security bodies and special services took place in Moscow April 4. The session was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the agreement Main principles of CIS states intelligence services activities signed in Alma Ata in 1992, the National Security Service of Armenia told ARMENPRESS.

The Armenian delegation to the session was led by Major General G. Kutoyan, director of the National Security Service.

Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Russias Security Council, Sergey Narishkin, director of the foreign intelligence service, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, first deputy director of the federal security service Sergey Smirnov and chairman of the executive committee of CIS states, executive secretary Sergey Lebedev participated in the session.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Joseph Daul, President of the European Peoples Party (EPP), congratulated the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) on victory in the April 2 parliamentary elections, reports Armenpress.

Congratulations to the Republican Party of #Armenia for their clear victory in Armenian parliament elections on Sunday. A strong mandate means more responsibility: to deliver on necessary reforms that benefit citizens & to improve further cooperation with EU, he writes on Twitter.

Founded in 1976, the EPP strives for a democratic, transparent and efficient Europe that is close to its citizens. The EPP wants a prosperous Europe through the promotion of a free market economy with a social consciousness. The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 79 parties and partners from 41 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and of the European Parliament, 7 EU and 7 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.

The Republican Party of Armenia is a member of the EPP since 2012.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan visited a number of sections of the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border and got acquainted with the life of the servicemen and current situation.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of Artsakh Presidents Office, on the same day in the Arajamugh village of the Hadrout region the President took part in a solemn ceremony of handing over keys from newly-built private houses to a group of local residents. The Head of the State expressed gratitude to the Tufenkian foundation and USA branch of the Artsakh Fund organization for realization of the program noting its significance from socioeconomic and political viewpoints.

Premier Arayik Haroutyunyan, other officials and representatives from Armenia and the Diaspora attended the event.
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.

Story continues

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."
LAS VEGASAltitude Intimates kicked off its inaugural show at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino Las Vegas with rooms dedicated to different sectors, including one for lingerie and another for pleasure product manufacturers and distributors.

Attendees enjoyed the locationright on The Stripas well as the setup of the new show. While the original intent of Altitude was meant to focus primarily on lingerie manufacturers, once the International Lingerie Show announced it would no longer produce shows, many manufacturers and distributors of pleasure products made the move to the new event.

This is a good effort so far, said Tom Stewart, founder of Sportsheets, which exhibited at Altitude. You know how when you play poker and you have to put in your ante to see if its worthwhile? We put in the ante and are happy so far. This is a show that looks like it is directed toward everyone in the industry, and thats a good thing.

In the Sportsheets booth, Stewart and his crew showcased the new packaging for the Edge collection of BDSM items. The brown-and-black color scheme plays into the masculine appeal of the collection.

Stewart also talked of his recent participation in New York at a conference for physicians, occupational therapists and more who work with spinal cord injuries.

There were six men on one of the panels, and all of them were in wheelchairs, Stewart said. I brought a few items with me, including strap-ons and thigh strap-ons, and they all were amazed that such products existed and they wanted them all.

It was so rewarding and such an honor to be a part of that conference, he added.

Stewarts participation in the conference is the latest outreach work he has done. He has often worked with veterans and military groups to use Sportsheets products to maintain and improve their sex lives.

The Sportsheets booth was near the entrance to the pleasure products room, right across from Eldorado Trading Co. The distributor's booth was focused on the services it offers to its clientele, including its StorExtender e-commerce platform and its Elevate U educational program. On hand in the Eldorado booth was Kira Manser, clinical director at the Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health, who is one of the presenters in the Elevate U program. Manser is also giving a presentation tomorrow at 10 a.m. at one of the industry seminars. The seminars run from 8 a.m. to noon in the Sunset Room.

In the Shibari Wands booth, the new line of Hello, Sexy! items were on display. In addition to a curved wand massager, the collection includes the Shimoji Wireless 9x Massager, which boasts six pulsation patterns, three speeds and an ergonomic design for G-spot stimulation. The waterproof dual massager is USB rechargeable and comes in black, pink and purple.

The staff in the Williams Trading Co. booth welcomed visitors with bags of freshly popped popcorn, and were ready to talk about the companys new Quick Ship program. Quick Ship guarantees orders placed by 11 a.m. EST on a preferred shipping day, will be shipped that same day. Read more about the program on AVN.com.

In the Holiday Products booth, visitors were able to meet and chat with reps from some of the leading brands in the industry, including the Womanizer. And some manufacturers, including Impulse Novelties and Synergy Erotic, had their own booths at the show to meet with new buyers and existing customers. Both of these companies have new, more compact packaging on the way. Impulses Gabor Szabo also pointed out items in the new Amie linesmall vibrators with big features. Made of silicone, they offer seven speeds and come in bright colors and creative shapes.

We-Vibe reps were at the show to debut new pleasure rings, the Pivot and the Verge. The rings will be available on April 24, and they are app-enabled so the We Connect app will update at that time too, said company rep Jennifer Brice.

The rings mark the first products We-Vibe has developed specifically for the penis. The Pivot, available in navy blue, is a stretchier ring; while the Verge is more rigid and comes in slate gray. Both rings vibrate and can be positioned to stimulate the wearers perineum during sex or a partners clitoris.

Also on display from We-Vibe was the Wish palm bullet.

It has two of the Tangos motors in it, which people just love, Brice said. The turquoise pebble-shaped vibrator has a squishy silicone covering and is palm-sized to stimulate the labia all at once. A softly rounded tip allows for more precise clitoral stimulation, Brice noted.

In the Xgen Products booth, located in the main room with the lingerie exhibitors, the new Fredericks of Hollywood pleasure products collection was getting attention from visitors. The line features lipstick vibes, cock rings and even kits with a BDSM flavor. Sales rep Chris Lerner talked about the packaging, which is focused on giftability: tissue paper, ribbons and a gift card should make these items winners for bridal shower season. He said response is enthusiastic and buyers are looking forward to the collection shipping in June.

Also new from Xgen are Bodywand that include card games, which will be available in a couple of months. In stock now are teddies in the Lapdance Lingerie line, and red bodystockings will be added in about four months.

In the Entrenue booth, also in the main room, a number of manufacturer reps were on the scene. Daniel Bilodeaux from VeDO showed off the Ohhh Bunny collection of products. The Crazzy Bunny bullet vibe, Frisky Bunny cock ring, Kinky Bunny dual stimulator and Spunky Bunny finger vibe are a subsection of the VeDO products line, and will soon be packaged in VeDO packaging.

The packaging will make it easier for retailers and consumers, since everything can be stocked together, he said. The boxes will say VeDO and have Ohhh Bunny underneath.

Drew from SpareParts HardWear talked about new marketing initiatives just launched by the harness manufacturer. The company now offers Skype training to retailers and consumers, designed to help them learn about sizing and how to choose the right models. Drew also showed off a new collection of swatches that shoppers can use to see how the fabric feels on each of the SpareParts models.

Entrenue owner Joe Casella pointed out a couple of brand-new offerings just added by the distributor. One is an app-driven pelvic floor exerciser called the Elvie. Billed as your most personal trainer, the device is a single oval-shaped bead with a tail for easy retrieval. The app, which puts users through daily five-minute workouts, is visually appealing, and the petite mint-green device fits into a tidy cylindrical storage case. (For information, visit Elvie.com.)

Also unique and visually striking is the Zumio, a deep purple vibrator that reaches new heights in pinpoint stimulation. The slender rod fits easily into the hand, and at the tip is a small bead that focuses vibrations in a tight circular pattern. (For more details, see MyZumio.com.)

Altitude Intimates continues through Tuesday at Planet Hollywood. For more information, visit AltitudeShow.com.
LOS ANGELES  Karla Lane has chosen her own website to be the location for her first airtight. KarlaLaneXXX.com features Eric John, Tim Von Swine, and Vic Driver giving Lane the total treatment; including fisting, anal, double penetration, and her first airtight experience.

Lane said, My favorite thing about having my own website is that I could basically hire myself to do any type of scene I want to, and this is one of those. In 12 years in the business Ive never done anything this extreme. It started off as a simple three guy one girl scene, and we just escalated from there all the way to an air tight scene. Seriously, I did so many firsts I even surprise myself. I cant wait for my fans to check it out, because Im super proud of it.

Lanes website has 49 videos and 20 photo sets for her fans to view, and fans can also email her directly through the site. With a variety of different membership levels, starting as low as $6.25 per month with a one year membership, theres something to fit every budget. Both recurring and non-recurring memberships are available. Members of her site also receive special access to her Snapchat account.

Follow Karla on Twitter.
Kent-based Jestic Foodservice Equipment has launched the Josper HJX38, a countertop charcoal oven.

Built to withstand the considerable heat generated by charcoal, the HJX38 offers a wonderful cooking experience and utilises the natural smoky flavour of the larger models in the portfolio, according to Jestic.

With an hourly output of between 6-8kg, this countertop model features space for two large 58cm x 34cm grill racks, to aid versatility and cooking potential.

With a heat-up time of 25 minutes and each load of charcoal lasting up to seven hours, Jestic said the appliance is capable of cooking delicious food through even the longest shift.

As with the majority of the ovens in the Josper range, the HJX38 features a heavy-duty, pull-down door complete with thermometer, meaning the cooking chamber is contained during the cooking process.

By reaching temperatures of up to 350C, cooking times are considerably reduced, claimed the firm.

Michael Eyre, culinary director at Jestic, said: The Josper brand is one that commands a loyal following of chefs, foodservice operators and consumers alike. Often listed on everything from pub to fine-dining restaurant menus, the brand conjures up thoughts of summer BBQs, natural cooking and wonderful, indulgent flavours.

With many of the models in the portfolio featuring a large, freestanding design, those with limited facilities or space were often restricted to the appliances they could use. Jestic said the new Josper HJX38 provides the answer, offering the same technique, taste and texture, but in a tabletop design.

Capable of being positioned on an 850mm-900mm high counter, the HJX38 includes a firebreak as standard and features a footprint of just 710 x 450mm (w/d) meaning this model can be positioned under a standard 1,100mm deep extraction canopy.
Christine Cooke has been crowned winner of the Pure Canadian Maple syrup competition, which was held at the University College Birmingham.

Cooke, who is currently undertaking a BSc three-year course in baking and pastry arts management at the Dublin Institute of Technology, baked a peanut butter and maple pie for judges David Colcombe and Colin Lomax, which she described as a spin on a pecan pie.

The competition, which was sponsored and supported by The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, saw 60 entries from bakery students across the UK and Ireland.

As part of the competition, each product had to contain 5% of Canadian Pure Maple Syrup on flour weight. Any decorations had to be handmade.

Cooke told British Baker she was shocked to win, and that this was the first competition she had ever entered.

I couldnt believe it. I almost started crying. I would have been delighted with winning anything. I entered just for the experience, but to actually win was amazing, she said.

I wanted to bake something a bit different and I used two different types of syrup  maple sugar and dark maple syrup. The feedback from the judges was that the pie tasted like a Snickers bar.

Other winners included:

2nd place  Jeremy Pastor-Jacques from the Dublin Institute of Technology

3rd place  Jessica Dalton from the University College Birmingham

Highly commended  Megan Roberts from the University College Birmingham

Commended  Kinga Pecsi from the Dublin Institute of Technology
Sayers the Bakers has been fined 170,000 after admitting 13 breaches of food safety laws at a shop and a cafe in Liverpool.

One customer vomited after finding mouse droppings on the pasty she was eating, Liverpool Magistrates Court heard yesterday (2 March).

Images presented to the court showed mouse droppings in a kitchen and food storeroom, a dead rodent lodged behind a freezer and debris across the premises.

The charges related to two sites: the Sayers-owned Pound Bakery and Cafe, in St Johns Shopping Centre in Liverpool city centre, and the Sayers bakery branch in the West Derby suburb of the city.

The court heard staff at the Pound Cafe had failed to deal with an extensive rodent infestation after a customer contacted Liverpool Councils environmental health team on 12 February 2016.

Johnathan Ball, prosecuting on behalf of Liverpool City Council, said: The customer explained that they had taken a bite out of the pasty and had subsequently vomited after noticing the droppings on the surface of the pasty, close to the portion they had just eaten.

Officers were clearly concerned by the nature of the referral and decided to visit the premises that day.

The inspection found evidence of a serious rodent infestation and managers agreed to immediately close the cafe.

Ball said mouse droppings were discovered in the main kitchen area, the storeroom and the basement, along with debris and grease.

The court heard a dead mouse was found behind a freezer in the basement, and the single wash basin provided for staff was blocked by equipment.

Ball said: The amount of droppings throughout the premises indicated that rodent activity had been on-going for a significant period of time.

The cafe was inspected on 15 February last year, when it was awarded a zero-star hygiene rating (meaning urgent improvement is necessary). It later reopened.

A follow-up inspection on 22 August  at the request of Sayers managers  uncovered a rotting mouse corpse under the food counter.

Officers commenced that inspection in the front counter area of the cafe and noticed an unpleasant odour, said Ball. A dead mouse was subsequently discovered on a snap trap under the counter and it appeared to officers that the mouse had been there for a number of days.

The cafe was given a one-star rating and representatives from the company were interviewed under caution.

Separate proceedings were also under way after a random inspection at the West Derby branch on 7 December 2015 that found evidence of an extensive cockroach infestation.

Ball said cockroaches were found caught in traps on the floor, and behind a fridge and freezer.

The court heard the 100-year-old company, which operates 169 stores, fully co-operated with the investigation and that both branches have since been awarded the highest five-star rating for hygiene.

James Heyworth, defending Sayers, said: It is a source of real regret to the company that their own systems failed on this particular occasion. They have done what the court would expect them to do in terms of their conduct afterwards.

Heyworth also pointed out that the mouse infestation at Pound Cafe came during major refurbishments to St Johns Shopping Centre, which he claimed caused the displacement of rodents in the building.

He described the issues as an uncharacteristic lapse, adding that staff at the store - many who have worked there for a number of years - have been very upset by what went on last year.

They very much take pride in their work, as does the management.

When contacted by British Baker, Sayers said in a statement: "Poundcafe in St Johns Shopping Centre, like many other businesses in Liverpool City Centre, was unfortunately affected by the considerable amount of construction work taking place late 2015, early 2016.

"This gave us challenges in relation to mouse infestation as their normal nests were disturbed. Unfortunately, we had an isolated incident in St Johns which should not have occurred. Health and hygiene is our top priority and this is the first time we have ever been charged with such an offence. We have now invited Liverpool City Council to re-inspect the shop to back up our thorough audit results. In addition we are appealing against the level of the fine.
Finsbury Food Group foodservice brand Kara has launched a Gourmet sliced chicken bun as part of its developing brioche range.

The company described the bun as an oval carrier that offers premium visual, taste and texture.

It added that the oval shape allows chicken burgers not to be lost in a standard round bun, while being visually appealing with its glazed top and finished with sesame seeds.

Jane Deegan, marketing manager for Kara, said the launch of the chicken bun has come at a great time.

The new addition to the Gourmet range allows for out-of-home vendors to capitalise on this growing market, she said.

With burgers and bread carriers accounting for 39% of dishes, and burgers continuing to show growth, the new Kara gourmet chicken bun allows for vendors to stand out from competition by offering a high-quality gourmet bun.

In December 2016, Kara expanded its Genius gluten-free foodservice offering, which included pancakes, wheat-free crumpets and English muffins.
Aryzta has announced that its revenue has fallen by 2.8% to 1.9bn (1.6bn) for the six-month period ended 31 January 2017.

H1 results revealed that European revenues decreased by 2.3% to 861.8 million (752m), North American revenues by 5.8% to 915.2m (799m) while rest of world revenues were up by 20.3% to 129m (112m). Underlying net profit at the company decreased by 22.4% to 109.4m (95.7m). EBITA declined by (31.3%) to 158.5m (138m).

In its statement, Aryzta said it had continued with a strong cash generation of 99m (86m) and reduced its financing costs by 26m (22m).

A strategic review of joint ventures investment strategy is underway and the board of directors have issued that it is not in a position to provide guidance.

As well as its results, Aryzta has announced the appointment of David Wilkinson as the companys interim chief financial officer (CFO) with immediate effect.

Wilkinson joins Aryzta to support the executive management team following the announcement that Owen Killian, CEO of Aryzta and three other senior figures will be leaving the bakery business from 31 March 2017, rather than the end of July as previously announced.

Wilkinson will report directly to the chairman of the board until a new CEO is appointed. An Aryzta statement said: This senior team, together with executive management, will ensure Aryzta remains fully focused on delivering for its customers during a period of transition.

Aryzta will engage a leading international recruitment firm to assist the nomination and governance committee in the task of recruiting a new CEO as well as a permanent CFO.
Dublin-based bakery BFree has been awarded three top accolades at the 10th anniversary FreeFrom Food Awards for its Sweet Potato Wraps and Stone Baked Pitta Bread.

The bakery scooped the Product of the Year award, claimed the Gold title in the Innovation category for its Sweet Potato Wraps and won the Gold accolade in the Bread category for its Stone Baked Pitta Bread.

Judges praised the wrap not only for being enormously versatile, beautifully soft and pliable, a lovely warm colour and tasting delicious, but for being free of all major allergens.

The whole company is in disbelief. We cant believe it and we are so over the moon, Freya Ivory, senior brand manager for BFree told British Baker. We entered several categories, and its such a great win for the team.

Ivory collected her accolades from guest host Antony Worrall Thompson and awards director, Michelle Berriedale-Johnson.

Other winners from the baking industry included West Cornwall Pasty Co, which came runner-up for its Gluten and Dairy Free Traditional Everyday Pasty; while Ranas Artisan Bakery scooped the Gold award in the Best Product from a Start Up category for its Italian Sourdough Bread mix.

BFrees Sweet Potato Wraps are available at retailers such as Tesco and Asda.
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.
A few weeks ago I was leading a micro-group of passionate divers and UW

photographers to Bimini Island, a lovely sandy patch amid the Gulf Stream,

surrounded by mangroves : one of the best places to see and to be in the water

with the massive and solitary Great Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna mokarran); a large, highly mobile, coastal-pelagic

and semi-oceanic shark with a circumtropical distribution which usually inhabits

deep waters, shallow lagoons and coral reefs. Such beauty and elegance

cannot be described with words.



What started as a trip focused on the Great Hammerhead ended in several

encounters not only with them, but also with bull sharks and

nurse sharks, which are often found in these waters. In my opinion, this

kind of openwater shark diving

experience and cage-less shark feeding -when carried out with the greatest

care and respect for the animals and the divers- is the best way to get

close to sharks and respectfully swim with them, to observe their behaviour,

photograph and celebrate their beauty. We must remember that we are dealing

with wild animals and we must respect their freedom. We

can compare this experience to a natural safari in Africa

: we find ourselves in the wild, in our comfort zone, we have a guide who

teaches us how to behave and we must follow his instructions; these

activities are not totally risk-free.

Everything came as if by magic, and mother

nature is so generous when we respect the rules. The sharks were moving slowly

and wandering around, drawn to the area by the scent of fish-bait in the water - like any other opportunistic animal- with their majestic presence, coming closer

and closer to the guide with the baits. The sharks paid no attention to us. We settled

on our knees as they swam at ease among the divers without showing any

distress. During the dives, I could

clearly see the natural hunting behaviour of the Great Hammerhead Sharks, swinging their

large heads over the sea floor trying to pick up the electrical signals of

stingrays buried in the sand by using their sensors (ampullae of Lorenzini) located

on the underside of the cephalofoil.

My personal interest in this trip was not only focused on the sharks, which can be rather impossible to predict and to

see when cruising worldwide on a normal liveaboard trip, but also on the

research of the Bimini Biological Field Station (Sharklab). I was fascinated

by their results. The combination of methods used to study the Great Hammerheads revealed complex movement patterns and migration across Florida, Jupiter and the Bahamas as well as seasonal

site fidelity (an annual return to Bimini for many individuals) and seasonal

residency to local areas. They used biotelemetry techniques (acoustic and

satellite), conventional tagging, laser-photogrammetry and photo-identification

to investigate the level of site fidelity/residency for great hammerheads to

coastal areas in the Bahamas and the

U.S.



The results revealed large scale returning migrations, seasonal residency in

local areas, site fidelity and numerous international movements. The Great

Hammerhead is considered an upper-trophic level consumer and due to its known

long range movements it is most likely an important mobile link species between

ecosystems, playing an important role in the structure and stability of these

systems.

The Great Hammerhead Shark is heavily fished

for its large fins which are extremely valuable on the Asian market as they are the main

ingredient of shark fin soup, other than being affected by pollution,

by-catching, commercial and recreational fishing in the tropics, long-lines,

fixed bottom nets, hook-and-line, trawls in the Atlantic Oceans and shark nets around

Australian and South African beaches.

As a result, Great Hammerhead Shark populations

are declining substantially worldwide and it has been declared endangered by

the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In 2013 it was also added to the CITES Appendix II and in 2014 to the CMS Appendix

II.



To see more about our

activities, don't forget to follow us on our webpage , Facebook and Instagram, or sign up for our newletters.

Written by

Franco and Sabrina Franco and Sabrina

Date

4th April 2017 4th April 2017

Where

Bimini, Bahamas



Bimini, Bahamas

Share


Carla and I took a one-week trip to Tokyo. It was my sixth visit to Japan's capital, and it was my favorite so far. For the next few days, I'll be writing about recommended things to do there. See them all here.

Our plan for day 3 was to visit a neighborhood of Tokyo called Kichijoji. It known for its large park called Inokashira Koen. Kichijoji has interesting shopping and a grid of alleys called Hamonika Yokocho, which contain over 100 tiny dining bars called izakaya that offer skewers of fried meat and vegetables, sashimi, noodles, pickles, beer, and sake. We also had a reservation to visit a nearby onsen (Japanese hot spring and bathing facility).

After cooking breakfast in our Airbnb  scrambled eggs and yaki onigiri (fried rice triangles) we took a short walk to the massive, mind-bogglingly complex Shinjuku station.

There was a Blue Bottle Coffee (8am  10pm) on the way so we stopped for a tasty espresso.

We were hoping to see a lot of cherry blossoms during our stay (March 17-23) but we were a bit too early. This tree outside Shinjuku station was a rare exception. A lot of people were hanging around for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) and taking photos. We took a few photos then worked our way into the station.

The ticket machines at Japanese rail stations will present instructions in English, but they don't tell you how much a ticket to your destination costs. Here's what we learned to do: buy the cheapest ticket, then when you reach your destination, insert your ticket into one of the "Additional Fare" machines near the exit turnstiles. The machine will tell you how much money to add. Also, the ticket vending machines accept all forms of coins (except 1 yen coins) and all currency denominations up to 10,000 yen (about $100) and give you change in paper and coins. I love that. Here's another tip  Google Maps often doesn't tell you which platform to go to. There are conductors who speak English at every entrance. Just ask them! The rail stations in Japan are wonderful.

We got off at Kichijoji station and took a 5-minute walk to Inokashira Park. There's a long pond in the park with paddle boats you can rent. We walked around the pond and stopped at a shrine dedicated to Benzaiten, a Japanese Buddhist goddess. This park is also connected to the famed Studio Ghibli Museum, a must-see attraction (we went the last time we were in Japan so we didn't go again).

We headed back towards the Kichijoji station to have lunch before going to the Japanese hot springs. Unfortunately, all the alley bars were not yet open (we went back at night, and I'll cover that in the next post), but we stumbled on a place called Ishigamaya Hamburg Atre Kichijoji (11am  11pm) that makes incredibly delicious large baked meat balls. They were so juicy that you are instructed to cover your torso with a napkin while the server cuts them open. My mouth waters just thinking of them. The next time we go back to Japan, I'm eating here again.

Next, we headed to the onsen. We took a train to another station, then waited for a shuttle to pick us up. There were no other foreigners in line or on the shuttle. When I asked the driver "Onsen ni ikmasu ka?" (which is very mangled Japanese that might mean something along the lines of "As for the bath, is it going?" he grunted in affirmation.

After a drive through a nondescript neighborhood that could almost pass for a boring part of Los Angeles if you squinted, we arrived at a plain looking building. This was the Yumori No Sato onsen (10am  10pm). We stepped inside and everyone was taking off their shoes at the front. They all wore socks. I wasn't wearing socks (I never do) so I started to panic. Was it OK for me to walk around barefooted when everyone else was in socks? What was I going to do? Luckily, Carla spotted a single pair of plastic sandals, which I put on. Crisis averted!

No one spoke English at the Onsen. We showed the desk our reservation number and they gave us a key and a towel. None of the signs had a single romaji (English) character. It was all hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It was fun, even though it made me a little nervous that I was going to do something gravely offensive at any moment. We know enough kanji to recognize things like entrance, exit, man, woman, etc., so we at least knew which locker room to enter.

Once inside the locker room, I saw a lot of signs in Japanese with some words in red and with exclamation points. I just kept watching everyone out of the corner of my eye and copying what they did. They stripped off their clothes and walked into another room with a pool on one side and a row of showers on the other. They sat on tiny stools under the showers and soaped up, washing every part of their head and body. Once thoroughly clean, some of them men tied small towels to their head like headbands. They looked pretty cool, but I didn't know how to do it, so I just copied the guys who didn't do it. Some of the men entered the pool inside the room, others went through a door leading outside. I went outside and saw several pools of steaming black water. This was charcoal water. I got in and it was hot and felt really good. My anxiety melted away. After staying in for as long as I could stand it (20 minutes or so) I got out, showered, and dried off. I walked into the main part of the building and found a room where people were napping on the floor and reading books. I went in and found another door leading out to some comfortable-looking chairs that were hanging from chains. I got in one and closed my eyes for another 20 minutes. I met Carla there and we walked around the rest of the building to check it out and discovered that they give massages. We booked them and it was a great way to end our visit to the onsen. There are some photos and more information about Yumori no Sato Onsen here.

Tomorrow, I'll write about the second part of our day in and around Kichijoji.
To celebrate Cherry Blossom season in Washington DC, Southern Efficiency created a Japanese-themed pop-up bar. Cute video is starting to emerge of people who braved the long lines.

Via their site:

At Mockingbird Hill, nostalgia reigns supreme in the form of the beloved Super Mario Bros., with the entire bar dedicated to the Mushroom Kingdom, from animatronic piranha plants peeking out of green pipes to glowing mystery boxes and a special corner reserved for super villain King Koopa.

Despite their differing decor, the two bars are connected via newly opened doorways between them, opening up a flowing, festive space for even more patrons to enjoy.

Cocktails from Senior Bar Manager Paul Taylor and food by Chef Evan Scarlatelli pay homage to the theme, too, including drinks like the "King Koopa Cup," a mix of Japanese whiskey, Genmaicha "popcorn" tea and ginger syrup with a lemon "crown" and "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Smaller," made with vodka, mandarin orange, pomelo and apricot soda.
FILE PHOTO: A man takes pictures of a Hyundai car during the 15th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai April 21, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

By Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp have sharply cut vehicle production in China, sources said, as anti-Korean sentiment and competition from Chinese brands play havoc on sales and threaten earnings.

Hyundai and Kia saw their combined China sales slump by 52 percent in March from a year earlier, another person said, endangering not only the automakers' earnings but those of its South Korean suppliers. China, the world's biggest auto market, accounted for over a quarter of the pair's 2016 overseas sales.

A Chinese backlash over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system outside Seoul has targeted South Korean firms including Lotte Group with boycott calls in state media, protests and suspensions of operations.

The move angered Beijing, although Seoul says the system is a response to North Korea's nuclear threat and is not aimed at China.

While the diplomatic row is a nuisance, the bigger problem for the South Korean carmakers is stiff competition in China and the United States, where their mainstay sedans have lost market share to sport utility vehicles, analysts and sources said.

SHIFT CUTS

Kia Motors has cut production shifts at its China factories, two of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Hyundai also had eliminated a second shift from its three factories in Beijing starting mid-March, one of the people said.

The sources declined to be identified because the matter was not public.

Hyundai and its smaller affiliate Kia said in a statement that they were "adjusting operations at Chinese plants in line with the market environment", but declined to elaborate on any cuts.

Hyundai had already suspended output at its factory in Hebei from March 24 to April 4.

Operating one shift instead of two shifts is a "drastic, rare move" for the South Korean duo and could cut daily output by more than half, said Lee Myung-hoon, an analyst at HMC Investment & Securities.

The anti-Korean sentiment was unlikely to end soon, he added, citing the example of the year-long backlash against Japan in 2012 over a territorial dispute which forced Japanese automakers to slash production.

Story continues

"But I don't think the problems will be prolonged because it will have more harm on Chinese partners and local employment," he said.

Poor consumer sentiment towards South Korean products in China had likely dragged down overseas sales in March, the companies said on Monday without putting a number on the falls.

Hyundai Motor's China sales slumped 44 percent while sales of Kia, which has been in a dispute with dealers in China, suffered a steeper fall of 68 percent, sources said.

The sales downturn came despite the introduction of new models this year and a new Hyundai factory in China in 2016, and could explain some of the production cuts stemming from higher inventories.

In the United States, Hyundai Motor posted a sales fall of 8 percent and Kia Motors slumped 15 percent in March from a year earlier. The U.S. market declined 2 percent in March.

Hyundai Motor shares ended down 2.9 percent and Kia Motors declined 1.4 percent in the wider market, which was down 0.3 percent.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Lancaster County milk producer Prairieland Dairy has sold its brand name to Hiland Dairy Foods Co. of Springfield, Missouri.

The Firth dairy will continue to own and milk its 1,400 cows and use the Prairieland name, but it now will ship its creamy product, about 15,000 gallons a day, directly to the Hiland processing plant in Omaha. Hiland will be responsible for processing, sales and distribution of Prairieland products.

Prairieland General Manager Dan Rice said the brand will remain in grocery coolers in the near term, but he didnt know whether the milk in the jugs would be coming entirely from Prairieland cows.

It was unknown Tuesday whether Hiland in the long term plans to continue offering the Prairieland brand or would phase it out like it did the Roberts Dairy name in 2013.

Brian Breci, general manager for Hiland's Nebraska division, said in a statement that the company hasnt decided what direction it will take with the Prairieland brand.

Rice said Prairieland decided to sell off the distribution division to focus on its milk production and fertilizer businesses, Prairie Gold.

Before the sale, Prairieland sold only milk within a distribution network that included Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, Columbus and Grand Island. Grocers had been demanding a fuller array of products including ice cream and butter, but at its scale Prairieland couldnt get the job done economically, Rice said.

Prairieland has closed its processing plant in Hallam, and Hiland bought the equipment in the plant and is moving it to Omaha, Rice said. Prairieland retained ownership of the Hallam building and is using it for storage.

The Prairieland distribution center in Lincoln was included in the sale and will remain in operation, Breci said.

About 20 Prairieland employees affected by the sale have been offered jobs with Hiland, although some of the Hallam processing plant employees declined the offer. Rice said Hiland, due to its size, is able to offer better benefits and opportunities for the distribution employees than Prairieland could.

Prairieland got its start when four families joined together to create the local brand.

The Rice family came west from Pennsylvania in 1998 in response to Nebraska's dairy recruitment efforts. They soon merged their milking operations with Dave and Cliff Obbink. Two other families joined the group, the Goossen family from Beatrice and the Eickhoff family out of Falls City, Rice said.

Rice declined to discuss terms of the sale, which was effective April 1.
By Matt Scuffham and Solarina Ho

TORONTO (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia (Toronto:BNS.TO - News) and Bank of Montreal (Toronto:BMO.TO - News), two of Canada's biggest banks, on Tuesday defended their sales practices after media reports that staffers were pressured to meet targets.

Canada's financial watchdog is investigating sales practices at the country's banks and expects to conclude its investigation by the end of the year.

The probe follows media reports that staff at the country's biggest banks were pressured into meeting sales targets by moving customers to higher-fee accounts and raising credit card and overdraft limits, both without customers' permission.

Scotiabank Chief Executive Brian Porter told shareholders at the bank's annual meeting on Tuesday that he believed the bank's sales practices were "very sound".

"We have over 8 million customers in Canada, we did over 400 million transactions last year and we had only eight customer complaints about sales practices," he said.

Scotiabank Chairman Thomas O'Neill told the meeting the bank had already been paying greater attention to its sales practices after U.S. bank Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC - News) agreed to a $185 million settlement with regulators last year following allegations its staff opened unauthorized customer accounts.

O'Neill said attention on the issue was heightened further following the recent media reports in Canada and the board spent an hour reviewing the topic at a meeting on Monday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, James O'Sullivan, Scotiabank's group head, Canadian banking, said the bank was sifting through customer data to assess its sales practices.

"Since the Wells Fargo issue, we've been looking at it very, very deeply," he said. "Our sales practices are sound. That is not opinion. That's a reasoned conclusion based on the information and the data that we have."

Speaking to shareholders at Bank of Montreal's annual meeting on Tuesday, Chief Executive Bill Downe said he had a "high degree of confidence" in the bank's staff and believed the bank had good practices with regard to sales.

Story continues

"With respect to our bankers, I have confidence that they know we're not in business to push products. We guide our customers in picking services that best meet their needs."

Downe said the bank had been reviewing its procedures since the reports.

"We track incidents of customer or employee dissatisfaction and I've seen no movement in the numbers in the most recent period," he said.

Fair Canada, a group advocating for investor rights, on Tuesday called on the Canadian Securities Administrators, an umbrella body of all of Canada's provincial securities regulators, to address the recent reports.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)
By Michael Martina and Diane Bartz

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Although worried about the prospect of a trade war, American businesses operating in China nonetheless want President Donald Trump to wring some concessions on market access from China's leader Xi Jingping when the two meet this week.

Trump warned in a tweet last week the meetings at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday and Friday will be "very difficult" and "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."

Trump has said he wants U.S. companies to stop investing in China and instead create jobs at home. He has also accused China of manipulating its currency to boost exports.

Critics within U.S. industry have accused China of unfair government subsidies to its companies, and of flooding the U.S. market with cheap products from steel to solar panels, while restricting foreign investment over vast swathes of the world's second-biggest economy.

But they also worry Trump's policies on China are not entirely clear, with his trade team still not in place, and may be subject to a 'grand bargain' involving other issues such as North Korea.

Trump is set to enter the meeting without several key advisors, including his pick for trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer who has yet to be confirmed by Congress. His nominee as ambassador to China, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, has also yet to be confirmed, while several posts in the U.S. State Department that formulate Asia policy remain unfilled.

"With this in mind, it is hard to imagine that there will be much in the way of concrete accomplishments at this summit, or even that there has been any significant interagency discussion on strategy leading up to it," said Randal Phillips, Mintz Group's Beijing-based managing partner for Asia and the former chief CIA representative in China.

'ACTIONS, NOT WORDS'

Some of the largest U.S. companies have contributed to the billions of dollars of foreign direct investment that have poured into China over the past two decades, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. They include tech companies like Apple, which makes much of its iPhone in China, automakers such as General Motors and Ford, heavy machinery firms like Caterpillar, retailers like Starbucks and makers of shaving foam and detergent, like Procter & Gamble.

Story continues

U.S. steel producers want Trump to press Xi on Chinese steel prices, according to a source who has been in discussions with the administration in advance of the summit.

U.S. automakers complain about a disparity in tariffs: The United States has a 2.5 percent tariff on auto imports, China's is 25 percent.

But the stakes are perhaps highest for American technology firms, who worry that China's new cyber-security law, which takes effect in June, sets potentially discriminatory standards for multinationals.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think-tank whose board includes representatives from Apple, IBM Google and other tech heavyweights, has urged the Trump administration to pressure China to "stop rigging markets". It warned that possible retaliation from Beijing was not a reason for inaction.

Trump has staked out various positions on China as president in his tweets, phone calls and statements.

In a phone call with Xi after taking office, Trump gave ground on one of Beijing's most sensitive issues  the status of Taiwan - after earlier suggesting he might not stick to Washington's long-held "one China" policy.

Trump signed two executive orders on trade on Friday, one to improve import tariff collection and another to study the causes of the U.S. trade deficit. Trump said at the White House signing ceremony he and Xi were "going to get down to some serious business" and vowed that "the theft of American prosperity" by foreign countries would end.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday the U.S.-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries' economic structures and noted China had a trade deficit in services.

China tops the list of countries who have trade surpluses with the United States, with a $347 billion surplus last year.

TRADE WARS

Some in the U.S. business community worry about tit-for-tat retaliation in trade disputes with China.

Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council, said the two presidents need to take "positive actions that would lead to a more durable relationship, not retaliatory actions that would lead to a trade war".

The list of commercial issues between the two countries was so long, it would be impossible to make a major dent in them with one meeting, he said.

China is the largest export market for U.S. soybean producers, accounting for 62 percent of U.S. soy exports in 2016 with a value of over $14 billion, leading some experts to suggest the sector could be particularly vulnerable to retaliation.

Steve Censky, chief executive of the American Soybean Association, told Reuters he hopes Trump will take a "prudent" approach to the trade relationship and address any issues in a "workman-like manner", recognizing that both countries have a lot to lose if the relationship suffers.

William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China met senior Trump administration officials in February, and said "it was clear they were very familiar with the issues facing American companies in China, perhaps more so than previous administrations".

But several corporate lobbyists, representing a range of companies expressed concern Trump's lack of attention to detail could prove counterproductive when it comes to the intricacies of the massive trade and investment relationship.

"It's not yet clear whether ... this is a White House that wants to fundamentally reset the terms of the relationship or tinker at the edges and declare a public relations win," said a China expert at a Washington business lobby who asked not to be named.

(Reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Diane Bartz, David Shepardson and Joel Schectman in Washington; Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; and Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
By Rodrigo Viga Gaier RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - In September, police investigating a wave of killings in the northern Rio de Janeiro suburbs followed a tip to the isolated scrubland near the massive Duque de Caxias oil refinery. Police presumed the killings were linked to turf battles between criminal gangs in the run-up to municipal elections the following month. They found a different explanation buried beneath the grass: a system of tubes to siphon fuel from underground pipelines leading from the refinery, owned by state-run oil company Petrobras . Some of the killings, police said, were part of a power struggle between rival gangs earnings millions of dollars a year from stealing crude oil, diesel and gasoline and selling it on a thriving black market. The discovery highlighted a fast-growing criminal enterprise in Brazil's oil heartland, between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. From just one recorded incident in 2014, the number of thefts and attempted thefts from Petrobras rose to 14 in 2015 - before jumping five-fold to 73 last year, the company told Reuters. The racket is part of a larger crime wave in Brazil, and especially Rio, amid the country's worst recession on record. Investigators believe the oil and fuel thefts were masterminded by the city's powerful militias - often made up of retired or off-duty cops - as they seek to move away from terror and violence to lower-profile crimes following a crackdown by authorities in recent years. The thieves' methods range from hijacking tanker trucks to tapping the company's more than 11,000 kilometers of pipelines - and processing stolen crude at their own secret refineries. "Not even Petrobras knows exactly how much is being stolen," said Giniton Lages, the Rio police chief who led the investigation at Duque de Caxias. "It's a huge business, moving millions of reais." INSIDE JOB While oil theft - often with environmental damage from the accompanying spills - is commonplace in regions like the Niger Delta of Nigeria, it has not traditionally been a problem in Brazil. The thefts add to the steep challenges facing Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the Rio-based firm is formally known. Amid weak oil prices, the company is scaling back under new CEO Pedro Parente and trying to emerge from a $100 million pile of debt. For the past three years, the state-run company has been hit by a sprawling investigation into corruption and political kickbacks in its dealings with construction firms. Police suspect corruption in the oil thefts as well. The taps and pipes near the Duque de Caxias refinery were so precisely engineered that investigators concluded the thieves must have had help from inside Petrobras. "They knew what type of fuel was inside each pipe and what was the ideal point to place a tap without the change of pressure in the tube raising the attention of the company's security system," Lages said. Petrobras, whose production of about 2.8 million barrels a day makes it one of the world's top 10 oil companies, said it was working with police to identify any employees or ex-employees that may have been involved in the crimes. "In 2016, there was a startling increase in theft from our pipelines," said Rodrigo Spagnolo, head of pipeline maintenance at Transpetro, Petrobras' transport subsidiary. The company, however, said the robberies had no material impact on its earnings. Petrobras reported revenues of $81 billion last year. RUTHLESS GANGS The militias in Rio de Janeiro emerged to combat drug gangs in the city's violent hillside favelas. But they evolved into criminal organizations preying on those impoverished communities, controlling everything from real estate and electricity to cable TV. Some of the leaders entered local politics. In the wake of high-profile killings at the end of the last decade - prompting a government crackdown - the militia have maintained a lower profile, said Ignacio Cano, a professor at the state university of Rio de Janeiro and a member of its Laboratory for the Analysis of Violence. "Stealing fuel was not typically a crime associated with militia, but they must see an opportunity for making millions," he said. "It's unusual for them to operate outside the territory they control." Most oil and fuel thefts reported by Petrobras in 2016 took place on the populous Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro axis, which groups five of the companys biggest refineries. In Rio de Janeiro, thefts tripled last year to 33. Five of the incidents caused oil spills, Petrobras said. Police arrested 13 people for the Duque de Caxias refinery scam, including two military police officers. A judge has issued warrants for 26 others. The gang, set up in June 2015, stole 14 million liters (3.6 million gallons) of fuel last year, worth an estimated 33 million reais ($11 million), prosecutors said. Police believe the Rio branch of the gang was headed by Caxias Denilson Silva Pessanha, a former city councillor in Duque de Caxias and the owner of illegal gasoline stations. Such service stations, operating without a license or a distribution contract with a fuel supplier, have become more common in Brazilian cities in recent years. Pessanha, a fugitive, is wanted for torture and attempted homicide. Reuters attempts to locate an attorney for him were not successful. Transpetro said it was investing in more security, but Rio de Janeiro police say the company remains an easy target. "The company's security officials who we have spoken to admit there is little they can do," Lages said. "This involves armed gangs, and private security can do little about it because they are afraid." A SECRET REFINERY While Brazil's high unemployment and deep recession could be driving the thefts, Lages said, another motivation is the low risk of capture and punishment. Convictions are unlikely to result in imprisonment because Brazil's jails are chronically overcrowded. "You might get a bit of community service time, so this is profitable and not much trouble," Lages said. Police are trying to classify the robberies as environmental crimes, which can carry up to five years in prison in cases where the pollution threatens humans or animals. The 13 people arrested in the Duque de Caxias refinery thefts were charged with forming a criminal enterprise, which also carries stiffer penalties. The scale of the crime has surprised police. At the end of last year, they uncovered a secret refinery in Boituva, Sao Paulo state, one of the installations used to process stolen crude. Video images show a large complex, with four giant storage tanks surrounded by a complex mesh of pipes, and a vast forecourt filled with unmarked tanker trucks. "The gang was stealing oil from Petrobras' pipelines in Rio de Janeiro, filling trucks and taking it to these secret refineries," said Sao Paulo police chief Emerson Martins. The fuel would then be sold to illegal service stations and to small-scale vendors in rural towns or city slums, police say. The criminals sometimes use water trucks to transport the stolen cargo without drawing suspicion. In reaction, Brazil's Federal Highway Police have increased roadblocks on highways between Rio and Sao Paulo. "The militia has rushed headfirst into this business," said Jose Helio Macedo, a spokesman for the police agency. "We are trying to curb it." (Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn; Writing by Daniel Flynn and Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Brian Thevenot)
By Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia QUITO (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 decade-long 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. "This is a clumsy fraud attempt." Lasso tweeted photos showing what he said were original votes for him that were changed by electoral officials and on Monday presented his complaint to the Organization of American States, which has an observation mission in Ecuador. But the OAS later said in a statement it had seen "no discrepancies" between results collected by its observers at polling stations and official results. And the election authority denied fraud allegations. Ruling Country Alliance party officials scoffed that Lasso was a sore loser who was inciting violence. But Lasso persevered on Monday, holding a rally under the pouring rain in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil and vowing to keep battling what he said was fraud. 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!" Protests did not appear to be escalating. But Moreno 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. He put rights for disabled Ecuadoreans at the heart of his campaign. The 64-year-old 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 had 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, Jonathan Oatis and Mary Milliken)
The families of accused murderer Gerald Stanley and victim Colten Boushie both say they're after only one thing  the truth.

"That's all they want at the end of the day," Boushie family lawyer, Chris Murphy, said outside North Battleford provincial court Monday during a break in Stanley's second-degree murder preliminary hearing.

"Let's get the evidence out. We can make decisions at that point," Stanley lawyer Scott Spencer told reporters. "That's a responsible way to deal with what was clearly a tragedy."

The case has become a metaphor for race relations in the province.

History is top of mind for many, particularly in the Battlefords region.

The region is site of key battles in the 1885 Resistance, as well as one of the largest mass hangings in Canadian history.

It's home to First Nations rights icon John B. Tootoosis and renowned Cree painter Allen Sapp, whose work is on display next door to the courthouse. Tootoosis, from the Poundmaker First Nation, is the founder of what is now the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

In the hours and days following Boushie's death last August, social media exploded with rumours of all kinds. Vitriolic posts wished violence on Boushie's friends and First Nations people in general.

A steak night was held to support Stanley's defence fund.

Recently, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities voted nearly unanimously to lobby the federal government for more latitude to defend themselves and their property.

The motion drew condemnation from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, which accused the rural association of harbouring violent intentions when introducing the motion.

SARM denied there were any violent intentions  association president Ray Orb said rural residents and farmers simply want to defend themselves properly.

Provincial Justice Minister Gordon Wyant quickly shot down the idea, stating the solution was policing and community programming.

Story continues

North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater and others have said there is much work to do, but reconciliation will improve things for everyone.

A divided courtroom

In court, Stanley's supporters filed in and sat to the left, Boushie friends and family members to the right. No one from either side spoke, nodded or looked over during the tense, emotional day.

Stanley had left his earlier bail hearing with an orange hoodie obscuring most of his face, but he walked in and out of court Monday past a throng of reporters.

He showed no visible emotion and declined comment, as did Boushie's mother, Debbie Baptiste.

Although the public is free to attend, contents of preliminary hearings are subject to publication bans.

At its conclusion, Judge Bruce Bauer will decide whether there's enough evidence to order a full trial.

The preliminary hearing continues Tuesday and is expected to last to the end of the week.
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group has taken control of El Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa's semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government official has said. Al Shabaab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peace keeping force, AMISOM, out of Somalia and topple the country's Western-backed central government. The Islamist militants also want to rule the country according to a harsh version of sharia, or Islamic law. "Ethiopian troops left the town ... thus al Shabaab captured it today," Burhaan Warsame, Galmudugs minister for ports and sea transport, told Reuters late on Monday. Ethiopian forces, who are part of AMISOM alongside troops from Uganda, Kenya and other countries, had captured the town from al Shabaab in 2014, officials from the area said. Most residents fled into nearby bushland with the arrival of Ethiopian forces in El Bur, and Warsame said the town was deserted when al Shabaab fighters entered. Al Shabaab has been driven out of its strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives, although the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and frequent bomb attacks in the capital, Mogadishu. Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, al Shabaabs governor for Galmudug's Galgadud region, where El Bur is located, confirmed the group had retaken the town. "We captured it, there were no residents for over the three years Ethiopian troops controlled the town," he said. "We are sure residents will come back to the town." (Reporting by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Paul Tait)
In the first few years after its mid-2011 IPO, Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ: SAVE) became a market darling, posting a string of big earnings beats and huge share-price gains. Yet while Spirit continues to earn a very high margin, the stock has performed poorly since the beginning of 2015, because of a multiyear slide in its unit revenue.
Security

Report: University E-Mail Accounts Listed on Dark Web

Image Credit: Digital Citizens Alliance.

If you are currently using or previously used an .edu e-mail address, your account name, password and other personal information may be listed online for cyber criminals to buy.

That analysis comes from Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA), a nonprofit coalition that has been investigating the dark corners of the internet for the last eight years. DCA recently published a report surfacing evidence that cyber criminals are selling tens of thousands of higher ed e-mail accounts on the Dark Web, which is a highly decentralized digital space in which the sale and purchase of goods, services and information is unregulated and often illegal. Cyber criminals can sell or buy illicit, usually stolen goods, like weapons, drugs, malware, movies, music and this case e-mail information, in the Dark Web.

DCA, along with researchers at ID Agent, GroupSense and Terbium Labs, looked at the availability of credentials (i.e. e-mail accounts and passwords) for the largest 300 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States during the eight-year period. In the most recent scan, March 2, researchers uncovered nearly 14 million e-mail addresses and passwords belonging to faculty members, students and alumni available on the Dark Web. Of these, 79 percent (nearly 11 million) were discovered in the last 12 months.

While a library, computer lab or other academic setting might seem like the first places hackers would attack, researchers instead found that many of the credentials are the result of one or more breaches in non-academic settings where .edu credential-holders used .edu user names, or the credentials could have been fraudulently created in the first place, according to the report.

To help understand why hackers go after academic communities, the DAC report cites expertise and work by the notorious hacker nicknamed Dead-Mellox, who leads Team GhostShell, the "hacktivist" organization that once publicly dumped data for tens of thousands of educational and governmental institutions online. Dead-Mellox, later revealed as 25-year-old Razvan Eugen Gheorghe who lives in Bucharest, Romania, offered the following insights to digital citizens:

E-mail accounts with .edu domains are vulnerable to breaches in general;

Higher ed institutions tend to have more data than leading commercial businesses or governmental entities; and

Their assets, including intellectual property and research, offer bigger prizes for hackers.

The report also examines HEIs with the most credentials listed on the Dark Web. For the No. 1 spot, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor had 122,556 credentials, followed by Pennsylvania State University (119,350), University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (117,604), Michigan State University (115,973), Ohio State University (114,032) and the University of Illinois (99,375). For currently active e-mail accounts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology tops the list, followed by Baylor University, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech. Ranked by state, California had the largest number of credentials available, followed by New York, Michigan, Texas and Pennsylvania.

View the full report here.
Entrepreneurship

ASU Students Earn Credits for Spending a Semester in Silicon Valley

Business students at Arizona State University (ASU) can now earn course credits while living in Silicon Valley and receiving mentorship from business tycoons like Elon Musk and Aaron Levie.

Though the Semester in Silicon Valley program, 80 ASU students will earn 15 ASU college credits (and a certificate of entrepreneurship for students who end up starting their own companies). Selected ASU students will stay at Draper University (DU) in San Mateo, CA, a self-described boarding school for entrepreneurs that was founded by venture capitalist Tim Draper of DFJ, Draper Associates and Draper Venture Network.

"We are thrilled to be working with ASU," Tim Draper said in news release. "Our program will be enhanced by ASU's full curriculum. Because of ASU, more and more students will learn the challenges and excitement of starting a business."

Curriculum will include content from five upper-level ASU courses:

Introduction to Entrepreneurship;

Entrepreneurship and Value Creation;

Mobile and Web Programming;

Product Design & 3D Printing; and

Immersive Entrepreneurial Experience.

Modeled after DUs Hero Incubator program, the Semester in Silicon Valley will give students the knowledge and skills needed to launch and grow their own startups. Participants will learn new methods in finance (Bitcoin), design (graphic), coding (webflow), marketing (viral, growth hacking), manufacturing (IoT, 3D printing) and direct sales, according to an ASU press release.

Students will also receive professional development training from Silicon Valley tech companies; attend lectures led by business and tech icons; and participate in hack-a-thons.

At the end of the program, participants will have a chance to raise investment capital for their newly launched startups. They will pitch their ideas to 80-plus Silicon Valley venture capitalists in attendance at the end of the program. Past startups at DU have raised more than $200,000 through this demo day in the past.

"Draper University is an innovator in real-world education and we are a highly ranked creative business school grounded in research," said Amy Hillman, dean of ASUs W.P. Carey School of Business, in a press release. "Our students will have the best of both worlds and they will emerge from the experience stronger and better prepared for the modern economy."
Augmented Reality

Scaling Up Admissions and Recruiting with AR

In March 2015, the Savannah College of Art and Design was one of the first colleges to roll out a virtual reality experience with its acceptance packages. The admissions and recruiting strategy has since been reproduced by other colleges as a way to engage potential students. Following that project, SCAD has been introducing immersive experiences like virtual and augmented reality into other admissions areas and signature events  from pockets of its television festival to posters that go into teachers classrooms and guidance counselors offices.

This past August, SCAD released an augmented reality catalog detailing degrees, majors and other opportunities for students interested in a tech-infused arts education program. Students who received the 384-page 2016-17 catalog could use the SCAD mobile app to see more than 85 trackable pages, 150 digital assets and 200 micro-interactions in AR, which included tours of residence halls and chats with admissions staff members. To date, the college has reported seeing more than 18,000 uses of the AR functionality on its app, and 200 gigs of data have been consumed thus far.

Officials hope that introducing an AR experience into the admissions process will give prospective students a glimpse into the cutting-edge arts experience that awaits them at the college.

We teach a lot of these immersive technologies, so if were showing it through the admission process, it really shows the tone of whats being done in the classroom, said Dave Hanak, SCADs executive director of interactive services.

Campus Technology recently interviewed Hanak, who manages all of the design, development and content for all of the schools interactive experiences (from web to mobile apps to VR/AR). Working on the administrative side, he has seen SCADs 40-plus programs spanning visual arts, fashion, filmmaking, animation, architecture and more all leveraging and designing curriculum surrounding these immersive technologies. Here, he offers some tips for creating an AR catalog.

Using a smartphone and SCAD's mobile app, prospective students can use the AR functionality to virtually tour residence halls, talk with admissions staff members and more. Image Credit: SCAD.

1) Pitch an AR Ecosystem

Hanaks team recognized that the 2016-17 AR catalog pulled together resources that could be used as a marketing tool for the institution.

Its great for someone who gets in as a student, but then its also great for our team to have almost this product book that encompasses all of the visual media assets that we want [marketing teams] to have, Hanak said.

Hanak and his team approached SCADs admissions officials and pitched the idea of creating additional resources that would take advantage of the AR functionality on the app. For example, they created a 10-page teaser book for marketing teams that offered an overview of SCADs programs with links to additional information. To showcase student work from a particular area like Industrial Design, for example, they can tap on that to display a design reel.
Cloud Computing

U Wyoming Moves Core Operational Systems to Oracle Cloud

The University of Wyoming is revamping its 20-year-old systems in finance, human resources, budgeting and planning, grant management, and supply chain management with a move to the Oracle Cloud. The initiative, called WyoCloud, aims to "help UW respond to today's opportunities and challenges by enabling department staff to access timely, accurate information at the right time to run the institution more efficiently," according to a press release.

The implementation combines Oracle's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Cloud, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud, Supply Chain Management (SCM) Cloud, and Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud. Features include a unified user interface, embedded analytics, real-time reporting, contextual social collaboration, and device-independent mobile access. In particular, the SCM Cloud "will help enable strategic sourcing and resource planning and better procurement processes so UW can more efficiently use state resources," and the HCM Cloud "will allow UW's HR department to leverage the proper information and technology to better attract and support students," the news announcement said.

UW's WyoCloud team is spearheading outreach, communication and training efforts to ease the transition to the new systems. In addition, a network of "Change Agents" at the university will provide information and feedback on the project.

"We had a competitive proposal process where the selection committee unanimously chose the Oracle Cloud for its ability to help enable our university's pursuit of excellence based on their history of success in supporting the specific needs of higher education," noted Jennifer Chavez, director of application and database Services at the University of Wyoming, in a statement. "As a premier educational institution, it is our top priority to run our university in the most efficient manner to ensure our students succeed and compete."
TUESDAY, April 4, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- The cancer drug Opdivo (nivolumab) may offer hope of a longer life for some patients with advanced lung cancer, a new small study finds.

Currently, only about 5 percent of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer survive five years or more. But that rate rose to about 16 percent among a group taking Opdivo, researchers reported Monday.

"For the first time we are reporting long-term survival for patients with advanced lung cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Julie Brahmer.

Brahmer is an associate professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in Baltimore.

Opdivo is an immunotherapy drug, which means it enlists the patient's own immune system to fight diseases such as cancer.

"Immune therapy may play a role in almost any cancer. We are working to increase the response in lung cancer patients," Brahmer said.

Opdivo works by blocking the activity of a protein called PD-1. This allows the patient's immune system to kill cancer cells, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

It's not yet possible to tell which patients might benefit from the drug. It may be that patients with high levels of PD-1 will benefit most, Brahmer said.

Other cancer specialists welcomed the report.

"This is incredible news that a single PD-1 inhibitor currently used as standard of care can cure 16 percent of patients with advanced lung cancer," said Dr. Yanis Boumber, an assistant professor of hematology and oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

"Of course, the bar will keep rising in advanced lung cancer, and combination immunotherapy treatments are expected to raise this number in the future," said Boumber, who wasn't involved in the study. "But for now, this is extremely exciting."

Opdivo is approved in the United States as a treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer after other treatments fail, Brahmer said.

Immunotherapy treatments tend to be very costly, but the researchers behind the study could not offer a price tag. Opdivo is covered by insurance, the researchers said.

The new survival data come from long-term follow-up of the initial phase 1 clinical trial -- the first of three that preceded approval. In that trial, 129 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer that had spread elsewhere in the body were treated with one of three doses of the drug for two years.

For this report, patients were followed for a minimum of about 58 months. Sixteen patients survived for five years or longer, the researchers said.

However, four patients stopped treatment early because of side effects, Brahmer said.

Further research is needed to understand more about patients' responses, including who can discontinue treatment at two years and who will need more treatment, she said.

Most patients who have failed chemotherapy are candidates for this drug, Brahmer said. However, Opdivo might not be suitable for someone with an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, or for transplant recipients, she noted.

In addition to lung cancer, Opdivo is approved to treat melanoma, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney cancer and bladder cancer, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Kim Norris is president of the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. "Immunotherapy in lung cancer is proving to be a game changer," she said.

"For years lung cancer had no treatment options, and people were told to go home and put their affairs in order," Norris said. "What this does is give lung cancer patients, especially those with advanced disease, a level of hope that we never have had before."

The new study results were presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. The study was funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb, the maker of Opdivo.

Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

For more on lung cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.
MONDAY, April 3, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- People with heart disease may fare better when they feel they can trust and talk to their doctor, two new studies suggest.

In one study, researchers found that heart patients who thought their doctors were good communicators were more likely to take aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs. They were also less likely to land in the ER.

In the other study, patients were more apt to take their blood pressure medication if they generally trusted the medical profession.

It's no secret that communication and trust are important in any doctor-patient relationship, according to Dr. Victor Okunrintemi, the lead researcher on the communication study.

What's not clear is how those things affect heart patients' health, said Okunrintemi, who is based at Baptist Health South Florida in Miami.

The new findings, he said, don't prove that doctors can keep their patients out of the ER by being good listeners.

"We can't say for sure that if you have good communication with your doctor, you'll have better outcomes," Okunrintemi said.

But it "makes sense," he added, that if patients feel they've had time to ask questions -- and believe their doctor listened to them -- they'll be more likely to stick with their treatment plan.

"Studies like this imply that we can improve our patients' outcomes if we can be better communicators," Okunrintemi said.

He was scheduled to present the findings Monday at a meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA), in Arlington, Va.

The results are based on interviews with over 6,800 patients with hardened blood vessels (atherosclerosis) -- meaning they had artery-clogging plaques that put them at risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

The patients were asked to rate how often their doctor spent enough time with them, explained their care clearly, listened to their questions and showed "respect" for what they had to say.

Overall, the study found, patients who said their doctors usually did those things fared better: They were 52 percent more likely to be using a cholesterol-lowering statin, and 26 percent more likely to be taking aspirin to curb their heart attack risk.

Those patients were also 41 percent less likely to go to the ER, and spent less on health care -- around $1,200 less per year, on average.

Of course, patients who communicate well with their doctors may differ from other patients in many ways, Okunrintemi said. But, he added, his team did account for some of those factors -- such as patients' income and overall health.

And communication still mattered.

The second study included 201 patients with high blood pressure. Half of the study participants were Hispanic.

This study was led by Lilia Meltzer, a nurse practitioner from UCLA. It found that those patients who generally trusted the medical profession took their medications 93 percent of the time -- versus 82 percent among patients who were less trusting.

These studies don't prove that communication or trust, specifically, made the difference, according to AHA spokesperson Dr. Nieca Goldberg. She's medical director of the Women's Heart Program at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

Still, Goldberg said, it's clear that communication is critical -- and, often, tricky.

Medical information can be complicated, and patients bring different things to the table, she pointed out.

Some come in armed with information they found online and plenty of questions, Goldberg said. Others have lower "health literacy," she noted, and may have difficulty understanding the information they're given.

"You have to be able to adapt what you're saying to the individual," Goldberg said. "It's also important to ask them questions, and repeat what they say back to them, to make sure you're understanding correctly. Be an active listener."

It's also helpful to not only talk, but to give patients simple written information to take home, Goldberg said.

The medical profession is paying more attention to the art of communication than years ago, both Goldberg and Okunrintemi said. Medical schools and continuing medical education courses are increasingly focusing on communication skills.

Patient "satisfaction," in general, is growing in importance, Okunrintemi pointed out. It's now a factor in Medicare reimbursements to hospitals.

Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has advice on communicating with your doctor.
Share this: Twitter

Facebook

WhatsApp

LinkedIn

Email

Telegram



New York, April 4, 2017Security forces in Benghazi should stop harassing AFP photojournalist Abdullah Doma and ensure that he can work safely and without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces in the eastern Libyan city have twice detained Doma in the last week, according to AFP and other news reports.

Security forces detained Doma at his home on March 28 after the journalist photographed an Earth Hour event the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs had criticized as offensive to Islam because it allowed mixing of men and women, according to press reports.

The photographer was released some 24 hours later, but officers from the Interior Ministrys Department of Homeland Security detained him again on April 1, according to The Libya Herald, an English-language news website. According to that report, members of rival security forces disagreed over who should take him into custody.

Doma was again released the following day, April 2, according to AFP, but was required to return to the Interior Ministrys counterterrorism unit yesterday. There officers confiscated his identification card and instructed him to sign a series of documents without allowing him to read them, according to his employer. Libyan special forces from the eastern authority intervened and allowed the journalist to leave the building, AFP reported.

The news agency cited an unnamed official as saying that high-level authorities in eastern Libya had ordered all criminal proceedings against Doma to be dropped, but that some members of the security services appeared to be out of control.

His situation remains highly uncertain, AFP reported yesterday.

We call on security forces in eastern Libya to stop harassing photojournalist Abdullah Doma and allow him and all journalists to work freely, CPJ Program Director Carlos Lauria said. Journalists in Libya take immense risks every day. Security forces should be there to protect them, not to terrorize them further.

Libya, now under the control of rival governments based in the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Tobruk, remains a dangerous place to be a journalist. Last month armed men attacked the Tripoli office of the Libyan TV channel Al-Nabaa and set the building on fire, CPJ reported at the time. Authorities in the eastern city of Tobruk on February 27 took the radio station Al-Wasats transmitter and sealed its office, CPJ reported at the time.

Authorities in both regions of Libya have arrested journalists, according to CPJ research. Continued fighting in the country continues to pose severe risk of abduction, injury, or death to journalists covering the conflict.
Nevada's newly completed $858,000 death chamber

Lawmakers are taking up a bill that would do away with executions and ensure life in prison is the harshest penalty a person can get in Nevada.





Opponents argue that it's too expensive for a penalty that is rarely carried out, and isn't practical because the state can't even procure the drugs it needs to make a lethal injection.





But while Democratic sponsor James Ohrenschall says he's "optimistic" that the measure will garner enough support to get a vote in the committee where it received an emotionally charged hearing last week, polls show less than 1/3 of Nevada voters support abolishing capital punishment, and the Republican governor who could veto the measure has reiterated that he supports the death penalty.





Here are some things to know about capital punishment:





31 - Number of states that have the death penalty.





12 - Number of people who have been executed in Nevada since 1977, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a moratorium on the death penalty that had lasted about 5 years. Of those, 11 were volunteers who hadn't exhausted their appeals but voluntarily resigned to their executions. The 1 involuntary execution was of Richard Moran, a defendant who hadn't exhausted all his legal resources when he was initially on trial for 3 murders - he discharged his lawyers and changed his pleas to guilty before he was sentenced to death.





81 - Number of Nevadans currently on death row. The latest addition was 24-year-old Javier Righetti, who was sentenced to death in Clark County on March 21 for the murder of 15-year-old Alyssa Otremba in 2011. He is now the youngest person on death row. Otremba's mother submitted testimony last week supporting capital punishment.





0 - Death row inmates in Nevada who have exhausted their appeals and are immediately eligible for execution. 1 inmate, Scott Dozier, is trying to volunteer for execution.





160 - Total number of people sentenced to death in Nevada since 1977. There have been 186 death sentences handed down in that time period - the discrepancy comes because some defendants are sentenced to death more than once, such as after a prior sentence reversal.





46.6 - Percentage of total Nevada death sentences that are reversed in a state or federal court. Someone who has their death sentence reversed could potentially get the same sentence again once the courts re-do the trial or the penalty phase.





31.2 - Percentage of Nevada cases in which an inmate is permanently taken off death row because of a reversal or a vacated conviction or penalty. One example of a vacated conviction is the case of Michael Domingues, who was convicted of committing a double murder when he was 16 years old. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005 - 12 years after the killings - barred states from executing people for crimes they committed while they were younger than 18.





1924 - The 1st time Nevada executed a prisoner by lethal gas. The state was the 1st in the world to legalize the so-called "Humane Death" method and employed it at Nevada State Prison in Carson City until 1979. Prior to that, people in Nevada were executed by hanging or firing squad.





2,288 - Number of people who died by homicide in Clark County from 2002 to 2015, according to the Clark County Coroner's Office. In that time, 18 people were sentenced to death.





175 - Number of instances in which Clark County has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty since 2005, according to Clark County Public Defender Scott Coffee. Most of those cases lead to a plea deal, while about 1/3 of those that proceed to trial result in a death sentence.





36.5 - Percentage of people on death row in Nevada who are black. That compares with 47.5 % who are white and 12.1 % who are Hispanic. Nevada's total population in 2016 was 8.6 % black, 52.3 % white and 28.6 % Hispanic. Nationally, 42 % of death row inmates are black, 42 % are white and 13 % are Hispanic.





$858,000 - Amount of money the 2015 Nevada Legislature approved for a new execution chamber at Ely State Prison, which also houses Nevada's death row inmates. It was completed in late 2016 amid concerns that the old chamber, in the shuttered Nevada State Prison, was not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.





247 - Number of vendors the state contacted in September 2016 in an attempt to get a supplier to replace an expired drug needed for the lethal cocktail. None submitted a bid by the deadline a month later. Numerous pharmaceutical companies have publicly opposed the use of their products for lethal injections. While the state is effectively unable to carry out executions, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who supports keeping the death penalty, said he's confident after talking with Nevada prisons officials that there would be a way forward if the need arose. Asked about whether the state could carry out capital punishment, Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast said Wednesday that "we are researching our options. I have no details beyond that." One option for obtaining drugs if an order comes down, NDOC director James Dzurenda told KTNV, is asking other states to use drugs that they don't anticipate using. - Number of vendors the state contacted in September 2016 in an attempt to get a supplier to replace an expired drug needed for the lethal cocktail. None submitted a bid by the deadline a month later. Numerous pharmaceutical companies have publicly opposed the use of their products for lethal injections. While the state is effectively unable to carry out executions, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who supports keeping the death penalty, said he's confident after talking with Nevada prisons officials that there would be a way forward if the need arose. Asked about whether the state could carry out capital punishment, Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast said Wednesday that "we are researching our options. I have no details beyond that." One option for obtaining drugs if an order comes down, NDOC director James Dzurenda told KTNV, is asking other states to use drugs that they don't anticipate using.





$1.3 million - Estimated cost of a Nevada case in which the death penalty is sought and an inmate is sentenced to death, but not executed, according to a 2014 analysis from the Legislative Counsel Bureau. That includes incarceration costs. District attorneys pushed back on the LCB's findings in a Wednesday hearing, saying their offices absorb death penalty cases into their regular budgets and don't seek out extra money from counties to carry out such cases. They also said, and the LCB acknowledged in its audit, that it was difficult to accurately determine the amount of staff time that went into a specific death penalty case because work hours are often not recorded like that.





$1.03 million - Estimated cost of a Nevada case in which the death penalty is sought, an inmate is sentenced to death and an execution is carried out.





$775,000 - Estimated cost of a Nevada murder case in which the death penalty is not sought, according to the LCB analysis. That includes incarceration.





67 - Percentage of Nevadans who support keeping the death penalty, according to a Nevada Independent poll from January. Just 27 % oppose having capital punishment, and 7 % were unsure.





0 - Level of support that veto power-wielding Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has expressed for attempts to abolish the death penalty. "The Governor has historically supported the death penalty for criminals who have committed the worst crimes," his office said in a statement Wednesday. "He trusts the state's judicial system to determine a punishment that is equal to the crime and does not support an attempt to abolish the death penalty."

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Source: The Nevada Independent, April 3, 2017
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the Texas death penalty case of a Honduran national who was convicted for his role in a 1995 murder of 67-year-old Santiaga Paneque during a Houston home invasion.





The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the Texas death penalty case of a Honduran national who is arguing that a federal appeals court wrongly denied him resources to investigate and provide evidence of substance abuse and mental illness.





Advocates for Carlos Ayestas believe that if a jury had heard he had a history of cocaine addiction and mental illness, they may not have sentenced him to death for his role in a 1995 murder of 67-year-old Santiaga Paneque during a Houston home invasion. State officials have dismissed such speculation.





Ayestas and two others bound Paneque with duct tape before beating her and strangling her to death, according to the state's brief to the Supreme Court. Ayestas was found guilty and sentenced to death two years later.





Controversially, a memo discovered in 2014 showed the Harris County District Attorney initially listed one reason to pursue the death penalty in Ayestas case was his immigration status: he was living in Houston illegally.





Now, after almost 20 years on death row, 47-year-old Ayestas' case will be reviewed by the nations highest court. In the case, Ayestas claims the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wrongly denied him resources to investigate and produce evidence that his previous lawyers failed to raise in trial and state appeals. (In his petition to the high court, he also raised the issue of the Harris County memo, but the court denied it a hearing.)





"Mr. Ayestass case is about the right to be fairly charged and defended. From the charging decision through the federal habeas process, Mr. Ayestas has been denied his constitutional right to nondiscriminatory treatment and effective representation," Ayestas lawyers Lee Kovarsky and Callie Heller said in a statement after the court's decision. "...We look forward to appearing before the Supreme Court and have faith that the Fifth Circuits decision denying him a meaningful opportunity to be heard will be reversed."





The Texas Attorney Generals office declined to comment on the case.





During his trial in 1997, Ayestas lawyer provided little evidence to try to persuade jurors that her client should be spared from a death sentence, according to Ayestas petition to the Supreme Court. His lawyer brought forth only positive recommendations from his prison English teacher.





Despite her awareness of a history of substance abuse and red flags for mental health problems, trial counsels preparation was delayed, rudimentary, and proceeded on a timeline inconsistent with her explanation that she throttled investigation on Mr. Ayestas instruction, Kovarsky wrote in the petition.





The state has argued this lack of evidence is Ayestas fault alone, since he instructed his lawyer not to contact his Honduran family until jury selection began.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Source: Texas Tribune, Jollie McCullough, March 3, 2017
Proposals Sought for IAEA Conference on Protecting Nuclear Facilities

The IAEA International Conference on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities will be held Nov. 13-17, 2017, in Vienna, Austria.

May 15 is the deadline for interested participants to submit a synopsis to present at the IAEA International Conference on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities, which will be held Nov. 13-17, 2017, in Vienna, Austria. The conference will feature plenary sessions, panels, keynote statements, technical presentations, and poster sessions and scientific papers.

"Physical protection against unauthorized removal of nuclear material during use, storage, and transport and against the sabotage of nuclear material and nuclear facilities during use, storage, and transport has long been a matter of national and international concern and cooperation," said Kenneth Brooks, senior nuclear security officer at IAEA and the scientific secretary of the conference. "The Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material entered into force last year, and this conference will provide an excellent platform for countries that have adopted the amendment to share with others their experience, challenges, and lessons learned in areas of physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities."

The convention is the only international, legally binding agreement on the physical protection of nuclear material. In 2016, the amendment broadened the scope of the convention to include protection for nuclear materials used for peaceful purposes in domestic use, storage, and transport, and IAEA provided Member States with recommendations on how to implement a comprehensive physical protection regime.

"To strengthen global nuclear security, universal adherence to and implementation of the CPPNM and its amendment are critical," said Gisele Irola, foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State. "The international nuclear security framework is only as strong as its weakest link."
By Katie Paul RIYADH (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would raise "hard issues" with Saudi Arabia's leaders on a visit to the country, as critics urged her to pressure Riyadh over its air war in Yemen and human rights record. May also said she was appalled by reports of a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria that killed dozens of people, including 11 children, and called for a prompt investigation. She was expected to explore ways of boosting trade with the kingdom during the two-day visit, her second to a Gulf Arab state since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Saudi Arabia is the country's largest Middle East trading partner, with British exports worth 6.57 billion pounds in 2015. May, who has launched a drive to secure trade deals after launching divorce proceedings with the EU, said she would stand up for both human rights and Britain's national interests in her talks in the world's top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia is a major customer for British defence companies and an ally in the fight against Islamist militancy. Britain's supply of aircraft and weapons has come under scrutiny because of the war in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has launched thousands of air strikes in an effort to dislodge Iranian-aligned Houthis from the capital Sanaa and restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. The two-year-old civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians. "We have no difficulty in raising hard issues with those that we meet with, be it in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere around the world," May told reporters in Jordan before heading to Riyadh where she is expected to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. "The strong British tradition of standing up for human rights is there, the strong British tradition of standing up for British national interest is there," she said. May, who landed in Riyadh on Tuesday, will be joined by the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange for a financial roundtable at the kingdom's bourse. The London Stock Exchange is among those pitching to win a piece of state oil company Saudi Aramco's initial public offering, which is expected to be the world's largest. TRADE DEALS May has come under fire over her foreign trips since becoming prime minister last year. She was accused of failing to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier this year. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said May must put human rights and international law at the centre of her talks with the Saudis. "Unless the prime minister challenges the Saudi regime over its abuses this week, it will be clear she is ready to sacrifice human rights and security on the altar of the arms trade," he said in a statement. May attended the annual Gulf Arab summit in Bahrain in December to cement ties with oil producers. "Britain is introducing itself to countries of the region in its new form," said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Center. "This means that Britain will be in direct competition with European Union powers and that it presents itself as an alternative to them." May must try to strengthen her hand in talks with the EU without annoying its leaders and secure trade deals elsewhere in case the talks fail and Britain crashes out of the bloc without an agreement. "I want to see the United Kingdom as a truly global Britain," May said. "A good continuing deep partnership with the European Union, but also trading and working with others around the world." (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Michael Holden in London; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Stamp)
English Lithuanian

Alytus, Lithuania, 2017-04-04 08:32 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The address of head office Pramones str. 6, Alytus, the company code 249664610 (hereinafter, the Company). he ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (hereinafter, the Meeting) date - 25 April 2017.

The place of the meeting at AB Snaige office, at the address Kareiviu str. 6, Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Meeting commences  at 10 a.m. (registration starts at 9.45 a.m.).

The Meetings accounting day  18 April 2017 (the persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of accounting day of the General Meeting of Shareholders or authorized persons by them, or the persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the disposal of voting right, shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders).

The Rights accounting day  10 May 2017.

The Board of directors of the Company initiates and convenes the meeting.

Agenda of the Meeting:

1. Consolidated annual report of Snaige AB on the companys activity for 2016

2. Auditors conclusion on the companys financial statements for 2016.

3.Approval of the set of financial statements of the company for 2016.

4.Approval of distribution of profit (loss) of Snaige AB for 2016.

5. The Board members election;

6.Election of the audit firm for auditing purposes of financial statements and establishment of terms regarding the payment for audit services;

The Company shall not provide the possibility to participate and vote in the Meeting through electronic communication channels.

Draft resolutions on agenda issues, documents be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders and other information related with the exercising of the shareholders rights are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item For investors. This information will be also available for the shareholders at the head office of the Company (Pramones street 6, Alytus) on business days from 9:00 am. till 16:00 pm. (on Fridays till 14:00), tel. +370 315 56206, +370 5 2361970.

Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting by providing the Meeting draft resolution on each additionally proposed issue or in case no resolution is required - the explanation. The proposals to supplement the agenda shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. The proposals submitted via the e-mail shall be sent on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The proposals to supplement the agenda with the additional issues shall be submitted till the 10 April 2017, 4:00 p.m. In case the agenda of the Meeting is supplemented the Company will report on it no later than 10 days before the Meeting in the same ways as on convening of the Meeting.

Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing new draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, audit firms for auditing purposes of financial statements. The proposals shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days till 24 April 2017, 2 p.m. or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. During the Meeting the proposals shall be submitted to the Chairman of the Meeting after he announces the Meeting agenda and no later than the Meeting starts working on the issues of agenda. The proposals submitted via the electronic mail shall be sent on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The proposals submitted on this e-mail till 24 April 2017, 2:00 p.m. will be discussed during the Meeting.

The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the General Meeting of Shareholders' agenda issues to the Company in advance in writing. The shareholders shall present the questions not later than 3 business days before the Meeting via the electronic mail on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The Company undertakes to respond to the submitted questions via the electronic mail till the Meeting day, except the questions related to the Companys commercial secret and confidential information.

During the registration to attend the Meeting the shareholders or the persons authorized by them shall submit a document which is a proof of his identity. The shareholders' authorized persons shall submit the power of attorney confirmed by the established order. The power of attorney issued by the natural person shall be notarized. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalized in the manner prescribed by law. Representative can be authorized by more than one shareholder and shall have a right to vote differently under the orders of each shareholder. The shareholder holding shares of the Bank, where the shares have been acquired on his own behalf, but for the benefit of other persons, must disclose before voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders to the Company the identity of the final customer, the number of shares that are put to the vote and the content of the voting instructions submitted to him or any other explanation regarding the participation agreed upon with the customer and voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders.

Shareholder shall also have the right to authorize through electronic communication channels another person (natural or legal) to participate and vote in the Meeting on shareholder's behalf. Such authorization shall not be confirmed by the notary officer. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels by e-mail vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt no later than the last business day before the meeting at 2:00 p.m. The power of attorney and notification shall be issued in writing. The power of attorney and notification to the Company shall be signed with the Electronic Signature but not the letters sent via the e-mail. By submitting the notification to the Company the shareholder shall include the Internet address from which it would be possible to download free of charge software to verify an Electronic Signature of the shareholder.

Each shareholder or representative thereof shall have the right to cast his/her vote in advance in writing by filling in a general ballot paper. The general ballot paper form is on the Company's website www.snaige.lt on menu item For Investors. Upon the written shareholders request, the Company no later than 10 days before the Meeting shall send a general ballot paper by registered mail or hand it in person against signature. The general ballot paper filled shall be signed by the shareholder or his/her representative. In case the ballot paper is signed by the shareholder's authorized representative, such person along with the filled ballot paper shall submit the document to confirm the voting right. The ballot paper filled and the document confirming the voting right (if required) shall be submitted in a written form to the Company by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175, Alytus, Lithuania, or by submitting it to the Company. Validated will be dully filled-in ballot papers, received until the meeting.

The following information and documents are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item For Investors:

- report on the convening of the Meeting;

- the total number of the Companys shares and the number of shares with voting rights on the convening day of the Meeting;

- draft resolutions on each agenda issue (in general ballot paper) and other documents to be submitted to the Meeting;

- general ballot paper form.

Additional information on the stock event is provided by telephone: +370 5 2361970.

Draft resolutions of the General Meeting of Shareholders are attached.
German English

Liestal, Switzerland, April 4, 2017 - Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) announces that a large majority of shareholders approved all proposals by the Board of Directors at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting (ASM) today. Participating shareholders represented a total of 3,097,267 shares or 49.3% of the share capital with voting power.

"The results of today's ASM are a strong vote of confidence in our strategy and performance and I thank our shareholders for their consent and continued support," said Martin Gertsch, Chairman of the Board of Directors until today's ASM. "2016 was exceptionally successful and Santhera's first full year as a commercial company following the European marketing authorization for Raxone. Today, backed by sufficient financial resources, Santhera is well positioned for further milestone achievements and strong international growth. Against this background, I welcome the newly elected members of the Board of Directors, who, with their complementary diverse industry experience and know-how, will further contribute to the successful implementation of our development, commercial and strategic goals."

Approval of the annual and consolidated financial statements 2016 and result appropriation

The shareholders endorsed the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for 2016 and the appropriation of the net result of CHF -894,664 to new account. Furthermore, the shareholders granted discharge to the members of the Board of Directors and Executive Management for the financial year 2016.

Increase of conditional capital approved

The shareholders approved the increase of the conditional capital for employee participations thereby supporting the expansion of the organization with qualified staff and strengthening the attractiveness of Santhera as an employer. Furthermore, the shareholders consented to an increase of conditional capital for financings enabling the Company for a future delivery of shares under the conditions of the convertible bond issued on February 10, 2017, solely from conditional capital.

Elections of Board of Directors, Chairman and Compensation Committee

Shareholders re-elected Martin Gertsch and newly elected Philipp Gutzwiller, Thomas Meier, Elmar Schnee and Patrick Vink as members of the Board of Directors, each for a term of one year. In addition, shareholders elected Elmar Schnee as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, the shareholders elected Elmar Schnee and Patrick Vink as members of the Compensation Committee.

The newly elected Chairman of the Board of Directors Elmar Schnee said: "Today, I assume my new role with great optimism and I would like to thank the shareholders for their confidence. At the same time, I wish to express my recognition to the previous Board, management and all employees for their outstanding efforts in developing Santhera into the promising and well positioned specialty pharma company it is today. I am looking forward to working with the Board of Directors and the Executive Management to further pursue the growth strategy and strengthening Santhera as a leader in the treatment of mitochondrial diseases."

Board and Executive Management remuneration approved

In three separate binding votes, Santhera's shareholders agreed to the maximum total amount of fixed compensation for members of the Board of Directors covering the period from the ASM 2017 to the ASM 2018 as well as the maximum total amount of fixed compensation 2018 and variable compensation 2016 for the members of the Executive Management. Furthermore, in a consultative vote, shareholders endorsed the Compensation Report 2016.

Details on the agenda items

The proposals and explanations about the agenda items are available on the Company's website at http://www.santhera.com/investors-and-media/investor-toolbox/shareholder-meetings. From end of this week, the protocol of the ASM 2017 will also be available.

About Santhera

Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative pharmaceutical products for the treatment of orphan mitochondrial and neuromuscular diseases. Santhera's lead product Raxone is authorized in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). For Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the second indication for Raxone, Santhera has filed a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) in the European Union and Switzerland. In collaboration with the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Santhera is developing Raxone in a third indication, primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), and omigapil for congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), all areas of high unmet medical need. For further information, please visit the Company's website www.santhera.com.

Raxone is a trademark of Santhera Pharmaceuticals.

For further information, contact:

Thomas Meier, PhD, Chief Executive Officer Christoph Rentsch, Chief Financial Officer

Phone +41 61 906 89 64 Phone +41 61 906 89 65

thomas.meier@santhera.com christoph.rentsch@santhera.com

US investor contact US Public Relations contact

Hans Vitzthum, LifeSci Advisors, LLC John Gillespie, Medical Dynamics

Phone +1 212 915 2568 Phone +1 646 599 8626

hans@lifesciadvisors.com jgillespie@rxmedyn.com

Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements

This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

# # #
Russian Latvian English

Riga, Latvia, 2017-04-04 13:58 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An extraordinary meeting of ABLV Bank, AS shareholders was held on 31 March 2017. At the meeting, decisions were made on the increase of the banks share capital and approval of the terms of share capital increase, and on the appropriate amendments to the banks Articles of Association. In addition, members of the Audit Committee were elected, as well as other matters included in the agenda were considered and related documents were reviewed.



It was decided to increase the ABLV Bank, AS share capital by issuing 3,780,000 new registered voting shares. According to the approved terms of share capital increase, the sale price of one share will be EUR 13.40. Following the new issue, the banks equity will be increased by EUR 50.7 million. The subscription to the new shares will start on 10 April 2017 and will last until 19 May 2017.



Due to the increase of the share capital, a decision on the introduction of corresponding amendments to the bank's Articles of Association was taken and the new edition of the Articles of Association was approved. Following the share capital increase, the banks new subscribed share capital will amount to EUR 42.1 million, and the same will consist of 38,250,000 registered voting shares and 3,830,000 employee non-voting shares.



Following the amendments in the effective normative acts of the Republic of Latvia regarding the requirements for the composition of the Audit Committee (number of independent members), new members of the banks Audit Committee were elected. Starting on 1 April 2017, members of the Audit Committee shall be the Chairman of the Council of the bank Olegs Fils, and two independent members of the Audit Committee  Olga Ibisova and Martins Valters. Term of office of the members of Audit Committee shall be three years.



This statement contains inside information.



ABLV Bank, AS is the largest independent private bank in Latvia. The banks major shareholders  Olegs Fils, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne  directly and indirectly hold 86.55% of the bank's voting share capital. ABLV Group includes ABLV Bank, AS; ABLV Bank Luxembourg, S.A.; ABLV Capital Markets, IBAS; ABLV Asset Management, IPAS; Pillar Holding Company, KS; ABLV Consulting Services, AS; ABLV Corporate Services, SIA; New Hanza City, SIA, and other companies. ABLV Group has representative offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Almaty, Baku, Tashkent, Hong Kong, Limassol and New York.


LoveTheGMAT wrote:

Hey

I see your signature says that Grades/GMAT are not the main focus for admission. So what do they use to assess you?

LoveTheGMAT wrote:

One reason I was interested in Brock was that it has joint CMA/MBA program. I wanted to do CMA and I could have done through three ways:

1. Take CMA accelerated program

2. Take courses at my university

3. Enroll in MBA program and take those courses there



#3 seemed best as I would be taking courses at MBA level compared to undergrad level (if I were to do #2)

#1 is just not considered best as they teach you a course in 1 day, which some students take over 1 full semester. People really don't grasp the content well in 1 day and then they struggle later on.

They will still use grades, but the big focus is on employability and personality. The essay you write is pretty open ended, in fact it's called a personal essay so the hint there is be personable in it. You also fill out a whole bunch of other stuff like a profile and what employer partners you think would be a good fit for you (though I don't think they use that bit to assess). Then there's the interview and that's your chance to really shine.I think we're able to lean more heavily on the personality side of things now at least because the class size is small (50 max now, 100 later) enough and the number of incoming apps are not overwhelming (yet).You are right, it kills 2 birds with one stone too because you build credits towards an MBA degree. Plus those standalone courses can cost a bundle.Actually, Dal's friendly rival Saint Mary's University has a CMA-MBA program. They're actually holding the reputation now in the area for being "the business school" (Dal is better known for medicine). I was considering applying there before I learned of the CRMBA. If you like an East Coast experience while taking a CMA-MBA I suggest you give that program a gander. SMU is much small and us Dal jerks make a lot of fun of them but my Honours prof was from SMU, so I had some exposure to the campus and people: they're actually alright (as a Dal alum I'm not officially allowed to say anything better than that).For you I suggest you definitely follow your goals and I think a CMA-MBA combined program is an excellent choice. I also think with some extra effort you could pull off a similar learning experience with something like the CRMBA (it's been heralded as " the tailor made MBA "). I mean, there's no real "social media MBA" but that's kind of what I've done with my approach to the program. However, there are aspects to this program that may not jive with or distract you from your CMA goals so you'll have to be careful to gather all the facts about all the places you look at!
We often get questions about how the Polsky Center works with entrepreneurial students. We are strongly committed to supporting your start-ups and other entrepreneurial endeavors. Below weve outlined some of the many ways you can take advantage of Polsky Center resources and other start-up programs:



Spring Quarter Events: Throughout the spring we will host workshops and events on topics related to entrepreneurship and venture creation. Watch our calendar for info and updates.

Throughout the spring we will host workshops and events on topics related to entrepreneurship and venture creation. Watch our calendar for info and updates. Spring Quarter Office Hours: Check our office hours webpage and sign up to meet with entrepreneurs-in-residence, lawyers, staff, computer science students, alumni, and others throughout the spring term.

Check our office hours webpage and sign up to meet with entrepreneurs-in-residence, lawyers, staff, computer science students, alumni, and others throughout the spring term. Innovation Showcase: The Polsky Center is co-hosting the third annual Innovation Showcase on May 29, 2014 in the Harper Center Winter Garden. A select group of start-ups will receive space at the event where they can promote their businesses to students, faculty, NVC judges, and the UChicago community. Learn more and apply for a spot at the Innovation Showcase.

The Polsky Center is co-hosting the third annual Innovation Showcase on May 29, 2014 in the Harper Center Winter Garden. A select group of start-ups will receive space at the event where they can promote their businesses to students, faculty, NVC judges, and the UChicago community. Learn more and apply for a spot at the Innovation Showcase. New Venture Challenge Phase II : If you are interested in going through the NVC process with another team, we encourage you to add your information and areas of expertise to the NVC Team Building Google doc. You may also create a profile on DoerHub or on the Polsky Centers NVC LinkedIn group.

: If you are interested in going through the NVC process with another team, we encourage you to add your information and areas of expertise to the NVC Team Building Google doc. You may also create a profile on DoerHub or on the Polsky Centers NVC LinkedIn group. Polsky Center Summer Programming: The Polsky Center runs the Entrepreneurial Internship Program (EIP) and Accelerator Program, allowing students to work on their businesses over the summer. The EIP is open to full-time first-year MBA students and the Accelerator Program is open to all University of Chicago students. Reach out to Hannah Williams for information on the EIP, and Jerome Goodrich for information on the Accelerator Program.

The Polsky Center runs the Entrepreneurial Internship Program (EIP) and Accelerator Program, allowing students to work on their businesses over the summer. The EIP is open to full-time first-year MBA students and the Accelerator Program is open to all University of Chicago students. Reach out to Hannah Williams for information on the EIP, and Jerome Goodrich for information on the Accelerator Program. Greater Chicago Entrepreneurial Events: Local organizations such as BuiltinChicago, Technori, and 1871 hold a variety of workshops, networking events, and fast-pitches that are open to any member of the Chicago entrepreneurial community. Many Polsky-affiliated teams have received immense value from these events: exposure to customers, new partners, etc., as well as meaningful advice and contacts. We encourage you to take advantage of as many of these resources as possible. As always, you can stay up to date on Polsky Center resources through our monthly events email, the Polsky Center blog, and our events calendar.



If you have questions about these resources or would like to suggest other ways that the Polsky Center can support UChicago entrepreneurs, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
In a new book about the antiparty feeling of the early political leaders of the United States, Ralph Ketcham argues that the first six Presidents differed decisively from later Presidents because the first six held values inherited from the classical humanist tradition of eighteenth-century England. In this view, government was designed not to satisfy the private desires of the people but to make them better citizens; this tradition stressed the disinterested devotion of political leaders to the public good. Justice, wisdom, and courage were more important qualities in a leader than the ability to organize voters and win elections. Indeed, leaders were supposed to be called to office rather than to run for office. And if they took up the burdens of public office with a sense of duty, leaders also believed that such offices were naturally their due because of their social preeminence or their contributions to the country. Given this classical conception of leadership, it is not surprising that the first six Presidents condemned political parties. Parties were partial by definition, self-interested, and therefore serving something other than the transcendent public good.



Even during the first presidency (Washington's), however, the classical conception of virtuous leadership was being undermined by commercial forces that had been gathering since at least the beginning of the eighteenth century. Commerceits profit-making, its self-interestedness, its individualismbecame the enemy of these classical ideals. Although Ketcham does not picture the struggle in quite this way, he does rightly see Jackson's tenure (the seventh presidency) as the culmination of the acceptance of party, commerce, and individualism. For the Jacksonians, nonpartisanship lost its relevance, and under the direction of Van Buren, party gained a new legitimacy. The classical ideals of the first six Presidents became identified with a privileged aristocracy, an aristocracy that had to be overcome in order to allow competition between opposing political interests. Ketcham is so strongly committed to justifying the classical ideals, however, that he underestimates the advantages of their decline. For example, the classical conception of leadership was incompatible with our modern notion of the freedoms of speech and press, freedoms intimately associated with the legitimacy of opposing political parties.

Show Spoiler B

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

Show Spoiler E

2. According to the passage, the author and Ketcham agree on which of the following points?

Show Spoiler D

3. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to agree that modern views of the freedoms of speech and press are

Show Spoiler A

4. Which of the following, if true, provides the LEAST support for the author's argument about commerce and political parties during Jackson's presidency?

Show Spoiler C

5. The author of the passage would most likely to agree with which of following statements about Ketcham?

Show Spoiler E

6. Which of the following best describes the attitude of the first six Presidents toward political parties as it is discussed in the passage?

(A) describing and comparing two theories about the early history of the United States(B) describing and analyzing an argument about the early history of the United States(C) discussing new evidence that qualifies a theory about the early history of the United States(D) refuting a theory about political leadership in the United States(E) resolving an ambiguity in an argument about political leadership in the United States(A) The first six Presidents held the same ideas about political parties as did later Presidents in the United States.(B) Classical ideals supported the growth of commercial forces in the United States.(C) The first political parties in the United States were formed during Van Buren's term in office.(D) The first six Presidents placed great emphasis on individualism and civil rights.(E) Widespread acceptance of political parties occurred during Andrew Jackson's presidency.(A) values closely associated with the beliefs of the aristocracy of the early United States(B) political rights less compatible with democracy and individualism than with classical ideals(C) political rights uninfluenced by the formation of opposing political parties(D) values not inherent in the classical humanist tradition of eighteenth-century England(E) values whose interpretation would have been agreed on by all United States Presidents(A) Many supporters of Jackson resisted the commercialization that could result from participation in a national economy.(B) Protest against the corrupt and partisan nature of political parties in the United States subsided during Jackson's presidency.(C) During Jackson's presidency the use of money became more common than bartering of goods and services.(D) More northerners than southerners supported Jackson because southerners were opposed to the development of a commercial economy.(E) Andrew Jackson did not feel as strongly committed to the classical ideals of leadership as George Washington had felt.(A) He overemphasizes the influence of classical ideals on the first six Presidents of the United States.(B) He fails to recognize that classical ideals had little influence on politics in the United States.(C) He does not pay adequate attention to the negative aspects of the first six Presidents commitment to classical ideals.(D) He inaccurately suggests that classical ideals gave rise to our modern notion of democracy.(E) He underestimates the effect of ideologies other than the humanist tradition on the first six Presidents.(A). Political parties were essential to the notions of democracy on which the United States government was based.(B). Personal character in leadership was as important as affiliation with a political party.(C). Political parties were one way to ensure that government could meet the needs of all citizens.(D). Political parties, though undesirable, were inevitable in a democratic political system.(E). Political parties represented opposing political interests rather than the general public good.
Quote:

Tourists have long complained that hotel accommodations in Midville are too expensive.

Starting last year, the city council, hoping to attract more tourists, lowered the hotel tax rate to 5 percent of room charges. By the end of last year, Midville had taken in no less money from hotel taxes than it did the year before, so an examination of the hotel records will show that more tourists stayed in city hotels last year than the year before.



Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?



A. The tourists who stayed in Midville hotels last year were aware that the hotel tax rate had been lowered.

B. The average price of hotel accommodations in Midville was not significantly higher than in hotels in other cities either last year or the year before.

C. The average length of a touristas stay in Midville hotels was not longer last year than it had been the year before.

D. There were significantly more efforts to publicize Midville as a tourist destination last year than there had been the year before.

E. On average, tourists in Midville did not spend significantly more on meals last year than they did on hotels accommodations.

The passage states that the hotel tax rate was lowered last year but that Midville took in the same amount in hotel taxes. If the hotels earned the same total revenue last year and the year before the tax rate change, we would expect that Midville took in LESS money from hotel taxes last year. Since this is not the case, the hotels must have earned more revenue. The author concludes that this increase in revenue must have been caused by an increase in the number of tourists staying in city hotels last year, but this is only one possible explanation. Total revenue also would have increased if the number of tourists staying in city hotels remained the same but the average length of their stays increased last year. Thus, the author must assume that this was NOT the case in order to reach the conclusion of the passage. (choice C)Choice D offers a possible explanation of why tourism revenue increased last year, but it is certainly not required. Even if the number of tourists staying in city hotels did increase, as hypothesized by the author, it is certainly possible that the increase was caused by a variety of other factors (ie better economy, better weather, better transportation, etc), not necessarily by the publicizing of Midville as a tourist destination.Choice C is correct._________________
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
Social media giant Facebook on Tuesday announced plans for a data center in Sarpy County.

The data center, which will be the company's ninth worldwide and sixth in the U.S., will be built on a 144-acre site south of Papillion at the intersection of Capehart Road and Nebraska 50.

The data center campus will include two 450,000-square-foot buildings and another 70,000-square-foot office building that will connect them. Facebook says it could add up to two more buildings on the land if needed. The company expects the data center to be online as early as 2020.

Facebook said it expects to hire more than 1,000 construction workers to build the facility, which will have between 100 and 150 full-time employees.

Facebook will join several other major companies that have data centers in Sarpy County, including Yahoo, Fidelity, Cabelas and Travelers.

Were thrilled to welcome Facebook to greater Omaha and celebrate Sarpy Countys growing reputation as a major data center destination, David Brown, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release This is another remarkable win for our region and a testament to more than a year of focused effort and collaboration..."

The data center will be 100 percent powered by wind energy, which largely will be made possible by new wind farms being constructed in the state. Facebook also is partnering with the Omaha Public Power District to implement a new renewable energy tariff that will allow it and any other customer of the utility to acquire and pay for clean and renewable energy resources.

Tom Furlong, vice president of infrastructure at Facebook, called Nebraska "a great place to do business."

We're thrilled to have found a home in Nebraska and to embark on this exciting partnership," Furlong said in a news release. Everything here has been as advertised  from a committed set of community partners and strong pool of talent to the opportunity to power our facility with 100 percent renewable energy."
The post (in Chinese) says she hadnt realised her new handbag was an iconic Louis Vuitton  and greeted him with it filled with groceries and fresh fish, Joinfo.com reports with reference to the BBC.

She excitedly told him the new bag was very waterproof, but slightly heavy.

The Neverfull handbag is highly prized in Asia and around the world, and retails for 900 ($1,110).

The post explains his grandmother had been using the same tired handbag for years, so he wanted to treat her with a new expensive one.

While admitting he was speechless to see her waving at him with the bag filled with fresh fish, he said he decided not to point out her mistake after seeing how happy it made her.

The post has been liked more than 31,000 times by the networks users.

One person commented: Your granny must be most fashionable person at the market, walking around like shes strutting on the runway, even the fish has gone up in value!

Another referenced the long-standing rumour that passengers Louis Vuitton suitcases were said to have survived the sinking of the Titanic.

He ended the post by saying: No wonder LV bag has such a good reputation; it can last really long and is very durable!
Payless Inc., the bargain shoe store, filed for bankruptcy Tuesday.

The chain sought Chapter 11 protection in St. Louis, listing less than $10 billion in liabilities and less than $1 billion in assets.

The Topeka, Kansas-based company employs almost 22,000 people, according to its website, and has more than 4,000 stores in 30 countries. It said in a news release Tuesday that it will immediately close nearly 400 stores. It's not yet known if any of its Lincoln locations will close.

U.S. retailers have been trying to navigate changing consumer habits, including a shift to online shopping and fewer visits to the mall. In the past year, clothing chains American Apparel and Limited Stores have begun shutting down retail operations, while discount chain Gordmans Stores filed for bankruptcy and will close nearly half of its stores.

J.C. Penney, Macy's and Sears have closed stores as well, and Sears recently warned investors that it might not be able to stay in business much longer.
Researchers in the African country of Niger have introduced a new vaccine that protects against the diarrheal disease called rotavirus.

A scientific test has shown that the new vaccine is effective, safe and easy to use. Experts believe it will be more widely used than the two rotavirus vaccines now given to children.

A killer without a good vaccine

The new vaccine is important because rotavirus is a serious illness that can lead to death. Rotavirus causes a severe infection of the gastro-intestinal tract. It kills more than 215,000 children each year -- about 600 a day.

Two vaccines against rotavirus are already available. However, they are costly and difficult to use.

They must also be kept cold. In many African countries where people suffer from rotavirus, refrigeration and electricity are unreliable.

As a result, the existing rotavirus vaccines are not widely used.

A new option

Researchers have been working on a new vaccine for rotavirus called BRV-PV. They recently tested the vaccine with young children in Niger.

Researchers gave 1,780 babies the BRV-PV vaccine. Only 31 cases of rotavirus developed in those babies.

In contrast, 87 cases of rotavirus developed among the babies who received a treatment but did not get the real medicine. In other words, those babies were given a placebo.

The researchers say the clinical trial shows that BRV-PV was nearly 67 percent effective.

The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Three good results

Dr. Emmanuel Baron is the director of Epicentre, a research group that is part of Doctors Without Borders, an aid group. Epicentre researchers conducted the clinical trial.

We saw actually three things. The first is that this vaccine is efficient. The second is that this vaccine is safe. And we also saw a good acceptability by both the care providers and the families.

The new vaccine does not need refrigeration for up to six months. Medical workers mix it with liquid and give it to babies three times: when they are 6 weeks old, 10 weeks old, and 14 weeks old.

Baron is happy the new vaccine is effective. But he wishes the success  or efficacy  rate was even higher.

We would love to have 95, 98, 100 percent efficacy. But we know that all vaccines do not work very well in African countries for reasons that are still unclear, probably due to immunological disorders. But we also know that this efficacy of about 70 percent is higher than any other vaccine in similar settings.

The vaccine is expected to cost $6 for the three doses. The price will likely drop as more people are given the vaccine.

Baron says medical workers in countries where rotavirus is a serious health threat are waiting for the World Health Organization to approve the vaccine. Then, medical workers can start giving the new vaccine to children.

Im Anne Ball.

VOA Health Correspondent Jessica Berman reported this story from Washington. John Smith adapted the story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

See how well you understand the story by taking this reading quiz.

Quiz - New Rotavirus Vaccine Could Save Thousands of Children Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

diarrheal  adj. related to an illness that causes you to pass waste from your body very frequently and in liquid rather than solid form

infection  n. the act or process of infecting someone or something : the state of being infected

gastro-intestinal tract  n. an organ system in humans and animals that takes in food, digests it and expels the remaining waste

refrigeration  n. the act of keeping something cold to keep it fresh

placebo  n. a pill or substance that is given to a patient like a drug but that has no physical effect on the patient

clinical trial  n. a scientifically controlled study of the safety and effectiveness of a drug or vaccine using consenting humans for subjects

effective  adj. producing a result that is wanted

conduct  v. to plan and do something

efficient  adj. capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy

liquid  n. a substance that is able to flow freely

Immunological disorder  n. a disorder or problem with the immune system
Submit News to Scoop

Scoop only accepts email submissions to the email address

editor@scoop.co.nz

The Scoop.co.nz Publishing Policy

Note: Scoop only accepts content for publishing via email the above address.

Scoop Complaints Policy

Use this form link to make a complaint:

Scoop Complaints Form

.

All submissions of content are subject to the following terms and conditions:

1. In providing content to Scoop Media for publication you acknowledge:

1.1. That you are a copyright holder of the content being submitted for publication; or

1.2. You have authority to distribute the content to Scoop for publication and to convey the copyright described below to Scoop.

2. In providing content to Scoop for publication you acknowledge that:

2.1. Scoop has the legal right to distribute the content publicly and commercially as it sees fit;

2.2. That you are alienated from exercising control over the content as it appears on Scoops database; and

2.3. That you authorise Scoop to exercise control over the published content as a copyright holder within the meaning of Section 8(2) of the Copyright Act 1994.

2.4. For the purposes of clauses 1 and 2 Scoop includes all media enterprises associated with Scoop.co.nz including Newsagent.

3. In providing content to Scoop Media for publication you acknowledge;

3.1. That the content is of a good character and nature, and that it is submitted in good faith.

3.2. Content submitted to Scoop for publication must not do any of the following:

3.2.1. Harass, unduly offend, defame, breach privacy, breach copyright, be unlawful, be obscene, or cause any unnecessary or unlawful harm to any person or organisation what so ever without legal defense or cause.

3.2.2. Liability for breach of clause 2.2.1 falls with the author of the content;

3.2.3. Scoop is under no obligation to vet content for consistency with clause 2.2.1.

3.3. Content submitted to Scoop must be well researched and written in a manner which reflects the best media standards.

3.4. Scoop reserves the right to remove content from its database after publication;

3.5. Submitters of content forgo the right to have content removed from the database.

4.1. Only ScoopPro users are permitted to feature hyperlinks in the published content on Scoop.

4.2. Only ScoopPro users are permitted to feature images, video and audio files or other multimedia content in published content on Scoop.

4.3. Scoop reserves the right to publish content submitted by ScoopPro users first and to publish non-ScoopPro users material only after all ScoopPro user content has been published.

4.4. Scoop reserves the right to ignore the provisions of Clauses 4.1., 4.2. and 4.3. on a case-by-case basis where it is deemed content submitted by a non-ScoopPro user is highly newsworthy and timely publication with multimedia features would be in the public interest.

4.5 Being a ScoopPro User in no way guarantees that we will publish your material or multimedia content as the ultimate decision will depend on newsworthiness and compliance with our publishing policy.

Scoop is read by more than 400,000 people each month, any individual or organisation may send News and Press releases to editor@scoop.co.nz for publishing consideration; there is no cost for email submissions in accordance with the Scoop.co.nz publishing policy.Scoop receives many email submissions, and while not every story can be published our editorial team endeavors to publish as many stories that meet our editorial criteria as possible. While all submissions need to meet our publishing criteria, ScoopPro member submissions are given priority consideration.Professionals and people using Scoop for work can obtain a ScoopPro licence via our pro.scoop.co.nz webpage . Without a ScoopPro license, it is no longer possible to use Scoop for work or include multimedia features in submissions based on our terms of use Scoop's policy on the publication of press release and associated material is simple. If it's a press release issued in New Zealand, is legible, legal, sane, not hateful and not defamatory we will most probably publish it.Submissions to editor may include one story per email and should be attached as a word document or, in full text in the body of the email (PDF's or linked files may be included for reference but are not used for publishing, these may not be viewed for security reasons).While we must reserve the right to refuse any material for publication, and also to remove material at any time without notification, we don't tend to exercise it very often.We also reserve the right link the news we choose to feature in our feature panels, to edit and correct material if necessary, to distribute material published via email and databases and to publish the views of those who might disagree with you.We also reserve the right to provide priority publication to content from ScoopPro users and to refuse to include hyperlinks, images, video, audio and other multimedia files from non-ScoopPro users.Scoop is always keen to receive submissions from columnists, journalists and writers from all around the world. For the avoidance of disappointment we do not tend to pay submitters for their material.Comments, articles, speeches and press releases should be directed to: editor@scoop.co.nz Please include a contact phone number. If you wish to publish without contact details please request this.Scoop is subject to NZ Media Council procedures. A complaint must first be directed in writing, within one month of publication, to editor@scoop.co.nz. If not resolved, the complaint may be referred to the online complaint form at www.presscouncil.org.nz along with a link to the relevant story and all correspondence with the publication.4. Scoop reserves the right to give priority to publishing of content submitted by ScoopPro users.
University of Cincinnati graduate student Ryan Saadawi studied the health effects of hookah tobacco. Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

Hookah-tobacco users might want to rethink how they heat up their water pipes, based on research by chemists at the University of Cincinnati.

The gooey, flavorful tobacco in hookah pipes is normally burned with specially made charcoal briquettes, which can contain heavy metals or other toxins. But a study by UC graduate student Ryan Saadawi found that a popular alternative - electric heating disks sold in most tobacco shops - might be far more harmful to your health.

The study heated the same hookah tobacco with two types of commercially available charcoal and an electric heat source sometimes called e-charcoal.

UC researchers found that:

Lower-toxin charcoal killed 10 percent of lung cells after 24 hours.

Higher-toxin charcoal killed 25 percent of lung cells.

E-charcoal killed a whopping 80 percent of lung cells.

"We're never supposed to be surprised in science. I was shocked and excited to open a whole new field of research just based on temperature," said Saadawi, lead author of a paper he presented April 2 at the American Chemical Society conference in San Francisco, California.

Saadawi, 30, of Cincinnati, has been studying this popular form of tobacco use for years.

The practice of smoking tobacco with a water pipe called a hookah began hundreds of years ago in southeast Asia and spread across the Middle East. Today, hookah tobacco is smoked around the world. Many cities in the United States have hookah cafes where people get together to smoke socially.

Unlike e-cigarettes, which heat liquid into a vapor, hookah pipes burn real tobacco mixed with glycerine and flavorings.

The researchers designed an experiment to examine the toxicity of hookah smoke on human lung cells. In particular, Saadawi wanted to measure the toxic effects of the charcoal commonly used to burn tobacco in hookah pipes.

The UC research team includes doctoral students Amberlie Clutterbuck, Madison Nashu and assistant research professor Julio Landero Figueroa.

A hookah pipe. Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

For the latest study, the UC researchers compared two types of commercially available charcoal using the same hookah tobacco. A chemical analysis revealed one charcoal contained a higher concentration of heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead than the other.

They subjected lung cells to an extract of the resulting hookah smoke at different dilutions. The sample taken from the lower-toxin charcoal killed about 10 percent of the lung cells after 48 hours. The second sample, which used charcoal laced with heavy metals, killed about 25 percent of the lung cells.

Then Saadawi and his research team at the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences compared these results to hookah smoke from tobacco burned electronically by a ceramic disk (sometimes called e-coal). They figured the electronic heat source would provide a good control group to compare with the different charcoals. Instead, they found something surprising.

The smoke generated by the electronic heat source killed a whopping 80 percent of the lung cells.

"The results didn't make sense. My hypothesis was to find more dead lung cells in toxic charcoal," he said.

What happened?

Saadawi said heavy metals in charcoal are just one potential health risk inherent to smoking a hookah pipe.

He suspects the culprits that killed the lung cells were volatile organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are released when organic material such as tobacco burns. These compounds have been linked to a variety of cancers, including lung cancer.

While both heat sources initially heated the tobacco to 300 degrees Celsius, the electronic coal consistently kept the tobacco hotter than the burning charcoal, which drops in temperature with every inhalation from the hookah pipe.

While it's just a theory, Saadawi said, he thinks the consistently hotter e-coal released more hydrocarbons, which killed more lung cells.

"The contaminated charcoal had the potential to be more toxic. But that wasn't the reality," Saadawi said.

University of Cincinnati assistant research professor Julio Landero Figueroa holds a piece of hookah charcoal that contains a nail. Researchers found heavy metals and other toxins in hookah charcoal sold at retail stores. Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

Landero Figueroa is continuing the hookah research with undergraduate students. Now they are trying to narrow down which family of hydrocarbons is most harmful.

The team started the research under the late UC chemistry professor Joseph Caruso, who died in 2015.

Saadawi is quickly becoming an expert in hookah-tobacco science. The research team's literature review had found tens of thousands of published studies on cigarette smoking but comparatively few on the use of a hookah. The challenge was designing an experimental protocol from scratch, Saadawi said.

Previously, he and other UC researchers studied the toxicity of steam stones, porous rocks infused with flavoring that are heated in hookah pipes instead of tobacco to create a smoking vapor. And in a comparative study, Saadawi found that hookah smoke contained lower concentrations of four heavy metals he isolated compared to cigarette smoke.

FDA oversight

The UC research is timely as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration exerted regulatory authority over hookah tobacco for the first time last year.

"Everyone is surprised it was not regulated [before]. Most young people assume that since it was not regulated, it had to be a better alternative than cigarettes," Landero Figueroa said. "The FDA wants to regulate hookah tobacco. But to regulate it, first they have to understand where the toxins are coming from."

The UC research is especially relevant because use of hookah tobacco is on the rise among high school and college students, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly one in five high school students reported smoking hookah pipes during the previous year, according to a 2014 study by New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research published in the journal Pediatrics. That study found that many adolescents and young adults believe hookah tobacco is less harmful to their health and less addictive than cigarettes, a claim that has not been proven, Saadawi said.

"It's not an easy question to answer: which one is worse?" Saadawi said. "If you wanted to really answer it, you'd have to do many more studies."

Saadawi conducted his research in the medical lab of associate professor Michael Borchers, an immunologist and molecular biologist at the university.

Credit: University of Cincinnati

Borchers studies the chronic health effects of cigarette smoking in his lab at the UC College of Medicine. He also examines the immune function of smokers for the Veterans Administration. In particular, he studies chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.

"It destroys lung tissue where gas exchange occurs and causes bronchitis and inflammation around the airways," he said.

Borchers said it is worthwhile to examine whether hookah smokers can succumb to the same kinds of cardiopulmonary diseases as chronic cigarette smokers.

But there is far more variability in smoking hookah pipes compared to cigarettes, he said. Some hookah smokers might inhale more or less smoke than others.

"They say the dose makes the poison. The dose is really a huge part of it," he said. "If you just nip at it for 20 minutes, you're probably not going to smoke a cigarette's worth of tobacco. But if you take lots of deep draws, you'll smoke three cigarettes' worth."

Over time this can make a big difference in exposure, he said.

"It usually takes a long time to get sick from smoking," he said.

Saadawi, a former smoker, said he doesn't want anyone to misinterpret his studies to suggest that hookah is somehow better for your cardiovascular health than cigarettes.

"I do not condone any smoking. I'm not saying quit smoking cigarettes and start hookah," he said. "All smoking is bad for you."
In a collaboration between Swedish and Italian researchers, the aim was to analyse how the brain interprets information from a virtual experience of touch, created by a finger prosthesis with artificial sensation. The result was - completely unexpectedly - a new method for measuring brain health.

"We were able to measure the cooperation between neural networks in a very precise and detailed way. We can also see how the entire network changes when new information comes in", says neuroscience researcher Henrik Jorntell from Lund University in Sweden.

The Pisa-Lund group generated artificial touch experiences with a bionic fingertip currently used for robotic upper limb neuroprostheses. These artificial touch experiences were provided to the touch sensor nerves of the skin in the rat, as a kind of neuroscientific playback of information to the brain. Using a high-resolution analysis of how individual neurons and their connected brain networks processed this touch information, designed by neurocomputational scientist Alberto Mazzoni and physics scientist Anton Spanne, the groups got an unexpected insight into the brain representations of the external world experienced through touch. Single neurons in the brain are able to convey much more information than was previously thought and can interact to generate potentially super rich representations of sensory stimuli.

"This knowledge will be embodied into a novel generation of sensitive robotic hands able to convey fine tactile information to amputees, says lead bioroboticist Calogero Oddo. Such robotic arms with human-like richness of touch are also being used to perform complex tasks in surgical robots, rescue, services and industry."

Brain function is made up of complex neural networks. In cases of neurological diseases like Alzheimer's, stroke and Parkinson's, the function of these networks changes. It has been difficult, however, to study exactly what happens, as well as to evaluate different treatments. The method developed by these Swedish and Italian researchers could mean a big step forward in this respect.

The prosthesis was made to touch various objects, which generate different patterns of electrical signals. These were subsequently fed into a part of the paw of an anesthetized rat, and then, with the help of electrodes in the brain and advanced analytical techniques, the researchers were able to measure the reactions in the neuronal networks. They managed to record the reactions at very high resolution, as the electrical signals were carefully controlled and could therefore be delivered multiple times with exact reproducibility.

"If you use real-life experiences of touch, it is impossible to achieve the same conditions every time. It is enough, for instance, that the stimulus that provides the sensation of touch is moved some ten micrometres across the skin in order for the neural patterns to be completely different", says Henrik Jorntell.

For the Italian group, and for all others involved in research on advanced prostheses, the method provides a new tool for exploring the sensations the prostheses can provide. As for the Lund researchers, the method provides a tool for studying how neurons cooperate inside a healthy brain and in animal models with different neurological diseases. The fact that the cooperation involves the sense of touch is in this context less important; when it comes to neurological diseases (and even if the damage is local, as in the case of stroke) the entire neural network is disrupted. The brain's response to sensory impressions can therefore reflect the health of the entire brain.

"The tool is unique in its resolution, in its ability to reproduce the tests in the exact same way, and in that the brain activity can be measured objectively and precisely", says Henrik Jorntell.

More information: Calogero M. Oddo et al. Artificial spatiotemporal touch inputs reveal complementary decoding in neocortical neurons, Scientific Reports (2017). Journal information: Scientific Reports Calogero M. Oddo et al. Artificial spatiotemporal touch inputs reveal complementary decoding in neocortical neurons,(2017). DOI: 10.1038/srep45898
UK College of Public Health researcher Hefei Wen has authored a study showing state drug-monitoring programs are effective in reducing the number of opioids prescribed to Medicaid recipients.

The research, published in the April edition of Health Affairs, provides evidence that state mandates for provider participation in prescription drug-monitoring programs (PDMP) have influenced safer prescribing practices in providers who treat Medicaid patients. The analysis suggests state PDMP mandates are associated with a reduction in opioid prescriptions received by Medicaid patients and Medicaid spending on opioid prescriptions by as much as 10 percent.

Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have PDMPs in place to help providers identify patients at high risk of misusing or abusing controlled substances. However, the average registration rate across the states remains low and the majority of registered prescribers do not use PDMPs on a consistent basis. An increasing number of states have implemented statutory mandates requiring providers to register with the PDMPs and use the PDMP data when prescribing opioids and other controlled substances. For instance, in 2012, legislators in Kentucky passed one of the most comprehensive mandates. The Kentucky mandate requires prescribers to register with the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting System (KASPER) and query the KASPER system for all first-time prescriptions and a minimum of every 12 months after the first prescription. Such strong mandates can help improve the PDMP participation and fulfill the potential of PDMPs in addressing the opioid epidemic.

Wen, with collaborators at Cornell Medical College in New York, collected data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2011 to 2014. The researchers measured the number of new opioid prescriptions and refills for Medicaid patients and the amount of Medicaid spending on prescription opioids. They reviewed the data for every quarter of the calendar year from 2011 to 2014 in 46 states. In addition, the study separated states by the comprehensiveness of PDMP mandates, which varied in mandatory registration and use requirements.

Their analysis showed state mandatory registration or use of a PDMP reduced Schedule II opioid prescriptions and spending by 9 to 10 percent between 2011 and 2014. The results suggested state PDMP mandates were effective in promoting safer and more contained prescribing of opioids with high potential for abuse and dependence. These implications support PDMP mandates as effective in addressing the opioid epidemic.

Wen is an assistant professor in health management and policy in the UK College of Public Health. Her research leverages economic thinking to inform health care and public safety, with a concentration on behavioral health and drug control policy.

More information: Hefei Wen et al. States With Prescription Drug Monitoring Mandates Saw A Reduction In Opioids Prescribed To Medicaid Enrollees, Health Affairs (2017). Journal information: Health Affairs Hefei Wen et al. States With Prescription Drug Monitoring Mandates Saw A Reduction In Opioids Prescribed To Medicaid Enrollees,(2017). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1141
She was just another beagle that Lawrence Vernetti had scheduled to take part in another drug experiment.

But by the time he met this particular beagle in 1994, he had already assigned hundreds more beagles - the dog of choice for drug research, thanks to their small size and docile nature - to be experimented on in his role as study director at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago.

"I don't know why" the beagle caught his attention, he said recently during an interview in his office at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is associate professor of computational and systems biology. "But when you do work with them, you can develop a connection. I did with her, and after that I stopped wanting to work with animals."

Plagued by his emotional tie to the unnamed beagle but wanting to continue to work at Abbott, he proposed to his supervisor that they begin an in vitro research lab that would use cells or bacteria, instead of animals, to test drugs.

The company agreed. After a couple of years establishing the lab, Vernetti entered a nascent field that now, nearly a quarter of a century later, is building support across research and industry for reasons that go beyond the compassion of avoiding experimentation on animals.

"There has been a sea change in attitude," said Vernetti, who recently won a $50,000 grant from the Beagle Freedom Project to continue his research into developing a human liver model that could help companies avoid using animals for experimentation.

Drug companies and others who have used animals for pre-human testing of drugs and other chemicals have known for a long time that results with animals were a poor predictor of their effect on humans.

One study found that animal testing is only reliable 70 percent of the time in determining the basics of whether a drug or chemicals would be toxic to humans.

But finding a way to replace animal testing seemed daunting, despite the work of Vernetti and others on using cells.

When he started the in vitro lab at Abbott, Vernetti's experiments were basic: They would just put the proposed drugs on cells and wait to see if they died.

But over the last decade, the field has begun developing human "microphysiological systems."

The field is sometimes referred to as "organ-on-a-chip" or the larger goal of "human-on-a-chip."

It grabbed those catchy phrases because rather than any kind of scale model of an organ, these organs are created with a couple cells from a specific organ that are then placed into a plastic and glass "chip" no bigger than a business card.

The theory is that the cells can show the reaction to drugs or chemicals - which are pumped into the chip - in the same way that a working organ in an animal or human would.

Researchers believe they may also prove to be a big step in the field of precision medicine that will make treatment for individual patients much more effective. And the field would have the benefit of reducing the high cost of using animals for research, while eliminating the ethical dilemma that many, like Vernetti, have dealt with using animals.

The human-on-a-chip idea is that after the 10 major organs - and other parts of the body like eyes or the central nervous system - are replicated in this way, they can be connected together and a chemical or drug could be run through all of them to see how they would impact an entire human body.

Vernetti, who is also director of early drug safety for Pitt's Drug Discovery Institute, has been working for six years making a liver-on-a-chip. It uses human liver cells taken either medical procedures involving a living patient's liver, or from bodies donated to science, or livers originally intended for organ donation but were not used - all of them with approval of the patient or deceased.

Despite a recent journal article that showed the potential of linking his liver model with other organs and systems, Vernetti said: "We're not quite at the level where we can get an entire human body on a chip."

His most recent grant came from the Beagle Freedom Project, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that since 2010 has pushed for the elimination of animal testing and provides homes to dogs - not just beagles - and other animals previously used in research.

The project chose Vernetti's work for a grant as one of four $50,000 grants it made this year, the first it has made, all funded by the Microsoft Foundation.

"All four grants share something in common in that they aspire to reduce using animals in research," said Jeremy Beckham, a research specialist at the project.

Vernetti is using his grant funding to help pay for research into producing the first workable liver-on-a-chip with a more realistic bile duct component.

Bile is a fluid produced by the liver, through the bile duct, that aids in the digestion of lipids in the small intestine, an important part of the digestion process.

There are other researchers who have developed working liver models, but "nobody has been able to figure out how to make one with a realistic bile duct," Vernetti said.

After refining the bile duct portion of his liver-on-a-chip, Vernetti's next goal is to connect the working liver and bile duct chip with a colleague's intestine-on-a-chip.

Mark Donowitz, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is developing an intestinal chip using human intestinal stem cells.

Vernetti wants to connect their two projects to analyze how the human body removes toxins because the combination of the liver and its bile duct with the intestine "is the first line of defense for that," Vernetti says.

Donowitz has only been working in the microphysiology field for five years but is excited by what his early studies have shown.

"It has the potential to give new insights into physiology and drug development and other areas," he said. "But we have to prove it can work first."

One of the big hurdles to elimination of animal testing is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires animal testing for drugs before human trials can begin.

If it's possible, it will take years to prove to the FDA and others that the organ-on-a-chip technology can adequately replace animal testing.

But Vernetti, 64, who still thinks back to that beagle in Chicago all these years later, likes what he has seen so far of the results: "I do believe that through this kind of work we can eliminate animal testing, even if my career may be over before it happens."

2017 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Use of inhaled corticosteroids in women is associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) and an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, researchers have found. Results from a large Dutch study will be presented Sunday at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Corticosteroids are widely used anti-inflammatory medications. In their inhaled form, they are most often used to treat asthma and other lung diseases. The number of users of inhaled forms has increased remarkably in the past decades, said co-investigator Mesut Savas, M.D., M.Sc., a research physician and PhD candidate at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is believed, he said, that adverse events of corticosteroids mainly occur with the use of the systemic types, such as prednisone pills, and less in users of the locally applied forms.

However, Elisabeth van Rossum, M.D., Ph.D., study lead investigator and clinical endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the same Dutch university hospital, said, "Our findings suggest that inhaled corticosteroids may have greater systemic effects than recognized. This could warrant stricter monitoring of these adverse effects and potentially more restraint in prescriptions of this type of medication, especially in women at risk of the metabolic syndrome."

The metabolic syndrome involves having at least three of the following risk factors: increased waistline, increased blood pressure, increased levels of fasting blood glucose (sugar) and/or triglycerides, and decreased levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol.

The researchers found that more than one in every 10 persons in their study was using corticosteroids. They used the data of 140,879 adults from the Dutch general population who participated in the Lifelines Study Cohort. Participants answered a questionnaire about drug use, which was confirmed by showing their medicine. They were checked for features of the metabolic syndrome. Of the 15,328 participants who used corticosteroids, 14,621 used only "local" forms, such as steroid creams, eyedrops, nose sprays and inhalers, the investigators reported. More than 50 percent (7,719) of those participants used inhaled forms alone or in combination with other corticosteroids, Savas said.

Compared with nonusers of corticosteroids, the corticosteroid users reportedly had a 1.1-fold increased likelihood of having the metabolic syndrome. When the investigators analyzed the data by sex, they found "markedly stronger associations" between the metabolic syndrome and corticosteroid use in women. Men who used corticosteroids did not have an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome, according to Savas, but women who used any corticosteroid had a 1.2-fold raised risk. Specifically, inhaled corticosteroids yielded a significant 1.4-fold elevated likelihood of having the metabolic syndrome in women.

Similarly, corticosteroid users had a higher average BMI than did nonusers, by 0.31 kg/m2, and those using steroid inhalers had an increased BMI of 0.65 kg/m2. BMI is a surrogate measure of body fat. Women using inhaled corticosteroids had nearly a point higher BMI (0.86 kg/m2) than did women who did not use any corticosteroids.

The study, which was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, needs confirmation of its findings, Savas said. "Our results are suggestive for, but do not prove, causality. We need studies that will follow corticosteroid users and nonusers over time and monitor for development of the metabolic syndrome."
Engineers at MIT have devised a microfluidic technique to capture and count circulating plasma cells from small samples of blood. The technique, which relies on conventional blood draws, may provide patients with a less painful test for multiple myeloma. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, which are white blood cells produced in bone marrow that churn out antibodies to help fight infection. When plasma cells become cancerous, they produce abnormal proteins, and the cells can build up in bone marrow, ultimately seeping into the bloodstream.

The disease is typically diagnosed through a bone marrow biopsy, in which a needle is inserted near a patient's hip bone to suck out a sample of bone marrowa painful process for many patients. Clinicians can then isolate and analyze the plasma cells in the bone marrow sample to determine if they are cancerous.

There is currently no way to easily detect plasma cells that have escaped into the bloodstream. Circulating plasma cells are not normally found in healthy people, and the ability to detect these cells in blood could enable doctors to diagnose and track the progression of multiple myeloma.

Now engineers at MIT have devised a microfluidic technique to capture and count circulating plasma cells from small samples of blood. The technique, which relies on conventional blood draws, may provide patients with a less painful test for multiple myeloma.

"Procedures of the traditional tissue biopsy are painful, associated with complications such as potential infections, and often available only in central hospitals which require patients to travel long distances," says former MIT postdoc Mohammad Qasaimeh. "Capturing plasma cells from blood samples can serve as a liquid biopsy, which can be performed in clinics as often as required, and serve as a diagnostic and prognostic test during and after chemotherapy treatment. Moreover, captured cells can be used for drug testing and thus serve as a tool for personalized medicine."

Qasaimeh and his colleagues have published their results today in the journal Scientific Reports. His co-authors include Rohit Karnik, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering; Yichao Wu and Suman Bose, both former students; Jeffrey Karp, an associate professor in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and Rao Prabhala, an instructor in medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

A herringbone trap

The group's technique builds on a microfluidic design that was previously developed by George Whitesides, a professor of chemistry at Harvard University. Whitesides and his colleagues fabricated a small microchip, the channel of which they etched with repeating, V-shaped grooves, similar to a herringbone pattern. The grooves cause any fluid flowing through the microchip to swirl about in eddies, rather passing straight through. The cells within the fluid therefore have a higher chance of making contact with the floor of the device, as first shown by Memhmet Toner at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Researchers including Karnik have since reproduced this microfluidic design, coating the microchip's floor with certain molecules to attract cells of interest.

In its latest work, Karnik's team used the microfluidic herringbone design to capture circulating plasma cells. They coated the channels of a microchip, about the size of a glass slide, with CD138, an antibody that is also expressed on the membranes of plasma cells. The team then flowed small, 1-milliliter samples of blood through the device. The herringbone grooves circulated the blood in the microfluidic channels, where the antibodies, acting as tiny Velcro pads, grabbed onto any passing plasma cells while letting the rest of the blood flow out of the device.

Once the cells were isolated in the microchip, the researchers could count the cells, as well determine the kinds of antibodies that each cell secretes.

"With the ease of a blood draw"

The researchers tested the device using blood samples from healthy donors as well as patients with the disease. After counting the number of cells captured in each sample, they observed very low numbers of circulating plasma cells in healthy samplesabout two to five cells per milliliter of bloodversus substantially higher counts in patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma, of about 45 to 184 cells per milliliter.

The team also analyzed the captured plasma cells to determine the type of antibodies they produced. Plasma cells can generate one of two kinds of antibodies, known as kappa- and lambda-type. In addition to conducting bone marrow biopsies, clinicians can analyze blood samples for the ratio of these two antibodies, which can be an indicator of how the disease is progressing.

Karnik and his colleagues determined the ratio of plasma cells producing kappa- and lambda-type antibodies, and compared them to conventional blood tests for the same antibodies, for both healthy subjects and patients with multiple myeloma. Encouragingly, they found both sets of results matched, validating the microfluidic device's accuracy.

Surprisingly, the team noted that patients who were in remission exhibited higher counts of circulating plasma cells than healthy donors. These same patients had shown normal ratios of antibodies in conventional blood tests. Karnik says that the group's new device may reveal more subtle information about a patient's state, even in remission.

"When patients go into remission, their antibody levels can look normal," Karnik says. "But we detect a level of circulating plasma cells that is above the baseline. It's hard to tell whether these cells are cancerous, but at least this technique is giving us more information. With the ease of a blood draw, this may enable us to track cancer in a much better way."

Karnik adds that in the future, researchers may use the group's design to perform genetic tests on the captured cells, or to look for mutations in the cells that may further characterize the disease.

"We can capture and stain these cells in the device, which opens the possibility of studying whether there are new mutations in the cells," Karnik says. "With cancers like multiple myeloma, even for patients in remission, cancer can recur. Detecting the level or mutation of plasma cells in blood might provide an early detection method for these patients."

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
Students in tertiary education run double the risk of suicide compared with those who have previously been enrolled in university studies, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the online journal BMJ Open.

The registry study included everyone living in Sweden from the ages of 18 to 39 between the years 1993 and 2011 (approximately five million individuals). Given that the risk of suicide is known to be lower in people with an academic qualification than those without, the researchers decided to focus on the comparison between people in higher education and former students in order to ascertain the effect of the period of studies itself.

It was found that people currently in education were over twice as likely to commit suicide as those who had previously studied at university, even after controlling for factors such as age and time period.

What lies behind is not known

"So it seems as if it's while studying that people run a higher risk of suicide," says Christine Takami-Lageborn, medical student and prospective doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Clinical Neuroscience. "As far as we know, there are no previous national studies covering all suicides amongst students, in Sweden or elsewhere."

Precisely what lies behind this higher risk is not known. For example, the researchers have not examined if there is a difference between study programmes or whether students are more stressed or susceptible to mental health problems than other people.

Higher risk of dying regardless of cause

"Our main point is that suicide is preventable and that students are a readily accessible group, reachable through facilities like the student welfare service, which is an important resource," says Ms Takami-Lageborn. "The study indicates the importance of identifying students in the risk zone, which should be possible to do."

The study also shows that students run a higher risk of fatal accident and of dying regardless of cause than people who have completed their academic studies.

More information: Christine Takami Lageborn et al. Ongoing university studies and the risk of suicide: a register-based nationwide cohort study of 5 million young and middle-aged individuals in Sweden, 19932011, BMJ Open (2017). Journal information: BMJ Open Christine Takami Lageborn et al. Ongoing university studies and the risk of suicide: a register-based nationwide cohort study of 5 million young and middle-aged individuals in Sweden, 19932011,(2017). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014264
Prompt access to UK sexual health clinics, particularly for those in urgent need, has worsened over the past few years, falling below recommended standards, reveals research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Furthermore, women are less likely to be offered an appointment than men. And although clinics in Wales and Northern Ireland are the worst offenders for overall access, the sharpest decline has occurred in clinics in England, the findings show.

In light of increasing demand, and in the absence of mandatory targets since 2010, the researchers wanted to know if access to sexual health (GUM) clinics met UK standards, set out by the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) in 2010.

These recommend that 98% of patients should be offered an appointment within 48 hours of making contact with the service.

So in January 2014 the researchers sent postal questionnaires to the lead clinicians of all 248 GUM clinics in the UK, asking about appointment times and the tendering history of the service (2015 only).

The following month, researchers posing as patients (mystery shoppers) with urgent and non-urgent needs rang 220 of the clinics that were contactable by phone and open for two or more days a week, requesting an appointment.

The entire process was repeated in 2015, but with the addition of mystery shopper visits to a random sample of clinics (1 in 4) to check on waiting times and same day appointment availability.

The survey responses showed that the proportion of clinicians who said that all their patients were offered an appointment within 48 hours fell from just over 76% in 2014 to just over 67% in 2015 (response rates 51% in 2014 and just under 48% in 2015).

Yet most clinicians (more than 96% in both years) expected patients with symptoms to be offered an appointment within 48 hours of making contact.

In 2014 the total number of attempted calls required to make contact with the clinics was 1025; in 2015 the equivalent figure was 1056.

Analysis of the data showed that in 2014, 95.5% of clinics offered 'patients' with symptoms an appointment within 48 hours of making phone contactbelow the recommended standard set by BASHH.

But by 2015, this had fallen to just under 91%, and was greatest among women, falling from 96% in 2014 to just over 90%, and for clinics in England, falling from just over 96% in 2014 to just under 91% in 2015.

The proportion of 'patients' without symptoms who were offered an appointment within 48 hours rose from just under 51% in 2014 to 74.5% in 2015.

But half of these appointments were not fixed, and were instead an invitation to attend the walk-in service. And nearly one in four (18%) patients were unable to book any fixed appointment.

And while the proportion of symptomless men offered an appointment increased from just over 58% to just under 91% in 2015, the increase was significantly smaller among women, rising from 49% in 2014 to 59.6% in 2015.

Few patients were turned away for same day appointments, with 95% offered an appointment, with an average waiting time of an hour.

In 2015, services had been put out to competitive tendering in nearly half the clinics, almost two thirds of which (63%) had been tendered within the past year. But there was no significant difference in 48 hour access between services that had and hadn't been tendered.

The researchers point out that while the study evaluates1600 clinic contacts, it only provides a snapshot in time for each of the years, so the results may not be generalisable. But the use of mystery shoppers provides some insight into the difficulties that real patients may face, they say.

"The study shows that, while the majority of UK clinics can offer a consultation within two working days, there has been a significant decline in access for patients presenting with urgent symptoms," write the researchers.

"Of particular concern, and in contrast to clinicians' perceptions, women have greater difficulties accessing services than men, which is surprising given that many GUM services are integrated with contraceptive services which traditionally see mainly women," they add.

It is essential that clinics remain freely accessible, when needed, to reduce rates of sexually transmitted infections, emphasise the researchers. Consideration should be given to the reintroduction of access targets to ensure this happens, they say.

More information: Inequalities in access to genitourinary medicine clinics in the UK: results from a mystery shopper survey, Journal information: Sexually Transmitted Infections Inequalities in access to genitourinary medicine clinics in the UK: results from a mystery shopper survey, DOI: 10.1136/sextrans-2016-052882
When youre travelling overseas as a Cell C or Telkom Mobile subscriber, you need to watch out for leaving data roaming enabled.

Cell C and Telkom roam on Vodacom and MTNs networks in South Africa, and you need to enable data roaming to access the extra coverage.

If youre anything like me, data roaming gets left on at some point for the sake of convenience.

A problem arises when you land in a foreign country from South Africa, though, and you have left the roaming feature on.

This small mistake  which involves the tapping of a small, digital button  made in a moment of distraction can have massive consequences.

The kind that leaves you with a R10,000 roaming bill.

Saving you from yourself

Unfortunately, I made this mistake when in New York recently. Thankfully, Telkom saved me from myself.

Firstly, roaming was disabled by default. Unlike other operators, you have to go into a Telkom shop and sign a scary-looking document before they will enable roaming.

You may also choose whether to enable only SMS roaming, or SMS and voice roaming.

I needed to receive calls while overseas, so I enabled the full suite of roaming services.

With this safeguard disabled, the only thing standing between me and a crippling bill was common sense. Or so I thought.

When travelling overseas, anyone will tell you that things can get crazy very quickly and you can lose track of what you have and have not done.

I lost track of the fact that I had switched on my secondary phone, with my Telkom SIM in it, without turning off data roaming. My primary phone had a local SIM installed.

Four hours later when I was at my hotel, I suddenly remembered.

With my heart beating rapidly, I scrambled to grab the device  which had received a message from Telkom: You have reached your monthly spending limit.

Sensible spend limit

Since I never go out-of-bundle, and Telkom actively discourages you from doing so, I set my spend limit at R300 per month.

This was to cater for buying data bundles, which I later realised dont count towards the spend limit anyway.

Where other operators may use separate spend limits for your local and roaming bills, Telkoms spending limit turned out to be global and I was cut off before doing myself a financial injury.

Having hit my spend limit while abroad meant I may not be able to answer calls, as you are usually charged for receiving calls while roaming.

Using the Telkom app, it was easy to figure out how to temporarily increase my spend limit.

By the end of my experience with Telkom roaming, my only gripe was that the app didnt fully explain how the spend limit interface worked  so I ended up increasing it by R500, instead of to R500.

Considering that the spend limit saved me from a significant roaming debt, however, this user interface design niggle was easily forgiven.
When ordering an item from overseas, the cost can be inflated by customs duties.

While a product may seem cheaper to order from an international retailer than from a local retailer, markups and ad valorem duties may end up making it a more expensive purchase.

Tax and Duties

Various customs duties are imposed on imported products and vary depending on what you are importing into South Africa.

The following duties are levied on imported goods:

Customs Duties

Anti-dumping and countervailing duties

VAT

Customs duties consist of product-dependent tariffs and ad valorem duties on luxury or non-essential items.

Anti-dumping and countervailing duties are levied on goods considered to be dumped in South Africa or subsidised imported goods.

Value-Added Tax is calculated on the total added tax value of the imported goods, which includes duties and customs markup.

If an item is being imported from a country outside the BLNS (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland) Customs Union, a 10% markup will also be applied to the product.

Below is the formula provided by SARS for calculating VAT on imported products:

[(Customs Value + 10% markup) + (any non-rebated duties levied on the goods)] x 14% [ATV] x 14% VAT payable

After VAT is calculated, it is added to the Added Tax Value to arrive at the final price of the imported product.

Products

Using the calculations outlined by SARS, a mobile phone imported from the United Kingdom valued at R5,000 would have an additional cost of R1,669 to bring it into South Africa.

This sees the total price reach R6,669, including VAT.

Customs duties vary according to product and Customs Union, and the tariff you will be charged depends on which region you are importing the item from.

Below are the general tariffs and ad valorem duties for a number of products. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties do not apply to any of these products.

It should be noted that courier companies will handle customs clearance on behalf of their clients, which attracts a processing and disbursement fee.

Product Category General Customs Duty Ad valorem Perfume 20% 7% Mobile Phones Free 7% Headphones Free 7% Monitors Free 7% Solid-state storage devices Free Free Digital cameras Free 7% Electric guitars Free Free Video game consoles Free 7%

As stated, tariffs vary according to the region you are importing from and the goods in question.

The full list of customs duties and regional bloc tariffs can be viewed in the Tariff Book on the SARS website.
Google has launched a new patent licensing initiative called PAX, which it hopes will result in patent peace.

Under PAX, members grant each other royalty-free patent licences covering Android and Google applications on qualified devices.

This community-driven clearinghouse, developed with our Android partners, ensures that innovation and consumer choice  not patent threats  will continue to be key drivers of our Android ecosystem, said Google.

PAX members include Google, Samsung, LG, Foxconn Technology, HMD Global, HTC, Coolpad, BQ, and Allview.

These members collectively own more than 230,000 patents.

As more companies join, PAX will bring even more patent peace and value to its members through more freedom to innovate, said Google.
STEPANAKERT.  Armenian News  NEWS.am presents interview with Karen Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh (NagornoKarabakh Republic/NKR)

April 2 marks the anniversary of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Karabakh. Have these events affected the position of the official Stepanakert?

The position of the official Stepanakert has undergone no changes. In this context, it is appropriate to speak merely about the consolidation of our position. The people and authorities of Artsakh are committed to the chosen path of building and developing an independent, democratic state and reaching its international recognition.

Will the Karabakh side officially seek to punish Azerbaijani military for the violations of International Humanitarian Law?

We are confident that the international community should be aware of the facts of numerous war crimes and flagrantviolations of International Humanitarian Law committed by Azerbaijan during the April aggression, and all efforts shouldbe exerted to convict the perpetrators of the crime and hold them accountable. That is the only way to prevent the recurrence of such crimes in the future.

We have already carried out certain work in this direction. In particular, the MFA of Artsakh has circulated note verbales in the UN, OSCE and Council of Europe presenting the details of the reasons and consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression, as well as the blatant violations of human rights and war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces.

We have also circulatedthe statements of the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh and the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, the materials provided by the Prosecutor General's Office on the criminal cases launched into the crimes of the Azerbaijani side, as well as the interim public reports of theArtsakh Ombudsman on the atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the April aggression.

We also attach great importance to the role of the Armenian media in informing the international audience about the crimes of the Azerbaijani armed forces.

Do you think there is any progress in terms of the international representation of Karabakh over recent years?

Yes, according to our assessment, there is progress inthe international representation ofArtsakh. In total, resolutions supporting the rights of Artsakh people to self-determination were adopted by seven U.S. states and cities, one Australian state, as well as the Basque Parliament. Fifteen declarations on cooperation between the cities of Artsakh and the U.S., France, Basque Country and Brazil were signed. An agreement between Artsakh and Dromedepartment of France was signed.

One of the main goals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh is to strengthen and further develop these positive trends.

Not so long ago the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe examined Chiragov and Others v. Armenia and Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan cases, and the adopted decision urging Azerbaijan to provide the action plan till June was made. Do you think the problem of refugees can be solved?

Chiragov and Others v. Armenia and Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan cases are particular cases and relate exclusively tothe protection of individual rights, and first of all, the legal protection of property rights. Regarding the issue of refugees and internally displaced persons, it is one of the consequences of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Artsakh, and its comprehensive solution can be found only within the peace process.

How do you assess the situation with Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin, and the attempts of Azerbaijan to exert pressure on European deputies, researchers and companies?

The abovementioned examplesare another manifestation of Azerbaijan's campaign aimed at isolatingArtsakh. However, as we see, these steps lead to the opposite result: numerous foreign journalists, bloggers and politicians criticized and condemned Azerbaijans policy as a violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, in particular, the right to freedom of speech and movement. Moreover, we witness that the steps taken by Azerbaijan create more interest towards Artsakh, as well as contribute to the increase of the number of foreigners visiting our country.

Do you think changing the name of the Republic could become the reason for some ambiguous perception among non-engaged representatives of the international community?

We believe that over the time, with appropriate works, the historical name of our country  Artsakhwill become more familiar to the international audience.And our media could also have a role.
Close to $7.5M allocated for Armenia scientific infrastructure, material, technical base modernization

Byblos Bank Armenia finances the construction of two major solar parks

Bloomberg: EU mechanism to provide Ukraine with $18 billion implies conditions

Turkey voices its full and unconditional support for Azerbaijan

Ombudsperson attends Armenia-EU Human Rights Dialogue session, presents facts recorded in her ad hoc reports

Israeli embassy congratulates Azerbaijan on 'Victory Day'

World gold prices going down

Ankara offers its storage capacity for Russian grain

Zelenskiy calls key conditions for talks with Russia

Bitcoin price goes down

Copper price goes down

World oil prices dropping

Blinken: Armenia and Azerbaijan are taking courageous steps to achieve peace

Newspaper: What changes expected in "Brussels package" of Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization talks?

13 billion cubic meters of natural gas found off Israel coast

State Security Service of Azerbaijan is scared by YouTube video about situation in Nakhichevan

MFA: Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs agree to expedite their negotiations

President: UAE is a responsible energy supplier as long as the world needs oil and gas

EU has serious concerns about US inflation reduction act

Head of IMF: The global surge in consumer prices may be close to the high point

Germany wants EU to resume trade talks with US as soon as possible

Pashinyan's closed meeting with MPs of ruling Civil Contract faction is over

Hungary will not support EU efforts to help Ukraine with joint funds

Greece to soon ban sale of spyware

U.S. military delegation arrives in Turkey

German industry calls for postponement of global minimum corporate tax

Podolyak: Ukraine has never refused to negotiate

Elon Musk calls on 'independent-minded' voters to vote for Republicans

Bezos Earth Fund pledges $1 billion by 2030 to protect carbon stocks and biodiversity

7 people killed in collision between truck and passenger bus in Turkey

Nikol Pashinyan holds closed meeting with members of ruling party faction

Qatar's foreign minister calls criticism of West 'arrogant' and 'racist'

Algeria officially applies to join BRICS group

Delegations headed by Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs meet in Washington

French Finance Minister calls on EU to oppose U.S.

Armenian President: Aliyev's statements about intentional destruction of mosques have nothing to do with reality

German MFA reports constructive talks in EU on new sanctions against Iran

Kazakhstani President Tokayev instructs to increase oil supplies bypassing Russia

President of Artsakh holds expanded working meeting

Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to receive more than 250 billion drams in 2023

Borrell says EU is dependent on supplies from China

Armenia official: Peace treaty implies restoration of sovereign territory

Guterres thinks mankind is heading for climate hell

Dollar, euro gain value in Armenia

General: Iran riots were US plan to derail nuclear deal

Minister: 'Lydian Armenia' may start exploitation of gold mine on Mountain Amulsar

Armenia political scientist: Balance is formed in region thanks to Iran

Minister: 70 schools will be repaired or newly built in Armenia in 2023

UAE lifts most COVID-19 restrictions for tourists

Political scientist: There is no Armenian-American agenda

President of Finland says country has no plans to host nuclear weapons

Russian Ambassador to Armenia: We are not used to making PR and playing games

Flight restrictions extended to 11 airports in Russia

Kopirkin: Spiritual core will help Armenia, Russia overcome difficulties, challenges

Armenia ranks among top 5 CIS countries for winter tourism

Envoy: Russian president awarded Armenian philologist with medal

Iranian intelligence arrests 26 terrorists: an Azerbaijani citizen among them

Russian Defense Ministry confirms: Azerbaijan fired at Khramort village in Artsakh

Number of oil and gas drilling rigs is up in US

Economy minister: Azerbaijan aggression prevented increase of Armenia wheat sowing areas

Gegharkunik governor: There are observers who recorded that Azerbaijan carried out aggression against Armenia

The National Interest: Iran turns attention to the Caucasus

Tokayev: Kazakhstan is ready to use other measures, besides diplomacy, for its defense

Economy minister: Primary agricultural products ensure 11%-13% of Armenia GDP

FAO: World grain prices rise in October

Kremlin urges Yerevan and Baku to refrain from destabilization

Governor of Armenias Tavush on possible handover of enclaves to Azerbaijan: Not being discussed now

Governor of Armenias Vayots Dzor: We have pastures that are monitored by Azerbaijan

WSJ: Sullivan is in contact with Ushakov and Patrushev on Ukraine

Vayots Dzor governor: Azerbaijan military that infiltrated Armenia can be seen with naked eye from Jermuk city

Armenia President: Military clashes, hostilities have direct impact on soil, air pollution

IRGC seizes over 1,500 weapons in Iran riots

Minister: $879 million worth of agricultural products exported from Armenia

Japan to exterminate 150 thousand chickens because of bird flu outbreak

Armenia informational online platform for promoting highly qualified specialists engagement is launched

South Korea's president apologizes for crush in downtown Seoul

Documento: Greek PM Mitsotakis used intelligence services to spy on dozens of people

Close to $98M to be allocated from Armenia state budget for agricultural projects in 2023

Man who set self on fire near Armenia government mansion is in severe condition

Anti-Iranian action to take place in Baku

UN promises to lift restrictions on Russian grain exports in near future

Fighter jet crashes in Saudi Arabia

About $770M to be assigned to Armenia territorial administration, infrastructure ministry next year

Armenia parliament vice-speaker: There is very important note in Sochi statement

Copper falls in price

New York bank robberies up 42% this year

Armenia President to attend climate change convention in Egypt

Gold prices change slightly

World oil prices falling

Mirzoyan, Blinken, Bayramov to meet in Washington today

How long will it take to know US midterm elections results?

Iranian Armenian MP: Iran-Armenia trade is expected to reach $1B

U.S. National Park Service urges against licking the Sonora desert toad

Azerbaijan army units open fire in direction of Armenia positions

Minister: Britain's government faces tough decisions

Pashinyan: Teachers in Armenia must get 800,000, 1,000,000 and 1,200,000 drams wages

Boris Johnson from fighting for Conservative Party leader over fears of losing income

Greece slams Turkish authorities' temporary ban on Greek official's entry

Scientifically proven: EU is inscrutable

OPEC: To avoid unrestrained volatility we need to invest in oil
Senators generally supported the idea Tuesday that schools should accommodate students who need to breastfeed their babies, or pump and store breast milk.

But Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas got less support when he tacked on an amendment to the bill (LB427) that would require schools to provide written policies to accommodate absences related to pregnancy and parenting, encourage educational success of those students, and provide alternatives such as the ability to access coursework at home, allow for tutoring visits or offer online courses.

While Sen. Mike Groene said the bill was common sense, the amendment -- which was a bill (LB428) in its own right -- should wait its turn, and not be amended onto LB427. It's overreaching, he said.

"It is a mandate. Pure and simple, it is a mandate," Groene said. "Schools, local governments tell us, we send them too many unfunded mandates."

No parent or student showed up at the Education Committee hearing and testified they were denied an education when they were pregnant or parenting, he said.

"They probably get better care and community support in rural Nebraska than they do in other districts," Groene said.

Despite some opposition to the amendment, it was adopted on a 27-9 vote, with Sens. Tom Brewer, Steve Erdman, Mike Groene, Steve Halloran, Dan Hughes, John Lowe, Merv Riepe, Paul Schumacher and Dan Watermeier voting against the amendment.

The bill advanced on a 29-3 vote, with Erdman, Halloran and Lowe voting no.

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks reminded senators who fought for and voted for state "Choose Life" license plates that they needed to support those babies and mothers once they are born.

She noted a survey by ACLU of Nebraska that said 79 percent of school districts have no policies or written guidelines on providing alternative education for pregnant or parenting students.

"This is 2017, and we are balking about the fact that some schools have decided they don't even have to provide the (child care) information because, of course, 'that girl' acted in an inappropriate way. She got pregnant. She needs to be punished. That's what we're saying ... 'continue to create barriers and put them down,'" Pansing Brooks said.

LB427 would require not only public schools, but private, denominational and parochial schools to provide appropriate places for mothers to breastfeed, and for pumping and storing milk.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, for employees to pump breast milk. Employers with less than 50 employees are not subject to the requirements, if the employer would have significant difficulty or expense.

The teen birth rate in Nebraska is about 31 per 1,000 young women. About one-third of female students who drop out of high school do so because they became pregnant, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

ACLU of Nebraska showed inconsistencies across the state in school districts providing policies to accommodate pregnant and parenting teens.

Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft supported the breastfeeding accommodations but not the mandate to schools to provide other educational accommodations, because it could come with a price tag to smaller schools.

The bill would require by Dec. 1 that the state Department of Education develop and distribute a model policy to encourage the educational success of pregnant and parenting students.

Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk, a former State Board of Education member, objected to telling the department and board it must provide the policy.

"I think this slights them. I think it shows disrespect for that board and those members," he said. "We didn't ask them to do this. And they didn't decline. We're just telling them to do this."

He said he will bring an amendment on second-round debate to remove that requirement from the bill.
Unknown people tried to burn down that building of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Alfortville, France.

The criminals set trash bin on fire n front of the church on Sunday morning. The flames woke Pastor Gilbert Leonian and his wife, who live in the first floor of the building, Armenian Weekly reported.

Firefighters arrived on scene on time to stop the spread of the fire to the rest of the building. I is already the third attack on the church in the last 12 months.

Eight days earlier, stones were thrown against the facade of the church causing some damage.

The Mayor of Alfortville Luc Carvounas condemned the attack.
Lawmakers got a taste of this year's imminent fight over tax cuts Monday at the state Capitol.

Immediately after a group of senators met to apply finishing touches on a tax-cut package backed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, Omaha Sen. Burke Harr took to the legislative floor to criticize the pending proposal, calling it fiscally irresponsible.

"This is about starving government," Harr told reporters moments later.

The package of proposed cuts includes phased-in reductions to the state's top income tax bracket and would redo the method counties use to value agricultural land for tax purposes.

All told, the proposals would cut as much as $439 million from the state budget within 10 years.

The package could advance from the Revenue Committee as soon as Tuesday, and would be eligible for debate by the full Legislature right away.

Revenue Chairman Jim Smith of Papillion wouldn't say when he'd like to see the proposal hit the floor.

"I can't say with certainty how we're going to coordinate that," he said.

Changes adopted by the committee Monday are aimed at increasing savings for farmers and ranchers  whose support is critical for the proposal to pass  and eliminating a pair of tax credits to help pay for immediate individual income tax cuts.

It is a massive bill, with about a dozen substantial rewrites of state tax law.

Policymakers in the Legislature and the governor's office are still working through the exact costs and analyzing which taxpayers would benefit most.

In the meantime, Revenue Committee members advanced a proposal by Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte to apply new limits on taxation by local school districts, and reroute all $221 million each year from the state's property tax credit fund to pay for additional state aid to schools.

Credits from the fund currently go to all property taxpayers; Groene's bill (LB640) would shift more of the benefit to rural areas.

An amended version of the bill advanced on a 6-0 vote, with Harr and Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus abstaining.

The larger tax package, including Ricketts' proposed cuts, remains in committee.

It would still gradually lower the state's top individual and corporate income tax rates any year the state enjoys a projected revenue increase of more than 3.5 percent over the prior year.

But committee members adopted some significant changes Monday in their working draft of the proposal (LB461):

* The new process for valuing agricultural land based on its ability to generate income, not its market value, would begin next year instead of in 2019 as originally proposed.

* The value of agricultural land that is subject to taxation would be further reduced. Farmers and ranchers currently pay taxes on about 75 percent of their property value; the proposal would change that to 65 percent.

Those two changes are expected to cost the state at least $34 million in additional school aid each year, beginning in 2019.

* Tax credits aimed at boosting investment in low-income areas, and preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings, would be eliminated. Committee members are also considering eliminating a credit for low-income housing development. Cutting those three credits would save the state about $12.5 million in the 2018 fiscal year.

* The state's earned-income tax credit would be increased from 10 percent of the federal credit to 11 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020.

* Instead of combining the state's lowest two individual income tax brackets at a rate of 3.1 percent, the new rate would be 3.25 percent.

To help cover any tax increase for low-income earners because of combining the two brackets, the proposal would increase the personal exemption credit by $15.

To be eligible for the personal exemption credit, an individual couldn't make more than $150,000 per year, or $300,000 per year for a married couple.

The package combines elements of bills introduced by Sens. Smith, Lydia Brasch of Bancroft and Brett Lindstrom of Omaha. Committee members will continue discussing the proposal Tuesday.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) is encouraged by the initial report of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament (EP), which noted that the elections were well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected" with the election day "generally calm and peaceful but marked by organizational problems and undue interference in the process, mostly by party representatives.

The Assembly congratulates the people of Armenia for its participation in the election process with voter turn-out of over 60 percent.

Armenia's election process stands in sharp contrast to its neighbors. For example, in Azerbaijan its authoritarian president recently appointed his spouse as vice president and suppresses all opposition parties. In Turkey, Erdogan's authoritarian regime continues its crackdown against opposition leaders and wide-scale imprisonment of journalists. Armenia also compares favorably to the other countries which emerged from the Soviet Union, stated Assembly Co-Chairs Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian. As Armenia makes further advances in its democratic institutions, we strongly urge the government to address the irregularities cited, including that of vote buying and pressure on voters.

In November 2016, the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Germany pledged to fund concrete measures designed to improve confidence in the election process and help prevent fraud in Armenia's parliamentary elections. U.S. funding supported agreements signed by the Armenian government and three leading opposition parties on voting conduct for the April 2017 elections. Funds went toward equipment required for live online broadcasts of voting and ballot counting, as well as electronic verification of voters' identity, and other amendments to Armenia's Electoral Code.

The Assembly strongly encouraged the U.S. government to support this initiative considering its importance to strengthening the democratic process in Armenia. At the time, the Assembly Co-Chairs stated: The Armenian Assembly commends the U.S. and the EU for providing financial assistance to support this initiative to further the rule of law in Armenia. We are nonpartisan in both the American and Armenian contexts but this type of support to improve confidence in the democratic process serves us all.
A man was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison Monday for beating up another man and taking his food stamps card.

Melvin Frazier, 51, pleaded no contest to robbery in connection with the November 2015 incident near First and O streets.

Lincoln police said Frazier and his girlfriend, Mona Jarvis, assaulted the man after he bragged about how much money he had on his food stamps card.

They took the card and continued assaulting him until he told them his pin number, police said in court documents.

The victim relented, and the assailants left with his wallet, police said.

Jarvis, who had also been charged with robbery, pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of terroristic threats.

She was sentenced Monday to three years in prison and 18 months post-release supervision.

Frazier will receive credit for 506 days served in jail.
Panera Bread (PNRA) is taking aim at soda consumption.

The company became the first fast food chain on Friday to start posting calorie and sugar counts smack dab on its fountain machines (seen below). It's a move that could strike a blow over time to Panera supplier PepsiCo (PEP) should people opt for the chain's newly launched lower calorie beverages or even water, coffee or iced tea. Pepsi is Panera's partner for soda and sugary drinks like Tropicana fruit punch.

"People want real options and real transparency," Panera Founder and CEO Ronald Shaich told TheStreet. "We have dear friends at Pepsi, we respect them. We aren't the food police. We are about providing choice."

If other fast food chains such as McDonald's (MCD) and Wendy's (WEN) follow Panera's lead by labeling fountain machines to persuade consumption of lower calorie/sugar options, their partner Coca-Cola (KO) could also be dealt a hit.

In a statement, Panera called out "sugary, chemical-laden beverages" as contributors of "obesity, diabetes and heart disease in America."

"With up to 75 grams of sugar, just one 20-ounce soft drink contains more than the recommended daily amount of added sugar," Shaich added in the statement.

For its part, last fall PepsiCo announced a goal to ensure that at least two-thirds of its global beverage volume will have 100 calories or fewer per 12-ounce serving by 2025.

Panera's move comes amid a growing push by fast food chains to "go clean." The fast casual chain itself removed all artificial colors and flavors from its sandwiches, salads and desserts in January.

McDonald's announced on Thursday that by mid-2018 it will be serving only fresh, versus frozen, beef. Micky D's appears to be revving up its competition with Wendy's which already uses fresh beef.

Chipotle (CMG) announced on Tuesday it was removing all preservatives from its tortillas.

Nevertheless, the soda giants have received widespread backlash in the wake of a 2013 study released by Credit Suisse and Georgetown University that reported 90% of doctors linked sugary beverages to diabetes. Last year, a Boston University study revealed that Pepsi and Coca-Cola spent millions from 2011 to 2015 to reverse health bills that would have curbed soda consumption in the U.S. and decreased obesity rates.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the beverage industry has faced a new soda tax that charges an additional 18 cents to the cost of any 12-ounce drink, $1.08 to any six-pack or $1.02 to any two-liter bottle. The tax is the city's resolution to raising annual revenue for pre-K and community school expansion, reinvestment in parks and recreation centers and to boost Philadelphia's general fund.

For Pepsi, the tax is the reason it saw a 40% decline in beverage sales in the city of late, with sales of its larger packages falling as much as 80% in grocery stores. Coke's soda sales have been under pressure, too.

PepsiCo is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells PEP? Learn more now.

Related News on TheStreet:

Editor's Pick: Originally published March 31.
Phuket, 4 April, 2017  Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa, Nai Yang Beach, recently hosted VIPs celebrating the launch of Thai Airways Internationals new Phuket Express flight from Beijing.

The national carriers inaugural direct flight from Mainland China to Phuket, TG 685, carried approximately 300 passengers to the island, including executives from Thai Airways, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Chinese tour operators and members of the international media.

The new Phuket Express service provides a further boost to the islands booming tourism industry, allowing travelers from Beijing to fly non-stop to Phuket in just five hours. Flights will now operate four times a week, with departures on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays timed to match the travel patterns of individual travelers and tour groups.

As one of the closest luxury resorts to Phuket International Airport, Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa, Nai Yang Beach, is quickly and easily accessible for international travelers  including those flying on the Phuket Express. It takes less than 10 minutes to transfer between the airport and the resort, giving guests more time to enjoy the resorts pristine beach and luxurious facilities.

For more information and reservations, please call at +66 (0) 76 625 555 or email booknaiyangbeach@marriott.com.

About Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa, Nai Yang Beach

Experience genuine Thai hospitality and a refined art of hosting, just minutes away from the rest of the world. Located on the secluded beach of Nai Yang, the Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa provides an ideal getaway for couples and families likewise. Offering magnificent views of the Andaman Sea, the resort features a lively pool concept, diverse dining options, extensive kids facilities, and an exclusive Quan Spa. Enjoy a blend of traditional and modern guest room designs and a loop swimming pool meandering throughout the resort. The Big Fish Restaurant, Bar and Lounge venue is located directly at the beach for the ultimate chill out. Multi-purpose function rooms with natural daylight provide ideal venues for inspiring meetings whilst vast outdoor space offers the perfect setting for memorable weddings and events. Private One Bedroom or Two Bedroom Beachfront Pool Villas are available for the ultimate and exclusive holiday experience.
International demand for commodity crops like cocoa is putting increasing pressure on tropical forests in sub-Saharan Africa, according to new research.

The study  the first comprehensive empirical assessment of land-use change impacts of commodity crop expansion in sub-Saharan Africa, and their effects on tropical deforestation  published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Using a mixed methods approach, the researchers from Stanford University in California carried out analyses at the global, regional, and local scales. They found cocoa was the fastest expanding export-oriented crop in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 57 per cent of global cocoa expansion from 2000 to 2013, at a rate of 132,000 hectares a year.

Lead author Elsa Ordway said: "The expansion of export-oriented commodity crops has become the dominant driver of deforestation in the humid tropics, and is often associated with conversion to industrial-scale plantations growing a single crop. Sub-Saharan Africa is widely considered the next frontier for expansion, yet the influence of international markets on deforestation in the region has been largely unexplored.

"Our results suggest that cocoa expansion in sub-Saharan Africa may result in rapid deforestation and forest degradation, similar to the trends of forest conversion for soy production in South America, and oil palm production in Southeast Asia. We found that Congo Basin countries are disproportionately affected, averaging the highest percentage forest cover (58 per cent) and among the lowest potentially available cropland outside forest areas, at just one per cent.

"This is significant, as African forests represent nearly 30 per cent of tropical forests globally, and 25 per cent of tropical forest carbon stocks, 90 per cent of which are stored in Congo Basin forests."

The expansion of commodity crop production  both for domestic consumption and export  was being driven not by large industrial plantations, but by small and medium-scale farmers.

Significantly, however, the researchers found a high concentration of foreign investment in large areas of land for oil palm production in heavily forested countries, and growth in the export of soy and oil palm products from the region, suggesting increasing influences of distant markets on land-use change throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Mrs. Ordway said: "Efforts to reduce deforestation globally are mainly focused on South America and Southeast Asia. Yet, the relatively low current deforestation rates in sub-Saharan Africa offer an opportunity to implement preventive policies against a possible acceleration of forest conversion.

"Our findings are therefore highly relevant to current policy agendas. For example, insight from this research can inform strategies being developed to 1) implement zero-deforestation commitments by private companies; and 2) adhere to Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) put forth by national governments under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)."

More information: "Deforestation risk due to commodity crop expansion in sub-Saharan Africa." Ordway E M et al 2017 Environ. Res. Lett. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6509 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters
A 15- to 17-story building topped by privately owned condominiums will anchor Ninth and O streets and define the entryway to Lincoln from the west and north for some time to come, City Council members were told Monday.

The downtown building, estimated to cost $72 million, will replace a vacant building on the corner and a building that burned about six years ago and was torn down, said Dallas McGee, deputy director for the city's Urban Development Department.

The new development will include two hotel brands with 200 rooms, a ballroom, a 263-stall parking garage and restaurants.

The top-floor condos, to be built for an upscale market, will bring long-term and stable residents to downtown, different from the student housing constructed over the past few years, said Mark Hunzeker, attorney for the developers.

The hotel rooms and amenities will help Lincoln to meet requirements to host NCAA tournaments, he said. And the ballroom will be a premier location for all kinds of social events.

Most of the condos will be 1,100, 1,500 and 1,800 square feet, but the developers will build one as big as anyone likes, said John Klimpel, a hotel developer from Lincoln.

The group developing the project  Hotel Land Investments LLC  includes Klimpel and Lincoln firms Speedway Properties and Nelnet.

The city is assisting the redevelopment project in two ways: with traditional tax-increment financing of about $11.6 million and with a 2 percent occupation tax expected to pay for a $2.35 million bond over 20 years.

The occupation tax will be applied only to customers of the two hotels and the ballroom, but not the restaurants.

TIF and occupation tax funds will be used for site acquisition, utility relocation and improvements, streetscape improvements, and an upgraded building facade, based on the redevelopment agreement.

If approved by the council next week, this will be the second time a Lincoln developer has been allowed to use the enhanced employment occupation tax, which is limited to a specific geographic area.

A 1 percent occupation tax on SouthPointe retailers, which excludes restaurants, is being used to pay for a parking garage as part of the mall's expansion project.

Several people opposed the use of TIF and the occupation tax at Monday's public hearing before the council.

"Lincoln is not a rich community and all the hoopla about how great it is isn't going to draw people here," said Jane Kinsey, representing Watchdogs of Lincoln Government, a local conservative group.

This is "a champagne appetite on a beer income," she said.

She hopes the Legislature in the future will clarify how TIF is to be used and not make it so flexible.

The project meets city benchmarks for the enhanced employment occupation tax, which are higher than state requirements, said Mike Lang, aide to Mayor Chris Beutler.

The project is larger than the city's $50 million minimum and it is a project with a strong retail base, he said. Much of the tax will be paid for by people who live outside Lancaster County, Lang said.

A zip code analysis of local hotel customers indicates more than 70 percent of the people staying in Lincoln hotels are from outside the county, he said.

The enhanced employment occupation tax will not be applied to restaurants, which already fall under the separate arena occupation tax.

However, customers at the two hotels will pay both the arena occupation tax and this enhanced employment occupation tax, if approved.

The bonds used for both the TIF and occupation tax financing will be purchased by the developer, so the risk is on the developer and not the city, Lang said.

This is too much of a giveaway, said Richard Halverson, a private citizen, who pointed to TIF, the occupation tax and the developer's access to city right-of-way.

The council is expected to vote on the redevelopment, TIF agreements and the occupation tax funding at its meeting next week.
Hundreds of millions of animals are killed every year by road traffic. It's a sad statistic that Jochen Jaeger, associate professor of geography in Concordia's Faculty of Arts and Science, and his international colleagues hope to reduce.

But rather than focus on a specific location, as most studies do, they've taken a less common approach.

Jaeger and an international team of collaborators stepped back to re-examine the results of dozens of studies already conducted in countries around the worldall they could possibly find in the peer-reviewed and grey literature.

They combined the data from many studies and analyzed them together, which allows for the discovery of more general relationships that hold across many locations. They focused on what prevention methods are most consistently useful. The results were recently published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Of the more than 40 prevention methods available, the researchers found that, overall, fences, with or without crossing structures, reduce roadkill by 54 per cent, when considering all species combined. Crossing structures had no detectable effect without fencing.

When large mammals were examined, the combination of fences and crossing structures led to a roadkill reduction of 83 per cent, while animal detection systems (such as laser tripwires or radar), led to a 57 per cent reduction.

The study also determined that expensive measures were much more effective than cheaper ones.

"Inexpensive measures such as wildlife reflectors should not be used until and unless their effectiveness is tested using a high-quality experimental approach," Jaeger says.

'A tsunami of roads'

Equally important in this study is its potential to improve the quality and consistency of future research. The 50 roadkill studies that Jaeger and his colleagues looked at (some with multiple data sets) were the only comparable ones out of 1,274 available worldwide to date.

At the top of the team's list of recommendations regarding research methods is the need to establish a clearer picture of how often animals get killed when they cross before preventative measures are installed.

The researchers also suggest reporting more carefully on how animals fare at "hotspots" at the end of fencing stretches. Many animals seem to move along the fence, cross the road at the end and get killed there. A different design of the fence-ends could help reduce this effect, but research about this idea still needs to be done in the future.

Another priority they named was increasing the duration of studies to a minimum of four years for Before-After study designs, and a minimum of either four years or four sites for Before-After-Control-Impact study designs.

Jaeger emphasizes that establishing a minimum quality for the approaches taken is increasingly important as the world builds more and more roads and species become rapidly more at risk. He points to Brazil and India as examples of where the roadkill problem promises to increase dramatically.

"There will be a huge number of road projects going through the Amazon very soon. They will have large numbers of animals being killed. It's like a tsunami of roads," Jaeger says.

"Somewhere like Switzerland or Germanythey pretty much have all the roads they will ever build. But in Brazil and many other countries, most roads are still being constructed."

Jaeger emphasizes that places like the Amazon urgently need mitigation measures to protect the biodiversity that is still there, but better wildlife mitigation is also needed here at home.

Crucial, then, is the need to make sure that future studies are not only rigorous and make their results available to other researchers, but are comparable with other studies.

"If we do another 1,000 studies and only 50 of them can be included in the next meta-analysis in 10 years, that would be a huge missed opportunity," he says.

"Rather, we should do them in a way that they can all be part of the next meta-analysis."

From April 4-7, Jaeger will take part in the 37th annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment, held this year in Montreal. He is co-chairing a session together with Aurora Torres (from the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain) about creating an international coordinated network that engages scientists and practitioners to assess the impact of human infrastructure on wildlife globally and inspire innovative ideas and applications. He will also be joined by students from Concordia's Master's in Environmental Assessment, who have organized a special session on Impact Assessment.
Why do some humans engage in expensive ventures to hunt lions, elephants and other big-game species that often are endangered or otherwise threatened?

The cost, according to a trio of scientists, is exactly the point: These pricey big-game hunts are meant to show off men's high social status to competitors and potential mates.

The findings, published in Biology Letters, offer an evolutionary hypothesis for why humans kill animals they don't need for sustenance - and hint at a possible tactic for discouraging that behavior.

The death in 2015 of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe by an American recreational hunter triggered waves of international outrage. Trophy hunting is not new; in fact, many countries have tried to tie it economically to their conservation efforts. But the rise of the internet and social media - where hunters often share photos of themselves smiling next to their kills - has brought the practice to the forefront, particularly at a time when large predators are suffering precipitous population declines.

"The killing of Cecil the lion (Panthera leo) ignited enduring and increasingly global discussion about trophy hunting," the study authors wrote. "Yet, policy debate about its benefits and costs focuses only on the hunted species and biodiversity, not the unique behaviour of hunters."

And much of human hunting behavior is indeed unique. Lead author Chris Darimont, Hakai-Raincoast professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and his colleagues have described humans as "superpredators" who don't follow the typical rules of other carnivores in the animal kingdom - which can have devastating consequences for wildlife populations.

The average lion, hyena or wolf "typically picks prey that are newly born (the juveniles) or nearly dead (the sick and weak animals, the substandard animals in populations) and they eat them," the conservation scientist said. "And this really bizarre, unique predator, (the) human being, kind of does the opposite. We target the large; we target animals for characteristics that have nothing to do with their nutritional value; we target animals with big horns or antlers."

These also are more dangerous animals, which means a human hunter is raising his risk to life and limb. Attacking a large animal with big horns doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. But puzzling behaviors often have an evolutionary driver, so the scientists set out to see whether they could find a logical explanation for this human practice.

The researchers began by considering the subsistence hunting habits of "traditional hunter-gatherers" - modern-day populations whose lifestyles more closely mirror those of ancient humans.

Darimont pointed to the indigenous Meriam population of Australia as an example. Men and women both hunt for green turtles but employ different methods. Women nab the turtles when they come ashore to lay eggs - an efficient, low-cost way to get a meal. But men take boats to sea and dive into dangerous waters to pursue the same turtles. The hunt is both costlier and riskier than the ostensibly far more effective method used by the women. In addition, men who return home with a big animal end up having to share it with their community rather than feeding it only to their families.

And yet the men continue to hunt in that manner because there is another advantage: Hunting turtles at sea falls into what scientists call "costly signaling behavior." Men show they have the resources to take on such a costly task - and if they have the resources to do that, the thinking goes, then they must have plenty to devote to offspring, making them more attractive to potential mates. In fact, those male Meriam turtle hunters gain social status in their communities, get married earlier to "higher quality" mates and have more surviving children (which, in many ways, may be the ultimate measure of reproductive success).

"For such behavior to be maintained, even the attempted hunt must signal that the hunter can sustain the handicap of high-cost, low-consumption activity, providing honest evidence of underlying phenotypic quality," the study authors wrote.

So these behaviors aren't about bringing home the bacon. They're about bragging rights and the social stature that comes with them.

While this seems to be a particularly human trait, it may not be unique. Chimpanzees also spend more time and effort hunting "without commensurate food consumption gains."

"Similarly, some seabirds like the pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba) show off 'display fish,' sometimes for hours," the authors wrote. "Often discarding them, the behaviour is likewise thought to be social, related to site-ownership display."

With big guns and professional guides often helping them find targets from a safe distance, big-game recreational hunters aren't spending a lot of physical effort hunting their quarry, compared to our ancestors, and they aren't risking life and limb in the same way either. But they are spending lots of money to kill these animals, they're choosing species typically not eaten, and they engage in display behavior - having photos taken next to their fallen prey.

The overall effect emanates a costly signaling behavior: Look at me! I can spend this much on an expensive activity I don't really need to do to survive. I would make a good mate, ladies - and you other males stay away from my turf, if you know what's good for you.

Social media has amplified these hunters' ability to signal their perceived social status. Such networking also could explain why some women hunt big game, even though it isn't a traditional evolutionary driver for them.

"We speculate that such behaviour, counter to expected gender norms (and their evolution), might allow for increased attention in an increasingly competitive social media and marketing world," the study authors wrote.

But social media is a double-edged sword. Just as it might fuel enthusiasm for big-game hunting, it also opens hunters up to shaming by critics (as Cecil's hunter, Walter Palmer, discovered). Such public outcry, Darimont and his colleagues point out, may be a key tactic among those who want to reduce the killing of such targets.

"If these hunters are hunting for status essentially, there's nothing like shame to erode status," Darimont said. "So where the internet might fuel this kill-and-tell generation, it might also provide a vehicle for those opposed to trophy hunting to emerge with a powerful strategy."

2017 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Bose-Einstein condensates, often called the "fifth state of matter," are obtained when atoms are cooled almost to absolute zero. Under these conditions, the particles no longer have free energy to move relative to on another, and some of these particles, called bosons, fall into the same quantum states and cannot be distinguished individually. 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 and Albert Einstein 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. 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.

"Besides these experiments, our collaboration also produced consistent theoretical work, and we arrived at a set of equations that, with some transpositions, can be applied to other materials apart from condensates," Paduan Filho said. The use of these equations offers excellent prospects not only for basic research into the structure of matter but also for future technological applications, since a great many everyday devices operate on the basis of magnetic properties.

More information: Remi Blinder et al. Nuclear magnetic resonance study of the magnetic-field-induced ordered phase in thecompound, Physical Review B (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.95.020404 Journal information: Physical Review B

Provided by FAPESP
An illustration of what the land bridge connecting Britain to Europe may have looked like before the formation of the Dover Strait. The foreground is around where the port of Calais is today and way in the distance (the background of this illustration) is early Britain. Huge waterfalls cascading over the land bridge represents the beginning of physical separation of Britain from Europe. Credit: Imperial College London/Chase Stone

Researchers have found evidence of how ancient Britain separated from Europe, which happened in two stages, they report today in Nature Communications.

Nearly 450,000 years ago, when Earth was in the grip of an ice age, ice stretched right across the North Sea, from Britain to Scandinavia. The low sea levels meant that the entire English Channel was dry land, a frozen tundra landscape, crisscrossed by small rivers.

Britain's separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spill over from a proglacial lake - a type of lake formed in front of an ice sheet - in the North Sea, but this has remained unproven. Now, researchers from Imperial College London and their colleagues from institutes in Europe show that the opening of the Dover Strait in the English Channel occurred in two episodes, where an initial lake spill over was followed by catastrophic flooding.

Ten years ago, the researchers from Imperial College London revealed geophysical evidence of giant valleys on the seafloor in the central part of English Channel. They believed these valley networks were evidence of a megaflood gouging out the land, which they speculated may have been caused by a catastrophic breach in a chalk rock ridge joining Britain to France.

The new study by the team, working with their colleagues in Europe, now shows for the first time the details of how this chalk ridge in the Dover Strait, between Dover and Calais, was breached. New geophysical data collected by colleagues from Belgium and France has been combined with seafloor data from the UK showing evidence of huge holes and a valley system located on the seafloor.

Bathymetry map of the Dover Strait showing prominent valley eroded through center of Strait. Note the rock ridge made of chalk in southern Britain and northern France which would have connected across Strait prior to breaching. Credit: Imperial College London

The team show that the chalk ridge acted like a huge dam and behind it was a proglacial lake. This lake was first hypothesised by scientists more than 100 years ago and the authors of today's study show how the lake overflowed in giant waterfalls, eroding the rock escarpment, weakening it and eventually causing it to fail and release huge volumes of water onto the valley floor below.

The team believe that the huge holes that they analysed on the seafloor are plunge pools, created when water cascading over an escarpment hit the ground and eroded rock. The plunge pools in the Dover Strait are huge - up to several kilometres in diameter and around 100 metres deep and were drilled into solid rock. Around seven plunge pools run in a line from the ports of Calais to Dover. The researchers suggest these plunge pools are evidence of an overflow of water from the lake in the southern North Sea.

The straight line of the plunge pools suggests they were cascading off one single rock ridge perhaps 32 kilometres long and 100 metres high- the land bridge between Europe and the UK.

The researchers have also found evidence that a second event fully opened the Dover Strait. Later on, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years later, a new valley system, the Lobourg Channel, was carved by megaflood processes that crossed the Dover Strait. The researchers demonstrate that this valley system is connected to the giant valley network in the central English Channel. They suggest that a spill over of other, smaller lakes in front of the ice sheets in the North Sea may have been responsible for the later episode of flood erosion.

It has taken ten years, but by pulling all the pieces of the geological jigsaw puzzle together the team say they are more confident about what may have caused the megaflood in the English Channel thousands of years ago.

3-D perspective view of bathymetry in Dover Strait showing prominent valley in central part of Strait and the chalk escarpment in southern Britain that would have connected to northwest France prior to breaching of the Strait. The Strait is ~33 km in width. Credit: Imperial College London

Dr Jenny Collier, a co-author of the study from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, said: "Based on the evidence that we've seen, we believe the Dover Strait 450,000 years ago would have been a huge rock ridge made of chalk joining Britain to France, looking more like the frozen tundra in Siberia than the green environment we know today. It would have been a cold world dotted with waterfalls plunging over the iconic white chalk escarpment that we see today in the White Cliffs of Dover.

"We still don't know for sure why the proglacial lake spilt over. Perhaps part of the ice sheet broke off, collapsing into the lake, causing a surge that carved a path for the water to cascade off the chalk ridge. In terms of the catastrophic failure of the ridge, maybe an earth tremor, which is still characteristic of this region today, further weakened the ridge. This may have caused the chalk ridge to collapse, releasing the megaflood that we have found evidence for in our studies."

Engineers first found evidence of the plunge pools when they were carrying out geological surveys of the Dover Strait seafloor back in the 1960s. No one knew what caused them, but they were called the Fosse Dangeard. The loose gravel and sand infilling these plunge pools meant that the engineers had to move the route of the Channel Tunnel to avoid them. In 1985 a marine geologist named Professor Alec Smith, from Bedford College in London, first proposed that the holes were created by ancient waterfalls, but the lack of hard evidence meant that the assertions were largely forgotten. Now, the authors of today's study say Smith's original assertions were right.

The scientists say if it wasn't for a set of chance geological circumstances, Britain may have still remained connected to mainland Europe, jutting out into the sea similarly to Denmark.

Professor Sanjeev Gupta, a co-author from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial, added: "The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity even today. When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland. Without this dramatic breaching Britain would still be a part of Europe. This is Brexit 1.0 - the Brexit nobody voted for."

The team still do not have an exact timeline of events. In the next step, the researchers would like to take core samples of the in-filled sediments in the plunge pools, which they will analyse to determine the timing of erosion and infill of the plunge pools, the environments represented by these sediments, and the source of the sediments. Developing a timeline of events would enable them to learn more about the distinctive evolution of Britain, compared to mainland Europe. However, this will be a real challenge for the team as getting sediment core samples in the Dover Strait means dealing with huge tidal changes and traversing the world's busiest shipping lane.
Professor Kylie Catchpole and The Duong. Credit: Stuart Hay, ANU

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have achieved a new record efficiency for low-cost semi-transparent perovskite solar cells in a breakthrough that could bring down the cost of generating solar electricity.

The team led by The Duong from the ANU Research School of Engineering have achieved 26 per cent efficiency in converting sunlight into energy, which could help make perovskite solar cells a viable alternative to existing silicon cells.

Perovskite is a material with a lattice-like structure that can help harvest light. Researchers have achieved 26 per cent efficiency by mechanically combining perovskite with silicon solar cells.

"Until now efficiencies of this kind have only been achieved using high cost materials normally used on satellites," said Mr Duong, a PhD student. "We are now a step closer to a low cost alternative."

Silicon solar cell technology is about 90 per cent of the solar market, but scientists around the world are working to find a way to make them more efficient, affordable, stable and reliable.

The research is supported by $3.6 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Professor Kylie Catchpole from the ANU Research School of Engineering said the advances in solar technology were good news for consumers, although the perovskite cells were not yet ready for use on rooftops.

"This breakthrough opens the way to increasing the efficiency of silicon solar cells further, and in a cheap way," Professor Catchpole said.

"The key challenge for now is achieving the same stability as we have with silicon solar cells that can be put out on a roof for 20 years using perovskite.

"Over the next few years we are planning to increase efficiencies to 30 per cent and beyond."

The research has been published in Advanced Energy Materials.
Credit: Monash University

Monash University scientists have solved a 40-year old mystery and shed light on an evolutionary arms race played out between cytomegalovirus (CMV) and the immune system.

Human CMV, also known as human herpesvirus 5, infects over 50 per cent of adults worldwide and is the leading cause of birth defects in the developed world.

New research undertaken at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI), within the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, and published in the journal Cell, has unveiled why this particular virus has been so successful at lying dormant and undetected.

Co-first author, and Imaging CoE Associate Investigator, Dr Rich Berry, said that while some viruses are loud and brash, announcing themselves with vigor and manifesting as obvious and severe symptoms, CMV is different.

Dr Berry said: "CMV has evolved to hide from our immune system and only emerge at the opportune moment.

"This strategy has triggered an evolutionary arms race that can be likened to a life or death game of chess. However, in this scenario molecules replace chess pieces and instead of moving pieces to attack or defend, the virus and host evolve or build new pieces tailored to suit their strategy," Dr Berry said.

The new research, conducted in collaboration with scientists from Canada and Europe, shows how CMV has evolved to present decoys to Natural Killer (NK) cells and out-smart them into thinking infected cells are healthy.

Co-senior author and Imaging CoE Chief Investigator Professor Jamie Rossjohn said that NK cells acted like our very own front line defense against viral infections.

"NK cells roam our body checking cells for signs of infection. This way they know when to kill, and when not to kill," Professor Rossjohn said.

Healthy cells display 'self' markers on their surface, which act like signposts to tell NK cells not to kill them. The loss of these 'self' markers during infection is one way the immune system can detect viruses.

"This is the process that CMV has hijacked" said Dr Berry. "CMV presents a decoy marker or signpost to trick the immune system into thinking a virally infected cell is actually healthy.

"But not all is not lost," he continued, "the immune system does not stand idly by, it evolves too and remodels  as is necessary for the continued survival of a species.

"Our research has also solved a 40-year old mystery concerning the function of one of the most famous proteins in the immune system," Dr Berry said.

"It turns out, this molecule, NK1.1, is a new weapon that has evolved to directly recognise the CMV decoy, thereby enabling the immune system to detect, and ultimately kill, the virus again."

While this initial research was focused on mice, the team is now shifting to human studies.

"NK1.1 is also expressed in humans," Dr. Berry said. "If it does the same job as we have seen it do in mice, this might provide a new avenue to develop future therapeutic agents in the fight against CMV, and other viruses."

More information: Oscar A. Aguilar et al, A Viral Immunoevasin Controls Innate Immunity by Targeting the Prototypical Natural Killer Cell Receptor Family, Cell (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.002 Journal information: Cell
A living Ginkgo leaf (left) and fossil (right). Density of stomata in such leaves is proxy of atmospheric CO2 in past. Credit: Dana Royer

New research led by the University of Southampton suggests that, over the next 100 to 200 years, carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere will head towards values not seen since the Triassic period, 200 million years ago. Furthermore, by the 23rd century, the climate could reach a warmth not seen in 420 million years.

The study, published in Nature Communications, compiled over 1200 estimates of ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations to produce a continuous record dating back nearly half a billion years. It concludes that if humanity burns all available fossil fuels in the future, the levels of CO2 contained in the atmosphere may have no geologically-preserved equivalent during this 420 million year period.

The researchers examined published data on fossilised plants, the isotopic composition of carbon in soils and the oceans, and the boron isotopic composition of fossil shells. Gavin Foster, lead author and Professor of Isotope Geochemistry at the University of Southampton, explains: "We cannot directly measure CO2 concentrations from millions of years ago. Instead we rely on indirect 'proxies' in the rock record. In this study, we compiled all the available published data from several different types of proxy to produce a continuous record of ancient CO2 levels."

This wealth of data shows that CO2 concentrations have naturally fluctuated on multi-million year timescales over this period, from around 200-400 parts per million (ppm) during cold 'icehouse' periods to up to 3000 ppm during intervening warm 'greenhouse' periods. Although evidence tells us our climate has fluctuated greatly in the past (with the Earth currently in a colder period), it also shows the current speed of climate change is highly unusual.

Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas and in the last 150 years humanity's fossil fuel use has increased its atmospheric concentration from 280 ppm in the pre-industrialisation era to nearly 405 ppm in 2016. However, it's not just CO2 that determines the climate of our planet, ultimately it is both the strength of the greenhouse effect and the amount of incoming sunlight that is important. Changes in either parameter are able to force climate change.

"Due to nuclear reactions in stars, like our sun, over time they become brighter," adds co-author Dan Lunt, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Bristol. "This means that, although carbon dioxide concentrations were high hundreds of millions of years ago, the net warming effect of CO2 and sunlight was less. Our new CO2 compilation appears on average to have gradually declined over time by about 3-4 ppm per million years. This may not sound like much, but it is actually just about enough to cancel out the warming effect caused by the sun brightening through time, so in the long-term it appears the net effect of both was pretty much constant on average."

This interplay between carbon dioxide and the sun's brightness has fascinating implications for the history of life on Earth. Co-author Professor Dana Royer, from Wesleyan University in the US, explains: "Up until now it's been a bit of a puzzle as to why, despite the sun's output having increased slowly over time, scant evidence exists for any similar long-term warming of the climate. Our finding of little change in the net climate forcing offers an explanation for why Earth's climate has remained relatively stable, and within the bounds suitable for life for all this time."

This long-term view also offers a valuable perspective on future climate change. It is well recognised that the climate today is changing at rates well above the geological norm. If humanity fails to tackle rising CO2 and burns all the readily available fossil fuel, by AD 2250 CO2 will be at around 2000 ppm - levels not seen since 200 million years ago.

Professor Foster adds: "However, because the Sun was dimmer back then, the net climate forcing 200 million years ago was lower than we would experience in such a high CO2 future. So not only will the resultant climate change be faster than anything the Earth has seen for millions of years, the climate that will exist is likely to have no natural counterpart, as far as we can tell, in at least the last 420 million years."

More information: Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS14845 Journal information: Nature Communications
Grey kangaroos. Credit: Dr Wendy King

Having a social life comes at a cost for grey kangaroos, with 'mingling' mothers reducing the chances of survival for their offspring.

Lead author and recent University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences graduate Dr Wendy King said young kangaroos that spent more time with their mothers grew faster and gained more weight than other joeys of the same age, while those that spent more time alone with their mothers had higher survival.

"For kangaroo sons, spending time with their mother correlates closely with receiving milk, and so sons are likely to benefit nutritionally from this extra maternal care," Dr King said.

"Some daughters, however, associate closely with their mothers even if the mother no longer provides milk, and must benefit in other ways."

Dr King said grey kangaroo mothers did not defend their young from aggressive adult females but mothers could reduce harassment of their offspring just through their presence.

"Juveniles feeding alone with their mothers do not need to compete with others for food, and have more time to feed and grow more rapidly," Dr King said.

"However, mother kangaroos rarely interact with their young through activities such as playing and grooming, so it is unlikely juveniles benefit from behavioural development or parasite removal."

Co-author Associate Professor Anne Goldizen of UQ said the findings suggested there was a cost to being sociable for female kangaroos.

"That cost may relate to young more easily losing their mothers when in a large group," she said.

"This cost of being social raises the question of why kangaroos usually forage in groups."

The study of 129 kangaroo offspring aged 10 to 21 months, and their mothers, took place over six years at Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, and involved collaboration between UQ, the University of Melbourne and Universite de Sherbrooke (Canada).

While previous studies have investigated the links between mother-offspring relationships and offspring growth and survival in mammals, none have done so in marsupials.

Dr King said the mother-offspring bond in macropods such as kangaroos appeared to be quite special.

The paper appears today in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Illustration that connects the synthesis of clays and the origin of metabolism. Credit: Ruixin Zhou

The question of how life has begun has fascinated scientists from many disciplines and it was the organic chemist Graham Cairns-Smith who proposed the theory for the origin of life starting from clays instead of polymers such as RNA.

The source of the monomers such as nucleotides, amino acids and dicarboxylic acids were relegated by Cairns-Smith to the evolution of metabolism, which is the synthesis of amino acids and nucleotides from the citric acid cycle.

This problem of the evolution of metabolism has recently been advanced by the behavior of simple semiconductor minerals such as zinc sulfide (ZnS), which are capable of harvesting sunlight energy and converting this energy into the formation of chemical bonds of dicarboxylic acids from CO 2 thus providing the core reactions of universal metabolism before the existence of enzymes.

A connection between ZnS prebiotic photosynthesis and clay replication has now been established in a paper published by a team of scientists from the University of Kentucky and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United Sates, and McGill University in Canada. The paper has related how prebiotic metabolites available from simple sunlight promoted reactions can catalyze the synthesis of clay minerals (i.e., a zinc clay called sauconite). The work shows that central metabolites such as succinate and malate can enable the nucleation process for clay formation. These prebiotic metabolites have been generated by photocatalysis with ZnS, and this work demonstrates how they can catalyze the synthesis of clays.

The study published in the open access journal Scientific Reports shows how a clay synthesis can proceed catalyzed by prebiotic metabolites in only 20 hours at 90 C and 1 atm. Clay formation generally requires much longer times as well as higher temperature and pressure. The cryogenic transmission electron microscopy clearly shows that clay nanoparticles can be observed after only 6 hours of synthesis, as verified by the incorporation of aluminum into the tetrahedral layer.

The team noted that the synthesis of clay can proceed at even lower temperatures, i.e., at just 70 C, with the addition of a single seed particle. The work presents an excellent example of the reproductive power of clay minerals and the mechanism by which prebiotic metabolites catalyze their formation. Clay minerals acting as chemical sponges can retain water and polar organic molecules, and should have played a key role in the origin of life; 1) protecting against ultraviolet radiation, and 2) concentrating and catalyzing the polymerization of organic molecules such as RNA. The outcome of this work has direct implications to understand the origin of life on the early Earth and other rocky planets.

More information: More information: Ruixin Zhou, Kaustuv Basu, Hyman Hartman, Christopher J. Matocha, S. Kelly Sears, Hojatollah Vali & Marcelo I. Guzman. Catalyzed Synthesis of Zinc Clays by Prebiotic Central Metabolites, Scientific Reports, 7, 522, 2017. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00558-1 Journal information: Scientific Reports
A researcher examines a Pipistrellus hesperidus, or Dusky Pipistrelle bat, collected in Uganda. Credit: Kirsten Gilardi, UC Davis

A team of researchers in the United States and Uganda has identified a novel coronavirus in a bat from Uganda that is similar to the one causing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in people, giving further credence to the theory that such viruses originate in bats.

The work, part of the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project, was described this week in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Not likely a threat to humans

Laboratory experiments with the virus, named PREDICT/PDF-2180, indicate that while its genetics appear similar to MERS-coronavirus (MERS-CoV), there are significant differences in part of its spike genethe segment of the virus responsible for invading cells.

"In its current form, evolution notwithstanding, this virus is probably not going to be a threat to human health," said lead study author Simon J. Anthony, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and its Center for Infection and Immunity.

By contrast, MERS-CoV itself has been shown to spread from animals such as camels to humans and between humans.

About MERS

MERS, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is an illness sometimes marked by severe acute respiratory disease with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. About 4 of every 10 patients with the condition have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The PREDICT project, led by the University of California, Davis, is a multicenter global initiative for surveillance and discovery of viruses that could pose a pandemic threat through animal-human transmission of pathogens. In Uganda, PREDICT worked closely with researchers from Gorilla Doctors, a non-governmental organization.

"The discovery of this new virus by a team of field veterinarians and laboratory scientists in Uganda is the result of a tremendous effort to strengthen capacity in the region to better understand potential threats to the health not just of Ugandans, but of people around the world," said co-author Kirsten Gilardi, DVM, Co-Director of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis and a regional lead for PREDICT in east-central Africa.

Using a clone to test a virus

For the study, Anthony and colleagues at the UC Davis One Health Institute and with the non-profit organization Gorilla Doctors sequenced the genome of the PDF-2180 virus found in a rectal swab taken from a bat trapped in February 2013 in southwestern Uganda. Overall, the virus was 87 percent identical to MERS-CoV and 91 percent identical to NeoCoV, another coronavirus found in a bat from South Africa. However, part of the spike gene was only 46 percent identical to the one belonging to MERS-CoV.

Next, to test the ability of the virus to spread to humans, researchers at the University of North Carolina constructed an infectious MERS-CoV clone expressing the PDF-2180 spike protein. Viruses derived from the clone could reproduce themselves but could not enter cells expressing DPP4, the receptor normally used by MERS-CoV to infect human cells, or establish new infections either in Vero cells derived from monkeys or in human airway cells from healthy lung donors.

The team plans to repeat the experiments with other viral samples to get a better grasp of what animal-borne viruses pose a risk to human health.

Coronaviruses in bats

The discovery of the virus adds to the growing number of coronaviruses identified in bats, Anthony said, including coronaviruses in South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, the Netherlands, Italy, and China.

"Collectively, these examples demonstrate that the MERS-related coronaviruses are highly associated with bats and are geographically widespread," Anthony said.
Astronaut Mike Fossum's spacewalk for the Robotics Refueling Mission Payload on July 12, 2011. Credit: NASA

The International Space Station serves as an orbiting test and demonstration laboratory for scientific experiments to be performed inside and outside the space station. The experiments are inherently transient with typical life cycles of about one to five years. Once their test objectives are accomplished, they are removed to make way for new experiments.

On Feb. 19, a NASA experimenta test module called Ravenwas successfully launched on SpaceX-10/Dragon and installed on the exterior of the station, where it will test autopilot technologies for spacecraft. As the Raven payload took its perch on the station, another Satellite Servicing Projects Division (SSPD) creationthe Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) payload, departed. Aboard the Dragon trunk in which Raven arrived, RRM made its way back to Earth on March 19, where it reentered the atmosphere. Though both payloads were and are critical to the advancement of satellite servicing, after RRM served its purpose and accomplished its objectives, it was time for RRM to leave the station and make way for new experiments.

RRM has established a firm legacy in demonstrating satellite servicing capabilities and that on-orbit servicing is technologically ready for implementation. RRM launched in July 2011 aboard the final space shuttle flight and was the last payload to be removed from the shuttle cargo bay by an astronaut. It was subsequently mounted outside onto a Express Logistics Carrier built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. RRM demonstrated and tested the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel and repair satellites in space that were not designed to be serviced.

The Robotic Refueling Mission was an essential bridge between the manned servicing carried out in the Hubble Servicing Missions and robotic servicing that will be demonstrated in the upcoming Restore-L mission," said Ben Reed, deputy division director for SSPD. "Our team worked very hard to develop the suite of RRM tools and experiments and are extremely pleased to see what they accomplished. We are eager to apply the lessons learned from RRM to the Restore-L mission as well as future servicing efforts."

A look back at the highlights from Phase 1 of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM). RRM consisted of the RRM "module"  a box covered with activity boards  and four stowed RRM Tools. The International Space Station's twin-armed Canadian "Dextre" robot acted as a skilled spacecraft refueling and servicing technician. During operations, controllers on the ground remotely commanded Dextre to reach into the RRM module and pick up RRM tools. Dextre then went to work on RRM's components and activity boards, demonstrating such servicing tasks such as cutting wires, unscrewing caps, turning valves, transferring fluid, inspection and intermediary steps leading up to coolant replenishment. Credit: NASA

The year was 2010 when planning for RRM began. The fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission had just ended. The space shuttle was in the twilight of its career, scheduled for retirement in 2011. The hundreds of engineers at Goddard who had supported servicing Hubble were not sure what a future without shuttle would hold. A team, led by the "father of servicing" Frank Cepollina, began brainstorming how to continue servicing without shuttle. With no time to waste, Cepollina's team determined that the future of servicing would rely on robotics and the space station robotic arm was the best mechanism to test and develop robotic servicing techniques. Eighteen months laterextremely quick for a project of this complexityRRM was in the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis, ready to launch and demonstrate to the world that robotic servicing had come of age.

"The space station is on-orbit and already has a robot," said Frank Cepollina, the previous associate director of the SSPD. "Space station was tailor-made for RRM and worked beautifully as a testbed for servicing."

The washing machine-sized RRM payload housed four unique tools that were used by the station's twin-armed Canadian "Dextre" robot to accomplish the precise, complex tasks needed to refuel a satellite. These tasks included cutting and peeling back thermal blankets, unscrewing multiple caps, accessing valves and transferring a simulated satellite fuel. In January 2013, with this fluid transfer in space, RRM confirmed that current-day robotic technology could refuel a triple-sealed satellite fuel valve, transferring 1.7 liters of ethanol.

In separate launches in 2013 and 2014, two new task boards and a tool were sent to the space station as part of RRM "Phase 2." The task boards further demonstrated activities vital to servicing free-flying satellites. Similarly, the new tool, the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot, or VIPIR, exhibited state-of-the-art near and midrange inspection using an articulable, "snake-like" borescope tool.

Through these two phases and multiple days of operations, the RRM team has bonded and consistently performed under pressure. Together they created a payload and completed a mission critical to the future of satellite servicing. Currently, they are developing and working to execute a third phase of RRM, which will continue to advance the technology necessary for robotic refueling. RRM 3 will focus specifically on servicing cryogenic fluid and xenon gas interfaces which will support future scientific missions as humans extend their exploration further into our solar system.

"Space station was a wonderful facility to test our technologies, and we know that RRM's departure will make room for another great experiment," said Jill McGuire, RRM project manager. "We are proud of what we accomplished with RRM, and are excited to contribute to the next stages of enabling robotic satellite servicing."

Provided by NASA
From March 26 to April 2, 2017, NASA's IMERG indicated that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm (3.1 inches). Credit: NASA/Hal Pierce

NASA conducted an analysis of the heavy rainfall that occurred over Colombia that triggered flooding and mudslides.

Late Friday night, March 31, and early morning Saturday, April 1, flash flooding and mudslides killed more than 250 people in Mocoa, Colombia. Extremely intense storms added heavy rain to waterlogged terrain around Mocoa. Water from this heavy rainfall converged into a river that runs close to Mocoa causing it to overflow its banks with deadly results.

NASA's GPM, or Global Precipitation Measurement, mission satellite provides information on precipitation from its orbit in space. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

GPM also utilizes a constellation of other satellites to provide a global analysis if precipitation. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, those data are incorporated into NASA's IMERG, or Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM, to provide a total picture of precipitation events.

IMERG data were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell near Mocoa, Colombia, during a seven-day period from March 26 to April 2, 2017. IMERG indicated that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm (3.1 inches). The analysis also showed the locations of heavy rainfall that extended from east of Mocoa into the high mountains that surround the city. Torrents of water rushed from the high terrain and were funneled into the valley where Mocoa is located, causing the flooding and mudslides.

In this flyby animation, rainfall data are shown from March 26 to April 2, 2017. NASA's IMERG indicated that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm (3.1 inches). Credit: NASA/Hal Pierce

IMERG creates a merged precipitation product from the GPM constellation of satellites. These satellites include DMSPs from the U.S. Department of Defense, GCOM-W from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Megha-Tropiques from the Centre National D'etudies Spatiales and Indian Space Research Organization, NOAA series from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Suomi-NPP from NOAA-NASA, and MetOps from the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. All of the instruments (radiometers) aboard the constellation partners are inter-calibrated with information from the GPM Core Observatory's GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR).
Artist's conception of a loosely tethered binary planetoid pair like those studied by Fraser et al. in this work which led to the conclusion that Neptune's shepherding of them to the Kuiper Belt as gradual and gentle in nature. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Joy Pollard

Dr Wes Fraser from Queen's led an international research project 'Colours of the Outer Solar Systems Origins Survey' Col-OSSOS, which uses data collected from the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) both on Maunakea in Hawaii. By simultaneously using two world class telescopes, Dr Fraser's team was able to produce unique research with a global impact.

The study focused on the Kuiper Belt - a region of space beyond the gas giant Neptune. The area holds more than 1,700 known icy objects, which are remnants of the early Solar System. Normally objects that are formed in this area are red in colour.

However, during his research Dr Fraser identified a small number of 'oddball' objects, which stand out as uniquely blue and are zipping around in binary pairs that orbit around each other, like the moon orbits the earth.

Astronomers have always thought that these objects formed in the heart of the Kuiper Belt but Dr Fraser's findings, which have been published in Nature Astronomy today (Tuesday 4 April), suggest that the blue binaries actually formed in a region much closer to the Sun and were then shepherded by Neptune's gravitational nudges onto their current orbits in the distant Kuiper Belt several billions of years ago.

Dr Fraser's research indicates that when Neptune moved from 20 AU to its current location at 30 AU, this was a very slow and calm movement, which allowed the fragile and loosely bound binaries to be pushed out a similar distance to where they are found currently without being disrupted into two separate single objects.

Discussing the significance of the findings, Dr Fraser said: "This research has opened the window to new aspects of understanding the early stages of planet growth. We now have a solid handle on how and where these blue binaries originated.

The Gemini North telescope (foreground, right) with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in background (left). Image obtained during observations for Col-OSSOS and both telescopes are pointing at the same target. Credit: The Gemini North telescope (foreground, right) with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in background (left). Image obtained during observations for Col-OSSOS and both telescopes are pointing at the same target. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, photo by Joy Pollard.

"There has been some evidence around how Neptune moved outwards to 30 AU. Our hypothesis about how these blue binaries came to be where they are requires that Neptune's migration was largely a smooth and calm movement.

"This novel programme uses two world-class telescopes: the Gemini-North and Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes, simultaneously. In doing so, we are able to gather comprehensive spectral information spanning the ultra-violet, optical, and near-infrared wavelength ranges. Without this programme and the partners involved, this major research breakthrough would not have been possible."

Meg Schwamb, astronomer at the Gemini Observatory, commented: "Working closely together, Gemini North and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes coordinated their movements to observe the Col-OSSOS Kuiper belt objects at nearly the same time."

"These simultaneous observations on Maunakea allowed us to measure the light from the same side of the Kuiper Belt object, removing one of the main challenges in studying Solar System bodies that rotate."

Todd Burdullis, QSO operations specialist at CFHT who helped to co-ordinate the observations, commented: "Facilitating the simultaneous observations with the Col-OSSOS team and Gemini Observatory was challenging, but paved the way for a greater understanding of the origins of these blue binaries.

"In tandem, the two facilities observed all the colours of the outer solar system for the Col-OSSOS team."
A cave in southern Oregon that is the site of some the oldest preserved evidence of human activity in North America was also once home to not-too-distant cousins of the common bed bug.

In research to be published next week in the Entomological Society of America's Journal of Medical Entomology, a pair of archaeologists describe remains found in caves near Paisley, Oregon, that represent the oldest specimens of insects from the genus Cimex ever found, ranging between 5,100 and 11,000 years old.

The remains were identified as relatives of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, but they were "not the bed bug we all know and love from hotel rooms," says Martin E. Adams of Paleoinsect Research and co-author on the study with Dennis L. Jenkins of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon. The species in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves (Cimex pilosellus, Cimex latipennis, and Cimex antennatus) are all parasites of bats.

Previously, the oldest remains of "cimicids" ever found were just 3,500 years old, found in Egypt in 1999, meaning the remains found at the Paisley Caves are the oldest Cimex specimens by a wide margin, and they raise some interesting questions for researchers about how cimicids have interacted (or not) with humans in the past.

Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus are the two bed bug species that are known to parasitize humans, widely believed to have adapted to that role thousands of years ago when humans shared caves with bats in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The species found in the Oregon caves, however, never made that jump, and Adams says it's unclear why not.

"Were the cimicid populations too small to establish themselves outside the caves, or were the host populations too small?" Adams says. "Given that Paisley Caves was only a seasonal occupation area for human hunter-gatherers, did the humans move around too much, or were the bugs not able to withstand the environment outside the caves for very long? Or, were there other constraints involved? I'm working on these last few archaeological questions right now."

The identification of the three Cimex species may also offer some clues to climactic trends during the eras they were dated to, Adams says. Cimex antennatus, for instance, tends to favor the warmer climates of California and Nevada. "The presence of warm-tolerant cimicids in the caves, such as Cimex antennatus, may suggest that climatic conditions at Paisley Caves 5,100 years ago were similar to what Cimex antennatus enjoys today in its current range."

More information: "An Early Holocene Record of Cimex (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) from Western North America," by Martin E. Adams and Dennis L. Jenkins, will be published online on April 4 in the Journal of Medical Entomology, DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjx057 Journal information: Journal of Medical Entomology
On a frigid night a few days after Christmas 2012, Trish Khan drove back to the Milwaukee County Zoo to check on the star attraction, a playful, wildly popular 5-year-old orangutan named Mahal. It was almost 11 p.m.

Khan, the zoo's primary orangutan keeper, was off on medical leave. Yet she'd come in earlier in the day, as soon as she heard something was wrong with Mahal.

Raised on a horse farm in Wisconsin, Khan has a passion for animals, especially primates and most especially orangutans, a great ape found in Asian rainforests and admired for its intelligence.

Even so, her deep affection for Mahal was unique. She had flown to Colorado to pick him up from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after the orangutan had been rejected by his mother. Khan had accompanied Mahal to Milwaukee, and when he settled in at the county zoo, she bottle-fed him for the first year.

When Mahal was sick, she would move a mattress into the enclosure and stay with him, allowing him to nest beside her and sleep until morning.

Four years later, as she examined the orangutan on that winter evening, Khan noted how much he resembled a sick human child: no energy, no appetite. After an unsuccessful attempt to administer antibiotics, Khan and one of the zoo veterinarians decided to move the orangutan into a smaller room and wait until morning to anesthetize him and take blood samples.

The next morning, a zookeeper found Mahal lying motionless on the floor. He was dead at just 5 years of age; the typical orangutan lives 35 or 40 years in the wild and sometimes more than 50 in captivity. In his short life, Mahal had been the subject of a newspaper series and a children's book.

Stunned as they were by the loss, Khan and her colleagues now faced a mystery with implications for both animals and humans: What killed Mahal?

"Is it something that could affect our other orangutans or other animals?" Khan remembers wondering. "Is it something that could affect our keepers?"

The similarities between humans and other primates are well-known. It is the reason monkeys have long been used in medical tests as proxies for humans. It's also the reason the zoo regularly consults with doctors at Froedtert Hospital on health problems involving its great apes.

But the close biological relationship between the two species takes another form as well. Lethal diseases, including Ebola and HIV, have jumped from apes to humans. Others, such as influenza and polio, have gone the opposite route, passing from humans to apes.

"When you're dealing with the great apes," says Khan, "pretty much anything they get, we can get."

And therein lies the problem. The zoo could not simply mourn the loss of Mahal and dispose of his remains. Other lives were at stake, including those of the zoo's 45 other primates and the seven employees who cared for them.

Of the 400 or so emerging infectious diseases identified since 1940, more than 60 percent have been zoonotic, meaning they have passed from animals to humans.

A 2012 report by researchers in Britain, Kenya and Vietnam found that each year zoonotic diseases account for 2.5 billion cases of human illness and about 2.7 million deaths. A separate study published the same year put the direct costs from these diseases at more than $20 billion over the previous decade.

Zoo officials in Milwaukee were not taking any chances. Within hours of his death, Mahal's body lay in a cooler packed in ice, bound for a pathologist's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

So began an investigation that would span more than three years and lead to the discovery of a new species of pathogen. The search for Mahal's killer also would illustrate the links between diseases and some of the most powerful forces on the planet: evolution, glacial periods and the Earth's orbital patterns, known as Milankovitch cycles.

"The fact that we share so many diseases with primates tells us about evolution," explains Tony Goldberg, the UW professor of epidemiology who led the investigation into Mahal's death.

"There are an awful lot of primate pathogens that don't really care whether they're in a human or a chimpanzee or an orangutan."

-

Like all great apes, orangutans face health challenges in captivity. Males are more susceptible to urinary tract infections than they are in the wild; it's uncertain why. Many great apes also suffer from heart disease.

Neither illness seemed likely given Mahal's youth.

The orangutan's body arrived at the University of Wisconsin lab of Annette Gendron, a veterinary pathologist who'd worked in Kenya for a year and later at the Fresno Zoo before coming to Madison in 1983. In more than 30 years as a pathologist, she'd performed necropsies on everything from great apes and elephants to snakes and giraffes, "almost anything you can think of."

Following protocol, Gendron and zoo pathology resident Kathleen Deering each dressed in a protective gown, a double set of gloves, a mask and face shield. Necropsies - autopsies performed on animals - take hours and it is all too easy for pathologists to spatter themselves with material from the dead animal.

Once, 40 years ago, Gendron was accidentally exposed to the fungal lung infection Valley fever, while helping veterinarians try to resuscitate an orangutan before it died. On another occasion, one of her gloves leaked while examining the intestines of an antelope and she wound up with an infection under her fingernail.

Although she never became seriously ill, these incidents reinforced her cautious nature.

Gendron began her examination of Mahal by taking measurements, noting the size of the orangutan's pupils and searching for skin lesions, evidence of trauma and discoloration of the membranes of the mouth.

Then she cut open the orangutan's body. There was no fluid in the abdomen. Fluid is often a sign of inflammation, which in turn raises a host of possibilities, from tumors to liver or kidney failure.

One by one, Gendron looked at the organs. First the spleen, then the liver, kidneys, adrenal glands, heart, lungs and trachea. She removed and weighed each organ and looked for scarring and abnormalities. She placed tissues from all of the organs in formalin, a preservative that would allow her to view them later under the microscope.

Although the pathologist worked methodically, she had noticed something strange from the very beginning.

Mahal had an enlarged spleen and liver. Both organs were overrun with cysts, small gray bubbles.

"There were enormous numbers inside the liver," Gendron says. "We'd never seen anything like this."

Whatever it was, the pathogen had also clogged Mahal's lungs. The official cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome; what it meant was that the orangutan had essentially drowned in his own blood.

The necropsy took between four and five hours. When she was finished, Gendron made microscope slides of tissue from the nerves, heart, lungs, brain and other organs.

Over the next few weeks she sent zoo pathologists around the country a digital photo of one of the cysts from Mahal's liver. She hoped specialists who'd examined great apes might have run into something similar.

No one had.

-

One of the colleagues Gendron contacted was Goldberg, a fellow member of UW's faculty of veterinary medicine.

Goldberg, who had started out studying hummingbird behavior at Amherst College in Massachusetts, had gone on to focus on primates while earning his Ph.D. at Harvard. He joined the UW faculty in 2008.

Over the last decade, Goldberg had flown to Uganda twice a year for up to a month of fieldwork examining the interactions of people, primates and other animals in and around Kibale National Park.

The fieldwork often reminds him how much the world is changing, and how quickly new health threats can cross from species to species, continent to continent. For much of the world, the Zika virus, named for the forest in Uganda where it was discovered, stands as the prime example.

Spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and first discovered in a rhesus macaque in 1947, the virus appeared in humans in Uganda and Tanzania in 1952. However, in the last two years, the virus suddenly spread through large sections of Central and South America. In July, the U.S. recorded its first homegrown cases of the virus in Florida. By December, Zika had been identified in 75 countries and territories.

But Goldberg can point to a more personal example of today's rapid-transit pathogens. In the summer of 2012, just six months before Mahal died, Goldberg had returned to Madison after working in western Uganda. He'd been home only three days when the dull ache he'd detected in his nose flared into a searing pain, impossible to ignore.

By angling a mirror and contorting his body, the scientist was able to peer inside his nostrils. There it was, just as he'd suspected: the pale, fat back end of a fully engorged tick.

"It took all of my willpower not to claw off my face," he would recall.

Instead, Goldberg gently extended a pair of forceps until they surrounded the tick's mouth, then he pulled firmly, but carefully. Out came a creature about the "diameter of a pencil eraser," he recalls, "really nothing more than a distended stomach."

DNA testing revealed it was a new species of tick, a discovery that, in the scientist's view, far outweighed his discomfort. Somehow the tick had crawled onto Goldberg's body in the Ugandan forest and stowed away inside his nostril through the plane trip to the U.S. The scientist's reward was a paper he co-authored titled "Coincident Tick Infestations in the Nostrils of Wild Chimpanzees and a Human in Uganda," published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

But it wasn't Goldberg's tick discovery that made Gendron think of him for the Mahal investigation. She recalled his recent paper on hepatocystis, a single-cell parasite transmitted by midges.

Could the cysts inside Mahal be hepatocystis?

-

There's just no love for the lowly parasite.

The shark is more frightening, the naked mole rat uglier, the black mamba snake deadlier. Yet few creatures provoke a more visceral shudder of disgust than lice, tapeworms, mites and the various other organisms known as parasites.

After his close encounter with the tick, Goldberg understood why.

Still, years of research had tempered his reaction. "You wind up having a lot of respect for parasites," he says. "They are very clever."

They have to be. To keep living, parasites must depend upon another organism, or host. They employ finely tuned machinery to infect and stay in the host without being detected and killed off by the host's immune system.

Parasites are master survivors. They have been around much longer than humans, likely as long as there have been living organisms, according to Eric Hoberg, former curator of the 120-year-old U.S. National Parasite Collection, among the world's largest repositories of different parasites.

Although it's not known how many parasites share the earth with us, one estimate puts the number of different helminths, or intestinal worms, at between 75,000 and 300,000. All told, more than half of the organisms on the planet are parasites, from the microscopic bacterial cell to the multicellular tapeworm.

Many have evolved clever tricks to find the right host, survive and spread. Take the wily Toxoplasma gondii, a single-cell parasite that starts by infecting a mouse but must enter a cat in order to reproduce. To go from mouse to cat, Toxoplasma gondii disables the rodent's ability to smell cat urine, essentially leading the mouse into the jaws of its enemy.

Of greater concern to humans is the Guinea worm. The worm's larvae develop after being consumed by water fleas; they then infect humans who drink the flea-infested water.

Once inside the human body, the worms grow to 2 or 3 feet in length, until the female worm causes a burning sensation so extreme it drives the human to seek relief by submerging the infected area in water. The worm's offspring are then released from a skin blister into the water to continue their life cycle.

The sheer number of parasites can make identifying them difficult, and as Mahal's death would show, there is still much we don't know.

-

Goldberg crossed busy Campus Drive and proceeded to Gendron's UW lab to collect samples of Mahal's liver, lungs and spleen. All were securely stored inside biosafety bags. Goldberg then spent the afternoon performing a series of molecular tests on the tissue samples. He found no sign of hepatocystis.

He spent the rest of the week conducting more tests, checking whether something might be interfering with the chemistry and skewing his results. Still negative.

In his black lab notebook, he noted that ahead of him lay "a huge task."

Not that the challenge displeased him. He loved a good mystery.

Goldberg and David O'Connor, a colleague at UW's Primate Center, compared Mahal's genetic sequence with that of another orangutan, obtained from a massive DNA repository known as GenBank.

The scientists took Mahal's sequence, then subtracted the other orangutan's. What remained, Goldberg reasoned, would contain the killer's genetic signature.

They performed the analysis using a technique known as shotgun sequencing. Long strands of DNA are broken into millions of smaller, easier-to-read pieces and then reassembled by computer into the longer sequence. They felt compelled to work quickly.

"We really rushed it," Goldberg recalls. "We were really curious and we were afraid there would be an outbreak at the zoo."

He kept thinking about the story of Tracey McNamara, then head pathologist at the Bronx Zoo. In 1999, McNamara noticed that a disturbing number of crows near the zoo were becoming ill and dying. Around the same time, New York City health officials discovered that a small number of people had become deathly ill with what appeared to be St. Louis encephalitis. Mosquitoes pick up the virus from birds, then pass it to humans.

Tests showed, however, that the virus making the crows and humans sick wasn't St. Louis encephalitis. It was West Nile virus. The virus had been discovered in Uganda in 1937, but the sick crows at the Bronx Zoo marked its first appearance in the U.S.

By the time Goldberg began working on the Mahal case, West Nile had spread across the continental U.S., sickening almost 2,500 people and causing 119 deaths in 2013 alone. Early on in his investigation of the orangutan's death, he had no way to know whether he might be dealing with another West Nile virus.

A few weeks of genetic testing provided Goldberg with an answer - of sorts.

The killer's DNA appeared to be that of a cestode, or tapeworm.

Except the sequence didn't match any known tapeworm.

It was something new.

-

A tapeworm would not have topped the list of likely suspects. Although orangutans experience roundworm infections, it is much rarer to find one suffering from tapeworms.

In Mahal's case, the tapeworms were still in the larval stage; that explained the little gray bubbles. A tapeworm's life cycle begins when eggs are excreted in the feces of a host animal, let's say a cat, and wind up in the soil. There, they are ingested by a different animal, a secondary host, such as a mouse. The eggs hatch inside the mouse and wait to be ingested back into the cat, where they reach adulthood and reproduce, so that new generations of eggs can be excreted back into the soil.

Mahal appeared to have played the role of "accidental mouse." But what species of tapeworm did the larvae come from? How did they get inside an orangutan? And how did they survive the anti-worming medication the Milwaukee zoo administers to its orangutans every three weeks?

The puzzle of Mahal's death had hooked Goldberg.

"This is the thing you dream about," he says. "An unusual infection caused by something unknown."

Although researchers discover new tapeworm species on a regular basis, Goldberg was dying to run into the offices of his UW colleagues exclaiming: "Look what I found!"

Science, however, demands the opposite response: silence and self-discipline. First come weeks or months of rigorous confirmation work. Only then is a discovery announced.

"There's this delicious little time," Goldberg says, "when you have it all to yourself."

One answer did emerge rather quickly, though it would ultimately raise new questions.

On the very day Goldberg received the sequencing information from the machine, a scientific paper appeared in The International Journal for Parasitology naming a new genus, or group, of tapeworms. Scientists discovered the new group inside the bodies of weasels in Japan and Finland.

Features that distinguished the new tapeworm from the two previously known groups included a retractable conelike structure armed with hooks used to attach itself to the host's intestinal wall; a small head, or scolex; and suckers. Because the tapeworms found in Mahal were only larval, they displayed none of these features.

Rather, what linked the new group, Versteria, to the larvae inside Mahal was a similar genetic signature. Although the two were not an exact match, they appeared to be different species within the same group.

And from what Goldberg could tell, the tapeworms inside Mahal were a long way from home.

For one thing, they should not have been inside the body of an orangutan, but rather a vole or some other variety of weasel prey. For another, they had been found previously in Finland and Japan, half a world away from Wisconsin.

-

Where and how Mahal ingested the tapeworm larvae remained a mystery. Still, Goldberg felt a need to write up what he knew so far.

"You want to publish because it could be important," he says. "You want to get it out there and raise the alarm.

"This could be a threat to orangutans and other apes - such as people."

There was another reason to publish soon. Khan and the rest of the staff at the Milwaukee County Zoo remained in mourning for Mahal.

"We needed answers," Khan says, "as does anyone suffering a big loss."

They needed to know whether what had killed Mahal might pose a threat to the orangutan's surrogate mother, MJ, or to any of the zoo's other primates. Another question was harder and more personal: Could they have done something to have saved Mahal?

From what he knew already, Goldberg was convinced the orangutan's death did not result from anything the zoo staff had done or failed to do.

In January 2014, Goldberg and co-authors at UW and at the Milwaukee County Zoo, published what they knew in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, put out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mahal had died from infection by a new species of tapeworm.

So far, the tapeworms did not appear to have infected any other animal at either the Milwaukee zoo or at the zoo in Colorado where Mahal lived previously.

Yet the authors concluded Mahal's "rapid and severe disease progression raises concerns about the health of captive apes in similar settings. Moreover, the close evolutionary relationship between orangutans and humans raises concerns about the parasite's zoonotic potential."

In other words, scientists could not rule out the possibility that what had killed Mahal could also harm a human.

Goldberg knew his investigation was far from finished.

One day in the midst of his work, he sat on a bench outside Mahal's enclosure at the Milwaukee zoo, contemplating how much he did not know.

"I was trying to imagine myself as a tapeworm," he says, "and I kept wondering: How did a tapeworm known only in (Finland and Japan) wind up in Milwaukee? I was looking around at nature and trying to piece together the whole story."

The story's next installment would take Goldberg another two years to nail down.

-

He had an idea how the tapeworm larvae had wound up inside Mahal.

Some orangutans like to eat dirt. Coincidentally, tapeworm eggs spend part of their life cycle in the soil waiting to become dinner for a passing vole or mouse. Perhaps Mahal had been eating dirt and accidentally ingested a mouthful of tapeworm eggs.

Once inside Mahal, the eggs would have developed into the gray, larval cysts that Goldberg and Gendron had observed. These thick walls of tissue could have shielded them from the zoo's regular deworming treatment. It is also possible that the treatment simply wasn't effective in killing this type of larvae.

The theory still left open the question of how Mahal had picked up a genus of tapeworm previously found only in Finland and Japan. The orangutan had never been to those countries. The only homes he'd known were the zoos in Colorado Springs and Milwaukee.

Using a grant from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, Goldberg continued his investigation. The trail now retraced a crucial part of Wisconsin's history, its early settlement in the mid-1600s by French trappers hoping to expand the fur trade (one reason the state has so many communities with French names - Prairie du Chien, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and so on).

Odd as it might seem, the wildlife the French sought more than three centuries ago now held answers to the death of an orangutan.

Enlisting help from the Wisconsin Trappers Association, Goldberg set wildlife traps baited with fish and peanut butter around the zoo grounds. Captured animals were kept only long enough to get feces, which were then checked for tapeworm eggs.

Although a variety of wildlife passes through the zoo grounds, the traps only succeeded in capturing raccoons. A weasel had been spotted in a nearby monkey enclosure, acquiring the nickname "The Weasel of Monkey Island." So Goldberg set special weasel traps, which are long and skinny and baited with sardines.

But try as he might, he never captured the elusive weasel.

More significantly, he never found Mahal's species of tapeworm anywhere on the grounds of the Milwaukee zoo.

"That was the first clue we were on to something much bigger," he says.

-

How much bigger?

Think beyond biology. Think astronomy.

The scientists who had identified the new genus of tapeworm Versteria, a close relation of the one that killed Mahal, had made their discovery while working on something called the Beringian Coevolution Project.

The study focuses on species that migrated from Europe and Asia to North America during the last glacial period, which began about 110,000 years ago and ended 11,700 years ago. These periods, marked by colder temperatures and advancing glaciers, occur within the much longer epochs known as ice ages.

Periods of ice followed by periods of relative warmth are driven in part by gradual changes in the earth's axis and another set of overlapping changes in the planet's orbit around the sun. Our orbit is not a perfect circle, but more of an egg shape, or ellipse. Taken together, the pattern of changes that results in these periods of ice is known as a Milankovitch cycle after its discoverer, the Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch.

This phenomenon brought on the last glacial period, which, in turn, resulted in the creation of a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska. The land bridge allowed new species of animals to cross into North America carrying with them hardy stowaways: their parasites.

The migration thousands of years ago may have brought a new kind of tapeworm to North America and set in motion the events that led to Mahal's death.

This sense of history - the echoes from the last glacial period, and from the fur-trapping history of Wisconsin - only deepened Goldberg's fascination.

The strange death of a single zoo animal had taken him into the past. What he found might offer a glimpse of our present, or at least the not-so-distant future, a time when diseases and parasites on other continents no longer appear as far-off threats. They travel, as we do, by planes, bullet trains and automobiles.

"This is the clinical case," Goldberg says, "that ties everything together."

-

About 10 months after the tapeworm paper was published, Goldberg came to Colorado State University to give a talk on the Mahal investigation. Afterward, he was approached by a veterinary student named Margot Stuchin.

Stuchin had been performing animal dissections and was scheduled to work on a group of deceased ermines, weasel-like creatures. She asked if Goldberg would be interested in any tapeworms she happened to find.

Like so many aspects of the investigation, this chance meeting would convince Goldberg that a sense of fate hovered over the project.

In the coming months, Goldberg went through the guts of a mink, five long-tailed weasels and 11 ermines. Inside an ermine trapped about 30 miles from the Milwaukee County zoo, he found a tapeworm that looked suspiciously like Versteria.

The student in Colorado also found tapeworms that resembled Versteria in an ermine.

To make matters yet more complex, a group of researchers in Oregon found tapeworms in a mink that also appeared similar.

It remained unclear whether Mahal had ingested the tapeworm that killed him in Colorado Springs or in Milwaukee. Again, Goldberg turned to DNA for the answer.

When his team scoured the genetic scripts of the tapeworms found in Wisconsin, Colorado and Oregon, they discovered that the tapeworms found only 30 miles from the Milwaukee County Zoo were just 90 percent similar to those found inside the orangutan. While that may sound like a close match, consider that humans and orangutans share about 97 percent of their DNA sequence.

The tapeworms found in Colorado were much closer to those taken from Mahal - 99.5 percent similar. Those found in Oregon also were closer, 99.2 percent similar to Mahal's.

The DNA findings suggest the orangutan likely ingested the tapeworm eggs in Colorado, which would mean that when Mahal arrived in Milwaukee, he already carried the infection that would kill him.

The science of DNA had unmasked Mahal's killer and pointed to its origin. But the tapeworm took some secrets to its grave.

For one thing, zoo staffs in both Colorado Springs and Milwaukee do not remember ever seeing Mahal eat dirt. Nor do written records in Colorado mention the behavior.

And then there is this question: If Mahal had come to Milwaukee with the tapeworm larvae already inside him, why had the infection waited four years before multiplying explosively through his body and killing him?

"My gut tells me," Goldberg says, "we will never know for sure."

-

A second paper by Goldberg and colleagues appeared in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal 3 { years after Mahal's death, explaining the origin of the tapeworm larvae.

At the Milwaukee County Zoo, Khan remained in mourning.

"Mahal was a once-in-a-lifetime animal," she says. "I miss him every day."

Although some questions remained, Khan was grateful to Goldberg for his work.

"A lot of it has been answered," she says. "It's put a lot of our minds at ease. There's nothing we could have given him that would have treated him or stopped his condition."

-

On the surface, the story of Mahal's death might seem reassuring in its implications for human health. After all, no humans were sickened by the species of tapeworm that killed Mahal. The tapeworm did not even spread to other animals in the Milwaukee County Zoo.

That could have been good luck.

Other evidence has emerged suggesting that humans and tapeworms may be on a collision course in ways we don't fully understand.

Late in his work on the Mahal investigation, Goldberg came across a 2015 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine that discussed the bizarre case of a 41-year-old man from Medellin, Colombia. The man had been infected with the HIV virus, but in January 2013 doctors found unusual cells in his body.

"The doctors in Colombia were in a dilemma. The cells were small like a nonhuman organism, but they were growing like cancer, like human cancer. It was a complete mystery," explains Atis Muehlenbachs, one of the authors of the paper and a staff pathologist in infectious diseases at the CDC.

The Colombian doctors consulted Muehlenbachs and his colleagues. When the CDC team examined the DNA of the strange, tumorlike cells, they turned out to be nonhuman. They came from a species of tapeworm called Hymenolepis nana, better known as the dwarf tapeworm.

The CDC researchers investigated the cells' odd resemblance to cancer and were led to a stunning conclusion. The tapeworm cells were indeed cancerous and had caused the unfortunate Colombian man to develop large masses in his neck and lungs that contributed to his weakness and fatigue.

For the first time in medical history, scientists had found that cancerous cells in a parasite could spread to a human host. In other words, a parasite could give a human cancer.

In June 2013, just 72 hours after the CDC reached its diagnosis, the Colombian man died. Muehlenbachs says that while the man's HIV infection was his primary illness, the tapeworm cancer contributed to his death.

Goldberg contacted the CDC about the Colombian case. And he has wondered if some kind of tapeworm cancer may also explain why Mahal got so sick so suddenly after living with the parasite possibly for years without apparent illness.

Another thought gnaws at Goldberg, a worry of a more traditional sort.

During his research at the Milwaukee County Zoo, the scientist walked around the enclosures looking for signs of contact between zoo animals and local wildlife. As he did so, he encountered one example of how an animal's parasite might come to invade a human host.

"I was watching young kids drop their cotton candy on the ground and pick it up and continue to eat it," he says.

Had Mahal ingested the tapeworm eggs in Milwaukee, not Colorado Springs, there's a good chance more eggs would have remained scattered across the zoo grounds, anywhere they happened to have been excreted by their weasel host.

There, in the soil, the parasite eggs would have waited to enter the next host.

Animal or human.

-

HOW WE REPORTED THIS STORY

This story is based on extensive interviews with staff at the Milwaukee County Zoo, researchers who investigated the death of the orangutan Mahal, and dozens of experts in glacial periods, parasites, primates and zoonotic diseases. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also interviewed Tracey McNamara, former head pathologist at the Bronx Zoo, who helped discover the appearance of West Nile Virus in New York in 1999, and consulted one of the Finnish scientists who discovered the tapeworm genus Versteria. The story also made use of more than a dozen published reports and scientific papers. A few places mention what a source thought or wondered; in such cases, the source explained their thinking during interviews.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Mark Johnson is studying the growing threat posed by diseases that jump from animals to humans during a nine-month O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University.

He is being assisted by Marquette student researchers McKenna Oxenden, Ryan Patterson and Devi Shastri.

Marquette University and administrators of the program played no role in the reporting, editing or presentation of this project.

Additionally, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which funds overseas reporting on underreported topics, is providing support for this ongoing series of stories.

2017 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
People who want to stop further immigration to the UK are less happy than those who welcome it, and politicians are part of the reason for this, new research shows.

The British Sociological Association's annual conference in Manchester heard today [that people who said they would allow "many" immigrants to enter were around 8% happier than those wanted none to enter.

Dr David Bartram, of the University of Leicester, analysed data from the European Social Survey on 5,995 people in the UK to correlate their opinion on immigration with how happy they described themselves on a scale of 0-10.

Those who wanted no more immigrants to enter scored an average of 7.16, and those who would allow "many" scored 7.91.

Dr Bartram, from the Department of Media, Communication and Sociology, found that the effect was strongest among those who were out of work because of sickness or disability, and those who had been unemployed in the past for three months or more. In these groups, those who would allow many immigrants to enter scored 7.07, and those who wanted none to enter scored 6.19.

Dr Bartram told the conference: "For the most part, immigration is not a threat to the employment or wages of natives. Economic research on that topic finds that for the economy as a whole, immigration enhances the economic situation of natives  it expands job opportunities and doesn't undermine wages.

"Instead it's the beliefs themselves that people have about immigrants, the way people think about immigrants  they're not 'part of us'  that makes them unhappy about immigrants, and indeed perhaps less happy in general.

"The fall of 8% in happiness is significant  equivalent to the gap between the average level of happiness of people earning 50,000 and those earning 20,000 a year, for instance.

"Anti-immigrant discourses, political messages that highlight and bemoan how different immigrants are, contribute to undermining the subjective well-being of the natives themselves.

"We would likely see a significant benefit if politicians stopped talking about immigration and immigrants in the way many of them currently do. The current discourse is damaging to natives, and recognition of this idea could amount to reason for reflection.

"Perhaps this research could persuade politicians to reconsider the way they think and speak about immigrants, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

"It might seem that I'm telling a very pessimistic story about human nature  the notion that there's a deeply-rooted tendency to be suspicious of something that seems unfamiliar and thus a corresponding tendency to distrust and dislike foreigners.

"But in fact we have plenty of evidence indicating that this way of engaging with foreigners can be unlearned  or at least that a new way of thinking about foreigners can be taught to the next generation. People in the youngest age group are twice as likely as those in the oldest group to say they want to allow this sort of immigration."
Pesticide levels in small streams are high. Credit: Markus Zeh

Small watercourses are contaminated with large numbers of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. A study commissioned by the Federal Office for the Environment and published today shows that the legal requirements specified for water quality are not met in any of the five Swiss streams investigated. Indeed, thresholds for acute toxicity to aquatic organisms were also exceeded. Bioassays indicate that biological communities are adversely affected by mixtures of substances. Measures to improve water quality are currently being developed in the national "Action Plan on risk reduction and sustainable use of plant protection products".

Although streams and brooks account for almost three quarters (45,000 kilometres) of Switzerland's river network, stream water quality has not previously been monitored over long periods; random samples are unlikely to provide a meaningful picture. Therefore, on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), a study of five small watercourses was conducted by Eawag and the Ecotox Centre, in partnership with five cantons (Thurgau, Basel-Landschaft, Bern, Valais, Ticino) and the Swiss Water Association (VSA). The catchment areas in question are representative of intense agricultural use. From March to August 2015, almost 1,800 water samples were collected, and the findings were published today in two articles in the journal Aqua & Gas.

Wide variety of agents and high concentrations

It had been suspected that small watercourses are heavily contaminated with plant protection products (PPPs), and this has now been confirmed. The number of substances found is very high: 128 different agents used in agriculture, fruit and vegetable farming, and viticulture  61 herbicides, 45 fungicides and 22 insecticides  were detected in the samples (see Figure). In 80% of samples, the limit (0.1 g/L) specified in the Waters Protection Ordinance was exceeded by at least one substance  for over 60 days in all five streams investigated, and for almost the entire six-month study period in the Weierbach (Basel-Landschaft) and Eschelisbach (Thurgau). Concentrations as high as 40 g/L were detected for individual substances. Short-term peaks are likely to have been even higher, since in all cases concentrations were averaged over a period of at least half a day.

Chronic and acute toxicity of mixtures

Because the limit of 0.1 g/L per individual substance specified in the Waters Protection Ordinance does not adequately reflect the actual risks for organisms  and 20 to 40 substances, on average, were detected in each sample  the analytical data were also compared with ecotoxicological water quality criteria. In addition, bioassays were conducted using algae and freshwater shrimps (gammarids), and macroinvertebrate diversity was investigated. The results leave little room for interpretation: in all cases, chronic water quality criteria were exceeded (sometimes many times over) for a period ranging from two weeks (Ticino) to as much as five-and-a-half months (Basel-Landschaft, Thurgau). In four of the watercourses, concentrations exceeded the thresholds for acute toxicity to sensitive organisms, for periods of up to two months (Valais). Gammarids released in one of the watercourses exhibited increased mortality and lethargy, associated with elevated pesticide concentrations. For all sites, the results of the assessments were "unsatisfactory" or "poor". The lowest level of contamination was found at the monitoring site in the canton of Ticino, where the catchment area shows a lower intensity of agricultural use. Marion Junghans of the Ecotox Centre concludes: "The constantly changing cocktail of multiple substances in problematic concentrations and persistently high risks often leave organisms with no time to recover."

Action Plan under development to reduce risks of pesticides

For Stephan Muller, Head of the Water Division at the FOEN, these findings confirm that agricultural PPPs  alongside micropollutants released from wastewater treatment plants  are currently the most important source of contaminants in Swiss surface waters. This is particularly true of small streams, which are of particular interest because they serve as a refuge and nursery for the offspring of aquatic organisms, especially fish.

Thanks to the upgrades recently approved by Parliament, it should be possible to halve the proportion of micropollutant inputs attributable to wastewater treatment plants. Now, according to Muller, contamination with PPPs must also be markedly reduced: one important step in this direction is the PPP Action Plan currently being developed under the direction of the Federal Office for Agriculture, in which water pollution control is a priority concern. At the same time, he believes, users have a responsibility to exercise care in the management of substances with ecotoxicological effects, and to limit their use as far as possible.

Provided by Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
From his lab more than 6,000 miles away, University of Central Florida archaeologist Scott Branting bears witness to the cultural destruction happening in Syria and northern Iraq.

The satellite images the professor reviews depict pillars toppled over or looters driving up to a palace with their trucks. Branting can see where people have dug up ancient sites in search of something to sell on the black market.

He records the damage at mosques, churches, art museums, historical forts, archaeological sites and other places of importance.

"If you know what actually is happening, yes, it may be horrific, but at least you know what it is and the extent of the damage," Branting said.

The assistant professor's work has appeared in White House briefings, been shared with Interpol and foreign governments, and could be used as evidence to prosecute war crimes in the future.

Branting is working with the American Schools of Oriental Research, a Boston University-based group that does archaeological work in the Middle East and Mediterranean. It received a $900,000 contract from the U.S. State Department to survey the damage.

The UCF researcher's work is primarily paid for by other sources, such as the Getty Conservation Institute. Branting declined to say how much.

He is waiting to hear if the federal government will renew the project under the Trump administration.

About 25 percent of the images taken from private satellites over the past two years show damage at the cultural sites, although Branting warns he cannot see all the destruction, such as inside the buildings.

Branting is a new-age archaeologist using modern technology, a change from the days of the archaeologist who typically headed to a scene and painstakingly coaxed artifacts from the ground.

Andrew Vaughn, executive director of the nonprofit ASOR, said Branting is one of the world's top experts in his field.

"He is one of the leaders in terms of studying satellite images and identifying archaeological sites and identifying damage," Vaughn said.

Branting's analysis can refute what the Islamic State and other groups claim they have done to ancient ruins.

For instance, they may boast on propaganda videos about a site's entire destruction, Branting said, but he can see people looting the site beforehand with the likely intent of selling antiquities on the black market to raise money.

Branting also hopes his work could help first responders have a better understanding of the damage and determining the priorities as they undertake the clean-up process when they return to war-torn countries.

Branting arrived at the University of Central Florida in 2015 as part of a wave of new faculty hires.

He said he was intrigued by UCF because of its location near Cape Canaveral; he hopes to work with other faculty to put up mini-satellites and study more cultural sites.

At UCF, about a dozen students have had the opportunity to assist on the satellite project.

Paige Paulsen, a UCF anthropology graduate student who moved from Seattle to study under Branting, said it can be challenging at first to make sense of the satellite images. The orchard she thought was actually a parking lot, she later realized during her first semester on Branting's team.

It's also put the conflict on the other side of the world closer in her mind, she said as she studies photographs of Aleppo, before the war and after.

"It's alarming how different it looks," said Paulsen, 24.

Before coming to UCF, Branting spent 10 years working as the director at the University of Chicago's Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes.

The 42-year-old's work has taken him to Turkey, where he led students on digs of an ancient city once ruled by Midas.

Branting's background includes a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University at Buffalo as well as several other degrees in Middle Eastern studies and geography.

Growing up as a kid in Vermont, he was fascinated by history.

"That's usually the question people say, 'Why did you become an archaeologist?'" Branting said. "I really enjoyed history quite a lot growing up, but I wanted a job where I wasn't going to have to sit in a library or sit behind a desk all the time."

2017 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Why are schools so obsessed with all children looking the same? Since the later part of the 20th century, schools in Australia have opted for strict uniform policies, where students will wear an identical set of clothes. Often that extends to the style of hair that's allowed; what backpack, shoes, and even, in some instances, what underwear to wear.

But by providing a blanket approach to school uniform policies, schools risk repressing cultural identity and diversity.

A school in Victoria recently made the news after banning two South Sudanese girls from wearing their hair in cornrows because it didn't comply with the school's uniform policy.

The hairstyle is commonly worn by the girls' cultural group and appropriately suited to the care and maintenance of their hair.

It was reported that the school tried to justify its position by saying that all students have to comply with the rules around school uniform, and that it had asked white students returning from holidays to Bali to remove their braids.

Following a huge backlash over the decision, the school has since backed down. But the decision has since sparked debates around whether school uniform policies are discriminatory, and around the need for schools to embrace their students' identity and diversity.

Each state has anti-discriminatory law in place that prevents schools from enforcing uniform options that disadvantage students due to sex and culture, among other factors.

Within this law however, there is usually a clause that allows schools to enforce "reasonable" uniform requirements. But what is reasonable can be tricky to define.

Are school uniform policies over the top?

Traditionally, uniforms in schools have served to homogenise the student body and create a sense of school membership.

Most schools argue that requiring everyone to look "uniform" leads to advantageous outcomes including improved academic performance and attendance, and enhanced student discipline.

A recent study, using data from 39 countries, found that wearing uniforms in schools did help students to be better behaved.

Another study in America, however, found that students who were not wearing school uniform performed better academically than those who did wear uniforms. For these students, the research showed that behaviour and attendance were not affected by whether students wore school uniform or not.

Repressing children's desire to express personality and identity?

In the 1960s and 1970s in Australia, resistance grew to many aspects of the authoritarian practices of school life, including the wearing of a uniform.

The uniform came to be seen as a symbol of student oppression that suppressed the right to self-expression. How one wore one's hair became a particular source of conflict as students wanted to follow the style of pop stars, and leaders in schools felt this was the slippery slope to anarchy.

Queensland University of Technology professor Jennifer Craik argues that school uniforms are used to "not only control the body and its behaviour but also actively produce the particular attributes of the self that are deemed desirable by the school."

As such, the "desired" options more often that not reflect the dominant cultural and gender group, increasing the likelihood that those in the minority will be further marginalised.

Australia is now so diverse, that to apply a blanket approach following traditional dress requirements is thoughtless at best, and discriminatory at worst. Such restrictive uniform requirements also create tension between students and schools.

Self-expression

Children and young people yearn for the right to self-expression through hair, dress and facial decoration. Outside the school grounds, we see this in hair of varying colour, jeans ripped and tight, facial hair of varying styles, and make-up applied liberally.

We know that as children develop into adolescents they begin to make independent choices and assessments about who they are, who they will be, and how they will act in the world. As such, they often desire increased independence.

Despite this  or perhaps because of it  schools have rigidly detailed uniform policies in place that police all aspects of how students present themselves.

It is not unusual for uniform policies to state that shorts are for boys and skirts are for girls; that hair length for boys must be above the collar; that skirt length must be just below the knee; that jewellery is to be no more than one watch and one pair of studs; that boys are to be clean shaven; and that socks for boys are white, and socks for girls are brown.

Some schools are starting to be more flexible, updating their uniforms and introducing gender neutral options. Carey Grammar in Melbourne for example introduced pants for girls this year. And Mable Park State High School in Brisbane has had a gender-neutral uniform for two years.

However, in schools with such strict policies, it is no surprise that students rebel against these expectations - especially when they do not see this way of dressing reflected in the adults around them in workplaces (in the majority of cases).

Too arbitrary?

Young people may be more prepared to accept the limiting of their choices if the limits applied are not arbitrary, out-dated and in some cases, directly discriminatory.

While some restrictions of choice in school uniforms may be justifiable (for safety reasons, such as leather shoes in home economics), inequity and discrimination have no place in Australian schools.

If schools wish to retain school uniforms, they must ensure that uniform policies do not unfairly impact on one group of students.

Schools should work with their student body to amend and update their uniform policies, and seek feedback from the broader community.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
This image shows flash-induced plasmonic interactions with nanowires to improve silver nanowires (Ag NWs). Credit: KAIST

Flexible transparent conducting electrodes (FTCEs) are an essential element of flexible optoelectronics for next-generation wearable displays, augmented reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoTs). Silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have received a great deal of attention as future FTCEs due to their great flexibility, material stability, and large-scale productivity. Despite these advantages, Ag NWs have drawbacks such as high wire-to-wire contact resistance and poor adhesion to substrates, resulting in severe power consumption and the delamination of FTCEs.

A Korean research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST and Dr. Hong-Jin Park from BSP Inc., has developed high-performance Ag NWs (sheet resistance ~ 5  /sq, transmittance 90 % at  = 550 nm) with strong adhesion on plastic (interfacial energy of 30.7 J m-2) using flash light-material interactions.

The broad ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of a flash light enables the localized heating at the junctions of nanowires (NWs), which results in the fast and complete welding of Ag NWs. Consequently, the Ag NWs demonstrate six times higher conductivity than that of the pristine NWs. In addition, the near-infrared (NIR) of the flash lamp melted the interface between the Ag NWs and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, dramatically enhancing the adhesion force of the Ag NWs to the PET by 310 %.

Professor Lee said, "Light interaction with nanomaterials is an important field for future flexible electronics since it can overcome thermal limit of plastics, and we are currently expanding our research into light-inorganic interactions."

The Ag NWs on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film after the flash-induced plasmonic thermal process. Credit: KAIST

Meanwhile, BSP Inc., a laser manufacturing company and a collaborator of this work, has launched new flash lamp equipment for flexible applications based on the Prof. Lee's research.

The results of this work entitled "Flash-Induced Self-Limited Plasmonic Welding of Ag NW Network for Transparent Flexible Energy Harvester (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603473) were published in the February 2, 2017 issue of Advanced Materials as the cover article.

Professor Lee also contributed an invited review in the same journal of the April 3 2017 online issue, "Laser-Material Interaction for Flexible Applications," overviewing the recent advances in light interactions with flexible nanomaterials.

More information: Jung Hwan Park et al. Flash-Induced Self-Limited Plasmonic Welding of Silver Nanowire Network for Transparent Flexible Energy Harvester, Advanced Materials (2017). DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603473 Journal information: Advanced Materials
Out in the Big Cypress swamp, across the street from the country's smallest post office in a wilderness the size of Rhode Island, a canal is teeming with something unexpected: aquarium fish usually found in a pet shop.

Orange-striped Mayan cichlids dart among boldly spotted tilapia and ruby-colored African jewelfish.

The exotic fish, originally dumped by pet owners or escaped from fish farms, are now as likely to be found in remote sloughs and canals crisscrossing the Everglades as weed-choked urban canals. The fish have not grabbed headlines, or the public imagination, like pythons as they stake out more and more territory. But they are no less insidious: They gobble up food, tolerate more extreme conditions, and reproduce at a faster and younger rate than native freshwater fish. Some even hunt in packs, devouring the small crayfish that form the base of the local food chain.

"They are biological pollution for sure," said Pam Schofield, a U.S. Geological Survey fishery biologist who has been supervising yearly surveys across the state since 2013. "Every one of those fish is eating something or taking up space."

And they don't appear to be losing steam. In a check of the Big Cypress done last week, scientists discovered two new invaders for the first time: the prehistoric-looking armored catfish and the Nile tilapia. At least 200 exotic fish have been found statewide, Schofield said. About three dozen have taken up residence.

And while the invasion has been documented for decades, efforts to stop it appear hampered by the same problems plaguing the spread of other exotic species: lack of money and lack of manpower. The last time the Big Cypress was surveyed for invasive fish was in 2003, by William Loftus, a retired USGS biologist based at Everglades National Park.

"There are a whole gamut of questions and the pot of money never seems to get any larger," he said.

Loftus was back out last week with Schofield and eight teams of biologists who volunteered to conduct a 'bio blitz' - a quick, but intense assessment scientists conduct when they lack the money needed for a full scientific review. Schofield's blitzes, called Fish Slams, have helped build an extensive data base that allows other researchers and the public to track, and report, the spread of fish.

But while tracking efforts have gained momentum, understanding the impacts from the fish still lags, Loftus said.

"To think they don't have an effect is ridiculous," he said. "To find that effect is more difficult."

When Loftus began looking at invasive fish in the 1970s, there were only about a half-dozen documented in South Florida and three in Everglades National Park. Still, he and other scientists recognized their spread could be fast and furious. With so many canals carving up the landscape, the fish had easy access to what the scientists called superhighways.

Canals, unlike other water bodies, tend to stay warmer, he said. So the canals served as a thermal refuge against the fish's only natural barrier: cold snaps.

Sure enough, after the jewelfish, which hails from the waters of the African savannah, first appeared in canals in Miami and Hialeah in the 1960s, it headed north to Palm Beach County. It's now been found in Hardee, Hendry and Indian River counties.

The canals also carried the fish farther and farther into the wild. In 1983, Loftus documented the first appearance of the now ubiquitous Mayan cichlid in Everglades National Park. It can now be found as far north as Merritt Island on the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west.

The fish also spread across remote marshes during the wet season, then continue to survive in disconnected ponds during the dry season. Last week, Schofield and Loftus found spotted tilapia and catfish in a Big Cypress pond, far from any canal.

Over the years, Loftus said he argued to have canals dredged to build roads, and serving no other purpose, filled. But little has been done. The South Florida Water Management District has filled some canals as part of restoration efforts in the Picayune Strand, but Big Cypress still has miles and miles of canals, carrying the fish pollution to the Sweetwater Strand, Dayhoff Slough and some of the preserves most pristine areas.

Scientists assume the invasive fish are likely pushing out natives by competing for food, and sometimes eating natives, and taking up valuable spawning space. While it appears they help feed wading birds, Schofield and Loftus say it's not clear if they provide the same nutritional value. And in some cases, like catfish, it takes birds far longer to consume the fish.

"So the question is: are they good substitutes," Loftus said.

Also, to understand how to control them scientists still need to know where they are, which can be tricky since many of the places they now inhabit can be reached only by helicopter or airboat. The teams that fanned out across Big Cypress last week also had to dodge a 15,000-acre wildfire. At least two of the teams were ordered out, led back to the check-in by a police escort.

Different methods also detect different species, and with different results. In Big Cypress, biologists used nets, fish traps and backpack shockers - which send a small current to a wand dipped in water to stun fish - to collect fish for the purposes of the survey. They focused on variety not quantity.

Further east, on the Miccosukee Reservation, tribe biologists Shara Marconi and Julian Douglas teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Galvez for more straightforward work: kill as many as possible. Using two boats outfitted with generators attached to shocking booms, the teams scoured the L-28 Interceptor, a wide canal that carries water from pastures and farm fields to the north.

In one short stretch measuring just over half a mile, the teams collected 94 Mayan cichlids, one walking catfish and one black akara in less than a half-hour. By morning's end, they had more than 130 cichlids.

After they tallied the fish, Marconi asked Galvez if repeating the effort daily would work to get rid of the fish. His answer was simple: no.

"The species, they don't know fences," he said. The fish just keep coming.

To combat the problem, agencies say they need to lean heavily on the public. Both state and federal agencies have created ways to report sightings, including the Florida's IveGot1 app and website and USGS's website.

They also need pet owners to realize the full damage caused when animals, including little fish, are released into the wild, where populations of tropical exotics can quickly mushroom and spread. As silly as it may sound, Loftus said, fish owners should take advantage of the same pet amnesty day offered to python and tegu owners to get rid of unwanted animals.

More effort also needs to be made on control efforts, scientists say. Electro-shocking canals is more effective at looking for new species than driving down numbers. And there has been public resistance to using toxins that kill invasive fish.

"Our toolbox for dealing with these nonnative fish is pretty empty," Loftus said. "We really need a lot of research in to ways we can eradicate and more safely control these animals once they're out there."

2017 Miami Herald

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Social media platforms play a vital role in affecting others, says the paper. Credit: Shutterstock images

The advent of social media has led to a vast increase in the amount of social information that we see about others' political behaviour and this has important implications for democracy, argues Professor Helen Margetts in Nature Human Behaviour.

Professor Margetts, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, says getting access to more data from Facebook, or the platforms it owns such as Instagram or WhatsApp, or other social media platforms is crucial to understand more about the underlying trends and patterns in future political behaviour. Yet Facebook has been reluctant to work with academic researchers or to publish research.

Professor Margetts highlights why such data is 'crucial': Social media are not just for elections, she says. Social information presented on social media platforms plays a vital role as a driver of behaviour in the build-up of contemporary political mobilisations, or shifts in public support. But, she argues, we don't know enough about the nature of that effect. Instead, we lurch between moral panic about the pathological effect of social media on politics, and saying that it makes no difference at all and is not important.

During the US 2016 presidential election period, around 128 million people across the United States generated 8.8 billion likes, posts, comments and shares related to the election on Facebook alone, says Professor Margetts. Since Donald Trump became president, US Twitter users can even witness the development of policy as it is formed or contested. Social media platforms exert social influence on all aspects of political behaviour, providing users with visible signals about what other people are doing or thinking. We know from decades of social science research that this social information influences whether or not an individual then contributes to a political or social cause, for example. But, Professor Margetts argues, 'instead of working out systematically how these effects play out on social media, we tend to blame them for echo chambers, hate speech, fake news and "post-truth."'

Professor Margetts suggests that experimental evidence could be used to understand how the design of social media platforms actually impacts upon political behaviour, to design out some social information effects and make the algorithms used to determine news feeds 'more transparent'. But most platforms do not release data and the algorithms that determine news feeds are closely guarded secrets. Prospects are even bleaker for platforms used by young people, such as Instagram and Snapchat, where most data is deleted as soon as it is read. Speculation over the existence of echo chambers, or how fake news is created, vastly outpaces any experimental studies of their existence, says Professor Margetts.

The comment piece outlines how an experiment to investigate the effect of increasing the proportion of sad items in news feeds resulted in a media storm over Facebook's experimental 'manipulation of emotions'. She describes this as a 'strange accusation', given the continual A/B testing for usage and revenue. The furore has made Facebook (which also owns Instagram and Whatsapp) reluctant to work with academic researchers or publish results.

She writes: 'Ironically, at a time when there is the possibility of more data being available to political science research than at any time in the field's history, researchers cannot access it to tackle the questions of our time, such as the rise of political polarisation and extremism.'

More information: Helen Margetts. Political behaviour and the acoustics of social media, Nature Human Behaviour (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0086 Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour
Analysis of extreme temperatures in the Central England Temperature (CET) thermometer record. Part (b) shows the lowest monthly average in each winter whereas part (c) shows the hottest monthly average in each summer. In both cases blue shows lower temperatures, and red shows higher temperatures than the long-term average. The cold winter months match up very well with the years in which frost fairs were held (vertical mauve lines) or years when the Thames was reported as frozen solid (vertical orange lines). However these years are not usually also associated with colder summers, unless there was a large volcanic eruption (measured from the sulphates that it deposited in polar ice sheets) such as Tambora in 1815. The top panel (a) shows the level of solar activity as seen in sunspot numbers (from telescopic observations and deduced from Carbon-14 stored in tree rings). It can be seen that, contrary to common claims, the Thames did not freeze more often during the Maunder minimum (c.1660-1710). Thames freezing events ceased after the demolition of the old London bridge in 1825 and the installation of the embankments, completed in 1870 (both dates marked with black lines): the faster flow meant that the river no longer froze, even when temperatures fell to values that had previously caused freezing. Credit: M. Lockwood

The whole concept of the 'Little Ice Age' is 'misleading', as the changes were small-scale, seasonal and insignificant compared with present-day global warming, a group of solar and climate scientists argue.

Explanations for the cooling to Earth's climate, thought to have occurred between the 16th and 19th centuries, include low solar activity, volcanic eruptions, human changes to land use and natural climatological change.

But in a new paper in Astronomy & Geophysics, the house journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Mike Lockwood, of the University of Reading, and his collaborators, note that the temperature shift was smaller than that seen in recent decades resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases, and that although low solar activity may have been one driving factor, it certainly was not the only one.

Professor Lockwood said: "Commentators frequently refer to the Little Ice Age in discussions on climate change. We wanted to carry out a comprehensive study to see just how reliable the evidence is for a cooler climate, how big an impact it really had and how strong the evidence for a solar cause really was.

"On the whole the Little Ice Age was a manageable downturn in climate concentrated in particular regions, even though places like the UK had a larger fraction of cold winters. Our research suggests that there is no single explanation for this, that warm summers continued much as they do today and that not all winters were cold."

"The Hunters in the Snow", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Credit: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Researchers scrutinised historical records, such as the accounts of 'frost fairs' when the River Thames froze solid, and looked at the paintings from the era, such as the landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with 'Hunters in the Snow' depicting a cold winter scene. Both of these are cited in support of the Little Ice Age concept.

From around 1650-1710, and to a lesser extent from 1790-1825, periods respectively known as the Maunder and Dalton Minima, sunspot numbers were unusually low, an indication that the surface of the Sun was slightly cooler. This external influence is often suggested as an explanation for the colder conditions.

The Reading-led team looked at the various pieces of evidence in more detail. They compared direct temperature records and proxy data such as ice records, with the years when the Thames was frozen over (whether or not a frost fair took place), and with the indications of solar activity.

Historical climate change is assessed through a variety of means. The Central England Temperature (CET) dataset tracks temperature from 1659, making it the oldest and longest running meteorological instrumental data sequence in the world. This direct record is supplemented by studies of biological proxies such as tree rings, corals, insect numbers and molluscs, all sensitive to climate change.

The authors draw comparisons with the ice ages proper. Cores taken from Antarctic ice allow global temperatures to be inferred, by measuring the proportions of deuterium (2H), a heavier atom of hydrogen, and of the heavier oxygen atom 18O, compared with their lighter 'normal' counterparts. It takes more energy to evaporate water with a higher proportion of these atoms, and they are more easily lost from rainfall, before they are deposited in ice found nearer the poles. The changing proportion of these atoms then allows researchers to assess how the temperature has changed over millions of years.

"Haymaking", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Credit: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

From these comparisons, the scientists argue that the description of the period as an Ice Age is misleading, as temperatures in that period fell far less than in a glaciation. During the Little Ice Age (LIA), the average temperature in the northern hemisphere fell by around 0.5 degrees. In contrast, in the most recent major glaciation that came to an end around 12,000 years ago, global temperatures were typically 8 degrees Celsius colder than today.

Frost fairs also seem to be a poor indication of overall climate, as they often did not take place despite the Thames freezing, partly for many reasons including puritanical authorities or safety as lives were lost when the ice melted. The ending of the frost fairs had nothing to do with climate change or solar activity, instead being due to the increased river flow when the original London Bridge was demolished in 1825, and the first Victoria embankment opened in 1870. Both of these prevented the river from freezing completely, despite many subsequent cold winters.

Selective use of art historical evidence appears to reinforce the illusion of a prolonged cold spell. Yet 'Hunters in the Snow', depicting a January scene, is part of a series by Bruegel known as 'The Twelve Months'. Seven of these paintings may have been lost, but 'The Gloomy Day' (February), 'Haymaking' (July), and 'The Return of the Herd' (November) all give no indication of unusually cold conditions. Consistent with this, Lockwood and his team note that even at the height of the LIA period, colder European winters were still accompanied by many warm summers.

For example, 1701 is close to the lowest point of the Little Ice Age, yet in both Paris and London the summer was reported as being unbearably hot and the CET for July that year is the 10th hottest on record, with average temperatures for the month reaching 18.3C. The year 1676 is the second hottest June on record at 18.0C, yet it too was in the middle of a run of cold winters. Such high summer temperatures do not fit at all with the name "Little Ice Age".

Much more dramatic variations can result from large volcanic eruptions. Samalas, a volcano which erupted in 1257 in what is now Indonesia, ejected large amounts of dust into the atmosphere, causing a temporary cooling effect. The years between 1570 and 1730, corresponding to the coldest part of the LIA, also saw continuous lower level volcanic activity that may have suppressed temperatures. Volcanic eruptions undoubtedly cause both cold winters and cold summers. One of the clearest examples was the Tambora eruption of July 1815, which caused the next year to be called "the year without a summer".

Professor Lockwood said: "This study provides little solace for the future, as we face the challenge of global warming. Solar activity appears to be declining at present, but any cooling effect that results will be more than offset by the effect of rising carbon dioxide emissions, and provides us with no excuse for inaction."

More information: Mike Lockwood et al, Frost fairs, sunspots and the Little Ice Age, Astronomy & Geophysics (2017). DOI: 10.1093/astrogeo/atx057
Plasma-assisted depolymerization of chitosan in a quartz mixing device. Credit: MIPT

Researchers at MIPT have developed a new technique for obtaining low-molecular-weight, water-soluble chitin and chitosan. The proposed method relies on chitin and chitosan degradation by electron-beam plasma in a special plasma chemical reactor. The new technology reduces the time needed to produce water-soluble oligosaccharides of chitin and chitosan from several days to minutes. It also has the advantage of being environmentally friendly. The proposed method yields biologically active oligosaccharides with anti-microbial and fungicidal properties. The research findings were published in Carbohydrate Polymers.

Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose. Both chitin and its derivative chitosan were discovered about 200 years ago. However, in the last two decades, the two compounds have received increasing attention. In the natural world, chitin and chitosan occur as the main components of the exoskeletons of insects and crustaceans, as well as most fungi and some algae.

There are currently over 70 known applications of these compounds across many industries including agriculture, medicine, food processing, and manufacturing of cosmetics. Water-soluble chitooligosaccharides with low molecular weight rank among the most promising chitin- and chitosan-based products. They are conventionally produced by chemical depolymerization of the source material. This technology involves high temperatures and the use of hydrogen peroxide, concentrated solutions of organic and inorganic acids and sodium hydroxide, as well as other aggressive agents. Chemical treatment of chitin and chitosan results in large volumes of industrial wastewater with acid or alkali content that requires purification. Aside from toxic waste management, the conventionally employed chemical hydrolysis is time-consuming, a multistage process that may take up to several days.

MIPT's researchers teamed up with their colleagues from Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University to develop an entirely new and clean plasma-assisted method of producing low-molecular-weight derivatives of chitin and chitosan.

A plasmachemical reactor design and polysaccharide treatment procedure: electron-beam gun (1), high-vacuum chamber (2), electron beam (3), injection window (4), working chamber (5), EBP cloud (6), aerosol reaction zone (7), polysaccharide powder to be treated (8), internal partitions (9), cylindrical quartz vessel (10), gas feeder (11), scanning system (12), water evaporator (13) Credit: MIPT

Electron-beam plasmachemical reactor

The scientists proposed an alternative plasma chemical technology to be used in place of chemical hydrolysis of chitin and chitosan. This promising technique involves the use of a low-temperature, nonequilibrium electron-beam plasma (EBP). To test the new technique, they introduced polysaccharide powder into their custom-built plasma chemical electron-beam reactor. While many gases could be used to fill the reaction chamber, oxygen and water vapor were found to be the most effective plasma-generating media for chitooligosaccharide production.

To generate plasma for chitin and chitosan treatment, a pre-relativistic electron beam was injected into the gaseous medium. Though the chamber contains gas, a high vacuum is required for electron beam generation. So the electron source must be screened by an injection window. When the electron beam passes through the medium, it causes ionization, excitation, and dissociation of gas molecules. As a result, radicals and other chemically active particles are obtained in very high concentrations that normally cannot be achieved under equilibrium conditions. Exposing chitin and chitosan to plasma and to the electron beam itself triggers the necessary biopolymer transformations. This happens without ever heating the polysaccharide powder above room temperature, preventing thermal destruction of the material. High temperatures are one of the main drawbacks of chemical hydrolysis.

Notably, the proposed technical solutions enable control over how much energy is released in the reaction medium, making the process stable and the plasma-treatment results replicable.

Biological activity of the compounds obtained

Practical applications of chitosan are determined by the compound's unique properties, namely its high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and complexation capacity combined with low toxicity. A number of studies carried out on E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, S. enterica, B. subtilis, and some other species proved that the biological activity of chitosan depends significantly on its molecular weight. In particular, lower molecular weight chitosans were shown to inhibit bacterial growth and multiplication to a greater extent.

To evaluate the biological activity of the obtained oligosaccharides of chitin and chitosan, the researchers measured their anti-bacterial properties in vitro. The compounds were found to completely suppress the growth of both S. aureus and E. coli in replicating and resting forms. They also inhibited the growth of several species of filamentous fungi, namely P. tardum, P. chrysogenum, A. flavus, P. betae, and C. herbarum.

Tatiana Vasilieva, Ph.D. explains the significance of the study: "Our experiments have demonstrated that electron-beam plasma can be used in effective controlled chitin and chitosan depolymerization. This is an alternative method for obtaining low-molecular-weight, water-soluble, biologically active chitooligosaccharides. The proposed depolymerization technique can compete with the technologies conventionally employed by the chemical and biotech industries. Hopefully, these compounds will find their applications in agriculture, pharmaceutics, and medicine."

More information: T. Vasilieva et al, Formation of low molecular weight oligomers from chitin and chitosan stimulated by plasma-assisted processes, Carbohydrate Polymers (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.01.026
Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) brings enhanced security to Mastercard transactions processed over Samsungs flagship mobile payments service

Dubai, UAE April 4, 2017: In a move to further expand its efforts towards displacing cash, spurring innovation and driving the growth of cashless payments in the region, Mastercard today announced that Mastercard cardholders from select banks in the UAE* will now be able use the Samsung Pay service to make payments in a quick and secure way.

Samsung Pay, Samsungs mobile payments service, is an easy-to-use and secure platform that gives users a contactless way to pay using their compatible Samsung Galaxy devices at compatible Point of Sale terminals. Based on Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technologies, the highly secure service integrates fingerprint authentication, card tokenization and Samsungs defense-grade mobile security platform, Samsung KNOX. Samsung Pay will have a unique advantage of enabling payments at contactless as well as non-contactless POS terminals in UAE, giving users a greater sense of certainty of wider POS acceptance.

Standing by its commitment to supporting the UAEs growth as a technologically advanced country, Mastercard has been actively driving contactless payments in the market, offering partners and their consumers safe, simple and convenient solutions.

The launch of Samsung Pay in the UAE signals exciting times for all stakeholders in the Middle East and Africas payments industry and strengthens our pursuit to launch innovative solutions that will deliver enhanced consumer experiences and step up the adoption of digital payments. As digital payments evolve, Mastercard is committed to building partnerships with technology players like Samsung to help banks and other partners offer interoperable solutions with safe and frictionless user experiences. The UAE is already at the forefront of encouraging and integrating smart payments and our support towards facilitating the successful implementation of Samsung Pay reinforces our commitment to matching the countrys impressive strides in strengthening the digital economy, said Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard.

The Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) [1] enables Mastercard credit and debit cardholders to use Samsung Pay and enjoy maximum security on their transactions. Designed to transform Samsung mobile devices into commerce devices, MDES uses the most advanced payment technologies  EMV, tokenization, cryptography and biometrics  to ensure the integrity of cardholder information. For consumers and retailers alike, every purchase made with a Mastercard using Samsung Pay offers all the benefits and guarantees of a transaction with the physical Mastercard card.

Mohammed Gharaibeh, Head of IT and Mobiles (B2B) division at Samsung Gulf Electronics, said: We are excited to collaborate with Mastercard and are confident that the synergy that this arrangement has started will benefit the sector immensely. Digital solutions require strong partnerships and we see it here with this launch as enhanced hardware security including biometrics and Samsung Knox works seamlessly with Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES). With its powerful security features, MDES will enhance the shopping experience for Samsung Pay users by offering them complete peace of mind as they make contactless transactions that are safe, swift and in sync with their lifestyles.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
(Bloomberg) -- Coking coal rallied by the most in four years after damage from Tropical Cyclone Debbie hit shipments from the top exporter, setting off a surge in producers shares as Wood Mackenzie Ltd. and UBS Group AG predicted the commoditys advance may have much further to run.

Spot hard coking coal, a vital ingredient in steel-making along with iron ore rose 0.6 percent to $176.80 a metric ton Tuesday, after soaring 15 percent a day earlier, according to The Steel Index. Mondays jump was the biggest daily gain in data going back to May 2013. Thermal coal gained 6.2 percent to $88.05 a ton on Monday.

Australia is the worlds biggest shipper, and the cyclone smashed into the east coast last week, triggering floods and landslides in Queensland, the producer of more than 50 percent of the worlds seaborne coking coal. The Goonyella rail corridor, which carries more than half of the states exports, is expected to take five weeks to repair, according to operator Aurizon Holdings Ltd. Prices more than doubled last year, topping $300 a ton, after output curbs in China.

We expect a significant price impact, Wood Mackenzie said in a note on Monday. Price increases to levels seen last year and in 2011 are not beyond the realms of possibility, with 16.2 million tons, or 7 percent of Queenslands exports, halted from the outage, the firm said.

UBS also raised the possibility of further gains. The spot price could jump by $100 a ton or more from the outages caused by the cyclone, the bank said in an April 3 note that was issued before Mondays advance.

Contracts for premium metallurgical coal rallied to a record $330 a ton in 2011 after floods in Queensland left pits full of water. They were settled at $285 for the first three months of this year, boosted by production curbs in China, after gaining to a high of $308 in November.

Short-Term Winners

In Australia, producers with mines in New South Wales were not impacted by the cyclone and may emerge as the short-term winners, according to UBS. South32 Ltd. ended 2.5 percent higher on Tuesday, while Whitehaven Coal Ltd. gained 5.5 percent by the close as the stock rose for a sixth day.

Story continues

There were gains too in Indonesia, PT Adaro Energy, the countrys biggest producer by market capitalization, gained 6.9 percent by the midday break in Jakarta , while PT Bumi Resources, the biggest producer by volume, rallied more than 20 percent.

The timing of the disruption in Australia may strengthen the hand of producers as they negotiate second-quarter contracts with Japans steelmakers, according to Credit Suisse Group AG. The second-quarter price may reach $180 a ton, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Andrew Cosgrove said.

Japanese negotiators may be feeling chagrin at the second-quarter contract negotiations, Credit Suisse analyst Matthew Hope said in a note. Offers are likely to be at a substantially higher price, putting pressure on buyers reeling after prices surged last year amid Chinas effort to curb capacity and trim supply, he said.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the worlds biggest exporter of metallurgical coal, is resuming operations in Queenslands Bowen Basin, and the company said on Monday it will continue to monitor the impact on production. Peabody Energy Corp. said the the cyclone has cut shipments from mine to port.

(An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of UBS in the first and fifth paragraphs.)

(Updates coal price in second paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Perry Williams in Sydney at pwilliams113@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Jake Lloyd-Smith, Nicholas Larkin

2017 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank estimates Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA and Veneto Banca SpA need about 6.4 billion euros ($6.8 billion) and considers the lenders solvent, a condition for them to receive a bailout, according to people familiar with the matter.

Representatives of the ECB, the European Commission and the Italian Treasury reviewed the banks request for a so-called precautionary recapitalization at a meeting Monday in Brussels. The discussions focused on the compatibility of the proposal with European Union rules on state aid, an Italian official said.

The finding of solvency is key, said Riccardo Rovere, an analyst at Mediobanca SpA, in a note on April 4. Under EU rules, solvency is the first condition for receiving state aid without imposing losses on senior bondholders, Equita Sim SpA analyst Matteo Ghilotti wrote in a report.

Veneto and Vicenza, both unlisted banks based in Italys northeast, are requesting the capital injection as part of a merger plan. Earlier this year, the two banks submitted a proposal to the ECB that said they needed about 4.5 billion euros, people familiar with the matter have said.

Bonds Jump

At Mondays meeting, the ECB informed the Italian Treasury that it estimates the banks need about 6.4 billion euros based on the results of assessments including stress tests, the people said, asking to not be identified because the deliberations are private. Spokesmen for Veneto, Vicenza and the ECB declined to comment. A spokesman for the Italian Treasury wasnt immediately available for a comment.

Pop. Vicenzas 750 million euros of senior bonds due in March 2020 rose six cents to 78 cents on the euro on Tuesday, the biggest jump in more than a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The banks 200 million euros of junior bonds due in September 2025 were little changed at 15 cents on the euro, a record low, according to Bloomberg data.

The two banks have already received almost 3.5 billion euros from Atlante, the state-orchestrated fund that bought them last year. That includes 2.5 billion euros of emergency cash in June after investors balked at their initial public offerings. The fund injected another 938 million euros in January toward a future capital increase.



Veneto posted a 1.5 billion-euro loss for 2016, saying its deposits dropped last year and that it needs a capital increase to keep operating.

Story continues

Solvency is one of a number of conditions for determining eligibility for state aid. Constructive talks are ongoing, a European Commission spokesman said, adding he is confident a solution can be found within weeks.

In another step toward their merger, Pop. Veneto and Vicenza are seeking to reduce litigation risks from retail shareholders who have suffered losses on their investments.

The banks say about 70 percent of their shareholders have agreed to a compensation deal designed to shield the combined company from future lawsuits, below the 80 percent requirement set earlier this year. Next week, the boards of Veneto and Vicenza may approve a proposal that would soften the 80 percent target to help complete the deal, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

(Updates with litigation risks in last paragraph.)

--With assistance from Tommaso Ebhardt Francesca Cinelli and Tom Beardsworth

To contact the reporters on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net, Alessandro Speciale in Frankfurt at aspeciale@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net, Cindy Roberts, Dale Crofts

2017 Bloomberg L.P.
AFP News

The UN's COP27 climate summit kicked off Sunday in Egypt with warnings against backsliding on efforts to cut emissions and calls for rich nations to compensate poor countries after a year of extreme weather disasters. An alarming UN report said the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record, with an acceleration in sea level rise, glacier melt, heatwaves and other climate indicators. "As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement, calling the report a "chronicle of climate chaos". Just in the past few months, floods devastated Pakistan and Nigeria, droughts worsened in Africa and the United States, cyclones whipped the Caribbean, and unprecedented heatwaves seared three continents. The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh also comes against the backdrop of Russia's war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the lingering effects from the Covid-19 pandemic. But Simon Stiell, the UN's climate change executive secretary, said he would not be a "custodian of backsliding" on the goal of slashing greenhouse emissions 45 percent by 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above late 19th-century levels. "We will be holding people to account, be they presidents, prime ministers, CEOs," Stiell said as the 13-day summit opened. "The heart of implementation is everybody everywhere in the world every single day doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis," he said, noting that only 29 of 194 nations have presented improved plans as called for at COP26 in Glasgow last year. Current trends would see carbon pollution increase 10 percent by the end of the decade and the Earth's surface heat up 2.8C, according to findings unveiled last week. Promises made under the 2015 Paris Agreement would, if kept, only shave off a few tenths of a degree. Britain's Alok Sharma, who handed the COP presidency to Egypt, said that while world leaders have faced "competing priorities" this year, "inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe." "How many more wake-up calls does the world -- and world leaders -- actually need?" he said. - 'Loss and damage' - The COP27 summit will focus like never before on money -- a major sticking point that has soured relations between countries that got rich burning fossil fuels and the poorer ones suffering from the worst consequences of climate change. The United States and the European Union -- fearful of creating an open-ended reparations framework -- have dragged their feet and challenged the need for a separate funding stream. After two days of intense pre-summit negotiations, delegates agreed on Sunday to put the "loss and damage" issue on the COP27 agenda, a first step towards what are sure to be difficult discussions. Stiell said inclusion of loss and damage on the agenda after three decades of debate on the issue showed progress. "The fact that it is there as a substantive agenda item I believe bodes well," he told reporters. COP27 president Sameh Shoukry of Egypt said it would be unproductive to speculate on what outcome the negotiations will lead to, "but certainly everybody is hopeful." "Anything that we do effectively has to be on the basis of our common efforts and that we leave no one behind," he said. Shoukry also noted that rich nations have not fulfilled a separate pledge to deliver $100 billion per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change. He lamented that most climate financing is based on loans. "We do not have the luxury to continue this way. We have to change our approaches to this existential threat," he said. - US-China tensions - After the first day of talks, some 110 world leaders will join the summit on Monday and Tuesday. The most conspicuous no-show will be China's Xi Jinping, whose leadership was renewed last month at a Communist Party Congress. US President Joe Biden has said he will come, but only after legislative elections on Tuesday that could see either or both houses of Congress fall into the hands of Republicans hostile to international action on climate change. Cooperation between the United States and China -- the world's two largest economies and carbon polluters -- has been crucial to rare breakthroughs in the nearly 30-year saga of UN climate talks, including the 2015 Paris Agreement. But Sino-US relations have sunk to a 40-year low after a visit to Taiwan by House leader Nancy Pelosi and a US ban on the sale of high-level chip technology to China, leaving the outcome of COP27 in doubt. A meeting between Xi and Biden at the G20 summit in Bali days before the UN climate meeting ends, if it happens, could be decisive. One bright spot at COP27 will be the arrival of Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose campaign vowed to protect the Amazon and reverse the extractive policies of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. bur-lth/mh/lg
AFP News

The UN's COP27 climate summit kicked off Sunday in Egypt with warnings against backsliding on efforts to cut emissions and calls for rich nations to compensate poor countries after a year of extreme weather disasters. Just in the past few months, climate-induced catastrophes have killed thousands, displaced millions and cost billions in damages across the world. Massive floods devastated swaths of Pakistan and Nigeria, droughts worsened in Africa and the western United States, cyclones whipped the Caribbean, and unprecedented heatwaves seared three continents. The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes in a fraught year marked by Russia's war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the lingering effects from the Covid pandemic. But Simon Stiell, the UN's climate change executive secretary, said he would not be a "custodian of backsliding" on the goal of slashing greenhouse emissions 45 percent by 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above late-19th-century levels. "We will be holding people to account, be they presidents, prime ministers, CEOs," Stiell said as the 13-day summit opened. "The heart of implementation is everybody everywhere in the world every single day doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis," he said. Current trends would see carbon pollution increase 10 percent by the end of the decade and Earth's surface heat up 2.8C, according to findings unveiled last week. Promises made under the 2015 Paris Agreement would, if kept, only shave off a few tenths of a degree. "Whilst I do understand that leaders around the world have faced competing priorities this year, we must be clear: as challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe," said Alok Sharma, British president of the previous COP26 as he handed over the chairmanship to Egypt. "How many more wake-up calls does the world -- and world leaders -- actually need?", he said. In a dire warning, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record, with an acceleration in sea level rise, glacier melt and heatwaves. "As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. - 'Loss and damage' - The COP27 summit will focus like never before on money -- a major sticking point that has soured relations between countries that got rich burning fossil fuels and the poorer ones suffering from the worst consequences of climate change. The United States and the European Union -- fearful of creating an open-ended reparations framework -- have dragged their feet and challenged the need for a separate funding stream. Delegates agreed on Sunday to put the "loss and damage" issue on the COP27 agenda, a first step toward what are sure to be fraught discussions. Inclusion of the agenda item "reflects a sense of solidarity and empathy for the suffering of the victims of climate induced disasters," said COP27 president Sameh Shoukry of Egypt. "We all owe a debt of gratitude to activists and civil society organisations who have persistently demanded the space to discuss funding for loss and damage," he said to applause. Shoukry also noted that rich nations have not fulfilled a separate pledge to deliver $100 billion per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change. He also lamented that most climate financing is based on loans. "We do not have the luxury to continue this way. We have to change our approaches to this existential threat," he said, calling for solutions that "prove we are serious about not leaving anyone behind". - US-China tensions - After the first day of talks, more than 120 world leaders will join the summit on Monday and Tuesday. The most conspicuous no-show will be China's Xi Jinping, whose leadership was renewed last month at a Communist Party Congress. US President Joe Biden has said he will come, but only after legislative elections on Tuesday that could see either or both houses of Congress fall into the hands of Republicans hostile to international action on climate change. Cooperation between the United States and China -- the world's two largest economies and carbon polluters -- has been crucial to rare breakthroughs in the nearly 30-year saga of UN climate talks, including the 2015 Paris Agreement. But Sino-US relations have sunk to a 40-year low after a visit to Taiwan by House leader Nancy Pelosi and a US ban on the sale of high-level chip technology to China, leaving the outcome of COP27 in doubt. A meeting between Xi and Biden at the G20 summit in Bali days before the UN climate meeting ends, if it happens, could be decisive. One bright spot at COP27 will be the arrival of Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose campaign vowed to protect the Amazon and reverse the extractive policies of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. bur-lth/fz
Battle-hardened Southeast Asian Islamic State (IS) fighters returning from the Middle East following the group's setbacks are expected to rebase in the southern Philippines, a security conference heard Tuesday. Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups, said speakers at the Milipol conference on homeland security in Singapore. "Currently, IS is moving towards creating a territory in southern Philippines. The most recent communication issued by IS has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines," counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told the conference. "Our forecast for 2017 is that the threat in this region will grow because of the creation of an IS nucleus in the southern Philippines," added Gunaratna. "The instability in the southern Philippines and the availability of weapons, internal displacement, refugee flows... create the ripe conditions for foreign terrorists to come," he told AFP after his speech. Singapore's Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam also told the conference that the southern Philippines "is becoming an area that is difficult to control despite the best efforts of the Philippine government". "So that is an area that can serve as a sanctuary for returning fighters from the Middle East. It can be a place where would-be terrorists can go... they can train, arms seem to move fairly easily into that area," Shanmugam added. Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy. Hundreds of radicals from the region, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, have flocked to join IS in Iraq and Syria. But as IS suffers battlefield setbacks, officials and analysts fear these fighters would return to their home region. Southeast Asia suffered its first IS-linked attack in January last year when extremists launched a deadly suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta. In Mindanao, which has long battled a Muslim insurgency, a handful of groups have sworn allegiance to IS.
Carmaker Kia Motors Slovakia wins the main award, Via Bona, for a responsible large corporation.

Font size: A - | A +

When can a company be said to do its business in line with the principles of corporate social responsibility? Simply when it respects all the partners it encounters while still running its business and generating profits. This not only applies to their customers or subcontractors but also to their employees, the competition and the local community. Kia Motors Slovakia, the Slovak arm of the Korean carmaker Kia Motors, has been pursuing this goal since it launched its business in Slovakia more than 10 years ago. This year it won the main award, Via Bona, for a responsible large corporation. The awards ceremony took place on April 4 in Bratislava.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

The strategy of corporate social responsibility used by Kia Motors Slovakia is based on the corporate vision of the Hyundai Motor Group Together for a better future, said Katarina Gazdikova from the PR and press department at Kia Motors Slovakia.

To be a responsible member of the community means, for this carmaker, production of high quality environmentally-friendly cars, creation of good working conditions for its employees as well as helping the local community where it needs this but also to be fair to suppliers and meet its tax duties towards the state.

Read also:

Read also: Companies awarded for inspirational projects Read more

Fair towards customers

Since the launch of production in its brand new plant in Teplicka nad Vahom in 2006 the carmaker has provided an upper standard guarantee of seven years or for 150,000 driven kilometres for all cars produced here.

Even after 10 years, no other producer in Europe provides such a long guarantee, said Gazdikova.

Last year several renowned car magazines and institutions confirmed the quality of the cars manufactured in the plant near Zilina. For example, in the two-year test organised by German magazines Auto Motor und Sport and Autobild, the third generation Kia Sportage, achieved a zero error rate, the first and only car out of all tested car makes to do this.

Models produced in our plant thus earn a good reputation for Slovakia beyond its borders, said Gazdikova.

Harmony at work

A safe, clean and likeable work environment is of key importance for the production of quality cars. Contributing to this are the so-called Harmony rooms located directly on the production premises.

In these harmony rooms, employees can discuss any problems related to their needs, submit recommendations and suggestions and simultaneously they themselves can contribute to the creation of a pleasant and conflict-free work environment, said Gazdikova.

In Kia Motors Slovakia the care of employees also includes educational and development activities and an upper standard social and remuneration programme.

When the basic salary is counted up with surcharges, Christmas, summer and other bonuses, the gross average monthly wage of a manufacturing worker at Kia Motors Slovakia amounted to 1,354 in 2016, specified Gazdikova, adding that this was 47 percent above the average wage in the Zilina Region.

Less pollution

The responsible approach of the carmaker to the environment is reflected on two levels  in improving the parameters of the cars manufactured there and the improvement of production itself.

Kia cars have been manufactured with the ISG system called Start & Stop, said Gazdikova. It directly affects emissions and thus contributes to the protection of the environment.

Thanks to the implementation of innovative solutions the carmaker has also improved its energy effectiveness when using power by 17 percent over the last five years. It has also reduced its consumption of natural gas, thanks to which the CO2 emissions generated during the production of one car has decreased by 13 percent during the same period of time. It also improved its waste management and it now recycles as much as 91 percent of the waste it generates.

Ethics in doing business

The favourable sales of Kia cars are also reflected in the profits of the carmaker, which pays its corporate tax in Slovakia.

Kia Motors Slovakia has won the Merkur award granted by the Financial Administration for the biggest corporate tax paid three times, said Gazdikova. Last time it happened in 2015 when it paid 103.95 million in corporate tax for 2014.

Care for the local community

The carmaker has been engaged in the support of the region for a long time. It has been developing many philanthropic activities, supporting the volunteer work of its employees with a focus especially on the Zilina Region from where its employees come. In 2016 alone, it supported, via the Kia Motors Foundation, 181 projects to a sum exceeding 1.615 million.

The carmaker also realises the need to support the education of young people and thus it actively cooperates with local secondary schools and universities.

Volunteering also creates a significant part of the corporate philanthropy at Kia. In total, 521 of its employees worked almost 1,875 volunteer hours in almost 20 non-profit organisations in 2016.

The goal of Kia in Slovakia is to be a responsible member of the community in which it lives and operates, said Dae-Sik Kim, President and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia. I believe that our company makes a contribution not only to the Zilina Region but also to the whole of Slovakia.
Ex-Supreme Court president Stefan Harabin acquitted, but the decision is not valid yet.

Font size: A - | A +

Former Supreme Court president Stefan Harabin will not be punished for not summoning the session of the courts criminal panel to unite the two different verdicts concerning the police inspectorate run under the Interior Ministry.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

The first-instance disciplinary senate turned down the complaint submitted by current Supreme Court President Daniela Svecova. It released Harabin after an over 7.5-hour session, claiming he had not committed any disciplinary offence, the SITA newswire reported.

The decision is still not valid as Svecova can appeal it. Her lawyer Marek Benedik has already said they will do so. In this motion, she asked to reduce Harabins salary by 50 percent for six months.

Harabin claimed already during the proceeding that it is clear he has not committed any misdemeanour, nor has he acted illegally, as reported by SITA.

Read also:

Read also: Harabin can continue to work as judge Read more

As for the reason why the disciplinary senate dismissed the motion, its chair Erik Uhlar said that the rules applied by the Supreme Court back in 2015 stipulated three subjects are enabled to submit a proposal to unite the different rulings. Except for the chair of the criminal panel, the post held by Harabin at the time, the other two people who can submit a proposal was the Supreme Court president and the justice minister. This means that if one of these subjects had not proposed it, it cannot be prosecuted.

Moreover, the chair of the criminal panel is not obliged to summon the session, Uhlar explained, as reported by SITA.

Svecova at the time only asked Harabin to summon the panels session, but has not submitted any such proposal herself.

Benedik does not consider the disciplinary senates ruling correct, explaining that Harabin had kept saying the police inspectorate was acting in compliance with the law, but then just changed his mind. When he was asked to adopt steps towards harmonising the different decisions, he just refused to do so, the lawyer explained for SITA.

Harabin currently faces six disciplinary proceedings, of which five were submitted by Svecova and one by Judicial Council Chair Jana Bajankova. No proceeding has been finished yet.
The investment, which will be realised close to Nitra, beat an opponent from Poland for the award.

Font size: A - | A +

The plans of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in Slovakia is the best project in central and eastern European region, decided at an annual investment meeting held on April 2-4 in Dubai.

The jury appointed by the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) preferred the project, submitted by the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) in cooperation with the Slovak Embassy in Abu Dhabi, to the candidate from Poland, the TASR newswire reported.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

SARIO representatives meanwhile received the award during a ceremony held in Burj Khalifa skyscraper from Mukhisa Kituyi, secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The annual investment meeting is held under the auspices of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, TASR reported.

The JLR plant that will be constructed near Nitra has received the status of important investment, according to the decision of the government from January 2016.

Read also:

Read also: Industrial park for Jaguar will be smaller Read more

The total investment amounts to 1.406 billion, and will be implemented in the Nitra industrial park on the territory of Drazovce and Luzianky. It is expected that 2,834 new jobs will be created in connection with the investment until the end of 2020, the Slovak Economy Ministry said.

The Slovak government approved the investment on December 11, 2015, while it also gave a green light to state aid amounting to 130 million. The memorandum of understanding with the British government was signed in August 2015.
The US military helicopters will land at the aircraft base in Presov.

Font size: A - | A +

The first two US military helicopters UH-60 Black Hawk are expected to land in Slovakia during summer.

Their production in US Stratford started already mid-2016, the TASR newswire reported.

The US helicopters will substitute the currently used Mi-17 machines whose lifespan will soon expire. Slovakia should receive altogether nine such helicopters, costing $261 million.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Read also:

Read also: 2017 heralds arrival of two Black Hawk helicopters to Slovakia Read more

The biggest modernisation contract in the history of Slovak army was realised via the Foreign Military Sales programme.
Let us seek stories in our families too, because one day those who could tell them will no longer be with us.

Font size: A - | A +

Dezso Kohn had too many memories. They were sticking out of his ears, his pockets, and the sleeves of his grey checkered jacket that he would only take off in the evening before he went to bed.

If he could, he would have leaked the memory of the Mlynska Kolonia in Lucenec that was turned into a Jewish ghetto in 1944 and from where he was taken later with other men for forced labour, like urine.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Kohn brought up my father. That small fragile man had memories heavier than bones in his body, so his knees would bend and people would think he was drunk. And he often was. The old Kohn gave my father his roots, so deep that he was never able to leave Lucenec.

He preferred to pass on only happy memories to my father. But there were pitifully few of those. In the favourite memory of Kohns, uncle Poldi bacsi was selling watermelons. From time to time he cut one to pieces and spread them on the table next to a pile of pumpkins in the yard. He sat down, and pretended he was dozing off, while children came to steal pieces of watermelon from the table.

Dezso had no one to share his childhood with, that time when there was still hope that Lucenec was an amicable town. Many of his neighbours whom he knew since he was small, did not return after the war.

Cemetery without memories

He was unable to get rid of the past in a way his wife, Rezi, who as a Catholic, devoted the unbearable things to God. I think that after the Holocaust Dezso had no idea anymore where to seek God.

Perhaps Poldi bacsi would have advised him how to be a Jew in a world where they tore people up by the roots and dragged them around countries of desperation only to throw them into that empty hole that was left after them, to try and have a life.

Great-grandfather often used to take me to the Lucenec cemetery. We used to sit there for hours. Close to a shabby fence dividing it from the Jewish cemetery. We never went there. I was a child, and not a fit audience for stories unlocked by cemeteries. I only remember the silence that I could not break with any amount of wailing to go home.

Too late

Today I know that the Nazis beat Dezso Kohn so badly that he lost all his teeth. He slept in one room with the dead; and that was not the worst of his memories. Not even my father was able to collect all his heavy memories.

The memory he told us most often was the lightest one, that would make us laugh. One night, Dezso came home and something was moving under his shirt. He started complaining, what did you cook there Rezi, my bowels want to get out of my body - and something was really moving under his short. When the tension could not be escalated any further, he took a grass snake from under his shirt and put it in his grandsons hands. Its a harmless snake, let it out tomorrow by the river.

 Dezso Kohn was not the only one who never told his dark stories. 

Today I rake through old pictures and letters in the hope I will find something, perhaps one letter that was never sent, a card with notes, or a scrap from a diary that would tell me more about his darkest memory of the times gone by. However, part of the evil from those times remains. And that evil keeps fighting its way back to the surface, like muddy water that part of the nation still drinks from and thus nourishes the fascists.

Dezso Kohn was not the only one who never told his dark stories.

Ari

Ari Rath, a legend of journalism, who had his country taken from him by the Nazis when he was a child, told stories also in the name of my great-grandfather. He told them in the name of all those who were unable to talk about the horrors, because they fused into one nightmare that paralysed the tongue.

Read also:

Read also: Ari Rath: How the best milker became a journalism legend Read more

When I met Ari in 2015 in the Cafe Landtmann in Vienna, he unwrapped one story after another, as if he spent his whole life preparing for the role of a storyteller. He said it was not a coincidence that he remembers many things clearly and he was allowed to live long enough to give testimony about the dark times.

Then he asked me about my family, about the names that my ancestors gave their children. About the scar on my arm, the memories from my childhood. I told him about Dezso Kohn who did not leave me his stories. And he understood that.

He knew that talking about dark times is not like a few scattered sentences people share in social talks, about the children growing up and the parents keeping up, or about the holiday they are planning this year.

He also knew that we are forgetting to really listen. And this ability of ours, to listen and to understand stories, to live them anew with our close ones but also with strangers, will decide about our empathy and humanity in the future.

Departure

Lets enter the people who might not be here in a few years, like we enter precious books, aware that sometimes a gentle gesture, a mere move of the hand, may tell more than ten sentences. Sometimes, a single sentence of theirs captures more of life than whole chapters in history books.

Ari told me in the spring of 2015 that his story remains untold, that it is open for us all who are still here. Open for us to add something, to show how decisively and resolutely we can say no to the evil that drips from everyone who toys with Nazism.

Ari Rath died on January 13, 2017.

 He wanted us to learn from the stories he passed on to us as the heritage from those who could not talk about evil. 

Many felt they still owed him one big apology. Maybe in the name of humankind. But those who spoke with him understood that he did not expect us to apologise. He wanted us to learn from the stories he passed on to us as the heritage from those who could not talk about evil.

Lets seek stories

People who know more about Europes dark times than just a few chapters from history books, are leaving. Those who saw the faces and gestures of desperation, who heard the cries of children, the wails of animals, smelled the stink of warehouses were people who were deposited like redundant materials, in the moments when part of humankind turned off its humanity like a lamp on a nightstand.

People who lost their closest ones and the luxury of faith that the world is alright and that the worst atrocities are only the perversions of history long gone.

People who saw their brothers and sisters crossing the lines of humanity.

But they do not need to be only stories of dark times. Sometimes we let our grandparents leave without hearing once again, with adult ears, the stories of how they lived. What they feared and what they believed. Many of us do not know how our parents grew up, because we reduced our conversations to the necessary practicalities of life.

If they leave, and we waste our chance to hear from them about what better world they imagined, and if the world we live in today is very different from what they hoped for, we will be left with just one big hole that not even our own old age can mend.

Sme
The prime minister considers the media environment distorted, he says they avoid positive news.

Font size: A - | A +

The management of the public-service broadcaster RTVS has to change, said Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico. He expects a new election to take place in June.

The current head of the broadcaster, Vaclav Mika, lost the support of the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) long ago. Now Fico is openly criticising it, the Sme daily reported.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Slovak Television is no longer a public-service, Fico said during the discussion organised by the Hospodarske Noviny daily, adding that the current management has failed to fulfil this task. I consider the news service of the RTVS opposition-oriented. There should be a change at its helm.

The fact is however, that last year the broadcaster achieved the best audience share in the past twelve months and it also had one of the most unbiased news coverages, Sme reported.

Read also:

Read also: Fico to journalist: We are not on the same level Read more

The prime minister also accused the media of publishing only critical information about the government and avoiding the positive news. He is convinced the media environment is distorted.

Im sorry but it pisses me off how you report the affairs of this state and what kind of image is created; it is impossible, even unacceptable, Fico said.

He has already had very tense relations with some private media outlets and in the past he has even refused to answer their questions, Sme wrote.

Fico also commented on Slovak President Andrej Kiska, saying he respects the president and tries to avoid conflicts. He however feels sorry that the president criticises both the prime minister and his government.

We should set the same media meter for everybody, Fico said.

Slovakia should stay in the core of the EU

When commenting on the first year of his government, he claimed that he respects the nominations to the ministerial posts from his coalition partners. As for Smer ministers, he considers them part of the professional team. If he has a reason to exchange any of them, he will not hesitate, Fico claimed.

At the same time, he considers the ruling coalition stable, though it took some time for them to get accustomed to one another, as reported by Sme.

Fico also stressed that he wants a stable government as currently nobody can predict what will happen in Europe. Slovakia should be able to respond to any situation that occurs. He also expressed concern about a situation where a person who considers himself the leader of opposition can call for leaving the EU.

We have to be part of Europe, we have to be part of its core, this is the line of the government, Fico said, as quoted by Sme, adding, it is nonsense to step back, especially after adopting the euro and becoming part of the Schengen zone.

Fico also reiterated that Slovakia refuses the refugee quotas.
The chamber dislikes several plans concerning the construction of the facility.

Font size: A - | A +

The Slovak Medical Chamber (SLK) dislikes the plan suggesting that the new University Hospital Bratislava (UNB) will be built and operated by a private concessionaire. It considers the solution disadvantageous.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Were convinced that the state isnt a worse owner and property administrator than the private sector; quite the contrary, said SLK head Marian Kollar, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

The only way this can work is with a state-guaranteed preparation and implementation of the construction and operation of the hospital, according to the SLK. It stressed the university hospital is not a commercial project, but rather a facility offering medical treatment and a base for education, science and research that should be of the highest quality and for all patients in the country.

The SLK is therefore asking to cooperate in the project with professional associations, reported TASR.

Read also:

Read also: The new Bratislava hospital will not be built via the PPP project Read more

It also dislikes the proposal that the Hospital with the Polyclinics of Ss Cyril and Methodius in Bratislavas Petrzalka district should not be part of the UNB but rather become a municipal hospital. The SLK also does not have an explanation for the term partner hospitals of the UNB that will be the new status of several facilities in the capital.

There should be only one UNB which should be all-embracing after so many years, Kollar said, as quoted by TASR.

It also criticises the number of beds, claiming this is low.

The aim is to choose a partner in the initial phase of the project from the international competition, whose task will be to create and set up the concept model of medical and non-medical processes, Health Ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova responded, as quoted by TASR.

She stressed that the hospital will be operated and owned by the state.

The spokesperson also pointed to the fact that while the project proposes to reduce the number of beds by 160 to 600, it plans to increase the subsequent, long-term, geriatric and nursing care.

The ministry expects that the construction of the new UNB building in Bratislavas Razsochy will cost 263 million. It will be composed of the new university hospital together with the facility in Ruzinov, which will require reconstruction worth 80 million, TASR wrote.
It is the second group tasked with protecting the borders with Greece.

Font size: A - | A +

Slovakia sent 25 police officers to Macedonia to oversee public order on the Macedonian-Greek border on April 4.

The police officers will safeguard public order and security on the Macedonian-Greek border between April 4 and May 6, said Slovak Police Corps spokesperson Denisa Baloghova, as quoted by the TASR newswire. If it becomes necessary and the Macedonian side asks for it, theyll stay to help there for longer.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Read also:

Read also: Slovak police officers leave to protect Serbian borders Read more

This is the second dispatch of a police unit from Slovakia to Macedonia, with another team due to be sent for the period of June 6-July 7, TASR reported.
Trnava-based PSA Peugeot Citroen applies for a tax holiday amounting to 18.6 million.

Font size: A - | A +

The PSA Peugeot Citroen carmaker will no longer produce the Peugeot 208 in Trnava but will instead manufacture a small city car with the draft name, P21. It wants the Slovak state to contribute financially to the change in the assembly line and the planned expansion of capacity, the Sme daily wrote on April 4.

Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement

Peugeot Slovakia is asking for an investment stimulus amounting to almost 19 million euros, in the form of a tax holiday; it plans to invest 165 million during its expansion of production, and to hire 420 people with an average gross wage of 1,395 a month. Calculations show that one new job will cost the state about 44,000 which is much more than the average for the years 2012 to 2016.

Cons....

However, experts see the biggest problem not in the amount but rather in the fact that even now, carmakers have trouble finding appropriate labour in Slovakia, and often search for employees abroad. Thus, the Slovak state would be subsidising foreign workers rather than domestic ones.

These companies employ people from abroad  thus, we subsidise jobs for foreigners; which makes no sense whatsoever, Lubos Vanco of the KMPG Slovensko consultancy firm told Sme. Moreover, he points out that Peugeot operates in the west of the country where there is a very low unemployment rate. There is no reason to offer ivnestment stimuli in the west of Slovakia, in his opinion.

... and pros

There are two main reasons, according to experts, why the plant needs stimuli  or why state is ready to grant it to them. The first one is that Trnava is in competition with the Spanish plant for the production of the P21 and if this locality is offering investment stimulus, the headquarters must heed the argument to leave the production in Trnava. Moreover, it would increase the long-term sustainability of the plant for the years to come  also in connection with the purchase of the French carmaker of the Opel brand.

With this step, the plant is seeking to keep its competitiveness within a concern which also has plants in other countries of the European Union, spokesman of the Trnava facility, Peter Svec, confirmed for the daily.

The government stimulus may also be a form of compensation for the fact that the British carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, received aid amounting to almost 130 million. The Economy Ministry which is evaluating the stimulus refused to comment.
This site focuses on Republican politicians and conservatives that rip off their constituency. We have the Tea Party, fundamentalist churches, the corruption of ALEC and other special interests groups. But the site also supports progressive Democrats and the local Democratic Socialist of America. We must have ideas on how to replace regressive and corrupt politicians with something better. For comments steveotto2001@yahoo.com or ottozero2001@yahoo.com.
(Reuters) - Blackrock and other asset management institutions are seeking an injunction this week to block the sale of Portugal's Novo Banco to U.S. private equity firm Lone Star. "The rules governing the sales process are discriminatory and breach Portuguese and EU law," the fund managers, which included Blackrock, said in an email statement. The names of other financial institutions were not mentioned. The Bank of Portugal in 2015 had transferred bonds from "good bank" Novo Banco to Banco Espirito Santo (BES) to boost Novo Banco's balance sheet by 1.98 billion euros ($2.11 billion). Novo Banco was created from BES in August 2014 after a 4.9 billion euro rescue. The bond transfer had caused losses of about 1.5 billion for ordinary retail investors and pensioners and a group representing more than two-thirds of the transferred notes had begun legal proceedings against the Bank of Portugal, the statement said. Closure of the Novo Banco sale to Lone Star would impair the fund managers clients' claim against Novo Banco and their clients ability to recoup losses, the statement said. Portugal on Friday had agreed to sell a 75 percent stake in state-rescued lender Novo Banco to Lone Star in exchange for a capital injection of 1 billion euros into the institution. (Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Trott)
By Noah Browning MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain's foreign minister said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump understood the region and the threats posed by their common adversary Iran better than Barack Obama. Speaking in an interview with Reuters at his office in the capital Manama, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said the staunch U.S. Gulf ally was confident the new administration would soon clarify its stances on foreign policy. The Sunni-ruled kingdom accuses Iran, a Shi'ite theocracy across the Gulf, of radicalising and arming some members of its Shi'ite Muslim majority population, and Gulf monarchies say Obama did not do enough to tackle perceived meddling by Iran in Bahrain and in wars raging throughout the region. Tehran denies any meddling in the island kingdom. Trump has pledged to deal forcefully with the Islamic Republic and criticised a landmark international deal to curb its nuclear programme inked under Obama in 2015 as a concession to a state the United States considers a sponsor of terrorism. "We see ... a much clearer understanding from the White House of the threats we are facing here in the region and especially the ones that are coming from the Islamic Republic," Sheikh Khaled said. "The last few years, there was a policy that we think it was better for them to correct, and we advised them it should be corrected." Sheikh Khaled last month met U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has spoken by telephone with senior U.S. officials, including Trump after his election in November. Sitting astride one of the world's key oil shipping lanes, Bahrain is a key ally of Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Neither country were among the ban Trump is seeking to impose on travellers from Iran and five other Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and Africa. Some critics of the Trump administration fear it is prioritising the fight against militancy and Iran over promoting human rights among American allies, but the foreign minister said the U.S. shift acknowledged the region's harsh realities. "CLARITY IS COMING" Sheikh Khaled said his country welcomed a decision by the White House to pursue a $5 billion sale to Bahrain of 19 Lockheed Martin F-16 aircraft and related equipment which was held up last year by concerns about human rights. He said Trump's style may have distracted some from the merits of his views, but all administrations had growing pains. "They'll get in order ... every new administration will always start in a way that will seem unclear, but clarity is coming," he said, speaking in his green and wood-panelled office adorned with pictures of past and present Bahraini monarchs. "Maybe when you see the difference in the personality of the president, maybe that's kind of giving an overwhelming picture of the situation. Things are working in America." Since 2011 Arab Spring protests led by Bahrain's Shi'ites were crushed with the help from some Gulf Arab states, Bahrain says Iran has stepped up a campaign to undermine security there and bring about the downfall of the ruling Al Khalifa family, of which Sheikh Khaled is a member. "It's a whole project we are facing and it will not stop until this regime changes its course from the way it is now - hegemonic, theocratic, theo-fascist - to a regime that would answer the aspirations of its own people." "Until that moment we will have to defend ourselves." Human rights organisations have criticised an escalating government crackdown since the main Shi'ite opposition bloc was shuttered last year, several prominent activist were arrested and the top Shi'ite spiritual leader had his citizenship revoked on corruption charges. Bahrain says it has acted to reform its security services and that it genuinely seeks dialogue with the opposition in a way that is rare in the mostly closed and authoritarian region. "We feel like we are being pressured and punished for no reason, just for sticking our neck out and addressing issues that every country has," Sheikh Khaled said. (Editing by Sami Aboudi and Alison Williams)
Lithuanian intelligence warned on Monday that Russia could attack the Baltic states with as little as 24 hours notice, seriously limiting NATOs ability to respond. Sounding the alarm in an annual threat assessment, the Lithuanian intelligence service pointed to Moscow upgrading its military in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea last year. And Remigius Baltrenas, head of Lithuanian Military Counter-Intelligence, said Russias main priority was to strengthen its capabilities towards the West. This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed, Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis told reporters on the sidelines of the presentation of the report. NATOs reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s but now part of both NATO and the EU, have been increasingly nervous since Russias annexation of Crimea three years ago. Moscow said in October that it had moved ballistic nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad and deployed an air missile defence system there. Russia is monitoring and suppressing radio frequencies used by NATO pilots over the Baltic Sea and is using commercial and scientific ships for surveillance, the report said. Lithuania has also warned that disinformation is being used as a weapon. Russia has never accepted the Baltic version of history. But until 2014 it had no complaints about Crimea. https://t.co/raNu1NVXjq Kadri Liik (@KadriLiik) 3 avril 2017 Russia however has denounced the NATO military build-up on its doorstep, criticising the alliances deployment of some 4,000 troops to Poland and the Baltic states. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Lithuanias concerns as a display of anti-Russian sentiment. There is total Russophobia, hysterical Russophobia going on, he said at a daily conference call with reporters. Moscow has always supported good relations with the Baltic states. Total #Russophobia: #Kremlin slams Lithuanias claims of possible Russian attack https://t.co/5anKrTBOAK pic.twitter.com/5vfzsg8I2W Sputnik (@SputnikInt) 3 avril 2017 with Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia March 24, 2017.

Reuters

Marine Le Pen's ties with Russia are once again being questioned.

Last month, the Front National (FN) leader met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, their first official meeting.

But Jean-Marie Le Pen, the estranged father of the FN's leader, claimed that his daughter had already met Putin, a BBC journalist has revealed in an investigation FN's funding.

It is worth noting that Le Pen and her father are not on good terms currently, after she kicked him out of the party he founded as part the "de-demonisation" project for her party.

During the interview in February, the BBC journalist described how he had joked to Le Pen that Putin was his friend, to which the former FN leader replied: "He's not my friend. I've never met him. But he's met Marine."

Other people close to Le Pen told the BBC that she has herself claimed to have met the Russian President, and when asked about it, the FN MEP Jean-Luc Schaffhauser said: "This is a secret. There are little secrets, and this secret."

Officially, however, Le Pen and the Kremlin both deny that the two ever met before her visit to Moscow last month.

Rumours about ties between the far-right French party and Russia circulating for years. They have intensified in recent months as the Kremlin is being accused of trying to interfere in the French presidential elections.

In 2014, FN received a 9 million (7.7 million/$10.6 million) loan from the First Czech Russian Bank, a small bank with ties to the Kremlin. A Russian hacking group published emails that appear to show that Le Pen's party had received the loan as a payment for her pro-Russia stance during and after the Crimean annexation.

Many speculate that Le Pen was in Moscow to try to secure a new loan for her party, which is struggling financially. The party's chief spokesperson, Wallerand de Saint-Just has denied those rumours. Le Pen was invited to Moscow by a Russian MP for meetings in the parliament.

Story continues

The latest polls for the French elections show Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are tied at 25% for the first round of the elections on April 23. Macron is expected to beat Le Pen 61% to 39% in the second round.

NOW WATCH: 'If he's not joking, of course!': Sean Spicer on whether Trump's statements can be trusted 'to be real'

See Also:

SEE ALSO: IAN BREMMER: The French election is as much of a 'coin flip' as Brexit

SEE ALSO: Here's how France chooses its president
By Ingrid Melander and Johnny Cotton HAYANGE, France (Reuters) - Aline Dugravot is in a bind over whether to vote for Marine Le Pen in France's presidential election: she likes the National Front leader's anti-immigration message, but also likes the EU and the euro currency, which Le Pen wants to abandon. The 34-year-old commutes to her insurance job across the border in EU neighbour Luxembourg, and is worried that she would be hurt if the National Front takes France out of the bloc. "The euro, the European Union, that's really important for me. An exit would be a complete mess," Dugravot said outside her house in Hayange, a town of less than 16,000 people just 20 km from the border. Le Pen, 48, is on course this month for a first or second place finish in the first round of France's presidential election. In a May 7 runoff she is likely to come closer than any far right leader since World War Two to winning the French presidency, although polls still show her losing. One result of her surge in popularity is that it has outstripped support for one of her main ideas: ditching the euro and quitting the EU, which remains a fringe position in France even as Le Pen has won greater acceptance in the mainstream. While one in two voters agree with Le Pen's stance that there are too many immigrants in France, only 22 percent want to ditch the euro, a Kantar Sofres poll showed. Le Pen blames the EU and its common currency for stifling the French economy. She says that after taking power she would negotiate for six months and then hold a referendum on whether to quit the EU and ditch the euro. For Marc Schmitt, a 25-year old cleaner who commutes to Luxembourg from a village next to Hayange, that makes it possible to support Le Pen for president, even though he wants to keep the euro. It takes him 45 minutes to commute across the open EU border every day, and he worries that if France quit the bloc and brought back border checks it would take far longer to cross. "I would simply vote 'No' in the referendum," said Schmitt, who said he was still undecided about the presidential vote but thinks Le Pen has "a lot of good ideas". "SCAREMONGERING"? Opposition to the EU is popular with grassroots National Front voters and helps establish the party's anti-establishment image, but makes it harder for it to win over other voters. Some leaders within the National Front wanted to back away from hostility to the euro when the party failed to win control of any regional and local councils in two sets of elections in 2015, despite strong scores. But a party meeting devoted to the issue decide not to change tack. Instead, Le Pen is hoping to win over enough voters who, like Schmitt, are willing to vote for her for president even though they want to stay in the EU. Areas in northeast France near the borders with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany are some of the strongest pockets of National Front support in the country. (See map: http://tmsnrt.rs/2n70MzB ) The steel mills have shut in Hayange, where unemployment tops 17 percent. About a third of those in the town with jobs now work across the nearby border in Luxembourg, a tiny, wealthy country where the number of workers commuting in from France has tripled since border checks were eliminated in 1995. Yet despite its reliance on its EU neighbours, Hayange has elected a mayor from the National Front, Fabien Engelmann, 37. He says it would still be possible for commuters to work in Luxembourg or Germany if France left the EU. Special passes could be issued to speed their crossing of the border. "I am European but I am against the European Union," Engelmann said in front of the town hall, which flies only the French tricolor, without the blue and yellow EU star flag which flies next to it above most municipalities in France. "Many French people worked in Luxembourg before borders were opened up, and that wasn't a problem," he said. "There will be a referendum and French voters can decide for themselves if they want to stay in the EU or not. Let's stop this scaremongering." Michele Pavesi, a 69-year-old retiree whose two sons work across the border, said she would still vote for Le Pen. "I don't think that leaving Europe would change the fact that commuters go and work in Luxembourg. If all the commuters left Luxembourg, where will Luxembourg find its workers?" But 58-year old Andre Sobies, an assembly line worker for carmaker Peugeot PSA who saves up what he can to go on holidays to EU countries like Greece, said he wanted France to stay in the bloc. "We're lucky to live near the border and travel with the same currency. It's such an advantage." Click http://tmsnrt.rs/2lPduBG for graphic on French presidential election (Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Peter Graff)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  An Oslo court has sentenced a Norwegian man to nine years in prison for recruiting others to join radical Islamic State militants in Syria, in the first such ruling in Norway.

The Oslo District Court says 31-year-old Arslan Maroof, known as Ubaydullah Hussain, had recruited "at least two people" for IS.

Hussain is a former leading member of local Islamic extremist group, "The Prophet's Ummah." He had been acquitted earlier of multiple counts of encouraging others to commit murder and acts of terrorism.

The court handed down Tuesday a 34-month sentence to Simen Johan Andreassen, for violating Norwegian laws by intending to join the extremists.

Both were arrested June 8, 2015, in neighboring Sweden.
With red phone and letter boxes and Bobbies on the streets, Gibraltar offers a glimpse of a bygone age when Britishness was confidently exported. Now, amid renewed controversy over the status of the territory, the phrase British forever has been heard once again in Gibraltar.

In the recent debate about Gibraltar and its future after Brexit, British and Gibraltarian ministers alike have stressed the very British nature of Gibraltarians. When asked by the BBC what would be so bad about joint sovereignty, Gibraltars chief minister, Fabian Picardo, replied: It would strip us of who we are.

In research my colleagues and I have been conducting for the last four years in the Bordering on Britishness project, we have found that the contemporary sense of Britishness of Gibraltarians is much more recent than the Rocks 300-year history as a British territory might suggest.

Being Gibraltarian

Most Gibraltarians do not have their origins in the UK but are, rather, a mixture of Genoese, Maltese, Spanish, Moroccan Jewish and other peoples. Gibraltarian nationalism is still, however, tied to Britishness. As a Gibraltarian in his 70s told me (speaking in Spanish):

Yes, I speak English with an accent, but so does someone from Scotland or Wales. We are British in the same way they are.

Gibraltar has a local identity with its own flag and anthem, but this identity is bound with the UK. Not all Gibraltarians, however, are comfortable with this sense of Britishness. As a man in his 50s put it: Whats happened now is that we imagine ourselves to be blue-eyed, blond Brits; and we are not!

There are few Gibraltarians today who imagine a future independent from the UK  although Brexit has certainly focused the minds of some on this matter.

The overwhelming majority of people we have interviewed see themselves as British Gibraltarians  with a varying emphasis on each of those terms. Although the journey from colonial subject to citizen took time, since 1981 there has been no legal difference between UK British citizens and Gibraltarian ones. Today, many Gibraltarians imagine themselves as having the same status as people in Wales vis-a-vis the UK: certainly not English but British nevertheless.

Story continues

Yet, there is a collective amnesia at play about what this identity meant in the past. When prompted, many Gibraltarians can recall what it was like to be second class citizens in Gibraltar. Until the 1960s, the Royal Naval Dockyard had separate toilets for British (of UK origin), Gibraltarians and Spaniards  as did the offices of Cable and Wireless. Gibraltarian wages were different from other British people based on the rock well into the 1970s. Many people we interviewed remember when English people were always served ahead of Gibraltarians in shops. They recalled feeling that they were not regarded as one of us by other British peoplee.

Forging Britishness

Going back further in time, for much of the 20th century Gibraltars civilian population was overwhelmingly Spanish speaking. There was not much difference between working class Gibraltarians and their neighbours immediately across the border: no difference in language, the music they listened to or the religion they practised.

When pressed to identify differences in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, our older interviewees said that Spaniards wore inferior footwear or smoked different cigarettes  essentially economic differences. When this generation was asked who were the Spanish people when they were young, they talked about the fishmonger, the hawker, the grocer, the barber and so on. But no one mentioned mothers, aunts, grandmothers who were born in Spain  almost a third of marriages before the war were between Gibraltarian men and Spanish women.

Todays sense of Gibraltarian Britishness was primarily created by a Spanish campaign to take back Gibraltar which began in 1940. This developed with increasing intensity until the death in 1975 of the Spanish dictator Francisco Francos. It saw the closure of the border between 1969 and 1985. Much of contemporary anti-Spanishness in Gibraltar has its roots in this period. There continues to be a profound mistrust of the Spanish political class with the chief minister likening Spain to North Korea.

In Gibraltar, the argument is often made that Gibraltarians became a specifically British people through the experiences of wartime evacuation of most of Gibraltars women and children to the UK. There were, however, important continuities before and after the war, during which most men stayed on the Rock and women and children lived in Spanish speaking communities, first in London and later in camps in Northern Ireland.

It was during the war that the UK government decided Gibraltarians needed to be made more British and a plan was developed to promote the learning of English in Gibraltar and strengthen the imperial connection with the UK. Since then, Gibraltarians have studied the UK curriculum in English and currently all 18-year-olds have access to free university education in the UK, meaning the Gibraltar government covers fees, subsistence, and flights home.

Spanish speaking falling away

The result is a much greater familiarity with British than Spanish culture. Gibraltarians are becoming increasingly English speaking and whereas in the recent past they shared a language with their Spanish neighbours, for young Gibraltarians this is now a social barrier. One woman in her 70s told us:

My grandparents could  only speak Spanish  Even though my father spoke English, at home we spoke Spanish as my mother was Spanish  When I went to school I did not know any English, but luckily I learnt it  Now  everyone speaks in English  When we go to Spain to visit the parents of my son-in-law, they cannot understand a word of what my niece says  Today most children do not learn Spanish anymore.

Brexit threatens Gibraltarians sense of Britishness. Gibraltars economy requires membership of the EU to ensure the border remains open for people and goods and its financial and gambling sectors also depend on access to the EU. Despite some of the recent jingoistic posturing, Gibraltarians are concerned that the UK is neither willing nor able to defend Gibraltars political interests if it is outside the EU. Britishness itself is radically changing and there may not even be a United Kingdom in a few years. This suggests an existential crisis is brewing for Gibraltarian Britishness.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Andrew Canessa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa praised his minority Socialist government's alliance in parliament with the far left and said it would be useful to extend the pact beyond the 2019 election even if he wins an outright majority. In an interview with Radio Renascenca on Tuesday, Costa ruled out any need for a snap election despite his party's rising opinion poll ratings and said the alliance "is a good solution, with or without an absolute majority". It stands out as a remarkable exception in Europe where the left is largely struggling where it holds power. The government has been raising wages and gaining popularity and yet delivering the lowest budget deficit in living memory. 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 an outright majority in parliament were the country to vote again. "I think there should be no election now. On the contrary, the country needs stability and we should all work together to complete the legislature in normalcy, tranquillity," Costa said. "When we have an election at the end of the legislature, if the Communist Party, the Left Bloc and the Greens are available to renew the pact, it would be useful ... This change has improved the quality of our democracy." Nevertheless, Costa said the parties maintained sufficiently big differences to prevent a pre-election coalition and saw few chances for the far left entering the government. "We are fine this way. You don't rearrange a team that is winning," he said. Portugal will hold municipal elections across the country in October. Costa also said that his Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who is credited with devising a way to reverse many of the austerity policies of the previous administration while at the same delivering the lowest budget deficit in over 40 years, has been sounded out to become the next Eurogroup chief. He did not say who has approached Centeno. But he said he preferred to keep him focussed on Portugal. "He would certainly make an excellent Eurogroup president ... But, while Portugal still has various points under negotiation with Eurogroup, this is not a priority for us. We are very happy with Mario Centeno as minister," Costa said. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who now chairs meetings of the 19 euro zone finance ministers, last month upset southern Europeans, notably Portugal, with remarks about drinking and womanising, damaging his hopes of retaining his job. His current term ends in January. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Axel Bugge and Alison Williams)
Shutterstock

Tokyo, Moscow, Madrid, London, Brussels, and now St Petersburg. These major cities have all suffered attacks on their metro systems. The most recent events in St Petersburg, where a metro bombing killed at least 14 people, remind us of the challenges faced by underground transport systems in keeping people safe during an emergency. This is where engineering and psychology research can come in useful, helping to optimise evacuation procedures using insight into how people behave.

To start with, there are several key ways that evacuating an underground system differs from evacuating a building. Underground environments are often unfamiliar to the evacuees, especially if the evacuation has to start in the tunnels between stations. The systems enclosed nature also means visibility can rapidly deteriorate from smoke. Tunnels are generally not divided into separate sections to stop smoke spreading, which allows it to rapidly fill all spaces.

This can cause a number of problems when it comes to evacuating passengers. Evacuation slows down when visibility is poor and people cannot fully rely on what they can see to help them get out. Smoke can also obscure signs and other visual instructions, making it difficult for people to locate the closest emergency exit. For this reason, evacuees often rely on alternative senses such as hearing or touch to find their way to safety. This is why auditory alarms and hand rails can be much more useful.

Another reason these kind of guides and information are needed is because people tend to move towards familiar places or people in an emergency. For example, if someone is looking for a way out of a metro system, they may well try to get back to where they came in. But in many instances, closer emergency exits may be available in the tunnels. These exits often lead to safety in a significantly shorter time.

Similarly, peoples attention can narrow to focus on immediate threats rather than analysing all the information available to them, especially when they are under pressure to escape as quickly as possible. This is where social influence can come in. If one person can find a quicker evacuation route, their interaction with other evacuees can help spread this information and help everyone get out quicker.

Story continues

At a more fundamental level, the design of the tunnels and trains can lead to significant safety improvements. Experimental research has shown the effectiveness of an evacuation from a metro train depends on the configuration of the train door and the space available after getting out of it. This can include the presence of a height gap between the train doors and the outside floor and narrow spaces for evacuation in the tunnels.

The height gap in particular, which can be up to 1.4 metres, can be a major obstacle during evacuation, slowing down the flow of people out of the train. It may also mean that some evacuees, particularly children and older people, may not be able to evacuate on their own. This height difference can make it even more important that the driver manages to get the train to a station, as the driver in the St Petersburg attack did  despite the fact the bomb went off inside a tunnel. This likely led to a quicker evacuation and less severe consequences.

Its worth also considering that people are often a lot more rational than you might think in a disaster. Media reports often use the ambiguous word panic, suggesting irrational and competitive (anti-social) behaviour. But investigations of disasters have demonstrated that people actually tend to act rationally and in a non-competitive way.

In fact, people often tend to help each other in emergencies, including during metro train evacuations. For example, footage from the St Petersburg bombing shows people trying to help others get out of the attacked trains, and similar altruistic behaviours have been observed in several other disasters. So whatever preparations metro authorities make for disasters, they can consider their passengers to be part of their solution. They need to design the tunnel environment for the people, not the people for the environment.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Enrico Ronchi receives funding from the Swedish Transport Administration and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Daniel Nilsson receives funding from Brandforsk, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), Swedish Transport Administration and Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved the purchase of 10 Chinese tanks worth $58 million to replace an old U.S. model, a government spokesman said, the second of three planned purchases of 49 tanks from China. Thailand ordered 28 tanks from China last year. "These tanks will replace the M41 tanks, which are small and old," Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters. Thailand has used the U.S. M41 light tanks since World War II, said Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. Relations have been strengthening between China and the United States' oldest ally in Southeast Asia, particularly since ties with the United States cooled after a 2014 coup. In January, the cabinet also approved 13.5 billion baht ($380 million) to buy a submarine from China and is considering buying three more. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has boasted of his new friendship with China as he has talked down the relationship with the United States, despite a longstanding territorial dispute with Beijing. A U.S. Navy aid unit has also been told to leave Cambodia, the U.S. embassy said, in a new sign of the country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy aid unit has been told to leave Cambodia, the U.S. embassy said, in a new sign of the Southeast Asian country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing. The departure of the U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion - known as the Seabees - meant the cancellation of 20 planned projects, including at schools and hospitals, the embassy said on its Facebook page on Monday. "Last week, the Royal Government of Cambodia notified the Embassy of its decision to postpone indefinitely the Seabees program," the embassy said. "We are sad to see the Seabees go, but proud of their accomplishments over the last nine years." Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said he was unaware of such a decision. Cambodia has gone further than other Southeast Asian nations in courting China and the shift away from Washington has continued under U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's professed admiration for him. Relations have been strained by U.S. criticism of a legal change that made it easier for the government to ban political parties and by renewed Cambodian demands for the cancellation of $500 million in debts dating from the war era of the 1970s. In January, Cambodia suspended joint military exercises that were due to have been held in June. Cambodia said it was because it would be too busy with elections then and rejected any connection to China. Last year, Beijing held a joint naval drill with Cambodia for the first time. Cambodia's armed forces have benefited from Chinese training and equipment including jeeps, rocket launchers and helicopters. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has boasted of his new friendship with China despite a longstanding territorial dispute. Thailand's military junta has increased purchases of Chinese hardware, including a further 10 tanks approved by the cabinet on Tuesday. The reduction in military links with Cambodia would be a setback for U.S. strategy in the region but Hun Sen could also end up losing out, said Carl Thayer, professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. "His anti-U.S. actions will only increase Cambodia's dependency on China," he said. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Nick Macfie)
A Chinese navy ship is seen docked after an exercise with Cambodian naval officers in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia February 26, 2016. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Thomson Reuters

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy aid unit has been told to leave Cambodia, the U.S. embassy said, in a new sign of the Southeast Asian country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing.

The departure of the U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion  known as the Seabees  meant the cancellation of 20 planned projects, including at schools and hospitals, the embassy said on its Facebook page on Monday.

"Last week, the Royal Government of Cambodia notified the Embassy of its decision to postpone indefinitely the Seabees program," the embassy said. "We are sad to see the Seabees go, but proud of their accomplishments over the last nine years."

Cambodian defense ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said he was unaware of such a decision.

Cambodia has gone further than other Southeast Asian nations in courting China and the shift away from Washington has continued under U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's professed admiration for him.

Relations have been strained by U.S. criticism of a legal change that made it easier for the government to ban political parties and by renewed Cambodian demands for the cancellation of $500 million in debts dating from the war era of the 1970s.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen shake hands as they pose for a picture at the Prime Minister's office in Phnom Penh, October 13, 2016. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Thomson Reuters

In January, Cambodia suspended joint military exercises that were due to have been held in June. Cambodia said it was because it would be too busy with elections then and rejected any connection to China.

Last year, Beijing held a joint naval drill with Cambodia for the first time. Cambodia's armed forces have benefited from Chinese training and equipment including jeeps, rocket launchers and helicopters.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has boasted of his new friendship with China despite a longstanding territorial dispute. Thailand's military junta has increased purchases of Chinese hardware, including a further 10 tanks approved by the cabinet on Tuesday.

Story continues

The reduction in military links with Cambodia would be a setback for U.S. strategy in the region but Hun Sen could also end up losing out, said Carl Thayer, professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy.

"His anti-U.S. actions will only increase Cambodia's dependency on China," he said.

(By Prak Chan Thul; editing by Matthew Tostevin and Nick Macfie)

NOW WATCH: Meet the MQ-25A Stingray  the US's response to threats like China's 'carrier killers'

See Also:
Le Monsieur and I spent most of the weekend hunkered down at home to start mapping out our itinerary and booking activities for our trip to Italy at the end of the month. Weve learned the hard way that it can be easy to fritter away precious vacation days if we dont plan well, but were still trying to find that perfect balance between scheduling activities and leaving time open for spontaneity and relaxation.

Our first visit to Rome was brief (3 full days) and we felt as though we barely scratched the surface. Wed done very little planning ahead of time (wed mostly focused on the longer Florence portion of that trip). We did squeeze in a guided Coliseum tour, and walked ourselves through the Forum ruins, the Vatican museum and St. Peters Basilica, several churches and cathedrals, the Spanish Steps, the Galleria Borghese, and (as we tend to do) spent a lot of time wandering the streets trying to decide where to have lunch. And gelato. It didnt help that Europe was having a major heatwave that year, and our enjoyment was diminished by discomfort in 90+F degree temperatures.

In a city like Rome, (or Paris, for that matter) it can be very hard to narrow down what to see and do, especially on a shorter visit. Well be in Rome for 4 full days, and are trying to be more strategic this time.

Break it down. Sometimes we schedule activities by locale keeping to one area or neighborhood per day. For this trip, le Monsieur suggested that we set aside each day for a specific type of venueMuseum Day, Park/Monument Day, Shopping Day, etc. It sounded like as good a launch point as any. Get acclimated. Weve learned to keep our first day in a new time zone relatively unscheduled, in case of jet lag or fatigue, or tender tummies. For our first full day weve downloaded some self-guided walking tours, and will spend as much time outdoors and moving as we can manage to get oriented and help ourselves adjust to the time change. Plan meals. Were making lunch reservations in the vicinity of planned activities each day, rather than leaving it to chance. This will save a lot of time and angst! Prioritize. Weve pre-purchased tickets for some activities and guided tours that have limited hours or availability, so we can plan around those. Pace ourselves. Though there are so many things to see and its tempting to try to schedule every minute, weve learned that theres a point of diminishing returns. Wed rather see and do fewer things each day and enjoy them fully than feel rushed through or at the point of Sensory Overload where it all becomes a blur. Some of our very best moments traveling have been those unscheduled breaks spent sitting, sipping and people watching.

After Rome, we head to Lake Como for 3 nights/2 days. Were not scheduling much for this portion of the trip aside from dinner reservations; the idea is to build in some down time in the middle just to relax and be off the clock.

Then on to Venice for 5 nights/4 days. Well be using many of the same strategies for scheduling our time in Venice as we have for Rome. Weve already booked a couple of tours/activities that Im super excited about and am looking forward to sharing with you.

We rely on a variety of sources for suggestions for accommodations, activities and dining. Le Monsieur has subscribed to several travel-related publications over the years, and regularly reads a lot of travel and foodie websites like Chowhound. Ive picked up some ideas on Pinterest, as well as from other bloggers. Weve learned to make notes when we hear of something that might be interesting, and then refer back to them as we begin planning.

How do you set your itineraries when traveling? Do you mostly plan ahead, leave it until you arrive, or a mix of both?

Images via Wikimedia Commons. Sadly, most of the photos I took on our first trip to Italy (2011) were lost when my laptop crashed a few months later. Now, in addition to backing up my laptop to an external drive, I upload all of my photos to Dropbox!
Ive heard numerous versions of this story, but Ill go with the one reportedly told by Dr. Abraham Twerski, a renowned psychiatrist and Orthodox rabbi. (Ive trimmed and paraphrased it a bit.)

The bearded Twerski goes to the airport in his Hasidic garb  the hat, the long coat, the buttoned white shirt. Another Jew, this one modernly dressed, is annoyed by Twerski and unloads on him: Whats wrong with you? Must you insist on parading around in that medieval get-up as if it were Purim? Dont you realize how ridiculous you look? You bring nothing but scorn and embarrassment upon us Jews!

After letting the angry man continue for a while, Twerski says, I fail to understand what thee art saying. You do realize that Im Amish, dont you?

The modern Jews anger quickly turns to embarrassment. Oh, I beg your pardon, he says apologetically. I didnt realize that you were Amish. You look so much like those Hasidic fellows. You should know that I have nothing but respect for you and your people  keeping to your ways without bowing to societys wills and whims.

The kicker comes when Twerski says, Aha! If I were Amish, you would have nothing but respect for me. But since I am a Jew, you are ashamed of me. Hopefully one day you will have the same respect for yourself that you have for others.

But thats not the moral of the story I have in mind.

The Washington Post ran a profile of Vice President Mike Pences wife, Karen, and lots of people are outraged or repulsed that two evangelical Christians do things that are fairly normal for evangelical Christians to do. Specifically, Mike Pence apparently doesnt dine alone with women or attend events where alcohol is served if his wife doesnt accompany him. Perhaps this practice started when he was in Congress, a place where many a politician has ruined his marriage and career by not following such rules.

In response, theres been a lot of cheap mockery from prominent liberal writers and activists. Its an affront to working women! Hes a Christian weirdo! He thinks a meal with any woman will lead to sex!

A lot of conservatives have leapt to the Pences defense  and rightly so. Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist concentrated on how these rules help prevent infidelity: Good on Mike Pence for acknowledging these truths and knowing his limits.

I agree. But its worth pointing out that infidelity neednt be the issue. I doubt Pence would be a lothario save for those rules. Perhaps he followed them simply to reassure his wife?

Or maybe this is none of our business? That would certainly be the attitude of many liberals if Pence were a Democrat and had actually cheated on his wife.

Last summer, when Bill Clinton spoke about his wife at the Democratic convention (In the spring of 1971, I met a girl ), liberals gushed at the love story, and the rule of the day was that marriage is complicated and the Clintons ability to stay married (though practically separated) was admirable. Besides, Who are we to judge?  no doubt Bill Clintons favorite maxim.

Its a very strange place weve found ourselves in when elites say we have no right to judge adultery, but we have every right to judge couples who take steps to avoid it.

But ultimately, I dont think the important double standard is about marriage or adultery. Its about traditional Christians.

If the Pences were Muslims and followed similar rules, as devout Muslims indeed might, I doubt thered be anything like this kind of liberal scorn.

Of course, thats unknowable. But liberals spend a lot of time and energy defending accommodations for religious Muslims  burqas, veils, gender segregation, etc.  that they would never make for committed Christians.

Part of it is coalitional. For instance, the feminist march on Washington  the one with all those women wearing female genitalia hats  was co-chaired by Linda Sarsour, a committed Muslim who at times defends Shariah law (including the Saudi ban on female drivers, for instance).

But part of it strikes me as a crude form of partisan bigotry borne of a kind of self-loathing of Americas traditional culture. Orthodox Muslim views on women are exotically other and somehow courageous, like the imagined Amish traveler. Orthodox Christians are embarrassing, like the Hasidic one.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. E-mail goldbergcolumn@gmail.com, Twitter @JonahNRO. Copyright, Tribune Media Services Inc.
Saturday, 8:55 a.m., and New Mexico State University engineer Phil King is on the phone: The river is on its way to Las Cruces. Want to come out and play?

Unlike in Albuquerque, where the river is always wet, the wide, sandy bed of the Rio Grande is almost always dry in southern New Mexico below the Hatch Valley until irrigation season begins. Every drop of river water is allocated under a more than century-old treaty  to Texas; then Mexico, and to the onion, chile, alfalfa and pecan farms of southern New Mexicos Mesilla Valley.

Chasing the rivers advance is a strange thrill, both magical and unsettling. It is like waiting for the return of a powerful force of nature that can be, ironically, turned on and off by man. But once released, the river rushes with all the might it would have in its natural state.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation opened the faucet at Caballo Dam at 6 a.m. Friday. Moving about 2 miles per hour, the water was arriving at Las Cruces 24 hours later. I found King flying a drone on the banks of the river north of the city. I got there just in time.

The water appeared like a mirage in the distance  until I realized how quickly it was gaining on us. The river snaked south, hugging the east bank, then crept across the sandy bed till it met the other side.

Fifty road miles away, the Bureau of Reclamation was releasing 2,000 cubic feet of water per second from Caballo.

This year, the water is apportioned first to El Paso. Mexico is scheduled for its water deliveries on Monday. Hatch and Rincon farmers can begin irrigating April 17. And the Mesilla Valley farmers will get their portion starting in mid-May.

Its Kings job to monitor the rivers release each year, but its not what he would call work. Hes been out here on spring mornings every year since 2004. This year, he is excitedly shooting video of the advance with the drone.

As the river fills up at the first spot, we drive about seven miles south to Shalem Colony Trail, where the riverbed cuts through sprawling pecan orchards. There is no sign of water yet.

The banks of the river in Las Cruces are green and strewn with trash  broken glass, empty Dos Equis beer bottles, bullet casings. In the sandy bed, a black-and-gold thong sandal.

People gather as the water arrives. Two dogs rush toward it, pouncing. Children run alongside the flow, then shriek playfully as their parents call them back toward the banks. The water spreads faster than you expect.

A dirty foam cap makes the river look like a rushing root beer float. It has gotten more pronounced in recent years, King tells me.

Its one of the great mysteries, he says. The theory is that its some combination of salts and organics that build up in the very surface of the riverbed when the river is dry.

Thanks to a better-than-average snowpack, the river in southern New Mexico is expected to run into mid-September, according to Elephant Butte Irrigation District. Last year, the river ran till mid-August.

As the water rushed for the first time since last summer, it meandered under a bridge, heading south, eventually, to the sea.

UpFront is an opinion column. Comment directly to Lauren Villagran in Las Cruces at lvillagran@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
RACINE A Racine man is facing multiple charges, including felony drug and firearm possession, after Racine police were dispatched March 24 to a residence on the 1800 block of Clayton Avenue regarding a dispute between residents in the upper and lower units.

Michael D. Hardy Jr., 19, of the 1000 block of Blaine Avenue, is charged with three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, two counts of concealing stolen property, three counts of recklessly endangering safety, two counts of possession with intent to deliver heroin, one count of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and marijuana.

According to the criminal complaint:

Officers spoke to the tenant in the lower unit who stated that Hardy had allegedly threatened their family with guns for weeks. They went on to say that on March 24, Hardy threatened to get a gun and shoot everyone.

The owner of the property allowed officers to search the premises, where investigators reportedly found one Kimber semiautomatic pistol (reported stolen), one Ruger semiautomatic pistol (reported stolen), one Bersa semiautomatic pistol, a Sig Sauer BB gun, a Taser, an extended loaded magazine, two additional loaded magazines, 12-gauge shotgun shells, three boxes of .40 caliber Winchester ammunition and one box of .22 caliber Remington ammunition.

Along with the weapons, investigators reportedly found a pill bottle containing 22 individually packed rocks of crack cocaine, one pastic bag containing one large rock of rack cocaine, a pill bottle containing 16 individually packaged rocks of heroin and six individually packaged bags of marijuana.

Inside the home at the time of the search were three children, ages 6, 3 and 2, who police said had access to the weapons and drugs.

On March 29, according to the complaint, officers located Hardys vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop. Hardy then jumped out of the vehicle and police pursued him on foot.

According to the report, Hardy, hid inside a dog/doll house in the rear of a home in the 2800 block of Prospect Street and was arrested.

Hardy remained in custody as of Monday night at the County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 12. If convicted, Hardy could face up to 50 years in prison with 25 years of supervision.
Q: Can you help me understand the role of pediatric nurse practitioners in caring for my child, both in clinic and in the hospital?

A: Here in New Mexico, nurse practitioners are vital in offsetting our chronic physician shortage. According to the state board of nursing, 972 certified NP licenses were issued or renewed in fiscal year 2016. In many states, including New Mexico, nurse practitioners must also pass a national certification exam. Then, they can practice autonomously in the outpatient setting, managing their own panel of patients, but work closely with physicians in a hospital setting. They are responsible for diagnosis and management of illness, as well as preventive care and anticipatory guidance.

In order to practice independently, they must complete graduate level study, including hundreds of hours of supervised clinical work. Often, they will start out with a bachelors degree in nursing, and spend many years honing their nursing skills. Later, they will go back to school and earn either a masters or doctorate degree in nursing. This additional qualification makes them a nurse practitioner and expands their scope of practice.

Their course of study includes physiology, pharmacology, child development, clinical diagnosis, ethics and principles of research. These are similar to the subjects studied by doctors in medical schools. This curriculum prepares nurse practitioners to seamlessly integrate into either an academic teaching hospital or into a private practice model.

This particular type of health care provider is often described as blending the best of doctors with the best of nurses. Patients often compliment them on their calm and reassuring manner, their willingness to listen and to personalize their medical advice for each patients circumstances. You will find pediatric nurse practitioners in a variety of settings including pediatric urgent care, outpatient pediatric clinic, pediatric intensive care units, pediatric hospitalist teams, pediatric surgical/neurosurgical/cardiothoracic surgical teams and pediatric oncology/gastrointestinal/organ transplant teams. In short, pediatric nurse practitioners have proven themselves integral team members across the spectrum of pediatric care, bringing a level of dedication and consistency to their work which is highly valued.

I work with some nurse practitioners, and asked them, What is your favorite part of your job? They all answered, Making a positive difference in the lives of our patients and families. They also expressed great admiration for the amazing resilience of children, who seem able to recover from severe illness and major surgery in a stunning manner, especially when compared to adults.

Sherry Kenna NP works on the UNMH cardiothoracic surgery team, and sees both adult and pediatric patients. Her work allows her the opportunity to see patients in many different environments  clinic, operating room, intensive care unit and then clinic again. She loves educating patients (and parents) about the surgery and about how to take care of themselves after surgery. She says working with children can be both heart-wrenching and uplifting at the same time, a dichotomy between extreme vulnerability and incredible resilience.

Barbara Bell NP is part of the UNMH neurosurgery team. She says her favorite part of her job is developing long-lasting relationships with patients and their families. She often meets patients in the Newborn ICU and then continues to work with them up to the age of 21. Another part of her job that she really enjoys is helping families navigate the very complicated medical care system  long hospital stays, insurance challenges, doctors office visits, referrals to other specialists, lab work It can be overwhelming to a family. Her years of experience have made her an expert in how the medical system works, and it is incredibly satisfying to be able to simplify a system that can often be very confusing.

Amy Davis NP works in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and has taken care of sick children, as a nurse or nurse practitioner for the past 35 years. Her favorite part of the job is caring for the entire family. She feels privileged to witness the strength that both children and their families exhibit when faced with adversity, and derives great satisfaction from helping them navigate the diagnosis, the hospital stay and ultimately their discharge home.

The Pediatric Nurse Practitioners in New Mexico are a valuable part of our workforce, increasing the number of children who can receive timely care and providing a valuable resource to families in terms of education, support and collaboration. Heres a big Thank You from all of us  parents and doctors alike!

Anjali Subbaswamy is a Pediatric Intensive Care Physician at UNM. Please send your questions to her at asubbaswamy@salud.unm.edu
As part of the KiMo Theatres ongoing 90th anniversary celebration, the venue, along with Bookworks, is hosting a special book launch  the latest from Anne Hillerman  and discussion at the theater at 7 p.m. April 13.

The daughter of best-selling mystery writer Tony Hillerman continues her fathers popular Navajo detective series with Song of the Lion, due out this month.

Admission is free. Books will be for sale before and after the presentation. There is no requirement to buy a book.

Song of the Lion, Hillermans third book in the series, follows the continued adventures of Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito, organizers said in a news release. It takes Chee and Manuelito to Arizona while Lt. Leaphorn helps solve a murder with a clue from long ago. It opens with a deadly explosion in the Shiprock High School parking lot, and takes the detectives to the Grand Canyon and a mediation to help determine the fate of a controversial development.

Anne Hillermans debut novel Spider Womans Daughter, the first in the series, received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America for the Best First Novel of 2013. Her second mystery in the series, Rock with Wings, quickly became a New York Times bestseller in 2015.

The KiMos second signature event in April will be a collaboration with the New Mexico Humanities Council presenting a free Chautauqua performance, Traditional New Mexican Folk Music, with Cipriano Vigil and family, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 23.

Vigil is the living example of Nuevomexicano ritual music, organizers said in a news release. As a boy in Chamisal in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, he learned from the previous generations of musicians at dances, christenings, marriages and funerals. He takes the audience back to the encircling institutions where these village rituals bound families and neighbors together in responsibility for each other.

His presentations and performances have led to numerous awards, including being honored as a Living Treasure, and receiving the Governors Award and the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities Award. He was nominated three times for the National Heritage Award for outstanding work in maintaining and preserving traditional folk music.

The Albuquerque Journal is the title sponsor of the KiMos 90th Season of Celebration.

We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com.
New Mexico State University regents postponed a discussion of a tuition hike on Monday, citing uncertainties in the upcoming state budget.

The administration is proposing four scenarios for the coming academic years tuition: holding tuition flat or raising it by 3.7 percent, 6.2 percent or 7.4 percent. Even the biggest hike would still leave NMSU with a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall and the likelihood of more than 100 job cuts.

Including flat fees, the tuition hikes could add $97.50, $165 or $196.50 to a semesters tuition for students with a full, 15-hour load of credits. Current tuition is $3,365 per semester for a full course load.

Half a dozen faculty, staff and students spoke at Mondays regents meeting and all supported a modest or moderate increase in tuition.

Jim Peach, a professor in the College of Business who has worked at NMSU for 37 years, urged the regents to approve a modest tuition increase.

Over the past few years, we have endured a number of cost reductions, Peach said. The fat is gone. Additional cuts really amount to cutting essential services and core functions of the university. I urge you to approve that  no matter what happens at the state.

NMSU has slashed $30.5 million from its instruction and general budget over the past two fiscal years, including a 5 percent emergency reduction in appropriations required by the Legislature in a special session last fall.

NMSUs I&G budget  62 percent of it funded by legislative appropriations  currently stands at $178.1 million. It pays for everything related to classroom instruction.

The Legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez have yet to agree on a budget for fiscal 2018, leaving NMSU and other higher education institutions in the lurch. NMSU administrators calculated their tuition hike scenarios on expected 1.1 percent or 5.7 percent reductions in appropriations.

For example, with a 7.4 percent tuition hike and a 1.1 percent reduction in appropriations, NMSU would still face a $7.4 million budget shortfall and the likelihood of cutting 104 jobs.

If appropriations were slashed 5.7 percent, the highest proposed tuition increase would leave NMSU with a $12.6 million budget shortfall and a likely reduction of 176 jobs.

The universitys ongoing restructuring efforts, made more urgent by the shrinking state budget, have resulted in about three dozen layoffs and a workforce reduction of several hundred positions through attrition and retirement in recent years.

An NMSU staff member, Steven Griego, told the regents that the employees have done enough.

I understand the governor isnt signing the budget, Griego said. She is a lame duck. At some point you have got to run this thing. You have got to make it happen. Kicking the can down the road only hurts your foot.

In tabling the tuition measure, Regent Kari Mitchell said she believed it would be prudent of us to wait until the state brings more certainty to our budget.

The current fiscal year ends June 30.
An Albuquerque man accused in a five-month long string of robberies that targeted dozens of local restaurants and retailers has been indicted on 231 charges, according to court documents.

In total, prosecutors allege in the indictment filed Friday, Paul Salas, 46, robbed 52 businesses  five more than police listed last month in a Metro Court criminal complaint. He is also accused of robbing five people of personal belongings. Altogether, he faces 55 counts of armed robbery and two counts of robbery. Salas is also charged with crimes including kidnapping, child abuse, conspiracy and aggravated assault.

According to police, Salas robbed fast-food chains, retailers and cellular providers in every quadrant of the city from October to March. Police said Salas was caught in mid-March after robbing a Verizon store of iPhones and a tracking device, which they used to locate him.

Along with Salas, four others are facing charges for their roles in the series of robberies, indictments show.

Listed as his co-defendants are:

 Matthew Sanchez, 27, who faces 66 charges, including 13 counts of armed robbery;

 Dennis Romero, 35, who faces 25 charges, including four counts of armed robbery;

 Sabrina Ireland, 25, who faces 25 charges, including four counts of armed robbery; and

 Lamar Watts, 22, who faces 10 charges, including two counts of armed robbery.

Search warrants confirmed Sanchezs involvement in several robberies, police said, though its unclear exactly how he was involved. Police wrote that Sanchez drives a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer that was seen at several robbery scenes.

Video from a Taco Bell showed Ireland driving a vehicle, Romero checking the door to ensure it was open and Salas entering the store and demanding money, according to a complaint.

Police said Salas told them that Watts drove him to a Napa Auto Parts store Jan. 18, which he robbed before heading to a Gamestop, where the two made off with electronics and cash.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

RIO RANCHO  Two dozen third-graders filed into a computer lab at Cielo Azul Elementary and settled into their places. Some looked relaxed, chatting and giggling with friends. Others nervously chewed on their pencils or drummed their fingers on their desks. One little boy took deep, slow breaths  a relaxation exercise taught at a recent test prep assembly.

Welcome to the first day of PARCC, also known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Schools across the state began administering the rigorous math and English assessment Monday, with testing scheduled to run through May.

Its the third time New Mexico students have tackled the exam, which sparked statewide protests and an opt-out movement when the Public Education Department introduced it in spring 2015.

The demonstrations dwindled last year  only 1,560 Albuquerque Public Schools students opted out in 2016, down from 3,300 in 2015  but PARCC remains controversial, particularly because the scores are used in teachers evaluations and help determine school and district grades. In New Mexico, the test is administered on computers in third through 11th grades.

The first year, concerns were raised about the computer format  would low-income students be at a disadvantage? Were enough computers available at every school?

Cielo Azul Elementary assistant principal Dana Petro said she feels the process has gotten easier over the years.

Everything is going smoothly, Petro said. Definitely, the kids are more used to it.

The school is also trying some new approaches to get everyone pumped up for the big exam.

Last week, the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders got to walk a red carpet while staffers and younger students showered them with confetti. The test-takers paraded around the campus to chants of You can do it!

They felt like rock stars, Petro said. Now we are trying to keep that momentum.

On May 5, Cielo Azul students will celebrate the end of testing by covering their teachers in silly string. Petro even volunteered to take a pie in the face to get a laugh.

We have to do PARCC, Petro said. You might as well make it fun.

The sky is the limit

New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera has said the Common Core-aligned test benefits districts by raising the bar and providing a more accurate measure of students abilities.

Our school leaders, educators, and families have much to be proud of  and the sky is the limit if we continue to pull together, Skandera said in an emailed statement.

She touted the states 98 percent participation rate and a roughly 90-minute reduction in testing time per grade in 2016.

The length of the exam varies by grade. For instance, high school freshmen and sophomores will test for three days, juniors for one.

New Mexicos students have also seen some gains in scores, though their performance is still dismal by any standard.

Last year, only 9 percent of 11th-graders were proficient in math, the worst showing of the bunch. On the high end, 45 percent of 11th-graders met the benchmark in English.

Proficiency rates for the rest of the PARCC exams range from 13 percent to 32 percent.

Stephanie Ly, president of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, said the entire approach is flawed because it treats children as test scores and takes time away from instruction. She particularly criticized the PEDs use of the assessment for high-stakes employment decisions, which is simply not in the best interests of our students or schools.

Test score growth makes up 35 percent of a teachers evaluation under a new system Skandera and Gov. Susana Martienz announced Sunday afternoon. Previously, the scores accounted for up to half of the evaluation  one of the highest percentages in the country. They now make up the same percentage as teacher observations.

PARCC testing

Albuquerque Public Schools PARCC opt-outs

2015: 3,300

2016: 1,560

2017: 300

*The 2017 rate is as of March 31. Students could still choose to opt out in the coming weeks.

Test-taking tips from APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy

Reedy shared her test-taking tips in a weekly email to school staff.

 Get a good nights sleep.

 Eat a good breakfast that includes protein.

 Dont rush; read questions carefully.

 Answer all questions; make your best guess when you dont know.

 Take deep breaths and trust in yourself.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Convicted embezzler Bobby Willis is either knocking on deaths door or hes working on an acting award for stalling his federal fraud trial.

But the litany of medical problems that he says prevent him from assisting in his own defense in the federal criminal case hasnt kept the high-rolling Willis from filing multiple civil lawsuits against former business associates and the court-appointed receiver of the title and escrow company he owned.

And last year he sued the IRS for $33 million  one of 26 separate lawsuits in which Willis was involved either as a plaintiff or defendant in 2016.

Described as a brash, abrasive, polarizing figure who often carried two guns on his hips, Willis definitely has his own style.

According to court records, he claimed that Microsoft founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffet were close friends and told people he spoke to then-President Barack Obama by phone on a weekly basis.

He has been charged with running three different schemes. Two of them were indicted in one case in state court in 2012 and resulted in a plea bargain. The other resulted in federal charges that are still pending.

His tangled web of real estate deals began in 2009, according to court records, when Willis began telling people he was going to build a sprawling multibillion-dollar community centered around a hospital in Kirtland backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Prosecutors say the investors later discovered the plan was entirely fictitious.

The charges in that case were dropped as part of a plea bargain involving a real estate escrow company he owned. Willis, 44, pleaded no contest last year to two state charges of embezzling more than $100,000 in that case and was sentenced to five years of probation.

In addition, Willis has been facing federal criminal charges since 2015 for allegedly defrauding a New Mexico couple of $1 million in a separate real estate deal.

But that case has been stalled over what Willis says is a host of medical issues including heart problems, diabetes, fainting, racing pulse, seizures and ministrokes.

His lawyers say he needs round-the-clock care while serving probation on the state embezzlement conviction at a family compound between Farmington and Kirtland in northwest New Mexico  but some medical providers, as noted by a federal magistrate judge, suggest some of his problems are psychogenic. Meaning they are in his head.

Willis was supposed to have gone on trial in federal court next month, but the case was pushed back because Willis said he was scheduled to undergo tests at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

At the time he was sentenced in state court last April, he was involved in 26 civil lawsuits either as a defendant or plaintiff.

Along the way he has sued the San Juan County Detention facility, the San Juan Medical Center, the State Insurance Superintendent and the state Financial Institutions Division.

Those cases have been dismissed without prejudice, which means they can be refiled.

Health issues aside, Willis has left behind a wake of financial chaos that includes allegations of fake real estate investments, stolen gold coins, phony Rolex watches and stolen gems.

Last year, he was sentenced to five years of supervised probation by state District Judge Louis E. DePauli Jr. after pleading no contest to embezzlement over $20,000 and embezzlement over $2,500.

Assistant Attorney General Zack Jones argued that Willis put in motion a series of frauds when he bought New Mexico Title and Escrow in Farmington and treated it like his personal slush fund.

As part of his sentence Willis paid $94,000 in restitution to Damtech Holding Co. and $20,000 in restitution to a limited partnership for taking money from the businesses escrow accounts for his personal use.

VA complex

San Juan County businessman Mike Atchison invested $1.563 million in Willis hospital plan, including a gold coin collection  money that was supposed to pay for the planning of the hospital project while Willis obtained more than $30 million in industrial revenue bonds from San Juan County.

According to civil and criminal court records, instead of using the money to develop the public bond proposal, Willis deposited Atchisons investment and immediately began buying lavish personal items unrelated to the VA project.

He purchased a suite at Denver Broncos games costing $132,880. He donated another $130,000 to a charity he founded. He and his wife paid themselves $70,000 in cash.

And he paid more than half a million dollars to his attorneys to pay off mortgages on their home and office building, according to prosecutors.

It took Willis all of five months to go through Atchisons investment, with none going toward the veterans hospital project, which never went past the talking stage with county officials who would have had to approve the industrial revenue bonds.

Charges related to the spending of the Atchison investment were dropped in the plea bargain, but the allegations continue in ongoing civil lawsuits.

State investigation

About the same time Willis was promoting the hospital development, he purchased New Mexico Title and Escrow in Farmington.

He later sold the title portion of the company to his attorneys but kept the escrow operation.

The financial labyrinth began to unravel with state investigations into the title and escrow company after a consumer complaint in 2011. An escrow company customer said she sold her house and the money deposited with Willis escrow company was late getting deposited in her accounts.

The Financial Institutions Division made inquiries. The escrow company didnt respond, and a full-blown investigation began in early 2012.

The state Insurance Superintendent and Financial Institutions Division subsequently filed suit and a court appointed a receiver to inspect the companys records.

Willis fought the state officials every step of the way, requiring the judge to step in and order doors and files in the escrow company building to be unlocked.

Officials complained to the court that at one point Willis showed up at the door yelling and with a pistol on his hip.

The courts receiver reported finding $1.5 million taken from escrow accounts in checks and money transfers with no corresponding files to support the transactions.

Later, the receiver reported finding claims against the title and escrow company of more than $2.2 million and a little less than $400,000 in accounts to cover those claims.

The receiver seized Willis real estate assets in Michigan and Farmington to try to make good on the losses.

While the criminal case is ended, the civil case involving the escrow company is still pending because the receivers final report has not yet been approved in state District Court in Farmington.

Extradited

Meanwhile, while he was out on bond on the state charges in 2012, he was allowed to travel to Branson, Mo., where Willis had a house and, he said, he could get medical treatment.

But Willis failed to return to New Mexico for a court hearing in Farmington and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He had to be extradited back to New Mexico in 2014 and remained in custody until May 2015 when he posted $250,000 bail.

During his arrest in Branson, law enforcement also served a search warrant during which the IRS seized 364 boxes of $1 gold-faced coins.

The IRS converted the coins into currency for deposit into an IRS escrow account.

Last year, in federal court in Missouri, Willis filed a civil lawsuit against the IRS and local law enforcement agencies in Missouri and New Mexico, where the search warrants were issued.

Willis claims that while the face value of the coins was $364,000, the coins were actually worth $18 to $1,500 per coin or a total of $33 million.

In court documents he claims the IRS was notified of the actual value of the coins and asked the government not to convert the coins into cash.

The attorneys for the federal government in court filings denied Willis claims.

Federal case

In 2010, Theresa and Joe Lee wanted to convert their IRA to a Roth IRA.

Willis was recommended as an investment adviser and told Theresa Lee that he was starting a real estate limited liability company that would invest in commercial and residential real estate.

According to federal court documents, Willis said that an investment required a 30-year commitment.

Willis told Lee that she would earn a 20 percent annual return on her investment through a combination of capital appreciation and possible rents.

According to federal court records, when Lee sent the money to one company it was immediately transferred to accounts controlled by Willis.

The federal government charges in the indictment that no real property was purchased.

Instead, Willis allegedly used some of the money for personal living expenses. He sent $37,000 to a country music artist company and another $40,000 went for the purchase of a Ford Explorer for a relative.

A federal magistrate judge in Albuquerque ordered that Willis be released into the custody of his ex-wife and not to have any contact with victims or witnesses in the case.

Health issues

According to federal court records, Willis attorney claims he is in extremely bad health and requires 24-hour skilled care.

They contend he has heart disease accompanied by chronic angina and a heart rate that often exceeds 100 beats per minute at rest and under stress may increase to 190-200 beats per minute. His blood pressure may spike to an alarming level and then at other times dip precipitously.

His lawyers say Willis suffered a stroke in 2010, and again in August 2012. He also has a serious blood clotting mutation. They say that while in custody in San Juan County he had another stroke or possibly multiple ministrokes and is now partially paralyzed on his left side.

Currently he uses a wheelchair and is unable to stand. He receives physical therapy several times a day from his ex-wife, who is his primary caregiver.

His lawyers say that of most immediate concern are multiple faint and fall and/or dizziness episodes he experiences, usually four to six episodes each day. Each stroke and each seizure has caused increasing brain trauma and damage, they say.

Also, they say his memory has deteriorated and declines with each seizure. He can no longer read or drive, and his eyesight cannot be corrected by glasses.

Federal prosecutors have not challenged the defense claims because Willis is scheduled to undergo several days of medical tests at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix this month.

But others have.

Many of the same medical claims were made during Willis state sentencing hearing.

State prosecutors said they had serious concerns about the veracity of Willis claims of health issues. They pointed out that the embezzlements he pleaded guilty to occurred after his 2010 stroke and showed his ability to victimize others in spite of his medical problems.

After he was extradited from Missouri, prosecutors claimed that Willis was trying to stay out of jail by malingering and a state judge apparently agreed, deciding that Willis could receive adequate medical attention in the San Juan County lockup.

Late last year U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristan Khalsa found that Willis was healthy enough to participate in the civil lawsuit he filed against the San Juan County jail and others for allegedly failing to provide him with adequate medical treatment.

Khalsa ruled in December that many of Willis health problems predated the filing of his lawsuit and noted that some medical providers have described some of his medical problems as psychogenic. Khalsa set new deadlines that all discovery in the lawsuit had to be completed by the end of March, including the taking of Willis sworn testimony.

But Willis dropped the lawsuit in January. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.
COTTONWOOD, Ariz.  A man charged with beating his mother to death with the handle of an ax in her Cottonwood home has been sentenced to about 31 years in prison.

The Daily Courier reports (http://bit.ly/2nVqLsA) 41-year-old Nathaniel Stubbs was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He also faced charges of aggravated assault, failure to appear in court and tampering with evidence.

Police had been called to do a welfare check on 61-year-old Pamela Shepherd in November 2015 after she hadnt been seen for four days. They found the woman dead in the trunk of her car in her homes garage.

Autopsy results showed Shepherd died from blunt force trauma and positional asphyxia.

Stubbs apologized in court Friday, saying he knew what he did was wrong.

___

Information from: The Daily Courier, http://www.dcourier.com
ODESSA, Texas  Authorities say four people were killed and two others were injured during a two-vehicle crash in West Texas.

The accident took place Sunday near Odessa when the driver of a Ford truck going north on a roadway lost control and entered the southbound lane, colliding with a Dodge truck.

The Odessa American reports (http://bit.ly/2nxZ5qv ) the Dodge trucks driver, 35-year-old Calistro Carrillo of Odessa, died at the scene.

Two people in the Ford truck  30-year-old Christopher Soliz, the driver, and 29-year-old Elizabeth Navarette of Odessa  died at the scene. An 8-year-old girl was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

Two girls in Solizs truck  a 2-year-old and 10-year-old  were hospitalized.

The Texas Department of Public Safety continues investigating what caused the crash.
A proposed interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel to be located between Carlsbad and Hobbs moved one step closer to fruition Friday, when Holtec International submitted its application for the licensure of the site to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Its really demonstrating the commitment of Holtec and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance to move forward with this facility, said Joy Russell, Vice President of Corporate Business Development and Communications at Holtec.

Russell said they anticipate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to spend about two years with their application before granting them a license.

The application includes an environmental analysis of the site, located on 960 acres between Hobbs and Carlsbad, and a safety analysis report, which Russell said is 600 pages alone.

The HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility will store spent fuel in 10,000 subsurface canisters on 288 acres  enough to hold the entire countrys spent fuel backlog.

Most of the remaining 672 acres will be used as a security and safety buffer zone.

Holtec asserts that the underground storage technology protects the stored contents from hazards, such as an earthquake or a crashing aircraft, and blocks radiation for the duration of the storage, a news release from Holtec read. HI-STORE will ultimately be the safest interim storage facility in the world.

John Heaton, chair of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance board, said the undeveloped site is located near gas, water and rail lines, reducing infrastructure costs.

Loads of spent fuel will weigh anywhere from 125,000 pounds to 400,000 pounds, well beyond highway limits, and must be transported by train, Heaton said.

Around four miles of railroad will need to be built to reach the site, Heaton said.

The facility is expected to create 150 permanent jobs and a $2.4 billion capital investment in the area.

The project has received widespread support, with the states legislature issuing memorials in support of the project.

Its more than an economic boon to Lea and Eddy counties, though.

Heaton believes it is the answer to a national question: what do we do with our spent nuclear fuel?

Originally, the solution was a permanent storage repository, like the one intended for the now-defunct Yucca Mountain Repository.

With such a repository yet to be completed, spent nuclear fuel assemblies are piling up at nuclear power plants across the country.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 promised the creation of a permanent repository by 1998.

Instead, utility companies have been left to foot the bill for maintaining and securing spent nuclear fuel.

Even a decommissioned plant, Heaton said, spends $8 million to $10 million annually to keep spent fuel cool and safe.

On top of that, many of those companies have sued the U.S. Department of Energy, resulting in billions of dollars of payouts.

Theres been this idea that you go straight from the reactor to the repository, but its become pretty clear thats not really how its going to happen, Heaton said. Temporary Consolidated Storage is the missing piece of managing the back-end of the fuel cycle.

On Monday, Heaton was en route to Washington, D.C., where a press conference announcing the submission will be held on Wednesday.

While the application is being reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Russell said they will continue to work with government agencies to procure funding for the project.

Maddy Hayden may be reached at 575-628-5512, mahayden@currentargus.com and @Maddy_J_Hayden on Twitter.



2017 the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.)

Visit the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) at www.currentargus.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____
RACINE  A Racine man is facing attempted first-degree intentional homicide charges after he reportedly drove a vehicle in which a passenger was shooting at the drivers ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend last week.

Alondro Pratt Jr., 21, of the 500 block of 3 Mile Road, is facing 19 charges, including disorderly conduct with the use of a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and stalking with the use of a dangerous weapon.

On March 26, Pratts ex-girlfriend was reportedly at her home with her new boyfriend when Pratt reportedly started banging on her window, yelling obscenities and throwing up disrespecting gang signs. During the incident, Pratt allegedly damaged the womans window and Pratts exs new boyfriend came out and got into a physical altercation with Pratt.

On March 28, police responded to the 400 block of Ninth Street after six to eight gunshots were reportedly fired. Police learned that a shootout had taken place between a white Ford Explorer, allegedly driven by Pratt, and a group of pedestrians, with Pratts ex and her new boyfriend in the group. While Pratt was allegedly driving the vehicle, a passenger in a pink or red hoodie allegedly began shooting.

Pratt is facing 19 charges, including three felony charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, as well as two felony first-degree recklessly endangering safety charges.

Pratt remained in custody as of Monday night at the Racine County Jail. His next appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 12 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

Darius Harris, 26, of the 900 block of Hamilton Street, was charged Thursday with felony possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the March 26 incident.
The election of Donald Trump has dramatically increased public scrutiny of immigration policy at the federal, state and local level  triggering widespread confusion over what is new, and what isnt.

Here are five issues that stirred controversy in recent weeks, but have changed little, or not at all, since President Trump was inaugurated:

1. Undocumented immigrants get a free, public education.

This issue exploded last month in Rockville, Maryland, after two undocumented immigrant teenagers were accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a boys bathroom. Even Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, R, questioned why the teens were enrolled in public school.

The answer: Because the Supreme Court ordered public schools to educate all students, regardless of immigration status.

This is not a state or local policy, but a 5-to-4 ruling handed down June 15, 1982, in a lawsuit known as Plyler v. Doe. The high court struck down a Texas statute that allowed school systems to kick undocumented students out of public schools. The court said the statute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and that it was unfair to blame innocent children for their parents decisions.

2. Immigration agents call themselves police.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in February calling for this practice to stop. He said he feared city residents would not call local police for help if federal agents whose job is to deport people also refer to themselves as police.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says police is a universal term that identifies them as law enforcement. Agents emblazon the word on their jackets and have done so for years.

And ICE has the time-stamped photographs to prove it: Heres one in Philadelphia in 2006, in El Paso in 2000, and another in  yes  Los Angeles in 2011.

3. Immigration agents sometimes arrest people in courthouses.

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye last month accused ICE agents of stalking immigrants at state courts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security chief John F. Kelly retorted that they wouldnt have to if California would cooperate with deportation efforts.

But ICE has arrested immigrants in courthouses for years, including last year, when a Chinese national showed up for a court hearing in New York, court records show.

Its possible that ICE pulled back on that policy under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2014. But officials said courthouses were never on the list of sensitive locations the agency avoids, such as churches and schools.

4. ICE protects witnesses and crime victims, but not in every case.

Fear swirled after the February arrest of a transgender woman named Irvin Gonzalez at the El Paso County Courthouse after she obtained a restraining order, according to media reports.

Outraged, advocates said the arrest would frighten other domestic violence victims from seeking help. And the Los Angeles Times reported in March that reports by Latinos of sexual assault and other crimes were down.

Immigration officials say they try to help crime victims and witnesses obtain visas to stay in the United States, and these policy memos are still in effect: Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain Victims. Witnesses and Plaintiffs[ice.gov] and Guidance: Adjudicating Stay Requests Filed by U Nonimmigrant Status (U-visa) Applicants.

But in the case of the woman arrested in El Paso, ICE agents said she had illegally re-entered the United States after having been deported six times. She also had at least eight convictions on charges including false imprisonment, assault, larceny, domestic violence.

5. ICE sometimes deports people whose only violation was entering this country illegally.

Theres no question that under the Trump administration, far more of the nations 11 million undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to deportation. But his predecessor, Barack Obama, also deported thousands of people who were never convicted of any crime, including last year.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
BEIJING  China bashing was a centerpiece of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. The country, he argued, was stealing American jobs and running an unsustainably high trade surplus with the United States.

But as the U.S. president prepares to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida this week, a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that the American public is significantly less worried about those issues than they were a couple of years ago.

Indeed, the American public has grown steadily more favorable to China in the past year as the U.S. economy has improved.

Trump has already predicted a very difficult meeting with Xi over trade, but this survey suggests there is a danger he could be fighting yesterdays battle.

According to Pew, Americans are looking more favorably at China than they did a year ago, even if attitudes are evenly split between those expressing favorable and unfavorable impressions. (Incidentally, those numbers are comparable to Chinese views of the United States: The Pew 2016 Global Attitudes Survey showed 50 percent of Chinese people expressing a favorable view of the United States and 44 percent unfavorable.)

Concerns about China as an economic threat have declined in the past two years. That coincides, Pew says, with growing optimism about the U.S. economy. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans now say the economic situation is good or somewhat good, up from 4 in 10 two years ago.

One takeaway: Concern about Chinas human rights situation remains significant, even if the Trump administration is, according to CNN, not going to be making a big deal about it this week.

The moral of this story, in terms of trade anyway, might be: If it aint broke dont fix it. China is a convenient scapegoat when the U.S. economy is in trouble, but now that the economy is on an upswing, there may be less public appetite to find someone to blame. Indeed, experts say there are important voices within the new Trump administration arguing that a trade war with China would damage both countries economies and isnt a good idea. That appears to be one reason Trump has so far backed away from a fight.

But Pew also found that concerns about Chinas economic threat remain significantly higher among Republican voters than among Democrats. In other words, picking on China is still something that could resonate with Trumps most loyal supporters. (Democrats are more worried about Chinas environmental impact).

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
Mondays terror attack in St. Petersburg didnt elicit much institutional sympathy in the West  unlike previous major attacks, the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate werent lit up in the colors of the victim countrys flag. And yet it sends a troubling message to Western nations: Curbs on liberty and privacy in the name of security wont stop terrorism.

Russia is a country with some of the toughest, most illiberal anti-terror legislation in the world. Even expressing approval of terrorism on social networks is punishable by a 7-year prison term. The government doesnt ask people whether they want more protection in exchange for less liberty  it just moves resolutely to exterminate what Russian law calls extremism, a broad range of activities from sharing a Facebook post to street violence.

Russia is also a country with a massive police presence: According to the United Nations, it had the seventh highest ratio of police officers to population in 2014; among major Western nations, only Spain has more cops per capita.

Visible security measures in the St. Petersburg subway, where an explosion killed at least 14 people and seriously injured 49 on Monday, are more extreme than in most Western subway systems. Following an attack in Moscow that killed 41 people in 2010, the government began beefing up security. Between 2012 and 2016, St. Petersburg spent at least 1.6 billion rubles ($28.3 million at the current exchange rate) on state-of-the-art video surveillance systems, Geiger counters, X-ray scanners and other technology. Metal detectors have been in operation for almost a year.

The terrorist who detonated the nail bomb inside a moving train between stations on Monday was not stopped by the detectors. A similar device was found at another station before it could explode.

As for video surveillance, it worked fine. Soon after the attack, one of Russias national TV networks, REN-TV, broadcast images of the suspected terrorist  a bearded man wearing black clothes and a round hat, the prototypical strict Muslim. The images spread across the social networks with the kind of comments one could expect. Later, the man walked into a police station in St. Petersburg to explain it wasnt him; hed seen the images, too.

Police havent officially named a suspect yet, but various reports are pointing to a male suicide bomber who is from one of the Central Asian states, known as a prime recruiting ground for ISIS. There also have been reports that the group that planned the attack had been under police surveillance but security forces failed to move fast enough to prevent the first explosion.

Russias security apparatus is far from incompetent or inefficient. It has strong traditions and is well-trained and equipped. The security budget is usually the last to be cut when the government is struggling to make ends meet. Its also part of a government riddled with corruption. The firm that made and supplied metal detectors to the St. Petersburg subway was the only participant in the procurement tender. It had been certified for the purpose by the FSB domestic intelligence service despite complaints about its products. And, as it placed the order, the subway system knew it didnt have enough security personnel to properly man the machines. Thats just one of the places where total security dreams meet reality: Its nearly impossible to vet every potential threat on a subway system as large as St. Petersburgs, which handles more passengers than all but three European cities.

The attack, however, occurred in the middle of the day, when traffic was light (which explains the relatively low casualty count), and the terrorist or terrorists would have been easier to spot and stop  and, failing that, positively identified much sooner.

Recent European research shows that people will tolerate a certain level of visible security  such as CCTV cameras, sniffer dogs and even short delays to travel  but resist tougher measures such as those taken in Russia. People who go into the Moscow and St. Petersburg subway with big backpacks or suitcases are often stopped and checked. And metal detectors are nothing if not the airport-style screening that is so loathed. Theres plenty of informal ethnic profiling going on, too, as evidenced by the case of the man whose image was circulated by REN-TV. But danger to passengers remains.

The terror attack will set off investigations into how the equipment worked and how it was manned. Past experience shows that security measures will be tightened for a few days, perhaps weeks, and plans will be worked out for the permanent deployment of more technology and staff. President Vladimir Putin will also have a justification for further tightening the screws ahead of the 2018 presidential election. The Kremlin will also tell the world that it should be treated as a partner in fighting global terrorism, not an adversary. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already made a statement to that effect. There will be  and there already is some  plenty of speculation about a Kremlin role in the attack, which took place after the first nationwide anti-Putin protests in five years. And some will say Russia is getting its comeuppance for its ruthless military campaign in Syria.

All of that, however, is the typical post-attack white noise that matters less to those of us who take the subway every day. What we should realize is that security versus liberty is a false dichotomy. Politicians who try to sell it to us are often more interested in taking away our freedom than in making us safer. Russians have acquiesced in this, but the St. Petersburg attack shows they got little in return for the liberty they gave up. Westerners should be mindful of that when the next attack prompts the drafting of tougher laws or increased spending on intrusive security.

 Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.

For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. . . . When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.  the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

Fifty years ago on April 4, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic address at Riverside Church declaring his opposition to the Vietnam War. He spoke at a time when the war still enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in Washington. Today, as the Trump administration seems to be doubling down on endless wars, Kings courage should inform us all.

King delivered the speech at a time of great turmoil  both personal and professional. The stunning victories of the civil rights movement were in the past. The backlash had begun. Black-power advocates scorned his nonviolent tactics and his integrationist goals. His Southern Christian Leadership Conference was struggling with staff rivalries and financial troubles. King knew that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had targeted him personally.

Many had warned King not to give the speech. Yet he felt he had no choice but to speak out. The war had broken and eviscerated a promising poverty program, he declared, making it clear that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. Also, King told the Riverside congregation, he could not credibly preach nonviolence to African Americans when the nation practiced massive violence to reach its ends. Racism, extreme materialism and militarism were inextricably linked. A nation, he warned, that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

The reaction was fierce. President Lyndon Johnson never forgave him. His speech was greeted with a barrage of editorial disapproval. The Washington Post wrote that many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence. He has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country and to his people. The New York Times rebuked him, arguing, to divert the energies of the civil rights movement to the Vietnam issue is both wasteful and self-defeating. The NAACPs board of directors agreed, passing a resolution labeling any attempt to merge the civil rights and peace movements as a serious tactical mistake. Major foundations that had supported the SCLC were shaken. Hoover redoubled his efforts to discredit King and disrupt SCLC operations. The Nation, Im proud to say, got it right, supporting King, who had been its civil rights correspondent for nearly a decade: Kings Riverside Church speech will rank as one of the most significant of his career, laced with eloquence, and morally uncompromising.

Fifty years later, Kings warning is both chilling and prescient. From Afghanistan to Somalia, the United States is slowly escalating its endless wars, without strategy or sense. The administration and the Pentagon seem to believe that it must be prepared to attack any place in the world that offers a potential sanctuary to those who would threaten us or our allies. Now were told we have a vital security interest in the civil war in Yemen. Montenegro is embraced as a NATO member. We maintain an empire of more than 800 bases abroad in 70 countries with 25 percent of the worlds population. Our special forces deployed to a stunning 70 percent of the worlds countries last year.

The Pentagon consumes about 40 percent of the worlds military spending; together with our allies, we spend about 80 percent of the world military budget. President Donald Trump not only wants those allies to increase spending but also seeks to add another $54 billion to the military budget this year. To sustain his spending plans in future years, he will have to gut domestic investment in public schools, medical and scientific research, affordable housing, infant nutrition and more.

The blame is not limited to one side. Trumps military spending plan is obscene, but it is only 3 percent more than President Barack Obamas last budget. And Obamas budgets projected that spending on domestic programs outside of the shared security mandates of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would decline to unprecedentedly low levels as a percentage of gross domestic product. This bipartisan approach is a recipe for ruin.

Global commitments require global policing. Global policing uncovers infinite threats. Infinite threats mire us into conflicts in far corners of the world. The violence births more of the hatred and terrorism that then leads to yet more violence. Continuing on this road, as King warned, is to approach a spiritual death.

Kings warning speaks to us now. In the last year of his life, he struggled valiantly to bring the civil rights movement, the poverty movement and the antiwar movement together. This week, the activists of Black Lives Matter will join with the Fight for $15 movement to demonstrate for raising the minimum wage. It is time to revive a peace and justice movement that can join them, calling for the United States to stop its endless wars and to turn its resources and attention to rebuilding our own country. A time comes, King told us, when silence is betrayal. Silence on the folly of Americas current course surely is a betrayal, both to our stated values and to our children.



Vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation magazine, writes a weekly online column for The Post.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  A winter weather warning is in effect until late Tuesday evening in much of north-central and northeastern New Mexico due to snowfall that is creating dangerous conditions in some areas.

Several highways were closed Tuesday in the states northeastern corner where the state Department of Transportation warned of severe driving conditions.

The National Weather Service says significant snowfall is likely over the Tusas and Sangre de Cristo mountains and in the Raton area, with strong winds expected to blow snow and reduce visibility.

Meanwhile, high winds are forecast across southern New Mexico until Tuesday evening.
SALT LAKE CITY  A Utah man accused of killing his father and fleeing to Colorado made his first court appearance in Utah on murder charges.

James Main Jr. was assigned an attorney Monday. The 35-year-old has not yet entered a plea to 10 charges he faces in Utah, including aggravated murder.

Defense attorney Grant Bill Morrison says he has not yet had a chance to speak with Main or review the case.

Prosecutors say Main Jr.s father was found fatally shot in October in Roosevelt, Utah. Police say the father had called police earlier, citing concerns about his sons behavior.

Police say Main Jr. kidnapped two people in Utah, fled to Colorado and led police on chases, kidnapped a woman and stole cars.

The Deseret News (http://bit.ly/2n7AAoq) reports Main is expected to face charges in Colorado after his Utah case concludes.

___

Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
(EDITORS: Spoiler alert.)



When it was announced that the classic animated movie Ghost in the Shell was getting a live-action remake and that Scarlett Johansson would play the main character, who is Japanese in the original film, the movie immediately became yet another example of Hollywoods disinterest in Asian and Asian-American characters and actors. Casting Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi, a role that could have been a chance for an Asian-American actress to establish herself as the backbone of an action franchise, seemed like a major missed opportunity.

But Rupert Sanders Ghost in the Shell, which has a different plot from its source material, actually leaves a very different chance on the table, one that Get Out, a micro-budget horror movie, grabbed and has been running with since February.

When we first see Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, her characters name is Major, and she is the result of an experiment that has transplanted her brain into a robotic body that is pristinely white: Her surfaces are creamy and gleaming and pale. But the story Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche), who did the transplant, has told her patient about her origins is false.

Major is not a refugee whose parents died, and whose body was largely destroyed, in a bombing of the boat that was bringing them to her country.

She was a young Asian woman (the movie is deliberately vague about where exactly it takes place), Motoko Kusanagi (Kaori Yamamoto, who plays the character before her brain transplant). Motoko had run away from home, living in a squat in the Lawless Zone with other young people and becoming increasingly convinced that the craze for cybernetic enhancement had dangerous implications for society as a whole. She and the other runaways she lived with were kidnapped by Hanka Robotics, which experimented on them. Ninety-eight of Motokos predecessors, young people who were considered disposable, were subjected to transplants without their consent. Those transplants failed, and the shells were dismantled while the ghosts  the minds and souls of the stolen runaways  were still alive to experience their own dismemberment.

As this horrifying revelation unfolded on screen, I immediately thought of the parallels between Ghost in the Shell and Get Out, Jordan Peeles innovative horror movie about a cult in which middle-aged white people buy young African-Americans and have their brains transplanted into black bodies in a macabre bid at life extension.

Both movies are about the horror of having your autonomy stripped from you. In Ghost in the Shell, both Majors body and her memories were stolen from her by a corporation that saw her as disposable and saw the pain it caused her mother, Hairi (Kaori Momoi), who was told her daughter was dead, as a mere business cost. In Get Out, some tiny fragment of the brain lives on in the black people who are sold to the white people who become parasites on them; at some of the movies most striking moments, the African-American characters regain control of their minds and bodies, and their agony is palpable.

But ultimately, Get Out is a richer, sharper exploration of the relationship between ghost and shell than Ghost in the Shell itself is because of its careful thinking about issues of race and autonomy.

Get Out is set very specifically in the context of American racial history history and the lingering legacy of slavery that means some white people see black people primarily as commodities rather than as humans. The attempted theft of Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) body by his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), and her parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) is generically horrifying because it involves grotesque experimental surgery. The attack is memorably, potently terrifying because it is a dreadful betrayal of Chris love for Rose and attempts to extend trust and good will to people who treat him awkwardly in circumstances where he is uncomfortable.

Ghost in the Shell isnt able to match the dread of Get Out, because its world-building gets awfully fuzzy awfully quickly and not simply about questions of race.

The country where Ghost in the Shell is set appears to be majority- Asian, although white people live there in large numbers and have powerful positions in both business and government, and we know that refugees have been coming to the country in large numbers. But the movie gives us almost no sense of what that society is like on any level. Does racial difference still matter? What about class? How do those potential fissures map onto each other, especially at a moment when people are rushing to enhance themselves with robotics and cybernetics?

The films incuriosity about the race and demographics of its fictional country means Ghost in the Shell doesnt explore, even by implication, what it might mean that Asian teenagers were being transplanted into white bodies. There is potentially fertile territory there. Ghost in the Shell could have used Majors transition to discuss skin shades and beauty standards: Why did the people who designed Major consider the perfectly optimized body to be a white one? And the racial switch could have been commentary on the ways in which Hanka Robotics, which manufactured Major and has mostly white leadership, is trying to co-opt the sovereignty of the majority-Asian nation where it is operating.

Even if Sanders didnt want to dive deep into the political implications of Majors involuntary transition, Ghost in the Shell would have been much more effective on a philosophical level if we had any real sense of who Major was before her transplant and who she is now, beyond someone who deep-sea-dives as a hobby and is good at shooting people.

It matters enough to Ghost in the Shell to make it clear that Major was once Motoko. But the movie falls short because we never quite learn what that means or what Motokos body and identity meant to her before they were stolen.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
PHOENIX  Water has accumulated at a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon, sparking concerns about water contamination.

A wet winter and increased groundwater flow have raised water levels at the Canyon uranium mine, which is located in Kaibab National Forest near the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park, the Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/2nAFdmD ) reported. Kaibab spokeswoman Jacqueline Banks said the Forest Service has been actively monitoring the situation.

State regulators say they have not found any violations at the mine site.

The mines operators say water levels have begun to drop. The levels were so high at one point in March that the operator had to spray water into the air to enhance evaporation and increase the amount of water it was hauling to a mill in Utah.

Samples taken at the mines holding pond recently tested at 130 parts of dissolved uranium per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency considers anything above 30 parts per billion to be unsafe to drink.

A group of conservationists reported visiting the mines in March and seeing mist from high-powered pumps blowing onto national forest lands. Members of the Sierra Club said they saw mist blowing away from the mine on March 12.

They were just blowing water into the air, said Roger Clark of the Grand Canyon Trust, who visited the site about a week ago.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality requires mines to control storm runoff and keep contaminated water in evaporation ponds. An inspector visited the site on March 20 and said the mist wasnt drifting outside the mines property line.

Some conservationists say the agency doesnt do enough. They point to a growing body of research indicating that wells, seeps and springs near the Grand Canyon may be connected.

Spokesman Curtis Moore of Energy Fuels Resources Inc., the mine operator, said in an email that the groundwater flows have slowed and evaporation pond levels have dropped.

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
BEIRUT  A chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. The Trump administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syrias patrons, Russia and Iran, bore great moral responsibility for the deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the countrys ruinous six-year civil war.

Tuesdays attack drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including President Donald Trump, who denounced it as a heinous act that cannot be ignored by the civilized world. The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

In a statement, Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for weakness in failing to respond aggressively after the 2013 attack.

These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution, Trump said. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack.

Trump left it to his top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to assign at least some blame to Russia and Iran, Assads most powerful allies. Tillerson called on both countries to use their influence over Assad to prevent future chemical weapons attacks, and noted Russias and Irans roles in helping broker a cease-fire through diplomatic talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the cease-fire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths, Tillerson said.

In a statement, the Syrian government categorically rejected claims that it was responsible, asserting that it does not possess chemical weapons, hasnt used them in the past and will not use them in the future. It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Khan Sheikhoun residents were exposed to toxic agents from a rebel arsenal hit by a Syrian air strike.

The ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement early Wednesday that Russian military assets registered the strike on a weapons depots and ammunition factory on the towns eastern outskirts. Konashenkov said the factory produced chemical weapons that were used in Iraq.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, located south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pickup trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a U.N. investigation said used sarin gas.

Faced with international outrage over that attack, Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesdays attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors were struggling amid extreme shortages, including of the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem.

Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals, Tennari said. If they got to the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died, he said.

Dr. Mohammed Tennari, a radiologist and AbdulHaj Tennaris brother, said Tuesdays attack was more severe than previous ones in the province, most of which used chlorine cylinders.

Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe, he said. The doctor, who testified before the United Nations in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell after Tuesdays attack, but it was mixed with another unknown toxic gas which causes poison and death.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in the nearby town of Sarmin, where some of the critical cases were transferred, said doctors there also believed it was likely more than one gas. Chlorine gas doesnt cause such convulsions, he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth, he told The Associated Press.

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said by email that the agency was gathering more information about Tuesdays incident. The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, also said it had sent inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awakened by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m., and when he arrived at the scene he found entire families inside their homes unable to move, with their eyes wide open and their pupils constricted. He put on a mask, and he and others took victims to an emergency room. He said he later felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

The province of Idlib, which is almost entirely controlled by the opposition, is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chlorine gas attacks on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months of the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200. A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three additional attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas, and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.

Late Tuesday, Abu Hamdu, a rescue worker in Khan Sheikhoun, said people were still searching for their family members, nearly 12 hours after the attack.

People are still very lost, he said.

___

Associated Press writers Philip Issa in Beirut, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Vivian Salama and Josh Lederman in Washington, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
LUBBOCK, Texas  Police say a 23-year-old man arrested Tuesday afternoon is their suspect in the shootings of seven people wounded while on the balcony of a West Texas motel.

Lubbock police say Adrian Vicente Castillo (ka-STEE-yoh) was booked Tuesday evening into the Lubbock County Jail on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Bond is set at $500,000. Jail records list no attorney for him.

Investigators say a man was at a nearby bar and restaurant late Monday night when he left, then began arguing with and began shooting at the seven standing on a second-story balcony of the Villa Town Motel in Lubbock.

Police didnt say what prompted the argument.

A Lubbock police statement says all of the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Police Monday night released video surveillance images of the suspect in Saturday's robbery at the Tri City National Bank branch located inside the Pick n Save, 1202 N. Green Bay Road.

The robbery reportedly occurred at 2:18 p.m. at the store located just south of Spring Street.

Mount Pleasant police said the suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of money and no one was injured in the incident.

Police described the suspect as an African-American female, 40-50 years of age, who was wearing a dark jacket, dark leggings and brown boots.

The Mount Pleasant Police Department is asking anyone who was in the area around the time of the incident and has information related to the robbery to call them at 262-664-7933.
Police are trying to identify a woman found dead on Interstate 40 last week as well as the large truck or SUV they suspect hit her and took off.

Fred Duran, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said around 3:30 a.m. on March 29 officers were called to westbound I 40 near Juan Tabo after a womans body was found in the road. She had died from her injuries, and the vehicle that had hit her had left the scene.

The investigation has led investigators to believe she was struck by a large truck or SUV but (they) do not have a make, model or description of the vehicle, Duran said. Police also do not have any identification on who the female is due to her not having any identification with her.

Duran said fingerprints and dental records did not identify her either.

He described her as a white woman in her 20s, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds and with hazel eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a gray short sleeve T-shirt, blue jeans, yellow Chuck Taylor shoes, and a black London Fog jacket with fur lining.

Do you know her?

Police ask anyone with information about the woman or the vehicle that hit her to call Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-STOP.
GRANBURY, Texas  A North Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for intentionally veering his car into a passing motorcycle, injuring the two riders.

Another motorcyclist who was wearing a camera recorded the 2015 crash near Granbury and the video was shared broadly across social media.

Sixty-nine-year-old William Sam Crum was sentenced last week after being convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Crum was unable to post bail after being jailed in the days after the wreck and has been incarcerated since that time.

The video showed Crum pulling over and the second cyclist yelled: What were you doing? You hit them.

Crum responded: I dont care.

He initially claimed an insect bit him, causing him to swerve into the motorcycle as it tried to pass him.
TAIPEI, Taiwan  The call was weeks in the making, but the tweets  those tweets  came as a shock.

Just after 11 p.m. on Dec. 2, Taiwans president, Tsai Ing-wen, and small group of advisers gathered to call the U.S. president-elect. Their goal, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, was to put Taiwan on Donald Trumps agenda, to set off on the right foot with the soon-to-be most powerful man in the world.

The roughly 10-minute exchange was friendly, the person said, and Trump seemed well-briefed. The call ended without incident, aides drafted a short statement for the morning, and by 11:45 p.m., the Taiwan side, feeling satisfied, went to sleep.

When they woke, they saw that Trump had been tweeting; Taiwan was the biggest story in the world.

The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you! he tweeted. And then: Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.

The call was the first direct contact between a Taiwanese leader and a U.S. president or president-elect in decades. Was Trump signaling an abrupt policy shift?

Four months after the call and follow-up comments by Trump had put a question mark over U.S. engagement in Asia, and with Chinese President Xi Jinping set to visit Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week, Taiwan is wondering if it is in for another Trump-style twist.

In Taipei, the call initially created hope that the incoming U.S. president would be willing to challenge old orthodoxies, to create new strategic space.

But in the months since his inauguration, Trump and his aides have sent mixed signals on China, deepening uncertainty about their plans. Taiwan government officials are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.

We are preparing for every scenario, said a senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Jason Hsu, a legislator from the opposition Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, worried that Taiwan had been played by the president of the United States. Trump threw a few chips on the table, he said, but he did not reveal his whole hand.

To understand why a short phone call and a few tweets sent Washington and Beijing into a frenzy, consider the recent history of Taiwan.

When the United States opened diplomatic relations with China in 1979, it broke off formal ties to Taiwan. Under the one-China policy, Washington acknowledges Chinas position that there is only one Chinese government, but does not endorse it, and maintains robust unofficial relations with Taiwan.

Under Trump and Tsais predecessors, Barack Obama and Ma Ying-jeou, U.S.-Taiwan ties were not a major focus. Ma was bent on building closer economic links to China, and the Obama administration, for the most part, took a hands-off approach.

As a thriving democracy claimed by the rising authoritarian power across the strait, Taiwan sees its diplomatic efforts curbed at every step. The Taiwan side believed a conversation with Trump would help ties, officials said, and knew that contact with the president-elect could showcase their strategic clout.

Following the call, Trump signaled that things were headed in a new direction, first with the tweets. Then, in a Dec. 11 interview, he said the American approach to China was in play.

I fully understand the One-China policy, he said. But I dont know why we have to be bound by a One-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.

By February, when Trump and Xi finally talked, the U.S. president had changed his tune. In a statement, the White House said Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our One-China policy.

Taiwan officials and analysts are not sure what to make of the shift, but speculated that it tracks changes in who is advising Trump, with Taipei-friendly GOP old-timers losing ground to the presidents daughter and son-in-law, who seem to favor better relations with Beijing.

Given all the policy uncertainty and Trumps propensity to go off-script, Taiwan is preparing for a wide range of outcomes from the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

A positive result, officials and analysts said, would be no comment from Xi and a strong statement of support from Trump. Some would be relieved if the presidents simply said nothing, saving the Taiwan question for another day.

Lo Chih-cheng, a legislator who heads the ruling Democratic Progressive Partys international affairs department, said he thought Trump and his advisers recognized Taiwans strategic importance. If he is serious about U.S. military influence in the region, then Taiwan is something you cant give up, he said.

Yet there is always a fear that Taiwan will be turned into a bargaining chip. The concern now is that if everything is on the table, then Taiwan may be on the table, Lo said.

Taiwanese officials spoke with particular fear about the prospect of an official communique on U.S.-China ties. In fact, any sort of joint public statement is considered risky for Taiwan.

One of the worst-case scenarios for Taiwan is a statement where, either by error or lack of preparation, Trump says something  or Xi says something that Trump doesnt contradict  that implies that they have reached a deal, said Bill Stanton, who served as de facto U.S. ambassador to Taiwan from 2009 to 2012 and now heads the Center for Asia Policy at Taiwans National Tsing Hua University.

What makes it so difficult is that there are so many different things going on, so many contradictions, so much incoherence: Trump contradicts himself, his secretaries contradict him, then they contradict each other, he continued.

Who is preparing Trump and how prepare-able is he? Unless he has a script and he sticks to it, theres no way to know what he will say.

For now, the Taiwan side is bracing for dealmaking  and perhaps a few surprises.

At the meeting between the two leaders, there may be a lot of give-and-take, said the senior Taiwanese government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. We hope that any improvement in U.S.-China ties will not come at Taiwans expense.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
ATHENS, Greece  Three Greek cabinet officials have returned to Brussels for emergency meetings on delayed bailout negotiations, officials from Greeces government and the European Union said late Tuesday.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, deputy George Chouliarakis, and Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou traveled to the Belgian capital to meet with representatives of bailout lenders ahead of a Friday meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Malta.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the current president of the Eurogroup, was expected to be at the meeting, along with EU Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and other senior officials involved in the Greek bailout, according to the officials.

They asked not to be identified because the meeting was not formally announced.

The bailout talks have been delayed for months, freezing loan installment payouts and hurting chances of a Greek recovery after years of recession and flat growth.

Rescue lenders from Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund are at odds over the severity of future cuts being demanded of Athens and actions needed to make Greeces massive national debt sustainable.

Speaking in the European Parliament earlier Tuesday, Moscovici urged all sides to reach a compromise quickly.

All of Greeces partners must now come together to put an end to this uncertainty, which is damaging, and at last create a cycle of virtuous recovery. Greece deserves it, he said.

But (an agreement) requires a real commitment and a willingness to conclude on behalf of all  and I stress all  the parties involved, Moscovici said. This requires difficult political choices. We are aware of this, and it is particularly true for Greece.

Greece is being asked to make further long-term pension cuts, to strip job protection regulations for workers and to maintain high budget surpluses for years to help pay off its debts.

The issue is likely to be discussed further Wednesday during a visit to Athens by European Council President Donald Tusk.

__

Casert reported from Brussels. Follow Gatopoulos at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Casert at http://www.twitter.com/rcasert
Today, the serene waters of Lake Nemi make it a quaint getaway, one that is best known for its peaceful landscapes and the areas delicious wild strawberries.

But in ancient Roman times, the volcanic lake southeast of Rome was the anchor point for Emperor Caligulas pleasure ships  massive and ornate barges that were rumored to be the sites of wild orgies and other excessive indulgences.

For nearly 2,000 years, the sunken remains of Caligulas pleasure ships tantalized divers, who launched expeditions to recover them, with little success.

It wasnt until 1927, when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered Lake Nemi drained, that two of the ships began to be fully revealed. Measuring 230 and 240 feet long, the Nemi ships recovered over the next several years astounded researchers with their advanced technology.

At the time, however, Lake Nemi was only partly drained  and in the decades since, rumors have persisted that the remains of a third, 400-foot-long pleasure ship lurk in the deepest part of the lake.

Local fishermen report getting their nets snagged in that area of the lake, only to bring up Roman artifacts, according to the Telegraph.

We know from documents from the 15th century that one of the boats went down in an area of the lake different to where the other two were found during the Fascist era, Alberto Bertucci, the mayor of the town of Nemi, told the newspaper.

Questions about whether a third pleasure barge belonging to Caligula is sunken in Lake Nemi could be answered soon. Divers on Wednesday will begin scouring the muddy lake bottom for the legendary ship using sonar and other modern equipment.

If its down there, and its that long, then we are talking about the worlds first luxury cruise ship, Bertucci told the Times of London. Every emperor had a villa  but Caligula demanded floating villas complete with columns, hot water, gold and mosaics.

Indeed, the pair of Caligulas pleasure ships found during Mussolinis time as prime minister revealed palatial furnishings and advanced naval mechanisms, including bronze statues, marble floors and lead pipes marked Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligulas full name) that would have carried hot and cold running water, according to a 2002 Films Media Group documentary.

The Nemi ships are very important, partly because they are the most complete wrecks of their period ever found and because of their huge size, Italian archaeologist Marco Bonino said in the documentary. No other wrecks, whether on land or at sea, have provided so much useful information as the Nemi ships, both about construction techniques and about naval architecture.

The two ships were housed in a museum near the lake but were destroyed in a World War II fire in 1944.

The cruelty and debauchery of Romes third emperor have remained legendary through the centuries, although scholars debate whether the more salacious details of Caligulas life were exaggerated. He came into power in A.D. 37 but fell ill in the fall of the first year of his reign and began exhibiting, by all accounts, signs of disturbing mental illness.

Historical accounts of his authoritarian rule, bizarre requests and grandiose lifestyle depict someone who showed traces of Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones, King Louis XVI and Scrooge McDuck.

Caligula spent untold sums of money on infrastructure projects, some on aqueducts and temples  but also once ordering hundreds of Roman merchant ships to create a 2-mile floating bridge across the Bay of Bauli so he could spend two days galloping back and forth across it, according to the History Channel. The network describes Caligulas personal exploits as similarly strange and lurid:

He tormented high-ranking senators by making them run for miles in front of his chariot. He had brazen affairs with the wives of his allies and was rumored to have incestuous relationships with his sisters.

Caligula was tall, pale and so hairy that he made it a capital offense to mention a goat in his presence. He worked to accentuate his natural ugliness by practicing terrifying facial expressions in a mirror. But he literally wallowed in luxury, allegedly rolling around in piles of money and drinking precious pearls dissolved in vinegar. He continued his childhood games of dress-up, donning strange clothing, womens shoes and lavish accessories and wigs  eager, according to his biographer Cassius Dio, to appear to be anything rather than a human being and an emperor.

Caligula often referred to himself as a god and had his enemies tortured and killed.

Throughout his reign, he continued to spend in excess, depleting the Roman treasury. The young emperor was assassinated in A.D. 41 by members of the Praetorian Guard, elite soldiers who were supposed to protect the emperor.



VIDEO:

Italy. After nearly 2,000 years  second of Emperor Caligulas galleys raised in remarkable state of preservation.

Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.
Lovelace Health System has ramped up its cancer care services by hiring nearly 30 employees of Hematology Oncology Associates of New Mexico.

The deal brings two doctors and two advanced practice providers into the Lovelace fold, along with 25 support staff members, according to Christie White, director of Lovelace Cancer Care.

No strangers to the Lovelace system, the former Hematology Oncology Associates providers and staffers have been near Lovelaces Medical Center since 2015, offering chemotherapy services, which allowed patients to get a broader range of treatments at a centralized location.

Hematology Oncology providers moved from their former location to the St. Josephs Square building near Downtown Albuquerque. The 1930s-era building is next to the Lovelace Medical Center, where Lovelace has for many years offered radiation treatment for cancer patients.

It was a natural transition to eventually hiring the companys providers and staff members, said White. Their new employment was effective March 1.

Economies of scale also played a part as many medical oncology groups across the U.S. deal with the challenge of remaining independent.

As you look across the country, you see more and more private practices struggling with the overall expense of cancer care today, especially the high cost of drugs, said White. Coming under a health systems umbrella from a drug purchasing perspective is a huge factor for cancer medicine groups either being acquired or hiring on to a larger, better-funded, entity, she added.

With patient volume increasing every year, the Cancer Center will continue to add staff members, including a medical oncologist, whose hiring is pending, said White.

The center has 800 new patients a year. On average, there are 1,200 patient visits a month between medical and radiation oncology, according to White.
Gov. Susana Martinez traveled to Tennessee on Tuesday to speak at a conference about women in law enforcement.

The timing of the governors out-of-state travel could raise eyebrows, as Martinez faces a Friday deadline to sign or veto more than 200 bills approved during this years 60-day legislative session that have not been acted on.

The two-term Republican governor, a former prosecutor, is one of several officials expected to speak at the conference, sponsored by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Other scheduled speakers include Michigan State Police Director Kriste Kibbey Etue and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman.

Martinez is scheduled to return to New Mexico today, according to the Governors Office.

Per the state Constitution, Lt. Gov. John Sanchez serves as acting governor while Martinez is traveling out of state.

The state of Tennessee is expected to cover the costs of the governors travel.

ABORTION: A congresswoman from Tennessee who recently headed a controversial U.S. House panel will be in Albuquerque later this month for a fundraising luncheon to benefit a local anti-abortion group.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, will appear at the April 18 event with U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and several GOP state lawmakers.

Blackburn was the chairwoman of the House Select Panel on Infant Lives, an investigative panel that drew the ire of congressional Democrats by requesting that state Attorney General Hector Balderas consider filing criminal charges stemming from fetal tissue research at the University of New Mexico.

The issue also spilled over into this years 60-day legislative session, in which minority Republicans tried to pass a bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care if an infant is born alive during an attempted abortion.

New Mexico is among the states with the fewest abortion restrictions and one of seven that permit abortions at any stage in a pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research group that works to advance reproductive health.

This months event will benefit the New Mexico Alliance for Life, a nonprofit group. Tickets cost $50 per person.

Dan Boyd: dboyd@abqjournal.com
Ravi Kumar is a Digital Marketing Consultant and currently working as Assistant Vice President - Sales and BD with AdLift. Riding on the digital wave while serving companies likes AdGlobal360, mydala and Digital Monkeys, Ravi has experienced the digital world as a universe that provides the perfect blend of applied strategy and creative flair. Successful and appreciated completion on digital marketing projects has increased his enthusiasm and continues to bring together individuals, companies and brands to produce creative digital solutions. Ravi is also very active in sharing his knowledge via webinars.

His expertise includes Internet Marketing Consultancy, Digital and Integrated campaign strategy, Digital Business and marketing strategy, business analysis and processes, online learning, pitches, mentoring/ training junior team members.

Apart from his digital proficiency, he has also participated in events like India : AdTech, IAMAI events, iMedia, Retail Congress - Francise India, Click Asia Summit, Singapore: clickZ, Digital Travel Summit, AdTech, eTail Asia, etc.

What does it takes to climb up the ladder in digital marketing? Heres Ravi Kumar in his own words...

How did you get into the role you are serving?

My journey of sitting at my current position is full of fluctuations. I am a hard-core sales guy with sales being my passion as well. Starting my career from a non-digital background, I was never afraid of the path that was coming through my career. Initially, I started my journey in digital marketing industry by working with companies like mydala.com, Adglobal 360 and Digital Monkeys, where I learned how to sharp my sales skills in digital marketing and applied same at AdLift that helped me in cracking some of the big names in the market as clients.

What particular skill sets do you think you bring to the table?

I always believe everyone in this world is talented har kissi ka Apna Apna talent hota hai, its just you need right mentors in your life. I consider myself lucky, I've always being trained by the best of the industry. Today, I work with one of the most influential marketers who believes in executing things instead of waiting for them to happen, that makes me proactive instead of being reactive. Always try new things as change is the essence of life. Not being afraid of failures is the next step towards success, and finally, always play on the front foot - If you think defensive, you will react negatively. And always have faith in yourself - if you really want it, you will do it even if not today then tomorrow for sure.

One campaign that you have worked on which, you were particularly proud of? Please take us through the making of the campaign.

There are a lot of campaigns that I can think of, but this one is special. Like I said earlier, always keep on trying to achieve success. We recently started a company called Yral with YouWeCan ventures, which is a Yuvraj Singh fund management company. After successfully executing few campaigns, we thought of marketing Yral. We attended an event where there were about 80-100 brands along with few other agencies. So, we invited Ssumier S Pasricha aka Pammi aunty for a fireside chat with AdLift and Yral Co-founder & CEO Prashant Puri at the event. The real fun was not Pammi aunty sharing her impromptu jokes, but we made her endorse a brand via Facebook live from her Facebook handle, which got a fantastic response in half an hour's time. That campaign got close to 10k views and approximately 100k impressions.

While working on the creatives how do you prepare yourself? What goes on in your mind?

Creatives are very dynamic. It's not possible that two people with similar interest, age group, geography will respond, like, share or comment to the creative in the same way. So, it's imperative to brainstorm and always come with two options and test with two different types of creatives for the same audience. Although not many people practice this, we feel this is the best way to have a maximum impact from the original. You can't actually list down what goes in our mind, and there is no correct formula, but few hygiene factors that one should be aware of are  TG, the level of interest, the communication and the objective of that creative.

Who are the icons in advertising you look up to and how they have influenced you and your work?

I admire Prashant Puri, Co-founder & CEO, AdLift and Yral a lot. Not because he is my reporting boss or currently I am working under him, but the learning I have received from him in the last two and half years is implausible. It is a privilege working under him. Mr Puri has spent a good number of years in the US pursuing his education at Columbia University and then worked with companies like eBay and Bookrenter.com. While starting AdLift in India, Mr Puri was very clear about keeping the amalgamation of the US and Indian concept of running a company to get best of the results as per the clients requirement. I feel incredibly fortunate that I am working with him.

Jordan Belfort - We all know Wolf of Wall Street Guy because of mentioned qualities.

Take action, learn to sell, become unconsciously competent, set your goals high, have a vision, be honest with yourself, get rich quick, master your inner world, try your hardest, create your destiny.

What are the five most productive things that you do in your everyday routine?

Get up early in the morning Take care of your fitness as a fit mind responds pleasantly even on your worst day Follow to-do list Spend half hour on learning/ improving Plan for the next day

Do you think a career in advertising is a viable one in the long term?

Absolutely - there is no doubt about it. I guess from last one century, apart from traditional modes, advertising has got another medium in the form of social media. It is quite vibrant, and responses on it are intense. The New Gen is very active on social media and responds honestly about everything. Therefore, those who are looking forward to being part of this industry will receive many codes to break into this career.

What does it take to succeed in a career like advertising?

You should be smart, creative, observer, thinker and quick learner to succeed in this industry.

What would be your advice to youngsters planning to enter this industry?

First and foremost, identify your talent. Ask yourself if you are the right fit for this industry. Because more than learnings, this industry needs passionate people who are geeks for creativity. There is no space to repetition here, so you always need to be on your toes to lure your clients with your work.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

I dont work on 5-year plans, I go with the yearly plan that is further broken in quarters, monthly and then weekly - so that I can have proper check-ins in between and celebrate small wins and be motivated for the next goal. Although, there is one thing that I would like to do for sure, which is joining an underprivileged school in a village and giving whatever I possibly can, that's like a dream.

Is there any agency/ organisation that you would like to work with in the future?

I think what elevates your career in every agency is the learning that you are getting there and implying for your job growth. For me, AdLift is a company that I find the best place to work at. The quality of learning you can get here is impeccable. We have an open working culture that simplifies the cross-departmental approach. Our desire is to make AdLift such a company that it should fall into the desire list of companies to work for industry giants.
Following a multi-agency pitch, Lodestar UM has bagged the media duties of premium mattress brand Duroflex. The account will be serviced out of the agencys Bangalore office.

The 50-year-old brand that started with a small manufacturing plant along the quiet canal at Alleppey, Kerala, is a leading enterprise today with the most modern manufacturing processes in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana State and Maharashtra. The company is currently investing heavily in its second phase of growth that encompasses aggressive retail expansion and new line of products.

Mathew Joseph , Director Marketing - Duroflex, said, We are pleased to have a leading media agency, Lodestar UM, onboard. We were impressed by their planning strength and their quick understanding of our marketing task, a flexible and collaborative approach in developing a plan that meets our needs and priorities.

He further added, "We look forward to Lodestar UM partner us on our new phase of growth journey.

Consumers are increasingly getting more aware of the fact that good sleep pattern can lead to several health benefits. A good nights sleep is essential for productivity, overall energy, and physical and mental agility. As a company Duroflex understands this and is a pioneer in offering newer technologies to the consumers. We are extremely proud to partner them in their next phase of growth, said Vaishali Verma, COO, Lodestar UM.
With Indian market growing the fastest for Panasonic Corporation, the leading electronics company 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 Panasonic's 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 Panasonic's 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 role, Mr. Manish Sharma, President & CEO, Panasonic India and South Asia and Vice President  Appliances Company, Panasonic Corporation said, I 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 Panasonic's 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.
RACINE COUNTY  Today Racine County residents can cast their ballots in the 2017 spring general election. To learn more about where to vote go to: https://myvote.wi.gov/ and to read more about the races go to www.journaltimes.com/elections/news/. The Journal Times will post results online tonight as they become available.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. A photo ID is required to vote.

All Wisconsin residents can vote in the state Superintendent of Public Instruction race, choosing between incumbent Tony Evers and Lowell Holtz, a former administrator for several school districts. Many other local races are taking place in Racine County.

School district votes and referendums

Residents of the Burlington Area School District, which includes parts of Rochester, Dover and Walworth County in addition to greater Burlington, will see three major referendum questions regarding improving and adding to some of the district facilities. Questions include whether the district should build a new middle school, a community performing arts center and a second gym for Burlington High School.

Voters in the Yorkville Elementary School District will also see a referendum question asking residents whether the district should be allowed to exceed state-imposed revenue limits with a recurring increase that amounts to $1.05 per every $1,000 of property value.

There are also contested school board races for the Burlington Area, Waterford High School, Waterford Graded and Drought Elementary (Norway Joint 7) districts.

City of Racine voters can vote on a referendum regarding whether or not to overturn the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission ruling. The advisory referendum will ask whether or not to adopt the We the People amendment, which would state that only humans (not corporations) should have constitutional rights and that money is not a protected speech, so it should be regulated. This measure states that political spending should be limited in order to allow Americans to more fully participate in the democratic process without the influence of special interest money.

Municipal races

The east side of the county will see a contested race for a village trustee in Caledonia; Elmwood Park residents will vote for a village president and three village trustees; and Sturtevant residents will elect a village president and three village trustees.

And in Racine, all odd-numbered aldermanic posts are up for election this year.

In what may be one of the most hotly contested races, Mount Pleasant residents will vote for a village president and three village trustee seats.

On the west end of Racine County, Dover voters can cast their ballot for the Dover town chairman, Norway residents will vote for one of two candidates vying for the No. 2 Town Board Supervisor seat, and Town of Waterford residents will chose two of three candidates running for Town Board supervisor and one of two candidates running for the Town of Waterford Sanitary District.

Other west end races will include Rochester residents electing a village president and three village trustees; Union Grove filling their No. 3 village trustee position and Village of Waterford residents choosing a village president and three village trustees.
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC

Bern, 04.04.2017 - President Doris Leuthard will travel to Estonia on Monday, 10 April. In addition to bilateral relations between Switzerland and Estonia, the main topics of discussion will be the priorities of the Estonian EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2017 and Swiss policy towards the European Union (EU).

With regard to bilateral relations between Switzerland and Estonia, discussions will cover economic cooperation and exchanges in vocational education and training, research and innovation. The issue of regional neighbourhood and security policy will also be addressed.

Ms Leuthard will meet President Kersti Kaljulaid in Tallinn where the official presidential talks will take place. Working meetings are also planned with Prime Minister Juri Ratas, Foreign Minister Sven Mikser and Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Kadri Simson. These exchanges are of particular importance as Estonia will be assuming the EU presidency in the second half of the year. The programme also includes a visit to the exhibition of the e-Estonia project, Estonias comprehensive strategy for digitalisation.

Switzerland and Estonia enjoy excellent political relations, which have been intensified in recent years through cooperation on Switzerlands enlargement contribution. In terms of economic relations there is still potential for more intensive exchanges between Switzerland and the Baltic states. Swiss investment has risen over the last decade with around 90 Swiss companies having made investments in Estonia.

Address for enquiries

Communication DETEC, +41 58 462 55 11

Publisher

General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC

https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html




We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus are heading to the market later this month when they will succeed the Galaxy S7 lineup and take over the title of Samsungs most premium mobile device. The upcoming models feature a new design, more powerful hardware, and a new software experience largely backed by the companys new Bixby interface. Fortunately for owners of the Galaxy S7 devices, some of the software features launched alongside the Galaxy S8 are already becoming available to last years models. Such is the case with the new Galaxy S8 Weather app widget, which is now available for download after its APK file emerged online earlier this week.

Owners of the Galaxy S7 who want to get a taste of the upcoming Galaxy S8 can now grab the official Samsung Weather application widget through unofficial means. In other words, as part of Samsungs Galaxy S8 experience, the application at hand is not available for download from the Google Play Store, but those interested may follow the download link below to obtain the Weather APK file for manual installation. Theres no rooting required, but keep in mind that the Unknown Sources option needs to be enabled in the phones Lock screen and security menu in order for the device to allow the installation of Android apps from sources other than the official Google Play Store. Once thats said and done, users can download the S8_Weather_Official ZIP file to their smartphone, and install the application from the local storage using any file explorer.

Its worth mentioning that the Weather app widget is not the only new software addition that can be activated on devices other than the Galaxy S8. Recently, users at XDA Developers have discovered that Bixby can run on most Samsung smartphones running Android Nougat, and the Galaxy S8 launcher also emerged online a few days ago. The Galaxy S8 and its larger counterpart are expected to hit the market on April 21, though Bixby will only support American English and Korean at launch. Samsung promise to update the assistant with more languages over the course of this year but has yet to reveal specific details on the matter.
Google started pushing out new updates for Daydream and Daydream Keyboard, two of its Android apps designed for the virtual reality (VR) platform of the same name. The software updates began rolling out on the Google Play Store on Monday, but it wasnt until today that the Mountain View-based tech giant released their detailed changelogs, revealing how the latest versions of the apps differ from their predecessors.

The Daydream app was updated with support for a controller battery indicator, meaning you can check the status of your battery by simply glancing at your controller when youre browsing the Google Play Store, Quick Settings, or Daydream Home in VR. The Quick Settings menu of the app was now also updated with an option allowing you to enable and disable VR notifications, the changelog reveals. As of the latest update, the main Settings section is offering users the ability to sing up for Googles Daydream Newsletter that will notify them about both general VR news and special product offers. Finally, the Daydream app was updated with a number of new tweaks and additions meant to improve the overall performance and stability of the product, Google said. The Daydream Keyboard app received several new features, though most of them are aimed at expanding the accessibility of the app, its changelog reveals. As it turns out, developers added support for four more languages to the VR keyboard that can now be used for French, Spanish, Italian, and Korean. The latter language also received a new bar for autosuggestions, Google revealed. Other than that, the 1.4 update for Daydream Keyboard ships with some stability improvements and bug fixes, but doesnt bring any new features to the app.

Google has recently been hard at work improving its VR portfolio, both in terms of hardware and software. In addition to pushing for new content with Google Spotlight Stories and similar initiatives, the company has also been promoting its Daydream platform thats set to grow by a significant margin over the course of this year as more original equipment manufacturers release new Daydream-enabled smartphones and headsets. In any case, an update on Googles VR efforts is bound to follow in the coming months.
Google isnt worried about the new guidance for H-1B visas that the Trump administration explained in a memo last week. In an internal email sent to all of the companys immigrant employees on Monday, the Alphabet-owned tech giant explained that its immigration unit is carefully monitoring every move made by the current United States administration, adding how the team believes the companys workforce wont be affected by the newly proposed system. Following last weeks memo, there were some doubts regarding immigrants working as software engineers in the Silicon Valley, but Googles recent email obtained by Recode reveals that the company doesnt expect the revised H-1B visa guidance issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will affect that job category. Regardless, Google assured its immigrant employees that theyll be notified in case the new U.S. administration makes any moves that could potentially affect them.

A revision of the H-1B visa guidance was one of the main reasons why President Trump previously attempted to install two travel bans preventing immigration from several Middle Eastern countries, both of which were challenged and ultimately suspended in the court of law. Google itself was often rather vocal about opposing the polarizing executive orders signed by President Trump earlier this year, and the Mountain View-based Internet giant even signed a letter formally opposing Trumps immigration policies after only two weeks of his tenure. The company previously established the largest crisis fund in its history in response to the first immigration ban, while many of its top executives have privately criticized the measure.

The current U.S. administration is arguing its new immigration policies are meant to improve the safety of the United States, adding how a stricter visa vetting process is a necessary measure aimed at preventing potential terrorists from entering the country. As the Silicon Valley traditionally relies on immigration to find skilled workers, many U.S. tech giants were rather vocal about opposing the anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration, though their opposition dwindled in recent weeks after the latest executive order mandating a travel ban was suspended by several courts in early March.
ASUS will not be bringing a higher spec variant of the ZenFone 3 Zoom to the US, contrary to a statement issued by the Taiwanese firm back in February which was the cause of a delay. The company has now stated that the US will not be receiving a variant of the device with upgraded internals, and it has also admitted that it was their mistake. The statement first surfaced when a Facebook user questioned ASUS regarding the launch of the device in the US, to which the company responded saying that the smartphone is being equipped with better specs, and the launch will be delayed. However, a few days later, ASUS responded once again, and this time around the company stated that the device will not be packing better specs.

This means that the US will be receiving the same variant which other markets are receiving at the moment. However, while the ZenFone 3 Zoom will not be coming to the US with upgraded specs, the launch of the device is still delayed. ASUS expects to launch the smartphone in the US sometime in the second quarter of the year, though no specific date has been announced yet. The ZenFone 3 Zoom was launched during CES 2017 which was held in Las Vegas, and the device is already available for purchase in a number of markets. In terms of specs, the new ZenFone 3 Zoom gets a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display. Under the hood, it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. Memory wise, the ZenFone 3 Zoom packs 4GB of RAM coupled with 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of internal storage.

In terms of optics, the ZenFone 3 Zoom sports a pair of Sony 12MP IMX362 sensor. The secondary 59mm lens is used for zooming. The main camera has f/1.7 aperture, Dual-Pixel PDAF and it is assisted with OIS and EIS. For better color accuracy, theres even an RGB color correction sensor and low light shots are enhanced with its SuperPixel Engine. Meanwhile, the front gets a 13MP camera for all your selfie needs. Keeping the lights on is a large 5,000mAh battery which is non-removable. It uses USB Type-C and you can use it as a power bank as it supports reverse charging. Theres also a rear fingerprint sensor which unlocks the device with a single tap.
More innovative data plans may result from the emergence of new wireless technologies and unlimited data plans. CCS Insight highlighted that the emergence of 5G and the proliferation of unlimited plans should force carriers to be more creative and innovative about their offerings. The combination of 5G, gigabit LTE, and unlimited plans can make it difficult for wireless carriers to transform the data use of subscribers necessary to improve return on investment on its network. CCS Insight urges carriers to develop plans suitable for specific users, depending on what devices they have and the services they mostly use. CCS Insight also noted that plans which suit and adapt to the user will be the proper foundation for upcoming 5G network environments.

CCS Insight suggested some possible plan offerings for carriers. Among them are plans based on speed tiers rather than data caps, similar to those offered in Finland. For example, a Finnish carrier offers unlimited data plans, which include unlimited tethering, with different speed tiers, a cheaper one at 21Mbps and a more expensive plan at 50Mbps. Plans based on speed tiers can also be used in offering wireless home broadband solutions for rural areas using 4G or 5G technologies. Another suggestion is to provide an unlimited plan as a high-end offering and a plan with data caps as a much cheaper offering.

Carriers in the US and Europe have announced unlimited plans in hopes of better competing with business rivals. In the US, all the major carriers have released their own form of unlimited plans, under the condition that networks may throttle data speeds upon reaching a soft data cap. US Carriers also limit mobile hotspot and, at times, data streaming. Offering of unlimited data plans will likely have a negative impact on the bottom line of the wireless carriers. Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the US, has struggled to grow its wireless business, with the company expecting to see smaller profit margins from the wireless division. Estimates see Verizon posting negative growth compared to the same period last year. Other carriers are also expected to report lower revenue or profit due to increased competition in the wireless market.
Alcatel has seemingly launched a new smartphone called the Alcatel Flash. By the looks of it, the smartphone has been launched without much attention, in spite of this being a rather unique smartphone. The reason for its unique status is that it seems to be the first smartphone to become available sporting a dual camera setup on both the front of the device and the back. At present, it does seem to be currently available to buy in a number of Middle East countries, with no further pricing or availability information available.

When it comes to the specs, the Alcatel Flash happens to be a mid-range offering which includes a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display. Under the hood, it is powered by a MediaTek Helio X20 processor, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage  which can be further expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card when needed. The main feature of this device happens to be the dual-camera setup found on both sides of the smartphone. There are two Sony IMX258 13-megapixel shooters found on the back, with an F/2.0 aperture, and they are assisted by a dual tone LED flash. Selfies are handled by an 8-megapixel and a 5-megapixel camera combination on the front. The two camera modules feature one monochrome sensor and one colored sensor. On top of that, the device allows you to snap pictures in RAW format, giving you greater control when it comes to editing the pictures.

This is a 4G LTE smartphone which comes running on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) out of the box. While a decent sized 3,100 mAh battery keeps the light on. This is a smartphone that comes equipped with a USB Type-C port for faster charging and data transfer. While additional features include dual-SIM support and a fingerprint scanner which can be found on the rear of the device, located beneath the camera module. The Alcatel Flash seems to currently only be available to purchase in only one color, Titanium Grey, and as mentioned, official details on this smartphone are a little light at the moment  so there is no current information on whether it will become available to buy outside of the Middle East.
Its been approximately two weeks since Google released the first developer preview of Android O, the latest major iteration of its ubiquitous operating system. The new build is offering a first look at a number of changes, tweaks, and additions the upcoming version of Android will bring to developers and users, and also confirms that the Mountain View-based tech giant is continuing to name major Android builds in alphabetical order. The Alphabet-owned company is also almost certainly continuing the tradition of naming significant Android software updates after desserts but has yet to reveal how Android O will actually be called. Cue massive speculation across the World Wide Web.

Googles problem with this years Android build is finding a dessert or a sweet whose name not only starts with the letter O but one that is also instantly recognizable. Cupcake, Donut, Ice Cream Sandwich, Lollipop, Marshmallow  those are all names that not only denote sweets but denote ones that a majority of people are familiar with. Picking a name users will easily be able to recognize is important for helping them remember it, which is why Android 1.6 was called Donut instead of Dacquoise. Yes, the latter sounds (and some would argue tastes) exquisitely, but not everyone is familiar with French dessert cuisine. While some names like Cupcake and Lollipop were seemingly easy picks for Google, the choice wasnt so simple last year and its even trickier this time around.

If the Mountain View-based Internet company is looking to name this years Android upgrade after a name that isnt trademarked, its choices are rather limited. Oatmeal fulfills the criteria of being instantly recognizable, but some would argue its not necessarily a dessert. Orange is another name that users would have no trouble remembering, but Google has yet to name an Android version after ordinary fruit. Sure, we had Ice Cream Sandwich so we might get something like an Orangesicle or Orange Juice, but the former isnt particularly catchy while the latter is just a drink. On the other hand, Orelletes (Little Ears), Obbattu (Puran Poli), and Ozark Pudding are all viable names in the sense that theyre definitely desserts but they fall short in the popularity aspect in the sense that few people will instantly be able to visualize what they actually are. Additionally, Google naming Android O Orelletes would also require the company to break its tradition of always deciding on Android names that are written as singulars.

Advertisement

Faced with a lack of instantly recognizable yet generic desserts starting with the letter O, Google might opt to once again find a commercial partner for its new major Android build like it found with Nestle for Android 4.4 KitKat. Following that assumption, the next iteration of Android might be called Oh Henry or Oreo. The latter possibility seems like the most probable one seeing how Hiroshi Lockheimer, Senior Vice President of Android recently took to Twitter to post a GIF of a giant and somewhat modified Oreo cookie thats rotating on a plate. Lockheimers tweet was originally posted in February and seemingly implied Google might be partnering with Nabisco and Cadbury in order to deliver another commercial partnership like it did with Nestle and Android 4.4 KitKat back in 2013. It was later revealed that Google and Nestles promotional partnership was actually negotiated relatively quickly, though that isnt to say all such collaborations are, so even if Google would like for the next version of Android to be called Oreo, theres no guarantee the company will manage to make that happen.

Regardless of what the latest major iteration of Android is going to be called, more details regarding it will likely surface soon seeing how Google I/O 2017 is just around the corner. The companys annual developer conference is scheduled to take place from May 17th to May 19th, though its improbable the tech giant will reveal Android Os official name before summer. Looking at Googles Android release pattern, the Alphabet-owned company traditionally announced the names of its Android builds simultaneously with debuting their third and often final developer previews, meaning we likely wont find out what O in Android O actually entails until July at the earliest.
KENOSHA  He entered the courtroom with a jangle of manacles and left it with a flurry of epithets, but on Tuesday morning Andrew Obregon learned the justice systems final response to his 2015 reign of terror.

The answer was unequivocal: Life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The punishment  handed down by Kenosha County Circuit Judge Chad Kerman for the Sept. 19, 2015 murder of Tywon Anderson  was followed by sentences adding up to another 50 years in prison for the crimes of armed robbery, fleeing and eluding police, and attempted homicide for the severe beating of a Brighton woman. Kerkman declared that the additional time would be served at the same time as the life sentence.

First-degree intentional homicide carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, but the state allows judges to make those convicted of the offense eligible for extended supervision or parole after serving 20 years or more.

Obregons defense attorneys argued that their client should be released on supervision after 35 years, starting that it was the Bristol residents crack-cocaine addiction and not a character flaw that led to his criminal behavior.

Kerkman disagreed, stating that given the factors involved in the case  including the fear Obregons actions caused across western Kenosha and Racine counties and the defendants lack of remorse or willingness to accept blame  he could not consider granting the possibility of parole.

You (state) that the cops should have taken care of it when your nephews were robbed at gunpoint and this would never have happened, Kerkman told Obregon before sentencing him. Its your fault you were in that situation. Its your fault you did what you did. Its not law enforcements fault. Its not the Department of Corrections' fault. Its your fault that you used drugs. Its your fault that you killed Tywon Anderson  its no ones fault but your own.

As his defense attorneys and Kerkman tried to determine just how much credit Obregon might receive for the time he served in jail while awaiting adjudication, Obregon, interrupted, stating: Does it matter? I already have )(expletive) life in prison. Who cares?  Does it (expletive) matter? No, it doesnt.

Later, as he left the courtroom, Obregon added to those sentiments, impugning Kerkmans manhood with a vulgar insult as he was escorted from the courtroom.

Man hunt

Obregons sentencing comes nearly 18 months after his Oct. 13, 2015, arrest on 32 charges. Authorities say his crime spree began on Sept. 26, when Andersons body was discovered in a corn field in the Town of Paris in western Kenosha County, just south of the Town of Yorkville in Racine County.

After being named as a person of interest in the murder on Oct. 2, Obregon managed to evade capture for 11 days, playing a cat-and-mouse game with authorities in western Kenosha and Racine counties that involved multiple vehicle thefts, high-speed chases and a robbery of a gas station, sheriff's officials said.

He was finally captured in Winthrop Harbor, Ill., after beating a Brighton woman and stealing her car. The woman was so badly beaten that the lens of her right eye was separated from the cornea, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said.

Obregon had been slated to go to trial on Feb. 6, when the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department announced on Jan. 27 that the felon had agree to take a plea deal.

Just before the sentencing on Tuesday, Obregon, through his defense attorneys Kristyne Watson and Carl Johnson, asked that the sentencing be adjourned because he was contemplating withdrawing his plea. Kerkman ultimately denied the request.

Addressing the court on Tuesday, Graveley said life in prison without parole was the only sentence worthy of the ordeal Obregon put a once trusting community through.

One of the truly victimizing pieces of criminal behavior is the elimination and destruction of individual citizens' peace of mind  the idea that they feel a sense of safety  and how crucial and important that is to being able to maneuver ones life," Graveley said. The 24-day crime spree of this defendant destroyed the peace of mind of an entire area of this county.

Closure

For the family of Anderson, whose death was pushed to the background amid the fear and frenzy that surrounded the hunt for his murderer, the sentencing marked the end of a long search for justice.

Speaking with reporters after the sentencing, Andersons twin sister Tahitha Anderson wept as she described how her brothers murder had brought together a splintered family.

I am sorry for their loss, just as well as ours, I am just so overwhelmed today  he took a part of me that I will never, ever get back, she said. But I am not going to celebrate. These are not tears of sadness. These are tears of joy. Now I can celebrate our birth  when we came into this world  and keep it going.
According to a new report which surfaced in Asia, ASUS is actually planning to utilize MediaTeks processors in some upcoming ZenFone-branded smartphones. As most of you probably already know, Qualcomm does not have enough Snapdragon 835 SoCs to share with everyone at the moment, which is why LG, for example, had to release their new flagship, the LG G6, with the Snapdragon 821 SoC. Samsung is the main culprit here, as the Korea-based tech giant is manufacturing Snapdragon 835 SoCs for Qualcomm, and they basically picked up the whole initial batch of Snapdragon 835 chips for themselves. Well, ASUS was amongst the companies which were not able to get their hands on the Snapdragon 835 in time, according to the report, and the company seems to be weighing their options.

If a report is to be believed, ASUS is unwilling to utilize the Snapdragon 821 chips in their upcoming ZenFone 4 flagship(s), they would have to wait until June or July in order to get the Snapdragon 835 SoC in their phones, according to industry sources, so the company is considering switching to MediaTek in order to get the ZenFone 4 out in time. The source claims that MediaTeks recent recruitment of ex-Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Companys CEO, Rick Tsai, as the companys co-CEO could make MediaTek even more appealing to ASUS. ASUS competitor, Xiaomi, will get Snapdragon 835 SoCs really soon it seems, if a report is to be believed, Qualcomm actually offered Xiaomi supply priority for the Snapdragon 835, and even premium pricing at $30 per unit (original price is $45-50), in order to fight off MediaTek. ASUS still cant compete with Xiaomi as far as sales go, while Samsung is in a completely different league, so it will be interesting to see what will ASUS next step be.

Now, if ASUS opts to switch their flagship ZenFone series to MediaTeks SoC(s), they will probably utilize the Helio X30 this year, as that is the most powerful processor MediaTek released to date. Do keep in mind that ASUS did not officially confirm anything at this point, but the clock is ticking and the company is due to announce their new flagship smartphone(s) next month, and if they plan to do that in time, theyll have to jump to a new SoC manufacturer, as they wont be able to get Snapdragon 835 chips in time.

Advertisement

Buy the ASUS ZenFone 3
Samsung Electronics will post record Q2 2017 profits that will surpass all of the companys previous second fiscal quarters thanks to the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus, IBK Invest & Securities predicted, as reported by ZDNet. Due to its recently announced pair of Android flagships, the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer will likely experience a 49-percent increase in operating profit over the course of this quarter, ultimately reaching approximately $11 billion, the report states. This achievement would beat the companys record-breaking Q2 2013 by around 20 percent as the Galaxy S8 family is expected to do even better than the Galaxy S4, IBKs Lee Seung-woo wrote in a note to the firms clients.

Other divisions of the Seoul-based tech giant are also expected to experience a massive boost in operating profit during this quarter and 2017 in general, as Samsungs display panel, semiconductor, and memory units continue to grow. While Samsungs second quarter of the year is expected to be extremely lucrative, the companys Q1 2017 financial results are also said to reflect on the firms positive performance in recent months. The South Korean tech giant previously confirmed it will post preliminary financial results for the first quarter of the year on Friday, April 7, so more information regarding its operations will follow shortly.

Regarding the companys upcoming flagship duo, the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus are slated to be released worldwide on April 21, more than a year after Samsung launched the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. The relatively long hiatus between the releases of Samsungs last two flagship lineups was likely caused by the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco that happened last fall. Following two unprecedented recalls that ultimately led to the discontinuation of Samsungs 2016 phablet, the South Korean phone maker reportedly delayed the release of the Galaxy S8 handsets as it wanted to make sure it has enough time to upgrade its quality assurance practices and ensure a similar debacle never happens again. It remains to be seen how long Samsung takes to bounce back from last years ordeal but the company is certainly hoping to start the financial recovery process of its mobile unit with the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus.
Another round of reports regarding the commercialization of foldable displays and smartphones emerged earlier today from South Korean publication The Korea Herald. Citing a Samsung Display principal engineer, the report claims that foldable smartphones will not be commercialized earlier than the year 2019, as there are still technical challenges that need to be overcome before the technology will be viable for the consumer market. Until then, it would appear that the main focus will remain on bezel-free display technology.

According to The Korea Herald, Samsung Displays principal engineer Kim Tae-woong discussed a bit about the future of foldable smartphones during the Display TechSalon event in Seoul. Reportedly, the Samsung engineer said that foldable displays will most likely not be ready for prime-time earlier than 2019, and added that bezel-free display technology currently sells well and gives the company enough time to develop foldable displays. Samsung Display has been working on foldable display technology for the past several years, and recent reports prior to the Samsung Galaxy S8 official announcement suggested that the tech giant could launch its first foldable smartphone as early as 2017 or sometime in 2018. Samsung also filed for numerous patents surrounding flexible displays so the first foldable device seemed to be getting closer than ever to market debut. Sadly, it would seem that Samsung has no immediate plans for launching a foldable smart device, and in the meantime, the company will focus on bezel-free display technology.

However, its also interesting to note that this may be a strategic decision rather than an outcome of technical challenges. According to HI Investment and Securities analyst Chung Won-seok, Samsung Display wont commercialize foldable phones earlier than 2019 because the company does not need to sell the new hardware as it already enjoys 20% of operating profits generated by bezel-free display technology. According to the aforementioned South Korean publication, the analyst also stated that Samsung will unveil its mysterious foldable device as its next secret weapon once the demand for bezel-free devices will start to diminish. After all, Samsung seemed eager to introduce its latest flagship as a smartphone with a new form factor, and the company might not be ready to launch yet another device with an even newer form factor to boot. Whatever the reasoning might be, it looks like foldable devices wont be coming as early as some enthusiasts would have hoped.
Following a ton of rumors and leaks, the Xiaomi Mi 6 has just surfaced on Jingdong Mall (JD.com), one of the largest retailers in the world. Now, in addition to a covered up image of the Xiaomi Mi 6, which is essentially a teaser image, nothing else, the phones pricing also surfaced. Now, some of you are probably expecting the Xiaomi Mi 6 to come with a price of its predecessors, which means it should cost 1,999 Yuan ($290), well, you might be in for a surprise. If JD.com is to be believed, the Xiaomi Mi 6 will cost 3,599 Yuan ($522), which means it could be considerably more expensive than youd think, read on.

Truth be told, JD.com does not reveal specs for the Xiaomi Mi 6, so this could be the most powerful variant of the Xiaomi Mi 6 that will become available, in which case the pricing makes sense. Xiaomi is rumored to release quite a few Mi 6 variants, so it is even possible that this is a 6GB or 8GB RAM variant of the Xiaomi Mi 6, maybe even the Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus, who knows. All in all, the point is that the base variant of the Xiaomi Mi 6 might still cost 1,999 Yuan ($290), or at least a bit more than that. As already mentioned, JD.coms listing does not reveal any spec info when it comes to the Xiaomi Mi 6, but weve seen a ton of leaks thus far, and we do have a pretty good idea as to what to expected. Xiaomi will probably launch several variants of the Mi 6 and Mi 6 Plus, the Xiaomi Mi 6 is said to sport a 5.15-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, and its base model will ship with 4GB of RAM it seems. The Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus will, allegedly, feature a 5.7-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display, and will also ship in several RAM variants. A ceramic variant of the Xiaomi Mi 6 had also been mentioned in several rumors thus far, so keep that in mind as well.

Earlier today, a report surfaced claiming that the companys CEO, Lei Jun, confirmed that the Mi 6 will land before the end of this month. The companys CEO allegedly confirmed this during some sort of a live stream in China recently, and if a leaked countdown is to be believed, the phone will launch in exactly one week. In any case, stay tuned, chances are well get a ton more leaks before the phone actually drops.

Advertisement

Buy the Xiaomi Mi 5
Xiaomi has just released some exciting news, the company is, for the first time ever, celebrating their birthday on a global scale. Sounds confusing? Well, everything will become way clearer soon enough, read on. Some of you are probably familiar with the term Mi Fan Festival, which is a name for the companys birthday festivities and a huge sale that the company is throwing on a yearly basis in order to celebrate their birthday. These discounts were usually offered only in China, but thats not the case any longer, the company has just announced that the festivities have already started, and for the first time ever, discounts will be available in a total of 18 global markets outside of mainland China.

Xiaomi says that this is their way to repay to their fans (Mi Fans), as they appreciate their supports. Mi Fan Festival has been expanded to cover the following markets (in no particular order): US, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, Mexico United Arab Emirates (UAE), Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece, while consumers in India, Taiwan and Hong Kong will also be a part of the festivities. Xiaomi is giving away over $1.5 million worth of coupons and gifts this year, and they cover all sorts of gadgets, ranging from power banks and headphones, all the way to smartphones and smartphone accessories. If you live in one of the aforementioned markets, you have a chance to get your hands on some gifts / coupons by playing a game called Tap Mi, in which you need to tap some fast moving tiles according to the song that is selected for you.

Now, as far as the US is concerned, Xiaomi is giving away some free gifts including the Mi Box, companys 4K Ultra HD streaming media player powered by Android TV, while youll get free express shipping for orders over $99, which means that your new product will reach you within two working days. Xiaomi also said that theyre opening the US Xiaomi Facebook page as well, which you can visit over at www.facebook.com/XiaomiUSA, if you want. Xiaomi India is hosting Mi Fan Festival on Mi.com starting April 6, and the company will offer plenty of products as part of it. The company will start selling the Redmi 4A in Rose Gold (2GB RAM + 16GB storage), while plenty of other products will be offered as well.

Advertisement

Xiaomis Mi Fan Festival lasted for over 7 days in China last year, and it brought a total revenue of 1.87 billion Yuan ($289 million) for the company, that was a record-breaking Mi Fan Festival for Xiaomi. The companys Mi Fan Festival in China will kick off on April 6 this year, and will run through April 9. The company will offer products, coupons and gifts both through online and offline channels, and a ton of products will be available, so stay tuned to the companys official website.

Buy the Xiaomi Mi Note 2
AOL and Yahoo will be combined into a new unit called Oath following Verizons acquisition of Yahoo, the largest wireless carrier in the United States confirmed on Monday. AOL Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong took to Twitter to validate previous reports on the matter while also sharing Oaths logo that says Oath: A Verizon company. Coupled with a hashtag #TakeTheOath, Armstrong boasted about the new company serving over a billion users and operating more than 20 major brands, adding how the unit is expected to be officially established this summer.

Its still unclear whether AOL and Yahoos brands will live on in some shape or form following the merger, though the consolidation itself isnt particularly surprising seeing how its been rumored about since last summer. According to previous reports, combining AOL and Yahoo into a single company was Verizons plan from the beginning, ever since the telecom giant started considering the acquisition of the Sunnyvale-based Internet company. Seeing how Verizon is only planning to acquire Yahoos core business in the United States, the Yahoo brand will likely survive the deal thanks to international ventures like Yahoo Japan, industry watchers point out. In a statement provided to Business Insider on Monday, an AOL spokeswoman said Verizon will launch one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital come this summer, once again reiterating how the New York City-based wireless carrier has big expectations of its latest acquisition.

Verizon started negotiating a takeover of Yahoos Internet business in mid-2016, but the companys efforts were slowed down to a crawl following two major hacking scandals that Yahoo was in the center of. That turn of events led to numerous delays of the transaction thats now set to be completed by the end of the current quarter of the year, Yahoo previously revealed. Verizon will reportedly pay $4.8 billion for the companys core unit, approximately $1.2 billion less than what it was willing to pay before Yahoo was hit with the aforementioned scandals. Time will tell whether the deal will prove to be a good move for Verizon in the long term, but more details on the matter are bound to follow shortly.
WATERFORD  A Greenfield man is recovering after allegedly being stabbed by a woman while they were visiting friends at a home in the Village of Waterford early Tuesday morning.

Waterford police were called at 1:47 a.m. for a civil trouble complaint in the the 300 block of St. Thomas Street.

Neighbors in the area reported that they could hear a male and female yelling at each other coming from across the street, said Waterford Police Sgt. William Jeschke.

When officers tried to separate the two, the man told officers he had been stabbed by the woman.

She was noncompliant with verbal commands from officers, and only complied with officers commands to get on the ground when she observed that she had been illuminated by a laser light from a Taser, an electronic control device, Jeschke said.

Jeschke said the two had come from Lake Mills with another friend to visit with friends who reside in Waterford when a disagreement turned into a fight.

The victim was transported to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, where he was treated for a non-life-threatening stab wound to the right side of his back.

Charges will be submitted to the Racine County District Attorneys Office, requesting that the female is charged with substantial battery and disorderly conduct while armed, Jeschke said. The case is still under investigation.

Police did not release the name of the suspect.

The woman was taken to Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington to get checked out before she was booked into the Racine County Jail.
AWD

It's been less than a month since the regular Performante hit the stands at the Geneva Motor Show. Leaving the controversy around Nurburgring lap time aside, the hardcore Huracan is undoubtedly the best series-production V10 supercar out there, and people just want the best. But because many Lamborghini customers come from Miami or California, a topless track tool somehow makes sense.Do people care about Nurburgring lap records for convertible supercars? We do, and that's because the Porsche 918 came with a roof you could remove. But for most, this will simply be the more expensive Huracan with the wing on the back.Many things will be the same, like the 7-speed gearbox, the, and the 5.2-liter V10, plus 30 more horsepower, of course.Around the back of this prototype, you can see a couple of higher mounted exhaust tips. When the camouflage is removed, most of the rear fascia will be draped in forged carbon fiber. Around the front, we can see the new design.ALA, Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva is a new technology that allows the car to manage the air flow, giving additional downforce. So there's some rather tricky stuff in there.Like the Supperleggera, it's also a little lighter than the standard model. We don't know the precise weight of the Spyder, but it should be around 40 kilos less. Its also likely that the car will maintain the Performante coupes 202 mph top speed and 2.9-second 0-62mph time as the standard Huracan models do that too.But we think the experience will be dominated by the price, the exclusivity and the experience. An open-top Lamborghini with a forged carbon interior and new race exhaust is bound to be like no other.
Before we come up with any potential answer, we'll remind you that the Zuffenhausen animal comes with 3.1 kg/hp, which the F10 M5 burdens each of its horses with 3.6 kg. However, the torque deparment bring a role reversal, with the 680 Nm of the Bimmer easily overshadowing the 460 Nm of the naturally aspirated Porscha.And since the track special is gifted with a generously-sized wing aimed at keeping it planted through the twisties, the M5 also wins the drag value battle.Based on various magazine and independent tests, we can tell you that the rear-engined track special is able to play the quarter-mile game in 11.1 seconds, while the Bimmer needs at least an extra 0.2 seconds for the task.The standing kilometer? The Rennport Neunelfer will leave this sprint behind in 20.5 seconds, with the BMW M5 needing 20.8 seconds for the task.And the Neunelfer can leave the M5 tailing in its wake in just about any acceleration comparison up to 300 km/h (186 mph).If we are to judge by the sprinting times the two German speed devils deliver for sprints that kick off at 80 km/h (50 mph) and end at 120 km/h (74 mph), 160 km/h (100 mph) or 180 km/h (118 mph), the BMW M5 takes the lead.Now that we've delivered all the numbers you could need, we're inviting you to check out the piece of footage below, which shows a 991 GT3 RS and an F10 M5 fighting on an airfield in Sweden.The brawl seems to kick off at around 50 km/h (31 mph) and ends whenever one of the cars gets an obviously-dominant lead. Oh, and,, both velocity tools came in factory stock trim.
4Motion

$30k might sound like a lot for some people, but bear in mind how much of a car you get in return for that dribble of green dollar bills. The Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander, for example, have higher starting prices. A Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is only available with five seats, undercuts Volkswagen s family-oriented sport utility vehicle by 105 bucks.Having said these, the Chattanooga-built Atlas comes as standard with a 2.0-liter TSI four-banger and front-wheel-drive. The turbod motor will happily deliver 235 horsepower and 258 pound-feet, but only as long as its fed premium fuel. And for some reason or other, customers cant getall-wheel-drive with the 2.0-liter engine. For that, you must step up to the high-powered mill: a narrow-angle V6, which is labeled VR6.Also matched to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the 3.6-liter VR6 churns out 276 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. Even with the range-topping engine, the Atlas offers 4Motion as an option. Scheduled to roll into dealer lots in May, Volkswagens newcomer will be available in five trim levels designed to meet the diverse needs and tastes of U.S. customers.The lineup starts with the Atlas S, which boasts 18-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, LED headlights with LED DRLs, 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth and Car-Net App-Connect, cruise control, and a stereo with six speakers. The 3.6-liter VR6 starts from $31,900, and the cheapest all-wheel-drive model of the entry-level trim goes for $33,700.The Atlas is also available in S Launch, SE, SE with Technology, SEL, and SEL Premium guises. The most expensive combo will set you back $48,490 and comes with all the goodies imaginable. But still, there are a few extras worth mentioning, as follows: R-Line package ($1,960), Captains Chairs ($625), and black 20-inch wheels ($995 for the SEL; $235 for the SEL Premium).
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka gave Axios an exclusive look at an agenda-setting speech the labor leader will deliver at 12:30 p.m. at a National Press Club luncheon. He told us President Trump is "throwing a lot of balls," pointing to the lack of progress renegotiating trade deals, and administrative actions like its attempts to eliminate fiduciary requirements for retirement investment advisors

Here's what we can expect from the movement in the Trump era:
When the State Dept temporarily shut down its unclassified email system in 2014, it was actually thwarting a Russian cyber hack, which new details indicate was a more aggressive attack than previously thought.

1. Russia wanted a confrontation: Russia wasn't just sleuthing around for intel when it hacked into the unclassified State Dept system. It was seeking a confrontation, and testing the US' willingness to escalate matters, per The Washington Post.

They're sending a message that we have capabilities and that you are not the only player in town.

NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett called it the cyber version of "hand-to-hand combat."

2. Newfound aggression: In 2014 the hackers stopped backing down when they knew they were being detected. Before that, as Kevin Mandia, Chief Executive Officer of cybersecurity firm FireEye, told the Senate Intel Committee last week, the Russians would back down when they were detected.

3. China and Iran are increasingly aggressive, too: Current and former senior officials said China and Iran have similar capabilities and have been upping the ante when hacking into U.S. systems. They report hackers from these countries are also not backing down even when they know they have been detected.

4. Other vulnerabilities: Similar attacks have been launched on the White House and in Congress, and Ledgett is concerned companies won't be able to fend off attacks like these.

Why it matters: As Georgetown Professor Roy Godson put it to the Senate Intel Committee when asked about Russia's more high-profile hacks last year, "Was he tempted by our lack of action?"
The White House is pointing the finger at Barack Obama after the Assad regime carried out a chemical weapons attack today that has left at least 60 dead and more than 100 injured.

President Trump released a statement noting that the "heinous" attacks came after Obama "did nothing" to enforce his red line over chemical weapons in Syria:

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution."

Silence at State: Meanwhile Rex Tillerson declined to answer when reporters asked him about the attack, the State Dept did not offer any public comment until hours after the attack. Tillerson and Nikki Haley shifted from the Obama-era protocol on Assad last week, saying the US would no longer prioritize removing the Syrian dictator from power.

Update: Tillerson later released a statement which did not mention Obama and condemned Assad for showing "a fundamental disregard for human decency."
The White House and Republicans are talking seriously about reviving Trumpcare, and they think they've found the ticket: fewer Obamacare insurance regulations and more high-risk pools. Will it be enough to win over the Freedom Caucus? Chairman Mark Meadows said last night that the group wants to see the legislative text. Will it actually gain votes that Republicans didn't already have? Not clear yet.

Here's the latest, and a reality check on what it all means.

Vice President Mike Pence met with two groups of Republicans yesterday: a group of moderates in the afternoon, and the Freedom Caucus at night.

The emerging plan would let states opt out of some, though not all, of Obamacare's insurance regulations.

It would technically protect pre-existing condition coverage, but it would allow states to get rid of the "community rating" provision that prevents insurers from charging higher rates to sick people.

It would also go after the "essential health benefits" provision, which was already on the table. Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price would be given the authority to grant waivers to the states.

The bill's Patient and State Stability Fund, which would give the states more than $100 billion over 10 years, would be targeted more narrowly to be spent on high-risk pools, as Jonathan Swan and I reported last night.

Pence left the Freedom Caucus meeting last night without a deal, but Meadows said the group was "encouraged."

Less clear is what Pence accomplished with his meeting with the moderates, who were mostly Republicans likely to vote for the bill anyway.

The most high-profile moderate who's a "no" vote  Rep. Charlie Dent  wasn't invited to the meeting to get to "yes." Instead, he talked with Sen. Rand Paul, who's circulating his own idea for jump-starting the talks: Keep Obamacare's structure for subsidies, but reduce the funding.

Reality check: All of the movement so far is pushing the bill to the right, so the Trump administration appears to be placing its bets with the conservatives, not the moderates. Even if the new proposal gains Freedom Caucus votes, the risk is that it could lose votes from other members  especially those who don't want to be accused of abandoning sick people.




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Each review score is between 1-10. To get the overall score that you see, we add up all the review scores weve received and divide that total by the number of review scores weve received. In addition, guests can give separate subscores in crucial areas, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money and free Wi-Fi. Note that guests submit their subscores and their overall scores independently, so theres no direct link between them.

You can review an Accommodation that you booked through our Platform if you stayed there or if you arrived at the property but didnt actually stay there. To edit a review youve already submitted, please contact our Customer Service team.

We have people and automated systems that specialise in detecting fake reviews submitted to our Platform. If we find any, we delete them and, if necessary, take action against whoever is responsible.

Anyone else who spots something suspicious can always report it to our Customer Service team, so our Fraud team can investigate.

Ideally, we would publish every review we receive, whether positive or negative. However, we wont display any review that includes or refers to (among other things):

Politically sensitive comments

Promotional content

Illegal activities

Personal or sensitive information (e.g. emails, phone numbers or credit card info)

Swear words, sexual references, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, or references to violence

Spam and fake content

Animal cruelty

Impersonation (e.g. if the writer is claiming to be someone else)

Any violation of our review guidelines.

To make sure reviews are relevant, we may only accept reviews that are submitted within 3 months of checking out, and we may stop showing reviews once theyre 36 months old  or if the Accommodation has a change of ownership.

An Accommodation may choose to reply to a review.

When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top, subject to a few other factors (what language a review is in, whether its just a rating or contains comments as well, etc.). If you like, you can sort and/or filter them (by time of year, review score, etc.).

We sometimes show external review scores from other well-known travel websites. We make it clear when weve done this.

Guidelines and standards for Reviews

These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly without limiting expression of strong opinions. They are also applicable regardless of the sentiment of the comment.

Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please dont include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.coms services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.

Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include 'hate speech', discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, and the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted.

All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated.

Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar details.

The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties and not of Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.

By default, reviews are sorted based on the date of the review and on additional criteria to display the most relevant reviews, including but not limited to: your language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. Additional sorting options may be available (by type of traveller, by score, etc.).

Translations disclaimer

This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
It was announced today that Smiggle, the Australian stationery retailer, will make its Irish debut at Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin.



Smiggle is being brought to Ireland by Hammerson, a FTSE 100 owner, manager and developer of retail destinations in Europe.

Their portfolio of high-quality retail property has a value of around 10 billion and includes 23 prime shopping centres, 18 retail parks and investments in 19 premium outlet villages, through their partnership with Value Retail and the VIA Outlets joint venture.

Key investments include Bullring, Birmingham, Bicester Village, Oxfordshire, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin and Les Terrasses du Port, Marseille.



Since its London launch in 2014, Smiggles brand of colourful, fun and fashion-forward stationery has expanded rapidly in the UK, opening 90 stores with Hammerson welcoming the brands first Scottish store to its Silverburn centre in Glasgow last year.



The signing is part of a number of asset management initiatives implemented since Hammerson secured ownership of Dundrum in 2016. The recent signing of Moss Bros boosts the tenant mix at the centre with the formal menswear retailer set to open only its second store in Ireland. Moss Bros is joined by POCO by Pippa OConnor, who has opened a pop-up store at the centre.



Head of Hammerson's Irish office, Simon Betty says, "For Smiggle to choose Dundrum to debut in Ireland is a fantastic result, and is testament to the centres strength and reputation as the gateway for international brands looking to launch in Ireland."

He added, "We are constantly working to bring new and exciting brands to Dundrum, and will continue to leverage our relationships with both domestic and international retailers to bring the best to the centre."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Attempts to 'rebuild' Syria could do more harm than good, Oxfam warns

The future of war-torn Syria must start with a clear political solution and protection for refugees and detainees, humanitarian charity Oxfam has warned.

The anti-poverty aid organisation said yesterday that rebuilding Syria must not be rushed at the expense of human lives. Their statement comes alongside a major two-day conference on Syria's future, co-hosted by the UK in Brussels, starting today.

Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB, said: 'Six years of war and strife in Syria have forced over 11 million people from their homes and devastated the country and its economy. But the work of rebuilding must start on the solid foundations of a political solution and respect for human rights.

'While it is important to maintain humanitarian aid, providing funding to rebuild the country could do more harm than good if these fundamental conditions are not met.'

The Brussels conference, Supporting the future of Syria, is hosted by the UN and the EU. Oxfam said they were concerned that discussions about rebuilding and establishing 'safe zones' in Syria betray a primary interest in seeing refugees returned to Syria. They warned: 'Any returns that are not voluntary or safe would run contrary to international law'.

More than five million refugees have led the violence in Syria and registered in neighbouring countries. More than six million have fled their homes within Syria, and over a million have fled to Europe and other areas beyond the region.

Oxfam has emphasised the need for wealthy countries to provide homes and protection for those in need, and extend family reunion and resettlement schemes for refugees. Oxfam reports that so far, only three per cent of Syrian refugees have come to rich countries through resettlement programmes.

Goldring said: 'The international community has an opportunity to build on the commitments to Syria's neighbours made in London last year. Top of the list is extending the legal rights of refugees, increasing humanitarian and development funding for countries like Lebanon and Jordan, and resettling more Syrians in rich countries'.
Christian programme matches discarded adopted embryos with donor parents

Unwanted human embryos adopted by couples who could not conceive and born into their new family are now being reconnected with their biological parents.

Nightlight Christian Adoptions began pairing discarded embryos in fertility clinics with families in 1997.

This summer Snowflakes, the agency's foetus-matching spin off, will celebrate its 20th anniversary by reconnecting recipient parents and their children with embryo providers.

A new study has examined what both sides can expect, suggesting most of the reunions are largely positive.

Family building using embryo adoption examined 25 providers and 40 recipients and concluded that while 'contact arrangements varied considerably', they were 'generally positively' although 'some challenges were acknowledged'.

Published in Human Reproduction by Oxford Academic it read: 'All families were open with their children about how they were conceived and early contact between recipients and providers (frequently before birth) was valued.

'On the whole, participants were happy with the amount and type of contact they had, and where the current contact did not involve the children, it was seen as a way of keeping the channels open for future contact when the children were older.

'Participants often portrayed the opportunities for contact as being in the best interests of the child.'

Lead author Lucy Frith, a bioethicist at the University of Liverpool in England, said: 'Some of them created these amazing families. Then, of course, these are like all human relationships, some you maintain and flourish, and others don't.'

Frith and her colleagues found that embryo providers and recipients who were in touch with one another and their children generally perceived the contact as positive.

'The contact helped alleviate their potential misgivings,' Frith said in a phone interview with Reuters.

'Different families will want to approach it in different ways,' she said. 'It's part of the evolution of seeing reproductive technologies of creating families and families having biographies, rather than just a medical technique.'

Concerns about who would act as the parents turned out to be more imagined than real, she said, with embryo providers more like distant relatives, extended family they see at most a few times a year

'Everyone saw the recipients as the parents.

'The recipients were the parents, and the donors were involved as the recipients wanted them to be involved.'

One recipient mother wrote: 'The only negative I can think of is imaginary, at this point at least, and that is a worry over being scrutinized or criticized by the genetic parent.'

One study participant wrote of the child born of the embryo she provided: 'We plan to be a part of her life forever. Not knowing leaves too much for the mind to ponder.'

A recipient mother who was initially reluctant to be in touch with the provider couple described their relationship 'a huge blessing.'

She wrote: 'Not only were we given our daughter, but a whole family too, two families actually, or one big family!'

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Christians in Iraq to embark on 80-mile 'peace walk' across the war-torn country in Holy Week

Christians in Iraq will take part in an 80-mile 'peace walk' during Holy Week to urge an end to violence in the countryand around the Middle East.

The walk, which will begin on Palm Sunday in Irbil, is being supported by the Chaldean Catholic patriarch, Louis Sako of Baghdad, who said: 'Peace must be achieved by us [religious leaders] as well as politicians, through courageous initiatives and responsible decisions.'

Some 100 people, Iraqis and foreigners, are expected to participate in the march, which will begin on Palm Sunday on April 9 with a Mass in Irbil, the patriarch told Catholic News Service (CNS) by telephone.

'They will walk from Irbil to Alqosh in the Ninevah Plain, needing one week or more because the journey is very long, some [140 kilometres] 87 miles,' he added. 'I will join them in a village near Alqosh on Holy Thursday,' on April 13.

The march represents a 'great occasion for unity,' he said. 'Another group from Lyon, France, will help make the Way of the Cross using as the stations villages from Telaskov to Bakova, a walk of two to three hours,' Patriarch Sako told CNS.

This peace initiative is aimed at demonstrating the bond among Iraqi communities and churches around the world during recent years of suffering and persecution.

These Christian towns which were once flourishing and have formed the bedrock of centuries of Christian history, were recently liberated from the brutal control of so-called Islamic State militants.

Telaskov translates as 'Bishop's Hill' and was a thriving, modern town of 11,000 before the ISIS takeover in 2014 when militants forced Christians to flee.

Last September, representatives of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Irbil told the US Congress that they had received no UN or US government-administered humanitarian aid for 70,000 Christian or Yezidi survivors of what has been now designated as a genocide against them and other Iraqi minorities, carried out by ISIS since 2014.

Before the 2003 war that toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Christian population was 1.4 million. It is now estimated at only 250,000 people.

'At the moment, we are going through the tunnel, and we need to work hard and pray without ceasing for peace in our country and the region and for the safe return of the forcibly displaced people to their homes and properties,' Patriarch Sako said in a recent Lenten address.

He urged the faithful 'to rely on wisdom and patience and to stay united together on the land where we were born [and have] lived for 1,400 years together with Muslims, sharing one civilisation'.

This Easter, Patriarch Sako said he hopes for 'a real resurrection, a quick return of displaced to their homes, and a restoration of peace at our churches, country and the whole world'.
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to attend 'Service of Hope' as Cardinal takes imams to visit Pope Francis

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to attend a Service of Hope at Westminster Abbey tomorrow, Wednesday, to bring together those 'touched' by the terror attack at Westminster on 22 March. Prince William will do a Bible reading at the service.

Five people were killed, including attacker Khalid Masood, and 50 injured when he went berserk, mowing down pedestrians in his car on Westminster Bridge and then stabbing PC Keith Palmer before being shot dead himself.

The Dean of Westminster, Dr John Hall, told Martin Bashir of the BBC: 'The random and vicious attack on Londoners and visitors to these shores has bewildered and disturbed people of every background and belief. And we shall commit ourselves afresh to working together to bring hope.'

At the same time, the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols is taking a group of Muslim imams from the UK to Rome to meet Pope Francis.

Cardinal Nichols told Bashir, who is travelling with the party along with the four imams: 'Pope Francis is committed to engagement.

'When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he repeatedly visited mosques and engaged with the Muslim community. And his willingness to welcome our British imams is a further sign that he regards interfaith dialogue as being of the utmost importance.'

Westminster Abbey told Christian Today that the Dean of Westminster, Dr John Hall, will preach at today's service.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, will attend along with Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

There will also be families of those killed in the attack, together with other victims, witnesses and first responders from the police, fire, paramedics, RNLI Lifeboat and NHS hospital services.

The major denominations and faiths in the United Kingdom will be represented.

The service will be broadcast live on BBC One and following the service, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will meet privately with relatives and victims, and with representatives from the emergency services.

It has also been announced that Pope Francis is to visit Egypt.

The Vatican said the Pope had accepted an invitation from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Roman Catholic bishops, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque.

Bashir writes: 'None of these meetings is intended to deny the profound theological differences that exist between these faiths, especially where it concerns the uniqueness and divinity of Christ.

'But by continuing the dialogue, these faith leaders are sending a clear message to the communities they serve: that faith without works is dead and that dialogue must always trump conflict.'

WATCH Archbishop of Westminster Archbishop Vincent Nichols talk to Christian Today at a prayer vigil with other faith leaders after the London terror attack.
Horror escalates as deadly bomb and gas attack in Syria kills dozens

At least 100 people have been killed in Syria after a hospital was bombed while treating victims of a chemical nerve gas attack.

The bombardment of the hospital in Idlib in the rebel-held area of northern Syria led to the death of 58, including 11 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack. 'We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances. If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime,' she said.

Many others were wounded, and in addition there were suffocation cases and other signs of gas poisoning.

The Observatory said many people were choking and some had foam and saliva coming out of their mouths - symptoms of gas poisoning. All the children were under the age of eight.

The White Helmets civil defence group said that one of its own medical centres had been attacked.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that if the Assad regime was proven to be responsible, it was a 'war crime' and the president of Syria must be held to account.

The death toll is expected to rise as children and adults succumb to the gas and their subsequent injuries caused by the bombing.

The United Nations is understood to be investigating after the bombardment brought down rubble 'on top of medics as they worked', according to AFP.

Francois Hollande of France was among the international leaders who condemned the air strikes, and suggested Syria's President Assad was acting with the complicity of his country's allies. France called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.

A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

Previously, the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have found that various parties in the Syrian war have used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Wisconsin voters could be asked to approve the addition of a package of constitutional rights for crime victims under a bill being introduced by a pair of Republican lawmakers.

The proposal, known as Marsy's Law, is part of a national effort to enhance protections for crime victims. Versions of the law have been passed in California, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, but not without pushback from prosecutors, defense attorneys and some victims' advocacy groups.

State Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, announced on Tuesday their plans to introduce a Wisconsin version of Marsy's Law. The bill must be approved by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature and then approved by a majority of voters in order to pass. It could be on the ballot as early as 2019.

There is some overlap between the proposed Marsy's Law language and existing state-mandated protections. In most cases, the amendment would elevate existing statutory protections to a constitutional level.

The amendment would "update our Constitution to ensure equal rights for crime victims that are clear, enforceable, and permanent," Attorney General Brad Schimel said. Doing so would allow judges to weigh victims' rights more heavily than under current law, he told reporters in a news conference.

Other states have shown bipartisan support for these efforts, but so far only Republican lawmakers have come out to publicly back the proposal in Wisconsin.

The law would enumerate a set of protections for crime victims that include the right to prevent disclosure of records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim's family and the right to be present and heard at all proceedings related to the case. The law would also allow victims to refuse to participate in discovery or be interviewed or deposed by the defense.

Wisconsin was the first state to enact a Bill of Rights for Victims and Witnesses of Crime, in 1980, and the first state to enact a Child and Witnesses Bill of Rights, in 1983. Voters in 1993 approved a constitutional amendment recognizing victims' rights.

State law currently guarantees protections including the right to know if the offender is released from custody, the right to attend court proceedings and the right to some restitution and compensation.

"As a former law enforcement officer, I know first-hand the effects of crime on our communities and the impacted victims," Wanggaard said in a statement. "Our focus needs to be on caring for and protecting those victims, not coddling criminals."

Victims of violent crimes are lining up to back the proposal. Christina Traub, of Madison, said elevating the state's support for victims to a constitutional level is an important change for the way victims experience the legal system.

Traub, 31, was strangled by her then-boyfriend in downtown Madison on a Wednesday night in August 2015. After strangling her twice, he then dragged her to the sidewalk and slammed her head against it before an onlooker called the police.

During the legal process, Traub said, she felt like she was "pushed to the background." She constantly checked online court records for updates on the case, and showed up to several hearings only to find out they had been delayed or rescheduled.

"It just felt like even though this had happened to me, that I wasnt an important part of the progression of this case," Traub said, questioning why the man who attacked her had constitutionally protected rights that seemed to trump hers.

Since her attack, Traub has connected with other victims of violence through Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, where she volunteers.

"I feel like Marsy's Law, this is kind of our first step to putting victims on an even footing, really, in the legal process, and feeling like they have a say, like they have a voice," she said. "Their voice was already taken from them, being the victim of a violent crime."

Marsy's Law is named for California tech billionaire Henry Nicholas's sister, Marsy Nicholas, who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. After Marsy's murder, Henry and his mother were confronted by her killer in a grocery store, not knowing he had been released on bail. Henry Nicholas has financed efforts to pass these laws throughout the country and is working toward an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

States including Montana and North Dakota have seen challenges implementing the law, ranging from an increased workload for public employees to uncertainty regarding the release of public records.

Schimel said he does not foresee similar problems in Wisconsin because so many protections in the bill already exist in state statute. The changes could make prosecutors' jobs more difficult, he said.

"Ultimately, were really not talking about giving new rights to crime victims, were talking about the stature that those rights receive in the courtroom," Schimel said.

The Wisconsin campaign launched a digital ad on Tuesday featuring victims of violent crime who support the proposal. Running the statewide campaign is Luke Martz, who served as campaign manager for state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley last year.

The effort is backed by the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.
Iraqi Clergy: Prince Charles Understands Us  Now Politicians Need To

Prince Charles has been hailed by Iraqi Church leaders after using a slot on BBC Radio 4's Thought For The Day to call for increased support for persecuted Christians.

The heir to the throne has been increasingly vocal about the plight of believers, especially those in the Middle East. He has used his public platform to call for attention to persecuted Christians and has frequently met with exiled Christian leaders in London and elsewhere.

He took to the airwaves on one of the BBC's most iconic programmes to highlight what he says is a vast problem. Of Christians in Iraq, the Prince of Wales said: "Clearly, for such people, religious freedom is a daily, stark choice between life and death."

Now, World Watch Monitor reports that his words have been warmly welcomed by Christians in Iraq. Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Toma Dawod said: "His Royal Highness the Prince put his finger on our wound. He is supporting the victim; we're victims of terrorism."

As well as welcoming the support of the future Monarch, though, there have been calls for political leaders to follow the lead set by the prince. Monsignor Nizar Semaan, from the Syriac Catholic Church said: "Christians are the true victims of the war... I don't see why the international community, especially Britain, is not taking care of Iraqi refugees."
Jewish community centre forced to close after Neo-Nazi threats in Sweden

A Jewish community association in northern Sweden has decided to close following a series of threats from far-right activists, seven years after it opened.

The centre in the town of Umea was targeted with Nazi swastikas and daubed with messages such as 'we know where you live'.

Local members said the authorities had failed to provide enough security.

A community spokesperson, Carinne Sjoberg said that some people no longer dared to come to the centre.

She said that a Neo-Nazi group, Nordfront, was behind the hate campaign which initially targeted her and then other members of the community too. She added that the windows of a community member's car were broken at the weekend.

Members of the community 'started to feel they didn't want to bring the children,' Sjoberg told the BBC.

'My mother and father are [Holocaust] survivors, so this is not OK. Enough is enough. It was like stepping into their shoes in the 1930s,' she added.

Umea previously hit the headlines two years ago when a march was held to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the outbreak of mass violence against Jews in Nazi Germany in 1938.

Sjoberg said that despite the closure of the centre, the community would aim to have a meeting place in the future that was more central in Umea and easier to protect.

Jewish community leaders say that the situation is tense for Jews in some Swedish towns.

'We've had problems with neo-Nazis in Gothenburg and Umea, but in other cities like Stockholm we feel safer,' said Isak Reichel, the secretary general of Sweden's central council of Jewish communities.

He told the BBC that for Jews in the southern city of Malmo, the threat was mostly from Islamist groups.
Pastor wakes up to church on fire: evangelical church in France faces arson attack

An evangelical church in France has been the victim of an arson attack, the second incident against the church in just over a week.

Flames erupted in the Armenian Evangelical Church of Alfortville, near Paris, on Sunday at 6am, according to Evangelical Focus.

The fire woke up the church's pastor Gilbert Leonian and his wife, who reside on the first floor of the building. Gilbert said he was 'shocked' because the couple were sleeping, but they escaped safely and unharmed.

A trash can had been placed in front of the church and set alight. Firefighters arrived in time to halt the fire from destroying the building. Images of the charred building can be seen below.

Pourquoi voulez vous faire porter le chapeau aux turcs. Cdca, CCAF, vous etes des diviseurs et haineux. pic.twitter.com/2eU1Y59xVA  TeleHay (@HayTele) April 3, 2017

Eight days prior, stones were thrown at the church building, and its telephone system was damaged.

Pastor Leonian told the newspaper Le Parisien that the attacks were 'a surprise in such a quiet neighbourhood', but said that though concerning, they 'do not make us feel angry'. The church community, which numbers about 30, didn't cancel its Sunday service but held it in a different room of the church.

The mayor of Alfortville, Luc Carvounas condemned the attack.

The National Council of Evangelicals in France also offered their 'compassion and prayers' to the church, and emphasised the importance of 'freedom of speech and worship'.

The attack is the third arson incident on an evangelical church in France in 12 months. In May and July 2016, two Assemblies of God churches were victims of arson episodes.
Prince Charles meets Pope - and gives him Highgrove hamper to feed the poor

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the Vatican in Rome today and met Pope Francis for the first time.

They gave him a hamper of their famous home-grown organic food from the Highgrove Estate - for the Pope to pass on to the poor.

It was Prince Charles' fourth visit to the Holy See.

The Royal couple met Pope Francis at the Paul VI Hall.

It was the first time that they had met.

They discussed a 'number of topics of mutual interest', according to the British Embassy to the Holy See.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are received by His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City. #RoyalVisitHolySee @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/C2IPgPSAGf  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 4, 2017

Pope Francis presented Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall with a bronze representation of an olive branch.

They gave the Pope a hamper of food from the Royal Estate at Highgrove, to be shared among the poor and homeless, according to the British Embassy to the Holy See.

Accompanied by Foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan, they went on to meet the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

A main theme of the visit was the environment. Prince Charles joined a round-table discussion with senior Holy See officials on the subject.

They also visited the Vatican Secret Archives and the Vatican Library, and were able to see a few of the valuable historic documents held in both collections.

Prince Charles also met many of the British community working at the Holy See at a small reception at the English College.

Looking out for the poor and homeless, and caring for the environment, are two of the main passions of Pope Francis, as they are of the Prince of Wales.
Prince Charles Would Welcome A Sit-Down With Trump To Discuss Interfaith Dialogue And Climate Change, Reports Say

Prince Charles would welcome a meeting with Donald Trump to discuss interfaith issues, according to reports which come amid the outcry over the new president's refugees ban and growing protests over Theresa May's proposal of a state visit by Trump this year.

Despite widespread disapproval of Trump's policies in the UK, a royal source was quoted as saying of the Prince of Wales: "It is not his style to turn his back."

Sources cited the Prince's record as an advocate for interfaith relations as well as his close relationships with the Saudi and Gulf state royals.

Charles has repeatedly highlighted the plight of persecuted Christians in Syria, an issue that Trump raised during last year's presidential campaign, and according to the Guardian "this may provide a bridge between the two men".

However, during a message recorded for Aid to the Church in Need which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day last month, Charles said: "We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive towards those who adhere to a minority faith."

One supporter of Charles was quoted as saying: "The Prince has gone into the Middle East over recent years at the government's request and has been the honest and neutral broker. He has listened, reported back and convened. If that is required now with President Trump, the only people who can decide is the government. For this country, it would be helpful for [Trump] to sit down with the Prince of Wales."

Perhaps less realistically, royal sources have also said that the outspoken Prince hopes to build a dialogue with Trump on the issue of climate change.

Prince Charles has long been an advocate for tackling climate change and last week, he released a Ladybird book on the topic and warned it was a "wolf at the door".

Trump has described climate change as "created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive".

According to reports, Charles is considered in some parts of Whitehall as "an extremely good asset" in helping to maintain the integrity of the UN climate change treaty in the face of the US president's previous pledge to "scrap" it.

A senior Whitehall source was quoted as saying that the Prince had been "gently primed" to assist diplomatic efforts on the issue and his views were considered "absolutely in line with government policy".
Theresa May backs Church of England and attacks National Trust for 'airbrushing faith' out of Easter

The Prime Minister has weighed in against The National Trust, accusing it of 'airbrushing faith' after it dropped the word 'Easter' from its seasonal eggs.

The annual event sees hundreds of thousands of children across more than 250 sites take part in the search for chocolate eggs of all shapes and sizes.

Theresa May is both a committed member of the Church of England - and a member of the National Trust. She gave up crisps, not chocolate, for Lent.

Theresa May labelled the move to rename the 'Easter Egg Trail' as 'Cadbury Egg Hunts' on the National Trust website as 'absolutely ridiculous'.

She said she did not know what the organisation was thinking.

Speaking from the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, where she is on a trade visit May said: 'I'm not just a vicar's daughter - I'm a member of the National Trust as well. I think the stance they've taken is absolutely ridiculous and I don't know what they're thinking about.

'Easter's very important. It's important to me, it's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world,' she told ITV News.

'So I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous.'

It comes after Senior Church of England figures also attacked the move on Monday, with the Archbishop of York saying it was 'spitting on the grave of John Cadbury's the chocolate firm's owner.

'He built houses for all his workers, he built a Church, he made provision for schools. It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin. To drop Easter from Cadbury's Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury,' he said.

The National Trust denied it had a role in downplaying Easter and said Cadbury was responsible for the rebranding.

It comes after Cadbury was bought by Kraft, a US food giant for 11.9 billion.

A spokesman said: 'The National Trust is in no way downplaying the significance of Easter, which is why we put on a huge number of events, activities and walks to bring families together at this time of year. We work closely with Cadbury, who are responsible for the branding and wording of our egg hunt campaign.'

A spokesman for Cadbury said: 'Each year, our Easter campaigns have a different name and this year our seasonal campaign is called the 'Cadbury's Great British Egg Hunt'.

'It is clear to see that within our communications and marketing we clearly state the word Easter and include it in a number of promotional materials, including our website, where we do also promote our partnership with National Trust at this seasonal time of year. We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats, which can be found around Easter time.'
Thousands of children accused of witchcraft, forced into homelessness and trafficking in DRC, Pope calls out injustice

In theDemocratic Republic of Congo, thousands of outcast children are rejected by their families, forced in to homelessness and trafficking, and are accused of witchcraft.

Thousands of children, accused of practising black magic, bringing bad luck or being possessed find themselves edged out of society, according to Agenzia Fides. As mamny as 30,000 children live on the streets of Kinshasha, the DRC's capital city.

The accused children are subjected to 'purification' or exorcism rituals, particularly in Pentecostal communities. The practice makes the exorcising pastors rich and allows families to relinquish troublesome children. Even when children are said to be healed, most families reportedly refuse to take back their children, forcing them into a life of begging or stealing on the streets. The outcast girls are forced into prostitution.

On Monday, Pope Francis called human trafficking a 'form of slavery, a crime against humanity, a grave violation of human rights, an atrocious scourge, and it is all the more to be condemned when it takes place against children'.

The pontiff was addressing the child trafficking crisis at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, according to Crux. The OSCE has fought against human trafficking since 2003.

Speaking on behalf of the Pope, Father Michael Czerny told the OSCE: 'All too many children continue to be exploited, maltreated, enslaved, prey to violence and illicit trafficking.

'Still too many children live in exile, as refugees, at times lost at sea, particularly in the waters of the Mediterranean.'

He said that 'several factors increase the vulnerability of the child victims, namely endemic poverty, inadequate child protection, ignorance and cultural constraints', in the trafficking victims' region of origin.

He highlighted the need for three P's: prevention of trafficking, protection of the vulnerable, and prosecution of the guilty. He also introduced a fourth factor: partnership  urging the collaboration of state, civic and religious groups in the fight against the illegal trade.

In 2014, Pope Francis oversaw the formation of the Santa Marta group, which unites religious groups and police forces from over 30 countries in the battle against trafficking. Religious workers are the most likely to be approached by a trafficking victim.
Not two weeks ago, commuters leaving New Yorks Penn Station for the suburbs ended their workweek with transportation chaos: a late-morning train derailment disrupted their commutes from Manhattan back across the Hudson River. On Monday, the same commuters started a fresh workweek with similar inconvenience: yet another train had gone off the tracks, injuring five of the 1,200 passengers aboard.

The press, citing officials remarks, characterized both of these derailments as minor. But just as theres no such thing as a minor plane crash, theres no such thing as a minor train derailment. Trains should stay on their tracksand their failure to do so is yet more evidence of New York and New Jerseys infrastructure crisis.

Trains derail for two reasons: human error or equipment failure. New York and New Jersey have experienced the former in recent years. In December 2013, a Metro-North train derailed north of New York City, killing four people, because the engineer (who drives the train), suffering from a sleep disorder, was speeding. Last September, a New Jersey Transit train derailed in Hoboken, killing one passenger. Federal officials are still investigating the crash, but the train was travelling above its speed limit.

The derailment crashes of the past two weeks, though, have occurred (thankfully) at slow speeds. On March 24, an Amtrak train jumped a Penn track, crashing into a New Jersey Transit train. And on Monday, a New Jersey Transit train from Trenton derailed at Penn, in an incident similar to a December crash in Hoboken.

Though investigators must determine the causes, the most likely culprit in any derailment is a broken rail, according to a Scientific American analysis of federal data. Another likely cause is a problem with the trains wheels or bearings. (Witnesses reported a broken wheel near Mondays crash, but the wheel could have cracked after, not before, the crash.)

Where the fault lies depends on this cause. If the rail was broken, the crash was Amtraks fault. The federal railroad maintains the infrastructure inside and around Penn Station. If the train was broken, the crash was New Jersey Transits fault. Well know in a few monthsbut in the meantime, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Consider the failures of redundancy. On each of these occasions, a supposedly small incident ruined the day for tens of thousands of commutersnot only the 94,859 people who commute to and from New Jersey daily, but the 115,480 who take the Long Island Rail Road. On Monday evening, for example, the LIRR had to cancel 26 afternoon trains, and New Jersey Transit offered only limited service with long delays. Cancellations and delays plagued the Tuesday commute, too. The 84,433 people who depend on New Jersey Transit buses from the Port Authority also face longer wait times and more cramped conditions whenever failed train service forces rail passengers to find another way home. Everyone must suffer because there is no room for error. Even on a good day, Amtrak trains compete with LIRR and New Jersey Transit trains for limited track space.

Over the past 20 years, infrastructure strategists in New York and New Jersey have thought about ways to ease these constraints. To its credit, New York has taken steps to lessen the LIRRs dependence on Amtrak. The state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the LIRR, is building a rail station of its own deep under Grand Central Terminal. In five or so years, when this East Side Access station opens, half of LIRRs daily passengers will use the East Side facility on a regular basis. In an emergency, other riders could switch, as well. East Side Access is running in multiples over its original budget and is years behind schedule. Still, it is happening, and it will improve life for New Yorkers.

New Jersey had a similar chance to improve life for its commuters. A decade ago, it was set to build a megaproject of its own, bringing New Jersey Transit commuters through Secaucus under a new Hudson tunnel to a new station near the existing Penn. The projects completion date was 2018. In 2010, though, in one of his first decisions as governor, Chris Christie cancelled the tunnel, citing the potential for cost and schedule overruns as well as the new stations location, which he dismissed as a tunnel to the basement of Macys. Because of Christies decision, New Jersey commuters will be dependent on Amtraks good will for a decade to come, perhaps longer. Amtrak is itself now just planning a new Hudson tunnel so that it can repair its existing onenow more than a century old and heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

Even as New Jersey continues to rely on Amtrak for much of its critical track and station infrastructure, the state hasnt kept up its own investments in trains. New Jersey Transit trains fail every 83,609 milescompared with every 216,772 miles for Metro-North trains and 211,975 miles for LIRR trains. Thats partly because, over the past decade, New Jersey Transit has slashed its long-term capital investments by 21 percent. Even when Amtrak is not at fault, New Jersey commuters suffer more frequent disruptions.

In February, President Donald Trump renewed his vow to build better infrastructure, citing the risk posed by falling-down tiles in the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, a car tunnel that runs under the East River. Critics rightly derided him for, well, making something up: the Queens-Midtown tiles arent falling down. If the president wants a pertinent example of the danger posed by bad infrastructure, though, he should just look to New Yorks other river, where commuters now consider themselves lucky to make it off the train each day.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Fergus Burnett

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into controversial cancer charity Kids 'n' Cancer UK after it was made aware that the chief executive and another employee had been arrested on suspicion of financial mismanagement.

The charity regulator announced that it had opened a statutory inquiry into the organisation today, following the arrest of Mike Hyman, founder, trustee and chief executive of the organisation and his wife on suspicion of theft.

The inquiry is not the first time the Commission has engaged with the charity. It has previously become involved more than once, including after the charity intervened to offer proton beam therapy to Aysha King, a child with cancer whose parents were arrested after abducting him and fleeing to Spain.

The charity raised over 50,000 for Aysha King's family in 2015, but then refused to give to cash to his family after the NHS agreed to fund Kings proton beam treatment. It later refunded 360 of 50,000.

The Commission said it had now established clear and on-going regulatory issues relating to the administration and financial controls of the charity following the arrest of Hyman and his wife.

'Historic engagement' with Kids 'n' Cancer UK

The charity has objects to provide assistance and financial support to children seeking cancer treatment, and to assist with the overseas costs of proton beam therapy which is not available in the UK.

According to the Commissions statement, the charity regulator had been in contact with the charity previously regarding concerns over its financial management in 2014. The response by the charity was deemed satisfactory at the time, but following the arrest of Hyman, the Commission said further concerns about the charitys management and financial controls have now arisen.

The Charity Commission said the purpose of this statutory inquiry will be to examine: "the charitys governance, particularly since only one trustee remains active, the trustees management of the charitys financial affairs including its financial controls, fundraising activities and risk to charity property and the extent to which trustees have properly authorised benefits and remuneration a trustee and employee at the charity".

In Governance & Leadership Magazine

The Commission remains in contact with the Derbyshire Police and will cooperate with the police investigation as necessary.

According to its last set of financial accounts up to the 31 October 2015, Kids 'n' Cancer UK had an income of 445,441 and spending of 569,955.

A spokeswoman for Kids 'n' Cancer UK has been contacted for a comment.
This morning Theresa May said that the National Trust was absolutely ridiculous for the National Trust to drop the word

The charity was criticised by the Church of England on the front page of the Daily Telegraph this morning over dropping the word Easter from chocolate egg hunts at its properties, and the Prime Minister was asked about it by ITV News.

She said: "Well, I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous and I dont know what theyre thinking about, frankly.

"Easter's very important. It's important to me, it's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.

"So I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous."

'Easter has been airbrushed'

In previous years the charitys chocolate egg event, which is sponsored by Cadburys, has been called an Easter Egg Trail but this year has been rebranded as the Great British Egg Hunt.

A Church of England spokesman said: "This marketing campaign...highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter."

The Archbishop of York condemned the decision and told the Telegraph that: "The Cadburys were Great Quaker industrialists. If people visited Birmingham today in the Cadbury World they will discover how Cadburys Christian faith influenced his industrial output.

"He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools. It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin. To drop Easter from Cadburys Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury."

The story appeared in a number of national papers and on the BBC website.

National Trust: 'Its nonsense'

The National Trust said in a statement that there are 13,000 references to Easter on its website.

A National Trust spokesman said: Its nonsense to suggest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be further from the truth. We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year.

A casual glance at our website will see dozens of references to Easter throughout.

Our Easter events include our partnership with Cadbury, which has been running Easter Egg Hunts with us for 10 years. Theyve proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadbury will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns.
Kirsty Weakley looks at what we can tell about the governments priorities from recently released information about ministerial meetings.

The latest round of the governments transparency data was published last week. You can learn some fascinating nuggets of information from these releases, such as the fact that animal rights charity Peta sent the Prime Minister shoes for her birthday. But more usefully it also gives and insight into who the key ministers are talking to, and what their priorities are.

Minister for civil society Rob Wlson held a grand total of 126 meetings in 2016, and a lot of them were about youth policy, fundraising regulation and social investment. This isnt exactly news, but it is useful to have it confirmed.

Relatively few meetings were about mainstream charity sector issues, and mainstream umbrella bodies were under-represented. The minister appears to have spent more time in conversation with Frank Bruno than the Charity Finance Group.

Weve collated the full list of the ministers meetings below so you can explore it for yourself. Its worth noting that the Office for Civil Society was moved from the Cabinet Office to the Department of Culture Media and Sport in July, when Wilson took on responsibility for libraries.

Who did the minister for civil society meet?

During 2016 he met with the NCS Trust five times, met with a range of charities aimed at young people including the Princes Trust, Scout Association and Step Up to Serve and held 16 meetings on youth-related issues.

In July Wilson met Frank Bruno, Lord Lamb and David Lloyd to discuss the potential to link the work of the Frank Bruno Foundation and NCS.

On social investment he also held 16 meetings on the subject, including a roundtable event with the Association of Charitable Foundations in May.

He met with the Fundraising Regulator five times, and also with the Fundraising Preference Service. In separate meetings he also discussed fundraising regulation with Cancer Research UK, the Institute of Fundraising, and Save the Children.

Umbrella bodies

He appears to have had relatively few meetings with umbrella bodies.

In September he met with a group, which consisted of: NCVO, Acevo, Social Enterprise UK, Charity Finance Group, Charities Aid Foundation, Institute of Fundraising, Association of Charitable Foundations, Navca, Small Charities Coalition, Charity Commission, and the Large Charities Group.

Separately to this meeting he met with NCVO twice, Acevos interim chief executive, Asheem Singh once, and not at all with the Charity Finance Group or the Charities Aid Foundation.

The Large Charities Group consists of Age UK, Barnado's, British Red Cross, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Macmillan, Marie Curie Cancer Care, NSPCC, RNLI, The Royal British Legion, Royal Opera House, Scope, Save the Chidlren, The Scout Association, St John's Ambulance, Alzheimer's Society and the Salvation Army. They also met with the minister in October.

Wilson also met with two supermarkets, Asda and Aldi, in December.

Elsewhere in government

But the Office for Civil Society isnt the only place that charities should be trying to get their voice heard, so how effectively are charities engaging with other departments?

Given the changes in government weve just looked at the last three months here, covering the period October to December 2016.

Charities appear to have had some success in engaging with the new Department for Exiting the European Union.

Lord Bridgets of Headly, parliamentary under secretary, has met with the Wellcome Trust. Robin Walker MP, also a parliamentary under secretary, has held a roundtable with the voluntary sector, though it does not say who was involved. Walker also met with the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, Gingerbread NI, Disability Action and Ashton Community Trust.

Walker met has met with environmental organisations: the Woodland Trust, WWF-UK, Canal & Rivers Trust The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & Black Country, the RSPB, National Trust, Blue Marine Foundation and international aid charity Tearfund.

In November a number of faith organisations, and Acevo, met with Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to discuss faith issues.

Javid has also met with the Royal British Legion and Gavin Barwell, minister for housing, met with Shelter.

Jane Ellison, the Treasury minister whose brief includes responsibility for charity policy, has not met with either CFG or the Charity Tax Group, since taking on the role.

The Prime Minister

Theresa May met with Diabetes UK in November about its work. May revealed a few years ago that she suffers from the condition.

Between October and December she held ten charity receptions, though it does not say who was involved.

What does this mean?

The focus of the OCS on a narrow range of issues underscores that charities should not rely on it as the single entry point for engaging with government.

It is reassuring that DeExEU is talking to parts of the sector  ahead of Brexit negations beginning in earnest the department is likely to be in listening mode, so it is good that it is hearing from charities as part of this.

Rob Wilsons 2016 meetings in full




While battling with the ethical do's and don'ts of donating to the homeless, a lightbulb lit in Tom Eeles' head and this is what he came up with...

You know the feeling when you think of a great idea. The one thats going make it. Going to change your life and make you a million. Then you realise someones already invented it and they're doing a better job of it than you ever could. Well this idea isnt going to make me a million. In a strange way though I do hope that someone reads this and tells me its already being done.

As a personal rule I dont give to people begging on the street. Every day outside Geneva train station I battle with this dilemma again in my head. And I always side with the charities who invariably say that you shouldnt give money directly to someone who might well spend it on alcohol, drugs or substance abuse.

My girlfriend always gives to people playing instruments or entertaining. Always. Even if we are running late and about to miss a train, plane...you get the picture. Thats a good thing. But Im not musically talented at all and Im sure lots of homeless people arent too. So Im still left with my dilemma. The problem is after reassuring myself that I should give to the homeless charity instead, I never do. I get to my desk and the day starts and the thought disappears. So here it is. The big idea.

Pre-paid vouchers that you can give directly to the person who needs it. They get a night in a hostel and the wonderful staff and volunteers in the hostel get a chance to work with them and try and help turn things around. We could buy them online and be emailed a voucher. Better still we get a credit card sized book of vouchers for our wallet or purse. Or maybe a yearly subscription, you could buy vouchers for yourself or as a gift for someone else. Think of the opportunities to report on impact and develop a relationship with your donor on the direct impact they are having.

Im looking forward to hearing that this is already happening somewhere or for a decent argument as to why it shouldnt happen. Please comment below. If neither of these happens then lets see if Shelter or one of the other innovative charities could bridge this gap.

Could this be relevant for your charity? Is there a way you could connect that exact moment of deep felt compassion in a donor with the ability for them to do something about it right there and then?

p.s. For great impact measuring could we could take a few lessons from the South West handline fisherman?
Red Hat, Inc. provides open source software solutions to develop and offer operating system, virtualization, management, middleware, cloud, mobile, and storage technologies to various enterprises worldwide. It offers infrastructure-related solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an operating system platform that runs on hardware for use in hybrid cloud environments; Red Hat Satellite, a system management offering that helps to deploy, scale, and manage in hybrid cloud environments; and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, a software solution that allows customers to utilize and manage a common hardware infrastructure to run multiple operating systems and applications. The company offers application development-related and other technology solutions, such as Red Hat JBoss Middleware, a solution for developing, deploying, and managing applications; integrating applications, data, and devices; and automating business processes in hybrid cloud environments; The company's application development-related and other technology solutions also includes Red Hat cloud offerings, a software solution that enables customers to build and manage various cloud computing environments; Red Hat Mobile, a software development platform that enables customers to develop, integrate, deploy, and manage mobile applications for enterprises; and Red Hat Storage, a software solution that enables customers to manage large, unstructured, or semi-structured data in hybrid cloud environments. It also provides consulting, support, and training services; and realtime operating system, distributed computing, directory services, and user authentication. Red Hat, Inc. has collaboration with Juniper Networks Expand to provide a unified solution for enterprises designed to manage and run applications and services. The company was formerly known as Red Hat Software, Inc. and changed its name to Red Hat, Inc. in June 1999. Red Hat, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The following companies are subsidiares of Western Union: Banco Western Union do Brasil S.A., Coins, Custom House, Custom House (Online) Ltd., Custom House Currency Exchange (Australia) Pty. Limited, Custom House Currency Exchange (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Custom House Financial (UK) Limited, Custom House Financial Ltd., Custom House Holdings (USA) Ltd., Custom House ULC, E Commerce Group Products Inc., First Financial Management Corporation, Global Collection Services S.A., Global Corporate Real Estate Advisors LLC, Grupo Dinamico Empresarial S.A. de C.V., MT (Bermuda) 1 Ltd, MT (Bermuda) 2 Ltd, MT Caribbean Holdings SRL, MT Financial Holdings Ltd., MT Global Holdings Ltd., MT Group Investment Holdings Ltd., MT Group Ltd., MT Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd., MT Holdings Limited, MT Holdings Switzerland GmbH, MT International Holdings Ltd., MT International Operations Partnership, MT International Operations SRL, MT Network Holdings Ltd., MT Payment Services Ltd., MT Payment Services Operations EU/EEA Limited, MT Worldwide Holdings Ltd., Money Transfer Financial Services Limited, Operaciones Internacionales OV S.A. de C.V., Opus Software Technologies Private Limited, PT Western Union Indonesia, Paymap Inc., RII Holdings Inc., Red Global S.A., Ruesch Holding LLC, Ruesch International (Delaware) LLC, Ruesch International L.L.C., Servicio Electronico de Pago S.A., Servicio Integral de Envios S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios de Apoyo GDE S.A. de C.V., SpeedPay Inc., Speedpay, The Western Union Real Estate Holdings LLC, Transfer Express de Panama S.A., Travelex, Union del Oeste de Costa Rica SRL, Vigo Remittance Canada Company, Vigo Remittance Corp., WU BP Peru S.R.L., WU Technology Engineering Services Private Limited, WUBS Financial Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, WUBS Payments Limited, Western Union (Bermuda) Holding Finance Ltd., Western Union (Hellas) International Holdings S.A., Western Union Acquisition Partnership, Western Union Benelux MT Ltd., Western Union Business Solutions (Australia) Pty Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Malta) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (SA) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Singapore) Pte Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (UK) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (USA) LLC, Western Union Business Solutions Japan KK, Western Union Chile Limitada, Western Union Communications Inc., Western Union Consulting Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Western Union Corretora de Cambio S.A., Western Union Financial Holdings L.L.C., Western Union Financial Services (Australia) PTY Ltd., Western Union Financial Services (Canada), Western Union Financial Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Financial Services (Korea) Inc., Western Union Financial Services (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Western Union Financial Services Argentina S.R.L., Western Union Financial Services Eastern Europe LLC, Western Union Financial Services GmbH, Western Union Financial Services Inc., Western Union Financial Services International (France) SARL, Western Union GB Limited, Western Union Global Network Pte. Ltd, Western Union Holdings Inc., Western Union International Bank GmbH, Western Union International Holdings LLC, Western Union International Limited, Western Union International Services LLC, Western Union Ireland Holdings Limited, Western Union Ireland Partnership, Western Union Japan K.K., Western Union LLC, Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 1 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 2 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 3 S.a.r.l., Western Union MT (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Western Union MT East Ltd., Western Union Malta Holdings Limited, Western Union Malta Limited, Western Union Morocco SARL, Western Union Network (Canada) Company, Western Union Network (France) SAS, Western Union Network (Ireland) Limited, Western Union Network Belgium SPRL, Western Union Northern Europe GmbH, Western Union Online Limited, Western Union Overseas Limited, Western Union Payment Services (India) Private Limited, Western Union Payment Services GB Limited, Western Union Payment Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Payment Services Network (Canada) ULC, Western Union Payment Services Network EU/EEA Limited, Western Union Payment Services UK Limited, Western Union Payments (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Western Union Peru S.A., Western Union Processing Limited, Western Union Processing Lithuania UAB, Western Union Processing Services Inc., Western Union Regional Panama S.A., Western Union Retail Services Belgium, Western Union Retail Services GB Limited, Western Union Retail Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Retail Services Italy S.r.l., Western Union Retail Services Norway AS, Western Union Retail Services RO SRL, Western Union Retail Services Spain S.A., Western Union Retail Services Sweden AB, Western Union Services (Philippines) Inc., Western Union Services (Spain) S.L., Western Union Services India Private Limited, Western Union Services S.L., Western Union Services Singapore Private Limited, Western Union Singapore Limited, Western Union South Africa (PTY) Limited, Western Union Support Services (Nigeria) Limited, Western Union Support Services Cote dlvoire, Western Union Turkey Odeme Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi, Western Union do Brasil Participacoes Limitada, and Western Union do Brasil Servicos e Participacoes Ltda..

Read More
United States Virgin Islands Senator Alicia Hansen and Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy are sounding off surrounding comments made about St. Croix.

Senator Hansen, speaking during a Senate Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture in late March , said Duffy told her in Ft. Lauderdale in March that she had never traveled to St. Croix and did not know the island, according to The Virgin Islands Consortium.

The Senator added: I had to ask her again, Maybe you have not come to St. Croix, but you know about St. Croix? She said no, Hansen said. Thats the president; I have a serious problem with that.

Carnival, meanwhile, said the comments were a gross mis-characterization of the conversation.

In a statement released to the paper, the cruise line noted: What Ms. Duffy indicates she said is that while we do not have many cruise ship calls in St. Croix and she has not personally traveled there, she understands it is a beautiful island. She and another Carnival employee who were present during the conversation confirm that this is, in fact, what she stated.

The Senator, however, is sticking to her original comments and said her position remains.

In addition, Hansen also noted the territory presence at the recent industry event was so far away from everything, despite costing over $100,000.

The hearing was part of a broader update on tourism, touching on many recent initiatives to get cruise business back up in the USVI.
Monday through April 7, the National Retirement Planning Coalition is hosting National Retirement Planning Week. Its a dedicated, national effort to promote the importance of comprehensive retirement planning.

While retirement planning is just one part of overall financial wellness, its an increasingly necessary focus for working adults nationwide. In fact, 45 percent of U.S. employees say financial matters cause them the most stress in their lives. And, more than one in four say these concerns distract them at work.

An investment strategy you can have confidence in can help alleviate that stress. For example, investing in target date funds and other retirement solutions can help you feel more secure about your retirement savings. Yet, only about half of employees are comfortable selecting investments that are right for them.
Crisis management expert Dallas Lawrence shared best practices for protecting your organizations reputation during times of crisis at the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference in San Antonio.

Lawrence, chief communications officer for Rubicon Project, delivered a few handfuls of insights to credit union leaders with real-life stories and a bit of humor, too. His crisis management recommendations included:

Know and engage key influencers early and often.

and engage key influencers early and often. Avoid an information vacuum.

an information vacuum. Be where the crisis is. For example, if the crisis happens via a YouTube video, dont respond with a press release.

where the crisis is. For example, if the crisis happens via a YouTube video, dont respond with a press release. Own your brand in social before someone else does. Make sure you have the rights to digital accounts to avoid parody attacks.

your brand in social before someone else does. Make sure you have the rights to digital accounts to avoid parody attacks. Reach journalists on social media. Journalists are social and face a time-crunch. Make their lives easier.

journalists on social media. Journalists are social and face a time-crunch. Make their lives easier. Respond with people, not logos. People dont want to talk to a logo in a crisis. They want a person. Humanize the brand in a crisis. They want to know you care.

with people, not logos. People dont want to talk to a logo in a crisis. They want a person. Humanize the brand in a crisis. They want to know you care. Know what youre talking about. Theres urgency to respond, but dont rush. Once you ruin your credibility, its hard to get back. And you need it in a crisis.

what youre talking about. Theres urgency to respond, but dont rush. Once you ruin your credibility, its hard to get back. And you need it in a crisis. When you blow it, own up to it quickly.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 -- Taking a cue from the Marvel Universe, researchers report that they have developed a self-healing polymeric material with an eye toward electronics and soft robotics that can repair themselves. The material is stretchable and transparent, conducts ions to generate current and could one day help your broken smartphone go back together again.

The researchers will present their work today at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 14,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

"When I was young, my idol was Wolverine from the X-Men," Chao Wang, Ph.D., says. "He could save the world, but only because he could heal himself. A self-healing material, when carved into two parts, can go back together like nothing has happened, just like our human skin. I've been researching making a self-healing lithium ion battery, so when you drop your cell phone, it could fix itself and last much longer."

The key to self-repair is in the chemical bonding. Two types of bonds exist in materials, Wang explains. There are covalent bonds, which are strong and don't readily reform once broken; and noncovalent bonds, which are weaker and more dynamic. For example, the hydrogen bonds that connect water molecules to one another are non-covalent, breaking and reforming constantly to give rise to the fluid properties of water. "Most self-healing polymers form hydrogen bonds or metal-ligand coordination, but these aren't suitable for ionic conductors," Wang says.

Wang's team at the University of California, Riverside, turned instead to a different type of non-covalent bond called an ion-dipole interaction, a force between charged ions and polar molecules. "Ion-dipole interactions have never been used for designing a self-healing polymer, but it turns out that they're particularly suitable for ionic conductors," Wang says. The key design idea in the development of the material was to use a polar, stretchable polymer, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), plus a mobile, ionic salt. The polymer chains are linked to each other by ion-dipole interactions between the polar groups in the polymer and the ionic salt.

The resulting material could stretch up to 50 times its usual size. After being torn in two, the material automatically stitched itself back together completely within one day.

As a test, the researchers generated an "artificial muscle" by placing a non-conductive membrane between two layers of the ionic conductor. The new material responded to electrical signals, bringing motion to these artificial muscles, so named because biological muscles similarly move in response to electrical signals (though Wang's materials are not intended for medical applications).

For the next step, the researchers are working on altering the polymer to improve the material's properties. For example, they are testing the material in harsh conditions, such as high humidity. "Previous self-healing polymers haven't worked well in high humidity, Wang says. "Water gets in there and messes things up. It can change the mechanical properties. We are currently tweaking the covalent bonds within the polymer itself to get these materials ready for real-world applications."

###

A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, April 4, at 10 a.m. Pacific time in the Moscone Center. Reporters may check-in at the press center, South Building, Foyer, or watch live on YouTube http://bit.ly/ACSLive_SanFrancisco. To ask questions online, sign in with a Google account.

Wang acknowledges funding from start-up funds from the University of California, Riverside.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook

Title

Mechanically adaptive electronic polymers for transparent self-healing artificial muscle

Abstract

Electronic polymers are functional materials of central importance to a range of applications spanning from energy storage to electronic devices. Additional applications are emerging in new areas of research including stretchable electronics and soft robotics, where electronic conductors are required to be stretchable. Take the polymer ionic conductors for one example. While a substantial amount of research has addressed the electronic properties of ionic conductors, there is a clear lack of research addressing the mechanical properties of ionic conductors. In particular, applications that require high stretchability and that experience significant mechanical wear would strongly benefit from the integration of self-healing capabilities in order to extend lifetime and lower cost of devices.

This paper introduces a transparent, self-healing, ionically conductive elastomer, that tolerates extreme strains (>5000%), has an ionic conductivity of 10-4 S cm-1 and is highly transparent across the visible spectrum (average transmittance of 92%). The material can fully heal from severe mechanical damage within 24 hours at room temperature. We demonstrate the unique properties of the ionically conductive elastomer by using it to fabricate self-healing transparent artificial muscles.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 -- Although the World Health Organization ended its global health emergency on Zika last November, the virus could still make a comeback as temperatures get warmer and mosquito season ramps up. Over 5,000 cases have been identified in the U.S. over the past two years, including about 1,500 pregnant women, and 70 countries have reported evidence of Zika transmission. It is a particularly insidious virus because it can cross the placenta and cause birth defects. Now, researchers may have figured out how this virus invades the placenta, and they are taking steps to develop strategies that block its access.

The researchers will present their work today at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 14,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

"We worked on the dengue virus 20 years ago, and when Zika popped up in the news, we knew immediately that the two mosquito-borne viruses were related members of the flavivirus family," Robert Linhardt, Ph.D., says. In his team's previous work, the researchers discovered that the dengue virus could get into cells by binding to sugars. "Based on the similarity between the two viruses, we thought that maybe Zika did the same thing," he explains.

The Zika virus has a coating consisting of many copies of an envelope protein. This protein binds to particular targets on the surfaces of host cells, ushering the virus inside to replicate. To figure out the identities of the host-cell targets, Linhardt's team, led by graduate student So Young Kim at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, mixed the envelope protein with sugars called glycosaminoglycans, which the dengue virus uses for this purpose.

"With a technique called surface plasmon resonance, we can monitor binding interactions in real time," Kim says. "We started with the sugar heparin, which is highly negatively charged, and saw very tight binding with the Zika envelope protein. This suggested that the binding was largely based on electrostatic interactions, as observed in dengue virus." In further experiments, the protein appeared to also have some sequence preferences.

As a next step, the researchers extracted sugars from human tissues -- adult brain and placenta -- and tested whether and how tightly the Zika envelope protein bound. They identified a particular placental sugar, chondroitin sulfate, which seemed to bind tightly to the virus, and this molecule may be the Zika virus' ticket into the placenta. The interaction between the envelope protein and sugars from porcine adult brain was weaker. "Adult brain is probably not the best tissue to model," Linhardt says, because the Zika virus is known to be particularly damaging to the fetus. "We are developing a fetal brain stem cell line to identify other fetal brain sugars that may be targets of Zika," he adds. To further validate the approach, the researchers are also collaborating with another group to study binding between sugars and live Zika virus.

In addition to answering basic questions about how Zika invades cells, Linhardt's group also wants to come up with a way to block the interactions between the virus and placental sugars, protecting the fetus from harm. In earlier work, the researchers developed a virus-killing nanoparticle coated in the sugar that the influenza virus uses to invade lung tissue. Giving the nanoparticle to mice prevented them from getting sick. The researchers are working on a similar approach with the Zika virus.

The researchers are feeling a particular urgency to make advances as soon as possible. "We think Zika is going to come back with a vengeance this summer," Linhardt says. "That's why we are working really hard to understand Zika as best as we can, as fast as we can."

###

A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, April 4, at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time in the Moscone Center. Reporters may check-in at the press center, South Building, Foyer, or watch live on YouTube http://bit.ly/ACSLive_SanFrancisco. To ask questions online, sign in with a Google account.

Linhardt acknowledges funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health for funding his work on glycosaminoglycans.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook

Title

Host cell entry of Zika virus may be mediated by glycosaminoglycans

Abstract

Zika Virus (ZIKV)'s ability to cause severe fetal anomalies led academic, federal, and industry research groups put urgent efforts to tackle ZIKV from basic, detection, and therapeutics research perspectives. While we are filling in the pieces of the whole picture of ZIKV, pathogenesis of related pathogenic flaviviruses has been well understood. Various pathogenic flaviviruses attach to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) through their envelop protein and concentrate themselves on the surface of host cells as a first step in the process of pathogenesis. In this study, we utilized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to screen various GAGs for their binding to envelope protein of ZIKV (ZIKV E). ZIKV E binds most strongly to heparin (HP), a most highly sulfated GAG, suggesting that the ZIKV E-GAG interaction is mainly electrostatically interaction driven as seen in other pathogenic flaviviruses. However, the order in which ZIKV E binds to various GAGs is not completely dependent upon the degree of sulfation showing that ZIKV E has specific saccharide sequence it prefers binding to. We also found that ZIKV E preferentially binds to longer chain HP oligosaccharides (8-18 saccharides) using SPR competition assays. Next, we isolated GAGs from human placentas and tested their binding to ZIKV E potentially mediating ZIKV to invade placenta prior to fetal infection. Both placental chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate GAGs showed micromolar interactions with ZIKV E. Finally we determined ZIKV E binding to porcine brain CS and HS, which showed relatively micromolar binding with ZIKV E. These results advance our understanding of ZIKV's pathogenesis and facilitate to develop therapeutics to effectively combat ZIKV with more insight.
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4, 2017 -- Those who have mixed oil and vinegar may have unknowingly observed a strange fluid phenomenon called fingering instability. A type of this phenomenon, called viscous fingering (VF), occurs in porous media where fluids of differing viscosity converge in finger-shaped patterns as a result of growing disturbances at the interface.

Such instabilities are encountered in a wide variety of fields. For applications like the oil recovery process, or contaminant transport in soil, where a fluid is injected to displace oil or contaminants, a uniform fluid front is required to achieve the highest volumetric sweep and effectiveness, making such instabilities undesirable.

On the other hand, in microfluidic devices such as micromixers where inertial effects are negligible, VF is an effective means of enhancing the mixing rate of the fluids. Understanding different aspects of this phenomenon, and the variables that can control things like instabilities and velocity distribution dynamics, can potentially offer options to control and utilize these effects more effectively.

A team of researchers at the University of Calgary has been working on this area for a long time and recently made great strides in understanding the phenomenon. They report their findings this week in the journal Physics of Fluids, from AIP Publishing.

"My work is part of the puzzle in the evolution in this research area," said Benham Dastvareh, a researcher at the University of Calgary. "My research allows me to combine my interest in mathematics, numerical methods and fundamental research in transport phenomena, and particularly fluid mechanics."

Employing a comprehensive approach, the Calgary researchers incorporated the nonlinear simulation of the growing fingers and also analytical stability analysis of nanofluid displacement in a porous media. By combining the advantages of these methods, they achieved better and more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

Results revealed that nanoparticles cannot make an otherwise stable flow unstable, but they can enhance or attenuate the instability of an originally unstable flow. Increasing either the nanoparticles' deposition rate or their rate of diffusion destabilized the flow. Furthermore, nanoparticle deposition can change an initial monotonically decreasing viscosity distribution -- one that is purely decreasing or unchanging, to a non-monotonic one, and results in the development of vortex dipoles.

"Analyses of vortex structures along with the viscosity distributions allowed us to explain the observed trends and the resulting finger configurations, Dastvareh said. "This work opens a gate for further studies and represents new findings that can be used to control the growing instabilities in the presence of nanofluids for different applications."

This work may also have potential applications for drug delivery, where nanoparticles can't penetrate easily through a porous medium. "It is possible that viscous fingering could be used to open a channel in the human tissue to transfer these nanoparticles for clinical treatment," Dastvareh said.

###

The article, "Instabilities of nanofluid flow displacements in porous media," is authored by Behnam Dastvareh and Jalel Azaiez. The article will appear in the journal Physics of Fluids April 4, 2017 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4978890). After that date, it can be accessed at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4978890.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Physics of Fluids is devoted to the publication of original theoretical, computational, and experimental contributions to the dynamics of gases, liquids, and complex or multiphase fluids. See http://pof.aip.org.
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4, 2017 -- The performance of electronic devices is constrained by their inability to evenly dissipate the waste heat they produce. Since the waste heat isn't uniformly distributed, hotspots are all too prevalent in electronics. While a few options for hotspot cooling do exist, they don't work well for mobile hotspots, which move according to ever-changing computing tasks or power-amplification demands.

But that's about to change thanks to the work of a group of researchers from Duke University and Intel Corp. In the cover article appearing this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, they report a "jumping droplet" technique designed specifically to address mobile hotspots.

This technique is based on a discovery made in the lab of Chuan-Hua Chen, an associate professor and Alfred M. Hunt Faculty Scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University.

Chen's group observed that when two water droplets merge together on a water-repellant (superhydrophobic) surface, the merged droplet spontaneously jumps perpendicular to that surface. They further established that the out-of-plane jumping motion is driven by surface energy initially stored on the droplets and released upon drop coalescence. This effect, which they demonstrated in a vapor chamber, can locally cool hot spots.

The jumping droplet vapor chamber consists of two parallel plates: a superhydrophobic surface and a sponge-like (superhydrophilic) surface.

"When a hotspot appears on the superhydrophilic surface saturated with water, it drives the working fluid to vaporize," Chen said. "The water vapor condenses on the opposing superhydrophobic surface, and rejects the waste heat. As condensate droplets grow and merge, the coalescence-induced jumping motion returns the working fluid back to the superhydrophilic surface. This 'jumping return' enables continuous operation of the vapor chamber to dissipate heat."

The main advantage of the jumping droplet technique is "its mechanism to perpendicularly return the working fluid to the hotspots," Chen said. "And because jumping droplets are driven by intrinsic surface energy, the technique is independent of external forces and gravitational orientation."

This advance is significant because hotspot-cooling techniques used today aren't very effective for mobile hotspots. "Thermoelectric cooling, for example, is best for a fixed hotspot location. And electrowetting requires external power input," Chen said. The group's jumping droplet technique cools mobile hotspots without any active power input, similar to flat-plate heat pipes.

Flat-plate heat pipes are remarkable for their removal of heat through horizontal spreading which is much more effective than high thermal conductivity copper or even diamond heat sinks, but they lack a vertical mechanism to dissipate heat.

"Our technique not only retains the high effectiveness of flat-plate heat pipes for in-plane heat spreading, but also provides a much better capability for out-of-plane heat transport because of the perpendicular jumping mechanism," Chen said.

The combination of horizontal and vertical spreading is ideal for heat dissipation. As an analogy: "to avoid flooding, it's useful to spread the rain horizontally over a large area. But if the ground becomes soaked and water has no vertical pathway to escape, flooding is inevitable," Chen said. "Our jumping droplet technology addresses this technological void with a vertical heat spreading mechanism, opening the door to outperforming the best solid heat spreaders in all directions."

Because the performance of computers and power electronics depends so heavily on their ability to dispose of heat waste, this new method could enable faster computing and longer lifetimes for electronics. Going forward, they are looking at material choices to best exploit their new technique.

"It's technically challenging to design a jumping droplet vapor chamber with materials of opposite wettability that are compatible with high-temperature vapor," Chen said. "We'll fine-tune material choices so that our system can stably work at higher temperature with more effective heat dissipation. We've already demonstrated a cooling performance comparable to copper, but I see a pathway to significantly exceed this industrial standard once we sort out the material issue."

###

The article, "Hotspot cooling with jumping-drop vapor chambers," is authored by Kris F. Wiedenheft, H. Alex Guo, Xiaopeng Qu, Jonathan B. Boreyko, Fangjie Liu, Kungang Zhang, Feras Eid, Arnab Choudhury, Zhihua Li and Chuan-Hua Chen. The article appeared in the journal Applied Physics Letters April 3, 2017 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4979477) and can be accessed at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4979477.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Applied Physics Letters features concise, rapid reports on significant new findings in applied physics. The journal covers new experimental and theoretical research on applications of physics phenomena related to all branches of science, engineering, and modern technology. See http://apl.aip.org.
WASHINGTON, DC - April 4, 2017 - A team of researchers in the United States and Uganda has identified a novel coronavirus in a bat from Uganda that is similar to the one causing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in people, giving further credence to the theory that such viruses originate in bats. The work, part of the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project, was described this week in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Laboratory experiments with the virus, named PREDICT/PDF-2180, indicate that while its overall genetics appear similar to MERS-coronavirus (MERS-CoV), there are significant differences in part of its spike gene - the segment of the virus responsible for invading cells. Therefore, in its current state it is unlikely to pose a threat to humans, said lead study author Simon J. Anthony, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and its Center for Infection and Immunity. By contrast, MERS-CoV itself has been shown to spread from animals such as camels to humans and between humans. (3D MERS virus, image: Wikimedia Commons)

MERS, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is an illness marked by severe acute respiratory disease with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. About 4 of every 10 patients with the condition have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The PREDICT project, led by the University of California, Davis (UCD), is a multicenter global initiative for surveillance and discovery of viruses that could pose a pandemic threat through animal -human transmission of pathogens.

For the study, Anthony and colleagues at the UCD One Health Institute and with the non-profit organization Gorilla Doctors sequenced the genome of the PDF-2180 virus found in a rectal swab taken from a bat trapped in February 2013 in southwestern Uganda. Overall, the virus was 87 percent identical to MERS-CoV and 91 percent identical to NeoCoV, another coronavirus found in a bat from South Africa. However, part of the spike gene was only 46 percent identical to the one belonging to MERS-CoV.

Next, to test the ability of the virus to spread to humans, researchers at the University of North Carolina constructed an infectious MERS-CoV clone expressing the PDF-2180 spike protein. Viruses derived from the clone could reproduce themselves but could not enter cells expressing DPP4, the receptor normally used by MERS-CoV, or establish new infections either in Vero cells derived from monkeys or in human airway cells from healthy lung donors.

"In its current form, evolution notwithstanding, this virus is probably not going to be a threat to human health," Anthony said. The team plans to repeat the experiments with other viral samples to get a better grasp of what animal-borne viruses pose a risk to human health.

The discovery of the virus adds to the growing number of coronaviruses identified in bats, Anthony said, including NeoCoV from South Africa; Mex_CoV-9 from Mexico; BatCoV/KW2E from Thailand; P.pipi/VM314 from the Netherlands; H.sav/206645-40 from Italy; and BetaCoV/SC2013, HKU4 and HKU5, from China.

"Collectively, these examples demonstrate that the MERS-related coronaviruses are highly associated with bats and are geographically widespread," Anthony said.

###

The study was supported by the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project and by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 48,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications and educational opportunities. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.
BINGHAMTON, NY - A team of researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York and MIT have identified some bottlenecks in 3D printers, that, if improved, could speed up the entire process.

A research team led by Professor John Hart from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and including Binghamton Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Scott Schiffres, found that many conventional desktop and professional AM systems build objects at about 10-20 cubic centimeters per hour when printing at a 0.2 millimeter thickness. One limitation of the system is a pinch-wheel mechanism used to feed building material. That wheel is limited in the force it can use (about 60 newtons) and the feed rate (about nine millimeters per second) in order to fully melt building material.

"We found that the rate at which a polymer melts is limiting in many implementations," said Schiffres. "The pressure required to push the polymer through the nozzle is a sharp function of temperature. If the core is not hot enough, the printer will not be able to squeeze the polymer through the nozzle."

"The work has implications for how to scale up additive manufacturing and the trade-off between higher-resolution printing and speed. We hope it will inspire future work to investigate pre-heating of the polymer, and printing with multiple extruders," added Schiffres.

The work was supported by a grant from the Lockheed Martin Corporation, while the Department of Defense, the MIT International Design Centre (IDC) and MIT MakerWorks also supported the project.

MIT graduate students Jamison Go and Adam Stevens are co-authors of the paper.

The paper, titled "Rate Limits of Additive Manufacturing by Fused Filament Fabrication and Guidelines for High-Throughput System Design," is currently available online in Additive Manufacturing.

###
CLEMSON, South Carolina -- A Clemson University researcher is letting her fingers do the talking with a new project that could lead to more realistic hand movements for animated movies, video games and a range of virtual reality simulations.

Sophie Joerg is leading five years of research aimed at finding new ways to make hands and fingers come to life on the screen. It currently is a tedious and time-intensive task and she plans to design algorithms that will automate the work.

The idea for her resarch came from her experience as an animator on the German TV series "Dragon's Rock." Joerg is doing the research as part of a $497,158 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

"We are reaching a point in computer graphics where awe-inspiring worlds and characters can be created," Joerg said. "However, the processes involve an astonishing amount of manual work. Now is the time to develop more rigorous methods to create better algorithms at a faster pace."

With her project, Joerg is joining a legion of researchers around the world who are chipping away at the technical challenges holding back virtual reality, even as falling hardware prices make it more affordable.

Her research could help professional animators make movies, games and learning simulations. It could also lead the way to hand motions for sign-language avatars and help hobbyists create avatars at home on motion-capture systems, such as the Kinect.

Further, Joerg's research could answer some of the animation industry's most basic questions about the importance of finger movements in making characters realistic.

Hand movements may be taken for granted, but they are crucial in making an animated or virtual world seem real. They help communicate information and conduct basic tasks, such as eating, writing and handling tools.

But their small size and complexity make it difficult to recreate them for the screen, Joerg said.

It is hard to measure hands with a motion-capture system and gaps are left in the data. For example, if you have sensors on your hands and fold your arms, some of those sensors are covered. The animator then has to go through the laborious task of manually filling in the gaps.

Joerg, an assistant professor in the School of Computing, hopes to change all that.

"The idea is to create a database of motions and find ways to reuse pieces of the motions over and over again," Joerg said. "We want to automatically say, 'Let's take a half second from this motion, and then combine it with a half second from that motion.' That's the basic approach I want to use to synthesize motion automatically."

The algorithm would choose which motions to pluck from the database to create the desired movement.

Joerg said she got the idea for the research while helping animate "Dragon's Rock" when she was an undergraduate at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.

The sensor-covered gloves the team used to create the characters' hand motions kept breaking.

"Every now and then, we would not have any CyberGloves or we would have only one," Joerg said. "We would use one hand and plot it onto the motion of the other hand. We only had a limited amount of time to work on them, so we often would not manage to fix those errors in post-processing."

Joerg noticed that when the producers saw a show's near-final cut, they never complained about the hand motions. But in every scene they wanted changes, there were problems with the hands.

"My assumption is that in many cases people do not notice something wrong with the finger motions," Joerg said. "But you're so used to interpreting those subtle motions, that they still affect what you're thinking."

Joerg hopes that her research will help answer some of the key question that her experience raised: If you see a virtual character and the hand or finger motions are incorrect, how important is that in the first place? Is it better to have no finger motion at all than to have wrong finger motions?

What makes Joerg's research unique is that she has expertise in animating characters and studying how they are perceived, which are two separate but interconnected fields. She plans to conduct perceptual experiments and use the results to guide development of the new algorithms.

Eileen Kraemer, the C. Tycho Howle Director of the School of Computing, said that Joerg's award is a reflection of her hard work and creative approach.

"The CAREER award places Dr. Joerg among the top junior faculty members in the country," Kraemer said. "It's a well-deserved honor. She has a strong and impressive vision for her research and a compelling educational plan."

As part of her award, Joerg plans to use her research to enhance her work at R.C. Edwards Middle School in Central.

She has been working with a team of other researchers to teach computational thinking to students with VENVI, or Virtual Environment Interactions. The program is also aimed at shattering stereotypes by showing students that computer science researchers include women and minorities.

Back on campus, Joerg plans to offer summer research experiences for minority students through the NSF-supported Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates. To help recruit and retain people from underrepresented groups, she plans to create an inclusive and welcoming lab and classroom.

Further, Joerg plans to reach out to undergraduate honors students and integrate them into her team with master's students. She is also developing a course for graduate students that tightly couples motion perception and character animation algorithms.

Congratulations on the award came from across campus, including from Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

"This is one of the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar," Gramopadhye said. "The award is richly deserved and a testament to the high caliber of research she is doing and the exceptional education experience she is offering to students."

###
Montreal, April 4, 2017 -- Hundreds of millions of animals are killed every year by road traffic.

It's a sad statistic that Jochen Jaeger, associate professor of geography in Concordia's Faculty of Arts and Science, and his international colleagues hope to reduce.

But rather than focus on a specific location, as most studies do, they've taken a less common approach.

Jaeger and an international team of collaborators stepped back to re-examine the results of dozens of studies already conducted in countries around the world -- all they could possibly find in the peer-reviewed and grey literature.

They combined the data from many studies and analyzed them together, which allows for the discovery of more general relationships that hold across many locations. They focused on what prevention methods are most consistently useful. The results were recently published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Of the more than 40 prevention methods available, the researchers found that, overall, fences, with or without crossing structures, reduce roadkill by 54 per cent, when considering all species combined. Crossing structures had no detectable effect without fencing.

When large mammals were examined, the combination of fences and crossing structures led to a roadkill reduction of 83 per cent, while animal detection systems (such as laser tripwires or radar), led to a 57 per cent reduction.

The study also determined that expensive measures were much more effective than cheaper ones.

"Inexpensive measures such as wildlife reflectors should not be used until and unless their effectiveness is tested using a high-quality experimental approach," Jaeger says.

'A tsunami of roads'

Equally important in this study is its potential to improve the quality and consistency of future research. The 50 roadkill studies that Jaeger and his colleagues looked at (some with multiple data sets) were the only comparable ones out of 1,274 available worldwide to date.

At the top of the team's list of recommendations regarding research methods is the need to establish a clearer picture of how often animals get killed when they cross before preventative measures are installed.

The researchers also suggest reporting more carefully on how animals fare at "hotspots" at the end of fencing stretches. Many animals seem to move along the fence, cross the road at the end and get killed there. A different design of the fence-ends could help reduce this effect, but research about this idea still needs to be done in the future.

Another priority they named was increasing the duration of studies to a minimum of four years for Before-After study designs, and a minimum of either four years or four sites for Before-After-Control-Impact study designs.

Jaeger emphasizes that establishing a minimum quality for the approaches taken is increasingly important as the world builds more and more roads and species become rapidly more at risk. He points to Brazil and India as examples of where the roadkill problem promises to increase dramatically.

"There will be a huge number of road projects going through the Amazon very soon. They will have large numbers of animals being killed. It's like a tsunami of roads," Jaeger says.

"Somewhere like Switzerland or Germany -- they pretty much have all the roads they will ever build. But in Brazil and many other countries, most roads are still being constructed."

Jaeger emphasizes that places like the Amazon urgently need mitigation measures to protect the biodiversity that is still there, but better wildlife mitigation is also needed here at home.

Crucial, then, is the need to make sure that future studies are not only rigorous and make their results available to other researchers, but are comparable with other studies.

"If we do another 1,000 studies and only 50 of them can be included in the next meta-analysis in 10 years, that would be a huge missed opportunity," he says.

"Rather, we should do them in a way that they can all be part of the next meta-analysis."

From April 4-7, Jaeger will take part in the 37th annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment, held this year in Montreal. He is co-chairing a session together with Aurora Torres (from the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain) about creating an international coordinated network that engages scientists and practitioners to assess the impact of human infrastructure on wildlife globally and inspire innovative ideas and applications. He will also be joined by students from Concordia's Master's in Environmental Assessment, who have organized a special session on Impact Assessment.

###

Related links:

Faculty of Arts and Science

Department of Geography, Planning and Environment

Jochen Jaeger

Media contact:

Clea Desjardins

Senior advisor, media relations

University Communications Services

Concordia University

Phone: 514-848-2424, ext. 5068

Email: clea.desjardins@concordia.ca

Web: http://www.concordia.ca/now/media-relations

Twitter: @CleaDesjardins
Geologist and climate researcher Dr. Stefan Kropelin is the winner of this year's Communicator Award, conferred by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Stifterverband (Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany). The researcher from the University of Cologne will be presented with the 50,000 prize for his long-standing commitment to sharing his research on the Sahara.

Stefan Kropelin started his scientific career in Berlin, where he obtained his doctorate in geosciences. Since his transfer to the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Cologne in 1995, he has concentrated on the study of the eastern Sahara and its climatic history. With over 60 expeditions to the Sahara, he is considered a recognised expert on this region. As part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre "Our Way to Europe", Kropelin is currently researching the route that Homo sapiens took from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe over 100,000 years ago, and the climatic conditions that had to be faced.

Since the beginning of his scientific work, Stefan Kropelin has made his research findings accessible to a wide audience. He has contributed research findings, exhibits and films to numerous exhibitions on climate protection and nature conservation topics, both in Germany and abroad. Readers of popular magazines such as GEO know him for his reports on expeditions to the desert. He is especially known to the public for a number of television documentaries, in which he not only collaborated, but also frequently provided the idea and concept, often also presenting the programme himself. For example, he developed and led the expedition for the first television documentary in regions of the Sahara where film crews had never set foot before. He can also be found on the radio, online and on children's television, or discussing his work at numerous events in the public sphere.

With this decision, the Communicator Award jury honours Kropelin's tireless and ongoing commitment to science communication, highlighting in particular the international appeal and impact of his work and dedication. As a kind of "science diplomat", Kropelin has long been a strong advocate for the regions where he has conducted research, and through his tenacity has garnered much success in the area of nature conservation. The recognition of various regions as UNESCO world heritage sites was largely creditable to his initiative and contributed not only to the strengthening of the cultural and historical self-esteem of the regions, but also to the preservation of unique regions which are key to scientific research.

The "Communicator Award - Science Award of the Stifterverband" has been awarded annually since 2000. It is presented to researchers who communicate their research and that in their field in a particularly varied, original and lasting way to the media and the general public. Through this award, the DFG and the Stifterverband aim to strengthen the dialogue between the scientific community and the public while promoting science communication within the research community itself.

This year's jury, composed of science journalists and communication and PR experts and chaired by DFG Vice President Professor Dr. Frank Allgower, chose Stefan Kropelin from over 51 applications and nominations in a multi-stage selection process.

The 2017 Communicator Award will be presented during the DFG's Annual Meeting on 3 July in Halle/Saale by Prof. Dr. Peter Strohschneider, President of the DFG, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Barner, President of the Stifterverband. Like all previous Communicator Award winners, Stefan Kropelin will receive a hologram created by Cologne-based artist Michael Bleyenberg, symbolising the importance of transparency in science and the humanities.

###

Further Information

Information about the prizewinner can be found at: http://www.dfg.de/en/funded_projects/prizewinners/communicator_award/index.html

Media Contacts:

Dr. Jutta Rateike, DFG Press and Public Relations, Head of Public Relations

jutta.rateike@dfg.de, Tel. +49 228 885-2665

Moritz Kralemann, Head of Communication at the Stifterverband

moritz.kralemann@stifterverband, Tel. +49 30 322982-527
Researchers affiliated with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, have shown that genetic information can be used to improve early prediction of the response to drugs in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), one of the most severe forms of epilepsy. Patients who do not respond well to treatment with antiepileptic drugs are candidates for surgery.

The research was conducted at the Brazilian Research Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN) - one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) funded by FAPESP - and led by Professor Iscia Lopes-Cendes.

"According to estimates, at the world's best centers, it takes between 15 and 20 years for patients with MTLE refractory to drug treatment to be referred for surgery," Lopes-Cendes said. "Meanwhile, they continue to suffer from uncontrolled seizures. If we can shorten this process, we can improve the lives of many patients, potentially making the difference between going or not going to university, having or not having a job and a normal life."

MTLE, she explained, is caused by alterations in the functioning of neurons located in the deepest structures of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, which control important functions such as memory, attention, and anxiety, among others. Seizures due to abnormal electric discharges in a large group of neurons may or may not result in convulsions but do impair memory and other brain functions, often putting the patient at risk of accident and death.

Although MTLE is not the most frequent form of epilepsy, accounting for only 30-40% of cases, it is considered the hardest to treat in adults. Up to 40% of patients with MTLE do not respond to any of the available drugs. In these cases, surgical removal of the brain area that originates the seizures is often recommended.

"Any operation involves risks, and in this case, part of the brain is removed," Lopes-Cendes said. "That isn't innocuous, and the consensus today favors controlling seizures with different regimes of drug therapy. The disease usually manifests in late adolescence or early adulthood, a crucial phase in anyone's life. Imagine the difference it would make if you could control seizures at age 12 instead of 35."

The study was based on an analysis of data for 237 individuals with MTLE who had been monitored at UNICAMP for at least two years. The researchers already knew that 162 of these patients were not responsive to antiepileptic drugs.

The aim of the study, according to Lopes-Cendes, was to develop a methodology for distinguishing between the two groups by analyzing their genetic material. To do this, the researchers selected a set of 11 genes that have been shown to be involved in antiepileptic drug absorption, metabolism, and transport in the scientific literature.

For these 11 genes, they genotyped 119 different single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) molecular markers to see which alleles were present.

"We deployed a series of statistical procedures to develop the model with the best capacity to predict whether the patient would be responsive to drug treatment," Lopes-Cendes said. "In this model, we included and excluded variables to see which ones contributed most to the power of the predictors. Besides genetic polymorphisms, we also included clinical data such as the presence or absence of hippocampal atrophy, the age at and frequency of seizures at epilepsy onset, patient gender, and so on."

When only the clinical variables were taken into account, the model's predictions were about 45% accurate, which, according to Lopes-Cendes, is less than would be achieved by tossing a coin.

However, the model's accuracy increased to 80% when only SNP markers were used and to 82% when both clinical and genetic variables were used.

As Lopes-Cendes explained, in order to be sure that the two groups of patients belonged to the same population from a genetic standpoint and hence were genuinely comparable, the researchers also genotyped 90 other SNPs in different genes located on the same chromosomes as in the previous analysis.

"We call this testing technique 'genome control'," she said. "Without it, we risk selecting patient and control groups from different populations, which would invalidate the results of the analysis."

In light of the model's high level of accuracy, Lopes-Cendes revealed that she and her team at BRAINN now plan to begin a multicenter study involving patients from several countries.

"The idea is to genotype these SNPs at the start of treatment and to follow the patients for two years to see what happens. If the results corroborate our findings in this first study, we'll have sufficient evidence to include the methodology in clinical practice," she said.

###
Previously accelerated by black holes, the particles are reaccelerated by shock waves resulting from the collision. The phenomenon helps scientists understand the structure of the universe on the largest scale.

A cosmic phenomenon on a colossal scale, resulting from the acceleration of a gas cloud by a black hole and its reacceleration by the shock waves from the merging of two galaxy clusters, has been observed, described and interpreted by an international collaboration of astronomers that included three Brazilians: Felipe Andrade-Santos, Vinicius Moris Placco, and Rafael Miloni Santucci.

All three, together with colleagues from other countries, are co-authors of the article "The case for electron reacceleration at galaxy cluster shocks", published in January 2017 in the journal Nature.

"The electrons that make up the cloud initially bounce off the supermassive black hole at the center of one of the galaxies and accelerate as a result. They are then reaccelerated by shock waves that propagate in the galaxy cluster when it collides with another cluster," Andrade-Santos told.

Galaxy clusters grow through the gravitational accretion of matter and by merging with other clusters and groups of galaxies. These mergers, which typically occur at faster-than-sound speeds, generate shock waves that propagate through the clusters for hundreds of millions of years and may reaccelerate particles previously accelerated in the galactic nuclei, where supermassive black holes are found.

The authors of the study investigated a collision between clusters Abell 3411 and Abell 3412, located some 2 billion light-years from Earth. Both are huge, extending for millions of light-years, and very massive: each is about one quadrillion times the mass of our Sun. But the particle gas of which the clusters are made up is extremely rarefied, more so than any vacuum produced in a laboratory on Earth, with a density in the range of 10-3 to 10-2 particles per cubic centimeter.

"During the formation of a cluster, collisions between gas particles raise the temperature of the medium to around 100 million degrees Celsius," Andrade-Santos said.

Owing to the extremely high temperature of the gas, the speed at which sound propagates in the medium is on the order of 1,000 km per second, almost 3,000 times faster than the speed of sound in Earth's atmosphere (343 m per second at sea level and 20 degrees Celsius). But galaxy clusters can collide at twice or three times this speed (2,000-3,000 km/s), hence giving rise to the shock waves that reaccelerate the particles.

The reacceleration of previously accelerated particles makes them emit electromagnetic radiation in the radio-frequency band. This radio emission was a mystery that had challenged astronomers for nearly two decades. The puzzle has now been solved by the research in question.

"Radio emissions from the regions in which clusters collide were first detected almost 20 years ago, but no one was able to explain how electrons could be accelerated to the point where they emitted radiation in this frequency band. An attempt was made to build a model in which the gas was compressed by the shock, so that the particles gained energy, but the mathematics didn't work out because the particles would have to gain far more energy from the shock than was predictable on the basis of astronomical observations," Andrade-Santos said.

"We worked with the hypothesis that a population of high-energy electrons already existed and would need only one last 'push' to start emitting radio waves. This was confirmed by our study. Observations of the shock between this pair of clusters showed that the radio emission was connected to the galaxy's jet, so clearly the electrons must have been initially accelerated by the black hole and then reaccelerated by the shock waves.

"Analyzing the radio emission in detail, we realized the electrons lost energy along the jet and were re-energized in the region of the shock. The novelty in our research is the discovery of a physical connection between the two phenomena. Double acceleration makes the particles a million times more energetic, boosting them from the level of a kiloelectron volt (keV) to the level of a gigaelectron volt (GeV)."

To reach this result, the researchers compiled data collected by a formidable array of equipment. The Chandra space telescope, which operates in the X-ray band, provided the location of the collision between the two clusters. The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), which is installed near Pune in India and operates in the radio band, pointed to the link between the radio emission and a galaxy by locating the origin of the electrons. The Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR), a visible-light and infrared telescope installed on Cerro Pachon in Chile, provided the data required to calculate the distance of the emitting galaxy, showing that it in fact belonged to one of the clusters. Japan's Subaru visible-light and infrared telescope, located on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, provided optical imaging of the galaxies. The two-telescope visible-light and infrared W. M. Keck Observatory, also on Mauna Kea, provided the spectra for the galaxies identified by Subaru.

Placco's and Santucci's contributions were vital to the collection and processing of the data obtained through SOAR. Their participation in this and other observatories in Chile has changed the profile of Brazilian astronomy, with strong support from FAPESP.

The study enriches scientists' understanding of the universe on the largest scale. The universe is known to consist of huge voids surrounded by gigantic filaments making up the cosmic web. These filaments are made of gas clouds and galaxies. Galaxy clusters are located at the intersections of filaments, which are like knots in the web. Clusters grow through the accretion of gas from these large-scale filaments and through mergers with other clusters and groups of galaxies. These mergers produce shock waves, which propagate through the clusters, reaccelerating particles previously accelerated by supermassive black holes in the galactic nuclei.

"Our work has two direct implications. The first is that simulations of galaxy clusters should include this population of high-energy electrons. The second is that laboratory experiments designed to simulate conditions in clusters should take these relativistic particles into account. In the future, we'll detect more cases like the one described in the study and acquire a better understand of the details. This is the first case, but with the advent of more powerful instruments, we'll be able to measure the phenomenon in other clusters," Andrade-Santos said.

This was a reference to new projects, such as the planned X-ray telescope Lynx, a possible successor to the Chandra space telescope. If the Lynx mission concept wins approval and is funded by NASA, it will vastly increase scientists' capacity to observe shocks between galaxy clusters, making important contributions to their mapping of the universe.

###
Researchers have found evidence of how ancient Britain separated from Europe, which happened in two stages, they report today in Nature Communications.

Nearly 450,000 years ago, when Earth was in the grip of an ice age, ice stretched right across the North Sea, from Britain to Scandinavia. The low sea levels meant that the entire English Channel was dry land, a frozen tundra landscape, crisscrossed by small rivers.

Britain's separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spill over from a proglacial lake - a type of lake formed in front of an ice sheet - in the North Sea, but this has remained unproven. Now, researchers from Imperial College London and their colleagues from institutes in Europe show that the opening of the Dover Strait in the English Channel occurred in two episodes, where an initial lake spill over was followed by catastrophic flooding.

Ten years ago, the researchers from Imperial College London revealed geophysical evidence of giant valleys on the seafloor in the central part of English Channel. They believed these valley networks were evidence of a megaflood gouging out the land, which they speculated may have been caused by a catastrophic breach in a chalk rock ridge joining Britain to France.

The new study by the team, working with their colleagues in Europe, now shows for the first time the details of how this chalk ridge in the Dover Strait, between Dover and Calais, was breached. New geophysical data collected by colleagues from Belgium and France has been combined with seafloor data from the UK showing evidence of huge holes and a valley system located on the seafloor.

The team show that the chalk ridge acted like a huge dam and behind it was a proglacial lake. This lake was first hypothesised by scientists more than 100 years ago and the authors of today's study show how the lake overflowed in giant waterfalls, eroding the rock escarpment, weakening it and eventually causing it to fail and release huge volumes of water onto the valley floor below.

The team believe that the huge holes that they analysed on the seafloor are plunge pools, created when water cascading over an escarpment hit the ground and eroded rock. The plunge pools in the Dover Strait are huge - up to several kilometres in diameter and around 100 metres deep and were drilled into solid rock. Around seven plunge pools run in a line from the ports of Calais to Dover. The researchers suggest these plunge pools are evidence of an overflow of water from the lake in the southern North Sea.

The straight line of the plunge pools suggests they were cascading off one single rock ridge perhaps 32 kilometres long and 100 metres high- the land bridge between Europe and the UK.

The researchers have also found evidence that a second event fully opened the Dover Strait. Later on, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years later, a new valley system, the Lobourg Channel, was carved by megaflood processes that crossed the Dover Strait. The researchers demonstrate that this valley system is connected to the giant valley network in the central English Channel. They suggest that a spill over of other, smaller lakes in front of the ice sheets in the North Sea may have been responsible for the later episode of flood erosion.

It has taken ten years, but by pulling all the pieces of the geological jigsaw puzzle together the team say they are more confident about what may have caused the megaflood in the English Channel thousands of years ago.

Dr Jenny Collier, a co-author of the study from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, said: "Based on the evidence that we've seen, we believe the Dover Strait 450,000 years ago would have been a huge rock ridge made of chalk joining Britain to France, looking more like the frozen tundra in Siberia than the green environment we know today. It would have been a cold world dotted with waterfalls plunging over the iconic white chalk escarpment that we see today in the White Cliffs of Dover.

"We still don't know for sure why the proglacial lake spilt over. Perhaps part of the ice sheet broke off, collapsing into the lake, causing a surge that carved a path for the water to cascade off the chalk ridge. In terms of the catastrophic failure of the ridge, maybe an earth tremor, which is still characteristic of this region today, further weakened the ridge. This may have caused the chalk ridge to collapse, releasing the megaflood that we have found evidence for in our studies."

Engineers first found evidence of the plunge pools when they were carrying out geological surveys of the Dover Strait seafloor back in the 1960s. No one knew what caused them, but they were called the Fosse Dangeard. The loose gravel and sand infilling these plunge pools meant that the engineers had to move the route of the Channel Tunnel to avoid them. In 1985 a marine geologist named Professor Alec Smith, from Bedford College in London, first proposed that the holes were created by ancient waterfalls, but the lack of hard evidence meant that the assertions were largely forgotten. Now, the authors of today's study say Smith's original assertions were right.

The scientists say if it wasn't for a set of chance geological circumstances, Britain may have still remained connected to mainland Europe, jutting out into the sea similarly to Denmark.

Professor Sanjeev Gupta, a co-author from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial, added: "The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity even today. When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland. Without this dramatic breaching Britain would still be a part of Europe. This is Brexit 1.0 - the Brexit nobody voted for."

The team still do not have an exact timeline of events. In the next step, the researchers would like to take core samples of the in-filled sediments in the plunge pools, which they will analyse to determine the timing of erosion and infill of the plunge pools, the environments represented by these sediments, and the source of the sediments. Developing a timeline of events would enable them to learn more about the distinctive evolution of Britain, compared to mainland Europe. However, this will be a real challenge for the team as getting sediment core samples in the Dover Strait means dealing with huge tidal changes and traversing the world's busiest shipping lane.

###

The study was carried out in conjunction with researchers from Royal Observatory Belgium; Ghent University, Belgium; CNRS, the University of Lille, and the University of Western Britanny in France; and Top-Hole Studies Ltd, UK.

Colin Smith

Communications Manager (Engineering)

Communications and Public Affairs

Imperial College London

South Kensington Campus

London SW7 2AZ

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6712

Email: cd.smith@imperial.ac.uk

Duty press officer mobile: +44 (0)7803 886248
Rabies and yellow fever claim ten thousands of lives each year. Vaccines already exist but various drawbacks that hinder their efficient distribution. One of them is the need to transport and store these vaccines at cool temperatures. The RABYD-VAX consortium, led by KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium), has now started developing a cheap, temperature-stable, and easy-to-produce vaccine against both diseases at once.

Rabies is usually transmitted through dog bites. With a near 100% fatality rate it is one of the deadliest diseases on earth, claiming an estimated 59,000 lives each year. "Most of these patients live in rural areas in Africa and Asia," explains RABYD-VAX coordinator Johan Neyts from the KU Leuven Laboratory of Virology. "More than half of the victims are children. Many people are still not vaccinated because the vaccines are very expensive and they need to be transported and stored at cool temperatures."

Vaccination for yellow fever is equally problematic, with an estimated 30,000 people dying each year. The mosquito-borne virus can cause a life-threatening infection with jaundice, systemic bleeding, shock, and organ failure. "The archaic production technique does not yield enough doses. There is a real danger that major outbreaks of yellow fever could become uncontrollable. Last year's epidemic in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a dramatic case in point. The WHO had to use its entire strategic emergency stock just to vaccinate the 6 million people living in the Angolan capital Luanda." This is all the more worrying as the Brazilian Ministry of Health recently reported an outbreak of yellow fever.

The RABYD-VAX consortium has now set out to develop a vaccine that protects against both rabies and yellow fever. "The new vaccine could be included in routine childhood vaccinations," says Neyts. "It will also be highly efficient, safe, temperature-stable, easy to produce and cheap. The vaccine can even be administered without a needle." To accomplish all this, the researchers will use a novel vaccine technology called PLLAV, which was developed at KU Leuven.

###

RABYD-VAX is supported by a 4.1 million grant from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no 733176. The RABYD-VAX consortium (http://www.rabyd-vax.eu) combines the expertise of researchers from KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium), the Belgian Scientific Institute of Public Health (Brussels, Belgium), the Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC, Rijswijk, The Netherlands) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA, UK).
Approximately 13,500 years after nomadic Clovis hunters crossed the frozen land bridge from Asia to North America, researchers are still asking questions and putting together clues as to how they not only survived in a new landscape with unique new challenges but adapted with stone tools and weapons to thrive for thousands of years.

Kent State University's Metin Eren, Ph.D., director of archaeology and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his colleagues are not only asking these questions but testing their unique new theories. They want to better understand the engineering, techniques and purposes of Clovis weapon technologies. Specifically, they study stone projectile points, such as arrowheads and spear points, made by flint knapping, the ancient practice of chipping away at the edges of rocks to shape them into weapons and tools.

In their most recent article published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Eren and his co-authors from Southern Methodist University (Brett A. Story, David J. Meltzer and Kaitlyn A. Thomas), University of Tulsa (Briggs Buchanan), Rogers State University (Brian N. Andrews), Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri (Michael J. O'Brien) explain the flint knapping technique of "fluting" the Clovis points, which could be considered the first truly American invention. This singular technological attribute, the flake removal or "flute," is absent from the stone-tool repertoire of Pleistocene Northeast Asia, where the Clovis ancestors came from.

Archaeologists have debated for years as to why the Clovis added this flute feature to their points. Basically, it is a thin groove chipped off at the base on both sides, perhaps first made by accident, which logically makes it very thin and brittle. However, after several types of testing, the researchers have reported that this thinning of the base can make it better able to withstand and absorb the shock of colliding with a hard object, such as the bone of a mastodon or bison.

This fluted point turned out to be an invention that allowed these colonizers to travel great distances with some confidence that their weaponry would hold up at least long enough until they could find the next rock quarry to make new points.

"It was risky and couldn't have been easy to learn how to do this effectively," Eren explained. "Archaeological evidence suggests that up to one out of five points break when you try to chip this fluted base, and it takes at least 30 minutes to produce a finished specimen. So, though it was a time-consuming process and risky technique, successfully fluted Clovis points would have been extremely reliable, especially while traveling great distances into unknown regions on a new continent. They needed points that would hold up and be used over and over again."

In their article, the researchers compared standardized computer models of fluted and unfluted points, as well as experimental "real-world" test specimens, and found that the fluted-point base does in fact act as a "shock absorber," increasing point robustness and ability to withstand physical stress via stress redistribution and damage relocation. In other words, upon impact, the brittle base of the spearhead crumples and absorbs some energy, which prevents fatal breaks elsewhere on the point so it could be reused.

"It's amazing to think that people 12,000 years ago were flaking shock absorbers and engineering stone weapons in a way that it took 21st century modern engineering to figure out," Eren said.

"As engineers, we don't typically get to work with archaeologists, but this project has allowed us the exciting opportunity to provide additional tools from engineering mechanics to explore how fluting affects the behavior of Clovis points," Story said.

###

About Metin Eren

Metin Eren, Ph.D., joined the faculty at Kent State University last year, but he is no stranger to Northeast Ohio. He grew up in Cleveland and is an alumnus of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. Eren began his archaeological career with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History when he was a high school student. His research focus is the Paleolithic (Stone Age) period with an emphasis on the ways our species colonized new and unfamiliar landscapes as they moved out of Africa and spread around the world. He has directed fieldwork in North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Read more about the Eren Lab at https://www.kent.edu/research/metin-erens-team-gives-old-artifacts-new-look.

Watch Eren's research in action at https://youtu.be/Gzl_hA6JOEc.

Read more about Kent State's Department of Anthropology at http://www.kent.edu/anthropology.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - A collection of Clovis point replicas and casts:

Pictured is a collection of Clovis point replicas and casts in the archaeology lab at Kent State University.

Photo 2 - Metin Eren demonstrates flint knapping:

Metin Eren, director of archaeology and an assistant professor of anthropology in Kent State University's College of Arts and Sciences, demonstrates the ancient weapon-making technique of flint knapping a point in his laboratory on the Kent Campus.

Media Contacts:

Jim Maxwell, 330-672-8028, jmaxwel2@kent.edu

Emily Vincent, 330-672-8595, evincen2@kent.edu
NASA conducted an analysis of the heavy rainfall that occurred over Colombia that triggered flooding and mudslides.

Late Friday night, March 31, and early morning Saturday, April 1, flash flooding and mudslides killed more than 250 people in Mocoa, Colombia. Extremely intense storms added heavy rain to waterlogged terrain around Mocoa. Water from this heavy rainfall converged into a river that runs close to Mocoa causing it to overflow its banks with deadly results.

NASA's GPM, or Global Precipitation Measurement, mission satellite provides information on precipitation from its orbit in space. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

GPM also utilizes a constellation of other satellites to provide a global analysis if precipitation. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, those data are incorporated into NASA's IMERG, or Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM, to provide a total picture of precipitation events.

IMERG data were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell near Mocoa, Colombia, during a seven-day period from March 26 to April 2, 2017. IMERG indicated that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm (3.1 inches). The analysis also showed the locations of heavy rainfall that extended from east of Mocoa into the high mountains that surround the city. Torrents of water rushed from the high terrain and were funneled into the valley where Mocoa is located, causing the flooding and mudslides.

IMERG creates a merged precipitation product from the GPM constellation of satellites. These satellites include DMSPs from the U.S. Department of Defense, GCOM-W from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Megha-Tropiques from the Centre National D'etudies Spatiales and Indian Space Research Organization, NOAA series from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Suomi-NPP from NOAA-NASA, and MetOps from the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. All of the instruments (radiometers) aboard the constellation partners are inter-calibrated with information from the GPM Core Observatory's GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR).

###

For updates on flooding and forecasts, visit the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies of Colombia: http://www.ideam.gov.co/

For more information about GPM: http://www.nasa.gov/gpm
A Canadian-led research group has developed and validated a rule that could let half of women with unexplained vein blood clots stop taking blood thinners for life. These findings were published in The BMJ.

Over 1.5 million Canadians will experience a vein blood clot their lifetime, known as venous thrombosis. If part of the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, it can be fatal. Half of these blood clots happen for no apparent reason, and are known as unexplained or unprovoked clots.

Once an unprovoked vein clot is treated, guidelines recommend that patients take blood thinners for the rest of their lives. If they do not, their risk of having a second clot is 30 to 40 percent in the next 10 years. Taking life-long blood thinners virtually eliminates this risk, but comes at a cost of a 1.2 percent chance of major bleeding per year.

"Patients can get very anxious trying to balance the risks of the treatment with the risks of another blood clot," said Dr. Marc Rodger, senior scientist and thrombosis specialist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. "With this rule we can confidently tell half of the women we see that they are at low risk of having another blood clot. This means they can stop taking blood thinners once their initial clot is treated, sparing them the cost, inconvenience and risks of taking life-long medication."

The HERDOO2 rule, so named to help physicians remember the criteria, was developed by an international team led by Dr. Rodger and published in 2008. According to the rule, if a woman has one or none of the following risk factors she is at low risk for having another blood clot:

Discoloration, redness or swelling in either leg (HER= Hyperpigmentation, edema or redness) High levels of a clotting marker (D-dimer) in the blood Body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more (Obesity) Older than age 65

The team could not find factors to identify low-risk men.

To confirm that the rule works, Dr. Rodger led an international trial of 2,785 participants with unexplained vein blood clots. They were recruited from 44 health-care centres in 7 countries between 2008 and 2015.

According to the rule, 622 of the 1,213 women in the trial were at low risk of having another blood clot. They were told to stop taking blood thinners after they completed the initial treatment for their first blood clot. For the high-risk patients, the researchers left the decision of continuing blood thinners up the patients and their doctors. Of the 2,125 high-risk patients, 1,802 continued blood thinners while 323 stopped taking them.

The researchers followed these groups for a year after they had finished treatment for their first clot. They found that the low-risk group of women had a 3.0 percent rate of having another blood clot per patient year. This was significantly lower than the 8.1 percent rate among the high-risk patients who had also stopped taking blood thinners.

"We see two to three patients with unexplained blood clots every day at The Ottawa Hospital," said Dr. Marc Rodger, "If this rule was applied across Canada, we estimate that over 10,000 women a year would be identified as low risk and be able to come off blood thinners."

One of these women was Sarah Rodgers, a 38-year-old tattoo artist who took part in the study. The blood clot in her leg was a shock to the active Ottawa woman, who thought that the pain and swelling was a pulled muscle.

"It was so disconcerting--there was nothing I did to make it happen," she said. "My dad's had several strokes and there's heart disease in my family, so it was really scary. I thought I was in for it for the rest of my life."

Once Rodgers finished treatment for the initial clot, she was able to stop taking blood thinners.

"If my blood was too thin, I felt lightheaded. If I wasn't taking enough blood thinner, I would have pains in my leg," she said, "I felt so much better once I came off them."

The rule is now used in all of the health-care centres where it was tested, including The Ottawa Hospital. The researchers' next step is to spread the word to other health-care providers.

Dr. Rodger also wants to raise awareness among patients with this common condition.

"If you are a woman with an unexplained vein blood clot, or on life-long blood thinners because of a past clot, ask your health-care provider about your HERDOO2 score," said Dr. Rodger. "It could save you from a lifetime of medication."

###

Full reference: Validating the HERDOO2 Rule to Guide Treatment Duration for Women with Unprovoked Venous Thrombosis: A Multi-National Prospective Cohort Management Study. Marc A. Rodger, Gregoire Le Gal, David R. Anderson, Jeannot Schmidt, Gilles Pernod, Susan R. Kahn, Marc Righini, Patrick Mismetti, Clive Kearon, Guy Meyer, Antoine Elias, Tim Ramsay, Thomas L. Ortel, Menno V. Huisman, and Michael J. Kovacs for the REVERSE II Study Investigators. The BMJ. March 17, 2017

Funders: French Ministry of Health, bioMerieux, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

This paper is an example of how The Ottawa Hospital is contributing to making Ontario Healthier, Wealthier and Smarter. http://www.healthierwealthiersmarter.ca.

About The Ottawa Hospital: Inspired by research. Driven by compassion: The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada's largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. See http://www.ohri.ca for more information about research at The Ottawa Hospital.

About the University of Ottawa --A crossroads of cultures and ideas: The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada's top 10 research universities--our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today's challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. http://www.uottawa.ca

Media Contact: Amelia Buchanan, Senior Communication Specialist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; ambuchanan@ohri.ca; Office: 613-798-5555 x 73687; Cell: 613-297-8315
A staged model of depression, ranging from wellness to distress to disorder, could make it easier for diverse groups to talk about depression and has the potential to improve the study of potential depression treatments, argues Vikram Patel of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in London, UK, in an Essay in PLOS Medicine in advance of World Health Day 2017.

Around the world, the vast majority of people with depression don't seek care for their symptoms and don't benefit from new knowledge on how to treat depression. To talk sensibly about depression, Patel writes, "one must explicitly acknowledge that the term itself captures a very heterogeneous group of experiences." In some cases, symptoms lumped into the broad diagnosis of depression can be eased by talking with friends. In other cases, a health professional is needed. Having a binary system for classifying all depression--as either a case or a non-case--complicates not only communication about depression, but also the search for biomarkers that might distinguish people with depression.

Patel proposes a continuum of stages to define depression: wellness--the absence of distressing emotional experiences; distress--mild to moderate distressing experiences of short duration; depressive episode or disorder--set apart by severely distressing experiences lasting at least two to four weeks with impairment of social functioning; and recurrent or refractory depressive episodes--those which don't respond to existing treatments. Patients within each stage would be treated differently, with the large proportion of those who are distressed being offered guided self-care (including internet based interventions),and those with disorders being offered clinical interventions such as psychological treatments or anti-depressant medication.

A key barrier to the new model, Patel admits, is the continuing low rate of detection of depression. An alternative approach to current methods of boosting detection rates and assisting in staging of patients with symptoms, he writes, "may be to incorporate screening of adults in primary care and maternal health platforms, using locally validated symptom measures such as the PHQ-9, as has been recommended by the US Task Force on prevention."

Patel concludes that to advance the discourse about depression in society, "we need to move from a binary classification to a staged model which explicitly recognizes the dimensional nature of this condition. Such a revised framing has potential utility for diverse audiences, including scientists, policy makers, patients and practitioners, and offers a framework for consensus between diverse disciplines, between the clinical and public health communities, and between professionals and civil society, on how to talk sensibly about depression, in one voice."

###

Essay

Funding:

VP is supported by a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests:

VP is a member of the PLOS Medicine Editorial Board.

Citation:

Patel V (2017) Talking sensibly about depression. PLoS Med 14(4): e1002257. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002257

Author Affiliations:

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

Public Health Foundation of India, National Capital Region of New Delhi, India

Sangath, Goa, Porvorim, India

Current address: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER:

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002257
The whole concept of the 'Little Ice Age' is 'misleading', as the changes were small-scale, seasonal and insignificant compared with present-day global warming, a group of solar and climate scientists argue.

Explanations for the cooling to Earth's climate, thought to have occurred between the 16th and 19th centuries, include low solar activity, volcanic eruptions, human changes to land use and natural climatological change.

But in a new paper in Astronomy & Geophysics, the house journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Mike Lockwood, of the University of Reading, and his collaborators, note that the temperature shift was smaller than that seen in recent decades resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases, and that although low solar activity may have been one driving factor, it certainly was not the only one.

Professor Lockwood said: "Commentators frequently refer to the Little Ice Age in discussions on climate change. We wanted to carry out a comprehensive study to see just how reliable the evidence is for a cooler climate, how big an impact it really had and how strong the evidence for a solar cause really was.

"On the whole the Little Ice Age was a manageable downturn in climate concentrated in particular regions, even though places like the UK had a larger fraction of cold winters. Our research suggests that there is no single explanation for this, that warm summers continued much as they do today and that not all winters were cold."

Researchers scrutinised historical records, such as the accounts of 'frost fairs' when the River Thames froze solid, and looked at the paintings from the era, such as the landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with 'Hunters in the Snow' depicting a cold winter scene. Both of these are cited in support of the Little Ice Age concept.

From around 1650-1710, and to a lesser extent from 1790-1825, periods respectively known as the Maunder and Dalton Minima, sunspot numbers were unusually low, an indication that the surface of the Sun was slightly cooler. This external influence is often suggested as an explanation for the colder conditions.

The Reading-led team looked at the various pieces of evidence in more detail. They compared direct temperature records and proxy data such as ice records, with the years when the Thames was frozen over (whether or not a frost fair took place), and with the indications of solar activity.

Historical climate change is assessed through a variety of means. The Central England Temperature (CET) dataset tracks temperature from 1659, making it the oldest and longest running meteorological instrumental data sequence in the world. This direct record is supplemented by studies of biological proxies such as tree rings, corals, insect numbers and molluscs, all sensitive to climate change.

The authors draw comparisons with the ice ages proper. Cores taken from Antarctic ice allow global temperatures to be inferred, by measuring the proportions of deuterium (2H), a heavier atom of hydrogen, and of the heavier oxygen atom 18O, compared with their lighter 'normal' counterparts. It takes more energy to evaporate water with a higher proportion of these atoms, and they are more easily lost from rainfall, before they are deposited in ice found nearer the poles. The changing proportion of these atoms then allows researchers to assess how the temperature has changed over millions of years.

From these comparisons, the scientists argue that the description of the period as an Ice Age is misleading, as temperatures in that period fell far less than in a glaciation. During the Little Ice Age (LIA), the average temperature in the northern hemisphere fell by around 0.5 degrees. In contrast, in the most recent major glaciation that came to an end around 12,000 years ago, global temperatures were typically 8 degrees Celsius colder than today.

Frost fairs also seem to be a poor indication of overall climate, as they often did not take place despite the Thames freezing, partly for many reasons including puritanical authorities or safety as lives were lost when the ice melted. The ending of the frost fairs had nothing to do with climate change or solar activity, instead being due to the increased river flow when the original London Bridge was demolished in 1825, and the first Victoria embankment opened in 1870. Both of these prevented the river from freezing completely, despite many subsequent cold winters.

Selective use of art historical evidence appears to reinforce the illusion of a prolonged cold spell. Yet 'Hunters in the Snow', depicting a January scene, is part of a series by Bruegel known as 'The Twelve Months'. Seven of these paintings may have been lost, but 'The Gloomy Day' (February), 'Haymaking' (July), and 'The Return of the Herd' (November) all give no indication of unusually cold conditions. Consistent with this, Lockwood and his team note that even at the height of the LIA period, colder European winters were still accompanied by many warm summers.

For example, 1701 is close to the lowest point of the Little Ice Age, yet in both Paris and London the summer was reported as being unbearably hot and the CET for July that year is the 10th hottest on record, with average temperatures for the month reaching 18.3C. The year 1676 is the second hottest June on record at 18.0C, yet it too was in the middle of a run of cold winters. Such high summer temperatures do not fit at all with the name "Little Ice Age".

Much more dramatic variations can result from large volcanic eruptions. Samalas, a volcano which erupted in 1257 in what is now Indonesia, ejected large amounts of dust into the atmosphere, causing a temporary cooling effect. The years between 1570 and 1730, corresponding to the coldest part of the LIA, also saw continuous lower level volcanic activity that may have suppressed temperatures. Volcanic eruptions undoubtedly cause both cold winters and cold summers. One of the clearest examples was the Tambora eruption of July 1815, which caused the next year to be called "the year without a summer".

Professor Lockwood said: "This study provides little solace for the future, as we face the challenge of global warming. Solar activity appears to be declining at present, but any cooling effect that results will be more than offset by the effect of rising carbon dioxide emissions, and provides us with no excuse for inaction."

###

Media contacts

Dr Robert Massey

Royal Astronomical Society

Tel: +44 (0)20 7292 3979

Mob: +44 (0)7802 877699

rm@ras.org.uk

Dr Morgan Hollis

Royal Astronomical Society

Tel: +44 (0)20 7292 3977

mh@ras.org.uk

Pete Bryant

University of Reading

+44 (0)118 378 4912

p.g.bryant@reading.ac.uk

Science contact

Prof Mike Lockwood

University of Reading

Tel: +44 (0)118 378 5572

m.lockwood@reading.ac.uk

Images and captions

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/press/Little_Ice_Age/paleo_dTplot_new_33.png

Analysis of extreme temperatures in the Central England Temperature (CET) thermometer record.

Part (b) shows the lowest monthly average in each winter whereas part (c) shows the hottest monthly average in each summer. In both cases blue shows lower temperatures, and red shows higher temperatures than the long-term average.

The cold winter months match up very well with the years in which frost fairs were held (vertical mauve lines) or years when the Thames was reported as frozen solid (vertical orange lines). However these years are not usually also associated with colder summers, unless there was a large volcanic eruption (measured from the sulphates that it deposited in polar ice sheets) such as Tambora in 1815.

The top panel (a) shows the level of solar activity as seen in sunspot numbers (from telescopic observations and deduced from Carbon-14 stored in tree rings). It can be seen that, contrary to common claims, the Thames did not freeze more often during the Maunder minimum (c.1660-1710). Thames freezing events ceased after the demolition of the old London bridge in 1825 and the installation of the embankments, completed in 1870 (both dates marked with black lines): the faster flow meant that the river no longer froze, even when temperatures fell to values that had previously caused freezing. Credit: M. Lockwood

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/press/Little_Ice_Age/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_Hunters_in_the_Snow_Winter_-_Google_Art_Project.jpeg

"The Hunters in the Snow", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Credit: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/press/Little_Ice_Age/Die_Heuernte.jpeg

"Haymaking", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Credit: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Further information

The new work appears in "Frost fairs, sunspots and the Little Ice Age", Mike Lockwood, Mat Owens, Ed Hawkins, Gareth S. Jones and Ilya Usoskin, A&G, published by Oxford University Press, in press. A copy of the paper is available from https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/press/Little_Ice_Age/343_AandG_MMandLIA_preprint1.pdf

Notes for editors

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4,000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The RAS accepts papers for its journals based on the principle of peer review, in which fellow experts on the editorial boards accept the paper as worth considering. The Society issues press releases based on a similar principle, but the organisations and scientists concerned have overall responsibility for their content.

T: https://twitter.com/royalastrosoc

F: https://www.facebook.com/RoyalAstroSoc/

The University of Reading's meteorology department is one of the world's leading centres in the atmospheric and climate sciences. It was awarded a Regius Professorship in Meteorology and Climate Science by the Queen in 2013, recognising the exceptionally high quality of its teaching and research.

T: https://twitter.com/UniOfReading

F: https://facebook.com/TheUniversityOfReading
The administration of low-dose hydrocortisone to extremely preterm infants was not associated with any adverse effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years of age, according to a study published by JAMA.

Early low-dose hydrocortisone treatment in very preterm infants has been reported to improve survival without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (a form of chronic lung disease), but its safety with regard to neurodevelopment remains to be assessed. Olivier Baud, M.D., Ph.D., of Robert Debre Children's Hospital, Paris, and colleagues analyzed data from the PREMILOC trial, in which infants born between 24 0/7 weeks and 27 6/7 weeks of gestation and before 24 hours of postnatal age were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or low-dose hydrocortisone injection.

Of neonates screened, 523 were assigned to hydrocortisone (n = 256) or placebo (n = 267) and 406 survived to 2 years of age. A total of 379 patients (93 percent) were evaluated at a median corrected age of 22 months. The researchers found no statistically significant difference in patients without neurodevelopmental impairment (73 percent in the hydrocortisone group vs 70 percent in the placebo group), with mild neurodevelopmental impairment (20 percent in the hydrocortisone group vs 18 percent in the placebo group), or with moderate to severe neurodevelopmental impairment (7 percent in the hydrocortisone group vs 11 percent in the placebo group). The incidence of cerebral palsy or other major neurological impairments was not significantly different between groups.

"Further randomized studies are needed to provide definitive assessment of the neurodevelopmental safety of hydrocortisone in extremely preterm infants," the authors write.

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2017.2692; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Cognitively average elderly adults demonstrated greater annual whole-brain cortical volume loss over 18 months compared with SuperAgers, adults 80 years and older with memory ability at least as good as that of average middle-age adults, according to a study published by JAMA.

SuperAgers have a significantly thicker brain cortex than their same-age peers with average-for-age memory, which is unusual as age-related cortical atrophy is considered "normal" and often associated with cognitive decline in nondemented older adults. Amanda H. Cook, M.A., of Northwestern University, Chicago, and colleagues quantitated rates of cortical volume change over 18 months in 24 SuperAgers and 12 cognitively average elderly adults to examine if SuperAgers may resist age-related brain atrophy.

The researchers found that both groups demonstrated statistically significant average annual percent whole-brain cortical volume loss (SuperAgers, 1.06 percent; cognitively average elderly, 2.24 percent). However, the annual percentage change in whole-brain cortical volume loss was significantly greater in cognitively average elderly compared with SuperAgers.

The authors note that the possibility that SuperAgers were endowed with larger brains throughout life cannot be ruled out.

"As SuperAgers represent a rare cognitive phenotype, study findings require validation in larger samples with broader representation of demographic and socioeconomic features. The functional effect of the lesser decline of cortical volume in SuperAgers over 18 months is difficult to surmise. However, the between-group unadjusted difference in annual percentage change of 1.2 percent is similar in magnitude to the difference demonstrated in previous studies between nondemented and demented adults older than 50 years, suggesting that differences of this magnitude may have functional consequences. The factors that underlie the rate of age-related cortical volume loss are unknown; however, research on SuperAgers provides unique opportunities for exploring their biological foundations," the authors write.

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2017.0627; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Daejeon, Korea (April 4, 2017) - Flexible transparent conducting electrodes (FTCEs) are an essential element of flexible optoelectronics for next-generation wearable displays, augmented reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoTs). Silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have received a great deal of attention as future FTCEs due to their great flexibility, material stability, and large-scale productivity. Despite these advantages, Ag NWs have drawbacks such as high wire-to-wire contact resistance and poor adhesion to substrates, resulting in severe power consumption and the delamination of FTCEs.

A Korean research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST and Dr. Hong-Jin Park from BSP Inc., has developed high-performance Ag NWs (sheet resistance ~ 5 ?/sq, transmittance 90 % at  = 550 nm) with strong adhesion on plastic (interfacial energy of 30.7 J?m-2) using flash light-material interactions.

The broad ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of a flash light enables the localized heating at the junctions of nanowires (NWs), which results in the fast and complete welding of Ag NWs. Consequently, the Ag NWs demonstrate six times higher conductivity than that of the pristine NWs. In addition, the near-infrared (NIR) of the flash lamp melted the interface between the Ag NWs and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, dramatically enhancing the adhesion force of the Ag NWs to the PET by 310 %.

Professor Lee said, "Light interaction with nanomaterials is an important field for future flexible electronics since it can overcome thermal limit of plastics, and we are currently expanding our research into light-inorganic interactions."

Meanwhile, BSP Inc., a laser manufacturing company and a collaborator of this work, has launched new flash lamp equipment for flexible applications based on the Prof. Lee's research.

The results of this work entitled "Flash-Induced Self-Limited Plasmonic Welding of Ag NW Network for Transparent Flexible Energy Harvester (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603473) were published in the February 2, 2017 issue of Advanced Materials as the cover article.

Professor Lee also contributed an invited review in the same journal of the April 3 2017 online issue, "Laser-Material Interactions for Flexible Applications," overviewing the recent advances in light interactions with flexible nanomaterials.

###

References

[1] Advanced Materials, Flash-Induced Self-Limited Plasmonic Welding of Ag NW network for Transparent Flexible energy harvester

[2] Advanced Materials, Laser-Material Interactions for Flexible Applications

For further inquiries on research:

keonlee@kaist.ac.kr (Keon Jae Lee), hjpark@bsptech.co.kr (Hong-Jin Park)
The common antibiotic doxycycline can disrupt the formation of negative associations in the brain, according to new research from UCL and the University of Zurich.

The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, was a pre-registered, placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised controlled trial in 76 healthy volunteers.

In the first session, participants were given either doxycycline or a placebo and learnt to associate a certain colour with an electric shock. A week later they were shown the colours again, accompanied by a loud sound but no shocks, and their fear responses were measured.*

The fear response was 60% lower in participants who had doxycycline in the first session compared to those who had the placebo, suggesting that the fear memory was significantly suppressed by the drug. Other cognitive measures including sensory memory and attention were not affected.

"When we talk about reducing fear memory, we are not talking about deleting the memory of what actually happened," explains lead author Professor Dominik Bach (UCL Wellcome Centre for Neuroimaging, Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research and University of Zurich Division of Clinical Psychiatry Research). "The participants may not forget that they received a shock when the screen was red, but they 'forget' to be instinctively scared when they next see a red screen. Learning to fear threats is an important ability for any organism, helping us to avoid dangers such as predators. Over-prediction of threat, however, can cause tremendous suffering and distress in anxiety disorders such as PTSD."

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for a broad range of psychological symptoms that can develop after someone experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. PTSD is caused by an overactive fear memory, and the new research shows that doxycycline can reduce the fear memory response in healthy volunteers.

"We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle for an entirely new treatment strategy for PTSD," explains Professor Bach. "The theory is based on the recent discovery that our brains need proteins outside nerve cells, called matrix enzymes, to form memories. Matrix enzymes are found throughout the body, and their over-activity is involved in certain immune diseases and cancers. To treat such diseases, we already have clinically approved drugs that block these enzymes, including the antibiotic doxycycline, so we wanted to see if they could help to prevent fear memories from forming in the brain. Our results support this theory, opening up an exciting avenue of research that might help us to find treatments for PTSD.

"Using drugs to prevent PTSD would be challenging, since in the real world we don't know when a traumatic event is about to occur. However, there is growing evidence that people's memories and associations can be changed after the event when they experience or imagine similar situations. This is called 'reconsolidation', and we now plan to test the effect of doxycycline on reconsolidation of fear memories. If this is successful, we would hope to apply the technique to more clinically realistic models of PTSD within a few years."

The work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, University of Zurich and Wellcome.

*In the first session, participants were given either doxycycline or a placebo and put in front of a computer. The screen would flash either blue or red, and one of the colours was associated with a 50% chance of receiving a painful electric shock. This happened 160 times, with the colours appearing in random order, so that participants learnt to associate the 'bad' colour with the shock.

A week later, under no medication, participants returned to repeat the experiment. This time there were no electric shocks, but a loud sound played after either colour was shown. Participants' fear responses were measured by tracking their eye blinks, as this is an instinctive response to sudden threats. The fear memory response was calculated by subtracting the baseline startle response -- the response to the sound on the 'good' colour - from the response to the sound when the 'bad' colour was showing.

###
In people with type I diabetes, insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas die and are not replaced. Without these cells, the body loses the ability to control blood glucose. Researchers at the University of California, Davis have now discovered a possible new route to regenerating beta cells, giving insight into the basic mechanisms behind healthy metabolism and diabetes. Eventually, such research could lead to better treatment or cures for diabetes.

"We've seen phenomenal advances in the management of diabetes, but we cannot cure it," said Mark Huising, assistant professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior in the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences. "If you want to cure the disease, you have to understand how it works in the normal situation."

Huising is senior author on a paper on the work published April 4 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Working with both laboratory mice and human tissue, Huising is studying how the cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas work together to regulate blood glucose. In both mice and people, the islets contain beta cells, which detect glucose and secrete insulin, and other cell types including alpha cells that produce glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar. The opposite effects of insulin and glucagon enable the body to regulate blood sugars and store nutrients.

Type I diabetes is a disease with two parts. Firstly, the beta cells are killed by the body's own immune system, and then they fail to regenerate (or those that do are killed). An effective cure for type I diabetes would involve dealing with both problems.

Accepted dogma, Huising said, has been that new beta cells are generated by other beta cells dividing. But now by applying new techniques in microscopy, his team has discovered, scattered around the edges of the islets, another type of cell that looks a lot like an immature beta cell.

These new cells can make insulin, but don't have the receptors to detect glucose, so they can't function as a full beta cell. However, Huising's team was able to observe alpha cells in the islet turn into immature beta cells and then mature into real beta cells.

"There's much more plasticity in the system than was thought," Huising said. Understanding Fundamentals of Metabolism and DiabetesIt's an exciting result for three reasons, Huising said. Firstly, this is a new beta cell population in both humans and mice that wasn't known before. Secondly, the new population could be a source to replenish beta cells killed off in diabetes. Finally, understanding how these cells mature into functioning beta cells could help in developing stem cell therapies for diabetes. Stem cells have the potential to develop into a wide range of other cells. So far, attempts to grow real beta cells from stem cells have made great strides, but these efforts have not yet reached their full potential because they get hung up at an earlier immature stage.

This basic understanding of cells in the islets could also help in understanding type II diabetes, where beta cells do not die but become inactive and no longer secrete/release insulin.

"JDRF is proud to have supported Dr. Huising in this work and extremely excited about the results shown in the paper. The concept of harnessing the plasticity in the islet to regenerate beta cells has emerged as an intriguing possibility in recent years," said Andrew Rakeman, Ph.D., director of discovery research at JDRF. "The work from Dr. Huising and his team is showing us not only the degree of plasticity in islet cells, but the paths these cells take when changing identity. Adding to that the observations that the same processes appear to be occurring in human islets raises the possibility that these mechanistic insights may be able to be turned into therapeutic approaches for treating diabetes."

###

Coauthors on the paper are: at UC Davis, Talitha van der Meulen, Alex Mawla, Michael DiGruccio, Siming Liu and Anna Hunter; Michael Adams, Vera Nies, Sophie Do ?lleman, Elena Ca ?ceres, and Cynthia Donaldson, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.; Amanda Ackermann, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and Klaus Kaestner, University of Pennsylvania. Huising also has a faculty appointment at the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, UC Davis School of Medicine. The work was funded by JDRF and The Hartwell Foundation for Biomedical Research.
URBANA, Ill. - Palmer amaranth is a nightmare of a weed, causing yield losses up to 80 percent in severely infested soybean fields. It scoffs at farmers' attempts at control, having evolved resistance to six classes of herbicides since its discovery in the United States 100 years ago. And now, scientists have discovered it has two new tricks up its sleeve.

About a year ago, a group of researchers discovered Palmer is resistant to the herbicide class known as PPO-inhibitors, due to a mutation--known as the glycine 210 deletion--on the PPX2 gene.

"We were using a quick test that we originally developed for waterhemp to determine PPO-resistance based on that mutation. A lot of times, the test worked. But people were bringing in samples that they were fairly confident were resistant, and the mutation wasn't showing up. We started to suspect there was another mechanism out there," says University of Illinois molecular weed scientist Patrick Tranel.

Tranel and his colleagues decided to sequence the PPX2 gene in plants from Tennessee and Arkansas to see if they could find additional mutations. Sure enough, they found not one, but two, located on the R98 region of the gene.

"Almost all of the PPO-resistant plants we tested had either the glycine 210 deletion or one of the two new R98 mutations. None of the mutations were found in the sensitive plants we tested," Tranel says.

Furthermore, some of the resistant plants had both the glycine 210 deletion and one of the new R98 mutations. Tranel says it is too early to say what that could mean for those plants. In fact, there is a lot left to learn about this resistance mechanism.

"We don't know what level of resistance the new mutations confer relative to glycine 210," Tranel says. "There are a lot of different PPO-inhibiting herbicides. Glycine 210 causes resistance to all of them, but we don't know yet if the R98 mutations do."

The team is now growing plants to use in follow-up experiments. Tranel hopes they will be able to determine how common the three mutations are in any given population. "That way," he says, "when a farmer sends us a resistant plant and it doesn't come back with the glycine 210 deletion, we will be able to tell him how likely it is that he's dealing with another one of these mutations."

In the meantime, other research groups or plant testing facilities could use the new genetic assay to detect the mutations in Palmer samples. Tranel hopes they will. "The more labs testing for this, the more we learn about how widespread the mutation is," he says.

###

The article, "Two new PPX2 mutations associated with resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides in Amaranthus palmeri," is published in Pest Management Science. The work was supported by a grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
MIAMI -- In a new study, researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science examined how the interaction of two genomes in animal cells -- the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes -- interact to affect adaptation of the Atlantic killifish to different temperatures. They showed that although these genomes are separate physical entities, the mitochondrial genome affects the evolution of the nuclear genome, the genetic material responsible for variations in most traits such as hair color and height.

Interactions between these two genomes, which affect everything from health and physiology to fitness, have important consequences for human health and medical interventions such as mitochondrial replacement therapy in embryos.

All animal cells are made up of two genomes, the nuclear genome with 10,000s of protein coding genes and the mitochondrial genome with 13 protein-encoding genes. All 13 genes from the mitochondrial genome interact with approximately 76 nuclear genes in a single metabolic pathway -- called the oxidative phosphorylation pathway -- that produces nearly all the metabolic energy needed for animal cells. This study found that the interaction between these genomes and the implications on energy production is strong enough that the mitochondrial genome can alter which version of a gene is present in the nuclear genome.

Using Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus), the researchers examined whether mitochondrial-nuclear interactions alter the frequency of alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation, called alleles, for over 11,000 nuclear DNA sequence variations within a population of the fish with mixed ancestry. Among individuals with two divergent mitochondrial haplotypes (mt-haplotypes), the genome-wide analyses revealed significant differences in nuclear allele frequencies.

"Our results suggest that metabolic fitness is not simply a function of the mitochondria but instead is reliant on mitochondrial-nuclear interactions and therefore important for our understanding of physiology, human health and evolution," said Doug Crawford, professor of marine biology and ecology at the UM Rosenstiel School.

The study, titled "Evolved genetic and phenotypic differences due to mitochondrial-nuclear interactions," was published in the March 31, 2017 issue of the journal PLoS Genetics. http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1006517

###

The study co-authors included: Tara Z. Baris, Doug Crawford, Dominique N. Wagner, David I. Dayan, Xiao Du and Marjorie F. Oleksiak of the UM Rosenstiel School; and Pierre U. Blier and Nicolas Pichaud of the University of Quebec. The research was funded by National Science Foundation grants: MCB 1434565, IOS 1147042 and DEB-1265282.

About the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School

The University of Miami is one of the largest private research institutions in the southeastern United States. The University's mission is to provide quality education, attract and retain outstanding students, support the faculty and their research, and build an endowment for University initiatives. Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, visit: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu.
(PHILADELPHIA) - April 4, 2017 - Nurses with research doctorates have led important work that has proven vital in improving patient outcomes and enhancing quality of care. Yet today, fewer than five percent of nurses have PhDs, the education level typically needed to perform independent research, according to data from the National Institute of Nursing Research, part of the National Institutes of Health. Coupled with the aging and retirement of the current cadre of nurse researchers, these indicators point to a coming shortage of nurse scientists that could impact current and future contributions to science.

To meet this challenge, the Hillman Program in Nursing Innovation, developed the idea for an integrated BSN to PhD program to accelerate education opportunities for the next generation of nurse researchers. The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) was the first school to implement this idea and then took it a step further by developing an immersion experience in clinical nursing practice among PhD students. Penn Nursing's BSN-PhD program includes a clinical nurse fellowship in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The program is detailed in an article by Penn Nursing doctoral candidate and Hillman Scholar Madelyne Z. Greene in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Professional Nursing, but available online now here.

"Research shows that the average age of students entering nursing PhD programs is early 40s, which is far older than many other disciplines. This shortens the duration of nurse scientists' productive careers as researchers, educators and innovative leaders," says Greene. "There is a compelling need for increased innovation in preparing new nurse scientists, leaders and innovators earlier in their careers."

Penn Nursing implemented the BSN-PhD program and the immersive fellowship with funding from the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation and was the inaugural program among three universities for the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation. Scholars in the program are simultaneously undergraduate and PhD students as early as the junior undergraduate year or upon entry to the second degree accelerated BSN program.

"Earlier entry into the PhD provides tremendous opportunities for innovation as we consider how best to develop nurse scientists to conduct rigorous, clinically relevant research," says Greene.

In the Penn Nursing program, scholars accomplish their rapid progression through rigorous coursework in two ways. They replace specific required undergraduate courses such as healthcare policy and research methods with the graduate-level versions of these courses. They also enroll in PhD core courses and advanced coursework in their selected research content area during undergraduate semesters when they have room for electives. A unique aspect of the program is the built-in clinical practice via the fellowship.

"There was concern from faculty that these scholars would be sacrificing post-licensure clinical practice experiences, which might adversely impact programs of research," explains senior author Therese S. Richmond, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, the Andrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, and the inaugural director of the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation at Penn Nursing. "To address that, we developed the Clinical Nurse Fellowship, which occurs soon after BSN completion and RN licensure. Our pilot program was co-created with the leaders in the Department of Nursing of the University of Pennsylvania Health System to facilitate the application of clinical nursing skills and practice independence while scholars continued to develop innovative research questions."

The seven-month fellowship is distinct from existing residencies for new nurse graduates in several ways, including the high level of clinical and scholarly mentoring, the shorter length of the program and waiver of the usual requirement of committing to work in the sponsoring institution for up to two years.

"Research and innovation in nursing relies on clinical knowledge that comes from immersion experiences in nursing practice; the clinical and academic partnership at Penn makes this a reality in the preparation of the next generation of nurse scientists and leaders," says Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

###

The clinical fellowship is now in place at two other Schools of Nursing with a Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation Programs - the University of North Carolina and the University of Michigan.

Co-authors of the article include Mary Kate FitzPatrick of the University of Vermont Medical Center formerly of the University of Pennsylvania Health System; Jean Romano of the Department of Nursing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Linda H. Aiken, PhD, FAAN, RN, National Program Director for the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation.

About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing. For the second year in a row, it is ranked the #1 nursing school in the world by QS University, and has four graduate programs ranked number one by U.S. News & World Report, the most of any school in the United States. Penn Nursing is consistently among the nation's top recipients of nursing research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube.
New research led by the University of Southampton suggests that, over the next 100 to 200 years, carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere will head towards values not seen since the Triassic period, 200 million years ago. Furthermore, by the 23rd century, the climate could reach a warmth not seen in 420 million years.

The study, published in Nature Communications, compiled over 1200 estimates of ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations to produce a continuous record dating back nearly half a billion years. It concludes that if humanity burns all available fossil fuels in the future, the levels of CO2 contained in the atmosphere may have no geologically-preserved equivalent during this 420 million year period.

The researchers examined published data on fossilised plants, the isotopic composition of carbon in soils and the oceans, and the boron isotopic composition of fossil shells. Gavin Foster, lead author and Professor of Isotope Geochemistry at the University of Southampton, explains: "We cannot directly measure CO2 concentrations from millions of years ago. Instead we rely on indirect 'proxies' in the rock record. In this study, we compiled all the available published data from several different types of proxy to produce a continuous record of ancient CO2 levels."

This wealth of data shows that CO2 concentrations have naturally fluctuated on multi-million year timescales over this period, from around 200-400 parts per million (ppm) during cold 'icehouse' periods to up to 3000 ppm during intervening warm 'greenhouse' periods. Although evidence tells us our climate has fluctuated greatly in the past (with the Earth currently in a colder period), it also shows the current speed of climate change is highly unusual.

Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas and in the last 150 years humanity's fossil fuel use has increased its atmospheric concentration from 280 ppm in the pre-industrialisation era to nearly 405 ppm in 2016. However, it's not just CO2 that determines the climate of our planet, ultimately it is both the strength of the greenhouse effect and the amount of incoming sunlight that is important. Changes in either parameter are able to force climate change.

"Due to nuclear reactions in stars, like our sun, over time they become brighter," adds co-author Dan Lunt, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Bristol. "This means that, although carbon dioxide concentrations were high hundreds of millions of years ago, the net warming effect of CO2 and sunlight was less. Our new CO2 compilation appears on average to have gradually declined over time by about 3-4 ppm per million years. This may not sound like much, but it is actually just about enough to cancel out the warming effect caused by the sun brightening through time, so in the long-term it appears the net effect of both was pretty much constant on average."

This interplay between carbon dioxide and the sun's brightness has fascinating implications for the history of life on Earth. Co-author Professor Dana Royer, from Wesleyan University in the US, explains: "Up until now it's been a bit of a puzzle as to why, despite the sun's output having increased slowly over time, scant evidence exists for any similar long-term warming of the climate. Our finding of little change in the net climate forcing offers an explanation for why Earth's climate has remained relatively stable, and within the bounds suitable for life for all this time."

This long-term view also offers a valuable perspective on future climate change. It is well recognised that the climate today is changing at rates well above the geological norm. If humanity fails to tackle rising CO2 and burns all the readily available fossil fuel, by AD 2250 CO2 will be at around 2000 ppm - levels not seen since 200 million years ago.

Professor Foster adds: "However, because the Sun was dimmer back then, the net climate forcing 200 million years ago was lower than we would experience in such a high CO2 future. So not only will the resultant climate change be faster than anything the Earth has seen for millions of years, the climate that will exist is likely to have no natural counterpart, as far as we can tell, in at least the last 420 million years."

###

This collaborative study involves the University of Southampton (UK), University of Bristol (UK), and Wesleyan University (US) and is an output from 'Descent into the Ice House', one of the four research projects under the umbrella programme 'The Long-term Co-Evolution of Life and the Planet' funded the by the National Environment Research Council (NERC).

Notes to editors

1) A copy of the paper Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years (DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS14845) is published in the journal Nature Communications. A copy can be obtained from Media Relations on request.

2) Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton has a well-established reputation for outstanding research and teaching. Our unique waterfront campus at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) attracts prominent researchers and educators from around the world, who join us to work within the areas of geochemistry, geology and geophysics, marine biogeochemistry, marine biology and ecology, palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate and physical oceanography. Following publication of the national Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF2014), OES was ranked second in the UK, for proportion of research recognised as world-leading (4*) in the Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Unit of Assessment. http://www.southampton.ac.uk/oes/index.page

3) The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship across a wide range of subjects in engineering, science, social sciences, health and humanities.

With over 24,000 students, 6500 staff, and an annual turnover in excess of 550m, the University of Southampton is acknowledged as one of the country's top institutions for engineering, computer science and medicine. We combine academic excellence with an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to research, supporting a culture that engages and challenges students and staff in their pursuit of learning.

The University is also home to a number of world-leading research centres including the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, the Optoelectronics Research Centre, the Institute for Life Sciences, the Web Science Trust and Doctoral training Centre, the Centre for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute and is a partner of the National Oceanography Centre at the Southampton waterfront campus.

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/

4) For more about the Natural Environment Research Council, please visit: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/

For further information contact:

Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton, Tel: 023 8059 5457, Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk

http://www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/unisouthampton

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unisouthampton
Animals need to breed at the time of year when their progeny have the best chance of survival. In a study published today in PNAS, scientists in Sweden and Canada have studied the genetic basis of reproduction in 25 populations of herring from both sides of the North Atlantic. They revealed a number of genes associated with the timing of reproduction, and the genetic variants associated with spring or autumn spawning were found to be largely shared between geographically distant populations.

The Atlantic herring is one of the most abundant fish in the world and has been a crucial food resource in Northern Europe. The Atlantic herring spawns in the spring, summer or autumn. Which strategy is the most successful varies from year to year and over time periods due to climate conditions that affect plankton production.

"This new study has given several interesting results. Firstly, we have revealed that herring populations across the entire Atlantic Ocean are remarkably similar genetically, suggesting that there is gene flow between herring populations. Despite this, we identified clear genetic differences between spring and autumn spawning populations. Furthermore, the genetic factors associated with spawning time were to a large extent shared between geographically distant populations," explains Sangeet Lamichhaney, former PhD student at Uppsala University (Sweden) and shared first author on the paper.

"We now have a long list of genes associated with timing of reproduction in the herring and there are some that appear particularly important," says Leif Andersson, Professor at Uppsala University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Texas A&M University, who led the study.

"One of the most interesting genes is TSHR (thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor) because previous studies in birds and mammals have indicated that this gene has a key role in how animals time their reproduction in response to changes in day length. The fact that TSHR was the gene that showed the most consistent association with spawning time in the herring suggests that it has a similar role in fish. An important topic for future research is to reveal the molecular mechanism of how increasing day length leads to the initiation of spawning in spring spawners, whereas this response is delayed until August-September for autumn spawners," concludes Leif Andersson.

The study has significant implications for how climate change may affect the reproduction of herring and other marine fishes. It has already been observed in some birds that there is a mismatch between their reproduction and the peak of insect abundance due to a warmer climate (earlier spring).

"We think that the Atlantic herring has a capacity to respond well to at least moderate changes in the climate," says Angela Fuentes-Pardo (Dalhousie University, Canada), a PhD student and shared first author on the paper. "Firstly, spawning time is not strictly genetically determined. Herring show some plasticity and adjust spawning time according to the water temperature. Secondly, our data suggest that there is a considerable amount of genetic variation affecting spawning time so the herring should be able to adapt genetically to moderate climate changes."

The study also has important implications for fishery management of the Atlantic herring.

"By providing genetic markers that distinguish spring and autumn spawning herring outside the breeding season, a more sustainable fishery can be developed by optimising fishing among stocks according to their abundance," explains Professor Daniel Ruzzante (Dalhousie University, Canada), one of the senior authors of the study.

###
Tuesday, April 4, 2017

(NewsUSA) - Life is stressful. Between a down economy, long commutes to a job you may not even like, and overbearing bosses, not to mention trying to eke out a few minutes of "me" time in between diaper changes and dinner dates with your significant other, life can be challenging.

Equally apparent is that for decades we've been told that yoga can combat all of these stressors -- and yet, it seems as if it is one of the last things people try to take the edge off.

For Leslie Crespi, a social worker in Atlanta, it was the changes she saw in a colleague that got her to consider attending an Inner Engineering program of Isha yoga. A key component to the practice is the "kriya," which Crespi describes to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview as a "process to energize and balance the human system using breathing."

"The kriya gives me a sense of balance and the ability to deal with life as it is," she tells the paper. "It's not about what I do anymore. It's about how I am, and that's a beautiful way to live."

If the thought of having more balance and energy in your life sounds intriguing, the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences may just be for you.

Nestled in Tennessee's spectacular Upper Cumberland (45 minutes outside of Chattanooga), the retreat center offers daily campus tours that include light hikes, rejuvenating time spent in Adiyogi: Abode of Yoga (an energized meditation space), and a visit to the largest yoga and meditation hall in the western hemisphere.

For daytrippers, visitors learn yoga for free, if they arrive in the scheduled time for the session each day.

Looking to stay awhile? An overnight includes the option of private studio accommodations, delicious vegetarian buffet meals, and an introductory yoga session of the visitor's choice, such as the yoga of sound, yoga for strengthening the joints, and yoga for purifying life energies.

The center also offers a myriad of opportunities for hiking and mountain biking on forested trails winding throughout nearly 1,400 acres. The center's five miles of mountain biking trails feature waterfalls, a spring-fed creek, and bluff overlooks.

And for those strictly interested in getting centered, there are beginning level yoga and meditation weekends, classical Hatha yoga programs, and individual wellness retreats.

For more information, please visit www.IshaUSA.org.

Article Resources Link to this article: Copy and paste the following code

Embed this article:



Let's block ads! (Why?)
Scientists are putting an eye in the sky as they investigate a potential new method to prevent catastrophic damage to soft fruit crops in the UK.

The researchers, at the University of Aberdeen, are using drone technology in a bid to create a new monitoring system for the fruit fly Drosophila suzukii.

Also known as Spotted Wing Drosophila, the pest has become a serious threat to growers since it arrived in the UK from mainland Europe, affecting many commercial fruit crops including strawberries, raspberries and grapes.

Early detection is crucial to prevent it from devastating crops, however traditional monitoring methods are time-consuming and costly.

The University of Aberdeen has been selected alongside European partners to investigate the possibility of using drones to monitor, identify and alert growers to the presence of the fly so that they can take swift action to prevent crop destruction.

The three-year project, which is funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), also involve Zurich University in Switzerland and the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands.

'Real threat'

Since it arrived in the UK in 2012 Drosophila suzukii has spread rapidly to become a real threat to soft fruit growers, particularly in the main fruit growing areas in the south-east, although it has been found as far north as Dundee.

Professor David Green, from the University of Aberdeen, said: Early detection is key to prevention, however current monitoring methods usually involve manually checking traps for signs of the fruit fly, which is very time-consuming and inefficient if you are going from trap to trap over acres of land.

What we are aiming to develop is an automated system where drones fitted with cameras would fly over so-called sticky traps which would trap the fly but in a way that allows it to be identified from the air.

One of the main challenges of our work will be developing a method that automatically identifies the presence of the fly among other pests.

Our Dutch partners at the University of Wageningen are specialists in image processing, and our aim is to develop an image-capturing and processing system that can recognise the fly and carry out an automatic count in order to determine the density of the infestation.

From there a fast alert can be issued to growers and they can undertake the necessary action to prevent the destruction of their crop, which in many cases can amount to many thousands of pounds.

Ultimately, our goal is to develop a system which has real value for soft fruit growers - many of whom operate on tight margins - that can help protect their livelihoods.
Warning: you may find the images of the sheeps injuries distressing

Another dog attack on sheep at lambing time has brought the issue of sheep worrying into sharp focus for the country's farmers.

Rad Thomas, who farms at Quorn, Leicestershire, has lost three heavily pregnant ewes and three more have aborted their unborn lambs after a dog was seen savaging his animals on Wednesday (29 March).

This follows recent livestock worrying incidents including two sheep dying after a dog attack in Cumbria on 1 April and several sheep dying after being attacked by dogs in Northumberland on 20 March.

Mr Thomas told his story: My shepherd actually saw the dog savaging one of my sheep as he made his usual checks on Wednesday morning. He managed to chase the dog away from the sheep on his quad bike and saw the dog run back to its owner on a footpath about 300 yards away.

I am greatly saddened by what has happened: it was an unprecedented and savage attack on my heavily pregnant flock  we are about two thirds of the way through lambing our 170 ewes.

The dog got into the field where the remaining pregnant ewes are grazing and chased them, catching and savaging three so badly that two had to be euthanised and another has since died. Three more ewes were so badly shocked that they aborted their lambs.

The NFU said it is 'shocked and saddened' about the incident

We dont know what the effects of the attack will be on the other ewes  it is the worst possible time for a dog attack.

'Further abortions'

Mr Thomas immediately consulted his vet about the attack on his sheep; he is particularly worried about the health of his remaining pregnant ewes and their unborn lambs.

Dogs can turn into killers, the NFU warned

He continued: My vet has said that it is highly likely that there will be further abortions in the flock: the severe shock the animals have suffered means that there will almost certainly be more effects of this savage attack.

In his advice to me, my vet has also said that it is almost inevitable that this dog will attempt to attack sheep again; it is its predatory instinct to chase livestock and on a future walk or perhaps after escaping from its home, it will repeat this behaviour.

Muzzling the dog will not prevent it chasing sheep again and as with my flock, significant damage and death could happen again. My vet advises that in severe cases like this, euthanasia of the dog may need to be considered to prevent further attacks.

'Shocked and concerned'

NFUs county adviser, Simon Fisher said that he is 'shocked and concerned' that this dog owner did not have control of their animal whilst out walking.

Farmers and the NFU repeatedly warn that it is particularly important for dogs to be kept on leads whilst out walking in the countryside, especially at lambing time. Now another farmer has to count the cost of a dog attack and face the awful sight of dead sheep and aborted lambs.

Our urgent call to all dog owners is to keep your family pet under close control, whether you are near livestock or not. This incident shows that even if you are on a footpath away from livestock, your dog can get away from you and kill and maim sheep.

NFU and the whole farming industry have urged dog owners to take control of their animals.

The incidences of sheep worrying are increasing and a recent report from rural insurer, NFU Mutual, shows that the reported cost of dog attacks on livestock rose by nearly 50 per cent across the UK in 2016. The total cost to the industry is estimated at 1.4m.

Walkers are asked to keep dogs under control at all times when near livestock. Even the most friendly and mild-mannered dog, of whatever breed or size, can attack livestock.

'Dogs can turn into killers'

Simon Fisher concludes: Dogs can turn into killers, so please keep them by your side when youre walking in the countryside.

Even if you cant see sheep or other livestock, they may be in a nearby field and your dog could run off and be amongst them in seconds. And at night, make sure your dog is with you and cant escape. Dogs are a huge danger if theyre loose in the countryside, especially at lambing time.

The awful injuries suffered by Mr Thomass sheep are totally unacceptable: they were caused pain and suffering and considerable stress unnecessarily. All this is easily avoided by keeping your dog on a lead when walking in the countryside.
Farmers are being urged to shop around for a water retailer that offers them the most attractive and suitable deal, instead of being tied to a regional monopoly supplier.

The Government changes to mains waste water retail services - that came into force on 1 April - are designed to bring more competition to the market, in the hope of bringing better value for money and delivering benefits to the UK economy valued at 200 million.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has been working to ensure farm businesses will benefit from the changes that mean farmers can now buy their mains and waste water services from newly created retailers, who in turn have bought their supplies from a wholesaler.

A recent survey NFU members found...

 80% of farmers use mains water for both non-household and household (business and domestic) purposes, and a further 11% use mains water for non-household purposes only

 Less than half (46%) of farmers are aware of the forthcoming changes in the Open water market for non-household premises

 Over half (57%) of farmers describe the current level of service provided by their existing water company supplier as good or very good

 Over one-third (37%) of farmers consider that reducing the cost of mains water is a high priority for their business

 Just under three-quarters (72%) of farmers are either very or fairly supportive of retail competition for mains water services

 Only 6% of farmers said they would be prepared to switch retailer for a saving of 1-2% in charges, with over one-third (40%) of farmers indicating that they would expect a cost saving of at least 11% to encourage them to change their water services retailer.

'Driving down costs'

Business customers who decide not to make a switch will also be affected.

This is because most of the public water companies are dividing their business structures between wholesale (pipes and infrastructure) and retail (billing).

NFU national water resources specialist Paul Hammett said: It comes as no surprise that our members are interested in driving down costs. But the survey does provide really interesting revelations in the type of services they will be interested in.

The NFU has been working closely with Defra, the water regulator Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water to ensure that farm businesses will benefit from these changes that come into force from 1 April.

The Open Water market offers some exciting opportunities for improved water services for our farmer and grower members. We also want to ensure that the switchover is as painless as possible.
A farm-worker has admitted causing unnecessary suffering to cows and their calves at a dairy farm in Somerset.

Owen Nichol, 19, of Taunton appeared in court to admit two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to animals at Pyrland Farm near Taunton.

The RSPCA launched an investigation after being shown the footage gathered by Animal Equality UK.

The animal rights groups showed the court footage of Mr Nichol swearing at the cows, kicking one in the face and kicking and stamping on a new-born calf.

Toni Shephard, from Animal Equality UK, said the campaign group installed a camera at the farm on 7 December following a tip-off from a local resident.

The farm's owner said he was appalled when he saw the film and the worker had been dismissed.

Nichol pleaded guilty to the charges under the Animal Welfare Act at Taunton Magistrates' Court.
Australian gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated Ltdis seeking compensation from the Thai government for its alleged breach of the Australia-Thailand Free Trade Agreement.It is alleged that the Thai government forced the shutdown of Kingsgates Chatree gold mine on 31 December 2016, following a long-running dispute with locals, who claim the mine is poisoning them with heavy metals including such as manganese, cyanide and arsenic. Kingsgate has denied these claims.The Free Trade Agreement requires the parties to first engage in consultations, which can take up to 3 months. If they cant reach a mutual outcome, then the next step will be international arbitration proceedings.Kingsgate expects it will incur significant costs if the matter proceeds to arbitration, and notes the outcome of such proceedings would be uncertain.Yesterday, Kingsgate shares closed 2.04% higher at 25 cents.
The reliance of the abattoir sector on migrant labour has been highlighted by a survey undertaken for Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

The survey of members of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers found that 52% of the unskilled workforce, 44% of the skilled workforce and 16% of supervisory and management staff are currently non-UK nationals.

The results suggest that tight restrictions on the movement of people as a result of Brexit are likely to have a negative impact on the British meat industry.

See also: NFU issues warning on potential labour shortage

Jim McLaren, QMS chairman, said that factors behind the reliance on non-UK labour may include a perceived unwillingness of Scottish nationals to take on jobs which may involve unsocial hours, particularly in the slaughter sector.

There also appears to be a reluctance to work in areas kept cool for food safety reasons and wear the specialist personal safety equipment required.

Additionally, many meat processing businesses are located in areas with unemployment levels below the national average  for example, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway, Perth and Kinross, Angus and Stirling, he said.

Abattoirs in these regions would account for some 70% of the Scottish cattle and pig kill and 90% of the Scottish sheep kill.

Nationwide problem

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said their own research suggested that in some areas of the country up to 70% of employees in some plants were from the EU.

Our members are very concerned about this and it is our number one priority, he said.

They do try to recruit locally, but just cant seem to get the people. They just dont seem to be interested in the work or havent got the basic skill set required.

Worst-case scenario

The BMPA has warned unless the government addresses the problem then the worst-case scenario post-Brexit is for the UK to produce less meat and import more.

It estimates that the British meat processing industry currently employs 75,000 people and nationwide about 63% of those are EU nationals  mainly from central and eastern Europe.

While this figure has grown significantly over the past 15 years, as the size of the sector has grown, it claims migrant workers have added to the UK workforce, rather than replaced it.

The BMPA says despite most people being keen to eat meat, few UK nationals are prepared to be involved in its production because it lacks social cachet.

It adds that about 40% of workers in a plant require some butchery skills and abattoirs have more success finding pre-skilled workers from overseas.

While someone can achieve basic knife skills with six weeks training, it can take two years to achieve full skills.

It is important that industry has access to skilled labour and we regret that the current government view seems to be that skilled workers means only those with high-level academic qualifications, it said.

We would like to see the definition of skilled to mean an ability that has to be learnt through study and/or practice, something that someone could not walk in off the street and more or less immediately do to the necessary level.
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Former Sandburg chief in spotlight with Trump paycheck

Tyrone Brandyburg watches as Sean Spicer turns over President Trump's paycheck.

Tyrone Brandyburg, who served as superintendent of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site for more than four years, had a cameo in political theater Monday when he represented the National Park Service as it accepted President Trumps donation of his first presidential paycheck.

Trump received a paycheck for $78,333 for the period from his inauguration on Jan. 20 through March 31 and signed it over to the Interior Department. Critics pointed out that the donation would restore .005 percent of the $1.6 billion the Interior Department would lose if Congress enacted Trump's recommended budget.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the money would go to the National Park Service to make a small dent in a big backlog of work. The park service has $229 million worth of deferred maintenance at 25 national battlefields, Zinke said.

Brandyburg, a 32-year National Park Service veteran, left his Flat Rock post on Feb. 24 to take over as superintendent of the Harpers Ferry historic site in West Virginia.

He stood between Zinke and White House press secretary Sean Spicer during the six-minute ceremony and held the over-sized check for a photo but did not speak.

During the campaign, Trump vowed that he would not take the $400,000 annual salary as president if elected and repeated that promise after his victory in November. After consulting with legal counsel, Trump agreed to make the donation to a government agency.
How To Keep Your Remote Workers Accountable and Productive

Posted by Jay Chambers on Monday, 04-03-2017 8:10 pm

Currently 0.0/5 Stars.

1

2

3

4

5 0.0 from 0 votes

Employee motivation and productivity has always been topics of discussion in many organizations. Think about the number of hours that employees spend in traffic, at the workplace and finally at home. The big question is how to give such employees enough time to handle their personal stuff and still maintain productivity. A good number of companies allow their employees to work from home. Research shows that remote working can make employees happier and more productive. Telecommuting saves time and money which consequently lowers the operating costs. The following are practical tips on how to keep remote workers accountable and productive. Get to know your employees In a regular workplace, you get a chance to interact with your employees on a one on one basis and know them better. You will know how to approach such people after noting their strengths and weaknesses. It is very hard to know the character of your remote employees because sometimes you do not get a chance to meet them phy...

Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web.

If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator.

Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue

Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue

Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile
Category: Custom Content Programming with an Emphasis on Leadership and Organizational Behavior LEAD Award Rank: 1 Organization: FIU Center for Leadership Program: Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) Leadership Development Program Program Director: Dr. Mayra Beers Contact: Shannon A. Hanson, MBA, FIU Center for Leadership Email: hansons@fiu.edu Call: 305-348-5323 Visit: Lead.fiu.edu Developing Facilitative Leadership Skills Our editorial team interviewed Shannon A. Hanson from FIU Center for Leadership at the LEAD 2017 Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview. What is the overall objective of your program? The overall objective of this program is to collaborate with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) educational leaders by assisting participants in developing facilitative leadership skills to enhance positive student outcomes. The program focuses on fostering leadership development through two-primary mechanisms: enhanced self-insight and a focus on developable leadership skills and behaviours. Who do you impact with your program? The target audience for this program is the thousands of educational leaders who lead schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the nations fourth largest school system. What are the lessons youve...
Category: Master's Program with Emphasis on HR LEAD Award Rank: 3 Organization: Saint Joseph's University Program: Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management Program Director: Jeannine Lajeunesse Contact: Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph's University, 5600 City Avenue, Mandeville 280, Philadelphia, PA 19131 Call: 610) 660-1626 Visit: www.sju.edu Developing HR Leaders Our editorial team interviewed Dr. Eric Patton from Saint Joseph's University at the LEAD 2017 Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview. What is the overall objective of your program? The objective of our program is to develop HR leaders who are both experts in the field (and this can be in general or in a particular area of HR such as training, recruitment, performance management) and also strategic thinkers who are comfortable dealing with decision makers and being a decision maker at the highest level of organizations. The strategic element is a common thread throughout, and there is enough flexibility for our students to take a deep dive into a particular area as well. We are looking to develop a new type of HR leader who is both an expert in people management and has strong business acumen. Who do you impact with your program? This programs target audience has changed somewha...
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
3 held with wild animal body parts

Police on Sunday apprehended three persons for their alleged involvement in smuggling wild animal body parts.
MONROE COUNTY, OH, April 3, 2017 - Yesterday, the US Geological Survey reported an earthquake in Monroe County with the epicenter located at 39.6663 N, 81.244 W. The 3.0 magnitude earthquake was located in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest. Approximately 40,000 acres of the forest are slated for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) by the Bureau of Land Management.

Earthquakes in the area are fairly unusual, especially at such a magnitude. US Geological Survey has linked induced seismicity to wastewater injection facilities and active oil and gas fracking wells. There are four wastewater injection sites located within 20 miles of the epicenter. In 2016, these injection wells accepted 8.3 million barrels of wastewater polluted with a dangerous mix of salt water, hazardous chemicals, and radioactive compounds, and approximately 90% of this waste is trucked in from out of state. Additionally, seven utica shale fracking sites within five miles of the epicenter.Jen Miller, Director of Sierra Club Ohio, Makes the Following Statement on Earthquakes in the Wayne National ForestThe science is clear, cradle-to-grave, fracking is risky and dangerous to our air, water, and communities. Yet, fracking activity continues near two of our states most precious resources - the Wayne National Forest and the Ohio River, and, if BLM has its way, will expand.We call upon the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to cease and withdraw all plans for fracking in Ohios only National Forest.We ask Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Governor Kasich to work with federal authorities to fully investigate its causes and to protect the public from any serious risks that fracking in the area could cause.Furthermore, we ask the Governor to keep our clean energy progress going, because energy efficiency renewable energy are clean, safe, and cheap.
Business Govt to Announce Foreign Investment Details

Shipping containers at Asia World Port in Rangoon on Sept. 16, 2016. / Pyay Kyaw / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  The government will soon publicly announce details about restricted and prohibited investments by foreign firms and joint venture projects, as well as those businesses approved by the Union ministry and state projects, said U Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

Despite the Union Ministry of National Planning and Finance officially releasing the Burmese language version of the countrys investment by-law on the DICA website on April 1with 25 sections and 238 articlesthe business community is asking the government to release information about its preferred investments by both local and foreign companies.

By looking at these [forthcoming] statements, the investors can consider which sector to invest in, or which sector could get them income tax breaks, U Than Aung Kyaw told The Irrawaddy.

Although Burmas official investment law was approved by President U Htin Kyaw in late October 2016, Myanmar Rice Federation chairman Dr. Soe Tun remarked that foreign investment could not significantly grow in Burma unless the National League for Democracy (NLD) government clarifies their 12-part economic policy.

The investors will not come instantly to invest in Myanmar, but there will be a little progress, said Dr. Soe Tun, saying that the announcement on investmentsexpected later this week from the NLDwas better than nothing.

Dr. Soe Tun pointed to a lack of policy stability as one of the most significant barriers to foreign investment.

We still dont know the policies of the governmenthow they would drive forward to grow the countrys economy. The 12-part policy is too broad, he added.

Poor infrastructure, an unreliable power supply and an unresolved minimum wage for laborers, are also issues faced by investors. According to World Banks annual report, Burma is ranked globally as one of the most challenging places to invest, Dr. Soe Tun added.

DICA official U Than Aung Kyaw argued that the countrys promoted investment sectors had already been announced on April 1and are to be decided on officially by the Union government.

The document lists nearly 190 types of businesses, highlighting farming and agriculture, forests and plantations, and timber and food production. However, beer, cigarette and liquor production are reportedly not among the projects welcomed.

Other preferential investments are those pertaining to scientific research, hotels and tourism, information technology services and telecommunication, health and education services, renewable energy production, supply and transport services, construction of seaports, river ports and dry ports, the establishment of industrial zones and new urban areas, and the maintenance of airports, aircrafts and airline operation.

Investors in promoted sectors could get income tax breaks, but other investments will not get a similar opportunity, U Than Aung Kyaw said, adding that the tax breaks differ by sectorsome lasting five years, and others seven.

According to DICA, the NLD government is estimating that foreign investment in Burma will meet US $6 billion per year from 2016-2020 and $8 billion per year from 2021-2030.

U Than Aung Kyaw explained the new investment by-law is more decentralized; it allows for relevant Union ministries or divisional governments to make their own decisions on US$5 million worth of projects, respectively. The by-law also ranks projects by size, based on the amount of funds invested.

The Myanmar Investment Commission securitization body will examine strategic investments to determine whether the projects could have a negative impact on society, residents, cultural heritage zones, or the environment.

The investment by-law states that local companies must hold at least 20 percent of total income of the project, if it is allied with foreign conglomerates. Myanmar Rice Federation chairperson Dr. Soe Tun agreed that this is a reasonable provision for locals, as they are often unable to invest as much capital as foreign companies.
In Person Harn Yawnghwe: The UNFC Will Continue to Exist as Long as it Continues to be Useful to its Members

Harn Yawnghwe (R) shakes hands with former President U Thein Sein in 2012 in Naypyidaw. / Supplied

Harn Yawnghwe is the executive director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office (EBO), a development and democracy advocacy group. He is seen as an influential figure in Burmas ethnic political affairs and EBO has been a major source of financial support to ethnic civil society and opposition organizations. As the youngest son of Sao Shwe Thaike, the first President of Burma, he closely follows the countrys peace process.

The Irrawaddys senior reporter Saw Yan Naing interviews Harn Yawnghwe about his views on ethnic politics and the ongoing peace process.

You are seen as one of the most interesting and experienced players in Burmas peace process in support of ethnic armed groups. Due to your involvement, you have received both praise and criticism. Some observers have even said that you masterminded the peace process yourself. What do you have to say about that?

People tend to overestimate my role and influence. I did not start the peace process. President Thein Sein did. I got involved in the peace process because ethnic leaders like Gen Mutu Say Poe, Gen Yawd Serk and Gen NBan La asked me to help when Minister Aung Min requested an introduction. Minister Aung Min came to see me in Bangkok in Sept. 2011 because the late Dr. Nay Win Maung [of Myanmar Egress] recommended me. EBO and Egress had been collaborating since 2004 to try and find ways to bring democracy back to Burma. We would meet on a regular basis and brainstorm with like-minded people  exiles and those from Burma  but we did not expect Snr-Gen Than Shwe to appoint Thein Sein as president, or that he would push reforms through so quickly.

There are disagreements emerging among ethnic leaders in the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), which could lead to a major division within the bloc. What are the problems within the UNFC and what do you see for the bloc in the future?

EBO has been supporting and funding the Burmese democracy movement since 1997. But because the Tatmadaw seized power in 1962 due to its fear of federalism, we realized that it would not agree to democracy unless the ethnic problem could be resolved. So we started engaging with ethnic armed organizations to see how they saw things. They finally decided that a political solution was needed and that they need to have a dialogue with the Tatmadaw to find such a solution. EBO funding and assistance was, therefore, directed towards finding a solution that is beneficial to all parties.

The Karen National Union was the first organization that quit the UNFC. Then, the Chin National Front and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization were also expelled for signing the NCA. Later, the TNLA, MNDAA, and AA have distanced themselves from the UNFC. Now five members reportedly want to sign the NCA while its chairman, the KIO, and the SSPP want to ally themselves with powerful ethnic forces like the UWSA in Shan State. What is your opinion of this? How will it affect the UNFC?

The KNU quit the UNFC because it did not agree with the concept that the KNU had to agree to the decisions of the UNFC leadership, especially if it had not been consulted first. The CNF and PNLO were expelled because they signed the NCA without waiting for the decision of the UNFC. The TNLA, AA and MNDAA distanced themselves because they felt that the UNFC was not protecting them and was not pushing the government hard enough to include them in the NCA.

People forget that the UNFC was founded in 2010 and that not all groups were members even at the height of its popularity. Ethnic unity has always been an elusive goal because each group lives in very different geographical and economic circumstances, and their survival strategies are different. The UNFC will continue to exist as long as it continues to be useful to its members.

You are very close to leaders of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the Karen National Union (KNU), the two largest ethnic armed organizations who signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Some critics have said that you and your colleague Saw Tu Tu Lay were key players in making the RCSS and the KNU sign the NCA. Is that correct?

Both Saw Htoo Htoo Lay and I are advisers. We give the leaders the best advice we can. But neither of us can force them to do anything that they do not want to do. Gen Yawd Serk and Gen [Saw] Mutu [Say Poe] are leaders of armed men. If their men, who are all volunteers, do not agree with their leaders, the leaders could be in trouble or they may find that they no longer have an army to lead. Before signing the NCA, both leaders consulted with their people. There were strong disagreements and arguments, but in the end the majority agreed that it was better to sign.

You participated in peace talks and ethnic meetings as well as provided funding for peace-related activities. What developments have occurred so far and what are the remaining challenges to the peace process?

I have personally participated in only five official peace talks or peace-related activities between Nov. 2011 and Oct. 2015, when I went to Naypyidaw with the KNU chairman and the RCSS delegation to persuade President Thein Sein to sign the NCA even if all EAOs [ethnic armed organizations] did not sign.

Under the new government, I have not participated in any official meetings, except the recent meeting in Kunming between the KNU chair and Chinese Special Envoy Sun Guoxiang. Five more EAOs have recently decided to sign the NCA. It would be good if the remainder also decide to sign. If this happens, the government will have to ensure that all EAOs are treated equally with respect, and that their aspirations are carefully considered. The next 21st Century Panglong will then be the opportunity for the whole nation to consider how we can live together in unity while recognizing and accepting our diversity.

What differences do you see in the peace process under U Thein Seins government and Aung San Suu Kyis government?

The first and most important difference is that under Thein Seins government, the peace process was a political matter which came under the mandate of the president. It impacted security but the commander-in-chief had to take into account the presidents wishes and make sure that security operations did not negatively impact the peace process. It was an internal tug-of-war and a tightrope to balance political and security issues. The commander-in-chief has now managed to make the peace process a security matter and the civilian government has to take into account the Tamadaws wishes and make sure that the peace process does not impact security.

The second difference is that Thein Sein established an 11-person Union Peacemaking Central Committee (UPCC), which he headed, and a 52-person Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) headed by the vice-president. The Myanmar Peace Center was responsible to 10 ministers headed by Minister Aung Min and had a staff of more than 120 people. Whether the committees actually worked effectively or not, it was commendable in that it was an inclusive infrastructure that represented a wide range of interests.

The current government cannot match the above in terms of manpower. The State Counselor, who also serves as the Minister of the Office of the President, Foreign Minister, and head of the NLD, is chair of the 11-person National Reconciliation and Peace Center. A six-member Peace Commission under Dr. Tin Myo Win, was formed to implement the work of the NRPC. They are assisted by a 3-member Advisory Team (2 from the former MPC) and a 7-member Assistance Team.

The third difference is that Minister Aung Min was an ex-combat general who fought against and was familiar with the ethnic armed organizations. He was senior to many of the serving Tatmadaw commanders in the field. He was also senior to the ministers in the Thein Sein government. He could persuade many of them to comply with his requests. If necessary, he could also persuade the president and the commander-in-chief. Dr. Tin Myo Win is a well-known surgeon but he has not, in the past, had any interaction with the Tatmadaw commanders in the field, let alone the ethnic armed organizations. He can advise Aung San Suu Kyi on her health but I doubt that he has ever treated Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

China is actively involved in ethnic politics in Burma, especially in the peace process. What do you think Chinas role is in the peace process?

From 1968-88, China politically, financially and militarily supported the Burmese Communist Party. But Chinese policy changed in 1988. After that, most of the support to EAOs came from businesses  Chinese, Myanmar and ethnic  and the Yunnan Government, which took advantage of the then ceasefire agreements to build up their fortunes. Beijing woke up to how local support to EAOs on the border was damaging Chinese national interest when President Thein Sein cancelled the Myitsone Dam.

As far as Beijing is now concerned, it has more to gain in the long-term from stability and development in Myanmar, especially regarding the deep sea-port in Rakhine State, the oil & gas pipelines, the high-speed rail-link, and investment in dams, mines and plantations, than in a militarized prosperous land-locked enclave on its border. This realization is tempered only by the fact that China cannot afford to antagonize domestic ethnic communities by totally abandoning support for the EAOs.

Also given its past, China cannot ignore what is happening on its border. For one thing, if the peace process breaks down, there will be an influx of refugees which China does not want. If the fighting intensifies, there are also no guarantees that other foreign powers will not step in. Therefore, as a preventative measure, China sees that it has to step in to try and broker a peace deal, and keep foreigners out of Myanmar and away from its border.

Some observers think that China is behind ethnic armed organizations in northern and eastern Burma that are engaging in conflict with the Burma Army (Tatmadaw). What is your prediction on both the political climate and military activities in the north and east of the country?

As mentioned earlier, there is no active support of EAOs from Beijing. Support and involvement these days are limited to facilitating travel and persuading the EAOs to negotiate for peace. Because it suits their agenda, some entities promote the idea that China is behind the renewed fighting in the north. For example, when MPC claimed that China was behind the renewed fighting in Kokang in 2015, the public came out in support of the Tatmadaw. Similarly, many people are against the proposed UN fact-finding mission into human rights abuses in Rakhine State because it is seen as foreign interference. The Chinese will become more involved in the peace process if the EAOs in the north and the government cannot come up with a practical solution that is acceptable to all parties.
Burma Burmas President Set for China Trip

President U Htin Kyaw received a Chinese delegation led by foreign minister Wang Yi at his presidential residence together with the State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and information minister U Pe Myint in Naypyidaw on April 5, 2016. / Presidents Office

RANGOON  President U Htin Kyaw and three of his ministers will head to China on Thursday for a six-day trip to discuss political, infrastructural and trade cooperation between the two countries, the presidential spokesperson told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

The Presidents Office Director General U Zaw Htay said the president and his ministersU Kyaw Tint Swe of the State Counselors Office, U Than Myint of the Ministry of Commerce and U Win Khaing of the Ministry of Constructionwould meet their Chinese counterparts.

President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders will hold talks with U Htin Kyaw, who is visiting the country as Burmas official head of state for the first time. According to Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U Htin Kyaw will also visit places other than Beijing.

U Zaw Htay added that further details of the visit would be released after the trip has taken place.

Since the National League for Democracy (NLD) government assumed office in April, China has lobbied to restart the multi-billion dollar Myitsone Dam, which was being constructed in Kachin State with Chinese backing just downriver from the confluence that forms the Irrawaddy.

A government suspension order in Sept. 2011 under former President U Thein Seins administration following widespread public protest stalled the project.

U Zaw Htay declined to comment on whether the controversial project would be on the agenda during the state visit. He said the Myitsone Dam is under evaluation by a commission that is assessing proposed hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River.

The commission was formed on August 12a week before State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made her inaugural trip to China as Burmas foreign minister.

The committee is tasked with assessing the potential environmental and social effects of any proposed project along the Irrawaddy River, as well as the possible impact on foreign investment and the wider economy.

Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament U T Khun Myat chairs the 20-member commission and State Counselors Office Minister U Kyaw Tint Swe, who will also be participating in the presidents visit to China this week, serves as vice-chairman. He also holds the same position with the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

U Htin Kyaws first foreign trip after taking office was to Laos last May. He then made state visits to India, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Visits of senior government officials between China and Burma have increased since the democratically elected NLD government assumed power. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the first foreign state official to visit the NLD government in April last year at the invitation of Burmas de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Chinese Minister of State Security Geng Huichang visited Burma in July and Song Tao, the Communist Partys head of International Relations, visited in August.

A joint statement from China and Burma after Daw Aung San Suu Kyis visit last year said that discussions during the trip included the cooperation between the two countries to ensure Burmas national reconciliation and the strengthening of law-based management in the border region.
Burma KNU to Increase Central Standing Committee Members

KNU leaders in Lay Wah, the KNU headquarters, March 2017. / Karen National Union HQ / Facebook

RANGOONAfter much debate, representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU), Burmas longest-running ethnic armed organization, have agreed to elect 55 central standing committee (CSC) members, adding 10 additional members.

In the past, the KNU has had 45 CSC members. However, it decided to increase the number following suggestions and debate from various representatives.

The KNU is in the third week of its annual congress, which is attended by more than 200 representatives from seven districts and seven brigades.

During the first stage, representatives will cast secret votes to elect the 55 CSC members, most likely this week, according to Saw Say Say, an official from a KNU quarter office.

The KNU will also elect 11 central executive committee (CEC) members out of the 55 central standing committee members.

Saw Say Say said the top five leaders: chairperson, vice-chairperson, general secretary, and the joint-secretaries 1 and 2, will be also elected by representatives through a secret ballot. The top five leaders will automatically become CEC members.

However, it is unclear how the other six CEC members will be elected. It is also unclear how the chief of the KNUs military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), will be chosen. In the previous congress, the 11 CEC members appointed the KNLA chief. Currently, Gen Saw Johnny is serving in that post.

KNU Brigade 3 commander Brig-Gen Saw Eh Ka Lu Thein and Lt-Gen Saw Baw Kyaw Heh, the current KNLA vice chief-of-staff, have been rumored as possible choices for KNLA chief.

If the KNU leaders appoint the KNLA chief in the traditional way, Saw Ba Kyaw Heh will likely be chosen due to his current position. But, if the KNU leaders use a secret ballot, Saw Eh Ka Lu Thein will have a chance, sources within the KNU say.

Sources said the current KNLA chief would have to resign as he is no longer qualified for the position, since he is over 65 years old.
Burma UNFC Claims to be United Behind NCA at Urgent Meeting

United Nationalities Federal Council leaders at an urgent meeting held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  Members of the ethnic bloc the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) pledged to stay united and said they were committed to the governments nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) at an emergency meeting in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, this week.

The seven-member bloc discussed the current political situation for ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in relation to the July 2016 Kachin Independence Army (KIA)-led Mai Ja Yang summits basic principles of a federal state, and decided to postpone the UNFC conference until June this year, according to attendees.

The meeting was held amid suspicion of a rift within the bloc as the comprising groups disagreed over signing the NCA and its role in the peace process.

Members of both the UNFC and the Northern Alliancethe KIA and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N)attended a United Wa State Army (UWSA)-led summit in the Wa Self-Administered Zones capital of Panghsang in February. At the summit, the groups called for the NCA to be replaced, contrary to the UNFCs nine principals leading to all member EAOs signing the accord.

Last week, the government announced that five UNFC EAOsthe Karenni National Progressive Party, the New Mon State Party, the Arakan National Council, the Lahu Democratic Union and the Wa National Organizationwould sign the NCA, although the groups later said it had not been officially decided.

General Sai Htoo of the political arm of the SSA-N, the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that his group would not leave the UNFC, although we have desires to work together with the Wa, referring to the UWSA-led political negotiation committee.

Vice chairperson of the UNFC Nai Hong Sar said, the KIA and the SSA-N are still on the NCA path, although they are allied militarily with the northern armed groups.

He said the UNFC remained united in their commitment to the nine principles and recent negotiations with the government had seen some developments.

Nai Hong Sar said the UNFC delegation needs further negotiation with the government on tripartite talksbetween EAOs, the government, and political parties and with the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee over mechanisms such as the clarification of drafted terms of reference.

The ethnic bloc also changed its stance on the demand that all ethnic armed groups be invited to sign the NCA.

We couldnt stand firm on our all-inclusion policy as three groupsthe Arakan Army, Taang Nationalities Liberation Army and the Kokangs MNDAA (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army)are now not following the NCA path, said Nai Hong Sar, who is also the vice chairman of the New Mon State Party.

It [the argument for all-inclusivity] has changed according to the current situation, he told reporters.
Burma Widow, Friends of Murdered Journalist Urge For Progress in Case

A funeral for Eleven Media Group journalist Ko Soe Moe Tun, who was discovered beaten to death, was held in Monywa, Sagaing Division, on Dec 14. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON Friends and relatives of a murdered local reporter are voicing their frustration at a lack of progress in the nearly four-month old investigation.

The bruised body of Eleven Media Groups (EMG) Ko Soe Moe Tun, 36, was found at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 13 on the Union Highway in Monywa Township, Sagaing Division. An autopsy revealed that he died of a skull fracture resulting from having been beaten.

Its already been four months and no one has been put on trial for the murder, said the journalists widow, Ma Khin Cho Latt. Im afraid the case will end like this, without justice. I want to know who killed my husband and why did they did it.

The personal belongings of Monywa-based Ko Soe Moe Tun, including money, a gold ring, and his national ID card, were not stolen.

He had been reporting on the controversial Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mining project, illegal logging and farmland confiscation, although police have not found any definite motives behind the crime.

Authorities said they questioned about 30 people, many of whom were staff members from karaoke establishment Blue Sky KTV in Monywa, where Ko Soe Moe Tun went the night he was murdered. He was killed soon after he left.

Three suspectstwo from Blue Sky KTV and a logging truck driverquestioned in connection with the murder were released from custody, with police saying they had insufficient evidence to prosecute.

The police only focused on investigating the case in the first month, said Monywa Gazette editor Ko Thet, who was a friend of Ko Soe Moe Tun. But they have lost interest as time has passed.

Amid the investigation, the police chief of Monywa Central Police Station was moved to Rangoon. His replacement, U Tin Yu, told The Irrawaddy there was no progress in the case but that they were still investigating.

At least four journalists have been killed in Burma since 1999, including Ko Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Ko Par Gyi, who was shot in military custody in Mon States Kyaikmayaw Township, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists.

Though it is unclear if his death was related to his reporting on contentious issues, U Myint Kyaw of Myanmar Journalist Network said the murder could cause others to hesitate in reporting those matters.

I dont have much hope that justice will be done in [Ko Soe Moe Tuns] case, he said. The same as other high-profile cases in which justice is yet to be done.

He added the government must enforce the rule of law and bring justice to the cases in which the culprits are still at large.
News Court Rejects Case Against U Wirathu for Religious Hate Speech

Ko Min Hlaing talks to the media outside Dawbon Township Court on Tuesday / Naing Lin Soe / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  Dawbon Township Court in Rangoon rejected a case filed against ultranationalist monk U Wirathu under Burmas Penal Code by local resident U Min Hlaing on Tuesday.

U Min Hlaing attempted to prosecute U Wirathu because he encouraged Buddhist women in a sermon in Feb to marry opium addicts, drunkards, monks, and even dogs rather than a Muslim man.

The court rejected the case because he delivered the sermon in another place, but not in Dawbon Township, U Min Hlaing told The Irrawaddy. Ill do as much as I can in line with the law to prevent him from preaching such things.

The notorious monk made the inflammatory comments in Kyone Ku, the native village of former President U Thein Sein in Irrawaddy Divisions Ngapudaw Township, on Feb. 9 despite the divisional governments ban on his sermons.

If women cant find a husband, get a dog: canines are as able as Muslim men, he said to hundreds of his supporters, including women.

His reasoning was that these husbands would not try to convert a womans religion, whereas a Muslim man might.

U Aye Min Naing acted as a witness to the case because U Wirathus preaching was unacceptable and against the Buddhas teachings.

As a Buddhist monk, what he said and shared on social media are shameful for Buddhists, he said.

The state Buddhist authority State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, popularly known by the Burmese language acronym Ma Ha Na, banned the nationalist monk from delivering sermons across the country for one year starting from March 10, because of his religiously incendiary rhetoric.

Despite the ban, U Wirathu has since delivered several silent sermons at which he sat with his mouth covered by two pieces of colored tape while one of his previous sermons played over loudspeakers.

On March 28, Myanmar Now chief correspondent Ko Swe Win asked Ma Ha Na and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture to take action against U Wirathu because of his hate speech.

U Kyaw Myo Shwe, a supporter of U Wirathu filed a complaint with police in Mandalay against Ko Swe Win under Article 66 (d) of Burmas Telecommunications Law for sharing a Myanmar Now story on his Facebook.

The story stated that U Wirathu was no longer in the monkhood as he had thanked the assassins who killed National League for Democracy legal adviser U Ko Ni.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
4 foreigners nabbed for stealing cash from ATMs

Four foreigners were nabbed on Sunday on the charge of misusing ATM cards of several foreigners to steal money from their accounts.
Editorial NLD Should Take By-election Results as a Wake-Up Call

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Eastern Dagon Myothit Township on by-election day. / Naing Lin Soe / The Irrawaddy

Burmas by-elections last weekend were the most telling sign for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party as to whether it still enjoys the popular support it received in the 2015 general election.

Out of 18 seats that the NLD contested on Saturday, it secured 9only 50 percent, a sharp contrast to its 79 percent victory two years prior. The party lost in three of the four ethnic areas it contested.

NLD spokesperson U Win Htein on Sunday blamed the public for its failure to vote.

And yes, people didnt show up to the polls, most likely because their faith in the party has declined in the past two years. Back then, they did not care who the candidates were, they cared for the party. And voters including ethnic groups unanimously backed the NLD, as they believed that the elected candidates would support them in return.

But when a party fails to listen to its supporters, voters feel betrayed and will pull their support when elections come around again. This is what happened to the NLD in many of the ethnic regions during the by-elections.

The best example is Mon States Chaungzon Township, where the NLD won the 2015 general election despite rivalries from local ethnic parties and its main opposition, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

But on Saturday, the majority of voters stayed home  many unhappy with the governments recent decision to name a local bridge after independence hero Gen Aung San, despite local objections. Electoral statistics from the area show that only 38 percent of eligible voters participated.

When the results were announced, to the NLDs embarrassment, it did not even garner half of the votes it received in 2015. The USDP was victorious.

Despite the fact that by-election results will not impact the power structure of the current government; NLD leadership should take this as a wake-up call from the belief that the public will blindly support them in the future.

Many people stood behind the party hoping that their voices would not fall on deaf ears as they felt they had during the military regime. If their wishes continue to be ignored, it will be difficult for them to see a difference between the previous regime and the current government. People will not continue to support a government that ignores them.

The NLD leadership should also take candidate selection into consideration. While the USDP carefully chose a Chaungzon native famous for his charity work in the area, the NLD selected a faceless stranger, ignoring local supporters wishes again. The NLD leadership should be aware that a party first, candidate second era ended with the 2015 election.

The results in Shan State, where the NLD lost seven out of eight contested seats to local Shan parties and the USDP, indicate that the NLD is failing the ethnic people there. The party has never been popular in the area and the by-election results show that no gains have been made.

In her State of the Union address prior to the by-election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi noted that her government would last as long as it welcomed and accepted criticism. This by-election is the most critical public remark to date. Hopefully, the ruling party finds a lesson in that.
Alumna, President of Whitman College to Speak at Commencement

Kathleen M. Murray '79, president of Whitman College, will give the keynote address.

April 3, 2017

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University alumna Kathleen M. Murray, the current president of Whitman College in Washington state, will speak at the Universitys Commencement on Sunday, May 7. During the ceremony, Murray will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree, along with alumnus Sam Porritt, a member of the Class of 1984.

The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at the Kemp Commencement Plaza in front of State Farm Hall. In case of inclement weather, Commencement will be held in the Shirk Center. The event will be live streamed and available for viewing on demand at www.iwu.edu/live (U.S.A.) or available internationally here.

Murray is the first woman to head Whitman since its founding in 1882 and is the 14th Whitman president overall. She began her presidency in July 2015 and is overseeing the development of a five-year strategic plan and the building of a new residence hall at the liberal arts college, located in Walla Walla.

Murray came to Whitman from Macalester College, where she served as provost and dean from 2008 to 2015. Prior to that, Murray was provost at Birmingham-Southern College for three years. She spent 19 years at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, first as a member of the piano faculty and department chair, then as dean of the Conservatory of Music, and finally as dean of the faculty.

She received a bachelors degree in music from Illinois Wesleyan in 1979, a master of music in piano performance from Bowling Green State University, and a doctorate in piano performance and pedagogy from Northwestern University in 1989.

A frequent performer, Murray is also a clinician and adjudicator both nationally and internationally, as well as the author of numerous articles on music and music education. She is recorded on the CRI label.

Sam Porritt '84, founder of the Falling Forward Foundation, will receive an honorary degree.

Porritt is the founder of the Falling Forward Foundation, the only nonprofit organization in the country funding the continued rehabilitation of patients recovering from catastrophic medical issues such as strokes, brain injuries or spinal cord injuries.

While on vacation in Italy in August 2011, Porritt suffered a spinal cord injury resulting from an accident. Initially, he was paralyzed from the waist down. He would need extensive rehabilitation. Fortunately, Porritt learned that his medical insurance placed no limit on rehabilitation.

During his more than two years in rehab, Porritt saw the impact of therapy caps first hand. He met hundreds of patients whose recoveries were cut short when their insurance benefits stopped, and they were unable to pay out of their own pockets. Porritt launched Falling Forward in 2013 to give other patients the same opportunity he had  to continue medical rehabilitation and to recover to full potential. So far, Falling Forward has supported the recovery of 69 people in four states. As far as his own recovery, Porritt now walks with the assistance of a cane.

Prior to his accident, Porritt spent much of his professional career as a consumer marketing executive and consultant. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and today lives in Lawrence, Kan.
Choral Groups to Present Spring Concert

March 21, 2017

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan choral ensembles will present a spring concert on Sunday, April 9, at 3 p.m. at the Wesley United Methodist Church, 502 E. Front St., Bloomington.

The program includes performances by University Choir and Collegiate Choir, featuring compositions by classical music greats Bach, Brahms, and Haydn, American composer Cecil Effinger, and contemporary composers Eleanor Daley, Eric Malmquist 07 and Jake Runestad, among others. J. Scott Ferguson, professor of music and director of choral activities in the School of Music, will conduct both choral groups.

The Collegiate Choir is dedicated to the performance of the finest sacred and secular choral music of the past five centuries. Students are selected by audition and maintain a rigorous rehearsal schedule in preparation for their annual concert tour and other engagements throughout the year. The University Choir is open to all students at Illinois Wesleyan by placement hearing and performs on campus throughout the year. This ensemble performs sacred and secular choral literature encompassing many different styles and periods as part of its concert repertoire.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the School of Music at (309) 556-3061.
Reddit Email 207 Shares

By Joseph Kirschke | (Next Billion) |  

In recent months, events across three continents showed how clean energy use by the mining industry, which consumes 11 percent of global energy, can mitigate climate change on a planet where 2,000 mechanized mines struggle with fuel prices, carbon emissions and ever-increasing logistical challenges.

Moreover, Hindustan Zinc Ltd. in India, Redavia Solar and IAMGOLD Corp. in Africa and Chiles copper mining giants underscored how a business that also represents 15 percent of all electricity use  making our way of life possible through metals and minerals  can prioritize the $13.5 trillion in commitments made at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) while helping ensure energy security for 1.2 billion people.

Mining for anything requires enormous amounts of energy  from base metals like copper, lead, nickel, zinc, tin, aluminum and iron ore to precious metals like platinum, gold and silver or fertilizers like phosphate or fossil fuels like coal. Given the complexity of mining, with its intricate equipment and heavy machinery at depths and trajectories necessary for extraction, energy costs  especially in remote areas  can account for up to 30 percent of balance sheet costs.

In isolated spots, worker safety and profits render reliable, high-voltage power an urgent priority  while making renewables an opportunity to save billions through energy efficiency.

In 2011, the industry first began economizing with solar and wind just before the crash of a 13-year emerging-market commodities boom which sent people, equipment and infrastructure deep into some of the most far-flung corners of the world scouring for metals and minerals. By 2022, Navigant, a consultancy, forecasts the use of clean energy by miners will grow to 8 percent  or $3.9 billion  from 1.8 percent today.

This month, IAMGOLD, a mid-sized Canadian firm, made news by signing a $20 million, 15-year power purchase agreement for a solar installation at its 15-megawatt power (MWp) off-grid Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. Elsewhere in Africa, German-based Redavia Solar, the largest ground-mount solar company in Tanzania, announced its solar photovoltaic (PV) expansion at Shanta Mining Company Ltd.s New Luika gold asset. The 609 kilowatt (Kw) installation will yield 950 Kw hours (Kwh) annually; on completion, the entire project will generate 1,040,000 Kwh each year.

Thanks to strong domestic and international support, India is witnessing a clean energy renaissance for communities, businesses and industries  and mining is no exception. Key participants include coal firms like state-run Coal India Ltd., which plans to install 600 Mw of solar nationwide, along with Neyveli Lignite Corp., which tendered for 260 Mw of grid-connected solar PV in two states. On Dec. 1, Hindustan Zinc joined the group by announcing the solar deployment of 115 Mw; the company already generates 474 Mw of thermal power and 274 Mw of wind.

More than 16,000 miles away, Chile, one of the worlds greenest economies and its largest copper producer, is getting a huge clean energy boost from its red metal mines. As elsewhere, plummeting solar prices combined with technological advances mean that  from the sun-baked Andes Mountains thousands of feet above sea level to blustery southern Patagonia  solar panels and wind turbines are fast replacing the need to truck diesel fuel to these harsh, distant places  a costly and unreliable enterprise.

In December, for example, reports emerged that interest among Chiles copper miners in renewables has ballooned so quickly that traditional energy suppliers must now diversify their portfolios. By July, Chile further plans to install 1,000 Mw of solar  mostly in mining regions  while Chiles Association for Renewable Energy has projected 100 percent of the national grid could be powered by renewables as of 2050.

Meanwhile, a 1,900-mile transmission line is being constructed to expand the power distribution system by connecting mines to the national grid. This has hemispheric implications: Mining already accounts for 60 percent of Latin Americas solar PV market, while the industry is expected to represent nearly two-thirds of energy usage by the regions top 21 solar plants.

In other parts of the world the subsector has shown myriad benefits, too. These include shareholder demands for climate change transparency and  especially  the bedrock community relations, or social license to operate, essential to any mining operation. These installations create jobs while unlocking revenue for mining companies to invest in local schools, agriculture and medical clinics along with small- and large-scale infrastructure.

IAMGOLD, the largest private-sector employer in Burkina Faso, for instance, created 120 jobs with the initial installation of a 15-Mw solar plant at its West African mine. In South America, the Toronto-based firm also created more than 100 jobs with the deployment of Surinames first and largest solar farm with 5 Mw at its Rosebel gold asset. In all, IAMGOLD seeks to use 15 percent renewable energy company-wide by 2020.

Many such solar installations will be left behind for local use once the mine is closed. These also open the door for anchor-tenant solutions, whereby operating mines share electricity with far-off local communities. This is important for places like Africa, where 80 percent of new mines will be clean energy-dependent by 2026, according to the International Finance Corp., and where 600 million people live without electricity.

Global institutions have taken note. The World Bank, in its 2015 report Power of the Mine: A Transformative Opportunity for Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, notes minings appetite for power in sub-Saharan Africa will triple between 2000 and 2020 to reach more than 23,000 Mw.

One of the most significant examples lies in Queensland, Australia, where Anglo-Australian multinational Rio Tinto operates a bauxite mine with an 18,000-panel PV farm installed by Arizona-based First Solar, which shares electricity with a nearby township. Rio, the worlds second-largest mining company, has recently announced plans to expand the project.

Also of major importance is the prospect of further greening some of the worlds largest industrial-scale infrastructure projects associated with mining. These include pit to port capacities ranging from smelters, water and other processing systems to conveyor belts, roads and railways along with port and shipping facilities.

Given that 90 percent of energy demand will come from emerging markets by 2035, requiring $1 trillion in investments, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the potential synergies are endless. The UNs Sustainable Energy for All (See4All) initiative, for example, seeks to create universal energy access by 2030, while Power Africa, a U.S.-led public-private partnership, has sought to double energy access to 60 million, partly through renewables, across the continent.

Amid IEA reports that $40 trillion is needed for for global energy supplies to become completely renewable by 2050, impact investors are best poised to push mining companies into the gap. One of the most notable may be the Rockefeller Foundation, which has the largest anchor-based network of its kind encompassing telecoms towers to spread clean energy to 1,000 villages in rural India this year.

More recently, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund provided $10 million in project financing to Irish clean energy provider Mainstream Renewable Power to kick-start a larger $1.9 billion alternative energy push across Africa, along with larger institutions like the International Finance Corp.

Novembers elections have given the 2015 Paris agreement unprecedented urgency, as 194 signatories race to keep temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius. Yet COP21s enduring challenge for investors  scaling climate-resilient industries in the developing world  remains elusive.

Multifaceted and challenging, our planets mines are innovation and energy-intensive ecosystems brimming with solutions just below the surface. We ignore them at our peril.

Joseph Kirschke, a consultant for mining firms with clean energy deployments and sustainable development initiatives, is a former editor at Mining Media International, a Jacksonville-based publishing house.

Photo: California-based Solarreserves Concentrated Solar Power-Photovoltaic (CSP-PV) installation at a mine in Northern Chile.
Reddit Email 39 Shares

By Alfred W. McCoy | ( Tomdispatch.com) |  

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.

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 Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, as well as Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Copyright 2017 Alfred W. McCoy

Via Tomdispatch.com
Reddit 11 Email 130 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

President Trump met Monday with Egyptian field marshal/ president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Trump effused,

We agree on so many things. 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 . . .

Although it is being said that Obama kept al-Sisi at arms length because of human rights concerns, actually the Obama administration regularized relations with Egypt after the military coup and re-authorized the roughly $1.2 bn in aid as soon as al-Sisi held a fraudulent election and declared himself president rather than remaining a field marshal.

No one should ever let al-Sisi forget that he claimed that the Egyptian army cured AIDS. And Hepatitis C.

Al-Sisi lambasted anyone who objected to this ridiculous assertion as overly negative and unappreciative of the sacrifices of the Egyptian army for the nation.

In other words, he lives in an anti-intellectual, science-denying fantasy world that he uses all the might of the Egyptian state to impose those fantasies on journalists and teachers.

Bassem Youssef, the satirist who is also a medical doctor himself, said that the army spokesman who made the announcement in early 2014 had gotten mixed up between RNA and DNA. Youssef wrote that if a first year medical student had made such an error in public, he would have been drummed out of medical school and moreover no one from his village would ever be allowed to become a physician again.

Youssef is now in exile, and Egypt has lost its formerly famous sense of humor.

Al-Sisi took advantage of the massive protests of summer, 2013, against the Muslim fundamentalist government of Mohammad Morsi (a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood) to stage a coup. He had Morsi arrested and has kept him in jail ever since. He declared the Muslim Brotherhood, a licit political party that had won a plurality in parliament in 2011 and won the presidency in 2012, to be a terrorist organization. He persecuted prominent members of the party. In mid-August of 2013 he used unnecessary force physically to clear major sit-ins by Muslim Brotherhood members, resulting in the deaths of some 600 persons. The death toll rose that fall.

The Muslim Brotherhood had not been innocent of terrorism in the 1940s and 1950s, but had made a pact with President Anwar El Sadat in the 1970s to eschew political violence in return for state tolerance. When Sadat allowed (phony) parliamentary elections in the late 70s he even allowed some Brotherhood members to run, under other party banners, and to sit in parliament. In the 2005 elections, the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in a parliament of some 450 and so had become a junior partner in the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Al-Qaeda, ISIL and other radical Muslim groups made fun of the Muslim Brotherhood as Mubaraks Uncle Toms and predicted that they would gain nothing from their moderation.

Al-Sisi vindicated these extremists by rewarding the Brotherhood for peaceful participation in civil politics by launching a full scale assault on them and driving them underground.

Having suppressed the Brotherhood, taking advantage of its plummeting popularity, al-Sisi then turned to the youth revolutionaries of 2011, rounding them up one by one. Ahmad Maher, one of the leaders of the April 6 Youth Group that had supported a major textile strike in 2008 and then emerged as a significant player in 2011 and after, was arrested for protesting and sentenced to three years. He is out but on strict probation. Alaa Abdel Fattah, who had protested Mubarak in 2005 and after, using blogging and tech tools, was beaten in the head, arrested and is still behind bars. Mahienoor El-Masry was jailed repeatedly. People have disappeared, for all the world like 1980s Argentina. It is a dirty war on Egypts youth.

Nevertheless, university students have continued to mount substantial and ongoing protests.

Having neutralized the Muslim Brotherhood and the largely secular-minded youth activists, al-Sisi then turned on the third leg of the 2011 revolution, the labor movement, cowing its leadership and crushing dissent in its ranks.

Having milked the gullible Gulf oil states for tens of billions in the first years of his coup (they wanted the populist Muslim Brotherhood crushed, as well, seeing it as a threat to their more tribal and bureaucratic forms of authority), al-Sisi then turned to the International Monetary Fund for a $12 bn. loan. The price, as with all IMF aid, was to screw over the poor by eliminating subsidies for staples.

As a result, this winter and spring Egypt is seeing substantial bread riots.

Al-Sisi has also had large numbers of journalists jailed or fired, taming the once feisty Egyptian media. When he ran for president in 2014 he strong-armed most other candidates into withdrawing, and won a shamefully high percentage of the final vote.

Trump has a theory that strong men are like a lid you can slap atop the pressure cooker of Middle Eastern societies.

But if you just put a lid on, leaving no aperture for steam to escape, youve actually created a political bomb.

What happened in 2011 was that the political explosives detonated.

The Tunisian ruling class took a lesson and moved to a more democratic form of government.

In Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain, the ruling elites have decided that what was wrong was that the lid hadnt been placed tightly enough. Screwing back on the lid may work in the short term. In the medium to long term, I expect trouble.

But at least al-Sisi has cured AIDS. And Hepatitis C.

-

Related video:

The White House:  President Trump Meets With President el-Sisi
QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - April 4, 2017) - Stelmine Canada Ltd. ( Stelmine ) (TSX VENTURE:STH)

To assure a successful outcome of its exploration programs on the eastern part of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin, Stelmine has appointed three geologists, each with distinct areas of expertise to its Exploration Committee. They are Robert Wares (Economic Geology and Exploration Specialist), Normand Goulet (Structure) and Michel Boily (Geochemistry and Metallogeny). The latter will be Chairman of the Exploration Committee.

The mandate of the Committee is to provide scientific support to Stelmine exploration teams through goal setting, exploration targets, development of exploration programs, project supervision,, and and selection of exploration tools.

"Stelmine has taken an important step toward its development strategy in associating with a high-quality group of specialists who will support the company project of opening a new gold mining camp located in the eastern portion of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin. This highly-specialized expertise combined with an adequate financing could result in the discovery of an important gold discovery in this unexplored region" said Stelmine President and CEO, Isabelle Proulx.

Robert Wares

Mr. Wares holds a PhD in Geology from McGill University and has more than 35 years' experience in mineral exploration, research and development. He is directly responsible for the discovery of the Canadian Malartic high-tonnage gold deposit, which was subsequently developed by Osisko Mining Corporation into one of Canada's largest gold producers. Mr. Wares is currently Executive Vice President, Exploration and Resource Development with Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) and sits on numerous boards of directors including Beaufield, Komet, Arizona, Bowmore, etc. Through his experience and skills, Mr. Wares has been able to develop Quebec's potential in both mineral exploration and mining. He is currently President of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and a member of various organizations. Over the last decade, Dr. Wares has been the recipient of numerous awards from the industry and was awarded an Honorific Doctorate from McGill University.

Normand Goulet

Dr. Normand Goulet (Bsc, Universite de Montreal; DEA and Doctorate, Universite de Grenoble, France and PhD, Queen's University, Kingston) is a full tenured professor in geologya t the Universite du Quebec, Montreal. Dr. Goulet brings a vast expertise in the domain of structural geology, tectonics, deformation of metalliferrous deposits and petrology. He has over forty years of experience managing teams of geologists working for government or private agencies in Canada or abroad. In particular, Dr. Goulet carried out geological studies on themetasedimenary Opinaca basin and participated to the initial exploration work on the Courcy property. Professor Goulet directed several research projects on gold (Abitibi, Dominican Republic, Maroc, Mali), nickel (New Caledonia, Ivory Coast, Albania, James Bay), uranium (Otish and Torngat Mtns.), and on polymetallic mineralization (Nunavut). He further participated in mapping and the completion of a new ecological and metallogenic map of Mali.

Michel Boily

Dr. Boily is an expert geochemist and metallogenist specializing in the interpretation of precious and rare metal deposits in Precambrian volcano-plutonic terranes for the last 25 years. Prior to consulting for the mining industry and government agencies, Dr. Boily was involved as a research associate at MERI/McGill in the study of several rare metals deposits located in the Quebec province; notably the Strange-Lake deposit in Labrador (Zr, Y, REE), the St-Honore mine in the Saguenay area (Nb, REE) and the Quebec Lithium Mine in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt (Li). Since 1992, Dr. Boily has conducted exploration and technical evaluation of gold, base metals and rare metal properties located in Archean greenstone belts and the Grenville Province of Quebec, in the Anti-Atlas Proterozoic windows of Morocco, Northern Mexico, Argentina and Nicaragua. Dr. Boily graduated from the Universite de Montreal in 1988 with a PhD in geochemistry and carried out post-doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. Since 1984, Dr. Boily has been the author of various publications in international scientific journals and has written numerous technical reports. Dr. Boily is currently a registered Professional Geologist in good standing with l'Ordre des Geologues du Quebec.

About Stelmine

Stelmine is a restructuring junior Quebec mining exploration company operating in Quebec. Stelmine holds 707 claims spanning 368 km2 on the eastern part of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin, which contains zones with a high potential for gold deposit discovery in geological contexts similar to the one leading to discovery of the Eleonore Mine. Its capital stock consists of 18,353,884 issued and outstanding shares for a current market capitalization of $5 million
TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: VIT) "Victoria" or the "Company" is pleased to announce that the 2017 Dublin Gulch exploration campaign, including diamond drilling, has commenced.

Three diamond drills and a suite of heavy equipment to support exploration initiatives are at site with drilling activities now underway. Drilling production is slated to ramp up over the next three weeks as drill sites are prepared.

"2017 is set to be an extremely busy and transformative year for Victoria Gold." stated John McConnell, President & CEO. "Drilling has begun and will continue throughout 2017, with the aim of demonstrating additional, definable resource gold deposits across the highly prospective Dublin Gulch Property."

The Phase 1 exploration program is budgeted at $6.2M. Approximately half will be focused on the rapidly developing Olive-Shamrock deposit, a high-grade satellite to the fully permitted and construction ready Eagle Gold Project. The Company will continue step-out and definition drilling at Olive-Shamrock with the intention of expanding the known, near-surface, minable tonnage along the mineralized shear zone. Additionally, five first order targets along the 13 kilometer plus Potato Hills trend will be tested during 2017 exploration activities. In addition to their geological potential, these targets are each proximal to Eagle and largely accessible by existing access roads.

Victoria's exploration efforts at Eagle and Olive-Shamrock over the last two seasons have greatly advanced the Potato Hills Trend mineralization model which defines intrusion-related mineralization along a general northeast-southwest contact across the entirety of the Dublin Gulch and adjacent VBM claim blocks. It was the application of this mineralization model that drove the definition of the Olive-Shamrock zone.

The other Phase 1 targets selected for advanced exploration include:

East Potato Hills - a 2km x 1km gold+arsenic intrusion related, geochemically anomalous target never before drilled

- a 2km x 1km gold+arsenic intrusion related, geochemically anomalous target never before drilled Nugget - an undrilled Eagle lookalike with exceptional geochemical and trench anomalies

- an undrilled Eagle lookalike with exceptional geochemical and trench anomalies Rex-Peso - a past-producing high-grade silver zone under-tested for gold mineralization

- a past-producing high-grade silver zone under-tested for gold mineralization Falcon - an intrusion related gold mineralized target defined by Victoria in 2013

- an intrusion related gold mineralized target defined by Victoria in 2013 Lynx Dome - an historic high-grade silver producer under-tested for gold mineralization

All of these targets, with the exception of Nugget and Falcon, lie within five kilometres of the Eagle Gold Mine footprint and are largely road accessible.

About Olive and Shamrock

The Olive and Shamrock targets are defined by a broad gold/arsenic in-soils geochemical anomaly and lie on the intrusive-sediment contact of the Potato Hills Trend (as does the Eagle Deposit) and are punctuated by several historically exploited high-grade sulphide veins. The area was mined on a small scale from shallow shafts and adits in the early 1900's and via placer mining in creeks draining the area. The Olive and Shamrock vein system is located near the top of Olive Gulch and consists of gold-bearing quartz-scorodite-arsenopyrite vein material centralized in a shear zone structure.

The Company will continue step-out and definition drilling at Olive-Shamrock towards expansion of the known, near-surface, minable tonnage along this mineralized shear zone trend, particularly within the Shamrock portion of the Olive Shamrock Zone where previous drilling has returned:

Highlighted Shamrock Zone Intervals Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length* (m) Grade (g/t Au) DG07-326C 72.24 82.91 10.67 1.94 DG07-328C 158.85 166.26 7.41 4.27 DG10-377C 5.60 36.10 30.50 12.00 DG11-454C 47.24 71.63 24.39 1.80

*Reported intersections are drilled intersections, as true widths have not yet been determined.

About East Potato Hills

Just east of Olive-Shamrock and on strike with the Potato Hills Trends lie a series of Cretaceous granodiorite intrusives that have seen only limited exploration work to date.

A suite of historic stream sediment samples identified the creek draining this zone as highly anomalous in arsenic and gold, and a summer 2013 exploration program designed to test this area returned grab samples from trace up to 8.2 g/t Au in the quartite hostrock. A detailed, grid-based soils geochemical program was subsequently conducted and a strong arsenic+gold-in-soils anomaly associated with the intrusive stocks was identified. This drill ready target is easily accessible and will be a focus of the 2017 Dublin Gulch exploration program.

About Lynx Dome

Lynx Dome is a road accessible, past-producing, high grade silver showing that lies four (4) kilometres from Olive-Shamrock and has never been systematically evaluated for gold mineralization in relation to the Potato Hills Trend. The target has seen previous development from high-grade Bellekeno-style silver sulposalt veins and during a 2013 target evaluation grab samples of metasedimentary hostrock returned grades from trace of up to 2.0 g/t Au. Soils and stream geochemical arsenic+gold anomalies highlight this area as a first order target for gold mineralization evaluation within the developing Potato Hills Trend.

About Nugget

At the Nugget target, a large Cretaceous granodiorite intrusive, akin to the Eagle Deposit, has been the subject of limited historic exploration work and has a defined gold-in-soils geochemical anomaly that graded from trace up to 1.12 g/t in soils. Trench samples collected here graded up to 5m of 2.38 g/t Au and grab samples from trace up to 1.35 g/t Au. The target has never been drilled.

About Rex-Peso

The Rex-Peso zone lies approximately 4 kilometres west of the Eagle Gold Deposit, and is a southwestern extension of the Potato Hills mineralized trend. The Rex Peso area has sizable areas of strong gold and silver mineralization which is accompanied by wide-spread, very strong arsenic and antimony mineralization, commonly associated with gold and silver deposits in the Dublin Gulch project area and elsewhere. These high sulphide and quartz breccia veins have a very similar mineralogical signature and geological setting to those in the Keno silver district, 30 kilometres to the east-southeast, except in this case they are hosted in Proterozoic-Cambrian Hyland Formation quartzite, schist and phyllite. Minerals in the sulphide veins include silver-rich galena, sphalerite, jamesonite and other sulphosalts. The vein system at Rex-Peso was extensively explored by Peso Silver Mines Ltd from 1961 to 1965, including underground development on the Peso No 1 vein and the Rex vein amounting to approximately 1,067 metres of drifting, shaft sinking and adits to approximately 90 metres below surface. Grab sampling (rock-chip) by the Company has returned gold, silver and trace element assays includingresults from trace 1.8 g/t Au and 6,410 g/t Ag which clearly highlight the gold mineralization potential of this area. The drainages from this zone have seen historic and current placer gold production further underscoring the gold mineralization potential of the area. Rex-Peso has never been systematically evaluated for gold mineralized potential until this season.

About Falcon

The VBW claim block is contiguous with the Company's Dublin Gulch property and is being explored for large-tonnage reduced intrusion-related gold systems associated with identified Cretaceous Tombstone and Mayo suite granodiorite intrusions and structurally-controlled high-grade gold-sulphide  silver-sulphosalt veins. The intrusions located on these VBW lands are interpreted to be of similar character to the Dublin Gulch stock, which hosts the Company's Eagle gold deposit, located 15 km to the east.

A September, 2012 exploration program focused on the Cat B West lands defined a 5 km long, east-west striking gold-in-soil (>20 ppb Au) and coincident As, Ag, Sb and Bi trend, returning up to 244 ppb Au in soils (See Company News Release of January 27, 2013). A fall 2013 follow-up grid based geochemical soils sampling program identified strong arsenic+gold-in-soils anomalies and coincidently mapped altered structures, and a diamond drill program was then conducted on the Falcon showing where the first ever drillholes from this Property returned up to 59.2m @ 0.58 g/t Au including 14m @ 0.98 g/t Au in drillhole VBW- 13-01C from 7.0 to 66.2 metres. The Falcon zone consists of an area of stockwork quartz-veined, contact-metamorphosed, Hyland group sediments, local faulted, and mid-Cretaceous age granitoids of the Tombstone Plutonic Suite. The intrusions are interpreted to be of similar character to the Dublin Gulch stock, which hosts the company's Eagle gold deposit. Minerals found within the veins and locally disseminated within the sediments and intrusions include arsenopyrite, realgar, chalcopyrite, pyrite, bismuthinite and rare galena. The table below highlights the results from the 2013 drilling program at the Falcon showing.

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length* (m) Grade (g/t Au) VBW13-01C 7.00 66.20 59.20 0.58 including 9.50 23.50 14.00 0.98 including 60.50 66.20 5.70 1.30 VBW13-02C 7.00 166.65 159.65 0.40 including 34.00 39.80 5.80 0.84 VBW13-04C 82.00 270.00 188.00 0.30 including 192.00 198.00 6.00 0.86

*Reported intersections are drilled intersections, as true widths have not yet been determined.

About the Dublin Gulch Property

Victoria Gold's 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property is situated in the central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 kilometers north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85 kilometers from the town of Mayo. The Property is accessible by road year-round, and is located within Yukon Energy's electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 100 person all-season camp at the project site.

The Property covers an area of approximately 555 square kilometers, and is the site of the Company's Eagle Gold Deposit. The Eagle Gold Mine is expected to be Yukon's next operating gold mine and, between the Eagle and Olive deposits, include Proven and Probable Reserves of 2.7 million ounces of gold from 123 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.67 grams of gold per tonne, as outlined in a National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study. The NI 43-101 Mineral Resource for the Eagle and Olive deposits has been estimated to host 191 million tonnes averaging 0.65 grams of gold per tonne, containing 4.0 million ounces of gold in the "Measured and Indicated" category, inclusive of Proven and Probable Reserves, and a further 24 million tonnes averaging 0.61 grams of gold per tonne, containing 0.5 million ounces of gold in the "Inferred" category.

Analytical Method

Exploration drill core from Olive-Shamrock was analyzed at SGS Canada Inc. of Burnaby, B.C. utilizing the GE-ICP40B, 34-element analytical package with FAA5515 50-gram Fire Assay with Gravimetric finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on-site at Victoria's Eagle camp and shipped to SGS Canada Inc.'s Burnaby, B.C. Laboratory. There, samples were sorted and crushed to appropriate particle size (coarse crush) and representatively split and pulverized to a smaller size whereon analyses were performed. A comprehensive system of standards, blanks and field duplicates was implemented for the 2016 Olive-Shamrock drilling programs and is monitored as chemical assay data became available.

For the Falcon drilling and Dublin Gulch surface sampling programs, core and rock samples were logged and prepared for shipment on-site and Victoria's Eagle Camp where they were subsequently delivered to the Whitehorse, Yukon, sample preparation facility of ALS Minerals. There, samples were crushed and pulverized, with prepared pulps sent to ALS Minerals' analytical laboratory facilities in Vancouver where they were analyzed by 33 element ICP-AES package ME-1CP61 with a 50 gram Fire Assay Au finish.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., as the Qualified Person.
Vancouver, BC (FSCwire) - Far Resources Ltd (CSE:FAT) (FSE:F0R) www.farresources.com (Far Resources or the Company) is pleased to announce their drill rig has been mobilized to the Zoro Lithium Property with the assistance of Gogal Air Services of Snow Lake, Manitoba (Gogal). Gogal will also facilitate round the clock crew shift changes. Drill pad cutting was completed over the weekend and drilling has begun. Westcore Drilling of Salmo, British Columbia was selected to undertake the drilling. The Zoro Lithium Property is situated in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Manitoba, recently ranked as the second-best mining jurisdiction in the world by the Fraser Institute.

A total of 900 metres of NQ core drilling is planned for this second drill program as the Company continues to gather the required data to prepare a technical report in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects that will more fully describe the Companys lithium resource. The drill holes will also provide an ongoing assessment of the validity of historic drilling and assay results and a three-dimensional model of spodumene distribution in the Zoro1 pegmatite prepared by Orix Geoscience. Core will be logged, cut and sampled in Snow Lake, following which it will be shipped to Activation Laboratories of Ancaster, Ontario, an ISO certified laboratory, for the determination of lithium and a multi-element suite of metals.

Keith Anderson, President and CEO, commented, With the drills turning on Dyke 1, our second drill program is underway. We are pleased to be moving forward with this part of our larger exploration program that includes building a resource at the Zoro1 pegmatite dyke and the assessment of at least 6 other high-grade lithium-bearing pegmatite dykes on the property. Using the same approach to our initial drill program, we confidently await our second round of drill results.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mark Fedikow P.Geo., a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101.

About the Company

Far Resources Ltd. is an exploration company, publicly traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol FAT, focused on the identification and development of high potential mineral opportunities in stable jurisdictions. Please visit our updated website at www.farresources.com for full details. Far Resources may acquire or option properties of merit to meet its ongoing goal to locate, advance and unlock the potential of these mineral opportunities. Far Resources has option agreements in place on the Zoro Lithium Property in Manitoba, Canada and the Winston Property in New Mexico, USA. Far Resources has optioned its wholly owned Tchentlo Lake Property in British Columbia, Canada to Alchemist Mining Inc.
African envoys: India attacks on Nigerians 'racial'

Envoys from African nations in the Indian capital, Delhi, have condemned the handling of recent attacks on Nigerian students in the city.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 4, 2017) - Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:VG) is pleased to report that it has commenced drilling works at its newly-acquired Mandiana Project (the "Project"), Guinea. A program comprising approximately 2000m of reverse-circulation and diamond core drilling has been laid out, the purpose of which will be to gain important information regarding the geological structures that control the mineralization within the current Inferred Mineral Resource. Such information will contribute towards the definition of subsequent drilling activities within the 2017 exploration season. The program will also serve to infill areas of the Inferred Mineral Resource.

Previous work by Sovereign Mines of Africa plc ("Sovereign") led to the definition of an Inferred Mineral Resource at Mandiana of 16.1 Mt @ 1.18 g/t for 612,000 oz Au (SRK, 2016(1)). Sensitivity analysis(2) by SRK suggests an increase in deposit grade with cut-off, for example 5.7 Mt @ 2.27 g/t for 417,000 oz Au at a higher cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t Au. Drilling and surface geochemical data suggest that the Mineral Resource at Mandiana is open to the north, east, south and at depth.

(1) Independent Technical Report for the Mandiana Gold Project, Guinea, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., December 23, 2016.

(2) Not to be misconstrued as a Mineral Resource Statement.

In addition to drilling, Volcanic will perform property-wide prospecting of artisanal workings (or orpaillages), as well as systematic geochemical sampling of the Mandiana South landholding - which has not previously been explored in this fashion. Very importantly, a strong north-south lineation is discernible in the orpaillages throughout the property, and these extend clearly in both directions along strike from the current Inferred Mineral Resource on two trends, as well as on a third parallel trend to the west.

Most notably the present Inferred Mineral Resource was discovered using artisanal working as a targeting guide, and only a relatively small portion of these lineaments has been tested by drilling. The north-south orientation of the orpaillages is of particular significance, as it is concordant with the dominant structural element that gives rise to mineralization both in the Siguiri Basin, and at the Siguiri Mine(1), approximately 80 km to the north of the Project. It is anticipated that the Company's prospecting and sampling program will serve to define a number of other features for near-term drill-testing.

(1) Erwann Lebrun, John Miller, Nicolas Thebaud, Stanislav Ulrich, and T. Campbell McCuaig, Structural Controls on an Orogenic Gold System: The World-Class Siguiri Gold District, Siguiri Basin, Guinea, West Africa, in Economic Geology, v. 112, pp. 73-98.

About the Mandiana Project

In January 2017, Volcanic acquired an indirect 75% interest in the Mandiana Project in Guinea. The remaining 25% interest in the Project is held by SOGUIPAMI, a Guinean government-owned business entity formed to conduct mineral exploration projects.

The Project consists of two contiguous prospecting permits (Mandiana North and Mandiana South), or "Permis de Recherche" which together cover an area of over 300 square kilometres. The Project is not subject to any royalties, back-in rights or encumbrances.

The Mandiana Project is underlain by geology comparable to that of many other Birimian-age volcano-sedimentary sequences in West Africa, in which gold mineralization typically exhibits a strong relationship with major structural and hydrothermal zones. At Mandiana the gold mineralization associates with a network of quartz veins which appear to relate to such zones, and is located at major lithological and structural breaks. In the near vicinity and of very similar geological character is AngloGold Ashanti's Siguiri Gold Mine (Measured and Indicated Resources of 3.37 Moz Au and Inferred Resources of 2.14 Moz Au). Other significant gold deposits and mines in the neighboring area include Hummingbird Resources' Yanfolila project, Avnel's Kalana property, and Avocent's Tri-K project.

Prior to cessation of work activities due to a shortage of market funding in 2013, Sovereign drilled 119 RC and diamond drill holes for a total of 16,624 meters at the property. Drill testing included the four zones (Yegbelen, Foulouni, Damantare and Woyondjan) that now form the basis of the Mineral Resource calculation, as well as at other features, was completed. Results of Sovereign's drilling programs completed between 2011 and 2013 include:

RCY07 - 28m @ 1.66 g/t Au from 103m

RCY36 - 30m @ 3.15 g/t Au from 35m

RCY37 - 40m @ 4.49 g/t Au from 150m

RCY88 - 18m @ 1.93 g/t Au from 144m

RCY89 - 12m @ 2.81 g/t Au from 73m, and 19m @ 2.58 g/t Au from 104m

RCY114 - 28m @ 6.44 g/t Au from 168m with a top cut of 30 g/t Au

The weathering profile at the Project extends in places to depths in excess of 200m from surface, producing friable, oxide material which beneath the lateritic profile is very easy to dig.

About Volcanic

Volcanic brings together a deeply experienced and successful mining, exploration and capital markets team focused on building a multi-million ounce gold resource in the underexplored West African country of Guinea and its neighbouring countries. Through the strategic acquisition of mineral properties with demonstrated potential for hosting gold resources, and by undertaking effective exploration and drill programs, Volcanic looks to become a leading junior gold resource company.

Qualified Person

Mr. Simon Meadows-Smith is a Qualified Person as defined by "National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the disclosure of the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Meadows-Smith holds a BSc degree in geology from Nottingham University, England, and has been involved in mineral exploration since 1988, including 20 years of experience working in West Africa. He is a Fellow in good standing of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining in London.

For further information, visit our website at www.volgold.com.
KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 4, 2017) - FISSION URANIUM CORP. (TSX:FCU)(OTCQX:FCUUF)(FRANKFURT:2FU) ("Fission" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that its exploration drilling has expanded the newly discovered R1515W high-grade, near-surface, and land-based zone at its' PLS property, host to the Triple R deposit, in Canada's Athabasca Basin region.

Since announcement of the first high-grade mineralization on the R1515W Zone with PLS17-539 (March 20, 2017) two additional holes have been completed on line 1515W. Of particular note, hole PLS17-553, intersected 48.0m of total composite mineralization, including a 32.5m section of continuous mineralization that included total composite of 4.44m of >10,000 cps (with a peak of 43,000 cps). The mineralized section is located approximately 12m to 15m south of the mineralization in PLS17-537 and is so far the strongest mineralization encountered at R1515W. The land-based R1515W zone, which is open in several directions, is located approximately 510m to the west of the high-grade, near-surface R840W zone.

Drilling Highlights Include:

Expansion of New R1515W Zone - High-Grade, Shallow and Land-based Zone

R1515W is open in several directions including along strike to west and east

R1515W Zone confirmed by 2 nd well-mineralized hole with high-grade radioactivity PLS17-553 (line 1515W): 48.0m total composite mineralization over a 76.5m section (between 140.5m to 217.0m), including 32.5m continuous mineralization (184.5m to 217.0m) , including: 4.44m of total composite >10,000 cps



Ross McElroy, President, COO, and Chief Geologist for Fission, commented:

"We are delighted with this strong follow-up drilling on the R1515W zone. PLS17-553 is the 2nd strongly mineralized hole in the newly discovered zone and confirms the potential for significant widths and high-grade radioactivity. The R1515W is the western-most zone of high-grade mineralization on our Patterson Lake Corridor trend and expands the strike-length of our high-grade mineralized foot-print to 3.14km - the largest in the region. R1515W is shallow and represents our third land-based zone. It is open in multiple directions and we look forward to the next two holes of our follow-up drilling."

Table 1: R1515W Zone Drilling

Hole ID Zone Grid Line Collar * Hand-held Scintillometer Results On Mineralized Drillcore (>300 cps / >0.5M minimum) Lake

Depth

(m) Sandstone

From - To

(m) Basement Unconformity

Depth

(m) Total Drillhole

Depth

(m) Az Dip From (m) To (m) Width (m) CPS Peak Range PLS17-547 R1515W 1515W 346 -78.1 185.5 186.0 0.5 510 NA NA 107.0 317.0 PLS17-553 R1515W 1515W 343 -81.2 140.5 147.5 7.0 310 - 5400 NA NA 104.0 296.0 166.5 170.5 4.0 <300 - 1100 173.5 176.0 2.5 <300 - 840 179.5 181.5 2.0 850 - 7600 184.5 217.0 32.5 <300 - 43000

R1515W Zone

The R1515W zone was discovered during the winter 2017 western extension portion of the regional exploration program. As was previously announced on Mar 20th, 2017, several anomalously radioactive and altered reverse circulation and core holes, particularly those testing on line 1485W culminated in PLS17-539 intersecting a 31.0m wide mineralized interval in a 30m west step-out on line 1515W. Based on the results of PLS17-539 an additional 4 hole follow-up program was initiated. Under the assumption that similar steeply southern dipping local orientations and controls to mineralization that are present on the 4 other high-grade zones (R840W / R00E / R780E and R1620E zones), two holes were designed to test 40m up-dip (PLS17-547) and 40m down-dip (PLS17-553) of the mineralization on section 1515W.

PLS17-547 intersected a single, narrow weakly anomalous radioactive interval (185.5m to 186.0m) within a broad chlorite / hematite and clay altered quartz-feldspar -biotite-garnet gneiss cut by abundant dravite veining.

intersected a single, narrow weakly anomalous radioactive interval (185.5m to 186.0m) within a broad chlorite / hematite and clay altered quartz-feldspar -biotite-garnet gneiss cut by abundant dravite veining. PLS17-553 intersected multiple anomalously radioactive mineralized intervals amounting to 48.0m of total composite mineralization over a 76.5m interval (140.5m to 217.0m). The main zone of interest is a 32.5m continuously mineralized interval (184.5m to 217.0m) with multiple sections of >10,000 cps radioactivity, with peaks up to 43,000 cps which is best developed at the footwall contact of a mafic quartzofeldspathic gneiss and quartz-feldspar-biotite-garnet gneiss.

The north-south mineralization thus far encountered on line 1515W appears at a similar elevation (approximately 185m vertical depth) and thus at this scale appears flat-lying. This relationship is also seen on other zones and it is expected that mineralization is influenced and will be controlled by steep dipping lithological contacts and parallel structural features. The two additional holes remaining in this early stage phase of drilling the R1515W, will assist in interpreting controls and orientation to the mineralization.

Natural gamma radiation in drill core that is reported in this news release was measured in counts per second (cps) using a hand held RS-121 Scintillometer manufactured by Radiation Solutions, which is capable of discriminating readings to 65,535 cps. Natural gamma radiation in the drill hole survey that is reported in both core and reverse circulation "RC" holes this news release was measured in counts per second (cps) using a Mount Sopris 2GHF-1000 Triple Gamma probe, which allows for more accurate measurements in high grade mineralized zones. The Triple Gamma probe is preferred in zones of high grade mineralization. The reader is cautioned that scintillometer readings are not directly or uniformly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured, and should be used only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive materials. The degree of radioactivity within the mineralized intervals is highly variable and associated with visible pitchblende mineralization. All intersection measurements are down-hole. All depths reported of core interval and down-hole gamma measurements including radioactivity and mineralization intervals widths are not always representative of true thickness and true thicknesses are yet to be determined in zones outside of the Triple R deposit. Within the Triple R deposit, individual zone wireframe models constructed from assay data and used in the resource estimate indicate that both the R780E and R00E zones have a complex geometry controlled by and parallel to steeply south-dipping lithological boundaries as well as a preferential sub-horizontal orientation.

PLS Mineralized Trend & Triple R Deposit Summary

Uranium mineralization at PLS occurs within the Patterson Lake Conductive Corridor and has been traced by core drilling approximately 3.14km of east-west strike length in five separated mineralized "zones". From west to east, these zones are: R1515W, R840W, R00E, R780E and R1620E. Thus far only the R00E and R780E have been included in the Triple R deposit resource estimate, where-as the R840W and R1620E zones and the recent addition of the R1515W zone, fall outside of the current resource estimate window.

The discovery hole of what is now referred to as the Triple R uranium deposit was announced on November 05, 2012 with drill hole PLS12-022, from what is considered part of the R00E zone. Through successful exploration programs completed to date, it has evolved into a large, near surface, basement hosted, structurally controlled high-grade uranium deposit.

The Triple R deposit consists of the R00E zone on the western side and the much larger R780E zone further on strike to the east. Within the deposit, the R00E and R780E zones have an overall combined strike length validated by a resource estimate of approximately 1.05km with the R00E measuring approximately 105m in strike length and the R780E zones measuring approximately 945m in strike length. A 225m gap separates the R00E zone to the west and the R780E zones to the east, though sporadic narrow, weakly mineralized intervals from drill holes within this gap suggest the potential for further significant mineralization in this area. The R780E zone is located beneath Patterson Lake which is approximately six metres deep in the area of the deposit. The entire Triple R deposit is covered by approximately 50m to 60m of overburden.

Mineralization remains open along strike in both the western and eastern directions. Basement rocks within the mineralized trend are identified primarily as mafic volcanic rocks with varying degrees of alteration. Mineralization is both located within and associated with mafic volcanic intrusives with varying degrees of silicification, metasomatic mineral assemblages and hydrothermal graphite. The graphitic sequences are, associated with the PL-3B basement Electro-Magnetic (EM) Conductor. Recent very positive drill results returning wide and strongly mineralized intersections from the R840W zone, has allowed interpretation to merge the previously described R600W zone into the R840W zone. The R840W zone, located 495m west along strike of the Triple R deposit, now has a defined strike length of 465m and is still open. Drill results within the R840W zone have significantly upgraded the prospectivity of these areas for further growth of the PLS resource on land to the west of the Triple R deposit. The recent discovery of high-grade mineralization further to the west on line 1515W (R1515W zone), located 510m to the west along strike of the R840W zone, has significantly upgraded the prospectivity for further growth to the west along the Patterson Lake Corridor. The recently discovered high-grade mineralization in the R1620E zone, located 270m to the east along strike has significantly upgraded the prospectivity for further growth of the PLS resource to the east of the Triple R deposit.

Updated maps and files can be found on the Company's website at http://fissionuranium.com/project/pls/.

Patterson Lake South Property

The 31,039 hectare PLS project is 100% owned and operated by Fission Uranium Corp. PLS is accessible by road with primary access from all-weather Highway 955, which runs north to the former Cluff Lake mine and passes through the nearby UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 50km to the north, currently under active exploration and development.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geol., President and COO for Fission Uranium Corp., a qualified person.

About Fission Uranium Corp.

Fission Uranium Corp. is a Canadian based resource company specializing in the strategic exploration and development of the Patterson Lake South uranium property - host to the class-leading Triple R uranium deposit - and is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. Fission's common shares are listed on the TSX Exchange under the symbol "FCU" and trade on the OTCQX marketplace in the U.S. under the symbol "FCUUF."
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 03, 2017) - Almaden Minerals Ltd. ("Almaden" or "the Company") (TSX: AMM) (NYSE MKT: AAU) is pleased to report positive results of the independent Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") and resource update prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for its 100% owned Ixtaca precious metals deposit, located in Puebla State, Mexico.

HIGHLIGHTS (all values shown are in $US; base case uses $1250/oz gold and $18/oz silver prices):

Pre-tax NPV(5%) of $484 million and internal rate of return of 54%;

After-tax NPV(5%) of $310 million and internal rate of return of 41%;

Initial Capital of $117 million;

After-tax payback of initial capital in 2.2 years;

Total LOM production of 1.04 million ounces of gold and 70.9 million ounces of silver dore produced on site (2.07 million gold equivalent ounces, or 143 million silver-equivalent ounces at a 69:1 silver to gold ratio);

Average annual production over the first 9 years of 88,780 ounces gold and 5.47 million ounces silver (168,100 gold equivalent ounces, or 11.6 million silver equivalent ounces);

Operating cost $706 per gold equivalent ounce, or $10.20 per silver equivalent ounce;

All-in Sustaining Costs ("AISC"), including operating costs, sustaining capital, expansion capital, private and public royalties, refining and transport of $862 per gold equivalent ounce, or $12.50 per silver equivalent ounce;

Proven and Probable Minerals Reserves of 65 million tonnes averaging 0.62 g/t gold and 37.8 g/t silver (average head grade of 1.16 g/t gold equivalent using a 69:1 silver to gold ratio).

J. D. Poliquin, Chairman of Almaden reported, "We are very pleased to have advanced Ixtaca from a blind discovery in 2010 to its current position as an outstanding inventory of precious metals in a well established mining jurisdiction with a very robust economic profile. We are now looking forward to further developing this deposit through permitting, more advanced engineering and continued drilling of portions of the Ixtaca deposit that remain open as well as other targets on what remains a largely unexplored property."

Geology and Mineral Resource Estimate

The Ixtaca deposit is an epithermal gold-silver deposit, mostly hosted by veins in limestone and shale basement rocks with a minor component of disseminated mineralisation hosted in overlying volcanic rocks. In this PFS the limestone host rock comprised 82% of the metal produced, volcanic 8% and black shale 10% on a gold-equivalent basis using a 69:1 silver to gold ratio.

On January 31, 2013 the Company announced a maiden resource on the Ixtaca Zone, which was followed by a resource update on January 22, 2014. Since that time 33,618 metres of drilling have been completed in 122 holes, and this data is also included in the Mineral Resource Estimate which has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 by Gary Giroux, P.Eng., qualified person ("QP") under the meaning of NI 43-101, and summarised in the Table 1 below. The data available for the resource estimation consisted of 545 drill holes assayed for gold and silver. Wireframes constraining mineralised domains were constructed based on geologic boundaries defined by mineralisation intensity and host rock type. Higher grade zones occur where there is a greater density of epithermal veining. These higher grade domains have good continuity and are cohesive in nature.

Of the total drill holes, 472 intersected the mineralised solids and were used to make the resource estimate. Capping was completed to reduce the effect of outliers within each domain. Uniform down hole 3 meter composites were produced for each domain and used to produce semivariograms for each variable. Grades were interpolated into blocks 10 x 10 x 6 meters in dimension by Ordinary kriging. Specific gravities were determined for each domain from drill core. Estimated blocks were classified as either Measured, Indicated or Inferred based on drill hole density and grade continuity.

Table 1- Ixtaca Zone NI 43-101 Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Statement with the Base Case 0.3 g/t AuEq Cut-Off highlighted from January 2017 Resource Statement. Also shown are the 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 g/t AuEq cut-off results. AuEq calculation based average prices of $1250/oz gold and $18/oz silver. MEASURED RESOURCE AuEq Cut-off Tonnes > Cut-off Grade>Cut-off Contained Metal x 1,000 (g/t) (tonnes) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEq (g/t) Au (ozs) Ag (ozs) AuEq (ozs) 0.30 42,450,000 0.57 35.74 1.09 779 48,780 1,482 0.50 30,940,000 0.71 44.39 1.34 701 44,160 1,337 0.70 23,310,000 0.83 52.47 1.59 625 39,320 1,192 1.00 16,430,000 1.01 62.28 1.91 533 32,900 1,006 INDICATED RESOURCE AuEq Cut-off Tonnes > Cut-off Grade>Cut-off Contained Metal x 1,000 (g/t) (tonnes) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEq (g/t) Au (ozs) Ag (ozs) AuEq (ozs) 0.30 83,370,000 0.45 22.54 0.77 1,195 60,410 2,064 0.50 50,220,000 0.60 29.56 1.02 964 47,730 1,650 0.70 32,280,000 0.75 35.72 1.26 776 37,070 1,311 1.00 18,260,000 0.97 43.47 1.59 568 25,520 936 INFERRED RESOURCE AuEq Cut-off Tonnes > Cut-off Grade>Cut-off Contained Metal x 1,000 (g/t) (tonnes) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEq (g/t) Au (ozs) Ag (ozs) AuEq (ozs) 0.30 47,050,000 0.30 19.15 0.58 457 28,970 874 0.50 19,860,000 0.45 27.31 0.85 288 17,440 540 0.70 10,260,000 0.61 32.98 1.09 202 10,880 359 1.00 4,430,000 0.88 38.50 1.43 125 5,480 204

This Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by Gary Giroux, P.Eng. in accordance with NI 43-101, with an effective date of January 17, 2017.

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal or other relevant issues. The Mineral Resources have been classified according to the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves in effect as of the date of this news release.

All figures were rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates.

Metal assays were capped where appropriate.

Mineral Reserve Estimate

The PFS describes the Mineral Reserve estimation methodology and summarizes the key assumptions used, and to which this estimate is subject. The qualified person responsible for the Mineral Reserve is Jesse Aarsen, P.Eng., of Moose Mountain Technical Services. The Mineral Reserve is a subset of the Mineral Resource comprising only measured and indicated mineral resource blocks that contribute positive economic value and that are planned for processing during the life-of-mine plan.

Table 2 - Mineral Reserves Diluted Average Tonnes Grades Contained Metal (millions) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au - '000 ozs Ag - '000 ozs Proven 28.4 0.68 45.0 623 41,032 Probable 36.8 0.57 32.0 669 37,793 TOTAL 65.1 0.62 37.7 1,292 78,825

Notes to Mineral Reserve table:

Mineral Reserves have an effective date of March 30, 2017. All Mineral Reserves in this table are Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves. The Mineral Reserves are not in addition to the Mineral Resources, but are a subset thereof. All Mineral Reserves stated above account for mining loss and dilution.

Associated metallurgical recoveries (gold and silver, respectively) have been estimated as 90% and 90% for limestone, 50% and 90% for volcanic, 50% and 90% for black shale.

Reserves are based on a US$1,250/oz gold price, US$18/oz silver price and an exchange rate of US$1.00:MXP20.00.

Reserves are converted from resources through the process of pit optimization, pit design, production schedule and supported by a positive cash flow model.

Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in summation differences.

Mining under the proposed production plan

The Ixtaca gold-silver project in the PFS is planned as an open pit mining operation using contractor mining with initial production in 2019 at a mill feed rate of 7,650 tonnes per day during Years 1-4 and a ramp up to 15,300 tonnes per day from Year 5 onwards.

Estimated mining inventory is comprised of 326 million tonnes of rock and 65 million tonnes of mill feed with an average mill feed grade of 0.62 grams per tonne gold and 37.7 grams per tonne silver. A total of 1.04 million ounces of gold and 70.9 million ounces of silver would be produced over the 14 year mine life.

The ultimate open pit is separated into seven mining phases. The mine plan consists of one year of pre-stripping (prior to ore processing start-up), and fourteen years of open pit mining. Stockpile reclaim will be fed to the processing facility throughout the mine life. All open pit ore and reclaimed stockpile material will be fed to a primary crusher near the pit rim and transported to the processing facility on an overland conveyor.

Processing

The PFS incorporates the Rock Creek process plant which was optioned by Almaden in October, 2015. The plant will operate initially at an average throughput of 7,650 tpd and expanding to 15,300 tpd by year 5, producing gold and silver dore on site. The process plant includes the following key design criteria:

Three-stage crushing followed by grinding to P80 passing 75 microns;

Gravity concentration with intensive leaching of gravity concentrate;

Flotation of gravity concentration tails;

Carbon-in-Pulp (CIP) to recover gold and silver from flotation concentrate and gravity leach tails;

An elution circuit to strip loaded carbon, electrowinning and smelting to produce a precious metal dore;

Cyanide destruction;

Final tailings are thickened, then delivered to the tailings management facility.

The following table summarizes the production and processing parameters:

Table 3 - Projected Production and Processing Summary Ore Reserves 65 million tonnes Average Processing Rate 7,650 tpd Year 1 to 4, 15,300 tpdYear 5 onwards Life of Mine (LOM) Strip Ratio 5 : 1 Gold Silver Average Mill Feed Grade 0.62 g/t 37.7 g/t Average Process Recoveries 81% 90% Average Annual Production LOM (ounces) 78,100 5,290,000 Total Production (ounces) 1,043,000 70,932,000

Capital and Operating Costs

The total estimated initial capital cost for the Ixtaca gold-silver project is $116.9 million and sustaining capital (including expansion capital) is $119.7 million over the LOM. The estimated expansion capital of $72.1 million will be funded from cashflow. The estimated LOM operating costs are $22.5 per tonne mill feed.

The following tables summarize the cost components:

Table 4 - Initial Capital Costs ($ millions) Mining $12.1 Process $35.6 Tailings Management Facility (TMF) $11.7 Water Management $5.4 Onsite Infrastructure $7.6 Offsite Infrastructure $7.8 Environmental $1.8 Indirects, EPCM, Contingency and Owner's Costs $34.9 Total $116.9

Table 5 - Expansion Capital Costs ($ millions) Mining $1.3 Process $35.4 Infrastructure $12.2 TMF and Water Management $3.4 Indirects, EPCM, Contingency and Owner's Costs $19.7 Total $72.1

Table 6 - LOM Average Operating Costs ($) Mining costs $1.70 $/tonne mined Mining costs $10.0 $/tonne milled Processing $11.6 $/tonne milled G&A $0.8 $/tonne milled Total $22.5 $/tonne milled

Economic Results and Sensitivities

A summary of financial outcomes comparing base case metal prices to two alternative metal price situations is presented below. The PFS base case prices are derived from a combination of spot prices and current common peer usage, while the alternate cases consider the project's economic outcomes at varying prices witnessed at some point over the three years prior to this study.

Table 7 - Summary of Ixtaca Economic Results and Sensitivities to Precious Metal Prices ($ million) Lower Case Base Case Upper Case Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Gold Price ($/oz) $1150 $1250 $1350 Silver Price ($/oz) $15 $18 $21 NPV (5% discount rate) $275 $175 $484 $310 $693 $443 Internal Rate of Return (%) 38% 28% 54% 41% 70% 52% Payback (years) 2.4 2.6 2.0 2.2 1.6 1.9

The operating costs ("Opex") are projected to be US$22.5 per tonne milled. The following table shows the sensitivity of project economics to a 10% change in the operating costs, assuming base case metals prices.

Table 8 - Summary of Ixtaca Economic Results and Sensitivities to Operating Costs ($ million) Lower Case Base Case Upper Case Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Opex ($/t milled) -10% $22.5/t +10% NPV (5% discount rate) $581 $372 $484 $310 $386 $248 Internal Rate of Return (%) 61% 46% 54% 41% 48% 35% Payback (years) 1.9 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.1 2.3

The Ixtaca project is also sensitive to the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Mexican Pesos ("MXP"). The PFS assumes an exchange rate of 20.00 MXP per U.S. dollar, and the following table shows the sensitivity of project economics to different exchange rates assuming base case metals prices.

Table 9 - Summary of Ixtaca Economic Results and Sensitivities to Exchange Rates ($ million) Lower Case Base Case Upper Case Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax Exchange Rate (MXP: USD) 18.00 20.00 22.00 NPV (5% discount rate) $380 $243 $484 $310 $569 $364 Internal Rate of Return (%) 47% 35% 54% 41% 60% 45% Payback (years) 2.1 2.3 2.0 2.2 1.9 2.1

Rock Management, Environment and Community

Almaden recognises the paramount importance of protecting the environment to facilitate the development of a sustainable project. Knight Piesold Ltd. ("KP") has been retained to help the Company with long lead item studies concerning environmental monitoring, assessment and permitting matters. Almaden established the following environmental objectives for the Project:

Protect surface and ground water quality;

Incorporate environmental enhancement opportunities into the mine and final reclamation plans;

Minimize the project footprint.

In order to achieve these objectives Almaden and KP have instituted comprehensive management strategies incorporating all applicable best management practice (BMP) technologies as a fundamental component of the Project.

Enhancement Opportunities

Following review of the resource report and PFS, Almaden intends to explore the possibility of further project enhancements in the following areas:

Almaden will be conducting further drilling in areas internal to and within close proximity of the Ixtaca PFS pit. The focus of drilling will be to add additional resources which could be mined either by open pit or underground methods for inclusion in future engineering studies;

The key limestone unit accounts for 99% of total gold equivalent ounces in the first 3 years of production and 82% of total gold equivalent ounces produced over the life of mine. Metallurgical recoveries on the key limestone unit are indicated to be 90% for gold and 90% for silver. Metal recoveries within the black shale unit, which currently accounts for approximately 10% of total gold equivalent ounces produced in this PFS, are indicated to be 50% for gold and 90% for silver based on preliminary testing. The black shale unit will be a focus of future work as a number of potential avenues to improve gold recovery have not yet been explored;

Next Engineering and Development Steps

The Company will soon initiate work towards a Feasibility Study, and intends to submit the application for mine permits by the third quarter this year. Groundwater and surface water quality and quantity monitoring is well established, and a range of additional physical, and biological studies have been completed.

A NI 43-101 technical report for this Ixtaca Deposit PFS will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days.

Qualified Persons, Quality Control and Assurance

The following companies have undertaken work in preparation of the PFS:

APEX Geoscience Ltd. (Exploration and Drill data QA/QC)

Giroux Consultants Ltd. (Mineral Resource Estimation)

Moose Mountain Technical Services ("MMTS") (Overall Report Preparation, Mine Plan, Mineral Reserve, Mineral Processing, Infrastructure, and Financial Model)

Knight Piesold Ltd. ("KP") (Geotechnical, Environmental, Rock and Tailings Management)

The independent qualified persons responsible for preparing the Ixtaca PFS are; Jesse Aarsen, P.Eng. and Tracey Meintjes, P.Eng. of MMTS, Ken Embree, P.Eng. of KP, Kris Raffle, P.Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., and Gary Giroux, M.A.Sc., P.Eng. of Giroux Consultants Ltd., all of whom act as independent consultants to the Company, are Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and have reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

MMTS is an association of Geologists, Engineers and Technicians providing experienced knowledge in Geology, Mine Engineering, and Metallurgical Services and Support to the mining industry for over 15 years. Through their network of associates they provide an integrated team of experts and QP's. Services range from early grassroots exploration and development, block model builds, resource and reserve estimates, advanced planning and studies for mine proposals (including operational support), process design and permitting process guidance and support. MMTS has experience working on gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, coal, uranium, rare earths, industrial minerals, and tungsten deposits throughout North and South America and around the world. A list of specific projects worked on by MMTS can be found at www.moosemmc.com.

KP is an international consulting firm and recognized leader in providing engineering and environmental services. KP's expertise has been applied to hundreds of surface and underground mining projects in all stages of development and a broad range of environmental settings. KP provides industry leading services in water and waste management, tailings disposal, heap leach pads, rock mechanics and environmental services, and has been recognized for innovative services that meet high standards of reliability, security and cost effectiveness.

The analyses used in the preparation of the mineral resource statement were carried out at ALS Chemex Laboratories of North Vancouver using industry standard analytical techniques. For gold, samples are first analysed by fire assay and atomic absorption spectroscopy ("AAS"). Samples that return values great er than 10 g/t gold using this technique are then re-analysed by fire assay but with a gravimetric finish. Silver is first analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy ("ICP-AES"). Samples that return values greater than 100 g/t silver by ICP-AES are then re analysed by HF-HNO3-HCLO4 digestion with HCL leach and ICP-AES finish. Of these samples those that return silver values greater than 1,500 g/t are further analysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Blanks, field duplicates and certified standards were inserted into the sample stream as part of Almaden's quality assurance and control program which complies with National Instrument 43-101 requirements. In addition to the in-house QAQC measures employed by Almaden, Kris Raffle, P.Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., completed an independent review of Almaden's drill hole and QAQC databases. The review included an audit of approximately 10% of drill core analyses used in the mineral resource estimate. A total of 10,885 database gold and silver analyses were verified against original analytical certificates. Similarly, 10% of the original drill collar coordinates and down hole orientation survey files were checked against those recorded in the database; and select drill sites were verified in the field by Kris Raffle, P.Geo. The QAQC audit included independent review of blank, field duplicate and certified standard analyses. All QAQC values falling outside the limits of expected variability were flagged and followed through to ensure completion of appropriate reanalyses. No discrepancies were noted within the drill hole database, and all QAQC failures were dealt with and handled with appropriate reanalyses. The mineral resource estimate referenced in this press release was prepared by Gary Giroux, P.Eng., an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Exploration Opportunities

The Ixtaca deposit is one of several exploration targets on the wholly owned Tuligtic property. The Tuligtic claim covers an area of high level epithermal clay alteration. The project area is partially covered by volcanic ash deposits which mask underlying alteration, potential vein zones and associated soil responses. In areas devoid of this covering ash, soil sampling has defined several distinct zones of elevated gold and silver values and trace elements typically associated with epithermal vein systems. The Ixtaca zone is one of the largest areas of gold/silver soil response but it is also one of the areas with the least ash cover on the project. Management believes that the other altered and geochemically anomalous areas could represent additional zones of underlying quartz-carbonate epithermal veining like the Ixtaca zone.

The potential quantity and grade of these exploration targets is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration and/or study to define these exploration targets as a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if additional exploration will result in these exploration targets being delineated as a Mineral Resource. The potential quantity and grade of these exploration targets has not been used in this PFS.

About Almaden

Almaden Minerals Ltd. is a well financed company which owns 100% of the Tuligtic project in Puebla State, Mexico. Tuligtic covers the Ixtaca Gold-Silver Deposit, which was discovered by Almaden in 2010.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Anfield Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ARY) ( OTCQB : ANLDF) ( FRANKFURT : 0AD) ("Anfield" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the receipt of an NI 43-101 mineral resource technical report for the Red Rim uranium project, entitled "Red Rim Uranium Project, Mineral Resource Technical Report, National Instrument 43-101, Carbon County, Wyoming, USA" and dated March 31, 2017 (the "Red Rim Report"). Further to Anfield's news release of March 21, 2017, the Red Rim Report is the first in a series of NI 43-101 technical reports related to Anfield's 24 Wyoming uranium projects. The report was completed by BRS, Inc., a consulting and engineering firm with nearly 40 years of experience assessing Wyoming uranium projects.

The resource estimate includes:

an Indicated Resource of 336,655 tons of mineralized material with an average grade of 0.170% (equivalent to an Indicated Resource of 1,142,449 pounds of U 3 O 8 ); and

O ); and an Inferred Resource of 472,988 tons of mineralized material with an average grade of 0.163% (equivalent to an Inferred Resource of 1,539,447 pounds of U 3 O 8 ).

Corey Dias, Anfield's CEO stated, "This report is a significant first step in identifying and delineating the uranium resource on the Company's properties in Wyoming, an important part of our multi-state U.S. portfolio. Over the coming months we aim to delineate further uranium resources on our acquired Wyoming properties and plan to identify the most prospective. Crucially, Anfield has a Resin Processing Agreement in place with Uranium One in Wyoming whereby it can process up to 500,000 pounds of uranium per year at Uranium One's Irigaray Central Processing Plant, and the pairing of a future viable uranium resource with that Agreement would place Anfield in a strong position to take advantage of the expected uranium price rebound.

This expected rebound converges with Anfield's strategy of acquiring quality uranium assets and proceeding with disciplined, staged development. We are confident that developing these Wyoming Properties, in line with Company strategy, will be a significant step towards becoming a top-tier U.S. uranium producer."

A summary of the Indicated Mineral Resource included in the Red Rim Report is presented in Table 1.1. A summary of the Inferred Mineral Resource included in the Red Rim Report is presented in Table 1.2.

Table 1.1 Indicated Mineral Resources

GT minimum Pounds % eU 3 O 8 Tons Average Grade %eU 3 O 8 0.25 1,142,449 336,655 0.170

Table 1.2 Inferred Mineral Resources

GT minimum Pounds % eU 3 O 8 Tons Average Grade %eU 3 O 8 0.25 1,539,447 472,988 0.163

Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability in accordance with CIM standards. Inferred Mineral Resources are too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them which would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves.

The Red Rim project comprises approximately 1,000 acres of the mineral holdings of Anfield, and includes 49 unpatented mining lode claims located approximately 20 air miles southwest of Rawlins, Wyoming. The data used in the report utilizes drill intercept data from 2 core holes and 136 rotary drill holes, including drill intercepts and geophysical logs.

The Red Rim project is located in an area that is the winter range for Pronghorn antelope. This may result in seasonal stipulations for field activities, including drilling. To the best of our knowledge there are no other legal or environmental matters that could materially affect the potential development of these resources.

Radiometric equilibrium was assumed.

A unit weight of 125 pounds per cubic foot or 16 cubic feet per ton was assumed, based on the Author's experience working in operating mines in the Gas Hills within similar tertiary sandstone uranium deposits where reserve estimates were routinely compared to actual production.

For indicated mineral resources the mineralized trend was bracketed by drilling and mineral resources were estimated using the GT contour method.

For inferred mineral resources, where the mineralized trend was not fully defined by drilling, at the interpreted location of the oxidation/reduction interface a thickness of 6 feet thick at an average grade of 0.15% eU3O8 was assumed. Further it was assumed that mineralization in excess of a 0.5 GT extended approximately 50 feet either side of the interpreted oxidation/reduction interface and that mineralization grading down to a GT of 0.1 extended an additional 50 feet beyond that. These assumptions were based on the areas of close spaced drilling where indicated mineral resources were estimated. GT contouring was completed within these limits and honored available drill data.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

The NI 43-101 Resource Technical Report completed for Red Rim has been authored by Douglas L. Beahm, P.E., P.G. Principal Engineer, of BRS Inc. The author has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

A technical report on the Resource Technical Report will be published on the System for Electronic Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") and the Company's website within the 45 days permitted under NI 43-101.

About BRS

BRS, Inc. is an engineering and geology consulting corporation with expertise in mining and mineral exploration. Of particular note, it specializes in uranium exploration, mineral resource evaluation, mine design, feasibility, mine operations, and reclamation. It has completed numerous uranium projects including technical reports and feasibility studies for underground, open pit, ISR, and conventional uranium mills. Representative projects include technical reports and due diligence for project financing for conventional uranium projects including the Sheep Mountain and the JAB-RD open pit in Wyoming, the Cibola Project in New Mexico, the Coles Hill, Virginia open pit and underground mine, and numerous ISR uranium projects in Wyoming and Paraguay.

Douglas L. Beahm, P.E., P.G., the principal engineer at BRS, is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101 with 40 years of professional and managerial experience. Mr. Beahm has a proven track record in a variety of mining and mine reclamation projects including surface and underground mining, heap leach recovery, ISR, and uranium mill tailings projects. Mr. Beahm's experience includes coal, precious metals, and industrial minerals, but his emphasis throughout his career has been on uranium.

About Anfield

Anfield is an energy metals exploration, development and near-term production company that is committed to becoming a top-tier energy-related fuels supplier by creating value through sustainable, efficient growth in its energy metals assets. Anfield is a publicly-traded corporation listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange (ARY-V), the OTCQB Marketplace (ANLDF) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (0AD). Anfield is focused on two production centres, as summarized below:

Arizona/Colorado/Utah - Shootaring Canyon Mill

A key asset in Anfield's existing portfolio is the Shootaring Canyon Mill in Garfield County, Utah. The Shootaring Canyon Mill is strategically located within one of the historically most prolific uranium production areas in the United States, and is one of only three licensed uranium mills in the United States.

Anfield's conventional uranium assets consist of mining claims and state leases in southeastern Utah, Colorado and Arizona, targeting areas where past uranium mining or prospecting occurred. Anfield's conventional uranium assets include the Velvet-Wood Project, the Frank M Uranium Project, as well as the Findlay Tank breccia pipe. All conventional uranium assets are situated within a 125-mile radius of the Shootaring Mill.

Wyoming - Irigaray ISR Processing Plant (Resin Processing Agreement)

Anfield has also signed a Resin Processing Agreement with Uranium One wherein Anfield would process up to 500,000 pounds per annum of its mined material at Uranium One's Irigaray processing plant in Wyoming. In addition, should Anfield sign uranium sales contracts, the Company can both buy and borrow uranium from Uranium One in order to fulfill some or all of its contracts.

Anfield's ISR mining projects are located in the Black Hills, Powder River Basin, Great Divide Basin, Laramie Basin, Shirley Basin and Wind River Basin areas in Wyoming.
Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / April 4, 2017 - Dajin Resources Corp. ("Dajin") (TSX-V: DJI) (OTC: DJIFF) (Germany: C2U1) is pleased to announce that it is releasing a National Instrument 43-101 report for its 100% owned Teels Marsh property in Mineral County, Nevada.

Dajin's President, Brian Findlay remarked, "This report pulls together, interprets and verifies the results of the exploration work that Dajin has been undertaking at Teels Marsh since staking the property in 2014". The report was prepared by Dajin Directors Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG (the lead author) and Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo, the Qualified Persons. Dajin's exploration work has included auger sampling to a depth of 10 feet (3 meters), direct push drilling up to 200 feet (60 meters), completion of gravity and seismic surveys, and a structural analysis of basin development.

The significance of Dajin's Teels Marsh project include identified near-surface Lithium brines, granted water rights, and minimal land fragmentation due to other stakeholders in the project area. The basin beneath the playa is up to 8,200 feet (2,500 metres) deep and has a catchment area of 313 miles2 (811 km2). Additionally, groundwater from the nearby Huntoon Valley catchment area (116 miles2 / 300 km2 in size) may flow into Teels Marsh. Teels Marsh basin also most likely contains significant quantities of ash from the Long Valley Caldera (Bishop Tuff). The Bishop Tuff deposit in Clayton Valley (50 miles / 80 km) to the south-east of Teels Marsh) is the Silver Peak Lithium mine's (owned by Albemarle Holdings) most prolific brine producing aquifer.

In March, the Bureau of Land Management accepted Dajin's Notice to proceed with civil works and drilling as recommended in the report. Dajin is now contracting these aspects in order to advance the exploration to test the deep potential for Lithium. Copies of the NI 43-101 report can be obtained by clicking here.

The technical information in this press release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements of National Instrument 43-101 and has been reviewed and approved on behalf of Dajin Resources Corp. by Dajin Directors, Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo and Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG, the Qualified Persons.

About Dajin: (www.dajin.ca)

Dajin is an early stage Lithium exploration company holding a 100% interest in 403 placer claims covering 7,914 acres (3,202 hectares) in the Teels Marsh region of Mineral County, Nevada. These claims are known to contain Lithium and Boron values and are adjacent to the birth place of US Borax Corp's first borax mine. Dajin also holds a 100% interest in 191 placer claims covering 3,851 acres (1,558 hectares) in the Alkali Lake region of Esmeralda County, Nevada, located 7 miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Albemarle Holding's Silver Peak Lithium brine operation in Clayton Valley.

Dajin, through Dajin Resources S.A. ("Dajin S.A."), holds concessions or concession applications in Jujuy Province, Argentina that were acquired in regions known to contain brines with Lithium, Potassium, and Boron values. These concessions exceed 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and are primarily located in the Salinas Grandes/Guayatayoc salt lakes basin. Dajin S.A. is partnered with LSC Lithium Corporation who has agreed to spend $2,000,000 to earn a 51% interest in Dajin S.A.'s Lithium properties while building a significant presence in Argentina. (click here for information on LSC Lithium Corporation)
WEST KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 4, 2017) - COLORADO RESOURCES LTD. (TSX VENTURE:CXO) ("Colorado" or the "Company") announces further to its news release of February 24, 2017 that it has received the assay results from its initial phase of RC drilling at Green Springs and continues to expand, explore and advance the property.

Adam Travis, Colorado's President and CEO states, "Our Green Springs Phase 1 Winter Drill Program was a success encountering intercepts up to 135 feet of 3.23 g/t gold including 25 feet of 9.75 g/t gold in the E Zone, discovering new mineralization with 125 feet of 1.37 g/t gold occurring in Hole 8 in the A Zone and finding mineralization in the first ever drillholes (Holes 11 & 12) completed in the G Zone including 20 feet of 1.12 g/t gold in Hole 12. Based on these results we have completed the staking of additional claims, expanded the collection of soil samples and will be permitting more drilling."

The drill program evaluated the following three targets (see following Table and Figure 1 for results-

E Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-01 to GSC17-04 tested the nature of gold mineralization at the lower Chainman Shale - Joana Limestone contact south of the historic mine workings ("E" Zone) and along the trend of a north-south striking mineralized structural corridor. Results include Hole 1 which returned 135 feet of 3.23 g/t gold including 25 feet of 9.75 g/t gold. These results confirm our concept that high grade feeder structures may exist to the south of the old pits and that mineralization can extend into the underlying Joana limestone.

A Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-05 to GSC 17-10 tested the nature of gold mineralization associated with the lower Pilot Shale - Guilmette Limestone contact in the "A" Zone. This contact is well exposed to the north and to the east of the mine workings and is associated with well developed, thick jasperoidal bodies which have been shown to be spatially related to gold mineralization in both historic(1) RC boreholes and surface rock samples. Results include Hole 8 which returned 125 feet of 1.37 g/t gold, Hole 6 which returned 80 feet of 1.75 g/t gold and Hole 5, which returned 130feet of 1.07 g/t gold. These results confirm our premise that rocks mapped as the underlying and un-mined Pilot Shale have the potential to host significant gold mineralized zones at relatively shallow depths.

G Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-11 & GSC17-12 were collared in the newly discovered "G" Zone. The G Zone lies at the crest of a regional scale antiform, is associated with a distinctive gold in soil anomaly and has never been drill tested until now. Results include Hole 12 which returned 20 feet of 1.12 g/t gold.

The Colorado RC drill program was designed to be a very preliminary test of these permissive stratigraphic and structural contacts over a combined strike length of approximately 3.0 km and based on these results more drilling is warranted.

To follow up these exciting initial results, Colorado has completed additional claim staking and soil sampling and will be permitting an expanded drill program.

Hole ID Zone Total

Depth

(ft) From

(ft) To

(ft) Interval

(ft) Au

g/t(1) GSC17-1 E Zone 410 250 385 135 3.23 including 295 320 25 9.75 including 300 315 15 12.00 GSC17-2 E Zone 415 240 410 170 0.38 including 250 325 75 0.61 GSC17-3 E Zone 390 260 330 70 0.23 GSC17-4 E Zone 410 245 380 135 1.85 including 265 300 35 4.16 GSC17-5 A Zone 335 90 220 130 1.07 GSC17-6 A Zone 395 90 170 80 1.75 including 125 160 35 2.89 GSC17-7 A Zone 395 80 170 90 0.54 GSC17-8 A Zone 335 55 180 125 1.37 including 55 120 65 2.36 GSC17-9 A Zone 465 45 270 225 0.82 GSC17-10 A Zone 395 60 130 70 1.14 GSC17-11 G Zone 545 0 30 30 0.68 GSC17-12 G Zone 410 5 25 20 1.12

(1) The intervals reported in this release represent drill intercepts and insufficient data is available at this time to state the true thickness of the mineralized intervals and all values are uncut.

About Green Springs

The Green Springs Property is currently under option from Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ELY)(OTC PINK:ELYGF) ("ELY") whereby Colorado can acquire a 100% interest in 193 unpatented claims (1,416.2 hectares) held or under option by ELY and is located in the eastern Great Basin approximately 50 miles south of Kinross's Bald Mountain/Alligator Ridge Mine(1) and 35 miles west of Ely, Nevada. It is a classic Carlin-style gold system that represents part of a growing number of Carlin-type systems and new discoveries located outside the main Carlin and Cortez Trends in largely underexplored parts of Nevada.

Qualified Person

Dr. Jim Oliver, Ph.D, P. Geo., the Company's Chief Geoscientist, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who reviewed the preparation of the technical data in this news release.

QA/QC Statement on Assay Results

The 2017 samples were analyzed by Actlabs Kamloops, British Columbia. Samples were prepared by the RX1-500g method, which involves crushing the entire sample to 90% passing -2mm, splitting off 500g and pulverizing the split to better than 95% passing 105 microns. Base metal assays were first determined using the total digestion ICP and ICP/MS UT-6 method, which reports results as parts per million (ppm). The gold assays were determined using the 1A2 fire assay method which reports results in ppm and are equivalent to grams per tonne (g/t). Any samples returning greater than 10 ppm gold were analyzed by the 1A3 fire assay method with a gravimetric finish. The analytical results were verified with the application of industry standard Quality Control and Quality Assurance (QA-QC) procedures. The results of GSC 17-5 may be shifted by 5 feet due to a potential footage discrepancy. Additional QAQC studies and analytical studies relevant to the characteristics of the gold mineralized zones are currently being undertaken. In the opinion of the QP, the results of these studies will have a very low probability of constituting a material change in the data contained within this press release.

About Colorado

Colorado Resources Ltd. is currently engaged in the business of mineral exploration for the purpose of acquiring and advancing mineral properties located in British Columbia and Nevada.

Colorado's main BC exploration projects include the KSP property currently under option with Seabridge Gold Inc., the 100% owned Kingpin property and the 100% owned North ROK property. Additionally Colorado holds an option on the Green Springs Property (Nevada) from Ely Gold & Minerals Inc.
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.




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)
Recovery workers prepare the ferry Sewol to be moved to a dry dock, Monday, at Mokpo New Port, South Jeolla Province. / Yonhap





By Lee Kyung-min

Module transporters that will move the ferry Sewol into a dry dock will be tested Wednesday, according to the government.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Monday that of the 456 transporters needed, 342 were delivered Sunday with the remaining 182 due today.

The transporters, divided into six rows of 76, will move the ferry from the semisubmersible recovery ship, to which Sewol is secured, to the dry dock.

The work should be complete by Saturday, when the first neap tide of the month is forecast to end. Otherwise, the ministry will have to wait 15 days for the next tide when the least wave interference is expected.

The ministry, with the agreement of the special investigation committee late Sunday, began drilling 21 holes to facilitate the draining process to reduce the weight of the ferry by at least 460 tons.

"Given that the module transporters can carry only up to 13,000 tons, the ferry, currently weighing 13,460 tons, needs to have water drained through the holes," said Lee Cheol-jo, the ministry official overseeing the salvage operation.

After the drilling, more than 80 recovery workers will continue to remove the sludge from the deck of the transport vessel that seeped from the Sewol, a task to be completed by midnight tonight. Maneuvering the transporters under the Sewol is impossible without removing the mud, the ministry added.

The recovery crews, under the supervision of National Forensic Service officials, will collect the mud for further content analysis as it could contain the remains of the nine victims unaccounted for.

Almost 50 objects have been recovered in the mud as of 5 p.m. Sunday.

Among what are believed to be personal belongings of those aboard the Sewol are cosmetic products, nine diaries, stationery, a blanket, a pair of shoes, a sweater, a tie and a cell phone.

Those were in addition to the passport and a credit card that belonged to ferry captain, Lee Joon-seok, recovered in the early hours of Sunday. Lee is serving a life sentence at the Suncheon Correctional Institution in South Jeolla Province, after the Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling in 2015 that found him guilty of murder, negligence and dereliction of duty.

Nine bone fragments discovered alongside Lee's personal belongings were initially announced as human bones but the forensic service officials said hours later they are believed to be from animals, a second such corrective assessment following a similar lapse by the ministry, March 28.

The ministry said it will start focusing on an underwater search of the seabed where the ferry was lying, Wednesday, in an effort to recover the remains of the nine.

Twenty divers in teams of two will work shifts to closely inspect the area where a 200-meter-long, 160-meter-wide, 3-meter-high fence was set up earlier.
Big parties in bid to suppress RPPs agendas: Kamal Thapa

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Kamal Thapa has alleged that big political parties are suppressing his partys agenda.
LifeStyle

The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand.

Get Foxtel
by Larissa Faw , April 3, 2017

After an eight-month search with 75 candidates, the 4A's selected MEC North America CEO Marla Kaplowitz as its new leader in February. Today Kaplowitz outlined her key priorities and challenges during the 4As Conference in Los Angeles.

"I want to ensure we are delivering value for our membership," she told attendees.

Priority one is to understand what the industry expects and wants from the organization before she begins the job on May 8. She is currently traveling on what she calls her listening tour so the 4As can "really deliver when we talk about marketing," she said.

Third-party verification and measurement are two hot topics. IPG's Michael Roth mentioned during an earlier session at the 4As that he doesn't worry about the future of the industry because of its inherent creativity.

advertisement advertisement

Kaplowitz, on the other hand, says this may be too passive. Rather, it is important to be proactive to ensure members are at the forefront of shaping the industrys direction. Creativity alone will not suppress negative buzz. The negative narrative against agencies needs to stop, she asserted.

Another key focus is repairing relationships that have endured stress over the past year. Kaplowitz says she is reaching out to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to form a "closer partnership," including speaking at the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference on May 23-26 in San Diego, CA.

Equality and diversity will stand as enduring legacies for outgoing CEO Nancy Hill, who helped push these issues to the forefront. Hill built strong pillars, says Kaplowitz, adding: "We want to build on that." She says the problem isn't just getting new talent in agency organizations, but changing the demographics of the corporate suites.

"It's hard when they see senior people who don't look like them or understand them." She believes this issue needs to evolve beyond awareness to institute benchmarks and real goals. "4As can help in that area," she says. Another priority is making sure talent stays in the industry rather than leave for tech or digital jobs outside of advertising.
by Larissa Faw , April 3, 2017

New research from McCann North America concludes that a transformation is taking place in America -- one that is social, political and economic. Values are changing and splintering between two polarized groups divided largely along political beliefs. McCanns "Truth In America" research, revealed during the 4As Transformation Conference in Los Angeles, is designed to help agencies and brands better navigate the new America.

About 70% of Americans say that politicians are less truthful today compared to 20 years ago, and 42% of Americans also say that brands and companies are less truthful today than they were 20 years ago.

Two in three Americans (68%) have read news about the government or politics within the past few hours of responding to the survey. "Politics are everywhere. People talk about them more than work. People watch political news more than sports," says Steve Zaroff, chief strategy officer, McCann North America, adding that the study originally sought to query Americans about topics outside of politics, but found that "politics have moved beyond election cycles and has risen to popular culture levels."

advertisement advertisement

Most Americans also say they are fine, but feel the broader society is not. "I'm fine, but we are not. There is an opportunity but do I speak more broadly or do I speak more personal?" asks Zaroff. The vast majority of Americans (84%) say brands have more power than the government or individuals to make the world better, and 48% say brands need to have a strong identity and clear role in politics. That said, 44% do not want brands to make political statements.

"You can't pander," says Chris Macdonald, president, McCann North America. "There is a fine line," he added, asserting that the UKs exit from the European Union happened because there was a culture of fear in the country.

Brands themselves are navigating these matters on a case-by-case basis. MGM Resorts International's Lilian Tomovich says her company publicly supported the Supreme Court decision approving gay marriage, but keeps away from endorsements.

Microsoft's worldwide consumer base makes it more challenging to be everything for everyone. "We have a billion consumers. We can't choose. It is positioning by default," says Microsoft's Kathleen Hall. The tech brand recently posted a video showing ethnic women working as scientists and while the clip received a lot of positive and supportive comments it also attracted an abundant number of trolls.

Does this mean I will have second thoughts when we do it again? asks Hall. No, she says. Ultimately she recommends brands learn to navigate these turbulent cultural changes by staying true to their values. Microsoft, for instance, celebrates social issues rather than more straight-forward political ones. There is a balanced approach.

"That doesn't mean brands can't have a purpose," adds McCann's Zaroff. He recommends brands choose the culture arena to express views, not politics.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, April 4, 2017



Nearly half of ad executives surveyed recently about their advertising plans for fake news said they either dont care or do not know what it is. Remarkably, the survey, conducted by Advertiser Perceptions Inc. among advertisers and agency executives, found that 7% willfully plan to advertise in -- and 8% said they dont care either way about -- advertising media outlets they deem to be publishers of fake news content.

Nearly a third (29%) said they arent clear whether their ads run on fake news outlets or not.

Slightly more than half (56%) of ad executives said they actively avoid advertising on publishers they consider to be fake news outlets.

The survey found that avoidance of fake news outlets rises with the seniority of the ad executive surveyed, but that bigger-budget advertisers are more prone to use them.

advertisement advertisement

By category, technology, consumer electronics and financial services marketers said they are most apt to avoid fake news outlets, while consumer packaged goods marketers were least sensitive to advertising in the genre.

The confusion and disposition of ad executives surveyed may have something to do with which news outlets they consider to be fake. Asked to list outlets that they deem disseminators of fake news, alt right news publisher Breitbart generated the highest response, with 21% of respondents citing it as fake news -- but remarkably, CNN ranked No. 2 with 11% of ad executives deeming it "fake news."

With the exception of CNN and BuzzFeed, none of the major news outlets called fake news by President Donald J. Trump made the list, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Editors note: After this article was published Advertiser Perceptions qualified the findings of the fake news outlets findings, noting that it was fielded as an open-ended question and that more than half of marketers did not respond to it.

A very small number of marketers identified a few popular names like Breitbart, Infowars and The Onion, a spokesman said, adding, Surprisingly, even a few mainstream names came up, but the actual number of marketers who listed these media brands and companies was very small.
British envoy Morris calls on DPM Nidhi

British Ambassador to Nepal Richard Morris called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi on Tuesday.
by Gord Hotchkiss , Featured Contributor, April 4, 2017

I was planning on writing a very erudite column on how our consumption of news has drastically changed, when I decided to do a research check on Google Trends and found something interesting. It should come as no surprise to learn that Donald Trump is dominating news searches on Google.

What was surprising: the number-one audience with an appetite for Trumpie Tidbits is Canadians. Thats right, my fellow countrymen cant get enough of the guy. We, as a nation, search more for news on Donald Trump than any other place on earth, even the U.S. We out search you Americans on Google by margin of almost 25% (mind you, that margin reverses for Web searches for Trump, but were still number 2 in the world).

advertisement advertisement

Why?

I could offer some psychologically plausible reasons having to do with morbid curiosity, voyeurism, schadenfreude or even the Stockholm Syndrome, but honestly, I have no idea why were submitting ourselves to this. Maybe its giving us something to do during our abnormally long winters. Since were already miserable as hell, maybe we feel we have nothing to lose?

This is somewhat ironic, given that according to several highly reputable online polls, we have the hottest leader in the world right now: one Monsieur Trudeau. But even as photogenic as Justin is, when it comes to launching a Google search, our vote still goes to Trump. When you compare searches for Trump during his election to searches for Trudeau during his election -- in Canada, no less -- Trump wins by a margin of 2 to 1.

But its not just us. Trumps domination of the search zeitgeist is historic. Google shows relative volumes, with 100 representing the peak popularity. For Trump, this peak corresponded with his election in November. A second peak, at 65, came with his inauguration. Never in the entire length of Barack Obamas presidency did he ever come close to this. The nearest was during his first election in 2008, when he peaked at 55. So, in one category at least, Trump would be accurate in claiming a historic win.

I thought Id see if this pattern holds up globally. Angela Merkel is barely a blip on Googles search radar. Worldwide, she has never peaked above 1 compared to Trumps peak score of 100. Perhaps thats why he refused to shake her hand. Even in Deutschland itself, she peaked at a paltry 17 in the last five years against the Trump standard of 100.

Poor Theresa May, the new leader of the United Kingdom, cant catch a break either. Even on the week she assumed power, Donald Trump gained more searches worldwide by a solid 3 to 1 margin.

So lets put this to the acid test: Trump vs Putin. Worldwide over the past five years, it was no contest. Trump: 100, Putin: 3 (scored the week of March 2- 8, 2014, when Putin was making noises about reclaiming Crimea). And yes, even if we restrict the searches to those coming only from Russia, Trumps best outscored Putins best (in June of 2013) by a margin of 2 to 1.

This probably shouldnt surprise me. According to Google, Donald Trump outscored everyone when it came to searches in 2016. In fact, he came third on Googles list of most popular searches of any kind, just after Pokemon Go and iPhone 7. The world is locked in a morbid fascination with all that is Trump.

Id love to wrap up this column with something philosophical and enlightened. It would be good to pass on some tidbit of behavioral wisdom that would put all this search activity into perspective.

But thats not going to happen. All I know is that Im as guilty as anyone. Since Nov. 8, I search almost daily for Trump just to see what the last 24 hours hath wrought. I call it my Daily WTF Round Up.

Apparently Im not alone.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 4, 2017

Net neutrality rules have helped to "keep the Internet free from discrimination against users, regardless of their race or economic status," a group of House Democrats said today in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.

"We call upon you and your fellow commissioners to uphold these vital protections, as well as our constituents congressionally mandated communications rights," states the letter, which was signed by more than 30 lawmakers. "You must maintain rules that truly prevent discrimination, preserve choice, and promote opportunity for people across this nation and around the world."

The Democrats specifically praise the FCC's 2015 decision to reclassify broadband access as a telecommunications service, which is regulated under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. That move enabled the FCC to impose common carrier rules that prohibit carriers from degrading or throttling traffic, and from charging companies higher fees for prioritized delivery of their material.

advertisement advertisement

"Under Title II, the Internet has remained open for competition, innovation and creativity," the letter says. "Broadband investment has continued apace and Internet service provider revenues have continued to grow."

Pai, who has long criticized the net neutrality rules, has repeatedly said he aims to repeal them.

Last year, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the rules by a 2-1 vote. The panel rejected arguments by carriers that the FCC exceeded its authority by reclassifying broadband service. Carriers have asked the appeals court to reconsider that ruling; that motion is still pending.
Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.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.
Child dies of diphtheria in Palpa

A child died of diphtheria in Palpa district on Tuesday.
Kingsway Financial Services Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the extended warranty business services, asset management, and real estate businesses. The company operates through three segments: Extended Warranty, Leased Real Estate, and Kingsway Search Xcelerator. The Extended Warranty segment markets, sells, and administers vehicle service agreements and related products for new and used automobiles, motorcycles, and ATVs. This segment also sells new home warranty products, as well as offers uninsured warrant administration services to homebuilders and homeowners; markets and distributes warranty products to manufacturers, distributors, and installers of heating, ventilation and air conditioning, standby generator, commercial LED lighting, and commercial refrigeration equipment; and provides equipment breakdown and maintenance support services to companies. The Leased Real Estate segment owns a parcel of real property consisting of approximately 192 acres located in the State of Texas. The Kingsway Search Xcelerator offers outsourced finance and human resources consulting services, including operational accounting, such as bookkeeping, accounting, financial reporting, and analysis and strategic finance services; technical accounting comprising initial public offerings, SEC reporting, and international consolidation services; human resources, workforce management, and compliance support services; and advisory services. The company offers its products and services through credit unions, dealers, homebuilders, and consumers. Kingsway Financial Services Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Itasca, Illinois.
The Williams Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises Transco and Northwest natural gas pipelines; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, as well as various petrochemical and feedstock pipelines. The Northeast G&P segment engages in the midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation activities in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment comprises gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region, which includes the Anadarko, Arkoma, and Permian basins; and operates natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation and storage facilities in central Kansas near Conway. The Gas & NGL Marketing Services segment provides wholesale marketing, trading, storage, and transportation of natural gas for natural gas utilities, municipalities, power generators, and producers; risk and asset management; and NGL marketing services. The company owns and operates 30,000 miles of pipelines, 29 processing facilities, 7 fractionation facilities, and approximately 23 million barrels of NGL storage capacity. The Williams Companies, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Patrick Boniface examines the lives of historys most daring wartime captives.

In November 1899, the 25-year-old Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was travelling in an armoured train transiting between Frere and Chieveley, in the British colony of Natal in South Africa. The soldiers were making a fast reconnoitre of the territory, and Churchill was there to send news back to Great Britain to those eager for information about this important but under-reported mission.

The conditions were horrendous. The train rattled and rolled, and within the steel-clad carriages the air was hot and sticky. Churchill, however, loved it  to him it was dangerous and exciting. The young man was soon on the edge of his seat: a Boer commando-laid trap was sprung not long into his journey.

Captured

The Boers had placed a large boulder on the railway track, forcing the train to stop. Within seconds, it came under withering attack from field-guns and rifle-fire. Injured soldiers tried to move their colleagues to safety while attempting to uncouple the carriages, but within 70 minutes of the start of the onslaught the Boers had closed in.

In the mayhem, Churchill found himself in a ditch, covered in sweat, blood, and dust. A Boer got off his horse and raised his Mauser pistol to shoot him, and Churchill, who was unarmed, surrendered. (The officer Churchill surrendered to was General Louis Botha, who would later become Prime Minister of South Africa.) Churchill and the other prisoners were route-marched and put on a train to Pretoria. The future British Prime Minister eventually found himself in a prisoner-of-war camp housed in what was originally a school. It is now a national monument.

The long road to freedom

During his time in captivity, Churchill and the other captured men drew maps of battles and military movements from the scant information they received from their colleagues. These maps were fashioned in pen and pencil, with red used for British movements and blue for those of the Boers.

On the evening of 12 December 1899, after four weeks in captivity, Churchill scaled a 10-foot wall and made his way through Pretoria. Although he walked under cover of darkness, he was not yet free. His aim was to find the railway line that headed east to Delagoa Bay. When he did so, he followed the course of the railway, either walking along it or hitching rides on steam trains ferrying freight.

He survived by stealing food and drink along the way. By sheer luck, he met fellow Englishman John Howard, manager of the Transvaal and Delagoa Bay Colliery, and with Howards help and hospitality Churchill managed to evade capture.

After an epic 300 miles on the run, Churchill finally reached Delagoa Bay on a freight train laden with wool. The Boers had wanted Churchill dead or alive, but he managed to reach the border with Mozambique at Lourenco Marques (now Maputo), where he was safe once again.

Propaganda Value

Churchill was an ambitious man who was eager to make a name for himself. It was hardly surprising that, when he presented himself to the local British consul, he and the British authorities sought to squeeze every last ounce of propaganda from his escape. Churchill travelled by steamer to Durban, where he was greeted by a large crowd and treated like a hero, something that must have gratified his already considerable ego.

Early the following year, Churchill retraced his steps to resume his work as a war correspondent. On arrival at the army camp in Natal, an officer took him to his tent, which Churchill found standing just 50 yards from where he had been captured six weeks earlier.

Churchill soon abandoned his journalistic ambitions and joined a Boer cavalry regiment, taking part in the Siege of Ladysmith. But his military career did not last long  he travelled back to Britain to pursue his interest in politics later that same year. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Boer War wore on until the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in 1902.

This article was published in issue 79 of Military History Monthly. To subscribe to the magazine click here. To access the digital edition click here.
Film-maker Roman Polanski has failed to win assurances from a US court that he will not face prison over a decades-old case involving sex with a minor.

A judge rejected a motion by Polanskis lawyers who said he was willing to return to the US if he was assured he would not serve more time in jail.

Prosecutors said he should not receive special treatment as a celebrity.

Polanski, now 83, fled the US ahead of sentencing in 1978 after admitting having sex with a girl aged 13.

Judge (Scott) Gordon has ruled that (the) defendants motions and corresponding requests are denied, a document released on Monday from Los Angeles Superior Court said. The hearing itself took place last month.

Authorities in the US have tried for years to extradite the Oscar-winning director.

Polanski, best known for the films Chinatown, Rosemarys Baby and The Pianist, lives in France and has French and Polish citizenship.

In December, Polands Supreme Court rejected a request to have him extradited.

Swiss authorities turned down a US extradition warrant in 2010 after placing Polanski under house arrest for nine months.


Fire the slowpokes

Nepal must be one of the few countries in the world where victims of armed conflict have been denied justice and reconciliation for more than a decade.
Actress Bibi Bright is fending off criticisms that she was appointed to the Creative Arts Council as a reward for campaigning for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 elections.

The actress, now a secretary to the Creative Arts Council, says she campaigned for the party and its flagbearer, now president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because she wanted change just like most Ghanaians.

The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Catherine Afeku on March 1 inaugurated the Creative Arts Council with music producer and Programmes Manager of Hitz FM, Mark Okraku Mantey as its head.

Also appointed to the Council were Gyankroma Akufo-Addo, daughter of President Akufo-Addo and actress Bibi Bright, who serves as its Secretary.

The three-member team will select the rest of the Councils members and also set up the right framework for the council.

L-R: Mark Okraku Mantey, Catherine Afeku, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Bibi Bright

Bibi Bright, speaking in an interview with MzGee on Showbiz This Week on Hitz FM, said her ultimate goal for campaigning for the NPP was not to receive a reward.

I think its more than what I actually thought because for me it was more about just campaigning because of the situation Ghana was in then and it wasnt really about what I was expecting for myself but what I was hoping Ghana would take that decision to change government like we all campaigned for, she explained.

The actress revealed that, when everything started falling in place, I was like wow so this is what happens when you do something good not for yourself but for your own people so it felt good especially when Nana was named the winner of the election, I cried.

It was emotional just to know that this is something that we worked for, prayed for and God had blessed it. It was a life-changing experience, she added.

Touching on her new appointment, Bibi Bright said that the challenges that have bedevilled Ghanas creative arts sector were some of the reasons why he joined the campaign trail.

After the elections, they said, you are saying your industry is dying, now weve given you the chance, come on board lets make it work, "I felt very good about it, she opined.

The actress added that the council is laying a strong foundation for the growth of Ghanas creative arts industry.

According to her, although they are yet to start work fully, the Council has put in place "some structures" to revamp the creative arts industry.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Ernest Dela Aglanu (Twitter: @delaXdela / Instagram: citizendela)
The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Honourable Catherine Ablema Afeku on the 27th of March travelled to the Peoples Republic of China to attend the 13th edition of the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM).

The three day event was held on 29th to 31st March, 2017 at the New Hall of the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre, Beijing.

COTTM is regarded as the industry's most important platform and remains the only business to business event which focuses purely on the burgeoning outbound market.

It is a show that has an undisputed status as the industrys business to business event for outbound tourism with another record of high growth over four hundred (400) exhibitors from over sixty (60) countries and it is the meeting place for the outbound tourism sector.

The Honourable minister, during her attendance held a press conference to showcase through a documentary, Ghanas Tourist sites, Arts and Culture. She projected in her presentation how peaceful, safe and business friendly Ghana is and also elaborated on the Marine Drive project and the hopes that the project will transform the Accra Coastline into a tourism enclave.

The guests were very pleased and entertained with a variety of Ghanas Cultural dance.

She also took the opportunity to grant an interview to CEN Tv in China, where she highlighted to promote Ghanas Arts, Culture and potential tourism business opportunities under President Nana Addo Dankwa Addos NPP led government.

For Ghana to meet the growing demand of Luxury Tourism Segment and receiving tremendous increased attention from tourism destinations worldwide, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Honourble Catherine Afeku with Ghanas Trade envoy to China, Mr. Kwadwo Atuahene and Beryl Agyeiwaa Lomotey (Counsellor/ Economic) met Chinese Trade Investors and qualified visitors to interact and woo them of the Tourism opportunities to explore in the areas of business and job creation, as well as to instantly find high-end travel services and discover more about what luxury travel has to offer the Chinese outbound market.

She also outlined Ghanas enviable prospective opportunities under President Akufo-Addo in the industry and promised her ever ready helpful stance, in strengthening Ghana-China investments in the tourism industry for socio-economic development of both countries and to a larger extent that of other Countries.

COTTM is a pure business to business and a hundred percent (100%) outbound tourism focused exhibition held yearly in the capital of the PRC. The 2017 show was attended by almost five thousand (5,000) Chinese and other different Nationals, with buyers from the leading outbound tour operators and travel agencies visiting the stands of exhibitors from over (sixty) 60 countries.

Hon. Afekus delegation was made up of the Chief Director of her ministry, Nana Bright Oduro-Kwarteng, Projects Director Dr. Joel Sonne, some Ghana Tourism Authority staffs and the CEO of Ghana Tourism Development Company, Mr. Kojo Antwi.

The Minister with her delegation has since arrived in Ghana.
Former Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur says he will not choose the path of silence on matters that pertain to the governance of the country.

He told Joy News he would be "active and comment on national affairs" as a way of taking on the new government to task.

"I have a lot of experience in many things and I am not going to sit in a corner if things are going wrong," he said.

Mr Amissah Arthur said he will maintain balance in his criticism of the government. "If things are going right I will commend whoever is doing the right thing."

Former President John Mahama

This is the second time the former Vice President has opened up to the media since former President John Mahama whom he was deputy to lost his re-election bid in the 2016 presidential poll.

Related Article: Cause of defeat 'multifaceted', NDC will bounce back - Mahama

Out of the 273 of the 275 constituency results declared, the former President polled 4,701,162 representing 44.40 percent with the now President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recording 5,697,093 which was 53.80 percent of valid votes cast.

Mr Amissah Arthur has been accused by some NDC supporters of derailing the party's fortunes because of the way he carried out his campaign. They said he was not vigorous enough compared to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who was the running mate of then Presidential Candidate Akufo-Addo.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Days after the Electoral Commission (EC) declared the winner of the 2016 polls, he had said senior members of the NDC had been unable to come out because of the defeat.

But four months after President Akufo-Addo was sworn in as the nation's 5th President, Mr Amissah Arthur said it is impossible for him to remain silent in the governance of the country.

"You cannot ignore things that happen in our country and the people who have been privileged to serve. I will be active in all aspects of national life," he said.

He cautioned critics of the government to give it more time since it is less than 100 days old. He added that as soon as that is done, we will be able to take them to task for things they do wrong."

"I am going to be active. I will comment on national affairs as I see fit."

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected]
Tripoli (AFP) - AFP's photographer in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Abdullah Doma, was released Monday after two days of detention, but his identity papers were confiscated and his situation remains highly uncertain.

Benghazi is controlled by the military authorities of Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya who contests the legitimacy of the Government of National Accord which is based in the capital Tripoli and is backed by the international community.

AFP management welcomed Doma's release but called on the authorities concerned to bring an end to the harassment of the photographer.

Detained by Benghazi's counterterrorism unit on Saturday evening while heading home, Doma was questioned about his photo coverage for AFP at a public event where young men and women had gathered at a university in the city on March 25.

The concert had been highly criticised by the Awqaf religious authorities of eastern Libya, which blasted the event as "offensive" to Islam, notably by encouraging mixing between men and women.

The photographer was released "provisionally" without charge on the night of Sunday to Monday under pressure from other security services in Benghazi.

Doma presented himself at anti-terror headquarters on Monday, where he was forced to sign documents he had not been able to read beforehand.

He was able to leave the building thanks to an intervention by Benghazi special forces.

But the photographer has not been given back his identity documents, and a security source said he remained under threat of re-arrest.

A senior official from the eastern authorities told AFP on Monday that orders had been given at the highest level for all proceedings against Doma to be dropped.

But some members of the security services with Salafist leanings appear to be "out of control", the official said.

Doma had already been arrested last Tuesday evening before being freed some 24 hours later.
Mediators at the Ashaiman Central Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (ADR) has appealed to Parliament to fast-track the amendment of the countrys Rent Law Act 1963 and Act 220 to conform to modern day challenges.

The mediators noted that an amendment and enforcement of the law was needed to save tenants from greedy landlords/ladies.

The appeal was contained in an annual report on the operations of the ADR Centre for the year 2016. It was signed by Ms Justina Ativor, Mr Gabriel Atsu and Mr Kingsley Kutiame, ADR practitioners at the Centre.

According to the report, a total of 829 rent cases were handled by the Centre showing a decrease of 14 over the 843 received in 2015.

They stated that landlords/ladies often ignored appeals and advice given them by the ADR operatives leading to their call for the amendment and full implementation of the Rent Law.

Rent cases, which topped the complaints sheet of the ADR Centre, mostly emanated from unlawful rent increment, payment of rent advances, and political affiliations.

Utility bills settlements, especially for electricity consumption, was another cause of misunderstanding between landlords and tenants because tenants often accused the landlords of overbilling them.

The mediators added that some landlords complained of the failure of the Electricity Company of Ghana to bill them for years but when the bill arrives eventually, it is huge.

It stated that the situation had caused some landlords dearly as the accumulated bill were mostly released to them when the tenants who consumed the electricity had vacated their house.

The Centre, therefore, urged the ECG to put in place some pragmatic steps to update its data system to ensure that all postpaid consumers were served their monthly bills to eliminate such problems.

The Ashaiman Central ADR in 2016 handled 314 debt issues, 33 child maintenance, 12 marital problems, and 37 land litigations.

There were 26 family property disputes, six unaccepted pregnancies, four disputes between neighbours, 11 utility bills issues and 53 miscellaneous cases.
Traders of imported vehicle spare parts may not be enjoying the tax cuts on their wares anytime soon.

At least, this is the indication from the industry with the implementation of the scrapping of the 1 percent special import levy by the GRA.

The businesses were tipped to benefit from the tax cuts to ease the cost of doing business in Ghana.

But the situation may not be so. The news of the scrapping of the taxes on imported spare parts was met with much appreciation by spare parts dealers at Abossey Okai, here in the nation's capital.

The traders were already indicating some price cuts following the elimination of the taxes. But the implementation of such juicy appears to be out of the radar.

Apparently not happy with the development, the importers describe the move as a display of betrayal.

The Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters association, Sampson Asaaki Awingobit, explained their frustration to Citi Business News.

A statement by the Acting Commissioner General of the GRA, Emmanuel Kofi Nti, directed officers at the ports and customs to adhere to the implementation of the 1 percent special import levy from last Friday.

Citi Business News' checks have revealed that, the HS codes that were referred to by the directive from the GRA, only centered on Chapters 84 and 85 that affect electrical machinery and their parts, as well as nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and their parts.

In the HS code, Chapter 87 rather centers on the vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock and parts and accessories thereof.

Information available to Citi Business News also indicates that, the government is currently engaging the spare parts dealers to identify lists that will be affected by the tax cuts.

This is however subject to the ratification by Parliament since they fall under the Common External Tarrif whose review is subject to a minimum of five years.

Meanwhile, a tax analyst, William Demetia, has predicted dire consequences for all stakeholders.

He however urged the government to manage expectations.

I think that we need to manage expectationssome people labour under the assumptions that there will be no charges on their goods. Apart from the duties, there are other components that are worked on before the imported goods leave the ports. All these would have to be explained for people to understand that it is only the import duties that will be taken away, he remarked.



By: Pius Amihere Eduku/Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
It has emerged that about 1.7 million Ghanaians sought to leave Ghana for the US in 2015 through the US visa lottery.

The number, which is the highest from a single country represented 12% of the total 14 million people who applied within that year.

It also translated to 7 percent of the total Ghanaian population.

In 2017, a total of 19 million people applied for the visa program with the US admitting just 50,000 of them.

Currently, the U.S. visa program is facing elimination under several bills being considered by Congress.

In operation since 1995, the visa lottery seeks to diversify the U.S. immigrant population by granting visas to underrepresented nations.

Citizens of countries with the most legal immigrant arrivals in recent years  such as Mexico, Canada, China and India  are not eligible to apply.

Legal immigrants entering the U.S. on a diversity visa account for about 5% of the roughly 1 million people who are awarded green cards each year.

Those eligible for the lottery face few barriers when applying. There is no fee to apply; applications are available in many languages and only limited biographical information must be submitted.

If selected for a diversity visa, however, individuals must provide detailed background information and submit to visa interviews, security checks and health screenings and pay $330.

Upon entry into the U.S., diversity visa recipients are given lawful permanent residence status, which gives them permission to work and live permanently in the U.S.

The Pew Research report indicated that In fiscal 2015 (the most recent year for detailed data on application countries), about 12% of the 14.4 million people who applied for the visa lottery were citizens of Ghana (1.7 million). An additional 10%, or nearly 1.4 million applicants, were from Uzbekistan. Other top application countries included Ukraine (nearly 1.3 million applicants), Iran (more than 900,000) and Nepal (nearly 900,000). Numbers include principal applicants, their spouses and their children.

Other countries with high number of applicants include, the Republic of Congo; which has 10% of the country's citizens applying for the program in 2015.

Liberia follows with 8% with Sierra Leone coming next at 8% of its population.

In Europe, 7% of citizens of Albania and 5% of Moldova citizens applied to for the lottery program.

In Asia, Uzbekistan and Nepal have also had vast shares of their populations apply.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has thrown its support behind Citi FMs campaign to compel government end illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey in the country.

Citi FM on Monday launched a campaign against the galamsey menace.

Dubbed #StopGalamseyNow, the campaign calls on government to undertake five steps to clamp down on the menace which is destroying the county's land and water resources, and may see Ghana resorting to the importation of clean water in the next two decades.

CDD-Ghana announced this via its Twitter handle:

CDD-Ghana officially joins @Citi973 s campaign on the fight against illegal small scale mining, popularly known as galamsey #StopGalamseyNow

 CDD-Ghana (@CDDGha) April 3, 2017

. @Citi973 The devastating effects of galamsey on the environment & livelihoods and the country in general are visible to us. #StopGalamseyNow

 CDD-Ghana (@CDDGha) April 3, 2017

. @Citi973 CDD-Ghana calls on all state agencies, such as Minerals Commission & law enforcement agencies to deal with this menace #StopGalamseyNow

 CDD-Ghana (@CDDGha) April 3, 2017

. @Citi973 The Council of State to should take up the issue & support @NAkufoAddo to sustain the fight against this national threat #StopGalamseyNow

 CDD-Ghana (@CDDGha) April 3, 2017

Citi FMs five demands include:

The total cessation of all small and medium scale mining for a period of six months

The cessation of the issuance of new mining licences for a year

The reclassification of mining categories to reflect the use of new/larger equipment

The allowance of water bodies to regenerate their natural ecology

Tree planting and a land reclamation project

Ghanaians join Citi FM's #StopGalamseyNow campaign

When the campaign was launched on Monday, various groups and individuals joined in raising awareness on the menace.

Organisations such as the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), and some other Ghanaians took to Twitter to express their concerns about the menace, which is destroying various water bodies and the environment in general.

Galamsey menace

There have been intense pressure on government to deal with the galamsey menace.

Currently, some water treatment plants have been shut down over activities of illegal miners, which have rendered water bodies from which the plants harvest water for processing useless.

Watchers of the sector have further lamented that if such activities are not stopped, Ghana may soon be importing water from neighboring countries.

The galamsey menace has also led to the destruction of many farmlands, which serve as livelihood for a number of families.



By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
The MTN Ghana Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of MTN Ghana, has been awarded the Corporate Philanthropist of the Year at the National Philanthropy Excellence Awards organised in Accra

The National Philanthropy Excellence Awards are presented to individuals, families, foundations or organizations with a proven record of exceptional generosity through direct financial support, and whose effort inspires others to become philanthropic leaders.

According to the organisers, the MTN Ghana Foundation was awarded the Philanthropist of the Year because of its outstanding commitment to making impactful contributions to communities and national development projects.

Commenting on the awards, Corporate Service Executive of MTN Ghana, Mrs Cynthia Lumor, said: We are honoured that our contribution to society has been celebrated in such a profound way. The main aim of the MTN Ghana Foundation is to support national and international development priorities for broad community impact. We intend to continue investing in bold interventions that drive value in communities and the country as a whole.

She dedicated the award to all MTN Foundation stakeholders for partnering MTN to achieve such great heights.

Since its establishment in 2007, the MTN Ghana Foundation has funded and implemented over 140 major projects in its focus areas of education, health and economic empowerment, directly impacting an estimated four million beneficiaries. In commemoration of MTN Ghanas 20th Anniversary in 2016, the MTN Ghana Foundation made three commitments -- to provide 300 scholarships to students across Ghana, to construct, furnish and equip a 40-bed maternity block for the Tema General Hospital and construct and equip a processing plant for women in oil palm production at Juaso in the Ashanti region.

In 2013, in a bid to encourage others to make impactful contributions to society, the MTN Ghana Foundation launched the MTN Heroes of Change (HOC) project to identify and recognise selfless people who sacrifice their time and resources to improve their communities and brighten lives. The HOC project is currently in its third season, with the projects of the final 10 nominees of Season III currently being showcased on air in a 13-week TV series.

The MTN Ghana Foundation has been recognised by many organisations for contributions to sustainable and impactful projects across Ghana. The Foundation was crowned the overall CSR Company of the Year for the second consecutive time at the 6thGhana CSR Excellence Awards (GHACEA) in 2016. At the same event, MTN Ghana also won the CSR Telecom Company of the Year.

The MTN Ghana Foundation also won awards such as 2016 IPR Best Community Relations Programme of the Year and CSR Program of the Year 2015 by the Head of State Awards (HoSA) Scheme.
04.04.2017 LISTEN

On Tuesday, 4th April 2017, Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his sub-chiefs and some of his supporters will be arraigned on charges that will not be able to stand the legal test. They are known to have been persistently persecuted and continue to be persecuted since 18th January 2015 simply for standing up to ensure justice prevails in the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute.

Their recent persecution occurred at Kumawu Bodomase on Wednesday, 16 February 2017, when they were assaulted by the police and military personnel during the late Kumawu Akyempemhene Nana Okyere Krapa IIs funeral.

Kumawuhemaa Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah and her accomplices, of whom Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is the mastermind, are desirous to twist Kumawu history with the motive of short-changing the people, especially, the true Anananagya royal family members, who are of the same matrilineal descent as Barima Tweneboa Kodua I, the originator of the Kumawu Kodua Stool.

They have been using the government security machinery to suppress and oppress them with the aim of cowing them to submit to their fraudulent wishes by letting go the legal challenge they have mounted to ensuring that the illegalities associated with the imposition of Dr Yaw Sarfo on Kumawuman as their paramount chief are reversed to give chance to the prevalence of true justice.

For standing tall to champion the course of justice to make sure Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his family are not deprived of their birth-right, thus, accession to the Kumawu Kodua Stool, and the subjects of Kumawuman not denied their choice of person for chief, or the Kumawuman resources not exploited to the hilt by criminals for their selfish ends, they are needlessly being persecuted.

However, God is telling them that they should not be afraid of 4th April 2017 as the efforts so far made by Kumawuhemaa, Dr Yaw Sarfo (the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua) and some NPP Ministers to get them remanded to prison will come to naught.

The enemies will not be able to achieve their aim but will emerge awash in shame.

Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his elders and supporters, are to be cheerful because the ark of God has gone before them to the court to ensure their victory.

If you are able, just sing the song, Jesus oko yi ye wo ko oo. Yen aho3den ntumi nko oo, yen nyansa ntumi nko oo, Jesus oko yi ye wo ko

The persecutions of Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his sub-chiefs and supporters have been escalated to the international level by me informing the Amnesty International and the Office of the United Nations Human Rights Court in Geneva.

We want nothing, but for the persecutions to stop to give room to justice to prevail where Barima Tweneboa Kodua V will not be denied his human rights but will possess the Kumawu Kodua Stool to bring prosperity to the area.

God is with you unto the ends of the world so fear no foe, Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his sub-chiefs (Nana Kwasi Bafo II, Nana Sarfo Agyekum and Nana Okyere Darko) and their supporters.

Fear not 4th April as it holds no pangs.

Rockson Adofo

(Written on Tuesday, 4 April 2017)
High-stakes in FNCCI senior veep election

The competition for the post of senior vice-president at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has heated up with eminent business personalities openly taking sides to ensure victory for their candidate.
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Lydia Asamoah, GNA

Accra, April 3, GNA - All members of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) are being called upon to participate effectively in all the Solidarity Actions in support of 32 dismissed staff of TV3 Network Company Limited.

'On Tuesday 4th April, workers of the Greater Accra Branch of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the TUC will picket around the precincts of TV3.

This is to protest the unfair summary dismissal of 32 workers of TV3', a statement issued in Accra and copied to GNA said on Monday.

PSWU said the Management of TV3 took the action without due regard to the National Union or respect for the processes that established the Management-Union relationship, an action which was an affront to the social partnership.

'Since the dastardly incident, the approaches by the Union to resolve the matters amicably have not received the necessary good faith hearing from the Management of TV3, a pre-requisite for our Social Partnership and the Collective Bargaining Processes' the release said.

'Given the breakdown in our relationship and the lives at stake, we have no option and indeed under an obligation, to trigger our right to industrial action.'

We have served notice to the National Labour Commission, the Management of TV3, the Inspector General of Police and the Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police to commence a series of industrial actions to demand the re-instatement of the 32 staff and to re-establish good faith social partnership with the Management of TV3'.

"We cannot allow the exercise of raw and oppressive power by the Management of TV3 to deny each of these 32 workers and their families their livelihood.

We stand in Solidarity forever' the release noted.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Lydia Asamoah, GNA

Accra, April 3, GNA - The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has expressed government's commitment to solving the challenge of unemployment and increasing the avenues for female employment and economic wellbeing.

'I am therefore glad to note that the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is vigorously pursuing strategies to provide industry demand driven skills to our youth. This will make them participate meaningfully in the labour market; making them locally productive and globally competitive,' Mrs Akufo-Addo said.

Addressing an open-day activity of the 'Female Professionals in Electronics (FPE)' in Accra on Monday, Mrs Akufo-Addo said females' full participation in the labour market was of equal importance to government and that was why a National Gender Policy had been designed to cater for both the employment needs of females and males.

The FPE is a project being implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), under its Employment for Sustainable Development Project (E4D), in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Samsung Group in West Africa.

This is part of strategies to mainstream gender in the on-going TVET reforms and create more employment opportunities for females, especially in male-dominated fields.

FPE is being implemented in four technical institutions in Ghana, namely; Pentecost Vocational Training Institute, Accra Girls Vocational Institute and Don Bosco Vocational Institute, all based in Greater Accra Region and the CYO Technical Vocational Institute at Sovie in the Volta Region.

The girls are trained in electronics installation, repair and servicing, a male-dominated trade, and are tasked to do their internship with Sumsung, the private partner of the project.

One hundred and ten students are currently in their final year preparing to graduate by June 2017 and 120 more students would be enrolled this year.

Mrs Akufo-Addo expressed joy about the FPE project which was focusing mainly in developing the skills of females in electronics, saying; 'women as well as men deserve to take up any jobs and be financially independent.'

She was full of praise for the young ladies for believing in the study of electronics to make a difference.

'You understand the importance of electronics in our national development and do not want to be left out. You ladies give me so much hope for the future. You have set out on an exciting journey to positively affect our world,' the First lady said.

'You have taken a brave decision towards your future and you are making history. Be focused and study, explore and enjoy your journey towards a great future.

'I believe women are capable of doing any work that men can do,' she said.

Mrs Akufo-Addo, however, urged girls from junior high schools to be part of the girls making history in the electronics sector and acknowledged both the Korean and the German Governments for believing in the power of technology to positively affect the world.

'It is therefore a great pleasure to see a collaborative effort between Korea International Cooperation Agency and the German Development Agency, with their private partner Samsung, making significant impact in this country, through the implementation of the 'Female Professionals in Electronics project,' she said.

She commended KOICA for undertaking projects such as the Maternal and Child Health project in the Volta Region, the Dawhenya Rice Irrigation, the Accra Transport Master Plan Project, Capacity Building Programmes for GRIDCo and scholarship and training programmes for various government officials.

Mrs Akufo-Addo said the Ghana-German relationship had also existed since independence and with the over 60 years of bilateral relationship, both countries had worked towards the collective goal of sustainable development of Ghana.

Mr John Duti, the Team Leader, Employment for Sustainable Development in Africa, giving an overview of the Female Professionals in Electronics, said the project was a unique one being implemented in eight African countries.

Its main aim was to create jobs, enhance incomes and improve on work places of people, he said, adding; 'in Ghana, we have been given a target of creating not less than 2500 jobs, enhance incomes of 27,000 people by 10 per cent of up to two USD/day at least and improve labour conditions of 11,200 people starting from 2015-2019'.

'Thirty-five per cent and 40 per cent of beneficiaries are women and youth respectively,' Mr Duti said.

Mr Christoph Retzlaff, the German Ambassador, said the FPE project was a fantastic example of how the private sector, the Government and the development partners could collaborate and pursue a common goal to generate qualified professionals in electronics.

Present at the ceremony were Mr Woon Ki Lyeo, the Korean Ambassador and the Country Director of KOICA, representatives of GIZ, as well as the directors of the four training institutes.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Christabel Addo, GNA

Accra, April 3, GNA - Ghana on Monday launched the maiden Africa Study Bible (ASB) as a pacesetter in using the African experience and Christian doctrines and values to create a deeper understanding of the Gospel.

The document, which is inspired by God, has notes written by over 350 African contributors from 50 countries using the Holy Bible: New Living Translation and more than 2,600 features that illuminate the truth of Scriptures with a unique African perspective to serve as an amazing tool for personal and spiritual growth of the church.

The introductions explain each book's content and connect biblical themes to African contexts, with application notes, to inspire readers to apply the scriptural truth to their everyday life.

There are also touch points that reveal unique perspectives using contextual and culturally relevant indigenous ways to understand God's word through explanatory notes, African proverbs and idioms among other things to make reading easy and friendly.

The articles give practical advice on how to live faithfully in 50 essential areas including Marriage, Law and Grace, and further provides a narrative timeline that highlights God's work in Africa.

Additional features include easy-to-read print, topical concordance and index, full-colour presentation section, Bible overview reading plan, in-text maps, charts and timelines, and the ASB App to be downloaded on Android or iOS platforms.

The launch, which was performed by former Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah Arthur, was a collaborative effort between the Challenge Enterprises of Ghana, operators of Challenge Bookshops, the Oasis International, the Tyndale House Publishers and the Bible Society of Ghana.

Dr Mathew Elliot, the President of Oasis International, said the concept of the ASB was specifically birthed after extensive talks among African leaders, the Oasis International, and the Tyndale House Publishers, who concluded that, if attempted, the ASB would focus on discipleship and life transformation by providing tools to help grow Christians deep in their faith.

Mr Sam Okudzeto, the Chairman of Challenge Enterprises of Ghana, said he did not consider it a coincidence that the ASB was being launched at a time when the country was celebrating her 60th Independence Anniversary and, therefore, urged Christians to effectively use the new resource to change attitudes.

The Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, the Chairman of the National Peace Council, addressing the question of whether: 'God Still Speaks to Us Today,' said if Christians learnt to effectively use the Bible, they would encounter God uniquely through the use of their own local languages.

The Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, who chaired the launch, endorsed the ASB as a beneficial resource.

Some renowned members of the clergy and scholars said the ASB was a welcoming blessing to the body of Christ in Africa, which was becoming a centre piece for divine visitation.

They believed that the ASB would provide effective teaching and better application of the Bible that would help to reduce the long hours and amount of money spent by pastors and teachers of the Bible.

They expressed joy that most difficult concepts, names, periods and situations that African readers grapple with have been greatly simplified by the ASB, making them relevant and easier to understand.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

Dedicated to my Spiritual Father Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi, Glorious Wave Church Int., Sakumono, Ghana

GOD used only words based on his will and supported by his determination to make his will come to pass to create the Heavens and Earth. GOD knew and still does, who he is and what his ideas for each of us are. He created humans in his own image to make them his heirs. Most people have forgotten the basis of our existence clothed in individual assignments to make the world go round, a better place each day and consistently pushing mankind from Glory to Glory.

Oliver Cromwell, a simple Farmer in England reading his Bible every day, got King Charles I sentenced to death on 25.01.1649, a cold Saturday, with his execution following few weeks later. Convinced that GODs will has to reign his country and the world he knew at large, yet being an early Democrat in his conviction, established the Parliament of Saints. When things did not work out in his interest, he as the newly appointed Lord Protector, used once again his voice of manipulating people to get his way and convinced the Soldiers to dismantle the Parliament. He tried all his political life to improve the moral standards in Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland based on the Bible. He knew who he was and that he had to stand and fight for GOD to the historic effect that two years after his untimely death King Charles II took power over the British again and hanged the dead body of Oliver Cromwell.

Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte after having lead around 600.000 soldiers into battle with Russia only to be defeated by Zar Alexander I on the harsh ground of foreign territory, he returned back to France with a defeated army of only 25.000 soldiers still alive, was ousted into Exile onto Elba on the day of his return. Ten months later he landed once again on the shores of France for 100 days, marched 500 miles by foot towards Paris to gather the French once more behind him. On his three week long march he was challenged by royalist Soldiers but when he stepped before his small loyal Soldiers being in his presence, he asked the Royalist to shoot him in case they wanted to end this part of French history once and for all, but to spare the Soldiers in his company. The royalist Soldiers followed their old and new Leader towards Paris where in 10 weeks only he was able to form a new army to march into battle in Waterloo in Belgium where he was subsequently defeated and send finally on his last journey to St. Helena. All his time in power he had only one decisive but convincing weapon to victory: his voice which he spoke with decisive enthusiasm, conviction knowing who he was even physically small and not attractive too much substantiated over time by military experiences on the battlegrounds of Europe and beyond.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of USA leading the Americans into World War II, was a crippled man from early childhood, his legs failing him visible in various CCTV footages. He was the first President to use the upcoming Media for his politics. Winston Churchill, his counterpart in UK as the War Premier Minister, saw the benefit of Radio along the same line. Donald Trump, current USA President, uses Twitter to send out his messages by using simple and simply words that influence Stock Markets immediately. Adolf Hitler, from a homeless bagger on the streets Munich/Germany still being an Austrian in his early days, had only one weapon to fight for his future, his voice, his enthusiasm and the conviction that DESTINY had mandated him for great works being spared from death in the trenches of World War I.

Jesus Christ knew who he was, the son of GOD. He also knew his powers given to him deep in his spirit and soul. He healed the sick with his hands and most of all, his words. As a teacher, he used words to inform people about his Fathers Kingdom and to lead them into it. A Pastor has only words he can use to make his way for others to change their lives and live better every day, a life-style that allows them to fulfill their assignment in life as given to them by GOD on an individual basis in the context of space, time, culture and history.

Africa saw Nelson Mandela speaking his words to free the Blacks from the Whites. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had foremost words to gain Independence for his country Ghana, so did Mahatma Gandhi in India.

Africa once was a great continent well known to GOD being the birthplace of Humans and for that matter Humanity, for Greatness of GODs creatures. The people of Africa have lost their identity, their assignment given, along historic lines, self-inflicted or for no understandable reason happened to allow outsiders to mess them up. A mind can only be corrupted and be misused by others when the mind is fundamentally corrupt and the inner core of destiny, of greatness and of understanding who someone is, is lost. Above examples demonstrate in every aspects of their lives, when a human and leader is weak and begins to shake and doubt his own destiny, failure comes into play, an open door for the devil to distract any once strong man as no man is a Heroe or Saint forever and always, but faces the hard reality of human nature from time to time.

The African Union as an Organization is a political, cultural and foremost economic Co-operation that, yet still young, will only have the chance to better Africa, if at all, on a technical level while only the Spirit of a Man can change the lost Continent and turn around Africans History to make it the dominating force in the world once again. All a mandated man for this task is to know himself, his assignment, his inner core of greatness and WORDS. GOD will find one dayone day Africa back in spoken WORDS of one Man to make the transformation happen.

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 03.04.2017
04.04.2017 LISTEN

The Asantehene Otumfuor Osei Tutu II has advised the President H.E Nana Akufo Addo to seek counsel from elder statesmen to help him make right decisions or he will have himself to blame.

Otumfuor said all past heads of State who ignored his counsel at one point or the other later confessed how they regretted not heeding to him.

"Former president Rawlings came, former president Kufuor too, the late Prof Mills called me to Accra and told me so many thinhs he regretted, and just recently former president John Mahama also came and said if only he had listened to my counsel, he wouldnt have lost the elections", the King said.

The Asante Monarch advised the president to be watchful of people who pretend to love him the most amd go to him gossiping about others.

Ghanaians he noted, voted for only him and no one else so he should be strong, vigilant and ensure that he performs to the satisfaction of Ghanaians.

The Asantehene gave the advice when the president in the company of some ministers, regional executives of the party and party loyalists paid a courtesy call on him at the palace on the first day of the President's two day tour of the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi.

"What Ghanaians need is jobs, quality health care and development. Many people say the votes against John Mahama because they voted with hunger and fury and hence will do same to you if you fail to put things in right places".

He however expressed his belief in the president to deliver and not loot the country's coffers, adding that he should show his love for the people of Ghana by enhancing their standards of living.

Otumfuor said Ghanaians are looking up to him with hope that he will change their lives, and though he cannot do all, he should perform in a way that he would be forever remembered by Ghanaians.

Earlier, the president speaking noted that he had come to Kumasi to welcome the Asantehene back home feom his trip abroad.

He said even though he had been to Ashanti to thank the region after his victory in the 2016 elections, he had not actually spent time to thank the people of Kumasi for the resounding support and votes they gave him.

He had also come to the Ashanti regional capital to reassure them that the promises made by the New Patriotic Party during the campaign era would be fulfilled.

"We promised free education, and it is coming very soon and all the others are going to follow". The president stated.

HE Nana Akufo Addo told the King that everything was on course except for a few ones like the Delta (Force) and other but even those one are under control, insisting at he would not let it be said of him that it was his time that some people trampled over the laws of Ghana.
The Product Development Manager of the Ghana Community Network Limited (GCNet) , Mr. Carl Sackey says Ghana is well positioned to significantly improve its business competitiveness through data analytics, which is crucial for strategic return on investment decision making.

Making a contribution on the subject Envisaging The Future Of Digital Payments In Ghana during a panel discussion at the 2017 Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference, Mr. Carl Sackey explained that given the emergence of disruptive technologies, companies have to rethink new payment systems in a bid to speed up processes towards a digitised economy as envisioned by the Government.

Mr. Sackey maintained the proper leveraging on data analytics offered a huge opportunity to bridge the revenue gap and added that GCNet is well placed and positioned to lead the way with its infrastructure to track payments and electronic transactions having built various trade related data that could be used for business intelligence for growth.

He noted that in India for instance, disruptive technologies was changing the face of payment systems and speeding up the processes of digitisation of payments, stressing that although data mining is a relatively new term, the technology is not and continuous innovation in technology is opening up the potential for data analytics to attract the due attention from businesses and governments to enhance their operations and improve revenue.

Other panellists included the Chief Executive Officer of Margins Group of Companies, Mr. Moses Baiden and General Manager of MTN Mobile Money Limited, Mr. Eli Hini who agreed with Mr. Sackey that there was the need to fix a fundamental challenge to a digitised economy in Ghana which is the identification of all users of electronic payments channels.

Data analytics (DA) is the process of examining data sets in order to draw conclusions about the information they contain, increasingly with the aid of specialized systems and software. It enables one to analyse data from different perspectives and summarizing it into useful information - information that can be used to help businesses increase revenues, improve operational efficiency, optimize marketing campaigns and customer service efforts, respond more quickly to emerging market trends and gain a competitive edge over rivals -- all with the ultimate goal of boosting business performance.

The Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference (EOBS) is a full day event that brings together leading government officials, banking executives, heads of mobile telecommunication companies, policy- and decision- makers, industrial experts, civil society organisations, foreign businesses and investors, and the diplomatic community, among others, to address issues pertaining to business growth and development. This years EOBS conference was on the Unlocking Ghanas Economic Potential With Mobile Money & Payment Systems which was addressed by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
04.04.2017 LISTEN

The Nzema Youth for Peace & Development (NYPD) demand an unqualified apology from Hon Kobby Otchere Darko,MP for Takoradi and Deputy Minister for Aviation for taking an entrenched position against the establishment of ATUABO FREEPORT.

The Port which would have created over ten thousand direct and indirect jobs in the area and the nation as a whole upon coming into existence was seriously kicked against by the said MP and his cohorts.

This was manifested on 31/3/2017 when he appeared before the vetting committee and question was posed to him by the minority leader on whether or not he regret for frustrating the establishment of ATUABO FREEPORT which has prevented the youth from been engaged in active employment.

Hon Otchere Darko retorted "Mr chairman,I have nothing against them,even their paramount chief accompanied me, I was only safeguarding the interest of the youth in Takoradi constituency".

This reminds us of the adage"Evil Doers are always hunted by their Evil Deeds and chased by their own shadow".

We take strong exception on his hatred comment and strongly believe that the Hon MP did not evaluate the facts on the ground before taken such action to the detriment of the youth in Nzemaland.

Furthermore it was obvious that,the Hon MP was on a mischievous path to achieve his parochial interest without taking into consideration the massive unemployment in area and the plight of Nzema youth and Ghana as a whole.

We therefore call on all well meaning and discerning Ghanaians to condemn such attitude of the MP and therefore demand an unqualified apology from him.

God bless Nzemaland

God bless Ghana,

Signed

ADOLF NGOAH

SECRETARY
It will be recalled that the Association of Chinese Societies in Ghana recently donated a sum of GHs 50,000 to the Ghana Police Service following a request made to them sometime ago by a former Director of Pips Joana Osei-Poku to support the construction of office complex for the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) at the Nima Police Station.

The donation as we are all aware is to support the Ghana Police Service combat crime and improve police professional standards in the country. But unfortunately, some people in their usual elements have gone to town asking the police to return the money.

That is how cheap the popularity seeking venture has become in this country. People will do and say just anything to become popular even if that will tarnish the reputation of others.

These people who are engaged in that disingenuous social media campaign demanding that the Ghana Police Service returns the said donation to say the least, are engaged in mischievously unpatriotic activity aimed at discrediting and hurting the relationship between Ghana Police Service and the good people of China who have over the years supported the service in diverse ways.

This akin to just another subtle way of giving currency to the widely held belief of giving the dog a bad name just so that it can be hanged.

What correlation exists between fighting gallamsay menace and a request support that was made longtime ago for the construction of an office complex for Pips is something that kept agitating my mind since I got to know of the social media campaign.

I just don't get it all! Are we saying that going forward our government should not accept any grant, support or loans from the Chinese government again simply because we are fighting gallamsay?

How a request that culminated in a donation to support a worthy project has suddenly become part of a grand plan by the Chinese to "bribe the service" so that it will be soft on the fight against illegal mining is something I am still struggling to come to terms with with the kind of thinking some of these social media freak individuals are engaged in. Such shallow thinking is just mind boggling and the earlier we stop it the better for all of us.

Again, are we saying that there are no genuine Chinese businesses and business men in this country capable of contributing or supporting the the Ghana Police to overcome the myriad challenges it faces?

When did all Chinese companies and its citizens in Ghana become illegal miners that all of the sudden, we don't need their support again?

Are we saying that all the loans and grants the Chinese Government has been extending to us are aimed at influencing our fight against gallamsay?

Are we saying that the police should have refused to take the Chinese Societies support or return it simply because some Chinese people are engaged in gallamsay?

Have those saying that considered the diplomatic difficulties we stand to face if say we were to return the money back to the Chinese societies in Ghana only to go and accept another from a different country tomorrow?

To the extent that the Ghana police service aims to be a world class police service committed to the delivery of planned democratic, protective and peaceful service, it is expected to perform its constitutional role of protecting everyone without partiality and discrimination.

So, it was in proper order that the Ghana police service did not discriminate against the Chinese simply because some of its nationals are engaged in gallamsay.

By opening its doors and accepting a donation from the Chinese society in Ghana, the Ghana Police Service has demonstrated that it does not discriminate against any group of foreign citizens in the country.

I believe the Chinese meant well and the Ghana Police Service as well, because if they both had any clandestine motifs, they wouldn't have invited the media to cover the donation ceremony at the police headquarters and this should be a conveniently convincing reason for those engaged in the social media campaign to rescind their decision and redirect their energies to supporting government and the police service to fight the gallamsay menace to save our environment.

We all agree that the police service has a lot of logistical constraints that needs urgent support. We all do agree also that the needs such support from right minded individuals and organisations to compliment government efforts at making the Ghana Police the reputable international standard police service that it ought to be.

It is in this regard that I want to urge all those exhibiting the "Konongo Kaya attitude" on social media who will not contribute to the course of the police but are ever ready to ask the police to return the monies right thinking people contribute to it to desist from that and support the police.

If they contribute their time, resources and energy to make the Ghana police service as the constitution demands all good citizens of the Republic to do, they should not "put sand sand in the gari of the police"

People who are hell bent on becoming popular by running the police down on social media need to take a second look at their behaviour and see if they succeed in making the police unpopular in the eyes of all Ghanaians whether they can survive without the police.

Help the police to help you. Avoid running the police down all the time because it is not in your interest.

"My mouth has fallen" somebody should continue from where I left.

Mohammed Abdul Hanan EL-Saeed Chiraa Police Station

Sunyani District/BA

0244087295

[email protected]
Krishna Kumar (middle), Nicholas Goh, Arti Asawa and Johnson Kurioske (far left), an official of QNET in Ghana, present ebooks to some female students at Nima

Krishna Kumar, Director of Business Development of Qi Group, a multinational conglomerate with regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, among others, recently travelled to Accra to train a network of Independent Representatives (IRs) in Ghana.

Mr Kumar was accompanied by Nicholas Goh, Chief Operating Officer of Quest International University Perak (QIUP) and Arti Asawa, QNet's Business Development Executive.

According to Mr Kumar, QNET, one of Asia's leading direct selling companies, offers meaningful products in diverse markets.

We provide borderless opportunities through our e-Commerce platform to more than 5 million distributors and customers around the world with product sales in more than 100 countries.

He stated that QNET's grassroots business model enables ordinary people from all walks of life to start their own businesses with minimal overhead.

Our focus is on enabling people to get solutions that power entrepreneurship and enhance urban lifestyles.

The company offers a portfolio of high-quality, life-enhancing products that have been developed exclusively for QNET by international manufacturers. These products range from everyday consumables to high-end luxury items.

Established in 1998 and registered in Hong Kong, QNET has more than 50 stockists and international product suppliers from France, Germany, Australia, Turkey, Korea, Switzerland and many other countries.

Its innovative and exclusive products include watches and jewellery.

A business desk report


Government has been asked to nationalize the country's mining sector to help halt the incessant illegal mining by some Ghanaians and their foreign counterparts.

The Economic Fighters League, a pro-CPP pressure group, made the call in a statement signed by one of its senior members, Commander Hardi Yakubu.

The pressure group said it had taken note of the recent outcry over illegal mining, otherwise known as 'galamsey,' which negatively impacts the environment.

The group accused some of the big mining companies in the country, including Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, IAMGOLD Corp, Gold Fields, of equally causing great harm to the environment in Ghana.

Undoubtedly, citizens concerns about this phenomenon are well-founded. However, merely expressing their angst on social media is not enough. The governments response to the recent hue and cry has been as usual abysmal and disappointing, it said.

We call for the full nationalization of the mining industry in Ghana. AngloGold, Newmont, IAMGOLD Corp, Gold Fields, Adamus Resources Ltd., African Gold plc, Moydow Mines International Inc., Pelangio Mines Inc., Perseus Mining Limited and Xtra Gold Resources Limited have to be sacked for good. They are causing the same harm as the Chinese and illegal miners.

We call for the immediate amendment of Article 257 Clause 6 of the 1992 constitution that vests all our mineral resources in the President on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana to an expanded body of trusted persons drawn from the broader masses of the people, the statement added.

The group said finally, the pollution of our water bodies and destruction of our environment is an attack on the country. If we have a President of Ghana who is the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces, then we expect an immediate action of full deployment of the army into the enemy held zones to go fight and to free our country once and for all.

We take the view that this issue cannot be adequately resolved without looking at its roots. Article 256 clause (6) provides that every mineral in its natural state in, under or upon any land in Ghana, rivers, streams, water courses throughout Ghana, the exclusive economic zone and any area covered by the territorial sea or continental shelf is the property of the Republic of Ghana and shall be vested in the President on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana.

By Melvin Tarlue
Missed opportunity

When Pushpa Kamal Dahal became prime minister in August 2016, he was taking on a big challenge with regard to maintaining ties with China at the level of his predecessor KP Oli.
An ultimatum has been given to players in the illegal galamsey industry to cease operations or face the wrath of the state.

Perhaps this time around, we are going to see a sincere approach to an entrenched challenge about which governments have paid lip-service over the years: one that would see the environmental degradation  now a seeming intractable challenge  being addressed in the most efficient fashion.

While some would say 'let's wait and see,' we would prefer the 'we are watching' option. We would certainly expose them who seek to douse the fire that is the resolution to end galamsey.

It is heartwarming that these past four weeks have witnessed an unusual fervour in the anti-galamsey crusade in which most Ghanaians are united in a common resolve to stem.

A former minister, Inusah Fuseni, has spoken about how the Chinese envoy to Ghana put spanners in the works as he (minister) tried to fight the menace. .

The envoy, he said, resorted to complaining to the then president so his (minister's) wings could be clipped. Naturally, he was unable to continue with a meaningful mission against the menace, the challenge appearing to have been garbed in diplomacy. What a revelation!

We have come to the realization that a 'name and shame' response to the many avenues available for tackling galamsey has hardly been considered as an option.

We have largely pointed at the presence of prominent Ghanaians fronting for the expatriate galamsey operatives, but for whose complicity the impunity underpinning the illegality could not have survived this long.

Galamsey is real and those who consider it a fairy tale fit for fiction books must wake up and join in the national effort to stamp it out. We are for a declaration of war against it, lest we suffer an irreparable damage to our environment  a natural asset we do not own but only hold in trust for generations yet unborn. There is no gainsaying the fact that ours is the most irresponsible group of Ghanaians to ever live in our part of the world.

For how long shall we continue to fold our arms as the quality of our environment deteriorates dangerously? In this matter of life and death, as it were, there is no neutral position. We are either in favour of protecting the environment or siding with the destroyers, whose motives are driven by self-interests.

A few days ago, we observed some donations being made to the law enforcement system by persons who import sophisticated equipment used in the extractive industry. Unfortunately, the extractive industry being referred to is the illegal one.

What could be the motive behind such a gesture? It is about a generosity without strings. It would seem one required to establish a certain mutual and beneficial relationship between the donor and the recipient, even if the equipment so imported are used to destroy mother nature.

We may have to consider the donations made by certain classes of donors, because some should not be entertained at all, given the implications of such gestures on the national interests.

There is a correlation between the movement of heavy earthmoving equipment to the Western Region and the unequalled number of galamsey sites in the region. Many of Ghana's rivers meander through this region as they head for the sea. Today the blue or green colour of these water bodies has been replaced with muddy brown not fit for direct consumption by man.

Being the source of most of the water drunk by Ghanaians, the Ghana Water Company Limited would have to spend more money purifying the polluted water.

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) should be empowered without undue political interference to deal decisively with the suspects, mostly Asian immigrants, whose mission is to mine illegally.

Very serious issues, especially about the life and death of our country require extraordinary responses. This is what we are asking for, not mere promises or ultimatums without teeth.

We must destroy the galamsey sites and restore the integrity of these places.
Ghana is a very funny place. Hypocrisy and selfishness have eaten so much into our social fabric that some of us are even ready to assist in our own self-destruction!

Currently, a video in the Twi language has gone 'viral' on the Internet, in which a young Ghanaian man is seen warning the Akufo- Addo Government not to carry out its plans to end galamsey.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, the man says, if you have come to power, sit down quietly and take galamsey cool. For 'gale' is what gives many of us our daily bread....You see that machine over there? [Camera pans to a huge excavator churning up the earth in a deep pit filled with wet, yellowish mud]. It is mine. My name is Bronxy One. I can be found at a place near America House, East Legon....

I could hardly believe that any Ghanaian would fail to show any trace of caution whilst issuing veiled threats against the elected President of his own country. Worse, the fellow did not give the slightest indication that he was conscious of the destruction that his seeking something to eat was causing to the land that gave him birth.

That's what frightened me. In some countries, carrying out such wanton destruction of the rivers and the land would be considered so heinous  both legally and socially  that those engaged in it would smuggle themselves into the areas of operation. But to this ogre, galamsey is not smuggling but the NEW NORMAL!

Now, similar situations have become common in Brazil and other Latin American countries such as Ecuador and Peru. Rich people buy equipment and GUNS and give them to MERCENARY armies, camouflaged as private security personnel. They are used to invade the traditional habitats of the indigenous peoples of the area, and forcibly drive them off their land. The mercenary gangs engage in illegal logging and transformation of the forest into ranches where they rear cattle for export as beef. Or grow soya beans  also for export.

Few of the urban elites care whether the indigenous populations are decimated or not. Some members of the elites in fact applaud the genocide, inasmuch as it opens up the forests for the construction of good roads and food growing!"Econiomi development", you know? (!)

Of course, the existence of mercenaries in any country can sow the seeds for the beginnings of political insurgency, and that is why the countries mentioned are not known to be particularly stable.

One tourist company in Latin America admits that:

QUOTE: The indigenous people revere the forest and until the present, have protected it from outsiders. The forest gives them everything they need. They live what is called a sustainable existence, meaning they use the land without doing any harm to the plants and animals that also inhabit the rainforest. But indigenous peoples have been losing their lives and the land they live on, ever since Europeans began colonizing their territories 500 years ago. UNQUOTE

The destruction of life and livelihood in the rainforests is vividly described thus:

QUOTE: Trundling along the dirt roads of the Amazon, a giant logging lorry dwarfed the vehicle of investigators monitoring its movements. The trunks of nine huge trees were piled high on the back  proof of the continuing destruction of the world's greatest rainforest and its most endangered tribe, the Awa.

It is a scene played out throughout the Amazon, as the authorities struggle to tackle the powerful illegal logging industry. But it is not just the loss of the trees that has created a situation so serious that it led a Brazilian judge to describe it as "a real genocide".. .. Hired gunmen  known as pistoleros are hunting Aw people who have stood in the way of land-grabbers.  UNQUOTE

This last quote should give the Ghana Government a lot to worry about. Genocide is not a word that is lightly bandied about. It is a most serious development in some oarts odf the developing world, but because the media in those countries tend to be owned by the rich classes that engage in the genocide, the murders attract relatiely little notice. What they demonstrate clearly is that there is nothing that can satisfy the greed of some human beings. Humans do not normally recognise when they have done enough harm. An animal will turn tail and run when it is in a hopeless situation. But not a greedy human.

One would have thought, for instance, that with the noise that has been made by both sides about China-Ghana co-operation, which falls in line with the win-win syndrome that China proclaims to be its guiding principle in relation to its trade relations with African countries, China's representatives in Ghana would be the first to recomme nd to their government to take unusually strong action against Chinese nationals who travel to Ghana to collude with Ghanaians in destroying Ghana's rivers and forests.The Chinese may think it is "legitimate business," while the Ghana Government calls it illegal mining. Euphemistically.

But what's in a name? Are the Chinese blind? Can't they see withther own eyes, the deep open craters and their greenish-yellow "water" dottted all over rural Ghana that were once life-giving rivers and streams? Can't they smell the poisonous fumes of the mercury and arsenic used to refine gold dust and which are allowed to run into Ghana's rivers and streams and also to run off allover the land to pollute underground water-sources with their toxic residues? Is that "business" or wanton vandalism? Can't the Chinese imagine the future consequences of the drying-up of mighty rivers likwe the Tanoh? Do they watch Ghana TV? Have they seen the unserviceable nature of water purifification plants in such towns as Kyebi, due to the fact that the water pumped into the plants is mainly calcifying mud left by the galamsey operarators? If the Chinese walk around Ghana without seeing that they are killing the country, then of what use is their so-called "friendship"?

Listen to what the former Ghanaian Minister of Landsand Natural Resources had to say about the attitude of Chinese officials in Ghana to galamsey:

QUOTE:

Chinese Ambassador tried to undermine my galamsey fight  Inusah Fuseini

A former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has spoken of the pressure Chinese officials in Ghana put on him when he tried to fight against illegal mining.... The former Minister said the former Chinese Ambassador tried different methods [incuding reporting him rto President John Mahama] to get him to ease up on the fight against illegal miners. The Tamale Central Member of Parliament was commenting on the [current] Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewus [recent] meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, and the Mayor of Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Province. The meeting saw the Minister ostensibly beg for support from the Chinese to fight illegal mining.

Alhaji Fuseini noted that when he started his campaign against illegal mining, which was to also involve the deportation of Chinese involved in the canker, he received a lot of pressure from all corners. He recalled that the former Chinese Ambassador to Ghana ...visited him several times in his office to have him loosen his stance on the Chinese involved in illegal mining... He [the Chinese Ambassador] came to try and convince me that the Chinese who were in Ghana doing small-scale mining were doing lawful business

He came to me to exact sympathy from me saying the Chinese have invested a lot in the small scale mining sector, [and that] they ought to be allowed to continue. But I said no, Alhaji Fuseini said. He offered me a scholarship but I refused. The former Minister also revealed. When I started the operation to clean [up] the small-scale mining sector of illegalities, they revised the visa regime for Ghanaians Before you [went] to China, your application had to be sent to China before you got approval. ..

On Mr. Amewus apparent begging of the Chinese to support the illegal mining fight, Alhaji Fuseini said No, you dontbegthe Chinese. As a Minister you swear to uphold the laws of this country. Illegal small-scale mining is illegal small- scale mining. It violates the laws of this country and as a Minister,.. you have to use the coercive power of the state, he asserted. UNQUOTE

http://www.ghanaweb.com/ GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/ Chinese-Ambassador-tried-to- undermine-my-galamsey-fight- Inusah-Fuseini-525003

In the light of Mr Inusah's disclosures, I wonder whether the new Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, has anything to say about the impression created by the report that some Chinese societies have made a donation of C50,000 to the Ghana police.

Here is the report:

QUOTE:  Chinese Societies Donate To Police

April 3, 2017 The IGP receiving a dummy cheque from a representative of the association

The Chairman of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAITEC Group, Tang Hong, has donated an amount of GH50,000 to the Police administration in support of the construction of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Headquarters at the Nima Police Station. Mr. Tang Hong, who was accompanied by the former Director-General of PIPS, COP Joana Osei-Poku (Rtd), said the donation is to support the Ghana Police Service combat crime in the country.UNQUOTE

One wonders: does the "crime" the Chibese want to help the police to combat inckude the destruction of rivers and farms through galamsey? At a time when some Chinese galamsey operators have been remanded in custody after being arrestedby the police at a galamsey site, isn't the acceptance of this donation rather distasteful? Especially in the light of Mr Inusah Fuseini;s revelation that the Chinese tried to bribe him with a scholarship so that he would cease his campaign to end galamsey?

Ironically, the donation is supposed to help the police to build an intelligence centre. If the Ghana police service is so naive that it cannot infer from recent government declarations that accepting a donation from Chinese societies at this particular moment is rather insensitive (to say the least) then I am afraid no amount of intelligence training can help the service.

For if the Chinese in custody are released for lack of vigorous prosecution by the police, or if no moreChinese nationals are arrestedby theb poklice at galamsey sites, won't intelligent members of the Ghanaian public be entutled to add two and two together and conclude that that is the result of the good relations that have been deliberately created between the Chinese community and the Ghana police, through -- among oither things -- the donations the Chinese make to the police? Won't that, Mr Dery, be a great insult to the Ghanaian populace that pays the salaries of members of the Ghana Police Force? They demand the utmost loyalty, from the Police, to the state of Ghana, and to you, their Minister; not to any group of outsiders however rich they may be.

It must also be asked: if the Chinese openly court the sympathy of the Ghana police by making "donations" to the Force, then what transactions do they carry out with members of the Police Force behind closed doors? What is the use of their cultivating "contacts" with the Force if those contacts are not to be used to assist Chinese nationals who fall foul of Ghana's immigration laws and those that apply to galamsey?

Answer those questions honestly for yourself, Minister Dery.


Some 100 unemployed graduates with expertise in agriculture have been employed by the Department of Agriculture in the Volta Region as extension officers to help in the implementation of government's 'Planting for food and jobs' programme.

The recruitment of the agents through the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) would help augment the alarming extension officer-farmer ratio in the region, which currently stands at one to 2,500.

They are also expected to advise and train farmers on new and modern planting and farming methods that would lead to bumper harvest, as well as introduce them to appropriate methods of controlling pests and diseases on their farms, among others.

Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Regional Minister, at a day's orientation programme for the recruits, noted that agriculture is the most important sector in the Ghanaian economy followed by health and education.

He explained that if the people eat well, they would not fall sick and go to hospital and our children will remain in school.

He therefore urged the recruits to give off their best to ensure the success of the policy.

Dr. Letsa, who chairs the Volta Regional Technical Committee for the implementation of the policy, also advised the extension agents to prepare themselves for future jobs in the agric sector and others.

Kofi Larbi, Volta Regional Director of Department of Agriculture, in his welcome address, urged the recruits to acquire more knowledge in rice, maize and vegetable productions since these are the priority areas in the Volta Region.

He advised them to discharge their duties diligently since it would impact their future recruitment to the Department of Agriculture and other related sectors.

Dr. Larbi also charged the District Directors of Agriculture in the region to train the extension agents to be posted to their districts in agric extension methodologies to help them perform their tasks effectively.

Gibril Abdul Razak, Ho ( [email protected] )
Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education

04.04.2017 LISTEN



The Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, popularly called Napo, has banned the importation of exercise and textbooks for public schools in the country with immediate effect.

Henceforth, we shall not import exercise books, textbooks and teacher manuals for our public schools from countries like China again, the minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South, stated.

Napo indicated that teacher manuals, exercise books and textbooks for public schools would be produced in Ghana by Ghanaians to help boost the country's economy and create jobs.

He stated that the move forms part of his ministry's 'Education for Jobs' programme, which is geared towards helping Ghanaian businessmen to benefit financially from the educational sector.

Napo disclosed this while addressing media practitioners in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region at a press conference during the three-day tour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The press conference, organized at the instance of the president, was to enable the media know the policies that the various ministries were planning to implement to develop the country.

The Education Minister explained that as part of the new programme, the textbooks, teacher manuals and exercise books, would be printed on regional basis to help boost the regional economy.

According to him, the publishers in the various regions should benefit from the policy.

Free Education

Napo debunked assertions by NPP's political opponents that the free education policy would lower the standard of education, indicating that the new policy would rather instill discipline in students and boost quality education.

According to him, since pupils in the Junior High Schools (JHS) are supposed to pass the BECE before they benefit from the free education policy, they would surely be serious and learn hard to pass the examinations.

Napo stated that under the free SHS policy, which would be introduced in September, students would also get free school uniforms and other key incentives.

From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
Carlien Bou-Chedid (left) being sworn into office as the new female President of GhIE by an Appeal Court Judge, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo (right)

Carlien Bou-Chedid has been sworn-in as the new President of Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE).

She becomes the first-ever female President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers.

Ing. Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid, a product of Wesley Girls and Presec, Legon becomes the 49th President of the GhIE, replacing Ing. Dr. Kwame Boakye, immediate-past president of the institution.

She was sworn into office by an Appeal Court Judge Justice Gertrude Torkornoo at banquet held in her honour at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Ing (Mrs) Carlien Bou-Chedid is a structural\earthquake engineering consultant with more than 30 years of experience covering a wide range of activities.

She holds a BSc (hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Surrey, UK (1983) and an MSc in Earthquake Engineering and structural Dynamics from the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, London UK (1993).

She became the first Ghanaian female structural engineer upon graduation and subsequently joined the Architectural and Engineering Services Corporation (AESC) (1985-93.)

President Carlien Bou-Chedid is a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Engineers, a member of the Ghana Earthquake Society and a member of the first class of Honor Fellows of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

She serves on several boards of institutions in the country.

Delivering her inaugural speech, Mrs Bou-Chedid expressed appreciation for being elected to lead GhIE, stating I feel the weight of responsibility as I see the hopes and expectations of many, all wishing me well, urging me on and praying for me to achieve, but I know I am not in this alone. I have the support of the Women in Engineering (WINE), my past presidents and many others.

Over the next year, she promised to operate under five thematic areas which include corporate governance, education and training, professional practice, among others, to keep the institution moving forward.

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection Otiko Afisa Djaba, on her part, congratulated the new president for defying all odds to attain her objectives.

She said her achievement would inspire other young female and girls to aspire for greater heights and congratulated the members of the institution for electing and accepting Mrs. Bou-Chedid as their new president.

A Business Desk report




The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police, DSP Cephas Arthur has dismissed suggestions a 50,000 donation from a Chinese businessman may compromise them and dull the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

He said the donation is in fulfilment of a pledge the businessman, Tang Hong, made some years ago when the Service was soliciting funds to build an office complex.

Mr Tang Hongs donation to the police service on Monday has sent social media into a frenzy.

The donation which was received by the Inspector General of Police, David Asante Apeatu has been described as a bribe to tie the hands of the police in its fight against galamsey.

the majority of foreigners engaged in the illegal activity are Chinese and there have been calls for the police to clamp down the activity and repatriate the miners.

This donation, many believe will influence the work of the police, whose neutrality is already being questioned.

Mr. Hong's company deals in excavators and heavy equipment which are largely used in the illegal mining activity.

But speaking on Joy FMs Super Morning Show on Tuesday, DSP Arthur said that cannot happen.

I dont see the connectionpeople are creating a very remote connection and trying to make the gesture look as if the police were given the money to compromise them.

This is quite remote, it is not possible and the entire Ghana Police Service cannot be compromised with GHS50,000, he emphasised.

Although Mr Hong is the Chairman of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies, DSP Arthur said he donated the money in his personal capacity as a businessman and not on behalf of the group of which he is chairman.

In any case, what effect will it have, he questioned, adding that the Service has known Mr Hong for some years now and this will not be the first donation he has made to the service.

He recalled the donation of some 12 motorbikes and bicycles to assist in the Services community efforts two years ago.

He [Mr Hong] does not take corporate social responsibility lightly, DSP Arthur stated.

A Security Analyst, Wing Commander Patrick Sogbordzor who contributed to the discussion said the donation should not in any way have an effect on the integrity of the police.

He said the fact that the Chinese are in the news about galamsey does not mean thats all they come to Ghana to do.

There are some at Tema who are doing fishing, others are in other businesses and the money donated cannot influence the police.

He said the timing of the donation may be wrong but the police are well trained and should not be influenced by anyone.

Commander Sogbordzor believes that regardless of the donation, if any Chinese are found engaging in illegal mining, they will be properly dealt with.

I dont think we should make too much fuzz about it, he said.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]
Khartoum, Sudan, 04 April 2017 - The Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) responsible for Corporate Services and Human Resources, Alberic Kacou, began a three-day official visit to Sudan on Tuesday, 04 April 2017, accompanied by the Banks Resident Representative in the country, Abdul Kamara. The visit is a follow-up to the recent visit of the Bank Groups President Dr. Adesina, which created an opportunity for high level interaction with the Sudanese authorities and exchange of views on opportunities associated with the temporary removal of economic sanctions and avenues for the countrys reengagement with the international community.

The three-day official visit will start with a courtesy call on the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Badreldin Mahmoud Abass on 4th April 2017. Dr. Kacou will also hold consultative meetings with key development partners, the private sector, African Ambassadors as well as Project coordinators managing AfDB-financed projects in the country. The Vice-President will also, among other things, assess the pre-requisites for revamping the AfDB Khartoum Office with view to positing it to resume full operations when the conditions become normalized.

The visit comes on the heels of the Banks structural transformation in its bid to bring services closer to clients through decentralization, to enhance development impact at the national and regional levels. It is also a time when the country is making concerted efforts to make headway in revitalizing its economy, which has been grappling with far reaching macroeconomic pressures that emerged from South Sudans secession.

The African Development has, over the past seven years stepped up its engagement with Sudan focusing on technical assistance, capacity building especially public financial management, and targeted operations that deliver social services, especially in the key sectors of health, education, and water and sanitation, among others. The Bank currently has an ongoing portfolio of about $200 million (all grants), comprising twelve projects in several states, including Kassala, White Nile, Blue Nile, West Kordofan, Gezira, Khartoum and the five states of Darfur.

Headquartered in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, the Bank has over the last five decades grown its financial muscle to become Africas premier development finance institution, spending billions of US dollars annually to address the continents structural deficits, especially infrastructure including roads and power and ITC, as well as human capital development, fostering economic integration, industrialization, unlocking the potential of the private sector and accelerating social service delivery to improve living conditions in Africa. The Bank seeks to achieve through its emphasis on five key priorities of its long-term strategy (2013-2022) or the High 5s, which are power, food security, industrialization, regional integration and improving the quality of life for Africans.
The Police administration has dismissed claims that a donation of GHC 50,000 presented to it by a Chinese businessman will compromise them in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as Galamsey.

A donation by the Chairman of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAITEC Group, Tang Hong to the Police Service has received widespread condemnation by some Ghanaians on social media who argue that the donation will compromise the Police in its bid to fight the menace.

But speaking to Citi News, the Director of Public Affairs at the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Cephas Arthur said the gesture is part of private sector contributions towards the construction of an office for the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS).

He was confident the donation will compromise the Police Services fight against the menace.

Perhaps when we say 50,000 cedis it is not everybody who will understand the quantum of the money so let us perhaps convert it to the old denomination. Are we saying 500 million cedis is what somebody is buying the entire Police Service with? No. This donation will never never compromise the Ghana Police Service in the course of performing their mandate.

Supt. Arthur clarified that the company decided to donate after the Police Service went out to solicit for funds from various organisations.

It was the Police Service, that went out to solicit for funds from corporate organisations and philanthropists to enable them construct their office complex at Nima Police Station.

He also dismissed claims that the donation was coming from Chinese organisations, saying it is not the Chinese societies as people are rumoring or angry about.Neither is it a Chinese association. It is a Chinese alright but it is an individual who is the CEO of Kaitech companies.



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @EfeAnsah
Two CSM cases have been recorded at Bole Senior High School in the Bole District of the Northern Region due to congestion.

Two affected students  a male and a female  were rushed to the Bole Hospital for medical attention.

Information available indicates that the Bole Senior High School has a student population of over 1,800 students.

In order to create space in the dormitories, the students normally bring out their chop boxes and hang their clothing on windows.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the Headmaster of Bole Senior High School, K.K Ntoba, expressed worry about the student population and the number of dormitories in the school.

According to him, the school a week ago rushed two students who were affected with CSM to Bole District Hospital, adding, I got alarmed about the situation and had to visit the students often at their various dormitories and really it was a scary situation.

The headmaster called on the Bole Health Directory to intensify education on the CSM disease, cautioning his students to sleep outside in order to prevent them from getting CSM.

I have assured the students that our watchmen will be available throughout the night and so they shouldn't be afraid to sleep outside, he revealed.

Mr Ntoba has appealed to the government, old students and other stakeholders to come to the aid of the school to complete a dormitory block started by the past government.

He indicated that when the uncompleted dormitory is completed, it would reduce congestion in the school and there will be much space left to be used by the school for other activities.

FROM Eric Kombat, Bole


President Akufo-Addo paid a working visit to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi on Saturday, where he inspected the 43-year-old maternity ward project which is still under construction.

After President Akufo-Addo's visit, he disclosed that he would complete the abandoned KATH maternity block started by the Acheampong regime.

President Akufo-Addo tweeted, I intend to complete the KATH maternity block project that has been left uncompleted for the last 44 years.

The project which was started in the 1970s is yet to be completed, as past governments failed woefully to attend to it, thereby, making it a white elephant.

Concerns have been raised about how the project had been abandoned by successive governments, especially at a time that KATH is being faced with congestion problems, particularly at the maternity ward.

The president who was in the Ashanti Region for a three-day working tour visited the facility to personally assess it so that his government could find ways of raising funds to complete it.

Accompanied by scores of ministers and government officials, the president charged the contractor and consultant in charge of the project to keep updating him on the progress of the work.

President Akufo-Addo particularly asked about the level of works done so far on the project and what is needed to be done so that the controversial 1000-bed facility would be completed for the benefit of all.

The president toured the facility, accompanied by KATH CEO, Dr Joseph Akpaloo, and other top party members. The maternity ward project had been stalled for some time now due to lack of cash.

Being constructed by Cymain Construction Ghana Limited, the facility would go a long way in helping to stop congestion problems being experienced at KATH in recent times, with its attendant problems.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi


NC leader Shahs murder orchestrated by Chand-led Maoist men: Police

A preliminary police investigation has revealed that the murder of Nepali Congress Jajarkot leader Rabindra Shumsher Shah was orchestrated by cadres of Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist.
Located in California (USA), the Sonoma County Sustainable Tourism Observatory is the latest member having successfully joined the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO). This comes in a very unique momentum as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development is being celebrated worldwide.

UNWTO has welcomed the incorporation of the Sustainable Tourism Observatory of the Sonoma County, in California, to the International Network of Tourism Observatories (INSTO). The observatory is the first of its kind under the umbrella of the Coalition to Observe and Advance Sustainable Tourism (COAST), aiming to serve as an anchor for a possible network of Pacific Coast observatories, connecting key tourism destinations along the Pacific Coast of North America, stretching from San Francisco and the Channel Islands in the south to Vancouver and Victoria BC in the north.

We highly welcome the incorporation of the Tourism Observatory of the Sonoma County as a new member of the Network and we are sure that it will help us to achieve the mission of this platform throughout 2017 and beyond, said UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai.

The Observatory of the Sonoma County is strategically based 45 minutes North of the Golden Gate Bridge and the metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Due to its proximity to major innovation hubs and its abundant variety of culinary and scenic attractions, the area attracts millions of visitors every year.

The new member will focus on areas such as the scarcity of water, the impacts of agricultural-tourism growth in a complex and sensitive environment, climate change responsiveness and resilience, the viable regeneration of essential public places such as state parks, employment and local living opportunities, among others.

The International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development prominently features the need for evidence-driven development of tourism that is based on participatory, inclusive and timely monitoring exercises.

"We're honored to be included in the roster of INSTO Observatories. It is our aim to share the best practices which have been developed over the past 40+ years of conservation awareness in Sonoma County, which help drive the flourishing tourism industry here. Thanks to our premier position as a wine destination we have much to document but also much to learn," said Pamela Lanier, Founder of COAST and Chair of the Sonoma Sustainable Tourism Observatory

We are delighted that Sonoma County Observatory has been approved by the UNWTO and will join the Blue Community Observatory in Florida in the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories. These institutions are expected to play an important role in adding to the global body of knowledge in sustainable tourism, commented Isabel Hill, Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The maiden of the Maritime and Shipping Awards, the sole Awards recognizing the Ghanaian shipping industry, has been held at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

The awards ceremony which was held last Friday March 31, was organized by the organizers of National Aviation Awards, Ninetyeightz Events to reward institutions, companies and individuals who have contributed immensely towards the growth of the country's maritime and shipping industries.

The award identifies and publicly recognizes outstanding performers, as well as contributors to the country's maritime industry, at the institutional, enterprise and individual levels.

The awards ceremony which was organized in collaboration with some of the maritime industry's principal regulators and facilitation institutions attracted close to 500 of the region's elite shipping and maritime professionals.

Some of the organization honoured at the ceremony include McDan Shipping, Transglobal logistics, Kanship Ghana limited, Maersk line Ghana, Consolidated and Shipping Agencies Ltd (Conship).

Others are Apex Shipping Commercial Company Ltd, Antrak, Siladum Limited, Westblue Consulting, Damco logistics, UT logistics, Redsea Maritime Services and Oil and Marine Agencies.

The rest are Agilent Maritime Service, Zeal Environment, B & FT, Graphic Communications, GT Bank, Access Bank Ghana Limited, Star Assurance and Total logistics.

Speaking at the event, the chief executive and events director of Ninetyeightz Events, Bergis Kojo Frimpong, said the awards seek to create a much needed platform for all stakeholders in the maritime industry to network and share ideas as to how they can improve as individual entities and also an industry.

He said following the success Aviation Awards held last year at the Muvenpick Ambassadorial Hotel, we have been inspired with the positive feedback and deem it expedient in our little stride to keep identifying the various sectors of the Ghanaian economy that continue to immensely contribute towards the development of our dear nation Ghana yet remain unsung heroes.

Ghana's discovery of oil in commercial quantity some few years ago coupled with the already existing conducive socio-eco-politico-cultural business environment has entirely changed, redirected and propelled our economic landscape and added more value to the name GHANA globally, thanks to you all seated here today, who are all key industry players.
Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC, on Tuesday called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle.

Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit ratings downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet.

"We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing.

"The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot".

Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994.

It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down.

'Marching into the street'

"Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying Tuesday that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same".

"(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria.

"We are proud of having added many young ministers."

Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that Monday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy.

"We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference.

People hold placards during a rally outside the South African National Treasury to protest against President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on April 3, 2017

"What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines."

S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers.

The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing.

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 three percent against the US dollar following Monday night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT on Tuesday.

'Black day for the country'

Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".

South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country".

"It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article.

Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence.

"The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.
By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA Accra, April. 3, GNA - Belgian National carrier, Brussels Airlines has increased its flights on the Accra-Brussels route beginning this week.

The additional flight to the Accra-Brussels route will add to Brussels Airline's existing four times (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) service on the route using Airbus 330 aircraft.

Thursday has been added to take the number of flight times to five and has commenced on March 30 2017.

Mrs Rita Marcedo, the Country Manager of Brussels Airlines was speaking during a courtesy call on Mr Akwasi Agyeman, the New Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority.

She said Brussels Airlines had demonstrated its love for the continent and that laid credence to why they were the only airlines flying to the sub-region even during the Ebola outbreak.

'The current daily flight by Brussels Airlines definitely impact on Ghana's economy so this new flight is a welcome addition to that impact and another sign of the strength of the airline's growing market,'' she added.

The airline in a notification mail, notified all travel agents and partners of the new additional flight.

The Email read '' Dear Travel Partner, Brussels Airlines is delighted to inform you that as from 30th March, we will fly to and from Accra five times a week. We have added a new flight on Thursdays and will now fly Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.''

Mr Agyeman commended the Airline for their immense contribution to the economy and for carrying tourist to the country.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Christopher Arko, GNA Accra, April 3 GNA - Dr Ziblim Iddi, Deputy Minister-Designate for Tourism, Creative Arts and Culture announced that the ministry would fast track the Creative Arts bill to get the sector to be fully integrated into the tourism industry.

He said the ministry would also launch the Creative Arts fund to support players in the industry.

Dr Iddi made the statement when he appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament at Parliament House in Accra.

The nominee who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gushegu is among the last batch of four Ministers of State and 50 Deputy Ministers being vetted by the Appointment Committee.

Dr Iddi also stated that the current tourism sector was about the fourth foreign exchange earner for the country.

He stated that 'tourism is one of the low hanging fruit that the country has failed to plug.'

He explained that the tourism sector is one area where the country could look up to in terms of its revenue mix.

Dr Iddi further announced that the ministry would create the Creative Arts Council that would set up a platform to help members of the sector to relate effectively with the ministry.

He said in Ghana the tourism sector was built on creative arts and as such the two were interdependent and called for concerted efforts to ensure that Ghana became a tourism friendly destination.

Dr Iddi called for public education on the country's coastal communities to keep the beaches and environment clean to attract the tourists to those places adding that the ministry would fast track the Marine-Drive project that it inherited from the previous government to boost the country's tourism sector.

He stressed the need for the country to enhance research and development to improve the tourism sector and announced the creation of the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) to bring stakeholders in the tourism sector together as well as enhance the management of the various tourist sites.

He said the sector Minister had called for a national audit of all tourist sites to know their state of affairs and the obligation of the state to protect such places.

Ms Tina Mensah, Deputy Minister-Designate for Health who also appeared before the Appointment Committee debunked claims that she is hot tempered and likely to give her Minister problems.

She pledged to work to ensure that the Ministry of Health delivered on its mandate to the people.

Mr Collins Ntim, Deputy Minister-Designate for Local Government and Rural Development who appeared before the Appointment Committee stated that his ministry would collaborate with Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to address the issues of sanitation the country.

He said the tensions between DCEs and MPs could be addressed when the parties were made to know their respective roles within the assembly.

He also debunked claims that he stormed a radio station, Cruise FM and slapped a presenter at the station.

GNA
By Josephine Nyarkoh, GNA Kumasi, April 04, GNA - A soil scientist has called for the government to take deliberate steps to properly organize plantation crops for commercial purposes.

Dr. Eric Owusu Adjei of the Soil Research Institute (SRI) - Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said cassava, oil palm and rubber should be taken care of just the same way as was being done with cocoa by the Cocobod.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, he made reference to the introduction of the Presidential Special Initiative on Cassava under the Kufuor Administration and said that was brilliant.

It provided financial and technical know-how to about 25,000 farmers to grow the crop for processing into high grade industrial starch.

He asked that more was done to aggressively promote large scale cassava production because it thrived on most soils in the country.

Dr. Adjei said this could be extremely important to the drive towards lifting people out of poverty and job creation for the youth.

He also spoke of the need to revive the Ghana Oil Palm Development Association (GOPDA) to grow the oil palm industry.

He cited the strong progress made by Malaysia in oil palm production and said the nation could do better than it was now doing.

Oil-palm, he noted, was among the world's versatile raw materials - accounting for more than half of the global import and export trade of all vegetable oils.

Dr. Adjei touched on the rubber industry and said revitalizing it should be seen as vital considering the huge economic prospects.

Global demand for natural rubber had kept rising - projected to hit 15 million tonnes by 2020, he added.

The Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) is targeting between 40,000 and 41,000 tonnes, this year.

He stated that these plantation crops could do well in the various agro-ecological zones across the country and what was left was to give the farmers the needed push.

GNA
Accra, April 3, GNA - A workshop to discuss how legal compliance can support sustainable commodity supply chain and markets in West Africa has been held in Accra.

It was co-hosted by Proforest and BVRio Environmental Exchange in collaboration with the Government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The workshop is aimed at promoting legal compliance as a first step for businesses to demonstrate compliance with national and international commitments and the promotion of smallholder and gender inclusion.

It also explored the extent to which legal compliance could support reducing forest loss and provide a platform for developing more responsible production and sourcing.

The workshop comes at a time when governments worldwide are strengthening the legal frameworks that regulate the trade of wood and wood products.

Speaking on the 'Legality and Sustainability in the Timber and Agriculture Supply Chains,' the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, in a speech read on his behalf, said establishing partnerships and working with all stakeholders was the best way to find solutions to the challenges the region faced in its quest to develop agricultural commodities successfully.

'Much as this work seems tailored towards helping companies, we are in this 'boat' together and as a government, we are interested in finding out how effective our legal framework is in promoting sustainability and helping the sector to grow.'

He added that the government would continue to engage all stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain in the quest to achieve sustainable commodity agriculture.

Nana Darko Cobbina of Proforest said commodity agriculture was a key element of the region's development strategy, adding that the concern was about government, 'we are interested in finding out how effective our legal framework is in promoting sustainability and helping the sector to grow.'

He added that the government would continue to engage all stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain in the quest to achieve sustainable commodity agriculture.

Nana Darko Cobbina of Proforest said commodity agriculture was a key element of the region's development strategy, adding that the concern was about maximising the positive effect and minimising the negative aspects since they could contribute to local livelihoods and national developments.

He said although responsible sourcing and production commitments were voluntary, legal compliance was not.

Against this background, he said, all producers, large or small should operate legally and that implementing legal requirements should, therefore, be part of the normal cost of doing business not an additional burden.

'Focusing on legal compliance can provide a framework for companies to work with governments to create large-scale long-term change and providing businesses and stakeholders with guidance on legal compliance, synthesise from research and stakeholder engagement to underpin the local approaches to provide technical support to implement the guidance,' he said.

The Africa Regional Director of Proforest, Mr Abraham Baffoe, outlined some legal benchmarking undertaken in some African countries such as the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) 2020 initiative, the Round-table for Sustainable Palm Oil and the Forest Stewardship Council.

'Sustainability is important in natural resources. We are focusing on legality compliance so as to help strengthen enforcement in the laws to promote sustainability,' he said.

He said Proforest's programmes created the enabling environment and built the needed capacity for the private sector, working with governments and civil society to deliver agricultural and forest commodities sustainably at scale.

BVRio's Director, Pedro Moura Costa, said with lower production costs and no taxes, illegal sources was able to displace legal and certified production.

'Legal compliance alone cannot fully meet the deforestation-free commitments made by many companies, but it can make a significant contribution,' he said.

Participants from Ghana, Liberia, CAte d'Ivoire and Cameroon attended the two-day workshop. GNA
Accra, April 4, GNA - Ghana's premier beverage producer, Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), has hosted an awards ceremony to celebrate and honour its hardworking key distributors for their sterling contribution towards the fortunes of the company in 2016.

The Dinner and Awards night, an annual affair, constitutes part of the company's relationship building activities with its key distributors.

Over 60 firms attended the event which was spiced with riveting live band music and healthy food and drinks.

At this year's event four key distributors won awards in the Gold, Silver, Bronze and 'Most Improved Distributor' categories, taking home handsome prizes of GH20,000, GH15,000, GH10,000 and GH4,000 respectively and cases of ABL products for their exceptional performance.

Detela Company Ltd won the Gold Award, Denby Enterprise took home the Silver award whilst Emmanuel Brenya Enterprise snatched up the Bronze prize.

The new categories introduced during the year under review include; Agyei Baffour and Sons; most improved, Mackay and Company; Highest Performance (Shandy), Ciamrco Ltd; Highest Performance (Eagle Lager Beer), Tolarem; Highest Volume (Chairman Bitters) and Satea Enterprise; Longest Serving Key Distributor.

In a speech, the newly appointed ABL Country Director, Mr Philip Redman, indicated the company's appreciation of the long standing mutually beneficial relations it had with the distributors.

He congratulated the distributors for their hard work and noted that the rewards were also meant to motivate others to improve on their performance.

Mr Redman stressed that ABL had experienced tremendous growth over the past few years as a result of the hard work of the distributors and asked them to continue having immense faith in the company.

He informed the gathering of the start of another expansion project at the cost of $30m dollars, which involved the construction of a new packaging line, following the recent completion of a $100m dollar project of similar nature.

'This will increase the capacity of the factory in furtherance of the volume growth agenda to meet market demand.'

Mr Redman also stressed the commitment of ABL to contribute to the campaign on reducing underage drinking through its responsible retailer training programme, among others.

He noted: 'Your performance had a huge impact on sales volumes and profit margins for the company. Club beer, our flagship brand, is number one on the Ghanaian alcoholic beverage market due to your hard work. We shall not compromise on quality and customer satisfaction'.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Dennis Peprah, GNA Sunyani, (B/A), April 04, GNA - Madam Cecilia Abenaa Dapaah, the Minister of Aviation, on Tuesday gave the assurance that the Sunyani Airport would soon be upgraded into a modern standard category.

She was unhappy about the poor condition of the facility especially the run way and other basic infrastructure, after touring the airport, and underlined the need to do some rehabilitation and expansion works.

Madam Dapaah was accompanied by the Mr John Dekyem Attafuah, the new Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister.

Madam Dapaah explained that the government recognised air transport as a means to spur socio-economic growth and that was why it was poised to develop the aviation sector.

She observed that a vibrant aviation sector would open up the country, and subsequently boost investment for accelerated national development.

Mr Maxwell Yeboah, the Assistant Airport Manager, thanked the Minister for the visit and he was optimistic that facilities at the airport would be improved.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah GNA Akyawkrom, (Ash), April 4, GNA - The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has called for state institutions to automate their systems to reduce the human element in the process of public service delivery.

They should also decentralize their operations to make the services accessible - remove delays which often pushed people to offer bribes to officials.

Ms. Mary Awelana, Programmes Manager of the GII, also underlined the need for effective monitoring systems to detect wrongdoing.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the findings a 'Knowledge, perceptions and experiences of corruption survey' conducted by the GII in 49 selected districts, she asked that people, who breached the rules in the performance of their duties should be sanctioned.

The survey was part of the Accountable Democratic Institutions and Systems Strengthening (ADISS) Project being implemented by GII and its consortium, made up of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and SEND-Ghana, in 50 districts across the nation.

The goal was to assess citizens' understanding and knowledge of forms of corruption, to determine their assessment of the level of corruption in their districts and to gauge their experiences of corruption at the district level, using bribery as proxy indicator.

The survey identified the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Passport Office and the Ghana Police Service as the leading corrupt institutions, where bribes were paid before people could receive services.

Ms. Awelana said it was disheartening that such vital public institutions continued to top almost every corruption survey conducted in the country.

She added that it was time the government rolled out stringent measures to make corruption unattractive.

She called for strong support by development partners for the implementation of the national anti-corruption action plan by exerting reasonable pressure on policy makers and public institutions to remove barriers impeding the fight against corruption.

GNA
Need for meaningful dialogue

Over a quarter century ago, a large portion of the population of Bhutan was exiled by their government.
Some religious groups have begun joining the fight against illegal mining popularly referred to as galamsey in the country.

Chairman of the Pentecost Church, Apostle Professor Opoku Nyina says Ghana is trading the future of its children if galamsey is left to thrive.

We are destroying our lands and digging our own graves and if we continue to do what we are doing now, there is no future for us or our children as they wont have a better Ghana, he said.

Galamsey is presenting a threat to the lives of many children as Joy News investigations have revealed that illegal mining is the reason why many students are either skipping or dropping out of school in parts of the Eastern region.

In the Atiwa district, it came to the fore, the children are trading their education for illegal mining and quick cash.

The worried Professor said this calls for all those "who are in authority; government, chiefs and every Ghanaian should work very hard to stop this issue."

He said mining should be reserved for only the licensed individuals and companies.

Apostle Prof. Nyina said policies should be put in place so that people cannot mine where they are not given permission.

He is worried that even the licensed individuals and companies also wantonly abuse the environment as most of them fail to cover the pits they dig.

All these are dangerous for humanity and I think all of us should contribute to putting a stop to this grievous activity in the country, he said.

He said as a church they are ready to educate the people when government comes out with any policy to stop the illegal mining.

In a related development, a campaign has been launch in Accra by the coalition of media houses including Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and The Ghanaian Times to demand an end to galamsey.

They are promising government their full support in the fight against galamsey emphasising that the issue would not be a touch and go, one anymore.

According to them, they would dedicate more airtime and space to the cause of fighting the social menace, engage stakeholders in more debate as well as go hard on chiefs and other authorities who acts contribute to galamsey flourishing.

The coalition has started an online petition for others in support to sign on.

Watch the documentary 'Children of the pit' below:

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim
Members of Parliament (MPs) are asking for a parliamentary probe into the micro-finance scam that rocked the Brong Ahafo Region last year leading to the loss of millions of depositors' money.

The MPs want the Speaker, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Related Article: Nkoranza: Akufo-Addo promises to retrieve monies from DKM for customers

They are convinced a successful investigation will bring some relief to the victims who lost their life savings running into millions of cedis.

The atmosphere in the Brong Ahafo Region was mournful after hundreds of residents lost their investments over the collapse of some microfinance companies there.

DKM Microfinance, Little Drops Financial Services, God is Love Fun Club, Jaster Motors and Investment Limited and Care for Humanity Fun Club took deposits from clients with the promise of huge returns, but they ended bolting with their investments. They shut down their offices making it difficult for clients to contact them about their deposits.

Related Article: DKM customers to start receiving their deposits from next month

Many of the people who invested were public servants who were reported to have gone for loans from the tradition banks for the investment.

The scam also took place in the Volta, Upper East and Upper West Regions. Some residents of Ho marched through the principal streets to petition city authorities over the situation.

The issue was blamed on the failure of the Central Bank to regulate the activities of non-banking institutions in the country. Then President John Mahama told Parliament the "negligence" on the part of Bank of Ghana led to the scam.

These microfinance companies come under the direct supervision of the Bank of Ghana. Unfortunately, lack of effective supervision on the part of the central bank has resulted in many cases in which microfinance licensed by the Bank have breached the rules of procedure they were supposed to follow and have created supposed pyramid schemes that eventually came crashing down, he said.

He had said his government was drafting a document, the Ghana Deposits Protection Bill, which would be presented to Parliament for passage into law.

Former President John Mahama

Mr Mahama said the bill when passed would "permanently sanitise and restore credibility to the Microfinance industry and strengthen the Bank of Ghana's supervision."

Related Article: Second round of payments for DKM Microfinance depositors begins

The companies were liquidated and their properties sold from which some depositors were paid.

But the MPs said they believe the scam was deliberately caused by the Microfinance companies with the "tacit" collaboration of some state institutions.

They are demanding full investigation into the matter with recommendations to forestall future occurrences.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected]
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, on 19th April will launch National Planting for Food and Job Campaign at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region.

The launch is in fulfillment of a pledge made by NPP government during 2016 campaign, "Planting for Food and Jobs campaign forms part of efforts to generate more wealth in the agricultural sector and to improve livelihood of farmers and fisher folks as well as help grow the national economy and to encourage all citizens to take up farming as full or part-time activity.

Ahead of the launch, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister-Designate for Food and Agriculture (MoFA), in corroboration with Brong Ahafo regional coordinating council (RCC) on Monday, inaugurated a 11 -member Committee to serve as regional planning committee members to spearhead activities toward the National launch of the Planting for Food and Job Campaign.

The Committee has representatives from strategic state institutions including, MoFA, Dept. of Gender, MoTI, M.A and BARCC.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto told media at the RCC Hall that, the spearhead of the Campaign this year would involve the production of maize, rice, soybeans, sorghum and vegetables; adding that other crops would be adopted in subsequent years.

He said the committee is expected to see to it that activity marked for the launch are properly planned and executed.

According to Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto Brong Ahafo region has been chosen amongst the ten farming region of this country where President is going to lunch his strategic transformational agenda for the people of Ghana.

we have a memorable development historical lunch, and I say historical because this campaign and it is a campaign, it is not a programme, it is a campaign, it is sphere head of campaign of the NPP government to transform the lives of all Ghanaians, starting with those of famers who form by far majority of workers in this country and whose fortune has been sunk low and lower by the previous government of the NDC by all technical indications he stated.

Agriculture has been going down in this country and agriculture in spite of going still holds the soul of this country together because without that there will be no food and we will all be dead he added.

He said the campaign would be anchored on five pillars: provision of improved seeds, supply of fertilizers, and provision of dedicated extension services, marketing and e-agriculture.

He said to initiate the Campaign, the district assemblies would be tasked to identify and register progressive farmers in each of the 216 districts.

He explained that the selected farmers would be supported with subsidized improved seeds, fertilizers and extension services.

Dr Akoto said to ensure that adequate quantities of improved seeds were made available for the Campaign in the coming 2017 planting season, the Grains and Legumes Development Board and certified seed growers would be assisted to deliver supplies to participating farmers.

He noted that the Campaign was targeted to create some 750,000 jobs in the coming 2017 farming season alone.

Meanwhile Brong Ahafo regional Minister Lawyer Kwaku Asomah Cheremeh also added that

Regional Planting Committee is shared towards and ensuring the issues rose in NPP manifesto for purposes of agriculture.

We need our joint effort, our concerted efforts, whether you are of the member of the committee or not you are needed, we need our chiefs who custodians of the land for which or on which to cultivate the various crops he added.

Below is the list of members serving on the committee;

Felix B.Chaahaah, Chief Director/RCD, BARCC

Dr.Cyril Quist, Regional Director, MOFA

Gabriel A.Apae-Nyelom, Asst. Director IIA BARCC

Beatrice Appia Ofori, Reg. Director, ISD

Eric Osei Aduamah Municipal Dir. Agric Asunafo North M.A

Paul Mac Ofori Municipal, Co-ord. Dir. Asunafo North M.A

Joycelyn Adii, Regional Director Dept. of Gender

Esi Boni Morkla, Snr.Envtal Health Officer BARCC

Mildred Jabulo, Asst. commercial officer MOTI

Avayevu Reuben Oliver, Municipal Info. Officer Asunafo North M.A

Quaicoo M.Cynthia Asst. Agric Officer MOFA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

The Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) has held a town hall meeting on the 28th March 2017 at Taifa in Accra to account to the citizenry the performance of its 2016 budget.

The meeting (engagement platform) formed part of the Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability process (SPEFA) that aims at empowering citizens to engage duty bearers on Public Financial Management processes.

Speaking at the event, the representative of the Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr. Laud Binka, said the purpose of the Town Hall meeting was a means to deepen governance at the local level as it creates a platform for the Assembly to account to the people how revenue had been utilized and engage the citizens on performance of planned programmes and activities in 2016.

Budget Performance

The Municipal Budget Officer, Torgbui Tali Gafatsi III disclosed that as of the end of 2016, the assembly was able to generate internally Gh4,084,818.48 in excess of an expected figure of Gh3,848,102.00 representing a 6% increase.

He said the Assembly improved upon its revenue mobilization especially in the area of Land & Royalties (Building Permits, Registration of Plots, Communication Masts, etc.) generating GH1,965,580.26, 25% more than the estimated GH1,571,240.00. He was happy that only GH24,070.00, representing 28.0% out of the projected GH85,840.00 for Fines was actualized.

Torgbui Tali Gafatsi III among other factors explained that the low collection of fines was due to the fact that citizens are becoming aware of their responsibilities towards the Assembly.

Speaking on why only 28% was realized for fines, he said If we are not collecting so much from Fines, it means people are not doing the wrong things for them to be charged. So if we have not collected so much from Fines then it means our citizens are becoming law-abiding. We even want the revenue from the fines to become zero (0) in the future so that we will not go about redeeming fines

He stated that Assembly implemented its planned programmes and activities through the IGF with funding support from the Central Government and Donor Agencies including the District Assemblies Common Fund (DCAF), GH1,487,358.31, 84% out of the expected GH1,782,784.43; District Development Facility (DDF), GH440,260.00 (80.5%) from the estimated GH546,628.00 and Urban Development Grant (UDG), GH2,963,648.36 which was 81.9% more than the anticipated GH1,628,725.82 and others.

He described the performance as positive and applauded all the stakeholders who formed part of the revenue mobilization strategy.

The Assistant Municipal Planning Officer, Mr. Alex Amoah presented the Status of Implementation of the 2016 Action Plan. This covered education, health, water and sanitation, roads and other non-physical projects. He also highlighted on some planned programmes for 2017.

During the plenary, the disability community called on the assembly to ensure fairness in revenue collection. They worried that businesses that operate at night such as Indomie sellers were largely not paying any token to the assembly.

Residents in the Taifa area also complained bitterly about the poor nature of their roads, water and sanitation, and the dwindling performance of their basic schools.

The Presiding Member of the Assembly, Hon. Jesse Nii Noi Anum, urged the citizens to show interest in the work of the Assembly and participate in such fora to be informed and educated. He encouraged participants to share the information acquired from the meeting with people in their communities.

African Development Programme (ADP) a CSO in the democratic governance space, co-organized the event under the SNV-led Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability process.
04.04.2017 LISTEN

Will the 2019 general elections be a one-party affairs? I need an sincere retort to this nagging question because the daily influx of members of the erstwhile almighty Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the 2-year old All Progressives Congress (APC) is alarming. The PDP which boasted to rule Nigeria for 60 years was defeated just two years ago after the general elections in 2015 at all levels of government. Yet, it could pride itself of some considerable numbers of memberships in the central government. Nonetheless, the party is still enjoying the huge privilege of having the largest percentage of appointed positions in the federal government. Why then this unhindered running away from the party by its stalwarts?

Statistically after the 2015 general polls, PDP had only 13 of the 36 states of the federation namely: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Kogi, Ondo, Rivers and Taraba. This meant that all states of the Southeast save Imo (APC) and Anambra (APGA) as well as all states of South-South save Edo were no-go-areas for the APC. In a flash, the APC has grabbed Kogi and Ondo states, thus further weakening PDPs strength by reducing its states to eleven. This is happening amidst wild speculations that some of the remaining PDP state governors are counting time for their defection. The chairman of the PDPs Governors Forum and governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose, has openly expressed skepticism over handing over power to a successor under the platform of PDP.

At the National Assembly, the PDP lost membership in all the states of the north save Gombe and Taraba. Though it maneuvered its ways to clinch juicy positions in the National Assembly, it is now the minority and opposition party. After the last defections of its members in the Senate and House of Representatives, the statistics stands at 64:45 Senators and 226:124 House members, all in favour of the APC. Yet, there are strong indications that many more are awaiting the appropriate time to formally announce their farewell to the PDP.

The last defectors, Senator Nelson Effiong, representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District announced his defection during Senate plenary on 19thJanuary, 2017, citing divisions within the PDP as his reason for leaving the party. Also during plenary at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 22, Hassan Anthony representing Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu constituency of Benue state, announced his defection citing division in the PDP.

Effiong, a former speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and who hails from the same senatorial district as the governor of the state, Udom Emmanuel, contended with his postulations that no reasonable politician would allow his people to be drifting about without a direction. He claimed to have decided to resign from the PDP and move to the party that is bringing peace and direction to this country, the APC. Joshua Dariye, Plateau, and Yele Omogunwa, Ondo, had also defected to the APC on the grounds of the division in PDP.

There have also been pressures on the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to abandon the PDP if he is to retain the position, pressures that have been resisted. Some APC Senators had urged Ekweremadu to defect to the APC to avoid removal.

The fact is that PDP is dying. Some of its founders believe that it is even dead. The party is being claimed by two factions led by Senator Ali Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi who were governor of Borno and Kaduna respectively. Until the leadership tussle is settled, nothing realistic of the recovery of the party can be assured. Though there have been several court rulings in favour of each contender, the latest from the Appeal Court confirmed the Modu-Sheriff leadership. The ruling is being challenged by the Makarfi bloc at the Supreme Court.

Whether or not PDP, with the same nomenclature, will ever capture power again at the center is a matter of public scrutiny and consideration. The expected ruling by the apex court may make or mar the future of the ailing party which has been accused by Nigerians of plundering the commonwealth of the nation. Even as the party seems to rely basically on its acclaimed grassroots patronage and 16 years of democratic experiences, its leadership of Nigeria has often conflicted with integrity and accountability. However, a boisterous leadership it had claimed, it is hopeful that once its internal rancor is resolved the party can bounce back and mobilize Nigerians to its side to reclaim power in 2019. But what happens if the final court ruling favours Sherriff or Makarfi?

On its part, the APC should, in the interest of its loyalists and Nigerians, exercise restraint in accepting all defectors from the opposition, except if 2019 general elections will hold without opposition. It cannot be far from the truth that some of these defectors, despite their claims, may not have good intentions for the APC. After all, only permanent interest is overbearing in politics.

The APC can comfortably claim 85 percent of the Nigerian populace and over 65 percent of the political elite. It should, therefore, stop discouraging its members who had suffered humiliation in the hands of the opposition. The acceptance and immediate appointments of PDP members who jumped into the APC overnight are cases to worry about. Baskets of complaints by the pioneer members have continued to trigger public discourse. Even the women stalwarts of the APC are not left out. South-south women leader of the party, Rachael Akpabio decried the situation saying that the continued marginalization of members may weigh heavily against the partys chances in 2019.

However, the APC should not allow the PDP to die completely so that there remains a voice for the opposition which will in turn make the 2019 general elections more interesting.

Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good governance in Abuja. E-mail [email protected]
Suffice it to say that natural environment must outlive human beings unless unthinkable or unspeakable happens. By the courtesy of our maker, Ghana is a country of impressive topography, geography and more land than the people. Unfortunately, begotten from a womb of impunity, a cub called illegal mining known in the local patois as galamsey is depleting, if not destroying our natural environment specifically the water bodies.

Rivers Pra and Ankobra have been polluted beyond imaginations. What is particularly nauseating is that Chinese nationals have travelled from so far afield in China to Ghana to engage in gold mining without following to the laws. Together with their Ghanaian accomplices, the Chinese had damaged the river and other environmental resources. Maybe we are waiting for an acute water crisis in Ghana so that our prophets will have enough to say. The purpose of this write up is to look at the Chinese environmental issues and determine whether Chinese nationals have locus standi to engage in galamsey in Ghana.

Ma Jun is not only a journalist, but a Chinese environmental consultant and director of institute of public and environmental affairs. He is reported to have asserted that Pollution is a serious one. Water pollution, air pollution, and then solid hazardous waste pollution. And then beyond that, we also have the resources issue. Not just water resources but other natural resources, the mining resources being consumed, and the destruction of our ecosystem. The environmental policy in China is enacted by the legislature: Peoples National Congress, and regulated by the ministry of environmental protection.

China is saddled with the problems of non-compliance, weak and slow enforcement of environmental laws (Van Rooij, 2006). This has resulted in a series of environmental problems in China including water pollution. The State council of China came out with bold plans to ameliorate the water conditions in China. The Plan establishes specific water quality targets for 2020 and 2030, with an ultimate goal of achieving comprehensive improvement by 2050. The Plan states that by 2020, 70% of the water in Chinas seven major watersheds and 93% of the drinking water sources in prefecture-level cities are to meet an acceptable standard. By 2030, the Plan raises these targets to 75% and 95%, respectively. The Plan also calls for the reduction of the prevalence of black and odorous water bodies in prefecture-level cities to less than 10% by 2020, and the elimination of this problem by 2030. Discerning readers can check the following link: http://www.bdlaw.com/news-1734.html

According to the 2012 UN-Water resources report on Ghana, seven percent of the total water withdrawal is withdrawn by industries. As the country is a major gold producer, mining is a predominant activity. This extractive industry (including mining for other minerals) uses large volumes of water for its operations and discharges its effluents into the rivers. Monitoring of the major registered mining companies by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency indicates that generally there is compliance to the set specifications with regards to pollution. On the other hand, registered small-scale gold mining groups represent a major source of pollution in the areas where they operate. Also their locations are often unknown until a major disaster strikes. The Pra and the Ankobra rivers in the Western Region are heavily polluted by these mining activities Readers can follow this link: http://www.unwater.org/fileadmin/user_upload/unwater_new/docs/Publications/GHA_pagebypage.pdf

The above report is an evidence-based one revealing the negative effects of galamsey on Pra and Akonbra rivers. Mining is done in the Chinese portion of the Mekong River but it is not as polluted as rivers Pra and Ankobra in Ghana. To borrow the words of Abraham Lincoln, Nobody has a registered oath in heaven to destroy our water bodies. Ghana is now a Jungle Republic where Chinese can come and mine gold illegally with the aid of some unscrupulous citizens? Let us be a bit serious as a country.

Let us clamp down the Chinese illegal miners now so that they do not become part and parcel of Ghanas economic cultural systems in future. In Aminata Sow Falls book, The Beggars Strike the beggars went on strike that they will not beg again when the city authorities saw their presence on African Streets as a nuisance to tourism. The beggars were on strike because they inadvertently became integral part of the society. In sociology, structural-functionalism places emphasis on the interconnections between different institutions, individuals within a society (Eriksen, 2015). If care is not taken, in the near future, Chinese nationals in their hideouts will see themselves as an inseparable part of Ghanaian social structure especially if they intermarry with local folks. When this happens fighting galamsey will be difficult. There were news reports of Chinese Embassy angry over treatments meted out to Chinese gamlamsey operators in Ghana. Can Ghanaians engage in illegal mining in China?

Water pollution in China cannot be transferred to Ghana. Water is life and anyone who depletes water bodies is a murderer. Chinese are welcome to invest in Ghana, but they must comply with our laws. Galamsey must be abolished in Ghana now. Ghanaians helping the Chinese to destroy our rivers must know that if they mine every gold and have no water to drink, they cannot survive. We must eschew politics and fight the menace of galamsey in Ghana. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.

By Nana Yaw Osei (Padigo), Minnesota, USA

[email protected]

Reference

Eriksen, T. H. (2010). Small places, large issues: An introduction to social and cultural anthropology. London: Pluto.

Van Rooij, B. (2006), Implementation of Chinese Environmental Law: Regular Enforcement and Political Campaigns. Development and Change, 37: 5774. doi:10.1111/j.0012-155X.2006.00469.x
Airtel Ghana, a leader in Corporate Social Responsibility and winner of the Bharti Changemaker Award, is stepping up efforts to empower and inspire final year students in tertiary institutions with the second edition of Hello World Series held at the of the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The Hello World Series is an initiative of the company to equip final year students with the requisite skills to make a smooth transition from the classroom to the real world. The Series provides a platform for Airtel employees, who are experts in the field, to engage and prepare participants for the world of work. The interaction also allows the subject matter experts to support participating students explore varied career opportunities and navigate early years of professional life through interactive sessions and real life simulations.

Airtel Ghanas Human Resource Director, Kwame Annor was the facilitator at the second edition of Hello World Series at the School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana, Legon. He took participants through a session on Professional Conduct and Behavior.

Speaking after the session, Mr. Annor said, Our objective with this initiative is to empower participants to be better prepared for the world outside of the classroom through open dialogue, practical and real life simulations. At Airtel, we are passionate about empowering young people to fully realise their potential. The Hello World Series allow us to do just that by providing a platform for our employees to spend time shaping the minds of these students who will in the near future be running organisations in the country.

Through these seminars, participants become more informed, confident and well prepared for the world of work. We are pleased to work with tertiary institutions across the country to equip final year students with the skills that will prepare and make them attractive for the job market and to employers.

Participating students took the opportunity to ask questions on transitioning from the classroom to the work place and professional conduct.

Expressing their gratitude to Airtel Ghana, Dr. Elvis Tiburu, Head of Department of the School of Biomedical Sciences said We are grateful to Airtel Ghana for instituting this platform to equip and empower our students. It is also our hope that this initiative will be extended to other tertiary institutions across the country to benefit all students

Airtel Ghana continues to demonstrate commitment towards empowering people through its impactful CSR initiatives such as the School Adoption Program, Evolve with STEM and Airtel Touching Lives.

About Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 359 million customers across its operations at the end of July 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

About Airtel in Africa

Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com, or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana.
Group Chairman UBA, Tony Elumelu

04.04.2017 LISTEN

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Africas Global Bank operating in 19 African countries including Ghana, has announced the promotion of 3,000 staff members, reinforcing its commitment to human capital investment and career progression, at the current challenging operating circumstances.

Promotions were made across UBAs global network, according senior officials of the bank.

In a letter written on Monday, April 3 2017 to Group staff by CEO, Kennedy Uzoka. Since my recent appointment as GMD/CEO, one of my priorities has been to address the needs of our people. I strongly believe that if we take care of our people, our people will take care of our customers - our ultimate employers.

Investment in our human capital is critical to our success. It is a product of our ability to invest for the long term and create an institution that is built to last.It is the bedrock of our determination to be Africas leading customer focused bank.

In addition to the Group-wide promotion, Mr Uzoka unveiled a new Workforce Model and an extension of the existing Group car loan benefit, to 1000 previously ineligible staff.

These policies are indirect response to staff feedback from the Employee Engagement Survey,which the CEO says has helped define current and futurehuman capital investment.

The revised Workforce Model democratizes access to leadership roles and opportunities at the bank. All staff  regardless of track cannow aspire to leadership roles, if objective requirements are met.

Reforming the Leadership and Service Tracks disparity,which hadbeen a source offrustrationforsomestaff who had to convert tracks to advance professionally, illustrates again UBAs commitment to creating an environment where talent and merit are rewarded.

Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, congratulated UBAs executive management, as he notedthe currentchallengingbusiness environment.

He encouraged the industry to follow UBAs lead, in putting its workers first. Promoting at this scale and creating career opportunities for staff at a time like this isan indication of industry leadershipand worthy of emulation.It is no accident thatthis is occurring after the announcement of our strong 2016 results and as our shareholders receive dividends later this week.We want all our key stakeholders to share our success.

The Chairman continued in praise of the banks equitable policy, I commend the bank for creating robust andmeritocraticcareer opportunities for allstaffat a timewhen some in our industry are downsizing or casualizing staff. This is truly remarkable.

UBA recently announced N384 billion earningsfor 2016, an impressive 22% growth over performance in 2015andalsogrewprofit before tax by 32% to N91 billion.

Thestrong performance alsoreflects the imbedded culture of customer service,driven by high employee engagement and satisfaction.

UBAs commitment to its broader pan-African network was reflected in a series of awards, including five Bank of The Year awards for Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Senegal, Cameroon and Chad at the annual Bankers Award in London and the 2016 EMEA Finance Banking Awards by leading financial publication EMEA Finance Magazine.

Mr. Uzoka, ended his letter on an upliftingnote, urging UBA employees  Lions and Lionesses  to continue to embody UBA core values daily - in our endless questforExcellent ServiceDelivered!

This advice is timely as staff enter the final stages of preparation for the Group Chairmans Forum which commences on Wednesday April 5thand features a series of events, including the Group AGM and the highly-anticipated annual UBA CEO Awards.

During the Forum, the Banks senior executives will share and learn from best practices across UBAs 18 African subsidiaries and its operations in New York, Paris, and London, reflect on Group performance in the past year, andidentifyways to enhance growth in the short, medium and long terms.
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Desmond Davies - London Bureau

London, April 4, GNA - The Head of America's Africa Command (AFRICOM), Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, has expressed concern over China's growing military presence in Djibouti.

He said that China's claim that it was building logistical facilities in Djibouti was not correct because Beijing was actually creating a full-fledged military base that would sit alongside US and French bases in the strategic Indian Ocean country.

It would be the first time that NATO allies - France and the US - would have to contend with a military base under the command of a competing nation in the same location.

'We've never had a base of, let's just say a peer competitor, as close as this one happens to be,' Gen. Waldhauser said.

'So there's a lot of learning going on, a lot of growing going on.

'Yes, there are some very significant operational security concerns, and I think that our base there is significant to us because it's not only AFRICOM that utilises [it],' he told Breaking Defense.

In January last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei told journalists in Beijing that the facilities were to back up China's escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and would not lead to a military base.

He explained: 'Vessels have been sent by China to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast for escort missions in recent years.

'In fulfilling escort missions, we encountered real difficulties in replenishing soldiers and resupplying fuel and food, and found it really necessary to have nearby and efficient logistical support.

'China and Djibouti consulted with each other and reached consensus on building logistical facilities in Djibouti, which will enable the Chinese troops to better fulfil escort missions and make new contributions to regional peace and stability.

'The nature of relevant facilities is clear, which is to provide logistical support to Chinese fleets performing escort duties in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast,' the Spokesman said,

But Gen. Waldhauser told journalists in Washington at the end of last month: 'You would have to characterise it as a military base

'It's s first for them.

'They've never had an overseas base,' the head of Stuttgart-based AFRICOM said.

Speaking to the US Senate Armed Services Committee early in March, Gen. Waldhauser said: 'Just as the US pursues strategic interests in Africa, international competitors, including China and Russia, are doing the same.

'Whether with trade, natural resource exploitation, or weapons sales, we continue to see international competitors engage with African partners in a manner contrary to the international norms of transparency and good governance.

'These competitors weaken our African partners' ability to govern and will ultimately hinder Africa's long-term stability and economic growth, and they will also undermine and diminish US influence - a message we must continue to share with our partners,' Gen. Waldhauser added.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti has been steering a new course as he strengthens relations with China at the apparent expense of long-time allies, France and the US.

The US now has Special Forces members in Djibouti under its Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to counter the increased activities of al-Shabaab in East Africa.

The French and American military dominance in Djibouti was whittled down in February 2014 when China's Defence Minister, General Chang Wanquan, signed a security and defence strategic partnership agreement with Djibouti's Minister of Defence, Hassan Darar Houffaneh.

Under the agreement the country offered military facilities such as the use of Djibouti's port by the Chinese navy.

Mr. Houffaneh said that in exchange Djibouti had asked for military co-operation to be expanded in order that the operational capacities of the country's armed forces could be built 'in order to safeguard security in the country and help consolidate peace and security in the sub-region'.

But an analyst in Nairobi, speaking to the GNA in 2014, wondered how this arrangement would work, given that the US and France more or less had entrenched security roles in Djibouti.

'The American and the French governments have interests in Djibouti that are completely different from China's,' he said.

'This could lead to contestations between France and the US, on the one hand, and China, on the other, which could compromise the security of East Africa.

'Djibouti is a crucial member of the East African Standby Force, which will dovetail with the African Union's African Standby Force, and as such President Guelleh should ensure that his country remains steadfast to the ASF's mission of maintaining peace and security in the region.'

Under President Barack Obama, the US had skirted round the issue of a Chinese military base in Djibouti, but now under Donald Trump and his hard-line stance on Beijing's global influence, the issue of the Djibouti base has taken centre stage.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

By Dennis Peprah/Regina Benneh, GNA

Sunyani, April 4, GNA - The Bank of Ghana (BOG), on Monday urged financial institutions to check the security features on the commemorative Five cedi notes in circulation.

This will enable them to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

The Central Bank urged financial institutions to thoroughly examine and check features such as the security thread, watermark, tactile marks and QR code.

Other security features that must be noted on the newly printed five cedi notes include instaglio portrait, optically variable link, instaglio vignette and iridescent band.

Mrs Catherine Ashley, an Advisor to the Governor of the BOG, said this at a media engagement to brief journalists on pertinent issues as the Bank celebrated its 60th anniversary.

She said the Central bank would not re-print and the notes would co-circulate with the old five cedi notes as legal tenders.

Mrs Ashley said the GH5.00 note was chosen and printed as a commemorative note because currently it was the most circulated currency in the country.

Mr Dominic Owusu, Chief Engineer at the Currency Department of the Central Bank, took journalists and other participants drawn from some financial institutions through the various security features on the new five cedi note.

Mr Madoc Quaye, Director at the Central Bank, also attended the engagement.

The BOG was established in March 4, 1957.

GNA
NTB to spend $1m on promotional campaign

The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) on Monday announced the launch of its biggest media campaign which will be conducted in partnership with three reputed agencies having a wide global outreach in a bid to boost tourist arrivals.
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, April 04, GNA - Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2017 Chatham House Prize to be awarded by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) of the United Kingdom.

A statement issued by Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, the Head of Communications of the EC, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said the Commission was delighted to make the announcement.

The statement said according to the Director of Chatham House, Dr Robin Niblett CMG, the nomination of Mrs Osei was based on her admirable supervision of Ghana's peaceful and transparent electoral process in December 2016.

'The recent election consolidated Ghana's 24-year long democratic trajectory and was norm setting for Africa, the Commonwealth and beyond; your tireless efforts throughout 2016 were central to this success,' according to Chatham House.

It said Mrs Osei was the only female and the only African to be nominated to the shortlisted 2017 Prize nominees.

It noted that other nominees were Mr Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, for formally ratifying a peace agreement with the FARC rebel group and bringing an end to the war in Colombia; and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, for steering NATO through one of the most complicated periods in its recent history.

It said past recipients of the Chatham House Prize include; former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Brazil, Luiz InAcio Lula da Silva,

Others were Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Democracy Campaigner and Leader of the National League for Democracy and, former US Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential candidate in last November's US elections, Mrs Hillary Clinton; and former US Secretary of State Mr John Kerry.

The statement said final winner of the award would be announced at the end of April, 2017.

GNA
By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Accra, April 4, GNA - A Media Coalition against Galamsey comprising major media organisations in the country, was on Tuesday launched to wage a crusade against illegal mining that had destroyed the country's vegetation and water bodies.

The Coalition was collecting one million signatures from Ghanaians and individuals interested in joining the fight against illegal mining, otherwise known as 'galamsey' and forward it to the presidency for radical action.

Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, the Managing Director of the Graphic Communication Group Limited, said the failure to curb illegal mining in the country was a class failure, therefore, it was time to reverse the trend and chart a positive cause.

He said the 1992 Constitution mandated the media to hold the political leadership of the country accountable.

However, before they could do that, the media, which is the Fourth Estate of the Realm, must hold itself into account first by leading the fight against the menace, he said.

Mr Ashigbey, also a Member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition, said the media was part of the leadership and that over the years it had not played its watchdog role effectively to end the menace.

He said the media had just been scratching the surface of the matter without delving deep to find lasting solution to the problem adding ''if Ghana becomes extinct in the future, people will say the media was complicit in allowing this to happen because we benefitted''.

''We must put positive pressure on the leadership so that they would give us the excuse to do the right thing, ''he said.

Mr Ashigbey urged the media to mount pressure on the traditional leadership, security agencies and all stakeholders that had the power to stop the practice by naming and shaming all accomplices.

''The fight must be sustained until we can put a cup in Birim, Tano, Pra, Ankobra and Densu to drink again,'' he said.

Mr Ashigbey said the Coalition would work with all stakeholders including government officials, the media and civil society organisations to halt the menace.

The Reverend Dr Opuni Frimpong, the General Secretary of the Christian Council, called for attitudinal change from Ghanaians so as to make a meaningful impact against illegal mining.

''Now that the water bodies have been polluted with cyanide, mercury and other poisonous chemicals, if care is not taken, Ghana will in the near future import water from outside, and even the churches will not get water to baptize people,'' he said.

The Reverend Minister urged the political leadership to show political will to deal with the matter once and for all, saying; ''there must be responsible mining''.

The Coalition included media partners such as the Graphic Communication Group Limited, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), the Ghanaian Times, the Ghana Journalists Association, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the Christian Council and PRIMPAG.

A 10-member steering committee was named to streamline the activities of the Coalition in order to ensure sustained fight against illegal mining.

The other members include Reverend Dr. Opuni Frimpong, Mr Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Akwasi Agyeman, GIBA, Madam Carol Annan, Managing Director of Ghanaian Times, Mr Samuel Arthur-Mensah, GIBA, and Mr Kofi Larwey from the Community Radio Network.

The meeting attracted high profile government officials including the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Peter Amewu, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mr Kofi Adda, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, and the Minister of Information, Mr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, who pledged government's commitment to support the Coalition in its campaign against illegal mining.

GNA
04.04.2017 LISTEN

I have over the years published my views on the ongoing devastating surface mining locally called galamsey. I once even directed a Member of Parliament to read my views emailed to him on the floor of Parliament.

I am calling for a blanket ban on galamsey without our parliamentarians wasting any further time trying to polish an existing law to make it more difficult for many people to go into that ecologically-ruinous trade.

This galamsey is known to all discerning Ghanaians to be damaging our lands and water bodies, especially, at the infatuated crescendo with which the Chinese have flooded into the country to involve themselves in the trade. Why should we allow foreigners, most of whom are illegals anyway, to come into Ghana to savage our lands and water bodies without mercy?

Is it because of the soft loans the Chinese government gives to Ghana that make our governments unable to raise their voice against the devastation the Chinese in Ghana are wreaking on our lands and water bodies? Is it because of the gifts of school blocks, intermittent donations to natural disaster victims etc., that the Chinese Ambassador in Ghana makes, that have convinced us of the Chineses love for Ghana hence giving them that free hand to aggressively exploit our mineral wealth at the expense of our future well-being?

If the Chinese government gives Ghana loans or aid, with the interspersed gifts and donations their ambassador makes are enough to persuade us as a people and nation to allow their nationals in the country to spoil our lands and waters, then I am sorry to say, Ghanaians are really little-minds. By the Chineses attitude towards Ghana, does it not reflect the saying, robbing Peter to pay Paul? What do we gain if they take our mineral wealth and in the process spoil our lands and waters, but give us a tiny fraction in soft loans and gifts in return?

Do Ghanaians know the importance of water and land in the survival of human race on this planetary earth on which we live? If we allow them to spoil our water bodies with the chemicals they use (e.g. cyanide) to doing their galamsey business, where do we go for potable water to drink? If we allow them to spoil our fertile lands, where can we get lands to cultivate to produce food to feed ourselves? Are we not going to die in our numbers when we become faced with the dearth of arable lands to cultivate for food production and water to drink?

Why are many people dying in Ghana from formerly unknown-to-the-Ghanaian causes of diseases? Could some of the diseases and deaths not be the result of the galamsey?

We should not allow the incompetence; corrupt attitudes and the insatiable greed by a few Ghanaians including traditional chiefs, politicians and family heads ruin the lives of all Ghanaians and the chances of survival of the future generations.

When something is not good, it indeed is not good. You cant make poison any better; it will still remain poison. Therefore, our legislators should not think of making laws that will make it harder for many people to go into doing galamsey. They should rather come out with a law to ban galamsey from the country without any ifs or buts. Ghanaian citizens or foreigners should not be allowed to do galamsey, period!

How can galamsey be a viable source of job creation for the youth when its end result is more damaging and costly to the nation in terms of deaths to the people, damage to the water bodies and non-availability of fertile lands for food production?

I am for a total ban of galamsey from Ghana. Some little-minds think that attempt is not feasible. Should we be ready to enforce our laws in all honesty and cease our silly fondness for corruption, everything is achievable.

Ghana is the only country we have so let us all join hands together to rescue it from destruction by the greedy Chinese and our myopic but overwhelmingly greedy politicians.

Rockson Adofo

(Written on Tuesday, 4 April 2017)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday told Sudan that it would support a drawdown of the huge peacekeeping mission in Darfur if Khartoum shows that it can protect citizens in the war-scarred region.

The United Nations and the African Union have ordered a review of the joint peace mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, which was deployed 10 years ago and costs $1 billion a year.

"We might not need 17,000 uniformed troops to tackle these challenges," US Ambassador Nikki Haley told a Security Council meeting on Darfur.

"We need the UN to start using new tools. And we need the government of Sudan to step up."

Sudan has long demanded an exit strategy to wind down UNAMID, which has been tasked with protecting civilians affected by a conflict that has displaced 2.5 million people and killed 300,000.

The Khartoum government has been accused of obstructing the mission, repeatedly blocking the peacekeepers' movements and preventing supplies from reaching UN bases.

Haley said Sudan needs to support the peace process to end the Darfur conflict, protect civilians and prevent community violence before UNAMID is ordered to pack up and leave.

"It is not enough for the government to promise to do better. We need to see proof," she said.

The Security Council is expected to decide on UNAMID's future in June, when its mandate comes up for renewal.

The US administration has made clear it is seeking to cut the UN peacekeeping budget and reshape many of the missions that have been deployed in conflict zones for years.

"The mission was never perfect," Haley said of UNAMID, describing it as "by far the most complex and most expensive peacekeeping mission in UN history."

Safe return

French Deputy Ambassador Alexis Lamek traveled to Darfur last week to assess UNAMID's operations as the council prepares to reconfigure the mission.

After visiting a camp in the Jebel Marra region where 22,000 civilians are sheltering next to a UNAMID base, Lamek said the government must ensure that conditions will allow the safe return of those driven from their homes.

"The government of Sudan must fully play its part, in line with its primary responsibility to protect civilians," said Lamek.

The conflict in the vast desert region of Darfur -- it is roughly the size of Spain -- erupted in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of marginalizing the region.

But a three-year government military offensive has driven out some of the rebel groups, allowing Khartoum to take control of areas in Jebal Marra and fighting has considerably subsided.

UN-AU envoy Jeremiah Mamabolo told the council that a unilateral ceasefire declared by Khartoum was largely holding and that two rebel groups had also opted for a truce.
Bamako (AFP) - Authorities in Mali charged four men Tuesday over the kidnapping of a Colombian nun, whose whereabouts remain unknown, judicial sources told AFP.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Franciscan nun in her fifties, was seized by armed men on February 7 in the southern Malian village of Karangasso, near the Burkina Faso border, where she had been working.

Mali's interior ministry has said officials believe she was abducted by jihadists who then drove towards the border.

Malian and Burkinabe security sources told AFP in February that search operations were being expanded around the frontier.

A judicial source said Tuesday that the suspects who have been charged -- all Malian nationals -- included three workers from the parish where the nun was kidnapped.

"They are accused of kidnap linked to terrorism," the source said.

A second source said the four had been charged with conspiracy and possession of illegal weapons.

The suspects are in detention in Bamako but neither source confirmed when and where they had been arrested.

According to a source close to Koutiala parish, near where the nun was kidnapped, they were detained Sunday near the town and driven to the capital, where they appeared before an anti-terrorism judge and were charged on Tuesday.

A prison source said the four included "two occasional ambulance drivers in the parish where the nun lived".

After the kidnapping, "the kidnappers fled with Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti in the ambulance", the source alleged, identifying the other two suspects as a parish cook and a Karangasso resident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping, but attacks in the south of Mali by jihadists, a threat that was once confined to the restive north, have become increasingly common.

The north fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012. They were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

But the implementation of a peace accord reached in 2015 has been piecemeal, with insurgents still active across large parts of the nation.
The customer call response rate in Ghanas banking industry is just 21% at the branch level, according to a recent study.

In other words, for every 100 phone calls bank customers make to get their issues addressed in a bank branch, only 21 eventually get answered.

This is according to the latest research dubbed Banking Industry Telephony Efficiency (BITE) Index" by Market Research firm, Walsbridge.

The study was done over a 7-month period between June 2016 and January 2017 at the branch level.

The research outcome is an indication that prospective and existing have only 2 out of 10 chances of getting through to a branch via the branchs regular telephone line, typically provided on their website and other printed and other promotional materials.

It also suggests that banks are rather actively contributing to the long queuing in banking halls by compelling people to be present physically to obtain information and/or services which can easily be done on phone.

BACKGROUND

In Ghana, telephone banking applications are typically for general enquiries, complaint handling, balance enquiry and low-security transactions. Even so, most customers struggle to access quality services via telephone and this undoubtedly is contributing to the persistent queuing and congestion in the banking halls.

The survey, therefore, sought to provide sound data, help the industry and business leaders in general identify and address specific challenges faced by prospective and existing customers in accessing basic information and services over telephones  ultimately to the benefit of businesses as well as individuals.

THE METHODOLOGY

Data was collected over a period of 7 months between June 2016 and January 2017, using telephone mystery shopping approach. A total of 650 phone calls were made to 211 branches of 23 commercial banks from a nonacustomer perspective.

A non-customer perspective provides a fair and unprivileged access which is key to the evaluation. The assessment was based on 26 key performance indicators which were also put into four major categories namely: Telephone Response Rate, Telephone Etiquette, Product Knowledge and Competence and Consistency in Pricing Information delivery.

The Chief Executive of Walsbridge, Kofi Asamoah explained to Business Editor, Emmanuel Agyei the rationale behind using 23 banks of the current 33 banks for the exercise.

Some of the banks had not been given licenses whilst others were fairly new, which means they didnt have many branch networks. One of the key parameters we used was that any bank that didnt provide telephone numbers directly to their branches was not included in the survey.

"We think in order for this study to be representative and produce robust data that people can use for decision making we needed to look at those who are providing numbers directly to their branches, and they are in the majority he explained.

He further expatiated on the methodology applied in the research.

We used what we call the stratified sampling which simply means we sampled 23 banks, but we know that the banks have multiple branches. So in order to make a strong case for how widespread the problem may be or not, we decided to select between 8-10 branches per each sampled bank. What we did was that we select the first 10 branches from the website of a bank. Mr Asamoah explained.

THE FINDINGS

Out of the 650 (attempted) phone calls, only 135 representing 20.8% were answered.

The call response rate is the percentage of calls successfully answered by the intended recipients on the first attempt. This rate is important because high response rate suggests that the telephone numbers are: correct or valid, connected at all times, answered at all each time it rings and answered by the right branch or persons.

Detailed analysis of specific response prospective customers receive each time they make a phone call to their preferred branch shows that 42% of successfully connected calls are also simply ignored whilst 34% encounter setbacks and other technical frustrations such as: Calls being answered by wrong persons and/or wrong branches, invalid telephone numbers (numbers that are more or less than 10 digits), and numbers that ring and disconnects almost instantaneously - irrespective of the number of times a client calls.

Reasons underlying the high telephone non-response rate in the Ghanaian banking sector is a subject matter for another study. However, theories on persistent poor organizational phone culture point to several factors.

This includes indifference - involving situations where staff becomes comfortable ignoring inbound calls simply because they can for no other reason. Since most landlines do not have missed-call monitoring system and/or not monitored, over time, it becomes part of the branch to ignore phone calls.

Also is the lack of dedicated Staff to inbound calls. If at the branch level, phone calls are not handled with the same level of seriousness as the call centres, it eventually reflects poorly on the entire organization.

Obsolete service-protocols could also be blamed for the lower call-response rate. Phone calls may not be answered because client service executives are busy attending to walk-in clients who are given precedence over phone-in clients in some institutions.

This is evident in the results of this survey where 16% of surveyed CSE informed the research team that they were busy attending to physically present clients and therefore should call back later.

MOVING FORWARD

The 21 percent customer call response rate in the banking industry is way below the international standard of at least 80 percent.

This, according to Mr. Asamoah is worrying given the critical role of communication not only in todays banking industry but the business world at large.

Weve had a meeting with the CEO of Ghana Association Of Bankers, D. Mensah and he thinks this is something that they are aware of and are trying to put in place measures. He also pointed out that there are other avenues such as online portals that you can get information from.

This is true but the focus of this study is not to look at how well the websites and the portals work. There is a very good reason you give people phone numbers, and we think that once you put it out there it has to work he noted.

The full report is to be launched on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 in partnership with Joy Business. This will reveal the Best Bank in categories such as Telephone Etiquette, Product Knowledge, Pricing information Consistency and the Ultimate BITE winner (the Most Telephone Efficient Bank).

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Emmanuel Agyei | Joy Business
Alhaji Mohammed Indimi or as people know him  Mohammed Indimi. He`s a Nigerian businessman who has made billions of Naira. Indimi is the owner and director of Oriental Energy Resources. The corporate head of the company is located in the Central Business District Area in Abuja.

His connections with many influential families in Nigeria helped to build one of the greatest Oil and Gas exploration companies in Nigeria. Still, people are fascinated with his other accomplishments, like Mohammed Indimi daughters and sons.

Mohammed Indimi Family

Mohammed Indimi's children

He is happily married to Hajiya Samsu Indimi and blessed with many children. Mohammed Indimi children have a brilliant secured future for them. Just take a close look!

Ahmed Indimi

READ ALSO: E-Money net worth

He was born in Borno State and attended Global International College in Lagos. He managed to complete his degree in Information Technology at the American InterContinental University in Atlanta. He also got his MBA from the same institution. In December 2016, he married president`s daughter  Zahra Buhari.

Adama Indimi

She is a light skinned half Nigerian and half Swiss-Chadian beauty. She is one of Mohammed Indimi`s daughters. Her mother is half Swiss and half Chad. Adama Indimi studied at Lynn University Florida, USA. She was firstly noted in the news when she dated a Nigerian famous music star  Dabnj. She is recently single and dedicates her life to her travel agency  Kauna Solutions.

Meraiam Indimi

Meraiam is one of the most famous Mohammed Indimi daughters. She is popular among people of Nigeria as Presidio. She is a second child of her father and also a half Nigerian  half Swiss-Chad. Some people might say, that she is more resembled to her mother rather than to Mohammed Indimi.

Amouna Indimi

She is a gorgeos daughter of the billionaire Mohammed Indimi. She recently graduated from Lynn University, Florida, USA. She is also famously known in the social networks, like Instagram and Facebook. Despite being a child of one of the richest people in Nigeria, she prefers to live modestly and not in luxury.

Mairama Indimi

It`s another daughter of Mohammed Indimi. She followed her father's steps and got her degree in Cranfield University. She works at Bloomberg as eFX Trade Support. She also worked as a financial analyst in this company for one year. Mairama Indimi currently lives in London and enjoys her life there.

Ameena Indimi Dalhatu

She is an executive director in her father`s company  Oriental Energy Resources Limited. Ameena Indimi Dalhatu is responsible for Asset Management and New Business Development of the company.

Amina Indimi Fodio

She completed her Bachelor Degree with Honors at the University of Buckingham, UK. She later proceeded her education to the Nigerian Law School to complete the Bar Vocational Course. In 2007, she managed to complete the Nigerian Bar and was furtherly enlisted on the Roll of Barristers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Amina Indimi Fodio got her MBA at the Dundee Business School. She currently works as the Legal Counsel/Director of Oriental Energy Resources Limited.

Mustafa Indimi

It`s one of the sons of Mohammed Indimi. Recently, tabloids became more interested not in his professional, but in his private life as he married to Hadiza Sheriff. She graduated Harvard in 2016. Hadiza Sheriff is the niece of former Borno state Governer  Ali Modu Sheriff. The bride has a Somalia-Italian heritage.

Ibrahim Indimi

Ibrahim Indimi was recently opened to public as a philanthropist. He recently visited CAN center and Dalori IDP camps. In these zones, he offered some humanitarian assistance. Ibrahim Indimi reported that he was very concerned about the plight of IDP. He also distributed sweaters, blankets, and cash to the citizens.

Yakolo Indimi

Yakolo Indimi is another daughter of Mohammed Indimi. She is involved in her father`s business, and philanthropy activities.

Jibrila Indimi

He is the first son of the billionere. People started to talk more about this man after his happy marriage to Hadiza Salmanu Giwa, who is a daughter of Emir of Zazzau. The ceremony was held on the 9th of January 2016.

Hauwa Indimi

She also graduated from the Lynn University of Florida. She is very active on Instagram.

Rukayat Indimi

She is a charming daughter of Muhammed Indimi. She was promised to Alhaji Usman Dantata  Africa`s richest man.

As you can see, the family of Mohammed Indimi is very beautiful and big.

READ ALSO: How to make buns with long hair?

Source: Legit.ng
Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
- The federal government of Nigeria will begin the registration of unemployed Nigerians on Wednesday, April 5

- The registration is designed to capture the relevant details of any unemployed person

- It will equally serve as a job exchange portal that will link job seekers and employers

The federal government of Nigeria has announced that registration of unemployed Nigerians will begin on Wednesday, April 5.

Legit.ng learnt that the announcement was made in Abuja on Monday by the Deputy Director, Information and Public Relations of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Edmund Onwuliri.

Onwuliri said the registration will help the government to collect up-to-date data of unemployed Nigerians so as to be able to link job seekers up with existing vacancies in the government, Vanguard reports.

The registration will make it easy to fix appropriate unemployed candidates with vacancies in public and private sectors.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: 15 killed as herdsmen clash with farmers in Benue state

He said: The online portal which goes live on Wednesday April 5, 2017, is designed to capture the relevant details of any unemployed person. It will equally serve as a job exchange portal that will link job seekers and employers.

There will be a practical demonstration of the workings of the portal at the NDE stand at the ongoing 28th edition of the Enugu International Trade (EIT) on Thursday, April 6.

Onwuliri said the portal address is: www.jobsforall.ng

He said: The directorate sees this initiative as a bold step toward deepening the effectiveness of its employment creation strategies and a critical input into the process of designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes and schemes.

READ ALSO: Please, do not try to contest in 2019 - Okorie begs Buhari

Onwuliri said the the registration would go a long way to eliminate the stressful process of recruitment by employers, as well as employees in both the private and public sectors.

Meanwhile, the World Bank, under its Growth and Employment (GEM) project, has approved N756.3 million for disbursement to 81 young Nigerian innovators who participated in the 2016 Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD).

The AVDD is one of the economic empowerment initiatives of the present administration.

A document obtained from the World Bank-funded GEM project on Monday in Abuja, showed that the money would be disbursed to the beneficiaries in two tranches after a grant signing ceremony earlier scheduled for end of March.

The video below shows a group of women thriving in a profession initially believed to be for men.

Source: Legit.ng
The UK Permanent Representative to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, on Monday explained why the Security Council adopted a resolution on the Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, saying it was a landmark development.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Security Council had on Friday adopted Resolution 2349 (2017) to bring attention to the Boko Haram crisis.

Rycroft said: This adoption marks the start of the next chapter of our work on the Lake Chad Basin. Seeing a crisis first hand is a good start but it isnt enough on its own.

READ ALSO: Boko Haram releases video rant against Buhari and other Nigerian officials

It isnt enough just to bring attention to its situation. We will fail the people of the region if we do not respond to what we saw; if we dont take tangible action to bring real relief, real respite to the suffering, the hunger, the instability.

Through this resolution, we have made clear what action needs to be taken.

 First and foremost, we need the countries in the region, the international community and the UN urgently to scale up their response to the humanitarian crisis.

If we act now famine can be avoided. But that means quickly dispersing money pledged at Oslo  every single dollar of the 458 million dollars pledged by donors, every single dollar of the one billion dollars pledged from the Government of Nigeria.

It means supporting the regional governments to lead a comprehensive and effective response to the crisis, building on the leadership they have already shown.

It means all in the region, including ECOWAS and ECCAS, addressing the root causes of the crisis  addressing economic inequalities, countering violent extremism, empowering women.

 Boko Haram exploits the poverty in the northeast, it exploits the men who view women as no more than objects, wives and cooks without the prospect of a future, he added.

The UK envoy emphasised that the ideology of Boko Haram was unacceptable.

 We also must avoid a protracted crisis by better bridging the divide between humanitarian and development programming,

If we are to bring a conclusion to this crisis, we must also commend and support the countries in the region on their efforts to combat Boko Haram, including through the Multi National Joint Task Force.

READ ALSO: Stephanie Otobo releases original screen of her Facetime chat with Apostle Suleman

They must sustain their momentum to defeat Boko Haram and Daesh. You cant defeat terror or build peace if you are committing or condoning the abuse of civilians. We all must hold ourselves to a higher standard than that, Rycroft said.

The resolution, is a great development for Boko Haram victims, whom Legit.ng spoke with in the video below:

Source: Legit.ng
- The Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma says the plan by President Buhari to return abroad for further treatment is a mockery of the change begins with me campaign of his government

- Bishop Chukwuma suggests that rather than travel abroad for treatment, the equipment used in medical treatments abroad should be brought to Nigeria for the presidents use

- The cleric calls on the president to have confidence in the medical facilities in Nigeria

Bishop Chukwuma has asked Buhari to have confidence in the medical facilities in Nigeria.

The Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma, has said the plan by President Muhummadu Buhari to return to London for further treatment is an act of corruption.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Ngbo Diocese, Ezzamgbo, Bishop Chukwuma said Buharis medical trip abroad was a mockery of the change begins with me campaign of his government, the Guardian reports.

The cleric said he was not in support of the planned medical trip, especially as the country was in a period of economic recession.

READ ALSO: Please, do not try to contest in 2019 - Okorie begs Buhari

If we are saying that we are in economic recession, then going abroad for medical treatment by the president is corruption. The Change begins with me campaign should begin with the president because I see no reason why we should allow our hospitals to be in very dilapidated conditions and then we travel abroad, Chukwuma noted.

The bishop suggested that rather than travel abroad for treatment, the equipment used in medical treatments abroad should be brought to Nigeria to treat the president.

He said the president should not only have confidence in the medical facilities in Nigeria but should also use the provisions of the 2017 budget for revamping the health sector, maintaining that it will be enough to fund it.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Boko Haram releases video rant against Buhari and other Nigerian officials

Meanwhile, Femi Adesina, the special assistant to President Buhari on media and publicity has said President Buhari is not expected to jump back into his presidential routine after his sickness.

Legit.ng gathered that the president media aide, during an interview on Channels TV said President Buhari 'has never been that sick before' while quoting the president himself and insisted that the president needs to be eased back into his job.

Below is a Legit.ng video of Nigerians finding it difficult to name politicians who are not corrupt.

Source: Legit.ng
- Ebitimi Amgbare believes that the outburst against Yemi Osinbajo in the interview granted by Dokubo-Asari was misplaced

- Dokubo-Asari, in the interview, asked Osinbajo to stop visiting Niger Delta because the federal government is not sincere

A former governorship candidate in Bayelsa state, Prince Ebitimi Amgbare, has warned acclaimed Niger Delta activist, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, to mind his outburst over the recent visit by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the region.

Dokubo -Asari had urged Osinbajo to stop visiting the Niger Delta as he argues the government is not sincere

Vanguard reports that Ambgare said the recent interview by Dokubo-Asari in which he castigated Osinbajo was misplaced.

According to him, the visit by the vice president cannot be called a jamboree but an action that aims to make the region better.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Navy releases list of candidates for DSSC

Legit.ng reports that in the interview, Dokubo-Asari asked Osinbajo to stop visiting Ijawland. He claimed that the federal government was not sensitive to the plight of the people of the Niger Delta.

In his reaction, Amgbare said: The truth is that the vice presidents trip was not a jamboree but a very important visit in the sense that the government needed to build confidence to enable it carry out its programme for the Niger Delta.

He (Osinbajo) was able to meet with all stakeholders from the elected leaders to the ordinary people who made significant inputs on how best to address the myriad of problems confronting the region.

Osinbajo recently visited states in the Niger Delta region of the country in his quest for peace

Some of the benefits have started manifesting and they include the presidential order directing the international oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta.

READ ALSO: My father warned me, but I didn't listen - Robbery suspect

That was a wonderful pronouncement that would definitely bring about a new look Niger Delta.

Nigerians are now divided in their reactions with some supporting Amgbare and urging the Niger Deltans to trust the government of Buhari while others say Dokubo-Asari is fighting against injustice.

Meanwhile, watch how Osinbajo recently flagged-off the Lagos-Ibadan rail line project:

Source: Legit.ng
- El-Rufai says President Buhari's ill health has made many politicians to feel he would not run for a second term

- These politicians, he said, are causing distractions in the country's political system as they struggle for the top job way ahead of the timeline for the 2019 elections

- El-Rufai says he and everyone in APC want President Buhari back for the second time

El Rufai chatting with the minister of culture and tourism Lai Mohammed. El Rufai says he hopes Mohammed's boss Buhari would run for president again in 2019.

Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai has said that the struggle for the position of President Muhammadu Buhari has created confusion in Nigerias political system.

READ ALSO: Federal government to begin online registration of unemployed Nigerians on April 5

Bloomberg reports that El-Rufai said this in Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday, April 3.

According to the Kaduna chief executive, politicians aspiring to be the next leader of Nigeria have kicked off the rat race for the countrys top job way ahead of the timeline.

He said this is as a result of President Buharis ill health which makes many of them feel that he would not run for a second term.

He said:s Because of the feeling that the president may not run for a second term, people are already gearing up.

Some politicians want President Buhari's job because of his ill health

All of us are getting distracted by the coterie of ambitious presidential aspirants that are trying to kick-start the political process ahead of the normal timeline.

Although he admitted that President Buhari has not indicated that he would run again in 2019, El-Rufai however said that most ruling party members would like him to seek a second term.

READ ALSO: Adultery scandal! Woman reveals how Deputy Senate President bought cars, got flat for mistress in London

He said: Many of us that campaigned vigorously for him in 2015 are hoping that his health will improve and stabilize and that he will run again in 2019.

We need the policy continuity and the stability in the political environment for the country to make progress.

Legit.ng gathered that this comes just as Chief Chekwas Okorie, the national chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), said Buhari should not run again.

Okorie was reacting to the statement by Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesperson, who said Buhari would win if he presents himself for another election.

Okorie said that Adesina did not read the mood of the nation well before making his comment.

Source: Legit.ng
One dies after consuming toxic mushroom in Lamjung

An 11-year-old girl died after consuming wild mushroom in Lamjung district on Tuesday.
- In the book: 'Vindication of A General', which was recently published by Ishaya Bamaiyi, the former military officer spoke about how he was jailed

- He said Chief Obasanjo got the advice to have him jailed from former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar

Nigerias former Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Lt Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi, has revealed why ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo kept him in jail for eight years.

Bamaiyi said Obasanjo primarily got him detained for eight years because of fear of being overthrown

Legit.ng reports that Bamaiyi, who served under later former military dictator, Sani Abacha, recently released a book: Vindication of A General, which touched on his experience. He also revealed many controversial issues that have become subjects of debates across the country.

In Chapter 10, page 128 of his book, he said Obasanjo was scared of being overthrown despite ruling in a democratic setting and that this was the primary reason he was kept in jail for that long.

READ ALSO: Nigeria police force caught in brutality saga, asked to pay victim over N20m in Ekiti state

According to Bamaiyi, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), who took over after the death of Abacha and handed over to Obasanjo in 1999, asked the latter to handle him well if he does not want his government overthrown.

He said as a result of Abubakars advice to Obasanjo, the then National Security Adviser, General Aliyu Gusau ensured that he was kept in jail.

Bamaiyi said: As soon as Obasanjo took over, General Abubakar and some of his people told Obasanjo that if I were left free, I would overthrow Gen. Obasanjos government.

This did not surprise me because while we were in service, General Abubakar set up a secret investigation of certain people during the Abacha rule. I had not been told although some soldiers in the army, like Sgt Rogers, were invited for investigation.

When I had to replace my security officer, I asked for Cap. Najaja to replace Capt Bature, who was assigned to the USA. Gen Abubakar said Najaja was being investigated. He realized his mistake and kept quiet. I did not bother myself about the investigation because I knew I was not involved in any criminal act.

Abubakars committee completed its assignment and gave clean bills to all those questioned. When Obasanjo took over, some PDP big shots decided that based on the report, I had control of the Army and should be arrested. The government looked for avenues to arrest me.

He continued: They started by checking Army accounts to see if I had stolen money. They spoke to the Director of Army Finance and Accounts, DAFA, Maj Gen Omosebi who told them he had never worked with an officer who believed in accountability like I did. They felt disappointed.

READ ALSO: Please, do not try to contest in 2019 - Okorie begs Buhari

The government wanted to take my personal house in Asokoro. The NSA, Gen Gusau talked to Mr Daboul, a friend of mine who had built the house for me. He told General Gusau of our agreement that I would pay for the house over 10 years. This saved my house.

When everything failed, Obasanjo and his government decided to revisit their investigation. Col JB Yakubu and Capt Najaja were forced to implicate me. This gave the government the opportunity to start looking for me. I was following everything that was happening.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng recently sampled the opinions of Nigerians concerning the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Watch the video:

Source: Legit.ng
- The #NotTooYoungToRun rally is gaining momentum across the nation

- Rallies have been conducted nationwide to drive the campaign

- Many youths are joining the train

We are young but not too young to run,  Nigerian youths rally for political inclusion (photos)

On Thursday, March 30, the #NotTooYoungToRun National Day of Action rally unfolded across ten states in the country.

Legit.ng gathered that over ten thousand young people, adorned in white t-shirts with the inscription, I support #NotTooYoungToRun, called on their state legislators to support the bill seeking to reduce the constitutional age for running for office.

READ ALSO: Adultery scandal! Woman reveals how Deputy Senate President allegedly bought cars, got flat for mistress in London

The general message was simple but clear: it cannot be democracy when over 60% of the population cannot fully participate in the process.

In Maiduguri, Borno state, over 5,000 young people defied security threats to solicit support for the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign.

This large turnout of people in a state which only a few years ago, was a killing field for the dreaded Boko Haram sect proved that there is no stopping an idea whose time has come.

The Borno state #NotTooYoungToRun campaign co-ordinator, Ambassador Bolori Ahmed said: Indeed the youths of Borno have made history. This rally is the first of its kind. It is not common to have people march peacefully to a designated place to make their voices heard to the constituted authorities.

Nigerian youths rally for political inclusion

I have every reason to be happy and I thank God that I am a part of this historic event in my state. Congratulations to everyone who was part of this history today.

In Kebbi, about 400 people gathered in Gwandangaji roundabout, Birnin Kebbi, as early as 8 am for the march to the State House of Assembly.

The group was received by the speaker of the house, Honourable Abdulmumini Kamba, who assured the youths that the Kebbi state House of Assembly will unanimously support the bill for the collective development of the state and Nigeria in general.

He said he will use his position as the chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Speakers to canvass support for the bill.

The morning rain in Port Harcourt couldnt stop the #NotTooYoungToRun rally in the oil rich state. In his statement, the speaker of the Rivers state House of Assembly, Honourable Ikuinyi O. Ibani threw his full weight behind the campaign, saying the bill will be passed into law once it gets to the State Assembly.

The story was not different in Katsina state. Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Abubakar Yahaya Kusada, assured the group of his full support for the campaign.

READ ALSO: Why Obasanjo kept me in jail for 8 years - Bamaiyi

His words: 80% of the members of the Assembly fall within the age of 30 to 40. So, whenever the #NotTooYoungToRun bill comes, we will give it speedy passage so that our youths can fully benefit from it.

Similarly, big crowds turned out in Sokoto, Kano, Cross River, Enugu, Osun and Bauchi. The marchers peacefully engaged with and secured the commitment of the leadership of the state Houses of Assembly to pass the #NotTooYoungToRun bill once the National Assembly transmits the Constitution Alteration Act to them for action.

In all the rallies, participants demanded that young people be given the constitutional right to fully participate in democratic processes, as it is a human right and not a privilege.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng recently sampled opinions of Nigerians concerning the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Watch the video below:

Source: Legit.ng
PAC summons Dahal to explain Ncell tax issue

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to appear before it by April 12 to explain the governments position on the capital gains tax controversy surrounding Ncell, the largest private telecom operator in the country.
- The record for the youngest ever orchestra conductor in Britain, has been broken by 11-year-old Mathew Smith

- Smith broke the record when he led a 75-strong orchestra through a faultless rendition of the overture to Johann Strauss IIs Die Fledermaus

- The 11-year-old is now termed by many as music genius

Those very familiar with the movie "August Rush", can easily related to the story of Mathew Smith, a pint-sized 11-year-old who is now looked at as a legend in the making.

Mathew's mom says she has no idea where he gets his music abilities from

Smith's legendary tales stems from becoming Britain's youngest ever orchestra conductor.

According to information obtained by Legit.ng, the lad led a 75-strong orchestra through a faultless rendition of the overture to Johann Strauss IIs Die Fledermaus.

The 11-year-old genius stood in front of a 1300-crowd and he performed dauntlessly

Daily Mail further informs that he conducted the nine-minute piece entirely from memory and wasn't fazed by the 1,300 crowd at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. Proud mum, Beverlyn Riley, 40 was all smiles as she watched her son.

His genius was unlocked four years ago when he saw two violinists performing at the Pentecostal church he attends with his mother and told her that he wanted to be just like them. Mrs Riley who works as a catering assistant at Nottingham High School, approached the schools senior string teacher Derek Williams who set Matthew up with an old violin.

Musical critics and scholars have said that Mathew is a legend in the making

Instinctively, Matthew placed his fingers in the correct place on the instrument and a star was born. Mr Williams said that Matthew had music coming out of his pores. He said the boy had an inherent natural ability the like of which I have not seen for 30 years.

Mathew led a 75-strong orchestra through a faultless rendition of the overture to Johann Strauss IIs Die Fledermaus

Mrs Riley, who is divorced from Matthews father Cordova Smith and has since remarried, said that she had no idea where Matthew gets his musical ability from, although his father does play the saxophone.

She added: Im so proud of what Matthew has done.

Meet 11-year old boy who has broken a record in Britain, using his magical hands and miraculous mind

Meet 11-year old boy who has broken a record in Britain, using his magical hands and miraculous mind

Below is a video of Mathew in concert.

Source: Legit.ng
PM briefs President on China visit

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has briefed President Bidya Devi Bhandari on the latest political developments and his recent visit to China.
- Nollywood actor Ejike Asiegbu has condemned the continuous detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu

- Asiegbu who spoke after a visit to the Biafra agitator and leader in Kuje Prison Abuja said Kanu is a political prisoner

- He said Kanu and many other Nigerians are lavishing in various prisons across Nigeria

Ejike Asiegbu who spoke after a visit to the Biafra agitator and leader in Kuje Prison Abuja said Kanu is a political prisoner

Nollywood actor Ejike Asiegbu has condemned the prolonged detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.

Asiegbu who spoke after a visit to the Biafra agitator and leader in Kuje Prison Abuja said Kanu is a political prisoner.

READ ALSO: Good news NIGERIANS: Bag of rice to be sold at N10,000 from June

The actor said: "No matter how some people feel about it we must sit down and discuss issues that concerns us."

"We have the Anifere, the Arewa, the Oduaa people congress group, who is arresting them like IPOB members are being arrested," Asiegbu said.

He further added that there is, "absolutely nothing wrong with agitation or a call for a referendum.

Let us not sweep everything under the carpet and pretend that things are going well  things are not going well.

We met Nnamdi Kanu and the others in very high spirit.

READ ALSO: SEE how BBNaija's housemate Efe is making Nigerian girls go crazy (videos)

Therefore we call on governor, elders and our leaders to speak out in clear terms. Let us come to the table and sort out our differences.

Since his detention, many leaders including the former governor of Central Bank Chukwuma Soludo have visited the IPOB leader and his co-accused in the prison.

Kanu was arrested in Lagos on October 14, by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) upon his arrival from London.

He was charged with treasonable felony and concealing of goods in a container," he concluded.

Watch this Legit.ng video of Nnamdi Kanu speaking in court:

Source: Legit.ng
Roman Polanski jail plea rejected by US judge

Film-maker Roman Polanski has failed to win assurances from a US court that he will not face prison over a decades-old case involving sex with a minor.
Ikutaro Kakehashi, an engineer and entrepreneur who used a defective transistor to generate the distinctive sounds of the Roland TR-808, a drum machine that transformed contemporary music, died on Saturday in Japan. He was 87.

His death was confirmed by Scott Hunter, a project manager at ATV Group Corp. USA, the American division of Mr. Kakehashis current company, ATV. Colleagues at Roland Corporation, the musical-instrument company he founded and ran for four decades, and musicians worldwide paid tribute.

Mr. Kakehashis drum machine  officially the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer but known to musicians and listeners as simply the 808  was by no means Mr. Kakehashis only accomplishment. He built Roland, which he founded in 1972, into a company that makes hundreds of widely used instruments and audio devices, and led it as chief executive before founding a new audio and video electronics company, ATV Corporation, in 2013.

Image Ikutaro Kakehashi founded the Roland Corporation to create electronic instruments. Credit... Rex Features, via Associated Press

Mr. Kakehashi also helped revolutionize the way music is conceived and produced when he collaborated with Dave Smith, the president of a competing company, Sequential Circuits, to develop MIDI, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface that allows the vast majority of electronic instruments built since the early 1980s to interconnect.
Wells Fargo said it would fight the ruling.

We disagree with the findings and will be requesting a full hearing of the matter, Vince Scanlon, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said in a written statement. This decision is a preliminary order, and to date there has been no hearing on the merits of this case.

Wells Fargo said it did not yet know if the former employee would return to his previous position.

We are looking into our options, Mr. Scanlon said.

OSHA said that after the employee was fired in 2010, he was told he had 90 days to find a new position at Wells Fargo, and when he was unsuccessful, he was terminated. The agency said that the man had been unable to find work in banking since then.

Wells Fargo, which is based in San Francisco, has been in turmoil since admitting that its employees, under pressure to meet aggressive sales goals, opened as many two million fraudulent accounts. The bank fired at least 5,300 employees who were involved and paid $185 million to settle lawsuits brought by two federal regulators and the Los Angeles city attorney.

The bank has drawn heavy criticism for not heeding what appear to have been years of internal warnings about the problem. Numerous former Wells Fargo employees have said that they were penalized or fired after trying to raise the alarm internally through reports to their bosses, the companys ethics hotline, and, in some cases, directly to the banks former chief executive, John G. Stumpf.

Mr. Stumpf retired under pressure in October. His successor, Timothy J. Sloan, acknowledged in January that the bank may have retaliated against some of its former employees.
In the latest move by insurers worried about the viability of the markets created under the federal health care law, Iowas major carrier said Monday that it would stop selling individual policies in the state next year.

In a statement, the insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is based in Des Moines, blamed its decision to withdraw in 2018 on what it said was the high cost of covering people under the Affordable Care Act.

Like some other insurers, Wellmark says it has had difficulty making money because many of those enrolling in its plans have expensive medical conditions. The company said it had lost $90 million over the past three years of providing coverage on the exchanges and individually, despite aggressively raising its rates.

While Wellmarks chief executive, John Forsyth, emphasized the importance of stabilizing the markets, he said the current uncertainty over their future was one reason the company decided to exit. While there are many potential solutions, the timing and relative impact of those solutions is currently unclear, he said. This makes it difficult to establish plans for 2018.
The case first came to light over Thanksgiving weekend last year when the top echelons of the district attorneys office received disturbing news from a staff member: Ms. Lenich, the deputy chief of the offices Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, had been running a rogue surveillance operation for nearly a year, investigating what officials called a personal entanglement.

Image Tara Lenich, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorneys office.

The district attorneys office was hesitant about prosecuting Ms. Lenich itself because of potential conflicts of interest, and after conducting an internal investigation and firing her, it allowed the federal government to take the case.

At an arraignment last week in federal court, Ms. Lenich pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on bail to her parents home in Connecticut. But seven days later, she returned to court and entered a guilty plea. Most wiretaps are valid for 30 days before they need to be renewed by a judge, but according to a federal indictment issued last month, Ms. Lenich cut and pasted judges signatures onto falsified court orders more than 20 times to keep the surveillance going.

According to the indictment, she also gave false grand jury subpoenas to the phone providers of her targets (who have not been publicly named) to determine whom they had been calling. At her hearing, Ms. Lenich admitted to using a computer to monitor the phones. She covered her tracks, the indictment said, by lying to fellow prosecutors in the unit she helped to run, telling them she was conducting her own confidential investigation and was the only person who could have access to the wiretaps.

Under federal law, Ms. Lenich faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, though the prosecutors handling her case told Judge William F. Kuntz on Monday afternoon that under federal sentencing guidelines, she should face between eight and 14 months.
The White House boasted that the release of financial disclosures for dozens of administration officials exemplified President Trumps commitment to ensure an ethical and transparent government. The Friday night document dump did nothing of the sort.

The opaque, incomplete filings  which met the bare legal requirements for disclosures  merely raise more questions than they answer about the byzantine dealings of the richest White House in history.

Besides, Mr. Trump has no commitment to ethics or transparency. His failure to shed his business ties and release financial records makes him the most suspect, conflicted president in modern history. If the boss doesnt care about accountability, why should anyone else?

Heres a good reason: Unlike the president, for whom conflict of interest laws dont apply, staff members could go to jail for actions that affect their financial interests.
If the Department of Justice concludes that these companies are discriminating against Americans, the entire outsourcing model becomes deeply suspect, said Russell Harrison, director of government relations at IEEE-USA, a group that represents American tech workers.

Why is the H-1B program important?

H-1B visas are commonly used by companies to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill technical positions like software developers. Some tech companies say they need foreign workers because they cannot find enough Americans with the skills for these jobs.

Theres a lot of controversy around H-1Bs. Some of the biggest users of these work visas are outsourcing firms, many of them based in India. These firms often bring foreign workers to the United States at low wages to fill jobs once held by higher-paid Americans.

How do the new policies affect Microsoft, Facebook and other big American technology companies?

The large tech companies are unlikely to be affected much in the near term, immigration lawyers and technology executives said. Technology companies usually apply for H-1B visas when they need to fill a job with higher-skilled workers holding bachelors or masters degrees.

William Moss, a spokesman for Intel, said the chip maker does not expect any impact from the change. Intels foreign national population in the U.S. is largely comprised of individuals possessing unique and difficult to find skills which can only be acquired through advanced-degree, university-level education, Mr. Moss said.
WASHINGTON  Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a sweeping review of federal agreements with dozens of law enforcement agencies, an examination that reflects President Trumps emphasis on law and order and could lead to a retreat on consent decrees with troubled police departments nationwide.

In a memorandum dated March 31 and made public Monday, the attorney general directed his staff to look at whether law enforcement programs adhere to principles put forth by the Trump administration, including one declaring that the individual misdeeds of bad actors should not impugn the work police officers perform in keeping American communities safe.

As part of its shift in emphasis, the Justice Department went to court on Monday to seek a 90-day delay in a consent decree to overhaul Baltimores embattled Police Department. That request came just days before a hearing, scheduled for Thursday in the United States District Court in Baltimore, to solicit public comment on the agreement, which was reached in principle by the city and the Justice Department in the waning days of the Obama administration.
About 30 percent of the grant money that goes out is used for indirect expenses, which, as you know, means that that money goes for something other than the research thats being done, Mr. Price said.

But researchers said the remark showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the way biomedical research is conducted.

Indirect costs are very real costs, said Dr. Landon S. King, the executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. There is not another source to pay for them. The kinds of cuts that are being suggested would almost certainly harm our ability to conduct this research.

The health institutes distributed more than $23.5 billion last year to outside researchers, of which nearly $6.6 billion, or 27.9 percent, was for indirect costs.

Johns Hopkins, one of the largest recipients of N.I.H. funds, is getting $600 million from the agency this year, of which $96 million is for indirect costs, Dr. King said. The medical school is receiving $450 million of the total, including $70 million for indirect costs.

Because the grants go to every state, a small, well-connected army of researchers is mobilizing to beat back Mr. Trumps proposal.

The presidents budget also proposes a major reorganization of the institutes to focus on the highest-priority research and training activities. The White House said Mr. Trump wanted consolidations and structural changes at the agency, which now has 27 institutes and centers, each with its own broadly defined mission.
Rs 4.5 lakhs looted from Tikapur cooperative

An unidentified masked gang on Tuesday looted Rs 450,000 from a community cooperative located at Satti in Tikapur Municipality-7 in the district.
UNITED NATIONS  The Trump administration informed Congress on Monday that it had terminated United States funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the worlds leading provider of family planning services, including contraception, to women in at least 155 countries.

The United States is one of the top donor nations to the United Nations, and the denial of funding was one of President Trumps biggest moves yet to reduce financing for family planning.

While the administration had signaled back in January that was adopting a tougher stance toward family planning services that provide abortion counseling, the move was nonetheless a stunning piece of news to advocates for womens and childrens health, particularly in the developing world.

In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the State Departments Bureau of Legislative Affairs said it had determined that the Population Fund supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization, a reference to the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, a 1980s-era law enacted in response to evidence of forced abortions and involuntary sterilization in China.
The trip also seemed to represent another step, after a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Abadi in Washington several weeks ago, to assure the Iraqis that the United States is a reliable ally, given that the relationship between the Trump administration and Iraq began on rocky footing.

First, in a speech at the C.I.A. shortly after his inauguration in January, Mr. Trump expressed regret that the United States had not taken Iraqs oil after the 2003 invasion, and he suggested there still might be a chance to do so. Then, he placed Iraq on a list of seven Muslim-dominated countries whose citizens were barred from traveling to the United States.

That ban was blocked by the courts and later replaced with a new one that did not include Iraq on the ban list. But Iraqis still view the initial listing as an insult at a time when the two countries are working together to fight the Islamic State in the battle for Mosul.

Iraq may yet take on greater importance for the Trump administration than just its part in the fight against the Islamic State. With administration officials having signaled a desire to take a tougher stance on Iran, which like Iraq is majority Shiite and whose power inside Iraq is paramount, Iraqi officials have worried that their country could again become a place for the two foreign powers to settle their differences.

After the American invasion of 2003, Iraqi Shiite militias aligned with Iran killed hundreds of Americans, and those same militias have taken on an important role in fighting the Islamic State. They are now essentially a parallel security structure within the state, even though they are directed by Iran.

There are already signs that the Trump administration sees Iraq as a place to push back on the growing power of Iran across the region, where Tehran has expanded its power through proxies in four countries: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In late February, for the first time in years, the foreign minister for Saudi Arabia, a Sunni power and Irans chief regional rival, visited Baghdad in a trip encouraged by American officials.

That was seen by Iraqi officials as a signal by the Americans that they are intent on nudging the Saudis to take a stronger role in Iraq, whose Sunni minority has been alienated from the power centers of Baghdad. But Iraqi officials have said they worry that that will only exacerbate sectarian tensions in Iraq, and that the last thing the country needs is more foreign meddling.
The Joffrey Ballets collection already feels at home at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, where many of Robert Joffreys papers and the footage of the company are already housed and enjoyed by researchers, dancers, students and the public, Greg Cameron, the companys executive director, said in a statement.

Mr. Joffrey and Mr. Arpino founded the group in 1956 in New York with a repertory that included modern ballet and revivals of classics by visionary choreographers like Frederick Ashton, Michel Fokine and Leonide Massine. In the 60s, the company staged a landmark revival of Kurt Joosss political masterpiece The Green Table. Amid financial hardship and local competition from major companies like American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet, the Joffrey moved to Chicago in 1995, where it is based today.

Processing the archive will take at least a year, the library said, after which time it would become available for research and could provide materials for the librarys exhibitions at Lincoln Center.
NORRISTOWN, Pa.  A Pennsylvania judge on Monday denied a request by Bill Cosbys lawyers for extra scrutiny of potential jurors ahead of the entertainers upcoming trial on sexual-assault charges.

The lawyers had asked Judge Steven T. ONeill of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas to have the jury pool fill out an extended questionnaire that would be a tougher-than-normal test of impartiality given the intense pretrial publicity that the case has received.

But Judge ONeill ruled that potential jurors will be given a standard form of 16 questions, as approved by the PennsylvaniaSupreme Court. I dont intend to send anything other than the Supreme Court document out, he said from the bench after a daylong pretrial hearing.

The judge said he hopes Mondays hearing will be the last before the trial, scheduled to start on June 5, some 18 months after Mr. Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his home in suburban Philadelphia in 2004. The judge predicted the trial would last about two weeks.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. What do you think of it? What else are you interested in? Let us know: thearts@nytimes.com.

The New Face of Twitter Trolling

Twitter has changed its default avatar image from an egg to a gray silhouette. The company hopes this will discourage anonymity by prompting users to add their own photos (it also noted that the egg has become associated with trolling and harassment). On Mondays Daily Show, Trevor Noah was not impressed with the idea.

If they want to discourage anonymity, thats cool. But then what they need to do is make the default avatar somebody nobody wants  like a picture of Ted Cruz. If that was everyones picture, youd be like, No, no, no! Ill upload a picture! Even Ted Cruz doesnt want to be Ted Cruz. He probably would see that and be like, I want to change back to the egg, back when I was beautiful!  TREVOR NOAH

Besides, he said, its nicer to be harassed by an egg than a shadow.

As someone who gets a lot of Twitter hate, Id prefer it to come from a cute little egg. Because I mean the words are going to be the same but when an egg tweets me its like [cute, high voice], Go back to Africa, Trevor! But a silhouette is like [deep, haunting voice], Go back to Africa, Trevor! Like, an egg follows you. A silhouette follows you, and then stabs you in the shower.  TREVOR NOAH

Jimmy Kimmel doubted the change would solve any problems.

The official statement was, they made the move to encourage people to express themselves. Has Twitter read Twitter? No one is having a problem expressing themselves.  JIMMY KIMMEL

Jimmy Fallons Relaxing Week
(Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Heres what you need to know:

 Gloves come off in Supreme Court fight.

Senate Democrats have secured the votes necessary to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, setting up a bitter confrontation this week.

Republicans, seeing no alternative, suggested they would change longstanding rules to bypass the filibuster if they had to.
The kind of plasma were talking about was named by an American scientist, Irving Langmuir, who saw a resemblance to blood plasma.

It emerges when energy is added to gas, leaving a cloud of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons zipping around. Thats what makes up the sun and other stars.

Under the right conditions, some superheated ions can fuse. And as they join, they shed a tiny amount of mass that translates into vast amounts of energy. Hence all that heat and light from the sun.

The French plant aims to create the right conditions by using magnetic fields to contain the plasma and radio waves and microwaves to make it unimaginably hot  and then see if human-created fusion will work.

Andrea Kannapell contributed reporting.

_____

This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. We also have briefings timed for the Australian, European and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.
If you order chicken, you expect chicken.

If you order a coffee, you expect a coffee.

But if you order butter, is margarine or a vegetable spread an acceptable substitute?

It wasnt to Jan Polanik, who sued 23 Dunkin Donuts locations in Massachusetts for serving him margarine or a butter substitute instead of butter with his bagels between June 2012 and June 2016. He filed a pair of class-action lawsuits in March against franchise owners who are responsible for multiple stores. He paid 25 cents for butter and was not told a substitute was used, according to the suits.

If settlement agreements filed on Monday are approved, up to 1,400 people may claim up to three free buttered muffins, bagels or other baked goods from the 23 locations in Grafton, Leominster, Lowell, Millbury, Shrewsbury, Westborough and Worcester. Customers would not need to show a receipt of a previous purchase. The stores will be required to use only butter  no margarine or butter substitute  for a year. If they use butter substitutes in the future, the menus will have to explicitly say so.

Mr. Polanik, who lives in the Worcester area, will receive $500 as an incentive award for representing the class.
With Mr. Trump pushing the United States, the worlds second-largest emitter after China, away from its mitigation commitments, geoengineering looks even more compelling.

If the United States starts going backwards or not going forward fast enough in terms of emissions reductions, then more and more people will start talking about these options, said Mr. Pasztor, a former United Nations assistant secretary general on climate change.

While many of the scholars gathered in Washington expressed misgivings about deploying geoengineering technologies, there was a near-universal consensus on the need to invest more in research  not only into the power to cool the atmosphere but also into the potential side effects on the atmospheres chemistry and on weather patterns in different world regions.

While it is known that solar radiation management can cool the atmosphere, fears that field research would look too much like deployment have so far limited research pretty much to computer modeling of its effects and small-scale experiments in the lab.

Critically, the academics noted, the research agenda must include an open, international debate about the governance structures necessary to deploy a technology that, at a stroke, would affect every society and natural system in the world. In other words, geoengineering needs to be addressed not as science fiction, but as a potential part of the future just a few decades down the road.

Today it is still a taboo, but it is a taboo that is crumbling, said David Keith, a noted Harvard physicist who was an organizer of the conclave.

Arguments against geoengineering are in some ways akin to those made against genetically modified organisms and so-called Frankenfood. It amounts to messing with nature. But there are more practical causes for concern about the deployment of such a radical technology. How would it affect the ozone in the stratosphere? How would it change patterns of precipitation?
LOS ANGELES  Jason Blum, the producing whiz behind blockbuster horror films like Get Out and Split, has secured funding from ITV Studios in Britain to start a stand-alone television company. The first of several projects, a mini-series called Secure and Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes, is already in the works at Showtime.

Mr. Blum, 48, said by phone on Monday that the company, Blumhouse Television, would focus on dark genre programming  not just horror, but things that scare us. In addition to the mini-series about Mr. Ailes, who was ousted from Fox News last year after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment, Blumhouse Television will also lead the financing and production of a drama set in the same dystopian world as the Purge movie franchise.

The three Purge films, about an America where crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours once a year, were produced by Mr. Blum for a total cost of $21 million, and they collected $320 million worldwide. A fourth big-screen chapter is scheduled to arrive in the summer of 2018. The television spinoff will appear on both the Syfy and USA networks, he said. Universal Cable Productions will help produce the Purge show.

The mini-series about Mr. Ailes has not yet begun casting but could make its way to Showtimes schedule by this time next year. (That project was announced in October, though without a title or network partner.) Timing for the Purge series is unclear, in part because the storytelling must be melded with the movies. It is unusual for a continuing film series to spawn a television spinoff; studios usually wait until the movies have concluded.
Security in mess as some in police turn criminals

On Sunday, police arrested six persons including police personnel who broke into a jewellery workshop in Maruhiti, Kathmandu, and robbed 64 tola gold worth Rs3.2 million.
Pressure mounted on Tuesday for Fox News to take action against its top-rated host, Bill OReilly, as a series of prominent companies pulled advertising from his show and a leading womens rights group called for his ouster.

Following an investigation by The New York Times over the weekend that revealed multiple settlements over allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior by Mr. OReilly, the network faced a major advertising revolt as more than a dozen marketers said that they were withdrawing their ads from The OReilly Factor. Escalating the tension, the National Organization for Women called for Mr. OReilly to be fired and said an independent investigation should be conducted into the culture at Fox News.

Fox News is too big and too influential to simply let this go, Terry ONeill, the president of NOW, said in a statement.

And inside Fox News, three women who work in the newsroom said that the continued support of Mr. OReilly by Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, led them to question whether the company was committed to maintaining a work environment based on trust and respect, as executives had promised last summer after the networks founding chairman, Roger E. Ailes, was ousted. The employees requested anonymity because they feared retaliation for speaking publicly.
President Trump has promised to overhaul taxes, a pledge that has cheered investors.

But theres a problem: He hasnt yet named the people who would do it.

Any changes would be more difficult to enact without the right people in place. The last successful tax revamp, under Ronald Reagan in 1984, was a mammoth task. It took the Treasury Department 10 months to report back with possible paths.

Apart from Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, none of the 27 other political appointees to the Treasury Department have been confirmed, according to the Partnership for Public Services nomination tracker.

Mr. Trump has announced only six other Treasury appointees and has yet to name anyone as assistant secretary of tax policy. The six appointees, though, have been well received on Capitol Hill.
When the waiter asked if we wanted the last roasted goats head, I didnt think it was a big deal. It was just another night at Babbo.

This was around 1999, a year after it had opened, when Babbo had few peers among Italian restaurants, serving unusual meats with a side of light decadence. In this classically simple Greenwich Village townhouse, an energetic and pleasure-seeking chef named Mario Batali wanted New Yorkers to try something new: a salad of truffled lambs tongue; melting pink windowpanes of head cheese; triangles of beef-cheek-filled pasta in a sauce thickened by crushed squab livers. The strategy was to tempt us and dare us at the same time.

Back then, Babbo funneled you toward giving up all restraint, right down to the wine pours, which were sold by thirds of a bottle instead of fifths. So when the chance to eat a goats head was dangled before me, I saw it as the natural outgrowth of an entire philosophy of eating and drinking that I wanted to adopt as my own, at least for as long as it took to find out which parts of the face were good to eat (the sides) and which werent (the eyes).

Mr. Batali and his business partner, Joe Bastianich, now own about two dozen restaurants in the United States and Asia. Babbo remains the empires spiritual home, where the original formula of adventure and pleasure and curious-minded indulgence is still intact, where you can still try recipes that sprang from Mr. Batalis forehead when he was only a minor celebrity.
Its Moosewoods world. Were just eating in it.

Consider granola: The word used to be a derogatory term. Now its a supermarket category worth nearly $2 billion a year. Kombucha was something your art teacher might have made in her basement. The company GTs Kombucha brews more than a million bottles annually and sells many of them at Walmart and Safeway. And almond milk? You can add it to your drink at 15,000 Starbucks locations for 60 cents.

Just as yoga and meditation have gone mainstream (and lets not get started on designer Birkenstocks), so have ideas and products surrounding health, wellness and eating that play like a flashback to the early 1970s.

Co-op staples of that time  the miso, tahini, dates, seeds, turmeric and ginger that were absorbed from other cultures and populated the Moosewood restaurant cookbooks  now make appearances at some of the most innovative restaurants in the country, where menus are built around vegetables and heritage grains. Vegetarianism and veganism are on the rise; and kale, the bacon of the clean-eating moment, is now routinely heaped on salad plates across the land.

The hippies may not have won the election, but they are winning the plate. (Or rather, the bowl.)

The counterculture is always ahead of whats happening in mainstream culture, said Peter Meehan, the editorial director of Lucky Peach magazine. Its as true in any creative field as it is in food.
It is a cool and useful idea that, along with other cool and useful computer science ideas, has people itching to know more. Its obvious that computers have become indispensable problem-solving partners, not to mention personal companions. But its suddenly not enough to be a fluent user of software interfaces. Understanding what lies behind the computers seeming magic now seems crucial. In particular, computational thinking is captivating educators, from kindergarten teachers to college professors, offering a new language and orientation to tackle problems in other areas of life.

This promise  as well as a job market hungry for coding  has fed enrollments in classes like the one at Berkeley, taken by 500 students a year. Since 2011, the number of computer science majors has more than doubled, according to the Computing Research Association. At Stanford, Princeton and Tufts, computer science is now the most popular major. More striking, though, is the appeal among nonmajors. Between 2005 and 2015, enrollment of nonmajors in introductory, mid- and upper-level computer science courses grew by 177 percent, 251 percent and 143 percent, respectively.

In the fall, the College Board introduced a new Advanced Placement course, Computer Science Principles, focused not on learning to code but on using code to solve problems. And WGBH, the PBS station in Boston, is using National Science Foundation money to help develop a program for 3- to 5-year-olds in which four cartoon monkeys get into scrapes and then get out of the messes by applying computational thinking, said Marisa Wolsky, executive producer of childrens media. We see it as a groundbreaking curriculum that is not being done yet.

Computational thinking is not new. Seymour Papert, a pioneer in artificial intelligence and an M.I.T. professor, used the term in 1980 to envision how children could use computers to learn. But Jeannette M. Wing, in charge of basic research at Microsoft and former professor at Carnegie Mellon, gets credit for making it fashionable. In 2006, on the heels of the dot-com bust and plunging computer science enrollments, Dr. Wing wrote a trade journal piece, Computational Thinking. It was intended as a salve for a struggling field.

Things were so bad that some universities were thinking of closing down computer science departments, she recalled. Some now consider her article a manifesto for embracing a computing mind-set.
When the Georgetown University Law Center offered computer programming last year, it was an experiment, a single class for about 20 students. It was filled almost instantly, and the waitlist swelled to 130. This semester, the law school has five programming classes, and the waitlist still overflowed.

They arent going to become programmers, but they realize these are skills that will make them better lawyers, said Paul Ohm, the Georgetown law professor who teaches the course. His students, for example, learn to write short, tailored programs that can identify clusters of words and concepts in Supreme Court rulings more accurately than a Google search or standard legal software.

Its the same in every field, from marketing to manufacturing to medicine. Code, it seems, is the lingua franca of the modern economy.

So you have no plans to become a computer engineer, no dreams of being code wizard at Google or Facebook. But youve decided its time to pick up practical technology knowledge and skills, including writing some code. There are options aplenty, in college classes, online courses and boot camps. The offerings range widely in terms of time required, skills mastered and price tag, from free to more than $20,000 for some six-month programs.
Has the great fashion experiment at J. Crew come to an end?

On Monday, the downward spiral of the company that catapulted to trendsetting prominence on the back of Michelle Obama claimed its highest-profile head with the news that Jenna Lyons, officially president and executive creative director of the brand, and unofficially its public face, would be leaving.

The parting was a mutual decision by Ms. Lyons and Millard S. Drexler, the J. Crew chairman and chief executive. She will continue as a creative adviser to the company until her contract runs out in December, but will not be officially replaced.

Instead, Somsack Sikhounmuong, head of womens design, will become chief design officer, with responsibility for womens wear, mens wear and childrens wear (Crewcuts). Unlike Ms. Lyons, however, he will not oversee brand image, store design or marketing. He and other creative teams will report directly to Mr. Drexler.

In other words, there isnt going to be one primary design vision in charge of all the aesthetic aspects of the brand. Mr. Drexler has talked about a return to core principles at J. Crew, which may include a return to a more anonymous design team as Mr. Sikhounmuong has so far remained resolutely in the background. That doesnt really sound like a big deal, until you start thinking about its implications  especially when it comes to the accessible, mass-market end of the spectrum.
This week, the White House released the first official portrait of the first lady, Melania Trump, currently displayed on her government web page. Though the picture at first seems bland enough, it is worth a second look  both for the image itself and for what Mrs. Trump chose to wear to represent the country for posterity.

A black tuxedo jacket with a foulard around her throat. From Dolce & Gabbana.

The White House declined to confirm or name the designer of the jacket Mrs. Trump is wearing, but Stefano Gabbana posted the official portrait on his Instagram feed with the words #DGwoman, #MelaniaTrump Thank you, and #MadeinItaly. The jacket, it turns out, is one of Dolce & Gabbanas signature pieces.

Its a surprising choice, not only because the official portrait is an occasion that has been considered an opportunity to promote national industry (as opposed to Italian industry) or because it seems to undermine her husbands mission to get everyone to buy American, but also because it confuses what is otherwise a pretty straightforward visual message.

Taken by Regine Mahaux, a Belgian photographer who has worked with the first family for the past five years (her photographs of President and Mrs. Trump have appeared on the covers of Us Weekly, French Vanity Fair, Paris Match and Russian Tatler), the portrait depicts Mrs. Trump with her arms crossed and the beginnings of a smile on her face in front of a large decorative window in her new residence at the White House.
LONDON  Mother of Pearl and Palmer Harding were announced as the winners of the 2017 British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund prize on Tuesday night, the first to win the award jointly since it was restructured earlier this year to broaden its support of fledgling fashion houses.

Founded in 2008, the fund shares some hallmarks with its American counterpart, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which Anna Wintour helped establish in 2003, and the LVMH Prize, founded by the LVMH scion Delphine Arnault and now in its fourth year. This year the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund allowed up to three recipients to share the prize of 200,000 pounds, with much of the cash earmarked for hiring experienced consultants to guide the recipients in areas like merchandising, e-commerce, accounting and international expansion.

The shift suggested that organizers of the award are conscious of an ever more volatile retail climate for small fashion brands and behemoths alike. Winning industry prizes has become increasingly important for nascent designers, many of whom have struggled to transform early media attention into sustainable long-term growth.

We didnt want any one-splash wonders, said Alexandra Shulman, the departing editor of British Vogue and the chair of the fund. Too often, she added, small businesses hire senior executives they cant afford, who in turn start strategies out of the companies financial reach.
9. The Perfect Fit

Rachel Goldfarb in Karen Willis Holmes

After visiting four bridal shops, Rachel Goldfarb found luck with the Australian designer Karen Willis Holmes. After trying on several of her styles, it was the Serena dress that brought me to tears with its waist-defining silhouette, minimalist train and subtle fringe on the skirt that caught the light whenever I moved, Ms. Goldfarb said. The dress at the store was the only sample available. Luckily, it just so happened to be in her size. We bought it on the spot, Ms. Goldfarb said. As my family says, it was bashert, or meant to be. She completed her bridal look with a black Kenneth Cole leather jacket and a handmade veil by Hushed Commotion, a bridal accessory boutique based in Brooklyn.
Saptari tusker terror: Death toll reaches 2

The death toll in Saptari elephant attack has reached two after another person died during course of treatment.
Grunge Ambitions

From The Seattle Times: The Seattle sound in rock  whether you call it grunge or not  flowered a couple of decades ago and still gets milked for nostalgia and tourist dollars. This story takes you back to the dingy, striving roots of Pearl Jams rise, and so opens a window into a Seattle that feels very distant from todays high-tech, high-rent boom town. And it highlights, fascinatingly, why other bands of the moment hated Pearl Jam so much: they were not out to be purist, starving artists, but were bent from the beginning on making records that would sell.  Kirk Johnson, Seattle bureau chief
In Should Art That Infuriates Be Removed?, Roberta Smith writes:

We all encounter art we dont like, that upsets and infuriates us. This doesnt deserve to be exhibited, our brains yell; it should not be allowed to exist. Still, does such aversion mean that an artwork must be removed from view  or, worse, destroyed?

This question has been at the heart of the controversy that has split the art world since the Whitney Biennial opened nearly two weeks ago. The turmoil, which has been excruciating for many people in different ways, centers on Open Casket, a painting in the exhibition by Dana Schutz. The work is based partly on photographs of the horrifically mutilated face of Emmett Till lying in his coffin in 1955, about 10 days after that African-American 14-year-old was brutally killed by two white men in Mississippi for supposedly flirting with a white store clerk. The artist, Ms. Schutz, is white, and her use of the images has struck many in the art world as an inappropriate appropriation that, they argue, should be removed.

The first protest was solo: The day the exhibition opened an African-American artist, Parker Bright, stood in front of it wearing a T-shirt with Black Death Spectacle handwritten on its back, sometimes partly blocking the view, sometimes engaging others in conversation. A photograph of Mr. Bright at the Whitney was posted on Twitter:
I feel a responsibility to tell you that this is not a democracy, said Jeff Baron, standing before his market research group on Manhattans Upper West Side. Im going to ask for your opinions, but I might not always take your advice.

A little girl wearing cat ears, sitting cross-legged on the floor, sat up a little bit straighter.

Mr. Baron is a playwright and screenwriter, who in recent years has been writing books for children, so last week he paid a visit to Public School 75, the Emily Dickinson School, on West 96th Street, to test out chapters and dialogue on their ultimate audience  in this case three groups of third graders.

He was reading a new chapter of his latest book, Electro-Pup, which centers on an 11-year-old boy named Luke and his dog, Mojo, who can read minds. The children had their own ideas.

I think you should make the dog talk, a boy offered.

O.K., good suggestion, Mr. Baron responded. (He has no intention of giving Mojo the power of speech.)
Ground floor is not quite the term for it.

At a new gallery, classroom and office building under construction in the West Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, the main floor is more than four feet above the ground.

This is no mere design conceit. Elevated floors are an imperative in flood-prone areas like the site of the new building on West 26th Street, only 400 yards from the Hudson River.

West Chelsea was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. So was Lower Manhattan, where Savanna, the real estate investment concern behind the 26th Street building, owned two office towers that were knocked out by flooding.

We learned a lot firsthand during Superstorm Sandy, said Peter Rosenthal, a principal at Savanna and its director of development.
To the Editor:

The health of American democracy is imperiled. A recent Economist study downgraded the United States to a flawed democracy because of declining trust in government. Political knowledge, a bulwark of democracy, as James Madison argued, is lower here than in other Western democracies.

As Justice Stephen Breyer reports in his book Making Our Democracy Work, only a third of the public can name all three branches of government, although two-thirds could easily remember a TV judge on American Idol. More than four in 10 do not know that free speech is protected for all media. If people do not understand the importance of a free press, they will readily agree with a White House that calls the media the opposition party.

To remedy these problems, we need to revitalize civics education. The government should require that high school students pass a pluralistically designed national civics exam.

Given that so many young people receive only online information that reinforces their own views, students should also be given practice advocating political viewpoints other than their own, a requirement for a robust democracy.
But Mr. Kabilas insistence on holding onto power has confronted Congolese, yet again, with authoritarian repression. Dozens of protesters have been killed by state security forces since Congos president violated his term limits, continuing a wave of killings and arrests of opposition activists and journalists.

Last week, the bodies of two United Nations human rights investigators  Michael Sharp, an American citizen, and Zaida Catlan, a Swedish national  and Betu Tshintela, their Congolese interpreter, were found outside the city of Kananga. They had disappeared in March near an area where leaked video footage showed Congos Army killing civilians.

The Catholic Church is leading the scramble for peace in Congo, and it could still succeed. On New Years Eve it negotiated an agreement between Mr. Kabilas party and opposition groups  including the popular presidential aspirant Moise Katumbi  that would instate an opposition prime minister and calls for elections this year. It stipulates that Mr. Kabila would step down. The church-led agreement is a vast improvement from an earlier pact, negotiated by the African Union and the South African Development Community, which favored Mr. Kabila by excluding Mr. Katumbi and Congos most senior opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi.

But Mr. Kabila ignored the new agreement, and leading civil society groups fear he will refuse to leave. The Catholic Church, which has long served as a voice of the population and a counter to Congos repressive leaders, has reported several attacks that it says are linked to its opposition to Mr. Kabila. With Mr. Tshisekedis death in February and Mr. Katumbi forced into exile, Mr. Kabila has been rid of his main opponents who might have held him accountable.

If Mr. Kabila does not go willingly, he makes his departure increasingly likely to be accompanied by armed violence. Congos president finds himself in a dictators dilemma. If he gives up control of the military and remains in Congo, he and his immense wealth become targets for his enemies. Mr. Kabila would most likely need guarantees of protection, or have to live in exile. The longer he defies the Constitution, however, the harder it will become to cajole him to hold elections, and possibly leave.
To the Editor:

Re Why Brexit Is Essential for Britain (Opinion, March 29): If Alan Johnson had ever been to the World Economic Forums annual meeting in the past decade he would know that the causes of national nihilism, as he puts it, run much deeper than Davos.

As an international institute under Swiss law, the forum brings together leaders  including government delegations from over 70 countries in 2017  to solve problems every country faces in one form or another.

This includes curbing the excesses of globalization, such as income inequality, which we first warned about in this newspaper in 1996, and challenges like climate change or the robot revolution, which without coordinated action could harm humanity catastrophically.

A belief in nation states and in nations working together in the global self-interest is not mutually exclusive. The failures of neoliberalism have placed the social democratic model at grave risk. The simple slogans of populism may be tempting for the likes of Mr. Johnson, but they are no match for the complex challenges we face. These will only be solved by a fundamental reconsideration of capitalism that places people, rather than profit, at its beating heart.
Mr. Trump acknowledged that the two countries have a few things they dont agree on, but he pointedly did not mention the abysmal human rights record of Mr. Sisis government, which the State Department and human rights groups have accused of gross abuses, including torture and unlawful killings.

Nor, apparently, did Mr. Trump raise the case of Aya Hijazi, an American citizen who works with street children. She was arrested in May 2014 on specious human trafficking charges and imprisoned for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law. Her case has been a cause celebre among human rights groups, though she is but one of 40,000 people who have been detained, most for purely political reasons.

Egypt is one of Americas closest allies in the Middle East and receives some $1.3 billion in annual military aid, but years of tumult have strained relations. President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011, and after a brief period of democratic rule that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power, a military coup in 2013 engineered by Mr. Sisi overthrew the Brotherhood and led to more repression.

Mr. Sisi first cracked down on the Islamists, including a 2013 massacre that killed more than 800 people, then turned his sights on secular opponents and nongovernmental groups. The United States suspended delivery of a modest amount of military aid and asked for improvements in human rights and democracy, which never happened.

Mr. Trump has now made it transparently clear that human rights and democracy are not his big concerns and that he places more value on Egypt as a partner in the fight against the Islamic State. What he does not grasp is that, while Egypt is an important country, it cannot be a force for regional stability nor the partner Mr. Trump imagines on counterterrorism or anything else if Mr. Sisi does not radically change his ways. Mr. Sisis repression against enemies real and imagined, his management of the economy and inability to train, educate and create jobs for his nations youth can only fuel more anger and unrest.
Although Ms. Ayalas critics have denounced her actions as dereliction of duty, they cannot point to a single law or statute that she has violated. Thats because she hasnt. There are no federal or state laws that say prosecutors must seek death sentences. And the United States Supreme Court has banned all state laws that make executions mandatory for murders.

The governors executive order also undercuts the will of the people who last fall elected Ms. Ayala to serve them. Moreover, a poll last year found that nearly two-thirds of Floridians prefer life imprisonment over the imposition of the death penalty. So do people who live in Central Florida, where her district is, 58 percent to 36 percent.

As a black man, I see the death penalty as a powerful symbol of injustice in which race often determines who lives and who dies, especially in Florida. The state has the second-largest number of death row inmates in the country, after California, and African-Americans are grossly overrepresented on Floridas death row. This disproportionality was a driving force behind my bill. And while I felt that Florida was not ready to relinquish the death penalty, I tried to make it more fair.

Ms. Ayalas arguments for rejecting the death penalty were compelling and well reasoned; they were drawn from the stark racial disparities in the criminal justice system that she confronts every day. Yet Ms. Ayala has always said that she would hold the guilty accountable, including, if he is convicted, the defendant in the first case from which she was removed, Markeith Loyd.

Understandably, the issue of how to punish people who kill police officers remains highly charged, especially among law enforcement officials. Many believe that the only proper resolution for the death of Lt. Debra Clayton, the Orlando police officer Mr. Loyd is accused of killing, is an eye for an eye. I get that.

But for others, including Stephanie Dixon-Daniels, the mother of Mr. Loyds slain ex-girlfriend, who has also experienced a devastating loss, Ms. Ayalas sentencing choice made sense. The death penalty will continue to drag us back in court and relive this violent, hideous act, Ms. Dixon-Daniels said. Instead, she wants closure.
LONDON  For most of my life, I had one, troublesome passport. It was green, for one thing, even though the leather cover was titled Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. My green passport made me nervous at airports; every time I handed it over to an immigration officer, I braced myself for the frown, the close inspection, the questions about how long I was staying and how much money I had with me.

I was always that person who held up the line while people behind me shuffled impatiently. I carried a file of documents with me whenever I traveled  my student ID, bank statements, even college transcripts. It was impossible to go anywhere on a moments notice: Once, to get a visa for a family trip to Barcelona, I camped out overnight in front of the Spanish Embassy in Dhaka, where I watched the sun rise with South Africans, Jordanians, Pakistanis and Indonesians  all bearers of problem passports like mine.

But the passport was precious because it was hard-won. My grandparents were born in colonial India, my parents in East Pakistan. Bangladesh didnt gain its independence until 1971, and the memory of this struggle was raw throughout my childhood. I was frequently reminded of how close we had come to being second-class citizens of Pakistan and how fortunate I was to have been born in a country that guaranteed my rights at birth.

It now appears that those rights are not inalienable. In February, Bangladeshs cabinet approved a draft of the Citizenship Act, 2016, a law that proposes to create two tiers of citizenship. At the heart of the new law is a distinction that many countries make between resident citizens and dual citizens.
Two killed as falling rocks hit four highway vehicles

At least two persons were killed and as many injured when rocks fell from the hillside burying four vehicles at Ghumaune area along the Muglin-Narayangadh road section in Chitwan district on Monday.
Every now and then, an astonishing number of brilliant and gifted people seem to come together out of nowhere to make the world a better, richer place.

It can happen in politics, as it did before the American Revolution, when brilliant minds like Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Paine happened to be in the same place at the same time and invented the constitutional democracy.

The history of the arts and culture has many examples of these chance collaborations  the Renaissance, Impressionism, jazz, rock n roll.

And then there is Fox News.

According to a lawsuit filed on Monday in a New York court, Bill Shine, the co-president of Fox News, sees the creation of his network as a historic moment of cultural flowering.
Mainstream news coverage has a hard time making subtle distinctions between the behavior of the two political parties. When Democratic and Republican tactics are blatantly different  on voter suppression, for instance  journalists are often comfortable saying so. And when the parties act similarly  both soliciting large donors, say  journalists are good at producing both sides do it stories.

But when reality falls somewhere in between, the media often fails to get the story right. Journalists know how to do 50-50 stories and all-or-nothing stories. More nuanced situations create problems.

The 2016 campaign was a classic example. Hillary Clinton deserved scrutiny for her buckraking speeches and inappropriate email use. Yet her sins paled compared with Donald Trumps lies, secrecy, bigotry, conflicts of interest, Russian ties and sexual molestation. The collective media coverage failed to make this distinction and created a false impression.

Now the pattern is repeating itself, in the battle over the federal courts.

Democrats are on the verge of filibustering Neil Gorsuchs Supreme Court nomination. If they do, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, has signaled that he will change the rules and bypass the filibuster. The move may change the nominating process for years to come.
SACRAMENTO  Two leaders of the successful referendum to remove Britain from the European Union were recently in California, where they said favorable things about the newest version of a plan to split the state in pieces. As Arron Banks told a British newspaper, Its the worlds sixth largest economy, and its very badly run. He isnt the only person to believe that a breakup may be the best way to solve Californias intractable problems.

Some news reports about the Yes California independence campaign used the term Calexit, which makes for good headlines because it sounds like Brexit, but its confusing. Some left-leaning activists indeed are pushing a far-fetched Calexit idea to create a new California nation, something that has gained publicity after Donald Trumps victory shocked Democratic-dominant California. This Yes California campaign has a ballpark-zero chance of gaining traction. Its mostly about venting.

While creating a new nation would tear the United States asunder, redrawing state boundaries is nowhere near as unthinkable  or as dangerous  as some suggest.

We should explore creating more states so we have a democracy thats closer to the people, said Scott Baugh, a former Republican assemblyman who met with Mr. Banks and Nigel Farage when they were in Orange County to receive an award. California has nearly 40 million people and is growing. At what point is the population too large for a single state? he wondered in a recent interview. Thats a question Californians have been asking since the early days of the states existence.
To the Editor:

Re Democrats Vow to Bar Gorsuch Sets Up a Clash (front page, April 4):

As a 22-year-old progressive Democrat, I am furious at the Democrats shortsighted decision to filibuster the Gorsuch nomination.

The Democrats have two options: allow Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed and retain some leverage over the next Supreme Court pick, or allow Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed and retain no leverage over the next Supreme Court pick. Defying all logic, they have apparently chosen the second.

If the Senate eliminates the filibuster this week, then for the next vacancy President Trump will have no incentive to nominate a mainstream judge like Neil Gorsuch, and every incentive to nominate a fringe conservative who appeals to Mr. Trumps supporters.

The Democrats did away with the filibuster for cabinet nominees, and their reward was Betsy DeVos. If the Senate invokes the nuclear option, Democrats will soon find themselves facing the Betsy DeVos of Supreme Court nominees with no ammunition left.
SINGAPORE  The United States meets China this week in a position of weakness. Since taking office, Donald Trump has handed China a strategic gift by abandoning a trade pact designed to offset Chinese power in the region, been obliged to grovel after offending China over Taiwan, and turned President Xi Jinping of China into an unlikely poster boy for climate change concern and an open global trading system.

So much for the art of the deal; to Asian nations like Singapore worried about Chinas aggressive territorial expansion in the South China Sea, American policy under Trump has looked more like a blink-first exercise.

Now Trump  having given the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the full Mar-a-Lago - is obliged to give Xi the same at his Florida resort. (Angela Merkel, merely the German chancellor, need not apply.)

Top of the Florida menu is North Korea and how far China will help Trump in rolling back Kim Jong-uns nuclear and missile program. The thousands of acres of new land built by China in the form of artificial islands or expanded reefs in the Spratly Islands off the coast of the Philippines  an extraordinary act of lawless territorial expansionism  will also be part of the discussions. Then of course theres bilateral trade and Trumps unhappiness with the $347 billion U.S. deficit last year  although with North Koreas belligerent Kim now in a position to hit Japan, that feels like a manageable irritant in the symbiotic U.S.-Chinese economic entanglement.
Fifty years ago today  and one year to the day before his assassination  the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the most politically charged speech of his life at Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan. It was a blistering attack on the governments conduct of the Vietnam War that, among other things, compared American tactics to those of the Nazis during World War II.

The speech drew widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum, including from this newspaper. Other civil rights leaders, who supported the war and sought to retain President Lyndon B. Johnson as a political ally, distanced themselves from Dr. King.

Dr. Kings Riverside Church address exemplified how, throughout his final 18 months of life, he repeatedly rejected the sunny optimism of his 1963 I Have a Dream speech and instead mourned how that dream had turned into a nightmare. But the speech also highlighted how for Dr. King, civil rights was never a discrete problem in American society, and that racism went hand in hand with the fellow evils of poverty and militarism that kept the country from living up to its ideals. Beyond signaling his growing radicalism, the Riverside speech reflected Dr. Kings increasing political courage  and shows why, half a century later, he remains a pivotal figure in American history.

As early as the first months of 1965, even before Johnson had begun his troop buildup in Vietnam, Dr. King was calling for a negotiated settlement to the conflict, telling journalists, Im much more than a civil-rights leader. But his criticism of the governments refusal to halt widespread aerial bombing and pursue peace talks attracted little public comment until that fall, when Senator Thomas Dodd of Connecticut, a close ally of Johnson, attacked Dr. King and cited an obscure 1799 criminal statute, the Logan Act, that prohibited private citizens from interacting with foreign governments.
Background reading:

 Matt Flegenheimers reporting on Monday that Democrats have vowed to filibuster Judge Gorsuchs nomination.

 The Senate filibuster, explained.

Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes.com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if that isnt enough, we can even text.

How do I listen?

If you dont see an audio player on this page or to subscribe to The Daily for free, follow the instructions below.

On your iPhone or iPad:

Open the preloaded app called Podcasts; it has a purple icon. If youre reading this from your phone, tap this link, which will take you straight there. (You can also use the magnifying glass icon to search; type The Daily.)

Once youre on the series page, you can tap on the episode title to play it, and tap on the subscribe button to have new episodes sent to your phone free.
I see three factors at play, said Paul Travis, a developer and the managing partner at Washington Square Partners. We are offering quality office space at a lower price point than Manhattan; there are tax incentives available for companies that come to Brooklyn; and, last but not least, the fact is that Brooklyn is where the talent pool is located.

Mr. Travis teamed with Christopher Conlon of Acadia Realty Trust to develop City Point, a 1.8 million-square-foot mixed-use project at 445 Albee Square West, with tenants that include the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and a soon-to-open Trader Joes. The project is currently marketing 20,000 square feet of office space with an asking rent of around $55 a square foot. By comparison, asking rents in Lower Manhattan are $62 a square foot, while in Midtown they are nearly $84 a square foot, according to fourth-quarter figures from the brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Downtown Brooklyn has a total of 17 million square feet of office space, and the new office construction is expected to add two million to three million square feet, according to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. The vacancy rate in the area is very tight, at just 3.1 percent.

We get calls from companies wanting to move to Downtown Brooklyn, but with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the city, there is nothing available, said Regina Myer, the president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. We are losing these jobs to other neighborhoods and even cities outside of New York, so having this new Class A office space is critical.
The separation of Britain from Europe, set in motion by Prime Minister Theresa May last week, began a historic process but one not as abrupt as the first Brexit. That was the catastrophic destruction of the land bridge that for 10 million years had joined Britain physically to the Continent.

The bridge was a rock formation, about 20 miles wide, that ran from Dover to Calais and protruded several hundred miles into France and Britain. It was made of chalk, as can be seen in the cross-section where it has been ripped away at the white cliffs of Dover.

After many years of work, starting with the underwater surveys made in preparation for digging the Channel Tunnel, geologists have at last assembled a picture of the mighty forces that tore the bridge away and gave Britain its identity as an island, rather than a mere peninsula of Europe like Denmark and Scandinavia. Their account appears in Wednesdays issue of Nature Communications.

In the last ice age, sea levels rose and fell as water was locked up in ice sheets during cold periods and released to the oceans in warm ones. At high sea levels, water would nearly encircle Britain but never surmounted the land bridge, which stood 100 to 300 feet above the waves.
Those who dismiss Milan as a Brutalist concrete jungle may have simply never looked beyond the citys closed doors. Now, its most beautiful private entries are brought to life in a beautiful architectural book called Ingressi di Milano (Entryways of Milan), which will be feted during Milans annual Salone Del Mobile furniture fair this week. The book, painstakingly researched by the German editor Karl Kolbitz, celebrates 144 spectacular entryways to Milanese residential buildings that run the gamut from quiet midcentury Modernism to all-out graphic abstraction. The ornate residences dispel the reputation of Milan as Italys ugly city, a label bestowed upon it in 1921 by the Novecento architect Giovanni Muzio and rarely shaken nearly a hundred years later.

The book highlights everyday spaces with the most unexpected details: Planes of alabaster, grandiose panels of tufted leather and trompe loeil stained glass all feature alongside a myriad of richly hued marbles from across Italy framed in bronze, plaster and terrazzo. Kolbitz enlisted collaborators such as photographers, architects, writers and stone specialists to contribute to the book: There is an essay on indoor plants and another on ceramics as well as intimate stories from addresses dotted across the city. As Kolbitz writes in the introduction: As a kid growing up in reunited Berlin, surrounded by socialist housing blocks and unkind reconstruction efforts, Milan felt like a place where the 20th century had grown both effortlessly and elegantly.
UN peacekeeping drill concludes

Exercise Shanti Prayas III, a military drill of the multinational armies contributing to the UN Peacekeeping mission, concluded at Birendra Peace Operation Training Centre in Panchkhal of Kavre on Monday.
That evening, we took a sunset boat ride on the Mekong with a Dutch couple. Over canapes and bottles of Beerlao, we spoke with Kanh, a 25-year-old hotel worker accompanying us. He had begun working at River Resort three months earlier.

He was from Pakse, he said, the son of a Vietnamese mother and a father who was Laotian and Chinese. While his mother had been born here, her parents were from Hue, the old imperial capital in central Vietnam. They had fled the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces in 1975, only to eventually settle in another Communist country.

Hes the original mixed Southeast Asian, Tini said with a laugh. Her ancestors, too, were from Hue, and she and her family had also fled Vietnam in 1975. They ended up deep in the American South. So went the vagaries of history.

The next morning, we took a ferry across the river, followed by a bus to a river port to the south, where we hopped on a wooden boat crammed with backpackers for a ride to what is known as the Four Thousand Islands area, or Si Phan Don, on the border with Cambodia. This stretch of the Mekong was filled with small islets and rocks. Waterfalls abounded. It was here that French colonists were unable to navigate ships up the Mekong to southwest China without building a small railroad across Don Khon and Don Det.

We stayed for a couple of nights on the northern side of Don Khon. We got a riverside room at Sengahloune Villa, a more rustic place than the River Resort. The narrow waterways, wooden skiffs and palm trees swaying among the islands reminded me of the backwaters of Kerala in southern India and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where the Mekong emptied into the South China Sea.

We spent our days biking around the island and watching the sunset from the old French railroad bridge next to our hotel.

One afternoon, we hired a small boat off the southern tip of Don Khon, near the old railway tracks, to see the areas famous freshwater dolphins. As we strained from our boat to catch a glimpse of the dolphins, we saw a group of monks in saffron robes sitting in a skiff. They had come over from Cambodia. Their boat flew the Cambodian flag, with an image of the main temple at Angkor Wat.

They sat there with umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun and pointed whenever the head or back of a dolphin poked above the water for a few seconds. The river flowed onward, passing around their boat and continuing for hundreds of miles to the ocean far away.
A new effort to pass the Republican health care bill has been propelled by an amendment that would allow states to waive certain insurance regulations in Obamacare. We examined the probable effects when the idea surfaced in April. Now that those ideas have become part of the legislative package, weve updated our analysis.

Throughout the debate to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, President Trump and Republican congressional leaders have insisted they would retain a crucial, popular part of the health law: the promise that people can buy insurance even if theyve had illnesses in the past.

Their efforts foundered in March, when a House health bill had to be pulled from the floor after it failed to attract enough support. But now, the bill appears back from the dead, because of a compromise meant to attract votes from the conservative Freedom Caucus. The proposed changes would effectively cast aside the Affordable Care Acts protection of people with pre-existing conditions.

The terms of the new amendment, go something like this: States would have the option to jettison two major parts of the Affordable Care Acts insurance regulations. They could decide to opt out of provisions that require insurers to cover a standard, minimum package of benefits, known as the essential health benefits. And they could decide to do away with a rule that requires insurance companies to charge the same price to everyone who is the same age, a provision called community rating. In exchange, states would be required to set up special arrangements for high-cost patients.
If Judge Neil Gorsuch is confirmed to the Supreme Court, he will become not only the ninth vote in a divided court but also a colleague with the potential to move his eight peers in a conservative direction. A compelling new analysis suggests that this kind of peer effect may even be more consequential than a justices vote.

This means that the stakes over who fills the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia are higher than is widely understood.

The finding that Supreme Court justices have a big effect on their colleagues comes from a recent working paper, Peer Effects on the United States Supreme Court, by three economists, Richard Holden of the University of New South Wales, Michael Keane of Oxford University, and Matthew Lilley, an Australian pursuing his doctorate at Harvard. Though not yet peer-reviewed, the paper is already making waves in academic circles.

Social scientists have long been interested in peer effects  the idea that we influence and are influenced by those around us. In the judicial context, it means that whoever is seated in the vacant Supreme Court seat will influence the decisions made by other Supreme Court justices, just as the new nominee will be influenced by the existing eight justices.
The civil rights movement was not won by calling Bull Connor a racist, he said. He was a racist. But it was won by saying we should be at that lunch counter.

Mr. Garcetti said that during a visit to Washington, Los Angeles officials met with Gary Cohn, the presidents top economic adviser, about getting a share of the public works investment program Mr. Trump has pledged to propose. Mr. Brown, in a recent Washington visit, met with Elaine Chao, the secretary of transportation, to lobby for support for a high-speed rail project.

I know some people feel very strongly, so I dont want to minimize their ardor, Mr. Brown said while in Washington. At the same time, we want to work with Mr. Trump. If it isnt a trillion dollars, its tens of billions that California can get.

Democrats are trying to balance the powerful anti-Trump sentiment among Democratic voters with the awareness of the threats California now faces with the Trump Administration, captured most recently by the failed health care bill, which would cost the state close to $20 billion in aid. At the same time, they are trying to figure out the extent to which Mr. Trump responds to the traditional tools of a political negotiation: Compromise, cajoling and threat.

Rob Stutzman, a longtime California Republican strategist who led an anti-Trump movement last year, said Democrats were at risk of provoking a backlash that could hurt the state.

The Democrats have to be careful of overreach, he said. A statewide sanctuary law, thats an overreach. Thats exposing a lot of their members to a bad vote.

A poll of California residents last month by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley found that 53 percent opposed state and local governments being permitted to ignore requests from federal authorities to detain illegal immigrants. But even though Mr. Trump is extraordinarily unpopular in this state, Californians, by a margin of 53 to 37 percent, said state leaders should work with him when they disagree with him, rather than risk consequences of pure defiance.
With the national media descending on Georgias Sixth Congressional District, and outside money pouring in, the contest is viewed as a major test of whether a wave of left-wing activism since Mr. Trumps inauguration will produce change at the ballot box.

Ms. Coxs group is one of more than a dozen popping out like dogwood blooms in these comfortable suburbs of brick homes, shopping malls and technology companies. They have names like the Johns Creek-Milton Progressives Network, Roswell Resistance Huddle and Liberal Moms of Roswell and Cobb.

If a Democrat were to win the seat  once held by Newt Gingrich, and recently vacated by Tom Price, who joined Mr. Trumps cabinet as secretary of health and human services  it would not be because of the $4 million that has come into the Ossoff campaign, much of it from national donors. Rather, it would be thanks to volunteer brigades roused by Mr. Trumps election, who are knocking on doors, making phone calls and writing personalized post cards to turn out voters.

Even though the district favors Republicans, special elections are low-participation affairs; a strong ground game by Democrats could upend the usual outcome.

Mr. Ossoff, 30, a documentary filmmaker and first-time candidate, is hoping for a knockout punch in the open primary on April 18. All candidates in the race appear on the same ballot. If Mr. Ossoff, the polling leader, can win more than 50 percent, it will eliminate a runoff. If the race goes to a second round, scheduled June 20, a Republican would be favored because of the partys historic advantage.
Russian intelligence operatives tried in 2013 to recruit an American businessman and eventual foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who is now part of the F.B.I. investigation into Russias interference into the American election, according to federal court documents and a statement issued by the businessman.

The businessman, Carter Page, met with one of three Russians who were eventually charged with being undeclared officers with Russias foreign intelligence service, known as the S.V.R. The F.B.I. interviewed Mr. Page in 2013 as part of an investigation into the spy ring, but decided that he had not known the man was a spy, and the bureau never accused Mr. Page of wrongdoing.

The court documents say that Mr. Page, who founded an investment company in New York called Global Energy Capital, provided documents about the energy business to one of the Russians, Victor Podobnyy, thinking he was a businessman who could help with brokering deals in Russia.

In fact, Mr. Podobnyy was an S.V.R. officer posing as an attache at the Russian mission to the United Nations.
The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. Thats why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen.

Has this series exposed you to new ideas?

Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com.

From the Right:
Under that second possibility, it may not be inevitable that the filibuster rule falls. Red-state Democrats would be less likely to break ranks, and institutionalist or moderate Republican senators, like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, might be more reluctant to vote to change the chambers longstanding rules.

Indeed, it would be politically riskier for Mr. Trump at that point to nominate an outspoken conservative. And it might motivate him to select a more moderate nominee than if the filibuster had already been abolished, just as 2016s political reality led Mr. Obama to pick a nominee who was older and more moderate than liberal activists preferred.

That possibility has prompted Ed Whelan, a prominent conservative legal commentator and the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, to argue that it is in the long-term interests of conservatives if Republicans can abolish the filibuster as part of confirming Judge Gorsuch.

Filibuster of Gorsuch would be best possible set-up for abolition of #SCOTUS filibuster. Need strong nominees for next vacancies, Mr. Whelan wrote on Twitter. He added: Not saying filibuster abolition will be easy. But it will be much harder with next vacancy. Best to have fight now. Pave way to transform the Supreme Court.

A few other voices publicly agree. Richard L. Hasen, a liberal law professor at the University of California, Irvine, has argued that Democrats should hold their fire for the next vacancy, when they will have more leverage.

And John O. McGinnis, a conservative legal scholar at Northwestern University has argued that the Democrats threatened filibuster this week seems irrational if its purpose is to help create a Supreme Court more friendly to Democratic commitments. Eliminating the filibuster rule, he said, would leave them in a worse position for the rest of President Trumps term.
WASHINGTON  The Senate on Tuesday began formal debate on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, hurtling toward a blistering partisan conflict this week over the selection itself, the chambers future rules and the decaying standards of civility among lawmakers.

The consideration of Judge Gorsuch began as the Republican majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, took a procedural step to end debate this week on President Trumps nominee. Mr. McConnells maneuver will set in motion a series of critical votes expected to take place on Thursday and Friday. With an almost certain Democratic filibuster of the nomination, the Senate is to vote first on whether to end debate and proceed to an up-or-down vote.

If the filibuster holds, meaning fewer than 60 senators vote to proceed to a full vote on the nominee, Republicans have said they will pursue the so-called nuclear option: changing longstanding rules to elevate Judge Gorsuch on a simple majority vote. That would allow Judge Gorsuch to be confirmed on Friday.

Yet, if the ultimate outcome has seemed preordained for weeks, lawmakers nonetheless felt compelled on Tuesday to frame the confrontation on their terms: Republicans have argued that the responsibility for their own prospective vote  upending Senate tradition to bypass the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations  actually lies with Democrats. Many have refrained from even uttering the phrase nuclear option when pressed, despite its common use in the Capitol, for apparent fear of associating with an act of procedural aggression.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas pointed to the dispute over Ms. Rices role in characterizing the 2012 attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, which killed the American ambassador and three other American officials. Susan Rice is the Typhoid Mary of the Obama administration foreign policy, Mr. Cotton said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. Every time something went wrong, she seemed to turn up in the middle of it.

Where Republicans detect scandal, Democrats see a smoke screen. Mr. Trump and his allies have been looking for indications of wrongdoing by Mr. Obamas team for a month, since the president accused his predecessor of tapping telephones at Trump Tower during last years campaign. No evidence has publicly surfaced to substantiate that claim, and it has been widely dismissed. Having failed to prove the assertion, Mr. Trump and his allies have turned to Ms. Rice.

As the national security adviser, she received intelligence briefings six days a week. Last year, during the campaign, some of Mr. Trumps associates were caught up in eavesdropping of foreign officials. When Americans who are not the target of a warrant are mentioned in reports about such surveillance, their identities are obscured, and they are typically referred to as U.S. Person One or U.S. Person Two.

But top officials, like the national security adviser, can ask the intelligence agencies to disclose the names, a process called unmasking. If the intelligence agencies agree, the briefer typically provides the identities orally.

Former national security officials have said that Ms. Rice was justified in asking for the names of Trump associates referred to in reports that intelligence agencies sent to her last year. The White House was concerned about attempts by the Russian government to interfere in the election, and she had an obvious need to be fully informed, they said.

Ms. Rice said Tuesday that the Russian meddling was a serious issue. It was a grave concern to all of us in the national security team of the president and to the president himself, she said. We took this issue very seriously. We thought it was crucial to defend the integrity of our election process.

She added, For us not to try to understand it would be a dereliction of duty.

Mr. Trumps aides dismissed Ms. Rices comments. Lyin, leakin Susan Rice stammered through her soft ball interview with Dem PR person Andrea Mitchell, Dan Scavino Jr., the White House social media director, wrote on Twitter.
Unicef hands over first prefab health facility

Unicef has handed over a prefabricated health post in Darbung, Gandaki Gaun Palika Ward 5, amidst an event which also included the ward being declared as fully immunised.
BENTIU, South Sudan  The teenage boy walked off the plane with two small rocks jammed into his ears. His head still hurt from the beatings, and loud noises bothered him, but he didnt want any earplugs, just those two little rocks.

He had no bags. His pants were dirty. He was the size of a man but with the confusion of a child in his eyes. He had been drafted into a militia, captured by government soldiers, punched, kicked, whipped and stomped.

And now, after six long years, he was going home.

Stepping into a Unicef truck and sliding across the long benchlike seats in the back, he looked terrified.

Duop, can you hear me? a Unicef worker asked, using the boys first name. Youre going to see your mom.
He is a billionaire who made his fortune in real estate. He has been called a narcissist. He posts to Twitter  incessantly  about politics and his battles against the media. Lately, he has been spending time at a Florida resort named Mar-a-Lago.

His name?

Guo Wengui.

Mr. Guo is a Chinese property magnate who has been living outside the country for more than two years. In recent weeks, he has launched a broadside  in television interviews and on Twitter  criticizing the effectiveness of the Communist Partys fight against corruption, all from the safety of financial capitals like London and New York. He is also a member at President Trumps resort in Palm Beach, and posted photos of himself on the grounds last month with Mar-a-Lagos managing director.

Mr. Guos newly public persona  more akin to a dissident Russian oligarch and highly unusual in Chinese politics  comes at an awkward time, just before Chinas president, Xi Jinping, and Mr. Trump are to meet at the resort for their first summit meeting. The Chinese billionaires ties to the club are a new twist in how President Trumps business interests can complicate diplomacy, in this case with arguably the worlds most important bilateral relationship.

At Mar-a-Lago, moneymaking, socializing and statecraft converged in February, when Shinzo Abe, Japans prime minister, conferred with Mr. Trump over a North Korean missile test in full view of the clubs members. Entry into Mar-a-Lago will be more strict this time than during Mr. Abes visit, said a United States official with knowledge of the preparations for the meeting, who was aware of Mr. Guos remarks, but could offer no details about the security protocols.
Those worries have to do with this city-states insatiable appetite for land. Singapores 5.7 million residents live on 277 square miles, a bit less than the area of New York City, but the land has to accommodate more than a municipalitys needs. It must hold the infrastructure of a country, including military bases, landfills, reservoirs, national parks and one of the worlds busiest airports and harbors.

More than 20 percent of the country is built on reclaimed land, leading its two immediate neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia, to ban the export of sand to Singapore in order to protect their own land. And with plans calling for Singapores population to increase to 6.9 million by 2030, land is at a premium.

Part of the solution has been to look inward. In 2011, the government decided to smooth out a bend in the islands north-south highway by cutting through Bukit Brown. Soon after, the government announced that within 40 years the rest would be paved over, too.

After watching many of their best-known monuments and neighborhoods leveled over the past decades, Singaporeans began to take action  a turning point that people here compare to the 1963 destruction of Pennsylvania Station, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece in New York City whose loss catalyzed historic preservation in the United States.

At their center is an informal group of two dozen volunteers who call themselves Brownies. They offer free tours and run a website that details the cemeterys history and includes testimonials by locals and visitors.

One of the first Brownies was Raymond Goh, 54, a pharmacist who used to lead Halloween tours around the cemetery. (As in many parts of the Chinese cultural world, Singapore is obsessed with ghost stories and ghoulish legends.) After a while, Mr. Goh began to read the inscriptions on the tombstones carefully and was surprised at the antiquity of the graves.
Some American conservatives, including President Trump, warn that secular elites, pursuing an agenda of political correctness, have played down religion as part of a so-called war on Christmas.

In Britain, some are now warning of a war on Easter.

The storm in an egg cup, as the network ITV put it, began after the confectionary giant Cadbury decided to omit the word Easter from the title of an annual egg hunt it sponsors, calling the event Cadburys Great British Egg Hunt.

The event, which has been around for a decade and has been known as the Easter Egg Trail, is co-sponsored with the National Trust, a conservation charity. It sends hundreds of thousands of children hunting for Easter eggs on historic properties across the country on Easter weekend.

The decision was considered such an affront to traditionalists that none less than the archbishop of York and Prime Minister Theresa May intervened to express dismay.
LONDON  Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, was named on Tuesday in a European money laundering investigation.

A Spanish judge, Jose de la Mata Amaya, ordered the seizure of properties in Spain that are controlled by Rifaat al-Assad or his family and are worth 691 million euros, or about $736 million.

Rifaat al-Assad was expelled from Syria in 1984 after a power struggle to determine who would eventually succeed his older brother, President Hafez al-Assad, the father of the current president. He has mostly lived in exile since then.

After Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, Rifaat, from a villa in Spain, tried to proclaim himself the legitimate heir to the presidency, but his bid went nowhere and power quickly passed to Bashar.
In the case of Jehovahs Witnesses, the putative extremism seems to derive mostly from the groups absolute opposition to violence, a stand that infuriated Soviet and now Russian authorities whose legitimacy rests in large part on the celebration of martial triumphs, most notably over Nazi Germany in World War II but also over rebels in Syria.

Jehovahs Witnesses, members of a denomination founded in the United States in the 19th century and active in Russia for more than 100 years, refuse military service, do not vote and view God as the only true leader. They shun the patriotic festivals promoted with gusto by the Kremlin, like the annual celebration of victory in 1945 and recent events to celebrate the annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Mr. Sivak, who says he lost his job as a physical education teacher because of his role as a Jehovahs Witnesses elder, said he voted for Mr. Putin in 2000, three years before joining the denomination. He added that while he had not voted since, nor had he supported anti-Kremlin activities of the sort that usually attract the attention of Russias post-Soviet version of the K.G.B., the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B.

I have absolutely no interest in politics, he said during a recent Jehovahs Witnesses Friday service in a wooden country house in Vorokhobino, a snow-covered village north of Moscow. Around 100 worshipers crammed into a long, chilly room under fluorescent lights to listen to readings from the Bible, sing and watch a video advising them to dress for worship as they would for a meeting with the president.

From the Russian states perspective, Jehovahs Witnesses are completely separate, said Geraldine Fagan, the author of Believing in Russia  Religious Policy After Communism. She added, They dont get involved in politics, but this is itself seen as a suspicious political deviation.

The idea of independent and public religious activity that is completely outside the control of  and also indifferent to  the state sets all sorts of alarm bells ringing in the Orthodox Church and the security services, she said.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia  A man from Kyrgyzstan who had a Russian passport was responsible for the deadly subway blast in St. Petersburg, the Russian and Kyrgyz authorities said Tuesday, as the toll from the attack rose to 14 dead and more than 60 wounded.

The Investigative Committee of Russia, the main federal law enforcement agency, identified the bomber as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22. Kyrgyz officials said he was a member of the Uzbek minority in the southern city of Osh who received Russian citizenship in 2011, around the time he moved to St. Petersburg.

Russian forensic experts found his DNA on a bag left at the Vosstaniya Square subway station, the agencys statement said. A more powerful bomb was discovered there and defused, soon after the explosion on Monday afternoon, on a train that had just departed another station, Sennaya Square.

The DNA evidence, as well as closed-circuit television footage, led investigators to believe that Mr. Dzhalilov had blown himself up and had wanted to bomb the Vosstaniya Square station, the statement said.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  One of the worst chemical bombings in Syria turned a northern rebel-held area into a toxic kill zone on Tuesday, inciting international outrage over the ever-increasing government impunity shown in the countrys six-year war.

Western leaders including President Trump blamed the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and called on its patrons, Russia and Iran, to prevent a recurrence of what many described as a war crime.

Dozens of people, including children, died  some writhing, choking, gasping or foaming at the mouth  after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other banned chemicals, according to witnesses, doctors and rescue workers. They said the toxic substance spread after warplanes dropped bombs in the early morning hours. Some rescue workers grew ill and collapsed from proximity to the dead.

The opposition-run Health Department in Idlib Province, where the attack took place, said 69 people had died, providing a list of their names. The dead were still being identified, and some humanitarian groups said as many as 100 had died.

The government of Mr. Assad, who renounced chemical weapons nearly four years ago after a large chemical attack that American intelligence agencies concluded was carried out by his forces, denied that his military had been responsible, as he has done every time chemical munitions have been used in Syria.

A statement from the Syrian military accused insurgents of responsibility and said they had accused the army of using toxic weapons every time they fail to achieve the goals of their sponsors.


Capture from film 1984. John Hurt signs the date on the actual date of 4/4/1984, when fillmed

(Image by MGM) Details DMCA



George Orwell's 1984 began on a bright cold day in April, April 4th to be specific. His reasoning for this date was specific, 4. Happy 1984 Day!

Winston Smith, first diary entry April 4, 1984

"Last night to the flicks. All war films. One very good one of a ship of refugees being bombed somewhere in the Mediterranean. Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea around him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water, audience shouting with laughter when he sank, then you saw a lifeboat of children with a helicopter hovering over it, there was a middle aged woman, might have been a Jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms, little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms around him and comforting him although she was blue was fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him, then the helicopter planting a 20 kilo bomb in among them, terrific flash and the boat went all to matchwood, then there was a wonderful shot of a child's arm going up up up right up into the air, helicopter with a camera in its nose must have followed it up and there was a lot of applause from the party seats"

George Orwell's 1984 was originally published in 1949, and yet has provided a persistent exploration of contemporary politics.

Originally to be titled The Last Man in Europe , 1984 describes a world at war with constantly switching sides immersed in constant lies. All information is controlled by the state. All institutions are linked to the state and all individuals are dependent on the state.

On April 4, 1984, the main character begins to pen a diary, a criminal act. Winston Smith and everyone around him are strictly controlled in a collective. The collective is so harsh and belittling of the individual that free thinking is illegal, a thought-crime.

There is Big Brother, the entity adopted by the state and there is the Brotherhood, a supposed loose group of people who defy Big Brother. Big Brother issues a dictionary that eliminates language with every edition. And the Brotherhood has its own required reading, called The Theory and Practice to Oligarchical Collectivism . It has become known as the book within the book. Oligarchical Collectivism means the linking or joining of institutions, institutions designed to keep control in the hands of the few.

There are three types of institutions in the world: those of state, those of corporate and those of religion. A foundational concept of the United States is, or was, a separation of these institutions to eliminate the potential for oligarchical collectivism. The founding fathers, or original patriots, may not have used the term, but they certainly observed such diabolical collectives of institutions, states supported by churches, with corporate functions.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).


Kurdistan Maps Flag KRG

(Image by Kurdistan Photo ) Details DMCA



The Iraqi parliament on Saturday, April 1, 2017, voted against raising the flag of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on public buildings and institutions in the city of Kirkuk.

In a session attended by 186 members of the 328-seat parliament, the MPs voted in favor of flying only the Iraqi flag on Kirkuk's public buildings.

Kurdish lawmakers have walked out of the session before the vote. Last week, 26 Kurdish members of Kirkuk's provincial assembly voted in favor of raising the KRG flag alongside Iraq's national flag outside the city's public buildings and institutions.

The Iraqi government says Kirkuk is administratively dependent on Iraq's central government, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party demands Kirkuk's incorporation into the autonomous Kurdish Region.

Kirkuk's population is mainly composed of Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish inhabitants.

Kurdistan regional government (KRG) controls parts of Iraqi Kurdistan estimated to contain around 45 billion barrels of oil, making it the sixth largest reserve in the world.

The RKG has signed direct deals with global oil companies. In 2011, US Oil Company Exxon signed a deal with Kurdistan for six oil blocks scattered around the Kurdish autonomous region.

Kurdish officials say they have a constitutional right to do so, but the central government dismisses the oil transactions as illegal.

In October 2012 Kurdistan's oil has begun to reach international markets in independent export deals that further challenge Baghdad's claim to full control over Iraqi oil.

After the US invasion in 2003 Kurdistan's President Masoud Barzani took advantage of America's support and refused to sign the Iraqi new constitution if the broad autonomy special status was not included. He managed to achieve his goal. The disagreement with Baghdad followed, especially related to the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Barzani warned he would struggle for independence in case no accord is reached. A clash bodes serious bloodshed; the Peshmerga's strength is estimated to be around 200 thousand, a force to reckon with. So far all efforts by Iraqi Prime Minister to bring the Kurds under strict central government control have failed.

In early April, 2012 Kurdistan's President Massoud Barzani visited the US to meet top officials, including President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Barzani informed the US leaders about the current political crisis in Iraq and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's "disrespect" to the articles of the Erbil Agreement and the country's constitution. President Barzani also met with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He encouraged American business to invest in Kurdistan and launched the America-Kurdistan Business Council, which consists of American companies investing and operating in Kurdistan. Being a guest of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Barzani said in unambiguously that "if a solution to the increasing centralization of power in the prime minister's hands cannot be negotiated, he may ask the Kurdish Region's Parliament to consider a referendum to determine the way forward." [1]

There are 5.3 million Kurds in Iraq, about one-sixth of the population of over 30 million, the majority living in Iran, Syria and Turkey with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the USA.

In June 2006 the new Middle East map [2] prepared by retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters was published in the Armed Forces Journal under the title of Blood Borders: How a better Middle East Would Look. Among other things the map reduced Turkish landmass and featured a "Free Kurdistan" that included additional territory taken from Syria and Iraq. Indeed, Iraq was presented as just a fragment of what it is now, carved up to also include Sunnis Iraq and the Arab Shia State.

The term "New Middle East" was introduced to the world in June 2006 in Tel Aviv by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was credited by the Western media for coining the term) in replacement of the older and more imposing term, the "Greater Middle East."

This announcement was a confirmation of an Anglo-American-Israeli "military road map" in the Middle East, according to Mahdi Darius Nazemoaya [3] who adds: This project, which has been in the planning stages for several years, consists in creating an arc of instability, chaos, and violence extending from Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the borders of NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
The Serialization of The 15% Solution: How the Repub. Religious Right Took Control of the US: 1981-2022 , Section 1: Setting the Stage. Chap. 1: The United States in 1995: Setting the Stage for Fascism

A note from the actual author (that is Steven Jonas, MD, MPH): Please note that this chapter was actually written in 1994-95. The similarities between the politics of the Republicans and of the Democrats then and in recent times are NOT purely coincidental.

In fact, the policies of the Democratic Party in the 1990s very much facilitated the eventual Right-Wing Republican takeover described in the book.A Note from the "Author" of the balance of this text (that is "Jonathan Westminster")



(Image by Steven Jonas, MD) Details DMCA



A Note from the "Author" of the balance of the text (that is "Jonathan Westminster")

The story of fascism in the old United States in my view begins with the accession to the Presidency of Carnathon Pine, The Last Re pub li can, in the year 2001. And thus the drama as we will see it in some detail begins in earnest in the next Chap ter, constructed around that personage's Inau gu ral Address. However, before dramas can pro ceed, the stage must be set.

For this book, I have chosen to do that with an essay written by our friend Dino Louis in 1995. As you can see, Louis was never short on opinion and interpretation of facts. The bare facts he occasionally cites throughout the essay were taken primarily from a feature article that ap peared in the then leading weekly printed newsmagazine Time early in that year (Hull, et al). I hope, dear reader, that you will find this essay help ful in understanding from whence fascism arose in our na tional ancestor.

Is the Stage Being Set for Fascism?

by Dino Louis, 1995

Politics Now

A spectre is haunting the United States of America. But it is not the spectre of communism. It is the spectre of fascism.

Elections '94. The Republicans win. The message is clear. Grinchism, developed by Newt Gingrich and his fellows as a meaner, harsher version of Reaganite"'Bushism, is triumphant. The people have spoken. They and the Grinchites have clearly identified what's wrong with the country: government is too big, taxes are too high, the "unde serv ing poor" are "stealing bread from our table," people "different from us" have set out to destroy "our nation."

And on the "moral" side? Well, that slasher of national domestic spending Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, tells us (Nelson):

"The American people in their guts, mothers and fathers across this country, know that over the last couple of decades we have removed the speed limits from the highways, the lines on the highways, the yes and the no, the black and the white and the rights and the wrongs. And Americans are beginning to say that . . . culture has slipped and it's time once more to assert that Judeo-Christian tradition of rights and wrongs and values that guides our nation in the 21st Century."

The proposed solutions to these problems? Shrink government. Cut taxes. Slash government spending, especially on the poor. End toler ance, reinvigo rate prejudice. On the "moral" side? Follow the Chris tian Coali tion (Nelson) and outlaw freedom"'of"'choice in the outcome of pregnancy, require voluntary school prayer, make divorce more diffi cult (except for the leading Republican Presidential candidates), prohibit pornography (ex cept for aspiring Republican Supreme Court nominees), ban sex education and contraception. And oh yes, above all free the "free market."

The "mainstream" Democratic response, enunciated by the Demo cratic Leadership Council and more or less followed along by the Presi dent? "Yes, for the most part, on the economic side, at least, you're right. Although we may disagree on some details of both problem anal ysis and program prescrip tion, you are basically right. And we can be even more Republican than the Republicans. Just let us show you how."

But pause for a moment. Did "the people" as a whole really speak in the 1994 election? Well, no. The message of Reaction was support ed by less than 20% of the eligible electorate. Not voting in droves were those who potential ly benefit most from government intervention in the econo my, and government protection of their rights in the soci ety. It seems safe to assume that they did n't vote because even the Clinton Administration, with its emphasis on deficit cutting not growth stimulation, on being liked not aggressively protect ing rights, did not seem to give them anything much to vote for in either interven tion or protection.

And then consider, have the Grinchites identified the real problems the country faces? Well, no. Since Clinton was elected in 1992 the basic problem list has remained unchanged (Thurow): a declining in dus trial base; the export of manufacturing jobs, to be replaced, if at all, by lower paying service jobs; a continually deteriorating national infra struc ture; serious problems in health services, education, and environ mental protection and preservation; the ever-increasing gap between the have"'a"'lots and everyone else.

It is these problems, not some sudden changes in "Americans' mo rali ty," that are putting tremendous pressure on the Ameri can family, as Thurow has pointed out (1995):

"Falling real wages have put the traditional American family into play, as the one"'earner middle"'class family becomes ex tinct. . . . Thirty"'two percent of all men between 25 and 34 years of age earn less than the amount necessary to keep a fam i ly of four above the poverty line. Mothers have to work lon ger hours if the family is to have its old standard of living.

"Children exist, but no one takes care of them. Parents are spend ing 40 percent less time with their children than they did 30 years ago. More than two million children under the age of 13 have no adult supervision before or after school. Paying for day care would use up all or most of a mother's wages.

" . . . Men have a strong economic incentive to bail out of fami ly responsibilities since when they do so their real stan dard of living rises 73 percent--although that of the family left be hind falls 42 per cent."

Added to these real economic and economy"'based family pressures are resurgent racism and homophobia, the atmosphere of hate fed by a talk radio culture dominated by the Right Wing, and the new national chauvin ism reflect ed in California's "Proposition 187."[1]

Will the DLC"'lead me"'tooism effectively respond to this crisis? Well, no. It won't win elections. That was proven in 1994, when almost every me"'too Democrat running in a closely contested election lost. As [post"'World War II President] Harry Truman once said, when someone wants to vote for a Repub lican, he'll pick the real thing over a pale imita tion every time. But even more importantly, the DLC/Grinchite program simply cannot solve the basic prob lems the country faces because it doesn't face them. It deals with side issues like term limits and "shrinking gov ern ment." It is an agenda of distraction, not focus.

Big problems require big solutions. It's not the size of government that's the problem. It's what government does with its size. It's not the num ber of terms of office that lead to a "non"'responsive Congress," "de voted to the 'Special Interests'." It's corporate campaign financing and the hidden system of lobbying. It's not the tax burden (one of the lowest in the industrial ized world) that's the problem. It's what the tax reve nues are spent on. It's not the poor that are dragging the country down. AFDC could be eliminated to mor row and the total Federal sav ing would amount to less than 10% of the current deficit, less than 1% of the Federal budget. It's the declining industrial base, declining per capita income, and increasing true unemployment.

And the whole so"'called "moral" agenda, the fake "Contract on the Ameri can Family" of the Christian Coalition, could be enacted tomor row and the economic problems that are the real factors making life ever"'tougher for ever more Americans would remain absolutely un touched. Much less personal freedom. No fewer, actually more, per sonal and fami ly problems.

Atomization is Taking Over

The country thus seems to be falling apart. But at a time when people really need to pull together, under a constant barrage of Repub li can propa gan da about "individual responsibility" and the ability of the "free market" to solve every conceivable problem, the people are pull ing apart too. "Many Americans have stocked up on guns and walled in their communi ties," Time tells us in it's own "State of the Union" mes sage (Hull, et al). "More than 700,000 children are educated at home." "Self"'reliance" is spreading, and "in many cases Americans are acting out of long"'term necessity, unable to depend on a life"'long job or the pension that accompa nies it."

"Many American families and businesses are being forced to privat ize security and sanitation by default. Community associations, ranging from small condominiums to sprawling planned communities, have grown from 10,000 in 1970 to 150,000 in 1993 and now include 1 out of every 8 Ameri cans." "Privatization of local services is, however, a lot less liberat ing for the millions of Americans who can't afford it."

The True Economic Perspective

In the face of all this, what is happening to wealth in America? Well, family income has gone up steadily since the Nixon years, but per capita in come has declined. Why has the former risen while the latter has fallen? As pointed out above, two-parent employment, for the most part. Just one of the major family stressors that have arisen over the last 20 years. And while per capita income has declined, the con centra tion of wealth has in creased.

Time again: "Over the past 20 years the very rich have improved their lot in life by getting richer. Half a million U.S. households (one"'half of 1% of the population) now owns 39% of all assets (stocks, bonds, cash, life"'insurance policies, paintings, jewelry, etc.). This makes the U.S. No. 1 among prosper ous nations in the inequality of income. . . . During the Reagan years . . . the nation's net worth in creased from $13.5 trillion to $20.2 trillion . . . between 1983 and 1989, $3.9 trillion of the reward was captured by the top one"'half on 1%." That's almost 60% of the in crease in wealth going to that top 0.5%.

Or as Thurow put it (1995):

"The tide rose (the real per capita gross domestic product went up 29 per cent between 1973 and 1993), but 80 percent of the boats sank. Among men, the top 20 percent of the labor force has been winning all of the country's wage increases for more than two de cades. . . .

"With the death of Communism and, later, market socialism as eco nomic alternatives, capitalists have been able to employ more ruthless approaches to getting profits without worrying about po litical pres sure. 'Survival of the fittest' capitalism is on the march. What econ omists call 'efficiency wages' (a com pa ny pay ing higher salaries than the minimum it needs to pay, so that it gets a skilled, cooperative, loyal work force) are dis ap pearing to be replaced by a different form of motivation--the fear of losing one's job [and one's health insur ance]."

I just wonder if Reagan's tax cuts for the wealthy and borrow"'to"'spend policies had anything to do with all these develop ments.

Some Social Issues

Let's take a look at some social problems, like crime for instance. The crime rate has actually been falling a bit over the last couple of years, while the nation rose to first place among developed nations for proportion of its citizens incarcerated. But crime overall has risen dra matically dur ing the peri od since the 1970s when all those prisons have been built. Why? They are irrelevant. There is an arrest in only about a fifth of all crimes, with only half of those leading to convic tions in serious cases, and few er than 50% of those leading to jail time (Lacayo).

Even while crime has been decreasing slightly in recent years, the fear of crime has risen markedly. Part of this is real. Murder is still a rela tively rare event in this country, with a rate that has remained more or less unchanged since the 70s. But the proportion of murders com mitted by strangers has risen dramatically, while the homicide"'solution rate dropped from 91% in 1965 to 66% in 1993.

And youth violence has increased markedly. What might the rea sons be? Not enough prisons? Not long enough sentences? Well, the Director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, "recommends focusing on the in creasing number of chil dren brought up in 'no parent' homes." Dare I say there is some relationship between the latter and declining per-capita"'income/ rising"'two"'parent"'employment, and rising one"'parent working/no"'affordable"'day"'care"'available for their pre"'school chil dren?

However, at least part of the increasing fear of crime is definitely the work of politicians in both parties. For them a focus on crime and "being tough" on it wins elections (even if the advocated measures af fect the crime rate not more than minimally). And then there are the media (pri marily in the hands of major corporations like General Elec tric and major private right"'wingers like Rupert Murdoch) for whom presenting crime, real, fic tional, semi"'real, and semi"'fictional, in gorier and gorier detail, up"'close and personal, makes money. Finally, there are the demons of right"'wing talk radio, who especially like to color crime black and brown.

What about education? Well, while, for example, our 13 year"'olds rank 14th among the children of the developed countries in math per for mance, and does anyone know where Belgium is, it's estimated that less than half of the average of $5300.00 spent per pupil in this country goes to support classroom work. As to health care, costs continue to sky rocket, quality declines, health care corporation profits rise, and the critically"'required comprehensive reform is once again a dream that does not become reality, just as it has every time it's been seriously proposed by a national leader, beginning with Teddy Roose velt in his 1912 Bull Moose campaign.

In response to this situation, Americans turn to God, in massive num bers. 95% profess to be believers, distributed among about 1600 denomi nations (44% of them non"'Christian). 40% of Americans pro fess to attend a religious institution regularly. With churches hardly hard to find, there is hardly "Christian persecution" going on, despite what the Religious Right would have us believe.

Democracy in Decline

In the face of all this, it seems that our democratic structures are be ginning to crumble. According to John Gray, a fellow of Jesus Col lege, Oxford Uni ver sity (England) (1995):

"In the United States the end of the cold war [2] has intensified a mood of political cynicism. American public opinion expects little from its democratic institutions, and if the experience of the last decade or so is any guide, even its modest expectations are likely to be disappoint ed. . . .

"The mobility of capital has contributed significantly to the decline of the middle class and its distinctive culture. . . . This may prove [to be] of decisive importance for democracy in the United States and in other Western democracies--namely the pro letarianization, through rising debt, falling incomes and un relent ing job insecurity, of the tra ditional middle classes. The U.S. undoubtedly leads the field in repli cating in a Western industrial economy the middle"'class impotence that is an en dem ic feature of many third world countries in Latin America and elsewhere. . . .

"In a worst"'case scenario, we may even glimpse a sort of Colombianization of the United States, in which failing political insti tutions, become increasingly marginal in an ungovernable, criminalized and endemically violent society."

I could not have made the point better myself. But in the midst of all this, what does the winning party in the last election offer us? Why noth ing other than the "Contract On," sorry, I mean the "Contract For Ameri ca," alluded to above. Relevant to the problem list? Right up there with what we need? Problem"'solutions provided by the Party of Business? Not quite!

For proof of that statement, here's the "Contract" in a nutshell (Kel ly): a balanced federal budget by the year 2002; term limits for mem bers of Con gress; "tough" welfare"'"reform;" cut crime"'prevention, increase incarceration; carry out death sentences quicker; permit the use of improp erly seized evi dence; restrict the use of U.S. troops in United Nations oper ations; prevent the use of money saved from military"'spending cuts for national domestic pro grams; cut the capital"'gains tax; raise the Social Se curity earnings limit; enact a 'loser pays' provision for civil litigation; cut Congressional staffing by a third and the number of Congres sional com mittees; require Congress to ap ply to itself the laws it passes; require a three"'fifths majority for tax hikes; and sub mit proposed Federal environ mental regulations to risk"'assess ment and cost"'benefit analysis.

Like the Christian Coalition's "Contract on the American Family" of which this "contract" was a precursor, what a prescription of irrele vance. Just put the real problem"'list against the "solution list" con tained in either "Con tract." Nothing on what really ails the country. Nothing on jobs, export of, and insecurity in. Nothing on the crum bling infrastructure. Nothing on health, nothing on education, nothing on the environment (ex cept to make it easier for companies to poison it). Lots of focus on wel fare, only a small chunk of Fed eral spending, but great politics because it's painted black (even though two thirds of recipients aren't). The crime proposals focus on measures that just don't work and take money away from ones that either do or at least might. Balanced budget and term limits? How are they going to affect every day life?

More tax cuts for the rich? In the 80s, cuts for them didn't lead to invest ment and jobs here at home--just to speculation, sometimes huge finan cial losses, export of capital, and that widening gap between rich and poor. Then there's the proposal for "reform" of the civil litigation system to address a problem that just doesn't exist: an "avalanche of tort litiga tion" against com pa nies. In fact, the major increase in civil cases is in contract actions between companies (Kelder)--and so forth. And the Dem ocrats right now have nothing much better.

And then there's the "moral" agenda, as noted not exactly designed to touch the declining industrial base and declining per capita incomes; the export of manufacturing jobs, to be replaced, if at all, by a less than equal number of lower paying service jobs; and a continually dete riorat ing na tional infrastruc ture.

John Gray, in that last sentence I quoted from him, is right. And that "Colombian" state, that unstable, violent, insecure state, in a do mestic environ ment of increasing racism and xenophobia, is a prescrip tion for future, massive "civil unrest," followed by the imposition of a violent, oppressive, authoritari an governing structure to control it.

A spectre is haunting the United States of America. But it is not the spectre of communism. It is the spectre of fascism. Is anyone out there watching or listening? And if they are, are they seeing or hearing any thing?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References:

Gray, J., "Does Democracy Have a Future?" The New York Times Book Re view, Jan uary 22, 1995, p. 1.

Hull, J.D., et al, "The State of the Union," Time, January 30, 1995, p. 53.

Kelder, G., "What Speaker Newt's 'Contract on America' and Tort 'Reform' Mean for the Tobacco Control Movement," Tobacco on Trial, Novem ber/December, 1994, p. 3.

Kelly, M., "You Say You Want a Revolution," The New Yorker, Novem ber 21, 1994, p. 56.

Lacayo, R., "Lock 'Em Up!," Time, February 7, 1994.

Nelson, L"'E., "Contract Words, Deeds Divorced," Newsday, May 18, 1995, p. A 19.

Thurow, L.C., "Companies Merge; Families Break Up," New York Times, September 3, 1995, News of the Week in Re view.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Author's Note: This latter item referred to a product of the old "Initiative and Referendum" system used most prominently in California. Once a tool of progressives, Initiative and Referendum became a leading anti-democratic tool of Right-Wing Reac tion in both the Transition Era and the Fascist Period. I discuss it in some detail in Chapter four.

[2] Author's Note: The "Cold War" was a 45 year-long, primarily political, econom ic, diplomatic (but non-military) battle between the old U.S. and the old Soviet Union, that followed the end of World War II. The Cold War came to an end following the peaceful demise of the old Soviet Union as a nation-state.
Maine's Angus King is a swing Independent Senator who caucuses with Democrats. As a former lawyer, like many of his colleagues, he could not plead ignorance about the historic importance of his vote on the fateful Senate filibuster against confirmation of Pres. Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Nothing less is at stake than the struggle for democracy against the plutocracy that Gorsuch represents. Going into the week in which the decision on Gorsuch will be made King remained aligned with the small and declining group of hold-out Democrats. When King finally joined the filibuster on late Tuesday afternoon, the last Senator to make his position known, it became clear that the Democrats' 44 filibustering Senators would be enough to reliably defeat cloture.

The March Confirmation hearings for Trump's far-right , " friendly fascist ," and " soulless ," nominee who is a plagiarist, defender of torture and a Federalist Society operative, demonstrated no reason for anyone not beholden to the 1% to support Gorsuch. As Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) explained , "a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court requires much more than a genial demeanor and an ability to artfully dodge even the most pointed of questions." King criticized the " evasive, and, at worst, simply not forthright" performance by Gorsuch in the confirmation hearings. But for four Democratic Party defectors this was enough.

A weekend of anti-Gorsuch demonstrations in such cities as New York, Chicago, Seattle and Denver was designed to stiffen the Democrats' spine at the opening of the week when the historic vote on Gorsuch will be taken. The 11-9 Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination on Monday and sent it to the Senate floor for three days of debate. The announcements of four previously reluctant Senators, Feinstein, Warner, Leahy and Coons, on the same day made a successful filibuster likely. The key vote will come when Gorsuch supporters vote for cloture (i.e. closing down) of the filibuster. Before they can proceed to an up-or down majority vote for confirmation on Friday as they expect, the Republicans would, under a venerable Senate rule they threaten to trash, need to get 60 votes for cloture. Since 1968 there have been four filibusters of Supreme Court confirmations under this rule. Republicans have only 52 Republican votes plus the votes of three Democratic defectors, which is enough for confirmation. But they lack the 60 votes necessary to end the filibuster.

The systemically collapsing Democrats seem to have received the message that they need to display some of the same kind of the backbone that McConnell's Republicans did when blocking Obama's failed Merrick Garland nomination to fill this seat on the Court. When the New York Times counted 41 Democrats in the filibuster column by Monday afternoon, discussion turned to the predicted Republican abolition of the filibuster by change of the Senate rules.

Angus King had originally hinted that he would vote for cloture but then vote against confirmation where the Republican majority will prevail anyway. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) seemed to suggest that they would take the same approach. This would allow such Senators to effectively vote for plutocracy in practice while pretending to vote against it in principle. Casting votes on both sides of an issue is pretty much routine theatrics for the fake opposition to plutocracy, sometimes described as Kabuki politics. This is what would have been expected from more of the spineless Democrats who are "not inclined to filibuster" if progressives had not intervened to insist that Democrats furnish evidence they are not just Republican lite. In the failed filibuster of Justice Alito's 2006 nomination many Democrats used this means to obfuscate their vote.

This time around, if it were not for the pro-plutocracy Democrats and their corrupt DNC and superdelegates, progressives would be determining this nomination through their own President Sanders. This debt requires payment, which cannot be made by changing the subject to the Russians. Casting a meaningless vote against the elite credentialed and pedigreed Judge Gorsuch, the son of a Reagan pro-pollution EPA director, but refusing to cast the meaningful vote against cloture would not work with a politically aroused public. Since Trump dredged Gorsuch up from the same plutocratic swamp he promised to drain, as he has all his other appointees so far, filibustering Gorsuch should have been an easy call for any true opposition party.

Chris Coons (DE) was counted as the Democrats' decisive 41 st filibusterer. Coons added a highly temporizing qualification to the announcement of his expected vote against cloture. He suggested that if he can get a deal that "ensure[s] the process to fill the next vacancy on the court is not a narrowly partisan process" he might ultimately agree to cloture and therefore to putting Gorsuch on the Court. Since it was not entirely certain that the Democrats did have a secure hold on 41 votes against cloture, Angus King's vote remained important. With 44 votes against cloture Democrats will likely defeat the Gorsuch nomination unless Republicans resort to the "nuclear option" of abolishing the anti-democratic filibuster rule, or legitimizing a work around , as the price for his appointment.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob's bottom-up consulting for Thought Technology over the years to help us incorporate bottom-up thinking in our business and product development has been very valuable. It is a truly disruptive technique, well worth considering, which is well explained in his book."



Hal Myers, PhD, President, Thought Technology, Ltd. Member of the Board of Directors for the Ten to the Ninth Foundation (formerly Singularity University)


Speak No Evil

(Image by Slimdandy) Details DMCA



It is often said that if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

Unfortunately, the American government has been the opposite of good for too long now.

In fact, the American government has been very, very, very bad: so bad, in fact, as to be almost indistinguishable at times from the evil it claims to be fighting, whether that evil takes the form of terrorism, torture, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, murder, violence, theft, pornography, scientific experimentations or some other diabolical means of inflicting pain, suffering and servitude on humanity.

Philosopher Susan Neiman suggests that referring to something as "evil is a way of marking the fact that it shatters our trust in the world."

It's an apt description for a government that keeps violating the sacred trust of its citizenry.

"We the people" should have learned early on that a government that repeatedly lies, cheats, steals, spies, kills, maims, enslaves, breaks the laws, overreaches its authority, and abuses its power at almost every turn can't be trusted.

Consider just a few of the ways in which the government--in a misguided, ill-conceived, flawed, bureaucratic and downright Orwellian attempt to fight evil with evil--continues to inflict evil on the citizenry.

Peddling child pornography to catch child porn consumers: As part of an effort to crack down on child porn consumers and traffickers, for two weeks in 2015, the FBI secretly hijacked a child porn website, improved the technical functionality of the site, and uploaded tens of thousands of images of child pornography to the site. In doing so, the government not only became the largest distributor of child pornography, but it also became the largest exploiter of children. All told, the FBI was accused of hosting an estimated 22,000 images, videos and links of child pornography that more than 100,000 people accessed.

Trafficking weapons to catch drug traffickers. They referred to it as Operation Fast and Furious: a 15-month sting operation aimed at dismantling Mexican drug cartels and disrupting drug trafficking routes within the United States. Only it didn't quite work out that way. As the National Review reports, "Under 'Operation Fast & Furious,' the U.S. government became a de facto arms dealer to Mexican drug cartels and Islamist criminals." Not only did the U.S. government allowed gun sellers and informants to sell approximately 2,000 weapons to gun traffickers, but government agents then lost track of an estimated 1,400 weapons, many of which make it into the hands of the drug cartels and were used to murder and commit crimes.

Dealing drugs to catch drug dealers. Taking advantage of federal and state asset forfeiture laws that allow police to seize and keep money if they suspect it may be related to criminal activities, law enforcement agencies have been raking in millions of dollars in entrapment schemes in which they sell cocaine to drug users and then bust them for buying it, or lure big-city drug dealers to suburban towns with promises of big sales and then bust them in the act. As the Sun Sentinel reports: "Undercover officers tempt these distant buyers with special discounts, even offering cocaine on consignment and the keys to cars with hidden compartments for easy transport. In some deals, they've provided rides and directions to these strangers..."

Fighting wars abroad by fueling wars abroad. The United States, the world's largest exporter of arms, has been selling violence to the world for too long now. Controlling more than 50 percent of the global weaponry market, the U.S. has sold or donated weapons to at least 96 countries in the past five years, including the Middle East. Some of these weapons inevitably end up in our enemies' hands, as well as those of terrorists.

Creating terrorists in order to snare terrorists. The FBI has a long, sordid history of inventing crimes, breeding criminals and helping to hatch and then foil terrorist plots in order to advance its own sordid agenda: namely, amassing greater powers under the guise of fighting the war on terrorism. Investigative journalist Trevor Aaronson argues convincingly that "the FBI is much better at creating terrorists than it is at catching terrorists." According to Aaronson's calculations, the FBI is responsible for more terrorism plots in the United States than al Qaeda, al Shabaab and the Islamic State combined. One of the government's tactics involves radicalizing impressionable young men in order to create and then "catch" terrorists.

Spreading disease in order to cure disease. For years, the American government conducted secret experiments on an unsuspecting populace--citizens and noncitizens alike--making healthy people sick by spraying them with chemicals, injecting them with infectious diseases and exposing them to airborne toxins. Then there was the U.S. military's secret race-based testing of mustard gas on more than 60,000 enlisted men. And the CIA's MKULTRA program in which hundreds of unsuspecting American civilians and military personnel were dosed with LSD, some having the hallucinogenic drug slipped into their drinks at the beach, in city bars, at restaurants.

Are you starting to notice a pattern here?

For too long now, the American people have been persuaded to barter their freedoms for phantom promises of security and, in the process, have rationalized turning a blind eye to all manner of government wrongdoing--asset forfeiture schemes, corruption, surveillance, endless wars, SWAT team raids, militarized police, profit-driven private prisons, and so on--because they were the so-called lesser of two evils.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob explores the difference between a natural, organic, bottom-up connection consciousness and our corporately imposed top-down hierarchical collective consciousness. What Rob is speaking about is the difference between an artificial and ultimately stagnate way of organizing the world and a natural, organic growth, which starts with a seed, sends downs roots and sends up shoots which blossom. By returning to a Nature-based theory of connection, the Bottom-Up revolution brings us back into alignment with Earths laws, returning humanity to its place in creation. Like a good gardener, Rob works into the soil of his thesis different voices that exemplify how this Bottom-Up revolution is expanding in politics, business, religion, personal self-awareness and story. And he places technology where it belongsas a tool to further our connection consciousness, not an end in itself. The bottom-up revolution is about democracy finally living up to its original ideals, where we the people decide what we need from our society."



Cathy Pagano, author of Wisdoms Daughters: How Women Can Change the World
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution has really caused me to relook and reframe many of my thoughts on where our connectedness using social media tools like LinkedIn is headed, and not just for career trajectory but for life. If you are looking for a new perspective on our sometimes zany digital world we live in, this book will keep you reading and may ultimately revise but for sure challenge your current paradigm."



Wayne Breitbarth, author of The Power Formula for Linkedin Success: Kick-Start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search
Dairy Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their diaries after publishing them.



To see if the diary was renamed or re-published, please click here.
Quicklink Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them.



To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here.
Progressive Content Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing.



To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here.
Griffin Benger Becomes the 2017 Irish Open Champion

April 03, 2017 Matthew Pitt Editor

Canadian star Griffin Benger made the trip to Dublin, Ireland for the 2017 Irish Open and it turned out to be a superb decision because he outlasted 1,129 opponents to become the tournaments champion, an accolade that came with a 200,000 first-place prize.

2017 Irish Open Final Table Results

Place Player Prize 1 Griffin Benger 200,000 2 Mihail Mazilu 125,000 3 Chris Dowling 75,000 4 Vamshi Vandanapu 50,000 5 Antony Wickert 35,000 6 Sameer Singh 25,000 7 Fintan Hand 19,445 8 Michael Conaty 15,750 9 Michael Fletcher 13,500

A record-breaking field of 1,129 players created a prize pool of 1,128,294 which was shared among the top 135 finishers. The money bubble burst on Day 2 when the 535 Day 1a and Day 1b players were reduced to a more manageable 113.

The unfortunate player to burst the bubble was Paul Carr whose pocket sixes fell foul to the ace-king of Kristaps Zarans when the latter paired his king on the flop. Carr received an entry to the 2018 Irish Open as a consolation prize while the surviving 135 players each locked up at least 1,500 in cash.

By the time the unofficial final table of nine was set, the minimum any of the finalists could win was 13,500 but with 200,000 awarded to the eventual champion, nine of the final nine wanted to claim that sum.

2017 Irish Open Final Table Chip Counts

Seat Player Chips 1 Chris Dowling 1,945,000 2 Michael Conaty 2,090,000 3 Mihail Mazilu 1,855,000 4 Griffin Benger 8,010,000 5 Antony Wickert 7,630,000 6 Sameer Singh 1,100,000 7 Michael Fletcher 1,100,000 8 Vamshi Vandanapu 2,420,000 9 Fintan Hand 6,895,000

It took more than four hours of nine-handed play before a player was eliminated on the final day. With blinds at 80,000/160,000/20,000a, Michael Conaty moved all in for 2,345,000 and Michael Fletcher called off his chips in the big blind. It was king-ten of clubs for Conaty and a pair of nines for Fletcher. Two tens on the flop left Fletcher drawing thin with a king on the turn leaving him drawing dead.

Despite winning Fletchers stack, Conaty was the next player to head for the rail. Conaty opened to 400,000 from the cutoff with ace-ten and Benger called in the small blind with the dominating ace-jack.

Benger then check-raised Conatys 425,000 continuation bet to 950,000 and called when Conaty moved all in on him on the jack-high flop. No help arrived for Conaty on the turn or river and his 2017 Irish Open came to an end.

Conaty was the 2016 Irish Open runner-up; he had reached back-to-back Irish Open final tables.

Seventh place went to Fintan Hand who sported a shamrock suit throughout the final day. Hands final hand saw him call Chris Dowlings 2,300,000 shove from the big blind with ace-ten only to see Dowling reveal ace-jack of diamonds. Dowling improved to a full house by the turn to leave six players in the hunt for the 200,000 top prize.

Those six became five when Sameer Singh saw the dealer slide his stack to Vamshi Vandanapu. Singhs ace-six was no match for the ace-jack of his opponent, and when neither player improved on the community cards, Vandanapus jack-kicker played and Singh bust.

Next to fall was Antony Wickert who moved all in with ace-six and was called by Benger holding ace-ten. Wickert didnt even get a sweat because Benger flopped a Broadway straight to send him to the cashiers cage.

Vandanapu was the next casualty of the final table. The blinds were now 120,000/240,000/30,000a and Mihail Mazilu made it 800,000 to see the flop. Vandanapu called, as did Dowling.

A flop reading king-five-five saw the action check to Mazilu and he bet 1,000,000. Dowling folded, Vandanapu jammed all in for the rest of his 4.3 million stack and Mazilu snap-called with a pair of black aces. Vandanapu needed a minor miracle as he held king-queen, but the poker gods were not charitable and Mazilus hand held.

Shortly after returning from the dinner break, Dowling was eliminated in third place. Dowling raised to 660,000 at the 150,000/300,000/40,000a level, Benger three-bet to 1,700,000, Dowling shoved and Benger called.

Dowling turned over ace-eight and Benger held the ace-queen. An ace and a queen on the flop tightened Bengers grip on the hand with the three of diamonds turn card guaranteeing victory.

Benger trailed Mazilu by 13,050,000 to 20,795,000 chips going into the one-on-one battle but the stacks were soon reversed when Benger flopped a straight with his five-four of diamonds and managed to get Mazilu to call a huge overbet with a pair of eights.

With the chip lead in hand, Benger began to turn the screw and it didnt take long for him to claim Mazilus stack for his own.

The final hand of the 2017 Irish Open saw Benger check-raise with on an flop and then call when Mazilu moved all in with . The turn and river kept Bengers hand best, which bust Mazilu in second place and left Benger to win what is the fourth major live poker title of his career.

Lead image courtesy of the Irish Open
It's been a good week for hip hop. Future's single has everyone appreciating the skillful instrumentation in rap music, The Get Down returns to Netflix, and yesterday rapper Joe Budden and DJ turned "one man TMZ" DJ Akademiks announced their show on Complex Networks. That's right, starting April 10, every Monday-Friday you can head to Complex News on YouTube and watch Noah Callahan-Bever and Nadeska Alexis moderate as the pair discuss hip hop, top performers, overrated artists, and pop culture.



"While I would love to say something really heartwarming and politically correct, I'm not sure that would properly convey the sentiment I think all of us have. So from Myself, Akademiks & the good ppl over at Complex... we bout to F*** S*** UP, " remarked Joe Budden.

But why these two? Well, Budden is obviously no stranger to music and somehow has remained a staple in a very fickle industry. The Jersey rapper has come a long way from 2003 hit single "Pump It Up". And by far I mean seven studio albums, countless mixtapes, several reality television shows, a host on a top NY morning show and currently host of "I'll Name This Podcast Later". While DJ Akademiks started off as a DJ, he's moved to on to become an international digital brand. He has a live-from-the-streets approach to the music industry and isn't afraid to get messy or ruffle a few feathers.

Let's just be honest, Joe Budden is opinionated and passionate (people still bring up the Drake "rant" but by far my favorite Joe-still-from-Jersey moment was when those kids thought they were going to just 'pick on Joe' and he turned into Jesse Owens on them) who sometimes forgets he's famous. And Akademiks? He's been threatened by the best and the worst of them and still doesn't quit. God Bless Noah and Nadeska.

"They always say it's not about who did it first it's who did it best... but after seeing the vision for the show and the great people around it, I truly believe we can kill two birds with one stone. Joe and I along with Complex will definitely be delivering some epic moments and setting the canvas for very interesting and insightful dialogue, " commented DJ Akademiks.

Check out this sneak peek of the trailer, and let's get ready for the [redacted] (but rhymes with duckery). Let's chat about it on instagram and twitter.




Writings on the Wall

Many years ago, I got a phone call from Troy Torres at a political candidates office. He had seen an election estimate I had written and didn Read morePower of polls and weekend talks
Advance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026

Advance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 06:51:36

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 784 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.compress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the fastest growing disease of solid tumor oncology. From past couple of decades, there has been a dramatic alteration in the clinical framework that shapes both renal cell carcinoma understanding and treatment. Renal cell carcinoma is a malignancy that in advanced disease stages is highly resistant to systemic therapies. Advanced surgical interventions and novel drugs, have enhanced patient survival and prolonged clinically stable-disease states. The proportion of small and incidental renal tumors has significantly increased owing to the extensive use of abdominal imaging, e.g. ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Renal cell carcinoma is the eighth most common malignancy, which affects the adults, and it accounts for between 3% and 4% of new, different cancer cases globally. Statistically, it has been analyzed that renal cell carcinoma is the seventh common cancer in male and the ninth most common cancer in the female by various famed research institutes. Renal cell carcinoma represents hereditary disorders with distinct cytogenetic and immune-histochemical properties that have contradictory prognoses, imaging characteristics, and potential morbidities.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2003 Incidences of different types of renal cell carcinoma are:Clear Renal Cell Carcinoma: Most common- 7 out of 10 renal cell carcinoma patientsPapillary Renal Cell Carcinoma: Second most common- 1 out of 10 renal cell carcinoma patientsChromophobe Cell Carcinoma: 5 out of 100 renal cell carcinoma patientsAdvance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: Drivers & RestraintsIncrease in aging population is one of the major factors driving the revenue growth of the renal cell carcinoma market. Furthermore, renal cell carcinoma is a rare disease with a small patient-base constitutingall ages from infants to older adults. However, the disease is predominantly noted in age group of ~ 60-70 years, exposing a higher probability of occurrence. Expanding research into orphan drugs is a factor projected to create lucrative revenue potential for drug makers of renal cell carcinoma.Restraints include lack of technological advances in genome sequencing, stagnant number of diagnosed population base and low patient awareness levels among others.The disease pattern of renal cell carcinoma disease is also affected by the genomic alteration, changes in lifestyle etc. Other inevitable restraints include lack of product availability on specific diseases & target indications apart from feeble pipeline.Advance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: SegmentationAdvance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market can be segmented based on drugs class and distribution channel.Based on pharmacological class, segments in advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market include:InterferonInterleukinFluorinated pyrimidine antimetaboliteTyrosine kinase inhibitorsRapamycin-derivative kinase inhibitorMultityrosine kinase inhibitorBased on distribution channel, advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market is segmented as:Hospitals and Hospital PharmaciesCancer Research InstitutesMultispecialty ClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersRetail PharmaciesOthersPalliative care CentersLong term Care CentersAdvance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: OverviewAdvance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market is projected to decline during the forecast period due slow results of clinical trials with lack of safety data. Indeed, the advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market would show a stagnant CAGR due to increase in population in developing countries. While innovations like change in mode of action are being adapted; technical advancements in treatment procedures are expected to make the market shift significantly. The weak drug pipeline and lack of differentiation in drug therapy may hinder the progress of the advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2003 Advance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geographic regions, advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America accounts for major revenue share in the global market of the disease, owing to an increasingly aging population and rising awareness towards innovative drug therapies. The pattern is closely followed by markets in Western & Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Lower acceptance of combination therapies followed by lack of facilities in disease diagnosis are factors that may have a negative impact on revenue generation from renal cell carcinoma therapeutics. The advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market in Japan will have a constant growth due to the balance between acceptance of combinational therapies and rising disease incidence due to changes in lifestyle. Markets in Middle East and Africa pose lucrative revenue generation opportunities for players in the renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market. This is fuelled by increasing expenditure on healthcare from foreign countries in the region to cover a large untapped patient population base.Advance Renal Cell Carcinoma Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersKey drug manufacturers targeting advance renal cell carcinoma therapeutics market include Exelixis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Pfizer, Eisai Co., Ltd, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, and Bayer among others.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Auto-Injectors Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016 - 2026" report to their offering.

Auto-Injectors Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 11:33:19

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 647 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Improving healthcare infrastructure across several countries and regions, coupled with availability of well-developed manufacturing units, facilitates the growth of medical device businesses. The changing attitude of patients towards treatment of generic diseases has indicated a significant rise in preference for self-administration devices such as auto-injectors. Promoting this notion, auto-injectors continue to gain prominence not just as an alternative route for drug delivery but also as point-of-care devices in homecare settings. Future Market Insights recently published its report on the global market for auto-injectors, which projects that by the end of 2026, more than US$ 6,800 Mn worth of auto-injectors will sold globally. Currently valued at US$ 1,673.7 Mn, the global auto-injectors market is being projected to exhibit an impressive value CAGR of 15.1%.In the report, titled Auto-Injectors Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026, nearly three-fourth of global auto-injector revenues have been estimated to come from the US and Canada. While North America is being observed as the largest market for auto-injectors in the world, auto-injector sales will be relatively high in Western Europe as well. And, majority of auto-injectors are expected to be distributed through online pharmacies. Online pharmacies as a distribution channel will register the fastest revenue growth at 18% CAGR, while retail pharmacies will be procuring one-fourth of global market value by the end of 2026.Request For Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1642 Impact of Self-Injection Practices & Novel Drug Delivery SystemsThe global market for auto-injectors is projected to expand aggressively, and the report draws this forecast from identifying the most direct, impactful factors that drive the demand for auto-injectors. Firstly, the demand for auto-injectors is expected to keep soaring on the account of high adoption of self-injection practices by patients. Doctors, as well, are prompting patients to take up self-administration devices such as auto-injectors in order to fulfil their prescribed medication dosages through invasive yet safe administration routes.Along with that, the global demand for auto-injectors is also expected to be driven by growing development of novel drug delivery systems. Manufacturers of medical devices are collaborating with clinical scientists in order to pave way for next-gen tools in drug administration. In the years to come, the global auto-injectors market is anticipated to garner surplus demand, particularly for prefilled auto-injectors. In 2017 and beyond, more than 92% of global auto-injectors revenues will be emanating from sales of prefilled auto-injectors. Fillable auto-injectors, on the other hand, will incur a downtick in terms of global revenue share over the latter half of forecast period.Send An Enquiry@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1642 Higher Demand for Auto-Injectors in Treatment of AnaphylaxisAnother factor that is inducing growth in demand for auto-injectors is the prevalence of multiple sclerosis and anaphylaxis. Notable disease monitoring associations from across the globe are predicting that these disorders are less likely to cease their occurrence rate among geriatric populations, which is incidentally boosting the demand for auto-injectors. In 2016, anaphylaxis as a disease indication accounted for an estimated US$ 1,500 Mn of global auto-injector revenues. Through 2026, almost nine out of ten auto-injectors sold globally are likely to be used for treating anaphylaxis. Meanwhile, auto-injectors sold for treatment of multiple sclerosis will register a marginal rise through the forecast period. And, revenues amassed from sales of auto-injectors for rheumatoid arthritis are expected to showcase highest CAGR of 18.3%.Parallel to their rising demand, the global supply of auto-injectors is also expected to propel by the end of 2026. Increased development of biologics, their use in production of advanced drug delivery devices, reduction of manufacturing prices, and additional cost-savings conferred by technological advancements, are all collectively bolstering the global production of auto-injectors. The report has profiled leading players in the global auto-injectors market, which include Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, Sanofi, Pfizer, Inc., Becton, Dickson and Company, Mylan NV, Bayer AG, Eli Lily and Company, Janssen Global Services, LLC, and Antares Pharma, Inc.Browse Full Report@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/auto-injectors-market
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Biochemicals Control Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025 report to their offering.

Biochemicals Control Market Value

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 08:44:02

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 612 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Biochemicals control market has witnessed significant rise over the decades owing to technological advancement in healthcare industries. In a growing healthcare market where profits and growth prospects run together, many companies are vying to plunge into this untapped market. Though the healthcare industry has seen immense technological innovation over the years, the market is getting complex owing to emergence of critical healthcare illness. One such healthcare illness that has strongly affected the mankind is prostate cancer. Cases has been seen where biochemical recurrence has led to biochemical relapse, thus leading to re-emergence of prostate cancer among survivors. According to a recent study conducted by University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, USA, 35% of prostate cancer survivors are susceptible to biochemical relapse within 10 years of receiving treatment. Also, as per the World Cancer Research Fund International, prostate cancer is one of the major cause of concern globally, recording more than 1.1 million cases in 2012. Of these, 68% of the cases are recorded in developed regions. North America is the prominent region where mortality rate from prostate cancer is scaling the peak. Search for effective yet reliable technological innovation for biochemicals control in prostate cancer is offering new business horizons to healthcare industries.Biochemicals Control Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe biochemicals control market is expected to grow exponentially during the forecast period, primarily due to the changing lifestyle, physical inactivity and prognosis of patients with biochemical relapse of prostate cancer treatment are some of the key drivers of this market. High prevalence of prostate cancer among middle class population is another significant driver for biochemicals control market. Though the market seems optimistic in coming years, preference for alternative treatment, high costs of treatment, along with stringent regulatory procedures in some of the key nations can led to some negative impact on this industry. However, this million dollar industry is expected to witness upward trend during the forecast period 20152025, primarily due to rise in effective prostate cancer treatment.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-804 Biochemicals Control Market: SegmentationBiochemicals market is broadly classified on the basis of therapy and regional prevalence.Various therapies are used depending upon the feasibility of prostatic cancer conditions. Among all types of prostatic cancer, hormone therapy is the widely accepted treatment method. It blocks the testosterone signaling pathway at the androgen receptor. This therapy is followed by adjuvant chemo-hormonal therapy, and combined chemo-hormonal therapy methods. Though these treatment options are viable and has proved effective, companies are emphasizing on R&D to offer innovative and robust healthcare solutions for biochemicals control market.Biochemicals Control Market: Region-wise OutlookDemands for biochemical control market is expected to generate from developed economies including North America and Europe. Increasing prevalence of prostate related cancer, government focus towards providing reliable healthcare solution, increasing healthcare expenditure and key innovations driven by some of the key industry leaders in the region is expected to boost the overall sales of prostate cancer therapies in North America and Europe. More than 40% of the demand for biochemical control is expected to generate from North America and Europe. Asia Pacific and Latin America are next in trail. Increasing healthcare expenditure is one of the key driving factor in Asia Pacific. Around 15% of all prostate cancers diagnosed globally are from Asia Pacific. Increase in irregular lifestyle in most parts of Asia Pacific is expected to entrap more people in coming years. Healthcare solutions to battle prostate cancer is widely needed globally.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-804 Biochemicals Control Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in prostate cancer treatment and biochemical control are GlaxoSmithKline, Accord Healthcare Inc., Biologics Inc., BioZyme Inc, Juno Therapeutics, etc
PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 11:32:01

 BT, Google Cloud, IBM, and Slack join Box to Discuss Future of Work and Innovation in the Cloud 

Box Showcases Cloud Content Management Leadership at Box World Tour Europe, Brings Together Industry Leaders and Innovators

Box

Titus Thomson, 44 (0)7598029952

titus@box.com

Today at Box World Tour Europe (BWT), Box, Inc. (NYSE: BOX), a leader in cloud content management, brought together IT industry leaders and innovators to discuss the future of work and cloud computing with hundreds of CIOs and Senior IT leaders from across Europe. BT, Google Cloud, IBM, and Slack participated in the event, sharing their perspectives and predictions on the future of work for the enterprise. More than 10 countries were represented at the event, including European business leaders from Box customers UEFA, Oxfam, Remy Cointreau, Lagardere Sports, Kingston University London, and Surrey Heath Borough Council, among others.

Todays enterprises are looking for simple and secure ways to bring all of their people, information and applications together to revolutionise how they work, said Aaron Levie, Co-founder and CEO at Box. Robust cloud content management enables the worlds largest companies to be more connected and collaborative than ever before which leads to entirely new ways of working.

BWT Europe builds on a growing international presence for Box that has seen significant momentum in the last year with the launch of European focused offerings, including Box Zones, Box KeySafe, Governance, and Binding Corporate Rules.

Box and BT

Steve Masters, Vice President of Customer Innovation at BTs Global Services division, joined Aaron Levie in the keynote presentation. The companies have identified several potential areas for collaboration, including establishing cloud connectivity with Box and co-selling of Box in the market. By working together, the companies would seek to help businesses in Europe more aggressively adopt cloud technologies and collaborate across boundaries in a more global and connected way.

Our customers look to us to provide best-in-breed cloud solutions to help them achieve their digital transformation goals. This drives us to continuously innovate and seek out like-minded companies, such as Box, with whom we can collaborate, said Steve Masters, Vice President of Customer Innovation at BTs Global Services division. Together, BT and Box will look to create new digital possibilities for customers, built on BTs leading Cloud Connect infrastructure and Boxs Cloud Content Management expertise.

BT has a history as a leader in delivering world-class IT services, and were delighted at the opportunity to work with them and help to bring even more companies to the cloud, said David Benjamin, SVP and GM of EMEA, Box.

BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications services and solutions. Through its Cloud of Clouds portfolio it aims to allow customers to connect more easily and securely to the applications and data they need, at anytime and from anywhere.

Future of Work

At BWT, leaders from Google Cloud, IBM, and Slack, joined Box for a panel discussion on the future of work. The companies identify that the enterprise landscape is changing and new technologies are engendering completely new ways of working.

Cognitive has changed the way that employees work - whether at a small business or large enterprise. One of the reasons why, is the ability to access knowledge deep inside the company and deliver it at a moments notice, said Christopher C. Crummey, World Wide Executive Director of Evangelism and Customer Experience, IBMs Watson Work Collaboration Services. For example, deploying Cognitive Bots to new hires can easily help them during the on-boarding process. These Cognitive Bots can allow the new hires to ask questions in natural language about topics like HR processes, IT tools, policy and procedures and expertise location and get the answer the second they need it.

Were on the cusp of a new era of computing. The convergence of cloud computing, increasingly powerful mobile devices, bots and artificial intelligence could bring about a step change in productivity, said Johann Butting, Head of Sales, EMEA, Slack. By harnessing these technologies and using them to support our simple, everyday tasks at work, were freeing up brainpower to solve hard problems--ones that require human creativity. The future of work is a universe in which technology delivers discreet and personalised support for everyone, and were excited to be part of that journey.

Box makes it easy for more than 71,000 organisations around the world to share, access, and collaborate on files securely. The company serves 64% of the Fortune 500, including global enterprises like Amadeus, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, General Electric, P&G, Schneider Electric, Eurostar and more.

About Box

Box (NYSE:BOX) is the cloud content management company that empowers enterprises to revolutionise how they work by securely connecting their people, information and applications. Founded in 2005, Box powers more than 71,000 businesses globally, including AstraZeneca, General Electric, P&G, and The GAP. Box is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. To learn more about Box, visit http://www.box.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201704040050

.@Box_Europe Showcases Cloud Content Management Leadership at #BoxWorldTour Europe
PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 10:46:02

Premier talent advisory and leadership firm continues expansion in Northern Europe

Boyden Global Executive Search Announces Major Growth in Sweden

Katarina Brixeus, Boyden Sweden

+46 70 211 54 63

kbrixeus@boyden.com

or

Dan Margolis, for Boyden

+1.213.452.6472

Dan.Margolis@fticonsulting.com

Boyden, a premier global talent advisory and leadership solutions firm with more than 65 offices in over 40 countries, today announced a major expansion in Stockholm, further strengthening the organisation in the Nordic Region.

Managing Partners Peter Krenander, Rickard Ericson and Michael Rooslien will join Boyden Sweden Managing Partners Katarina Brixeus, Ulf Bergstrom, Marie Corell and Per Fornander as part of the firms continued expansion in Northern Europe. In addition an expanded research team will also join the firm.

The addition of these leading professionals to Boyden Sweden will enhance our ability to provide clients with world-class talent advisory and leadership expertise in both the Nordic Region and across the globe, said Trina Gordon, President and CEO of Boyden World Corporation. Our new team brings strong expertise in executive search as well as deep sector knowledge that will enable Boyden to continue providing superior client advisory services while expanding our global footprint.

Peter Krenander joins Boyden with more than 15 years experience in senior management positions with a focus on Industrial and Healthcare & Life Sciences Practices. He has extensive expertise in recruiting C-level management and has actively worked with executive search since 2009. Krenander also brings 15 years experience in senior management positions, including two CEO roles.

Rickard Ericson has successfully recruited high-level management and specialists as well as led management audits and board assessments for clients over the past 12 years. He joins Boyden with considerable expertise in Financial Services, as well as in the Industrial and Consumer & Retail sectors.

Michael Rooslien brings two decades of executive search experience recruiting senior executives and management teams for clients that range from major international corporations to small, high-growth entrepreneurial companies. He specializes in the technology, consumer and retail and industrial sectors.

Were excited to join Boyden and look forward to working closely with the firms partners across the globe, said Krenander, on behalf of the Managing Partners. Boydens commitment to a global platform that is specifically focused on a client-centric approach was critical in our decision to join Boyden.

About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 65 offices in over 40 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. For further information, visit www.boyden.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201704040050

#Boyden, a premier global talent advisory and leadership solutions firm, expands in Stockholm.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the  Digital Glass Military Aircraft Cockpit Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering.

Digital Glass Military Aircraft Cockpit Systems Market Trends

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 08:53:44

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 640 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

A digital glass cockpit, also known as electronic flight information systems (EFIS) and cockpit display system (CDS), is an aircraft cockpit that consist digital flight instrument displays, generally large LCD screens, instead of conventional analog dials and gauges. A digital glass cockpit simplifies aircraft operations and navigation by enabling the usage of several displays driven by flight management systems, that can be adjusted (multi-function display) to display flight information as needed.Advanced digital glass cockpit systems utilize LCD screens to display crucial flight information. Digital glass cockpit displays systems are based around primary flight displays (PFDs), engine indications and crew alerting system (EICAS) and multifunction displays (MFDs). This enables the replacement of mechanical flight instrument gauges with graphical representations of information from onboard and external sensors and navigation systems.The digital glass cockpits are being increasingly adopted by military and defense along with airline companies, as they eliminate the need for a flight engineer, in turn reducing costs. In recent past, this digital glass cockpit has become widely available in small aircrafts too.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1787 Market Overview:Digital glass cockpit systems, which were prevalent in the civil aviation sector, are being increasingly adopted among military aircraft operators, in order to add capabilities to their fleets. Along with facilitating reduction in information management workload for pilots coordinating large networks of sensors and platforms, digital glass cockpits offer advantages such as weight and power savings, enabling easier interaction with air traffic control, and enable faster training for new pilots.Market Dynamics:The cockpits of both fixed and rotary-wing military aircraft are going digital. These glass cockpits facilitate the pilot's tasks throughout the flight, especially under difficult conditions, by improving access to vital information. The global market of digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems is mainly driven by the advantages offered by these systems over traditional cockpit systems. These advantages include the enhanced accuracy and precision of automation systems, and more ergonomic display of the data. These glass cockpits also comprise feedback loops and self-checking capabilities to alert the pilot about threats before they become emergencies. Additionally, these advanced system offers checklist of issues, the pilot can utilize to troubleshoot a problem and correct it immediately.However, as the aircraft operations become increasingly dependent on digital glass cockpit systems, flight crews must be trained to deal with possible failures. In recent years, several incidents involving glass-cockpit blackout have occurred. Therefore, proper training is considered as one of the key components for reducing miss happenings of aircrafts equipped with digital glass cockpit systems.To counter these blackouts, aircrafts with digital glass cockpit systems are provided with backup analogue displays for key flight instruments including airspeed indicator and altimeter.Market Segmentation:Global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is mainly classified on the basis of system, end use sector and geographies.On the basis of system, global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is segmented into Multi-function flight display systems, Primary flight display systems and EICAS (Engine-indicating and crew-alerting system).Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1787 On the basis of end use sector, global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is segmented as general aviation, commercial aviation and the defense & aerospace.Presently, North America is holds the majority share in the digital glass cockpit systems market. However, the region is expected to lose its share to Asia Pacific region during the forecast period, mainly due to falling defense expenditure in North America. In the APAC region, India, China and Japan are expected to lead the growth in the forecast period.Key Market PlayersThe major players active in the Global digital glass cockpit systems market include Honeywell Aerospace, GE Aviation, Garmin Ltd., Avidyne Corporation, MGL Avionics, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems Ltd., Esterline Technologies Corporation, Airbus Group SE and Rockwell Collins, Inc.
Radiopharmaceuticals Market:Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026 Research Report By Future Market Insights

Radiopharmaceuticals Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 06:52:43

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 723 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.compress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

North America is anticipated to be the most attractive regional market in the global radiopharmaceuticals marketNorth America accounted for more than 40% market share in the global radiopharmaceuticals market in 2016 and is expected to witness an increase of more than 100 BPS in its market share over the forecast period. In terms of Y-o-Y growth, North America dominated the global radiopharmaceuticals market and was valued at more than US$ 2,000 Mn in 2015. The market is expected to expand at 6.2% CAGR over the projected period to reach more than US$ 4,000 Mn by the end of 2026. The North America radiopharmaceuticals market is estimated to represent absolute $ opportunity of more than US$ 100 Mn in 2017 over 2016. The growth is stagnant and slow due to major reactors having been shut down in Canada and new reactors installed in place of old ones for better production of radioisotope. North America is expected to be the most lucrative market in the global radiopharmaceuticals market, recording an attractiveness index of 3.6.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1992 Significant growth in the number of cancer and cardiovascular diseases patients in North America is expected to boost the global radiopharmaceuticals marketWidespread availability of SPECT and PET scanning machines will result in a growing number of radio diagnostic and radio therapeutics events in North America. For instance, the number of PET scanning machines installed per head of population in North America are more compared to that installed in Europe, thus leading to increased usage of radiotracers in the region. This growth in North America is expected to continue along with continuous technological improvements in PET scanning devices. The high level of awareness and accessibility to these machines is expected to account for high revenue generation in North America. This factor is boosting the overall growth of the global radiopharmaceuticals market. The other factor impacting the global radiopharmaceuticals market is the rising prevalence of cancer in North America. This has significantly increased the number of nuclear medicine procedures performed in the region and this is the precise reason that the market for radiopharmaceuticals is steadily growing in North America. There has been a rising number of cardiovascular diseases among the people in North America due to aging population, unhealthy food habits and rising obesity. The increasing number of cardiovascular patients is expected to boost the sales of radiopharmaceuticals, which would eventually create growth in the global radiopharmaceuticals market.Gallium-68 and Lutetium 177 sub-segments of the radioisotope segment are likely to dominate the North America radiopharmaceuticals marketGallium-68 and Lutetium 177 are dominant sub-segments of the radioisotope segment in North America. Gallium-68 has gained immense popularity since the last one year in the field of nuclear medicine, especially in the diagnosis and evaluation of prostate cancer. This is in heavy reliance with incorporation of several technological leaps and entry of new radiotracer- 68Ga-PSMA-11, developed by the University of Heidelberg. Additionally, marketing authorisation of the first 68Ge/68Ga generator, manufactured by the German company Eckert & Ziegler, has also positively impacted the penetration of 68Ga-PSMA-11 tracer in the treatment of prostate cancer in North America. Despite a shorter half-life, Gallium-68 has an ideal profile as a PET imaging agent. Several manufacturers in North America are focussing on introducing cold kits for the 68Ga-labeling of tracers (ANMI, Belgium), thus opening the gateways for 68Ga in PET scanning. Iodine-131, a therapeutic radiotracer continues to be the ideal tracer for the treatment of not only thyroid cancer but also other therapeutic indications. However it is being slowly replaced by Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) in North America. Lu-177, low-energy -particle emitter is identified to be one of the emerging radiotracers for the treatment of metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and neuroendocrine tumors.Send An Enquiry@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1992 Market share of companies operating in the global radiopharmaceuticals marketThe global radiopharmaceuticals market is highly consolidated with a few companies that offer advanced technology systems and nuclear medicines for treating diseases. However, the global market is dominated by top five players accounting for over 89% share. Siemens Healthineers accounted for the largest share of around 41.2% of the global market in 2015. The company dominated the market owing to its diversified product portfolio, extensive geographical presence, and acquisition strategies. GE Healthcare accounted for the second largest share of around 30.1% and Mallinckrodt plc. accounted for the third largest share of around 9% in the global radiopharmaceuticals market.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering.

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 12:00:49

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 836 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Spectral Computed Tomography is a scanning technique unlike conventional computed tomography it separates the energy into two or more narrow energy bands instead of using one broad energy band of x-rays. Energy bands are absorbed differently by different body tissues. Introduction of spectral computed tomography has revolutionized the diagnostic system by offering radiologists more clear view over any type of discrepancy in body organs. The exclusivity and preciseness of spectral computed tomography proved them to be a useful and reliable tool for radiologists around the globe. Spectral computed tomography is able to perform image acquisition and processing at multiple energy levels, which are to improving visualization than conventional CT and providing urgent diagnosis for disorders having large prevalence these days such as aneurysm, cancer, tumor, cardiovascular impairment and disease related to bones. The demand for spectral tomography foreseen to increase on the back drop of rising healthcare expenditure in the economies worldwide. Furthermore, in some cases for accurate diagnosis a contrast agent is administered intravenously prior to the scan, the drug or the agent dose used is comparatively lower than the dose used in conventional CT scans. Besides, easy availability of conventional x-ray imaging systems and its cost the spectral tomography is gaining popularity and as a result adoption is anticipated to increase in the near future.Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Drivers & RestraintsSpectral computed tomography is an upcoming scanning technique that may overshadow the applications of conventional computed tomography. The images formed from spectral CT are reconstruction of two or more sets of spectral absorption values measured during the scan. Broad application base and superior diagnostic quality is anticipated to drive the market in near future. Moreover, the disease with high prevalence rate, especially the chronic non-communicable diseases is expected to underpin the spectral computed tomography market. Diseases such as cancer, tumor, cardiovascular disease, renal and hepatic disease are forcing the spectral computed tomography market to grow with high pace. The gradual rise in aging population is also expected to drive the market positively. Rise in novel and unknown disease is favoring the demand for clearer imaging techniques is expected to push the market upwards. Although, significant number of factors are is in favor but still there are some unavoidable restraints such as cost for imaging, contrasting agent reaction, high installation cost, lack of skilled personnel, initial phase of technology, lack of awareness and high installation costs are few factors, which are anticipated to resist the market growth.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2023 Spectral Computed Tomography Market: SegmentationSpectral Computed Tomography market is classified on the basis of application areas, product type, technology and end-userBased on application areas, the global spectral computed tomography market is segmented into the following:Medical Imaging DeviceOncologyBody ImagingCardiologyNeurology,Spine,Urology,Musculoskeletal disordersOthersIndustrialElectronicsOil and GasAutomotive and TransportationOthersBased on product type, the global Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into following:Spiral CTElectron Beam TomographyMulti-slice computed tomographyBased on technology, the Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into the following:Dual-layer detectorGemstone spectral imaging detectorVisit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2023 Based on end-user, the Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into the following:HospitalsPrivate clinicsDiagnostic and Imaging centersAcademic institutes and research centersOthersSpectral Computed Tomography Market: OverviewSpectral computed tomography market is predicted to rise during the forecast period due to its broad application base and quality imaging. Spectral computed tomography market is projected to grow with prominent CAGR due to increase in ageing population in developing countries. Innovations like dual-layer detector is expected to propel the market demand for spectral computed tomography. The market is anticipated to show the high growth rate due to eruptions of novel unknown diseases and increase in per-capita healthcare expenditure.Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geographic regions, spectral computed tomography market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America seized major share in the global market of spectral computed tomography market due to increase in aging population and high adoption rate of new technologies followed by Western and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific is expected to have gradual rise in growth due to developing economies and moderate expenditure on healthcare. The spectral computed tomography market in japan will have a constant growth due to the balance between adoption of technology and prevalence of diseases. Middle East and Africa holds promising future for rise in the global spectral computed tomography market as expenditure on healthcare from foreign countries is increasing which is favoring the introduction of latest technologies.Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Key PlayersThere are many key performers in spectral computed tomography market some of the names who are leading the market in spectral computed tomography market worldwide are Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Toshiba Medical System Corporations, Hitachi Medical Corporations, Pie Medical Imaging, Shimadzu Corporation, Neusoft Medical Systems.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Key Opinion Leader Management Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.

Glucuronolactone Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 07:26:28

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 476 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Glucuronolactone is a chemical substance which is naturally occurs in the connective tissue such as tendons, ligaments, and cartilage of both human and animal bodies, and also found in plant gums. Glucuronolactone is a natural substance produced in the body during glucose metabolism. It possesses energizing properties hence used as main ingredient in higher concentrations in energy drinks and pharmaceutical products. Glucuronolactone possess properties to aid human body in detoxification process, releases hormones and other chemicals and releases through body waste. Glucuronolactone is used as precursor in vitamin c synthesis. Glucuronolactone also can be used for hepatitis, hepatocirrhosis, food and drug poisoning. It is the adjuvant drug of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis.Glucuronolactone Market: SegmentationGlucuronolactone market is segmented on the basis of applications as food and beverage, pharmaceutical products and others. Glucuronolactone is used as food additive in health foods and functional beverages. It is considered as a detoxifying agent as it combines with toxic substances, convert toxins to water-soluble glucuronide conjugates which are excreted in the urine. Hence, glucuronolactone is used globally as important ingredient in energy drinks and it also promotes energy and strength by supporting rebound and recovery after exertion by athletes and heavy workouts. According to various clinical research studies, glucuronolactone can promotes mental performance and positive mood development when used alone or in combination with caffeine. It has effect of regulating immune function, moistening skin, anti-aging, improving oxygen to the brain and help recover from fatigue, etc. Glucuronolactone is used in pharmaceutical industry as dynamic ingredient in the formulation of medicine and health product for curing hepatitis, food and drug poisoning, bone diseases and collagen diseases. Among these segments food and beverage segment is expected to grow at faster rate as use of glucuronolactone is increased tremendously in new product development.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-785 Glucuronolactone Market: Region-wise OutlookGlucuronolactone market is segmented on the basis of region as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific except Japan, Japan and Middle East and Africa. Out of these region Asia pacific is mature market for glucuronolactone production, especially China has maximum number of established manufactures.Glucuronolactone Market: DriversGlucuronolactone is used in various food product as energy drink and functional foods. It provides best solution for individuals those wants to boost their mental awareness, increase stamina and physical fortitude. Increase demand of instant energy releasing product is driving the glucuronolactone market.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-785 Glucuronolactone Market: Key PlayersThe key international players operating in Glucuronolactone market includes Hubei Yitai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Shaoxing Marina Biotechnology Co.,Ltd ., Merck Millipore Corporation ,Foodchem International Corporation, Creative Compounds, Suzhou No. 5 Factory Pharmaceutical, Shouguang Zhonghe Biochemical, Anhui Fubore and Aceto Corporation. Some of the major end user in glucuronolactone market includes Red Bull GmbH, Aimia Foods UK and Vitavit (Pty) Ltd.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Vision Care Products Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025 report to their offering.

Vision Care Products Market Value

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 08:46:09

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 461 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

The eye is the most amazing and complex structure in the body. The two eyes provide about half the total sensory input from entire body into the brain. Eyes are sensitive to trauma, infection or inflammation that may end up in blindness.The vision care products market is driven by the increase in the number of patients suffering from eye disorders like myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia. Myopia is the most common disorders and it affects 1.6 billion people around the globe, whereas presbyopia is found in about one billion people globally. The prevalence of hyperopia increase in the elderly. Around 50% of people aged above 65 years in the US have hyperopic conditions.Vision Care Products Market: Drivers and RestraintsPresently, vision care products global market is driven by the aging population, rising incidence and prevalence of eye disorders like myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia, technological advancement in healthcare industry.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-822 With the increase in the disposable income levels and health consciousness among general population, vision care products are being widely adopted. Also, lifestyle side effects emerging from increased usage of computer, television viewing have contributed towards the growth of vision care products at a global level. Various promotional campaign by the key players to capture the market share in the emerging countries.However, availability of counterfeit products in the market and large number of local players in this market act as a barriers for the growth of this market.Vision Care Products Market: SegmentationVision care products global market is segmented into following segmentation:Spectacle lensesSingle Vision Spectacle LensesDigital lensesProgressive LensesContact lensesSoft contact lensesRigid gas permeable lensesDisposable contact lensesCleaning and disinfecting solutionsVision Care Products Market: OverviewWith rapid technological advancement, aging population, and increase in the prevalence of eye disorders around the globe, the vision care products market is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR in the forecasted period (2015-2025).Vision Care Products Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, global vision care products market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-822 Asia Pacific is emerging as dominating markets for vision care products market due to their high healthcare awareness and augmented disposable income. Amongst the Asian countries, India and china are more promising due to large population pool and increased number of hospitals.Vision Care Products Market: Key playersSome of the key participating players in global vision care products market are Alcon, Inc., SEIKO OPTICAL PRODUCTS CO., LTD., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Essilor International, CIBA Vision Corporation, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, CooperVision, Inc., ZEISS Group, HOYA CORPORATION and others.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 08:32:02

Paper Outlines the A2P Opportunity for Mobile Network Operators, OTTs and Enterprises

Mitto AG Releases New White Paper Providing Strategies to Drive Business Through A2P Messaging

Mitto AG

Louise Finlay, +1 305-343-9122

louise@mitto.ch

Mitto AG, a global SMS mobile messaging provider, has today released a new white paper, Driving Business Through A2P Messaging. The paper, authored by Juniper Research, a global leader for industry research and data, provides a comprehensive overview of how Mobile Network Operators, OTTs and Enterprises can use A2P messaging and its associated use cases to drive business and realize increased revenues.

Key findings include:

Consumer affinity with text messaging now extends to its A2P incarnation suggesting that the market has been seeded for additional use cases.

A2P messaging provides Mobile Network Operators with an opportunity to plug a growing cost-revenue deficit being caused by declining core revenues from voice, P2P messaging and data and increasing capex and opex costs.

While A2P messaging generated traffic worth nearly $36.3 billion in 2016, 31 percent of that traffic was grey route and not monetized, totaling nearly $11.9 billion in lost revenues to Mobile Network Operators.

OTT players are heavy users of A2P messaging, generating billions of traffic per annum in their use of A2P messaging for 2FA (two-factor authentication) and to re-engage users who have abandoned their messaging application or changed device.

The greatest financial benefit that A2P messaging can deliver to OTTs that provide content is in the form of an alternative billing mechanism with the value of digital content paid for via carrier billing projected to increase from $16.5 billion in 2016 to nearly $56.2 billion in 2021, an average annual growth of 28 percent.

Consumers prefer SMS as a means of communicating with companies over other channels including OTT messaging apps, Facebook/Skype and push notifications direct to a companys app.

The white paper concludes with a series of recommendations from Juniper Research on the steps these three industries should take to increase revenues from A2P messaging. Those include the requirement to use carrier-grade messaging platforms or work with third party platform providers that can help stem grey route traffic and increase reach to deliver a robust and reliable global SMS connectivity offering.

While companies know that the A2P opportunity is there, we find that more often than not, they dont know how to take advantage of it for their own business benefits, comments Andrea Giacomini, Managing Director, Mitto. Thats why we engaged Juniper to write this white paper, to provide simple recommendations that companies can quickly implement to rapidly start realizing results from the mechanism.

The white paper is available for complimentary download at http://go.mitto.ch/A2P_messaging_whitepaper.

About Mitto

With Headquarters in Zug, Switzerland and offices around the world, Mittos agile approach, trusted mobile operator relationships and carrier-grade SMS Messaging platform improve conversions and increase the speed and reliability of global mobile communications for the worlds largest OTTs, Enterprise and Mobile Operators. For more information visit mitto.ch, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or like us on Facebook.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201704030065

Unlock the #A2P #messaging opportunity with this @JuniperResearch @MittoAG #whitepaper bit.ly/2nCThjs
PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 13:33:01

EL DORADO, Arkansas, April 4, 2017 - Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) has scheduled its first quarter 2017 earnings webcast and conference call at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), on Thursday, May 4, 2017. First quarter 2017 earnings will be announced after market close on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 and will be available on the company's website at http://ir.murphyoilcorp.com.

Interested parties may participate by dialing 1-877-795-3649 and referencing reservation number 7717232. To access the live audio webcast and related presentation materials, please visit the Investor Relations section of Murphy Oil's website at www.murphyoilcorp.com.

A replay of the earnings conference call will be available through Thursday, May 18, 2017, by dialing 1-888-203-1112 and referencing reservation number 7717232.

ABOUT MURPHY OIL CORPORATION

Murphy Oil Corporation is a global independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The company's diverse resource base includes offshore production in Southeast Asia, Canada and Gulf of Mexico, as well as North America onshore plays in the Eagle Ford Shale, Kaybob Duvernay and Montney. Additional information can be found on the company's website at http://www.murphyoilcorp.com

Investor Contacts:

Kelly Whitley, kelly_whitley@murphyoilcorp.com, 281-675-9107

Nancy Perkins, nancy_perkins@murphyoilcorp.com, 281-675-9252

Emily McElroy, emily_mcelroy@murphyoilcorp.com, 870-864-6324





This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Murphy Oil Corp via Globenewswire


Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Artificial Pancreas Systems Market: North America and Europe Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016 - 2026" report to their offering.

Artificial Pancreas Systems Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 11:19:56

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 457 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Growing number of diabetics in the US, Canada and European countries has been compelling hospitals to keep artificial pancreas systems in stock. Government-funded organisations in North America and Europe are collaborating with local as well as global medical device manufacturers to meet the rising demand for artificial pancreas systems. A latest report published by Future Market Insights reveals that the value of artificial pancreas systems market in North America and Europe reached US$ 86.5 Mn by the end of 2016. The report also predicts that people suffering from diabetes in these regions will keep opting for artificial pancreas systems in order to control their blood sugar levels externally.Lifestyle of residents in Europe and North America is triggering the incidence of diabetes (type 1 as well as type 2) in these regions. Substantial rise in diabetic patients compels doctors, pathologists and endocrinologists to treat patients malfunctioning pancreas superficially. The rate at which a physiological pancreas get replaced with a substitute (artificial pancreas system) will keep gaining momentum in this region. By the end of 2026, more than US$ 280 Mn worth of artificial pancreas systems will be sold in North America and Europe, registering a revenue growth at 12.6% CAGR.Request For Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-na-3058 Almost every artificial pancreas system sold in these regions will treat patients suffering from type 1 diabetes. In US, the occurrence of diabetes mellitus type 1 is expected to surge beyond control. The US artificial pancreas systems market is presently valued at just over US$ 40 Mn, and will account for over two-third of North Americas artificial pancreas system revenues through 2026. Canadas artificial pancreas system revenues, on the other hand, will surge rampantly at 13.8% CAGR.Hospitals will remain the largest distribution channel for artificial pancreas systems across North America and Europe. Although, the report does highlight a noticeable presence of e-commerce websites in global distribution of medical devices as critical as artificial pancreas systems. Among these regions, North America will remain dominant over Europes artificial pancreas system market. Likewise, the demand for artificial pancreas systems will be fairly high in Western Europe, compared to Eastern Europe. Germany, France, the UK and Poland are leading European countries that are more likely to showcase revenue growth at over 11.5% CAGR.Send An Enquiry@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-na-3058 One of the largest company in North America & Europes artificial pancreas systems market has been identified as Illinois-based medical device manufacturer  Medtronic plc. With it, the UK-based Cellnovo is also being recognised as a prominent manufacturer of artificial pancreas systems. Other key players in the artificial pancreas systems market across North America and Europe include, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Dexcom Inc., Insulet Corporation, and Tandem Diabetes Care Inc.Browse Full Report@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/north-america-and-europe-artificial-pancreas-systems-market
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Portable Charging Units Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering.

Portable Charging Units Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 05:42:52

Press Information

Future Market Insights

Future Market Insights



616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 675 Words

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: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

The increased gadgets usage for gaming, surfing the internet, camera, etc. drain out the battery charge swiftly. To combat the unexpected and frequent battery death while travelling or in office, a reliable portable charger is necessary. Portable charging units are commonly called as power banks. Portable charging unit is essentially an external battery in a sealed case. Portable charging units are manufactured in various capacities depending upon the applications of the units. The capacity of portable charging units refers to the maximum charge the battery can hold inside it. The capacity of portable charging units are measured in terms of milliampere-hour (mAh), the higher mAh indicates higher capacity of the power bank. Generally, lithium ion batteries are utilized in the design of power bank for their compactness, affordability and varied market reach. Further, lithium is a highly reactive element that can handle and store energy more efficiently and recharge cycles properly. The most important part of portable charging units are the PCB board and batteries. Currently, portable charging unit batteries are categorized as cylindrical battery, square aluminium case and polymer battery. Portable charging units are available with different number of ports in the market such as one port, two port, three port and four port. Currently, two USB port charging unit holds major market share and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. Portable charging units are utilized to charge various products, which include laptops, mobile devices, tablets, digital cameras and others.Global Portable Charging Units Market: SegmentationThe global portable charging units market can be segmented on the basis of capacity range, application, technology and number of ports.Based on the capacity range, the global portable charging units market can be segmented into,1,000 mAh-3,000 mAh, 3,000 mAh-6,000 mAh6,000 mAh-10,000 mAh, Above 10,000 mAhRequest For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2657 Based on the application, the global portable charging units market can be segmented into,Smartphones, Music PlayersTablets, Others (microelectronic device, etc.)Based on the technology, the global portable charging units market can be segmented into,Li-ion, Li PolymerOthers (nickel cadmium, etc.)Based on the number of ports, the global portable charging units market can be segmented into,One, TwoThree, FourBased on the technology, it is expected that lithium ion battery would lead the portable charging units market as compared to lithium polymer and other batteries owing to the great cost to energy ratio and high energy density. However, lithium polymer batteries are expected to grow at a higher CAGR than lithium ion batteries owing to the light weight and better safety.Global Portable Charging Units Market: DynamicsEnhanced consumer purchasing power, better living standard and quick economic development have impacted the electronics market well. Some devices are available with lower battery capacity and thus the demand for portable charging units have been rising simultaneously with the rise in number of devices. Moreover, spread of smartphone technology promoted the growth of the portable charging units globally. Rising demands for tablets, smartphones, and other digital gadgets have fuelled the expansion of portable charging units market till date.A key trend identified in the global portable charging units market is the introduction of sleek power banks in the market.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2657 Global Portable Charging Units Market: Region-wise OutlookConsidering regions, Asia Pacific accounts for the major market share followed by other regions. The region accounts for more than 1/3rd share of the global portable charging units market and is expected to maintain the same trend over the forecast period. China is the most prominent regional market and increased demand for the portable charging units has created significant growth opportunities on a global level as well.Global Portable Charging Units Market: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants in the portable charging units market identified across the value chain include Platinet S.A., BIC Graphic, Samsung Sdi Co. Ltd., Sony Corporation, mophie, inc., Panasonic Corporation, SIMPLO TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD., GP Batteries, Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. and Microsoft Corporation, among others.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 14:02:02

The New Solution Set Offers Data, Policy and Compliance Management, Incident Scoring and Notification and Regulatory Reporting

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 4, 2017 - RiskVision, the enterprise risk intelligence company formerly known as Agiliance, today announced the release of the RiskVision European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Solution Pack. The comprehensive solution is designed to help data controller and data processor organizations comply with this regulation while also ensuring that they avoid potentially massive penalties imposed for any unintentional violation of these increasingly stringent cybersecurity mandates.

On April 27, 2016, the EU passed GDPR EU 2016/679 with far-reaching implications regarding the actions enterprises are required to take to protect personal customer and employee data. The impending regulations apply to personal data at all enterprise locations with business activity, including the processing of personal data. What's more, the GDPR EU mandates require organizations to be compliant by May 25, 2018, or face stiff penalties that include fines ranging between two and four percent of their global revenue.

The GDPR solution pack is RiskVision's answer to anticipated enterprise security and risk challenges brought about by the looming directive. The comprehensive solution set offers a combination of out-of-the-box assets, first and third-party policy and compliance management, in the cloud and on premise big data integration and orchestration, incident management scoring and notification and audit/regulatory reporting.

Altogether, the RiskVision GDPR Solution Pack includes content mapping for ISO 27001 (framework), ISO 27002 on premise controls and ISO 27018 (cloud controls) plus out of the box AICPA SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports. The following RiskVision processes are enabled to cover end-to-end GDPR requirements.

Asset Classification

Policy Management/Attestation

First Party Controls Assessment

Third Party Classification/Assessment

Vulnerability Management

Incident Notification

Audit and Regulatory Reporting

"Now more than ever enterprises are looking at significant changes to their security strategy over the next few years - including major and often costly upgrades to their security programs in order to adhere to this new set of rigid security requirements imposed by GDPR," said Oliver Eckel, CEO at Cognosec GMBH. "With stiff penalties on revenue, violation of these mandates is not an option. Hence, organizations need to be taking a critical look at their data protection controls and processing to ensure they are fully compliant by next year. The RiskVision GDPR Solution Pack gives these organizations a much-needed boost to do just that, empowering them to completely assess and prioritize their assets, cross reference existing policies and provide customized reports when audit time rolls around."

For RiskVision GDPU Solution Pack pricing or additional information, please contact 408-200-0400 or visit www.riskvisioninc.com.

About RiskVision

RiskVision develops comprehensive risk intelligence solutions for the enterprise. The highly decorated RiskVision platform is the industry's first risk intelligence solution designed for today's real-time, big-data, threat-centric world. RiskVision's architecture and design delivers the industry's best usability, scale, automation and time-to-deployment advantages - at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. CIOs and CROs of the world's leading organizations and government agencies rely on RiskVision; customers include AXA Group, Cisco, Deutsche Bank, E*TRADE, Exelon, First Data, Fiserv, HCL, Novartis, Roche, Safeway, Sheetz, Southern Co., Time Warner, United Health Group, U.S. Departments of Defense, Health & Human Services, Justice, and Veterans Affairs, and dozens of other clients worldwide. For more information, please visit riskvisioninc.com.

Media Contact:

Travis Anderson

10Fold for RiskVision

(925) 271-8227

tanderson@10fold.com

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: RiskVision via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 07:12:01

Hamilton, Bermuda, April 4, 2017 - Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill or the Company") announces today that it has reached agreement with its banking group to extend a series of key dates as part of the Company's ongoing restructuring efforts. The Company has reached an agreement to extend the milestone to implement a restructuring plan from 30 April to 31 July 2017 and also to extend the related covenant amendments and waivers expiring on 30 June 2017 to 30 September 2017. Finally, the Company has also received lender consent to extend the maturity dates of the following three facilities:

The US$450 million credit facility maturing on 30 April 2017 will be extended until 15 August 2017 The US$400 million credit facility maturing on 31 May 2017 will be extended until 31 August 2017 The US$2.0 billion NADL credit facility maturing on 30 June 2017 will be extended until 14 September 2017

These extensions provide additional time for the Company to further advance the ongoing negotiations with its banks, potential new money investors, and the advisers to the ad hoc committee of bondholders regarding the terms of a comprehensive restructuring plan, which may include the infusion of new capital. While no definitive terms have been reached, based on stakeholder and new money investor feedback, as well as the Company's existing leverage, we currently believe that a comprehensive restructuring plan will require a substantial impairment or conversion of our bonds, as well as impairment, losses or substantial dilution for other stakeholders. As a result, the Company currently expects that shareholders are likely to receive minimal recovery for their existing shares.

We expect the implementation of a comprehensive restructuring plan will likely involve schemes of arrangement or chapter 11 proceedings, and we are preparing accordingly. The Company's business operations remain unaffected by these restructuring efforts and the Company will continue to meet its ongoing customer and business counterparty obligations.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-34667). The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Structural Adhesives Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering.

Structural Adhesives Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 05:49:36

Press Information

Future Market Insights

Future Market Insights



616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 397 Words

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: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Structural adhesives are special types of adhesives specially designed to bind nearly all thermoplastics, composite materials, and metals, other dissimilar substrates. These structural adhesives are used in many application including transportation, automotive, marine, HVAC, construction, wind energy, and industrial assemblies. As structural adhesives offers significant advantages over other methods of fastening so there use is increasing in aerospace and many other applications.Structural Adhesives Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising demand of structural adhesives in the growing automotive, and aerospace applications is driving the global structural adhesives market. Substantial growth in Asia Pacific region because of the increasing population and awareness about high quality products are expected to drive the structural adhesive market. The building and construction application segment is one the major segment for the consumption of structural adhesives. The demand from construction of dams, airports, bridges, railroad crossings, tunnelling, and other infrastructural activities are fuelling the demand for structural adhesives. Epoxy is majorly used resin type of structural adhesive and its demand is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. Epoxy is widely used structural adhesive especially in niche applications where exceptional bonding strength is required.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2667 Structural Adhesives Market: SegmentationOn the basis of Material Type,Acrylic, EpoxyMethacrylate, PolyurethaneOthersOn the basis of Application Type,Construction & Building, AutomotiveMarine, Wind EnergyTransportation, OthersStructural Adhesives Market: Region Wise OutlookThe global Structural Adhesives Market is segmented into the seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). APEJ and Japan together leads the global Structural Adhesives Market in terms of demand, followed by North America and Western Europe. The high demand from APEJ region is likely to become a major driver for global structural adhesives market. This is mainly due to rising demand from automotive, bus & truck, building and construction, and aerospace applications. Rising population in the region, competition of manufacturers to make high quality products, and growing innovations and developments in end use industries are making the region as a strategic destination for the global structural adhesives market.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2667 Structural Adhesives Market: Key PlayersHenkel AG, 3MAshland, Lord CorporationHubei Huitian Adhesive Enterprise Co., ITWDow Chemical Company, SIKA AGScott Bader, Arkema
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Automotive Alloys Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering.

Automotive Alloys Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 05:46:51

Press Information

Future Market Insights

Future Market Insights



616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,



Valley Cottage, NY 10989,



United States



T: +1-347-918-3531



F: +1-845-579-5705



Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com



Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 638 Words

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: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

The global automotive alloys market is estimated to grow phenomenally owing to rapid urbanization, increasing vehicle production and fuel efficiency regulations. The global automotive alloy market has immense growth potential in terms of electric vehicle production and integration of advanced safety and comfort technologies in vehicles.The global automotive industry is gradually transitioning towards light weighted vehicles. Due to a growing demand for safety and comfort technologies, automotive vehicles are becoming heavier. Light weighted vehicles are more fuel efficient and contribute to reducing emissions. Research and development on fuel economy of automotive vehicles shows a direct correlation between fuel efficiency and vehicle weight. This has influenced the trend to reduce weight in automobiles and to opt for light weighted alloys in automotive body panels. Thus, OEMs are now getting inclined to use lighter materials in vehicles. Growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles, and government regulations on reduction in vehicle weight are estimated to drive the growth of light weighted automotive alloys in automobiles. Automotive alloys are classified as steel alloys, magnesium alloys, aluminium alloys and others (composites).In the global automotive alloys market, steel alloys account for the largest market share owing to a growing demand for steel alloys in India and China for manufacturing vehicles. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive industry use magnesium alloy as a light metal alloy. Magnesium alloy offers thermal stability, strength, rigidity, ductility and specific strength; it also weighs lighter. Magnesium alloy is primarily used in the automotive body & chassis structure of a vehicle (oil pumps, housings, the crank shaft, the cylinder crankcase, mounts, brackets and the radiator support), and other interior parts. The market for magnesium alloys is estimated to grow at a stable rate over the forecast period. The aluminium alloy segment is estimated to grow fastest owing to a high demand for light weighted vehicles with aluminium alloys.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2665 Global Automotive Alloys: Market DynamicsDrivers:It is projected that the global automotive alloys market will be driven by the high demand of light weighted vehicles and the increasing pace of vehicle production.Also, the global automotive alloys market is estimated to be fuelled by rapid urbanization and regulations on fuel efficiency and greenhouse emissions.Restraints:In the global automotive alloys market, the relatively high cost of magnesium and aluminium alloys may hamper growth over the forecast period.Global Automotive Alloys Market: SegmentationFollowing is the segmentation for the global automotive alloys market:On the basis of type of alloy, the global automotive alloys market is segmented as: Steel, Aluminium, Magnesiumand others.On the basis of application, the global automotive alloys market is segmented as:Structural, Powertrain, Exterior and others.On the basis of type of vehicle, the global automotive alloys market segmented as:Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV)and Passenger Car.Global Automotive Alloys Market: Regional OutlookAsia-Pacific is estimated to be the largest market for automotive alloys due to stable economic growth, increasing vehicle production, rapid urbanization and the growing demand for light weighted vehicles over the forecast period. The countries contributing largely to the growth of the Asia-Pacific automotive alloys market are China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand. In countries such as China and India, a large population base has contributed to the increase in automobiles sales.Japan, Latin America and Middle East & Africa are expected to grow at a steady rate over the forecast period. North America and Europe are matured markets for automotive alloys.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2665 Global Automotive Alloys: Market ParticipantsSome of the market participants identified in the global automotive alloys market are:Constellium, AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V.KOBE STEEL, LTD, Novelis, Inc.UACJ Corporation, ArcelorMittal S.A.Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Norsk Hydro ASAthyssenkrupp AG, Alcoa Corporation
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering.

PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-04 12:05:48

Press Information

Future Market Insights

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,





Valley Cottage, NY 10989,





United States





T: +1-347-918-3531





F: +1-845-579-5705





Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com





Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com





Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com









email





Published by

Abhishek Budholiya

+1-347-918-3531

e-mail

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com







# 713 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Bioprocessing referred as biopharmaceutical manufacturing, is a part of bioprocess engineering which aims at establishing reproducible and robust manufacturing process for the production of therapeutic cells. The products of bioprocess are of high commercial value and targeted application. Bioprocess Manufacturing is differentiated into two major processes: Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream process involves steps such as media development, cell culture, and development, harvesting of cells and fermentation. This process is done under the stringent aseptic condition, and particular temperature and pH levels are maintained throughout the process. Cell Banking is also done by upstream processes. The primary objective upstream processes are to provide an environment necessary for the growth of cells. Since the upstream process is a part of bio manufacturing process, it involves the production of therapeutic proteins, antibiotics, hormones, enzymes, blood substitutes, and vaccines. Many of the diseases like lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and growth hormone insufficiency that can be treated by specific proteins produced from bioprocesses. There are two types of cells used in the bioprocessing equipment, mammalian cells, and bacterial cells.Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: Drivers and RestraintsAs the prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases have increased, there is a need to increase the production of substances to cure them. With innovation in technology, equipment with the well-established production system, providing high-quality biologic drugs and increased productivity is possible. This, in turn, increases the usage of upstream processing equipment which drives the biopharmaceutical market. Along with this increase in the need for cell therapy research, drug discovery, antibody production, monoclonal antibody and recombinant productions are also the major drivers for the upstream bioprocessing equipment market. However, the high cost incurred in setting up an upstream processing unit, its maintenance as the current challenge is to eliminate the contamination and the space required for the setup are the major restraining factors for the growth the Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2016 Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: SegmentationThe upstream bioprocessing equipment market can be segmented according to the type of cell used, type of processing, by product, by end users, and by geography. By type of cell, the upstream bioprocessing equipment is segmented as mammalian cell and bacterial cell. According to the processing, the market is segmented into disposable, single  use bioprocessing system and continuous bioprocessing systems. By type of product the bioreactors and fermenters. By end users, the upstream bioprocessing equipment market is segmented into biopharmaceutical manufacturing companies and research organizations. Geographical segmentation is North America, West Europe, APEJ, Japan, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: OverviewThe Single-use bioprocessing units are the major drivers in the coming decade as single-use bioprocessing units eliminated the risk of contamination. It also reduces the time required for the sterilization between batch which in turn also increases the efficacy. Over a decade disposable and single  use processing units have gained momentum as it is possible to develop a small amount of drugs used for pre  clinical and clinical testing. The future in the upstream bioprocessing system is single  bioprocessing units as it has all kinds of the system used in upstream processing such as bioreactors, membrane absorbers, bioprocess containers, disposable mixers, and samplers.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2016 Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: Regional OverviewGeographically the market for bioprocessing equipment is increasing globally. The U.S. and Europe been the strong regions for the growth of upstream processes equipment has it has shown double-digit growth over last year. In U.S. the Single-use bioprocessing units have grown significantly when compared to continuous bioprocessing system. Along with Europe and U.S., the emerging markets like Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa shows great potential for the growth of upstream bioprocessing equipment market. Japanese beverage, food and pharmaceutical industry are diversifying into high-value products which boosted the growth of upstream bioprocessing equipment in Japan. The government in Japan also provides financial support for research and development to industry players for the growth, which enables the industry to prosper.Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment Market: Key PlayersThe top players in the Upstream Bioprocessing Equipment market are GE Healthcare, Merck KGaA, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co.KG , Thermo Fisher Scientific, BiOZEEN and Katalyst Bio Engineering
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




By: United Real Estate

United Real Estate | Strive 212

End

-- United Real Estate, a fast-growing, urban-centric real estate and franchise organization, announced today the official opening of its United Real Estate | Strive 212 franchise office located in the Reading, Pennsylvania market. This new United Real Estate franchise is owned by Jennifer Dinatally and Frank Ramos.The expansion of United Real Estate into the Reading market allows area agents to experience United's agent-centric model and take advantage of a full-service, 100-percent commission brokerage. With this innovative model, agents are granted access to a plethora of marketing and technology tools including customized agent websites, a CRM platform, the most relevant performance-based agent training in the real estate industry and access to a large national referral network.Dinatally and Ramos embody the entrepreneurial spirit United embraces and are thrilled to provide local agents with the new freedom model to grow their businesses."We are excited to bring the United brand to Berks County," said Dinatally. "As experienced agents ourselves, we want to make real estate a more lucrative business for agents so that they can better serve their families and their clients all while keeping exceptional service and accountability at the forefront. We chose the name United Real Estate | Strive 212 because at 211 degrees, water is hot but at 212 degrees, it boils. The one extra degree makes all the difference in business and in life, separating the good from the great! We STRIVE to do better, every day.""As United continues to expand into Pennsylvania we are able to offer more agents the chance to receive the tools and support they require to flourish and be a true entrepreneur of their business," said Peter Giese, president of United Real Estate. "The unmatched support and modern business model is the ideal platform for producing success. Ramos and Dinatally are enthusiastic and passionate about bringing this model to Berks County and providing their team with the tools needed to grow and lead the real estate market."To mark the grand opening of United Real Estate | Strive 212's state-of-the-art office, the company will host a public celebration. Details for the event are as follows:United Real Estate | Strive 212 Grand OpeningThursday, April 20 from 3:00  7:00 p.m.4 Park Plaza, Suite 200, Wyomissing, PA 19610Join the United Real Estate | Strive 212 for a beer, whiskey and wine tasting with hors d'oeuvres. The grand opening is a public event and those interested in seeing the modern, cafe-style office space are encouraged to stop by at any time. Door prizes and giveaways will be announced throughout the event.To learn more about United Real Estate, visit UnitedRealEstate.com . Agents interested in learning about opportunities to grow their business should visit JoinUnitedStrive212.com or call 610-741-3054.United Real Estate (http://www.unitedrealestate.com/) a division of the United Real Estate Group  was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to the challenges facing agents in the residential real estate brokerage industry. Providing the latest training, marketing and technology tools to both agents and brokers under a 100-percent commission strategy, United Real Estate makes it more profitable for an agent to sell real estate and for real estate brokers to leverage a complete system to better grow a successful, thriving real estate brokerage. Named as a "frontrunner"in the real estate industry in 2013, "part of the next generation of real estate brokers" in 2014, as well as being listed in the "Power 200 Most Influential"in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the Stefan Swanepoel Power 200 TRENDS Report, United Real Estate has more than 50 offices and over 2,700 agents. Through a worldwide franchise solution, United continues to rapidly expand. Driven by an unwavering commitment to giving back, a pillar of United's core values and guiding principles, United Real Estate is proud to support and partner with Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, as United's charity of choice.
Family Divorce Mediator Matthew Brickman released an update on his YouTube Channel explaining recent events in the ongoing saga of alimony reform in Florida

By: iMediate Inc.

1 2 3 4 5 iMediate Inc - Florida Family & Divorce Mediation www.ichatmediation.com Matthew Brickman - Florida Divorce Mediator Child Custody Mediation - West Palm Beach Florida Florida Family Divorce Mediation Online Family Mediation - iChatMediation.com

End

--has been through four legislative sessions over the past five years. The original bill in 2013 passed by both the House and Senate was vetoed by Governor Rick Scott (retroactivity issue). Currently Senate Bill 412 was proposed in January to await its first committee hearing.Matthew Brickman opened with the statement, "As a Florida mediator who mediates almost three hundred cases a year, the most exciting part for me was to have a formula and calculation to determine alimony. Right now it's like being blindfolded and being spun around to throw a dart at a dartboard. There's an exact calculation for child support, and this bill was to have a calculation as well for alimony."His full comments can be seen in the video below: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=maoWWcNJprs Today the proposal is dead for this year's legislative session. Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Chairman Rene Garcia said he won't schedule the bill for a hearing.He went on to say, "Thanks to a typical politician named Rene Garcia, alimony in the state of Florida once again has failed...because Rene Garcia refused to puton thecommittee to even have the opportunity for discussion and debate, leaving tens of thousands of Floridians in a horrible situation."View the complete Florida Alimony Reform timeline Matthew Brickman has been certified by the Supreme Court of Florida as a county civil family mediator who has worked in the 15th and 19th Judicial Circuit Courts since 2009 and 2006 respectively. He is also an appellate certified mediator who has mediated a variety of small claims, civil, and family cases that number in the hundreds.Website: http://www.ichatmediation.com If you are a law firm and wish to schedule your mediation you can use this form to schedule your mediation online: Law Firm Scheduler If you are an individual and wish to schedule your mediation you can use this form to schedule your mediation online: Individual Mediation Scheduler iChatMediation - Family Mediation Services , 1200 Town Center Drive #424, Jupiter, FL 33458 (877) 822-1479
By: Anashe Media

Contact

Anashe PR

***@anashemg.com Anashe PR

End

-- Presenting the official video to 'Pamusika Remix' by Zimbabwe's Mr Kamera (Tatenda Kamera) featuring Africa's top music acts Ice Prince of Nigeria, Gemini Major of Malawi and rising star Bryan K of Zimbabwe.This is Mr. Kamera's debut record and video which is already slated to air on satellite music channels across the continent, the remix came out of the well-received original collaboration with Bryan K. Kamera shared, "The collaboration with Ice Prince and Gemini was a no brainer, they both loved the original version by myself and Bryan K, everything moved smooth and we were ready to shoot. Big thank you to Ice, Gemini and Bryan, it's amazing how we all came together on the record."Mr Kamera is widely respected in music circles across Africa, having worked with an impressive cast of top acts including, Yemi Alade, Ice Prince, AKA, DJ Maphorisa, Burna Boy, Sean Tizzle and RunTown.Kamera added, "I am excited about this next phase in my career, transitioning from producer to artist, I have so much music I am eager to share with fans." Mr Kamera is preparing for a launch party to celebrate the record and video release end of April in Harare, Zimbabwe. You can follow Mr Kamera on all media platforms @MrKamera and watch the video here, https://youtu.be/ Vjm5nnRRNGo
ACEX Estonia won a tender for delivery of Volvo construction equipment from different countries of the world in the direction of Central Asia and signed a profitable contract.

By: ACEX Alliance

volvo

Contact

ACEX Alliance Press Center

***@acex.net ACEX Alliance Press Center

End

-- Having overcome a high competition among logistics companies, ACEX Estonia won a tender for delivery of Volvo construction equipment from different countries of the world in the direction of Central Asia and signed a profitable contract."During the second half of 2016 ACEX Estonia competed for the contract of delivery of Volvo construction equipment from India, Korea, USA, Canada and Europe in the direction of the Central Asia, - tells, - the negotiations were very difficult as the competition was tough and the geography of delivery  wide. Finally, we signed the first contract for transportation in January 2017 and immediately started to carry out the project."The first delivery of Volvo excavator and asphalt paver from Europe to Kazakhstan was carried out in the end of January. The equipment followed the route: Great Britain  Paldiski  Uralsk Kazakhstan by road, sea, and railway."The route is familiar to us; however we faced some difficulties during coordination of loading schemes and fastenings on the rolling stock, - shares the experience.  The railroad did not want to accept standard fastening, and we had to prove that the available ones corresponded to technical requirements. Finally we overcame all difficulties and the equipment moved for a long journey."Multimodal delivery of heavy equipment is the key direction of ACEX Estonia business. The route was designed specially for such projects. The equipment is delivered by road from any point of Europe to the European port, than it goes by sea to the port of Paldiski (Estonia) during 3-4 days. The equipment is dispatched by railroad from Paldiski to Russia, the Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, etc.) and the Middle East. Travel time is equal to 7-25 days depending on the destination point.In addition it is possible to deliver project cargo from the whole world via European ports to the port of Paldiski and from Paldiski by road or railway road to any destination. Such scheme has already proved its efficiency, quality and handling time.Among ACEX Estonia executed projects are the deliveries of the biggest excavators produced by Caterpillar, Liebherr, Metso, JCB, etc. in the direction of Russia and Central Asia.Details at http://www.acexgroup.net/ en/partners/ news/1676/ ACEX Alliance Press CenterE-mail: acex@acex.netWebsite: http://www.acexgroup.net
UK-based biorational pest control solutions provider Russell IPM has developed and tested an effective monitoring system against fall armyworm (FAW).

Contact

Elitsa Seymour, Marketing Manager, Russell IPM

***@russellipm.com Elitsa Seymour, Marketing Manager, Russell IPM

End

-- FAW,, is a fast-spreading pest that has been damaging essential food crops in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.Russell IPM has responded to the demand for an effective monitoring system for FAW infestations. In February, trials were conducted in Africa in order to optimise the company's pheromone blend targeting the devastating pest. Six different formulations of the FAW pheromone were tested in Zambia and South Africa.According to Dr Al-Zaidi, Russell IPM's Managing Director, an effective monitoring solution has been identified. "The trial results show that the highest trap catches were achieved by Russell IPM's four-components lure. This formulation, which is specific to the fall armyworm species currently present in Africa, showed the highest efficacy. The lure and traps are commercially available from our distributors in Africa".The lure is compatible with Russell's Mothcatcher trap, and can be used as part of an IPM strategy to combat the invasions in Africa.Dr Nayem Hassan, Head of Research and Development at Russell IPM, recommends the following programme of treatment: "For preventative FAW control, our microbial plant booster and soil enhancer, Recharge, can be mixed with the irrigation water and applied to the soil around the plant roots. FAW pupae will not emerge from the soil. For tackling larvae at first detection and before they bore into the stem of the host plant, farmers can alternate foliar applications of Biotrine, a microbial extract, and Antario, a synergisedformulation. Biotrine's action is translaminar, so the active ingredient is absorbed only into the upper foliar surface. It targets larvae coming into contact with treated leaves, but the plant itself will show no pesticide residue."Headquartered in Flintshire, United Kingdom, Russell IPM designs, manufactures, supplies and consults on innovative biorational solutions for pest monitoring and control in agriculture and public health.
Rabbi Jacob M. Lieberman of Temple Israel & Jewish Community Center is among Rabbis in National Fellowship Program who will Make Jewish Wisdom a Public Good as Part of Groundbreaking Initiative

By: Temple Israel & JCC

Contact

Caryn Starr-Gates, caryn@starrgates.com

Jacob Lieberman, jacobmlieberman@ gmail.com

***@starrgates.com Caryn Starr-Gates, caryn@starrgates.comJacob Lieberman, jacobmlieberman@gmail.com

End

-- Rabbi Jacob M. Lieberman, spiritual leader of Reconstructionist Congregation Beth Israel (RCBI) in Ridgewood, N.J. has been accepted into Rabbis Without Borders, a national fellowship program now in its seventh year. Founded in 2008, the landmark initiative was developed within Clal, The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, to change the religious landscape. Rabbis Without Borders is a competitive rabbinic fellowship program that helps rabbis innovate using Jewish wisdom as a source for wellbeing. It is the first rabbinic network in America that spans denominations, geography and experience. Lieberman is the only Reconstructionist rabbi in this year's class."I am deeply honored to have been chosen for what I am sure will be a life-changing experience,"said Lieberman. "The work being done by Rabbis Without Borders is strengthening synagogues and Jewish organizations, and increasing participation in Jewish life in many exciting ways. I look forward to being a part of this movement and bringing new ideas for outreach and engagement to my community."RCBI is the Reconstructionist congregation within Temple Israel & Jewish Community Center ( http://www.synagogue.org ), which offers two worship alternatives:egalitarian Conservative (Temple Israel) and Reconstructionist (RCBI). Lieberman, a 2015 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, has led the congregation since July of that year.The impact of Rabbis Without Borders is being experienced across the country through its programs in art and music, social justice, young adult outreach and education, reimagining synagogues and more. By adopting a "beyond borders" approach to their rabbinates, the rabbis report that: 96 percent of RWB Fellows have strengthened and increased their comfort crossing denominational and institutional boundaries. 91 percent of RWB Fellows have created new programs in their synagogue/organization. 81 percent of RWB Fellows have seen an increase in participation in programs and use of services in their synagogue or organization."Interest in the program has only increased over the years," said Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu, director of RWB. "Rabbis recognize that the religious environment has changedfrom family makeup to spiritual practice. To reach people where they are and how they are, rabbis need to apply their skills in new ways. RWB offers that kind of support. Rabbis Without Borders helps rabbis better communicate in both familiar and new venues, and makes Jewish wisdom an accessible resource for the American public to help all people flourish in their lives."Consciously adopting a pluralist approach and looking to serve all people anywhere has significantly increased these rabbis' ability to share Jewish wisdom and practices. They are no longer bound by whatever they saw as the traditional borders of their communities, and this in turn is growing the impact of Jewish wisdom on the world.For more information about Clal's Rabbis Without Borders, contact Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu at 212-779-3300, ext. 122; rsirbu@clal.org ###is the first rabbinic network in America that spans denominations, geography and experience. Serving over 2 million people in the United States to date, it is uniquely poised to serve the needs of today's increasingly diverse American population.By envisioning a world where Jewish wisdom is a source for wellbeing for anyone anywhere, the rabbis in the RWB Network are committed to serving people wherever they may be: affiliated or not, Jewishly educated or not, with Jewish connections or none. These rabbis share their Torah in pluralistic, innovative ways grounded by a sense of service to all, transforming the rabbinate in America into a highly skilled innovative class of American religious leaders who use Judaism to help American Jews and all Americans flourish. Read more at http://rabbiswithoutborders.org/about/.
RIP, workflow, and interface developer reflects on history while charting future contributions to printing industry

By: Xitron, LLC

Contact

Bret Farrah

***@xitron.com Bret Farrah

End

-- Xitron, the leading independent developer of RIP and workflow products for commercial, digital, and high-speed inkjet printing has passed a milestone, now celebrating 40 years as a provider of prepress hardware and software to the printing industry. Xitron's first products were "blue box" interfaces between newspaper editorial systems and high-speed laser imagesetters, first brought to market in 1977."Back then, our job was to provide technological independence to newspapers, allowing them to choose their editorial systems separately from their output systems," said Karen Crews, President of Xitron. "As we mark our 40year in the print industry, we continue to develop RIPs, workflow software, and hardware interfaces for commercial, newspaper, in-plant, flexo, screen printing, and high-speed digital output devices without binding our customers to any single vendor."Xitron's business model has allowed them to place nearly 35,000 RIPs and over 20,000 CtP and imagesetter interfaces in printing companies on every continent. From Papua, New Guinea to Plainview, New York; Anchorage, Alaska to Cape Town, South Africa; Xitron continues to drive almost every output device used in print production today."This achievement really speaks to Xitron's commitment of independence when it comes to a user's prepress choices," said Gary Fry, CEO of Global Graphics, authors of the Harlequin RIP. "Xitron has been a development partner since 1992, and, coincidentally, our anniversary with Xitron is a milestone in and of itself," he continued. "We plan to honor our 25 year association with Xitron by presenting them with a special Silver Partner award at Print 2017 later this year."In advance of Print's return to Chicago this September, several new products that build on Xitron's commercial catalog are slated for release. Included in the line-up are Raster Blaster 4.0, which is an intelligent TIFF catcher for all supported CTP devices; B, a new network-based interface that doesn't require a computer platform; and a very economical USB/SCSI interface for legacy Fujifilm platesetters that (until now) could not be upgraded beyond Windows XP operating systems.An upgrade to Xitron's Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE)-based Sierra workflow is also planned, in cooperation with their Adobe development partner, FFEI, Ltd. "Xitron and FFEI have a relationship that began in 1999 with the Xenith workflow," said Andy Cook, Managing Director of FFEI. "We've continued to work together through the introduction of Sierra using the Mercury RIP architecture introduced in APPE 3, with which Xitron has significantly impacted the high-end workflow market in the US."While continuing their successful approach of delivering alternative RIP and interface strategies to the commercial market, recent innovation in print technology has required Ms. Crews to keep one eye focused beyond traditional printing. This has fostered the development of color matching workflow software designed specifically for the needs of high-speed inkjet press manufacturers around the world."Staying relevant in a market whose technology moves as quickly as ours is not easy," said Len Lauer, President and CEO of Xitron's inkjet technology partner Memjet. "And yet, here they are, developing remarkable color RIP and workflow software for over half of Memjet's OEMs. We're looking forward to sustained expansion of this market with Xitron.""This is a very exciting time for Xitron and I have to thank our worldwide dealer organization and OEM customers for their contributions."said Crews. "While being firmly entrenched in the traditional print landscape, we also have clear vision of the technological future of our products. Forty years of development have provided us with an excellent foundation to move forward with this industry."Driving CTP devices from Agfa, ECRM, Creo, Kodak, Presstek, Heidelberg, Fuji, and Screen, Xitron helps customers who want to maximize their investments by extending the life of their prepress systems. More information is available at www.xitron.com -30-Xitron develops advanced workflow systems and interfaces to drive the prepress industry's most popular new, and legacy output devices, prolonging our customers' investments. In addition, Xitron's Navigator RIP, Raster Blaster TIFF Catcher, and Sierra Workflow are recognized as prepress standards. Built around the Harlequin RIP core technology from Global Graphics and the Adobe PDF Print Engine from Adobe Systems and FFEI, Xitron engineers continue to develop software for the graphic arts market, driving hundreds of different models of imagesetters, proofers, platesetters, inkjet printers, high-speed inkjet presses and digital presses. With shipments of nearly 35,000 RIPs, Xitron is the largest independent provider in the market. For more information about Xitron, visit us at www.xitron.com.Xitron and the Xitron logo are registered trademarks of Xitron. Other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.If you need photos to accompany this release contact Bret Farrah at Xitron, 734-794-1334.To update contact information or request removal from our editorial mailing list, send an email to bfarrah@xitron.com
A businessman with a mission has launched the 'Help Us Build a Laundry For Our African Village' crowdfunding campaign. The team is raising the funds needed for a start-up business that wants to improve the lives of poor villagers in Uganda.

By: NSUK Professional Laundry Ltd.

NSUK Team and Villagers

Contact

Peter Ntaate

***@gmail.com Peter Ntaate

End

-- Peter Ntaate, the president and founder of Africa based start-up "Nsuk Professional Laundry Limited", has launched a crowdfunding campaign with a funding goal of $50,000. Ntaate launched this campaign to raise the funds needed to bring sustenance level laundry services to the people of Uganda. There is a lot involved with a project of this magnitude, but the team is very focused on making it a reality. Ntaate states, "We want to help the people in Uganda by offering laundry and dry cleaning services in the hopes of improving their lives! This may be a simple service to most people who take clean clothes for granted, but for our community, it is a real luxury." The funds raised with this campaign will be used to purchase land, hi-tech laundry equipment, and service vehicles.The humanitarian benefits that Nsuk plans to bring to the poor villagers in Uganda do not end with clean clothes. The team has a long term goal with their focus on improving living conditions, and making a real difference in the villages that they grew up in. Once the company is off the ground, Nsuk plans on using the profits to build low cost housing for the families in need. They have a goal of building 10 low-cost houses in the first year at an approximate cost of $13,500 per home. In years 2-5 they plan on building at least 20 homes per year, and completing their mission in year 6 with the final 10 homes. So, by the time the team has completed their mission, they will have built 100 self-contained houses for the local people in the Namayumba - Wakiso District of Uganda.The team has been working very diligently on all of the essential groundwork for Nsuk Professional Laundry Limited and they are now ready to begin the process of making this humanitarian dream a reality which is why they have launched their campaign, and hired a team of crowdfunding specialists to help them spread the word. As an added bonus with this campaign, the team is offering several amazing perks. These perks, which serve as funding incentives, offers supporters the opportunity to back a great cause and get a handmade African souvenir as a reward. The perks range in value from a simple but heartfelt "Thank you", to items such as: a wallet, keychains, passport bag. kitchen apron and gloves, hats, purses, placemats, wall art, t-shirts, and a bundle perk that includes multiple items. All items are hand crafted by a local village lady, and mailed straight from Africa. Full details can be found on the Indiegogo campaign page.About Nsuk Professional Laundry Limited:Kampala, Uganda based Nsuk Professional Laundry Limited was founded by Peter Ntaate and consists of a talented team of dedicated professionals. The company will offer laundry and dry cleaning services on a subsistence level to their local community in the hopes of improving their lives. Nsuk plans on evolving into a large scale company with a solid mission of helping improve communities by providing a simple service that many people take for granted, while using proceeds to build low-cost housing for the underprivileged people.To learn more about the Nsuk crowdfunding project visit: https://igg.me/ at/nsuk/x/4835639 To contact via email write to Peter Ntaate at: ntaatepeter@ gmail.com
Departure of ICU Medical from the manufacturing complex in the southwestern Slovak city of Vrable, made a modern lightindustrial facility available for sale on a vacant possession basis. The complex consists of facility with a gross usable area of 7,000 sq m and 3 ha of available land for further

[]
Lucas Fox International Properties will be adding more than 1000 new homes to its Barcelona New Developments portfolio throughout 2017, generating sales of up to 550 million. This is due to the strong and growing demand for good quality homes in prime city areas, generating potential capital gains of up

[]
If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.
Quintus Media has signed a deal with Discovery Channel to air the crime documentary series Behind Bars: The Worlds Toughest Prisons across Latin America.





Set for premiere on Investigation Discovery to Latin America and Discovery en Espanol for the US Hispanic market, Behind Bars: The Worlds Toughest Prisons takes viewers to the worlds most notorious and extraordinary prisons.Through 6x60 episodes, the series reveals what it really means to be part of this very special world. The documentaries, produced by German factual specialist MAXIMUS FILM GmbH, take audiences into everyday prison life to experience the challenges each guard faces on a daily basis and the prisoner's struggles to develop strategies for survival.Im delighted that Behind Bars has been acquired by Discovery Latin America. The series offers a unique insight into the inner workings of prison life together with the personalities who live behind bars, and Im confident that it will be compelling viewing for audiences in Latin America, said Gerrit Kemming, managing director of Quintus Media . Behind Bars is doing tremendously well having already aired half way around the globe and its continuing to conquer even more territories.
BBC Worldwide and DirecTV Latin America have reached an agreement to premiere some of the BBCs latest drama hits on the pay-TV platform.





The Collection, the first season and the premiere of the second of Doctor Foster and Happy Valley, will gain distribution across Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. All three series will be broadcast through the linear channel OnDirecTV.The first season of Happy Valley is set to air today, while the first episode of Doctor Foster will premiere 18 April, while second seasons arrival hasnt been unveiled yet. The Collection will air on 23 May.OnDirecTV is the perfect platform to target viewers who love British drama, which is why the agreement with DirecTV gives us a great opportunity to bring some of our latest content hits to Latin America, said Anna Gordon, EVP and GM, BBC Worldwide Latin America/US Hispanic We are delighted to be working again with BBC Worldwide. Im sure OnDirecTVs viewers will be very happy with some of the best British television, added Willard Tressel, GM, OnDirecTV.The agreement is part of BBC Worldwides LATAM strategy, refocusing on content licensing and distribution after having recently withdrawn three of its flagship pay-TV signals in the region.
Over-the-top (OTT) and IPTV firm SPB TV has acquired the international rights for a package of documentary content produced by China Central Television (CCTV) to package into a China Hour.





The on-demand content deal , agreed with SPB TV by state-owned China International TV Corporation (CITVC), includes documentary films such as Legends of Bruce Lee, The Belt and Road and Chinas Mega Projects.SPB TV  headquartered in Switzerland and with a research and development base in Russia  provides end-to-end OTT TV, IPTV and mobile TV solutions. It is used by network operators and media companies such as Lebara, Amedia, MTS, Tele2, StarHub, and Beeline.This is the latest move in a partnership between the company and CITVC which dates back to 2015 when SPB TV started to broadcast the channels CCTV-4 (Chinese International), CCTV-9 Documentary, CCTV NEWS, CCTV Francais, CCTV Espanol, CCTV Russian and CCTV Arabian.We highly appreciate the opportunity to establish the Russian-Chinese partnership in the sphere of broadcast content using OTT technologies and are confident that VOD content as well as live broadcasts will also find its audience among our audience of millions, said Kirill Philippov, CEO of SPB TV.
Pay-TV operator beIN has selected the Friend MTS live watermarking anti-piracy service to combat the theft of its digital content in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).





The Friend MTS watermarking system sees using in securing the content of broadcasting platforms around the world, and is operational daily in tens of millions of devices. The technology is coupled with global content monitoring to discover theft, recover subscriber identity, and teardown sessions in real-time.The Qatar-based operator is deploying Advanced Subscriber Identification (ASiD) from Friend MTS to protect channels on its MENA over-the-top (OTT) video platform. The watermarking technology helps identify subscribers that are stealing and retransmitting content, and enables them to be shut down.ASiD can isolate originating subscriber accounts that are being used to retransmit live channels and events. The technology can be implemented without any changes to the video delivery infrastructure, and enables accounts to be identified and video access blocked within just minutes.Piracy in MENA impacts pay-TV industry immensely, explained Mohammad Al Subaie, executive director of commercial affairs at beIN. Piracy causes millions of dollars of losses to organisations, governments and deprives legitimate industries like regional content creators from return on their investments. By deploying latest technological means, beIN wants to ensure that our eco-system in the region grows.BeIN recognises that piracy is a real and costly threat to its pay-TV business and has contracted us to deploy our ASiD services to protect their channels across the beIN OTT platform in MENA, added Friend MTS CEO Jonathan Friend (pictured).With the proliferation of OTT platforms, broadcasters need an anti-piracy solution that can fit both broadcast and OTT. ASiD is a true step change in the fight against video piracy, with a simple and easy to install robust content protection technology that will wipe out OTT and broadcast piracy 100% of the time, said Jonathan Friend.
In a huge shot in the arm to Brazil s broadcasters, its federal law regulator  the Economic Administrative Defense Council (CADE)  has authorised retransmission fees to be imposed.





A joint-venture company, Simba Content, has been formed by the three largest free-to-air (FTA) TV stations in Brazil to charge cable, satellite and telco distributors for carrying their digital signals: RECORDTV, SBT and REDETV.The main distributors, including SKY Brasil (owned by AT&T/DirectTV), Net & Claro (owned by America Movl) and Oi Telecomunication, have frowned upon the possibility of paying a fee for FTA TV stations. Meanwhile, the satellite and cable company VIVO, which is owned by Telefonica, has been the only distributor to agree to a negotiation table in Brazil.Contrary to what already happens around the world, these operators believe they should not pay anything for the signals they carry, even though they know these channels form the largest share in their audience rates, said Marco Goncalves from Simba Content. The free-to-air signal is free to our consumers who take our content directly into their TV sets. Yet, when a cable operator takes the same signal and content, markets it, advertises it and monetises it, and makes billions of dollars from our expensive produced content, and still believes they should not pay for it, it s not only unfair but rightly unlawful to say the least.Days before the switch-off, Simba Content warned customers from all three TV stations that a blackout was likely to take place as the operators are reluctant to accept any deal at all, even though they pay for international and some national stations already.The news comes as Brazilian Government has set the television transition on its analogue switch-off to a digital switchover chronogram, which started in 2016 going through several phases till 2018 for the entire territory.
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
Russian investigators say they have determined who set off a deadly bomb on a St. Petersburg subway train, identifying the suspected attacker as Akbarjon Jalilov, 22.

The federal Investigative Committee made the announcement on April 4, a day after the blast that killed 14 people and injured about 50 others in Russia's second-biggest city during a visit by President Vladimir Putin.

The statement came hours after Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said that Jalilov, a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, was the main suspect in the Russian bombing.

UKMK spokesman Rakhat Sulaimanov said Jalilov was born in the southern Kyrgyz region of Osh in 1995, and that his parents were being questioned by Kyrgyz security officers there.

The Russian statement also said that investigators found "genetic traces" of Jalilov on a backpack that contained an unexploded bomb and was discovered later on April 3 at another subway station in St. Petersburg, Ploshchad Vosstania.

"Genetic testing and recordings from monitoring cameras give investigators reason to believe that the person who carried out the terrorist act in the [subway] car left the bag with the bomb at the Ploshchad Vosstania metro station," it said.

The Investigative Committee said earlier on April 4 that the bomber's remains were found in the third car of the train that was hit by the blast while traveling between two stations in the city center.

It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was being counted in the official death toll, which reached 14 on April 4.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said that 49 other people remained hospitalized with injuries suffered in the blast.

Three foreigners -- from Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Tajikistan -- were among the injured, according to St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.

No group has claimed responsibility for the deadliest bombing in Russia since suicide attacks on two consecutive days in December 2013 killed 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd.

St. Petersburg authorities have declared three days of mourning.

The blast badly damaged at least one subway car, and images from the scene showed dead or injured people lying on the platform after the driver brought the train into a station, while others sat stunned or tried to help the victims.

The first major bombing in Russia in more than three years, it occurred while Putin was in his home city of St. Petersburg hosting the president of Belarus.

WATCH: Chaos Inside St. Petersburg Metro Following Blast

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 4 that the bombing was a "challenge to every Russian," including Putin.

World leaders expressed condolences and solidarity, with the UN Security Council strongly condemned the "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack."

The Kremlin said that in a telephone call on April 4, Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande agreed to step up communications between their intelligence services in order to combat terrorism.

A Kremlin statement said the leaders "noted the importance of building up cooperation with the aim of countering the terrorist threat that is common to all countries."

There was no immediate comment from Germany or France about the call.

Russia has repeated called for closer cooperation against terrorism and accused Western governments of double standards, a charge the United States and others reject.

WATCH: Putin Reacts To St. Petersburg Blast

At an April 4 meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Erlan Abdyldaev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for increased international cooperation against terrorism.

"I would like to once again express gratitude to our Kyrgyz friends and allies for again showing the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil," Lavrov said. "I'm convinced that this once again shows the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil," he said.

Lavrov said any speculation that the bombing was revenge for Moscow's military action in Syria would be "cynical and mean."

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) has called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria, where Moscow has given President Bashar-al Assad's government crucial backing throughout the six-year war and stepped up involvement by launching a campaign of air strikes in 2015.

Late on April 3, the White House said President Donald Trump telephoned Putin and offered "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.

Trump strongly suggested during his campaign in 2016 that he would seek to mend badly strained relations with Moscow, and expressed hope that the two countries could cooperate more closely against Islamic State and other extremist groups.

Fighting terrorism was a chief topic of a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin in late January, but there have been few signs of tangible steps toward increased cooperation.

Peskov said Trump had "extended deep condolences" to the families affected by the blast.

Many of those injured suffered shrapnel wounds, according to news reports, and law enforcement agencies said the explosive device contained up to 1 kilogram of explosives.

The blast revived grim memories of previous bomb attacks on the subway in Moscow and on trains and buses elsewhere in Russia.

Speaking to Current Time TV, St. Petersburg resident Natalya Kirillova said she was seated near the end of a subway car adjacent to the one where the explosion occurred took place.

After a "deafening explosion" that knocked seated passengers on their sides, the subway continued on to the next station and she and other passengers climbed out through the windows because the doors were broken, she said.

She saw a huge number of people lying" on he platform.

Bodies. It was awful," she said. "When we got out, they were pushing and pulling several people out covered in blood, she told Current TIme, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

Bombers have struck repeatedly in Russian cities in the past two decades, with insurgents based in Chechnya -- the site of two post-Soviet separatist wars -- or other parts of the mostly Muslim 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.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service, RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time TV, Reuters, KyrTAG, TASS, Interfax, and RIA Novosti
U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, during their meeting on April 3, saying he was doing a "fantastic job" and that the United States was "very much behind" Egypt and its people.

In a joint statement released late on April 3, the two leaders said they agreed on the importance of advancing peace in the Middle East, specifically mentioning Libya, Syria, and Yemen. They also said they wanted to help support the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The statement said the two presidents agreed that Islamist militants could not be defeated solely through military means and that they "agreed on the necessity of recognizing the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world."

Before the meeting, the Trump administration said it wanted to use the meeting to "reboot" relations between the United States and its longtime Middle East ally after a troubled period.

The Egyptian leader had a strained relationship with Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama.

Then-President Hosni Mubarak was the last Egyptian leader to visit the White House when he attended Middle East peace talks in 2010. Mubarak was driven from power months later in the Arab Spring uprisings.

U.S.-Egyptian relations became strained when Obama froze aid to Egypt after Sisi overthrew elected President Muhammad Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member.

"I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi," Trump said. "Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt,"

The U.S. president told Sisi he had a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me."

Trump did not mention human rights issues in his public comments.

Rights groups have criticized the Sisi government and accuse it of having detained some 40,000 political prisoners.

"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 two presidents likely found common ground on the issue of terrorism by radical Islamist groups.

Sisi described it as "a satanic ideology" during his brief remarks and said he appreciated that Trump has been "standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology."

Egypt, which receives $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid, is fighting a violent Islamist insurgency in the Sinai.



A U.S. official said the White House would not publicly criticize Egypt as harshly as previous administrations, but it would not be providing additional financial aid as it looks to reduce foreign aid outlays.

"Hes going to get an end to finger-wagging. Were not giving him any more money," said the U.S. official.

The official said Sisi would likely be "disappointed" about Washingtons resistance to additional aid.

Trump is scheduled to meet Jordanian King Abdullah on April 5 at the White House, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict likely to be discussed.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
The Centre did align with vehicle manufacturers concerns regarding more than 8 lakh automobiles becoming redundant within guidelines of implementing BS-IV. But, the Supreme Court isnt having any of that and upholds citizens health as more important than commercial interests of the automobile industry. Thereby, April 1, 2017 onward, registration and sale of new BS-III fuel compliant vehicles will be prohibited.

The proposition was to stop manufacturing of BS-III vehicles and facilitate sales of all existing unsold BS-III vehicles. Of course, that isnt happening, which means manufacturers are keen to let go of as many of the vehicles before the FY ends. Thats 3 proper days of sales and discounted listings.

Manufacturers have long been aware of the upgrade required but manufacturing activity wasnt halted by many. In recent years, oil refineries have spent over Rs 30,000 crore to make a cleaner new fuel thats going to be important in thwarting air pollution.

Permitting sale of BS-III vehicles frustrates the governments efforts in checking increased pollution levels. That results in 8.2 lakh vehicles working against progress.

The manufacturers recounted having been allowed to sell existing stock with old emission norms on two occasions previously when the country moved up from BS-II and BS-III in 2005 and 2010.

The required changes warrant expenses by manufacturers to be compliant with BSIV norms, and GST implementation. The inventory pileup isnt a positive outlook, and its also the end of the 2016-17 financial year.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) made available manufacturing and sales data to highlight the BS-III stockpile. The majority of unsold vehicles are two wheelers, and they may need to be exported to countries that currently allow sale of such vehicles. SIAM highlighted that production was increased in January 2017 because demonetisation had a negative impact on production output since two months prior when demonetisation had been announced.

Mr. Vinod K. Dasari, MD and CEO, Ashok Leyland Ltd said the company isnt going to have to resort to huge write offs and is being impacted minimally having manufactured BSIV compliant vehicles since 2010. BS IV Commercial Vehicles cant run properly on BS III fuel and non-availability of the right fuel across India prompts customers to use BS III vehicles.

Most of Ashok Leylands vehicles in the pipeline are already sold, and some are yet to be delivered as per the orderbook. Of the remaining vehicles, some will be exported to markets that follow BS III norms. If any vehicles still remain unsold, those will be upgraded to BS IV at minimal cost. Till date, Ashok Leyland has sold about 50,000 BS IV vehicles to customers who have access to BS IV fuel.

Ashok Leyland sold 18,682 units in March 2017 compared to 16,702 units during March 2016. Total sales in FY2017 was 145,066 units, up from 140,457 units sold in FY2016.

Mr. Vinod K. Dasari  CEO and MD, Ashok Leyland said the company registered 12% growth in March 2017 and 3% growth through FY2017 on the back of product launches, dealership expansion in North and East, an assembly unit in Dhaka and offices in Dubai and Bangladesh. The industry has been affected by the mandatory BSIV shift. Ashok Leyland is working on minimizing the impact of this decision.

Mr. Vinod K Dasari who also serves as President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) says the Indian auto industry will abide by Supreme Court orders regarding BSIV.

Indian auto industry has been working actively on BS4 manufacturing since 2010 but nationwide sales has been thwarted owing to unavailability of BS4 fuel. The industry is complaint to emission norms and government regulated date of Manufacturing. Running a BS4 vehicle on BS3 fuel can cause severe damage to some vehicles.

While BSIV vehicle manufacturing has been an area of focus, BS4 fuel availability has not recieved the same push in the last 7 years. As such, the sudden compulsion causes undue stress on the industry, and also causes loss of jobs. The auto Industry spends a fortune in R7D, technology, and implementation, and requires a stable and predictable policy that encourages long term planning and investment.

While BSIV aims at tackling air pollution, a proactive measure that has the same effect is to scarp old vehicles as they are big time pollutants. Removing them from our roads would have a positive effect on air quality. Indian auto industry is also working with the government for the fastest migration to BS6 (in 3 years) by wholly skipping BS5.

Though stopping sales of BS III vehicles was made mandatory only on 1st April, 2017, among other manufacturers, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) stopped BS 3 vehicle production on 1st April, 2016, which helped the company stop sales of such vehicles much ahead of the decided deadline of 1st April, 2017. As a result, Toyota India dealers have felt no impact of the latest sales limitation.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor is concerned about rising pollution levels and supports the Government of Indias initiative. All TKM vehicles being sold in India are BS IV compliant. The company recommends the government also does something about phasing out BS I & BS II vehicles.

Toyota India is future ready to align with BS VI technology by 1st April, 2020. TKM is confident that the Oil & Gas Industry will provide BS VI fuels before 2020 at least 6 months in advance so the auto industry can synchronise its production of BS VI compliant vehicles . To grow as an automotive manufacturing hub for cleaner vehicles, there needs to be a concerted effort from the Government, Oil & Gas Industry and Automotive Industry to work closely.

Initially, implementation of Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission standards for vehicles from April 1, 2017 provided for permitting sale and registration of Bharat Stage III (BS III) vehicles manufactured prior to April 1, 2017 even after the date. However, the Supreme Court of India on 29th March said this will not be allowed. This, despite the government explaining to Supreme Court through the Solicitor General that vehicle manufacturers should be allowed to sell BS III vehicles already manufactured. This is what has been followed when the Indian auto industry shifted through prior Bharat Stage norms.

Mahindra was looking forward to that but will now have to follow the new law. M&M had made available BS IV models as per Government of India notifications as required, and is ramping BSIV production. Mahindra tried to liquidate as much of its BS III inventory as possible by March 31, 2017 and looks to minimize the effect of this on its financials.

Nishant Arya, Executive Director of JBM Group says the company has moved to BS IV emission norms for all its products, including intra-city buses. Manufacturing at present includes CNG and Diesel products, with electric buses soon joining the production line. CITYLIFE CNG and CITYLIFE Diesel buses are BS IV compliant, and ECOLIFE electric bus is emission free. Its auto component segment has been manufacturing BS IV compliant products for all clients since some time now.

BharatBenz has nothing to worry about with 1,000 BS-IV trucks on Indian roads already. The 1,000th BharatBenz BSIV truck was handed over to a customer by Autobahn Trucking, which operates three BharatBenz dealerships in Kerala. Kerala moved to BSIV in November 2016.

Erich Nesselhauf, Managing Director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles says the company has worked relentlessly for over a year to be fully BS-IV ready on 1st April, from product development through aftersales.

DICVs complete BharatBenz range of trucks (9 to 49 tonnes) has been offered as BS-IV variants since August 2015. As such, by the Indian deadline of implementation, BharatBenz BS-IV trucks have clocked up more than 200 lakh kilometres.

BharatBenz BS-IV vehicles also accept BS-III fuel, if required. BharatBenz BS-IV vehicles uses a system based on SCR technology used in many world markets in the last ten years.

Nesselhauf further added, the Supreme Court decision reassures DICVs belief that industry interests must align with interests of the society. BS-IV norms bring in improvements in terms of air quality to benefit people, and the environment.

BharatBenz made a strategic decision last year to focus on BS-IV vehicles. The company was able to phase out BS-III vehicles in its business system and made the switch to produce only BS-IV vehicles in March, as per plan and requirement. This week, its all-new range of BharatBenz trucks featuring clean and fuel-efficient BS-IV technology package is being launched.

While demonetisation announced in the last quarter of 2016 contracted CV sales and growth, expected Bharat Stage (BS)-IV from April 2017 did encourage pre-buying in Q4 FY2017. In January, Subrata Ray, Group Head, Corporate Ratings said the M&HCV (Truck) segment is likely to register 7-8% during Q4 FY2017, as impact of demonetization is offset by pre-buying owing to BS IV implementation. Pre-buying will in turn contract sales volumes in H1 FY 2018.

Globally, Indian auto industry has been the fastest to upgrade its emission norms. Europe took 13 years to implement Euro 4 stage. India took 10 years to introduce BSIV emission norms. India will jump from BSIV to BSVI Emission norms in a mere three years (2020).

Adaptation of BS-IV standards are likely to have a neutral impact on the Indian auto industry. In the passenger vehicle segment, most manufacturers shifted to BSIV manufacturing well within time and will not be impacted adversely.
Image credits: Darshan Jadhav, Vaibhav Gokhale

Italians are renowned to reinvent the way design works- they have their own ways of blending form and function with simplicity yet complex at the same time. From fashion, furniture to automobiles- its hard escaping the allure that an Italian design brings to am onlookers eye. And when one fine day our editor-in-chief spoke about reviewing an Italian motorcycle- going nuts was the only overwhelming emotion.

Enter the Ducati Diavel a machine which breaks the very barrier of contemporary motorcycle design. It invokes reactions of many a kind but never fails to grab an emotion from its spectator. Being in our custody for over three days and piloting it around for over 700 kms the Bolognese Brute left a diverse but long lasting notion on our minds. So here we go with our review of the sinister yet suave Ducati Diavel Carbon edition.

FEATURES

Ducati Corse derived Testastretta 11 Dual Spark (DS) engine as seen on the Monster 1200 and the Multistrada 1200 cranking out max power of 162 bhp @ 9250 and peak torque of 130.5 nm @ 8000 rpm. A Ride-by-Wire (RbW) system offers an incredible crisp throttle response and a slipper clutch system that ensures effortless use of the cluth and more aggressive downshifts during spirited riding.

Stainless steel slash cut stacked exhausts are both a visual and aural treat.

The Diavel uses full LED technology both in the head and tail and they do look marvellous.

The differentiating factor between the regular and carbon variant is the generous use of carbon fibre in the tank panels, passenger seat cover and front fender.

Split-level instrumentation: The upper LCD display is mounted on the handlebar riser and provides key information such as speed and rpm, in addition to showing warning lights, time and temperature. The lower, full colour Thin Film Transistor (TFT) unit is integrated into the fuel tank and provides an incredibly clear display of the currently selected Riding Mode, gear, and DTC level as well as total and trip mileage.

Diavels passenger accomodations include slender footpegs which ingeniously fold down from the rear sub-frame, as well as an innovative T-bar shaped grab-rail assembly which slides out from the rear of the seat.

seat provides ample comfort for the rider. The pillion seat is comfortable for short rides with Ducati providing a removable carbon fibre seat cover.

Radially attached Brembo Monobloc 4-piston callipers with ABS as standard equipment mounted over 2 x 320 mm semi-floating discs at the front and 265mm single disc with 2-piston floating calliper.

Fully adjustable front suspension using 50 mm usd fork with DLC-treatment. Rear suspension is fully adjustable rear shock with progressive linkage and remote spring preload adjustment. The Single-sided aluminium swingarm looks yum.

Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tyres: 120/7017 front and a massive 240/4517 section at the rear mounted over Marchesini ten-spoke forged machine-finished lightweight wheels

STYLING

The Diavel is a handsome devil- at the front it does exude the hidden devilishness, though subtly. The LED headlight unit housed in a brushed aluminium assembly, the muscular fuel tank flanked by two exaggerated vertically stacked air scoops and lateral radiators all so tightly packed- and now with carbon fibre accents, its akin to a Dracula nattily clad in a tuxedo prowling around at a nocturnal vanity bash.

Start sweeping your eyes around and that is where the brashness of the beast shows up. The Testastretta L-Twin is neatly tucked and clutched by the gorgeous red trellis frame with the exhaust routing resembling the curvature of a devils tail. The scooped seat, a chopped rear which concludes well before the massive 240 section rear tyre mounted over a gorgeous set of Marchesini ten spoke wheels and the slash cut stacked silencers- the Diavel is indeed a devil- a very muscular one armed with enough weaponry ready to slice everything that comes in its way. Its but obvious not to be bemused by the Diavels design and it might seem controversial at first to some- but a guaranteed second look and there is enough affirmation to the fact that the designers have pulled off a stunner.

PERFORMANCE

Engine

The powerplant of the Diavel is as potent as its styling. It shares the same liquid-cooled 1200cc Testastretta 11 DS L-Twin engine that does duty on the Monster 1200 and the Multistrada 1200- and with 162 bhp on tap, its an absolute cracker. From the moment you fire up the engine to high speed rush- the brute power keeps you thrilled and focussed at the same time. The throttle response is crisp- thanks to a ride by wire system and even a minor input on the throttle is met with an instant change in engine acoustics and the bikes momentum. So much so that modulating the throttle became an addiction for us on the review- the engine retort and the exhaust note kept us delightfully grinning every time we took the Diavel out for a spin.

Pottering around at low speeds is never an issue on the Diavel, there is enough torque available right from the word go. But above 3000 rpm is where it starts to show its brutish grunt. The inherent nature of an L-Twin is evident as it shoves every nm of torque down your bottom ramming it deeper into the seat. If not for the scooped seat, the Diavel would actually throw you off during hard acceleration. To tame this madcap Italian, Ducati has inducted a series of electronic aids including riding modes. To start with there is the URBAN MODE where the power is toned down to 100 bhp intervened by Ducati Traction Control (DTC) on Level 5. TOURING MODE enables the rider to exploit the full 162 bhp albeit in a user friendly power delivery curve with DTC at Level 4 . The SPORT MODE is when one needs to go berserk with the Diavel- the engine spins in apocalypse urgency. Your hands clench to the handlebars in cliff hanging style, the knees tuck in at its hardest, your eyebrows squint, pupils dilate and the Diavel takes you into another dimension. The gearbox isnt the most slickest of units but isnt notchy- finding neutral used to occasionally translate into a treasure hunt. With a slipper clutch in place- the pulling effort was thankfully light while facilitating frequent antics of aggressive downshifts.

Breaching the 200 kph mark didnt take much sweat and even the wind blast didnt smack as hard as weve felt on naked streetbikes. It is unlike any motorcycle we have ridden till date and every pre-conceived notion about the motorcycle was smashed to bits by the Diavel in the most delightful manner one would expect. Technically we could talk in detail about the hardware and electronics working in the background hustling you ahead to nirvana- but wed keep all that for the spec chart at the end of the article.

Handling and braking

At 234 kgs (ride ready), the Diavel isnt a very light motorcycle- add to it the cruiser like steering geometry and that fat rear tyre. Its easy to presume it to be a heavy handling machine, but the Diavel here shatters every assumption in a similar way it did for its engine performance. The low seat height ensures you comfortably sit into the motorcycle than on it placing you closer to the ground which adds confidence when weaving it around bends. It wont go around tight corners like a supersport, but feels neutral extending an unruffled feedback to the rider when cutting down on lean angles. If not for the cruiser-ish ergonomics, the Diavel feels more like riding a street bike around corners. It feels lighter than it actually is and the precise throttle response is simply staggering. Going into every corner with inhibitions and coming out in slapdash style- the Diavel had us floored. Gosh..what a motorcycle!

Coming to brakes, the Brembo monobloc callipers offers progressive stopping power to the Diavel. It didnt feel as sharp if we have to recollect our riding encounters with other Brembo shod motorcycles. Your right hand feels well connected to the brakes and its easy to predict the response even with minor inputs on the brake lever. The ABS isnt as intrusive and kicks in only when the grippy Pirellis struggle for traction- in fact the non-intrusiveness of the ABS demonstrates how good the brakes are. The rear brake offers enough bite to complement the front brakes while hurrying the motorcycle to standstill from high speeds.

CONCLUSION

We could actually go writing lengths of how mindboggling of a motorcycle the Ducati Diavel is. The styling might leave people scratching their heads and simply opine the Diavel as a burlesque cruiser with an exotic badge. But all assumptions could be put to rest once you get rolling.

It can be well compared to a Toruk- the predator bird from the movie Avatar. Its ferocious but rewards its rider with unparalleled thrill and grin in truckloads once you get the hang of it. A cruiser with a soul of a superbike- thats what gives the Diavel its distinct character. It carves a niche for itself and its hard to think about a motorcycle that could come close to even trying being one.

DUCATI DIAVEL CARBON TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

DUCATI DIAVEL CARBON PHOTO GALLERY
In 2011, researchers observed something that should be impossible -- a massive bloom of phytoplankton growing under Arctic sea ice in conditions that should have been far too dark for anything requiring photosynthesis to survive. So, how was this bloom possible?

Using mathematical modeling, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) found that thinning Arctic sea ice may be responsible for these blooms and more blooms in the future, potentially causing significant disruption in the Arctic food chain.

The research is described in Science Advances and is a collaboration between researchers from SEAS, University of Oxford and University of Reading.

Phytoplankton underpins the entire Arctic food web. Every summer, when the sea ice retreats, sunlight hitting the open water triggers a massive bloom of plankton. These plumes attract fish, which attract larger predators and provides food for indigenous communities living in the Arctic.

Phytoplankton shouldn't be able to grow under the ice because ice reflects most sunlight light back into space, blocking it from reaching the water below.

But over the past decades, Arctic ice has gotten darker and thinner due to warming temperatures, allowing more and more sunlight to penetrate to the water beneath. Large, dark pools of water on the surface of the ice, known as melt ponds, have increased, lowering the reflectivity of the ice. The ice that remains frozen is thin and getting thinner.

"Our big question was, how much sunlight gets transmitted through the sea ice, both as a function of thickness, which has been decreasing, and the melt pond percentage, which has been increasing," said Chris Horvat, first author of the paper and graduate student in applied mathematics at SEAS. "What we found was that we went from a state where there wasn't any potential for plankton blooms to massive regions of the Arctic being susceptible to these types of growth."

The team's mathematical modeling found that while the melt ponds contribute to conditions friendly to blooms, the biggest culprit is ice thickness.

Twenty years ago, only about 3 to 4 percent of Arctic sea ice was thin enough to allow large colonies of plankton to bloom underneath. Today, the researchers found that nearly 30 percent of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean permits sub-ice blooms in summer months.

"The meter decline in sea ice thickness in the Arctic in the past 30 years has dramatically changed the ecology in that area," said Horvat. "All of a sudden, our entire idea about how this ecosystem works is different. The foundation of the Arctic food web is now growing at a different time and in places that are less accessible to animals that need oxygen."

The researchers hope their model will be helpful for planning future expeditions to observe these blooms and measuring the impact this shift will have on ecosystems.

This research was coauthored by David Rees Jones, Sarah Iams, David Schroeder, Daniela Flocco and Daniel Feltham. It was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.
Growing up on an island or mainland location can shape the way children think about wildlife, including which species they prefer, according to North Carolina State University research. Comparison surveys of children living in the Bahamas and in North Carolina reveal significant differences and potential challenges for wildlife-conservation efforts on islands.

It's important to understand the next generation's priorities for wildlife conservation, says lead author Hannah Shapiro, an undergraduate student who surveyed students from Andros, an island in the Bahamas, and compared the results with those of children in North Carolina for a study published in Environmental Conservation.

"Children on Andros showed a preference for feral cats, dogs and pigs, which are invasive species that can be more damaging in an island environment," Shapiro says. "That's a concern for future wildlife-conservation efforts."

However, island children chose a wider variety of wildlife species as their favorites -- including birds, lizards, fish and insects -- than their continental counterparts from North Carolina, who strongly preferred mammals, including deer, bears, rabbits, wolves and squirrels.

Island children may have a greater preference for species like rock iguanas, conchs and flamingos (the national bird of the Bahamas) not only for reasons of familiarity and national pride but also because they're surrounded by fewer big furry species, known as "charismatic megafauna" to wildlife biologists.

About a third of the children from Andros who were surveyed take part in Discovery Club, a Bahamian environmental education program. Discovery Club participants showed a greater concern for native species with declining populations than nonmembers.

"The Discovery Club curriculum deals specifically with declining species but it doesn't focus heavily on invasive species," says co-author Kathryn Stevenson, an NC State assistant professor and former public school science teacher who studies environmental literacy. "Discovery Club offers an ongoing way to build awareness of wildlife issues. Based on the findings, a recommendation would be to add a specific module on invasive species to help children learn about the impact on native wildlife."

Wildlife biologists need to understand the human factors that drive conservation decisions, says co-author Nils Peterson, an associate professor in NC State's College of Natural Resources who studies the intersections of human and natural systems.

"Faced with a constant loss of species and limited resources, conservation biologists are always in triage mode, identifying the species most at risk and targeting our efforts to save them," Peterson says. "The better understanding the public has, the more likely we are to base our priorities on sound science."

The article, which is part of an Environmental Conservation themed edition about human and island environments, is based on undergraduate research done in a conservation biology study-abroad course. Brian Langerhans, an NC State faculty member in biological sciences, and Kristin Frew, a former graduate student, contributed to the study.
A new study in the April 3 issue of Nature Genetics describes an ancestry.com-type adventure that reveals the deep history of a family, including some disreputable relatives. But the family in this case is Asian rice (Oryza sativa), and the disreputable relatives are the weedy cousins of domesticated rice.

Weedy rice is neither wild rice nor crop rice but rather formerly domesticated rice that has shed some traits important to people. Adapted to human coddling, it does not grow outside of agricultural fields, but at the same time, it is not easily harvested and produces unpalatable seeds.

Depending on where you are in the world, the reduction in yield of crop rice can be as high as 90 percent because of these weeds, said Kenneth Olsen, professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis and the lead author on the paper. Even in the U.S., weedy rice is estimated to be present in 30 percent of rice fields and leads to crop losses of more than $50 million annually.

There are two major strains of weedy rice in the U.S.: strawhull and blackhull awned. (Awns are the long bristles that give some grasses a hairy appearance). Because the two weedy strains evolved independently, they provide an ideal opportunity to study the genetic basis of weediness and, particularly, whether it always arises through the same genetic mechanism.

For this purpose, a team of scientists from China and the U.S. -- including Washington University -- sequenced the genomes of 18 strawhull weeds and 20 blackhull weeds and compared them to 145 previously published genomes of crop and wild varieties of rice.

Analysis showed that: the two weeds evolved from two different crop varieties; they evolved at different stages in the domestication process; and the genetic basis for weediness differs between the strains. It also revealed that, in both cases, relatively few changes were needed to turn the crop plant into a weed.

advertisement

Rice, in other words, has a proclivity toward weediness. "It's easy to evolve weediness, and it has happened repeatedly," said Olsen.

No more stoop labor

"The evolution of weedy crop relatives is an under-recognized part of the domestication process," Olsen continued. "Until recently, few of those studying domestication had given much thought to these weedy doppelgangers that were just kind of persisting on the margins of fields."

When rice is planted by hand, each seedling is scrutinized and weedy ones discarded. But the adoption of mechanized, direct-seeded farming has changed the equation. "The weedy relatives look so much like the crop, they blend in and farmers don't realize they have a problem until they have a real infestation," Olsen said.

One of the most noticeable weedy traits is highly shattering seeds. "When cereal crops were domesticated, people selected against shattering because it made the grain easier to harvest, but if you're a weedy species you want to disperse seed. So with the weedy strains there's a re-emergence of seed shattering," Olsen explained.

advertisement

Weeds also have very persistent seed dormancy, he said. During domestication, there's selection against dormancy, because farmers select for whatever comes up first. But, again, that's a bad strategy for a weed, so dormancy re-emerges as well.

The combination of shattering and prolonged dormancy means there is a reservoir of weed seeds in crop fields that can come up year after year and outcompete the crop.

Deep history of rice

The genetic analysis undertaken by the team of scientists showed that the two strains of weedy are descended from two separate rice varieties, indica and aus, which were domesticated in different parts of Asia.

Most of the rice grown in the U.S. is a third variety, japonica, domesticated in yet another location. For this reason, and because there is comparatively little genetic diversity in the two weedy strains, they were probably introduced to the U.S. as contaminants in grain stocks.

Both weedy strains evolved after rice was domesticated and after some varietal differences had emerged in the crop. But the blackhull weed seems to have diverged from the aus variety of rice much earlier than the strawhull weed diverged from indica.

Crop domestication is a long process usually divided into two stages, Olsen explained. During the first stage, human selection favors "domestication traits" that allow the plant to be cultivated in the first place, such as seedheads that don't shatter easily. Later, human selection favors "improvement traits," such as the popcorn-like aroma and flavor of basmati rice.

The more of these traits a weedy strain possesses, the later it evolved. Both the U.S. weed strains have only the crop variants of three genes that are targets of selection during rice domestication. On the other hand, the strawhull but not the blackhull weedy variety has the genes for most of the widely selected improvement traits.

The blackhull weeds evolved after rice was domesticated but before it was improved, and the strawhull weeds spun off only after rice had been further improved by selection

De-domestication

Having established when weediness evolved, the scientists looked at how it had evolved by comparing the genomes of the weedy varieties to those of their inferred crop ancestors. They were searching for "signatures of selection," evidence of mutations so favorable they spread rapidly through a population.

What they found is that the signatures corresponded to regions of the genome that control weedy traits but not to those affected by domestication. For example, all the weedy rices possess the sh4 mutation that characterizes domesticated non-shattering rices. Eight other gene regions, however, are implicated in the re-acquisition of shattering by the weedy strains.

Moreover, most of the genes for weed adaptation are clustered in genomic islands rather than randomly distributed throughout the genome.

"It's different genomic islands in each weed type," Olsen said. "So changing a crop into a weed doesn't take many genetic changes and it can occur through different genetic mechanisms."

"We should keep in mind the apparent ease with which these agricultural weeds have repeatedly evolved as we shift toward mechanized production practices that promote their success."

"What I find fascinating about these weeds," Olsen said, "is the way they've co-opted the agricultural system. They take advantage of this wonderful environment we're creating by tilling and providing nutrients, and way outcompete the plants that have desirable traits."
Now it's possible for anyone to see and share 3-D nanoscale imagery with a new open-source software platform developed by researchers at the University of Michigan, Cornell University and open-source software company Kitware Inc.

Tomviz 1.0 is the first open-source tool that enables researchers to easily create 3-D images from electron tomography data, then share and manipulate those images in a single platform.

The world of nanoscale materials -- things 100 nanometers and smaller -- is an important place for scientists and engineers who are designing the stuff of the future: semiconductors, metal alloys and other advanced materials.

Seeing in 3-D how nanoscale flecks of platinum arrange themselves in a car's catalytic converter, for example, or how spiky dendrites can cause short circuits inside lithium-ion batteries, could spur advances like safer, longer-lasting batteries; lighter, more fuel efficient cars; and more powerful computers.

"3-D nanoscale imagery is useful in a variety of fields, including the auto industry, semiconductors and even geology," said Robert Hovden, U-M assistant professor of materials science engineering and one of the creators of the program. "Now you don't have to be a tomography expert to work with these images in a meaningful way."

Tomviz solves a key challenge: the difficulty of interpreting data from the electron microscopes that examine nanoscale objects in 3-D. The machines shoot electron beams through nanoparticles from different angles. The beams form projections as they travel through the object, a bit like nanoscale shadow puppets.

advertisement

Once the machine does its work, it's up to researchers to piece hundreds of shadows into a single three-dimensional image. It's as difficult as it sounds -- an art as well as a science. Like staining a traditional microscope slide, researchers often add shading or color to 3-D images to highlight certain attributes.

Traditionally, they've have had to rely on a hodgepodge of proprietary software to do the heavy lifting. The work is expensive and time-consuming; so much so that even big companies like automakers struggle with it. And once a 3-D image is created, it's often impossible for other researchers to reproduce it or to share it with others.

Tomviz dramatically simplifies the process and reduces the amount of time and computing power needed to make it happen, its designers say. It also enables researchers to readily collaborate by sharing all the steps that went into creating a given image and enabling them to make tweaks of their own.

"These images are far different from the 3-D graphics you'd see at a movie theater, which are essentially cleverly lit surfaces," Hovden said. "Tomviz explores both the surface and the interior of a nanoscale object, with detailed information about its density and structure. In some cases, we can see individual atoms."

Key to making Tomviz happen was getting tomography experts and software developers together to collaborate, Hovden said. Their first challenge was gaining access to a large volume of high-quality tomography. The team rallied experts at Cornell, Berkeley Lab and UCLA to contribute their data, and also created their own using U-M's microscopy center. To turn raw data into code, Hovden's team worked with open-source software maker Kitware.

With the release of Tomviz 1.0, Hovden is looking toward the next stages of the project, where he hopes to integrate the software directly with microscopes. He believes that U-M's atom probe tomography facilities and expertise could help him design a version that could ultimately uncover the chemistry of all atoms in 3-D.

"We are unlocking access to see new 3D nanomaterials that will power the next generation of technology," Hovden said. "I'm very interested in pushing the boundaries of understanding materials in 3-D."

Support for the project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
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."
Two monkeys grooming each other about 20-30 million years ago may have helped produce a remarkable new find -- the first fossilized red blood cells from a mammal, preserved so perfectly in amber that they appear to have been prepared for display in a laboratory.

The discovery, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, also describes the only known fossils of a type of parasite that still exists today, Babesia microti, which infects the blood cells of humans and other animals.

Two small holes in the back of a blood-engorged tick, which allowed blood to ooze out just as the tick became stuck in tree sap that later fossilized into amber, provide a brief glimpse of life in a tropical jungle millions of years ago in what is now the Dominican Republic.

"These two tiny holes indicate that something picked a tick off the mammal it was feeding on, puncturing it in the process and dropping it immediately into tree sap," said George Poinar, Jr., professor emeritus in the College of Science at Oregon State University, author of the study and an international expert on plant and animal life forms found preserved in amber.

"This would be consistent with the grooming behavior of monkeys that we know lived at that time in this region. The fossilized blood cells, infected with these parasites, are simply amazing in their detail. This discovery provides the only known fossils of Babesia-type pathogens."

The fossil parasites add to the history of the Order Piroplasmida, of which the Babesiidae is one family. In humans, the parasite B. microti can cause babesiosis, a disease with symptoms that resemble malaria and can be fatal. A related parasite in cattle can cause Texas cattle fever, which has been a historic problem in the plains states, and just this spring is causing another outbreak that has led to quarantines on more than 500,000 acres of land in Texas.

"The life forms we find in amber can reveal so much about the history and evolution of diseases we still struggle with today," Poinar said. "This parasite, for instance, was clearly around millions of years before humans, and appears to have evolved alongside primates, among other hosts."

Part of what makes these fossils unique, Poinar said, is the clarity by which the parasites and blood cells are preserved, almost as if they had been stained and otherwise treated in a laboratory for inspection. The parasites were different enough in texture and density to stand out clearly within the red blood cells during the natural embalming process for which amber is famous.
Americans of South Asian descent are twice as likely as whites to have risks for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, when their weight is in the normal range, according to a study headed by Emory University and UC San Francisco.

Similarly, Americans of Hispanic descent were 80 percent more likely than whites to suffer from so-called cardio-metabolic abnormalities that give rise to heart disease, stroke and diabetes, compared with 50 percent more likely for those who were Chinese and African-American.

These risks include high blood pressure (hypertension), elevated glucose, low HDL, the "good cholesterol," and high triglycerides, a fat found in blood. In the study, participants who were aged between 45 and 84, were classified as having cardio-metabolic abnormalities if they had two or more of these four risk factors.

The study, publishing April 3, 2017 in Annals of Internal Medicine, included 803 South Asian residents of San Francisco Bay and Chicago areas, who traced their ancestry to India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Also enrolled in a parallel study were approximately 6,000 residents of New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Winston-Salem areas, who identified as Chinese, white, Hispanic or African-American.

For whites, Hispanics and African-Americans, normal weight was categorized as having a body mass index (BMI) between18. 5 and 24.9 kg/m2. For Chinese and South Asians, the range was narrower: from 18.5 to 22.9 kg/m2.

1st Study to Look at Differences Between 5 Races

Questionnaires were given to assess participants' activity levels and eating habits.

"While other studies have looked at race and cardio-metabolic risk, this is the first that looks at the relative differences between five races," said senior author Alka Kanaya, MD, professor of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics in the Division of Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco. "It's also the first that compared risk between two different Asian populations."

The researchers found that for non-whites to have the same number of cardio-metabolic risk factors as whites with a BMI of 25 kg/m2 -- the equivalent of 150 pounds for a woman measuring 5-foot-5 -- they had to have much lower BMI levels. These were 22.9 kg/m2 for African-Americans, 21.5 kg/m2 for Hispanics, 20.9 kg/m2 for Chinese and 19.6 kg/m2 for South Asians -- the equivalent of 118 pounds for a woman measuring 5-foot-5.

"These differences are not explained by differences in demographic, health behaviors or body fat location," said first author Unjali Gujral, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Global Diabetes Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta. "Clinicians using overweight/obesity as the main criteria for cardio-metabolic screening, as currently recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, may fail to identify cardio-metabolic abnormalities in many patients from racial/ethnic minority groups."

Kanaya, who is also the principal investigator of the MASALA study (Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America), which enrolled the South Asians, said that the results of the study should not be interpreted as a call to those with normal BMI to lose weight.

"We hope the results will enable patients and their health care providers to see that race/ethnicity alone may be a risk factor for cardio-metabolic health in minority Americans," she said.
A team of researchers in the United States and Uganda has identified a novel coronavirus in a bat from Uganda that is similar to the one causing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in people, giving further credence to the theory that such viruses originate in bats.

The work, part of the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project, was described this week in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Not likely a threat to humans

Laboratory experiments with the virus, named PREDICT/PDF-2180, indicate that while its genetics appear similar to MERS-coronavirus (MERS-CoV), there are significant differences in part of its spike gene -- the segment of the virus responsible for invading cells.

"In its current form, evolution notwithstanding, this virus is probably not going to be a threat to human health," said lead study author Simon J. Anthony, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and its Center for Infection and Immunity.

By contrast, MERS-CoV itself has been shown to spread from animals such as camels to humans and between humans.

advertisement

About MERS

MERS, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is an illness sometimes marked by severe acute respiratory disease with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. About 4 of every 10 patients with the condition have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The PREDICT project, led by the University of California, Davis, is a multicenter global initiative for surveillance and discovery of viruses that could pose a pandemic threat through animal-human transmission of pathogens. In Uganda, PREDICT worked closely with researchers from Gorilla Doctors, a non-governmental organization.

"The discovery of this new virus by a team of field veterinarians and laboratory scientists in Uganda is the result of a tremendous effort to strengthen capacity in the region to better understand potential threats to the health not just of Ugandans, but of people around the world," said co-author Kirsten Gilardi, DVM, Co-Director of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis and a regional lead for PREDICT in east-central Africa.

Using a clone to test a virus

For the study, Anthony and colleagues at the UC Davis One Health Institute and with the non-profit organization Gorilla Doctors sequenced the genome of the PDF-2180 virus found in a rectal swab taken from a bat trapped in February 2013 in southwestern Uganda. Overall, the virus was 87 percent identical to MERS-CoV and 91 percent identical to NeoCoV, another coronavirus found in a bat from South Africa. However, part of the spike gene was only 46 percent identical to the one belonging to MERS-CoV.

advertisement

Next, to test the ability of the virus to spread to humans, researchers at the University of North Carolina constructed an infectious MERS-CoV clone expressing the PDF-2180 spike protein. Viruses derived from the clone could reproduce themselves but could not enter cells expressing DPP4, the receptor normally used by MERS-CoV to infect human cells, or establish new infections either in Vero cells derived from monkeys or in human airway cells from healthy lung donors.

The team plans to repeat the experiments with other viral samples to get a better grasp of what animal-borne viruses pose a risk to human health.

Coronaviruses in bats

The discovery of the virus adds to the growing number of coronaviruses identified in bats, Anthony said, including coronaviruses in South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, the Netherlands, Italy, and China.

"Collectively, these examples demonstrate that the MERS-related coronaviruses are highly associated with bats and are geographically widespread," Anthony said.
A cave in southern Oregon that is the site of some the oldest preserved evidence of human activity in North America was also once home to not-too-distant cousins of the common bed bug.

In research to be published next week in the Entomological Society of America's Journal of Medical Entomology, a pair of archaeologists describe remains found in caves near Paisley, Oregon, that represent the oldest specimens of insects from the genus Cimex ever found, ranging between 5,100 and 11,000 years old.

The remains were identified as relatives of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, but they were "not the bed bug we all know and love from hotel rooms," says Martin E. Adams of Paleoinsect Research and co-author on the study with Dennis L. Jenkins of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon. The species in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves (Cimex pilosellus, Cimex latipennis, and Cimex antennatus) are all parasites of bats.

Previously, the oldest remains of "cimicids" ever found were just 3,500 years old, found in Egypt in 1999, meaning the remains found at the Paisley Caves are the oldest Cimex specimens by a wide margin, and they raise some interesting questions for researchers about how cimicids have interacted (or not) with humans in the past.

Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus are the two bed bug species that are known to parasitize humans, widely believed to have adapted to that role thousands of years ago when humans shared caves with bats in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The species found in the Oregon caves, however, never made that jump, and Adams says it's unclear why not.

"Were the cimicid populations too small to establish themselves outside the caves, or were the host populations too small?" Adams says. "Given that Paisley Caves was only a seasonal occupation area for human hunter-gatherers, did the humans move around too much, or were the bugs not able to withstand the environment outside the caves for very long? Or, were there other constraints involved? I'm working on these last few archaeological questions right now."

The identification of the three Cimex species may also offer some clues to climactic trends during the eras they were dated to, Adams says. Cimex antennatus, for instance, tends to favor the warmer climates of California and Nevada. "The presence of warm-tolerant cimicids in the caves, such as Cimex antennatus, may suggest that climatic conditions at Paisley Caves 5,100 years ago were similar to what Cimex antennatus enjoys today in its current range."
Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe
This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for:

Enter Search Term(s):

Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL.

Thank you for visiting state.gov.
Israel has modified the design of the four Saar 6 corvettes being built in Germany to improve their anti-missile capabilities. The modification doubles the number of VLS (vertical launch system) cells to twenty for Tamir missiles used by the C-Dome (ship based Iron Dome) system on these ships. This will delay the date (now 2020) for the first Saar 6 to enter service. The other three will arrive at six month intervals. The latest change means the 2,000 ton Saar 6 will be armed with a 76mm cannon, a remotely operated 25mm autocannon, 32 VLS cells for Barak 8 air defense (against aircraft and missiles) missiles, C-Dome, 16 anti-ship missiles, two torpedo tubes and a helicopter (like the SH-60). The 90 meter (288 foot) ship has a max speed of 46 kilometers an hour, crew of 70 and enough fuel and crew supplies to remain at sea ten days at a time. The ships is equipped with an AESA radar like the one used for the American Aegis system. Both Barak 8 and C-Dome missiles have a range of 70 kilometers and use the same Israeli designed AESA radar and fire control system.

The Saar 6 ships will mainly guard the Mediterranean Coast, especially the offshore natural gas fields. Israel began pumping natural gas in 2013 from deposits discovered and developed since 2008. Israeli firms have found over $200 billion worth of oil and gas there so far. Israel is determined to use these finds to achieve energy independence by the end of the decade. But first the offshore facilities and pipelines have to be defended from terrorists and military threats. Some of the offshore gas wells are within range of rockets fired from Gaza or southern Lebanon (where Hezbollah does as it wants). The unguided rockets are not accurate enough to hit a gas well, unless dozens (or more) were fired at once. To make counter that tactic some of the offshore platforms will also be equipped with Iron Dome batteries. Iron Dome and C-Dome have a unique feature in which the radar system computes where the incoming rocket will land. If the rocket will not hit an inhabited (by ships, people or off-shore facility) area, it will be ignored. Otherwise, an interceptor missile will be fired.
American officials report that the battle to take Mosul has cost the Iraqi security forces about 800 dead and nearly 5,000 wounded since the battle began in October 2016. There are about 100,000 soldier, police and militia men involved in the operation but only about a quarter of these have been regularly involved in combat. The UN estimates that 300 civilians have been killed in Mosul in the last month. Its difficult to get an accurate count until the battle is over and all the rubble searched and survivors questioned. The UN is urging major donor states to provide the cash needed to take care of all the Mosul refugees. So far less than ten percent of the money has been provided. The UN does not like to publically discuss the main reason for shortfall. It is corruption with donors increasingly unwilling to donate to relief efforts in nations where the corruption is so bad that most of the aid gets stolen.

ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) has lost control of about 80 percent of west Mosul, meaning that they only hold less than ten percent of the city. The most dangerous of these areas is the Old City with its ancient buildings, narrow streets and many alleys. There are still several hundred thousand civilians living there and the advancing troops fear ISIL is concentrating in the Old City for a last stand. That means the advancing troops face a long battle to clear the crowded area. It can be done fast but the attackers would take heavier losses and more damage would be done to the Old City and more of its inhabitants would be killed.

In Mosul the remaining ISIL fighters seem inexperienced and disorganized. But they are not stupid and know of plans and preparations for this stage of the battle. Throughout 2016 ISIL leaders ordered the stockpiling of food, water and ammo at hundreds of positions in addition to planting thousands of mines, explosive traps and remotely controlled bombs. This included explosive vests for suicide bombers and vehicles equipped with explosives. Many of these suicide bomber explosives were equipped with a remote control detonator, in case the bomber panicked or was otherwise unwilling or unable to detonate. Many of these preparations are known to the advancing troops and the Iraqis have used training, equipment and even some frontline advisors, to detect and avoid most of these traps and suicide bombers. Despite that at least half the casualties among the attackers have been from these prepared defenses. Nevertheless the impact of these prepared defenses was a lot less than ISIL expected.

Since the start of the year ISIL fighters have been seen kidnapping women and children to use as human shields. Those who refuse to cooperate are often killed and their bodies left in the street as a warning to others. In some areas those caught trying to leave are killed on the spot. As troops advance they have been finding mass graves of these victims but many of the bodies are dumped in abandoned or bombed out buildings making it difficult to get a quick count. Troops remark that they can smell when they are in ISIL controlled areas because there are more unburied bodies, usually of civilians killed by ISIL. Few civilians have been killed by advancing troops or air strikes and those who are get publicized by the remaining ISIL fighters. Since mid-March a growing number of people in ISIL held parts of Mosul have not been able to get food. As areas are liberated the advancing soldiers are noting the impact of the growing hunger. Not surprisingly many of the liberated civilians are quick to provide information they may have about local ISIL defenses and recent activities. Since the Iraqi troops leading the advance tend to include a lot of special operations troops the civilian tips are usually quickly collected and put to use.

In February American intel analysts estimated ISIL had only about 12,000 armed members in Syria and Iraq. That number has shrunk to 10,000 or less and only about a thousand are left in downtown Mosul (the Old Town and densely built areas). This means ISIL has lost at least half the armed personnel it had in early 2016. Most of the remaining ISIL fighters appear to be in Syria or trying to get there. In Iraq where are about 2,000 ISIL fighters operating in smaller concentrations along the border trying to keep roads open to Syria. A thousand or more are in still smaller groups in or near cities to plan, prepare and carry out terror attacks and a thousand are basically trapped in the ten percent of Mosul that the Islamic terrorists still control. Police and pro-government militias providing security in areas cleared of ISIL fighters are noting small numbers of these Islamic terrorists showing up. Some appear to be trying to get away armed rather than try and pass as a civilian refugees. Most of the ISIL fighters left in the city are young men from other countries. These would stand out to anyone guarding a checkpoint and would not withstand interrogation. So these foreigners not inclined to desert to the enemy remains a threat as they seek a way to get out undetected. When spotted these men, individually or in small groups, will fight. To make matters worse some of the soldiers and militiamen at the checkpoints will accept a bribe to let unarmed ISIL men pass.

At the start of April about 400,000 civilians remained in ISIL controlled parts of Mosul. As troops advance and drive ISIL away most civilians are eager, or at willing, to go to a refugee camp until the remaining ISIL gunmen, explosives, dead bodies and rubble can be cleared away and basic services (water, sanitation, power) can be restored. Since late March over 10,000 civilians a day are arriving at refugee camps.

April 2, 2017: In March 543 civilians and five police were killed by Islamic terrorist related activities compared to 392 civilians and 26 police in February and 382 civilians and 21 police in January. The civilian deaths were up 42 percent in March compared to February and this is largely because of the fighting in and around Mosul. Two-thirds (67 percent) of the civilian deaths were in or near Mosul (Nineveh province). Baghdad suffered 15 percent of the dead while Salahaddin province (between Baghdad and Mosul) and western Iraq (Anbar province) accounted for most of the remaining 18 percent. Most of the deaths in Nineveh province were related to the effort to drive ISIL out of Mosul. Baghdad was usually where most civilian deaths took place and it still a major target for suicide bombing efforts, usually in Shia neighborhoods. Not surprisingly there have been fewer ISIL bombings in Baghdad and other usual targets because ISIL is in bad shape. Prisoners and deserters report low morale and panic among many of the less resolute members.

ISIL has largely been driven out of Anbar over the last year but because Anbar has a lengthy Syrian border and is south of Nineveh province, it remains active. As usual there was few if any civilian deaths in the Kurdish north or the Shia dominated south (Basra). It may be years before an accurate death toll for the Mosul operation can be compiled. It depends on how many ISIL administrative records are captured. ISIL did maintain statistics on executions and civilian deaths it knew about but the relentless and continuing bombing destroyed a lot of records as did ISIL, in some cases, as they withdrew administrative personnel from Mosul in the last few months.

Iraqi Data on military losses stopped being provided in December. This apparently had to do with fear of how bad it would be for morale (and the prospects of reelection for politicians) if the extent (higher than expected) military losses have been since late 2016, when the offensive against ISIL went into high gear. The government did continue to report civilian losses. For 2016 total civilian deaths were 6,878, which was less than 2015. In early December it was revealed that terrorism related deaths rose in November, especially for the security forces. Overall losses in November were 2,885 dead which was 61 percent more than October. Most of the 1,959 November deaths among soldiers, police and militia were from the fighting in and around Mosul. These losses were more than triple security forces deaths in October, when there 1,792 Iraqi deaths (civilian and security forces) from terrorist (mainly ISIL inspired) violence. The government underestimated the public outcry over the losses among military personnel involved in the Mosul campaign. Total deaths for 2016 were expected to be 10-20 percent lower than the 13,400 in 2015 but instead the 2016 losses were 5-10 percent higher. Losses in 2014 were 15,600. Until 2013 when 8,900 died, the Islamic terrorist problem seemed under control. It wasnt and since 2014 it has been an uphill struggle. While 2015 was 14 percent less deadly than 2014 both years were much less than the worst year. That was 2007 when nearly 18,000 died. Then as now the main cause of the mayhem and murder was Sunni fanatics who want to run the country as a Sunni dictatorship.

March 31, 2017: In the northwest (Anbar), on the Syrian border, Iraqi warplanes attacked an ISIL convoy near the town of al Qaim and killed Ayad al Jumaili (the ISIL War Minister) along with several other senior ISIL leaders. Jumaili was believed to be next in line to replace ISIL founder Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, whose health status has been a mystery for months. Baghdadi appears to still be alive but may have been badly injured in one of the many airstrikes directed at ISIL leadership. Al Qaim is the main border crossing between Iraq and Syria and is often the scene of battles and airstrikes. Compound in area are often used to shelter convoys of vehicles carrying the ISIL personnel between Raqqa and Mosul.

March 25, 2017: In the northwest (Anbar), on the Syrian border, a coalition airstrike destroyed a vehicle carrying Ibrahim al Ansari, the ISIL propaganda minister and at least four key members of the ISIL propaganda team. These men were responsible to maintaining the ISIL recruiting and propaganda efforts. This operation has been a frequent target of airstrikes and casualties among known members of the propaganda ministry have been high even though none of these radicalized Internet geeks is expected to serve in combat or as a suicide bombers.

March 24, 2017: In the Kurdish north (Derecik, near the Turkish border) Turkish special operations forces killed six PKK members. Just across the border in Turkey a similar operation was able to capture two PKK members. The PKK resumed their war with Turkey in July 2015 and since then some 10,000 PKK members and supporters have been killed, captured, arrested or surrendered. Total deaths so far have been over 1,200, including Turkish security forces and civilians.

March 12, 2017: In the north, outside Mosul, Shia militia drove ISIL forces out of a prison the Islamic terrorists had captured in late 2014. Acting on reports from refugees the militiamen searched and found a mass grave where several hundred Shia prisoners had been massacred when ISIL decided they needed the cells for other uses.

March 8, 2017: In Iraq one of the many Iran backed (recruited, equipped, trained and sometimes led) Shia militias has declared itself Golan Liberation Brigade and announced plans to go fight Israel to regain the Golan Heights for Syria. The Iraqi government has forbidden Iraqi Shia militia from entering Syria and so far that order has been followed. But in the recent past Iraq has announced similar prohibitions for Iranian activities in Iraq and those prohibitions were ignored. This includes American requested bans on Iranian use of Iraqi air space or roads to move weapons or military personnel into Syria.
Couriers will soon be delivering KFC straight to your door.

No this is not a delayed April Fools joke, rather the latest announcement from Kentucky Fried Chicken itself.

Restaurant Brands Ltd announced overnight that Tauranga will be the next location to receive KFCs home delivery service.

The Tauranga pilot sees KFC working with NZ Post and follows the initial Hamilton trial of KFC home delivery, which commenced in February this year.

For the Tauranga pilot, when an order is placed via the KFC delivery website at www.kfcdelivery.co.nz, customers can expect their hot KFC meal to be delivered by a NZ Post driver, says Restaurant Brands NZ CEO, Ian Letele.

The NZ Post pilot came about when KFC was exploring solutions to support the roll-out of home delivery nationwide.

Ian says that Restaurant Brands are experts in making great food, but it isnt an expert in logistics so needed to partner with a trusted supplier who could provide this service.

NZ Post has an extensive delivery distribution network around New Zealand, and KFC is available in most towns nationwide.

With the support of NZ Post, we hope to service the home delivery needs of many more KFC customers throughout New Zealand.

NZ Post Customer Experience and Innovation general manager Mike Stewart says they are very excited to be supporting such a well-known and loved brand as KFC.

Our many years experience, and growing strength in on-demand delivery makes us the ideal provider.

There will be four stores in the Tauranga region participating in home delivery: Gate Pa, Mount Manganui, Papamoa and Tauranga.

Orders will go through KFCs dedicated home delivery website, www.kfcdelivery.co.nz, and will only be available for home delivery in the Tauranga region, not pick-up.

Restaurant Brands has plans to roll out KFC delivery to between a third, and a half of KFC stores across New Zealand.
BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.
The following companies are subsidiares of Stryker: 2Hip Holdings SAS, ActiViews, Aimago SA, Alcott Indemnity Company, Arrinex Inc., Arrinex Inc., Ascent Healthcare Solutions, Berchtold, Berchtold + Fritz GmbH, Berchtold Consulting GmbH, Berchtold Corporation, Berchtold GmbH & Co. KG, Berchtold Holding Switzerland GmbH, BioMimetic Therapeutics LLC, BioMimetic Therapeutics USA Inc., CHG Hospital Beds, Cactus LLC, Cardan Robotics, Cartiva Inc., Changzhou Orthomed Medical Instrument Company Limited, Concentric Medical, EnMovi Ltd., Entellus Medical, Entellus Medical Inc., GYS Tech LLC, Gauss Surgical, Gauss Surgical Inc., Gauss Surgical Singapore Pte. Ltd., Gaymar Industries, Gongping (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., Groupe Bertec, HeartSine Technologies LLC, HeartSine Technologies Limited, Howmedica International S. de R.L., Howmedica Osteonics Corp., Hygia Health Services, Hygia Healthcare Services Inc., HyperBranch, HyperBranch Medical Technologies Inc., HyperBranch Medical Technology, Image Guided Technologies, Imascap SAS, Imorphics Limited, Infinity MSD Corp., Infinity MSF Corp., Infomedix Communications, Instratek, InstruMedics L.L.C, Invuity, Invuity Inc., Ivy Sports Medicine, Ivy Sports Medicine LLC, Jiangsu Chuangyi Medical Instrument Company Limited, Jolife AB, K2M Group, K2M Group Holdings Inc., K2M Holdings Inc., K2M Inc., K2M UK Limited, Loon Intermediateco LLC, MAKO Surgical, MAKO Surgical Corp, Memometal Technologies, Mobius Imaging, Mobius Imaging LLC, Muka Metal, Muka Metal Ticaret ve Sanayi Anaonim Sirketi, NV Stryker SA, Nettrick Limited, Novadaq Corp, Novadaq Technologies, Novadaq Technologies ULC, OOO "Stryker", Orneo Ozel Saglk Hizmetleri Medikal Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Ortho-Space Ltd., OrthoHelix Surgical Designs Inc., OrthoSensor, OrthoSensor Korea Ltd, OrthoSpace, OrthoSpace US Inc., Orthomed (Hong Kong) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Orthosensor Inc., Orthovita, Orthovita Inc., OtisMed, P.C. Sweden Holding AB, PTH West LLC, Patient Safety Technologies, Patton Surgical, Physio-Control, Physio-Control (Shanghai) Sales Co. Ltd., Physio-Control Brazil Vendas Ltda., Physio-Control Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Physio-Control Holdings Inc, Physio-Control Inc., Physio-Control Investments LLC, Physio-Control Lebanon Sales Offshore s.a.l., Physio-Control Manufacturing Inc., Physio-Control Operations Netherlands B.V., Physio-Control Sales Limited Liability Company, Pivot Medical, PlasmaSol, Porex Technologies, SCI Calyx SA, SSI Divestiture Inc., SYK Costa Rica Services Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, SafeAir AG, SafeWire, Sage Products, Sage Products Coperatief U.A., Sage Products Holdings II LLC, Sage Products Holdings III LLC, Sage Products LLC, Scopis, Scopis GmbH, Sightline Technologies, Small Bone Innovations, SpineCore, Spirox Inc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited, Stanmore Inc., Stryker (Barbados) Foreign Sales Corporation, Stryker (Beijing) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Shanghai) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co Ltd, Stryker (Thailand) Limited, Stryker AB, Stryker Acquisitions B.V., Stryker Asia Holdings C.V., Stryker Australia LLC, Stryker Australia Pty. Ltd., Stryker Austria GmbH, Stryker B.V., Stryker Berchtold B.V., Stryker Beteiligungs GmbH, Stryker Canada Holding Company ULC, Stryker Canada Manufacturing ULC, Stryker Canada ULC, Stryker Canadian Management ULC, Stryker Capital B.V., Stryker China Limited, Stryker Colombia SAS, Stryker Communications Inc., Stryker Corporation (Chile) y Compania Limitada, Stryker Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Stryker Customs Brokers LLC, Stryker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stryker Delaware Inc., Stryker EMEA Supply Chain Services B.V., Stryker Employment Company LLC, Stryker European Holdings Cooperatief U.A, Stryker European Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings I B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings II B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings III B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations Limited, Stryker Far East Inc., Stryker Foreign Acquisitions Inc., Stryker France SAS, Stryker Funding B.V., Stryker Global Technology Center Private Limited, Stryker GmbH, Stryker GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Grundstucks GmbH & Co KG, Stryker Grundstucks Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Holdings B.V., Stryker IFSC Designated Activity Company, Stryker Iberia S.L. Unipersonal, Stryker India Private Limited, Stryker International Acquisitions B.V., Stryker International Holdings B.V., Stryker Ireland Limited, Stryker Italia S.r.l., Stryker Japan K.K., Stryker Korea Ltd., Stryker Lebanon (Offshore) S.A.L., Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Luxembourg Sarl, Stryker Malta Holdings Limited, Stryker Manufacturing Holdings B.V., Stryker Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Mauritius Holding Ltd., Stryker Medical London LP, Stryker Medtech K.K., Stryker Medtech Limited, Stryker Mexico Holdings B.V., Stryker Mexico SA de CV, Stryker NV Operations Limited, Stryker Nederland B.V., Stryker New Zealand Limited, Stryker Osteonics AG, Stryker Pacific Limited, Stryker Performance Solutions LLC, Stryker Poland Services sp. z o.o., Stryker Polska Sp.z.o.o., Stryker Portugal - Produtos Medicos Unipessoal Lda., Stryker Professional Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Puerto Rico Holdings B.V., Stryker Puerto Rico LLC, Stryker Puerto Rico Sales LLC, Stryker Renovation Services LLC, Stryker Romania SRL, Stryker Sales LLC, Stryker Servicios Administrativos S.de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Singapore Private Limited, Stryker South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Stryker Spine SAS, Stryker Spine Sarl, Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc., Stryker Tibbi Cihazlan Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stryker Tijuana Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Trauma GmbH, Stryker Turkish Holdings B.V., Stryker UK Limited, Stryker Unite Ltd., Stryker Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Vietnam Company Limited, Stryker do Brasil Ltda, Surpass Medical, Synergetics, TMG France SAS, TMJ Solutions LLC, TSO3 Corporation, TSO3 Inc., Thermedx LLC, Tornier Inc., Tornier Orthopedics Ireland Limited, Tornier Pty Ltd., Tornier SAS, Tornier Scandinavia A/S, Tornier UK Limited, Tornier US Holdings Inc., Trauson, Trauson (China) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Trauson (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (B.V.I.) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings Company Limited, Trooper Holdings Inc., Vexim, Vocera, Vocera Communications, Wright DutchCo B.V., Wright Medical Australia Pty Limited, Wright Medical Brasil Ltda, Wright Medical Costa Rica S.A., Wright Medical Device (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Wright Medical Group, Wright Medical Group Inc., Wright Medical Netherlands B.V., Wright Medical Singapore Pte Ltd, Wright Medical Technology Inc., Wright Medical UK Ltd, Wright PacRim Inc., ZipLine Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ZipLine Medical Hong Kong Limited, ZipLine Medical Inc., and eTrauma.com.

Read More
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in various dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams. It also develops, manufactures, and sells active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition, it focuses on the central nervous system, pain, respiratory, and oncology areas. Its products in the central nervous system include Copaxone for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; AJOVY for the preventive treatment of migraine; and AUSTEDO for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington disease. The company's products in the respiratory market comprise ProAir, QVAR, ProAir Digihaler, AirDuo Digihaler, and ArmonAir Digihaler, BRALTUS, CINQAIR/CINQAERO, DuoResp Spiromax, and AirDuo RespiClick/ArmonAir RespiClick for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its products in the oncology market include Bendeka, Treanda, Granix, Trisenox, Lonquex, and Tevagrastim/Ratiograstim. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has a collaboration MedinCell for the development and commercialization of multiple long-acting injectable products, a risperidone suspension for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Telecom Argentina S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Argentina and internationally. The company offers telephone services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, as well as public telephone services; and other related supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller ID, voice mail, itemized billing, and maintenance services. It also provides interconnection services, such as traffic and interconnection resource, dedicated Internet access, video signals transportation in standard and high definitions, audio and video streaming, dedicated links, backhaul links for mobile operators, data center hosting/housing services, dedicated links, layer 2 and layer 3 transport networks, video links, value-added services, and other services. In addition, the company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches under the Personal brand. Further, it provides internet connectivity products, including virtual private network services, traditional Internet protocol links, and other products; data services; and programming and other cable television services. The company was formerly known as Cablevision S.A. and changed its name to Telecom Argentina S.A. in January 2018. Telecom Argentina S.A. was founded in 1979 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A man who who became famous for saving animals through the Syrian civil war has just rescued a dog - and her whole litter of puppies.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Mohammad Alaa Jaleel, an ambulance driver known as Alaa or "the cat man of Aleppo," started a cat sanctuary in east Aleppo, Syria, which helped give local children a glimmer of hope through war - waging almost nonstop since 2012. As thousands of families fled to save their lives, many pet cats and dogs got lost in the chaos, and Alaa's sanctuary took them in.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Soon he had over a hundred cats.

Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

But when the sanctuary was bombed, as government forces surged into the east portions of the city last fall, Alaa stayed until the last possible moments, moving the animals, until he too had to flee to save his life. Now, after a few months in Turkey, he's returned to Syria and has rebuilt the sanctuary. The sanctuary is filling with needy animals again. Already Alaa has taken in several stray and hungry cats.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

And in late March, in an open field just 10 minutes from his sanctuary, Alaa came across a hungry dog, who was hiding her 15 puppies.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

It's thought that the mother dog and her puppies were abandoned there.

So Alaa decided to adopt the whole family.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

While the sanctuary is rushing to build a place for the family at the sanctuary, he goes and visits the mother and her puppies every day - with dinner.

After just a couple of weeks, the little dogs are already bigger and stronger, thanks to their mom, who found the exact right person to help them.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

"We want to build a house for them," Alessandra Abidin, Alaa's friend who runs the private Facebook group for Il Gattaro d'Aleppo ("the cat man of Aleppo") from her home in Italy, told The Dodo.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo

To help Alaa and all the animals he saves, you can request to join this Facebook group. If you know of a veterinarian in Syria willing to help the sanctuary's rescued stray animals, contact Abidin.

Il Gattaro D'Aleppo
It all started with Diego, a 15-year-old schnauzer whose owner brought him to a shelter several years ago in Costa Rica. Diego was old and sick, and his body was riddled with tumors. Lya Battle was visiting the shelter to buy kibble for her dogs when she noticed Diego.

The only photograph Battle has of Diego | Lya Battle

"I remember it was late in the day, and they were about to close, and I heard the girl who works there call another girl and say, 'Oh wait, before you leave, bring the little black dog from cage number three into the operating room,'" Battle told The Dodo. "And I thought, 'That's weird that they're waiting until the very last minute to spay him.'" But they weren't planning to spay him - they were going to euthanize him. When Battle figured this out, she insisted on taking Diego.

Battle with one of her rescued dogs | Lya Battle

"They said, 'No, he's sick, he's old,'" Battle said. "And I said, 'It doesn't matter if he lives a week. If he's going to die, let him die having a home.'" Battle had several rescue dogs already, but Diego was the first special needs dog she'd cared for.

Lya Battle

"I thought he would literally die within a week, but he actually held on, and he became our sweetest child for four more years," Battle said. "He got at least 19 or 20 years of life." But it wasn't just Diego who needed rescuing. In Costa Rica, lots of dogs need help, Battle said. There are dogs living on the streets, and many people don't understand how to properly care for their pets. A few privately run shelters and rescue groups exist in Costa Rica, but these groups often have a difficult time securing funding, according to Battle.

Dodo Shows Adoption Day Hairless German Shepherd Puppies Find The Perfect Families

Lya Battle

Knowing that animals in Costa Rica get very little help, Battle tried to personally save as many dogs as she could, taking a special interest in rescuing old and special needs dogs, and bringing them home to live with her and her husband, Alvaro Saumet. At the time, Battle and Saumet were living in a small, loft-style house with a modest yard in Escazu. At first, only a few dogs lived with them, but this quickly escalated to about 100 rescued dogs. Saumet built elevated platforms and dog houses in the yard to accommodate all the animals, and they had two people helping them take care of all the dogs. To pay for animals' care, Battle and Saumet both had day jobs.

Lya Battle

"I worked as I do right now, and Alvaro also helped with the costs through his different business affairs," Battle said. "We literally took from wherever we had in order to keep them homed." Battle, Saumet and the dogs lived in the loft for four years. But they eventually realized they needed a bigger place. As luck would have it, Battle inherited a 146-acre farm near Alajuela that had belonged to her grandfather. "My husband said, 'Why don't we hire someone to go live at the farm and take care of the 100-odd dogs we had at home,'" Battle said.

The house and the dog enclosure area on Battle's grandfather's land | Lya Battle

So that's exactly what they did. And in 2009, Battle and Saumet founded Territorio de Zaguates (which roughly translates to 'land of the mutts'), a no-kill sanctuary for stray dogs.

Lya Battle

At the moment, there's somewhere between 600 and 700 dogs at the sanctuary, Battle said, although they've had as many as 900 dogs there in the past. Several dogs get adopted each week, but there are always more dogs arriving at the sanctuary than leaving it, Battle explained.

Lya Battle

"They come and go," Battle said. "We're always taking in more than we give out. At least the population is rotating. We also have a huge, huge senior citizen population."

Lya Battle

Battle and Saumet are usually the ones who name the dogs who arrive at the sanctuary - and Battle said that she remembers them all. "We try and find funny names - not glamorous names," Battle said. "If he has bad skin issues, then we'll call him 'Scab.'"

Lya Battle

Out of the farm's 146 acres, the dogs have access to about 10, Battle said. (The rest of the property has been converted back into natural forest.) A lot of the dogs stay around the main house and enclosure area, but others like to follow the caretakers around and explore the property.

Lya Battle

The dogs are supervised 24 hours a day, Battle said, and at night, the caretakers try and lock most of them inside the enclosure.

Lya Battle

Battle loves what she does, but it takes a lot of money to care for all the dogs.

Lya Battle

"No matter how hard it's been, it's always been worthwhile," Battle said. "If something is terribly difficult, and it takes all you have - both materially and emotionally - but you still do it, that's because you've found what really calls to you. If it were easy, everyone would do it, and if it were easy, it wouldn't be as fulfilling." To help support this sanctuary for Costa Rica's unwanted dogs, make a donation.
TEHRAN, IRANBoeing Co. has signed a $3 billion deal with an Iranian airline for 30 new aircraft, officials said Tuesday, in the first major sale by a U.S. company in the Islamic Republic since the Trump administration imposed new sanctions against Tehran.

The deal for the 30 737 MAX aircraft, which includes an option for another 30, could force Trump to choose between two major campaign promises: Taking a harder line against Iran or defending American manufacturing jobs.

The new agreement comes on top of the $16.6 billion sale Boeing previously made in Iran following the landmark nuclear deal struck under the Obama administration. U.S. President Donald Trump long has criticized the atomic deal, though he toured a Boeing plant in February and touted the firms work as proof of a coming American manufacturing renaissance.

On the one hand, theres the attraction of jobs and export orders for American goods. On the other hand, of course, they were elected partly on the promise of getting tough on Iran, said Richard Aboulafia, an aircraft analyst and vice-president of analysis at the Virginia-based Teal Group. Theyll have to make tough decisions.

Chicago-based Boeing struck the deal with Irans Aseman Airlines, a firm owned by Irans civil service pension foundation. Aseman, Irans third-largest airline by fleet, flies domestic and international routes.

Aseman spokesman Amir Reza Mostafavi told The Associated Press that the deal came following several round of talks with Boeing over the past year. He said the firms signed the deal March 18 and the first aircraft will be delivered in 2019. Boeing said the first delivery would be in 2022.

The European Union blacklisted Aseman in December because of safety concerns. The airline did not operate flights to European destinations at the time.

Less than a week after that decision, the airline sealed a deal to lease seven planes made by European manufacturer Airbus. Those aircraft are expected to begin arriving next month.

The new Boeing deal was made possible by the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers. Boeing struck a December deal with Iran Air, the countrys flagship carrier, for 80 passenger planes worth $16.6 billion. Iran Air also will lease 29 new Boeing 737s.

In January, Iran Air signed agreements to buy 118 planes from Airbus, estimated to be worth some $25 billion. Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, a deputy transportation minister, later said Iran would cut the number of Airbus planes to 112.

Washington granted permission for Boeing and Airbus to make the initial sales in September. Both manufacturers needed the approval of the U.S. Treasury for the deal because at least 10 per cent of the airplanes components are of American origin. The Treasury similarly would need to approve the latest deal.

Irans nuclear deal with world powers, which limits its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of some international sanctions, specifically allowed for the purchase of aircraft and parts.

Home to 80 million people, Iran represents one of the last untapped aviation markets in the world. However, Western analysts are skeptical that there is demand for so many jets or available financing for deals worth billions of dollars.

Another wild card is U.S. politics. Trump has threatened to renegotiate terms of the Iran deal, while some lawmakers have suggested putting new sanctions in place and criticized Boeing for selling aircraft to Iran. In February, the Trump administration said it was putting Iran on notice when it sanctioned more than two dozen people and companies in retaliation for a ballistic missile test.

Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz said he believed the deal would encourage other Western companies to enter Iran despite the political rhetoric.

This will boost the previous agreement between Boeing and Iran Air while indicating the Trump administration is willing to continue to work with Iran despite various differences on the missile program and Irans regional role, Leilaz said.

Boeing seemed to be addressing Trump in its statement on the sale.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, an aerospace sale of this magnitude creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States, it said. Boeing continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Irans airlines, and any and all contracts with Irans airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval.

Boeing lists 3,621 unfilled orders for the 737 MAX aircraft, a single-aisle plane which undergoes final assembly in Renton, Washington. The first is expected to be delivered to Norwegian Air Shuttle in May.

Aboulafia, the aviation analyst, said ultimately the sales wouldnt change Irans status in the Gulf, already home to three major long-haul carriers, or greatly affect Boeings bottom line.

This is not a market that means a great deal anymore, he said. It attracts headlines  and it has all kinds of political headaches and conflicts associated with it  but Iran as a world hub of aviation isnt what it was.

Read more about:

SHARE:
HAMBURG, GERMANYAmid a dearth of new plane models, the aviation industry is intensifying the search for in-cabin innovations to lure passengers with wider seats, faster service and even fresh pancakes.

Among developments this year, Qatar Airways revealed a business berth which can be swiveled to form a meeting area for four or a double bed. Dubai-based Emirates, which already offers airborne showers on its A380 superjumbos, is giving its flying bars a saloon-style redo. Meanwhile, Airbus Group SE on Tuesday said its redesigning the A380 double-deckers so-called grand staircase to create more space for passengers.

The next generation of gizmos, on show at the 2017 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg starting Tuesday, includes innovations aimed at boosting seat density, automating in-flight service (watch out cabin crew!) and keeping passengers entertained. Alongside the more practical advances are others that may not ever see the light of day. Bloomberg picks out five innovations worth a look.

Cyborg server

Tired of losing the beverage-cart lottery? Paris-based Altran has invented a robotic waiter that takes your drink and snack order in advance and rolls it up to your row. The self-driving trolley also collects garbage at the end of the flight, which leaves more time for human attendants to focus on important issues such as safety. And fashion violations. Alas, the robot lacks arms, so the job of passing hot coffee to window-seat passengers will be outsourced to the lucky aisle-seat occupants.

Germ killer

Using technology thats already in action to disinfect hospitals and municipal water supplies, the GermFalcon will zap ultraviolet light across the cabin to sanitize armrests, tray tables and even toilets. It looks like a beverage cart with arms and can destroy bacteria and viruses on 54 seats in one minute. Theres already so much radiation at airports and in planes, whos going to be bothered by a few more rays?

Flying gourmet

If your steaks overdone, you can soon send it back. Lufthansa is making flight-safe cookers that fry eggs, toast bread and steam rice at 30,000 feet. Dont worry about your freshly pressed suit smelling like a greasy spoon by the time you land for your meeting: the science-lab look-alike comes with a fume hood. And a lock meant to prevent a skillet full of sizzling sirloin from flying down the aisle during turbulence.

Window surfing

Youve secured the window seat, popped in your earbuds and nestled your travel pillow into place. Now for a relaxing view of, err, stock prices. Vision Systems, based in Lyon, France, wants airlines to turn their windows into pane-shaped infotainment screens that passengers can swipe through to see flight details, order drinks and  naturally  buy stuff. Airlines are looking for new ways to boost on-board advertising revenue, the company says. If you want to unplug, the screens can be dimmed so you can see the clouds through tinted glass.

Space maker

Sliding seats are the way of the future. Thats what Molon Labe Designs wants you to believe. Its pitch for reconfiguring cabins includes an aisle seat that slides over the middle seat to widen the corridor during boarding. The Denver-based startup also boasts middle seats that are the industrys widest at 21 inches, and positioned farther back and slightly lower than the neighbouring spots, creating less scope for armrest battles.

SHARE:
Things are looking bright for Dan Leibu and League Inc., a digital health and benefits platform he founded with three friends two years ago in Toronto.

League plans to triple staff to as many as 200 by the end of the year and start offering services in the U.S. The company provides an alternative to traditional benefit plans offered by insurers, targeting small and medium-sized businesses that appreciate its flexibility and easy access. It received $25 million in venture funding last year from one of Canadas largest pension plans, among others.

Were just racing to catch up with the demand, Leibu, 43, said in an interview in the companys office in the MaRS Discovery District, an innovation hub that fosters technology and medical start-ups such as League in Torontos hospital row, where much of the countrys publicly funded science research is carried out.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an innovation budget last month designed to help improve the countrys historically poor record at bringing ideas to market. The shift is already underway.

That growth is expected to help Kathleen Wynne balance the provinces books for the first time in a decade when the Ontario government releases its budget this spring for the fiscal year starting April 1. The province expects a $1.9 billion deficit for last fiscal year, down from a projected $4.3 billion gap in the 2015-16 budget.

Computer-design and related jobs rose 26 per cent in Ontario over the past five years to 162,000 in 2016, driving a 13 per cent increase in technology-services employment, as manufacturing fell 2.9 per cent over the same period, according to Statistics Canada. Job growth in computer-design was even faster than the 16 per cent increase in finance, insurance and real estate, which has been fueled by a housing frenzy. Ontarios economy will grow 2.3 per cent this year, outpacing all other provinces. That hasnt happened since 2000.

The prospects for growth are excellent, said Jan De Silva, president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Region Board of Trade. As the tech community scales up, youve got employment growth coming from that, the people need to live somewhere, theyve got service demand, so theres a ripple effect throughout the whole economy.

MaRS could be a metaphor for Ontarios climb out of deficit, a slow start thats finally accelerating. The centre required $395 million of loans from the government in recent years after a private backer hit difficulties. But it secured new private funding from Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial in February, allowing it pay back the bulk of the loans early.

It now supports more than 1,000 companies, which have created over 7,000 jobs, and attracted big global innovators such as Facebook Inc., IBM Corp. and Johnson and Johnson. While the focus so far has been on start-ups, thats now shifting to scaling, said Salim Teja, an executive vice president at the incubator.

Theres incredible excitement about whats happening in Toronto and Canada right now, he said. The breakthroughs were seeing in science and technology and the ambition the entrepreneurs are bringing to build global businesses has never been stronger. Were in that perfect storm now.

Synaptive Medical Inc., which sells imaging technology and other devices used by surgeons to hospitals in Canada and the U.S., is one such company. It recently moved most of its operations from MaRS to another Toronto address to expand manufacturing. The company employs more than 300 workers and plans to add about 100 more this year. Its recently hired people in Switzerland, the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark to boost sales outside of North America.

Were in the production phase now, said Peter Dans, chief financial officer at Synaptive. We were having trouble finding space so we ended up pretty well moving out.

The revival in the provinces fortunes isnt helping Wynne, whose approval rating fell to a record-low 12 per cent, according to a poll released March 24 by the Angus Reid Institute. And while the Ontario government has managed to get its deficit under control, its still the worlds most indebted sub-sovereign borrower, according to Moodys Investors Service. Net debt is expected to reach $304.9 billion, or 38.3 per cent of gross domestic product, at the end of March.

The governments focus should be on building up a fiscal cushion now when things are strong, said Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal. The external environment for Ontario was about as friendly as one could realistically imagine.

Many are betting it will stay that way. Among them is Andre Itwaru, co-founder and chief executive officer of First Global Data Ltd. The mobile-payments company has taken on a flurry of overseas orders and plans to add 12 people to its 17-person team in the next three months.

Itwarus company builds partnerships with local banks, telecoms and other businesses in countries like India, China or Nigeria, offering a mobile wallet that allows clients to make payments on the go. Instead of building the software on their own, or buying it from a developer, First Global Datas partners can use its ready-made solution in return for a share in revenue.

Weve just leased another space here and we have job ads out for project-management and software management, he said in an interview in his Toronto-based office. Right now we have the benefit, or the drawback, of having too many business opportunities. We just need more staff to deploy.

Read more about:

SHARE:
LOS ANGELESA Los Angeles judge on Monday rejected Roman Polanskis bid to end his long-running underage sex abuse case without the fugitive director appearing in court or being sentenced to more prison time.

Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon refused to address how Polanski would be sentenced if he returned to the U.S. after 40 years abroad. He noted that other courts, including a California appellate court, have ruled that the Oscar winner is a fugitive and must return to Los Angeles for sentencing.

There is no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues, Gordon wrote.

Polanski was charged with six felonies in 1977 after he was accused of plying a 13-year-old girl with champagne and part of a sedative pill, then raping her at actor Jack Nicholsons house.

Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, but he fled Los Angeles on the eve of sentencing in 1978. He has sought to resolve the case several times without personally appearing in court.

His travel has since been confined to three countries: France, Switzerland and his native Poland.

The victim has said she forgives the Rosemarys Baby director and believes the case should end.

Read more:

Roman Polanskis lawyer asks judge to give clue on sentence

Roman Polanski to preside over French film awards

Polanski, 83, has long contended that he is the victim of judicial misconduct because a now-deceased judge who handled the case suggested in private remarks that he would renege on a plea bargain and sentencing agreement. It called for no more time behind bars for the director after he spent 42 days in a prison undergoing a diagnostic screening.

Polanskis lawyer, Harland Braun, said Gordons order failed to address what he called the central issue in the case  misconduct by several previous judges who handled the case.

Polanski contends emails show that several judges had discussed how Polanski had to return to Los Angeles for sentencing.

It seems like this just another coverup, Braun said in an interview.

He said his efforts were aimed at seeing if the judicial system could fix previous errors in the case, and whether it was capable of healing itself.

In that regard, Judge Gordon proved that he cannot, Braun said.

Gordons ruling says Polanski and Braun had not presented sufficient credible, admissible evidence or legal arguments to warrant the requested relief.

Previous rulings have stated that the only way Polanski can address his allegations is to return to Los Angeles for his sentencing hearing. That would likely involve him being arrested and serving additional time behind bars while he awaited a hearing.

Braun has said Polanskis confinement in jail and house arrest in Switzerland during a failed extradition effort in 2009 and 2010 meant the director has already served his sentence.

The ruling came two weeks after Gordon convened a hearing to address several requests by Polanskis lawyer. Los Angeles prosecutors, who declined to comment on Mondays ruling, vehemently opposed any ruling that would end the case without Polanskis appearance in court.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee said Polanski was asking Gordon to give a wealthy celebrity different treatment than any other fugitive.

Polanski won an Academy Award for best director for his 2002 film The Pianist and was nominated for 1974s Chinatown and 1979s Tess.

SHARE:
History has been rewritten and much of the publics opinion has long since changed. But Louis Riel, the Metis leader executed as a traitor in 1885, can still provoke a fight.

Now, though, more than 130 years after he was tried and hanged for treason, it is the people Riel fought and died for who cant seem to agree on how  or even whether  to take the last step in his political rehabilitation.

In a statement to the Star, Heritage Minister Melanie Jolys office acknowledged it is trying to determine how best to honour Riel.

The ideals that Louis Riel fought for  ideals of inclusiveness and equality  are the very same values on which we base our countrys identity, spokesperson Pierre-Olivier Herbert said.

The campaign to exonerate Riel is being led by a francophone Metis group in Manitoba, who want to see Canada use its 150th anniversary celebrations to right a historic wrong.

Riel should receive a complete exoneration without any conditions, the group, LUnion nationale metisse Saint-Joseph, which dates to 1887, writes in a 70-page dossier that was submitted to the federal government last year, and which was provided to the Star.

The group cites legal irregularities that would be grounds for a modern-day mistrial as well as Riels legislative and cultural contributions to Canada, such as aboriginal land rights, minority language rights, the founding of the province of Manitoba and the legitimization of a distinct founding people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry.

The Metis, agents of change and conduits between cultures who embodied Canadian values even before Canada formally existed, must receive justice and honour for Louis Riel, their leader, the group argues in the document.

Other Metis groups are promising trouble if Ottawa dares make such a move without their consent.

It would be very unwise of them, warned David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation.

This would probably alleviate Canadas stress and pressure and guilt that they have maintained when the facts are very clear that they murdered this great leader. Exoneration is not about Riel. Exoneration is about Canada.

Riels critics are also warning that Ottawa risks an implicit endorsement of armed rebellion against the forces of law and order by clearing Riels conviction.

The relatively low-profile exoneration campaign was ushered into the spotlight this week when it got the backing of Montreals city council. The Quebecois have always had a soft spot for the francophone firebrand, who was educated and later hospitalized in the province after being diagnosed by psychiatrists as suffering from megalomania, a disease described at his treason trial as an insane, an extraordinary love of power.

But this movement has really been building since former prime minister Joe Clark passed a motion in the House of Commons recognizing Riels major contribution to the development of Canada as we know it.

That was in 1992, when Ottawa was trying to round up support for constitutional amendments in the Charlottetown accord, which was ultimately defeated.

Since then, there have been more than a dozen bills tabled in the House of Commons, where Riel was elected three times as the MP for Provencher but never permitted to take his seat. Each sought the posthumous cancellation of the guilty verdict in his treason trial. Each was shuffled away and ignored by successive governments, never coming close to a vote.

We never give up, absolutely not. Our position has always been that unless Riel is exonerated, reconciliation doesnt really occur, said David Doyle, a Riel activist and author.

It would be similar to South Africa: if they hadnt exonerated Nelson Mandela, reconciliation would not have occurred, and we feel the same way about Riel.

The Metis National Council, which has represented Metis organizations in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia since 1983, fears an exoneration would only be used to shift attention away from the more concrete and pressing demands of its people.

We have nothing against honouring Louis Riel, said Clement Chartier, the council president. What were opposed to is whitewashing history to try to mask the grave injustice that was done not only to the Metis nation but to Louis Riel.

He would rather see the favourable shift in public opinion toward the Metis leader harnessed to address current issues.

Even if they do these other things, we still may not be favourable to an exoneration, by whatever terms they want to use, Chartier said. Were not saying its a quid pro quo. Were just saying lets rectify the wrongs. Lets not dwell on symbolism because symbolism is not going to feed our people or house our people or employ our people.

Jacqueline Blay, president of the Societe franco-manitobaine, which is also pushing for Riels exoneration, acknowledged the split among Metis organizations. But she argued that the 150th anniversary of Canadas founding is the time to correct a historical injustice, not to carry on the manoeuvring and partisanship that doomed previous efforts to rehabilitate Riel.

Blay, a historian, was actually the author of the dossier submitted to the federal heritage minister and noted that it was based as much as possible on incontrovertible facts in order to remove any element of political whimsy from Ottawas eventual decision.

(Riel) should be exonerated because its been too long that he has been vilified, scorned and ignored and unjustly accused of treason. In fact, his trial should never have been held, she said.

Thats also the opinion of George Goulet, a lawyer and Metis scholar who, along with his wife, Terry, wrote the 1999 book The Trial of Louis Riel.

Goulets main argument is that Riel was improperly tried and convicted under an English statute of treason that dated to 1351. He said the charge was made under that law for the sole reason that it carried a penalty of death. In fact, he said that law was not even applicable in Canada, which adopted its own treason law in 1868.

In addition to that, Riels appointed defence lawyers argued  against his wishes  that the Metis leader was not guilty because he was insane, an argument rejected by the jury. Charles Fitzpatrick, the Quebec City lawyer who led Riels defence, was also related by marriage to Adolphe-Philippe Caron, the minister of militia and defence when Riel clashed with Canadian forces.

(Fitzpatrick) should never have taken the case when he had those conflicts, George Goulet said.

But 131 years after Riels execution was carried out, sparking anger among francophones, celebration in English Canada and a sense of doom among his Metis and indigenous allies, some believe that allowing politicians to rewrite a disputed chapter of Canadas history could instead cause modern-day troubles.

Tom Flanagan, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Calgary, said the debate over Riels conviction is better left to legal scholars, but admitted that the status quo  with political leaders singing the praises of a man executed as a traitor  leaves an unresolved tension.

I think you should leave history the way it was. What happened happened. I dont think you should try and reverse it, said Flanagan, who has written extensively about Riels legacy.

If there is an exoneration, the message is that the government of Canada is saying its OK to have taken up arms because it was a just cause, and I think that is a very dangerous message.

Read more about:

SHARE:
OTTAWAKevin OLeary opined on Canadian politics Sunday, but unlike the 13 other Conservative leadership rivals, he did so from Miami.

The reality television personality and businessman appeared on MSNBC on Sunday morning to talk about President Donald Trumps performance and his own bid to replace Stephen Harper.

OLeary made the apparently abrupt decision to jet off to Miami to celebrate his 27th wedding anniversary with wife Linda OLeary, iPolitics first reported on Sunday. OLearys campaign confirmed the trip Monday, and said that he was expected to fly into Ottawa on Monday evening.

A campaign official said that OLeary had missed a series of family events recently and was making up for "lost time" with the anniversary trip.

When asked why OLeary appeared on American television during his anniversary weekend, spokesperson Ari Laskin said that OLeary was under contractual obligation.

He took less than 15 minutes out of his day for an interview. He spent the rest of his day celebrating with his wife, Laskin wrote in an email to the Star.

A mere 2,000 kms north of downtown Miami the other Conservative leadership hopefuls attended a debate moderated by former finance minister Joe Oliver.

Laskin said the OLeary campaign alerted debate organizers of the candidates intended absence too late in the process, and that OLeary has personally apologized to Oliver.

OLeary missing Conservative leadership debates is nothing new  he has skipped all but a handful of such events, hosted by the party and by grassroots organizations, since officially joining the race.

Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O?Leary faces a $10,000 fine for skipping a February 28 debate in Edmonton. O?Leary says he was unhappy with the format and is asking for his money back if his suggested format is used at the next debate.

But it does buck a recent trend of OLeary seeming to treat traditional campaigning more seriously.

According to social media posts, event listings and the campaign itself, OLeary has held around 30 events over the past month. Hes toured three out of four Atlantic provinces, held numerous events in Ontario, has done a mini-tour of Saskatchewan and stopped off in Calgary.

He even made a couple of targeted stops in Quebec, despite his lack of French.

The campaigns newfound vigour comes as some longtime Conservatives are raising concerns about an OLeary-led party.

Jenni Byrne, who spent years in the top circle of Conservative power as an advisor to Stephen Harper, told CTV Sunday that OLeary poses a threat to party unity.

It will be a challenge for anyone coming in, in terms of keeping that (Conservative) coalition together, Byrne, who chaired the Conservatives 2015 election campaign, told CTV Question Period.

And I think that for the reasons weve said, I think Kevin OLeary is the candidate that probably least understands that.

Its difficult to say with any certainty how the Conservative leadership race is shaping up  the partys system for electing leaders, weighted by riding, makes it hard to predict how national support will translate into grassroots votes. The party also uses ranked ballots, adding another level of difficulty to armchair speculation.

But if numbers released by the OLeary campaign are accurate, he is clearly in the top tier of aspirants to the leadership. The campaign reported signing up 35,336 new members and raising more than $900,000 since OLeary officially joined the race in January.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Gender parity was the hands-down winner of Mondays five federal byelections. The Conservative brand was a close second, but not necessarily for reasons related to the continuing federal leadership campaign.

Where there were five male MPs on election night 2015, there are now four women and one man. Mona Fortier, Mary Ng and Emmanuella Lambropoulos are Liberals from Ontario and Quebec. Stephanie Kusie is a Conservative from Alberta. (Stephen Harpers successor as MP for Calgary Heritage is Bob Benzen.)

It will take many more election nights, such as Mondays, before women are no longer under-represented in the House of Commons.

In Canadian politics, the slow walk to gender parity is best measured in inches.

For those unfamiliar with the imperial system, there are 63,360 inches to a mile.

And miles to go before the House reaches parity.

In the wake of Mondays votes there are 246 men to 92 women in the Commons.

The five ridings in play were all considered safe Liberal and Conservative seats and they lived up to their reputation.

The 26-year-old teacher who won the Saint-Laurent riding in Monday?s federal byelection says her door is open to supporters of all parties. Emmanuella Lambropoulos captured about 60 per cent of the vote in the Montreal riding.

The Liberals kept Saint-Laurent, Ottawa-Vanier and Markham-Thornhill with more than 50 per cent of the vote, as did the Conservatives Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore. Party standings in the House of Commons are unchanged.

But the Conservative base was more motivated than that of the Liberals.

Prime ministers do not routinely campaign in byelections.

Justin Trudeau did.

Liberal strategists will have to ponder whether it was worth putting some of the prime ministers political capital on the line only to see the partys share of the vote go down in every riding.

Mind you, whether Trudeau should alone wear the loss in support is debatable.

The two Ontario ridings saw the largest increase in opposition support. In Ottawa-Vanier the NDP gained almost 10 points from the last election. In Markham-Thornhill, Conservative support rose from 32 per cent to 39 per cent.

This comes when the provincial Liberals are struggling in the polls in voting intentions. Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne is the least popular premier in the country. Some prominent members of her party are openly predicting that the Ontario Liberals cannot be re-elected to government next year unless they replace her.

There are fewer than six degrees of separation between the federal and provincial Liberals in Ontario.

A leadership malaise at Queens Park could have found its way into Mondays federal byelection mix.

Conservative candidate Bob Benzen captured the riding of Calgary Heritage in Monday?s federal byelection. Benzen says he ?fought hard? so the Tories could keep the seat once held by former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Local infighting over coveted party nominations and the perception that the Prime Ministers Office was meddling in the process probably did not help. Lambropoulos, who was anything but the establishments choice for Saint-Laurent, finished the night with the best score of the three Liberal byelection winners.

For the NDP, Ottawa-Vanier was the only bright spot in a depressing picture. The party ran fourth in Montreal behind the Green Party. No New Democrat should be in a hurry to test how the party would do in Outremont if departing leader Thomas Mulcair relinquishes his seat after his successor is chosen next fall.

NDP support hovered around 3 per cent in the other three ridings. Like premier Wynne in Ontario, New Democrat premier Rachel Notley will find nothing to celebrate in her federal cousins results in Alberta on Monday.

Calgary Heritage used to be Harpers seat. Jason Kenney represented Calgary Midnapore until he made the jump to provincial politics. Between them, they dominated the federal Conservative party in Alberta and beyond. And yet their successors increased the partys share of the vote to more than 70 per cent in their former ridings on Monday.

By all indications, the provincial and federal carbon-pricing plans have given the Conservatives a rationale to rally Alberta voters to their flag and a greater incentive to reconcile the provinces two feuding conservative parties to defeat Notleys government.

The good news for Trudeau coming out of Mondays vote is that the NDP, for now, is in no shape to do his party serious damage.

But the wind in the sails of the Conservatives in Ontario and Alberta does not bode well for key provincial allies at Queens Park and in Edmonton.

The impetus for the Conservatives to regroup and focus on both winning Alberta and Ontario and taking on Trudeau at the first ministers table will be even greater, should next months federal party leadership vote yield a divisive result.

Read more about:

SHARE:
OTTAWAUpstart Conservative and New Democrat candidates gave their heavily favoured Liberal rivals a bit of a scare Monday in a pair of byelections in Ontario where some of Justin Trudeaus policies and promises played a central role.

Mondays votes  two in Alberta, two in Ontario and one in Quebec  contained no real surprises and did not change the seat counts in the House of Commons.

But the results mean more than just fresh faces for the House of Commons: one observer says they represent nothing short of a generational shift on Parliament Hill.

All five new Ottawa-bound MPs  two Conservatives and three Liberals  are replacing a group of politicians with a profound depth of experience, including four former cabinet ministers and a former prime minister.

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alta., says its rare to see such a dramatic turnover of legislative experience in one fell swoop.

Bratt says it illustrates the changing face of political Ottawa and a degree of evolution thats taking place inside both the Liberal and Conservative camps.

In the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Thornhill, Liberal candidate and former PMO staffer Mary Ng defeated Ragavan Paranchothy by a margin of nearly 2,500 votes after a stronger than expected early showing by her Conservative rival.

A robust performance in the riding, long a Liberal stronghold held by ex-Cabinet minister John McCallum, was critical for the Liberals, given the importance of holding Toronto if they want to form government in 2019.

It was also important for Ng, who is currently on a leave of absence from her job in Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus office and seen by some as a strong candidate for cabinet.

The Liberal future is in Ontario, said political analyst Tim Powers, vice-president of Summa Strategies. If the Liberal vote goes down in Markham-Thornhill, then they will want to spend a lot of time diagnosing what went wrong.

That did indeed appear to be the case: with all polls reporting, Ng had claimed just 51.3 per cent of the vote, compared with 55.72 per cent in 2015. The Tory share of the vote was nearly 7 per cent higher.

Related:Five byelections wont be a test of Trudeau but do mark end of an era: Hebert

Conservative candidate Bob Benzen captured the riding of Calgary Heritage in Monday?s federal byelection. Benzen says he ?fought hard? so the Tories could keep the seat once held by former prime minister Stephen Harper.

None of that seemed to dampen Ngs spirits late Monday as she credited the victory to her team of volunteers, who knocked on a lot of doors, talked to thousands of people, and we earned their vote.

Conservative insiders had said the local campaign strategy involved talking about the Trudeau governments forthcoming plan to legalize marijuana, but Ng said it wasnt an issue I heard at the door.

Ng, whose previous experience includes roles at the Ontario legislature and in the presidents office at Ryerson University, was also circumspect Monday about her chances of ending up in cabinet.

Today is Day 1, she said. My job is to represent the people of Markham-Thornhill. And Im going to work very, very hard to be their strongest voice and their strongest advocate. Thats my job today.

In Ottawa-Vanier, where the New Democrats campaigned aggressively against the Liberals for breaking a promise to abandon the oft-maligned first-past-the-post electoral system, the NDPs Emilie Taman gathered 28.7 per cent of the vote.

It was nowhere near enough to challenge Liberal candidate Mona Fortier, however, who had 51.2 per cent of the vote and finished 6,667 votes ahead of Taman.

Im feeling really good. We had a great showing. Im proud of what we achieved, Taman said in an interview afterward.

The government is going to take notice that the people of Ottawa-Vanier have their concerns . . . I think it was an overall disappointment that I was hearing from people, that they didnt really get the government they thought they were getting.

Liberal party spokesman Braeden Caley was having none of it Monday, calling the outcome a phenomenal result, also noting that the government would be getting three new female MPs.

Theyre going to be tireless champions for their communities in Parliament, he said.

Add in Conservative Stephanie Kusie, who cruised to victory in Calgary Midnapore, and that makes four more women on their way to Parliament Hill, said the advocacy group Equal Voice, which is committed to electing more female MPs.

That brings to 92 the total number of women in the House of Commons  27 per cent of the available seats, up from 26 per cent, said spokesperson Catherine Fortin LeFaivre.

We are hopeful that tonights results will inspire even more women to seriously consider running for political office  Canada needs them.

Greg MacEachern, a former Liberal strategist now at lobby firm Environics Communications, said significant inroads in Ottawa-Vanier for the NDP suggest a surprising degree of anger over the abandonment of electoral reform.

Electoral reform came up a lot in the course of the campaign  a lot, said the NDPs Taman Even people for whom it was not their No. 1 priority were really, really disappointed in the way the prime minister went about breaking the promise.

Three other byelections took place Monday, and their results were hardly a surprise.

In the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent, Liberal candidate Emmanuella Lambropoulos won 59.1 per cent of the vote, compared with Conservative rival Jimmy Yu, a distant second at just 19.5 per cent.

Lambropoulos, a 26-year-old high school teacher, stunned many when she won the Liberal nomination contest in Saint-Laurent, defeating former Quebec cabinet minister Yolande James.

Im sure it will hit me a little later, she said after her victory speech late Monday.

The Alberta ridings of Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore, formerly held by Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney, respectively, were no contest as the Tories cleaned house.

Bob Benzen, who claimed 71.5 per cent of the vote in Calgary Heritage, well clear of the Liberals Scott Forsyth at 21.7 per cent, portrayed his victory as a protest against Trudeaus environmental policies.

We wanted to send our prime minister, Mr. Trudeau, a message and I think we did, Benzen said in his victory speech. We are telling him we dont want this job-killing carbon tax.

Kusie took a similar tone as she cruised to an easy win in Calgary Midnapore, taking 77.2 per cent of the vote, leaving her closest rival Liberal candidate Haley Brown at 17 per cent.

The Liberal party policies, Justins policies, are not working here in Calgary Midnapore, she said. The electorate has shown that . . . they are not satisfied with the job the Liberal party is doing.

Read more about:

SHARE:
OTTAWACanada should immediately boost spending on intensive public education and research into the impacts of marijuana and not wait until 2018 , says the co-chair of Ottawas pot task force.

Dr. Mark Ware, a professor in family medicine and anesthesia at McGill University, told a drug policy conference in Ottawa that a bill to overhaul Canadas marijuana law is just the first step of what he predicts will be an unbelievably deep and tangled web with provinces, territories and municipalities who will be responsible for much of the scheme.

Meanwhile, Ware said, research and education needs to be provided. This is something Im still pushing for.

I havent felt, yet, that we have capacity to support this kind of legislative change in terms of measuring and understanding what the impact of this is on individual health and on public health.

Ware was among dozens of experts at a conference on the future of drug policy in Canada looking at medium- and long-term recommendations for policy-makers.

But Ware had advice for the short term.

Canada needs a lot more infrastructure to support the nests of very good researchers around the country, who are studying plant sciences, pharmacology, and clinical research as well as policy, but theyre not well connected and were not talking to one another, said Ware.

He said for the legalization policy to be rolled out and be implemented effectively and to respond to the realities that we get when its launched, we need that network to be in place.

Ware also said provinces and municipalities need support to ensure they have the required elements for licensing, for regulating, for inspecting.

This is a huge undertaking. I think we underestimate how deep this is going to go.

Many at the conference supported the federal Liberal governments desire to reduce the harms associated with illegal cannabis sales and use.

However Mark Kleiman, a professor of public service at New York Universitys Marron Institute of Urban Management, had a stern warning. Legalization and regulation are not a panacea. There is not a solution to the drug problem that consists of getting the criminal law out of the way and turning it over to the doctors and the public health folks.

Kleiman, whose work was consulted by Ottawas task force, pointed to alcohol and tobacco as industries where legalization has not reduced public health harms. Instead, he said, commercialization supported industries with a vested interest in marketing a harmful product to dependent users, and these industries arent down in the trenches advocating for a public health approach to addiction.

Expecting the nascent legal cannabis industry, or the existing legal alcohol industry, to worry about substance abuse is like expecting Exxon Mobil to worry about global warming. Thats the business theyre in.

His advice: Canada should ensure cannabis is priced or taxed so that the cost to get stoned, which he put at about $1.50, doesnt change, that appropriate health information is available at the point of sale, that marketing by commercial industry is restricted, and that retail sales clerks selling cannabis across the counter are trained in substance abuse and pharmacology, so they can advise their customer of the risks, and help identify those who need help.

SHARE:
With the start of summer vacations just a few months away, the countrys top doctor is urging Canadians to make sure their measles vaccinations are up to date, especially for those planning to travel overseas.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canadas interim chief public health officer, said people who were not vaccinated or not exposed to measles as a child should arrange to get inoculated, while anyone whos unsure of their immunization status should check with their doctors.

Those who need to update their protection against the disease should get their shots six weeks before travelling, she said.

Read more:

Toronto Public Health investigating three confirmed cases of the measles

Why is there a mumps outbreak in Toronto?

In Europe, there are a number of countries experiencing cases, said Tam, calling measles a highly contagious disease that continues to circulate in many parts of the world.

Romania, for instance, has reported almost 2,000 cases since February 2016. Measles has killed 17 children in the country, none of whom were vaccinated.

Vaccination rates have been falling in some central and eastern European countries, driven in part by an anti-vaccination movement whose messages have been taken up on social media.

Measles is caused by a virus that can rapidly spread through person-to-person contact, via droplets in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes or by touching objects recently exposed to infected mucus or saliva.

While homegrown cases have been eliminated in Canada  the last domestically acquired case was in 1997  Canadians who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated can still contract the disease through infected people who travel into this country, she said Monday.

That could mean an outbreak of measles if the virus takes hold within an undervaccinated population, as it did in 2015 in an area of Quebec, when almost 200 cases occurred after an infected visitor introduced the disease into the community.

The introduction can cause little sparks, said Tam. If you introduce that spark into a population thats underimmunized, that actually catches fire. It will cause a cluster or an outbreak of cases.

Tam said there have been 10 confirmed cases of measles in Canada so far this year  all related to travel  and a few suspected cases are under investigation.

Three of those cases, confirmed by Toronto Public Health last month, are connected to people who travelled to or within Canada on WestJet or Emirates Airline flights in the last two weeks of March.

Its important to remember that measles has a long incubation period, up to 21 days, so were still in the period of time when people who are exposed to these three confirmed cases may come down with measles, said Dr. Michael Finkelstein, associate medical officer of health for Toronto.

Initial symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and irritability. Small white spots may also appear inside the mouth and throat. Three to seven days later, a red blotchy rash develops on the face and spreads over the body.

Symptoms begin a week to three weeks after exposure to the virus and a person can spread the infection to others from four days before the rash starts until four days after its disappearance. The virus is most often spread when people first get sick or before they know they have measles.

Were telling people to watch for signs and symptoms of measles if they were exposed, said Finkelstein. If they should start to become ill, its important for them to stay home.

Those who develop symptoms should seek medical attention, but call ahead before visiting their doctor, medical clinic or hospital emergency department so precautions can be taken to isolate them to prevent transmission to others, he said.

There is no specific treatment for measles and most people recover within two to three weeks. However, measles can be especially dangerous for infants and young children, and those with weakened immune systems.

About 30 per cent of those who get measles will have some kind of complication, and they range from ear infections to pneumonia to more severe complications such as encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, said Tam. That swelling of the brain can cause seizures, brain damage and even death.

So it is not a benign disease, she said.

The best way to prevent measles is to get inoculated with two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) or measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) immunization. The initial shot is given to a child at 12 to 15 months of age, followed by a second dose between 18 months and four to six years of age.

Adults whose immunizations arent up to date should receive at least one dose of the vaccine, although two is preferable as some people dont build up antibodies to the virus with a single dose, said Finkelstein.

Tam said having 95 per cent of a given population vaccinated is typically enough to provide protection from infection for those who havent been immunized because of a phenomenon called herd immunity  which means the virus has difficulty spreading because there are too few hosts left to infect.

In Canada, about 90 per cent of two-year-olds and almost 86 per cent of seven-year-olds had been vaccinated against measles, according to the 2013 childhood National Immunization Coverage Survey.

So there is a possibility of there being clusters or outbreaks as a result, Tam said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version identified Tam's position as interim chief medical officer of health.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Its been nearly a year in the making, coming after hundreds of conversations and written submissions, 130 private meetings, and 18 public consultations held across the province.

Now, the authors of a much-anticipated report on police oversight in Ontario  a 263-page document to be released Thursday, making 129 recommendations  hope it all adds up to change.

Danielle Robitaille, senior counsel with the government-commissioned Independent Police Oversight Review, led by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Michael Tulloch, said the team was very serious about crafting recommendations from the ground up, in order to reflect the concerns and demands of differing communities.

Whether it was families of people killed by police, members of marginalized or racialized communities, or others, Robitaille said the review listened and responded.

When people see the report, I think they will see that they were heard, Robitaille said Monday.

The review was commissioned by the provincial government last spring, amid growing controversy surrounding police use of force and allegations of secrecy on the part of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which investigates police-involved fatalities, serious injuries and allegations of sexual assault.

Weeks of protest were sparked last March by the watchdogs decision to clear an unnamed Toronto police officer in the July 2015 death of Andrew Loku, a mentally ill South Sudanese man fatally shot in the hallway of his apartment building.

The SIU found the officers use of lethal force was justified because Loku was advancing on police with a hammer. The watchdog did not explain how investigators weighed evidence from an eye witness who said Loku did not pose a threat at the time.

The decision prompted what would become a 15-day camp-out by Black Lives Matter Toronto at the doors of police headquarters, demanding the name of the officer who shot Loku and more information about the incident.

Amid mounting public pressure for greater transparency, the Liberal government commissioned the Tulloch review, tasking it with enhancing the transparency and accountability of Ontarios three police oversight bodies.

That includes the SIU, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (which hears complaints about officer conduct) and, least known of the three, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (which hears complaints about chiefs and police boards, and appeals of police disciplinary tribunal decisions).

Here are five major issues to be addressed by the Tulloch review.

Releasing SIU reports

Does the public have the right to see the SIUs full investigative report into a death, serious injury or allegation of sexual assault? The government made the question a priority issue for Tulloch.

Currently, when the watchdog closes a case it takes one of two routes: if charges are laid, few details beyond the criminal charges are released to preserve the integrity of the court process. But in cases where the SIU clears police, the director releases a summary of the investigations findings  an overview critics have said keeps too much information secret.

Only Ontarios attorney general gets a copy of the final report, which contains police and witness accounts, information about photo and video evidence and more.

Because the case wont get an airing in a courtroom, advocates for greater transparency say the public should be able to scrutinize and understand the watchdogs decisions for themselves.

The review must also determine if more information from historic cases  the SIU was created in 1990  should now be released.

Naming officers and witnesses

The public release of names of subject and witness officers has been one of the most contentious issues surrounding police oversight in Ontario. Police services and unions have expressed concern for the safety of officers whose names are released, while advocates have said the names are crucial for accountability.

As it currently stands, the SIU will only name subject officers who are charged with a crime; the agency does not release the names of witness officers.

Even if no crime has been found to have been committed, the names of both subject and witness officers in a shooting death are typically made public at the coroners inquest, which sometimes takes place years later. The government has repeatedly stated privacy legislation prohibits the naming of subject officers where no offence has been committed, but Information and Privacy Commissioner Brian Beamish has said otherwise.

He told the Star last year he believes there is a significant public interest in the release of some personal information in reports of this nature, for example, the names of subject officers.

On the question of statements from non-police witnesses made to the SIU, Beamish said he believes at least some portion of those statements could still be released without identifying the individual.

When the government released a heavily censored version of the SIU directors report last year into Lokus death, none of the police or civilian witnesses were named and their statements were redacted. The government said it was because the SIU gives assurances to witnesses that their names and statements wont be released unless they give their consent or theyre required for a criminal proceeding.

Race-based statistics

Are members of the black and brown community disproportionately affected by police use of force? What about people with mental health challenges?

The SIU does not currently collect statistics about the race and mental health of those killed or injured during interactions with police. Neither is this information collected by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), though a spokesperson recently told the Star the watchdog plans to start collecting race-based statistics.

In a written submission to the Tulloch review, the Ontario Human Rights Commission stressed the importance of recommending that police watchdogs begin collecting and releasing data on victims or complainants, detailing the race, age, gender and whether the person had or was perceived to have a mental health disability.

Data allows you to have a conversation thats much more grounded in fact, and less grounded in anecdote, Renu Mandhane, chief commissioner of the OHRC, said in December.

Former police at oversight agencies

Oversight agencies have long hired former police officers as investigators, but critics worry about their ability to be impartial.

By law, the SIU director cannot be an ex-cop, but the same does not apply to the rest of the staff. In fact, the independent report that led to the creation of the SIU in 1990 recommended that civilians as well as former cops be hired as investigators because of the expertise they would bring to the job.

The executive officer who oversees the SIUs investigative process is William Curtis, who served for 22 years with the Guelph police. Three of the agencys 14 full-time lead investigators have policing experience, said SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon, while the rest have backgrounds ranging from workplace health and safety, national security and intelligence, and the legal profession. Some of the 31 as-needed investigators stationed around the province have policing backgrounds, Hudon said. There are also nine forensic investigators.

Separate legislation for watchdogs

Advocates, including a former ombudsman, have for years demanded that provisions around Ontarios police oversight agencies be removed from legislation that deals largely with policing and placed in their own separate piece of legislation.

The SIUs constituting authority, for example, is derived from a mere 11 sentences buried near the bottom of Ontarios Police Services Act. (A regulation clarifying some of the SIUs powers and how police should interact with the unit was added in the late 1990s.)

Observers have said separate legislation would enhance the bodies independence and strengthen them. The fact that the SIU was lumped into the police act when it was created was described as a legislative afterthought by former ombudsman and ex-SIU director Andre Marin in his 2008 report on the SIU, titled Oversight Unseen.

In order to address the numerous issues that continue to plague the SIU and restrict its development into a fully mature oversight body, the time has come for the SIU to cut its apron strings and stand alone with the support of its own constituting legislation, Marin wrote at the time.

Former SIU director Ian Scott has said the government should go even further and make the SIU accountable to the legislature, similar to the office of the ombudsman, rather than have it report to the attorney general as is currently the case.

The reason being with (the ombudsman), theyre dealing so much with government agencies, you need that degree of protection. I think its similar for the SIU, because youre constantly dealing with public institutions: municipal police forces and the OPP, Scott told the Star last year.

Read more about:

SHARE:
While many cities across the country have waged fierce battles against ride-sharing services, the town of Innisfil has found an ally in Uber.

Innisfil is partnering with the global company to help bring subsidized, on-demand transit service to its residents, the first partnership of its kind in Canada.

Innisfils council, which serves a community of about 36,000, south of Barrie, approved a partnership with Uber last month in which the ride-sharing service will offer discounted trips to certain destinations in the town.

Mayor Gord Wauchope hailed the agreement as an innovative way to provide transit to Innisfil, which he noted is spread across an area nearly the size of Mississauga.

Council was really being pressured to bring transit to the town of Innisfil, Wauchope said.

You cant have taxpayers pay for a transit system which they cannot use. And this was a transit system that people can get from anywhere in the town of Innisfil, and use it for a reasonable price.

The town conducted a transit feasibility study in 2015 and found that a fixed-route bus service would cost about $270,000 for one bus per year. Council decided that was too steep a price for the limited service a single bus could provide.

The town will instead provide $100,000 this year for the partnership, and a further $125,000 in 2018. The service will officially launch on May 1.

Residents will pay base fees for trips to key locations in Innisfil, and the town will pay Uber the balance.

For example, Innisfil residents will pay $3 per person for any trip to or from the Innisfil Recreational Complex and Town Hall area, and the town will cover the remainder of the fare, from $6 to $9. Trips to and from the Barrie South GO station, Innisfil Heights Employment Area and Hwy. 400 carpool lot will cost $5, and any trip to or from the closest GO bus stop on Yonge St. will be $4.

Residents will also be able to book a trip from Innisfil to anywhere they wish and receive $5 off their fare.

We are thrilled to be partnering with Innisfil for Canadas first partnership of this kind and look forward to continued dialogue with other jurisdictions and transit authorities across Canada to explore similar partnerships, said Susie Heath, a spokesperson for Uber Canada.

Paul Pentikainen, a senior policy planner with Innisfil, said the partnership will also provide data that can help assess ridership patterns and potential locations for fixed routes.

The feasibility study was great, but with Uber its going to show us exactly where people want to go, he said.

The town may also explore partnerships with local businesses, which could chip in to subsidize rides to various areas of town.

The town has grown and we need to have transit options, Pentikainen said. We see people walking five kilometres from the recreational centre to Alcona quite frequently. There is a clear demand for this.

Manjot Saini, the owner of Global Taxi in Innisfil, said he is concerned about how Ubers discounted fares will affect his business.

It has been really frustrating, Saini said. To be honest, were thinking about slowly taking our cabs out, one by one. I cant compete with Uber and still pay my fees to the town.

The town said it will rely on local cab companies for accessibility cabs, which Uber may not offer. Pentikainen added that the Uber partnership will serve as another transit option for residents, similar to bus routes or cabs.

For those who dont have smartphones, Uber will provide iPads in locations across town, including the town hall, recreation centre, library and high school.

Heath pointed to a study by the American Public Transportation Association that found people who used services such as ride-sharing were more likely to use public transit.

Realizing these trends are already happening, more and more transit authorities and cities are entering into formal agreements with ride-sharing companies to help connect people to public transit, Heath said.

Read more about:

SHARE:
A human rights lawyer is praising a decision by the Ministry of Transportation to stop disclosing expired medical suspensions on drivers abstracts as of Jan. 1, calling the old policy a barrier to employment.

Previously, license suspensions because of medical reasons remained on a drivers abstract for three years. Under the new policy, once the person has served the suspension and has a full drivers licence again, that information will be removed.

A settlement was reached last month between the ministry and the applicant after an application was filed to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

I think keeping the information on the drivers abstracts was a real barrier for employment for people with disabilities, said Kate Sellar, counsel at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.

Its always good to break down a barrier.

The change will be implemented next year but until then, drivers can call the ministry to obtain an abstract which leaves out concluded medical suspensions. The change will be reflected on the ministrys website once it is implemented, Sellar said.

Sellars client, who asked not to be named, filed the application in December, 2015 after he discovered two concluded medical suspensions still appeared on his abstract. When applying for jobs, he was sometimes asked for a clean drivers abstract, which he couldnt provide despite having been cleared by his doctor to resume driving.

It invites discussions of ones medical situation. In the province of Ontario youre not required to disclose a disability when looking for a job, particularly when you dont have any specific accommodations, Sellar said. It put him in the situation of having to have a discussion about his medical history that wasnt relevant to his ability to do the job.

In the application, Sellar said her client claimed providing this information in his drivers abstract was discriminatory. A settlement was reached March 13.

This settlement says that past suspensions arent anyones business once your licence is active again, Sellar said. This settlement says people with disabilities get a fair shot at a job without starting the recruitment process on the defensive about their disabilities.

Bob Nichols, senior media liaison officer for the Ministry of Transportation, said this was the first time that this particular concern was ever brought to the ministrys attention.

Since the ministry determined that it would be possible to accommodate the requested change, MTO was happy to accommodate this drivers privacy concern, Nichols told the Star in an email.

Drew Woodley, director of communications for Epilepsy Toronto, said the settlement is important because now the experts are deciding.

Having (concluded suspensions) on your licence in a public way means somebody who isnt an expert in the field, either in transportation policy or neurology, is evaluating whether youre safe to drive or not, Woodley said. The doctor has made a determination. The Ministry of Transportation has made a determination. Allowing an employer to second guess that decision is a problem.

Camille Quenneville, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division, said sometimes these things are not intentional and they have unintended consequences.

We obviously dont feel anyone struggling with mental health and addiction should be penalized in any way for past illnesses, Quenneville said. I just think its great when people advocate to make this kind of change that everybody can agree just makes sense.

SHARE:
Heres a triumphal campaign slogan for the next provincial election:

Make Ontario Great Again!

Donald Trump did it with Make America Great Again. Now the impulse is creeping into Ontario politics, finding an echo in PC Leader Patrick Brown.

Our premier-in-waiting hasnt adopted the slogan, but hes imitating it. He hearkens back to the manufacturing heartland that once was.

Bear in mind that Brown doesnt buy into the bigotry of the Trump campaign. Instead, he is clever enough to embrace Canadas new multiculturalism, while still clinging to the old economy.

Brown understands that the farsighted politician of today looks backwards in time. While looking voters in the eye.

Its only natural for people to fear the change of the future (full disclosure  oh never mind, full confession: Im among them). Nostalgia for the great old days  a past that never quite was  has eternal appeal.

By any measure, Ontarios strong recovery has pushed it to the top of the national economic sweepstakes. But personal uncertainty has never been higher.

Globalization and automation cause endless upheavals that cannot be denied, nor minimized, no matter how much one closes ones eyes to the causes and consequences. Ignoring these competitive pressures would lead us into an economic dead end.

Resistance isnt futile, its political  as prescribed by protectionists of both the left and right. We see eternal opposition to change, be it environmental (renewable energy and global warming) or economic (innovation and disruption).

Trumps uplifting sloganeering helped him win power, but his subsequent actions have cast America on a downward path. By dismantling pollution controls on the burning of dirty coal, he fulfilled a pledge to return jobless miners to the steady jobs they long ago lost  except it wont work out that way.

Renewable energy has become more cost-competitive, while automation  strip mining  in coal country has eliminated many of the jobs that Trump voters had hoped to reclaim. Meanwhile, China is rushing into the renewable energy vacuum left by the Americans, gaining a competitive advantage in the sector.

Against that backdrop, Ontarios experiment with green energy, while more costly than it needed to be, will still pay dividends. The decision to phase out coal-fired power plants in Ontario pushed up power bills faster than anyone bargained for, but it was fully supported by voters (and all parties) at the time.

With all provinces now mandated by Ottawa to put a price on carbon, the elimination of dirty coal has given Ontario a massive head start. This years decision to finally join other jurisdictions in lowering the overall cap for greenhouse gas emissions will position the province for the green economy of the future.

Its worth noting that Ontarios first auction for 2017 carbon allowances (traded by companies in the cap and trade system) was sold out. The results, announced Monday, showed that the polluter pay principle raised an impressive $472 million, while overall emissions are lowered.

The reaction from the opposition PCs could have come directly from Trumps talking points. Brown assailed the Liberal government for linking up with Quebec, California and other jurisdictions to stabilize and maximize the cap and trade market. Worse, he has recklessly promised that as premier hed dismantle the complex system  doubtless faster than Trump has decimated the Environmental Protection Agency.

No matter how much politicians pretend they can go back in time, or preserve the present for all time, economies  and environments  dont stand still. Canadians had a taste of that debate during the free trade election of 1988, when the Liberals and New Democrats opposed economic integration while the Tories of Brian Mulroney argued for stronger trade ties.

Now, the Trump administration is trying to renegotiate NAFTA to their own benefit  perhaps it wasnt such a bad deal for us  while New York State legislators are flirting with a Buy America plan to penalize Ontario producers. Beware trade wars that hurt both sides.

And be careful what you wish for. Protectionists of the right and left, who have railed against free trade all these years, will find the lucrative American market far less profitable when were frozen out.

The new economy is a hard sell in tough times. Automation is a bogeyman and globalization is the enemy. Global warming raises the political temperature, and green energy makes people see red. Precarious work is scary.

Trump wants to bring back coal thats best left in the ground, while Brown wants to wind down cap and trade before it even gets off the ground. Slogans that try to revive the past only get you so far, for the future cannot be forestalled forever.

The trouble with Make Ontario Great Again (or any variant from the Trump playbook) is that it almost certainly won't.

Martin Regg Cohn's political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

Read more about:

SHARE:
Before being appointed to the bench, judges-to-be need mandatory training on handling sexual assault cases, says a Liberal MPP who will introduce a private members bill this week to try to force the issue.

While, as a government we recognize the devastating impact of sexual violence on survivors and their families . . . I believe that there is still more that we could be doing in this province to strengthen the justice system when it comes to sexual assault, Cristina Martins (Davenport) said at Queens Park Tuesday.

Her bill, to amend the Courts of Justice Act, would require candidates for appointment as provincial judges to have completed comprehensive education or training in the law of sexual assault, she said.

This includes the law of evidence as it relates to sexual assault proceedings, the principles of consent to sexual activity and it includes the myths and stereotypes associated with sexual assault complainants . . . my hope is that this bill, if passed, will improve complainants experience with, and confidence in, the criminal justice system here in Ontario.

Cases across the country have drawn much criticism and calls for change  cases such as in Calgary, where a judge asked a sexual assault complainant why she didnt keep her knees together to prevent the attack, or one in Halifax, now under appeal, where a judge acquitted a taxi driver, saying the woman could have consented to sexual activity even though her blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

Two weeks ago, Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott urged Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi to consider training for judges, calling it a good first step to reassure victims that judges are sensitive when they hear these cases.

However, Naqvi and Premier Kathleen Wynne have said while such training is available, they could not interfere with the independence of the judiciary by mandating it.

In a statement to the Star on Tuesday, Naqvi said it is an important issue but was noncommittal.

But Scott, her partys womens issues critic, said with a proposal to force training for federal judicial appointees, brought forward by Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose, now moving forward with unanimous support, the Ontario government needs to act.

I think they have seen the public pressure, and that it needs to be brought forward, Scott said of Martins private members bill.

While Scott hasnt seen the specifics of the legislation, its going down the right path.

New Democrat MPP Peggy Sattler, her partys womens issues critic, supports the idea of better training across all professions, and would want to make sure that the content (of the training) is research informed, evidence-based  and is it going to be effective and actually change attitudes and opinions and knowledge, which is how you are going to have an impact.

Ottawa lawyer Anne London-Weinstein said judicial independence is important and shes concerned when theres legislation being proposed that is going to make things mandatory for judges.

In her 20 years as a criminal lawyer, in my anecdotal experience, I dont see that lack of knowledge, or a lack of skill . . . my position would be that judges routinely apply the law correctly in sexual assault cases and other cases every day. And, she added, the appeal system is there for when they dont.

Martins noted the government has made progress in raising awareness about sexual assault and violence, starting Its Never Okay campaign, and has boosted funding for sexual assault centres and piloted a free legal advice program for sex assault survivors.

She believes her bill has the support of her Liberal colleagues, and she hopes all parties in the legislature.

Its not meant to interfere with the judges independence, she added, but I also believe that we need to have something in place after hearing from constituents who have been assaulted or harassed  women who have confided in me and told me their stories and I think its important that I bring this bill forward and receive support by everyone in the house.

SHARE:
WASHINGTONThe online ad reads like something only a metallurgist could love: an offer to sell 22 pounds of highly pure lithium 6 every month, set for delivery from the port of Dandong, China.

But it caught the attention of intelligence agencies around the world for a simple reason: Lithium 6 offers a fast way to turn an ordinary atom bomb into a hydrogen bomb, magnifying its destructive power by up to 1,000 times. The seller listed in the ad  who even provided his cellphone number  was identified in a recent United Nations report as the third secretary in the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.

When U.S. President Donald Trump meets with President Xi Jinping in Florida this week, administration officials say, his top agenda item will be pressing China to sign on to the most powerful set of economic sanctions ever imposed on North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Trump has repeatedly vowed to stop the Norths nuclear efforts, telling the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday: If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all that I am telling you.

But experts say the lithium ad  with its implication that the North is happy to sell an excess supply of the precious material  suggests that it is far too late to prevent the nation from becoming an advanced nuclear power. It is unclear exactly what Trump means by solve North Korea, though he seems to be borrowing from the playbook of the four presidents before him, who fruitlessly tried, with differing mixes of negotiations, sanctions, sabotage and threats of unilateral strikes, to force the North to give up its program.

While experts doubt the declaration last year by Kim Jong Un, the Norths leader, that the country had tested a hydrogen bomb, intelligence estimates provided to Trump in recent weeks say that the mercurial young ruler is working on it. The acceleration of Kims atomic and missile programs  the North launched four ballistic missiles in a test last month  is meant to prove that the country is, and will remain, a nuclear power to be reckoned with.

For Trump, that reckoning is coming even as his strategy to halt the Norths program remains incomplete and largely unexplained, and as some experts say the very idea of stopping Pyongyangs efforts is doomed to failure. Trumps budget is expected to include more money for antimissile defenses, and officials say he is continuing a cyber- and electronic-warfare effort to sabotage North Koreas missile launches.

The presidents insistence that he will solve the North Korea problem makes it hard to imagine a shift toward acceptance of its arsenal. But in private, even some of his closest aides have begun to question whether the goal of complete, verifiable, irreversible disarmament  the policy of the Obama and Bush administrations  is feasible anymore.

We need to change the fundamental objective of our policy, because North Korea will never willingly give up its program, Michael J. Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA, and James A. Winnefeld Jr., a retired admiral and a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote last week on the website The Cipher Brief.

Washingtons belief that this was possible was a key mistake in our initial policy thinking, added the two men, experienced hands at countering the North. The United States and China, they argue, should abandon the idea of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and turn to old-fashioned deterrence.

Similarly, Robert Einhorn, a former senior State Department nonproliferation expert, writes in a new report for the Brookings Institution that a dual-track strategy involving both pressure and negotiations would be more likely to bring China on board. The technique is reminiscent of what was used to push Iran into nuclear negotiations. But Einhorn cautioned that while the complete denuclearization of North Korea would be the ultimate goal of negotiations, there is virtually no prospect that it could be achieved in the near term.

The Chinese appear unlikely to make more than token efforts to squeeze North Korea, fearing the repercussions if the regime were to collapse, and Kim has made it clear that he is not about to negotiate away what he sees as his main protection against being overthrown by the United States and its allies.

China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont, Trump said in the Financial Times interview. If the Chinese fail to act, he added, It wont be good for anyone.

It is unclear how close North Korea is to constructing a hydrogen bomb. But Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford University professor who once directed the Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico, and has visited the Norths main nuclear complex, said the ad for lithium 6, while surprising, was a reminder that North Korea, though a backward country, was still capable of major technical advances.

I cant imagine theyre not working on true thermonuclear weapons, Hecker said in an interview.

As Trump and Xi meet on Thursday and Friday, Kim, on the other side of the world, may have a plan of his own for the summit meeting: Satellite photographs suggest he is preparing for a sixth nuclear test. Workers have dug a deep tunnel, which can block radioactive leaks if carefully sealed, leaving intelligence experts struggling to estimate the Norths progress.

U.S. intelligence officials, and their South Korean and Japanese counterparts, are debating whether the next blasts will mark major steps down the road to a true thermonuclear weapon.

The lithium 6 ad is evidence that Kim is following a road map that the United States drew up back in 1954. That is when it tested its first thermonuclear weapon fueled by the isotope. The blast, code-named Bravo, was the most powerful the United States ever detonated. In minutes, its mushroom cloud rose to a height of 25 miles.

Though difficult to make, hydrogen bombs became the symbol of Cold War power  they are awesomely destructive and relatively cheap. The weapon relies on a small atom bomb, inside a thick metal casing, that works like a match to ignite the hydrogen fuel. For decades, bomb makers have used lithium 6 as a standard way of making hydrogen fuel for nuclear arms.

Last month, two Los Alamos scientists argued that the rocky North Korean test site the United States monitors could confine explosions of up to 282 kilotons  roughly 20 times as strong as the Hiroshima blast. Although a hydrogen bomb can be that powerful, so can large atom bombs. Previously, the largest blasts at the site were in the Hiroshima range.

When Kim declared last year that the North had set off a hydrogen bomb, there was no evidence to back up the claim, such as enormous shock waves felt around the globe. More likely, experts said, Kims scientists had created a boosted atomic bomb in which a tiny bit of thermonuclear fuel resulted in a slightly higher explosive yield but fell well short of a true hydrogen bomb.

Its possible that North Korea has already boosted, said Gregory S. Jones, a scientist at the RAND Corp. who analyzes nuclear issues. Like other experts, he pointed to the nations two nuclear blasts last year as possible tests of small boosted arms.

A next logical step would be for the North to turn the material it was advertising online, lithium 6, into a more complex kind of thermonuclear fuel arrangement for a much more powerful bomb. The first Soviet thermonuclear test, in 1953, used that method. It was more than 25 times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb.

Its a big step, Hecker, the Stanford professor, said of a true hydrogen bomb, adding that it was perhaps beyond the Norths skill. But overall, he said, the North had shown technical savvy in carefully pacing its nuclear tests, suggesting that it would eventually learn the main secrets of nuclear arms.

Theyve done five tests in 10 years, he said. You can learn a lot in that time.

As for the excess lithium 6, any interested buyers may have a hard time answering the ad.

The street address given in the advertisement does not exist. The phone has been disconnected or no one answers. But if the operation really is being run out of the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, it should not be hard for Xi to find out: It is about 2  miles down the road from the compound where he lives.

Read more about:

SHARE:
JOHANNESBURGSouth Africas president on Tuesday responded to the political crisis that erupted after he fired the finance minister, acknowledging that public disputes at the top of the government are a serious weakness, while the countrys biggest labour group urged him to resign.

The call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a traditional ally of the ruling party, increased pressure on President Jacob Zuma, who made his first public comments about last weeks dismissal of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. The firing deepened worries about government corruption and infighting. South Africas rand fell Monday after Standard & Poors, an international credit ratings agency, lowered the country to below investment grade, citing political instability and threats to economic growth.

Read more: South Africas president fires respected finance minister, sparking fresh anger

In a speech in an industrial area of the capital, Pretoria, Zuma thanked Gordhan for assisting in the handover of the finance ministry to successor Malusi Gigaba, and he said the government will do everything possible to promote unity within its ranks.

We know that public statements which indicate disagreements within government by ministers, for example, demoralize our people and create confusion, said Zuma, who still commands significant support within the ruling African National Congress party despite growing calls for him to resign.

This is a serious weakness and we shall attend to it within renewed vigour, the president said.

Read more: South Africa drops to junk status after Standard and Poors downgrades credit

Gigaba said the Standard & Poors downgrade was a setback but noted what he described as the strengths of the South African economy, including increasing exports and a strong banking system.

The alliance between the ruling party and the trade union federation, or COSATU, has come under strain in the past. On Tuesday, Bheki Ntshalintshali, the federations general secretary, referred to Zumas negligent leadership and cited scandals including a constitutional Court ruling against the president over millions of dollars in state spending on his private home.

Read more: South Africans call for President Jacob Zuma to resign

COSATU believes that he is no longer the right person to unite and lead the movement, the alliance and the country, Ntshalintshali said, according to the African News Agency.

Some senior ruling party figures have also criticized the dismissal of Gordhan, who generally received positive reviews for his strong anti-corruption stance and stewardship of one of Africas biggest economies. They include Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe and Zweli Mkhize, the partys treasurer-general.

Over the weekend, Ramaphosa called for South Africans to get rid of greedy and corrupt people, though he did not mention anyone by name.

Emboldened opposition groups are planning demonstrations against Zuma, hoping to capitalize on national discontent with the party that has led South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is pushing for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Zuma; previous votes have failed to dislodge him because the ruling party has a majority of seats.

The government has said social media calls to hold protests against Zuma on Friday are designed to damage the countrys image and economy. It referred to messages that it said have called for a shutdown of the country and warned against any illegal protests that could lead to violence and destruction of property.

SHARE:
MOCOA, COLOMBIALines of people quietly walked the streets of Mocoa, followed by hearses carrying coffins to a cemetery where open graves waited.

The survivors of the deadly flood that washed through this city in southern Colombia were burying their loved ones Monday after authorities began to release the remains recovered from a disaster that has shaken the country.

Colombian authorities said at least 273 people were killed when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed and sent a wall of water and debris surging through the city over the weekend. The death toll was expected to rise since many more were missing and bodies are still being found.

Danilo Garzon Garcia, a 22-year-old resident of the city, had spent the previous day searching with other family members for his young sister. They finally found her body at the local hospital, able to recognize her battered remains because of her underwear.

It is better this way, better to know, Garzon said as he walked alongside the car carrying her body to the cemetery. At least we know where she is.

The Colombian Red Cross said it has received 374 requests for help from families unable to locate loved ones, people whose whereabouts were still unknown three days after the disaster.

Read more: Colombians desperately search for their children in flooded town

Much of Mocoa was still strewn with rocks, tree limbs, and brown muck. Search and rescue teams continued to probe piles of debris whenever someone heard a possible sound of movement. Many in this city of around 40,000 people still seemed in shock from the flood, which poured through the town after a punishing rainfall as people slept late Friday night and early Saturday.

We do not like to create false expectations but where there is a possibility of life we will do everything possible, said Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of Colombias National Unit of Disaster and Risk Management.

Many victims were young like Garzons 14-year-old sister. She had gone to sleep at a friends house. When we got to where the house was we didnt find anyone, he said.

As he walked calmly in the funeral procession, his mother sobbed and screamed in grief: Leidy! What did you leave me? Leidy, my girl. Her son then put his arm around her as they made their way to the cemetery.

President Juan Manuel Santos and other officials pledged emergency relief and said that Mocoa would be rebuilt, including a new water system to replace the one damaged in the flood and new homes for those in the 17 neighbourhoods hit hardest by the surging water. He said he had spoken by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised assistance, as have other nations including China and Venezuela.

Santos also declared an economic, social and ecological emergency, a designation intended to speed reconstruction efforts.

We are not going to stop until everyone affected by this natural disaster receives help, Marquez said.

SHARE:
MADRIDThe British territory of Gibraltar said a Spanish navy patrol ship entered its waters Tuesday amid the simmering tensions between Spain and Britain over Gibraltars future after Brexit.

The territorys government announced the alleged incursion by the Spanish ship Infanta Cristina on its official Twitter account. It also posted a short video of the corvette.

Spain, which has for centuries demanded a return of sovereignty over the enclave on its southern tip, doesnt recognize Gibraltars territorial waters.

A Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said the Infanta Cristina was conducting a routine patrol in Spanish waters.

A Ministry of Defence official added that Tuesdays patrol was no different than others conducted on a weekly basis to monitor migration or drug trafficking across the Gibraltar Strait. Both spoke anonymously in line with internal rules.

Britain is annoyed with Spain and the European Union because the European Union has said Spain should have veto rights on any agreements regarding Gibraltar during the negotiations on Britains exit from the EU.

The Brexit dispute made Tuesdays occurrence sensitive, but Spanish fishing and navy ships frequently pass close to Gibraltar, often provoking spats over alleged incursions.

Read more:

Dispute over Gibraltar escalates into war of words in Britain

Spain takes strong stance on Gibraltars post-Brexit future

Britain risks losing Gibraltar over Brexit

Tuesdays was the seventh incursion by a Spanish navy ship this year, according to Gibraltars government. It said that one of the two patrol vessels that Britains Royal Navy keeps in Gibraltar chased the Spanish ship off.

Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo says the British territory is not a "bargaining chip" in the Brexit negotiations.

The Royal Navy challenges all unlawful maritime incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters  and did so again on this occasion, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Tensions soared after Gibraltar built an artificial reef in 2013 that Spain said hurt its fishermen. Spain retaliated by beefing up border security, creating delays. Britain also accused Spanish vessels of a series of irresponsible incursions into Gibraltar waters.

In July, Spains Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to protest what it described as reckless behaviour by a Gibraltar police boat toward a Spanish police vessel.

Read more about:

SHARE:
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.NASAs New Horizons spacecraft is now halfway between Pluto and its next much, much smaller stop.

New Horizons  which reached the milestone this week  is bound for an even more remote object called 2014 MU69. Like Pluto, the object orbits in our solar systems twilight zone known as the Kuiper Belt, but is barely 1 per cent its size. MU69 is nearly 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.

The spacecraft will swoop past MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019.

That flyby will set the record for the most distant world ever explored in the history of civilization, chief investigator Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said in a statement.

NASA released video of the view from the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Pluto. The video is made up of more than 100 high resolution images, taken over six months as the spacecraft approached the dwarf planet, flying by in July, 2015.

With another 750 million kilometres remaining, New Horizons will go into a five-month hibernation later this week.

Although still zooming along, the spacecraft is slowing down slightly as it gets farther from the sun. Besides aiming for MU69, New Horizons will study a couple dozen other Kuiper Belt objects from afar.

New Horizons arrived at Pluto in July 2015, becoming its first visitor from Earth. It launched from Cape Canaveral in 2006.

The spacecraft is currently 5.7 billion kilometres from home. It takes radio signals five hours and 20 minutes to reach the spacecraft from the control centre at Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland.

SHARE:
JOHANNESBURGNigerias government must speedily negotiate the release of 195 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls held by Boko Haram Islamic extremists for nearly three years, the Bring Back Our Girls group said Tuesday.

It also asked why two dozen of the Chibok girls freed last year have been held for months of alleged rehabilitation instead of being reunited with their families.

Regarding the 24 of the girls that are back from terrorist captivity, it remains a puzzle to us that even their parents are not very informed on what the program of rehabilitation that the federal government is allegedly implementing seeks to achieve, the group said.

The group published a letter it sent to the government on Jan. 23, saying it had never been answered. We are not satisfied with the conduct of the federal government and the military establishment, the letter said, citing a failure of leadership to organize a rescue.

Nigerian officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Boko Harams mass abduction of 276 girls from a boarding school in April 2014 brought international outrage and promises to help free them from around the world.

Dozens of the girls quickly escaped on their own, and 21 were freed in October through negotiations with Boko Haram mediated by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The government denied a ransom was paid and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.

At that time, officials said they expected the release of a second group of 83 girls very soon. No more have been freed.

Read more about:

SHARE:
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIAInvestigators searched for possible accomplices of a 22-year-old native of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan identified as the suicide bomber in the St. Petersburg subway, as residents came to grips Tuesday with the first major terrorist attack in Russias second-largest city since the Soviet collapse.

The bomber, Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, had lived in St. Petersburg for several years, working as a car repairman and later at a sushi bar. Pages on his social media networks reflected his interest in radical Islam and boxing, but those who met Dzhalilov described him as a calm and friendly man.

Russias health minister raised the death toll to 14, including the bomber. About 50 others remained hospitalized, some in grave condition. Many were students heading home Monday after classes on one of the citys busy north-south lines.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came as President Vladimir Putin was visiting his hometown, raising speculation it could have been timed for his trip. The attack follows a long string of bombings of Russian planes, trains and transportation facilities. Many of the attacks were linked to radical Islamists.

Read more:

Timeline of Russias deadliest terrorist attacks

Photos: Explosion rips apart Russian subway station

Before Dzhalilov travelled to St. Petersburg where he eventually got Russian citizenship, his ethnic Uzbek family lived in Osh, the city in southern Kyrgyzstan that saw more than 400 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in 2010.

St. Petersburg has a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other mostly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia. They have fled ethnic tension, poverty and unemployment for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands have received Russian citizenship in recent decades.

Russian media said Dzhalilov worked with his father in a car repair shop and then became a cook at one of the citys many sushi bars. He stayed in St. Petersburg when his parents moved back to Kyrgyzstan.

One former colleague at the sushi chain described Dzhalilov, who turned 22 on Saturday, as a very kind person.

He was a non-conflict person. We didnt expect to hear such news today, said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared for her personal safety.

Neighbours in Osh also described him as a nice and friendly man.

Dzhalilov visited his home country about a month ago, and unlike past trips when he travelled directly back to St. Petersburg, he returned via Moscow. Investigators are looking into whether he met possible accomplices in Moscow, according to Russian media reports.

Security cameras caught the bespectacled Dzhalilov as he entered the subway, appearing calm and clad in a red parka with a fur collar and blue wool hat. He wore a backpack believed to hold the bomb that was loaded with metal balls and screws for maximum damage.

The Investigative Committee, Russias top investigative agency, said it also found Dzhalilovs DNA on a bag with a similar bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station shortly after the blast.

Security experts have described people from Central Asia as fertile recruits for radical Islamist preachers, who have become increasingly active on social networks. Dzhalilov followed some radical Islamist pages on Russian social network, and media reports quoted investigators alleging he was linked to Daesh, also known as ISIS.

Putin has said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet republics were fighting alongside the Islamic State group and other militants in Syria. He has named the Daesh threat as one of the reasons behind Russias military campaign in Syria.

Chinara Esengul, an expert on radical Islam based in Kyrgyzstan, said on Dozhd TV that about 850 people from Kyrgyzstan have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, according to official figures.

Russian security agencies have been checking Dzhalilovs contacts in St. Petersburg, while Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies have been talking to his parents in the impoverished nation.

The Russian business daily Kommersant said that security agencies had learned of a terror plot in St. Petersburg from a Russian man affiliated with Daesh who had come from Syria. However, the man knew little and they tried to learn more by tapping phones of his contacts, the newspaper said.

When Dzhalilov blew himself up, 10 other passengers were killed instantly. Three others died shortly after.

Train driver Alexander Kaverin continued to the next station after hearing the blast, a decision that aided evacuation efforts and helped save many lives. I had no time to think about fear at that moment, he said.

Viktor Khasiyev said he got a call from his father who was in the car hit by the explosion: I heard screams, and then he said: Son, we got blown up. Please come.

Khasiyev rushed across St. Petersburg to find his father covered in blood and soot. When he saw me, he cried, the son recalled, adding that his father is being treated for a concussion and burns, but that his life isnt in danger.

I still cant believe that it happened in our city, the younger Khasiyev said.

While Moscow and many other Russian cities have seen numerous attacks linked to Islamic militants, the city of imperial palaces and world-famous art museums largely had escaped such violence until Monday.

The entire subway was shut down and evacuated, paralyzing traffic in the city of 5 million before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

First, I was really scared, said Viktoria Prishchepova, who did ride the subway. I didnt want to go anywhere on the Metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home.

On Tuesday morning, 53-year-old Oleg Alexeyev, who trains bomb-detecting police dogs, went to the station where the stricken train pulled in and victims were taken off. He laid flowers there in memory of those who died.

I travelled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death, he said.

SHARE:
PARISMore than a million Facebook users like the idea of hosting the 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Many of them, oddly enough, from Pakistan.

A report prepared for The Associated Press says most of LAs likes have come in the past six weeks from far away from Southern California.

The fan growth evolution for the LA2024 Facebook page does seem suspicious, said analyst Michaela Branova, whose Prague, Czech Republic-based firm, Socialbakers, drew up the report. Countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan suddenly spike from almost zero to tens of thousands of fans within a few days in February.

After the APs story ran, LA campaign spokesman Jeff Millman emailed to say that it had kicked off a series of Facebook advertisements starting Feb. 3 and aimed at countries across the world (except France and the U.S.). The scale and the mechanics of the advertising campaign werent made clear; Millman declined to divulge how much LA 2024 had spent on Facebook advertising, calling the figure proprietary.

Socialbakers figures, which were commissioned by the AP, give some insight into the dynamics of both the Paris and Los Angeles social media campaigns.

By the end of 2016, Los Angeles had 209,000 or so likes, nearly all of which came from the United States, according to Socialbakers. Paris had 62,000 or so fans, 80 per cent of which came from France.

By last week both sides figures had grown. Paris Facebook page tripled its following, but four out of five endorsements came from France, with many of the others originating in Algeria and Tunisia, former French colonies.

Los Angeles saw an explosion in support from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Egypt, India, Afghanistan and other low-income countries, according to Socialbakers research. In Bangladesh alone, the number of supporters of the U.S. Olympic bid rose from a few dozen to 113,335 in a month-and-a-half. In Pakistan, the number of supporters leapt from 55 to 99,336 over the same period.

Socialbakers report said that more than 700,000 of the one million accounts that liked LA 2024s Facebook page had done so within the past six weeks. The surge helped LA blow past Paris (about 235,000 likes) and hit the million mark at an opportune moment. An Olympics conference started Tuesday in Denmark, the first of three events between now and September, when the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to pick one city over the other.

Socialbakers said it wasnt working for the LA or Paris bid, and that its work was transparent.

Its all publicly available, taken directly from the Facebook API, said spokeswoman Claire Wilson, referring to Facebooks data interface.

Branova and outside experts said it was possible that a large chunk of LAs social media support was drummed up by advertisements or other paid methods.

Its consistent with what youd expect to see from paid endorsements, said Daniel Mochon, who teaches social media marketing at Tulane Universitys A.B. Freeman School of Business. They tend to come from developing countries ... Youre going to see sudden spikes that are not necessarily tied to anything external.

Social media support has been invoked as a selling point by the LA bid, which is locked in competition with Paris for the chance to host the Summer Games. On Monday, LA 2024 released a statement crowing about how its campaign had passed the one million follower mark.

That was endorsed by Nathan Cowan of Seattle-based digital marketing analytics firm Rival IQ, which wasnt involved in the report. Cowan said that while hadnt seen the raw data, Socialbakers work appears to be entirely accurate.

Cowan echoed Socialbakers suspicions about LAs numbers, noting the extreme spike in followers and their unusual geographic breakdown.

Paris 2024 officials declined to comment. Facebook declined to comment, saying in an email that it was up to advertisers to disclose how they promoted their pages. The IOC did not offer any comment, but the groups rules of conduct note that promotion of a citys bid must take place with dignity and moderation.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Civil rights groups reacted with alarm Tuesday, while law enforcement organizations expressed relief, after the Trump administration signalled it may back out of federal agreements reached with police departments around the U.S. to curb racial bias and excessive force.

In a memo made public this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of all Justice Department consent decrees that force police departments to overhaul their practices, saying, It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.

Consent decrees, which are enforceable by the courts, were put in place by the Obama Justice Department in such racially fraught cities as Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri. A decree worked out under the Obama administration is awaiting approval in Baltimore, which erupted in riots in 2015 over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. And an agreement is being negotiated in Chicago.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

NAACP President Cornell Brooks called the move by the Trump Justice Department somewhere between chilling and alarming.

Consent decrees are the means by which you provide a hedge of protection, civil rights and civil liberties, Brooks said. Why would our attorney general upend and undo that? This review and potential reversal represents a potentially catastrophic, life-or-death consequence for cities where citizens feel like theyre under siege.

But James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, welcomed Sessions memo as gratifying.

If a consent decree is warranted, a consent decree should be imposed, Pasco said. But in a lot of places, decrees are punitive in nature and do absolutely nothing to improve the climate of the city.

He complained that consent decrees make police officers look like villains, when the vast majority of police officers are performing heroically every day.

The Sessions memo reflects a dramatic break from the Obama administration, which saw the federal government as essential in holding local police departments accountable for unconstitutional practices. Consent decrees have been used to force departments to overhaul training on the use of deadly force and to root out systematic mistreatment of blacks and Hispanics.

Read more: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions supports continued use of private prisons

U.S. President Donald Trump has taken an emphatic pro-police, law-and-order stand. And in signalling a possible retreat from consent decrees, Sessions advanced what has been dubbed the Ferguson effect  the unproven theory that civil rights investigations have made police less aggressive, leading to a spike in crime in cities like Chicago.

The misdeeds of a few bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honourable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform in keeping American communities safe, Sessions wrote in the memo dated Friday.

Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, a black man who died after a New York City officer put him in a chokehold in 2014, expressed frustration over the Trump administration stand, saying, When all else fails, the federal government is our safety net.

In a case like this, if we dont get an indictment, who do we turn to if the attorney general is going to look the other way and say, Hey, its not my fight, Carr said.

The Obama Justice Department opened roughly two dozen investigations of police departments, and 14 of them ended in consent decrees.

While any future consent decrees could now be in jeopardy, it could be harder to change the agreements that are already in place in some cities. Though there is a mechanism that permits the Justice Department to try to modify existing agreements, experts say most judges would not be sympathetic to amending a consent decree for purely political reasons, such as a change in administration.

Some police chiefs are vowing to continue with the reforms outlined in their consent decrees, regardless of who is in office.

We believe that the changes have improved our training, our responses, our accountability and our unwavering collaboration with our community to fulfil the terms of our agreement, said Police Chief Gordon Eden of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In Albuquerque, allegations of excessive force and a string of about 20 fatal shootings by police in a four-year period prompted a lengthy federal investigation. A scathing report identified a culture of aggression and faulted police for using unreasonable force with the mentally ill.

The citys 2014 settlement with the Justice Department included numerous reforms, and a federal monitor noted in his latest report that a substantial amount of work lies ahead for the police force.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Fewer Canadians are being turned away at the U.S. land border in recent months despite U.S. travel restrictions, suggests data obtained by The Canadian Press last month.

Social media is replete with Canadians proclaiming they are no longer travelling to the United States. In fact, many have cancelled all optional travel to the U.S. until the current administration is out of the office, as one poster noted.

Even Canadas largest school board, the Toronto District School Board, announced plans to indefinitely stop all future field trips to the U.S. because of the uncertainty. The board, with 245,000 students, made the difficult decision because it believes students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border.

Its not the only group. The Girl Guides of Canada was the first to pre-emptively cancel all travel to the U.S.

Ostensibly to address the growing negative fallout, the U.S. government released figures confirmed by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), which paints a different picture of border crossings.

Refusals of Canadians at land crossings dropped 8.5 per cent between October 2016 and the end of February 2017 compared with the same five-month period a year earlier. The total number of Canadian travellers denied entry also dropped for the period: 6,875 out of 12,991,027 were refused entry, a refusal rate of 0.05 per cent. This compares with the refusal of 7,619 out of 13,173,100 Canadian travellers (a rate of 0.06 per cent) between October 2016 and February 2017.

Despite the statistics, the narrative on the ground is not as rosy.

First, part of the reduction may be attributable to the decrease in number of people self-selecting themselves by not attempting to cross. In fact, about 180,000 fewer people made the attempt during the period in question.

Second, due to the fear created by negative reports, people may be showing up better prepared to the borders. Personally, I have fielded numerous queries about how to prepare and what documents to have. Some people have gone as far as to cull their social media posts or set up alternative (non-political and non-religious) Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

Third, the figures dont reveal the fact that the level of scrutiny may have significantly increased with life-altering consequences to some. Nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists ran into trouble earlier this month when they were denied renewals of NAFTA-related TN work visas. After pressure from unnamed sources, the CBP reversed this interpretation and invited the denied nurses to reapply.

Also, until Ottawa objected, about 200 Canadians in the NEXUS trusted traveller program had their express-entry cards temporarily revoked. Moreover, as a result of increased scrutiny, anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been an increase in temporary detentions and invasive searches, including the searching of electronic devices.

Four, the figures may not be reflective of the disparate impact that CBP practices may be having on minorities. The figures do not provide a breakdown along ethnic, colour or religious lines. It is entirely possible that a disproportionate number of Canadians turned away or given a secondary or possibly even extreme vetting may be non-white or Muslim. Only time and litigation, which is an inevitability, will ultimately confirm or deny this.

To date we know from media reports of Muslims allegedly being turned away due to the existence of prayers on their mobile phones, or for being tenuously linked with religious groups or individuals (based on questions).

This is just the beginning if the Trump administration continues with what the New York Times calls its dark view of Islam.

A policy implication of the dark view is that guilt by association will only get worse for Muslims trying to cross the border if the Ted Cruz-initiated bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a terrorist entity passes Congress.

It would be the first time a group is designated based solely on ideological grounds. Virtually every Muslim organization in North America will be linked to the MB.

Andrew March, a Yale professor, who wrote about the dangers of designating MB was detained and questioned by the CBP recently on his return from a conference in Tunisia.

Rather than taking comfort from the numbers, Ottawa must take notice of the ground realities and be prepared to defend and advocate on behalf of Canadians. Many will be depending on this for their livelihoods.

Faisal Kutty is counsel to KSM Law, an associate professor at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana and an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. @faisalkutty.

SHARE:
The trials and tribulations of transportation giant Bombardier should serve as a warning to governments. Privatization doesnt get them off the hook. It is not a magic solution.

Bombardier is in the news now for two reasons. First, the Quebec and federal governments gave the Montreal-based firm a total of almost $1.4 billion to help it develop and build a new line of aircraft.

Then, after announcing plans to lay off 14,000 workers worldwide, Bombardier awarded its six top executives bonuses totalling more than $32 million.

After a public uproar, the company agreed to postpone half of those bonuses, which are contingent on the company meeting performance targets, for a year.

But the storyline is essentially unchanged: company lays off workers (including 5,000 in Canada); governments reward company by giving it money; company then uses money to give handsome bonuses to its top brass.

We respect the free market and the choices that companies will make, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week.

And perhaps thats the problem.

Its been some time, if ever, since Bombardier was a normal company. Its fortunes have long been intertwined with those of government.

In 1986, it bought a federally owned aircraft manufacturer in Montreal. In 1992, with help from Ontarios then New Democratic government, it bought another publicly owned aircraft manufacturer in Toronto.

That same year, it bought railway car manufacturers in Thunder Bay and Kingston from an Ontario government desperate to unload them.

For governments, privatization provided political cover. Publicly owned enterprise was out of favour. Governments had been unable to operate some of these big operations profitably. Privatization, it was hoped, would absolve them of political responsibility.

But of course it never did. Governments had entered the aircraft and rail business to develop high-tech industries and support well-paid jobs. Those political imperatives didnt disappear with privatization. They simply had to be met in other ways.

On March 30, the prime minister said he stands by his government?s $372.5-million loan to Bombardier as a way of ?ensuring good long-term jobs.? The aerospace giant?s senior executives saw their compensation rise by nearly 50 per cent last year.

The usual route was to subsidize. Quebec gave Bombardier grants and loans. Ottawa did the same. Last year, Quebec put $1 billion into Bombardier. Ottawa eventually followed up with a $372.5 million loan.

The Caisse de depot and placement du Quebec, which handles the provinces pension plan, threw in another $1.5 billion to buy a chunk of Bombardiers train business.

Citing government figures, the Globe and Mail reports that Bombardier has repaid only $591.6 million of the $1.3 billion in federal loans that it and its predecessor companies received between 1966 and 2008.

In Ontario, the provincial government made it clear that Toronto was expected to buy its subway and street cars from Bombardier. That held even when Bombardier began to shift some of its rail manufacturing operations to low-wage Mexico.

But then Bombardier began to run into its own contradictions. Its Mexican plants produced railway car parts that didnt fit together properly when assembled. The Toronto Transit Commission complained of delays. So did Metrolinx, the Ontario government agency responsible for transit in the Greater Toronto area.

Metrolinx and Bombardier are now fighting each other in court over the manufacturers alleged failure to deliver rolling stock on time.

Meanwhile, Swedish prosecutors have detained three Bombardier executives on charges of bribery in relation to the sale of rail equipment to Azerbaijan.

Things are not going swimmingly for Bombardier. But then why would we expect anything different?

In effect, Bombardier is neither fully public nor fully private. It contains the worst of both worlds. It requires public support to stay alive. But it answers to a small group of shareholders rather than the citizenry at large.

It is a multinational enterprise with global reach that operates in Europe and the Americas. But it relies on Canadian taxpayers.

Ottawa and Queens Park privatized Canadas important transportation manufacturing industry because they assumed a private owner would do better. They also assumed they would escape the political flak if something went wrong.

Neither assumption has held. The Liberal government was flayed again in the Commons on Tuesday over the exorbitant Bombardier bonuses. And rightly so.

Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Those who know members of our community from Sri Lanka in Toronto will know they are enterprising, successful, engaging people. Good citizens, good neighbours and good friends.

You probably know a lot less about their home country and how many of them, mostly Tamil, came to be here in Toronto.

In fact, many were either escaping or just getting away from a lengthy and tragic civil war in Sri Lanka  a war with many chapters over many decades.

It was within that context that I recently visited Sri Lanka along with Councillors Michael Thompson and Neethan Shan, the first Tamil Canadian elected to Toronto City Council.

I had been in Sri Lanka 10 years ago but was basically prohibited from going to the north of that beautiful country as it was at the time a war zone.

But with hostilities having ceased a few years ago, I was able to go to Jaffna and other communities in the north on this visit and I came away with a much better understanding of what will be required if the Tamil people are to have healing and justice.

One of the first things that strikes you as you travel the north is the extraordinary military presence. Every couple of miles there is a military base, far in excess of what you would expect to see in even a highly militarized democratic country.

When you ask, you are told most of these bases are located on land forcibly taken from Tamil citizens and that, taken together, they represent a military presence of one soldier for every three Tamil citizens.

Needless to say, this unilateral use of formerly privately owned land, combined with the suffocating military presence itself, causes immense anxiety on the part of the people of northern Sri Lanka and impairs the healing process.

There is no memorial or monument for the Tamil community in the Northern Province to remember their loved ones who were lost during the civil war.

The Tamil community has created a makeshift memorial at Mullivaikal, the land where the last phase of the civil war took place. The United Nations estimates that 40,000 lives were lost during this last phase. It was extremely moving for me to light a lamp, lay flowers and have a moment of reflection at this memorial.

While I was there, quiet protests were taking place and one in particular was very moving. It consisted of a group of middle aged women, protesting outside government offices, holding pictures of young men.

When I spoke with them, I realized these pictures were of their sons and grandsons. Many had received reports of these young men being taken away in the latter stages of the war, but they hadnt been seen or heard from since.

Think about it. Your child, rounded up years ago and taken away, and despite some recent initiatives on the part of the government to trace the fate of these kids, most everything remains shrouded in mystery.

Imagine being one of those moms knowing the government knows more than they are telling you about the fate of your son. I saw the pain in their eyes, and as a father and grandfather, I immediately understood it.

These emotionally traumatized moms need some closure, even if the news is bad. Making public years old government reports on these missing kids would be a good start.

It seems reasonable to conclude, as the Northern Provinces chief minister advocates, that only a truly independent, accountability mechanism comprising of international actors will ever really be able to deliver justice when it comes to past human rights transgressions, disappearances and loss of lives.

The establishment of an accountability process comprising of internationally respected judicial actors could allow for a calming reassurance that reconciliation really can happen and that real change can take place.

The area also desperately needs a plan for economic and social investment. As with most places in the world, opportunity and a job will accomplish a huge amount when it comes to achieving social justice for the Tamil people.

While much of this initiative has to come from the Sri Lankan government itself, I am happy to report that we did sign a memorandum of understanding between the City of Toronto and the District of Jaffna whereby we will work together on everything from education to economic development to the renewal of their historic library, which was destroyed during the war. As a symbolic gesture to show good faith and partnership on the memorandum of understanding, we donated books to the Jaffna Public Library from the Toronto Public Library.

The entire experience of visiting the Northern Province of Sri Lanka was incredibly moving precisely because we met real people who had experienced real trauma and who had still not seen action by the government adequate to constitute justice and promote real healing.

If there is a glimmer of hope it comes from the fact the present government is seen as having taken a few small steps on some of these issues after years of denial by previous governments.

The challenge now becomes one of taking the next, bigger steps. Give those moms the information they so much need and deserve about their missing kids. Return serious quantities of land to rightful owners and at the same time reduce military presence. Establish an accountability process with the involvement of international actors to examine what happened. And develop a real plan to help this region and the Tamil people to have a sense of hope and opportunity.

I look forward to working with the community here in Toronto to help make these things happen.

John Tory is the mayor of Toronto.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Re: Bombardier defends huge exec pay hikes, April 2

Bombardier defends huge exec pay hikes, April 2

It is both pathetic and aggravating to hear Bombardier director Jean Monty use the old competitive executive marketplace argument to justify the unbelievably greedy and tone-deaf compensation increases to the top, already hugely paid, Bombardier executives. (The irony of juxtaposing the free market and a public handout was not lost on me.) Cut the compensation in half and Bombardier will still have more than enough qualified candidates for any executive opening. Senior executives, and directors like Mr. Monty, are all part of a closed shop rich boys and girls club that uses internal comparisons within that club to drive up pay for all its members, resulting in an unprecedented gap between executive compensation and average pay cheques.

These increases were also justified using selective performance targets such as profit margin rate and restructuring plan progress. As someone who has participated in bonus plans at a lower management level throughout my career, I can tell you that cherry picking targets such as Bombardier has done here would never have generated much, if any, bonus or increase if the No. 1 objective of organizational profitability was not met.

The 14,500 Bombardier workers to be laid off, the hurting Bombardier shareholders, and Quebecers and all Canadians who have repeatedly coughed up their tax dollars from non-executive pay cheques to bail out the company, have every right to be incensed. Governments impose strict conditions on any individual who receives public social support money. Its time to do the same with corporations. Use this leverage to impose some sanity into the area of executive accountability and compensation. Step up, Quebec City and Ottawa.

Perhaps the pay structure of Bombardier executives would be more palatable if the performance part was activated after all government loans had been repaid in full with interest. Taxpayers should come before shareholders and management.

Bombardier is using the same old trick politicians/civil servants use when it comes to executive compensation, We have to compete on a world level of pay structure to attract and keep the best.

Well that isnt going to work this time, because the people have had enough. Politicians should take a moment to reflect because come election time, the people will have their say and when the music stops there wont be any chairs.

Michael Farrell, Oakville

Geoffrey Kemp, Mississauga

James Rae, Burlington

SHARE:
Re: Match words and reality, April 1

Match words and reality, April 1

As I read the editorial about Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus sudden evasiveness about sending our troops on peacekeeping missions, I wondered whether or not this comment indicated his lack of commitment to our allies. Many previous comments seemed to lead us to believe that Canada is fully in support of these type of missions. I guess the question is whether or not saying that we are available to serve several times almost make it appear as though it will happen.

In this day of distorted reality, does saying something over and over again make it seem like its happening? Then if one suddenly states that maybe this decision is a long way off, what do most of us recall? All those times we were assured that something was going to happen. Making a statement several times does not make it true, only action does.

Lynda Hurley, Toronto

SHARE:
Re: A deadly plague, April 1

A deadly plague, April 1

Are Star editors serious with the sombre words, An inquest can help point the way. Ah, yes, another inquest. Much rhetoric, nodding, a long list of recommendations. Folks soothed because somebodys going through official motions. The editorial nailed the problem: many reserves have a mere semblance of firefighting equipment, chronic overcrowding, and, what is really puzzling, no smoke detectors. Do band leaders need an inquest to make them see the obvious? Only aboriginal communities have the manpower and authority to do something about this plague. The priority must be those alarms, and its up the band counsels to make sure each dwelling has one, and that they are monitored on a regular basis. Common sense. As for equipment staying in working condition, well, thats another matter that chiefs of those communities will have to come to grips with. Most rural communities across Canada have dedicated volunteer fire departments. There is no reason why reserves shouldnt have the same.

Garry Burke, Oro-Medonte, Ont.

SHARE:
ABB Ltd (ABB) said Tuesdaythat it will buy Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH (BR), an Austrian group which designs factory automation technology, for an undisclosed sum that could be the Swiss firm's biggest acquisition in more than five years.

ABB said B&R's current annual revenue is around $600 million, a figure it wants to lift to around $1 billion in the near term. The Swiss engineering group said it would fund the purchase in cash and expects the deal to be accretive to earnings in the second half of 2018, one year after the transaction is expected to close.

"B&R is a gem in the world of machine and factory automation and this combination is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This transaction marks a true milestone for ABB, as B&R will close the historic gap within ABB's automation offering," said CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "This is a perfect fit and will make us the only industrial automation provider offering customers the entire spectrum of technology and software solutions around measurement, control, actuation, robotics, digitalization and electrification."

The deal is likely to be the largest for ABB since 2012, when it paid $3.9 billion for Memphis, Tenn-based electrical components designer Thomas & Betts.

ABB shares were marked 0.4% higher at Sfr23.37 each in Zurich by 11:45 CET Tuesday, extending their three-month gain to around 7.6% compared to a 3.8% gain for the SMI index benchmark.
Boeing (BA) on Tuesday agreed to sell 30 jets to Iran's privately owned Iran Aseman Airlines for $3 billion, with an option for the airline to buy 30 more for the same price.

It's the first deal the company has made with Iran since President Trump took office. It is subject to normal closing conditions but may face a stiffer fight than most deals given the Trump administration's public posturing versus Iran.

Trump ran on a very hard line against Iran, whose agreement with the U.S. under President Obama and others western nations allowing it back into the mainstream of world trade. That agreement makes things like today's deal possible.

However, Trump did tap Boeing's Patrick Shanahan, who oversaw its manufacturing and supplier management, to be second in command at the Pentagon. He has been at Boeing for more than 20 years and is credited with righting a badly misguided 787 Dreamliner development and got it back online.

Boeing's (BA) latest Dreamliner aircraft, the 787-10, completed its first flight last week, launching a flight program for the high-tech plane, Reuters reports.

The 787-10 rounds out Boeing's collection of three carbon-fiber composite planes and sells for $312.8 million.

It is being manufactured solely in Boeing's factory in North Charleston, SC.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) wants to gain access to Brazil's deep water resources, and is currently the only large oil company without a major base in the South American country.

There have been talks about a joint venture partnership in which Exxon would invest in projects with state-run oil company Petrobras (PBR.A) (PBR) , sources told the Wall Street Journal. There is also talk of Exxon buying stakes in offshore tracts the government of Brazil is planning to lease out this year.

There have been no specific terms of any agreement reached as of yet.

Shares of Exxon were down slightly on Tuesday morning.
U.S. coal company shares rose on Tuesday as buyers for metallurgical coal used in steelmaking sought out American sellers after recent Cyclone Debbie laid waste to coal pits in Australia, the world's largest producer of the material, also called coking coal.

Coking coal recently traded around $176 per metric ton, and some analysts say it may even double before Aussie supplies begin to roll again.

Arch Coal (ARCH) shares rose about 3.1%, to $78.30. The company is the nation's largest supplier of coking coal. Arch produces the vast majority of its thermal coal from its operations in the Southern Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

Cloud Peak Energy CLD, which also operates in the Powder River Basin as well as other regions, saw its shares rise 3.3%. Rio Tinto ADRs RIO added 2.2%.

According to a report on Tuesday from Reuters last week's Cyclone Debbie caused several mines to evacuate and shut down production ahead of the storm. The report said that and subsequent damage at the mines prompted to firms, Yancoal Australia and QCoal, 'to declare force majeure on its deliveries. With other miners like BHP Billiton (BHP) and Glencore also affected by the storm's fallout, and suggested other Aussie producers will see more disruptions.

Experts suggest that the damage will keep the mines closed for more than a month and that China, the world's largest importer of coking coal, has already begun seeking U.S. shipments to make up the difference.

It's not clear which U.S. companies are picking up the slack, but the Reuters report said China would require more coal than it can get from just the U.S., as the Australian outages far outstrip what is immediately available from the United States.

It's unusual for China to buy U.S. coking coal lately as steel production is down there. In 2015 and 2016 the U.S. exported no coking coal at all to China.
Benchmarks rose across Europe on Tuesday as risky stocks powered a recovery off from Monday's lows, although the banking sector lagged the wider market once again.

Commodities as well as some airlines and consumer-facing companies were all among the big gainers for the session, while financial titans such as Barclays (BCS) , RBS (BCS) , Deutsche Bank (DB) , Commerzbank (CRZBY) and Societe Generale (SCGLY) were all big fallers.

The day's price action marks a continuation of a week long period of under performance for bank stocks.

This could suggest that the sector is either on the verge of a de-rating, or that it is merely just re-establishing its age-old trend of under-performance relative to the wider market, following several months of stand-out gains.

European banks are down more than 2% collectively since last Wednesday while European stocks more broadly, have risen by nearly 1%, as defined by the Stoxx Europe indices for both the sector and equity markets as a whole.

The FTSE 100 rose by 0.54% in London to 7,321 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.35% to 19,020.

In continental Europe, Germany's DAX index added 0.21% to settle at 12,282 while the CAC 40 in Paris, rose 0.30% to close at 5,101.

In Southern Europe, Madrid's IBEX 35 and Milan's FTSE MIB indices both closed the session higher.

Another theme lurking at the back of collective mind of the market was the potential for a deeper feeling of international acrimony to become established between China and the U.S.

This is due to an eagerly awaited meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China later in the week. Trump has previously suggested that it will be a difficult meeting.

In individual stocks, big gainers in London were precious metals mining company Fresnillo (FNLPF) , Rio Tinto (RIO) , Anglo American (NGLOY) and Randgold (GOLD) . Biopharma Shire (SHP) and retail broker Hargreaves Lansdown (HRGLF) were also top risers.

In Frankfurt, the top gainers for the session were chemicals firm Henkel (HENOY) , housing provider Vonovia (DAIMF) and exchange operator Deutsche Boerse (DBOEY) . Addidas (ADDYY) was the top riser out of DAX listed retailers.

The CAC 40 in Paris saw commodity companies claim the top three places on the index for the session, with Total (TOT) , Technip (TKPPY) and ArcelorMittal (MT) all up notably. Danone (DANOY) and LVMH (LVMUY) were the top gainers in France out of the consumer segment.
Would investment bank Lehman Brothers still have failed if today's regulatory structure had existed in 2008? Probably not, says JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon.

And even if it did, the collapse wouldn't precipitate a full-blown crisis as it did then, freezing global credit markets and forcing the U.S. government to spend billions on bailouts designed to shore up the U.S. financial system, Dimon said in his annual letter to investors.

"There is no question that the system is safer and stronger today," Dimon wrote, thanks to new requirements such as higher liquidity standards for banks, annual stress tests that measure their ability to withstand financial shock and mandates that banks create unsecured debt that can be converted to stock in the event of a bankruptcy.

"The American public has the right to demand that if a major bank fails, they, as taxpayers, would not have to pay for it, and the failure wouldn't unduly harm the U.S. economy," Dimon wrote. "In my view, these demands have now both been met."

The challenge that still exists, according to the head of the largest U.S. lender, is fine-tuning the laws and rules established by a government trying to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 crisis so that they don't duplicate each other and prevent lending that could lead to economic growth.

It's a particularly timely perspective as President Donald Trump, elected partly because of promises to fuel a new era of prosperity in the U.S., works to trim regulations including those under the Dodd-Frank finance reform law that he says have been a barrier to business expansion.

"We're going to be doing things that are very good for the banking industry so that banks can loan money to the people who need it," Trump reiterated at a CEO roundtable Wednesday at the White House. "We're going to do a very major haircut on Dodd-Frank."

JPMorgan has climbed 25% to $87.47 since Trump's election, a return that's the fourth-best performance on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and outpaces the broader S&P 500.

While Dimon recognizes the need to keep the financial system safe, he argued that the U.S. needs rules that are simpler, more transparent and consistent.

Currently, "there are more than 20 different major capital and liquidity requirements -- and they are often inconsistent," he wrote. "Certain liquidity rules force a bank to hold an increasing amount of cash, essentially deposited at the Federal Reserve, but other rules require the bank to hold capital against this risk-free cash."

As a result of such conundrums, "banks build enormous buffers -- and buffers on top of buffers -- or otherwise take unnecessary actions to ensure that they don't step over the line," Dimon wrote. All of that curbs lending.

"It's clear that banks can use more of their capital to finance the economy without sacrificing safety and soundness," he added. Had industry executives been less worried about the effects on annual stress tests, "banks probably would have been more aggressive in making some small business loans, lower rated middle-market loans and near-prime mortgages."

This article, originally published at 12:22 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, has been updated with market data and executive comments.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through four segments: Farm & Ranch, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Guarantees, Rural Utilities, and Institutional Credit. The Farm & Ranch segment purchases and retains eligible mortgage loans that are secured by first liens on agricultural real estate; securitizes eligible mortgage loans, and guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on securities representing interests in or obligations secured by pools of mortgage loans; and issues long-term standby purchase commitments (LTSPC) on designated eligible mortgage loans. The USDA Guarantees segment purchases portions of certain agricultural and rural development loans guaranteed by the USDA. The Rural Utilities segment purchases and guarantees securities that are backed by loans for electric or telecommunications facilities by lenders organized as cooperatives to borrowers; and purchases eligible rural utilities loans and guarantees of securities backed by those loans, as well as LTSPCs for pools of eligible rural utilities loans. The Institutional Credit segment guarantees and purchases general obligations of lenders and other financial institutions that are secured by pools of loans eligible under the Farmer Mac's Farm & Ranch, USDA Guarantees, or Rural Utilities lines of business. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells petroleum products in the People's Republic of China. It operates through five segments: Synthetic Fibers, Resins and Plastics, Intermediate Petrochemicals, Petroleum Products, and Trading of Petrochemical Products. The Synthetic Fibers segment produces polyesters, acrylic fibers, and carbon fibers that are primarily used in the textile and apparel industries. The Resins and Plastics segment produces polyester chips that are used to produce polyester fibers, coating, and containers; polyethylene resins and plastics, which are used to produce insulated cables and mulching films, as well as molded products, such as housewares and toys; and polypropylene resins that are used for films and sheets, as well as molded products, such as housewares, toys, consumer electronics, and automobile parts; and PVA granules. The Intermediate Petrochemicals segment produces p-xylene, benzene, and ethylene oxide, which are used as raw materials in the production of other petrochemicals, resins, plastics, and synthetic fibers. The Petroleum Products segment operates crude oil refinery facilities used to produce refined gasoline, fuel, diesel oil, heavy oil, and liquefied petroleum gas. The Trading of Petrochemical Products segment is involved in the import and export of petrochemical products. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited is a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation.
Militants launched 48 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbas over the past day.

This is reported by the ATO press center.

The tensest situation was observed in Mariupol direction, where the enemy used 82mm mortars, ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft mounts, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to launch attacks on Berezove (35km south-west of Donetsk). Ukrainian marines came under infantry fighting vehicle fire near Hnutove (19km north-west of Mariupol) and Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk). In addition, militants tried to fire at Ukrainian positions in Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) and Krasnohorivka (29 km west of Donetsk), using heavy machine guns.

In Donetsk direction, terrorists used 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to shell ATO troops outside Butovka coal mine (11.4km north-west of Donetsk) and Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk).

In Luhansk direction, Russian-backed militants fired at Krymske (42.5km north-west of Luhansk), using 120mm mortars.

ol
The Defense Ministries of Ukraine and Canada have agreed to cooperate in the sphere of cyber security.

This has been stated by Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak, the ministrys press service reports.

The Defense Ministry of Ukraine will cooperate with Canada on many issues, including those related with cyber defense. It is very important in view of the fact that the Russian Federation has carried out more than seven thousand cyber-attacks on Ukraine over the last three years. I consider this area of cooperation to be extremely important for joint discussion and counteraction against threats, Minister Poltorak said.

As reported, the Canada-Ukraine Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed in Ottawa on April 3. The Arrangement was signed by Canadas Minister of National Defense Harjit S. Sajjan and Ukraines Defense Minister General Stepan Poltorak.

iy
The fourth Ukrainian-Korean Economic Forum will be held in Seoul on April 9-14, as part of a business visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the Republic of Korea.

This has been reported by the press service of Kyiv City State Administration.

"The event will be aimed at strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and Korea in the energy sector, agrarian and industrial complex, engineering industry (including aircraft construction), IT, medicine and infrastructure," reads a report.

Also, a plan for economic cooperation between Ukraine and Korea will be represented at the forum, as well as a number of Ukrainian investment projects. Also, B2B talks between Ukrainian and Korean business circles are planned to be held.

iy
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko held a phone conversation with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, the presidents press service reported on Monday evening.

The Head of State expressed gratitude to the IMF Managing Director for her personal contribution to the positive decision as regards the allocation of another IMF tranche to Ukraine in the amount of 1 billion U.S. dollars. Petro Poroshenko and Christine Lagarde discussed the implementation of structural reforms, particularly the judicial one, the intensification of struggle against corruption and the fulfillment of the tax reform, reads a report posted on the presidents official website.

The IMF Managing Director particularly noted high professionalism of Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeria Gontareva and her contribution to the fruitful cooperation with international financial organizations.

In addition, Christine Lagarde praised the launch of the open electronic register of VAT refund in Ukraine.

As earlier reported, the IMF Board on April 3 approved the allocation of $1 billion aid tranche for Ukraine.

iy
The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France agreed during yesterday's telephone conversation on offering the agenda for the "Normandy format" summit to discuss the roadmap for implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at a briefing during his official visit to the Republic of Latvia, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Yesterday, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, we agreed that we would initiate or offer an agenda for the Normandy format summit, where we must resolutely demand the observance and implementation of the Minsk Agreements and discuss the roadmap for implementation of this process," Poroshenko said.

He added that he was grateful to the European partners for their readiness to extend sanctions against the Russian Federation.

ol
Ukraine and Latvia have agreed on further cooperation on recovery of stolen financial assets.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at a briefing during his official visit to the Republic of Latvia, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Today, we have reached several important agreements, including on further work and coordination in the recovery of stolen financial assets for Ukraine," Poroshenko said.

The President noted that Ukraine was interested in implementing Latvia's achievements in the fight against corruption, reforming the civil service, local self-government and certain economy sectors.

"Our specialists are studying the Latvian experience very carefully," Poroshenko said.

Earlier, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin said that Ukraine could rely on return from Latvia of at least 50% of the assets stolen by fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych.

ol
Amenia's ruling party won slightly less than 50 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election, officials said on Monday.

Sunday's vote, which was the nation's first since the former Soviet republic changed its constitution to expand power of parliament and the prime minister's office, allowed President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to claim a majority of seats.

HHK claimed 49 percent of the vote, with businessman Gagik Tsarukian's opposition coalition trailing with 27 percent, and two other parties getting 5 percent  just enough to get seats in parliament  according to data released by the Central Election Commission. Official results are expected to be released later this week.

Critics have said the recent constitutional amendments are 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.

Sargsyan and his supporters have vigorously disputed that claim.

The observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called Sunday's vote "well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected.'' OSCE officials, however, did acknowledge allegations of vote-buying and intimidation around the country.

Sona Ayvazyan, executive director of Transparency International Armenian, told VOA's Armenian Service, Our observers recorded many violations related to the failures of technical equipment" such as electronic fingerprint scanners.

"These failures were not intentional, I assume," she added. "However, in terms of frequency, these failures were most frequent. ... We [also] saw the increase of pressure on and bribery of the voters."

Armenian Helsinki Committee Director Avet Ishkhanyan told VOA about widespread bribery.

"Prior to the voting, everything was already predetermined, he said. "People were already registered as units, and each of them was supposed to be bribed or threatened to vote for ruling candidates.

"What distinguishes this voting from previous elections is that, prior to this ... many peoples votes had been already bought by bribes, so there was no need for widespread violations during the ballot-counting process," Ishkhanyan added. "But is that a step forward? I would rather say these are the saddest elections, which illustrate final failure of civil and political institutes in Armenia.

An RFE/RL reporter who was investigating allegations of vote-buying was attacked a few hours after polls opened.

The incident occurred after Sisak Gabrielian, a reporter with RFE/RLs Armenian Service, saw citizens leaving an HHK office in Yerevans Kond neighborhood with money in their hands.

People inside the campaign office, who refused to identify themselves, said it was salary money and that citizens were not receiving "election bribes."

Gabrielian said he was then roughed up by ruling party loyalists, receiving minor injuries.
Cameroons government says secessionist groups in the English-speaking regions have been behind arson attacks on public buildings, most recently a large market in the town of Limbe. The destruction is prompting renewed calls for dialogue to end the five-month strike in the English-speaking areas.

The fire at Limbe market burned for four hours Saturday. Fifty shops were destroyed.

The governor of the southwest region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, said police arrested a suspect believed to belong to a secessionist group.

"The suspect has already denounced many of his accomplices, and those who are in a way or another linked to this act of terrorism will be answerable. We want to call the population of the southwest back to peace and I want to reassure the population of Limbe, the administration is there with the forces of law to protect them," Bilai said.

The fire at Limbe market points to the dangers and the cost of the deepening impasse in Cameroons two English-speaking zones.

Lawyers and teachers in those areas, the northwest and the southwest, have been on strike since November. Most schools in the affected zones remain closed and business is paralyzed. The strikers are demanding reforms to counter what they say is the overwhelming use of French in the bilingual country.

But while some strikers are demanding a return to federalism, other activists are calling for total independence for the English-speaking zones, ratcheting up tensions and violence.

Several schools, private residences, police stations, administrative buildings have been burned. No one has claimed responsibility.

Need for dialogue

In mid-March, lawmaker Enow Tanjong from the southwest region addressed his fellow senators, stressing a need for dialogue.

"I would like to point out and castigate the arson that ravaged the Faculty of Medicine of the University in Bamenda and the destruction of the administrative block of the government high school Akwaya. The political elite, religious figures, members of the civil society, traditional rulers have all joined the head of state in appealing for dialogue and peace," Tanjong said.

Visiting Bamenda in the northwest two weeks ago, Cameroons prime minister called the destruction an attempt to exert pressure on the government.

In response, the government has cut internet to the affected zones and made arrests. That includes three community leaders charged in relation to the violent unrest in December. If convicted, they could face the death penalty, according to Cameroons 2014 anti-terrorism law.

Negotiations to end the strike fell apart when the state refused the strikers demand to release everyone currently detained.

Lawmaker Joseph Banadzem of the opposition Social Democratic Front is calling for compromise.

"Government and the strikers should come back to the negotiating table and I think one of the conditions which they are requesting is the release of those who were negotiating with government, who have been caught and brought to Yaounde. Peace has no price. We should be able to have some amnesty, release these people and let schools start," Banadzem said.

President Paul Biya has on several public outings declared that he is open for dialogue, but that he is not ready to release arrested suspects and that he is not open for any discussions that call into question national unity.
It was a mesmerizing moment in Venezuela's fast-moving political crisis.

Towards the end of a dry and detailed speech on her office's annual report, the country's bespectacled Attorney General Luisa Ortega paused, cleared her throat - and delivered a bombshell.

"I consider it a historic and unavoidable duty," she began, before denouncing two Supreme Court sentences that annulled the opposition-led congress and took Venezuela deeper into authoritarian rule.

Hitherto known as a stalwart ally of the ruling Socialists, whose prosecutors have helped put behind bars dozens of President Nicolas Maduro's foes, Ortega's public dissent on Friday was stunning - and the impact was immediate.

Citing Ortega, the unpopular Maduro convened a special security committee at midnight which ordered the court to reconsider, and the offending clauses were scrubbed on Saturday.

It was a major climb-down by the Supreme Court, whose constant rulings against the opposition have bolstered Maduro's power, and the latest twist in a political and economic crisis that has plagued the South American OPEC nation in recent years.

Yet just as opposition supporters began lionizing Ortega and speculation surged of cracks in Maduro's inner circle, she visited him over the weekend for a friendly meet-and-greet in the presidential palace as cameras clicked.

That calmed rumors of a big rift among Venezuela's ruling elite and even fueled a conspiracy theory it had all been choreographed to allow Maduro appear like a statesman above an inter-institutonal fray.

However, Ortega's disagreement appeared genuine. It was not her first and it possibly indicated wider dissatisfaction within government over human rights and democracy issues.

In a lesser-noted incident, the 59-year-old lawyer from central Guarico state who has been the nation's top prosecutor since 2007, spoke out last year over the killing of 13 civilians by soldiers who first tried to cover it up.

"I am committed to human rights," she said then.

And in another incident earlier in 2016, when authorities initially rubbished opposition reports of a massacre of miners in the jungle, it was Ortega who then provided a stream of information confirming 17 bodies had been discovered.

"BRAVE WOMAN"

Ortega has also criticized sometimes over-violent state crackdowns on crime and gangs.

"She's a brave, honest and hardworking woman ... I've known her since the 1990s," said Ana Osorio, a left-wing politician who was a minister under Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez and is now part of a dissident group called Socialist Tide.

Such praise does not wash, however, with many supporters of the roughly 100 opposition activists languishing in Venezuela's jails, including the best-known prisoner Leopoldo Lopez.

Opposition leaders, and some dissident judges, say many of Ortega's prosecutors have bowed to political pressure in the last few years, peddling fabricated evidence and exaggerated accusations to aid repression by the Maduro government.

"She doesn't go from villain to hero," said Jose Haro, a lawyer defending many of the jailed activists, who are mostly charged with violence or plotting against the state.

"She goes from being someone who for a long time was indifferent and complicit in grave rights abuses to someone who made a 180 degree change, and decided to abstain from continuing to allow abuses."

Ortega has plenty of "revolutionary" credentials: she is married to a lawmaker from the ruling Socialist Party, and sat at the front row during Chavez's 2013 funeral.

However, she is believed to have been unhappy for months with the continued jailing of some activists despite judges' orders to free them, sources within her office say, and could be an influential brake within government going forward.

The sources spoke of a distancing between her and first lady Cilia Flores and Supreme Court head Maikel Moreno amid inter-faction rivalries within the ruling "Chavismo" movement.

Though cynics say Ortega may be trying to protect her name with an eye to the future if the government falls, her prosecutors have in fact since last year begun showing increasing concern for prisoners' health and complaints.

Given that emerging disquiet within the judiciary, lawyers say some cases have also been moved to military courts whose judges are directly named by the executive.

"We sign freedom orders, we do the processes, and then the Sebin [intelligence service] doesn't want to let prisoners go free," one frustrated prosecutor in Ortega's office told Reuters.
Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing Fidesz party approved draft legislation Tuesday that critics say could force the closure of an international university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The legislative approval sparked protests by thousands of critics outside the campus of the Budapest-based Central European University, CEU  an English language institution of about 1,400 students from more than 100 countries. Thousands of university supporters also took to the streets of Budapest Sunday.

The bill requires 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary to have campuses in their home countries as well. CEU, founded after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, is the only international college with no overseas branch. The bill further requires Washington and Budapest to find agreement on university operations within months.

Without a deal, the bill would ban the university from enrolling new students after January 1, 2018, and force it to close in 2021.

A top diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Budapest voiced support for the university and disappointment with the legislation.

"The United States is disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting Central European University," said embassy Charge d' Affaires David Kostelancik. "The United States will continue to advocate for [CEU's] independence and unhindered operation Hungary."

Orban viewed harshly in West

Orban, viewed in much of Europe and beyond as an autocrat and xenophobe, has long considered liberal Soros an ideological foe. He is an outspoken critic of European Union migration policy, and has loudly criticized European sanctions against Russia that were imposed after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

The online U.S. publication Politico described him in 2015 as "Europe's New Dictator."

Last October, demonstrators marched in Budapest to protest the sudden closure of the country's largest selling opposition newspaper, Nepszabadsag.

Those protests also targeted Orban, who has long been accused of stifling press freedoms and isolating private media outlets critical of his controversial anti-migrant stance on refugees.

The newspaper's shutdown came just weeks after it published reports alleging widespread corruption within Orban's ruling party, including close allies of the prime minister.
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 San Diego resident Robin Shahini is out of prison.



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 hardliners in the country's judiciary and security services following the nuclear deal.
Inmates protesting living conditions at Gasabo prison in the Rwandan capital of Kigali hurled stones over the prison's walls on Monday, damaging nearby houses and disrupting traffic, residents and officials said.

Rioting began on Friday when the prison, which houses at least 5,000 inmates, caught fire, according to residents living near the prison. Police used tear gas to stop the protest. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.



"This morning at about 9 a.m., prisoners started rioting but within one hour we managed to stop it," Hillary Sengabo, spokesman of the Rwanda prisons, told reporters outside the prison.

"Only tear gas was used. No bullets. Even if some of them might be in need of blankets or other utensils, rioting is not a solution."

Riots are rare in Rwanda. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association has in the past described Rwanda as a nation where protests are not allowed.

"It was like 200 people throwing stones at the same time and when the riot police arrived, they kept throwing stones," Henriette Uwase, who lives near the prison, told Reuters.

"They were hurling stones over there and it looked like hundreds of stones being thrown. You can see it, the window and door glasses have been smashed," said another resident, who did not wish to be named.

A Reuters witness saw police officers enter carrying handcuffs as authorities were questioning the prisoners. The media were not allowed to enter the prison.

President Paul Kagame is widely admired for restoring stability to Rwanda after its 1994 genocide, presiding over rapid economic growth and creating a relatively corruption-free government. But rights activists say those achievements have come at the expense of civil liberties.
Several U.S. legislators have criticized the Russian government for plans to effectively ban the Jehovah's Witnesses, a nontraditional Christian movement, as an "extremist" organization.

On March 15, Russia's Justice Ministry filed a claim with the country's Supreme Court, calling on it to designate the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia an "extremist" organization and liquidate the group's national headquarters and 395 local chapters in Russia.

Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian Christian group founded in the United States in the 1870s. It is known, among other things, for door-to-door preaching and refusing to perform military service, salute national flags or accept blood transfusions. Its adherents have frequently been persecuted by authoritarian governments, including that of the former Soviet Union.

"At stake in the upcoming court case is the legality and, perhaps, the survival of the Jehovah's Witnesses  and, in fact, basic religious freedom  throughout the Russian Federation," said Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who co-chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission. "If the Supreme Court of Russia declares this faith group an extremist organization, it is an ominous sign for all believers and it marks a dark, sad day for all Russians."

Russia's Justice Ministry reported on its website last week that since 2009, it has identified 95 materials of "an extremist nature" that were brought into Russia and circulated in the country, according to the Tass news agency. Tass quoted the website saying, "As many as eight local cells of the organization were recognized to be extremist ones, banned and disbanded since 2009."

However, Anatoly Pchelintsev, chief editor of the magazine Religion and Law, said the accusations are incompatible with the principle of freedom of religion.

"Formally, the semblance of legitimacy is observed [by the Justice Ministry]," he told VOA's Russian Service. "However, there is actually no extremist activity and, in fact, it is baseless and bogus. There are multiple videotapes showing how banned literature is planted [on Jehovah's Witnesses]."

If the Supreme Court rules against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, its 175,000 followers face the threat of criminal prosecution.

That, according to Pchelintsev, would be "total madness."

"Of course, there will absolutely be prison sentences, just like it was in Taganrog [in southern Russia's Rostov region], where 15 innocent people were sentenced," he said. "But a majority [of the Jehovah's Witnesses] will go underground. They will also be congregating, praying and so on. Stalin couldn't do anything about them even though he deported them to the North. Hitler also couldn't do anything about them, even though he sent them to concentration camps and physically destroyed them."

Pchelintsev recalled that the Jehovah's Witnesses were recognized in the early 1990s as having been victims of political repression during the Soviet period, and received official documents to that effect.

"If they're being banned now, should their documents be revoked?" he asked. "And then, after a while, when a new president is elected, should they receive their documents back? It's a bizarre logic. We cannot live according to the constitution; we're constantly looking for an enemy, either external or internal."

Pchelintsev added: "You may not share their beliefs and there can be different attitudes toward them," he said. "However, from the standpoint of law and the constitution, they have every right to exist. Otherwise, we will become the first country in the modern world to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses."

Valery Borshchev, a veteran human rights activist and member of the Russian branch of the International Association of Religious Freedom, agrees that harassment of the Jehovah's Witnesses violates the principles of religious freedom.

"The Jehovah's Witnesses are not involved in any extremist activity," he told VOA. "Yes, they have some controversial views that confuse others  for example, the ban on blood transfusions. But it's a debatable issue."

In any case, said Borshchev, this has nothing to do with extremist activity.

"All the accusations against them are unfair and anti-constitutional," he said. "It violates the principles of the freedom of belief and conscience enshrined in the constitution."

According to Borshchev, those calling for the Jehovah's Witnesses to be banned do not understand the nature of religious organizations.

"They would do well to learn the history of religious movement in the Soviet Union, where nobody could do anything about the alternative churches," he said. "The same thing will happen now. More than that, this adversarial position will escalate the conflict. The members of the organization will feel like they have a mission and it will strengthen their rigor."

According to the Helsinki Final Act, which was signed by the 57 participating countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe (OSCE), including Russia, "the participating States will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience."
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.



Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded South Africa to junk status Monday. The junk rating is expected to add to South Africa's economic problems.



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.
Last week's court ruling allowing home use of marijuana has sent South Africa buzzing about the possibility that cannabis will now be widely legal in the Rainbow Nation.

To which pro-marijuana activist Julian Stobbs says: Chill.

Fridays ruling from the Western Cape province High Court does apply across the nation, but the decision is really more about privacy than it is about pot.

The ruling struck down part of an old law that prohibits private and personal use of marijuana. The ruling still has to be solidified by parliament and pass through the constitutional court, which could take up to two years.

South Africa first criminalized the substance in 1908. Police statistics say that drug-related arrests have recently risen, with just under 260,000 people arrested last year, according to the most recent annual crime report. Thats just over 13 percent of all arrests.

Stobbs and his partner, who he says use marijuana recreationally and regularly, made headlines in 2010 after police raided their home and arrested them for marijuana possession. They were later released.

No victim, no crime

Under the ruling, Stobbs says, cases like his wont be part of that toll anymore.

So, if you are using cannabis in the privacy of your own home, or indeed if you have grown cannabis in the privacy of your home and its never left the building, you now have a loophole in the law that if you do get arrested and you do go in front of a magistrate, you can use the defense that you are hurting nobody, there was no victim, there was no crime, theres no black market, there are no transactions, no one is making money out of this, you are using the cannabis you grew in the privacy of your own home, he told VOA.

As it stands, then, this ruling is only helpful if youre an above-average horticulturalist with no plan to make a dime off the substance. Buying and selling marijuana is still illegal, as is smoking it in public.

Few anti-marijuana activists made their voices heard to protest the move. One online group, called South Africans Against Dagga and Satan  dagga is the local slang for cannabis  said on social media that the day of the ruling would Forever be known as the day Satan took over South Africa! They were shouted down on their Facebook page by supporters of the ruling.

Religious use

Users of the drug for religious purposes say they welcome the news. In the seaside Rastafarian community of Judah Square, a well-known tour guide and storyteller who goes by Brother Zebulon told VOA that while he is very happy about the ruling, he doesnt support the widespread use of marijuana.

My daughter, he said to VOA, its sacred, so its secret, so we really dont advocate it. Yeah, no, no, no, no, we dont advocate it, no. Its a personal ... you know, its your meditation.

In February, South Africas government approved a bill that would allow for the limited manufacturing of medical marijuana.

Stobbs says he hopes these are just first steps in the eventual regulation and decriminalization of marijuana, like in the U.S. state of Colorado. Marijuana is now legal in 28 U.S. states for either medical or recreational use.

Thats exactly what we see, he said. And we see billions of rand going back into the treasury in taxation on the plant."

"Because were not asking for legalization; were asking for the legalization and regulation of the plant. This doesnt come with a free-for-all. It is a free-for-all now  were trying to stop the free-for-all. Its legalized regulation that were after.

But Stobbs, who is 56, told VOA that he took a moment to pause and celebrate the court ruling.

We had a pretty smoked-up weekend, he said.
A strong earthquake struck in a remote region of Botswana on Monday near the renowned Kalahari game reserve, sending shockwaves across the southern African country though there were no early reports of casualties or damage.

The magnitude 6.5 quake's epicenter was nearly 250 km (155 miles) north-northwest of the capital Gaborone at a depth of 12 km (7 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush is due to visit the city on Tuesday to highlight the importance of America's overseas humanitarian aid, officials have said.

Tremors were also felt in neighboring South Africa.

"We certainly felt [the quake] here in central Gaborone. The buildings ... were trembling," said, Botswana's chief government spokesman, Jeff Ramsay. "We don't have an reports of casualties or damage yet but its a bit early to tell."

Kgosi Kgomokgwana, the traditional chief of Moiyabana, a village close to the epicenter, said: "This is the first time we have felt something like that in this area."
Thousands of civilians have been fleeing Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State terror group in Syria, in the past few days as airstrikes on the city intensify  a foretaste of when the battle to oust the militants from the besieged city starts in earnest.

But the composition of the force to mount the final assault on the Sunni Arab city appears to be undecided, as does how the city will be governed after IS militants have been expelled.

Will it be the U.S.-backed Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, or some of their aligned Sunni Arab and Turkmen militiamen who will retake Raqqa? Will the Turks play a role with their allied Syrian Arab rebel militias?

Will U.S. combat troops participate in significant numbers because of the tactical difficulties encountered by an indigenous, proxy ground force, much as they have in taking a more forward-leaning role in Mosul than planned?

Last month, several hundred U.S. Marines were deployed with artillery to northern Syria, to be ready to assist local forces to retake the city, according to U.S. officials, who confirmed another 1,000 troops will be sent to Kuwait to be ready if needed.

At some point during the final assault, U.S. and Kurd forces might stand aside and allow forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to make the final push and seize the city. Some analysts suspect that's being considered by war planners in the Pentagon and President Donald Trump's advisers.

Might Trump "judge Assad the best of a sorry lot of choices, and take the plunge to join forces with Damascus?" queried analyst Thanassis Cambanis during a roundtable discussion organized last month on the future of the conflict on Syria by The Century Foundation, a U.S. policy research institute.

Tillerson in Turkey

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Ankara, the first senior administration official to visit Turkey, to try to seal a deal about the battle for Raqqa and to overcome President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strong objections to Washington's backing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) militias.

Turkish forces have attacked SDF forces in the past around Manbij, west of Raqqa, forcing the United States to deploy dozens of soldiers on the outskirts of the town in a mission to prevent a repeat of clashes, which risk derailing an assault on Raqqa.

Tillerson appeared to indicate no agreement had been reached in Ankara about how Raqqa should be seized and by whom.

"They are difficult decisions, to be very frank," he said. "They are not easy, they are very difficult choices that have to be made."

On Monday, Erdogan increased pressure on Washington, saying his government is planning new offensives this spring against groups deemed terrorist organizations by Ankara, including IS, the outlawed Kurdish PKK, and the PYD's militia.

There are no signs that Washington intends to end its alliance with the PYD's militia. U.S. officials say they envisage the Raqqa battle will be similar to the fight in neighboring Iraq, where local indigenous forces have been waging the struggle to retake the northern city of Mosul, the last IS major urban stronghold in that country.

The Pentagon doubts the Turks and their Syrian rebel militias have sufficient capability or skill to wage the urban warfare they will encounter inside Raqqa, or that they will be able to minimize their own casualties or keep the civilian death toll to a minimum.

"The Kurds have been effective partners for us," a senior Pentagon official told VOA. "Why would we change horses in midstream?"

But the Kurds and their allied Arab militias will also be hard-pressed to limit a bloodbath in a city Islamic State has had plenty of time to prepare to defend. The terror group's defense tactics have been on vivid and gruesome display for months in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Post-IS Raqqa

Analysts and former U.S. diplomats also worry not enough thought is being given to what happens after the militants are expelled from the city, and how and who will administer Raqqa. If those questions are not answered before the assault takes place, the United States could be drawn deeper into Syrian conflict than the Trump administration wants, warn some former diplomats.

They worry Washington could be on the verge of repeating the Iraq War mistakes of 2003, when the Bush administration didn't plan sufficiently for a post-invasion political order.

"Iraq 2003 and Libya 2011 teach a valuable lesson: Plan carefully for post-combat governance," said former U.S. diplomat Fred Hof.

Kurdish officials have repeatedly said in recent months they have no interest in administering Raqqa after IS militants are ousted. A local Arab council could be formed to run the city, but it would be beholden to whoever wields post-IS military power in Raqqa.

"If ISIS is going to stay down, it needs to be replaced in these areas by a sufficiently inclusive, consensual political order to short-circuit the cycle of resentment and hate that ISIS feeds off," analyst Sam Heller said at last month's roundtable discussion, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Zimbabwe's 93-year-old leader might be slowing down, but his busy foreign travels have led the opposition to call him the non-resident president.

President Robert Mugabe has visited Singapore, Ghana, Swaziland and Mauritius in the past three weeks alone. At times he stops over in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, for just a night before leaving again.

Some critics say Mugabe's trips are a drain on this southern African country's depleted finances. Others are amazed at how a visibly elderly man remains fit enough to clock thousands of miles in the air.

The foreign travels of the world's oldest head of state often provide comic relief for Zimbabweans weary of the country's two-decade economic decline.

Images of Mugabe struggling to walk on the red carpet, toppling from a raised lectern at the airport in 2015 and, most recently, wearing a loose-hanging, untucked white shirt in Mauritius - a rare break from his usual suit and tie - have trended on social media and become the butt of jokes and memes.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba had to address the president's dress sense in Mauritius after it went viral on social media.

The trouble is that we are so schooled in British dress etiquette that any departure from it amounts to scruffiness. That is how colonized we are, he told state television on Tuesday when Mugabe returned home.

Earlier this month, Charamba touched on a more fundamental issue: Mugabe's frequent foreign trips amid concerns over flagrant spending and rumors of illness.

Mugabe's busy travel schedule puts paid to any claims that the president is very ill. In fact, he is so well that he beats even the youngest politician, the spokesman said,

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party once again has endorsed him as its candidate for next year's election. He has been in power since 1980.

Charamba spoke as Mugabe was leaving for Ghana's 60th independence anniversary celebrations. The president had landed in Zimbabwe just 24 hours earlier from Singapore, where he had spent a week for a scheduled medical review, according to his spokesman.

Mugabe later went to Swaziland for a summit of the Southern African Development Community. He then stopped in Zimbabwe for a few hours before hopping back on the plane for an economic meeting in Mauritius.

Love how President Mugabe is encouraging people to #visitZimbabwe from time to time ... #leadingByExample, tweeted local comedian Carl Joshua.

Others find little amusement in the trips, citing Zimbabwe's mounting economic problems.

Mugabe's government has failed to pay its workers' salaries on time since June. Cash shortages have resulted in long lines at banks. Factory closures and high unemployment rates have pushed the majority of Zimbabweans into informal trading such as street vending.

Former finance minister and now opposition leader Tendai Biti has expressed both disgust at Mugabe's foreign travel spending and concern that the trips will worsen his health.

Section 82 of the constitution protects the rights of the elderly. ZANU is abusing the rights of this elderly man, Biti said in a humorous tweet Tuesday, along with a photo of Mugabe seemingly struggling to walk and surrounded by minders in Mauritius.

Mugabe spent over $34 million on foreign travel in the first 10 months of 2016, outstripping expenditures by entire ministries such as that of transport and infrastructure development, according to the ministry of finance statistics.

Transport minister Joram Gumbo has defended the government's decision to charter a jet from Bahrain for Mugabe's recent trips, saying the Air Zimbabwe plane that Mugabe uses is undergoing maintenance.

Diplomacy does not come cheap, the president's spokesman declared this month.
Boeing said Tuesday it has signed a $3 billion deal with Irans Aseman Airlines for 30 new jetliners, building on a previous $16.6 billion order struck with another Iranian carrier.

The deal, which must be cleared by the Treasury Department, is the first sizable U.S. business transaction announced with the Islamic republic since Donald Trump was elected president. It is made possible by the lifting of economic sanctions by the Obama administration last year in exchange for concessions on Irans nuclear program, an agreement that Trump maligned on the campaign trail as horrible and threatened to renegotiate.

Boeings latest announcement puts the Trump administration in the awkward position of choosing between taking a harsher stance against Iran and boosting a major manufacturer, one of the United States largest exporters.

The tentative agreement commits Boeing to delivering 30 of its 737 MAX airplanes starting in 2022 and gives the Iranian airline the option of acquiring 30 additional planes. The deal follows a $25 billion Iranian order with Frances Airbus, which competes closely with Boeing for international business.

Boeing has to be everywhere that Airbus is, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the nonprofit Lexington Institute, which receives funding from Boeing.

If Aseman Airlines opts for all the extra aircraft, the value of the deal could balloon to nearly $6 billion, and deliveries to Iran could begin in 2019, a Boeing representative said. An Aseman Airlines spokesman told the Associated Press that deliveries would begin in 2019, suggesting the airliner will take advantage of some of the 30 extra planes.

Some analysts have wondered whether the Iranian airlines can afford to buy so many Boeing and Airbus planes. And there is also the uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will clear the Boeing deal. Although the president has pledged to revive U.S. manufacturing, as a candidate he also frequently criticized the Iran nuclear agreement and threatened to renegotiate it. He has yet to take serious steps to do so, but as president he has continued to complain about the terms.

Last month, Trump said on Twitter that the agreement gave Iran a $150 billion lifeline, presumably referring to previously held-up Iranian assets that some analysts say are actually closer to $100 billion. When he was still Trumps national security adviser, Michael Flynn said that Iran was officially on notice after it conducted a missile test in February.

Frosty diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran have already imperiled other U.S. companies business in Iran. Last week, Tehran slapped sanctions on 15 U.S. companies, including defense contracting giant Raytheon, as retaliation for earlier sanctions imposed by the United States.

In its statement Tuesday, Boeing touted the potential of the 737 deal with Iran to boost U.S. jobs, saying the agreement creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States. The announcement comes as Boeing is laying off engineers in Washington, California and South Carolina amid broader cost-cutting measures.

Boeing continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Irans airlines, and any and all contracts with Irans airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval, Boeing said in the statement.
Brookland Manor is a sprawling, Depression-era housing complex perched atop a hill overlooking Rhode Island Avenue. Its tenants are poor and recipients of vouchers that subsidize their housing. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

We are a nation deeply divided on how best to address poverty.

On one side are folks, like me, who feel that a civil, caring society has a moral responsibility to fund anti-poverty programs.

On the other side are people who argue that its unfair that a share of their income  through taxation  subsidizes various federal and state entitlement programs that help people who became poor because they made irresponsible decisions.

We have to keep talking about this because divided we all fall. When readers disagree with me, I give them a chance to be heard in the Color of Money Talk Back feature. I received quite a bit of pushback on this months pick for the book club. I selected Falling, an essay by novelist and former Washington Post book critic William McPherson. (You can read it at http://bit.ly/Falling_essay .)

McPherson, who died last week at 84, wrote about his descent from being an acclaimed, well-paid journalist to poverty. He acknowledges that it all started with his decision to retire at 53.

[The next face of poverty could be yours]

What happened? he wrote. It was a long, slowly accelerating slide but the answer is simple. I was foolish, careless and sometimes stupid.

Ill stop right there. For more perspective, you have to read the essay. At any rate, heres some of the reader feedback I received:

Life is about choices. One does not fall into poverty. One walks into it with open arms.

It is hard to determine exactly what type of economic obligation you believe people should be subject to with regards to the poor. Do you believe we are obligated to be financial slaves of the poor? Success from hard work is the reward God gives us for our hard work and our personal responsibility. It is not a privilege. Poverty caused by irresponsibility is the reward from God for a life foolishly lived. There is nothing wrong with having mercy and being charitable to irresponsible persons. But we have no obligation to reward another persons negligence by turning our assets over to that person.

McPherson wasnt poor until he made a very poor choice to quit his job to travel Europe with no job. Those of us who didnt quit our jobs are now supposed to support him?

I think you missed the point of McPhersons story. He did not meet poverty. He chose it. Life is a series of choices. I chose to work until age 62. My brother, a doctor in Philadelphia, is still working at age 67 with no plans of retiring anytime soon. Why should my family, working long hours and making sacrifices, subsidize Mr. McPherson?

Unfortunately, what we have today is no longer charity. It is a government that forcefully takes money from one (productive) person and gives it to another (unproductive) person.

There is just so much to unpack in these comments. But theres one assumption running through them all that is incorrect: Empathy does not equal endorsement.

[When unemployment looms: What to do before and after losing your job]

Too often, America has gone down the road of trying to shame those in need, wrote Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer in their 2015 book $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.

Heres a note I received from a woman in Michigan who admits she and her husband made mistakes: I found myself relating to [McPhersons] story and, in an odd way, comforted to know that we are not alone. We did what we thought was the best thing: live a life of service with little thought for our own financial future. I cant say that I regret the years we chose to serve, but I do regret the lack of attention and forethought we gave to our finances.

Advocating for anti-poverty programs does not mean you dont recognize that some people getting help made poor choices. It doesnt mean you absolve them of personal responsibility. People shouldnt have children they cant support. Retiring and then recklessly spending down your money is bad money management. But helping the destitute is the decent thing to do.

What do we as a society owe the poor?

We owe them empathy. We owe them a safety net that gives them a chance to get back on their feet  and maybe even survive.

A reader from Texas shared that sentiment: Judgment of those in dire straits serves no one.

I spend a fair amount of time working with people living below and just above the poverty line. And this I know: Its no picnic being poor. They didnt consciously choose to be poor. They didnt willfully walk into poverty with open arms. They stumbled there.

Readers may write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or michelle.singletary@washpost.com. To read previous Color of Money columns, go to http://wapo.st/michelle-singletary.

Read more:

Yes, pro athletes often make poor money decisions early in their careers. But didnt you, too?

In his first budget, Trump to struggling seniors: Youre on your own.

I spent my childhood on Medicaid, and Trumps plan to roll it back is disastrous
James Rosenquist, who adapted methods he learned as a billboard painter to create artworks of a monumental scale that made him one of the most important figures in the pop art movement, died March 31 at his home in New York City. He was 83.

His death was announced on his website. The cause was not disclosed.

Beginning in the early 1960s, Mr. Rosenquist began to make gigantic paintings that blended everyday elements of American life  images from television, bullet-shaped tubes of lipstick, food, automobiles  in ways that seemed simultaneously familiar and unnerving.

Critics were often perplexed, and Mr. Rosenquist somewhat uncomfortably took a place in the emerging pop art movement, becoming as New Yorker magazine critic Peter Schjeldahl wrote in 2003, one of the big three masters of American Pop painting, with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

An aspiring abstract painter in his youth, Mr. Rosenquist worked for years as a commercial artist, often perched on scaffolding hundreds of feet in the air. He became skilled at painting mammoth images of food, whiskey bottles and movie stars  including a 58-foot-tall portrait of actress Joanne Woodward for the 1960 film The Fugitive Kind.

A spectator photographing Flamingo Capsule by artist James Rosenquist at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, in 2010. (Miguel Tona/European Pressphoto Agency)

By the early 1960s, he incorporated his billboard technique into large mural paintings that juxtaposed familiar images  a portrait of President John F. Kennedy, say, with automobiles, food, flowers or industrial equipment  to create a visual medley reflecting modern American life.

When he had his first one-man show in 1962, every painting was sold. He titled one of his works Marilyn Monroe, soon after the actresss death in 1962, using inverted images of her smile and eyes, as well as a shadowy Coca-Cola script.

Yet Mr. Rosenquist often disavowed a connection to the pop art sensibilities of Warhol, who made multiple images of Monroe, and Lichtenstein, who made large-scale images inspired by comic books.

I was never concerned with logos or brand names or movie stars, like Andy, for instance, he wrote in a 2009 autobiography, Painting Below Zero. Unlike Roy, I wasnt interested in ironic simulations of pop media; I wanted to make mysterious pictures.

In 1964, Mr. Rosenquist created F-111, a gigantic work now considered a 20th-century masterpiece. The painting, made in 51 panels, used aluminum, canvas and a jumbled assortment of images  lightbulbs, a car tire, a girl sitting beneath a helmetlike hair dryer, a hot-pink atomic mushroom cloud, bubbles from a scuba diver and a teeming mass of canned spaghetti.

Behind the tableau lurked the F-111, a controversial fighter-bomber then under development, stretching from one end to the other. At 86 feet in length, Mr. Rosenquists painting was about 14 feet longer than the actual F-111.

With its overwhelming scale and surreal blend of visual symbols, Mr. Rosenquists work made an immediate impression, although not always a favorable one. New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer pronounced it irredeemably superficial, writing that the painting left a viewer feeling as if he ought to be sucking on a Popsicle.

James Rosenquist in 2005. (Wolfgang Weihs/AP)

Others, however, recognized F-111 as a major work, whose strength seems to have grown with the passing years. With its implied criticism of military might, it was hailed by some as a Vietnam-era counterpart to Pablo Picassos Guernica, painted in 1937 as a response to the Spanish Civil War.

A viewer is at once seduced and assaulted at every point, with every glance, Schjeldahl wrote in the New Yorker. With terrific poise and mighty rhythm, F-111 . . . distills the excess of America in the sixties. . . . To have created it should assure Rosenquist the permanent gratitude of a bedevilled nation.

James Albert Rosenquist was born Nov. 29, 1933, in Grand Forks, N.D. His parents were amateur pilots, and the family moved around the Midwest as his father worked variously as a mechanic, gas station owner and luncheonette operator.

Mr. Rosenquist graduated from high school in Minneapolis and began working in his late teens as an itinerant sign painter, working on crews throughout the Upper Midwest. He attended the University of Minnesota before moving to New York in 1955 to study at the Art Students League.

He worked as a chauffeur and butler before returning to his earlier job painting billboards.

I was painting Schenley whiskey bottles on every candy store in Brooklyn, Mr. Rosenquist told Vanity Fair in 2003. One day, after painting about 50 bottles, I got tired of filling in the label, which was supposed to say, This spirit is made from the finest grains, in script. Instead, I started to write, Mary had a little lamb, her fleece was white as snow. 

It proved to be a turning point in his career.

Thats when Pop art occurred to me, he said. How can I use this method to show the emptiness and numbness of all this? I wondered how I could make a mysterious painting in which I painted huge realistic fragments of things.

His early works, such as I Loved You With My Ford (1961), Hey! Lets Go for a Ride (1961) and President Elect (1960-64), established the ideas and techniques that he used for many years. Like his friend Robert Rauschenberg, Mr. Rosenquist sometimes attached objects to his canvases or attempted sculpture, but the results seldom matched the impact of his paintings.

After years in Manhattan and later on Long Island, Mr. Rosenquist moved his primary studio in 1976 to Aripeka, Fla., a small community on the Gulf Coast. In the 1980s, he often painted huge images of flowers, often with a human eye peeking through the foliage.

By the 21st century, he often embellished his paintings with a shimmery, bursting abstract quality.

His works are now held in major museums around the world and have been shown in frequent retrospective exhibitions.

His first marriage, to Mary Lou Adams, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife since 1987, Mimi Thompson; a son from his first marriage; a daughter from his second marriage; and a grandson.

In 2009, a fire destroyed Mr. Rosenquists Florida studio, including his archives and many works of art. He seemed to take it in stride and soon returned to creating new paintings.

When things become peculiar, frustrating and strange, he wrote in his autobiography, I think its a good time to start painting.


American soldiers fire artillery in France during World War I, a war the United States was reluctant to enter. (Library of Congress)

They thought it would be over within months. They were wrong.

Instead, the world was at war for four long years. Powerful nations took sides  the Allies versus the Central Powers. From 1914 to 1918, they battled across Europe and into Asia and Africa. The United States supplied the Allies with goods but tried to stay out of the fighting. But in April 1917, 100 years ago this week, it joined the Allies (led by Great Britain and France) by declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.

[Learn how Europe changed beginning with World War I in our special report. ]

World War I brought an end to one way of fighting and the start of another. Soldiers on horseback, called cavalry, were replaced by tanks. Planes and submarines also saw action.

By the wars end, more than 16 million people had died. The shocking numbers of dead and wounded led some to call it the war to end all wars.

They were wrong about that, too.



Men sign up to serve in World War I at a U.S. Navy recruiting station. (National Photo Company/Library of Congress)

America enters the fight

U.S. kids dont learn much about World War I in school. Why? For starters, the war was a long time ago, and it wasnt fought here. Also, America joined late, so its losses were limited.

America got into the war mostly because German U-boats (subs) kept sinking unarmed ships in the Atlantic. Germany knew this risked pulling the United States into the war but thought it could defeat the Allies before U.S. troops or warships were ready.

Instead, Americas entry changed the course of the war. In addition to troops, the United States provided arms, tanks, ships, fuel and food to its friends. This aid helped the Allies win.

As in any war, unexpected heroes arise. Here are two American ones:



Stubby showed up at an Army training camp in 1917 and ended up accompanying the troops to France. He earned several awards for saving lives and capturing a German soldier in World War I. (Larry Gates/National Museum of American History)

One dogs life

You could say Stubby joined the Army in 1917. The terrier pup with a short tail showed up one day at a training camp in Connecticut and became the troops mascot. He learned their bugle calls and drills.

When the men left to join the fighting, they smuggled Stubby onto their ship. He was discovered after they arrived in France but was allowed to stay after lifting his right paw to his forehead and saluting the commanding officer!

On the battlefield, Stubbys keen nose picked up the tiniest trace of poison gas, and he barked until everyone donned gas masks. (Dogs and horses also had masks.) Stubbys keen ears helped him find wounded soldiers in the field. He listened for English being spoken, then barked until medics came to help. He even captured an enemy soldier by biting him on the leg.

Stubby took part in 17 battles and was made a sergeant. He has been the subject of several books and a movie that is due out in 2018.



Sergeant Alvin C. York was an unlikely war hero. He wanted to stay home and care for his many siblings but he ended up capturing 132 Germans near Cornay, France, where hes pictured here after World War I. (National Archives)

Dont want to fight

Thats what Alvin York wrote to explain his feelings about going to war. Yorks father had died when Alvin was young, and he was needed at home in Tennessee to help raise his eight younger siblings.

But the Army had other ideas and shipped him to France. In October 1918, York led an attack on a German machine-gun nest. With just a rifle and pistol, he killed several German soldiers and captured 132. When he got back to camp, he wrote later, a general said:  Well, York, I hear you have captured the whole  German army. And I told him I only had 132.

Though awarded the Medal of Honor  the highest U.S. military award  York shunned celebrity and went home to Tennessee. Back on the farm, the war hero with the third-grade education raised money to build a good high school for his neighbors kids.
An advertiser boycott against Fox Newss Bill OReilly picked up dramatic speed Tuesday in a rapid-fire reaction to the news that the outspoken host has been the subject of a succession of sexual-harassment allegations over the past 15 years.

At least 11 companies, including leading car, financial and pharmaceutical advertisers, confirmed that they had pulled ads or planned to shift upcoming ads away from The OReilly Factor in the wake of reports that OReilly and Fox had settled five complaints made by women who have worked with him at the news network since 2002.

Collectively the advertiser retreat, which seemed to grow in a chain reaction throughout the day, represented the most significant threat to OReilly seen during his long, successful and occasionally controversy-riven career at Fox. A similar but slower retreat by advertisers led to the demise of Glenn Becks highly rated Fox program amid boycott calls by African Americans and Jewish groups in 2011.

Among the companies that confirmed they were suspending or removing ads from his program were the automakers Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi Motors; financial firms T. Rowe Price and Allstate Insurance; drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline; plus Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, the online marketing company Constant Contact and mens apparel seller Untuckit. The list continued to grow late in the day; by early evening, CNN had pegged the number of companies pulling their ads at 18.

A prolonged advertiser boycott of OReilly could prove financially painful to Fox. OReillys 8 p.m. news-discussion program is the highest-rated on cable, with an average 4 million viewers. It is also a tent-pole show upon which the rest of the conservative-leaning network depends. Fox counts on OReilly to generate an outsize share of its revenue and profit, which reached an estimated $1.7 billion last year, a record since the networks founding in 1996.

On the other hand, it is not clear how long advertisers intend to stay away from OReilly, or what the short-term financial effect, if any, will be. Sponsors tend to buy cable ads in blocks, so removing an ad from one program usually means it is simply moved to another time slot, making little financial difference. What is more, cable-news channels derive the bulk of their revenue from licensing fees paid by cable and satellite operators, not advertising.

Despite knowledge of his multiple settlements, Fox and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, have stood by OReilly. The parent company last week re-signed the combative host to a new long-term contract that will pay him a reported $18 million per year and keep him on the air until at least 2020.

The advertisers who pulled out of OReillys program said they were responding to a New York Times story published Saturday that found the host and the network have separately or jointly paid at least $13 million to five female employees in exchange for their promise not to sue or publicly discuss their cases against OReilly. A sixth woman, former OReilly Factor occasional guest Wendy Walsh, said that OReilly had sexually harassed her, too, but that she did not intend to sue or seek compensation.

While its hard to tell what the facts are, the allegations are disturbing, said Donna Boland, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz. Given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we dont feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now.

Untuckits co-founder and chief executive, Aaron Sanandres, had a similar comment: As a company in which more than two-thirds of our employees are women, we take sexual harassment claims very seriously. . . . In light of the disturbing allegations, we instructed our media buyer this morning to reallocate our ad dollars to other shows effective immediately.

The harassment complaints against OReilly are on top of a separate wave of allegations against Roger Ailes, Fox Newss co-founder. The allegations surrounding Ailes came to light after Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox host, filed a lawsuit in July alleging that Ailes had pressured her for sex and demoted her when she refused.

The suit touched off an internal investigation that brought forward other complaints and led to Ailess ouster as chairman of the network. Carlson received $20 million from Fox to settle her suit. Ailes, who has denied the allegations, received $40 million in severance.

(Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

At the time, Fox and 21st Century asserted that it had zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

But Fox has struggled to put the issue behind it. On Monday, a Fox News contributor named Julie Roginsky filed another sexual-harassment suit against Ailes and his former top lieutenant, Bill Shine. In response, the networks top human-resources executive, Kevin Lord, issued a companywide memo that read, in part, If any employee has any concerns about behavior in our workplace, I urge you to raise those concerns with me and other company executives.

The mounting harassment allegations paint Fox as the next Bill Cosby, said Eden Gillott Bowe, who heads a communications firm that represents celebrities, athletes and nonprofit organizations facing adverse publicity.

Its death by a thousand cuts, she said. Until Fox can clean house, until they can make changes in good faith, I think theyll keep hemorrhaging advertisers. They need to make a clean break, even by taking the painful step of suspending or firing OReilly.

As the advertiser backlash grew Tuesday, both Fox and 21st Century Fox were muted in their defense of OReilly throughout most of the day. In the past, both have been quick to defend him.

Late in the afternoon, Fox issued a statement from its executive vice president of advertising sales, Paul Rittenberg, reading: We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the OReilly Factor. At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs.

21st Century referred to a statement it issued after the Times article in which it said it takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously. It said no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of a company hotline to raise concerns about OReilly, even anonymously.

OReilly did not address the unfolding controversy around him on his program Tuesday.

In a statement over the weekend, he defended himself, saying, Im vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity. He said he settled the cases because Im a father who cares deeply for my children and who would do anything to avoid hurting them in any way. And so I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children.
Dear Readers: My mother, the original Heloise (1919-1977), was a passionate activist for homemakers and heads of households everywhere.

From one of her books, Heloise All Around the House, here is a hint. Change your perspective on your morning routine, and you wont get so bored:

Drink your first cup of coffee in the living room, not in the kitchen. Take five minutes alone to meditate, be grateful, and find a purpose for the day!

Sound advice today, too!

Dear Heloise: I really get annoyed with people and companies that insist on using their services that can be found only online.

Where I live, the paper is printed only three days a week, because everyone can use a computer to get updated information!

If something happens on a Thursday, I have to wait for the Sunday edition for coverage. Thank you for your hints. Companies would have so many more consumers if they used all forms of communication.

Patsy R., Halifax, Pa.

Patsy R.: I hear you! Hope they do, too.

Dear Heloise: I lost my favorite (yours) recipe for cleaning bathrooms. You should run this often. I wrote it on the bottle, but the last ingredient got erased.

Reba J., Mobile, Ala.

Reba J.: This is one of my multipurpose go-to cleaners. The last ingredient missing was ammonia. So, here is the complete Heloise Cleaning Solution:

 cup household ammonia

 cup rubbing alcohol (50, 70 or 90 percent)

1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid

1 gallon water

Pour into a clean spray bottle, and be sure to label clearly with the ingredients. Also, use a microfiber cloth to clean  they are just wonderful! This recipe, along with many other easy cleaners, can be found in my pamphlet Heloises Homemade Cleaning Solutions. Visit my website, Heloise.com, to order one, or send a long, self-addressed, stamped (70 cents) envelope, along with $5, to: Heloise/HCS, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Keep all cleaners labeled clearly, and store them up and away from children and pets.

Dear Heloise: When it comes to removing an adhesive bandage, it can be painful. I soak a cotton ball in baby oil and rub it on the bandage, then gently pull it off.

Ana M. in Hawaii

Dear Heloise: At my office, we order lunch often, and at home, we order out once a week or so to give Mom and Dad a break.

I started keeping a file of our favorite restaurants menus, which makes ordering easy. But an even easier option is to look at the restaurants menu online. Each location of a franchise may have a different menu, so I make sure Im at the right location.

Emily and family in Dallas

Dear Heloise: Some library books can carry a cigarette-smoke odor. I slip a clothes-dryer sheet somewhere within the pages to eliminate it.

Mary Rose W., Columbus, Ohio

Heloises column appears six days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Send a hint to Heloise , P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
The philanthropy established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar will contribute $100 million to support investigative journalism, fight misinformation and counteract hate speech around the world.

One of the first contributions, $4.5 million, will go to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Washington-based group behind last years Panama Papers investigation, which revealed offshore businesses and shell corporations, some of which were used for purposes such as tax evasion.

We think its really important to act now to keep dangerous trends from becoming the norm, Stephen King, who heads the Omidyar Networks civic engagement initiative, told The Washington Post in the philanthropic groups first public comments on the three-year funding commitment.

The Silicon Valley-based philanthropy will make the official announcement Wednesday at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England.

In an interview, King referred to an urgent need and said the $100 million is the largest-ever contribution of its kind.

Other early recipients will include the Anti-Defamation League, the Washington organization devoted to fighting anti-Semitism worldwide. ADL will use the Omidyar money to build a state-of-the-art command center in Silicon Valley to combat the growing threat posed by hate online.

Another will be the Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology, which promotes civic engagement and government accountability in Latin America. It will receive $2.9 million from the network.

Gerard Ryle, director of the ICIJ, said the money will allow him to hire more reporters, adding to a staff of 13, and expand his data team with more engineers.

Weve been operating on a shoestring, so this is a huge help, Ryle said. The funding, he added, is hands-off money that says, in essence, Do what you want and well back you.

Pierre Omidyar, who was not available to comment for this article, has been very involved in the plans for the funding commitment, King said, adding, These are issues he cares deeply about.

The 49-year-old Iranian American businessman, born in France, was the chairman of eBay from 1998 to 2015 and has funded media-related organizations and initiatives.

Omidyar became a billionaire at age 31 with eBays initial public offering in 1998. He and his wife, Pamela Kerr Omidyar, established the Omidyar Network in 2004.

In 2013, he announced the creation of the Intercept, a journalism site focused on transparency, civil liberties and national security; it was founded by journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras.

Omidyar had earlier founded Honolulu Civil Beat, an online news service in Hawaii with an investigative focus.

He was an executive producer of Spotlight, the film about the Boston Globes investigation into the Catholic Churchs sex-abuse scandal. He helped finance the film, which won the Academy Award for best picture in 2016, through his company First Look Media.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which ranks the countrys top 50 philanthropists, put the Omidyars at No. 8 in February. They were among four of the first nine spots held by what the publication calls tech giants, including Bill and Melinda Gates. Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft.

The newly announced funding is intended to address a worrying resurgence of authoritarian politics that is undermining progress toward a more open and inclusive society, said Omidyar Network managing partner Matt Bannick.

The network is also concerned about the declining trust in democratic institutions around the world, including the news media, he said.

Increasingly, facts are being devalued, misinformation spread, accountability ignored and channels that give citizens a voice withdrawn, he said. These trends cannot become the norm.

In a statement, the networks representatives identified recent events that they say have worsened the erosion of public trust, among them the debate leading to Britains vote to exit the European Union, the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the U.S. presidential election and ongoing corruption globally.

At a time when autocrats, demagogues, criminals, dodgy businessmen and other shady characters are seeking to enrich and empower themselves at the expense of society, it is more important than ever that journalists can remain the worlds independent eyes and ears, Ryle said.

The funding builds on the $220 million the Omidyar Network has committed over the past decade, aimed at encouraging government accountability and transparency, Bannick said. Recipients have included the Committee to Protect Journalists; Code for Africa, a civic watchdog group; Chequeado, a Latin American fact-checking site; and News Deeply, an online news site that covers global issues.

The Omidyar funding comes as news companies, including The Post, are seeing a surge in online subscriptions and as nonprofit journalism entities such as ProPublica, news literacy groups and fact-checking organizations are benefiting from a spike in donations.

On Monday, a group including Facebook and Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, announced the News Integrity Initiative, a $14 million effort to advance news literacy and increase trust in journalism. It will be based at City University of New Yorks Graduate School of Journalism in Manhattan.

And last month, the Democracy Fund and First Look Media, both founded by Omidyar, announced that they would award $12 million to news organizations including the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Center for Public Integrity and ProPublica.

Despite the size of the $100 million Omidyar Network plan, its not going to solve the problem, King said. Restoring faith in accuracy and truth, restoring trust in responsible media  its obviously a big job.
Veteran radio reporter April Ryans run-ins with the White House in recent weeks have turned her into a kind of symbol. But its not exactly clear what kind.

After press secretary Sean Spicer responded sharply to Ryans question at a daily briefing last week, Hillary Clinton suggested the episode demonstrates how women are patronized in the workplace. Others saw the encounter with Ryan, who is black, as evidence of the White Houses dismissive attitude toward African Americans and its generally contentious relationship with journalists of all kinds.

Trump-centric detractors had their own take, painting Ryan as a lady with an ax to grind and as the embodiment of a partisan press.

This time, Ryan was thrust into the news as a result of asking Spicer about how President Trump intended to change the perception of his administration  a reasonable question given multiple investigations of the Trump campaigns alleged ties to Russia.

Spicer had none of it. Raising his voice and growing agitated, he replied that there was no Russia issue. Stop shaking your head, he admonished her twice, igniting a social-media firestorm.

(Professional Businesswomen of California)

Ryans one-word response on Twitter suggested her immediate reaction: Lawd!!!! she tweeted. She said later that Spicer had turned her into roadkill.

The exchange earned Ryan the usual hate mail, doubled her Twitter following, and even elicited a supportive call from a Republican former press secretary (whom she wont identify). She said she also got death threats that required consultation with the FBI and police agencies.

With a few days hindsight, Ryan, who reports for American Urban Radio Networks, is more measured than her initial comments would suggest. I know he has a job to do and I have a job to do, she said. I realize I may have hit a nerve. Russia is a very sore spot for them right now. They are besieged with investigations about possible real wrongdoing. I understand what hes doing, but I also understand my role as reporter.

At the same time, however, shes not entirely willing to let Spicer off the hook. She points out that he recently called a female reporter for Politico an idiot and that he publicly dressed down CNNs Joe Johns, an African American, for a story Spicer objected to in February.

For his part, Spicer disclaims any motives other than keeping the record straight. We have promoted more nontraditional, non-mainstream media outlets and reporters than ever before, and we treat everyone the same, he said in an interview Sunday. We push back on anyone who is attempting to create a false narrative or assumes facts that arent in evidence.

He added: Ive known April for a long time. Shes a tough reporter who has fought very effectively for her place in that briefing room. I respect her grit and determination.

And thats about as close as Spicer will come to an apology, or even of acknowledging theres anything worth apologizing for. Ive treated every reporter  regardless of outlet, gender or race  the same, he said.

Ryan, 49, has been down this rocky road before  in fact, three times since Trump took office.

In an exchange at a White House news conference in mid-February, she asked Trump whether he intended to meet with leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss his urban agenda. Trump responded by asking Ryan whether she wanted to set up such a meeting. Are they friends of yours? he said. Ryan, clearly perplexed, replied, No, no, no, Im just a reporter.

In February, Twitter exploded in its usual fury at Ryan after she asked Spicer about a remark the president made during the campaign. She asserted that Trump was referring to white people when he referenced those who made this country. Spicer disputed Ryans characterization of the quote, which appears to refer to Trump supporters generally, not white people in particular.

That incident came just after Ryan had a testy encounter in the West Wing with Omarosa Manigault, the former reality-TV star who is now a White House communications aide. Ryan said Manigault  a former friend who had insinuated Ryan had favored Clinton during the campaign  physically intimidated and verbally threatened her during the confrontation. Manigault, in turn, called Ryans statements fake news.

In all, its been a tumultuous three months for Ryan, who has spent 20 years on the White House beat for Pittsburgh-based American Urban Radio Networks, which feeds news and programming to some 300 stations serving primarily African American audiences.

A Baltimore native who commutes from that city to the White House each day, Ryan is the only briefing-room reporter specializing in urban issues such as law enforcement, crime, poverty and education. She has also reported on more general issues, such as the environment and foreign relations.

Ryans boss, Jerry Lopes, said the friction between Ryan and Spicer is a side effect of her aggressive approach. Thats part of the April magic, said Lopes, who hired her 20 years ago. April manages to get the story. She does whats necessary. I dont care if its a Republican or a Democrat. She manages to find a way.

In fact, Ryan has shown equal-opportunity tenacity. She had an earlier viral moment in 2009, when she clashed with Robert Gibbs, then President Barack Obamas press secretary. Under a fusillade of questioning from Ryan about the performance of a White House aide, Gibbs responded: April, April, calm down. Just take a deep breath for one second. See? This happens with my son. He does the same thing.

The moment drew audible groans in the press room.

April is as smart as they come, said Michelle Dolge, who was news director at Washington news station WTOP when Ryan was a young radio anchor and reporter. . . . She always came prepared. I loved how relentless she was: She would work any shift you needed, because she loved it so much.

In addition to her radio work and her appointment Monday to a contributor role at CNN, Ryan is the author of two books. One is a memoir about her White House coverage (The Presidency in Black and White); the other (At Mamas Knee) is a reflection on race relations and motherhood through her experiences as a single mother raising two daughters, now 8 and 14.

Based on the events of the past three months, Ryan may well have some material for another memoir.

You try not to take it personally, but I am human, she said. I may be tough, as Sean says, but so what? It still stings. She paused and added: But Im a big girl. Youve got to get over it and move on.
For months, Veronica Castro had dreaded Tuesday, when she was scheduled to check in with immigration officials.

The undocumented immigrant didnt know whether she would be detained and deported to Mexico or allowed to return home with her husband, a disabled veteran, and their four children, all U.S. citizens who live in Lothian, Md.

On Tuesday, as she and her husband stood in a crowded office in the George H. Fallon Federal Building here, their fears were allayed in less than 30 minutes.

Immigration officials gave Castro another year before she would have to check in again.

Im happy, she said in Spanish, smiling.

Veronica Castro, left, tries to hold back her 17-year-old son, Juan, who hugged immigration lawyer Joshua Doherty after they learned Castro would not be deported. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Its raining, but its a wonderful day, said her husband, Ricardo Pineda, who served in the Army for six years and reached the rank of sergeant. We get another year, one more year to be together, and hopefully more.

Three clergy members had accompanied the family into the immigration office, a tiny room with 11 chairs and a flier on the wall that warned of an MS-13 member wanted for murder in Honduras. As they stood in the elevator heading down, a stranger noticed them and asked if there were religious services in the building.

God is everywhere, Pineda told him.

Outside, a crowd had gathered to show the family support. Among them was a pastor who had traveled from Chicago and local immigration rights activists who had formed groups only after President Trumps inauguration. They held signs to let the family know they werent alone. We love you, read one. Safety for all, read others.

[This Army veteran served his country. Will his undocumented wife be deported.]

Those in the crowd had prayed together and listened as Castro told them her familys story. The 38-year-old told them about her husbands medical needs. Pineda, 47, received a medical discharge from the Army and takes medication for diabetes, depression and pain in a hand he injured during combat training. She told them about her four children, two of whom have disabilities. The couples 14-year-old son has cerebral palsy and their 17-year-old was left with brain damage after heart surgery as a toddler. His mother helps him bathe, get dressed and walk to and from the bus each day.

My husband wouldnt be able to take care of my children without my help, Castro said. If Im deported, my family will be destroyed.

Veronica Castro, left, and her family arrive at the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore for her check-in with immigration authorities. They were surrounded by activists. (Astrid Riecken/Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post)

Castro, who twice entered the country illegally from Mexico, has faced these check-ins since 2011. Thats when her application for parole in place, which allows relatives of military members to apply for legal status while remaining in the country, was denied on the basis that she had years earlier used a fraudulently obtained Border Crossing Card.

In the months leading up to Tuesdays appointment, she and Pineda appealed to politicians and clergy members for help. They feared that despite Pinedas service and their childrens medical needs, Castro would be swept up in Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration. His executive orders have widened the pool of those vulnerable to deportation.

In Arizona, a mother of two U.S.-born children, checked in on Feb. 8, as she had done for eight years, when she was detained. The next day she was deported to Mexico.

[An Arizona family struggles with a mothers deportation]

Last month, immigration officials arrested five people in Massachusetts who showed up for scheduled appointments at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office, including at least three who were seeking green cards. One woman, according to local media reports, was married to a U.S. citizen and had shown up for a marriage petition interview with her husband when she was taken into custody.

All of us have to really take a good look at what kind of country we live in, said Pastor Emma Lozano, who flew from Chicago to support Castro and has supported other military families facing immigration uncertainties. Many military families and Gold Star families are also being affected by deportation.

Yasemin Jamison, who stood in the crowd, said that before Trumps inauguration she was just a mom and a massage therapist. Now, the Muslim immigrant from Turkey is one of 650 people who make up the Anne Arundel County Indivisible.

I dont remember being in such fear before the Trump, said Jamison, who suggested her dad skip his annual trip to Turkey this year.

When Castro and Pineda walked out of the building, and it was announced they had been given a reprieve, the crowd cheered. People rushed to hug them.

But even as they expressed relief, there was an acknowledgment that there were still families sitting in the immigration office who didnt yet know what would happen to them.

We are celebrating today, said Richard Morales, the immigration policy director at Pico, an interfaith activist group. However, we know today people are walking into that office right now, and they arent walking out.

The clergy members who accompanied Castro and Pineda inside the building had already started planning for the next few months. They said they know of seven people in the Washington region who have check-ins coming up.
Sharon Ambrose, a Democrat and former teacher who served 10 years on the D.C. Council, where she was a no-nonsense proponent of economic development projects such as the construction of Nationals Park, died April 1 at a hospital in Washington. She was 77.

Mrs. Ambrose had hydrocephalus, an accumulation of fluid on the brain, said her husband, Michael Ambrose.

A 50-year resident of Capitol Hill, Mrs. Ambrose fashioned herself as an all-American, baked potato politician in the tumultuous final years of mayor for life Marion Barrys tenure at City Hall.

I am a staple, she told The Washington Post in 1997, after she was elected from Ward 6 during a special election to replace incumbent Harold Brazil, who had won an at-large seat on the council. What you see is what you get.

When Mrs. Ambrose took office, the city was struggling back from insolvency, its financial management overseen by a federally appointed control board that  until it was disbanded in 2001  exercised more power than the city council.

Sharon Ambrose in 1997, accepting congratulations from her supporters at a victory party on Capitol Hill. (Craig Herndon/The Washington Post)

Mrs. Ambrose rose to become head of the councils committee on economic development, opposing projects that she saw as unreasonably expensive  including the citys downtown convention center, which ultimately cost $833 million  while successfully pressing for a range of major developments in her ward, which includes Capitol Hill and the Southwest Waterfront and Navy Yard.

She helped spearhead new restaurant and business developments near the Navy Yard and Eastern Market, and successfully lobbied for the Washington Nationals to locate their ballpark in a formerly industrial section of the waterfront.

Mrs. Ambrose was reelected twice to four-year terms before retiring in 2007 to focus on her family and on battling her illness, which for many years was misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis.

The city made its way back from fiscal ruin during her service, The Post editorial board wrote following her retirement announcement. Mrs. Ambrose, it continued, helped put an end to the image of the D.C. Council as a refuge for small-bore politicians given to going off half-cocked on marginal issues.

Sharon Patricia Connelly was born in Chicago on Sept. 3, 1939. Her father was a precinct captain for Mayor Richard J. Daley, the Democratic boss who ranked behind only God, the Pope and the Archbishop in the family pecking order, and her grandfather taught her the art of political door-knocking as a teenager.

She graduated in 1961 from what was then Saint Xavier College, a Catholic womens school in Chicago, with a bachelors degree in English. She moved to the Washington area four years later with her husband, who found a job with the IRS and later became a deputy commissioner with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to her husband of 54 years, Mrs. Ambrose is survived by four children, Moira Connelly of Knoxville, Tenn., Michael Ambrose Jr. of Golden, Colo., Ellen Ambrose of Washington and Peggy Franzen of Ashburn, Va.; two brothers; and nine grandchildren.

Mrs. Ambrose was a teacher and PTA leader before working as an aide to Democratic council members Betty Ann Kane and John Ray. She remained active in politics upon her retirement, working on the campaigns of Council member David Grosso (I-At Large), a former staff member, and of her former council colleague David Catania, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2014 as an independent.


The Addison family cemetery is steps away from the MGM National Harbor casino. Two descendants of the family filed a lawsuit against the casinos developer, claiming ownership of the cemetery. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Yards from the sleek entrance of the icy-blue MGM National Harbor casino, an eerie sight greets those lining up for table games and Cher concerts: a cluster of lonely graves atop a hill. The graves, surrounded by a parking lot and two lines of chain-link fence, dont look much like a security risk, but anyone who approaches is challenged by a guard.

This is what remains of the contested Addison family cemetery  the final resting place of as many as 70 members of a noted Colonial clan. Two of the familys black descendants filed a $20 million lawsuit against the casinos developer, claiming ownership of the cemetery last month on the day before the developer sought approval to move the graves to a nearby church.

I feel as though theyre hiding real black history, said Christian Carter, a onetime D.C. mayoral candidate who, with fellow descendant Tanya Lyle, filed the suit against Peterson Cos., the developer behind National Harbor.

The suit is a maze of deeds, genealogies and centuries-old surveys that argues the contested land was willed, by the early 19th century, to a white Addison descendant. That descendants only children were with his free African American mistress  leaving valuable acreage once owned by a white family to black descendants, according to the suit.

As late as March of last year, Peterson said it planned to keep the cemetery in place within a contemplative area surrounded by a walkway, landscaping and interpretive signage, according to a Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission report. Preservationists preferred this plan to an excavation.

If Peterson wants to build something around it, thats great, said Michael Leventhal, president of the Conservancy of Broad Creek, a preservation group based in Prince Georges County. Dont, for the sake of money, disturb the dead.

Andre Gingles, an attorney for Peterson, said the developer always had the option to relocate the cemetery and that the property has been in the hands of Peterson-controlled entities for a number of years. He said he didnt think the new lawsuit had much of a chance.

We absolutely believe that will not bear out, he said.

The complaint  and the security guard  offer a reminder that these hills have been a source of contention for decades. For some, despite the recent addition of slot machines, this is sacred ground.



Christian Carter and his cousin, Tanya Lyle, pose with a monument honoring John Hanson, president of the Continental Congress, near the MGM National Harbor casino. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Rural setting has changed

The Addison family settled on the banks of the Potomac River in the 1600s in what is now Prince Georges County. John Hanson, who served as president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation and was related to the Addisons, could be buried on the site.

As centuries went by, the cemetery fell into disrepair and developers took bites out of land once owned by the family. Gravestones were vandalized, a forested bluff overlooking the Potomac was stripped of trees, and roads were constructed.

In recent years, the $100 million shopping mecca at nearby Tanger Outlets gobbled up the site of a former slave plantation. Then last year, Peterson asked the county for the right to move the Addison cemetery to a church about three miles away.

[From the archives: Prince Georges planning board approves project near National Harbor]

Bureaucracies churned into gear.

The Addison Family Cemetery is completely changed from a historic rural setting to a dense mixed-use development . . . expected to become a major attraction that will draw millions of visitors a year and become a major economic engine, read a February report on Petersons request from Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to the Prince Georges County Historic Preservation Commission.



The cemetery near the MGM National Harbor casino. (Karen Egloff)

A headstone at the cemetery near the MGM National Harbor casino. (Karen Egloff)

For activists, some of whom opposed the development of National Harbor and its casino for several years, it was another blow.

This is an opportunity to have something left from the historic property where National Harbor is built, to show the change over time, said Bonnie Bick, 73. Now what they are saying is they have to put in these skyscrapers next to it. . . . Peterson wins every time.

Gingles said Petersons plans for the property arent developed yet.

After a contentious hearing last month, the nine-person Historic Preservation Commission approved Petersons plan to move the cemetery. Commission Supervisor Howard Berger, who didnt vote on the plan, said the vote speaks for itself.

They felt the context for the cemetery is irrevocably changed with the course of modern construction, he said. A more dignified environment should be found in another location.

Yolanda Muckle, a real estate agent in Prince Georges who cast the commissions lone dissenting vote, said she was concerned about the whole idea of digging bodies up and moving them for development.

I have to sleep at night, she said. In good conscience, I could not raise my hand and say I agree with it. She added: It just makes me wonder, was their motivation prior to this that it wasnt going to be preserved?

The community had reason to believe the cemetery would remain. In a 2015 advertising supplement in the Washington Informer, a local newspaper focused on the African American community, MGM touted its connection to the Addisons.



The MGM National Harbor casino rises above the tree line at Oxon Hill Manor, next to the hotel on what was once the Addisons land. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

The site where the resort will sit . . . is rich with history, said the supplement, which included an interview with Carter. The leadership of MGM National Harbor understands that this landmark project isnt just about building a resort.

MGM National Harbor declined to comment, and Gingles pointed out that the company, not Peterson, paid for the advertisement.

A family disagreement

Lyle, 53, works in communications for the U.S. Postal Service. Carter is a 34-year-old government staffing consultant who ran for D.C. mayor in 2014. He filed the cemetery lawsuit under the name Christian Carter Addison, saying he plans to change his name.

In the suit, filed in Prince Georges County Circuit Court without an attorney, Lyle and Carter say they are, respectively, ninth- and 11th-generation Addison heirs. They have spent considerable time demonstrating their connection to the Addisons and have taken DNA tests.

[Latest D.C. mayoral candidate is locked in city contracting disputes]

Lyle said its time to reinject the familys complicated racial past into the story of National Harbor.

Thats the reason its bland over here, because youve taken the history out, she said. Besides eating, shopping and gambling, what do you have?

When Carter tried to speak about the cemetery at the March meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, following testimony a month earlier, he was ruled out of order.

I know you dont want to talk to me, Carter said as he tried to serve representatives of Peterson with his lawsuit, according to an online recording of the meeting.

Sit down or leave the room! said commission Chairman John Peter Thompson, banging his gavel before calling a bailiff.

The Addison family isnt unified in opposing the cemetery move. At the meeting, Joseph Addison said that in an informal family poll, 42 of 48 Addisons supported relocating the cemetery.

The kids and the family arent out there anymore, he said at the meeting. Its MGM, hotels and a casino up there. And . . . the area is an urban environment.

Christian Carter and his cousin, Tanya Lyle, are descendants of a family that owned property near MGM National Harbor casino. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Carter and Lyle said they werent consulted for the family vote.

I dont see any other reason other than that were black, Lyle said.

In an interview, Joseph Addison, a 62-year-old real estate agent, said he opposes the cemetery move and that the vote was taken only among his branch of the family. He also said that it did not make any difference what we vote.

We dont have a say, he said.

French Wallop, another member of the Addison family, supported the cemetery move, but thought the plan was rushed.

We simply did not feel it was a good place for anyone to remain with what looks like a Los Angeles mixing bowl going around it, she said.

Carter and Lyle said other white Addisons, as they describe them, want the cemetery to remain where it is.

Addison Ullrich, a 71-year-old former psychologist, grew up across the road from what is now the MGM casino and remembers placing peonies on the graves as a girl. She said she wasnt part of the Addisons internal vote and doesnt understand why the cemetery needs to be moved.

These people have been buried in the earth for all this time, she said. Why pull them up, expose them to the light of day?

Although the Peterson plan won approval from the Historic Preservation Commission, the Prince Georges County States Attorney Office is the final arbiter on whether anyones eternal rest can be disturbed.

Spokesman Jon Erzen said the states attorneys review will include conversations with descendants  all the ones that [Peterson] been able to find and any more that we may be able to find.

He added: Everyone gets a voice in this process.
Matzoh Man has parked his Matzoh Mobile at Farragut Square. Accompanied by his trusty sidekick, the Matzoh Maharat, it is time for him to leap into action.

Who wants matzoh? Matzoh Man shouts, proffering a square of crispy unleavened bread to passersby out in the Tuesday lunchtime sunshine. Matzoh! Kosher for Passover!

Every year as Passover approaches, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld dons a brown and white two-piece suit imprinted with a distinctive pattern, with a skullcap and shoes to match. He looks like a walking Saltine cracker, but is in fact a piece of matzoh, the unleavened bread central to the Passover Seder dinner.

You want some matzoh with that yogurt? Herzfeld asks a startled-looking woman walking up 17th Street. No?

There are two things that Herzfeld  the rabbi at Ohev Sholom synagogue on 16th Street NW  has in abundance: chutzpah and matzoh.

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld hands out matzoh on Tuesday at Farragut Square. (John Kelly/TWP)

There are 50 boxes of the latter in the back of the Matzoh Mobile, an old Crown Victoria sedan that has been wrapped in matzoh-patterned vinyl.

On Monday night, Ohev Sholom will host its annual communal Seder, inviting all comers.

Though Herzfeld is handing out store-bought matzoh today, he says they will serve homemade at the Ohev Sholom Seder, made the proper way: just flour and spring water.

Thats why I originally got the matzoh suit, he says. I love baking matzoh so much that I got a matzoh suit to match my passion for the matzoh.

With him is Ruth Friedman, a clergywoman called a maharat. She is wearing a matzoh hat made by Elana Mendelson. Its bedecked with fabric elements of a Seder plate, including an egg, a shank bone and greens.

Matzoh! says Herzfeld. Who wants matzoh? Its sacred bread.

He lowers his voice, then says to me: You know how I can tell whos Jewish? They look away.

Herzfeld is the rabbi at the Ohev Sholom synagogue in Washington. He wears a matzoh-patterned suit and has wrapped a car in a matzoh pattern to publicize his synagogues communal Passover Seder. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

Some Jews, Herzfeld thinks, are embarrassed that they dont know where theyll be spending Passover  or dont have any place to go.

Even a Jew whos very distant wants a Seder, Herzfeld said. Ohev Sholoms communal Seder, he explains, is a way to bring people back to the community they grew up in. Who doesnt have warm feelings for their familys matzoh ball soup?

People pose for selfies with Matzoh Man and his car.

You want matzoh? he asks again and again.

You ever had any? he asks those who politely refuse.

And you still dont like it? he says in jest to those who say theyve had it.

Herzfeld accepts that some may not share his affection for the bread.

If you dont go to a Seder, your mother will be sad, he says to one young man who takes a piece of matzoh. Friedman hands the man a flier for Mondays dinner.

Herzfeld figures if the rabbi can embarrass himself wearing a matzoh suit, people can go to a Seder where they dont know anybody.

Where are you going for Passover? he asks an older man.

Florida, the man answers.

Where all the Jews are, Herzfeld says. Have you seen my Matzoh Mobile?

The rabbi nods toward the Matzoh Mobile.

Who did it for you? the man asks.

We got a guy, Herzfeld says.

That guy was Troy Yates of Capital Wraps of Raleigh, N.C. Last month, Yates drove up and met Herzfeld at a taxi garage in Northeast D.C. Yates said hed wrapped a lot of things with a lot of images  including a huge likeness of Under Armour endorsee Michael Phelps on a disused fuel storage tank in Baltimore  but he had never wrapped anything in matzoh.

[An eye-catching menorah brings a smile for the Festival of Light]

I ask Herzfeld whether all this  the suit, the car, the street-corner theatrics  is maybe a bit silly.

Religion should be serious, but it should also be fun, he says. It needs to be both.

The most famous Passover song is Dayenu, Herzfeld says. The word means, roughly, it would have been enough.

Any one of the things God did for the Jews  bringing them out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, giving them the Torah  would have been enough. That God did all those things? Bonus!

Says Herzfeld: If they see this car and they smile: Dayenu, it would have been enough.

After about an hour, Matzoh Man and the Matzoh Maharat get back in the Matzoh Mobile and drive off. More matzoh must be baked before Monday.

Twitter: @johnkelly

To see a video of Matzoh Man, go to washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), left, looks on as Gov. Larry Hogan, middle, is embraced by Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles). (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post)

Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) testified for three straight years before his fellow Maryland lawmakers about how his adoptive father repeatedly raped him, pleading with them to increase the amount of time sexually abused children have to sue their abusers.

And each year that his bill died in committee, Wilson vowed to sponsor it again.

On Tuesday, he was cheered as he joined Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to watch him sign the bill, approved by the legislature, into law. It increases the window of time a victim of child sexual abuse has to file a lawsuit from age 25 to 38.

I never wanted to share my personal business on this level, but I did it because I thought it would help people, Wilson said shortly after the bill signing. I wanted the victims of sexual abuse to know they are not alone and that we care about them.

Wilsons bill was one of seven measures signed by Hogan on Tuesday, with a week to go in the annual legislative session.

Hogan, sitting, shakes hands with Del. David Fraser-Hidalgo (D-Montgomery) after signing a bill to ban fracking. (Brian Witte/Associated Press)

The governor also signed a bill to permanently ban hydraulic fracturing in the state, ending a more-than-five-year debate over whether to allow the gas-

extraction method.

Hogan had expressed tepid support for fracking until last month, when he surprised environmentalists by calling for a ban. He had said he would back the extraction method if the state could develop regulations strict enough to protect public health and the environment from serious harm, but he said last month that he did not think the practice could occur safely.

When Wilson walked to the table for the signing of the statute-of-limitations bill, Hogan gave him a bear hug and thanked him for his courage and leadership on the issue.

Wilson spoke each year about how he was shuffled among foster care homes until he was adopted by a man who was a kindergarten teacher, a Cub Scout leader, a junior pastor  and a pedophile.

He said he was raped by his adoptive father from 8 to 16 and did not begin to deal with the trauma until years later.

Wilsons bill had been strongly opposed by the Catholic Church. Del. Joseph F. Vallario (D-Prince Georges), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, refused to allow it to come to a vote in his committee.

This year, Wilson worked with the Maryland Catholic Conference on the bill, with help from Vicki Gruber, chief of staff to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).

Changes included making clear that the statute would not be retroactive and would apply only to victims 18 or younger at the time of its passage. The bill gives those victims until age 38 to file a lawsuit against a person or governmental entity that owed a duty of care to the victim, employed the alleged abuser or had some degree of responsibility or control over the alleged abuser.

Mary Ellen Russell, the executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said this years bill was much fairer than in years past.

For Wilson, the bill signing closed an ugly, painful chapter. It was an emotional experience, he said. You basically have to dig deep and reveal yourself. You cant help but be ashamed, but Im not a victim. I dont define myself as a victim.

He said he knows a lawsuit is not a silver bullet for sexual abuse victims, but what it does is give them a voice. . . . Thats what most people want. They want someone to acknowledge what theyve done.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate allowed Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince Georges) to introduce an emergency late-file bill that would enshrine in state law the federal Internet-privacy regulations created by the Obama administration. On Monday, President Trump signed legislation that repeals those federal privacy protections.

The 33-to-14 vote to allow the bill comes a day after Republicans in the House of Delegates blocked a similar effort by Majority Leader C. William Frick (D-Montgomery).

Rosapepes bill would prevent an Internet-service provider from selling or transferring customers names, addresses, Social Security numbers or Web browsing histories without permission. It also would bar providers from sending advertisements to customers based on their browsing histories.

Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Baltimore County) opposed the introduction of the bill in the Senate, saying the General Assembly should not take on a federal issue.

I dont think this bill is needed, he said. It is something that should be done on the federal level.

Maryland also took another step toward becoming the eighth state in the country, in addition to the District, to require employers to provide paid sick leave to workers. On Tuesday, the House Economic Matters Committee voted to concur with the changes made to the bill in the Senate, which requires employers that have 15 or more workers to offer up to five days of paid sick leave a year.
Rebecca Wood with 4-year-old daughter Charlie Wood protests recent raids by ICE nationwide in front of the White House in February. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

The Hyattsville City Council defiantly voted Monday night to declare itself an official sanctuary city, backing a bill that would prohibit its small local police force from enforcing federal immigration law.

The preliminary 8-2 vote  which must be confirmed in two weeks  could make the Maryland suburb a target for the Trump administration, which has promised to withhold federal dollars from sanctuary jurisdictions and says such policies undermine public safety.

Council member Patrick Paschall, the bills lead sponsor, said the legislation codified the citys existing practice of non-intervention in federal immigration matters. The ordinances authors said they explicitly used the word sanctuary  a loose term that means different things in different places  to make clear to immigrant residents that they do not have to fear local police.

There is no federal law that requires municipalities to participate in immigration enforcement, Paschall said.

Hyattsville would be the second official sanctuary city in Maryland and the first in Prince Georges County. Takoma Park, in neighboring Montgomery County, has provided official sanctuary to undocumented immigrants for more than three decades.

(Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The sanctuary issue has triggered a delicate dance of sorts in many larger jurisdictions, including Marylands Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and Virginias Fairfax County, which have struggled to declare themselves immigrant friendly but also willing to comply with federal immigration agents in cases of serious crime or when agents have a criminal warrant.

Both President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have threatened to deny funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, but neither has given details of which localities would be targeted.

Council member Paula Perry, who voted against the ordinance, said she feared the city was giving its undocumented residents a false sense of security because the protections only go as far as city limits.

It doesnt protect them from the county, the state or the federal, said Perry, who was joined by Ruth Ann Frazier in opposing the bill. I want people to be well aware of that.

In Annapolis, state lawmakers are doing battle over the Maryland Trust Act, a bill that strictly limits police involvement in immigration issues and requires a warrant for cooperation with federal immigration authorities  again, echoing what is already done in many jurisdictions.

The bill passed the House of Delegates by a wide margin but has run into trouble in the Senate. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has vowed to veto the bill should it come to his desk.

In addition to Hyattsville, which also permits non-citizens to vote in city elections, at least three other Prince Georges municipalities  Mount Rainier, College Park and Greenbelt  are considering sanctuary legislation.

Greenbelt received a petition calling for a sanctuary measure. But Mayor Emmett Jordan said officials are reluctant to move ahead of the state at the risk of losing federal funding.

Thats a worry that doesnt concern Hyattsville, Paschall said, explaining that the city receives, on average, about $22,000 in federal funding a year  less than a tenth of a percent of the citys $16 million annual budget.

Mayor Candace Hollingsworth called Monday nights vote a display of courage for a city whose population is about one-third foreign born. Its important to not wait for others to take the first step, she said.

The hours-long meeting include testimony from people on both sides of the issue.

Leigh Ann Barlow, a longtime Hyattsville resident, told the council she opposed the ordinance because it could jeopardize future grant funding and would hamper law enforcers from doing their jobs.

I dont want anybody to be torn apart from their families, Barlow said. But the law is the law. So, think hard.

Candida Garcia, a 12-year resident and PTA president at her childrens school, said the ordinance will allow her and other immigrants in the country illegally to shop, take their kids to school and attend religious services without fear.

My children worry every time I leave through the front door. This law will help them feel more safe, said Garcia, who has also testified for the Maryland Trust Act. Its a model for other communities so they too can take action.
Members of Marylands legislative minority caucuses urged fellow state lawmakers on Monday to pass a bill that would limit police cooperation with federal immigration-enforcement efforts, concerned that the measure might die in the Senate after winning approval in the House with broad support.

A separate attempt to address a new policy emerging in Washington failed when Republicans in the House of Delegates refused to allow the introduction of legislation dealing with Internet privacy.

The immigration-enforcement bill, known as the Trust Act, has not been scheduled for a committee vote in the Senate, and advocates are worried that it might not advance in time to pass before the end of the legislative session on April 10, if at all.

Last week, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said the bill would not pass in its current form, warning that Maryland is not going to become a sanctuary state.

Advocates said it is unclear whether the bill would qualify Maryland for the sanctuary label, which is loosely defined and means different things in different places. President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have promised a crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions, but they have yet to clearly define which regulations or laws would make a state or locality vulnerable to sanctions.

Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince Georges), speaking at a news conference with the legislative black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander caucuses, prodded members of her party to support the Trust Act, calling it the Democratic thing to do and saying they should not think twice about it.

Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. Jenkins and Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler held a competing news conference calling on lawmakers to defeat the measure.

Its not going to be good for public safety or Marylanders, Jenkins said.

The legislation would prohibit local and state police from stopping or questioning individuals solely to determine their country of origin or immigration status. It would also bar the state and most Maryland jurisdictions from assisting deportation efforts by detaining undocumented prisoners past their release date, unless federal agents have a warrant or court order describing probable cause. Many Maryland jurisdictions already have such policies in place.

The bill allows exceptions for Frederick and Harford counties, which take part in a special federal program that uses local police to help with immigration enforcement. Other jurisdictions could participate in the program if they first hold public hearings.

Trust Act advocates say the legislation would protect undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to communities while ensuring that they can report crimes to police without fear of deportation.

There are people here who want to live the American Dream and become successful, who are scared of the violence that is going on in their home countries, said Del. Carlo Sanchez (D-Prince Georges), chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus. Those are the people were trying to protect here, so if thats what were becoming a sanctuary against, I welcome it.

Jenkins argued that the legislation would place too many restrictions on local agencies trying to deal with undocumented immigrants who are dangerous.

I havent seen a good version of this bill yet, he said. Nothing that comes out of this could be good for law enforcement or corrections in Maryland.

The House on Monday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would reform Maryland licensing for producing and dispensing medical marijuana, in response to concerns that too few of the preliminary licenses last year went to minority-owned companies. The legislation would require the state to consider racial and geographic diversity when ranking applications and would give the Health Department authority over the industry.

Lawmakers voted to remove language that would allow physicians to recommend medical marijuana to patients dealing with opioid abuse disorder, a provision added by a House committee last month.

Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore), who sponsored the bill, said that too many people were uncomfortable with the added language but that she supports the idea and plans to introduce it separately next year.

A bill with an alternative approach to overhauling the licensing system, sponsored by Miller, is awaiting action in the Senate.

House Republicans also blocked an effort by Majority Leader C. William Frick (D-Montgomery) to introduce a late-file bill designed to safeguard Internet privacy in Maryland. The measure needed 94 votes to move forward in the legislative process, but it received only 90 votes, along party lines. Two Democrats were absent.

The legislation would have prevented an Internet-service provider from selling or transferring a customers name, address, Social Security number or Web browsing history without permission. It also would also bar them from sending advertisements to customers based on their browsing histories.

Frick proposed the bill in response to a recent decision by Congress to roll back Web-privacy regulations that the Obama administration established.

Most late-file bills generally move forward with bipartisan support as a courtesy. But Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) described Fricks bill as a political attempt to bring Washington, D.C., politics to Annapolis, while others said it was too complicated to be considered in the final days of the 90-day session.

Frick said he had no control over the timing.

I think this was a shameful vote not to even try to have a conversation about protecting your privacy, he said. This is the biggest privacy issue of the year, maybe of the decade, and Republicans said maybe well get to it next year.

Although the issue failed in the House, another attempt is likely in the Senate. Last week Miller told his colleagues to expect a bill, or an amendment to an existing bill, to deal with the issue before the end of session.

Also on Monday, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed legislation providing more than $33 million annually over the next three years to school systems in Baltimore and 10 other jurisdictions facing declining enrollment. For Baltimore, the money would be contingent upon an independent auditor reviewing the school districts finances, and the Board of Education developing a financial recovery plan.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has withdrawn the nomination of Dennis R. Schrader as secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, a spokesman said, after concluding that the Senate Executive Nominations Committee would not vote on the appointment before the legislature adjourns April 10.

Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said the governor plans to reappoint Schrader as acting secretary, allowing him to remain in the job until next year.

We just believe he is too qualified and too important to the people that he serves to be left hanging in the wind, Mayer said, calling the nominations process heavily politicized this year. Hopefully, next session, cooler heads will prevail.

Mayer said the administration was told that there would be no vote on Schraders nomination. He declined to say who relayed that information.

Hogan also withdrew the names of Board of Education nominees Laurie Halverson and Barbara Shreeve, and Health Care Commission nominees Cassandra Tomarchio, Elizabeth Hafey and Gerald OConnor.

Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), chairman of the nominations committee, said he was baffled by the governor's decision and had planned to hold committee votes this week.

Its my belief [Schrader] would have been moved forward to the full Senate, Ferguson said, adding that he also thought the other nominees would have been approved as well.

Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said it was an absolute lie that the administration was told Schrader would not receive a vote. People told him that he was going to get voted on, Miller said. As was everyone else on the list.

Schrader plans to remain in his job even though the fiscal 2018 budget includes language that could prohibit someone in Schraders situation from receiving a salary after June 30 without committee approval.

The language reads: No funds in this budget may be expended to pay the salary of a Secretary or Acting Secretary of any department who was a recess appointment in 2016 and whose nomination as Secretary was put forward and was not acted upon by the Executive Nominations Committee.

Mayer said he did not believe the budget language would hold up in court.
Police assert that this image, released by the department, shows Michael Ford firing on a passing SUV during his 2016 gun attack at a Prince Georges police station. (Prince Georges County Police Department)

The man accused of starting a gun battle outside a Maryland police station last year that left one officer dead was deemed mentally fit for trial during a competency hearing Tuesday morning.

Michael Ford, 23, is expected to go to trial this summer on charges of second-degree murder and other related counts in connection with the March 2016 shooting near Prince Georges County police headquarters.

[Funeral for Pr. Georges officer killed in ambush draws thousands]

Ford fired shots into the entrance of a police station in Landover, drawing several officers out of the building and into a gun battle, according to police. Undercover narcotics detective Jacai Colson, 28, arrived on the scene in street clothes, leapt from his car and was fatally shot by another officer who mistook him as a threat.

[Maryland officer who fatally shot colleague is cleared by grand jury]

Michael Ford is accused of starting a gun battle outside a police station at which police say his brothers were present. (Hunter, Tyler D./Prince Georges County Police Department)

Outside the Prince Georges County Circuit Court, Fords defense attorney said his client was trying to have officers kill him at the station on March 13 last year. Prosecutors said they will argue that Ford knew he was creating a dangerous situation, which resulted in Colsons death.

Two of Fords younger brothers  Malik, 22, and Elijah, 19  also face charges in the case.

Malik and Elijah Ford drove Michael to the police station and recorded the shootout on their cellphones, police said. Michael Ford instructed at least one of his brothers at the scene to send the video to his girlfriend and to WorldstarHipHop in an effort to gain notoriety, prosecutors said.

Michael Ford suffers from bipolar disorder, according to family members who spoke with The Washington Post shortly after the shooting.

[Man arrested in police station gun battle described as troubled, mentally ill]

During Tuesdays hearing, Michael Fords defense attorney, Antoini Jones, agreed with a finding by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that his client was competent to stand trial.

When asked by Judge Lawrence V. Hill Jr. whether he understood the purpose of Tuesdays hearing, Ford, clad in a khaki prison uniform, said no. Ford then consulted with his attorney before rising to tell the judge that he understood.

Jacai Colson, 28, who had served four years with the police in Prince Georges County, Md., was fatally shot outside a station March 13, 2016. (Prince Georges County Police Department/Via AP)

The hearing was over within five minutes, with all parties agreeing that Ford will be able to assist in his defense at trial.

After the hearing, Fords attorney said he will argue at trial that his client is not criminally responsible for Colsons death. He said Ford was affected by a mental illness on the day of the shooting.

On that particular day, he had wanted to commit suicide by cop, Jones said. Hes medicated today. Thats the difference.

Jones also said he will try to suppress evidence of statements made during his clients arrest.

Prince Georges States Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks said prosecutors will contend that Ford was responsible for creating a danger zone that led to the loss of a law enforcement officers life.

Mr. Ford knew exactly what he was doing March 13th when he attacked that police station and caused the death of officer Jacai Colson, Alsobrooks said after the hearing.

This was a heinous event, said Alsobrooks, elaborating on the pain that Colsons death had caused his family and the community. Everybodys intention is to make sure it never happens again.

Trials for Fords brothers are expected to take place this summer, according to John Erzen, spokesman for the states attorneys office.
A man accused of impersonating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Northern Virginia plans to go to trial.

Itai Ozderman, 35, who worked in information technology at The Washington Post, appeared in court Monday on an indictment charging him with a felony and two misdemeanors related to officer impersonation. According to police and court documents, he convinced a Falls Church Police Department detective that he was a law enforcement officer on a federal task force.

Ozdermans attorney, Bruce Blanchard, asked for a trial in September. He declined to comment on the case outside the hearing in Arlington Circuit Court.

Authorities said Ozderman formed a relationship with Falls Church Detective Jannie Clipp and was seen riding in Clipps car last September. But his presence made some on the force suspicious.

We couldnt wrap our mind around why he would be there, Falls Church Police Chief Mary Gavin said in an interview. Ozderman was seen wearing a ballistic vest with an ICE placard and with a Baltimore County police badge, according to court records.

Itai Ozderman is accused of pretending to be law enforcement. (Montgomery County Police Department)

[Police allege IT worker at Washington Post was impersonating ICE officer]

After investigating, supervisors in the office were unable to confirm Ozdermans law enforcement credentials, Gavin said. So they alerted the FBI, she said, and agents likewise found no proof Ozderman worked in law enforcement.

This is not a department that welcomed this guy; this was the conduct of an individual, Gavin said. He fooled an officer into thinking he was some type of local and federal agent.

Clipp is currently on administrative leave.

Gavin said Ozderman was apparently inside the department a few times after hours, when there were not many officers around. But there is no evidence as yet that he handled department equipment.

The police chief said the department will look at where things went wrong as the investigation continues.

Thats a scary combination  no training at all, this compulsion or obsession with the authority, not the responsibility, of police, she said.

But she noted that internal department procedures also helped catch Ozderman.

In Ozdermans home in Gaithersburg, police found a cache of guns, including two M4 assault-style rifles, court records show. Officers also searched a Volkswagen Jetta used by Ozderman and found a loaded Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun, as well as a Baltimore County police badge, a police radio and tactical vests, court records show.

None of that equipment belonged to the Falls Church police, Gavin said.

One of the Virginia charges against Ozderman, a misdemeanor, is for use of a police radio in commission of a felony.

Ozderman was arrested last month in Montgomery County. He was charged there with transporting a loaded handgun and possession of the police badge while not being a Baltimore County officer, court files state. That case also is pending.

After his arrest, Ozderman listed his occupation as an IT Engineer at The Post and said he had worked there for two years, according to the court records. He was suspended by The Post after his arrest, one of his attorneys has said.

After Mondays hearing, Circuit Court Judge Daniel S. Fiore II allowed Ozderman out on bond under the condition that he have no access to firearms, make no contact with the Falls Church Police Department in general or Clipp in particular, and stay away from Falls Churchs Eden Center and State Theater.

Kris Coratti, vice president for communications and events for The Post, declined to comment on Ozdermans status with the company Tuesday, saying she could not discuss a personnel matter.

Dan Morse contributed to this report.
THE DISTRICT

Sharon Ambrose dies; held seat on Council

Sharon Ambrose, who served on the D.C. Council for 10 years, died Saturday night at George Washington University Hospital. She was 77.

Her daughter Ellen said she had had several illnesses.

Mrs. Ambrose was elected to the council from Ward 6 in 1997, and re-elected twice to four-year terms. She headed the council committee on economic development.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) called her a champion for District families, strong neighborhoods, and public safetywho played a major role in many development projects.

 Martin Weil

Prosecutors will retry suspect in teens death

Federal prosecutors said Monday that they will retry a District man on second-degree murder charges in the 2015 fatal shooting of a 15-year-old after a D.C. Superior Court jury was unable to reach a verdict last month in the first trial.

In the two-week trial, the jury acquitted Derryck Antjuan Decuir, 24, of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the slaying of Malek Dayvon Mercer. But after about three days of deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the second-degree murder charge. The judge declared a mistrial.

The jury found Decuir guilty of carrying a pistol without a license, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors argued that on of June 16, 2015, Decuir spotted Mercer, and decided to rob him.

Public defenders argued that Decuir did not set out to rob anyone. They said he fired in self-defense after Mercer pulled out a gun.

 Keith L. Alexander

MARYLAND

No foul play suspected in mans death at lake

The body discovered by students Saturday near Lake Artemesia is thought to be that of an 80-year-old College Park man missing for at least three weeks, and foul play is not suspected, Prince Georges County police said.

Police launched a search for Stan Fromovitz, identified by University of Maryland officials as a former faculty member, after he was reported missing on March 13, police spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan said.

Police contacted hospitals, visited his home, conducted an eight-hour search of a Greenbelt park he liked to frequent and subpoenaed his bank activity in addition to other measures to try to locate him, Donelan said.

The body was found by U-Md. students volunteering during a cleanup effort.

The body has been sent to the state medical examiners office to determine the cause and manner of death and to confirm identification, Donelan said.

We do not suspect any foul play at this time, Donelan said. We had officers and detectives put in countless hours to find this man. This was a tragic conclusion, and no one wanted it to end this way.

 Lynh Bui

THE REGION

Acela to boost service on Saturdays, Sundays

Amtrak is expanding its popular Acela service, offering more options on weekends.

Expanded service between Washington and Boston will include an additional Sunday train. More Saturday morning and Sunday evening departures will be added.

Amtrak said it was responding to rider requests.

 Lori Aratani
The election of Donald Trump has dramatically increased public scrutiny of immigration policy at the federal, state and local level  triggering widespread confusion over what is new, and what isnt.

Here are five issues that stirred controversy in recent weeks, but have changed little, or not at all, since President Trump was inaugurated:

1. Undocumented immigrants get a free, public education.

This issue exploded last month in Rockville, Md., after two undocumented immigrant teenagers were accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a boys bathroom. Even Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) questioned why the teens were enrolled in public school.

The answer: Because the Supreme Court ordered public schools to educate all students, regardless of immigration status.

This is not a state or local policy, but a 5-to-4 ruling handed down June 15, 1982, in a lawsuit known as Plyler v. Doe. The high court struck down a Texas statute that allowed school systems to kick undocumented students out of public schools. The court said the statute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and that it was unfair to blame innocent children for their parents decisions.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have worn clothing labeling themselves as police for years. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

2. Immigration agents call themselves police.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in February calling for this practice to stop. He said he feared city residents would not call local police for help if federal agents whose job is to deport people also refer to themselves as police.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says police is a universal term that identifies them as law enforcement. Agents emblazon the word on their jackets and have done so for years.

And ICE has the time-stamped photographs to prove it: Heres one in Philadelphia in 2006, in El Paso in 2000, and another in  yes  Los Angeles in 2011.

3. Immigration agents sometimes arrest people in courthouses.

California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye last month accused ICE agents of stalking immigrants at state courts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security chief John F. Kelly retorted that they wouldnt have to if California would cooperate with deportation efforts.

But ICE has arrested immigrants in courthouses for years, including last year, when a Chinese national showed up for a court hearing in New York, court records show.

Its possible that ICE pulled back on that policy under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2014. But officials said courthouses were never on the list of sensitive locations the agency avoids, such as churches and schools.

4. ICE protects witnesses and crime victims, but not in every case.

Fear swirled after the February arrest of a transgender woman named Irvin Gonzalez at the El Paso County Courthouse after she obtained a restraining order, according to media reports.

(Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

Outraged, advocates said the arrest would frighten other domestic violence victims from seeking help. And the Los Angeles Times reported in March that reports by Latinos of sexual assault and other crimes were down.

Immigration officials say they try to help crime victims and witnesses obtain visas to stay in the United States, and these policy memos are still in effect: Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain Victims. Witnesses and Plaintiffs[ice.gov] and Guidance: Adjudicating Stay Requests Filed by U Nonimmigrant Status (U-visa) Applicants.

But in the case of the woman arrested in El Paso, ICE agents said she had illegally re-entered the United States after having been deported six times. She also had at least eight convictions on charges including false imprisonment, assault, larceny, domestic violence.

5. ICE sometimes deports people whose only violation was entering this country illegally.

Theres no question that under the Trump administration, far more of the nations 11 million undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to deportation. But his predecessor, Barack Obama, also deported thousands of people who were never convicted of any crime, including last year.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie gestures during a discussion at a home in Toano, Va., on March 21. Gillespie faces state Sen. Frank W. Wagner and Corey Stewart in the June 13 GOP primary. (Steve Helber/AP)

Republican strategist Ed Gillespie opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest and when the mothers life is at risk. That was his position in 2014, when he nearly unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner (D). And thats his stance now, as he seeks the governors mansion.

But abortion rights groups contend that Gillespie is taking a harder line because he recently said he would like to see abortion banned.

I would like to see abortion be banned because I think it is a taking of an innocent human life, Gillespie said at a candidates forum over the weekend. It is not the law of the land today.

Gillespie made the remark after the moderator pressed him on whether he would like to see the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion nationwide.

Gillespie campaign officials clarified afterward that any ban Gillespie envisions would include the exceptions that he has always supported.

Though the attacks may change over the years, Eds position has not, said Abbi Sigler, a Gillespie campaign spokeswoman.

Abortion rights activists took note of what they considered blunter language from Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, said she was surprised to hear Gillespie blatantly come out and say you want to ban abortion.

Its pretty shocking for anybody to say that, Keene said. This does seem to be a new position and a much farther, extreme position for a major candidate to take  especially in a state that has gone from red to purple to blue and has suffered the consequences from being overly anti-womens health and rights.

David Turner, a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democratic candidate for governor, said a ban is a ban, and language matters in policy. Ive watched Ed a long time  its the farthest hes gone without question. He clearly is emboldened by Donald Trumps presidency.

Regardless of whether Gillespies word choice heralds a true policy shift, the attention paid to it signals something else: Abortion rights activists, wary that President Trump could remake the Supreme Court in a way that threatens Roe, will try to make abortion a central issue in the governors race.

Always a hotly debated topic, abortion became especially contentious in Virginia after Republicans backed a bill in 2012 that, as originally proposed, would have required most women seeking abortions to first undergo a vaginal ultrasound.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) ran four years ago on a promise to be a brick wall against abortion restrictions approved by the GOP-controlled General Assembly. The two Democrats vying to succeed the term-limited governor  Northam and former congressman Tom Perriello  have promised to do the same. NARAL has endorsed Northam.

[McAuliffe breaks record for most vetoes by a Virginia governor]

NARALs statement made no reference to Gillespies GOP rivals, Corey Stewart and state Sen. Frank W. Wagner (Virginia Beach), even though the two took stances to the right of Gillespies at the forum outside Lynchburg.

Gillespie has led in fundraising and endorsements, including support from the states most ardent antiabortion legislators. Both parties will choose their nominees in June 13 primaries.

At the forum, Wagner said he opposed Roe but would support abortion in two cases: rape and to preserve the life of the mother. Stewart, who led Trumps Virginia campaign for most of last year and is chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, said he was opposed to any exception.

[One Republican running for Va. governor attacks another on abortion]

In the midst of the abortion discussion at the forum, Gillespie touted his credentials as a Catholic. I not only went to the Catholic University of America, I served on the board of trustees there, he said. In order to do that, you have to be in sync with the teachings of the church.

But the Catholic Church opposes birth-control pills and other means of artificial contraception, and Gillespie has said birth control should be made available without a prescription.

Thats a stand he took in 2014 during a debate with Warner, and its a position he maintains, his campaign said.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that a 2012 abortion bill requiring that women undergo a vaginal ultrasound did not fail, but rather passed after it was amended to require an abdominal ultrasound instead.
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello visits the Loudoun County mosque in response to the courts blocking President Trump's muslim ban in Sterling, VA on March 17, 2017. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

For Virginia Democrat Tom Perriello, the road to the governors mansion in Richmond includes pitstops in D.C., New York and California.

Perriello, a former congressman and diplomat under the Obama administration, has been courting Democratic party leaders, donors and progressives around the country in his primary fight against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

On Tuesday, Perriello got his biggest endorsement yet  from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)  and with it, the hope that he can tap into Sanderss national network for fundraising and volunteers. Sanders and Perriello are scheduled to campaign together on Thursday at George Mason University in Fairfax County.

The primary race is shaping up to be a contest of sorts between national Democrats against Virginia Democrats, who have lined up solidly behind Northam after he spent years building a deep and broad network of loyalists across the state.

Out-of-office since 2011 and most recently a State Department envoy in Africa, Perriello has spent recent weeks raising his national profile. Hes made two appearances on MSNBC, has been the subject of profiles by FiveThirtyEight and Yahoo and was interviewed for podcasts by the Huffington Post and New Republic, calling for Democrats to embrace progressive values as a way of resisting President Trump.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addresses an audience during a rally Friday, March 31, 2017, in Boston. Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., made a joint appearance at the evening rally in Boston as liberals continue to mobilize against the agenda of Republican President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The Virginia gubernatorial race is attracting intense national interest as one of just two governors races in the country this year and an early test of how voters are responding to Trump.

Political observers say Perriello had to turn to a national base as a late entrant in a race where his rival already locked up support from local officials and donors. And they say it makes sense to nationalize a race thats shaping up as a referendum on the Trump administration.

Perriello is doing exactly what he needs to do to mount a competitive struggle for this nomination, said Stephen Farnsworth, a political-science professor at the University of Mary Washington. An outsider strategy is really the only way any challenger could have gone . . . Virginia politics is increasingly becoming nationalized.

[An army of Northam loyalists vow to return favor on primary day]

Thats not to say Perriello is ignoring voters at home.

Like Northam, hes been barnstorming the state, denouncing Trump and arguing for a $15 minimum wage and reduced higher education costs.

It remains to be seen whether Perriello can parlay national interest into votes.

A recent poll found Perriello rising to a tie with Northam, though nearly half of Democratic-leaning voters in that survey were still undecided.

Republicans say Perriello is making himself unelectable in a purple state by courting favor from far-left politicians who turn off the states rural and moderate voters.

This is a huge gamble on Tom Perriellos part with Virginia voters, said John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. It may work in Arlington and Alexandria, but its not going to work in Bristol, in Washington County, in the Shenandoah Valley. Its just so out of touch and in the bubble.

Jennifer Duffy, who monitors gubernatorial races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, says endorsements may not sway votes  but they do lend legitimacy to Perriellos campaign.

Northam locked up a lot of the money in Virginia, and there is a really powerful progressive national fundraising network that can be tapped into, Duffy said. They need money to be competitive, and they are not going to find it at home.

Northam had $2.5 million available heading into this year; Perriellos first campaign finance report is due by April 17.

Perriellos first round of fundraising included stops in New York and San Francisco.

Perriellos campaign pitches him as a candidate who appeals to both wings of the Democratic Party, noting endorsements from Sanders as well as 30 former alumni of the Obama administration, including Barack Obamas 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, and top Clinton campaign aides John Podesta and Neera Tanden, who worked with Perriello at the Center for American Progress.

Northams campaign counters that community leaders and elected officials from Virginia, who understand the commonwealth, its issues and its voters, have lined up behind the lieutenant governor.

Virginia Democrats who have worked with Ralph are supporting him because he has been a progressive leader in Virginia, spokesman David Turner said in a statement after Sanderss endorsement.

[Heres how Virginia gubernatorial candidates make their money]

Figures well known among progressive activists, if not Virginia voters, are also praising Perriello.

Former congressman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who is popular among environmentalists, on Tuesday penned an op-ed for the Huffington Post calling Perriello the future of the Democratic Party in Virginia and beyond and praising his record on climate change.

Zephyr Teachout, a good government advocate who unsuccessfully challenged New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, tweeted her support for Perriello last week, saying he was the populist, anti-monopolist, pro-union, anti-corruption against ultimate insider. She followed up with a fundraising appeal to 150,000 people on the email list for her organization, the Anti-Corruption League, where she deemed the gubernatorial primary the most important race in the country.

In an interview, Teachout said Perriello caught her attention after friends mentioned how he had been railing against consolidated food and energy production and has pledged not to take contributions from Dominion, Virginias utility giant and the states largest political donor.

Pressed about why she called Northam the ultimate insider, Teachout said she was referring to his support from elected officials in Virginia.

Northam campaign aides and Republican operatives poked fun at Perriello last week for agreeing to write an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, instead of a Virginia newspaper, about losing his congressional seat in 2010 after voting for the Affordable Care Act. That article later trended on the Reddit politics page.

Among the local Virginians who took note of the opinion piece was Ian Ware, 19, a sophomore at the University of Virginia.

Its awesome hes nationalizing this race because one of the issues in Virginia is you have really entrenched party lines where people are always going to support the traditional party candidate, said Ware, an environmental activist. You have to get outside that institutional bubble if you want more exposure and support.

Incumbent Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who backs Northam, is constitutionally barred from serving consecutive terms. The winner of the Democratic primary will take on the winner of the three-way GOP contest between former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach) and Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has emerged as a leader of the Democratic Partys progressive wing after his unsuccessful presidential campaign, has endorsed former congressman Tom Perriello in the Virginia governors race.

Perriello is competing for the Democratic nomination in the June 13 primary against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who is backed by nearly every Democrat in the state legislature, congressional delegation and statewide office.

We need to elect progressives at every level of government if we are going to beat back the dangerous agenda of the Trump Administration and its Republican allies, Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. Tom is committed to fighting the rigged economy and income inequality. He was the first major statewide candidate in Virginia to run on a $15 minimum wage and the first to say two years of community college should be tuition-free.

Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Senate Democrats, is the first national figure to endorse Perriello. In the Super Tuesday presidential primary last year, Sanders lost Virginia to Hillary Clinton by nearly 30 points.

Perriello has embraced an economic populist message in his gubernatorial campaign. Northam and his allies challenge his progressive credentials, noting several conservative stances he took while in Congress. Early polling shows them tied.

The Virginia gubernatorial race is attracting intense national interest as one of just two governors races in the country this year and an early test of how voters are responding to President Trump.

[Virginia governors-race poll: Democrat Perriello rises, now tied with Northam]

Both Northam and Perriello have rejected comparisons of their primary to the contest between Sanders and Clinton, but this endorsement further fuels that perception.

Within minutes of the endorsement, Perriellos campaign sent a fundraising email invoking Sanders.

We have the momentum. We are drawing support from across the entire progressive movement, Perriello wrote in the e-mail.

Jeff Weaver, Sanderss former campaign manager who now leads Our Revolution, a group that grew out of the campaign, said the senator met with Perriello several weeks ago in Washington after Perriello reached out. The two men had met in passing before, a spokesman for Perriello said.

In terms of moving forward with a progressive economic agenda that would benefit working families, they felt they had a lot in common, said Weaver.

Sanders is campaigning with Perriello on Thursday at George Mason University in Fairfax County. Weaver said the 11-member board of Our Revolution will shortly decide whether to endorse in the race and lend its email list of millions for fundraising and volunteers.

Perriello also has been endorsed by former top political aides to Clinton and former president Barack Obama, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. His gubernatorial campaign is managed by Julia Barnes, the former national field director for Sanderss presidential run.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a close ally of the Clintons who is constitutionally barred from seeking consecutive terms, is supporting Northam.

Responding to the Sanders endorsement, a Northam spokesman noted the lieutenant governors extensive support from local officials includes the only state lawmaker who backed Sanders in the primary, Del. Marcia Price (D-Newport News)

Virginia Democrats who have worked with Ralph are supporting him because he has been a progressive leader in Virginia, said spokesman David Turner.

Republican groups panned the endorsement by the self-described democratic socialist, saying it will push Perriello too far to the left to win in a general election.

Perriello and Northam are competing to run against the winner of the GOP primary race among former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach) and Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
Correction: Earlier versions of this story misstated the proposal by Hydro Relief and Water Conservation Resources to help residents stay in their homes.The organization is trying to raise money to replace the leaky sewer system. It did not propose buying the mobile home park. The article has been corrected.



Lucia Zevala walks through the East End Mobile Home Park in Manassas, Va. Residents are facing eviction unless a deal can be made for a nonprofit group to purchase the park and make the necessary infrastructure improvements. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Nightfall at East End Mobile Home Park means dinner cooking in renovated kitchens, children staring at homework or television, parents returning from hourly-wage jobs.

Outside, crumbling underground pipes leak sewage in some spots and swallow up groundwater in others, costing the city of Manassas, Va., tens of thousands of dollars a year at the wastewater treatment plant and jeopardizing the existence of this affordable oasis, one of a decreasing number of mobile home parks across the country.

Nearly a year ago, Manassas officials agreed to purchase the land and shut down the trailer park, having concluded there was no feasible way to fix the privately owned sewer system.

But the mostly Latino residents are fighting to remain. They say they cant move their trailers elsewhere or afford traditional homes with comparable space in the pricey Washington region, where according to 2015 census data about 1 in every 5 renter households spends at least half its income on rent.





On the advice of a pro bono attorney, and cheered on by a hotel cook-turned-activist who has embraced their cause, the 49 families of East End have withheld about $150,000 in monthly lot fees, part of a court case scheduled to be heard in June that could determine whether the owner of the park can be compelled to make repairs.

Their eviction date, originally scheduled for February, has been delayed until after that hearing, creating a window for a nonprofit housing group that is searching for financing to buy the property. It is the latest glimmer of hope in a journey that has been full of false starts, but has also won the trailer owners support from at least some city officials.

How could you not be touched and moved by the very impassioned pleas of people who are saying: This is my home. This is where I raise my family, and now the rug has been pulled out from under me? said Manassas Vice Mayor Marc Aveni (R).

Were smart people, Aveni said. You cant tell me theres not a solution out there.

A staple of cheap living

Mobile homes are vanishing even as the cost of living in major metropolitan areas creeps steadily upward. In the early 2000s, there were 8 million manufactured homes in the country. Today, there are about 6.3 million, according to census estimates. The disappearances come in clusters.

In Richmond, 24 families were forced out after a 2014 housing-code-violation sweep, prompting a federal discrimination lawsuit that resulted in new policies geared toward protecting mobile-home communities. In Palo Alto, Calif., nearly 400 mobile home residents are fighting to keep the city from shutting down their park to make way for new condominiums and apartments.

We see these cases every week, said Rick Robinson, general counsel of the Manufactured Housing Institute, which has launched a task force to combat what it believes are local government efforts to regulate trailer parks out of existence.



Selfo Sosa holds his son at the familys home at the East End Mobile Home Park in Manassas, Va. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Many East End families saved up money to buy their trailers while sharing cramped space in overcrowded houses and apartments. Selfo Sosa, a leader in the fight to stop the sale of the park, purchased his four-bedroom trailer for $17,000 five years ago, after crowding his family of six into a two-bedroom unit in a nearby trailer park.

None of us can afford a house anywhere else in this area, said Sosa, a construction worker originally from Mexico who has organized community cleanups in an effort to win the favor of local officials. We are all poor. . . . The cost of living is too high.

Mobile homes began as symbols of luxury, according to the Affordable Housing Institute. In the 1920s, families riding the postwar economic boom hauled what were then known as travel trailers on camping trips. During the Great Depression, thousands of the contraptions were used as permanent housing, clustered in what came to be known as trailer parks.

The first true mobile home was a 22-foot-long trailer that included a kitchen and bathroom, produced by oil tycoon J. Paul Gettys Spartan Aircraft Co. for workers at defense plants, coal mines and steel mills during World War II. The innovation drew disdain from some local officials, who relegated mobile home parks to mostly isolated areas on the outskirts of town.

Because they are privately owned and privately managed, they were really below the radar, said Doug Ryan, director of affordable housing for the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a D.C.-based anti-poverty group. There was little incentive to maintain them.

John Clarke, a bail bondsman in Manassas, bought East End park in 1961. He left the six-acre property to his only daughter, Helen Loretta Clarke, who turned over responsibility for it to her attorney, Timothy A. Cope, in 2005 as her health declined. At some point, said Oren Rose, a resident since 1975, they started to let things slide.



An empty trailer sits in the East End Mobile Home Park in Manassas, Va. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

The pipes flooded raw sewage after rainstorms, leaving a strong odor and attracting the attention of city officials. The porous lines also allowed up to 200,000 gallons of rainwater a day to drain toward the Upper Occocoquan water treatment plant in nearby Chantilly, eating up capacity that officials say soon will be needed for new commercial and residential development.

The city spent six years trying to force Cope to fix the system. Inspectors found holes in the pipes patched with aluminum cans and old construction signs, and estimated the cost of repairs at $750,000 or more. In 2015, the city offered to buy the land, contingent on the residents being evicted.

He just seemed to be indifferent to the damage caused by the leaking pipes, city utilities director Tony Dawood said of Cope. We were very frustrated.

Cope said the citys $1.89 million purchase offer was a godsend for an attorney trying to do right by his client. He had been unable to secure a loan to fix the sewer system and was worried that Clarke would lose roughly $117,000 per year in income if the city condemned the property.

This isnt a big corporation that could come in and straighten things out, Cope said. When they offered to buy it, it was in my opinion a very feasible answer to the quandary that I was in.

The city has not said how it would use the land, located along the fast-developing Route 28 corridor that leads to Washington Dulles International Airport. Potentially somebody might come in with a redevelopment option that the council would be willing to look at, Manassas City Manager Patrick Pate said.





Selfo Sosa, a resident of the East End Mobile Home Park and member of the Save Our Homes Alliance, addresses the Manassas City Council in November. (Pete Marovich/For The Washington Post)

Seeking a way to stay

Since receiving their initial eviction notices in August, the East End trailer owners have been on a roller-coaster ride of hope and worry.

They considered pooling their resources in a cooperative to buy the mobile home park  a longshot idea that quickly fizzled.

Led by Sosa, they picked up litter and debris left behind by former neighbors, and rented an electric plumbing snake from Home Depot one night to try to clear out a backed-up part of the sewer system themselves.

Sosa learned about the bad pipes when his toilet kept clogging, after he had spent $10,000 on new floors, porch decks and an upgraded bathroom for his trailer. I couldnt believe it, he said.

He and his neighbors have been mobbed by offers of help from strangers, including Helen Zurita, who cooks at a nearby Marriott hotel. After reading an article about the East End eviction notices in August, she called a local priest who had been quoted to ask how she could help.



Manassas City Manager Patrick Pate and Mayor Harry J. Parrish II listen as members of the Save Our Homes Alliance address the Manassas City Council. (Pete Marovich/For The Washington Post)

Zurita joined other activists in searching for a buyer who would match the citys purchase offer and keep the park open. She won over residents with her passion for their cause. You have to do something to help my residents, she sobbed to Mayor Harry J. Hal Parrish II (R) in November, after a City Council meeting where the trailer owners had testified.

But she also has made promises she didnt know if she could keep.

Helen Zurita, an aspiring local activist, stands in the East End Mobile Home Park in Manassas. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Were very close to getting you a buyer, Zurita told residents through a Spanish interpreter at a meeting in January, adding that she would love to become the parks property manager if the plan was successful.

No buyer came through, and residents prepared to move out on Feb. 28.

They got an unexpected reprieve when another would-be activist showed up. Paulette Joy Millsaps, who works at a Fairfax City Toyota dealership and describes herself as an amateur geologist, approached Cope and Manassas officials with a plan to replace the sewer system through Hydro Relief and Water Conservation Resources, a nonprofit she formed last spring.

Cope delayed eviction proceedings for a few weeks to allow time for Millsaps  who had had her own financial troubles, including two evictions for nonpayment of rent  to put a deal together. She, too, could not make it work.

Then Catholics for Housing, a nonprofit based in Dumfries, approached Cope. Its plan to take over East End, which would require bank or public financing and approval from Manassas officials, is in the initial stages, said chief executive Karen DeVito.

We really have to make sure that we are not giving anybody false hope, DeVito said. Right now, were assessing a very complicated situation to determine whether we have the capability of getting involved.



The Zevala family, including, from left, Brandon Soto, 6, Evelin Zevala, Lucia Zevala and Katherinne Gonzalez Zevala, 13, spend the afternoon in their mobile home at the East End Mobile Home Park in Manassas, Va. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

In the meantime, life at the trailer park has continued its routines. Each weekday, around 4 p.m., parents wait for their kids at a school bus stop in a nearby shopping strip parking lot.

Among them is Evelin Zavala, a single mother of two who works as a school custodian in Fauquier County.

She has spent $15,000 to fix the roof, floor and other parts of the dilapidated single-wide trailer she bought for $11,000 in 2011. Before that, the family lived in a single room about five miles away.

We cant go back to renting a room, Zavala said one recent day, after ushering 6-year-old Brandon and 13-year-old Katherinne home from the bus stop. Im afraid this is going to turn out well for the owner. But not so well for us.
A heroin user prepares to inject himself. Communities nationwide are struggling with the unprecidented heroin and opioid pain pill epidemic. (John Moore/Getty Images)

At the retail end of the global heroin trade, local heroin rings repackage pounds of the drug into single-serve doses and push the product to its final destination: the user. From there, the next stop is often a hospital emergency room or a morgue, as an epidemic of heroin-related overdoses and deaths continues its creep across the country.

In Virginia, an intensive crackdown on heroin rings has shed new light on the relationship between drug dealer and user, providing insight into why that last link in the heroin trafficking chain has become so deadly.

What we hear from users is that quality is important, and that the reputation of a dealer is rated on a scale of one to 10, said Marc Birnbaum, assistant attorney general for Virginia.

In a competition for higher ratings, some dealers began offering heroin with varying potencies  from just strong enough to stave off withdrawal symptoms to doses laced with powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

Weve talked to users whose dealers will say, I got the stuff that will keep you from getting sick, and I got the stuff that will kill you,  Birnbaum said. Its a tragic situation because, for the most part, they want the most potent dose.

For some heroin addicts, word of a drug overdose is an indication of a high-quality product. For the dealer, the overdose can serve as advertising. Such is the perversity of the heroin trade that a dealers customer base can grow because the product kills customers.

Birnbaum, who handles drug trafficking cases in Northern Virginia, is part of a statewide heroin trafficking task force set up three years ago by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring. The crackdown was in response to a public health crisis: According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, heroin overdoses among whites in Virginia increased by 46 percent between 2010 and 2015. Among African Americans, the rate was an alarming 165 percent.

[Stronger, potentially lethal heroin shows up in rural Virginia]

In just the first nine months of 2016, there were 400 fentanyl-related deaths in the state.

So far, Herrings efforts to break up heroin rings have resulted in 79 arrests and the seizure of 375 pounds of heroin. That amount could yield 1,690,000 individual, 0.1-gram doses cumulatively worth $16 million, according to state law enforcement officials.

Thats a lot of heroin.

Still, hundreds of tons of the drug are smuggled into the United States each year. For about $80,000, a local drug ring can purchase a kilogram of heroin (2.2 pounds) and, after mixing it with synthetic opioids, earn a half-million dollars from individual sales.

In the face of such high profits and huge supply, Herring has also developed drug awareness programs aimed at youth and their parents. But reducing demand for drugs can be just as challenging as stopping the supply. Once a user gets hooked on heroin, it virtually sells itself.

What we often see are individuals who have a drug connection, who are users, drive from Fairfax County into the District or Prince Georges County and sometimes up to Baltimore to buy heroin for themselves or on behalf of others, Birnbaum said.

Emylee Lonczak, a 16-year-old student at McLean High School, was one of those who made such a trip. In 2013, she and a friend drove from Fairfax County into the District to buy heroin from a dealer named Antowan Thorne. The girl later died of an adverse reaction to a mix of heroin and antihistamines.

Thorne was charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin. At his trial, a woman testified for the prosecution that she had met Thorne in a crack house when she was 15, and that he was selling drugs to minors.

Thorne was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

[Students heroin overdose shows disturbing trend facing police]

Not long afterward, Birnbaum prosecuted another case in which a dealer sold heroin to someone who overdosed and died. The dealer was the same woman who testified against Thorne.

It just shows that once people go down that road to using, it can be so difficult to escape even if that person has an absolute desire to do so, Birnbaum said.

At a news conference last month, Herring announced the arrest of 11 people alleged to have been members of an Alexandria-based drug ring. The heroin haul from that bust was just over 400 grams, and prosecutors said the group had handled more than a kilogram over the past year.

Lives will be saved because they are no longer dealing, Herring said, optimistically. Then, speaking more realistically, he added, Were not going to be able to arrest our way out of this problem.

Drug dealers know you cant OD your way out. Addicts dont always want a way out. Families cant bargain or cry their way out.

But there has to be a way.

To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy.
SPAIN

Police seize properties linked to Assads uncle

Spanish police investigating a money-laundering case on Tuesday raided properties and blocked dozens of bank accounts, including some belonging or linked to relatives of former Syrian vice president Rifaat Assad  the exiled uncle of Syrias leader.

Police said the searches were carried out in two southern coastal towns with the aid of French police. They followed a request by a judge probing money-laundering crimes in the two towns, a court statement said.

Two of Rifaat Assads wives and six of his sons are among the 15 people being investigated.

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by Rifaat Assad and his relatives, the court statement said. The property stock is valued at $735 million.

The accounts of 76 legal entities owned, administered or linked to Rifaat Assad and his relatives also were blocked. The court said no arrests were made.

Rifaat Assad is the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He fled into exile after a failed 1984 coup against his brother, the current leaders father, and lives mostly in France.

 Associated Press

HUNGARY

Measure would affect college tied to Soros

Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbans Fidesz party on Tuesday approved a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The move prompted thousands to protest outside the Central European University campus in Budapest and drew swift criticism from the top U.S. diplomat in the capital.

The bill modifies rules regulating the 28 foreign universities in Hungary. CEU says parts of the bill directly target it and could force it to close.

The bill requires the U.S. and Hungarian governments to agree on new terms for the universitys operations within the next few months. If a deal doesnt materialize, CEU would be banned from enrolling new students after Jan. 1, 2018, and would have to end its educational activities by 2021.

Orban, a former Soros scholarship recipient, has been increasingly critical of the Hungarian-born American philanthropist, accusing him of trying to influence Hungarian politics.

Orban said last week that CEU was cheating because it did not have a campus in its country of origin and because it issued diplomas recognized in both Hungary and the United States. CEU is accredited in New York state but does not have a U.S. campus.

Despite objections from the State Department, Orban insists that the future of the Soros- funded school should be negotiated with President Trumps administration. Orban appears to be trying to ally himself with Trump against Soros, a prominent backer of Hillary Clinton in last years election.

 Associated Press

Moreno declared winner in Ecuador election: The head of Ecuadors electoral council said ruling-party candidate Lenin Moreno has won the presidential election. He received 51.16 percent of valid votes compared with 48.84 percent for conservative Guillermo Lasso, with 99.65 percent of the votes counted, the electoral council said. The results are irreversible, the councils chief said.

Court blocks Catalan plan to fund secession vote: Spains Constitutional Court has provisionally blocked plans by the Catalan regional government to finance a referendum on independence this year, after a legal challenge by the Spanish government. The court said the suspension would initially last five months while it studies the government challenge.

Argentinas Fernandez formally charged: A federal judge has formally charged former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her two children with money laundering and running a criminal association. The judge also ordered the retention of about $8.3 million worth of Fernandezs assets.

 From news services
Petula Dvoraks March 31 Metro column, Passengers pat-down was up close and too personal, missed the main point. Whatever the Transportation Security Administration has been doing, correctly and incorrectly, no U.S. airliner has been successfully attacked since Sept. 11, 2001.

I have multiple joint prostheses and an insulin pump. I am subjected to a full-body pat-down each and every time I travel, even though I have TSA Pre-check status. It is at best somewhat funny, at worst somewhat humiliating, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that my plane arrives safely at my destination.

Who is not okay with being subjected to a little transient humiliation to have another day to wake up and smell the roses?

David Rothfeld, Bethesda
THE STANDOFF over Judge Neil Gorsuchs Supreme Court nomination is the latest episode in a years-long cycle of political retribution that has diminished the Senate and harmed the country. It nevertheless represents a depressing new low. Senator after senator acknowledges that the body is about to make a historic mistake, setting precedent and changing procedures in a way that will, over time, erode the quality of both the Senate and the judiciary. But few seem interested in defusing the dispute.

Democrats are preparing to filibuster a well-qualified judge, marking the first time a partisan filibuster has been mounted against a high court nominee. In response, Republicans are preparing to change the rules and eliminate the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees, ending the minority partys ability to demand meaningful consultation on presidential appointments to any major office (since Democrats, when they were in the majority, had already abolished the filibuster for other nominations). The Senates 52 Republicans cannot overcome a filibuster of Mr. Gorsuch without the help of eight Democrats. But they can permanently change Senate rules by simple majority vote.

Were headed to a world where you dont need one person from the other side to pick a judge, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said. The judges are going to be more ideological, not less.

It would be better for everyone if the two sides struck a bargain that resulted in Mr. Gorsuchs confirmation and preserved the filibuster for future nominees. But the trust required for an agreement on judicial nominees evaporated when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rallied Republicans last year to shut out Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Barack Obama named to fill the seat Mr. Gorsuch has now been tapped to take. I cannot vote solely to protect an institution, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said Monday, arguing that he could not ratify Mr. McConnells past behavior.

Anger about the majority leaders cynical power play may be clouding Democrats judgment, even about their own tactical interests. They have tried to paint Mr. Gorsuch as unacceptably radical, despite the fact that former Obama administration officials, the American Bar Association and many others have deemed him well-qualified to serve. Moreover, postponing the discussion over abolishing the filibuster until Mr. Trumps next nomination, if any, would put Democrats in a stronger position and at least might pressure the president to select a more reasonable nominee next time than he otherwise might.

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Yet more than partisan interests are at risk in the current fight. As Mr. McConnell has often noted, eliminating minority rights in the Senate means that when the political tables are turned, Republicans will be the ones with minimal influence on the future of the court. Just as Democrats should recoil at filibustering Mr. Gorsuch, undercutting decades of tradition, Republicans should recoil from the thought of permanently curbing minority prerogatives.

The Senate is on course to give everyone something to rue.
Jared Kushner is emerging as the smoothest, slickest operator in the Court of King Donald. He is also, by far, the busiest  and the hardest to fire.

President Trump is apparently convinced that his son-in-law, who serves officially as a senior adviser, can fix anything. Make that everything : In less than three months, Trump has given Kushner, 36, the following assignments:

 Reinvent the federal government, one of the biggest and most complex organizations in the world. As head of the White House Office of American Innovation, Kushner is supposed to bring the mind-set and practices of the business world to the public sector. Given that his father went to jail for crimes including tax evasion, and that his boss declared four business bankruptcies, we can only hope Kushner looks far afield for role models.

 Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The greatest diplomatic minds of the century all failed at this Sisyphean task, but at least Trump gave Kushner instructions. Asked about a two-state solution, Trump said: Im looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. That must be what negotiators call latitude.

 Manage the U.S. relationship with Mexico, a nation Trump repeatedly maligned during his campaign. Trump still claims Mexico will pay for the wall he promises to erect along the border. Those who want to see some hideous, unnecessary barrier actually built should wish Kushner good luck with that.

 Manage the U.S. relationship with China, another nation Trump has repeatedly maligned. The president continues to insist that China keeps the value of its currency artificially low, to boost exports, but presently that is not the case. If anything, the Chinese government is propping up the yuan. Im sure President Xi Jinping will understand when Kushner explains the discrepancy.

 Assess how the fight against the Islamic State is going. Kushner landed in Iraq Monday, along with Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to get a firsthand look at the situation. The more appreciation you could have for whats actually happening on the ground, the more informed you are when you start talking about the strategic issues, Dunford said.

Those words reflect Dunfords understanding that on all sorts of strategic issues facing the Trump administration, Kushner has a seat at the table. I mean literally: According to the New York Times, at a Situation Room meeting of the National Security Councils principals committee last month to discuss North Korea, Dunford was late to arrive; the only open seats were among the backbenchers along the wall. Kushner gallantly rose from his tableside seat and offered it to Dunford. Such a polite young man.

When you think about it, Kushners outsized role should be no surprise. The only kind of business Trump knows is family business; he started out working for his father, and now his children are his top lieutenants at the Trump Organization. In the way they put family above all else, there is a bit of the Corleones in the Trumps. Minus all the homicides.

Trumps daughter Ivanka is also taking a senior  and unpaid  advisory post in the White House. This will put her in a good position to cover her husbands flank  and hell need it. Given all the ambition and jealousy in the West Wing, Kushner might think about employing a food taster.

Chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and his band of economic nationalists are trying to pull the president along the populist path he outlined during the campaign. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, a former chair of the Republican National Committee, represents the views of the GOP establishment. But Bannon and Priebus are willing to put aside their rivalry and join forces against a group known as the New Yorkers or the Democrats, a faction that includes National Economic Council chief Gary Cohn and the Kushners.

Kushner was reportedly disappointed with the bill House Republicans came up with to replace the Affordable Care Act. Nothing says washing my hands of this whole mess like taking a ski trip out West while Bannon and Priebus desperately tried, and failed, to keep the legislation alive. But thats just what Jared and Ivanka did.

Access to the president equals power, and none of Kushners rivals can compete on that score. He is a callow young man who cannot possibly accomplish all that is being asked of him. But think what being Trumps son-in-law must be like. Maybe peace in the Middle East doesnt look so hard.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
Regarding the April 2 front-page article Disabled or just desperate?:

I am a physician who, from 2009 to 2011, worked part time at the Social Security Administration in Baltimore reviewing adult claims for disability. The applications I saw may not have been representative, but many claimants whose papers I saw (often handwritten, with spelling errors) resembled Desmond Spencer and his relatives: They had serious musculoskeletal problems; they had worked for years, which is required to obtain Social Security Disability Insurance; and they wanted to continue to work but could find no one to hire them. Moreover, as Princeton University professors Anne Case and Angus Deaton recently demonstrated, they are dying early, suffering so-called deaths of despair, from suicide, alcohol and drugs.

What would you do in Mr. Spencers shoes? Sell your property, move and rent somewhere with more jobs? Doesnt sound promising. Maybe Social Security should help people like these find jobs and help them move. Or government could subsidize new employers. Or we could fund infrastructure projects. Or require companies planning to leave to help their about-to-be-abandoned employees. But the richest country in the world cant designate them losers and abandon them to their fate. Thats not just immoral, its also dangerous.

Caroline Poplin, Bethesda

The April 2 front-page headline Disabled or just desperate? implied that the rise in disability benefits in rural America can be explained by desperation, not disability. The only expert cited, an economist from MIT, observed that more people apply for disability benefits in tough economic times but did not address whether they are approved for benefits. As a lawyer who represents people with disabilities, I can tell you that Social Security does not relax its standards just because people are feeling desperate. The disability standard is as rigorous as ever, and the vast majority of applicants are not approved.

The realities that cause people to need lifesaving disability income range from inadequate or nonexistent health care to backbreaking manual labor that often leads to career-ending injuries. The articles subject, Desmond Spencer, wants to work and struggles with the decision to apply for disability. Articles such as this stigmatize people who rely on disability benefits to survive, calling into question whether those benefits are deserved. Because of this stigma, some people with disabilities may not apply for benefits, forgoing the help they truly need and deserve.

Jennifer Burdick, Philadelphia
We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. . . . When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.  the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

Fifty years ago on April 4, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic address at Riverside Church declaring his opposition to the Vietnam War. He spoke at a time when the war still enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in Washington. Today, as the Trump administration seems to be doubling down on endless wars, Kings courage should inform us all.

King delivered the speech at a time of great turmoil  both personal and professional. The stunning victories of the civil rights movement were in the past. The backlash had begun. Black-power advocates scorned his nonviolent tactics and his integrationist goals. His Southern Christian Leadership Conference was struggling with staff rivalries and financial troubles. King knew that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had targeted him personally.

Many had warned King not to give the speech. Yet he felt he had no choice but to speak out. The war had broken and eviscerated a promising poverty program, he declared, making it clear that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. Also, King told the Riverside congregation, he could not credibly preach nonviolence to African Americans when the nation practiced massive violence to reach its ends. Racism, extreme materialism and militarism were inextricably linked. A nation, he warned, that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

The reaction was fierce. President Lyndon Johnson never forgave him. His speech was greeted with a barrage of editorial disapproval. The Post wrote that many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence. He has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country and to his people. The New York Times rebuked him, arguing, to divert the energies of the civil rights movement to the Vietnam issue is both wasteful and self-defeating. The NAACPs board of directors agreed, passing a resolution labeling any attempt to merge the civil rights and peace movements as a serious tactical mistake. Major foundations that had supported the SCLC were shaken. Hoover redoubled his efforts to discredit King and disrupt SCLC operations. The Nation, Im proud to say, got it right, supporting King, who had been its civil rights correspondent for nearly a decade: Kings Riverside Church speech will rank as one of the most significant of his career, laced with eloquence, and morally uncompromising.

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Fifty years later, Kings warning is both chilling and prescient. From Afghanistan to Somalia, the United States is slowly escalating its endless wars, without strategy or sense. The administration and the Pentagon seem to believe that it must be prepared to attack any place in the world that offers a potential sanctuary to those who would threaten us or our allies. Now were told we have a vital security interest in the civil war in Yemen. Montenegro is embraced as a NATO member. We maintain an empire of more than 800 bases abroad in 70 countries with 25 percent of the worlds population. Our special forces deployed to a stunning 70 percent of the worlds countries last year.

The Pentagon consumes about 40 percent of the worlds military spending; together with our allies, we spend about 80 percent of the world military budget. President Trump not only wants those allies to increase spending but also seeks to add another $54 billion to the military budget this year. To sustain his spending plans in future years, he will have to gut domestic investment in public schools, medical and scientific research, affordable housing, infant nutrition and more.

The blame is not limited to one side. Trumps military spending plan is obscene, but it is only 3 percent more than President Barack Obamas last budget. And Obamas budgets projected that spending on domestic programs outside of the shared security mandates of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would decline to unprecedentedly low levels as a percentage of gross domestic product. This bipartisan approach is a recipe for ruin.

Global commitments require global policing. Global policing uncovers infinite threats. Infinite threats mire us into conflicts in far corners of the world. The violence births more of the hatred and terrorism that then leads to yet more violence. Continuing on this road, as King warned, is to approach a spiritual death.

Kings warning speaks to us now. In the last year of his life, he struggled valiantly to bring the civil rights movement, the poverty movement and the antiwar movement together. This week, the activists of Black Lives Matter will join with the Fight for $15 movement to demonstrate for raising the minimum wage. It is time to revive a peace and justice movement that can join them, calling for the United States to stop its endless wars and to turn its resources and attention to rebuilding our own country. A time comes, King told us, when silence is betrayal. Silence on the folly of Americas current course surely is a betrayal, both to our stated values and to our children.

Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter.
The premise of Ben Adlers April 2 Outlook essay, Trump cant do much to worsen climate change , was that the rest of the world can, and looks increasingly likely to, compensate for American backsliding.

Mr. Adler surely knows that the rest of the world, especially India and China, is front-sliding with coal plants. Even Germany uses coal plants. Germans learned from shutting down their nuclear energy plants that wind and solar dont produce enough electricity.

Whatever President Trump does to reverse President Barack Obamas ill-conceived war on coal is inconsequential for climate change compared with the rest of the world. In fact, Mr. Adler conceded that the U.S. return to coal will be limited by the market force of natural gas.

George F. Steeg, Potomac Falls
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington in 2015. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The March 27 editorial More lies on Planned Parenthood attacked my organization and its television advertising campaign. We stand by our ads.

The editorial board claimed that undercover videos showing high-level Planned Parenthood employees discussing harvesting organs from aborted babies in grisly detail and haggling over pricing have been completely discredited. By whom? A forensic analysis by digital security firm Coalfire found the videos are authentic and show no evidence of manipulation or editing. Even the analysis that Planned Parenthood commissioned showed no widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation.

We advocate redirecting $422 million in taxpayer funding to community health centers, which outnumber Planned Parenthood at least 20 to 1. Polls show broad public support for this plan, but the editorial board called our stance a pernicious distortion, stating, Studies and real-life practice have established that these centers cant fill the gap.

The editorial cited no evidence. The Posts own Fact Checker conceded that these centers, combined, are vastly bigger in network than Planned Parenthood.

Finally, abortion is not a small part of the organizations services. Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 abortions a year. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards recently said abortion is as vital to our mission as birth control or cancer screenings.

Taxpayers shouldnt be forced to subsidize an abortion business. Thats why were urging Congress to defund Planned Parenthood via reconciliation immediately.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, Washington

The writer is president of Susan B. Anthony List.
THE RELATIVE good news from Venezuela, which is enduring the worst political, economic and humanitarian crisis the Western hemisphere has seen in this century, is that Latin American nations are finally showing a willingness to call out President Nicolas Maduro for his abuses of power. Even better, notwithstanding its rants about Yanqui imperialism and the crude insults flung at its nearer neighbors, the regime is demonstrating a healthy fear of becoming a regional pariah.

Just a few days after 14 members of the Organization of American States released a letter to the Maduro government calling for it to restore powers to the elected National Assembly, the regime-controlled Supreme Court issued a decision last week stripping the legislature of all remaining authority. The international reaction was immediate: The Maduro government was denounced by countries across the hemisphere, and Colombia, Chile and Peru withdrew their ambassadors from Caracas. Twenty OAS members called for an emergency meeting on Monday of the organizations permanent council, which approved a resolution calling for measures that allow a return to democratic order in Venezuela.

The pressure had a clear effect. Fissures opened in the regime: The attorney general held a news conference to call the ruling a rupture of the constitutional order. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Maduro came under pressure from the head of the armed forces. The president eventually was obliged to hold a midnight meeting of the national security council, after which he asked the court to revise its ruling. On Saturday, it complied, at the cost of demonstrating more clearly than ever that it is not part of an independent judiciary, but merely an instrument of the authoritarian regime founded by Hugo Chavez.

In reality, even the original ruling did not change much. The court already has overruled every decision taken by the National Assembly since the opposition won two-thirds of its seats in late 2015. Mr. Maduro has been governing by decree. The principal thrust of the latest decision, from a domestic standpoint, was not the coup de grace to the National Assembly, but a related decision empowering the president to sign oil deals with foreign investors without review. Mr. Maduro is desperately seeking a bailout before a big debt payment due this month, and that portion of the court ruling was not reversed.

It is nevertheless encouraging that Venezuelas neighbors are creeping toward a stand in defense of its dying democracy. OAS members, including Venezuela, are signatories to a 2001 treaty committing them to constitutional government, free speech and regular elections; the Inter-American Democratic Charter calls for collective action when those norms are violated. Yet while Mr. Almagro has pushed for action against the Maduro government for more than a year, most governments  including the United States  have preferred to hide behind feckless calls for dialogue between the regime and its opposition.

The State Department reiterated that call for dialogue last week and ruled out action in the near term to threaten the suspension of Venezuelas OAS membership, as advocated by Mr. Almagro. Later that same day came Caracass coup against the National Assembly. What followed ought to be a lesson for the Trump administration: Only concerted external pressure, not more empty talk, can rescue Venezuela.
The Trump presidency will end in calamity. By definition.

I know this because the Merriam-Webster dictionary says so. When John Dean of Watergate fame predicted calamity for Donald Trumps presidency, Merriam-Websters official account tweeted about the prognostication, adding its definition: an event that causes great harm and suffering.

If you are unaccustomed to finding such information in the dictionary, you havent been keeping up with the new Merriam-Webster, which has been throwing the book  definition: to punish (someone) as severely as possible  at Trump.

After Trump won the election, the dictionary announced that lookups for misogyny spiked after Trumps victory  and illustrated the tweet with a photo of Tic Tacs, a reference to Trumps on-camera boasting about sexual assault.

Merriam-Webster has shown that a word can be worth 50,000 retweets, as when it responded to Conways alternative facts remark by saying: A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. After Conway said she was uncomfortable being called a feminist, Merriam-Webster tweeted:  Feminism is defined as the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. 

Copies of the 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. (Nathan Martin/Associated Press)

When there were claims that outsiders were brought in to applaud Trumps appearance at the CIA, the dictionary tweeted: If youre part of a group thats paid to applaud, youre a claqueur. After reports last week that Ivanka Trump was joining the administration, Merriam-Webster chimed in:  Nepotism is our #15 lookup right now.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer used his fingers to argue that Trump didnt mean wiretap literally, prompting the dictionary to report that it has entries for air quotes and scare quotes. FBI Director James B. Comey was reported to be incredulous upon hearing Trumps wiretapping allegations, spurring Merriam-Webster to tweet the definition and to report that lookups for refute are spiking.

And who might the lexicographers have had in mind a month ago when they reported that they added back to the dictionary the word snollygoster, a shrewd & unprincipled person, especially an unprincipled politician ?

This once-staid outfit  who buys a dictionary anymore?  has earned itself a large and devoted following on social media, and no wonder: Trump is literally being trolled by the dictionary.

The lexicographers generally arent doing anything more nefarious than defining terms in the news and reporting what words people are looking up at merriam-webster.com. Our goal is to tell the truth about words, says Peter Sokolowski, editor at large. But because they are the last word on words, their tweets take on added authority. It is as if Trump is being repudiated by the laws of gravity, or getting dressed down by Mother Nature herself:

 Complicit is still near the top of our lookups after [Saturday Night Live] used the word to describe Ivanka Trump.

Were seeing a spike in lookups for neophyte. Rep. Devin Nunes used the word to describe the U.S. president.

 Gaggle is still trending after the White House barred several news organizations from todays press briefing.

 Rescind is trending from Trumps decision to rescind protections for transgender students.

Words, like facts, have absolute meanings and spellings, despite Trumps efforts to revise both. After he tweeted a year ago about the great honer of winning a debate poll and called a rival a leightweight chocker, Merriam-Webster helpfully tweeted: Honer: one that hones. Leightweight: We have no. idea. For chocker it linked to the definition of nope.

Trump, during the campaign, boasted, I have the best words. But lexicographers have better ones, and they can be subversive about which they choose to highlight, such as when they report that fascism is still our #1 lookup, or, in reference to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, lookups for recuse are up 45,000%. As evidence built of Trumps ties to Russia, Merriam-Webster helpfully provided the definition of dossier and opined that disinformation comes from the Russian dezinformatsiya. After former national security adviser Michael Flynn sought an agreement to testify in the Russia probe, Merriam-Webster reported that immunity was trending.

It advised Trump that  big league is rarely used as an adverb and reported that ombre is not the same as hombre. Merriam-Webster reminded the White House that Holocaust refers especially to Jews after it issued a Holocaust remembrance statement that omitted any mention of Jews. At one low moment for Trump, Merriam-Webster tweeted that schadenfreude is a popular lookup on our site.

No doubt Trump and his supporters will view this as politically correct language; fake words can join fake news in their disfavor. But I see it as a public service. The way Trump prevails is by obscuring the truth, denying the facts and redefining meaning.

This is the truth fighting back, and eventually it will prevail.

Its ineluctable. (Look it up.)

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Carter Page, a former adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, speaks at the graduation ceremony for the New Economic School in Moscow on July 8. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Carter Page, who served briefly as a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trumps presidential campaign, made an appearance in a federal espionage case because he communicated several years ago with a Russian intelligence agent under surveillance by the FBI.

In a statement released Tuesday, Page confirmed his role in the 2015 Justice Department spy case, adding another twist to the still-unfolding story of Trumps peculiar and expanding ties to people connected to Russia.

Page said he assisted U.S. prosecutors in their case against Evgeny Buryakov, an undercover Kremlin agent then posing as a bank executive in New York. Buryakov was convicted of espionage and released from federal prison last week, a few months short of completing a 30-month sentence. Buryakov agreed to be immediately deported to Russia.

Pages involvement was first disclosed Monday by BuzzFeed, which said Page was identified as Male 1 in the Justice Departments complaint against a Russian spy network based in New York.

In a written exchange with The Washington Post, Page confirmed playing a role in the case but declined to discuss details.

Evgeny Buryakov sits in court in New York on Jan. 26, 2015. Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page played a role in the espionage case against Buryakov. (Jane Rosenburg/Reuters)

Given the very light masking in the original document from January 2015, you can draw your own conclusions, Page wrote.

According to the court records, the FBI interviewed Page as part of the case against three Russian men identified as agents of the Russian overseas intelligence agency, the SVR. One of them, Buryakov, was operating undercover as an executive in the New York office of a Russian development bank, Vnesheconombank.

The case resurfaced in news accounts last week when President Trumps adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, acknowledged he had met with the head of the same bank in December.

The complaint includes transcripts from 2013 of wiretapped conversations among the Russians discussing their efforts to recruit Male 1, identified as a New York energy trader whom the Russians described as willing to talk.

In his statement, Page compared the revelation of his role to the politically-motivated unmasking standards seen in the Obama Administration which have recently been exposed.

He said the information was released as retribution for my public positions of dissent against Obama administration policy toward Russia. The information about his role in the case amplified the reputational damage against me that has occurred through 2016, Page said. After he was named by Trump as a foreign policy adviser, news reports discussed his travel to Russia and his frequent criticism of U.S. policy toward Russia under Obama.

According to the 2015 complaint filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, Page met with a Russian agent, Victor Podobnyy, in January 2013 at an energy conference in New York. It says that from January to June of that year, Page as Male 1 provided documents to [Podobnyy] about the energy business. At the time, the Russians were seeking information on U.S. sanctions and on energy development.

Although Page communicated with the Russian agents in 2013, he said the information he provided was innocuous.

As I explained to federal authorities prior to the January 2015 filing of this case, I shared basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents with the spy who was serving then as a junior attache at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.

In doing so, I provided him nothing more than a few samples from the far more detailed lectures I was preparing at the time for the students in my Spring 2013 semester Energy and the World: Politics, Markets and Technology course which I taught on Saturdays at New York University.

During an interview with The Washington Post editorial page staff in March 2016, Trump identified Page, once a Merrill Lynch investment banker in Moscow, as a foreign policy adviser to his campaign.

But in January, after Pages name came up in news reports about Trump administration ties to Russia, Trump press secretary Sean Spicer declared that Carter Page is an individual the president-elect does not know.

Page, a longtime energy executive, is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who rose through the ranks at Merrill Lynch before founding his current firm, Global Energy Capital. He previously was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he focused on the Caspian Sea region and economic development in former Soviet states. He is also a fellow at the Center for National Policy in Washington and has a PhD from the University of London.

He made a speech in Moscow in July that included some criticism of U.S. policy.

The White House has energetically rejected the idea that Trump or his allies coordinated with Russia during the election. The president has said investigators and the public should focus instead on leaks of information and reports that he and his advisers were improperly surveilled by the Obama administration.

The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers, Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Page has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he would like to tell his story to congressional investigators looking at Russian government efforts to influence the course of the 2016 election and the leak of information about that effort.

I very much look forward to providing further evidence regarding last years historic crimes committed against me and all Americans, Page said.
When Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, touched down in Iraq on Monday, his visit to the critical Middle East country preceded more traditional trips by either the presidents secretary of state or his national security adviser.

Kushners unusual journey to Baghdad  including a break with standard security protocol by the White House  also underscores the singular role he occupies within the West Wing.

In an administration riven by competing factions and led by a president who demands absolute loyalty, Kushners position  elevated and so far nearly untouchable  emanates from his familial relationship with the president, whom Kushner often refers to as Donald.

Kushners portfolio has already grown to encompass slices of foreign policy (Mexico, the Middle East) and domestic issues (opioid addiction, veterans affairs), in addition to serving as the in-house mediator for the various feuding camps within the West Wing (the ideologues, the Wall Street guys).

As the key conduit of influence to his mercurial father-in-law, Kushners position has also given him the freedom to act as a shadow secretary of state, setting up his own channels of communication with world leaders. Kushner will head back from Iraq, for instance, in time to join Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for two days of meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which he helped facilitate.

(Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post)

But Kushners outsize role has led to larger-than-life sniping and resentments, with rivals whispering that he has little depth and lacks the self-awareness to know what he doesnt know, and allies arguing that he has hired a team of top deputies, many from outside government. His entrepreneurial background, they say, is exactly what Trump meant when he promised to drain the swamp of Washington.



Kushner also comes with financial entanglements, with new disclosures showing that he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have property and investment holdings worth as much as $740 million. In perhaps the clearest sign of Kushners penchant for multitasking, he had to resign from 260 boards and business entities simply to take a job in the White House.

[Inside Trumps White House, New York moderates spark infighting and suspicion]

Simply put: Kushners role and relationship with the president  neither chief of staff nor regular political adviser  come with no precedents.

Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, compared the Trump-Kushner dynamic to a mob family operation.

Its as if Trump is the don and he only trusts his close family members, Mann said. Theres no indication that experience in the real estate business prepares one for the tasks at hand. Its the hubris of a businessman imagining he can run government just because hes a businessman. I dont know if Jared Kushner shares the hubris of his father-in-law, but hes certainly willing to say, Yes, sir. 

Doug Wilson, a former assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in the Obama administration, seconded the notion that Trumps reliance on Kushner stems from the reality that the group of people Trump trusts is really small.

Jared Kushner listens to his father-in-law, President Trump, during a roundtable with cyber-security experts at the White House on Jan. 31. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The trip to Iraq, at the invitation of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is yet another example of Kushners mushrooming portfolio of ostensible responsibilities. Less than 100 days into Trumps presidency, the list includes Canada, China and Mexico; brokering a peace deal in the Middle East; helming a new office devoted to overhauling the federal bureaucracy; and serving as the unofficial West Wing therapist and Trump whisperer.

But the visit to a crucial country of U.S. interest that Kushner had never visited before also serves to illustrate just how little foreign policy and governing experience the 36-year-old real estate heir has.

In a breach of protocol, senior White House officials confirmed Kushners trip to Iraq before he landed, raising concerns from the Pentagon. U.S. military officials usually provide information about trips by senior officials under the condition, for security reasons, that the media not report them until the officials already have touched down in a country.

During his daily briefing with reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer found himself insisting that Kushner had not, in fact, also added Iraq to his purview.

I dont think to, sort of, then translate it into hes overseeing Iraq is an accurate assessment, Spicer said.

Spicer said Kushners role is in part one of delegation. He has a team that he oversees, Spicer said. There is a team, depending on the subject, that is working with him. And he is providing oversight and direction.

During the campaign, Kushner began quietly amassing power, acting as a jack-of-all-trades troubleshooter who, by the end, was basically the de facto campaign manager.

[Jared Kushner proves to be a shadow diplomat on U.S.-Mexico talks]

He also served as the primary point of contact with presidents, ministers and ambassadors from more than two dozen countries and quickly emerged as the phantom chief diplomat within the administration. In one remarkable moment in January, Kushner ushered the foreign minister of Mexico into the Oval Office, where the two men huddled with Trump to rework a speech the president was giving on U.S.-Mexico relations later that day.

And late last month, the president announced that Kushner would lead a new White House Office of American Innovation, a team dedicated to streamlining the federal bureaucracy.

All of which has raised a somewhat uncomfortable question for the White House: If Kushners wife, Ivanka, is perhaps the Trumpian embodiment of women having it all (three kids, a West Wing office, a polished public persona), can her husband actually do it all?

Hes taken on a portfolio that is unprecedented in White House history, said Paul Light, a professor at New York University who studies the presidency. My experience is that somebody who has this much in his or her portfolio is not doing anything particularly well. Theyre going to flit in and out.

It is, he added, remarkable, unprecedented and unwise.

Dennis A. Ross, a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former American envoy to the Middle East, said achieving peace in the Middle East  one of Kushners many tasks  has bedeviled diplomats for decades.

Given the reality of the state of relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the gaps between them psychologically have never been so great, he said. It will take a lot of diplomatic effort and done quietly.

But, Ross added, in an arena where trust and relationships loom large, Kushners direct line to the president is a valuable asset. He sees Kushner positioning himself more as a traditional secretary of state rather than a day-to-day negotiator.

If he were to be the envoy, he has too many other things to do to fulfill that role, Ross said. But if his role is to be someone who intervenes at certain strategic moments, thats probably much more manageable, given all he needs to be doing.

Nonetheless, Kushners ballooning portfolio has become something of a media punchline. After the innovation office was announced, the Huffington Post ran a story that imagined Kushners daily schedule under the cheeky headline: White House Announces Jared Kushner Is Now Responsible For Everything.

But White House aides and congressional staffers mock Kushner at their own peril, and some refuse to even speak about him. Kushner was instrumental in pushing out Corey Lewandowski, Trumps first campaign manager, and he also signed off on the ouster of Paul Manafort, Lewandowskis replacement.

Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University, said the best parallel he could think of was John S.D. Eisenhower, the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served as a national security adviser during his fathers presidency.

He was very helpful to the president in teeing up issues, Naftali said.

But, he added, the comparison has its limits. John Eisenhower had had a career in the U.S. military and was an amateur historian, so he had some relevant background, Naftali said.
The Senate plowed Tuesday toward a historic and bitter showdown over President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, with a parade of lawmakers taking to the Senate floor to deliver politically charged speeches for and against the presidents pick as a final vote neared.

There was no sign of compromise as the chamber formally opened debate on Judge Neil Gorsuch, who Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicted will be confirmed on Friday before senators leave town for the two-week Easter recess.

In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell faulted Democrats for hurtling toward the abyss and trying to take the Senate with them. He urged them to reconsider their tactics.

It appears as if cloture will not be invoked, but well find out on Thursday, McConnell later told reporters, referring to an expected Democratic blockade of the federal appeals court judge. But either way, well be moving toward confirming Judge Gorsuch.

Only four Democrats have vowed they will side with Republicans to break that blockade and move to consider Gorsuch on the Senate floor. One staunch Gorsuch critic, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), took to the Senate floor Tuesday night to launch a marathon speech against him. Merkleys office said he planned to hold the floor and refuse to yield for as long as he is able to continue speaking.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who said Tuesday he would not try to broker any dispute involving judicial nominees, speaks to journalists at the U.S. Capitol on March 28. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

The overall Democratic obstruction is expected to compel GOP leaders to eliminate a 60-vote requirement for Supreme Court nominees and allow confirmation of Gorsuch with a simple majority vote.

The partisan standoff underscores the sharp polarization that has seized Congress less than three months into Trumps presidency. Senate Democrats angered by Trumps policies  and McConnells refusal to consider Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee last year  have united against Gorsuch, clinching enough votes to block him earlier this week.

It also heralds a potentially more contentious climate in the Senate, which traditionally has allowed the minority party to exert a powerful voice in debate over key nominations and legislation  unlike in the House. Senate Democrats changed the rules in 2013 to permit executive-branch nominees and federal judges to be approved by a simple majority, with the critical exception of Supreme Court selections.

[Trumps Cabinet picks are likely to be easily confirmed. Thats because of Senate Democrats.]

But doing away with the 60-vote barrier would eliminate the minority partys historic influence over who the president nominates to the high court and significantly decrease its ability to help exercise a check on the executive branch.

Theres a reason they call it the nuclear option, and that is that theres fallout. And this fallout will be dangerously and perhaps disastrously radioactive for the Senate in years to come, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

The nuclear option  in this case, allowing high court nominees to be approved by a simple majority  may also further poison relations between Democrats and Republicans as each side is embittered by the others behavior, from the GOPs move to block any consideration of Garland in 2016 to the Democratic blockade of Gorsuch now. That could have a practical impact on Trumps agenda, such as passing a complex tax package, health-care legislation and an infrastructure plan.

McConnell said that while he is prepared to deploy the nuclear option to overcome Democratic resistance to Gorsuch, he vowed not to end the 60-vote threshold on legislation while he is majority leader, maintaining what is known on Capitol Hill as the filibuster as it pertains to making laws.

Theres no sentiment to change the legislative filibuster, he said.

Senate Democrats said the only way they will end their resistance is if Trump submits a new nominee. They portrayed Gorsuch as outside the mainstream and expressed doubts that he has sufficiently demonstrated his independence from Trump.

If Senator McConnell is willing to be reasonable and cooperate in a bipartisan way, we can avoid the nuclear option, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

As Democrats and Republicans took turns on the Senate floor on Tuesday, they delivered sharply contrasting speeches. Democrats repeatedly brought up Garland, casting Gorsuch as beholden to wealthy corporate interests and not average Americans. Democrats expressed concern about confirming Trumps nominee at a time when ties between his team and Russia have come under heavy scrutiny.

Ill be honest, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). I think it is crazy that we are considering confirming a lifetime Trump nominee to the Supreme Court at a moment when the presidents campaign is under the cloud of an active, ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation that could result in indictments and appeals that will go all the way to the Supreme Court so that Trumps nominee could be the deciding vote on whether Trump or his supporters broke the law and will be held accountable. That is nuts.

Republicans portrayed Gorsuch as a more-than-qualified and mainstream judge with sterling career credentials and accused Democrats of caving to their political base.

Their base demands total war, total obstruction, and they are begrudgingly bowing to this demand. Unfortunately for them, it has proven difficult to invent attacks against an obviously well-qualified judge, said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

There were no signs, however, that senators were making serious moves on Tuesday to avoid the impasse. Signaling that any hopes of a compromise are probably dead, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who successfully brokered past disputes on judicial nominees, thanks to his close relationship with several Democrats, said that this time he is done trying.

McCain, who was part of a 2005 agreement among 14 senators of both parties to allow the confirmation of several of former president George W. Bushs federal court nominees without changing the rules, said talks between Democrats and Republicans in the past few days didnt go anywhere. He declined to specify areas of disagreement.

Meanwhile, the resistance against Gorsuch grew. Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, announced he would join the Democrats blockade.

In a written statement explaining his decision to oppose Gorsuch, King accused the judge of providing answers to questions in his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee that seemed at best, increasingly evasive, and, at worst, simply not forthright.

If I am opposed to this nomination, it seems logical to oppose cloture because under the current rules, this would defeat the nomination, King said.

In a sign that at least some senators still want to avoid the showdown, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) said that even though he plans to oppose Gorsuch and support the Democratic barricade, he is willing to work on an agreement that would stave off changes to how the Senate confirms Supreme Court nominees.

There are Democrats and Republicans who I hope will be talking this week, in the next two days, to see if we could find some path forward where we preserve the filibuster, Coons said in a CNN interview.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said that he had been discussing a potential compromise with Democrats as recently as Monday but admitted I havent made a real push to reach an agreement.

Plans for a Democratic filibuster are stupid. I think its a big mistake, Hatch added.

[How Senate Republicans will break the Democratic filibuster on Neil Gorsuch and get him on the Supreme Court]

All Republicans are expected to vote to confirm Gorsuch. Only a few Democrats will not stand in his way.

Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.)  all of whom are up for reelection in states won by Trump  say they plan to support Gorsuch. Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), who represents Gorsuchs home state, says he wont support the filibuster but has yet to signal whether he would vote to confirm Gorsuch on the floor.

The four were the only Democrats who joined with Republicans in the 55-to-44 vote to move ahead with debate on Gorsuchs nomination Tuesday.

A single-party filibuster has never successfully blocked a Supreme Court nomination. A bipartisan coalition used the procedural vote to defeat Abe Fortass 1968 nomination to be chief justice.

For weeks, Republicans have warned that they will not hesitate to change the chambers rules to confirm the 49-year-old federal appeals court judge if Democrats block him. A rules change will require majority support.

Asked Tuesday if he is confident he has the votes to make that change, McConnell replied simply: Yes.

Read more at PowerPost
Jimmy Gomez, right, introduces himself to Steven Small, center, while canvassing with his wife, Mary Hodge, left, in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles. Gomez is a candidate for Congress in Californias 34th District. (Dania Maxwell/For The Washington Post)

On Saturday afternoon, Jimmy Gomez, the California legislator who wants to represent the northeastern part of this city in Congress, picked up his wife, Mary, and drove their electric car to a street not far from their home. They knocked on doors together, cramming literature into mailboxes full of fliers for his 21 rivals. It took 15 minutes for the couple to run into an actual voter, a video editor named Dave Rogers who greeted them from his porch.

Another candidate! said Rogers with a laugh.

For five minutes, Gomez and Rogers small-talked about the growing trendiness of the neighborhood  the comedian and podcaster Marc Maron is a neighbor  and Gomez subtly pitched himself as the successor to Xavier Becerra, who left Congress to become Californias attorney general and opened up a safe Democratic seat.

He never endorses, Gomez said. All of a sudden, I get a call, and I hear: The attorney generals gonna endorse you. Wow!

That made my decision a lot easier, with 22 candidates, Rogers said.

Wendy Carrillo takes a photograph with a crowd of supporters during a rally for her campaign in Los Angeles on April 1, 2017. Carrillo is a candidate for Congress in Californias 34th district. (Dania Maxwell/FTWP)

Gomez, the Harvard-educated son of Mexican immigrants, is the front-runner in the first congressional race of the Trump era. Its happening in a part of America where Republicans are becoming scarce.

In 2000, the last year that a Republican presidential candidate campaigned in California, George W. Bush won 29.5 percent of the vote in whats now the 34th Congressional District. In 2016, Donald Trump won just 10.7 percent. Californias unique primary system means that the top two candidates from the April 4 primary, regardless of party, will advance to the June 6 general election. The overwhelming partisan nature of the district means that two Democrats  one of whom is expected to be Gomez  are likely to advance.

Gomez is not exactly on the vanguard of the new progressive resistance movement that is sweeping the country in protest of Trump. Hes been endorsed by a slew of elected officials  and the California Democratic Party itself. But his background  and liberal politics  has not turned off progressives. Gomez supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race, but a surge of new voters won the district for Bernie Sanders.

I like him a lot, and Ive known him a long time, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said of Gomez. You have a lot of progressives in that race, but Jimmys progressive, too. Credential-wise, its a win-win for us.

Its the districts very blueness thats made it a proving ground for liberal politics. To win back the House in the 2018 midterms, the Democrats would have to flip districts in California, as well as the increasingly competitive states of Arizona and Texas, where the Latino and Asian populations are growing quickly.

At the same time, the Trump victory has been driving Latino politics to the left  a movement that outside groups encourage. Even though Becerra endorsed Clinton for president last year, two of Gomezs rivals, Wendy Carrillo and Arturo Carmona, worked for Sanders in California and are touting that connection. In 1992, the last time the area elected a new congressman, just nine Democrats ran. This year, the field had doubled.

The district, meanwhile, is 65 percent Hispanic, and every leading candidate but one is Latino.

What we see are Latinos joining other groups to push back on the Trump administrations attacks on womens access to health services, health care, environmental protections, and other key social issues, said Latino Victory Project President Cristobal Alex. We are witnessing a wave of qualified Latinos who see it as their duty to run for office at all levels to defend their communities and fight back against Trump and this hostile administration.

Thats played out in the 34th, which starts in downtown Los Angeles and stretches west to Koreatown and north to Pasadena. Gomez rose through the Latino political network, serving as a congressional staffer, then moving to L.A. and winning a safe Assembly seat. Hes raised $245,000 for the House race  much of it from political action committees and political allies. His campaign literature rattles off endorsements from Becerra, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the leaders of the state legislature and the California Democratic Party.

Carmona, the deputy political director of the Sanders campaign in California, has tried to flip Gomezs endorsements against him. In a negative mailer, he warns voters that the assemblyman has taken $13,000 from de escuelas charter, or charter schools, and $73,700 from companias farmaceuticas, or pharmaceutical companies. In an interview near Mariachi Plaza, Carmona declined to attack Gomez personally, but bemoaned candidates who are taking or have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from interests that are hurting immigrants, that are hurting consumers.

The outside arbiters of progressive politics have declined to enter the race  in part, because Gomez has ceded so little room to his left. He reminds voters that he expanded paid family leave in California, that he supports single-payer health care and a $15 minimum wage. On Saturday, when volunteers arrived at Gomez headquarters to walk precincts, they were signed in by Yolanda Nogueira, a local business owner whod housed Northeast L.A. for Bernie in her building.

To me, the establishment means people who are out of touch with the people theyre elected to represent, Gomez said. Someone like Bernie Sanders can be in office for 30 years, but hes not the establishment.

Neither Sanders nor his group Our Revolution has endorsed a candidate. Cenk Uygur, whose Young Turks network and Justice Democrats PAC are based just outside of the district, said several candidates had reached out to him. Gomezs only apparent strike was that he backed Clinton for president.

The risk progressives see in deep-blue seats is not that Democrats will lose, but that opposition to Trump will allow the candidates opposed by progressives to blur the lines.

In the 34th, every leading candidate puts the president near their messages center. Gomezs mail features the warning that the first congressional election in the U.S. since Trump won will be held . . . in OUR community. Former journalist Alejandra Campoverdi, also a candidate, tells voters shes the proven fighter we need to stand up to Donald Trump. Sara Hernandez, a teacher-turned-political aide, is running TV ads promising to take Trump to school and fight deportations.

Another problem for a progressive candidate emerged in the form of social-media posts from women in the Sanders campaign who worked with Carmona, accusing him of incompetence and sexism. Several progressive groups had already bet on Carmona as the best Bernie candidate. Democracy for America, which had endorsed Sanders, condemned Carmona. In an interview, Carmona insisted that he was being smeared.

There were definitely some entrenched issues around sexism in the broader campaign, Carmona said. Theres no question that sexism exists in our society. I have worked to be an ally all my life, and all my career. But when it comes to these specific three or four attacks, theyre not only unsubstantiated, theyre false.

Read more at PowerPost
The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman is not ruling out interviewing former national security adviser Susan Rice over allegations that she sought to have the identities of President Trumps transition team revealed in foreign surveillance reports.

If the reports are right, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said on Tuesday, then she will be of interest to us.

Some Republican lawmakers have been clamoring for the Senate Intelligence Committee to force Rice to testify under oath after a report from Bloombergs Eli Lake suggested Rice on dozens of occasions requested the identities of people connected to Trump be unmasked.

When it comes to Susan Rice, you need to verify, not trust, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday during an interview on Fox News. I think every American should know whether or not the national security adviser to President Obama was involved in unmasking Trump transition figures for political purposes.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has been extremely critical of the Trump administrations openness to a thaw with Russia, also said that the Rice situation obviously, it needs to be investigated.

Then-national security adviser Susan Rice is seen on the South Lawn of the White House in July 2016. Rice says it's absolutely false that the previous administration used intelligence about President Trump's associates for political purposes. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

But he warned against drawing premature conclusions  and also said that the names of other officials would pop up before the investigation is completed.

I promise you there will be many more, he stated.

Rice has denied the allegations, calling them absolutely false in an MSNBC interview on Tuesday.

The focus on Rice comes as lawmakers are trying to iron out why House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) went to the White House grounds two weeks ago to view documents that he says suggest members of the Trump transition teams identities were potentially improperly unmasked. A Washington Post report found that at least three White House officials are tied to the files that were shared with Nunes, while the Bloomberg report suggests that those officials began handling the files after they discovered Rices requests to unmask certain peoples identities.

[Three White House officials tied to files shared with House intelligence chairman]

Nunes would not comment Monday night on whether Rice was in any way associated with the documents he had seen.

But Republicans have long been suspicious of Rice, who emerged as a central figure in the partys long probe of what led to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.

Susan Rice is the Typhoid Mary of the Obama administration foreign policy. Every time something went wrong, she seemed to turn up in the middle of it, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday on Hugh Hewitts radio program.

He also said there was no doubt that Rice should be the subject of a committee hearing, pledging that the Intelligence Committee ought to review...and will review both Rices alleged actions and questions raised by Nuness claims.

As national security adviser, Rice had the authority to request to see the identities of names that otherwise would have been obscured in surveillance reports. That authority applied to situations where knowing the identity of a person contained in the report was necessary for understanding its intelligence value.

Rice said on MSNBC Tuesday that that was the only context in which she ever requested the unmasking of any names  absolutely not for any political purposes, to spy, expose, anything.

She also denied being the source of any leaks  another area of focus for Congress as it probes the extent of the Trump teams ties to Russian officials.

Burr has repeatedly promised that his Intelligence Committee will follow the facts surrounding Russias suspected interference in the 2016 elections wherever they lead. This week, the panel embarked on 20 interviews, most of them with members of the intelligence community that played a role in compiling a January assessment determining that Russia had tried to interfere in the 2016 elections with the purpose of helping Trump.

In the House Intelligence Committee, a similar probe all but ran aground last week, as Democrats accused Nunes of going around the committee to coordinate with the White House on the surveillance reports and alter the roster of witnesses testifying before the panel.

Nunes, like many others Republicans, has focused on the leaks of information alleging ties between the Kremlin and the Trump team, calling them the only clearly criminal act that took place and stressing there is no evidence of collusion between Trump allies and Russian officials. Democrats, however, have accused Nunes of effectively facilitating improper leaking himself when he went to the White House to view the information he then referred to publicly.

After a week and a half of wrangling, committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) also went to the White House Friday to view those documents. He said in a statement that the materials would soon be made available to the entire committee.

But House Democrats and Republicans are still at odds over how their investigation can proceed.

Nunes cancelled a public hearing for last week with former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper, former CIA director John Brennan, and former acting attorney general Sally Yates. The Washington Post reported that the administration sought to prevent Yatess testimony, but Nunes maintained the hearing was cancelled to allow committee investigators to again grill FBI Director James B. Comey and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers.

Nunes said in an interview Monday evening that the committee might resume certain interviews later this month, as soon as the third week of April. But he stressed there were still some witnesses whose testimony would have to wait until after Comey and Rogers return. Nunes said that Comey was the one holding tup hat briefing; a spokesperson for the FBI said Tuesday that the agency was continuing to work with the committee on its requests.

Read more at PowerPost


Brooks Ridge is a new development on the estate of former ABC News anchorman Howard K. Smith in Potomac, Md. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

ABC News anchorman Howard K. Smith, who died in 2002, sometimes conducted interviews in the oval library of his Bethesda home. Now that wood-paneled chamber with its curved doors is being refreshed along with the rest of the six-bedroom house.

The free-standing residence adjoins 11 new townhouses in a development called Brookes Ridge on a hilltop overlooking the Potomac. The townhouses are fan-shaped and each is slightly different in size. Together, they create an S-shaped row of buildings on the ridge of the former Smith estate.

Each 4,000-square-foot townhouse has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, an open living-dining-kitchen area and a two-car garage. Ten of the 11 townhouses have private elevators to reach the homes four levels and rooftop decks.

These are homes for people who dont need a big house, but dont want to go to a condo, says Lindsay Reishman, senior vice president of Compass, the real estate firm selling the homes. The goal was to offer a lot of space with beautiful views but keep the costs in check and not have them driven up by lots of amenities.

Townhouse prices range from $1.7 million for the only house without an elevator to $2.195 million for the model end unit. Homeowner association fees average about $350 per month and include landscaping and snow removal.

[Enhanced curb appeal for Queen Anne-style house divided into condos]

Two of the townhouses, each offered at $1.995 million, are under contract. The price for the Smith house has yet to be determined; Reishman estimates it will be listed within the $3 million to $4 million range later this spring.

1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Buying New | Brookes Ridge in Bethesda, Md. View Photos The development comprises 11 townhouses, ranging from $1.7 million to $2.195 million, and an as-yet unpriced single-family house. Caption The development comprises 11 townhouses, ranging from $1.7 million to $2.195 million, and an as-yet unpriced single-family house. ABC News anchorman Howard K. Smith, who died in 2002, sometimes conducted interviews in the oval library of his Bethesda home. Now that wood-paneled chamber with its curved doors is being refreshed along with the rest of the six-bedroom house. Benjamin C. Tankersley/for The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Preserved views: Oriented to views of the Potomac, the rowhouses have private rear decks off the living room and walkout basement. These outdoor spaces and the rooftop deck provide vantage points from which to gaze at tree-lined slopes and vistas of McLean and Rosslyn across the river.

The wooded views are preserved because the homeowner association owns the hillside behind the residences and the 1.6 acres have been placed in a conservation easement.

A landscaped common area will replace the construction trailer near the entrance and terraced plantings will screen Brookes Ridge from the Intelligence Community Campus next door.

Nearly completed, the exteriors of the townhouses are brick with corbeled cornices and steel window lintels and sills. Every other residence in the row has bay windows. The design is traditional, based on rowhouses in the city, but not traditional with a capital T, says Sassan Gharai of Bethesda-based SGA Cos., the architect and developer of the community.

Interiors are contemporary with floor-to-ceiling glass and large sash windows to fill the rooms with sunlight. A stairway winding up one side is illuminated by more windows and a triangular skylight. Townhouses are typically dark, but these have tons of light and views, says Gharai. When you are climbing the stairs, it feels like you are going into a treehouse.

[Development in Fairfax County, Va., offers houses with plenty of gathering spaces]

Room layouts are adaptable so you are able to change the spaces to your lifestyle, Gharai says. The ground level off the garage features a living/media space that could be turned into a bedroom, since it incorporates closets and a bathroom. Below that floor, in the walkout basement, two bedrooms could be used as a home office and a hobby space.

The main living level extends the full length of the second floor with the kitchen set into the center and a gas fireplace at one end. This open floor plan allows the spaces on either side of the kitchen to be turned into a family room or a dining space, depending on the homeowners preference.



The kitchen features a 15-foot-long, marble-topped island, providing enough space for five seats. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

Two master suites bookend the top floor, where a washer and a dryer are tucked into a hallway closet. One way to look at this [layout] is as one massive master suite with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two sets of closets, says Gharai.

Master bathrooms are fitted with double-sink marble vanities, radiant floor heating and rain shower heads.

High-end fixtures: The kitchen features a 15-foot-long, marble-topped island, providing enough space for five seats. Standard appliances are high-end, including Sub-Zero refrigerators and Wolf ranges, microwaves, warming drawers and ovens. Buyers have a choice of finishes, including the pale maple flooring in the model.

For the homes that arent completed, we are happy to work with homeowners on choosing cabinets, counters and floors, all of which would be included in the list price within reason, says Reishman.

Among the few extras are the outdoor kitchen bar with gas grill, refrigerator and granite countertop, and gas fire pit on the rooftop deck at an added cost of about $40,000.

Reishman says the townhouses will be ready for delivery this fall. Renovation of the Smith house will be completed by years end. Says Reishman: We are open to working with a buyer to customize the [Smith] home if we found the right fit.

Whats nearby: Brookes Ridge is within easy walking distance of the Shops at Sumner Village, which includes a Safeway, a CVS and restaurants. The C&O Canal and Capital Crescent Trail are close by and Friendship Heights, Bethesda Row and Georgetown are within a short drive.

Schools: Bannockburn Elementary, Thomas W. Pyle Middle and Walt Whitman High.

Transit: Bus stops for the D5 to downtown Washington and Ride-On Route 23 to Sibley Hospital and Friendship Heights are within walking distance.



Among the few extras are the outdoor kitchen bar with gas grill, refrigerator and granite countertop, and gas fire pit on the rooftop deck at an added cost of about $40,000. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)
A man carries the body of a dead child after what rescue workers described as a suspected chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria. (Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

Scores of Syrians, many of them women and young children, were killed Tuesday in one of the deadliest chemical attacks of the countrys six-year war, according to doctors, rescue workers and witnesses.

Airstrikes on the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun began just after daybreak, delivering an unidentified chemical agent that killed at least 58 people and filled clinics across the area with patients foaming at the mouth or struggling to breathe.

President Trump blamed the attack, which he said was carried out by the Syrian government, on former president Barack Obama, calling it a consequence of Obamas weakness and irresolution. The reference was to Obamas decision not to follow through with a threat to use military force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a 2013 chemical attack.

In a statement released by the White House  just days after the administration said action against Assad was not a U.S. priority  Trump called the Tuesday attack reprehensible and said that it cannot be ignored by the civilized world. At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring network, put the death toll at 58, including at least 11 children. Doctors at the scene cited higher figures, saying entire families were killed in their sleep.

(The Washington Post)

Three doctors said in interviews that the symptoms they saw were far more serious than they would expect from chlorine, which Syrian government forces have used as a chemical weapon in the past. The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons expressed serious concern and said it was investigating.

Images from the area showed the bodies of at least a dozen men, women and children splayed across the ground between two houses. It was not possible to independently verify the reports, but video footage showed lifeless bodies wrapped in blankets and packed on the back of a truck. The youngest were wearing diapers.

In another video, several children were seen slumped on hospital beds, apparently unresponsive to the medics and chaos around them.

Syrian government warplanes in recent months have launched heavy attacks across northern Idlib province, where hundreds of thousands of civilians  many having fled other battle zones  are squeezed together among much of what remains of the armed opposition to Assad.

[The hospitals were slaughterhouses: A journey into Syrias secret torture wards]

Syrias Foreign Ministry denied involvement in Tuesdays attack, saying the government was committed to its obligations under the international Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria joined the convention in 2013 after launching sarin attacks on several Damascus neighborhoods  strikes that killed hundreds of civilians and pushed the United States to the brink of military intervention.

Assad calculates, reasonably, that military dynamics play in his favor. By using chemical weapons and other weapons, he is demonstrating the powerlessness of international actors, said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.





Congressional refusal to vote in favor of U.S. military action after Assads use of sarin, a nerve agent, in 2013 provided Obama with cover to withdraw his ultimatum, although he continued to call for Assad to leave power. The United States and Russia, Assads main backer, then negotiated a plan for the internationally supervised removal of Syrias chemical weapons stocks.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump criticized Obama for what he said was a waste of attention and resources on Syrias internal struggle at the expense of the fight against the Islamic State. Late last week, Haley said the U.S. priority was no longer to focus on getting Assad out, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Syrian people should decide Assads future.

A senior State Department official told reporters Tuesday that Assad has committed war crimes and blamed his Russian and Iranian backers for failing to control him. Those two countries are guarantors of a cease-fire they negotiated, the official said, but clearly, they are not able to deliver.

Thats a very significant problem. Obviously thatll be something that well be looking at and discussing and reviewing, said the official, who noted that Tillerson will visit Moscow this month. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the State Department.

The attack came as European diplomats gathered in Brussels for a flagship conference aimed at pledging billions of dollars for Syrias reconstruction, six years into a civil conflict that has shattered much of the country and prompted refugees to pour out across the Middle East and Europe.

Photographs of lifeless bodies in Khan Sheikhoun were passed from phone to phone in the Brussels conference hall, attendees said, a stark reminder of the limitations of European power in a war now heavily driven by Iranian and Russian influence.

In Washington, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) echoed Trumps criticism of Obama, saying that the former president had figuratively jumped in [Russian President Vladimir] Putins lap to agree on the weapons withdrawal.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that Assad believes he can commit war crimes with impunity, and he challenged Trump to take action. The question now confronting Washington, he said, is whether we will take any action to disabuse him of this murderous notion.

[Syrian defector comes to Washington after documenting atrocities]

Doctors and activists in rebel-held areas have accused the government of sharply increasing chemical attacks across Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces since the end of last year.

In the Khan Sheikhoun attack, Samer al-Youssef, a resident, described watching people running toward the homes of relatives, then wrenching open the doors to find them dead inside.

We did our best, but we couldnt save people. Around 30 percent of those who were brought to us were dead on arrival, said Usama Darwish, a doctor.

Although a nationwide cease-fire has technically been in place across Syria since late December, civilians and rebel groups now say it exists in name only.

People are terrified. They dont know where to go, said Ahmad Rahhal, a 22-year-old activist. They cant cross into Turkey because the borders are closed, but if they stay in their houses, they will be attacked by bombs. What can they do?

As a displacement crisis burgeons on its southern border, Turkey has limited new Syrian arrivals to those seeking medical treatment, often in the wake of attacks. Reports Tuesday suggested that ambulances were lined up at the border crossing, ready to bring the next wave of casualties to Turkish hospitals.

Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul, Heba Habib in Stockholm and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Syrian forces used gas to help retake Aleppo, says Human Rights Watch

Even after so many deaths, chemical attack in Syria provoked visceral response

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
A woman places flowers in honor of the victims of the subway blast in St. Petersburg on April 4, 2017. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

He was a 22-year-old from the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. She was a 21-year-old from Azerbaijan. They were part of the modern-day fabric of Russias melancholy old imperial city. He was the bomber, police say. She was one of his 14 victims, most of them in their 20s or younger.

Russian investigators on Tuesday identified the man they suspect blew up a subway car here as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, an ethnic Uzbek and naturalized Russian citizen who had remained in St. Petersburg, working in a sushi place, after his parents returned to Kyrgyzstan. DNA evidence and security camera footage point to his being the perpetrator of Mondays attack, they said.

At the Mariinsky hospital morgue Tuesday, nearly 100 relatives, classmates, and well-wishers came to bid farewell to Dilbara Aliyeva, 21, whose body was to be sent back to her native Azerbaijan. Some carried Aliyevas portrait, of a young dark-haired woman with deep brown eyes and sharp eyebrows.

A teacher, Irina Berezovskaya, held back tears as she described Aliyeva as a quiet psychology student who was close to her family and loved to cook traditional Azeribaijani dishes.

She was always bright. She was fascinated by what motivated people and was so good at figuring them out. She was writing her dissertation on motivation and sport; her brother is a professional soccer player, said Berezovskaya, who wore a black scarf over her hair. It was her brother who finally told my students, We lost Dilbara. I looked on the list of those who died and saw someone born in 1996. I had seen her just hours earlier.

(The Washington Post)

The bombing, at 2:40 in the afternoon, left 60 people injured. Among the 10 dead who have been identified, seven were born since 1990. The youngest was born in 2000.

Officials said Dzhalilov was a member of the Uzbek minority from the city of Osh, which has been the scene of bloody ethnic conflicts and the growth of Islamist militant movements since the Soviet Union began disintegrating three decades ago.

[St. Petersburg now a city on edge]

According to both Kyrgyz and Russian media reports, Dzhalilov left Kyrgyzstan for St. Petersburg with his family in 2011, a year after fighting broke out between ethnic Uzbeks and ethnic Kyrgyz in the city where Dzhalilovs father, who held Russian citizenship, worked at an auto body shop. Dzhalilov worked as a sushi chef in St. Petersburg and occasionally took martial arts courses at a local gym, according to local media.





He had left a second bomb, at another subway station, that failed to detonate, investigators said.

In previous reports, the Investigative Committee had called the attack a suicide bombing. On Tuesday, it did not say whether Dzhalilov had died in the blast.

A page on a Russian social network VKontakte purportedly linked to Dzhalilov showed a young man smoking shisha pipes and lusting after fast cars. One Russian news agency, Rosbalt, said it had called the owner of the page through a telephone number listed online, who denied he was the suicide bomber. The Washington Post called the number listed on the page, which was blocked.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Russia has been targeted in the past both in connection with an insurgency in the countrys Caucasus region and over Russias intervention to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The attack took place while Russian President Vladimir Putin was in St. Petersburg for talks with the leader of Belarus.

Undoubtedly, the fact that the terrorist attack was committed while the head of state was in the city forces one to reflect, Dmitry Peskov, his spokesman, told reporters.

Putin, who has staked his legitimacy on establishing law and order in Russia, has spoken little since the attack, offering only brief comments on Monday, when he promised a full investigation and support for the victims.





At Sennaya Ploshchad, a downtown St. Petersburg landmark, commuters tramped by mounds of flowers, mainly roses and carnations, and burnt out tea lights. Metro service resumed on Tuesday, but the city was still jumpy, and several new bomb threats forced evacuations.





Among the victims was Irina Medyantseva, 50, who sewed handmade dolls, gave them names like Petersburg Angel or Yellow Bunny and sold them online for several hundred dollars each.

She was riding in the third car from the front of the train when the blast went off. Marusiya Levkina, a relative, wrote on Facebook that Medyantsevas body had shielded her daughter from the explosion, likely saving her life. Our family is in shock, Levkina wrote. "Irina, you were a genuine artist. In each doll that you created, a part of you will remain.

An unsigned post on Medyantsevas social media page on Tuesday read: Irina died in a monstrous terrorist attack. Eternal memory.

Maxim Aryshev, 20, was a visiting student from Kazakhstan. A straight-A student at the St. Petersburg State Economic University, he was close enough to the blast that Russian news agencies initially reported that he was the bomber. He was one of several men with Muslim appearances whose names were announced by local press as suspects since Monday afternoon.

[The recent history of terrorist attacks in Russia]

Filipov reported from Moscow.

Read more

Turkish police officer, invoking Aleppo, shoots Russian ambassador in Ankara

Violence spreads in Kyrgyzstan, raising fears of humanitarian crisis

How Jihad made its way to Chechnya

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Jordanian youths prepare to rappel down a waterfall near the Dead Sea, Jordan, as part of a stress-relief and self-awareness program run by the NGO Mercy Corps. (Alice Su/For The Washington Post)

Nineteen-year-old Ahmad stood at the brink of a waterfall, eyes closed, fists clenched as he counted to 10. He wore a harness to steady himself as he rappelled over the edge, but first he needed to breathe.

That is how he had been taught to calm down during a youth training session the day before in Salt, the western Jordanian city where he lives, a 90-minute drive away.

There were 15 young men in the program run by Mercy Corps, an international nonprofit aid group headquartered in Oregon. The 12-week course provides, among other things, leadership training, local job placement, rock-climbing instruction  and lessons on controlling ones emotions.

Ahmad had signed up with his friend Omar, also 19, whom he had met in a fight. He was beating someone up because of a card game, and I took his side, Ahmad said. Fighting was no big deal to him, he said. What scared him was how he sometimes lost control and would cut himself.

I can only calm down when I see blood, he had told Monther Altiti, one of the program leaders.

Jordanian youths prepare to rappel down a waterfall near the Dead Sea, Jordan. (Alice Su/For The Washington Post)

Altiti showed him a scar on his own arm. I used to cut myself when I was younger, too, he said. Experiencing nature had helped him stop, and he wanted Ahmad to find the same kind of release.

I told him, how do you feel when youre climbing or hiking? You think of nothing, right? Next time youre angry, go outside, close your eyes, breathe and count to 10, Altiti said. Amazing that hes doing it.

Countering violent extremism is critical for Jordan, a small island of stability that hosts 2.7 million refugees from neighboring conflicts and remains vulnerable to the threat of domestic terrorism. Several attacks have happened on Jordanian soil, including a shooting in the southern city of Karak in December and several bombings on the Syrian border.

And experts say several thousand young Jordanians have joined militant groups in Syria or Iraq. Jordans government and civil society groups are struggling to prevent such radicalization, using methods that include administrative detention, job training and workshops with local imams. But those who work with the countrys at-risk young say the most effective programs dont explicitly allude to religion or extremism at all.

[Terrorist attack on Jordan intelligence office in refugee camp kills 5]

More than 70 percent of Jordans population is under 30. The overall unemployment rate is 14.7 percent; for those ages 20 to 24, it is 30.6 percent. Many Jordanians are of Palestinian descent, with relatives living under occupation, in refugee camps or with memories of expulsion from their ancestral homes. Jordanian millennials have known multiple regional wars, foreign invasions with corresponding waves of refugees, and a failed Arab Spring. The result is an overwhelming sense of victimhood, said Hassan Abu Haniyeh, whose analyses of extremist groups are published by the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Most Arab people want an Islamic state to take control, Abu Haniyeh said. They dream of this utopia of dignity, justice and righteousness.

The idea of a caliphate contrasts with the realities of corruption, dictatorship and foreign invasion, he said, which is why groups that promise resistance to the status quo automatically seem legitimate to many Arabs. The Taliban, Ansar al-Sharia, ISIS and other movements dont need to prove if they have a good way of ruling, he added, using a common acronym for the Islamic State militant group.

Mai Eleimat, a co-founder of the Al-Hayat Center, a Jordanian nongovernmental organization that co-published a report last year on violent radicalization in Jordan, agreed. Youth are isolated, ignored, neglected, she said. Theyre not part of the decision-making. Ive been to so many conferences on youth empowerment where there are no young people in the hall.

Eleimat noted that even after the Islamic State burned a Jordanian air force pilot alive in 2015, young people here were still drawn to the groups cause in Syria. Two sons of Jordanian lawmakers have died fighting for militant groups there.

Jordanian fighters who return from Syria are arrested immediately and held for up to 15 years, according to Abdelqader al-Khateeb, a lawyer who works with returnees and detained terrorism suspects. Since the Karak attack, intelligence and security services also have targeted anyone suspected of communicating with extremist groups. Some 600 people have been arrested, Khateeb said, most of them under 30, including many who say they merely had posted support for the Syrian revolution on Facebook.

Theres no court, trial or justice process, he said. We dont have law. Its just reaction.

[Jordans eye-for-an-eye response to the Islamic State]

Sharif al-Omari, the governments director of programs to curb violent extremism, said the detentions were necessary to ensure national security. The law doesnt distinguish between stupid or not, intentional or not, he said. But he acknowledged that the state must confront the core problems facing Jordanian youths: unemployment and an education system that does not prepare graduates for the job market.

If a young man has something in his pocket, a salary and stable work, he will start thinking about marrying and building a house, he said.

The worst way to combat violent extremism, practitioners agreed, is to label vulnerable young people as potential terrorists.

The pitch that ISIS gives to young, Arab, Muslim males is one they hear from no one else: You belong here. You, specifically, are our greatest strength, said Mercy Corps country director Hunter Keith.

Meanwhile, global rhetoric against radical Islamic terror deepens young peoples sense of victimhood, he said. That is why the Mercy Corps program avoids talking about extremism or religion, focusing instead on stress relief, self-awareness and community.

Perceived victimhood and profound stress have a neurological effect, said Jane MacPhail, the groups director of youth programs.

You detach. You become more impulsive, and you rationalize actions against your values in order to fill your need for belonging, she said. We work on reattaching young peoples hearts and heads.

Abdallah Hijazi, a co-leader of the youth project, said he had the same struggles as the participants when he was younger.

People are scared of these guys on the streets, he said. But he added that this does not mean they are potential extremists.

Theyre lost, like any Jordanian guy, Hijazi said. They need a place to feel safe being themselves.

Read more:

King of Jordan to visit White House

Video: Jordanian police battle gunmen at a historic castle

3 U.S. military trainers killed in gunfire by security units at Jordan base

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley answers questions during a news conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The United States is exploring everything to broker a Middle East peace settlement, and her own forceful defense of Israel at the United Nations does not undermine American leverage, the U.S. ambassador to the world body said Monday.

Nikki Haley, President Trumps tough-talking envoy, also denied any tension among Trumps national security team over who calls the shots. She praised Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has adopted a much lower profile than her own, and confirmed that she originally had interviewed for that higher-ranking position. Tillerson will join her at the United Nations later this month for a special session on North Koreas ballistic missile and nuclear programs, she said.

The original call that I received to go to Trump Tower was to discuss secretary of state. No, he did not offer it, Haley said at a news conference timed to the start of U.S. leadership of the U.N. Security Council this month.

Trump interviewed numerous candidates to lead the State Department during the weeks following his election in November, finally settling on the dark-horse Tillerson, then head of the oil giant ExxonMobil.

I see Secretary Tillerson as a great partner, Haley said. We work very well together, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and others, Haley said.

The power and autonomy of many of those traditionally strong Cabinet and White House jobs are complicated in the Trump administration by the power and proximity of Trumps son-in-law and adviser-at-large Jared Kushner. His large and growing portfolio includes the search for Middle East peace, which Trump has called the ultimate deal.

Kushner turned up in Iraq Monday; Tillerson has not yet visited that nation at the heart of the U.S. effort to defeat the Islamic State. Mattis visited in February.

We all know that we each have a place in terms of this administration, but more importantly we know that were working as a team, Haley said. There are not any dynamics that would portray anything other than that.

Tillerson will join other foreign ministers at the United Nations on April 28 for the North Korea session, she said. On that issue and others, she pledged firm U.S. leadership under Trump that she acknowledged can come across as aggressive.

I think the United States has seen China, for 25-plus years, say that theyre concerned about North Korea. But we havent seen them act like theyre concerned about North Korea. So I think this administration wants to see them act, and I think theyre going to pressure them, Haley said.

The president is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping this week at Trumps Florida estate. North Korea is the U.S. priority for the visit, Haley said. She will not attend.

At the end of the day, the only one that North Korea is really going to respond to is China, Haley said.

China, one of the permanent, veto-holding members of the Security Council, is North Koreas traditional defender and economic lifeline.

The United States will focus on reforming U.N. peacekeeping missions and the world bodys handling of human rights issues during the one-month presidency, Haley said. That is likely to include U.S. criticism of what Haley calls an unproductive and unfair U.N. focus on Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

She said she is not concerned that her strongly worded support for Israel creates the impression that the United States has a finger on the scale in any future negotiation.

Ive been honest. Thats all Ive done, is tell the truth, she said.
Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly talks to the news media as Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) looks on at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Detroit last. (Carlos Osorio/AP)

Immigration agents may arrest crime victims and witnesses at courthouses, a homeland security official said Tuesday, highlighting a growing dispute between the Trump administration and some state court officials who fear the practice will hinder law enforcement work in their jurisdictions.

Just because theyre a victim in a certain case does not mean theres not something in their background that could cause them to be a removable alien, David Lapan, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said in a briefing to reporters. Just because theyre a witness doesnt mean they might not pose a security threat for other reasons.

DHS Secretary John F. Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are in a public disagreement with court officials who have complained that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents going to local courthouses could scare some victims and witnesses away from reporting or providing evidence of crimes.

Last month, California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye sent a letter to Kelly and Sessions decrying the practice, saying courthouses serve as a vital forum for ensuring access to justice and protecting public safety. Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our countrys immigration laws.

In response, Kelly and Sessions wrote a letter to Cantil-Sakauye saying ICE has a long-standing policy of making arrests at courthouses because it is often the safest place to apprehend criminal suspects, after they have passed through courthouse security screening for weapons. They added that some jurisdictions actively hinder ICE from enforcing immigration laws by denying requests by ICE officers and agents to enter prisons and jails to make arrests. Such policies, they wrote, made it more necessary to arrest undocumented immigrants at courthouses.

Lapan, the DHS official, made clear in Tuesdays comments that courthouse arrests by ICE agents are not limited to people who would otherwise be apprehended in a jail or a prison.

I cant give a blanket statement that says every witness and victim is somehow untouchable, because they may have circumstances in their own case that would make them again subject to arrest, he said, adding that the factors that could lead ICE agents to arrest a victim or a witness could be any number of things  again, the categories that weve talked about that make them subject to arrest or potential removal still apply to somebody who might him or herself be a victim.

While it may be a stated policy to arrest crime victims in some cases, in practice, it seems to happen only rarely.

Critics point to a recent case in Texas as particularly egregious because the woman detained by ICE had gone to court to file a protective order against an alleged abuser, although she herself reportedly had a criminal record and had been previously deported.

Immigration officials offer a special visa program to allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking to stay in the country. If someone is the immediate victim or witness to a major crime, ICE agents consider that fact when making individual determinations.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered Justice Department officials to review reform agreements with troubled police forces nationwide, saying it was necessary to ensure that these pacts do not work against the Trump administrations goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime.

In a two-page memo released Monday, Sessions said agreements reached previously between the departments civil rights division and local police departments  a key legacy of the Obama administration  will be subject to review by his two top deputies, throwing into question whether all of the agreements will stay in place.

The memo was released not long before the departments civil rights lawyers asked a federal judge to postpone until at least the end of June a hearing on a sweeping police reform agreement, known as a consent decree, with the Baltimore Police Department that was announced just days before President Trump took office.

The Attorney General and the new leadership in the Department are actively developing strategies to support the thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country that seek to prevent crime and protect the public, Justice officials said in their filing. The Department is working to ensure that those initiatives effectively dovetail with robust enforcement of federal laws designed to preserve and protect civil rights.

[In Obama administrations waning days, a push to cement legacy of police reform]

Sessions has often criticized the effectiveness of consent decrees and has vowed in recent speeches to more strongly support law enforcement.

Since 2009, the Justice Department opened 25 investigations into law enforcement agencies and has been enforcing 14 consent decrees, along with some other agreements. Civil rights advocates fear that Sessionss memo could particularly imperil the status of agreements that have yet to be finalized, such as a pending agreement with the Chicago Police Department.

This is terrifying, said Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, who spent five years as the departments chief of special litigation, overseeing investigations into 23 police departments such as New Orleans, Cleveland and Ferguson, Mo. This raises the question of whether, under the current attorney general, the Department of Justice is going to walk away from its obligation to ensure that law enforcement across the country is following the Constitution.

[Federal probe finds Baltimore Police Department racially discriminated in practices that target blacks]

The Baltimore agreement, reached after Freddie Gray died in April 2015 following an injury in police custody, calls for changes including training officers on how to resolve conflicts without force. The Justice Department asked for 90 additional days to assess whether the agreement fits with the directives of the President and the Attorney General, according to the filing Monday evening in U.S District Court of the District of Maryland. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar had scheduled the public hearing for Thursday.

The filing notes that Baltimore has already made its own progress toward police reform and states that it may be possible to take these changes into account where appropriate to ensure further compliance while protecting public safety.

Officials who negotiated the agreement criticized the move. Vanita Gupta, former head of the Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama, said that the request for a delay is alarming and signals a retreat from the Justice Departments commitment to civil rights and public safety in Baltimore.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh also said she and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis oppose the delay. Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect of eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish, Pugh said.

But Gene Ryan, president of the union that represents rank-and-file police officers in Baltimore, said he welcomed the federal governments request. Ryan said his chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police is in favor of reform but worries that the process was hasty.

[Read Sessionss full memo]

The agreement reached between Baltimore and the Justice Department was announced in January, coming after a push by Obama administration officials to secure police reform agreements before Trump took office. The department, in a report last year, said the Baltimore police engaged in racially discriminatory policing and used excessive force because of systemic deficiencies in the department.

In the blistering report, federal investigators wrote that police in Baltimore, driven by a legacy of zero tolerance enforcement, conducted stops, searches and arrests that violated the Constitution.

The federal civil rights probe was launched after Gray, 25, died of a spinal cord injury he suffered while in police custody. That episode added Baltimore to the list of cities that saw heated demonstrations erupt following controversial encounters between police and black residents.

After months of negotiations, federal and city officials announced an agreement to improve the departments training, strengthen its responses to sexual assaults and encourage officers to use force in a manner that avoids unnecessary injury or risk of injury to officers and civilians.

Then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch described the decree, which must be approved by a federal judge, as binding and something that will live on. A day later, Lynch went to Chicago for the release of a sprawling federal investigation into that citys police department that similarly assailed its practices. Its now unclear what will happen with either of the agreements.

[Justice Dept. to announce results of investigation into Chicago police]

Adolphus Pruitt, the president of the St. Louis NAACP, questioned whether the department would also review investigations where officers were not deemed to be at fault.

Weve got just as many times that the Justice Department was called in to look at an incident and they found no probable cause for charges, said Pruitt, who was among the first to call for a Justice Department investigation into the August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Are they going to go back and look at those? The attorney general wants to re-examine something? Hell, Ive got some stuff he can take a look at!

Pruitt said he fears what the review will signal to communities awaiting reform.

To the people who told their stories to investigators and cheered the steps toward reforms, it sends a message that the Department of Justice is not going to keep up their end of the deal, Pruitt said.

Lynh Bui contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands at the end of a joint news conference following their meeting in Beijing on March 18. (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)

The Trump administration has decided to eliminate funding for the U.N. Population Fund next year after finding that the family planning organization supports abortion and forced sterilization in China, according to the State Department.

The defunding decision, which was condemned by advocates for womens health and reproductive choices and praised by critics of Chinas policies limiting births, will result in the loss of $32.5 million for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) in the upcoming budget year. A State Department official said the money will be redirected to U.S. Agency for International Development programs that support family planning and maternal and reproductive health activities in developing countries.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump reinstated a Reagan-era ban on U.S. funds going to any international organization offering abortions or deemed to be promoting abortions. The cuts to UNFPA are the first of many the administration has said it expects to make in funding to the United Nations and its agencies.

[Trump reverses abortion-related U.S. policy, bans funding to international health groups]

The State Department said its determination, which was made last week, was based on Chinas family planning policies that still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntarily sterilization, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies.

It specifically cited population-control measures known initially as the one-child policy limiting how many children a woman may have. Chinese policy was amended a year ago to raise the birth limit to two children for a married couple, or three with official permission.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to other donor countries to increase their support for UNFPA to make up for the U.S. cuts. His spokesman said Guterres considers the Trump administrations decision to be based on an inaccurate perception of the nature and importance of the work the group does, and believes that the defunding will be devastating to the health of women, girls and families.

UNFPA itself called the Trump administrations charge erroneous. In a statement on its website, it said its work allows individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.

The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises, it said.

Advocates criticized the funding cut as counterproductive and an erosion of womens freedom to make choices on their own.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called it a grave error to end funding for a group that promotes safe childbirth and maternal health, works to end female genital mutilation and child marriage, and helps victims of violence.

It is a lifeline for the worlds most vulnerable women and girls, many of whom have nowhere else to turn, he said in a statement.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement that the cuts will curtail access to family planning, maternal health and gender equity programs.

Withdrawing U.S. support will have a devastating impact on UNFPA, and hurts the lives of the women, men, and young people they serve, said Latanya Mapp Frett, executive director of Planned Parenthood Global.

But Reggie Littlejohn, who founded Womens Rights Without Frontiers to expose forced abortions in China and lobby for defunding UNFPA, said that other organizations provide maternal and gynecological care and that they will meet the needs of women and girls in countries where U.S. cuts have an impact.

These women will still have maternal health care, through organizations that are not walking hand in hand with a regime that is continuing to force women to abort, she said. I believe the UNFPA has been complicit with the coercive population control program in China for decades.

UNFPA provides family planning services in 150 countries. It received $979 million in voluntary contributions in 2015. Among countries that donate money, the United States is the third-largest contributor, behind Britain and Sweden.
Werner Stiller transformed himself from an idealistic champion of communism to a freewheeling avatar of global capitalism. (Courtesy of Kristie Macrakis)

On a snowy night in January 1979, Werner Stiller stepped into his office in Berlin, pried open a safe and grabbed the transit papers that would allow him to travel safely from the citys communist eastern half to freedom in the west.

He had already sent his wife a goodbye letter stuffed with 10,000 German marks, explaining that she and the children would be safer in East Germany, but acknowledging, I dont understand a lot of this myself.

He had a gun inside his jacket, and inside his luggage was a stack of microfiche film four inches thick  the bulk of a secret document cache that made Mr. Stiller, a case officer with the East German police and intelligence agency known as the Stasi, one of the most notable defectors of the Cold War.

A trained physicist, he worked for seven years with the Ministry for State Securitys foreign intelligence service before turning to the West. He later transformed himself from an idealistic champion of communism to a freewheeling avatar of global capitalism.

Under the name Klaus-Peter Fischer, an alias devised in part by the CIA, the shaggy-haired Mr. Stiller launched a second career as a broker and investment banker, reportedly making millions of dollars for Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs before retiring in Budapest, where he died on Dec. 20. He was 69.

His son Andreas Hudson confirmed his death but declined to provide additional details. Mr. Stillers death was first reported on March 31 by the German news media.

Mr. Stiller oversaw a group of about 30 foreign and domestic agents as a case officer with the Stasi, where he functioned as an undercover middle man. Agents he recruited captured information on microprocessing, nuclear weapons technology and other scientific advances, then passed it to Mr. Stiller through dead-letter drops at railroad stations. The information was reviewed by his superiors, who combed through documents to search for economic advantages in East Germany and for military secrets that could be passed along to allies at the Soviet KGB.

Mr. Stiller was for many years a model citizen of communist East Germany, where he had been a member of the Free German Youth as a teenager and joined the state Communist Party by 21. His loyalties began to shift by the mid-1970s, according to Kristie Macrakis, a Georgia Tech professor who studies espionage and chronicled Mr. Stillers story in the 2008 book Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasis Spy-Tech World.

She said that Mr. Stiller was disillusioned with the repressive politics of East Germany, but also frustrated with a career that had stagnated and with a strait-laced German society that abhorred his lavish, womanizing lifestyle.

An affair with Helga Mischnowski, a dissident working as a waitress near the West German border, led to his break from the spy agency. She helped him make contact with the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the Stasis West German rival, and helped him ferry East German documents to the agency in the lead-up to his 1979 departure.

By then, Mr. Stiller had nearly been caught, confronted by a boss who saw him with Mischnowski and told him to behave correctly and to think of his family, according to Macrakiss book.

He fled the country shortly thereafter, helping Mischnowski and her young son escape through Poland and delivering 20,000 pages of Stasi documents to the BND. The defection roiled the spy agency: 17 of its agents were convicted in the West and at least 15 were called back to East Germany.

Perhaps most significantly, Mr. Stiller helped Western intelligence agencies identify Markus Wolf, the East German spy chief who was known as the man without a face for remaining undercover for so long.

Had he been just a case officer, and if he hadnt defected, he would be an insignificant figure in history, Macrakis said of Mr. Stiller. His defection, she said, shined a light on East Germanys massive scientific-intelligence gathering efforts and also shut things down for a while.

They had to recall all the agents or tell them to lay low, she said, adding that the arrests of agents significantly damaged the Stasis recruitment efforts.

Mr. Stiller was born in Wessmar, a town west of Leipzig, on Aug. 24, 1947. His mother was married to a prisoner-of-war when she met Mr. Stillers father, a blacksmith, and began an affair that lasted for much of Werners youth.

He studied physics at what was then known as the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, a recruitment hot spot for the Stasi, before joining the agency and working as an informant at the Physical Society, a scientific organization in Berlin.

Described in one internal Stasi review as having an exuberant impulsiveness, he was married at least five times, beginning with a short marriage to a friend from high school. Survivors include his son Hudson and a daughter, Edina Gade, both from his second marriage.

Mr. Stiller abandoned the two children when he moved to West Germany and then the United States, where he taught himself English and went to business school at Washington University in St. Louis. The CIA Resettlement Group put a pile of color brochures in front of me and told me to choose a city, Mr. Stiller told the Baltimore Sun in 1992. Id always wanted to see the Mississippi so I chose St. Louis.

He graduated with an MBA in 1983 and then worked at Goldman Sachs in London, where he rose to become head of continental sales in Europe.

Mr. Stiller was sentenced to death in East Germany following his defection and maintained his cover until 1992, after German reunification and the collapse of the Soviet Union. While working for Lehman Brothers in Frankfurt, his second wife recognized him from a television interview, leading him to reconnect with his children and ultimately out himself in an interview with Der Spiegel.

We had no clue that he was working for the government in the East, his son Hudson recalled in a video interview posted to YouTube in 2015. We thought he was just like the normal dude, doing physics jobs, sometimes a bit late home.
Mary Ann Schiefelbein Audio Article

Today, Mary Ann Schiefelbein is either sitting in the porch swing, drinking a cup of coffee, or being Quality Control...

Mathie Richmond Audio Article

Mathie Richmond, loving mother and grandmother, transcended to Gods side on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, surrounded by her family. The...
Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has refused to condemn the comments by Michael Howard that her government would be prepared to go to war with Spain over Gibraltar.

Howard, a former Conservative Party leader, was responding to the European Unions (EU) stipulation that any deal reached by the British government over the terms of its withdrawal from the EU, would not apply to Gibraltara British Overseas Territorywithout Spains agreement.

Invoking Margaret Thatchers 1982 war against Argentina over the Malvinas/Falkland Islandsanother British Overseas TerritoryHoward said, Thirty-five years ago this week another woman Prime Minister sent a taskforce half way across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and I am absolutely certain our current Prime Minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.

His statement was made just four days after May triggered Article 50, officially beginning Britains two years of negotiations on the terms of its withdrawal from the EU. Asked later if he was seriously suggesting going to war with Spain, Howard said, Of course not, but added, I can see no harm in reminding them what kind of people we are.

Upping the ante, Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a former director of operational capability at the Ministry of Defence, threatened, We could cripple Spain in the medium term and I think the Americans would probably support us too.

Spain should learn from history that it is never worth taking us on and that we could still singe the King of Spains beard.

Gibraltar, a 6.7 square kilometre territory on the southern tip of Spain, was seized by Britain in 1704. With just 30,000 residents, it is an important military base controlling the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean and a tax haven that is home to 500 financial services companies.

At a lobby briefing Monday morning, a spokesperson for Maywho was en route to Jordan for trade talkssaid that while the dispatch of a British taskforce to Gibraltar isnt going to happen, Howard had been trying to prove the UKs resolve on the issue. Speaking to journalists later, May herself attempted to laugh off questions as to whether the UK was prepared to declare war on Spain. The UK was sitting down and talking to the EU about the best possible deal over Brexit that would apply to its overseas territories.

At the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnsonwho had said the UK would stand by Gibraltar like a rockstressed again the British commitment to its sovereignty.

Statements by Gibraltars chief minister, Fabian Picardo, made clear that it is not sovereignty that is at issue, but the territorys demand that it must not be excluded from any terms finally agreed between the EU and the UK. Writing in the pro-Brexit Daily Express, Picardo thundered that the EUs decision to give Spain a veto over Gibraltars participation in any future UK/EU trade deal is a betrayal of historic proportions

Spains Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, said that the minority conservative Popular Party government was a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure, and that someone in the UK is losing their cool and theres no need for it.

Gibraltars border with Spain would not be closed after Britain quit the EU, he said. Spains government sought only a balanced, reasonable and thorough deal, regarding workers rights and immigration. London is demanding an end to free movement as one of the terms of its divorce, under conditions in which more than 13,000 Spaniards cross Gibraltars border to work each dayrepresenting 40 percent of the workforce.

The European Commission has traditionally maintained a neutral position on conflicting Spanish/UK claims to Gibraltar. However, with Britain leaving the EU a diplomat told the Guardian, Now we are going to support the member state.

Several Tories, including prominent supporters of the Leave campaign during the referendum have called for calm. Conservative Member of the European Parliament Daniel Hannan tweeted, Spain is a NATO ally, for Heavens sake. But a faction of the pro-Brexit campaign are pressing for an even harder line from May in the EU negotiations, using Britains military and intelligence capabilities as a weapon. Mays letter triggering Article 50 warned that if the UK did not get its demands, it would mean our co-operation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened.

Should this fail, they insist that Britain should end all negotiations with the EU. As Parrys statements make clear, they calculate that, in doing so, they would have the support of US President Donald Trump, who backed Brexit and has spoken in favour of the EUs break-up as a German-dominated economic competitor to the US.

Breitbart London carried an op-ed by Ted Malloch under the heading, Brexit Is a Fait Accompli and Europes Acrimonious Attitude Should Be Toned Down. Malloch, touted as a leading candidate to be Trumps ambassador to the EU, backed Brexit, has supported referendums in other EU countries to quit, has said the euro will collapse and, equating the bloc with the Soviet Union, described it as another union that needs a little taming.

Brexit is no longer up for discussion, he wrote, and, as Britain is a sovereign, democratic country, it alone should decide its future. In contrast, The European Union is not a cohesive sovereign state. These are matters of fact, not politics.

Transforming the current international organization known as the European Union into a proper sovereign entity is the declared aim of many figures in the European institutions  it remains to be seen whether it can garner democratic support as an idea among the countries they wish to turn into sub-sovereign entities.

Writing in the Telegraph, Norman Tebbit, an arch Thatcherite, warned that Gibraltar is a vital Western strategic interest and he doubted President Trump would see it as in the interests of the US for the Rock to fall out of British hands. Already the Trump administration is questioning for how long it can maintain its commitment to the Nato guarantee that an attack on any one member state would be regarded as an attack on all while only the Americans and British are willing to fulfil their commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defence. We might therefore not be without allies in this matter.

Responding to Spains suggestion that it would not block Scotlands application for membership of the EU, should a second referendum on its independence from the UK prove successful, Tebbit suggested inviting leaders of the Catalan independence movement to London, or even to raising their desire for independence at the United Nations. The Catalans are different from the Spanish, he wrote, as they are an outward-looking Atlanticist people

Two years ago, Spain signed an agreement with the US making permanent its military base in the southwest of the country. The air and naval base is considered a strategic hub for NATO, and is playing a key role in Trumps declared war against Islamic State, especially in Iraq and Libya.

Earlier this month, Spains defence minister, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, pledged to meet Trumps demands that all European countries contribute to spending 2 percent of their GDP on defence. However, this would not be until 2024. A possible factor in the bellicose statements emanating from London is to thwart any possibility of Spain, following Brexit, replacing the UK as a key ally of the US in Europe.
Photo credit: Facebook/Julia Marie Photography

From Redbook

First birthday "smash" photos have been all the rage for awhile now. The traditional baby-covered-in-birthday-cake is pretty damn cute, though over the years since this first became a thing, proud parents of 1-year-olds have gotten a bit more creative and personal with what their baby has smashed - everything from barbecue smashes to donut smashes have made their way around the internet. The consensus? Letting a baby cover themselves in a food or dessert of any kind is ridiculously adorable.

But the latest addition to the seemingly never-ending stream of viral smash photo shoots might just be the cutest yet - baby Delta Rose's parents threw her a Taco Bell themed first birthday photo shoot, complete with ~actual tacos~ and a priceless "Taco Bout A Party" banner hanging in the background.

The photos first gained traction when photographer Julia Aiello shared them on her Facebook page. Since they were first posted on Sunday, they've been shared over 15,000 times and commented on by over 6,000 people who are absolutely squeeing over the adorableness.

Based on the tutu-wearing baby's facial expression when the tacos show up in front of her on a tray, it's pretty clear that - despite the fact that Delta Rose might not be eating solid food quite yet - she's a big Taco Bell fan.

The Missouri baby's mom, Monica Phillips, told Buzzfeed that she was inspired by a donut smash photo shoot that she saw. Taco Bell, Phillips said, also has a special meaning for their family - she went into labor with Delta's older sister, Mariah, while in a Taco Bell drive-thru, and the creative mom and her husband even had their first "unofficial" date at a franchise location. So, what I'm hearing is, Taco Bell love is in this baby's DNA.

The shoot ended with Delta covered in smashed tacos and condiments - just as a proper smash should.

Do you think it's cool if adults stage their own Taco Bell-themed photo shoots, too?

Story continues

(h/t BuzzFeed)

Follow Redbook on Facebook.

You Might Also Like
Kerry Washington is the real deal. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kerry Washington has come a long way since her early acting days as the curly-haired brown girl in Our Song and Save the Last Dance. The Golden Globe-nominated star has put in major work, both in front of and behind the camera, portraying intelligent, confident, and powerful women who you either really love or really loathe.

Washington herself possesses just as much fervor as the fictional characters she brings to life. This is evident in her activism as a womens rights advocate for equal pay and girls education, which is part of her mission to create a world where theres room for all of us.

In the May issue of Glamour magazine, Washington talks about being the change she wants to see and doing the work of self-love and affirmation. And its clear that the 40-year-old is very woke and comfortable with the woman she has become, as she declares:

I am a woman, I am a person of color, I am the granddaughter of immigrants, I am also the descendant of slaves, I am a mother, I am an entrepreneur, I am an artist, and Im joyful.

It is empowering to witness an A-list celebrity like Washington proudly proclaim their identity and honor their heritage, especially with Hollywoods and the fashion industrys whitewashing of African culture and the attempted demoralization of women across the globe.

Washington may be unsure of how this time in history is shaping her as an artist, but one thing is certain: Shes standing on a solid foundation of self-confidence.

Head over to Glamour.com to read the full interview with Kerry Washington.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.




Photo credit: Facebook/Colleen Jordan

From Redbook

Frozen debuted in 2013 to an enormous amount of acclaim and a devoted - or actually, obsessed - kid and baby (...and adult) fanbase, thanks to its sweet story of sisterhood, gorgeous animation, and ridiculously catchy songs. The Frozen phenomenon - merchandise and re-watches galore - hasn't let up in the nearly four years since the movie was first released, remaining a consistent favorite among kids and parents alike.

At this point, it's hard not to feel a little bit burned out (pun very much intended) over all the Frozen love. And yet, one newly-viral video of twin babies enjoying the heck out of the popular movie is racking up millions of views and tens of thousands of comments.

The video, shared by the twins' mom Colleen Jordan on Facebook, shows Maddie and Scarlett chilling out and watching the movie. Suddenly, they're inspired to get up and reenact the entire opening scene, gesture for gesture- a true testament to how many times the toddlers have watched the beloved Disney movie. The babies aren't even speaking yet, and it's completely obvious what they're doing as they dance around, laughing and mirroring the onscreen movements incredibly well for their age.

(If you've somehow lived under a rock and haven't seen Frozen at some point in the last 3+ years, the opening scene finds the main characters, sisters Anna and Elsa, playing in the snow and ice together.)

Since the video was shared on Monday, it's been viewed over 7 million times, racked up over 150,000 shares, and been commented on by over 30,000 people whose icy cold hearts have melted watching these talented babies do their thing.

The girls have been reenacting that particular Frozen scene since they were 18 months, Jordan (who, along with her family, was invited onto Good Day Philadelphia) told Inquisitr. That makes it less surprising that they're now basically pros at it. I think it's safe to say that at least one of these kids have an acting career in their future. Disney World performers, maybe?

Story continues

(h/t Babble)

Follow Redbook on Facebook.

You Might Also Like
Authorities arrested a California man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who managed to escape from his moving vehicle.

Deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office arrested Timothy Marble, 50, on Saturday, after he called 911 to report that the girl had jumped out of his car. When deputies arrived at the scene, the girl climbed out of nearby bushes and said Marble had sexually assaulted her multiple times.

Marble is also accused of injecting the girl with methamphetamine and scratching his name into her skin with a knife. He picked her up in the early hours of March 31 at a gas station after she ran away from home, according to a release from the sheriffs office.

The girl was taken to a hospital treatment and has been reunited with her mother. Marble is being held without bail at the Sonoma County Jail.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
Brussels (AFP) - Fourteen migrants were injured on Tuesday when a van crashed into a highway safety barrier during a police car chase in Belgium, prosecutors said.

Five of the seriously wounded, who include two minors, are in a critical condition, Belgian prosecutors said in a statement.

Police first spotted the vehicle early Tuesday driving on the wrong side of the road about 40 kilometres (24 miles) south of Brussels, and a car chase ensued.

All the victims were illegal migrants to Belgium, the statement added.

Police said the driver of the van was under arrest and would be questioned later in the day.

Belgium is a major transit point for human traffickers who arrange to move illegal migrants across the English Channel to Britain.
If you won't be in the path of the total solar eclipse on August 21, don't worry. NASA, in partnership with the two-year-old online video platform Stream, will have you covered.

In what could be the space agency's most-watched livestream on record since the landing of the Mars Curiosity rover in 2012, more than 50 high altitude balloons with video equipment attached to them will beam back crisp, live images of the eclipse from an altitude as high as 100,000 feet, according to a press release from the company.

SEE ALSO: 22 photos that prove science is beautiful

The Curiosity rover landing garnered 100 million views, Stream said. NASA refers to the livestream as a "Megastream," and will likely call on other views from its space-based solar observatories as well as Earth-bound telescopes to round out its complete, multi-platform coverage of the event.

The upcoming eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse to be livestreamed using a high altitude platform. Such an altitude is safely above any clouds that could interfere with viewing the event as it crosses the U.S., with the path of totality slicing across the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Southeast.

According to Stream's CMO, Will Jamieson, there will be 57 teams launching balloons at dozens of sites across the path of totality in order to provide the best possible look at the celestial event.

A test balloon seen with livestreaming cameras attached.

Image: Stream.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon is close enough to the Earth to completely cover the sun. According to NASA, the sun's corona is revealed to the naked eye during the maximum phase of a total eclipse.

Stream's plan might sound outlandish, but it's actually an extremely low cost option, with $4,000 covering the hardware to livestream down from the balloon to the ground station, the ground station costs, and the balloon itself.

Jamieson said the company has had contracts with sporting leagues, large conferences and media companies, but this is its first contract with NASA.

Story continues

NASAs been one of my favorite brands ever," he said.

The South Carolina-based company has its own in-house media server, eliminating the need to involve a third party, he said. Its main competitors are other enterprise servers like Ooyala, Jamieson said.

Universities across the country are participating in the livestreaming project in cooperation with various NASA programs.

We have spent the last three years researching and building the camera payloads and ground stations in preparation for eclipse day. The live-video distribution was the last technical hurdle we needed to overcome, and the partnership with Stream allows us to focus on the payload technology while they handle the video, said Angela Des Jardins, director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium and leader of the Eclipse Ballooning Project, in a press release.

WATCH: Watch a stunning timelapse of the rare supermoon lunar eclipse
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.

Story continues

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.

Editor's Recommendations
You wont find these positions listed on todays job boards. Based in superstition, tradition, and very early science, medical careers of previous centuries can be unrecognizable by modern standards of medicine.

Increased scientific knowledge and more rigorous standards for the efficacy and safety of treatments have changed the kinds of jobs found in the field of health care. Here are five were glad were put out of business.

1. Leech collector

Well, somebody had to do it: Leeches have been a popular medical tool for about as long as theyve existed, and those slimy things dont gather themselves. People in the 19th century with few other options may have found a way to earn a living as freelance leech collectors. To perform this particular function, the collector, usually female, waded into a pond and waited for leeches to attach themselves to her legs. Then she would pluck them off, put them in a container, and sell them to the local doctor. Occupational hazards included infections from whatever microbes the creatures were carrying  and, of course, blood loss.

Read more: 7 of the most gruesome medical devices in history

2. Plague doctor

The name makes these guys sound like the medical forebears of todays epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists, but mostly they just dressed up like birds. When the bubonic plague hit over 600 years ago, it caused an estimated 100 million deaths around the world, with some victims dying within hours of falling sick. That level of devastation sent people scurrying for help. Enter the plague doctors, whose purpose seems more magical than medical. First there was the outfit  a long, wax-coated canvas robe and leather pants. Wax also coated the gloves, boots, hat, and hood, which were made of leather as well. The masks were intended to protect the wearer from the disease, which at the time was believed to be airborne. The extended part of the mask was filled with scented herbs, since people believed that smelling bad odors caused disease. The plague doctors administered treatments to plague sufferers, often leech- and herb-based, to no avail.

Story continues

But at least in one sense they were onto something: While the costume looks goofy to modern eyes, it was a precursor of the hazmat suits worn by medical personnel in todays disease hot zones.

3. Barber-surgeon

The traditional barber pole design with red stripes dates back to when barber-surgeons would advertise their services by wrapping a bloody bandage around a pole outside.

And they bloodied plenty of bandages. A barber-surgeon in medieval Europe would offer the usual services of cutting your hair, shaving your face, or trimming your beard. But he could also turn his attention away from your shaggy locks and saw off that gangrenous arm that had been bothering you, if necessary. Barber-surgeons also yanked out teeth, removed hangnails, and offered bloodletting and enemas, if needed.

You cant get that kind of service at Supercuts.

Read more: 4 big medical hoaxes that fooled (almost) everybody

4. Toad doctor

Sometimes when leeches didnt work, people in the 18th and 19th centuries would try something a little bigger. In those days, toad doctors specialized in placing toads  or toad parts or toad ashes  on ailing patients. Toads were the treatment of choice in particular for a skin disease called scrofula (what we now call lymphadenopathy of the neck), which was often caused by tuberculosis. The toad treatment wasnt an entirely crazy idea, however. Scientists have since found that toad skin secretes chemicals with proven and potential analgesic, antibiotic, anti-viral, and even anti-cancerous properties.

5. Medicine man

While the term medicine man or medicine woman is often applied to spiritual healers and leaders of various Native American cultures, there was a more specialized meaning back in the late 1800s to early 1900s. That kind of medicine man would roll into town with potions and elixirs, offering them as cures for the most intractable and aggravating conditions  including insomnia, seizures, arthritis, and even the blues, blahs, and bloats of menstruation.

And because cocaine and heroin  legal and ubiquitous then  were often among the ingredients, the medicine mans concoctions probably did offer some pain relief or pleasant sensations. The thing is, by the time the effects wore off and you were out of elixir, the medicine man was off to the next town.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuelan authorities say they've arrested six officials for taking bribes to issue identification documents to Syrians.

The country's top prosecutor said on Monday that the six officials worked on data entry for the immigration service. They are charged with taking $5,000 in exchange for granting Venezuelan national identification cards and passports to Syrians,.

The illegal sale of passports has been a sensitive subject since CNN released a report in February saying some officials were selling the documents to the highest bidder. Transmissions of CNN in Spanish were banned from Venezuela after the report.
Associated Press

Concerns over the Buffalo Bills troubling loss to the New York Jets were quickly overshadowed by even bigger worries regarding the status of Josh Allens throwing elbow on Monday. Suddenly, the entirety of the organization and its fanbase is holding its collective breath while awaiting the results of medical tests to determine the severity of Allens injury sustained in the final minutes of a 20-17 loss to the Jets  and what impact it will have on the second half of the season and the franchises Super Bowl aspirations. The reality, however, is bracing for the potential of having to turn over a very Allen-centric offense to journeyman backup Case Keenum to keep the AFC-leading Bills (6-2) afloat in the interim.
Run rate? M&A? Non-voting shares?

If youve never run your own business or considered B-school, it can be tough to wrap your head around how the corporate world works. Thankfully, theres a wealth of excellent (yes, even enjoyable) tomes out there that can help. Here are eight great ones to start with, a mix of classics and new reads about todays hottest startups as suggested by writers and editors at TIME and Fortune.

The Innovators Dilemma ($14, Amazon)

Clayton Christensens 1997 classic The Innovators Dilemma argues that market-leading companies can become shells of their former selves if theyre unwilling to disrupt themselves - because somebody else will come along and do it for them. Its akin to a religious text in Silicon Valley, where its viewed as a guidebook for upstart innovators seeking to take on the worlds biggest firms.

Soul of a New Machine ($10, Amazon)

The Pulitzer-winning Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder, is considered by many to be one of the best non-fiction books about technology ever written. The 1981 novel follows the now-defunct Data Generals efforts to build a next-generation minicomputer in the 1970s. The companys ability to overcome corporate, engineering and design challenges offers particularly insightful lessons for anybody interested in cross-team project management.

Get the latest deals, reviews and recommendations from the editors of TIME: sign up for The Goods newsletter here

Good to Great ($19, Amazon)

The world is home to billions of companies, but only a few become true corporate powerhouses. What separates the merely good firms from the great? Thats the question Jim C. Collins seeks to answer in his 2001 Good to Great. His ultimate answer: Its all about focusing on what you do best - what economists might call comparative advantage.

The Smartest Guys in the Room ($10, Amazon)

Enrons demise was perhaps the most infamous corporate collapse in American business history. Here, journalists Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean offer an insightful look at the complex business arrangements that masked Enrons feeble health, all without requiring that readers have a business degree before diving in. Youll come away with a far greater respect for accounting principles than you ever thought possible.

Story continues

Steve Jobs ($15, Amazon)



Steve Jobs, whose 1997 return to Apple sparked a turnaround that helped the Cupertino, Calif. become the worlds largest company by market capitalization, was in many ways a flawed genius. But its impossible to deny his business acumen, and anybody interested in business would do well to know his story well. Nobody has captured a better portrait of Jobs than former TIME Managing Editor Walter Issacson, whose 2011 biography leaves readers with a deeper understanding of the man and the now-massive company he helped resurrect.

The Upstarts ($20, Amazon)

Ours is an age dominated not only by decades-old corporate powerhouses, but increasingly by well-funded technology startups, too. In The Upstarts, Bloombergs Brad Stone offers a look at how two of these firms in particular - Uber and Airbnb - have remade the world in their image seemingly overnight. Its especially insightful as a view into how modern companies deal with rules and regulations that stand to disrupt their business strategies.

DisneyWar ($12, Amazon)

Disney is called the happiest place on Earth, but its corporate history has long been marked by high-profile infighting and rivalries. James B. Stewarts DisneyWar focuses on the tenure of former CEO Michael Eisner, along the way revealing how personal squabbles can threaten to derail even the worlds most iconic corporate powers. Read this one if youre interested in learning about individual leaders ability to thrust companies forward - or spin them into chaos.

Losing the Signal ($16, Amazon)

Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the instantly-recognizable BlackBerry Phones, once dominated the embryonic smartphone market. Today, not so much. What happened? Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoffs 2015 Losing the Signal offers an answer: RIM simply wasnt able to predict how Apples iPhone would change everything about the smartphone world. Read this one after Innovators Dilemma for a modern case study featuring a company you probably know well.

(Read TIMEs affiliate link policy.)

This article was originally published on TIME.com
Attorneys general from eight states said Monday they filed suit against the Trump administration for delaying energy efficiency standards for such consumer products as ceiling fans, portable air conditions, walk-in coolers and freezers and commercial boilers.

The six standards blocked by the administration are vital to public health, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman tweeted.

The suit, filed in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, accuses the administration of violating federal law and costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. It alleges the administration is violating anti-backsliding provisions.

Read: Coal Industry Executive Doubts Mining Jobs Coming Back

The administration delayed the rules March 19 for at least three months, saying Energy Secretary Rick Perry needed more time to review them. The attorneys general sent a letter Friday to Perry, notifying him of their intent to sue.

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, Schneiderman said in a statement. 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.

Read: Is Another Financial Crisis On the Way? European Banks Warn Against Easing Banking Regulations

California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont and Washington joined New York in the suit.

Energy efficiency standards are a win-win for consumers and the environment, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said. Over the lifetime of energy-efficient products, consumers are projected to save billions of dollars in energy costs. And, through reduced energy use, millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be eliminated. Secretary Perry and the Trump administration need to follow through on their obligation under the law to put these standards into effect without further delay.

Story continues

"Energy efficiency standards are common-sense steps we can take to significantly reduce pollution and protect our environment and our health," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said.

Department of Energy estimates implementing the standards would save consumers and businesses $23.7 billion. They would eliminate 292 million tons of carbon dioxide, 734,000 tons of soot and smog, 1.2 million tons of methane and more than 1,000 pounds of mercury in a 30-year period, DOE estimates. The Appliance Standard Awareness project estimates the standards would save 443 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 36 million households.

Related Articles
By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration's decision to review federal agreements with troubled police departments nationwide could imperil ongoing reform efforts, particularly in Baltimore and Chicago, civil rights advocates said on Tuesday, even as city officials vowed to continue pursuing improvements.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' memorandum ordering the review endangers one of the key legacies of former President Barack Obama, whose Department of Justice reached more than a dozen agreements with police departments over constitutional abuses.

Many of the Obama-era investigations took place amid a string of high-profile police killings of minorities that sparked protests across the country.

Sessions' order will likely have its most immediate impact on Baltimore and Chicago, both of which have been negotiating reform settlements with the department since before Donald Trump became president in January.

The memo was released on Monday, the same day that the Justice Department asked a judge to delay an agreement to revamp Baltimore's beleaguered department for three months just days before the judge was set to approve the deal.

Officials in both cities said they would press ahead with reforms despite the memo. But advocates said the review could undermine those efforts and suggests the Justice Department under Sessions will not undertake future civil rights investigations.

"He's talking about the federal government turning its back on a pattern and practice of racialized policing that goes back decades in this country," said Jeffrey Robinson, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "To suggest that the government should just leave it to local police departments is just frightening."

Police unions, however, have expressed frustration with some of the court-approved settlements, known as consent decrees, and they welcomed the shift in policy.

Story continues

"From a rank-and-file police officer's point of view, we're very happy," said Bill Johnson, head of the National Association of Police Officers. "These agencies have come under a very heavy hand from the Department of Justice."

'PUNCH TO THE GUT'

The Justice Department is authorized to investigate whether police departments engage in an unconstitutional "pattern and practice," such as unnecessary force or racial profiling.

Under Obama, it probed two dozen departments and reached reform agreements with 15, more than either of his predecessors, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush.

In Baltimore, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called the move a "punch to the gut" at a Tuesday news conference.

Though he said reforms would proceed, Davis said the court-enforced agreement is important because it ensures implementation even if he and Mayor Catherine Pugh leave office.

But the head of the Baltimore police union, Lieutenant Gene Ryan, said the union should have more of a voice in the process.

"I want to meet with Donald Trump," he said, according to the Baltimore Sun newspaper. "I want to tell him what's really going on."

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson likewise said they remain committed to reforms despite Sessions' order.

A former Obama administration official who oversaw federal police reforms at the Justice Department for six years, Christy Lopez, said the review leaves her most concerned about Chicago.

"I've never seen a city that cries out more for a consent decree than Chicago," said Lopez, now a visiting law professor at Georgetown University.

A Chicago pastor and retired police officer, Richard Wooten, said activists would hold Emanuel and other city officials accountable to push reforms despite the Sessions order.

"This is a sad day, but on the flip side, we saw this coming," Wooten said.

Trump has often decried Chicago's rising murder rate, threatening in January to "send in the feds."

It is not clear whether the Justice Department could secure changes to existing consent decrees, such as those governing police departments in Cleveland; Newark, New Jersey; Seattle; New Orleans; and Ferguson, Missouri. That would require approval from federal judges, some of whom have made clear they will not accept changes without good cause.

Some unions have chafed under consent decrees, calling them costly, ineffective and stigmatizing to officers. Sessions' memo touched on that issue, saying the department should ensure police officers are not tarnished by the "misdeeds of individual bad actors."

Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which has advocated for police reform, said the government has only investigated "the worst offenders" - 25 departments out of some 18,000 since 2009.

Robinson, the ACLU lawyer, said his group and others would consider legal action to enforce agreements but warned that any retreat by the federal government would make it harder to monitor reforms.

"If the federal government is silent, it is sending a message to local police departments: do whatever you want and we will look the other way," he said.

(Additional reporting by Julia Harte and Ian Simpson in Washington, Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago and Tom James in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Seals seem to love wandering away from the coast. In Australia, they seem to especially love sitting on cars and what not  causing mischief wherever they go.

The latest cheeky sea dog to be found chilling out where it doesn't belong was found Tuesday in the suburb of Newstead, Tasmania, after wandering a little too far inland.

SEE ALSO: Someone tried to mail a box of deadly horrors to Australia, and geez it's creepy

Officers spent two hours trying to capture and relocate the estimated 160 kilogram (352 pounds) seal, according to The Examiner.

"They tend to come up the Tamar River, looking for native fish," wildlife ranger Matthew Jones told the newspaper. But hey, it seemed like it was feeling just fine where it was.

It's a seal-y interesting morning at Newstead with wildlife rangers having to head out to handle this big guy @ExaminerOnline pic.twitter.com/wtuCfft5sq  Melissa Mobbs (@melissamobbs) April 3, 2017

And it certainly didn't take too kindly to being approached by wildlife officers. Look out! Seal on the run.

UPDATE: The seal is safe and no longer terrorising suburban Newstead. He'll be released back into the wild. @abcnewsTas @abcnews pic.twitter.com/24Bi4eg0lM  Carla Howarth (@CarlaHowarth) April 4, 2017

But eventually, the jig was up. Old mate seal was loaded into a truck (seems heavy), ready to be relocated out of suburbia and back into the brine-y blue.

Until next time, wandering seals of Australia.

WATCH: This inventor is building a real 'Iron Man' flight suit and it's awesome
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  An Afghan official says that in the past 12 months the country's counter-narcotics department has seized almost 650 tons of contraband drugs and alcohol.

Gen. Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, deputy interior minister for the counter-narcotics police, says the confiscated drugs include raw opium, heroin and hashish. He says that during that same time, the police arrested 2,683 smugglers and traffickers, including 67 women.

He added that 20 policemen and 17 army soldiers have also been arrested for drug trafficking during the same time period. Ahmadi spoke on Tuesday as part of his annual reports on the fight against drug trafficking.

Opium poppy cultivation is rising across Afghanistan despite billions of dollars spent to curb drug trafficking in the past decade, including programs encouraging farmers to switch to other cash crops.
Afghanistan on Tuesday sacked 12 army officers including two generals for negligence over an insurgent attack on the country's largest military hospital, which pointed to a spectacular intelligence failure.

Gunmen disguised as doctors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital in Kabul last month, with multiple surviving staff telling AFP that insiders including two interns were among the attackers.

The military head of intelligence and the official in charge of medical support were among those who have been dismissed and will face prosecution, the defence ministry said.

"They have been sacked for negligence of duty over the hospital attack," ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP.

The carnage inside the heavily guarded hospital was a major embarrassment for the military, spotlighting how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government institutions in Afghanistan.

The defence ministry denies that insiders were involved and asserts that only 50 people were killed. But security sources and the survivors, some of whom counted bodies, told AFP that the death toll exceeded 100.

Public anger has grown over the episode, with speculation swirling on social media that such a brazen attack on the tightly guarded hospital could not have happened without the complicity of high-ranking officials.

The savagery of the assault was characterised by how the assailants stabbed bedridden patients, threw grenades into crowded wards and shot people at point-blank range.

The Islamic State group claimed it was behind the attack via its propaganda agency Amaq -- hours after the Taliban denied responsibility.

But the survivors whom AFP spoke to said the attackers chanted "Long live Taliban" in Pashto and attacked all but two wards on the hospital's first floor, where Taliban patients were admitted.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees a firing contest in Pyongyang, Dec. 21, 2016. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters)

WASHINGTON  Days before President Trump hosts his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a top U.S. official warned Tuesday that the clock has run out on decades of diplomatic efforts to rein in North Koreas nuclear and missile programs, and military action may ultimately be necessary.

The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table for us, the official told reporters at a briefing held on condition that he not be identified by name.

Hours after those remarks were reported, North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast, according to South Korean officials.

Trump will host Xi late this week at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida, their first face-to-face talks since the November election. The American president is expected to raise longstanding concerns about what the new administration angrily describes as an unfair bilateral trade relationship and about what is seen in the West Wing as Beijings stubborn refusal to do more to contain North Koreas belligerent behavior.

It is now urgent, because we feel that the clock is very, very quickly running out, the official told reporters. We would have loved to see North Korea join the community of nations. Theyve been given that opportunity over the course of different dialogues and offers over the course of four administrations, with some of our best diplomats and statesmen doing the best they could to bring about a resolution.

Xis willingness to work more closely with Washington on North Korea will be in some ways, a test of the relationship, the official said. Trump is expected to press his guest to fully enforce international economic sanctions meant to starve the secretive regime in Pyongyang of resources  and especially hurt the lifestyle of its ruling elites.

In the days and weeks before the high-stakes summit between Trump and Xi, the administration has escalated its rhetoric on North Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently said the threat that country poses is imminent. During a trip to Asia, he said Washington is out of strategic patience and that all options are on the table  a phrase typically understood to refer to military action. In mid-March, Trump said on Twitter that North Korea was behaving very badly and complained that China has done little to help.

Story continues

Economic sanctions havent deterred North Korea, which announced in January that it could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any time. The United States responded that it would shoot down any missile, but the back-and-forth demonstrated how international diplomacy and economic sanctions have not worked to date, leaving Trump very few options for facing down an escalating threat.

North Koreas growing capability is one of the most significant challenges the next administration will face. There are no simple solutions, Vice President Joe Biden said in a January speech about nuclear policy. We must continue working closely with the international community  including China  to convince North Korea to reverse course, Biden added.

China is the key to North Korea policy because its the smaller countrys patron, its source of food and fuel. Beijing doesnt want North Korea to collapse, which would potentially send refugees streaming into China, to say nothing of raising doubts about the security of the countrys nuclear weapons. It also doesnt want North and South Korea to reunite, fearing that the result would be a U.S.-aligned country on its borders.

I think we have to be clear-eyed as to how far China will go and not get overly optimistic as to how far theyll go, Tillerson told a January 11 hearing on his confirmation as secretary of state.

If China is not going to comply with  U.N. sanctions, then its appropriate for us  for the United States  to consider actions to compel them to comply, he added.

That statement raised eyebrows even among some Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who wondered privately how the Trump administration would compel China to do something it considers profoundly risky  choking off trade and therefore risking North Koreas collapse.

After Pyongyangs January missile threat, Trump tweeted: North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It wont happen!

And China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but wont help with North Korea. Nice! the president-elect added.

During a private post-election meeting in the Oval Office, then president Barack Obama warned Trump that North Korea would be among his most difficult and dangerous challenges, according to two officials briefed on the conversation.

Theres probably no bilateral relationship that carries more significance and where theres also the potential if that relationship breaks down or goes into full conflict mode that everybody is worse off, Obama told reporters in a December press conference.
By Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. The U.S. government believes the chemical agent sarin was used in the attack, a U.S. government source said, adding it was "almost certainly" carried out by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons, echoing denials it has made over the course of the more than six-year Syrian civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands, created the world's worst refugee crisis and drawn in nations such as Russia, Iran and the United States. The attack sparked political recriminations. U.S. President Donald Trump blamed it on his predecessor Barack Obama's "weakness" on Syria, while a Syrian opposition figure said it was a consequence of recent U.S. statements suggesting a focus on stopping Islamic State militants rather than ousting Assad. If confirmed, the incident reported in the town of Khan Sheikhoun would be the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for that attack. Damascus blamed rebels. The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib province said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded in the latest incident. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said the death toll was at least 100. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke and some to foam at the mouth. Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid. "We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time neither in past or in future," the Syrian army command said in a statement. The Russian Defence Ministry, whose forces are backing Assad, said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident. Reuters photographs showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children. Corpses wrapped in blankets were lined up on the ground. Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a man with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost-naked children squirming on the floor. BLAME GAME Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib's health authority, said hospitals in the province were overflowing with victims. "This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine," he told a news conference. Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defence workers said. The attack sparked a blame game within the United States. Trump faulted Obama for not enforcing a 2012 "red line" against the use of chemical weapons and suggested the attack was "a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution." An Obama spokesman declined comment. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued an appeal for Russia and Iran "to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again." In contrast, Syrian opposition member Basma Kodmani blamed recent statements by Tillerson and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that suggested the new U.S. administration could live with Assad remaining in power for the time being. "This is a direct consequence of American statements about Assad not being a priority and giving him time and allowing him to stay in power," Kodmani told Reuters via text, saying the U.S. officials' comments amounted to "a blank check for Assad." The incident was condemned by a host of leaders, including the president of France, who directly blamed Syrian government forces, and Britain, which said Assad would be guilty of a war crime if his government was proved responsible. The U.N. envoy for Syria said the "horrific" chemical attack had come from the air. A U.S. intelligence official told Reuters the episode "has the fingerprints of a regime attack." In February, Russia, backed by China, cast its seventh veto to protect Assad's government from U.N. Security Council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the conflict. A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war had used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin. The OPCW said it had begun "gathering and analysing information from all available sources" about the suspected Khan Sheikhoun attack. Turkey, which backs the anti-Assad opposition, said the attack could derail Russian-backed diplomatic efforts to shore up a ceasefire. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said 15 people hurt in the attack, mostly women and children, had been taken to Turkey. TOXIC ARSENAL Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by anti-Assad rebels - both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and powerful Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Idlib's population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months as Assad has gained the upper hand in the war. The United States has also launched a spate of air strikes in Idlib this year, targeting jihadist insurgents. Following the 2013 attack, Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal, averting the threat of U.S.-led military intervention. Under the deal, Syria agreed to give up its toxic arsenal and surrendered 1,300 tonnes of toxic weapons and industrial chemicals to the international community for destruction. U.N.-OPCW investigators found, however, that it continued to use chlorine, which is widely available and hard to trace, in so-called barrel bombs dropped from helicopters. Chlorine is not a banned substance, but the use of any chemical is banned under 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Syria is a member. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Ercan Gurses and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Daren Butler in Istanbul, Robin Emmott in Brussels, John Irish in Paris, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Steve Holland, Mark Hosenball, Lesley Wroughton, Arshad Mohammed and Yara Bayoumy in Washington and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Andrew Roche and Peter Cooney)
Washington (AFP) - US lawmakers expressed disgust Tuesday over the suspected gas attack in Syria that killed dozens, with some urging President Donald Trump to challenge the regime in Damascus more forcefully.

The White House and US congressional leaders had yet to react to the alleged attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun, which if confirmed would be the latest in a series of chemical attacks in recent years blamed on the forces of strongman President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Islamic State.

But members of Congress spoke out, including House Republican Adam Kinzinger, who urged action be taken.

"Removing #Assad from power IS and MUST be a priority," he said on Twitter.

Senator John McCain, a Republican national security hawk who relentlessly criticized president Barack Obama for his Syria policy, attacked Trump's handling of the ongoing crisis in the war-ravaged nation.

He expressed exasperation about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who raised eyebrows last week when he said Assad's fate "will be decided by the Syrian people."

It was "one of the more incredible statements I've ever heard," McCain told CNN, warning that Assad and his Russian allies would be "encouraged" by Tillerson's words.

"It is another disgraceful chapter in American history and it was predictable," said McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and called on Obama and now Trump to back Syrian rebels more aggressively.

McCain has voiced concern that Trump's White House has yet to develop a cohesive foreign policy, but he has expressed confidence in the president's national security team.

Eliot Engel, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was "horrified" by the Syria attack but also pointed the finger at Trump's administration.

"Sadly, the Assad regime is likely feeling empowered right now," he said, noting Tillerson's remarks.

Senator John Kennedy, a freshman Republican, said "Assad is testing President Trump," and Washington needs to deliver "an appropriate response."

"We can't just do nothing," he told CNN. "We can't let Assad cross this line without having consequences."
Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

From Popular Mechanics

Last year, travel blogger Derek Low lit the internet on fire with wander-envy when he documented his $213 Amtrak trip across America, which covered 3,400 miles from San Francisco to New York. But the long-distance Amtrak lines that made this journey possible could be in serious trouble.

One of the cost-cutting measures in the Trump Administration's preliminary budget from March was to slash Department of Transportation funding by 13 percent. That would include a total elimination of funding for long-distance lines like the California Zephyr, which Low rode across the gorgeous American West.

There are all sorts of practical reasons to do this, of course. Amtrak's busiest line, and currently its only profitable one, is the Northeast Corridor that connects Boston to Washington D.C through big metros including New York and Philadelphia. That heavily trafficked line needs billions in repairs. Profits from there go to pay for other, less-trafficked railways.

Still, if you're a train romantic, it hurts to think some of these far-flung lines might be going away. Getty photographer Joe Raedle just took the trip himself:

Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

You Might Also Like
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will meet in a rematch June 17.

The light heavyweight stars announced an agreement Tuesday to fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) edged Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) by unanimous decision last Nov. 19 at T-Mobile Arena. Ward came back from a second-round knockdown to win the decision by 114-113 scores on all three judges' cards.

Ward claimed Kovalev's WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight belts in one of the most entertaining fights of the Olympic gold medalist's career.

But Ward had to rally in the second half of the pay-per-view bout, and many fans took issue with the judging. Kovalev thought he won the fight, and the Russian exercised a rematch clause in his contract.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A decision by the city of Berlin not to illuminate its most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, in the colours of the Russian flag to show solidarity with St Petersburg after an attack has provoked anger, with critics calling it a scandal. In the past after attacks in other countries, the city has beamed the colours of flags of France, Turkey, Britain and the Netherlands onto the Brandenburg Gate, which divided East and West Berlin in the Cold War. However, a spokesman for Berlin city government said the mayor had decided it would do this only in response to attacks in "partner cities". St Petersburg, where at least 14 people were killed in an attack on the metro on Monday, is not one. Critics argued that authorities lit up the Gate in rainbow colours last year after a gunman killed 49 people at a night club in Orlando, Florida, and also in the Israeli colours after an attack in Jerusalem. They are not partner cities. While lights at the Eiffel Tower in Paris will be switched off at midnight on Tuesday as a mark of respect for the victims of the St Petersburg attack, other European landmarks have been lit in their usual way. The head of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle's Russian service Ingo Mannteufel said the decision belittled victims of the St Petersburg attack at a time when the German government says it values the Russian people even if it disagrees with the Kremlin. "(The West) has a moral and political duty to show solidarity with the victims of terrorism in Russia. That the Brandenburg Gate was not illuminated in the Russian colours was therefore wrong, yes, it is even a scandal," he wrote. Andreas Petzold, publisher of German weekly Stern described the leaders of Berlin as "small-minded" in a tweet. German government relations with Moscow took a turn for the worse when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and have grown more complicated since the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's involvement in the war in Syria. However, some Germans who lived in Communist East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, learned the Russian language and travelled to the Soviet Union, still feel close to Moscow. "I get the nasty feeling that the bomb victims of Russia are being treated as if they are second class. That would be morally reprehensible and politically amateurish," said Frauke Petry, head of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD). (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
(WASHINGTON) - The Trump administrations failure to keep senior adviser Jared Kushners trip to Iraq secret isnt standard practice for top U.S. officials visiting warzones. Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security.

A senior administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner - President Donald Trumps son-in-law - was in Iraq, even though he was still en route. 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 cant plot attacks.

Its 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 arent clear on the map.

Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while theyre on the ground.

U.S. security details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure, trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.

Story continues

The choice of plane, too, is determined by danger level. In warzones, officials often fly more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Forces heavy C-17 transport plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper, corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from surface-to-air missiles.

Reporters cooperate, too. Those traveling with top leaders into conflict areas must keep the trip secret, with reports generally embargoed until landing. Restrictions can be tighter on rare occasions.

But these practices all are predicated on the administration not making the trip public prematurely.

Security should be prioritized over any publicity when it comes to matters of life and death in a warzone, Little said.

For the Trump administration, Kushners voyage marks the second time a secret trip hasnt gone as planned.

In February, the White House arranged for Trump to visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed a week earlier. In keeping with the practice of past White Houses, the trip wasnt announced. News organizations agreed not to report on the trip until after Trump arrived at the base.

But unlike past occurrences, Trump left the White House in broad daylight in Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, taking off in full view of pedestrians. The AP was forced to report that Trump had left the building.

For the last 15 years, as Republican and Democratic presidents and Cabinet members have traveled in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, media have largely adhered to the unwritten rules.

In 2003, when then-President George W. Bush secretly traveled to Iraq to see troops on Thanksgiving Day, about a dozen reporters accompanying him had to hand over their cellphones, pagers and other electronics upon boarding Air Force One. They couldnt file stories while Bush was on the ground, only after he left Iraqi airspace.

There have been occasional mistakes and misunderstandings. Host countries sometimes spill the beans and Cabinet members also slip up, though rarely with details about flights as theyre incoming.

Security incidents arent uncommon.

When Defense Secretary Panettas plane was taxiing after landing in Afghanistan in 2012, an Afghan contractor hijacked a white Toyota SUV and tried to run down senior Marine officers waiting on the ramp to welcome the Pentagon chief. The contractor then set himself aflame inside the vehicle, forcing the plane to taxi elsewhere on the runway to avoid the fire.

Officials said they didnt think the man knew about Panettas arrival.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
San Francisco (AFP) - AOL and Yahoo will be combined into a unit called "Oath" after telecom titan Verizon buys the pioneering internet firm, according to a tweet Monday by the AOL chief.

Confirmation of a new name for what the world has long known as Yahoo was tweeted from a verified @timarmstrongaol account after reports of the new name leaked in US media reports.

"Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017," the Twitter post read.

But the rebranding was greeted with derision by some on the Internet who mocked the name, including from one person who tweeted: "Oath is the name of the evil tech company in the sci-fi story you wrote in 7th grade."

Another Twitter user also made sport of the company's new name.

"Q: Is "Oath" Yahoo or AOL? A: Boath," read the tweet from the poster, who then doubled down on the gag.

"Q: What will determine success? A: Groawth," the tweet read.

A price cut early this year kept Verizon on track to consummate the purchase of Yahoo's internet business, and share the costs from a pair of epic hacks that threatened to derail the deal.

Yahoo slashed the price of its core internet business by $350 million.

Under revised terms of the delayed deal, Verizon's purchase of Yahoo assets will total $4.48 billion.

Yahoo announced in September that hackers in 2014 stole personal data from more than 500 million of its user accounts. And in December it admitted to another cyber attack from 2013 affecting more than a billion users.

The US Justice Department last month charged two Russian intelligence operatives and a pair of hackers over one of the largest cyber attacks in history, which had apparent twin goals of espionage and financial gain.

The Kremlin denied any official Russian involvement in cybercrimes after the US indicted two FSB intelligence agents over cyber attacks on Yahoo that compromised 500 million accounts.

Story continues

Under the terms of the revised acquisition agreement, Yahoo will continue to cover the cost of a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into the breaches as well as shareholder lawsuits.

However, other government investigations and third-party litigation related to the hacks will be shared by Verizon and Yahoo.

The deal with Verizon was expected to close by July, and will end Yahoo's run of more than 20 years as an independent company.

Yahoo is selling its main operating business as a way to separate that from its more valuable stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba, which will become a new entity, to be renamed Altaba, Inc., and will act as an investment company.

Yahoo boasted having more than a billion users monthly in 2016.

Yahoo's most recent earnings report showed the company swung to profit in the final three months of last year, after a massive $4.4 billion loss in the same period of 2015.

Yahoo reported a loss of $214 million for 2016 on revenue that inched up to $5.2 billion from $5 billion in 2015.

Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer will quit the company's board after the merger with Verizon that creates Oath, according to an SEC filing, though she is expected to remain with the core Yahoo business.
The Guvnor has expressed an interest in returning to the "Terminator" franchise, as long as "the story is written well and it really entertains the whole world."

"The Terminator franchise is never finished," actor and ex-Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, told movie ticket-selling business Fandango.

He also pointed out that franchise creator James Cameron, who wrote and directed 1984's "The Terminator" and 1991 sequel "Terminator 2," would soon regain control of its future:

"Remember that after 2018, James Cameron is getting it back, and then it will continue on!"

"I'm always looking forward to doing another Terminator, especially if the story is written well and it's really entertains the whole world."

Fifth film in the series, the timeline-splitting "Terminator Genisys," was released in 2015 and made $440m USD worldwide against a production budget of $155m.

Schwarzenegger was speaking ahead of the simultaneous release of "Aftermath," based on the 2002 mid-air collision above Uberlingen, Germany. Co-starring Scoot McNairy ("Gone Girl"), Maggie Grace ("Taken," "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn"), and Martin Donovan ("Legends of Tomorrow"), it releases April 7 in theaters and through Video on Demand services.

Director Elliott Lester previously steered "Nightingale" for HBO, which was nominated for an Emmy, while lead actor David Oyelowo won a Black Reel award and was likewise nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hengameh Shahidi knew the security agents were coming for her. An Iranian journalist and activist, she had been tipped off by contacts close to the government and prepared letters for her family to post on social media in case of her arrest, which happened on March 9. In a hand-written letter posted on Instagram two days later, Shahidi, 41, wrote that her arrest was part of a "project before the elections for the widespread arrest of political activists and journalists in order to secure votes for the candidate of their choice". When Iranians vote for president in May, the election will not only decide whether pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani can remain in power, it will also test his ability to protect his own supporters from a hardline state. Rouhani, 68, was elected in a landslide in 2013 on a promise to reduce Iran's international isolation and increase freedoms for its people. But Rouhani's ability to deliver on his promises is limited in a country where the power of the elected government is constrained by unelected hardline authorities. The Iranian judiciary has not announced any charges against Shahidi. She began a hunger strike immediately after her arrest, and her health situation has dramatically deteriorated in recent days. In a letter posted on Twitter last weekend Shahidi wrote that she can move around her cell only by crawling. She said she was only four or five days away from death. "If I die I won't accept any accusation or crime because I haven't done anything," she wrote. Since late December, at least 22 journalists and activists have been arrested, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based research and advocacy organization. Many are being kept in solitary confinement without access to their family or lawyers. "Its definitely related to elections," said Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, of the latest wave of arrests. "Almost all of the people who are being detained and interrogated are people who could have an active role in mobilizing the electorate to come out and vote, which would most likely be supporting Rouhanis re-election." About a dozen of those arrested have been administrators of pro-reformist channels on Telegram, a social media platform used by millions of Iranians. They were rounded up in mid-March, though some were subsequently released. Ghaemi said reformist Telegram channels had attracted the ire of the authorities after lobbying last year for voters to reject hardline candidates during elections for parliament and for the body that would select the successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The intelligence and security apparatus really took notice of the power of Telegram to connect people and mobilize them," Ghaemi said. He added: "They are cracking down on its impact during this election." "SUSPICIOUS ARRESTS" In a letter to Rouhani in mid-March, reported by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), four reformist lawmakers demanded the president explain who was behind the wave of arrests. "The real question", they wrote, is whether the body responsible for the arrests "is the ministry of intelligence or another, which, in any case, you must be the one to answer." Last week, Rouhani asked the minister of interior at a cabinet meeting to look into the suspicious arrests of a number of media activists, according to ISNA. In her letter written before her arrest, Shahidi compared the crackdown to the disputed 2009 presidential election which kept hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office for a second term. That vote led to the most widespread unrest since the founding of the Islamic Republic, with hundreds of people arrested and dozens killed. Ahmadinejad's reformist challengers, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since 2011 as Iran's two highest-profile political prisoners, and the inability of Rouhani to deliver their freedom is a disappointment for reformers who supported him in 2013. Shahidi, who wrote about domestic politics and women's rights issues as a journalist, worked for Karroubi as an advisor and was jailed for several months during the 2009 crackdown. Human rights activists say Rouhani's administration has been more focused on his mission to reduce Iran's international isolation and improve its economy than on securing domestic reform or freeing political prisoners. Rouhani's biggest achievement was a 2015 deal with Western powers that led to the lifting of most international financial sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. His government is focused now on demonstrating that the deal will bring economic benefits, which have so far been slow to arrive. "Rouhani hasnt been wiling to stand up for political freedom in fear that it might jeopardize his economic plans," said Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. She added: "Rouhani and his administration are not willing to stand up to hardliners at the price of confrontation." In early January, dozens of people gathered for a rare protest outside the Evin prison in Tehran to show solidarity with Arash Sadeghi, who had been on hunger strike for more than two months to protest against the arrest of his wife, a fellow activist. Videos of the protest were posted on YouTube. Meanwhile, Shahidi's health continues to deteriorate, according to her family. In a letter to Rouhani posted on Instagram in mid-March, she accused the president of failing to fulfill his promises. "You were supposed be a breath of air for the reformists after the suffocation of the Ahmadinejad days," Shahidi wrote. "Not to cut off their breath like Ahmadinejad, just to reach the presidency." (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Peter Graff)
Today in 5 Lines

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send Judge Neil Gorsuchs Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote, but it wont be easy: Senate Democrats have reached the 41 votes required to filibuster his confirmation, and if they do so, Republicans have hinted that theyll resort to the so-called nuclear optionchanging the rules to confirm Gorsuch with just a simple majority vote. President Trump praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisis leadership during a meeting at the White House. A spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and close adviser, is visiting Iraq to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria. At least 10 people were killed and 47 were wounded in explosions on a metro in St. Petersburg in what Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev labeled a terrorist attack.

Recommended: Susan Rice's Careful Dance on Trump Surveillance

Today on The Atlantic

Unfit to Serve?: Unlike his recent predecessors, Donald Trump doesn't seem to care about physical fitness. But, Stephanie Hayes writes: The sporting lives of past presidents have often been taken as symbols of their character and even their political beliefs.

Finding an Answer: Last month, a painting by a white artist depicting the 1955 open-casket funeral of Emmett Till rekindled the debate about cultural appropriation. Conor Friedersdorf spoke with a Cato Institute scholar about what constitutes cultural appropriation and whether engaging with it is wrong.

Americas First TV President: Recent commanders in chief have used television as a temporary escape from the pressures of the job, but none consumed as much television as Trump, or reacted as quickly or directly to what they were seeing. (Elaine Godfrey)

Follow stories throughout the day with our Politics & Policy portal.

Snapshot

A man lays flowers in memory of victims killed by a bomb blast in a subway train in St. Petersburg at the memorial stone with the word Leningrad (St. Petersburg) at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in front of the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. Pavel Golovkin / AP

Recommended: The Hasty Resurrection of the American Health Care Act

What Were Reading

Unmasking: Bloomberg reports that the former national-security adviser to President Obama, Susan Rice, requested the identities of U.S. citizens included in intelligence reports that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign. (Eli Lake)

A Tale of Two Nunes: The House Intelligence Committee chairman is at the center of a maelstrom of controversy over President Trumps wiretapping claims. But in his home district, his longtime constituents greet Nunes difficulties with a shrug, their faith in him undiminished. (Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times)

Welcome to Bernie TV: Since his presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders has become a content marketers dream, garnering a viral-level following among 18-34 year olds. Now, that star power will be brought to Facebook Live for Sanderss own talk show. (Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC)

Americas Alternate Reality: If you think the postfactual world is a recent development, then you should see how Hugo Chavez was and is still mourned in Venezuela, writes Andres Miguel Rondon. Heres how his upbringing in Venezuela compares to what he is now witnessing in Trumps America. (Politico)

Tribalism Spreads to D.C.: Once gridlocked by inter-party disputes, the nations capital has now become schisms within the parties, and in some cases schisms within the schisms. Gerald F. Seib breaks down the five tribes and where they stand. (The Wall Street Journal)

Recommended: The Silence of Rex Tillerson

Visualized

A Winning Mindset: After a disastrous general election, Democrats are hoping to shake things up in the 2018 midterms. There are 30 Republican-held seats they would like to win and nine Democrat-occupied ones they need to protect. View this list to see the most up-for-grabs seats. (New York)

Question of the Week

After the election, Donald Trump pledged to donate his annual presidential salary to charity. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced that Trump chose to give away his first-quarter salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service to be spent on the upkeep of Americas historic battlefields. Spicer said the president was presented with a number of options before coming to his decision. If you could suggest one option for potential future donations, what would it beand why?

Send your answers to hello@theatlantic.com and our favorites will be featured in Fridays Politics & Policy Daily.

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) and Candice Norwood (@cjnorwoodwrites)

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
A man wounded in a gunbattle at a Cincinnati nightclub that killed his close friend and hurt 16 people was a victim, not the assailant police allege him to be, and his family will fight to clear his name in the wake of his death Tuesday, their attorney said.

Deondre Davis, 29, had been hospitalized and on a ventilator after the shooting at the crowded Cameo club two weekends ago. He died early Tuesday after being taken off life support, attorney Carl Lewis said.

Davis' relatives don't believe the father of five young children was responsible for the shooting and blame a "rush to judgment" following the violence, Lewis said.

"Because he has children, the last thing they want to have is that he be remembered by this community as a murder suspect in a horrific shooting," Lewis told The Associated Press.

A spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor said the office had no immediate comment after Davis' death.

The gunfight killed Davis' good friend O'Bryan Spikes, 27, as they were out celebrating another person's birthday, Lewis said. He said Davis and Spikes knew the other man charged with murder in the case, 27-year-old Cornell Beckley.

Beckley pleaded not guilty and is being held on a bond of $1.7 million. His attorney, Clyde Bennett II, has called the charge "a product of public outcry, social appeasement and politics" and said Beckley denies the shooting allegation.

Police have said more arrests are possible.

The gunbattle occurred when a dispute escalated into violence while an estimated 200 people were in the club near the Ohio River east of downtown Cincinnati, police said. In 911 recordings, one woman pleading for help for a victim said there was "blood everywhere."

The mayor has said most of the injured were innocent bystanders.

The club has since closed.
BALTIMORE (AP)  Baltimore's mayor and police commissioner say they want to transform law enforcement in a city that became emblematic of police abuses, excessive force and callous treatment of young black men.

But after the Justice Department signaled it may abandon its efforts to help that reform, city officials fear they will be left with little money or political backing to repair the fractured relationship between police and citizens.

On Tuesday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said he has already implemented some reforms outlined in a proposed agreement with the federal government, including updating the department's use-of-force policy, outfitting officers with body-worn cameras and doubling the hours of mandatory training.

But Davis said the department needs the court's mandate to ensure continued funding for reform efforts so officers can get the training, equipment and resources they need to improve.

"There's no backroom deals. There's no sleight of hand. I am telling you: I want this consent decree. It will make the city better, and it'll make our relationships with the community better," Davis said.

Newly minted Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicated on Monday that his Justice Department will review existing consent decrees in order to determine whether they would hamper efforts to combat violence crime.

The Justice Department asked the judge overseeing Baltimore's consent decree to postpone a hearing scheduled for Thursday for 90 days. Davis and Mayor Catherine Pugh were quick to say they oppose the request, and are anxious to move forward.

"It's a punch in the gut to the community, certainly to me, and to the men and women of this police department," Davis said.

Gene Ryan, the president of the Baltimore police union, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

They mayor said the city has set aside some money for improvements, and while it's "not nearly enough," it's "enough to get things moving."

Story continues

The proposed consent decree in Baltimore comes after the Justice Department released a scathing report last year detailing longstanding patterns racial profiling and excessive force within the city's police force. The review was prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken in the back of a transport wagon, and whose death roiled the city.

Since Gray's death, the homicide rate in Baltimore has continued to rise, and the city has struggled to rid the police department of corruption. Recently, seven officers were accused of turning off their body cameras, making unlawful arrests and robbing citizens of cash and jewelry. At a news conference announcing the charges, Davis called the indictments "part of the messy business of reform."

Davis spent 20 years with the Prince George's County Police Department, which signed on to a consent decree in 2004. Five years later, the department was released from the agreement after implementing significant reforms that included installing video recorders in police cars and improving its system of reviewing police shootings.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into that department in 1999, after several people were attacked by police dogs. The following year, the Justice Department expanded its investigation to include broader allegations of excessive force.

Davis said without the consent decree, the Baltimore Police Department wouldn't be able to accomplish necessary reforms "at the pace we need to achieve," he said.

"The reforms are coming, no matter what," he said. "But the reforms that cost money, require budgetary commitments, require technology commitments, require training commitments, they are the things that consent decrees really mandate. They hold our feet to the fire and they don't expire when Kevin Davis is no longer the commissioner. They live on over time."
Long before the common bed bug terrorized apartments and ruined perfectly good sheets, their relatives were wreaking havoc in caves.

A site in southern Oregon, which contains some of North America's oldest preserved evidence of human activity, was also once home to the bed bug's not-too-distant cousins, archeologists found.

Remains in caves near Paisley, Oregon, are likely the oldest specimens ever found from the genus Cimex. The insects range between 5,100 and 11,000 years old, according to an upcoming study in the Entomological Society of America's Journal of Medical Entomology.

SEE ALSO: These slo-mo videos of mosquitos in flight will soothe the fear out of you

These blood-sucking bugs weren't the same species as the "bed bug we all know and love from hotel rooms," said Martin Adams, a co-author on the study who runs Paleoinsect Research, a consulting company in Portland.

Very-distant relatives of common bed bugs.

Image: Brian Kersey/Getty Images

Instead, the species found in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves  including Cimex pilosellus, Cimex latipennis, and Cimex antennatus  are all parasites of bats, Adams said in a news release.

Prior to this study, the oldest known remains of Cimex insects were 3,500 years old. Archeologists uncovered the fossilized insects from Egypt's ancient Tel-el-Amarna site in 1999.

Given that the Oregon insects are thousands of years older than the Egypt fossils, Adams and his co-author Dennis Jenkins said their findings raise new questions about how "cimids" have, or haven't, interacted with humans in the past.

Human-biting bed bugs, including Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus, weren't found in the Oregon dig. Scientists widely believe these bugs adapted to that role thousands of years ago, back when humans and bats coexisted in caves in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Dead bed bugs on a paper towel.

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The three Cimex cousins found in Oregon are only known to bite bats. Adams said it's not clear why they never made the leap from bats to humans, though he's searching for the archeological answers.

Story continues

The discovery may also provide new clues as to what the climate was like in the area way back when, he said. The Cimex antennatus, for instance, tends to favor the warmer climates of California and Nevada, not the cooler, wetter climate of the Pacific Northwest.

"The presence of warm-tolerant cimicids in the caves ... may suggest that climatic conditions at Paisley Caves 5,100 years ago were similar to what Cimex antennatus enjoys today in its current range," Adams said in the news release.

WATCH: Wasp versus huntsman spider
Bella Hadid is no stranger to magazine covers and interviews, but it's not every day we get to hear something new from the fashion darling.

The 20-year-old model graces the latest cover of Porter magazine, where she shares a bit about her father's history and speaks about her own faith for the first time.

SEE ALSO: Gigi and Bella Hadid spotted protesting Trump's immigration ban

A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Mar 21, 2017 at 8:54am PDT

"My dad was a refugee when he first came to America, so it's actually very close to home for my sister and brother and me," Hadid said in the interview. "He was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim."

Bella and Gigi's father is notable real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, who according to Page Six was born in Nazareth and lived in the Middle East before coming to America at age 14.

The sisters were seen together protesting President Donald Trump's Muslim ban in January, holding a sign that read, "We are all Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, Christians, Jews."

January 29: #GigiHadid and #BellaHadid at the #NoBanNoWall march in New York City. A photo posted by Hadid News (@hadidnews) on Jan 29, 2017 at 3:21pm PST

"I come from a really diverse background. I've had incredible experiences all over the world and I've learned that we're all just people, and we all deserve respect and kindness," she explained while speaking with Elle earlier this year.

"We shouldn't treat people as if they don't deserve kindness just because of their ethnicities. It's just not right," she said. "And that messageto be compassionate whenever possiblethat's so important to me."

WATCH: Airbnb wants you to wear this ring until LGBTQ people can get married
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  A program to provide direct funds to Serbian Holocaust survivors all over the world has been launched in Serbia, an international Jewish group said Tuesday.

The program results from a law passed last year in Serbia allowing for the restitution to the Jewish community of heirless and unclaimed Jewish property seized during the Holocaust, the World Jewish Restitution Organization said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of Serbian Jews perished during Nazi occupation of the Balkan country during World War II.

The law envisions the Serbian government paying 950,000 euros ($1 million) per year for 25 years to the Federation of Jewish Communities. For at least the first 10 years, one-fifth of the money will be set aside for direct payments to Holocaust survivors, the World Jewish Restitution Organization said.

"This is a historic step to provide compassion and a measure of justice to Serbian Holocaust survivors more than 70 years after the Nazis declared Serbia free of Jews," WJRO Chair of Operations Gideon Taylor said.

The first payments are just starting, and the organization has been reaching out to 1,000 survivors who now live in 27 countries around the world, including Serbia, Taylor told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"It's a powerful symbol, it is a symbol of recognition of history, it is recognition that many Jews perished in the Holocaust in Serbia and that there are survivors alive today who are acknowledged through this modest compensation payment," Taylor said.

Taylor praised Serbia's willingness to tackle the issue of heirless and unclaimed Jewish property, urging other countries to follow the example.

"The fact that Serbian survivors are living in so many countries is significant," he added. "It emphasizes how global is this issue."

WJRO's statement said the survivors can apply by the end of July for the direct payments.

Some 3,000 Jews live in Serbia today.
By Allegresse Sasse PORTO NOVO (Reuters) - Benin's parliament narrowly rejected a draft bill by President Patrice Talon on Tuesday for a referendum to reform the constitution, including a provision to reduce presidential terms from the current two to one. Talon came to power a year ago, promising to reduce the term limit because he said two terms were a cause of "complacency". Benin presidents can currently serve two five-year stints, and the bill wanted to shrink that to one six-year mandate. Talon's efforts to reduce term limits after a year in office contrasts with some other African leaders, including in Rwanda, Congo Republic and Burundi, who have scrapped them to stay in power. His peaceful election last year was seen as reinforcing the democratic credentials of the tiny nation in a West African region where polls are often marred by violence, intimidation and rigging. Lawmakers voted 60 to 22 in favor of the bill, with one abstention, but it needed 63 out of the total of 83 available votes to be passed and go to a referendum. Those who voted against the changes said there should have been a public debate. "The people don't want this," lawmaker Orou Kate told parliament. "The president needs to scrap this bill and go back to consult the population." (Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by John Stonestreet)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - More than 200,000 Berlin residents have signed a petition to demand a referendum on keeping the city's Tegel airport operating after the German capital's new airport opens. Tegel, a concrete hexagonal hub built in the 1970s, was meant to close once a much-delayed new airport opened southeast of Berlin. But critics say the new airport will be too small to meet passenger demand even when it opens, possibly in 2018. The petition, backed by the pro-business Free Democrat (FDP) party and its campaign "Berlin Needs Tegel", has gathered about 30,000 more signatures than needed to secure a vote, Berlin election official Petra Michaelis-Merzbach said on Tuesday. A referendum is most likely when Germans go to the polls for a national election on Sept. 24, unless the Berlin parliament approves keeping Tegel open based on the petition alone. Tegel, in the northwest, and Berlin's other airport, Schoenefeld in the southeast, served 33 million passengers last year. The capacity of the new Brandenberg Airport, whose opening has been pushed back from January 2017, will be 27 million. Schoenefeld may continue operating for a few years after the Brandenberg airport opens. Many Berliners appreciate Tegel, whose carriers include Air Berlin and British Airways, because it is just 8 km (5 miles) from the city center and a public transport ticket to reach there costs only 2.70 euros ($2.87). "Citizens of Berlin ... have recognized how important the continued operation of Tegel airport is for our city," Sebastian Czaja, secretary general of the FDP in Berlin, said in a statement. Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, which flies from Schoenefeld, wants Tegel to stay open as it expands in Berlin. "Other European capitals such as London or Paris each have a number of competing airports and capacity of 130 million and 110 million respectively, and Berlin will continue to be left behind," Ryanair Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said last month. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Edmund Blair)
(ST. PETERSBURG, Russia) - A bomb blast tore through a subway train in Russias second-largest city Monday, killing 14 people and injuring about 40 as President Vladimir Putin visited the city, authorities said. Hours later, police found an unexploded device in one of St. Petersburgs busiest subway stations, sending a wave of anguish and fear through Putins hometown.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack Monday, but Russian trains and planes have been targeted repeatedly by Islamic militants, mostly connected to the insurgency in Chechnya and other Caucasus republics. The last confirmed attack was in October 2015 when Islamic State militants downed a Russian airliner heading from an Egyptian resort, killing all 224 people on board.

The Dec. 25 crash of a Russian plane carrying Red Army Choir members near the southern city of Sochi is widely believed to have been due to a bomb, but no official cause has been stated for the crash that killed 92 people.

The blast Monday hit the St. Petersburg train it traveled between stations about 2:20 p.m. The driver chose to continue on to the next station, Technological Institute, a decision praised by Russias Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger that passengers would die by trying to walk along the subways electrified tracks.

After a few hours of differing casualty tolls, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said 10 people died from the blast. City health authorities said 43 others were hospitalized.

Witnesses said the blast spread panic among passengers, who ran toward the exits of the station, which is 40 meters (130 feet) underground.

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 at us to run for the exit and everyone ran. Everyone was panicking.

The entire St. Petersburg subway system, which serves some 2 million riders a day, was shut down and evacuated. Russias National Anti-Terrorist Committee said security was immediately tightened at all of the countrys key transportation sites, and Moscow officials said that included the subway in the Russian capital.

Story continues

Putin, speaking Monday on television from Constantine Palace in the city, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion on the train was a terror attack or if it had some other cause. He offered his condolences to the families of those killed.

Within two hours of the blast, Russia authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at a separate busy St. Petersburg subway 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 from which most trains to Moscow depart.

Russian law enforcement agencies confirmed the Vosstaniya Square device was rigged with shrapnel and the Interfax news agency said it contained up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives.

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!

St. Petersburg, Russias second-largest city with over 5 million residents, is the countrys most popular tourist destination but was no immediate information on whether any foreigners were among the victims Monday.

Nataliya Maksimova, who was running late for a dentist appointment, entered the subway near the explosion site shortly after the blast.

If I hadnt been running late, I could have been there, she told The Associated Press.

Putin was in St. Petersburg on Monday to meet 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.

Russian transport facilities have been the target of previous terror attacks.

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 the attack by two female suicide bombers, warning Russian leaders that the war is coming to their cities.

A Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train was also bombed on Nov. 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and some 100 injured. Umarovs group also said he ordered this attack.

Russian airports have also been hit by attacks. On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber blew himself up at Moscows 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.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
SAN DIEGO (AP)  One potential bidder on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico wanted to know if authorities would rush to help if workers came under "hostile attack." Another asked if employees can carry firearms in states with strict gun control laws and if the government would indemnify them for using deadly force.

With bids due Tuesday on the first design contracts, interested companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative job.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details haven't been made public said four to 10 bidders are expected to be chosen to build prototypes.

They will be constructed on a roughly quarter-mile (400-meter) strip of federally owned land in San Diego within 120 feet (37 meters) of the border, though a final decision has not been made on the precise spot, the official said. The government anticipates spending $200,000 to $500,000 on each prototype.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

The process for bids and prototypes are preliminary steps for a project that will face deep resistance in Congress and beyond.

Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall, but he has since requested that Congress approve billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds. Democrats vow to oppose any wall funding, and many Republicans are also wary of his plans for a massive brick-and-mortar barrier.

The Border Patrol and local police would establish a buffer zone around the construction site if necessary, the U.S. official said. The San Diego police and sheriff's departments said Monday they will respect constitutional rights to free speech and assembly for any peaceful, law-abiding protesters.

Enrique Morones, executive director of Border Angels, said his group plans to protest.

"There will be a lot of different activity  protests, prayer vigils  on both sides of the wall," said Morones, whose immigrant advocacy group is based in San Diego. "We pray and hope that they're peaceful."

Story continues

Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga, chief executive of The Penna Group LLC, a general contractor in Fort Worth, Texas, said he has received about a dozen death threats since publicly expressing interest in bidding, including one from a woman who told him she hired a private investigator to trail him.

Evangelista-Ysasaga said he bid in part because he wants broad immigration reform. Securing the border, he said, is a prerequisite for granting a path to citizenship to millions in the U.S. illegally.

"We didn't enter this lightly," he said. "We looked at it and said we have to be a productive part of the solution."

Building a wall on the Mexican border was a cornerstone of Trump's presidential campaign and a flashpoint for his detractors. The multibillion-dollar project along the 2,000-mile border has many outspoken critics, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, which said last week that Mexican companies expressing interest were betraying their country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that it would pick multiple contractors to build prototypes by around June 1 and will name only the winning bidders. The agency said last month that the prototypes should be about 30 feet (9 meters) long and 18 to 30 feet (5.5 to 9 meters) high.

The winning bidders must submit a security plan with details including "'fall back positions, evacuation routines and methods, muster area, medical staff members/availability, number of security personnel, qualifications, years of experience, etc. in the event of a hostile attack," according to the solicitation. A chain-link fence with barbed wire around the construction site is required. The agency said it won't provide security.

Bidders are also asked to demonstrate experience "executing high-profile, high-visibility and politically contentious" projects.

The agency, responding to questions from companies on a website for government contractors, said the Border Patrol would respond as needed if there is a hostile attack, but companies were responsible for security. The government won't allow waivers from state gun laws or indemnify companies whose workers use deadly force.

The website for contractors lists more than 200 companies that signed up for email notifications on the design contract but it's unclear how many of those will apply. Bidders must have done border security or similar projects worth $25 million in the past five years to qualify.

Ronald Colburn, Border Patrol deputy chief when hundreds of miles of fences were built under President George W. Bush's administration, said companies should plan on training workers to know when to seek cover and stay put and when to retreat.

"Most of those organizations are probably fairly accustomed to that," said Colburn, who retired in 2009. "Some of them may be learning for the first time, that kind of risk at the borders."
A 13-year-old Ohio boy died of a suspected heroin overdose after getting into a stash of drugs that allegedly belonged to his father, who has been jailed in a previous drug-related case, authorities said.

Nathan Wylie was left with no brain activity and on life support after his dad and a co-worker discovered him unconscious on March 28 at a mechanics lot in Dayton, relatives and officials said.

The pair managed to carry the teen to a fire station next door and allegedly indicated that Nathan had gotten into his fathers drugs, WHIO-TV reported.

Medics reportedly administered four milligrams of Narcan to no avail, and Nathan was rushed to a nearby hospital because he was not breathing.

He died Saturday at the hospital.

Read: 9-Year-Old Girl Saves Her Parents' Lives From Heroin Overdose By Calling 911

"His life has been tragically cut short," a woman who identified herself as Nathans aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page created to raise money for his burial. "The family was not prepared for such a tragedy and one thing that we can give Nathan is a resting place for his family to visit him."

Police said that they were interviewing witnesses and waiting on the coroners toxicology report to determine what drugs the boy accessed and how.

It could take up to eight weeks for the toxicology report to be completed, officials said.

The boy's father, 40-year-old Robert Wylie, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment.

Though he was technically released on March 30 in connection to the overdose case, he remained in custody at the Montgomery County Jail for a December drug possession arrest, officials said.

Police in December said they found Wylie with a needle, syringe, heroin and crack cocaine during a traffic stop of his girlfriend, according to a report.

He had been charged with possession of heroin, possession of cocaine and advertising and possessing in that case, online records show. That case is pending in court.

Story continues

Cops had previously found drug paraphernalia in the boys home, when another minor who then lived there sent a picture of a bag of white power and a razor blade on a plate to a relative, according to WHIO-TV.

Read: Why Children Are Being Taught How to Save People From a Heroin Overdose

That photo made its way to the police.

Officers later found two crack pipes and a capped needle in the home, the TV station reported.

At the time, Wylie and his girlfriend reportedly were arrested for child endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia and drug abuse instruments.

Watch: Puppy Found in Locked Car Barely Breathing After Overdosing on Heroin: Cops

Related Articles:
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Brazil's top electoral court has postponed the judgment phase of a trial over illegal campaign finance that could lead to President Michel Temer's removal from office.

The court voted Tuesday to allow more testimony. That could give Temer time to replace two judges whose terms on the seven-member court are expiring.

The court has been investigating allegations of illegal campaign finance during the 2014 elections when Temer ran as vice president with Dilma Rousseff, who won the presidency.

Rousseff was impeached last year and removed from office for mismanaging the federal budget. Temer replaced her as president.

The Rousseff-Temer electoral ticket would be annulled if the court finds their campaign guilty of illegalities. Temer would then be forced from office, although he could appeal.

Rousseff and Temer have denied wrongdoing.
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court was to meet Tuesday on whether to invalidate the 2014 presidential election because of illegal campaign funding and to force President Michel Temer to step aside.

The court, known as the TSE, could in theory scrap the results of the election, forcing either a snap election or for Congress to pick a new interim leader in Latin America's biggest country.

This would be a bombshell for a country already wallowing in two years of recession and the fallout from the massive "Car Wash" corruption investigation.

Analysts say there is little chance of this, however, with Temer likely to keep his seat until regularly scheduled polls at the end of 2018.

The issue dates back to 2014 when Temer was vice president on the winning ticket of leftist Dilma Rousseff's reelection to the presidency. Last year, Rousseff was removed in an impeachment vote and Temer took over the top job.

Temer and Rousseff are now accused -- as are swaths of other politicians caught up in the Car Wash probe -- of taking undeclared campaign funds or bribes from corrupt donors. The TSE's job is to rule on whether the election was fatally compromised.

Both Temer and his former partner on the presidential ticket deny any wrongdoing.

Deliberations were to begin Tuesday and end on Thursday.

Brazilian media report that the judge overseeing the case, Herman Benjamin, will recommend that the full panel impose sanctions against Rousseff and Temer, with new elections.

However, Temer's center-right PMDB party and allied parties control Congress and they have the backing of big business. Following the Rousseff impeachment, there is little appetite for yet another abrupt change of president just when economic reforms are underway.

One way of kicking the can down the road would be if defense lawyers succeed in asking for more time to answer the case. A judge on the court may also decide he needs more time to study the huge quantity of evidence.

Story continues

Another option is that the court could decide that Rousseff and Temer did take illegal donations but that the evidence does not support annulling their victory. It is also possible that the court will rule to scrap Rousseff's victory, while finding Temer not guilty and able to carry on.

"There's total calm. The president has time on his side, because there are many legal options," said a government source, who asked not to be named.

Since he took over, Temer has been plagued by rock-bottom approval ratings and a wave of corruption allegations against his close allies.

Despite his unpopularity, Temer says he will push through far-reaching austerity reforms to fix the broken budget and serve out the rest of Rousseff's original term until 2018.
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil on Tuesday sternly criticized Israel's approval for renewed large-scale settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

"The settlements in (Palestinian territory) are illegal and amount to an obstacle for the two-state solution and for a fair and lasting peace," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Brazil reiterated its position in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state so that "Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security."

Brazil recognized the Palestinian state in 2010 and recalled its ambassador from Israel in 2014 in protest at "disproportionate" force used by the Jewish state in the Gaza Strip.

Tension also flared in 2015 when Brazil refused to accept Israel's choice of ambassador, Danny Dayan, a former settler leader. In January of this year, Israel backed down and nominated another ambassador.

The Israeli cabinet gave unanimous backing this month to the first officially sanctioned new settlement in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  A top soap opera star in Brazil on Tuesday apologized for sexually harassing a female colleague on set, doing an about-face after days of claiming the woman was confusing his villainous character with reality.

In an open letter Tuesday, Jose Mayer acknowledged treating fashion stylist Susllem Tonani inappropriately.

"I was mistaken in what I did, what I said and what I thought," he wrote. "I am a product of a generation that learned, incorrectly, that sexist and abusive attitudes can be camouflaged as jokes."

In a blog post last week, Tonani, 28, accused 67-year-old Mayer of sexually harassing her. Tonani said that the abuse included touching her inappropriately while on set of Globo TV soap opera "Law of Love."

Tonani wrote that Mayer "placed his left hand on my genitalia" and would say to her, "I stare at your butt and imagine your breasts," among other offensive comments.

Mayer, who has a wife and daughter and has appeared in dozens of internationally known soap operas, initially denied the accusations. He told local media in interviews over the weekend that Tonani had confused the villainous character he was playing in the soap opera with reality.

Those denials were met with indignation, and on Monday Globo suspended Mayer indefinitely and removed him from the cast of a new soap opera that began airing this week.

Latin America's largest nation has long struggled with sexual harassment and domestic violence. Brazilian soap operas, known for their larger-than-life characters and unbelievable plots, are often translated into other languages and viewed around the world, particularly in Latin America.

On Tuesday, Globo actresses and staff shared photos on social media wearing T-shirts in support of Tonani.

"Mess with one, mess with all. #EnoughHarrassment," read the shirts.

In a statement Tuesday, Globo said it "rejects all and any form of disrespect, violence or discrimination," and that the matter was being dealt with.

Story continues

The network also apologized to Tonani and said it regretted that the harassment had occurred in her workplace.

___

Follow Renata Brito: https://www.twitter.com/renatabrito91
Paris (AFP) - A giant waterfall tens of kilometres (miles) wide broke down a ridge which connected modern-day England to mainland Europe nearly half a million years ago, unleashing a mega-flood that gouged out the Channel and created the island of Britain, scientists said Tuesday.

In an intricate piece of detective work, an international team of geologists said they had answered a puzzle that has gripped their profession for more than a century.

Their sleuthing focuses on an ice age some 450,000 years ago, when much of the northern hemisphere was covered by a thick glacial slab and sea levels were far lower than they are today.

The hypothetical picture of that epoch is of a Channel that was dry, cold and tundra-like.

It rose to a ridge of chalky rock that joined Britain and mainland Europe at what is now the Strait of Dover.

The scientists, writing in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that a mighty lake, fed by continental rivers, built up in the southern North Sea between the edge of the ice cap and this escarpment.

The lake started to spill over the ridge, creating a waterfall some 32 kilometres (20 miles) wide and 100 metres (330 feet) high, and disgorging into a valley far below.

The cascade eroded the crest of the dam, and eventually the wall cracked and collapsed, resulting in a tsunami that gouged out what is now the Channel.

- Geological Brexit -

The event had a huge impact on history, shaping early human settlement in Britain and the wars, trade, society and culture that followed.

"The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity even today," said Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London, who co-authored the paper.

"When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland," he said.

"Without this dramatic breaching, Britain would still be part of Europe. This is Brexit 1.0 -- the Brexit nobody voted for."

Story continues

The idea that a glacial lake made the Channel was first aired a century ago, but struggled to make headway.

The new study, though, finds fresh evidence to back the theory. In particular, it gives the nod to a marine geologist named Alec Smith, who in 1985 suggested the mega-flood was triggered by a waterfall -- an idea that was soon forgotten.

The big clue comes from gigantic holes discovered in the bedrock of the Channel -- strange indentations up to several kilometres across and 100 metres (yards) deep, and filled with gravel and soft sand sediment.

They were found by accident in the 1960s and 1970s, when engineers drilled test holes in the sea floor as part of exploratory work for the Channel Tunnel.

In fact, the sediment was so loose that the engineers deemed that these holes were too dangerous to tunnel, and as a result the route of the Channel Tunnel was changed.

- 'Plunge pools' -

The scientists believe that these holes are so-called plunge pools -- chambers that are typically chiselled out in river beds beneath large waterfalls.

Eventually, the holes can become so big that they cause the waterfall cliff to become unstable and collapse.

Using new sonar scanning of the sea floor and a technique called seismic reflection, which uses pulses of energy to discern different rock formations, the team found that seven of these giant holes form a remarkable straight line, running from the ports of Calais to Dover -- the edge of the theorised ridge.

They also saw evidence of an ancient giant valley on the Channel floor, the signs of a massive outpouring.

The initial breach of the dam was followed by a second big event, possibly caused by a spillover of other, smaller lakes, the study suggests.

But the timeline of the two events remains unclear, and they possibly occurred hundreds of thousands of years apart.

Without this stroke of geological fate, Britain would have remained attached to the continent, rather like Denmark juts out into the sea from the European mainland, the scientists say.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP)  British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to strengthen bilateral ties and increase trade with the largest Arab economy as it continues to spend heavily on defense and an ongoing war in Yemen.

The prime minister arrived in the OPEC powerhouse following talks in the neighboring kingdom of Jordan.

The British government said May will emphasize her country's close partnership with Saudi Arabia, including on counterterrorism cooperation. Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, May noted that intelligence received in the past from Saudi Arabia saved potentially hundreds of lives in the UK.

She kicked off her Riyadh visit by meeting with Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism czar, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is also Interior Minister overseeing a vast array of security forces. The official Saudi Press Agency said the two discussed regional conflicts and "joint cooperation to combat extremism and fight terrorism."

Drawing mixed reactions on social media, British Prime Minister Theresa May did not wear a headscarf during her visit as most Saudi women do. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama also declined to wear headscarves during visits to the country.

Ahead of her visit to Saudi Arabia, May pointed to the "immense potential for Saudi investment to provide a boost to the British economy." Energy-rich countries in the Gulf have made high-profile purchases in and around London in recent years, including several iconic properties.

Saudi Arabia, specifically, is Britain's largest Mideast trading partner, with British exports of goods and services to the kingdom topping 6.5 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) in 2015.

Those exports include arms sales, which have drawn criticism from activists who say May should do more to pressure Saudi Arabia on its human rights record.

Saudi Arabia is among the world's largest spenders on defense and one of the top buyers of UK defense equipment.

Story continues

Numerous rights groups have called on the UK, as well as the U.S. and France, to halt the sale of weapons and military equipment being used by Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Iranian allied rebels known as Houthis for two years, but has not been able to seize the capital and other territories under Houthi control.

The UK backs the coalition with technical support, precision-guided bombs and intelligence sharing.

The UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade says the British government has licensed over 3.3 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since March 2015, when Saudi Arabia began its bombing campaign in Yemen. This includes licenses for aircraft, helicopters, drones, grenades, bombs, missiles, tanks and armored vehicles.

The war has killed at least 4,770 civilians and wounded more than 8,200 according to the U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The figure reflects those deaths and injuries that the U.N. Human Rights Office has managed to corroborate and confirm to be civilians.

The U.N. says in March alone, more than 100 civilians were killed, mostly by airstrikes and shelling by Saudi coalition warships. Additionally, some 21 million Yemenis, roughly 82 percent of the population, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson expressed his regret to Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after an activist in London tried to make a citizen's arrest on a prominent Saudi general who frequently appears in the media to defend the kingdom's war in Yemen.

Also, UK-based human rights organization Reprieve has called on May to raise the case of three prisoners arrested as minors in 2012 and who were sentenced to death on charges related to Arab Spring-style protests among minority Shiites demanding greater rights.

___

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May waded into a row Tuesday over the commercialisation of Easter, after the Church of England accused a major charity of "airbrushing faith" from its chocolate egg hunts.

May said it was "absolutely ridiculous" that the National Trust, which runs parks and stately homes across Britain, had allowed sponsor Cadbury to promote its chocolate egg hunts at their sites without reference to the Christian festival.

"I'm not just a vicar's daughter -- I'm a member of the National Trust as well. I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous," the prime minister told Britain's ITV News while on a trip to Jordan.

"Easter's very important. It's important to me. It's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world."

Her comments came after the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper that the move was "tantamount to spitting on the grave" of chocolate maker Cadbury's founder, John Cadbury, a Quaker.

A Church of England spokesman also told the paper that advertising materials for the egg hunts were "airbrushing faith from Easter".

The National Trust owns or manages large swathes of the British countryside, from coastlines to historic buildings and parks -- and each year it holds family-friendly egg hunts over the Easter long weekend.

This year's campaign is called the "Cadbury Egg Hunt", although the chocolate maker pointed out that other marketing materials urge children to "Enjoy Easter Fun".

A Cadbury spokeswoman said: "It is simply not true to claim that we have removed the word 'Easter' from our marketing and communication materials."

The National Trust, for its part, said: "It's nonsense to suggest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year."

Meanwhile Hampton Court Palace, one of several royal palaces run by a separate charity, is holding a "Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt" as part of its "Easter family fun".
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has railed against the omission of the word Easter from an annual egg hunt organized by chocolate maker Cadbury and charity the National Trust, condemning it as absolutely ridiculous.

Cadbury-which is owned by American multinational Mondelez-and the National Trust rebranded the name of the event from Easter Egg Trail to the Great British Egg Hunt. Both organizers do however refer to Easter in their promotional advertising for the annual hunt, which is held in around 250 National Trust sites in Britain.

I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous, May - a committed Christian - told ITV News on Tuesday during a visit to Amman, Jordan. I dont know what they are thinking about frankly. Easters very important... Its a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.

The change to the hunts title also prompted Church leaders on Monday to accuse Cadbury of airbrushing faith from the chocolate hunt. To drop Easter from Cadburys Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury, Archbishop of York John Sentamu, told the Telegraph of the confectioners Quaker founder, John Cadbury.

The National Trust denied it was downplaying Easter. Its spokesperson told the BBC that the word Easter is mentioned dozens of times on their website. [Cadbury] proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadburys will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns, the National Trust said.

Cadbury said in a statement that the phrase Easter has been used in its marketing for over 100 years and they will continue to do so in our current campaigns...We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
After heated debate, the California Senate passed a so-called sanctuary state bill on Monday. While many Republicans argued that the bill would lead to dangerous criminals being let loose on the streets - warning that the measure would draw the ire of President Donald Trump - Democrats said that California had to take a stand in defense of hardworking immigrants that have become part of the countrys cultural and economic backbones.

The bill, formally known as Senate Bill 54, would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to investigate, detain, report or arrest persons for the purposes of immigration enforcement.

The Senate voted 27 to 12 along party lines to pass the measure, which will next be considered by the state Assembly before possibly going to the governors desk. California cannot be intimidated by threats from Trump to deny sanctuary jurisdictions of federal funds, said state Sen. Kevin de Leon, the bills author. This is about making our communities safer, not less safe ... We dont grovel and put our hand out so we can get a little money and buy a police car, he said. Our role and responsibility is to protect all individuals.

In an interview for a previous story, Leon told TIME that the bill will help ensure that all the states residents report violent crimes and feel safe enough to interact with government systems such as schools, hospitals and courts. Aggressive immigration enforcement policies have a chilling effect, he said.

We dont have to collaborate and use our local tax dollars to enforce federal immigration laws, he said in that interview. If they want to go after the bad guys, the violent felons and drug dealers, we are more than happy to continue to work with them. But if they want to split families up and deport the nanny, thats not what Americas about and thats not what California is about.

Republicans argued on Monday that immigration policy is the domain of the federal government and the bill amounts to the state overstepping its bounds, saying that the measure would also make California a magnet for those who commit crimes.

Story continues

Promising to deport undocumented immigrants was one of Trumps key campaign promises. Since taking office, Trump has issued orders directing that immigration laws be enforced more aggressively and expanding the definition of criminal aliens who are targeted for deportation. Before taking office, Trump vowed to create a deportation force to carry out such work.

Youll be kicking the president right in the groin, Republican state Sen. Jeff Stone said of the bill, and I imagine hes going to strike back.

The ACLUs Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrants rights in California, told TIME that the bill is critical because the only way for the federal government to carry out the kind of mass deportations that they are threatening is through cooperation with local law enforcement.

While immigrant advocates and some law enforcement officials have expressed support for the measure, arguing that trust between immigrants and local officials is important for public safety, California sheriffs have said it could allow criminals to slip through the cracks. In advance of the vote, Leon amended his bill to allow local law enforcement agents to notify federal authorities about the release of violent criminals.

A new poll conducted by the University of California at Berkeley found that there is bipartisan support in the state when it comes to providing a pathway to citizenship and opposing Trumps proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, yet there are deep divides about sanctuary status. And those can grow deeper depending on how the notion of being a sanctuary city is described.

When asked whether they support cities declaring sanctuary status, meaning that local police and enforcement officials do not automatically turn undocumented immigrants over to federal immigration officers, 56% of California voters support that position including 74% of Democrats but only 20% of Republicans.

When the Berkeley researchers framed the issue as an act of withholding with sanctuary status meaning that cities can ignore requests to detain undocumented immigrants who have been arrested and are about to be released those numbers essentially flip, with fewer Democrats supporting sanctuary status and even more Republicans opposed.

President Trumps promises to crack down on illegal immigrants have caused fear and panic in many California communities. About 10 million immigrants live in California, and some estimates suggest that 25% of them may be undocumented. Churches have been lining up to offer sanctuary for immigrant residents, as some individuals have cowered in their homes, worried to answer the door for fear that immigration agents might be on the other side.

On March 27, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Department of Justice would be withholding grants from sanctuary cities and attempt to claw back any past grants. He cited crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, including the 2015 shooting of Kate Steinle in San Francisco. (Republicans brought up her name in the debate on Monday. How many more Kate Steinles do we need? said Sen. Stone.)

In late January, San Francisco became the first to sue the federal government over promises to starve sanctuary cities of federal funding, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a brief supporting that lawsuit following Sessions remarks. Threatening to take away resources from sheriffs and police officers in order to promote misguided views on federal immigration policy is reckless and puts public safety at risk, Becerra said in a statement.

California has emerged as one of the most powerful seats of resistance to conservative policies coming out of Washington since the election. Earlier in the day, lawmakers debated another measure that would help fund legal representation for immigrants in deportation proceedings, who can be left without counsel when they are unable to afford it.

While some Republicans lawmakers criticized the measure, saying taxpayers should not foot bills for immigrants who did not come through the front door, Democrats still found the votes to pass it in the Senate, 28 to 11, arguing that it was basic due process for a population that is crucial to the country.

Immigrants are under attack, said Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, expressing support for the bill. Its really important for California, for our government, for this legislature, to send a clear signal to our immigrant communities that we have your back.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's recent trade rally faded in February, resulting in a Can$972 million (US$723 million) deficit with the world, the government statistical agency announced Tuesday.

The result ran counter to expectations, as economists had forecast a surplus of Can$640 million, following three straight monthly surpluses.

According to Statistics Canada, exports fell 2.4 percent to Can$43.5 billion in February after hitting a record high at the beginning of the year, while imports edged up 0.6 percent to Can$46.3 billion.

The agency said exports of canola were down 34 percent following a three-month surge in sales to China. Canada also exported fewer aircraft overall, fewer boats to Saudi Arabia, and fewer gold coins to the United States.

Meanwhile, imports of passenger cars and trucks were just shy of a record high set in August 2016, and imports of low-valued transactions bounced back from "atypically low" levels in January, said Statistics Canada. There also were increased imports of food and tobacco.

Overall, Canada imported more goods from Japan, Norway and Brazil in February, while exports to China (mainly canola) and South Korea (mainly coal) fell.

Canada's trade surplus with the United States -- its neighbor and biggest trading partner -- widened slightly from Can$4.4 billion in January to Can$4.5 billion in February, as both imports and exports fell.
An apparent chemical weapons attack killed scores of civilians and injured hundreds more in the rebel-controlled province of Idlib in Northern Syria on Tuesday. Doctors there say victims of an airstrike exhibited symptoms consistent with exposure to deadly sarin gas, a nerve agent known to have been used by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in the recent past.

Initial reports of the carnage vary. War monitors and medics in Syria say the attack killed at least 50 and wounded 300. The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, linked to humanitarian organizations in Syria, said at least 100 people died, and more than 400 were wounded.

If the attack is ultimately blamed on the Assad regime, it would mark Damascus latest escalation of the crackdown on rebel elements in the six-year old civil war, and lay bare the Trump administrations delicate balancing act as it backs away from demands for Assads ouster even as he apparently gasses his own people. In 2014 and 2015, the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on rebel-held areas, U.N. investigators found. Tuesdays attack would be the largest chemical weapons attack since the Assad regime carried out a sarin gas attack in August, 2013 that killed hundreds.

Last week in Turkey, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Syrian people should decide Assads fate. Trumps U.N. envoy, Nikki Haley echoed his sentiments. You pick and choose your battles and when were looking at this, its about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out, she said on March 30.

Tillerson initially declined to condemn or comment on the apparent chemical weapons attack when asked about it Tuesday, but issued a condemnation on the attack and Assads brutal, unabashed barbarism hours later.

In the wake of Tuesdays horrific attack, Republicans pounced. Sen. John McCain (R. -Ariz.) ripped into the Trump administration, saying that it had tacitly signaled it would turn a blind eye to Assads methods of repressing revolt. He also lambasted Tillersons comments as another disgraceful chapter in American history.

Story continues

I think sending the signal, the way the statements that Haley made and Tillerson said, cannot be anything but motivating to Bashar al Assad, McCain added.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer fingered former President Barack Obama for Tuesdays attack, calling it a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution. The Obama administration famously declared that Syrian use of chemical weapons would be a red line, yet failed to act when the regime gassed its people. And while a U.S-Russian accord in 2013 removed most of Syrias chemical weapons stockpile, it did not eradicate all of Assads stockpile.

Spicer, unlike the nominal top U.S. diplomat, was quick to condemn the attack, and singled out Assad in what appears to be the strongest reproach of Assad yet from the administration.

Todays chemical attack in Syria against innocent people including women and children is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world, he said, but he declined to indicate how the White House might respond to the attack, or whether it would change the implied policy shift away from forcing Assad out of office.

A senior administration official told reporters on background that the attack bore the hallmarks of a chemical weapons strike. If it is what it looks like, then its clearly a war crime, he said.

But despite Trumps promises to overhaul and ramp up his predecessors war in Syria, the United States doesnt have much leverage in the conflict. The administration official noted that the United States doesnt have that much influence over the actors on the ground in Syria, unlike Turkey, Russia, or Iran, who have all taken a more active role in arming and equipping local militias.

Given the leading role that Russia and Iran have taken in Syria, especially in policing the terms of the current ceasefire, the administration official suggested, the latest apparent chemical weapons attack is their responsibility.

The planes that carried out the strike, which occurred in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, are believed to be linked with Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces, though the Syrian government denied any responsibility in the attack.

We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future, the Syrian army said in a statement.

The U.S. mission to the U.N. hasnt yet released any statements on the attack, but its European allies on the Security Council werent as tongue-tied. Both the United Kingdom and France called for an emergency Security Council meeting to address the attack.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the attack, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Dujarric added the U.N. wasnt currently in a position to verify anything but it would begin looking into the reports. The U.N. has been struggling to censure Syria over its repeated human rights violations in using chemical weapons.

The attack bears all the hallmarks of yet another deliberate campaign by the Syrian regime and their military backers to use chemical weapons, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, UK envoy to the U.N. said.

Paul McLeary contributed to this report.

Update: This article was updated to include statements from the Secretary of State and from the U.N. Secretary Generals spokesperson.

Photo credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images
China has opposed to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea as it is unaware of it capabilities, experts said late Monday. Beijing is concerned if the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile systems, which the U.S. says are being used to protect Seoul from North Korea's growing nuclear advancements, is capable of tracking and countering Beijing's own nuclear program.

Tensions between U.S. and China escalated amid the missile system's deployment in South Korea amid nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang. China has also faced criticism for not acting enough to stop North Korea's nuclear advancement. Chinese strategists have expressed concerns that THAAD could also be a threat to the viability of China's nuclear deterrent.

"It is clear that there is no one in China who really knows the technical capability of THAAD and that's part of the problem," said Zhang Baohui, a Hong Kong-based mainland expert on China's nuclear deterrent, told Reuters. "THAAD's full capabilities are secret so there is a real knowledge gap among Chinese strategists. If they are misplaced, they are at least genuine in their concern - they have to assume a worst case scenario."

Read: North Korea Missile Attacks Against South Korea Will Be Met With Immediate Retaliation

THAAD has been designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles either just inside or outside the earth's atmosphere. The range of its radars can penetrate deep into the Chinese mainland, where the country is rebuilding its arsenal of mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles. Some Chinese scientists fear that the THAAD radars can allow the U.S. to track tests and specific missile signatures, allowing Washington to prepare to counter any future Chinese attack.

While Beijing-Washington tensions heat up, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Sunday in the Financial Times, that hes ready to take on North Korea, with or without Chinese help. Concerns over a nuclear attack from North Korea were raised after leader Kim Jong Un's regime continued testing ballistic missiles. Some reports have also claimed that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test this year.

Story continues

China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont, Trump said. If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they dont, it wont be good for anyone.

Trump added that if China does not help come to a solution to end Pyongyangs nuclear program, the U.S. is ready to solve the problem on its own.

Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you, Trump said, refusing to elaborate on his plans.

Related Articles
With the Trump administration targeting various government clean energy programs, we can think of no better time to celebrate the U.S. cities with the most installed solar energy.

A new report found the country has made some serious solar strides in 2016, particularly in 20 cities across the country.

SEE ALSO: Coal-fired electricity is at its lowest since officials started keeping track

America's "shining cities" helped the country attain 42,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity by the end of 2016  enough energy to power 8.3 million average homes and slash annual carbon emissions by 52.3 million metric tons, the Frontier Group and the Environment America Research and Policy Center reported.

U.S. Cities by Cumulative Installed Solar PV Capacity, End of 2016.

Image: Environment America Research and Policy Center

Last year, the 20 top U.S. cities collectively accounted for nearly as much solar power as the entire country had installed at the end of 2010.

Solar power is rising across the U.S. and around the world as technology prices and installation costs plummet. In many major economies, solar power (sans subsidies) is starting to outcompete coal and natural gas, and new solar projects are costing less to build than wind farms, Bloomberg New Energy Finance found.

Top 20 Solar Cities in 2016 (Total Installed Solar PV Capacity)

San Diego, CA Los Angeles, CA Honolulu, HI San Jose, CA Phoenix, AZ Indianapolis, IN New York, NY San Antonio, TX Albuquerque, NM Las Vegas, NV San Fransisco, CA Denver, CO Sacramento, CA New Orleans, LA Riverside, CA Austin, TX Portland, OR Washington, D.C. Jacksonville, FL Newark, NJ

Despite the serious increase in solar capacity, the majority of U.S. cities have only just started to tap into their true solar energy potential, the two environmental groups said in their report.

Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and San Antonio have the technical potential to generate "tens to hundreds of times more solar energy" than they do now, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)'s rooftop solar analysis for small buildings.

Story continues

The map below depicts each state's level of solar installation, so you can get a better sense of how beginners in the Midwest compare to "Solar Stars" on the West Coast  though even the top solar cities have room for improvement.

Image: ENVIRONMENT AMERICA RESEARCH AND POLICY CENTER

According to the report, San Diego  the nation's current solar energy installation leader  has developed "less than 14 percent of its technical potential for solar power on small buildings."

With the Trump administration promising to double down on coal-fired power plants and unravel federal policies for clean energy, U.S. cities and states now have an even bigger role to play in tackling climate change.

WATCH: This solar-powered machine transforms desert sand into glass sculptures
Caracas (AFP) - Protesters clashed with police in Venezuela as the opposition mobilized against moves to tighten President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power and vowed to continue demonstrations.

Nine protesters were injured, including one who was shot in the leg, said Ramon Muchacho, mayor of one of Caracas's districts. None of the injuries were life-threatening, he said.

Protesters hurled stones at riot police, who fired tear gas as they blocked the demonstrators from advancing along Libertador Avenue through central Caracas, where pro-government activists also marched.

An estimated 1,000 people tried to march to the National Assembly to demand the government restore powers to its opposition majority. Lawmakers were among the marchers.

Maduro said that the demonstration was aimed at fostering violence in the country.

"Today, they tried to fill the streets of Venezuela with violence and blood," said the president, speaking from the southern state Apure.

"I can say now... that peace triumphed in Caracas and in Venezuela," he said.

The opposition called for new protests on Thursday.

"We're going to continue to fill the streets to defend democracy and the right to vote," Julio Borges, National Assembly president and a long-time opposition leader, told reporters.

The majority opposition also announced it would take steps Wednesday in the legislature to fire Supreme Court justices.

Supreme Court president Maikel Moreno dismissed their chance of success, insisting the legislature "lacks legality and legitimacy."

A move by the top court last week to take over the legislature's powers sparked international condemnation.

The United States and other powers backed the opposition's calls for the government to allow timely elections and release political prisoners.

The court later backtracked on its move, but the opposition pressed ahead with calls for demonstrations.

The head of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, condemned the crackdown "in the strongest terms," branding it "brutal repression."

Story continues

"I am once again obliged to demand that the Venezuelan government immediately stop violating the rule of law, reestablish democracy, recognize the civil and political liberties of the people, and immediately end this repression," Almagro said.

- 'It was like war' -

Borges, and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, were among the opposition protesters who felt the sting of police tear gas Tuesday.

"This is how they show disrespect for people sworn in as lawmakers," Borges said on Twitter. "Lawmakers assaulted on Libertador Avenue as we headed in to hold a session."

Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, told reporters: "They used tear gas bombs against us. It was like war.

"Venezuela is in the grips of a dictatorship but we are going to free it."

The center-right opposition wants to remove the socialist president from office, blaming him for an economic crisis that has caused food shortages in the oil-rich nation.

Maduro says the crisis is the result of a capitalist conspiracy. The opposition has urged the military to drop its support for him, but so far he still has the public backing of the high command.

"We want liberty in Venezuela. This is a dictatorship," 56-year-old nurse Maria Gonzalez yelled at police.

"Soon there will be no more food. Is that what you want for your children?"

In the pro-government march, thousands of people denounced the Organization of American States for criticizing the Venezuelan government over the court move.

"We support Maduro against these attacks, which seek to carry out a coup d'etat," said another demonstrator, Angelo Olivo.
An alleged cocaine smuggler posed as a Delta Airlines pilot while flying into New York City with drugs in his luggage, border officials said this week.

On March 27, U.S. Customs & Border Protection officers stopped passenger Mario Hudson, a citizen of Jamaica, as he arrived on a flight from Kingston.

Watch: Undocumented Lion Cub Found Smuggled Among 2,245 Parrots and 4 Cats

Hudson was dressed in what appeared to be a pilots uniform and claimed he was a "dead-heading crewmember," an employee who flies as a passenger from one airport to another where they intend to work a flight, according to a CBP release.

During the baggage inspection, CBP officers discovered Hudson had what appeared to be two fraudulent Delta Airlines ID badges, the release says.

During the examination of Hudsons luggage, CBP officers say they noticed the sides and bottom of the bag appeared to be unusually thick and heavy.

Hudson was escorted to a private search room, where his suitcase was probed. Inside, authorities say they found about five pounds of white powder that tested positive for cocaine.

The estimated street value of the drugs was estimated to be about $85,000.

Hudson was arrested for the import of a controlled substance and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations.

Read: The Ridiculous Ways People Have Tried to Smuggle Stuff Past the TSA

"This seizure demonstrates the vigilance and dedication demonstrated daily by CBP officers at JFK, in keeping these prohibited and dangerous narcotics off the streets of our communities," said Leon Hayward, acting Director of Field Operations in New York for CBP.

Hudson now faces federal narcotics smuggling charges and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York.

Watch: Women Post Vacation Photos Before Arrest for Smuggling $23 Million in Cocaine

Related Articles:
Although Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has given his time and money to countless charities, he remembers to appreciate the fans who got him to where he is today.

ABS-CBN News reports that hours before Coldplay performed at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds this week, Martin took the time to visit one of his biggest fans, Ken Valiant Santiago. Ken is a medical student at the University of the Philippines-Manila suffering from stage 4 cancer.

Ken's older brother, Kheil, said that Ken woke up extra early and braved the line to purchase a platinum ticket to the Coldplay concert, but because of his condition, was unable to attend. Kheil said, "He does not show he is sad, he said it's okay. But we can feel that he really wanted to be there."

Image: Shane Wenzlick/Getty Images

SEE ALSO: These knitted, woolly boobs are making life better for breast cancer survivors

Kheil wanted to to do something special for his younger brother, so he posted an open letter on his Facebook page asking his friends and followers to relay a message to Martin and the band.

"Every day in the hospital his hobby is to play music from Coldplay. Some of his favorites are 'A Sky Full of Stars,' 'Adventure of a Lifetime,' 'Hymn for the Weekend,' 'Everglow,'" he wrote. "I am sending you this open letter to ask a little favor if the band could just say "hi" or a short message for him to make him feel better."

The letter reached thousands of people and one important person in particular. Rhiza Pascua, the head of Music Management International and the organizer of the Coldplay concert in Manila, saw Kheil's post and organized the meeting of a lifetime. A few hours before the big concert, Martin paid a personal visit to the hospital to meet his loyal fan.

Chris Martin, you are an angel!!! Thank you for making Ken very happy!! #youKENdoit#HymnfortheweeKENd pic.twitter.com/HfApn6hSs4  Rhiza Pascua (@itsarpee) April 4, 2017

Ken was unable to speak due to his condition, but expressed his gratitude to the star on a white board by writing, "I can't thank you enough."

Story continues

Kheil said that Martin asked Ken which song the band should play at the concert. When Ken said they should perform their song "Ink," Martin immediately texted his bandmates to start practicing the song, which they included in the night's setlist.

Martin also gifted Ken with some band merchandise, including his cap, a shirt, a bag, and a copy of the band's latest album.

Celebrities using their fame for good makes our hearts swell.

[H/T: ABS-CBN News]

WATCH: This inventor built a real-life 'Iron Man' suit and it's awesome
One of the responding officers who tended to a choking student during a pancake-eating contest on a Connecticut college campus is describing how he pulled pieces of food out of her mouth in a desperate bid to save her life.

Caitlin Nelson was taking part in the competition for her sorority during Greek Week festivities Thursday at her college, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, when the freak accident occurred.

Read: High School Baseball Player Severely Beaten as He Walked Home: 'He's Not Recognizable'

She had quickly eaten at least four pancakes before she began choking.

Fellow students rushed to call 911 and administer CPR. Some attempted to give her the Heimlich maneuver.

"She showed no signs of life  she was unconscious completely," Fairfield Police Sgt. Mike Paris told Inside Edition. "We are doing CPR; we are trying to clear the airway. Her mouth was compacted with pancakes, almost to her teeth. I was pulling, with my bare hands, the pancakes out of her mouth."

Nelson was rushed to a local hospital and later transferred to Columbia University Medical Center, where she died Sunday.

An autopsy is pending. Cops said she had multiple food allergies and had been choking during the contest.

"Not chewing your food thoroughly puts big chunks down the throat," CPR expert Troy Allen told Inside Edition. "Big chunks run the risk of getting lodged in what is a narrow passageway."

Read: Man Says He Was Nearly Electrocuted While Lying in Bed With iPhone: 'It Was God Who Saved Me'

Nelson was just 5 when her father, Port Authority Police Officer James Nelson, died while saving lives on the 27th floor of the South Tower on 9/11. In December 2012, she appeared at the annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony in New York City, where she read names of some of the victims, including her father.

The street Caitlin lived on with her widowed mom and sister has been renamed in her dad's honor.

Story continues

The 21-year-old was studying social work as a major. In December 2012, she aided the survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., which is not far from Sacred Heart.

The family and friends of the New Jersey native are now left in mourning. Flags at Sacred Heart have been lowered to half-mast.

Watch: Father of 4 Left Paralyzed After Being Hit by Freak Wave on Family Vacation

Related Articles:
By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea top scorer Diego Costa believes the Premier League leaders can effectively end Manchester City's title hopes when the two sides meet at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. The alternative scenario, that fourth-placed City could win and help Tottenham Hotspur close the gap at the top to four points, does not bear thinking about for the Spain international. The hosts are seven points clear of Spurs, and 11 ahead of City, who drew 2-2 at Arsenal on Sunday after twice taking the lead. But Saturday's surprise 2-1 home defeat to lowly Crystal Palace has revived hopes elsewhere that Chelsea could be vulnerable. That first home defeat since September was also a wake-up call for Antonio Conte's side, who have looked title certainties. "Now is not the time to let ourselves down," Costa, who has scored 17 league goals this season but only four since Christmas, told ESPN Brazil. "We should keep our heads up and think ahead for the next game since it will be very important. "This game against City will be a six-point affair since if we win...they will (effectively) be out of the title race while we keep the advantage." Both sides will be looking back to last year for comfort, with Chelsea winning 3-1 at the Etihad in December while City won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last April against an off-form home side with very little to play for. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick then and was also on the scoresheet against Arsenal, with manager Pep Guardiola staying hopeful. "We know what we have to do against Chelsea. We head back to Manchester to prepare and then back down to London," said the Spaniard, whose side have lost only one of their last six Premier League games in London. Chelsea hope to have wing-back Victor Moses back in action after a calf injury ruled him out at the weekend. Spurs, still without injured striker Harry Kane, can put more pressure on Chelsea when they travel to relegation-threatened Swansea City, who have never beaten them in the Premier League and are now a point above the drop zone. Third-placed Liverpool are at home to Bournemouth while sixth-placed Arsenal, with a top four place now looking a long shot, entertain West Ham United. Manchester United, two points clear of Arsenal in fifth, host Everton on Tuesday and have top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic available again after suspension. At the bottom, Sunderland have a tough trip to resurgent champions Leicester City on Tuesday while last but one Middlesbrough have a basement battle against Hull City, who are one place above but four points clear, on Wednesday. Palace travel to Southampton on Wednesday as Sam Allardyce's team seek to edge closer to safety with a fifth successive victory. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Neil Robinson)
Two federal appeals courts have now ordered quick review of President Trumps immigration restrictions, setting up the prospect that the controversy could reach the Supreme Court as early as this month. The last time the Justices faced a major constitutional dispute over immigration, last June, they split 4-to-4.

If that should happen again, even on a preliminary vote on enforcement of the revised Trump executive order, the stage could be set for a deciding vote to be cast by Neil M. Gorsuch  if, as is now expected, the Senate promptly approves his nomination to be a Justice.

There are significant differences between the deportation-delay decree issued by President Obama  the initiative thwarted by the Justices tie vote  and the Trump ordered curbing immigration of foreign nationals.

The Obama directive set up a regime to limit deportation of children and parents who had been living in the country for years, even if they had entered illegally. The Trump order would put a stop temporarily to entry of refugees and, separately, of foreign nationals living in six Mideast nations.

But there are some close similarities, too. In each case, a president acted without new authority from Congress, and without getting public reaction before taking the action. And, in each, one or more state governments had been granted the legal right to challenge the president in court.

In the Justices split vote last term on the Obama initiative, the eight Justices could not even agree on an answer to a question that they had added on their own to their review  that is, whether the president exceeded constitutional limits in taking the action at issue. That question is in the background on the Trump order, too.

If Judge Gorsuch wins swift Senate approval, a series of developments would have to occur on the Trump order in lower courts for him to find himself in a tie-breaking position  probably the most important issue he would face early as a new Justice. But those developments now seem set up to actually occur.

Story continues

In two lower courts  the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  have adopted schedules for review of the Trump executive order -- now blocked by separate orders from two federal trial judges. The Fourth Circuit Court expedited its review last month, and the Ninth Circuit Court did so on Monday.

The order under review in the Fourth Circuit Court, issued by a federal judge in Maryland, came in response to a challenge by two refugee resettlement groups. The order now under review by the Ninth Circuit Court, issued by a judge in Hawaii, came in response to a challenge by that states officials.

Neither of those appeals courts is likely to be fully finished with their reviews of the constitutionality of the Trump order until sometime in May, but each of those courts also has under review a separate request by the Trump legal team to allow the government in the meantime to start enforcing the executive order. And one or both of those courts could decide that preliminary issue this month, under the schedules they have set.

President Trump has vowed that his lawyers will take the immigration issue to the Supreme Court if necessary to salvage it. His lawyers have already made clear that the government is keenly interested in getting enforcement started, even if the appeals courts do not rule aa quickly on the immigration orders legality until after hearings are held in each court in May.

If either one of the appeals courts were to issue an order on the prompt enforcement issue  for or against Trump on that point  the losing side could go immediately to the Supreme Court with a challenge limited to that point. The plea would be in the form of a request to put the appeals courts order on hold until the Supreme Court could take up the controversy, or until the appeals courts issued final rulings on the constitutional question.

Both sides have been pursuing the controversy with dispatch in lower courts, and each seems almost sure to take the dispute on to the Supreme Court if they lose in one or both of the appeals courts.

It would take the votes of five Justices to overturn an order of either appeals court  either an order allowing enforcement, or one forbidding it for the time being.

Although most judges who have reviewed either the original version or the revised version of the Trump order have ruled against the president, a few have sided with the presidential initiative.

It seems likely that the Supreme Courts more liberal members would be inclined to vote with the challengers and against President Trumps initiative.

But, as a clue to how the more conservative Justices might react, five judges on the Ninth Circuit Court went to unusual lengths to demonstrate that they were fully on the presidents side in this instance, and some of them were skeptical of whether state governments even have a right to sue the president over the issue. They did so even though no formal case was before them at the time.

The Trump Administration has not particularly rushed to get this controversy before the Supreme Court, but rather has been willing to let it play out first in the appeals courts. At the same time, the government lawyers did ask for an expedited review at the appeals court level, and argued that the controversy involves threats to national security.

The challengers have argued that there is no real urgency, citing the pace of the actions in court of government lawyers, but they did support expedited review in the appeals courts.

Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011 and has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com.
There are some things that should remain sacred and untouched. Pizza is one of them. But not everyone got the memo about leaving pizza alone, because a food delivery company just created a Creme Egg pizza. And we're not sure how to feel about it.

SEE ALSO: Creme egg 'crodoughs' have hit London and they look amazing

Deliveroo has just unveiled a limited-edition pizza called the Fior-egg-tina, a sweet take on the Italian classic Fiorentina, which usually features spinach, mozzarella, tomato, and egg.



This sweet version of the pizza switches out those classic savoury ingredients, replacing the tomato base with a macerated strawberry base. In the place of mozzarella and spinach are mascarpone and mint. The pizza is, of course, topped off with oozy Creme Eggs. Instead of parmesan, chocolate lovers can adorn their pizzas with crunchy Mini Eggs.

Because why the hell not?

The pizzas  made by Neapolitan pizza specialists Crust Bros  will be available to order from Crust Bros on the Deliveroo website or app from 7 April until 14 April. Fior-egg-tina pizzas are priced at 6.45 and there's an extra 50p charge for added Mini Eggs.

WATCH: This chocolate kebab is what you need to get through your day
PITTSBURG, Kan.  The vote felt like a blow to Suzan Emmons.

Kansas came close this week  achingly close  to expanding Medicaid to extend health insurance to low-income adults like her. The Republican-dominated legislature had passed the bill and supporters vowed to override the governors veto. But on Monday, the House fell three votes short.

Im very angry. Its almost hurtful, said Emmons, 56, who makes just under $13,000 a year cleaning houses and cant afford insurance on her own. They dont realize Im not looking for something given to me. They think its just a bunch of bums on welfare looking for a handout. Its not. Its working people.

The failed veto override also crushed hospital executives and community clinic directors who had hoped against hope for a Medicaid expansion, which would have brought in a flood of federal dollars to help pay for the care they now often deliver for free. The expansion would have covered an estimated 150,000 Kansans.

Activists, including the Kansas Hospital Association, promised to keep fighting.

Read more: Trump pledged not to cut Medicaid. Is he keeping that promise?

Were not ready to give up yet, said Sheldon Weisgrau, director of the Health Reform Resource Project, which has been pressing for expansion. Its not over until the gavel falls at the end of the legislative session next month.

I find it hard to believe all that momentum will die, said state Representative Monica Murnan, a Democrat from this small town in southeast Kansas. It will come back in another fashion.

The staff at the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas can only hope so. This is the poorest and sickest corner of the state, and a great many adults lack health care coverage. Some 35 percent of the clinics patients are uninsured, CEO Krista Postai said. Many work two and three jobs but still cant afford health insurance.

We probably had better access to health care 100 years ago than we do today, Postai said.

Story continues

Patients at the clinic pay on a sliding scale, based on their income. The base price for a visit to the doctor is $15. But no one is turned away.

The clinic launched in 2003 in a cramped trailer divided into four exam rooms. Now, it operates out of a bright and modern 57,000-square foot building with 50 exam rooms. Its a few blocks from the four-lane road heading through this former coal-mining town, which is home to Pittsburg State University.

In addition to standard medical and walk-in care, the clinic in Pittsburg offers dental, mental health, and addiction services. An optometrist comes twice a week, and specialists in Hepatitis C, HIV and nephrology visit regularly. The clinic also has a lab, an X-ray machine, and its own pharmacy. Theres even a fitness room.

Postai said the sickest patients struggle when they need to find a specialist outside the clinics areas of expertise, like a cardiologist. Most such physicians are reluctant to take charity cases, or will accept just a few uninsured patients each month. And paying out of pocket can be prohibitive: A consultation with a specialist can cost $500 up front.

The clinic has just started with working with a telemedicine company out of Wichita, which has agreed to provide access to specialists on a sliding scale. But those consultations have limited value for patients who need surgery or expensive drugs. Medicaid, Postai said, was their best bet, and she plans to keep pushing for Kansas to join the 31 other states that have expanded the program under Obamacare.

We got really, really close. This is not the time to give up, Postai said.

The clinic here was set up to work with uninsured patients, so Postai said it will survive even without Medicaid funds.

Rural hospitals, however, are a different story. Across rural America, small-town hospitals have been closing, or struggling to keep their doors open. The same holds true in Kansas.

Some 60 miles down the road from Pittsburg, in the town of Chanute, Dennis Franks runs the Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center. He said expanding Medicaid would have brought the hospital $1.4 million in 2018 and $2.9 million in 2019  money desperately needed to recruit physicians and update equipment.

It means a great deal to the hospital and the patients in this community, he said. Right now were on the bubble like other hospitals. Its like death by a thousand cuts.

When he vetoed expansion the Medicaid expansion late last month, Governor Sam Brownback said the proposal was riddled with flaws: I am vetoing this expansion of ObamaCare because it fails to serve the truly vulnerable before the able-bodied, lacks work requirements to help able-bodied Kansans escape poverty, and burdens the state budget with unrestrainable entitlement costs.

Dr. Greg Lakin, a Republican lawmaker from Wichita and an osteopathic doctor, sided with the governor, in part because he expects Congress and the Trump administration to shake up the health care landscape  and he didnt want to get locked into any decisions before that happens.

The timing didnt make sense, he said.

Read more: In a small town in Texas, a rural hospital thrives against all odds

In the meantime, residents like Sandra Powell wait anxiously for help.

A 63-year-old widow, Powell cares for her 13-year-old grandson and worries about what might happen for him if her health fails. She already has diabetes and high cholesterol  and yet didnt go to the doctor for three years because she had no insurance, until she started visiting the community clinic. Powell lives on $721 a month from her husbands pension  too much for Medicaid and not enough to buy insurance on her own. Im stuck, Powell said.

We survive, she added. Thats what its called. Surviving.
A Texas father whose young son died after accidentally shooting himself reportedly told police he "forgot" the firearm was left within reach of the boy when he went to work on the day of the tragedy.

Corpus Christi Police say Eric Morales, 22, told them that he put his loaded 9mm weapon on the kitchen table after coming home from dinner at a restaurant Saturday night.

Read: Boy, 8, Fatally Shoots Sister, 5, with Gun Belonging to Mom's Convicted Felon Boyfriend: Authorities

Morales said he left for work the following morning without putting away the weapon, according to police.

Later, 2-year-old Ryan Morales found the gun and was handling it when it discharged, according to the police report.

The bullet hit the child in the right eye.

The boy's mother, Jennifer Voigt, told police she did not know the gun was on the table and that she'd been in the bathroom when she heard the gunshot.

Ryan was rushed to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Morales was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide. He has reportedly since bailed out.

Read: Gun Advocate Mom Is Accidentally Shot in the Back by 4-Year-Old: Cops

In the aftermath of the tragedy, a representative of the family has created a GoFundMe page to help offset the cost of Ryan's funeral.

As of this writing, the fundraiser has surpassed its goal of $5,000 by about $900.

Watch: Parents Disarm 15-Year-Old Son Who Stole Guns and Brought Them to School: Cops

Related Articles:
On Friday night, the White House began releasing financial disclosures for scores of key employees  including familiar names such as Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway and Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

Reporters from dozens of news organizations, including the Associated Press, the New York Times, ProPublica and the Washington Post, then compiled and reported on the documents, which the White House released one-by-one.

The Center for Public Integrity compiled data from those disclosures into a searchable, sortable database, which provide a window into the wealth, assets and business interests of many of the people closest to President Donald Trump. The Center for Public Integritys news developer, Chris Zubak-Skees, extracted these details from more than 90 reports, released in PDF format, using a software tool he created.

You can search or download the database for yourself.

Within the disclosures are new details on Bannons web of financial ties to billionaire Republican megadonor Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.

The Center for Public Integrity first published a graphic showing such ties in October, but Zubak-Skees has updated the graphic to show more connections.

This story is part of Federal Politics. News about ethics, campaign finance, lobbying and influence in the federal government. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

Related: How Stephen K. Bannon connects to the Mercers

This story is part of Federal Politics. News about ethics, campaign finance, lobbying and influence in the federal government. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Related stories

Copyright 2017 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Lawyers for a Minnesota police officer charged with fatally shooting a black motorist asked a judge Tuesday to move the trial, saying publicity has made it impossible to seat an unbiased jury in the St. Paul area.

St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the death of Philando Castile. Castile's girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat when Castile was shot in Falcon Heights, livestreamed the bloody aftermath on Facebook.

Defense attorney Earl Gray argued that Yanez, who is Latino, couldn't get a fair trial in Ramsey County, where the shooting occurred in July 2016, because of extensive media coverage of the case. He suggested moving the May 30 trial to Duluth, St. Cloud or Brainerd, outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Gray also noted remarks by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi that were critical of the officer's actions. Dayton has said he did not think the shooting would have happened if Castile had been white; Choi has said no reasonable officer would have acted as Yanez did.

"There's no way you can get him a fair trial (in Ramsey County)," Gray told the judge. "You get outstate, I assure you we will pick a jury very quickly."

Prosecutors said moving the trial wouldn't achieve anything because the case received widespread publicity. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Clayton Robinson Jr. also argued that questionnaires and other steps taken during jury selection would help ensure jurors' impartiality.

Judge William H. Leary III didn't immediately rule on the request, but he took issue with a suggestion Gray made during the hearing about local protesters possibly targeting jurors' homes if Yanez were ultimately acquitted.

"To suggest that individuals' homes (could be) burned ... is simply not true," the judge said.

Castile, 32, was an employee of St. Paul public schools when he was shot. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, has said Castile was reaching for his wallet when he was shot. Another defense attorney, Tom Kelly, has said Yanez was reacting to the presence of a gun.

Leary denied one motion by the defense, to separate the manslaughter count against Yanez from other counts that he intentionally endangered passengers in Castile's car. Reynolds' then-4-year-old daughter was also in the car with Castile when he was shot.
Kourou (AFP) - Around 30 protest leaders in French Guiana attempted to occupy a rocket-launching space centre on Tuesday, escalating demonstrations that have crippled the territory in South America for 10 days.

Workers have launched protests and strikes demanding pay raises and improved public safety, creating a fresh crisis in the last few weeks of outgoing President Francois Hollande's unpopular term in office.

Labour leaders rejected a government offer of a billion-dollar aid package on Monday and are demanding 2.5 billion euros ($2.67 billion) instead for a "Marshall Plan" to develop the often overlooked overseas territory.

After visiting the world-renowned French space centre in Kourou on Tuesday to meet its director, about 30 leaders said they would not leave until the government met their demands.

"We won't move. The situation is stuck and Guiana is blocked. You are blocked. We want the billions we have asked for," protest leader Manuel Jean-Baptiste told the director of the space centre.

The Kourou centre has become a symbol of economic disparity in Guiana, a heavily forested landmass wedged between Suriname and Brazil on the northeastern shoulder of Latin America.

On March 20, angry residents blocked the planned launch of a rocket that was to place into orbit satellites for Brazilian and South Korean operators, in one of the first signs of public anger there.

Rundown homes and potholed streets ring the Kourou centre -- and these are for the relatively lucky few in a territory where many of the 250,000-strong population live without electricity or running water.

"Kourou is a political, technological and financial success. It is the flagship of European technology," Youri Antoinette, an engineer at the space centre and spokesman for the residents of Kourou, told AFP.

"But once you leave the space centre, you're in an under-developed country."

The unemployment rate in Guiana is 23 percent, and nearly twice this for 18-25-year-olds, while per capita income is about half of the rate in mainland France.

Story continues

- Rockets but no lights -

"The rockets go up but we don't have any lights," said Martin Marsi, a 25-year-old who lives near Kourou, sporting sunglasses under a backwards baseball cap.

Marsi lives in Saramaca, a few kilometres from the space centre, where residents rent houses with an option to buy over the longer term.

The basic wood-and-concrete structures are an improvement on what one resident called the "favela" that was here before, part of which was gutted by a fire in 2006.

Look closer though and there are signs of decay. Potholes dot the roads and the children's playground is becoming rapidly overgrown with grass.

A basketball hoop has been torn down, so the children play football instead -- but only in daylight because rows of streetlights in the development "haven't worked for years," Marsi said.

In the districts where the engineers and other employees of the space centre live, the lawns are mown and the streetlights shine brightly. High walls surround many of the houses.

"Police and a private militia make the rounds regularly," said Atoune, a 43-year-old hospital clerk.

"They look after the expats, while we have to live barricaded inside our houses," he said bitterly, recounting how his daughter had been "attacked" outside their home and had a gold chain stolen.

Guiana has been administered as a French region since the end of 18th century and it was also used as a place to send convicts for forced labour between 1852 and 1946.
By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - A 42-year-old Denver man choked to death while taking part in an eating contest that requires participants to consume a half-pound doughnut in less than two minutes, authorities and media said on Monday.

Travis Malouff died on Sunday "from asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway," at the Voodoo Doughnut shop, the office of the Denver medical examiner said in a statement.

Paramedics went to the east Denver location shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday in response to reports of a man choking, a fire department spokesman said. But Malouff was pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.

Authorities would not confirm that Malouff died during an eating contest, but Denver television station KUSA quoted an unnamed eyewitness who said the man was taking part in the doughnut chains "Tex-Ass" doughnut challenge.

Participants must eat a half-pound glazed doughnut, roughly equivalent to six conventional-sized samples of the doughy confections, in 80 seconds, the company says on its website.

The companys "hearts go out" to the dead mans family, Sara Heise, a spokeswoman for the Portland, Oregon-based chain, said in an email statement.

"While this matter is under investigation, we believe it would be inappropriate to comment further," she added.

Voodoo Doughnuts offers quirky, specialty pastries, such as a "Maple Blazer Blunt," a rolled-up pastry treat with red sprinkles on one end making it appear like a smoldering marijuana cigarette, according to its website.

The company has shops in California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, and one in Taiwan.

Malouffs death was the second such report over the weekend, after a 21-year-old student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, died on Sunday, the Hartford Courant newspaper reported.

Caitlin Nelson died at a New York City hospital three days after she choked during a campus pancake-eating challenge, the newspaper said, adding that her father, James Nelson, was a Port Authority police officer who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Clarence Fernandez)
Donald Trump Jr. (Photo: Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

Trump administration officials and allies were out in force this week promoting the story that Susan Rice, national security adviser in the Obama administration, requested the names of Americans who were caught up in surveillance of Russian officials during last years presidential campaign and transition. The most recent, and enthusiastic, endorsement came from Donald Trump, Jr., who proposes the writer who broke the story for a Pulitzer Prize.

Congrats to @Cernovich for breaking the #SusanRice story, tweeted Trump Jr. Tuesday morning. In a long gone time of unbiased journalism hed win the Pulitzer, but not today!

Trump. Jr was praising a story published over the weekend by Mike Cernovich, a self-described free speech activist and writer, claiming that Rice was behind the request to unmask incoming Trump officials whose communications were picked up by intelligence agencies. The names of Americans that appear in transcripts of intercepted communications are routinely disguised, or masked, but officials can request to see them for law enforcement or national security reasons. There is no implication that Rice broke the law by her request, but leaking the information to the media, or using it for political purposes, could be ethically (or legally) problematic.

I leaked nothing to nobody, said Rice in a Tuesday afternoon interview about the allegations with MSNBC. Never have, never would.

Before the Rice story broke, Cernovich was best known as a leading promoter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which claimed that a Washington, D.C., pizza establishment was the front for a pedophilia ring involving former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. The hysteria over Pizzagate led to a North Carolina man named Edgar M. Welch driving to Comet Ping Pong in Washington and firing shots from an AR-15 inside the restaurant. Welch told the New York Times that he just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way.

Story continues

Trump Jr. is not the first member of the White House to promote Cernovichs work. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn promoted Cernovichs book, The Gorilla Mindset, on Twitter in October. When Cernovich was interviewed as part of a 60 Minutes segment on fake news last month, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway called it a ratings bonanza and urged everyone to watch.

Cernovich, who describes himself as an author, journalist and documentarian, is one of the most popular alt-right personalities online. In addition to his 60 Minutes appearance, he was the subject of an October New Yorker profile that laid out his path to notoriety.

I use trolling tactics to build my brand, Cernovich told the New Yorker.

Cernovichs trolling has manifested itself in a variety of ways. He was an early figure in Gamergate, which targeted feminists in the video-game industry. He has likened diversity to white genocide, stated that date rape isnt a real thing and said the Black Lives Matter movement regularly slaughters the innocent.

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and conspiracy theorist and radio talk show host Alex Jones. (Photos: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP, Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images, Brooks Kraft/Getty Images)

Cernovich is not the only conspiracy theorist with a connection to the White House. Then-candidate Donald Trump did a 30-minute interview with Alex Jones InfoWars site in December 2015, calling Jones reputation amazing. Jones has touted a number of unsubstantiated theories, including that 9/11 was an inside job, that chemicals in juice boxes are turning children gay and that a number of politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are actually demons.

Last month Jones apologized for the InfoWars role in promoting Pizzagate. Welch, the gunman who investigated Pizzagate on his own, said he had listened to Jones.

Trump Jr.s promotion of Cernovich for a Pulitzer faces at least one obstacle: Cernovich himself has admitted that the actual reporting was done by two mainstream journalists, Eli Lake of Bloomberg News and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. Cernovich said he was tipped off by disgruntled colleagues in the two newsrooms, who suspected the publications were sitting on a story that could have embarrassed the Obama administration.

Read more from Yahoo News:
By Robin Emmott and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's aid chief called for more humanitarian access in Syria on Tuesday at an international conference meant to support the country's ailing peace prospects, but one that quickly got overshadowed by a chemical attack inside Syria. As Christos Stylianides spoke at the gathering in Brussels, a suspected gas attack hit the rebel-held Idlib province, killing at least 58 people, including children. The United Nations' Syria envoy said the 'horrific' attack came from the air and that the U.N. Security Council would meet to demand accountability. The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held "primary responsibility". "Chemical weapons are the worst of war crimes," she said. The Brussels conference comes as Syria's civil war enters its seventh year, raging on in large part due to the inability of regional and global powers to agree on how to end it. "Humanitarian access is at a new low due to continued deliberate obstruction by all parties to the conflict," Stylianides told the two-day conference. "You remember east Aleppo, where no aid could enter for months despite our collective calls," he said, referring to the government siege of rebel-held areas last year. "More Aleppos are everywhere in Syria." The United Nations has appealed for $8 billion this year to deal with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced inside Syria and in neighboring countries. Qatar and Kuwait joined the EU, Norway and the United Nations to organize the latest international effort following conferences in Berlin, London and Helsinki to raise funds. The European Union has already pledged 1.2 billion euros ($1.28 billion) for 2017. Other governments will come under pressure to make good on promises made in February 2016 at the London conference, which raised $11 billion over four years. EU LACKS HARD LEVERAGE Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Nancy Wilson, the head of Relief International, said problems getting access and providing supplies were chief obstacles on the ground. "You can't run a health clinic if you don't have clean water and medical supplies," she said. "Some kind of political solution that would cease the fighting would be the biggest challenge." The EU called the conference to show support for the peace process by bringing together prime ministers, foreign ministers and ambassadors from some 70 countries. But the bloc's role in international attempts at bringing the war to an end has been largely marginal, as highlighted again by the absence in Brussels of top-level officials from Russia, Turkey and the United States. Five million Syrians have fled into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and the European Union to escape the conflict among rebels, Islamist militants, government troops and foreign backers. The future of Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, remains the key point of contention, blocking political talks. The EU says it will not pay for any post-war reconstruction unless there is a "credible political transition" that would give the opposition, moderate rebels and the various ethnic and religious groups a say in Syria. "We caution against paying for Assad's destruction without a political end to the war," said European lawmaker Mariejte Schaake of the Netherlands. The initial U.S. and Russian backing for the U.N.-led process has waned as Moscow now sponsors separate talks with regional powers Iran and Turkey. Washington is now also at odds with Europe - while they used to agree that Assad must go, President Donald Trump has made fighting terrorism his top priority instead. (Additional reporting by Farah Salhi; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
From Popular Mechanics

A new video posted to YouTube shows footage of what appears to be at least three junked fighter planes left abandoned in an undisclosed location in the United States. Shot by several men who discovered the planes, the video shows old 1970s and 1980s-era fighter jets that had been cut into pieces and dumped in a forest. At least two appear to be F-14 Tomcats, whose disposal was strictly controlled to prevent foreign access.

The video shows two F-14 Tomcat fighters and at least one F-4 Phantom II. The planes are missing their engines-F-14s were equipped with two huge General Electric F110 afterburning turbofan engines, while the older F-4s had two General Electric J79 turbojets. The wings were removed and are sitting in a separate pile. The electronics, particularly nose-mounted radars, have been stripped out as well as most of the cockpit controls, seats, and instrumentation.

The men in the video don't say where the planes are, but the accents imply the location is somewhere in the South. The planes have apparently been there for years-some have trees growing out of them.

It shouldn't surprise you to know that the Navy F-14s shouldn't be there. F-14s were retired from Navy service in 2006, and rather than give them away to foreign countries as excess defense articles or put them into storage, the Department of Defense simply cut them up and disposed of them. The F-14 was sold to Iran before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, but parts and equipment were denied to the new, hostile regime in Tehran. Iranian Tomcats are still flying today, and Iranian agents have tried to secure spare parts for their planes for decades.

Photo credit: ATTA KENARE / Getty

U.S. military investigators have been very strict about disposing F-14s, confiscating them from museums, scrap dealers, and even a producer for the T.V. show "JAG."

The F-4 is an old U.S. Marine Corps F-4N Phantom II. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft are assigned Navy Bureau Numbers when they enter service, and according to one YouTube commenter, the F-4 is BuNo 152267. If true that makes it this plane, which served as a "gate guardian" at Dallas Naval Air Station, Texas. How did a plane owned by the U.S. military on permanent display at a military base end up stripped and abandoned in the country?

You Might Also Like
By Alexandra Zaslow

When Collin Brown went off to study engineering at the University of Minnesota four years ago, he didnt realize his whole life would change in a matter of months.

After his father, Ken Brown, 54, was diagnosed with ALS in February 2014, Kens one wish was to see both his children graduate from college.

He made it to the graduation of his daughter, Keegan, in 2015, but doctors werent as optimistic that hed make it to Collins graduation on May 13.

After Collins mother, Patti Brown, posted the devastating news online, a family friend reached out to the universitys president, Eric Kaler. Within days, a graduation ceremony just for Collin was being planned.

My dad is an industrial engineer, and hes the reason why I decided to major in engineering, Collin, 22, told Yahoo News. It was important to me for my dad to see me get my diploma.

While his mom invited family and even passed out invitations at church, Collin didnt invite any of his classmates because he didnt need anyone else there. Hed have his dad, and that was enough.

I couldnt believe the support we received from the university, Patti told Yahoo News. It was really incredible.

About 35 people gathered at president Kalers residence on March 20 to watch Collin receive his diploma. After Kaler gave a moving speech, which he didnt get through without tearing up, Collin shared a few words and thanked everyone for coming.

It was a pretty emotional event, Kaler told Yahoo News. It personally caused me to reflect on being both a father and a son.

Collin still plans to attend the universitys graduation in May with the rest of his classmates and hopes his dad will be able to join him.

Either way, Collin knows his dad will be guiding him every step of the way as he starts his engineering career come June.

My dads whole mentality has had a big influence on me, Collin said. Im so happy he was able to see me fulfill my education.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Kurdish militants detonated a bomb which killed three Turkish soldiers in southeast Turkey, a provincial governor's office said on Tuesday, adding that five rebels were killed in clashes in the region. The violence occurred as the military conducted operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Uludere area of Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq, the governor's office said. It did not say when the deaths occurred. Five Turkish soldiers were also wounded in the remotely-detonated bomb blast, the statement said, adding that army operations in the area were continuing. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK's insurgency, which it launched against the Turkish state in 1984. It is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union. Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July 2015 the mainly Kurdish southeast has suffered some of the worst violence since the conflict began. In the last five months alone, the Turkish armed forces have killed 886 PKK militants in southeast Turkey and the mountains of northern Iraq where the PKK leadership is based, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Ece Toksabay)
By Denis Pinchuk ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and wounded 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims. Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, the door of which was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station. Russia has experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russia's North Caucasus region in the past. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russia's military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for attacks by the Islamic State group, security experts say. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals. Earlier, Russian media broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. However, Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries. The news agency, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia. If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad in a fight against Islamist militants. However, some sections of Russian society could see the metro bombing as proof that Putin's decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets. Two years ago, Islamic State said it had brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed. U.S President Donald Trump offered his condolences to Putin in a phone call late on Monday, the White House said in a statement, offering the support of the U.S. government. The two leaders "agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated", the statement said. China also condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi offering condolences and support in a statement that said "China resolutely opposed all types of terrorism". BLOODY FACES Soon after the blast happened at 2:40 p.m. (1140 GMT), ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away a wounded passenger. 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, St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika told Reuters by phone. "Many were crying," said Chaika, who was at the station where the blast happened. The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused. The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris. Video from the scene showed wounded 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 amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel. Anna Sventik, a St Petersburg resident, said she 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." ALL STATIONS CLOSED Earlier on Monday, officials had put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their wounds in hospital. 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 Russian-speaking rebels returning from Syria, where they have fought alongside Islamic State, and is 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. More than 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 theater 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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion. (Additional reporting by Svetlana Soprunova, Polina Nikolskaya, Sujata Rao, Alex Winning and Maria Tsvetkova, and Chen Aizhu in BEIJING and Eric Beech in WASHINGTON; Writing by Christian Lowe and Ralph Boulton; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Paul Tait)
The father of Elizabeth Smart says that schoolteacher Tad Cummins may have 15-year-old Beth Thomas under his spell.

Read: Footage Thought to Show Missing Teen and Teacher at Nebraska McDonald's Is Not Them: Authorities

Ed Smart, whose daughter was snatched from her Utah bedroom in 2002 at age 14 in one of America's most notorious kidnapping cases, told Inside Edition that Cummins is manipulating his former pupil, and is "trying to get her into thinking he's doing her this great favor."

Elizabeth Smart was held captive by Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, for nine months. Their brainwashing was so effective that she never attempted to escape. She wore a veil on the streets of Salt Lake City with her captors and even attended parties with them.

"She was threatened that her family might be killed if she didnt comply with what their requests were, Ed Smart said.

He has been closely following Thomas' case. He feels certain that Cummins, 50, is using similar tactics as Mitchell to keep the teen under his control.

They will try to manipulate in any way possible, to get their compliance or 'be their friend,' be in love with them somehow," he said.

Beth's father, Anthony Thomas, told the Today show Monday that Cummins began to brainwash his daughter after they were caught kissing in his office.

Read: Teacher, Missing Student Spotted in Out-of-State Walmart Days After Disappearing

"Tad had been telling her because of the kissing incident, she would never be able to attend college  never be accepted in college and wouldn't be able to pursue a career after that," he said. "He was owning her mind, convincing her."

He said Beth came to believe that her only option was to run away with her teacher.

Ed Smart told Inside Edition that once Beth is found and returned to her family, the spell will be broken just like it was with his daughter.

Story continues

She understood that we unconditionally loved her," he said. "We knew that she had been through hell. Her ordeal was over with."

Watch: Student Claims She Saw Teacher Kiss Girl, 15, Before Alleged Kidnapping

Related Articles:
By Maria Tsvetkova and Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW/ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Akbarzhon Jalilov, the man suspected of blowing up a Russian metro train, represents a new wave of radical Islamists who blend into local society away from existing jihadist movements - making it harder for security forces to stop their attacks. His pages on the Russian equivalent of Facebook show Jalilov's interest in Wahabbism, a conservative and hardline branch of Islam. But they give no indication that he might resort to violence, presenting a picture of a typical young man leading a largely secular life. Fourteen people were killed and 50 wounded in the suicide bomb attack on Monday on the metro carriage in St Petersburg. Russian state investigators said the suspected bomber was Jalilov, a 23-year-old born in the mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. If radical Islamism was indeed his motive, he will be distinct from two previous waves of attackers - those from Russia's restive North Caucasus region who fought successive rebellions against Moscow; and a later group who went to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State group. The new generation may take inspiration or instruction from people involved in those previous fights, and are drawn from the same Muslim communities. However, they are not directly linked to those militant organizations and have not created the trail of arrest warrants, tapped phone calls, travel documents and monitored border crossings on which security forces usually rely to keep tabs on violent Islamist radicals. "It's a completely different kind, a different level of terrorist threat from the one that Russian security services are used to dealing with," said Andrei Soldatov, a Russian expert on the intelligence services. Security services typically look for an organization and financing network behind a terror attack, he said, but those may not exist in cases such as the metro bombing. "It's very difficult to counter things like this," Soldatov said. British police have run into similar problems investigating the case of Khalid Masood, who sped across Westminster Bridge in a car last month, killing three pedestrians and injuring dozens more, before stabbing a policeman to death. Shot dead by police, Masood also had no known links to jihadist groups. THE ENEMY WITHIN Jalilov is typical of millions of young Muslim men living in Russia. There was nothing apparent from his background and lifestyle that made him stand out for the authorities. An ethnic Uzbek from the southern Kyrgyzstan city of Osh, he moved with his father to St Petersburg for work several years ago, according to neighbors in Osh. In Russia, he worked with his father as a panel beater in a car repair shop, they said. An acquaintance from St Petersburg said Jalilov had worked for about a year in a chain of sushi restaurants. A second acquaintance said he was a fan of sambo, a form of martial arts popular in Russia. He owned a Daewoo car, according to a source in the Russian authorities, and was registered at an apartment in a quiet, upscale neighborhood of suburban St Petersburg. A person who said he was a representative of the apartment's owner said Jalilov had never lived there, but that he had granted him with a temporary registration at the flat as a favor to some mutual acquaintances. Jalilov's page on VKontake, a Russian social media website, has photographs showing him wearing stylish Western dress, in a restaurant with friends and smoking a hookah pipe. His listed interests included a pop music radio station and mixed-martial arts. His page had a link to the home page of boxer Mike Tyson. But he also had an interest in religion: the page had links to a website in Russian called "I love Islam" which features quotations from the Koran, and another called IslamHouse.com, which said it aimed to help people get to know Islam. Another VKontakte page which belonged to Jalilov included links to a site featuring the sayings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century preacher on whose teaching Wahabbism is based. AVENGING SYRIA Security officials and people involved in radical Islam say the earlier generations of violent Islamists are now largely out of the picture. Militant in the North Caucasus are hounded by security forces, pushed into forest hideouts, and too pre-occupied with staying alive to be able to launch attacks on Russian cities. Meanwhile, the thousands of people from Russia and ex-Soviet republics who fought alongside Islamic State in Syria and Iraq are on the radar of Russian intelligence. Tipped off by Turkish intelligence which tracks jihadists' movements into and out of Syria, Russia arrests them when they return home or prevents them from entering the country. An attack near Moscow last year may have marked the emergence of the new generation of radicals. Usman Murdalov, 21, and his friend Sulim Israilov, 18 traveled from their home in Chechnya, in the north Caucasus, to a Moscow suburb, armed themselves with axes, and attacked a traffic police post. They were shot dead. Their families said they had no idea they were involved in radical Islamism. But in a video posted online a day later, they professed loyalty to Islamic State, and made reference to the Russian military intervention in Syria. "We are calling this a revenge operation, revenge because you are killing our brothers, because you are killing our brothers and sisters every day in Iraq and Syria," one of the two attackers said in the video. Islamic State, its grip on territory in Syria and Iraq weakening, has switched its focus to inspiring sympathizers elsewhere. Avenging Russia for its role in the Syria conflict has been a prominent theme on the group's social media sites. Shortly after Russia launched its military operation in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, the group released a video where it threatened to attack Russia very soon, described Russians as kafirs, or unbelievers, and said that "the blood will spill like an ocean". RECRUITING GROUND That propaganda finds fertile ground inside Russia among the millions of Muslims from Russia's North Caucasus and Muslim migrants from ex-Soviet central Asia. Many do menial, low-paid jobs; they are regularly stopped by police for document checks, and they often face racial discrimination. Two men from central Asia who fought alongside Islamist radicals in Syria described how they had been radicalized while they were working in Russia. One, who gave his name as Boburjan, spoke to Reuters in a jail in Osh in 2015 where he was serving a sentence for his activities in Syria. He said he had come to Moscow to work on a construction site. At a Moscow mosque, he was approached by a man who showed him videos of Middle Eastern conflicts. "That man said: 'Look, infidels are killing us, they rape our women and children, and we must defend our fellow Muslims'," he said. The second man said he was working as a cook in an Uzbek restaurant in central Moscow. "Some of the guys I knew said: 'We must go and wage jihad'," said the 22-year-old man, who gave his name as Khalijan. (additional reporting by Svetlana Reiter, Polina Nikolskaya, Olzhas Auyezov, Hulkar Isamova and Olga Dzyubenko; writing by Christian Lowe; editing by David Stamp)
Eritrea has criticised the United States for slapping "misguided" sanctions on its navy, a month after it emerged the secretive Horn of Africa nation tried to buy military equipment from North Korea.

The US announced last week it had banned dealings with the Eritrean navy under a non-proliferation law which prohibits trading in certain military equipment with North Korea, Syria and Iran.

While no details were given, the move comes after a United Nations sanctions monitoring body reported in February that an air shipment of military-grade communications equipment had been intercepted on its way to Eritrea from North Korea via China.

Eritrea's information ministry said in a statement seen by AFP on Tuesday that the sanctions were "inexplicable and unwarranted".

"The pattern is sadly the same. Fallacious reports are first floated and illicit measures subsequently announced by the same architects who act as the plaintiff, prosecutor and judge," said the statement.

"Misguided policies that emanate from this malicious standpoint have failed in the past."

Eritrea has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2009 that froze assets and travel for political and military leaders and banned arms sales to the country over its suspected support of Islamist Al-Shabaab militants in neighbouring Somalia.

Those sanctions are due for review at the end of this month, and the Eritrean government said the new US measures were meant to encourage their renewal.

Details of the two-year sanctions banning the US government and some private exporters from doing business with the Eritrean navy were published by Washington on its federal register.

In a teleconference with reporters, a senior State Department official declined to elaborate on why the Eritrean navy was singled out in the new sanctions, according to a transcript of the discussion.

Eritrea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, has faced increasing international criticism after last year's release of a UN report accusing the government of President Isaias Afwerki of crimes against humanity.

Tens of thousands of Eritreans are believed to have fled Afwerki's hardline regime, which forces people to join a national service programme the UN report likened to "enslavement".

A former Italian colony, Eritrea was later annexed by Ethiopia with whom it fought a 30-year war before finally declaring independence in 1993. No election has been organised since independence and authorities crack down on all opposition.
Brussels (AFP) - The European Union and the UN host a two-day conference starting Tuesday on Syria's future, with Russian-backed President Bashar al-Assad as firmly in place as ever despite efforts to oust him.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini has billed the gathering in Brussels as a follow-up to a donors' conference last year in London, which raised about $11 billion (10 billion euros) for humanitarian aid programmes in the devastated country.

But the meeting is likely to be overshadowed by the Trump administration's announcement last week that it would no longer focus on Assad's removal, concentrating instead on the wider war against terrorism, including the Islamic State group.

The United States had previously stuck by a UN-backed peace plan that would see Assad "transition" from office while an interim government was formed, but Washington appeared to back away from that last week.

An EU diplomatic source said the issue was likely to "be actively discussed on the sidelines of the conference".

The EU expects UN chief Antonio Guterres to attend along with Staffan de Mistura, his special envoy who is mediating the Syria peace talks.

De Mistura reported "incremental progress" at the latest talks on Friday in Geneva and said he expected to announce a date for the next round this week.

Turkey's attendance at the conference is much anticipated since it is home to the largest number of Syrian refugees, at around 2.5 million, and a key regional player pressing for Assad's exit.

But Mogherini said Monday that the Turkish prime minister had not replied to the invitation, even though his counterparts in Jordan and Lebanon are to attend.

The United States and Russia, meanwhile, are expected to be represented by junior officials or diplomats, not ministers.

- 'We are there to help' -

The 28-nation European Union, along with Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Britain and the United Nations, will co-chair the "Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region".

Story continues

It begins Tuesday with a series of workshops, followed by a formal session on Wednesday to review progress on the London pledges and see what additional measures might be taken.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday that Syria would need an initial $10.7 billion to $17.1 billion to revive agricultural production, depending on how the conflict plays out.

It estimated that the war has caused more than $16 billion in lost crop and livestock production and farming assets.

Since 2011 the FAO has been providing assistance for some 2.4 million Syrians in rural areas and on the outskirts of cities including Aleppo, Homs and Damascus.

The conference participants will "also consider the prospects for post-agreement assistance once a genuinely inclusive political transition is firmly under way," the European Council of member countries says on its website.

Mogherini said the Brussels conference would muster aid efforts while supporting the search for a political settlement to a war which has cost some 320,000 lives.

The EU wants to work with regional players and the international community "to support this political process. We are there to help the Syrians", she said.

"We have never bombed Syria," she noted, making the implicit comparison with the pro- and anti-Assad powers.

As for Assad's future, Mogherini said she believed "it would be impossible" to return to the status quo.

Announcing the conference last month, Mogherini said the EU could help in security, demining and monitoring of an eventual ceasefire as well as restoring essential services such as water, health and education.

The EU estimates that about 13.5 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance inside the country, while another five million have fled, most to Turkey and other neighbouring countries.

The UN says 3.4 billion euros is needed for internal humanitarian aid this year, and 4.7 billion euros is required for the refugees.
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - London should cede financial transactions denominated in euros to EU cities like Amsterdam, Paris or Frankfurt following Britain's exit from the bloc, an EU Parliament leader said Tuesday.

Manfred Weber, the German head of the conservative European People's Party (EPP) group, the parliament's biggest bloc, underscored the threat London could lose such access on the eve of a parliamentary resolution on Brexit.

Huge volumes of euro-denominated trade pass through Britain thanks to so-called "passporting" rules, which allow the UK to host transactions in the single currency despite not itself being a part of the eurozone.

"When Great Britain is leaving the European Union, for us it is not thinkable that, at the end, the whole euro business is still managed in London," Weber told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

"Then the euro business should be managed on EU soil," he said.

"I have the obvious interest that places like Amsterdam, like Paris, like Dublin, like Frankfurt can win and others can lose," said Weber, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"There is already competition going on about who can win in this process," he added.

He declined to go into specifics about what euro-denominated business he was referring to.

The EU has warned Britain that it will not be allowed to cling to advantages for its financial industry while blocking free movement of labour in the wake of Brexit.

London's financial district has benefited from Britain's EU membership as a foothold in the single market for British and non-EU banks.

Several major players in the sector, including US giant JP Morgan and Swiss UBS, have warned that thousands of jobs could leave the "Square Mile" financial district for the continent if that happens.

Weber was speaking before the European Parliament, which will have the final say on any Brexit deal, votes Wednesday on guidelines for the negotiations with Britain, after the starting gun was fired by British Prime Minister Theresa May last week.

However, a draft of the negotiating guidelines seen by AFP contained no reference to euro-denominated business in London.
Washington (AFP) - Former White House national security advisor Susan Rice flatly denied Tuesday that she combed official intelligence files for political information against incoming President Donald Trump.

As Republicans sought to steer public attention to unproven claims that Barack Obama's administration spied on Trump, Rice said that her final months in the White House were focused on Russia's interference in the election that brought Trump to power.

"The allegation is that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That's absolutely false," she told MSNBC television.

Early Tuesday, Trump retweeted a report alleging Rice had ordered the compilation of "spreadsheets" detailing phone conversations between Trump associates and foreign officials intercepted by US intelligence agencies.

On Monday, two reports claimed that Rice, who was Obama's top national security aide, had helped reveal the identities of Trump officials whose communications were swept up in regular US spying on foreign targets.

While the reports cited no supporting evidence, Trump backers pointed to them to support the president's allegations that the Obama administration used US intelligence bodies to spy on him.

Rice said Obama had ordered an extensive investigation on how Russia disrupted the 2016 election. She conceded that that could have resulted in Trump officials' communications being picked up and read by US intelligence.

"From basically August through the end of the administration (January 20) we were hearing more and more, getting more and more information about Russian interference in our electoral process. It was of grave concern," she said.

"There was a pace of reporting that accelerated as the intelligence community got more and more information on that."

Trump and his Republican supporters want FBI and Congressional investigations to target claims that Obama spied on his successor, rather than Moscow's interference in the election.

Story continues

Trump has repeatedly called the Russian issue "fake news," and on Sunday made a plea to "find the leakers." His spokesman Sean Spicer complained Monday that US media was, in its focus on the Russia issue, pursuing the wrong story.

Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee probing the Russia scandal, has tried to direct attention to how the Obama administration used intelligence reports.

But Rice and Democrats say the key issue is still what Russia did and whether there was any collusion with the Trump team.

"Right now, there's a cloud swirling over the White House," said Eric Swalwell, a Democratic member of Nunes's panel. "We will not stop until we find out what happened."
The Milan Furniture Fair, April 4-9, is a major event in the world of design and decoration where industry professionals can admire the latest creations. Here's a look at some of the new items on show at the Italian event and heading to interiors soon.

Tom Dixon

The British designer's new collection is focused on lighting. New futuristic designs include the "Cut" facetted ceiling light, the "Tube" light, inspired by artistic optics, and a new version of the "Melt" light that can be mounted on a wall, ceiling or floor. Design fans heading to Dixon's exhibition can discover, for the very first time, the British designer's collaboration with the Swedish furniture giant IKEA, in the form of a modular bed/sofa called "Delaktig." The designer's first ever textile collection, "Super Texture," will be heading to Milan too, with velvets, boucles, and knits featured on cushions and blankets.

Jean Nouvel

The French architect has joined forces with furniture maker Poltrona Frau for a seating collection designed for the Louvre museum's Abu Dhabi outpost, which he also designed. The collection includes leather benches and seats that echo the curves of the building, located on Saadiyat Island.

Zaha Hadid

Architect Zaha Hadid -- the first female recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize who died in March 2016 -- left behind several unfinished projects still in development. One of those is the "Forma" cheese grater, manufactured by Italian brand Alessi, inspired by the shape of pebbles, smoothed over time by water and wind.

Pulpo

Pulpo is expanding its "Brutal Beautiful" collection with "Pow," "Bang" and "Kaboom" armchairs by designer Hermann August Weizenegger and the "Gin" table by Sebastian Herkner.

Louis Vuitton

The venerable luggage-maker and leather goods expert Louis Vuitton will present new pieces from its now much anticipated "Objets Nomades" collection, with travel-minded designs from India Mahdavi and Patricia Urquiola.

Story continues

And finally ...

Mooi promises new work from the likes of Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in "A Life Extraordinary," a presentation celebrating an exceptional world of remarkable detail, featuring sculptural lighting and luxurious wool carpets.

Seletti has teamed with Studio Job on a collection of fast-food furniture including a hot dog sofa and a hamburger armchair.

Wallpaper and fabric designer Pierre Frey has a collaboration with Pierre Gonalons in store for Milan.
New research has linked exposure to a frequently used group of pesticides called pyrethroids -- also found in domestic products like mosquito sprays and head lice shampoos -- with the early onset of puberty in boys. The study was presented at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting, April 1-4, in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, studied the effect of a class of pesticides called pyrethroids on puberty in 463 Chinese boys aged between nine and 16 years old.

This class of pesticides accounts for more than 30% of global insecticide use, the researchers noted. Pyrethroids are difficult to avoid, as they are present in soil, air and water. Previously, these chemicals have been associated with a toxic effect on the nervous system, provoking cognitive problems, notably in children.

This latest study suggests that pyrethroids could stimulate testosterone production in boys by increasing levels of two hormones: luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

A 10% increase in a pyrethroid metabolite called 3-PBA, present in participants' urine, was associated with a 4% increase in levels of LH and FSH.

An increased level of 3-PBA in urine raised the chance of boys being at an advanced stage of genital development by 73% to 110%, the researchers explain.

Currently, few studies have assessed the direct impact of the environment on health, other than for people directly exposed to pesticides or toxic substances, like farmers. However, these synthetic products are considered a risk factor.

Even at very low doses, they can have serious effects, notably in fetuses, embryos and young children. Genital defects, early menopause and puberty, and infertility can be consequences of exposure to these substances.

Early puberty is associated with a risk of diseases in adulthood, notably testicular cancer in boys and breast cancer in girls, as well as behavioral problems, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart issues.

Story continues

Related:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
IDLIB  Dozens of people are dead after a suspected chemical attack in the Khan Shaykhun neighborhood of Idlib province, Syria. Yahoo News spoke to several eyewitnesses via WhatsApp and Facebook. 

One Syrian activist, Zouhir, said his brother is in Idlib. Zouhir told Yahoo News, The attacks started at 7 a.m. in the area. Civil defense [rescue teams] responded right away but didnt know where the attack had come from. As they were helping people, another sudden attack took place near the hospital.

Zouhir said his brother reported more than one attack in the area, and that rescuers had identified the chemical as sarin gas based on victims symptoms like yellow material coming out of their mouth, then blood, and difficulty breathing.

Photos and video have emerged on social media showing children piled on the ground, half naked and extremely thin, suggesting severe malnutrition. Another video showed children dead, with their eyes open. Bodies including those of women could be seen strewn in the streets.

An eyewitness, Zadi, said he saw a little girl who looked like she had butter coming out of her mouth and that when people were rushing toward the hospital, they were targeted with rocket-propelled grenades.

A man carries a child following a suspected chemical attack at a makeshift hospital in the town of Khan Shaykhun, Syria, on April 4, 2017. (Photo: Edlib Media Center/AP)

Slideshow: Suspected Syria gas attack kills dozens, including children >>>

Yet another eyewitness, Yaman, also spoke with Yahoo News and said he went to see what happened at the hospital; while there, Khan Shaykun was directly targeted by [several] air raids, by Russian aircraft  it destroyed the hospital and caused the deaths of children inside who were receiving treatment. He called the attacks a massacre.

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied claims that its aircraft were involved in the attack.

One doctor treating victims, Dr. Feras al-Jundi, went to a hospital in a neighborhood not far from Khan Shaykhun to help. He said the scene was ghastly: I saw a lot of victims. The hospital was filled with them. There were a lot of unconscious people, he said. I tried to help the women, children and old men. I saw more than 10 [dead], and then the hospital was attacked three times. People were in a state of anxiety and fear.

Story continues

He blames the Syrian government for the attack. But a Syrian military official denied the accusations and stated that the government has not and does not use [chemical weapons], not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place.

Destruction at a hospital room in Khan Shaykhun, a Syrian rebel-held town, following a suspected toxic gas attack. (Photo: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images)

The last major chemical assault took place in the Damascus neighborhood of Ghouta in August 2013. At the time, the United Nations called it a war crime. Following the attack, the Syrian government agreed to give up its chemical arsenal, but concerns have been raised among international players about Assads transparency.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, calling the attack monstrous. A Security Council meeting has been called for Wednesday.

The attack comes after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Ankara that it should be up to the Syrian people to decide if Assad should stay in power. Since January, the U.S. has turned its focus to defeating the Islamic State militant group in Raqqa and Mosul.

_____

Ash Gallagher is a journalist covering the Mideast for Yahoo News.

Read more from Yahoo News:
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump faces his biggest test as a world leader when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week for a summit that will set the tone for perhaps the most consequential of U.S. foreign relationships. The two leaders are expected to struggle to find common ground on the main issues that divide them when they meet on Thursday and Friday at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The main agenda items are: NORTH KOREA Perhaps Trump's most pressing national security challenge. North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. Trump is expected to repeat his call for China to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor and has warned that Washington might deal with Pyongyang's weapons programs alone if need be. China says it is doing all it can and has said it is up to the United States to de-escalate with Pyongyang. A White House strategy review focuses on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang. A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but the review de-emphasizes direct military action, a senior U.S. official said. Any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops stationed there. TRADE Trade is one of the biggest hot-button issues, given Trumps charges in his presidential campaign that Chinese trade practices were killing U.S. jobs and his vow to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. The administration has not acted on unilateral tariffs but is targeting a reduction in China's $347 billion goods trade surplus through tougher enforcement of trade laws and anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has also demanded "reciprocity" in the U.S.-China economic relationship, saying that U.S. companies do not enjoy the same access to China's vast market as Chinese firms get in the United States. China says Washington should create better conditions for Chinese investment in the United States if it wants to correct the imbalance. Neither side wants a trade war, but it may be hard to do much more than lower the temperature in Mar-a-Lago. Some analysts believe Xi may bring a package of job-creating Chinese investments and the prospect of a more open services sector that Trump could tweet as tangible achievements. SOUTH CHINA SEA Relations are also clouded by China's expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands and installing military facilities on them. U.S. officials see this as part of a long-term Chinese bid to deny U.S. forces access to the strategic sea, a key global trade route. They say Washington plans more robust naval operations to challenge Chinese claims and assert the right to freedom of navigation, though months have passed since the last one in October under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama. The situation in North Korea has appeared to push the South China Sea onto the back burner for now, but Trump is expected to air U.S. concerns. CURRENCY Trump has repeatedly charged that China manipulates its yuan currency to keep its exports cheap, and he is likely to raise the issue with Xi. But Trump did not make good on his promises to formally declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency. While economists believe China pushed down the value of the yuan in the past, China's central bank for much of the past two years has been working to prop up the yuan, amid capital outflow pressures, spending more than $1 trillion in the process. This would make it very hard to justify a manipulator designation under the U.S. Treasury's current foreign exchange analysis, due one week after Xi's visit. ONE CHINA AND TAIWAN The summit would not be happening if Trump had not reaffirmed the one China" policy that has underpinned relations for decades. Trump infuriated Beijing when, as president-elect, he took a call from Taiwans president and suggested he might not abide by the policy. He backtracked in a call with Xi in February. Xi may now be looking to head off a big new weapons package to Taiwan that U.S. officials have told Reuters is being crafted. For its part, Taiwan will be watching anxiously for any sign that Trump is using it as a bargaining chip. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and David Lawder; Editing by James Dalgleish)
The collapse of the Republican healthcare bill is good news not only for President Barack Obamas signature domestic achievement, but also for one of his central foreign policy accomplishments  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Two years ago I argued that the Iran deal would be the foreign policy equivalent of Obamacare and today that looks more likely than ever. Both face similar political dynamics and are extraordinarily complicated to unwind, meaning that in the near term they will most likely stay in place. However, lack of focus on implementation or quiet steps by a new administration to actively weaken and undercut them could result in their long-term collapse.

The JCPOA and Affordable Care Act were both extraordinarily complex and imperfect agreements because they had to meet the needs of so many stakeholders and also tackled incredibly complex subject matters. The Trump administration felt this challenge as it tried to negotiate new legislation that met the needs of both the Freedom Caucus and moderate Republicans while facing unified opposition from Democrats and major concerns from insurers, hospitals, doctors, and most importantly, the American public.

The Iran deal is similarly complicated. It is not just a deal between the United States, and Iran but also includes the worlds other great powers  China, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia. If the United States walked away from the agreement it would need these countries support to meaningfully reimpose sanctions, and unless Iran was seen as clearly at fault, it would be unlikely to get that support. The result would an Iran deal death spiral with a new world in which the sanctions regime against Iran is dramatically weakened even as the limitations imposed by the nuclear agreement come off.

Moreover, the Trump administration has a broad international agenda that will be difficult to accomplish without cooperation from these countries. Taking a step to unilaterally walk away from such a high-profile agreement would undercut Americas credibility in other spheres and make it more difficult to negotiate with these partners on other more pressing matters.

Congress is the other key stakeholder and still has the power to kill the nuclear agreement by passing new sanctions that violate the JCPOA. But it is unlikely to muster the votes to do so. Just as the House voted under the Obama administration time and again to repeal the Affordable Care Act, it also had no problem generating overwhelming support for draconian sanctions on Iran because it knew they would never become law. The Obama administration would always negotiate out the worst elements and eventually come to agreement on a middle ground approach that gave it leverage with Iran but did not threaten the JCPOA or ongoing negotiations.

Under President Donald Trump, Congress has suddenly become much more measured. The bipartisan Iran sanctions legislation introduced in both houses right before last weeks American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference was quite tame. Both pieces of legislation could worsen the environment and undermine trust between Iran and the United States. Both could use some fixes, which would make them less likely to violate the nuclear agreement. And passing anything before having greater clarity on the Trump administrations broader strategy is a mistake. But neither piece of legislation explicitly violates the nuclear agreement.

In 2015, 42 Democrats in the Senate took a major risk by choosing to support the agreement when it was first signed. They now have the ability to filibuster any legislation that they believe would kill the JCPOA and are not going to reverse their positions. On top of that, Democrats who opposed the deal and a number of Republicans also acknowledge that given the complexities of unwinding it, legislation that would be seen as a clear violation is not a good idea. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker has publicly acknowledged as much, and notably during Speaker Ryans speech to AIPAC last week he railed against the nuclear agreement but ultimately called for tough enforcement  not repeal.

The JCPOA and Obamacare are also similar in that both were ultimately about central ideological fights between Obama and a Republican Congress that ultimately are not as high of a priority for Trump. At its core, Obamacare became an argument about differing worldviews, with Republicans arguing for less government involvement in healthcare and Democrats arguing for a greater government role. The nuclear agreement was a proxy for a broader ideological debate about Americas role in the world, and specifically Obamas view that the United States should diplomatically engage with its adversaries  a view harshly opposed by congressional Republicans.

Unlike congressional Republicans, Trump never made repealing Obamacare his central domestic message, instead focusing on economic nationalism, trade, and immigration. And this prioritization showed during the effort to repeal it, when the White House allowed Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to drive the process. Indeed, left to its own devices without a push from Congress, the Trump administration may never have pursued this legislative initiative in the first place.

In the same way, while Trump railed against the Iran deal during the campaign, he rarely called for undoing it, instead focusing his primary foreign policy messages on terrorism, getting U.S. allies to pay more for their own defense, and better relations with Russia. And since coming into office  while placing Iran on notice, and aside from one stray tweet from the president  the Trump administration has continued to state that it will enforce the nuclear agreement. Indeed, even as Vice President Mike Pence railed harshly against Iran during his speech in front of AIPAC last week, he was careful to not imply in any way that the administration was walking away from the nuclear deal.

Still, like Obamacare, the Iran deal is far from completely safe and could be quietly undermined. The Trump administration could try to undermine Obamacare through a number of steps such as discouraging enrollment, not enforcing the individual mandate, cutting subsidies, or weakening support for the insurance exchanges. This could over time cause Obamacare to collapse.

The Iran deal is in a similar spot. The administration could discourage economic investment in Iran that was expected as part of the nuclear agreement. Under the Obama administration, the Treasury and State Departments went out of their way to explain the terms of the agreement to international business executives so that they would understand and avoid some of the major risks associated with investing in Iran while steering clear of violating the many sanctions still on the books. The Trump administration is not going to pursue this type of proactive outreach, but the real question is whether the Treasury Department starts to reinterpret sanctions relief under the nuclear deal in ways that discourage investment in Iran.

Indeed, Iran was already quite frustrated with the pace of sanctions relief under Obama. Much of this was Irans fault, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sold the deal to his public and Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini by exaggerating the economic benefits. However, in the aftermath of Trumps election there has also been greater hesitance by companies to invest, and if that continues or is exacerbated it may lead to frustration on the Iranian side that eventually results in Iran walking away.

The Trump administration could also kill the agreement over time through the way in which it negotiates with Iran over small violations that will inevitably occur. The JCPOA establishes a joint commission that includes all of the parties to the agreement, which meets regularly and ensures implementation is on track. In a number of cases early in implementation Iran was technically in violation and the Obama administration used the joint commission to quickly and quietly call Iran out and force it to come into rapid compliance. But in a similar scenario, the Trump administration might instead loudly and publicly confront Iran in a manner that causes it to escalate and undermines the agreement.

There is also the possibility that as the Trump administration takes a harder line with Iran in regard to its regional behavior and also reduces the level of diplomatic engagement, tensions in areas outside the nuclear agreement could lead to an escalation that eventually leads to the deals collapse. The Trump administration is rightfully looking for ways to push back on Irans support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Iraq, and Houthi rebels in Yemen, and will take a more aggressive approach than the Obama administration did. This by itself should not threaten the nuclear agreement, but if it leads to a highly escalatory incident that launches the United States and Iran into direct military conflict, the effects could include the collapse of the JCPOA.

The risk of this type of miscalculation increases as the overall environment gets worse. While Congress and the Trump administration have been careful to not explicitly try to kill the deal, the recently introduced legislation and the intense rhetoric towards Iran at AIPAC sewed further mistrust. And thus far the new administration does not appear to be keeping open a diplomatic channel with Iran, which is a major mistake. The Trump administration should reconsider and keep open a dialogue between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif.

Ultimately, neither the Iran deal nor the Affordable Care Act are guaranteed to succeed. Both will face significant pressures in the years ahead from an administration that has not bought into either. And in the case of the JCPOA, Iranian decision-making and domestic politics also remain major wildcards. But supporters of the Iran deal should be reassured by the early experiences in trying to overturn Obamacare. Turns out it is much easier to rail against a complex deal you oppose then unravel and replace it with something better.

Photo credit: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan addresses the AIPAC policy conference in Washington on March 27, 2017. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Paris (AFP) - Usually grumpy and always acid-tongued, Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon goes into the second French presidential debate on Tuesday on a high, comparing his campaign to a spring-time flower bed.

For months Melenchon limped behind in fifth place, his role apparently limited to siphoning off votes from the beleaguered Socialist party in the first round of the presidential vote -- until a decisive change in sentiment last month.

"It's like the spring, you don't see it then, boom! There are flowers everywhere," he told a rally on Sunday, welcoming polls -- "favourable horoscopes", he called them -- which show support for him surging.

A dramatic climb of five points can be traced back to a strong performance in the first debate on March 20 where his no-frills style and colourful turn of phrase shone in an often messy encounter between the top five candidates.

Melenchon, 65, uttered one of the lines of the evening when he accused the moderators of having the "modesty of a gazelle" for failing to press right-wing candidate Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen over their legal problems.

Tuesday's debate will see all 11 contenders take to the stage for the first time, again favouring a memorable soundbite over waffle and leaving little time for anyone to make an impact.

It could play a crucial role in swinging momentum in the closing weeks of the campaign, with support for 39-year-old centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron still seen as fragile.

An initially nervous Macron emerged unscathed from the first debate despite occasionally seeming to struggle in what was his first experience of the format.

"Voters are looking to see who will be up to the job of the president. It's an opportunity to take a second look," senior pollster Bruno Jeanbart from the OpinionWay group told AFP.

The final result of the two-stage election is still seen as highly uncertain. Surveys show around a third of voters plan to abstain, while around a third of likely voters say they still have not made up their minds.

Story continues

Macron stressed Monday that commentators were still underestimating Le Pen, saying those who said she stood no chance were "the same people who said (Donald) Trump couldn't win".

- Less of a hothead? -

Melenchon has now eclipsed the beleaguered Socialist party candidate Benoit Hamon, with an average of polls showing him winning around 15 percent, higher than the 11.1 percent he registered in his first run for the presidency in 2012.

Hamon is falling towards single figures.

Melenchon is also closing the gap on right-winger Fillon (17 percent) from the Republicans party, whose campaign has been torpedoed by a series of allegations, including that he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for a fake parliamentary job.

Part of his newfound popularity can be put down to his personal style -- the firebrand has toned down his rhetoric and says he has become "less of a hothead" -- while his far-left programme taps into anger over globalisation and Europe.

"Today's society does not want sound and fury," he told Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) weekly on Sunday.

The veteran politician is also positioned as another "outsider" in an election dominated by voter anger at France's political class, as well as fears about job losses and terrorism.

The one-time Trotskyist quit the Socialist party after more than 30 years in 2008 to co-found a new leftist party. Last year, he created his current movement La France Insoumise, "France Unbowed".

Over the years he has forged a reputation as an often aggressive anti-establishment figure who shares economic policies with Le Pen, while rejecting her hardline rhetoric on immigration and Islam.

Like Le Pen, he rails against globalisation as well as the financial and political elite, writing a book in 2011 called "Get rid of them all. Quick, a citizen's revolution".

On economic policy, they both propose tax-and-spend redistribution and see their core supporters as workers abandoned by the Socialist and Republicans parties which have shared power for most of France's modern history.

Melenchon regularly attacks the media as biased and once said the European Union was run by "a swarm of bureaucratic insects".

He is still remembered for dismissing outgoing President Francois Hollande as the "captain of a pedalo" unfit to run France during a crisis, while he compares German leader Angela Merkel to war-mongering Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck.

Jeanbart said Melenchon was mainly benefiting from the woes of the Socialist candidate Hamon, but to "go beyond, he'll need to broaden his appeal to a much more working-class electorate".
PARIS (Reuters) - French presidential candidates Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen came in for stinging attacks from left-wing election rivals over police investigations against them during a televised election debate on Tuesday. After two hours of debate among the 11 presidential candidates on unemployment, immigration and relations with Europe, two far-left candidates took the gloves off and piled into Fillon and Le Pen over judicial investigations against them. "Since January it's just been a great campaign ... the more we dig, the more corruption there is, the more cheating there is," Philippe Poutou, a fringe candidate, said. He was referring to a press report in the satirical Le Canard Enchaine weekly which was the first to allege that Fillon had been paying his wife huge sums of tax-payers money for work she had not properly carried out. Fillon, a 63-year-old conservative prime minister, and his wife are being investigated over the allegations though they deny any wrongdoing. Looking ill at ease, Fillon replied that he had made no mistakes and would not take questions on the allegations. "I won't be intimidated," he said. "I'll take you to court for that," Fillon said, lowering his voice. Fillon was once frontrunner in the election, but after the fake jobs allegations emerged his ratings tumbled and he is now trailing in third place in the election first round, according to opinion polls, which would mean elimination. Poutou, a car factory worker who is expected to get only minimal support in the April 23 first round of the election, also had harsh words for Le Pen. The National Front leader in February used her immunity as EU lawmaker to refuse to go to a police summons over allegations that she had made illegal EU payments to her staff. "When you're summoned by police, you go. There is no workers' immunity," said Poutou in a comment widely picked up on Twitter. He was supported by another far-left candidate Nathalie Arthaud, who said: "Supermarket cashiers can be fired just for stealing a voucher. There is a shocking discrepancy here," she said. Le Pen, who like Fillon has also denied wrongdoing, angrily responded, saying she was the victim of "political persecution." "Is this a (police) interrogation? I thought this was a debate but it looks like the prosecutors are here," she said. Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon, unlikely to get beyond the election's first round, mocked Le Pen for "playing the victim." Earlier on Tuesday, a judicial source said a separate probe into the National Front's finances in France's northernmost region was underway. Le Canard Enchaine said the probe targeted Le Pen's campaign director, David Rachline. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander, Elizabeth Pineau, Simon Carraud, Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Everyone loves Costco (and especially their free samples) but no one in the world loves Costco more than 5-year old Kimber Walker-and no one loves Walker more than her very dedicated mother, Niki. As the ultimate display of both of their loves, Niki transformed her home into a mini-Costco and threw her daughter the Costco-themed birthday party of her dreams (and yours too, if you think about it).

For the celebration, the family home was outfitted with a cash register stocked with dollar bills with Kimbers face for guests to purchase their bulk grocery products. To entice guests, sample stations were set up so guests could try bite-size portions of Kirkland fruity snacks (thats the Costco house brand) and tortilla chips. There was also Kirkland brand pizza and lemonade, and later guests were treated with Kirkland ice cream and a giant cake (which was probably bought at Costco, too) decorated with the Costco logo, thanking Kimber for her five years of service.

While it was a birthday party, Kimber was also celebrating the fact that she was crowned Employee of the Month (at least in her version of Costco) with her photo on the table and the title to prove it.

The Walkers local Costco couldnt let their biggest fan celebrate alone. According to the moms Facebook, she got her very own employee badge. No word on whether that translated into extra free samples, though.

Head over to PopSugar to check out the photos and get some tips for planning your very own Costco-themed shindig.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
Fiona, the 9-week-old baby hippo born premature and severely underweight, has been filmed dreaming about her next meal while sleeping in her habitat.

Read: Fiona the Famous Preemie Hippo Shows Off Her Swimming Skills

In a video posted on YouTube by the folks at the Cincinnati Zoo Friday, the baby hippo has her eyes shut and can be seen moving her mouth and licking her lips with a small grin on her face.

"Like human babies, 9-week-old hippo Fiona suckles in her sleep," the zoo said.

Fiona was born six weeks premature in January and weighed just 29 pounds, which is 25 pounds lighter than the lowest recorded birth weight for the species, the zoo reported.

She wasnt strong enough to stand or nurse from her mom, 17-year-old Bibi, so Fiona required around-the-clock care from zookeepers.

The zoo has tracked the little hippo's every move.

Read: Baby Hippo Born Premature Receives Care Package From NICU Team at Children's Hospital

In February, she was filmed swimming for the first time in a shallow pool.

In March, the zoo reported that the hippo has been learning and getting accustomed to its larger surroundings inside her habitat, playing with toys and exploring the area on her own while exercising to build muscle strength in her little legs.

In addition to round-the-clock care from animal staff, Fiona has received endless support from the community, including a local NICU team from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, who sent over a gift basket for the preemie hippo after she was born.

Watch: Newborn Giant Anteater Sticks Out His Long Tongue During Public Debut

Related Articles:
Former White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Tuesday that allegations that she was responsible for intelligence leaks were false.

In her first public comments since reports surfaced that she had requested the unmasking of the names of Trump associates in surveillance reports, Rice told MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell she hadnt leaked any of that information to the press.

I leaked nothing to nobody, said Rice, and never have and never would.

To talk about the contents of a classified report, continued Rice, to talk about the individuals on the foreign side who were the targets of the report itself, or any Americans who may have been collected upon incidentally, is to disclose classified information, and Im not going to do that.

Bloomberg reported Monday evening that Rice sought the names of Trump transition officials whose communications were swept up incidentally during routine monitoring of foreign officials. As national security adviser, she was entitled to see the information. The fact that she asked for it does nothing to support President Trumps charge that the Obama administration wiretapped him or his associates. But leaking the information to the media or using it for political purposes could be ethically or legally problematic. Rice said that none of the information was collected for political purposes.

Rice referred to a Daily Caller report that she had requested spreadsheets of phone calls between Trump and his aides as false, saying there were no spreadsheets of any kind.

I spent hours with Michael Flynn during the transition, said Rice when asked about her successor as national security adviser, as it was my responsibility to try and provide him and other members of the Trump transition team with the best possible briefings I could as to what they needed to do to hit the ground running. We had very civil and cordial interactions, and he conducted himself professionally and I did the same.

Story continues

Rice also said that President Trumps accusation that the White House had wiretapped Trump Tower had no merit.

Absolutely false, said Rice. The intelligence community, the director of the FBI has made that absolutely clear. There was no such collection, surveillance on Trump Tower or Trump individuals, directed by the White House or targeted at Trump individuals.

When asked if she would be willing to testify to Congress, as Sen. Rand Paul demanded Tuesday, Rice said, Lets see what comes, but that she wanted to help with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Rice said during a PBS interview last month that she didnt know what House intelligence committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was talking about when he said that Trump officials communications might have been incidentally swept up by intelligence agencies.

So, today, I really dont know to what Chairman Nunes was referring, but he said that whatever he was referring to was a legal, lawful surveillance, and that it was potentially incidental collection on American citizens, said Rice during the March 22 PBS NewsHour interview.

At Mondays press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer criticized the medias lack of interest in the Rice allegations. He followed up on that during an off-camera session with reporters Tuesday, stating that the media was attempting to defend one side of the aisle against the other.

More and more news outlets are reporting that there was something there, said Spicer. You saw former [Director of National Intelligence] John Brennan talk about if people were leaking this information its treasonous. You have questions about what was the motive behind it if it didnt have intelligence value.

Why Im saying that were going is a troubling path is what we continue to see is theres a lot coming out that there was no value in this intelligence, added Spicer, so why was somebody unmasked if thats the case?

Read more from Yahoo News:
PARIS (Reuters) - About 330,000 tonnes of animal feed will not be needed in France this year due to the bird flu outbreak that has led to the widespread culling of duck flocks and an order to partially halt poultry rearing to stop the virus, animal feed industry group SNIA said on Tuesday. France has been among the European countries most severely hit by the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus that has spread since late last year and decimated duck flocks in large parts of southwestern France, home to foie gras producers. Nearly 10 million ducks have died, been culled or will not be reared because of a government decree to leave farms empty until the end of May in the most infected regions, foie gras producers' group Cifog estimates. This would lead to a drop in demand for animal feed of between 240,000 and 250,000 tonnes, including maize (corn) - the main component of duck feed - and compound feedstuffs, SNIA economist Bruno Toussaint told Reuters. Maize growers had said last month that the fall in demand for the grain due to bird flu would be about 150,000 tonnes. The crisis has also hit the chicken industry with an estimated drop in output of 13.4 million chickens, including 10 million produced under special labels and 3.4 million standard chickens, Anne Richard, head of poultry institute ITAVI told Reuters. That compares with the country's production of 755 million chickens last year. The smaller chicken flock would lead to a drop of another 80,000 tonnes in demand for animal feed, bringing the total drop in animal feed demand due to bird flu this year to about 330,000 tonnes, SNIA said. France produced 20.4 million tonnes of animal feed in 2016. Chickens are less prone to H5N8 but farmers near infected duck farms had to cull their birds and stop rearing to avoid a spreading of the virus. (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Gus Trompiz, Greg Mahlich)
Paris (AFP) - French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron attacked far-right leader Marine Le Pen over her economic policy and plans to scrap the euro on Tuesday in an unprecedented debate between all 11 contenders ahead of this month's election.

The discussion was at times chaotic and dominated by the anti-capitalist and virulently anti-EU smaller candidates who made their first major appearance ahead of the first round of the two-stage vote on April 23.

The most telling clash between the frontrunners came at the end of the first section when 39-year-old Macron took on what is considered one of Le Pen's vulnerabilities -- her plans to scrap the euro and revert to the franc.

"What you are proposing, Madame Le Pen, is a reduction in French people's spending power because, by withdrawing from the euro, for savers, workers, it's a reduction in spending power," he said.

Polls show only a third of French voters support scrapping the euro, many of them anxious about the impact of a devaluation which would hit their savings and spur inflation.

The clash and Macron's more combative performance could point to the tone and shape of the campaign ahead, with Macron and Le Pen having emerged as the clear frontrunners.

Macron accused her of wanting to start an "economic war" with France's neighbours and denounced her nationalist stance, which he said had torn the continent apart in the past and filled graveyards near his hometown Amiens in northeast France.

With just 19 days until the first round of voting in a rollercoaster contest, the debate could influence the momentum of the campaign, with around a third of voters still unsure of how they will vote.

Polls show far-right candidate Le Pen and centrist independent Macron in a dead heat at around 25 percent heading into the first round on April 23. Macron is seen easily winning the second round on May 7.

- 'Unfettered globalisation' -

Story continues

Le Pen put in a steady performance under fire, warning about the closure of factories, and the danger of Islamists and immigrants eroding France's national identity.

"I consider that in this election our civilisation is at stake," she said at the start of the debate, promising to restore order and combat "unfettered globalisation".

When questioned about legal problems surrounding her National Front party including campaign financing and the use of expenses at the European parliament, she said she considered herself to be "politically persecuted".

Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon scoffed at her defence, saying it was "amusing to see you playing the victim while spending your time attacking immigrants".

For the second time, Hamon found himself eclipsed by his rising far-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon, who put in another assured performance, according to a poll published by BFM television after the debate.

One candidate who needed to shine was conservative Francois Fillon, whose campaign was almost derailed by criminal charges over claims he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for fake parliamentary jobs.

He concluded by saying that if voters did not want the "the chaos proposed" by Le Pen or "the continuity" represented by Macron, then they should vote for him.

Unlike the first debate, Tuesday's featured all of the candidates ahead for the first time in French history.

They included fast-talking autoworker Philippe Poutou, who featured widely on social media after taking on Le Pen and Fillon over their legal problems in unusually blunt language.

"With Fillon, the more you look the more corruption and cheating you find," he said.

Communist firebrand Nathalie Arthaud vowed to protect French workers from being "strangled by the capitalist system", while anti-EU nationalists such as Francois Asselineau, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Jacques Cheminade enjoyed rare airtime.

- 'Race to the bottom'? -

It was the first time that all candidates had debated before the first round of a presidential election in France with many observers sceptical about whether the format would help inform voters.

Writing in Le Monde before the debate, Michel Noblecourt, noted that President Francois Hollande -- who decided in December not to seek re-election -- warned that the "dangerous" innovation in French politics risked "a race to the bottom".

The final result of an election that is being watched closely around the world is still seen as highly unpredictable.

Dissatisfaction and outright hostility towards mainstream politics is high in France and surveys show around a third of voters plan to abstain.
Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - The Gambia holds its first election Thursday since the downfall of longtime leader Yahya Jammeh, with expectations high that new lawmakers will overhaul a national assembly once derided as a mere rubberstamp.

Gambians complain that under Jammeh, who ruled for 22 years, laws were often made by executive decree and buttressed by legislation much later on, if at all.

The 239 registered candidates representing nine different political parties on Tuesday end campaigning for the 48 seats up for election in the Banjul legislature.

Five seats are also appointed by the president, totalling 53 spots in the tiny west African nation's parliament, and with just 886,000 registered voters according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), every ballot matters.

Awa Lowe, a resident of Kanifing, a Banjul suburb, told AFP expectations were high that the new parliament would ensure true accountability for government decisions.

"The next parliament will not be a rubberstamp National Assembly that passes any bill that comes before parliamentarians," Lowe told AFP.

"Parliament will be diverse and that is what will make it interesting. No party would have the numerical strength to pass bills that are not in line with the interest of the people," Lowe added.

- Altered landscape -

The landscape of Gambian politics could not have shifted more dramatically since the last legislative elections in 2012, when Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) took 43 seats, with a large number uncontested due to an opposition boycott.

Among the parties running this year, the United Democratic Party (UDP) is fielding the greatest number of candidates after long being seen as the strongest opposition force in Gambian politics.

Alagie Darboe, deputy administrative secretary of the UDP who is standing for a seat in The Gambia's West Coast Region, said the party was aiming to win in 44 constituencies.

Story continues

"The support we are getting from the electorate during the campaign is a clear indication that we are going to win," he told AFP.

President Adama Barrow, who won December's presidential race, was a former UDP treasurer who had resigned to run as the candidate of an unprecedented opposition coalition.

After a drawn-out crisis caused by Jammeh's initial refusal to step down, mediation efforts by west African leaders and the threat of military intervention eventually delivered the country's first ever democratic transition.

Barrow's cabinet is made up of the heads of seven different political parties, all of which will field candidates in Thursday's poll.

The president had initially said the opposition coalition was a "family" and would run again as a group in the legislative poll, but internal tensions broke apart the agreement.

As a result, parties whose leaders govern together as ministers will be pitted against each other at the ballot box, stoking tensions that some close to the government say could play into the hands of the APRC.

Yankuba Colley, the APRC's campaign chief, said the party knew mistakes were made during the presidential election, but added that his candidates were working hard to show it was still a vital force.

"We are optimistic that we are going to defeat our opponents in the 29 constituencies (where) we fielded candidates," he told AFP.

"Some of our party militants felt they made errors in the presidential elections," he added. "Some of our militants thought APRC was dead... they are now convinced the party is alive."

Although much has changed since the last vote, one peculiarly Gambian institution remains firmly in place.

Gambians vote with marbles dropped into coloured metal barrels representing the different candidates, and despite rumours of reform, the system will be used again for the legislative elections, IEC chairman Alieu Momar Njie told AFP.
HEILBRONN, Germany (Reuters) - A German judge has condemned the lack of transparency over Volkswagen's emissions scandal and said the dearth of information was obstructing the settlement of a related case brought by a former employee of VW subsidiary Audi. Ulrich Weiss, former head of diesel engine development at Audi, is suing the carmaker for wrongful dismissal and re-employment after he was fired in February after investigations into the scandal which broke in September 2015. Audi has said a decision over whether Weiss could be re-employed cannot be taken until U.S. law firm Jones Day, hired by VW to investigate the scandal, has clarified his role and published a full report on its inquiries. But parent VW, which initially had pledged maximum transparency, has since decided not to disclose the findings of Jones Day although key parts were compiled in the form of a "Statement of Facts" for the U.S. Department of Justice. Audi's lawyers used a hearing of the Weiss lawsuit before a labor court in Heilbronn in southern Germany on Tuesday to emphasize that there neither is, nor will be, a written report by Jones Day - an argument dismissed by the judge. "I don't believe that," judge Carsten Witt said. "There are definitely written statements," he said, adding the case may need to be handed over to the Federal Labour Court, Germany's top legal authority for labor disputes. The decision not to publish the results of the Jones Day-led investigations is "disconcerting" and "irritating", Witt said. The U.S. law firm as well as offices at Audi's and VW's headquarters were searched last month by Munich prosecutors. A complaint by VW to prevent prosecutors from using any material seized during the raids was rejected on Monday by a Munich court. Audi admitted in November 2015 that its 3.0 liter V6 diesel engines were fitted with an auxiliary control device deemed illegal in the United States that allowed vehicles to evade U.S. emission limits. VW in December agreed to a $1 billion settlement to fix or buy back about 80,000 polluting diesel vehicles sold in the country. Separately, Audi lawyer Martina Hidalgo said the carmaker will make an offer to Weiss in early May regarding compensation. The former long-time engineer is seeking 6 million euros ($6.4 million) of severance pay. (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; writing by Andreas Cremer, editing by David Evans)
Berlin (AFP) - Germany's cabinet Wednesday moved to ban child marriages after the recent mass refugee influx brought in many couples where one or both partners were aged under 18.

The new law, set to receive parliamentary approval by July, is seen as a protective move especially for girls by annulling foreign marriages involving minors.

It will allow youth welfare workers to take into care underaged girls even if they were legally married abroad and, if deemed necessary, separate them from their husbands.

"Children do not belong in the marriage registry office or the wedding hall," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

"We must not tolerate any marriages that harm minors in their development."

"The underaged must be protected as much as possible," he added, stressing that no minor must suffer restrictions on their asylum or residential status as a result of the change.

The age of consent for all marriages in Germany will be raised from 16 to 18 years. Currently in some cases an 18-year-old is allowed to marry a 16-year-old.

Foreign marriages involving spouses under 16 will be considered invalid, and those involving 16 or 17-year-olds can be annulled by family courts.

Rare exceptions are possible, for example when one of the spouses suffers from a serious illness -- but only if the couple are now both adults and both want to stay married.

The draft law would also punish with a fine any attempts to marry minors in traditional or religious rather than state ceremonies.

- 'Fundamental rights' -

There were 1,475 married minors registered in Germany last July -- 361 of them aged under 14 -- according to the latest figures released after a parliamentary request.

Of these 1,152 were girls, said the interior ministry.

The largest group, 664 children, came from Syria followed by 157 from Afghanistan, 100 from Iraq, and 65 from Bulgaria.

The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung welcomed the bill, saying that "archaic practises that harm women and children have no place" in Germany.

Story continues

The aim was not to "paternalistically spread one's values or disrespect foreign cultures", but to enforce "fundamental and, in principle, globally recognised human rights".

The non-profit German Children's Aid Foundation said it generally welcomed the new draft law as a sign of "progress" but said courts should have latitude in some tricky cases where one spouse is aged 16 or 17.

These could involve underage couples that have their own children, who could then be considered born out of wedlock and lose certain entitlements and inheritance rights, warned the group's head, Thomas Krueger.

In such cases, recognising a marriage involving one 16 or 17-year-old "can be acceptable, for example, if the relationship is proven to be emotionally stable and there is no evidence of compulsion," he said in a statement.

"The opinion of the minor is also decisive and must absolutely be taken into account."
By Jon Nazca GIBRALTAR (Reuters) - "Brexit Bombshell -- but Gibraltar will not surrender" stated the Gibraltar Panorama on Monday as the British enclave's future took center stage in the wrangling over Britain's break from the European Union. Residents of "the Rock" on the southern tip of Spain said they hoped for London's support as Prime Minister Theresa May's government negotiated the divorce. But they also adopted a typically British stance on the row -- keep calm and carry on. "Spain is going to jump at this opportunity to try and take advantage of the situation but when it comes to the crunch I think we've got to take one step at a time and not over-react, be calm," said firefighter Liam Byrne, speaking in a street on the peninsula. Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly in last June's referendum to stay as part of the EU but Britain's decision as a whole to leave potentially takes the overseas territory with it. But an EU draft position published on Friday said any agreement on Gibraltar had to be agreed between Britain and Spain, which has long claimed sovereignty over the enclave. On Sunday a former British minister, Michael Howard, suggested Britain would be ready to go to war with Spain to defend the outpost -- a display of saber-rattling that evoked memories of the 1982 war with Argentina over the Falklands. That drew a rebuke from Brian Reyes, a columnist for the Gibraltar Chronicle, who said Howard's words helped no one. "This is a time for firm but measured diplomacy, not war rhetoric," Reyes wrote. "What we need is a Rock-solid commitment from the UK that it will include Gibraltar in any future trade deal with the EU." BRITISH FLAVOR Captured by Britain in 1704 and ceded in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Gibraltar has long been a bone of contention between London and Madrid. The border was closed for many years during the Franco dictatorship. In a 2002 referendum, Gibraltarians rejected by 98 percent a proposal for joint British-Spanish sovereignty. Once a major British military base, the territory of 33,000 people is now an off-shore financial center drawing funds and insurance companies with its attractive tax and regulatory regime. It has a strong flavor of Britishness, with pubs named "The Gibraltar Arms"' and "The Angry Friar". One souvenir stall had for sale a red bag with the slogan "Gibraltar. British since 1704". Gibraltar was not mentioned in May's Article 50 letter which triggered the process to leave the bloc last Wednesday. Ron Westdorp, managing director of Gibraltar-based fund Taler Asset Management, said the line in the EU draft which said Spain would have a veto on Gibraltar was not helpful. "It is upsetting in an extremely early phase of renegotiating these relations," he told Reuters by telephone. Retiree Alfred Medina was also suspicious of Spain's motives. "Even though I voted to leave the EU, I was expecting this from Spain and I just sincerely hope that Britain will back us up and they will take care of us like they've done in the past," he said. (Additional reporting by Angus Berwick in Madrid, Writing by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
"I was raised with women, strong women and strong men that supported one another," Gina Rodriguez tells Mashable on a spring day in New York.

The Jane the Virgin star partnered with Luna Bar for Women's Equal Pay Day to support her fellow women, as she was raised to do. "[My family] understood what it meant to be fair and equal and kind and generous and giving."

"[This campaign] is about creating awareness, its about championing other women, its not about alienating women, its not about separating, its not about dividing, its about coming together and uniting. Because if were talking about women, we are stronger together."

From April 4 - 11, Luna Bar will support LeanIn.Org's #20PercentCounts campaign by offering a 20 percent discount for online purchases and matching the money saved in an equal donation. They could raise up to $100,000 to fund salary negotiation workshops for women.

SEE ALSO: 13 feminists who play the Twitter game to win

Below, Rodriguez takes us through her tips for women  and anyone who wants to be a bit more like her.

Take care of yourself

"Work every day on loving yourself, understanding your self-worth, because you will be kinder, more generous and more giving to the people around you," Rodriguez says. "It doesnt make you selfish, it teaches you how to be selfless because you are then so full as a human being."

"Hurt people hurt people," she adds. "But when you love yourself and you take care of yourself, you know how to do that to others, and you sure as hell arent tearing anybody down...thats a small act thats a giant act in your own life."

Support your sisters

"Standing up for them, whether that just means being by their side, listening to them, because that helps, that does, that support does help," Rodriguez says. "You dont feel like youre alone, the struggle doesnt feel as difficult."

Story continues

"The industry can chew you up and spit you out," she notes. "Youre constantly being stretched in a million directions, so it is important to have a pretty grounded foundation."

Rodriguez herself grew up with two older sisters ("Giants," she calls them, explaining that one is a doctor and the other in private equity), politically involved parents and a vocal activist grandmother. She's grateful for the close, loving support group and wants the same for other women.

"We cant predict so life throws us everything were not ready for or expecting, so its nice to have good people around you," she says. "And thats why I believe the sisterhood matters so much, because I know what it is to be alone and I know what it is to be protected and supported  and it is much easier of a life to be supported and protected, so do it to others."

Get informed

Luna Bar partnered with the American Association of University Women, which will "equip women with the tools necessary to start having these conversations that were so freaking afraid of," Rodriguez says.

"Im on that site all the damn time trying to learn as much information as possible," she says. "Get informed, be a part of any organization that will not only inform you but equip you with the tools in order to have these conversations and maybe to then give them to a woman that needs them more than you do."

"I think thats whats beautiful about education period: You dont know when youre going to use it or when youre going to need it, so its good to always constantly be informed," she adds.

Fight the good fight

"Go to marches," Rodriguez says. "Go find your organizations nearby, be a part of movements like Luna Bars movement, contribute to Luna Bar and other companies that are doing the same thing. And information; Inform yourself. AAUW.org is a stellar website that is very informative. Read all the books on feminism so you can understand what it is to be a woman in our culture and in the past hundred years how crazy of a historical journey weve been on."

Image: the cw

"Whatever ethnicity you are, whatever race you are, whatever culture, whatever religion, we are stronger together," she says. "We are always going to be stronger together. Whether you were born a woman or decide to be a woman feel like you always wanted to be a woman, you are my sister. You are my sister, and I got your back, girl."

WATCH: This app helps pregnant women get a seat on public transport
When President Trump nominated Scott Gottlieb for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, you could almost hear the sigh of relief that rippled through the health care community.

Thats because Gottlieb isnt Jim ONeill, whose name had also been floated for commissioner. ONeill has no background in health care except as a venture capitalist, and thinks that the way to speed new drugs to the market is for the FDA to drop any requirements that drug makers demonstrate that their products actually work. Gottlieb, in contrast, is an internal medicine physician and a drug company insider, who presumably knows you need at least some scientific evidence for efficacy.

The trouble with feeling relieved by Gottliebs nomination? He may not be much better than ONeill when it comes to protecting the public from the health and financial risks of harmful or useless drugs and devices.

Gottlieb has a long history of supporting deregulation of medical products. He supports off-label marketing of medical devices, including Class III devices, which are the most potentially dangerous. Hes stated that FDAs caution is hazardous to our health, claiming that the agency is too slow in its approvals, and prevents patients from getting new drugs they desperately need because it is wedded to statistical results.

Read more: Trumps FDA nominee pledges to untangle his ties to biopharma

In reality, the FDA has become the fastest drug regulatory agency in the world, going from an average of 30 months per drug review in the 1980s to 8.5 months today.

But speedier approval doesnt necessarily translate into better outcomes. Seventeen drugs approved by the FDA between 1993 and 2010  six of them on expedited schedules  were prescribed 100 million times before subsequently being withdrawn from the market because of safety concerns.

Gottlieb has also recommended that the agency speed up product approval by accepting secondary measures of disease, or so-called surrogate markers. These are things like a drop in cholesterol standing in for the outcome we really care about  a decline in heart attacks or strokes.

Story continues

Using surrogate markers to gauge the effectiveness of new products would allow companies to conduct shorter and smaller studies. That is great for the bottom line, but, again, past experience suggests it may not be good for patients.

In 2012, the FDA gave fast-track approval to Sirturo (bedaquiline), a tuberculosis drug, based on a small trial of just 47 patients. The trial looked at a surrogate marker  the drugs effectiveness in getting rid of the tuberculosis bacterium in the sputum of patients. A follow-up study showed that patients who took the drug were five times more likely to die  an outcome that certainly worries people with tuberculosis a lot more than having bacteria in their spit.

Fast-tracking, small trials, and surrogate markers are all music to manufacturers ears, because of the high costs of testing products before they can go to market. But FDA commissioners are supposed to protect the publics health, and its not clear whose interests Gottlieb will represent.

The fact that Gottlieb served as deputy commissioner of the FDA from 2005 to 2007 under President George W. Bush and is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., might seem to suggest hes had relevant experience for the job. In fact, hes had scant scientific, academic, or government experience compared to previous commissioners.

Read more: Scott Gottliebs fervor for deregulation could harm patients

His background also suggests his loyalty lies with industry. Gottlieb is a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a global venture capital firm that invests in technology and health care. If confirmed to the new post, Gottlieb will hold the dubious distinction of having more financial conflicts of interest with the industry he is supposed to regulate than any previous FDA commissioner. Between 2013 and 2015, Gottlieb received consulting fees and speaking honoraria amounting to more than $400,000 from drug and device companies according to the federal OpenPayments database.

Will Gottliebs decades-long relationships with and six-figure payouts from the drug and device industry affect his ability to regulate those companies? He doesnt think so.

In his view, there is nothing wrong with physicians being paid by industry for valuable scientific consulting. Problems have arisen only from the small number of doctors [who] took excessive payments from medical product companies. (Might $400,000 over two years counts as excessive?)

Despite Gottliebs coziness with the industry he is slated to regulate, Democrats in Congress have largely let his nomination slide, with only a few members expressing concern. Even Senator Elizabeth Warren, who railed against the 21st Century Cures Act as a law that would cover up bribery by relaxing disclosure rules, has yet to put out a statement or tweet about Gottliebs nomination.

Part of this acceptance likely stems from the fact that Gottlieb is not ONeill. It also reflects the normalization of conflicts of interest in medicine, which has been debated in the pages of the New England Journal of Medicine and in the Lown Institute blog.

Gottlieb has criticized government efforts to shed light on conflicts of interest, such as the Physician Sunshine Act, as federal tinkering leading to the demise of American medicine. We believe his confirmation will lead to the demise of some FDA rules that are already barely keeping a lid on useless or dangerous medical products.

Judith Garber is a health policy and communications fellow and Shannon Brownlee is senior vice president at the Lown Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based in Boston. One of its missions is to expose and eliminate the harm caused by financial conflicts of interest in health care.
Activists hold up a flag at a pro-marijuana rally during President Trumps inauguration. (Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

The governors of the first four states to legalize recreational marijuana have sent an open letter urging the Trump administration to work with them before making any changes to the enforcement of federal drug laws in their states.

The April 3 letter was addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and signed by Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Walker is a political independent; the other three are Democrats.

As governors of states that have legalized marijuana in some form, we ask the Trump administration to engage with us before embarking on any changes to regulatory and enforcement systems, the governors wrote. We understand you and others in the administration have some concerns regarding marijuana. We sympathize, as many of us expressed apprehensions before our states adopted current laws.

Hickenlooper  who originally opposed Colorados 2014 referendum  said last month that he hasnt seen the negative effects he feared and that he was getting close to personally supporting it.

As governors, we have committed to implementing the will of our citizens and have worked cooperatively with our legislatures to establish robust regulatory structures that prioritize public health and public safety, the governors continued.

Their letter is similar to one that was sent to Sessions last month by a group of senators  mostly Democrats  asking the Department of Justice to continue the Obama administrations policy of allowing individual states to determine their own pot laws.

Related: Senators urge Sessions not to crack down on marijuana

We respectfully request that you uphold DOJs existing policy regarding states that have implemented strong and effective regulations for recreational marijuana use, the senators wrote in the letter. It is critical that states continue to implement these laws.

According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 71 percent of Americans said they would oppose a federal crackdown on legal marijuana.

Story continues

But Sessions and the White House have been sending mixed signals on their approach to the countrys budding cannabis industry.

Before he was confirmed as attorney general, Sessions had told some members of the Senate that he would respect state laws and not change federal policy. But in late February, Sessions told reporters that the Obama-era pot policy is under review.

Im definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana, he said. States, they can pass the laws they choose. I would just say it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.

And last week, the Denver Post reported that a Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor recently sent an email to a prosecutor in the Colorado state attorney generals office seeking information on marijuana crimes for the new administration.

Some of our intel people are trying to track down info regarding some of DEAs better marijuana investigations for the new administration, the email stated. Hopefully it will lead to some positive changes.

Any changes are what the governors and senators in pro-pot states are worried about.

Any forced change in federal enforcement policy will interrupt the collaborative approach we have taken with local law enforcement and the federal government, Mark Bolton, Hickenloopers adviser on marijuana policy, said in a Monday statement. Our hope is that we can continue working with the administration to build on a regulatory system that prioritizes protecting public safety and public health.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Over nine years later, Heath Ledger's death remains a deeply traumatic loss for Hollywood. The new documentary I Am Heath Ledger examines the actor's life through personal footage, often taken by Ledger himself as he practiced being a filmmaker.

"He was always a director," says Ledger's childhood friend Trevor DiCarlo. "Acting was just a way to get there."

SEE ALSO: Years later, Jake Gyllenhaal still doesn't have the words to describe losing Heath Ledger

The trailer journeys through Ledger's impressive range of roles and his desire for fame  and his reluctance to accept it when it came around. Friends and colleagues describe his love for film and direction, his scene-stealing performances and how he always had a camera around.

I Am Heath Ledger will release in select theaters in May and premiere May 17 on Spike.
Knowing her Disney-crazed mom had never attended her prom, a high school senior decided to ask her to her own in the most magical way she could think of.

Read: High Schooler Asked to Prom in Cheesy Doritos 'Promposal' is Gifted a Gown From Several States Away

Francesca Rose Pfeiffer, a senior at Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts in Ivins, Utah, sent her mom Caridad Mendoza Pfeiffer on a scavenger hunt that ultimately led her to a surprise at school.

"I just thought, 'Oh, theyre just giving me a thank you gift for all the work I did helping them out for the play,'" said Caridad, who often volunteers to help out at her daughters school.

Instead, Francesca and a group of students met her with balloons, a tiara and a sign that read: "Since YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME, I'm GOING THE DISTANCE to take you UP on an ADVENTURE with me! I'll SHOW YOU THE WORLD and BE YOUR NEW DREAM; so since you are my OHANA, CAN I SAY SOMETHING CRAZY? Will you BE MY GUEST at prom?"

Caridad, who is obsessed with Disney, explained she never got the opportunity to go to her own prom.

"I wasnt the popular one in school," she said. "I was a little wallflower. I didnt go to any dances."

Francesca said that while she told her mom she wasnt interested in going to prom, she was planning a huge surprise for her.

"She means everything to me, and I know that she was still kind of sad about not going to hers, so I figured what better way to spend your senior year than going with your best friend?" Francesca told InsideEdition.com.

Read: School Denies Teen Who Wanted to Take His Grandma to Prom

For her mom, its the precious memories the pair will make at prom that make it all worth it.

"Shes about to graduate [] Ive just kind of been feeling pretty empty-nester, like shes going to go to college and our time together is [limited]," Caridad explained. "So to get to do this, one last big hurrah is really, really exciting."

Story continues

Watch: Photographer Dad Turns Daughter, 3, Into Princess for 'Beauty and the Beast' Photo Shoot

Related Articles:
(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday: SENATE SHOWDOWN ON GORSUCH Accusing Democrats of "hurtling toward the abyss," the Senate's top Republican says he will start the clock ticking toward a vote to thwart their bid to block confirmation of Trump's conservative Supreme Court nominee. HEALTHCARE OR TAX OVERHAUL? Trump and Republicans in Congress lurch between repealing Obamacare or rewriting the U.S. tax code as their top priority, with House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan dampening White House hopes for a quick vote on healthcare legislation. INFRASTRUCTURE Trump vows to cut red tape to speed approval of infrastructure projects and says his overhaul could top $1 trillion on roads, tunnels and bridges, one of his 2016 election campaign promises. SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS ATTACK The White House blames a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria's Idlib province on the government of President Bashar al-Assad and says the incident was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world." CHINA SUMMIT Although worried about the prospect of a trade war, American businesses operating in China nonetheless want Trump to wring some concessions on market access from China's leader Xi Jingping when the two meet this week. KUSHNER IN IRAQ Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, travels with the top U.S. general to an Iraqi base 10 miles (16 km) from Mosul, and voices hope the city's eventual recapture from Islamic State would be "a victory for the world." In its first official remarks on Trump since he became president, Islamic State says the United States is drowning and "being run by an idiot." NEXT SEC HEAD The Senate Banking Committee votes to advance Jay Clayton's nomination as the next chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the full Senate for approval. Before his nomination to head the SEC, the Wall Street attorney communicated with more than a half dozen of Trump's transition representatives, including one whose company has a multimillion-dollar contract with the agency, according to documents seen by Reuters. DODD-FRANK "HAIRCUT" Trump says his administration is working on changes to Dodd-Frank banking regulations that will make it easier for banks to lend money. NORTH KOREA A senior U.S. military official says any effort to curb North Korea's weapons program will need to involve China, just days after Trump said Washington might deal with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs on its own. (Compiled by Jonathan Oatis; Editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)
Budapest (AFP) - Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation that could force the closure of a prestigious Budapest university founded by US billionaire investor George Soros, sparking fresh protests.

The English-language Central European University (CEU), set up in 1991 after the fall of communism, has long been seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.

MPs in the 199-seat parliament, dominated by Orban's Fidesz party, voted 123 in favour and 38 against the legislation affecting foreign universities operating in Hungary.

The new rules ban institutions outside the European Union from awarding Hungarian diplomas without an agreement between national governments.

They will also be required to have a campus and faculties in their home country -- conditions not met by the CEU.

Failure to comply would mean the CEU could not accept new student intakes from 2018, and possibly close by 2021.

The CEU said Tuesday it would contest the constitutionality of the bill.

"The new law puts at risk the academic freedom not only of CEU but of other Hungarian research and academic institutions," the university said in a statement.

The bill is seen as a fresh attack on the Hungarian-born philanthropist Soros, 86, often accused by Orban of seeking to undermine Europe by backing open borders and pro-refugee policies.

- 'Unfair advantage' -

The legislation, put forward last week and rushed through parliament in a fast-track procedure, triggered a large protest in Budapest on Sunday and has drawn international condemnation.

The US State Department had called for the proposal to be withdrawn, while an open letter was signed by over 900 academics around the world including 18 Nobel prize-winning economists.

"If we want to be a shining beacon of human rights in the world... then Europe can't remain silent when civil society members like the Central European University in Budapest are being stifled," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday in a speech to European MPs in Strasbourg.

Story continues

Orban said Monday the future of the CEU depends on the conclusion of a treaty between the governments of Hungary and the United States within the next six months.

The right-wing strongman has accused the university of "cheating" and of having an "unfair advantage" over local institutions -- allegations rejected by the CEU as "defamatory".

Registered in New York state, the CEU teaches over 1,400 students from more than 100 predominantly central and eastern European, as well as post-Soviet Union nations.

It ranks among the top 200 universities in the world in eight disciplines, including top 50 rankings in political science and international studies.

More than 5,000 people staged a protest around its downtown Budapest campus later Tuesday, an AFP correspondent said. Sunday's march drew an estimated 10,000 demonstrators.

Within five days, President Janos Ader must either sign the legislation into force or order a review by the constitutional court.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Ader not to sign the bill, denouncing what it said was Hungary's "contempt for critical voices in society".

Since coming to power in 2010, Orban has launched contentious sweeping reforms targeting independent institutions like the media and the judiciary.

A law clamping down on foreign-funded non-governmental organisations, including many by Soros, is expected to go before parliament later this month.
A legal change in Hungary means that a university founded by George Soros to foster democratic thinking in this Central East European country will be shut down.

Hungarys parliament on Tuesday voted 12338 in favor of the measure, approving it the same day legislators were first given an opportunity to debate it. Under the change, foreign universities can only exist under a bilateral agreement between Hungary and the institutions home country, where they are required to have a campus.

Many see the new law as targeting Central European University, the Budapest-based university that was founded by Soros in 1991 to train democratic thinkers as the country emerged from decades of communism. The accreditation of American institutions is in the hands of the states, not the federal government. (CEU has accreditation from the state of New York and Hungary.) Its unlikely the U.S. federal government would hash out an agreement with Hungary to allow American universities to operate there, Michael Ignatieff, CEUs president and rector, noted. (It is also somewhat economically and practically infeasible that a university that quite literally has Central Europe in its name would open a campus in, say, Poughkeepsie.)

Perhaps not coincidentally, the legal change comes as Hungarian organizations funded by Soros are also under threat of legislation that would make foreign-funded NGOs meet more stringent funding-registration requirements.

Reports about the measure last week were met with outcry. Thousands took to the streets of Budapest to protest the legislation over the weekend. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban responded on Friday by calling the university a cheat (the Hungarian government later said CEU had acted in accordance with Hungarian law). The parliament was undeterred. In fact, the protests likely just inspired them to push the vote up so that protesters could not build momentum, argued Milan Nic, senior fellow at the German Council of Foreign Relations and a CEU alumnus.

Story continues

Ignatieff vowed to fight the law, saying that it is unconstitutional. Hungarian basic law, he said, has a clause that protects academic freedom. He noted institutions not only abroad but also in Hungary, such as the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, have spoken out for CEU, and have done so for this reason  that this is about not just CEU, but the freedom of higher education institutions in Hungary.

Ignatieff hopes Americans will respond  the Orban government, he argued, is making an example of an American institution, which can hardly sit well with Trumps America first administration. But America first is part of what emboldened Orban, Nic said. He did this, because he thinks the U.S. will just not care, he said.

CEU will also try to call in the European leaders, who are likely already alarmed by the political tone in Hungary. The Orban government isnt just shutting down CEU, its shifting broadly to a harder nationalist line ahead of next years elections. It is currently campaigning for a national consultation to stop Brussels (though not leave the EU). In a new Freedom House Nations in Transit report, Hungary received the worst ranking in the Central East European region.

But those leaders may be unlikely to do anything more than be concerned. A Hungarian is the EU commissioner for education. And what European leader, in trying to preserve unity between the remaining 27 EU countries in time of Brexit, is going to pick a fight over Hungary? Orban sees a space to do this when there is a lot of distraction, said Nic, who added, It will be a huge problem for the EU and it cant do much.

The Hungarian government, for its part, does not admit that the law was in any way an attempt to target CEU. Just as any other institutions in Hungary, CEU must abide by the law. Nobody stands above the law in Hungary. a spokesperson for the countrys foreign ministry said in an email. Any other interpretations are symptoms of political hysteria, which the staffer blamed on opposition parties having the support of self-styled non-governmental international networks funded by George Soros.

Photo credit: ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State said on Tuesday the United States was drowning and "being run by an idiot".

In the first official remarks by the group referring to President Donald Trump since he took office, spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer said:

"America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye."

"... There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is," he said in a recording released on Tuesday on messaging network Telegram.

Trump has made defeating Islamic State a priority of his presidency.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

U.S.-backed forces are fighting to retake Islamic State's two biggest cities - Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

"Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated," al-Muhajer said.

Trump is examining ways to accelerate the U.S.-led coalition campaign that U.S. and Iraqi officials say has so far been largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

The loss of Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq, would deal a major defeat to Islamic State.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are preparing for smaller battles after the city is recaptured and expect the group to go underground to fight as a traditional insurgency.

(Reporting by Ali Abdelaty; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Alison Williams)
An international human rights nonprofit, in a report released Sunday, accused the Israeli military of attempting to block the collection of crucial information on potentially serious crimes that were committed during the 2014 Gaza war. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said Egypts imposition of strict travel restrictions on its border with the Gaza strip, combined with the similar steps taken by the Hamas authorities that block almost all travel out of Gaza, have made things more difficult for human rights workers.

The 47-page report titled, Unwilling or Unable: Israeli Restrictions on Travel to and from Gaza for Human Rights Workers, said Israeli authorities claim to rely on information from human rights organizations to conduct criminal investigations into the atrocities carried out in Gaza. HRW said it wasn't convinced.

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, Sari Bashi, the Israel and Palestine advocacy director at the nonprofit, said in a statement, referring to the International Criminal Court.

Impeding the work of human rights groups raises questions not just about the willingness of Israels military authorities to conduct genuine investigations, but also their ability to do so, Bashi added.

The organization said it received permission to enter Gaza through Israel only once since 2008. As for the Egyptian border, international agencies including HRW and Amnesty International have not been allowed to cross it since 2012.

The report said Israel maintained that its investigations were in accordance with international standards despite the investigators not entering the strip. On the other hand, there have been no records of the Palestinian authorities carrying out investigations into serious crimes committed in or from Gaza, HRW said in the report.

Story continues

Israel, Hamas and Egypt 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.

Israel has repeatedly accused human rights groups like the HRW of being biased against it and even refused to grant a work permit to a regional director of the nonprofit, the Associated Press reported. However, he was later allowed into the country as a tourist.

Related Articles
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Air force jets from Israel and Italy have joined Greek planes in a low-altitude flyover in central Athens, as part of an 11-day international military exercise based in southern Greece.

Five planes taking part in the exercises looped around the ancient Acropolis, taking many city residents and tourists by surprise. One Israeli and one Italian jet joined three Greek fighters in the flyover.

The exercise, which also includes forces from The United States and the United Arab Emirates, ends April 6.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are paying $15,000 a month in rent for their house in a posh Washington neighborhood.

The rental rate was included in documents filed with the District of Columbia housing department. The White House had only disclosed that President Donald Trump's daughter was paying a "fair market" rate for the house. The Wall Street Journal was first to report details of the rental agreement.

The six-bedroom home in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood was purchased in December for $5.5 million by a company with ties to Chilean billionaire Andronico Luksic.

Neighbors have complained about Trump, her staff and her security detail leaving open garbage bags out on the curb, taking up public parking spaces and blocking sidewalks unnecessarily.
This week, President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, traveled to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials and U.S. military personnel about the fight against ISIS.

Despite having no military or foreign policy training, Kushners unexpected arrival in Baghdad was hardly a shock to those whove been tracking the rapid expansion of the 36-year-old real estate developers wide-ranging White House portfolio.

From quietly choreographing U.S. relations with China to remodeling the federal government and brokering peace in the Middle East, it appears there are increasingly few aspects of his father-in-laws administration that Kushner does not have his hands in. Politicos Playbook mapped out much of Kushners expansive portfolio over the weekend.

ISIS

While in Baghdad this week, Kushner expressed support on behalf of President Trump for the Iraqi governments efforts to fight the Islamic State.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had reportedly invited Kushner, as well as White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, on the trip to hear firsthand and unfiltered from U.S. forces and military advisers on the ground in Iraq.

Jared Kushner, left, speaks with Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, before departing for Iraq from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, April 3, 2017. (Photo: DoD/Handout via Reuters)

China communique

Kushner is expected to return from surveying the situation in Iraq in time for Trumps highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping  which Kushner reportedly helped orchestrate.

According to the New York Times, for Chinese officials put off by Trumps erraticism, the comparatively mild-mannered Kushner has emerged as an approachable liaison to the White House.

It was reportedly Kushner who worked with Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai to set up the February phone call in which Trump reassured Xi that the U.S. would continue to honor the countrys long-standing One China policy with respect to Taiwan. China was rattled after Trump took a congratulatory phone call from Taiwans president during the transition.

And though the White House maintains that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is at the helm of U.S.-China relations, the Times reported that it was Kushner and Cui who collaborated to facilitate Xis upcoming visit  including the decision for the two presidents to meet at Trumps Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.

Story continues

Mexico middleman

China is apparently not the only country to engage in back-channel communications with Trumps son-in-law. The Washington Post reported in February that, despite his lack of foreign policy experience, Kushners ability to act as a sort of Trump whisperer had already made him the go-to contact for representatives from over two dozen countries  including Mexico.

Following a presidential campaign in which Trump railed against Mexico, Kushner managed, albeit briefly, to assuage tensions between Trump and Mexican officials, according to the Post, amid tensions over Trumps vow to build a border wall between the two countries.

The detente was short-lived, however, as Trump resumed antagonizing Mexico via Twitter the morning after his speech, prompting Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel plans to meet with Trump the following week.

Middle East peacemaker

Squashing a beef between Trump and his Mexican counterpart should be a breeze compared to Kushners most ambitious task: negotiating peace in the Middle East.

Trump drew plenty of skepticism when, at a dinner with donors ahead of his inauguration, he turned to his son-in-law and declared, If you cant produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can.

In the wake of Trumps inauguration, Kushner has reportedly been in frequent communication with Arab diplomats, and last month he sent a White House envoy to hear from Israeli and Palestinian officials. Yet it remains to be seen how he may plan to solve the puzzle that has long eluded career diplomats and foreign policy experts.

Iraqs Defence Minister Erfan al-Hiyali welcomes Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner in Baghdad on Monday. (Photo: Stringer/Reuters)

White House innovator

As if Kushners plate wasnt already full enough, last week Trump announced that he would be putting his son-in-law in charge of a new White House Office of American Innovation.

The new office has been billed as a SWAT team, which, under Kushners direction, promises to make the federal government run more like a business than a bureaucracy and apply corporate strategies to tackling a wide range of issues, from veterans affairs to combating the opioid epidemic.

Criminal justice reformer

Just days after Kushner was installed at the helm of the new White House innovation office, he was spotted on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, to discuss criminal justice reform.

According to BuzzFeed, the White House sent Kushner to meet with Grassley and Durbin about their plan to introduce new legislation, similar to a previous criminal justice reform bill that stalled in Congress last year.

Though many advocates of reform had been discouraged by Trumps promise to restore law and order, as well as his selection of Jeff Sessions as attorney general, BuzzFeed noted that Kushners presence at the recent meeting suggests criminal justice reform under Trump isnt entirely out of the question.

Grassley told BuzzFeed that he expected to find out whether the White House is interested in the bill in three weeks.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, depart the White House with President Trump on March 3. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Protector of LGBT rights

Advocates of gay rights reportedly have Kushner and his wife, Ivanka, to thank for Trumps decision to preserve federal protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Amid the wave of executive orders signed in the weeks after Trumps inauguration, a draft began to circulate of an order that would undo a 2014 executive order signed by then-President Barack Obama. The order guaranteed protections for federal employees against anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace. The draft order also sought to grant broad exemptions to a variety of federal laws under the banner of religious freedom.

Though the White House has insisted that the draft order was just one of several proposed during Trumps transition and that he never intended to sign it, Politico reported that it was Trumps daughter and son-in-law who thwarted the order.

Climate change agreement keeper

Social issues arent the only arena in which Kushner is believed to have a moderating influence on his father-in-law.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Kushner and Ivanka were also responsible for getting critical language about a global climate deal removed from an executive order to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations before it was signed by Trump.

The language in question referred to the 2015 Paris agreement, a pledge signed by nearly 200 countries, including the United States, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.

On the campaign trail, Trump had promised to cancel the climate change commitment, and some in his inner circle, like senior adviser Steve Bannon, had reportedly urged the president to follow through on that promise. However, when the executive order to dismantle a number of his predecessors environmental protections finally reached Trumps desk for a signature late last month, it made no mention of the Paris agreement.
Another shake-up in the fashion world. American designer Jenna Lyons is bidding farewell to J.Crew, where she was president and creative director. This will be a gentle separation, as she will remain J.Crew's creative advisor until December 2017, the official date of her departure.

More than a president and a creative director, Jenna Lyons embodied the J.Crew brand, standing out from the crowd with her smooth chignon and striking black-framed glasses. Her slightly quirky preppy outfits helped to make the brand's iconic pieces an essential part of women's wardrobes.

Her era at the brand will come to an end in December. In an exclusive interview with The Business of Fashion, J.Crew Chief Executive Mickey Drexler said that he and Jenna Lyons agreed that it was time for a change.

As she is not leaving J.Crew until December, Lyons has time to reveal her plans. She could launch a brand or become a creative director elsewhere. After 26 years at J.Crew (she started as an assistant), it will be a new challenge to savor.
A New Jersey teenager Santos Colon Jr. pleaded guilty Monday for attempting to provide material support to terrorists and plotting the assassination of Pope Francis when he was on a trip to Philadelphia during the Papal mass in September 2015. Colon was a juvenile when he was involved in the plotting. Even as he was arrested in 2015, he was not charged then.

According to the Department of Justice, Colon pleaded guilty in Camden federal court before the U.S. District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman. The announcement was made Monday by Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick and Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord.

Read: Pope Francis: Catholic Church May Allow Some Married Men To Become Priests

Prosecutors said Colon admitted to conspiring an ISIS-inspired plot of detonating bombs across Philadelphia between June 30, 2015 to Aug. 14, 2015. He also admitted to the planning of Pope's assassination prior to his visit to the city. However, prosecutors did not reveal the motive behind the attacks and said that they are continuing investigations.

Under Colon's plea agreement, authorities said they wont charge Colon with other offenses, including "attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (namely the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) between April and August in 2015" or "attempting to obtain and use a weapon of mass destruction." However, he will face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for his guilty plea. No date has been decided yet for his sentencing.

Colon often used an adopted name "Ahmad Shakoor" while he was planning for the attacks. Officials also said that he planned a sniper attack on the Pope during his visit.

The officials revealed that Colon was unaware he "engaged someone he thought would be a sniper but was actually an undercover FBI employee." Colon also allegedly "engaged in target reconnaissance" with an FBI confidential source and asked them to purchase materials for the production of explosives meant for the attack.

Related Articles
The editor of one of the nations top medical journals called Tuesday for a culture change in the scientific community about clinical trials: Instead of solely glorifying researchers who author papers, scientists should also bestow reverence upon those who generate high-quality data sets for others to analyze.

Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, said this was one of the main takeaways of a two-day summit, held Monday and Tuesday in Boston, which attracted 140 patients, data scientists, and researchers who conduct clinical trials. Thousands followed along via an online livestream.

The question of the day: Whats the right balance to strike between sharing data from those trials and keeping them private? The former might speed treatments and help patients. But some scientists have expressed some reticence to immediately share all their data, worrying that competitors will beat them to the punch of analyzing it.

NEJM has found itself in hot water before on this issue, when an editorial coauthored by Drazen raised the possibility of research parasites who dont put in the work to do studies, but just leech off others data. Drazen later clarified that he was describing the concerns of other researchers who conduct clinical trials

The Boston event brought out a diverse set of opinions.

Read more: In defense of data sharing, but done in the right way

Researchers wanted to make sure their data was being used responsibly, including that credit was given to its originators. They noted that sharing data costs money  and a blanket requirement to upload data could well result in a bunch of data sets that wouldnt be used.

It is going to come at a financial cost, and if the financial cost is not worth the benefit for all trials, we should invest that time, money, and energy into doing more clinical trials, said PJ Devereaux, a professor at McMaster University who has run clinical trials. He supported making data from big, important clinical trials available, but questioned whether it was worth it for every study.

Story continues

Others pointed out that if the data behind a scientific paper is shared, then other researchers can examine it and verify or disprove the conclusions.

This has happened before outside of the medical field, said Margaret Levenstein, who directs a University of Michigan center that hosts an archive for social science data. She pointed to the example of a University of California, Berkeley, graduate student being able to uncover that a Science paper was based on falsified data because those data were stored in her archive.

The only way we ever knew there was a problem with the data was there were standards in which he was expected to share the data, Levenstein said.

Patients, meanwhile, appeared baffled at the squabbling scientists.

When I came here, I had no idea there was any controversy about sharing the data, said Moses Taylor, who spoke on a patients panel Tuesday, and was also a participant in a National Institutes of Health-funded trial on blood pressure treatment. I also did not realize that people that start these trials and carry them through, the only way they get recognized is publications and that publications determine their career.

Moses said that its up for the scientists in the room to figure out a way to make the data available. The patients agreed that the data should be shared: early, often, and responsibly.

One of the challenges to sharing data is that fame and fortune is often won in the scientific community for publishing papers in journals like Drazens, not for producing data sets that might get stored away in a database somewhere.

We need to come up with better ways to give academic credit to people that generate data sets that lead to lots of important ideas and are used by lots of important people, Drazen said in an interview with STAT after the summit.

We think its going to require a culture change, we think its going to be a beneficial culture change, but [NEJM] cant be the agents of that change, Drazen said. He pointed to the role of medical school deans and promotion committees in recognizing data generation the same way they do publication for career decisions like hiring, promotion and tenure.

But journals can do something  the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which includes Drazen, proposed in January 2016 that in order for clinical trial papers to be considered for publication in their journals, the authors must commit to sharing the data behind their analyses within at least six months. The proposal has not yet been adopted; Drazen said that it is being workshopped, and that there should be a new version this spring or summer.

Drazen also acknowledged that making data publicly available has benefits beyond enabling scientists to do better research: It increases scientists transparency.

In this time, in this day and age, theres a concern about what is the truth, Drazen said during his concluding remarks at the summit. And I think that having data out there in the public, even if its not re-analyzed by lots of people  makes it more believable than if you say, Trust me, Im a doctor.
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Monday asked a federal court for 90 days to review an agreement reached with Baltimore for the city to enact a series of police reforms in how officers use force and transport prisoners, court documents showed. The city and justice department reached the agreement, known as a consent decree, in January, almost two years after the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, of injuries sustained while in police custody sparked a day of rioting and arson in the majority-black city. It also led to an investigation that found the city's police routinely violated residents' civil rights. Gray, 25, died of injuries sustained in the back of a police van in April 2015. His was one of a series of high-profile deaths in U.S. cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to North Charleston, South Carolina, that sparked an intense debate about race and justice and fueled the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Justice Department needs the 90 days to review the agreement as it develops strategies to support law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S., lawyers for the department said in a motion filed in United States District Court for the District of Maryland. "The Department has determined that permitting it more time to examine the consent decree proposed in this case in light of these initiatives will help ensure that the best result is achieved for the people of the City," they wrote, asking for a hearing set for Thursday to be postponed until June. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh opposes the request for an extension, she said in a statement. "Much has been done to begin the process of building faith between the police department and the community it seeks to serve. Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect of eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish," she said. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a memo also filed to the court that the Justice Department will review all consent decrees and other police reform agreements that are in place with more than a dozen cities. The 227-page consent decree agreement in Baltimore was reached in the final days of the Obama administration. It was the result of months of negotiations after a federal report released in August found that the city's 2,600-member police department routinely violated black residents' civil rights with strip searches, by excessively using force and other means. (This version of the story was refiled to add word "with" in headline) (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Michael Perry)
BALTIMORE (AP)  Baltimore's mayor and police chief worked closely with Justice Department investigators to scrutinize the city's police force and embraced a plan they crafted to overhaul the troubled department.

So they were surprised by the Justice Department's sudden request Monday for more time to see how the proposed changes might conflict with the aggressive crime-fighting approach new Attorney General Jeff Sessions favors.

City leaders accelerated negotiations under the Obama administration to get the consent decree done before the change in administrations in Washington "because we know that a consent decree will make the Baltimore police department better both with crime fight and community relationships," Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Tuesday.

A consent decree binds the police commissioner and mayor, no matter who they are, "to getting those reforms enacted under a timeline that's not necessarily our own," he said. The department is already enacting reforms, Davis said, but change won't come at the pace that it is needed without such an agreement.

"The reforms that cost money ... are the things behind the scenes that consent decrees really mandate and they hold our feet to the fire," he said.

Davis and Democratic Mayor Catherine Pugh believed the proposed agreement would repair public trust in the police while also quelling violence. They swiftly voiced their opposition to the requested delay, and pledged to press ahead with the business of transforming the police department, with or without a court-enforceable consent decree.

"Much has been done to begin the process of building faith between the police department and the community it seeks to serve," Pugh said in a statement. "Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect or eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish."

The government's request for a 90-day continuance came three days before a scheduled hearing before a federal judge, and just hours after Sessions announced he had ordered a sweeping review of the Justice Department's interactions with local law enforcement, including existing or proposed consent decrees.

Story continues

It provided an early glimpse of the attorney general's stance on police department oversight and his ambivalence about mandating widespread change of local law enforcement agencies.

Sessions, an Alabama Republican who cultivated a tough-on-crime reputation during 20 years in the Senate, has repeatedly expressed concern that lengthy investigations of a police department can malign an entire agency. That view reflects a dramatic break from President Barack Obama's administration, which saw such probes as essential in holding local law enforcement accountable for unconstitutional practices.

Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division under Obama, said the request "is alarming and signals a retreat from the Justice Department's commitment to civil rights and public safety in Baltimore," especially because the agreement sought the input of community members, police union officials and department heads to "address serious constitutional violations that had undermined trust and public safety in the city."

The federal government cited several reasons for the requested delay, including new Justice Department policies that federal officials say are aimed at reducing crime.

If granted, the request would effectively stall a process that could lead to a sweeping overhaul in the policies and practices of the Baltimore police force. The two sides reached agreement on a consent decree earlier this year before Attorney General Loretta Lynch left the Justice Department.

The department said it was aware of the need for police reform in Baltimore but added that the city "has made progress toward reform on its own and, as a consequence, it may be possible to take these changes into account where appropriate to ensure future compliance while protecting public safety."

In addition to Baltimore, the review also renewed questions about the fate of negotiations with Chicago's police department after a report released in the final days of Lynch's tenure found officers there had violated the constitutional rights of residents for years.

Sessions has not committed to such an agreement and has repeatedly said he believes broad investigations of police departments risk unfairly smearing entire agencies and harming officer morale. He has also suggested that officers' reluctance to aggressively police has contributed to a spike in violence in some cities.

The proposed consent decree in Baltimore comes after the Justice Department released a scathing report detailing longstanding patterns racial profiling and excessive force within the city's police force. The review was prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken in the back of a transport wagon, and whose death roiled the city.

Activist Ray Kelly said the requested delay undermined hard-fought efforts to heal the fractured relationship.

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, initially voiced concern after the Justice Department asked for a delay of court proceedings earlier this year. On Monday, she called the Justice Department's request "deeply concerning."

"The residents of Baltimore have waited a long time for relief, and the Justice Department provided a roadmap, setting forth in great detail the systemic problems that riddle the police department," she said. "That the Justice Department will turn its back on issues so dark and severe is deeply disturbing."

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

___

An earlier version of this story had an incorrect spelling for Kristen Clarke's name.
Washington (AFP) - Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, the central bank's point man for banking regulation, called Tuesday for keeping "strong" capital rules in place but acknowledged the so-called Volcker rule may be too complex.

The remarks from Tarullo, 64, who is due to step down on Wednesday after eight years, come as the Trump administration prepares a major overhaul of financial regulation, including the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms adopted after the financial crisis in 2008.

Tarullo's departure also creates a third vacancy at the central bank to be filled by Trump, who has sharply criticized the Fed and begun slashing regulations generally.

"As proposals for regulatory change swirl about, it is crucial that the strong capital regime be maintained, especially as it applies to the most systemically important banks," Tarullo said in prepared remarks released Tuesday for an address at Princeton University.

According to Tarullo, Dodd-Frank "enhanced" capital requirements put in place after the crisis, when Washington sought to ensure that major financial institutions were on more solid footing.

"Neither regulators nor legislators should agree to changes that would effectively weaken that regime, whether directly or indirectly. It would be tragic if the lessons of the financial crisis were forgotten so quickly," he said.

On the other hand, Tarullo acknowledged that there was room for modifying Dodd-Frank without risking destabilizing the financial system. The law may unnecessarily impose a stricter set regulations on smaller banks, he said, by declaring those with $50 billion or more in assets to be "systemically important."

The so-called Volcker rule -- a proposal named for former Fed Chair Paul Volcker to prevent banks from engaging risky trading with their own funds -- could be simplified to reduce the resources banks need to comply.

"The Volcker rule applies to a much broader group of banks than is necessary to achieve its purpose," Tarullo said.

But Tarullo dismissed the idea -- promoted by Trump -- that burdensome regulations were preventing banks from lending, citing growing credit and record bank profits in 2016.

"It would seem a substantial overreach to claim that the new regulatory system is broadly hamstringing either the banking industry or the economy," Tarullo said.
The British travel industry is appealing to the government to maintain visa-free travel between the UK and the rest of Europe, and to protect British holidaymakers' rights to health insurance and free mobile roaming fees during Brexit negotiations.

On Tuesday, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) released a report titled "Making a success of Brexit for travel and tourism," outlining a set of priorities the group sees as essential for the travel industry's post-Brexit prosperity.

Given that the EU is the UK's biggest market for overseas holidays, ABTA is asking the government to maintain visa-free travel to countries within the EU.

In 2015, UK residents made 37 million holiday and business trips to countries within Europe.

Conversely, 16 million EU residents also made more than 16 million trips to the UK.

"While immigration is a contentious issue, securing visa-free travel for holidays and short business trips should be the goal of the government," reads the report.

"It is important that we maintain fast and efficient processes through our airports and ports and avoid lengthy queues to enable EU nationals to easily visit us, and UK visitors to travel to the EU."

The group is also urging the government to safeguard consumer travel rights that all European citizens enjoy, including access to free or reduced cost healthcare via the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which was used more than 215,000 times in 2015 by UK citizens.

As part of EU membership, travelers are likewise entitled to compensation for delayed and canceled flights, while the EU Package Travel Directive protects people on package holidays.

"ABTA urges the government to secure the UK's continued participation in the EHIC scheme, which guarantees UK travelers reciprocal access to healthcare systems across Europe."

The group is also asking that Britons be able to take advantage of the abolition of roaming fees in Europe that will be effective June 2017.

"The government must replicate this EU-level agreement to ensure that British and EU customers continue to benefit from the abolition of these additional charges."
At least 14 people were killed and dozens more were wounded Monday after an explosive device blew up inside a subway train car in St. Petersburg, according to multiple reports. Authorities in the Russian city are investigating whether terrorism played a role in the deadly blast.

Heres what we know about the incident:

What happened?

An unidentified object detonated inside a train carriage at about 2:20 p.m. local time while the car was traveling underground between two stations, the St. Petersburg Metro said in a statement, according to the AFP. Officials confirmed that at least 14 people were killed and more than 40 others were wounded, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said 49 people had been hospitalized. The identities and ages of the victims have not yet been released.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, authorities in Kyrgyzstan have since said that a Kyrgyz-born Russian national named Akbarzhon Dzhalilov has been identified as a suspect, according to the AP. Russian investigators said forensic experts found Dzhalilovs DNA on a bag containing a bomb that was found and deactivated hours later at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday.

The investigators have also identified a Kyrgyz-born man as a suicide bomber who was behind the attack. The 22-year-olds body fragments were found in the train. It is unclear whether the man in question is Dzhalilov and whether or not the figure of 14 deaths includes him, the AP reports.

Was it a terrorist attack?

The explosion is under investigation. Its unclear whether the device was left in the car purposefully when it exploded between the Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. Authorities later found and deactivated a bomb at another St. Petersburg subway station, according to the AP, which cited a Russian anti-terrorism committee. The city is considered Russias most popular tourist destination, and its metro system is the 19th busiest in the world, the BBC and AP reported. More than 2 million people travel through it daily.

Story continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city at the time of the blast, said investigators are looking into all causes of the explosion, including terrorism, according to the BBC. Its unclear if authorities have any leads or suspects yet. Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened, Putin said, according to the AP.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the bombing was absolutely a terrible thing in comments on Monday. Its happening all over the world, he said. The Kremlin said Trump called Putin to offer his condolences to the families of the victims, the AP reports. A statement from the Russian government reportedly said that the two leaders shared the view that terrorism is an evil that must be fought jointly.

What happens next?

All subway stations in St. Petersburg have been closed, and authorities have tightened security in Moscows major transport hubs, the AP reported.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
The metro attack in St. Petersburg, Russia that killed 14 people and injured more than 60 was carried out by a 22-year-old suicide bomber from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, Russian authorities said on Tuesday.

The man was identified by Russian and Kyrgyz investigators through DNA evidence and CCTV footage as Akbarjon Djalilov, a native of former Soviet Kyrgyzstan who became a Russian citizen. Little is known about Djalilov or the circumstances that led to his alleged radicalization, and no group has claimed responsibility for Mondays attack, which Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described as a terrorist act.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abyldaev confirmed the bombing was a suicide attack, but said Djalilovs motives were still unclear.

Regarding the link with Islamic radicalism, we have to wait to know more until the investigation yields its full results, Abyldaev said.

However, some details have already emerged about the bomber. According to Russian and Kyrgyz media, Djalilov became a Russian citizen in 2011, reportedly did military service in Russia, and later worked at a sushi bar in St. Petersburg. He originally moved to Russia with his parents, but they later returned to Osh, their hometown in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Kloop.kg, a Kyrgyz news site, reported on Tuesday that members of the countrys security services had brought Djalilovs family in for questioning in Osh. Kloop.kg also spoke to several of Djalilovs family members, who expressed shock that he was named as the culprit of the bombing and described him as a practicing Muslim but not very religious.

Djalilovs page on VKontakte, a Russian social media site, included links to a website featuring sayings from a 18th century preacher whose teachings are the base for Wahhabism, a hardline branch of Islam. But no links to extremist groups has been found.

Story continues

Djalilov was from an ethnic Uzbek family. Ethnic Uzbeks have long faced discrimination in southern Kyrgyzstan and Osh was the scene of inter-ethnic clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June 2010, in which hundreds of people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Djalilov was brought to St. Petersburg as a teenager by his father to earn money to help pay for a new house after their old neighborhood had been destroyed by the ethnic riots. Because he moved to Russia at such a young age, Dzhalilov had never been a Kyrgyz citizen, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Russian authorities are still investigating whether Djalilov was working alone, but his involvement is sure to have policy implications for Moscow  and for the broader region. The bombing marks the first attack carried out in Russia by a Central Asian.

Hundreds of thousands of Central Asians currently live in Russia, having emigrated there in search of work. Many toil in construction and other low-paid jobs in poor conditions, hoping to send money back home to their families. Kyrgyzstan is one of the countries most reliant on remittances in the whole world, with money sent back home equating roughly one-third of the countrys GDP in 2015. That dependence has come under strain thanks to a weak Russian ruble: The value of remittances sent to Kyrgyzstan fell by roughly one-third last year.

Just why Djalilov blew himself up on Monday is not yet clear, but migration and economic marginalization have played a large role in the radicalization of Central Asians, according experts. Several studies and investigations have documented that many of the Central Asians who joined extremist groups in Syria were working in Russia when they were recruited and radicalized. Repressive religious policies across Central Asia are also said to be an important factor in driving radicalization in the region.

Former Soviet states provide the third-largest number of foreign fighters for the Islamic State, after Western Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, according to the Soufan Group and U.S. government reports.

Among that figure, an estimated 2,000 recruits are said to be from the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This post was updated at 4:15 pm on April 4, 2017.

Photo credit: VKontakte
Just when things are going great between Kylie Jenner and Tyga, the on-again, off-again couple has once again decided to take a break from each other for an unknown reason.

A source told People that their breakup might be temporary, since the couple is determined to patch things up. They tend to take little breaks all the time and then get back together, the insider said. Its definitely possible theyll work things out again.

The insider also claimed that trust remains a sore issue in their relationship, since Tyga has struggled with a lot of cheating rumors and financial woes over the past few years.

READ: Tyga cheated on Kylie Jenner with Demi Rose Mawby?

The two have not confirmed their breakup, but sightings of the two together have been scarce. Tyga is barely present in the lip kit moguls latest social media posts. A source even told E! News that the rapper moved into a new home in Hollywood Hills last week, and hes been partying and having people over every night.

There has been no sign of Kylie, the insider added.

When Tyga enjoyed a fun night at the newest Los Angeles hotspot Avenue Nightclub, Jenner was also nowhere to be seen. Tyga was later spotted at his go-to nightclub 1Oak in L.A. flying solo, before he hopped on a plane to Las Vegas Sunday to kick off his Daylight Beach Club residency and the launch of Lit Sundays.

Tyga better be careful because a number of guys have already expressed an interest in wooing Jenner. One of them is rapper PnB Rock. After Jenner posted a video of herself singing along to his song Selfish, TMZ caught up with PnB Rock and asked his thoughts about it. Im on them. Ay, Tyga, watch your girl, he said while pointing towards the camera.

He added that he would definitely make a move on Jenner, and he believes Tyga would do the same thing if the tables were turned. Man, he knows. If he had the chance he would do it to the next [guy]. You feel me? he said.

Tyga and Kylie Jenner

Photo: Getty Images/Dimitrios Kambouris

Related Articles
By Tom Westbrook and Sonali Paul SYDNEY/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A critical mountain pass on the railway connecting Australia's biggest coking coal mines to ports has been hit by landslides and buckled tracks caused by Cyclone Debbie, witnesses said, crippling efforts to get exports of the steel-making ingredient flowing again. A helicopter pilot and residents local to the choke point on the Goonyella railway told Reuters by phone on Tuesday about damage to the track, which last year transported nearly 120 million tonnes of coal for mining giants such as BHP Billiton. The line's operator, Aurizon Holdings, repeated that it would take around five weeks to finish repairs and that alternative routes would be considered, without giving details on the extent of the damage. "The rain came down the range like a river. (It) just washed the rail lines out. I haven't seen anything like this in my 60 years here," said Dennis Wilson, a caravan park owner who lives near the rail network. Cyclone Debbie, which struck last week as a category four storm, one rung below the most damaging category five, has left a disaster zone stretching 1,000 km (600 miles) in the northeastern sate of Queensland, with subsequent flooding claiming at least four lives. Queensland accounts for over 50 percent of global seaborne supplies of steel-making material coking coal, with the disruption driving up prices by over a quarter on Monday in their biggest single-day jump on record. Independent Australian mining analyst Peter Strachan said the rail lines were a vital link in the world's coking coal supply chain. "I'd have thought the market might be taking too much of an optimistic view of how bad it is and as the information starts to seep out people will realize how long it's going to be," Strachan said. Between 12 and 15 million tonnes of coal shipments could be affected by the cyclone, Mark Pervan, chief economist at AME Group, said on Tuesday. Of that, about 10 million tonnes is coking coal, accounting for 3 percent of the global market. FORCE MAJEURE Three smaller producers in the region have already declared force majeure on coal cargoes, partly blaming rail lines being down. China's Yancoal Ltd has halted output at its Middlemount mine, while privately owned QCoal said it could not deliver two coal shipments "due to infrastructure availability". Jellinbah Group, which owns two mines in the region's Bowen Basin, said it had declared force majeure on some, but not all, shipments. While floodwaters have receded from many areas, last week's deluge is still flowing through river systems in Queensland. New Zealand is bracing for heavy rain on Tuesday as the storm crosses the Tasman Sea. A railway engineer, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the damaged tracks, said the land needed to dry before repair crews could get heavy machinery to the affected spots. BHP, the world's top exporter of coking coal, said it would "seek to manage ongoing access to ports and shipments to customers". The only alternative rail routes are to access lines heading north or south. The southern route is in a region forecast to be hit by further flooding this week, as levels in the major Fitzroy River catchment, continue to rise. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook in SYDNEY and Sonali Paul in MELBOURNE; Additional reporting by Benjamin Weir; Writing by Jonathan Barrett; Editing by Chris Reese and Joseph Radford)
Former CNN host and current Russia Today America and Hulu host Larry King said President Donald Trumps time in the White House "so far" has been "one of the most ridiculous presidencies" he has seen in his lifetime. King appeared on Sirius XMs "Tell Me Everything" on Monday and told host John Fugelsang the president was not performing his job properly.

"Ive got to admit that so far, this is one of the most ridiculous presidencies Ive ever seen," King said.

He also referred to some of Trump's cabinet appointments and said he was confused about the thought process behind those administrative decisions.

"Its almost funny. To run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he hires an anti-environment guy. To run the Secretary of Education, he hires someone who doesnt like education. Doesnt like public schools. Thats weird, man," King said referring to Scott Pruitt, Trump's EPA administrator, and the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

King also commented on Trump's recent decisions to modify a number of climate change policies instituted by former President Barack Obama. He said he was specifically frustrated with the current administration's climate change policies that have been implemented by Pruitt so far.

"Trump gets us out of climate change. Who doesn't notice climate change? It's obviously caused by carbon dioxide," he continued. "To act like it doesn't exist, thats insane. Miami Beach is not going to exist after 2100. Come on. Thats climate change," he added.

Following his comments, King later said he hoped Trump would be more open to "bipartisan leadership" and become capable of taking beneficial administrative decisions.

Trump signed an executive order last week to demolish Obama-era climate change regulations. The order mainly focuses on dismantling the Clean Power Plan, a 2015 regulation that was implemented by the former administration to curb greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. Trump's new order instructs the EPA to repeal the Clean Power Plan formally, and the president promised the move would help create domestic jobs in the fossil fuel industry.

Related Articles
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)  The Latest on the explosion on a train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg (all times local):

3:20 a.m.

The U.N. Security Council is condemning "in the strongest terms the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack" in St. Petersburg that killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others.

Council members "expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the victims of this heinous act of terrorism and to their families, and to the people and to the Government of the Russian Federation," a statement said, adding that the "perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts" should be brought to justice.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

___

11:55 p.m.

The Interfax news agency says Russian police think a man they suspect of blowing himself up to attack a St. Petersburg subway train had links to radical Islamists.

The agency cited an unidentified law enforcement official saying that investigators believe the suspect carried an explosive device onto the train in a rucksack.

Interfax says evidence found at the detonation site point to a suicide attack.

The agency reports that the 23-year old man investigators suspect in the blast came from formerly Soviet Central Asia and was linked to radical Islamic groups.

Interfax says police now think the same man, not a second suspect, planted a bomb at a subway station that was found and defused before it went off.

Monday's explosion in a subway car killed 11 and wounded 45 others as Russian President Vladimir Putin was in St. Petersburg, his home town.

___

11:35 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has brought flowers to honor the victims of a subway train explosion in St. Petersburg.

Looking somber, Putin laid a large bunch of red roses outside the subway station where the mangled train arrived moments after an explosive device went off in one of its cars on Monday afternoon.

Story continues

Authorities say the blast killed 11 people and wounded more than 40 others

Russian state television showed Putin placing the flowers at an improvised memorial near the Technological Institute station entrance. The Russian leader walked away to his car without speaking to the media.

Earlier in the day, Putin said law enforcement agencies and intelligence services were working to "give a full picture of what happened" and promised help for blast victims and their families.

___

11:15 p.m.

The Interfax news agency says Russian police suspect that the explosion on a 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 didn't name the suspect or the country.

Monday's bombing killed 11 people and wounded 45 others as Russian President Vladimir Putin was in St. Petersburg, his home town.

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.

___

10:25 p.m.

Russia's top anti-terror agency says the death toll in subway bombing in St. Petersburg has reached 11.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee says another 45 people wounded in Monday's explosion are being treated at hospitals.

Officials previously had said that 10 people were killed and about 40 were wounded when an explosive device rigged with shrapnel went off on a subway train in the center of St. Petersburg.

City authorities shut the entire subway system after the blast. Law enforcement agents found an unexploded bomb at another subway station and defused it.

The Interfax news agency reports that police are searching for two suspects suspected of involvement.

___

10:10 p.m.

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.

___

10:00 p.m.

The bombing of a subway train in Russia has drawn wide condemnation from Moscow's friends and foes. At least 10 people died in the attack in St. Petersburg.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said killing innocent people "is the most humiliating act for achieving political goals."

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.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said those responsible for the bombing must be held accountable.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini sent a condolence message to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, saying she and her colleagues were following the news from St. Petersburg "with a lot of apprehension."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says nation would "stand by all those who suffer."

___

9:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump calls the deadly bomb blast on a Russian subway train "absolutely a terrible thing."

Trump spoke Monday before a working lunch with Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (AHB'-del fat-AH' el-SEE'-see). Trump says "it's happening all over the world."

The president made no further comment on the Monday blast that killed 10 people and injured about 40. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Russian trains and planes have been targeted repeatedly by Islamic militants.

___

7:15 p.m.

The Interfax news agency says Russian law enforcement agencies are searching for two suspects in the St. Petersburg subway bombing.

The news agency is quoting law enforcement sources as saying that police are looking for a man who is believed to have planted a device that exploded in a subway car on Monday, killing 10 and wounding about 40 others.

Interfax says authorities are also looking for another person suspected of leaving a second bomb at a subway station. That device was discovered and defused by authorities before it went off.

___

7:05 p.m.

France's Interior Ministry is reinforcing security measures on public transport in the Paris region after a deadly bomb blast hit a Russian subway train.

French Interior Minister Mathias Fekl said in a statement Monday the decision was a "measure of precaution" after the explosion in St. Petersburg.

The statement provided no further information about the reinforced security, and Fekl's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Armed soldiers patrol subways, airports, museums and other sites around France as part of heightened security measures imposed after deadly Islamic extremist attacks in 2015.

The French Embassy in Russia urged French citizens anywhere in the country to exercise "the most extreme vigilance" and avoid public transport.

___

6:50 p.m.

Russian law enforcement agencies have confirmed that the explosive device was found and defused at Vosstaniya Square station was rigged with shrapnel. Earlier in the day, another bomb exploded in the subway system, killing 10 people.

The Interfax news agency said it contained up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives.

___

6:10 p.m.

Russia's health minister says that 10 people died in the subway explosion in St. Petersburg. The minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said on live television that seven people were killed on the spot, another died in an ambulance heading for a hospital and two others died at the hospital.

___

5:55 p.m.

Russian news reports say that a security camera has caught a person who could be responsible for a blast on St. Petersburg subway.

The Interfax news agency is citing an unidentified source who says the suspect in Monday's blast might have left the explosive device in a bag. It didn't explain why the man was believed to be the culprit.

___

5:25 p.m.

A spokesman for Russia's top anti-terror agency says law enforcement agents have found and defused another explosive device on St. Petersburg's subway.

Andrei Przhezdomsky (pr-ZHEZ-domsky) said the improvised explosive was found Monday on Ploshchad Vosstaniya station. He made the statement about two hours after a blast on a subway train in St. Petersburg killed at least 10 and wounded dozens of others.

___

5:20 p.m.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee says it has found and deactivated a bomb at another St. Petersburg subway station.

___

5:10 p.m.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says he learned of the deadly explosion in St. Petersburg "with deep sorrow."

Although the cause of the explosion has not been confirmed, Gabriel says it appeared to be "a perfidious attack against innocent people."

___

4:35 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says investigators were looking into whether the St. Petersburg subway explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause.

He says: "Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened."

Putin happened to in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

___

4:15 p.m.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee has announced that security will be tightened at all critical transport facilities following St. Petersburg blast.

___

3:55 p.m.

Andrei Kibitov, spokesman for the St. Petersburg governor, has told Russian television 10 people have been killed and 50 injured in the subway explosion.

In Moscow, Deputy Mayor Maxim Liksutov told the Interfax news agency that Moscow authorities are tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital.

___

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.
NEW YORK (AP)  Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and a former U.S. attorney general are seeking a "diplomatic solution" to resolving charges that a prominent Turkish businessman helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions, a defense lawyer said Tuesday, insisting that their actions  including meeting Turkey's president  weren't intended to derail prosecutors.

"We've acted aboveboard," attorney Ben Brafman told a Manhattan judge as he explained that he told prosecutors last month that Giuliani and ex-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey were going to meet Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as part of their work on behalf of Reza Zarrab. "Nobody was trying to hide their involvement."

He said Mukasey, a former Manhattan federal judge who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush, also informed Attorney General Jeff Sessions before the trip.

Brafman said there was nothing wrong with his client hiring Mukasey and Giuliani, a former Manhattan U.S. attorney and a close supporter and adviser to President Donald Trump, "in an attempt to explore whether there may be a diplomatic solution to this case."

Zarrab, 33, of Istanbul, has pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired to process hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of financial transactions for Iranian businesses or Iran's government from 2010 to 2015. Authorities say those transactions are banned by U.S. and international sanctions. An August trial is scheduled.

Zarrab is a well-known personality in Turkey partly because he's married to Turkish pop star and TV personality Ebru Gundes.

Brafman told U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman that he reassured prosecutors, including then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, during a February meeting that the efforts of Giuliani and Mukasey were not designed to "back door" prosecutors.

"I made that clear to them," he said.

He said it was intended that any progress diplomatically would result in further meetings with prosecutors to "maybe help structure a resolution" to the case.

Story continues

Bharara was fired last month after he did not resign when prosecutors appointed by previous presidents were invited to submit resignations.

Brafman spoke Tuesday before Berman announced he would conduct a hearing in a few weeks to ensure Zarrab knows about and accepts potential conflicts of interest arising because Giuliani's firm was hired to represent Turkey in other matters and because Giuliani and Mukasey belong to firms that have represented banks described as victims of a scheme to help Iran evade sanctions.

The judge said he may ask to privately view retainer agreements signed by Giuliani and Mukasey and to learn who is paying for the representation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Lockard said prosecutors are seeking to "protect the integrity of these proceedings."

In court papers, prosecutors say they were told Giuliani and Mukasey also planned to meet U.S. government officials outside the prosecutor's office "to discuss a potential disposition of this case."

Lockard said, "Their representation not only may but are intended to affect these proceedings."
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.

Story continues

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.
For more than 13 years, London has collected a stiff charge from motor vehicles entering the congested core of the city during weekday business hours.

Known as the congestion charge, the fee of 11.50 a day, or $14.50 (10 with automatic payment, or $12.50) is levied from 6 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday except holidays.

First intended to reduce congestion and let buses and delivery vehicles move faster, the charge has now evolved into a way for the city to improve its air quality as well.

DON'T MISS: Paris weekday ban on pre-1997 cars takes effect, historic cars excepted

Starting in two years, the city will add a new "T-Charge" to be levied only on gasoline vehicles that do not meet at least the Euro 4 emission standards that took effect in 2005. Diesel cars that do not meet Euro 6 standards, which began in 2016, will be charged.

NOTE: An earlier version of this article published on February 23, 2017, said the charge would start this October. We have updated it with later information to reflect a start date of April 8, 2019.

Given the record air pollution and choking smog that enveloped London in mid-February, the new measure is expected to meet with general public approval.

BMW diesels used to support the 2012 London Olympic Games

But as The New York Times points out in its coverage of the smog, London's recent emission problems were self-inflicted by three decades of government support for diesel vehicles.

The Great Smog that descended on London in December 1952 is now estimated to have killed as many as 12,000 people, higher than the 4,000 to 5,000 cited at the time.

That traumatic event in a capital still attempting to recover from the ravages of World War II led to the Clean Air Act of 1956.

READ THIS: Mayors of 4 capital cities to ban all diesel vehicles by 2025

Burning coal to heat buildings was banned entirely, starting in 1964, and the improvement in air quality was swift and noticeableunderscored by the emergence of delicate and colorful Victorian architecture that had been hidden beneath black grime for as much as a century.

Story continues

During the 1980s, in a response to the energy crises of the previous decades, the U.K. and Europe began to put into place policies that incentivized the purchase of diesel-powered vehicles not just by businesses but by retail buyers as well.

Five years ago, fully half of the new vehicles sold across the countries of the European Union were powered by small turbodiesel engines.

Honda Civic 1.6 i-DTEC diesel (European version)

The numbers varied greatly by country, but those dieselsoften designed by German engineers and with parts from German suppliersproliferated throughout the region.

Regrettably, emission rules didn't keep pace.

It wasn't until 2009 that Euro 5 standards that limited most emissions of soot and particulate matter came into force.

CHECK OUT: Hybrids lose London privileges two weeks from today: here's why (Jun 2016)

By then, U.S. emission standards had already taken effect in January 2008 that racheted down the limits much furthereffectively requiring the use of selective catalytic reduction systems, or urea injection, to get any diesel vehicle to meet the standards.

Volkswagen's desire not to use that system, for reasons of both cost and corporate pride (it has been developed by Daimler), led it to use "defeat device" software in more than half a million diesel vehicles sold in the U.S. from 2009 through 2016.

That scandal has cost the company more than $20 billion thus far, and is far from over.

2004 Toyota Avensis Clean Diesel concept, Paris Auto Show

Meanwhile, European standards that equal the U.S. limits from 2008 have only gone into effect as of January 1 this year.

Now that the EU can fine European cities for violating air-quality limits, those cities have a strong incentive to ban the oldest, dirtiest cars. Athens, Madrid, Mexico City, and Paris plan to ban all diesel cars and trucks by 2025.

And London's sharp increase in fees on the roughly 10,000 older diesels that enter the city per day may stand as the city's attempt to cope with the law of unexpected consequences for decisions made three decades ago.

_______________________________________

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.
By A. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's national human rights panel on Tuesday said it was disturbed by more than 600 deaths at immigration detention centers and prisons over the last two years, and called for immediate reform. In its 2016 annual report, the panel, known by its Malay acronym, Suhakam, said there were more than 100 deaths in immigration detention centers and 521 deaths in prisons in 2015 and 2016. Twelve people died in police lock-ups in 2015. Last week, citing documents from Suhakam, Reuters reported that 118 foreigners, including undocumented workers, refugees and asylum seekers, had died at detention centers in the last two years. More than half the dead were from Myanmar. Suhakam said deaths mostly stemmed from diseases in all prisons and detention centers, where the government should look to improve conditions and healthcare. "There is little interest in the human rights of detainees," said Chairman Razali Ismail. "This attitude is reflected in government budgetary priorities and the resources made available for the running and upkeep of all places of detention." Particularly in immigration detention centers, people spent long periods unable to move freely or sleep comfortably in overcrowded cells, he said, where conditions sometimes deteriorated to become "inhumane". The government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Suhakam's report, published on Tuesday. Former detainees, government agencies and rights groups have told Reuters of grim living conditions in detention camps that are overcrowded and unhygienic. Some said they received insufficient food, water or healthcare, and many developed skin and lung infections, or contagious diseases. All those interviewed also alleged they were beaten by camp guards or saw others being beaten. Suhakam documents reviewed by Reuters showed detainees died from lung infections, heart-related conditions and the bacterial disease leptospirosis. No cause was attributed for 50 deaths. Last week, deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told Reuters his ministry had hit a budget brick wall in efforts to improve conditions in immigration detention centers. Malaysia's 13 detention centers had a total of 86,795 detainees during various periods in 2016, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission says. "UNFIT AND UNSAFE" Two of the detention centers Suhakam visited last year were in dilapidated condition, the agency said in its report. Three blocks of a detention center in southern Johor state, and two blocks on northern Penang island were held "unfit and unsafe for occupation," by the Public Works Department, it added. The rights agency said the immigration department last week informed it of "major reforms," such as better healthcare and repair of dilapidated structures. Southeast Asia-based migrant and refugee protection group Fortify Rights urged a criminal investigation into the deaths. "Malaysian authorities could begin tackling this by ending arbitrary and indefinite detention of migrants, including refugees and survivors of trafficking," Executive Director Amy Smith said in a statement. (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
KINSHASA, Congo  On Oct. 4, 2016, Etienne Tshisekedi made his final address to a crowd gathered in the courtyard of his partys headquarters. The longtime leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congos opposition was visibly frail, and the speech, slow and hesitant, lasted only three minutes. But the old man still managed to rev up his followers, many of whom strained to hear from the road outside.

Not long after Tshisekedis farewell speech, his son Felix led the opposition into talks with President Joseph Kabilas ruling alliance that were supposed to resolve the thorny question of Congos democratic future. Kabilas second and final term was due to expire on Dec. 20, but the government had no plan to hold elections. A constitutional crisis loomed on the horizon that many feared would lead to violence. It would have been difficult for Felix to fill his fathers shoes at any time, but Etiennes myriad ailments could hardly have picked a more inopportune moment to overwhelm him.

Tshisekedi, who died in Brussels on Feb. 1, was a totemic figure in Congo. In 1982, he founded the oldest and largest opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), in a country that had been a dictatorship since Mobutu Sese Seko seized power 17 years earlier. Mobutu was overthrown in 1997 by Kabilas father, Laurent, but Congo has still yet to see a democratic transition. Tshisekedi spent several stints in prison in the 1980s, and although he never achieved his goal of the presidency, his courage in resisting first Mobutu and then Kabila, pere et fils, gave him a moral standing and devoted following that is unmatched among the Congolese opposition. Up until his death, he led both the UDPS and the Rassemblement, a large opposition coalition set up last year.

Tshisekedi lived just long enough to watch his son and presumptive heir as opposition leader strike a deal that appeared to pull the country back from the brink of political crisis. On New Years Eve, both sides pledged not to alter the constitution  many fear that Kabila wishes to purge it of term limits in order to remain in power  and agreed to form a national unity government led by a prime minister from the Rassemblement that will organize elections in December 2017.

But the accord did not confirm Felixs ascent as opposition leader. Instead, it named his father as head of the committee tasked with applying and monitoring its terms. So when the elder Tshisekedi died in February, it threw into question not just the future of his party and the wider opposition but the grand bargain that might ease Kabila out of power by the end of the year.

Now, after months of stalled negotiations over how to implement it, the Dec. 31 accord is hanging by a thread. Congos powerful conference of Catholic bishops withdrew from its mediating role last week, and the Rassemblement has called for mass protests on April 10. Can the deal survive in the absence of its most important guarantor? Or will Kabila succeed in exploiting Tshisekedis death to divide the opposition and cling to power?

The answer to both of those questions will depend in large part on Felix Tshisekedi, who is now Congos most important opposition leader  for the time being at least.

That puts a lot of responsibility in startlingly inexperienced hands. At 53, the younger Tshisekedi has spent most of his life in Belgium. He has never held public office (though he was elected to parliament in 2011 and boycotted his seat at the direction of his father) and only moved into a leadership role in the UDPS as its national secretary for external relations in 2008. For most of his professional life, he toiled in relative obscurity within the partys European diaspora organizations. In recent years, he has made Kinshasa his permanent home and steadily and effectively inserted himself into the byzantine world of Congolese politics.

But if Tshisekedi still has his doubters, he also has a loyal stable of supporters and the most famous political name in Congo that isnt Kabila. Even those who arent sold on his leadership admit that the opposition would be foolish to jettison him.

The whole of the Rassemblement should understand that its useful to present Felix as his fathers successor, even though we all know the costume is too big for him, said Albert Moleka, who served as chief of staff to the elder Tshisekedi from 2008 to 2014.

His name and heritage provide continuity and recognition among voters who have traditionally supported the UDPS, said Stephanie Wolters, the head of conflict prevention and risk analysis at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa.

That is what the Rassemblement is betting, having named him the coalitions new president and its candidate for prime minister in the proposed unity government. Tshisekedi is also expected to seek to succeed his father as the head of the UDPS  whether personally or by anointing a member of his entourage  but he faces internal challenges in both the party and the coalition. Even if he proves a unifying figure in the short term, there is a chance his personal ambition could throw the opposition into disarray before long. A run for president by Tshisekedi  something he has refused to rule out  would likely cause the Rassemblement to crumble.

Its too early to say, Tshisekedi said of his intention to run in the 2017 elections, should they be held as expected. I like to climb the ladder, not to burn it, he said, adding, If one day Im called to run, and I have a capable mind, Ill do it.

Part of Tshisekedis vulnerability within the Rassemblement stems from the fact that it unites his party with another powerful force in Congos opposition: Moise Katumbi, an exiled popular former governor, and the so-called G7 group of seven parties that back him for the presidency. In fact, Tshisekedis ascent to the Rassemblements presidency came at the price of a rejiggering of power within the coalition. In early March, the leaders of its nine platforms created a second presidency; one is occupied by Tshisekedi, and one is controlled by Pierre Lumbi, the president of the G7.

Tshisekedi brushes off the restructuring as wanting to share the responsibilities with our other friends, but some of his fathers oldest comrades blame him for too easily giving up power. They fear that Katumbi is commandeering the opposition from afar through the G7. Some of them have defected and backed Joseph Olengankoy, a longtime opposition politician, as the president of an alternative Rassemblement faction.

Lumbi is becoming Etienne Tshisekedis successor, which is pushing the UDPS into the shadows, said Jean Omasombo, a Congo expert at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.

If a power struggle within the ranks of the opposition poses one threat to Tshisekedis prime ministerial prize  and to the accord that is supposed to ease Congos dangerous political impasse  the dogged procrastination of Kabilas negotiators poses another, more formidable one. Among other demands, they continue to insist that the Rassemblement submit a list of three nominees for prime minister and leave the final appointment to the president. Kabila could then delight in defying the Rassemblements will  not to mention introduce new splits into the opposition.

Tshisekedi condemned what he calls the efforts of Kabilas alliance to kill the accord and said the president would be ill-advised to spoil the agreement since its the sole basis of his legitimacy. The president is only considered such because theres an accord signed on Dec. 31, 2016, which allows him to continue for one year pending elections, he said.

Kabilas allies insist that the president is authorized to stay in office as long as it takes for an elected successor to replace him, and they dont appear to be in any hurry to implement the agreement  much less hold the national elections now tentatively scheduled for December. Without a significant breakthrough, Tshisekedi wont be moving into the prime ministers office anytime soon, and nor will the Congolese people be queuing up to vote.

If the deal falls apart on the back of the bishops departure, Tshisekedi and other opposition leaders will be back to square one. Faced with a recalcitrant president, they will have to decide whether to permanently trade negotiations for the kinds of mass demonstrations now slated for April 10.

Even if the talks are revived, the opposition has a long and perilous road ahead. Some worry that Kabila could actually be strengthened by a Tshisekedi premiership. The transitional government will be faced with the monumental task of organizing elections before the end of this year at a time when large parts of the country are becoming less stable. Should a Tshisekedi administration fail to shepherd the country to the polls on time, Kabila could heap blame on the opposition while claiming to have kept his side of the deal.

Delivering credible, transparent, and timely elections will be the governments main mandate, and putting an inexperienced person like Felix in that post would be a sign that the Rassemblement does not have the vision and maturity to put the country first, Wolters said. A senior European diplomat echoed this concern.

Tshisekedi is facing strong headwinds as he attempts to live up to his illustrious name. But if and when the elections happen  whether in 2017 or years from now  he will be forced to reveal the extent of his ambitions. If he does covet the presidency, he will first need to sever his alliance with Katumbi and the G7, which will clearly be wary of empowering him. Kabila is surely rooting for such a rupture and for Tshisekedi and Katumbi to become their own worst enemies.

Image credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images
By Katie Paul RIYADH (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would raise "hard issues" with Saudi Arabia's leaders on a visit to the country, as critics urged her to pressure Riyadh over its air war in Yemen and human rights record. May also said she was appalled by reports of a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria that killed dozens of people, including 11 children, and called for a prompt investigation. She was expected to explore ways of boosting trade with the kingdom during the two-day visit, her second to a Gulf Arab state since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Saudi Arabia is the country's largest Middle East trading partner, with British exports worth 6.57 billion pounds ($8 billion) in 2015. May, who has launched a drive to secure trade deals after launching divorce proceedings with the EU, said she would stand up for both human rights and Britain's national interests in her talks in the world's top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia is a major customer for British defence companies and an ally in the fight against Islamist militancy. Britain's supply of aircraft and weapons has come under scrutiny because of the war in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has launched thousands of air strikes in an effort to dislodge Iranian-aligned Houthis from the capital Sanaa and restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. The two-year-old civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians. "We have no difficulty in raising hard issues with those that we meet with, be it in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere around the world," May told reporters in Jordan before heading to Riyadh where she is expected to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. "The strong British tradition of standing up for human rights is there, the strong British tradition of standing up for British national interest is there," she said. May, who landed in Riyadh on Tuesday, will be joined by the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange for a financial roundtable at the kingdom's bourse. The London Stock Exchange is among those pitching to win a piece of state oil company Saudi Aramco's initial public offering, which is expected to be the world's largest. TRADE DEALS May has come under fire over her foreign trips since becoming prime minister last year. She was accused of failing to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier this year. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said May must put human rights and international law at the centre of her talks with the Saudis. "Unless the prime minister challenges the Saudi regime over its abuses this week, it will be clear she is ready to sacrifice human rights and security on the altar of the arms trade," he said in a statement. May attended the annual Gulf Arab summit in Bahrain in December to cement ties with oil producers. "Britain is introducing itself to countries of the region in its new form," said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Center. "This means that Britain will be in direct competition with European Union powers and that it presents itself as an alternative to them." May must try to strengthen her hand in talks with the EU without annoying its leaders and secure trade deals elsewhere in case the talks fail and Britain crashes out of the bloc without an agreement. "I want to see the United Kingdom as a truly global Britain," May said. "A good continuing deep partnership with the European Union, but also trading and working with others around the world." (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Michael Holden in London; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Stamp)
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in January. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

After a gas attack reportedly killed dozens of civilians in Syria Tuesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took on President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, calling the United States failure to intervene a disgraceful chapter in American history.

Weve seen this movie before, McCain said on CNNs New Day, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assads numerous attacks on his own people with chemical weapons, including one after President Barack Obama declared such attacks a red line that would warrant U.S. military action.

A "disgraceful chapter in American history" Sen. John McCain slams President Trump for lenient Syrian regime policy https://t.co/yw6SYiktRT  New Day (@NewDay) April 4, 2017

McCain, a longtime advocate of arming Syrian rebels and removing Assad from power, also barbed Tillerson, who recently said whether Assad will stay in power will be decided by the Syrian people. McCain called that remark one of the more incredible statements Ive ever heard, echoing a fiery statement he released previously.

Syrian people cannot decide the fate of Assad or the future of their country when they are being slaughtered by Assads barrel bombs, Putins aircraft and Irans terrorist proxies, McCain said Thursday. U.S. policy must reflect such basic facts.

Calling Assad one of the great brutal dictators in history, McCain emphasized that leaving the Syrian president in power would contradict the United States duty to spread democracy throughout the world.

These are war crimes on the scale  almost unmatched since Nazi Germany or Pol Pot.

Although McCain expressed confidence in the Trump administrations national security team, he lamented what he said was a lack of conviction in Americas policy toward the Syrian civil war.

I dont see any doctrine right now, he said.
WASHINGTON  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday afternoon that he was confident he had the votes to change the bodys rules if Democrats go through with their threat to filibuster President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

McConnell downplayed the significance of that change, even as other members of his caucus have said it would damage the Senate and lead to a more ideological, partisan Supreme Court.

The practical effect of all of this would be to take us back to where we were before Sen. Schumer convinced Democrats to routinely filibuster judges, McConnell said, referring to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

McConnell said that before the year 2000, the Senate rarely had trouble finding 60 votes to end debate on judges. Even Justice Clarence Thomas avoided a filibuster in the 90s, though only 52 senators voted for his nomination, McConnell noted.

The Kentucky lawmaker also pushed back against critics who argue that the Senate would next dispense with the 60-vote cloture standard for legislation, which could turn the slower and more deliberative body into a fast-moving organ of whichever party is in power.

Theres not a single senator in the majority who thinks we ought to change the legislative filibuster, not one, McConnell said. We all understand thats what makes the Senate the Senate.

The leader said that the 60-vote cloture rule on nominees like Gorsuch was not as important a feature as the 60-vote threshold for bills.

Still, McConnells relative nonchalance about changing the rules contrasts with the comments of some of his Republican colleagues, who have said they have grave concerns. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told Bloomberg that he believes the change would destroy the Senate, as the legislative filibuster could be the next to go. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday that the change would lead to more idealogical judges, though he blamed Democrats for forcing the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

McConnell declined to comment when asked by a reporter whether he agreed with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that anyone who thinks this rules change will make the Senate a better place is a stupid idiot.

Story continues

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., blamed Democrats on Tuesday, saying they were the ones invoking the nuclear option by filibustering Gorsuch. We think the nuclear option is filibustering the Supreme Court nominee, he said.

But Schumer told reporters Tuesday that Republicans could avoid going nuclear by changing the nominee to a consensus pick. He said the two major parties would then be even, since Republicans torpedoed President Barack Obamas nominee, Merrick Garland, last year, refusing to hold hearings or a vote.

We lost one, they lost one, Schumer said. We should now get in a room and come up with a compromise to avoid the nuclear option that so many Republicans are reluctant to take.

Schumer portrayed McConnell as ruthless in his willingness to change the way the Senate operates.

Mitch McConnell will virtually do anything, anything  to get his way on the court, Schumer said.

The cloture vote will likely be Thursday. If Democrats carry through with their threat to filibuster, Republicans are expected to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees and take a floor vote on Gorsuch on Friday. Both votes would take just 51 senators to pass.

Read more from Yahoo News:
It turns out medieval peasants were just as worried about zombies as we are, and they never even saw season 7 of the Walking Dead.

A newly-published study reveals that villagers in medieval Yorkshire, England burned and chopped up the skeletons of their dearly departed. The archaeologists who penned the study say all evidence points toward a fear of the living dead.

Where else to learn about medieval zombies than in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports latest study, (and everyones favorite new beach read), A multidisciplinary study of a burnt and mutilated assemblage of human remains from a deserted Mediaeval village in England. What a title.

If the click-baity title wasnt evidence enough, its a pretty macabre read, leavened with just the right touch of osteology, radiometric dating, and strontium isotope analyses. But the upshot is that some villagers in the 11th to 13th centuries who lived near modern-day Wharram Percy in northern Yorkshire were apparently scared of zombies. So they made sure the dead would stay dead with some extra handiwork, deliberately mutilating the bodies after death.

The patterning in knife-marks appears more consistent with decapitation and dismemberment, as documented as means of dealing with cases of reanimated corpses, concluded the study, conducted by Historic England and the University of Southampton. The authors analyzed 137 bone fragments from excavation sites in England dating back over 700 years to draw their conclusions.

Theres another equally macabre theory as to why the bones have strange cuts and mark-ups: Cannibalism. Some bones from the early British colony in Jamestown, Virginia show signs of just such a practice. But the authors of the study say its unlikely. The already-upbeat study then dives into a brief but grim history of cannibalism throughout history and how archaeologists identify cases of cannibalism. Well spare you the grisly details, but essentially the evidence may count against a cannibalism scenario because of the difference between how the villagers at the site treated animal bones, presumably meant for cooking and consuming, versus the human bones in question. (No worries in Wharram Percy about zombie livestock, apparently.)

Story continues

The idea that the Wharram Percy bones are the remains of corpses burnt and dismembered to stop them walking from their graves seems to fit the evidence best, said Simon Mays, a skeletal biologist at Historic England, the British governments historical body.

If we are right, then this is the first good archaeological evidence we have for this practice, he added.



It shows us a dark side of medieval beliefs and provides a graphic reminder of how different the medieval view of the world was from our own, Percy said, seemingly unaware of huge chunks of modern television and literature, or that the U.S. Defense Department has an actual plan to deal with zombie apocalypse.

Photo credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Washington (AFP) - The White House released the official portrait of First Lady Melania Trump, with the photograph of the former model dividing public opinion.

Trump is shown from the waist up, standing with arms crossed, dressed in a black jacket with a black bow around her neck. She's wearing a very large diamond ring on her left hand, and a more subdued sparkler on her right.

Shot by Belgian-born photographer Regine Mahaux, who has previously worked with the Trump family, the first lady is smiling slightly, with a perfectly flawless visage.

"I am honored to serve in the role of first lady, and look forward to working on behalf of the American people over the coming years," Trump said in a short statement accompanying the photo's release.

While some commenters gushed that the first lady was "beyond beautiful" and "gorgeous," others mocked the image as highly airbrushed and compared the gauzy background -- a window in the White House residence -- to 1990s school portrait settings.

Other critics jumped on a line in the White House statement that said the portrait was taken in Trump's "new residence at the White House."

While every other modern first lady has accompanied her husband to Washington, the 46-year-old Trump has remained at her luxury triplex penthouse in Manhattan and not made many public appearances.

Trump has said she would remain in New York until son Barron finishes the school year.

It's not the first time that a first lady portrait has stoked controversy. Michelle Obama was criticized for wearing a sleeveless dress in her first official portrait in 2009, with some saying the bare arms were too casual.
By Edward Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler and supplier Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL] are teaming up to develop self-driving cars in an alliance aimed at accelerating the production of "robo-taxis". The pact between the world's largest maker of premium cars and the world's largest automotive supplier forms a powerful counterweight to new auto industry players like ride-hailing firms Uber and Didi which are also working on self-driving cars. Technology companies and carmakers are striving to adjust to a shifting landscape in the auto industry as consumers increasingly use smartphones to locate, hail and rent vehicles, rather than going out and buying cars. The alliance not only marks an end to Daimler's efforts to develop an autonomous car largely on its own, but moves the auto industry's ambitions beyond simply developing prototype vehicles towards industrial-scale production of self-driving cars. Financial terms were not disclosed of the deal between the two German companies, which was announced on Tuesday. Bosch - which was founded in 1886, the same year that Mercedes founder Carl Benz patented the motorcar - will develop software and algorithms needed for autonomous driving together with the carmaker. The deal will help the automotive supplier make ground in a competitive autonomous driving system sector where rivals Continental and Delphi ZF [ZFF.UL] and others have also made heavy investments. For Daimler and its Mercedes division, teaming up with Bosch helps them throw more engineering resources at autonomous cars, allowing them to speed up the process of creating a production-ready system for autonomous cars by several years. The autonomous system will now be ready by the beginning of next decade, Daimler said, without disclosing when it had first envisaged the commercial launch of automated taxis, or robo-taxis. "The prime objective of the project is to achieve the production-ready development of a driving system which will allow cars to drive fully autonomously in the city," Daimler said in a statement on Tuesday. CAR COMES TO DRIVER The market for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles is expected to grow from about $3 billion in 2015 to $96 billion in 2025 and $290 billion in 2035, Goldman Sachs said last year. Daimler is focussing its efforts on the app-based car-sharing and ride-hailing sector dominated by China's Didi, and U.S.-based Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft. Like autonomous cars, this market is a big global growth area and is expected to expand by 28 percent a year to 2030, according to consultancy McKinsey. "Within a specified area of town, customers will be able to order an automated shared car via their smartphone. The vehicle will then make its way autonomously to the user," Daimler said. "The idea behind it is that the vehicle should come to the driver rather than the other way round." The cutthroat competition to launch self-driven cars has forced carmakers to shift strategy from an evolutionary toward a revolutionary approach. Instead of evolving driver assistance systems to achieve full autonomy, carmakers are now experimenting with radical car designs combined with software-driven development - which has led to alliances with technology companies. Mercedes-Benz's arch rival BMW teamed up with Israeli autonomous vehicle tech company Mobileye and chip maker Intel last year to develop new technology that could put autonomous cars on the road by 2021. Intel has since agreed to buy Israeli autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye for $15.3 billion, a deal which followed Qualcomm's $47 billion move to acquire Dutch automotive chip supplier NXP . Before deciding to partner with Bosch, Mercedes-Benz had two engineering teams working on autonomous vehicles. One took an evolutionary approach, upgrading the capabilities of conventional vehicles, while the other team took a more radical approach to the car's design. "Cars which do not rely on any driver input have a different architecture and sensor setup, with more radar and cameras," Christoph von Hugo, a senior Mercedes-Benz safety manager, told Reuters at a recent event to present safety systems. NO STEERING WHEEL NEEDED The current Mercedes E-Class can cruise without driver input on highways, keeping the distance to the car in front and staying in lane using a system which has "level 2" autonomy. Full autonomy - known as an "eyes off, brains off" or "level 5" system - does away with even the need for a steering wheel. "We don't want to wait until level 3 has arrived before we start with level 4/5. That will be too late," von Hugo said, adding that the prospect of new revenue streams from maintaining fleets of robo-taxis was a big motivating factor for doubling up the carmaker's R&D efforts. Autonomous vehicles came closer to road-going reality after Google unveiled a prototype car which it developed with the help of Bosch back in 2012. Mercedes-Benz responded by developing an S-class limousine that drove 103 km (64 miles) between the German towns of Mannheim and Pforzheim a year later. Real commercial applications for autonomous cars will start to take off between 2020 and 2025, Ola Kaellenius, Daimler board member and head of Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars development told Reuters last month. "If you take the robo-taxi, you start perhaps in a city or several cities or areas of cities, and then you grow from there," he said. "The key is to get to something that you can commercialise, scale up." The systems and hardware expertise provided by Bosch will help Mercedes-Benz make autonomous car technology which can be produced in large numbers. Bosch is already one of the world's largest suppliers of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and recently announced an alliance with U.S. tech firm Nvidia to develop a self-driving computer for production cars. Mercedes-Benz and auto supplier ZF also have separate alliances with Nvidia. The Bosch-Daimler alliance will rely on high-definition mapping systems provided by HERE, the digital mapping firm owned by BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Intel. (Editing by Pravin Char)
A stunt involving a live kangaroo has forced comedian Mike Epps to apologize, but the incident may also get him in trouble with the law. During a Friday performance in Detroit, Michigan, Epps was joined on stage by Javon Stacks, the owner of a traveling educational animal show.

Stacks, who had been seen walking around Detroit with the kangaroo before, brought the animal on stage with Epps. With music being played loudly and the crowd yelling, the animal appeared frightened as the actor and handler tugged at it and picked it up. After being slammed on social media for the act, Epps has now apologized.

I made a bad decision. I made a bad move, the comedian told TMZ. When it comes to animals, man, Im an animal lover man. If you go through my Instagram, Ive been to kangaroo preservations in Australia.

While the comedian is sorry for the incident, that doesnt mean hes in the clear. According to TMZ, a representative for the United States Department of Agriculture said the agency will look into the stunt to make sure the kangaroo was not being mishandled. The sites source said all handlers must be in control of the animal at all times.

According to Epps, the original plan was to have the kangaroo run across the stage as a joke, but thats not how it played out. They end up bringing the kangaroo up and wanting to show the kangaroo off on the front of the stage. It just made me look bad I apologize to all my fans.

Epps also used his wallet to apologize and revealed he would be making a donation to the Save the Kangaroo foundation. On Instagram, he wrote, I dont own the kangaroo and did not mean any harm to the animal Like I said, I will be donating money to this foundation Save the Kangaroos.

Mike Epps

Photo: Reuters

Related Articles
A Pennsylvania second-grader has been reunited with her military dad in an emotional reunion caught on video.

Army Captain Erik Nowak had been deployed in Qatar for seven months and his daughter, 7-year-old Imogen Nowak, wasnt expecting to see her dad again for a few weeks.

Read: High School Senior Has the Most Magical Way to Ask Her Disney-Obsessed Mom to Prom

So the little girl was shocked when Novak crept up behind her at school assembly put together to say thank you to the students after they packaged up candy to send to Novak and his unit.

As Imogen was speaking at the assembly at Osborne Elementary, she was taken by complete surprise as she turned around to see her father.

She was in shock for about the first ten seconds and then she jumped into my arms. The emotion of the event kind of overwhelmed her, Nowak told InsideEdition.com.

Nowak and his wife had been planning the surprise when the school jumped on board and came up with the idea for the assembly. Nowak said the moment was worth it all since being away for so long wasnt easy.

Read: Firefighters Climb Hospital Window Using Truck's Ladder to Cheer Up Terminally Ill 5-Year-Old

"It was long. And around the holidays its a little harder because youre away," Nowak said. "The smaller moments like when you get to talk to them get you through."

He said the moment he laid eyes on his daughter at the assembly was everything he wanted.

"It was just really touching to know how much she missed me," Nowak said. "All I wanted to do was hold her. I could tell she didnt want to let me go."

Watch: Newlyweds Surprise Grandma in Hospital After She Misses Wedding

Related Articles:
NGOMOROMO, Uganda (Reuters) - It started out as a normal Monday morning in Pajok in South Sudan - children walking to school, shopkeepers raising their shutters and hawkers laying out their wares in the market, where a shower had just dampened down the dust. Then, in the distance, came the rattle of machine gun fire as government soldiers from the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) clashed with rebel SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) militiamen lurking in the bush. Fearing the worst after three years of civil war in the worlds youngest nation, Pajoks residents  most of them from the minority Acholi tribe - started to head for the safety of home. None of them made it. Before they could hide, Land Cruisers and pick-up trucks carrying heavily armed SPLA troops stormed into the town from the north, east and west, blocking escape routes. According to the accounts of dozens of Pajok residents who made it 24 hours later to the safety of Uganda, 15 km (10 miles) to the south, they then unleashed four hours of slaughter on the trapped civilians. Shocking in its brutality, such attacks have nevertheless become normal in a civil war marked increasingly by ethnic confrontation and reprisals against civilians. The United Nations said in December it had evidence of ethnic cleansing by both sides as the conflict slid towards genocide, the ultimate nightmare for a nation that six years ago  heavily backed by the West - realised its dream of independence from Sudan. Most of the SPLA is made up of members of the Dinka tribe, South Sudans largest and most dominant. President Salva Kiir is a Dinka. Given the confusion and trauma among the more than 3,000 refugees sitting under trees and huts at the Ugandan border, it was impossible to piece together an accurate death toll. It is likely to be well into double figures. One survivor, 17-year-old Oriem Pol, said a group of men including his father, Torencio, were arrested before being lined up against a wall and shot. Torencio was only spared so he could dig the graves of his fellow townsmen. Once his job was done, he too was killed. They slaughtered him the next morning, Oriem said, drawing his index finger across his throat as tears streamed down his dust-stained cheeks. Beside him, his mother lay in the dirt beside the road, 15 metres from the Ugandan military checkpoint, too distraught to speak. "FLUSH OUT" REBELS In the capital, the government denied attacking civilians in Pajok, saying its forces were merely conducting an operation against SPLM-IO guerrillas. We decided to flush the SPLM-IO force out and as a result 16 soldiers were left on the ground with some number of individual weapons, deputy SPLA spokesman Colonel Santo Domic Chol said. We have decided to deploy a detachment at Pajok permanently in order to take care of the civil population there. The rebels denied this account, saying the government forces had simply decided to take the fight to civilians in Pajok centre. Ugandan intelligence officials on the border told Reuters rebel militiamen had been in the area, but said the attack on Pajok was unquestionably SPLA. The refugees said the entire town, which refugees estimated as having a normal population of as many as 10,000, was now empty, a similar fate to many other ravaged communities across Equatoria, the fertile region bordering Uganda that is increasingly bearing the brunt of the fighting. Around 1.5 million people have fled the fighting, more than 10 percent of the population. Nearly a million of those have gone to Uganda, which is struggling to cope with the influx. There is nobody there now. It is completely empty. If they catch anybody, they will kill them, said a Pajok pastor, who identified himself only as Mondaa. Others spoke of the terror the moment they realised they had been ambushed. If you ran, you got shot; if you got arrested, you got slaughtered, said 35-year-old Lokang Jacky. There were women who got shot. We just slept in the bush and then at 6 this morning we started walking. Tony Aborra, a 42-year-old peasant farmer, had to be carried to Uganda on the back of a bicycle due to a bullet lodged in his right heel. It was a stray bullet, maybe a kilometre away, he said, grimacing as he unwound the handkerchief bandage around the wound. Nurse Margaret Alloyo said the SPLA forces attacked the towns hospital, ransacking wards and medical supplies while taking staff hostage. We just ran, Alloyo said. I spoke to a colleague at the hospital, but she said she had been detained. I dont know what has happened to her. Now the calls do not go through. (Editing by Alison Williams)
New York (AFP) - More than half a million people have signed a petition demanding that First Lady Melania Trump move into the White House or foot the expense of living in New York herself.

The Slovenian-born former model and mother of one has continued to live at her Manhattan penthouse apartment more than two months after husband Donald Trump was sworn in as 45th president of the United States.

The first lady has said that she and 11-year-old son Barron will move to Washington after the current school year ends in the summer.

New York expects to spend an average of $127,000-$146,000 a day for the police and $4.5 million annually for the fire department to protect the first lady and her child while they live in Trump Tower, city police chief James O'Neill wrote February in a letter to local members of Congress.

Police spent $24 million on protecting the family from election day on November 8 2016 to inauguration day on January 20, on the eve of which the New York real estate tycoon moved to Washington.

"The US taxpayer is paying an exorbitant amount of money to protect the First Lady in Trump Tower," said the petition set up on Change.Org.

"As to help relieve the national debt, this expense yields no positive results for the nation and should be cut from being funded," it added.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

The petition, which was started two weeks ago, has already been signed by more than 514,200 people. It has a goal of reaching one million supporters.

The petition is to be delivered to Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both prominent Trump opponents on the left of US politics.

The president has not returned to New York since moving to Washington but has spent multiple weekends at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida to the frustration of some residents there.

Signatories to the petition have left less than savory words for the first family's living arrangements.

"Melania not living in the White House is not only expensive but an insult to Americans," wrote Gary Strauss from Madison, Wisconsin on Tuesday.

"This exposes one of the many hypocrisies of this administration," added Roderick Grant of Huntington Station, New York.
Mutilated skeletal remains of some medieval English villagers suggests their neighbors feared they would wake up as zombies. Or they were eating each others flesh.

Researchers looking at 137 bones found in a pit in Wharram Percy, a deserted medieval village in northeastern England, documented breakage, burning, and knife- and chop-marks, around the time of death, according to a study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The research suggests cannibalism caused by famine and starvation is a possible explanation, but it may also be evidence of the villagers attempting to prevent a corpse from coming back to life as the undead.

bone-marks

Photo: University of Southampton

The bones came from at least 10 different local people of both sexes, ranging from as young as a toddler to older than 50 years, and they date to between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were disarticulated in more than one event, as some of them died more than a century apart, the authors wrote. In the case of the knife marks, they were made mostly in the head and neck area with a fine knife drawn across the bone.

Read: Ancient American Teen Gave Birth Before Falling to Her Death

Soil conditions at Wharram Percy and historical accounts of famine during that era suggest that starvation cannibalism is a plausible explanation for the burn marks and knife slashes on the bones, the study says. But one clue that works against the theory is that animal remains from the same time period show the villagers processed animal bodies differently when using them for food  there were far fewer knife marks, burn marks and signs of breakage, indicating a difference in approach.

Meanwhile, in medieval England and other places in Europe during that time period, many people believed in a re-animated corpse that arises from its grave, also known as a revenant, according to the study. They were the bodies of people who had unfinished business when they died  most often those who were evil in some way  and they were violent and spread disease. To prevent someone from becoming undead, the usual solution was to dig up the body and subject it to mutilation (particularly decapitation) and burning.

Story continues

medieval-village

Photo: Historic England

Wharram Percy was abandoned in the early 1500s but before that people lived there for about 600 years, according to the charity group English Heritage. Visitors to the site can still see whats left of the villages church as well as where houses used to stand.

The idea that the Wharram Percy bones are the remains of corpses burnt and dismembered to stop them walking from their graves seems to fit the evidence best, lead researcher Simon Mays said in a statement from the University of Southampton. Mays is a human skeletal biologist for the British government group Historic England and worked with the university on the analysis. If we are right, then this is the first good archaeological evidence we have for this practice. It shows us a dark side of medieval beliefs and provides a graphic reminder of how different the medieval view of the world was from our own.

See also:

Symbolic Bone Carving Bring Us Inside the Mind of a Neanderthal

Ancient Palace Uncovered in Mexico

Related Articles
Nuclear-armed North Korea on Wednesday fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, South Korea's defence ministry said, days after Pyongyang warned of retaliation if the global community ramps up sanctions.

"At 06:42 am (2142 GMT Tuesday) today, North Korea fired a ballistic missile from Sinpo area into the Sea of Japan," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the missile had flown some 60 kilometres (about 40 miles), adding South Korea and the United States were analysing its flight path to determine its type.

"The military is keeping a close watch over North Korea's provocative moves and maintaining a high defence posture", it said.

The launch is likely to fuel international concerns about 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.

Wednesday's launch came after President Donald Trump threatened the US was prepared to go it alone in bringing the North to heel if China did not step in, and ahead of a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its "nuclear deterrent" through sanctions is "the wildest dream", it said.

Trump and Xi will hold their first face-to-face meeting this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula are expected to be high on the agenda.

The hardened US stance followed recent North Korean missile launches that Pyongyang described as practice for an attack on US bases in Japan.

Story continues

In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan.

Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile 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.

Pyongyang is barred under UN resolutions from carrying out ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests.
Washington (AFP) - The United States and its allies would have "no defense" against large numbers of ground-launched cruise missiles of the type recently deployed by Russia, a top US general warned Tuesday.

Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of deploying a land-based cruise missile system in contravention of a 1987 US-Russia arms control deal, known as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

General John Hyten, who heads the US military's Strategic Command, told lawmakers that a single ground-launched cruise missile is not a significant threat, but the calculus changes if multiple missiles are launched.

"We have no defense for it, especially in defense of our European allies," Hyten told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed. ... It is a concern and we're going to have to figure out how to deal with it as a nation."

US officials have not described the missile deployed by the Russians, but experts say it could be easily tipped with a nuclear warhead.

The New York Times has reported that the Russian missile deployment is in the region of Volgograd and at a second non-identified site.

The 1987 INF treaty put an end to a mini-arms race triggered by the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western European capitals.

Russia says it has not violated the INF treaty, but has accused Washington of doing so itself.

Though he was critical of the land-based missile deployment, Hyten said Moscow was still respecting its obligations under another treaty, known as New START, which requires Russia and America to reduce the number of warheads they each deploy to 1,550 by February 2018.

"We're on track to do that," Hyten said, adding: "As far as we can tell, the Russians are on track to do that."

Russia is modernizing its entire nuclear force, and Hyten said the breaching of the INF treaty was a "concern" that "we're going to have to consider as we look forward to how we deal with Russia."

Story continues

The general also warned about the growing threat to America's satellites, an essential component of its global security apparatus.

China and Russia are developing technologies to target the satellites in the event of a conflict, he said.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea has warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.

The warning comes as President Donald Trump threatened the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.

The isolated state has quickened its missile programme in recent months, with a volley of tests it says are putting it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.

US-based analysts have said North Korea appears to be preparing a new atomic test. It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.

North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its "nuclear deterrent" through sanctions is "the wildest dream".

"Now that the US fails to face up to the trend of times but incites confrontation to strangle the DPRK (North Korea), the DPRK is left with no option but to take necessary counteraction against it.

"The world will soon witness what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hideous and reckless sanctions racket", he said without elaborating.

North Korea frequently makes unspecific threats in its state media.

The statement comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The comment by the North's foreign ministry spokesman came hours before the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill relisting the North as a state sponsor of terror, along with a resolution denouncing the North's nuclear and missile development.

Story continues

The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanctions last week, seeking to further isolate the country's economy.

Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after the Trump-Xi meeting.

"It is most likely to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of its army on April 25 with either a sixth nuclear test, or the launch of a satellite or an ICBM test", Yang told AFP.
WASHINGTON  In less than three months in office, President Trump has made abundantly clear he will not approach health and medicine the same way his predecessor did.

He is proposing dramatic funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health. He has already tried  and so far failed  to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act, Barack Obamas signature legislation. The early signals of how hell handle the opioid crisis have recovery advocates on edge.

Yet some things stay the same. Despite Trumps bluster on reining in drug prices, no major reforms appear imminent. The president and House Republicans sought to overturn Obamacare  but were caught up with infighting, couldnt get the votes, and the law remains in place.

Three months ago, STAT looked at five key areas and assessed whether Trump was likely to diverge from Obama  or not. Now were revisiting those issues, focusing on the new presidents record so far.

Read more: Obama vs. Trump: 5 ways they clash  or dont  on health and science

MEDICAL RESEARCH

President Obama signed some of the most significant funding increases for the NIH in years. His administration launched major programs like the Vice President Joe Bidens cancer moonshot and the Precision Medicine Initiative.

Trump is moving fast in the opposite direction.

He wants to cut NIH funding by $1.2 billion this year. Next year, under his proposed budget, the agencys budget would be slashed by another $5.8 billion. Trumps aides have defended the cuts, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said the government has long been wasting money on overhead for universities and other institutions that receive NIH grants. But researchers across the country have warned of devastating consequences if Trumps proposed cuts were actually enacted.

Congressional Republicans are dubious about the proposals, and they ultimately hold the purse strings. It is also possible that Trump will keep current NIH Director Francis Collins, who is seen as an effective frontman for the agency.

Story continues

But the presidents budget is an inescapable tell that the agency, the engine of so much of Americas biomedical enterprise, is entering a new age of uncertainty.

OBAMACARE AND MEDICARE

The ignominious end of the American Health Care Act, the Obamacare overhaul backed by Trump and the House Republican leadership, is a reminder of how difficult it is to pass sweeping bills  even when one party controls the entire government.

The bill would have rolled back much of Obamacares coverage gains and fundamentally overhauled Medicaid, in apparent violation of Trumps pledge not to cut the low-income insurance program. The consequences: 24 million more people would be uninsured in 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But revolts from the right and the middle  the former angry the bill didnt fully repeal the ACA, the latter concerned with coverage losses  stopped the legislation in the House. House leaders and Trump are still pledging to revisit health care, but, for now, Obamacare is the law of the land.

And after this failed overhaul of Medicaid, any major changes to Medicare  which House Speaker Paul Ryan has long sought but Trump seemed to blanch from during the campaign  seem even more unlikely.

OPIOID CRISIS

Shortly before Trump was sworn into office, Obama signed the first major bill addressing the nations opioid epidemic and approving another $1 billion in new spending to fund its programs. During the presidential campaign, Trump pledged to end the crisis, which is now killing more than 30,000 Americans every year.

Toward that end, he has established a new presidential commission focused on the crisis. It will be led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is generally respected for his humane approach to drug addiction. Trump has also interviewed candidates to be his White Houses drug czar, like former New Hampshire Congressman Frank Guinta, who fit a similar profile  though the president has not yet selected anyone for the position, to the chagrin of D.C.-based recovery advocates.

On the other hand, however, some advocates are wary of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of Trumps top allies, who has infamously equated marijuana to heroin. Trumps budget is another area of concern; he has proposed slashing the HHS budget by nearly 20 percent and singled out programs like a mental health block grant for deep cuts.

Rhetoric will only take Trump so far, and some advocates see reason to fear what policies Trump will actually implement.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Among Trumps most unorthodox positions as a Republican candidate for president was his pledge to take on the drug industry and bring down drug prices. It would have been his chance to tame a dragon that even eluded Obama, who found himself entangled with drug makers after they backed Obamacare.

But so far, Trump hasnt taken any significant steps to back up his pledge. Many people around Washington took note of the way Trump talked during his White House meeting with several major pharma executives  he seemed to be speaking their language. His focus was more on removing regulatory barriers, lowering taxes, and letting the free market work than on direct government intervention.

Trump could still make a big play to rein in drug costs. He has met with Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland on the issue, and Cummings seems to believe Trump is serious about making good on his pledges.

But with all the other issues consuming Washington, and health care in general on the back burner for now, major drug pricing reforms may be a ways off.

DISEASE OUTBREAKS

In his first 70 days, Trump hasnt yet faced an outbreak on the scale of the Ebola and Zika crises that tested Obama  though an avian flu strain has been wreaking havoc in China. But public health officials remain wary, after Trump showed a predilection for health conspiracies and fear-mongering while he was a private citizen.

And, once again, Trumps spending plans signal a major shift from the Obama years. He has proposed cutting the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions funding by more than $300 million this year. His 2018 budget didnt specify funding cuts for CDC, but key lawmakers have warned that the level of spending cuts Trump wants would mean every agency would likely face some kind of reduction.

Trump has also allowed the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which usually helps head up the response to health emergencies, to wither away, according to a recent report in the New York Times.
A combination of controversy, scandal and low polling numbers have prompted oddsmakers at a U.K. betting house to predict President Donald Trump would likely either be impeached or resign  or both  before the upstart politicians first term in the White House officially comes to an end in 2020, according to a new report. The odds for an impeachment to happen were given a 4/5 chance of happening as of Friday, according to Inverse, a website that describes itself in part by asking  What could happen next? 

Ladbrokes, which has been accepting bets over Trumps future in Washington, said in February that the fact that there was even a market for such wagers was indicative of the presidents fate.

Read: Former NSA Michael Flynn Seeking Immunity For Russia Testimony

The money is showing no signs of slowing down and weve been forced to cut Trumps impeachment odds accordingly. Weve taken five times the amount of bets on him failing to see out his full term than on him doing so, Ladbrokes spokesperson Jessica Bridge said at the time. Ladbrokes didnt even offer odds on Obama being impeached or resigning, which speaks volumes about the current President.

The odds for dates when Trump would be replaced by were as follows: 7/2 for 2017; 9/2 for 2018; 8/1 for 2019; 16/1 for 2020; 7/4 for 2021; 33/1 for 2022; 40/1 for 2023; 50/1 for 2024; and 5/1 for 2025 or after that.

It was impossible to tell exactly what prompted the odds, but the wave of controversies that started with Trumps candidacy in 2015 has followed him into the White House during a tenure that hasnt even been three full months yet. Most Americans have disapproved of his actions while president aside from those hes taken on the economy, according to a poll released late last week.

Read: Pressure Mounting For Independent Russian Probe

Story continues

But it may be the alleged links to Russia  which have dogged Trump and his administration for months  that have contributed the most to speculation over how viable it was that the president would complete his first term. Arizona Sen. John McCain, who Trump mocked for being a prisoner of war in Vietnam, on Sunday called once again for a committee to transparently investigate the connection to Russia.

The fact is that we know for a fact the Russians tried to change the outcome of our election, attacking the very fundamentals of democracy, McCain told Martha Raddatz on ABCs This Week. We need to know how, we need to know why, and most of all we need to know what to do to prevent this kind of activity, which they continue to carry on in free nations around the world.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

Related Articles
Donald Trump's daily tweets took aim at an old foe on Monday. The president attacked Hillary Clinton for receiving a question ahead of a town hall debate during the Democratic presidential primary. That town hall debate took place over a year ago on March 13, 2016.

Trump has tweeted about Hillary or Bill Clinton more than 20 times since winning the Nov. 8 presidential election. Most of those tweets were sent before Trump took office, when he was defending the legitimacy of his victory after getting fewer total votes than Clinton. But in recent weeks, as Trump's approval ratings have hit historic lows amid increased scrutiny of his administration's ties to Russia and the Republican failure to pass a healthcare plan, Trump has returned to lashing out at his former opponent on Twitter.

Read: Will Trump Resign? Most Americans Want POTUS To Step Down, Poll Finds

During last year's presidential campaign, Trump had great success using what appeared to be campaign-ending blunders to draw parallels with the Clintons. Trump and his surrogates used repeated accusations of groping and sexual assault against the Republican nominee to accuse Bill Clinton of being a sexual predator, and Hillary Clinton of trying to intimidate and silence her husband's alleged victims.

For example, just a day after the release of the now infamous Inside Hollywood tape, the business mogul held a press conference with four women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and harassment.

With an ongoing FBI investigation into possible ties between the Trump camp and Vladimir Putin's Russia, and both the House and Senate intelligence committee looking into the matter, Trump seems to be trying to replicate a successful campaign tactic: accusing Hillary Clinton of doing the same for which he is being attacked.

Story continues

Aside from using Hillary Clinton to deflect criticism, Trump has referenced her in a variety of contexts since Election Day, from bragging about his margin of victory to criticizing her for being soft on the Kremlin.

Indeed, there have been several instances the president has mentioned Hillary Clinton since Inauguration Day, according to transcripts of his public comments posted on WhiteHouse.gov.

Feb. 15: At a joint appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump blamed the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on people "trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton."

Later, Trump answered a two-part question about anti-Semitic incidents and his administration's Israel policy by bragging about the size of his victory over Clinton.

"Well, I just want to say that we are very honored by the victory that we had  306 Electoral College votes. We were not supposed to crack 220. You know that, right? There was no way to 221, but then they said theres no way to 270. And theres tremendous enthusiasm out there," Trump said.

Feb. 16: Trump mentioned his political adversary 11 times during his first solo presidential press conference. When asked about Russian aggression, Trump was quick to argue he would be tougher on Putin than Hillary Clinton.

"Now, again, maybe Im not going to be able to do a deal with Russia, but at least I will have tried. And if I dont, does anybody really think that Hillary Clinton would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump? Does anybody in this room really believe that?" Trump asked.

Feb. 23: In a meeting with manufacturing CEOs, Trump explained that Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson had agreed to reduce the cost of the F-35 fighter plane. He was quick to point out that Hillary Clinton would not have secured a similar price reduction.

"She cut her price over $700 million, right? By over $700 million. You think Hillary would have asked for $700 million? Oh, boy. I hope you  I assume you wanted her to win. But you know what? You're going to do great and you're going to make more planes. It's going to work out the same, or better," Trump said.

Feb. 24: In an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Trump reminded the crowd of Clinton's comment that "half" of Trump supporters could be put in a "basket of deplorables."

"These are hardworking, great, great Americans. These are unbelievable people who have not been treated fairly. Hillary called them 'deplorable.' Theyre not deplorable," Trump said.

Related Articles
Podgorica (Montenegro) (AFP) - Two orphaned bear cubs have captured hearts in Montenegro after a farmer rescued them from starving to death in the wild.

The cubs were found last month by March Ilinka Bigovic, who lives in a village perched on the Pusti Lisac mountain, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital Podgorica, near the Bosnian border.

"I heard some screams. Persistent, day and night, for two or three days," the 61-year-old said.

Bigovic searched the area with her brother until they almost stumbled over the cubs "separated, on the brink of death, weak," she told AFP.

"We brought them home, put at a warm place near the stove and fed them milk and honey."

Montenegro's mountains are home to 50 to 100 brown bears, according to ecologists, while the national hunters' association puts their number at 357.

Bigovic, who breeds goats, is used to close encounters with wild animals -- a wolf recently killed a goat just near her house and she often sees bears.

The story of the two orphans has spread like wildfire in the Balkan country, with many people coming to have their photo taken holding the cubs.

But engineer and animal-lover Miljan Milickovic was worried -- he realised the cubs were on the way to become irreversibly domesticated, and if nothing was done, their future could be only a zoo or a circus.

Milickovic persuaded Bigovic to let him take the two animals as a temporary measure until they can be moved to a specialised facility that can prepare them to return to the wild.

The cubs, now named Masha and Brundo, are living at his family property, some 20 kilometres north of Podgorica, where they live in the company of a deer, an emu, a boar and a llama.

Masha and Brundo approach people and other animals without fear, looking for a hug, food or to play.

"In a bid to save their lives humans ... made their return to the wild more difficult," said Jovana Janjusevic of the Center for Bird Protection, which is also involved in protecting larger animals.

Story continues

"After two months with humans, the cubs cannot be rehabilitated and successfully returned to the wild," she said.

Activists are now racing against time to get the permits needed to move the Masha and Brundo to Greece or Romania, which -- unlike Montenegro -- have centres that specialise in dealing with orphaned bear cubs.

Masha and Brundo would spend between a year and 18 months in a such a centre before returning to their mountains.
Papoose has finally reunited with his wife Remy Ma after the two spent some time away from each other. The Love & Hip Hop stars were together again after Papoose flew to Palm Springs, California where the shETHER rapper did a show last Sunday.

On Monday, the Alphabetical Slaughter rapper took to Instagram to share his sweet reunion with Remy Ma at the Palm Springs International Airport. Based on his post, his wife of nine years surprised him by holding a sign up for him after arriving there earlier than he did. Papoose poked fun at Remy Mas gesture by asking in his post, Guess whos my driver?

Many fans were quick to compliment the relationship of the hip hop artists. One wrote: Your love for each other just inspired me to not give up on finding my true love. Another commented: The love you two have for one another is amazing.

READ: Papoose congratulates Remy Ma for double platinum success

Papoose and Remy Ma were apart for a few days due to their separate working engagements. Papoose seems to be busy working on his new music and spending time with a couple of his pals. As for Remy Ma, she left New York for Palm Springs to perform a show there on Sunday.

Aside from performing in front of the crowd, Remy Ma also took some time off to be with her sisters, Remeesha and Raemonique. The All The Way Up hitmaker even shared on Instagram a snap of her taking a selfie inside her sisters beauty salon.

Meanwhile, Papoose appears to have teased what he is serving in his upcoming music. Last weekend, he uploaded on social media a clip of his caricature shooting a firearm and a picture of him and Remy Ma. He used one of his remixes from a few years ago to make an obvious jab at Young Money artists Minaj, Drake and Lil Wayne.

The track apparently talks about some people with big projects who are no match for him and his skills in writing lyrics and rapping. At one point, Papoose calls himself a verse killer. He then adds that while other people do hip hop for the check, he is one of the real people who are doing this for respect. Fans right away put two and two together and concluded that Papoose posted the clip to throw potshots at Minaj and her Young Money gang.

Story continues

In another post, Papoose also admitted that the video he is working on would be a big problem. Just last month, Papoose also teased his fans that theyll definitely like the new song he just finished writing at the time.

Papoose and Remy Ma

Photo: VH1

Related Articles
By Daniela Desantis and Luc Cohen ASUNCION (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters gathered outside Paraguay's Congress on Monday evening in a new but peaceful demonstration over an unpopular Senate vote for an amendment last week that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. Protesters clashed violently with police last Friday, storming and setting fire to the Congress building after a group of senators called a special session behind closed doors, rather than on the Senate floor, to pass the measure. One protester was shot and killed by police who stormed the opposition Liberal Party's headquarters. Supporters of Cartes, a former soft-drink and tobacco businessman, want him to be able to seek a second term in a country that constitutionally forbid re-election after a 35-year dictatorship fell in 1989. Late on Sunday, Cartes called on different political factions to meet and discuss ways to reduce tensions in the South American country of 6.8 million after an appeal from Pope Francis, who hails from neighboring Argentina. The amendment would still have to be approved by the lower house, where it was expected to have strong support. But the head of the lower house and Cartes ally, Hugo Velazquez, told reporters on Monday the vote would be delayed until the dialogue Cartes requested took place. It is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. The protests punctured a period of relative stability under Cartes in which the soy and beef exporting nation became one of South America's fastest-growing economies and began moving past a long history of political uncertainty. VIGIL FOR DEAD PROTESTER Senators opposed to re-election on Monday asked the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of the vote. Leaders of opposition political parties met with the Organization of American States' representative in Paraguay, decrying the "institutional coup" and asking the organization to intervene. On Monday night, thousands gathered peacefully outside Congress holding candles in a vigil for the 25-year-old protester, Rodrigo Quintana, killed by police during the demonstrations. They also lined up to sign a petition calling for the amendment to be withdrawn. Signs reading "S.O.S. Paraguay" hung from tents in the plaza, where people grilled meat and settled in for a long night of protest. Dozens of police officers stood behind fences separating the plaza from the entrance to the Congress building, while another group carrying riot gear stood by. The officer accused of killing Quintana inside the Liberal Party's headquarters was charged with homicide on Monday and faces up to 30 years in prison, newspaper Ultima Hora reported. The charged officer told local television he believed his gun was loaded with rubber bullets. Senator Lilian Samaniego, a Cartes ally, said re-election supporters would not be deterred by the protests and opposition. "The proposal will not be withdrawn," she said after leaving a meeting in the presidential palace with governors, mayors and other politicians. Opposition leader Efrain Alegre said he would participate in the dialogue called by Cartes only after an investigation into Quintana's death was completed and Friday's Senate vote was annulled. "First we have to get things in order and then we can have a thousand meetings if that's what it takes," he said. (Reporting by Daniela Desantis and Luc Cohen; Writing by Luc Cohen and Caroline Stauffer; editing by Grant McCool and Mary Milliken)
Asuncion (AFP) - Paraguayan lawmakers Tuesday suspended a controversial bill altering the constitution to allow the president to stand for re-election following riots and the death of an activist.

The decision by the Chamber of Deputies, where President Horacio Cartes has a majority, went towards a key condition set by the opposition before talks could begin Wednesday involving parties and the church.

The violence broke out last Friday after senators approved a bill that would allow Cartes to run again for office in 2018 when his current term ends.

After rioters stormed Congress, police hunted down protesters. One 25-year-old activist was apparently shot by police as they searched the offices of the opposition Liberal Party.

After firing his interior minister and police chief over the death, Cartes on Monday reached out to the opposition, proposing negotiations to calm tensions.

Pope Francis on Sunday lent his support to the talks and the Catholic Church has made available one of its buildings close to the presidency for the meeting.

Liberal Party leader Efrain Alegre -- a probable presidential candidate in 2018 -- said the talks could only go ahead if the bill were withdrawn.

Continuing public anger at the amendment push resulted in some 10,000 people protesting late Monday in front of Congress. Other protests took place in the capital.

The specter of a long run of dictatorships throughout most of the 20th century hangs over the tiny South American country, population nearly seven million.

For some, the moves to change the constitution revived memories of authoritarian power grabs.

The 1992 constitution underpinning Paraguay's young democracy fixes a one-term limit on presidents.
Teens will forever be embarrassed by their parents, no matter how well intentioned their actions may be.

Jenna, a high school student from Ohio, turned 17 recently, and to celebrate her big day, her mother decided to do something creative and fun. Using Snapchat's custom geofilter tool, Jenna's mom created a personalized filter tagged to her school, which called out that it was her birthday.

SEE ALSO: Evan Spiegel has already made $1.5 billion off Snapchat's IPO

The gift was kinda adorable, thoughtful, and for a teen, mildly embarrassing.

Jenna tweeted the interaction with her mom, which just about anyone who's ever been a teen or is a teen can relate to.

My mom does the absolute most pic.twitter.com/VPFzZ2EguB  jenna fluegeman (@jfluege) March 30, 2017

Jenna's tweet got a ton of attention, and like most things on the internet, people blew it way out of proportion and took it a bit too far. She later followed up with a tweet saying that she did thank her mother, but she just wasn't expecting the attention of all of her classmates.

Regardless, the constant struggle of parents attempting to express their adoration to their kids, and teens trying to avoid embarrassment, will continue. Forever.

TL;DR: Being a teen is tough, being a parent is even harder.

WATCH: Surprise! Turns out blue eyes aren't really blue
As a parent, you expect your children to bring home good grades  but how would you feel about being graded yourself? Mississippi recently passed a bill adding a new item to kids report cards: grades for their parents in such subjects as their childs readiness for tests, absences, and tardies. Does this idea deserve an A for effort, or an F for infuriating families?

Watch: Clown Hired to Kill Teacher?

This freaks me out! exclaims Breast Surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk. Always a straight-A kid, now shed feel pressure to be a straight-A parent! More seriously, shes concerned that teachers are looking to parents to do the teachers job.

I think the point of this is, some parents are getting their kids there late for school, suggests Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann. When you have young kids, its really your responsibility as a parent to make sure that they eat a healthy breakfast, that they get there on time, that their homeworks turned in.

Watch: Teacher Banned from Snapchat

I think the key is that it doesnt become adversarial, adds ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork. It certainly is a unique, interesting concept"
The 1936 Lancia Astura Tipo Bocca Cabriolet by Pinin Farina that won the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance has sold for an undisclosed amount of money.

Richard Mattei of Paradise Valley, Arizona, commissioned the restoration that made the car a winner in Pebble Beach. Jim Stokes Workshops of England did the mechanical work, while Jeff McDonald of Portland, Oregon, performed the rest of the restoration. The process took seven years, and the unusual curved side winders were especially troublsesome, requiring more than 100 man hours per window to be polished to their original clarity. All that work paid off. Not only this car win the Best of Show honors, but it also garnered the Most Elegant Convertible award and the Vitesse Elegance Award for the most elegant French car at the show.

CHECK OUT: Every car from 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Dawn Patrol

Mattei commissioned Hyman, Ltd. of St. Louis, Missouri, to sell the car. The sale was announced on March 3rd and it sold on March 9th to an undisclosed buyer. The car had come full circle because Mattei had purchased it from Hyman in 2009.

1936 Lancia Astura Tipo Bocca Cabriolet

This Lancia is not only stunningly beautiful, but also extremely rare, and it has an interesting history as well. It is one of just six examples ever built. The body was by the legendary firm Pinin Farina, and it featured a power top, curved glass windows, skirted rear fenders, and engraved side trim. The original owner is unknown, but the story picks up in 1960, when Michael Scott found the car in a hedge in England and bought it for 15 pounds sterling. A friend showed pictures of the car to Battista "Pinin" Farina, who had drawn the body and who agreed to restore the body if Scott could get the mechanicals back in working order.

ALSO SEE: 2016 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion photo gallery

Scott eventually sold the car to Battista Farina, and in 1976 it was sold to legendary guitarist Eric Clapton for 10,800 pounds sterling, who exclaimed it's "the most fun I've had off stage and out of bed." Clapton sold it back to Pininfarina, who displayed in its museum for years.

And that takes us back to Hyman buying the car, Mattei buying it from them, and the restoration.

We hope we haven't seen the last of this fantastic piece of automotive history. Perhaps it will wind up back on the classic car circuit or in a museum. No matter what, the new owner obviously has an incredible car on his/her hands.
By Joe McDonald

MILFORD, Pa. (Reuters) - Pennsylvania prosecutors showed jurors graphic images of a police officer moments after he was fatally shot in a 2014 sniper attack, during opening statements on Tuesday in the murder trial of survivalist Eric Frein.

Frein, 33, of Canadensis, Pennsylvania, could receive the death penalty if he is convicted of the top charge against him, the murder of a law-enforcement officer, Corporal Bryan Dickson II. He is also charged with terrorism and the attempted murder of trooper Alex Douglass, who was wounded in the attack.

During the trial, which began on Tuesday in Pike County Courthouse in Milford, prosecutors showed photographs of Dickson's bloodied body and read notes they said Frein wrote about the attack.

"He dropped ... I was surprised at how quick," said one of the notes, read by Assistant District Attorney Bruce DeSarro.

Defense attorney Michael Weinstein, in brief opening remarks, reminded jurors that Frein deserved the presumption of innocence.

Frein, who pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, sat quietly in the courtroom wearing a coat and tie. The former Eagle Scout will not testify at his own trial, Weinstein said.

Prosecutors charged that Frein planned the Sept. 12, 2014, late-night ambush in the parking lot of the rural Blooming Grove state police barracks, because he wanted to spark a "revolution." The suspect had harbored anti-government views for years, they said.

After the shooting, Frein, an experienced outdoorsman, eluded an intensive, 48-day manhunt through the dense forests of the Pocono Mountains, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, in the northeast corner of the state, prosecutors said.

Frein lived at his family's home not far from the barracks where the ambush took place. After the ambush, he fled into the surrounding mountains, authorities say.

His ability to elude the $11 million manhunt put him on the FBI's most wanted list and left the community on edge for weeks.

Story continues

He was captured by U.S. marshals outside an abandoned airplane hangar in a former resort near Tannersville, Pennsylvania.

Frein, who took part in Cold War-era battle reenactments, studied the Russian and Serbian languages and was a member of the shooting team at Pocono High school.

His trial is expected to last five to eight weeks.

(Writing by Barbara Goldberg and Laila Kearney; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Steve Orlofsky)
Italians, get your stomachs ready.

Filipino fast-food giant Jollibee is making its foray into the European market, with plans to open its first store in Italy.

SEE ALSO: Fast food giant Jollibee is coming to Australia, but what is it?

The company announced its plans, saying Italy's 200,000 Filipinos  the biggest Filipino expat group in Europe  presented a great first step for the company into the region.

"We're looking at Italy...we will follow where the Pinoys (slang for Filipinos) are", said Jose Minana Jr, president of the Jollibee group, in an interview last year.

Jollibee has gained somewhat of a cult following among Filipinos, and is well known for its fried chicken and spaghetti offerings.

The Jolly Spaghetti, which is vastly different from any typical Italian pasta dish, is served with sweetened Bolognese sauce and comes with cut up hot dogs.

The perfect sweet-sarap moment  A post shared by Jollibee (@jollibee) on Nov 26, 2016 at 6:38pm PST

But will Italians balk at sweet tomato sauce on pasta?

Jollibee is set to open its first store in Italy! Is Italy ready for our sweet spaghetti? Lol   Mickey (@naughtykiddo) April 4, 2017

So Jollibee's going to open its 1st store in Italy. I wonder how the JollySpaghetti's going to do. Tough crowd. @bloombergtvph @BloombergTV  John Patrick Ong (@johnpatrickong8) April 3, 2017

What would the Italians say about Jolly Spaghetti? https://t.co/T1ec1ki26A  GMA News (@gmanews) April 3, 2017

The Jollibee group will be entering into a joint venture with Blackbird Holdings, a Singaporean F&B company, to own and operate the store in Italy.

Story continues

Both companies have committed to invest up to 1 million ($1.06 million) in the venture  75 percent of which will be owned by the Filipino company under its international unit, Golden Plate Pte Ltd.

Jollibee is the largest fast-food chain in the Philippines, with 750 stores locally and over 3,000 outlets worldwide, including countries like China, the US, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

Last year, the opening of Jollibee's first Canadian outlet saw fans queueing for up to six hours overnight in the snow.

WATCH: Your glorious Taco Bell wedding
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he had fired his interior minister for corruption as signs of infighting rocked his government.

"It's corruption," Duterte said about the sacking of Ismael Sueno, who supervised the president's war on drugs that has left thousands dead.

Sueno, who was fired at a cabinet meeting late Monday, was blamed for what Duterte described as the anomalous purchase by the interior ministry of fire trucks from a foreign country.

"I do not have to belabour the point. Just remember my promises to the people: no corruption, drugs, criminality," Duterte said.

"I respect the president's decision but I am not corrupt," Sueno, 69, said in a statement.

Sueno said he was not involved in the firetruck deal as it was approved by Duterte's predecessor. He also said his conscience was clear and he was willing to face any investigation.

Asked if Sueno might face charges, Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters: "Let us wait for the president to take his subsequent actions."

"The summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the cabinet," Abella added.

Last month Perfecto Yasay was forced to quit as foreign minister after Congress ruled that he lied to them over his US citizenship.

Abella said the loss of another cabinet member was not a sign of trouble but proof that Duterte was serious about restoring trust in government.

Duterte said he would scout for a replacement for Sueno.

In Congress, two other close Duterte allies, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Congressman Antonio Floirendo, have been publicly feuding for weeks, with Duterte trying to stay out of the quarrel.

Alvarez has accused Floirendo, a key contributor in the Duterte election campaign, of corruption, but Floirendo denies the charge.

Duterte won election by a landslide last May largely on his promise to launch a war on illegal drugs.

Story continues

Although the campaign has proved popular at home, the president has faced international criticism for thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings which human rights advocates say were carried out as part of the anti-drug initiative.

The government denies the allegations.

Police have shot dead 2,087 drug suspects, while unknown killers have murdered 1,398 others in cases described by investigators as "drugs-related", according to the latest figures from the national police spokesman.

Earlier official figures had put the death toll much higher, with police reporting killing 2,564 people in drug raids and 4,200 others killed in unexplained circumstances.
The Philadelphia School District stands to receive $65 million annually in new money, thanks to the citys reassessment of commercial properties.

District teachers, who have gone without a contract for almost four years and without a raise for almost five, think they know just how to use that revenue stream: Give them a new deal.

Backed by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, educators are tweeting, emailing, and calling Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and the School Reform Commission, demanding that the district put its money where its mouth is.

Everybody says, If we had more money, we would love to give you a contract,'  said Kathie Tomczuk, a 14-year veteran teacher at Farrell Elementary School in the Northeast. Now, they have more money. Did they mean what they said?

Tomczuk tweeted at Hite, the SRC, and Mayor Kenney on Monday to get her point across.

The PFT rejected the districts last contract proposal  a deal the district said would cost about $150 million. The union countered with a deal that would cost the school system $400 million more than it had offered.

Each side has called the others offer a nonstarter. Because there is no contract, teachers' pay has been frozen at 2012 levels.

Jerry Jordan, the PFT president, was emphatic in an interview.

I think that the entire $65 million [annually] needs to go help fund a PFT contract," said Jordan. "It isnt enough to fund the entire contract, but it should help us get closer to settling,

District officials last week said they would use the new money to help plug a projected $900 million budget deficit in its five-year plan.

Lee Whack, a district spokesman, suggested it would be unwise to dedicate all of the new city money to a contract, and took issue with Jordan's suggestion that $475 million - five years of city revenue, plus the district's $150 million offer - wasn't enough money for teachers.

Story continues

"These new revenues must be spent in a way that balances our education priorities," Whack said Tuesday in a statement, adding that those priorities included more classroom resources, fair contracts for all unions, hiring more teachers, sprucing up buildings, and plugging the deficit.

Dedicating all of the city money to a PFT contract would leave "no money for educational investments for children," Whack said.

Darrell L. Clarke, the City Council President, indicated in a statement that a contract was a priority, sooner rather than later.

The School Districts structural deficit is a long-running concern, but making it the first priority over classrooms and students is not how our schools make progress, Clarke said. District teachers and staff step to the plate every school day because that is what their profession demands. They deserve a fair contract and a raise, and not just because of the Districts improving economic outlook  but because the future of our public schools and our City is one and the same.

Teacher Kelsey Green is crossing her fingers.

Shes in her fourth year of teaching but is frozen at a starting teachers salary. With no raise in that time and $800 monthly in student-loan payments, she is unable to move out of her parents house.

I have so much debt, and I still have to save for retirement, said Green. My friends who are teaching in the suburbs make $20,000 more than I do. I cant move forward in my life at all.

Green, the daughter of a Philadelphia teacher, doesnt want to leave the district, but she has applied to other districts. She cant afford the alternative  especially when new teachers hired by the district are paid for their years of experience and advanced degrees, but her pay is frozen.

We get emails saying, Thanks for all you do,  Green said. Well, how about a contract?

Bryan Steinberg got tired of waiting. He submitted his letter of resignation Monday. Hes leaving the district not for another school system, but for work as a server and bartender. With that job, plus some marketing work for his parents business, hell earn more money.

He loves connecting with students as a high school social studies teacher at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush in the Northeast, but working with no contract has worn on him, causing a constant state of financial anxiety and distress, Steinberg said.

I never thought I would become a rich man teaching high school, but I also never thought that I would be a near-destitute peasant eight years later, Steinberg wrote in his resignation letter. The money owed and promised to me five years ago is over $20,000 under our collective bargaining agreement, but I will not sacrifice my dignity to an employer that is slowly and methodically starving its teachers into attrition.

Steinberg is paid as a fourth-year teacher with a bachelor's degree, $54,365, vs. the $67,778 he would be making by now if the district hadn't frozen him at his 2012 pay.

Contract talks are ongoing, the two sides said.

Jordan said that he met Monday with Gov. Wolf and asked him to intervene to help get a deal inked.

Through a spokesman, Wolf confirmed that he met with Jordan. The governor has planned for some time to reach out to Superintendent Hite as well, said J.J. Abbott, Wolfs spokesman. The governor strongly believes that both sides should find a way to come to an agreement that is fair to teachers, students, families and the district.

Mayor Kenney, through spokeswoman Deana Gamble, said he would reach out to both sides this week to get a sit-down scheduled.

The mayor believes that it is critical for all sides to come to the table now to reach a fair contract that acknowledges the sacrifices our teachers have made, while at the same time recognizes the significant deficit and urgent needs our schools currently face, Gamble said.

Most Popular on Philly.com
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis has extended a new olive branch to a breakaway group of Catholic ultra-traditionalists, the Society of St Pius X, by allowing their priests to celebrate marriages.

The move follows his recent move to let priests in the Society hear confessions.

The conditions attached to the wedding authorisation were outlined in a letter to the Society approved by Francis and published by the Vatican on Tuesday.

They include having an officially recognised priest in attendance at the wedding or, if that is not possible, the Society priest must have express authorisation from the local bishop.

The letter said the latest step was part of "efforts to bring the Society of St. Pius X into full communion" and had been taken "despite the canonical irregularity in which for the time being (it) finds itself."

The Society was established in 1970 as a Church-approved group of clerics opposed to a package of liberalising Church reforms known as Vatican II.

In 1988, just under three years before his death, the group's leader Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ordained a number of like-minded priests as bishops with the intention they could continue his battle.

He did so without the pope's permission and he and the new bishops were automatically excommunicated as a result.

The surviving Lefebvre loyalist bishops were allowed back into the Church in 2009, including Richard Williamson, a notorious British holocaust-denier.

Williamson was subsequently expelled from the Society and excommunicated for a second time last year after illicitly ordaining another bishop in Brazil.
By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa praised his minority Socialist government's alliance in parliament with the far left and said it would be useful to extend the pact beyond the 2019 election even if he wins an outright majority. In an interview with Radio Renascenca on Tuesday, Costa ruled out any need for a snap election despite his party's rising opinion poll ratings and said the alliance "is a good solution, with or without an absolute majority". It stands out as a remarkable exception in Europe where the left is largely struggling where it holds power. The government has been raising wages and gaining popularity and yet delivering the lowest budget deficit in living memory. 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 an outright majority in parliament were the country to vote again. "I think there should be no election now. On the contrary, the country needs stability and we should all work together to complete the legislature in normalcy, tranquillity," Costa said. "When we have an election at the end of the legislature, if the Communist Party, the Left Bloc and the Greens are available to renew the pact, it would be useful ... This change has improved the quality of our democracy." Nevertheless, Costa said the parties maintained sufficiently big differences to prevent a pre-election coalition and saw few chances for the far left entering the government. "We are fine this way. You don't rearrange a team that is winning," he said. Portugal will hold municipal elections across the country in October. Costa also said that his Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who is credited with devising a way to reverse many of the austerity policies of the previous administration while at the same delivering the lowest budget deficit in over 40 years, has been sounded out to become the next Eurogroup chief. He did not say who has approached Centeno. But he said he preferred to keep him focused on Portugal. "He would certainly make an excellent Eurogroup president ... But, while Portugal still has various points under negotiation with Eurogroup, this is not a priority for us. We are very happy with Mario Centeno as minister," Costa said. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who now chairs meetings of the 19 euro zone finance ministers, last month upset southern Europeans, notably Portugal, with remarks about drinking and womanizing, damaging his hopes of retaining his job. His current term ends in January. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Axel Bugge and Alison Williams)
1. Yes. Taxpayers are funding its operation; they should have a voice in the naming process.

2. Yes. The city should operate with a spirit of inclusivity. Residents will be responsive.

3. No. Public input can be problematic; rejection of suggestions can be divisive for residents.

4. No. Residents elect council members to make decisions on their behalf. No input is needed.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether public input would be more of a benefit or a hindrance.

Vote

View Results
President Trumps budget for 2018 would slash funding on everything from Big Bird to foreign aid, while boosting support for the Pentagon and the construction of a border wall, the White House said Wednesday.

Trump released his first budget blueprint Thursday morning, providing the clearest glimpse yet at his Administrations war on the so-called administrative state. The document reallocates more than $54 billion from government entities like the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and even NASA to boost defense spending by the same amount.

Trumps budget is already facing stiff criticism on Capitol Hill, where his desire to target foreign aid and to defund some clean water programs is drawing opposition from even some Republicans. Presidential budgets are never adopted without significant change, and are often ignored altogether by congressional budgeters and appropriators. But they are still an important signpost in communicating a presidents priorities, both to the American people and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Trump, who invested little in formulating specific policy proposals during the presidential campaign, left his team scrambling after he won the election to prepare to implement on his campaign promises. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters that Trumps speeches and even news coverage filled in the gaps.

This is the America First budget, Mulvaney said Wednesday, referencing a regular Trump campaign slogan that was borrowed from the pre-World War II protectionist isolationist movement. In fact, we wrote it using the presidents own words. We went through his speeches, we went through the articles that have been written about his policies, we talked to him and we wanted to know what his policies were, and we turned those policies into numbers.

Mulvaney repeatedly said he couldnt provide specifics on the cuts to agencies because he didnt have the numbers in front of him. The full blueprint was released by the White House at 7 a.m. Thursday

Story continues

It was not immediately clear what programs would benefit from the defense funding boost. Mulvaney told reporters that he had Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis assurance that the funding would be spent wisely, but did not elaborate.

There is no question this is a hard power budget, Mulvaney said. Its not a soft power budget.

The investment in military hardware in Trumps budget would come at an expense of foreign aid and democracy promotion programs that have been a hallmark of U.S. foreign policy for decades. It reflects Trumps attempt to reshape how the nation engages allies and adversaries around the world, with a focus on military might over diplomatic and humanitarian gestures.

The defense sum does include $2.6 billion to be used for the construction of Trumps wall along the southern border with Mexico. Its coming out of the treasury, Mulvaney clarified, before reporters could even ask whether Mexico would pay for it, as Trump frequently promised. (The White House maintains that Mexico will ultimately pay for it, by a tax on remittances. a dedicated tax on imports or some other trade mechanism. The Mexican government has been outspoken in its opposition to any such plan.)

Mulvaney also preemptively addressed questions about the cost of the wall and how many miles could be paid for by the requested sum, pointing to the still-uncertain plans for its construction. We havent settled on construction types, he said. We havent settled on where were going to start.

The Trump Administration Thursday is also releasing its plans for the current fiscal year 2017, which runs through September 30, including a call for an additional $30 billion in funding for defense and the border, Mulvaney said.

Trumps budget would defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR, and received $445m from taxpayers in fiscal year 2016. Mulvaney said the non-profit corporation would receive some federal funds under the budget, but only because some funding will be needed to unwind CPB.

The policy is that were ending federal involvement with the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, he said.

The budget blueprint only includes only includes top-line proposals for agency spending, with a fuller accounting expected when the complete budget is ready in May, Mulvaney said.

Trumps Administration is working to dramatically roll back the regulatory state, as well as a host of grant programs that either dont jibe with Trumps policy positions or that the White House believes to be unnecessary. Trump has been outspoken in criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency, and his EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, denied the scientific link between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.

You can expect reductions in the EPA that dont line up with the presidents view on things like global warming and alternative energies, Mulvaney said. You will see a reduction in subsidies, a reduction of participation in those types of programs.

In the case of the Department of Housing and Urban development, Mulvaney continued, One of the other things the President said was he was going to go after wasteful programs, depleted programs, programs that simply dont work, and a lot of those are in HUD.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Prince Charles has given Pope Francis a picnic basket full of tea and chocolate, sheepishly admitting "It's impossible to know what to get Your Holiness!"

Charles and his wife, Camilla, offered the gift at the end of a half-hour meeting Tuesday at the Vatican, the fourth day of their Brexit-inspired charm offensive to reassure Britain's allies. The British embassy said the food from the Highgrove royal estate was meant to be shared with the poor.

Francis, for his part, gave the royals a bronze olive branch and copies of his main teaching documents on the environment and family love.

As they bid farewell, Camilla shook the pope's hand and quipped: "My husband talks a lot. I wasn't allowed to get a word!"

___

This version corrects that Tuesday is fourth but not last day of visit.
On Monday afternoon, a bomb exploded in a St. Petersburg subway train, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more. The official response from the Russian government was initially muddled. The prosecutor-general seemed to confirm soon afterward that it was a terrorist attack, a label echoed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, but President Vladimir Putin, also in St. Petersburg to meet with visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, cautioned later that day that the motives were not yet known. The attack is now being investigated as an act of terrorism, though Russia has yet to offer confirmation.

For the Kremlins state media, however, the battle drill was clear. Nonstop coverage of the terrorist attack was launched immediately, replete with photos of victims and an alleged attacker  later revealed not to be the perpetrator but a witness  as well as of a second device that was allegedly found and defused. Putin, too, despite his earlier caution, issued a statement on the condolence call from U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the two leaders agreed that terrorism is an evil that must be fought jointly. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added an appeal for more international cooperation to combat terror. With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expected to visit Moscow in the next few weeks, and with the Russian government still trying to distract from recent anti-corruption protests across the country, it is certainly no surprise to see the state media machine (and the government officials that fuel it) pivoting to the importance of the United States and Russia cooperating to fight terrorism  and the need for heightened security at a time of potential unrest. The Duma has already proposed banning political demonstrations for awhile because of the attack.

Russias narrative opportunism will undoubtedly spark fresh rumors, among Russians and foreigners alike, that the attacks may have been staged. The rumors have been hard for the Kremlin to dodge since respected investigative journalists compiled substantial evidence that the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings were conducted by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in order to create a pretext for the second Chechen war that landed Putin in the presidency.

Story continues

But the speculation about false flag operations distracts from the reality of the Kremlins current positions on terrorist organizations and terror attacks. And this reality is chilling enough without any embellishment.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the Kremlin has endeavored to use the mutual desire to fight terrorism as a foundation for restored relations with Washington. This was the entreaty to the George W. Bush administration, the trap for the Barack Obama administration, and now the line of effort pursued with a Trump administration amenable to playing along with the idea that terrorism is the top threat to America, rather than Russia. Across the Middle East, Russia is expanding its military and diplomatic footprint, calling for stability, which tends to mean the preservation of autocratic regimes, as a means of countering terror.

All these words stand in stark contrast to Russian actions. Moscows escalating intervention in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fueled a crisis that has destabilized the region. It has also seen the Kremlin partnering with a number of terrorist organizations. In Syria, for example  where it has been widely noted that the Kremlins main goal is to preserve Assad rather than to fight the Islamic State  Russia has used Lebanons Hezbollah and Irans Quds Force in their supposed fight against the Islamic State, with both groups acting as paramilitary forces for ground operations to take territory or leading local militias.

It has also been documented that, in addition to other forms of aid given to the Islamic State by Russia and Assad  which include Assads purchases of oil from the Islamic State, allegations of intelligence sharing with Islamic State forces, and the fortuitous resupply of arms and ammunition from Russian stocks  the FSB has helped recruit fighters for the Islamic State and facilitated the movement of jihadis to Syria. Although some have said this was a local initiative to clean up the North Caucasus before the Sochi Olympics, there is reporting that this recruitment was happening via Russian assets across Europe as well.

This early support yielded clear results for the Kremlin. It is hard to ignore that the first group of Russian-speaking jihadis showed up in Syria at exactly the right time to help turn the war away from Assad and toward Iraq. They did so with the intelligence to act quickly and in alignment with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other Sunni Islamic State leaders, many of whom were KGB-trained (an artifact from the Kremlins long-term partnership with the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq). The arrival of the Islamic State was a key part of Russias narrative that there were no moderate rebels to support against Assad.

There is evidence that Russia has been working with the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well. The Russians believe that empowering the Taliban, in particular with legitimacy and intelligence sharing, will take space away from the expansion of the Islamic State. However, this has also meant working against American interests as U.S. troops continue to fight the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State alike.

The message from the Kremlin has become increasingly clear: If you want to be a terrorist, you have to be our terrorist (and you have to be outside of Russian territory).

The Kremlin has weaponized migration. It has weaponized information and built complex information architecture inside Western social and other media. It uses that information architecture to weaponize data in order to target discourse meant to isolate, influence, and recruit key demographics to causes and narratives that help the Kremlin achieve its objectives. Kremlin ideologues have described democracy and terrorism as similar forms of extremism. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that they have cultivated radicalization as another tool of hybrid warfare.

This is why, even in the wake of tragedy, calls for greater cooperation on terrorism from the Kremlin sound hollow. There is no simple answer to how America can fight terrorism alongside a nation that views terrorist groups as just another tool in hybrid or conventional warfare alike. While the Kremlin has changed its nuclear doctrine to view nuclear weapons as just another conventional weapon, its consistent capture of terrorist elements exposes its willingness to use any means necessary in the war against the West.

This array of tools has been cultivated because it gives Putins Russia greater control in determining and negotiating the outcomes they want. Put differently, the Kremlin is comfortable using its bad actor status to get better deals for its far-weaker nation. As consistently noted in the recent Senate hearings on Russia, the Russians are not ten feet tall. But until we are willing to see the full range of tools and tactics they are willing to use against us  and how they use them, in ways often unthinkable to us, to force the hand of their opponents  we arent entering negotiations on fair footing or with clear eyes.

As concerns about a renewed terrorist threat echo through Russian media, we should be cautious  but not cynical  in watching how a new narrative on terrorism is used by the Kremlin.

The Trump administration should resist the impulse to make terrorism the top priority or a key area of bilateral outreach to Russia. One-on-one, the Kremlin knows how to use its unconventional tools to keep opponents off-guard and dominate negotiations. There tend to be surprises once you get to the table  often in the form of crises that only Russia and its unconventional tactics can solve. But it is far harder to get away with this in a multilateral format or with a well-informed opponent. Within the framework of a strong NATO alliance, for example, Russian aggression can be contained and balanced, and the Kremlin is always in a position of comparative weakness when their tricks and storytelling are seen for what they are.

Mondays attack was a tragedy for the victims. But there is no excuse to allow Putin to evade serious questions about Russias partnerships with terrorist organizations abroad  partnerships that expose its backing of anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-NATO sentiment in armed abundance. As with many things, the Kremlins narrative about fighting terror looks flawless on Russian television. But Americans must understand the reality behind this fiction, or risk getting blamed for the Kremlins crimes.

Photo credit: DMITRI LOVETSKY/AFP/Getty Images
New York (AFP) - Ralph Lauren Corp. plans to shut its flagship Polo store on New York's Fifth Avenue and cut some staff as it shifts more resources to e-commerce, the American fashion label said Tuesday.

The company will shutter other retail locations and upgrade its e-commerce system. It did not say how many jobs would be slashed.

Goods from the Fifth Avenue store will be sold at other Ralph Lauren stores in New York. The moves will result in $370 million in one-time expenses.

"We continue to review our store footprint in each market to ensure we have the right distribution and customer experience in place," said chief financial officer Jane Nielsen.

"The decision will optimize our store portfolio in the New York area and allow us to focus on opportunities to pilot new and innovative customer experiences."

New ideas under review include "Ralph Coffee" at retail locations and "developing new store formats that connect the brand to loyal and new consumers," the company said.

The moves are the latest as the retail industry responds to the consumer shift to e-commerce that has led many to conclude that the US brick-and-mortar retail footprint is too big.

Gap and Macy's have also announced store closures in recent months, and on Monday, J.Crew announced that its longtime creative director Jenna Lyons would leave the company.

In February, Ralph Lauren announced that chief executive Stefan Larsson would step down on May 1 following creative disagreements with the label's founder.

Shares of Ralph Lauren fell 2.8 percent to $79.13 in mid-morning trade.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP)  Records show an off-duty deputy who was fatally shot by police in Tennessee had violated excessive force policies three times in two years.

Media cited the personnel file of Hamilton County Deputy Daniel Hendrix in reporting on Tuesday some details about the violations.

Chattanooga police fatally shot the deputy last week during an off-duty celebration of his 26th birthday. Police say Hendrix drew his gun, became agitated and refused commands to drop the weapon, leading officers to fire at him.

Records show Hendrix violated the department's excessive use policy in June 2015 by using pepper spray, in August 2015 for punching a female inmate and in July 2016. Details of the last incident weren't available.

The first and third violations led to reprimands. The second one led to an unpaid suspension and anger-management training.
In a historic move, Senate Democrats just orchestrated the first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee, causing Republicans to change the confirmation rules by invoking the nuclear option.

Sixty votes are required to overcome a filibuster, and Republicans didnt have those votes. So they invoked the nuclear option, Capitol Hill-speak for amending long-standing Senate rules requiring a 60-vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees, which would allow the GOP to install Gorsuch with a simple majority vote.

It is almost certain this move will result in Gorsuchs confirmation to the Supreme Court. But it is the first time the option has ever been used on a Supreme Court nominee, and will likely permanently alter the confirmation process for the high court.

Heres an explanation of what exactly just happened.

What is the Nuclear Option?



Its a Senate procedure that allows the current leader of the Senate to change the voting rules, in this case for the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, from 60 votes, or a super majority, to a simple majority, or 51 votes. Former Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott reportedly coined the term during George W. Bushs presidency, when Senate Democrats were filibustering Bushs judicial picks.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would introduce the motion, and it would have to be approved by a majority of the Senate body. If that vote is tied, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie breaking vote - and he would almost surely vote in favor.

Why would the Nuclear Option be used?

Republicans currently hold 52 seats in the Senate. Democrats hold 48, including two independents who caucus with the Democrats. In order for Republicans to achieve the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster of Gorsuchs nomonation, they need the support of eight Senators outside their party. But they currently have the support of three - West Virginias Joe Manchin, North Dakotas Heidi Heitkamp and Indianas Joe Donnelly. So unless the Republicans invoke the nuclear option, the current math says Gorsuch wont get confirmed.

Story continues

I can tell you that Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week, McConnell said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press. How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends.

Is there precedent for invoking the Nuclear Option?

There is precedent, but not for a Supreme Court Justice. Senate Democrats have invoked the rule before. In an ironic twist, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid implemented the nuclear option in November 2013 to confirm three of President Barack Obamas judicial nominees to a federal appeals court. The measure prevented filibusters on executive appointments and a majority of judicial nominations, but did not extend to Supreme Court nominees. That would, of course, change if McConnell invokes the role for Gorsuch.

Every Republican in the chamber opposed the measure to invoke the nuclear option in 2013, and warned that the Democrats would regret it.

I think Democrats are playing with fire, South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune told Time in 2013. What goes around comes around. And someday theyre going to be in the minority.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
A Pennsylvania mailman was left utterly confused as he fell victim to an elaborate ruse in the mail slot.

Billy Kelly, who's a comedian, had the prank all planned out for his mailman, with whom he has developed a friendship over the past 10 years.

Read: Cops Called After Teen Is Duct-Taped to Traffic Sign Because He Lost Bet on NBA Game

For April Fools' Day, Kelly put a 10-foot envelope in his mail slot for his mailman to find as part of an epic trick.

However, the Postal Service employee who showed up to collect the mail at Kelly's home wasnt his regular mailman, but a new one who had just started the job. His regular postal carrier had the day off.

"We watched him," Kelly told InsideEdition.com. "He was really kind of confused."

As Kelly and his wife watched from their car outside the home, the man pulled out 60 percent of the seemingly never-ending letter addressed to "A.P. Rilfools."

Read: Prankster Arrested After Eating Pancake Breakfast in Busy Intersection: Cops

The couple eventually got out to tell the man it was a joke.

He laughed and said he didnt know what to think," Kelly said. "He kept the letter to show his wife."

Watch: Man Without Legs Hilariously Prank People Into Thinking He's a Statue

Related Articles:
By Denis Dyomkin and Christian Lowe MOSCOW (Reuters) - Islamist militants have targeted Russia many times before but Monday's bombing of a metro train in St Petersburg was, for President Vladimir Putin, personal: it happened in his native city on a day he was making a visit back home. The attack, which killed 14 people and wounded 50, is also a test for one of Putin's most contentious policies - his decision to launch a military intervention in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad. Kremlin-watchers say the risk is that Russian voters could decide, after seeing the destruction in St Petersburg, that the Syrian operation is making them more vulnerable to such attacks - not safer as Putin promised. That would be problematic for Putin, who faced a new wave of anti-corruption protests last month, before a presidential election next year when he is expected to seek a fourth term. The main suspect in the blast, Akbarzhon Jalilov, is a Russian citizen from mainly Muslim Kyrgyzstan. No group has said it was behind the attack but in the past Islamic State has threatened to avenge Syria. It already said it was responsible for bringing down a planeload of Russian tourists over Egypt's Sinai peninsula in 2015, killing all 224 people on board. If the St Petersburg bombing turns out to be Islamic State's response to Russia's operation in support of Assad, "that would signify the complete failure of Putin's gambit in Syria", said Alfred Kokh, a former deputy prime minister under the late president Boris Yeltsin. "If you add to the mix the air disaster over Sinai ... then the picture is looking very grim for the author of Russia's participation in the Syria conflict," said Kokh. TRAUMA PASSES However, it was not clear that ordinary Russian voters would view it as a Putin failure. Opinion polls give him a high level of support, and there was no discernable damage to his standing after the plane bombing over Egypt. "Now we feel a blow, trauma, but actually with us trauma passes quite quickly," Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser, told Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station. "In a week's time it will be clear which way people are inclining - towards what in the past was a customary demand for more repression, or towards fatigue over this perpetual situation where we are being sold security under various guises, but we still don't have security." Early indications are that the Kremlin will respond by arguing that the St Petersburg attack underlines the importance of the operation in Syria, which Russia says is primarily aimed at crushing Islamist militants. Another response may be to tighten security inside Russia and launch a crackdown on all manifestations of hardline Islam. That would make sense from the practical point of view of stopping further attacks. But the bombing could produce a side benefit for the Kremlin. Russian officials were taken unawares last month when thousands of people turned out in cities across Russia to protest against alleged official corruption. The organizers of the protests said they would intensify their activity as the 2018 election approaches. "Will the security threat be mobilized as a pretext to ban demonstrations (in the interests of public safety, of course), or more broadly as a reason to say 'now is not the time for division'?" Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security, wrote in business publication bne IntelliNews. (Editing by David Stamp)
Russian intelligence agents working in New York City met with Carter Page, a one-time foreign-policy adviser to President Donald Trump, and attempted to recruit the business consultant as a spy in 2013.

While the effort was ultimately unsuccessful as the FBI broke up the spy ring in 2015, the meetings between Page and the Russian intelligence officers constitute one of the most substantive ties to date between a member of the Trump camp and Russian intelligence. Those meetings will likely add to the urgency of the multiple ongoing investigations of the administrations ties to Moscow and the campaigns possible coordination with Russian intelligence to tip the election in Trumps favor.

In a 2015 complaint describing the FBIs investigation of the spy ring, Page is only identified as Male-1. BuzzFeed first reported that Page is the business consultant in question, and he has confirmed it.

The new revelations will almost certainly mean more scrutiny for Page, an otherwise obscure figure who catapulted to prominence last year after Trump said the former investment banker was advising the campaign.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

In 2013, though, Russian intelligence took a dim view of Page. In the 2015 complaint that details an FBI investigation into a three-man Russian spy ring, the foreign agents describe their attempt to recruit Page, describing him as an ambitious climber eager to make money in Russias energy sector.

He got hooked on Gazprom, Victor Podobnyy, an officer of the SVR, Russias foreign intelligence agency, told his boss, Igor Sporyshev. Its obvious that he wants to earn lots of money.

Podobnyy, officially an attache to the Russian mission of the U.N., told the Page that he would work with Sporyshev, as Russias trade representative in New York, to win contracts for Page. He went to Moscow and forgot to check his inbox, but he wants to meet when he gets back, Podobnyy told Sporyshev on April 8, 2013. I think he is an idiot and forgot who I am. Podobnyy noted that Page wrote him emails in Russian to practice, and said he flies to Moscow more than I do.

Story continues

But Podobnyy never intended to deliver on those promises and instead pumped Page for information.

This is intelligence method to cheat, how else to work with foreigners? You promise a favor for a favor, Podobnyy told his supervisor. You get the documents from him and tell him to go f-ck himself.

According to a summary of the allegations against the Russian spies, Page provided Podobnyy with his views on the future of the energy industry, as well as related documents. Collecting such information about the Western outlook on the energy industry, the lynchpin of the Russian economy, would represent one key task for Moscow agents stationed in the United States. All three defendants in the complaint worked in the economics division of the SVR.

Based on the FBI complaint, it appears Page never realized his Russian contact worked on behalf of Moscows intelligence services.

In a statement to ABC News, Page said his contact with the Russian operative only consisted of sharing basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents.

Pages exact role in the Trump campaign remains unclear, and the White House has repeatedly sought to distance itself from the energy consultant. When Trump revealed Pages involvement in the campaign in a March interview with the Washington Post editorial board, Washington foreign-policy hands didnt know what to make of the man. A relative unknown, Pages views were something of a mystery, and he lacked government experience.

Since then, Page has emerged as a central figure in the shadowy relationship between the Trump team and Moscow. An advocate of closer relations between Russia and the West, Page travelled to Moscow for a July 7 speech.

That trip is now a focus of congressional and FBI investigators examining whether the Trump lieutenants colluded with the Kremlin in its campaign to hack into American political institutions and leak the fruits of those raiding missions to boost Trumps campaign.

A dossier of unconfirmed intelligence reports authored by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, alleges that Page met with the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft Igor Sechin, considered to be one of President Vladimir Putins key deputies. According to Steeles reporting, Page and Sechin discussed lifting sanctions imposed on Russia as a resulted of its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and support of pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Steele dossier were summarized in intelligence briefings for then-President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump in January.

In one of its most explosive allegations, the Steele dossier claims that Page also met with a member of the Russian government during his July trip. During that meeting, the Russian official, Igor Divyekin, allegedly revealed that the Kremlin had in its possession compromising information on Hillary Clinton and discussed releasing it to the Trump campaign.

According to Steele, Divyekin may also have hinted that the Kremlin was also in possession of so-called kompromat on Trump, which Trump should bear in mind in his dealings with Russia.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Alexander Kaverin, the driver of the Saint Petersburg metro train hit by a deadly explosion, has become an unlikely hero in a tragedy that has claimed 14 lives and injured dozens.

The 50-year-old Russian appeared stunned in the spotlight of state television, describing how he had driven the train through to the next station despite smoke from a blast in one of its carriages.

"I followed the instructions," Kaverin said. "We have already had explosions and smart people developed smart instructions."

"At that moment there was no time to be afraid, it was time to work," he added.

Kaverin said he had learned that in such situations, he needed to drive the train all the way to the next station.

Russian investigators on Monday said Kaverin had made the "right decision" by not stopping the train between two stations, which enabled quick evacuation of injured passengers.

The head of Saint Petersburg's metro, Vladimir Garyugin, said that Kaverin had been a "hero."

"In emergency situations people become heroes," Garyugin said of the driver. "It would have complicated the (evacuation) task to carry people out" of the tunnel, he added.

Kaverin, who has worked at the Saint Petersburg metro for 15 years, will be rewarded for his actions, along with another unnamed employee who discovered a second bomb and called in experts to defuse it, said Garegin.

Kaverin, a father of two young children, said that he called his family to say he was alright as soon as he had the chance but was not able to return home on Monday night because of a mob of reporters waiting for him on his doorstep.

"It was a difficult day yesterday," Kaverin said.

Garyugin said that half an hour before the blast, another metro employee had notified authorities of the presence of an abandoned bag at another station, Vosstaniya Square, which was quickly evacuated.

He "quickly cordoned off the area and called in experts," thwarting another attack, Garyugin said.

Story continues

- 'No hysteria' -

Garyugin praised passengers for having remained calm and assisting one another during the evacuation.

"Both metro staff and passengers helped out one another," he said. "There were groans but there was no hysteria."

Saint Petersburg residents have also reported being offered free rides by willing drivers Monday night and the city's ground transportation was free for commuters.

The Saint Petersburg metro has since reopened, with authorities stepping up security on the city's busy underground transport system.

Russian investigators have launched a probe into an "act of terror" and said Tuesday that they believe they found remains of a suicide bomber inside one of the carriages.

Kyrgyzstan security services said Tuesday the attack was staged by a "suicide bomber" named Akbarjon Djalilov, a naturalised Russian citizen born in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1995.

Russian authorities have not commented on the alleged bomber's identity and it was not clear whether he counted among the 14 dead.
Palo Alto (United States) (AFP) - Nicola Sturgeon made the case for Scottish independence in an address in Silicon Valley Tuesday, arguing firmly against the anti-immigration trend that helped trigger Brexit.

The Scottish government last week formally asked British Prime Minister Theresa May for a second referendum on independence, deepening a constitutional crisis two days after Britain launched the process of leaving the EU.

Sturgeon wrote to May telling her Scotland did not want to leave Europe's single market.

"Scotland faces being forced to leave the European Union against our will," Sturgeon told a packed audience at Stanford University in Silicon Valley.

"The UK is not just leaving the EU; there is a danger developing it will leave the EU in the most damaging way possible."

She said Scotland wants independence to promote fairness and prosperity, and also "play a big part" in the broader world

While in California, Sturgeon met with governor Jerry Brown to discuss the fight against climate change -- one of the factors driving refugee movements around the world.

"The underpinning that independent nations work together for the common good appeals to me and many people across Scotland," said the leader of the ruling Scottish National Party

Losing membership in the EU could hurt Scotland's universities, farms, businesses and more, Sturgeon reasoned.

And while calls to curb immigration were a key driver in the campaign for Brexit, Sturgeon maintained that Scotland had enjoyed an economic boom thanks to immigrants.

"It is totally counter-productive for the UK to emphasize immigration over any other aspect of Brexit, but it is particularly counter-productive for Scotland," Sturgeon said.

- Get the facts out -

Scotland voted to remain in the EU in last year's Brexit referendum, while Britain as a whole voted to leave.

Sturgeon suggested Scotland may have been less susceptible to the backlash against globalization that fuelled support for Brexit, thanks to policies that both welcomed immigrants, and sought to make workers better educated and valued.

Story continues

"Scotland has adopted policies with fairness and inclusion at heart, which could explain why Scotland voted different than Great Britain," Sturgeon said.

"There was, maybe, less of a sense of people being left behind and disenfranchised."

While Sturgeon's SNP warns against being "dragged out of the EU", a survey by NatCen Social Research found Scottish people have broadly the same opinions on the European Union as the rest of Britain.

Professor John Curtice, senior research fellow at NatCen, said: "For the most part voters on both sides of the border want much the same outcome -- free trade, immigration control and retention of much of the consumer and environmental regulation currently afforded by the EU."

Sturgeon said detailed information on the economic ramifications of Scottish independence was being prepared for a second vote that she expected to take place.

"The Brexit debate was reduced to a single slogan," Sturgeon said of her drive to get facts out to Scottish voters.

"I wouldn't want the independence of my country to be won on a campaign that was as dishonest as the Brexit campaign."

Sturgeon argues that circumstances have changed since a 2014 independence referendum in which 55 percent voted to stay part of Britain.

She said the government had rejected "all attempts at compromise" on Brexit -- a reference to her proposal for Scotland to be allowed to stay in the European single market even as the rest of Britain leaves.

The Scottish Parliament voted by 69 votes to 59 for another referendum, but it cannot hold a legally-binding vote without London's approval.

A British government spokeswoman has reiterated May's position that "now is not the time" for a second independence referendum, adding that it "will not be entering into negotiations on the Scottish government's proposal".
Though the White House had remained silent on the nude photo and video-sharing scandal thats engulfed the Marine Corps and the militarys other branches, President Donald Trumps administration may have reportedly found a spokesperson to show appreciation to women in the military: second lady Karen Pence.

The wife of Vice President Mike Pence, who recently made waves after reports surfaced about how he conducted himself when his wife wasnt around, had made the rounds at events in the last couple of weeks to express gratitude and support to both women in service and the sacrifices made by military families. She did so even though the White House had stayed away from the scandal thats resurfaced accusations of a sexist or misogynistic culture in the military.

Read: 5 Things To Know About Karen Pence

However, Karen Pence did not directly address the scandal or the heavy criticism during those appearances, Military Times reported.

Pence, herself a military mother with her son, second lieutenant Michael, attended and spoke at two events in honor of womens history month late last month each focused on military women and their families and spouses.

While at the Naval Observatory on March 23, Pence hosted some three dozen service members and spoke of her talks with women in military three days prior at Fort Meade in Maryland. She told the audience how they conveyed the challenges she said they faced.

"They shared with me some of the reasons why they went into the military, Pence said. They shared with me some of the things they love about being in the military [and] some of the struggles of being a woman in the military.

Then on March 27, Pence headed to Meridian Naval Air Station in Mississippi to thank the women in service, while calling them home front heroes. The base is also where her son is stationed.

"I think it is important to let these ladies know we support you, Pence said. We are here for you and it is O.K. to ask for help. Not even just help. It is nice to be with other spouses who are going through the same thing and just go out and have fun.

Story continues

While the sincerity of Pences comments has not been questioned, some have criticized the Pentagons and the White Houses response to the scandal. A spokesperson for Pence declined Military Times questions about what Pence said, if anything, to the female service members in regards to the scandal.

Read: Trump's Trust Language Was Changed

"As a female veteran and survivor of military sexual trauma," a spokesperson for veterans and military families group Common Defense, Trina McDonald, said. "I struggle with the second lady thanking me for my service, while Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump are doing nothing to fix the problems that me and other women in the military face."

RTS108KY

Photo: Reuters

Related Articles
Update: 6:24 a.m. EDT  A hospital that was helping treat victims of Tuesdays chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Syrias Idlib province was bombed soon after, the countrys main opposition said on Twitter.

Original story:

Dozens of people were killed in a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria, numerous reports said Tuesday.

According to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 35 people were killed, several of whom were children, as warplanes allegedly carried out an attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, with a toxic gas. Other outlets put the death toll much higher, with more casualties expected as hospitals filled up with the injured.

Read: Global Watchdog Looks To Prevent Chemical Attacks From Terror Groups In Syria

The casualties were reported to be from the effect of the gas and a large number of people were said to be suffering from respiratory problems. According to the Associated Press, pictures and videos from the scene showed civilians limping, while some were also reportedly foaming at the mouth.

The nature of the substance has not been confirmed. The monitoring group was also unable to determine whether the planes belonged to the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad or its ally Russia.

The Syria Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, popularly known as the White Helmets, did not release a death toll but released photos of paramedics washing down victims. Other media outlets also published videos of victims stripped down to their underwear while many remained unresponsive.

In a post on Twitter, local doctor Shajul Islam said the hospital he worked at was receiving a large number of patients, many of whom seemed to be showing symptoms of exposure to sarin, a chemical weapon that is extremely potent as a nerve agent. He also posted a video of his patients.

Story continues

The attack comes days after Assads forces were accused of using chemical weapons in a counter-offensive in the nearby Hama province which left over 50 people with severe respiratory problems. Since the start of the civil war in the country in 2011, Syria has seen over 320,000 people die in the conflict, Agence France-Presse reported.

After a United States-Russia agreement in 2013, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was tasked with the destruction of all chemical weapons declared by Syria. According to OPCW, the destruction of the stockpile was completed in 2016.

Related Articles
Saqba (Syria) (AFP) - At least 19 civilians were killed on Tuesday in heavy aerial bombardment of several opposition-held towns east of the Syrian capital, a monitoring group said.

Six children were among the dead in Eastern Ghouta, the largest rebel bastion near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"It was a series of air strikes throughout the day and the death toll may still rise," the Britain-based group added.

He said civilians had died in Jisreen, Kafr Batna and the largest of the towns in Eastern Ghouta, Douma.

An AFP photographer in Douma saw half a dozen wounded children sitting on the floor of a makeshift clinic, caked in dust and blood as they awaited treatment.

But most of the victims -- 14 -- died in air strikes on an area between the opposition-held towns of Hammuriyah and Saqba.

Another AFP photographer in Saqba saw residents scrambling over rubble and through clouds of dust, tossing debris aside as they searched for signs of life.

One man sat atop a small mountain of cinderblocks, clothes, and furniture with his head in his hands.

The Observatory said Tuesday's bombardment brought to 49 the number killed in Eastern Ghouta in two days of attacks.

"There has been fierce artillery shelling and air strikes since yesterday, and 165 people total have been wounded," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

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.

Hundreds of people were killed in Eastern Ghouta in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by government troops in August 2013.

On Tuesday, at least 58 people were killed in a suspected chemical attack on the northwestern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun, according to the Observatory.

Dozens more suffered respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the monitor and doctors at the scene said.

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.
London (AFP) - British police on Tuesday charged another six people over a suspected hate crime attack on a teenage Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker in London, bringing the total facing court to 13.

Reker Ahmed, 17, was left with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain after he was set upon by a group of up to 30 people at a bus stop outside a pub in Croydon, south London, on Friday.

Seven people were charged on Monday over the attack and another six were charged on Tuesday -- including a 15-year-old boy. All the suspects are local to Croydon, and the eldest is aged 24.

"I think this was probably confidence by numbers," Police Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said on Monday as she described the attack on Ahmed, who was with two friends at the time.

"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."

All the suspects have been charged with violent disorder, and three of them have also been charged with racially-aggravated grievous bodily harm.
Get ready for solar eclipse mania. Destinations in the path of the Aug. 21 eclipse, which will be visible in the U.S. along a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina, are going wild with plans for festivals, concerts and viewing parties .

Hotels in Casper, Wyoming, are charging five times their usual rates. Rooms at Idaho's Sun Valley Resort have been booked for years.

An eclipse tour in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park sold out in 10 minutes. The Smokies are among 20 National Park sites that will experience the total solar eclipse, from sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina to Wyoming's Grand Tetons. "We are expecting record visitation," said NPS spokesman Jeffrey Olson.

Hopkinsville, Kentucky, population 32,000, and Carbondale, Illinois, population 23,000, expect 50,000 visitors each. The destinations, 140 miles apart, will experience about 2 minutes and 40 seconds of total darkness, among eclipse sites with the longest duration. Events in the region include an "Eclipse Con" festival, concerts and tailgate parties.

South Carolina's Clemson University also expects 50,000 people at a campus event that will feature astronomers and other experts. Twenty thousand people will gather in the Ochocho National Forest for Oregon Eclipse 2017, with music, yoga, theater, art installations and more. Wind River Reservation in Wyoming hosts "bring back the sun" ceremonies.

A Pink Floyd Tribute band plans a "Dark Side of the Moon" concert in Jefferson City, Missouri. The South Carolina Philharmonic in Columbia offers "Star Wars Musiclipse." Sylva, North Carolina, has a "Moonlight Madness" run.

ECLIPSE CHASERS

Sharon Hahs and her husband, Billy, have chased 14 eclipses around the world from Mongolia to South Africa. They'll see this one from a family farm in Missouri, not far from their St. Louis home.

"There is nothing else in our universe that looks like a total solar eclipse," said Hahs. "The air gets cool. You have 360-degree dusk. Nature sounds really happen: the cock crows, birds get quiet. We even had a horse cross our viewing area to return to the stable."

Story continues

Michael Allen of Southampton, England, is a "keen amateur astronomer" who considers the eclipse "a once in a lifetime opportunity." He can't travel alone because he has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, so his brother Nick is accompanying him on a three-day tour to Nashville with eclipse-viewing at the Kentucky border.

Jack Bohannon of Anchorage, Alaska, plans to see the eclipse in Nebraska as the "culmination of a summer-long RV trip" with family. "We were originally going to book an RV park in the eclipse path in Wyoming, but everywhere was full," he said.

HOTELS

In small or remote destinations, hotels and campsites in the path of totality are completely sold out. But bigger cities still have openings. As of March 25, Nashville hotels were only 54 percent booked.

Don't assume lodging is sold out because a travel booking site says so. Call hotels directly to ask.

Many hotels are offering eclipse packages. Nashville's Loews Vanderbilt package includes eclipse viewing glasses, commemorative T-shirt, Uber gift card and bar credit. Hotel Jackson in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has an "eclipse concierge" to help guests plan their $699-a-night stay.

Consumers in Oregon have complained about hotels canceling reservations they made long ago, claiming rebranding or new ownership, then charging much higher rates for rebooking.

LOCATION AND WEATHER

As the moon moves in front of the sun, daylight will yield to darkness from Oregon to South Carolina along a path 60 to 70 miles wide. The path of totality will also cut across broad swaths of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee, along with corners of Kansas, Georgia and North Carolina, and a tiny chip of Iowa. Totality will first hit Oregon around 10:15 a.m. Pacific time. South Carolina will experience the final moments of total darkness at 2:49 p.m. Eastern time.

Some spectators are heading to mountains and forests to experience the eclipse in a natural setting.

"Think of an eclipse as an incredible short night," with "a rapid sunset and then sunrise," said Sara Morris, an ornithologist and biology professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. "Birds go back to roost. Animals that are active during the day will stop foraging and put themselves in a place of safety."

Destinations that offer easy highway access have an advantage in bad weather: You can drive elsewhere to seek clear skies. "Clouds are the enemy of eclipse chasers," said Hahs. "If one can move, one should."

The driest section of the eclipse path is from eastern Oregon to western Nebraska but "even the driest places on Earth experience clouds, fog and rain," said Brady Phillips at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is developing an online weather map for the eclipse.

SAFETY

When the sun is completely blocked by the moon, its rays can't hurt your eyes. But the period before and after totality is dangerous  even when it seems dark  because viewing even a sliver of the sun as it slips in and out of view can damage retinas. Sunglasses are useless. Viewing through telescopes or cameras without proper filters is also unsafe before and after totality.

So be sure to buy eclipse glasses, but don't spend a lot: $1 glasses with paper filters are fine.
Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC, on Tuesday called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle.

Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit ratings downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet.

"We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing.

"The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot".

Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994.

It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down.

- 'Marching into the street' -

"Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying Tuesday that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same".

"(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria.

"We are proud of having added many young ministers."

Story continues

Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that Monday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy.

"We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference.

"What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines."

S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers.

The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing.

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 three percent against the US dollar following Monday night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT on Tuesday.

- 'Black day for the country' -

Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".

South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country".

"It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article.

Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence.

"The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.
South Koreas Lotte Group will continue to invest in its China business despite diplomatic tensions over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, a Lotte executive said on Monday, denying rumors it wants to scale back its China operations.

Chinese authorities last month closed dozens of Lotte retail stores following inspections, ramping up pressure on South Koreas 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 U.S. say the system is designed to thwart nuclear-armed North Koreas 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.

Currently we plan to continue to invest in our China business and continue to strengthen the business, top executive Hwang Kag-gyu told reporters.

Hwang is the head of Lotte Corporate Innovation Office and is viewed as the second-highest executive next to Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

Its been 20 years since Lotte entered the China market ... we believe the China business is still in an investment period, he said.

South Korean media including wire service Yonhap have raised the possibility of Lotte scaling back its China business in the wake of the backlash against the company there.

Out of 99 Lotte hypermarkets in China, 75 had been closed by Chinese authorities as of April 2, a Lotte Mart spokesman said.

Hwang said Lotte was working to fix problems at the hypermarkets that were raised by Chinese regulators in the wake of the missile deployment.

For more on the North Korean missile threat, watch Fortunes video:

China is Lottes biggest overseas market and generated more than $2.70 billion in annual revenue in 2015. It is also 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.

Story continues

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.

We do not know 100% what their [Chinese authorities] intentions are, so concerning future developments, all we can do is watch, he said.

This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com
MADRID (AP)  Spanish police investigating a money laundering case involving former Syrian vice president Rifaat Assad  the exiled uncle of Syria's current leader  raided properties and blocked dozens of bank accounts belonging or linked to him and his relatives on Tuesday.

Civil Guard police said the searches were carried out in the southern coastal towns of Marbella and Puerto Banus with the aid of French police. They followed a request by National Court judge Jose de la Mata who is probing money-laundering crimes carried out by a gang in the two towns, a court statement said.

Two of Rifaat Assad's wives and six of his sons are among the 15 people investigated.

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by Rifaat Assad and his relatives, a court statement said. Most of them are located in Puerto Banus, a luxury marina in Costa del Sol. The property stock, valued at 691 million euros ($735 million), includes a 33-square kilometer (12.7 sq. mile) estate valued at 60 million euros.

The accounts of 76 "legal entities" which include companies, trusts and funds that were owned, administered or linked to Rifaat Assad and his relatives were also blocked, a court statement said.

The court said that no arrests were made.

Rifaat Assad's asset manager, Cedric Anthony, said: "We have confidence in the justice system, and we are cooperating with the judges, because we have nothing to hide."

He would not comment further on Tuesday's searches or say where Rifaat Assad and his children currently are.

Rifaat's children Siwar Assad and Ribal Assad, believed to be based in France, did not respond to phone calls.

Rifaat Assad is the exiled uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He was vice president of Syria when the country was ruled by the current leader's father.

He fled into exile after a failed 1984 coup attempt against his brother, then-President Hafez Assad, and lives mostly in France. He tried to take power again in Syria in 2000, when his brother died, but the ruling party closed ranks around Bashar.

Story continues

Rifaat was critical of Bashar after the country's crisis began in March 2011, vowing to work to topple the Syrian president and give the power to the people.

Spain opened the money laundering investigation last December following one started by France in 2013. Last June, France's financial prosecutor's office filed preliminary charges against Rifaat Assad for embezzlement and other counts.

Anti-corruption group Sherpa, which filed the original French suit, suspects Rifaat Assad of using ill-gotten gains from corruption in Syria to build a real estate fortune in France. French authorities found that much of his real estate was in southern Spain.

In a 2011 interview, Rifaat Assad told The Associated Press that he had lost all his money in the stock market and lived off the largesse of his 16 children. His son Siwar said at the time that the holdings mostly included real estate, TV networks, hotels and a restaurant in Syria.

Siwar told the AP in 2013 that his father wasn't worried about the allegations because he was too busy with his work organizing one faction of Syria's opposition.

Rifaat is widely reviled back home. As leader of an elite military corps under his brother Hafez  Syria's longtime dictator  he allegedly had a role in the 1982 massacre of thousands in the central city of Hama, one of the darkest moments in the modern Middle East.

Rifaat denied any role in the massacre, saying it was ordered by Hafez.

_____

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
Akbarzhon Dzhalilov has been identified as one of the suspects involved in the subway car explosion in the city of St. Petersburg Monday that killed 11 people and injured 50 others. Kyrgyzstans security service said Tuesday that the suspect is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen who was born in the city of Osh in 1995.

Authorities in St. Petersburg have declared three days of mourning as police probe the blasts, which took place in the metro car when it was between the Haymarket Square and Institute of Technology train stations. Kyrgyz state media said Tuesday the country's security service was "maintaining contact with the Russian secret service for further investigation." Authorities believe the suspect to be between 21 and 22 years of age, but they were not aware of his specific role in the bombing.

Russias Investigative Committee said it was probing an act of terror following the blasts, but no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. It is still unclear if the attack was a suicide bombing or whether the bomber escaped the scene when the explosion took place.

Read: ISIS Reacts To St Petersburg Deaths In Metro Explosions At Russian Subway Station

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin visited the scene of the attack and laid flowers at a makeshift shrine.

"I have spoken with representatives of our security agencies and the FSB Director. Our law enforcement and security agencies are working to establish the causes of the explosion and to provide their assessment of the situation. The city authorities, and if needed, the federal authorities, will take the necessary measures to help the families of those affected by the blast," Putin said in a statement. "The reasons behind it are not clear yet, and so it would be premature to speak about them. The investigation is ongoing. Of course, we always consider all scenarios, including accidental or criminal action, and above all, those of a terrorist nature. The ongoing investigation will soon provide answers regarding the causes of this tragedy."

Story continues

While there is no confirmation on who was behind the attack, the Islamic State group and its followers were rejoicing the news of multiple deaths in the Russia metro blast.

"We ask Allah to bless the operation by the lions of the Caliphate, we ask Allah to kill the Crusaders," one message written in an internet forum called al-Minbar said. Another message made reference to "a metro to hell for the worshipers of the Cross."

The White House confirmed Monday that President Donald Trump spoke to Putin following the attack to pay his condolences.

"President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation to condemn today's attack in St. Petersburg," the statement read.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed the phone call between the two leaders, saying: "In a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump extended deep condolences to the families of those who were killed in a barbaric terror attack in St. Petersburg subway, and asked to pass on words of encouragement to the Russian people."

"Presidents consider terrorism to be an evil that should be tackled in a concerted effort," Peskov added.

Related Articles
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)  Investigators searched for possible accomplices of a 22-year-old native of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan identified as the suicide bomber in the St. Petersburg subway, as residents came to grips Tuesday with the first major terrorist attack in Russia's second-largest city since the Soviet collapse.

The bomber, Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, had lived in St. Petersburg for several years, working as a car repairman and later at a sushi bar. Pages on his social media networks reflected his interest in radical Islam and boxing, but those who met Dzhalilov described him as a calm and friendly man.

Russia's health minister raised the death toll to 14, including the bomber. About 50 others remained hospitalized, some in grave condition. Many were students heading home Monday after classes on one of the city's busy north-south lines.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came as President Vladimir Putin was visiting his hometown, raising speculation it could have been timed for his trip. The attack follows a long string of bombings of Russian planes, trains and transportation facilities. Many of the attacks were linked to radical Islamists.

Before Dzhalilov traveled to St. Petersburg where he eventually got Russian citizenship, his ethnic Uzbek family lived in Osh, the city in southern Kyrgyzstan that saw more than 400 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in 2010.

St. Petersburg has a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other mostly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia. They have fled ethnic tension, poverty and unemployment for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands have received Russian citizenship in recent decades.

Russian media said Dzhalilov worked with his father in a car repair shop and then became a cook at one of the city's many sushi bars. He stayed in St. Petersburg when his parents moved back to Kyrgyzstan.

Story continues

One former colleague at the sushi chain described Dzhalilov, who turned 22 on Saturday, as "a very kind person."

"He was a non-conflict person. We didn't expect to hear such news today," said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared for her personal safety.

Neighbors in Osh also described him as a nice and friendly man.

Dzhalilov visited his home country about a month ago, and unlike past trips when he traveled directly back to St. Petersburg, he returned via Moscow. Investigators are looking into whether he met possible accomplices in Moscow, according to Russian media reports.

Security cameras caught the bespectacled Dzhalilov as he entered the subway, appearing calm and clad in a red parka with a fur collar and blue wool hat. He wore a backpack believed to hold the bomb that was loaded with metal balls and screws for maximum damage.

The Investigative Committee, Russia's top investigative agency, said it also found Dzhalilov's DNA on a bag with a similar bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station shortly after the blast.

Security experts have described people from Central Asia as fertile recruits for radical Islamist preachers, who have become increasingly active on social networks. Dzhalilov followed some radical Islamist pages on Russian social network, and media reports quoted investigators alleging he was linked to the Islamic State group.

Putin has said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet republics were fighting alongside the Islamic State group and other militants in Syria. He has named the IS threat as one of the reasons behind Russia's military campaign in Syria.

Chinara Esengul, an expert on radical Islam based in Kyrgyzstan, said on Dozhd TV that about 850 people from Kyrgyzstan have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, according to official figures.

Russian security agencies have been checking Dzhalilov's contacts in St. Petersburg, while Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies have been talking to his parents in the impoverished nation.

The Russian business daily Kommersant said that security agencies had learned of a terror plot in St. Petersburg from a Russian man affiliated with IS who had come from Syria. However, the man knew little and they tried to learn more by tapping phones of his contacts, the newspaper said.

When Dzhalilov blew himself up, 10 other passengers were killed instantly. Three others died shortly after.

Train driver Alexander Kaverin continued to the next station after hearing the blast, a decision that aided evacuation efforts and helped save many lives. "I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

Viktor Khasiyev said he got a call from his father who was in the car hit by the explosion: "I heard screams, and then he said: 'Son, we got blown up. Please come.'"

Khasiyev rushed across St. Petersburg to find his father covered in blood and soot. "When he saw me, he cried," the son recalled, adding that his father is being treated for a concussion and burns, but that his life isn't in danger.

"I still can't believe that it happened in our city," the younger Khasiyev said.

While Moscow and many other Russian cities have seen numerous attacks linked to Islamic militants, the city of imperial palaces and world-famous art museums largely had escaped such violence until Monday.

The entire subway was shut down and evacuated, paralyzing traffic in the city of 5 million before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova, who did ride the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the Metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

On Tuesday morning, 53-year-old Oleg Alexeyev, who trains bomb-detecting police dogs, went to the station where the stricken train pulled in and victims were taken off. He laid flowers there in memory of those who died.

"I traveled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Also contributing were Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Iuliia Subbotovska in St. Petersburg and Leila Saralayeva in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
A suspected Florida shoplifter who was arrested Sunday allegedly managed to escape police custody by crawling through a hole in a bathroom ceiling.

Orange City Police arrived to a Volusia County Kohl's store Sunday, where Michael Caruso, 31, is accused of attempting to steal a vacuum cleaner and speaker worth a combined $529.

Read: Man Gets 'Pantsed' by Fence While Trying to Escape During Alleged Burglary

When he saw police, Caruso allegedly bolted, at which point an officer pursued him in his cruiser. However, things reportedly took a turn when the officer jumped out of the car to arrest Caruso and forgot to put on the parking break.

The car careened toward the officer and the suspect as the officer attempted to make the arrest, according to Orange City PD.

As the suspect got out of the way, the officer tried to stop the car. According to a police report, Caruso then attempted to pretend that his leg had been run over by the vehicle.

Ignoring his claims he was injured, the officer arrested Caruso and took him in for processing. But the strange arrest didn't end there, according to the police report.

While in custody, cops say Caruso said "he had to defecate" and was escorted out of a cell and into a single-stall restroom.

"After waiting outside the door for a few minutes, I told [Caruso] he needed to hurry up," an officer wrote in a statement. "He replied he was about to wipe and wash his hands."

Caruso reportedly asked for two more minutes to finish up. But when those two minutes were up, cops say they banged on the door and demanded Caruso open it but got no reply.

"We opened the door and discovered [Caruso] created a hole in the bathroom ceiling by destroying the sheet rock," the police report reads.

Once in the station's attic, cops believe Caruso removed an attic fan then fled on foot.

While police set up a perimeter, a call came in to police from an area resident who said a man was in the garage and asking for a ride "because he just escaped from Orange City Police," according to the arrest report.

Story continues

The resident said he retrieved a firearm and ordered Caruso to the ground, at which point the suspect fled once again.

While fleeing, Caruso is accused of attempting to break into another home before being locked out by the occupant.

As cops say he fled once again, Caruso was finally apprehended with the help of a police K-9.

Read: Man Breaks Leg Allegedly Escaping From Burglary and Then Calls Cops for Help

When asked why he allegedly committed the crimes, cops say Caruso told them he has a drug problem and "does stupid things when he is high."

Caruso has since been charged with 15 crimes related to multiple Kohl's thefts, burglaries, resisting arrest and escaping police custody, among others, according to police records online.

Caruso remained in custody Tuesday.

Watch: Burglar Caught on Surveillance Stealing From Store in a Dance Leotard: Cops

Related Articles:
By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - One of two men suspected of opening fire in a crowded Cincinnati nightclub, killing one person and injuring 16 others, died on Tuesday as a result of gunshot wounds suffered in the shootout, police said.

Deondre Davis, 29, died Tuesday morning at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati Police Department spokeswoman Tiffaney Hardy said.

Davis was charged last week with murder in connection with the death of O'Bryan Spikes, 27, who died after the mass shooting at the Cameo Nightlife club on March 26.

Another suspect, Cornell Beckley, 27, pleaded not guilty in Cincinnati Municipal Court last week and is being held on a $1.7 million bond, Hardy said. She added that the investigation is ongoing.

Investigators have found at least 16 shell casings at the scene, as well as an unspecified number of guns. Police said previously that they expect more arrests and that there may have been a third shooter.

The gunfire, which sent hundreds of patrons fleeing and ducking for cover, grew out of a dispute inside the club, where two shootings took place in 2015, authorities said last week.

Unlike last year's Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 people and was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, there were no indications that the Cincinnati shooting was "terrorism-related," according to authorities.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley called the incident the worst mass shooting in the citys history.

The nightclub has been closed since the shooting, and officials from the club could not be reached for comment.

(Editing by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago and Dan Grebler)
Bern (Switzerland) (AFP) - Switzerland's financial watchdog said Tuesday it was "in contact" with Credit Suisse after authorities in the country were kept in the dark about a massive international fraud probe targeting the bank.

The five-country tax evasion and money-laundering investigation focusing on clients and top employees of Switzerland's second-largest bank came as a surprise to Swiss officials when it was announced last week.

The head of financial watchdog FINMA, Mark Branson, told reporters that Swiss regulators were now "in contact with the bank", but declined to discuss details, including whether Swiss investigators were weighing their own inquiry.

Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia have mounted a probe targeting hundreds of people and thousands of Credit Suisse accounts possibly linked to tax evasion.

The Swiss attorney general has voiced concern that "Switzerland was specifically excluded when this operation was organised".

"The customary practises and rules of international cooperation and mutual assistance were clearly not followed in this case," the attorney general's statement said.

Bern has demanded a written explanation from Dutch authorities, who have made arrests and seized property in the case.

The investigation, which British officials say is targeting senior bank employees and its clients, comes as Switzerland is trying to build more transparency into its notoriously secretive banking sector.

Credit Suisse, like other Swiss banks, has begun implementing an information sharing programme that automatically sends tax information about its clients to relevant authorities in a long range of countries.

The bank has insisted it has done nothing wrong and has a "zero tolerance" approach to tax evasion.

It is not yet clear if the probe is focused on new Credit Suisse accounts or older ones opened in an era of less tax scrutiny at the bank.

Story continues

FINMA's Branson suggested the latter may be possible.

"Wealth managers in Switzerland may need more time to deal with the past," he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.

Paul Dembinski of the University of Fribourg said Swiss banks may have shady tax dealings built into their "culture".

The best solution could be to "recruit new people", he told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The suspected poison gas attack in Syria's Idlib province "has the fingerprints" of an assault by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday. "If the Assad regime was indeed responsible for perpetrating this attack, the reported casualty figures would make it the biggest incident like this since the Syrian regime's August 2013 sarin attack against the Damascus suburbs," the official told Reuters, noting "it has the fingerprints of a regime attack." The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib has said more than 50 people were killed in the gas attack and 300 injured. Two U.S. government sources have said the chemical agent used in the attack was sarin. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Writing by David Alexander)
Dushanbe (Tajikistan) (AFP) - Clothing factories in Tajikistan are churning out brightly coloured national dresses amid a surge in sales, and it's not just because of the arrival of spring.

An increasing number of female officials, teachers and students have been wearing the Atlas and other traditional dresses following a recommendation by the Central Asian country's government.

"The Atlas will never go out of fashion," said Nasiba Anvarova, who owns a dress boutique in the capital Dushanbe, referring to a popular, dye-streaked style of dress.

"Any Tajik bride should have several of these dresses in her wardrobe," Anvarova told AFP.

The campaign reached its peak last month during the spring Nowruz festival in Tursunzoda, a town west of Dushanbe, where the country celebrated its Persian heritage in a vibrant display of indigenous fashion.

State television showed President Emomali Rakhmon, a practising Muslim, and other officials dancing at a concert along with thousands of women in traditional garb, bearing baskets of bread.

But Rakhmon and the male officials wore Western-style suits, and the festivities belied the government's growing fears of Islamist extremism.

The authorities have campaigned against Arab-style head and face coverings like the hijab as part of a crackdown that has also included forced beard shavings.

The government claims that over a thousand Tajiks have joined the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and points to "foreign" Islamic clothing as "being a sign of radicalisation", said Edward Lemon, a researcher at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University in New York.

- 'Competing morality' -

Rakhmon, a secular autocrat who took charge of the country in the early 1990s as it plunged into a bloody civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union, nonetheless makes public demonstrations of piety.

Last year he completed the latest of several pilgrimages to Mecca, where his wife and daughter were photographed wearing the hijabs that Tajik women are increasingly discouraged from wearing.

Story continues

At home, however, the crackdown has gathered strength since 2015, when the government banned a moderate Islamic opposition party and handed heavy prison sentences to its leaders following a wave of political unrest.

Several incidents of forced beard shavings have been reported, and a hospital recently turned away a group of women wearing hijabs, Lemon said.

The trend could be explained by a Soviet-style "fear of religion as a competing system of morality and legitimacy to the state", he said, which dates back to early communist times when the authorities actively promoted veil-burning.

But many critics see the dress recommendations as a sign of an accelerating slide toward authoritarianism under Rakhmon, who has never hid his preferences regarding women's fashion.

- 'Women's bodies as battlefield' -

The dress code recommendations for women and girls, issued by the education ministry ahead of the March holidays, were aimed at "inculcating national style and patriotism," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

"No one has forced teachers, students or schoolchildren to wear the clothes," he said.

But in 2015, ahead of Mother's Day -- which the country celebrates on March 8, when other countries mark International Women's Day -- Rakhmon complained that in the past, Tajik women had never worn black, "even at funerals".

This year, ahead of the same holiday, an official from the country's state committee on women and family affairs called on women to dress and behave like Rakhmon's late mother.

Tajikistan is not alone in the region taking aim at Islamic dress.

In neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, President Almazbek Atambayev endorsed a series of controversial banners last year that depicted women in traditional Kyrgyz dress opposite women wearing dark niqab veils.

"Poor nation, where are we headed to?" the banners asked.

But critics note that the government-backed campaigns almost never impose dress codes on men.

The Tajik education ministry's recommendation is a "typical phenomenon in which women's bodies become the battlefield where political struggles take place," said Mohira Suyarkulova of the Central Asian Studies Institute at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan.

Suyarkulova also said that Tajikistan's 2009 decision to change International Women's Day to "Mother's Day" suggested a "narrowing of the possible field for women's participation in politics and society."

Others have railed against the sheer impracticalities of wearing the dresses, made from thin silk cloth or cotton, on a daily basis while cool weather persists in the mountainous republic.

"Probably the authors of this crazy recommendation don't have daughters!" one woman wrote on Facebook, expressing her "outrage" at seeing girls walk to school in the dresses.

"Then we get surprised when young girls fall ill with serious flu. What does the health ministry think about this? Or is this a means of lowering the birth rate in the country?"
The following material contains mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.

Lawmakers in Alabama have proposed a bill requiring a new kind of sex ed class  for teachers. They would be required to take student-teacher sex prevention classes covering sexual and romantic contact, as well as social media interactions.

The bill has been abandoned because of public outcry, but the problem hasnt gone away. By some estimates, Alabama has the highest rate of teacher-student sexual relations in the country.

Watch: Teacher Convicted for Sex with Students

TV host Arthel Neville is concerned that Alabama is falling down on its duty to screen teachers prior to employment.

Watch: Abuse Victims Fined!?

ER Physician Dr. Travis Ordon wonders what can be done to stem the tide of incidents  in the month after the bill was withdrawn, Alabama has seen three more of these cases reported.

Dr. Stork notes that Weve ganged up on Alabama a little bit, but this is happening all across the country. See what The Doctors recommend in the video above.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved the purchase of 10 Chinese tanks worth $58 million to replace an old U.S. model, a government spokesman said, the second of three planned purchases of 49 tanks from China. Thailand ordered 28 tanks from China last year. "These tanks will replace the M41 tanks, which are small and old," Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters. Thailand has used the U.S. M41 light tanks since World War II, said Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. Relations have been strengthening between China and the United States' oldest ally in Southeast Asia, particularly since ties with the United States cooled after a 2014 coup. In January, the cabinet also approved 13.5 billion baht ($380 million) to buy a submarine from China and is considering buying three more. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has boasted of his new friendship with China as he has talked down the relationship with the United States, despite a longstanding territorial dispute with Beijing. A U.S. Navy aid unit has also been told to leave Cambodia, the U.S. embassy said, in a new sign of the country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Thyroid cancer rates are rising faster than any other cancer in the United States, a new study found: Between 1975 and 2013, the number of thyroid cancer cases diagnosed yearly more than tripled.

The numbers have prompted many epidemiologists to caution in recent years that the increase in cases is really just a matter of doctors catching more cases. This includes cases that are slow-growing and that would be unlikely to cause symptoms that affect a person's life. Doctors refer to the diagnosis of cases like this as the "overdiagnosis" of a condition.

But in the new analysis, scientists argued that the alarming rise isn't just due to improvements in detecting thyroid cancer. [10 Do's and Don'ts to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer]

"While overdiagnosis may be an important component to this observed epidemic, it clearly does not explain the whole story," said Dr. Julie Sosa, one of the authors of the new study and the chief of endocrine surgery at Duke University in North Carolina.

Sosa, along with epidemiologists at the National Cancer Institute, acknowledged in their new study that better tools  from diagnostic ultrasound to fine-needle biopsies  have improved doctors' ability to detect thyroid cancers. But the study, published today (March 31) in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), said that thyroid cancer is a real, growing threat, as shown by the increasing cases of a type of thyroid cancer called advanced stage papillary thyroid cancer, along with a steady rise in deaths from the disease.

In the study, the team analyzed more than 77,000 cases of thyroid cancer documented in a National Cancer Institute (NCI) database between 1974 and 2013. Along with the tripling in cases over that period, the researchers noted that between 1994 and 2013, cases of advanced forms of thyroid cancer rose by about 3 percent each year, and deaths from the disease rose by about 1 percent each year.

Story continues

In the period from 1974 to 1977, there were 4.6 cases of thyroid cancer per 100,000 people diagnosed yearly in the U.S. That number reached 14.4 cases per 100,000 people yearly in the period from 2010 to 2013.

Currently, more than 60,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with a form of thyroid cancer, according to the NCI. About 75 percent of these patients are women, and 82 percent are white, the researchers found.

That deaths from thyroid cancer are increasing, despite it being among the most treatable and least lethal forms of cancer, is worth noting, Sosa said.

"Overall, we are starting to win the war against cancer, but this is one of the few cancers where we're actually losing ground," Sosa told Live Science. "That means we have to now understand what the possible explanations are for the increased incidence of thyroid cancers."

What's causing the increase in cases?

In the study, the researchers offered several possible explanation for the increase in thyroid cancer cases. Rising obesity rates in the United States could be one factor, the authors said.

As cases of thyroid cancer rose in the United States, so did obesity. The number of obese U.S. adults tripled between 1960 and 2012, with the fastest rate of increase occurring between 1980 and 2010, according to the study. Previous research, including a 2012 study in the journal JAMA Surgery, has shown that as patients' body mass indexes (BMIs)increase, their risk of developing more aggressive forms of thyroid cancer also increases.

Another possible factor mentioned in the study may come as a surprise: a decrease in smoking.

Although smoking has been shown to increase risk for a host of other health problems  including cardiovascular disease, stroke, lung cancer and other cancers  it oddly has been linked to a decreased risk of developing thyroid cancer, the study said.

The researchers found that smoking was associated with a 30 to 40 percent lower chance of developing thyroid cancer.

"No one is suggesting that people start up smoking to avoid thyroid cancer," cautioned senior study author Cari Kitahara, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute. "It's just an interesting association that we see in our data, and it provides some clues to what factors are involved in thyroid cancer development." [7 Cancers You Can Ward Off With Exercise]

Yet another factor could also play a role: exposure to a group of chemicals and pollutants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These compounds are found in the environment, as well as in food and people's homes. PBDEs include flammable-resistant chemicals in clothing and furniture, certain pesticides, and some chemicals found in foods and plastics.

Studies have shown that PBDEs can interfere with the thyroid gland and other glands in the body's endocrine system. (This is the collection of glands that produce and regulate hormones.)

"Certain environmental pollutants could be a factor since we're receiving so much exposure to chemicals that could be endocrine-disruptive," Kitahara said.

The problem is that PBDEs are very widespread, so proving a link between exposure to the chemicals and an increase in thyroid cancer is a real challenge, Kitahara said.

As Kitahara told Live Science, "there is just very limited data."

Originally published on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
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.

Story continues

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.

Editor's Recommendations
The U.S. attack on a Syrian air base came after years of heated debate and deliberation in Washington over intervention in the bloody civil war.

Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people since the start of the conflict, with the U.N. blaming three attacks on the Syrian government and a fourth on the Islamic State group. One of the worst yet came Tuesday in rebel-held northern Idlib and killed dozens, including women and children.

That attack prompted President Donald Trump, on day 77 of his presidency, to dramatically shift U.S. policy, with the first direct U.S. attack on the Syrian government.

Trump blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for the attack and called on the international community to join him in trying to end the bloodshed.

A timeline of events in Syria leading up to Tuesday's attack:

March 2011: Protests erupt in the city of Daraa over security forces' detention of a group of boys accused of painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of their school. On March 15, a protest is held in Damascus' Old City. On March 18, security forces open fire on a protest in Daraa, killing four people in what activists regard as the first deaths of the uprising. Demonstrations spread, as does the crackdown by President Bashar Assad's forces.

April 2011: Security forces raid a sit-in in Syria's third-largest city, Homs, where thousands of people tried to create the mood of Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests against Egypt's autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Aug. 18, 2011: President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders Syrian government assets frozen.

Summer 2012: Fighting spreads to Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its former commercial capital.

Aug. 20, 2012: Obama says the use of chemical weapons would be a "red line" that would change his calculus on intervening in the civil war and have "enormous consequences."

March 19, 2013: The Syrian government and opposition trade accusations over a gas attack that killed some 26 people, including more than a dozen government soldiers, in the town of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. A U.N. investigation later finds that sarin nerve gas was used, but does not identify a culprit.

Story continues

Aug. 21, 2013: Hundreds of people suffocate in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital, with many suffering from convulsions, pinpoint pupils, and foaming at the mouth. U.N. investigators visit the sites and determine that ground-to-ground missiles loaded with sarin were fired on civilian areas while residents slept. The U.S. and others blame the Syrian government, the only party to the conflict known to have sarin gas.

Aug. 31, 2013: Obama says he will go to Congress for authorization to carry out punitive strikes against the Syrian government, but appears to lack the necessary support in the legislature.

Sept. 27, 2013: The U.N. Security Council orders Syria to account for and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, following a surprise agreement between Washington and Moscow, averting U.S. strikes. The Security Council threatens to authorize the use of force in the event of non-compliance.

Oct. 14, 2013: Syria becomes a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, prohibiting it from producing, stockpiling or using chemical weapons.

June 23, 2014: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says it has removed the last of the Syrian government's chemical weapons. Syrian opposition officials maintain that the government's stocks were not fully accounted for, and that it retained supplies.

Sept. 23, 2014: The U.S. launches airstrikes on Islamic State group targets in Syria.

Aug. 7, 2015: The U.N. Security Council authorizes the OPCW and U.N. investigators to probe reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, as reports circulate of repeated chlorine gas attacks by government forces against civilians in opposition-held areas. Chlorine gas, though not as toxic as nerve agents, can be classified as a chemical weapon depending on its use.

Aug. 24, 2016: The joint OPCW-U.N. panel determines the Syrian government twice used helicopters to deploy chlorine gas against its opponents, in civilian areas in the northern Idlib province. A later report holds the government responsible for a third attack. The attacks occurred in 2014 and 2015. The panel also finds that the Islamic State group used mustard gas.

Feb. 28, 2017: Russia, a stalwart ally of the Syrian government, and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions against the Syrian government for chemical weapons use.

April 4, 2017: At least 58 people are killed in what doctors say could be a nerve gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the rebel-held Idlib province. Victims show signs of suffocation, convulsions, foaming at the mouth and pupil constriction. Witnesses say the attack was carried out by either Russian or Syrian Sukhoi jets. Moscow and Damascus deny responsibility.

April 4, 2017: President Donald Trump issues a statement saying that the "heinous" actions of Assad's government are the direct result of Obama administration's "weakness and irresolution."

April 5, 2017: Trump says Assad's government has "crossed a lot of lines" with the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

April 6, 2017: The U.S. fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians, U.S. officials said. It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming president. Trump said strike on Syria in the "vital national security interest" of the United States.
(Reuters) - Following is a timeline of the events leading up to Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker's abrupt resignation on Tuesday:

Sept 13, 2012  Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announces a third round of its bond buying program, dubbed QE3, with a plan to buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each month. Lacker dissents with the policy.

Sept 28, 2012  Wall Street Journal publishes a story containing confidential information of discussions at the FOMC's Sept 12-13 meeting.

Oct 2, 2012  Lacker speaks by phone with an analyst from Medley Global Advisors, who raises with him confidential details from the Fed's September meeting. (Lacker now says he erred by not refusing to comment or ending the phone call)

Oct 3, 2012  Medley publishes to clients its report, "Fed: December Bound," containing more nonpublic details on the deliberations at the September meeting.

Oct 4, 2012 - Fed releases the minutes of its Sept 12-13 meeting, shedding more light on the policy discussion.

Later in 2012  Then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke orders an internal review of the leak preceding the official release of the minutes.

Later in 2012  Lacker is interviewed by internal Fed lawyers as part of the probe, does not fully disclose the details of his conversation with the Medley analyst.

Dec 12, 2012  FOMC announces its plan to expand QE3, including purchases of $45 billion of long-term Treasuries per month.

Sometime in 2015  Lacker is interviewed by officials from the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and then discloses details of his conversation with the Medley analyst.

May 2015  U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, subpoenas Fed documents and communications related to the leak.

Jan 10, 2017  Lacker announces his intention to retire as president of the Richmond Fed at the end of October.

April 4, 2017  Lacker announces his immediate resignation from the Richmond Fed and admits publicly to his contact with the Medley analyst.

(Assembled by Dan Burns; editing by Diane Craft)
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The case involving Roman Polanski, who fled the United States after he forced himself on a teenage girl during a photo shoot, has spanned more than 40 years, sparking court battles on both sides of the Atlantic. The Oscar winner remains a fugitive and has repeatedly requested that a court end the case without his presence. Meanwhile, prosecutors have repeatedly sought his extradition so the case can end with his sentencing. A ruling Monday failed to provide Polanski what he has wanted for years  an avenue to end the case from afar.

Here are some key dates in the long-running court saga:

___

March 10, 1977  Roman Polanski conducts a photo shoot with a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house. As she later testifies, Polanski gives the girl champagne and part of a sedative during the shoot, then forced her to have sex. She says she repeatedly told Polanski no during intercourse, but says she did not fight him because she was afraid of him. The girl's mother calls police after finding out what happened.

March 24, 1977  A grand jury indicts Polanski on six felony charges, including rape, furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and sodomy. He later pleads not guilty at arraignment.

August 1977  Polanski pleads guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and a judge orders the director to undergo further proceedings.

September 1977  A judge orders the director to undergo a 90-day diagnostic screening at a California state prison to help determine sentencing.

January 1978  The diagnostic screening  completed after 42 days  recommends Polanski be placed on probation.

Feb. 1, 1978  Polanski flees the United States on eve of sentencing after learning that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband intended to send Polanski back to prison. An arrest warrant is issued, confining Polanski's movements to France, Poland and Switzerland. Polanski alleges Rittenband met with a prosecutor who was not assigned to the case  without Polanski's lawyer present  to discuss sentencing.

Story continues

September 1997  A new judge meets with prosecutors and Polanski's attorney to discuss the case in chambers. The meeting is not reported, and elements of the discussion remain in dispute. Polanski's attorney contends the judge wanted Polanski's sentencing hearing televised, which the judge denies. Prosecutors contend Polanski sought to be sentenced without reporters present, which the director denies.

November 2002  Lawyers for Conde Nast Publications successfully unseal grand jury testimony presented in Polanski's case.

March 2003  Polanski wins the best director Academy Award for "The Pianist," but is unable to collect his Oscar in person due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

December 2008  Polanski's lawyers seek a dismissal of the charges against him. His motion is supported by his victim.

February 2009  A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejects Polanski's dismissal motion, stating that Polanski must appear in court to resolve his case. The order goes into effect in May 2009.

July 2009  Polanski appeals the February ruling in his case.

September 2009  Polanski is arrested in Switzerland pursuant to a warrant. Extradition proceedings begin.

December 2009  A California court panel rejects Polanski's appeal, ruling that the director must appear in court to resolve his case.

January 2010  Polanski's lawyers request the director be sentenced without being present in Los Angeles.

February 2010  A Los Angeles court takes sealed testimony from Roger Gunson, the original prosecutor who handled Polanski's case, about his recollections of the judge's 1977 promises to the director.

May 2010  A judge rejects a motion by Polanski's lawyers to unseal Gunson's testimony.

July 2010  Switzerland rejects U.S. request to extradite Polanski, citing its inability to obtain the Gunson testimony.

December 2014  Polanski's lawyers seek an evidentiary hearing to explore the director's allegations of judicial misconduct in Los Angeles. A judge rejects the motion without conducting a hearing.

February 2015  Roman Polanski appears in a Polish court for hours of questioning on whether a U.S. request to extradite the director is valid.

October 2015  A Polish court rejects an effort to extradite Polanski.

May 2016  Poland's new justice minister revives extradition proceedings against Polanski.

December 2016  The Polish Supreme Court rules Polanski will not be extradited to the United States.

February 2017  Polanski's attorney seeks an order in Los Angeles to unseal Gunson's testimony. Later motions by Polanski seek an order confirming the director should not serve any additional time behind bars if he returns to Los Angeles. Polanski's lawyer relies on information included in a lengthy Polish court decision.

April 2017  A Los Angeles judge rejects Polanski's requests to be sentenced without returning to court or for a determination he has served his sentence.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says "the United States has spoken enough about North Korea" in reaction to North Korea's latest missile launch. The State Department issued a terse statement from America's top diplomat acknowledging "yet another" launch and saying "We have no further comment." U.S. and South Korean officials said earlier that North Korea fired a ballistic missile into its eastern waters Wednesday. The launch came amid worries that the North might conduct banned nuclear or rocket tests ahead of the first summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea fired a ballistic missile into its eastern waters Wednesday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, amid worries the North might conduct nuclear or long-range rocket tests ahead of the first summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week. The U.S. Pacific Command said it detected and tracked what it assessed as North Korean missile launched from land near the eastern coastal city of Sinpo. A U.S. statement said initial assessments indicate the type of missile was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 60 kilometers (37 miles).

WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House is ratcheting up the urgency over North Korea's nuclear pursuit ahead of President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping's first meeting, with a senior U.S. official warning that the "clock has now run out" on Pyongyang. Trump and Xi will huddle Thursday and Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a venue chosen to give the summit a more informal feel. White House officials said Tuesday that trade and security would be high on the new American president's agenda, including pushing China to exert more economic pressure on North Korea. Speaking at a White House business forum Tuesday, Trump called North Korea a "humanity problem." A White House official later said "all options are on the table" for the U.S., though the official would not say what steps Trump was willing to take to curb Pyongyang's pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Story continues

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Trump administration is cutting off U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for reproductive health under an abortion-related provision in a law that Democratic and Republican administrations have used as a cudgel in the global culture wars. The U.N. Population Fund will lose $32.5 million in funding from the 2017 budget, the State Department said, with funds shifted to similar programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The administration accused the agency, through its work with China's government, of supporting population control programs in China that include coercive abortion. It wasn't immediately clear whether the U.N.

TOKYO (AP) _ Opposition politicians on Tuesday criticized a decision by Japan's Cabinet to allow schools to study a 19th century imperial order on education that was banned after World War II for promoting militarism and emperor worship, saying it's a sign that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is becoming more nationalistic. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters the Imperial Rescript on Education should be allowed as teaching material if it is used in line with the constitution and the education law. The Cabinet adopted the policy Friday. He added, however, that schools should primarily follow the government-approved curriculum.

GAUHATI, India (AP)  India said Tuesday that China should not interfere in its internal affairs, as the Dalai Lama began a weeklong visit to India's remote northeast that Beijing has protested. The Tibetan spiritual leader was greeted by cheering supporters as he arrived in Arunachal Pradesh. China claims the partly ethnically Tibetan Himalayan state as its own territory, and warned last month of "severe damage" to relations with India and increased regional instability if the Dalai Lama proceeds with his trip. Indian Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said Tuesday that New Delhi respects Beijing's "one China" policy and expects China to accept India's policies.

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sacked his interior secretary and close political ally over reports of alleged corruption, in what his officials said Tuesday was a warning that he will not tolerate wrongdoing even in his Cabinet. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte announced the dismissal of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismail Sueno at the end of a Cabinet meeting late Monday after asking him some questions, citing loss of trust and confidence. "The summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr. Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet," Abella said in a statement.

BEIJING (AP)  The shiny bicycles in bright orange, yellow or blue are everywhere in China's most prosperous cities, even in places they probably shouldn't be. The two-wheelers are unlocked and tracked using smartphone apps and can be rented for as little as 7 U.S. cents for half an hour. They are the latest symbol of heavy spending by venture capital firms in China's internet sector, where startups are racing to attract more users, seemingly regardless of the cost. Around 2.2 million bicycles have been deployed in China by companies that include Ofo, Mobike and Bluegogo, and are most frequently used in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, according to internet analyst Xue Yu at IDC China.

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Republican-led House has voted overwhelmingly to condemn North Korea's development of long-range ballistic missiles and urge that the reclusive Asian nation be put back on the terrorism blacklist. Speaker Paul Ryan says the two measures approved Monday by wide margins are "concrete actions" that hold Pyongyang accountable for its belligerent and destabilizing behavior. Ryan mocked the Obama administration's policy of strategic patience toward North Korea as a "total failure." Lawmakers passed a resolution 398-3 that denounced North Korea's pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The House cleared a separate bill, 394-1, calling for the Trump administration to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

HONG KONG (AP)  A stunning 59.6 carat diamond known as the "Pink Star" sold for $71.2 million at a Sotheby's auction Tuesday in Hong Kong, setting a new world record for any diamond or jewel, according to the auction house. The oval mixed-cut diamond smashed the $60 million pre-sale estimate set by Sotheby's when it went on the block. The sale comes three years after the gem was sold at an even higher price at another Sotheby's auction in Geneva. That deal later fell apart after the buyer defaulted. The gem is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.
Brussels (AFP) - For Diaeddin Al Zamel, the call to save Syria at a EU-UN conference in Brussels was not supposed to be a punch to the gut.

The gathering was meant to be an all-too-typical plea for aid from rich donors -- but then came the text message from the world's bloodiest battleground.

A source on the ground said the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib Province had been hit by a chemical gas airstrike that left many dead and dozens others vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth.

Zamel, of the Syrian UOSSM hospital network, said he had no choice but to share the tragedy being played out on his phone screen.

Facing delegates assembled in a packed conference room, Zamel said warplanes had just unleashed the suspected toxic gas attack on the town in northwestern Syria.

He told the audience of a terrible scene: haunting images of the dead, mainly children, eyes coal-black and lifeless but open.

"They are still counting the dead," Zamel told AFP in Arabic via an interpreter.

"Most killed were children, which is normal because their bodies do not tolerate the chemicals," he said.

Hours later, air strikes hit a hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack.

"The type of gas or chemical has not been confirmed but the symptoms seem like sarin," Zamel said.

- 'There are no red lines' -

"The hospitals on the ground can't take everyone and are not prepared to deal with these cases. The biggest problem is the lack of special suits and masks," he added.

With zero warning, the worst that six bloody years of conflict in Syria had to offer had muscled its way into the conference in Brussels.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that it could be seen as "surreal" to be talking about the post-conflict prospects for Syria with attacks still going on.

"I know these people, we all know each other," said Manal Fahham, a neurologist who works with Al Seeraj, a Syrian medical NGO.

Story continues

"This is supposed to be a red line in the conflict but you know that there are no red lines in this conflict," she said, referring to the suspected gas attack.

Fahham studied medicine in Damascus before working for 20 years in Saudi Arabia. In early 2011 she moved with her husband to Syria and set up a network of clandestine doctors as the war raged.

"You know what people tell me on the ground? They say they want a quick death, not a slow death," she said.

"Lately the attacks have been using chlorine gas which is almost worse. Chlorine doesn't kill you, it just makes you suffer, causing psychological problems," she said.

Zamel said the most pressing problem was the lack of training and supplies after years of conflict that have seen doctors experienced doctors killed or choosing exile.

"These attacks require a lot of medication. There were only 50 injections of a Atropine antidote available at the hospital" in Idlib, he said.

"There is a lack of experience to deal with chemical-type attacks. There is lack of oxygen, medication and most important proper chemical suits, gloves and masks," he said.

"We need properly trained medical personnel to deal with these attacks. We need support," he said.

- 'The worst' -

The gathered officials from embassies, aid agencies and NGOs could only listen, with even the most war-weathered veterans dumbstruck by the latest news.

"This sixth year of the conflict has been by far the worst in the conflict. Today is the worst type of violation," said Justin Byworth of World Vision, a Christian NGO with many missions in Syria.

"I've worked in humanitarian work for thirty years -- Africa, Asia the Middle East -- and I've never had a experience like the Syrian conflict," he said.

"Today, sitting in that conference room with the head of all these major institutions: UN, EU... for everyone in the room, who have seen the horrific situation in Syria, it really hit home," he said.

"The problem is, Are the right people in the room who need to hear that message?"
Months after voters in the U.K. decided by referendum that their country should withdraw from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May has triggered Article 50 to formally depart from the economic and political partnership in 2019.

And while the die is irrevocably cast -- Article 50 cannot be withdrawn without unanimous consent of the other 27 EU members -- the implications for investors and global financial markets may not be as bad as once feared. And there's money to be had for those who can make the right moves.

A monumental task. Brexit is a monumental change that will require London to renegotiate everything from immigration, border controls, visa restrictions and trade. Britain is the first country to ever leave the EU, so the process is loaded with uncertainty. It's that lack of clarity about how the negotiated exit will turn out that is making many investors nervous.

[Read: After Brexit, Investors Should Keep Calm and Carry On.]

"It involves [untangling] the biggest plate of spaghetti in the world and putting it back together," says Jonathan Gibbs, an investment specialist at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The U.K. economy is intertwined in a way that is similar to the connectedness of the economies of U.S. states. The way goods are made involves work in many countries, just as goods made in the U.S. are often assembled across state lines.

Trade flowed freely between Britain and other EU countries and how that continues needs to be negotiated in a way that will be agreeable to all each government as well as the businesses that have come to rely on the free movement of labor and materials.

"Triggering the article triggers uncertainty and uncertainty triggers nervousness," says Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments in New York. "We are aware that this is a two-year long negotiation process that will have winners and losers."

The good news is that much of the uncertainty is expected. It's the equivalent of bracing yourself for some jolting when a New York subway car brakes. You know if you don't hold onto a handrail you could fall over.

Story continues

In the case of Brexit, there will no doubt be a lot of bracing.

"In general, we have chosen to look past the uncertainty," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. in Milwaukee. "I don't buy into that people believe that this is a tragic event for the U.K. Certainly they were getting some benefits from the EU and there will be some benefits from new deals."

The U.K. isn't economically finished because of the Brexit. And neither is mainland Europe.

Why buying Europe makes sense. Schutte points out that Europe is home to world-class companies that have the skill to make lots of money for investors. And in the end, that's why anyone invests in a stock -- because they believe the company can make a profit.

Europe still presents great opportunities for investors, particularly the countries that will remain inside the European Union, Schutte says.

[Read: 9 Ways to Invest in British Stocks, Despite Brexit.]

Overall there are some very high-quality companies in both Britain and mainland Europe. Still, he favors mainland Europe over Britain because of where the eurozone is in the economic recovery process. The eurozone comprises the countries that use the euro as their currency.

The countries that use the euro have not recovered from the wealth-withering effects of the financial crisis as fast as the U.S. or Britain. Germany, France, Spain and the other eurozone member countries are still early in the economic cycle.

Historically, the gains in the economy and hence the gains in profits tend to be larger early in the cycle. If that relationship continues to hold investors should expect faster earnings growth in mainland Europe than in the U.K. or the U.S.

And European stocks are cheaper than U.S. stocks in terms of the price paid for shares relative to earnings of the companies. When you combine the economic cycle with the valuation it could be good news for investors.

The result should "equal some sort outperformance over the next 12 to 18 months," Schutte says.

What to buy? Investors interested in European stocks might want to consider the following no-load mutual funds:

-- T. Rowe Price European Stock Fund (ticker: PRESX). It has annual expenses of 0.96 percent or $96 per $10,000 invested.

-- Invesco European Growth Y (ticker: AEDYX). It has annual expenses of 1.09 percent or $109 per $10,000 invested.

-- JPMorgan Intrepid European Select (ticker: JFESX). It has annual expenses of 1.1 percent or $110 per $10,000 invested.

[See: The Best Energy Stocks to Buy for 2017.]

Alternatively, there is the Vanguard FTSE Europe (ticker: VGK) exchange-traded fund that has annual expenses of 0.1 percent or $10 per $10,000 invested. Buyers of the ETF will also incur the commission costs of buying and selling as they would with individual stocks.

Simon Constable is a freelance economics and markets commentator for U.S. News & World Report. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, TheStreet and Forbes, as well as many other well-known publications. He co-authored "The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter," which was an economics category winner in the Small Business Book Awards at Small Business Trends. Constable is also a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise. You can follow him Twitter @simonconstable or find him on LinkedIn.
The Trump Administration on Tuesday condemned a chemical weapons attack in Syria, accusing the government of strongman Bashar Assad of being behind the deadly attack that killed dozens - and blaming former President Barack Obama, too.

In statement Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called the attack reprehensible and intolerable, but declined to specify how the U.S. would respond. He also pushed some of the responsibility onto Obama, who left office 75 days ago, for his administrations unfulfilled 2012 red line warning to the Assad regime on the use of chemical weapons.

Todays chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world, Spicer said. These heinous actions by the [Assad] regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution. President Obama said in 2012 he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act.

The attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, comes just days after the Trump Administration expressed an acceptance of a political reality that Assads rule will not be coming to an end anytime soon, after his regimes forces have crushed moderate opposition forces. The Obama Administration had called for Assads exit as a precondition to any Syrian peace deal. Spicer dismissed the notion that there was any correlation between the White Houses comments and the chemical weapons attack. Its not a comfort level with Assad, its a political reality, he repeated.

Trump was briefed by national security officials Tuesday morning on the attack, Spicer said. He added that the statement speaks for itself, and indicated that the U.S. sees no evidence of Russian involvement in the strike.

Asked why the White House felt the need to highlight the Obama Administrations Syria policy - the former administrations most glaring overseas failure - in a statement condemning a war crime, Spicer said it was important to making clear that the Trump Administration has a different posture with respect to Syria. He declined to elaborate on the meaning of that, noting Trump has stated he sees value in being unpredictable overseas.

He also declined to say whether the U.S. would respond to the chemical weapons attack. I would not want to get ahead of the President at this point, Spicer said.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page confirmed he passed documents to a Russian spy in 2013 but the information was not sensitive, BuzzFeed reported Monday. Page, an energy consultant, met with Russian intelligence agent Victor Podobnyy at a January 2013 energy conference in New York as the SVR agent tried to recruit Page.

Podobnyy and two others have been charged in absentia by the U.S. government for acting as unregistered foreign agents. A court filing includes a transcript in which Podobnyy talks with Igor Sporyshev, who was busted as a member of a Russian spy ring, about trying to recruit someone identified only as Male-1, whom BuzzFeed confirmed was Page.

Read: Lawmakers Say Too Early To Consider Immunity For Michael Flynns Testimony

Podobnyy ridicules Pages interest in making a deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom, calling him an idiot and saying he would promise favor for favor to Page and then renege. Page emailed Podobnyy documents  about the energy business, BuzzFeed said.

The court filing said Page was interviewed in June 2013 by FBI counterintelligence agents.

Both Podobnyy and Sporyshev had diplomatic immunity and left the U.S. A third man, Evgeny Buryakov, who did not have diplomatic cover, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Read: Did Paul Manafort Launder Money For Russia?

An opposition research dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele said Moscow had sought to build relationships with certain people in the U.S., including Page. The dossier contained unconfirmed reports of Trumps sexual escapades, ties to Russia and financial dealings.

Page earlier told BuzzFeed in a messaging app he may have had inadvertent contact with Russian intelligence but would never have broken the law.

The FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees are investigating Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election and whether anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with Russian operatives. Trump repeatedly has called the allegations fake news. The White House has been trying to distance Trump from Page, saying he had little to do with the campaign although candidate Trump described Page as a foreign policy adviser.

Story continues

Related Video:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

Related Articles
As President Donald Trump prepares for his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on April 6 and 7, he would do well to ask what Solomon would do. Not the biblical King Solomon, but Richard H. Solomon, the prominent China scholar and policymaker who sadly passed away at the end of March.

Richard Solomon was a protege of the great Massachusetts Institute of Technology China scholar Lucian Pye, and in turn mentored scores of rising Asia hands, including me. Solomon wrote over a dozen books on the internal dynamics and foreign policy of Maos China. As a National Security Council staffer, head of the policy planning staff, and then assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, he applied his deep scholarship of China to the practical tasks of strategic planning and diplomacy. The most influential fusion of his knowledge of history with the practice of diplomacy came in the form of a classified RAND Corporation report, later declassified and published as Chinas Negotiating Behavior, 1967-1984. In the book, Solomon demonstrates that (among other traits) China will always seek to: 1) Play opposing adversaries off against each other while identifying and cultivating the right interlocutor to advance Chinas position; 2) insist on high principles that favor China, rather than concrete outcomes; and 3) distort the record of the meeting and the interpretation of agreed high principles to then advance Chinas original objectives.

I doubt that Trump has read Solomons classic, but you can be certain that the Chinese side has poured over Trumps The Art of the Deal. If the president isnt careful, his practice of fostering competing power centers in the White House could play right into the Chinese strategy of dividing opponents and then identifying and cultivating the right interlocutor, preferably one who is powerful but has no fixed position on China (for example, Jared Kushner). The isolation of the White House from experienced China hands in the State Department could also leave the president vulnerable to Beijings strategy of passing off high principles that have significance novice policymakers would not recognize (for example, agreeing to Xis proposal for a New Model of Great Power Relations, which sounds positive but is premised on downgrading U.S. allies and partners in preference for a bipolar U.S.-China condominium). Finally, the Trump White House, not yet capable of tracking outcomes and correcting the record on actual policy issues, could be highly susceptible to Chinas reinterpretation of the results of the meeting (for example, Chinese claims that the United States no longer cares about human rights because they did not come up in public during the summit).

We will see what happens this week. Interactions with the president have proven an interesting spin of the wheel for foreign leaders. Some have come out extremely well (Japanese President Shinzo Abe), others quite badly (Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull), and some adequate if awkward (German Chancellor Angela Merkel). In any case, it isnt too late for the experts on the National Security Council staff to bring a copy of Richard Solomons classic into the West Wing.

Photo credit: CHAD J. MCNEELEY/U.S. Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to offer condolences following the subway bomb blast in St. Petersburg. Twin explosions ripped through a metro car traveling between two train stations  Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institute  Monday afternoon local time (around 8 a.m. EDT).

A White House statement confirmed the two leaders had spoken by phone.

"President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation to condemn today's attack in St. Petersburg," the statement read.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed the phone call to Russian News Agency Tass, saying: "In a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump extended deep condolences to the families of those who were killed in a barbaric terror attack in St. Petersburg subway, and asked to pass on words of encouragement to the Russian people."

"Presidents consider terrorism to be an evil that should be tackled in a concerted effort," Peskov added, and specified that Putin and Trump "agreed to keep in touch."

While speaking to reporters on Monday prior to his working lunch with Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Trump called the Russian blast "absolutely a terrible thing" and added that "it's happening all over the world," according to the Associated Press.

Russia Metro Blast

Photo: REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

The Kremlin honored the victims of the explosion, and offered support to families and friends of those killed or injured. Putin said the administration would carry out a full-fledged investigation into the incident.

"The causes of the explosion in the subway in St. Petersburg is not yet known, covers all versions - and domestic and terrorist act," Putin said of the investigation.

Story continues

According to the latest data provided by a local news outlet Life, Monday's explosion killed 12 people and left 50 injured. The explosion took place while Putin was visiting St. Petersburg.

Related Articles
Andrew Bowen, a wannabe official in the Trump administration State Department, is trying to sanitize his past political statements in order to curry favor with the new administration. He tried to strong-arm Arab News, where he was a columnist, into deleting past pieces that were critical of Donald Trump, so the Saudi-based news site fired him.

Bowen, a visiting scholar at American Enterprise Institute, repeatedly requested Arab News remove the articles for him to be cleared to take a job at the State Department, the site said in a statement released Monday night. Curiously, the statement was taken down by Tuesday morning, and it appears Arab News also deleted articles in which Bowen criticized Trump and praised his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The row highlights how sensitive potential Trump appointees are  even for mid-level jobs in sprawling bureaucracies  about not seeming to criticize the president, lest the White House slam shut the door in their faces. It also highlights a trend in Washington spanning both parties that anyone eyeing a job in an administration must stifle personal opinions from the incoming president before ever stepping into office, an informal practice outside experts widely criticized.

In its initial statement, Arab News said Mr. Bowen also insinuated  verbally and in writing  that he will seek the support of influential friends and contacts to help remove the articles. The statement added the request was unprofessional journalistically, particularly given that there were no factual errors or libelous comments that require a redaction or correction.

The statement ended with We wish Mr. Bowen the best of luck in his job application then linked to archives of his columns. But the story doesnt end there.

Arab News has since taken the statement down and appears to have taken down at least several of Bowens columns, including ones where he describes Trump as boorish and predatory and excoriated Trump for whipping up xenophobic and anti-Muslim sentiments. Cached copies of Arab News articles  since removed from the website  can be found here and here.

Story continues

A source with knowledge of the incident confirmed to FP Bowen contacted Saudi government officials he was close with to exert pressure on the news site to revert its statement. The vetting team at the White House is incredibly more sensitive than I originally was told on any pieces ever written that in any way come across critical of the president he wrote in an email to Arab News to which FP had access.

In an interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday, Bowen said he was deeply concerned and saddened by Arab News statement. He refused to clarify the concerns he had over the columns in question and declined to comment on his potential job with the State Department.

Everybody is under the understanding the statement was a mistake, said AEI public affairs officer Veronique Rodman, who spoke to FP on behalf of Bowen, citing Arab News decision to take the statement down. She didnt have any information on why Arab News also took Bowens anti-Trump columns down.

Arab News also did not immediately respond to FPs request for comment. It did not release a retraction after taking its statement down.

Several people familiar with the matter tell FP Bowen is slated to take a job on Middle East policy with the State Department Policy Planning Staff, absent any potential last-minute White House veto. One said that Brian Hook, Trumps pick for director of the State Departments policy planning staff, personally tapped Bowen for the role. In February, Foreign Policy reported that Hook, a former Mitt Romney advisor, accepted the job despite being a vocal critic of Trump during the campaign. The State Departments policy planning staff serves as a strategic advisory group to the secretary.

Past tweets from Arab News to Bowens pieces in which he criticizes Trump lead to an access denied page.

If #Trump wins, he faces an #Arab world deeply wary of the implications of his presidency, writes @abowen17 https://t.co/FlAEmpYPL7  Arab News (@Arab_News) November 7, 2016

Bowen also appeared to delete hundreds of tweets and retweets from his verified account before December 9, 2016, a month after Trumps election.

Twitter archives of deleted tweets, tracked through Twitter history website Snapbird.com, show, for example, Bowen retweeted dozens of tweets by Hillary Clinton, including one on Aug. 4, 2016, saying Donald Trump is not qualified to be president, and he is temperamentally unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.

Twitter archives also indicate he retweeted Dan Pfeiffer, former assistant to President Barack Obama, on Oct. 7 that said Donald Trumps normalization of blatantly racist ideas will the lasting consequence of this campaign and one enabled by the GOP leadership. Neither retweet shows up on Bowens Twitter timeline, indicating he deleted them.

In one October column entitled Clintons moment, Bowen wrote the Democratic presidential nominees steely pragmatism and vague commitment to ideology will allow her to make the deals to advance her domestic agenda that Obama could never do. That column has since been taken down.

After Trumps election, Bowen suddenly took a much more positive spin on the president-elect:

My commentary on Rex #Tillerson as next #SecState featured in @transition2017 round up of views on #Trump's pick: https://t.co/KFUpvsAYQF  Andrew Bowen (@abowen17) December 13, 2016

In a December piece for AEI, he wrote, Trump showed that when a decision had to be made, he could decisively make it. Bowen added, Trump enjoys the contest of ideas with him at the center of the stage as a decider and deal-maker more than an oracle, lavishing the presidents Apprentice-style approach to building his national security team just months after having pilloried the candidate.

Trump faced a massive backlash from Republican foreign policy experts during the campaign over his bombastic anti-immigrant rhetoric, lavish praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, denigration of NATO, and his glaring lack of any knowledge of foreign affairs.

It led to a Never Trump movement and series of open letters from top GOP national security experts denouncing the populist candidate during his unlikely rise to the presidency. Bowen did not sign any of the letters.

The criticism has come back to haunt some of the experts, who struck a more cordial tone after Trump was elected, angling for administration positions. Trump reportedly blacklisted those who criticized him, making it virtually impossible for him to staff thousands of vacancies at the State Department, Pentagon, and other agencies. Trump still has yet to fill 2,000 administration postings, many of which dont require senate confirmation.

Bowen is also a senior advisor to Greenmantle, a geopolitical advisory firm based in Massachusetts. He previously had roles at other Washington-based think tanks with a focus on Middle East issues, including the Center for National Interest and the Woodrow Wilson Center on International Scholars. According to Bowens LinkedIn page, he received a Ph.D in international relations from the London School of Economics.



Bowen wrote four pieces for FP between 2013 and July, 2016.

Update: This article was updated to include language from Mr. Bowens email to Arab News.

Photo credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed a repeal of Obama-era broadband privacy rules, the White House said, a victory for internet service providers and a blow to privacy advocates. Republicans in Congress last week narrowly passed the repeal of the privacy rules with no Democratic support and over the strong objections of privacy advocates. The signing, disclosed in White House statement late on Monday, follows strong criticism of the bill, which is a win for AT&T Inc , Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc . The bill repeals regulations adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc's Google or Facebook Inc . The rules had not yet taken effect but would have required internet providers to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children's information and web browsing history for advertising and marketing. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the repeal in a statement late on Monday for having appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the internet." Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favoured companies, not online consumers." Pai said the FCC would work with the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees websites, to restore the "FTCs authority to police internet service providers privacy practices." Republican FCC commissioners have said the Obama rules would unfairly give websites the ability to harvest more data than internet service providers. The action is the latest in a string of reversals of Obama administration rules. On Monday, the FCC reversed a requirement that Charter Communications Inc extend broadband service to 1 million homes that already have a high-speed provider. On Friday, Comcast, Verizon AT&T Inc said they would voluntarily not sell customers individual internet browsing information. Verizon does not sell personal web browsing histories and has no plans to do so but the company said it has two advertising programs that use "de-identified" customer browsing data, including one that uses "aggregate insights that might be useful for advertisers and other businesses." The American Civil Liberties Union said last month Congress should have opposed "industry pressure to put profits over privacy" and added "most Americans believe that their sensitive internet information should be closely guarded." Trade group USTelecom Chief Executive Jonathan Spalter in a statement praised Trump for "stopping rules that would have created a confusing and conflicting consumer privacy framework." Last week, 46 Senate Democrats urged Trump not to sign the bill, arguing most Americans "believe that their private information should be just that." Republicans later this year are expected to move to overturn net neutrality provisions that in 2015 reclassified broadband providers and treated them like a public utility - a move that is expected to spark an even bigger fight. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Trott)
Donald Trump slammed Hillary Clinton in a series of tweets early Monday as pressure continues over a probe linking the administration to Russia. Trump's administration came under fire after reports surfaced the campaign may have been linked with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

"Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know?" Trump wrote in one of the tweets hitting at Clinton. In a follow-up tweet, he asked: "Did Hillary Clinton ever apologise for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!"

This is not the first time Trump attacked Clinton over allegations that the Democratic candidate received debate questions in advance of a televised town hall event from Donna Brazile.

"Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates," Trump said earlier this year while pushing back against questions about possible ties between his campaign and Russia. "Can you imagine seriously can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair, ok?"

Read: Trump Slams Clinton Uranium Deal On Twitter Amid Rising Tensions On Russia Probe

Last month, Brazile reportedly said that passing along a list of topics to Clinton's campaign was a "mistake I will never forget."

Trump, who is believed to have connections with Russia, has in the past raised questions about why the Clintons are not under investigation for various ties to Russia.

While Trump himself raised concerns about Russian operatives allegedly hacking Democratic Party emails during the election, he and his administration have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Russia's meddling into the presidential election since well before he was sworn into office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, are currently examining ties between Trumps campaign and Russia.

Story continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also denied his country meddled in the November 2016 presidential election between Trump and Clinton.

Related Articles
Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - President Donald Trump's son-in-law and the US's top military officer met with Kurdish leaders in Arbil on Tuesday, the second day of their visit to Iraq.

His inclusion in the US delegation is a sign of the influence wielded by Jared Kushner, a 36-year-old with no prior government experience who has become one of the most powerful men in Washington by virtue of his family connection to Trump.

Kushner -- whose wife Ivanka also plays a key role in advising her father -- accompanied General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a visit to Baghdad before heading to Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Kushner and Dunford met in Arbil with officials including Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, regional prime minister Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani, the chancellor of the region's security council.

As in the Trump administration, family ties can translate into senior posts in Iraqi Kurdish government: Nechirvan is Massud's nephew, while Masrour is the Kurdish chief's son.

A post on Masrour Barzani's official Twitter account described the meeting as "productive", saying the officials discussed the war against the Islamic State group "and plans for the day after."

What comes after major operations against the jihadists are over will be especially contentious in north Iraq, where the Kurdish region and Baghdad both claim territory that has been retaken from IS.

Kushner and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert were travelling with Dunford at the general's invitation, according to US Navy Captain Greg Hicks.

- Conflict of interest concerns -

The day before, Dunford and Kushner met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali in Baghdad to discuss the anti-IS war.

Iraqi forces launched a major operation to retake second city Mosul from IS in October, recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on its smaller but more densely-populated west.

Story continues

The grinding battle for west Mosul has taken a heavy toll on civilians, killing and wounding hundreds and pushing more than 200,000 to flee their homes.

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 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.

Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, 36-year-old Kushner 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 -- something that has eluded experienced policymakers for decades.

A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, his 35-year-old daughter and Kushner's wife Ivanka has officially become an assistant to the president amid concerns over possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
By Sarah B. Boxer

The leading Democrat on the House committee investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government said that President Trump personally commended his work last week  and was a helpful resource in accessing pertinent documents.

Rep. Adam Schiff went to the White House on Friday to view documents regarding possible surveillance of the Trump campaign that Rep. Devin Nunes, House intelligence committee chairman, has called into question. While in the building, Schiff said he and President Trump met in the Oval Office and spoke briefly about Schiffs work on the committee.

He said I did a good job, Schiff tells Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. It was a perfectly cordial meeting.

Schiff says that Trump also personally assisted in fixing an issue that arose pertaining to the document viewing. Schiff had been joined by his staff director, who has clearance to view the items but who was being denied access. Schiff told Couric that when he went into the Oval Office, The president began the meeting by saying, So, are you getting to see everything you wanted? And I said, Actually, no  we have this issue, and I described what it was, and he said, Well Im fine with your staff seeing the documents  I have no problem with that.

Schiff says he heard a lot of grumbling from the presidents staff behind me, but the problem was resolved, and the staffer was able to see the documents.

Schiff said his conversation with Trump mostly centered around prescription drug costs and infrastructure spending. The latter is an issue he told the president hed likely be able to find a great deal of Democratic support for.

Regarding Bloombergs report that Susan Rice, formerly President Obamas national security adviser, requested the unmasking of U.S. persons connected to the intelligence reports in question, Schiff said he couldnt speak directly about individuals who may or may not be involved, but he went on to give an impassioned defense of Rice.

Story continues

We spent two years on the Select Benghazi Committee, while Republicans looked for anything they could find to go after Susan Rice, and did so without success. The most Susan Rice did during the whole Benghazi chapter is speak publicly about what the intelligence community was telling her privately, which was exactly what you should do, Schiff told Couric. But nonetheless, for whatever reason, some on the far right have had Susan Rice in their crosshairs for a long time.

Schiff explained that unmasking happens routinely, when an intelligence official requests that a name be revealed when trying to figure out who certain reports are referring to. That is something very different than a leak, Schiff told Couric.

Schiff wouldnt comment on whether Rice was involved in an unmasking request, but said hes confident that all oversight over the matter will be handled appropriately.

Couric also asked Schiff about the presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who went to Iraq this week and is also reportedly the administrations point man on Middle East peace, Mexico, opioid addiction and veterans affairs, in addition to heading the new Office of American Innovation and leading the way on the Chinese presidents visit this week. By all accounts, this is highly unconventional. Do you think its appropriate? asked Couric.

I have profound questions about it, because he may be a perfectly fine gentleman, he may have very good advice for the president.  But he doesnt have experience in any of these areas, says Schiff. And hes acting as a super-secretary of state. I dont know what that means in terms of Rex Tillersons job. But I can only imagine the firestorm that would have been provoked had Hillary Clinton made Chelsea her, essentially, second-in-command on all of these issues.

So I think it does raise a real concern. You have a president, himself deeply inexperienced on all of these matters, relying so heavily on a son-in-law who is equally inexperienced in all these matters.

Specifically with regard to North Korea and the Middle East, Schiff tells Couric: Id feel more comfortable knowing that [Trump] was relying on Gen. Mattis and Gen. McMaster than his son-in-law.

Schiff said his real issue is that President Trump is trying to run the country just as he ran his family business  and its just not the same thing. And when you add the fact that the family business has so many financial entanglements, and there are so many issues that have already arisen about whether what the president is doing is in the national interest or his familys financial interest, the heightened role now that his son-in-law plays only aggravates all those concerns.

Schiff also spoke about the report in the Washington Post that Blackwater founder Erik Prince (who is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos) held a secret meeting in the Seychelles to establish a line of communication between president-elect Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. If it were aboveboard, then why all the skullduggery and hiding in the Seychelles and having a third party arrange this back channel? So, there are, I think, a lot of important questions to be answered, says Schiff.
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 Islamist militants. A joint statement said the two leaders agreed on the importance of advancing peace throughout the Middle East, including in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, and expressed interest in supporting Israel and the Palestinians in moving toward peace. "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 you, 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. The joint statement said Trump and Sisi agreed that Islamist militants could not be defeated solely by military force. It said the leaders "agreed on the necessity of recognizing the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world." 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 pre-trial detention is 24 months. A senior administration official said the subject of Hijazi did not come up in the meeting with Trump, Sisi and their advisers, but said the detention was an issue of concern and a case that was being watched closely by the Trump administration. At the United Nations in New York, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the Trump administration was not backing away from human rights "because they fully support me speaking about human rights in the Security Council." 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. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Ayesha Rascoe, Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Editing by James Dalgleish and Paul Tait)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors said Tuesday that they were seeking jail terms of up to 43 years for 19 journalists and employees of the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, in a case that has intensified concerns about press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The journalists, most of whom have been held in jail for the last five months, are accused of membership in a banned "terror group" and aiding outlawed organisations.

Turkey's oldest national daily, the staunchly secular Cumhuriyet has been a thorn in Erdogan's side in recent months as the president seeks to expand his powers in an April 16 referendum.

Its former editor in chief, Can Dundar, was last year handed a five-year-and-10-month jail term and has now fled Turkey for Germany over a front-page story accusing the government of sending weapons to Syria.

The indictment by Istanbul prosecutors, which has taken five months to produce, accuses Cumhuriyet of being under the control since 2013 of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based preacher blamed for the failed coup attempt last July.

It also accuses the paper of cooperating with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as well as ultra-leftist militants.

Several of the suspects are accused of using a messaging app called Bylock that Turkey says was used to orchestrate the failed coup.

- Sharp critics of Gulen -

Those held under arrest include some of the biggest names in Turkish journalism, including the paper's current editor in chief, Murat Sabuncu; commentator Kadri Gursel; writer Ahmet Sik; cartoonist Musa Kart; and Dundar himself.

Prosecutors want Sabuncu and Gursel to face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty while the paper's chairman, Akin Atalay, faces up to 43 years, according to the indictment.

Kart faces up to 29 years and Sik, an expert on the Gulen movement who wrote a book sharply critical of its operations, up to 15.

Dundar, who also faces up to 15 years in jail, denounced the charges on his Germany-based Turkish news website Ozguruz.

Story continues

"How can a prosecutor rule on the editorial policy of a newspaper?" he asked.

He said that Cumhuriyet has long warned of the dangers of Gulen's organisation and that prosecutors would not find a "shred of support" for the group in its writings.

Since the arrests, Cumhuriyet has continued to keep the sections of the jailed columnists but with a blank space, since they are not allowed to write in prison.

Of the 19 suspects in the case, 12 are behind bars pending trial, two are on the run and the rest are free on caution.

According to the P24 press freedom website, there are 141 journalists behind bars in Turkey, most of whom were detained as part of the state of emergency imposed after the failed coup.

- German gets consul visit -

Another prominent figure held behind bars is the Turkey correspondent of Germany's Die Welt newspaper, Deniz Yucel, who was jailed in February on terror charges and is also awaiting trial.

The German consul in Istanbul, Georg Birgelen, on Tuesday made the first consular visit to Yucel since his detention on February 14, the German foreign ministry's state secretary Michael Roth told reporters in Istanbul.

Roth said that Yucel was "doing well under the circumstances" but that solitary confinement at the Silviri jail outside the city was weighing on him.

He expressed regret that the visit -- which came after weeks of pressure from Berlin -- was a one-off with no guarantee of further consular access.

Critics have accused the government of using the state of emergency to crack down on all forms of opposition, but the Turkish authorities insist that those held are jailed for crimes other than their journalism.
Last month, the White House unveiled its hard power budget blueprint, which proposed a $54-billion increase in defense and national security spending, along with massive cuts to foreign assistance and multilateral funding. President Donald Trump intended the budget to send a message to allies and adversaries alike that the United States will put American security and interests first. Absent from this document was any mention of the values and freedoms that have long been the foundation of U.S. foreign policy. This is a mistake. Despotic and kleptocratic governments all over the world will take this as proof that they have carte blanche to crack down on their citizens, while human rights defenders will conclude that they have been abandoned by the United States. More importantly, such sentiments threaten the global norms and alliances that have propelled American prosperity and security since the end of World War II.

It is too early to tell how the promotion of human rights will feature in this administrations foreign policy. On Monday, the White House notably called on Russia to release all of the peaceful protestors detained during large anti-corruption protests over the weekend. Press Secretary Sean Spicer went further, underscoring the right of people everywhere to accountable government and to exercise their rights without fear of retribution. This was the first mention by the Trump administration of human rights abuses in Russia or elsewhere, and was a positive first step. However, it came on the heels of many statements and indications that the administration will put human rights on the back burner.

For example, the president called Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a fantastic guy, in spite of the Egyptian strongmans attempts to muzzle the media, independent civil society organizations, and others who dare to speak out against his rule. Trump apparently endorsed Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs that has been responsible for the unlawful killing of over 7,000 suspected drug dealers and users. Rumors abound that the administration is considering pulling out of the U.N. Human Rights Council, an international body that has been greatly strengthened by Americas engagement. And the White House seems to be in favor of moving forward with the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain, despite the governments intensified clampdown on the political opposition and plan to try civilians in military courts.

Story continues

Of course, U.S. global leadership on democracy and human rights is not merely based on what it says or does overseas. What matters more is the example that America sets. By that measure, the Trump administration has already significantly eroded U.S. credibility. Why would another country listen to the United States about protecting vulnerable populations, given perceptions that the immigration and refugee executive order was religiously motivated? What authority does America have standing up for besieged journalists when the president of the United States has tweeted that the news media is the enemy of the American People? How can U.S. diplomats press security partners to protect civilians during military operations while the White House is contemplating loosening drone strike restrictions that seek to prevent civilian casualties? Rights-abusing countries will have a much easier time brushing away U.S. criticisms of their behavior so long as these deficiencies persist at home.

Authoritarian governments  weary of the United States prodding them on human rights and critical of what they perceive as Western meddling in their sovereign affairs  are likely celebrating this turn of events. The president of Turkey, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed Trumps election and heralded an era of greater cooperation. Increasingly rebuked by the Obama administration for his consolidation of power and crackdown on the military and judiciary, especially after a failed coup attempt in July 2016, Erdogan has much to gain by the United States looking the other way as Turkey creeps toward authoritarianism. Countries from Saudi Arabia to Cambodia appear less inhibited in going after political opponents, assuming that Trumps election means that they will get a free pass on human rights violations.

By no means is authoritarian retrenchment a new phenomenon. For the past decade, governments have been dismantling democratic institutions and curtailing human rights. Freedom House has documented 11 straight years in which there have been more declines in political and civil liberties than gains. However, the United States often served as a check on the worst impulses of autocrats. Without a champion of human rights in the White House, such regimes will likely go unchallenged as they commit egregious abuses and power grabs.

This capitulation would have major security and economic consequences for the United States and its closest allies. In addition to the moral imperative, America has strong interests in supporting democracy and human rights abroad.

First, democratic countries make the best, most stable partners. Democracies are more likely to form alliances and cooperate with other democracies and less likely to get embroiled in conflict. The U.S. military understands the value of having partners that respect human rights and the rule of law, and thus invests billions a year in enhancing the professionalism of security forces overseas. Recent research has deepened our understanding of the benefits for American security of having broad and deep ties to other countries. In a statistical analysis of Muslim-majority countries cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism, Peter S. Henne found states that received more foreign assistance were more collaborative than those that did not. Conversely, emboldened dictators tend to pursue foreign policy agendas that are erratic and destructive for the United States and its allies. North Korean ruler Kim Jong Uns spate of nuclear tests and missile launches and Russian President Vladimir Putins annexation of Crimea and incursions into eastern Ukraine are emblematic of the kind of aggressive behavior the international community has come to expect from autocratic leaders.

Second, contrary to the presidents assertions, the United States has benefitted immensely from the liberal world order that it helped create. From the ashes of World War II, America invested in interlocking political and economic institutions, alliances, and norms  based on universal human rights, shared values, and the rule of law  that would prevent large-scale conflict and displacement in the future and fuel Europes recovery from the war. The United States has been both the primary engine and beneficiary of this liberal international order. To be clear, inequality has been a terrible byproduct of this system  and too many have been left behind. But, far from being victimized by globalization, the United States has enjoyed nearly 70 years of unparalleled influence because of its investment in the promotion of democracy and human rights.

Finally, U.S. support for democracy and human rights matters in peoples lives. It is true that the United States has been far from perfect in championing human rights, especially where America has short-term security interests. Yet there is no other country that can substitute for the United States when it comes to fighting for universal freedoms. American presidents, members of Congress, and cabinet secretaries have personally intervened to get political prisoners released from jail, prevent genocide, and bring war criminals to justice. The solidarity expressed by U.S. political and civil leaders has provided sustenance and hope to human rights defenders in the grimmest conditions. An Egyptian activist once pulled a speech given by President Barack Obama on the vital contributions of civil society out of his pocket and said to me, When I heard these words, I knew I wasnt alone.

At a moment in which the forces of nationalism, authoritarianism, and hatred threaten to tear our societies apart again, the United States needs to make sure that those bravely fighting against repression and injustice all around the world know that they have not been forgotten.

Photo credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images
By Robert Iafolla WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. labor leader Richard Trumka on Tuesday blasted the Trump administrations initial plan to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling it "very timid." Speaking before an audience at the National Press Club, Trumka said that the administration could leave the "most oppressive pieces" of NAFTA in place despite President Donald Trump's harsh criticism of the 23-year-old trade deal with Mexico and Canada. Trump called NAFTA a "disaster" throughout the 2016 election campaign, but the plan outlined in a draft notification letter would preserve many of its provisions, including a settlement system for other disputes that circumvents local courts. The U.S. Trade Representatives office circulated the letter with its NAFTA objectives to members of Congress for review. The letter, seen by Reuters, is part of the legal process required to start negotiations to revamp the NAFTA. The AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization of unions representing 12.5 million workers, endorsed Trump's opponent in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton. But the AFL-CIO has long been critical of NAFTA and Trumka, the labor federation's president, met with Trump after the election. Trumka said on Tuesday that the AFL-CIO will judge the Trump administration based on its actions and provide backing when it supports workers. How Trump handles the revamping of NAFTA will be the real test, Trumka said. Trumka said there are dozens of changes to the trade pact that unions favor, such as making its labor standards fully enforceable and scrapping the entire dispute resolution system for antidumping and antisubsidy cases. (Reporting by Robert Iafolla; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
In 2014, the Office of Naval Research embarked on a four-year, $3.85 million research program to explore the phenomena it calls premonition and intuition, or Spidey sense, for sailors and Marines.

We have to understand what gives rise to this so-called sixth sense, says Peter Squire, a program officer in ONRs Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism department. Todays Navy scientists place less emphasis on trying to understand the phenomena theoretically and more on using technology to examine the mysterious process, which Navy scientists assure the public is not based on superstition. If the researchers understand the process, there may be ways to accelerate it  and possibly spread the powers of intuition throughout military units, says Dr. Squire. The Pentagons focus is to maximize the power of the sixth sense for operational use. If we can characterize this intuitive decision-making process and model it, then the hope is to accelerate the acquisition of these skills, says Lieutenant Commander Brent Olde of ONRs Warfighter Performance Department for Human and Bioengineered Systems. [Are] there ways to improve premonition through training? he asks.

According to the Pentagon, the program was born of field reports from the war theater, including a 2006 incident in Iraq, when Staff Sergeant Martin Richburg, using intuition, prevented carnage in an IED, or improvised explosive device, incident. Commander Joseph Cohn, a program manager at the naval office, told the New York Times, These reports from the field often detailed a sixth sense or Spidey sense that alerted them to an impending attack or I.E.D., or that allowed them to respond to a novel situation without consciously analyzing the situation.

More than a decade later, todays Defense Department has accelerated practical applications of this concept. Active-duty Marines are being taught to hone precognitive skills in order to preempt snipers, IED emplacers and other irregular assaults [using] advanced perceptual competences that have not been well studied. Because of the stigma of ESP and PK, the nomenclature has changed, allowing the Defense Department to distance itself from its remote-viewing past. Under the Perceptual Training Systems and Tools banner, extrasensory perception has a new name in the modern era: sensemaking. In official Defense Department literature sensemaking is defined as a motivated continuous effort to understand connections (which can be among people, places, and events) in order to anticipate their trajectories and act effectively.

Over decades, wars change location and weapons design evolves, while mans perceptual capacities remain relatively close to what they have been for thousands of years. Fifty years ago in Vietnam, Joe McMoneagle used his sixth sense to avoid stepping on booby traps, falling into punji pits, and walking into Viet Cong ambushes. His ability to sense danger was not lost on his fellow soldiers, and the power of his intuitive capabilities spread throughout his military unit. Other soldiers had confidence in this subconscious ability and followed McMoneagles lead. In a life-or-death environment there was no room for skepticism or ignominy. If it saved lives, it was real. Since 1972, CIA and DoD research indicates that premonition, or precognition, appears to be weak in some, strong in others, and extraordinary in a rare few. Will the Navys contemporary work on sensemaking, the continuous effort to understand the connections among people, places, and events, finally unlock the mystery of ESP? Might technology available to todays defense scientists reveal hypothe- ses not available to scientists in an earlier age?

At Naval Hospital Bremerton, in Washington State, defense scientists and military researchers are exploring cognition and perception in soldiers virtual dream states. Starting in 2011, as part of a research program called Power Dreaming, soldiers plagued by PTSD-related nightmares have used biofeedback techniques similar to those studied by Colonel John Alexander in the Intelligence and Security Commands Beyond Excellence program, under General Albert Stubblebine. For todays Navy, biofeedback has been updated with twenty-first-century virtual reality technology that did not exist 30 years ago. Sponsored by the Naval Medical Research Center, the Power Dreaming program involves a process called Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Warrior Trainees. Participants are active-duty soldiers suffering from PTSD-related nightmares who are eligible to be sent back to the battlefield. The method, called redreaming, is alleged to be a learned technique that produces changes in the way ones brain processes information. Its goal is to teach trainees to transform their debilitating nightmares into empowering dreams using bio- feedback techniques and computer technology.

Biofeedback, born in 1962, draws on the idea that the human brain (millions of years in the making) can benefit from seeing itself work in real time. Some of the life processes the trainee can see in real time are his brain waves, heart rate, muscle tension, skin conductance, and pain perception. The process goes like this: when the soldier wakes up from a nightmare, he gets out of bed and goes to a nearby government-issued computer. He puts on 3-D goggles and straps a Heart Rate Variability biofeedback device onto his forearm so that biofeedback can be integrated into the redreaming process. Hooked up to these two devices, the soldier opens a software program called the Book of Dreams. With a few clicks on the keyboard, he enters the virtual world Second Life.

Jacobsen is a journalist and the author of Phenomena, from which this was adapted, and the Pulitzer finalist The Pentagons Brain, among other books.
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will be briefed on Wednesday, at the request of Britain and France, on a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed dozens of people, including 11 children, in the northwestern province of Idlib. France, the United States and Britain blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces for the attack on Tuesday. The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons. "We obviously are very concerned about what happened with the Syrian chemical weapon attack so we'll be having an emergency meeting tomorrow morning in the open chamber," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters. The United States is president of the 15-member council for April. The body had been due to hold its monthly closed-door briefing on chemical weapons in Syria on Wednesday afternoon. British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the Idlib attack "demonstrates once again that the regime will stop at nothing to remain in power, even the use of the most heinous weapons imaginable." He said one reason for holding a Security Council meeting was "to put pressure on those who vetoed previous action to call to account those who used chemical weapons and to ask them what their plan is now." In February Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, cast its seventh veto to protect the government of President Bashar al-Assad from council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the six-year-long conflict. China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi defended Beijing's veto and told reporters of the Idlib attack: "It's a serious issue and we really need to take a professional look at what has actually happened." "It will certainly complicate the peace talks and ... we believe that it is highly critical that we keep the peace talks going and also for the peace talks to produce concrete results to improve the situation on the ground," Liu said. An investigation by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas. "Any sort of report of use of chemical weapons, especially on civilians is extremely alarming and disturbing. Any use of chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to peace and security and is a serious violation of international law," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)
By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy aid unit has been told to leave Cambodia, the U.S. embassy said, in a new sign of the Southeast Asian country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing. The departure of the U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion - known as the Seabees - meant the cancellation of 20 planned projects, including at schools and hospitals, the embassy said on its Facebook page on Monday. "Last week, the Royal Government of Cambodia notified the Embassy of its decision to postpone indefinitely the Seabees program," the embassy said. "We are sad to see the Seabees go, but proud of their accomplishments over the last nine years." Cambodian defense ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said he was unaware of such a decision. Cambodia has gone further than other Southeast Asian nations in courting China and the shift away from Washington has continued under U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's professed admiration for him. Relations have been strained by U.S. criticism of a legal change that made it easier for the government to ban political parties and by renewed Cambodian demands for the cancellation of $500 million in debts dating from the war era of the 1970s. In January, Cambodia suspended joint military exercises that were due to have been held in June. Cambodia said it was because it would be too busy with elections then and rejected any connection to China. Last year, Beijing held a joint naval drill with Cambodia for the first time. Cambodia's armed forces have benefited from Chinese training and equipment including jeeps, rocket launchers and helicopters. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has boasted of his new friendship with China despite a longstanding territorial dispute. Thailand's military junta has increased purchases of Chinese hardware, including a further 10 tanks approved by the cabinet on Tuesday. The reduction in military links with Cambodia would be a setback for U.S. strategy in the region but Hun Sen could also end up losing out, said Carl Thayer, professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy. "His anti-U.S. actions will only increase Cambodia's dependency on China," he said. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Nick Macfie)
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to slap new sanctions on Iran has been delayed in the U.S. Senate due to concerns about Iran's May presidential election, in which conservative hardliners hope to defeat moderate President Hassan Rouhani, U.S. lawmakers said on Tuesday. A group of Democratic and Republican senators introduced the bill in March seeking to impose tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran over ballistic missile launches and other non-nuclear activities, echoing a harder line on Tehran espoused by Republican President Donald Trump. But on Tuesday, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, said the bill would not move forward for now. "We've got a Iran sanctions bill that has a number of co-sponsors that wasn't able to markup at present because of concerns about how the European Union might react and (Iranian) elections that are coming up," Corker said during a hearing on the EU as a U.S. partner in dealings with Russia. A markup is when a committee meets to debate legislation and to consider amendments. Corker was a co-sponsor of the new sanctions bill, as were several other Democratic and Republican members of the Foreign Relations Committee. As he has campaigned, Rouhani has called for greater individual freedoms and highlighted as a signature achievement the 2015 diplomatic breakthrough reached with the United States and other world powers, in which Iran curbed its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The lawmakers who wrote the bill said it had been written specifically not to interfere with the nuclear accord. But Iran has suggested that it would consider past proposed sanctions bills violations of the international pact reached during the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Every Republican in the U.S. Congress opposed the nuclear agreement. Trump criticized it while he campaigned for president in 2016, but his administration has so far said that it would seek to strictly enforce the pact rather than tear it up. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
London (AFP) - British zoos are worried that Britain's failure to secure a Brexit deal would diminish their ability to protect and breed endangered species, the sector's head said on Wednesday.

"The lack of clarity from the Government at the moment is very concerning," Kirsten Pullen, chief executive of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) told the Press Association.

Withdrawal from the EU without a deal in place could mean Britain is forced to leave European Endangered Species Programmes.

It would then have to negotiate deals country by country, a time consuming process that could leave species with short life spans and limited breeding cycles vulnerable, Pullen warned.

Under European Union regulations, zoos across the bloc can transfer animals to one another as part of a coordinated breeding programme aimed at maintaining genetically healthy populations of endangered species.

Species that have benefited from the programme recently include rare Sumatran tigers, Indian one-horned rhinos and elephants.

"It is hard to pinpoint a particular species within our breeding programmes because all of them could potentially be impacted if we suddenly can't deal on a European basis, or it's much harder to deal on a European basis," Pullen said.

She added, however, that it could create "potential for opportunity", as Britain could find it easier to work with countries like Australia and the United States once outside the bloc.
Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine expects another $4.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of the year, the National Bank said Tuesday, one day after the fund granted $1 billion for the cash-strapped country.

"According to our forecasts, we expect the receipt of approximately $4.5 billion -- these are three tranches from the IMF -- by the end of this year," the National Bank's deputy head, Oleg Churiy, told journalists.

Just a day before, the IMF had announced the release of a $1 billion loan disbursal to Ukraine, which had been postponed following the trade blockade imposed by Kiev on Russia-backed separatist eastern regions of the country.

Ukraine's pro-western leadership has been desperately waiting for the next instalment of a $17.5-billion rescue programme that has been held up repeatedly since it was agreed in 2015 over delays by Kiev to carry out reforms.

The World Bank released a fresh forecast on Tuesday, projecting Ukraine's economic growth at two percent for 2017.

"There are significant headwinds from the weak global economy and the conflict in the east of Ukraine," said World Bank economist Faruk Khan.

"The coal and trade blockade in the uncontrolled areas of the east of Ukraine are expected to primarily impact two key sectors -- steel production and electricity generation," the expert said in Kiev.

"As a result, our projection of economic growth for 2017 remains modest."

The World Bank also underlined "the instant need to further accelerate reforms" that can make Ukraine's economic recovery "durable".

"So much more needs to be done," said Satu Kahkonen, the World Bank's country director for Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine.

On Monday, the IMF issued a similar outlook, calling on Kiev to privatize more state-owned companies, create a market for farmland, and overhaul its retirement pension system by making people work longer. The IMF also said Ukraine must fight corruption.

Story continues

In a fresh forecast released Tuesday, the IMF also predicted two percent growth in the country this year but expressed more optimism about 2018, with an expected economic expansion of 3.2 percent.

"The strength and durability of the recovery depend critically upon the pace and depth of structural reforms in the coming years," the IMF said in its annual review of the Ukrainian economy.

"Rapid and more inclusive growth of at least four percent will be needed over the medium term to recover the lost ground and noticeably improve incomes. Even then, it would take more than a generation for Ukraine to catch up with its regional peers," the IMF said.
Nicosia (AFP) - Rival Cypriot leaders have agreed to restart stalled peace talks next week on reunifying the island, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The announcement came after Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci met UN chief Antonio Guterres in Brussels.

"Special Adviser of the Secretary-General (SASG) on Cyprus, Mr Espen Barth Eide, has announced the Cyprus Talks will resume following consultations with both sides and today's meeting between the Secretary-General and the Turkish Cypriot leader," a UN statement said.

"The leaders will resume negotiations at 10am on Tuesday 11 April 2017. The meeting will be held under the auspices of SASG Eide," it added.

The announcement comes after Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Akinci met for dinner on Sunday for the first time since talks were suspended in February.

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".

Earlier on Tuesday before the UN announcement, Anastasiades told reporters the Greek Cypriots were ready to resume talks at any time.

"Our position remains that we are ready at any given moment to continue the dialogue... The whole effort is focused on our desire for a solution to the Cyprus problem," Anastasiades said.

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.

- Climate of trust crumbled -

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 in the talks after the Cyprus parliament approved a move for Greek Cypriot schools to commemorate the poll.

Since the bill passed, a previous climate of trust between the two sides has crumbled, with each blaming the other for the impasse.

Story continues

Parliamentarians are now expected to amend the bill, allowing the education minister, rather than parliament itself, 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.

Obstacles to progress will remain 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 into the mix is a Greek Cypriot presidential election next February and the republic's search for oil and gas.

New exploratory drills are expected in June, but Ankara wants to see these stopped until peace talks have reached an outcome.

The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking Enosis -- the Greek 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 Anastasiades joined the European Union as a divided country.

The self-declared republic in the Turkish-held north is recognised only by Turkey.
The State Department announced Monday that it would cut funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a policy shift that could directly impact the lives of girls and women around the world.

Foggy Bottom claims that the UNFPA, which funds reproductive health and family planning in 150 countries around the world, supports or participates in the Chinese governments policies of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization.

UNFPA said in a statement Tuesday that the State Dept.s decision was based on an erroneous claim, and said its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.

A State Department spokesperson pointed to the 1985 Kemp-Kasten amendment, which prohibits U.S. taxpayer money from funding abortion or forced sterilization anywhere in the world. That spokesperson noted that Chinas family planning policies are coercive, and that UNFPA partners with Chinas National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), which is responsible for implementing Chinas family planning policies.

However, some find the impetus behind the decision to be largely political, not legal.

There are extreme conservatives in the House that have an overall appetite to cut off U.S. funding for basic healthcare for girls and women around the world, and unfortunately funding for UNFPA has been caught up in that political work, said Seema Jalan, the executive director of the Universal Access Project at the U.N. Foundation.

The George W. Bush administration also defunded UNFPA in 2002 amid similar accusations related to the organizations work in China. Former President Barack Obama reinstated funding when he took office.

The United States is the second largest donor to UNFPA overall, and its largest donor for front-line work in the Mediterranean, which includes the only clinic in Iraq for women who have survived sexual violence under the rule of the Islamic State.

Story continues

UNFPA, in its statement refuting the State Departments claims, also noted that, in 2016 alone, it helped 3 million couples prevent unwanted pregnancies and saved 2,340 from dying during pregnancy and childbirth. The 150 countries in which it operates are home to over 80 percent of the worlds population.

UNFPA is involved in crises from Syria to Yemen to South Sudan, because one in five women of childbearing age in crisis situation is likely to be pregnant.

The letter seemed to say that the $32.5 million allocated to UNFPA for the rest of the 2017 fiscal year would go instead to USAID, but a UNFPA representative told Foreign Policy that they had not been informed exactly when this will go into effect.

Other countries have already stepped in to fill the the United States gap. Nordic countries vowed to up their support for abortion and birth control services around the world while Canada pledged $650 million dollars to sexual and reproductive health programs over the next three years.

The pulling of funds is not related to the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, which withdraws government funding from U.S. NGOs that mention or actively promote abortions abroad.

But the double whammy will directly impact the the poorest girls and women on the planet, Jalan said.

Update, April 4 2017, 5:04 pm ET: This piece was updated to include comment from the State Department spokesperson.

Photo credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Washington (AFP) - The United States warned Tuesday that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad must be held accountable for chemical weapons attacks and demanded that Russia and Iran bring their ally to heel.

"While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

President Donald Trump and Tillerson issued separate written statements after a suspected chemical attack left dozens of Syrians dead in a rebel-held town outside.

The US administration has been under fire for concentrating its efforts on the defeat of the jihadist Islamic State group and not on ending Assad's civil war against his domestic opposition.

But Tillerson, who will visit Moscow next week, said the latest attack underlined the need for Russia and Iran to save the civil war peace process by reigning in their ally's excesses.

"Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions," he said.

"Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable.

"We call upon Russia and Iran, yet again, to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again," Tillerson said.

"As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths."
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The US decision to cut funding to the UN Population Fund is based on an inaccurate perception and could be devastating for the health of women and girls worldwide, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.

President Donald Trump's government announced late Monday that it was withdrawing its financial support because of UNFPA's "coercive" family planning practices, including providing abortions.

Guterres deeply regrets the US decision and believes it could have "devastating effects on the health of vulnerable women and girls and their families around the world," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The UN chief believes the US decision is "based on an inaccurate perception of the nature and importance of the work done by UNFPA."

The UN agency provides reproductive health and birth control services in more than 150 countries. Guterres said he had witnessed firsthand the "life-saving character" of its work during his years as UN refugee chief.

The UN chief appealed to donors to step in to fill the gap of $32.5 million for 2017 and allow the agency to continue to do its work.

It was the first cut in US funding to the United Nations promised by the Trump administration, which is also eyeing reducing support for UN peacekeeping and other agencies.

A US statement on Monday said the decision was "based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies."

UNFPA also vigorously pushed back against "erroneous" US charges that it plays a role in forced abortions and sterilizations in China.

"UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination," it said in a statement on Monday.

Story continues

"Indeed, United Nations Member States have long described UNFPA's work in China as a force for good."

The UN Population Fund is financed through voluntary contributions. In 2015, it received a total of $979 million from donors, with the United States providing the third biggest share, after Britain and Sweden.

Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog took a swipe at the US decision, telling reporters that UNFPA "save lives of women and girls around the world".

Trump in January signed an executive order banning US federal funding for foreign organizations that support abortion, mirroring moves made by previous conservative-backed Republican administrations.
Washington (AFP) - February saw the US trade deficit fall to its lowest level in four months as Americans imported fewer goods while exports held steady, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

In its biggest monthly drop since September, the gap shrank 9.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted $43.6 billion on falling imports of cars, consumer goods, fuel and semiconductors.

Analysts were expecting a decrease after the deficit ballooned in January, with revised figures putting that month at the highest level since March of 2015, or $48.2 billion.

In the year to date, however, the deficit was still up 3.1 percent over the same period in 2016.

Trade issues will likely be front and center during meetings later this week between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Commerce Department data showed Tuesday that the US deficit with China gained $1.6 billion to $31.7 billion in February.

Trump's arrival in the White House on an agenda of economic nationalism and revitalized manufacturing and industry has put trade under a bright political spotlight.

Trump has pledged to turn prevailing trade policy on its head, vowing to renegotiate or scrap trade deals, possibly reversing much of the trade liberalization of recent decades.

In a statement released later Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the new administration would press ahead toward its goals.

"While weve seen an improvement in the trade figures between January and February, we continue to be very focused on eliminating our nations trade imbalance," Ross said.

Ross underscored the importance of executive actions Trump took last week, ordering a review of trade deficits and foreign violations of US trade laws and also instituting new procedures to collect duties from "cheating" importers.

Overall US exports of goods rose 0.2 percent for the month to $192.9 billion, with exports of cars, auto parts and engines hitting their highest level since July 2014 and industrial supply exports rising to the highest point in 14 months.

Story continues

But imports fell 1.8 percent to $236.4 billion, down $4.3 billion, driven in part by a $2.6 billion decrease in car imports.

The deficit with Japan fell $600 million to $4.9 billion. The deficit with Germany was also the lowest in more than four years at $3.9 billion. But the deficit with Mexico rose 11.3 percent to $6.2 billion.

Jim O'Sullivan of High Frequency Economics said figures from the first two months of the year suggested net exports were likely to be neutral in calculations of first-quarter economic growth.

"In short, a big drop in the deficit, more than reversing a large rise in January," he wrote in a client note.

Blerina Uruci of Barclays told clients on Tuesday that, along with March's decline in car sales, Tuesday's trade figures put first-quarter estimates of GDP growth at 1 percent over the final three months of 2016.
By Lesley Wroughton and Carlos Rawlins WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's representative to the Organization of American States stormed out of a session of the 34-nation bloc on Monday, calling the meeting a "coup d'etat," as regional pressure grew for President Nicolas Maduro to fully restore democratic rule. The meeting of the OAS Permanent Council was called at the weekend by 20 countries, including the United States, concerned about democratic erosion in Venezuela under Maduro. In a controversial move last week, Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled that it was assuming functions of the opposition-led National Assembly. Critics viewed the ruling as a step toward dictatorship by Maduro's Socialist Party, which has ruled for 18 years. The head of the OAS, Luis Almagro, has called for Venezuela to be expelled from the group, which would further isolate Maduro. Member countries of the OAS could separately impose sanctions on Venezuela as a form of pressure. Monday's meeting was at first canceled, but the bloc began a session in the afternoon despite objections from Maduro's leftist ally Bolivia, which took the bloc's presidency. The meeting proceeded with Honduras as chair. Samuel Moncada, Venezuela's deputy minister of foreign affairs for North America, rejected a resolution condemning developments in Venezuela as an "act of treason." "The convening of this meeting is illegal, we reject it and denounce it to the whole world. This is a coup d'etat right here in the OAS," he said. Referring to the judiciary's takeover last week of the congress' responsibility, which was later rowed back following international outcry, Moncada said: "You're imagining something that no longer exists so that you can promote intervention in Venezuela." The meeting later adopted a resolution calling on Venezuela to restore the full authority of the National Assembly and to restore democratic order by exercising democracy and the rule of law under the constitution. Maduro later spoke at the presidential palace. "The OAS has surpassed itself in its aggression against Venezuela, he said. "It is truly a court of inquisition with all the abuses and vulgarities we have seen the past few days." KEEPING UP PRESSURE Venezuela's opposition sought to keep pressure on Maduro's government with scattered protests on Monday. 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 against the judiciary's takeover last week of congress' responsibilities. One opposition lawmaker who is often at the forefront of protests, Juan Requesens of the Justice First party, suffered a gash to his the head after being hit by a stone during a fracas outside the public ombudsman's office, witnesses said. Protesters took live chickens there to symbolize cowardice, but were confronted by government supporters. Opponents want to bring forward Venezuela's next presidential election, slated for the end of 2018, to try to end Maduro's rule. Maduro alleges a U.S.-led coup plot against his government. Rights groups say more than 100 political leaders and activists are in jail, mostly on trumped-up charges. Officials say all are imprisoned on legitimate criminal accusations. One opposition party, COPEI, said two of its members were arrested on Sunday and Monday. Military intelligence agents picked up COPEI's Roberto Enriquez and Eduardo Vetancourt and accused them of "rebellion" and "treason," the party said. "This is a fresh attack on those who think differently to the government," it said in a statement. Two military officers have also been detained in recent days, a Venezuelan rights group says. Maduro announced on Monday night public sector employees would have all of next week off, sparking criticism he was trying to distract Venezuelans to defuse street protests. (Additional reporting by Girish Gupta, Deisy Buitrago, Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore in Caracas, Alexandra Ulmer in Quito, Michael O'Boyle in Mexico City; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta; Editing by James Dalgleish, Leslie Adler and Paul Tait)
By Andreina Aponte and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces quelled masked protesters with tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray in Caracas on Tuesday after blocking an opposition rally against socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The clashes began after authorities closed subway stations, set up checkpoints and cordoned off a square where opponents had planned their latest protest against autocratic government and a crippling economic crisis. In cat-and-mouse skirmishes on backstreets and highways around the capital, youths built barricades, burned trash and hurled rocks and bottles at soldiers and police. Various opposition leaders organised roadblocks. Police used pepper spray on National Assembly head Julio Borges, two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and rights activist Lilian Tintori, as they led protesters onto highways and jostled at barricades, witnesses said. Opposition activists said armed pro-government gangs joined the fray and opened fire. "About 50-100 guys arrived on bike and started to shoot in the air," protester Bernardo Sanchez told local media, saying a bullet had lodged in his thigh. In one street, kneeling women sang the national anthem as neighbours banged pots and pans from nearby buildings in a show of anger against a government they blame for a deep recession that has led to shortages of food and basics. "We're going to get rid of them but we have to fight," said Jose Zapata, 57, an electrician, as he marched with a stick in his hand. Overlooking one wide avenue, some pro-Maduro residents in a state housing project threw trash onto protesters below. With thousands out on both sides, supporters of the 54-year-old president organised their own rally, in a volatile scenario seen constantly during the 18 years of leftist rule in the South American nation. "They want an intervention in Venezuela," said Prisons Ministry worker Juan Aponte, 34, who wore the red colours of the ruling Socialist Party. Protests also were staged in other cities and more are planned across the country for Thursday. The government accuses opposition parties of abetting a U.S.-led plot to topple Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since the 2013 death of Hugo Chavez. INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE Tensions have soared in the oil-producing country's long-running political standoff after the pro-Maduro Supreme Court last week annulled the opposition-led congress' functions. Although the court retracted that ruling over the weekend, the National Assembly remains powerless due to previous court judgements. The renewed instability sent Venezuelan bonds lower, with the benchmark 2027 paper's price down 4.4 percent. Foreign pressure on Maduro has risen as opposition protests resumed late last week. "Here the world can see the dictatorial path Mr. Maduro has chosen," Capriles said. Maduro says the U.S. government and other foes are whipping up hysteria against him to lay the ground for a coup. "From the north (the United States), they give the order to the defeated fascist right of Venezuela to fill the streets with violence and blood," Maduro said on state TV. "In Caracas, in Venezuela, peace has triumphed once again." Maduro's administration is particularly furious with Organisation of American States head Luis Almagro, who is leading regional condemnation. The regional bloc on Monday urged Venezuela to restore congress' authority and guarantee separation of powers, but Venezuela's representative walked out, as did the envoy from fellow leftist Bolivia, which holds the OAS presidency. "The OAS has surpassed itself in aggression against Venezuela," Maduro said late on Monday. "It is a real court of inquisition, carrying out abuses and vulgarities." Venezuela's opposition won a National Assembly majority in late 2015 but the Supreme Court has overturned almost all its measures. Due to the chaos in Caracas, the legislature postponed until Wednesday a session to censure the "rupture" of Venezuela's constitution. Legislators also plan this week to start proceedings to remove Supreme Court judges but that would only be a symbolic rebuke since congress has no power to act. (Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Carlos Rawlins, Eyanir Chinea and Andrew Cawthorne; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Bill Trott, Toni Reinhold)
Mocoa (Colombia) (AFP) - Parents wailed over the coffins of their children while others searched Tuesday for the missing or tended relatives wounded when a mudslide swept them from their beds in southern Colombia.

Broad brown swathes of debris scar the town of Mocoa where the mud surged through on Friday night, sweeping homes away and drowning whole families together.

In the town cemetery, men were busy digging graves in the red soil for dozens of the 273 people so far counted as dead.

Mercy Perenguez had ordered three graves to be dug, for her daughters aged six, 11 and 13.

She was waiting for authorities to release the bodies.

"They are all dark, nearly black, and swollen" from the effects of the flood, Perenguez, 33, told AFP.

Her children were among at least 43 minors killed in the disaster, according to a toll given on Monday by President Juan Manuel Santos.

- Together in death -

At the cemetery, Flor Enil Lozada cried over the brown wooden coffin of her son Jhon, 22.

"Why him? Why did you take him?" she wailed, as her six surviving children stroked her hair and back.

"My son, why have you left us?"

Jhon was swept away along with his wife and 18-month-old daughter when the mud came.

"They loved each other so much. He adored the little girl," Lozada said.

The family wept as they showed photographs on their mobile telephones: the baby girl's first birthday; the girl dancing as a toddler; the young couple kissing.

"They were three in one and that is how they have ended up," Lozada said.

"They died together in their bed. They were pulled out all together (from the mud). And now they are together in the grave."

Lozada's mourning in the graveyard was not done. She was waiting for two more coffins to be brought: those of her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

- Swept away -

Ramiro Mora wandered the streets with a mask over his nose and mouth to keep out the dust that rose as the mud dried.

Story continues

Over the mask, only his tear-reddened eyes could be seen.

He was looking for his 18-year-old daughter, Rudy.

"She has a scar here on her right arm. She is pale, blonde," he said.

Rudy was swept away in the deluge as her father tried to cling to her and his two other children.

"We were holding onto each other's hands when I heard her say: 'Help me, help me," he said.

"But I couldn't, because we were all covered" by the mud.

- State of emergency -

Monday night saw the passing of the crucial three-day point, after which rescuers warn it is rare to find survivors from a disaster like this.

The Red Cross said it had a list of 311 missing people being sought by their families.

The governor of the surrounding Putumayo department, Sorrel Aroca, said Mocoa had a population of 70,000 of which some 45,000 were affected by the disaster.

The government and aid groups were giving out food and vaccinations to those whose homes were destroyed.

Officials said 80 percent of the town was without electricity.

Santos declared a state of emergency and named his Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas to head the reconstruction effort.

Villegas told reporters it could take up to three years to rebuild the town.

- Love of God -

Many locals have said homes should never have been built so close to the banks of the three rivers that flooded Mocoa.

"It was an area at risk. The river reclaimed its space," said one mourner by a graveside in the cemetery

Flowers and balloons for a child decked one of the graves. Nearby a man played a tune on a guitar to try to raise morale.

At his side, another drowned out the music with his cries.

"If my God loved us, he would not kill us like this."
President Donald Trump will meet with about 50 business leaders at the White House on Tuesday to discuss different ways to create a pro-business climate in the United States.

Chief executives from Citigroup Inc., Blackstone Group LP, JetBlue Airways, the New York Stock Exchange and Mastercard will participate in the discussion, Reuters reported. The discussion will focus on infrastructure, government, workforce development and improving the business climate.

A slew of White House officials including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will participate in the round-table discussion. First Daughter Ivanka Trump, who is now serving as a senior advisor to the president, will also be there.

White House spokesman Lindsay Walters said the event serves as an opportunity to discuss policies to create a pro-business climate with top partnership CEOs from all industries.

Trump has held similar discussions with tech executives and business leaders throughout his tenure in the White House as well as during the presidential transition period after he was elected. In February, Trump met with 24 CEOs at the White House to discuss American manufacturing.

The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. Watch the discussion live in the video above.

This article was originally published on TIME.com
(Reuters) - West Ham United midfielder Michail Antonio and striker Diafra Sakho are expected to feature in Wednesday's Premier League trip to Arsenal, manager Slaven Bilic has said. Antonio, the club's top scorer this season with nine goals, has recovered from a hamstring injury suffered against Leicester last month, while Sakho returned to training last week after four months out with a back injury. "Mikey (Antonio) is available for tomorrow night and we'll decide today if he's going to start," Bilic told in a news conference on Tuesday. "Diafra (Sakho) is back and when you talk to him he says he is ready. He was out for a long time, had a back operation, and looks good. "Diafra may be on the bench tomorrow. I haven't decided yet, but he is very, very close." After West Ham lost their fourth consecutive league game at Hull City on Saturday, the club's owners felt compelled to issue a statement saying they had "100 percent faith" in the manager. Bilic was pleased to receive the vote of confidence and reiterated that he was not worried about his future at the club. "I don't have to read the papers to know my relationship with the board," the 48-year-old Croatian added. "It's nice to hear it but I know I have the confidence of the board. When I wasn't worried before, I'm not relieved now." West Ham, who are currently 14th in the league, have won four of their 15 away games this season. (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru)
By Kate Murphy

Equal pay is a hot-button issue and has its own day on April 4.

Equal Pay Day began in 1996 to raise public awareness about the gap between mens and womens wages, and there have been many efforts over the years to mind the pay gap.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law. Then in 1964, the Civil Rights Act expanded protections against discrimination based on race, origin, color, religion or sex.

But the one-two punch of these two laws still didnt knock out pay inequality in the workplace.

In 2007, Lilly Ledbetter became the face of the equal-pay movement when she brought her wage discrimination case against Goodyear Tire all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2009, then-President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which allows people to sue 180 days after each pay disparity, rather than only 180 days after the initial paycheck.

Despite steps forward, its 2017, and women are still fighting to make as much money as men. The U.S. Census Bureau found that on average, a woman makes 79.6 cents for every dollar a man makes.

That brings us back to Equal Pay Day. April 4 symbolizes how far into the next year a woman must work to earn what a man earned the previous year. For example, if he earned $40,000 in 2016, it would take her until April 4 of this year to earn that same $40,000.

Equal Pay Day is recognized on a Tuesday because that shows how far into the next week women must work to make the same amount men made the previous week, on average.

According to a study from the Institute for Womens Policy Research, the gender wage gap wont close nationally until 2059. For African-American women, it wont be until 2124, and for Latino women it wont be until 2248.

So whats being done about this?

At the national level, in 2014, the Paycheck Fairness Act was proposed to add more protections to the Equal Pay Act. Then-Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., sponsored the bill and in 2014 said on the Senate floor, [The bill] deals with this whole issue of retaliation. The Lilly Ledbetter bill did not address employers who are currently able to legally retaliate against workers who share salary information.

Story continues

But it has stalled in Congress time and again.

On the campaign trail, womens equal pay rights were a family affair for the Trumps. Last year at the Republican National Convention, Ivanka Trump said that her father will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this, too, right alongside of him.

In February, Ivanka Trump attended a meeting with her father and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address women in the workforce, specifically entrepreneurs.

President Trump said, We need policies that help keep women in the workforce.

So as efforts to close the gender wage gap continue, when it comes to Equal Pay Day and its significance, at least you can say, Now I get it.
By Steve Holland and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned a Syrian chemical weapons attack that killed dozens and blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but did not say how he would respond despite calls from France for stronger U.S. leadership. Trump said the attack in Syria's Idlib province was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world," although he also sought to blame his predecessor, Barack Obama. "These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said in a statement. "President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing." The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons. The chemical weapons attack on Tuesday, which killed scores of people, including children, came a week after both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said their focus in Syria was on stopping Islamic State militants rather than pushing Assad to leave power. A senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday the government was looking at policy options after the attack in Idlib but that the options were limited and that the views expressed by Tillerson and Haley still held. "Nothing has changed in terms of that dynamic. Our ability to get rid of him doesnt rise because he does something terrible," the official said. France's foreign minister said the suspected chemical weapons attack was a way of testing the Trump administration and urged Washington to clarify its position on Assad. "The question is to know, yes or no, whether the Americans support a political transition in Syria, which means organizing this transition, elections and that at the end of the process the question of Assad's departure is asked," Jean-Marc Ayrault told RTL radio. A member of the Syrian opposition said the attack was a "direct consequence" of the recent U.S. statements on Assad. Another senior U.S. official said Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both key allies against Islamic State, had indicated the militant group was a higher priority than ousting Assad and that his removal would only add to the chaos in the region. 'CLEARLY A WAR CRIME' Nonetheless, the nature of the attack was jarring to the new Trump administration. "If its what it looks like, it is clearly a war crime," said a senior State Department official, adding that the government was still gathering information. A U.S. government source said Washington believed the chemical agent sarin was used in the attack and that it was "almost certainly" carried out by forces loyal to Assad. "Those outside backers who are said to be guarantors of the (Assad) regime obviously have a lot to answer for, the State Department official said, referring to Russia and Iran, which have provided military backing for Assad. Early in the Syria war, Obama insisted Assad had to leave power. In later years, his administration shifted its focus to the fight against Islamic State militants, who captured swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said Trump's position was similar to Obama's "risk-aversion" strategy in Syria. "Unlike the previous administration though, this one is making explicit what was implicit under Obama: The goal was not getting rid of Assad but destroying ISIS," he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Mark Hosenball and John Walcott; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)
Washington (AFP) - The White House accused Bashar al-Assad of carrying out a "reprehensible" and "intolerable" chemical attack in Syria Tuesday, the sharpest criticism of his regime since Donald Trump became president.

Press secretary Sean Spicer said an "extremely alarmed" Trump was briefed extensively by security aides on the suspected attack, which killed dozens in the rebel town of Khan Sheikhun.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible," Spicer said in a prepared statement.

The administration, Spicer said, was "confident" that Assad was to blame but refused to speculate on how the US would respond.

"I'm not ready to talk about our next step, but we will get there soon," he said.

The Syrian army and Russia have categorically denied involvement.

Since coming to office in January, Trump had softened US criticism of the regime in Damascus -- which owes its survival to Russian and Iranian government backing.

Earlier this week Spicer indicated that the White House no longer saw Assad's departure as necessary for peace.

But amid diplomatic pressure from European allies in Britain and France, the White House signaled a tougher line.

Spicer said it was a "political reality" that Assad is in power and there was no "fundamental option of regime change," but he suggested it was in the "best interest" of Syrians that Assad not be in power.

"The idea that someone would use chemical weapons on their own people, including women and children, is not something that any civilized nation should sit back and accept or tolerate," he said.

"I think it's in the best interest of the Syrian people to not have anybody who would do the kind of heinous acts," said Spicer.

"Any leader who treats their people with this kind of activity, death and destruction. Yeah. I don't think anyone would wish this upon anybody."

Story continues

- Collision course? -

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the attack on Khan Sheikhun.

That debate could test the limits of Russia's detente with the Trump administration.

In February, Russia vetoed sanctions against Syrian officials blamed for previous chemical attacks, with little White House pushback.

But the Trump administration and the Kremlin could now be on a collision course.

President Vladimir Putin has long seen the Assad regime as a vehicle to strengthen Russia's foothold in the Middle East and expose the US as unable or unwilling to defend its allies and interests.

- 'Weakness and irresolution' -

Republican Senator John McCain said the latest chemical attack showed the White House could not allow Assad to remain in place.

"In case it was not already painfully obvious: the notion that the Syrian people would be able to decide the fate of Assad or the future of their country under these conditions is an absurd fiction," he said.

"The recent statements by US officials suggesting otherwise only serve to legitimize the actions of this war criminal in Damascus."

But the White House rejected the notion that its initial stance on Syria may have emboldened Assad's regime to carry out Tuesday's attack.

Spicer instead deflected blame onto Barack Obama's administration.

Obama famously drew a red line over Assad's chemical weapons use, only to backtrack and negotiate a deal with Russia to take Syria's chemical stockpile off the battlefield.

Despite the agreement, some crude chemical weapons remain in use.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Spicer said.
WASHINGTON  The White House released a statement on Tuesday blaming the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack that reportedly left dozens dead in that country  and blaming former President Barack Obama for not doing more to get rid of Assad. White House press secretary Sean Spicer read the statement in his daily press briefing on Tuesday, where he also faced questions about the Trump administrations position on Syria.

The reported chemical attack came on the heels of a series of comments by Spicer and other officials last week indicating that President Trump is open to having Assad remain in office, a policy Spicer said reflected the political realities in the country. Syria has been torn apart by a civil war since 2011, and the chemical attack occurred in an area held by rebels fighting Assads regime. According to local reports, there were dozens of victims, including children, who displayed signs of chemical poisoning. The recent remarks from the Trump administration are a marked departure from the posture of his predecessor, Obama, who repeatedly said Assad must go and provided training and equipment to anti-Assad rebels. The Obama administration also called for the Syrian leader to be prosecuted for war crimes. However, the previous administration did not commit American military power to ousting Assad.

Spicer started the briefing by reading the White Houses statement on the attacks, which was sharply critical of Obamas handling of the situation in Syria.

Todays chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world. These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution, period, said Spicer. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a quote-end-quote red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing, period. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act.

Story continues

Speaking to reporters last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested the Trump administration would not focus on ousting Assad. Tillerson said Assads longer-term status should be decided by the Syrian people. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was even clearer when she told reporters last week that the administrations priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out. Spicer echoed those comments in a briefing last week where he described Assad as part of a political reality we have to accept.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon Tillerson further called on Russia and Iran, both of whom provide support to Assads regime, to help prevent further such atrocities.

We call upon Russia and Iran, yet again, to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again, Tillerson said. As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths.

In Tuesdays briefing, the first question came from Fox News Radios Jon Decker, who asked Spicer for clarity on the administrations position on Syria following these recent remarks.

Spicer pointed to his opening statement, then suggested the statements by Tillerson and Haley speak to the political reality of the situation in Syria. He said there had been opportunities in the past  to look at regime change, but there is now a fundamentally different landscape.

Spicer also said Trump is conferring with his team and allies, but does not want to telegraph what were going to do.

There is not a fundamental option of regime change as there has been in the past. I think we would look like, to some degree, rather silly not acknowledging the political reality thats in existence here and that what we need to do is fundamentally do what we can to empower the people of Syria to find a different way, said Spicer.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Yahoo News then asked Spicer if he was concerned that theres any correlation between the alleged chemical attacks and the views enunciated by Tillerson and Haley. Spicer insisted that the change in tone reflected an assessment of the power balance in Syria, not a warmer attitude toward Assad.

Its not a comfort level with Assad. I think its the political reality, said Spicer. That being said, I think the idea that someone would use chemical weapons on their own people including women and children is not something that any civilized nation should sit back and accept or tolerate. And I think that that is what we are making very clear today.

Yahoo News pressed Spicer by noting that Haleys comment in particular was clearly a change in posture and asking again whether the White House believes there is a correlation between this shift and increased brazenness from Assad.

I dont, said Spicer.

He added that the president is extremely alarmed by the reported chemical attack.

He continues to meet with his national security team, and I think there will be further discussions around the globe with our allies as far as the appropriate action, Spicer said.

Assads regime has been supported by Russia. In the past, Trump urged Obama not to attack Syria. During last years presidential campaign, Trump called for focusing on toppling the jihadist group the Islamic State, which has taken territory in Syria, rather than Assad. That mirrors Russias public position, though analysts have alleged that Russias airstrikes have focused on other rebel groups rather than the Islamic State.

Spicer was asked if the White House was concerned about the possibility of Russian involvement in the chemical attack. He again pointed to his prepared statement condemning Assad.

The statement is very clear as far as who we believe is to blame and how we believe were reacting to it, said Spicer.
Bogota (AFP) - It starts with torrential rain in the mountains. Then a wall of mud and boulders comes barreling down the slopes, sweeping away houses, cars and people.

Like a video stuck on repeat, the story has played out over and over again in recent weeks in South America, where hundreds of people have been killed in landslides.

First they hit Peru, where the indigenous Quechua language has a word for these flash flood-landslides: "huaycos."

More than 100 people have been killed since the start of the year in flooding and landslides in Peru, and more than 100,000 have lost homes or otherwise been affected.

In Colombia, the devastation is even worse.

The southern town of Mocoa was hit by an enormous landslide Friday that killed 262 people, including 43 children.

Why do these natural disasters occur? And why is South America being hit so hard right now?

"Nature has always been like this. Our ancestors understood it better than we do today," said Peruvian architect Augusto Ortiz de Zevallos.

"Just look at the archaeological sites that remain, sheltered from the onslaught of water," he told AFP.

Modernization has led to forests being replaced by farms, eliminating the natural barriers that restrain the water from torrential rains.

"During the (floods) of 2010 and 2011... 71 percent of the flooding happened in pasture land that had lost its trees," the head of the weather warning system for the Colombian meteorological institute, Christian Euscategui, told newspaper El Tiempo.

Colombia's weather authorities, who keep a close eye on deforestation, say it slowed by 12 percent in 2015. But that still meant forest losses of more than 124,000 hectares (475 square miles).

- 'Nature doesn't forgive' -

Global warming, which is melting the region's glaciers, is also driving the problem.

"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.

Story continues

Experts say chaotic urbanization is also to blame.

Mocoa's population was swollen by poor migrants and especially people uprooted by Colombia's half-century civil war.

These displaced residents and their often precarious houses were hit especially hard by the disaster.

"The centralization of society means people try to move closer to cities, no matter where it is, without considering whether a river used to flow there or if it's a ravine where rain accumulates," said architect Ortiz de Zevallos.

In the case of Mocoa, the town "was the victim of a lack of urban planning," said Colombian ecologist Rodrigo Botero.

"That's the case in nearly every region of Colombia."

Even Mocoa's own mayor, Jose Antonio Castro, said it "is not a place where a town should be," because of all the rivers surrounding it.

Three of them flooded Friday, triggering the landslide.

In the Peruvian capital Lima -- also hit hard recently by flooding and landslides -- Mayor Luis Castaneda said nature "got the better of engineering."

But that misses the whole point, said Ortiz de Zevallos.

"Engineering is about understanding nature," like the ancient Incas did, said the architect.

The bishop of Mocoa, Luis Maldonado, had his own take when asked if God had abandoned the town's people.

"God always forgives, man sometimes does, but nature doesn't forgive," he said.
It may not be uncommon to see your favourite pop star or athlete plastered on a can of soda  but...Warren Buffett?

The billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who claims to be a huge Cherry Coke fan, agreed to let Coca-Cola use his likeness on its bottles to celebrate the drink's recent launch in China.

SEE ALSO: Coca-Cola to Stop Using Controversial Chemical in Powerade

He's on the can because he has a huge following in China, where he's seen as an icon of success. He's dubbed gu shen, or "the god of investing."

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 19: Warren Buffett attends 'Becoming Warren Buffett' World Premiere at The Museum of Modern Art on January 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Image: Getty Images

Last year, some 3,000 Chinese investors travelled to Nebraska specially to attend Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.

And it doesn't hurt that Buffett is genuinely a Coke fan  he drinks at least five cans a day, including regular Coke at the office and Cherry Coke at home.

His company, Berkshire Hathaway, is also Coca-Cola's largest shareholder, with 9.4 percent of its stocks, valued at $16 billion.

Image: weibo

"I can't think of a better way to launch Cherry Coke than with its best-known fan on the package," said Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent.

"It is an honour for us to be able to feature Warren on his favourite drink."

Cherry Coke has been available in the U.S. since 1985.

Chinese netizens didn't seem to be particularly impressed with Buffett's choice of drink, however.

"This tastes like almond, not cherry. I don't really like Warren Buffett's taste," said one netizen on social media platform Weibo.

Image: /weibo

"Although Buffett recommends Cherry coke, I think I'll go with the original one," another added.

"Warren Buffett likes this? Its so hard to drink it tastes like cough syrup," one said.

Looks like its gonna take more than a "god" to convert the Chinese market.

WATCH: Ditch the garlic sauce: Dunk your breadsticks in Coca-Cola instead
The list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants will be unveiled on April 5 in Melbourne, a first for the city which is known as the culinary capital of Australia. This international event will put the country's cuisine in the spotlight.

For 14 years, the ranking of the World's 50 Best Restaurants was revealed in London. In June 2016, the group which publishes Restaurant Magazine, which created the list, decided to hold its annual awards ceremony in New York. This year, the city of Melbourne has been chosen for the event, with the big announcement scheduled for April 5. As this event also functions as a publicity vehicle -- Tourism Australia is one of its major partners -- it will give exposure to local cuisine, particularly as it coincides with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

Although Australia is perhaps not best known for its cuisine, it can easily hold its own with other parts of the world. World famous chefs are full of praise for the high-quality local produce. They include Peter Gilmore, whose restaurant Quay nestles between the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, overlooking Australia's iconic Sydney Harbour. Quay was ranked 95th in the list in 2017. Also in Sydney, Neil Perry is one of the most influential chefs in Australia and has built a culinary empire whose standard-bearer is his restaurant Rockpool. He is a familiar face on Australian television and created the menus for the national airline Qantas. In Melbourne, Shannon Bennett applies what he learned from Alain Ducasse and Michel Roux at his restaurant Vue de Monde, in the Rialto Tower. And the New Zealander Ben Shewry has the highest-ranking Australian restaurant on the World's 50 Best list: Attica was 33rd in 2016.

With its many Asian-inspired restaurants, alongside those drawing on American and European traditions, Australian cuisine is bursting with talent and attracts many foreign chefs. Last year, Danish chef Rene Redzepi, known for Noma, which has topped the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants four times, installed a pop-up restaurant in Sydney which was booked up in minutes. British chef Heston Blumenthal also temporarily moved his Michelin three-star restaurant The Fat Duck to Melbourne for six months.

Further proof that the Australian culinary scene has a lot to offer came when France's Gault&Millau decided to publish an Australian edition of its famous guide in November 2015, initially focusing on restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. At the launch, Gault&Millau CEO Come de Cherisey said that Australia's culinary scene deserved to be recognized as one of best in the world. Gault&Millau's rival Michelin has yet to publish an Australian guide.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni government forces and their Arab allies are massing north and south of the Houthi-held Red Sea port of Hodeidah despite United Nations and aid groups warnings that a military operation there would put millions of civilians at risk. Hodeidah port and province is controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis and has been the entry point for 70 percent of Yemen's food supplies as well as humanitarian aid. The country has been torn by more than two years of civil war that pits the armed Houthi group against the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a Saudi-led Arab alliance. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict and hunger is widespread. Local officials said that Hadi's government, building on recent gains that included capturing the coffee export hub of al-Mokha in February, has amassed two recently-trained brigades -- one in Midi about 230 km (140 miles) north of Hodeidah near the border with Saudi Arabia, and another outside al-Khoukha region, some 130 km (80 miles) south of the city. Government forces will have to cross large areas of Houthi-held territory from both sides as the movement still controls the most populated areas in Western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and the regions surrounding the port city. Mohsen Khasrof, a senior military official in President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's Aden-based government, said it was only a matter of time for an attack on Hodeidah to start after the United Nations rejected coalition demands that it take steps to ensure that no weapons reach the Houthis through it. "The political decision of liberating Hodeidah has been taken and military preparations have been completed, only the timing remains to be decided," he told Reuters by telephone. CATASTROPHIC IMPACT The Houthis have also preparing their defenses. "Tens of thousands of our fighters from the tribes have answered the call of (the Houthi leader) Abdel-Malek al-Houthi," deputy spokesman of forces fighting alongside the Houthis, Aziz Rached, told Yemeni news agency Khabar on Tuesday. Food deliveries have been cut by more than half with nearly 3.3 million people - including 2.1 million children - acutely malnourished, the United Nations says. The coalition of Gulf Arab countries might still be waiting for a go-ahead from its Western allies the launch the Hodeidah offensive, Yemeni government sources said. It was unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump's administration would approve such a move. His predecessor, Barack Obama had been wary of any operations involving the port and last year rejected a proposal to assist its Gulf allies in a push to take control of it. The Saudi-led coalition has accused the Houthis of using the port to smuggle weapons and ammunition and has been calling on U.N. to post monitors at the port which had been damaged by coalition air strikes. Houthi movement denied the claims. The United Nations check ships heading to Hodeidah in Djibouti while passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, but Hadi's government says the system was flawed. The United Nations says coalition air strikes have hampered humanitarian operations to import food and fuel supplies. Five cranes at the port have been destroyed, forcing dozens of ships to wait offshore their turn to dock. Food deliveries have been cut by more than half with nearly 3.3 million people - including 2.1 million children - acutely malnourished, the United Nations says. The International Rescue Committee has said any attack targeting the port would disrupt port facilities and "have a catastrophic impact on the people of Yemen." (Reporting by Yemen Staff, Writing By Aziz El Yaakoubi, Editing by Sami Aboudi and Angus MacSwan)
Another pyramid was discovered in Egypt, and we are fascinated

If youve been planning a trip to Egypt, theres a new site that youll want to add to your must visit list because a new pyramid was just discovered in the country. Okay, so its hardly new at all  the recently-excavated pyramid is estimated to be about 3,700 years old, and is likely from the 13th Dynasty.

The pyramid was discovered in the Dahshur Necropolis, which is where high-ranking officials were buried during the 13th Dynasty.

Historians believe this was the ancient Egyptians first attempt at a smooth-sided pyramid  as opposed to step pyramids, which were built with six stepped layers of stone.

New remains of millennia-old pyramid discovered in Egypt https://t.co/hy2px8n1XE pic.twitter.com/Qkvn4NUWT9  Popular Mechanics (@PopMech) April 3, 2017

Other pyramids in the area are older than the latest discovery  The Dahshur pyramids were likely built between 2613 B.C. and 2589 B.C, according to The Washington Post.

Egypts most famous pyramids are the Three Pyramids of Gaza, which were built approximately 4,500 years ago for the Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.

According to Adel Okasha, the head of the Dahshur necropolis, the new pyramids remains are part of its inner structure and include a corridor and blocks that show its interior design.

No trip to Egypt would be complete without a visit to the pyramids, and now theres one more to add to the list.
Theresa May in Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Theresa May caused a stir on Tuesday when she visited Saudi Arabia  not only for setting foot in the country to begin with, but, perhaps even more so, for flouting the dress code for women by not wearing a headscarf.

Its important for me as a woman leader and as leader of the government of the United Kingdom to maintain the relationships that are important to us as a country, for our security and our trade for the future, May said regarding her decision to visit the Arab nation. But I hope also that people see me as a woman leader, will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions.

Photos of May stepping out of her plane with her head uncovered sparked immediate reaction, both in the press and on Twitter. The Telegraph noted that May has taken a stand against Saudi Arabias ultra-conservative regime by not wearing a headscarf  going against official Foreign Office advice, and a flood of tweets praised the British leader for the move, though many came tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment as well.

@FoxNews And why wouldnt she? Not her culture. To expect otherwise would be like her expecting them to come to the UK without headscarves.  Cindy Wells (@realCindyWells) April 4, 2017

@FoxNews Our PM is not muslim

So why she has to wear that rubbish ?

Do they take off their rubbish when they visit the UK ?  SAM (@SAM2898GG) April 4, 2017

@Telegraph @RedHotSquirrel Well done Theresa May for not wearing a headscarf ,not submitting to an evil ideology.  Thomas (@tfowkes02) April 4, 2017

Still others believed the move was disrespectful:

Story continues

@theresa_may Stupid woman  if we want Saudis to respect our values and traditions, we should respect theirs https://t.co/ZR58jaNyFK  Sleep Deprived (@xtrand) April 4, 2017

Theresa may takes stand by not wearing head scarf, shes such a donut shes just being disrespectful to religion ????????  Mike Donno (@BBUKMIKE) April 4, 2017

May is not the first leader to flout headscarf rules during visits to Muslim nations, as Frances far-right candidate Marine Le Pen did the same during a trip to Lebanon in February, and women including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama chose to show their heads during trips to Saudi Arabia.

Theresa May with leaders in Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Saudi Press Agency via AP)

Before her visit on Tuesday, May had said she hoped to be an inspiration to oppressed women in Saudi Arabia by showing people there what women can achieve.

But that sort of statement, particularly if conflated with the issue of the Muslim headscarf, notes Asma Uddin, director of strategy for the Center for Islam and Religious Freedom in Washington, is problematic. Thats because the notion, Uddin tells Yahoo Beauty, assumes that the headscarf is necessarily a tool of oppression and that women wear it out of coercion. The idea of swooping into Saudi Arabia as an example of freedom and success, she says, absolutely seems condescending.

What many non-Islamic women may not understand about the headscarf, Uddin explains, is that there are so many women who wear it voluntarily, and that many of them, particularly those of the younger generation, may see it as a source of empowerment and a political statement that is pushing back against the rhetoric, no matter which side its coming from, that anything related to Islam is categorically oppressive.

Indeed, more and more Muslim women have begun to speak out about how there is more than one way to be feminist, and that wearing a headscarf, or hijab, can be stylish, beautiful, and empowering.

There is much misunderstanding about how women relate to their hijab. Some, of course, choose the head cover for religious reasons, others for culture or even fashion, wrote Nadiya Takolia in an opinion piece for the Guardian. But in a society where a womans value seems focused on her sexual charms, some wear it explicitly as a feminist statement asserting an alternative mode of female empowerment. Politics, not religion, is the motivator here. I am one of these women.

More recently, Dalia Mogahed, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a nonprofit organization working to empower American Muslims, told USA Today that while some countries do require a hijab, the hijab oppresses women narrative is not only racist, it is also sexist.

Still, among Muslim women, there are myriad opinions on the headscarf and its meaning. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and anti-hijab activist with a massive social media following, may find power in Mays message, if her past comments are any indication. There are a lot of brave women inside Iran, and they wanted to say no to compulsory hijab, she said recently. Alinejad added, This is not an internal matter. This is the time for all women around the world who visit Iran to stand with us.

Still, for Uddin, its Mays narrative of showing women what they can achieve that colored her view of May going scarf-free  not the action itself. Its more so the statement, she says. So its not that shes not wearing a headscarf, but how shes framing it.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.
When was the last time you really thought about your keyboard? Maybe never - it came with your computer, perhaps, or was waiting for you in your cubicle, and youve been happily clicking and clacking away ever since.

But given the sizable chunk of the day many of us spend inputting text and numbers into computers, its worth taking a step back and asking: Do I really love my keyboard? A keyboard upgrade, after all, can mean more satisfying typing, less wrist pain and even make you the envy of the office.

Here are five replacement keyboards that weve tried and we recommend, ranked from cheapest to most expensive.

AmazonBasics Wired Keyboard ($13, Amazon)

AmazonAmazonBasics Wired Keyboard

Who says you have to break the bank for better typing? This AmazonBasics model doesnt have the bells and whistles of high-end keyboards, but its plenty comfortable and quieter than a Russian stealth submarine. Considering the affordable price, Id recommend this one if the keyboard that came with your computer broke and youre looking for a replacement without cracking open your piggy bank. My biggest complaint? It doesnt have those little kickstands in the back to give it vertical lift, which I like.

Get the latest deals, reviews and recommendations from the editors of TIME: sign up for The Goods newsletter here

Logitech G213 ($69.99, Amazon)

LogitechLogitech G213

This Logitech keyboard was designed for hardcore video gamers, who need ultra-responsive keys to stay on top of their competition. But it also works great even if your only upcoming boss battle is over those overdue Excel spreadsheets. Its extraordinarily comfortable thanks to an attached wrist pad, its spill-resistant (so its better able to survive the occasional coffee clumsiness), and its programmable key lighting can make your desk feel like a discotheque. This ones got the best price/performance mix of the bunch. One caveat: Its on the loud side, though its not as bad as some of the other entires on this list.

The Unicomp Classic ($89, Amazon)

UnicompUnicomp Classic 104

You know how certain smells can trigger a rush of nostalgia, instantly beaming you back to another time and place? Thats what its like to type on this Unicomp keyboard, which is designed to replicate classic IBM clackers. This ones more comfortable than keyboards of yore, though, thanks to an arching design that improves the ergonomics. But theres a price to pay for old-school cool: Its so loud that I couldnt use it for more than an hour without getting the sneaking suspicion that my coworkers wanted my fingers to fall off. If youve got a home office, though, go bananas.

Story continues

The Apple Magic Keyboard ($99.99, Amazon)

AppleApple Magic Keyboard

If you own an Apple computer, it makes some degree of sense to stick with an Apple keyboard. Its not required - any keyboard, generally speaking, should work with any computer. But if you pick up one of the other models on this list, youll have to learn your way around a slightly different layout than what youre used to. All that said, Apples Magic Keyboard is a great option if you like Apple keyboards. But it can feel cramped if youve got bigger hands, and the key travel is shallow, like on Apples laptops. Some people like that feeling, but I prefer deeper, more satisfying travel. One plus: This was among the quietest keyboards I tested, if youre concerned about annoying your family or officemates to death. (Apple also makes a larger keyboard for about $50.)

Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 ($169.99, Amazon)

RazerRazer Blackwidow

Another gaming-optimized model that doubles as a personal light show, the Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 has a feature that I firmly believe should be standard on every desktop keyboard: A headphone jack. In this case, its on the right side, letting you enjoy some tunes while you type away without a wire getting between you and the keys. Otherwise, the Razer is similar to the Logitech in terms of typing comfort, but its hard to justify the price if youre not a competitive gamer. That said, this is the one Id get if money is no object. And its customizable lighting makes it undeniably cool-looking - I got lots of curious office onlookers while testing this one out.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly described the Logitech G213s wristpad. It is not detachable.

(Read TIMEs affiliate link policy.)

This article was originally published on TIME.com
As schools (and the Department of Education) encourage children to pursue in science, technology, engineering and math, the toy industry has been looking for ways to both assist and capitalize on STEMs popularity. And theyre finding that theres a lot of fun to be had in teaching kids that science and math are more than just memorizing tables and formulas.

The hiccup is, if youre looking for a STEM toy for your son or daughter, it can be overwhelming. One option is Amazons just-announced subscription program called STEM Club, which delivers hand-picked, age-appropriate toys that encourage kids to learn as they play. At just under $20 per month, it guarantees a steady flow of items, but early customer reviews have been mixed.

If youre more of a take-charge parent who would rather pick and choose STEM toys yourself, weve got a few suggestions that will not only engage your kids, but could keep you up late playing with the toys yourself.

Jimu Robot Kit

Jimo RobotJimo Robot TankBot

Robots havent quite lived up to the standard Hollywood has set for them, but youd be hard pressed to find a kid who doesnt still think theyre cool. Jimu is a build-it-yourself robot that features six servo motors, which act as joints, and about 200 snap-together parts. (Jimu means building blocks in Mandarin.)

Once its built kids and parents can control the robot from an iPhone or iPad, making it walk, dance and shimmy. If they want to dig deeper, kids can dig into the code section, creating a preset series of movements for Jimu using a drag-and-drop interface.

Its worth noting that Jimus Robot can be a challenging build. Thats deliberate, as the company wants this to be an experience kids and parents share.

Buy now: Amazon, $198

Get the latest deals, reviews and recommendations from the editors of TIME: sign up for The Goods newsletter here

Boolean Box

Boolean BoxBoolean Box

Aimed primarily at girls aged eight and up, this self-contained kit features all the components needed for kids to easily build their own Raspberry Pi computer.

Story continues

Its also preloaded with software that makes it easy to learn to code. Within minutes of building the PC, your curious child will be working on digital animation projects and more. The kit comes with its own keyboard and mouse, but you will need a monitor (or TV) with an HDMI input to serve as the systems screen.

Buy now: Boolean Girl, $143

Circuit Cubes

While many STEM toys revolve around a screen of some sort, these transparent blocks are much more hands-on, letting kids transform everything from their LEGO sets to household objects. Created by startup Tenka Labs, the modules, currently available for pre-order, are a collection of components battery blocks, switches, relays and tools.

Kids can use those parts to motorize their toy cars, create a small flashlight or invent a noise-maker. Lines on the back of the blocks represent flow of current, so kids will also learn some basics about circuitry as they engineer their imagination. And if they need some inspiration, the company plans to offer instructional videos, showing them how to build objects like a swimming whale.

Buy now: Tenka Labs, Price TBD

Wonder Workshops Dot and Dash robots

Wonder WorkshopDot and Dash

Unlike other STEM toy robots, which often require assembly, Dash and Dot come in ready-to-play condition, making them a bit more approachable for younger kids. Children can immediately begin coding commands for the pair on a smartphone or tablet, making them sing, dance and wander around the house.

Dot, the orb-like robot, is a more basic toy that can be programmed to imitate a Magic-8 Ball or used in a high-tech game of hot potato. Dash, which comes with wheels, is capable of more advanced maneuvers. They can be bought separately (Dot is $50, with Dash running $150) and there are several accessories available (including LEGO-compatible building brick connectors and a ball launcher) that expand their functionality. The pair won Good Housekeepings Toy of the Year award in 2015.

Buy now: Amazon, $279.99

Cubelets

Modular RoboticsCubelets

Blocks have been a basic childhood toy for centuries. Cubelets just advances the concept. Each of the 12 cubes in this collection serves a unique purpose, whether as a motor or sensor or battery. Together, they can be paired to build dozens of mini-robotic combinations.

Kids will learn the importance of component placement as they create. Putting a drive block (which propels creations) in the middle of a combination, for instance, might make it go straight, while putting it in another location could cause it to spin in circles. One of the Cubelets also adds Bluletooth functionality, meaning kids can get some coding experience via a phone or tablet in a drag and drop interface.

Buy now: Amazon, $159.89

Vex Robots Robotic Arm

VEX RoboticsVEX Robotics Motorized Arm

Got a kid whos fascinated by assembly lines? This functional, build-it-yourself robotic arm can give them insight into the industrial world without the safety headaches major corporations have to worry about.

The arm can lift objects up to 14 inches into the air and turn 360 degrees. And its claws can rotate objects left and right.

Buy now: Amazon, $44.54

Think & Learn Code-a-pillar

Fisher-PriceThink & Learn Code-a-pillar

STEM toys arent just for big kids. This Fisher-Price creation for preschoolers lets little ones rearrange the pieces of the Code-a-pillars thorax and abdomen to alter its course as it scoots around the house and play different music and sound effects.

Its big and bright and easy for kids as young as three years of age to manipulate, but it still fosters critical thinking and problem solving skills. Its not coding in the traditional sense, yet it gives kids the building blocks to begin thinking in a programmers mindset.

Buy now: Amazon, $38.99

Ozobot

EvoEvo Ozobot

Teach critical thinking skills to kids with this tiny robot that follows black, red, green and blue paths, which kids can create by drawing lines on paper. The ping-pong sized orbs use an optical sensor to determine the color and then execute one of 29 different actions.

The toy also comes with a programming system letting kids set Ozobots actions. There are four levels of complexity, letting them progress at their own pace, but ensuring that they constantly keep learning.

Buy now: Amazon, $54.99

(Read TIMEs affiliate link policy.)

This article was originally published on TIME.com
A rumored new phone from Nokia could give the Galaxy S8 and S8+ a run for their money, as a new leak teases beefier specs and a potentially much more versatile camera.



Credit: Nokiapoweruser

Credit: Nokiapoweruser



According to a recent report from Nokiapoweruser, the Nokia 9 Android phone could boast 22-megapixel rear and 12-MP front cameras, which are sharper than the 12-MP and 8-MP shooters on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. More important, the Carl Zeiss camera on the back is expected to be a dual-lens setup, which could enable true optical zoom.

The Galaxy S8 has a single rear camera, and the lack of dual lenses is the biggest thing missing from Samsung's flagship.

MORE: Galaxy S8 and S8+ Final Specs: Here's What You Get

The other key difference, at least on paper, is that the Nokia 9 could come with a 3,800 mAh battery. That would be more capacity than both the Galaxy S8 (3,000 mAh) and Galaxy S8+ (3,500 mAh).

In addition, the Nokia 9 could feature a Snapdragon 835 processor with 6GB of RAM, as opposed to the 4GB on the Galaxy S8. Other rumored features include a 5.5-inch OLED display, iris and fingerprint scanners, IP68 water resistance and 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage.

The Nokia 9 leak comes from an unnamed source cited by Nokiapoweruser, which cautions that this list should be taken "with a pinch of salt."

See also : The Best New Features of the Galaxy S8
Tim Berners-Lee has launched his own campaign to "save the web", urging global elites to join the fight against the "polarisation" of online debate (AFP Photo/DANNY LAWSON) (POOL/AFP/File)

London (AFP) - British web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee on Tuesday slammed as a "bad idea" recent calls in Britain and the United States to weaken cyber encryption.

"I know that if you're trying to catch terrorists it's really tempting to demand to be able to break all that encryption," Berners-Lee told the BBC.

"But if you break that encryption then guess what -- so could other people, and guess what -- they may end up getting better at it than you are," he warned.

The computer scientist, who is credited with inventing the world wide web, was speaking after the British government called for a crackdown on encryption following last month's terror attack at the parliament in London.

The attacker Khalid Masood used the encrypted messaging service Whatsapp shortly before ploughing through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and killing a police officer at the gates of parliament.

Berners-Lee on Tuesday was named as winner of the Turing Prize for computing, named after British wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, which comes with a $1 million (938,000 euro) grant from Google.

He also slammed new legislation introduced in Britain last year -- which was quickly dubbed the "Snoopers' Charter" by the media -- which gives authorities the power to gather and retain data on citizens and to force technology companies to hand over user data.

"The idea that all internet service providers should be required to spy on citizens and hold the data for six months is appalling," he said.

"My ability to communicate with people on the web, to go to websites I want without being spied on is really, really crucial."

The US government last year locked horns in a legal battle with Apple, seeking to compel the iPhone maker to help decrypt a device used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting rampage.

Authorities eventually dropped the case after finding a way to break into the iPhone without Apple's help.

Story continues

Berners-Lee was also critical of moves in the United States to reduce net neutrality, the principle by which broadband providers cannot discriminate between different types of internet user and content.

He said he would fight "as hard as I can" moves by the US administration to do so.

Last week, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that President Donald Trump was working on reversing net neutrality rules imposed by his predecessor Barack Obama.
Soon, your phone's cracked screen may have its own healing factor.

Scientists from the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Riverside have developed a self-healing material that has potential applications for phone screens, artificial muscles, and more.

SEE ALSO: Future iPhones could catch screen cracks before they turn into major problems

The concept isn't exactly new. In late 2013, the LG G Flex came out with a self-healing back that automatically repaired scratches and other wear and tear in a matter of minutes. The Flex's material was non-conductive, so it couldn't be used on screens.

This new material is "transparent, self-healing, highly stretchable material that can be electrically activated and could be used to improve batteries, electronic devices, and robots," according to a blog post from UC Riverside.

Chao Wang, one of the authors of the paper, "developed an interest in self-healing materials because of his lifelong love of Wolverine, the comic book character who has the ability to self-heal."

Christoph Keplinger, another author of the paper, has previously demonstrated that these stretchable, transparent materials can be used to create transparent loudspeakers. With the additional ability to self-heal, the new material is ideal for electronics. The material is both low-cost and strong and can fix itself by resting for 24 hours at room temperature.

Image: uc riverside

While it may sound futuristic, Wang expects to see materials like the one developed by his lab in production in as little as three years.

"Within three years, more self-healing products will go to market and change our everyday life. It will make our cellphones achieve much better performance than what they can achieve right now," Wang told Business Insider.

WATCH: This inventor built a real-life 'Iron Man' suit and it's awesome
Youd have to be living under a rock to have missed the current insanity over the repeal of proposed broadband privacy rules which swiftly made its way through Congress and gained the signature of President Trump on Monday. Its an important piece of legislation, and does have some interesting implications in regards to how much leeway ISPs have in amassing the browsing habits of their customers without prior approval.

But its also extremely important to look at the facts, and when you do youll probably come to one simple conclusion: Nobody actually gives a damn about your browsing history.

Don't Miss: The complete list of 25 new Netflix originals coming this month

The current uproar among privacy advocates and those blindly screaming into the void is that by rolling back the proposed privacy requirements  which demanded that consumers opt-in to having their data used or sold for advertising purposes  the entire world will now know what sites you visit, private medical data or banking information, or even what kind of pornography you fancy. Put simply, this is completely false.

Under the new rules  which, by the way, are almost identical to the current rules since the full impact of the Obama-era privacy stipulations wouldnt even have taken effect until the end of 2017 at the earliest  your internet service provider can use whatever it gleans from your browsing history to paint a picture of who you are and then sell it to advertisers. If you think that sounds creepy Im sorry to tell you that this kind of thing is, well, pretty much the standard.

Have you ever looked at something on Amazon  lets say a decorative copper colander, just for fun  but decide not to buy it, then visited your Facebook news feed and see an Amazon ad for that exact same decorative copper colander? Its not magic, its your browser tracking your habits and then syncing them with advertising algorithms from Amazon, Google, or whoever else, to deliver promos for things youre more likely to buy.

Story continues

What ISPs are doing with your browsing data is more or less the same; theyre not selling your data to advertisers, theyre selling an educated guess about what kind of ads youre going to respond to. Its called targeting. Comcast, Charter, Verizon, and the rest of them dont wrap up your URL history in a ZIP file and send that off into the ether. They use their own algorithms to categorize you in the hopes that an advertiser will pay a little bit more for a very specific type of consumer to market to.

By grouping you into a demographic you are more valuable as a target for specific ads and less valuable for others. When social networks and app developers do this kind of thing they frame it as customizing the experience, because they have the benefit of being able to present the idea to you however they want. Mega-huge ISPs dont exactly have the same privilege, and the result is the current state of affairs.

Your data is already behind a very thick layer of ambiguity by the time a third-party advertiser or even an in-house ad group sees it, simply because the minutia of your browsing habits, including the specific kind of pornography you enjoy, is completely and utterly worthless to them in a business sense. When an ISP syncs what it knows about my browsing history with an advertisers stock of potential ads to serve me, the advertiser doesnt see Mike Wehner likes iPhones and bikes, it  and by it, I mean the software serving the ads, because no actual human is looking at your specific demographic and picking an ad by hand  sees something like this ad spot for this type of user responds best to smartphones and sporting goods.

This is why the misguided efforts to buy the browsing histories of members of Congress is a fools errand and also literally impossible. That campaign, by the way, has passed $200,000 in funding for the purpose of buying something that cannot be bought.

Several companies have come out in the past 24 hours to say that, despite what everyone is fearing, they will not be selling the private data of their customers to anyone. We do not sell our broadband customers individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCCs rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so, Gerard Lewis, Comcasts chief privacy officer, told Reuters. Verizon and Comcast quickly followed suit with similar sentiments.

Of course, with so much distrust of large companies there are some who claim that these ISP are just lying to save face. The truth of the matter, no matter how much you dont feel like admitting it, is that nobody really wants to know what kind of porn you watch or exactly how many minutes you spend watching cat videos on YouTube. Your browsing habits are completely worthless to pretty much everyone, and its only being used in a roundabout way of guessing what kind of pointless junk you might want to buy. Welcome to the real world.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
By Taiga Uranaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp <6502.T> asked creditor banks for a new loan and offered as collateral a stake in its memory chip unit that is being split off, sources said, underlining the firm's growing financial woes as it braces for a multi-billion dollar loss.

The TVs-to-construction Japanese conglomerate expects to book a net loss of about $9 billion for the year ended March, due to a writedown related to cost overruns at its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse that recently went bankrupt. Toshiba has put up most or even all of its prized chip unit - the world's No.2 producer of NAND chips - to cope with this financial maelstrom.

On Tuesday, in a meeting with creditor banks, Toshiba asked for "a new lending facility", said sources with direct knowledge of the matter, who did not want to be named as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. It has previously requested creditors not to call in their loans.

The company did not say how much it was looking for in new loans, most of the sources said. But one source said Toshiba may seek a new loan worth around 300 billion yen ($2.7 billion).

A stake in the memory chip unit was offered as collateral both for a new loan and for existing loan commitments worth 680 billion yen provided by major lenders, sources said. Loan commitments are a promise to lend upon a borrower's request.

It again offered shares in group companies such as Toshiba Tec Corp <6588.T> and real estate properties as collateral for existing loans, said the sources, adding the conglomerate had asked creditors to give their nod by April 14.

A Toshiba spokesman confirmed the meeting, but declined to elaborate on the specifics of the discussion.

The collateral offer is part of Toshiba's efforts to secure the support of its lenders, some of whom have become growingly frustrated with the conglomerate's financial troubles.

Some smaller creditors have also balked at the collateral offer, as bigger lenders are seen receiving the most valuable chip unit shares, the sources said.

Story continues

Shares in Toshiba plunged for a second straight day after Reuters reported the troubled conglomerate would likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results, which could force the firm to ask for a fresh extension or face a possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Asked about Toshiba's potential delay, Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko said it was important for listed companies to have sufficient information disclosure and to ensure effective corporate governance.

Toshiba shares ended down 9.4 percent on Tuesday, following a 5.5 percent drop the previous day.

(Additional reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, Ami Miyazaki and Taro Fuse; Editing by Randy Fabi and Himani Sarkar)
By Sankalp Phartiyal and Aditya Kalra MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Seeking to calm employees rattled by reports of a cash crunch, the founders of Indian online retailer Snapdeal have gone directly to them with a string of townhall meetings in past weeks, according to sources, promising profit and brushing off takeover talk. The sources, familiar with the group, declined to be named as the meetings were not public. Like most e-commerce players in India, Snapdeal is burning cash to sustain discounts - and keep customers - in a cut-throat online market. But as the number three player, it also is under growing pressure from investors and its own employees to consider its bottom line, as well as market share. One of the sources said there had been at least five townhalls in recent weeks, with founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal delivering motivational speeches. "It was only profitability and profitability," one source said, describing answers to questions from employees whether the company was a takeover target. India's booming online retail sector is led by homegrown player Flipkart - now followed by Amazon, after the U.S. giant overtook Snapdeal's sales volumes a year ago. Thanks to its deep pockets, Amazon has been an increasingly prominent investor in India, compensating for its mistakes in China, where it has been all but squeezed out by aggressive local rivals with a better grasp of demand. Snapdeal sought funding support in China, from Chinese funds and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, already an investor, sources with knowledge of the matter said. It has so far come back empty handed. Snapdeal expects to turn profitable in two years and is eyeing a market listing around the same time. But the China setback, and a valuation that has dropped from a peak of $6.5 billion last year, has unsettled some staff. Two employees and three people familiar with Snapdeal's internal discussions said there were concerns over the group's direction, as well as over contradictory messages from investors - some seeking profit, others growth - and, increasingly, over potential senior-level departures or cuts. Headhunters like Sinosh Panicker, a partner at Hunt Partners, said some of his clients had witnessed a jump in applications from Snapdeal employees. Some employees cite concerns after the departure of 600 staff in February, laid off from Snapdeal, its logistics arm Vulcan Express and payments unit FreeCharge. Snapdeal declined to comment on staff exits or sentiment, but said its annual appraisals were currently underway, and staff would be offered incentives. In a letter to employees late last month, co-founder and chief executive Bahl said that Snapdeal, in which Japan's SoftBank is also an investor, was on the right path, despite differing views from some investors. "Investors in our industry need to understand that driving indiscriminate growth at any cost doesn't create long-term value," Bahl wrote in the letter. A spokeswoman for SoftBank in India declined comment while other Snapdeal investors - Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital - did not respond to Reuters queries. Alibaba has not commented on Snapdeal. Snapdeal clocked up losses of 29.6 billion rupees ($456.5 million) in the fiscal year to March 31, 2016. Flipkart's wholesale unit and its online marketplace made a combined loss of 28.5 billion rupees in the same period. (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Sunny along with a few clouds. High 56F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 36F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
ANGOLA  Work on an outdoor learning lab will continue this year at Angola High School, thanks to a grant from the Tractor Supply Company.

Monday, TSC announed Angola was among the schools awarded Grants for Growing. This is the second year Tractor Supply Company and the National FFA Foundation have partnered to back student-driven agriculture projects that will benefit communities and FFA chapters. This year, Grants for Growing will distribute an average of $1,080 to 13 Indiana FFA chapters.

Among them is an outdoor learning lab started last school year behind Angola High School on the Metropolitan School District of Steuben County campus. AHS received $500.

Tractor Supply Co., the largest rural lifestyle retail store chain in the United States, awarded 316 Grants for Growing to FFA chapters across the nation which requested funding for a wide variety of sustainable projects.

In Indiana, the grants will help fund projects including a custom welding facility, tractor restoration and clean air project. Angolas outdoor learning lab is being constructed by FFA members to provide a natural setting for students to learn about Steuben Countys natural resources.

Tractor Supply customers and team members are proud to support Grants for Growing and the FFA because they truly believe an investment in agriculture education is an investment in our communities, said Christi Korzekwa, senior vice president of marketing at Tractor Supply Company.

Between Jan. 10 and Feb. 13, the National FFA Foundation received over 800 applications from FFA chapters across the country detailing how they will start or expand a unique and sustainable project. During National FFA Week, Feb. 17-26, Tractor Supply hosted a 10-day in-store event in all Indiana stores that offered shoppers the opportunity to donate $1 or more at checkout in support of the program.

Angola students were at the Angola Tractor Supply during FFA Week, greeting customers and talking about their projects.

The Grants for Growing applications we received this year proved that FFA advisors across the country are tuned into the specific needs of their school or community FFA chapter, said Lisa White, director of store marketing at Tractor Supply Company. We cant wait to see what creative projects and fresh ideas FFA chapters will imagine for next years program.
In a sudden announcement on Facebook, BRF police chief Scot Eisenhauer said he would be resigning from the position.

Eisenhauer will be moving on to be the Director of Criminal Justice Training with Wisconsin Technical College after his final day as chief on April 17.

The chief started his police career back in 1995 in the town of Burlington, Wis. In 2009, he would move on from Burlington to take over as the police chief in Iron River.

I worked my way up the ranks to become Chief of Police, not because it was a goal of mine, but because I knew I could lead officers to feel they were important to the community they policed and the profession of law enforcement, he said in his statement on Facebook.

While in Iron River, Eisenhauer would obtain his masters degree in criminal justice.

In 2015, Eisenhauer would find his way to Black River Falls where he stepped in as chief in a department that had just survived a referendum.

It was a new venture, full of new challenges for Eisenhauer that he enjoyed taking on with the dedicated staff of the BRF PD.

Every idea that I had, and the department had, was put into place and worked. Black River Falls Police continues to build partnerships and teamwork, Eisenhauer said. I work with the finest officers and staff I have worked with in my whole career.

His new position will bring him a whole new set of challenges though, as he is tasked with the development of new police officers in Wisconsin.

Eisenhauer has said that he will help the city find his replacement to ensure the police department can continue to foster relationships within the community.

Thank you for allowing me to be your police chief. I have enjoyed my time with our community and the people who live, work and visit here, Eisenhauer said.
A Viroqua woman will serve two years on supervised release for embezzling $200,000 from a bank, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

Kimberly Redders, 53, pleaded guilty to bank embezzlement and was ordered to pay to a $2,500 fine under the sentence imposed Monday in federal court.

Redders admitted that she had embezzled more than $200,000 from Union Bank & Trust in Evansville, Wis., since 2000 while counting cash deposits as the head teller, according to the attorneys office.

She stopped stealing from the bank after her sons death in September 2012 and repaid the stolen cash.
The state Senates Republican majority on Tuesday batted down a series of Democratic amendments to a bill rolling back regulations on high-capacity wells that scientists have linked to shrinking lakes and dried up sections of streams in the Central Sands region of the state.

But Democrats, irked by what they described as the majority partys secrecy with the bill, employed a procedural maneuver that forced the GOP majority to postpone passage of the legislation at least until Wednesday morning.

During several hours of debate Tuesday afternoon, Republicans amended the bill in a bid to answer one concern raised by conservationists  as well as to smooth the way for passage in the state Assembly.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, the bills sponsor, told senators the bill maintains constitutional protections of Wisconsin waterways.

At the same time, we have to make sure we have a balance so that agriculture can continue to flourish, Fitzgerald said.

Senate Democrats described the bill as a bid to privatize Wisconsins water for large agricultural producers at the expense of neighboring property owners  including anglers, waterfront property owners and other farmers.

The first people who are at risk of losing their water are the farmers who live next door to the farmers that have the high-capacity well, said Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, a Democrat from rural Alma.

Among those supporting the bill are the state Dairy Business Association and the Potato and Vegetable Growers Association as well as lobbying groups for other large-scale water users such as sand and gravel producers and food-processing businesses.

The legislation is sensitive for lawmakers with constituents who live or vacation in the Central Sands where lakes have receded, leaving docks high and dry. Anglers are concerned about damage to aquatic habitat when water gets too low or disappears.

On a 19-13 party-line vote, the Senate approved an amendment offered by a newly elected Republican from a Central Sands district to alter the boundaries of areas where groundwater would be studied under the bill.

Sen. Patrick Testin, of Stevens Point, said the changes would add watersheds that have greater concentrations of wells and declining water levels, while taking other areas out. Testin said studies would be added for 14-Mile Creek, 10-Mile Creek, Plainfield Lake and Long Lake.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a Tuesday press conference that the amendment likely would help the bill in his chamber. Thats significant because the two chambers passed different versions of a high-capacity well bill last session but were unable to reconcile them. Vos, R-Rochester, said he expects the Assembly to take up the newly amended bill next month.

Senate Bill 76 would remove state regulators ability to review environmental effects of wells when they are being replaced or sold. Unlike other state permits aimed at protecting the environment, a high-capacity well permit never expires.

The bill and its Assembly companion, AB 105, also call for Department of Natural Resources studies of portions of the Central Sands. The studies would take up to three years and possibly result in legislative action to remedy or prevent damage to waters.

Conservationists have objected to allowing years of continued and increased pumping, and pointed out that the study areas covered only about 25 percent of the Central Sands protected exceptional resource waters, 21 percent of its trout streams and 18 percent of its high-capacity wells.

On the Assembly side, where the GOP majority is 64-35, Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, has been involved in previous groundwater legislation. Krug said he couldnt support AB 105 unless it is amended to create a groundwater study covering much or all of the Central Sands.

But on Tuesday while watching the Senate debate, Krug said Testins amendment shifts the studies to areas most affected by high-capacity wells, so he will be able to support it when it reaches the Assembly.

Krug also has called for limiting pumping by replacement wells to the amount of water withdrawn by the well being replaced, and said that when a well is sold there should be disclosure of more information to the DNR about the new owners plans for pumping.

Second try for bill

The bill was introduced by Fitzgerald, whose Republican caucus holds a 20-13 majority, a wider margin than the GOP had last year when a similar bill passed the Senate but wasnt enacted. In 2016, the state Assembly  also under control of Republicans  passed its own version of the legislation.

The Senate version lacked a provision that the Assembly bill included that would have expanded the right of people to seek compensation in court if their drinking water, lakes or streams were harmed by industrial-grade wells. The two houses couldnt agree, so the legislation died.

This year, identical versions  without the expanded legal protection  were introduced in the Assembly and Senate. The Assembly bill is currently under consideration by a committee.

Scientific evidence has been mounting for decades showing that in the Central Sands, pumping contributes directly to lower surface water levels, but Republicans say more study is needed.

The change was prompted by Republican Attorney General Brad Schimels opinion that the DNR didnt have authority to consider the broader impact because that authority isnt specified in state law.

Sen. Janis Ringhand, an Evansville Democrat who is a member of the Senate Labor and Regulatory Reform Committee, tried to offer two amendments to SB 76. One would have created a 10-year review of well permits. The other would have required the DNR to consider cumulative impact.

However, the committee chairman, Sen. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, said Ringhand offered the amendments too late to be considered. In a 3-2 party-line vote, the committee sent the bill to the full Senate on March 28.

Democrats and conservation groups complained that the vote was taken without a public meeting.

Nass spokesman said the bill had been aired in a nine-hour public hearing and was debated last year.

For Tuesdays Senate session, Ringhand introduced an amendment to remove a portion of the bill that would prohibit legal challenges in the courts or through administrative avenues to the DNRs studies or its reports to the Legislature.

Contact Steven Verburg at 608-252-6118 or sverburg@madison.com. Contact Mark Sommerhauser at 608-252-6122 or msommerhauser@madison.com.

State Journal reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report.
ST. PAUL, Minn.  The top Minnesota House Democrat, facing criticism from Republicans over a comment invoking race and gender, stood by her remark Tuesday as calling attention to what she saw as disrespectful behavior.

Mondays debate about whether to ratchet up penalties for disruptive protests was heated to begin with. But when House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman rose to admonish some colleagues for checking out on the proceedings, she didnt mince words.

I hate to break up the 100 percent white male card game in the retiring room but I think this is an important debate, she said, referring to a private room off the House floor.

Members of both parties were indeed playing cards as discussion on the public safety budget bill moved toward its fourth hour.

An incredulous House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, rose from her chair as a murmur rippled through the chamber.

I have to say that last comment was completely inappropriate for the House of Representatives. And I would hope that you would apologize for that statement, that you made minority leader, Peppin said.

Other Republicans would add their own statements of offense. Representative Greg Davids, who was presiding over debate at the time of Hortmans remarks, later Monday called on Hortman to resign her leadership post.

On Tuesday, the tensions hadnt come down.

Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said she found it particularly disrespectful that the card game was happening while a pair of minority women in her caucus were delivering deeply personal speeches about the potency of the right to protest.

More: Full political coverage on the Capitol View blog

The measure in question would make it a gross misdemeanor punishable by increased fines or jail time to block freeways, access to airports or light rail trains; the offenses are misdemeanors now.

I thought it was very disrespectful. I thought it was impolite, I thought it was rude and I thought it needed to be called out, Hortman said.

This is a new thing, members sitting in the back playing cards for extended periods of time. There is a whole new level of disrespect and disregard for debate and discussion, she said, adding, I dont know a lot of people who get to sit for two hours and play cards and ignore what everyone else at their workplace is doing.

Davids said Hortman took things too far.

To classify a race and to classify a sex is out of line and against House rules. She violated House rules, Davids said. Now, what happens in the retiring room is nobodys business.

He said there is a general understanding that the room is there for members to relax, eat or have private conversations, especially during extended floor deliberations.

After hours and hours of debate repeating the same thing, you need a break from that at times, Davids said.

Davids, a 13-term Republican from Preston, said Hortman should apologize to the body for making it a hostile workplace. He said he wouldnt file an ethics complaint, which has occurred in past situations involving comments on the House floor.

Asked if she would deliver any apology or clarification, Hortman didnt provide any indication she would.

For too long when women are ignored, when people of color are ignored, when women of color are ignored, people dont say anything, she said. We need to say something. We need to call it out when we see it.

The House GOP says it will file a protest and dissent letter, which essentially lodges objections in the House journal but is short of an ethics complaint.

Peppin said Hortman was wrong to single out a group of lawmakers in that lounge when others were going in and out of the debate. The retiring room, she added, has TV and audio feeds available.
MILWAUKEE  Bank Mutual Corp. announced Tuesday that it has agreed to sell five retail branch offices, including deposit and loan relationships, to Marine Credit Union.

The pending sale consists of one office in Kenosha, two in Racine and two in Sheboygan, and is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

Terms of the transaction were not announced.

We are pleased to partner with Bank Mutual, a bank that shares our values, to continue providing excellent service and competitive products to customers in Racine, Kenosha and Sheboygan. We look forward to welcoming these Bank Mutual customers as members of Marine Credit Union and to expanding our impact in the Racine, Kenosha and Sheboygan communities, said Shawn Hanson, Marine Credit Union CEO.

Last year marked Marine Credit Unions sixth consecutive year of record growth, income and service, according to the La Crosse-based organizations recently released annual report.

Our growth is a product of a consistent commitment to a clear strategy. We are particularly focused on serving the underserved  providing solutions to the people who are turned away by other financial institutions, Hanson said.

Hanson joined Marine after its merger with Advantage Credit Union in La Crosse in 2006. As the former CEO of Advantage, he led the organizations through mergers. Since then, Marine has grown more than 130 percent, including the completion of four more mergers, the creation of more than 200 jobs and the expansion into the Milwaukee, Fox Cities, Eau Claire, Wis., Des Moines, Iowa and Quad Cities markets. Since 2011, Marine Credit Union has grown its workforce by 53 percent (277 employees in 2011, 423 today). It has also opened nine new offices in the past 12 months, including four in Iowa, and now serves 60,000 members.
Todays Wisconsin spring election features a statewide race, dozens of local contests and 65 referendums to raise local property taxes to help pay for schools.

Here are things to know about whats on the ballot:

Hours and turnout

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. An acceptable photo ID is needed to vote. Those include a Wisconsin driver license or Wisconsin state ID card, Veterans Health Administration ID card, military ID card, U.S. passport, tribal ID card and some student ID cards. Voters can register at the polls.

The state Elections Commission is predicting turnout of between 13 percent and 18 percent of eligible voters. Turnout in the February primary was just 5.9 percent.

La Crosse County Clerk Ginny Dankmeyer predicts turnout will be about 22 to 23 percent of registered voters, which is typical for a spring election.

State superintendent

The only statewide contest pits two-term incumbent Tony Evers, 65, against challenger Lowell Holtz, the 59-year-old former superintendent in Whitnall and Beloit who was also the state principal of the year in 1999. The winner will be in charge of the state Department of Public Instruction, which administers the law for all 424 public school districts.

The issues

Holtz and Evers differ on several key issues. Evers opposes expanding private school choice programs, while Holtz supports more growth. Holtz accuses Evers of not doing enough to close the achievement gap between white and non-white students, but Evers counters that progress has been made. Evers supports the Common Core academic standards and Holtz wants to repeal them.

They both support Gov. Scott Walkers proposed budget that would funnel $649 million more to schools, but they disagree on a provision that ties much of that additional money to districts that forced teachers to pay at least 12 percent of health care costs. Evers opposes the provision, while Holtz approves of it.

Local races

There are uncontested races for three appeals court seats, and there are local judicial races in 28 of 72 counties, including Vernon and Trempeauleau counties, along with dozens of local school board and municipal contests.

School votes

Schools across the state, including the Holmen School District, are asking voters to approve 65 referendums to either raise debt or local property taxes to pay for a variety of construction projects and to meet other needs. That comes after 122 were approved in 2016, the continuation of a trend that began three or four years ago as schools struggled to make ends meet under state-imposed spending limits, budget tightening and changing student populations with a growing range of needs.

La Crosse council

All 13 seats are on the ballot, as the La Crosse Common Council downsizes.

Extra sales tax

La Crosse County voters will express themselves in an advisory referendum on whether the county should pursue authority to levy a 0.5 percent premier resort area tax to fund road repairs.
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Essentially, the order tells EPA to suspend, revise or rescind, regulations that unduly burden the development of domestic energy resources beyond the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply with the law.

Thats just a needlessly long, bureaucratic way of saying the EPA should do its best to dismantle The Clean Power Plan and anything associated with it. Whether one chalks this up to the fulfilling of yet another shortsighted campaign promise or another knee-jerk attempt to unwind significant legislation put in place by the Obama administration, there will be plenty of questions and frustrations moving forward.

What many probably dont realize is that this order doesnt do anything right away. Rather, it initiates a variety of different processes  legal and otherwise  that will have to take place before any significant changes to anything can occur. This will take years to accomplish. The same can be said for how the order lifts the moratorium on leasing public lands for coal. In the short-term, it looks good for supporters of Trumps piecemeal agenda, but its possible that the eventual outcomes generated by this order, which may be no outcomes at all in some cases, will occur after Trump has left office.

In a November Harvard Gazette article, Jody Freeman, the Archibald Cox Professor of Law and director of Harvard Law Schools Environmental Law Program, noted that Trump could unilaterally withdraw from the Paris Agreement, renouncing U.S. leadership on international climate negotiations. And he could try to rescind or weaken some important regulations, like the Clean Power Plan. But any effort to fully unravel the substantial and meaningful regulatory initiatives of the last eight years will be long, complicated, and difficult, and in the end likely only partial because of the significant legal, political, and practical barriers to doing so.

So what is Trump trying to do? Buried toward the bottom of this new executive order youll find disbanded working groups, rescinded reports and a list of previous executive orders to be revoked.

At a time when wildfires, exacerbated by changing climate patterns, have been raging across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, leading to the loss of human lives and homes, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres, and the deaths of countless wild and domestic animals, President Trump might want to break his silence and reach out to farmers and ranchers with something other than an executive order that assures he will not let the government do much of anything to prepare for or understand this and other climate-related phenomena.

Higher temperatures and extreme weather events will continue to affect everyone, but it arguably affects farmers more often and more directly than most.

In the absence of leadership from Congress or The White House, the farmers who will navigate the uncertain future brought to us through variations in climate patterns and local weather events are going to be those who are willing to assess the complex situation in front of them and make the needed changes.

Their efforts at building resiliency into their operations will hinge upon things like crop selection, new and improved technology, and a suite of practices that will help them navigate what the climate throws at them.

Like Wisconsin Farmers Union, the Department of Defense acknowledges climate change is a real concern, and Secretary Mattis is including climate change in his plans for the future of national security. Paradoxically, this has not prevented the president from asking for a substantial budget increase for them. Even the EPA acknowledges climate change is real in its handouts.

Whats worrisome is that the reasons being cited for writing this executive order dont hold up under scrutiny. Federal regulation is not going to change the fact that coal and jobs in the coal industry are  like other diminishing sectors of the U.S. economy  losing to cheaper alternatives and robots.

Wisconsin Farmers Unions policy clearly breaks with the Trump administration on climate change, as we acknowledge that farmers livelihoods are tied to the weather. Unlike President Trump, we urge policymakers to consider the scientific evidence that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are increasing and global climate change is occurring, at least in part, as a result of man-made activities. The best shot we have at winning on this issue is reacting to the science and not to the arbitrary twists and turns that come with ill-fated political gambits like this one.
It was the kind of crying nobody should see, especially in a public place.

I was on the late afternoon train out of London to Cambridge, heartbroken because my first real relationship was ending. (I cant do this anymore, the medical student told me as we walked to Kings Cross. When you lived here it was one thing, but this is impossible.)

Taking a seat in the last row of the almost-empty last carriage, I shoved myself as close as possible to the window. I could feel that my face was raw and red from acidic tears and now looking at myself in the trains window, I could see that my eyes were crimson-rimmed with eyelids as white, puffy and thin as the skin on a mushroom.

What I couldnt understand was that it was simply an ordinary Sunday for everybody else in all the towns and villages we were passing. People would be reading the last of the newspapers, doing laundry or washing up after a big meal, but for me the world changed.

I kept my head turned to the window so that nobody could witness my shame and panic, but when the conductor came by to take my ticket and saw my expression, he sat down.

I was 22; he was probably 65, or 50, or maybe just 45. All I knew was that he was clearly a man whose days of crying in public, or even sitting next to girls who cried in public, seemed long past. Efficient, professional, courteous, at first glance you wouldnt have thought he was the type whod check on an unhappy, bedraggled girl.

But thats precisely what he did. In a way that was not typical for many of the English people who Id met, he took the seat next to mine and asked, in a straightforward manner as if merely seeking information: Dear miss, are you quite all right? I swear it was the word dear that got me. I looked up and because of his kindness  although the tears came to my eyes again  for the first time in hours I stopped crying.

Once I started talking, I kept talking. I explained how the most important relationship in my life was unraveling. I told him about how Id bought a one-way plane ticket to England the year before, expecting never to return to the states because Id found a boy out of a fairy tale. I told him that Id learned to stop believing in love after my mother died years ago but that I had believed in it again, and now it was being taken away.

Finally, when I stopped to blow my nose in a tattered piece of tissue, he spoke. Youve got your life in front of you and plenty of time to make it a good one, he said in businesslike manner. Better to learn what cant be fixed than hold onto useless bits and bobs. Then he rose, accepted my ticket and resumed doing his official job.

In the 38 years since that Sunday afternoon, I have indeed made a good life, although it hasnt always been an easy one. I found true and lasting love, discovered the work I was meant to do and created a community of friends more comforting and wise than I could have imagined when I was a girl.

But theres one thing I wish I could have done, and thats to thank the conductor on that train. His patient, sincere and yet disinterested concern for another human being who was clearly in pain made a irrevocable imprint on my life and changed it for the better.

I felt alone and hopeless before our brief conversation. Afterward, I felt as if the future might not be as miserable as I thought. It didnt take nearly as much as I thought it would to give me hope.

I still owe that man a debt of gratitude. I bet you owe someone that kind of debt, too. If it cant be repaid personally, it must be dispersed outward. Every gesture toward someone in pain, lost or who needs help, is a way to pass those thanks along.
Trumpism is in crisis.

This isnt a function of poll numbers, or any melodrama of the past months, but something more fundamental: No officeholder in Washington seems to understand President Donald Trumps populism or have a cogent theory of how to effect it in practice, including the president himself.

House Speaker Paul Ryan isnt a populist and doesnt want to be a populist. He has spent his adult life committed to a traditional limited-government agenda. He crafted his own platform during the campaign, the so-called Better Way agenda, to differentiate congressional Republicans from Trump.

Trump, for his part, has lacked the knowledge, focus or interest to translate his populism into legislative form. He deferred to others on legislative priorities and strategies at the outset of his administration, and his abiding passion in the health-care debate was, by all accounts, simply getting to a signing ceremony.

In light of all this, the product of the Ryan-Trump partnership was a health-care bill bizarrely at odds with a national election Republicans had just won on the strength of working-class voters. Under the GOP replacement, fewer people would have had coverage, and workers further down the income scale would have been particularly hard hit. Neither of these facts seemed to exercise the White House, at least not enough to try to do anything to fix them.

Maybe Ryan doesnt get the new political reality created by Trumps victory, as the presidents boosters like to say. But what excuse does the president himself have for evidently not getting it, either?

A President Trump acting more in keeping with his free-floating reflex to take care of people, as expressed in speeches and interviews, would have pushed the health bill to the left. But Trump so far hasnt followed the logic of his own politics in dealing with Congress.

His path not taken would have been to give an inaugural address with less carnage and more kumbayah. Immediately invite Chuck Schumer to the White House and tell him, Chuck, youre not leaving this building until we agree on an infrastructure package. Take the resulting big-spending proposal and dare the GOP leadership to defy him. Pass it with a bipartisan coalition.

Now that the initial health care bill has gone down, theres loose talk from the White House of wooing Democrats, but a lot has transpired the past few months that makes this much harder. Most importantly, the left-wing resistance to Trump is fully activated and prepared to exact punishment on any quislings.

And Trumps style of politics is not well-suited to bipartisanship. Democrats tend to be fond of Republicans like John Kasich and Jon Huntsman, who are determinedly inoffensive and loath to touch hot-button issues. Trump is neither. He could propose a $2 trillion infrastructure bill funded by forced requisitions from Wall Street bankers and Democrats would probably say, Hell, no.

In any case, the White House is moving on to tax reform. This, too, may end up running in well-worn GOP ruts. Trump executed a hostile takeover of a Republican Party that was obsessed with the 1980s and cutting marginal tax rates. Now, the Republican Plan B is revisiting the tax reform of 1986 with ample cuts in marginal tax rates.

If things continue to go badly over this first year, its easy to see Trump turning to the New York Democrats in his White House. This would entail less emphasis on trade, immigration and fights with the mainstream media, and more emphasis on a nonideological economic boosterism. The loose antecedent for this scenario is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who swept into office in California as a drain-the-swamp reformer after winning a populist crusade, and then recalibrated to accommodate the system after suffering politically damaging setbacks.

The range of possible outcomes of the Trump presidency is still wide. Unexpectedly, one of them is that his most die-hard populist supporters will eventually be able to say that Trumpism, like socialism, hasnt failed, its just never been tried.
Gov. Scott Walker and fellow Republicans who control the Legislature are clashing over key parts of his $76 billion state budget that runs from July 1 through the end of June 2019. Those areas include:

Roads: Walker wants to borrow half a billion dollars and delay major road projects instead of raising taxes to deal with a projected $1 billion shortfall. Republican lawmakers, together with Democrats, are urging Walker to consider raising the gas tax and vehicle fees. Walker, who is up for re-election next year, is threatening a veto, and Republicans in the Assembly and Senate disagree on whether theyd override.

UW: Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said questions over the relationship between private foundations and University of Wisconsin campuses have cast a dark cloud over budget negotiations, while Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said an examination of that shouldnt affect debate over higher education funding. University leaders are hopeful lawmakers go along with Walkers call for about a $100 million increase.

Tuition cut: Walker wants to cut UW and technical college tuition by 5 percent for all in-state students in the second year of the budget after five years of holding it flat. Vos and others say the money would be better spent on aid targeting poor students.

Self-insurance: Walker projects that $60 million could be saved if the state insured 250,000 state workers, rather than contracting with HMOs. Lawmakers are questioning whether that much could be saved and balking at Walkers using those savings to help fund his increases for K-12 schools and the UW System.
Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers advocates traveled to Washington, DC alongside a national network of more than 1,400 fellow Community Health Centers.

Community Health Centers provide high-quality, community-driven, comprehensive healthcare. We develop relationships with our patients and their families and every day, we work with them to achieve their goals.

Over the past several years, Scenic Bluffs has made progress on one of our main goals: making sure everyone in our community has access to healthcare through health insurance. While we know that insurance alone doesnt equal access, we do know it helps. In the last three years, we have seen a 12-percent reduction in the number of uninsured patients. We remain committed to seeing patients who dont have insurance as well, and we provide equal, excellent care to anyone who comes through our doors. We have provided thousands of people in Monroe, Vernon, Crawford and La Crosse counties with a healthcare home.

On the heels of these gains, our patients and Scenic Bluffs face a great deal of uncertainty. While the Affordable Care Act remains intact, there are still threats to affordable coverage and the future of Medicaid. Almost 55-percent of Scenic Bluffs revenue comes from Medicaid. The federal grants that help Community Health Centers treat uninsured patients are also set to expire in September of this year. The long term strength and sustainability of these two programs are critical to our success.

Weve traveled to Washington to ask our lawmakers to support Community Health Centers so that we can continue do what we do best: provide compassionate, patient-centered, community-based care. We pride ourselves on serving everyone in our community whether they have private insurance, Medicaid, or pay out-of- pocket. If you support the work of Scenic Bluffs, we ask you to contact Congressman Kind at (202) 225-5506 to thank him for his support of Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers, and share why you value Scenic Bluffs as part of your community.

Mari Freiberg,

Scenic Bluffs Executive Director/CEO


American airplane maker Boeing says it has reached a deal to sell 30 aircraft to an Iranian airline.

The $3 billion sale of passenger aircraft is the second deal the American aerospace company has reached with an Iranian airline.

Boeing announced the latest deal with Aseman Airlines on Tuesday.

Last December, Iran Air agreed to buy 80 Boeing passenger planes in a deal worth $16.6 billion.

The deals were made possible by an agreement signed by Iran and six world powers including the U.S. The deal limited Irans uranium enrichment activities in an effort to keep the country from developing nuclear weapons. In exchange, many trade and financial sanctions on Iran were lifted.

In a statement, Boeing says the deal is expected to create or sustain 18,000 jobs. Boeing would look to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval of the sale. The office is part of the United States Treasury Department.

During the campaign for president, United States President Donald Trump was strongly critical of the Iran deal. But Trump has also said creating jobs is a main concern for his administration.

If the deal is approved, Aseman Airlines is expected to start receiving the airplanes in 2022 according to Boeing.

Im Mario Ritter.

Joshua Fatzick reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

airline n. a company that owns or leases airplanes to transport people or cargo

aerospace adj. related to the industry of traveling in and above Earths atmosphere

sanction n. an action that is meant to force a country to obey international law usually by limiting or stopping trade and economic activity with that country


An explosion Monday on a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia, killed at least 10 and injured dozens more.

The attack happened as Russian President Vladimir Putin was in the city to meet with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.

The explosion hit the subway train as it traveled between stations. The trains driver chose to continue on to the next station, Technology Institute.

That might have saved lives.

By moving the train to the next station the driver made it easier to remove injured passengers, said an official with Russias Investigative Committee. It also took away the possibility of injury, or even death, if passengers were to have walked along the subway systems electrified tracks, the official said.

Russian officials later found and disabled another bomb at the citys Vosstaniya station.

Searching for suspects

Russian news media reported that police are searching for two men recorded on subway cameras. Russian state television showed a photo of one possible suspect wearing what appeared to be the kind of hat common in mostly Muslim areas of the former Soviet Union.

President Vladimir Putin said investigators are looking at all possibilities for the attack, including terrorism.

"The reasons are yet unclear so its early to talk about them. The investigation will tell, he said.

Appearing on Russian television, Putin offered his condolences to the relatives of those killed and injured in the blast.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump called the St. Petersburg bombing a terrible thing.

Scene in St. Petersburg

All subway stations in St. Petersburg were shut down after the attack. It left many people looking for a way to get home after finishing their jobs Monday afternoon.

More than two million riders use the subway system each workday in St. Petersburg, Russias second largest city.

Video and photos showed injured people on the ground, bleeding on the platform at the Technology Institute station. A big hole could be seen in the side of what appeared to be the trains third car.

Some people ran past clouds of smoke, some shouted and others held their hands to their faces, Reuters reported.

St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika told Reuters, 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."

Previous attacks

In past years, Islamic militants, connected to Chechnya and other Caucasus republics, have targeted trains and planes in Russia.

In October 2015, Islamic State militants downed a Russian airliner leaving from an Egyptian resort city, killing all 224 people on board.

Chechen terrorists were blamed for previous subway attacks in Moscow, killing 40 people in 2010 and nearly 50 in 2004. The same terrorist group also claimed responsibility for suicide bombings at the Moscow airport, killing 37 people in 2011 and 90 people in 2004.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

Bruce Alpert adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reports by Daniel Schearf of VOA News, the Associated Press, Reuters and other sources. Hai Do was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

subway - n. a train that operates mostly underground

tracks - n. a pair of metal bars that a train, trolley, or subway car rides along

suspect - n. a person believed by police to be involved with a crime

condolence - n. expressions of sympathy for the death of a relative or loved one

escalator - n. a moving set of stairs that carries people up or down from one level of a building or station to another

resort - n. a place where people go for vacations


In the 2015 film The Martian, Matt Damons character is a scientist left behind on Mars.

He has limited food supplies and not much water. He tries to figure out how to survive so he can be rescued.

Luckily, he knows how to grow things. And one of the things he grows is a potato plant.

A year later, scientists in Peru and NASA scientists in California started working together on growing potatoes in a harsh location similar to Mars.

They built a container where they could simulate the conditions on Mars. The salty soil came from the southern coast of Peru, where there is very little rain.

Inside the Mars-in-a-box, the scientists made the air pressure similar to what it is like at 6,000-meters, decreased the temperature below zero, and added carbon monoxide to the air.

They made a lighting system that followed Mars daytime and nighttime.

They planted 65 types of potato plants, and waited. After a while, four of them grew.

Later, the scientists took the strongest of the four plants and tried again. This time, they used crushed rocks instead of soil.

The plant still grew.

Why is the research being done in Peru?

You may not know that Peru is known as the birthplace of potato farming. People grew potatoes there about 7,000 years ago. Even in cold, barren parts of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, potatoes still grow.

There is also a potato research center, called the International Potato Center, in the capital city, Lima.

The surviving potato in the Mars-in-a box is known as Unique.

It can still grow in freezing climates with high amounts of carbon dioxide.

The research is not only for a trip to Mars one day.

It is going to help feed people in parts of the world that are already having trouble planting traditional crops due to climate change.

The work is not yet done.

The scientists in Peru and California will try to grow more plants in even more difficult conditions.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on an Associated Press report. Hai Do was the editor.

Will we one day grow potatoes on Mars? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

character - n. a person who appears in a story, plkay or movie

simulate - v. look feel or behave like (something)

carbon monoxide - n. a poisonous gas that is formed when carbon is not completely burned

barren - adj. not suitable for plants


After Hillary Clinton lost the presidency to Donald Trump, some wondered how many voters were unwilling to elect a woman for president. Now, a New York show is helping to provide some answers.

It is recreating important moments from the three Trump-Clinton presidential debates, but with a big difference. A female actor plays Trump and a male actor plays Clinton.

The show is called: Her Opponent.

Do the gender changes make a difference? People who have seen the show say yes.

But surprisingly, many who speak out in the discussion that follows each show say Trump comes across in the show more sympathetic as a woman and Clinton less so as a man.

Christine Ostrosky, 22, is a senior at Miami University in Ohio. She watched a performance of Her Opponent online.

When she watched the real debates, she said, It was obvious to me that Clinton had more charisma, and was clearly the more qualified debater.

But after watching the Trump and Clinton actors perform the debate lines, Ostrosky said she could understand better the appeal Trump had with some women voters.

Among the debate moments acted out in Her Opponent, is this one over Clinton's experience.

Lets listen to the real Trump and Clinton in the presidential debate:

Clinton: So I know how to really work to get new jobs and to get exports that help to create more new jobs.

Trump: But you haven't done it in 30 years or 26 years or any number you want to...

Clinton: Well, I've been a senator, Donald...

Trump: You haven't done it. You haven't done it.

Clinton: And I have been a secretary of state.

Now, lets listen to the rehearsal of the actors playing Trump and Clinton in Her Opponent:

Clinton: So I know how to really work to get new jobs and to get exports that help to create more new jobs.

Trump: But you haven't done it in 30 years or 26 years or any number you want to...

Clinton: Well, I've been a senator, Donald...

Trump: You haven't done it. You haven't done it.

Clinton: And I have been a secretary of state.

The shows creators are Joe Salvatore, a playwright and New York University theater professor and Maria Guadalupe, who teaches political science and economics at Insead, a graduate business school in France.

Guadalupe said: One sees that, when performed by a man, Clinton was behaving within a very female script (smiling, nodding while she was being attacked) and that was not appealing and looked weak.

But Trump, performed by a woman, looked less aggressive and more truthful, passionate, Guadalupe said.

Salvatore said it was not so much that Clinton supporters became Trump supporters after watching Her Opponent. But audience members say they now know why Trump won, he said.

Salvatore said the experience of putting together Her Opponent has left him ready to offer advice to candidates.

A candidate might learn a lot by watching how an actor would act out their words, complete with facial expressions and hand motions, Salvatore said.

I think that we spend a lot of time in analysis talking about what people said and I dont think that we spend enough time in analysis talking about how people said it.

It is not only word choice, but how a person delivers his or her message, Salvatore said.

I think this difference between Clinton offering so many facts and figures, almost to the point of it being dizzying in some moments in the debates, vs. Trump saying kind of short, quick, repeatable things over and over again, even if they are not necessarily accurate. The message lands more strongly and clearly.

This kind of show is called documentary theater

A show in which the actors repeat the same words said earlier by other people is not new. Some call it documentary theater.

According to Drama Online, this type of show dates back to the 1920s. The aims of documentary theater are to reassess history and to investigate major events.

I'm Dorothy Gundy.

And I'm Bruce Alpert.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story. Dorothy Gundy produced the video. Hai Do was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. Are your views of a person affected by their gender? Explain. _______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

gender - n. the state of being male or female

obvious - adj. easy to see or notice

charisma - n. a special charm or appeal that causes people to feel attracted and excited by someone

qualified - adj. having the necessary skill, experience, or knowledge to do a particular job or activity

script - n. the written form of a play, movie, television show

nod - v. to move your head up and down as a way of answering yes or of showing agreement

passionate - adj. having, showing, or expressing strong emotions or beliefs

analyze - v. to study something closely and carefully

dizzying - adj. causing or likely to cause dizziness

accurate - adj. free from mistakes or errors

reassess - v. to reconsider a judgement about someone or something
Amid the turmoil over staff shake-ups, blocked travel bans and the Russia cloud hanging overhead, President Donald Trump is steadily plugging 
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This website is inclusive of tolerant people of all faiths, without exception. Neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia nor homophobia should ever be acceptable to anyone. We must all strive to live in peace and harmony with each other, regardless of religious affiliations, or none. Intolerance is the mother of strife and conflict.   Mark Alexander

We Britons are Europeans!Wir Briten sind Europaer! Nous, les Britanniques, sommes europeens !  Mark AlexanderEmail me at:markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com
Five students from Northland Preparatory Academy are the only high school students touring Arizona with the Arizona Guitar Orchestra and the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

The students, Jake Mason, Cameron Jameson, Zane Koch, Tyler Davis and Colton Hibbert, made their debut with the two ensembles Friday evening at Shepherd of the Hills Church in Flagstaff. The Arizona Guitar Orchestra is made up of professional and college classical guitar players from around the state.

The five high-schoolers have been students of NPA guitar teacher Thomas Byers for the last four years. All of them said they started playing guitar because they saw the class in the course catalog and thought it looked like fun. Now the four seniors and one junior are hooked.

Each student had to audition for the position using sections from a piece called By Chants, which is inspired by songs from the Havasupai Tribe. The piece was written by Andrew York, a former member of the LA Guitar Quartet for the quartet and the orchestra.

It was definitely new and nerve-wracking to audition, Davis said. And oddly kind of relaxing. I havent had to audition like that for several years.

Its more fulfilling to audition for something like this, Koch said. It gave him a bigger sense of accomplishment having auditioned and earned a seat in the ensemble.

Its the coolest thing Ive ever done, Mason said. This is the best of the best!

The first time the Arizona Guitar Orchestra and the Quartet heard the entire By Chants piece was Friday afternoon, Byers said. The two entities had been practicing their part of the piece for the last five months without having heard the other.

It was a little confusing at first, Mason said. We had to kind of imagine the other (quartets) part in our heads.

The students, the orchestra and quartet have their next performances in Tucson and Scottsdale.
Albergue SCM is set to present the exhibition Desenhos 2006-2016 by Daniel Vicente Flores on April 19, showcasing 33 Chinese ink drawings. According to the cultural and creative space, the artist explored his personality through the lines that sometimes break in angles and sudden variations. My drawings are not studies of shadow and light from observation, but from light and color itself, which form the drawing related to the outside world only symbolically, the artist said, as cited in a press release issued by Albergue SCM. Flores was born in Macau in 1989. He developed his interest for drawing as an expression he exercised, and also developed in literature, particularly poetry, and music. Meanwhile, the artists book, Impressoes, with his drawings and poems will be launched on the same day. The exhibition, sponsored by the Macau Foundation, will be open to the public at A2 Gallery, Albergue SCM until May 7.

Philippines Airlines to launch Chengdu routes

Philippines Airlines (PAL) is set to officially launch its Chengdu-Kalibo and Chengdu-Cebu routes, which allow the Chinese market to land directly in the central Philippines. There will be three weekly flights on the Chengdu-Cebu route and four on the Chengdu-Kalibo route, executives from the airline have stated. The airline operates over a hundred flights a week from Manila to the mainland China, with Cebu and Kalibo hosting a number of other domestic and international flights. Among the Chinese destinations served are Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Jinjiang, Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu.

We have been flying here in China since September 1946 when PAL resumed operations after the Second World War. [] Our network expansion in China is a reflection of the vision of our Chairman Dr. Lucio C. Tan, who foresaw Chinas economic boom, PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista said, according to ENP Newswire. Aside from the Chengdu service, PAL will be opening more flights connecting the Philippines to China in the near future.

C2 Magazine 20th issue to be published tomorrow

Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and produced by 100 Plus Cultural and Creative Development Ltd., the 20th issue of C2 Magazine will be launched tomorrow. According to a statement issued by the IC, education plays a vital role in the development of the cultural and creative industries. As such, representatives from the Millennium Secondary School, the Macau Polytechnic Institute and Todot Design have been invited in this issue to discuss how education is a part of the cultural and creative sector. Macau-based director Tracy Choi will be featured in the edition under the Budding Talents section, in which she will share the difficulties she faced during the preparation and the production of her debut feature film, Sisterhood. C2 is a trilingual magazine, published in Chinese, Portuguese and English. The bimonthly publication, released on the first Wednesday of every second month, can also be downloaded from http://www.c2magazine.mo.

Macau, mainland discuss police cooperation

Representatives of the police forces in Macau and mainland China recently met to discuss law enforcement cooperation on fighting economic crime, drugs, and telecommunication fraud, security authorities in Macau said yesterday.

The Office of the Secretary for Security told the press that the 20th police work meeting between Macau and the Chinese mainland had been held in Xiamen on Friday. Secretary Wong Sio Chak and Chinas Vice Minister of Public Security, Chen Zhimin, led the two sides to review the cooperation in 2016 and exchange ideas for 2017. Last year, the two sides studied the joint customs clearance procedure in the Zhuhai-Macau part of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau 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 telecommunication fraud and illegal immigration. The meeting also decided to push forward the realization of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between Macau and Chinese mainland.

SJM announces salary raise

Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) has announced a salary increase for its eligible employees of between 2.5 percent to 9.1 percent, effective April 1, 2017. This years salary adjustment focuses on local employees and on raising the salary level of junior employees, a statement from SJM informed. The companys statement also said that the raise reflects its commitment to the development of local talent, despite being faced with challenging economic conditions. Local residents currently comprise over 95 percent of SJMs workforce. Moreover, the Grand Lisboa Palace, an integrated resort in Cotai penned for a 2018 opening, is expected to provide local residents with more than 10,000 jobs, most of which are non-gaming positions.
The Chief Executive (CE) is against any attempt by lawmakers to change the Land Law to accommodate the interests of private developers who claim that the non-development of land was due to governmental inaction.

In a statement issued yesterday, the CEs Office strongly rejects the proposal by appointed lawmaker Gabriel Tong to vote on an amendment to the Land Law.

The statement indicated that according to article 75 of the Basic Law, lawmakers who wish to present bills to the Legislative Assembly (AL) involving governmental policies must obtain written consent from the Chief Executive.

Article 75 also states that bills which dont involve revenues or expenses, the political structure or the government functioning can be presented, individually or collectedly, by lawmakers. These norms strongly limit the autonomy of lawmakers to present bills.

The CEs firm stance comes days after a controversial plenary session at the AL, dominated by appeals for a revision to the Land Law. The session was attended by some of the owners of the Pearl Horizon project who applauded lawmakers appeals to interpret the law after the rental concession of land where the unfinished private housing project being developed by Polytex Corporation Limited was declared expired by the Court of Final Appeal in December. The project was expected to include 18 towers with over 5,000 residential units.

During the session, lawmaker Cheung Lup Kwan summarized the views expressed by other lawmakers, acknowledging that it was a mistake to approve the changes to the Land Law. I believe that we made a mistake. I voted wrongly; I admit that like many others here, he said. We have to think how to solve this.

Meanwhile, according to Pereira Coutinho, around 20 lawmakers  including all of the directly elected ones  have signed a letter requesting a meeting with the CE next week to discuss the issue. PB

Nam Van to appeal



The director of the Nam Van Development Company, which is the concessionaire company of the C and D land plots of Nam Van lake, said that the company will go to court in order to challenge the reversion of the land plots located close to the AL. It must be done, resorting to court, Gilberto Gomes told Radio Macau. But we need to wait for the governments notice in order to see how we reply. We also need to analyze that in the General Assembly of the company. It must be decided by the shareholders.
President Donald Trump says that the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Koreas nuclear program.

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.

Yes, we will talk about North Korea, Trump told the newspaper for a story that appeared yesterday [Macau time] on its website. 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.

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 neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Uns government is limited.

The relationship between the United States 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 U.S. is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand regarding North Koreas 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 of the Chinese. 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 doesnt cooperate, Haley said: China has to cooperate.

Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, however, said he doubted that Beijing will cooperate.

Ive 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 havent used that influence, and so its hard for me to be optimistic with that, he said. Catherine Lucey, Potomac Falls (Va.), AP
Sands China took the month of March to shine an additional spotlight on environmental sustainability by drawing the attention of the public and its team members to climate change through two events; Earth Hour and an in-house Climate Week.

On March 25, the company participated in Earth Hour for the ninth consecutive year, turning off lights at all its properties.

Beginning at 8:30 p.m., exterior lights and non-essential indoor lights were turned off for one hour at all Sands China properties, the gaming operator said in a statement.

Sands China then followed up this years Earth Hour observance with a Climate Week event, encouraging team members to take action on climate change (Twitter hashtags #ECO360 and #ChangeClimateChange).

Held from March 27-31 at employee back-of-house areas, Climate Week featured an Energy Saving Roadshow.

The week encouraged team members to save energy at home and further support the environmental goals of Earth Hour and Sands ECO360 by changing out their homes incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs for ultra energy-

efficient LEDs.

CEM announces future developments for EV charging facilities

CEM held a press conference at CEM Building on Friday to brief the media about its electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities and plans for future development.

Currently, 18 Macau public car parks are equipped with EV charging facilities. More than 70 chargers are available for EVs and

e-bikes, and cover more than 40 percent of public car parks.

CEM said in a statement that it will install more EV charging stations at eight public car parks for its next phase of development in the territory.

This move will equip 60 percent of public car parks with EV charging stations.

CEM will also increase the number of charging stations in accordance with usage status, as well as the growth of EV usage in the region.

The company will also analyze the usage patterns of various districts to optimize the distribution of different charging systems.
A group of Filipino migrants in the MSAR gathered on Sunday to express their dismay over the actions of The Philippines Vice-President, Maria Leonor Leni Robredo, and to add their voices to the global rally calling for her impeachment.

In the context of the countrys current controversial war on drugs initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte, the Vice President sparked controversy after the broadcast of a video message at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria.

In the video, she claimed that the crackdown on drug trafficking being conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) has resulted in over 7,000 deaths, many of them extra-judicial killings. These allegations sparked rage amongst Duterte supporters, because her claims were reported to be unverified. These supporters consequently called for a global rally to impeach Robredo, with a slogan PalitBise, meaning change of Vice President.

In Macau, Jonathan Marigsa, a migrant worker, organized a small group of people to participate in the global movement.

He stressed their dismay over Robredos claims, adding that the Vice President presented a bad image of The Philippines to the UN.

We didnt like Leni Robredos statements regarding human rights. It was even showed to the UN but we dont believe her claims, Marigsa told the Times on a phone interview.

According to him, of the over 7,000 deaths recorded by the PNP, only one third are related to drug trade.

Not all those deaths are related to extra-judicial killings. The calculations are wrong because it included other criminalities such as kidnapping, robbery and such, he said.

It gives the Philippines a bad image due to the statement she gave to the UN. She should instead be of help to the administration, the Duterte supporter criticized.

Although the gathering only attracted a few dozen, Marigsa believed that majority of the Filipinos residing in the region are Duterte supporters, recalling that Dutertes win during the elections in May last year was a landslide victory. LV
Martin Scorseses latest project, a historical period drama titled Silence, has been praised for its accurate depiction of Jesuit activities in Macau and East Asia, as well as for its closeness to the original novel that served as the inspiration behind the film.

Released internationally in December last year, the film features scenes of a recreated old Macau, which served as an important center for Jesuit activities in the Asia-Pacific region during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The films plot recounts the fictional story of Jesuit missionaries trying to find their missing colleague in Japan. Leaving their base in Macau, two Portuguese priests enlist the help of an exiled Japanese man to venture into the hostile country, which at that time had embraced state-sponsored persecution of Christians.

In one of the opening scenes, three Jesuit priests are seen exiting a whitened, and presumably intact, version of the present-day Ruins of St. Pauls. However, only its front-facing facade is shown in the film.

The background to the scene is a tranquil hilltop view of Portuguese Macau, adorned with colonial-style buildings and what appear to be wooden ships in the harbor. The hills of nearby China (today Zhuhai) can be seen across the narrow stretch of water.

The detailed recreation of old Macau prompted the Times to ask local authorities whether government departments such as the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) or the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) had collaborated with researchers for the film.

MGTO has previously been involved in projects to bring filmmakers to Macau, for example the International Film Festival and Awards that debuted in Macau debuted last year, as part of its plan to generate more international awareness of the MSAR through film productions and promote tourism in the process.

A representative of the IC told the Times that the bureau had no involvement in the film in terms of providing assistance to researchers. The Times did not receive a reply from MGTO by press time.

Meanwhile, Macau-based filmmakers suggested to the Times that the production team behind the film, which was shot entirely in Taiwan, had not visited Macau and instead produced the set from historical archives.

According to Catholic media website, Crux, Jesuit priest James Martin had worked closely with the filmmakers as a consultant to ensure an accurate portrayal of the members of the Society of Jesus.

Professor Hugo Goncalves Dores, who presented a seminar at the University of Saint Joseph last week detailing his research on Portuguese missionary work in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries, said that the film was well-received by academics in his field, who regard it as an accurate portrayal of the period.

I am not a specialist [in missionary work in Asia] but my colleagues who are specialists said the film was very realistic  true to the book and to the reality, he said.

The film was adapted from a 1996 historical fiction novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, which explores the theme of a silent God accompanying a believer who must face trials of faith.

The experience [of missionaries] in Africa and Asia was quite different, he said, but they were a part of the same imperial structure.

While the importance of Macau as a missionary base in the region diminished quite rapidly following the entry of other colonial powers to East Asia  namely the Dutch, the French and the British  the role of the enclave during the 16th and 17th centuries earned Macau the title of the Mother of Missions in Asia.

This title, which was bestowed on the territory centuries later by contemporary academics, was the result of Macau serving as a node for missionary work in the region.

Leonor Diaz de Seabra, an associate professor of history at the University of Macau, told the Times that during the 16th and 17th centuries, all the [European] missionaries came to Macau first and then spread to East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Macau was very important to the Jesuits at this time and the Jesuits were also important to Macau, particularly in administrative affairs, said Seabra. They [operated] the first university, St. Pauls College, where they taught not only religious matters but also scientific matters.

Scorseses Silence was reviewed favorably by film critics and audiences. IMDb has aggregated a score of 7.4 out of 10 based on 38,743 votes, while Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 7.6 out of 10, with audience reviewers on the site (non-professionals) awarding it 3.7 out of 5.

Scorsese has visited Macau previously. In October 2015, he attended the opening of Melcos (then Melco Crowns) Studio City resort in Cotai, where a short film featuring the director, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt was premiered.

Missionaries thought it a noble thing to spread their faith

Professor Hugo Goncalves Dores, a scholar who is researching the Portuguese colonial experience in sub-Saharan Africa, presented a seminar last week at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ).

Titled Historiographical limits and the challenges of studying Christian missions in imperial times, the public lecture shed light on the various forces that affected missionary work on the continent during the 19th and 20th centuries, including religious doctrine, imperialism, internationalism and intra-religious factionalism.

One idea that Professor Dores said he grappled with in his research was the idea of Christian missionaries being collaborators of the imperial regimes.

I tend not to be so careful [favorable] about the concept of the Empire as many are in Portugal, he said, explaining that the imperial experience has traditionally been a source of national pride for the Portuguese.

My job as a historian is to look at specific realities in specific contexts. At the time [of the missionaries], they thought they were not being racist or judgmental. They were just Christians who thought they were doing a noble thing to spread their faith.
Fourteen million Angolans will have access to electricity from the national grid by 2025, announced in Soyo, the capital of Zaire province, the Minister of Energy and Water, Joao Baptista Borges.

The population of Angola totaled 28.3 million people, according to an estimate announced in late January by the National Statistics Institute, of which 7.7 million people live in Luanda province.

Our ultimate goal is that by 2025, about 14 million Angolans can benefit from electricity from the public system, which means a doubling of the access rate, either through large projects or with other smaller ones in municipalities and provinces across the country, said the minister at the end of a visit to the construction work of the Soyo Combined-Cycle Power Station.

The minister noted there was a National Development Plan, whose priority is the execution of basic infrastructure related to water and electricity, with a view to universal access to these services, as they are synonymous with development.

The completion of the Lauca and Cambambe dams will allow the northern system and the center system to be linked in order to bring electricity to Huambo and from there on to Lubango. The aim is to bring electricity from the main production centres to different regions of the country, to transform the current energy isolation of many regions that depend heavily on thermal sources, said Joao Baptista Borges, cited by state newspaper Jornal de Angola.

The minister also said that all the municipal headquarters of Zaire province will be connected to the national electricity grid within two years of the signing of the contract for the work. MDT/Macauhub
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is banking on Airbus Group SEs latest A350 wide-body jet to shore up its Munich hub, where the deployment of less efficient planes means normally lucrative long- haul flights are losing money.

The first 15 of 25 A350s ordered by Lufthansa are to be based in the Bavarian city, with the composite-fuselage, twin-engine model providing a 25 percent fuel saving compared with the four-turbine Airbus A340s currently used there.

The new A350 fleet is a big step toward profitability, Wilken Bormann, who heads Lufthansas operations in Munich, said in an interview. Two A350s are now flying from the secondary hub, with the third delivered Saturday, and the number is set to reach six this year and 12 by the end of 2018, he said.

Lufthansa is focusing on Munich after turning all inter-continental routes from its main Frankfurt base profitable last year, terminating some services and introducing a denser seating layout on others. Network airlines typically accept losses on short- haul routes that feed passengers onto longer trips where margins are usually healthier, buoyed by sales of premium seats.

Routes from Munich to Delhi and Boston are already served by the A350, with Mumbai set to become the models next destination from April 15, followed by cities in East Asia, Bormann said. Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo all currently use the A340, which has been out of production since 2011.

Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said last month that Munich will become more important to Lufthansa, something Bormann said may mean stationing more aircraft there. Europes third-biggest airline has 25 wide- body jets at the hub, including 16 A340s used on about half of the 20-plus long-haul routes, though Bormann didnt reveal how many are failing to break even. Bloomberg
In a statement announcing the companys 2016 annual audited financial results, the recently renamed Melco International Development Ltd. stressed its interest in continuing to develop opportunities in several overseas locations which include Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Cyprus.

We have been actively exploring opportunities in new markets, such as South Korea, Cyprus and Japan, noted the companys CEO, Lawrence Ho, according to Fridays statement.

The announcement stated that the multinational consortium formed between Melco, Hard Rock International and Cyprus Phasouri (Zakarai) Ltd. has now entered the final stage in the process of obtaining a 30-year license for the operation of the new casino resort with a 15-year exclusivity period, from the Cypriot government.

Riding on the ongoing recovery of Macau underpinned by a pivot of the market towards the mass market segment, Melco continues to further develop our operations in Macau as well as in overseas markets, including the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, mainland China and the Pan-Asian region, said Ho, according to the statement.

We are also resolved to advance our expansion plan in Cyprus, and to explore new opportunities in other countries, such as Japan, he added, [as] the legalization of casinos in December 2016 has paved the way for tremendous business opportunities in this wealthy and populous country.

As previously reported, Melco recorded profit attributable to shareholders of HKD10.4 billion.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened yesterday to unleash new attack aircraft and the full power of the state against communist rebels if a new round of peace talks fails, and insisted they accept new conditions including a halt to extortion and to territorial claims.

Government and rebel negotiators have flown to the Netherlands for a resumption of the talks, which collapsed in February after Duterte angrily protested the killings of government troops in renewed attacks by the New Peoples Army rebels. The formal opening ceremony of the Norwegian-brokered talks, which the government announced would take place Sunday, was delayed by a day.

Were facing the NPAs, were having talks in the Netherlands, they have not made any progress because I have some conditions to impose before we go back, Duterte said in a speech at the presidential palace in Manila.

He accused the guerrillas of undermining the talks and said the 48-year conflict  one of Asias longest-running rebellions  may continue if the rebels dont accept his conditions.

Government chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III acknowledged the difficulty of the talks in a speech at the ceremony marking the resumption of talks. He welcomed the rebels openness to a possible joint cease-fire.

Our discussion in the following days may prove to be difficult and exacting given the diversity of the positions taken by the parties on the issues at hand, he said in his speech, a copy of which was issued by the presidential palace in Manila.

Duterte told reporters Sunday that he had asked Bello and his adviser on the talks, Jesus Dureza, to stick to four new conditions he has laid down, including the forging of a joint cease-fire and an end to extortion by the rebels and their claims to rural territories. All military, police and civilians held by the rebels should also be freed, he said.

Without these, there will be no peace talks, Duterte said.

There was no immediate rebel reaction to Dutertes new conditions. In the past, they have rejected government conditions they deemed were a surrender of the advances they say they have made in their rural-based uprising.

Duterte said yesterday that he would use newly acquired attack aircraft and other weapons against the guerrillas if the talks go nowhere.

Ill really use those against the enemies of the government, he said. I will not hesitate to use the full power of the state.

The rebels have negotiated unsuccessfully with five Philippine presidents before Duterte. Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting have weakened the guerrilla group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and remains a major Philippine security threat.

The rebels and the government declared separate cease-fires last year as they resumed peace talks after Duterte took office in June. That allowed the government to withdraw troops from battlefields to focus on an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim extremist groups in the countrys south.

The initially upbeat negotiations under Duterte gradually unraveled as the rebels accused troops of violating the governments own cease-fire by continuing combat operations in what they said were their rural strongholds. The rebels and Duterte separately lifted their cease-fires, sparking new violence that left rebel and military casualties. Jim Gomez, Manila, AP
An explosion yesterday ripped through a subway train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, killing at least 10 people and injuring 50 others, the spokesman for the citys governor told Russian television. The blast came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown.

Putin, speaking from Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, 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.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

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, Russias National Anti-Terrorist 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 all key transport facilities across Russia. Maxim Liksutov, Moscows deputy mayor, told Interfax that Moscow 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 center, 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!

St. Petersburg, Russias second-largest city with over 5 million residents, is the countrys most popular tourist destination. The two stations that were the site of the blast are some of the subways busiest.

Putin was in St. Petersburg yesterday for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened, Putin said at the start of his talks with Lukashenko.

St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko was overseeing the rescue effort.

Russian transport facilities have been the target of previous terror attacks.

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.

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. Umarovs group also said he ordered this attack. Irina Titova, & Nataliya Vasilyeva, St. Petersburg, AP
The enforcement of safety regulations on construction sites will be heightened, said Hong Kongs Secretary for Labor and Welfare, Stephen Sui, according to a report published by Hong Kongs The Standard. The enforcement is following 10 worker deaths so far this year due to industrial accidents on construction sites.

The deaths include two workers who died last week when a temporary platform at the site of the under-construction Hong Kong-

Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) collapsed.

The Hong Kong Secretary said that after the Labor Department conducted more than 62,000 regular inspections at construction sites, it found that the accidents in question were due to inadequate safety measures.

From these inspections, 174 suspension notices were delivered and 348 improvement notices were issued in January and February this year alone. A total of 317 prosecutions were also undertaken in the period.

According to The Standard, Sui, speaking at an event on the weekend, said that the accident at the HKZMB site is currently under investigation by a committee in Hong Kong. He said that the existing penalties are high enough to deter employers from poor safety practices, citing two cases that resulted in fines of HKD185,000 and HKD520,000.

However, the chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, Chow Luen-kiu, said during the event that these fines were negligible when compared to the total construction costs of the projects in question. He said that the fines would be assumed by employers as business costs.

A bridge costs HKD10 billion or HKD20 billion. If a worker died, [the contractor] may compensate the family with some HKD1 million and the court may fine it hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said, as cited by The Standard. The companies may just count everything as the business cost.

He added that the HKZMB is now seen as the most dangerous construction site in Hong Kong.

Underground tunnel completed

The construction of the underground tunnel that connects to the HKZMB has been completed. The 55-kilometer-long bridge will open by the end of this year, linking the cities of Macau, Hong Kong and Zhuhai. Contractors responsible for the tunnels construction said that all testing post-construction has been successful. During the construction of the tunnel, various risk assessments were conducted to account for the potential inflow of water and mud, as well as structural collapse.
Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in Chinas capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take.

The unusual move  part of a toilet revolution  is another step in Chinas vast upgrading of public facilities.

Bathrooms at tourist sites, notorious for their primitive conditions and nasty odors, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better-quality facilities from a more affluent public.

Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism, said Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy. The expectation of the public for the toilet is becoming higher.

At Beijings 600-year- old Temple of Heaven, administrators recognized the need to stock the public bathrooms with toilet paper, a requirement for obtaining a top rating from the National Tourism Authority. But they needed a means of preventing patrons from stripping them bare for personal use  hence the introduction of new technology that dispenses just one 60-centimeter section of paper every nine minutes following a face scan.

People take away the paper mostly because they are worried they cant find any when they want to use it the next time. But if we can provide it in every toilet, most people will not do it anymore, Zhan said.

Launched two years ago, the revolution calls for at least 34,000 new public bathrooms to be constructed in Beijing and 23,000 renovated by the end of this year. Authorities are also encouraging the installation of Western-style sit-down commodes rather than the more common squat toilets. Around 25 billion yuan (USD3.6 billion) has already been spent on the program, according to the National Tourism Administration.

The ultimate target, Zhan said, is to have a sufficient amount of toilets which are clean and odorless and free to use.

At Happy Valley, the largest amusement park in Beijing, around 4 million annual visitors rely on 18 bathrooms, each of which is assigned one or two cleaners who must make their rounds every 10 minutes on busy days.

People come here to have fun, but if the toilets are disgusting, how can they have a good time here? said Vice General Manager Li Xiangyang. It is the least we should do to offer a clean and tidy environment for tourists to enjoy both the tour of the park and the experience of using our toilets.

Going a step further, the financial hub of Shanghai even opened its first gender-neutral public toilet in November in order to boost convenience and efficiency.

Women are stuck waiting in longer lines for stalls than men, and it is fair for men and women to wait in line together, Shanghai resident Zhu Jingyi said after using the facility.

Zhan said the toilet revolution is about 90 percent complete, but warned that it has yet to be won.

We cant accept the situation that a lot of investments have been made to build toilets and they turn out to be unsanitary and poorly managed, he said. AP
Lt. Gov. Brad Little and House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding are urging Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to sign a bill repealing Idaho's 6 percent sales tax on groceries.

Little  who is running for governor himself next year in a Republican field that so far includes former state Sen. Russ Fulcher, Boise developer Tommy Ahlquist and Boise man Troy Minton, who was part of a successful lawsuit against an anti-panhandling law in Boise in 2013  put out a statement Monday shortly after Otter wrapped up his end-of-session news conference urging Idaho's chief executive to sign the bill.

Little called repeal "just one component of the type of comprehensive tax reform Idaho needs," with others being reducing the unemployment tax on businesses and cutting income taxes  two ideas that were also introduced during the 2017 session but failed to make it to Otter's desk.

"Idahos economy is strong, but not every community is feeling the full effects of our growth," Little said. "Idahos economy faces many challenges, including a difficult tax climate when compared with our neighboring states. Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada do not tax groceries and Utah taxes groceries at a lower rate than its general sales tax. This repeal would quickly make Idahos tax code more competitive.

"I appreciate the constituents who contacted my office over the past few years about this issue, voicing their support for repeal. I heard you loud and clear and I stand with you on the need for grocery tax reform. Thank you to the legislators who heard their constituents as well, it was reflected in the broad based support this bill received in the Idaho House and Senate.

Tuesday morning Erpelding, D-Boise, who was one of four House Democrats to vote for the repeal bill (in contrast with the Senate, where all the Democrats supported it and the "No" votes all came from Republicans), put out a statement responding to Otter's news conference that touted Democratic successes during the session and also urged him to sign the bill.

This is a tax cut that will help tens of thousands of working Idahoans and give an economic boost to towns along our borders who lose shoppers every day to out-of-state stores who dont have to charge sales tax on groceries," Erpelding said. "I urge the governor to do what is best for so many Idahoans and sign House Bill 67. The state needs to keep its hands out of peoples grocery bags.

Otter has said he opposes the idea of repealing the tax, and he has until April 12 to sign the bill, veto it or let it become law without his signature. He wouldn't say Monday what he plans to do, but he did say he would be mindful of the potential for more flooding in the coming days and the potential cost of dealing with that as he decides what to sign and veto, according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review's "Eye on Boise" blog.
A member of the public at Mondays Twin Falls City Council meeting suggested the city adopt an official policy saying it isnt a sanctuary city, an idea to which a councilman responded by saying they should pass a resolution welcoming immigrants instead.

During the public comment period Terry Edwards, a Jerome resident who owns property in Twin Falls, read the Council a proposal for a proclamation he called safe cities, that would say city elected officials and police are sworn to uphold the law and state and U.S. constitutions and ensure public safety and security, says a declaration of Twin Falls as a sanctuary city would be inconsistent with this and encourages people to support law enforcement and upholding the law.

Thank you for the information Mr. Edwards, Mayor Shawn Barigar said when he was done. We will take that under advisement and potential for future consideration.

Idaho doesnt have any sanctuary cities  that is, cities where there is an official policy of non-cooperation with federal immigration authorities  and local county jails honor immigration detainers, or requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold someone. However, local police are also not actively involved in immigration enforcement. Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, proposed a bill this year that would have banned cities in Idaho from not cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The idea led to backlash from civil rights groups and the Hispanic community and the bill never got a full hearing even after he introduced a second version that didnt go as far as the first.

However, a few cities in Idaho, including Boise and Ketchum, have passed resolutions over the past couple of months declaring themselves welcoming cities. This isnt the same thing as being a sanctuary city  the resolutions dont state any policy of not following federal law  but they do declare the cities as welcoming immigrants and refugees.

After Edwards sat down, Councilman Chris Talkington suggested Twin Falls should adopt a resolution like Boises and Ketchums.

Its one that has shown that Idaho has gotten a lot of bad press, that we are open communities, we welcome everybody, and it would be a step forward for Twin Falls to consider the welcoming community potential for a resolution, he said.

Thank you councilman, Barigar said. We will certainly consider having that on a future agenda.
TWIN FALLS  Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Idaho Homes & Properties has announced several more team members have received awards.

The Wooten/Riddle and Twin Falls HomeFinder teams reached the platinum level of the Chairmans Circle for 2016. To achieve this, they had to be in the top 1 percent of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices networks sales professionals, based on gross commission income or closed units.

We congratulate Terry Winkle and Rose Ann Eckrote of the Twin Falls Homefinder Team and Mandi Riddle and Tawni Wooten of the Wooten/Riddle Team for this outstanding achievement, the organization stated in a release.

Corey Robinson and Lawrence Jones of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Idaho Homes & Properties received the 2016 Leading Edge Society Award. This award recognizes residential sales professionals in the network who in 2016 reached sales thresholds in closed residential GCI, commercial GCI or residential units.

These award winning agents are outstanding sales professionals who are an asset to our company, brokers and owners Mandi Riddle and Tawni Wooten said in a statement. They have built a solid customer base by employing effective marketing strategies and delivering superior service to their clients and fellow real estate professionals.

Also recognized during special awards ceremonies at the Phoenix Sales Convention 2017 were the Collins Connection of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Idaho Homes & Properties for making the Chairmans Circle  Diamond for 2016.
LAS VEGAS  A Nevada attorney did not kill herself as first determined two years ago, a coroner said Monday, adding a new twist to a case that drew headlines when her husband, a Las Vegas-area psychologist, was accused of killing her with a lethal combination of pain pills and anti-freeze.

New evidence led to a change in the cause of Susan Winters' death from suicide to "undetermined," Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said. The finding wasn't homicide, and Fudenberg declined to describe the new evidence he said he received from Henderson police.

"It will most likely come out in court proceedings," the coroner said.

Winters' husband, Gregory "Brent" Dennis, was arrested in February and charged with her death after her parents hired a private investigator and filed a lawsuit in August 2015 alleging that Dennis was responsible.

The criminal charge alleges that Dennis poisoned Winters, 48, in January 2015.

Dennis, 54, is free on $250,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing, scheduled for Aug. 21.

His lawyers have said he will plead not guilty. Defense attorney Richard Schonfeld said Monday that the coroner's ruling shows that evidence in the case is inconclusive.

"It begs the question, 'Why is Mr. Dennis facing a criminal charge?'" Schonfeld said.

Schonfeld attributed the coroner's action to pressure from Winters' parents, Danny and Avis Winters of Oklahoma City, and to publicity about the case in local media.

A lawyer for Winters' family said they welcomed the coroner's decision.

"They never believed that Susan took her own life," attorney Tony Sgro said. "It took some time, but law enforcement ultimately concluded that Brent Dennis should be arrested and stand trial for murder."

Dennis operated a mental health clinic in Boulder City until his license was suspended by the state Board of Psychological Examiners following his arrest.
TWIN FALLS  Want to know more about fishing one of the best stillwater fisheries in eastern Idaho?

Damon Keen, Island Park-based regional fisheries biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, will speak about Henrys Lake at the April 20 meeting of Magic Valley Fly Fishers.

Anyone is welcome to the club's meeting, 6-8 p.m. in the Perrine Room at the Canyon Crest Dining and Event Center in Twin Falls.

Fish and Game intensively monitors Henrys Lake to maintain its popularity as a fishery. Keens presentation will focus on management of the lake and provide background on management objectives, current fishery status including population and size trends, 2016 creel survey results and the current hybrid stocking program, a club announcement said.

Keen will also share common questions Fish and Game receives from anglers and address the audience's questions about Henrys Lake.

"The goal for this meeting and others is to relay information about fly fishing to help everyone enjoy the experience," the club wrote.

No-host dinner and drinks can be ordered from the restaurant.

Information: Don Morishita, 208-308-5180, or Bryan Woodhouse, 208-934-6405.
TWIN FALLS  Step inside Europe Deli, and youll find the essentials for Bosnian cooking right here in Twin Falls.

Tucked away in a strip mall at Filer Avenue and Fillmore Street, the market is one of four adjacent businesses with the same owners. Shelves inside display a colorful assortment of candies, wines, teas, deli meats and other European goods.

Most of our customers are regulars, co-owner Sandra Lehr-Saltaga said March 31, while she trimmed Dwan Thompsons hair inside Euro Style Hair and Tanning.

She and her husband are from Bosnia and opened the bar and deli about a decade ago, but the salon has been open for 20 years.

The bar and deli are open daily from 9 a.m. to closing  as Eldina Husejnagic takes on duties of both cashier and bartender. Most popular, she said, are the Bosnian seasonings for specific dishes and soups  and especially Podravkas Vegeta seasoning.

Thats what we use all the time cooking, she said.

The all-purpose seasoning comes in a 17.6-ounce bag for $4.99; a 3-pound, 3-ounce bag for $7.99; or a 4-pound, 6-ounce bag for $13.99. Its good to use on beef, chicken or in soups, she said.

Another top item for patrons is DonCafe coffee from Bosnia.

Its really strong, but the taste is good, Husejnagic said. Its not bitter. You can feel the coffee when youre drinking.

A 500-gram bag costs $3.99.

Leh-Saltaga said the business customers are usually from Europe, trying to find familiar items that they cant get elsewhere.
TWIN FALLS  Three boys involved in a June assault on a 5-year-old girl at the Fawnbrook Apartments in Twin Falls pleaded guilty Tuesday to felonies.

The victims family and their lawyer approved the settlements reached in each of the three cases, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said in a statement.

I am pleased that we were able to resolve this case in a way that was approved and agreed to by the victims family, Loebs said. This continues to be a serious and sad case, but it was resolved properly.

We agreed to the plea bargains. That by no means implies my clients were, or are, fully satisfied with the outcome of these cases or the prosecuting attorney, Mark Guerry, the attorney representing the victims family, said in emails to the Idaho Statesman.

After 10 months their right to some form of justice was long overdue. ... They were prepared to testify at a trial or enter into to plea agreements months ago. More importantly, no convictions or mere words in statements could ever mitigate the unrelenting trauma and grief their little daughter now suffers as a result of this vicious sexual assault.

The incident touched off months of turmoil in Twin Falls after the story was spun into a fake news account that exaggerated or flat-out falsified many of the details, including that a knife was present, the attack was perpetrated by a Syrian gang of adult men, that a rape had occurred and that the attack was celebrated by the perpetrators families as city officials orchestrated a cover-up.

In fact, police and prosecutors said, there was no rape, no knife was present, and the incident involved young boys. Officials characterized the incident as a sexual assault and say each say each agency involved followed proper protocol.

The boys were charged not long after the June 2 incident, and later that month their families were evicted from the apartment complex.

A GoFundMe page started by the mother of the victim has raised more than $72,000, with a goal to raise $100,000. The mother, who refers to her family in the third person when posting on the site, added her most recent update Tuesday morning.

Today is the day! the post said. We find out what happens and when the kids start there (sic) sentence and what they get charged with. Please pray!!!! Also if you can share the campaign and donate so we can reach the goal for this family. They deserve justice and praying that happens today.

After an investigation, two boys ages 14 and 10 were detained and charged. A third boy involved in the incident, age 7, was charged later. The youngest boy is from Iraq and the two older boys, who are brothers, are from Eritrea, an African country. The boys are from refugee families, but its unclear how long theyve been in the community.

What actually happened during the incident remains unclear because the case was sealed to the public, typical in juvenile cases, especially those involving allegations of sexual misconduct.

Prosecutors said one of the boys touched the girl in the laundry facilities of Fawnbrook, a low-income housing complex in Twin Falls, while another boy recorded the assault on a cellphone video camera.

One boy pleaded guilty to felony exploitation of a child and misdemeanor battery. A second boy pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting felony lewd conduct and aiding and abetting misdemonear battery. The third boy pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory to the commission of a felony.

The boys will be sentenced at a later date. Loebs declined to say what the possible sentences are in the case.

The 14- and 10-year-old boys charged in the assault were released from juvenile custody in late June.

As I said last summer, just like with any other case this is going to be handled by the justice system, and this is the next step in that process, Mayor Shawn Barigar said shortly after hearing the news Tuesday.

From the beginning, refugee opponents accused police of mishandling the investigation. Those claims garnered the attention of national figures on the far right, including Brigitte Gabriel, head of Act for America, who came to Twin Falls to speak about what she perceives as a coordinated Muslim plan to take over Western societies.

But Police Chief Craig Kingsbury said Tuesday his officers handled the case like they do any other report of lewd conduct with a child.

Ive always felt that we followed proper protocol and procedure, Kingsbury said.

In June, the police chief outlined the way such cases are generally handled and said his officers dont interview juvenile victims or perpetrators of sex crimes. Those interviews are left to properly trained forensic interviewers at St. Lukes Children at Risk Evaluation Services.

The questions and question formulation when interviewing young victims is so important, the chief said in June. We dont want to do anything thats going to re-victimize  we dont want this child to have to tell that story more than once, if we can help it  and we also dont want to do anything thats going to jeopardize the prosecution if an officer or detective were to improperly formulate questions.

There are no winners or losers in cases like this, Kingsbury said Tuesday. I think we just need to continue to focus on the victim, and victims in these types of incidents, especially here in April, child abuse prevention month. We need to do right by all our child victims.

The assault happened in the wake of local debate over whether to close the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center and at a time when refugee resettlement was a topic of debate in the presidential race and internationally, and the story spread quickly in the right-wing and anti-Muslim blogosphere. Authorities released some details about the case  a highly unusual step in a sexual assault case in which everyone involved is a minor  in an apparent effort to quell the outcry and counter inaccurate versions of the story that were circulating.

Many of these sources accused the city, law enforcement and local media of trying to cover up what had happened, and city officials were inundated with angry phone calls and emails and a handful of violent threats. Chobani, whose factory employs many refugees, was another target of anti-refugee anger, with some seeking to link the refugee programs existence to the labor needs of Chobani and other large local employers.

By the end of the summer, Lee Stranahan, a reporter for the conservative news website Breitbart, and Julie DeWolfe, a vocal resettlement critic in Twin Falls, started a group aimed to fight globalism with populism and planned to start a microbusiness incubator. But plans for the Make Your Hometown Great Again group apparently never came to fruition.

College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center director Zeze Rwasama said Tuesday afternoon he hadnt heard the latest news about the Fawnbrook case.

But he said the center took the case very seriously and condemns that kind of behavior.

Whatever happened is not what we  as people helping the refugees resettle  something that we would think that its OK, Rwasama said. It is not.

After the Fawnbrook case, the Refugee Center partnered with a behavioral agency to hold therapy groups with school-aged refugee children whod recently arrived in Twin Falls so they understand that type of behavior isnt acceptable, Rwasama said.

It was part of a program children regularly attend on Wednesdays after school.

Whenever something happens like the Fawnbrook case, the Refugee Centers action is to create a program that would give some more education to the kids, Rwasama said. We want to prevent any behavior that may be violating the law.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story identified Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya as a Muslim. While Ulukaya was raised in a Kurdish village in Turkey, a Muslim-majority country, he has not publicly identified as a Muslim.
Q: Straight west of Castleford, nearly to the Bruneau Canyon on a wide open flat is a massive crater. The crater is just west of Clover Crossing on the Indian Hot Springs Road. What is the story behind the crater?

A: The crater was created on Sept. 30, 1965, when the Atomic Energy Commission detonated more than 80 tons of a liquid chemical explosive that had been placed 70 feet below the surface of the Bruneau desert, said Jan Boles, Archivist for the College of Idaho.

Known as Project Pre-Schooner II, a component of the Atoms for Peace program called Operation Plowshare, the event was well publicized in advance. Boles said. In the Oct. 1, 1965, edition of the Times-News you will find full front-page coverage by O. A. Gus Kelker, an eminent photojournalist for the paper. The Idaho Statesman also gave the event A1 coverage.

Project Plowshare was the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. It was a non-nuclear cratering experiment with the high explosive nitromethane in Owyhee County. The depth of burial was 71 feet in rhyolite. The 85-ton charge obtained data for cavity growth, seismic effects, and air blast.

Driving to this site involves proceeding south of Bruneau on the Clover-Three Creek Road, Boles said After you turn west you are into serious four-wheel-drive territory. The route essentially follows the track used by expeditions floating the Bruneau River. The put-in for those river trips isnt far past the PSII site. The USGS Stiff Tree Draw quadrangle map has the best detail. The nearest landmark is a ruin called the Bengoechea Cabin.

My interest in this story stems from a remark that I heard chatting with an old timer, Boles continued. This was back in the early 1970s. This fellow thought that there had been an atomic bomb exploded somewhere on the desert south of Bruneau. At the time I knew that this was not true, but his description of an enormous crater had the ring of truth and I never forgot it. Just a few years ago, after the internet allowed convenient access to government reports, I happened to be surfing with the right key word and found out the name and location of PSII.

In 2013 I visited the site on two occasions, gathering the materials and photographs that became the basis for my recent presentation at the Bruneau Valley Library last month, he said. My big happy surprise at that gathering was to meet a local resident who had worked to help prepare the site. At that time he was a U of I student who had landed a well-paying summer job. He gave me some great information, the kind of stuff that doesnt get into government reports.

Most of the lifelong residents of the Bruneau Valley had never heard of PSII, Boles said.
Clarence Vallette

ST. GEORGE, Utah  Clarence Vallette formerly of Burley, funeral service 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 4 at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 East 16th Street, Burley.

Myron Reed

TWIN FALLS  Myron Reed celebration of life service at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 at Parkes Magic Valley Funeral Home, 2551 Kimberly Road, Twin Falls.

Glen W. Rasmussen

TWIN FALLS  Glen Walter Rasmussen of Twin Falls, funeral at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, where friends may call from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, and one hour prior to the funeral service. Burial will be at the Heyburn Riverside Cemetery.

Martin Chapin

TWIN FALLSMartin Chapin, graveside service at 1 p.m. Friday, April 7 at Twin Falls Cemetery. (Serenity Funeral Chapel)

Theadore Uhrig

SHOSHONETheadore Uhrig, celebration of life from 1 until 3 p.m. Saturday, April 8 at the Lincoln County Community Center, 201 South Beverly St., Shoshone.

Harold Lewis

JEROMEHarold Lewis, celebration of life at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 8 at Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 S Lincoln Ave., Jerome.
From the moment President Donald Trump tweeted that he had been "wiretapped" by President Barack Obama during the course of the 2016 election, he and his senior aides have been desperately searching for evidence that makes that allegation true.

The latest charge is that former national security adviser Susan Rice "unmasked" -- intelligence parlance for asking for the identity of unnamed officials -- Trump campaign officials, proof, the President's allies insist, that something nefarious was happening on the surveillance front during the final days of the Obama administration.

Here's what Trump tweeted Monday morning on the subject:

"Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends. "Spied on before nomination." The real story," he said.

Here's the problem for Trump: Even if you believe that Rice did something that was wrong -- and virtually every intelligence official insists unmasking is a commonplace procedure -- it still doesn't address his claim that he had evidence that Obama has authorized the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

Trump's phones being tapped -- and that order coming from the commander in chief -- is simply not the same thing as the national security adviser asking for the names of Trump transition aides in contact with Russian intelligence officials.

Again, even if you believe that Rice did something that was wrong -- and her strange decision to kind of, sort of, deny that she knew anything about the unmasking will add fuel to that fire -- it is still not proof, or anything close to proof, that Obama ordered Trump to be wiretapped.

If proof exists that Rice went beyond unmasking and was responsible for the leaking of Trump transition official Michael Flynn's conversations with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak -- and there is no proof of that to this point -- then it absolutely warrants closer scrutiny.

But, even if that was the case, it would not validate the claim that Trump made that he was wiretapped by Obama. In fact, what we know is that the FBI, the former director of national intelligence and even House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, R-California, have said definitively that Trump was not wiretapped.

What Trump and his associates are doing is pursuing a strategy of muddying the waters as they try to get out from under a decidedly ill-advised tweet from the President.

With no evidence that he was wiretapped, they are hoping that these unmasking allegations -- or the possibility that Trump transition officials were surveilled as a result of incidental collection for probes related to foreign operatives -- give the president enough cover to credibly say "See, told you! Now, let's move on."

That's fine as a political strategy. But the facts are still the facts. And the fact is that this latest unmasking episode is a smokescreen to distract from the broader issue -- which is that the President of the United States made a completely unfounded and very serious allegation against his immediate predecessor.

Nothing that's happened since Trump tweeted has changed that underlying reality.
Not all busybodies are employed in media. Taker my neighbor, Haven O. Keddy. Hes always got advice. Even when you dont ask him for any. Haven figures I know nothing and couldnt tie my shoes without his guidance. It doesnt matter I can converse with theologians, senators and titans of industry. He believes the 2,000 books in my possession mean Im an egghead and not capable of common sense. However thats defined. Hes got advice on everything from pet care to raising children to shopping.

Im an early riser. On weekdays its 3 oclock. Haven asks why I get up so early. He frowns when I explain the little elves took the week off and Ive got to prepare my own show. The nosy neighbor cant fathom preparation. After all, anyone can shout for a few hours every morning. On weekends I cant sleep late. I do try. The problem is an overactive kitty in my house. He doesnt know Saturday from Thursday. Breakfast cant wait. Haven calls me a dummy and suggests I close the bedroom door. He doesnt have a cat. Let me explain feline behavior. Closed doors are a serious challenge. Paws reach underneath and scratch. Scratching is noisy. As is a whining cat. I dont recommend trying to sleep with these sounds keeping you awake much of the night. Leave the door open and resign yourself to being needled by a cat long before sunrise.

Haven O. Keddy also has no kids, and yet hes always telling me I need to change my approach. Do you have a neighbor, relative or co-worker like him? You know the type. You may sound off about something in your daily life but you dont leave a question mark at the end of the sentence. Somehow these people with an inability to read social cues believe youre seeking their advice and are more than willing to set you straight. My late brother was among them. I used to take off a week from work between Christmas and the New Year. The time was for my daughter and niece. My brother was childless and would plan events for us with old high school friends. He would get annoyed when I explained I had taken the vacation time for the kids. Ill never forget the Christmas he handed each girl a chess set, shook their hands and said, Merry Christmas! They were 9 and 12 at the time and he never shared another word with them the rest of the day. I guess he thought they needed a few meals and some water and you could otherwise just let them grow in the sunlight.

How about the people at work always advising you to buy a new one? This usually involves some device in your personal life and their solution is always something pricier. Ive only had a personal cellphone for 10 years. Prior I saw no need for one. When I did buy one I used an old flip device and dropped my land line. No use paying for both. Five years ago a radio consultant I worked with started referencing my dumb phone. He and my boss both suggested I get a smartphone. They wanted me doing complex work even when I happened to be at the ballpark, restaurant or beach. I should note they didnt pay for my upgrade. According to archeologists civilization got its start in places like Jericho and Ur some 12,000 years ago. To think we survived up to 100 years ago without wireless devices of any kind and now were integrating them into our bodies.

The people at work with all the fancy tablets strike me as the guys and gals with the largest credit card debt. As I mentioned earlier in this column Ive a couple of thousand books. Ive given away hundreds more in an effort to downsize. A landlord some years ago suggested they were a waste and no reasonable person would haul them around the country. Im not sure he could read in the first place and from his perspective books were a waste of not only space but time and money. Another friend repeats Kindle and tells me I need to get with the times. I dumped my expensive DirecTV package not long ago and adopted internet TV at a big savings. One service offers movies for sale. You dont actually get a hard copy of the DVD. It exists in the ether until some nasty country drops an electromagnetic pulse weapon over Nebraska. Even with a generator your movie library is gone! Books and DVDs have more permanence.

Let me be clear. Im not seeking any advice about pets, kids or technology. When I do itll be in the specific form of a question. Or Ill go to the library and read Consumer Reports and a few psychology tomes. I like most of you but it doesnt mean I cant tie my own shoes. Actually, I recently bought shoes with Velcro straps. The kitty attacks the strings when I try and tie my sneakers. I solved the crisis all by myself.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons"  a comment at odds with Hitler's extermination of Jews during the Holocaust using gas chambers. A look at reactions to those comments:
Algerian and Tunisian officials have downplayed the reports made by the Iranian media following the visit of Irans Minister of Culture and Guidance Reza Salehi Amiri to the two countries last week.

The reports, which claimed that Algiers and Tunis are supportive of Tehrans regional policy and fight against terrorism, were termed as misleading and not based on the discussions held between the parties.

Some of the reports claimed that President Essebsi of Tunisia commended Irans role in their region and hailed it as the protector of the Islamic world from the entity of Zionist occupation. It was also reported that the two North African countries were interested in collaborating with Iran in fighting terrorism with some adding that a joint military cooperation could be considered.

There were claims that officials are also considering bringing together Iranian and Algerian religious clerics to discuss extremism.

Abdelaziz Benali Cherif, Spokesperson for the Algerian Foreign Ministry, stressed that the reports are groundless. He said the meeting between Amiri and Prime Minister Sellal was an opportunity to express Algerias wish to see Iran playing a positive role in its region and be a factor for stability and balance in the Near East and Arabian Gulf. Cherif added that discussions also centered on improving cultural aspects in order to strengthen the relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

The inaccuracy of the reports was also highlighted by Tunisia. Spokesperson for the Tunisian president, Ridha Bouguezzi, explained that bilateral relations and cooperation were discussed with emphasis on the prospects of achieving regional stability following the lifting of international sanctions on Iran. He pointed out that peaceful resolutions of conflicts in the region, fighting against extremism and terrorism were also discussed.

The questionable reports by the Iranian media were brought to the attention of the Tunisian and Algerian authorities after they began to attract interest within the Middle East.
The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda this weekend warned warlords and authorities in unstable Democratic Republic of Congo that her office was carefully monitoring the situation, while Pope Francis called for peace in the central African nation.

In a statement, the former Gambian Justice Minister said she is deeply concerned by the numerous reports over the past several months of serious acts of violence in the DRC, particularly in the Kasai province.

The Kasai province has been plagued by violence since mid-August. More than 400 people have died and 200,000 have been displaced in the spiraling violence.

I shall not hesitate to take action if acts constituting crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are committed and to take all necessary measures to prosecute those responsible, Bensouda warned.

The Hague-based Court, set up in 2002 to probe and prosecute the worlds worst crimes, has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC since June 2004.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for peace in the central African nation and urged to end the bloodshed in the troubled Kasai region.

News continues to arrive of bloody clashes in Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo  fighting which drags in victims and displaced persons, the pontiff told some 20,000 faithful at a mass in Carpi, northern Italy.

I urge everybody to pray for peace, that the hearts of those behind these crimes do not remain enslaved by hatred and violence, the pope said.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution this weekend providing for greater support to strengthen the capabilities of the regional multinational force that is trying to defeat Boko Haram insurgents and Islamic State extremists in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.



The council indicated that the regional troops need logistical, mobility and communications assistance and equipment, and better ways to share information. It also expressed concern at the ongoing terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State militants.

Boko Haram has maintained a campaign of suicide bombings since a multinational army forced the extremists out of urban centers. The groups insurgency in northern Nigeria and around Lake Chad has uprooted more than 2.4 million people and left some 10.7 million in dire need of humanitarian aid.

The Security Council resolution has urged the immediate disbursement of the $458m in humanitarian assistance pledged for the Lake Chad region in Oslo.

We will fail the people of the region if we do not respond to what we saw, if we dont take tangible actions to bring real relief, real respite to the suffering, the hunger, the instability, Britains UN ambassador, Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council.

The United Nations says it needs this year alone in humanitarian aid for the region.
Malis national peace conference closed proceedings this weekend with a call for negotiations with Jihadists in the countrys north in a bid to end successive separatist uprisings in in the West African nation.

The Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), the former rebel alliance, and Malis opposition groupings had previously boycotted the conference, citing lack of consultation and time for preparation.

They however reversed their decision and attended the closing ceremony on Sunday April 2.

The conference urged talks with Amadou Koufa, leader of the Macina Liberation Front, a Fulani Jihadist group, and Iyad Ag Ghali, leader of the Islamist Ansar Dine group.

The conference said authorities should Negotiate with the belligerents of central Mali, in this case Amadou Koufa, while preserving the secular nature of the state . Negotiate with the religious extremists of the north, in this case Iyad Ag Ghali.

Mali descended into chaos in 2012 following the seizure of the northern part of the country by separatist Tuareg rebel groups and Al-Qaeda linked-transnational militant groups.

Tuareg separatist groups worsened the security situation by declaring a separate State, which held until the French intervention early in 2013.

Although the Jihadists were routed, large swathes of Mali remain outside the control of domestic and foreign troops.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was President Donald Trumps honored guest at the White House on Monday.

President Abdel Fattah el-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.

Speaking to reporters Monday after the meeting, President Trump praised Sisi describing him as somebody that has been very close to me from the first time I met him.

We agree on so many things. I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President el-Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation, Trump said.

During the talks; El- Sisi requested that political Islamic groups especially the Brotherhood be declared a terrorist group.

Together, we will fight terrorism and other things and were going to be friends for a very, very long time, the American leader said, citing a great bond with the people of Egypt.

In return, Sisi hailed Trump 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.

As a reminder, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as commander of the military, overthrew the North African nations democratically elected president in a 2013 coup, killing more than 800 protesters. The Obama administration, which kept its distance from Sisi, never invited him to Washington.

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 Jinping.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who celebrated his 93rd birthday on February 21, received a wheelchair as a belated birthday gift from his ministers, local media reported.

The president also received a 9 carat customized wristwatch and a pen in addition to the chair during a ceremony at the State House Monday.

Mugabes 51-year-old wife, Grace Mugabe who had said in November 2015 that her husband would continue to be president until 100, was also present at the Monday ceremony.

We are going to create a special wheelchair for President Mugabe until he rules to 100 years, because that is what we want, Mrs Mugabe said at a political rally in Harare in 2015.

Speaking to cabinet ministers at the ceremony, President Mugabe praised the good spirit of his team and expressed his gratitude.

I thank all of you for putting your heads together to come up with this gift, he said as he took delivery of the special mobile chair which was bought in China.

The gift shows the team spirit which should always prevail all times in the delivery of service to the nation, the worlds eldest leader said.

The southern African nations opposition politicians said the wheelchair was proof that the nonagenarian was too old and unfit to rule.

said that the gift was an indication that Mugabe was no longer fit to continue ruling Zimbabawe.

The special chair is a clear admission that Mugabe is now physically and mentally unfit and we can no longer allow him to govern. He should simply resign, Secretary General of Movement for Democratic Change Douglas Mwonzora was quoted as saying by New Zimbabwe.com.

Mugabe has been at the helm of the country for the past 37 years.
War and famine-stricken South Sudan government has cancelled plans to charge foreign workers a $10,000 work permit fee, the finance minister said.

The world youngest nation has announced in March that it will charge $10,000 for professional humanitarian workers up from around $100. However, experts said that it would create a huge expense for aid organizations.

A majority of the foreign professionals in the country work for non-governmental agencies or are employed in the oil industry.

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.

He said the old rates will continue to be charged for agencies, adding that parliament was expected to repeal the legislation that approved the fee hike. The previous rate was $100 per foreign worker.

South Sudan is facing it worst humanitarian crisis ever. The UN has declared that parts of South Sudan are experiencing famine, the first time the world has faced such a catastrophe in six years.

Some 5.5 million people, nearly half the population, will not have a reliable source of food by July, the height of the lean season, the UN said.
TAP overcomes another hurdle in Italy

Italian Council of State decision reaffirms without a doubt that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has all necessary permits in place to carry out construction work in Italy, Lisa Givert, head of communications at TAP AG told Trend March 28.However, she pointed out that there are still challenges ahead  the main one being the thorough and lengthy permitting process in Italy, which is putting TAPs schedule at risk."Other big construction challenges that the project faces over the next two years include, cultural heritage finds in Greece during construction, and the geo-hazards of building the pipeline over very steep mountains in Albania," said Givert.Italian Council of State gave green light to construction of TAP in the country, rejecting appeals from the Puglia regional government.The Council of State ruled that the TAP project had provided sufficient details on the environmental impact of the project.TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union.The TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.The pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albanias mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea.
Georgia fights against environment pollution

By Messenger Staff

The Deputy Head of Parliaments environment committee, Zaza Khutsishvili, spoke against the continued usage of plastic bags and bottles and announced that the relevant ministry was working on a draft law that may prohibit their usage.Khutsishvili drew attention to the damage done to the environment by plastic bags and bottles, and said it was time for Georgia to move on to using reusable paper bags and baskets.The lawmaker stressed that a large portion of the European Union's demands was about environmental issues, and the Ministry of Environment was working on a draft that would settle a range of such problems.He said he did not know the details of the draft, but said the environment is a case for each Georgian citizen, and stressed businesses would also consider the issue.Khutsishvili stated there might be a certain period granted to businesses producing plastic bags and bottles for them to make changes and elaborate on new environmentally-friendly plans.Plastic bottles, and especially bags, are a very serious problem for Georgia, in particular when much of the Georgian population continues to drop garbage in the streets or in recreation areas.Many of them do not know (or care) that each dropped plastic item is damaging to the environment, as hundreds of years are necessary for their decomposition.It is not enough that country receives laws which fight against littering and promoting environmentally-friendly policy. The country has to take care of such important problem not after other institutions of countries will point at it.It must not come at the behest of any international instructions. As any state which has democratic ambitions must look after such issues without pressure from foreign institutions and countries.
The News in Brief

Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary Calls on Govt to Start Substantial Court reforms:



In the ongoing Rustavi 2 case, the quality of the courts handling of the case, the procedural problems and questions raised at each stage of the case, and the suspension of enforcement of the Supreme Courts decision by the European Court of Human Rights all confirmed the existence of systemic problems in the justice sector which have been actively pointed out by local and international organizations. At none of the stages of the Rustavi 2 case have the questions arising from the political context of the case been rebutted. Once more, public trust in the court system has been shaken. The Coalition believes that in these circumstances the Government should acknowledge that systemic problems exist in the court system and get determined to ensure judicial independence by commencing substantial reforms in the court system.



After the Parliamentary elections in 2012, the new Government declared that it was determined to restore justice, free the judiciary from political influences and ensure judicial independence. Important reforms were announced to achieve this objective. However, the process of implementing the reforms has demonstrated that the Government did not have a strong political will to carry out real and coherent changes in the court system. It is clear that the political system has not fully given up levers in its hands. Moreover, before the 2016 parliamentary elections the Third Wave legal reform package included an amendment that substituted the election of one member of the High Council of Justice by a qualified majority with a simple majority election rule. Thus, the chances of the parliamentary minority participating in the composition of the High Council have been excluded. Correspondingly, the court system has confronted the following problems:



There are valid doubts concerning political influence in several high profile cases. Despite the fact that since 2012 the number of court decisions in favor of the State has significantly decreased in criminal as well as other types of cases, and although major changes have been implemented in the area of transparency of court hearings, judicial independence still remains problematic. These challenges are particularly evident in the proceedings of cases with political context (such as the so-called Case of Cables and the Rustavi 2 case).



There is a deficit of dissent in the judiciary. Cronyism is strengthened. Following the First Wave of judicial reforms, the Government has yielded to dominant and influential groups in the judiciary, inter alia, prior to the elections. In parallel with this process, confrontation between the judge and non-judge members of the High Council of Justice has gradually disappeared. Their opinions became synchronized, and decisions were reached without substantial arguments based on preliminary agreements. This kind of interaction between the dominant group of judges and the Government has strengthened cronyism and silenced dissenting opinions (an illustration of this trend is the case of the Tbilisi City Court Chair who was dismissed shortly after making critical statements). Thus, the internal independence of the court system has been challenged. The basis of judicial independence has also been shaken by the expiration of office terms for a significant number of judges, leading to the vulnerability of a large group of acting judges.



Political will for thoroughly reforming judicial system so as to guarantee judicial independence is lacking. Despite the three waves of judicial reform since 2012, real judicial independence has not been achieved either in the legislation or practice. During the reform processes the government failed to demonstrate the political will to end the probation period for judges, despite criticism from the Venice Commission and local experts. Also the third wave of reforms, which was unduly and suspiciously protracted, failed to eradicate some long standing problems. Hence, scores of judges have been selected and appointed through opaque procedures and without any justification; disciplinary proceedings were conducted obscurely and were possibly used as means for influencing judges. To date, Court chairs are appointed without any justification and they retain important levers of influence over judges. The introduction of an electronic case distribution system has been delayed and needlessly postponed several times.



The High Council of Justice cannot fulfill the function of guaranteeing independence of the judicial system. According to the current legislation, the High Council of Justice is responsible for ensuring judicial independence. The monitoring of the High Council has for years demonstrated that important decisions are made with prior agreement, without substantiation and transparency. The High Council fails to fulfill its primary function of protecting judicial independence and addressing the publics questions regarding independence of judges and the judicial system.



It needs to be noted that the process of elaborating judicial reform and strategy, an obligation under the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, is underway. The Coalition is engaged and actively participating in this process.



We call on the government to:



admit the existence of systemic problems in the judiciary, analyze their causes, and continue working on the long term strategy and action plan for judicial reform precisely so to address the problems outlined.



immediately start substantive reform of the judicial system and implement the changes that local and international organizations have requested. Among them: introduction of temporary rules for case distribution, curtailing the unrestricted discretionary powers of the Court chairs until the electronic distribution system is fully functional; establishing criteria and rules for appointment of Court chairs; fully moving towards a points-based assessment system for judicial candidates and abolishing secret votes; refining the judicial disciplinary legislation so as to ensure the foresee ability and transparency of the proceedings; refinement of the legislation governing the High Council of Justices work so as to ensure foresee ability and substantiation, etc. The above would significantly improve the human rights situation in the country, increase the public trust towards the judicial system, and aid Georgias democratic development.



The Coalition will in the nearest future publish a detailed research analyzing the situation in the judicial system, which may become the basis for the needed judicial reforms. The Coalition is ready to submit specific suggestions and actively participate in the process of substantive and systemic reform of the judiciary. (Transparency.ge)




THE TRUE COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LABOR THAT DESTROYED AMERICA THE BIG SECRET DEMOCRATS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW: Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeless largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens.
via @learyreports

Sen. Bill Nelson is a lost cause, but a pro-Donald Trump group is spending money on this ad in Florida calling for the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

The digital spot from Making America Great began today and also is running in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Wisconsin, Maine and Washington, D.C.

Its the second ad from Making America Great, run by Rebekah Mercer. The first ad was for TV and also ran in Florida, touting Trump's initial moves in office. The ads come as Trump's approval rating has fallen.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times
A state Senate committee on Tuesday shelved a bill that sought to create an elected sheriff in Miami-Dade, the same as in the other 66 counties in Florida.

The bill (SB 134), sponsored by Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami (photo), did not have five votes on the nine-member Senate Judiciary Committee and it was temporarily postponed, which is usually a death knell this late in the session.

Under Artiles' bill, voters statewide would have decided in the 2018 general election whether to replace Miami-Dade's police director, an appointee of the mayor, with a sheriff elected by voters.

"We currently have a competent and professional police director," said assistant county attorney Jess McCarty, a Miami-Dade lobbyist who testified against the bill. He said the county could be forced to switch to an elected sheriff if the idea won support from 60 percent of voters statewide, even if Miami-Dade voters disapproved.

McCarty said Miami-Dade abolished the elected sheriff's post in the 1960s based on recommendations of a grand jury, which found rampant corruption in the sheriff's office. McCarty said there are three avenues to amend Miami-Dade's charter, but Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, said one of those, a charter review panel, has not been effective in pushing for charter changes.

Tuesday's action is a political setback for the Florida Sheriffs Association, which has aggressively supported Artiles' bill, arguing that the chief law enforcement official of any county should be accountable to voters.

The sheriffs' resolution is here.
@ByKristenMClark

Florida senators are poised to pass a bill this afternoon that would give 1.3 million elementary school students a guarantee of 20 minutes of recess every day, something parents have clamored for for more than a year.

The Senate's bill (SB 78) is the preferred version for passionate "recess moms," who have lobbied for a statewide daily requirement in public schools. The House version -- previously identical -- was significantly watered down last week by a subcommittee, so now "recess moms" want House Speaker Richard Corcoran to move forward with the Senate's measure after today's vote.

Corcoran won't commit to doing that -- and he rejects that one person in the Florida House might be dictating the direction of that chamber's proposal.

It's working its way through the process, and well see what happens, Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, told the Herald/Times Tuesday morning.

When asked specifically if he'd take up the Senate bill, he said: Ive said it from Day 1 until Day 60, these institutions shouldnt be top-down; these institutions should be an egalitarian place where everyone has an equal voice  and well keep doing that.

MORE: "Did Miami lawmaker intervene to dilute school recess bill? He wont say."

On whether one lawmaker was determining the fate of the House's bill, though, Corcoran added: Its got to be voted on out of committee; anyone can offer amendments, so its not one person.

Miami Republican Rep. Michael Bileca, Corcoran's education policy chairman, is the only lawmaker who publicly opposes mandating daily recess in Florida's elementary schools.

Bileca wouldn't say last week whether he intervened to water down the House's bill in a way that eliminates that daily requirement. (House sponsor Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, said the changes were necessary to ensure his bill would move through House committees. Assuming the recess bill clears its next committee, too, it would then have to go before Bileca's committee before it could reach the House floor.)

Corcoran last year joined Bileca in opposing the school recess legislation; they were the only two in the 120-member House to vote "no." But Corcoran supported this years original bill, he reiterated Tuesday, because a provision was removed that wouldve barred teachers from withholding recess as a punishment. (Bileca had opposed that provision, too, along with the legislative mandate.)

UPDATE: The Senate passed its recess bill unanimously. Full story here.

Photo credit: Kristen M. Clark / Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau


@PatriciaMazzei

President Donald Trump will hold a two-day summit at Mar-a-Lago Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But that doesn't mean the other action at Trump's Palm Beach country club will come to a halt.

To wit: Thursday evening, Mar-a-Lago will host a private screening of "VA: The Human Cost of War," a documentary on the "history, failures, and successes of the Veterans Administration," according to a news release sent Tuesday. The event, from 6-9:15 p.m., will include a reception and panel discussion titled, "What do we owe our veterans?"

The documentary, by filmmaker Ric Burns, was created, funded and produced by Palm Beach philanthropist Lois Pope, a veterans advocate, Mar-a-Lago member and Trump friend.

So...might the president stop by the soiree, as he's been known to do when he's in town?

"While we know that the President is aware of the event and will be at Mar-A-Lago, there is no indication at this time that he will attend our event," publicist Alison Dyer told the Miami Herald in an email.

Trump is aware of the event because he was invited, Dyer added.

"Mrs. Pope and Pres. Trump have been very close friends for three decades. In fact, when he bought Mar-a-Lago, he asked her to be membership chair because she knows everyone in Palm Beach," she said. "She wrote him a letter about the event on Thursday and then saw him at Mar-a-Lago on St. Patricks Day (she spends holiday dinners at the place), and he told her that if he can be there he will because veterans issues are so important to him."

Photo credit: Susan Walsh, Associated Press
For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts Page
Speaker of the Senate of Kenya, Rt Hon Ekwe Ethuro addresses the Assembly where he called for urgent international action to save millions of people from famine and drought

The EALA Speaker, Rt Hon Daniel F. Kidega consults with Hon Dora Byamukama at the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rt Hon Daniel F. Kidega, Speaker of EALA addresses the IPU Assembly.

A section of the delegates in attendance at the global Parliamentarians meet.





tells Parliamentarians to take bull by the horns in redressing inequalities





East African Legislative Assembly, Dhaka, Bangladesh: 3rd April 2017: EALA Speaker, Rt Hon Daniel Fred Kidega is calling on global Parliamentarians to pay more attention in ensuring promotion of economic stimulus programmes that address social challenges and support local value chains in a bid to narrow the widening poverty gaps and redress inequalities.





At the same time, Rt Hon Kidega says Parliaments should appropriate more resources in the States budgets to check on rising inequalities and hold Executive accountable on the same.





The Speaker was addressing the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) taking place in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The annual event which is themed: Redressing inequalities: Delivering on dignity and well-being for all  brings together over 50 Speakers and 1400 legislators from the globe.





In his remarks, Rt Hon Kidega maintained that despite the emergence of BRIC countries and other economies as well as attempts to generate wealth, much more was needed to reduce the inequality and to raise the standards of living.





He said the East African Community region had similarly been gravely affected by inequalities. The State of East Africa Report 2016 depicts not all citizens have seen or felt the benefits of increasing national GDP figures at the individual/family front. If anything, life continues to be harsher and harder. The economic boom has not generated the jobs as was expected, while levels of poverty and malnutrition remain high, the Speaker said, while remaining optimistic the trend could be reversed.





The Speaker cited issues contributing to inequality as disparity in income levels throughout the world, uncertain political environments, the gender norms and stereotypes and the imbalance of economic power.





In many countries, Rt Hon Kidega said, fruits of economic development increasingly failed to reach those who deserve the same  instead benefitting companies, financial services and vested interests. He said the rate of unemployment in the globe was similarly high.





Statistics in East Africa reveals that 7 out of the 10 persons you see walking in the streets are jobless, while another 6 out of 10 live in informal settlements. Yet, the largest population, the youth, constitute about 8 out of 10 persons and their age range is below 30 years, Such is replicable in many parts of the globe , he noted.





The Speaker called on Parliaments to enact relevant legislation to make greater impact. He informed the convention that EALA had legislated a number of pieces that protect society and address inequalities including; the EAC Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016, the EAC Gender, Equity and Equality Bill, 2016, the EAC Conflict Management Bill, 2011 and the EAC Human and Peoples Rights Act 2011.





He further called for dialogue to resolve political issues saying politically instigated inequalities more often than not arise from disputed elections and uncertainties which result into conflicts and sometimes wars. The ramifications are sometimes too much to bear leading to refugee crises and instabilities in the nations, Rt Hon Kidega said.





Analysts contend that Poverty reduction is often compromised by income inequality. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urges poor and resource rich nations to simultaneously explore reduction of inequality and bolster long-term economic growth. However, inequality correlates to shorter spells of economic expansion and volatility to crises.





The 136th IPU was opened by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bangladesh, Hon Sheikh Hasina at the Parliament of Bangladesh yesterday. The Prime minister thanked delegates for electing Bangladesh as the chair of both Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). The Prime minister mentioned her governments short, medium and long-term initiatives for the development of the country and said the government is making stride to build the country in a planned way.





The 100 Million young people are prepared to make the world a better place. Let us not make them frustrated. They are the face of change and let us globalise human compassion, he said.





The Emergency items include a call for urgent international action to save millions of people from famine and drought in parts of Africa and the Yemen jointly presented by the Republic of Kenya together with Belgium and the United Kingdom. Speaker of the Senate of Kenya, Rt Hon Ekwe Ethuro, presented the merged proposal to the Assembly yesterday.





We need to request for international organisations to come to the aid of the affected nations. Without global action, people will simply starve to death, the Speaker remarked.The Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Rt Hon Rebecca Kadaga and the Speaker of the Burundi National Assembly, Rt Hon Pascal Nyabenda also addressed the Assembly.





In attendance also are a delegation of the Parliament of Rwanda led by the Deputy Speaker and legislators from the Transitional Assembly of the Republic of South Sudan.





The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national Parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action. To that end, IPU fosters contacts, co-ordination, and the exchange of experience among Parliaments and Parliamentarians of all countries. IPU also contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights - an essential factor of Parliamentary democracy and development. EALA is an Associate Member of the IPU.




HELENA  The Montana Senate endorsed its version of the 2018-2019 state budget on Monday, with lawmakers in the Republican majority calling it the best spending plan possible after the state's income fell during the crunch in the energy industry.

Relatively few additions to the budget bill were made during a daylong floor debate, despite attempts by Democratic lawmakers to insert money for home health caregivers, child protection service workers, higher education and a pre-school grant program.

"This is a pretty austere budget," said Senate Finance and Claims chairman Llew Jones, R-Conrad.

The Legislature is seeking to shore up a budget shortfall and leave at least $200 million in reserve in 2019, the end of the two-year budget cycle. Lawmakers are doing so mainly through spending cuts, while Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock is urging lesser cuts plus tax hikes to leave a $300 million ending fund balance.

Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said a lot of people were left out of the budget that passed Monday, particularly the elderly and disabled and those who care for them.

"We have to recognize there are a lot of things, a lot of people left on the table that are not going to get their needs met," Caferro said.

Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, blamed expanding Medicaid expansion to 70,000 people for the tough budget decisions that lawmakers must make in funding health programs.

"Medicaid expansion comes up for review next session," he said. "Just remember the frustration that you feel voting against the poor, against the blind, against the elderly, the young, the disabled."

The approximately $10.3 billion budget bill that passed with an initial 29-20 vote Monday is higher than the bill passed by the House. That means once it passes a final Senate vote, negotiators from the House and Senate will have to meet in a conference committee if the House does not agree with the Senate's changes.

A few notable items were added to the budget on the Senate floor:

A provision to bar internet providers who use or sell customer data without consent from state contracts.

$11,386 that will trigger federal funding for a total of $1.2 million for services for children with autism.

$450,000 to allow the Department of Public Health and Human Services to finance additional audits if examinations already being conducted uncover fraud, waste and abuse. Democratic legislators noted little fraud has been uncovered by existing audits.

$210,000 for state Food and Agricultural Development centers to help businesses that produce and sell food, agricultural and renewable energy products.

Among the amendments that were rejected:

$21.6 million in state and federal money to give a raise to direct care workers who serve Medicaid patients in senior and long term care, in case a separate bill to fund the raises with a tobacco tax hike fails.

$12 million for a preschool grant program that Bullock has identified as one of his top priorities.

$8 million to the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Democratic lawmakers say without this funding, tuition will increase 15-20 percent at some colleges and universities.

$2.4 million to increase the daily rate foster families are paid by $1 a day.

$1.5 million for services for people caring for the elderly at home.

$983K to fill open positions in Child and Family Services division.

$900,000 for in-home services for people who are eligible for nursing homes.

$896,000 to give child protection specialists a raise.

A proposal by Sen. Mike Phillips, to cut $2 million from the budget to fix a county road that leads to Hell Creek State Park. Republicans from eastern Montana fought to keep that money in the budget.
Calling the little Roxy Theater on Missoulas Hip Strip a cultural icon of statewide importance, Gov. Steve Bullock announced a $167,605 award in tourism infrastructure and community development grant block money to fund the restoration of the historic movie theater.

Were here to celebrate a great partnership of public and private resources united by that common goal to restore, enhance and preserve one of Missoulas  and indeed one of Montanas  great treasures, Bullock said. The Roxy really does represent more than just what you all think of as your community theater. Its sort of that intersection of art, culture and history  all important parts of our entire states identity.

The nonprofit theater, celebrating its 80th birthday this year, will use the money to renovate the facade back to its 1930s Art Deco glory. There will be a new ticket booth facing Higgins Avenue, a new neon sign and a new paint job. The Montana Department of Commerce, which awarded the grants, expects the restoration to increase visitation to the theater by 20 percent in the first year.

Roxy Theater executive director Mike Steinberg said the theater provides the community a place for people to see films they might not otherwise see, as well as film festivals, poetry, art, plays and comedy.

Our goal is to return the aesthetic of the theater to its original Art Deco style, as a way to be a beacon for whats going on inside, he said. Thats what the Hip Strip is in a lot of ways in my mind. Its a unique special place, and we want to return the theater to that. Theres been a lot of support for that and the state has been remarkably generous, as have a lot of individual donors.

Steinberg has said he imagines tourists being so enamored with the look of the Roxy that theyll have to stop and take pictures. He said the board of directors decided in the last year that they want to continue to reinvest in the look of the building.

Theres only one Hip Strip in the whole universe, he said. And one thing that became clear in talking with stakeholders is that we should steward this building forward. Theres a lot of excitement around what were doing, and the original eye-popping Art Deco style is a way to announce the excitement of whats going on in here.

The Roxy announced that it had received $67,605 of the money in the form of the tourism infrastructure grant back in February, and now the $100,000 community development block grant will greatly aid in the efforts. In addition to the grants, the Roxy has been fundraising privately for the work, which will cost around $200,000 total. The states Office of Tourism and Business Development Tourism Grant Program targets projects that can improve the economy through local tourism.

Bullock said that 1.5 million tourists stayed at least one night in Missoula last year, part of the state's $3.5 billion tourism industry that supports tens of thousands of jobs.

Investing in our downtown neighborhoods will continue to build vibrant community gathering spots that entice visitors and engage residents, Bullock said. The Roxy Theaters restoration project will create jobs, fuel downtown growth, and ensure the Missoula landmark is around for future generations to enjoy.

The Roxy has 18 year-round full- and part-time employees and seven seasonal positions.

The grant presented today reflects the value of the Roxy as an asset both to your community but also an asset to the promotion and economic impact of tourism across the state, Bullock told a crowd that gathered in one of the Roxys three theater rooms. These are gathering spaces for the community and the Roxy is certainly no exception. Its been that landmark in downtown Missoula for nearly 80 years. Its a place where friends and families gather to share their love of the arts.

The Roxy was destroyed by an unsolved arson in 1994, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1998 as a dollar theater. It closed again in 2000 when the owners died, but the International Wildlife Film Festival bought the building in 2002. That event will celebrate its 40th anniversary when it is held at the Roxy from April 15-22.

The Roxy is a historic asset in Montana that requires preservation and ongoing investment, said Steinberg said. Our restoration effort emphasizes the Roxys dedication to making Montana a unique destination that will serve audiences of all ages.
Becoming a part of a very short list of cities, Missoula voted to officially divest from Wells Fargo over the banks financial support of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The ordinance, approved unanimously Monday night by Missoula City Council, was written by Ward 2 representative Ruth Swaney and Ward 1 representative Heidi West.

West also wrote the councils resolution opposing the pipeline, to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Tribe, in November 2016.

Ten members of the public commented in support of divesting, while twice as many showed up just to witness the vote.

The message from many was thanks, but dont stop here.

It is a critical issue that faces Montana, Joseph Grady said. Those banking entities that operate in North Dakota have their eyes on our state.

Wells Fargo works with Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline.

Divestment will pull around $2.6 million from the citys cash-on-hand account with Wells Fargo.

The largest city to divest its holdings from Wells Fargo to date is Seattle, whose city council voted in February to pull more than $3 billion of its annual cash flow out of the bank.

The Missoula council also approved a trade that will result in a long-desired sidewalk on Brooks Street in front of Little Caesars.

The 8-4 vote could have been much closer, as many council members expressed reluctance in approving the deal, citing the high bar for giving up public right-of-ways and the landowners unwillingness to negotiate.

Were giving away commercially viable and profitable land to a landowner that has been less than a great neighbor, Ward 5 representative Julie Armstrong, who voted against the deal, said. I just feel like were being held over a barrel.

The trade will give the Holiday Village owners the citys two blocks of right-of-way on Holborn Street and North Avenue that wrap around Little Caesars in exchange for a nine-foot sidewalk easement.

The owner plans to redevelop the site by demolishing the Pet Nebula building and redoing the exteriors of the rest of that building and Little Caesars.

The Public Works committee voted 4-3 March 29 to deny the request, but committee chair Jordan Hess asked for the full councils support on a trade that he said provides more public good than not.

I dont take right-of-way vacations lightly, he said. It releases city right-of-way thats not strategic or productive for us to retain.

***

The council also approved a $48,000 graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry system for the wastewater treatment plant, which will save the plant about $15,000 a year in lab fees.

Wastewater Lab Manager Sherri Kenyon told the Public Works Committee that metal analysis is required on a monthly basis. Federal regulators are considering reducing acceptable levels of copper, iron and lead levels. And Missoula's water is close to the proposed lower standards.

The lab equipment would reduce the city's research time from two weeks to two days.

Not only is it saving us money, but it allows us to even do more research'' and allows it to be done in house, Kenyon said.
Don't stand on the sidelines  get involved, and do it for higher education, climate activism, global harmony, or another cause that's important to you.

That was one theme from an Occupy the Oval demonstration Tuesday at the University of Montana led by members of the Missoula Campus-Community Coalition  formerly the UM Advocacy Coalition.

Around noon, students, faculty and community members gathered as part of a week of activism. They asked for tuition to remain affordable with only a 3 percent to 5 percent increase, cuts to be applied equally to programs, and the state to increase its share of the cost of higher education from 40 percent to 50 percent.

On the lawn, advocates had raised one large tent  filled with boxes of pizzas  and pitched five smaller ones.

"Neutrality is not an option!!!" read one sign hanging from a tent.

"Students not customers" stated another.

A maroon Griz paw was painted on a banner.

On a plaid blanket spread on the grass lay a couple of books: "Guide to Free Speech on Campus," and "One-Dimensional Man," a philosophical critique of capitalism and consumerism.

Olivia Schuler, a senior and political science major, sat on the lawn with her laptop before the speeches began. She said she was part of the demonstration because she is worried for the university.

"I'm proud of having spent some time here, and I would like it (UM) to succeed once I'm gone," said Schuler, who graduates this semester.

Enrollment already has declined, and the Great Falls woman fears that tuition increases could further hurt UM. Schuler said she understands some increase is reasonable, but she hasn't heard adequate explanations of all of the alternatives.

Last week, a demonstration by the Associated Students of the University of Montana rallying people to contact their legislators drew an estimated 120 people. This week's event had fewer people, but more visible causes.

Tables on the lawn touted signs for "Students for Peace and Justice," "Industrial Workers of the World," "Forward Montana," and at least one offered pizzas and water bottles.

***

At the mic, faculty member Doug Coffin asked the crowd, an estimated 50 at one point, to consider the effect of tuition increases on a family earning just $30,000, or a single mom making even less. The former legislator also asked people to get involved and vote.

"We're losing money for higher education because we're losing elections," Coffin said.

While a tuition increase of $1,000 can be a "death sentence" for a student whose family doesn't earn much, he also said the university and its students are an economic boon to Missoula. For every 1,000 students lost, he said, the local economy loses $50 million a year.

Many people in the crowd documented the event. They carried cameras and video gear and trained cellphones on the speakers.

In a passionate speech that drew some cheers, Curtis Schiwal also asked that students been seen first as people, not as commodities or a source of income. His generation feels a sense of hopelessness and apathy, he said, and some wonder if they can believe in the American dream.

In his own approach, he echoed one theme running through the collection of ideals and demands. The group had the right to be upset and angry, but also the power to speak, to occupy, he said.

"I am not inclined to merely hope. I'm inclined to act," Schiwal said.
University of Montana President Sheila Stearns asked members of the campus community Monday to tell positive stories about the flagship  and stop repeating negative ones.

"We are the sum of the stories that we tell each other over and over," Stearns said.

That advice comes as the Legislature is debating the future of higher education funding.

Vice President of Finance Mike Reid said UM is getting support from the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. However, he said the coming year will not be easy.

"I think FY18 is going to be a challenge, no doubt about it," Reid said.

After the meeting, he said Commissioner Clay Christian has offered UM no guarantees, but the commissioner did recommend the university plan on a flat budget for the coming year regardless of the possible cuts pending in Helena. Reid also said the commissioner's office told him UM may have a cushion if legislators cut higher education, although no promises were made.

Stearns asked her colleagues to stay positive at a campus update and question-and-answer session that filled all the open tables at the University Center Ballroom. At the presentation, the president said she is an upbeat person, and she was thrilled to hear about all of UM's successes after she took the post as interim president in December.

But recently, negative tales overwhelmed her. After hearing maybe 50 stories in a short time about how UM needs to improve, she called her husband, Hal Stearns.

"I really need a cold beverage when I get home tonight," she said she told him.

At the morning forum, which she planned to repeat in the afternoon, she said positive stories abound at UM, and she asked people to retell the anecdotes that show the "outstanding" attributes of the campus. Telling negative stories can become a bad habit, she said, and one she momentarily fell into herself.

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't confront the truth," Stearns said.

The president also discussed the budget. She said she anticipates the general fund budget to be $143.5 million, down from $146 million this fiscal year; for budget purposes, UM is planning on an enrollment of some 11,000.

Stearns said UM needs to consider reductions that will have the least impact on the campus and will maintain excellence. Tuition increases are likely next school year, and Stearns said students will be demonstrating on the Oval this week; at least some will be advocating for only a minimal bump in tuition.

The president said she likes protests  "I'm a '60s kid"  and she believes the students who met with her about the demonstration are committed to being welcoming. However, she said she's concerned about possible hijackers "making it not so welcoming."

***

Last month, the university sent out a survey to some 400 employees asking their interest in early retirements as a possible cost-saving measure. Stearns said the response rate has been 90 percent, and UM is still unpacking the data from the questionnaire, which employees filled out anonymously.

School of Journalism Dean Larry Abramson, who is working on the early retirement project, said there isn't a lot of money available to pay for the idea, and some scenarios don't realize any immediate savings. But he said the responses show employees want the option.

"There was a lot of interest in an early retirement possibility for people, but we have not had time to cost out the various options," Abramson said.

UM also has been in the midst of drafting a strategic plan, a result in part of 1,000 contacts with people on and off campus, Stearns said.

Davidson Honors College Dean Brock Tessman, who has been leading the effort, said he submitted a draft of the strategic plan to the president on Friday, and they will discuss the document this week and timing for its release.

The planning process is one of several underway at UM, and Stearns is calling the parallel efforts "Forward125." (Next school year will be the 125th anniversary of UM.) The campus is also prioritizing its programs and in the midst of accreditation.

A search committee led by Commissioner Christian is recruiting a new president to lead UM. In December, Christian asked then-President Royce Engstrom to step down and tapped Stearns to serve in the interim post.

Stearns, who was retired and is not interested in the permanent position, said Monday the recruitment firm is already getting job applications even though it's early. The timeline notes the search officially launches April 24 and the "best consideration" deadline for applications is July 21.

Stearns said she wants UM to "put the foot on the gas pedal" to complete its planning initiatives, and she hopes the directions the university sets now create a solid foundation for the permanent president. The new leader may step into the job in January 2018; campus visits with finalists are on the calendar for mid-September.

"I hope we do such a great job that this person can come in in our 125th year and just say, wow, here's where I can plug my vision into all of this, and we can move forward positively together," Stearns said.

The agenda for the meeting listed recruitment and retention as a topic, but the president spoke only broadly about retention and did not offer data at the morning forum.

During the question-and-answer session, Disability Services Director Amy Capolupo asked how recruitment and retention, a stated priority at UM, will be measured and reflected in faculty and staff jobs.

Stearns said departments and programs need to advance the recruitment and retention mission of UM and honor people who are doing well in that area. She said most units already have standards, but she requested an existing task force to help gather written criteria.

Vice President for Enrollment Tom Crady said he asks people he oversees to keep track of the students they meet with because those conversations are critical to keeping students.

"If we don't provide support  this is a different generation of students  we will lose them. We know that," Crady said. "We simply have to do it."

When the president stressed that people should repeat positive stories about UM and not let negative ones embed themselves in the psyche, she offered high praise for the university.

She said the institution is a wonderful flagship and regional university "with a tremendously admired liberal arts core," and few universities can match the combination of academics, setting and people that UM offers.

"We have to be proud of that and echo it over and over," Stearns said.
I do not envy U.S. Sen. Jon Testers position right now. The left is enraged about President Donald Trump to the point of irrationality, and they are placing lots of pressure on senators to join in on their feverish campaign against anything and everything remotely related to the president.

Their AstroTurf campaign against Judge Neil Gorsuch has been revealing. Even before the president had named his pick, they were protesting in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with printed signs that read stop on the top and actually had a blank space at the bottom where they could write the name of whomever the president nominated  no matter their qualifications.

With that same faux outrage, they are threatening Tester and other senators up for re-election, demanding they, too, ignore the facts and oppose Gorsuch because of, well, Trump  or just to get back at Republicans for Judge Merrick Garland.

I hope Tester can see right through this and recognizes this is exactly what Montanans hate about Washington. The irrational, partisan bickering that has no relation to reality. Try as liberal groups might (and no matter how mad at the president they are), there is just no reasonable reason to oppose Gorsuch.

Even the liberal American Bar Association gave Gorsuch its highest rating of unanimous well qualified.

As longtime Democratic lawyer David Frederick wrote in the Washington Post, there is just no principled reason to vote against Gorsuch. He wrote, [M]y hope is to have justices on the bench such as Gorsuch and Garland who approach cases with fairness and intellectual rigor, and who care about precedent and the limits of their roles as judges.

And he is not the only liberal to express the same sentiment. In a letter of support, more than 50 of his Harvard Law classmates, spanning the political spectrum, wrote:

"We are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and independents; progressives, conservatives and moderates; religious and non-observant; married, single and divorced; men and women; straight and gay.... What unites us is that ... we unanimously believe Neil possesses the exemplary character, outstanding intellect, steady temperament, humility and open-mindedness to be an excellent addition to the United States Supreme Court."

Another letter featured more than 150 of his Columbia classmates, with similar diversity, united in [their] belief that [Gorsuch] would serve our country with honor and distinction on the Supreme Court.

This is simply a non-controversial nominee. But for the lefts anti-Trump proclivities, it would be one of the easiest votes Sen. Tester would face this year.

That was the case in 2006, when Judge Gorsuch was nominated to the second-highest level court on the land, the Court of Appeals (Tenth Circuit). He was actually confirmed by unanimous voice vote. It doesnt get any more non-controversial than that. Not a single Democrat expressed any concerns with Gorsuch.

The vote included the very top of todays Democratic leadership: Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, and Dick Durbin. Not to mention the most influential leaders of the party for more than a decade: then-senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton.

Gorsuch was not controversial then, and he is not controversial now. His record has not changed. The only thing that has changed is the political landscape.

Let us pray Tester does not focus on the small but very vocal unhinged left, asking him to throw away reason and join the mob against Trump. They are certainly energized, but their energy is misguided at best and downright malicious at worse.

Montana deserves better than that.
The circus is coming to town once again, but this time without the tigers, elephants or other exotic animals that prompted Missoula to pass an ordinance prohibiting them.

However, Missoula Shriners contract for their biggest fundraiser of the year with an outfit called the Jordan World Circus that still uses these animals for performances in other places  just not in Missoula anymore.

This presents a conundrum for Missoulians who enjoy a good circus and want to support their local Shriners, but do not want to support the mistreatment of animals in any way.

And make no mistake: even without the whips and bull hooks, it is indeed mistreatment to keep a wild animal in captivity, spending a large portion of its life caged in transit, and forcing it to perform unnatural acts for human amusement. Many people, especially outdoors-loving Montanans, understand that undomesticated animals are not like dogs or cats, and the circus life is no life for a lion, tiger or bear.

Additionally, encouraging children to ride elephants or pose for photos with a bear sends the wrong message  a dangerous message  about how humans should interact with wildlife.

Dozens of communities throughout the nation have also recognized these realities and passed laws similar to Missoulas. It is a real shame the folks at Jordan World Circus are choosing to ignore the shifting attitudes of their audience. Nevertheless, Missoulians should turn out in force with their families and buy up every ticket to the performances this Friday or Saturday.

Heres why: First and foremost, the Western Montana Shrine Club is a worthy nonprofit whose efforts help patients and their families access treatment at Shriners Hospitals for Children. But also to prove a point: that a circus can be successful  even more so  when it stops relying on exotic animal acts.

The Shriners goal is to raise as much money as possible to help children with severe medical needs. In a typical year, the local group might collect $20,000 from its share of the circus revenue.

When Missoulas city council passed the exotic animal ban in September 2015, opponents feared it might mean the end of the circus, and therefore, of the Shriners fundraising success. Dozens of ban supporters promised to help the Shriners continue to do their good work and advocate on behalf of the new cruelty-free circus.

The ban allowed a lengthy grace period in order to allow the Shriners to honor their contract with the Jordan circus, but this year, the prohibition is in full effect. And the circus is still coming to town.

No doubt both the Shriners and the circus organizers will compare this years attendance to last years, and use that information to decide whether its worthwhile to return next year. They will also compare the proceeds generated in Missoula to that of other Montana towns, where exotic animal acts are still allowed  even if they are sometimes met with protests. In Billings, in fact, a new group called Montanans Against Animal Circuses has formed and led protests of the circus held there last month.

No such opposition has formed around acrobats, clowns and performers of death-defying feats. Surely there are more than enough human acts to put together a dazzling show fit for children of all ages.

Missoula must show the Jordan circus that it makes more sense, morally and financially, to stick with human and domesticated animal performers. Then, it might finally do the right thing and find a wildlife refuge willing to care for its exotic animals in their retirement.

The circus will offer shows at the Adams Center on Friday, April 7, at 3 and 5 p.m., and Saturday, April 8, at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Children are invited to attend for free, and adults can buy tickets through Griz Tix (www.umt.edu/griztix) or at the door.

On with the show!
Greg Gianforte is my choice for Montanas congressman. Hes not a career politician who can be bought by outside special interests. Hes a self-made man, a bootstrap guy who honors his commitments and pays his bills.

Greg Gianforte and his wife, Susan, came to Montana 22 years ago and raised their four children in Bozeman. They started a small business there, then grew it into a multi-million-dollar corporation, creating over 500 high-paying jobs in Montana with good benefits. Hes developed scholarship programs to help low-income students and veterans pursue the education they need to start careers in Montana.

Gianforte is an National Rifle Association member, a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. He hunts big game in Montana and has several trophies to show for it. He and his family enjoy fishing, backpacking and camping on public land. Hell fight to safeguard our public lands so everyone can enjoy them. He wants a sensible immigration policy protecting Americans and allowing those who wish to immigrate to the United States and respect our laws and follow the rules to become U.S. citizens.

He will work hard alongside our president and with Congress to create good-paying jobs and grow our economy.

Jay Stanford,

Missoula
Senate Bill 155 is an egregious overreach by out-of-state groups to take local control from Montanans. This bill would change Montana seed laws and take away power from the hands of our local officials, which is where it has been for decades, and where it should stay.

The language from SB 155 can be found in several other state legislatures right now, all developed by a pay-to-play group funded by Monsanto, Dow and the Koch brothers. Well, Montanans arent about to be duped by a few billionaires (or are we?).

The billionaires pushing this bill are trying to centralize all of the power in areas of the government that are inaccessible to regular people and farmers like me.

Right now we are seeing more and more how hard it is to accomplish things at the federal and state levels, but I know my local officials because they are my neighbors. I prefer to work with them on local issues, rather than strangers who dont understand how we work out here in Olive, Montana.

So, why is our Legislature taking away local control of what is grown in our communities? Power and money.

While they are trying to say that they are saving local producers from mythical groups that want to prevent you from using specific seeds, what about the other side where the state is trying to force us all to use certain seeds that contaminate everyone elses fields?

Tell Gov. Steve Bullock to veto SB155.

Walter Archer,

Olive
BILLINGS  Police have arrested a man who is suspected of leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase and then engaging in a four-hour-long standoff along the bottom of the Rims on Tuesday.

Around 4 p.m., the man told officers he had no weapons, and officers moved in to confirm that before arresting him, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said. Some officers wore tactical vests and carried rifles and a shield.

Prior to the man's arrest, St. John said that police cleared the truck, which was stolen.

The man led law enforcement on a pursuit before walking away from the truck to find refuge at the base of the Rims.

At one point, Billings Fire Department personnel lowered down a hose, which sprayed water like a sprinkler into the area of the suspect. That led the man to come out from behind a large rock.

He eventually heeded the police negotiator's requests and began moving down the rocky hill with his hands raised. Officers moved in and arrested him without incident. A few onlookers clapped from the neighborhood below.

St. John said medical personnel checked the man upon arrest.

A SWAT team and the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office also responded to the incident.

School District 2 locked down all schools in Billings briefly as a result of the chase. Billings parochial schools, including Central Catholic High School, were notified via a shared resource officer, said Central High School Principal Shel Hanser.

Connor Cranston, an Uberbrew brewer, said he recognized the truck Tuesday afternoon as his. He had reported it stolen to police Sunday morning.

"I was in the back cleaning some tanks, and a server came back with a customer's phone saying, 'Connor  is this your truck?' It's a crazy situation."

A downtown resident, Cranston said he's getting by walking to work.

"I walk everywhere anyway," he said. "The way it's going, it looks like it might be a while before it gets back to me."

A standoff with law enforcement continued Tuesday afternoon along the bottom of the Rims after a man said he was in possession of explosives.

Police have identified the man but are not releasing his identity at this time. It also was not confirmed the man was armed with explosives.

We dont know if its real or not, but until we know we treat it as real," said Billings Police Department Capt. Jeremy House.

Police urged the public to stay away from the scene until further notice. The standoff was occurring near the base at the rims at North 15th Street.

Capt. Bill Michaelis of the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office said the man was also possibly in possession of a stolen vehicle. Law enforcement pursued the man in the suspected stolen vehicle to the base of the Rims.

A SWAT team has also responded to the incident.

School District 2 locked down all schools in Billings briefly as a result of the chase. Billings parochial schools, including Central Catholic High School, were notified via a shared resource officer, said Central High School Principal Shel Hanser.

Meeting mid-day with reporters, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said police are working to "isolate and stabilize" the situation to "buy time" to allow negotiators to do their jobs.

The suspect may have a weapon, but police aren't certain, St. John said. That's why police have not moved closer to the man's location, he said.

Connor Cranston, an Uberbrew brewer, said he recognized the truck Tuesday afternoon as his. He had reported it stolen to police Sunday morning.

"I was in the back cleaning some tanks, and a server came back with a customer's phone saying, 'Connor  is this your truck?' It's a crazy situation."

A downtown resident, Cranston said he's getting by walking to work.

"I walk everywhere anyway," he said. "The way it's going, it looks like it might be a while before it gets back to me."

More information will be reported as it becomes available.
HELENA  The Montana Senate has advanced a bill seeking to prohibit the governor from using the state's aircraft for campaign purposes in the two months before an election.

The Senate endorsed the measure on Tuesday, 30-17, while the House approved it in February. Both votes were mostly along party lines.

Gov. Steve Bullock's use of the state airplane became a hot political issue during the 2016 campaign. His opponent Greg Gianforte and other Republicans accused Bullock of misusing state resources.

Bullock argued his primary use of the aircraft was for official business, but acknowledged that he also held campaign activities, including fundraisers, during those same trips. His office said the governor's re-election campaign reimbursed the state $4,700.

The bill also requires the governor to disclose fundraiser attendees.
WRIGHT  A door in the corner of Hanks bar leads to a small restaurant with booths that creak beneath their patrons weight. Past the signs for pizza and all-day breakfast, Susan Heimdale leaned against the front counter recently, watching customers who'd stopped in for a bit of gas, a six-pack or a snack.

A year ago, Hanks Roadside Bar and Grill was filled with coal miners. Now, it plays Fox News to an almost empty room.

Its been a hell of a year for me emotionally, physically, Heimdale said.

Her 62-year-old husband, Dan, was one of hundreds of coal miners laid off in sweeping cuts that rocked the tiny northeast Wyoming town. Hed been a field welder for nine years at Alpha Natural Resources' Belle Ayr mine. The company gave him two weeks' pay and a pink slip.

Theyre struggling with insurance premiums, payments for their new RV, truck and Harley-Davidson and a desire to simply retire.

Instead of traveling to see their grandkids, Susan figures they may have to work into their 70s.

But she still has her job at a bar and grill in the heart of coal country, a place where employment is a precious commodity.

More than 450 miners from Archs Black Thunder mine and Peabody Energys North Antelope Rochelle mine lost their jobs on March 31, 2016. More layoffs followed, at Alpha Natural Resources' Belle Ayre mine and the Kiewet Corp.s Buckskin mine. Arch and Alpha were in bankruptcy. Peabody declared two weeks after the initial layoffs.

It was a bad year for Wyoming coal, a perfect storm of trouble. Cheap natural gas eroded coal's dominance as the primary provider of electricity. Coal companies had recently invested in new assets when Chinese demand for the rock seemed insatiable. But, Asian desire was sated. Those companies overproduced to keep pace with debt and the market busted under the pressures.

People were suddenly afraid. They'd seen downturns before, but nothing in coal's history was so dramatic, so definitive. With hundreds of years' worth of coal beneath the surface in the Powder River Basin, it seemed like coal would last forever  until it didn't.

Rumors rippled across the community: local teachers would lose their jobs, whole neighborhoods would go into foreclosure, towns like Wright would dry up.

The industry has a transient workforce. Some workers packed up and moved on, as was expected. But time passed, and many others chose to stay. The wide freeways of Gillette and gravel roads of Wright were home.

Miners transitioned to truck driving, were hired back at the mines or returned to school chasing a dream theyd forgotten when coal money started lining their pockets. One way or another, they made it through.

The people of Campbell County know they can't do anything about declining demand, natural gas prices or company spending. But one year after the layoffs, they are approaching hope, for their industry, their children and their communities. After all, there's a new administration in Washington, and there are millions of tons of coal yet to be dug from the ground.

A town doesnt rebound as fast as a person. A town doesnt find another job or go back to school. A town in which 15 percent of the workforce is suddenly without work will suffer.

Gillette is the epicenter of the nations coal industry. Within an hour's drive of the city, the largest open pit mines in the country harvest the deep coal seams of eastern Wyoming from sunrise to sunset and back again. The layoffs hit the town hard.

More than 2,000 people left Gillette between 2015 and 2016, from a record high of 32,649 to 30,500. The vacancy rate for apartments jumped from 7 percent to 22 percent. About 70 percent of the citys budget flows from tax revenue, and most of that comes from sales and use taxes, which declined by 40 percent in one year. The same story played out in smaller towns like Wright, where the towns budget was halved and 100 trailers in the Cottonwood trailer park remain vacant.

But there are two sides to statistics, said Charlene Murdock, former director of the Chamber of Commerce in Campbell County.

Five hundred jobs in one day is very significant, she said recently, on one of her last days working for the Chamber. Ive lost my job twice in coal downturns, so I understand the pain and agony of that, but it still represented about 15 percent of our workforce. I tried to remind people that we still had 85 percent of our miners working.

Murdock was laid off from Peabody Energy when it closed its local office. After a little more than a year with the Chamber, shes going back to the coal company.

She and her husband weathered the oil and gas downturn of the late 1980s, and Murdock isnt convinced that the recent coal downturn compared.

Gillette has matured since the 80s, when people lost their jobs, packed up and moved on, she said. This time, people tried to make it work, she said. Miners came to the Chamber looking for advice on how to open auto repair shops, production studios and shooting ranges.

At the time (of the coal layoffs) we talked about our resiliency, and I think we are resilient, she said. We certainly have lost some businesses, but more often than not, as some businesses closed, within three to six months someone else is in the space.

Dan Heimdale believes in Murphys Law. Whatever can happen, will happen.

He was on duty with the Army Reserves when his bosses from the Belle Ayr mine called him up and asked him to come in. He knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

"Is it layoffs?"

Dan has had four jobs that didnt work out since receiving his two weeks pay last April, but its his wife, Susan, who concerned him most.

The wife got pretty depressed, he said. Her health ain't the greatest, so that sort of scared her a little bit. You work so hard to get the things that you got, then all of a sudden someone tries to wipe it out from underneath you.

Hell keep working as a welder for a local company, and if a pension check comes through from the Army, she may be able to quit.

They rely on each other, the optimist and the worrier.

Eventually you end up getting something that will pull you through," the welder and veteran said. "You just have to stay persistent.

Ryan Borrego, on the other hand, wasnt worried about keeping his job at Black Thunder when the coal downturn first began in earnest in 2015.

Things go up and down. Our company was pretty good at trying to cut back costs before they did any layoffs, he remembered. I dont think in the 15 years I was there we had any layoffs. At first I wasnt anticipating anything like that, but every month, things kept getting worse.

By March 31, the 39-year-old became anxious. He was working the night shift, so word had spread from miners earlier in the day. Workers were showing up for their shifts, and the ones being laid off were told to go back home.

He drove down to Black Thunder, an hour from his home in Gillette. He turned around and drove back without a job.

In a way, it was a relief, he said.

The year that followed was hard. Borrego has a video production business, In This Moment Productions, and is trying to make money from his real estate license since the housing market has ticked up. Hes struggled for money at times, but he wouldnt go back to the mines unless he had to, he said.

I missed a lot of my boys growing up, and my little girl, I dont want to miss as much as I did with my boys, Borrego said. His sons are in their last year of high school. His daughter is 6.

I learned my lesson.

Borrego had never wanted to mine forever. When he headed to work March 31, he looked to the future.

I figured if I did get laid off, there was something else for me, he said. That it was meant to be.

***

A year later, consumer confidence is up in northeast Wyoming, locals say, and the real estate market is improving.

Paul Gates, a tall, broad-shouldered transplant from South Dakota, saw an influx of people selling trucks after the layoffs or downsizing to something more affordable. The 26-year-old sales manager at Quality Auto had moved to Gillette two years ago when the industry was booming. He'd never seen an economic bust before.

The results were shocking. Even in his office they had to make small cuts on extra services: no more candies out front or cleaning services at night and fewer lunches for the sales team. The people he spoke to were afraid of losing work, or had lost work.

Since then, things have begun to pick up. The year started out better than expected, he said, and there are high hopes for a stable summer. People who just got their jobs back may be hesitant to rush out and spend money, he said. That's OK.

"The thing with the used car business is people still have to buy cars," he said. "They may not buy the $60,000 or $70,000 truck, but they may buy the $20,000 to $30,000 truck."

Get breaking news sent instantly to your inbox

Email

Sign Up!

That sentiment was echoed across the city. The mindset has changed for Gillette, and that has more to do with politics than coal.

RELATED

+3 Wyomingites move on, create new lives after the bust

Wyomingites move on, create new lives after the bust

Its been a tough year for Wyoming. The price of oil and gas plummeted. Coal production hit 

In early November, the mayor of Gillette prepared for a quarterly meeting with her departments. There were good signs on the horizon. The third quarter of 2016 showed a jump in coal production as a hot summer drove up the price of natural gas. Two of the three coal companies in bankruptcy had emerged.

But it had been a rough year, and Democrat Hillary Clinton was projected to win the presidency. It wouldve been the nail in the coffin, said Mayor Louise Carter-King, whose town was still reeling from the coal losses and the simultaneous downturn in oil and gas. She had her staffers prepare a speech. She was going to tell everyone to stay positive, to keep their spirits up.

Then a miracle happened for coal country, as the mayor and some of her staff sat glued to a television late into the evening on Nov. 7.

[President Donald] Trump kept winning, Carter-King recalled, sitting in her office, which overlooks construction in downtown Gillette. I cant remember which state it was (that Trump won), but I just said, Throw that speech away. I dont have to say anything.

Trump cant bring back coal jobs or raise the price of oil, but the spirit in her town changed that night, she said.

It was just a whole different attitude. When you went to a restaurant that Wednesday it was crowded, people were laughing, Carter-King said. Now we are three to four months into it; everyone is still really optimistic.

New political favor will hopefully mean more investment in clean coal technology, more partnerships between the federal government, private industry and local coal communities like Gillette, she said, the words coming quickly as she described the possibilities.

Three months into Trump's term, he continues to please coal country. On Tuesday, the president asked the EPA to review and perhaps replace the controversial Clean Power Plan, which many locally thought could deal a death blow to the industry. He also overturned a controversial moratorium on coal leases.

Coal is going to be around for awhile, Carter-King said. With the right investments and attitude, the coal sector can make up for the last eight years and invest in coals future, she said.

"Thats just where [former President Barack] Obama really screwed up, because I think he is a smart person, but he turned a blind eye (to coal), she said. He couldve left quite a legacy, and now everything hes done is getting torn apart.

***

Wright's mayor, Ralph Kingan, took a break recently from his job at the towns waterworks to eat at Hanks restaurant.

The bust wasnt as bad as hed expected. People talked about another round of big layoffs, but that never happened. A little over 30 people sought city help in the first three days after the layoffs. Hed expected double that number.

+3

Coal Recovery

Buy Now

Brian Sims drinks coffee at Hank's in Wright before starting his shift in the Black Thunder coal mine recently. The miner believes in coal's future but is skeptical about some of the actions the industry has taken.

Dan Cepeda, Star-Tribune

Hes noticed absences in his town. He doesnt see the CAT mechanics driving down the street. Since he works for the water district, he does a rough population count from the number of active taps. From a high of about 2,975 people, Wright has contracted to 2,400, by the mayors estimate. That's a decline of roughly 20 percent.

But the worst may be over, he said.

Alpha and Arch have emerged from bankruptcy, with Alpha taking a different name. Peabody expects to emerge this month. And the price of oil, once in the low $30 range, hovers around $50 a barrel.

Sometimes a little downturn is not all bad, he said. We start overspending; its just the way government is. I dont think a small town is any different than a big town.

Things could have been worse, he said.

As Kingan took his lunch break, Susan Heimdale wandered around the gas station, filling her day with little tasks from straightening shelves to refilling condiments.

Things will turn around, she said, echoing a sentiment heard throughout the county. Rumor is the jobs are coming back, and oil prices have strengthened.

For the Heimdales, the layoffs caused suffering but mainly just delayed their plans.

The worried wife and grandmother stopped for a second to watch a customer step outside of Hank's Roadside Bar and Grill beneath a sky the color of coal ash.

Wright will survive, she said.

Theres a couple times [Hank has] looked at me and said Are we going to make it? and I say, You always have, Hank.
HELENA  The Montana Senate has advanced a bill seeking to prohibit the governor from using the state's aircraft for campaign purposes in the two months before an election.

The Senate endorsed the measure on Tuesday, 30-17, while the House approved it in February. Both votes were mostly along party lines.

Gov. Steve Bullock's use of the state airplane became a hot political issue during the 2016 campaign. His opponent Greg Gianforte and other Republicans accused Bullock of misusing state resources.

Bullock argued his primary use of the aircraft was for official business, but acknowledged that he also held campaign activities, including fundraisers, during those same trips. His office said the governor's re-election campaign reimbursed the state $4,700.

The bill also requires the governor to disclose fundraiser attendees.
Mike and Katie Brotzman and family had privacy at the now-closed Butte Rescue Mission, but their family will now be split up.

They plan to stay at the Motel 6 in Uptown Butte for the next week, but after that, their living arrangements are up in the air.

A friend is helping us, said Mike Brotzman. He paid for a week just for the two of us.

On Monday, the shelter, 1204 E. Second St., shut down for good because of serious fire and safety code violations. The Butte zoning board voted 4-2 a week ago to not allow it to use the Madison School. The once single-family dwelling swelled with up at times to 40 homeless folks per night.

The Brotzmans grown daughter Jessie, son-in-law Jansen, and their baby  who stayed at the mission with them  are searching for their own place.

Fighting a wind chill and brisk mid-30s temperatures, a dozen former mission employees and volunteers worked fast Monday to carry out mattresses, office and kitchen supplies, dining furniture, and any personal items former residents left behind.

Most supplies were stored right across the street to the west in a main-level and basement storage space. Even freezers and refrigerators were moved there to house leftover food  at least until Director Rocky Lyons finds another location for a dedicated meal service.

It is very heartbreaking, said head cook Donna Berry, who once lived at the shelter for nearly four months. Weve become big friends and family.

Dorvan Schuck, 57, worked as dorm attendant and assistant cook, a paid volunteer through Montana Experience Works, a low-income employment service for seniors. He lived at the shelter, too. But he found a place.

I got a two-bedroom apartment at Silver Bow Homes and moved in yesterday, said Schuck, who has a roommate to split costs.

I understand the stigma of alcoholics and drug addicts coming here, but thats not true, Schuck added. There are people who get out of prison, pre-release, or who are just coming into town who already have a job lined up and are looking for a place to stay. But now these people dont have a place to stay.

Lyons was busy moving her office to the Butte Rescue Mission Thrift Store, 123 E. Park St., where she will continue the shelters mission.

She was uncertain how many homeless folks had secured places to live as of Monday.

I dont have the numbers, said Lyons Monday afternoon. I dont have any of that information in front of me; all that information is packed up and in transit to the new office.

Lyons is determined to keep the mission in forward motion as she plans to offer case management at the thrift store.

The missions not going anywhere  the mission will still have a very large presence in Butte, Lyons added. The shelter runs on a Christian faith-based philosophy, but Berry emphasized that staff was strict about enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol.

ACTION INC. HELPING

As Action Inc. scrambles to find housing for two more homeless households, social service agencies are working hard to make the transition quicker due to the cold spring weather.

So far, Action Inc. found housing for 14 previously homeless households, said director Margie Seccomb on Monday.

Nine homeless individuals chose to relocate  and they have been provided with bus tickets and are gone, said Seccomb. Two individuals were referred to Volunteers of America for veterans services.

While a community coalition, including Action Inc., continues to serve emergency meals at regular We Deliver drop-offs three times a week, social workers have not let up with the shelter closing.

This has been super challenging, and our team is dead on their feet, said Seccomb. Our service advocates have been pushing hard to get everyone at the mission taken care of. We have a couple more to house, but most everyone has either relocated to a shelter in Missoula, Billings, Helena, or Great Falls or is housed.

She said the food gap is covered until the newly organized food service starts this month with several agencies collaborating.

We are scraping together funds to cover housing for everyone and to make sure we have funds through the summer, added Seccomb.

DEDICATED EMPLOYEES

Karen Turnbull, mission office manager, said she fell in love with the thrift store when she worked there as a cashier before Lyons hired her as an assistant office manager. She quickly moved up to manager.

Turnbull, supervising transport of items to storage on Monday, took an optimistic tack  even in the face of uncertainty.

Its time for a new beginning, she said. But its sad and its bittersweet that we wont be able to house anyone anymore.

Last week, neighborhood residents opposed relocating the mission to the vacant Madison School, near Rowe Road and Montana Street in the Flat. They testified before the zoning board, which ultimately decided not to allow a special-use permit for the shelter to use the Madison School.

In February, the mission tried unsuccessfully to buy a building at Main and Quartz streets owned by Action Inc. because of public outcry from the board, residents, and Uptown businesses.

Action Inc. was previously known as the District XII Human Resources Council. The private, non-profit organization was incorporated in Montana in 1965 as the Butte Anti-poverty Council.

WHERE TO GO?

The Brotzmans, formerly of Utah, landed in Butte on New Years Day after striking a patch of black ice near on a highway near Cardwell.

He laid the truck on its side, gently, said wife Katie. Nobody got hurt.

But it was enough for the Brotzmans to check into the Butte Rescue Mission on Jan. 1, where they stayed until Monday. They have a truck, but thats about it.

Brotzman said he has applied for housing with Butte-Silver Bow Homes and public housing in Anaconda. He seeks work as a master mechanic. Katie said she can do office work but not a job that requires standing due to bad knees.

No one showed up for breakfast, the missions last meal, on Monday. Former residents seemed scattered to the wind.

But taking it day by day, the Brotzmans hope to get their full family back intact soon.
April Fools' Day has come and gone, but on the first of the month, I kept marveling at how -- starting even before he ran, continuing through his campaign and certainly since Inauguration Day -- Donald Trump has played us for a fool. Successfully, I might add.

After all, we elected him, or enough of us did. Millions of people were and are attracted to his message of hate and ignorance -- that, combined with justified anger at the establishment. Even though millions more did not vote for him, he and his operators finessed a Democratic candidate who frittered away the huge advantage of being far more qualified, due in large part to her campaign strategists who were in totally over their heads. So Trump took the Electoral College. It may be a quirky American way of choosing our great leader, but with all his rhetorical and Twitterical foolishness, he won fair and square. Or maybe foul and scary, if you count the Russian interference and alleged collusion. More about that in a moment.

The point is that we now have installed a chief executive for whom every day is Fools' Day -- January, February, March and April Fools' Days, with more to come. Every single day, POTUS and his people bring us what seem to be new practical jokes. Trump's tweets alone display his mind running wild, uninhibited by facts, knowledge or rational thought. His various policies are crazily irresponsible or downright cruel. The only thing that has rescued the nation from disaster just 70-plus days into his administration is incompetence. Trump and company have managed to botch up nearly all their initiatives. His immigration blockade ran afoul with the courts, as anyone who took high-school civics could have predicted. The crashing and burning of the hasty, nasty health care package displayed less-than-rudimentary knowledge of the legislative process. So down in flames it went. He's had trouble staffing key spots in the various federal departments under his command, partly because he and his comrades in the White House bunker can't find people to fill the positions.

Speaking of comrades (note the clever segue here), perhaps part of the dithering is because Donald Trump and his Trumpsters are genuinely spooked by the accusation that he owes his election to Vladimir Putin. He's probably stunned that his feeble intimidation tactics aren't scaring inquisitors away. His opponents, even some friendlies, are not backing off; the media aren't either; no matter how many times he threatens them and snarls "fake news," the story is not going away. As it continues to unfold, it reads like a trashy political novel, except that it might end up a nonfiction blockbuster, or even a presidency-buster.

His greatest hope is to recruit key players to try to block the details from getting out. Unfortunately, the one he has chosen is Devin Nunes. On paper, Congressman Nunes would appear to be a good person for the job. After all, he is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which, along with Senate Intelligence, is charged with investigating the Russian connection. Unfortunately, Nunes' blatant efforts to defend Trump have shown that he's such a bungler, he's been called "Inspector Clouseau." If he is swept aside, the Trump presidency could be exceedingly vulnerable.

Let's fast-forward to the 100th day of Donald Trump's presidency. If Congress and the White House can't come to a budget deal, the government might shut down that very day. There is wide disagreement, particularly with Democrats who are not about to vote to support Trump by providing billions of dollars for his border wall and other policies he has put forth that they consider destructive. That may be the next confrontation, but we can't be sure. The president is always just an instant away from crisis with all his foolishness.

(c) 2017 Bob Franken

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Butte has a bigger heart than it showed last Monday.

A crowd of about 200 citizens showed up at a zoning board hearing on a proposal to put a homeless shelter in the vacant Madison School on the Flat. While a few spoke in favor of the plan, the overwhelming majority were neighborhood residents dismayed at the prospect of the shelter, which they said would hurt property values, change the character of the neighborhood and make it less safe for children. One resident brought a petition against the proposal signed by more than 400 people.

Recently a proposal to turn an Uptown building into to a shelter met a similar fate.

We understand those fears, and dont blame individuals for being concerned about their children's safety, or for property values. But if there's not an "appropriate" solution Uptown and not one on the Flat, what does that say about our town?

It is a poor reflection on a place with so many vacant buildings that one of them cannot be found suitable for a shelter. Empty buildings and homeless people are not a good combination.

This city must show its legendary heart. With the help of city/county government, local volunteer organizations, and the rest of us, a solution must be arrived upon quickly. We must dedicate ourselves to solving this problem now, not next month or next year.

We would suggest the formation of a blue-ribbon committee of town leaders to work on finding a solution. We at The Montana Standard would be happy to participate.

The current shelter closed Monday because of fire-code issues, so there's no time to lose.

"No room at the inn" is not a Christian option, and it's certainly not an option in Butte, America.
MISSOULA  University of Montana President Sheila Stearns asked members of the campus community Monday to tell positive stories about the flagship  and stop repeating negative ones.

"We are the sum of the stories that we tell each other over and over," Stearns said.

That advice comes as the Legislature is debating the future of higher education funding.

Vice President of Finance Mike Reid said UM is getting support from the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. However, he said the coming year will not be easy.

"I think FY18 is going to be a challenge, no doubt about it," Reid said.

After the meeting, he said Commissioner Clay Christian has offered UM no guarantees, but the commissioner did recommend the university plan on a flat budget for the coming year regardless of the possible cuts pending in Helena. Reid also said the commissioner's office told him UM may have a cushion if legislators cut higher education, although no promises were made.

Stearns asked her colleagues to stay positive at a campus update and question-and-answer session that filled all the open tables at the University Center Ballroom. At the presentation, the president said she is an upbeat person, and she was thrilled to hear about all of UM's successes after she took the post as interim president in December.

But recently, negative tales overwhelmed her. After hearing maybe 50 stories in a short time about how UM needs to improve, she called her husband, Hal Stearns.

"I really need a cold beverage when I get home tonight," she said she told him.

At the morning forum, which she planned to repeat in the afternoon, she said positive stories abound at UM, and she asked people to retell the anecdotes that show the "outstanding" attributes of the campus. Telling negative stories can become a bad habit, she said, and one she momentarily fell into herself.

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't confront the truth," Stearns said.

The president also discussed the budget. She said she anticipates the general fund budget to be $143.5 million, down from $146 million this fiscal year; for budget purposes, UM is planning on an enrollment of some 11,000.

Stearns said UM needs to consider reductions that will have the least impact on the campus and will maintain excellence. Tuition increases are likely next school year, and Stearns said students will be demonstrating on the Oval this week; at least some will be advocating for only a minimal bump in tuition.

The president said she likes protests  "I'm a '60s kid"  and she believes the students who met with her about the demonstration are committed to being welcoming. However, she said she's concerned about possible hijackers "making it not so welcoming."

***

Last month, the university sent out a survey to some 400 employees asking their interest in early retirements as a possible cost-saving measure. Stearns said the response rate has been 90 percent, and UM is still unpacking the data from the questionnaire, which employees filled out anonymously.

School of Journalism Dean Larry Abramson, who is working on the early retirement project, said there isn't a lot of money available to pay for the idea, and some scenarios don't realize any immediate savings. But he said the responses show employees want the option.

"There was a lot of interest in an early retirement possibility for people, but we have not had time to cost out the various options," Abramson said.

UM also has been in the midst of drafting a strategic plan, a result in part of 1,000 contacts with people on and off campus, Stearns said.

Davidson Honors College Dean Brock Tessman, who has been leading the effort, said he submitted a draft of the strategic plan to the president on Friday, and they will discuss the document this week and timing for its release.

The planning process is one of several underway at UM, and Stearns is calling the parallel efforts "Forward125." (Next school year will be the 125th anniversary of UM.) The campus is also prioritizing its programs and in the midst of accreditation.

A search committee led by Commissioner Christian is recruiting a new president to lead UM. In December, Christian asked then-President Royce Engstrom to step down and tapped Stearns to serve in the interim post.

Stearns, who was retired and is not interested in the permanent position, said Monday the recruitment firm is already getting job applications even though it's early. The timeline notes the search officially launches April 24 and the "best consideration" deadline for applications is July 21.

Stearns said she wants UM to "put the foot on the gas pedal" to complete its planning initiatives, and she hopes the directions the university sets now create a solid foundation for the permanent president. The new leader may step into the job in January 2018; campus visits with finalists are on the calendar for mid-September.

"I hope we do such a great job that this person can come in in our 125th year and just say, wow, here's where I can plug my vision into all of this, and we can move forward positively together," Stearns said.

The agenda for the meeting listed recruitment and retention as a topic, but the president spoke only broadly about retention and did not offer data at the morning forum.

During the question-and-answer session, Disability Services Director Amy Capolupo asked how recruitment and retention, a stated priority at UM, will be measured and reflected in faculty and staff jobs.

Stearns said departments and programs need to advance the recruitment and retention mission of UM and honor people who are doing well in that area. She said most units already have standards, but she requested an existing task force to help gather written criteria.

Vice President for Enrollment Tom Crady said he asks people he oversees to keep track of the students they meet with because those conversations are critical to keeping students.

"If we don't provide support  this is a different generation of students  we will lose them. We know that," Crady said. "We simply have to do it."

When the president stressed that people should repeat positive stories about UM and not let negative ones embed themselves in the psyche, she offered high praise for the university.

She said the institution is a wonderful flagship and regional university "with a tremendously admired liberal arts core," and few universities can match the combination of academics, setting and people that UM offers.

"We have to be proud of that and echo it over and over," Stearns said.
MISSOULA  Don't stand on the sidelines  get involved, and do it for higher education, climate activism, global harmony, or another cause that's important to you.

That was one theme from an Occupy the Oval demonstration Tuesday at the University of Montana led by members of the Missoula Campus-Community Coalition  formerly the UM Advocacy Coalition.

Around noon, students, faculty and community members gathered as part of a week of activism. They asked for tuition to remain affordable with only a 3 percent to 5 percent increase, cuts to be applied equally to programs, and the state to increase its share of the cost of higher education from 40 percent to 50 percent.

On the lawn, advocates had raised one large tent  filled with boxes of pizzas  and pitched five smaller ones.

"Neutrality is not an option!!!" read one sign hanging from a tent.

"Students not customers" stated another.

A maroon Griz paw was painted on a banner.

On a plaid blanket spread on the grass lay a couple of books: "Guide to Free Speech on Campus," and "One-Dimensional Man," a philosophical critique of capitalism and consumerism.

Olivia Schuler, a senior and political science major, sat on the lawn with her laptop before the speeches began. She said she was part of the demonstration because she is worried for the university.

"I'm proud of having spent some time here, and I would like it (UM) to succeed once I'm gone," said Schuler, who graduates this semester.

Enrollment already has declined, and the Great Falls woman fears that tuition increases could further hurt UM. Schuler said she understands some increase is reasonable, but she hasn't heard adequate explanations of all of the alternatives.

Last week, a demonstration by the Associated Students of the University of Montana rallying people to contact their legislators drew an estimated 120 people. This week's event had fewer people, but more visible causes.

Tables on the lawn touted signs for "Students for Peace and Justice," "Industrial Workers of the World," "Forward Montana," and at least one offered pizzas and water bottles.

***

At the mic, faculty member Doug Coffin asked the crowd, an estimated 50 at one point, to consider the effect of tuition increases on a family earning just $30,000, or a single mom making even less. The former legislator also asked people to get involved and vote.

"We're losing money for higher education because we're losing elections," Coffin said.

While a tuition increase of $1,000 can be a "death sentence" for a student whose family doesn't earn much, he also said the university and its students are an economic boon to Missoula. For every 1,000 students lost, he said, the local economy loses $50 million a year.

Many people in the crowd documented the event. They carried cameras and video gear and trained cellphones on the speakers.

In a passionate speech that drew some cheers, Curtis Schiwal also asked that students been seen first as people, not as commodities or a source of income. His generation feels a sense of hopelessness and apathy, he said, and some wonder if they can believe in the American dream.

In his own approach, he echoed one theme running through the collection of ideals and demands. The group had the right to be upset and angry, but also the power to speak, to occupy, he said.

"I am not inclined to merely hope. I'm inclined to act," Schiwal said.
Concerns three years ago that county taxpayers would get stuck with the old NorthWestern Energy office building in Uptown Butte have -- at least so far -- been validated.

After repeated claims of optimism about finding buyers and a growing tab to keep the heat and lights on in the vacant, hodgepodge building at 40 E. Broadway St., county officials are now asking commissioners to spend up to $17,820 more to market it.

Efforts by the giant utility, a real estate company, and the county have failed to find new owners, but Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Dave Palmer hopes a last-ditch effort by a Billings consulting firm will get the job done.

If commissioners agree to the request Wednesday night, the county would pay NAI Business Properties up to $17,820 to pitch the building to a national audience and be the primary point of contact for all prospective buyers.

NorthWestern Energy left the building in late 2015 and moved into its new $25-million Montana headquarters at Park and Main, but marketing of the old building goes back nearly three years. The complex is actually five buildings that were pieced together over decades.

Palmer said the new push would be a national search by a firm specializing in marketing business properties and hes hopeful that offering it to everyone will result in a buyer or group of new owners.

Its one last-ditch effort to really market it well, Palmer said Monday.

Commissioner Sheryl Ralph thinks the latest step is necessary.

We dont have the staff to do it, she said. We dont have a real estate agency. Sometimes you need a professional, and this is one of those times.

But Palmer said time is running out for keeping the power on, so the building is ready to show at a moments notice.

When the county took ownership last summer as part of a 2014 agreement with NorthWestern to stay in Butte, county officials said it would cost more than $1,000 a month to keep the building in showcase shape.

But bills far exceeded that this winter, Palmer said, to the tune of $5,000 to $6,000 a month.

If we dont get any takers, we cannot afford to keep it going another winter, he said. We are going to have to  by the end of the summer  cut off the heat and pretty much mothball it.

All commissioners in March 2014 voted for the development agreement with NorthWestern, saying it was a boon to keep companys Montana headquarters here.

The company built a new $25-million office building at Park and Main, keeping more than 200 jobs in Butte and providing a cornerstone of new property revenue for a newly drawn Uptown tax-increment financing district.

In return, the county gave the company land to construct its new five-story office building and agreed to build a parking garage Uptown where some NorthWestern employees could park. The garage, on Park Street a half-block away from the new office building, could be completed this fall.

Also as part of the deal, the county agreed to assume ownership of the old office building if a buyer could not be found within 18 months.

NorthWestern kept ownership longer than required because a possible purchase seemed promising. But a deal fell through, so ownership was transferred to the county last August.

Community Development Director Karen Byrnes told commissioners then that there had been 12 to 14 walk-throughs to show the building to prospective buyers, and five to six had expressed serious interest.

She showed commissioners a video made to promote the building, it had been listed on numerous real estate lists and websites, and NorthWestern would continue to help market it, Byrnes said. But, she said, the building had not sold.

Besides utility costs, the county has been paying a security company $12.25 per night for making two stops to check on things.

A real estate company has priced the 110,000-square-foot building at $750,000.

Ralph said the building is so big, marketing it to mom and pop businesses wont work. She would love to see some local groups come together and buy it but said she isnt sure that will happen.

Commissioner Bill Andersen said so far nobody seems to be on the same page in trying to market the building, and spending another $17,820 might be throwing good money after bad.

I think its a good idea if it works and we can get away from the building, but I have little faith it will, Andersen said. We were told it was going to be $1,000 or $2,000 a month (to keep utilities on), but its two and three times that.

It has been nothing but a headache.
The portion of West 4th Street that will be closed begins at the West 4th Street/Locust intersection (including the intersection) up to the park. MP&W will continue work around the park in the normal direction of travel. The 4th Street/Locust intersection will reopen as soon as the company completes work at that intersection to minimize the impact of the street closure as they move around the park.
WILL OF THE PEOPLE WORLD TOUR 2023
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
As I've said many times before, *every day is Chocolate Day for me*, but today is National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day. In this age of high end ...

17 hours ago
As the debate on whether its right for police to execute alleged criminals continues to get heated, more and more Nairobians are coming out to share their harrowing experiences with members of the notorious Super Power and Gaza gangs.

Yesterday we conducted a poll asking whether you support police executions. More than 70% of those who took the poll said YES.

You can still vote on that HERE.

Another proponent of the Yes argument has emerged with her side of the story on why justice was served in the Eastleigh incident over the weekend.

One Tracy Wairimu has narrated how members of Gaza gang murdered her friend in broad daylight and laughed about it.

Read the post below:
On Monday, an ODM rally in Migori County turned chaotic leaving several injured.

Chaos erupted when Governor Okoth Obado arrived at Posta grounds unannounced as Kisumu Senator Anyang Nyongo addressed the crowd.

Upon seeing the governor, the crowd booed and threw water bottles, stones, and shoes at the podium.

As a result, Obados bodyguards shot in the air to disperse the crowds and control the situation but a bullet went through a VIP seat in an area where dignitaries were seated and hit Mombasa Governor Hassan Johos bodyguard.

During the melee, senator Anyang Nyongo was pictured taking cover under a table before he was whisked away by bodyguards.

The picture has been doing the rounds on social media with some twitter users describing it as the pic of the year.

You can expect some epic memes or a challenge from this one. Some twitter reactions:

Prof NYONGO caught in the thick of thin things in Migori today. What a shot? capturing the madness. pic.twitter.com/MfR8u4eRZH  James Smart (@jamessmat) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat Good shot depicting bad way of doing politics!  Alfred Ogutu (@guttuhalfa) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat pic of the year  Hon ShadrachTJOMONDI (@OmondiShadrach) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat Kenyan politics is embarrassing. Thats the father of an Oscar Winner! @NgaoElias  Robert Kairo (@robertkairo) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat He seems to be singing a hymn .. Sweet hour of Prayer, Sweet hour of prayer  Mark Mchuma  (@realMarkMchuma) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat looks like someone is nicking the Profs watch ?  Mr.Bash (@Albashir_Ismail) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat @elsiebirech When is he going to retire frm politics ,he should be looking after his cows sio kufwatana na vijana kila mahali  [email protected] (@sharonzawadi64) April 3, 2017

@jamessmat effect of socialising with d.minus.  charles mugane (@mugane01) April 3, 2017
SACRAMENTO  Three Democrats running for California governor called Tuesday for criminal justice policies that focus on youth development and support for crime victims over tough-on-crime measures that increase incarceration.

Speaking separately at a Sacramento criminal justice conference, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang each portrayed themselves as the strongest champion for liberal public safety reforms.

"I was taking on prison building in 1994 when my voice was one of the few challenging the fact that we were putting more people in prison than any place in the world," Villaraigosa said. "And I think it's time for us to invest in people."

Villaraigosa touted initiatives he advanced as Los Angeles' mayor to focus on supporting young people who are at risk of joining gangs.

The conference was organized by Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a left-leaning advocacy group that lobbies for boosting spending on preventing crime, victims' services and rehabilitating offenders.

Newsom said he has publicly supported ballot measures to reduce sentences for some crimes, legalize marijuana, require background checks for ammunition sales and eliminate the death penalty.

"Our policies have been dictated through the prism of anger and fear," Newsom said. "And they've been exploited for political advantage."

Chiang said his family was "struck deeply by crime" after his sister was abducted and killed in 1999.

"My family, we're Catholic. We believe in redemption. We believe in hope," Chiang said. "We also believe in being serious on crime. You want people in the right place, but we're trying to build a better society."

He said the state should focus on educating children and addressing poverty to prevent crime.

Newsom, Chiang and Villaraigosa are the best-known candidates in a crowded field of contenders looking to replace term-limited Gov. Jerry Brown after the 2018 election.

Former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, a Democrat, and businessman John Cox, a Republican, have also announced plans to run.
A leap of faith  or face  led Trisha Tortolani to a new career, and today this Napan is celebrating her 10 years of helping locals look their best.

Back in 2007, Tortolani started her own business, Trisha Tortolani Skin Care.

Shes spent the past decade helping her clients care for their skin, especially the face.

Tortolani hasnt always been an esthetician.

Prior to becoming a licensed skin care specialist, Tortolani worked for the Volunteer Center of Napa Valley, providing assistance to crime victims, crisis intervention, follow-up counseling and help navigating the criminal justice system.

She eventually became the director of the agency.

However, after 15 years in the nonprofit work, Tortolani said she realized she was ready for a career change.

I always had a love of skin-care products, said Tortolani. Since I was in my teens, I loved cleansers and face creams and would read about what the products would do.

By her early 30s, Tortolani had started getting regular facials and using products sold only by licensed skin care professionals.

I noticed a big difference between that and what she had previously purchased from the department stores, Tortolani said.

Deciding it was time to take a leap into a completely new area, I left nonprofit world and became an esthetician, or skin care expert.

Tortolani said when she first opened Trisha Tortolani Skin Care her goal was to specialize in helping people have the skin they were happy with.

The fluff and buff facial was not going to be my thing, she said. I wanted to be able to help people get real results.

When looking for skin-care products to carry she stumbled upon a company owned by the late Dr. James Fulton, co-inventor of Retin A and author of Acne RX, and trained with him.

She also met Laura Cooksey from Face Reality Acne Clinic and attended quite a few of her trainings.

Through that work, I learned how to carefully customize an acne protocol for each individual client, most of whom had already tried many prescriptions and products for their acne with no success, she said.

Tortolani opened her business in 2007 and by mid-year 2008 acne clients comprised 80 percent of her business, she said.

I love acne clients because their results are so obvious, said Tortolani.

However, getting clear takes a real commitment on the part of the client too, so its very important I really explain to them what its going to take. They need to be all in or it wont work.

She said her acne clients range in age from 10 to 78 years old.

We work together as a team and it feels amazing to be able to help them finally achieve clear skin.

Prices range from $60 for an express facial, $75 for an acne treatment, $90 for an age management facial treatment and $250 for a major skin rejuvenation.

Her spa-like studio  shared with hair stylist Carolyn Athens  also sells products from selected companies, including Michele Corley Clinical Skin Care of Napa.

While acne is Tortolanis biggest specialty, she gets requests to help with brow shaping and anti-aging treatments.

Experience with skin damaged by acne makes me very qualified to address other skin concerns, she noted.

Most anti-aging treatments involve treatments that encourage the skin to function more youthfully, she said.

I love to educate my clients about how to do this, she said.

Whether its through facials they get from Tortolani, a home care regimen she provides them or referrals to local doctors for more advanced anti-aging remedies, I see myself as their partner in skin care.
In its fourth year the Calistoga Food and Wine Event is a rare opportunity to try wines from 40 unique and boutique Calistoga wineries in one place, paired with savory bites from a Michelin-starred kitchen and other epicurean delights, all with the Palisades as the backdrop.

Tickets are on sale now for a Grand Tasting on April 22 held at Solage, and a plated winery dinner Friday, April 21, in the cave of Fairwinds Estate Winery featuring the wines of Fairwinds, Kenefick Ranch and Canard.

The dinner, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., prepared by Chef Rick Warkel of Calistoga Kitchen, includes a reception with local artisan cheese and charcuterie  fava bean on crostini topped with pecorino cheese and mini house cured salmon tartine with capers  paired with 2014 Kenefick Ranch Pickett Road White and 2016 Canard Estate Rose. The plated dinner includes roasted baby beets with Laura Chenel chevre, toasted Mediterranean pine nuts dressed with a Napa Valley verjus, paired with 2015 Kenefick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc and 2013 Canard Estate Reserve Zinfandel; a family style entree of slow cooked akaushi, short rib on a spring pea risotto and grilled ramps paired with 2013 Kenefick Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Chriss Cuvee and 2013 Canard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Dessert is a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and Chantilly cream. Fairwinds wines will also be served during dinner.

Saturdays Grand Tasting, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., will be newly appointed Executive Chef Massimo Falsinis first at Solage. He will be joined by Calistoga chefs Gustavo Rios of Evangeline, Nick Montanez of Calistoga Inn and Brewery, Gayle Dierkhising from All Seasons Bistro, Reylon Agustin with Rosewood Sand Hill, Bryan Moscatello from Calistoga Ranch, James Richmond of Veraison, and toffee queen Gina Carlin of Reginas Heavenly Treats and Jamie Anzalone of Calistoga Olive Oil.

Participating wineries include 2880, Amici Cellars, Baldacci Vineyards, Barlow Vineyards, Bennett Lane Winery, Bragg Vineyards, Canard Vineyard, Chateau de Vie, Chateau Montelena, Clos Pegase, Coquerel Family Estate Wines, Davis Estates, Dutch Henry, Envy Wines, Fairwinds Estate Winery, Harris Estate Vineyards, Hindsight Wines, Huge Bear Wines, Jack Brooks Vineyard, Jax Vineyards, Jericho Canyon Vineyard, Jones Family Vineyards, Kenefick Ranch Vineyards, Knighton Family Vineyards, La Sirena, Laura Michael Vineyards, Olabisi, Phifer Pavitt Wine, Shypoke, Storybook Mountain Vineyards, Summers Estate Winery, Switchback Ridge, Tamber Bey, Tofanelli Wines, Tom Eddy Winery, T-Vine, Twomey Cellars, Vermeil Wines, Voros Cellars, and Weppler Vineyards.

Live music by the Moonglow Trio will perform contemporary hits, gypsy jazz and jazz.

Among the small bites at the 2016 event were a cured Mt. Lassen trout with oak-grilled Delta asparagus, favetta and spring pea barigoule prepared by guest chef Reylon Agustin, Executive Sous Chef of Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park. And Lars Kronmark, professor in culinary arts at Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena prepared New Scandinavian style shrimp with fresh cheese rye crumble and dill. Solbar served a slow roasted suckling pig in steam buns that was served alongside the Lucky Pig dish of slow roasted Rancho Llano Seco pork with pickled pineapple, Mongolian peanuts, lettuce cups, mint, jalapeno cilantro, rice noodles, and sweet chili mustard.

Tickets are $95 per person per event, and a portion of the event proceeds will go to Boys & Girls Club of St. Helena and Calistoga. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/calistoga-food-and-wine-2017-tickets-30681767994?aff=es2.
The Napa County Planning Commission on Wednesday will discuss two previously discussed winery issues and one new one.

Commissioners are to resume discussions on the proposed Flynnville winery at 1184 Maple Lane near Calistoga and a proposed winery at 1561 South Whitehall Lane in the Rutherford area. It last took up these issues up on Feb. 15.

In addition, the commission will review proposed expansions at the Behrens Family Winery at 4078 Spring Mountain Road near St. Helena. The winery wants to increase production from 10,000 gallons annually to 20,000 gallons annually. It wants to expand two winery buildings and build two new winery buildings.

Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. at the county administration building at 1195 Third St. in downtown Napa.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro predicted Tuesday that the investigations into President Donald Trump's campaign's ties to Russia would lead to imprisonment for some of the key players.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
President Donald Trump tweeted My daughter Ivanka has been treated unfairly by Nordstrom. She is a great personalways pushing me to do the right thing. Terrible!

He was referring to the department store dumping his daughter Ivanka's brand name line due to the drop in recent sales. Sears, Shoes.com, Neiman Marcus, K-Mart, Bellacor and T.J. Maxx quickly followed suit. However, Macy's, Saks, and Zappos still carry the first daughter's clothing line. But these department stores face pressure every day to drop the brand name line from Trump protesters. White House officials are calling the attack on Ivanka Trump's clothing line sexist.

In a recent attempt to boost sales, senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News and gave a free commercial for Ms. Trump's products. She was accused of unethical government behavior for promoting a brand name.

Last October, GRABYOURWALLET.ORG. began publishing extensive list of companies that carried the Trump family name. Consumers could make a choice to where they shopped according to their political views. Trump protesters were sending these companies a defiant message. They wouldn't shop at any retail stores that supported the presidential candidate with his narrow-minded policies and racial intolerance or sexual lewd comments toward women in general. They wanted to hurt him and his companies in the pocket book, where it really counts the most.

During the election campaign last fall, Donald Trump made a sexually offensive remark about women. Grab them by the pussy, he said. An Indiana woman, Shannon Coulter, heard these televised lewd remarks and set out to make a statement against Trump for women. She formed the Grab Your Wallet website organization.

Nevertheless, Ivanka Trump complains that she isn't her father and shouldn't be blamed for his action. Furthermore, she claims to be an advocate for working women and credits herself for stopping her father's recent plans to roll back rights in the LGBT community. She also says she and her husband, Jared Kushner, are vocal critics in the Trump administration. Trump protesters, however, criticize the first daughter for being a strong voice in her father's 2017 presidential campaign.

Also, someone on social media wrote, Ivanka can't go crying to daddy about bad department stores dropping her, she inserted herself into his politics and policies, and plays a huge part in his administration, from walking with him to the helicopter like a wife should, to meeting heads of states (and getting contracts in those nations) and therefore like others in the public eye must face the consequences of being part of her daddy's presidency. No other first daughter has ever gotten involved with her father's presidency, made themselves so visible, had her husband part of the administration, and been involved in pushing her father to do the right thing.

And another person wrote on social media, People like Ivanka are just spoiled brats. They are accustomed to having all difficulties and problems swept out of their way for them while other not so well connected people have to struggle to get recognition. So when the going then get tough because they're not as great as they made themselves out to be, yeah then the world is unfair to them.

Although she might not be like her hypocrite father, Ivanka Trump practices her father's same business philosophy with overseas factories for cheaper manufacturing cost without organized labor unions interference with higher wages and safer working condition disputes for their employees. Child labor is also used.

In the United States, there are effective child labor laws protecting children from working in dangerous situations in factories and exploiting them. During the 19th century Industrial Revolution age, it wasn't uncommon to find children with missing limbs who worked in the factories. Her factories that manufacture her clothing line are all based in foreign countriesChina, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Shame on her for taking jobs away from the American people and exploiting children in lands for the almighty dollar.

Carl G. White

Napa

Editor's note: While the Trump organization has not responded to recent criticism of using overseas manufacturing, several brands that have partnered with Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump have denied that there is any child labor used in their overseas factories.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone Monday, according to a statement from the White House.

The statement said Trump made the call to express his condolences and offer support to the Russian people in the wake of an attack in St. Petersburg that left at least 10 people dead, according to three state-run Russian news agencies.

The White House said the two presidents agreed terrorism must meet a swift end. It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion on the St. Petersburg metro, although the Russian prime minister described it as a "terrorist act."

The official call between the two leaders was the first since shortly after Trump took office -- when Trump spoke with Putin as well as four other world leaders in the same day. Putin also congratulated Trump hours after his electoral victory in November.

The two have offered warm remarks towards one another in the past, and Trump has spoken about a desire to establish better relations with Russia, particularly in the fight on terror.

The US intelligence community has accused Russia of attempting to influence the presidential elections to favor Trump, and FBI Director James Comey publicly revealed last month his agency was investigating the Trump campaign for potential collusion with the Russians to affect the race.

Trump has called the entire matter a "hoax," and Putin has personally denied any improper behavior or connections.

CNN's Tim Lister, Emma Burrows, Angela Dewan, Schams Elwazer, Donie O'Sullivan, Mariya Ilyushina, Radina Gigova, Nick Thompson, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Alla Eshchenko, Sara Murray and Darran Simon contributed to this report.
MELBOURNE, Florida  On Tuesday, February 28, the Brevard Zoo welcomed its second scimitar-horned oryx calf of the year. Zoo officials say that the first-time mother, Kitcha, did not appear interested in the female newborn, so she is being hand-reared by the Zoos animal care staff.



(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Tests performed the day after the birth showed that the calf had not yet nursed, so Brevard Zoo staff decided to pull her from the exhibit. She is living in an area where she can see and smell the rest of the herd.

She was quite small as a newborn, so we are monitoring her weight and food intake, said Michelle Smurl, the Zoos director of animal programs. For the first four days, she was eating every four hours. As her weight increases, we increase her food intake and she is now eating three times a day.

The calfs mother was born at the Zoo in 2009. The father, Nuri, came from Smithsonians National Zoo and now lives at Lion Country Safari. Nuri also fathered a male calf born on February 3rd.

Scimitar-horned oryx were once one of the most prominent mammal species across northern Africa, extending from Morocco to Egypt and as far south as Sudan. In 1999, they became extinct in the wild as a result of increased hunting for its horns. The species is now successfully bred in human care and a healthy population of captive-born oryx has been reintroduced to their native range.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZq1aQl-aBM]Photo and video credit: Brevard Zoo
Discounts in LJ Shop and a Contest for the Most Beautiful Christmas Tree! Dear Friends, what do you prefer the most: buy the Professional package of service for a year at a discount, win a free month of it,  or both?!

Summing up: New Year's Cards and Word of the Year Dear Friends, Yay! We've made for you a personal New Year's Cards with a summation of your creative journey in LiveJournal. We've also picked a
Solomon Adufah, a Ghana native now from Olympia Fields, is the winner of the 2017 Rickert-Ziebold Award at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the most prestigious award in the School of Art and Design. He is shown here with one of the large-scale portraits he created for the competition. (Photo provided)

Solomon Adufah wins Rickert-Ziebold Award

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Solomon Adufah is the sole winner of the 2017 Rickert-Ziebold Award at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Aduafah, a native of Ghana living now in Olympia Fields, created four large-scale portraits of African individuals, each with a unique patterned background.

Not every art student participates in this competition, he said. Only those of us who have done this know how much goes into it, the planning and the work. I think we all deserve recognition for that. Im very humbled to be selected for this award.

In addition to the winner, these artists also qualified as finalists in the competition (listed with hometowns and medium):

Reid Bright, Johnsburg  metal sculpture

Katelyn Gregorowicz, Winfield  communication design

Kayla Lashley, Chicago - painting

Adam Lundquist, Homewood - printmaking

Lula (Lucas) Morton, Murray, Ky.  industrial design

Michaela Murphy, DeKalb  communication design

Joshua C. Rives, Carlinville  multi-media including painting, ceramics, metal work and printmaking

The Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award exhibit features work from all eight finalists, and it runs through Saturday, April 8, at the Surplus Gallery in the Old Glove Factory (432 S. Washington St). Weekdays the gallery is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. On Saturday, it will be open 10 a.m.-noon. A reception for the winners is 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 7, with an awards presentation at 6:30 p.m.

Sun Kyong Kim, chairman of the Rickert-Ziebold committee and associate professor of metalsmithing and jewelry, said the competitors this year were remarkably well-prepared. Part of the competition is to utilize the gallery space assigned, she said, and installation went very smoothly this year -- a result of preparation and planning on the part of the art students who competed.

The annual Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award honors the late Joseph Rickert, a prominent lawyer and former state senator from Waterloo, who loved the arts and appreciated SIU Carbondales place in the cultural life of the Southern Illinois region. His family established the award in 1974, and it is the most prestigious award offered by the School of Art and Design.

The competition is open to graduating seniors majoring in art.
Tichenor to speak at spring meeting

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jak Tichenor, longtime broadcast journalist and currently interim director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, will be the guest speaker at this months Southern Illinois University Carbondale Emeritus Faculty Organization spring meeting.

Tichenor will present Countdown to Adjournment, focusing on the state legislature and Illinois government, at 2:30 p.m. on April 27 in the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Auditorium. The Emeritus Faculty Organization event is free and open to the public.

Tichenor joined WSIU Public Television in 1991 after serving for a decade as the news and public affairs director for WSIU Radio. While with the public radio station, he earned Associated Press and United Press International reporting and documentary awards and produced stories for the All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Monitor Radio NPR programs. He also led efforts to assure a professionally staffed SIU public radio news department that included students.

During his tenure at WSIU-TV, before retiring in May 2015, Tichenor specialized in public affairs reporting and documentary production. He produced regional political coverage, features for the WSIU InFocus magazine series, the One on One interview series and, for the Office of the Chancellor at SIU Carbondale, the SIU Connections program. His documentary, P.S. Illinois: The Paul Simon Story aired on public television stations around the state in 2014.

Tichenor is the executive producer and host of Illinois Lawmakers, the longest-running television series that provides continuing coverage of the Illinois General Assembly. The Illinois public television series launched in 1986 and Tichenor joined as statehouse correspondent five years later. In addition, hes produced the annual Lincoln Academy of Illinois television special for the states PBS stations since 1995.

A Metropolis native, Tichenor is a double alumnus of SIU, earning his bachelors degree in 1979 in radio-television and his masters degree in public visual communications in 1989.
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.

--IANS py/vm

( 75 Words)

2017-04-03-12:42:12 (IANS)
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday denied any "overzealous" crackdown by authorities on abattoirs in the state and stated there would be no compromise on illegal slaughterhouses. Announcing the state cabinet's decisions, Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said: "There will be no compromise on illegal slaughterhouses. The ones that have applied for renewal of licenses would be considered and their licences would be renewed." He said that so far 26 illegal abattoirs have been sealed by the authorities across the state and added that there has been no "overzealous" crackdown by the authorities. --IANS mak/rn ( 106 Words) 2017-04-04-20:30:08 (IANS)
Actor Vin Diesel has revealed he used a "student credit card" to finance his first films script. The 49-year-old, who is now among the A-list stars of Hollywood, says at the beginning of his career, he desperately needed finance to give shape to his ideas. "To write my first script, I went to an early electronics store called the Wiz that was on 14th Street (in New York). They had a policy where you could return anything within 30 days, no questions asked," Diesel told nytimes.com. "So I went to the Wiz and bought this $600 word processor on my student credit card. I stayed up all night, every night. And at the end of the 30 days, I returned it. "Then I went out and rented a 16-mm camera on a Friday, because I didn't have to return it until Monday, so I was able to shoot for three days. Cut to my mom watching me roll an old 16 mm Steenbeck into my little room. I was cutting and splicing 'Multi-Facial' old-school style. This was before computers, really," he added. --IANS sas/rb ( 198 Words) 2017-04-04-04:16:06 (IANS)
Earlier in the day, Dehradun police issued warrants of arrest against Saini, who is alleged to have married the second wife without divorcing his first wife.

Since the hearing had been in the court for a long time, the court has ordered the arrest of all the securities including the former minister.

The Uttar Pradesh police has been summoned from the court and an order has been passed to arrest the minister as soon as possible.

Saini's first marriage to Sumitra Saini had taken place in Dehradun, but after a few years, he married a woman named Rita and started living with her.

The court said that the witnesses in the marriage along with Saini should also be arrested.

This case has been prolonging for the past three years.

The case against Saini was registered in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.(ANI)
Citing the reports that a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine used during a trial in Madhya Pradesh only dispensed slips with the BJP's poll symbol, the Congress on Tuesday raised question on the Election Commission. Speaking to ANI here, Congress leader Shobha Oza said, "EVMs, as per law, cannot be taken out for forty-five days from the date of declaration of results, but still EVMs for the by-polls in the Madhya Pradesh were taken out. A person can file petition within forty-five days and the mentioned days are still not over." Oza further stated that the people no more have faith in the EVMs. "Free and fair elections are important because with a vote, comes a voice," she added. Resonating similar views, another Congress leader Jai Parkash Aggarwal asserted that the Election Commission should work in a transparent manner. "If there are reports of tampering in electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Election Commission must investigate the matter and should clear our doubts. It should conduct its work in a transparent manner," Aggarwal told ANI. Earlier, Kejriwal expressed doubts over the security features installed in the machines while demanding the upcoming civic polls in the capital be conducted using paper ballots. The Delhi Chief Minister also cited the example of the recent trial of VVPAT machines conducted by the ECI in Madhya Pradesh. However, the ECI hit out at the AAP for levelling "unfair" allegations of EVM-tampering and asked it to introspect about its "unsatisfactory poll performance" in the assembly elections rather than attributing it to the alleged failure of the EVMs. "The Commission is fully satisfied with the tamper proof functioning of the ECI-EVMs," the ECI said in its letter. (ANI)
Four children sleeping on a roadside were crushed to death by a truck in Jharkhand's Palamau district on Tuesday, police said. Soon after the incident in Sarsod village, people blocked the road in protest. --IANS ns/py/mr ( 45 Words) 2017-04-04-12:58:06 (IANS)
Police said Rahman, a member of the local committee, went missing last night and was foundmurdered inside Aambagan in Babupur block this morning. Local people, agitated over the crime against the Communist leader, prevented the police authorities from removing the body until assurances of arresting the killers were given. The victim had gone to attend a meeting last night and never returned home. In a separate incident, police arrested four miscreants and seized three country-made pistolsand six-round of bullets from them at Gopalgunje in the district.

Another report from Hooghly district said, S K Salauddin, a promoter in Rishra area,was gunned down today by two miscreants, who came in motorcycle.

Police investigating the case said the crime was committed due to gang rivalry over the areaof a pond at Rishra.

Eye witnesses said two youths, armed with revolvers, came in a two-wheeler and fired at the victim at point blank range before fleeing.UNI XC-PC AD1056

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1215575.Xml
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who is touring North Eastern states, today flagged off Double Ascent Mt Everest Expedition, 2017 being led by Arunachalee Everester Anshu Jamsenpa. The 35-year-old Everester holds the world record of climbing Mount Everest thrice. The Indian tricolor flag was handed over to Anshu by the Dalai Lama in Guwahati here today to be unfurled on the top of the world -- Mt Everest. Anshu presented a photo frame of her earlier successful summit to the Dalai Lama as a token of love and respect. Speaking to media, Anshu said, "Meeting His Holiness The Living Buddha and getting his blessings in person is one of the most treasured and blessed day of my life. I shall cherish it for life long especially the close warm hug. It will always motivate me and infuse strength to overcome all my struggles of life." Anshu is in quest to better her own national and international mountaineering records. Mountaineering being one of the costliest adventure sports, many corporate and public sector undertakings like North Eastern Council, State Bank of India, Topcem Cement, NEEPCO Ltd and NRL have come forward to support her mountaineering endeavours.UNI ABI AD -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1215578.Xml
Tripura has signed two agreements with the Ministry of Power to enhance power supply in distribution network to get the benefits under the Central government scheme, said state Power Minister Manik Dey here today. He said Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) has accepted the provision of Ujjwal Distribution Assurance Yojana (UDAY) and Transmission Service Agreement of Power Ministry to upgrade the existing transmission network to reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial (ATC) Los. The Leftist minister, however, appreciated the approach of the Modi led NDA government to support the power distribution companies stating that UDAY is a significant reform approach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to facilitate affordable and accessible power for all round the clock. "The scheme is a decisive step to extend reach of power sector with historic improvements across the entire value chain, which allowed loan defaulting Power Distribution Companies to operate by transferring the liability on the respective state governments," Mr Dey said. He pointed out that Tripura owes about Rs 250 crore to the power generation companies like NEEPCo and OTPC for past many years. At a stage, the companies snapped the agreement of supply of power but the Tripura government did not agree to go for market borrowing and was excluded from UDAY benefit. The state government finally took loan of Rs 250 crore at 9.9 per cent interest from UBI for repayment of the dues and to get uninterrupted power supply. The state immediately got financial support under UDAY scheme besides, other optional benefits of central schemes for robust power distribution system, including replacing transmission line and augmenting facilities, he added.UNI BB AD1125 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1215604.Xml
Jewellers and traders under the banner of All India Gold Merchant Association called for 12-hours bandh to protest the killing of jeweller Deepak Debnath on Sunday evening.

In the shootout and bombings, three people, including a woman worker, were injured.

One of the three accused arrested in this connection has been identified as a Bangladeshi national.

Labloo Sardar, said to be a resident of Bangladesh. Two others arrested were Manjila Khatun and her husband Atiyur Laskar.

Police said the prime suspect - Kasim - also a Bangladeshi national was evading arrest.UNI PC AD1226

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1215680.Xml
He said that an AK 56 assault rifle, 108 live cartridges, five magazines, two grenades, three detonators, fuse wire and naxal literature were recovered from his possession.

He said that the Maoist was involved in various unlawful activities in Bihar and adjoining Jharkhand.

Mr Pandey said the nabbed extremist was being subjected to intensive interrogation to nab other members of his gang.

Raids were being conducted at other places on the basis of clues provided by the outlaw.

UNI XC DH AD1259

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1215709.Xml
Mahesh Kumar Jain has assumed the charge as Managing Director and CEO of IDBI Bank with effect from yesterday.Prior to the current assignment, Mr Jain was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indian Bank.He had joined Indian Bank as an Executive Director in September 2013 where he handled key portfolios such as Corporate & Retail Credit, SME Credit, Risk Management, Recovery & Legal, Accounts, Technology Management, Banking Operations Department, Business Process Re-engineering and Compliance Department. He began his banking career with Punjab National Bank, the banker said in a statement.Mr Jain holds MCom, MBA, CAIIB, CFA and FRM to his academic credit.UNI ASH PY SB 1234 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-1215686.Xml
The Democratically elected government enjoys full power in the Union territory of Puducherry. A resolution to this effect was adopted unanimously in an all party meeting convened here today. The Congress party had convened an all party meeting to discuss the issue of the Lt.Governor allegedly becoming a stumbling block in the development of the Union territory. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, his Cabinet colleagues, legislators and leaders of about 21 political parties attended the meeting presided over by PCC president A Namasivayam. No one on behalf of the BJP and PMK participated in the meeting while, MLA Selvam PTR alone partook on behalf of the N R Congress. The meeting resolved that as prescribed in the constitution of India, not only the Centre and state governments , but also the Union territory government enjoy full powers. Hence,this is applicable to the Puducherry Government also. The meeting also resolved that all party leaders and legislators should go to New Delhi to meet the President, Prime Minister, and Union Home Minister to explain the political situation prevailing in the Union territory and the functioning of the Lt.Governor which is against democracy. Mr Selvam later told media persons that he had participated in the all party meeting to protect the rights of the legislative Assembly. The Lt.Governor is functioning against the state government,he said adding that he attended the meeting without the knowledge of the party president and former chief minister N Rangasamy.There was also no instructions from the party not to take part in any all party meetings, he added.UNI PAB JW ADG 1729 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1216056.Xml
India and United Kingdom (UK) will identify new areas of cooperation in economic fields in the changing world wide economic scenario.And to take it further, both the nations agreed today to set up a Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) to finance energy needs. The size of the fund would be 240 million pound. The Green Growth Equity Fund will be a sub Fund of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), jointly set up by the two countries. In a joint statement issued here today after the 9th Economic and Financial Dialogue between India and UK, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in a press conference that relationship between both the nations is cordial and will go up to the next level, especially in the light of India's economic growth and Britain's exit (BREXIT) from the European Union.Mr Jaitley said the relation between India and UK is not only based on government to government dialogue, but has become strong due to people to people contact and trade and investment among private sectors of both sides.He said India is ready to provide all the necessary facilities and regulations required to go ahead in BREXIT, adding that both the sides are willing to take the trade and investment to the next level on mutually beneficial parameters. Mr Jaitley said with the NIIF participating in it, this is going to be a Green Growth Equity Fund, where both are going to make a contribution of 120 million pounds and ''this will be financing the energy needs in India." India had in 2015 set up the Rs 40,000 crore National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) to finance greenfield as well as brown field projects.Describing it as a milestone, Mr Jaitley said this is going to be the first major beginning, as far as the fund is concerned. More UNI ADP RJ ADG 1717 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-1216074.Xml
Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari today said formalities for dredging of the Brahmaputra river in the stretch flowing into Bangladesh before reaching the sea have been completed. Reviewing the projects related to Inland Water Transport department here in a meeting, attended by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, among others, the Union Minister informed that the Centre will dredge the Brahmaputra river from Sadiya in eastern Assam to Chittagong port. The necessary formalities with the Bangladesh Government had also been completed, he added. Gadkari further said once the project is materialized, this will change the entire economic corridor of Assam as Brahmaputra National waterway-II will have direct access to Chittagong port of Bangladesh, Haldia port of West Bengal and consequently will boost up trade with the south east Asian nations. He said the Central government will provide funds for development of 56 jetties on the banks of Brahmaputra and operationalize five more Roll-On and Roll-Off vessels to improve waterway communication in the state. Gadkari also asked the state government for identifying places on the banks of Brahmaputra which can be developed into ports and submit their feasibility report to the union ministry. UNI SG SJC -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1216263.Xml
Reiterating its commitment to provide enhanced connectivity across its network, IndiGo, India's largest and fastest growing low-cost carrier has introduced 35 new flights in its summer schedule. Effective April and May, IndiGo will introduce new flights between Amritsar-Jammu, Chennai-Bhubaneshwar, Chennai-Indore, Kolkata-Jammu, Srinagar-Kolkata, Bengaluru-Mangalore, Mumbai-Mangalore, Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad-Trivandrum, respectively. The airline will also add new flight frequencies from six stations, including Ahmedabad, Goa Chennai, Trivandrum, Agartala, Amritsar and Delhi.With the introduction of these flights, IndiGo will operate 926 daily flights (Effective May, 2017) connecting 46 destinations, thus further consolidating IndiGo's position as the country's largest and fastest growing carrier.Speaking on the launch, Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, ''In line with our endeavour to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers, we have introduced 35 additional flights across 6E network. It gives me immense pleasure in announcing these new flights, which will provide even more flexibility of choice for our customers, and connect these destinations across India.''UNI ADP RJ 1826 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-1216193.Xml
There seems to be no end to woes of incarcerated former chairman of Bihar State Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) Sudhir Kumar as his regular bail petition alongwith two others, was rejected by a Special Vigilance Court here today. Special Vigilance Judge Madhukar Kumar rejected the bail plea of Mr Kumar, his relative Manju Devi and one other, after hearing arguments of their counsel and that of the prosecution. Counsel for Mr Kumar, submitted before the court that there was direct evidence against him and his mere statement of admission in the case, was used as basis by Special Investigation Team (SIT), to make him accused. Mr Kumar was a senior IAS officer and there was no possibility of his evading the appearance before the court or before the SIT for further investigation of the case, as and when required, the defence counsel further submitted. The prosecution counsel while vigorously opposing the arguments of the defence counsel, submitted before the court that there was enough evidence against Mr Kumar and it had been clearly incorporated in case diary submitted by police in the court. The counsel argued that Mr Kumar was an influential person and his release from the jail could affect the investigation of the case. The court, after hearing arguments of both sides, rejected the bail petitions of Mr Kumar and two others. Counsel of the petitioners said their clients would now approach Patna High Court for seeking relief. As it is, Mr Kumar and his relatives were arrested from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand by sleuths of SIT on February 24 in paper leak case. Mr Kumar was Chairman of BSSC when question papers were leaked for Intermediate level competitive examination conducted by the commission for recruitment of clerks in various departments of Bihargovernment.UNI KKS IS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1216535.Xml
Terming the anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh a "threat to women's freedom", women activists have demanded that the squad be disbanded immediately. Soon after the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government assumed office in the state, anti-Romeo squads were constituted for the safety of women. The state government had also directed the police that no inhumane measure be adopted in the name of ensuring security to women.The group alleged that the squads were policemen and women and vigilante groups who were operating outside the purview of law, with support of the Uttar Pradesh government. They said the serious issue of violence against women including sexual harassment in the state cannot be addressed by setting up these squads. Moreover, the group also demanded closure of FIRs and complaints against advocate Prashant Bhushan stating that "curbing freedom of speech was not just intolerance, but violation of fundamental rights". The women activists, including Aruna Roy, noted lawyer and human rights activist Indira Jaising, Syeda Hameed of Muslim Women's Forum and Dipa Sinha, convenor of Right to Food Campaign, said these "squads" imposed their own aggressive and arbitrary code through moral policing. "The free run given to vigilante groups in UP raises serious concerns about the subversion of rule of law by them. There is an urgent need to implement laws preventing violence against women more effectively," they said.Raising objections, the group said, "We, therefore, strongly disapprove of the process of this form of policing, including its outsourcing to private actors in some cases, which the DGP police and the Lucknow SSP have acknowledged, in their letters issued in this regard."UNI RBE SW ADG 1934 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0427-1216450.Xml
Nagaland Chief Minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu today called upon the Konyak Naga Community for the need to remove the 'backward' tag and move forward with the rest of the tribes. Official sources said that gracing Aoleang Monyu festival, the premier festival of the Konyak Nagas, as the chief guest in Mon town this morning, Dr Shurhozelie said the Nagas should live as one family. There should not be backward or forward tribe, as labeling with the tag 'backward' will affect the psychological feelings of dependency among the people. He called upon the younger generation to work in a way that the 'backwardness' tag is removed and let the Naga people move forward as one family. Referring to the last ULB election issue, Dr Shurhozelie appreciated the Konyak people for their cooperation with the Government, though it was declared null and void. However, the chief minister said the Government is seriously working ways and means on how best it can be compensated and the future course of action be decided. He urged those who participated to have patience. The chief minister announced that during the current financial year, the state Government will take up the Mon-Namtola road and also declared the road as National Highway. He said that several roads will be connected this NH. However, the Chief Minister rued that despite the government spending huge amounts of money, the workmanship could not be satisfactorily. He called upon the public leaders to supervise the contractors for better quality development and see that the money is used judiciously. Speaking on the Aoleang festival, the chief minister said this is the time to invoke God's blessing for health of the people and for the crops. It is a time to visit one another, to feast with friends, kinsmen and family members; it is also a time to make friends with one another, therefore, the chief minister said that he had come to strengthen the bonds of friendship with the Konyak people. He maintained that many ethnic groups around the world have lost their identity and even their language; however, it is encouraging to see the Nagas still preserving it. Earlier, inaugurating the Konyak Union office building, the chief minister said that Konyak Nagas, being one the biggest tribes among Naga tribes, should work for the unity of the Nagas. He said the Nagas have been scattered to other parts of the country as well as to other country (Myanmar) by the British for their own administrative conveniences. However, Dr Shurhozelie said, "We need to integrate all the Nagas living outside the state through democratically means and that we need to maintain good relationship with our neighbours," the CMO sources added. UNI AS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1216569.Xml
Expressing grave concern over illegal migration into North East, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today said that Assam has to lead the way in fighting this problem. "Assam is the leader of North East. Assam has to lead way and we (rest of NE states) will support and follow," he said, addressing the closing ceremony of the five-day-long Namami Brahmaputra festival here. Mr Singh cited the problem of illegal migration that the region is facing, to tackle which Assam has to take a leading role. He said, "If illegal migrants are allowed to dominate Assam, what will happen to rest of smaller NE states one can imagine." Mr Singh lauded the Assam government for organising the Namami Brahmaputra festival to showcase the potential of the mighty river at the global level. He invited his Assam counterpart Sarbananda Sonowal to visit Manipur during the annual 10-day Sanghai Festival, the largest tourism fest in that state. Union Road Transport minister Nitin Gadkari was present as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the Festival, which was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee on March 31 last.UNI SG BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1216680.Xml
A tripartite agreement for dredging of the Brahmaputra river from eastern tip of Assam to its confluence point with sea in Bangladesh and construction of an express way along the river in Assam was signed here today. The agreement was signed between government of Assam, Inland Waterway Authority of India nd National Highway Authority of India at the closing ceremony of five-day-long Namami Brahmaputra festival here. Union minister for Road Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, present on the occasion, said the dredging of the Brahmaputra will be done on a fast track, including the stretch in Bangladesh.He said, "For the protocol route in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh government will bear 10 per centof cost and rest --Rs 250 crore, will be borne by India government. The agreement has already been signed." According to the MoU, 841 km of the river will be dredged from Sadiya to Dhubri. The union minister said through dredging, a 45 metre width channel will be constructed in the Brahmaputra and the navigation route will be equipped with solar lights and GPS facilities. The river has been divided into three sectors from the Bangladesh border to Sadiya and DPRs for the dredging being prepared. An amount of Rs 30 crore has been released for maintaining the Brahmaputra channel from Dhubri to Hatsighimari, he said, adding that the Barak river will also be dredged. Mr Gadkari highlighted how the dredging of the Brahmaputra will open economic prospects for entire North Eastern region and Assam especially stood to benefit. He said, "The state government here has to explore the initiatives that these water route will open up. Infrastructure has to be developed for investment and tourism growth." The union minister dwelt on how tourism sector could especially benefit if the waterways are utilized more, stating that the Centre will pursue cruise through Bangladesh waters also. A 1300 km expressway using the silt from the river will be built along the two banks of the river in Assam. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. Earlier, reviewing the projects related to Inland Water Transport department here in a meeting, attended by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, among others, the union minister informed that Govt. of India will dredge the Brahmaputra river from Sadiya in eastern Assam to Chittagong port. The necessary formalities with the Bangladesh Government has also been completed, he added. Mr Gadkari further said once the project is materialized, this will change the entire economic corridor of Assam as Brahmaputra National waterway-II will have direct access to Chittagong port of Bangladesh, Haldia port of West Bengal and consequently will boost up trade with the south east Asian nations. He said the Central government will provide funds for development of 56 jetties on the banks of Brahmaputra and operationalize five more Roll-On and Roll-Off vessels to improve waterway communication in the state. Mr Gadkari asked the state government for identifying places on the banks of Brahmaputra which can be developed into ports and submit their feasibility report to the union ministry.UNI SG BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1216691.Xml
Three workers were injured in an explosion took place in crackers manufacturing unit in Isukulapet area of Tuni town today. Police said the victim have been identified as Sagireddi Musalaiah (55) and Geddam Durga Prasad (21), Arigela Ramesh(25). All of them were admitted in Apollo hospitals here with severe burns and their condition is stated to be critical. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Home Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, district Collector H Arun Kumar visited them in the hospital and enquired about their condition. The Deputy CM has asked the hospital doctors to provide the best medical care to them. Meanwhile, the revenue and police authorities of Peddapuram sub division have visited the scene of crackers blast and conducted preliminary inquiries.UNI XC/DP SHS SHK 2157 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1216725.Xml
"The Secretary-General condemns today's bombing in the St Petersburg metro," Xinhua news agency qoted UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying on Monday.

"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."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump also denounced the attack.

"Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing," Efe news quoted Trump as saying.

Expressing full solidarity with the Russian people and government in such hard times, Egypt offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery for the wounded.

"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," a Polish ministry statement said.

President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city on Monday to meet the Belarusian President, said that all possible causes would be considered.

The blast took place on a subway train in the Russian city of St Petersburg on 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 vgu/

( 266 Words)

2017-04-04-04:46:06 (IANS)
A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and wounded 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying.Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims.Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, the door of which was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station.Russia has experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russia's North Caucasus region in the past. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russia's military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for attacks by the Islamic State group, security experts say.There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.Earlier, Russian media broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. However, Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries.The news agency, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad in a fight against Islamist militants.However, some sections of Russian society could see the metro bombing as proof that Putin's decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets.Two years ago, Islamic State said it had brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to Putin in a phone call late on Monday, the White House said in a statement, offering the support of the US government. The two leaders "agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated", the statement said.China also condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi offering condolences and support in a statement that said "China resolutely opposed all types of terrorism".BLOODY FACESSoon after the blast happened at 1140 GMT, ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away a wounded passenger."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," St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika told Reuters by phone."Many were crying," said Chaika, who was at the station where the blast happened.The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.Video from the scene showed wounded 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 amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.Anna Sventik, a St Petersburg resident, said she was travelling 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."ALL STATIONS CLOSEDEarlier on Monday, officials had put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their wounds in hospital.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 Russian-speaking rebels returning from Syria, where they have fought alongside Islamic State, and is 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.More than 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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.REUTERS PY PM0845 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-1215492.Xml
A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and wounded 45 was probably carried out by a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, authorities from the predominantly Muslim central Asian state said today.The explosion was a suspected suicide bombing by a perpetrator with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying late last night. A spokesman for the Kyrgyz GKNB security service identified the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995, but provided no other details.Russia has been on particular alert against attacks on its soil in reprisal for its military intervention in Syria, where Moscow's forces have been supporting troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State group has repeatedly threatened revenge attacks.If it is confirmed that the bomber was linked to radical Islmists, some sections of Russian society could see it as proof that Moscow's decision to intervene in Syria has made civilians into targets.There was no immediate claim of responsibility.Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of six million, is a close political ally of Moscow and hosts a Russian military airbase.Late on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the site of the blast, which made a huge hole in the side of a carriage and blew of the door, 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 Sennaya Ploshad station at around 1140 GMT.Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.St Petersburg television showed footage of the corpse of a bearded man they said was the perpetrator. The man resembled footage of a man captured on closed circuit television who Russian media said was a suspect.Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.Authorities closed all St. Petersburg metro stations. The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.REUTERS PY AS1355 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-1215761.Xml
British Prime Minister Theresa May has defended her trip to Saudi Arabia, saying its ties with the UK are important for security and prosperity, a media report said on Tuesday. The Premier is facing questions about the UK's support for the Saudi-led coalition which is fighting rebels in Yemen, the BBC reported. Speaking to the media as she travelled to Jordan, which she is visiting before travelling to Saudi Arabia, May said humanitarian aid was one of the issues she would be discussing on her trip. "We are concerned about the humanitarian situation -- that's why the UK last year was the fourth largest donor to the Yemen in terms of humanitarian aid ($128 million). We will be continuing with that," she told the BBC. "And yes, we will be raising the humanitarian issue. We believe it is important that we recognise the threat that there is in terms of people's lives." May said she would also be raising human rights issues with the Saudi Arabian officials, adding that "if we have the relationship we are able to do that". She also defended the drive to strike new trade links, saying the UK had "long-term and historic relationships" with Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said UK-made weapons were contributing to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and called for the immediate suspension of Britain's arms exports to Saudi Arabia, the BBC reported. "The Saudi-led coalition bombing in Yemen, backed by the British government, has left thousands dead, 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and three million refugees uprooted from their homes," he said. "Yemen urgently needs a ceasefire, a political settlement, and food aid, not more bombing," Corbyn added. --IANS ksk/dg ( 294 Words) 2017-04-04-16:50:08 (IANS)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a suspected gas attack on Syria's rebel-held Idlib today, Turkish presidential sources said.The attack, believed to be by Syrian government jets, killed at least 58 people including 11 children under the age of eight in the northwestern province of Idlib, a war monitor and medical workers said."President Erdogan touched on the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Idlib. President Erdogan said such inhumane attacks are unacceptable," a statement attributed to presidential sources said.They said the two leaders had also emphasized the importance of maintaining the ongoing ceasefire in Syria. REUTERS SDR AN1727 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1216112.Xml
"This didn't happen and will not happen, not now and not before," the military officer told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Idlib. According to medical teams, the victims showed symptoms of asphyxiation.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council following the gas attack reports.

"A new and particularly serious chemical attack took place this morning in Idlib province. The first information suggests a large number of victims, including children," Ayrault was quoted by Xinhua.

Condemning the "disgusting act", the French diplomat called on "everyone not to shirk their responsibilities, to cope with such serious actions which threaten international security."

The High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian opposition on Twitter claimed that around 100 people were killed in the attack.

In a Facebook post earlier, it said that four thermobaric bombs containing chlorine gas were dropped.

The reported gas attack comes at the start of a two-day conference on Syria's future hosted in Brussels by the European Union and the United Nations.

The opposition accused the Syrian air force of being behind the attack.

But the senior officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the rebels were the ones using the toxic gas against civilians to frame the Syrian army.

The officer said initial speculations indicate that a depot of chemical weapons that belongs to the rebels was blown up in Idlib.

--IANS ahm/vt

( 295 Words)

2017-04-04-20:54:07 (IANS)
The Syrian army command denied it had carried out a suspected chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib that killed dozens of people, including children."We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future," the army statement said. The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013.REUTERS SHS BL2322 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1216789.Xml
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 00:21:23|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

RIGA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian natural gas market opened up for free trade on Monday, ending the monopoly of Latvijas Gaze gas utility as required by EU regulations, local media reported.

The gas market's liberalization, however, is not expected to bring about sudden changes in gas supply conditions or price, Latvia's Dienas Bizness daily said.

The Latvian economics ministry noted that the opening of the gas market has attracted much stronger interest from potential suppliers than the electricity market, apparently because of its larger size, as Latvia's annual energy consumption includes around 14 terawatt-hours (TWh) of natural gas and 7.2 TWh of electric power.

A total of 15 energy companies from all three Baltic states -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- have registered as potential natural gas suppliers ready to compete for clients in Latvia.

Energy expert Reinis Aboltins said on Latvian public radio, however, that by 2030 gas consumption in Latvia was expected to drop by half.

Aboltins also indicated that Latvian gas consumers were fairly well prepared for the free gas market as the gas price had already been tied to global factors like prices of oil products and currency rates.

"The starting positions are rather similar for all gas suppliers because there are no gas production companies in the Baltic states and everything will depend on the wholesale gas buying strategy chosen by each supplier," said Janis Bethers, CEO of Enefit power utility.

In order to enable the gas market's planned liberalization, Latvijas Gaze natural gas monopoly has been split up by setting up Conexus Baltic Grid, a company in charge of gas transmission and storage operations in Latvia. This allows practically any supplier to access and use Latvia's gas pipelines.

Latvijas Gaze, meanwhile, will continue its operations as gas distributor and supplier to corporate consumers and households.

"Most importantly, it is necessary to make the largest gas supplier to the region, Russia's Gazprom, play by the same rules as any other company on the market," said Abolins.

The expert also predicted that the gas price might even continue to drop for some time, but that gas supply services were likely to rise in price soon. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:27:16|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

MADRID, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Some regions of Spain could be facing a summer of water restrictions unless more rain falls during the spring after it was revealed on Monday that the country's reservoirs ended the winter at just 59.1 percent of their capacity.

The data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and the Environment, confirmed that water reserves were 14 percent below the average for the past five years, when reservoirs around 10 percent lower than the average for the last 10 years.

The Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) explained that the lower water levels were partly due to rainfall being 4 percent down on the average, with 381 liters per square meters in comparison to the norm of 397 liters.

While some regions such as Valencia and Murcia in the east of the country have suffered from flooding, rainfall in the north-west and north of Spain has been well below normal, with only 75 percent of the usual amount of water falling in the regions of Galicia, Asturias and much of Cantabria. Enditem
ZAGREB, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic on Monday congratulated Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on his victory in the presidential election, expressing hope of future cooperation on solving issues between the two countries.

Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatia supported Serbia's accession to European Union and was ready to help with its own experience from the accession process.

She hoped that together with Vucic, they would find solutions to the outstanding issues still burdening the relations between the two neighboring countries, she said.

Last June, Grabar-Kitarovic and Vucic signed a declaration on solving of outstanding issues between the two countries, such as protection of ethnic minorities, border demarcation and the tracing of missing persons in the 1990s war, according to Croatian News Agency HINA.

Vucic, Serbia's incumbent prime minister, won in Sunday's presidential election with over 55 percent of the votes.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 03:17:24|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

TEHRAN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday criticized a recent move by Iraqi Kurds to hoist the flags of Kurdistan autonomous region over government buildings in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, Tasnim news agency reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's principled position is to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iraq," said spokesman Bahram Qasemi, calling for the commitment of all parties to the country's constitution and to resolving differences through dialogue and legal means.

"Accordingly, we regard raising any flag (by the Kurds) other than that of the Iraqi flag in Kirkuk is a move which escalates tensions," Qasemi was quoted as saying.

The move can waste the energy of the Iraqi government and undermine the Arab country's anti-terror campaign, he added.

Iraqi lawmakers reportedly passed a bill on Saturday to prohibit hoisting the flag of the Kurdistan autonomous region in Kirkuk, days after the Kirkuk Provincial Council decided to raise the Kurdish flag next to the Iraqi national flag in front of some buildings.
CAPE TOWN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma has extended the employment of members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for service in the Mozambique channel on anti-piracy operations, the Presidency said on Monday.

This is in fulfillment of the international obligations of South Africa towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) maritime security, the Presidency said.

The employment of the 200 SANDF members has been extended for the period April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, said the Presidency.

The mission of the SANDF members is to monitor and deter piracy activities along the Southern African Coast of the Indian Ocean.

They will continue monitoring and deterring piracy activities along the Southern African Coast of the Indian Ocean, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.

The SANDF has provided a permanent presence in the Mozambique Channel since January 2011 on Operation Copper, which is primarily an anti-piracy operation, in which the SANDF has deployed a rotation of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV's), Frigates and Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA).

The likelihood of a piracy incident taking place in the Mozambique Channel is probably at its highest level since 2010, the SANDF said recently.

South Africa got involved in anti-piracy operations following a call for assistance from Mozambique.
TRIPOLI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Libyan UN-backed Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala held a meeting on Monday with British Ambassador to Libya Peter Millett in the capital Tripoli.

The two officials discussed means of mutual cooperation between the two countries and Millett stressed Britain's support for the government of national accord.

Millett said he hopes entry visas to Britain for Libyans will be resumed soon.

Also on Monday, Sayala met with German Ambassador to Libya Christian Buck, who stressed the importance of the relations between the two countries and Germany's support for the unity government.

Buck said he is working to reopen German embassy in Tripoli soon.

Foreign missions in Libya were forced to flee in 2014 because of escalating violence between rival militias in the country.

In early January, Italy became the first western country to reopen embassy in chaotic Libya after two years of closure.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 04:47:08|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

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.
BRATISLAVA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- No Slovaks appeared to be among the victims of the explosion in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Monday, the Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry confirmed.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska has sent a letter of condolences to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"Only together, via active international cooperation, is it possible to confront terrorism and its supporters. On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of the Slovak Republic, I express condolences to you and to the families of the victims, and I wish those injured a rapid recovery," Kiska wrote to Putin.

According to Slovak Parliament Office spokesperson Eva Kliska, Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko expressed deep sorrow after the explosion in St. Petersburg.

"I sincerely sympathize with the families of the victims, and I believe that this shameful act won't end up without punishment," said Danko, expressing his deep condolences to all of the survivors, the people of St. Petersburg and representatives of the Russian Federation.

At least ten people were killed and 50 more others were injured in the explosion earlier in the day. No group so far claimed responsibility for it, which led to the shutdown of the entire metro system in St. Petersburg.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 06:58:08|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

LOME, April 3 (Xinhua) -- World Bank Vice-president for Africa region, Makhtar Diop, is expected to make a working visit to Togo from April 5-6, a press release issued by the local financial institution representation said on Monday.

The visit is part of the partnership between the World Bank and the Republic of Togo, said the release.

It is expected "to strengthen the dialogue with Togolese authorities on development policies and to discuss World Bank support to the country regarding social and economic development," it said.

During his two-day stay, Makhtar Diop will hold talks with officials of Togo government.

He will also visit, within the University of Lome, the regional center of excellence dedicated to avian sciences (CERSA) established with funding from World Bank so as to enhance poultry industry in West and central Africa.

In August, 1962, Togo became member of the World Bank Group and received first investment in 1968.

As of March 31, 2017, the World Bank has financed 15 projects in the country with a total of 195.6 million U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 07:07:30|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao

Video Player Close

Demonstrators clash with members of the Bolivarian National Police in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on April 4, 2017. Supporters of Venezuela's government and opposition parties held marches simultaneously on Tuesday in Caracas, after a clash between the prosecutor-general and the Supreme Court (TSJ) concerning the latter's decision to take over the National Assembly's powers before rescinding it. (Xinhua/Boris Vergara)

CARACAS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Supporters of Venezuela's government and opposition parties will hold marches simultaneously on Tuesday in Caracas, after a clash between the prosecutor-general and the Supreme Court (TSJ) concerning the latter's decision to take over the National Assembly's powers before rescinding it.

Adan Chavez, the minister of Culture and a leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), announced a march for Tuesday in order to denounce "a coup attempt" by the opposition, which is demanding the resignation of TSJ justices.

The march will begin early on Tuesday and end at the parliament building, which is also where the mobilization called for by the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) will end.

The MUD will march from Venezuela Square in the center of Caracas and move until the National Assembly, in a gesture of support for lawmakers who have begun a process to force the resignation of the magistrates.

Last week, 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. Protests quickly built up as the opposition took to the streets and President Nicolas Maduro asked the TSJ to reverse the decision on Saturday.

Despite this reversal, the MUD lawmakers believe this was a "coup d'etat." They have said they do not recognize the TSJ's change of heart and believe the justices can no longer carry out their role.

According to the Constitution, at least 111 lawmakers out of 167, without counting three currently suspended deputies, must vote in favor of their removal. The MUD has 109 lawmakers in favor of the motion, according to the party.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 07:13:11|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

QUITO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The opposition candidate in Ecuador's presidential election, Guillermo Lasso, filed on Monday a case alleging electoral fraud with the Organization of American States (OAS).

Writing on Twitter, Lasso said he had filed the case due to having allegedly been the victim of electoral fraud during the second round of the country's presidential election on Sunday.

He met on Monday with the head of the OAS' Electoral Mission, former Dominican President Leonel Fernandez in Quito.

With 99.33 percent of votes counted by Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE), Lenin Moreno, from the ruling PAIS Alliance, is winning with 51.16 percent, against 48.84 percent for Lasso.

However, the latter said he could not accept the result due to evidence of "irregularities" in the vote.

"I announced to the OAS that there had been fraud in Ecuador," Lasso wrote on Twitter, adding that "a recount of votes would be the minimum needed to try and restore legitimacy to the process."

"Only the OAS and Leonel Fernandez, as leader of the mission, can save democracy in Ecuador. The OAS cannot allow someone who did not win the elections to take power. We cannot have an illegitimate government," he continued.

For Lasso, "the fraud was confirmed when the CNE took four days to give results in the first round but now did it in a few hours."

The OAS has not commented on the results but it confirmed on Twitter that its "Electoral Mission...met with Guillermo Lasso to hear his demands."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 08:09:51|Editor: Liangyu

Tourists stroll along the West Lake during the Qingming Holiday in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 2, 2017. Chinese are having the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, or Qingming, from Sunday to Tuesday. (Xinhua/Han Chuanhao)

April 4 marks this year' s Qingming Festival in China. Qingming, literally meaning "clear and bright" , is one of the 24 dates that divide the solar year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The day heralds a season of rising temperature and increasing rainfall, high time for plowing and sowing.

As a festival, Qingming is believed to have a history of about 2,500 years and Chinese people have since developed colorful traditions. The most important tradition of Qingming is to honor ancestors and commemorate deceased family members and relatives, usually at their grave sites. Thus, Qingming is also translated into Tomb-Sweeping Day in English.

A traditional memorial ritual includes praying, cleaning the tombstones and burning offerings to the dead, usually paper money, paper clothes and paper houses. Today the list might include a paper iPhone.

It is believed that the tradition of sweeping tomb during Qingming was started by an ancient duke, Chong' er, to pay tribute to an loyal retainer who cut his thigh meat to feed the master during their exile years. The retainer, Jie Zitui, secluded into a forest after Chong' er became the Duke. The Duke couldn' t find Jie in the forest and ordered to set fire in an attempt to force him out, but Jie and his mother were burnt to death instead. The remorseful Duke then ordered memorial rituals for the man.

The tomb-sweeping tradition offered ancient poets an occasion to express their sentimentality, such as Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). In his famous poem Qingming, he wrote:

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the mourning day; The mourner' s heart is going to break on his way. "Where can a wine shop be found to drown my sad hours?" A cowherd points to a cot amid apricot flowers.

In this English translation, well-known translator Xu Yuanchong straightly put Qingming into "the mourning day."

However, Qingming is not all about sad sentiments. Flying kites is enjoyed by many people, young and old, during the Qingming Festival. Swinging is another activity for children. A special food for the festival is called qingtuan, or sweet green rice balls made from glutinous rice soaked in and colored by green plant juice and stuffed. In addition, people believe that eating an boiled egg on Qingming will bring good health for the year. Some people also draw paintings on the boiled eggs before eating them. Another folk custom is to knock boiled eggs against each other for fun.

Actually, one of the most important and long-lasting customs of Qingming is "taqing" , meaning spring outing, as this is the time when the sun shines soft and bright, the trees and grass become green and flowers blossom. Today, Qingming is a national holiday.

Some traditions of Qingming have brought problems, say, traffic jams and air pollution or even forest fires caused by firecrackers and paper money burning. As part of a greener Qingming campaign, people have been encouraged to pay tribute to their ancestors and deceased beloved ones online, or burn less or no paper money.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 07:28:12|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

MONTEVIDEO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the ruling Colorado Party announced on Monday their intention to approve the re-election project of Paraguay's President Horacio Cartes, after meeting with him.

"This re-election process has been built up from our base," said Luis Gneiting, the governor of the department of Itapua, in a press conference.

Paraguay has been driven by division over Cartes' attempt to change the Constitution and run for re-election. On Friday, a young leader of the Liberal Radical Authentic Party (PLRA) was killed by police at his party's headquarters, leading hundreds of people to pour onto the streets in anger, setting fire at the Senate.

The anger was sparked when 25 senators voted to support the constitutional amendment in a secret session, driven by the Colorado Party. It must now be approved by the Chamber of Deputies to become law.

"We are not dodging responsibility but it was not the Colorados (supporters of the party) who burned Congress," said Gneiting.

Alongside him, Colorado Party senator Lilian Samaniego accused the PLRA of speaking about using "violence to install their ideas", while the government will "respect what the citizens want."

Should the constitutional amendment pass the Chamber of Deputies, the government promised on Saturday it would then be submitted to a national referendum. Once passed, it would allow President Horacio Cartes and former President Fernando Lugo to stand in April 2018 elections.

However, the PLRA has presented a legal challenge to the Supreme Court, alleging irregularities in its approval by Congress.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 08:12:38|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Researchers have combined computer science and chemistry to create deep learning algorithm that could work off small amounts of data and solve problems in drug development.

Artificially intelligent (AI) algorithms can learn to identify amazingly subtle information, enabling them to distinguish between people in photos or to screen medical images as well as a doctor. However, such feats relies on training that involves thousands to trillions of data points in most cases and AI doesn't work all that well in situations where there is very little data, such as drug development.

Vijay Pande, professor of chemistry at Stanford University, and his students thought that a fairly new kind of deep learning, called one-shot learning, that requires only a small number of data points might be a solution. "We're trying to use machine learning, especially deep learning, for the early stage of drug design," said Pande. "The issue is, once you have thousands of examples in drug design, you probably already have a successful drug."

By applying one-shot learning to drug design problems, as the data was likely too limited, their findings published Monday in ACS Central Science show that the methods have potential as a helpful tool for drug development and other areas of chemistry research.

To make molecular information more digestible, the researchers first represented each molecule in terms of the connections between atoms. This step highlighted intrinsic properties of the chemical in a form that an algorithm could process.

With these graphical representations, the group trained an algorithm on two different datasets -- one with information about the toxicity of different chemicals and another that detailed side effects of approved medicines.

From the first dataset, they trained the algorithm on six chemicals and had it make predictions about the toxicity of the other three. Using the second dataset, they trained it to associate drugs with side effects in 21 tasks, testing it on six more.

In both cases, the algorithm was better able to predict toxicity or side effects than would have been possible by chance. "We worked on some prototype algorithms and found that, given a few data points, they were able to make predictions that were pretty accurate," Bharath Ramsundar, who is a graduate student in the Pande lab and co-lead author of the study, was quoted as saying in a news release from Stanford, a private school in Northern California on the U.S. West Coast.

However, Ramsundar cautioned that this isn't a "magical" technique. It was built off of several recent advances in a particular style of one-shot learning and it works by relying on the closeness of different molecules, as indirectly indicated by their formula. For example, when the researchers trained their algorithm on the toxicity data and tested it on the side effect data, the algorithm completely collapsed.

The researchers envision this as groundwork for a potential tool for chemists who are early in their research and trying to choose which molecule to pursue from a set of promising candidates. "Right now, people make this kind of choice by hunch," Ramsundar said. "This might be a nice compliment to that: an experimentalist's helper."

Beyond giving insight into drug design, this tool would be broadly applicable to molecular chemistry. Already, the Pande lab is testing these methods on different chemical compositions for solar cells. They have also made all of the code they used for the experiment open source, available as part of the DeepChem library.

"This paper is the first time that one-shot has been applied to this space and it's exciting to see the field of machine learning move so quickly," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 08:18:18|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Researchers working around Kenya's Lake Victoria, a fishing community where locals battle high rates of disease and a depleted fish stock, have found that human illness exacerbates unsustainable fishing practices.

Before this study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it has been known that a toxic environment is known to create health problems for people.

While challenging the long-held assumption in environmental research that human disease provides a natural check to environmental exploitation and demonstrates a new way that poor human health may harm the environment, the study suggests that quality healthcare could have benefits beyond human populations and help people manage their environment and the sustainability of those resources.

"Studies have suggested people will spend less time on their livelihoods when they are sick, but we didn't see that trend in our study. Instead, we saw a shift toward more destructive fishing methods when people were ill," said Kathryn Fiorella, the lead author who was a doctoral student in the lab of professor Justin Brashares at the University of California, Berkeley, during the study and now a postdoctoral scholar at Cornell University.

Understanding the links between human and environmental health is critical for the millions who cope with recurrent illness and rely directly on natural resources for sustenance.

To study these connections, Fiorella spent three months of each year of her graduate studies at Lake Victoria, a place where health and the environment are intertwined in complex ways and have been for decades.

Lake Victoria transformed after British colonists introduced Nile perch, a predatory fish, to the lake in the 1960s to support commercial fishing. Nile perch quickly dominated the lake and caused the extinction of hundreds of native cichlid species. During the 1980s and 1990s, commercial fishing grew around the lake and Nile perch started to decline, so regulations were enacted to save the fishery. During the same time, the HIV epidemic was spreading throughout East Africa. As Lake Victoria's fishing community grew sicker, the environmental exploitation of the fishery worsened.

To explore how illness was altering fishing practices, the researchers tracked 303 households living on Lake Victoria by interviewing them four different times over a year. They collected data about household health and fishing habits and looked for trends during times of sickness and good health.

Among active fishers, the study found limited evidence that illness reduced fishing effort. Instead, ill fishers shifted the methods they used. When ill, fishers were more likely to use methods that were illegal, destructive and concentrated near the shoreline, but required less travel and energy. They were also less likely to use legal methods that are physically demanding, require travel to deep waters and are considered more sustainable.

"When people are chronically ill, they have different outlooks on the future," Brashares said. "That different outlook means that they increasingly rely on unsustainable methods because they' re focused on short-term gain."

"Healthy people, it turns out, are better for the environment," Richard Yuretich, program officer for the U.S. National Science Foundation's Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems Program, which funded the research, was quoted as saying in a news release from UC Berkeley.

"When you feel well, you can plan the tasks you need to accomplish more carefully. But when you're sick, you often just want to get things done fast, with the result that you may be more wasteful. This project illustrates the complex relationships we have with the world around us."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 08:27:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

SUVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Film Fiji is expecting more films to be shot in Fiji in 2017 that would bring in more financial benefits to the island nation.

Dallas Foon chief executive officer for Film Fiji said this week that they expected a busy year because of the number of overseas film productions that were already underway in Fiji.

Major productions came from American studios CBS (Survivor), Viacom/MTV (Stranded with a Million Bucks) and Fox/Lionsgate (Kicking and Screaming).

The Indian production Jaani was also produced in Fiji, featuring Gippy Grewal and Miss India 2013, Navneet Kaur Dhillion.

Foon says the expertise brought into Fiji by overseas film producers greatly benefitted locals who were also growing in the film industries from the exposure.

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya said 56 films were shot in Fiji in 2016 and eight were major film productions which had a budget of around 64 million U.S. dollars.

Koya said the eight major film productions brought in about 20 million U.S. dollars into the Fijian economy in 2017.

He said this while launching the 2017 local Fijians Kula Awards which gave students the opportunity to learn more about drama and gain experience in the creative arts industry.

The awards night would be a two-day program scheduled for July and would have two categories.

One of the categories is the School's Film Competition where students in secondary schools can submit a five-minute film in any genre vetted by Film Fiji while the Open Category Film Competition is targeted at amateur filmmakers who have left school.

Foon said 24 local schools had registered so far for these awards that would enhance student's talents.

"As the Kula Awards enters its second decade, we will be raising the bar with more training and introducing more categories for students to compete for expanding the competition and improving the skills," Foon said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 08:52:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

CANBERRA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Australia's leading scientific research agency has lamented the outdated regulations relating to medical and pharmaceutical research, claiming that many contracts are being taken overseas because of the political "red tape" in Australia.

Researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have outlined their plans for a clearer "roadmap" for medical research in Australia -- a field which currently employs 48,000 Australians and is worth 4.4 billion Australian dollars (3.35 billion U.S. dollars) annually.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday morning, the CSIRO's health and biosecurity director, Rob Grenfell said that Australia required a more "agile" system to back Australian medical and pharmaceutical research as, currently, many ventures were heading overseas as it was easier and faster to gain approval and regulation.

"Australia rates very high on innovation and discovery and sadly we're almost on the bottom of the developed world with regards to translation of that into commercial success," Grenfell said.

"To give you an example, we have recently licensed a bowel cancer sensing test, which of course is very, very accurate for detecting recurrent bowel cancer."

"We've managed to license this in the U.S. and it's being now marketed through the largest pathology company in the world, yet we're still taking it through the pathways of our own regulatory system," he said.

Grenfell's colleague and the CSIRO's manufacturing director, Keith McLean said it could be an easy fix for the government, and urged lawmakers to simplify the regulatory process for undertaking vital research.

"What we're really trying to do here is create the jobs and the technologies of the future, create exports for Australia, you know our market in this space," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 10:08:34|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

CANBERRA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations (UN) special rapporteur has criticized Australia's treatment of its Indigenous population, describing living conditions in some communities as "appalling" and the Aboriginal incarceration rates as "incredibly high" and "deeply disturbing."

Following a 15-day tour of a number of Indigenous communities throughout regional Australians, UN special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said the incarceration rate for Indigenous Australians was far too high.

Speaking at a briefing in Canberra, Tauli-Corpuz said the government needs to do more to ensure that Indigenous incarceration rates are lowered, as the current Indigenous child protection systems were "not working."

"I've spoken to somebody who was arrested because he stole (a solitary piece of) fruit. And another one who was sleeping in the trash bin and that was the reason they were arrested," Tauli-Corpuz told a briefing in Canberra.

"Many of them have come from the child protection system, which means that the child protection systems are not working effectively.

"It is completely inappropriate to detain these children in punitive, rather than rehabilitative, conditions. They are essentially being punished for being poor and in most cases, prison will only aggravate the cycle of violence, poverty and crime."

She also deplored the living conditions of the Indigenous population.

"There are some houses that don't even have toilets. There are many families in one house. This is really so dismal considering how rich Australia is," Tauli-Corpuz said.

It's understood that Australia's Indigenous Affairs Minister, Nigel Scullion welcomed the UN's report, saying the government was committed to "closing the gap" of Indigenous disadvantage in Australia.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 10:42:58|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

by Xinhua writers Xu Xingtang, Xu Jing

CHICAGO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Upon entry into the World Food Prize Foundation building, the first thing that catches your eyes are two Chinese characters pronounced as "dadou", meaning soybean, carved on one of the four pillars at the hall. This is a courtesy to China as the home of soybeans.

In fact, it's easy to find Chinese elements inside the building, which is located in downtown De Moines, capital city of the state of Iowa in the U.S. Midwest.

Pictures of He Kang, former Chinese agricultural minister, and Yuan Longping, a Chinese agronomist known for his hybrid rice, are on the wall of glory among a group of those winning the World Food Prize.

Dayu, a Chinese water control hero in ancient times, has his name engraved high on the wall; a bronze plaque showing Chinese President Xi Jinping (then vice president) addressing the U.S.-China Agricultural Symposium in the building on February 16, 2012 hangs in the conference hall, and nearby hangs a replica of a famous Chinese painting showing how Chinese farmers cultivate in ancient times.

Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, remembered every detail of Xi's visit to his organization in 2012.

"This is a historic event. That connects China and the U.S., connects President Xi and Iowa. It was a significant moment for our organization, the World Food Prize," he said.

"We're proud of President Xi," Quinn told Xinhua, "We think of him as somebody with an Iowa connection, a family member."

Pointing to a picture of being in the tractor with Xi displayed in his house, Rick Kimberley of Kimberley Farms Inc. talked about the tractor picture story when hosting Xi at his farm in 2012.

"I asked President Xi if he wanted to get in the tractor and he was very anxious to get in," he said.

"He was sitting here in the main seat, I was sitting on the smaller seat here right beside him... we had a very good talk and we talked about technology, about the monitors we have here in the cab."

"This is the home famous picture that has been in all the papers here in the United States, and I believe it was in many of the different newspapers in China," said Rick, the fifth generation of Kimberley Farms.

There is a U.S. cliche of "Iowa Nice," referring to open, responsive, big hearts, welcoming attitudes, hospitality, generosity, and soften-spoken demeanor typical of the Midwesterners.

In 1985, Xi, then party secretary of Zhengding County in China's northern province of Hebei, led a five-person delegation to Muscatine in the state of Iowa.

This "Iowa Nice" has impressed Xi so deeply that when he revisited Muscatine and met his old friends in the house of Sarah Lande in 2012, he said: "You were the first people I met in America. To me, you are America."

Iowa Soybean Association Chief Executive Officer Kirk Leeds shared similar memories with Xinhua.

"Being in the Midwest and as an agriculture state, we have 'Iowa nice'," Kirk said, "We would say Xi experienced 'Iowa nice' back in 1985, and experienced again when he came back. We are proud of the relationship, and we have some responsibility to U.S.-China relationship because of the special relationship with President Xi."

With this "Iowa Nice" feeling from both sides, exchanges between China and Iowa have increased dramatically in recent years.

Iowa and Hebei Province have become sister state-province; Muscatine has knotted sister-city relationship with Zhengding; many Chinese delegations have come to Iowa to visit Kimberley Farms; agricultural education exchanges between Iowa and China has been enhanced; Chinese tourists to Iowa has increased.

Kimberley Farms has so far built two demonstration farms in China, one in Hebei Province and the other in northeast China's Jilin Province, and has established cooperation relationship with many farms in China.

Trade between China and Iowa, and the U.S. Midwest has skyrocketed. Some 56 percent of U.S. soybean exports go to China, and Iowa is the second largest soybean producer in the U.S.. Iowa also supplies feed and pork to China.

China's trade with the nine states in U.S. Midwest reached 92.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2015. Chinese enterprises have invested a total of 13 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. Midwest, creating nearly 30,000 jobs, according to statistics provided by Chinese Consulate General in Chicago.

"So we will just build on those relationships and continue with that," said Kirk.

"The visit of President Xi to our home meant a great deal to us and we have a great love and understanding for the people of China now," Rick told Xinhua.

"It's brought us to understand China and the people of China much better," he said, "We might be in different countries but we're all alike. We're all human beings."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 10:48:39|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

WELLINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand and Singapore are to step up economic links and defense cooperation, foreign ministers of the two countries announced in Wellington Tuesday.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Singaporean counterpart Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan released a joint statement after holding talks in the New Zealand capital.

The two countries would pursue an enhanced partnership that would significantly boost collaboration in the areas of trade and economics, security and defense, people-to-people links and research, technology and innovation, and in ways that would set an example of integration in the Asia-Pacific region.

They would upgrade the Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) trade agreement and seek ways to facilitate business linkages and promote increased investment collaboration.

"Singapore is an important regional partner for New Zealand, being our sixth largest trading partner, and we often take similar views internationally and regionally on issues such as trade. It is also the base for many New Zealand businesses operating throughout Southeast Asia," McCully said in a separate statement.

Total two-way annual goods trade stood at 2.5 billion NZ dollars (1.75 billion U.S. dollars), but the way that business was done and the opportunities to trade had changed since the bilateral CEP was originally signed in 2000.

Food would be a particular focus, with proposals to facilitate the movement of food in order to firmly establish Singapore's position as a gateway for New Zealand's exports to Southeast Asia.

New Zealand and Singapore would also build on the Defence Cooperation Arrangement signed in 2009, and identify opportunities to collaborate further on defense and security.

"Given the changing security landscape, New Zealand and Singapore will also work towards closer cooperation in non-traditional areas such as cybersecurity," said the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 10:58:41|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

WELLINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A young Brazilian woman is in prison after New Zealand Customs officers allegedly found 4.6 kg of cocaine in her luggage as she entered the country.

The woman was spending her 29th birthday Tuesday in a New Zealand jail after she was arrested at Auckland Airport on Sunday, Customs officials said.

The woman arrived on a flight from Brazil via Chile and was questioned and searched by Customs officers, Customs investigations manager Bruce Berry said in a statement.

X-rays showed inconsistencies in her bags which, when drilled, showed traces of cocaine.

The 4.6-kg total extracted had the potential street value of up to 3.2 million NZ dollars (2.24 million U.S. dollars) in New Zealand.

"Customs' work is led by intelligence and we do extensive screening to identify those that may pose a risk - so we have a really good idea of whom we want to take a closer look at," said Berry.

The woman was due to appear in the court in Auckland on Friday.
SYDNEY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Government has announced a major crackdown on foreign bribery.

Speaking at the headquarters of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Melbourne on Tuesday, Australia's Justice Minister Michael Keenan announced tough new laws to ensure that perpetrators bribing foreign officials faced the full force of the law.

Under the new laws, the definition of foreign public official will be changed to include those who are running for office and bribery offences will be extended to include incidents where a bribe is paid to gain personal advantage.

Additionally, a new corporate offence for failing to prevent foreign bribery will be created.

Corruption costs Australia an estimated 6.46 billion U.S. dollars every year.

"Foreign bribery is a serious offence. It harms those who play by the rules, siphons money away from local communities and undermines the rule of law," Keenan told reporters on Tuesday.

"But foreign bribery is also very difficult to detect and enforce; offending is often offshore, evidence is hard to identify and it can easily be concealed as a legitimate transaction," Keenan said.

Keenan committed 10 million U.S. dollars annually in 2016 to develop specialist anti-corruption teams focused on foreign bribery in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

The AFP is currently investigating 35 cases involving foreign bribery, Keenan said.

"Importantly, through this work, investigators are continuing to regularly engage with private industry to raise awareness of the risks associated with operating in foreign jurisdictions, and working to enhance the culture of corporate integrity and ethical business practices within Australian companies," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 12:18:52|Editor: ZD

Video Player Close

WELLINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's primary sector exports are forecast to rise 1.4 percent over the year to the end of June, with China being the biggest market overall, according to a government report out Tuesday.

Total primary industry exports were forecast to hit 37.5 billion NZ dollars (26.25 billion U.S. dollars) in the June year, driven by strong growth in dairy exports, said the report from the Ministry for Primary Industries.

"Strong global prices for forestry and dairy products, combined with rising horticulture production volumes, more than offset falling beef and lamb exports due to lower stock numbers in our latest forecast," it said.

As well as being the biggest overall primary exports market, China was the biggest market for exports of dairy, meat and wool, forestry, and seafood.

"Next year overall primary sector exports are expected to grow by 9.7 percent to 41 billion NZ dollars (28.7 billion U.S. dollars)," Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said in a statement.

"It shows we have a strong and diversified primary sector with sectors like forestry and horticulture continuing to do well. It's also pleasing to see dairy on the rebound after a tough few seasons," said Guy.

"This year is likely to be more challenging for the sheep meat sector with market volatility and the UK's exchange rate fluctuations."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 12:53:57|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow and Minsk will settle the ongoing gas and oil disputes in 10 days.

After meeting with the visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia and Belarus have agreed to find an acceptable pricing scheme for both sides, and all the disputes in oil and gas sector between Moscow and Minsk will be settled in 10 days.

The ongoing disputes have been lasting for over a year. In early 2016, Belarus asked Russia to lower the exporting gas price from 132.77 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic meters to 73 dollars, and from then on, Belsrus' payment for the imported gas from Russia has been in arrears.

In reply, Russia decided in the third quarter of 2016 to reduce the supply of tax-free oil to Belarus.

On the same day, when attending the Media Forum held in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia would not abolish the "food embargo" against the West if anti-Russia sanctions continued.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 12:58:19|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government expressed its condolences on Monday over the explosion on the metro system in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"Brazil's government sends its condolences to the families of the victims, wishes for the quick recovery of the injured people and voices its solidarity with the people and government of Russia," the country's Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.

Through his Twitter account, Brazilian President Michel Temer also expressed his solidarity with the victims' families.

At least 11 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in the blast that took place Monday afternoon in a train carriage on the runway between the metro stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) in St. Petersburg. Another explosive device was found in a third subway station and neutralized by the police later.

The exact causes of the attack remain unknown and an official investigation is underway to determine who are responsible. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
A baby Rhino eats a banana at the premises of National Trust for Nature Conservation at Chitwan National Park, Nepal, Dec. 30, 2016. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

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.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 13:19:04|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were attacked and shot dead in Russia's southern Astrakhanskaya Oblast, said the local Department of Internal Affairs on its website Tuesday.

The policemen arrived at the scene to deal with an incident after receiving a report of traffic accident. Someone fired at them, left the two policemen dead, according to the website.

The local Department of Internal Affairs has issued a warrant against four suspects, and investigators are looking into the case.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 13:33:28|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

WELLINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- One person has died and 15 have been hospitalized with typhoid in New Zealand's biggest city, health authorities said Tuesday, as legislators asked questions about the handling of the outbreak.

The woman who died had been hospitalized with some serious health issues and the typhoid infection had been a "complicating factor," Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) clinical director Dr Julia Peters said in a statement.

The woman, who was a member of the Samoan Assembly of God Church at the center of the Auckland outbreak, had died in hospital on March 28.

Other confirmed cases linked to the outbreak were all members of the same church.

"We are working with the church to trace other people who may be infected and we are doing this while they are mourning the loss of one of their own," Peters said.

The ARPHS had delayed announcing the death to enable funeral arrangements to be concluded on Monday, she said.

It seemed likely that, as a group of cases emerged around the same time late last week, they had been infected at the same time or place.

Two other possible cases were awaiting test results.

The main opposition Labour Party suggested the underfunding of the health system was to blame.

"For health officials to say its localized is a nonsense as I have heard that the disease has been reported in cases across the city," Labour Party health spokesperson David Clark said in a statement.

"I have written to the Minister seeking assurances that he has directed the Ministry of Health to adequately support the Auckland Regional Public Health Service over this crisis."

Typhoid is spread primarily through food and water, but can be spread from person to person.

Symptoms include a high fever developing over several days, headaches, general weakness and muscle aches.

Stomach pain and constipation are also common, but some people get diarrhea.

Typhoid is potentially fatal, but can be treated with antibiotics.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 13:49:10|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

By Levi Parsons

SYDNEY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Jin Liqun, was honored in Sydney on Monday evening, at a ceremony hosted by the Global Foundation.

Secretary General of the Global Foundation Steve Howard told Xinhua, the event was to recognise Liqun as an "outstanding Chinese internationalist" and to "honour the contribution he and the bank is making to peaceful and positive infrastructure development in Asia".

Prior to his role at the AIIB, Liqun had various roles with the Chinese Ministry of Finance and has previously served on the board of the World Bank in Washington.

In only its first year of operations, Liqun and the AIIB have committed over two billion U.S. dollars to developing infrastructure projects in developing nations.

Among the ventures are road corridors in Pakistan, electricity transmission systems in Bangladesh and urban redevelopment plans for Indonesian slums regions.

Also high on the agenda for the bank is renewable energy schemes for the people of Asia.

To recognise the progress made by Liqun, Steve Howard and the Global Foundation presented the former literary scholar with a very unique gift.

"During his university days, Liqun had studied Australian literature, including the most famous novelist in Australia, literary Nobel Peace Prize winner Patrick White, who wrote the book The Tree of Man," Howard said.

"This was a story about a pioneer going out in the wilderness on his own to establish progress."

"Liqun loved this idea about this Australian in the bush making his way, so he translated the first part of that book into Chinese and then it was later continued by others."

The organisation presented Liqun with the first ever edition of The Tree of Man, printed in New York in 1955.

"It was a very exciting moment for him and also a very exciting moment for us at the Global Foundation," Howard said. .
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 14:04:12|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investment into South Korea declined in the first quarter of this year on weak demand from China and the United States, a government report showed Tuesday.

Reported FDI in the January-March period amounted to 3.85 billion U.S. dollars, down 9.2 percent compared with the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Direct investment of U.S. investors into South Korea tumbled 33.5 percent over the year to 365 million dollars in the first quarter as the Donald Trump administration strengthened protectionist trade and economic policies.

In the cited period, Chinese investors cut their investment in South Korea by 56.4 percent at 163 million dollars.

FDI from European investors plunged 50.3 percent to 876 million dollars, but the figure from Japanese investors surged 153 percent to 407 million dollars.

Foreigners directly invested 971 million dollars in South Korea's manufacturing sector in the first quarter, down 23 percent from a year earlier.

Foreign investment into the services industry dipped 4.5 percent to 2.82 billion dollars in the same period.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 14:09:12|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Seven militants were killed and 19 others wounded in two separate clashes in northern Afghanistan, said a military statement on Tuesday.

In one incident, six militants were killed and 18 others injured after fighting flared up between security forces and militants in Guzar village, Chimtal district in Balkh province on Monday, according to the statement by Afghan army's Corps 209 Shaheen based in the region.

The clash came two days after over 200 armed rebels affiliated with the Taliban militant group surrendered to the government in Chimtal, southwestern of provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif city.

In addition, one militant was killed and one other wounded after security forces repelled enemy forces' attack on security checkpoints in neighboring Kunduz province on the same day, according to the statement.

The Taliban insurgency has been on the rampage since the beginning of 2015 when the Afghan security forces assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops.

The Taliban has yet to make comments.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 14:34:15|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

NEW DELHI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian government has approved procurement of a fresh batch of Barak surface-to-air missiles for its naval warships to enhance maritime capability, the state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said Tuesday.

The proposal was approved during a meeting of the defence acquisition council (DAC), chaired by India's Defense Minister Arun Jaitley, in New Delhi on Monday evening to approve capital acquisition proposals totalling 133 million U.S. dollars.

The broadcaster quoting sources said the missiles will be procured under "buy global" category from Rafael Advance Defense Systems Limited of Israel at an approximate cost of around 77 million U.S. dollars.

DAC is highest decision making body for capital acquisition in Indian defense ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 14:59:21|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday, which is hailed by Finnish media as the year's most significant visit.

The followings are some major events between China and Finland since the two counties established diplomatic relations on October 28, 1950.

In 1953, an agreement on the governmental trade and payment was signed between the governments of China and Finland, which was the first bilateral trade agreement ever signed between China and a western country.

In 1988, Mauno Koivisto paid a state visit to China, becoming the first Finnish president ever to visit the country.

In 1992, then Chinese Premier Li Peng visited Finland. It was the first visit by a Chinese head of government since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1950.

In 1995, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to Finland, the first by a Chinese head of state to the Nordic country.

During Jiang's visit, the two countries signed an exchange of notes concerning the establishment of consulates in both countries, a memorandum of understanding on environmental protection cooperation as well as six agreements on trade and economic cooperation.

During then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Finland in 2006, China and Finland signed agreements to deepen their cooperation in trade and commerce, education and communication.

In April 2013, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto paid a state visit to China and attended the annual Boao Forum for Asia. President Xi and Niinisto announced the upgrading of the two countries' relations to a future-oriented new-type of cooperative partnership.

In March 2014, Xi met with Niinisto at the third Nuclear Security Summit in Netherlands.

In November 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb at the 10th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Milan, Italy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 15:14:23|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg subway that killed at least 11 people, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

At least 11 people were killed and 45 were injured in the explosion, which occurred on the St. Petersburg subway between Sennaya Ploschad and Technologichesky Institute stations on Monday, Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova told reporters.

"China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the terrorist attack. China extends profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured," Hua said.

Calling terrorism a common enemy of mankind, Hua said China is willing to work with Russia and the international community to tackle the threat and challenges of terrorism to maintain world peace and security.
MANILA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed the Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno due to loss of trust and confidence, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Tuesday.

Abella said the announcement was made at the end of the 14th Cabinet Meeting that was held in Malacanang on Monday night.

Abella said Sueno had been instrumental in convincing Duterte to run for president in the 2016 election, but this did not deter the president from pursuing his drive for a trustworthy government by addressing issues like corruption.

"The president had earlier asked a few questions of Mr. Sueno but the summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr. Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet," he added.

Duterte on Sunday announced that he will be dismissing an official in government over alleged corruption charges but declined to give details.

The Philippine president said he fired 92 government officials, including those he asked to resign quietly from their posts, in March due to alleged corruption.

Among those who resigned amid allegations of corruption was former National Irrigation Authority head, and former campaign spokesman of Duterte.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 15:34:25|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

by Xinhua Writers Yang Shilong, Zhou Xiaozheng

NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. trade benefits both sides and China is not to blame for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States, said a renowned U.S. expert on China.

Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that two-way trade of goods exceeded 519.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, making China America's largest trading partner and America China's second largest.

"I think respectable economists, not people who were just working for politicians, all agree that bilateral trade has benefited both the U.S. and China," Avery Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania (U Penn), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The standard of living of the American people has became higher because of less costly Chinese products, added Goldstein, who was listed among the top 20 China experts in the United States by China Foreign Affairs University in 2015.

It is unfair for some politicians to blame China for America's loss of manufacturing jobs, Goldstein pointed out, noting that it is more about worldwide market competition, and about automation, which leads to higher productivity -- and fewer workers -- in factories.

"Of course, if the relationship is poorly managed, if the negotiations with China on trade don't go well, and if tariffs are imposed on China, Americans will quickly see the effect, which would be an increase in the price of goods," said the expert.

According to an Oxford Economics report, China-U.S. trade was credited for creating some 2.6 million jobs in the United States and contributing 216 billion dollars to U.S. economic growth in 2015.

"We should not try to keep China poor or to prevent China from playing a bigger role in the global economy, but rather to figure out how to cooperate with China in addressing the problems of global economy and managing some of the difficult trade and financial issues that come up in international economics," said Goldstein.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida, the expert stressed that the significance of the event should not be underestimated.

The two leaders, first of all, will "get a deeper understanding of each other and each other's general views about the U.S.-China bilateral relationship," said the professor, who is also director of the U Penn Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

"Beyond that, each side may want to lay out a general road map for dealing with some of the areas where cooperation looks most feasible, and some of the areas where it is clear the two sides will have to work hard to manage their disagreements," he added.

Noting that Trump, who has been in the White House for over two months, might not have a "comprehensive China strategy" in place with his entire foreign policy team being assembled, he observed that the U.S. president is turning from "tough talk to pragmatism" on policies towards China.

Trump has reversed his previous assertions and pledged to honor the one-China policy, a cornerstone of China-U.S. diplomatic relations. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has vowed that the U.S. side is ready to develop relations with China based on the China-proposed principles of non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

The upcoming meeting will provide "an incentive" for the Trump administration to "have a tentative outline of how they like to approach the U.S.-China relationship, and help them understand how they may have to adjust," Goldstein said.

"But even such success will only be a start with much work to be done by both sides in subsequent months and years," as bilateral ties have become increasingly important and complex in recent years, said the professor.

Moreover, the two countries share responsibilities in dealing with many regional and global issues, like climate change, non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, disease control and disaster relief, he added.

"Look, the bottom line here is for President Trump," said Goldstein. "Domestic economy is the most important issue as it is for most presidents, and so he's going to have to calculate. It's pretty clear picking up a fight with China would not be good for the United States."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 15:44:26|Editor: xuxin

Candles are lit to mourn the victims of an explosion in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 3, 2017. 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. (Xinhua/Irina Motina)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The operation of St. Petersburg subway has been fully restored after the explosion on Monday that killed at least 11 people and injured 45 others, the governor's administrations said in a statement Tuesday.

"St. Petersburg metro started its operation in full in the morning, including all lines and stations," the statement reads.

The blast took place around 14:40 local time (1140 GMT) Monday in a train carriage on the runway between the metro stations Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city and the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hours later, police defused a explosive device at another St. Petersburg station. Security measures, including sniffer dogs, identity checks and metal detection, were stepped up in the Moscow metro network after the explosion.

Russian officials described the bombing as an act of terror. The exact cause of the attack remain unknown pending an official investigation.

"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 Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia's Investigative Committee (IC) opened a criminal case on the explosion in the metro of St. Petersburg, an official statement released by the IC said.

According to the statement, 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 office.

Representative of the Prosecutor General's office Alexander Kurennoy said his office will do everything it can to uncover how the attack unfolded, "so that this does not happen again in the future."

Russian news agency Interfax reports said Putin arrived at Technological Institute station entrance to lay flowers on Monday, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.

"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 should be held accountable and urged all states to cooperate with Russia in this regard.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Monday sent a message of condolence to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Wang said that China strongly condemns this kind of terrorist act against civilians, and expresses profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to their families.

China is ready with the international community to firmly support Russia's efforts in sternly cracking down on terrorism and strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation, said Wang.

In a phone call with his Russian counterpart Putin on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his full support to Russia in responding to an attack on St. Petersburg Metro, said the White House.

Trump spoke with Putin to condemn the attack in St. Petersburg and express "his deepest condolences to the victims and their loved ones, and to the Russian people," the White House said in a statement.

The European Union has also condemned Monday's explosion. "Our thoughts go out to the people of Russia, and in particular to those who have lost loved ones in today's explosion in the Saint Petersburg metro. We wish a swift recovery to those who have been injured," a statement by the spokesperson of the European External Action Service said.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska has sent a letter of condolences to his Russian counterpart.

"Only together, via active international cooperation, it is possible to confront terrorism and its supporters. On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of the Slovak Republic, I express condolences to you and to the families of the victims, and I wish those injured a rapid recovery," Kiska wrote to Putin.

Related:

China condemns terrorist attack on St. Petersburg subway

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg subway that killed at least 11 people, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

At least 11 people were killed and 45 were injured in the explosion, which occurred on the St. Petersburg subway between Sennaya Ploschad and Technologichesky Institute stations on Monday, Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova told reporters. Full story

Trump offers full support to Putin in responding to St. Petersburg attack

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- In a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his full support to Russia in responding to an attack in St. Petersburg Metro, the White House said.
PYONGYANG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that South Korea should replace "conservative politics" of the former government with "new progressive politics" after the downfall of former President Park Geun Hye, according to DPRK's national daily.

The official daily of the Workers' Party Rodong Sinmum said in an article that "People from all walks of life in South Korea are becoming vocal, calling for an early end to the reactionary and conservative politics," with the impeachment of Park.

"It was quite natural that South Koreans spat at the conservative group and turned their back on them for having pursued corrupt and treacherous politics," read the article.

"The puppet conservative group (of South Korea) is a bandit of thrice-cursed traitors as they have brought unbearable national disgrace to the South Korean people.The people are bound to be disgraced if the traitors keen on sycophancy and dependence on foreign forces run wild," it said.

The DPRK has welcomed the impeachment of Park, whom it blamed for the tense inter-Korean relations, a hardline anti-DPRK policy and embracing a U.S. military design in the Asia-Pacific by agreeing to the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 15:53:50|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

PYONGYANG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Staff from the Chinese embassy have commemorated martyrs from the Chinese People's Volunteers Army by holding ceremonies here on Tuesday, which falls on the traditional Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day.

Chinese Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Li Jinjun led staff members in laying flower baskets at the foot of Friendship Tower in downtown Pyongyang.

They also visited the exhibition hall inside the tower, which also serves as a shrine for the martyrs.

The tower was established in 1959 by then DPRK leader Kim Il Sung. It is dedicated to the soldiers and officers of the Chinese People's Volunteers Army who died during the 1950-1953 Korean War and other Chinese volunteers who joined the war and the post-war reconstruction effort.

A separate commemorative ceremony was held by the embassy staff on the same day at a cemetery outside Pyongyang where some Chinese martyrs are buried.

Some Chinese-Koreans, members of the Chinese business community, students and visitors from China also joined the ceremonies.
File photo shows an insurgent stands guard as the Al-Shabaab launches a mine-sweeping operation in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Jan. 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Abdurrahman Warsameh)

MOGADISHU, April 4 (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.
SINGAPORE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Singapore strongly condemns the heinous terror attack on Russia's St Petersburg Metro on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Tuesday.

The attack killed at least 11 people and injured 45 others, according to reports reaching here.

MFA said in a statement that it conveyed the deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and wish the injured a speedy recovery.

The ministry said the Singapore Embassy in Moscow has reached out to Singaporeans who are e-registered in St Petersburg, and ascertained that all of them are safe.

MFA said there have been no reports of Singaporeans directly affected by or injured in the incident thus far.
TEHRAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the Iranian and Latvia private sectors to enhance trade and economic interaction between the two countries, local media reported on Tuesday.

Iran and Latvia can promote cooperation in agriculture and the transportation industry, Zarif said in a meeting with the visiting Latvian Foreign Ministry's State Secretary Andrejs Pildegovics on Monday.

For his part, Pildegovics said that the businessmen of his country are eager to work in close cooperation with their Iranian partners in the transportation industry, given Iran's strategic geographical position in the region.

In June 2016, Zarif headed a delegation of Iranian business people to Latvia where he discussed closer ties in the political, parliamentary, trade and tourism fields with senior officials of the country.
PHNOM PENH, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The state-owned Cambodia Post has seen a 71-percent increase in revenue in 2016 thanks to rising consumer confidence in the enterprise's service, Cambodia Post's general director Ork Bora said Tuesday.

The national mail service provider collected 9.09 million U.S. dollars in revenue last year, up 71 percent from the 5.32 million U.S. dollars in 2015, he said.

"We are still the largest mail service provider in Cambodia," he told reporters, adding that currently, there are more than 20 postal service companies in the country.

Bora said that the Cambodia Post has planned to launch an online shopping platform sometime this year in order to tap the current rise in e-commerce activity.

Online shopping is going popular in this Southeast Asian nation in recent years due to the rise in internet users. According to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, about 8 million out of the Cambodia's 15 million people have access to the internet.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 16:54:39|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the subway bomb blast in St. Petersburg.

On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, and in his own name, Xi extended his profound condolences to the deceased and sincere sympathies to the injured and families of the victims.

China strongly condemns the outrageous terrorist act, Xi said, and that the Chinese people stand firmly with the Russian people at this difficult moment.

China firmly opposes terrorism in all forms and stands ready to combat terrorism with Russia and the international community to maintain world and regional peace and security, the Chinese president said.

At least 11 people were killed, dozens of others injured in the metro attack Monday afternoon in St. Petersburg, the second largest city of Russia.
A woman holds a candle to mourn victims during the first anniversary commemoration of the terror attack in Kenya's Moi University campus in Garissa in Nairobi, on April 2, 2016. (Xinhua/John Okoyo)

NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Maureen Kanini has vivid memories of chaos and pandemonium that ensued after four heavily armed terrorists stormed into her university hostel at dawn only to hold innocent young souls to ransom for hours.

Two years after the horrific terrorist attack at Garissa University where Kanini enrolled to pursue a major in Information Sciences, the 22 year old is still struggling to erase the macabre episode from her mind.

Speaking to Xinhua in Nairobi on Monday during an event to mark the 2nd anniversary of Garissa University terrorist attack, Kanini confessed her struggles to overcome memories of a dawn where tranquility gave way to blood and tears.

"The memories of losing close friends during the terrorist attack lingers in me though I am beginning to erase them gradually thanks to intensive therapy sessions," said Kanini.

On the tragic dawn of April 2, 2015, Kanini and her roommates were preparing for a hectic day of lectures and games when gunshots and wailing rent the air.

"At first we thought it was a robbery incident in the neighborhood but when the gunshots escalated, it became clear we were under siege and the plausible thing to do was to dash outside and hide in the thickets," Kanini said.

She was among lucky survivors of a tragedy that claimed the lives of 142 students and six security officers.

Kanini's youthful energy and optimism suffered a huge blow when Al-Shabaab terrorists killed and maimed her friends and acquaintances at Garissa University but she is gradually finding her voice.

"I am hoping the painful chapter will eventually disappear from our psyche. There is hope for a new beginning defined by hope and optimism," said Kanini adding that her determination to succeed in her studies has been invigorated.

The Garissa University terrorist attack elicited worldwide condemnation owing to the intensity of its savagery.

The mainly young, versatile and ambitious victims could have lived to see the dawn of a prosperous Kenya had the terrorists spared them the bullet.

Lucky survivors like Geoffrey Ouma have vowed to become champions of peace, love and unity in the community having witnessed the tragic outcomes of hate and intolerance.

The 25-year-old business administration major escaped the terrorists' rifle by a whisker and has also struggled to overcome the painful memory of losing close friends and roommates.

"The horrific slaughter of innocent colleagues as they prepared for morning classes has been a tormenting experience but am hoping time will heal the wounds inflicted on our conscience," said Ouma.

He defied immense pressure and returned to Garissa University to complete his undergraduate studies after it reopened last year.

"Everyone cursed and vowed never to return to Garissa University after the terrorist attack. Even my own relatives and friends dissuaded me from rejoining a university associated with death and destruction," Ouma said.

After rigorous counseling, Ouma has gradually erased the painful memories of Garissa university terror attack and is currently a decorated ambassador of peace and cohesion in an institution that was previously reviled.

"I took up the initiative to promote peaceful coexistence among different ethnic and religious groups in our university. There is a profound rejection of ideologies that espouse senseless killing of innocent people in the entire campus," said Ouma.

Since its reopening early last year, Garissa University has managed to admit close to 600 students from different parts of Kenya.

Eric Onyango, a 24-year-old business major also summoned courage and determination to resume studies in the university.

"Luckily I managed to evade the killers during that dawn of unspeakable terror and mayhem in our university. The painful memories are not as raw as they used to be and I look forward to reclaim the lost dreams," said Onyango.

He is happy to reunite with college mates whose dreams and hopes were shattered by terror but are now on a steady path of recovery.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 17:04:40|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others injured during anti-terror operations in Turkey's southeastern Sirnak province, local media reported early Tuesday.

The soldiers were carrying out operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group in the region of Kupeli Mountain, when an improvised explosive planted by PKK terrorists was detonated.

Media sources stated that anti-terror operations in the region were continuing.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

According to the statistics from Anadolu Agency, more than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, has been killed since the group resumed its armed campaign in July 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 17:09:41|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over the explosion in the subway system in St. Petersburg.

On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, and in his own name, Li extended his deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims.

China strongly condemns the terrorist attack, Li said, adding China firmly opposes terrorism in all forms and is willing to work with Russia to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism to jointly safeguard security and peace of both countries and the world.

At least 11 people were killed, dozens of others injured in the metro attack Monday afternoon in St. Petersburg, the second largest city of Russia.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 17:32:58|Editor: Xiang Bo

Performers dance during a memorial ceremony to worship "Yellow Emperor" who according to legend reigned nearly 5,000 years ago and is regarded as the ancestor of all Chinese people, in Huangling County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 4, 2017. Over 10,000 people attended the ceremony on Tuesday which is also the Qingming Holiday, or the Tomb-Sweeping Day. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 17:24:43|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

DUBAI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Tourism firms from the United Arab Emirates and China's Shaanxi province have signed deal Monday to boost bilateral tourism at the second annual UAE-Shaanxi Forum.

Dubai-based tourism firm New Century and China's Qujiang RuoCheng Cultural Tourism Company from China's Xi'an signed the cooperation agreement.

Both sides agreed that promotion of tourism cooperation between Dubai and Xi'an can play important roles in strengthening cultural ties along the New Silk Road in line with China's strategic One Belt and One Road initiative.

Earlier in February, the government-owned Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing said the number of visitors from China to Dubai in 2016 stood at 540,000, up 20 percent from the previous year.

Overall tourist arrivals for the year, at 14.9 million, rose 4.92 percent from that of 2015.

Xi'an, the capital of China's central Shaanxi Province, is the eastern starting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt which together with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road form the Belt and Road masterplan.

Al-Saleh reminded the delegation from Xi'an of Dubai's Emirates Airline expansion in China in May last year by adding Yinchuan and Zhengzhou as the fourth and fifth destination in Mainland China.
PYONGYANG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday denounced Japan for distorting history and instilling false ideas into Japanese children's mind through textbooks for high school students.

The daily Minju Joson (Democratic Korea) said in a commentary that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan recently "opened to public the results of screening of textbooks for high schools", which said Tok Islets of Korea are part of the territory of Japan and that they were illegally occupied by others.

"Japan has long pursued the ambition for militarist overseas expansion and Korea is the primary target of overseas aggression and Tok Islets are like the gateway to invading Korea. Hence, the Japanese reactionaries are working so hard to grab the islets in a bid to create favorable conditions for overseas aggression," said the commentary.

It said "the Japanese reactionaries are keen to imbue the younger generation with the distorted view on history and use them as a shock brigade for overseas aggression which their forefathers failed to realize."

"It is a crime to implant into their minds the view on history peppered with lies, distortions and reactionary ideas," it added.

Japan has been claiming sovereignty over the Tok Islets which both DPRK and South Korea say are historical territory of Korea.

Japan forcibly annexed Korea in early 20th century and enslaved Koreans for nearly 40 years during its brutal occupation and colonial rule of the peninsula.
HANOI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam strongly condemns the recent terrorist attack in Russia's St. Petersburg that killed and injured dozens of victims, said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on Tuesday.

"We are very shocked when learning that a bombing hit St. Petersburg on Monday, causing many deaths and injuries. Vietnam strongly condemns the terrorist attack and sends condolences to Russian government, Russian people as well as families of the victims," said Hang.

At least 11 people were killed and 45 others injured in an explosion of an unknown explosive device with destructive elements in St. Petersburg on Monday, according to Russia's Anti-Terrorist Committee.

"We firmly believe that those who caused the crime will be properly punished soon," Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted Hang as saying.

Regarding questions if any Vietnamese citizen is victim of the attack, Hang cited information from Vietnamese embassy in Russia as saying that so far, no Vietnamese national has been reported as victim of the attack.

On the same day, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang extended his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the blast.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 18:14:50|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

BAGHDAD, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The provincial council of the ethnically mixed Kirkuk province voted Tuesday in favour of a draft to hold a referendum to decide the fate of the province whether to join the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan or remain as part of Iraq.

The decision of Kirkuk's Kurdish-dominated provincial council was made by the voting of majority of 26 members out of 41, the total number of the provincial council, after the walkout of the Arab and Turkoman council members.

Almas Fadhil, a female Kurdish council member, told Xinhua "the decision to hold a referendum that Kirkuk to join Kurdistan region was adopted by majority of the council members."

Fadhil demanded implementation of article 140 from the Iraqi constitution, which states that a referendum should be held in the disputed areas between Baghdad and the Kurdish region so that the residents decide to join the region or be part of Iraq.

Article 140 of Iraq's 2005 constitution calls for several steps to address the dispute over the ethically-mixed Kirkuk and other disputed areas, including a referendum.

However, problems raised among the conflicting ethnicities as Arabs and Turkmen favour a plan that the electoral law should use 2004 voter registry, as they accuse the Kurds of carrying out demographic change in the disputed areas, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk in the years after 2003, while the Kurds refuse the plan accusing Saddam Hussein's regime of displacing thousands of Kurds who were replaced with Arabs to make Kirkuk a predominantly Arab province.

On March 28, Kirkuk's council voted in raising the Kurdish flag alongside the Iraqi flag on the building of the provincial council despite the withdrawal of Arab and Turkoman council members, who argued that the move is a pre-decision that Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan.

Four days later, the Iraqi parliament rejected the decision of Kirkuk's provincial council after 186 lawmakers of the 328-seat parliament voted in favour of displaying only the Iraqi flag on Kirkuk's buildings.

The parliament voting, this time, witnessed the walkout of Kurdish lawmakers before the vote.

In addition, Fadhil told Xinhua that Kirkuk's council session also rejected the Iraqi parliament decision of raising the Kurdish flag alongside the Iraqi one over the government buildings.

Disagreements between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government have been high for years, as the ethnic Kurds consider the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces as disputed areas and want them to be incorporated into their semi-autonomous Kurdish region, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs and Turkomans and by Baghdad government.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 18:24:51|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Ford (China) will recall 5,798 cars in the Chinese mainland due to problems with airbags, China's top quality watchdog said Tuesday.

The recall, starting on June 30, involves imported 2016-2017 Lincoln MKX and Lincoln Continental models, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in a statement on its website.

Due to a problem with the airbag manufacturer, the driver-side front airbags may fail to completely fill during airbag deployment, and airbag cushions may detach from the airbag modules, increasing the risk of injury for drivers, it said.

Of the affected vehicles, 393 are Lincoln Continental cars manufactured between June 24 and Dec. 5, 2016, while 5,405 were Lincoln MKX cars made between Jan. 14 and Oct. 26, 2016, according to the statement.

Ford urged owners of the vehicles to contact dealers as soon as the recall starts. The company said it would replace the defective airbags free of charge.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine militants loyal to the hardliner Islamic State (IS) group were killed and two others arrested after clash erupted in Achin district of the eastern Nangarhar province, police spokesman in the province Hazrat Hussian Mashriqwal said Tuesday.

The clash, according to the official, erupted after units of police launched operations in parts of Achin district on Monday and the insurgents resisted.

A weapon cache of militants has also been destroyed during the operations, Mashriqwal asserted.

IS militants, who are active in Achin, Batikot and Nazian districts in Nangarhar province with Jalalabad as its capital 120 km east of Kabul, are yet to make comment on the situation.
Turkey on March 29, 2017 announced its military campaign inside northern Syria was over, without specifying whether it will pull its troops out from the neighbouring country. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

ISTANBUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- As Turkey ends its months-old military operation in Syria without fully achieving its targets, analysts interviewed by Xinhua argued that it is best for Ankara to exit after leaving the territory captured to the Syrian government.

"Turkey should hand over al-Bab to Damascus by a deal and withdraw its troops at the earliest for national interests," remarked Haldun Solmazturk, chairman of Incek debates with the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute think tank.

Backed by the rebel Free Syrian Army militants, Ankara launched a military offensive into Syria last August to push the Islamic State (IS) away and prevent the emergence of a Kurdish corridor along its border.

Turkish troops in Syria have secured an area of around 2,000 sq. km after capturing in February the town of al-Bab which is around 30 km from the Turkish border.

There is no sense for Turkish troops to remain in the captured zone, stated Sait Yilmaz, a security and foreign policy analyst, who noted that Turkish plans in Syria have gone wrong.

He maintained that Turkey's military operation aimed to create an autonomous area for Sunni Arabs, but that no longer looks possible.

Earlier last week, Turkey's National Security Council headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated the Euphrates Shield Operation in northern Syria was "successfully completed."

The statement came just one day before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Ankara for talks. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the media following Tillerson's visit that Turkey does not plan to withdraw troops at the moment.

Reducing the number of troops and other issues can be considered only when local forces become strong enough to take control of the areas now under Turkish care, the minister was quoted by the Hurriyet daily as saying.

Ankara had made it clear that the towns its troops seized in Syria will be handed over to local people rather than the Syrian government forces.

Turkey is training Syrians to serve as security forces in the towns captured, while work to rebuild the towns has also been undertaken by the Turkish government.

Turkey's military offensive has managed to block the emergence of an uninterrupted Kurdish corridor along the border. It is widely argued, however, that Turkey stands no longer any chance of stopping the emergence of a Kurdish entity in Syria.

The Kurdish entity is now a reality and there is nothing Turkey can do about it any more, said Solmazturk, a retired general in the Turkish military.

Turkey is particularly concerned that the emergence of an autonomous or independent Kurdish formation in northern Syria may set a precedent for its own nearly 20 million Kurds and encourage Kurdish separatism at home.

Top turkish officials repeatedly vowed until recently that Turkey was determined to drive out the Kurdish militia in the city of Manbij to the east of the Euphrates River.

Turkey's military operation in Syria was blocked in early March by U.S. and Russian forces, as the U.S., Russia and the Syrian government cooperated to deter a Turkish advance against Manbij by deploying troops around the Syrian city.

Manbij lies about 30 km to the west of the Euphrates River and is strategically important to unite the two Kurdish cantons that lie to the east of the river with the third Afrin canton in Syria's northwest.

The area Turkey seized in Syria is a piece of territory, around 90 km in width, which separates the two united cantons on the eastern part of the river from Afrin. Al-Bab is situated between Manbij and Afrin.

Turkey sees the Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for over 30 years.

Turkey had said earlier it would not tolerate the YPG presence on the western side of the Euphrates, declaring it a red line.

Turkey would not approve of faits accomplis in the region, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a televised interview on Saturday, noting such moves would simply worsen the situation in the region.

Defense Minister Fikri Isik said Turkey could launch another military operation in case of threats emerging against its national security, a statement echoed by President Erdogan on Monday.

Turkey may still attempt to negotiate with the Syrian government and Russia over a Sunni zone to save face at home, argued Yilmaz, who lectured at various Turkish universities.

Solmazturk does not think Russia and Iran, staunch supporters of Damascus, would be willing to be part of such a deal.

"Even if Turkey were to make a move for cooperation, Russia and Iran would avoid that, because they have no trust left in Turkey as they have seen Turkey could swiftly change views," he said.

A prominent Russian lawmaker expressed satisfaction with Turkey's decision to end its military operation in Syria, which he described as illegitimate.

"We at no point collaborated with Turkey's operation, as it was never conducted in coordination with the Syrian government and for this reason was wholly illegitimate. Due to it being an illegitimate operation, it's good that it has been ended," Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, was quoted as saying by komnews.com.

"Turkey's wrong policies have led even the U.S. and Russia, which have totally conflicting interests in Syria, into cooperation against the Turkish position," said Solmazturk.

He added "Turkey entered into Syria, but is now trying to figure out how to get out of it."

Turkey's ruling party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), has long been accused by the opposition of pursuing a sectarian policy in Syria that is contrary to its own national interests.

The Turkish government supported until last summer rebel groups fighting to topple the Syrian regime. The AKP and Erdogan still refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government which they see as illegitimate.

In contrast to many others, Soner Polat, a retired general who headed the Turkish General Staff's intelligence unit, is of the opinion that Turkey's military operation should be considered a success in that it has blocked the unification of the Kurdish cantons.

He also admitted, during an interview on Ulusal TV on Saturday, that Turkey has gotten stuck in a dead end due to wrong policies when Turkish troops' move toward Manbij was blocked by the U.S. and Russia.

Polat suggested that Turkey should get in touch with the Syrian government to establish a front against the YPG, arguing such a cooperation would not only legitimize Turkish troops' presence in Syria, but would also win the backing of Iran and Russia.

It is widely believed that Syria would settle for a Kurdish autonomy to maintain the country's territorial integrity.

A strong autonomy for the YPG is in the cards, observed Yilmaz, arguing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has to reach a deal with the Kurds as his military has been greatly weakened by years of fighting.

Turkey has totally lost its capacity to realize any plans in Syria by pursuing a sectarian foreign policy, maintained Solmazturk.

In his view, Turkey has contributed to the possible disintegration of Syria by offering support in the past to rebel groups despite the fact that Syria's territorial integrity is in Turkey's national interests.

The dismemberment of Syria could also pave the way for Turkey falling apart, many fear.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, also questioned whether the military operation had really served its purposes, saying "It's debatable whether the Euphrates Shield has achieved its goal."

Speaking to the Birgun daily on Sunday, he accused the government of deeply damaging Turkey's prestige by having in the past allowed radical Islamists, including IS members, to pass on to Syria and Iraq via Turkey.

Despite Turkish protests, Russia supports the YPG's participation in the Geneva peace talks to resolve the Syrian conflict, while Washington sees the Kurdish militia as a reliable ground force against the IS.

The U.S. has also recently provided the Syrian Democratic Forces dominated by the YPG with heavy weaponry ahead of a U.S.-led offensive against the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.

In response to questions about U.S. military support to the YPG during his Ankara visit, Tillerson simply said that the talks with Turkey on the issue would continue and that the issue is a difficult one.

Raqqa will be put under YPG control as well after the IS is defeated, said Yilmaz, who feels Russians don't want the U.S. to emerge as the sole protector of the YPG.

The U.S. has built several military bases in the Kurdish cantons on the eastern part of the Euphrates during the civil war. Helicopters and transport aircraft have carried U.S. special forces as well as weapons for the Kurds thanks to the bases, according to reports in Turkish media.

For its part, Russia has recently established a military base in the Afrin canton in obvious support to the YPG to deter apparently a potential Turkish military move.
COLOMBO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's cabinet approved on Tuesday a proposal to construct a double lane 5.5 km tunnel in Kandy, the second largest city of Sri Lanka with funds from South Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund, a statement from the Highways Ministry said.

The statement said this would be constructed with two interchange points to reduce traffic congestion.

"With the construction of the tunnel, traffic congestion will ease in the Kandy city and nearby areas. It is to be constructed with according to international standards including safe parking facilities, safe exit facilities etc," the statement said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 18:49:16|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

Kong Xuanyou (L), China's assistant foreign minister, holds a regular meeting with Takeo Akiba, Japan 's deputy foreign minister, in Tokyo, Japan, on April 4, 2017. Senior diplomats from China and Japan exchanged views on bilateral ties and a number of other issues of mutual concern at a regular meeting here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

TOKYO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Senior diplomats from China and Japan exchanged views on bilateral ties and a number of other issues of mutual concern at a regular meeting here on Tuesday.

Kong Xuanyou, Chinas assistant foreign minister, noted at the meeting that bilateral relationship is at an important historical juncture and faces both opportunities and challenges, with the two countries marking the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties this year.

The two sides shall further enhance the sense of responsibility and the sense of crisis to implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries and to sustainably improve the bilateral relationship toward the right direction, he said.

He also urged the Japanese side to honor its promises and act with prudence on some sensitive issues and to make efforts for the improvement of bilateral ties.

Takeo Akiba, Japan's deputy foreign minister, said that Japan attaches importance to its relationship with China and he hopes that the two sides could properly manage differences, enhance communications, and expand positive aspects of bilateral relationship to further promote bilateral ties.
JAKARTA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will construct an international circuit for MotoGP in West Nusa Tenggara province of central parts of the nation, an official said here on Tuesday.

An agreement on the construction of the sport facility had been inked, involving a French investor, said Edwin Darmasetiawan, director for Indonesia tourism develoment corporation.

"The commitment is clear, construction of a circuit for MotoGP in Lombok," he said.

The circuit would be constructed in 120 hectares lands in Lombok of the province, the director said.

The construction is expected to be completed in 2019, said Darmasetiawan.

The project requires 13 trillion rupiah (some 1.049 bilion U.S. dollars) funds, he added.

The director said that the new facility is expected to help attract more foreign tourist to the province.
BANGKOK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government decided on Tuesday to buy 10 more VT-4 main battle tanks from China, said Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Speaking to the press, Prawit Wongsuwan said the cabinet had approved the army's plan to buy the additional 10 VT-4 tanks.

That is a second batch of the Chinese tanks which followed the first batch of that type purchased by the Thai army last year.

Payment for the second batch will begin with the army's budget allocated for current fiscal year and followed by the next two years, Prawit said.

The Chinese tanks will replace U.S.-built M-41 tanks at a few cavalry units in Bangkok and the provinces, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 19:15:01|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

Survivors of the Nanjing Massacre (from right to left, front) Liu Minsheng, Cen Honggui, Wang Xiuying and Pu Yeliang, mourn the victims at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, April 4, 2017. A mourning ceremony was held here by survivors and family members of victims in the Nanjing Massacre during Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, when Chinese people commemorate their deceased loved ones by visiting tombs. (Xinhua/Sun Can)

NANJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- With no tombs to sweep for their deceased relatives, some 50 family members of the victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre visited a memorial hall in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, to pay their respects Tuesday morning.

Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 4 this year, is an occasion for Chinese to mourn the deceased and worship their ancestors.

Eleven survivors of the tragedy also attended the ceremony at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

They stood in silent tribute for one minute.

There are only 100 living Chinese survivors of the atrocity, according to the official association for survivors of the massacre.

Ge Daorong, 90, one of the survivors, said, "My family has been dead for 80 years and I have missed them painfully for 80 years. We come here not only to remember our deceased family but also to make more people value peace."

Ma Tinglu and Ma Tingbao are brothers. They are also survivors of the Nanjing Massacre. Their father and two uncles were shot to death by Japanese soldiers, who later burned their bodies to conceal the crime.

"We can only come here to worship our ancestors," Ma Tingbao said. "I will tell the history to my descendants."

During the three-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, the memorial hall received more than 100,000 visitors. Visitors presented chrysanthemums to the memorial wall to commemorate the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
JAKARTA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will inject 20 trillion rupees (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) into its country asset management to fund land acquisition for national strategic projects, a chief economic minister stated on Tuesday.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said land acquisition is the biggest hurdle faced by the Indonesian authorities in infrastructure development, aside from planning, licensing and funding.

"In order to tackle this biggest problem, we change the scheme to fund land acquisition from capital expenditure to government investment funding through State Asset Management Agency (LMAN)," Nasution said during the launch of the new scheme in Jakarta.

The funds injection in 2017 is bigger than last year worth 16 trillion rupees (1.2 billion U.S. dollars).

The agency commenced operations in December last year as a public service agency under the Finance Ministry's Directorate General of State Assets.

LMAN should plan for funding and the utilization of land banks as well as pay compensation for land acquisition to support the government's infrastructure development programs.

Nasution explained of the total funds injection, toll road infrastructure projects received the largest allocation of 13.3 trillion rupees, followed by railway infrastructure projects 3.8 trillion rupees, dams construction projects 2.4 trillion rupees, and port infrastructure 500 billion rupees.

As part of the new scheme, two public bodies, the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 23 toll road companies (BUJTs).

The Joko Widodo's government has committed to reduce logistics cost from 23.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 19.2 percent by 2019, with the development of 2,650 km road, 3,259 km railways, 24 seaports, 15 airports, power plants with a capacity of 35,000 megawatts and 9 million hectares of agriculture land.

"The government hopes the national strategic projects that have been hampered by land acquisition can be completed on target," Darmin added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 19:25:03|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

TEHRAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Aseman Airlines signed deals with Boeing for the purchase of 60 twin-jet narrow-body passenger planes, Press TV reported on Tuesday.

The agreement involves the purchase of 30 Boeing 737 MAX planes as well as the "purchase rights" for an additional 30 planes of the same class, according to the report.

The planes are expected to be delivered to Aseman Airlines from 2019.

Boeing 737 MAX planes have a passenger capacity of 130 people and are specifically adequate for domestic and regional flights.

The planes that Aseman Airlines has purchased from Boeing would increase the company's passenger transportation capacity to over 8,000 seats.

On Dec. 11, Iran Air announced that it had finalized an agreement with the U.S. Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

The agreement envisaged the purchase of 50 twin-jet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of 16.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Iran Air has also signed another agreement with France's Airbus to purchase a batch of 100 jets worth over 18 billion U.S. dollars to renew its aged passenger fleet.

On March 25, the third passenger plane, bought from the Airbus, landed in capital Tehran.

The purchases for the passenger planes follow the removal of western sanctions against the Islamic republic's aviation industry over the past decades.
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Taliban key commander in the northern Kunduz province, Imamudin nickname Qari Bilal has been arrested, a local official Qudratullah Safi said Tuesday.

"Acting upon intelligence report, the security forces targeted a hideout of Taliban in Khanabad district and captured Taliban infamous commander Imamudin nickname Qari Bilal on Tuesday morning," Safi told Xinhua.

Qari Bilal has been involved in organizing series of attacks against government interests over the past couple of years and his capture could prove a major blow to the Taliban insurgents in Kunduz and adjoining Baghlan and Takhar provinces, the official asserted.

Meantime, Kunduz police in a statement released here confirmed the arrest of Qari Bilal and termed the arrest as a victory of security forces against armed militants in the restive province.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment on the report.
LONDON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers should be allowed to vote in parliament if Brexit negotiations end with no-deal being agreed with Brussels, a committee of members of parliament (MPs) said Tuesday in a report.

The cross-party Exiting the European Union Committee also said Prime Minister Theresa May's government should set out what contingency planning is taking place for the risk of there being no deal at the end of Article 50 negotiations.

The committee, chaired by Labor pro-remain MP Hilary Benn, has been looking at the potential outcomes of negotiations as Britain leaves the European Union after more than 40 years of membership.

MPs on the committee looked at the economic assessment of "no deal" being reached between Britain and the EU, and what steps are being taken to mitigate what would be the damaging effect of such an outcome.

The committee concluded that the assertion by May's government that "no deal is better than a bad deal" is unsubstantiated.

It should undertake an economic and legal assessment of such an outcome, in which Britain would fall back on trading under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Benn said: "We all want the best possible deal for the UK, but what we are able to secure will ultimately depend on what the 27 member states (of the EU) are prepared to agree to.

"The government ... should also be prepared for the worst case, that a new trade agreement is not reached or ratified by the day we leave -- because the timescale allowed by Article 50 is particularly tight," Benn said.

The committee report said there is no precedent for the conclusion of a major comprehensive bilateral or multilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) covering goods and services within two years.

On Gibraltar, Benn said in the report: "Gibraltar's sovereignty, the wish of its people to remain British and its rights under any deal must be protected."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 19:55:07|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

VIENTIANE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A series of activities within the framework of "Chinese Culture Enters ASEAN" was held Tuesday in Lao capital Vientiane, drawing the participation of over 200 people from cultural and educational sector of China and Laos.

The event includes three parts, featuring book fair, painting and calligraphy exhibition as well as cultural lectures. Over 400 books highlighting Chinese culture, Chinese style and Chinese characters were chosen to display at the event, which was coorganized by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' World Knowledge Publishing House, Chinese Culture Center in Laos, Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of China's Shandong Province and Shandong Provincial Department of Culture.

During the event, famous painters and calligraphers from China displayed their own works, and together with Lao artists performed painting, paper cutting, New Year wood painting, kite making, among other non-material cultural heritages.

Meanwhile, Chinese writer and international cultural exchange activist Yu Xi hosted a cultural lecture on oil paintings, helping Lao students learn more about meaning of Chinese art works, thus understanding more about Chinese culture.

Ma Fengchun, Director of World Knowledge Publishing House said at the opening ceremony that this event was held in cooperation with Shandong province, the hometown of Confucius. It is hoped that the activities will promote China's cultural characteristics, deepen China-Laos cultural exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and traditional friendship between the two peoples, as well as develop the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership for the common interests of the two peoples.

Head of the Department of International Cooperation under Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism said the event is expected to further strengthen the bilateral friendship and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.

For his part, Provisional Charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Laos Zhao Chenggang said China and Laos are embracing new opportunities within the framework of Belt and Road initiative, including people-to-people exchanges, among others. The event has created a new platform for cultural exchanges between China and ASEAN, as well as China and Laos.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 20:10:09|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

TAIPEI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Two poultry farms in Taiwan's Yunlin County, a major chicken supplier on the island, were confirmed to be infected with the H5N2 bird flu virus, leading to a culling of more than 30,000 birds, the local animal inspection authority said Tuesday.

More than 4,000 birds on a farm in Cihtong Township were killed Tuesday after its chickens tested positive for the H5N2 virus in late March.

Another farm in Yunlin's Douliu City was also confirmed to have the virus after more than half of its 56,000 chickens died in one week. The local inspection authority decided to cull the remaining birds Tuesday afternoon.

A large temperature difference has led to a rise in bird flu infections, according to the local animal inspection authority. It also warned farms to strengthen quarantine and sanitation work and report any unusual deaths of poultry in a timely manner.

A total of 117 poultry farms have been infected with highly pathogenic avian flu viruses across Taiwan since the beginning of this year, with 62 of the farms in Yunlin.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 20:10:09|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior Syrian military officer on Tuesday denied reports of military toxic attack on rebel-held area in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

"This didn't happen and will not happen, not now and not before," the military officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes carried out intensive airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the countryside of Idlib province, killing 58 people, mostly civilians.

The opposition accused the Syrian air force of being behind the attack.

But the senior officer, who spoke condition of anonymity, said the rebels were the ones using the toxic gas against civilians to frame the Syrian army.

Still, the officer said initial speculations indicate that a depot of chemical weapons that belongs to the rebels was blown up in Idlib.

Meanwhile, other activists said that a rocket hit the hospital that was treating the wounded of the attack were struck by airstrikes in Khan Sheikhoun.
SINGAPORE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean leaders wrote to their Russian counterparts, conveying condolences on the terror attack at the subway system in St. Petersburg, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Tuesday.

In the letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam conveyed heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wish those injured a speedy recovery on behalf of the people of Singapore.

Tan said he was deeply saddened to learn of the terror attack.

"Singapore strongly condemns this barbaric act of terror, and stands in solidarity with the people of Russia at this difficult time," the president wrote.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, saying he was shocked to hear of the attack.

Singapore strongly condemns this senseless act of terror and stands in solidarity with Russia, Lee wrote.

"On behalf of the government of Singapore, I convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish the injured a quick recovery," he added.

The bombing in the subway system in St. Petersburg on Monday has killed 14 people, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Tuesday.

Russian officials have described the bombing as an act of terror.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 20:30:12|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

JIUQUAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Staff and students from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center honored aerospace martyrs at a cemetery in northwest China's Gobi Desert on Tomb-Sweeping Day, which fell on Tuesday.

Sci-tech workers, students and staff of the center visited the Dong Feng revolutionary martyrs' cemetery and paid tribute to more than 700 people who devoted themselves to national defense and sci-tech projects.

Among them was Marshal Nie Rongzhen, who headed research on the country's first atomic bomb and satellite in the 1950s and 1960s.

The center has witnessed 24 firsts in the country's aerospace history, including the successful launch of its first man-made satellite and the first space lab.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. The three-day holiday lasts from April 2 to 4.
MOGADISHU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Somalia and the African Union mission have kicked off discussions aimed at opening main supply routes to ease access to humanitarian aid in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa nation.

Senior African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) officials are holding talks with government officials on the modalities of opening and securing main supply routes to help facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to drought stricken communities in the country.

Rashid Abdullahi Mohamed, Minister of Defence, said Somalia National Army (SNA) will ensure humanitarian relief reaches residents affected by the drought.

He said the initiative will help alleviate the humanitarian crisis and save thousands of lives.

"I think that the plan presented was very amazing and we do really appreciate, if it is implemented," Mohamed said in a statement issued in Mogadishu by AU mission on Tuesday.

"I believe we will have a realistic outcome to support and mobilize the country and allow free movement, better protection and better access for both economic improvement and protection of the community that has been affected by the drought," said Mohamed.

Aid agencies say the poor state of main supply routes in south-central Somalia had provided conditions for Al-Shabaab to continue laying ambushes and use explosive devices against AMISOM convoys and Somali national security forces.

AMISOM Chief Operations Officer, Col. Mutacho Othieno said that the project to open and secure main supply routes will be augmented with operations to rid the country of the Al-Shabaab.

"What we want to do is to clear the shoulders of these roads up to 20 meters on either side but we shall also include operations to clear Al-Shabaab remnants, 20kms on each side of the roads to ensure that the movement is safe and Al-Shabaab does not lay mines and ambushes along the routes," Othieno said.

The use of the deadly devices on main supply routes has been cited as one of the key reasons restricting response to humanitarian crisis and hampering troops' access to AMISOM forward operating bases in various sectors.

The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Francisco Madeira said the opening and securing of main supply routes is crucial for channeling humanitarian aid needed by drought-stricken residents.

Madeira lauded the move, noting that AMISOM will support the government in securing the main roads. He said the impact of opening main supply routes is so critical that needs swift implementation.

"If we took one supply route for example the Mogadishu-Baidoa, if we open that supply route and make sure that the population along those routes are protected, make sure that the road is passable every day, that is a major boost to the economy, a major boost for the normalization of life and a major boost to the defeat of the Al-Shabaab," he said.
MOGADISHU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The EU has launched two projects worth 10 million euros aimed at addressing the challenges of mixed migration, aspects of stability and reintegration of returnees to spur better migration management in Somalia.

A statement from the EU released on Tuesday said the projects based in the southern port city of Kismayu will target Jubaland, Southwest State and Mogadishu.

EU Head of Cooperation in Somalia Pilar Palmero said the European bloc is a strong supporter of Somalia and under the EU Trust Fund for Africa Flash and Reinteg-UNHCR for 10 million euros were among the first projects approved in 2016.

"This shows that Somalia is a priority country for us. The EU is Somalia's closest friend and supporter," Palmero said.

The projects will be implemented in close collaboration with Somali authorities by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.

The project will address migration and reintegration related issues in a holistic manner including addressing policy and governance aspects as well as bridging the gaps in the delivery of basic services in education, health and market services.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 21:19:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 10 people were killed in 3,351 fire accidents nationwide during China's Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday that ended Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Security said.

During the three-day holiday, police responded to 8,164 fire alarms, rescuing 745 people in danger, the ministry said in a statement.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors by burning joss sticks and paper money.

Authorities at various levels sent more than 14,000 inspection teams and located over 73,000 hidden dangers of fire during the period, it said.

A total of 17,000 vehicles and 92,000 firefighters were sent to put out fire. No major fires were reported during the holiday, it noted.

Nearly 14.56 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives during the holiday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
TOKYO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Two members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet said separately on Tuesday that they support using the controversial prewar Imperial Rescript on Education as a teaching material, despite strong protests from opposition parties and the public.

Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the government should allow for the use of the rescript "under careful consideration so that it does not violate the Constitution and the basic education law."

Japan's education minister Hirokazu Matsuno said at a different press conference that he saw "no problem in the Imperial Rescript on Education being used as a teaching material."

He also claimed that other materials not in line with Japan's constitution were already included in school textbooks, and "that does not mean they should be eliminated. It's about what we actually teach."

The Imperial Rescript on Education has drawn public attention recently after an Osaka kindergarten operated by the scandal-hit Moritomo Gakuen was found to have been making its students memorize it.

The edict, issued in 1890, had been used to promote emperor-oriented and militaristic education before and during the Second World War and was abolished after the end of the war.

The kindergarten's advocation of the rescript, though drawing criticism from many parents, was reportedly supported by Abe and his wife Akie, as the prime minister's wife visited the kindergarten several times before a cut-price land deal scandal involving the school operator broke out.

The Japanese government said last week that it would not rule out the textbook use of the Imperial Rescript on Education, drawing much criticism from opposition parties and the public.

Hiroshi Ogushi, policy chief of the main opposition Democratic Party, reportedly said that it "clearly shows the Abe administration's move to return to prewar values."

Akira Koike, secretariat head of the Japanese Communist Party, told a press conference that the government's decision showed a dangerous trend of the Abe administration and shall not be allowed.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 21:30:23|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

MANILA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have made progress in talks on the framework of the Code of Conduct(COC) in the South China Sea, Philippines' top diplomat said Tuesday.

"We have made good progress on coming up with a framework of the COC with China. From a scale of 1 to 10, we are at the upper level. And we are starting from zero in January," Philippine Acting Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo told a forum.

"There have been a number of elements agreed and we would definitely have a framework on which to embark on a serious of negotiations on a code of conduct," he added at the forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

Once the framework is agreed, it would then be possible to begin discussions on the code that can be used to manage the sea dispute peacefully, he said.

ASEAN leaders will discuss later this month in Manila the progress in the ongoing efforts by China and ASEAN to craft the framework for the COC, Manalo said.

The leaders will discuss issues that promote peace, security and stability in the region, including non-traditional security threats, as well as maritime security and cooperation, he said.

The Philippines is the chair of ASEAN meetings this year, which is the 50th anniversary year.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will chair the upcoming ASEAN summit later this month, the first of the two leaders' summits this year.

Manalo said Duterte "will raise issues which would support or enhance greater ASEAN centrality and involvement in regional issues and promote ASEAN unity."

"We seek to set the tone of the next 50 years for ASEAN with our priorities and initiatives. Our goal is to advance common interests, all aligned toward the realization of a truly rules-based, people-oriented, people-centered community," Manalo said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 21:40:24|Editor: Xiang Bo

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Sales of land for residential projects almost doubled in China's first-tier cities during January-March, according to the latest data released by China Index Academy, a property research organization.

Land sales in major cities, like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, totaled 5.08 million square meters in the first quarter, an increase of 98 percent from a year ago, the highest level over the past two years.

Surging land sale is part of the government's efforts to cool down the runaway housing prices in major cities where huge demand and limited supply pushed prices to record high.

Major Chinese cities are taking fresh measures including increased minimum deposits for second-home buyers, adding to the slew of steps taken since October in dozens of cities to prevent home prices from rising out of control.
SOFIA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and visiting European Council President Donald Tusk held talks on border security issues on Tuesday.

"Bulgaria is perhaps the best example of how to protect our borders," Tusk said at a joint press conference after talks.

"The situation is under control and it proves how efficient the Bulgarian border services and its political leadership are. We are determined to keep routes of illegal migration in this region closed," he said.

Should further difficulties arise on Bulgaria's borders, the EU has already planned emergency funding, and stands ready to react quickly in support of Bulgaria, Tusk said.

"For me, the excellent job you are doing at your borders is evidence that you have made enough progress to become part of the Schengen area," but "we need, as you know, all member states' agreement," Tusk said.

"We work hard to make it happen," he said, adding that member states have already shown their support for Bulgaria to be covered by the new high-tech systems they are building to strengthen Schengen.

"In this complicated geopolitical situation, Bulgaria plays an important role because the security of European citizens starts from the security of Bulgarian border," Radev said in turn.

Radev said they discussed relations between the EU and Turkey. "For Bulgaria, it is extremely important to develop good neighborly relations with Turkey as a neighboring country, but at the same time, increasing risks between the EU and Turkey creates the greatest risk for Bulgaria," Radev said.

Therefore, both sides should show goodwill to reduce tensions, he said.

At the same time, it is unacceptable for Turkey to interfere in the internal affairs of any country of the EU, including Bulgaria, Radev said.
A cashier counts pound coins in a money change bureau in central London, Britain, on Oct. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- After the conclusion of Brexit negotiations, the European Union (EU) will have to adapt its budget to take into account the loss of funding from Britain, its second biggest contributor, members of European Parliament (MEPs) told Xinhua.

Bernd Kolmel, spokesman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament's budget committee, made clear the significance of the British contribution.

"In absolute figures, the United Kingdom has been the second biggest net contributor to the EU budget. We talk about 5 billion euros (5.32 billion U.S. dollars) yearly, which will be missing in the future," Kolmel stressed.

Despite the massive shortfall this seemed to imply, Kolmel saw a straightforward approach, comparable to private sector concerns.

"Like a private company, the European Union has to adapt its payments to the new revenue situation. If a private company loses a main client, savings have to be made in order to compensate this loss. Now the EU will lose a big net contributor, so the EU budget has to be adapted accordingly."

"Brexit is also a chance to start a much-needed budget reform", in order to develop a "sustainable, balanced and transparent budget", he added.

"The problem will not take place now," said Gerard Deprez, a Belgian MEP from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, who sits on the Parliament's budget committee.

"The impact of Brexit will be perceptible after 2020 which will be the last year of the actual Multiannual Financial Framework," Deprez said.

For the future, "the commitments will decrease in proportion to the UK contribution to the budget but during the years 2021, 2022, 2023, payments will be more affected because they are, to a large part, the result of commitments made at the time the UK was a member of the EU," the Belgian MEP explained.

Regarding continued contributions to EU cohesion policy after Brexit, Kolmel, also deputy federal chairman of German party the Liberal-Konservative Reformer, stressed the need for a "a fair deal between the remaining EU member states and the United Kingdom both with regard to the thousands of EU regulations and directives and to budgetary issues".

"I would like to refer to the example of countries such as Norway or Switzerland. Both are non-EU-countries and contribute with own programs to the cohesion in Europe," said the German conservative.

"I could imagine, that also the UK will start such a program, either alone or together with other European partners," Kolmel said.

Deprez said Britain would not be forced to contribute to EU cohesion policy after it had left the union, but that it would still be responsible to honor budgetary commitments it made while still a full member state.

Both MEPs agreed it was clear that London would no longer be a part of the EU single market.

"If the UK requests to participate in certain European programs, it will have to pay appropriate budgetary contributions as a third country," Deprez said.

Kolmel also warned against thinking of Brexit negotiations in terms of tough versus soft tactics.

"We should use better fitting words such as fair and sensible negotiations with foresight," the German MEP argued.

"It is clear, that at the beginning of such very complex negotiations both sides will formulate harsh conditions in order to save the own interests."

"Nobody will win anything if the EU of 27 and the United Kingdom will not conclude a deal which is to the benefit of all actors," Kolmel warned.

"Therefore, I am confident that at the end we will have a good deal, which allows to maintain excellent economic and trade relations between the remaining EU member states and the United Kingdom," he said.

The Jacques Delors Institut, a pro-EU think tank, estimated the "Brexit gap" in the European budget would be approximately 10 billion euros, presenting a significant challenge for negotiations for the next Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027.
BRATISLAVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia must be a part of Europe, a part of its core, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said here Tuesday.

Fico made the remarks during a discussion at a business club in Bratislava, dismissing as "nonsense" the notion of Slovak opposition politician Richard Sulik to shift into reverse gear.

"We have already adopted the euro and joined the Schengen zone," he said. "Moreover, Slovakia belongs to the countries that, unlike Poland, think the EU founding treaties do not have to be revised."

Fico, however, said the Slovak government would maintain its position to keep refusing refugee quotas regarding the migrant crisis.

"If this migration is to be stopped, we must focus on the countries that migrants are coming from," Fico said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 22:14:50|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Faw-Volkswagen (FAW-VW) will recall 23 imported Audi vehicles in the Chinese mainland due to problematic airbag system, China's quality supervisor has said.

The recall, from April 10, will include the 2017 models of Audi A7, A8L and A4 allroad, according to a statement by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The chemical components in the gas generator are disproportionately infused, which could lead to malfunctions of the airbag system, the statement said.

The company will replace the problematic airbags for free after conducting inspections.
MANILA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and China have re-established direct talks for the first time in six years to discuss security and trade issues, the Philippines' top diplomat said Tuesday.

Philippine Acting Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said the biggest fruit of President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to Beijing in October last year was the re-opening of the lines that pave the way for direct consultations between the two countries.

"I think one of the benefits that have arisen from the president's visit last October is that we have restored various mechanisms to talk to China, not only on trade but also on political and security issues," Manalo told a forum in Manila.

"The key here is how to talk, how to settle or how to manage tensions in a peaceful way," Manalo said.

He said bilateral talks are the key because dialogue and cooperation will foster peace and prosperity in the region.

The Philippines and China are in talks to establish a bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea.

Manalo said that the mechanism will provide the Philippines and China a good forum to have frank exchanges on vital issues.

"We're discussing with China in the context of trying to improve our relationship," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last week that China is willing to strengthen dialogue with the Philippines to properly manage and control divergences and advance maritime cooperation to create a favorable atmosphere for pragmatic cooperation as well as the sound and stable development of ties.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 22:50:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

BAGHDAD, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Tuesday condemned bombing in a metro attack in Russia's second largest city St. Petersburg, which killed at least 14 people and injured dozens.

"The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs declares Iraq's solidarity with the people and government of the Russian Federation against black terrorism," the ministry said in a statement.

"Iraq reaffirms the need for further international coordination to eliminate extremist groups which are targeting innocent people wherever they may be," the statement said.

On Monday, a terrorist bomb attack on Metro train in Russian city of St. Petersburg killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens others.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:00:37|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

Tourists have a trip at a park during the Qingming Holiday, a three-day holiday for the Tomb-Sweeping Day, in Fuzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province, April 3, 2017. (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism industry raked in 39 billion yuan (5.74 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue during the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, official data showed on Tuesday.

The revenue was driven by 93 million domestic tourist trips, the National Tourism Administration said in a statement.

Tomb-sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is an important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. Many also spend the three-day holiday on leisure travel.

Most of the tourists hit the road for short-haul trips. Meanwhile, Railway operator sent 35 million passengers, most of whom headed for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the Yangtze River Delta region.

China's tourism industry is key to the country's shift towards a more service-driven economy and is a useful indicator of the strength of consumer spending.
LISBON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Tuesday he has no desire to gain an absolute majority in parliament and is happy to continue to be backed by left-wing parties.

"There will be no (anticipated) elections now and there shouldn't be. We need to work for the legislature to be completed with calmness. If there is something the Portuguese are grateful for it is the country living a normal period," he told Portuguese broadcaster Renascenca.

He added that he would like to continue the "gerinconca" with or without absolute majority. "Geringonca" is roughly described as "contraption" and has been used to describe the Portuguese government, which took power in November in 2015 and is backed by the Left bloc and Communist Party in parliament.

"It has worked well because we have maintained a margin of freedom to maintain the independence of each (party), the policies of each one and the solidity to do what we decide to do jointly," he added.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro (83.1 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program in 2011 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, which led the previous administration to apply harsh austerity.

The Socialist Party, led by Costa, has raised salaries as part of its anti-austerity drive, while managing to lower the deficit to 2.1 percent of GDP in 2016, the lowest level seen since its return to democracy in 1974.

The next Portuguese elections will take place in 2019.
LISBON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Portugal currently has around 500,000 cancer survivors and 100,000 cancer patients receiving treatment, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Portuguese League Against Cancer.

Leader of the association, Vitor Veloso, said during a ceremony that cancer had increasingly become a chronic illness, but despite the rising number of cases, more people were being cured, according to local media reports.

However, he warned that the number of people suffering from cancer would rise further in the coming years.

Joint secretary of state for health Fernando Araujo said the number of new cases of cancer in Portugal had grown at a rate of three percent per year, pointing out that tobacco was the main risk factor and one of the main causes of death in the country.

President of the Portuguese parliament Ferro Rodrigues said every year there are 40,000 new cases of cancer in the country, killing around 20,000 people per year.

Cancer rates worldwide could further increase by 50 percent to 15 million new cases in the year 2020, according to the World Cancer Report.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2000, malignant tumours were responsible for 12 percent of the 56 million deaths worldwide from all causes.
LJUBLJANA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A water salute welcomed the arrival of the first Transavia plane from Amsterdam at Ljubljana airport on Tuesday as the Dutch low-cost carrier launched scheduled flights connecting the two capitals, the Slovenan Press Agency reported.

Becoming the first low-cost airline to operate on the route, Transavia will fly from Ljubljana's Joze Pucnik Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport three times a week.

The carrier Transavia, with the its lowest fairs starting at 35 euros (37.2 U.S. dollars) for a one-way flight, puts under pressure the Slovenian legacy carrier Adria Airways that serves the Ljubljana-Amsterdam route.

The cheaper Transavia's route will be operated by Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 189 seats, while Adria Airways uses a smaller A-319 aircraft at normal air fare rates.

Janez Krasnja, the head of the air services at Aerodromu Ljubljana, said the new link was expected to bring more than 25,000 passengers by the end of the year.

Transavia is a low-cost subsidiary of the Dutch carrier KLM. It serves 22 cities in Europe on a regular basis with a fleet of 56 aircraft.
GENEVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 39 jihadists were prevented from entering Switzerland in 2016, more than double the 17 individuals who were denied entry two years ago, the Swiss Federal Office of Police revealed Tuesday.

In its new report, the Office indicated that criminal proceedings were opened in 60 out of the 70 jihadism-related cases under investigation by Swiss authorities in 2016.

While Switzerland has been practically unscathed by terrorist attacks compared to its European neighbours such as France and Germany, authorities take the threat very seriously.

"The importance of police cooperation is vindicated in light of the terrorist attacks that marked 2016," the Office's director, Nicoletta della Valle, noted in the report's foreword.

"Without the exchange of information between all countries, we would be powerless against this threat which is set to continue," she added.

As well as enhancing cooperation, the Federal Office of Police said it will continue to fight terror-financing and increase regulations related to substances that can be used to make bombs.
COLOMBO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Indian Coast Guard Ship "Shoor" arrived at the Colombo Port on Tuesday on a goodwill training visit, the navy media unit said in a statement.

The ship was ceremonially received by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with naval traditions and customs on arrival at the port.

Upon her arrival, Commanding Officer of the ship Deputy Inspector General Surendra Singh Dasila paid a courtesy call on Commander of the Western Naval Area Rear Admiral Niraja Atigala.

The visiting naval crew of the ship is scheduled to take part in several training sessions and a wide range of activities organized by the Sri Lanka Navy during their stay in Colombo.

To strengthening mutual friendship, naval personnel of both countries are scheduled to attend several friendly sport events during the visit, the navy statement said.

The ship is due to leave Sri Lanka on April 8.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:25:41|Editor: Song Lifang

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)

MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Investigative Committee (RIC) said Tuesday that 22-year-old Akbarzhon Dzhalilov carried out the deadly bomb attack in the St. Petersburg metro Monday afternoon.

The blast took place in a train carriage in the tunnel between two metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens.

"The conclusions of the genetic examination and the recording of the CCTV cameras give the investigators reasons to believe that it was Dzhalilov who committed the terrorist act in the train," said the RIC in a statement.

The statement did not disclose whether Dzhalilov had accomplices or connections to the Islamic State or other terrorist groups.

According to the statement, Dzhalilov left an additional explosive device at a third metro station, which has been defused by investigators.

Dzhalilov himself died in the blast, Interfax news agency quoted RIC spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko as saying.

RIA Novosti news agency and some Kyrgyz media outlets reported that Dzhalilov was born in Kyrgyzstan and attained Russian citizenship.

Born in 1995, Dzhalilov left Kyrgyzstan for Russia with his parents in 2011. Later, his parents returned to Kyrgyzstan, while Dzhalilov himself remained in Russia to earn money, Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg quoted their close relatives as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:30:42|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

MOMBASA, Kenya, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan authorities on Tuesday deported three Italian fugitives wanted by Interpol over drug and criminal related offenses in their home country.

The three, Mario Mele, Alberto Fulvio and Stefano Poli who were on Interpol's Red Notice, were handed over to Italian authorities in Malindi and deported.

They were among twelve suspects arrested in Mombasa during a joint security operation last week.

Head of Anti-Narcotics Police Unit, Hamis Massa, confirmed the suspects were handed over to Italian authorities for deportation.

"We have handed the three for deportation to their home country where they are wanted for various crime they committed before escaping in to the country," Massa said.

In his home country, Mele is facing charges of tax evasion and fraudulent bankruptcy, involving an amount of 17 million euros.

The suspect is believed to have fled from Italy in 2013. The 56-year-old was arrested at his PataPata Beach Club in Malindi.

Fulvio is an Italian fugitive who has been on Interpol's most wanted list since 1997. He fled to Kenya in 1993 to escape an eight-year conviction in Torini, Italy and acquired citizenship in 2009.

Poli, a 70-year-old from Gomo in Italy, arrived in Kenya last year after escaping a 10-year and nine-month sentence imposed by a court in Milan over fiscal fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy.

Coast regional police commander Philip Tuimur said last Friday that the Italians' deportation would send the strong message that Kenya is not a safe haven for criminals.

The war on drugs at the Coast has seen the arrest and deportation of suspects including the Akasha brothers and their accomplices to New York.

Baktash (40) and Ibrahim (28) Akasha, and foreigners Vijay Goswami (Indian) and Hussein Shabakash (Pakistani) were deported on Jan. 31 to face charges related to running a drug trafficking syndicate.

They were arrested for allegedly conspiring to import heroin and methamphetamine into the United States. Enditem
KHARTOUM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Regional workshop sessions to identify a strategy to control quelea kicked off on Tuesday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

A total of 13 African countries participated in the workshop as well as the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Quelea, a red-billed small bird, is one of the most dangerous agricultural pests threatening food security in Africa, despite efforts exerted by the continent's countries to get rid of the risk of birds in general.

Scientists estimate the number of quelea, originating from Africa, at around 100 million, with an average daily grain consumption of 10 grams per one, thus a flock of two million quelea birds can devour 20 tons of grain in one day.

"Representatives from a number of African countries and FAO experts are participating in this important conference, due to the danger posed by the quelea bird on food security in Africa," said Sudan's Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Al-Dekheiri during the workshop's opening session.

"Flocks of quelea birds attack and destroy millions of hectares of agricultural farms and fields annually, leading to substantial grain deficiency in the African continent," he noted.

He added that Sudan loses millions of U.S. dollars on plans placed by the Plant Protection Directorate, an affiliate of Sudan's Ministry of Agriculture, to face pest birds, namely quelea birds.

He brought up international agreements, including the Rotterdam Convention, concerning finding safer alternatives to spray fenthion, a chemical pesticide, where quelea birds breed or live.

The FAO estimates the agricultural loss resulting from quelea birds at over 50 million dollars annually.

Elwathig Osman Mukhtar, Assistant FAO Resident Representative in Sudan, said the workshop endeavors to empower the African continent to overcome the risk of pest birds, particularly quelea birds.

"These birds are a great threat to Africa's food security, one of the main causes of famine, therefore, we must unite our efforts and find applicable solutions in the face of this risk," he told reporters.

He further noted that regional countries tend to have a road-map in order to find alternatives and develop pilot projects to completely eliminate quelea birds through safer alternatives for both humans and the environment.

Quelea birds are found in several African countries all the way from South Africa to North Africa such as Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mauritania as well as the African coast.

Sudan has been suffering from quelea bird flock attacks against agriculture, particularly in the Gezira State in central Sudan and the Northern State in Northern Sudan, which constitute major agricultural areas for grain cultivation, namely maize and wheat.

Dr. Fawziya Abbas, Deputy General Director of the Plant Protection Directorate in Sudan said Sudan is one of the most affected African countries by quelea birds.

"Thousands of farms are affected by quelea birds' flock attacks, and local measures have failed to decrease the catastrophe. We look forward to finding scientific alternatives in this conference," she told reporters on Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:35:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a message condemning deadly metro attack in St. Petersburg, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday.

Erdogan expressed his condolences to the Russian people and to the families of the victims, and wished a speedy recovery of the wounded.

"Turkey, a country which has struggled with terrorism for many years, stands by Russia against this treacherous terror attack," Erdogan said in the message, quoted by Anadolu Agency.

The blast in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, killed at least 14 and injured dozens on Monday, said Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee.

The explosion, later described as a "terrorist attack," occurred in a Metro train carriage in St. Petersburg.

Russia declared a three-day mourning starting on Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:35:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

GENEVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The UN Syria commission strongly condemned on Tuesday an alleged chemical attack which struck the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Shikhoun, leaving as many as 58 dead and many more injured.

"Preliminary information indicates a number of civilian casualties, including children. Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning," the Commission said in a written statement.

"The Commission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this attack including the alleged use of chemical weapons and reports of a subsequent attack on a medical facility where a number of injured persons were receiving treatment," it added.

While the opposition accused the Syrian air force of being behind the attack, a senior military officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the rebels were the ones who used toxic gas against civilians to frame the Syrian army.
Tourists are seen taking pictures in front of the Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Dec. 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Wang Yue)

HARARE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan national carrier RwandAir will introduce a four times weekly service between Kigali and Harare staring on Wednesday, Zimbabwe's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) said Tuesday.

This follows the airline's announcement in January this year that Harare will be among six new African and international destinations it planned to start servicing in 2017.

The flights also commence after Zimbabwe's tourism minister Walter Mzembi met RwandAir officials in Kigali on the sidelines of an African Union summit last year and discussed the possibility of the airline servicing the Kigali-Lusaka-Harare route.

The two sides also explored the possibility of RwandAir doing the Harare-Kigali-Guangzhou, as well as the Harare-Kigali-London routes in the future.

Plans by RwandAir to launch Harare flights had been on the cards for some years.

RwandAir operates one of the youngest fleet on the African continent and flies to over 20 destinations across Africa.

Zimbabwe has in recent years witnessed increased interest from various airlines that are keen to fly into the country.

Several airlines have also expressed interest to commence direct flights to the recently upgraded Victoria Falls International Airport.

Last month, Ethiopian Airways was the first to introduce direct flights to Victoria Falls Airport while South African Airways replaced its 138-seat A325 with a wide-bodied 222-seat Airbus A330-200 as the airport can now accommodate bigger aircraft.

Kenya Airways has also announced that it will start direct flights between Nairobi and Victoria Falls on May 1, making it Kenya Airways 52nd destination and its second city in Zimbabwe after Harare where it operates 21 flights weekly.

The Victoria Falls International Airport, which was commissioned in November 2016, is poised to attract increased air traffic after it underwent a facelift which increased its passenger handling capacity to 1.5 million per year from 500,000.

The project was carried out by a Chinese contractor and financed through a 150-million dollars loan from China Export-Import Bank.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 23:45:45|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

VIENTIANE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a message of condolence to the government of the Russian Federation on Tuesday after a recent bomb explosion in the subway in St. Petersburg.

On behalf of the government and the people, Thongloun expressed deep condolences and sympathy to the Russian government and people as well as to the bereaved families of the victims affected by the brutal attack and act of cruelty for which there is no justification, according to the Lao News Agency (KPL).

The prime minister strongly condemns the terrorist attack and stands side by side in solidarity with the Russian Federation to cooperate with the international community in the fight against any form of terrorism and violence.

The subway explosion in the Russian city of St. Petersburg killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens of others on Monday. Enditem
BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier defended the European Union (EU) and criticized those who wished to undermine it as "irresponsible."

Steinmeier used his first major foreign policy speech as German president to emphasize the value of the EU and the importance of working hard to ensure its success.

Steinmeier said the future of Europe was not a certainty, adding that it never had been, even before Brexit.

Addressing the Brexit, the president said that the slogan of Britain's leave campaign -- "take back control" -- was a "strong slogan," but he insisted that nationalists could not honor it.

Warning of the dangers of populism, the former foreign minister said, "It is not only naive, but also irresponsible to fool people. It is irresponsible to let people think that in a world that is becoming more complex, the answers become easier."

His remarks referenced the Brexit debate when he said, "It is irresponsible to say that in this world, a European country alone can make its voice heard or assert its economic interests."

He also said he agreed with former British cabinet minister Michael Heseltine that Brexit was "the greatest loss of British sovereignty."

To close his speech, Steinmeier switched from German to English, saying his message for his country was: "Yes, we want Europe! We want to build a better Europe, and we want to be a European Germany."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 00:50:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

ISTANBUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from Turkey's tourism sector are divided over a recent court ban on operations by Dutch online travel agent, booking.com, in the country.

The court's ruling came in a case opened by the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), the country's leading tourism institution, against booking.com for unfair competition against local travel agencies.

Following the court order, booking.com, which books over one million hotel rooms per day in 225 countries, suspended its operation in Turkey last week.

"Our local online reservation portals couldn't handle booking.com's low prices," said Serdar Ibis, board member of Turkey's inbound travel company Dorak-Itir Tour.

Ibis claimed that booking.com was neither paying taxes nor obliged to hire personnel as its local competitors and other tour operators in Turkey do. "Therefore it had a chance to rent hotel rooms from very reasonable prices when compared with travel agencies' prices," he said.

"Booking.com is a good portal for people to book hotel rooms in a very short time period or even instantly," he added. "But in Turkey, it has to open a branch here and obey the same rules and regulations of similar companies."

The ban should not be seen as a solution in a world which is becoming more digitalized each day, said Murat Ozbilgi, head of gezimanya.com, a tourism portal operating in Turkey.

He argued that the current system should adapt itself to the changing rules of the global world. "Fluctuation in prices, unfair competition, etc., should be all fought within the boundaries of laws," he added.

Turkish media reported on Tuesday that the Netherlands-based booking.com does not agree on the Turkish ruling.

"All of our activities in Turkey are carried out in accordance with the laws of Turkey," the online travel agent was quoted as saying in a statement by the Hurriyet daily. "We firmly believe that this process will lead to a positive outcome for us, and our Turkish customers will soon begin to enjoy the pleasure of all our services."

Sector representatives in Turkey are also divided on the impact of the ban on the country's already flagging tourism, a sector hit hard by terror attacks and political uncertainty over the past year.

Ankara lately found itself embroiled in a dispute with several European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, over their ban on Turkish ministers joining local rallies for an upcoming referendum on boosting the Turkish presidential powers.

The disputes have affected the decisions of European holidaymakers in choosing their destinations, according to Ozbilgi.

Small hotel owners and several sector representatives argued that the ban on booking.com would further harm Turkey's fragile tourism sector.

"It is as if someone intentionally sits and finds the best way to sink the entire sector," said Irfan Alis, owner of a corner shop in a hotel in Turkey's western city of Izmir.

In Ozbilgi's view, small businesses are going to be hurt in particular as a result of the ban, as they cannot easily reach customers. "Yes, big hotels and tour operators will make profit out of the ban but the small hotels will definitively lose," he said.

"We were having a significant number of trustworthy, financially reliable and qualified European tourists via booking.com," said Murat Orekli, owner of a small hotel in Turkey's northwestern island of Bozcada. "Now all are gone."

While the dispute is continuing, local media reported that TURSAB was considering opening cases against other online travel agents such as Germany's trivago.com and American tripadvisor.com.

"The association will take legal action against those who do not comply," the Milliyet daily said.

Some believed that if happens, it would be the end of the entire sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 00:55:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

ISTANBUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth on Tuesday called on Turkey to release a jailed German-Turkish correspondent, an episode that has contributed to strained bilateral ties.

"We are pressing for the release of Deniz Yucel," CNNTurk quoted Roth as saying at the German consulate in Istanbul.

German consulate officials met with Yucel in the day in an Istanbul prison for the first time since he was put in jail in February.

After being briefed by a German lawyer who visited Yucel in prison, Roth told reporters that the condition of the journalist "is good under the given circumstances."

"But he is finding the solitary confinement a great strain," the deputy foreign minister added.

Yucel, a 43-year-old working with German newspaper Die Welt, has been charged with making propaganda for a terrorist organization and inciting public violence, which he has denied.

In his speeches, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Yucel as a German agent and representative of the Kurdistan Workers' Party blacklisted as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

If convicted, Yucel will faces up to 10 years in prison, according to media reports.

The case and a German ban on Turkish ministers joining local rallies in support of an upcoming referendum on granting more powers to Erdogan have further chilled bilateral relations.
PYONGYANG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday expressed condolences to Russia over the terror attack in St. Petersburg which killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens others.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidum of the Supreme People's Assembly, Tuesday sent a message of sympathy to Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing deep condolences and sympathy to the victims and their bereaved families, said Korean Central News Agency.

"It (message) sincerely hoped that the sorrow of the bereaved families would be overcome and stability would settle there as early as possible," said the report.
BUDAPEST, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian Parliament adopted Tuesday a debated amendment of the act on higher education that could end in the closing of the Central European University (CEU), founded by Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros.

Members of parliament, overwhelmingly controlled by the ruling Fidesz and KDNP parties, voted 123 in favor and 38 against the new legislature, which puts difficult, if not impossible, conditions on foreign higher education institutions working in Hungary.

The new law, if signed by Hungarian President Janos Ader, will require an international treaty with the government of the home country of a university operating in Hungary and for the school to have accredited courses in its home country.

The institutions will have six months to comply with the new regulations after it enters into effect.

The law does not affect students who have already started their studies, meaning that if CEU cannot comply with the new legal conditions, it could not accept new students from 2018, and could cease its operations in 2021.

The CEU said Tuesday it would contest the constitutionality of the bill. "The new law puts at risk the academic freedom not only of CEU but of other Hungarian research and academic institutions," the university said in a statement.

The Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources, responsible for education, said that the CEU was "misleading the public opinion."

It said the amendment of the act on Hungarian education did not affect the work of the Hungarian part of the Central European University, which could continue to work as a Hungarian institution, as soon as the leadership of the two countries signed an agreement of mutual support.

CEU was founded in 1991, based first in Prague and later in Budapest. It delivers both U.S. and Hungarian diplomas. It currently has approximately 1,400 students and 370 faculty members.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 01:10:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army categorically denied executing a toxic attack in the rebel-held area in the country's northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, according to state news agency SANA.

The general-command of the Syrian army said the accusations of carrying out a poisonous gas attack against the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib's countryside are completely baseless.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes discharged intensive airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, killing 58 people, mostly civilians.

The opposition accused the Syrian air force of being behind the attack.

The statement said the army hasn't yet, nor will use such weapons in the future, adding that the Syrian army is "above such heinous, and criminal acts."

The statement held "terrorist groups" responsible for using chemical weapons.

Nevertheless, the attack received international condemnation.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called reports of the attack "horrific," adding that the incident "must be investigated and perpetrators held to account."

The United Nations special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said the attack is believed to be chemical and was launched by air, noting there ought to be a "clear recognition of responsibility and accountability."
KHARTOUM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday welcomed Sudan government's extension of the Action Plan for the Protection of Children from Violations in Armed Conflict.

The UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting hailed the substantial progress Sudan has made to implement and reaffirm the commitment, to which the country and the UN will make joint effort for the rights of children in Sudan, according to a UN statement.

The statement pointed to the key milestones in the implementation of the plan by the Sudanese government, including the release of 21 children formerly associated with armed groups, and their receipt of presidential pardons.

"In addition, the government has enacted laws and policies to prevent the recruitment and use of children in its forces, and provided the UN access for the purposes of monitoring and verification," it added.

The UN also said that it would work together with the Sudanese government to address other gaps in the full implementation of the action plan.

The plan set out a series of measures to enhance the overall protection of children affected by armed conflict, including the cessation and prevention of child recruitment.

Sudan has been fighting the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector at South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011. It has also been fighting armed groups in Darfur since 2003.
A still image of suspect Akbarzhon Dzhalilov walking at St Petersburg's metro station is shown in this police handout photo obtained by 5th Channel Russia April 4, 2017. (Reuters Photo)

MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Investigative Committee (RIC) said Tuesday that 22-year-old Akbarzhon Dzhalilov carried out the deadly bomb attack in the St. Petersburg metro Monday afternoon.

The blast took place in a train carriage in the tunnel between two metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens.

"The conclusions of the genetic examination and the recording of the CCTV cameras give the investigators reasons to believe that it was Dzhalilov who committed the terrorist act in the train," said the RIC in a statement.

The statement did not disclose whether Dzhalilov had accomplices or connections to the Islamic State or other terrorist groups.

According to the statement, Dzhalilov left an additional explosive device at a third metro station, which has been defused by investigators.

Dzhalilov himself died in the blast, Interfax news agency quoted RIC spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko as saying.

RIA Novosti news agency and some Kyrgyz media outlets reported that Dzhalilov was born in Kyrgyzstan and attained Russian citizenship.

Born in 1995, Dzhalilov left Kyrgyzstan for Russia with his parents in 2011. Later, his parents returned to Kyrgyzstan, while Dzhalilov himself remained in Russia to earn money, Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg quoted their close relatives as saying.
by Julius Gale

JUBA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- An upsurge in insecurity, attacks on aid workers and convoys in war-torn South Sudan could increase risks of famine where some 100,000 people are already starving and another 1 million on the brink of starvation, experts have said.

James Okuk, Lecturer of Political Science at the University of Juba, said the recent killing of six aid workers in eastern South Sudan, coupled with increased attacks on relief convoys would impede delivery of much-needed aid to famine strike communities.

"Killing of aid workers will scare humanitarian organizations to deliver relief aid. And if they don't deliver, we will have a lot of threats like hunger and spread of diseases because the country currently relies on aid," Okuk told Xinhua on Tuesday.

He said humanitarian agencies play a vital role in feeding huge number of South Sudan's population mainly comprised of malnourished children.

The lecturer added that any move to scare away humanitarian agencies from South Sudan may result in more children dying, spiraling of violence and mass displacement of people into neighboring countries.

"The current trend means frustration and hopelessness for the South Sudanese citizens because the only hope they have now is for them to get assistance from humanitarian organizations," Okuk said.

"When they get hopeless or frustrated, we never know what they will decide to do. Some will decide to leave the country into neighboring countries where there is a sense of sanity and some of them might opt to pick arms. All these are not good for the country at all," he added.

James Alic Garang, Senior Economist at Juba-based Ebony Center for Strategic Studies and Assistant Professor of Economics at Upper Nile University said continued killing of aid workers sends a negative signal that the armed actors and some communities don't understand roles of humanitarian agencies.

Garang said such behavior if not contained would led to some areas being cut off from receiving relief aid, which will have devastating impact on needy people.

"For one to kill aid workers is a disturbance to our country and it also sends a shock or a chilling psychology to the minds of the humanitarian community. So this would have a negative impact on aid distribution or access to aid and overall equity of the nation," Garang said.

"My appeal is that all parties must exert maximum effort to end the war and that is the only way out to stop the humanitarian crisis and attacks on aid workers," he added.

South Sudan has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has taken a devastating toll on the people of South Sudan.

The UN estimates that 1.5 million people have been forced into neighboring countries and another 7.5 million people across the country are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, and a localized famine declared in February in parts of northern unity state.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week in its monthly bulletin that aid agencies were forced to temporarily suspend operations in the famine-hit northern county of Mayendit over episodes of violence against aid convoys, workers and looting of humanitarian supplies across the country.

Gunmen ambushed and killed six aid workers on a road linking Juba to Pibor in Boma State last month.

According to the UN, South Sudan has become a hostile environment for aid workers to operate with at least 79 aid workers killed since the civil war began in 2013.

It added that some 12 aid workers have been killed and eight humanitarian convoys attacked this year alone.

Under International Humanitarian Law, intentional attacks against humanitarian relief personnel may constitute war crimes.

Pius Ojara, Director of NGO Forum, a network of non-governmental Organizations operating in South Sudan said the latest killing of six aid workers has caused panic among relief agencies, calling on authorities to scale up protection for humanitarian personnel, their property and premises.

"The killing of the aid workers has created a sense of fear and sense of apprehension around the safety and risks of humanitarian workers lives here," Ojara said.

"We believe that whatever the humanitarian needs are, we should be able to respond to save lives. So that is what keeps us here in South Sudan. So protecting and ensuring safety of aid workers will help us to respond to the needs of the population more effectively because we will save lives that way," he added.
ACCRA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday handed over essential assistive devices and basic screening materials worth 100,000 U.S. dollars to the Ghanaian government for use in assessment centres across the country.

The equipment, which includes child-sized wheelchairs, crutches, complete spectacles, hearing aids, Snellen charts and tossing rings, will provide the much needed support for selected communities, especially pupils and students with special educational needs.

"Thousands of children with mild to moderate disabilities in Ghana now have greater access to mainstream schools, thanks to a recently established Inclusive Education (IE) policy," UNICEF Ghana said in a release.

UNICEF, with funding support from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is working with the Ghanaian government through the Ghana Education Service (GES) to support 20 districts in the implementation of inclusive education.

Despite the commitment made by Ghana in its inclusive education policy, children with disabilities are still at risk of stigma, misunderstanding, and discrimination, particularly within their local communities.

Such discrimination hinders a child's chance to receive quality education.

UNICEF said it would continue to support the Ghanaian government through the education authorities, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to create awareness of the IE Policy and its implementation at both national and sub-national levels.

The UNICEF Representative in Ghana, Susan Namondo Ngongi, said children with disabilities would never be able to achieve their full potential unless they were given a fair chance to learn like any other child.

"While Ghana's Inclusive Education policy plays an essential role, we need greater collaboration with family members, communities, Development Partners, Civil Society, and all stakeholders to allow every child a chance to thrive. The UNICEF and USAID partnership is a demonstration of what can be achieved when we work together," she said.

The USAID Ghana Mission Director, Andy Karas, said: "I have seen first-hand the power of these efforts to not only open up opportunities for children with special needs, but to also help all children to receive a better education."
NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese firm Huawei on Tuesday donated 20,000 U.S. dollars to support the ICT Connected Summit 2017 that will take place from April 9 to 13, in the coastal county of Kwale.

Huawei Kenya Senior Director Public Affairs Adam Lane told a media briefing in Nairobi that the funds will be used to sponsor Corporate Social Responsibility activities of the summit.

"We will purchase laptops that will be donated to disadvantaged students in Kwale County," Lane said.

The beneficiaries of the equipment will also receive scholarships for six weeks training on ICT skills so that they find careers in the lucrative sector.

The ICT Connected Summit is an annual conference which brings together ICT industry players, key government decision makers, academia, innovators, academia and other stakeholders to exchange ICT knowledge so as to help Kenya achieve social and economic development.

Huawei said that the scholarships will enable the underprivileged students to get further education opportunities. "We have selected those who did not get a chance to go to university for various personal reasons," Lane said.

The senior director noted that the ICT sector is rapidly changing all societies. "We have seen what it had done for the developed countries as well as China and we hope it will be used to transform Kenya for the better," he said.

He noted that ICT has enabled citizens to access government services and information from anywhere at anytime.

"It therefore enables all citizens to become equal," he said. Huawei currently takes 10 Kenyan students annually to China for a two-week training program.
VILNIUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Lithuanian government plans to implement measures to prevent more citizens from leaving the country, citing social exclusion and lack of economic security as main reasons for the large-scale emigration.

Speaking on Monday in the Seimas, Lithuanian parliament, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said: "One of the most important priorities for our government is increasing people's income and reducing social exclusion."

Skvernelis said that tackling emigration required concrete initiatives rather than setting up new working groups or commissions.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers from the country's ruling coalition called for a national agreement on emigration prevention.

Ramunas Karbauskis, the leader of ruling Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LZVS) told local media there would be a new agreement initiated among political parties and non-governmental organizations to improve the demographic situation.

A day earlier, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite urged for coordinated state and local authorities' efforts in order to supply the returned emigrants with necessary information on a wide range of issues, from the tax system to finding a place to live.

"It is state's duty to notice these people (returned emigrants) and provide them with the initial assistance," Grybauskaite was quoted as saying in a press release.

Currently, the efforts aimed at keeping returned emigrants in Lithuania have been fragmented, the president noted. On Monday, the head of state was visiting a successfully working vegetable farm established by a Lithuanian who had returned to the country.

According to data presented at Seimas on Tuesday, Lithuania's population in the last 25 years has decreased by a quarter. The number of residents fell by one percent on a yearly basis, one of the worst indicators in the European Union.

Data from Lithuania Statistics, the country's official statistical bureau, showed that 50,000 Lithuanians emigrated in 2016, while only 14,000 repatriated.
NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will zero rate maize imports to plug a huge deficit that has worsened food insecurity in the country as the drought situation escalates, officials said on Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Henry Rotich said the government will extend tax rebates to manufacturers of maize flour who import the cereal from neighboring countries that have a surplus.

"We have agreed on a raft of emergency measures to reduce the price of maize flour to include zero rating imported grains and inputs like energy and transport," Rotich told reporters in Nairobi.

He revealed the price of a 2 kilogram packet of maize flour could reduce from 1.50 dollars to 1.05 dollars in the next few days once tax exemptions on imported cereals are enforced.

"The millers are expected to lower price of maize flour because they will incur less production cost," said Rotich, adding that the government had advertized open tenders for importation of maize.

Kenya fell below the target of producing 7 million bags of maize in the last season due to failed drains and invasion of lethal pests and diseases on the crop.

Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Willy Bett said the country only managed to produce three million bags of maize in the breadbaskets of North Rift region due to vagaries of weather.

"The prolonged drought has worsened maize shortage in the country but zero rating imports will ensure the staple food is available to Kenyans at a cheaper price," said Bett.

He said the ministry of agriculture will release 1 million bags of maize this week from the strategic reserves to cushion drought hit Kenyans from ravages of hunger and malnutrition.

"We believe the release of an extra one million bags of maize from the national granaries will lead to a drop in the cost of the commodity," said Bett, adding that maize imports will extend to July when bumper harvest is expected in Kenya's bread baskets.

The minister disclosed the price of one bag of maize is expected to drop from 45 to 30 dollars once the grains stored in strategic reserves are released in the market.
KIGALI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said Tuesday that the country's relations with South Africa have significantly improved.

She made the remarks while a dressing a news conference about Rwanda's diplomatic relations with different countries across the globe.

"Rwanda's ties with South Africa have improved. Our relations are at a much better place than they were a few years back," she said.

Muhsikiwabo noted that both countries had moved forward and beyond some of the tension that had been there since 2010.

Rwanda and South Africa, diplomatic ties severed in 2010 when Kigali accused the latter country for being a safe haven for the Rwandan fugitives.

In 2014, the two countries cut ties as they both expelled diplomats from either side after a fierce diplomatic row triggered by accusations that Rwandan security agents were committing crimes in South Africa.

South Africa expelled three Rwandan diplomats and Kigali retaliated by sending home six South African diplomats. Both countries, however, maintained ambassadors from either country.

However, Mushikiwabo said that, the two countries have since decided to normalize relations, including engaging in intra-trade and strengthening diplomatic ties.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 02:45:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

GENEVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Almost 25,000 migrants and refugees have reached Italy by sea since the beginning of the year, up from 19,287 arrivals over the same period in 2016, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported Tuesday.

Representing a 25 percent increase, IOM said that if this trend continues, over 200,000 men, women and children are expected to reach the southern European nation by the end of the year.

According to statistics, migrant arrivals in Italy account for most of total maritime entries into Europe this year.

Indeed, IOM revealed that 29,369 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea since the start of the year, 24,513 of which have done so to reach Italian shores.

About 663 individuals have lost their lives attempting to cross Mediterranean sea routes, down from 749 over the same period last year.

Most of this year's fatalities (602) have been recorded on the central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy.
PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault on Tuesday told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that a united international front was necessary to combat terrorism that has posed a threat to security in their respective countries.

During a phone conversation, Ayrault reiterated Paris's support to Moscow after an explosion claimed at least the lives of 14 people in St. Petersburg metro station on Monday.

"France is ready to respond to any assistance request," he said.

Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, Ayrault stressed the need for Russia's "full commitment" to support the renewed ceasefire deal in eastern Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk peace accord.

According to the Quai d'Orsay press release, the two ministers also discussed the report on alleged gas attack in Syrian city of Idlib.

The French top diplomat told Lavorv that "the international community as a whole had to assume its responsibilities and work to establish facts and responsibilities."

The Syrian army categorically denied executing a toxic attack in the rebel-held area in the country's northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, according to state news agency SANA.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 03:06:30|Editor: ZD

Emmanuel Macron (L) handovers the economy ministry to French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, in Paris, France, Aug. 31, 2016. French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday handed his resignation to President Francois Hollande "to devote himself to political movement," the presidency office announced on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Thierry Mahe)

PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of a television debate scheduled on Tuesday, presidential frontrunners far-right party leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron lashed out at each other in separate press interviews in an attempt to woo voters in a tough election.

Le Pen portrayed her arch rival Macron as "the candidate of the vacuum, of nothing".

"When he speaks, he falls into hatred, violence, aggression. I think Macron might not be in the second round of elections," she said Tuesday.

Le Pen believed that her qualifying in the presidential run-off was "essential to be able to bring to the French the fundamental choice between patriotism and globalism".

"I have to be present in the second round. Otherwise, the French will have the choice only between two globalists," she added, referring to Macron and conservative challenger Francois Fillon.

Campaigning with a protectionist platform, Le Pen pledged a move away from free trade zones and the euro to restore French national sovereignty via a return to local currency and internal borders.

According to a new survey released on Tuesday, first-round voting intentions for the frontrunners showed them neck-and-neck with 25 percent.

Polls showed Macron would beat Le Pen by 61 percent to 39 percent in the run-off on May 7.

Last Saturday, Macron warned a rally in the southern city of Marseille: "Those who say 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 aims to appease voters of different political views, promising a mix of spending cuts and investment boost to kickstart the economy.

"I am the only candidate who unites. If the French want this change, they will vote for me," he told Le Monde newspaper on Monday.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Sciences Po University professor Thomas Guenole saw Macron as "a possible winner by default", although the candidate has never held an elected post and "lacks charisma and is proposing a rather hazy right-left compromise".

"Macron is today a possible winner by default as right-wing candidate is handicapped by corruption and nepotism and the left is divided between two candidates," he said.

Asked whether Le Pen could make a shock win following a surge of populism in France, Guenole said the far-right leader is likely to lose the race.

"Le Pen has no chance of winning the presidential election. For a simple reason that the share of voters who are ready to vote for anyone in the second round, as long as it is to beat Le Pen, is more than one out of two voters," he said.

Eleven candidates are officially competing to book a ticket to occupy the Elysee Palace in 2017 over the next five years.

If no contender wins a majority of votes in the first round on April 23, the top-score nominees will meet two weeks later for a run-off.
OSLO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Norway is buying five Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to strengthen its defense capabilities, the Nordic country's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"We have now signed the contract for five new P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. The procurement is underlining Norway's allied commitment to spending on defense capabilities vital to both NATO and Norway," Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide was quoted as saying in a statement.

The P-8s will be delivered in 2022 and 2023, and will cost the state approximately 10 billion kroner (1.16 billion U.S. dollars), according to the statement.

The new aircraft will replace six aging P-3 Orions and three Jet Falcons. The Orions will continue their mission until the Poseidons arrive.

The P-8s are able to conduct anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, search and rescue, and other roles.

The basic task of Norwegian maritime patrol aircraft has been the surveillance of Norwegian and adjacent waters, the statement said.

Both the U.S. Navy and Britain's Royal Air Force will operate the same aircraft and Norway "looks forward to close and efficient cooperation in operations, logistics, maintenance and other functions," the statement said.
BISHKEK, April 4 ( Xinhua ) -- The State Committee for National Security of the the Kyrgyz Republic has been cooperating with Russian colleagues over the investigation on St. Petersburg metro explosion which killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens of others.

The press service of the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic reported on Tuesday that the Kyrgyz security service is on contact with the special services of Russia.

The Russian media earlier reported that 22-year-old Akbarzhon Dzhalilov carried out the deadly attack in the St. Petersburg Monday afternoon.

Kyrgyzstan only confirmed that the requested person by the Russian special services was indeed a native of Kyrgyzstan, but has a Russian citizenship.

The Kyrgyz side did not give photos of the suspect and did not call him a possible attacker of the terrorist act in the Petersburg metro, the State Committee for National Security explained.

President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev condemned the terrorist act which targeted peaceful and innocent civilians.

He sent condolence message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and wished speedy recovery of the injured.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 03:55:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government on Tuesday condemned a chemical attack in Syria as "heinous actions" by Syrian government, without providing proof.

Media reports said about 70 people were killed, 200 others were wounded Tuesday in the gas attack in a rebel-held area in the country's northwestern province of Idlib.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a briefing that President Donald Trump was briefed on the attack and the president was "extremely alarmed" by the "intolerable act."

Spicer described this attack as being "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world." He blamed the attack on the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, but did not provide any proof.

Spicer said such "heinous actions" resulted from "weakness and irresolution" by the previous Obama administration in dealing with the Syrian crisis.

He noted that former President Barack Obama vowed to draw "a red line" on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, and then "did nothing."

But Spicer did not elaborate how the Trump administration will respond to the latest attack.

The Syrian army categorically denied launching such a toxic attack, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

The Syrian army said the accusations against it were completely baseless as it had not used, nor would use such weapons in the future. It held "terrorist groups" responsible for using chemical weapons.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes launched intensive airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, killing 58 people, mostly civilians.

The Syrian opposition accused the Syrian Air Force of being behind the attack.

The United Nations special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said the attack was believed to be chemical and was launched by air, noting there ought to be a "clear recognition of responsibility and accountability."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:01:38|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming (L) and Namibian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah sign documents at a handover ceremony of Chinese rice in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 4, 2017. China on Tuesday officially handed over 4,000 metric tonnes of rice to Namibia in Windhoek as part of assistance towards drought relief. (Xinhua/Wu Changwei)

WINDHOEK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday officially handed over 4,000 metric tonnes of rice to Namibia in Windhoek as part of assistance towards drought relief.

The handover was officiated by visiting Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming and Namibian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said the drought in Namibia left more than 595,000 people directly or indirectly affected and President Hage Geingob had declared the drought a national emergency.

"This donation we are witnessing is in fact a symbolic one as the large quantity of food is already delivered to the regions and the intended beneficiaries, which is the purpose of the donation," Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Namibia's resilience could be strengthened through international cooperation, such as with agricultural projects, and Namibia could learn from Chinese expertise in order to become self-sustainable in food security.
LUSAKA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government's decision to consult citizens on whether the country should leave or remain in the International Criminal Court (ICC) has sparked debate in the southern African nation.

In February, President Edgar Lungu, upon his return from the 29th African Union (AU) Summit in Ethiopia, said the government will consult citizens on whether the country should remain or leave the international court.

This followed a resolution adopted by African leaders at the summit where they called for a collective withdrawal from the ICC, although the decision is non-binding after accusing the court of only targeting African leaders.

Last month, Minister of Justice Given Lubinda announced that the government was to hold public hearings on the matter in 30 districts in all 10 provinces. The sittings, which started on March 27, will end on May 31 while a national symposium will be held on April 11 and 12 to come up with a final document to be presented to the AU Summit in June.

But some stakeholders, including opposition figures, have reacted differently to the decision to hold the hearings and accused the government of having a stance on the matter, calling on the government to halt the meetings.

They believe that it was not necessary for the government to hold the public hearings as it is a sheer waste of resources which could have been channeled to other developmental areas.

"It is prudent for citizens to shun the consultations which have already gobbled up huge chunks of public money. Citizens are urged to stay away from those consultations as something stinking and dangerous is in the air," said Nason Msoni, an opposition leader from the All People's Congress (APC) party.

The opposition leader said it does not make sense to waste money on an exercise whose outcome has already been decided.

His views have been supported by the Non-Governmental Organizations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), an umbrella body of women organizations in the country.

"Given the over-stretched treasury, it is irresponsible for the government to spend on a non-issue. On behalf of the women movement, we believe there are more pressing issues such as completing the education and health infrastructure that the government should focus on other than chasing the wind on issues to do with the ICC," the organization said.

Hakainde Hichilema, the country's leading opposition leader, has since threatened to take legal action if Zambia follows through with government's alleged plans to withdraw from the ICC.

He told reporters during a press briefing at his residence on Monday that his party will not allow the Zambian leader to withdraw the country from the ICC, adding that he has already made consultations with the international community on the matter.

But the government has expressed shock that some stakeholders in the country want to curtail the process of citizens participating in the process on the country's future position on the ICC.

The justice minister said the government decided to consult citizens in keeping with the tenets of democracy and dismissed reports that it has already taken a position on the matter.

The government has since stated that it will not halt the proceedings, adding that, like other African countries, the country was required to submit a report to the AU during the June summit.

The government has since expressed happiness over the interest shown by citizens in the public hearings held so far, saying the exercise has received overwhelming response.

The government has since been backed by the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) over its decision to consult citizens on the matter.

The organization said citizens needed to be consulted on matters of public concern as democracy demands the involvement of people in governance and national affairs.

The Zambian Voice, a local civic organization has also supported the government's decision to consult citizens on the ICC membership, according to its executive director Chilufya Tayali.

The ICC was formally established in 2002 after the adoption of the Rome Statute of the Court in 1998. As of December 3, 2016, a total of 124 countries had ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute.

Zambia signed the Rome Statute on February 17, 1998 and ratified it on November 13, 2002.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:11:39|Editor: Song Lifang

Video Player Close

Ecuadorian ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno (C) and his wife Rocio Gonzalez attend the change of guard ceremony in Quito, Ecuador, on April 3, 2017. Lenin Moreno has won the second round of Ecuador's presidential election, with 51.16 percent of the vote, the National Electoral Council said on Tuesday. (Xinhua/ANDES)

QUITO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno won Sunday's presidential election runoff, the country's National Electoral Council (CNE) said on Tuesday.

Moreno garnered 51.16 percent of valid votes while opposition challenger Guillermo Lasso grasped 48.84 percent, with 99.65 percent of votes counted, Juan Pablo Pozo, CNE president, said at a press conference.

The CNE confirmed that Moreno, candidate of the ruling PAIS Alliance, will succeed President Rafael Correa.

Jorge Glas, Moreno's running mate, will continue to serve as the South American country's vice president, a position in which he has served since 2013.

While Lasso has refused to accept the result, claiming to be the victim of electoral fraud, Pozo said that the election had been won fairly.

"We fully and absolutely guarantee that ... political organizations submit objections, challenges and appeals through the institutional and legal channels of a constitutional State of rights and justice," said the leader of the CNE.

Ecuador "has spoken freely at the polls, and it is our civic and ethical duty to respect its voice and its vote," he added.

"We congratulate the Ecuadorian people who have already, legally and legitimately, elected their president and vice-president," Pozo said.

Additionally, the Organization of American States (OAS), with which Lasso has lodged a case of electoral fraud, said on Monday that it had seen "no discrepancies" between results compiled by its observers and the official ones.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:16:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the U.S. funding cut for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) could have devastating effects on the health of vulnerable women and girls around the world.

The U.S. Department of State has announced that it is cutting funding for UNFPA for the fiscal year of 2017. It was withholding 32.5 million U.S. dollars for the UN agency.

"The Secretary-General deeply regrets the decision by the United States to cut financial support for the UN Population Fund," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

"He believes that the decision is based on an inaccurate perception of the nature and importance of the work of UNFPA," said Dujarric.

In a letter to U.S. Senate and Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, the state department said it denies the funding because the UNFPA "supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization" in China, which UNFPA refuted as an "erroneous claim."

"UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination," said the UN agency in a statement.

"Indeed, United Nations Member States have long described UNFPA's work in China as a force for good," added the statement.

The UNFPA is a UN agency which works for the improvement of reproductive health. It describes itself as the lead UN agency for "delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled."

The agency works in more than 150 countries and regions, home to more than 80 percent of the world's population. In 2016, the agency has saved the lives of 2,340 women from dying during pregnancy and childbirth and helped 3 million couples prevent unwanted pregnancy.
ROME, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Italian police arrested 11 people in two major operations against the Calabrian mafia on Tuesday.

The raids targeted two powerful clans of the 'Ndrangheta -- the Pesce and Bellocco crime families -- based in the southern town of Rosarno in the province of Reggio Calabria.

Those arrested were variously charged with mafia association, unlawful competition aggravated by violent methods, drug trafficking, and fictitious registration of assets.

Another key charge was that of aiding and abetting top boss Marcello Pesce, who was listed among the most wanted fugitives in Italy, and arrested in December.

A son of the mafia boss was among the suspects arrested, according to prosecutors of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate (DDA) in Reggio Calabria coordinating the operations.

The two clans are thought to control all illegal activities, and infiltrate the legal economy, in the whole plain of Gioia Tauro, which comprises the country's largest container port.

Their business would allegedly focus on drug trafficking, stretching from Sicily and Calabria to Northern Italy. Economic assets worth 4 million euros (4.26 million U.S. dollars) were seized in the second operation on Tuesday, including property, firms, and bank accounts, investigators told a press conference.

"Here we face a criminal organization that has succeeded in shifting its interests from cocaine to marijuana trafficking," Reggio Calabria chief prosecutor Federico Cafiero de Raho told reporters.

"They were able to do so due to their strong ties with traffickers (based) on the east coast of Sicily," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:36:43|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao

South African President Jacob Zuma speaks at the launch of the Trans-Africa Locomotive project in Koedoespoort, Gauteng Province, South Africa, on April 4, 2017. The South African government remains committed to a measured fiscal consolidation that stabilizes the rise in public debt, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. (Xinhua/DOC/Kopano Tlape)

CAPE TOWN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The South African government remains committed to a measured fiscal consolidation that stabilizes the rise in public debt, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

It is more important than ever now that South Africans unite as a country and work together in light of the unrelenting socioeconomic challenges that they face, Zuma said at the launch of the Trans-Africa Locomotive project in Koedoespoort, Gauteng Province.

Zuma was speaking one day after international rating agency Standard & Poor (S&P) lowered the long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on South Africa to 'BB+' from 'BBB-' and the long-term local currency rating to 'BBB-' from 'BBB'.

It was the first time in 17 years that South Africa's sovereign credit was downgraded to junk status.

S&P said it made the decision in light with the cabinet reshuffle effected by President Jacob Zuma last week.

The reshuffle, which saw Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan being sacked, put South Africa's fiscal and growth outcomes at risk, the agency said.

"The downgrade reflects our view that the divisions in the ANC-led government that have led to changes in the executive leadership, including the finance minister, have put policy continuity at risk," S&P said.

Zuma defended the cabinet reshuffle, saying the reshuffle will add renewed energy into cabinet and the executive as a whole.

While the political leadership has changed, the government's overall policy orientation remains the same as derived from the governing party, the African National Congress, said Zuma.

A smooth transition in the finance portfolio has taken place, which shows the maturity of leadership within the governing party, Zuma said.

"A united and stable National Treasury and finance portfolio as a whole is absolutely critical for government and the country," he said.

Zuma said he has directed newly-appointed Minister of Finace Malusi Gigaba and Deputy Finance Minister Sifiso Buthelezi to immediately prioritize unity, peace, cohesion and stability within the finance portfolio.

This will enable all components of the portfolio to focus on the tasks at hand, said Zuma.

He pledged to continue to work with business and labour to take forward the work of the CEO Initiative which was established last year to reignite growth, while also strengthening the Presidential Business Working Group where the Presidency interacts with all components of business.

Gigaba and his team will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them that South Africa remains a stable, reliable and competitive investment destination, according to Zuma.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:46:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

CHICAGO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Tuesday amid a series of political and trade uncertainties in the world.

The most active gold contract for June delivery rose 4.4 U.S. dollars, or 0.35 percent, to settle at 1,258.4 dollars per ounce.

Geopolitical uncertainties in Europe have led to the rise of gold futures, analysts said.

The first round of the 2017 French presidential election will be held on April 23. All candidates, including frontrunners Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, are taking part in a television debate on Tuesday, seeking support from undecided voters.

A subway bomb explosion in St. Petersburg on Monday left dozens dead or injured, highlighting the terrorist threat that Russia is still facing.

Britain has officially started the process to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit, at the end of March. It may take years, with no one being sure about the consequences.

Silver for May delivery rose 11.1 cents, or 0.61 percent, to close at 18.323 dollars per ounce. Platinum for July delivery grew 6.3 dollars, or 0.66 percent, to close at 964.50 dollars per ounce.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:46:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The UN secretary-general's special adviser for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide on Tuesday announced that the Cyprus Talks will resume following consultations with both sides of the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here that the resumption of the peace talks was announced after a meeting of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

"The leaders will resume negotiations on April 11, and the meeting will be held under the auspices of Mr. Eide," Dujarric said.

Akinci was reported to walk out of the negotiations in early February after the all-Greek Cypriot parliament passed an amendment making it mandatory for teachers to speak in class about a 1950 referendum in which the Greek Cypriot community, which makes up 80 percent of the population, expressed its wish to unite with Greece.

That policy was changed in 1960 when Cyprus, until then a British colony, became an independent state. More recently, the reunification of Cyprus or part of it with any state, or the secession of any part of Cyprus was excluded in an agreement between Anastasiades and Akinci when they started negotiations 22 months ago.

Akinci's demand has caused a strong reaction from lawmakers, even those who fervently support the resumption of the negotiations, as it was considered a move to dictate to parliament how to vote.

The talks took place between Akinci and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, on Nov. 7-11 and Nov. 20-21.

The United Nations has been involved in solving the Cyprus problem, trying to keep the peace and promote a political settlement for more than 45 years.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern part, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece, and moved Turkish Cypriots from all over the island into the enclave controlled by Turkish troops.

The leaders of both the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus have said that after four decades of negotiations they are close to a solution by the end of this year, provided they can overcome difficulties in agreeing on security arrangements and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 04:51:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Yury Fedotov, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), on Tuesday called on the international community to remain vigilant and work in partnership against a backdrop of increasing attacks by Somali pirates on commercial shipping.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here that "following a five-year lull, there has been a resurgence of attacks by Somali pirates on commercial shipping."

In the wake of three recent attacks, Fedotov called on the international community to be vigilant, work in close partnership, and hold the pirates accountable, the spokesman said.

"Large parts of the Somali coast remain beyond the reach of law enforcement authorities," he said.

"UNODC stressed that ships should continue to follow the advice of navies and the International Maritime Organization (IMO)," he said.

"UNODC continues to support both trials of piracy suspects in the region and the Somali maritime law enforcement agencies," Dujarric said. "Its Global Maritime Crime Program addresses all aspects of maritime crime, including terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics smuggling and hostage-taking."
by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The "war on terror" is a key word and "Russia" is another behind the current thaw in Egyptian-U.S. ties under the leaderships of Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and U.S. President Donald Trump.

After years of rift in Egypt-U.S. relations, Sisi started his first official visit to Washington earlier in April at the invitation of his U.S. counterpart. The two exchanged remarks of praise and expressed willingness to engage in partnership in the global fight against terrorism.

"It was an honor to welcome President Sisi of Egypt to the White House as we renew the historic partnership between the U.S. and Egypt," Trump tweeted.

The ties now look completely different than those under former U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration suspended the annual 1.3-billion-dollar military aid to Egypt after the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and the later heavy crackdown on his loyalists and now-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

WAR ON TERROR

Over the past few years, crackdown on Morsi's supporters killed hundreds and imprisoned thousands, while growing anti-government terrorist attacks killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, with most of the attacks claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militia.

Sahar Abdel-Rahman, deputy editor-in-chief of Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram daily newspaper, said that the vision of Obama's administration regarding some regional issues including Egypt's fight against terrorism was "blurry," which caused tension between the two countries.

"Unlike Obama, Trump showed understanding of special cases in Egypt like the country's anti-terror war and several issues in the Middle East including the crises of Syria, Libya and Yemen," Abdel-Rahman told Xinhua, adding that both sides share similar visions on regional issues.

As Trump's administration promised to resume annual military aid to Egypt, it also announced to resume the massive joint Bright Star military exercise with Egypt, which was cancelled by Obama in protest against the crushing crackdown on Morsi's loyalists.

"There will be huge military cooperation according to Egyptian and U.S. statements, which will be employed in Egypt's domestic war against terrorism in Sinai as well as the U.S.-led global war on terror in the region," said Al-Ahram deputy editor-in-chief.

RUSSIA IN REGION

Although the Cold War was over after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Russia is still a source of concern for the United States ever since. However, Trump seems to be more friendly than all his predecessors towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As Sisi is an ally of Putin, who has been sending Russian forces to Syria to assist the army of President Bashar al-Assad, Trump is believed to be seeking closeness with Egypt to ensure U.S. regional influence amid Russian expansion.

"I believe that the U.S. administration will try to win Egypt as a regional partner in an attempt to curb the regional expansion of Russia that also enjoys good relations with Egypt," said Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Despite the IS-claimed Russian plane crash in Egypt's Sinai that killed over 200 Russians in October 2015, strategic relations between Moscow and Cairo have not been affected.

Egypt hosted in October 2016 its first joint paratroopers' military exercise with Russia dubbed "Friendship Protectors 2016." Russia also plans to build Egypt's first nuclear plant as per an agreement signed in late 2015.

"In my opinion, Trump will attempt to convince Sisi to turn to the U.S. instead of Russia that elevated its partnership with the Middle East country during the rift of Egyptian-American relations," Ghobashy told Xinhua.

EGYPT ECONOMIC PUSH

Suffering economic slowdown over the past few years of political turmoil and relevant security challenges, Egypt also pins hope on promising relations with the world's biggest power and number one economy to boost its economic conditions.

Once he laid foot in Washington, and ahead of his talks with Trump, Sisi met with American congressmen, businessmen, investors, the chief of the World Bank and others to further mutual economic cooperation.

"The visit also seeks to coordinate mutual economic, development and investment cooperation that have been halted for years," said Ikram Badr-Eddin, political science professor at Cairo University, expecting Sisi-Trump meeting to have a future effect on Egypt's economy due to Trump's business background.

Badr-Eddin eyes promising Cairo-Washington economic partnership but he hopes their approach will help bridge their political gap on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, amid Israeli settlement expansion that is highly rejected by Egypt and carelessly disregarded by the United States.

"I believe there will be economic, investment and cultural cooperation between Cairo and Washington very soon and we will see further American investments in Egypt in the near future," the professor told Xinhua.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 05:01:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

BEIRUT, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon denounced Tuesday the deadly St. Petersburg metro attack, which left 14 dead and more than 50 injured.

"The cowardly terror attack increases our conviction that the joint efforts to combat terrorism are a crucial need," President Michel Aoun said in a letter of condolences he sent to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, deploring the attack.

He stressed the importance of solidarity as the "only means to eradicate the sick ideology by the roots and prevent it from infiltrating our regions, states and societies."

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri also condemned the attack during his joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

"Terrorism is a plague that has no religion," Hariri said, calling for further support to the Lebanese security forces in their fight against terrorism.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil also denounced the blasts in a statement released by the media office of the foreign ministry.

The statement said that the attack is an act of terrorism "which attempts to undermine global stability" and called for international cooperation.

He also reaffirmed the ministry's full support of Russia's counter-terrorism efforts.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and wish the wounded a swift recovery."
LISBON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- An explosion at a fireworks factory in Avoes, Lamego, northern Portugal, killed at least 4 people on Tuesday, according to local media reports.

The explosion took place in Avoes, some 350 km north of capital Lisbon at around 5:48 p.m. local time and 111 men, 35 vehicles and two helicopters are involved in the rescue action, according to the Civil Protection website.

Four bodies have been found and the remaining are still missing as it was reported that there was 15 people inside the factory.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who is on an official visit to Luxembourg, has called the mayor of Lamego to expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the explosion.
MADRID, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The government of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar on Tuesday accused Spain of sending a naval vessel into their territorial waters.

The incident comes just as tensions between Spain and Gibraltar, as well as the British government of Theresa May, have heightened over the implications of the Brexit for the colony.

The official Gibraltar account on Twitter said that the Spanish Naval patrol ship, Infanta Cristina, made an "illegal incursion into British#Gibraltar territorial waters."

The Spanish Foreign and Defense Ministries both admitted the "Infanta Cristina" was in the zone, but insisted it was "carrying out a routine vigilance operation in waters which are under Spanish sovereignty."

A Spanish Defense Ministry spokesman added that the Spanish navy has a patrol ship in the waters which go from the area known as the "Alboran Sea," which is between Spain and Morocco, and the Gulf of Cadiz.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 05:21:52|Editor: ZD

Chemical gas attack kills 7 in Syria's Aleppo. (Xinhua photo)

DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Syrian army doesn't have any kind of chemical weapons.

The ministry blasted in a statement as completely baseless reports accusing the Syrian air force of carrying out a toxic gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the country's northwestern province of Idlib earlier on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 58 people were killed and tens of others wounded by the attack.

The ministry stressed that "the Syrian army doesn't possess chemical weapons and hasn't used them before in any Syrian city."

Meanwhile, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told pan-Arab Mayadeen TV that the rebels who are supported by France, Britain, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia were the ones carrying the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

He also said that his country has fulfilled all of its commitments toward the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Syrian official also urged the international community to hold accountable the parties behind the attack.

Mekdad noted that the Syrian government had provided information to the OPCW weeks ago about the smuggling of toxic materials by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front into northern Syria.

The Tuesday attack wasn't the first reported in Syria, as chemical weapons were said to have taken place in several areas in Syria in the past years, with the government and the rebels trading accusations.

As many as 1,400 people were killed when several opposition-controlled areas in the suburbs around Damascus were struck by rockets containing chemical agent sarin on Aug. 21, 2013. Both the opposition and the government traded accusations.

In the same year, a chemical attack hit the then government-controlled town of Khan al-Asal in the countryside of Aleppo, in which several Syrian soldiers and civilians were either killed or suffered from suffocation. The government accused the rebels, who, in turn, denied the accusation.

In October 2013, the OPCW officials arrived in Syria to monitor the dismantlement of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal, after Damascus officially joined the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Convention.

The OPCW later said that the government has made its chemical weapon production facilities inoperable.

The dismantlement of the Syrian chemical weapons was due to a U.S.-Russian understanding, the first sign of a consensus between both powers on the Syrian conflict.

Since then, reports of poisonous gas attacks kept emerging once in a while.
MINSK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian Vice Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky on Tuesday said that Russia will refinance the debt of Belarus in the amount of 750-800 million U.S. dollars.

Commenting on the results of the talks between the presidents of Belarus and Russia, held in Saint Petersburg on April 3, the Vice Prime Minister said the states made a conclusive decision on the possible refinancing of the current debt of Belarus.

"We are talking about refinancing the debt that we have to pay as part of our interstate loans in the current year," the First Deputy Prime Minister specified.

The official also said Vladimir Putin promised to influence on the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), which is in no hurry to issue the third tranche of the loan to Belarus.

In 2015, Belarus applied for 3 billion dollars of EFSD's financial credit, but its amount agreed was 1 billion U.S. dollars less. The loan must be granted in seven tranches during the 2016-2018 period. Two tranches of the loan have been already transferred to Belarus.
Syrian children receive treatment following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on April 4, 2017. (AFP photo)

DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Syrian army doesn't have any kind of chemical weapons.

The ministry blasted in a statement as completely baseless reports accusing the Syrian air force of carrying out a toxic gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the country's northwestern province of Idlib earlier on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 58 people were killed and tens of others wounded by the attack.

The ministry stressed that "the Syrian army doesn't possess chemical weapons and hasn't used them before in any Syrian city."

Meanwhile, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told pan-Arab Mayadeen TV that the rebels who are supported by France, Britain, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia were the ones carrying the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

He also said that his country has fulfilled all of its commitments toward the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Syrian official also urged the international community to hold accountable the parties behind the attack.

Mekdad noted that the Syrian government had provided information to the OPCW weeks ago about the smuggling of toxic materials by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front into northern Syria.

The Tuesday attack wasn't the first reported in Syria, as chemical weapons were said to have taken place in several areas in Syria in the past years, with the government and the rebels trading accusations.

As many as 1,400 people were killed when several opposition-controlled areas in the suburbs around Damascus were struck by rockets containing chemical agent sarin on Aug. 21, 2013. Both the opposition and the government traded accusations.

In the same year, a chemical attack hit the then government-controlled town of Khan al-Asal in the countryside of Aleppo, in which several Syrian soldiers and civilians were either killed or suffered from suffocation. The government accused the rebels, who, in turn, denied the accusation.

In October 2013, the OPCW officials arrived in Syria to monitor the dismantlement of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal, after Damascus officially joined the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Convention.

The OPCW later said that the government has made its chemical weapon production facilities inoperable.

The dismantlement of the Syrian chemical weapons was due to a U.S.-Russian understanding, the first sign of a consensus between both powers on the Syrian conflict.

Since then, reports of poisonous gas attacks kept emerging once in a while.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-05 06:06:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

Video Player Close

HELSINKI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday congratulated Aleksandar Vucic on his victory in Serbia's presidential election.

Calling Serbia China's good friend and partner, Xi said in a congratulatory message that at present, bilateral relations have been flourishing and enjoyed broad development prospects.

Xi said he attaches great importance to China-Serbia ties and is ready to join hands with Vucic to push their countries' comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level to better benefit the two countries and peoples.

Vucic, Serbia's incumbent prime minister, won Sunday's presidential election with over 55 percent of the votes.
Vishnu Charran, new Chaguanas Chamber head

Sookhair handed over the reins at the chambers annual general meeting last week Wednesday at the chambers office at the corner of Cumberbatch Street and the Main Road. The AGM marked the final year of Sookhais three-year tenure as president of the Chamber. He will now operate on the board as the Immediate Past President.

Sookhai told the gathering in his final speech as president, that he and the CCIC had been able to achieve all they had during his tenure because of the support of the membership and the people of Chaguanas.

The president of this chamber can bring change to Chaguanas and this chamber has the capacity to bring change not just to Chaguanas, but to Trinidad and Tobago as a whole, Sookhai told members.

Organisations like the Chaguanas Chamber have to shine like a beacon to society and we have to show great resolution and commitment to getting things done for our members and for our people. As the president of the Chamber over the past three years I have been particularly concerned by the rising crime in the area and the increasing incidences of bullying in our schools. Although a chamber is supposed to be about business we must never turn a blind eye to the alarming social conditions in our society, he added.

It was for that reason, Sookhai said, the chamber initiated a CCIC Safety, Security and Sustainability Expo in June. This expo will highlight the latest technology and thinking in the areas of safety and security and will also address issues of crime and bullying through speakers who will bring their personal stories on how they have helped to turn around crime and bullying in their own schools and towns.

The outgoing president reminded members that the chamber is not only for large enterprises in the area but is there to support all businesses, be they large, medium, small or micro enterprises.

Even the smallest startup company, he said, would be welcomed to join the Chamber and have their concerns aired and voiced by the Chamber.

Sookhai highlighted the contributions of various board members and made special mention of Labib Najar of Metal-X Ltd who had allowed the Chamber to operate out of his premises for several years
Family still waits for justice

The incident occurred on April 12, 2012, the same day they celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary .

Indra succumbed to her injuries two days later at Port-of Spain General hospital. A year later, Sugrim died, of what his children are calling, a broken heart as he grieved deeply for his dead wife .

The couple lived at Calcutta Road No 4 off the Southern Main Road in Freeport. At the time of the attack, they had just returned from Chaguanas where Sugrim visited a doctor. They had also just cashed their pension cheques. Sugrim was beaten while his wife was battered into unconsciousness. An autopsy confirmed Indra died from massive injuries to her head which included a fractured skull. She was a mother of six .

Draupadi Gangabissoon yesterday told Newsday she and her sisters think of their mother and the manner in which she died, every day. Added to their pain is the fact that her killer has not been arrested .

At that age, you would expect your parent to die from an illness or accident. My mother had the life beaten out of her by a person who remains at large. Each day, for the past five years, I wonder if this monster will ever be caught, Draupadi said. She described her mothers killer as a monster and said if he has any conscience at all, to come forward. A CrimeStoppers reward of $100,000 remains unclaimed .

We must bring this perpetrator to justice. When will the government get their act together and start bringing these criminals to justice .

Since my mothers death, Trinidads murder statistic has been rising at a ridiculous rate with no decrease in sight. Only yesterday, in the Portof- Spain Division, three murders were committed .

Draupadi recalled that in 2015, she and her sister Saroj traveled to India, taking their parents ashes to the Ganges River where they performed a ritual known as Pinda Daan for them. Our father died the year after our mothers murder .

While doctors said he died of old age, I believe he died of a broken heart. Life without his wife, was not worth anything to him, she said .

She is hopeful that five years on, some form of justice could still be had. In our fight for justice, we must fight to have cold cases like my mothers, which perhaps might be sitting on someones desk collecting dust, reopened. Lets try to balance the scales of justice in Trinidad, Draupadi said .

Even if you cannot aid in respect to my mothers murder, other crimes can be solved if people would just come forward and contact the authorities, she added .
Brother to undergo counselling after axe attack

However, Teeluckdharry Bridgelal, 55, of Debe, will have to undergo counselling sessions locally in order for him to learn how to control his temper, a magistrate so ordered yesterday after she found him guilty of malicious damage to property. The charge alleged that at Gandhi Village, Debe, near Penal, Bridgelal took up a pick axe and smashed the vehicle owned by his brother, Gangaram Bridgelal. The incident happened in September last year and Teeluckdharry pleaded not guilty.

After a trial before Magistrate Kerrianne Byer, he was found guilty and yesterday before sentence was passed, Bridgelal told the magistrate that he paid his brother $40,000 in compensation.

In passing sentence, Byer told Teeluckdharry that she took note of the fact that the reason for the attack stemmed from an old incident between the brothers a year ago. You held a grudge against your brother for over a year.

How do you and your brother get along? You think your action was reasonable? Byer asked Teeluckdharry.

The charge was laid by Police Constable Matloo of the San Fernando CID.

The magistrate then asked Teeluckdharry if he ever underwent anger management and he said that ten years ago, he had counselling in the United States.

Byer asked him if the classes helped the situation and Bridgelal said he believed it did. The magistrate pointed out that such a charge carries a custodial sentence, but she considered Bridgelals clean previous criminal record and the fact that he had adequately compensated his brother for the damage.

However, she ordered him to pay a fine of $5,000 or serve a year in jail. Magistrate Byer further ordered that Bridgelal be placed on six months probation.

He is to report to the probation office in San Fernando, where officers there would arrange an anger management programme for him.
Man in court for breaking cops nose

Kerry Perrot, 25, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John who read to him the charge that on Saturday, he assaulted Police Constable Lee- Lum of the San Fernando CID.

The charge arose from an incident in which the officer was attacked inside the San Fernando Police Station and he suffered a broken nose bridge.

The magistrate also read to Perrot another charge that he was in possession of 15.59 grammes of cocaine. A third charge read to him alleged that he was in possession of 3.7 grammes of marijuana.

The three charges arose from an incident on Saturday in which Perrot was arrested and taken to the station where he was placed in a cell. Yesterday, the court police prosecutor attorney Cleyon Seedan, objected to bail being granted on the grounds that the police complainant Corporal Roger Nanan, needed to conduct a search of the criminal record, if any, of the accused .

The magistrate, however, granted Perrot bail in the sum of $45,000 to reappear on May 1.
$14M in ganja up in smoke

According to a release from the Police Service, officers of the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau, the Air Support Unit and members of the Northern Division Task Force, all under the supervision of Inspector Teewarie conducted the exercise which was carried out at Wharf Trace, Maracas.

Police found a camp-site with 15 kilos of cured marijuana, 14,600 fully grown marijuana trees, approximately 4,000 seedlings, two 600 gallon water tanks and ten plastic barrels.

In an unrelated case, traffic exercises conducted by police in South-Western Division led to the arrest of 16 people who were later charged with driving under the influence.

According to a police release, an exercise was first conducted in San Fernando between 11 pm last Friday and 5 am on Saturday. During that exercise, 65 people were given breathalyser tests. Of those people, 11 were arrested and charged for driving under the influence. The other five were among 30 drivers who were tested during an exercise conducted in Penal. The exercise conducted in San Fernando was co-ordinated and supervised by Cpl Baran and included officers of the San Fernando Traffic Section while the Penal exercise was led by Sgt Gosine and included officers of the DUI task force.

All persons charged appeared in court yesterday
Correction on Rambachan

This article was based on a statement issued by Tabaquite MP Dr Surujrattan Rambachan on the issue of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)/ Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In his statement, Dr Rambachan is quoted as saying, On April 22nd 2016 the assurance was given by the Minister that steps will be taken to implement the decision relevant to the motion. This in accordance with the standing orders. It is becoming clearer that little or nothing is being done in schools to deal with children with ADD/ ADHD. Yesterdays article interpreted the minister identified by Rambachan to be Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.

Rambachan yesterday informed Newsday that the minister he was referring to in his statement was Education Minister Anthony Garcia and not Minister Deyalsingh. The error is regretted.
TT Chamber on Tobago ferry service

As such, it expressed hope that, The authorities responsible for facilitating these services will urgently and publicly address alternative plans to effectively transfer goods, services and people between the islands. The chamber also said the Galicias withdrawal, Comes as no surprise to us, because since December 1, It had been well documented that the vessel was scheduled to operate on a route in the Mediterranean in May 2017. The chambers comments follow recent statements by Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan that while negotiations with International Shipping have not been going well, he was surprised the company gave two weeks notice, rather than 30 days, of its intention to withdraw the Galicia from service effective April 14.

At that time, a chamber release stated, All assurances were given that provisions for appropriate and effective sea transport would be established. (Sinanan) clearly articulated that he appreciated the value of the cargo services of the Superfast Galicia and the ferry services of the TnT Spirit and Express to the people and to business in Tobago.

He also indicated that he would ensure that there would be no inconvenience on his watch.Speaking yesterday, Sinanan assured that interim plans are being put in place to transport bulk cargo to Tobago from April 15, while the long term plan is to purchase a cargo ship that would be dedicated to the Inter-Island route. Sinanan is scheduled to discuss all of this with stakeholders, including with officials from the Tobago House of Assembly, at a meeting tomorrow
Mayaro principal suspended

Andy Paul was suspended on Friday last on the basis that he was negligent in the handling of the incident involving student Tristan Khan who was attacked, allegedly by a bully who kicked him to the ground and jumped on his elbow until it was broken.

The suspension was one of the requests made by Khans legal representative in their pre-action protocol letter sent to the Ministry of Education.

President of the National Primary School Principals Association Cogland Griffith said the association was shocked by the suspension since Education Minister Anthony Garcia had announced in the week after the incident that it was not a case of bullying but one of child play gone wrong.

As an organisation we are not clear as to what really was the reason for Mr Pauls suspension, Griffith said.

Does it mean that from now on once a child is injured at school the principal will be suspended or disciplined? The suspension of Mr Paul can give the public the impression that the principal was responsible for the injuries sustained by the student. We are calling for the TSC to give a clear understanding as to the reason why Mr Paul was suspended and to arrive at a speedy and amicable resolution to this matter in the interest of fairness and justice. Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association president Lynsley Doodhai told Newsday Paul was suspended for acting negligently but this information has not yet been confirmed by the Education Ministry.

Douglas Bayley, the attorney representing Khans parents, said We are very pleased with this.

Finally, after Mr. Ramlogan and I intervened, some sort of justice is being granted to Tristan and his family. After the letter was sent to the Education Ministry, the ministry asked for an extension of time beyond the 28 days in order to respond.

The extension, said Bayley, will expire by the middle of the month.
Autistic Society appeals for help

President Teresina Sieunarine, at yesterdays launch of Autism Awareness Month at DAbadie, said Government has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and must now pass legislation to ensure that the rights of people on the autism spectrum are protected. Reema Carmona, wife of President Anthony Carmona, delivered the main address at the event which was observed under the theme Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination.

Sieunarine said, There is a lack of affordable services, educational opportunity and access to qualified therapists. Funding and other support, she said, is required to maintain ASTTs Therapeutic and Life Skills Centre in Point Fortin and Autism Place in DAbadie. Over 700 families are registered with the ASTT.

She said over the past two years, the society has been receiving assistance from the Ministry of Health.

Corporate sponsors, she said, include Republic Banks Power to Make a Difference and United Way.

Sieunarine told Newsday that the ASTT does a lot of training for parents to care for their autistic children who require between 20 to 40 hours of therapy a week.

That is like mission impossible.

We are lacking in affordable and therapeutic care. The United Nations estimates that about one per cent of children and young people are affected by autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

The Mayo Clinic defines ASD as a serious neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs a childs ability to communicate and interact with others. It also includes restricted repetitive behaviours, interests and activities.

These issues cause significant impairment in social, occupational and other areas of functioning. Expressing hope that during April, the media will continue to feature people with disabilities, especially people with autism and their families, she said her family was criticised in 1989 for featuring her son Kester, now 35 years old, in a newspaper article, but the family was not fazed and she appealed to other families to be proud of their childrens achievements.
Tamarind Square locked to protect public

Dass, who joined the Port-of- Spain City Corporation (POSCC) as an inspector on June 1, 2015, testified before Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell in a lawsuit brought against the corporation by a homeless man, who is challenging a decision to lock him and other homeless people out of Tamarind Square at nights.

Dass provided the corporation with monthly inspection reports of the public spaces to which he was assigned as a public health inspector.

He was questioned on his reports for the period July 2015 to December 2016 by Senior Counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith, who represents Hugh Bernard, who has made Tamarind Square his home.

According to Dass reports, it appeared that only when four of the five gates at the square were locked after a perimeter fence was erected, were there illegal structures erected by the homeless.

He also testified in his affidavit that after the square was fenced, the homeless took over and the square was no longer available to pedestrian use once the gates were locked. Dass also noted in his reports that some of the grassy areas of the square were blocked by the homeless and there was an accumulation of debris.

He admitted there were no toilets at the square.

During her testimony two weeks ago, chief executive officer of the POSCC Annette Stapleton-Seaforth said the corporation did not lock four of the five gates to the square but received it that way from the contractors who erected the fence. She also said the corporation will not be locking the fifth gate at Tamarind Square to restrict access to the public, including the homeless.

In her affidavit, she said the action taken to lock the four gates was to protect the public from grossly unsanitary conditions and due to health, safety and environment concerns.

She, however, could not say if keeping the four gates locked addressed the public health concerns of the corporation.

Based on Dass reports, the problem of garbage, urine and other bodily smells and the erection of unauthorised structures continued after the four gates were locked.

The trial continues on May 25, when lawyers are expected to return to answer any questions the judge may have based on their submissions which are to be filed in late April and May. In the lawsuit, Bernard claimed the homeless were adversely affected by the corporations decision to place locks on the gates was to deny them and other members of the public entry into the square.

In December of 2015, the corporation erected a fence around the perimeter of Tamarind Square, and towards the end of January, locks and chains were placed on the gates.

Four of the five gates around the square have been locked and the fifth gate has a padlock but has not yet been locked as the others.

The lawsuit contended that if this fifth gate to Tamarind Square was locked, the socially displaced will have nowhere left to go.

Bernard argued that it was unfair to him and the other homeless people that they will be denied entry into the square without any alternative arrangements being made to accommodate them.

He also sought to have the court make an order requiring the City Corporation to leave the gates open until viable alternatives are made for them and that tents and portable toilets be placed in the square.
BP rig workers removed via court order

The move prompted a protest yesterday by the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) outside BPTTs office at Queens Park Savannah West, Port of Spain.

OWTUs labour relations officer Lindon Mendoza said the workers were unceremoniously removed from their offshore workstations. Mendoza said the decision of the workers was in keeping with the established stop work policy.

The driller had a discussion with the offshore installation manager and also the night pusher, he said.

They were the two primary Rowan personnel onboard who were responsible for the operations and the rig. These personnel undertook to get back to the workers however, to date, the workers have had no feedback as it relates to the safety concerns raised. The workers were asked to leave the rig, leave their place of work, and when they refused to leave citing that they are well within their rights to initiate a stop work authority, the company Rowan would have used the judicial system to have the workers wrongfully removed from the installation via a High Court order. Mendoza said there was no reason identified on the order.

When asked if the workers were trespassing on the rig and whether it was an injunction by the court to get the workers off the rig, Mendoza asked, How can workers be trespassing on their place of work? Workers did not walk out to sea, workers did not swim out to sea, workers did not board their own vessel to sea, they were taken there by company transport.

These workers work on a 14-days on and 14- days off confined rotation basis. He alleged there were a number of health and safety incidents with one occurring on March 27 where the top drive of the rig was damaged by two joints of drill pipes. Mendoza said the pipe fell and could have possibly injured or killed workers.

He said, prior to that a worker sustained injuries to his arm and another sustained injuries to his toe.

After investigation we are not clear if these injuries were reported to the OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) Authority, which is mandated by the laws of this country.

What we are asking for this afternoon is an independent investigation by BP into the increase of the incidents and accidents onboard the Rowan EXL II rig and, secondly, the method by which the workers were removed when they were exercising both what is identified in the policy as a right and an obligation. He said the workers are not aware of what their employment status would be and there is a rumour that the workers are now blacklisted from operations on any BP platform.

We want BP to come out and make a categorical statement regarding these allegations.
Trade Minister celebrates with Herbarium

Addressing the award recipients, Minister Gopee- Scoon defined Bowles as, an exceptional role model for all entrepreneurs who are seeking to carve out their niche in this dynamic business atmosphere. She commended the company on its global reach and said, Based on the companys Seven Year International Strategy, the Herbarium Limited was also able to achieve its goal of going global by 2017.

With the increased interconnectedness of the global community, THL has not limited itself to the local market but has increased its competitiveness and expanded beyond the shores of Trinidad and Tobago.

THLs investment in research and development ensures that the companys cosmetic products meet the standards and requirements of target markets such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

This adherence to international standards and commitment to innovation are worthy of emulation by other local manufacturers as we seek to strengthen our countrys overall competitiveness. The minister commended staff commitment and drive in sharing the organisations vision. The staff at THL represent the most important business resource.

It is the staff who promote the products and interact face-to-face with the public. The quality service which you provide is a significant asset. She gave the commitment of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) to continue to create an enabling environment to encourage entrepreneurial efforts for the benefit of all industries including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Bowles, in her address said, We are happy to celebrate our employees achievement - most of whom are young females, responsible and committed to their job, always ensuring that the customer has a wonderful experience at Cher-Mere. Despite the economic challenges, Bowles is positive the company will continue to be successful.

She indicated that over the last three years, with the contraction of the economy, there has been a slowdown in retail and wholesale activity. The road has been challenging but we have persevered due to family support, staff and customers.

This new dispensation provides us with an opportunity to be more innovative; empower our staff and deepen our succession planning. Present to assist in the distribution of awards was Esmond Forde, Member of Parliament for Tunapuna and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Khan hits ground running

On his arrival at Tower C, Khan was warmly welcomed by staffers.

Khan expressed gratitude to his well-wishers for their prayers, support and words of encouragement during his period of convalescence.

He fell ill last December while he and wife Laura were on vacation in Thailand. He underwent surgery in TT in January.

Last July, Khan was hospitalised as he underwent a stent procedure at a private hospital to treat blocked arteries in the heart. On Sunday, he paid special tribute to his wife for helping him to recuperate.

Khan assured ministry staff, energy industry stakeholders and the population that he, Remains absolutely committed to working tirelessly to achieve the goals of growth, profitability and sustainability in the energy sector. Finance Minister Colm Imbert acted as energy minister while Khan was recuperating. In addition to tending to matters at his ministry, Khan also attended yesterdays Cabinets Finance and General Purposes (FGP) Committee, which is chaired by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young. Khan, who is also Leader of Government Business in the Senate, said he is eager to be back in Parliament today.

On Tuesday, I resume duties in the Senate, he said yesterday.

Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon acted in this post in Khans absence.

The Senate sits at Tower D of the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Centre from today at 1.30 pm, to debate on the International Financial organisations (Corporacion Andina de Fomento) Bill, 2017. This bill, which will be piloted by Imbert, was passed in the House of Representatives on March 15.
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.
Nick Herringer claps along with a metronome. He draws lines on a big screen, repeating patterns drawn by the computer. He identifies icons of cars when they flash before his eyes. This is the 22-year-olds speech and cognitive therapy, which he has been doing at least twice a week. Every wee
European intelligence services requested their Moroccan counterparts assistance in a bid to protect tourist sites as holidaymakers prepare to assault European summer resorts and beaches.

Threats of terrorist attacks are still clouding the European continent as arrests of militants of the Islamic State group (IS) continue to be on the rise.

France, UK and Spain have raised their security alerts and are building up strategies to better secure cities and tourist sites, as the tourism season is about to kick off, local Moroccan Arabic media Al Ahdath Al Maghribia reports.

The media notes that the call is made in an attempt to take pro-active actions to prevent terrorist attacks. Spanish authorities have been on the alert on potential attacks of IS militants at Marbella or la Costa Del Sol resorts.

British authorities have also raised alert levels in the country following the London attack near the British parliament late March.

Collaboration between European and Moroccan intelligence services has been fostered since November 2015 following the Paris attacks.

Moroccan intelligence services have helped thwart attacks and bust cells in Belgium, France and in several other countries.

Late last month Europe warned Morocco of the potential threats Moroccan foreign fighter in Syria and Iraq would pose as they mull plans to return home.
Turkish authorities will launch new Turkish schools in Morocco by next year after they pushed for the shutdown of Gulen schools in January this year, a source close to the Turkish government says.

The new schools will open next year, Moroccan daily Al Massae reported Tuesday, quoting Mustapha Ghoukous, a member of Wakef Fund.

According to the dailys correspondent in Turkey, Mustapha Ghoukous also pointed that the Turkish government is putting in place a strategy that is in line with the Moroccan education ministrys policy, and contrary to the Gulen schools, which, he claimed, wanted to train terrorists.

The future schools will get funding from the Wakef fund, which champions education and knowledge, Ghoukous further noted.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry early January requested the shutdown of Turkish schools affiliated to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric based in the US.

Investigations on the establishments of the Mohamed Al-Fatih group, linked to Turkish national Fethullah Gulen, showed that they use education to spread the groups ideology and ideas contrary to the principles of the Moroccan educational and religious system, the Interior Ministry had then explained.

Ankara had hailed the Moroccan Governments decision to close down the schools.

Gulen, a former close ally of Turkish president, has been blacklisted by the Turkish government.
The second edition of African Business Connect brought together in Kigali 400 companies from Morocco and Rwanda to prospect business and investment opportunities.

During the event, co-organized by BMCE bank in partnership with Moroccos export promotion agency (Maroc export), special emphasis was placed on the sectors of energy, finance, transport and logistics, information and technology, construction and real estate, among other sectors, Rwandan paper, the New Times said.

The East African newspaper noted that Rwanda is expecting more than $100 million in investments from Morocco.

Acting head of investment promotion at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Winifred Ngangure Kabega confirmed the amount at a press conference, saying, We are looking at approximately $100 million worth of investments from Morocco.

The money would be invested in different sectors of the economy including tourism, energy and infrastructure, said Ms Kabega.

Back in October we signed a partnership agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on incomes, she recalled.

The $100 million investment opportunity comes a few months after King Mohammed VI of Morocco met President Paul Kagame, in Casablanca in June and in Kigali in October last year.

During King Mohammed VIs visit to Rwanda in October, the two countries signed 19 agreements setting the stage for cooperation in vital sectors such as agriculture, housing, vocational training, finances, taxes, banking, new technologies, air transport, tourism and renewable energies.
Lizard prince? Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Alex Jones knows how to sell snake oil. The Infowars host has convinced much of his audience that the Sandy Hook shooting was a false-flag operation; Obama brought Ebola to the United States; the CIA rigged the 2016 presidential debates against Donald Trump; and if you spend $59.95 on a small glass bottle full of ginseng extract, your ex-wife will love you again.

But there are some truths that no alternative facts can obscure. And even Jones cant pretend that Trumps first months in office have been especially successful.

This presents Jones, and his fellow thought leaders in the far-right fever swamp, with a bit of a challenge. On the one hand, in the trenches of the information wars, Trumps greatness cannot be questioned. On the other hand, failing to even secure a House vote for the Obamacare repeal  and then going on Twitter tirades against the far-right darlings of the Freedom Caucus  is not very great at all.

Conservative infotainers have resolved this conundrum by channeling the fever swamps disappointment and confusion onto the Establishment wing of the White House  and the bad advice that it keeps feeding to our dear leader.

Most of the reactionary populist pundit class has painted the bulls-eye on Reince Priebus and/or Paul Ryan. But on Tuesday, longtime Trump ally Roger Stone informed Alex Jones that this scandal goes all the way to just beneath the top.

Theres no question now, that sources tell me that the presidents son-in-law enjoys a very lively text exchange with Joe Scarborough, Stone said solemnly, standing in front of his pool, Many of the antiSteve Bannon stories that you see, the themes that you see on Morning Joe are being dictated by Kushner.

What the hell is Jared Kushner doing talking to a guy who has a dead intern in his office and is an absolute scumbag? Jones asked, incredulously, going on to note that the MSNBC host and former GOP congressman is a secret Democratic operative.

In the early days of the Trump White House, Kushner and Bannon were rumored to be engaged in an unlikely bromance. For a guy who was a progressive, he really gets this grassroots populist movement in a huge way, Bannon told New York of the presidents son-in-law.

But last month, the Washington Post suggested that Bannon and Kushner may now find themselves on opposite sides of growing divide at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

An unexpected political marriage has formed between Bannon, with his network of anti-establishment conservative populists, and Priebus, who represents a wing of more traditional Republican operatives. They are often at odds with the New Yorkers, led by Cohn and Powell, who are close to Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, arguably the most powerful White House aide.

Regardless, one should, of course, take anything Roger Stone says with a couple kilos of salt. But the fact that the far-rights frustration has already led it to turn on Kushner  arguably the presidents most trusted aide and one of the few Jewish members of the West Wing  is a testament to how fractious Team Trump is, both inside and outside the White House.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sebastian Gorka, the senior adviser to Donald Trump who calls himself a terrorism expert but who isnt viewed that way by actual terrorism experts, has multiple ties to anti-Semitic groups from his parents native Hungary. For example, in the past he has been seen and photographed wearing the uniform and medal of the Vitezi Rend, a far-right group of Nazi collaborators and sympathizers, and he has also signed his name with an initial associated with sworn members of the organization. Furthermore, members of the Rend told The Forward that he swore an oath of loyalty to it, though Gorka didnt respond to a Forward request to comment on that front. Gorka has cycled through various explanations for his ties to these groups, sometimes referencing tributes to his father or to the victims of communism (a movement which the Vitezi Rend fought against).

Gorka is going to have more trouble explaining the Forwards latest revelation, though. In an article posted this afternoon, Forward staffer Lili Bayer writes that in video from a 2007 appearance, Gorka explicitly affirms his partys and his support for the black-vested Hungarian Guard (Magyar Garda)  a group later condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for attempting to promote an essentially racist legal order.

Bayer, who has been all over this story, explains that the militia was established by Jobbik, the notorious far-right anti-Semitic political party, and that its declared aim was to defend ethnic Hungarians, since, its founders argued, Hungary lacked other means of physical, mental or spiritual self-defense. The Guard was formally banned in 2009, with the countrys highest court ruling that its anti-Roma marches violated the rights of the Hungarian Roma community. In 2013, two of its members were found guilty in a string of racially motivated murders of Hungarian Roma, including that of a 5-year-old, committed in 2008 and 2009.

Gorkas interview preceded those murders, but at the time Jewish groups and others in Hungary had already expressed alarm about the Guard. In the video, though, Gorka explicitly supports Jobbiks move, partly on the grounds that Hungary is sick  [and] cannot defend itself. Gorka also brushes aside concerns about rising anti-Semitism in Hungary, explaining, This type of accusation is the very useful tool of a certain political class.

Normally, of course, any single one of these revelations about a high-ranking presidential adviser would be enough to get that cabinet member fired. But these arent normal times, and Gorka isnt a normal adviser.
As Kirsten Gillibrand ascended to the pulpit at the Bridge Street AME Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant in late February, the congregation seemed to tense with apprehension. One of the oldest black institutions in Brooklyn, the church has played host to Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman; Congressman Hakeem Jeffries had just given a rousing speech, putting the current political moment into context by recalling how this community had survived slavery and Jim Crow (not to mention Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush). Now a diminutive white woman was stepping up to the microphone. Actually, to say that New Yorks junior senator is white is to undersell whiteness. Kirsten Gillibrand, 50, is practically translucent.

She started off stilted, hesitant. The woman next to me looked on, thin-lipped and unimpressed. Then Gillibrand turned to the story of Esther, who, told that the Jews are about to face slaughter, realizes her responsibility to act. Each elected leader, Gillibrand said, her voice growing stronger, has been placed in that position of authority for a time such as this  We are the ones who have to fight against the hateful words that come from the highest places, from the places of power in Washington. With increasing volume and assuredness, she called on the congregation to  put on the full armor of God, so that on the day evil comes, today, youll be able to stand your ground  That is what we are called to do! Gillibrand moved on to Philippians, shouting as the crowd rose to its feet, We are the ones that God placed here at a time such as this to fight! The woman next to me raised an eyebrow in surprised approval, and I recalled an anecdote from Gillibrands memoir that I had not previously believed, in which Al Sharpton referred to her as Reverend Kirsten Gillibrand.

The improbability of Gillibrands preaching skills matches the improbability of her role as a Democratic holy warrior against Donald Trump. Appointed to fill Hillary Clintons seat in 2009, Gillibrand came to the Senate with a reputation as a moderate upstate hack, an unremarkable product of New Yorks political machine. Yet one month into the Trump administration, Gillibrand had staked out the most defiant position among her colleagues, casting the most no votes against his Cabinet nominees of any senator (although she did vote for Nikki Haley as ambassador to the U.N.), earning admiration from progressives frustrated by other Democrats initial willingness to work with Republicans. When Gillibrand spoke at the Battery Park rally against Trumps Muslim travel ban in January, chants of Kirsten 2020! rang out among the protesters.

The heroic optics of her Cabinet resistance were partly accidental; after all, she could not have played the role of lone resister had any of her Senate peers read the Democratic mood better and refrained from voting for some of Trumps more objectionable appointees. Even the most progressive of her fellow senators  Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders  got dinged for playing respectfully with the Trump administration. (Warrens constituents were so furious after she voted for HUD Secretary Ben Carson that she was forced to explain herself on Facebook.)

Gillibrands Cabinet votes lined up with her principles: I look at each nominee, she told me. If they suck, I vote against them. If theyre worthy, I vote for them. But her positioning was also savvy. One of her strengths, sometimes mistaken for a hollow willingness to shape-shift, is her nose for where her constituents, and the country, are headed. Through some combination of happenstance and remarkable political instincts, she often manages to show up there early.

Gillibrand speaking at a rally against President Trumps immigration ban at Battery Park on January 29. Photo: Milo Hess

When I first meet Gillibrand, its two and a half weeks after the inauguration, and she is rattled. I have had so many anxiety dreams, she says. Constant anxiety dreams. She describes waking in the middle of the night, fretting over a friends daughter whod tried to sell her Girl Scout cookies: Oh my God, Ive got to fucking order those cookies. Im terrible! I didnt respond properly! So at three in the morning Im typing out this email, pretending to have a Girl Scout cookie emergency. This little girl is doing what shes supposed to be doing, learning how to ask for the raise, and I totally dissed it! Gillibrand says, noting that she is now getting nine additional boxes of Samoas and Tagalogs and that, yes, she understands that its not really about the cookies.

In the weeks that followed the election, she says, Washington was eerily quiet. Nobody was reaching out. Everybody was so crushed, like a sadness you couldnt process, she says. Most of the people I know who were die-hard Hillary supporters, I didnt talk to for at least two weeks. It was like a death in the family where you didnt even want to call because it would be too hurtful. When the Senate convened for its brief lame-duck session, it became clear that a lot of people wanted to fight and a lot of people were still, in my opinion, shell-shocked, not sure what this new world was going to look like.

Gillibrand explains the divide as generational, the difference between someone seeing the election as it is and seeing the election as it would normally be. One view is hes going to have his Cabinet; hes entitled to his advisers; you dont fight these kinds of things. It depends, she says, on how many administrations have you seen? How many times have you been around the block? Some of those who have lived a long time, seen it a hundred times, believe the institutions will survive the challenges presented by Trump. Then there are others that see it in terms of what I see: that its not going to be normal at all.

Cohesive party strategy  at least among Democrats  in the Senate is not easily achieved. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, says Gillibrand, has a really hard job, to navigate each of these things on behalf of a caucus where 25 Democrats are up this cycle and ten of them are in moderate states. Democrats were handed a gift in the form of the terrible Trump-Ryan health-care bill, against which they did present a united front. But it was not exactly a risk to take a stand against legislation so disastrous that a Republican-majority House wouldnt vote for it. The question will be whether Democrats can keep it together for the next test: the confirmation vote on Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Schumer has called for a filibuster, which Gillibrand of course supports: I feel we have enough votes to defeat his nomination. But I do not put it past Leader McConnell to change the rules. What I dont know is if Republicans will stand up to him or not.

If they do, she believes, it will be because of pressure from their constituents. One of Gillibrands staffers describes her as hair-on-fire excited about the numbers of calls her colleagues are receiving from voters on any number of issues. Ive certainly never lived through an era like this, Gillibrand says. Ive never lived through a moment in history where people are using their voices and becoming strong advocates for what they believe in. The only comparable contemporary example is from the right: the tea-party wave that swept through Congress in 2010.

Nobody told women to march. Nobody told people to run to JFK after the immigration ban. The message isnt coming from Washington.

The grassroots are doing this, says Gillibrand. I mean, nobody told them to do it. Nobody told women to march. Nobody told people to run to JFK after the immigration ban. The message isnt coming from Washington; thats the crux. The message is coming from regular people, and no one is telling them what to do.

Theres victory in just seeing Democrats fight for whats right, says Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL, who often consults with Gillibrand on how to approach the caucus. Kirsten understands that going along to get along yielded nothing in terms of compromise. I think shes set a great model for the rest of the caucus.

For someone who has established a position as one of the most anti-Trump Democrats in the Senate, Gillibrand seems to have a lot of Republican friends. She has avidly sought out conservative support for her most ambitious endeavors, including the 9/11 health bill and sexual-assault legislation, and has regularly partnered with Republicans on smaller-beans measures like banning microbeads from personal-care products, which she did in 2015 with Ohio Republican Rob Portman. A remarkable success in an era of never doing anything, she tells me drily.

Tennessee Republican Bob Corker once called Gillibrand a honey badger. One of her staffers says what this means is she will work over her Republican colleagues hard to find a place they can agree. (Dems, too: Kirsten will follow somebody down the hall to talk to them about an issue, follow them into their office, says Elizabeth Warren.) One of her favorite Republican partners, Susan Collins, whose wedding shower Gillibrand helped to throw five years ago, described her as very tenacious, and I mean that as a great compliment.

In early March, Collins and Gillibrand filed legislation to protect seniors against fraud, and Gillibrand hopes to persuade Collins to become a Republican co-sponsor of the Family Act, Gillibrands big paid-family-leave bill. I know Susans worldview is similar to my worldview, says Gillibrand. Which is that were here to help people, and if were not helping people, we should go the fuck home.

Gillibrand doesnt limit herself to the more moderate Republicans. We can work with anybody, she tells me. I mean, we passed the 9/11 health bill with Tom Cotton. Most people would assume I wouldnt be able to work with Tom Cotton and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Cruz and Paul joined Gillibrand (and Warren) in the fight for the Military Justice Improvement Act; she and Paul have proposed a bill to make child care more affordable via a tax deduction; and Cruz actually praised her as principled in his 2015 memoir.

But wont becoming synonymous with resistance to Trump imperil Gillibrands bipartisan bonds? Not at all, she says, looking surprised by the question. Most of these Republican senators did not think Trump was the best nominee. They dont agree with everything he says.

Collins predicts her Republican friends will stand by her: She is a good person. And that still counts, even in the Senate.

When Gillibrand arrived in the Senate in 2009, she had an A rating from the NRA. Her appointment was greeted by a front-page editorial in El Diario reading ANTI-INMIGRANTE and perplexed reactions from Democrats, who couldnt imagine what then-governor David Paterson had been thinking when he selected this young upstate moderate to fill Clintons seat. (In 2013 he admitted to The New Yorker that one of the reasons he appointed her was that she was kind to him after he was cruelly mocked on Saturday Night Live.)

Gillibrand, nee Rutnik and called Tina into young adulthood, attended Dartmouth, majored in East Asian studies, spent time studying in China where she roomed with actress Connie Britton, and interned for a family friend, Republican Alfonse DAmato. When I tried to join the Young Dems in college, it was all dudes, and I was not interested, she says. They were not nice to me, and I thought, Not my thing. So far from any path to righteous politics was the young Rutnik that after getting her law degree from UCLA, she took a job at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she defended tobacco giant Philip Morris.

But as a young lawyer, Gillibrand watched Hillary Clinton give her speech at the Beijing World Conference on Women  Human rights are womens rights, and womens rights are human rights  and suffered a serious case of FOMO. I was pissed off that I wasnt invited to that conference. Im a feminist and speak Chinese! I wasnt there because I wasnt involved in politics.

It took her ten years, during which she joined the DNCs Womens Leadership Forum, worked on Clintons 2000 Senate campaign, served as special counsel to thenHUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, and took another law job, before Gillibrand found the upstate House district in which she wanted to run  against a four-term incumbent for a seat that hadnt been held by a Democrat in 30 years and where Republicans outnumbered Democrats almost two to one. Advisers told her it was a bad idea. But Gillibrand felt that changing upstate demographics and her opposition to the Iraq War could swing it her way. In 2006, Gillibrand was one of a handful of blue women to stage improbable wins in red districts, including Gabby Giffords, who also ran as a pro-gun Democrat.

But the gun-friendly, anti-immigration stances that Gillibrand espoused upstate became instantly toxic when she was appointed to fill Clintons Senate seat. Senior Assemblyman Peter Rivera released a statement calling her immigration positions, including her opposition to amnesty and support for a guest-worker program that he likened to 21st-century slavery, as border[ing] on xenophobia.

The press pool was taking bets on how many months I would last, Gillibrand says. There was nobody in the state who thought I had any shot at being a good senator. She began a course correction immediately. Within weeks of her appointment, she was meeting with Representative Nydia Velazquez on immigration and visiting with the family of Nyasia Pryear-Yard, a Brooklyn teenager killed by a stray bullet at a party.

Gillibrand flinches the first couple times I bring up her flip  evidence to many that she is at least as opportunistic as she is idealistic, maybe more so. I never changed my values, she says defensively. Eventually she explains that her shift wasnt an evolution; it was an education.

You are literally meeting parents whod lost their daughter, and Im a young mother with babies and tons of hormones, she recalls, crying even now at the memory. I was so upset that I hadnt heard their story. To know that I had not empathized with them, or not even understood the issue well enough to be a good advocate? I knew I was wrong. I knew I didnt know enough. I was just embarrassed that I hadnt taken the time to truly understand what that issue was about.

During the 2016 primary, Gillibrand used her own change of heart to level criticism at Bernie Sanders, her frequent Senate ally, for his record on gun control, and suggested that Clinton, whom Gillibrand supported, hadnt gone far enough on guns. It is frankly impossible to imagine either Clinton or Sanders putting the self-flagellating I am embarrassed not to have known better frame on their own past contortions. But Gillibrand tells a similar story about her shifts on immigration. My district was 98 percent white, she says. I hadnt sat down with people to know what it feels like to live with constant racism, to live with the constant threat of families being torn apart.

I was maybe a little bit tough with her, says Velazquez, recalling how critical she had been when Gillibrand reached out. She was moved, and quite emotional. I was surprised. Still, she didnt think Gillibrand would ever be an active senator on immigration issues. Velazquez pauses and laughs: She proved me so wrong. In February, Gillibrand brought a young Dreamer to President Trumps first address to a joint session of Congress.

Gillibrands early years in the Senate happened to coincide with Democratic majorities, and she met with successes that buoyed her, including the repeal of dont ask, dont tell and the passage of the 9/11 health bill and the Stock Act, which prohibited members of Congress from trading based on insider information (a rule that Trumps new Health and Human Services secretary, Tom Price, recently has been accused of violating).

A lot of my early success was almost all luck, says Gillibrand. Yes, hard work and strategy and determination, but it was more than me just marching up a hill. She also recalls Schumers mentorship in her early days, when he introduced her to thenparty leader Harry Reid and helped her choose committees: Shes on Agriculture, Armed Services, and Environment and Public Works  which have offered her valuable distance from the sausage-making of financial-regulatory policy. As Jeff Hauser, head of the Revolving Door Project, points out, this means that she hasnt been forced to choose between influential deep-pocketed industries and the progressive wing, which is important for a senator from New York who received more in donations from Goldman Sachs than any other Democratic incumbent for her 2012 race. (Gillibrand voted against the bank bailout while still in the House and has supported Dodd-Frank, though she has also been criticized by progressives for calling for simplification of the Volcker Rule and derivatives regulations.)

The Senate, Gillibrand says over lunch in Albany, is not an easy place. Her early wins have been followed by year after year of fighting the same battles with no success, she says. Year after year of battles we havent been able to get focus on, not even a vote. We havent had a vote yet on sexual assault on college campuses. I was denied my vote last round on military sexual assault. And it gets frustrating.

Gillibrands three-and-a-half-year fight to pass the Military Justice Improvement Act  which would remove prosecutorial authority from the military chain of command  has pitted her not just against generals but against some of her Democratic allies, including Claire McCaskill. My faith has never been shaken, Gillibrand tells me. But my faith in the job has certainly been shaken. Like, Ive gotten to the point where Im wondering, Am I making a difference? Is this worth the time or effort?

Its enough to make a person turn to religion. Bible study has really helped me, she says. Raised Catholic, Gillibrand has for the past couple of years attended the weekly congressional prayer breakfast, plus two separate Bible-study classes with mostly Republican colleagues. We visit together at Bible study and we talk about our families and things outside of the Senate, says Joni Ernst, the Iowa Republican whose campaign ads touted her experience castrating pigs.

The biggest problem in Washington, Gillibrand tells me later, is that not enough people have enough empathy. They cant put themselves in someone elses shoes. If theyve lived an affluent life, they cant imagine how expensive day care is. They dont know why paid leave is important. They just dont see it.

This is partly why she wants more women to run for office. Gillibrand points to a moment seven years ago when the Stupak-Pitts Amendment  the brainchild of an anti-abortion Democrat that would have prevented women from using subsidized insurance to pay for abortions  threatened to derail health-care reform. It happened right before the 2010 midterms, when the percentage of women in Congress dropped. I thought, What the hell is going on in this country? Gillibrand says. So she launched Off the Sidelines, her PAC committed to electing more women. Thats what Ive been trying to do for five years, she says. Just telling women: If you dont speak up, things arent gonna change. If you dont become an advocate, its not gonna change. If you dont vote, its not gonna change. If you dont run, its not gonna change.

The guys run every time. I cant tell you how many 30-year-old dudes believe they should be senator or president.

Gillibrand is a bit of a gender essentialist. Just literally having 51 percent of women in Congress representing the diversity of our country: You would have different issues raised, different solutions being offered, youd have less partisan bickering, she says. Because our disposition is to help. When we do our legislation, were not trying to figure out how can I use this to run against you; we say, How can we pass this bill to help both of our constituents? Our economy would be stronger, because wed be dealing with things like paid leave and equal pay legitimately, as opposed to just using it as a talking point.

When she first got to the Senate and started working on the 9/11 health bill (which her chief of staff had warned would be a tough sell  people thought New York was wealthy enough to pay for its own), she relied on the women around her for help. To pass that bill, I first went to my female colleagues and said, How do I do this? I have no fucking clue,  she says. Her female Republican colleagues did not co-sponsor the bill, but they did give her advice:  Listen, if you pay for it this way and not that way, they cant say no. If you hold the vote, theyll have to vote yes. They were whispering in my ear the whole time.

Gillibrand, who was only the sixth sitting member of Congress to give birth while in office (her youngest, Henry, was born in 2008, the day after Gillibrand took a vote on the House farm bill), has been frank about her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated world, writing in her memoir about the older colleague who congratulated her on working out after giving birth because she was getting porky. Meanwhile, Harry Reid has referred to her as the hottest member of the Senate.

Hillary Clintons loss merely reaffirmed for her, she says, that this is our landscape; we have to be successful in spite of the landscape. What voters need to see from a female candidate is different often from what they need to see from a male candidate. And, okay. Well  She pauses. Its not okay, but its what it is. She thinks Clintons campaign will get more women into electoral politics rather than scare them away. As evidence, she points to the Womens March, which she describes as the most inspiring moment of my life  because I believed five years ago that the womens movement was dead.

Through her fund-raising and Off the Sidelines PAC, Gillibrand has raised close to $6 million for women candidates in the past five years. I will help you run, she tells a young woman who says shes thinking of entering politics at a recent event at the Manhattan womens club, the Wing. It doesnt matter if you havent worked your way up. The guys run every time. I cant tell you how many 30-year-old dudes believe they should be senator or president. Women, were like, Well, maybe after ten years of working  No. Just run for the office you want to run for and run on the issue you want to fix.

Theres plenty of speculation that Gillibrand will take her own advice and run for president in 2020. It would not surprise me if Kirsten were a candidate for higher office some day, says Collins. She has enormous ability, she works extremely hard, shes engaging, shes young. And dont take that as an endorsement, or Ill be in even more trouble than I am now.

Gillibrand, for her part, offers the standard politicians denial: I am running for the Senate in 2018. But what is clear is that Gillibrand, who constantly carries a pad of paper with her, has been taking notes on the political moment. Though she supported Clinton over Sanders in 2016, she has much in common with the populist senator from Vermont. Like Sanders, she has often stood apart from Democrats. She got an earful for her vote against TARP, she says, and recalls her failed efforts to save $4 billion cut from SNAP benefits in the farm bill, which only 28 of her fellow Democrats supported, as so heartbreaking.

And like Sanders, she sees in left-wing populism  in affordable day care and paid leave and the expansion of Medicare as a means of addressing economic inequality  a path for red and blue America to come together. Sanders spoke alongside Gillibrand in March at a press conference in support of the Family Act, and Gillibrand is very enthusiastic about becoming a co-sponsor of Sanderss forthcoming Medicare for All bill. People want affordable health care, she says. For the record, shes not late to that party; Gillibrand supported Medicare for everyone when she ran in her House district in 2006. Its the solution, and it makes sense to people even in my two-to-one Republican district.

Her fixation on populism and grassroots politics may be strategic, but the strategy does seem to dovetail with her ideals. After half a dozen conversations, when I ask her again about Democratic strategy going forward, she fixes me with a hard stare. I am exceedingly sincere when I say this, she says. People only defeat Trumpism if everyone uses their voices on whatever platform they have available to them.

She begins to tick through examples: the teen in Maine who wrote a letter to the Bangor Daily News and got Senator Angus King to write back to her on the issue of military sexual assault; the town halls that resulted in the eventual implosion of Obamacare repeal. These things are real examples. I believe this. I truly believe it. Its not bullshit, she says.

Her main worry is that people will get tired  that eight weeks feels like eight years already, that this level of mass political engagement cannot be sustained. For that reason she tries to put this progressive fight into the context of battles past. Ive been doing a lot of study about the suffrage movement, Gillibrand says, speaking to the women at the Wing. Some of these ladies worked their whole lives and never got the right to vote. They literally worked a full 60 to 70 years. She pauses, and I get the sense that shes steeling herself as well. So we can keep this up at least for two years, and then we can do it for another two.

*This article appears in the April 3, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
Photo: @TheJointStaff/Twitter Jared Kushner speaks with Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the senior American commander in Iraq, during his trip.

Reports on Sunday that Jared Kushner was headed to Iraq (which were the result of a protocol breach by White House officials) sparked speculation that President Trumps son-in-law was adding another item to his absurdly large list of responsibilities, which includes overhauling the federal bureaucracy and Veterans Affairs, tackling the opioid crisis, and managing relations with China, Canada, and Mexico.

But it appears Kushners trip wasnt the result of the president handing him another knotty task, like when Trump told Kushner before a room full of donors, If you cant produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can. Politico reports that General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, invited Kushner to accompany him to Baghdad as part of the Pentagons effort to reach out to members of Trumps inner circle.

Administration officials said that after early disagreements with the president over personnel matters, both Dunford and Defense Secretary James Mattis have been devoting considerable time to building relationships with top White House officials. This includes private meetings with President Trump and inviting White House advisers to high-level meetings at the Pentagon. It appears the defense officials hope to ensure theyre heard, regardless of which faction happens to be on top in Trumps White House. One of the national security officials said the idea is to make sure everybody is seated at the table.

Critics noted that its highly unusual for a political adviser to visit Iraq before the national security adviser or the secretary of State, but the Pentagon is merely acknowledging the reality of how the Trump White House functions.

You have to understand where the levers are. You dont have to like it, but that is where they are, a defense official told BuzzFeed News. Its in our interest.

Of course, giving Dunford the chance to bond with Kushner during a long plane ride wasnt the trips only purpose. Dunford said he invited Kushner and Thomas Bossert, the White House Homeland Security adviser, to Iraq so they could hear first-hand and unfiltered from military advisers about the battle against ISIS. The more appreciation you could have for whats actually happening on the ground, the more informed you are when you start talking about the strategic issues, Dunford said.

The New York Times noted the trip also offered an opportunity to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Trump included the nation in his first travel ban and suggested the U.S. might take its oil.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that during his meeting with the U.S. delegation on Monday, the Americans stressed its support to the government in its war against terrorism and expressed their admiration for the improved combat capabilities of the Iraqi forces as they achieve victories against ISIS.

Kushner involves himself in high-level discussions on all manner of policy priorities, according to Politico, so its safe to assume that he may be weighing in on the war against ISIS at some point. However, on Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer pushed back on the idea that Kushner is overseeing Iraq instead of officials in the State Department and the Pentagon.

On the other hand, Spicer did seem to acknowledge that experienced government officials have less influence over the president than his 36-year-old relative.

Kushner has a direct line to the president whereas the other institutions do not, CBS correspondent Margaret Brennan asserted.

Okay, great, Spicer replied. Thats even better then. I think thats a win for our government.
Sessions didnt read the DOJs scathing reports on the departments, but hes pretty sure theyre overblown. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Under President Obama, the Justice Department opened investigations into more than two dozen police departments, and worked out formal reform agreements  known as consent decrees  with 14 departments.

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions took the first steps toward undoing those reforms, ordering his his staff to review all existing or contemplated reform agreements nationwide. In a two-page memorandum dated March 31, Sessions lists the Trump administrations law enforcement principles, and says all of the Justice Department activities should be reviewed to ensure that they comply.

In addition to promoting public safety and protecting civil rights, these tenets include promoting officer safety, officer morale, and public respect for their work and keeping the misdeeds of individual bad actors from undermining the legitimate and honorable work done by law enforcement.

Local control and local accountability are necessary for effective local policing, Sessions writes. It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.

The Obama administration took the opposite view. As a result of the outrage over the 1991 beating of Rodney King, Congress gave the federal government the power to investigate police departments for civil rights abuses in 1994. The Obama administration used that power more aggressively than previous administrations, entering into about four times as many consent decrees as the Bush administration.

Sessions could not unilaterally scrap the reform agreements that are already in place, according to the New York Times, but its unclear what this means for agreements that have yet to be finalized. On Monday, Justice Department lawyers went to court to request a 90-day delay on a consent decree reached with the Baltimore Police Department just before President Trumps inauguration. The agreement has yet to be approved by a judge.

The Baltimore agreement stems from the 2015 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. In August, a Justice Department report said their investigation found a pattern and practice of discrimination against black residents by police. While Gene Ryan, the head of the local police union in Baltimore, supports the delay, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said it could undermine the progress theyve made. Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect of eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish, Pugh said.

The delay also puts efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department in jeopardy. During the final days of the Obama administration, the Justice Department released a scathing report on Chicago police, saying it found evidence of inadequate training, widespread use of excessive force, and bias against blacks and Latinos.

Last month, Sessions dismissed the Justice Departments reports on the police departments in Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri, though he admitted, I have not read those reports, frankly. He told the Huffington Post that judging from the summaries he had seen, Some of it was pretty anecdotal, and not so scientifically based.

In a joint statement on Monday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Superintendent Eddie Johnson of the Chicago police said that regardless of Sessionss review, they will continue moving ahead with their efforts to reform the police department.

The reforms we have made over the past year are built on the principles of partnership and trust between our residents and our officers, and they laid the foundation for the 2017 reform plan we outlined just a few weeks ago, Emanuel and Johnson wrote. Reform is in our self-interest and that is why Chicago has been, is, and always will be committed to reform.

National Urban League president Marc Morial, the former mayor of New Orleans, told USA Today that if Sessions really wants to be tough on crime, he should take a closer look at how locals view the Justice Departments reform efforts.

The attorney general is making this decision in a vacuum, Morial said. Theres no indication that hes spoken to mayors or police chiefs or community leaders around the nation. It appears that the only people hes really heard from are the police union officials and I think thats not the way a decision ought to be made. I think that he owes an obligation to the stakeholders in these individual communities to learn more about these consent decrees.
He sees you when youre tweeting, he knows when youre awake. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Trump administration recognizes that some things are more important than public safety. Sure, the government could do everything in its power to maximize the physical security of its citizens  but doing so would turn the United States into an open-air prison.

The White House knows Americans would never accept that. The people of this country are willing to take on a bit of risk for the sweet gift of liberty. And so, Trump has refused to listen to the worrywarts, and sacrifice the god-given right of coal companies to dump mining waste in streams; or of the severely mentally ill to buy firearms; or of Dow Chemical to sell pesticides linked to fetal abnormalities.

And while nearly 5,000 workers die on the job in the United States each year, Trump knows that those deceased workers would hate if their untimely deaths were used as an excuse to abrogate the sacred right of companies that routinely violate workplace safety standards to receive lucrative federal contracts.

Still, the White House understands that some threats are so severe, they require a few, carefully tailored restrictions on liberty. For example, foreign-born terrorists killed 24 people on U.S. soil between September 12, 2001, and December 31, 2015. Americans know thats far too many. They may be willing to let thousands of their compatriots die on shop floors each year, for the sake of minimizing the regulatory burden on job creators, but theyll be damned if they let 1.7 Americans get murdered by jihadists on an annual basis: Its one thing to be slain by poorly maintained machinery  its quite another to be felled by a foreign Muslim.

And so, the Trump administration is considering a few limited measures to mitigate the latter threat, as The Wall Street Journal reports:

Foreigners who want to visit the U.S., even for a short trip, could be forced to disclose contacts on their mobile phones, social-media passwords and financial records, and to answer probing questions about their ideology, according to Trump administration officials conducting a review of vetting procedures. The administration also wants to subject more visa applicants to intense security reviews and have embassies spend more time interviewing each applicant. The changes could apply to people from all over the world, including allies like France and Germany.



 The changes would be sure to generate significant controversy, both at home, from civil libertarians and others who see the questions as overly intrusive, and abroad, with experts warning that other nations could impose similar requirements on Americans seeking visas.

Right now, Americans have a 1 in 45,808 lifetime chance of being murdered by a foreign-born terrorist. Clearly, we must get that number down, even if it means devastating our own tourism industry, degrading our international image, and forcing customs agents to sift through the Twitter DMs, Facebook messages, and decade-old LiveJournal posts of every Muslim who wants to bring her medical expertise to an understaffed rural hospital.

Granted, theres no actual evidence that such extreme vetting would achieve its official goal. Although the Department of Homeland Security has run pilot programs on social-media screening, it didnt properly measure the efficacy of those programs, according to a DHS inspector generals report. It also seems possible that, once the new rules become public knowledge, an especially savvy ISIS militant might decide to delete her social-media accounts, buy a new phone, and decline to disclose in an ideological test that she wishes to rid the planet of infidels in a cleansing rain.

Then again, it would be pretty hard for a terrorist to discern what the right answer to these questions are:

The DHS official working on the review said the types of questions under consideration now include whether visa applicants believe in so-called honor killings, how they view the treatment of women in society, whether they value the sanctity of human life and who they view as a legitimate target in a military operation. [my emphasis]

After all, if the terrorists tried to model their answers on the American presidents example, they might say that in society, stars should be allowed to grab women by the pussy  and, in legitimate military operations, you have to take out their families: When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.

Finding the right balance between protecting national security and preserving civil liberties is a challenge for any government. But the White House seems to have found it. President Trump has made America safe again  while keeping it the land of the brave and the home of the free. You might want to tweet that, just in case you ever want to leave America and be allowed back in.
Photo: KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images

Eleven days ago, the Republicans years-long effort to repeal Obamacare culminated in a humiliating defeat, with House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledging that he was canceling the vote on his health-care plan because he couldnt muster enough GOP support. On Monday night, Republican representatives said the White House is working on a proposal that would revive the American Health Care Act  which had the support of only 17 percent of Americans  by removing one of the most popular Obamacare provisions. And they predict it may pass by Friday.

After members of the Freedom Caucus met with Vice-President Pence, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney on Monday, Representative Mark Meadows, who chairs the far-right group, said administration officials offered a solid idea, though there is no deal, in principle.

Theyve laid out a plan that were waiting to see what the legislative text actually outlines, Meadows said. But we remain open-minded and willing to look in detail at the details of the plan, and so we are hopeful that we will get the legislative text within the next 24 hours.

Meadows said the plan would allow states to apply for federal waivers exempting them from the Affordable Care Acts requirement that insurers cover essential health benefits, such as hospitalizations and maternity care. They would also be allowed to opt out of the community rating requirement, which says prices can only vary based on age, geographical area, and tobacco use.

Those changes would lower costs for younger, healthier people, but it would accomplish that by making insurance far more expensive for older, sicker people and anyone planning to have a baby. That would make Obamacares protections for people with preexisting conditions meaningless. That provision is so popular that a recent Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found that among the 26 percent of Americans who want Obamacare repealed, 38 percent changed their mind when told that would mean insurers could deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions.

Meadows said that under the plan marginally sick people would pay the risk cost associated with their coverage, while those with catastrophic or long-term illnesses would be put in high-risk pools. As the New York Times notes, insurance in the high-risk pools that existed before the Affordable Care Act tended to be expensive, and often came with long waiting periods or benefit limitations, even for the very sick.

There have been rumblings about resurrecting the GOP health-care bill for days, but its unclear how the White House proposal will resolve the disagreements among House Republicans that killed the original version of AHCA. Trump administration officials met with members of the moderate Tuesday Group on Monday, and while they expressed optimism, it didnt seem they were close to an agreement. Theres more discussions to be had, but this was certainly a green light to continue these discussions with other members, said Representative Chris Collins.

Meadows said the Freedom Caucus needs a whole lot of information as well, but weirdly both men expressed hope that there could be a vote before representatives leave for their long spring recess at the end of the week. It was clear the president would be very happy come Friday to have this passed, said Collins. This could move fairly quickly.

If the House GOP does manage to come together in the next four days, then theyll just need to get the new bill through the Senate, where they can only afford to lose two votes, and confront the possibility that tinkering with health-insurance regulations in a budget reconciliation bill is against Senate rules.

As President Trump explained last week, I know that we are all going to make a deal on health care. Thats such an easy one.
Lyons pioneering evening camo, the blazer-sans-shirt look, and printed pants. Photo: Getty Images

Jenna Lyonss distinct style, which has become synonymous with J.Crews look, has inspired women to look at clothes differently. Shes made us care about the tiniest details  from the way a shirt is tucked in (we owe the mainstreaming of the studiedly casual half-tuck to her), to how we roll up our cuffs. Lyons isnt afraid of big, bold details such as giant earrings, loud prints, or sequins donned during the day; shes the living embodiment of practicing what you preach. Scroll down to see all the ways the departing designer has changed our point of view on fashion during her time at J.Crew.

She Changed How We Roll Up Our Shirtsleeves



Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz F

Theres a very specific way that J.Crew cuffs its shirts: Fold your sleeves up halfway, then fold again, so that the shirt hits just above the elbow. Leave a tiny bit of the cuff casually askew. This advice works for men and women alike because it creates a clean line, but also because it actually stays in place. The J.Crew cuff adds a looser effect to any outfit, in the same way that Lyonss style has never seemed forced or overly formal.

Besides the cuff, Lyons is a master at changing up the way a shirt is tucked. Depending on her mood, she either tucks it in completely, leaves it undone, or does the half-tuck. And because of that, we all do the same.

She Loves Clashing Prints

Photo: Joe Schildhorn/BFA.com/BFA NYC

Quirky prints, traditional florals, and preppy stripes are all J.Crew staples (they even devoted an entire day to the latter). But its really what Lyons does with them that makes them memorable  in her world, no two patterns are too loud to wear together. Whether its polka dots with bright flowers, or a beautiful, brocade skirt with a casual, French-inspired striped tee, women have taken her lead to dress more boldly.

She Mixes Sequins With Military

Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Lyons has an uncanny knack when it comes to putting things together that wouldnt traditionally work. Who would think that something as masculine and tough as camouflage pants would look good with dangly, gold sequins and fur  much less on a red carpet? But, time and time again, Lyons has put the two together, making for another J.Crew signature.

She Treats Leopard Like a Neutral

Photo: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Whether its a giant coat or a tiny clutch (or both at once), Lyons loves to mix an animal-print accent into any outfit. It has encouraged women to think beyond leopard as a relic of the overly ostentatious 80s or grunge-filled 90s. It suddenly became chic again, especially when worn with jeans or even a tulle skirt.

Shes Had Us All Wearing Neon Brights

Photo: Michael Stewart/WireImage

Another vestige of the 80s Lyons brought back? Neon brights, especially pink. Its flashy, fun, and exactly the kind of kicky accent every J.Crew girl remembers fondly from her youth.

She Isnt Afraid to Show Off Her Chest

Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for CIROC Vodka

No shirt? No problem  Lyons doesnt need one, anyway. When it comes to wearing blazers or plunging necklines, she doesnt shy away from baring her chest, regardless of societal norms.

She Made Pajama Dressing Cool

Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

Back in September 2016, we asked: Why not split a pajama set with someone you love? Lyons did so with longtime partner Courtney Crangi at the Altuzarra show. But beyond that nifty styling trick, Lyons made it cool to wear pajamas outside the bedroom by using every weapon in her arsenal. This outfit embodies nearly every detail Lyons loves: You have neon accents, bold clashing prints, and then the weird twist  this time in the form of white sneakers.

She Doesnt Play by the Rules on the Red Carpet

Photo: Venturelli/FilmMagic

Lyons doesnt bother with traditional red-carpet dressing. She prefers to try out a military shirt with a tulle skirt, sequins with cropped pants, or a black tuxedo. At one of the biggest nights of them all, the Met Gala, she decided to show up with Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, both of whom were dressed exactly like Lyons  down to the birth-control glasses. She proved that you didnt have to fuss with overly elaborate gowns to be the best-dressed of the night.

Weddings Dont Have to Be a Complicated Affair

Photo: Josh Brasted/WireImage

While technically she wore this feathery concoction to Solanges wedding, Lyons knows that there is a core group of women out there who dont buy into traditional bridal fare. For those women, she has conceived of other options which dont cost a small fortune, feel more relaxed, and exude the same cool she does. Maybe its a tiered, ruffly style made for the beach, a bridal jumpsuit, or an amazing skirt worn with a white button-down  whatever its been, Lyons has made it work, and women, in turn, have shopped.
Poussey  Samira Wileys breakout role on Orange Is the New Black  was like a heat-seeking missile aimed at the viewers heart. Funny, endearing, and ultimately tragic, Poussey was an irrepressible ray of optimism who managed to not let prison life harden her. Still, after finishing her run on the show, Wiley wasnt looking to take on the role of another imperiled lesbian. I was definitely afraid of being typecast, she told me over breakfast in Tribeca. Then she got a callback to play Moira in The Handmaids Tale, Hulus adaptation of Margaret Atwoods 1985 dystopian novel. Atwood, it turned out, was her fiancee Lauren Morellis favorite author (I had no clue! Im a great partner, Wiley said, laughing), and the couple wound up discussing Wileys reservations about the role. I was like: I know, I know, this characters gay too, she recalled. And  I will never forget this  she goes: This one you go gay for.

In Moira, Wiley has found another part that gives her scrappy charisma a chance to shine; she brings an easygoing human warmth to characters in dire circumstances. In non-dire circumstances  eating an egg sandwich across the table from me  that charm is even more apparent. Wiley is tiny, but her deep belly laugh, big gestures, and exuberant vocal flourishes seemed like theyd make her easy to find in a crowd at a party. (Describing a recent trip to the restaurant Rubirosa, she drops three octaves to exalt the SUPREEeeeme pizza; later, when Meryl Streeps name comes up, she lifts her eyes to the heavens and clasps her hands in a posture of prayer.) She exudes laid-back, feel-good energy, the kind of energy you might hope to find in a person you were marooned with on a desert island  or at a womens prison, or in a totalitarian hellscape, as the case may be.

The Handmaids Tale (premiering April 26) and Orange Is the New Black are both shows about women surviving oppression. Products of streaming networks that didnt exist ten years ago, theyre part of a new wave of inclusive woman-centric programming that seeks to spark political dialogue and engage with real-world issues  a project thats gained a sense of urgency in the wake of Donald Trumps election. And yet Wileys most important role might be the one she has taken on offscreen. As as a queer woman of color thriving in an industry sorely lacking in role models, Wiley has been thrust into that strange space between actor and activist  even if going gay as a public figure is still something she is getting used to.

Last weekend, Wiley and Morelli, a writer and producer for OITNB, got married in Palm Springs  perhaps the the most high-profile interracial lesbian wedding in Hollywood history. It marked the culmination of a behind-the-scenes courtship just as interesting as any of the story lines that have taken place on the show. They Fell in Love on the Set of Orange Is the New Black. And Now Theyre Married, declared Time. Fans greeted the news with gushing enthusiasm: Their wedding portrait, released in Martha Stewart Weddings, Might Be The Most Beautiful Thing Youll Ever See, proclaimed BuzzFeed. After we spoke, Wiley was heading back to L.A., where the pair had recently moved in together. Im so domesticated right now, she said. We have a literal white picket fence.

Their picket-fence domesticity is just one reminder of how powerful it can be when norms change before your eyes  something Wiley has also come to appreciate in her career. Its interesting to see that my journey started with Orange, because it really is a place where people always talk about how progressive, and innovative, and different, and groundbreaking it is, she said. But it was my norm. I was surrounded by all these powerful women, and thats what I thought TV was.

Wiley grew up in Washington, D.C., where her parents are the co-pastors of Covenant Baptist Church, a radically inclusive congregation. Their work gave Wiley an up-close view of what it can cost to take a public stand. In 2007, Covenant became the first of D.C.s historically black churches to perform same-sex unions; afterward, the church lost about half its members, and many people Wiley had considered family cut her out of their lives. Often, she said, people who disagreed with her parents stance would say that they were just doing this because of their daughter, which upset her. Wiley came out to her parents when she was around 20 and was warmly embraced: My parents were way more than tolerant. I dont feel like they just tolerated me, you know what I mean? They really, really, really were advocates. Not only for me but for the entire LGBT community, she said. Theyre really my role models.

Wiley had known for a long time that she wanted to be an actor, and after high school she moved to New York to study theater at Juilliard. Danielle Brooks, who plays Taystee on OITNB, met Wiley on the first day of freshman year  Wiley was the orientation leader helping her move in. I was met with her screaming WOOOOOOOOO! WELCOME TO JUILLIARD! Brooks recalls. The two quickly became close friends, playing beer pong with roommates and watching Planet Earth (one of Taystees prison favorites) at Wileys apartment. In 2013, when Brooks got cast on Jenji Kohans new Netflix show about a womens prison, she encouraged Wiley to audition for the role of her characters best friend. A few months later, Wiley was in a baggy prison jumpsuit on a set upstate, taking notes from a staff writer named Lauren Morelli.

Early on, Wiley confessed to Brooks that she had a crush on Morelli. Brooks remembers urging caution: My biggest fear was that shes a writer on the show  What if something goes wrong? She can write you out! But Wiley was unstoppable. She was always flirting with Lauren, Brooks said.

What followed was a period of upheaval that neither Morelli nor Wiley could have imagined. OITNB became a cultural phenomenon, putting Netflix on the map and making a star out of Wiley, who couldnt pick up a coconut water at her local bodega without being stopped for a picture. And at the same time Wiley was dealing with her new fame, Morelli was grappling with her sexual orientation. As the writers room explored Pipers fluid attractions and traded intimate details of their own experiences, Morelli began to question her sexuality. After months of therapy and self-doubt, she came out of the closet and left her husband, whom shed married just two years prior. Samira became my outlet, and through that process I fell in love with her, Morelli told Out Magazine last year.

Last season, Morelli wrote the end to Wileys story on the show. While Wiley had known Pousseys fate for a year, she didnt find out until much closer to the air date that Morelli would be the one to write the pivotal episode. (I felt safe once I knew she was writing it, Wiley said at the time, while Morelli called the opportunity an honor.) Together they delivered one of the series most devastating moments. Morelli sobbed as she wrote the scene, in which the tiny Poussey is smothered by a guard while mouthing I cant breathe (a tribute to Eric Garner and the Black Lives Matter movement). The death was a gut-wrenching way to bring the conversation about criminal-justice-system abuses into viewers living rooms  to take a social issue and force viewers to feel it as an individual loss.

Next month, Wiley trades her prison jumpsuit for another penal uniform: the red dress of a handmaid on Hulus Atwood adaptation. (She got a little break from the heavy stuff last year, with a guest stint on Youre the Worst and a small part in the YA thriller Nerve, among others.) In the 1985 book, Atwood imagined America transformed into a totalitarian theocracy called Gilead, where women have no rights and those who are fertile handmaids  must bear the offspring of the ruling class. In 2017, with conservatives ascendant and womens rights under siege, the story doesnt not look quite as far-fetched as it once did  the book has found its way back onto best-seller lists, and just last month women dressed in red robes and handmaid-style bonnets marched on the Texas Senate to protest a series of restrictive abortion bills. Before the election, there was a feeling on set of us doing something relevant, Wiley said. After the election it was like: Oh God, this is way too relevant. The cast and crew felt an acute responsibility to get this story right and make sure that were making art that can elicit change.

Wiley plays Moira, best friend to the shows narrator Offred (literally of her commander, Fred), whos played by Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss. Moira appears mostly in Offreds flashbacks, and her memory becomes a beacon to Offred in the darkness of Gilead, a symbol of the freedom she once possessed. But its to Wileys credit that Moira also feels like a real person. The flashbacks let us glimpse the woman she was  courageous, resourceful, optimistic, fiercely loving  and make Offreds loss all the more vividly painful. Just as Pousseys death pushed viewers to feel the pain of systemic racism, Moiras vibrant, indefatigable presence embodies the cost of everything the regime wants to stamp out.

For Offred, in a lot of situations, the question is WWMD: What would Moira do? Wiley told me. You see why Offred loves, and misses, and wants to emulate this person, and how Offred taking on some of Moiras traits is a really good thing. I think a lot of me  Samira  wants to take on some of those things from Moira, too, in terms of just speaking out.

Last October, the couple were at home in L.A. packing for a weekend trip to Palm Springs when Morelli called Wiley over to her. As Morelli pulled Wiley in for a dance, she reached behind the couch and pulled out an engagement ring. Later, on Instagram, the world found out about the proposal: with a blissful selfie of the couple, Wileys fingers splayed to display an asscher-cut diamond ring, along with a one-word caption: yes.

Since going public with their relationship in late 2014, the pair has increasingly emphasized the importance of visibility, using social media to give fans a window into their romance. Last December, they sat for an Out cover shoot. Wiley recalls how, after posting one of the photos on Instagram, Margaret Atwood commented Perfectly Beautiful Couple under it. It made me tear up, said Wiley, this woman who wrote this book in 1985 is able to see that this is just two people loving each other. And its beautiful. She shakes her head and gives a sad half-smile. It really sucks, man, to have people in power that want to act like theres something perverse about that.

(Atwoods Instagram love is not reserved for momentous personal occasions. Without fail, she comments on every single one of my Instagram pictures, Wiley reported. Most of the time theyre emojis. Can you imagine? Margaret Atwood just like, flower, smiley face. )

In OITNBs early days, Wiley was so private that speculating about her sexuality was practically a fan pastime. Wiley never hid or denied her sexual orientation, but in the early days of career, she didnt see any reason to talk about it. Its hard to fault her initial reluctance to shout her sexuality from the rooftops. The power of labels  and the problem with them  is that they tend to stick. Amber Heard recently described how, after giving an interview in which she casually acknowledged her sexuality, she watched as she became not actress Amber Heard, but out lesbian Amber Heard. And Kristen Stewarts career has been a case study in the challenge of balancing privacy, public scrutiny, and politics.

Between Wileys supportive upbringing and the feminist-utopia work environment of OITNB, part of the challenge for her was recognizing the importance of not taking acceptance for granted. Thankfully, but also sort of weirdly, I didnt have to go through some transition and feel like, Oh, were here now, she said. Conversations on set could be a sort of history lesson, with colleagues telling her, This is how it used to be, you need to appreciate this. Cast mate Lea DeLaria  who in 1993 became the first openly gay comic on late night when she guested on The Arsenio Hall Show  was a major inspiration, said Wiley.

DeLaria describes Wiley as an incredibly private person who has made the choice to open herself up to the world. Once she trusts you, she opens her heart to you, DeLaria told me. I love the ease with who she is and how she has decided to use that bright goodness and fantastic brain of hers to change the world, to stand up and be counted. Shes using her power for good.

In the past few years, Wileys activism has grown; she received the Human Rights Campaigns visibility award in 2015 and has been involved with organizations that promote arts education for kids, a cause she has long been passionate about. She has marched with her fellow OITNBers at gay pride events in New York and Sao Paolo, where they received heroes welcomes from thousands of screaming fans. (Were like the Jackson Five, as Brooks put it.) But away from that fanfare, Wiley believes her most important act is just living in the public eye and letting her life speak for itself. She gets messages from fans across the globe saying they cant be open with their families, cant be open with their communities, people who tell her that I or we give them strength and we make them feel like theyre just a normal person  because they are.



A few weeks after our interview, Wiley and Morelli got married in a Funfetti-themed ceremony in Palm Springs, officiated by Wileys parents. The pair entered the reception to Justin Biebers Baby and celebrated their first dance with a blast of confetti. That night, they released their wedding photo: Morelli in an elegant caped jumpsuit with an ornate neck of crystal petals, Wiley in a fairy-tale off-the-shoulder top and ball-gown skirt, both designed by Christian Siriano. By next morning, the photo was plastered across the internet.

I think about when I was a young girl, [what it would have meant] to be able to look up to people who I could identify with, and to see them in positions of power and in positions of doing what I wanted to do, Wiley tells me, twisting her engagement ring round and round on her finger. I think I really realized how important that is. Even if Im not breathing it down peoples necks, I feel like my protest is walking down the street holding Laurens hand. Putting pictures of ourselves kissing on Instagram so people dont think, no, theyre just friends. Just living my life openly and honestly, and having that be a protest.
Damn that baby needs a new family.

Reply

Thread

Link

Where's the change.org campaign for Matthew Underwood to adopt him.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I'm sure it will be getting one soon.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

more likely stuck with a grandparent or aunt or in the cycle of the foster care system.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

holy fuck, that's unreal the bb survived

Reply

Thread

Link

holy fuck D:

Reply

Thread

Link

Holy shit thank goodness the baby is okay

Reply

Thread

Link

Omg so glad the baby is ok. Jesus.

Reply

Thread

Link

holy crap, i'm glad the baby is okay.

Reply

Thread

Link

wow, i'm so glad the baby is okay

Reply

Thread

Link

that is crazy

i hope the baby gets adopted by one of those dumb asses relatives

seriously i'm getting trainspotting vibes



Edited at 2017-04-03 11:40 pm (UTC)

Reply

Thread

Link

I dunno, the relatives might be just as bad...

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

we don't know that



Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Not necessarily - i work for a social service non-profit and relatives are strongly preferred to putting kids into the mostly shitty foster system. We see many grandparents, uncles/aunts, siblings raising relatives.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

What the actual fuck. That poor baby.

Reply

Thread

Link

it's early days. they will usually charge them with something to keep them in jail/get them before a judge, and then add on charges. i'm sure with this one they will add on everything but the kitchen sink.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

yeah, I'm actually pretty shocked they didn't bump it up to infanticide for how extremely serious this is.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

well, they can't do infanticide if the baby survived. child endangerment probably.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

yeah this seems to be a whole lot of endangering the welfare of a child....

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

the parents were probably white

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Omg. What awful parents to endanger their baby like that. I hope they never see it again.

Reply

Thread

Link

from the article:



"The mother later told cops she'd just bought heroin to try for the first time. The dad had a pill bottle full of Alprazolam (generic Xanax), a smoking pipe and a 2nd syringe laying next to him."



1. bullshit 2. who the fuck does heroin for the first time while DRIVING A CAR?

Reply

Thread

Link

Yeah that's so fucking infuriating, hoping they'll buy her weak ass story and let her get off easier rather than taking this as a blessing that she didn't kill her child and that she has a chance to admit that she has a horrible problem and doesnt know how to stop.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

People just lie lie lie. I did a teen peer court thing in HS and a girl tried to tell us it was her first time drinking and she had a 40 of malt liquor but was just "buzzed." We asked her mom what she wanted us to do and she said "throw the book at her."

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

that's a bad lie, like...either way she's fucked here(as she should be) but I feel like she'd have a chance of them going like.. .1% easier on her if she just admitted that she's an addict.





Not being one and just deciding to do this one a whim is way worse(and it's already SO bad as it is)





she's not only a monster but an idiot too

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

sure jan @ "first time heroin"

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I mean seriously. No one that's "experimenting" is going to try something for the first time while flying down the road at highway speeds. Or is going to start with a dose high enough to knock you out while the needle is still in your arm.



Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

sounds legit

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

yup. downshift in the economy



though heroin is making a huge comeback. unfortunately. it's been on the uptick again the last few years.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

meth has always been popular bc it's cheap and easy to get

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

there's drug trends and it's picking up again

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

It is. We've had an influx of deaths caused by it around my city lately it's terrible.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Meth is huge in the area where I live.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

i live in a suburb of dayton, ohio and we're in the middle of a heroin epidemic. actually, last i checked, we were #1 in the nation for heroin ODs. every day you hear about more people dying of an overdose, and it's pretty much all across the socioeconomic spectrum. one day it's a 25-year-old woman overdosing in the parking lot of a mcdonalds with three kids in her car, another day it's a wealthy airline pilot and his wife being found dead of an overdose by their kids coming home from school, and the next, it's a guy being arrested because his 13-year-old son died of an overdose.



all true stories, by the way :\

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Damn that's so dark

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Holy shit that's so depressing.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Yep, we hear about it all the time in cleveland

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Meth's been pretty popular around here for a decade. I live near some pretty bad areas in the small town I live in. It's all intertwined, neighborhood wise. There's no neighborhood that's not affected in some way. My older brother's constantly on meth and heroin. Mom's seen fresh tracks so many times. Of course, he lives with dealers who constantly go to jail, so. Mom refuses to talk to him when he's using, which is always. My older stepsisters takes pills while my younger stepbrother is addicted to pain meds. I'm the only one out of five that's not on drugs, actually. I know the sisters did meth for awhile, especially the younger of the two.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Clutching pearls at all replies tbh. Hope that won't be an epidemic going on :'(

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Meth's been popular. Heroin is what's blowing up, thanks in part to the opioid epidemic and people getting hooked.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Everytime I read about something like this, I cant help but think prescription opiates are probably what turned people to using heroin.

Reply

Thread

Link

They absolutely are. Heroin is cheaper than a pill habit.



I was listening to a podcast recently where they talked about how pain is now the "6th sense" (or something like that) - meaning when doctors/nurses ask you what level pain you are as a means to heal the underlying problem, it ends up legitimizing people's feelings that it is normal to not hurt. So then it becomes normal to pop a pain pill, and then eventually... use other substances when they can't get pills anymore.



Obviously this isn't condemning the use of pain pills/management because there are absolutely people who need it, but it's more about the overall culture.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

what's unfortunate for true chronic pain patients, is that pot isn't more widely available. i've know people in my RSD support group who tried it and it helped with unrelenting pain better than pills ever did.



i know i'm curious to try it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

not to say that throwing more and more pills at a problem is the wisest or safest way to go about dealing with this problem (and a few others) because there are a lot of factors that influence how somebody's pain gets treated (gender, race and expectation being big ones) but but pain isn't ~normal or ideal.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

My dad had problems managing his painkillers for years...it got worse over time until he went through his like, 7th withdrawal of the year and told my mom he was suicidal (he probably did want to die but also my mom had her own pain killlers so) and I basically ended up staging a kind of intervention and telling him i was going to call the police bc we weren't fit to deal with this situation and I would cut him out of my life if any of this happened again.



It's been a bumpy but steady road to stability since then, he switched some of his meds around and has taken classes on mindfulness and learning to overcome/process pain and he hasn't abused his script for 18 months. I'm always kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop as a defense mechanism but I'm seriously proud of him. Also I'm glad he never knew where to get heroin lol.



Edited at 2017-04-04 12:26 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Super interesting comment. I've been thinking a lot lately about America's "pill problem" and how treating symptoms of an isolated or chronic problem can lead to addiction.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

the podcast embedded did an episode last year about the opioid/heroin crisis and they went to this small town in indiana to ask people about their experiences and most of the people interviewed had been prescribed oxycodone or something similar

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

that's not even a question anymore

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link
Oil production in the Permian Basin is rising so quickly that drillers may find themselves without enough pipeline capacity to move their product.

Shale drillers large and small are rushing to West Texas, where drilling is profitable even at todays prices. Other shale basins have lost capital and drilling rigs as industry activity becomes increasingly concentrated in the Permian.

Even as shale production contracted in most of the country, the Permian continued to grow over the past several years through the worst of the downturn. Oil production in the Eagle Ford, for example, hit a peak in March 2015 at 1.7 million barrels per day (mb/d), but has since fallen sharply to just 1.1 mb/d today. But Permian production has spiked over the same timeframe, rising by nearly 0.5 mb/d to nearly 2.3 mb/d.

(Click to enlarge)

Production increases have continued despite the plunging rig count since 2014. Companies have become a lot more efficient, drilling longer laterals, drilling more wells per well pad, etc. Now with the rig count on the rise again, production will rise even faster. Notably, of the more than 100 percent gain in the rig count since May 2016, most of the additional rigs are being deployed in the Permian, with only marginal increases in rigs elsewhere.

(Click to enlarge)

The gains in output are starting to accelerate, with Permian production up 200,000 bpd this year alone. As the rig count surges and companies pour more money and personnel into West Texas, more gains are expected.

But that could create a bottleneck as pipeline companies struggle to keep up with booming output. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that Permian production could hit 2.65 mb/d by the end of the year, but the region might only have enough pipeline capacity to carry 2.54 mb/d. That is a major problem for the long list of companies with growth plans. Related: Putin Says Russia Will Become Worlds Top LNG Producer

On top of all of this, the Permian also has a growing backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs). The DUC backlog has climbed to over 1,700 as of February, up more than 36 percent since September from under 1,300. If producers try to bring some of those wells online, production from the Permian could see sudden one-time spikes.

The result could be a sharper discount for oil produced from the Permian. The differential for Midland crude compared to the WTI benchmark is now at its widest level since September 2016, according to Bloomberg. But the growing disparity between Permian production and takeaway capacity could force bigger discounts. Oil producers will have to cut their prices if they are to succeed in getting their oil into a pipeline, which will drag down prices across the region. Paul Grigel of Macquarie Capital told Bloomberg that the discount for Midland oil could reach $5 per barrel relative to WTI this year.

From the looks of it there could be several thousand barrels a day worth of midstream capacity shortages by the end of the year, Mara Roberts, an analyst at BMI Research, told Bloomberg. The rate of growth in takeaway pipeline capacity is going to be where the bottleneck is, and that will choke access to the market for producers.

The problem for the Permian is not new. The first surge in output that really started in 2011 ran into pipeline shortages. In August 2014, for example, about 1.7 mb/d of oil was flowing from Permian wells but the region only had 1.27 mb/d of pipeline capacity. The glut forced oil into storage and also led to that enormous discount, with oil from the Permian selling at a staggering $21 per barrel discount relative to WTI, the largest discount on record for the region. Related: Saudis To Cut Crude Prices To Asia, Again

Towards the end of 2014, more pipelines came online, easing the backlog. The discount narrowed as Permian oil made its way into new pipelines, flowing to the key storage hub of Cushing, OK, and also onto refineries along the Gulf Coast.

The same thing will likely occur this time around, making the current problem a temporary one  more pipelines are in the works, which will ease the bottleneck. Enterprise Products Partners has a pipeline under construction, which will add 450,000 bpd by next year.

But the mad rush for Permian acreage that has taken place since last year will create headaches for producers in 2017. Sharper discounts will directly cut into revenue expectations. The Permian has emerged as the best place to be for shale drillers, but when everyone flocks to the same place all at once, the region suffers from some growing pains.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
On a global level, 2015 and 2016 marked the lowest level of new conventional oil discoveries since 1952. In 2016, only 3.7 billion barrels of conventional oil were discovered, roughly 45 days of global crude consumption or 0.2 percent of global proved reserves. Globally, exploratory drilling fell by almost 20 percent in 2015 and fell even further in 2016. Russias exploration activities, which were hit not only by plummeting oil prices but also by a targeted sanctions regime, suffered a double blow during this period. In 2015, only seven new hydrocarbon discoveries were made in Russia, three of them in the Baltic Sea. In 2016, oil and gas companies in Russia discovered 40 prospective fields, however, the 3P reserves of the largest among them, Rosnefts Nertsetinskoye, amounted to 17.4 million tons. This stands in stark contrast with pre-sanction period achievements, for instance, 2014s largest find, Pobeda, is believed to contain 130 million tons of oil and 0.5TCm of gas.

(Click to enlarge)



Graph 1. Russias Oil Production 1970-2020 and Russias Deep-Hole Oil & Gas Exploration Drilling.

Source: Russian Central Bank, IEA, Russian Statistics Agency.

It is only logical that against such depressive trends, that people start to question the sustainability of Russias current oil-producing renaissance (Graph 1). When will Russia run out of oil? Were Sheikh Yaki Zamanis Stone age simile to materialize, would Russia still be among the top producers when oil started its descent towards obsolescence? Related: Deepwater Will Soon Challenge Shale

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Russia states that not accounting for new discoveries, current oil reserves in Russia stand at 29 billion tons and under current consumption rates would be depleted by 2044 (its 2P gas reserves depletion would come about in more than 160 years). To this end, it would like to implement business-easing measures, e.g.: facilitate the issuance of licenses and to increase the size of the allotted subsoil block to a maximum of 500 km2 (which would mean a fivefold increase compared to existing regulations). The Ministrys stimulating measures, however, should not obfuscate the fact that Russia still has vast amounts of untapped reserves waiting to be discovered. But where?

Frontiers

The future of Russian crude lies in oil that is more expensive, more geologically complex and further away from traditional regions of production. Just as West Siberia replaced the Volga-Urals Region in the 1970s as the Soviet Unions main producing region, East-Siberia and offshore regions will overtake West-Siberia (which saw its share in the national output diminish from 71 percent in 2004-2005 to 57 percent currently). This change of leaders is long overdue as West-Siberia oil output was already expected to plummet in the 1990s, yet thanks to extended oil recovery methods and slower-than-expected development of other oil-rich regions it has managed to keep stable output numbers. Russias oil sector has been consistently hoodwinked by analysts, who, beginning from the early 1980s predicted an imminent production slump. The production fall did happen, reaching a low-point between 1996 and 1999 when production foundered to 301-305 million tons per year. The cause was to be sought in Russias overall economic depression, not in its dearth of resources.

Today, Russian companies are similarly constrained in tackling Russias three new oil frontiers  shale, Arctic and deep-water. It is no coincidence that U.S. and EU sanctions targeted the sales of technologies related to these sectors and not conventional  whilst Russian companies are well-equipped to deal with conventional fields, they relied heavily on Western know-how. Yet it is very unlikely that even a tightening of sanctions could stall Russias Arctic exploration activities for a longer period of time. Russias continental shelf contains most of the Arctics oil formations and approximately 60 percent of its undiscovered reserves. So far, the 3P reserves of Russias Arctic stand at 585 million tons and 10.4 TCm, yet most of its Arctic Seas were only superficially appraised. The Kara Sea, whose fields are almost exclusively gaseous, has been in the spotlight since the 1983 of the Murmanskoye gas field (120 BCm), yet the northern parts of the adjacent Barents Sea, which Russias Federal Agency on Subsoil Usage deems the most likely to yield top hydrocarbon discoveries in the next few years, are relative newcomers in prospective surveys.

Western oil & gas companies should be aware that the Russian government treats Arctic formations as resources of federal significance and it is unlikely to provide them a role other than that of a minority shareholder. There is more maneuvering room for oil formations in the riskier part of the Arctic  the as of yet impossible-to-assess Laptev and Chukchi Seas, where no large-scale surveying has been done. Moreover, after the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf acknowledged the Okhotsk Sea as a Russian enclave, the least-researched Russian sea can now be prospected and appraised. Still, the Russian Arctic, along with frontier zones like the Timano-Pechora Basin and the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin, will play an important role in keeping Russia among worlds top 3 oil producers in the next 40-50 years. Yet there is more, Russias oil future is not only more Arctic, but also more shale-related. Related: Putin Seeks Greater Influence in Central Asia

Russia has been sitting on vast shale/tight oil reserves, which according to present data are second only to the United States. Yet it might easily surpass all its rivals, as the development of gigantic tight-oil formations, such as Bazhenov Suite, the largest shale deposit in the world covering a territory of more than 1 million km2 and assumed to contain at least 20 billion tons of oil, is still in its infant phase. The potential of the Abalak Suite underlying the Bazhenov, the Domanik Suite, stretching asymmetrically across the Volga-Urals Region from Perm to Orenburg, as well as many others, is still difficult to assess, yet virtually all of them are located in traditional oil-producing regions with a fully-established oil infrastructure. Although the first Bazhenov oil gush dates back to 1969, several factors have hindered the development of Russian tight oil, yet the principal among them was the availability of other, less-costly variants of production. The preference for easier-to-access, less costly formations is aptly reflected in Russias curbing of deep-hole exploration drilling (Graph 1).

As Russias tight oil needs at least an oil price level of 55-60 USD per barrel, bringing the first fields on-stream is still some way off as conventionals breakeven levels are in the 20-30 USD per barrel range. Despite a significant lag compared to the U.S. shale revolution, this might not be that unfavorable for Russia. It is expected that under the aegis of import substitution, Russian service companies might be fully up to the task to exploit Russias shale bounty by the 2020s, moreover, they are likely to work in an environment with significantly lower drilling costs, time and efficiency rates than their American counterparts in late 2000s (thus yielding more oil). By that time, perhaps, anti-Russian sanctions will be a yesteryear affair.

Lastly, one should not underestimate the tenacity of Russias conventional oil reserves, which thanks to enhanced oil recovery techniques and supplementary exploration will remain a force to be reckoned with. As demonstrated by the discovery of the Velikoye field in the Astrakhan Oblast (reserves estimated at 330 million tons of oil), Russias pre-salt layers, even in regions previously thought to be on the verge of depletion, might kickstart a new development vector in its energy matrix. As Russias Natural Resource Ministry cannot account for events that are still yet to happen, its 2044 depletion assumption reflects merely its inherent conservatism, not the countrys realistic capabilities. By all accounts, Russia will remain a major oil-producing nation throughout the entire XXIst century, with oil production moving to places that are further (north and east), deeper (both deepwater and pre-salt) and generally more costly.

By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A tremendous amount of digital, and real, ink has been spilled on the ongoing oil crash, much of it has been focused on U.S. shale production. Yet, the country that has grown production the most over the last two years, Iraq, has only been mentioned in passing by most observers. Between 2014 and 2016, global oil production grew by 3.3m barrels, 33 percent of that increase, or 1.1m barrels came from a single country: Iraq. If Iraq had maintained its pre-crisis production level of 3.3m barrels, the oil crisis would have been much shallower. Understanding where Iraqs production is heading is key to understanding where oil prices will go, but like most things, understanding the future requires that you understand the past.

In 2009, six years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraq undertook a series of licencing rounds for the development of its giant southern oil fields. That was the first-time International Oil Companies (IOCs) had been invited to work in the country since the nationalization of the Iraqi oil industry in 1972. These licencing rounds carried the seed of the recent surge in Iraqs oil production, but Im skipping ahead.

Prior to the involvement of IOCs, Iraqs oil production had been stagnant at around 2.5m barrels, down from a peak of 3.5m barrels reached in 1979. The licencing rounds resulted in the signature of dozens of Technical Service Contracts (TSCs). Between 2010 and 2012, these contracts had no notable impact on Iraqi production as various IOCs labored to fulfill their contracts, while some stalled in the hope of getting better and more realistic terms. Years of war, neglect and bad management had left most of Iraqs oil infrastructure in tatters, IOCs assistance was required to lay new pipelines, build additional storage tanks, erect new pumps and rehabilitate the country outdated and inadequate export infrastructure, this is on top of drilling hundreds of new wells.

Iraqs infrastructure bottlenecks played a significant role in delaying major increases in Iraqi oil production, despite a large increase in development drilling:

As can be seen from the above graph, completed wells increased by four folds between 2012 and 2014 as compared to the previous three-year period from 2009 to 2011. Up until 2014, the increase in Iraqi production lagged to a large degree the acceleration in the drilling rate. It was only in 2015, 3 years after the drilling surge, that Iraqs production really took off. The reason for the disconnect between the large increase in drilling and production was the lack of sufficient treatment, storage and export infrastructure to handle the new, often heavier oil supply. Iraqs inadequate oil infrastructure resulted in quality issues and in turn forced Iraq to curtail production at a number of oil fields.

In May 2015, infrastructure finally caught up with drilling capacity, resulting in Iraq being able to split its Basra oil stream into light and heavy grades, this was made possible after the commissioning of a new Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoys in 2014 and 2015. The light-heavy split generated a significant jump in Iraqi production, and was the key contributor to the increase in Iraqi production and exports in 2015 and 2016.

(Click to enlarge)

Where next?

The 1.1m barrels total increase in Iraqi production in 2015-2016 was the product of an active IOCs drilling campaign combined with a successful debottlenecking and rehabilitation effort to better the countrys oil and water handling infrastructure. The combination of these events, the licencing rounds in 2009, the heavy drilling undertaken in 2012 to 2014, and the infrastructure debottlenecking in 2015-2016 happened at a unique period in history and will not be repeated. This is not to say that Iraq wont increase production going forward, but it will do so at a more moderate pace.

The IEA, in its March 2017 Medium Term Oil Outlook pegged Iraq future production growth at 120K per year:

(Click to enlarge)

(Source: IEA)

The IEAs modest annual oil production growth target for Iraq seems appropriate in light of the sharp decrease in capital spending by the IOCs (declining from $18B in 2015 to $10.7 billion in 2016) and is currently set at $11.7B for 2017. The reduction in capex can be seen from the halving in Iraqs rig count from a peak of 96 in June 2014 to 40 as of February 2017:

(Click to enlarge)

(Source: Baker Hughes)

Delayed water infrastructure

One of the major constrains facing Iraqs oil production growth in the medium and long term is the lack of sufficient water injection infrastructure. As per the IEA Iraq oil and gas outlook (2012), for each oil barrel produced, Iraq needs to inject 1.5 barrels of water. Iraqs long term goal is to produce over 7m barrels from its southern oil fields, this requires a massive investment in water handling and injection infrastructure.

Iraqs plan to tackle the water challenge went through several reiterations, in 2010, the initial plan consisted of building the Common Seawater Supply Facility (CSSF), a massive 12.5m barrels seawater transport and injection project carrying water for 100Km from the Arabian Gulf and injecting it into the southern oil fields. However, lack of funding for the $10B project and a conflict with the project manager, Exxon, led to dropping Exxon as project manager and the transfer of the project to the South Oil Company in 2012. The South Oil company planned to proceed in two phases, with the first 5.2m barrels phase initially proposed to come online in 2017 (other reports put first phase at 7.5m barrels with an expected Q2/2018 completion date). In 2014, due to continued delays, phase one was pushed to 2018-2019. By late 2016, with no progress on the CSSF achieved, the project was downsized to 5m barrels in total, split in two phases.

Its not yet clear when this last scaled down version will be completed, or when it will commence construction. Iraq Oil Report noted in November 2015 that Iraq was negotiating with Exxon and PetroChina on the development of additional, smaller oil fields, in addition to having them mange the water supply project, with a goal of having it functional by 2020. It seems that Iraq has gone full circle and is back talking to Exxon on the construction of the water supply project, and as of March 2017, Iraq is still in talks with them. if the talks conclude successfully, phase one of the scaled down version may come into operation by 2020, however if history is any guide, this date will be pushed up again.

Field by field overview

To better understand where Iraqs oil production is heading, I will provide a short overview of the key Iraqi oil fields and their near-term production growth potential. The bulk of Iraqs oil production (3.34m barrels, or 73 percent of total production) comes from eight oil fields (listed below). Once fully developed, these fields will supposedly carry Iraqs oil production from 4.6m barrels today to 8m barrels at some point in the future. In its World Energy Outlook 2016 the IEA sees Iraqs oil production reaching 7.1m barrels in 2040, while in its more recent 2017 Medium Term Oil outlook, the IEA sees Iraqs oil production reaching 5.4m barrels in 2022.

West Qurna-2 (0.425m)

Potential to increase near term production: LOW.

West Qurna-2, operated by Lukoil, currently produces between 0.4m and 0.45m, in line with 2016 levels. Production beyond current levels is expected to get tougher according to operator:

Pumps and water injection will be needed in coming years, and the yet-to-be developed Yamama geological formation, unlike the Mushrif layer that is contributing to todays output, holds gas higher in deadly hydrogen sulphide.

In 2016, Lukoil was asked by the Iraqi oil ministry to cut its development budget for the field from $2.1B in 2015 to $1.26B, or a 40 percent cut. When development in West Qurna started, the contracted 1.2m barrel long term plateau was supposed to be reached by 2017/2018, there is no sign of this happening as in March 2017, Lukoil expressed a goal of keeping production flat at current levels. Lukoil has not disclosed when it will resume production growth at the field.

As a side note, it might helpful to note that Lukoil spent over $7B dollars between the ratification of the West Qurna-2 contract in 2012 and bringing production to 400K barrels in 2015.





(Click to enlarge)

(Source: Lukoil)

As per the Technical Service Contracts, the Iraqi government is to reimburse IOCs for their development costs, on top of a per barrel production remuneration fee. With current production at around 400K barrels, we can deduce that the per barrel development cost for West Qurna-2 averages about $17K per barrel. This number is close to the $15K per barrel mentioned by Iraqi officials as an average development capex for Iraqi oil fields. In its 2016, World Energy Outlook, the IEA advanced a figure of $10K to $15K per barrel for developing Iraqs oil fields.

Majnoon (0.215m)

Potential to increase near term production: HIGH.

Majnoon, operated by Shell, currently produces between 200k and 220K barrels, a level that has been sustained since 2014. In 2016, Shell was requested to lower spending from a proposed $1.5B to $855m, while maintaining production at 200K barrels.

In early 2017, Shell signed a $210m contract with Halliburton, with the aim of increasing production to 400K barrels within three years. Majnoon does not require pressure support (water injection) until it reaches its 1m barrels plateau target, accordingly, Majnoon should provide annual production growth of 60K to 70K barrels per year over the next three years.

Zubair (0.4m)

Potential to increase near term production: LOW.

(Source: Iraq Oil Contracting Office)

(Click to enlarge)

Zubair, operated by ENI, currently produces 400k barrels. In 2012, ENI signed a contract with Weatherford to increase production at the field to 550K barrels. During the execution of the contract a dispute arose between the two companies. The dispute was eventually resolved in 2H-2016 and the contract was concluded, apparently without reaching the 550K target. As of Q3/2016, ENI mentioned that they were in negotiations with the Iraqi government on new fiscal terms, and have not provided additional clarity on increasing near term production.

The long-term production plateau agreed with the Iraqi government for Zubair is 850K barrels. According to both Platts and the IEA, Zubair requires pressure support to reach and sustain its production target, hence without progress on additional water injection infrastructure, its unlikely that Zubair will contribute to near term production growth.

Halfaya (0.2m)

Potential to increase near term production: HIGH.

Halfaya, operated by CNPC has been producing 200K barrels since 2014. Initial development plans called for Halfaya to produce 400K barrels by the end of 2016, however these plans have been delayed to 2018, if achieved, Halfaya would be the first field to reach its long term plateau target.

Rumaila (1.45m)

Potential to increase near term production: LOW.

(Click to enlarge)

(Source: Iraq Oil Contracting Office)

Rumaila, operated by BP, the workhorse of Iraqi oil fields, currently produces 1.45m barrels, this is up from 1m barrels in 2009, but still below the 2.1m barrels long term target plateau. This sizable increase was achieved after BP drilled 240 new wells, and renovated Qarmat Ali water injection plant, thus increasing water injection from 60K barrels in 2013 to 900k barrels today. Rumaila has a 17 percent natural decline rate and requires constant water injection to maintain its production.

In Mid-2016, BP, contracted with Amec Foster Wheeler to undertake studies to sustain and eventually expand Rumaila oil production. Its worth noting that the Iraqi government had asked BP in 2016 to lower its investment budget at the field from $3.25B to $2.48B. Considering the maturity of the field, and its fast natural decline rate, additional growth at Rumaila is unlikely without substantial investments in additional water injection infrastructure. Related: Putin Says Russia Will Become Worlds Top LNG Producer

In its, 2017 Medium Term Oil Outlook, the IEA signalled the need for additional water supply projects for Iraq to achieve its production targets, Rumaila was one the fields mentioned by name:

Iraqs prized southern oil fields will not come close to achieving their full potential - and an official

target of 6 mb/d by 2020 looks unattainable - unless a long-delayed project to supply water gets off

the ground. Baghdad has scaled down the planned mega-project, reducing its scope from 7.5 mb/d

to 5 mb/d to be brought on in two stages. Until then, alternative sources will have to suffice at

mature fields such as Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna-1.

West Qurna-1 (0.47m)

Potential to increase near term production: HIGH.

(Source: Iraq Oil Contracting Office)

(Click to enlarge)

In Feb 2017, West Qurna-1 production reached 470K following the installation of a 300K barrels water injection unit, this is not materially different from where production stood in 2013, the reason for the lack of production progress was the lack of water injection facilities which caused a sizable dip in production in 2014. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that production at West Qurna 1 is expected to increase to 600K by mid-2017. The recent progress seems to be tied to the construction of a new oil production station by the operator, Exxon.

West Qurna-1 long term production plateau is set at 1.6m barrels, the expected increase to 600K barrels in production this year remains a far cry from the targeted level. Achieving the long-term plateau target will necessitate the construction of a much more robust water injection facilities.

Garraf (0.1m)

Potential to increase near term production: MEDIUM/LOW.

Garraf, located currently produces 100K barrels according to the operator, Petronas. The agreed upon long term plateau rate for the field is 230K. In May 2016, Japex, partner in the project, indicated that Garraf is expected to reach its 230K production target in 2019, subject to approval of the Iraqi oil ministry.

Badra (0.08m)

Potential to increase near term production: HIGH.

Badra, operated by Gazprom, currently produces 80K barrels, this is up from 67K barrels in 2016. Gazprom contracted production plateau for the field stands at 170K barrels, its not clear when would that be achieved. Nonetheless, Gazprom did indicate last year that the field could potentially reach 115K barrels in 2017.

Other minor fields

Iraq has a host of other smaller fields at various stages of development such as Luhais, Nasiriya, Tuba, Nahr Bin Umar and Artwi, these fields collectively produced 237K barrels as of late 2015, the target production level set by the Iraqi government for these fields is 345K barrels.

Production from the north of the country, which includes both legacy Kirkuk production and KRG production is currently set at 700K. Production from the north is unlikely to increase materially in the near term due to a host of financial, geological and geopolitical issues constraining further development in this region.

Based on the above tally, Iraq has a line of sight to increase production between 500K and 600K barrels over the next 2 to 3 years. This increase equates to between 200K and 300K growth per year, this is slightly faster then the IEA expected annual increase of 120K per year, but substantially below the 1.1m barrels increase witnessed during the last 2 years. Its worth noting that additional delays in the construction of water injection projects and the sizable decrease in the rig count could cancel out some of the growth should production decline in some of the pressure supported fields.

Finally, financing production growth with oil at $50 a barrel is a vastly different proposition for Iraq than when oil prices averaged $100 a barrel. The fact that Iraq must pay up for development costs, rather then share them with the IOCs puts the initial capex burden on the Iraqi government. Iraq has been experimenting with changing the terms of the contracts and moving closer to production sharing model, but no such contracts have been signed yet.

A brief look at the rest of OPEC

Iran

The second country to experience rapid production growth recently is Iran. Following the removal of nuclear sanctions, Iranian production increased by 1m barrels from 2.85m in 2015 to 3.81m in Q4/2016, thus regaining its pre-sanctions production level. Its worth noting that Iranian production was declining for five years prior to the sanctions taking effect in 2012:

(Source: IEA)

The reason for the decline in Iranian production prior to the sanctions is the advanced age of Iranian oil fields, roughly 50 percent of Iranian oil production comes from fields that are over 70 years old. Going forward the IEA expects Iranian crude production to grow at 50K barrels per year (80K per year if we are to include condensate and NGLs) a trickle compared to the 1m barrels increase following the sanctions removal.

If Iran is successful in attracting foreign capital, its production growth may accelerate later in the decade, however with the Trump administration in power, investing in Iran is a risky proposition for most IOCs.

GCC countries

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait maintain approximately 1m barrels in observable excess production capacity, the lion share of this excess capacity is held by Saudi Arabia. The GCC countries have historically used their excess capacity tactically, in contrast to the rest of OPEC, which have always produced flat out.

The GCC countries will likely increase their oil production once the OPEC cuts expires, however to avoid another large build up of inventories, its probable that the GCC countries will ease their return to the market.

Its useful to note that within this group, only the UAE is building meaningful additional capacity of 370K barrels between today and 2022.

Africa

Algeria, Angola, Gabon and Nigeria are not investing in additional capacity. The only member with potential excess capacity is Nigeria, which is currently producing at 200K barrels below its potential due to the ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta. Related: Why An OPEC Deal Extension Wont Lift Oil Prices

Libya, could theoretically produce an additional 1m barrels given enough time and resources, but for that to happen the country needs to achieve political stability, and to repair the extensive damage to its production and export infrastructure. The civil strive in Libya makes it impossible to make an informed forecast as to where that country production is heading.

Latin America

The situation in Venezuela is very fluid, and the country appears to be at the edge of a precipice, in this context its hard to have confidence in the IEA production outlook for Venezuela which calls for a gentle annual production decline of 20K barrels per year. Venezuela presents a true black swan for supply as the country descends into chaos. A total breakdown in Venezuela could remove up to 2m barrels from the market in short order. By all means, even without a total breakdown, due to lack of funds and bad management, the country is likely to experience accelerated production declines for the foreseeable future.

Ecuador, the second smallest OPEC producer, with 570K barrels of production has stopped paying its bills to the service providers, such situation is unsustainable for any extended period of time, without fulfilling its payment obligations, production in Ecuador is likely to decline in the coming months and years.

Conclusion

The large increase in Iraqi production in 2015 and 2016 was mostly a one-time event, and will not repeat going forward. A more modest 120K to 250K barrels annual growth in Iraqi production is more likely, such measured growth rate wont have the same nefarious impact on oil prices as the surge in Iraqi supply had in 2015 and 2016. The upcoming slowdown in Iraqi oil production growth, along with the imminent slowdown in Iranian production growth, paints a vastly different picture of OPECs ability to grow production in the near term. With 2.5m barrels of the 3.3m barrels increase in global production coming from OPEC in 2015 and 2016, a slowdown in OPECs production growth in the coming years will have a material impact on the oil market balance post the OPEC cut.

The amalgamation of the factors discussed in this article signal a slowdown in OPECs annual production growth from 1.25m barrels in 2015/2016 to 500K-600K in 2018/2020, if this forecast proves accurate, shale oil production will need to ramp up relatively quickly in the coming years to keep the market well supplied, and especially so as the impact of lower oil prices starts to erode Non-OPEC long term supply later in the decade.

By Nawar Alsaadi for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
As some supply disruption from Canadas heavy crude oil supply to the U.S. is coinciding with reduced shipment to the U.S. from OPEC, analysts say that Gulf Coast refineries are expected to buy this month as much Mexican crude as they can, because higher Canadian crude prices make the similar Mexican grade cheaper and therefore more attractive.

According to Bloomberg, Syncrude Canada has advised customers that they would not get any April supply from the 350,000-bpd upgrader that turns bitumen from the oil sands into light synthetic crude. Following a fire at the upgrader last month, Syncrude Canada has moved forward its maintenance activities, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The Western Canadian Select grade was trading at a discount of $4.117 per barrel to Mexicos similar Maya grade on Monday, the smallest discount since the May 2016 wildfires in Alberta, Bloombergs figures show. The small spread with the Mexican grade is too uneconomical to cover the $7 per barrel cost to send heavy Canadian crude to the Gulf via pipeline, Carl Evans, an analyst at Genscape Inc, told Bloomberg.

Probably the Gulf will take as much Mexican as it can, Evans noted.



The price of Western Canadian Select also jumped to the lowest discount to WTI - $10.50  in nearly two years, according to Bloomberg data.



U.S. imports of Mexican crude oil have been dropping since 2010, and halved from 1.152 million bpd in 2010 to 582,000 bpd in 2016, data by the EIA shows.

U.S. imports from Canada, on the other hand, jumped from 1.970 million bpd in 2010 to 3.256 million bpd in 2016, with new pipeline capacity opening up.



Related: Putin Says Russia Will Become Worlds Top LNG Producer

The U.S. energy trade with Canada accounted for about 5 percent of the value of all U.S. exports to Canada and more than 19 percent of the value of all U.S. imports from Canada in 2016, according to EIA data from last month. For 2016, the value of U.S. energy imports from Canada was $53 billion, while the value of U.S. energy exports to Canada was $14 billion.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The strike called by oil tanker drivers in Nigeria yesterday ended just hours after it began, as the government quickly agreed to improve their wages and address their other grievances, such as the condition of the roads they drive on.

According to a source from the drivers unionthe Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workersthe union called off the strike in the capital Abuja after the federal government intervened and promised to look into the drivers' demands.

A representative of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation, for his part, said that the head of the company had shaken hands with the unions leader to increase the remuneration of tanker drivers.

When the strike was first announced yesterday, it sparked immediate concern that the event could lead to indefinite supply chain disruptions for the nations oil and gas industry, already under pressure after almost a year of attacks in the industry by several militant groups, most active among them the Niger Delta Avengers.

It is nationwide and compliance is total - all tanker drivers across the nation are involved, Cogent Ojobo, who chairs NUPENG for the region, said.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that President Buharis change of approach in the federal governments dealings with the Delta militants has borne fruit, with Nigerias crude oil output rising to 1.68 million barrels daily, from 1.4 million bpd last August amid the frequent bombings.



Related: When Will Russia Run Out Of Oil?

Initially, Buhari tried a forceful tacticthreatening militants that they would be dealt with by force and sending troops in the Delta. This, however, had the opposite effect, with more militant groups popping up in the oil-rich region and attacks on infrastructure becoming more frequent.

Last year, the government decided to try the path of negotiations. This seems to be working for now, as the local communities wait to see if the federal government will make good on its promises for billions in job-creating investments and payouts under an amnesty program for militants.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
SpaceX successfully launched and then retrieved its first recycled rocket on Thursday, a historic feat and the biggest leap yet in its bid to drive down costs and speed up flights.

It was the first time SpaceX founder Elon Musk tried to fly a booster that soared before on an orbital mission. He was at a loss for words after the Falcon 9 core landed on the bull's-eye of the ocean platform following lift-off with a broadcasting satellite, achieving what some had once told him was impossible.

"This is a huge day. My mind's blown, frankly," Musk said. He called it an "incredible milestone in the history of space" and predicted, "this is going to be a huge revolution in spaceflight."

Musk foresees dozens if not hundreds of repeat flights for a booster and rocket turnarounds of as little as 24 hours, perhaps by next year. Land, refuel and then back up again, with everything leading to one day putting humanity "out there among the stars."

This particular first stage landed on an ocean platform almost exactly a year ago after a space station launch for NASA. SpaceX refurbished and tested the 15-foot booster, still sporting its nine original engines. It nailed another vertical landing at sea Thursday once it was finished boosting the satellite for the SES company of Luxembourg. SpaceX employees jammed outside Mission Control at the Hawthorne, California, company headquarters cheered loudly every step of the way - and again when the satellite reached its proper orbit.

Longtime customer SES got a discount for agreeing to use a salvaged rocket, but wouldn't say how much. It's not just about the savings, said chief technology officer Martin Halliwell. He called it "a big step for everybody - something that's never, ever been done before."

"Absolutely astounding," Halliwell said after his company's satellite reached the proper orbit. "Just opened the door into a whole new era of spaceflight."

SpaceX granted SES insight into the entire process of getting the booster ready to fly again, Halliwell said, providing confidence everything would go well. SES, in fact, is considering more launches later this year on reused Falcon boosters. At a news conference, Musk personally thanked Halliwell for having faith in SpaceX.

"You've got to get away from the idea that it's secondhand," Halliwell told reporters. "Flight proven," Musk quickly added, his preferred term.

Boosters - the most expensive part of the rocket, according to Musk - typically are discarded following liftoff, sinking into the Atlantic. SpaceX began flying back the Falcon's first-stage, kerosene-fueled boosters in 2015; it's since landed eight boosters, three at Cape Canaveral and five on ocean platforms - actually, six times at sea counting Thursday's redo.

On Thursday, the company even managed to recover the Falcon's $6 million satellite enclosure, which used thrusters and parachutes to drop into the Atlantic. Until Thursday, trying to retrieve the second stage used to get the satellite into the proper, high orbit seemed like a "Hail Mary" pass, Musk said. But no more.

Musk said this day was 15 years in coming and that, all told, the reusability effort has cost the company at least $1 billion, which will take time to recoup. He brought all five of his young sons to the launch - and the news conference that followed - wanting them to be witness to history-in-the-making. It was fitting, he noted, that the rocket took off from NASA's Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, the starting point for the Apollo moon shots decades ago.

Blue Origin, an aerospace company started by another tech billionaire, Jeff Bezos, already has reflown a rocket. One of his New Shepard rockets, in fact, has soared five times from Texas. These flights, however, were suborbital; in other words, nothing went into orbit.

NASA also has shared the quest for rocket reusability. During the space shuttle program, the twin booster rockets dropped away two minutes into flight and parachuted into the Atlantic for recovery. The booster segments were mixed and matched for each flight.

As for this SpaceX reused booster, Halliwell said engineers went through it with a fine-toothed comb following its liftoff in April 2016. SES had special access; the satellite provider, after all, has a long history with SpaceX. A SES spacecraft was on board for SpaceX's first commercial satellite launch in 2013.

Halliwell wasn't so sure, though, about the cleaning job. "It's a bit sooty," he said with a smile.

Future refights won't need as much work, Musk conceded,

Given its historic mission, the booster will not fly again, Musk said, but rather remain at Cape Canaveral for viewing.

SpaceX - which aims to launch up to six reused boosters this year, two of them with the yet-to-fly, super-sized Falcon Heavy in late summer - is familiar with uncharted territory.

Besides becoming the first commercial cargo hauler to the International Space Station, SpaceX is building a capsule to launch NASA astronauts as soon as next year. It's also working to fly two paying customers to the moon next year, and is developing the Red Dragon, a robotic spacecraft intended to launch to Mars in 2020 and land. Musk's ultimate goal is to establish a human settlement on Mars.

Key to all of this, according to Musk, is the rapid, repeating turnaround of rockets - and employees. SpaceX posted a help wanted ad on its webcast following the launch.
Unscheduled loadshedding due to higher than normal temperatures: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday confirmed a massive electricity shortfall of 5,420 megawatts, but attributed the unscheduled loadshedding to higher than normal temperatures.



Speaking at a hurriedly called news conference with outgoing and incoming secretaries, the minister said the circular debt excluding due payments to gas companies stood at Rs385 billion as of March 31, 2017 compared with Rs441bn (all inclusive) debt cleared by his government at the very outset in 2013.



In reply to a question, he refused to speak about payables to the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) and the two Sui Gas companies .



Mr Asif said that between 4,000MW and 4,500MW of power supply would be available to the system by the end of this month. This would help meet this additional (demand-supply) gap, but the normal gap of three-four hours will remain there.



He said it was true that loadshedding in some areas ranged between 10 and 12 hours and this would continue because these were high-loss and low-revenue areas because of theft.



The government has gone a step further to de-electrify some areas by removing their transformers because of theft, he added.



When his comments were sought on unconfirmed reports that for the past two years, the government had been charging consumers at rates 27 per cent higher than those approved by the regulator and earning an annual windfall of Rs228bn, Mr Asif said since the matter is now before the court, we will state our position there.



In reply to a question, Mr Asif said he would not disclose areas notorious for power theft, adding that power thieves were present in every province, and not just one.



He claimed that the disconnection exercise was already creating the desired impact as those who suffered disconnection were now applying for installation of meters and making payments.



Mr Asif said the current years generation of 12,550MW was almost 1,000MW higher than the last years, but the demand had also surged to a record 17,970MW. The demand was 15,600MW in April last year  a rise of more than 2,000MW.



An official explained that a gap of 5,420MW between demand and supply meant an average load management of eight-nine hours.



Mr Asif brushed aside speculation that the unscheduled loadshedding was because of non-payments to independent power producers (IPPs), asserting that these plants registered a record 8,000MW on Monday while public sector generation companies produced a record 2,836MW. In addition, hydropower producers contributed 2,100MW as against 2,000MW at this time last year.



The minister said total payables to the IPPs stood at Rs163bn, including Rs56bn payable to Pakistan State Oil (PSO). Another Rs54bn was payable to the IPPs as capacity charges, but after setting aside PSO dues payable by the IPPs, the total outstanding amount against the government stood at Rs161bn.



Of this, Rs69bn was under litigation between the government and the IPPs on account of interest payments, leaving behind a liability of Rs92bn.



Mr Asif claimed that even the Rs92bn was not payable in cash, but power purchase agreements with the IPPs provided credit limits that the IPPs could draw from banks and the government was bound to pay through tariff Kibor plus four per cent interest on these credits.



The minister said the average temperature in Sukkur and Jacobabad stood at 41 degrees Celsius  at least four degrees higher over the reading for end of March-early April last year. Citing another example, he said Peshawar was 10 degrees warmer this year at 33 degrees Celsius.
For Immediate Release

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today condemns the apparent chemical weapon attack in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria's Idlib governorate, as well as a suspected strike on the town's medical facility, which was treating victims of the chemical attack.

The following statement is attributable to Susannah Sirkin, PHR's director of international policy and partnerships:

"Today, we are seeing new depths of depravity in Syria. If confirmed, this apparent chemical strike would be the deadliest such attack in nearly four years. Having long documented the impacts of chemical agents, we know just how horrific and painful the effects can be: agents such as sarin can cause intense pain, respiratory distress, nausea and vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, and death. While PHR is currently unable to identify the perpetrator of today's attack, this incident fits a pattern of similar strikes carried out by the Syrian government. Syria's military and its allies have brazenly flouted international law, UN Security Council resolutions, and indeed the very underpinnings of a century-long understanding that chemical weapons have no place in modern conflict.

"Khan Sheikhoun is approximately seven miles from the frontline of the conflict, and the region has seen increased bombings since an opposition-led offensive began last month. At this stage, PHR is unable to verify an exact casualty count, but credible reports indicate that dozens  and possibly up to 100 people  have been killed in today's chemical attack. The images and video coming out of the area are particularly distressing: victims gasping for breath, children lying lifeless on the ground, hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. These are images that will and should haunt us all. As we've said repeatedly, any use of chemical weapons is an egregious violation of international law and requires an immediate response.

"PHR and our colleagues in Syria call for an immediate and independent investigation into this attack. Steps must be taken to secure evidence, including environmental and biological samples. And any credible investigation must include conclusions about suspected perpetrators. Accountability in Syria has been completely absent over these past six years. It's time for governments, international bodies, and citizens to put as much pressure as possible on all the warring parties in Syria to end the bloodshed, end the all-out assault on civilians, and end the use of chemical weapons once and for all.

"Last week, PHR documented a series of attacks on medical facilities just miles from today's reported chemical strike. With the increased bombings of medical facilities in this area, medical staff in Syria tell PHR they are concerned about the total collapse of their health care system. This is part of a pattern we've seen throughout this conflict: target civilians, destroy medical infrastructure, and watch the suffering unfold. The world's failure to halt this conflict will be a stain on our collective conscience for generations."

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
Michael Goot night and weekend editor Follow Michael Goot Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Local school officials cant be happy that there is no deal on a new state budget.

Legislators on Monday passed an extender bill to keep state government running for two months, while they still haggle over issues such as whether to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 and state aid. Both the Assembly and the Senate are far apart on the amount of funding they want to allocate to schools. The Assembly wants to increase education aid by $1.8 billion to $26.5 billion. The Senate is calling for a $1.2 billion increase.

School officials and education groups are not happy about the delay. School districts have until April 24 to submit their property tax report card to the state. That includes the proposed school tax levy for 2017-2018. School districts are in the process of putting together their budgets and holding public hearings ahead of the May 16 election.

The Council of School Superintendents urged state leaders to keep working toward a budget.

The inability to achieve a complete state budget this weekend is discouraging for all parties and we recognize the need for todays action to keep the state government operating, said Council Executive Director Charles Dedrick in a news release. But the potential delay of a full fiscal year state budget for two more months may force school districts to make difficult choices that could otherwise be avoided.

Students risk losing additional academic opportunities outside of core requirements such as Advanced Placement courses, career and technical education, and extracurricular activities, when districts are unable to fully develop a school year budget, Dedrick added.

School districts have contracts that set timelines for when notices of layoffs have to be given. Council Deputy Director Robert Lowry said that this is the first late state budget since the tax cap era, which complicates matters.

Many districts have already told their communities their projected tax levy increase, and in many circumstances, the proposal is less than the allowable levy limit. The uncertainty caused by a late state budget could lead districts to seek larger tax increases or even pursue a tax cap over-ride as a hedge against this uncertainty," he said in a news release.

The council urges the state to pass a budget no later than mid-April.

The Alliance for Quality Education criticized Cuomo for the failure of an on-time budget.

Governor Cuomos new chapter in Albany dysfunction places our school children at peril because it means larger class sizes and cuts to art, music, tutoring, libraries and more, said Executive Director Billy Easton in a news release. A two-month extender with flat funding for schools means classroom cuts for the next twelve months. School budgets must go to the voters before this extender expires. Governor Cuomo is sacrificing educational opportunities for our children on the altar of his political ambitions.

The Citizens Budget Commission said the emergency legislation is preferable to a government shutdown, but said pressing outstanding issues should have been handled more effectively.

The Legislature and governor should promptly come to an agreement that includes needed reforms to the state's Foundation Aid formula, improved targeting and disclosure of economic development spending, and overall fiscal discipline, it said in a news release.

Cuomos spokesman Richard Azzopardi seems to be blaming the legislature. In a tweet he said on the budget: There is no obligation to get the budget done by Easter  the obligation was to get the budget done by April 1. If they were worried about the school districts, they would have got it done by April 1.
More states are requiring high school graduates to know at least as much about U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing the citizenship test.

As of January, 15 states require students to take the test prior to graduation and 18 more have proposed to adopt the Civics Education Initiative. The goal is for all 50 states to pass legislation by Sept. 17, the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.

New York has not joined the initiative, but our neighbors to the east, Vermont, Connecticut and south, Pennsylvania, have proposed it in its states. New Hampshire has adopted the initiative.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 24 percent of U.S. high school students are proficient in civics, and studies by the Annenberg Foundation show that a third of U.S. citizens can't name one branch of our federal government.

Students may take the test on basic facts any time during their high school careers and as many times as necessary to pass. 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 follows:

If that was too easy, take a longer multiple choice test here or for the full test click here.

 Adam Colver
This is the latest in a series of posts about when Glens Falls native Charles Evans Hughes served as secretary of state under presidents Harding and Coolidge.

All eyes were on Marion, Ohio, in early 1921, where prominent politicians were coming and going to meet with President-elect Warren Harding as he was planning his administration.

It was widely expected that Harding would select Charles Evans Hughes as his secretary of state, the Cattaraugus Republican reported on Jan. 20, 1921.

Some of the best informed newspaper correspondents at Marion -- representatives of conservative papers which are careful not to make definite statements without full knowledge -- now say that there is no doubt that Charles Evans Hughes is to be secretary of state in President Hardings cabinet, the newspaper reported.

All that is lacking, they say, is the formal announcement, the report continued. It will be received by the country with great pleasure.

When the news was formally announced a few weeks later, Hughes commented in his usual concise, humble fashion.

Of course, I appraise it as a great privilege to be invited by Senator Harding to serve in his administration. And I regard it as an imperative obligation to accept, Hughes said, according to a Feb. 24, 1921 report in The Little Valley Hub, a newspaper in Cattaraugus County, New York.

The news reports can be read on the New York State Historic Newspapers web site, a project of public libraries.

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.
We have read (and written) that driving while intoxicated arrests around our region and the state have been declining for years, and that fewer people are apparently drinking and driving. But a six-hour period late Saturday and early Sunday seems to belie those statistics.

State troopers made eight driving while intoxicated arrests in Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties in that short period of time, all on different roads. They are all recounted here on our State Police arrest report.

Glens Falls Police also had a DWI arrest the same night.

With a spate of recent retirements, and a new class of troopers out of the State Police Academy a few months ago, the agency has a wave of new troopers out there. I see a lot of the same names on the arrest reports I look at. Those young troopers are looking to make a mark.

(If you drive drunk in the Warrensburg area, be forewarned that it seems some in the State Police seem to be paying close attention to that area, based on the number of DWI arrests I have seen from that area recently.)

What it comes down to is you're still rolling the dice if you try to drive drunk, even if the numbers show there are fewer arrests occurring. Chances are, you will eventually lose.

-- Don Lehman
SARATOGA SPRINGS  Charles Schwab will be hosting a grand opening of its 46 Marion Ave. office on Thursday.

The event will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for 5 p.m. Mazzone catering will cater the event and Coccadotts is making custom "Charles Schwab" cookies.

Organizers will be making a $1,000 donation to a local charity, most likely the Code Blue shelter, they said.

The event is by invitation, but organizers said they won't turn away anyone who "wants to talk about Schwab."

For more details on the event, contact the Saratoga Springs Charles Schwab office at 245-9999.
QUEENSBURY  In most criminal cases, prosecutors and defense lawyers talk about plea deals to avoid a time-consuming trial.

That hasnt been the case in the prosecution of Alexander M. West, the Lake George man accused of manslaughter and lesser charges for the fatal boat crash on Lake George last summer.

With a trial less than two weeks away, neither side has initiated plea talks.

Pretrial hearings are scheduled for two days next week, April 11 and 14, and Warren County Judge John Hall has directed trial to begin with jury selection April 17. Tuesdays hearing will focus on the admissibility of Wests statements to police and the legality of the police search of his fathers boat and any other police seizures from West during the investigation.

West, 24, is accused of causing a collision last July 25 that killed 8-year-old California resident Charlotte McCue and seriously injured her mother.

The charges allege he was boating recklessly after drinking and using recreational drugs in the hours before his boat went over the top of another. West is accused of speeding away from the crash scene and abandoning his boat at a motel several miles away.

He has pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment and is free on bail. Four people who were on his boat were charged with lying to police and/or obstructing the investigation, and cases against them have been postponed until after Wests case, as they are expected to testify in his trial.

Wests lawyer, Cheryl Coleman, said last fall she planned to file a motion seeking to move the case out of Warren County because of pretrial publicity and concerns about her client getting a fair trial. No such motion had been filed as of this week, and Coleman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan has not publicly commented on the case since Wests indictment last October. Hogan and her first assistant district attorney, Jason Carusone, are prosecuting the case.

Potential jurors began receiving summonses for the case this week, which has resulted in the phone at the office of Warren County Commissioner of Jurors Bonnie Nadig ringing off the hook from those looking for postponements.

Nadig said her office has sent out 500 jury notices, more than triple the number of summonses than would typically be sent for a felony trial.

Normally, I would send out about 150 summonses for a Class C felony trial, Nadig said.

The first week of the trial falls during spring break week for most local schools, and Nadig said many prospective jurors have already called to seek postponements, because they will be out of town. The law allows anyone summoned for jury duty one postponement.

Im hoping Im providing enough jurors so we can get a jury, she said.

The trial is expected to take about three weeks.

West faces a maximum prison term of 7-1/3 to 22 years if convicted of manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.
QUEENSBURY  The former Ciba-Geigy industrial site has finally been green-lighted for development.

Property owner BASF has agreed to two proposals: solar power projects and a visitors center next to the Feeder Canal Trail.

That means the town can market the site for those uses. There are no specific developers on board yet.

Town officials met with BASF to try to broker an agreement last month.

Now, Supervisor John Strough envisions a community solar farm in which low-income residents who join can buy cheap solar power rather than more expensive power through National Grid.

He also wants the town to buy or lease land at Ciba-Geigy for a visitors center, complete with bathrooms and a parking lot.

The Feeder Canal Trail begins at a parking lot off Haviland Avenue in Queensbury and goes through Hudson Falls. There, it meets the Old Champlain Towpath, which leads to Fort Edward.

Although there are many businesses nearby, there are no year-round bathrooms on the trail.

A parking lot at the site, off Lower Warren Street, would also be a valuable addition, Strough said.

There could be picnic tables there, too, but there is one restriction.

It cant be a park, Strough said.

Hes also pleased that BASF will allow solar projects.

Before, they wouldnt, he said. Thats a new open door for us.

But its not a done deal, warned BASF spokesman Dave Johnson.

However, as weve said all along, any future plans would be subject to more soil investigation and must comply with the appropriate environmental restrictions and BASF internal requirements, he said.

The industrial site was cleaned up 16 years ago, but the parent company for Ciba-Geigy has been reluctant to accept new development. BASF says its environmental standards are stricter than the Department of Environmental Conservations and Environmental Protection Agencys.

Still, before the meeting with Strough, Johnson said the company was open to ideas.

Our goal is to get these lands back to a viable use, Johnson said. There would never be an opportunity for residential. But as far as industrial, there are opportunities there. As for commercial, there would be an outside (chance), but there would be restrictions.
Heading into her third year in office, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, admits she still isnt positive what to expect as she prepares for another series of town hall meetings.

I have done this every year, and this is my third year, Woerner said Tuesday. Sometimes, people come with particular questions and issues on their minds, and sometimes, they just come to hear what I have to say.

Woerner will discuss her legislative priorities and hear from constituents at the meetings across Saratoga and Washington counties.

Woerner said she hopes the state budget, which is already overdue, will be done, or at least much closer to completion, so she can talk about what she has accomplished.

No matter what, its important for elected officials to create a space to hear what people have to day, she said. This way, I can inform them about what I am doing and give people a chance to tell me whats on their minds.

Woerner said shes never sure how many people will show up.

I could be speaking to a full house or I could be speaking to an empty room. You never know, she said.

The first meeting runs from 6 to 7 p.m. April 12 at the former Washington County courthouse, 122 Main St., Hudson Falls. The following day, also from 6 to 7 p.m., Woerner will be at the Mechanicville Community Center, 6 S. Main St., Mechanicville.

From 3 to 4 p.m. April 17, she will be at the Embury Apartments, Embury Cafe, 131 Lawrence St., Saratoga Springs. Later that day, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Woerner will be at Saratoga Springs Public Library, 49 Henry St., Saratoga Springs.

Finally, from 6 to 7 p.m. April 18, she will be at the Greenwich Public Library, 148 Main St., Greenwich.

Constituents who cannot attend these events but would like to meet with Woerner are invited to call 455-5404 to schedule visits at her Saratoga Springs and Albany offices.
President Donald Trump likes to dismiss the allegations surrounding the contacts between top aides on his campaign and Russian officials as "fake news."

Trump insists that there is no there there. That there is no fire.

To date, he's right. But there is a whole heck of a lot of smoke.

Consider:

Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater and is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's brother, was part of a secret meeting in January in the Seychelles Islands with a Russian close to Vladimir Putin, according to reporting from the Washington Post on Monday. Russia's goal in the meeting, according to the Post, was to establish a sort of unofficial line of communication with the Trump administration. Prince played no formal role in the Trump campaign or the transition, but did donate $250,000 to a combination of Trump campaign entities.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from any investigations regarding any investigation into Russia's attempts at meddling in the 2016 election due to revelations that he had met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on two occasions despite insisting during his confirmation hearing that he had no contact with the Russians during the campaign.

Michael Flynn resigned as Trump's national security adviser following reports that he had not only talked with Kislyak during the transition but that -- contrary to his assertions -- he had discussed the recently-imposed sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama Administration as a punishment for the election meddling. Flynn, through a lawyer, said he would be interviewed by Congress in regard to the Russian meddling into the election but would only do so if he was granted full immunity. The Senate Intelligence Community rejected that offer.

Jared Kushner: Trump's son-in-law -- and someone with a vast portfolio in the administration -- met with Kislyak and Flynn at Trump Tower during the presidential transition period. Kushner also met with a Russian bank executive at Kislyak's request.

Paul Manafort, who served as Trump's campaign chairman for a large chunk of the GOP nomination fight, has long had ties to pro-Putin forces un Ukraine -- having spent a decade working with Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych. And, according to the Associated Press, Manafort inked a $10 million deal with a billionaire ally of Putin in the mid 2000s in order to help promote Putin and Russian interests in the United States and other countries. Manafort has said his work for Oleg Deripaska did not include anything political. Late last month Mafort did say that he would be willing to sit for an interview with the House Intelligence Committee to discuss Russia's role in the election.

Carter Page, brought on as a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign on March 2016, almost immediately became a lightning rod due to his close ties to Russia. (Page spent three years in the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch and claimed to be an adviser to several; state-owned and run energy companies.) Page was eventually fired from the campaign in late September after reports that during a July trip to Moscow he has huddled with a number of senior Russian executives, a claim he denied.

Roger Stone, noted political gadfly and Trump friend and quasi-adviser, has acknowledged that he exchanged Twitter messages with Guccifer 2.0, the hacker allegedly behind the leaking of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Stone insists he had nothing to do with the coordinated release of the documents during the course of the 2016 campaign.

That's A LOT of smoke. Now, just because there's tons of smoke doesn't mean there's a fire somewhere in there. But, what it does do is suggest that Trump's dismissal of questions about his campaign's ties to Russia are much more than "fake news."

And, if Trump truly believes that there is no fire, his best move would be to put his full weight behind a bipartisan investigation aimed at getting out all of the facts. He has yet to do so.
Democrats on the House intelligence committee were briefed Tuesday on the contents of intelligence documents that White House staff provided to House intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, and could travel as soon as Tuesday to review the documents themselves.

Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters they heard from committee staff about the documents, but he declined to get into the details of what they show. Nunes has weathered a storm of calls for him to recuse himself from the Russia investigation since it was discovered that two White House aides coordinated the release of the information to him.

Himes also said that the committee has agreed to call FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers back before the committee to testify again, but has not yet agreed on a time. The House investigation has been rocked by chaos in the two weeks since Comey announced that the FBI has been investigating possible collusion between top aides on the campaign of President Donald Trump and Russian officials who sought to sway the US election.

One day after that stunning revelation, Nunes secretly visited the White House to review evidence that is now at the center of Trump's counter-offensive. The ensuing chaos rocked the House investigation and led some lawmakers to declare it dead, but Republicans and Democrats have slowly been setting it back on course.

House Speaker Paul Ryan appeared to put his own investigators on notice Tuesday when asked about calls for Nunes to recuse himself.

"I'll just say this. Chairman Nunes has my confidence. I've met with the committee. They have my confidence," Ryan said. "What's important is that this committee does its investigation on a bipartisan basis to get to the bottom of things and go investigate all things Russia. That's what this committee is going to do."

Nunes said late Monday that investigators had agreed on the list of witnesses they plan to interview. GOP Rep. Peter King suggested Tuesday the committee has agreed to bring in key figures who worked with the Trump campaign and were in communication with Russian officials.

The four top targets of the federal probe -- former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page, former Trump adviser Roger Stone and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn -- have all offered to speak before House and Senate investigators. But Flynn's lawyer has said that Flynn would only testify with a promise of immunity from prosecution -- something no one has agreed to yet.

"We certainly made a lot of progress. we've exchanged witness lists," Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday. "I think we're near agreement on bringing in both the witnesses that we want and the witnesses Nunes wants. Prior to doing that, we need to get the documents from these witnesses so that we'll understand what questions we want to ask. Obviously some of these folks we may only get one crack at."

Nunes said they could begin bringing in witnesses in as soon as two weeks from now, but cautioned that was an optimistic timeline and that Democrats have not yet agreed on a schedule.

Investigators are working together again one week after the lead Democrat on the investigation, Schiff, called for Nunes to recuse himself because of his clandestine trip to the White House two weeks ago.

Trump and his supporters have mounted an aggressive defense against the Russia investigations in public, trying to push the focus away from his own aides ties to Russia and instead toward reports from Bloomberg and Fox News that former National Security Adviser Susan Rice revealed the names of Trump transition aides collected in surveillance of foreign officials. Rice has not responded to CNN request for comments those reports, but she denied to MSNBC unmasking Trump transition aides and called the allegations against her as "absolutely false."

The steady stream of stories about Trump aides' ties to Russia has only continued. The Washington Post reported Monday that Republican powerbroker and Trump supporter Erik Prince was engaged in an effort to create a backchannel for Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting with a United Arab Emirates intermediary on the African island of Seychelles this past January. Both the White House and Prince deny this was on behalf of the Trump administration.

Nunes repeatedly declined to comment on whether he thought Rice was the source of the unmasking in reports that he viewed two weeks ago, or if he had any evidence that shows Rice is the source. He also declined to comment on the Seychelles report from the Post.

But the wounds surrounding his committee of the last two weeks have hardly healed -- behind the scenes, lawmakers have expressed skepticism with each new report that comes out, saying they want to review the evidence for themselves.

Schiff said that House and Senate investigators will soon have access to the intelligence he, Nunes and the White House have reviewed. He fought back Tuesday against the new line of attack from the White House, saying that Nunes and the White House still need to explain why they concealed their roles in the release of this intelligence.

"This action is long overdue and follows an inexplicable series of events in which the White House played a role in selectively and surreptitiously providing the documents to our Chairman (Nunes)," Schiff said in a statement. "The White House has yet to explain why it attempted to conceal its role in the compilation of these materials. The White House is not a whistleblower and nothing that I was shown justifies such duplicitous conduct."

Schiff also pushed back on Trump's allegations about Rice, hinting that the White House should show the documents to the public and saying that incidental collection routinely involves the collection of US citizens, but that their names typically remain concealed or "masked".

Himes said earlier that Trump and his supporters are waging a campaign of deception designed to remove the focus from Russia's actions in the election.

"When your castle is constructed on utter falsehood, one of the things you have to do over time is take all of the power out of the truth," Himes said on CNN's "New Day" Tuesday about the new focus on Rice. "That's a huge win for a White House that wants to both distract the attention of the American people but also for whom doing away with an absolute sense of truth with any power to it is really important."
State Police simulator will save lives

Bravos to the New York State Police for its use of a simulator to show students what can happen if they dont buckle their seat belts. While most of us have long been in the habit of buckling up, this specific simulation showed what can happen when backseat passengers are not buckled. This had an impact on us, because we sometimes neglect to buckle up when riding in the backseat. It was a good reminder.

New equipment a smart purchase for SPCA

Bravos to the Warren County SPCA for its acquisition of new equipment that allows it to check the temperature of the interior of a vehicle to see if a pet is in any danger. The new equipment can determine the interior temperature with lasers so that windows only need to be broken if a pet is in danger.

Congdon needs to run Moreau democratically

Boos to Moreau Supervisor Gardner Congdon for refusing to sign a contract renewing legal services with the towns law firm. Congdon was outvoted by the other board members 4-1, but since no one else has the authority to sign a contract for the town, he says he can veto the vote by refusing to affix his signature. His fellow board members tried to appeal to Congdons sense of democracy, but he still refused to yield. We agree with the rest of the Moreau board. The town should be run as a democracy and not as a dictatorship as Congdon is trying to do.

Stefanik refuses to weigh in on controversy

Boos to Rep. Elise Stefanik for failing to weigh in on the recent controversy surrounding Rep. Devin Nunes and whether the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee should recuse himself from the investigation regarding President Trump and Russias interference in the presidential election. Stefanik is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, yet she refused to take a stand on whether she supports the Republican chairman or not, using her spokesman to basically say nothing.

Former assessor should drop lawsuit

Boos to former Glens Falls Assessor Lauren Stack for filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city of Glens Falls. The lawsuit is another example of the litigious society in which we live. Stack was fired after she pleaded guilty in connection with two drunken and impaired driving cases, resulting in the suspension of her license. Stack had also been convicted of a felony burglary charge in Florida in 1998. We applaud the city for giving her a second chance after the 1998 arrest, but the assessor position is an important public position in which citizens must be able to trust. We believe Stack has only herself to blame for losing her job. She should drop the lawsuit.

Cambridge youth center soon to be reality

Bravos to Cambridge Mayor Carman Bogle and others in the community for continuing to work toward a new youth center. The village has a site and an opening date scheduled for May 1. The project has been talked about for some time but may finally be coming to fruition. It will allow the community to expand its summer programs from six weeks to eight.

State fails to enact on-time budget

Boos to the New York State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for falling back into bad old habits and failing to pass an on-time budget Friday. What is even worse is they have failed to even discuss ethics reform. This is another black eye for the governor and every member of the Legislature.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:

Home Regional News East
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
Tillerson told reporters while he was in Turkey last week that the "longer-term status of President [Bashar] Assad will be decided by the Syrian people."

The remark signaled a shift in the US's official position toward the Syrian strongman. Though they were criticized for failing to act against Assad, President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry had long called for Assad to step down in a monitored transition of power.

The US's ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, took an even stronger position than Tillerson, telling reporters that the administration's "priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out."

Haley's comments stood in stark contrast to those of the previous UN ambassador, Samantha Power, who directly confronted Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies during a UN Security Council meeting in December with a fierce address.

"Three member states of the UN contributing to a noose around civilians. It should shame you. Instead, by all appearances, it is emboldening you," Power said at the time. "You are plotting your next assault. Are you truly incapable of shame?"

In a press conference four months later, Haley told reporters that the Trump administration thought Assad was "a hindrance." She added that she believed he was a war criminal.

"Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No," she said. "You pick and choose your battles."

A senior administration official described Haley's comments as "a measure of just realism, accepting the facts on the ground," according to Reuters.

The apparent shift comes as dozens of people reportedly were killed in an attack on Tuesday when a hospital that was treating civilians injured in chemical attacks was bombed. Activists described the attack as among the worst in the country's six-year war.

Some experts said Tillerson's and Haley's comments would be music to the ears of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who intervened in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Assad in late September 2015.

McCain, a Republican foreign-policy hawk who has called for a US military intervention in Syria, said Tuesday that he was sure Russia "took note of what our secretary of state said just the other day."

"One of the more incredible statements I've ever heard," he told CNN.

When asked what he thought of US President Donald Trump's foreign-policy doctrine, McCain said, "I don't see any doctrine right now."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has similar foreign-policy views, said in a statement last week, "If the press reports are accurate and the Trump administration is no longer focusing on removing Assad, I fear it will be the biggest mistake since President Obama failed to act after drawing a red line against Assad's use of chemical weapons."

The Obama administration's failure to enforce the "red line" it drew for intervention in Syria against Assad in 2012 has become arguably the biggest stain on the former president's foreign-policy legacy. Kerry acknowledged in December that the failure to follow through on the threat to retaliate against Assad for his use of chemical weapons to kill 1,500 people in August 2013 damaged the US's reputation in the region.
In a letter submitted to the judge, Waymo's legal team says Uber "willfully ignored" the court order to provide about 14,000 documents and other materials Waymo says its former employee, Anthony Levandowski, stole before leaving and starting his own self-driving company, Otto. Otto was later bought by Uber and Levandowski became the head of Uber's self-driving car projects.

Waymo claims Levandowski used the documents he stole to help develop key lidar technology for Uber's self-driving cars. Lidar is the sensor on self-driving cars that help the vehicle "see" its surroundings and avoid obstacles.

Waymo's letter notes that in a hearing last week, Uber's lawyers appeared to waiver a bit when asked if they'd be able to provide all the documentation the court requested for the case. Uber's lawyers made the argument that some of the material was in Levandowski's po session and could not be retrieved. The judge in the case then said Uber could force Levandowski to provide the documents or risk being fired, according to transcripts of the conversation.

The letter also says Uber only submitted about 900 files to the court and the files lacked extensions and metadata, meaning they had to be viewed with special software. Waymo claims in the letter that Uber did not use the proper search methods as it was looking for the files and did not review files that Levandowski personally owned. Uber gave the files to the court just before midnight on Friday.

Waymo asked for a response to these allegations a few times over the weekend, but has not gotten one yet, the letter says. The letter asks the court to compel Uber to produce the missing documents within 24 hours.

There's another piece to the puzzle. Levandowski may end up using his fifth amendment right to not incriminate himself in the case, his lawyers said last week, according to court transcripts. His lawyers also argued that the documents could fall under Fifth Amendment protection.

Waymo's letter makes an argument that Levandowski is an employee of Uber and that Uber as a corporation has no fifth amendment rights.

Uber did not have an immediate comment on the accusations in Waymo's letter, but says its legal team will submit a response in its own letter Monday evening. We'll update this post with that letter when we get it.
With that kind of money, the business technology market has created some of the most powerful people in tech this year. That's not just business power, either: Some of the market's biggest millionaires and billionaires also took up political causes this year, fighting the establishment in their own ways.

Meet the 32 people who left the biggest mark in enterprise tech in 2016:

Scott Guthrie: Microsoft's cloud man

Microsoft Executive VP of Cloud and Enterprise Scott Guthrie

Microsoft is betting its entire future on cloud computing, even as sales of its traditional Windows and Office boxed software continue their slow but steady decline.

It's meant that Scott Guthrie, who leads cloud computing at Microsoft  including its Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Dynamics CRM businesses, both of which grew mightily in 2016  has become an increasingly huge force at the revitalized company.

And he's going to get even more power, very soon. Microsoft's $26.2 billion takeover of LinkedIn will go under Guthrie's umbrella, as the data feeds into the Dynamics CRM platform.

Werner Vogels: building upon Amazon's cloud lead

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels

Amazon Web Services is far and away the leader in the fast-growing cloud computing market, where companies rent functionally unlimited supercomputing power for fractions of pennies on the hour. It's already a $12 billion business for Amazon, and the retail giant's most profitable unit.

So much of that success is because of Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, whose team keeps finding new ways to drive the price of Amazon Web Services down, even as they add new features that make it an increasingly attractive alternative to, say, Oracle.

And as Amazon keeps building its cloud under Vogels' direction, it just keeps the pressure on the legacy IT world and startups alike to drop prices and up their game.

Michael Dell: taking command of an empire

Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell

In 2016, Dell's blockbuster $67 billion acquisition of one-time rival EMC finally closed, in the biggest high-tech deal ever.

It makes industry stalwart Michael Dell the leader of one of the world's biggest IT companies  and one of the last big holdouts against the rise of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud-computing platforms.

Demis Hassabis: upping the game

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis

This was a a big year for artificial intelligence, with just about every tech company large and small looking to jump on the bandwagon.

And Demis Hassabis is right at the center. As the CEO and cofounder of DeepMind, which Google bought for $500 million in 2014, he's one of the leading artificial intelligence geniuses at a company full of them.

To drive the point home, it was Hassabis and his DeepMind team who invented the AlphaGo artificial intelligence that defeated Go champion Lee Sedol this year. It's made DeepMind one of the most visible experts in the high-growth race to build better AI.

Alex Karp: rewriting the rules

Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp

$20 billion Palantir might just be Silicon Valley's most secretive company, choosing to keep both its data-mining technology and its client list, many of whom are government agencies, under tight wraps.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp now has a direct line to Donald Trump's White House: Legendary investor Peter Thiel, one of Trump's very few prominent supporters in Silicon Valley, is also one of Karp's cofounders at Palantir. It's a connection that earned Palantir an invitation to Trump's tech summit in New York City in mid-December 2016.

All the while, Karp is challenging the United States Army on the way it doles out lucrative defense contracts, in a way that could set a precedent for tech companies looking to sell to the public sector.

Murthy Renduchintala: Intels $25 million change-agent

Intel President of Client and Internet of Things Businesses and Systems Architecture Group Murthy Renduchintala

Murthy Renduchintala, the former Qualcomm exec who joined Intel in 2015, is the second most powerful person behind CEO Brian Krzanich.

Almost every business aside from the data centers falls under his management. He also led one of the largest layoffs in Intels history this year.

Renduchintala, who was given a whopping $25 million pay package to jump ship in 2015, also represents a new culture at Intel: the rise of outside executives. Intel has historically promoted from within, but after Renduchintalas hiring, nearly one-third of the companys top management came from other companies.

Satya Nadella: playing the long game

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gets a lot of credit for reforming the company's culture in the post-iPhone world, making for a kinder, gentler company more willing to partner up with other tech companies rather than to crush the competition.

This year, Nadella's philosophy was strained to the limit, as the company's monumental $26.2 billion LinkedIn purchase threatened to end its short-lived friendship with Salesforce, while also placing the company under intense regulatory scrutiny in the European Union.

Still, the deal is a great example of Nadella's vision for Microsoft going forward, where data from sources like LinkedIn is as important (or moreso) than the individual apps you use, especially as you increasingly travel from smartphone to PC to tablet and back.

And as long as Nadella has Microsoft's resources to throw at that philosophy, expect many more shockwaves across the industry in the years to come.

Dennis Woodside: getting Dropbox ready for an IPO

Dropbox COO Dennis Woodside

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston may be the face of the company, but it is COO Dennis Woodside whos in charge of the day-to-day operations of the $10 billion startup.

Under Woodsides watch, Dropbox has become much smarter with its spending, becoming cash flow positive this year, while significantly expanding its business product offerings.

Despite some of the lingering question marks, Dropbox seems to be driving in the right direction, with talks of an IPO for next year already starting to surface  and Woodside will get a lot of credit if the company manages to have a successful public offering.

Alex Kipman: making holographic magic

Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman

Microsoft's high-tech HoloLens isn't available to consumers just yet, but it's starting to slowly make its way into the workforce.

Elevator-repair professionals are starting to use the HoloLens to diagnose and treat mechanical problems; factory workers are beginning to use HoloLens to get a better sense of what's going on from the factory floor; and so on.

Leading the charge is Alex Kipman, Microsoft's head of all things HoloLens. As so-called "augmented reality" starts to become a real market category, Kipman is the guy in charge. It's a young technology yet, but HoloLens and tech like it has a real chance to change everything.

Diane Bryant: running Intels most important business

Intel VP and general manager of Data Center Group Diane Bryant

The shrinking PC market has forced Intel to move away from its bread-and-butter PC chip business and focus more on its data center business instead.

Now, Intel gets 30% of its revenue  and nearly half of its operating profit  from its data center group, a telling sign that the chip giants future clearly depends on the growth of the data center group.

Diane Bryant is the leader of Intels data center group, managing over $15 billion of the company's annual revenue. That makes her one of the most important people at Intel, and one of the most powerful female leaders in all of tech.

In 2016, the slowing growth in Intels data center business worried some Wall Street investors. But theres no question Intel is counting on Bryants leadership to complete its transformation.

Larry Ellison: consolidating his power

Oracle Founder and Executive Chairman Larry Ellison

In 2016, Larry Ellison slowed down on dogging his longtime frenemy Marc Benioff and his company Salesforce, and set his sights on a new target: Amazon Web Services, the massively profitable cloud-computing arm of the Amazon retail empire.

This year, Ellison spent a lot of time trying to convince the world that it was Oracle, not Amazon, that offers the most powerful cloud computing platform. Despite Oracle's considerable resources, Amazon's market leadership means Ellison has his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile, Ellison bolstered his personal fortunes this year when Oracle bought NetSuite, a deal that made him $3.5 billion in cash.

Jeff Weiner: making the sale

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner

Word on the street is that LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will be leading the transition team that will bring the social network fully into the Microsoft fold, in the wake of this year's $26.2 billion acquisition.

It's a huge sign of Microsoft's confidence in Weiner, and of how much power he stands to wield within the company once all the dust settles: Usually, it's the buyer that leads those transition teams, not the seller.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn continues work on its own master plan. In 2016, Weiner unveiled his plans to turn LinkedIn into an online "school" to teach new skills in an increasingly digital world.

Marc Benioff: making an impact

Salesforce cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff

Still, Benioff's biggest impact this year might have been in the public sphere, as his social activism led him to publicly criticize United States Vice President-Elect Mike Pence and fighting politicians who support discriminatory laws across the country.

Jeff Lawson: secretly sending everyone text messages

Twilio is one of the companies that secretly runs the internet: Its services let apps and websites send you text messages or give you phone calls. If you've ever gotten a text from Uber saying your car is getting close, or a phone call from Netflix to verify your account, you've used Twilio.

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, a long-time industry veteran formerly at Amazon Web Services and StubHub, saw his influence grow this year as the company shot way up after its debut as a publicly-traded company in June. Twilio's success ended the 2016 tech IPO drought, with companies like Nutanix and Apptio following suit soon after.

Steven Mollenkopf: upending the status quo

Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf

Qualcomm, the processor company that powers lots of higher-end Android smartphones, made some big moves this year under the guidance of CEO Steven Mollenkopf.

In October, Qualcomm paid $47 billion for NXP Semiconductors, giving the company a way into the growing smart-car market, while also paving the way to make a big play for the so-called "Internet of Things."

And earlier in December, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be coming to Qualcomm's ARM processors  one of the very few times Microsoft has made Windows available for something other than an Intel chip. It's a big deal for Microsoft, and potentially a bigger deal for Qualcomm as it keeps finding new markets to infiltrate.

Tony Prophet: bringing diversity to Silicon Valley

Salesforce Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet

Tony Prophet made a big career move this year when he took Salesforces first Chief Equality Officer position in September.

The move highlighted Salesforces ongoing effort to promote workplace equality and diversity across the broader tech sector. Prophet, a former Microsoft marketing executive, is in charge of being the leading voice for equal pay, inclusion, and social activism.

Prophets hiring perhaps will encourage more Silicon Valley companies to make workplace equality a top priority and address the tech industrys deep-rooted diversity problem.

Byron Deeter: leading cloud guru

Bessemer Venture Partners investor Byron Deeter

But Deeter's been making the right calls for years, having invested in companies like Box, Shopify, and Instructure way before they went public.

In 2016, Deeter proved himself again, when Twilio, a company he backed from the seed stage, had a very successful public offering in an unusually quiet year for tech IPOs.

And he has plenty more in the pipeline for potential IPOs: Send Grid, Adaptive Insights, and Gainsight are all part of his portfolio.

Jeff Immelt: from industrial giant to software powerhouse

GE CEO Jeff Immelt

Jeff Immelt is on a mission to transform GE from an industrial giant to a software powerhouse.

"industrial internet" strategy. The goal is to invest in software and technology for the industrial space, like energy and transportation, and get to $15 billion in software revenue by 2020.

As part of the plan, GE launched a new division called GE Digital last year, and built a new office in Silicon Valley that now has 1,700 employees. In November, GE announced that its software and services business is on track to hit $6 billion in revenue this year, up 20% year-over-year.

Immelt isn't scared of doling out money if it means faster growth too: GE acquired field-service management software company ServiceMax for $915 million this year.

Dheeraj Pandey: showing unicorns have legs

Nutanix CEO and cofounder Dheeraj Pandey

To keep employees from jumping ship while they waited for the opportune time to IPO, Dheeraj Pandey, Nutanix's cofounder, CEO, and largest shareholder, even gave up about $14 million of his future stock grants to be distributed to employees to sweeten the available pot for them.

Now, Pandey looks on-target: Even after the dust settled and the stock price normalized after exploding out of the gate, Nutanix is now a $4 billion company on the public markets. Meanwhile, Pandey's cofounders at Nutanix have gone on to other startups.

John and Patrick Collison: making online payments easy

Stripe cofounders John and Patrick Collison

In late November, Stripe, a company that helps businesses accept payments online, reached a $9.2 billion valuation, making it the most valuable financial technology startup.

The visionaries behind the company are John and Patrick Collison, the brother cofounders from Ireland, who are also now the youngest Irish billionaires following the latest round of funding.

The cash infusion put a cap on what turned out to be a big year for Stripe: Early in 2016, the company announced the launch of Atlas, a program to help entrepreneurs all over the world launch their own internet businesses. Stripe Radar, a new anti-fraud tool, bolstered the companys offerings to big businesses.

And as more and more payments go online, expect more big things to come for Stripes cofounders.

Terry Myerson: Microsoft Windows boss

Microsoft Executive VP of Windows and Devices Terry Myerson

Microsoft Windows is up against some harsh challenges, as computing increasingly moves to the smartphone and tablet, and even the server room starts to get outsourced to cloud computing platforms like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft's own Azure.

That makes Terry Myerson a crucial asset at Microsoft, as he works to make sure Windows stays relevant no matter what else happens.

Meg Whitman: getting political

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman

In her day job, Meg Whitman is the leader of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, one of the largest IT companies in the world, next to the consolidated Dell/EMC entity  a competitor of whom she's highly critical.

In 2016, though, Whitman got just as much notice for her politics. Whitman, a long-time Republican, crossed party lines this year to pledge her support to Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

Diane Greene: bringing business smarts to Google

Google Senior VP of Cloud Diane Greene

In 2016, Diane Greene took her strategy for Google's growing cloud business to the next level.

Between hiring away artificial intelligence experts from Snapchat and snapping up Apigee for $625 million, Greene showed that Google is willing to spend as it accelerates its play to overtake Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud wars.

With big companies like PayPal apparently in talks with Google to move some or all of their infrastructure to the Google Cloud, it looks like Greene's big bets stand to pay off. Under her leadership, Google is slowly but surely becoming a force in enterprise IT.

Jay Parikh: putting it together

Facebook VP of Infrastructure Jay Parikh

Facebook isn't exactly the first name in enterprise hardware, but that could be about to change.

Under VP of Infrastructure Jay Parikh, Facebook is taking its home-built innovations in data center design and releasing them to the rest of the world.

From Facebook's perspective, it's just another way to connect the whole world up to the internet. But it has the side effect of putting the old-guard IT vendors on notice.

Jackie Reses: Squares capital and people lead

Square Capital Lead and Chief HR Officer Jackie Reses

While the nifty credit-card swipers are often touted as evidence of Squares innovation, the companys future success may rely on Square Capital, its high-margin lending business.

Leading the charge is Jackie Reses, Yahoos former chief development officer. Although Square Capitals revenue is small compared to the rest of the business, many investors believe it will play a bigger role because of its highly-efficient, low-cost business model. In the most recent quarter, Square reported $208 million in loans, up 70% year-over-year.

On top of Square Capital, Reses also runs the companys HR department, making her one of the most important executives at the company.

Andy Jassy: king of cloud computing

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy

Andy Jassy is the most important person at Amazon not named Jeff Bezos.

Its because he runs Amazon Web Services, Amazons massive cloud computing business thats on pace to hit $12 billion in annual revenue. AWS is also the most profitable and fastest-growing business at Amazon, and has firmly established itself as the de facto leader in the rapidly growing cloud computing space.

Jassy may be soft-spoken, but without his leadership, AWS may nowhere it is now. Its no surprise that Bezos gave a big stamp of approval this year, promoting Jassy to CEO of AWS.

Stewart Butterfield: $3.8 billion and growing

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield

Stewart Butterfield continued his hot streak this year, raising another round of funding that valued Slack at $3.8 billion.

The whopping price tag, achieved in less than three years, is a testament to Slacks crazy growth: the company has four million daily active users and surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in the summer.

Butterfield is one of the most experienced and likable guys in Silicon Valley. With the company poised to see increased competition, Slack will rely on his leadership even more next year.

Aaron Levie: calling the right shots

Box CEO Aaron Levie

It's been two years since Box went public, and its CEO Aaron Levie is starting to prove a lot of people wrong.

In 2016, Box cracked the $100 million quarterly revenue milestone for the first time, and is now expected to reach ~$400 million in annual revenue. The company has exceeded revenue guidance for eight straight quarters so far, and as promised, has become much more efficient with its spending, inching closer to cash flow positive, as well.

Although Boxs stock is still below its IPO price, Levie is making a lot of smart moves and is turning out to be one of the most promising leaders in the cloud software space.

Richard Socher: bringing AI to software

Salesforce Chief Scientist Richard Socher

Richard Socher shot up to one of the top positions at Salesforce this year after his startup MetaMind was acquired for roughly $30 million in April.

Salesforce named him chief scientist to manage hundreds of its data scientists, while making him lead its new flagship product, Einstein. With Salesforce putting more emphasis on artificial intelligence, Socher will only see his role expand within the company.

Even before joining Salesforce, Socher was already an influential figure in the artificial intelligence space. He still teaches at Stanford, his alma mater where he earned a Ph.D in computer science.

Jason Lemkin: godfather of SaaS

SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin

Jason Lemkin has made a name for himself in the cloud software space, better known as software-as-a-service (SaaS), by actively sharing his knowledge of the business through blog posts and events for years  even earning the nickname the godfather of SaaS.

His company, SaaStr.com, has gone from a simple blog to a full-scale event and learning community business. This year, he even launched his own $70 million Saastr fund  a remarkable size given he's the only general partner of the fund.

Lemkins blog posts on SaaStr.com have become must-read material for anyone in the space, while his annual SaaStr event is now one of the most important events in cloud software.

John Somorjai: the man behind Salesforces $5 billion acquisition spree

Salesforce EVP of corporate development and Salesforce Ventures John Somorjai

Salesforce bought companies at a record pace this year, shelling out roughly $5 billion on acquisitions.

Although Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff may call the final shots, its John Somorjai who runs the numbers and makes sure all M&A deals go through smoothly. Hes also in charge of Salesforce Ventures, the company's VC arm thats become one of the most active corporate VCs in recent years.

With all signs pointing to another active M&A environment in 2017, Somorjai will likely have a busy year again  and his stock at Salesforce will only continue to rise.

April Underwood: turning Slack into a platform

Slack VP of Product April Underwood

Slacks biggest draw may be its easy-to-use messaging app, but the companys real ambition is to become a broader platform that takes care of workflow and business processes.

That job largely rests on VP of Product April Underwood, who was hired away from Twitter last year.
Cecilia Dapaah was speaking after she inspected on-going construction works on the phase two of the Kumasi Airport Project.

She promised to ensure that it is elevated to international standards in the near future.

She added that the vision is to end the present situation where people from Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions, fly to London only by using the Kotoka International Airport in Greater Accra.

This would have to change  there should be Kumasi-Accra-London direct flights.

Not only that, people would not have to travel all the way from Tamale to Accra to board a flight to London. They should be able to fly directly from Tamale, she added.

READ ALSO: Find out how much Rattray Park fetches KMA monthly

She also added that encroachers of lands belonging to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will be relocated so the facility can be developed further.
The Ministers for Communication and the National Security made this pledge at an opening session of a Training of Trainers course at the Judicial Training Institute in Accra.

Ghana's National Security Minister, Mr. Ken Dapaah said that cybercrime is among the top four security threats in the country even though it is fairly new in Ghana.

With the current growth in the use and access to Information Communication Technologies in Ghana, it is expected that crimes committed through the use of such technology will rise.

This is the main reason why the Council of Europe is helping build capacity of criminal Justice authorities to protect societies worldwide in the cyberspace based on the development and implementation of the Budapest Convention on cyber crime.

Meanwhile Ghana's Minister for Communications , Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful acknowledged that emerging innovations in technology have presented a lot of challenges which need to be addressed. She urged stakeholders in the industry to work together in combating this menace.

She also said that government has plans of setting up a National Cyber Security Council and a National Cyber Security Centre that will work the private sector to fight against cybercrime. She also advised that Ghana should be abreast with the skills and knowledge gap in the industry with regards to fighting cybercrime and address outstanding skills gap.

Hon. Owusu-Ekuful urged the Judiciary to determine ways of accepting electronic evidence when they hear cases brought before them.

The training programme has participants from the Judicial Service, NCA, National Security, Police Service, BNI the Attorneys General Department, Economic and Organised Crimes Office, Narcotics Control Board, Ministry of Communication and the Criminal Investigative Department of the Ghana Police Service. It follows soon after an international workshop on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence held last week.
According to the president, Ghanaians put their confidence in him on December 7 to turn the dwindling fortunes of the country around.

At a ceremony at the Presidency to swear in Dr. Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison as the new Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Nana Addo noted that the new Governor had joined the ship of state in very difficult circumstances.

He, therefore, noted that it was incumbent on him [Dr. Ernest Addison] to justify the confidence reposed in him, and, as such, assured that he will not disappoint the people of Ghana.

READ ALSO: Nana Addo names Addison as BoG governor

"There is a big burden on us to revive the Ghanaian economy and put it on the path of growth and prosperity. I dont have to tell you the significance of your role in that process. It is absolutely vital, and you, more than anybody else, will give confidence to the markets that Ghana is on the right path," Nana Addo said.

Dr. Ernest Addison thanked the President for the confidence reposed in him.

"I am hoping that I will be able to contribute my best to position the Bank of Ghana to play that role that it is required to play, in terms of ensuring the stability of the macroeconomic and financial environment.

"The issue of stability is of great concern to Ghanaians  stability, not only in the exchange rate, but stability in prices generally  as well as creating the low interest regime which will support your private sector vision of creating jobs, ensuring high growth and reducing poverty," he added.
Mr Lithur and another, Mr Addo Allotey filed the suit at the the High Court on March 31, 2017, the Daily Graphic reports.

The two want the court to perpetually restrain the Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration, Mr J. Oppong-Boanuh, from trespassing on the land which is behind the Trade Fair Centre in La, Accra.

READ ALSO: CHRAJ Ford Report

They also want the court to declare Mr Lithur as the title holder of the land and award damages for trespass.

The said land was sold to Mr Lithur in 2015 by Mr Allotey. But Mr Lithur argues that the Commissioner of Police, Oppong-Boanuh forcibly entered onto his land, which he (Mr Lithur) had title to, with the aid of armed policemen and was earnestly developing the land.

He said this is despite a directive from the Police in La which asked that both Mr Lithur and Mr Boanuh produce documents on the land in dispute.

But Mr Oppong-Boanuh has indicated that he acquired the land from the rightful owners, the Tawiah Tsinaitse Family, and he will use all legal means at his disposal to protect the land.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs have filed an application for interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendant from further encroaching on the land until the final determination of the case.
Most of them believe the donation will compromise the participation of the Police in fighting illegal mining (galamsey) in the country.

He said the donation was to support the construction of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Headquarters at the Nima Police Station in the Greater Accra Region.

However many Ghanaian social media users have questioned the timing of the donation.

READ ALSO: Chinese Societies donates to Ghana Police Service

The donation was made at a time when most Ghanaians and the government at large are waging war against galamsey which is destroying the water bodies in the country.
According to the minister, Ivory Coast has argued that the galamsey menace is destroying their water bodies.

I was in Abidjan from Wednesday to Saturday for a conference and I was confronted with galamsey almost immediately on the effects that the galamsey in Ghana is having on Ivory Coast because River Bia enters Ivory Coast almost at the lower thirds. And Tano enters the Lagoon and it is polluting the Bia lagoon so they cannot even treat water in some of their treatment plants.

So they [Ivorians] took advantage of my presence to organize a press conference. I met the Minister for Environment and the Mining Minister and they asked me to speak to their people. I made it clear to them that we are very serious to stop galamsey and I was able to convince them that indeed we are serious. The good thing is that, they always made reference to the good relationship between Ghana and Ivory Coast and especially between Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the President of Ivory Coast, Prof. Boateng said.

He disclosed this on Tuesday during the launch of a media coalition against the galamsey menace in the country.

The galamsey menace continues to serve as a threat to water bodies, aquatic life, and agriculture in the country.

However, several efforts by previous governments including setting up an inter-ministerial taskforce in the previous administration seem to have proved futile.
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!
But 14 years and 37 ratifications later theres a great deal that remains undone.

This is largely because African states have tried to escape their responsibilities by claiming they dont have the resources to implement the protocol. This is despite the fact that it specifically imposes an obligation on states to budget for womens rights.

Three articles deal directly with the issue. For example, Article 4 calls for budgets to be made available to prevent violence against women while Article 10 (3) imposes an obligation on states to redirect military expenditure to social development and to promote womens rights. Article 26(2) is the most important one since it imposes an obligation on states to provide the budgetary resources required to implement all of its articles.

Despite this, the obligation to fund the protection of womens rights is often ignored by states.

Instead, most African countries prepare their budgets in a gender neutral way. But isnt gender neutrality in fact gender blindness? Dont national budgets that disregard the differences between men and women simply reinforce existing male dominated ways of doing things?

Gender blind budgets

In most African countries national budgets arent concerned with the different needs and priorities of women and girls. These gender-blind budgets usually fail to adopt policies which aim to remedy the disadvantaged situation of women and girls.

For example, being gender neutral, a government can allocate its resources to the area of health without taking into account that women have specific sexual and reproductive needs.

There is a way to solve this problem  gender budgeting. This enables states to meet their obligations to provide resources for womens rights. It ensures that theres an assessment of the impact that revenues and expenditure have on women and girls, as well as men and boys.

While catering for people of both sexes, gender-budgeting processes recognise that theres a deficiency in the resources allocated to women. Thus, they aim to ensure that womens rights are included in general budgeting mechanisms.

A number of African countries  for example Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal and Namibia  have tried integrating gender budgeting to their budgeting processes.

The problem is that even this approach hasnt led to enough resources being allocated to ensure implementation of the Maputo Protocol.

For instance, South Africa, the first African country to adopt gender-budgeting initiatives, has not yet met its obligations under the protocol. In South Africa, women still bear a disproportionate burden of the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

So what more needs to be done?

Barriers to implementation

Whats become clear is that one key barrier to implementation is the lack of guidance on how to implement the budget provisions of the Maputo Protocol. This doesnt expressly make reference to gender budgeting.

The South African experience gives credence to the suggestion that African states need this kind of guidance.

Two years ago the Southern African Development Community developed gender-budgeting guidelines to help member states in their allocation of funds for gender-related initiatives.

The guidelines were based on the provisions of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that require member states to provide funds for womens rights and adopt gender budgeting. The guidelines focus on gender-responsive budgets, singling out the process as one that ensures sufficient allocation of funds to women.

Focus on funding

Another barrier to the implementation of gender budgeting is the AUs failure to ensure that member states meet their obligations to fund womens rights.

With the exception of fleeting references to gender budgeting in guidelines, press releases, speeches, and reports, the African Union has not paid much attention to the issue.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (African Commission) must ensure that gender budgeting is brought to the forefront.

There are many ways to do this including the mechanisms of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, communiques, state reports, investigations, research, resolutions and guidelines.

The African Commission can also develop gender-budgeting guidelines to assist member states. With gender budgeting at the forefront, widespread respect for womens rights stands a much better chance of becoming a reality across the continent.
He said they plotted to assassinate him and Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, and the acting National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay.

READ MORE: Ken Agyapong vows to commit suicide if Mahama is not jailed

He said "I know about all the plots to have me, (Freddie) Blay and Wontumi killed. I know of all the boys dispatched for that purpose."

The NPP firebrand speaking on Adom TV Thursday, March 30, 2017 alleged that the same group of NDC officials also dispatched six persons to his house with the mission of assassinating him.

Ken Agyapong claimed three of the six persons were killed by the Police whiles the other three have been charged and arraigned before court.
According to him, the Toyota Landcruiser V8 car he uses has not been confiscated by the task force.

According to reports which went viral on social media stated that Kwesi Pratt's car has been seized because it belongs to the government.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as 'Abronye DC' who has led such operations, has led members of the Taskforce to Mr Pratt's house to retrieve a car alleged to belong to the state.

READ ALSO: 234 state vehicles still missing at Flagstaff House

Kwesi Pratt said, his vehicle has not be seized neither has he had any confrontation with Abronye DC.

Someone whose identity cannot be established using a Facebook account name of the MP for Dome-Kwabenya Adwoa Sarfo Kantaka, published the rumour that "Another state car retrieved from Kwesi Pratt house today."

But Mr Pratt reacting to the false story on Accra-based Peace FM said "It began from a Facebook account in the name of Adwoa Safo, MP and youll know that the account is fake when you look at it. Why will Adwoa Safo do that? What will motivate Adwoa Safo, a whole lawyer, to do something like this? I dont believe it."

READ MORE: John Dumelo faces prosecution for allegedly stealing state vehicle
What better to release some stress than cruise at the beach this weekend. To make the mini vacation more fun and memorable, you can visit with your family and friends. Get active and engage some family friendly games while sporting your various beachwear.

Enjoy local delicacies

Tired of eating frozen sea foods? Fish is the worlds best source of omega-3 fatty acids and incredibly good for the whole family. There are many food vendors who sell local dishes prepared with fresh fish, meat, and vegetables to promote your health.

READ ALSO: 5 beautiful places to visit in Ghana

Cultural display

Our customs and traditions strengthen us together as a nation. Evenings at Kokrobite are mostly crowned with dancing and drumming at various pubs and restaurants to entertain and teach guest about various Ghanaian cultures.

Go fishing

Most people love consuming fish but they know nothing about the fishing process and how to store fish to maintain its nutrients for a long time. Once you spend your weekend in the Kokrobite community, it is quite daring to have interaction with the seamen and learn some tip bits about fishing. Additionally, you will get fresh and affordable fish for friends and family.

Affordable artifact and paintings

Aside from the gentle hospitality, the people of Kokrobite are very talented when it comes handmade goods. They have creatively designed many artifacts to tell the history of Ghana. They also have paintings to depict real life situations and tell the African style through the stroke of their brush. All these serves as good decors for homes and offices.

Affordable house for rent
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!
Rice reportedly tried to learn the identities of officials on President Donald Trump's transition team whose conversations with foreign officials may have been incidentally collected during routine intelligence-gathering operations. Typically, when Americans are swept up in foreign surveillance, they are referred to as something like "Person One," hiding their names. Revealing their identities is called "unmasking."

Rep. Adam Schiff defended the process of unmasking, saying that it's legal. The identities of US citizens swept up in incidental intelligence collection may be revealed if the person's name is needed to make sense of an intercept or a crime is involved in the conversation.

"When it is necessary to unmask a name to understand the significance of the communication, there is a process for doing so, which is also lawful," Schiff said in the statement. "Our committee routinely reviews whether our intelligence agencies are properly masking names and unmasking them as appropriate."

Sciff also said the incidental collection of intelligence that sometimes includes conversations with US citizens is "unavoidable" and "lawful."

Schiff explained that when the US is "doing lawful surveillance for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence" and a surveillance target mentions a US citizen or business, that can constitute "incidental collection." This can also occur when a foreign party under surveillance calls or writes to a US citizen.

"Some incidental collection is unavoidable, and as long as proper procedures are being followed, it is fully lawful," Schiff said. "It does not constitute either wiretapping or surveillance of Americans."

Some Republicans  like Senate Intelligence Committee member Tom Cotton  were quick to condemn Rice. Cotton said it was "hard to imagine the circumstances [under which] you would" unmask a name in an intelligence report "in the ordinary course of business."
Egbegbe for the third time was re-arraigned alongside his accomplice, Oyekan Ayomide at the Federal High Court in Lagos on April 3, 2017.

The duo were accused of defrauding some Bureau De Change operators in different operations involving N39,098,100, $90,000 and 12, 550.

Recall that the Lagos "socialite" had been arraigned twice before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court in Lagos on 40 counts.

They were re-arraigned following the amendment of the charges by the Police.

The Police re-introduced the names of three other persons as defendants in the case.

The defendants include: Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo.
Several media sites report that the Rivers State government is canvassing for votes for the Big Brother Naija contestant Marvis.

Marvis is one of last five contestants in the Big Brother Naija House. He stands a chance of N25m and an SUV. To ensure that Marvis (who hails from Onne from Rivers state) a letter has reportedly surfaced online.

The letter bears the Nigerian coat of arms but not that of Rivers state. Titled 'Support! Support!! Support!!!', the letter appeals to the "good people of Rivers State to stand behind their daughter Miss MARVIS NKPORNWI." The letter has the SMS short code to vote for Marvis.

The letter of appeal was signed by Michael Ejiohuo, the Permanent Secretary for the Honorable Commissioner of Culture & Tourism.

If this letter is indeed from the Rivers state government, it would be astonishing to know that a state government is begging indigenes to vote for a contestant on a reality show.

The publicity of Big Brother Naija has been very huge. Ousted contestant Kemen had a billboard in Akwa Ibom, his home state. After leaving Big Brother Naija, TTT got a hero's welcome in Calabar.
What should he do?

Read his story here:

"My name is Amos, a 54-year-old man. I have four grown children out of which three are married with the youngest, a 24-year-old boy who has become a thorn in my flesh.

The boy, Austin, has become not only an embarrassment to me and the family but a cause of pain, heartache and my present hypertensive state.

I fear that Austin will lead me to my grave and that is why I decided to seek help from your readers and I hope they will help me out.

Austin was caught raping my young wife and where I come from, it is a serious abomination and the propitiation for such include me, my wife and the culprit dancing naked round our the village, among other things.

I got married to after my wife and the mother of my children died three years ago. We had lived in Lagos for years and only had to relocate to the village at the death of my wife.

My people were on my neck to get married to another woman so that she could take care of me in my old age since my children were all grown up and the girls were married.

Austin was staying with my eldest son in Lagos and a student of a private university there but he had to run down to the village after he was involved in some cult activities and had to be expelled while the police declared him wanted.

When he came to join me in the village, I sat him down and cautioned him on how to behave since he was not born in the village and did not know much of the customs.

But a few days after, he had teamed up with some good-for-nothing boys in the village and soon became a source of concern for everyone. Being a Lagos-born, he soon assumed leadership and they formed a cult group and has been giving me sleepless nights.

If he was not involved in a fight, he was accused of stealing, vandalism and other forms of crimes. But the worst came when he raped Hannah one day after I had gone to visit the Igwe in council.

I was still at the Igwe's place when some village youths dragged Austin into the Igwe's palace with my wife crying behind them, her clothes torn and her face bloodied.

She narrated that my son had raped her after beating her up in her room. It was her screams that alerted neighours who went to verify what was wrong and they met my own son on his stepmother.

Now, the Igwe and other elders have mandated we must carry out the shameful naked procession after I had carried out other cleansing rites or else it will bring serious calamity to my family and the entire community.

But as a Christian, this is quite against my belief just as my pastor has told me I should not dare carry out the cleansing rites.

I am torn between my religious belief and my tradition. What should I do?

Amos."

The teaser for the day was:

How Nigeria voted:

He should carry out the rites to save his family from calamity - 27%

He should stand firmly by his religious beliefs - 35%

He should disown his son as he is the cause of the problems - 38%
According to Crime Alerts, the body of the deceased was found over the weekend at by janitors cleaning the room she had slept with her guest.

Her colleagues held placards with the inscriptions, Sex workers: dont kill them, Sex workers have right to live, 'Sex workers: Support them'.

Jacob Kanake, a director for the Mombasa Criminal Investigation Department mentioned that investigations has began into the murder.

ALSO READ: Father of 2 dies in hotel while soliciting sex from customer
Ilko Semerdzhilev, who is also Bulgarias interim deputy prime minister, threatened to sack the executive director of the countrys drug agency for refusing the favored candidate, citing potential conflict of interest.

Prosecutors said two witnesses reported the threats against agency head Asena Stoimenova and quoted Semerdzhiev as telling her on March 24 that I can sack you, I can also do other things to you.

Semerdzhiev was not immediately available to comment.

Bulgaria, one of the European Unions poorest and most corrupt members, has been persistently rapped by the European Commission for failing to sever links between graft-prone officials and businessmen and impose strict rule of law.

The interim government was appointed by President Rumen Radev in January and will stay in office until a new government is formed following snap elections held on March 26.

In 2016, prosecutors charged former health minister and three former energy ministers over mismanagement.
Dr Okechukwu Ossai, the states Chief Disease Surveillance Officer, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Enugu.

He said that the state Ministry of Health has adopted pro-active measures through increased surveillance and wide-spread public outreach on CSM.

We have placed our diseases surveillance officers and offices in the 17 local government areas in the state on red alert."

We have sensitised the surveillance officers on signs and symptoms of this deadly disease as well as mobilise them to visit border communities within their areas of operations each day."

They would also routinely visit hospitals, community and government institutions within their localities to carry out checks, he said.

Ossai explained that the ministry had partnered the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on the need for its members to report any strange illness or suspected case of CSM.

He said the ministry had started a jingle in the state-owned radio and television to sensitise the residents on the need to keep their environment clean and sleep in ventilated areas at night.

We have sent out our health communicators to sensitise religious, traditional and community leaders on the need to take the lead in educating their people about meningitis prevention."

The communicators will also use opportunity of public meetings and occasions to talk about meningitis and the need for people to avoid crowded areas both in the public and at home, Ossai added.

According to him, the ministry had deployed 86 disease-surveillance-focal persons to 17 council areas to boost disease surveillance and rapid report to government in December 2016.

However, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency said the country needed about 1.1 billion dollars for the vaccination of 22 million persons in the states affected by the Type C CSM.
Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State made the disclosure when he received APC women supporters groups in Katsina on Monday.

All children under five years will enjoy free medical treatment in all government hospitals."

All pregnant women and sickle-cell patients will receive free medical treatment in government hospitals."

Pregnant women that goes to labour will deliver their babies free of charge as government has provided the required delivery materials at the maternity wards in the state, he said.

Masari said that the state government had employed no fewer than 500 medical personnel with the aim of providing quality medical services across the state.

We have also rehabilitated and renovated five hospitals with the aim of reducing the suffering of patients that attend public hospitals, the governor said.

Masari said the state government had granted soft loan to more than 5,000 women in the state with the aim of reducing poverty among women in the state.

Earlier, one of the women leaders, Hajiya Zainabu Daura, said that the women were in Government House to identify with the state government.

Daura called on Masari to initiate programmers that would assist the women to be self-reliant.
Idris gave the advice in a statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Mrs Adeola Salako.

The commissioner said that no case of CSM had been recorded in the state contrary to what had been published

However as a responsive government, we deem it fit to alert the public,  he said.

Idris said preventive measures should include washing of hands with soap and water frequently.

He said that the measures should also include avoiding direct contact with discharges from an infected person and covering of the mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing.

It is strongly advised for people to avoid overcrowding in living quarters, provide cross-ventilation in sleeping and work-rooms and other places where many people come together.

People should also get vaccinated with CSM vaccine when you are travelling to areas where meningitis outbreaks have been reported,  he said.

The commissioner said CSM is a dangerous and a life threatening disease that affects the thin layers of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord of an infected human person and is caused by bacteria.

He said that CSM is an epidemic-prone disease that spreads from person to person through contact with discharges or droplets from nose and throat of an infected person.

It can also be transmitted through kissing, sneezing and coughing, especially amongst people living in close quarters, hotels, refugee camp, barracks, public transportation and areas with poor ventilation or overcrowded places,  Idris said.

He said that though seasonal meningitis outbreak usually affects mainly the Northern States that fall within the meningitis belt of the country, it is not impossible that outbreaks could occur in any part of the country.

The commissioner said that health workers in the state in all the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas had been placed on high alert.

According to him, the disease surveillance and monitoring activities have since been intensified.

Health workers are also advised to avoid close contact with suspected and probable cases of CSM based on the case definition distributed and ensure proper disposal of respiratory and throats secretions of cases.

They are also to report suspected or probable cases, observe universal safety precautionary measures and make use of personal protective equipment when in contact with such cases as highlighted in the Fact-Sheets earlier forwarded to them,  he said.

The Commissioner said that the government had put in place all measures toward avoidance and prevention of outbreak of CSM in the state.
In a report by Vanguard Newspaper, Yari made this known while speaking with the State House Correspondents at the presidential Villa in Abuja after a private meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

Yari said: What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the type A virus.

"The World Health Organization, WHO, has carried out vaccinations against this type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other states.

However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.

People have turned away from God and he has promised that if you do anyhow, you see anyhow that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.

There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured, he said.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum also said Leaders are doing their best by enlightening the populace and working assiduously for the good of all. Your major assignment as a leader is to convey the message; you cannot go from house to House and arrest offenders for instance.

There are reports that over 200 persons had dead while several others are receiving treatment at various hospitals and clinics.
In a report by SaharaReporters, this was made known via a statement released on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

Adesina said the launching is in furtherance of the current administrations drive to sustain and build on the successes so far recorded in tackling corruption, improving security and re-revamping the economy.

The President's aide also said the launching would take place in the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at 11am.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) cited the executive secretary, presidential advisory committee against corruption, Bolaji Owosanoye, to have confirmed the development.

Negotiation on the release is said to have reached advanced stage.

Owosanoye said the step being taken by the government of Nigeria and Britain is a progress in the fight against corruption.

He said: "Theres no doubt that rogues in government oppress and impoverish their people by corruption and this must be sanctioned by collective action.

"We need to make sure that there is no safe haven for corrupt officials to run to. Britain has promised that by 2018, she will provide Nigeria with the information about who owns what and where; thats very helpful.

"These include all the houses that have been bought by public officials or accounts that are held by public officials on which they are right now not paying taxes or which they cannot explain the sources.

"So if you cannot buy a house in England, you have to look for somewhere else. But if all countries criminalise this, then it becomes much more difficult unless you want to buy the house on Mars."

Owosanoye also explained that Nigeria and other African countries, who are victims of illicit financial flows, must challenge developed countries to block illicit financial flows from developing countries.

"Receiving states  the countries of the North  need to be proactive to block the proceeds of crime even before a request is made by victim countries.

"This is because, in many situations, it is clear that illegality is taking place.

"We think that reversing the burden of proof to improve the confiscation of criminal proceeds of crime would help, especially when we are going after the asset and not necessarily the person.

"If the person who claims to own the asset would not cooperate in giving information, then this should be a point in favour of the state," he said.

Citing the case of a former managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Owosanoye said the burden of proof for criminal proceeds should shift to the suspects and not the government.

The presidential aide said: "A former Managing Director of the NNPC was found with nine million dollars cash and over 70 million naira in his house in a small place he has built.

"He said the money is a gift. He was asked if he could tell the very generous angels who gave him this money.

"Hes not been able to provide that information. That sort of disposition should be used to penalise a claimant of asset who cannot justify the origin of the asset.

"The proposed "Unexplained Wealth Order in England," which hopefully we were told would pass through the legal process this year, should really help to deepen the conversation in this regard.

"It (Unexplained Wealth Order) would help to quickly recover assets."
Multiple reports say the herdsmen raided the Div and Alaba villages on Sunday evening, sacking the entire kindred. They were said to have taken over their farmlands and houses.

Some of the villagers are still unaccounted for, it was learnt.

The latest attack makes it the third in one month in the Kwande council.

A 15-year-old boy, Teghtegh Nor, was injured in Ikyoawen. He, however, managed to escape with the help of his father, who took him to the hospital, the Nation reports.

A community leader, Chief Adom Unande, said the herdsmen took over houses in the villages and stole foodstuff.

He said the teenager and his father went back to their compound to get foodstuff to feed others who are displaced when he was shot.

Unande said: "On getting there, they saw herdsmen with pickup van stealing their yams, millet and beans. The herdsman on guard opened fire on sighting Teghtegh before they drove away with the foodstuff.

"His father took him to the clinic where he is being treated."

ALSO READ: 2 Fulani herdsmen killed in Southern Kaduna

Confirming the attack, Police spokesman in the state, Moses Yamu, said only two people were killed and their bodies had been deposited at NKST hospital mortuary.
Dr Mustapha Musa, the Programme Manager, Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Unit of the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Tuesday that the cases were detected in Nafada, Funakaye, Yamaltu-Deba and Kwami Local Government Areas.

He said out of the 40 cases, 12 were children, which means there was still ongoing infections in the communities.

We have embarked on contact tracing of the infections to pin down the sources, therefore, we are calling for more concerted effort among all the stakeholders, he said.

According to Musa, despite this development, the state has met the World Health Organisation (WHO) targets of leprosy elimination.

WHO define one case in 10,000 populations as elimination targets, he said.

According to him, leprosy is an air borne disease which can be transmitted through cough and sneezing.

Those that have the micro bacterium whenever they sneeze, anyone who is close to them inhales it, stands the risk of been infected, he said.

Musa appealed to the public to report to the nearest hospital whenever they noticed any skin discolouration and loss of sensation. Leprosy is curable but when detected early, there will be no disability and the treatment is free of charge, drugs are available, he said.
Revealing this over the weekend, a member of OREAP Leadership Team, Mr. Gbenga Osobu, stated that various interventions in the Osun agricultural sector have not only lifted the living condition of local farmers, they have helped position the State as the food basket of the Southwest.

Osobu further revealed that another N753M was disbursed as loans to farmers during the Osun Quick Impact Intervention Programme (QUIIP I and II).

3,645 pig farmers benefited from some N476M loan disbursed to individual farmers, while a grant of N40M was awarded Pig farmers co-operative societies Osobu Stated.

He further listed the achievements of the current administration in the state to include the construction of two commercial and six small holder 10,000 capacity feedlots on a 78-hectare farm.

Continuing, he said, The OREAP programme has trained 57 youths in livestock fattening who have fattened 2,200 livestocks in the States improved genetics programme. We have established a 78HA Cattle Hub with a capacity to cater for 10,000 Cattles.

It may interest you to know we have also secured another 2,000HA of lands for additional Cattle hubs across the state.

The member of the OREAP leadership team further confirmed that over 2,000 pigs have been sold by 5 of the 40 Osun Farmers who were trained in Germany.

Osobu listed other achievements to include the over 200 millionaires made through Osun Broiler Outgrowers Production Scheme, OPOBS I, land validation and perimeter survey in 9 farm settlements using GIS and remote sensing Technology (1 in southwest Nigeria).

20,000HA of farmland validated and 4,211Ha newly discovered and allocated through GIS and remote sensing technology, were also listed as achievements.

Another achievement highlighted includes 5,000MT of fertilizer sold to farmers at 50% subsidized rate; 1,830 rural farmers in 61 local communities in collaboration with UNICEF given farm inputs from the state; 500,000 free cocoa seedlings; 6,000 kola nut seedlings; 6,000 bitter kola seedlings; 64,000 oil palm seedlings and 25,000 cashew seedlings.

They were all provided to farmers for free, he said.

Osobu revealed that two storage facilities with a combined capacity of 1,500 MT was built by the present administration in Oyan and Osogbo; with another 100 cribs; with a combined 1000 MT capacities built across the state.

The Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesolas administration since it created OREAP some few years ago, has given supports to farmers to cultivate 80 hectares of yam clusters across the state; 410HAof rice production at Onilapa, Ogbagba.
The Borno State Senator was suspended for raising a petition against Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Senator Dino Melaye.

I'm from one of the nine local governments that constitute southern Borno. We are here because we are aggrieved because of our senator suspended from the senate, one protester, Iliya Abdul Jafar told Pulse.

It is not about Senator Ali Ndume but we elected him to represent us. The whole local government in southern Borno has been suspended so they are telling us that we are no longer part of the National Assembly.

His problem is also attributed to the issue of Magu as EFCC chairman, the problem they had with Nigerian Customs because of uniform wearing. He has been on his feet trying to see that what was done in the dark is opened up.

We are all here because we are not represented in the senate. That is why we are here on a peaceful protest and demand for his reinstatement. We have stated today and we are not going to stop till he is reinstated to the national assembly and the floor of the senate, he added.

Ndume urged the Senate to investigate Saraki over claims that his vehicle had been seized by customs officers because it was cleared with fake documents.

Melaye, on the other hand, was investigated over claims that he did not graduate from the Ahmadu Bello University as claimed.

Both Saraki and Melaye were cleared of the charges by the Senate ethics committee which recommended Ndumes suspension.

The Borno senators suspension will expectedly last six months.
Speaking in Abuja after briefing the president, Yari disclosed that an agreement for the agricultural loans was signed with Chinese government during the State Visit of President Buhari to China in April 2016.

He said that Nigeria has successfully negotiated for a 10 per cent as against the initial 25 per cent counterpart funding for the loan.

They are supporting us with a credit line of 4.5 billion dollars which will cover the (procurement of) machineries and infrastructure that is rural earth dams, irrigation and interestingly this loan has a 20 years repayment term with five years moratorium.

Initially we started negotiations to drop a counterpart funding of 25 per cent but understanding the economy of Nigeria, we negotiated to give a counterpart funding of 10 per cent which we believe Nigeria can do.

We are targeting the natural resources fund for the counterpart funding.

Thats why we are now speaking with the Chinese group and the Nigerian governors and the technical committee that was set up by Minister of agriculture and Rural Development.

So, we have now come to a stage where the President needs to come in so that he can give us a leadership role and a kind of approval of a certain level so that we can forge ahead.

Yari, who briefed President Buhari alongside the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said that the machineries would transform the nations agricultural sector and diversify the economy.

He said that President Buhari has directed the state governments to engage the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Central Bank Nigeria to conclude the negotiation.
Okorie, who spoke in an interview with Vanguard, said if Buhari attempts a re-election in 2019, he would be disgraced.

He was reacting to the statement by Femi Adesina, the President's spokesman, who said over the weekend that Buhari would win if he runs for office again.

The party chairman said Adesina's comment is misplaced, adding that with the pain Nigerians are experiencing at the moment, the least the Presidency should be talking about is a re-election.

Okorie said: "Mr. Adesina is not reading the mood of the nation correctly. What he said is a disservice to President Buhari and his administration. The mood of most Nigerians is that of despondency and disappointment.

"Half way into President Buharis four-year term, there is nothing to show that the change they voted for will happen before 2019.

"Nigerians are very compassionate people by nature. They have been praying for good health for the president. The last thing they will expect is for a president with health challenge, who has been struggling to perform his duties, to present himself for election for a second mandate.

"The best option for President Buhari is to bow out after his first tenure like Dr. Nelson Mandela did in South Africa. If he re-presents himself for election, he will be humiliated at the ballot box."
The governor made the comments during an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, April 3.

Because of the feeling that the president may not run for a second term, people are already gearing up, El-Rufai said.

All of us are getting distracted by the coterie of ambitious presidential aspirants that are trying to kick-start the political process ahead of the normal timeline.

The president is saying nothing about his intentions and many of us that campaigned vigorously for him in 2015 are hoping that his health will improve and stabilize and that he will run again in 2019.

We need the policy continuity and the stability in the political environment for the country to make progress, he added.

El-Rufai, who is close to Buhari, showed signs of disaffection with the president through a leaked memo in which he criticized Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In very blunt terms, Mr. President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight change but has failed to deliver on even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting BH insurgency and corruption, El-Rufai said in the memo.

ALSO READ: Kaduna Governor slams Buhari in leaked memo

El-Rufai also described some members of Buharis cabinet as clueless.

Buhari's health became cause for concern after he spent 49 days in London on what should have been a 10-day medical vacation.
Fayose alleged that Fayemi is trying to arm-twist the Supreme Court to review its judgment of April 14, 2015, which validated Fayose's election in the June 21, 2014, governorship election.

The Governor said, "If Fayemi is interested in governing Ekiti State again, he should seek power through the ballot box and not through the backdoor."

He stated this in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, April 3, while addressing journalists.

He recalled his press briefing of January 5, this year, in which he raised similar alarm, saying; "When we exposed them then, they pulled their punch; now, information at our disposal is that they are at it again."

Fayose alleged that Fayemi, who is currently the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, is already claiming that he has the backing of three newly appointed justices of the Supreme Court, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other top organs of the federal government to force the Supreme Court to review its judgment on the Ekiti State 2014 governorship election.

He said: "We are not unmindful of the allegation made by a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta that the Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi begged him to ensure that my election was set aside and another election ordered for his friend, Fayemi to contest. Curiously, that grievous allegation was ignored by the powers that be.

"If Fayemi could try, using Amaechi to approach Supreme Court justices to procure black market judgment then, nothing stops him from trying to do same now that it is very clear that he can never achieve his ambition to be Ekiti governor once again through the votes of the people and we urge Nigerians to take note."

ALSO READ:

The Governor added that the renewed efforts followed the brick-walls he (Fayemi) met on his plan to contest the 2018 governorship election as APC candidate, adding that; "Having realised how difficult it will be for him to clinch APC ticket not to even talk of winning the election proper, Fayemi has opted to seek power through the backdoor.

"Fayemi and his cohorts are even boasting that they are only putting pressure on the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen to join them in the devilish plot.

"It was in furtherance to this plot and the assurances that he may have gotten that Fayemi said in an interview published in Thisday newspaper of Sunday, March 26, 2017 that rather than joining a so-called governorship race, his preoccupation was to get to the root of what actually transpired in Ekiti on June 21, 2014, going further to state that it is too early to start talking about 2018 governorship race when there is still unfinished business.

"The question is; what unfinished business was he talking about in an election that he lost clearly? What unfinished business does Fayemi have with an election that I won fair and square, defeating him in all the 16 local governments of the state, including his home town of Isan-Ekiti? Mind you, that June 2014 election was the second time I would be trouncing an incumbent governor, the first being in 2003 when I defeated the sitting Alliance for Democracy (AD) governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo."

Speaking further, Fayose said;

"As I address you today, there is credible information that Fayemi has provided fund for the filing of the matter at the Supreme Court and he has assured his loyalists in the APC in Ekiti State that the Presidency and a section of the judiciary, especially the newly appointed Supreme Court justices are in total support of the plot to remove me at all cost.

"It is however my advice that the Supreme Court and indeed the entire judiciary should be mindful of this banana peel coming from the same people who orchestrated the DSS invasion of judges residences in the night just because they refused to assist them to perpetrate injustice.

"This is more so that Fayemi and his collaborators are not unaware that Order 8, Rule 16 of the Supreme Court expressly stated that the court shall not review its judgment once giving, except there was a clerical mistake or slip.

"They are also aware of the position of the Supreme Court judgment on Andy Uba that there must be an end to litigation, a position also affirmed in the case of Prof. Steve Torkuma Ugba vs. Gebriel Torwua Suswam.

"Most importantly, in Segun Oni vs Fayemi, he (Fayemi) was a beneficiary of the suis generis (time bound) nature of election matter and the matter becoming functus officio once judgment is delivered by the final court as provided by the Electoral Act, and sane minds should wonder what magic he intends to perform by going to the Supreme Court on an election matter already determined at the final court, if not that he may have indeed gotten the assurance of the powers that be.

"One is therefore concerned that people who go about parading credentials as democrats will be so vicious that they wont accept defeat, close to three years after they lost an election even in their own family house.

"We are therefore alerting Nigerians once again of this plot coming from Fayemi and his APC people who have proven over time that they are bad losers and will never respect the will of the people.

"The fact that I have more or less become the opposition last-man standing should not be made to become the reason an avoidable banana peel will be placed on the path of the Supreme Court and I urge our Supreme Court justices to be mindful of being rubbished by desperate politicians.

"If they are worried about my stance on national issues, they should do things differently in the interest of Nigerians that are hungry and suffering under the yoke of bad governance of the APC.

"However, let me state expressly that Fayemi and his collaborators will fail. They failed before, they will fail again. The harder they come against me, the harder they will fall.

"Another governorship election in Ekiti is around the corner and if Fayemi is a democrat, he should prepare to contest in that election rather than continue to shop for Oluwole and Jankara judgment that will return him to office through the back door.

"Fayemi and his backers in Abuja must be reminded that Ekiti people are united behind me and will fight him and his cohorts with the last blood in our veins. The power of the people is mightier than Federal might If they dare Ekiti, they will meet their nemesis. If they do not retreat and put an end to their diabolical plots, Ekiti will be their Waterloo.

"Finally, let me reiterate that I have an unflinching confidence that the Supreme Court will not debase itself.
Bamaiyi said apart from the fact that he opposed the choice of Obasanjo as successor to former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, he was jailed for fears that he would overthrow the Obasanjo government.

The ex-army chief revealed this in his book, "Vindication of A General" which was unveiled in Abuja last weekend.

According to Bamaiyi's account in the book, upon handing over power to Obasanjo in May 1999, Abubakar told the new civilian president to silence him (Bamaiyi) because he could overthrow the new government.

Bamaiyi said from that moment, General Aliyu Gusau, the then National Security Adviser and Obasanjo did everything possible to imprison him.

In Chapter 10, page 128, of the book, as cited by Vanguard, Gen. Bamaiyi said: "As soon as Obasanjo took over, Gen. Abubakar and some of his people told Obasanjo that if I were left free, I would overthrow Gen. Obasanjo's government.

"This did not surprise me because while we were in service, General Abubakar set up a secret investigation of certain people during the Abacha rule. I had not been told although some soldiers in the army, like Sgt Rogers, were invited for investigation.

"When I had to replace my security officer, I asked for Capt. Najaja to replace Capt Bature, who was assigned to the USA. Gen. Abubakar said Najaja was being investigated. He realized his mistake and kept quiet. I did not bother myself about the investigation because I knew I was not involved in any criminal act.

"Abubakars committee completed its assignment and gave clean bills to all those questioned. When Obasanjo took over, some PDP big shots decided that based on the report, I had control of the Army and should be arrested. The government looked for avenues to arrest me.

"They started by checking Army accounts to see if I had stolen money. They spoke to the Director of Army Finance and Accounts, DAFA, Maj. Gen. Omosebi who told them he had never worked with an officer who believed in accountability like I did. They felt disappointed.

"The government wanted to take my personal house in Asokoro. The NSA , Gen. Gusau talked to Mr. Daboul, a friend of mine who had built the house for me. He told General Gusau of our agreement that I would pay for the house over 10 years. This saved my house.

"When everything failed, Obasanjo and his government decided to revisit their investigation. Col. JB Yakubu and Capt. Najaja were forced to implicate me. This gave the government the opportunity to start looking for me. I was following everything that was happening."

Bamaiyi said he was advised some people to run away but he refused because he believed he was clean.

He said that he traveled to the UK twice and the USA once and that on each occasion, he phoned to tell the NSA, Gusau, of his journey.

"I did that so no one would think I was running away. He did not know I was aware of what was happening. Many people who were aware of what was going on advised me to stay out of the country but I believed I had no cause to run away from a democracy where the rule of law would prevail. I also had to protect my family. What would I tell my children and grand-children in future, if I ran away?" he said.

Bamaiyi recounted how Gusau eventually arrested him.

He said: "In October 1999, General Gusau told my brother, Senator Danladi Bamaiyi that he wanted to see me. I suspected the call. I left Zuru for Abuja. When I got to Abuja, I went to see Gusau in his office.

"He told me an investigation was on and that CP Danbaba said I had authorized him to issue a weapon with which Mr. Alex Ibru was shot. I asked him, As COAS, would I need any weapon from the police? I told him I did not know anything about it and did not believe Danbaba would have said that.

"He directed me to go and think about it and see him on 12 October 1999. I told him there was nothing to think about because what I had told him was the truth. On 13 October, I went to see him and he asked me if I had thought about what he had told me. I told him I had nothing to think about.

"General Gusau told me I was under arrest and directed Cmnd Brigade of Guards, Brig. Gen. Alex Mshelbwala, to take me to a place prepared to detain me, which turned out to be my guest house while I was COAS, inside Fort IBB. I believe it was arranged by the COAS to keep his former boss. That was how I was arrested and detained without a warrant. The Guest House was guarded by more than 40 soldiers and one officer daily. I was there for seven days without anybody saying anything to me."

Bamaiyi said that an investigation team led by one CP Udo Ubam was sent to interrogate him. He gave the names of the other team members as: Mr. A. Gadzama, then a Director of SSS; Mr. S.B. Ibrahim, another Director of SSS; Lt. Col. U.M. Bobai (DMI); Mrs. A.A. Obileye, Director of NIA and Ms. I.A. Nworgu , then an Assistant Director of NIA.

He claimed that the investigators submitted a report to the IGP and the NSA.

The IGP sent the report to the Federal Ministry of Justice for Legal Advice and that the ministry in a letter with reference: FJP/MISC/1000/106/53 dated 29 October, 1999, and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. T. Osinuga, stated clearly that after reviewing the report and the statements of the witnesses, there was no prima facie case against him (Bamaiyi) and, therefore, opined non-prosecution.

"This report got to the NSA and Obasanjo. Both of them insisted I must be prosecuted to keep me away for many years. This decision kept me in prison for more than eight years without conviction."
The lawyers who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said many people marry without knowing the `dos and donts of the marriage institution.

Mr Abdulkarim Shaibu, a lawyer said that a lot of people that go into marriage now do not understand what marriage was all about.

"What you see at times are marriages arranged by parents for their children, this is mainly among the elite, and they tend to dictate to them how to live their lives.

"The consequences are what we see playing out now, where couples cannot tolerate one another because there is always a third party in the marriage."

Shaibu said that most couples were not prepared to face the realities, from the beginning they already made up their minds on something, mainly wealth, and if not there, the marriage will not stand.

He stressed the need for parents to educate their children on the challenges in marriage to enable them take the right decision.

Another lawyer, Christie Nwaka, said not knowing what one wanted could lead to break down in marriage and finally to divorce.

"People are always deceived by physical appearances or wealth, and there are usually serious challenges when people who come together because of mundane things are confronted with serious issues.

"Another serious issue in marriage which people refuse to talk about is sexual intercourse, it can break a marriage when it is not properly addressed and lack of communication between couples too," she said.

Nwaka urged parents to allow their children to run their homes in their own way and stop interfering in any negative way.
In a statement issued on Monday, April 3, the student body said it would "relocate its headquarters" to Kirikiri if the government fails to honour the 24-hour ultimatum.

"After a painstaking review of the circumstances surrounding the draconian ruling, we have resolved to demand and hereby demand the unconditional release of these students within 24 hours," NANS president, Chinonso Obasi, said in the statement.

"Consequently, we make bold to state that if at the expiration of our 24 hours ultimatum, these innocent students are not released without strings, we shall relocate the Headquarters of NANS to Kirikiri in solidarity with our members.

"We also hope that the authorities would use the opportunity of the 24 hours ultimatum to either expand the facilities of Kirikiri prison or release our colleagues, as they can see we are serious and determined by offering them a fair choice."

The detained Unilag students were on Saturday, April 1, charged before a Special Offences Mobile Court for "riotous invasion" of TVC, a television station, as well as the main campus of the University of Lagos and disrupting normal activities.

The accused include Femi Adeyeye (who is currently rusticated for four semesters for criticising the University of Lagos management on social media), Tony Aina, Kodri Yaya, Asimi Oladime, Ismahim Olalekan, Segun Okesola, Abdulazeez Soneye, Idris Abogunloko, and Muyiwa Olaniyi.

The rest are Toheed Oladimeji, Joseph Akanni, Lukumon Olusegun, and Abiodun Agbeniyi.

They are all standing trial before P.E Nwaka, a chief magistrate, on two counts of unlawful invasion and disruption of activities.

The students pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, TVC on Sunday denied the police claims that the students invaded their station. The station said they only came to protest the rustication of a student by the university management.

It added that the students' protest was "peaceful and they left our premises peacefully."

According to Premium Times, the students were protesting the rustication of a visually-impaired student, Lawrence Success, for criticising the school's management.

The police arrested the students on Friday and charged them to a mobile court on Saturday.

The magistrate ordered their remand at Kirikiri Prison until April 6 when their bail application will be determined.

NANS faulted the magistrate's decision to remand the students in prison for one week.

Obasi said: "Being first time offenders, the Magistrate, if ever he was once a University student, would have handed down a stern warning and demand of good behaviour instead of sending them to prison for whatever reasons.
Remember the back and forth between the super telco MTN and the Federal Government? Well, it looks like the FG is winning this one as MTN is reported to have made a payment of 30 billion.

.

We already know this fine was imposed on them for SIM card related offences by the Federal Government. You should remember that in December of 2016, MTN paid an initial 80 billion. They sill have about 220 billion to go though.

When are they expected to pay up?

In four more payments, and within three years. This is according to the settlement terms brokered by Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko.

The Federal Government first hit MTN with a record $5.2 billion fine in October 2016 over their failure to deactivate 5 million unregistered SIM cards. After a series of diplomatic back-and-forths, the FG reduced the fine on the terms that MTN enlists on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

How is MTN taking the fine?

No very well, even though it operates in 20 countries, their biggest market remains Nigeria. When they recorded their first full-year loss last year, they blamed it on the fine.

Negotiations on payment of the fine lasted eight months, which saw both parties going in and out of the courts.

Where's this payment going?

The Single Treasury Account. It's the government's big, central wallet where all the money goes through. The spokesman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo, shared the settlement plans last year.

This is a breakdown of how the money will be paid:

March 31, 2017 (30billion): This has been paid.

March 31, 2018 (55billion)

December 31, 2018 (55billion).

March 31, 2019 (55billion) and

May 31, 2019 (55billion).

So save the dates on your calendar for next year. Just in case.

Should foreign investors be worried?

Nope. Not really. The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has assured that there's no plot for frustrate foreign companies in Nigeria.
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.
Federal judge Claudio Bonadio brought formal charges against Kirchner, 64, for alleged money laundering in real estate dealings, the Judicial Information Service said in a statement.

She was also barred from leaving the country and hit with an $8-million asset freeze.

Kirchner -- who served as president from 2007 to 2015 -- has been charged with "illegal association and money laundering," the statement said.

Her son Maximo and daughter Florencia have also been charged, together with businessmen Cristobal Lopez and Lazaro Baez.

A travel ban has been issued for all five.

Lopez, a casino magnate and owner of the Indalo Media group, has been close to Kirchner and her late husband Nestor, who served as president from 2003 to 2007 and died in 2010.

Baez, who is already in jail pending trial, is a construction businessman who won lucrative government contracts during the Kirchners' rule in the province of Santa Cruz, the couple's stronghold.

Kirchner denies any wrongdoing, and calls the cases against her a political witch hunt by Macri.

Macri's November 2015 election victory put an end to 12 years of leftist rule under the Kirchners.

The center-right president has been steadily hacking away at their legacy.

There is no love lost between him and Kirchner, who boycotted his inauguration and refused to hand over her presidential Twitter account.

Macri's government denies influencing the courts to go after Kirchner -- though it has repeatedly attacked the former administration as corrupt.

Kirchner has already been charged in two other corruption cases: she is accused of paying bribes and striking back-door deals with Baez.

She also faces trial on charges of financial mismanagement as president, accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions.

No trial date has been set yet.

Political comeback?

Despite the cases against her, Kirchner may be set for a return to the political stage in October's mid-term elections.

Supporters in her Front For Victory party (FPV) are urging her to head up its list for the legislative polls.

Without Kirchner, the FPV is on track to win less than 20 percent of the vote, according to opinion polls.

But with Kirchner, the party's backing rises to 30 percent in some districts.

The former president lives in the southern Patagonia region, but has been returning regularly to Buenos Aires for her various court appearances.

She has not played an active part in politics since her term ended.
Benghazi is controlled by the military authorities of Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya who contests the legitimacy of the Government of National Accord which is based in the capital Tripoli and is backed by the international community.

AFP management welcomed Doma's release but called on the authorities concerned to bring an end to the harassment of the photographer.

Detained by Benghazi's counterterrorism unit on Saturday evening while heading home, Doma was questioned about his photo coverage for AFP at a public event where young men and women had gathered at a university in the city on March 25.

The concert had been highly criticised by the Awqaf religious authorities of eastern Libya, which blasted the event as "offensive" to Islam, notably by encouraging mixing between men and women.

The photographer was released "provisionally" without charge on the night of Sunday to Monday under pressure from other security services in Benghazi.

Doma presented himself at anti-terror headquarters on Monday, where he was forced to sign documents he had not been able to read beforehand.

He was able to leave the building thanks to an intervention by Benghazi special forces.

But the photographer has not been given back his identity documents, and a security source said he remained under threat of re-arrest.

A senior official from the eastern authorities told AFP on Monday that orders had been given at the highest level for all proceedings against Doma to be dropped.

But some members of the security services with Salafist leanings appear to be "out of control", the official said.
The assets of Rifaat al-Assad and his family in Spain are valued at 691 million euros ($736 million), the source said, adding that "all these properties have been seized."

"Judge Jose de la Mata is coordinating the judicial operation against Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of the current president of Syria, for money laundering in Puerto Banus and Marbella", the source said.

In 1984, Rifaat al-Assad was forced into exile for trying to overthrow his older brother, the late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad.

According to Spanish justice, Rifaat al-Assad, now aged 79, received 300 million dollars of state cash which he used to buy real estate in France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Curacao.

French and Spanish authorities have been cooperating on the case and Spain opened an investigation on the back of the French one.

Madrid authorities say the Spanish probe established that Rifaat and his family had 503 properties in their portfolio, ranging from holiday villas to plush hotel apartments -- almost all in and around Marbella.

One residence, "La Maquina" at Benahavis just outside Marbella is worth an estimated 60 million euros.

The investigating magistrate has frozen 16 people's bank accounts and a further 76 accounts in connection with the case, the judicial source said.

Investigators say Rifaat al-Assad -- first charged in France last June -- holds some 90 million euros worth of property assets in France, including an office block in the eastern city of Lyon.

Rifaat al-Assad denies wrongdoing, saying much of his wealth stems from gifts bestowed by the Saudi royal family, which he says gave him political backing in the 1980s.

Last October, he told French authorities that former Saudi kings Fahd and Abdallah had provided those gifts, according to a source close to the French probe.

The initial probe was triggered by an activist group, which represents victims of financial crime.
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.
Protesters hurled stones at riot police, who fired tear gas as they blocked the demonstrators from advancing along Libertador Avenue through central Caracas, where pro-government activists also marched.

An estimated 1,000 people tried to march to the National Assembly to demand the government restore powers to its opposition majority. Lawmakers were among the marchers.

Among those who felt the sting of the tear gas was the speaker of the National Assembly, Julio Borges, and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.

"This is how they show disrespect for people sworn in as lawmakers," Borges said on Twitter. "Lawmakers assaulted on Libertador Avenue as we headed in to hold a session."

Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, said: "They used tear gas bombs against us. It was like war.

"Venezuela is in the grips of a dictatorship but we are going to free it," Tintori told reporters.

A move by the Supreme Court last week to take over the legislature's powers sparked international condemnation.

The United States and other powers backed the opposition's calls for the government to allow timely elections and release political prisoners.

The court later backtracked on its move, but the opposition pressed ahead with calls for demonstrations.

Opposition lawmakers were preparing to discuss moves to try to fire judges from the court, at a session scheduled in the assembly later Tuesday. But in the end, it was put off until Wednesday.

The center-right opposition wants to remove the socialist president from office, blaming him for an economic crisis that has caused food shortages in the oil-rich nation.

Maduro says the crisis is the result of a capitalist conspiracy. The opposition has urged the military to drop its support for him, but so far he still has the public backing of the high command.

"We want liberty in Venezuela. This is a dictatorship," one protester, 56-year-old nurse Maria Gonzalez, yelled at the police.

"Soon there will be no more food. Is that what you want for your children?"

In the pro-government march, thousands of people denounced a the Organization of American States for criticizing the Venezuelan government over the court move.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Gerald Gwinji said cases of snake bites had risen following the growth of foliage due to heavy rains received in the country this year.

Since the beginning of the year, 5,605 cases of snake bites and 38 deaths have been reported throughout the country, Gwinji was quoted as saying by state-run news agency New Ziana.

Some of the deaths could have been avoided had victims not feared to use the anti-serum administered to people bitten by snakes, Gwinji said.

He said some of the victims were treated by traditional healers using traditional anti-venom herbs.
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 -- not the Security Council -- was the venue for the meeting.

Iliichev told reporters following a brief meeting to adopt the monthly agenda that "just a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by human rights violations is not true."

Diplomats said China 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 and another one on North Korea on April 28.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters that a "way out" of the dispute could be found.

Haley told a news conference that she will press on with the planned 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.

"We do fully expect to have that on the 18th," said Haley.

"Human rights is to me integral in how a country treats their people and what can cause protest and conflict and how that can lead to more serious situations where the extremists can actually come in and take advantage of those vulnerabilities."
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
1. ABC's of cooking

In the latest installment of the Quad-Cities Food Hub's new cooking class series, you can learn to prepare sides for any meal. "ABC Class: Healthy Sides" is set for 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, at the food hub, 421 W. River Drive, Davenport. Tickets, $13 per person, are available at qcfoodhub.com.

2. Easter Sunday brunch

Thunder Bay Grille, 6511 N. Brady St., Davenport, is hosting its annual holiday brunch from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Easter Sunday, April 16. The menu includes prime rib and glazed ham, fried chicken, St. Louis ribs, roasted turkey and stuffing, made-to-order omelettes, homemade waffles, pastries and desserts. Brunch costs $22.99 for adults, $9.99 for kids ages 5-10 and is free for kids under 4.

3. Tapping at Front Street Brewery

Front Street Brewery is tapping its first-ever barrel-aged beer at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at the taproom, 208 E. River Drive, Davenport. The brew, called the Michter Rye Imperial Stout, will be exclusive to only the taproom. For more information, visit frontstreetbrew.com.

4. Tapping at Great River, too

Shortly after Front Street Brewery debuts its latest brew, head over to Great River Brewery, 332 E. 2nd St., Davenport, for its monthly tapping. Great River will unveil the Honey Hemp, for fans of lighter beer, at 4:20 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Quad-City band Rude Punch is set to perform outside.

5. Best of the Amana Colonies

Take a Bite: A Three Day Food Festival is taking over the Amana Colonies, the seven villages in east-central Iowa, April 21-23. Samples of beer, wine, chocolates, as well as full meals, seminars, cooking classes and more are on tap during the festival, which puts a spotlight on Amana's establishments such as Millsteam Brewing Co., Ronneburg Restaurant and Amana Meat Shop. For more information and prices, visit amanacolonies.com or call 319-622-7622.

6. All about superfoods

Ever wanted to know what makes certain foods "super"? Greatest Grains is offering a class just for that. In "Superfoods 101," learn how to use superfoods to fight disease, feel more energetic, prolong life and maintain healthy weight from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, at Greatest Grains, 1600 N. Harrison St., Davenport. Tickets, $15, are available at greatestgrains.com.

7. Will hop for wine

The Wine Hop is back in downtown LeClaire. Sample wine and food from more than 13 spots around LeClaire from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, April 29. Participating businesses include 129, Wide River Winery, Sneaky Pete's Woodfire Grille and Bierstube. Tickets, $20, are available at 129, 129 N. Cody Rd., LeClaire. For more information, visit facebook.com/leclairewinehop.
MUSCATINE  Work is expected to begin this month to turn a former furniture store in downtown Muscatine into a Sino-U.S. Friendship Center that will add another link to the already strong relationship between the community and China.

Details about the 33,000-square-foot center were announced Monday by Glad Cheng, chairman of China Windows Group Inc., whose company has made several sizable investments in the river community he now calls home for half of the year. Cheng estimates the investment in the friendship center at $1 million, which includes the cost to purchase the building and the renovations.

With bright red posters on the windows of the former Marie Lindsay furniture store building at 129 W. 2nd St., the project has already drawn the curiosity of passers-by in the downtown area. The center is expected to open in September.

Cheng, 46, was all smiles as he welcomed Muscatine business and community leaders to the announcement event.

Addressing the gathering, Cheng said he realized many Americans do not know much about China.

He hopes the Sino-U.S. Friendship Center goes a long way to change that.

I want to show you Chinese tea, Chinese acupuncture, Chinese food, he said. He said what Americans hear in the news about China isnt the whole story. Its important that people of both countries get to know each other, he said. Thats been the foundation of the Muscatine-China friendship.

Daniel P. Stein, senior vice president and senior loan officer at CBI Bank & Trust and chairman of the Muscatine-China Initiatives Committee, said establishment of the friendship center will build upon the tremendous amount of momentum in Muscatine, including the construction of the $42-million-plus Merrill Hotel and Conference Center across the street.

This is one more pillar to make Muscatine the best it can be, Stein told the gathering.

During a week when Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet in Florida with President Donald Trump, Muscatine leaders were reminded of how the China connection began  with Xis visit to the community in 1985 with a group to study agricultural methods in Iowa and later, in 2012, when he returned as vice president of China to meet with the Muscatine residents he calls his old friends.

Sarah Lande, one of the old friends of Xis and who hosted the 2012 meeting in her home, encouraged Muscatine residents to become involved in the friendship with China.

She characterized the friendship center as a great way to carry the friendship with President Xi forward.

Plans for the friendship center call for five distinct areas  a Sino-U.S. Core Exhibition Area, Sino-U.S. Friendship Area, Sister Cities Exhibition Area, Friendly Enterprises Exhibition Area, and Characteristic Culture Exhibition Area.

The Core Exhibition Area will be considered the main part and will feature key events in the relationship between China and the United States, including the ping pong diplomacy of the 1970s, the Flying Tigers U.S. aviators who flew for China during World War II, and a Hall of Fame.

The Friendly Enterprises Area will be an opportunity for businesses to show how they have worked to accelerate the Sino-U.S. friendship.

Diplomacy in many facets of the relationship between the two countries will be shown through photos, videos and interactive exhibits.

Cheng said when the center opens in September, visitors will get the first feel of China here. He is hopeful, too, that more Americans will become interested in traveling to China. To that end, Muscatine Travel, the travel agency owned by China Windows Group, will move from its current location at 104 W. 2nd St. to the friendship center after it opens.

Andrea Kreitner, travel consultant, said the agency has arranged tours in China and will be bringing Chinese citizens to Muscatine as well.

Mary Wildermuth, director of the Muscatine History and Industry Center at 117 W. 2nd St., said the neighboring centers will complement each other.

It will definitely augment the growth of downtown, she said.

A two-man reporting crew based in Washington, D.C., from China Network Television also was on hand to do a story about the friendship center.

Chinese citizens have become familiar with Muscatine through two Muscatine Centers established by Cheng in the cities of Yiwu and Jinan. Those two cities have a combined population of more than 8 million people.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Monday:

CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: An amendment to the Iowa Constitution to add the right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer and use arms has been proposed by Rep. Matt Windschitl. R-Missouri Valley.

All restrictions of those rights would be subject to strict scrutiny under House Joint Resolution 13, according to the resolution by Windschitl. He has offered similar proposals in the past and is floor manager of House File 517, which has been approved by the House and is pending in the Senate.

If adopted, the resolution would be referred to the next general assembly for adoption a second time before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.

WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING: The GOP-led Iowa House voted 75-20 to approve Senate File 32 to allow hair samples for pre-employment workplace drug-testing.

Iowa law already lets companies demand blood, urine, saliva or breath samples from workers, for random drug tests. The bill as approved by the Senate 35-15 would add hair to that list. However, the House voted 96-0 to limit the use of hair samples in drug-testing to pre-employment tests.

The House then voted 75-20 to approve the SF 32, which bill manager Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota, said would help employers assure a safe and drug-free workplace.

If the Senate accepts the amendment, the bill will go to the governor.

The House also voted 96-0 to change regulations on bass fishing tournaments on public waters to allow contestants to keep five fish rather than three to weigh as long as they are released after the weigh-in. SF 257 also moved the regulations from administrative rules to state law. There are more than 400 bass fishing tournaments a year in Iowa, Rep. Peter Cownie, R-West Des Moines, said.

The bill passed the Senate 50-0.

DEER HUNTING CHANGE: Iowans would be allowed to use straight wall cartridge rifles when hunting deer under a House-passed bill that won support of the Iowa Senate 49-0 and is heading to Gov. Terry Branstads desk.

Straight wall cartridge riles are the same caliber and use the same straight-walled cartridges legal for use in handguns, said Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, which produces less recoil and makes them more attractive for people new to the sport.

House File 475 directs the state Natural Resource Commission to adopt rules for the use of straight wall cartridge during the youth and disabled deer hunting seasons and for the first and second shotgun deer hunting seasons by licensed deer hunters.

The bill includes a provision making possession of a prohibited rifle a violation carrying a $250 fine and a two-year license suspension.

BOYCOTT UNFAIR: A boycott of a Wells Blue Bunny, a great Iowa company, would not be fair, Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday.

LULAC. the League of United Latin American Citizens, has called for a boycott of the Le Mars-based company because the ice cream maker reportedly supports U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Kiron Republican.

Four members of the family that owns the company have contributed about $34,000 to King. However, the company issued a statement saying not only does it not contribute to Kings campaign, but his recent comments about immigrants do not align with the values of our company.

Its not the company that is doing this, Branstad said about the company that has more than 2,000 employees and annually produces about 150 million gallons of ice cream sold under the Blue Bunny name and other brands. Theyre a great family-owned business that has done a lot, they have wonderful quality products. I dont think its appropriate to boycott a whole company and its products because some family members have contributed to a particular political candidate.

The 16 Iowa LULAC councils said recently they condemn Kings recent statement about not being able to restore our civilization with somebody elses babies. It is asking stores that carry Blue Bunny to remove the products from their shelves.

CONFIRMATION TALK: Two Senate committees Monday approved more than 40 of Gov. Terry Branstads appointees to state boards and commissions as part of the confirmation process.

Members of the Senate State Government Committee forwarded their appointees to the en bloc list for consideration for the full Senate but not before Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, complained that Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny and Carl Heinrich of Council Bluffs were members of a state Racing and Gaming Commission that blocked an effort to bring a state-licensed casino to Cedar Rapids.

Later the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee approved Bob Sinclair, Chad Ingalls and Howard Hill as members of the state Environmental Protection Commission.

Earlier in the day, Branstad told his weekly news conference he did not believe Geri Huser has done anything inappropriate in continuing to do outside legal work while serving as a member of the Iowa Utilities Board.

Gubernatorial nominees must receive a two-thirds majority of the Iowa Senate  or 34 affirmative votes  to win confirmation for a state appointment. The deadline for Senate action is April 15.

FUTURE READY: Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Monday she will make a series of visits this week to learn more about programs Iowa may want to expand as it works to reach the states Future Ready Iowa goal.

Her itinerary includes events in Johnston and Des Moines today and Waukee on Thursday.

The Future Ready Iowa goal is for 70 percent of the workforce to have education or training beyond high school by the year 2025. About 58 percent of Iowas workforce does now.

Reynolds said closing this skills gap is critical to assuring more Iowans have rewarding career opportunities, and that employers can hire the skilled workers they need to innovate and grow. Reynolds serves as co-chair of the Future Ready Iowa Alliance.

STATE SETTLES CLAIM: The State Appeal Board voted 3-0 Monday to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a patient at the Clarinda Mental Health Institute who choked to death in September 2013 while eating a peanut butter sandwich.

Officials said Richard Rollins Meredith died after workers at the MHI gave him a peanut butter sandwich rather than pureed food that was ordered by his doctor. Merediths relatives brought a lawsuit in Page County District Court alleging state employees tried to cover up the details of alleged inadequate care that led to his death.

CROP REPORT: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says damp weather has mostly kept farmers from starting spring field work.

Some fertilizer applications have taken place as the weather allowed, he noted in his weekly crop report, adding that just 6 percent of oats have been planted, which is nearly a week behind the five-year average.

According to Northey, topsoil moisture levels rated 1 percent very short, 6 percent short, 67 percent adequate, and 26 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 2 percent very short, 6 percent short, 72 percent adequate, and 20 percent surplus.

DOT AUCTION: The state Department of Transportation will hold a public auction of state-owned equipment at 9 a.m. April 22 at its grounds on South Fourth Street in Ames.

Laptop computers, equipment for offices and shops, automotive supplies and many other items are included in the sale. The computers are sold with no operating system or software.

Office equipment to be sold includes 60 laptop computers, several copiers, tables, chairs, and storage and file cabinets.

Shop equipment items include a bench grinder, a chain hoist, jacks, saws, drill presses, generators, mowers, a pressure washer and truck boxes.

A limited number of vehicles will be included in this auction. Automotive supplies, radios, and many other items also will be sold.

Items for sale may be inspected at the sale site from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 21 and from 7 to 9 a.m. April 22.

A listing of auction items is available at iowadot.gov/auction/auctlist.htm.

SEVERE WEATHER: Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds are highlighting the importance of preparing for Iowas severe weather season, noting 21 Iowans have died during violent storms over the past nine years.

Mark Schouten, director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, advised Iowans Monday to make an emergency plan for their family, build an emergency supply kit and to be aware of hazards in their areas.

We are at the beginning of severe weather season, and its almost certain we will see more bad weather in the coming weeks and months, Schouten said.

For more information go to the www.beready.iowa.gov website.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: I would like to thank Freddie for the long nights we had together, but we made it happen.  Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, in giving a shoutout Monday to the Republican Senate caucus staffer who assisted with moving bills through the Senate State Government Committee this session.

 Times Bureau
DES MOINES  A ban on traffic enforcement cameras that was rejected by the Iowa Senate may get a second chance at life in the Iowa House.

At least two dozen representatives have signed onto a plan to ban speed and red-light cameras when the bill comes to the House floor.

Its an overreach by government, Local Government Chairman Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said Monday about the traffic enforcement devices. We dont always want to be talking about slippery slopes, but you could apply that to cameras.

Senate File 220, which was approved by the Senate 31-18, originally called for an outright ban. But senators amended it on the floor to regulate their use instead. It would subject fixed and mobile camera deployments to state approval in high-crash, high-risk highway locations and direct profits to infrastructure improvements and public safety efforts within the jurisdictions operating cameras that issue revenue-generating tickets.

The House Transportation Committee approved SF 220 to regulate the cameras on a party-line vote last week, with Democrats opposing the bill on principle, according to Rep. John Forbes, D-Des Moines. Some Democrats might support an outright ban, he said Monday.

Highfill, who said he believes he has enough votes to pass the amendment, called his opposition to traffic cameras part of a larger philosophical argument that would include opposition to civil asset forfeiture.

The use of speed and red-light cameras isnt for safety reasons but is a revenue generator for cities, said Highfill, whose district is half of the Senate district represented by Sen. Brad Zaun, the Urbandale Republican who sponsored the ban in the Senate.

If they need revenue, they should take it to the voters and convince them, Highfill said.

If cities have safety concerns, they should work with the Iowa Department of Transportation and law enforcement to find solutions, he said.

Cedar Rapids has the most prolific automated traffic enforcement program in the state, generating more than $3 million a year in fine revenue for the city.

It is among the cities suing the Iowa DOT over that agencys directive to alter the program. A judge could rule in the case within a month, but the court is not considering an outright ban.

The House approved a traffic camera ban 58-42 in April 2012. Forty-eight members of the 2012 House are still serving. Twenty-two of them voted for the ban and 26 voted against it.
If you're interested in local and regional history and also like to read, there's a new book club forming in the Quad-Cities that you should know about.

Members of the Colonel Davenport Historical Foundation are organizing a history book club, with the first meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at the Deere-Wiman House, 817 11th Ave., Moline. (Parking is located across the street.)

At the first meeting, participants are invited to bring fiction and non-fiction book selections so the group can select what to read going forward. You'll also get a guided tour of the house. At future meetings, the club plans to meet at various local historic places.

Please contact Jessica Waytenick with questions at 309-737-4280 or coloneldavenport1833@hotmail.com. For information, visit davenporthouse.org.

About the foundation

The Colonel Davenport Historical Foundation is a nonprofit volunteer group that works to preserve Colonel George Davenports former home and share his story with the community. The Colonel Davenport House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1833-1834 and is on the north end of Arsenal Island in the Quad-Cities. Colonel Davenport was the first permanent white settler in the Quad-Cities and built the first house in the area. The foundation relies on volunteers to maintain and operate the house. It is open for tours from May to October, Wednesday to Saturday from 12-4 p.m.
Here's the afternoon forecast from the National Weather Service. It will be cloudy with a high near 56 degrees. West winds between 5 to 10 mph will become north.

Tonight there's a chance of rain between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., then showers after 1 a.m. The chance of precipitation is 80 percent with new precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. The overnight low will be around 39 degrees. East winds will gust as high as 20 mph.

Look for rain before 10 a.m., Wednesday, with rain possibly mixed with snow between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., then rain likely after 2 p.m. A changeover to all snow is possible north of U.S. 30.

A period of snow is also possible Wednesday afternoon and night in the Illinois counties along and east of the Mississippi River. It will be blustery with a high near 41 degrees and northeast winds between 15 to 20 mph gusting as high as 40 mph in some areas. The chance of precipitation is 90 percent with little or no snow accumulation expected.

If localized areas receive heavy snow, minor very wet accumulations of a few inches are possible on elevated and grassy surfaces. There could be brief minor slushy accumulation on some paved surfaces, but this is a low threat. Any areas of snow could bring with it low visibilities and drivers should use caution.

Any significant and widespread rainfall could lead to flooding on area rivers by late this week into the weekend.

Currently the Rock River in Joslin, Ill. is under a flood warning until Wednesday. The river is cresting in Joslin at 12.1 feet (flood stage) and is expected to begin falling later this week.

In Moline, the Rock is at 11.44 feet and is expected to crest at 11.6 feet on Wednesday. Flood stage is 12 feet.

But there is good news on the horizon  we'll enjoy high temps in the upper 60 and lower 70s this weekend.

 Polls for the Illinois consolidated general election remain open until 7 p.m. today. Races include municipal offices and school boards.

For more information on Rock Island County voting sites, registration information, sample ballots and more, visit rockislandcounty.org/Elections/Home or call 309-558-3571.

Davenport man charged with robbing Vibrant, Ascentra credit unions

A Davenport man was arrested Monday night in connection with robberies at the Vibrant Credit Union in November and March and a robbery at a second credit union in August. David Scott Denney, 33, faces three counts of second-degree robbery and first-degree theft. All charges are a Class C felony each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

His father, Kevin S. Denney, 59, also was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to arrest affidavits filed by the Davenport Police Department, David Denney robbed the Vibrant Credit Union, 3801 N. Brady St., on Nov. 18 and March 28. He told the teller in both robberies that no one would get hurt if they handed over the money, according to the affidavits. Read more.

 The city of Clinton reports that because of a sewer separation project parts of Pershing Boulevard will be closed. The affected area includes Pershing from 8th Avenue North to 11th Avenue North. This road will be closed to all through traffic for about a month.
Scott County voters are one step closer to accessing state-of-the-art election equipment.

Auditor Roxanna Moritz presented the county board of supervisors at Tuesdays committee-of-the-whole meeting with a proposal to purchase $682,545 in voting machines and related services from ES&S, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Moritz told supervisors that county staff made the recommendation after on-site visits and review of satisfaction results from Iowa counties using various vendor systems in the state.

We continually struggle with longer ballots and failures at the polls, Moritz said. In 2010, 26 machines went down at 7 p.m. This equipment is worth the money were investing in it. ES&S has a great reputation for quality service.

Supervisor Brinson Kinzer commented on his visit to the countys warehouse facility at 4715 Tremont Ave., where election equipment is stored. The county owns the building and its OK for the short term, Kinzer said, but it would be better to be stored in a controlled environment.

Moritz reported that Facility and Support Services Director Tammy Speidel continues to search for a more suitable storage location that has enough space and parking to accommodate poll worker training. The Board of Supervisors will vote to approve the purchase from ES&S at 5 p.m. Thursday during its regular board meeting.

In other business, Sheriff Tim Lane requested supervisors support to appoint a patrol captain position, effective July 1, at an annual salary and benefit package totaling $90,636.

When I ran for office, I said my first priority would be to establish command staff, Lane said. This is the last portion of that goal. The highest ranking officer under Lane's command would be responsible for all department operations, including patrol, special operations and investigations.

Supervisors also considered amending the agreement with the Eastern Iowa Mental Health-Disability Services region governing board to hire a dedicated CEO. The new administrator will manage tasks required by the governing board and represent Scott, Muscatine, Clinton, Cedar and Jackson counties at the state level. Since the region was formed in 2014, the CEO position has rotated with the chairman of the governing board. County Administrator Mahesh Sharma explained the change will dedicate one voice to take the region forward.

The governing board is set to begin the CEO recruitment process at its next meeting on April 17.
If youve driven by Atomic Coffee Bar on Brady Street in Davenport in recent weeks, maybe this thought has popped into your mind: Why is this place always so busy?

You wouldnt be the only one.

Its typical for the coffee spot, which has two drive thru windows, to attract two lines of cars  each stacked a dozen or so deep  circling around its 10-by-30 foot frame. Drivers awaiting their caffeine fix often back up on the shoulder of Brady Street just north of 47th Street.

Brothers Peter and Steven Schillaci, who own Atomic Coffee Bar, have come to count on the constant crazy long lines.

Its like this every single day, Peter Schillaci, 33, said, standing inside his smaller than a shoebox coffee shop in the parking lot of the Walnut Center. Every day, its getting busier. Now, we cant even supply the demand. Im losing customers because Im so slammed.

Its so busy that Brian Schadt, deputy director of the Davenport Public Works Department, met last week with the Schillaci brothers to talk about traffic concerns.

We observed the cars backing out on the shoulder on Brady Street and its a definite safety issue, Schadt said. Those cars queuing in the right-of-way are in danger.

His suggestion? The owners should start directing their customers to line up in the parking lot area rather than on the shoulder. Schadt also is working with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and Davenport Police Department to install a sign, probably with a no standing or parking message, on the side of that section of Brady Street.

Schadt said hes never seen anything like it.

Were very happy theyre doing so well with business, he said. We never anticipated that much volume during all times of the day. You put together the high speed vehicles and the close proximity to a higher volume of traffic  its not ideal.

Traffic may slow later this month, when Atomic Coffee Bars second location is expected to open inside the new ORA Orthopedics building, 6101 Northwest Blvd., Davenport. Plus, Peter Schillaci said another drive-thru only spot could open in Bettendorf over the summer.

Were not wondering if customers will keep coming, Peter Schillaci said, but if we can build these fast enough.

A viral drink

The Schillaci brothers say they have high school students to thank for the Atomic phenomenon.

Going to Atomic has become an after-school ritual for many at Davenport North High School. You can see the lines swell even more around 3:15 p.m. just after school lets out each weekday.

But its not coffee or espresso drinks that have hooked students. Its the Atomic Energy, a Rockstar energy drink infused with various colored flavorings and blended into a slushie. The concoctions have become so popular that customers simply call them the pink drink or blue drink.

Something happened just two months ago and the pink drink just went viral, Peter Schillaci said. Students took them to school and showed them around a little bit and it just spread from friend to friend.

Hearing about the after-school rush to Atomic, Davenport North principal Jay Chelf said, I can imagine that.

I know the kids really like it, he said. They talk about it a lot.

Chelf said the big trend, spreads over to Bettendorf High School, where his daughter attends.

Her friends over there really love it, too, he said. Its not just our school.

Steven Schillaci, who comes up the shops recipes, said hes selling as many pink or blue drinks as coffee-based beverages.

To have the Atomic cup  it makes a statement, he said. Youre the cool kid.

The menus coffee and espresso drinks, such as a latte thats made with six shots of espresso and Irish cream, also set Atomic apart. They source coffee from Intelligentsia, a Chicago-based roaster, prepare drinks with top-notch equipment and use an osmosis purification system that strips all of the minerals out of the water.

We spare no expense with whats going in the cup and the cup itself, Peter Schillaci said. With all of that, youre going to have the best product in town. Being the eighth car in line here is better than being the third car at Starbucks.

A taste of the West Coast

Even before the Schillaci brothers, originally from Portland, Oregon, opened Atomic Coffee Bar in January 2016, they had a good feeling about their brand.

Steven Schillaci, 25, originally planned to open a coffee shop in Oregon, but his older brother, who had moved to Davenport a few years prior, suggested tapping into a new market.

When I first came to the Quad-Cities, there wasnt a huge coffee presence, Peter Schillaci said. I told (Steven), You can open in a market thats saturated with coffee shops or you can bring it here and we can show the Midwest what coffee can be.'

Steven Schillaci took his advice. He moved to Davenport and brought his girlfriend, Malia Driscoll, along to work as a manager. Since Driscoll had never worked in a coffee shop before, Schillaci quizzed her on how to make mochas and lattes during their cross-country trek.

With his coffee expertise and his older brothers marketing background, they felt the storm brewing.

We knew that as soon as we opened, it was going to become chaos, because its so different, Steven Schillaci said. And its a madhouse.

But inside Atomic Coffee Bar, even with a line of cars that rarely slows, it seems to settle on controlled chaos, served with a smile.

This is what Im used to; these are on every corner in Portland. This is Oregon all day, every day, he said. Its nice to bring some of that to the Midwest.
Steve Bahls and Sister Joan Lescinski haven't shied from this political moment.

The respective presidents of Augustana College in Rock Island and St. Ambrose University in Davenport spent much of this past week on a student recruiting tour in Mexico. In more normal times, their trip with administrators from 22 other private schools to a bridge-building summit in Guadalajara wouldn't be much to write about.

Competition is fierce among liberal arts schools, such as Augustana and St. Ambrose. Both history and pre-med degrees are offered by hundreds of institutions. Surely, it's Bahls' and Lescinski's jobs to strike out abroad and champion the merits of their small, private schools in the middle of the country.

But these are not normal times, particularly when Mexico is involved.

The U.S. president likens Mexican immigrants to rampaging barbarians. Better hide your daughters, folks.

President Donald Trump has blasted free trade agreements that, by most economic measures, benefit corn-rich states, such as Illinois and Iowa. And, now, he's asking for billions in funding to pay for border wall, which basically no one thinks will achieve much of anything.

Bahls -- who once told me about his efforts to "thread the needle" on matters of politics -- clearly recognized the moment in which he inhabits. That's unsurprising, as Bahls and Lescinski are a well-known observers of local, state and federal politics.

The two college presidents from Quad-Cities pick their spots. And, in perhaps one of the most divisive moments of our time, they didn't shy away.

In at least one instance last week, Bahls went on Guadalajaran television with a message utterly rejecting Trump's rhetoric.

"#You are welcome here," declared the sign Bahls held proudly during the interview.

Bahls' message to would-be Mexican students is, in fact, a direct response to the Trump era. He might have made the trip if another president sat in the White House. But his refrain, his message of tolerance was birthed from Trump's presidency.

Make no mistake, there's an economic component to Bahls' trip. Illinois is in shambles. It's never clear if the state will make good on the grants it promised to its students, costing even private schools like Augustana millions. Illinois' students are flocking out of the state.

Foreign students pay full fare. That's good for any college or university, private or public. Recruiting outside the U.S. is nothing new.

But Bahls, Lescinski and their colleagues could have chosen France or Lithuania. They could have headed to Argentina or Egypt. All have college-age students.

No, they chose Mexico, a flash-point in America's battle for its identity. Bahls and Lescinski opted to spend day after day trumpeting their schools' openness and commitment to diversity.

Maybe few things speak to this political moment than the growing outreach to Mexico, often unapologetic repudiations of rhetoric coming from the White House. Milwaukee's Marquette University, another school with religious affiliations, last month produced a video entitled "You are welcome here."

Tourism officials are doing it. Big agriculture is increasingly questioning Trump's state trade policy, which could cost the corn-belt billions in exports.

And, now, the presidents of private liberal arts schools in the Quad-Cities are flying to Mexico to unabashedly challenge the White House.

Protest can take many forms.
DES MOINES -- Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has granted, on average, fewer pardons than any Iowa governor dating to the late-1940s.

His record of granting reduced jail sentences is similarly stingy.

A bureau review of Iowa gubernatorial records going back to 1949 -- a span covering 11 administrations -- shows Gov. Branstad, since his return to office in 2011, granted fewer pardons than any other Iowa governor during that same time span.

Branstad is closer to the middle of that pack for granting commutations, or reduced sentences, since 2011. However, remove the roughly three dozen commutations that were the direct result of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that negated lifetime sentences for juveniles, and Branstad once again drops to the fewest granted since 1949.

A pardon forgives an individual for a crime committed and restores lost rights.

A commutation reduces an individuals sentence and makes him or her eligible for parole.

Ive always tried to be very thoughtful and very judicious in making these decisions. The governor is given the extraordinary power of being able to grant pardons, said Branstad, a Republican who was a lawyer before being elected to public office in 1972.

Branstad has approved just more than four pardons per year, on average, since 2011.

Not only is that the lowest average of any governor since 1949, it is dramatically lower than the averages posted by Branstads two immediate predecessors, both of whom were Democrats.

Chet Culver, who governed Iowa from 2007 to 2010, approved an average of nearly 24 pardons per year, six times as many as Branstad. Tom Vilsack, who led Iowa for two terms from 1999 to 2006, approved more than 12 pardons per year.

Even Gov. Robert Ray, a Republican under whom Branstad served as lieutenant governor, granted nearly a dozen pardons per year on average, or three times as many as Branstad.

Branstad appears to be slightly stricter even than his previous self: he approved an annual average of seven pardons during his first stint as governor, from 1983 to 1999.

Branstad said he believes a governors power to pardon should be used sparingly. In addition to the normal application process, he requires a face-to-face interview with the applicant.

I believe a pardon, which is an extraordinary power, which basically eliminates that conviction from their record, should only be granted if youre very confident this person is an exemplary citizen who has given back and helped other people in substantial ways, Branstad said. So, I have required a personal interview. I want to be able to look them straight in the eye. I want to feel confident that theyre never going to commit another crime, that theyre never going to embarrass me or the people of the state of Iowa.

Branstad is even less a fan of commutations.

During his first, 16-year term in office, he approved just two reduced sentences. In his second, six-year stint, he has approved 39 commutations, but 38 of those were in direct response to that U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Take those out, and Branstad, during 22 years in office, has approved three reduced sentences.

Most governors keep in mind theyre running for re-election almost always. The worst thing you can do is be called soft on crime, said Robert Rigg, a Drake University law school professor who specializes in criminal law. No politician ever wanted to get stuck with being soft on crime. Certainly, Terry Branstad can never be accused of being soft on crime.

Branstads rare commutations are not as strikingly different from his predecessors as were his pardons. Culver granted no commutations during his four years in office; Vilsack granted seven during his eight years; Ray granted an average of just two per year during his 14 years in office.

The Iowa governors with the highest rates of commutations held office during the 1950s. Leo Hoegh granted 30 in two years, and Herschel C. Loveless averaged 12 per year during his one term.

Any time you deal with a governor, youre dealing with the political office. And any governors staff is going to sit there and try to review the downside of doing a parole, or commutations, or a pardon, Rigg said. Im sure all governors, whether Terry Branstad or somebody else, is going to take that into the calculus of whether you grant a pardon or commutation. But hopefully thats not the only reason.

When pardons and commutations are combined and averaged, Branstads separate tenures account for two of the three lowest among all Iowa governors since 1949. If those commutations that were the unique result of that U.S. Supreme Court ruling are removed, Branstads tenures are the two lowest.

Branstad has received nearly 400 requests for pardons since 2011 and approved 26. He has received almost 90 requests for commutations and granted 39.

Branstad said the application process for pardons and commutations is thorough and defended his rare approvals as having public safety in mind.

We go through a very extensive process. We do an extensive (Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation) background investigation, it has to go before the parole board before it ever comes to me, Branstad said. The good news is weve not had the tragedies that have occurred in some other states where governors havent been as careful or judicious and people that they pardoned have then committed other serious crimes.

P.S. Ruckman, a professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois, who writes a blog on executive clemency, said while commutations can be risky, he thinks there is little downside to granting pardons.

When I see a pardon number that low, I just dont get why that is not in the hundreds, Ruckman said. Because, again, the political risks there are just about zero.

Ruckman said governors appear to be motivated, in part, by wanting to avoid granting a pardon or a commutation to an individual who then commits another crime. Ruckman and Rigg both noted George H.W. Bushs 1988 campaign ad that used the example of a convicted felon who raped a woman after he escaped while on a weekend furlough program supported by Bushs opponent Michael Dukakis. Even though that individual was given neither a commutation nor a pardon, Ruckman and Rigg said they think that kind of example weighs on governors when making those decisions.

Theres something to this idea that you should be careful, but you should be careful anyway, Ruckman said. If you look into those high-profile things, theyre almost always about commutations (not pardons). The idea that there is some risk to restoring rights is just lunacy.
The Black Hills get black metal and post-rock this weekend with a joint concert and release party by Woman is the Earth and Howling Embers this weekend.

Black Hills Vinyl will host a release show for both Howling Embers' self-titled debut album and Woman is the Earth's "Thaw" EP.

"We've always respected those guys as musicians," said Ben Lemay of Howling Embers. "We got their last album, 'Torch of Our Final Night,' and listened to it nonstop. I thought it would be fun to do a show together, and they were kind enough to agree."

"Ben's a friend of ours, and we're big fans of any work he's involved in," said Woman is the Earth vocalist and guitarist Jarrod Hattervig. "We thought it was a cool idea to give both bands a chance to do their own thing."

"Post-rock and black metal are definitely worlds apart, but that's why I thought it would be good," Lemay said. "We warm up the crowd with more mellow kind of music, and then those guys go out."'

Howling Embers

Though the Howling Embers project is a relatively new one, Lemay is no novice to the Rapid City music scene, having served as a member of the lo-fi band Mystery Pills. Much of that group, including Jason Ward, Nate Hurst, Luke Gorder, are a part of Howling Embers as well.

Lemay said that he first became interested in post-rock, a genre known for its use of guitars and other instruments for textures rather than riffs, in high school.

"I started listening to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Caspian, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky," Lemay said. "What appealed to me was the layers of instrumentation. You're not limited to a certain form, you can explore sounds that aren't explored as often and demand something from the listener a little bit."

Lemay plays guitar, bass, violin, viola and piano for the group, often structuring different parts around one instrument.

"You can tell on the record which songs were based on a violin part, which ones were based on a piano, and everything else is subservient to that," Lemay said.

Lemay added, "I'm excited to keep the ball rolling and keep playing music."I'm in a position where I've found a rhythm to do it. I don't think it's something I ever want to stop doing."

Woman is the Earth

Woman is the Earth, for their part, began as a grindcore/hardcore punk band upon their formation in 2007 before gravitating to black metal, a subgenre known for its heavily distorted guitars, unconventional song structures and heavy mood.

"I think we started writing short, fast songs and shifted as we found ourselves wanting to progress our songwriting and experiment with different instruments," Hattervig said.

Hattervig said that the band took much of the DIY-aesthetic away from punk and stayed grounded because of it while touring more extensively, releasing albums including "This Place That Contains My Spirit," "Depths" and "Torch of Our Final Night."

Hattervig added that the Black Hills themselves were a big influence on the group's sound, as much as metal bands like Leviathan and Wolves in the Throne Room.

"We take a lot of inspiration from growing up and living in the Black Hills," Hattervig said. "I think one of the bigger influences in our songwriting is the intensity and strangeness of the natural world."

That more atmospheric feeling carries over to their new "Thaw" EP, which ended up a shorter length than past releases for the simple reason of wanting a strong record for their upcoming European tour.

"We didn't want to rush to make it a full-length album," Hattervig said. "We worked on ideas that we had that were really solid."

It'll display the level of freedom they've had over their records over the past ten years.

"This is also a smaller area, but in a lot of ways, it gives you more control over what you're putting out because there's no scene to adhere to," Hattervig said. "You can be as weird as you want."
MENNO | Fire destroyed a restaurant in Menno that also housed the town's elderly nutrition program.

The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reports the blaze at the Open Door Cafe was reported about 3 a.m. Monday. Firefighters weren't able to save the structure that dates back at least six decades. Two nearby businesses suffered smoke damage.

The restaurant also hosted community functions, served as a gathering spot for area residents and served the community's Senior Meals program. About 650 people live in the Hutchinson County community.

There was no immediate word on a cause, but Fire Chief Jai Walter told The Daily Republic that it didn't appear suspicious.
STURGIS - Meade County helped kick off the 2017-2018 political season by hosting its annual Lincoln Day Dinner to celebrate the leadership and example of the nation's 16th President -- Abraham Lincoln.

The dinner was held at the Sturgis Armory Saturday. The festivities included a social hour during which citizens were able to meet and speak with numerous local and state officials and candidates.

Rhonda Westman, President of the Meade County Republican Women, started the evening with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem. She was joined in voice by all the attendees.

Henrietta McNenny received a standing ovation for her dedication and volunteer work for the county and state over many years.

Representative Larry Rhoden (District 29) spoke in tribute about Kenneth McNenny who passed earlier this year. Kenny had been a mainstay and mentor for many years in Meade County. He served for many years in the legislature and supported the party and its principles throughout his entire life.

John Tesnow from the Sturgis Christian Church delivered the invocation then the assemblage sat down to a great steak tip dinner catered by The Loud American Road House.

After dinner the speeches began in earnest. The audience first received legislative updates from all three District 29 legislators. (Reps. Tom Bruner and Larry Rhoden; and Senator Gary Cammack).

District 33 legislators were also recognized. They included Senator Phil Jensen, Representatives Taffy Howard and Dave Johnson.

Kristi Noem, South Dakota's current U.S. Representative, and Marty Jackley, current South Dakota Attorney General, have both declared their candidacies for South Dakota Governor and were the first candidates to speak.

They reiterated their South Dakota conservative values and views and encouraged the Meade County folks to work hard for the future of the Republican party here and nation wide.

Two candidates for South Dakota's lone U.S. House seat also engrossed the crowd. They were current Secretary of State Shantel Krebs and Dusty Johnson, former Public Utilities Commissioner.

Three candidates running for Attorney General spoke next. They were Charlie McGuigan currently the State's Deputy Attorney General, John Fitzgerald the serving Lawrence County States Attorney and Jason Ravnsborg Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Attorney and Chairman of the Yankton County Republicans.

Josh Haeder candidate for State Treasurer spoke next followed by Linda Rausch speaking for Steve Barnett who is a candidate for South Dakota Secretary of State. Of note is the fact that Linda Rausch who serves as the Meade County Commissoner for District 3 was also recently elected as the State Republican Party Vice Chair.

Ryan Brunner, current commissioner of School and Public Lands, was also recognized for his service to the State.

After a lively auction/fundraiser a brief special meeting of the Meade County Central Committee was held during which Monae Johnson was elected as the new Meade County Committee woman to replace Linda Rausch; now serving as the State Vice Chair.
The Fall River County Commission will reconsider today its recently approved policy allowing firearms and other weapons into the county courthouse, according to the commissions meeting agenda.

This comes after a number of county court hearings were canceled following the measures approval March 21.

The commission is scheduled to discuss the issue at 10:40 a.m., according to the agenda, and among those expected to attend is Presiding Judge Craig Pfeifle of the 7th Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Fall River County.

According to South Dakota law, carrying a firearm or other dangerous weapon into any county courthouse is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. Law enforcement officers are excluded from the ban. But the statute also says the prohibition may be waived by the county commission.

The agenda for todays meeting also states that Commissioner Paul Nabholz, who initiated the local waiver, wants approval for proposed door signs if the new weapons policy remains in place.

Nabholzs measure, approved at a March 21 commission meeting, allows firearms and other weapons into the county courthouse, except in the courtroom on days when court is in session.

It is not clear when court hearings will resume, said county Auditor Sue Ganje, whose office prepares the commission meeting agendas. She said there should be more clarity after today's meeting.

Local magistrate court cases are typically heard on Wednesdays and circuit cases on Fridays by judges from the Pennington County Courthouse, said Fall River County State's Attorney Jim Sword. Trials and special court sessions may be held on other days, he said.

Sword said he did not know the total number of hearings that have been canceled after the weapons policy was passed but said there are 20-30 hearings on an average day. Calls to the county Clerk of Courts Office on Monday were answered only by a voice recording.

Officials could not say what safety measures will be put in place if the weapons policy is not rescinded.

Sheriff Robert Evans, whose office is in charge of courthouse security, said he was not aware of any provisional plans. The 7th Circuit Court had not responded to questions as of Monday evening.

In South Dakota, only the county courthouses in Pennington, Minnehaha and Lincoln counties have permanent metal detectors, said State Court Administrator Greg Sattizahn. Meade County, he said, puts up detectors during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

The state courts office, Sattizahn said, has a few metal detectors that can be temporarily installed at county courthouses that need them.
Hiring good people and retaining them is the preeminent issue most businesses face. Theres a truism around Custer that if you show up, you get hired.

We used to have more capacity for hard tedious work. My wife topped maize in Texas when she was 14. There were a lot more farm kids around 50 years ago, but those kids didnt stay on the farm, mostly. Working in the fields with your hands is not fun. You work can-see to cant-see and you die young.

Its no wonder most Americans dont want those jobs, at just about any price. The poorest people in our country have vastly more resources than the poorest people in other places. Its a myth that capping the number of seasonal workers coming from out-of-country will make room for more Americans to work. Americans wont fill those jobs picking fruit that take lots of hand work and strong backs.

Most of the labor force in the Black Hills in logging and related industries is older. Driving a skidder all day long or running a chain saw for eight hours is tough work. Theres not much room for error. Its demanding and relatively low paying.

Farming and ranching take a special kind of tough people. Owning cattle is like raising children; its a 24 hour a day, seven days a week job. Same with growing crops. Its a crap shoot. Farmers are usually one crisis away from losing the farm. Its why we have subsidies to help protect the people who grow our food. The number of farmers is falling while crop yields rise. We do more with less.

My friends who own motels and hotels struggle to find and keep people to clean rooms and prepare each day for new guests. Custer turns into an international bazaar in the summer, with mostly young people from all over the world doing jobs many American kids  and local kids  dont want to do. Wont do.

Some of this work can and should be mechanized. Farms are increasingly dependent on sophisticated and expensive machines that do the thinking, right down to when to water and how much. Thats a good thing because mechanization frees people to do other jobs, with titles and roles that havent been invented.

But theres no automatic way to clean motel rooms or pick fancy grapes or find the prairie berries for wine, to mention a few.

Its a dilemma. Our immigration policies are already depressing the ready pool of hand laborers in ways that will begin to tell this summer.

The truth is we cant afford to hire Americans to do work the Mexicans and Nigerians are delighted to do for much less pay. We are insulated from economies where $10 per hour is a fortune. We dont understand how grateful foreigners are to work here, often sending the money home to support families. Seasonal jobs for foreign workers also build good will.

Whatever we come up with for a new immigration policy, it would be a mistake to believe we would be having a significant effect on available jobs for Americans. Prices will go up for food and other basic needs. The family trip will cost more and service levels will drop. There wont be any rush to the fields or motel offices by local high schoolers.

This is the first anniversary of my son-in-laws citizenship ceremony. He worked hard for four years to become a citizen, and he has ten years of higher education.

We need foreign aid in the form of ready and willing manual laborers, whatever their immigrant status.
Who was going to play the bad guy?

Kit Cline, the Rapid City school districts manager of buildings and grounds, volunteered. So the trainers put an airsoft gun in his hands, told him to walk into the classroom, and shoot as many of his fellow trainees as he could.

It was January and Cline was at an ALICE training session in Sturgis. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. Its a nationally acclaimed program designed to prepare teachers and students for how to react if an armed assailant enters a school building.

The Rapid City school board is considering paying for a three-year contract to adopt it.

Cline walked through the door, raised the airsoft gun and took aim at the school administrators and law enforcement officials who were cast in the roles of students and teachers.

All he remembers is a blur of red Nerf balls, thrown at him by his would-be victims. The distraction bought enough time for most of them to run past Cline and escape. Those who remained swarmed him and pinned him to the ground. No one was "shot."

It was very effective, Cline told the school board and a room full of school principals during a Monday night study session focused on the ALICE program. I cant imagine what it would be like to get pelted with a coffee cup, something like that.

What happened to Cline is an example of the C in ALICE  a counter tactic  which is what sets the program apart from other approaches to active shooter or active killer situations.

Were not teaching them to fight, said Rapid City Police Sgt. Brian Blenner, who attended the training with Cline. Were teaching them to evacuate, or if someone is in the room, to counter that action.

According to the ALICE training website, about 3,700 school districts and 3,280 law enforcement agencies across the United States have received ALICE training certifications. Cline, Blenner, and Pennington County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Hislip are recommending that Rapid City follow suit.

I think its a good plan, Rapid City school district Superintendent Lori Simon said, adding that the next step is for the school board to vote on it in regular session.

When asked Monday evening who wanted the ALICE program brought to their schools, nearly every principal in the room raised their hand.

The Rapid City school district currently subscribes to the lockdown approach, which entails barricading classroom doors, turning off the lights, pulling the shades and instructing students to get under their desks. This is a flawed and incomplete response, Blenner and Hislip argued. Both men are stationed as armed officers, or school liaisons, in the districts schools.

Drawing its conclusions from evidence-based research, ALICE offers an options based approach that empowers teachers and building administrators to determine the best course of action based on their classrooms particular circumstances and the information available, Blenner said.

Educators are encouraged to alert each other of the initial situation. Lockdowns can happen next, but ALICE contends that the response shouldnt stop there, Blenner said. The adults should inform each other further, constantly communicating about the whereabouts of the active shooter. Students should be evacuated as soon as possible, even if that means jumping out a window. And if the shooter breaches the door of a locked down classroom, ALICE calls for teachers and students to resist or counter whatever comes next.

A three-year contract with ALICE, at a cost of $36,500, would provide training for 1,500 district employees and certify 50 more employees within the district as instructors who could pass the training on, according to Cline, Blenner, and Hislip. The first year would cost $20,500 and each additional year would cost $8,000.

It then would be up to the certified instructors to work with school administrators on how to best train students, Blenner said.

School board member Matt Stephens questioned if spending the money was wise. It seems to me that a lot of this is common (sense), Stephens said.

Im not against further education on the issue at all," he later added. "I just think we need to tread carefully. ... While were at it, we should be having conversations about having metal detectors at the door. If were really serious about protecting our students, we should be having conversations about keeping guns out of the the hands of criminals and mentally ill people.

None of the districts schools has metal detectors, according to district spokeswoman Katy Urban.

School board President Jim Hansen recalled an experience he had as a police officer when a student brought a gun to school. In September 1991, 17-year-old Ryan Harris entered Stevens High School with a sawed off shotgun.

No one was injured during a four-hour standoff at the school, which ended when Harris briefly laid down the weapon and another student grabbed it. Harris shot and killed himself during a 15-hour standoff outside a North Carolina convenience store in 1998.

It was chaos, Hansen said of the incident at Stevens, adding that he thinks the district needs a standardized and flexible approach in responding to an active shooter.

Is it expensive? You bet, Hansen said. Tell me what kid isnt worth it. Tell me what staff member isnt worth it. Youre all worth it to me."
BILLINGS  A rotten meat scandal in Brazil has Montana ranchers cowed about U.S. beef sales taking a hit.

Brazil shuttered three meat processing plants last week and suspended three dozen government employees for allegedly looking the other way as rotten beef was moved for sale. Brazil is one of the largest beef producers in the world. One of the packing plant owners JBS Sao Palo, also has packing plants in the United States. JBS is the second largest meatpacker in the U.S.

With the lack of Country of Origin Labeling in supermarkets, its impossible for American consumers to know where their beef is coming from, said Neil Glennie, who raises Angus calves near Judith Gap. Glennie is nervous about a Brazil-related contaminated meat outbreak at an American supermarket hurting U.S. ranchers.

If we had one bad episode of Brazilian beef contamination, it would just kill our beef industry and the rancher would get blamed, Glennie said.

The rancher would like to turn back to the clock to 2015 when the United States had Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL. For four years, COOL required labels on meat, fruit and vegetables so that shoppers knew where their food was raised.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday that no contaminated Brazillian beef has entered the United States. None of the meatpacking plants implicated in shipping rotten meat and using a chemical wash to mask the spoilage, have sent beef to the United States, USDA reported.

COOL was popular with American shoppers, farmers and ranchers, but not with Canada and Mexico, who argued the labels discouraged U.S. consumers from buying products from those countries. They filed an unfair trade practices claim with the World Trade Organization, insisting that COOL violated the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The WTO ruled that Canada and Mexico could impose tariffs on U.S. products, a move estimated to cost the United States $1 billion. Congress responded by repealing COOL in 2015.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., was a major COOL advocate. This week, Tester proposed banning Brazilian beef from the United States for 120 days so the U.S. Department of Agriculture could identify any risk associated with Brazilian beef in the United States.

We must take decisive action to ensure no family in Montana or anywhere else in this country is exposed to the danger of deceptive Brazilian beef processors, said Tester. We cannot allow harmful food to come into our markets and endanger our families.

Testers proposed ban was welcomed by the United States Cattlemens Association, a COOL advocate that has been opposed to Brazilian beef.

USCA has long advocated that both Argentina and Brazil lack the necessary means to ensure safely exported beef, said Jess Peterson, spokesman for the group. This issue yet again confirms the fact that the U.S. should have strong reservations with importing products from South America. When it comes to producing beef, U.S. cattle and beef producers follow the most stringent safety standards in the world. We take that commitment very seriously. When a blemish like this comes up from a foreign country  increased oversight and investigation is warranted and the question is emphasized  why even import beef from South America in the first place?

Last August, the USDA greenlighted beef imports from Brazil after ironing out safety concerns, namely with foot and mouth disease. The USDA concluded that Brazilian beef shipped to the United States had to be boneless, an accepted method for preventing importation of diseases like FMD and mad cow disease.

Tester opposed the USDA decision last year.

Both Montana Sens. Tester and Republican Steve Daines penned letters to Acting Deputy Agriculture Secretary Michael Young on Wednesday with questions about beef imports from Brazil.

Daines request was slightly more nuanced. He asked that any meatpacking plant implicated in the scandal be banned from shipping beef to the United States, but left the door open for imports from facilities not implicated.

The confirmation hearing begins Thursday for Sonny Perdue, President Donald Trumps agriculture secretary nominee. Daines, a Senate Agriculture Committee member, will get a chance to question the nominee.
HELENA  A last-ditch effort to hold the May special election to fill Montana's vacant seat in Congress by mail failed Friday.

Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, tried to "blast" a bill that would let counties choose to use mail ballots onto the House floor. A blast motion is an attempt to revive a bill that has stalled in committee. The motion needed 60 votes out of 100 House members, but only got 51.

Senate Bill 305 was carried by Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls. The bill would have allowed counties to choose to conduct the May 25 election to replace former U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, who resigned to become Secretary of the Interior, by mail. Voting still would be available at county courthouses before the election and on Election Day, a Thursday, as well as at satellite offices.

Since being introduced, the bill went for a roller-coaster ride. Shortly after it cleared the Senate by a comfortable margin, the chairman of the Montana State Republican Party, state Rep. Jeff Essmann, sent an email to party members warning that its passage would mean higher turnout and a lower chance of winning for Republicans.

The bill was then assigned by the Speaker of the House to a so-called kill committee, known for the number of bills it votes down.

Thats what happened in the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week. The bill was not scheduled for a vote Wednesday, but after Democrats tried to force one it was indefinitely tabled on a motion from Republican Rep. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton.

The vote to table was on party lines. After, some Democrats blamed it failing on partisan hijinks.

I think the partisan hijinks around this are sad and a shame and Ive never seen it in my experience here. What has been done to this bill by sending it to this committee, in eight years Ive never heard of a voting bill in this committee. Its partisan hijinks and its not what we do in this Capitol, Rep. Ellie Hill Smith, D-Missoula, said Wednesday

In calling for the bill to be voted on Friday, Custer said the House sat on the legislation for a month and assigning it to the judiciary committee was wrong.

It is undeniable that our House rules were broken when it was assigned to a committee that does not deal with the subject matter of elections.

Custer said the hearing in committee was a sham.

There was absolutely no debate, no discussion about the merits of the bill. This bill deserves a good discussion.

Of Montana's 56 counties, 54 have said they would conduct the election by mail. County clerks traveled from across the state to fill a hearing room Wednesday to ask lawmakers to pass the bill, but testimony was cut off after 20 minutes. Of the few opponents were members of Montana's American Indian tribes, who said voting by mail reduces access to voting on reservations.

Rep. Sharon Stewart-Peregoy, D-Crown Agency, said Friday that on the Crow Reservation many people would have not been able to vote had the election been held by mail because people move frequently and their addresses are not updated in voter rolls.

For many of you, it may be OK to vote by mail. For many of you youve never had to fight every election. We have to make sure that we have access to the poll. That we have access, that there are no shenanigans going on, every time.

Rep. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula, said in support of the bill that 69 percent of state legislators choose to vote by mail.

"Open and accessible elections are about allowing as many eligible voters as possible to share their vote, no matter what they are saying," he said.

After the vote, Essmann, who represents the Billings area, said that before Montana conducts a statewide election by mail it needs to ensure the process is secure.

"There's no doubt under our current laws there's opportunity for ballot interference," he said, referencing ballot collection efforts  which are legal  in several Montana cities during the election last November.

Custer on Friday told the House that the state has not had a documented case of ballot fraud or tampering and pointed out many local elections are conducted by mail only.

When asked if he thought his letter to Republicans could have changed the fate of the bill, Essmann pointed out the vote did not fall strictly along party lines.

"People have a lot of reasons for voting they way they do," he said. "It's not a partisan issue."
Rob Quist, the Montana musician-turned-congressional hopeful, took a defiant tone Thursday during a health care town hall tour stop at the Union Club in Missoula.

Quist is the Democratic candidate to replace now-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as the states lone U.S. representative and is being challenged by Republican Greg Gianforte and Libertarian Mark Wicks in a special election. Ballots will be mailed April 28 and voting ends May 25. Voters will be able to vote at polling places on Election Day on May 25.

All (Gianforte) is doing is hiding in his lair and kinda throwing these mudballs at me, Quist told the crowd. I challenge him and congressional leaders to come out into the light of day and listen to these health care stories that everyday Montanans are telling. I challenge them to do that.

While Quist has made a number of campaign appearances across the state since he was chosen as the Democratic nominee, Gianforte has kept a relatively low public profile, holding call-in "tele-town halls" after a failed gubernatorial bid last November.

Quist also took a shot at Sen. Steve Daines.

"Steve Daines talks about his town hall meetings but he's not in town and he's not in a hall," Quist said. "The mayor of Great Falls introduced me the other night and said he'd rather have Rob Quist as a partner to Jon Tester than Greg Gianforte as a partner to Steve Daines."

For about an hour, Quist took questions and comments from the crowd on a variety of issues, from the high cost of pharmaceutical drugs to Republicans' failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Quist said he supports the idea of a single-payer health care system, where the government would cover health care costs rather than people buying from private insurance companies.

He also said he supports access to birth control, preventive screenings and a womans right to choose, and opposes tax breaks for insurance executives, which he said was a part of the Republicans failed health care bill.

Quists personal health issues have been in the media spotlight lately. The Billings Gazette has quoted Quist attributing his 16-year debt trail to 20 years of sporadic illness due to a botched gallbladder surgery in 1996. The Gazette also reported this week that, according to court documents, Quist said he was too sick to work and make mortgage payments in 2011, even though he played 35 shows with the Mission Mountain Wood band that year.

Quist did not directly address the Gazette stories on Thursday. He did talk about how he was nearly bankrupted by his own health care bills and those of his family. He also talked about the need to make health care more affordable for the average working family.

My health care issues have been splattered across the state, he said. This is something I have not hidden from. I kind of laid out all my issues in gory detail in my first speech at the Missoula Public Library.

Later, Quist said that his political opponents are using intimidation and humiliation as a form of bullying to get to him. He also said that the Gianforte campaign is using the media and social media to do that.

I challenge Gianforte and all their media mouthpieces to come listen to the stories today, he said. Greg Gianforte has $2.5 million in stock for some of these pharmaceutical companies that are charging such high prices. We need to reject Mr. Gianforte and the dinosaur he rode in on.

Quist was referring to the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, which espouses the idea that the world is about 6,000 to 6,400 years old and is a six-day divine creation. That means, according to the museum, that dinosaurs and humans coexisted. There is even a depiction of a Native American person riding a dinosaur. One of the core foundations of the museum is that the Bible is an accurate, literal history of the world. The Gianforte Family Foundation donated a large Tyrannosaurus rex model and Acrocanthosaurus exhibit in the museums main hall. The foundation was set up byGianforte.

Quist also railed against the disparity between the super-wealthy and middle-class and poor Americans, a disparity he said is only getting bigger because of Republican-instituted tax breaks for the rich.

A rancher told me that money is a lot like b.s., Quist said. If you pile it up it just starts to stink. But if you spread it around it just starts to grow everything. I told him I couldn't have put it any better.

Quist said Dwight D. Eisenhower taxed the super-rich by 90 percent.

That sounds high, but it was brilliant, Quist said, adding that Eisenhower believed that the rich would just hold on to their money if it wasnt taxed, but high tax rates would cause them to invest in businesses and infrastructure.

With all the tax cuts, its so low now that the rich are piling up their money, he said.

He also said that the United States needs to start rewarding the health care system for keeping people healthy and preventing conditions rather than for how many procedures like chemotherapy they can charge to patients.

Life under the big sky has to work for everyone or it doesnt work for anyone, Quist said. This election is so important. This is literally a fight for the soul of Montana in so many ways. Its a fight for public lands. Its my great honor to serve the people in the big sky. Lets go win this thing.
There are dozens of issues facing thoughtful citizens at this time. Folks appear to be galvanized in new ways to make their voices heard on topics ranging from abortion to immigration, air quality to racism. We have plenty of topics nationwide, and plenty in Montana, necessitating we educate ourselves and express our opinions.

Id like us in Montana to consider signing on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The NPVIC is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their respective electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote. Thus far ten states and the District of Columbia have signed on. Proposed in the form of an interstate compact, the agreement would go into effect among the participating states in the compact only after they collectively represent an absolute majority of votes (currently at least 270) in the Electoral College.

Our current system forces candidates to focus on a small percentage of pivotal swing states, while sidelining the rest. A study by FairVote reported that the 2004 candidates devoted most of their peak season campaign resources to just five states, while the other 45 states received very little attention. The report also indicated that 18 states received no candidate visits and no TV advertising. This means that swing state issues receive more attention, while issues important to other states are largely ignored, as are their voters who hunger for policy discussions by candidates.

Our legislature doesnt have enough time to debate the Compact issue this year. But we can urge our local representatives to craft a bill to join the Compact next time they meet. Joining it would allow Montanas low population to be fairly represented; each vote would have more weight than it does now, since the Electoral College system tends to decrease voter turnout in states without close races. Let us dare to fashion in a participatory democracy in which debate and knowledgeable voters decide our and our childrens futures.

 Star Jameson, Hamilton
After the debacle in Congress over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, its time to stop calling it Obamacare. The American people now own it, and they clearly dont want it replaced, they just want it fixed.

As the process played out, politicians and pundits alike speculated about how the bills passage or failure would affect the mid-term elections, and which party would benefit the most. What I heard far too little about was how the greatest country on earth plans to improve the quality of health care for all of its citizens.

Improving the Affordable Care Act (Trump promised something better) implies that any replacement or improvement must be both more affordable, and provide better care. The Ryan/Trump bill did neither  while handing out generous tax breaks to millionaires.

Thats one of the reasons Im backing Rob Quist for Montanas representative. Hes in tune with Montana values, and has a personal understanding of what it means to face devastating medical bills. I trust him to work for affordable health care for all Americans  with a voice that sounds exactly like Montana.

 Russ Lawrence, Hamilton
Christian Churches globally will soon celebrate Easter. Christians in other countries must wonder what is wrong with so many Christians in America, who elected a lifelong, unrepentant sexual predator as President.

This President attacked not only many women, but, as the owner of the Teen USA Pageant, entered the dressing room of the teens when he knew they would be in various stages of undress, even naked. He bragged on radio at their shock and their lovely bodies. The new First Lady made her modeling career in Europe posing nude, even girl on girl, for mens magazines.

He pushed for repeal of the Affordable Care Act by adding repeal of items from Medicaid such as glasses for poor children. He is set on denying life-saving medical care to millions of Americans

Campaigning, he recommended bombing civilians as a way to pressure warring armies into submission. Under his administration, the number of such casualties is now skyrocketing. Women, children, hospitals, aide convoys etc. are now deliberate targets.

Many Christian Republicans cannot be patriotic. They seem not to care that their five time draft dodger President and his minions colluded with our worst enemy, Russia, to grab control of our country. Strait from the dictator playbook, he immediately began attacking precious American institutions such as a free press, an independent judiciary, voting, the rights of free speech and assembly, etc.

I pray Christians reflect on Christs instruction re how to treat our brethren, including others like the Samaritan. Jesus chose a body that was brown skinned, dark eyed, long haired, fully bearded, and Arabic. At Easter, and as we elect a new Congressman, I beg a rethinking of loyalties.

 Claire Kelly, Stevensville
HELENA  Law enforcement officials searched a Turk Road property Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into the 2011 murder of a man who once lived along the same roadway, which has been at the heart of several access disputes.

Authorities were tight-lipped about the operations Friday. Several patrol cars blocked the road just outside the home of Katy Wessel and John Mehan. In 2012, officials conducted a search warrant on the same property.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said the activity on Turk Road is part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of John "Mike" Crites, who until his death lived up the dirt road from Friday's flurry of activity.

Authorities refused to answer any further questions regarding the developments, noting that any paperwork relating to the operation are sealed.

No charges have been filed in the killing.

Part of Crites' remains were found in 2011 on MacDonald Pass in a wooded area just off Highway 12 outside of Helena. Other parts of him were found about a year later on the other side of the Continental Divide near Elliston.

On Friday morning, Mehan and Wessel appeared in Helena district court as part of a lawsuit they filed against Crites' estate alleging he continually harassed and threatened the married couple and another neighbor, Dennis Shaw.

A trial in the case was supposed to happen this month, but court documents say the dates will likely be postponed.

The suit was filed in May 2011. Crites disappeared a month later. He was supposed to meet with a neighbor to discuss to ongoing consternation over land disputes the day he went missing.

Two trash bags containing some of 48-year-old Crites' bones were found in October 2011 on MacDonald Pass, which is roughly 25 miles from his Turk Road home.

His skull and other parts of him were located a year later in 2012.

***

In July of that same year, Mehan was arrested on a felony charge of tampering with evidence on allegations he trespassed onto a neighbor's land and removed a video camera that had been used in the murder investigation. In October 2013, Mehan pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of misdemeanor criminal mischief. He received a six-month suspended jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.

The documents filed in the tampering case against Mehan outlined much of the state of the murder investigation at the time, although no one has been charged for the slaying.

Just before his arrest for tampering, the documents allege, Mehan spoke with someone at an event in Helena and voiced knowledge about the case not reported to the public. He said officials had not recovered a specific body part, the paperwork noted.

"Detectives believe the body was dismembered as there were markings on the remaining bones indicating the body had been sawn apart," an investigator wrote in the documents.

At the time, officials had not recovered various body parts, a cellphone and a handgun belonging to Crites. Authorities have declined to say if these items have been found since then.

"Detectives believe these items may not have been disposed of with the bones discarded on MacDonald Pass because the items could contain clues both to Crites' identity, manner of death and his killer," the investigator continued.

When authorities conducted search warrants at the home of Wessel and Mehan in 2012, they collected saws, Hefty garbage bags, a handgun and bolt cutters, among other items, according to previous reports. Shaw's residence was searched at the same time.

Officials have repeatedly said they've never lost hope of solving the murder.

Last summer, a new detective took over the case. The previous two lead investigators have since retired.

Included in the information reviewed by Detective Andrew Blythe were the previous search warrants served in the Turk Road neighborhood, along with one conducted out of state.
Rick Moran

A high ranking North Korean diplomat who defected last year told Lester Holt of NBC News that the "world should be ready" to deal with a "desperate" Kim Jong Un who may launch nuclear missiles at the US and its allies at the slightest provocation.

Thae Yong Ho said that North Korea is developing a long range missile that can hit the US and that he would strike if there was an "imminent threat" of attack from the US.

NBC News:

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 added in an exclusive interview on Sunday.

Thae was living in London and serving as North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom when he and his family defected to South Korea and were announced to the world in August.

He was not directly involved in North Korea's weapons program but believes his country "has reached a very significant level of nuclear development."

North Korea is estimated to have upward of eight nuclear weapons but has not demonstrated the ability to attach them to a long-range rocket, an ICBM, capable of hitting the U.S.

Analysts are unsure exactly how close the regime is to achieving this aim, but a senior official told NBC News in Januarythat his government was ready to test-fire an ICMB "at any time, at any place."

Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told NBC News that American officials were particularly troubled by this latest 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."

Thae's interview with NBC News comes against a backdrop of rising tensions surrounding North Korea, which has significantly increased its missile and nuclear tests under Kim's rule.

There are many unknowns about North Korea that makes any threat of this kind particularly dangerous. For instance, it is thought that Kim's hold on power is tenuous at best. Evidence for this comes from the frequent arrests and executions of high ranking officials and even members of his own family. Just last month, it is widely believed Kim ordered the assassination of his half brother in Malaysia.

The uncertain hold he has on power feeds a paranoia that is driving the North Korean missile program. While the reliability of their missiles is in question, the range of their weapons continues to increase. Their most recent test was of a modified sub launched missile with a range that could hit most of Japan.

US officials are watchful, but wary:

President Donald Trump told the Financial Times newspaper on Monday that "something had to be done" about North Korea. This came after Defense Secretary James Mattis said the country "has got to be stopped" and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said military action was "on the table."

"It does feel more dangerous - I'll give you three reasons," according to Adm. James Stavridis, an NBC News analyst and dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. "One is [Kim's] own precarious situation in command of the nation. Number two is the instability in South Korea. We've just seen the South Korean president indicted, arrested, and incarcerated."

"And, number three, a new and more aggressive American foreign policy coming from Washington," he added.

It appears that the US and its allies - and China - are tiring of Kim's boasts and threats. But what to do about it is another issue altogether. President Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi this week and you can bet that what to do about North Korea will be at the top of their agenda. It is believed that only China - whose trade and security assistance North Korea cannot live without - holds the key to reining in Kim. Whether the Chinese will see it in their strategic interest to put pressure on North Korea to behave will depend at least in part on the rapport the president can build with Xi.

Time is no longer on our side. While the North is not close to developing a missile that can hit the US, they may be on the cusp of being able to construct a warhead for the missiles they already have. That spells trouble for Japan and South Korea who are currently on the front lines of any potential conflict.
America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
via Vikalp Sangam - Feb. 15, 2017

Translated by Arvind Gupta; original (in Hindi) by Baba Mayaram [TRanslation specially done for Vikalp Sangam]

The Shaheed Hospital is located in the small town of Dalli Rajhara of Balod District in the state of Chhattisgarh. Mine workers constructed this hospital with their sweat and toil. Every single brick in the hospital came from funds contributed by the workers. Not only did the workers build this hospital, they have run it successfully for the last 35 years. The administration of the hospital is managed entirely by a team of workers. Doctors, nurses and health workers offer their full support to the workers.

Shaheed Hospital

On 26 September 2016 when I reached the hospital, past memories came flashing back. Dr. Saibal Jana still works hard, and toils day-and-night. In 1984, when I first visited the Hospital, it had just completed a year. My purpose then was to experience the workeras movement and see the hospital first hand. Then Dr. Asish Kundu and his wife Dr. Chanchala were also working there. Since my last visit, Dr. Janaas hair has grayed but his energy, dedication and deep commitment has remained intact.

In 1984, I stayed with Dr. Jana in a hospital room. Patients would start pouring in and crowding the hospital corridors from early morning. The hospital buzzed with activity all day. In the evening the doctors and health workers fanned out in the workeras colonies helping and educating them to control diseases in their own localities. As Dalli Rajhara is located in a valley, the low lying areas would get flooded during monsoons and seasonal diseases thrived. The Shaheed Hospital team of health workers went from house to house, educating people on disease prevention using printed leaflets and simple posters.

Dalli Rajhara is a small mining town located in the Balod District of Chhattisgarh. The two iron ore mines of Dalli and Rajhara give the town its name. The natural beauty of this area is quite breathtaking. The hills are painted red with iron ore. The slopes and valleys are dotted with red-tiled workersa shacks and unbaked clay houses. Several small streams flow down the hills, their water reddened by the iron compounds composing the soil. The iron ore extracted from these mines is sent to the Bhilai Steel Plant.

To understand the circumstances under which the Shaheed Hospital was built we have to go back into history a little, and look at the workersa movement in this area. In 1977, the iron mines had two labour unions a INTUC (Congress) and AITUC (Communist). These unions would collect contributions from the workers but were not honest in dealing with the workeras demands. The workers were desperately searching for an honest leader.

When they heard about Shankar Guha Niyogi, who worked in the Danitola Mines they approached him. Niyogi had been imprisoned during the Emergency and had just been released from jail. Niyogi patiently listened to the workers woes and agreed to lead them. This is how the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMMS) was founded under the leadership of Shankar Guha Niyogi.

The workers struggled for their rights and for fair wages. In a bid to crush the movement the state government opened fire in which 11 workers were killed. Niyogi was also arrested. In the face of fierce workersa unity, the management agreed and accepted the workeras demands.

Niyogi, while addressing the workers, emphasized that aThe workers union should not limit itself to the work place for 8 hours; it should permeate all 24 hours.a What he meant was that it should not be just an economic struggle, but the Union should endeavour to improve all aspects of the workersa lives. This vision was very different from those of the traditional trade unions.

The workers struggled for their rights and won. With wage increase the workers got addicted to liquor. The liquor barons reaped bumper profits. Then the union started to reflect, aDid we fight for an increase in wages in order to benefit the liquor contractors?a This was the start of the anti-liquor campaign. This transformed the trade union struggle into a social movement. It was also a movement for better health. During this struggle some workers were also attacked by the liquor mafia. I still remember the road leading from Dalli Rajhara to Durg. On this route, at a certain spot near the Bhainsbod turning, one of the leaders of the anti-liquor campaign was killed ain an accidenta by the liquor lobby. But despite these attacks, the workersa struggle continued.

Many struggles were launched and won under the capable leadership of Shankar Guha Niyogi. The sister organization of CMMS - the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) followed the dictum a aStruggle and Construct.a The CMM sincerely believed that constructive work must go hand-in-hand with struggle. On the one hand they struggled to usher in social change, while simultaneously engaging in constructive social work for building a new and better society.

Struggle and constructive work were seen as complementary. Constructive tasks included building a hospital, opening schools and opening a technical garage to train the workersa children in technical skills. The CMM was set up to work with farmers and with people from all sections of society. Subsequently, the Mahila Mukti Morcha (MMM) was set up specifically for the empowerment of women.

The public health programme started with great enthusiasm. Struggle for Health and Workeras Programme for all Workers were the slogans which defined the Health programme.

It was during this period that an accident took place which resulted in the premature death of Kusumbai - the Vice President of CMSS. It was this accident which gave birth to the idea of the hospital. Because of problems during pregnancy Kusumbai was admitted to the Bhilai Steel Plant hospital. Kusumbai died because of laxity in treatment at the hospital. This saddened the workers and also heightened their anxiety. aCanat we save our own brothers and sisters? Canat we take care of their illness?a they began thinking. This reflection sowed the seed of the future hospital.

At first a small dispensary was set up, and it was only later that the decision to build the hospital was made. Initially, all the work for the hospital was done by worker volunteers. The workers collected donations, contributed voluntary labour and worked day and night to build the hospital. In a single day, 10,000 workers collectively cast the cement roof of the hospital. After the completion of the hospital several mine workers underwent training to become health workers. They would toil all day in the severe heat at digging iron ore. In the evening they would each work at the hospital for six hours. They also volunteered at night to serve the patients.

Workers participating in the construction of the Hospital

The Hospital was inaugurated on June 3, 1983 by mine workers Lahaar Singh and Hallalkhor, a senior villager of Aadhejhar. On this occasion Niyogi commented, aThis hospital is a gift from organized workers to unorganized workers.a The hospital was named aShaheed Hospitala in the memory of the workers who had died during the 1977 shootout.

Inauguration of the hospital

Although India has many big and well equipped hospitals, unfortunately they do not treat the poor. The poor enter these hospitals meekly with folded hands but are often abused and looted by doctors and nurses. Many poor patients die because no one heeds their woes. But this hospital is different, in that it is a workersa hospital. They have built it with their own sweat and toil. It symbolizes their struggle. The workers are visibly proud of their hospital. When health workers Poonaram, Jaggu Singh Sahu, Aibal Singh and Sahu Barsaiyat talk about their experiences, the pride glows in their eyes. Earlier there were 10 health workers. Now there are four more. After retirement many health workers have returned to their native villages.

Whenever a workersa struggle gains momentum, it is invariably crushed by the state. During such times the responsibility of the Shaheed Hospital increases manifold. Their team rushes to wherever there is conflict arising from a workersa struggle, to support them. In March 2016, Dr. Saibal Jana was arrested by the police in a 24-year old case. This was resisted by intellectuals and social activists throughout the country. Be it the Narmada Bachao Andolan, or Bhopal Gas victimsa struggle or the earthquake tragedy in Latur, the Shaheed Hospital has always helped the victims.

Distributing grains and taking care of the injured during the Latur earthquake

What started as a small dispensary has over the years transformed into a 135 bed hospital. It has a three storied building with modern equipment and facilities installed. There is an in-house dispensary, operation theatre and a pathology lab. There is even an ambulance. About 250 patients show up every day at the Out Patients Department (OPD). Many of them would have had to travel 100-150 kilometers, spending hours to reach the hospital. Patients come from near and far towns of Rajnandgaon, Raipur, Balod, Kanker, Charama, Pakhanjur (Kanker) and other places. When all the hospital beds are occupied, new patients crowd the corridors below. As the patients spread out on the floor, it is often difficult to walk around. Now a new building, which will exclusively house a Maternity Ward, is under construction.

250 patients show up at the OPD everyday

Three-storied Hospital building

When patients outnumber hospital beds, patient rest in the corridors

Several doctors have served at the Shaheed Hospital. While many lent their services to help the workersa cause, others worked to earn a living. The doctors who played a major role in the Peopleas Health Movement include Dr. Binayak Sen, Dr. Pabitro Guha and Dr. Punyabrat Gun. But today, Dr. Saibal Jana has become synonymous with the Shaheed Hospital. He came here immediately after finishing MBBS from Kolkata. For the past 34-35 years he has been the backbone of the hospital. He has been involved right from beginning a from the construction of the hospital to the training of health workers. He has been on the advisory board of several health committees set up by the government of Chhattisgarh. Alpana - Dr. Janaas wife a a trained nurse, has also served the hospital ever since. The hospital has seven full-time doctors as of now. New doctors include Pavan Milkhe.

Before the hospital came up, people harboured many wrong notions such as women should not drink water during deliverya. Similarly, typhoid patients were encouraged not to eat and drink but to starve. But once the hospital started the health workers fanned out into labour colonies and organized poster exhibitions and demonstrated to people the correct way to treat patients. They also opposed blind faith and quackery. Many lives were saved by providing rehydrating fluids to patients who suffered from dysentery and vomiting. This led to a marked decrease in mortality.

According to the senior most hospital nurse Kuleshwari Sonwani, the treatment starts as soon as a serious patient comes to the hospital. They do not wait for the registration formalities to be completed. Patients who cannot pay are also treated. After the treatment is over the ambulance takes them home free of charge.

One of the oldest nurses - Kuleshwari Sonvani

According to nurse Padmavati Sahu, aHere we gauge the condition of the patient, and then treat her as one of our own. Here a normal delivery cost between Rs.1000 a Rs.1500 only. A Caesarian operation however costs Rs.5000. In other hospitals this could cost Rs.15000. Our honest health staff never asks the patients for money - not even for a cup of tea. The Shaheed Hospital is unique in this aspect. The staff refuses tips when any patient is discharged. The staff here works not just for wages, but with a deep sense of service. The hospital treats all patients equally, and never discriminates. The same principle of equality extends to the whole hospital. Everyone here - the doctors and the cleaning staff included - enjoy the same rights.a

According to health worker Poonaram the hospital works on the principle of no-profit, no-loss. Registration charges here are just Rs.10, and a bed costs just Rs.5 a day. A nominal service charge of Rs.25 is levied. For the last few years, people below the poverty line have enjoyed the benefits of the National Health Mission. Many poor patients are treated under this scheme at the Shaheed Hospital. This scheme has also helped the hospital stand on a better economic footing. Under this scheme, charges for each procedure are fixed and expenditure on treatment provided must remain under the stipulated limit. The strength of the hospital staff is 98. It consists of 7 doctors, 35 nurses, 17 cleaning staff, 6 health workers and other staff.

According to Dr. Jana, aWe wish to treat patients using not only the Allopathic approach but also through Ayurveda and other therapies. We have yet to find the right person for alternative therapies. There will always be a demand for good doctors at Shaheed Hospital. We also need appropriate, low-cost techniques and medical procedures.a

Shaheed Hospital has stood for many ethical practices. For instance, there is general reluctance to use unnecessary drugs. The structure of the Hospital is not pyramidal / heirarchical, as is common in most hospitals, where one is in perpetual conflict for seniority. People here work as equals and respect each other. The hospital does not accept donations. On several occasions the hospital has refused funds from abroad. The hospital does not accept any charity. But if some kindred hospital wishes to gift them some equipment, they gladly accept it.

It has been a long and arduous journey and the Shaheed Hospital has many accomplishments to its credit. But there are also several challenges staring it in the face. Shaheed Hospitalas greatest friend and benefactor - Shankar Guha Niyogi is no more. On 28 September 1991, Niyogi was murdered in Bhilai. There had been a movement in which factory workers were demanding a survival wage and some basic facilities. But instead of acceding to the workersa demands the industrialists murdered their popular leader. After Niyogias death the workersa movement split and has been weakened. However, there is also some good news that an attempt is being made to reunite these splinter groups. The Shaheed Hospital is now registered as an independent trust. The hospital has a bright future. But in the absence of an active workersa movement and struggle the responsibility of fulfilling the hospitalas dream solely rests with the new generation.

Read the original story aaaaaaa aa aaaa aaa aaaa in Hindi
sacw.net - 4 April 2017

JOINT STATEMENT BY WOMENaS ACTIVISTS

Immediately disband Anti Romeo Squads in the State of UP

Close all FIRs and complaints against Advocate Prashant Bhushan

New Delhi,

4th April, 2017

"Anti-Romeo Squads" are policemen and women and vigilante groups, operating outside the purview of law, with the support of the Uttar Pradesh State, which threaten womenas freedoms. The serious issue of violence against women and routine sexual harassment of women in Uttar Pradesh cannot be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads. These "squads" impose their own aggressive and arbitrary code through moral policing. It has already come to light that in many cases, these anti-romeo squads have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men, which has even been acknowledged by the DG Police UP in his order of 22nd March and 25th March, 2017. However, the DGPs order of the 22nd March also opens up the doorway for moral policing as it talks of leaving alone couples in public spaces if their conduct is well within the traditional code. The term traditional code is ambiguous and not defined which once again allows police and public interference into the peopleas privacy and the excesses thereof.

We therefore strongly disapprove of the process of this form of policing, including its outsourcing to private actors in some cases, which again the DGP police and the Lucknow SSP have acknowledged, in their letters issued in this regard. We are clear that maintaining law and order is the primary function of the State and nothing can be done contrary to law, while addressing the issue of womens safety. The so-called Anti-Romeo Squads are being encouraged by a State which reneges on its own obligations to maintain law and order. When the right to personal liberty and privacy is compromised by these squads, the State must be held fully accountable for such violations, and must be made to restore the dignity of the citizens, who are targeted by these squads by adequately compensating them and acknowledging that their rights have been violated.

It is our understanding that the Allahabad High Court Judgement of 30th March, 2017, uncritically legtimises these squads on the basis of the guidelines presented by the DGP and also opens the doorway to bringing in vigilante groups by saying that ain our considered opinion, it is the duty of the every citizen as well as of the State to come to the aid of women keeping in view the provisions contained in Article - 51A (e)(j) of the Constitution of India which provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of the women. The action taken by the State Government can be a signal project informing the citizens of this State that the time has come when they also have to rise to the occasion to act in the aid of the Constitution by educating and informing their children to observe moral disciplinea .

This rather benign resolve can have over reach where citizenas groups may begin moral policing and form vigilante groups in the name of disciplining children. We would like this rectified by the court. The court instead could have asked the State Government to present a grievance redressal mechanism both for instances of sexual harassment of women and excesses committed by the apreventive mechanism called anti-romeo squadsa , it in this detail that the commitment of the State towards ending violence against women and not encroaching on peopleas privacy would have been established.

We would also like to bring to the notice of all that we are deeply disturbed and alarmed that a tweet by well-known Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, has led to vigilantes attacking his home and the police registering a FIR against him, under Sec. 153A and 295A IPC, in P.S. Hazaratganj, Lucknow.

As feminists, our viewpoint on the subject of the tweet is different from that of Advocate Prashant Bhushan. In our understanding, there is a sharp distinction between consensual friendship, flirtation and love between two adults, irrespective of differences of class, caste or religion in which nobody has the right to interfere and between sexual harassment, stalking and sexual assault of women, on the other. The FIR registered against Adv. Prashant Bhushan by Hazratganj Police is a clear case of abuse of power, as no such offence is made out on the basis of the tweet in question. This is yet another example of the prevailing high level of intolerance to opinion that is at variance from the majoritarian viewpoint.

We demand that the "anti-romeo squads" be immediately wound up by the U.P. State and womenas groups that have been engaged with issues of ending sexual harassment and violence against women for long periods of time, be consulted to develop mechanisms to end such violence.

We also demand that the FIRas and complaints against Advocate Prashant Bhushan be immediately closed. Curbs to freedom of speech is not just intolerance, but in violation of fundamental rights.

The free run being given to vigilante groups in U.P. raises serious concerns about the subversion of rule of law by them. There is urgent need to implement laws preventing violence against women more effectively.

The Allahabad High Court judgement be reviewed in the light of its misuse of initiating vigilante groups in the name of citizens disciplining their children.

A prompt grievance redressal mechanism responding effectively on instances of sexual harassment along with the responding to the excesses carried out by these squads be put in place.

We are:

Aruna Roy, President NFIW

Syeda Hameed, Muslim Womenas Forum

Indira Jaising, Lawyer and Human Rights Activist

Uma Chakravarti, Feminist Historian and Democratic Rights activist

Annie Raja, General Secretary, NFIW

Kavita Srivastava, Feminist activist and PUCL

Vrinda Grover, Advocate, Human Rights Activist

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA

Shabnam Hashmi, Convenor Anhad, Delhi

Monisha Behl, Convenor, North East Network

Arundhati Dhuru, National Alliance of Peopleas Movement

Kalyani Menon Sen, Feminist activist and Independent Researcher

Koninika Ray, Researcher and NFIW

Suneeta Dhar, Activist

Jyotsna Chatterjee, Director, Joint Womens Programme

Ranjana Ray, Member Secretary, Dr. AV Baliga Memorial Trust, and NFIW

Kamla Bhasin, Sangat

Gargi Chakravartty, NFIW

Noor Zaheer, IPTA and NFIW

Dipa Sinha, Convenor Right to Food Campaign

Anjali Bharadwaj, Convenor National Campaign For Peopleas Right to Information

Akhila Sivadas, Centre for Advocacy Studies, Delhi
Literary Hub, April 3, 2017

Indias Nationalist Assault on Intellectuals and Students: On Campus Activism Amid a Culture of Oppression by Basharat Peer

"On an August 2015 morning, two young men on a motorcycle stopped outside the home of Malleshappa Kalburgi, a 78-year-old literature scholar in the town of Dharwad in the southern state of Karnataka. One rider stayed on the bike while the other walked up to Kalburgias door and introduced himself as a former student. Kalburgi had been the vice-chancellor of Kannada University, and he was famous for his critique of superstition and conservative practices, which angered Hindu extremists. After a brief conversation, the astudenta fired at Kalburgi with a pistol, hitting him in the chest and forehead, and escaped on the waiting motorcycle.

The assassination of Kalburgi was the third murder of an Indian intellectual in two years. In February 2015, Govind Pansare, an 81-year-old Communist politician and writer, was entering his house after a morning walk with his wife in Kolhapur town in western state of Maharashtra. Two men on a motorbike, their faces covered with stoles, stopped on the street and repeatedly shot him with a pistol. He died in a hospital four days later. In August 2013, Narendra Dabholkar, a 67-year-old doctor and rationalist thinker, who like Kalburgi had campaigned against superstition and black magic for decades, was on his morning walk in Pune, a few hours from Pansareas home, when two men shot him point-blank and escaped on a motorbike. After Dhabolkaras murder, an anonymous letter had threatened Pansare. aYou will meet the fate of Dhabolkar,a it had said.

Uday Prakash, a 65-year-old writer who is one of Indiaas finest novelists, was in Anuppur, his village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh when he heard of Kalburgias killing. Prakash had recently arrived from a suburb of Delhi, where he spends half his time. The talk in Delhi about the nationas booming economy, Modias plans to turn India into a manufacturing hub, and building asmart citiesa all over the country, grated on him. A famine was raging through hundreds of villages.

Most villagers are subsistence farmers who depend on a single croparice. The harvest that year had failed. Prakash knew that desperate poverty first hand. He had left his village as a teenager after his parents died and worked as a construction worker, a farmhand, and an errand boy, all the while educating himself, eventually becoming a journalist and writer in Delhi. Years later, after he found literary success, he had returned home and began living there for a few months of the year. aAll around me people didnat have food to eat,a Prakash said. His village is near the border of the state of Chattisgarh, where a Maoist-led insurgency has been raging for several years. Prakash said that sympathy toward the poor gets a person branded as a aMaoist terrorist.a aI was living with a feeling that borders are being created everywhere in the country,a he told me. Since Modi came to power, Prakash had been feeling fearful, as if India had undergone a societal shift. Kalburgias murder was the third Indian intellectual in two years, and it rattled him. aIndia has always had riots, but the targeted killings of intellectuals and dissidents is a new thing,a he said.

He called a fellow writer to speak about the murder, and his friend had reached out to the academy of letters and found it hadnat even sent a message of condolences to Kalburgias family. aSahitya Academy Awards are supposedly given to a writer to honor him for outstanding work. It is an award I had received. One of us is killed and they donat even say a word,a Prakash recalled.

aFor a while now, writers, artists, thinkers, and intellectuals in our country have faced violent, insulting behavior,a Prakash posted on his Facebook page. aThis is not the time to stay silent, seal our lips, and hide in safety somewhere. If we choose that, it is going to get more dangerous. In protest against the murder of Mr. Kalburgi, with humility, and with great concern I return the Sahitya Academy Award granted to me in 2010-11 for my novel Mohandas. I am in my village at the moment. I will reach Delhi by September 6 or 7 and will return my award certificate and prize money.a

The Hindi language newspapers, which sell tens of millions of copies and mostly lean right, greeted his decision with mostly silence and some derision. The liberal English press interviewed him. A month passed. Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched to death in Bishara village outside Delhi. India had reached a tipping point.

Nayantara Sahgal, an 88-year-old novelist and essayist who had won the national academy award for her novel Rich Like Us in 1986, and whose uncle, Indiaas first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, had established the Sahitya Akademi in 1954, decided to follow Prakashas example and returned her Akademi prize. aThe Prime Minister remains silent about this reign of terror,a she wrote in a statement she titled aThe Unmaking of India.a aWe must assume he dares not alienate evildoers who support his ideology.a

A dam of reticence and fear broke. In a few weeks, five writers on the board of the Akademi resigned; 35 writers from across India returned their awards in protest against a growing climate of intolerance."

[...] .

SEE FULL TEXT AT: http://lithub.com/indias-nationalist-assault-on-intellectuals-and-students/
A judge ruled Thursday that two men charged in connection to the 2015 murder of Marilyn Joy Pharis will have two separate juries when they go 
You have permission to edit this collection.

Edit Close
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
A scientist who coauthored some of the most influential studies on air pollution says President Trump's recent executive order to thwart the Environmental Protection Agency's climate-change plan will ultimately cut short thousands of American lives.
You have permission to edit this html.

Edit Close
Russian Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev is calling the blast on a St. Petersburg metro an act of terror. Authorities also found and diffused second device at a separate metro station. CNN's Clarissa Ward reports.

As featured on Trump calls Putin following St. Petersburg attack US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone Monday, according to a statement from the White House.
Then and now: How glaciers around the world are melting
Horror fans of the southwest, it's that time of year again!

Texas Frightmare Weekend, the southwest's biggest horror convention is just around the corner, and this year they are bringing some awesome film screenings to the party. Every year has gotten bigger and bigger, with 2017 looking like it's going to be the biggest event yet. Not only are convention regulars like Malcolm McDowall, Udo Kier, Claudio Simonetti, Tom "Fright Night" Holland, and Keith David on the schedule, there are also some marquee guests making rare appearances like Dario Argento in his first visit, as well as Wilford Brimley, Frank Henenlotter, and wrestling legends Ric Flair and Sting!

The guests are great, but I'm more about the merch and the movies, and this year's film line-up is one of the best TFW has had in years. Check out the gallery below for more details on the amazing film line up this year straight from TFW's press release:

Follow this link for more information and ticket details. The event frequently sells out, so get your tickets quickly!
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Cloudy in the morning, then off and on rain showers during the afternoon hours. High 81F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
 Spotlighting new research and realities at the Collateral Consequences Resource Center | Main | "Criminal Employment Law" 

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this recent lengthy Los Angeles Times article headlined "Trying to speed up executions could deal 'mortal blow' to California Supreme Court." Here are excerpts:

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.

Proposition 66, sponsored by prosecutors and passed by 51% of voters, gave judicial leaders 1 years to make new legal rules and then five years to decide a crushing backlog of appeals. Prop. 66 would require the California Supreme Court to decide virtually nothing but death penalty appeals for at least the next five years  almost no civil cases at all and no criminal cases other than capital murder, said Jon Eisenberg, president of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Legal analysts and four bar associations say the measure would inundate all the courts with extra work but hit the top courts seven justices hardest. In a friend-of-the-court brief, 11 law professors and a nonprofit legal center contended Proposition 66 would grind the wheels of justice to a halt in California.

Death penalty advocates acknowledge the measure would mean extra work for the courts, but say that it is necessary to fix a system that has produced the largest death row in the country and no executions in more than a decade. They contend the workload will be tolerable, and that the courts will have some flexibility in meeting the deadlines.

The California Supreme Court is considering whether the measure can go into effect. Two opponents of the measure sued in November, contending it illegally usurped the powers of the judicial branch and violated a constitutional rule that says ballot measures must deal with one subject only. The California Supreme Court put the measure on hold until the justices resolve the case, probably within the next few months.

The appellate lawyers academy takes no position on the death penalty but opposed the initiative on the grounds that it would disrupt the courts and prevent litigants in civil matters from having their cases decided in a timely manner. It joined the bar associations of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and San Francisco in a January letter written to the state Supreme Court saying that Proposition 66 threatens to deal a mortal blow to Californias courts....

Given a backlog of more than 300 death penalty appeals already at the court, the justices would have to decide at least 66 of them each year for the next several years just to catch up, Eisenberg said. Calculations based on the courts typical annual production indicate the justices would be spending 90% of their time on capital cases, Eisenberg said. Civil case rulings would decline from about 50 a year to just a handful, he said. That leaves virtually no time for anything other than death penalty cases, Eisenberg said....

UC Berkeley's David A. Carrillo, director of a center that studies the California Constitution, described the initiative as a new unfunded mandate. "There is no way the courts can get through the existing backlog in five years with their current resources," Carrillo said.

Law enforcement groups have filed several friend-of-the-court briefs in favor of the initiative, arguing that voters have made their will clear. California voters have elected to retain the death penalty every time the issue has been placed before them, the leaders of several county prosecutor groups reminded the court in one brief.... Despite the abiding and long-standing will of the voters, death penalty opponents have used the legal process as a mechanism to frustrate imposition of the death penalty, the prosecutors argued in their brief.

Kent Scheidegger, who helped write Proposition 66, said the portrait of court chaos predicted by the bar associations and some analysts was overblown. Although the measure would require the California Supreme Court to move quickly to dispatch the backlog of capital appeals, the initiative would also shift initial responsibility for habeas challenges from the high court to trial judges, he noted. That provision, Scheidegger argued, would save the court time.

Rulings by Superior Court judges on those cases would likely be appealed to intermediate appellate courts and up to the state Supreme Court, but Scheidegger said the trial judges would do the heavy lifting. I know that all judges hate time limits, but I do think that moving the habeas cases is a reform that most of the justices probably would agree with, said Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which advocates for the death penalty.

Even if the Supreme Court were to strike down the measures deadlines, other requirements of the initiative would still speed up executions, he said. He cited a provision that would limit public review of the states lethal injection method. Legal challenges involving the method have kept the execution chamber empty since 2006. Eighteen inmates who have exhausted their appeals could be executed immediately once that part of the initiative took effect, he said.

Former El Dorado County Supervisor Ron Briggs and the late former Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, who filed the lawsuit, argued that the entire measure should be tossed because it violated the rule limiting initiatives to a single subject. In addition to setting new deadlines and easing approval of an execution protocol, Proposition 66 would require death-row inmates to work to pay compensation to victims families and bar medical associations from disciplining doctors who participate in executions. It also would place a state agency assigned to represent death row inmates under California Supreme Court control and permit the corrections department to distribute condemned inmates among the general prison population.
 Could Proposition 66 turn the California Supreme Court into a specialty death penalty appeals court? | Main | How many prior sentenced federal prisoners might now have "Dean claims" (assuming Dean is retroactive)? 

April 4, 2017

"Criminal Employment Law"

The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by Benjamin Levin available via SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This Article diagnoses a phenomenon, criminal employment law, which exists at the nexus of employment law and the criminal justice system. Courts and legislatures discourage employers from hiring workers with criminal records and encourage employers to discipline workers for non-work-related criminal misconduct. In analyzing this phenomenon, my goals are threefold: (1) to examine how criminal employment law works; (2) to hypothesize why criminal employment law has proliferated; and (3) to assess what is wrong with criminal employment law. This Article examines the ways in which the laws that govern the workplace create incentives for employers not to hire individuals with criminal records and to discharge employees based on non-workplace criminal misconduct. In this way, private employers effectively operate as a branch of the criminal justice system. But private employers act without constitutional or significant structural checks. Therefore, I argue that the criminal justice system has altered the nature of employment, while employment law doctrines have altered the nature of criminal punishment. Employment law scholars should be concerned about the role of criminal records in restricting entry into the formal labor market. And criminal law scholars should be concerned about how employment restrictions extend criminal punishment, shifting punitive authority and decision-making power to unaccountable private employers.

April 4, 2017 at 11:52 AM | Permalink

Comments

"And criminal law scholars should be concerned about how employment restrictions extend criminal punishment, shifting punitive authority and decision-making power to unaccountable private employers."

Hey, Harvard asshole, Benjamin Levin, "unaccountable private employers?"

How can you write an article about felon employment and not mention the tort bar, suing for negligent hiring, totally irrelevant to an employee truck crash?

Does he mention, that a person convicted of downloading child porn loses his electrician license from the state, and cannot work again? What about licensing boards violating state laws by pulling licenses not related to the convicted crime?

Lawyers are the stupidest group of people in our besieged country. They are stupider than Life Skills class students. Appoint a Life Skills class graduate to the Supreme Court, for an immediate upgrade in common sense in their decisions, and in the clarity of their writing. Among lawyers, Harvard affiliated lawyers are the stupidest of all. That is why I oppose the Gorsuch nomination, and propose holding out for the nomination of a graduate of a Life Skills class.

Dismissed.

Posted by: David Behar | Apr 4, 2017 12:55:12 PM

I demand that Harvard Law School hire convicted felons. They should work in the Accounts Receivable office, close to good looking, young female employees.

Put Amy Nostrand in charge of that program, especially hiring people who have been in prison for 10 years, for sex crimes. They have a low recidivism rate according the geniuses commenting on this blog.

http://evp.harvard.edu/central-administration-and-finance

Posted by: David Behar | Apr 4, 2017 1:05:44 PM

I did not read the article but there is nothing shocking here. NM just changed it state's workers compensations law so that if a worker is injured on the job, returns to work, and is later fired for violating workplace rules he become categorically ineligible for workers compensation in the future. It has been called the "good employee" rule with the idea that workers compensations is a program that is designed to help workers who the employer considers to be morally fit and not help workers who are "troublemakers".

So if it is OK for employers to hold a civil benefit over the heads of their workers to enforce compliance with the employer's whims, how is it in any way shocking that employers would want the same liberty with criminal violations?

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 4, 2017 1:25:35 PM

@Doug

A completely off-topic comment related to your blog administration. Given the realities off mass surveillance and given the fact that Trump recently signed into law a rollback of the Obama's administrations rules regarding ISP privacy I feel compelled to point out that your blog, hosted on Typepad, is one of the few remaining parts of the web that is not using encrypted connections i.e.,(HTTPS) by default. In the past, I have overlooked that privacy loss because I consider your blog a worthwhile resource. But I find myself with a new urgency recently on the privacy front to such an extent that I plan on making it a habit to not visit sites which are not HTTPS enabled. I, of course, recognize that I am only one visitor among many. But if I do disappear permanently I thought you should be aware of the reason.

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 4, 2017 1:35:32 PM

Daniel. Forget encryption.

Scroll down, all the way down, from this comment. On the left is StatCounter. It lists all IP addresses making visits here. With the one corresponding to your visit, I can find you where ever you are, even if not at home, and bring over donuts and coffee for a friendly discussion.

There is no privacy, no anonymity, no hiding, thanks to the incompetent, pro-tyranny, failed lawyer profession.

Posted by: David Behar | Apr 4, 2017 4:12:08 PM

Post a comment
Advertisements for a luxury housing development in the Bayview that celebrate the idea of the neighborhood becoming "the next Mission" have been pulled after they rankled Bayview residents like Supervisor Malia Cohen. In tweets and a Facebook post, Cohen questioned the comparison drawn by the ad campaign for the Waterbend Apartments at 5880 Third Street, one that she said seemed to encourage gentrification of non-white neighborhoods.

"'Grow With Us as Bayview Becomes The Next Mission'!? The Mission is ground-zero for aggressive tech #gentrification," Cohen wrote.

"Disrespectful" does not even begin to describe the asinine mistake that Waterbend Apartments made when they released this ad for new apartments in the Bayview to the public. I would politely advise Waterbend Apartments, and their ad consulting team, to take a step back and get a firm understanding of the word "columbusing." You are not "discovering" the Bayview and the culture has been here. #facts This is what people are talking about when we use words like "cultural incompetence." Your description of your planned housing, "urban living at its best," is cultural appropriation at its worst. And what on earth could you possibly mean by "Grow With Us as Bayview Becomes The Next Mission"?! The Mission is ground-zero for aggressive tech gentrification. Points for transparency on what you thought your plans were for our neighborhood. Dog-whistles and coded language are so 2016. #nonsense #youtriedit #dobetter #wearenotleaving

Incidentally, this ad campaign for Waterbend Apartments is not its first tin-eared attempt to attract renters. Last summer, Waterbend was marketing itself as "Big city living on an outer city dime," conspicuously avoiding any mention of the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood by name as it advertised its $3,130/month one bedrooms.

Hoodline talked to property manager Amanda Fraley about the 'next Mission" ads last November, and she had this to say: A lot of people have been pushed out of neighborhoods like the Mission... We are giving a chance to young professionals and business owners at risk of being priced out and want to stay in San Francisco. We currently have a very eclectic and creative crowd here... Its a mixture of suburbia and inner city."

After Supervisor Cohen met with Waterbend's regional manager, the ads were pulled entirely. Emily Heidt, a public relations representative from Waterbend, gave this statement to Hoodline: "We are thrilled to be a part of The Bayview neighborhood and its rich cultural diversity. We regret if we have offended members of the community with our recent advertising as certainly that would never be our intention. We chose to make a significant investment in Bayview because we believe that the community offers a fantastic quality of life for its residents."

Related: The Lower Haight Sees Gentrification Arrive Slowly, But Surely
"In the summer of 2017, you can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital," an AOL spokesperson tells Business Insider sounding truly ridiculous. And if, as that publication first reported, Verizon's idea is to do away with the Yahoo and AOL brands completely as part of Verizon's deal acquiring Yahoo, combining them into a single new company, that would certainly qualify as "disruptive."

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the news, which appeared to leak early, in the above tweet announcing the curious new name by which AOL-Yahoo will be known: Oath. Tronc, it seems, was already taken, and if you would like to make or read more jokes about this new name, Twitter is awash with them.

What will this new company do besides own a bunch of generic portal pages as well as Flickr, HuffPo and a whole lot of Tumblr porn? Who knows!

In January, an SEC filing revealed that the aspects of Yahoo not being sold to Verizon  a $36 billion stake in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, for example  would be renamed Altaba Inc. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer won't be working at Altaba, and sources tell Recode that she won't continue with Oath, either.

Marni Walden, the executive vice president and president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon's AOL, will preside over the merger with Yahoo. Verizon will get Yahoo's search, mail, content, and ad-tech business components, leaving news and perhaps other components to merge with AOL and form Oath. Business Insider writes that "It's unclear if the Yahoo name will live on for any part of the internet business that will be run by AOL" and expects a big advertising push behind Oath in the coming weeks. Everyone prepare yourselves.

Related: FBI Charges Russian Spies In Yahoo Hacks, May Have Been 'Spear Phishing' Attack


On Monday the California state Senate made good on its bluster in defiance of the Trump administration and passed SB54, a bill that would prohibit local police and sheriffs deputies throughout the state from enforcing federal immigration laws or turning undocumented people over to ICE. Despite the many conservative corners of the state that support the president's stance on immigration, as the Chronicle reports, the bill would force their hand in acting more like the liberal cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland in protecting illegal immigrants.

The bill was introduced in December by Senate President Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), who said at the time, "We will not stand by and let the federal government use our state and local agencies to separate mothers from their children." On Monday, de Leon said, "This is about making our communities safer, not less safe," referring to the argument often used in supporting sanctuary city policies that by adopting such a policy you make undocumented people more comfortable with reporting crimes and acting as witnesses when crimes occur, without fear of deportation.

This bill makes clear that California will not become an arm of ICE," said SF Senator Scott Wiener in a statement. That we will not allow our employees, our law enforcement from becoming de facto immigration officers... This bill is about people who are just trying to live their lives; people who are living in fear because of the political atmosphere."

If the bill passes the state Assembly, law enforcement agencies throughout California would be prohibited from asking people about their immigration status, or providing information about undocumented people to federal authorities.

President Trump has already threatened to use federal funds as a "weapon" against "out-of-control California" if this bill passes.

As the Sacramento Bee reports, the bill faced heavy opposition from law enforcement, and thus several amendments were added, including one that allows the Board of Parole Hearings or the Department of Corrections to notify ICE up to 60 days before the release of an undocumented immigrant who was in prison here for a violent felony conviction.

Violent and serious felony offenders can still be deported under the bill, but Republicans in the state Senate still were not happy with with the bill, and it passed on a party-line vote of 27-12.

"This bill is unsafe," said Senator Jeff Stone (R-Temecula), via the Sacramento Bee. "This bill is unlawful. This bill is designed to make California a sanctuary for certain dangerous criminals."

In a statement from the Senate floor, as the Chronicle reports, Senator Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) said, "Dont get caught up with I hate Trump fever. SB54 is the wrong direction."

Other Republican senators argued that the bill is a threat to innocent immigrants, like innocent "dreamers," the children of immigrants, who might get rounded up in school raids if ICE is forced to do all their own work.

SB54 would, however, ban immigration enforcement in state schools, health facilities and courthouses.

As the Bee reports, the bill initially was given urgency status, meaning it would have taken effect as soon as the governor signed it, but last week de Leon removed that status, meaning the bill would not take effect until January 1, 2018, if it passes the Assembly.

Previously: San Francisco Becomes First City To Sue Over Sanctuary City Order As California May Become Sanctuary State


A man arrested in a high-profile shooting of three innocent bystanders on a troubled San Francisco corner is free as a bird today, released from custody without any charges against him.

It was a homicide that shocked even the denizens of the violence-plagued intersection of Plymouth Avenue and Broad Street, where San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai says a turf battle has spurred several shootings in recent months, some of them fatal. The latest salvo appears to have taken place on March 29, when 65-year-old Lian Xiu Wu, a man walking home from the corner store, and a contractor for the SFMTA were shot 10:40 a.m.

Wu was dead by the time police arrived, and the men were rushed to the hospital for treatment. By the next day, the San Francisco Police Department had sent a press release announcing an arrest in the case (you can read it here), announcing that 20 minutes after the slaying, they had captured the alleged shooter:

San Francisco Police Department Investigators commenced an investigation that quickly led to the identity of a suspect. On March 29, 2017, at approximately 11:00 AM SFPD Narcotics officers located and detained 24 year-old Vallejo resident Jonathon Santos on the 300 block of Mansell Street in San Francisco. SFPD Homicide Investigators were notified. After the conclusion of an interview with Santos, he was charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder and booked into San Francisco County Jail.

Real life is rarely as simple as a press release, however, and Bay City News is now reporting that Santos "is no longer in custody." The Chron confirms that news, saying that "prosecutors have not filed charges" against Santos, who was "released pending further investigation." A call from SFist to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office for comment on the case was not returned as of publication time.

As of Tuesday morning, no additional arrests have been made in the case, making public help even more crucial. Police are therefore asking that "anyone with information on this case...contact the San Francisco Police anonymously at 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the start of the message." But even if you don't have any information on the case, you can still help: a Go Fund Me for funeral expenses for Wu, who "emigrated from China 16 years ago without her daughter" to work in the US continues to accept donations. It can be found here.

Related: Troubled SF Corner Site Of Triple Shooting, City's 15th Homicide Of 2017


San Francisco chef Dominique Crenn has had to endure a lot of sexism over the years, god bless her heart. A leader in the notoriously-female-unfriendly industry of putting food in an oven and taking it out again, even when she's written about positively, as she was in a recent New York Times profile, she's still confronted with crap like a quote from Chronicle critic Michael Bauer saying (I guess it's supposed to be a compliment?) "She cooks the way the men are cooking." But in recent days the Atelier Crenn founder has demonstrated that she's also ready to tackle fools the way men we all should tackle fools, by firmly correcting their errant ways.

First, there was her appearance Saturday as part of a four-chef panel for San Pellegrino's World's 50 Best Restaurants list at the Sydney Opera House. During the audience Q&A portion of the event, Crenn, the only woman on the panel, was asked by a male audience member if she regretted that she had missed out on what he "considered to be the very important role of being a mother to children." I'll let Australian reporter Jane de Graaff take if from here:

Silence. Then, a swelling ripple of uncomfortable gasps and muttering. Followed by Crenn sitting back and stating "well that's a loaded question," with a wide grin. It should be added that Crenn had already deliberately steered away from this line of questioning earlier in the talk, when Graham noted that he had previously lost female chefs because there is simply a certain 'time' when women step out of their cooking careers to have children, and that it is unavoidable. What Crenn had said at this juncture was basically 'thank you, yes we need to stop pretending that we are all the same, but I also think we need to change the conversation around this.' Now the question is legitimate, it was simply phrased poorly by a nervous speaker and as such came across as not only prying, but judgmental and sexist. It also disregarded Crenn's heroic statement that we need to change the way we think about this conundrum for women in any industry. But, faced with such a bald inquiry in a public forum, Crenn did not shy away, or get angry, or even claim her right to privacy on such matters. What she did instead was something that caused the audience -male and femaleto erupt into heartfelt applause. First she pointed out that everyone has to weigh up their personal life against their career. Everyoneno matter what their gendermakes choices and decisions every day when it comes to their career; "I hope you have to make them too". Next she asked the speaker if he even knew if she had children, or if he simply assumed that she did not because of where she was and what she was doinghighlighting just the kind of conversation that needs to be changed. She then revealed that she in fact has twin daughters, something that she has kept out of the sphere of common knowledge. It shouldn't shape how we see her as a chef. Finally, she finished with a most radiant example of just how we can begin to 'change the conversation', with this for her questioner; "If you have kids, I hope you stay home with them, so that your wife can go out and be a bad ass woman." The. Applause. Was. Deafening.

But Crenn wasn't done fighting the battle against medieval thought quite yet, as Eater SF notes that Monday, she took Vice to task for an article quoting Dutch chefs on the absence of boobs in the workplace. Gems from the article include one chef's remark that "Good female cooks often quit their work because the boyfriend, for example, finds it hard to be in second place; his girl is often away from home and that means he has to cook his own food," another's that "it's still more of a male thing to have the strength to work long hours, isn't it?" and third shining example of masculinity who said "I want more women in the kitchen. They don't necessarily all have to be beautiful, though that would be a bonus, of course."

I am sure there are other equally offensive quotes, but I started getting so pissed I had to close that tab. Crenn, however, has more fortitude than me, and went after the publication on Twitter:

@munchies Terrible article. Who are those people. Sad.. ignorant and uneducated.. I am disappointed with You Munchies !!!!  dominique crenn (@dominiquecrenn) April 3, 2017

As Jay wrote last month, "it sure would be nice if the success of a female chef weren't still treated, in 2017, as if it were cause for great surprise and wonder." But until the seemingly regressive food world catches up with the times, watching the Michelin-starred Crenn show those bozos what's what will continue to be a feminist delight.

Related: New York Times Profile Of Dominique Crenn Is Inherently Sexist, But Glowing
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
Ft. Collins, Colo.  April 4, 2017  New Belgium Brewing is pleased to announce a new beer to the Fat Tire trademark family with the launch of Fat Tire Belgian White Ale, a special release beer slated to hit shelves in August.

This light-bodied, unfiltered wheat beer, brewed with juicy Seville orange peel and freshly ground coriander, will provide the perfect balance of refreshment and drinkability with just a hint of sweetness.

Fat Tire Belgian White captures the spirit and flavor of a truly authentic Belgian White beer, said New Belgiums Belgian Brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert.

We are sourcing the Seville orange peel and coriander through Old Town Spice Shop locally here in Fort Collins, so the spices are freshly ground less than a mile from our brewery. This gives the beer a fuller, fresher flavor and aroma resulting in a very drinkable Belgian White beer with just the right amount of complexity, he said.

Seville oranges have a brighter, less cloying sweetness than Valencia oranges that are typically used in Belgian White beers. Fat Tire Belgian White will be available in 12oz. bottles and on draft starting August 1. It will also appear in can variety packs.

Style: White Wheat Ale

Flavor: Mild sweetness, minimal bitterness

Mouthfeel: Refreshing

Body: Light body

Yeast: American Wheat Ale Yeast

Hop Varieties: Nugget and Cascade Hops

Malt Varieties: Pale, White Wheat, and Oats

Fruits/Spices: Grains of Paradise, Fresh Ground Seville Orange Peel, Fresh Ground Indian Coriander

Color: Hazy Straw Hue with Creamy Head

Alcohol: 5.2% ABV

IBUs: 12

About New Belgium Brewing

New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Belgian Style Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazines Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journals Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blus most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews fourteen year-round beers; Citradelic Tangerine IPA, Citradelic Lime Ale, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, Voodoo Ranger 8 Hop Pale Ale, Dayblazer Easygoing Ale, Tartastic Lemon Ginger Ale, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Ale, Bohemian Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale, Trippel and a gluten-reduced line, Glutiny Pale Ale and Glutiny Golden Ale.
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.
VERMILLION, S.D. | Legacies of all kinds endure on college campuses everywhere.

Names of famous alums and generous donors adorn buildings. Statues honoring professors and leaders look out over the college grounds.

You might not find a legacy anywhere as unique as the Farber House at the University of South Dakota.

For years, professor William O. "Doc" Farber, the longtime chairman of the political science department, lived here, taking in students who needed a little extra attention. After Farber's retirement, he continued to host seminars, inviting students, alums and faculty into his living room to talk about public policy and other issues.

When Farber died in 2007, he willed the house to the political science department through the University of South Dakota Foundation, and it's become an extension of the department, a home to faculty offices, a place for students to study and do research and temporary quarters for visiting academics.

"He wanted the house to be used as fully as possible for the political science department," said Bill Richardson, the current political science department chairman. "He wanted students to get the most out of it. The fact that there are classes here would have thrilled him."

It's a fitting legacy for a man who dedicated his life to USD and its students. Farber came here in 1935, retired in 1976 and remained an emeritus professor for several years after. He bought the two-story house on Clark Street across from campus in the 1960s so he could be as close to campus as possible.

It also allowed Farber, who never married, to become closer to his students.

"He married the university," Richardson said. "This was his life. He didn't have cats, he didn't have dogs. He had students."

And he looked after them as if they were his own children, even giving them a room if they couldn't afford tuition or needed to focus on their education.

"The house has a magic way of influencing behavior. That's of course because of the person who lived there," said Dick Brown, who attended USD from 1962 to 1967, completing bachelor's and master's degrees in political science.

Farber invited Brown to live in the house after noticing he was too involved in other activities and needed to refocus on his studies. Brown lived there for 3 1/2 years.

"That home, it was a springboard. I don't think anyone ever left there without thinking, 'I better get my act together,'" said Brown, who lives in Custer, South Dakota, and is the development director of the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

Over the years, Farber invited more than a dozen students to live in his home. He invited dozens more in to talk, a list that includes some of USD's most well-known alums: former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw; the late Al Neuharth, the founder of USA Today and the Freedom Forum; and media personality Pat O'Brien.

Walk through the house now, and Farber's presence lives on in the many portraits and photos on the walls.

But it's the academic work being done here through which his legacy really lives.

In the basement, graduate and upper-level students attend seminar classes. It's also home to the Government Research Bureau, which Farber started in order to do public policy research and analysis. The house has offices for faculty and graduate students.

The former living room is used by visiting academics. This semester, it's been utilized by Yankton Police Lt. Michael Burgeson, an adjunct, who set up a homicide crime scene for students in his essentials of policing class to learn investigation techniques.

Burgeson has been able to keep the crime scene set up all semester so students can revisit it and correct mistakes they've made. If there were no Farber House, Burgeson would have had to set up the scene in a room on campus for one day, then take it down, limiting the time students could spend with it.

"It's worked fantastic for us," Burgeson said.

It's been a fantastic addition to the political science department. An endowment fund pays taxes and upkeep on the house, so there's no expense to the university.

When he visits Vermillion, Brown makes sure to stop at Farber House. Stepping through the door brings back many college experiences.

"It's a warm uplifting feeling of great memories," Brown said.

Possibly the best legacy anyone can leave to a university.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY  The placement of a security light lit off a still-unresolved months-long feud between two South Sioux City neighbors Monday.

Jack and Ranee Ehrich built a new home at 304 Kerri Lane and moved into the property in October. Their backyard partially connects with the backyard of Mike and Claudia Horner, who live at 313 Regency Court.

The Horners have a security light on the backside of their home for security purposes and to let their dog out at night; however, the light shines directly into multiple windows on the backside of the Ehrichs home.

Since October, both couples have gone back-and-forth with each other directly and indirectly about the light. The Horners have been visited by officers from the South Sioux City Police Department and were issued a nuisance warning by the city of South Sioux City in February.

After receiving the nuisance letter, the Horners swapped out their spotlight for a floodlight system, but the improvement apparently made matters worse, according to evidence shown at a city health board meeting over the issue Monday.

The Horners allege that Jack Ehrich, who joined the South Sioux City Council in January, has used his position with the city to apply pressure on them to remove their light, an allegation he has denied.

Additionally, the Horners said they felt threatened by Ehrich after he verbally assaulted them in late February  Ehrich admitted to using language he wasnt proud of during the altercation  and attempted to file a protective order against the city official on behalf of their teenage son.

The situation has become so tense that neither party were willing to sit down with the other and attorney Jason Bring of the Heidman Law Firm, who was representing the city of South Sioux City in the matter, Monday to discuss an amicable solution that wouldn't require the health board to take action.

After nearly two hours of discussion and the failure of a proposed resolution where the city would pay to alter the light, the health board upheld the city's decision to declare the Horners' light a nuisance and gave them until April 10 to work with the city's building and inspections department to come up with a solution for the light fixture that both neighbors can agree to.

Furthermore, until the light has been changed, the Horners can only turn the light on for 15 minutes each day to allow their dog to roam around in the backyard or they risk being cited by the city.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man who was stabbed after breaking into a home was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison.

Jamal Randolph, 36, was found guilty in Woodbury County District Court in February of first-degree burglary and two counts of serious assault and a single count of domestic abuse assault in a separate case. He was found not guilty of second-degree criminal mischief.

Randolph had waived his right to a jury trial and had his case tried before District Judge Patrick Tott.

On Tuesday, Tott sentenced Randolph to 25 years in the burglary case, then revoked Randolph's probation from a previous perjury conviction and ordered him to serve the five-year prison sentence on that charge.

Randolph forced his way into an apartment at 2728 S. Helen St. on Aug. 23 and assaulted residents inside. One of the assault victims stabbed Randolph in self-defense, police said.

Randolph, who was unarmed, suffered a non-life-threatening wound.
LYONS, Neb. | A man who was shot by his brother in a Lyons home March 26 has died from his wounds.

Lyons Police Chief Jim Buck said Charles Hayes, 53, of Okinawa, Japan, died Saturday.

Buck said Hayes was shot four times by his brother, Kevin Hayes, 49, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when police responded to the report of a shooting at 665 State St.

Buck said Kevin and Charles Hayes' mother was the only other person in the home at the time of the shooting, but she was not injured.

Buck said police are wrapping up the investigation, and no charges have been filed.

"It's a murder/suicide," he said.
MOVILLE, Iowa | A Northwest Iowa school was on precautionary lockdown for a brief time Tuesday while authorities searched for a possible burglary suspect.

Woodbury Central in Moville was locked down from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Woodbury County Sheriff Capt. Tony Wingert said authorities notified school administrators that a burglary had occurred recently at a business in nearby Anthon. Deputies were looking for a Woodbury Central student who was possibly a suspect, Wingert said.

Woodbury Central superintendent Doug Glackin said that after he was notified of the situation, administrators decided to go on lockdown as a precaution. Students were allowed to move within the school, but could not leave the building.

Wingert said the student was not at school Tuesday. Authorities located him and determined he was not involved in the burglary.

No threats had been made to the school or any students, Wingert said, but the sheriff's office routinely notifies schools of criminal activities, such as burglaries, in their communities.

"If something goes on, we let the schools know, and they decide how to react," Wingert said.

Wingert said the elementary/middle school building in Anthon, which is part of the Maple Valley-Anthon Oto school district, also was notified of the burglary. There was no lockdown at that school, Maple Valley-Anthon Oto superintendent Steve Oberg said.
IRETON, Iowa | The Siouxland Home Show can be hailed for an old residence receiving new life -- and touching four lives -- just west of downtown Ireton.

So says Sioux County Director of Siouxland Habitat for Humanity Kurt Franje, who recalled manning the booth for his organization at the 2015 Siouxland Home Show at the Sioux City Convention Center.

"I was in our booth and a guy from the Boyden-Hull School District came up and asked, 'Do you take donated houses?'" Franje said.

The man was part of a family who planned to build a new home on their farmstead near Boyden, Iowa. They hadn't yet begun the building process. The man simply wanted to know what they might do with the old three-bedroom, two-story structure.

Two weeks later, Franje learned of a family who had a vacant lot in Ireton. The family, which also had adjacent property, wanted to sell the lot at a very reasonable price.

"In the fall of 2015, the homeowner from Boyden asked me again if our organization might be serious in taking their home for the Sioux County Siouxland Habitat for Humanity," Franje said.

Franje had another call to make: To Orville Vant Hul, president of Berghorst & Son, Inc., a house-moving firm from Hull, Iowa. Vant Hul told Franje the lot in Ireton would work for the rural residence near Boyden. It seemed a match was being made for the first Siouxland Habitat for Humanity home in Ireton.

Now, all that was needed was a future homeowner who met the qualifications and would commit to 350 hours of work in renovating the residence once it was put in place.

Enter Brandi Adams, a mother of three, who works two jobs and lives with her mother in Ireton. Adams learned of the program and applied through Habitat for Humanity. She was selected for the home and is currently in the midst of her 350-hour commitment. She and Franje spent a recent March day siding the home.

"It's very exciting as we get closer to completion," said Adams, the mother of three children, ages 16, 13 and 9. "It's a blessing for our family."

With Habitat's Home Ownership Program, the organization can sell the home to Adams through an affordable, no-interest mortgage. Adams will then make mortgage payments back to Habit, which enables the group to continue to build more homes and assist more families.

Franje lauded the efforts of several Siouxland and Sioux County contractors who have helped the project along through a mix of donated or discounted labor and materials. Several volunteers have also pitched in, including Adams' oldest child, son Dylan Adams, who just turned 16.

"You have to be 16 in order to be able to help," Franje said.

The organization in Sioux County, he remarked, has built or renovated three homes in Sioux Center, two homes in Rock Valley and one apiece in Alton, Orange City, and, now, Ireton. He said the plan is to have the home ready for the Adams family by the end of April.

The home features three bedrooms upstairs, along with a full kitchen, dining and living room area. There are two bathrooms upstairs as well, both of which have been gutted and will be made anew.

Brandi Adams said her plan is to someday in the near future add egress windows to the basement, thus allowing her to open up the lower level for a bedroom. The basement, at this point, remains unfinished.

The home, which has 1,636 square feet of living space, was moved in mid-August, two weeks after the hole was dug and the basement poured. Adams laughed and said people in Ireton told her that her house was "on its way to Ireton" before she could see it.

"We are grateful for all the work that has been done and for the contractors who are so generous," Franje said, adding that a fourth Sioux Center home under the Sioux County Siouxland Habitat for Humanity umbrella is awaiting a qualifying resident or family. The home, which was moved into place in December, is up on beams, awaiting its basement to be dug.

Adams listened as Franje described that project and then continued to hammer pieces of siding into place. "This is the first time in my life I've put up siding," she said. "All of this has been a great learning experience."

Later this spring, the project should become a great living experience for her family.

"It was God's timing," Franje said.

Timing that began in 2015 at the Siouxland Home Show.
Assured Guaranty Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Insurance and Asset Management. It offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments. The company insures and reinsures various debt obligations, including bonds issued by the United States state governmental authorities; and notes issued to finance infrastructure projects. It also insures and reinsures various the U.S. public finance obligations, such as general obligation, tax-backed, municipal utility, transportation, healthcare, higher education, infrastructure, housing revenue, investor-owned utility, renewable energy, and other public finance bonds. Further, it is involved in insuring and reinsuring of non-U.S. public finance obligations comprising regulated utilities, infrastructure finance, sovereign and sub-sovereign, renewable energy bonds, pooled infrastructure, and other public finance obligations; and the U.S. and non-U.S. Structured finance obligations, including residential mortgage-backed securities, life insurance transactions, consumer receivables securities, pooled corporate obligations, financial products, and other structured finance securities. Additionally, the company offers specialty insurance and reinsurance that include life and aircraft residual value insurance transactions; and asset management services comprising investment advisory services, including management of collateralized loan obligations, and opportunity and liquid strategy funds. It markets its financial guaranty insurance directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance and structured finance securities, as well as to investors in such obligations. Assured Guaranty Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Bancolombia S.A. provides banking products and services in Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other. It offers checking and savings accounts, fixed term deposits, and investment products; trade financing, loans funded by domestic development banks, working capital loans, credit cards, personal and vehicle loans, payroll loans, and overdrafts; financial support to real estate developers and mortgages for individuals and companies; factoring; and financial and operating leasing services. The company also provides hedging instruments, including futures, forwards, options, and swaps; and brokerage, investment advisory, and private banking services, including selling and distributing equities, futures, foreign currencies, fixed income securities, mutual funds, and structured products. In addition, it offers cash management services; foreign currency transaction services; life, auto, commercial, and homeowner's insurance products; and online and computer banking services. Further, the company provides project and acquisition finance, debt and equity capital markets, principal investments, M&A, hedging strategies, restructurings, and structured financing; money market accounts, mutual and pension funds, private equity funds, payment and corporate trust, and custody; internet-based trading platform; inter-bank lending and repurchase agreements; managing escrow accounts, and investment and real estate funds; and transportation, securities brokerage, maintenance and remodeling, and outsourcing services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,015 branches; 28,676 banking correspondents; 529 PAMs; 210 kiosks in El Salvador and 187 in Colombia; and 6,094 ATMs. Bancolombia S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Medellin, Colombia.
KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides used vehicle auctions and related vehicle remarketing services for the automotive industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments, ADESA Auctions and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. It also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, vehicle research, and analytical services, as well as data as a service. This segment sells its products and services through vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies, and others. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a network of approximately 70 vehicle logistics center locations in North America. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing to independent used vehicle dealers; and sells vehicle service contracts. The company provides wheel repair and hail catastrophe response services. It serves vehicle manufacturers, vehicle rental companies, financial institutions, commercial fleets and fleet management companies, and dealer customers. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.
War/Peace  April 4, 2017  Rania Khalek

When journalist Rania Khaleks lecture was cancelled on February 27, the group that invited her, Students for Justice in Palestine  University of North Carolina (SJP-UNC) issued a statement saying that the cancellation was because of Ranias views on Syria, and that they believed her invitation would mistakenly imply SJP to hold such views. They also added that they do not endorse nor reject her views on the Syrian civil war as they remain relatively unclear according to our members diverse opinions of Ranias analyses. In response to the cancellation, a large number of signers, many of whom have been involved with Palestine solidarity, signed a statement against Ranias blacklisting but also against blacklisting in general. That statement concluded: The signers of this statement hold a range of views on Syria. Some agree with Khalek; others disagree  in some cases quite vehemently. But we feel that when a group seeking justice in Palestine subjects speakers or members to a political litmus test related to their views on Syria, it inevitably leads to splits, silencing, confusion, and a serious erosion of trust. It runs contrary to the possibility of people learning from one another, changing their minds, and educating one another through their activism. Disagreements about political issues exist inside every movement coalition. They must not be made fodder for targeted vilification of activists in the movement. The statement against blacklisting triggered another wave of slanders, as many of the same people who had pressured the SJP to cancel her talk approached signers to argue that they should not have signed. Among their arguments was that there is and should be a political litmus test, one that Rania fails. As an initial signer myself, I was approached more than once by friends who suggested that I didnt really know Ranias views. The people that have written about Rania publicly range from truly creepy stalkers to left academics who fired off a quick set of libels and then expressed dismay at the responses to them. But other than people talking about her, it is in fact rather difficult to find any sources for these views of hers that apparently disqualify her to speak or publish on any topic. Out of concern that maybe I didnt really know them, I sought Rania out to ask her about these much-maligned but rarely aired views. Justin Podur is a Toronto-based writer who blogs at podur.org.

Justin Podur (JP): Are you an Assadist?

Rania Khalek (RK): I am not a fan of the Syrian government. Im not out here to support the Syrian government.

What I oppose is the dismantling of the Syrian state which is what several powers have done in the past six years. I oppose that because weve seen what it looks like in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and I dont want to see that happen to Syria.

I also oppose the current alternative to the Syrian government which is a patchwork of Salafi Jihadist groups that want to impose strict religious law, kill minorities, and stone women for adultery. Thats unacceptable to me, and to many people including my relatives who live in Syria who happen to be minorities.

JP: So, this is your first view. Based on your understanding of what happened after the removal of Gaddafi in Libya, Saddam in Iraq, and other countries, you oppose the destruction of the state, and based on your understanding of groups like Nusra and ISIS, you do not support the opposition to the Syrian government. The people who call you Assadist for this should also call people who opposed the war in Iraq Saddam-ist, the people who opposed the war in Libya Gaddafi-ist, etc.

RK: Exactly. And I think it is an unfair portrayal and an inaccurate binary because if you dont support these Islamist rebel groups that have ultraconservative ambitions, that supposedly makes you a supporter of a dictator and thats not fair.

I would love to see a democratic Syria. I would love to see a Syria where parties other than the Baath could flourish and run in elections. The fact now is that theres a right-wing, far-right insurgency funded by some of the biggest powers in the world trying to destroy the country. Under current conditions its impossible for people to demand and get reforms.

JP: Ah. Here too there is a genuine difference of opinion with supporters of the Syrian revolution who argue the opposite: that as long as Assad is in place, you cant have reform.

RK: Right, but that should be a debatable point for political discussion. Why cant we debate it?

JP: I agree. Your contention that reform is impossible while this rebellion continues and the contention that reform is impossible while the regime is in power are different assessments of the situation that it should be possible to discuss within the movement. My next question: Did you attend an Assad-sponsored public relations (PR) conference in Damascus?

RK: I was able to travel to Syria, was able to get my visa approval to Syria, by agreeing to attend a 2-day conference in Damascus hosted by a pro-government British NGO. I went there along with several prominent journalists from every mainstream outlet in the West: New York Times , Washington Post , NPR, BBC, LA Times , Telegraph , The Times (UK).

JP: I recently watched a PBS documentary from a few years ago, titled Inside Assads Syria . That journalist was on a regime-guided tour.

RK: Thats the only way to get into the government-controlled areas of Syria. Its a police state. They only allow you to see certain things. You should have that in mind and keep that clear.

JP: It is often the case that if youre a journalist reporting on any kind of conflict, the only way to get in is to go with one side or the other. It is one of the reasons it is so hard to get good information about conflicts and something Patrick Cockburn wrote about last year.

RK: All of these journalists agreed to go to this conference so they could go to the government areas, where the majority of people still remaining in the country live. If you want to talk to these people, you have to get a visa, which means you have to get the agreement of the government. Each individual paid their own way, stay, transportation. I wasnt funded by the regime. I paid my own way. I didnt even end up going to the conference. I decided not to go when I discovered that my name was included on the program even though I didnt agree to speak (along with several others who hadnt agreed to speak).

Mainstream journalists spoke at this conference, on more than one panel. None of them were smeared the way I was. It was a campaign to get me fired and it worked. Because of this smear against me, there has been a soft boycott of any of my reporting, which is the point.

Anybody who repeats that I spoke at an Assad-sponsored PR conference in Syria, may be misled or malicious, but either way they are participating in a process that tries to ensure none of my reporting gets any airtime.

JP: So, on this point: like every mainstream journalist working on Syria,

and alongside many of them, you traveled to government-controlled areas and attended government events with government permission.

My next question: Reuters, Al-Jazeera, and other outlets reported in December 2016 that rebels had poisoned the Damascus water supply. I remember you tweeted about it. And in March, a UN report looking at satellite photos and asking people there, said that it was the government bombing its own water supply. According to the New York Times in March 2017 investigators said video of the bombings, witness testimony and satellite imagery showed the water supply system had been damaged in at least two airstrikes using high-explosive bombs, and that the idea that the water facilities were damaged from the ground was inconsistent with observable physical evidence. What do you make of this?

RK: The rebels we were talking about in Wadi Barada were al-Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria  they have changed their name again since but they are al-Qaeda). Wadi Barada is where the water supply for Damascus comes from. My own sources on the ground said that al-Qaeda affiliated rebels put diesel in the water. There was a water shortage, bad for everybody in Damascus including friends of mine who live there. The valley where this water is, was destroyed in some bombing. Both sides blamed each other, although there were pictures of rebels standing on top of the destroyed water infrastructure. You have claims from both sides and in this case it doesnt make sense to me that the government would bomb its own water supply.

JP: Damascus is the capital, a government-held area. This one seems to me to be debatable as well. The government has been brutal toward rebel-held areas, but it is hard to identify what the logic might be for the government to destroy its own water supply, and easy to identify why the rebels would want to do it.

RK: The rebels have done this before, in Aleppo; ISIS has done it when they controlled the Euphrates.

I have no problem believing that the government of Syria has done bad things. They have. In this case, sources that I trust, that arent in the government, are telling me that this report is inaccurate. Theres no way I or my detractors can prove it one way or the other.

JP: So, in your opinion, this is an open and factual question that is difficult to resolve. Like many others, you reported that the rebels damaged the water supply and you continue to believe that it was the rebels. This, too, seems like an area in which people could disagree in their assessments of the evidence and the logic. Now I have a question that reasonable people cannot disagree on  claims about you that I believe are false and want to check. One academic said that you defend Syrian bombing of heavily populated civilian areas. Do you?

RK: I have never done this. Not once. Ever. That is all.

JP: Doing so would make you some kind of monster. It would be an ugly thing to do, like when Hussam Ayloush from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of your detractors, tweeted that he was sad that a Russian military plane crash killed just 92 people when the plane could have fit 180. He later apologized, but it is hard not to note that his first instinct was to celebrate deaths and wish for more of them.

RK: I dont support the violence dished out by the Syrian government. I have never done that. I never would. Ive never even cheered on Syrian government violence against al-Qaeda. Civilians? I would never ever in a million years support violence against civilians and I never have.

JP: The same professor who said you did, also said you attack reputable human rights organizations that document such war crimes. Not sure what he means by attack, but what is your response to this one?

RK: I find it really surprising that so many people want to accept any narrative they are given from any organization  and its usually the same people who are constantly questioning these organizations on other issues, especially related to Palestine. On Palestine we know everything is so biased. On Syria we are supposed to accept every claim from the same outlets and organizations. We should always be challenging these things especially when our government is involved. Im not denying atrocities have taken place. I feel its necessary to challenge human rights organizations when they are reporting claims made without evidence.

JP: So, to summarize, if you have a view about this, it is that one should challenge human rights organizations when they are reporting claims made without evidence.

RK: These organizations have a history of playing fast and loose with the facts when the countries accused are on the wrong side of U.S. foreign policy. There are human rights organizations that receive funding from USAID. It is crucial that we question claims that theyre making.

JP: So you are saying: when you receive a claim of an atrocity, regardless of source, look at evidence.

RK: Yes, look at evidence. Dont take claims by rebel groups at face value when there arent independent human rights organizations on the ground. The Syrian government lies a lot. I dont think you should accept their claims without evidence as well. In Gaza you had independent human rights investigators and journalists. You dont have that in Syria, really on either side. Anything coming out on Syria from either side should be looked at with a great deal of scepticism.

JP: So, if the professor had rephrased attack reputable human rights organizations to challenge claims that come without evidence, even from reputable human rights organizations, he would be on solid ground.

The last thing this professor added was that you apparently insist that the Syrian resistance consists of only foreign-backed Islamist terrorists. I guess he is upset because to people who favour the opposition, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are not foreign-backed

Islamist terrorists. Do you insist that they are? Even if you did, I think that too is an assessment that could be debated, but please tell me your view.

RK: I dont use the word terrorist, so I wouldnt accept that statement about me. As for what I think about the FSA: It was a loose collection of fighting factions. There may have been some moderate ones at the beginning, but that did not last, and what matters is what its become, which is basically absorbed into the other, Islamist armed groups. FSA has worked alongside Nusra. They have a similar goal, which is some sort of state with Islamist elements. That doesnt mean everyone who fought with FSA were trying to impose an Islamic state. But the strongest fighters were Islamist and sectarian and it is that strain that prospered. At this point in 2017 no one can name a fighting group trying to overthrow the government that isnt completely Sunni. The armed opposition never got majority popular support because it was sectarian and eventually entirely Sunni, it was fighting for Islamist aims and to impose an Islamic state. The vast majority of people in Syria oppose that, even people who dont support the government. They fear the rebels more than they fear the government. I am talking about the facts here, not my views. In 2017, is there a fighting force in Syria trying to overthrow the government that isnt sectarian and Islamist? I dont see one.

JP: What about the idea that there are local councils flourishing in rebel areas?

RK: The local councils quickly lost control in rebel areas. There is still local control in areas that have come up with reconciliation agreements. There will probably be more local control going forward and thats a good thing. The local councils in rebel areas were sold by people who wanted intervention.

What I see in Syria is very different. People who supported the opposition are now in reconciliation processes and there are mediation NGOs. The local councils that are in charge in those reconciliation-agreement areas didnt have a chance to work in armed opposition areas. The opposition armed by Saudi, Qatar, Turkey, USA, and have zero interest in actual democracy, progressives, or liberal feminists in the region. Those people never had a chance.

JP: So, here we have two factual or perhaps analytical questions: 1. What is the extent of non-Islamist armed opposition? 2. To what extent was unarmed opposition able to flourish in rebel-held areas? According to your analysis, the answer to both questions is virtually none. But these, too, seem to me to be questions about how one assesses evidence about the war, not about whether you hold some sort of discriminatory views.

RK: Look, I am a minority Arab woman with relatives in both Syria and Lebanon. The opposition groups that werent al-Qaeda, they often worked alongside it. They have killed people like me based solely on

their identity. This isnt about supporting dictatorship. Its about survival for many people in the region. For people who dont want to live under a Saudi-Arabia style system. Thats what is happening here. A lot of people who are doing this to me are coming from a really sectarian place. Im being attacked by the most conservative elements from my community. Its been really stunning to see so many people buy into their side of the story and completely brush me aside without considering that  hey, maybe people like Rania, Im not speaking on behalf of people but I am speaking about an opinion that is from the region  theres a reason why someone like me wouldnt want to live under these people.

JP: Your February disinvitation came after some tweets about Wahhabism and Salafism. You wrote that Yes, being Salafi or Wahhabi doesnt mean youre violent, but it definitely

means youre an extreme bigot and misogynist. I noticed a very quick and extraordinary reaction to that tweet. One of the first reactions that I saw was someone who told you to Stop talking about Palestine if you believed this. I have seen that reaction many times. I found it a very interesting reaction  stop talking about Palestine. Why is that the first reaction? Heres a topic that is basically taboo in the West, something that one cant talk about without potentially severe consequences, and when you say something these people dont like, they tell you to stop talking about Palestine as if every other part of society isnt already telling you to shut up about Palestine.

RK: It is really striking the way that Palestine solidarity, outlets, and activists have been attacked from the beginning by the people who support intervention in Syria. They are going out of their way to silence Palestine activism.

Even in the region now, Palestine is the last thing on peoples minds. Theres also an attempt to equate Syria with Palestine. The tactic of

saying, if you support resistance in Palestine but not the Syrian opposition, youre a hypocrite and you have no right to talk about Palestine. But they are different. Palestine is being occupied and colonized. You dont have to like the Syrian Army to recognize that

it is from that country, fighting an insurgency that has foreign elements in it. You cant just support any resistance. It matters what youre fighting for. If you are fighting colonialism, I can support that. If you are fighting to impose an Islamic State, I cant support that.

Theres no consensus among Palestinians about Syria. Many Palestinians live in Syria. There are Palestinians that support the opposition, Palestinians who have tried to remain neutral, and Palestinians that are fighting with the regime. It isnt an easy situation. There is no consensus among Arabs or Palestinians. Its disengenous to use the issue of Palestine to sell your position on Syria.

JP: I have been struck by how focused it all is on preventing people from speaking. But back to that tweet. I can understand how that might incense someone who identifies themselves as Salafi or Wahhabi, being called an extreme bigot and misogynist, and would lead to them countering by calling you an Islamophobe. How would you respond to that accusation?

RK: I made a statement about this on Facebook. It isnt Islamophobic to criticize Salafism and Wahhabism, far-right ideologies that promote genocide against minorities and whose belief systems are at the inspirational root of what drives al-Qaeda and ISIS and groups

like them. Its shocking to me to see people trying to suppress criticism of ultra-conservative ideologies by invoking Islamophobia.

Islamophobia is a serious issue in the country and should not be thrown around lightly. It is analogous to people who criticize Zionism as anti-Semitism. People have said that I am not Muslim so I cant criticize. But these ideologies address me directly  they say Im killable and nonhuman. So, as a minority from the region I have every right to talk about them.

The U.S. is very supportive of these ideologies and has used them against Arab nationalists and communists. People on the left shouldnt be defending these ideologies. Its very insulting to equate all Muslims with Wahhabists and Salafists. Shia mosques are getting blown up all over the world because of these things. We have to talk about them.

JP: The academic mentioned above who accuses you of whitewashing government crimes points to a story you did about how sanctions are damaging Syrias economy. Im not sure how the latter leads to the former. But maybe you can elaborate.

RK: I dont deny the Syrian government is killing people. Ive seen the results of their bombings. They bomb everything. Its an overwhelming indiscriminate level of violence against opposition areas. And the opposition has killed tens of thousands of government soldiers. This is a two-sided war. I have been saying this is a two-sided war.

But the charts saying the government is responsible for 95 per cent of all the killings shouldnt be believed. If the government has killed 95 per cent of the civilians, then the side of the war that has al-Qaeda in it has killed only government forces and is the noblest fighting force in history. I dont whitewash the governments atrocities. I have said something thats obvious  there are two sides fighting and two sides killing civilians.

JP: Al-Qaeda is famous for anti-civilian operations. But lets continue about the sanctions.

RK: I wrote a report that said that sanctions are destructive to civilians. I am not ashamed for reporting on that. People have tried to distort my reporting on sanctions by saying it whitewashes government atrocities. The sanctions have destroyed Syrias economy

and made it really difficult to get humanitarian aid in one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes. The U.S. has flooded Syria with weapons and money for armed groups while sanctioning humanitarian aid to people caught in the crossfire. Thats something that should be opposed. Stephen Zunes wrote about the sanctions against Iraq and how awful they were. Hes saying I whitewash the regime for having the same position on the Syria sanctions, which have by the way denied cancer meds to children in Syria. The hypocrisy is cartoonish. People who opposed sanctions on Iraq are attacking me for having the same position.

JP: It is really bizarre because if opposing the sanctions on Syria makes you an Assad apologist, opposing the sanctions on Iraq must make you a Saddam apologist, and Saddam is not someone these people would want to be associated with any more than Assad.

RK: I think the difference is this: The U.S. invaded Iraq with tens of thousands of American soldiers. Syria has been a proxy war where the U.S. outsourced to Salafi jihadist groups. So people dont see it as a war on Syria.

JP: To conclude, I see four things here:

1) a set of assessments about you have specific issues like the Damascus water supply, the extent of non-Islamist armed groups and popular support for the opposition, and the impact of the sanctions;

2) a set of political views you hold that are fairly common among leftists including strong support for secularism, opposition to Wahhabi and Salafi ideologies, and scepticism of even mainstream human rights organizations when they present claims that go beyond the evidence they present;

3) a set of statements about you that are false (e.g. that you defend attacks against civilians, went on an Assad-sponsored PR tour, etc.).

4) mixing all these together to talk about your views as if you hold discriminatory views about defined groups of people.

But you dont. You are a leftist supporter of equal rights for all and a holder of unequivocal anti-discrimination views. Nobody should be doing #3 and #4, and if people have issues with #1 and #2, we should be debating those on the merits. 
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.
Patricia Ann Seaquist, 66, of Waldorf, MD passed away at home on April 1, 2017. Patricia was born in Tacoma, Washington on January 20, 1951 into the military family of the late Navy Corpsman John D. Erpenbach and Maureen McGowan. She spent her youth traversing the country from east to west, according to her father's assignments. Patricia is survived by her husband of 43 years, Rodger Seaquist, daughter Hannah Seaquist, sister Catherine Dick (Steven), brother Brian Erpenbach, and many family and friends.



While working for the Department of Agriculture, Patricia met her future husband, Rodger, in 1970 at a community pool in Landover, MD. They married three years later. Their daughter, Hannah, was born to them almost 20 years later, bringing a new joy and purpose into an already loving home. Patricia joined the Federal Express Corporation in its earliest years, becoming the first female courier in the Washington, DC area. She worked for FedEx for over 30 years while making time to be present for playground duty and Girl Scout meetings at St. Mary's of Piscataway, where her daughter went to school. Patricia was also active in many Parish activities and especially enjoyed singing in the choir for many years.



Patricia loved to travel to new and beautiful places with family and friends. Trips she especially enjoyed were to Sedona, Arizona, Yosemite, San Francisco, local beaches, and, always, to visit her sister in Florida. After retiring in 2015, Patricia gave free reign to her artistic and creative spirit, taking her jewelry-making hobby in new directions and taking lessons in watercolor painting. She leaves behind a number of creative works and paintings through which those who knew and loved her can continue to see the world through her eyes. Arrangements by Lee Funeral Home.


LEONARDTOWN, Md. (April 04, 2017)One wanted individual has died and another was injured following a crash that occurred in St. Mary's County early this morning after they refused to stop for a trooper.



The deceased is identified as Tabais L. Robinson, 24, and the injured man is Andre T. Gross, 23, both of whom are from Calvert County. Robinson was wanted on a parole retake warrant and on a warrant for violation of probation. Gross is wanted on five warrants from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office involving theft, failure to appear and child support. He has been charged today by troopers with possession of cocaine after suspected cocaine and synthetic marijuana were found in the car in which he was a passenger. He is currently being held at the St. Mary's County Detention Center.



Shortly after 12:30 a.m. today, a Maryland state trooper from the Prince Frederick Barrack was working speed enforcement on Rt. 4 in Solomons, Md., prior to the Thomas Johnson Bridge. He observed a southbound BMW following another car and failing to dim its headlights. As the car passed he also saw the vehicle had no working tag light.



The trooper followed the BMW across the bridge and then activated his emergency equipment in an attempt to make a traffic stop. The driver, later identified as Robinson, failed to stop and accelerated away. The trooper notified the Leonardtown Barrack the suspect was traveling between 80-90 mph on Rt. 4.



The trooper saw the vehicle's headlights go off as the car turned onto Fairgrounds Road. Robinson drove down Fairgrounds Road with no lights on. Just prior to Rt. 5, Robinson lost control of the car, before striking a street sign, a ditch and overturning several times. Robinson was ejected from the car.



Emergency medical personnel were summoned immediately. Robinson was transported to Medstar St. Mary's Hospital, before being transferred to Medstar Washington Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead later this morning. Gross was transported to Medstar St. Mary's Hospital, where he was treated for injuries. He was arrested by troopers following his release.



The investigation by the Maryland State Police Crash Team is continuing.
Elvis Duran has no regrets.

The legendary New York radio personality insists bringing rapper Iggy Azalea to Miami Beach Gay Pride last year was the right thing to do.

Azalea has a history of making inflammatory remarks about minorities.

Iggy Azalea is someone who is enlightened and learning that her original beliefs were not fair, Duran told SFGN Tuesday morning in a telephone conversation. I dont think it caused a brouhaha. It caused wonderful conversations and was a fantastic opportunity to start dialogue.

Duran is returning to Miami Beach Gay Pride this weekend where his friend, Uncle Johnny Pool will serve as advocate grand marshal for Sundays parade. Uncle Johnny cut his teeth bartending summers in Fire Island, N.Y.

A popular summer destination for gay New Yorkers, Fire Island, Duran said, is known as a wild, colorful weekend excursion. Uncle Johnny, Duran said, is part of the islands rich history.

Have you seen pictures of Uncle Johnny in the 1970s and 1980s?, Duran asked. He was one cute kitty. Meow!

Duran, 52, grew up in Texas. He said his teenage years were uneventful and did not include any traumatic or abusive situations over his sexuality.

I was very fortunate in that way, Duran said. I never experienced any hatred or malice directed at me.

Duran went on from Texas to build a successful radio career in the Big Apple. As the host of Z100s Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, Durans syndicated morning program reaches 10 million listeners in 80 markets.

Punctuating his success, Duran was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He talks about the milestone with tongue and cheek humor.

Someone sent me a picture of it last night and there was chewing gum all over it, he said.
(EDGE) The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a legal motion today to defend the Boyertown Area School District's practice of allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

The motion to intervene in the case was submitted in a federal lawsuit that is seeking to overturn the practice. The ACLU's action was filed on behalf of Aidan DeStefano, a student at Boyertown Area Senior High who is transgender, and the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, a coalition of LGBTQ youth leaders and youth organizations. One of the organizations is the Boyertown Gay-Straight Alliance, whose members include transgender students who would be harmed by the lawsuit.

"Transgender students just want what everyone else wants, to be accepted for who we are," said DeStefano. "Reversing the practices that have allowed me and other trans kids to thrive at school would be devastating."

Jason Landau Goodman of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress said, "Schools that foster inclusive environments for all students, including transgender youth, should be commended, not sued."

The lawsuit against the school district was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by a pair of conservative legal organizations, the Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center. This case is similar to lawsuits filed by those organizations around the country that seek to exclude transgender students from locker rooms and restrooms that match their gender identity.

"It's important that trans students are given the opportunity to defend themselves against these shameful attempts to isolate and stigmatize them," said Leslie Cooper, senior staff attorney at the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project. "Schools can and should provide extra privacy protections or private restroom or changing areas for any student who requests it. But no student has a right to demand that transgender students be segregated from their peers."

"The Boyertown Area School District did the right thing in affirming and respecting their students' gender identity," said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "To foster a positive learning environment, students need an atmosphere that is supportive and respectful of who they are. Boyertown did that and we intend to defend that practice in the interests of our clients."

Counsel on the motion to intervene includes Mary Catherine Roper of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Cooper of the ACLU, and Amanda Nelson and Harper Seldin of the law firm Cozen O'Connor.
(EDGE) Prom is one of the most exciting nights in a teen's life. But administrators at a Florida high school squashed the evening for a same-sex couple.

Paula Goodgame, a 17-year-old junior at St. Petersburg Catholic High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., was told by school officials she wasn't allowed to bring her girlfriend of four months, Anjali Persad (who attends a nearby private school), to prom, BuzzFeed reports. Taking to Twitter last week, Goodgame wrote she received an email from her guidance counselor, saying she wasn't allowed to bring Persad to the dance.

"A week before prom and I'm not allowed to take my girlfriend...it's not like we already bought what we were gonna wear or anything..." Goodgame wrote.

The teen was pointed to the school's prom guidelines, which state "escorts must be of the opposite gender." Goodgame, a new student to the Catholic school, wasn't aware of the rule, however, and initially sent a teacher an email about the matter.

"I just transferred here and I don't exactly have too many friends, and that added on with the social anxiety of prom makes me feel like prom would be awkward for me," the student wrote to a teacher in an email she shared with BuzzFeed. "Because of that and news I heard from my friend, I was asking for confirmation if I could bring my girlfriend to prom. That way I could have a familiar face in the crowd and be with my date."

When the teacher didn't respond to her message, Goodgame then reached out to her guidance counselor, who confirmed the rule that "students are not allowed to bring people of the same sexes" as their date. The counselor then offered some "advice":

"However, if you could have one of your male friends ask her as his date that would probably work," the counselor wrote.

Speaking to BuzzFeed, Goodgame said the response was "a huge surprise because of how rude it was...because it was coming from someone I'm supposed to confide in."

Twitter users seemed to be equally outraged. After the teen tweeted about the incident, her message went viral, receiving more than 9,000 shares. BuzzFeed reports some Twitter users even sent emails to the school expressing their disgust.

After the outpouring response to Goodgame's story, the teen wrote she and her girlfriend "never expected this," adding they "appreciate all this love and support. So a big thank you to everyone."

Persad also spoke with BuzzFeed about the incident and Twitter's response to the couple.

"I really love all the love and support we've received since the tweet blew up, It's been really amazing watching the LGBT community stick up for each other," she said. "I hope that all other LGBT students in our situation can find courage to stand up for themselves and for others so we can find equality for all."

Goodgame added parents and friends in her community are accepting and supportive of her relationship.

"There are other gay people at the school, and a couple of the students there have gay parents. No one really expected this to come about, especially me and my friends," Goodgame said. "My family and my best friend's family is Catholic and they're supportive of what I do because they believe in 'love thy neighbor' despite who that 'neighbor' is."

Though it's unclear if Goodgame's school will change its position, the couple attended Persad's school dance last weekend.

"If she can't go to my prom, then that prom is not worth going to," Persad told BuzzFeed. "You're supposed to have that whole 'magical' night with someone special, ya know? It wouldn't be worth it without her."
A gay couple was brutally attacked by a group of men in the Netherlands for holding hands on Saturday. Now, politicians are publicly joining together with the hashtag #allmenhandinhand.

Jasper Vernes-Sewratan and his husband Ronnie Sewratan-Vernes said they were returning home when a group of six to eight men shouted homophobic slurs at them before a violent assault using bolt cutters. The couple was hospitalized with missing teeth and lacerations.

We normally never do it (hand holding). Not really, the couple told LGBTQ Nation. We are not the provocative type. And in the year 2017 just cannot just walk hand in hand without getting hurled insults at your head.

Politicians have taken to social media in solidarity with the victims of the attack. They are holding hands for photos with the hashtag #allmenhandinhand (translated from the original Dutch hashtag $allemanenhandinhand).

Particular that some react with Bunch of gays, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Labor Party Lodewijk Asscher tweeted in Dutch, including a photo of him holding hands with another man.

Democrats 66 Party Leader Alexander Pechtold also contributed, holding hands with Wouter Koolmees, a member of his party.

Stop the violence against gays, he wrote.

The male employees of the United Nations also participated in New York, as did the countrys police force on Instagram.
Its that time again, friendsthe worlds greatest consumer coffee festival is back, taking over a square city block of Shoreditch in the beating heart of swinging London. Its the London Coffee Festival, loves, and its everything.

This years show promises to be the biggest and best yet, with highlights a-plenty from the show floor to the competition stage. Sprudge will be covering the event throughout the weekend in an immersive social media array, so be sure to give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the very best from LCF 2017. In meantime lets peek ahead to some of the most hotly awaited happenings at this years show.

Captivating Competitions

The London Coffee Festival is home to the Coffee Masters Tournament, a wildly interdisciplinary display of coffee exceptionalism. This years competitors are a coterie of top barista talent from around the world, and theyll do battle across four days live at the fest. Special guest MCs Gwilym Davies (2009 World Barista Champion) and Lem Butler (2016 US Barista Champion) are joined by our own co-founder Jordan Michelman to keep you informed and chucking throughout the show. All coffee at the 2017 Coffee Masters comes courtesy of the Niners program by Caravan Coffee, with event sponsors including Mahlkonig, Faema, Acme & Co., Brita, Fetco, Rattleware, and more.

This years LCF is also home to Latte Art Live, a brand new zone dedicated to the much-loved world of latte art. Expect daily latte art throwdowns, master displays from top artists around the world (including World Latte Art champion Shinsaku Fukayama), workshops by Londons Ozone Coffee, and all of it happening on stunning new Slayer Steam espresso machines.

Show Floor Favorites

Each year the show floor at the London Coffee Festival is a wonderland of booths, product exhibitions, demos, delights, pop-ups, boozy tipples, and very special showings from the top brands in global coffee. This years no different, so we suggest you give the floor a good wander upon entry and discover its delights for yourself. Were especially excited this year to check out the coffee & whiskey demo, the tasting room & immersive cofffee journey stations, home barista workshops and cupping demonstrations, talks at The Lab (in partnership with MUMAC Academy), the White Label Kitchen and coffee & food pairing exhibitions, and so much morereally a dizzying array of live experiences unlike any other coffee festival in the world.

We come to the London Coffee Festival each year especially excited to check out whats happening at the True Artisan Cafe by La Marzocco. In an annual tradition theyll be hosting some of the very best coffee roasting companies from across Europe for coveted daily rotation slots, with each brand rolling out inventive signature drinks and coveted coffees for some of the festivals thickest lines. This year well be queuing up alongside you lot for drinks from Coffee by Tate, Five Elephant, TAF, Wired feat. Climpson & Sons, and thats just a sampling. And in honor of La Marzoccos 90th anniversary, DJ Sprudge is on the ones & twos on Saturday April 8th from 4pm-6pm for a very special Britpop-powered set of British hits from the glory days of Camden Town.

Night Life Is Right

Like any good coffee festival theres heaps on after hours this year in London. Want to have your event listed? Drop us a line.

Wednesday the scene starts at Brooklyn Coffee, just blocks from the LCF event space, for a launch party of Brooklyns newest coffee sourced by Raw Material, with remarks by Raw Materials own Matt Graylee and wines by Dont Wine. Tickets are 20 and can be reserved here.

On Thursday evening join Sprudge co-founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen at Prufrock Coffee for a live taping of the Coffee Sprudgecast, with complimentary drinkies from Minor Figures and the sweet sounds of Northern Soul to get you by. Book complimentary tickets for this evening here.

Elsewhere that night Assembly Coffee have teamed with Treves & Hyde for a Coffee Festival Afterparty just blocks from the event space. Expect cocktails and snacks to help you ease into the festival vibe.

Friday nights packed this year, with a brilliant Espresso Martini Party happening at the festival itself in partnership with Baileys. Festival-goers are in for a rare treat, with decks at the Martini Party overseen by legendary London DJ Norman Jay, co-founder of the Good Times Sound System and dance radio pioneers KISS FM, our requested station for all London car rides.

Later that night La Marzocco UK are hosting an epic Friday Night Throwdown at Jujus Bar & Stage (15 Hanbury Street), sponsored by event partner Ikawa. Up for grabs is a free trip to the La Marzocco factory in Florence, Italy. More info available here.

On Saturday the aforementioned La Marzocco 90th anniversary celebration continues, again at Jujus Bar & Stage for an evening of snacks, drinks, and 90s party classics.

And thats not the half of it! Theres heaps more on at this years London Coffee Festival, more than we could ever possibly preview in this humble heading. Do cruise over to the official event website and have a look at this years array of fun, and well hope to bump in to you at the show, one of the many evening events, or over a coffee at one Londons many fine cafes. TTFN, see you come martini & KISS 100 time.
Bir Lehlu, March 30,2017 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, condemned in a message sent yesterday to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the policy of provocation and repression exercised by the Moroccan occupant.

In the same context, the President of the Republic stressed that the expulsion of the political and civilian component and the violation of the cease-fire in El-Guergarat by Morocco does not reflect a serious and sincere will to comply with the resolutions of the UN resolutions on the peace process in Western Sahara, most recently UN Security Council resolution 2258.

The President of the Republic added in his message "that in the face of these repressive and brutal practices against the defenseless Saharawi civilians in a country that was occupied by force, we asked the UN to assume its responsibilities in stopping these continuous violations."

Similarly, Brahim Ghali requested the intervention of the Secretary General of the UN to guarantee the security and freedom of the defenseless Saharawi citizens, as well as allow MINURSO to observe and protect human rights in Western Sahara and report on them, pointing out in this regard That after 41 years of the Moroccan occupation of the territory of the El Saguia Hamra and Rio de Oro, the occupant continues to systematically violate international law and international human law and plunder the Saharawi natural resources. SPS

125/090/TRA
Dr. Patty Hogan will host a career exploration event for 14 to 18-year-olds that are considering equine veterinary and horse health careers on Saturday, June 24, at Hogan Equine Clinic, on the grounds of Fair Winds Farm in Cream Ridge, NJ.

The event, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will cover a typical day behind the scenes at the clinic, where the clientele includes many high profile horses from both Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing. Dr. Hogans patients have included Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones and 2016 Standardbred Horse of the Year Always B Miki.

There will be a demonstration of the tools and strategies Dr. Hogan uses to diagnose and treat her patients. She will also discuss her career path, and how high school students can prepare for a career in equine medicine.

Equine health careers that do not require extensive post high school education will also be covered and resources for more information about equine medicine will be provided.

At noon, lunch will be provided; there will be an equine massage demonstration by Suzanne DAmbrose of Free Motion Equine Massage with hands-on involvement. The event will conclude with meeting a mare and her new foal, born at Fair Winds, and a chance to learn about how the farm raises Standardbred racehorses.

Hogan Equine is on the grounds of Fair Winds Farm at 74 Red Valley Road in Cream Ridge, N.J. There is no tuition, but students are asked to bring a can of pet food to be donated to the Monmouth County SPCA Pet Food Bank.

For more information or to sign up, contact Ellen Harvey at 732-780-3700 or email [email protected].

(USTA)
More than 60 businesses have benefitted from the program, which was extended through May 1 while a permanent program is in the works.
The Washington State Department of Health immediately suspended the license of a registered nursing assistant Monday after he was charged with having sexual contact with a 47-year-old developmentally disabled woman in Cowlitz County, according to a DOH press release.

State health officials Monday suspended the license of 71-year-old Ronald Lee Wilsey of Vader after he allegedly had sexual contact with one of the clients he was caring for. Wilsey was charged in March with two counts of felony indecent liberties in Cowlitz County Superior Court, according to court records.

Between July 15 and Oct. 31 of last year, Wilsey reportedly touched a client on two separate occasions in her vaginal area. In another separate occasion, while the two were making spaghetti in the womans apartment, Wilsey forced the woman to touch his penis, according to court records. Wilsey, who has been a licensed nursing assistant since March 2015, would help clients with daily household chores, such as brushing their teeth, flossing, cooking and other residential support services, according to court records.

In an interview with police, Wilsey admitted to touching the womans genitals and said it took place when the woman asked him to massage her thigh, according to court records. Wilsey also told police that while they were making spaghetti, the womans hand brushed against his crotch, according to court records.

Wilsey entered not guilty pleas in Superior Court March 28. His next court date for pre-trial is set for 2 p.m. May 22. The trial is set for 8:30 a.m. June 19.

Wilsey cannot practice as a registered nursing assistant in Washington until the charges with state health officials are resolved and has 20 days to respond to the charges and request a hearing, according to the DOH press release.
Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.

By the way, you can also get "5 Things" as an e-mailed newsletter. Sign up here.

1. Syria attack

We may have grown numb to the daily drumbeat of horror coming out of Syria's civil war. We see yet another picture of a bombed-out building and just divert our attention. But you can't look away from this. You can't look away from the suffering of children -- victims of a suspected chemical attack in Idlib that killed at least 70 people. Activists in the area say the Syrian regime is responsible for all of this suffering after it dropped a chemical bomb. Russia blames a Syrian airstrike on a "terrorist" ammunition storehouse. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military denies using chemical weapons.

2. North Korea

Time's up. Now what? Everyone is asking that question after the White House issued a rather ominous warning about North Korea. A senior official said, "The clock has now run out and all options are on the table." OK, but what the heck does that even mean? Does it mean President Trump intends to pursue a go-it-alone strategy to stop North Korea's nuke program without China? Does it mean even more economic sanctions, or is the US now seriously considering military action? Almost on cue, North Korea early this morning lobbed a ballistic missile into the sea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's statement on that was equally head-scratching. In a nutshell, he said, no comment.

3. Russia investigation

Susan Rice pushed back against allegations she "unmasked" the names of Donald Trump's associates from intelligence reports for political purposes. Rice, who was President Obama's national security adviser, said, yes, asking for more info about names in intel was a routine part of her job, but, no, she didn't leak the names of people from Trump's camp in intelligence reports to the media. Trump's supporters say all this validates the President's baseless claim that he was spied on by the Obama administration. CNN's Chris Cillizza says it's just another Trump smokescreen on the (never-ending) Russia questions.

4. Health care bill

5. LGBT rights

A federal appeals court ruling that the Civil Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination against LGBT employees could be a game-changer. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a woman who sued a community college, saying it violated the landmark 1964 law's Title VII when it denied her employment. The court agreed, but the ruling conflicts with one last month from the 11th Circuit Court, which said Title VII doesn't bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. It means the Supreme Court would have to settle this one.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.

Pop flop

In a new ad, Kendall Jenner joins a street protest and offers a cop a Pepsi. Social media, and Black Lives Matter, were not amused.

Big league

A New Jersey teen has a big decision to make, after she got accepted to all eight Ivy League schools.

'Doomsday' library

First there was a vault to protect humanity's seeds. Now there's one to protect humanity's data. But wait, isn't that what the cloud is for?

Give me a beat

A Syrian-American woman celebrates Muslim Women's Day with, you guessed it, a rap video.

TODAY'S NUMBER

21

The number of companies that have pulled ads from Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" after reports about settlements with women who alleged sexual harassment or verbal abuse by host Bill O'Reilly.

AND FINALLY ...

Grandma's got jokes

Watch this sweet grandmother trick her trusting husband into falling for the old disappearing coin trick. (Click to view)

CNN's Milena Veselinovic, Richard Roth, Kristina Sgueglia, Hande Atay Alam, Judith Vonberg, Nick Thompson, Jomana Karadsheh and and AJ Willingham also contributed to this report.
IANS

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.
tech2 News Staff

Isro has signed three MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Andhra Pradesh government for using geospatial technologies in state governance and development. The MoUs were signed on 15 March, near Vijayawada. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Isro chairman Aluru Seelin Kiran Kumar were present at the signing.

Andhra Pradesh had already been using inputs from Isro's programs for various applications, and the MoUs are a commitment to get help from Isro to extend these applications.

The first MoU was signed to provide experimental meteorological services to the state. The Andhra Pradesh Varuna app for Android smartphones was launched on the occasion. Varuna is the Indian God of water. The application uses a large number of ground-based radio stations and weather forecasting services by Isro, to deliver an accurate and up to date platform for weather information to the end user. The twenty four-hour forecast is updated every six hours.

The second MoU was signed for the provision of disaster management services. Inputs from the various earth observation and meteorological satellites would be combined with data from the ground based National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad to provide Disaster Management Support (DMS) to the state. Data from the field will be combined with near real time inputs to monitor forest fires, cyclones, floods, earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis.

The third MoU was signed for the use of Isro technologies to keep track of the natural resource of water across the state. The state and the space agency have agreed to collaborate on a web based geoportal, AP State Water Resources Information and Management System (APWRIMS). The APWRIMS will host all the spatial and non spatial data on water resources in the state. The inventory of water in the state will be maintained with inputs from satellites and validation models.
hidden

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.

The North Korean government has denied allegations of hacking made by officials in Washington and South Korea as well as 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 PLC , 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.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

Fabless semiconductor company Spreadtrum on Monday announced that its LTE SoC platform -- SC9820 -- has been adopted by Lava for Indias first 4G-enabled feature phone called Lava Connect M1. It has been launched in the Indian market in February 2017 and is priced at Rs 3,199.

"We are looking forward to seeing Spreadtrum SC9820 power more feature phone users all over the world and thus enable them to access the internet and consume digital content at an affordable price," said Leo Li, Chairman and CEO, Spreadtrum Communications, in a statement.

As the world's first LTE feature phone chipset, Spreadtrum SC9820 integrates 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex - A7 processor, ARM Mali-400 MP1 GPU for 3D-graphics acceleration and supports GSM and GPRS connectivity. Spreadtrum is based on a 28nm process. The phone comes with 512 MB RAM along with 4 GB storage and has an expandable storage up to 32 GB. The phone also comes pre-installed with Facebook Lite.

Other features include FM radio, Bluetooth and support for 2G.

"Our association with Spreadtrum Communications is a step forward in this direction," added Gaurav Nigam, Head-Product, Lava International.

Nokia is still making feature phones as well. They recently announced Nokia 216 is the latest entrant from the company. Nokias phone is cheaper at Rs 2,495, but offers a smaller battery at 1,050mAh and there are no details on the devices processor, RAM or even 4G support.

With inputs from IANS
tech2 News Staff

Nasa is getting serious about taking up longer manned missions, including revisiting the Moon and sending the first pioneers to Mars. The space agency is in the process of testing AstroRad Radiation Shield for astronauts on deep space missions, including to the Moon and Mars. A dedicated team has been formed as a Toolbox for Research and Exploration, to formulate new approaches for manned interplanetary trips within the Solar System. Now Nasa wants to put a space base in orbit around the Moon.

The base is at first meant to be a platform for testing new and emerging technologies for deep space missions. The space station in cis-lunar orbit will later on serve as the base of operations for deep space missions to Mars and beyond, as well as both manned and unmanned excursions to the Lunar surface. Nasa has announced that it is tying up with private industry partners to solve the challenges of deep space exploration.

The deep space gateway will be a long lasting, flexible, reusable, and sustainable infrastructure, meant to be in operation for decades of human spaceflight. The essentials of the deep space gateway are a power bus, a high power propulsion system based on electricity, a habitat for crew members, docking capacity for interfacing with various cargo and crew spacecraft, an airlock, and a logistics module for research. The life support system is being tested on the International Space Station (ISS) and the propulsion systems as well as the habitats are being developed.

The lunar deep space gateway is meant to be built over a series of Space Launch System (SLS) missions and the Orion spacecraft. The SLS system is being developed by Nasa, and is the next generation of launch vehicles. Donald Trump wants Nasa to fly astronauts on the maiden flight of the SLS.

William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at Nasa says, "I envision different partners, both international and commercial, contributing to the gateway and using it in a variety of ways with a system that can move to different orbits to enable a variety of missions."

In 2020, Nasa plans to test a deep space transport spacecraft in the vicinity of the Moon for a year. The testing is to evaluate the preparedness of the spacecraft to undertake missions to Mars. The deep space transport spacecraft is designed to be re-used, and hop between orbits around the Moon and Mars at regular intervals. Nasa has proposed the plan and invited inputs from the private sector on how to actually execute it.

Boeing was one of the first to respond, with concepts for deep space missions to both the Mars and the Moon. A Solar Electric Propulsion system is used, with designs that are based on the leanings from the 702 satellite family. Pete McGrath, director of global sales and marketing for Boeings space exploration division says, "The ability to simultaneously launch humans and cargo on SLS would allow us to assemble the gateway in four launches in the early 2020s."

The deep space gateway is a progression of the knowledge gained by building, servicing, maintaining and conducting experiments on board the ISS. The area near the Moon offers a deep space environment for testing the new and emerging techniques for exploration. Robotic missions to the lunar surface can be launched as needed, with the ability to return to Earth in days as against months. Nasa currently plans to launch one SLS mission to the deep space gateway every year.
tech2 News Staff

The 255 residents of a remote Baliapal village in Kalinganagar in coastal Odisha are plagued by frequent power cuts. The women in households cannot finish their day to day house work in the evenings and the students in the village are unable to study. Industrial Energy, a joint venture between Tata Power and Tata Steel has inaugurated a solar microgrid project in Baliapal, which will provide the residents with uninterrupted power.

Vijayant Ranjan, CEO of IEL said "A major part of rural India are still deprived of electricity, which is crucial for meeting socio-economic goals and overall human development. This microgrid project undertaken by Tata Power will ensure reliable power for the villagers and contribute towards the governments 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. We would like to thank the villagers from Baliapal for extending and support and making this project a success."

The micro grid works in tandem with the regular power supply, with its own independent energy generation sources, distribution network, and power storage capacities. The project is being managed by a committee of 20 people, including women representatives, forming the village development committee (VDC). This is the first project of its kind in Odisha, with the villagers contributing to ten percent of the cost, while the remaining 90 percent is paid for by Industrial Energy.
IANS

Microblogging site Twitter has launched a new tool that allows brands to request and share location data with users via direct messages in order to provide better customer service, the media reported on Tuesday. "It is no longer about social marketing teams, but core customer care teams [that are responding on Twitter]. Companies are running a serious business here and looking for help in scaling it," Ian Cairns, product manager, Twitter was quoted as saying to VentureBeat.

Users have complete control over this new feature, the brand manager will get user's permission to receive location data to direct users to the closest store, the report said. This new feature is available through Twitter's developer programme to its partners offering customer service tools for brands. It can also be used in a customer interaction, within an automated message, or anywhere else.

Location data is also one of the most recent update to direct messages for brands. Support for location data comes days after Facebook announced that live location could be shared with friends and contacts within its Messenger app. This comes right after Twitter lost its head of Asia-Pacific business Aliza Knox after she decided to move on after a near-five year stint. Knox built out Twitters presence in Asia with an office in Singapore that currently spans nine locations with over 100 people on the payroll.




However Mr Turnbull turned on a warmer welcome saying Australia would remain focused on helping Afghanistan in its efforts to become more prosperous, secure and self-reliant.





The pair signed a memorandum of understanding for the Afghanistan-Australia development partnership worth $320 million over four years to 2020.





The two countries will co-operate on infrastructure, education and employment of women and girls, agriculture and water management, training of Afghan civil servants and anti-corruption initiatives.

-
Syrian people do not want Assad as leader: US envoy

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley answers questions during a press briefing at the United Nations headquarters on Monday.

AFP, United Nations :

The United States believes the Syrian people do not want President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power and does not accept that he could stand in elections, Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday.

Haley told a news conference that Assad is a "war criminal," "a hindrance to peace for a long time" and that his treatment of Syrians was "disgusting."

The ambassador was asked about whether US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's comments that Assad's future was up to the Syrian people meant that the United States would accept that he could once again run for the presidency in elections. "No, it doesn't mean that the US will accept it," she said.

"We don't think that the people want Assad any more. We don't think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have."

Following talks in Ankara last week, Tillerson said the "longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people," suggesting that the United States would no longer insist on his departure.

The future of Assad has been the key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at ending the six-year war in Syria.

"We continue to strongly condemn the actions of Assad and what he has done and he continues to be directly on our radar in terms of what he does," said Haley.

The United States, which holds this month's presidency of the UN Security Council, will be chairing a meeting next week to take stock of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria.

UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva have made little progress and UN diplomats are not holding out hope for a breakthrough in the peace process.

Haley said the United States is concerned about Russian and Iranian support for Assad and is looking to the UN-brokered talks in Geneva to point the way to a settlement.

"We do think that we have forged new ground (in the Geneva talks) and we can start to at least analyze again where the United States is going to be and how we can handle things in Syria," she said.

Last week, Haley told reporters that the US would no longer insist on ending Assad's rule as a priority. "You pick and choose your battles," she said.

"And when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out."

"It's that we don't think the people want Assad anymore; we don't think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have," Haley told a news conference to mark the U.S. presidency of the U.N. Security Council for April.

"We have no love for Assad. We've made that very clear. We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He's a war criminal. What he's done to his people is nothing more than disgusting," she said.

Tillerson and Haley on Thursday drew criticism for playing down a long-standing U.S. goal of pushing Assad to leave power to help end the six-year-long Syrian civil war.

Haley told a small group of reporters on Thursday: "You pick and choose your battles and when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out."

She then told ABC News on Sunday that "Assad is always a priority" and the United States wants to bring him to justice.




Russia able to launch Baltic attack in 24 hours: Lithuania

Reuters, Vilnius :

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 other than to have military forces already deployed in the region, Lithuania's intelligence service said on Monday.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s but now part of both NATO and the European Union, have been increasingly nervous since the Russian takeover of Crimea in 2014.

The Lithuanian intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Russia had upgraded its military in the Kaliningrad region last year, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing NATO reinforcements.

The Russian upgrade included Su-30 fighter aircraft and missile systems allowing ships to be targeted almost anywhere in the Baltic Sea.

"This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed," Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis told reporters on the sidelines of the presentation of the report. "NATO's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the concerns as a display of anti-Russian sentiment.

"There is total Russophobia, hysterical Russophobia going on," he said at a daily conference call with reporters.

"Moscow has always supported good relations with the Baltic states," he said.

This year NATO is deploying a force of about 1,000 soldiers in each of the Baltic states and Poland, in addition to smaller contingents of U.S. troops already in the region.

"The force is adequate in the short-term, but in the medium-term perspective we would like more capability, and not only land troops but also air defenses and capabilities to counter any blockade," Karoblis said.

Russia is monitoring and suppressing radio frequencies used by NATO pilots over the Baltic Sea and is using commercial and scientific ships for surveillance, the report said.

The intelligence service said there was also the risk of "deliberate or accidental incidents" involving Russian and Belarusian troops who are taking part in military exercises planned for March.

The Baltic states have previously said they would press the United States and NATO to take additional security measures in the region ahead of the exercises.

Intelligence officers said disinformation aimed at discrediting NATO soldiers stationed in Lithuania, such as a recent false report of a rape by German soldiers, was likely to persist.

"Provocations against NATO units in Lithuania will continue and will get bigger," Remigijus Baltrenas, head of Lithuanian military counterintelligence, told reporters.
SEU teacher honoured for getting Prime Minister Gold Medal Award

Campus Report :



Southeast University (SEU) gave a reception to Mumtahina Riza, Lecturer of the Textile Engineering Department of SEU for her achievement of Prime Minister Gold Medal Award 2014.

Mumtahina Riza achieved the Award in a function held on 22 March 2017 in Prime Minister's Office which was arranged by University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. This award is rendered mainly to the students who secured the highest CGPA/marks in the respective faculties of the Public Universities of Bangladesh. Ms. Mumtahina Riza obtained the highest score in Faculty of Textile Manufacturing and Engineering, B.Sc. in Textile Engineering, Bangladesh University of Textiles in 2014.

Prof Dr ANM Meshquat Uddin, Vice Chancellor of SEU, Prof Dr Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, Pro-Vice Chancellor of SEU, Prof Dr M Shamsher Ali, Professor Emeritus of SEU, Prof Syed Fakhrul Hassan, Dean of School of Science and Engineering, Prof Dr Md. Abdul Hakim, Dean of School of Arts and Social Sciences thanked her for this great achievement.


ULAB hosts talk on 'The Journey of an Entrepreneur'

Sylvana Quader Sinha, Founder and MD of Pravaa Health speaks at a discussion on \'The Journey of an Entrepreneur\' held at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh in the city on Tuesday.

Campus Report :



University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), through its Center for Enterprise and Society (CES), organized a talk titled "The Journey of an Entrepreneur" featuring Sylvana Quader Sinha, Founder and MD of Pravaa Health on Tuesday. Also in attendance were Prof Imran Rahman, Vice Chancellor (Acting), ULAB; Sajid Amit, Director, CES, ULAB; Sabrina Imam, IT Director, Praava; Sanjeev Pubbichetty, COO, Praava; and Saleh Anand, IT Analyst, Praava.

Sinha spoke about her journey as a lawyer in the United States, with roots in Bangladesh, and how she came to found Praava. Pravaa is launching a network of urban health centers offering family doctors and a full range of diagnostic services in mid-2017. Sinha's vision is to increase the range of quality, reliable, affordable health care options in Bangladesh.

Before founding Praava, Sinha, as a lawyer, advised governments in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Asia on governance and legal reform. Sinha also served as a foreign policy advisor to the 2008 Presidential campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama. She later joined The World Bank, where she worked on judicial reform and human rights in Afghanistan and on other issues, including conflict and development and women's economic rights in Islam. Sinha is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she earned a certificate from the Parker School of Comparative and International Law.

The talk was delivered to a full-house of undergraduate students interested in entrepreneurship and understanding the challenges and prospects thereof, in Bangladesh.


StandChart organizes workshop on trade guidelines

Apurva Jain, Head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bangladesh, speaking at a workshop on \"Trade Guidelines and Automation: The Right Approach\" at The Westin Dhaka recently.

Economic Reporter :

Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh organized a workshop on "Trade Guidelines and Automation: The Right Approach" at The Westin, Dhaka recently.

A total of 331 participants from 106 different client groups participated in the workshop. The event was hosted for the corporate clients of the bank, with the aim to create an interactive session to discuss clients' needs, end to end trade regulatory issues and practices.

The bank's online channel capabilities were also showcased in the event, which are expected to enhance efficiency for the client's working capital management. The event also saw existing clients share their experiences of how they are benefitting from the bank's offered solutions.

Apurva Jain, Head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bangladesh was present. He thanked the esteemed clients of the company for supporting the bank's various initiatives and commended their drive for sustainable success. The bank pledged to be a partner in progress for their clients' journey towards growth.

The workshop included business lunch and networking session followed by distribution of certificates for successful participation. The workshop concluded with an award giving ceremony where the clients were recognized for their enthusiastic and interactive participation in the workshop.


Shraddha`s DU connect during the shooting of Half Girlfriend

Shraddha really liked the atmosphere of the Delhi University campus while shooting for her upcoming film, Half Girlfriend. Her 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. Being a Mumbai girl, Shraddha was keen on exploring Delhi University, which has grown into becoming one of the largest universities in India.


BD progress showcased at UN CPD session



State Minister for Health and family Welfare Zahid Maleque has said Bangladesh is marching forward in population development by putting people's empowerment at the heart of its national development agenda.

The junior minister said this in a country statement made at the 50th session of the Commission on Population and development (CPD) at the UN Headquarters.

He is leading a Bangladesh delegation at the 50th session of the Commission on Population and development (CPD) being held at the UNHQ in New York, according to a message received here.

"Bangladesh has made considerable progress in realising the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) of actions and Bangladesh aspires to be a middle-income country by 2021 and an industrialised one by 2041," Zahid siad.

He noted that the inclusive economic growth in Bangladesh has been over 6 percent for the past decade and more than 7 percent in the current year, resulting in impressive poverty reduction which is below 21 percent in recent years.

In his statement, Zahid mentioned the measures taken by the present government to ensure women's empowerment, gender parity, girls education, youth development, employment generation, social security and the wellbeing of elderly population, and to protect girls from child marriage and malnutrition.

The State Minister said the government has allocated the highest 17 percent of its national budget in education. "We've ensured free education up to secondary level for all and achieved 100 percent enrollment in the primary level. Bangladesh has given also special attention to primary healthcare through about 8000 community clinics and union health centres by providing free medicine and health counseling."

All contiguous diseases like diarrhea, cholera, AIDS and TB are under control, the junior minister said adding that maternal mortality rate has gone down from 542 to 170, child mortality from 132 to 43; life expectancy has increased to 70years plus in the recent years.

Mentioning the contribution of about 10 million expatriate workers, Zahid reiterated that Bangladesh acknowledges and attaches high importance to the contributions made by migrants and has been advocating for safe, regular and orderly migration at the international level.
Nadia Mim, Badhon, Alvi together in a serial

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :

Lolita famed play director Jewel Mahmud has started to make a new serial after a break of three years. He is making the serial The Public now. Fazlul Haque Akash wrote story of the serial.

While talking about the main theme of the serial its director Jewel Mahmud told this correspondent, Tales of the ruler and proletariats is the main theme of the story of the serial The Public.

For the first time, three Lux beauties - Badhon, Alvi and Nadia Mim are working together in a serial. They are acting in roles of Joli, Moli and Lara respectively. In fact, Nadia Mim is niece of Badhon and Alvi in the serial.

While talking about the serial Badhon told this correspondent, Earlier under Jewel Mahmuds direction I worked in two serials - Akash Meghey Dhaka and One Way. When my daughter was only eight months old during that time I became engaged with acting while working in Jewel Mahmuds a serial. Though my daughter was too young director had cooperated me. For this reason, I am grateful to him. Only for his cooperation I again got the scope to return to acting. This time I am acting under his direction in another serial which story is really nice.

Alvi shared her feelings by this way, I earlier worked under Jewel Bhai's direction in a serial titled Tattoo Ghora. Jewel Bhai works very sincerely. When his any serial telecasts viewers responses prove his popularity. Story of new serial is based on our life stories. Today is my birthday. Everybody pray for me as I can celebrate the day on the soil on Nepal.

Nadia Mim said, I have liked story and role so I agreed to work in the serial The Public. I was informed about its director earlier from others. For this reason, I am showing keen interest while taking part in shooting of the serial and also enjoying a lot.

Director Jewel also informed that Abul Hayat, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Rownak Hassan, Shyamal Mawla, Romana Swarna, among others, are also acting in other roles in the serial. Within this year the serial will go on air in any satellite channel. Jewel Mahmud made last serial was Kuashar Phul, which was telecasted in 2014.


No FB blocking, says Tarana



State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim on Tuesday said Facebook will not be blocked for any particular period of the day or night.

"We want to say clearly the Facebook won't be blocked for any hour of the day or night, there is no question of blocking Facebook at night, even it's not possible," she said while speaking at a press briefing at the secretariat.

The junior minister said if the Facebook is shut, people will feel disturbed as many are involved in e-commerce.

Tarana said it is not possible to block it even from 12am to 6am as it is used by all worldwide and there is a time difference with many countries of the world.

"The news an online media and print media on Monday over blocking the Facebook in Bangladesh hurt us," she said.


Ex-CU student's body found hanging

UNB, Chittagong :



A former student of Chittagong University was found hanging at her house at Navy residential area on Sunday midnight.

Abul Bashar, officer-in-charge of EPZ Police Station, said being informed by family, police recovered the body of Sheikh Hamida Farhad Tanti, 27, daughter of Mainuddin Mintu from the Navy Hospital around 12am.

Quoting Hamida's father, police said Hamida was a student of Chittagong University of Anthropology Department. In 2015, Hamida got married to a Navy officer and they have been blessed with a daughter of two years.

Mainuddin Mintu, father of Hamida, is a school teacher by profession and used to live at the Tabalchhari Officer's Quarter in Rangamati Sadar. The reason behind the incident could not be known immediately and the body was handed over to family after postmortem, said OC.


Attaining global development goals

Shamshad Akhtar :

With just over a year since the adoption of a historic blueprint to end poverty and protect the planet, positive signs have already started to emerge among countries in the Asia-Pacific region as they push ahead with the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It is encouraging to note that most countries in the region have made serious attempts to domesticate the landmark global action-plan by developing national sustainable development strategies- a first and crucial step if we are to fully realize the ambitious targets set out in the landmark agreement.

Steady economic growth over the past year has seen a decline in poverty and an improvement in the quality of life. A bright spot worth highlighting is the progress on gender equality. Gender parity has been achieved in primary education, and maternal mortality rates have been brought down across the region with the exception of certain pockets. For example, maternal mortality dropped by 64 per cent in South Asia from 1990 to 2015 and by 57 per cent in the Pacific over the same period.

Notwithstanding these incremental gains, a number of outstanding challenges remain which if not effectively addressed may scuttle our collective efforts.

A joint study undertaken by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) reveals that some 400 million people in Asia and the Pacific continue to live in extreme income poverty and more than one in four people experience poverty in multiple dimensions that impact their health, education, and standard of living. South Asia is the worst affected with 15 per cent of the population living in extreme poverty, and 86 per cent residing in rural areas where income diversification opportunities are limited and challenges of poor natural resource management persist. Of equal concern is the rise in income inequality within countries. The challenge is to ensure that prosperity is felt by all, and not just a fortunate few.

With 12 per cent of the population, or 490 million people, still undernourished in our region, ending hunger and poverty will heavily depend on introducing sustainable food production systems and more resilient agricultural practices. Despite reductions in infant mortality rates, children in low income countries are still nearly nine times more likely to die before reaching the age of one than those in high income countries.

Enhancing the health of citizens will also require expansion of coverage of health services in many countries. This means increasing government spending on health, as per capita government spending is as low as $4 per person in low income economies of our region. Despite progress in gender equality and women's empowerment made in Asia and the Pacific on several fronts, significant gaps still remain. Women continue to be paid less and are more likely to find themselves in vulnerable employment with low wages, no formal contracts or labour rights and minimal social protection. In 2015, the gender pay gap in the region as a whole reached an astounding 20 per cent.

As a whole, the region has also experienced declining biodiversity levels - a major source of distress for Pacific island economies - where the value of fish caught in the territorial waters of some small island developing States is worth up to three times their GDP. Future risks to ocean resources are further underscored by the fact that 40 per cent of our oceans are heavily affected by unsustainable practices.

Finally, the Asia-Pacific region faces a high infrastructure deficit. At the same time, demand pressures will grow as the urban population will swell by 50 million each year, aggravating congestion, air pollution and waste management.

Needless to say, these challenges must be urgently addressed. Strong continued leadership, knowledge sharing and UN system collaboration, are pivotal tools that will move us all closer to realizing the aspirations set out by the 2030 Agenda. The dynamism and development track record of our region lends us hope that we can achieve balanced economic, social and environmental development by pursuing the right blend of rebalancing to revive domestic and regional demand.

ESCAP remains committed to strengthening the capacity of countries, so that they can embrace integrated strategies to confront the multidimensional facets of poverty, and promote the opportunity for prosperity for all.

This week ESCAP held the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD 2017) in Bangkok from 28-31 March, which brought together senior representatives from across the region to define a road map that will support member States' implementation of the 2030 Agenda over the next 15 years.

We are all working to come up with concrete measures that will enhance the region's achievement of the SDGs to deal with multidimensional poverty, which when considered raises the level of the vulnerable population in Asia and the Pacific region to 900 million. Forums like these are key to marshalling the international support required to achieve this ambitious agenda. Progressing the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific is central to achieving the global 2030 Agenda. We have the opportunity for action now.

(Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Persecuting elected opposition Mayors shows hatred against election

THE government's fresh decision of suspending the pro-BNP Mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet City Corporations and of Habiganj Municipality has surprised even the ordinary people of the country. It came within few hours of their joining office on Supreme Court order.



We must say people's spontaneous reaction was natural as Mayors Ariful Haque Chowdhury of Sylhet and Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul of Rajshahi had just regained their posts after a long legal battles for about two years. It should be mentioned that the two Mayors, along with the Mayors of Khulna and Gazipur were first suspended in May, 2015. The government had even arrested and sent them to jail on various criminal charges.

It was alleged during those days that since these Mayors had defeated the Awami League nominated candidates in the City Corporation elections and the BNP had won in six out of eight city Corporations, the government became mad for retaliation. As a result the pro-BNP Mayors and Councillors were either suspended or charge-sheeted and sent to jails. Through this undemocratic and fascist process almost all the pro-BNP elected representatives in fact lost their posts. At the same time the government started to fill the posts by AL Councillors and a peculiar name of 'Panel Mayor' was invented for them. In fact these so-called 'Panel Mayors' have managed the City Corporations till the recent days.



Then began the legal battles. But in spite of Higher Court's judgments and orders in favour of the suspended pro-BNP Mayors, the government did not reinstate them. The Mayors, including especially Professor M. A. Mannan of Gazipur, were rather tortured physically and charge sheeted with new criminal cases. The stories of the Mayors of Rajshahi, Sylhet and Habiganj have come as the latest instances of that process. The country's highest court had issued orders in their favour and they were about to resume works as Mayors with the court's orders.

But the government did not allow them to take over their responsibilities. Not only that, the Mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet could not even sit on their chairs for more than 15 minutes! Both were most unceremoniously ousted and again charge-sheeted for criminal offences. So they could not resume their works for which they had been elected by the people. With the intention of 'legalizing' the actions the government has again brought in front and taken shelter of the two clauses of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009.



Under these clauses a Mayor or Councillor, if charge-sheeted in criminal cases, can be suspended. The Mayor of Rajshahi has been told that as the Mohanagar Special Court-1 had accepted a criminal charge sheet against him so the government had decided to suspend him. Similarly the Sylhet Mayor was told about a charge sheet that had been accepted by the Sunamganj Special Court. So he would also have to go. On the other hand the Mayor of Habiganj, G. K. Gaus has been charge sheeted in the case of attempting to murder the late AL leader Suranjit Sengupta.



With the developments of the incidents above mentioned another interesting fact has also emerged. In spite of many specific allegations and cases no elected representatives of the AL has been charge sheeted or arrested under the two clauses of the 'famous'(!) Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009. Only the pro-BNP representatives have been victimized under the Act. This kind of attitude is not only victimisation of the Opposition but showing disrespect to people's vote.



It is unfortunate that there are advisers around the government who are doing everything to destroy the democratic structure of the government.






Risky railway bridges need urgent repair

A NATIONAL daily reported on Tuesday that large number of old and dilapidated railway bridges across the country are facing the risk of collapse anytime. More than a half-century old railway bridges, mostly built during and after British colonial era have become highly vulnerable to bear the weight of heavy wagons running over the railway tracks. The government's high profile development activities such as building city flyovers is ignoring other essential construction and repair work such as the railway bridges when most trains are running at risk of being derailed or falling into ditches breaking depleted bridges.



Media report said even many Railway Bridges were built in recent years using of bamboo sticks along with iron rods in the support structures. At many places railway slippers have become too old and broken for Express Trains to safely run. Even Dhaka-Chittagong Railway lines as they appear faulty at many places, have failed to attract the government's attention for urgent repair and re-fixing when the government is busy to showcase its success other ways. Only last week Dhaka-Sylhet railway communication remained snapped for several days due to the collapse of a bridge at Moulavibazar section to show how vulnerable the railway lines have become risking people's life any time. Last year collapse of another railway bridge at the same area had also cut railway connection with Sylhet for several days.



In fact the country's entire communication system is now at high risks. Killing of people in road accidents is a regular phenomenon. Launch capsize in rivers is taking people's life in large number every time such accidents happen. We have big government set up at every place but there is none to take responsibility of the untimely death of people. Highway police are very poorly performing to stop road accidents, while absence of monitoring of riverine transports is causing frequent deaths - the last being early this week in a launch capsize in Dhaleshwari River.



Inadequate maintenance is blamed for poor condition of railway bridges putting passengers' safety under severe threat. Shortage of budget is blamed for collapse of bridges but we can't understand such excuse at a time when thousands of crore taka railway budget is largely exploited and illegally grabbed by railway men and supply contractors. Corruption is everywhere while the system is failing to properly work.



We are apprehending major setback in the Rainy season when old bridges may collapse from heavy rain or mudslide from hills as railway lines runs through them.



At present a total of 3567 railway bridges exists in our railway system that include roughly 350 small and medium bridges not in good condition. Reports said the Railway Ministry is moving with a plan to rebuild around 500 bridges in Eastern Zone and over 419 in Western Zone. This is no doubt a major development but in our view it should in no way delay the repair of risky bridges to avoid accidents.
Russia metro blast was suicide attack

A woman lays flowers at a symbolic memorial outside Tekhnologichesky Institute subway station in St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday.

ST. Petersburg, Russia (AP) :

A suicide bomber was behind a blast on the St. Petersburg subway that killed 14 people, Russian investigators said Tuesday, while authorities in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan identified a suspect as a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second biggest and Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister on Tuesday raised the death toll from 11 to 14 and said 49 people are still hospitalized. City Hall authorities said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured but would not offer detail. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens has been killed in the attack. Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner and window-sill at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

Russia's top investigative body said in a statement that investigators have identified a man whose body parts were found on the train and who is suspected to be a suicide bomber.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security identified one suspect as Kyrgyz-born Russian national Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, aged between 21 and 22. It was not immediately clear if the two statements related to the same person.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

The entire subway system in St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later.


IPU representatives visit Parliament Bhaban

Lawmakers from across the globe, who are participating in the IPU Conference in Dhaka, visited the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the capital on Tuesday to enjoy the scenic beauty of the world\'s most famous and gorgeous legislative complex designed by American

UNB, Dhaka :

The representatives of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), attending its 136th Assembly here since Saturday, on Tuesday visited Bangladesh Parliament Bhaban.

Chief Whip ASM Feroz, Whips Atiur Rahman Atik, Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Iqbalur Rahim and high officials of the Parliament

Secretariat welcomed the foreign guests to the parliament complex.

The IPU representatives walked around the parliament rooms, its library, standing committee meeting rooms and its north and south plazas.

The Chief Whip, Whips and officials accompanied the foreign guests and narrated the architectural designs and uniqueness of the parliament complex and various activities of its secretariat. They also replied to various queries of the IPU representatives.

The foreign guests looked overwhelmed with the unique architectural designs the parliament complex and its natural beauty.


Save people in Yemen, Africa from famine: IPU

UNB, Dhaka :

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Tuesday called for urgent global actions to save millions of people from famine and drought in Yemen and parts of Africa.

In an emergency item adopted at its 136th assembly, the IPU members committed to mounting pressure on their governments to fund humanitarian relief operations to avert the crisis.

They said people in Yemen and many of African countries are facing drought for the third consecutive year, and the impact is devastating, causing thirst and hunger, decimating livestock, destroying livelihoods, spreading diseases and triggering large-scale population movements.

Ethiopia and Kenya are among the world's top 10 refugee host countries. These refugees are especially vulnerable amid the current crisis, they said.

The IPU members called upon the international community to take immediate actions to prevent this potentially unprecedented famine and looming humanitarian catastrophe. They urged relevant governments to end hostilities and take every step A

to ensure unhindered humanitarian access.

In its resolution, the IPU declared that the United Nations should commit the resources necessary to provide humanitarian support and nutritional relief. It also called for particular attention to the most vulnerable groups, especially women, children and the aged ones.

The IPU members also want to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again, and urged governments to assist the affected countries in developing drought resilience mechanisms, including by eliminating the root causes of famine and drought.

The parliamentarians also called for more investment in mitigation activities that support vulnerable countries in adapting to climate change.
BD ensures security to foreign investors

Staff Reporter :

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said, Bangladesh is providing highest security for the foreign investors.

Addressing a 'Bangladesh Growth Summit' in London on Monday the minister said, the country is very suitable place for investment where many potential energetic young manpower is available in affordable pay.

Describing Bangladesh's present and future plan, Nasrul Hamid said, the

country is the second rapid economy expanding country in the World as per International Monetary Fund published data.

The country will be 23rd economy in the World in 2050 as the analysts of different international economic and social organizations mentioned, he said.

The Minister also said that the country have a reserve of fine quality coal which values around US$300 billions.

As per the present master plan Bangladesh will generate 60,000MW electricity by 2040 and of which 10 percent will come from renewable sources.

Bangladesh will award power distribution line setting up sector to private sector like Power Generation, the Minister said.
SQC`s counsel granted bail

Court Correspondent :

The High Court Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail for one year to Barrister AFM Fakhrul Islam, convicted in a case filed in connection with the leakage of the draft verdict in the War Crimes Tribunal

case against former BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

A High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim passed the order after hearing on the bail petition of Fakhrul Islam, moved by senior advocate Joynul Abedin.

On September 15 last year, Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal sentenced Barrister Fakhrul to a ten-year imprisonment and fined him Tk 10 lakh.

The court also sentenced Chowdhury's manager KM Mahbubul Hasan, junior lawyer Mehedi Hasan, International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) staff Faruk Hossain and Nayan Ali to seven years' imprisonment and fined them Taka 10 thousand each.

AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud, then Registrar of the ICT, filed a General Diary with Shahbagh Police Station on October 2, 2013, over leaking a part of the draft of the verdict.

On October 4 of that year, Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Fazlur Rahman lodged a case with the same police station in this regard. It was later disclosed that SQ Chowdhury's personal staff and his lawyers leaked the part of the draft, bribing two tribunal staff.

On August 28, 2014, DB submitted the charge sheet of the case against seven, including Salauddin's wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury and son Hummam Quader Chowhury.
ACC plans own intelligence unit

Rajshahi Ccorrespondent :

In an attempt to speed up and smoothen the anti-graft activities, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is mulling a plan to form its own intelligence unit soon.

"Own intelligence unit is going to be formed to find out corrupt persons in the society," said AFM Aminul Islam, ACC Commissioner, on Tuesday in a programme.

He added that the issue had been incorporated in priority list in implementation process of the ACC's Five-year Strategic Work-plan. The intelligent unit will also collect information and carry out investigation side by side with the ACC officials.

He was distributing prizes among the District and Upazila Corruption Prevention Committees of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions here on Tuesday. He also addressed the function held at the Shilpakala Academy auditorium as the chief guest.

ACC Director (Investigation) Md Muniruzzaman, Rajshahi Divisional Director Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, Commissioner of Rajshahi division Noor-Ur-Rahman and Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Shafiqul Islam also addressed the programme. Deputy Commissioner of Rajshahi Kazi Ashraf Uddin presided over the meeting. ACC Commissioner Aminul Islam said that no more corrupt people would be able to hide their black money as the intelligence unit would collect information and submit those to us. Instant action will be taken against those who will be found guilty. No one will go unpunished after committing corruption," he said. "We have taken initiative of forming intelligence unit for accurate investigation and to infuse dynamism in the investigation activities," Aminul Islam said. "We are marching ahead and becoming stronger day by day," ACC Commissioner said adding that the ACC arrested 450 officers and employees by this time. The figure will rise after formation of the unit.

Later, the guests distributed prizes among the best corruption preventers on the occasion.
Dispute flares up over inclusion of WB, IMF in SDGs

Dispute have flared up in the Inter-Parliamentary Union [IPU] Assembly over possible "inclusion" of World Bank and International Monetary Fund when the legislators firmly expressed doubt over the "working capability" of the two global money lenders in the tasks of achieving Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].

The issue, especially the capability and legal jurisdictions of WB and IMF, was raised at the meeting of Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs on Tuesday, which was chaired by Swedish Parliament member Anti Avsan.

Taking part in the discussion, the parliamentarians raised question what would be the "working area" of the two financial giants, as both of them have "huge limitations". Expressing dissatisfaction, the lawmakers attending IPU Assembly in Dhaka, said the two organizations only could lend to different nations, but they have no capability to give decision on other important matters. Hardly, the two can supervise their sanctioned loans, if it is necessary, meeting sources said. "Apart from WB, IMF, issue, the lawmakers have laid emphasis on the participation of the United Nations to achieve SDGs as well as taking more pragmatic steps" Anti Avsan said after the meeting. Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Fazle Rabbi Mia said Bangladesh achieved Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "And so, the SDGs will also be achieved in the same way. I do urge all the IPU members to work together in this regard," he said. Saudi Arabian representative said there is no alternative to educating female community as of the total global poor population; the number of women is the highest. Besides, the representatives of China, Zimbabwe, China, Bahrain and India expressed their views over the SDGs issue.

Meanwhile, the closing session of the five-day IPU Assembly will be held today (Wednesday) which Governing Council decisions on the human rights of MPs and Reports of specialized meetings will also come up for vdiscussion. Governing Council will adopt resolutions, Reports of the Standing Committees, outcome document of the General debate, and Closing sitting at Hall of Fame. Bangladesh Speaker and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will address the General Assembly at 2:30 pm.

Earlier on Saturday, the 136th IPU Assembly began where the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Children's Rights Activist Kailash Satyarthi presented the key-note paper. This year, the theme of IPU Assembly is "redressing inequalities: delivering on dignity and well-being for all". Actually, the main focus of the IPU Assembly is 'taking decisive action to end rising social, political and economic inequalities and to ensure no interference in internal affairs of the states in the present global context. About 1,348 delegates, including 650 parliament members, 53 Speakers, Deputy Speakers and 209 female parliamentarians of 131 countries, attended the programme. "The 136th IPU Assembly will help showcase the country's ongoing economic progress before the international community," IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury said. The surprise of this year's IPU Assembly was the "big twist of Pakistan" at the eleventh hour without officially citing any reason behind it. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry conveyed its decision to Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad through a "note verbale". Interestingly, the Standing Committee members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] in a recent crucial meeting have termed the IPU Assembly in Bangladesh is nothing but a farce" where parliament does not represent the people.

"The IPU Assembly is nothing but a farce in a country where parliament doesn't represent people, democratic institutions have been ruined while people's human rights have been snatched, and people are plagued by killings, enforced disappearances, wholesale arrests and false cases," BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said recently, echoing his party leaders' voice on the mega event.

BNP stalwarts, however, called upon the IPU members to take a moral stance in favour of establishing a representative parliamentary system in Bangladesh through a participatory election.
Hilsa catching ban ahead of Pohela Boishakh

Anisul Islam Noor :

Though Hilsa becomes an element of celebrating Pohela Boishakh, the government has extended the ban of catching Hilsa to two months (March and April) this year.

Consumption for Hilsa increases 20 times during the Boishakh festival marking the Bengali New Year's Day which is celebrated on April 14 every year.

The peak growing periods for Hilsa is between March and June while March-April period is a critical time for Jatka (baby Hilsa having length below 23 centimetres), sources said.

Earlier, the ban was hardly for one month in the corresponding period of previous years.

Supporting of the government's initiative social leaders and cultural personalities have said, consuming only Hilsa fish on Pohela Boishakh is not a part of our culture.

Many traders and corporate culture are usually behind the promotion of this culture during the festival to make windfall profits, they said.

The people, who started this, have ignored the ecology matter, said Cultural Expert and Ecologist Pavel Partho.

"As far as I could learn savouring Hilsa dish on this particular day only started from the end of the last century," he said.

Director General of the Department of Fisheries Arif Azad said the Department is working to supply Hilsa across the year. There is no relation of the delicious fish with Pohela Boishakh, he said. The peak growing periods for Hilsa is between March and June while March-April period is a critical time for Jatka (baby Hilsa having length below 23 centimetres), he said.

Zahid Habib, an official at the Hilsa Division of the DoF said the annual catch of Hilsa from rivers and sea stands at above 0.395 million tonnes of which more than 40 per cent are consumed during March-April period.

He said Hilsa catch could be doubled in next few years if we could control Jatka fishing in March-June period. Banning period has been increased to protect Jatka and raise Hilsa production, he said. The sea points like Cox's Bazar and Barisal are out of the fishing embargo, he said.

The Hilsa sanctuaries, covering area of 350 kilometres across Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Bhola, Patuakhali and Shariatpur districts are under the fishing ban.

The DoF provides 0.238 million fishermen with 40 kilogrammes (kg) of rice each during the banning period.

However, the supply of Hilsa was much lesser for last few weeks with its higher prices in the markets.

President of Bangladesh Fish Traders Association Md Golam Mortuza said it is now a puzzle for us as the government imposes ban when demand rises by 20 times.

He said traders in Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and Barisal are now storing Hilsa to release those for sale during the Beishakh festival to make windfall profits.

Md Mizanur Rahman, Proprietor of Sea Foods Ltd, the country's first online-based sea-food supplier told journalists that prices of Hilsa is now hovering between Tk 600 and Tk 700 per kg (medium) and Tk 1200 and Tk 1400 (big) a kg in Chittagong.
Hasina starts Delhi visit Friday

33 deals, MoUs expected to be signed: High hope runs among people: Teesta deal unlikely this time

Staff Reporter :

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will start her second historic four-day state visit to India on Friday, triggering high hopes among the people of Bangladesh.

The PM is going to Delhi at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. This visit will take place more than 7 years after Hasina's last visit to India in January 2010 and almost 2 years after Modi's visit to Bangladesh in June 2015.

Hasina will hold official talks with Modi on April 8.

Different political parties, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party, warned that the people will not accept any deal against the country's national interest.

BNP on Tuesday also demanded that the government make public before the Prime Minister's India tour all the possible deals and MoUs to be signed with the neighbouring country. The government made its stand clear that no agreement contrary to the national interest will be signed and all deals will be made public.

Senior Ministers on Tuesday said Teesta Water Sharing Agreement might not be inked for now. It may be inked later, but a significant progress has been made to this end, they said, adding there is so much on the plate during the Prime Minister's India visit.

Issues relating to the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement, the Ganges Barrage and killing of Bangladeshis along the border by the Indian Border Security Force will come up for discussion during the PM's visit, diplomatic sources said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh and India have taken necessary preparations to sign 'more or less 33 deals and MoUs' during Hasina's April 7-10 visit, considered extremely important by both sides.

A five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation and four other related documents are also there on the list of deals to be signed. Replying to a query on the possibility of any defence cooperation pact between the two countries, a diplomat told this reporter that there had been a significant cooperation and collaboration between the two countries in many ways in this particular area.

"There will be an opportunity to begin fresh talks over various issues. Besides further expanding the cordial and cooperative relationship between India and Bangladesh, the upcoming visit will strengthen the Dhaka-Delhi trust," Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told journalists at a press conference on Tuesday. When asked whether any defence deal will be signed with India, he said everybody will be able to see when it is done. "All will be made public," he said, adding that Bangladesh will honour 1,661 Indian soldiers posthumously for their contribution during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.

AH Mahmood Ali said there are possibilities to sign 33 Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) or agreements with India on various issues.

"The MoUs and deals may include Border Haat establishment, information and broadcasting, civil nuclear cooperation, science and technology, ICT, satellite and space research, geological science, defence cooperation, third Line of Credit (LoC), community clinic installation and cooperation on power sector," he said.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said no agreement against the national interest as well as sovereignty will be signed during the visit.

"There is no bar to signing of any defence or civil deal if the national interest is protected," he said.

"The Teesta deal may be inked later, but a significant progress has been made to this end. So, there is no chance of being frustrated as signing of the deal is a matter of time," he said.

Meanwhile, when contacted Ainun Nishat, Professor Emeritus of BRAC University and Water Expert, said all technical discussion about the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement completed earlier.

"And now it is a political decision to implement the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement. Politicians of both the countries will have to come forward in this regard," he said. When contacted Major General (Retd) Abdur Rashid, security analyst and Executive Director, Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies, said people will have to be informed that the signing of a defence cooperation deal does not mean formation of a military alliance.

Meanwhile, BNP's senior leaders said Sheikh Hasina government's relations with India have turned sour after the procurement of submarines from China by Bangladesh.

They urged the Prime Minister not to sign any anti-state deal with India during her upcoming visit to the neighbouring country.


Remittance slides despite steps

Badrul Ahsan :

The remittance inflow in the month of March fell by 16 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year despite several attempts taken by the government to prevent fall, sources said.

According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, non-resident Bangladeshis' (NRB) remitted Tk 86.19 billion last month against Tk 102.80 billion during the corresponding month of 2016.

The trend of remittance has been on the slide since beginning of last year.

However, money market experts attributed the low oil prices in the Gulf countries and political instabilities and civil war as reasons of remittance fall.

Subhankar Shah, Executive Director of the Central Bank, said the falling currency rate against dollar and low oil prices have hit the earnings of the Middle Eastern countries where most Bangladeshi migrants work.

"Slump in oil price hurt the overall earnings of the wage earners mostly from the Gulf Countries, which pushed remittance inflow to downward."

"Some NRBs are also using informal channel, including mobile banking, for sending their money home," he said. Meanwhile, two teams of experts of Bangladesh Bank (BB) are visiting Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore to find reasons behind the declining trend of remittances.

M Akhtaruzzaman, BB Economic Advisor is leading a three-member team in Saudi Arabia where over 80 lakh Bangladeshis have been working and a record amount of US$2955.55 million was remitted in Fiscal Year 2015-16.

Another team headed by General Manager of BB Governor's Secretariat Dr M Habibur Rahman has gone to Malaysia and Singapore, to discover reasons and to boost forex income of the country.

The Central Bank through the Foreign Ministry has also asked the Bangladesh missions abroad to take necessary steps in getting the cooperation of law enforces of the respective countries to stop the use of illegal channels by the Bangladeshi workers in sending remittances home.

Alongside the initiative, the BB has also asked different mobile banking operators to enhance their surveillance in the mobile money transactions, besides lowering the ceiling of such transactions to check any abuse of the services.

Meanwhile, Banks and Financial Institutions of BB have recently submitted a proposal to the authority to provide incentive to local expatriate who are working abroad so that the NBRs become encouraged to send their hard-earned money through the legal channel.

Bangladesh gets bulk of its remittance from the Gulf countries.

Bangladesh migrants sent home US$1337.14 million from Malaysia and US$387.24 million from Singapore in 2015-16.
IPU conference was an opportunity to discuss crisis of parliamentary democracy

Dhaka is hosting the five-day high profile conference of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) with more than 1500 representatives from around 131 countries taking part in it. It is a very extra-ordinary event for Bangladesh to benefit from the exchange of views of the participants on how democracy and parliamentary system is working in various countries.



We must say this event must make significant contribution to strengthen our democracy and parliamentary system now facing serious troubles in all fronts.



Protection of weak and small nations from interference in their internal affairs and physical intervention by big powers dominated discussion in first two days as participants focused attention to set up a mechanism for protection of weaker nations. The war in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine showed how defenseless weaker nations are calling for collective efforts to their safety.



. But discussion on the floor was not that much concentrating on the problems that parliamentary democracy is facing in many participating countries.



Some speakers from Bangladesh were too anxious not to discuss functioning of democracy in the country. The namesake opposition member in Parliament Kazi Feroze Rashid told the conference that the government has thwarted conspiracy of the opposition parties to destroy democracy and it goes to government credit that it was able to hold a free and fair election (in 2014) to elect the present government.



The question was not raised how there can be a working parliament in the absence of opposition. In any democracy elected opposition is fundamental to democracy. But not in our parliament. Only government exists in the parliament.



Some of the speakers have however rightly pointed out that mere election does not suggest democracy exists. But our's is only parliamentary system where the sitting ministers do not resign or members of the parliament do not vacate their seats for the national elections.



Democratic election requires inclusive election to be participated by all political parties to make it acceptable by the people. The absence of an inclusive election keeping the major opposition away from election is seriously undermining our democratic process.



Our Parliament Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury also highlighted the inclusive nature of democracy. But ignored to mention that she is presiding over the parliament where there is no room for the opposition. Those who are mockery of democracy, they are creating the opportunity for autocracy to come.



Indian representative said over 35 political parties are represented in the Indian Parliament and because India has the parliamentary system it is a country still united. Laying emphasis on free media for protection of democracy and human rights, Kenyan representative said free press does not allow covering up anything and that is why democracy works.



South Korean representative said they have been able to reach democracy to the grassroots and his comment bears out the truth from the fact that the country only recently impeached the former President Park Geun-hye for abuse of power.



Mr B Tishirelast President of the Standing Committee on Human Rights issues asked the member states to strengthen efforts to protect democracy and human rights now facing challenges in developing nations.



We believe, elaborate discussions on how to ensure effective and positive functioning of democracy would have done better for countries where democracy merely remains by name and down sliding. If fighting terrorism means denying democracy then we will have state terrorism instead of ending terrorism.



On that count, there was a unique opportunity for our political leadership for drawing valuable lessons for working of democracy while identifying and repairing its existing weaknesses in running the country.



Most importantly, a key topic of the conference could have been - why should democratically elected political leaders should use terrorism to destroy democracy.



Nevertheless, today being the concluding day of the IPU conference, we hope our international parliamentarian should emphasise not to use terrorism for destroying democracy helping to state terrorism to impose itself on the people.


If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.
The state office of Alcohol & Tobacco Control announced new regulations on on-site sales and events that, according to one local craft brewer, would have put several independent Louisiana brewies out of business.

Photo by Robin May

Sighs of relief are bubbling to the surface at craft breweries across the state after the commissioner of the office of Alcohol & Tobacco Control Monday backed off stricter new regulations governing Louisianas burgeoning microbrewery industry. Dorsey Knott, one of three Knott brothers who founded and operate the seven-year-old Bayou Teche Brewing Co. in Arnaudville, says he was near his phone all morning Monday getting text-message updates from representatives of the Louisiana Craft Brewers Guild, who had an emergency meeting with ATC Commissioner Juana Marine-Lombard in New Orleans. The two sides, Knott says, achieved a detente that will more or less allow craft breweries to operate under the status quo  that is, sell food and have live music on their premises.

Dorsey Knott Facebook

Friday I thought for sure several of us would be closed, but as of this morning everythings fine, Knott says.

Mondays development was a 180, Knott says, after craft brewers learned of new ATC restrictions earlier this year.

Six weeks ago we got a list of changes and interpretations that wouldve put a lot of breweries out of business, he recalls. We werent allowed to have our bands anymore, werent allowed to have food, werent allowed to serve beer where people could consume it in a biergarten. It really restricted us.

As The Advocate reported Saturday:

The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control issued an advisory on the new rules Friday that has brewery owners hopping mad. The owner of Parish Brewing in Broussard said hes considering moving out of state, and the owner of NOLA Brewery in New Orleans predicts three to four closures this year.

The advisory on the new rules had been in the works for about a month to clarify regulations called into question after all breweries received cease and desist letters in the fall and some received citations for practices they had thought were permissible.

The letter and citations made owners question if things like hosting yoga events, hiring live music and allowing food trucks to operate at the brewery would be allowed under the new administration.

Once the advisory was issued, however, the progress that industry leaders said they felt while working with ATC evaporated as the advisory included other new regulations in addition to permitting things like yoga and live bands.

That was Friday. By the conclusion of Mondays meeting, Knott says, Marine-Lombard agreed to soften the new regulations and to revisit the issue in two months. (The Independent called Marine-Lombards office in Baton Rouge Monday and was told someone from ATC would call us back but we have yet to hear from the agency.)

Among the new regulations that had brewers worried was a requirement that food sales account for no more than 25 percent of retail receipts in taprooms that serve food. The food limits were well below what anybody could do and still sell food, Knott says. If you buy a burger you have to consume like 15 beers, he adds with a chuckle. It really wouldve put breweries and their business models out of business.

New state regulations would've undermined the burgeoning food-sales and live music component that has helped local craft breweries like Bayou Teche (above) thrive. Facebook

By Monday, according to Knott, Marine-Lombard agreed to extend the 25-percent regulation concerning food sales to total beer sales by the brewery. She also agreed to allow craft breweries to offer live music  as long as its performed under some kind of covering like a patio, porch or gazebo; the proposed regulations issued Friday wouldve required live music be restricted to taprooms. The regulations issued Friday by ATC wouldve also prohibited on-site food trucks at craft breweries. On Monday, according to Knott, Marine-Lombard softened that rule to stipulate that food trucks are OK as long as theyre not owned or operated by a business that has a state-issued liquor license.

These developments come after a number of craft breweries in the state received cease-and-desist letters from ATC last fall, mainly concerning food sales and live music, according to the article Saturday in The Advocate.

So, who was the source of the complaints? Many of them were anonymous, according to earlier communications between Marine-Lombard and the guild. Knott speculates that individual restaurateurs who felt financially threatened by newer breweries serving food were behind some of those complaints. But, according to The Advocates report, brewery owners say Marine-Lombard herself acknowledged that she had been pressured by the Louisiana Restaurant Assocation, a powerful lobbying group with deep pockets.

Knott, however, is quick to praise Marine-Lombard for working with the guild to find compromises.

A lot of this over the weekend made it seem like shes kind of a jackboot, but shes been very gracious with her time, he says. There was widespread panic in the Louisiana brewing industry that all the things we thought we had gained by [working through the Legislature] would be undone. ...I think, to be fair, everyones happy [now]. Overall, the things that have made Louisiana breweries successful, we still have in place.

Read The Advocate's Saturday story here.
Right of picture shows the arrest of a protester after Kazakh security services shot 14 oil workers.



Tony Blair has turned out to be one of the more disreputable prime minister the UK has ever had. And it takes something to gain that accolade when you look at those who have occupied that position. When in office he committed the greatest sin for any PM he sent young men and women to war on a wicked lie.



Since he left office he has toured the world hovering up millions of dollars from some of the most despicable dictators on the planet.



Robert Mendick, chief reporter at the Telegraph wrote:





Tony Blair demanded more than 5 million a year to advise a dictator through his secretive consulting business.

Leaked documents show for the first time the huge fees charged by Tony Blair Associates, a company set up by the former prime minister on leaving Downing Street, in a much criticised deal with Kazakhstan.





Kazakhstan is a former Soviet republic in which Nursultan Nazarbayev moved with ease from being

the First Secretary of the Communist Party to Dictator of all he surveys after the Soviet Union imploded. Like Nazarbayev's hero Uncle Joe, he now goes by the title 'Leader of the Nation.'



Not a natural bedfellow you might believe for a former leader of the Labour Party, but with people like Mr Blair it's the mighty dollar which does the talking.



Mendick continues:





Mr Blairs company earned millions of pounds over at least six years advising the Kazakhstan government and its autocratic president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

It is claimed Mr Blair first began negotiations to offer advice to Mr Nazarbayev in 2009 and began formally working with the government in 2011. By the time the contract was being renewed in late 2014, Mr Blair's team was offering a series of services at a total cost of $6.3 million - about 5.3 million.





So what were these service Blair provided to this dictator? We're told they're for advising the regime on judicial, economic and political reforms. If he has been advising the dictator on economic matters they have not improved the lives of ordinary Kazakh's. Under the iron rule of Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has become one of the most corrupt nations in the world. It is thought the dictator's family gets a slice off the top of all government contracts. It favours home grown corporations whose way of doing business is more in tune with the US mafia.



Human Rights Watch reported last year:





An economic court in Shymkent, in southern Kazakhstan, on December 5, 2016, began reviewing a case brought by the Justice Ministry against the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan. Three other affiliated industrial trade unions face liquidation as well.

Kazakhstan should be allowing workers to organise freely in compliance with its international obligations, not trying to shut down a major workers organisation.





Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said:





Trampling on basic labour rights is both wrong in principle and in the signal it sends to Kazakhstans partners.





None of this bothered Tony Blair, given he surfed on trade union money to become Prime minister one would have thought he might have a degree of empathy with Kazakhstan trade unionists but not a bit of it. *



Robert Mendick in his Telegraph article continues:





The complex structure of his corporate empire makes it impossible to know precisely what Tony Blair Associates receives nor the personal profits received by Mr Blair.

His personal fortune, which includes a number of properties co-owned with his wife and children, has been estimated at as much as 80 million.

The 2014 contract proposal, entitled Supporting Kazakhstans Journey: Continuing the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Tony Blair Associates describes over eight pages offers one project leader and one junior adviser based in Astana, the Kazakh capital.

But TBA also make a series of demands that include the provision of a dedicated driver and car paid for by the Kazakh taxpayer as well as additional translators and interpreters.

Kazakhstan also pays for full travel arrangements for Tony Blairs personal visits, including first-class hotel accommodation, all transportation, appropriate catering and any other costs.

On each visit Mr Blair will travel with up to five people although the letter points out that his protection officers, supplied by the Metropolitan Police, will not be paid by the Government of Kazakhstan. Their travel and accommodation bills are picked up by the UK taxpayer.





It is pretty clear Tony Blair Associates were firmly embedded within the dictatorship. The Telegraph had previously disclosed details of a leaked letter from Mr Blair to Mr Nazarbayev offering him public relations advice on how to deal with the massacre of striking workers in the oil town of Zhanaozen in December 2011.





Let me run that past readers again:





Details from leaked letter from Mr Blair to Mr Nazarbayev offering him public relations advice on how to deal with the massacre of striking workers in the oil town of Zhanaozen in December 2011.





This is the company which Blair keeps, why any reputable newspaper would give this man house room is beyond me, but as we saw from his recent intervention on Brexit this is exactly what papers like the Guardian and broadcasters like Channel Four News do.



According to Wikileaks critics say that the country's government has come to resemble a clan system.



In 2014, the Kazakh authorities closed newspapers, jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful protests. The law doesn't provide for an independent judiciary, corruption is evident at every stage of the judicial process.



What I find so disturbing about Blair's intervention on the side of the Kazakh dictatorship, it gave the green light to British companies to do business with this dictatorship and its aligned corporations.



Kazakhstan is a nasty grubby 'democratic' dictatorship in which the head of state has blood splashed all over himself, but hey, Tony Blair like Don Vito Corleone in the movie:

"Is just doing business."
SALINA, Kan.  Attorneys representing two Salina, Kansas, men accused of conspiring to commit capital murder in Carbondale are requesting a transcript of testimony a witness in a Saline County (Kansas) District Court hearing previously gave to a grand jury in Illinois.

Prosecutor Amy Norton, an assistant Saline County attorney, said she will submit an affidavit to an Illinois prosecutor requesting the transcript of Roland Chatmons testimony regarding Xavier E. Lewis, 25, and Xavier L. McCray, 22. The prosecutor will ask the court to unseal the document for the Kansas courts use.

Chatmon said several times during his testimony Monday, as a preliminary hearing that started in February for McCray and Lewis continued, that he didnt remember the details of conversations he had with McCray in late July and early August.

After a full day of testimony, the preliminary hearing was continued until 1:30 p.m. May 17. At the conclusion, Saline County District Judge Rene Young will determine if evidence is sufficient to bind over McCray and Lewis for trial. Young refused requests to lower bond on the two men from $500,000.

Co-defendant Alex B. Karcher, 22, is scheduled for a separate preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. April 25. Karcher also is accused of being part of a drug ring that delivered and trafficked marijuana in the Carbondale area.

Charged with conspiracy

In Saline County, Karcher, Lewis and McCray are accused of agreeing to travel from Kansas to Jackson County, Illinois to assist in committing capital murder pursuant to a contract or agreement to kill between July 27 and Aug. 1. Authorities allege the intended murder victims were Judios Kizeart, Darien Williams-Wright and Robert Harris.

A Jackson County Court website did not show any charges against Lewis, McCray or Karcher Monday in connection with any shootings that occurred during that time frame, including the nonfatal shooting of Carbondale police Officer Trey Harris.

Stories differed

Attorneys realized Chatmon had testified before a Carbondale grand jury while he was testifying Monday and said he was driven there to testify.

He said he spoke to McCray on three occasions about shootings that allegedly occurred in Illinois. His testimony contrasted with what Illinois trooper Jared Freeman testified Chatmon said during a recorded interview.

Chatmon said that before McCray left his house with a man Chatmon didnt know, McCray told him he was going to Arizona.

Freeman said Chatmon told police McCray told him he was going to a town in Illinois that started with the letter C to take care of business for some of his boys that had drugs that were ripped.

Shooting, chase discussed

Chatmon testified that the next day McCray called from Illinois and said something went bad and somebody got hit. Norton asked if McCray had said the person who got hit was a police officer. Chatmon said he didnt remember that.

Freeman said Chatmon told him McCray was in Southern Illinois and had been to a lake house where there were choppers, or assault rifles.

Chatmon said his third conversation with McCray occurred shortly after he returned to Salina. He said McCray showed him an article on his cellphone about an Illinois police officer being shot.

He said he got into it with somebody, Chatmon said. They got into a shoot-out or something.

Freeman testified that Chatmon said McCray told him he was involved in a shooting and chase and they had burned the vehicle they were riding in.

He stated that a shooting had taken place; there was a pursuit, and they had to shoot at the police, Freeman said. He didnt think they hit the police officer; he thought they hit the engine block, and thats why the vehicle stopped.

The Carbondale Police Department previously stated that Harris was injured in the line of duty on July 31 after engaging in a pursuit with a vehicle police spotted fleeing at a high rate of speed from an area where police were responding to investigate a call of shots fired on North Robert A. Stalls Street. It is alleged that the Kansas City men charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder shot at the officer as they attempted to outrun police. After Harris was hit, the pursuit ended, the Carbondale Police Department has said.

Charles OHara, who represents Lewis, asked Chatmon the same questions he asked every witness Monday: Did they hear the defendants say they were planning to kill anybody? Did they mention Kizeart, Williams-Wright or Harris? Chatmon, like other witnesses asked, said no.

 The Southern Illinoisan contributed to this report, which is reprinted with permission from the Salina Journal.
Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office

An Eastwood Circle returned from her home after being away from the night to discover someone kicked in the back door and stole several items.

She called deputies on Saturday at 5:32 p.m.

Once deputies arrived at her residence and made sure there wasnt anyone lurking in her home, she noticed the following items were stolen: a 32-inch Emerson flat-screen TV, a 32-inch Vizio flat screen TV, an Xbox360 gaming system and five pairs of Jordan sneakers.

The value of the stolen items is $1,450.

Deputies recovered forensic evidence from the scene that may lead them to a potential suspect.

Deputies arrived at a Baugh Street residence on Sunday at 12:27 a.m. where a woman reported that two televisions were stolen from her home. The value of the stolen TVs is $1,050.

Someone stole a boat motor from a man on Yahoo Drive, Eutawville, sometime between noon on March 29 and Sunday at 10 a.m.

The man called deputies to his home at 12:15 p.m. to report that someone stole his blue Yamaha 25CC three-cylinder boat motor that was attached to his boat in this back yard.

The motor is valued at $2,500.
The focus nationally has been on Russian hacking related to the 2016 election. Closer to home, a lot of South Carolinians at least potentially have been more directly affected by the scourge of the electronic age. And the problem is getting worse.

The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs has released its most recent Security Breach Report, outlining data from breaches that occurred from January 2012-December 2016. During this time, SCDCA received 185 security breach notices affecting 7.5 million South Carolina consumers.

Notable highlights include:

Forty-five breaches were reported in 2016, more than any other year.

Reports of retail and food service industry breaches more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, affecting 67,149 residents.

Nine breaches in the health care sector affected 202,745 residents in 2016.

The health care sector reported the most individual people affected by breaches in years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

South Carolina law requires that organizations notify SCDCA when more than 1,000 residents are affected by a breach, said Marti Phillips, director of SCDCAs Identity Theft Unit. In 2016, many breaches affecting less than 1,000 South Carolina residents were reported, providing a more accurate picture of the scope of these breaches and the accompanying risks affecting our residents.

The report is clear evidence that the online risk is real, but an individual's ability to protect vital information and personal date is limited.

Where the individual can do more is in being aware of scams, many of them related to computers and phones, and not becoming a victim.

Again, the SCDCA has some bad news for South Carolinians via a new report.

Throughout 2016, SCDCAs Identity Theft Unit fielded roughly 2,000 calls, 1,644 of which were scam reports. More than half of the reported scams were imposter scams (59 percent), while the next two highest categories were sweepstakes (10 percent) and debt collection (9 percent).

In total, consumers reported actual losses of more than $650,000 from scams, and the potential loss of more than $350,000 by those who did not fall victim to the scams they reported.

Since breaches related to your personal information are ultimately aimed at your money, and so are scams, there are important points to remember regarding the threat.

In using your computer and phone, create "strong" and unique passwords, do not use the same password for multiple services, apply software updates when necessary, read the permissions before installing apps, avoid inserting hard drives and thumb drives you don't trust into your computer and make sure a website is secure before you enter personal information.

To head off scams:

Be wary of e-mail requests for personal, financial or other sensitive information and take time to verify the request in person or via telephone.

Dont transmit account information or sensitive employee information by unsecured email.

Establish a multiperson approval process for transactions above a certain amount and sensitive information requests.

Dont pay upfront for a promise. Someone might ask you to pay in advance. They might even say youve won a prize, but first you have to pay taxes or fees. If you do, they will probably take the money and disappear.

Hang up on robocalls. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded sales pitch, hang up and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

Be skeptical about free trial offers.

Dont deposit a check and wire money back. By law, banks must make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. If a check you deposit turns out to be a fake, youre responsible for repaying the bank.

As much as it seems the electronic age has opened many new doors to stealing and scamming, it's worthy of noting that there are some people since the beginning of time looking to take advantage of others. The primary change is in the methods and tools.

Be aware and don't become a victim -- which in this age seems to be applicable advice even at the top levels of our national leadership.

----

The SCDCA is there to help protect consumers. Visit www.consumer.sc.gov or call toll-free, 1-800-922-1594 for assistance.
Street vending has gone beyond the traditional fruit and vegetable stalls.

Not for the first time, the Unity Labour Party government is promising action to clean-up capital Kingstown.





The most recent indication of another plan came from Senator Julian Francis, on his weekly (Tuesday) radio programme on Star FM.





Senator Francis did not detail any of the real action proposed, preferring, as he said, to avoid details until such time as they are firmedup.





When they are, Francis promised that they will be taken to the people.

What he assured, with overwhelming confidence, was that the plan his government had in mind should unfold in time to see changes for this years carnival.





And he had a direct message for street vendors when he said that most of the uncleanliness in Kingstown is due to street vending.





Indication was given that some of the action being considered includes the power washing, painting of state-owned and private sector-owned buildings, and the cleaning of drains.





There was no indication as to whether vendors would be removed from sidewalks or other areas of Kingstown that have become congested with persons plying their trade.





There have been a number of efforts to regulate street vending in and around Kingstown and the operations of shops and other vendors in Little Tokyo.





One observer told THE VINCENTIAN, that it was clear that the number of persons carrying on business on the sidewalks of main and secondary streets in the capital has increased over the recent past.





THE VINCENTIAN understands that the Kingstown Town Board has the authority to collect a fee from street vendors. The extent to which this is enforced, is not known.
Julian Mongkin Murray, given the sentiments expressed, was a well-loved person in the Mahoe community. inset: The house from which Julian Murrays badly beaten body was removed. His brother is seated in the verandah.





On Saturday 25th March, a 58-year-old man of Mahoe, Campden Park, was allegedly the recipient of a severe beating at the hands of his relatives.





Julian Murray, aka Mongkin, was rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Monday 27th March, but succumbed to his injuries one day later.





Beating at the hands of relatives





Relatives of the deceased, through sobs and tears, told THE VINCENTIAN that they were convinced Murrays death was the result of a beating he got during an altercation with other relatives.





Murray, showing signs of being badly beaten, was taken out of the house he shared with a brother, a sister and a niece, last Monday.





A female friend of Murray had gone to the house on Monday after not seeing him for two days and, according to a relative, they had to "make noise to get him out of the house because they (relatives) did not want him to leave.





Albert Murray, Julians cousin, told THE VINCENTIAN that he had been told around 3pm on Saturday, by some relatives, that Julian had been "beaten up. Not aware of the extent of the injuries, he advised that they call the ambulance and the police.





He confirmed that it was a female friend of Murray who initiated his removal from the house, on Monday.

A visibly distraught Albert also said that he understood that his cousin, before he passed away, was able to tell the police who had inflicted the beating on him.





"I dont know how family could be so wicked, and I hope Mongkin get justice, declared Albert.





Always ready to help





According to persons in the community, Julian Murray was not permanently employed, but he would avail himself to assist persons in his community. "Sometimes he would get a small payment, one resident said.

Another remembered him making trips to "the mountains to pick mangoes and plumrose, and come back to the village and call out, Sale see me this side.





"Anybody go tell you about this guy. He is quiet. The only thing is he drink his little booze, said yet another villager, adding, "Oh God, why them have to do Julian like dat? Everybody want justice, we dont want scape goat justice. All unfair games would have to play again.




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.
Fuelled

Bases

The British Empire encouraged divisions



Plunder

Attacks

Famine threatens 20 million people, including 1.4 million children, in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and parts of Nigeria The United Nations has said that 4 billion is needed to combat the immediate crisis. This sounds a large amount, but its what the US spends every three days on its military machine.Famines today are not about an overall lack of food. For the world as a whole, food production per person has risen from about 2,220 calories per person per day in the early 1960s to over 2,800 in the 2000s.People die not because the food is unavailable, but more commonly because they cant afford to buy it.Famine is often closely connected to war, and in the present example wars are central.Wars destroy transport routes, make it hard to move in search of food and mean that opposing forces use food as a weapon.Somalia in east Africa is a clear example. Three million people are at risk there and six million are malnourished. It is the third famine in 25 years.The last one, in 2011, cost over 260,000 lives.Drought is a factor, but the key issue is the wars fuelled by outside forces. Somalia has been a target of the great powers ever since its independence in 1960.Its strategic position, with close access to the oil lanes of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, means that it was a prize during the Cold War between Russia and the United States.That intensified after Irans 1979 revolution removed a key US ally in the Middle East.In the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War the leader of Sudan declared support for Iraqs Saddam Hussein. Seven million people were on the edge of starvation but the US diverted a ship away from Sudan that was bringing 90,000 tons of wheat.In 1992 the US invaded Somalia, using famine as a pretext. Initially welcomed, the US soon became hated.Massacres and torture by the US-led forces made them deeply resented and eventually resistance forced a humiliating US withdrawal.Today US troops are in Somalia again as part of their war on terror, fighting Al Shabaab, a group that is loosely affiliated with Al Qaida.This group was born out of the US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. The brutal warfare tactics used by Ethiopian troops led people to see Al Shabaab as bringing some sort of stability.Solidifying US influence in the region are groups of special forces, private contractors and the Somali national armytrained and equipped by the US.Africa has key natural resources that were fought over by European colonial powers in the late nineteenth century. Today there is another phase of the scramble for Africaone where trade pressures are again backed by military forces.The US has dozens of outposts in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Senegal, the Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.It also has a major base in Djibouti in east Africa, as does France, and soon China will also have a naval base there.France has several major military bases and troops in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania.Germany has a military base in Niger and troops in several sub-Saharan African countries. Russia is accused of seeking to grab influence in Libya.The immense military expenditure in order to control and discipline African countries stands in stark contrast to the lack of action over famine.Far from saving people, the US and its allies are sealing their fate.In Yemen the famine is caused largely by a bitter civil war where the side the US and Saudi Arabia backs is deliberately blockading ports to stop food shipments arriving. This means people starve.British firmsmaking great profitsprovided the weaponry to Saudi Arabia that enforces the starvation strategy.And conditions for people living in Africa are getting worse thanks to imperialism. In 1820 the average wage of a worker in Africa was a third of that of a worker in Europe. By 2010 the average European earns 20 times as much.Economic inequality means that the effects of famine are felt more harshly.And famine is also more likely thanks to the European colonial restructuring of African economies. Focusing on key crops and commodities for export to trade on world markets meant African countries became increasingly reliant on trade, on unfavourable terms, rather than self-sufficiency.South Sudan has already declared a famine and has a long and complex history with the West.Britain controlled the area until 1956. Clan tensions were manipulated and increasedwhere no tensions existed they created new ones.The Sudanese shared a common language and religion. But to rule the area the British empire encouraged divisions by giving prestige and patronage to some and ignoring others.It established different official languages and religions, and the West used this to subjugate South Sudan and plunder its resources.Even after independence these divisions were still encouraged to maintain Western control.The effects of this are still felt today. After independence the country was left with a flawed system that reinforced the clan divisionsoften those in South Sudan were excluded from decision making.The US and other powers were attracted by oil reserves and attacked the country if it did not follow its orders.In 1998, under president Bill Clinton, the US launched Cruise missiles on the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory near Khartoum. Claims that it was producing nerve gas were widely discredited.Al-Shifa provided 50 percent of Sudans medicines, and its destruction, according to one leading German diplomat, caused several tens of thousands of deaths.The West still looks to exert a heavy influence. The divisions established by imperialism still play a role.Now civil war wreaks havoc and thousands have been displaced as internal refugees and famine affects millions.A three-year war in South Sudan has seen tens of thousands of civilians killed in horrific attacks, often targeted on the basis of their ethnicity. The US-supported government is the major culprit.Famine is a part of this process.A report last month by the UN Commission on Human Rights into South Sudan describes deliberate starvation and bombardment of civilians.There were earlier reports of warning signs for ethnic cleansing and indicators for genocide, although the UN agency now says these have diminished.Western countries do give some foreign aid but this is usually comes with strings attached.Parts of Nigeria are also at risk of famine and again the common factor is war. Boko Haram is waging deadly attacks in North Eastern Nigeria and has killed thousands.The displacement of people fleeing the violence has led to a lack of crops and cultivation and the threat of famine.The governments fight against Boko Haram as part of the war on terror has increased the violence in the regions. Some elites in Nigeria have now backed the group in an attempt to regain control of the region.Famine is a particularly gross example of the mismatch between the potential to meet human need and capitalisms crushing of such possibilities.At the same time as further reports of famine appeared last week, US business magazine Forbes announced, It was a record year for the richest people on earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13 percent to 2,043 from 1,810 last year.Their total net worth rose by 18 percent to 6.15 trillion.As long as capitalism exists, great powers will exploit and manipulateand famine, war and disease will emerge again and again.
By Azernews





By Amina Nazarli

First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva met on April 3 with a group of soldiers and officers of the Azerbaijani Army who were wounded during the April battles in 2016.

The First Vice-President addressed the event saying that the April battles demonstrate the power of the Azerbaijani state and unity of the people.

The Azerbaijani army is strong and possesses state-of-the-art weapons and military hardware. Azerbaijani soldiers, showing high professionalism, patriotism, and heroism, liberated part of the lands which were under occupation, she said.

Praising the April battles as the greatest military victory of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva emphasized that our soldiers prevented another armed provocation of Armenia, and gave an adequate response to that.

A successful counter-offensive resulted in the liberation of thousands of hectares of land that was under occupation. The government once again showed the whole world that Azerbaijan will never reconcile with the occupation of its lands and that the Azerbaijani army is capable of successfully conducting any necessary operation, she added.



During the April battles, Azerbaijan suffered losses, said Mehriban Aliyeva.

Losing a child is the biggest tragedy for parents. No people want war. No mother wants to lose sons. May Allah rest the souls of all our martyrs. The bright memory of them will always live in the heart of the Azerbaijani people, she said.

Azerbaijan is a peace-loving country, said the First Vice-President, underlining that the country wants a peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and have been negotiating for more than 20 years.



However, no one should forget that Armenia seized Azerbaijani lands not by peaceful means, and Azerbaijan will never reconcile with this occupation. Azerbaijani soldiers, the sons of Azerbaijan are fighting for their Motherland, giving their lives for it. Their struggle is a fair fight. What do Armenian soldiers do on Azerbaijani lands? The reason for the conflict and losses lies in the fact that the Armenian soldiers are on the land of Azerbaijan, she stressed.



Appealing to Armenian mothers, Mrs. Aliyeva called on them not to let their children become victims of an aggressive policy and not to support the occupation policy.



Conflict must be stopped as soon as possible. Nagorno-Karabakh is the native land of Azerbaijan. The conflict must find an early solution within the norms of international law, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The occupying forces must leave the Azerbaijani lands, then peace will be restored in the region, and no mother, neither Armenian nor Azerbaijani, will shed tears over the grave of their sons, she said.

In general, the Azerbaijani state is paying special attention to restore the health of our soldiers who were injured and suffered in the battles for the territorial integrity of the country, said Mrs. Aliyeva.

The Vice-President said that every soldier is valuable for the Azerbaijani state and the Azerbaijani people. The Azerbaijani state is ready to take all necessary steps for the injured soldiers to return them back to normal life.

On my instructions each of you will be ensured with an individual approach. You will be provided with modern prostheses that promote normal dynamics of movement. Based on my instructions, a special group was created. People working in this group will carry out both the provision of prostheses and maintenance at a later stage. Within 20 days all the necessary work will be done, and I will be presented with the final report, she said.

Other speakers at the event included Minister of Defense, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population Salim Muslumov and officer Elshan Garayev who was wounded in the April battles.

Then the event featured the presentation of a project on the provision of soldiers and officers wounded in the April battles with high-tech prosthetics.

Under an agreement between Azerbaijan's MEDICOM company and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Azerbaijani soldiers and officers will be supplied with artificial replacements for their missing body parts produced by the world`s leading manufactures.

One of the most tragic conflicts in the history of the 20th century  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, that affected the destiny of millions, aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talysh, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.




By 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.
By Trend





Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has issued a statement in connection with the terror 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.

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 April 3.

A bomb went off at about 14:40 Moscow time on Monday in a metro train car when the train was moving from Tekhnologichesky Institut Station to Sennaya Ploshchad Station in St. Petersburg. The blast killed 11 and injured over 50 people.

The administration of St. Petersburg has declared three days of mourning starting from Tuesday after a metro blast on Monday.
By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Iran's Aseman Airlines and Boeing Company have inked a deal that will see Iran to purchase 60 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes.

The deal was concluded on Tuesday in Tehran. Under the deal, Iran will gradually receive the planes as of 2019, IRNA news agency reported.

Iran has several private and public airline companies in operation, among which IranAir is the oldest one. The number of operational airports in the country is 46.

Since sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic were lifted last year, Iran began to take steps to upgrade its air industry, revamp an aging airline fleet, equipment and airports.

When sanctions were eased in January 2016 after Iran certified that it had shelved its nuclear program, Tehran immediately opened talks with Boeing Co. and the European manufacturer Airbus to buy hundreds of aircraft. The deals represent the biggest commercial result of the nuclear accord.

Iran signed a $16.6 billion deal for 80 Boeing passenger jets on December 11, 2016. The deal between IranAir and U.S. plane maker Boeing includes 50 narrow-body 737 MAX aircraft and 30 long-haul 777s, split equally between the 777-300ER, which is badly in need of an order boost, and the 406-seat 777-9, which is under development.
By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Authorized representatives of Uzbekistan and Russia have signed 16 bilateral agreements, contracts and other documents worth more than $3.5 billion in trade, economic and investment spheres.

As part of preparation for the state visit of Uzbekistans President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Russia scheduled for April 4-5, the Uzbek embassy in Moscow hosted a ceremony of signing the Uzbek-Russian documents on April 3, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry reported.

The ceremony was attended by a delegation led by First Deputy Prime Minister Achilbay Ramatov. The Russian side was represented by a delegation led by Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin.

The sides also signed a contract on supply of fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products worth $612 million to Russia, a memorandum on the supply of Russian oil to Uzbekistan and an agreement on cooperation in the supply of excavator equipment.

More documents are expected to be signed in Kremlin following the Uzbek-Russian high-level negotiations.

The Russian Federation is one of the largest trade partners of Uzbekistan while Uzbekistan occupies the fourth place among the CIS countries on volumes of trade turnover for Russia.

In 2016 the trade turnover between the two states, according to the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan amounted to $4.2 billion.

The commodity structure of Russian exports to Uzbekistan includes mineral products, machines, equipment and vehicles, metals and products from them, timber and pulp and paper products, chemical products, foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.

The commodity structure of imports of basic supplies includes such groups of goods as textiles and glassware, shoes, machinery and equipment and vehicles, foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials, chemical products, metals, and products from them.

As many as 961 enterprises with the participation of Russian investments, including 810 joint ventures and 151 enterprises with one hundred percent Russian capital were established in Uzbekistan. The country has accredited representatives of 64 Russian enterprises and companies.

Some 569 enterprises with the participation of residents of Uzbekistan were established on the territory of the Russian Federation.
By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

The April 2 parliamentary elections in Armenia were engulfed in total fraud and violations. Anyway, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia won the elections with 49.12 percent of the vote, and this doesnt bode well for the resolution of the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, experts say.

The victory of the ruling Republican Party in the parliamentary elections in Armenia suggests that the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will not change, said Oleg Kuznetsov, Russian political scientist.

He told Trend on April 3 that the party of incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan is quite satisfied with the lack of resolution to the conflict.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

Kuznetsov went on to say that by changing the form of government in the country, Serzh Sargsyan has retained pre-existing political regime and even strengthened it through constitutional and legal reform.

Another Russian expert Evgeny Mikhailov, in turn, told Trend that the victory of the Republican Party of Armenia will bring nothing positive to the people of this country.

Armenia's population will continue leaving the country, and Sargsyan will continue to escalate the tension around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and instill even more hatred against Azerbaijanis, he said.

Mikhailov also noted that Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, leads quite a different policy in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Baku has even created a platform for peaceful resolution of the conflict, where Armenians who want peace with Azerbaijan actively participate, the expert noted.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform was founded on December 6, 2016 in Baku. It was created to bring together representatives of civil society of the two countries for creating dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, this initiative was negatively perceived by the Armenian government, which started persecution of those Armenians who joined the Platform.




By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili and European Police Agency Director (Europol) Rob Wainwright signed an agreement on operational and strategic cooperation on April 4, TASS reported.

As Mghebrishvili said at the signing ceremony, the document "translates cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Georgia and EU member states to a new, higher level."

The deal will allow to expand cooperation in combating terrorism, as well as serious and organized cross-border criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, organized property crime, cybercrime and migrant smuggling.



The agreement covers all areas of crime within Europols mandate and allows for the exchange of information, including personal data of suspected criminals, and the joint planning of operational activities. As part of the document, Georgia will designate a national contact point to act to liaise between Europol and the law enforcement agencies of Georgia.

This is a historic agreement, an important step forward for Georgia on its way to European integration. From today on, Georgia will become Europols operational and strategic partner, which brings us to an entirely new level of cooperation with Europol ... This means more security, more cooperation with European law enforcement agencies and more effective fight against transnational crime. This [also] means that we have become a member of the European family in the law enforcement field, Mghebrishvili stated after the signing ceremony in Tbilisi.

Wainwright, in turn, said that Europol is committed to strengthening cooperation with Georgia and recognizes that effective law enforcement cooperation is an important element of Georgias deepening relationship with the EU.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who assessed the signing of the document as an important event.

The cooperation agreement between Georgia and Europol was approved by the Council of the European Union and backed by the European Parliament. The agreement will enter into force after ratification by the Parliament of Georgia.

Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Europol is the European Unions law enforcement agency, which assists the 28 EU Member States in their fight against serious international crime and terrorism.

The organization also partners with many non-EU partner states and international organizations. It runs Operational and Strategic Cooperation agreements with 16 countries around the world.
By Trend





The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) signed a cooperation document with two Japanese logistic and port service companies.

The IRISL signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japans Suzue Corporation and Kamigumi in Singapore, Iran's Maritime News Agency reported on April 4.

Under the deal, the sides will survey grounds for cooperation in construction of dry ports and investment in Irans port terminals.

Once the preliminary studies are completed, the sides will sign an operational contract.
Al Nooh company, a family-run business synonymous with traditional values and quality products in Bahrain, will unveil its corporate rebranding at Gulf Construction Expo 2017.



Al Nooh managing director Hassan Al Nooh said: Quality, reliability, integrity are the cornerstones of our business, principles carved into our business DNA by our late founder Abd Ali Essa Al Nooh. Our 2017 strategy has surrounded the reinvigoration of our brand by empowering it to regain Al Noohs position as innovative leaders in building materials and wood work and related services.



Al Nooh is an employer of first choice for talented craftsmen and we take pride also as a developer of the future generation of Bahraini talent. We share with the Gulf Construction Expo a mutual reputation for quality, commitment to excellence, he said.



We will be using the show to debut the new look of our business for the next chapter in Al Noohs history. The new chapter will see our energy to deliver on our vision to become the market leader and solution provider throughout the GCC for design, service and manufacture wood, associated products, accessories, components, furniture and interior environments  concluded Al Nooh.



Al Nooh is known for collaborating with international partners to introduce innovative sustainable technologies across the building, construction and industrial sectors. Major projects specify Al Nooh for their signature of quality and dedicated service. The company has contributed to Bahrain Financial Harbour and Bahrain International Circuit. The retail business has added a growing fan base across all generations of home builders.

Al Nooh is Bahrains leading solution provider in the field of construction for complex projects. Over the years Al Nooh has led the exhibition with its award winning stands that have set the standard for ingenuity, creativity and execution of their conceptualisation. We eagerly anticipate the latest Al Nooh stand at Gulf Construction Expo as the company will no doubt look to maintain its reputation and promote its new brand identity, said Jubran Abdulrahman, managing director of organisers HCE.

Al Nooh has won the award for the Best Stand at the exhibition for two consecutive years.



The international expo, formerly known as gulfBID, will run from April 25 to 27 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre under the patronage of HRH Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.



Gulf Construction Expo 2017 carries with it the Strategic Sponsorship of Haji Hassan Group of Companies and RP-KP Group WLL together with Plant and Machinery Sponsors Motor City. Midea are the HVAC Sponsors and are joined by Al Mezal General Trading who are Green Technology Sponsors.

Supporting organisations include AHK (the German Industry of Commerce), Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.  TradeArabia News Service


Nor-Shipping, a leading maritime event, has revealed the shortlist for its coveted Young Entrepreneur Award 2017, with the final four nominees championing innovations that have the potential to transform key areas within the maritime industry.



The award, a joint initiative with YoungShip, was conceived to help promote the next generation of shipping innovators, with a focus on those working to address critical issues. Previous winners include Boyan Slat in 2015, the founder of The Ocean Cleanup, and Tr stervold in 2013, CEO of ECOsubsea, said a statement from Nor-Shipping.



This years contenders, all of whom had to be under 40, are Joel Spark, co-founder of Spire; Tuomas Riski, CEO of Norsepower; Patrik Berglund, CEO, Xeneta; and Christine Spiten, co-founder of Blueye Robotics, it said.



The award will be announced mid-April, with the prize handed out on the first day of the leading global maritime event week, which takes place across a series of venues in Oslo and Lillestrm from May 30 to June 2, it added.



Nor-Shipping 2017 is expected to attract around 35,000 visitors, with almost 1,000 of the worlds leading maritime companies showcasing products and services to the industry, future talent and shipping value chain stakeholders.



This award works as a bellwether for our industry, said Nor-Shipping director Birgit Liodden.



The issues that the best young minds in maritime are keen to address are those that will define the make-up, and success, of our industry tomorrow, he said.



This years shortlisted nominees, who were carefully selected from a very strong competing pack, are no exception. Their businesses are focused on tackling matters as pressing as cost, energy and business efficiency, alongside access to information and the democratisation of the ocean space. The winner, picked by our expert YoungShip-led panel, will, without doubt, be one to watch in shippings future direction and development, he added.



The four shortlisted names may be united by youth and vision, but their innovations address very different areas. Sparks US-based Spire Global Inc. is working on a nano satellite constellation service to provide cost effective AIS tracking, weather data and awareness solutions, while Spitens Blueye is developing underwater drones that can be controlled via smart phone and tablet apps.



Riski, meanwhile, leads Norsepower, whose trailblazing Rotor Sail Solution allows ships to harness wind power to reduce fuel consumption.



Berglunds Xeneta is already well known in the container shipping and logistics market for its revolutionary price comparison software platform.



Liodden added: All of these entrepreneurs have identified key challenges and opportunities within maritime, before addressing them with potentially game-changing innovations.



They are combining simple ideas with often complex technologies to deliver products and services that deliver real value to their respective markets, he said.



This is want we want to see and what Nor-Shipping is proud to champion  talented young people that are prepared to reject conventional thinking and plot new paths to success and sustainability for our industry, he stated.



Alongside the Young Entrepreneur Award, Nor-Shipping will also be handing out the Next Generation Ship and Energy Efficiency accolades at its opening conference in Lillestrm, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
McAfee, a globally trusted security provider, announced today that it has begun operating as a new standalone company.



As a standalone business, McAfee is one of the worlds largest pure-play cybersecurity firms.



Built on the belief that Together is Power, the new McAfee will expand upon its leading security solutions platform to better enable customers to effectively identify and orchestrate responses to cyber-threats, the company said.



The launch of McAfee marks the closing of the previously announced investment by TPG and Intel Corporation (INTC) to establish a pure-play cybersecurity company with access to significant capital, operational and technology resources.



Additionally, McAfee announced that leading private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo has joined, as a minority investor in the company, through an agreement with TPG. As previously announced, Intel is retaining a 49 percent equity stake in the new entity.



With the help of its new investment partners, McAfee will apply greater market focus, build its platform and target new financial, operational and technology investments to better address the cybersecurity markets significant global growth opportunity.



Intel senior vice president and general manager Chris Young will lead the new McAfee as chief executive officer. TPG partner Bryan Taylor has been named chairman of the board.



Cybersecurity is the greatest challenge of the connected age, weighing heavily on the minds of parents, executives and world leaders alike, said Christopher Young, CEO of McAfee. As a standalone company with a clear purpose, McAfee gains the agility to unite people, technology and organizations against our common adversaries and ensure our technology-driven future is safe.



We offer Chris Young and the McAfee team our full support as they establish themselves as one of the largest pure-play cybersecurity companies in the industry, said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. Security remains important to Intel, and in addition to our equity position and ongoing collaboration with McAfee, Intel will continue to integrate industry-leading security and privacy capabilities in our products from the cloud to billions of smart, connected computing devices.



Since its founding, McAfee has been dedicated to offering its customers industry-leading cybersecurity solutions, said Taylor. Its ongoing commitment to product innovation, a rich partner ecosystem, and superior customer service has created a trusted brand that will thrive as a standalone entity. We look forward to working with the company and our partners to accelerate growth and continue building a leading cybersecurity platform that serves to protect customers in todays changing environment.



McAfee is a global organisation with a 30-year history and a brand known the world over for innovation, trust and collaboration. Given our years of focus on the security software sector, we see great opportunity for McAfee to continue to advance and innovate, said Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. Our deep sector knowledge and history of helping build successful businesses will be an asset to the company, and we look forward to working with the management team and our colleagues at TPG and Intel to guide McAfee through its next chapter of growth.



The New McAfee

The company also outlined a new strategic vision, focused on innovation, trust, and collaboration. McAfee represents more than 7,500 of the industrys most talented cybersecurity professionals, while holding more than 1,200 security technology patents and ongoing industry recognition for its products. McAfee is also home to McAfee Labs, one of the worlds leading sources for cyber-threat intelligence. - TradeArabia News Service
In July this year, Sothebys will offer for sale one of the greatest works by J.M.W. Turner still in private hands - Ehrenbreitstein - for an estimated 15-25 million ($18.7-31.2 million).



Painted in 1835, Ehrenbreitstein is a late work, dating from a period that is widely considered Turners best; other works from this time now hang in the worlds greatest museums, with only a minute number of this importance and quality remaining in private ownership. The subject of enormous critical acclaim when it was first exhibited in 1835, the painting depicts the ruined fortress of Ehrenbreitstein near Coblenz  a place of special significance for Turner.



Though he made many drawings and watercolours of German views, this is the most important oil painting of a German subject that Turner ever painted.



Often referred to as the painter of light, Turner is widely regarded as Britains foremost artist, whose unique and unprecedented style not only had a profound and lasting impact on British art, but was also a vital precursor to both the Impressionist and the much later Abstract Expressionist movements. (Monet openly acknowledged his indebtedness to Turner.)



Major works of such astounding quality by Turner are rare on the international market. The last example to be offered (Rome, from Mount Aventine, painted in the same year as Ehrenbreitstein and offered at Sothebys in 2014) made a record 30.3 million ($37.9 million)  the highest price ever achieved for any British-born artist at auction, and placing Turner alongside Rubens and Raphael as one of just three artists from the pre-Impressionist era to have achieved prices at this level.



Julian Gascoigne, senior specialist in British Paintings, said: Turner is one of those seminal figures who changed the way we see and think about the world. An artist rooted in the aesthetic philosophy and culture of his time, perpetually engaged with the art of both his predecessors and contemporaries, he was at the same time possibly the first modern painter; who directly inspired the Impressionism of the nineteenth century, and presaged the Abstract Expressionism of the twentieth. These late works in particular, with their bold application of colour, treatment of light and deconstruction of form, revolutionised the way we perceive the painted image. By applying the techniques of a watercolourist to the use of oils, with successive layering of translucent colour thinly applied to the surface, which imbue his canvases with rich, hazy light, he gave his works an unprecedented poignancy and power that has rarely been rivalled since.



Alex Bell, co-chairman of Sothebys International Old Masters Department, added: This painting was one of five that Turner exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1835; the other four of which are now in some of the most distinguished institutions in the world. Of those five paintings, it was Ehrenbreitstein that caught the imagination of public and critics alike  and its easy to see why. Its extraordinary range and depth of colour, and typically inspired and imaginative use of light, would in any case mark this painting out as a masterpiece, but its true greatness lies in the way Turner applies his painterly genius to transform the ruins of the famous fortress into a poetic and symbolic image as resonant then as it is today."



The area of the Rhine, and especially the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, held particular resonance for Turner. He first visited the area in 1817 and would return many times over the years, producing countless drawings in his sketchbooks and numerous watercolours. This painting relates specifically to a series of sketches he produced during his third tour of Germany in 1833, when he travelled down the Rhine en route to Vienna and then Venice, via Salzburg. - TradeArabia News Service
Oil and gas majors, senior policymakers and key industry executives will gather at the Gastech Exhibition and Conference in Tokyo, Japan, today.



The four-day event will assist attendees from the up, mid and downstream natural gas and LNG sectors to discover new solutions, ideas and business connections.



Hosted by 10 of Japans leading companies, whose disciplines span the energy value chain, the Gastech 2017 Consortium Members consist of senior executives from Tokyo Gas, Jera, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Inpex Corporation, Itochu Corporation, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (Japex), JX Nippon Oil & Energy, Marubeni Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation.



The prestigious summit has attracted heavyweight global energy companies such as Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, government ministers and business leaders.



The exhibition will feature over 600 exhibitors from all sectors of the energy industry, and is expecting 25,000 attendees over four days.



The conference will be separated into technical and commercial disciplines and will feature 200 speakers from companies including Jera, ENI, Shell, Mitsubishi and Chevron. The multi-streamed conference programme consists of insightful sessions lead by industry experts and will explore topics such as: The Global LNG Market in 2025, Gas Market Reform, Emerging Markets and Health, Safety & Environment: Asset Infrastructure.



The four-day conference will also play host to four specialist events: VIP Programme, Gastech Women in Energy, LNG Procurement Forum and Young Gastech. The programmes will feature tailored content and networking opportunities for the specific industry groups.



Nobuo Tanaka, Japan Gastech Consortium chairman, said: We look forward to hosting this prestigious international event and bringing the international energy industry to Japan. Gastechs diverse programme is shaped by energy professionals to deliver outstanding insight, and create exceptional networking and new business opportunities, whilst ensuring a robust return-on-investment.



Christopher Hudson, president of energy, DMG Events Global Energy, stated: "Gastech 2017 in Japan is shaping up to be the biggest and best instalment of the worlds leading global gas and LNG event. It has been very exciting to have Gastech take place in the worlds biggest LNG buying market, with Japan having imported more LNG than any other country. Gastech has become the gathering for professionals in the gas and LNG industry and this years event in Japan will see speakers representing the full global and Japanese gas and LNG value chains over the course of four days." - TradeArabia News Service


The construction of the worlds tallest building and iconic landmark, the Burj Khalifa was envisaged as more than just the tallest structure in the world  it represents an integrated vertical city, one that uses innovation, a report said.



The report titled Shaping the Future of Construction: Inspiring Innovators Redefine the Industry compiled by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) analyzes the construction of the Burj Khalifa among other innovative construction projects.



The innovation cases in the report illustrate the value of embracing innovations. Prominent flagship projects, such as Dubais Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, showcase state-of-the-art innovation.



Even in its planning stages in 2002, it was clear that many innovations would be needed in the design, construction and building technologies. The initial design brief was for a building of 550 meters. When the planned height subsequently increased to 750 meters, the innovation imperative became even clearer.



And more so still when the main contract was awarded in 2004: the target height at that stage had surged again  with the encouragement of the visionary, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai  and necessitated static recalculations of the foundations.



To paraphrase William Gibson: the future of construction is here nowit is just not evenly distributed. Innovative companies and projects, as described in the report, demonstrate the art of the possible and how to address the challenges involved, said Philipp Gerbert, a BCG senior partner and co-author of the report.



The impact of these innovations on the traditional construction ecosystem will be interesting to follow. We see a widening gap between the innovation laggards and leaders, in particular with regards to their digital transformation.



Companies need to spearhead industry transformation



On the basis of BCGs analysis of these successful innovators, the report suggests ways for companies to stimulate innovative ideas, turn those ideas into reality, and ultimately succeed in the market.



Pioneering firms, for instance, create an innovation-friendly culture that rewards risk taking; they take a longer-term product perspective, rather than thinking in terms of individual projects; and they proactively shape the regulatory environment.



Burj Khalifa, for example, is an exemplary model of firms incubating an innovative environment. Property developer Emaar Properties invested great efforts into assembling a project team from across the world, with both experience and expertise in super high rise construction.



A collaborative initiative by multiple entities has led to the Burj Khalifa breaking several world records for buildings, to become an iconic urban landmark. At 828 meters, the worlds tallest building and tallest man-made structure, took less than four years from the first excavation works to overtake Taipei 101 as tallest building, and just three additional years to reach completion. Today the building attracts thousands of visitors every day, making Downtown Dubai a favourite urban destination.



Governments crucial contribution



Governments are crucial participants in the transformation of the construction industry. They need to create an environment conducive to the adoption of innovative technology as a regulator, strategic incubator, or project owner. In terms of the construction of the Burj Khalifa, negotiations with government authorities got underway almost immediately.



Local consultants, specially hired for the purpose, liaised with the Dubai municipality for building approvals, with Dubai Civil Defence for fire, live and safety protection, and with the local utility company for electricity.



In light of this, the report highlights the benefits of such crucial engagement with governments using the Burj Khalifa as a case point and also recommends that that governments should update building codes, move to performance-based and forward-looking standards, and introduce more flexible procurement models in infrastructure projects to overcome typical hurdles for innovation.



Lessons from the Construction of the Burj Khalifa



Essentially, there are four lessons that the report takes away from the Burj Khalifa construction project:



1. Develop and maintain a vision to motivate everybody and to reject the status quo. The unwavering vision behind the Burj Khalifa inspired the project team to go beyond the known limits  increasing the buildings height and implementing still-unproven processes and technologies.



2. Assemble and experienced, best-in-class team to drive innovation. The Burj Khalifa project did not compromise on excellence. The handpicked expert team had the effect of maximizing knowledge transfer, optimizing logistics management, exploiting prefabrication to the full and facilitating expert collaboration.



3. Collaborate closely with suppliers to develop, test and implement innovations. The expertise of the various partners was invoked as early as the planning phase, to enable pre-emptive modifications and avert costly reworks.



4. Engage regulatory authorities early on to speed up the approval process. The Burj Khalifa project team, being so experienced, promptly approached and negotiated with the relevant Dubai government agencies and utilities providers to expedite the official go-ahead and overcome any subsequent obstacles that might arise.  TradeArabia News Service
The 11th edition of The World Retail Congress began today (April 4) at Madinat Jumeriah in Dubai, UAE for the second time with 1,400 attendees.



The three-day event, being held under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has brought together global retail leaders, providing them with an opportunity to meet with fellow industry experts and international retailers to discuss the key trends and ideas that shape the current retail industry.



The Congress aims to identify key areas of growth and the technological tools of the future, enabling retailers to adjust their own strategy and move their businesses forward.



Ian McGarrigle, chairman of the World Retail Congress, introduced the event commenting: With 0.64 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores being digitally influenced our current retail ecosystem is rapidly evolving.



To be successful and build long-term fruitful relationships with their customers, retailers must now examine every part of the experience they offer, which is why the theme of this years Congress is reimagining the customer experience. Ultimately, consumers have so many choices now that it is important to create brand differentiation at every level of retail.



Furthermore, a recent survey of retail CEOs by JDA Software that is being presented at the Congress this week found that 69 per cent of retailers plan to increase investment in digital transformation and yet 52 per cent of retailers have not yet implemented a digital strategy. We see the role of the Congress is to help shape the future of global retailing by bringing together the greatest minds within the retail world to transform our multi-faceted industry, he added.



The World Retail Congress agenda includes talks, not only from the household names in retail but also from the disruptor companies, the leading innovators, the start-ups, as well as input from the external influencers from the political and financial worlds.



It provides its 1,400 attendees with the choice of workshops, panel discussions and plenaries from over 150 speakers to inspire their future growth strategies.



Majid Saif Al Ghurair, chairman, Dubai Chamber, said: Dubai is an ideal host city for the World Retail Congress, given its status as a preferred shopping destination that continues to attract retailers and tourists from around the world. Dubai Chambers Chairman explained that the future of the emirates retail sector looks bright and noted that key trends such as growing economic prosperity, steady population growth, increase in tourist numbers, rising incomes, and Expo 2020, will support expansion in the sector going forward.



Another integral part of the World Retail Congress is the research shared, aiming to help retailers understand the latest thinking across the industry. The annual CEO study, entitled The Global Retail Sentiment Index conducted by Monash Business School in Melbourne, showed that retail confidence overall is marginally ahead of last year but retailers are mindful of fragile consumer confidence.



Another major report, The DNA of the Retailer of Tomorrow which is a survey completed by 100 retailers from around the world, identified the 10 main pillars of transformation, which they believe are the key areas within the business to focus on in order to meet the demands of todays customers.



Continuing its partnership with Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the World Retail Congress has also invited its delegates to learn from Dubais emergence as one of the leading retail capitals of the world through its Retail Study Tour of new destinations such as City Walk, Box Park, Al Serkal Avenue, IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Festival City.



The Congress is also sponsored by a number of key local companies, including Majid Al Futtaim as a key sponsor, Magrabi as an annual partner, Al Maryah Central, Al Futtaim and The Apparel Group as 5 Star partners, and The Chalhoub Group as a 3 Star partner.  TradeArabia News Service
Over the last year or more, destinations around the world have been witnessing a new phenomenon - Overtourism - a situation where either there are too many tourists, or where the impact of tourist development is negatively affecting local lives without providing enough benefits in return.



World Travel Market London has announced that the two key responsible tourism themes this November will be what the travel industry should do about the emerging phenomenon of Overtourism; and how it should set about meeting the United Nationss Sustainable Development Goals.



With overtourism, places from Barcelona to Thailand, Venice to Berlin, and cities and regions are now beginning to take matters into their own hands, regulating against shared economy providers like airbnb, protesting against cruise ships, limiting the number of people allowed into certain fragile areas. As tourism continues to grow by around 4 per cent each year, such responses are a direct challenge to its ongoing expansion.



This years event will gather representatives from some of the destinations most affected and those who have actively sought to address the issue, to explore a range of challenges and responses, such as whether more regulation is needed, how to involve local people more collaboratively into development that directly affects them, or if it is time to set limits to growth.



As the Secretary Tourism, India, Vinod Zutshi said at WTM London 2016: We have to study carrying capacity of destinations and ensure there is not too much tourism for a destination to bear.



Secondly, to mark 2017 being declared by the UN as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, several sessions during the Responsible Tourism Programme will focus on how the industry meets the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were agreed in 2015. In particular, the event will look at the three goals in which sustainable tourism is explicitly mentioned - 8,12 and 14.



Goal 8 looks to Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Goal 12 is to Ensure sustainable Consumption and Production patterns. And Goal 13 looks to Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Leading experts from industry and civil society will meet to discuss these and the other goals, to explore examples of best practice from across the sector and discuss whether the industry is doing enough to meet its commitments.



WTM London responsible tourism expert Professor Harold Godwin said: Overtourism is becoming a critical issue in the travel industry. Many destinations are employing a variety of different strategies to limit tourism to improve the experience for both tourist, locals and the environment. - TradeArabia News Service


Dubai-based Emirates airlines is toying with the idea of offering its US-bound passengers loaner laptops as it seeks to soften the blow from a US ban on electronics in airplane cabins, said a report.



The airline may expolore "creative" ways to work around the ban if it remains in place over the long term, President Tim Clark said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.



One of the ideas is to provide government-approved laptops that can be used in-flight".



These efforts are being made following a recent electronics ban by the US which prohibits travelers on flights from 10 Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, from bringing large electronics into the aircraft cabin.



While there have been some difficulties on the US side, the first 48 hours of the bans implementation, including allowing passengers to use laptops up until boarding, have proceeded without customer complaints, according to the Emirates chief.


Leading hospitality group Rixos Hotels has appointed Ali Ozbay as the new cluster director of marketing and communications.



With extensive knowledge in strategic marketing and communications, Ozbay will oversee the marketing operations of the three Rixos Hotels in the UAE namely Rixos The Palm Dubai, Rixos Bab Al Bahr and Rixos Premium Dubai. He will be responsible for directing all aspects encompassing strategic development, content development, brand activation, public relations and advertising.



Ozbays career in the Middle East includes senior roles at Marketing Consultancy Beautiful Minds and International Digital Agency Great, where he served as the head of Marketing. Ozbay is no stranger to Rixos Hotels as he completed a successful tenure of five years, from 2009-2014 as an integral team player of the marketing and communications department.



Erkan Yildirim, senior vice president of operations for Rixos Hotels, said: It gives me immense joy to welcome back Ali to the team. Innovation has always been at the core of our brand and we are confident that his expertise demonstrated by the numerous achievements during his previous tenure will continue to drive and enhance our success in UAEs competitive market.



Ozbay has a masters degree in Tourism & Hospitality Management from the University of Brighton in the UK. - TradeArabia News Service


Time Hotels, a UAE-based hospitality company and hotel operator, plans to open 10 new properties across the Middle East by Q4 2018.



The properties, which will be unveiled at ATM in Dubai World Trade Centre (April 24-27), will see the growth and launch of existing and new brands to key territories in the region, with the company set to extend its footprint to Ajman and Fujairah in the UAE, followed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, before the end of Q4 2018.



The new additions will join Time Hotels existing portfolio of seven properties between Dubai and Sharjah, taking the tally to 17 properties in the Middle East.



Mohamed Awadalla, CEO Time Hotels, said: Our current pipeline of hotels and residences meet the demands of multiple markets by offering a high-quality stay across all our brand portfolio.



Plans are in place to take the Time Residence brand to Fujairah, with the launch of the Platinum Time Residence later this year, allowing Time Hotels to position itself strategically in the emirates expanding hospitality market.



Awadalla said: Since launching the Time Residence brand, we have seen demand for quality and value from the residential apartments, supported with facilities, which have added value across the region. Business travellers often look for a home-from-home environment and leisure visitors, especially families, look for less formal hotel accommodation.



In Dubai, three new hotels will open: Time Asma Hotel, Time Express Hotel Al Jaddaf, and Time Royal Hotel & Spa, the firms first five-star UAE property, located in Healthcare City and designed to meet the needs of healthcare tourists. The property boasts 277 rooms and is in close proximity to the popular Wafi City Mall shopping and leisure complex. Facilities include a signature spa featuring temperature-controlled pools, a gym with rehabilitation equipment and a juice bar. The hotel will also have 20, fully adapted, disabled-friendly rooms.



Times international openings in Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah and Qurayyat demonstrate the brands strength and popularity in markets outside of the UAE.



The Time Beach Villas Resort, Jeddah, is a luxury contemporary property on the upper west side of the city, and Times first resort in the kingdom. It will comprise 61 units with detailed Arabic architecture encompassing a full reflection of authentic Gulf design. Located close to the beach, and 20 minutes drive from Jeddah International Airport and city centre, the midrange resort will offer fitness and leisure facilities, high-speed wi-fi, LED televisions in all rooms and concierge and business services.



The resort will be joined by a 137-key four-star Yasma by Time Hotels and Resorts in Qurayyat, and Yasma by TIME Express Hotels, Riyadh. A debut for the Express brand in the kingdom, this hotel will comprise 105 rooms, catering to convenience and budget minded guests.



In Qatar, Time Rako Hotel will open in the third quarter of 2017, in the Al Wakra area of Doha. The 102-key property will mark Time Hotels debut in Qatar and the hotel will be positioned to compete in Dohas fast-paced F&B landscape, with three restaurants and a rooftop lounge bar. The hotel will target both leisure and business travellers, with high-speed wi-fi and business and concierge services available to all guests.



Awadalla continued: It has been a busy year for Time Hotels with a raft of properties announced with several of them due to come online within the next 12 months. We have been very strategic with our openings by identifying and assessing the demand within the market and implementing the most suitable brand from the TIME portfolio to best match consumer demand. Were excited by the prospects this year brings and look forward to adding further to our portfolio.



Time Hotels and Resorts is the Corporate Social Responsibility partner at this years Arabian Travel Market, in Dubai World Trade Centre (April 24-17) and will also be exhibiting on stand HC1220. - TradeArabia News Service


Wyomings largest utility is racing to complete wind upgrades and expansions before current federal subsidies expire.

The 2020 sunset of the federal production tax credit, which decreases the cost of wind energy for producers, dictated the near-term outlook in Rocky Mountain Powers 20-year plan, released Tuesday.

Highlights of the plan include a $700 million upgrade in its Wyoming wind fleet and $2.2 billion invested in new wind and transmission.

The Salt Lake company plans to build up to 1,100 megawatts of new wind and transmission, including 140 miles of the Gateway West line, which will run from Medicine Bow to the Jim Bridger power plant in Sweetwater County.

The firm will attempt a significant amount of expansion in just a few years time, but the rush is necessary to keep the savings from federal subsidies, said Gary Hoogeveen, senior vice president of RMP.

Adding new wind capacity or updating existing wind farms by 2020 will restart the clock on the federal production tax credit for the existing wind, providing another 10 years of federal subsidies. New production in place by 2020 will also get 10 years of tax credits.

Federal subsidies save RMP between 2 and 3 cents per kilowatt hour produced.

The reason we are able to do this at customer savings is because of the production tax credits, Hoogeveen said. Its rather dramatic and considerable savings. Two and a half cents is probably half of what is necessary to make that work.

The question of whether this expansion will increase customer electricity bills is still unclear. New infrastructure or increased capacity by utilities generally falls to the consumer eventually, depending on approval from Wyoming electricity regulators.

Executives said their goal was to avoid a rate hike, promising a cost benefit to customers over the life of new electricity coming online thanks to the extended federal tax break, increasing energy efficiency and a projected demand increase of almost 1 percent per year.

The new, larger wind blades and updated motors will boost the amount of energy produced at existing wind farms by 14 to 32 percent, according to the company.

The construction period for new wind and the Gateway West line will provide between 1,000 and 1,400 jobs in Wyoming and $80 million in tax revenue. Subsequent taxes for the new fleet will bring in $11 million per year starting in 2021, and state taxes on wind generation will kick in an additional $3 million annually by 2025, according to the company.

***

Rocky Mountain Power faces a number of hurdles to achieve its immediate plans. Though the permitting for the new leg of Gateway West is over, the tedious task of buying right-of-way across state, federal and private land is ongoing.

Laying new transmission has been a headache for a number of investors. TransWest Express, a sister company to the firm developing the Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind project, has spent the last 10 years obtaining permitting for its transmission lines across a checkerboard of land ownership in southwestern Wyoming.

PacifiCorp, the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power, has been at it just as long. The company began the Gateway West project with an easement request to the Bureau of Land Management in 2007. Since then portions of the line have been through multiple public comment periods, geotechnical studies and environmental impact statements.

Other steps in reaching its goal include state approval. The company will also have to submit applications to the Public Service Commission for both the transmission line and the new wind fleet, said Jeff Larsen, the vice president of regulations.

[The Commission will decide] if its the right thing to do and if its needed for our customers long term, he said.

Rocky Mountain Power currently relies on coal for about half its output, but the black rock doesnt receive significant attention in the companys 20-year outlook.

Its wind capacity, however, has only grown in the last decade. Before the recession hit in 2008-2009, economic projections in the country showed substantial growth, and with that a climbing demand for new electricity. RMP invested heavily to keep pace only to watch the economy fall in the midst of its investments.

Yearly capital spending before the recession was between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, about double what the company spends now, said Larsen.

Wind in particular has experienced significant growth since then. It was an economic decision to invest in wind generation, spokesmen for the company have said in past interviews. Wind was expected to be comparable to natural gas in cost, thanks in part to technological advances, and in part to federal support.

The economics of wind in the next few years is again closely tied to federal subsidies.

***

Wind generation has sparked dissension in Wyoming, in part due to the number of birds killed by wind blades, particularly bald and golden eagles. Chad Teply, vice president of strategy and development, said the company had consulted with state regulators on how the expansion may affect bird deaths.

We dont really see this as an issue for significant wildlife impacts, he said. Weve reviewed it with the agencies. It really boils down to how you operate those facilities where you have had issues in the past. And we think we have a good program in place there.

Wind development in Wyoming faces unique challenges compared with neighboring states. Wyoming is the only state that charges a production tax on wind generation, which lawmakers in the most recent legislative session sought to increase.

Lawmakers also introduced a bill earlier this year seeking to penalize wind-generated electricity for Wyoming customers, an attempt to boost support for coal and natural gas in the state. That bill failed after significant pushback.

Rocky Mountains planned investments are for the entire PacifiCorp grid, but those made in Wyoming are primarily for Wyoming customers, executives said.

The 20-year plan is updated every two years. According to the companys release, the increasing diversity of RMPs portfolio will help PacifiCorp reach its goal of increasing clean energy while reducing costs to customers.
Wyoming arts and humanities leaders are concerned about President Donald Trumps proposed elimination of two federal agencies that support cultural programs.

The budget plan announced in March suggests eliminating funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Wyoming and other rural states would most feel the cuts because theyre less likely to receive funding elsewhere, according to state arts advocates. They say the cuts would undermine the states economy and its arts and education sectors as well as the fabric of communities.

Congress will decide the final budget over the next several months, and many are hopeful legislators will reject the suggested cuts. This is the first time, however, that a president has proposed eliminating the NEA and NEH since they were created in 1967 and 1965, respectively.

Wyoming Humanities Council executive director Shannon Smith said the proposed cuts must be taken seriously.

I think whats most important is that us small states are the ones that are going to get just hammered by this, Smith said. New York can make up for its funding through donors, but Wyoming and the other small states, we just dont have the population to replace that kind of funding.

Impacts of proposed cuts

NEA funding is crucial for many arts activities in Wyoming, said Bruce Richardson, a longtime arts advocate and researcher whos served on several local to national arts boards.

Places where the states arts agencies are very important, such as Wyoming, where we have grants out in every single county, will notice it and notice it right away, he said. Its a big deal for rural states.

Hes a board member of the Wyoming Arts Alliance, an arts advocacy nonprofit that in late March prepared information for Wyomings congressional delegation detailing why the federal arts programs are crucial.

The NEA and the NEH each receive about $148 million a year, with about 40 percent going to states arts and humanities organizations to disperse throughout their communities. In the Cowboy State, those organizations are the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

The Wyoming Arts Council supports activities in every county, from clog dance classes in Thermopolis and murals in Wheatland to a music education camp in Evanston and a Lovell film festival, according to the Wyoming Arts Alliance report. The grants are crucial to making many of these things happen, especially in low-budget organizations, the essay states.

The NEA provides about 40 percent of the Wyoming Arts Councils budget. The council re-grants a large portion of that money to art-related nonprofits, symphonies, museums and more.

Cutting the NEA would result in significant program changes and cuts, said Mike Lange, executive director of the Wyoming Arts Council.

The Wyoming Humanities Council provides grants to cultural organizations and conducts programs to help Wyoming explore historical and cultural issues, Smith said.

Its grants go toward such things as the Casper College Humanities Festival, a summer lecture series at Fort Caspar Museum and library reading programs. The humanities councils own projects include podcasts with cultural leaders and support of Wyoming-related documentaries on Wyoming PBS last year.

Eliminating the NEH would end the Wyoming Council for the Humanities, which receives 70 percent of its budget from the agency, Smith said.

Theres no way for us to raise $700,000 every year out of this population, Smith said. Its just not a realistic endeavor.

The NEA and NEH also provide some significant direct grants in Wyoming along with other support. For instance, the NEA provides information, data and services. The NEH also does major national projects such as the Ken Burns documentaries.

The Art Association of Jackson Hole is one organization that received a direct grant from the NEA last year for a project focused on the Latino community there.

While eliminating federal arts and humanities funding could have a major cultural effect, experts say, the budget impact would be negligible.

The NEAs budget is .004 percent of the overall national budget, Lange said. But the impact and reach of the National Endowment of the Arts is significant.
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.

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.
Its time to don walking shoes and stretch to prepare for a season of trekking through venues filled with art, music, food and activities for all ages.

Art Start, from 5 to 8 p.m. April 6, is a warm-up for the Casper Art Walk, which is held the first Thursday of each month starting in May.

Art Start spotlights new exhibitions at ART 321, the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Scarlows Gallery.

The family-friendly, free event is a thank-you to the community for supporting the arts, organizers said. Art Start also is a chance for people to take their time with several significant exhibits and meet some of the artists.

It honors the historic art organizations in Casper, said Amy Elmore, a volunteer and part of design company Fort Atelier, which is partnering with the Art Walks. And its exciting to see the community embrace and support the arts.

The three locations will host free receptions with artist talks, food and cash bars. Other highlights include live music, book signings and artist quick draws, prizes and wine tastings.

The event also starts a new tradition of monthly Art Walk passports. Collect all the stamps at featured stops for a chance to win a prize from a downtown business, Scarlows owner Claire Marlow said. Also new is an interactive digital map of the Art Start and Art Walk.

Heres a look at the exhibitions:

Art 321

Neltje: Neltje is a Wyoming abstract expressionist painter who has exhibited throughout the U.S., according to her biography. Her latest artistic pursuit is evoking her emotional response to the natural world on 30-foot canvasses. She also is a philanthropist whose support for artists and writers includes the Jentel Artist Residency Program on her Banner ranch.

Suzette McIntyre: McIntyre has been recognized internationally for her signature style of photography and mixed-media paintings. She combines her background in sculpture and painting with her profession as a fine art photographer. Her latest show, Wide Open Spaces, focuses on Wyoming and the sense of spirit, strength and survival she sees in the people and vistas of her home state.

Keep Casper Beautiful Public Art Project: Public voting is open for more than 50 submissions by local artists. Four winning works will appear on traffic signal boxes downtown.

Nicolaysen Art Musuem

Robert Russin: Russin is known for his public sculptures throughout the United States, including the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument on I-80 in Wyoming. He also created Fountainhead at Casper City Hall and the Prometheus sculpture at the Natrona County Public Library.

The show includes of sculptures as well as many drawings and paintings never publicly exhibited before.

Martin Garhart: Garharts works reside in over 40 institutions including the British Museum, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institute, as well as in numerous private collections, according to his biography. He is a professor of art emeritus from Kenyon College, in Ohio. He grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota and returned to the West, splitting his time between his cabin/studio in the Black Hills and his home/studio in Powell.

Scarlows Gallery

Daniel Marshall: Marshall is a tattoo artist in Denver with a studio gallery and private tattoo space, Atelier 71. Dan also is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and is on this years faculty at the Plein Air Magazines convention as a featured demonstrator, lecturer and field painter.

URBANxRURAL/Americana at Scarlows is his first solo exhibition and feature watercolor paintings of city and country scenes. The paintings depict his frequented spots in New York City, Denver and Casper, along with few of his popular motorcycle and hot-rod based figurative themes.
Breakthroughs in scientific research often come randomly.

Is that due to generous funding that allows multiple angles to be explored for each research project?

Or is it the researchers own passion that sparks unexpected outcomes?

For Abraham Flexner, whose 1939 essay The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge, was republished this year, the ideal research institution supports both possibilities.

As the founding director of Princetons Institute for Advanced Study, Flexner changed ideas surrounding academic integrity and the advancement of knowledge. The curiosity-driven IAS is one of his lasting legacies.

In the recent edition released by the Princeton University Press, Flexners essay is accompanied by a lengthy introduction penned by the IAS current director, Robbert Dijkgraaf.

The two essays combined fill less than 100 small pages. But together they make for a book to which one must pay close attention in order to understand what Flexner and Dijkgraaf are arguing.

Flexner describes how random experimentation can lead to important discoveries, fighting for the human spirit and its benefit in research. He argues that a truly dedicated and engaged researcher will reach greater outcomes than a disinterested academic.

Much more am I pleading for the abolition of the word use, and for the freeing of the human spirit. To be sure, we shall thus free some harmless cranks. To be sure, we shall thus waste some precious dollars, Flexner writes. But what is infinitely more important is that we shall be striking the shackles off the human mind and setting it free.

Nearly 80 years after the essays original publication, what kind of research are colleges funding? Is it work based on curiosity and passion, as at the Princeton institute  and if so, is that useful, or is money being wasted?

Princeton has a graduate student tracking the spread of viruses from bats to humans in locations like Madagascar. The project is funded by government agencies and nonprofits including the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Because bats are hosts to diseases such as Ebola and rabies, it is useful to know what moves the viruses from animals to humans.

IAS has also undertaken recent studies on subjects such as Muslim theology, propaganda in the Middle Ages and the butterfly effect.

Considered to be the countrys first research university, Johns Hopkins University researchers now study pressing issues like the link between the Zika virus and fetal brain development.

Not all such studies finish with useful results. But even studies with negative conclusions are not necessarily a waste of funding. These failed studies teach researchers what to improve on.

For some studies that go awry, even publication in scholarly journals isnt out of the question. The Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine, for one, encourages scientists and physicians of all fields to publish results that challenge current models, tenets or dogmas.

But today the increasingly important rankings of universities tend to leave a mark on schools research priorities by effectively pressuring institutions to focus on publishing work primarily in English that is focused on subjects with broad relevance around the world  closing the door on some of the passion-driven projects Flexner advocated for.
The Wyoming Office of Tourism is seeking an adventurer eager to spend six weeks exploring the state in front of a camera this summer.

The footage will become part of Call of the WY, a promotional effort seeking to highlight Wyoming and its landscapes, people and recreational opportunities, according to a news release from the tourism office.

For those of us lucky enough to live in Wyoming, we understand the things that make it so special. The wide-open spaces, the mountains, the outdoor recreation, the beautiful skies, the wildlife and most importantly the people, Gov. Matt Mead said in the release. Visitors to the state get a glimpse of this, but with the Call of the WY promotion, those participating will get to experience the full breadth of why we choose to live in Wyoming.

The person chosen will travel the state in a 200-square-foot tiny house for six weeks participating in activities such as driving the Beartooth Highway, soaking in hot springs, attending a powwow in Wind River Country, stargazing in Fremont County and hiking in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

Wyoming is a destination thats ideal for adventure, Diane Shober, executive director of Wyoming Office of Tourism, said in the release. We know that prospective travelers have Wyoming on their vacation radar because its a place that remains wild and free and where anything is possible.

Call of the WY will be hosted on HGTV.com/CalloftheWY as well as travelwyoming.com/call-of-the-wy. To apply to explore the state, visit HGTV.com/CallOfTheWY.
Lawmakers and educators met Monday to begin the process of adjusting  or fully replacing  the states education funding model, which faces a $400 million annual shortfall in the coming years.

The meeting comes as educators begin grappling with recent cuts and lawmakers plan the next move in dealing with the crisis. At least one school district has already passed a resolution authorizing a lawsuit in the future, while other boards are poised to do the same. Educators have said recent cuts by the Legislature have exceeded what is statutorily and constitutionally allowed.

Legislators hope the funding model examination process, known as recalibration, will help tackle the situation by looking at the model as a whole.

Recalibration is used to determine what constitutes an adequate education and what it will cost to deliver that schooling. It normally happens every five years and was set to begin again in 2020. But the massive education deficit ready to hit in the next two-year budget cycle has accelerated a timeline established more than a decade ago under the watchful eye of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Some lawmakers, like Sen. Hank Coe, the co-chairman of the recalibration select committee, have heralded an early re-calibration as the best method to address the shortfall. When lawmakers finally passed an education bill last month, it included a provision to automatically set the process in motion.

That bill, House Bill 236, enacts more than $34 million in cuts to public education. Those reductions are set for only the coming school year, and the bill implicitly states that theyre temporary because of the hopes being pinned on recalibration.

***

Generally speaking, lawmakers, with the advice of consultants and input from educators, parents and other stakeholders, can decide to continue with or tweak the model theyve used for more than a decade, known as the evidence-based model, or pick a different, potentially cheaper, alternative.

Educators and some lawmakers warn that picking a cheaper option solely because it costs less is not what recalibration is intended for.

In the end, are we here to do a comprehensive solution? House Speaker Steve Harshman asked at the beginning of the meeting. If we think recalibration is going to somehow find $400 million a year in savings, I think we traveled here for the wrong reason today.

Senate President Eli Bebout, who joined the meeting by conference call, raised a broader question: Given that Wyoming spends significantly more per student than its regional neighbors, is the state getting a reasonable return on its investment?

Sen. Dave Kinskey, R-Sheridan, agreed, saying the evaluation of the current model or any new ones should begin with a focus on student achievement.

In recalibration, we need to look at the overall cost of education, Bebout said. What we have now simply isnt working when we spend the amount of money were spending and we dont perform any better than weve been performing.

Bill Schilling, the executive director of the Wyoming Business Alliance, testified to lawmakers that he wasnt sure if Wyomings students would be worse off academically if it didnt so richly fund its education system. His solution to the $400 million annual deficit was to cut $200 million from education and raise $200 million in new revenues.

Thats about 5 percent, or 6 percent, for K-12, he said. This is the reality. And the reality isnt going to go away.

But Harshman and Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, pointed out that on the education systems budget of roughly $1.55 billion a year, a $200 million cut would be closer to a 13 percent reduction.

Whether students in Wyoming are underachieving is a question of contention that can often be debunked or validated by the same sets of data, as Rothfuss pointed out. For instance, Wyomings performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that the states eighth-graders were statistically near the middle of the pack for mathematics. That can be a deflating result, given that the state spends more than $15,000 per student.

But in terms of areas that had statistically different and superior scores, Wyoming was bested by only six states, Rothfuss said.

I think its critical, starting now, that we dont make assertions, that we bring evidence and data, so that we understand how were doing relative to other states, he said at the beginning of the meeting, so that we look at this as data analysts, instead of just picking and choosing data that fits our narrative.

***

Added to the drama is the real possibility that the state could again be dragged into court by school districts. Last week, the Campbell County school board passed a resolution allowing the district to sue the state, in direct response to recent cuts and ahead of recalibration talks. A state attorney focused on education testified repeatedly, and lawmakers frequently talked about stepping carefully during recalibration because recent cuts had turned the situation into a legal minefield.

Donna Little-Kaumo, the superintendent for Sweetwater County School District No. 2, said last week that her board will consider a nearly identical resolution.

On Monday, she sat in front of lawmakers and testified that other states that might outperform Wyoming might have eliminated their arts programs. She lamented the cuts to funding for instructional materials, like textbooks, that will hurt districts like hers, which had to layoff three employees.

What do we want our kids to have in Wyoming? she asked.

She said later that she was disheartened by the early discussions at the meeting, which educators said last week could determine whether districts file suit against the state. She felt there was a distaste for education by some lawmakers.

Sweetwater 2 and Campbell County are part of a coalition of roughly a dozen districts, and Little-Kaumo said that other members of the group were considering resolutions that would clear the way for future lawsuits.

Coe and Rep. David Northrup said last week that the actions by the school districts werent a surprise, given districts litigious history in Wyoming. On Monday, lawmakers began early discussions on potential replacements for the current evidence-based model, which determines how much each district receives for different things, like materials and staff, per attending student.

Any replacement would have to pass constitutional muster. Michael ODonnell, a special assistant attorney general who represented the state during past education lawsuits, explained that he can defend the current system in court. If lawmakers chose to switch to a new model, they must be aware that it would have to be defensible because a legal battle seemed imminent.

Kinskey talked about recent research that he said showed teacher effectiveness was the most important factor in a child having a successful education.

How do we make that the focus of the model and sustain it constitutionally and move away from a preoccupation with dollars? he asked.

ODonnell said he could defend Kinskeys concept, as well as others briefly mentioned by lawmakers. But he neatly summarized the problems facing legislators and educators going forward as they sought to re-tool school funding here.

What Sen. Kinskey describes is, I believe, a perfectly defensible approach to education, he said. What I dont know that Sen. Kinskey has is consensus among everyone in this room that that is the way to do it. ... I dont really have an answer for you on how to do it. That comes to your collective wisdom.
A study will soon reveal whether discrimination is to blame for the difference between mens and womens wages in Wyoming, which is the largest in the country.

In the Equality State, women who worked full-time and year-round earned 64 cents for every $1 earned by men in 2015, according to the National Partnership for Women and Children, which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data for Tuesday, Equal Pay Day.

The Census released the data in 2016, based on incomes the prior year.

Wyoming ranked 51st of all the states and Washington, D.C., in equality of mens and womens wages. Louisiana, West Virginia and Utah followed.

New York, Delaware and Florida had the smallest gap between mens and womens wages, respectively.

Wyoming typically ranks last or among the last in parity of wages between the sexes. The reason for the gap is hotly contested  with one side saying women are discriminated against, locked out of working the highest-paying jobs and steered toward lower-paying, so-called pink-collar jobs.

Others attribute the gap to life choices by women, such as the careers they select and years off they take to raise families, and how men tend to fill many jobs in the high-paying energy sector.

The Wyoming Legislature adopted a bill, which Gov. Matt Mead signed, that will shine light on the gender-pay gap. It was sponsored by two women lawmakers who are on the opposite sides of the argument  Democratic Rep. Cathy Connolly of Laramie and Republican Rep. Marti Halverson of Etna.

While Connolly acknowledges that fewer women have jobs in the energy sector, she said previous studies show men with high school diplomas can earn more than college-educated women in Wyoming.

After high school, many men get jobs on oil rigs or in construction and can earn top dollar, she said.

Thats not going to happen to women, Connolly said.

Twelve-hour shifts in mines make it nearly impossible for women to accept natural resources jobs if they have children, she said.

I would argue that is the illusion of choice, that isnt a real choice, she said.

Women may be pushed in Wyoming into work that pays less, which by law is not discrimination, she said. But with the study, Connolly hopes the Legislature could craft policy to encourage companies to better promote work-life balance or pay more in the fields women traditionally occupy.

No money will be spent for the new study. Department of Workforce Services economists will research the issue with money already in the agency, Connolly said.

The economists will update a study the Legislature ordered 15 years ago on the gender-wage gap.

Connolly, a gender studies professor at the University of Wyoming, said she worked on the original study with business professors and others.

In the updated study, economists will break down the gender-pay gap by county, industry and position, she said.

Halverson, who doesnt believe the gap is the result of discrimination but of choices women make, said on the floor of the House in January that the study needs to be completed.

Wyoming cannot thrive as a state if weve got the reputation of being discriminatory in the way we pay men versus women, she said. If were going to attract dual-income families, a husband and a wife, we need both parties to know that they will be paid fairly.

Halverson said the federal government considers work 30 hours a week to be full-time, and that likely explains some of the gap.

She said that the differences in wages is calculated in an overly simplified way.

Wyoming women in 2015 earned an average of $36,064 and mens median wages were $55,965. The $19,901 difference was divided by the mens figure to determine the gap.

The math doesnt consider womens employment arrangements, Halverson said.

There are myriad examples, reasons that women earn less than men, she said. A lot of it has to do with choice  choice of career, choice of hours, choice to leave the workforce or choice to only work 30 hours a week.

We need a study to answer the question: Are employers paying women less for the exact same job, the exact same hours worked, the same qualification in education and experience? Or are women just earning less because it is their choice?
BILLINGS, Mont.  A total of nine dead cows have been found along a Montana river and wildlife officials say while it's not common, it's also not unheard of.

Officials have not found an owner to claim the cow carcasses that have been appearing on the banks of the Yellowstone River since February.

Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said he has some deputies on the case, trying to track down an owner.

Montana Department of Environmental Quality Public Policy Director Kristi Ponozzo says it is the owner's responsibility to remove the dead cows because the carcasses can produce pollution.
Recently, wildlands philanthropist Kris Tompkins donated 1 million acres of privately owned wild parklands to the country of Chile.

The largest single philanthropic donation of wildlands in the world, it was the culmination of an ambitious 25-year conservation effort by Kris and her late husband, Doug Tompkins, to create a string of parklands along the Patagonia landscapes.

In accepting the donation, Chiles president, Michelle Bachelet, agreed to merge another 10 million acres of Chilean national lands to the Tompkins donation to create 11 million acres of new parklands. To put this into perspective, Yellowstone, one of our larger national parks, is 2.2 million acres. So the new parklands are equal to five Yellowstones.

When completed, the addition of these new parks will give Chile the distinction of having 29 percent of its land in protected landscapes, one of the highest percentage of protected wildlands of any country in the world.

While we can all celebrate the generosity of the Tompkinses and the wisdom of the Chilean people who appreciate and recognize the ecosystem, biodiversity, and economic value of parklands, it is ironic that Chile has vastly surpassed the United States in landscape protection.

The idea of protected parklands began in America with the 1872 creation of Yellowstone National Park, which has become a global model for land preservation. While 29 percent of the Chilean landscape will soon be protected in national parks, the United States has just 3.4 percent of its land acreage protected as national parks.

Even if you add in other protected landscapes like federal wilderness areas, only 14 percent of the US land area is highly protected from exploitation and development.

Even more worrisome for the future of wildlands protection is that some in the Republican-dominated Congress are opposed to creation of new parklands (witness the opposition of Utahs delegation to the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument), and even attempting to remove protections for our wildlands.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Trump administration have indicated that they want to ramp up development on public lands and decrease environmental protections and defund watchdog agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

Chile and other countries have recognized that protecting wildlands is part of preserving a countrys heritage and patrimony. At the same time, these wildlands provide a home for all the other life on Earth. If we truly wish to preserve biodiversity for its own worth, as well as its value to humanity, we need to recognize, as Chile has, that protecting parks and other wildlands is wise self-interest.

Once America was a leader in conservation, but if current trends continue, Americas authority and recognized supremacy in conservation will soon be diminished, along with a loss in our own natural heritage. Trump declared that he wanted to make America Great Again  he could begin by supporting the creation of even more national parks and other protected landscapes.

The idea of protected parklands began in America with the 1872 creation of Yellowstone National Park, which has become a global model for land preservation. While 29 percent of the Chilean landscape will soon be protected in national parks, the United States has just 3.4 percent of its land acreage protected as national parks.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administrations failure to keep senior adviser Jared Kushners trip to Iraq secret isnt standard practice for top U.S. officials visiting war zones. Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security.

A senior administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner  President Donald Trumps son-in-law  was in Iraq, even though he was still en route. 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 cant plot attacks.

Its been longstanding practice to strictly avoid announcing the visits of senior U.S. officials in advance of their travels to war zones, said George Little, a Pentagon and CIA press secretary for Leon Panetta, who managed both departments under President 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 arent clear on the map.

Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while theyre on the ground.

U.S. security details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure, trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.

The choice of plane, too, is determined by danger level. In war zones, officials often fly more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Forces heavy C-17 transport plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper, corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from surface-to-air missiles.
A new chicken and waffles restaurant is expected to open this fall on Fourth Avenue.

Owner Micah Blatt plans to open The Drunken Chicken in August, when University of Arizona students return from summer break.

The fast-casual restaurant will serve chicken and waffles, plus craft beer.

Were just trying to do something that other people arent doing around here, Blatt said. We love all the businesses on Fourth Avenue. Were adding a little more love to an industry that we care about.

Blatt, who owns the nearby Mr. Heads Art Gallery and Bar, has had his eye on 429 N. Fourth Ave. for a couple of years now. He thought of buying it from Maya Quetzal, a Guatemalan restaurant with two decades under its belt. But he decided to wait.

The location finally came on the market this year, so Blatt made his move. Hes bringing on Mr. Heads manager Ben Sattler as a co-owner in the new business.
A federal court on Monday rejected efforts by some companies, aided by state officials, to void air quality requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In an extensive ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Asarco and CalPortland Co. have no legal right to challenge the mandates because neither company had first registered its objections with the EPA. Judge Jay Bybee, writing for the panel, said that is contrary to what federal law requires.

But procedural questions aside, the judges also rebuffed various other challenges to both the kind of equipment companies would be required to install as well as limits on their emissions. They said there was more than enough evidence to support the EPAs conclusion that these are necessary to protect visibility in national parks and forests.

Mondays ruling drew criticism from the state Department of Environmental Quality, which had sided with the companies.

In a prepared statement, Timothy Franquist, director of the agencys air quality division, acknowledged there are ancillary air quality benefits from the Regional Haze Program. And he said the intent of Congress in enacting these laws was to improve visibility in our national parks and monuments.

But Franquist said his agency is not convinced that what the EPA wants Arizona companies to do is worthwhile.

The program only has resulted in unperceivable visibility improvements in Arizona, when improved visibility should be the focus of the program, he said. And with a change of administration in Washington and new leadership at the EPA, Franquist said officials at his agency hope this matter will be one of the many rules the new EPA administration revisits.

There was no immediate response from Asarco, which is seeking to ease requirements for its Hayden smelter. Efforts to reach CalPortland, which operates a cement kiln at Rillito in Pima County, were unsuccessful.

At the heart of the legal battle is a 1970 federal law which declared it a national goal to improve air visibility in federal parks and forests.

That provision in the Clean Air Act requires each state with emissions that impact federal lands to create a plan showing how it intends to make reasonable progress toward the national visibility goal. That includes requirements for companies to use best available retrofit technology as well as for polluters to make reasonable progress toward reducing emissions.

But the law also says if the EPA finds the state plan wanting, it can implement its own plan.

Thats exactly what happened here.

Bybee said the state plan listed proposals to manage and reduce emissions from various industrial sources.

The EPA determined that Arizona could do better in improving visibility, he wrote. So the federal agency disapproved elements of the state plan and issued its own plan that imposed enhanced emission-control measures.

That led to the companies, with the assistance of the state DEQ, taking the federal agency to court.

Among the complaints by Asarco was the EPA saying it cannot emit more than 40 tons per year of nitrogen oxides from its smelter without installing new pollution-control equipment.

Attorneys for the company argued that was inappropriate, if for no reason other than its smelter currently produces less than that. Bybee said theres a flaw in that.

Nothing prevents them from exceeding that threshold in the future, he wrote. And the judge said the EPA requirements ensure that the smelters live up to their representations of keeping their nitrogen oxides emissions low.

And Bybee said it makes no sense for Asarco to claim it cannot recover 99.8 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions since that was the number the company gave the EPA of what it is it now recovering.

The appellate judges did consider claims by challengers that the difference in visibility from the requirements is so small as not to matter. That included the contention by CalPortland that its cement kiln, built before the 1970 federal law, should not be required to make reasonable progress in reducing its emissions.

But Bybee said the law on reasonable progress requires the EPA to consider four factors: cost of compliance, time necessary for compliance, energy and other non-air quality impacts, and the remaining useful life of the plant.

He said the EPA was not required to consider visibility, though it did take it into account, albeit not to the degree CalPortland wanted. And that, said Bybee, does not allow the company to seek federal court review.

Although petitioners may not like that the EPA accorded some factors greater weight than others, it is simply not our place to substitute our judgment for that of the EPA, he wrote.
The Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board has an ambitious plan to turn empty buildings on the Sunshine Mile along Broadway into thriving businesses.

It is a plan mostly on paper for now as the city moves forward to widen East Broadway between Euclid Avenue and Country Club Road to a six-lane road with bike lanes, sidewalks and landscaping.

Dozens of buildings are already empty, victims of an uncertain future ever since the city first promised to widen Broadway in 1989. More are threatened to become empty as parking lots and even buildings are swallowed up by new lanes of traffic.

The city has worked closely with area residents and businesses for two years and has reduced the number of buildings that could be torn down for the widening from 130 to 27, said Nicole Ewing-Gavin, the interim manager of the citys planning and development services department.

The term Sunshine Mile dates back to 1953, when area merchants held a contest to come up with a name for the strip of Broadway between Euclid and Country Club.

However, Rio Nuevo officials estimate 80 businesses along the two-mile stretch of Broadway will either be empty or underused when the widening is complete.

Construction along the Sunshine Mile is not expected to begin until later this year or early next year.

Last week, Rio Nuevo hired a New York City-based nonprofit, Getting Project for Public Spaces, to help identify potential redevelopment opportunities. The $87,000 contract will have the nonprofit staff meet with local businesses and property owners to discuss issues affecting redevelopment.

Rio Nuevos ability to give some financial incentives is expected to pair well with a pilot program the city is offering to relax zoning codes and waive fees to allow businesses to use older, smaller buildings throughout the city.

One of those properties to be hit hard by the Broadway widening is the small strip mall that has been home to the Yikes Toy Store, 2930 E. Broadway.

Current widening plans will take out about half of the parking spots in front of the business.

Owner Patricia Katchur says she is supportive of the city and the Rio Nuevo programs to help businesses affected.

I think it is a wonderful idea and I think it helps, Katchur said. It is very important that Rio Nuevo is trying to step in and help with this.

The widening, she says, impacts one of the last strips of retail that was built around mid-century modern architecture still standing in the United States.

Recently, the Sunshine Mile corridor was named one of the Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

However, Katchur, who plans to keep her store open, warns that the previous efforts to helps businesses have often failed to meet the reality of moving a business to another location

One suggestion would have had her move her popular retail shop to an industrial park where the rent would be triple what she has been paying on Broadway.

Moving assistance, she said, was nowhere near enough to cover her costs of relocating.

The amount of money they would give me was laughable and was a nail in my coffin, she said.

She hopes the new efforts will not focus solely on attracting new businesses, but helping existing businesses along the Sunshine Mile.

I think people forget about the businesses that have been here, she said.

At least one suggestion for Yikes Toy Store and neighboring businesses would be for the city to decrease the required number of parking spaces or create agreements that will allow shoppers to park in adjacent lots.

Rio Nuevo Chairman Fletcher McCusker was optimistic about the new program, saying that, as a redevelopment and revitalization district, it can offer incentives to businesses that the city legally cannot.

In 2015, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich ruled that Rio Nuevo is exempt from the states gift clause, which bars municipalities and other state entities from subsidizing private entities.

We can invite someone to a property or a building and say Tell you what, we will pay six months of rent, said McCusker.

Using the Bisbee Breakfast Club, which opened near Country Club, and the Welcome Diner, near Tyndell Avenue, as examples, McCusker said there are plenty of opportunities for new businesses to move into the area and be successful.

We know people will migrate to a strip if there is a reason to go, he said.

He said Rio Nuevo could be able to help about 50 properties along the two-mile stretch.

McCusker said successes might come slowly, but thinks it is possible to work with the business community as well as the city to redevelop the Broadway corridor.
Jose Luis Gomez has never been to the Swiss Alps, but hes seen them from afar.

The closest hes gotten was seeing the Alps as they spill into Italy, where he calls home. And hes viewed their majesty from thousands of feet above while flying around Europe to guest conduct.

Last week, as he was guest conducting in Spain with a view of a majestic seaside, Gomez was thinking about the Santa Catalinas in Tucson.

That picturesque view that he saw most vividly when he conducted a Tucson Symphony Orchestra MasterWorks concert at Catalina-Foothills High School last month will likely flash before his eyes when he takes the stage at Tucson Music Hall this weekend to conduct Strausss An Alpine Symphony.

When Richard Strauss wrote (An Alpine Symphony), he wrote it about his experiences when he went to the Alps, Gomez said. It gives you an idea  of how nature is bigger than anything else.

This will be the first time the orchestra has ever performed the piece, and the first time Gomez has ever conducted it, although he had a shot a few years ago when he was asked to pinch-hit at the last minute for an ill conductor. He passed, he said, deciding that An Alpine Symphony was far too important and complex  it clocks it at nearly an hour  to wing it.

Its kind of a music director piece, said the TSO music director. It requires a lot of preparation not only for the orchestra but to put together all of the musicians.

The TSO will use 125 musicians including 17 horn players  a dozen more than they have. The TSO is teaming up with the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music to bring in students to flesh out the horn section.

Its going to be huge, Gomez said, sounding almost giddy as he explained how full the Music Hall stage will be on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

There will be two harps, keyboards, a full complement of brass, winds and strings, and an overabundance of percussionists playing everything from glockenspiel to cowbells. Theres also a couple instruments some people may never have seen on a Tucson stage  the rarely -heard heckelphone (similar to an oboe) and a thunder machine and wind machine, which will recreate the sounds one might hear while hiking the Swiss Alps.

It is a very descriptive journey of what anyone who wants to go to the Alps will discover, Gomez said, noting that the piece was autobiographical and very personal to Strauss. It starts with what happens at sunrise, the beginning of the day, and it shows you the aspects of nature that is specific to the Alps, not just the mountains but what surrounds the Alps. Its not only a physical experience, its also a mystical experience.  He wanted to make a tribute to nature.

And while the Music Hall stage will be crammed with musicians, dont look too hard to find those dozen extra horn players. You will hear them, but you wont see them; they will be placed backstage to create the dramatic fanfare in the pieces opening.
The first craft brewery on Tucsons east side is set to launch this Thursday.

BlackRock Brewers announced on its Facebook page Sunday that starting this week, its hours will be 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and noon-8 p.m. Saturdays.

With about 3,700 square feet of space, BlackRock holds a sizable location at 1664 S. Research Loop, off of South Pantano Road, south of East 22nd Street.

In a January interview, co-owner Tony Williams said they went big with their brewery, because they were going to be the only game on the east side in terms of craft brewing.

BlackRock is working with a 3-barrel system. There will be 2-3 beers, including a cream ale and an Imperial Irish red, available this weekend.

When fully operational, the brewery will feature six taps, with four flagships, one seasonal and a "foreign exchange" beer from one of the other local breweries in town, Williams said in January.
Tickets: $190 for four-day festival pass, $50 for Thursday, $75 each day for Friday through Sunday through countrythunder.com

New to this year's festival, Country Thunder is introducing the Dierks Bentley Whiskey Row stage where some of Arizona homegrown talent will play between Main Stage acts. The stage also features some of the Main Stage acts. The stage is the namesake of Arizonan Bentley's gastropub, which has three locations in the Phoenix area and one in Nashville.

Traveling festivals

Country Thunder has been in Arizona and Wisconsin for 23 years and last year made the move north  to Canada.

 In August 2016, Country Thunder expanded into Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for a three-day festival. The 2017 festival will be Aug. 18-20.

 Last fall, in October, Canada's popular Craven Country Jamboree became part of the Country Thunder family. The 2017 festival is July 13-16 in Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada.

About the festival: Country Thunder is owned and operated by Canada-born/Nashville-based Premier Global Productions, which took over the Arizona and Wisconsin festivals in 2007. At the helm: former professional hockey player and sometime musician Troy Vollhoffer, who sneaks in a set with a band of musical besties in the backstage VIP tent. Oftentimes, artists from the main stage are sitting at the smattering of tables sipping complementary cocktails while watching Vollhoffer and company belt out classic rock covers.
Although Arizona ports of entry remain understaffed, a new cargo inspection program is drastically cutting border crossing times.

Mexican customs officers now are working at Arizona ports with their U.S. counterparts to inspect thousands of northbound and southbound trucks loaded with produce and industrial goods.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection began the Unified Cargo Processing program in July 2016 to save time and money for trucks traveling to and from Mexico.

The biggest difference is a drop in the average wait time for certain trucks to be inspected, from 3 hours to 30 minutes, said William Brooks, director of CBPs Tucson Field Office.

It is good for Nogales and for Arizona, said Guillermo Valencia, chairman of the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority. It has been a fantastic program. One company said that it saved them $700,000 in one month.

Brooks said he saw a similar program in Southern California where U.S. officers were working in Mexico alongside Mexican officers. He decided to bring the same system north of the border to Arizona.

Previously, trucks crossing the border had to be inspected in Mexico, and if there was an issue they had to be unloaded and searched, he said. Then they would drive about seven miles and do it all over again with U.S. customs officers.

In Nogales, Arizona, the program is only available to importers certified through the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, which monitors companies supply chains and then grants certification to low-risk companies so they generally do not need to be searched at the border.

Time is money, Brooks said, explaining the wait times for trucks to cross through Arizona ports is 18 percent less on average than before the new program began. Other changes include 12 percent more trucks crossing before noon and 6 percent more daily.

Since Oct. 1, about 18,000 trucks participated in the new program in Nogales, out of 142,000 total northbound trucks that crossed through the port. The documents for another 1,800 trucks were reviewed as they headed into Mexico.

All trucks that go through the port in San Luis can participate in the new program, due to the low volume of traffic there. In Douglas, about half of the trucks are C-TPAT certified and participate in the new program.

Local ports of entry still need more CBP officers, Valencia said.

When the federal government looks to send money and manpower to secure the border, it often overlooks the people who guard the ports of entry, he said.

In a Jan. 25 order, President Trump authorized the hiring of 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, but made no mention of hiring more customs officers.

The focus is more on national security, and they forget that the ports are national security too, Valencia said. There are a lot of people patrolling the border that we could be using at the ports of entry.

Each new officer at Arizona ports would have a large economic impact, Valencia said.

A 2013 University of Southern California study found one additional officer at the Mariposa port in Nogales would boost the local economy by $2.3 million and the national economy by another $2 million.

As one who talks to them and works with them and sees their shortages, the people in blue need help, not just the people in green. Valencia said.
A Tucson couple accused of operating a string of illicit massage parlors failed to appear at a court hearing Monday afternoon.

Clarissa Lopez and Ulises Ruiz are facing multiple felonies in connection with the By Spanish prostitution ring that had locations scattered across Tucson for more than four years, according to Tucson Police Department and Pima County Superior Court records.

In February 2016, Ruiz and Lopez were each indicted on six felony charges, including illegal control of an enterprise, keeping a house of prostitution, receiving the earnings of a prostitute and money laundering  all felonies.

Lopez is also facing an additional two felony counts of pandering, for recruiting women to lead a life of prostitution, court records show.

In July, after five months of motions, hearings and status conferences, a trial date was set for April 4, but it was vacated in late March when the case settlement conference was scheduled.

Attorney Cornelia Honchar, who is representing Lopez in the case, bristled at the sight of media in the courtroom Monday afternoon, saying settlement conferences arent public and shed be asking Pima County Superior Court Judge Howard Fell to move the conference into chambers.

Fell had previously granted the Stars request to allow media access to the courtroom, indicating the hearing was not private.

Its unclear if Fell would have approved Honchars request, as Lopez and Ruiz had not arrived several minutes after the scheduled time of 1 p.m.

I dont do settlement conferences without defendants, so I guess were done, Fell told Honchar and Assistant Public Defender Sean Bruner, who is representing Ruiz in the case.

Honchar and Bruner both attempted to make contact with their clients, saying they were aware of the conference, where terms of a potential plea deal are discussed in an effort to settle the case.

Bruner said he spoke to Ruiz before leaving the courtroom. According to Bruner, Ruiz said he didnt know he had to attend the conference and was at work.

Fell didnt issue bench warrants for the defendants failure to appear, as a status conference was already scheduled for Tuesday morning, April 4.

The charges stem from a January 2015 Tucson police raid during which evidence was seized from 10 homes and properties identified in the investigation.

During the investigation, police learned a former employee of By Spanish, Stephanie Garcia, had left the business and started a new operation, Daisys Delights.

While investigating the two businesses, police identified government employees, area firefighters, Border Patrol agents and Air Force personnel as customers.

Eight Tucson police employees who were found to be involved in the business lost their jobs as a result, but no charges were filed against them.

In a related court case, Garcia is facing eight felonies, including illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering, maintaining a house of prostitution and receiving the earnings of a prostitute.

Garcias attorney, Lisa Surhio, was on hand for the hearing, as her clients jury trial before Judge Paul Tang is scheduled to start April 11.

Deputy Pima County Attorney Bruce Chalk is handling both cases.
A public candlelight memoriam for Isabel Celis, whose remains were found in a rural area of Pima County, is set for Wednesday, April 5, at the downtown Joel D. Valdez Main Library.

The outdoor vigil is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at 101 N. Stone Ave., said Travis Ramirez, a photographer and Pima Community College student who is hosting the event.

A guest book will be available for people to send their thoughts to the Celis family, and the public is invited to speak at the memoriam, said Ramirez.

On Friday, nearly five years after Isabel disappeared from her family's midtown home, Police Chief Chris Magnus announced at a news conference that the child's remains were found in early March in a remote area. He said he would not elaborate because the investigation is ongoing.

The remains were positively identified by DNA testing as those of Isabel, who was 6 years old when she went missing from her bedroom in 2012.

After the news conference, Tucson Medical Center  where Isabel's mother, Becky Celis, is a nurse  issued a statement on behalf of the family:

"We want to thank the community for the support they have continued to show for Isa over the years and for refusing to give up hope. Now is our time to mourn. We ask for our privacy during this time so that we can do that."

Ramirez said after hearing the family's statement he wanted to show them Tucson's support and to "pay our respects to our angel Isa."

Isabel touched "everybody's heart," said Ramirez.
The nations high court has upheld a criminal conviction that the chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court openly feared could lead to child molesting charges against parents for routine actions.

Without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review the conviction of Jerry C. Holle on charges he inappropriately touched his 11-year-old step-granddaughter. That means the Pima County resident will not escape his 10-year prison term on charges of molestation, followed by five years of probation for sexual abuse.

The case is noteworthy because of comments last year by Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales, who said the precedent set by his court  a precedent the U.S. Supreme Court left intact  poses a danger for parents for something as simple as changing a babys diaper.

Under Arizona law, someone can be convicted of child molestation and sexual abuse if a jury believes the touching was knowing or intentional. But the same law also says it is a defense to both crimes that the act was not motivated by a sexual interest. Holles lawyer said sexual intent was never proven by prosecutors.

In a ruling last year, the Arizona Supreme Court said the law doesnt put that burden on prosecutors. Also, Justice John Pelander, writing for the court, pointed out that Holle never made such a claim in his defense.

Bales agreed with the majority that, at least in this case, the conviction should stand. But he warned that the wording of the law  making it a crime to knowingly touch the genitals or anus of a child  without showing some sexual interest leaves too much to chance and too much risk that an overzealous prosecutor could put a parent behind bars.

Pelander, however, called it unpersuasive that parents and even doctors could be charged with a crime for examining a childs parts.
The University of Arizonas new president will earn more than any other university president in state history.

Dr. Robert C. Robbins annual compensation will total $988,000 under a three-year contract the Arizona Board of Regents is expected to approve on Friday.

Robbins would assume the UA presidency June 1, clearing the way for current President Ann Weaver Hart to leave the top job more than a year early while still receiving her $670,000 presidential pay package until June 2018.

As a result, the UA will have to spend more than $1.6 million on presidential compensation next school year  the combined total for Robbins and Hart.

Robbins, 59, now makes more than $1.2 million a year as the CEO of Texas Medical Center, and last month told the Arizona Daily Star he expected to take a major pay cut once he started his new job in Tucson.

Ive never been really motivated by money, he said.

Robbins UA pay would be $12,000 short of $1 million under the regents proposed contract. But hell also be eligible for performance pay for meeting annual goals to be established later this year, which would likely push him past the $1 million mark if he meets them.

While Robbins UA pay package is less than what he makes now, it is $200,000 more than the $788,000 a year earned by Michael Crow of Arizona State University, who runs the states largest university and is now the top presidential earner.

Regents staff did not respond Monday to emails seeking comment on whether Crow is likely to get a raise to bring him up to the same pay level as Robbins.

The extra $200,000 for Robbins will be covered by private donations from the UAs fundraising arm, the University of Arizona Foundation. The foundation was asked a few years ago to provide a similar salary top-up for Hart, but did not do so.

Since then, private donors established an endowed presidential leadership chair which will provide an extra $200,000 a year not just for Robbins but for any UA president who follows him, said John-Paul Roczniak, the foundations CEO.

This endowed chair demonstrates the University of Arizona Foundation board of trustees commitment to supporting the UA Office of the President in perpetuity and is an investment in the future of this great institution, Roczniak said in an email interview Monday.

The extra cash will help the UA attract and retain top leaders like Robbins, Roczniak said. Robbins has said he plans to remain at the UA for a decade or more.

Robbins was the preferred choice of donors who recently wrote to regents to express opinions on the presidential search. But he was not the top choice of many UA faculty members, who wanted the other presidential finalist, ASU executive Sethuraman Panchanathan, to get the job.

Hart, who drew heavy criticism last year for taking a $170,000 a year side-job on the board of a for-profit university, last June announced plans to step down as president when her contract expires in June 2018. Regents opted to replace her ahead of time and launched a search effort last fall.

Hart will step down May 31 under a provision of her contract called termination without cause. It entitles her to liquidated damages  her presidential pay package, including housing and vehicle allowances and retirement funding  until her contract ends.

After that, Hart will receive a much smaller paycheck as a tenured faculty member in the College of Education. Her faculty salary will equal that of the highest-paid faculty member in the college, Dean Ronald Marx, who now makes close to $159,000 a year.
The upper echelon of administration at Tucsons largest school district is experiencing high turnover as it faces filling the vacancies of a chief human resources officer, a permanent superintendent and, now, a deputy superintendent.

Karen Kopec, who served as deputy superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District since July, will resign effective June 30.

My husband and I plan to go back to Austin, Texas, and spend quality time with our 14 grandchildren, she said in an email.

Kopec had come to TUSD to work with H.T. Sanchez, who resigned on Feb. 28 following weeks of uncertainty about his future with the district. However, the reason for her resignation is not related to his departure, said Stefanie Boe, a district spokeswoman.

Kopec joins Anna Maiden, chief human resources officer, and Chief Financial Officer Karla Soto in resigning from TUSD in recent months.

Maiden's departure is directly related Sanchez's resignation. Soto, however, will return to the district through an outsourcing firm.

Two other senior administrators  General Counsel Todd Jaeger and Assistant Superintendent Abel Morado  are finalists for superintendent at Amphitheater Public Schools district.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Trujillo, an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, was named TUSDs interim leader at last weeks board meeting. He is being paid a prorated salary of $200,000 to finish out the school year, which ends on June 30.

The high turnover in top administration is to be expected when a superintendent leaves, said Mark Stegeman, a board member who sought to oust Sanchez. For example, when former superintendent John Pedicone left, many of his cabinet members left.

I think that if TUSD develops a leadership culture that produces a stronger bench, so to speak, then there might be less of that, Stegeman said.

As for seeking a replacement for Kopec, Stegeman said he would not personally want to fill that position.

We need to reduce administrative positions, he said.
PHOENIX  Without a single dissent, state senators approved changes Monday in Arizona laws designed to sharply curb the ability of prosecutors and police to seize property.

The measure includes a new requirement that prosecutors must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the items they want to seize were involved in criminal activity.

Thats not quite the standard used in gaining a criminal conviction where a judge or jury must believe someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt before depriving a person of his or her freedom.

But its much more than exists now, where all a prosecutor need show is that the preponderance of the evidence shows a link between the property and a crime. That is basically a balancing test, meaning all a judge need find it that the evidence shows its more likely than not there is a link.

And what makes this change so important is that police and prosecutors can take someones property without ever charging the owner with actually committing a crime, much less actually getting a conviction.

But Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, who has championed the changes, said the potentially more far-reaching provisions will remove the financial impediment that now exists for people to fight to get back property they believe was unfairly and illegally seized.

Mondays vote pretty much assures that the measure will reach the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey. The House, which already has given its approval to virtually identical language, simply needs to ratify the changes made in the Senate.

An aide said Ducey wants to review the bill before making a decision.

What remains to be seen is whether prosecutors seek a veto.

A spokeswoman for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery declined to comment. And Deputy Pima County Attorney Kathleen Mayer said she has not yet discussed the issue with Barbara LaWall, her boss.

At the center of the issue is that civil forfeiture law. It was designed both to ensure that criminal enterprises do not get to keep the property they acquire from the proceeds of illegal activities as well as to cripple these enterprises by taking away their assets.

But there have been increasing concerns that police and prosecutors are padding their finances by going after property in minor situations.

Farnsworth cited the example of a family facing loss of a vehicle because a child had an ounce of weed on the seat.

You have the risk if you lose in challenging that, he said.

If you lose, you have to pay your fees and the governments fees, Farnsworth explained. But if you win, the government doesnt have to pay your fees.

Farnsworth said this gamble was often not worth taking for property owners

They could rack up $20,000 between the two for a $3,000 car, he said.

HB 2477 reverses both of those.

If the measure becomes law, the government pays the fees of a challenger who wins in court. And theres no longer a danger of winding up broke after an unsuccessful court fight.

The measure also contains what Farnsworth said is some accountability to ensure that seized property and the money made from selling off items is properly used.

He said oversight is lax, as shown by the current investigation by the FBI into the Pinal County attorney and sheriffs office. That follows various complaints that the two elected officials  both since replaced  were using proceeds for improper purposes, including in one case a mailer on behalf of Sheriff Paul Babeu that went out to voters shortly before the Republican congressional primary in which he was a candidate.

And Farnsworth also cited the arrest of Christopher Radtke, the former chief deputy for the Pima County Sheriffs Office. Radtke, originally indicted on multiple money laundering counts having to do with the embezzlement of $500,000 of forfeiture funds, eventually pleaded guilty to multiple misdemeanors, a deal that allowed him to keep his pension.
Tuesday, April 4, is a big day for Arizona nonprofits.

Its Arizona Gives Day, a 24-hour online giving effort that many local charities participate in.

People can donate today to more than 1,000 charities using the azgives.org website.

Many smaller charities get a bulk of their donations today. The effort also gives participating charities a chance to earn additional money from a $175,000 prize pool based on how much they raise during this one-day online effort.

A quick website search of Tucson charities participating shows such organizations as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, the Assistance League of Tucson, Fox Theatre, Habitat for Humanity, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson (TROT), Tucson Jewish Community Center, and the January 8th Memorial Foundation.

People can make multiple donations at the website using their credit or debit cards.

The effort is hosted by Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum, with FirstBank serving as the presenting sponsor.

In 2016 Arizona Gives Day, about $2.8 million was raised with the help 16,450 donors, a 30 percent increase from 2015, according to the Arizona Gives Day website. About $7.4 million has been raised by the effort since it began in 2013.
Help India!

TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter

Ajmer : Dargah Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan at Dargah Ajmer Sharif has called for a beef ban across the country. He has claimed that Cows are a holy figure for Hindu brethren, therefore Muslims should refrain from eating cow meat. He has also said that the triple talaq practice is against Sharia.

Support TwoCircles



Ajmer Sharif Dargah is considered as one of the largest shrines of the Muslim community in India where thousands of people from various countries including Pakistan, have gathered this time on the occasion of 805th Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan Chisti.

On the same occasion, Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan said, Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan Chisty lived all his life for unity between Hindu and Muslim communities. Beef leads to division in the society. To stop that, we (Muslims) should stop eating beef to honour our Hindu brethren.

Moreover, he said, I would appeal for a countrywide ban on the beef.

He said, Our hindu brothers consider cow as their brother. And we should respect other religion as it is the core of Islam.

Dargah Dewan also announced that he and his members are also giving up on the beef. My family and I have taken a pledge on this day that we will never have beef for the rest of our lives. And we ask Muslims of India to give up on beef for the sake of unity and peace, said Dewan.

Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan asked for the provision for punishment of those who could kill a cow and its various progenies.

Coming over to the controversy of Triple Talaq, Dargah Dewan said, Triple talaq is not only irrelevant in these times, but also is against of Sharia. When Niqah is done with the consent of both the girl and the boy, there should be consent involved in the Talaq as well. He also said that if families are present during Niqah, why should Triple Talaq be practiced in solicitation?

He said that couple should try to save the marriage until the last try possible and if Triple Talaq is necessary, one should keep the gap of at least one month between two Talaqs said. Such decisions should not be done in hurry or in anger, he added. He also said that Triple Talaq is the non-Shariat practice which hurts the sentiments and self-confidence of Muslim women.
Help India!

Patna, (IANS): RJD chief Lalu Prasad has appealed to all non-BJP political parties to come together on a platform to counter the aggressive Hinduvta agenda of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Sensing a tough challenge, Lalu Prasad has also warned that a united non-Bharatiya Janata Party political force will be the only option to take on the BJP and Modi in the next general elections.

Support TwoCircles



Lalu Prasads major ally Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already said a Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of non-BJP parties is needed at the national level to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

I have appealed to all non-BJP parties to come together on a platform. Unity among non-BJP parties is the only option available now to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Lalu told media here on Tuesday.

Lalu Prasad said if non-BJP parties remain divided and fail to unite as a political force, they will be finished.

I have already initiated talk with several top leaders of different regional parties with commitment to social justice agenda for unity among the non-BJP parties across the country, he said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief said that initially he has started approaching different leaders on the telephone, and this will be followed by his personal visit to talk to them face to face. After that, all like-minded leaders of different parties will sit together to formulate something concrete, he added.

We have to come together soon to chalk out strategies because after one year, there will be little time with us to prepare for the 2019 polls.

Lalu said Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress is a strong force in West Bengal, AIADMK and DMK are strong forces in Tamil Nadu, while the Biju Janata Dal is strong in Odisha, Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav are strong in Uttar Pradesh. If BSP, SP and Congress had joined hands like the JD-U, RJD and Congress joined hands in Bihar, the result of the Uttar Pradesh polls would have been totally different. The BJP got an opportunity due to a clear cut split in opposition votes.

Lalu Prasad cautioned that Modi may go for early Lok Sabha polls to cash in on the massive victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. I and my party RJD are ready for it, but others have to be ready to face any such situation, he said.

Lalu Prasad said the Congress is a national party and it should come forward to unite non-BJP parties.

Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United said that a Mahagathbandhan would prove successful in the next parliamentary polls.
Help India!

Ghaziabad, (IANS): A Muslim cleric has been arrested for gunrunning and 12 pistols have been seized from him in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar told the media that Hafiz Mohammad Tahir, an Imam at a mosque in Jansath town, was operating a gang that supplied locally made weapons in western Uttar Pradesh.

Support TwoCircles



The gang bought the firearms from Munger in Bihar and sold them in Shamli, Kairana and Kandhla areas in Uttar Pradesh, the officer said.

Police said Tahir was arrested after he promised to deliver a dozen pistols to a decoy customer. He was arrested in 2008 too on the same charge.
Yet another hideous phenomenon seen in iran under the mullahs rule is the unthinkable practice of children forced off to mandatory Marriages. The victims, who are placed into such situations at extremely young ages due to poverty, are left to face physical and psychological damages.

Young girls are the main targets of such inhumane measures, with the mullahs institutionalising these acts under Irans misogynist laws. And yet, based on human rights covenants, child marriages are considered acts of slavery and crimes against humanity. In such marriages, girls are actually sold to relieve their families of their economic burdens.

Irans children damaged in early marriages

This shocking phenomenon is so widespread the regimes own state-run media is forced to react. The depth of this disaster can be comprehended from the words of an Iranian regime official, Currently, 43,000 girls between the ages of 10 to 15 are married.

We have even witnessed girls under the age of 10 getting married, said Shahindokht Molavardi, Irans deputy vice president.

There are families who cannot make ends meet and force their girls into marriages with individuals twice their age, according to a report wired by Irans state-run IRNA news agency. In Iran, 890,000 girls under the age of 18 were married off from 2006 to 2015.

Iran has 10 million completely illiterate and another 10 million semi-illiterate individuals across the country.

These are dangerous statistics and are directly related to the number of child marriages, state-run Mehr news agency reported.

The income division in Iran is yet another reason behind increasing child marriages, the report reads.

17% of all marriages are related to girls under the age of 18 and in 2015 more than 5% of all marriages were registered to individuals under the age of 15.

These statistics do not include non-registered marriages."

According to Irans civil law girls are permitted to marry at the age of 13 and boys at 15. This reactionary law even permits marriages prior to these ages, only in need of permission from a court and the parents.

If these two parties confirm, Children at the age of six can be legally married, said Iranian MP Fateme Zolqadr in reference to this law.

Shahla Ezazi, a sociologist and member of the Tabatabaie University Board of Science said in 2015 the number of child marriages increased by 10,000 in comparison to 2014 and their divorces have also increased.

In Iran under the religious fascist mullahs rule access to true statistics of child marriages is impossible and the media expressed in the regimes controlled media most certainly reflect only a tip of the iceberg.

Irans mullahs encouraging child marriages

Considering all the damages caused by child marriages, the ruling mullahs in Iran continue to promote such a practice. Mullah Mohsen Gheraati made repulsive remarks in this regard.

There must be an urgency regarding marriages. Boys and girls must get married in high school (and not in college), he said.

This is a clear resemblance of the mullahs misogynist ideology.

Children involved in early marriages suffer social and physical damages. The social damages includes unregistered marriages, lack of identification papers, number of child widows on the rise, violence at home and spouse beatings, significant rise in population of city outskirt residents, prostitution, children fleeing their homes, number of homeless people, deprivation from education, significant age different between spouses, self-immolation and suicides, low social and legal support, rise in drug addiction, lack of skills to enter the job market, lack of knowledge to grow children, rise in poverty and rise in child workers. (State-run Iran Online website)
Xinjiang is a remote province of China. It is home to the Uighurs a nomadic Muslim community in west China. In an effort to control the restive province, the Chinese have brought in laws to suppress the community. A recent executive order issued from Beijing by the Central Committee of the Communist Party has banned Muslims from keeping "abnormal beards" and Muslim women for wearing veils covering their face. What is an abnormal beard has not been specified but probably it means that nobody is to keep a beard that is long and free? Also, it is not clear what the ban on veils means.

Probably the ban is against the clothing which covers the face and body.

Uighur revolt

The Uighurs are up in arms against the central government and the majority Han population. They are demanding Independence from China and Communist rule. Earlier China had also banned the Muslim ritual of Ramadan and associated fasting.This was banned on grounds of health. The Chinese propagated that fasting was bad for children and women. The Uighurs are receiving support from a few Muslim Nations including Turkey and Iran but they are fighting a losing battle. The Chinese have crushed the opposition with an amazing display of military force. The Chinese army has also arrested Uighur nationalists and put them in jail.

The Chinese action has not been condemned by any Muslim Nation and one wonders what is the reason behind this.

Trump and China

China is a closed society and totalitarian state where even owning an airgun is banned. Despite this, the Uighurs have been carrying out the sporadic acts of violence against the Chinese Government. The Chinese action contrasts sharply with the USA, where even a Muslim travel ban has not been put into effect as it is stayed by the courts.

The battle lines are drawn and Xinjiang which is a landlocked province will find it difficult to break away from China. Even the United States cannot do anything for the Uighurs. Donald Trump has articulated about the danger of China in the South China sea, but he also is silent on the plight of the Uighurs. it will be interesting to see how the Chinese go about establishing their rule in Xinjiang
Yesterday, a bomb was detonated on a subway train in the centre of St. Petersburg. 11 people were killed and 40 more seriously injured. Following the attack, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, sat down with the chiefs of national security to discuss their strategy in their response. During the meeting (which took place late last night), US President Donald Trump called up to chat with his friend.

Trump and Putin currently under investigation

Its a friendship thats currently under investigation by various US intelligence agencies due to accusations (and evidence) that Russian influence helped to change the election results and get Trump his victory over Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, he called Putin in the early hours of this morning.

The White House issued a statement to say that the President offered the full support of the United States government in assisting with Russias response to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice. During their chat, Trump and Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated.
British Prime Minister Theresa May announced today that they are "absolutely dedicated to working with Gibraltar for the best possible outcome on Brexit."

For years now Spain has been asking for Gibraltar back, which The Spanish Crown formally ceded to The British Crown in 1713, under Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht. Gibraltar, which is located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, was captured in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The case became government policy under the dictatorship of General Franco and has remained in that state under successive governments following the Spanish transition to democracy.

EU has offered Spain a veto

There is no political party in Gibraltar that supports union with Spain, and Gibraltarians themselves reject any such claim. In 2002, trough a referendum the people of Gibraltar rejected a proposal on which Spain and the United Kingdom were said to have reached a broad agreement. The British Government has said that it would never enter into an agreement on sovereignty without the agreement from the Gibraltar Government and its people.

On Friday, the EU has offered Spain a veto, regarding future relations with the union of Gibraltar giving Madrid the great powers over the British enclave when it is no longer the Inner question of the EU.

Downing Street said it was May who publicised in talks with Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picard that they are keeping "firm commitment" to that territory, its economy and people.

"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 free and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content." the spokeswoman said.

EU must consider the Spanish side

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Datis refused to speak about the veto around Gibraltar on Sunday, but he did referred to EUs attitude, rating it positively.

"When Great Britain leaves the EU, the European partner is Spain and the EU regarding Gibraltar, therefore, is obliged to consider the Spanish side," said Dastis in an interview with newspaper El Pais.
Theresa May has come out attacking the National Trust for axing Easter from egg hunt, stating as member of the National Trust and a Vicars daughter, that she was furious. May joins the list of church leaders who have condemned the trust for airbrushing Christianity out of the event. Cadbury, who sponsor the event said that they wanted it to appeal to a wider audience.

The comments come after a rebrand of the event saw the name changed from Easter Egg Trail to The Great British Egg Hunt.

Theresa Mays faux outrage

Theresa May and church leaders outrage is misguided completely because they claim that Cadbury and the National Trust are removing Christianity from the faiths festival.

Despite during the campaign for the event on the website and in other adverts, there is clear mentioning of the word Easter. The rebrand to The Great British Egg Hunt follows suit from many popular reality shows such as The Great British Bake-Off. It would only make sense for a company who want to promote their event to a large audience, to use already popular ideas.

Her outrage also comes as a series of Benefit Cuts have come into place that will plunge 250,000 children into poverty along with bereavement cuts that will see family members losing up to 90% of what they would have gotten in benefit payments. Other cuts include to Tax Credits family element, meaning those who are starting a family beyond April 2017 wont be eligible, Universal Credit requirements have changed, meaning parents who have a youngest child of 3 must be looking for work to be able to claim it plus multiple other cuts.

A Distraction?

Theresa May is using this outrage as a distraction from what else is happening, in a week where her government have insinuated that they would go to war with Spain over Gibraltar. She has stated that Britain should have a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia, despite the incessant destruction by their government of Yemen and cuts to corporation tax that will give an estimated 20bn extra to large corporations.

She has repeatedly shown that the Conservatives have little care for society itself and she is running the government much like Trump in the US, like a business but with more success.

The biggest difference between her and Trump is that Theresa May has an expert understanding how politics works. She is able balance the image of politician whilst running the country like a large corporation, for the aim to make money rather than look after the basic needs to its citizens. Which is the job of the government, to allow and help people to grow and flourish which will benefit humanity itself in the long-term.
Whether you're an adrenaline junkie keen on seeking out adventure or someone who's looking to soak up the sun in stunning surroundings, New Zealand's got something for every intrepid traveller. Situated roughly 900 miles East of Australia across the Tasman Sea and with a total population of only 4.5 million (over four million less than London), you find yourself sometimes interacting more with the local sheep than the local residence, which wouldn't be difficult as there is an estimated ratio of 16 sheep to one person.

The fact that NZ offers opposite seasons to the UK/US is very alluring to those wanting to dodge the dreary winter months in favour of basking in some summer sun.

It's become more and more of a popular backpackers destination due to its famed reputation of extreme sports, but those on a budget shouldn't be put off as there's an infinite array of hikes and explorations where the only cost is your stamina and thirst for adventure. It's still very much an up-and-coming Country, even in terms of the music and fashion industry. Here are some gems from the North Island.

Rotorua

Famous for it's hot pools the distinct sulphur smell is never far away. Lake Rotorua is vast and tempting but swimming there is a no-go due to it being an unsafe algae breeding ground.Whakarewarewa, The Living Maori Village is a tourist hotspot, where their geothermal existence continues to amaze visitors.

The people of Tuhourangi/Ngati Wahiao have been the trailblazers of the tourism industry in Rotorua and NZ.

Taupo

Lake Taupo is even more inviting and swimming there is permitted. A two-hour round trip hike will take you to the Huka Falls, an 11-metre high waterfall which is apparently the most visited and photographed natural attraction in New Zealand.

The hike is along a tranquil riverside track where you can take in the falls along different viewing platforms and relax in a hot pool on your return. Those who are thrill seekers can also bungee, ride the shot-over jet and skydive locally.

Turangi

Taupo's lesser known cousin town located 40mins south is a popular base for those wishing to hike the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

The town is nestled on the banks of the Tongariro River which is famous for its rainbow trout fishing.

Wellington

The country's capital is often nicknamed "windy Wellington" due to the geography surrounding Cook's Strait, which creates a funnel effect on the prevailing westerly airstream. It's got a laid-back, quirky vibe Brits can equate to Bristol, with fun bars offering cheap $10 beer pitchers and $2 taco Tuesday's. Worth mentioning is Mount Victoria lookout point for an aerial view of the city, and the Te Papa museum which is truly remarkable and completely free ( a rarity in NZ).
The Death Toll in Columbia is rising in the wake of mud and debris crashing into homes. Unrelenting torrential rain created a landslide that has brought flooding and a deluge of muddy water. A state of emergency has been declared in and around the small city of Mocoa.

Buried alive

Columbia has experienced other landslides in the past but this is by far more devastating than any in recent years. Heavy rains led to the overflow of several rivers. Sediments and rocks were forced unto roads and buildings, burying people, vehicles, and homes under several feet of mud.

As debris and water crashed into homes early Saturday morning, hundreds were forced to evacuate. While some escaped, over 250 thousand men women and children were not so lucky and perished. Many more are injured and missing.

According to reports from local eyewitnesses, the torrential rain storm reached a peak between 11pm and 1am. Residents were out searching for missing relatives and there is no final count at this time of how many are dead and missing. The Army reports that 400 people were injured, 200 declared missing and 254 are confirmed dead.

State of emergency

The city of Mocao, in the southwestern Putumayo province, is home to a population of 345,000 residents. Over a thousand military and police officers have gone to the area to assist with the search and rescue.

Their main task is to dig people out of the 17 neighborhoods that are affected. The President of Columbia, Juan Manuel Santos, arrived in Mocao to observe the devastation and rescue efforts. He has declared a state of emergency and heard first hand from the survivors.

A history of landslides

Columbia has had its share of landslides and natural disasters due to it rugged land mass and seismic activity.

The country experienced 150 natural disasters between 1975 and 2015 that claimed the lives of more than 30 thousand people. Flooding leading to landslides in 2010 to 2011 claimed the lives of 1,374 people and destroyed over 100,000 homes. In 2015 a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Northwest Columbia claimed the lives of over 80 people in the town of Salgar.
Kyrgyz intelligence agents are reporting that the prime suspect in the bombing attack on the St. Petersburg subway is a citizen of Russia who was born in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic. So, shady stuff. At least 11 people have been confirmed dead from the attack, with a further 40 wounded and in critical condition. There was a second bomb found at another metro station, which alarmed people to say the least, but luckily it could be defused before it was detonated.

Kyrgyz intelligence cooperating with Russian authorities

The state committee in charge of national security for Kyrgyzstan is working in conjunction with Russian intelligence authorities cooperatively in the investigation, willing to help in capturing the perpetrator of the bombing in any way they can.

Their top suspect at the moment is the aforementioned Russian citizen and Kyrgyz native, 22-year-old Akbarzhon Jalilov.

It is yet to be determined whether the bombing was a suicide attack or if the perpetrator managed to make it out in time after leaving the bomb on the train, since another one was found at that different station and no one was accompanying it. Russian news outlets are contradicting each other in the information theyre reporting, leaving the truth pretty up in the air. They all cite sources close to the investigation, but they cant all be telling the truth because they conflict with one another.

Russian news reports came through that Jalilov, the prime suspect in the bombing, had spent six years living in Russia as a citizen but originated in the southern Kyrgyzstani city of Osh.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Central Asia move to Russia to become construction workers and send their wages back home to their families.

Putin met with national security officials last night

Late last night, Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down with the heads of national security agencies to discuss the bombing attack.

Islamic extremists have been attacking Russia for years. This bombing just adds to the long history of Terrorism. However, most of the Islamic terrorist groups in Russia are situated in the North Caucasus, which led to bombs being set off on the subway system of Moscow in 2010 and a suicide bombing at the airport in Domodedovo in early 2011.

A new raft of Islamist attacks culminating in yesterdays bombing began in late 2015 when Russia involved itself in the conflict in Syria. Islamic State propaganda peddlers named Russia as a potential future target and here we are. ISIS claimed responsibility for setting off an explosive device on a plane flying from Egypt to St. Petersburg, crashing it. And that was just one month after Russia entered the war in Syria. They mean business.

Details of the attack

The explosion of the bomb took place on Monday at 2:30pm (Russian time) after the subway train that was targeted had departed from the Sennaya Ploshchad station in the St. Petersburg city centre. Following the explosion, the quick-thinking driver of the train kept it going to the next station, Tekhnologicheskii Institut, which would make evacuating the train easier.
Winners of the 2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award Announced

Share Tweet

By TMCnet News

By TMCnet News

Trumbull, CT, April 4, 2017  TMC, a global, integrated media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online, today announced the winners of the 2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award, presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.





The award honors the best, most innovative unified communications products and solutions released in the last twelve months as judged by the editors of TMCs INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award, said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. It is exciting to see the latest innovative products and solutions in the unified communications industry. We look forward to seeing their future successes.

Winners of the 2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award will be announced online and highlighted in INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.







2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award Recipients

Company Product 101 VOICE 101VOICE Cloud PBX 8x8, Inc. Sameroom Aheeva AheevaCCS Aryaka (News - Alert) Networks Aryaka SmartCONNECT AT&T AT&T Collaborate Avaya Avaya Equinox Avaya IP Office Contact Center AxiaTP Kerauno BBH Solutions Lookout BroadSoft, Inc. BroadSoft Business with Hub Broadview Networks Office Suite UC collab9, LLC collab9 Secure Hosted UC CoreDial SwitchConnex CounterPath (News - Alert) Bria X Digium (News - Alert), Inc. D80 IP Phone Escene Communication Co., Ltd U7KS Dock IP Phone Evolve IP Evolve IPs Unified Communications Suite Fonality Heads Up Display Htek UC926 Hubgets Hubgets IPFone IPFone Unified Communications Konftel AB Konftel 300IPx Landis Technologies LLC Attendant Pro Lifesize Lifesize App Masergy Communications, Inc. Masergy Cloud Contact Center MEDIATEL DATA SRL MCC MegaPath Hosted Voice MegaPath MegaPath One MTS TEM Suite Nectar Services Corp. Nectar Evolution Nextiva Nextiva Office Polycom Polycom Acoustic Fence for VVX Business Media Phones Revolabs Inc. Yamaha (News - Alert) CS-700 Video Sound Collaboration System for Huddle Rooms RingCentral Next Generation RingCentral Office Sennheiser MB 660 ShoreTel (News - Alert) ShoreTel Connect Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnectSP Sonus Networks Sonus SBC SWe Lite Spectralink Corporation Spectralink 84-Series Star2Star Communications, LLC The StarSystem TelePacific (TPx) UCx Unified Communications VeloCloud VeloCloud Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN Vingtor-Stentofon by Zenitel Group Turbine IP Video Intercom Station Votacall Votacall Office Access Hosted PBX Walkabout Collaborative LLC Walkabout Office (R) Virtual Online Workplace Yealink Network Technology Yealink T5 Media Phone Series Zultys Zultys Cloud Services, Enterprise-grade Hosted Communication Solution

For more than 20 years, TMC has been honoring technology companies with awards in various categories. These awards are regarded as some of the most prestigious and respected awards in the communications and technology sector worldwide. Winners represent prominent players in the market who consistently demonstrate the advancement of technologies. Each recipient is a verifiable leader in the marketplace.

About INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine

INTERNET TELEPHONY has been the IP Communications Authority since 1998. Beginning with the first issue, INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has been providing unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space. For more information, please visit www.itmag.com. Follow INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine on Twitter or join our Linked In group. Subscribe or visit www.itmag.com.



About TMC

Global buyers rely on TMCs content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. This presents branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities for vendors/sellers.

TMCs Marketplaces:

Unique, turnkey Online Communities boost search results, establish market validation, elevate brands and thought leadership, while minimizing ad-blocking.

boost search results, establish market validation, elevate brands and thought leadership, while minimizing ad-blocking. Custom Lead Programs uncover sales opportunities and build databases.

uncover sales opportunities and build databases. In-Person and Online Events boost brands, enhance thought leadership and generate leads.

and boost brands, enhance thought leadership and generate leads. Publications, Display Advertising and Newsletters bolster brand reputations.

and bolster brand reputations. Custom Content provides expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts.

provides expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. Comprehensive Event and Road Show Management Services help companies meet potential clients and generate leads face-to-face.

For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com.

TMC Contact

Jessica Seabrook

Marketing Director

203-852-6800, ext. 170

[email protected]

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Article comments powered by Disqus Article comments powered by

Edited by Stefania Viscusi
It is very strange how Kazakhstani security officials are closely involved in the investigation into the St. Petersburg subway bombing and h ave announced that the suspect is from Central Asia but is not from Kazakhstan . If the perpetrator is not from Kazakhstan, why is Kazakhstan so involved?I'm guessing it was someone from another former Soviet Republic who was being monitored by Kazakhstan's security apparatus.
In recent days, the biggest story to dominate the news cycle has been what impact Russia has on the current White House. In response, Donald Trump has pushed back at the allegations on Twitter, despite many on his own staff having no idea what he is talking about.

Trump push back

Over the last 72 hours, President Donald Trump has been backed into a corner and forced to deal with the growing allegations of a scandal taking place in his own administration. Since the election, the former host of "The Apprentice" has been accused of having some sort of link to Russia.

From his hidden tax returns, to members of his campaign being financially tied to the Kremlin, to the president's constant praise of Vladimir Putin, Trump has been unable to shake the label of being linked to Russia. After retired Gen. Michael Flynn was exposed for engaging in communication with Russian officials, he was forced to resign as National Security Adviser last month. Just last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was revealed to have spoken to the ambassador of Russia on at least two different occasions during the campaign, but never disclosed the information during his Senate hearing. Over the weekend, Trump fired back at the allegations, going as far as to accuse Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower.

As reported by The Hill on March 4, senior White House officials don't seem to be on the same page as the president.

According to The Hill on Saturday night, a senior offical in the White House confirmed that "neither he, nor other administration officials, seemed to know what the president was talking," in regards to the aforementioned allegations regarding wiretapping.

During his tweet-storm on Saturday morning, Donald Trump wrote, "Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory," Trump wrote on Twitter, while also referring to Obama as a "bad" and "sick" person. Not stopping there, the former host of "The Apprentice" went as far as to compare Obama to disgraced former President Richard Nixon.

"This is Nixon/Watergate," he tweeted.

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

Next up

While Donald Trump continues to throw out allegations against his political opponents, his latest conspiracy theory was also delivered without evidence. Trump's claim appears to be come from an unverified article in Breitbart News, which was run by Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Obama addressed the issue in a statement, calling it "simply false," while other Democrats have also come out in defense of the former president.
A #deadly bomb exploded on the subway in #St Petersburg on Monday killing 11 people and wounding more than 40, including children. The train, that channels across the city dispensing 2 million people a day, had only just traveled into a tunnel between stations in a downtown precinct when the Bomb went off.

It was a #homemade device, stuffed with shrapnel and it detonated and blasted the third car, spreading bloody chaos amongst a frightened and shocked crowd of midday passengers.

Videos show on social media revealed blood on the floor as determined and heroic crowds dragged the injured from the car.

With some badly damaged doors glued together in the heat of the explosion, harried and #brave passengers smashed the windows as screams pierced the afternoon air.

After a long lull, Russia's cities have once again found themselves a target of #terrorism. Investigations by security enforcement agencies eventually claimed that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber from a militant and terrorist Islamic Group. Speculation then suggested that it was the work of militants from southern Russia who had escaped Chechnya to join the Islamic State.
The subway #Bomb in #St Petersburg that killed 11 people on Monday happened just as Mr Putin was in town for a conference. The subway was shut down for about five hours, and the city was stalled in chaos and panic as another bomb was found at the Metro Station. This bomb was disguised as a fire extinguisher, and was unpicked.

A city in chaos

As people had to make long treks home or to work, the St Petersburg Mayor Georgi Poltavchenko made a speech appealing to the citizens of St Petersburg to be alert and cautious. He told them to "behave in a responsible manner." He declared a three-day period of mourning starting on Tuesday.

Putin speaks out

Only an hour after the explosion, Mr Putin came on television from the Constantine Palace in the Strelna district of the old city, and it was only a few miles from the blast. He said that he had consorted with the special services and law enforcement and that they would do everything they could do find out what had happened and who was responsible.
The United States has always been a favored destination for people across the world but, all of a sudden, there is a fear complex in the air which is forcing immigrants to escape to Canada and begin life afresh. They feel America has lost its charm and this is proved by the number of them who arrive at the Canada border. In the first two months of 2017 this figure was more than 2500.

Why they want to leave?

Sky News reports that these escapees are aware of the dangers that lie ahead. Royal Canadian Mounted Police guard the borders and caution them that they will be arrested once they cross over from unofficial border points.

However, there is a consolation  if, after verification, it is seen that the individuals record is above board, he will be released to the immigration authorities and can hope to enter Canada.

The men, women, and children who gather at the borders are immigrants hailing from countries like Yemen, Eritrea, and Turkey etcetera. Some of them have with them life expired visas but they do not want to return to their war-ravaged country. Many of them speak very little English.

The enormity of the problem is evident from what the Canadian Border Services Agency has revealed. As per their records, at the Quebec border, there was a six-fold increase in refugee claims in the month of February, compared to the same month in the previous year.

In the two months of January and February 2017, there were more than 2500 persons who crossed over from the United States seeking asylum. Most of them are families with parents and kids.

Reasons for selecting Canada

Those who come to the borders actually want to be detained by the Canadian police. That way they have a chance to cross because, as per an agreement between the United States and Canada, people from either of the countries cannot seek refugee status in the other.

However, if they are arrested while they cross over illegally, they can claim refugee status if their past history is unblemished. Once they are released from custody, they gain access to facilities like housing, schools, emergency healthcare and work permits as they wait for completion of immigration hearings.

It is all about survival and, when an immigrant in America discovers that the present administration views him with suspicion, he will look for an escape route and, right now, Canada appears to be a safe bet.
The news of the attack on the Metro station in Saint Petersburg on Monday spread quickly around the world and one result was a telephone conversation between Russias President #Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump of the United States. That call must not be a standalone moment for the future.

Station

The suicide attack on the attack in the Tekenologchesky Metro station in Saint Petersburg left 11 dead and 45 injured. At this stage suspicions have been directed towards Islamist terrorists due not only to Russias involvement in the war with ISIS in Syria but also due to the constant threat of Chechen terrorists that have attacked Russian targets over the years.

The war on terror has dominated world politics in recent years and was in fact part of Donald Trumps successful presidential campaign. Therefore it was natural that President Donald Trump would call his Russian counterpart to express solidarity with the Kremlin for the dead and injured.

Statement

A statement from the White House reported by the major news outlets said the President Trump offered full support for finding those responsible for the attack so that they could be brought to justice. Finally the statement said that Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated.

Expressions of support for Moscow also came from around the world including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

All these statements of support are right and proper in the immediate aftermath of any terrorist attack and it must be remembered that it is not the only terrorist attack suffered by Russia in recent years. But it also must not be a standalone moment and used as an opportunity by the Kremlin to undertake other actions under the cover of the attack.

Next steps

In the light of Russias increasing foreign aggressive diplomatic actions those countries that now have expressed their support for Russia must also watch over how the Kremlin reacts to the attack and any others that may follow.

The United States, the NATO allies and other countries must keep vigil to ensure that the tactics used by the Russians still conform to the standards of behaviour expected of a superpower in the use of force and in respect of the rights of the suspects.

This vigilance must begin with the White House.

The fight against terror is one of the worlds top priorities and will not be won until the terrorists are defeated and this will not occur until the root causes for the terrorism have been addressed and the countries that have inspired the Islamist and other terrorists find true peace within their borders.

Solutions

Terrorism will not disappear when those responsible for the attacks have been punished, it will only disappear when young people around the world have no reason to see the terrorists as heroes and they have no reason to take up arms to fight for their right to their religion.

Terrorism will not disappear until the countries of origin enjoy the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by the worlds major Democracies.

This will not happen with simple telephone calls of solidarity following the latest terrorist attack and it will certainly not happen until the superpowers, beginning with Russia and the United States, work together to resolve the problems of those unstable countries that are the sources of the terrorists.

And it will certainly not happen as long as the major powers believe that only Islamists are the problem and that state run and condoned terrorism does not exist

The attack on Saint Petersburg is a tragedy but sadly it will not be the last such attack. Yet it can be the start of a joint approach, beginning with Moscow and Washington, to finding a permanent solution to the many causes in too many countries that inspire young people to seek death rather than a life of peace.

Until that happens yesterdays telephone call will only be the first of many for years into the future.
Terrorist attacks happen regularly but attacks on certain countries grab the headlines and the deaths in other countries pass the world by almost unnoticed, except by the families of the victims. This happened again this week.

Punjab

While the attention of the modern democracies is drawn to attacks Europe or the United States all too often the same attention is not given to other attacks in countries that have suffered many more deaths over recent years.

On Monday the attack on the Tekenologchesky Metro station in Saint #Petersburg immediately grabbed the world headlines in minutes as it made its way around the world.

The websites of the major news sources highlighted it immediately and told the world that 11 people had died in the attack and the televisions stations ran reports giving updates and developments, some true and others speculation.

A few days before a Terrorist Attack killed 20 people and this tragedy did not have the same impact on the world because it did not happen in Russia, the United States or a European country. This attack happened in a place of worship in a poor country by western standards.

Shrine

Two days ago in Pakistan terrorists attacked a Sufi shrine at Sargodha in the Punjab. The attackers tortured and killed 20 worshippers. While the major news outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian and Al-Jazeera reported the attack at the time it did not have the same resonance as yesterdays attack in Russia.

Interestingly and as proof of the difference of treatment by some news sites, the right wing Breitbart News in the United States reported the attack a full day after the other news sources. Without doubt this delay did not occur with the Saint Petersburg attack on Monday.

Uncomfortable truth

The attack highlighted one aspect of the Islamist terrorism that many in the West seek to hide.

While some news sources and media personalities talk about a genocide of Christians in some Moslem countries, the Moslem victims of the fanatics far outnumber the Christians and other religions persecuted by ISIS, the Taliban and other terrorist groups.

The uncomfortable truth that heretical Moslems are victims of the fanatics does not coincide with the impression given by these commentators of the terrorist problems.

A search of the internet does not give news of a telephone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani President Manmoon Hussain to express American solidarity as happened with Vladimir Putin following the Saint Petersburg attack and undoubtedly the same can be said of the European reaction.

Fuel

This difference of perception and reaction is part of the problem in the growth of terrorist groups. In giving the impression that there are different classes of victims to terrorist attacks the modern Democracies fuel the fires of rebellion amongst those who fight for their rights against what they see as Western imperialism and interference in their lives.

The solution to terrorism is to consider all its victims as equal and not to react differently depending on the place of the attacks and the religion of the victims.

The war against terrorism will not be won until the superpowers understand that they are not fighting terrorists alone. They will win only when they take up the fight together with all the governments who have suffered tragedies such as that in the Punjab on the weekend, in Africa and all the worlds trouble spots.

The war against terrorism will certainly not be won while we still consider some victims as more important than others. Sadly that is exactly what happened this week and this situation cannot continue if we are serious in our intention to defeat the terrorists.
Russia hosts many religions and ethnic groups and when the Soviet Union collapsed it was the battlefield for many clashes. These memories returned with the news of the terrorist attack on the Metro station in Saint Petersburg yesterday.

Attack

On Monday afternoon an explosion hit the Tekenologchesky Metro station in Saint #Petersburg. The toll so far is of 11 dead and 45 injured. Despite initial reports of explosions at other stations the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee announced that there has only been one explosion.

The attack coincided with a visit by Russian President #Vladimir Putin to his home town.

So far there is no confirmation of the identity of the attacker in what appears to have been a suicide attack, nor of the motives of his actions.

According to the BBC the suspect was a man in his early 20s from Central Asia with contacts with Islamist groups. If the initial reports are correct then this will dismiss speculation of Chechen terrorists resuming activities in Russia.

Bloody history

Russia had already been the scene of terrorist attacks by Chechens not only on Metro stations but also other high profile targets. In 2002 120 hostages died during an attack on a theatre in Moscow and in 2004 330 people, half of them children, died in an attack on a school in Beslan, Southern Russia. In 2010 38 people died in two Metro stations in Moscow due to two female suicide bombers.

Those responsible for these attacks were Islamic terrorists from Chechnya one of the regions involved in fighting as a result of the dissolution of the former Soviet Union when various ethnic groups fought for their independence.

Syria

In recent years the terrorist threat had virtually disappeared partly due to aggressive Russian anti-terrorist activities against the various terrorist cells and in part as the Islamist fighters enrolled to fight in Syria for ISIS.

In many cases Chechen fighters have been identified as the most active and fearsome members of the erstwhile Caliphates troops.

The recent entry into of Russian into the conflict in Syria in support of the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship once more brought Russia into the sights of the Islamic terrorists with the bombing of as Russian Metrojet flight 9268 in Egypt last July killing all 224 people aboard.

With the continued defeats of ISIS in Syria the Caliphate has reportedly directed members of its forces back to their home countries to continue the fight against the countries who fought them in Syria. Yesterdays attack may be the result of this order.

Investigations

In any case, even though the Islamist threat is the most likely possibility, it would be unwise for the Kremlin to discount any possibility.

Vladimir Putins aggressive foreign policy in recent years has raised concerns amongst Russias neighbours. In recent months the Baltic States, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia which were once members of the former Soviet Union have publicly raised their concerns of Russian intentions in the zone and NATO has increased its presence in Eastern Europe in a show of solidarity for these countries.

In addition, the tensions between the Ukraine and Russia may also be a possible source of the attack in the light of Russias 2014 annexation of the Crimea. The fighting between the two countries has never totally ceased and it too is cause for concern on the part of NATO.

International interest

As a result the attack on Saint Petersburg has drawn justified international interest as shown by the telephone call between Vladimir Putin and United States President Donald Trump yesterday.

Yet the international community cannot take any statement from Russia at face value. The Kremlin has constantly shown that it is capable of taking advantage of any situation for its strategic aims and may use this attack to justify its actions in the future.

We are yet to know the true reason for yesterdays attack and so the White House would do well to wait before making any commitments as a result of the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was in St. Petersburg to attend a number of programs, among these was a scheduled meeting with the president of Belarus, Alexander G. Lukashenko, when there was a Bomb blast in the subway. The blast was from a homemade bomb and it killed at least 11 people and left dozens injured. St. Petersburg is President Putins hometown and Russias second largest city and former capital.

Was it a terrorist attack?

New York Times reports that the train was traveling between the Technology Institute and Sennaya Square stations.

Officials were tightlipped about whether it was a terrorist attack but President Vladimir Putin has indicated that all aspects were under investigation.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb blast, but preliminary investigations reveal that it was a homemade device filled with shrapnel and it exploded in the third car from the front. Apart from the dead, another 40 are believed to have been injured, some of them children, as announced by the health minister, Veronika Skvortsova. A second bomb was found at the Vosstaniya Square station and it was disarmed.

The subway system in St. Petersburg carries nearly two million passengers every day and it was closed following the attack. Unconfirmed reports indicate the possibility of the involvement of a suicide bomber from Uzbekistan or a neighboring country in the bomb explosion.

After effects of the attack

Georgi S. Poltavchenko, the governor of St. Petersburg, has appealed to the people to remain alert, attentive and cautious, and behave in a responsible manner in view of the events. He has also declared a three-day period of mourning for those who died in the bomb blast.

As a precautionary measure, security is beefed up on the Moscow Metro and, all major airports.

Metal detectors are already installed at the entrance to all stations in Moscow but these had been installed after terror attacks seven years ago and have not been in use recently.

This is not the first time that Russia has faced terrorist attacks. There have been several earlier incidents and, Islamic insurgents are believed to be behind these attacks.

The leaders of Islamic State have threatened to attack Russia in retaliation of Moscows bombing campaigns and, involvement in Syria. President Putin deployed his troops to Syria in September 2015 with the intention of taking on the Islamic radicals.
If history has thought us anything, it is a fact that people cannot just "get along with each other," without conflict, resentment or tension. Even though most of its residents would like to think otherwise, the USA is not the most popular country in the world.

There are many reasons for that, starting from recent questionable economic decisions, up to growing racism, their army, exploitation of global resources to further enhance themselves, or maybe their arrogance in believing that their lifestyle is the best there is. Those reasons may be varied, but they are very real.

It has to be said that the public opinion does not dictate foreign policies from one country to another, but it can have some impact on some policy decisions those countries make toward each other.

These countries are those in which more than 50 percent of the citizens does not approve of their policies:

Slovenia

Slovenian people are the most hostile to the US government Over 54 percent of them do not approve of the US. This partly stems from traditionally belonging to the former Yugoslavia, which used to sympathize with the Soviet Union much more from the United States of America.

Germany

According to a survey, 47% of Germans dislike the United States, although some Germans say that they dislike the country, and not necessarily the American people.

German criticism toward the US dates back to the Second World War, when the entry of the United States broke all their chances of winning. The war in Iraq did not help, since the Germans did not support it. There are just many cultural differences between Germans and Americans. For example gun control and privacy. Germans value their privacy much more.

You can say that is some kind of love- hate relationship is going on.

Egypt

Even though Egypt and the United States are long- standing trading partners, and allies in the fight against the terrorism in the Middle East, 58 percent of Egyptians are not sympathizers of the biggest global power. Since Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world, problematic is the lack of support from their main ally.

What exacerbates it is the fact that the latest Egyptian government does not have the support of the United States and financial assistance to this country is abolished.

Austria

Most countries in this list has some Soviet or Islamic bonds, but Austria is an exception. About 55 percent of the people there do not like America, which is an increase from 46 percent in 2014. Officials in the United States have a critical view of Austria, because the country continues to trade with North Korea and Iran. Also Austria has a 70 percent disapproval rate of China.

Pakistan

Sometimes, for the US, helping others is not the best thing they can do for their reputation. Pakistanis believe that they can solve their problems on their own, which is why over 50 percent of them do not sympathize with the US, despite the fact that they received about 9 billion dollars of financial assistance from the United States, and three times more in military aid.

Lebanon

In this country about 66 percent of the population does not have a good opinion of the United States, but the Lebanese do not like other EU countries either. It seems that their animosity stems from the long-term presence of US troops on their soil, as well as the mixing of the world in their internal politics. However, Lebanese people disapproval rating of the US, did improve a bit in a 2013, which may be the consequence of US Congress approving more than 1 billion dollars that was allocated to improve security forces in Lebanon.

Palestinian territory

The level of animosity towards the Americans in this part of the world is around 72 percent, and the biggest cause is a wholehearted American support for their enemy, Israel.

Turkey

Hatred of Americans in this country is no exception, but the rule - as many as 73 percent of citizens have a negative view on the US, which is seen as "thugs who always pushes the nose in other people's affairs."

Iran

It's pretty easy to understand why the Iranians are not sympathizers of America - since the terrorist crisis in 1979. However, after negotiations about starting their own nuclear programs of Iran and the agreement with the US, it seems that the hostility reduced - to only 61 percent of the population who have a negative attitude towards the most powerful country in the world.

Russia

No country disapproves of America more than Russia. Between Russia and the United States has always been a competitive spirit, and it seems that things have not changed significantly since the Cold War.

In this country, 82 percent of the population has a negative attitude towards America and their politics, and that has not significantly improved even after seemingly benevolent relations between Putin and Trump. Many Russians feel that the United States has made things worse in their country by trying to get involved in Russias affairs.
Pizza Hut and Papa John's may have been the pizza pioneers in China, but another US company is looking to spread its more gourmet approach to the Chinese market.

Cottage Inn Pizza, founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1948, has plans to expand internationally by adding new locations in China, where it already has a storefront in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province.

"A lot of what Pizza Hut does is that they've perfected their craft: they've been in [China] for so long that they've been able to establish themselves," said Joseph Langenbacher, Cottage Inn Pizza director of product development. "Where we come in is here in the US, we're more of a gourmet pizza chain that [we offer] more of an upscale pizza product for our base." Pizza Hut declined to comment.

Cottage opened its first location in Qingdao late last year, saying that the expansion into China was a "monumental step in the company's history" and that it had plans to open 200 stores in the next 15 years. The family-run company has 56 locations across the US and is looking to reach 100 stores by the end of 2017.

Investors from China were initially interested in starting a pizza chain in China, said Langenbacher, which led to the scouting of locations in Qingdao and Beijing.

Qingdao was quickly selected as the first city for the chain, as there already was a pizza culture in the city, with many Pizza Huts and Papa John's already there, he said.

"We wanted to have the same principles in China, so we really wanted to focus on the quality of product, whether it's the pizza or the expanded menu," he said.

Pizza Hut offers a sit-in restaurant experience, and Langenbacher said Cottage will offer a similar environment for customers, with an expanded menu that is adapted to Chinese tastes.

"We feel like we have to offer the [restaurant] experience," Langenbacher said. "It's more suitable to have an actual dining experience for the area. They enjoy to take their time with their family and dine."

He said that the company also looked at several chains in China that have tried to deliver pizza and found that Chinese customers don't prefer to eat pizza at home; they like going to a restaurant.

"We really want to focus on the dine-in experience in China,"Langenbacher 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.
HA NOI  Viet Nam imported 19,000 cars in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 169 per cent in volume and 82 per cent in value, according to a report from the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The office said the number of imported cars notably increased in the first half of March. More than 4,800 units with nine seats or less were shipped to Viet Nam during this period at an average price of VN189 million each, excluding taxes such as import tax, special consumption tax and value-addedd tax. Of these, nearly 3,000 units were from India.

This trend has been witnessed since last year when the auto market was affected by the impact of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), according to which import tax on complete built-up units (CBU) was reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent, which will eventually become zero per cent by 2018.

Deputy director of the Export and Import Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Tran Thanh Hai said Viet Nam committed to cutting and reducing import tax under the ATIGA and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), according to which import tax of CBUs from ASEAN to China and vice versa will be down to 50 per cent by 2020.

Within the ASEAN bloc, Hai said nations such as Thailand and Indonesia were performing well in the automobile industry and were a significant challenge for Vietnamese automakers.

The automobile market would possibly break out during the 2020-2025 period when domestic consumption accelerates. If local automakers failed to meet the demand, they would have to import cars and have no opportunity to join the global value chain. Moreover, it was time for foreign auto firms to shift their factories from Europe and America to Asia.

Viet Nam was also at risk of falling into the same situation as the Philippines where the market was underdeveloped with unclear policies, due to which automakers had withdrawn from the domestic market and instead started importing vehicles, Hai told thoibaokinhdoanh.vn.

The import of vehicles and parts will possibly increase in the coming years, Hai said.

The selling price of cars in the Vietnamese market currently includes taxes such as import tax, special consumption tax, which is based on engine displacement, and value-added tax (VAT). In 2018, when import tax reduces to zero per cent within ASEAN, there will only be special consumption tax and VAT. If the government continues applying its current taxes and fees, the price is believed to go down in the future.

Pham Anh Tuan, head of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA)s Policy Subcommittee, told Viet Nam News that the prices of vehicles would be based on competition in the market and relevant tax policies.

When the import tax becomes zero per cent, the price of imported vehicles from ASEAN countries will sharply decrease. Local automakers will be under pressure to cut prices if they want to continue competing in the market, in addition to facing several difficulties maintaining production and business after 2018, Tuan said.

According to Tuan, average localisation rate of VAMA members is still low at some 40-50 per cent. This has resulted in a small volume of vehicles being produced and assembled in Viet Nam, which is only 10-20 per cent of other countries in the region. Besides this, the underdeveloped support industry has also resulted in local automakers failing to optimise their production process and localisation rate.

Within the current context, the increase in localisation rate is an important factor for local automakers to develop their production but still meet peoples demand for inexpensive cars.

It is a good sign for the industry that several local auto projects are executed this week. These include the second Mazda plant being jointly built by local giant automaker Truong Hai Automobile Company (Thaco) and Japanese car producer Mazda in central Quang Nam Province and a joint project on expanding production and assembling Hyundai passenger cars being implemented by Thanh Cong Group and its South Korean partner Hyundai Motor Group.

Both projects, which aim at meeting local increasing demand and exports, are expected to provide momentum to motivate other local automakers to increase localisation rate and supply quality products but at reasonable prices in the Vietnamese market.  VNS

Govt forms inter-sector team to help auto industry

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and other ministries will form an inter-sector team that will help prepare local automakers to face the impact of zero import tax on ASEAN automobiles.

From January 1, 2018, automobiles being imported into Viet Nam from the ASEAN region will not have to pay import tax.

The decision to help the countrys auto sector by setting up a special working team was taken on Monday at a regular government meeting held by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The team will include representatives from transport, finance and science and technology ministries and other agencies, who will study to understand how local automakers and importers function to ensure that this is compatible with the World Trade Organisation regulations and all free trade agreements that Viet Nam has committed to, especially those relevant to the auto sector.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade o Thang Hai said the team must suggest ways to maintain, boost and support Vietnamese businesses to manufacture, assemble and import, at the same time ensuring that they are aligned to consumer interests. The team will submit a proposal to the Prime Minister on the most suitable methods before May 1, Hai said.  VNS
by Vo Tri Thanh*

There have been some commentaries on the 2016 Wealth Report which claim Viet Nam is the fastest growing country with a super-rich population, surpassing even India and China.

People are curious about the origin of their wealth and debating their roles and contribution to the countrys development.

Does the rich mean the big and are these rich entrepreneurs well prepared for playing a leading role in Viet Nams future growth, which will be based on innovation and sustainability?

The Vietnamese government has specified that the private sector will play a pivotal role in driving the countrys economic development, but, given their big role, Viet Nams private enterprises are showing an inclination to get smaller and smaller, in terms of capital capacity, total revenue and labour deployment.

Viet Nam currently has 600,000 companies in the private sector, 95 per cent of which are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Government has set a target of a million enterprises by 2020, but some experts have voiced concerns that the downsizing trend among SMEs has prevented productivity gains through economies of scale, specialisation and innovation.

The Vietnam 2035 report shows that the productivity and competitiveness of Vietnamese private sector are decreasing. Factors such as commercialization of the state which gives State-owned enterprises dominance in various industries, information deficiency, weak competition, feeble enforcement of property rights (land and intellectual property) and distorted production markets are responsible for this state of affairs.

The reality is that many small household businesses have refused to register as formal enterprises. They are reluctant to endure bureaucratic scrutiny and regulatory problems, including paying taxes, ease of starting a business as well the security of property rights, which raises transaction costs.

In order to stimulate growth in this business group, free and fair competition, the heart of a market economy, should be enhanced.

Tycoons, not growth leaders

On the other side of the fence, the number of big companies has been growing, but they are yet to demonstrate their capability in innovation leadership, which is very important in shaping the quality and sustainability of growth.

The public still views owners of these big companies as tycoons in terms of their assets but not as growth leaders.

Then there is the opinion that several of these tycoons have earned their fortunes through speculation in stocks and real estate or receiving preferential treatment through their cosy relationship with government officials.

So, what is a big company? The Top 500 Vietnamese Largest Enterprises (VNR500) ranks companies by revenue, profit, total assets and number of employees, but these criteria are just signs of outward strength.

Big means this

A real big company should demonstrate its might in research and development (R&D), brand name and distribution networks, which are the norm when it comes to multinational companies. More importantly, the companys growth must have spillover effects on smaller firms and contribute to the countrys sustainable development.

If these qualitative criteria are applied, very few Vietnamese companies are gradually moving towards the big status.

Many State-owned enterprises are big but have weak innovation capacity. Foreign direct investment (FDI) companies possess cutting edge technology but their vertical link with local companies is weak due to low utilisation of inputs made in Viet Nam, as well as limited capabilities of local companies in absorbing new technology.

Until now, only a few technology (IT) companies have paid attention to R&D, like Viettel and FPT.

Viettel has set up its own research institutes operating under the model of big international corporations, putting aside 10 per cent of its pre-tax profits, worth about VN2.5 trillion (US$110 million) annually, for R&D purposes. FPT allots 5e per cent of its pre-tax profit for R&D per year.

On a smaller scale, some big firms have invested in hi-tech agriculture, like Vinamilk, TH Milk and VinGroup, but they have stayed at using technology, not innovating on their own.

In the world, big corporations like Samsung, Intel and Microsoft spend tens of billions of dollars for R&D each year. In Japan and South Korea, the majority of invention and innovation has come from the SME sector.

We have to ask: Why have Vietnamese companies not grown up in the true sense of the word?

What will it take?

Some people have argued that big firms have dominant market shares and can control prices, so they become easily complacent and ignored the need to innovate.

Others say big enterprises have strong financial capacity and human resources and should pioneer research, but need the Governments support in technological reforms.

Viet Nam is below average on R&D spending as a share of GDP, when compared with countries at similar levels of development. So far, no Vietnamese brand name is associated with spearheading technology products.

For technology to lead development and drive sustainable growth, companies should develop an aspiration to go global (market, norms and standards), build a distinctive corporate culture as well as a creative working environment that encourages innovation.

The companies work culture should have a hard to please element, and they should incessantly seek competitive pressure to push them ahead. To become a growth leader, they must also create positive spillovers, linking smaller firms and startups to create a large network by showing they are the best destination for talent.

Few takers

Not many Vietnamese enterprises can do this at the moment.

In an innovation-led economy, most firms and economic sectors require continual updating of new knowledge and skills. The Government will play an important role in supporting this process.

Viet Nam aims to develop a modern national innovation system of organizations and policies that promote technological reforms. Firms, especially those in private sector, should take a central role in building this system.

The government should build effective incubators and accelerator programmes like a Viet Nam Silicon Valley wherein mentoring, business plan preparation and access to finance are all provided.

The government can also offer direct and indirect financial support to firms. For indirect support, it can ease access to information and provide tax relief for hi-tech firms. Directly, it can provide funding to firms and organizations with good track records. The government should support the winners (not pick winners). Give them a chance and see how really big they can get.

Best firms can also receive research orders from the Government, after going through an evaluation process that is competitive, peer-reviewed and merit-based.

To sum up, the acceleration of technological growth, robotics and artificial intelligence poses both challenges and opportunities for domestic companies. For companies to grow big and become leaders, the Government should enhance fair competition and well-enforced protection of property rights, while companies should, on their own, develop global aspirations, thirst for updated technologies, and nurture and retain talents.

* Vo Tri Thanh is a senior economist at the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) and a member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council. A doctorate holder in economics from the Australian National University, Thanh mainly undertakes research and provides consultation on issues related to macroeconomic policies, trade liberalisation and international economic integration. Other areas of interest include institutional reforms and financial systems. He will author Viet Newss new column, Analysts Pick, which will run on the first Tuesday of every month.
HCM CITY A new play on young volunteers and their contributions to society will be staged this weekend in HCM City, as part of the citys cultural activities to mark the 41st anniversary of the HCM City Young Volunteer Force (HYVF).

The 90-minute work, titled Mot Thoi e Nho (A Time to Remember), is a production directed by Trinh Kim Chi in co-operation with young screenwriter Trang Tran of the TKC Drama Club, one of the citys private art troupes.

The VN120 million (US$5,400)-production tells the story of young volunteers living in remote areas of southern provinces during the 1980s.

It has attracted 20 young theatre actors, including Uyen Nhi, Minh Tien and Phuc Thien of the TKC. Veteran artists Chi and Mai are also featured.

We wanted to highlight the brave volunteers remarkable work in rebuilding our homeland after the war, said the plays female director Chi.

Chi said that HYVFs members and their contributions to the country were an endless source of inspiration that had helped her young actors perform their roles.

To highlight her plays theme, Chi used revolutionary songs, such as Co Gai Mo uong (Young Female Volunteers Maintain the Roads), Em La Thanh Nien Xung Phong (Shes a Young Volunteer) and Em O Nong Truong Em Ra Bien Gioi (She Works at a Farm, She Goes to the Border), written by famous musicians Xuan Giao, Trinh Cong Son and Quynh Hop.

I faced challenges playing a young girl who volunteered to live and work in remote areas. But Ive improved my performance skills, said 21-year-old actress Nhi, who stars in a leading role.

Nhi and her colleagues have worked with Le Thi Mai, former member of the force, to improve their acting skills.

I volunteered to work in Kien Giang and Ca Mau provinces in 1976 when I was 21 years old. Im very happy to help young actors. Through their work, I hope audiences will learn more about our work, said Mai.

Mai and her colleagues attended the plays premiere at District 6s Cultural Centre last week.

Mot Thoi e Nho will be staged on Saturday and Sunday night at the centre, which can be found at 170 Kinh Duong Vuong Street in District 1.  VNS
Thang Van Phuc.  Photo baohaiquan

Thang Van Phuc, former Minister of Home Affairs, tells Hai Quan (Customs) Online Newspaper that leaders of many Government agencies have baulked at taking difficult downsizing decisions.

Reducing the number of public employees has been a major policy of the Party and Government since early 2015. However, the record over the last two years has not impressed. Whats the main stumbling block, in your opinion?

As we all know, a key objective for downsizing is to raise the labour productivity of Government employees. The initial plan was to slash the public sector workforce by about 40,000 a year. But, in the last two years, just 22,000 employees have been let go. In my opinion, a key reason is that leaders in many government agencies have not taken tough stands on this issue for various reasons, including indulgence.

The Government has also called for tighter controls on hiring. Are these two sides of the same coin?

Before making decision to recruit a new staff, the boss has to decide what the vacant positions are and requirements for the employees that will fill these. In this regard, with Viet Nam having embarked on administrative reforms for many years now, I think we should follow prescribed procedures.

While everyone agrees on the need for downsizing, there has not been much clarity on how it should be done. Can you comment?

The Governments Decree No.108/2014 on streaming the public sector came into effect on January 1, 2015. It set out specific conditions in which public employees have to be laid off. For instance, those who had training degrees or certificates that did not match the jobs they were doing; or those whose performance failed to meet meet job requirements and so on.

To ensure that the decision to lay off an employee is an objective one, the Ministry of Home Affairs had developed a set of criteria to evaluate the performance of each public employee, including quality of work, rate of progress, work ethics and other benchmarks.

Do you think that the Government should also adopt a policy to give timely increments in pay to those who excel at work?

We can all agree that the current salary of our civil servants cannot cover the costs of their daily life. Their salary does not reflect the hard work they have done. This is a key reason behind some civil servants abusing their positions to engage in under-the-table deals.

In think it is high time that the Government raises the civil servants salary so that it covers their daily needs and helps them to put something aside for rainy days.

What is your view of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA)s proposal to merge two or three departments into one in the course of administrative streamlining?

I think this proposal should have come decades ago. In my opinion, the more administrative offices the country has, the more over-lapping functions will happen. So work efficiency becomes poorer and poorer.

In a market economy, the role of the State is very important, but we should switch from direct to indirect management by using policies, laws, inspection and supervision. Whatever enterprises or individuals can do, the Government should give that function to them.

What can the Government do to make sure staff streamlining is workable?

Success depends on the determination and responsibility shown by heads of agencies and offices. Meanwhile, those who do their jobs excellently or badly should be awarded and sanctioned accordingly. But, for this to happen, we need leaders who are high performers and conscientious at the same time.

So you think the streamlining will really improve the public sector efficiency?

Yes, it will. But all know that to cut down the size of the public employees in our country is not easy, particularly given our cumbersome State apparatus. However, Im confident that if were successful in reducing the number of employees on the Governments payroll, we can realise the the objective of building a Government of the people and for the people. It will help Viet Nam become a strong and prosperous nation.  VNS
Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tong Thi Phong delivers speech at the Governing Council meeting and the General Debate of the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  VNA/VNS Photo Huy Binh

DHAKA  Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tong Thi Phong has attended the Governing Council meeting and the General Debate of the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held in in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

On the sidelines of the meetings, Phong on Sunday met with Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, during which she affirmed Viet Nams consistent policy of treasuring its traditional friendship and multi-faceted co-operation with Sri Lanka.

She proposed the two countries continue co-ordinating and supporting each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

She suggested maintaining the exchange of delegations at all levels, studying measures to further increase two-way trade, and actively implementing the investment encouragement and protection agreement between Viet Nam and Sri Lanka.

The NA Vice Chairwoman also stressed the need to encourage the two countries businesses to take part in trade promotion activities, boost experience sharing and the exchange of science and technology in aquatic product farming and processing, and strengthen connectivity through the two governments Air Transport Agreement.

She asked for an early reply from the Sri Lankan side on a draft agreement on educational co-operation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education and Highways.

The Vietnamese official took the occasion to invite Jayasuriya to attend an IPU conference for the Asia-Pacific region in HCM City from May 11-13 to discuss legislators actions to realise the sustainable development goals in the context of climate change.

Speaker Jayasuriya expressed his hope of intensifying his countrys fine relationship, especially in trade, with Viet Nam.

On the same day, Phong met with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She said she hoped Bangladesh would continue creating favourable conditions for the two countries enterprises to seek business opportunities.

Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assemblys Committee for External Relations, Nguyen Van Giau, had a meeting with a delegation from the Parliament of the Republic of Korea.

Also on Sunday, the Vietnamese delegation participated in meetings of the IPU General Assembly Standing Committee, the Standing Committee on Peace and International Security, the Forum of Young Parliamentarians of the IPU, and the Bureau of the Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs.-VNS
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (second from right) meets with Mongolian FM Tsend Munkh-Orgil (second from left) in in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Khang

HA NOI  Viet Nam attaches great importance to consolidating and enhancing its traditional friendship and lasting cooperation with Mongolia, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said yesterday.

The Deputy PM and FM affirmed this sentiment while meeting in Ha Noi with Mongolian FM Tsend Munkh-Orgil, who is currently visiting Viet Nam.

During their talks--in which the two partners also discussed bilateral ties and regional and international issues--deputy PM and FM Minh stressed his expectation that the two countries will constantly strive to boost political credibility, expand and improve the efficiency of economic co-operation and coordinate closely in multilateral forums.

Minh said Viet Nam promises to collaborate with Mongolia to effectively implement the agreements reached by the two countries Government leaders during a visit by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs visit to Mongolia in July last year.

He suggested both sides should foster co-operation in key areas such as diplomacy, national security, economics and trade.

The deputy PM urged the two countries to boost export-import of key products, including agro-fishery, rice, tea, coffee, candy, fruits and vegetables.

The two sides should also focus more on culture exchanges, tourism, education, labour exports and airline transportation, said Minh.

In terms of international diplomatic affairs, Deputy PM, FM welcomed Mongolias intensive and extensive engagement in regional and international forums, highly evaluating Mongolias position and their support of maintaining peace, stability and prosperity across the world.

Mongolian FM Tsend Munkh-Orgil highly appreciated the achievements of the bilateral ties over the past six decades.

He confirmed Mongolias close coordination with Viet Nam in the implementation of high-level agreements in a practical and effective manner, contributing to the expansion of the two countries traditional relationship and co-operation. VNS
HA NOI  Full-time National Assembly (NA) deputies discussed penalties for juvenile offenders under draft revisions of the 2015 Penal Code at a meeting that began in Ha Noi yesterday.

During the three-day meeting, lawmakers will also discuss four other draft laws, including draft laws on the management and use of State assets, State compensation liability, support for small- and medium-sized businesses and planning.

These draft laws will be submitted to the NA at the parliaments upcoming third session.

Discussing draft amendments to the Penal Code, many deputies agreed that offenders aged between 14 and 16 should bear criminal liability, citing an increase in crimes committed by young people.

Deputy Nguyen Ngoc Phuong from central Quang Binh Province said there crimes committed by young people were becoming more complicated, pointing to the need for the offenders aged between 14 and 16 to take criminal liability as a warning for others.

Strict punishments would create a good environment for children, she said, adding that we could not let crimes committed by some young people to affect other children.

The deputies also discussed other issues relating to the Penal Code such as legal liability of trade legal entities that finance terrorists, punishment for violations of regulations on food safety and hygiene and environmental pollution and crimes relating to rape and kidnapping.

Addressing the opening ceremony, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said holding the meeting of full-time NA deputies was important and brought practical results in lawmaking.

Issuing these laws was necessary to complete the legal system and to serve as a foundation in crime prevention and control.

It would also help create policies and mechanisms to support small- and medium-sized businesses to develop and ensure sustainable development for all economic sectors; and to address shortcomings in managing and using State property, she said.

The outcomes of the meeting would help improve the quality and progress of law building activities, she added.  VNS
QUANG NAM  Project investors, contractors and sub-contractors of a dredging project in the Cua ai Estuary are suspected of serious violations with a large volume of sand gone missing.

Quang Nams Public Security and Transport departments are collaborating with Hoi An City and relevant agencies in investigating reports of illegal sand mining and transport from the Cua ai Beach.

The provincial head of secretariat, Nguyen Hong Quang told Viet Nam News yesterday that the final conclusions on the sand mining and shipping case will be released soon.

Quang said the project owners, contractors and sub-contractors had committed grave violations in implementing the Cua ai estuary dredging project.

The project, which began in January, aimed to dredge 70,000 cubic metres of sand from the Cua ai estuary to facilitate passage of boats and re-sanding the badly eroded Cua ai Beach.

However, just 16,500 cubic metres had been pumped onto the Cua ai beach between January and March 25, and the remaining 50,000 cubic metres are missing.

Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of Hoi An Peoples Committee, also said that just a fifth of the contracted volume of sand had been deposited on the beach since January.

Dung said the city had suspended the project in order to find where the huge volume of nearly 50,000 cubic metres of sand had gone.

According to local fishermen, 18 ships were involved in digging sand at the Cua ai Estuary and transporting it to the Cua ai Beach, but some vessels had illegally shipped sand to another project in a Nang City.

A source who wished to remain anonymous also told Viet Nam News that a huge contract had been signed by two companies  the Tuan Sinh Company and Trung Nam company  to mine sand from the Cua ai Estuary and deliver it to the sea embankment of the a Phuoc International Urban project in a Nang.

The contract assigned Tuan Sinh to dredge and transport a million tonnes of sand from the estuary in Quang Nam Province to the a Phuoc Urban project. The contract was worth VN60 billion (US$2.65 million).

The Nam inh-based Tuan Sinh company, which was also involved in the project to dredge the Cua ai Estuary and re-sand the Cua ai Beach, had used five to 10 ships of 800 cubic metres capacity each to carry sand from February 20 onwards.

In a statement last week, a Nang Citys Department of Construction said it has decided to suspend work on the coastal a Phuoc Uban Project in downtown Hai Chau District. It cited an incomplete environmental assessment report as one of the reasons, as also the need to investigate the use of sand by the project.

The urban development, planned on 175.9ha on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, has been said to be the biggest such project in central Viet Nam covering a large sea embankment area.

Investigators are now trying to find out how much sand had been transported and pumped for the a Phuoc Urban projects sea embankment between February and March.

According to Hoi An Peoples Committee, the dredging of Cua ai Estuary was seen as an urgent measure taken to save the Cua ai Beach from erosion after the failure of many others that were tried between 2011-2015.

Many experts had suggested that beach nourishment in combination with other measures would help stem erosion of Cua ai Beach in the short-term.

A 20ha area of Cua ai Beach, 5km from Hoi An, was washed away between 2009-2014.

A 1,100m Geotube sandbag dyke, positioned under the water 60m off the beach, could not prevent big waves from crashing onto the beach and washing the sand away.

More than VN80 billion (US$3.6 million) was spent on trying to protect the beach between 2009-2014.

Last year, the Agency for Development of France (AFD) agreed to conduct a 136,000 euro ($327,000) feasibility study of beach nourishment to ascertain its effectiveness as a sustainable protective measure for Cua ai Beach.  VNS
Viet Nam has targeted turning tourism into the spearhead economic sector of the northwest region by 2030.  Photo vov.vn

HA NOI  Viet Nam has targeted turning tourism into the spearhead economic sector of the northwest region by 2030, deputy head of the Northwest Steering Committee Hau A Lenh said yesterday.

At a conference on developing tourism into the leading economic sector of the region in the next 13 years, Lenh said it was necessary for local authorities to pour large investment in tourism services, create jobs and reduce poverty for local residents.

Many delegates said that tourism development in the northwest was restricted and had not tapped its potential. Although ethnic minority culture was rich and unique, the region still faced difficulties such as poor socio-economic infrastructure and transport links.

They also mentioned a disturbing fact that in recent years, many tourist destinations in the region had faced environmental pollution due to littering. Overcharging and cheating visitors had affected the image of the region.

Vu The Binh, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association said that most important factor to develop tourism in the northwest was co-ordination.

He said locals seemed to stay out of tourism services as the benefits to them from tourism was limited, adding that community tourism was good for the regions tourism, but had not been exploited effectively.

In addition, a shortage of skilled human resources for local tourism was an important issue. The region could not build a sustainable market due to this weakness, he added.

To improve regional tourism, Ngo Hoai Trung, deputy head of Vietnam Tourism Administration suggested six solutions, including improving peoples awareness on the importance of boosting tourism, improving the quality of tourism resources, increasing the quality of services, promoting the regional tourism potential, building tourism indicators suitable with the reality of regional tourism and ensuring sustainable development for tourism.

Lenh of the Northwest Steering Committee said the committee would co-ordinate with localities to develop tourism development strategies and tourism products for each locality.

In addition, apart from improving transport infrastructure to tourist sites, it is necessary to strengthen environmental management and ensure security for visitors.

Many delegates suggested promoting regional tourism to attract more domestic and international tourists and encourage and support the development of natural and eco-friendly tourism such as ecotourism, village tourism and adventure tourism.

Lenh said the committee would listen to the opinions of delegates and propose tourism development policies to the Government.

IN BOX:

Quang Ninh curbs ugly tourism

Quang Ninh is determined to clean up its tourism environment and to strictly punish travel agencies involved in selling products to Chinese tourists at inflated prices, the provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Van oc has said.

A separate checkpoint of tour operators has been established in Mong Cai City and a regular task force has been set up at Tuan Chau International Cruise Ship Port to handle violations.

The move was made after local press reported the violations of some tour operators, who designed tours for Chinese people to shops for Chinese shoppers only with greatly inflated higher prices.

Pham Thi Oanh, head of the citys Culture and Information said that Chinese demand to visit Viet Nam through Mong Cai international border gate has strongly increased. In the first quarter of this year, the total number of tourists was estimated to be 523,550 people, an increase of 8.2 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

Thus, many travel companies launched low price tours, which took visitors to souvenir shops for Chinese people only. These shops would pay commissions to travel companies. Vietnamese people would be refused entry to the shops to keep them secret.

The turnover of these shops remained unknown so far, she said.

Nguyen Van Son, director of Thang Loi International Tourism Company said he supported agencies crackdown on the businesses as it would create healthy competition among businesses.

Between March 16 and April 1, as many as 15 Chinese-only shops, mostly selling rubber mattresses and bedding, were forced to cease operation. Of them, one shop was fined VN400 million (US$17,850) for listing prices in foreign currency.  VNS
UNITED NATIONS  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 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 on Monday.

The United States holds the presidency of the Security Council in April, giving President Donald Trumps 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 shaping up as a key priority for the US administration.

Washington has complained loudly 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.

"The United States has seen China for 25-plus years say they are concerned about North Korea, but we havent seen them act like they are concerned about North Korea," Haley said.

"I think this administration wants to see them act and I think they are going to pressure them to do that."

Haley described the US-China summit as "very, very important" to address the crisis over North Korea and that China had a key role to play to force Pyongyang to change course.

"The only one that North Korea is going to respond to is China," said Haley.

Tillersons recent Asia tour focused on addressing the threat from North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programmes.

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.  AFP
Volunteerism has become an integral part of society, benefiting many organizations as well as those who volunteer.

April is the month for volunteer recognition, with the nominations of the Governors Volunteer Awards, Mayors Day of Recognition of National Service, National Volunteer Week and Global Youth Service Day. Additionally, volunteerism will be celebrated locally at the Mayors Volunteer and Top Teen Awards. The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley is the lead agency for these April events.

Coordinated by Volunteer Iowa, the Governors Volunteer Award program provides an easy, low-cost way for Iowa nonprofits, charitable organizations and government entities to honor their volunteers with a prestigious, state-level recognition award. Nominations are due April 10 and Awards are presented during recognition ceremonies each summer at several locations around the state, including Cedar Falls.

Locally, the Mayors Volunteer Awards honor the exemplary contributions of individuals ages 19 and older who dedicate their time and talent to volunteerism in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Evansdale and surrounding communities in Black Hawk County.

The Mayors Top Teen Awards honor youth ages 13-18 attending a school in Black Hawk County. The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa also selects one junior from each of the accredited high schools in Black Hawk County to receive the $1,000 Mother Moon Service Scholarship.

This year, the Mayors Volunteer and Top Teen Award recipients will be recognized at special events on April 11 at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. The awards program is sponsored by the cities of Cedar Falls, Evansdale and Waterloo, the Greater Cedar Valley Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, the RJ McElroy Trust and the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley.

National Volunteer Week takes place April 2329.

Each year, millions of youth around the world work together with schools, youth organizations, nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations, volunteer and national service programs, government agencies, faith communities, and other individuals to address critical issues and change their communities on Global Youth Service Day.

Locally, Global Youth Service Day will be celebrated on April 21. Students are invited to participate from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 505 Franklin, Waterloo. Participants, from kindergarten through fifth grade will complete projects that will be donated to community agencies. In the afternoon, middle and high school age students from the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valleys Youth Action Council will meet at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank to volunteer.

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley works to promote and support effective volunteerism and to serve as the resource and coordination center for volunteers and community partnerships. For volunteer opportunities, call the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley at 272-2087 or visit www.vccv.org.
WATERLOO  A Tuesday morning pursuit in La Porte City came to an end with the fleeing vehicle crashed and the driver was arrested.

Michael Paul Eaton, 39, of 318 Cataract Ave., Waterloo, was arrested for first-offense operating while intoxicated, possession of methamphetamine and felony eluding after he was examined at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. His bond was set at $13,000.

According to police, a La Porte City patrol officer attempted to stop Eaton after he noticed his vehicle speeding and swerving on Main Street around 2 a.m. Tuesday. The vehicle sped up, eventually reaching speeds of 90 mph in 55-mph zones on Eagle Road and Tama Road.

The vehicle eventually crashed into a ditch in the area of Spruce and Eighth streets in La Porte City. Police found a bag of meth in the vehicle.
DES MOINES -- An amendment to the Iowa Constitution to add the right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer and use arms has been proposed by Rep. Matt Windschitl. R-Missouri Valley.

All restrictions of those rights would be subject to strict scrutiny under House Joint Resolution 13, according to the resolution by Windschitl. He has offered similar proposals in the past and is floor manager of House File 517, which has been approved by the House and is pending in the Senate.

If adopted, the resolution would be referred to the next general assembly for adoption a second time before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.

Deer hunting

Iowans would be allowed to use straight wall cartridge rifles when hunting deer under a House-passed bill that won support of the Iowa Senate 49-0 and is heading to Gov. Terry Branstads desk.

Straight wall cartridge riles are the same caliber and use the same straight-walled cartridges legal for use in handguns, said Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, which produces less recoil and makes them more attractive for people new to the sport.

House File 475 directs the state Natural Resource Commission to adopt rules for the use of straight wall cartridge during the youth and disabled deer hunting seasons and for the first and second shotgun deer hunting seasons by licensed deer hunters.

The bill includes a provision making possession of a prohibited rifle a violation carrying a $250 fine and a two-year license suspension.

Boycott unfair

A boycott of Wells Blue Bunny, a great Iowa company, would not be fair, Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday.

LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, has called for a boycott of the Le Mars-based company because the ice cream maker reportedly supports U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Kiron Republican.

Four members of the family that owns the company have contributed about $34,000 to King. However, the company issued a statement saying not only does it not contribute to Kings campaign, but his recent comments about immigrants do not align with the values of our company.

Its not the company that is doing this, Branstad said about the company that has more than 2,000 employees and annually produces about 150 million gallons of ice cream sold under the Blue Bunny name and other brands. Theyre a great family-owned business that has done a lot, they have wonderful quality products. I dont think its appropriate to boycott a whole company and its products because some family members have contributed to a particular political candidate.

The 16 Iowa LULAC councils said recently they condemn Kings recent statement about not being able to restore our civilization with somebody elses babies. It is asking stores that carry Blue Bunny to remove the products from their shelves.

Confirmation talk

Two Senate committees Monday approved more than 40 of Gov. Terry Branstads appointees to state boards and commissions as part of the confirmation process.

Members of the Senate State Government Committee forwarded their appointees to the en bloc list for consideration for the full Senate but not before Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, complained that Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny and Carl Heinrich of Council Bluffs were members of a state Racing and Gaming Commission that blocked an effort to bring a state-licensed casino to Cedar Rapids.

Later the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee approved Bob Sinclair, Chad Ingalls and Howard Hill as members of the state Environmental Protection Commission.

Earlier in the day, Branstad told his weekly news conference he did not believe Geri Huser has done anything inappropriate in continuing to do outside legal work while serving as a member of the Iowa Utilities Board.

Gubernatorial nominees must receive a two-thirds majority of the Iowa Senate  or 34 affirmative votes  to win confirmation for a state appointment. The deadline for Senate action is April 15.

Future ready

Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Monday she will make a series of visits this week to learn more about programs Iowa may want to expand as it works to reach the states Future Ready Iowa goal.

Her itinerary includes events in Johnston and Des Moines on Tuesday and Waukee on Thursday.

The Future Ready Iowa goal is for 70 percent of the workforce to have education or training beyond high school by the year 2025. About 58 percent of Iowas workforce does now.

Reynolds said closing this skills gap is critical to assuring more Iowans have rewarding career opportunities, and that employers can hire the skilled workers they need to innovate and grow. Reynolds serves as co-chair of the Future Ready Iowa Alliance.

Claim settled

The State Appeal Board voted 3-0 Monday to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a patient at the Clarinda Mental Health Institute who choked to death in September 2013 while eating a peanut butter sandwich.

Officials said Richard Rollins Meredith died after workers at the MHI gave him a peanut butter sandwich rather than pureed food that was ordered by his doctor. Merediths relatives brought a lawsuit in Page County District Court alleging state employees tried to cover up the details of alleged inadequate care that led to his death.

Crop report

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says damp weather has mostly kept farmers from starting spring field work.

Some fertilizer applications have taken place as the weather allowed, he noted in his weekly crop report, adding that just 6 percent of oats have been planted, which is nearly a week behind the five-year average.

According to Northey, topsoil moisture levels rated 1 percent very short, 6 percent short, 67 percent adequate, and 26 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 2 percent very short, 6 percent short, 72 percent adequate, and 20 percent surplus.

DOT auction

The state Department of Transportation will hold a public auction of state-owned equipment at 9 a.m. April 22 at its grounds on South Fourth Street in Ames.

Laptop computers, equipment for offices and shops, automotive supplies and many other items are included in the sale. The computers are sold with no operating system or software.

Office equipment to be sold includes 60 laptop computers, several copiers, tables, chairs, and storage and file cabinets.

Shop equipment items include a bench grinder, a chain hoist, jacks, saws, drill presses, generators, mowers, a pressure washer and truck boxes.

A limited number of vehicles will be included in this auction. Automotive supplies, radios, and many other items also will be sold.

Items for sale may be inspected at the sale site from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 21 and from 7 to 9 a.m. April 22.

A listing of auction items is available at iowadot.gov/auction/auctlist.htm.

Severe weather

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds are highlighting the importance of preparing for Iowas severe weather season, noting 21 Iowans have died during violent storms over the last nine years.

Mark Schouten, director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, advised Iowans Monday to make an emergency plan for their family, build an emergency supply kit and to be aware of hazards in their areas.

We are at the beginning of severe weather season, and its almost certain we will see more bad weather in the coming weeks and months, Schouten said.

For more information go to the www.beready.iowa.gov website.
DES MOINES  The Iowa State Education Association and one of its locals are challenging collective bargaining changes the Legislature made earlier this year.

In a lawsuit filed in Polk County District Court, the 34,000-member union and the Davenport Education Association raise constitutional challenges to the law that made sweeping changes to the 43-year-old Chapter 20, the rules governing collective bargaining by public employees.

We fervently wish we did not have to seek remedy through the courts in order to enforce our rights. ISEA President Tammy Wawro said Tuesday at a Capitol news conference. However, the law, which was rushed through the Legislature and into effect, treats professional educators and their chosen representatives unequally and unfairly.

This is the second lawsuit against the measure, which was signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad in February.

At the time, the states larges public worker union  the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 61  also asserted that the new law improperly established two types of public employees, some with more rights than others. A hearing in that suit has not been set.

Wawro said the new lawsuit addresses additional concerns.

This is the second round after we were looking at it deeper and looking at the impact and effects of all of it, she said. There were about 30 pages directed at education that we havent hit yet. So I think you will see different pieces of this law pulled apart.

After Tuesdays ISEA news conference, Colin Tadlock, a spokesman for House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said the law was written to be constitutional.

In challenging the law that was pushed through the Legislature by GOP majorities in the House and Senate, the ISEA asserts it creates two classes of public employees because it treats public safety employees differently than others. Public safety employees are allowed to bargain over a wider range of issues than teachers and others.

A fire marshal is able to bargain ways to keep the inside of a firehouse safer, Wawro said. Why cant a teacher bargain ways to keep the inside of a schoolhouse safe?

House File 291, the law in question, would limit most public-sector union contract negotiations to base wages capped by the cost of living while eliminating such issues as health insurance and supplemental pay as mandatory items for bargaining. Iowas 1974 collective bargaining law permitted public workers to bargain for wages, benefits and workplace issues, with impasses resolved by binding arbitration in exchange for employees giving up the right to strike.

The suit also challenges a provision of the law that prohibits payroll deductions for union dues while allowing deductions for other organizations such as contributions to nonprofits.

Also targeted by the suit is the irrational voter universe for recertification elections based on the total number of members of a bargaining unit, rather than a majority of members voting.

If that rationale was applied to political elections, Wawro said, no candidate would ever be elected to office.

Its just not fair and its not right, Wawro said in summing up the law. Our state constitution guarantees Iowans to the right to fair and equal treatment under the law, and HF 291 violates that basic promise.
WAVERLY  The organizer of an atheist rights group clashed with Waverlys mayor Monday after the mayor defended his regular City Council prayer by saying atheists could say their own quiet prayer.

Justin Scott of the Eastern Iowa Atheists confronted Mayor Charles Infelt during the public comment portion at the start of Mondays regular Waverly City Council meeting, saying he had contacted Infelt twice by email and asked if he would allow an atheist to give an invocation.

Infelt, who described himself as a Christian, regularly delivers a prayer at the start of the meeting and did so Monday night.

I am here to speak for atheists in your community, Scott said. Our group has asked to speak and deliver an invocation at some point. I would request equal treatment for atheists in our community.

Infelt said his prayer was theistic and those who didnt subscribe to his views could say their own quiet prayer.

The reason we have prayers is because we have the freedom and ability to invoke a higher power in our approach to city business, and I do it in ways that shouldnt be offensive, Infelt said.

So at this point, there is no representation outside of your view? Scott asked.

Infelt didnt directly respond, but noted Scott should just be tolerant of it as is.

Ward 3 councilman Wes Gade noted Infelt didnt always do his own prayer.

Back when we first started, there was a different person every month  we did used to rotate pastors, he said.

I would encourage that, and if the mayor wants that, I can bring somebody in, Scott said of bringing someone from his group to deliver an invocation.

Scott posted to his groups Facebook page Tuesday morning about the exchange.

While we appreciate the ability to share our concerns with the Mayor of Waverly, we really dont think he completely understood what we were trying to convey, Scott said.

In another post, Scott said a lawsuit could be forthcoming if the City Council doesnt act.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 ruled sectarian prayers before government meetings were constitutional, provided they arent coercive, dont denigrate other religions and do not require participation by people who do not share the same beliefs.

Scott challenged Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart on the same matter last year and succeeded in delivering a secular prayer during a Waterloo City Council meeting last May.
SHEFFIELD -- The fire that destroyed an apartment complex in Sheffield on Sunday started in the kitchen, an official said.

The blaze was reported just before 6 p.m. Sunday at Sunrise Homes.

Sheffield Fire Chief Dan Fields said everyone got out of the apartments, but one occupant was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters were on the scene for six hours. The complex on South Second Street is restricted to the elderly or disabled.

Officials say four of the five units were occupied.

Gary Schonings father, Louis Schoning, 86, lived in one of the apartments. He learned of the fire when people started calling him Sunday night asking if his dad was OK.

As he rushed into town, Schoning could see the fire over the top of the steel buildings nearby.

I could see the flames from 2 miles away, he said.

His father and several other residents were already outside watching the fire when Gary Schoning arrived.

The one-story, brick building was gutted.

Blackened rooms, charred wood and melted plastic were visible though broken windows on the homes on Monday morning. The roof had burned off and collapsed into the apartments.

Fields said the blaze started in a kitchen. It has been ruled an accident.

A member of Sunrise Homes board of directors said all of the residents were able to move in with family who lived nearby.

A local non-profit, The Sharing Shoppe, has offered to provide clothes and other items to the buildings occupants.

The Sheffield store collects donated items to give to people affected by disaster or other emergencies.

The complex is owned by Murphy Realty and Management of Algona.

Sheffield firefighters were assisted by Sheffield EMS, Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Franklin County Emergency Management, Hampton Fire Department and Rockwell Fire Department.
By The Associated Press Apr. 03, 2017 | 04:34 AM | WASHINGTON, DC

Amid staff turmoil and shake-ups, blocked travel bans and the Russia cloud hanging overhead, President Donald Trump is plucking away a major piece of his agenda: undoing Obama.

From abortion to energy to personal finance, Trump is keeping his promise to overturn regulations and policies adopted when Barack Obama was president.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing. Trump recently failed to keep his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The president and House Speaker Paul Ryan couldn't persuade enough Republicans to back new health care legislation, and Ryan pulled the bill before a scheduled House vote last month.

Trump is having better outcomes in other areas, overturning policies dealing with climate change, trade, family planning and personal finance.
past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)
Apr 4, 2017 | By David

Leading aerospace and rocket technology company Aerojet Rocketdyne has been working on implementing 3D printing technology into projects for over a decade now, and today it announced the successful testing of its largest 3D printed rocket engine part made from copper. A thrust chamber assembly for the RL10 rocket engine, made from copper alloy using laser sintering, was hot-fire tested and approved for use.

Over 450 RL10 engines have flown in space since the rockets first operational flight in 1963, placing numerous spacecraft into orbit and propelling others to explore the rest of our solar system. Speaking about the RL10, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake said the company had made several major upgrades to enhance the engines performance and affordability since it first entered service in the early 1960s. Taking advantage of 3D printing technology was the next logical step in the evolution of the rocket, as the company was looking ''to make the engine even more affordable for our customers.

Not only does 3D printing allow for much cheaper building of these rocket parts, the manufacturing time is also drastically reduced. The technology allowed for the thrust chamber assembly design to be simplified to just two parts (a huge 90 percent reduction in part count), which then took under a month to fully complete using SLS 3D printing. This is a lead time several months shorter than when using conventional methods.

According to Additive manufacturing Program Manager Jeff Haynes, the thrust chamber assembly is the largest one ever 3D printed with the high-performance copper alloy that was used. 'Infusing this technology into full-scale rocket engines is truly transformative as it opens up new design possibilities for our engineers and paves the way for a new generation, he said. 3D printing technologys increased space for design modification means that 3D printed rocket parts can have a number of advanced features, enabling better heat transfer. What this means is that the resulting engines can be much more lightweight and compact, a huge bonus for the vast majority of aerospace applications.

The recently completed thrust chamber assembly part was tested at the program management office of the Defense Production Act Title III, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. The success of the testing will bolster confidence in Aerojet Rocketdynes other applications of 3D printing technology. Other products making use of 3D printing include the RS-25 engines that are intended to help with exploration of deep space, as well as the companys new AR-1 booster engine that is being developed to replace the Russian-built RD-180 engines by 2019, as mandated by Congress.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:









Viking Child wrote at 4/6/2017 2:56:58 PM:Great new idea, now how do we start making a oxygen rich closed cycle engine with more power than our competitors?




Apr 4, 2017 | By Tess

France is certainly ramping up its efforts to become known as a hub for 3D printed construction. Not only has the country claimed Europes first 3D printed load-bearing concrete structure, but it will soon be able to boast a 95m 3D printed social housing building. The 3D printed house, which is due to begin construction in September 2017, will be located in La Bottiere, a district east of Nantes.

The house project, called Yhnova, will be completed using an innovative construction additive manufacturing technique that was developed by the University of Nantes in partnership with LS2N, a digital sciences lab, and GeM, which specializes in material development.

The patented 3D printing process, called BatiPrint3D, utilizes a four-meter-long robotic arm which, guided by a laser system, extrudes three layers: a formwork layer, an insulating layer, and a structuring layer. The first two layers consist of a foam-like material, while the third is a special 3D printable concrete layer. Notably, the insulating layer eliminates the need for thermal bridging, thus making it easier and more efficient to heat the home.

When the building project is launched, the five-room house will be 3D printed in a wooded area, reportedly to increase the difficulty of the build. According to the project leaders, the houses structure, which is characterized by mostly rounded walls, should be completed within just three days, and will be livable within just six days of its completion.

Benoit Furet, a professor at the University of Nantes, explains that the 3D printed house in La Bottiere will be fully certified and livable, a feature which purportedly sets it apart from other 3D printed housing structures (he mentions Chinese and Russian projects, for instance). Readers will likely remember Russian company Apis Cors announcement that it had successfully 3D printed a 37-square-meter building in less than 24 hours.

Notably, the upcoming building will follow social housing guidelines, which was done in an effort to advance and accelerate the technology. In terms of cost, Furet estimates the project will require a budget of about 130,000 euros, while the home itself will be listed at its market price.

The 3D printed Yhnova social housing project is part of the wider CityLab initiative in Nantes, which was launched in a bid to make Nantes a city of tomorrow. As part of the initiative, the French city put up 750,000 euros to attract innovative researchers, associations, startups, and more. The Yhnova project is one of three projects that was selected for funding. The other two are DataLab, which links public and private energy data for energy consumption, and a project by Cameon and Bpifrance which plans to use analog FM radio networks to control public lighting.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:












Apr 4, 2017 | By Benedict

Six companies, two universities, and two research institutes have joined forces for the LASIMM (Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine) 3D printing project, which has received funding from the European Union to develop a hybrid additive/subtractive manufacturing system.

How the LASIMM hybrid manufacturing system might look

Companies, researchers, and universities working on 3D printing technology dont often group together in large numbers. When they do, its almost always for mutually beneficial causessee, for example, the 3MF Consortium, a group of major additive manufacturing companies (3D Systems, Stratasys, HP, Ultimaker) that are seeking to implement a standardized new file format for 3D printing. 3MF could benefit all members, but individual members dont need to devote a huge amount of time or resources to the cause; they simply need to promote use of 3MF through their own products.

Rarely do such large groups come together, physically and contractually, to develop a complex system of hardware and software. Such a task would require time, resources, and even the sharing of IP, all of which could make the prospect less than appealing for businesses that already have their own strict targets to meet. All of that makes the LASIMM Project, a huge collaborative endeavor to produce an all-in-one additive and subtractive manufacturing system, all the more exciting.

The LASIMM group includes six companies, two universities, and two research institutes, and has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. (An early presentation listed the projects budget as just under 5 million euros.) Over a period of 36 months, the group will attempt to create the worlds largest hybrid manufacturing machine, integrating additive, subtractive, metrology, and cold work capabilities into a single machine with an advanced control system. In other words, this ambitious project could be a really big deal.

The LASIMM system will combine additive, subtractive, metrology, and cold work capabilities

While the LASIMM system promises to deliver a raft of manufacturing options, its 3D printing capabilities sound particularly excitingif they can in fact be realized. The group says that Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) technology will be used to make the LASIMM system the worlds largest metal 3D printer, which will be able to provide a 20% reduction in time and cost, with respect to the current additive and subtractive processes, as well as a 15% increase in productivity for high-volume AM production.

The organizations involved in the LASIMM Project are currently developing the system so it can 3D print (and machine) aluminum, steel, and titanium. However, the system will be build in a modular way that could enable flexible reconfigurations for different projects. This capacity for reconfiguration of the modular system could potentially allow different materials to be introduced at a later time, and indications suggest that LASIMM partners are still looking at different technologies that could be integrated into the system.

Foster + Partners, a British architecture firm and member of the LASIMM group, announced yesterday that it is exploring new metal 3D printing approaches that could potentially be used on the LASIMM hybrid manufacturing system. The company has used 3D printing since 2004, and has worked with Loughborough University and other consortium partners for several years in order to bring large-scale concrete 3D printing to market. Foster + Partners is joined by nine other big names on the LASIMM project, including defense company BAE Systems, Autodesk-owned CAD/CAM company Delcam, and British automation specialist Global Robots.

Reducing costs, improving efficiency, and production flexibility are core pillars to improve Europes industrial competitiveness, said a LASIMM spokesperson in a press release. The LASIMM project aims to address this need through the development of large scale and flexible all-in-one hybrid machines, based on a modular architecture that is easily scalable, and ensuring that the properties of the material produced surpass those of a forged material. It will enable the production of a part/product directly from computer-aided design (CAD) models within a reduced timeframe and without the need of post-processing steps.

How the 10 LASIMM Project members will share the workload

With European Union backing and a wealth of expertise at its collective disposal, it seems fair to expect big things from this project. Will it succeed? Watch this space.

LASIMM partners in full:

Companies

BAE Systems

Foster + Partners

Vestas Wind Systems

Global Robots Ltd

LOXIN

Delcam (owned by Autodesk)

Universities

IST (Instituto Superior Tecnico)

Cranfield University

Research institutes and organizations

HZG (Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht)

EWF (European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting)

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

Maybe you also like:












Apr 4, 2017 | By Benedict

Defense company Lockheed Martin is planning to use 3D printing and virtual reality (VR) to lower the cost of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which it could soon supply to the U.S. Air Force. The company says parts like tubing, routings, bottles, and attachments could all be 3D printed.

Air Force testing of an unarmed Minuteman III missile, a model that is set to be replaced

(Image: U.S. Air Force)

The LGM-30 Minuteman, the United States only land-based ICBM in service, has been aroundin various versionssince 1962, when it entered service as a deterrent during the Cold War. The current model, the Minuteman III, is due to be replaced, and a number of defense companies are now competing in the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent competition to provide the Air Force with a new ICBM.

One company competing to become the next supplier of the new ICBM is Lockheed Martin, the DC-based defense and aerospace giant and federal government contractor. Lockheed has pitched its proposal to the Air Force, saying that 3D printing and virtual reality technology could help the company lower the cost of its ICBMs while maintaining the use of more traditional missile production techniques. The defense contract could last decades, so competitors need to show that they have are prepared to use up-to-date technologies to make the missiles.

John Karas, Vice President and General Manager of Human Space Flight at Lockheed Martin, said that his company would use a three-year technology maturation and risk reduction (TMRR) period to identify areas of missile construction that could benefit from 3D printing: If we have three years of TMR working with the customer and selecting the right aspects of [3D printing], hopefullywell show the benefit of it during the design phase and recurring phase and the operation and sustainment phase.

Karas added that parts like tubing, routings, bottles, attachments, those kind of things could potentially benefit from being 3D printed, reducing overall costs for both Lockheed and the Air Force, should it choose to work with the DC-based company. That, of course, is far from a given, since Lockheed will compete with Boeing and Northrop Grumman for the lucrative defense contract, with either one or two applications likely to be given the nod.

During a media event held yesterday at the Lockheed facility in Littleton, Colorado, Lockheed showcased other initiatives that could potentially swing the Air Forces decision in the companys favor. Guests were shown a $5 million research area called the Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory (CHIL), where motion capture tools (including a motion capture suit like the one used to animate Andy Serkis character Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings) and virtual reality tech are being used to virtually redesign and manufacture aerospace components, including the top deck of the partially 3D printed Orion spacecraft.

Lockheed Martin's Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, complete with 3D printed part

Lockheed Martins CHIL area has been used to plan the manufacturing flow of current products, and could potentially be used on a replacement for the Minuteman III ICBM. The tools at the facility could even be used to upgrade missile launch facilities. We have to update all the silos, Karas said. We have to change the air conditioning; we have to change the motor generators and all those things inside the silo, and they were built a long time ago.

This week has been a busy one for Lockheed Martin, with the defense company also announcing that the Air Forces sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, built by Lockheed, will utilize a 3D printed Remote Interface Unit, an aluminum box used to hold avionic circuits. This part is the first 3D printed component to be used in a Lockheed Martin military satellite, and helped reduce manufacturing time from six months to just 45 days. Assembly time was reduced from 12 hours to three.

Brian OConnor, Vice President of Production Operations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, delivered the news about the 3D printed satellite part, and also confirmed that the company is using large metal electron beam additive manufacturing processes to build rocket fuel tanks. Lockheeds electron beam 3D printers are supplied by metal 3D printing specialist Sciaky.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:












Christopher Carroll at The NY Review of Books:

In 1942 the composer Ned Rorem, then nineteen, attended a panel at Northwestern University made up of various grandees from the world of music. One of thema short, stocky bald man with a high-pitched voice and a face like an owlwas Virgil Thomson, a composer and the chief classical music critic for the New York Herald Tribune. The panel, as Rorem remembered it, began with an attempt to define music:

The others were falling back on Shakespeares concord of sweet sounds when Thomson shrieked: Boy, was he wrong! You might as well call painting a juxtaposition of pretty colors, or poems a succession of lovely words. What is music? Why, its what we musicians do.

The story captures some of what makes Thomsons music writing at once so admirable and so maddening. At its best, his criticism was disarmingly direct and unpretentious. He could write with style, and had a knack for bringing the sound of music to life, as when he described the finale of the Brahms Third Symphony, where the winds play sustained harmonic progressions which the violins caress with almost inaudible tendrils of sound, little wiggly figures that dart like silent goldfish around a rock. He was a fierce advocate of styles of music that were dismissed as quaint and unimportant or ignored entirely, especially French music, such as the works of Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, and Satie, and new music by living American composers. Most of all he had a willingness to speak his mind even when it meant contradicting the press, the concert-going public, and the administrations who ran the orchestras.

more here.
Ive always said that age is just a number, and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but its great to finally know how old I really am! Day said in a statement Sunday.

Days representative wasnt certain how the film legends birthday mix-up happened, but offered one explanation.

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 miswritten on the audition form, Charley Cullen Walters told AP. We dont know if thats correct, but if so, it couldve simply stuck for all these years.

The year 1922 appears to be a banner one when it comes to celebrity births. Betty White, Carl Reiner and Bill Macy were all born that year, and theyre all still living.

Funny enough, the Pajama Game star apparently often joked with close friend and fellow animal-rights activist Betty White, who turned 95 on Jan. 17, about being two years younger.

Now we know that they are actually just a couple months apart, and turns out its an even bigger exciting landmark than we thought, Walters said.

Day started out as a dancer but switched to singing and acting after injuring her leg in a car accident as a teenager. She was most popular in the 1950s and 1960s, often appearing as the girl next door in films such as Pillow Talk and Calamity Jane. Later, she turned to the small screen, starring in a sitcom called The Doris Day Show, from 1968 to 1973.

In a rare exclusive interview earlier this year, the notoriously private Day told Closer Weekly that shes lived a good life: Theres no sense in having regrets. I think you have to get through the bad times to appreciate the good things in life. Ive had my share of both and always said Im like one of those dolls with the round bottom  if life deals you a blow, you have to bounce right back.


Gold Fields Becomes Substantial Holder

Perth, April 4, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cardinal Resources Limited ( ASX:CDV ) ( CRDNF:OTCMKTS ) ("Cardinal" or the "Company") is announcing that Gold Fields Limited (JSE:GFI) ( NYSE:GFI ) ("Gold Fields") has become a substantial shareholder of Cardinal through on-market purchases.



Gold Fields became a substantial shareholder of Cardinal on 3 April 2017 with an ordinary shareholding of 6.4%.



Further, the Company advises that Gold Fields is, or is entitled to be, the registered holder of 24,887,425 listed options in Cardinal (ASX.CDVOA), which has also been acquired through on-market purchases. On a fully diluted basis Gold Fields would hold 10.35%.



Archie Koimtsidis, MD/CEO of Cardinal, said:

"We acknowledge Gold Fields as a substantial shareholder of the Company. Their investment confirms the tremendous potential of our Ghanaian Projects."





About Cardinal Resources Ltd





Cardinal Resources Ltd (ASX:CDV) (TSE:CDV) (OTCMKTS:CRDNF) is a West African gold exploration and development Company that holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa.

The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project with a gold Ore Reserve of 5.1Moz (0.4 Moz Proved and 4.7 Moz Probable) and a soon to be completed Feasibility Study.

Exploration programmes are also underway at the Company's Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana) and Subranum (Southern Ghana) Projects.

Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Ore Reserve of 3 April 2019. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed.
CSAF shares thoughts, stresses importance of Hanscom work during visit

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein visited Hanscom Air Force Base March 28 to 30, 2017 to learn more about the work done at the base, meet with local civic officials to discuss collaboration, and share his insight about where the Air Force currently is and where its headed.



Speaking to the workforce during an all-call March 30, Goldfein said this was his first visit to Hanscom AFB, adding that he had been the beneficiary of the work done here. Many of those benefits were as a long-time operator of various systems, but he also shared one very specific personal incident.



Speaking of being shot down in enemy territory, he said, Much of the technology to get me back to my family was developed right here. Never take for granted the importance of that work. You enable the fight. I cant tell you how proud I am; both as a beneficiary and as your chief.



Goldfein shared the way he describes the Air Force and the volume and breadth of what the service does for the nation.



The Air Force is two legs of the nuclear triad, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and responsible for the vast majority of nuclear command and control. The service also commands and controls the preponderance of constellations in space, providing services that enable GPS, cell signals and more. Another area is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, for all six domains of air, land, space, cyber, sea, and undersea.



Its Airmen who knit that vast volume of data into common operational pictures so commanders can make critical decisions, the chief said.



Many of these capabilities are managed right here at Hanscom, Goldfein said. During his visit, the Chief saw presentations from the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications Integration Directorate; Battle Management Directorate; Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks Directorate; and also saw demonstrations within the Hanscom AFB Collaboration and Innovation Center. In addition, he visited with Airmen from Hanscom AFBs 66th Medical Squadron.



And while the previous topics mainly showed what the service does at home, Goldfein also emphasized what the service does while deployed.



The Air Force provides air superiority and global reach; every 2  minutes an aircraft is taking off around the globe, he said. The service also provides global strike, Goldfein said, specifically highlighting the air campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.



The chief said he has a favorite quote from Gen. Hap Arnold, The problem with airpower is we make it look too easy.



Goldfein said the Air Force has the broadest portfolio of any of the services, so its often hard to articulate.



Were always there, he said. In every domain, every mission, every location, an Airman is required and essential for success.



Talking about future conflict, he mentioned the attributes that he thinks will be part of the next fight and said that many of the personnel at Hanscom AFB will be participants through the incredible work done here for the warfighter.



He said it will be a transregional conflict. He also explained that wars will be multi-domain, and this second attribute of future fights is an area where he sees Hanscom AFB playing a large part because of their expertise.



The heart and soul of multi-domain command and control is here at Hanscom he said.



The third attribute is multi-component, while the fourth is coalition at the core. Goldfein said that for this fourth attribute, it will probably be harder to implement culturally than technologically. He said this is another area where hell be asking for help.



Most of us have grown up asking, What can I share? he said. Perhaps what we should be asking is What cant I share and show me where its written?



The last attribute is speed. Goldfein said the speed of conflict over the last 16 years, with a relatively uncontested air environment, is likely far slower than conflicts in the future will be.



The chief then went on to emphasize his three focus areas: revitalizing squadron and squadron-like organizations; strengthening how we develop joint leaders and teams; and multi-domain command and control, once again saying this is an area where Hanscom AFB will play a significant role.



During his three-day visit, the chief also had a chance to meet with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker along with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation and other regional leaders. He also visited the local Federally Funded Research and Development Centers in the area, MITRE and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, to discuss the work they do for the Air Force. In addition, he saw the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, visited with personnel at Otis Air National Guard Base, and spoke to cadets from Boston University.



Throughout the all-call, he continually emphasized the importance of the work done at Hanscom AFB.



If I can leave one message with you, (it would be) thank you for what you do here every single day, Goldfein said.


Wings of Blue train, jump with reservists

Citizen Airmen from the 701st Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, took to the sky in a C-17 Globemaster III over the Arizona desert early Saturday morning for mission critical training with the Air Forces Wings of Blue parachute team.



Training is a critical component of maintaining readiness and exposing aircrews to various situations, terrain and cargo they may encounter while performing their duties throughout their career and this particular mission provided just that.



We are constantly seeking new opportunities to train in unique environments that may simulate what we experience during an actual mission, said Lt. Col. Mike Parker, the deputy chief of standards and evaluation with the 315th Operations Group at JB Charleston and a 2000 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. The high altitude, low opening (HALO) jumps we participated in varied from a typical static line jump in that the aircrew and aircraft was operating at a much higher altitude, increased airspeed and involved a more complex methodology for calculating the jumpers launch and parachute release points.



Parker described the HALO jump as a jumpmaster-driven mission because the jumpmaster is giving directions to the flight crew. Whereas, in a typical static-line jump scenario the pilot is making all of the decisions about the jump zone and other components of the operation.



Staff Sgt. Lee Hiott, a 701st AS loadmaster and resident of Summerville, S.C., gained invaluable skills during the four passes over the jump zone that he may not have been able to learn back at his home station at JB Charleston. He was excited about the opportunity to work with his fellow Airmen and see first-hand what is involved in executing HALO jumps out of a C-17.



This was my first airdrop mission, said Hiott. It was nice to experience a different aspect of our job that we dont get to see every day and utilize equipment on the aircraft that we have been trained on but may not have been exposed to in a real working environment.



Just as important as this mission was for the aircrew, it was equally important and rewarding for the Academys Airmanship-490 class where cadets go through 40 hours of ground training and where they will learn how to exit an aircraft and land a parachute by themselves. Once a cadet has completed five successful jumps, they earn their jump wings. The AM-490 class is led and taught by cadets who are members of the Wings of Blue.



This was our first experience jumping out of a C-17, said Ryan C. Palmer, an Academy cadet with Squadron 23 and a member of the Wings of Green. Wings of Green is comprised of sophomore cadets who have completed AM-490 and anticipate joining the Wings of Blue. Having all 25 of my buddies jumping out of the back of the aircraft at the same time was awesome.



Palmer described their week of training as pretty intense as he and many of his fellow cadets were able to complete a range of nine to 19 jumps per day as they strive for the goal to complete jumpmaster training and become a member of the Wings of Blue. Prior to his arrival, he had 55 jumps under his belt. Palmer now heads back to the Academy with well over 90 jumps completed.



In addition to all of the training that was completed during this mission, the JB Charleston aircrew was able to share their experiences and Air Force careers with several of the cadets as they had the opportunity to share the flight deck with the pilots of the mighty C-17 on their way back to the Academy.



As a graduate of the USAF Academy, it was rewarding and inspirational to be able to share my career as a pilot, said Parker. To hear their feedback and what they are experiencing brings back many great memories. Hopefully we can accomplish more training with the Wings of Blue in the future.


The seventh phase, post-Independence, cannot be ignored, even though it stretches only to the last 70 years, because it begins with the violent and blood-soaked Partition of India on religious grounds and the creation of East and West Pakistan for Muslims. Did that make India a Hindu state by default? Or did it inspire the idea of India where all people were equally respected, irrespective of religion and caste? Different people will answer this differently. Hindutva saw secularism as minority appeasement, positive discrimination favouring certain castes as anti-meritocracy, socialism simply creating crony capitalism, doctrines of social justice and gender equality threatening traditional Hindu family values, and the absence of Uniform Civil Code as yet another way to divide India. Many intellectuals lost respect when they argued that concepts such as Hinduism, as well as India, were creations of the British, with no real ancient roots, disdainfully referring to the faith of common folk to the contrary as fanciful imaginaries. It became worse when academicians around the world who insisted on equating Hinduism with casteism refused to link Islam with terrorism, or Christianity with militant missionary activity. Many saw the doctrine of Marxism, liberalism and secularism of having failed a majority of Indians, most of whom continue to live in abject poverty. Justified or not, the aggrieved felt it was time to give Hindutva a chance, despite its aggressively masculine stance, especially since it spoke the language of development, and aspiration.

Ironically, Hindutva follows a linear Western template just like Marxism, secularism, and liberalism, ideologies it holds in deepest contempt. This means, both see themselves as objective and scientific and seek the truth, and are disturbed by ideas such as existence of multiple myths that are true for some but not all. Both find the present imperfect and problematic. Both yearn for solutions and seek perfection through human intervention in one lifetime. Thus, both use words like mission, destination and revolution. Both display messianic certainty and a sense of urgency. Both harbour a saviour complex! While Marxism, secularism and liberalism seek to save the world by reforming what they see as an unfair past, Hindutva seeks to save the world by reclaiming what it sees as Hinduisms glorious past destroyed by Muslims and Christians and now, Marxists-secular-liberal forces that it bundles into one group. Both are combative, constantly seeking and finding villains to annihilate and establish their righteous heroism. Both despise alternate points of view. Neither likes diversity and seeks to contain it within a larger single homogenous discourse, like nationalism, or human rights. Both are embedded in anger, and seek justice. One can argue that Hindutva marks the semitisation of Hinduism, for linear thought is the hallmark of Abrahamic mythology, while Hinduism is rooted in cyclical structures.

A line is a circle with identity-crisis. And so Hindutva can be seen as yet another manifestation of Hinduism, of contextual relevance, a response to the past, that will eventually be consumed by whatever it will provoke. In Hindu worldview, life has no great climax, as nothing lasts forever. Every hierarchy eventually collapses and gives way to newer hierarchies. Multiple doctrines simultaneously vie for domination. The world is like a stormy ocean full of waves and winds. We ride these waves and winds; we do not create them; we cannot control them. This indifferent restless world makes us feel invalid and so we yearn desperately for meaning. The quest for meaning is atma-gyan (self-realisation), the essence of Hindu wisdom, communicated in Vedic rituals, Upanishadic dialogues, Tantrik art and Puranic stories. In the absence of atma-gyan, we are driven by the animal instinct to dominate and be territorial. We are consumed by a sense of injustice and inequality, and feel hungry and insecure. We do not empathise with others, and end up exploiting or fearing or seeking control over them. We feel neither love, nor contentment, only ambition, oppression, rage, bitterness and violence. Atma-gyan alone reveals why Hinduism is called sanatan dharma (eternal doctrine): it needs no saviours, but saviours need it.

DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Denial has a certain sound and a certain language all of its own. It makes things complicated that arent complicated. It insists there is an exception to the rule. It speaks in circles and contradictions. It cloaks itself in mystery and layered explanations.

Theres a word for this kind of rationalizing. Its called DENIAL. And each and every one of us has experienced it at least once in our lives. I can think of at least 3 times in my own life, the regression of my daughter being the first instance that comes to mind.

We just didnt call it that for 70 years even though it had a name.

Because it was new, but not new, dont you know?

That no one over the age of 40 today ever heard of until the late 1980s.

That isnt expressly written about anywhere in medical or folk literature beforehand.

A condition that nobody, including himself, bothered to name, discuss, or identify prior.

And likewise, if he was wrong, he simply gave a name to a human condition thats always been with us. In other words, he was expert enough to get to name it something new that we still call it, but too ignorant to realize it wasnt. (Think about how ridiculous that logic is. Never mind. Dont. It hurts.)

Because, as our beloved Dan Olmsted and so many others have said for over a decade now, if he was right and autism was new, it cannot be genetic. Something in the 1930s in two very specific parts of the world actually, the United States and Austria, changed. And thats really only a handful of things.

Hey everyone, theres something NEW hereand PECULIAR and FASCINATING. and IVE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE. and Im an authority on this stuff and Im going to give it its own name because of it

The fact that he had just written and published a book on the subject only 8 years prior to making this extraordinary statement; that he was almost 50 years old and had lived on two continents when he did; and that he was announcing to the world in fancy academic language,

At that time, Dr. Kanner was an immigrant who had lived on two continents in multiple countries; was fluent in two languages; and had just written the authoritative and exhaustive guide on all things related to childhood psychiatry in 1935. Because of his research, he was the premier expert in the country that the first 11 families of children later diagnosed with autism ever came to for help and why.

Since 1938, there have come to my attention a number of children whose condition differs so markedly and uniquely from anything reported so far , that each case merits  and I hope, eventually receives  a detailed examination of its fascinating peculiarities.

It was April of 1943 when Dr. Leo Kanner, arguably the leading childhood psychiatrist of the day, wrote the words in the journal The Nervous Child that changed the rest of us, and the month of April, forever.

Its marked by lots of sighing and pauses. Your voice gets a little higher. Theres a cocking of your head as you look up at nothing while you speak, your subconscious begging to get your attention to stop you from saying something stupid, literally slowing down your words and making it harder for them to come out.

Because as they come out, you know they dont make sense. You hear how stupid they sound. You feel your gut screaming at you that the truth is something else.

And yet you continue, for if its true what youre saying when youre in denial oh God if these words are true coming out of your mouth? Well, then life is Ok! Everything if fine!

Because denial is a powerful coping mechanism. It protects us from processing painful emotional truths, particularly those that turn our entire world upside down.

Well, the doctor said not all kids crawl. And well, her brother is talking for her and you see, lots of kids have chronic constipation and yeah, she must be so sick all of the time because Im a teacher around kids I mean, the rest of arent sick, but yeah, yeah thats all it is.

Oh, for that to be true. Oh, how good it felt for that to be a possibility for those years.

Ugh. It makes my skin crawl to think about. Because once youre out of denial, its so freaking obvious what was right in front of your face all along. And the longer you were in denial, the more you then have to deal with the extraordinary amount of time you lost staying there.

Its a double whammy, adding to the tremendous pain of the truth you now must face, not to mention the third whammy of having to shake the shit out of everyone else still in it, many of whom become enraged at you as you try.

Is it really any wonder people like to stay there? Denial is nice. Its comfortable. And it even has a color now: blue.

Autism will one day be a case study of collective denial, mark my words. The seriously mind-numbingly stupid excuses. The contradictions. The well, you see phrases. The pauses. The sighs. The higher pitched voice. The looking up at nothing while talking slowly.

This is body language we cannot control. This cant be schooled away. The way we talk, the way we look, and the way we sound when were in denial is universal and unavoidable.

Simply watch the interviews of those who deny the epidemic and environmental causes and see for yourself. Ask someone in denial for their rationalizations of the epidemic and watch their faces and listen to their voice. For even more evidence, just read the insanity of the words of those who insist that nothing is wrong, nothing has happened, and that everything is fine.

That moms and dads caused autism in the 40s because they didnt bond with their children, and then, no, it was just moms in the 50s, and then, nope, just moms that wanted to kill their kids in the 60s, and then, well, no, sorry, not homicidal moms but genetically flawed moms by the 90s and now its sick moms who need more vaccines to keep from getting sick and dont forget those nerdy dads and old dads oh, and old moms and oh, old depressed nerdy moms and dads in tribes oh, and Elmo! Him too! Which is why we needed to add a new puppet apparently.

Theyll puzzle at how any of us could ever believe

That it was normal for 1 in 20 boys to have autism.

That there was such a thing as safe mercury and unsafe mercury.

That autism was caused by immune system activation in the brain of a child from viral and bacterial infections in their mothers, but not possibly from vaccines that are designed to cause immune system activation from viral and bacterial infections while coupled with toxins and foreign DNA.

That parents were imagining what happened to their children.

That cave drawings showed autism had always been with us.

That humanity wouldnt have survived without a little autism.

Denial is everywhere.

Its in the Department of Education data, where it acknowledges zero autism in the schools in the 1970s and 1980s but adds an asterisk thats only because they didnt call it that without explaining what in the hell they did.

Its in the behavior of people who recoil at the idea of drinking lead in their water, but roll up their sleeves to be injected with mercurywhile pregnant.

Its in the conversations of people who on one hand acknowledge they never knew a single person with autism growing up, but on the other, insist they must have.

Its in the waiting list for housing of the 22,000 plus young people with an autism diagnosis just hitting age 21 in Florida that will never live independently, but no one needing housing in that capacity age 35. (I mean, sure, they die at 36 weve recently been told, but where are they now in their last year?)

Its in the doctors file that shows little Johnny has eczema, and diarrhea, and constipation, and seizures, and hypotonia, and systemic inflammation, and immune system dysfunction, but because little Johnny has autism, are never treated as relevant.

Because they are the autism.

Because autism is actually more appropriately called M.I.A.: Medically Induced Autism. And because we keep asking the very people who are least likely to be able to see that they caused it to tell us if they did.

Beware anyone who tries to talk you out of your own reality. Beware anyone who makes things complicated that are not complicated. Beware anyone who talks in circles.

Beware anyone that tells you this time there is an exception to the rule. Beware anyone that tells you youre not smart enough to understand why. Beware anyone who pauses, hems, and haws, and stares up towards the sky as they say something God awfully stupid and try to make it seem smart.

This is not the advice I give folks about autism. This is the advice I give to my children about anyone in their lives. People who engage in that kind of behavior are dangerous, I warn them, even if not intentionally so.

You wont see me lighting up anything blue this month, celebrating brain inflammation and calling it diversity, or being happy that Elmo, the once supposed cause of autism, now has a friend of his own creation.

Whats actually M.I.A. this April is common sense. and honesty. and integrity and bravery and a firm grasp on reality. Autism is new, its epidemic, and its environmentally caused in genetically vulnerable people.

And as long as these truths remain missing, Im happy to remain M.I.A. in April as well.

Julie Obradovic is a Contributing Editor to Age of Autism and the author of An Unfortunate Coincidence: A mothers life inside the autism controversy by Skyhorse Publishing.








Web Toolbar by Wibiya

Seema Guha Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka fame crosses her heart to keep people concerned abreast with the developing situation vis a vis Kashmir. In her article (December 06, 2016) Ms Guha finds US President Donald Trump as unpredictable and at the same time mentions Indias firmness to ensure that no third party could play peacemaker. Guha apprehends that Trump administration filled with former generals having an excellent rapport with Pakistani army may lead to a better US-Pakistan equation. She concludes by saying that "India is no pushover but with Trump one can never be too sure as anything can happen anytime".

President Donald Trump unlike his predecessors, many believe, may have a surprise or two to amaze the international community. It is also believed that President Trump, using a different strategy, may deal with long standing conflicts around the world differently which could be historically momentous to assure a lasting peace for the world at large. Kashmir, sitting on a volcano, needs a solution keeping in view the volatility of the political situation in the South East Asian region. The approach to the problem it seems is guided merely by economic concerns and a stress on resolving the issue through bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan, as widely understood, is the line that suits only India.

The business and trade on international level is vitally important depending on the need of a particular country to propel the local manufacturing industry and fill the coffers as well. Human-rights, freedom of speech and concept of democracy as a whole at times are compromised with to safeguard and boost up the economy. The note attached to the human rights definition mentions "political leaders in the United States often use the expression when speaking the rights violated by other nations". Apart from mutual economic concerns, the price to pay for forcing the trade pact involved is huge.

Why is third party mediation irksome and disturbing for India? Is it fair to allow India cage millions of sufferers in Kashmir and get away with it? India may be a booming economy but a large percentage of its inhabitants go without food as demonstrated by people living in Indias capital New Delhi eating rats. Global village Space (March 28, 2017)) wrote "People hit by drought committing suicides called on prime minister Modi to save them from starvation". The money squandered away on purchasing weapons of mass destruction and development of nukes could be used to feed the starving masses and as reported 60% Indian populace having no access to toilets.

To fulfil the wistful desire of returning to nostalgia called hindutva Indias ruling fundamentalist regime has lost all norms of decency using tyranny of majority as a weapon to coerce, browbeat and dominate to force minorities into a submission. India is home to 25% Muslims, 33% persecuted Dalits (practicing Buddhists) and other minorities Christians, Sikhs and tribal population. Present Indian rulers need to understand that it is impossible to get rid of this huge percentage and the only way to keep India intact politically and geographically is by following a policy of live and let live. The visionary first prime minister of India Pandit Nehru forewarned in 1947 that the fascist group, the assassins of Gandhi, coming to power would be bad news for India.

India Today reported Amartaya Kumar Sen, a Nobel Laureate, philosopher and an economist having said that "Kashmir situation mishandled for decades by government of India reflects the biggest blot on our democracy". Sen was Referring to the CNN coverage on the brutality of policing by Indian army in Kashmir. Sen elaborating further said that it is not a law and order problem and penalising Kashmiris in a way is giving them absolutely no reason to feel close to India. "I do think for the lives and freedom of Kashmiris and their sense of pride", Sen added.

On a positive note the international community is beginning to respond favourably and is raising a slow but steady voice for the rights of Kashmiris who have seen so much of suffering and now see a ray of hope that the day is not far when Kashmir will breathe the air of freedom from oppressive occupying forces. The long list of freedom lovers is joined by Norways former premier Kjell Magne Bondevik stating (March 31, 2017) that Kashmir needs a political solution which lies in the implementation of UN resolutions in order to bring peace and security to South Asia.

India sees the favourable West as its victory and feels it gives India a licence to deal with uprisings in Kashmir or elsewhere in India with brute force. The causalities in Kashmir are rising sharply on daily basis and the frustrated Kashmiri population enduring the atrocities is losing patience. Indian army reports that more young people are joining militancy and fight goes on unabated. Kashmir loses its young sons and daughters and Indian army also lose its personnel. Though force used by Indian army is disproportionate to the resistance offered by Kashmiris; the resolve to fight gains momentum resulting in deaths and destruction mainly of civilian population.

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. " Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The world must wake up now to save a race from slaughter and butchery.








Web Toolbar by Wibiya

Date: 19 March, 2017.

Place: not mentioned.

On 19 March, British online newspaper The Express released an interesting article about a very worrying event that could be a potential threat to life in Earth.

According to this article, between January and September 2017, the sadly famous Planet X will pass our planet, causing a massive extinction.

The highly controversial Planet X  which is an alleged planetary object that supposedly lurks on the edge of our solar system and is heading inwards - will cause the apocalypse on Earth which will wipe out most of the population, apart from the elite, conspiracy theorists claim, stated The Express.

Some religious texts like The Holy Bible reportedly warned about this catastrophe. For example, Revelations 12:1 says: A great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. And being with child, she cried out in her travail and was in anguish of delivery.

Some Christian researchers like Bob Meade believe that this Bible passage proves that the Apocalypse is near. The great sign of The Woman as described in revelation 12:1-2 forms and lasts for only a few hours. According to computer generated astronomical models, this sign has never before occurred in human history, he expressed.

It will occur once on September 23, 2017. It will never occur again. When it occurs, it places the Earth immediately before the time of the Sixth Seal of Revelation, Mr Meade continued.

According to him, on the previously mentioned date, the moon appears under the feet of the Constellation Virgo, and at the same time, the Sun appears to precisely clothe Virgo.

Only the one that occurs in 2017 constitutes a birthing. This is when planets traverse within the legs of Virgo, he continued.

Another Bible passage, Revelations 12:6 also mentions the cataclysmic event: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red.

In reference to this, researcher Christopher Greene declared to YouTube channel AMTV: Stephen Hawking is warning of the end of the world, he says if we dont get off the planet in the next 100 years, well all be dead.

In his opinion, this is the reason why Elon Musk is digging underground and blasting off to space, [and] so is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos through Blue Origin.

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/781085/Planet-X-APOCALYPSE-this-year-nibiru-spacex-blue-origin

Planet X to trigger APOCALYPSE this year and the elite KNOW, say conspiracy theorists

PLANET X will pass Earth on September 23 this year and invoke THE RAPTURE, Christians and conspiracy theorists are warning.

The highly controversial Planet X  which is an alleged planetary object that supposedly lurks on the edge of our solar system and is heading inwards - will cause the apocalypse on Earth which will wipe out most of the population, apart from the elite, conspiracy theorists claim.

By analysing biblical texts and astronomical signs, theorists believe that 2017 is the year that Planet X will arrive, and herald the end of days.

Revelation 12:1 says: A great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.

And being with child, she cried out in her travail and was in anguish of delivery.

This, according to Christian researcher Bob Meade, is proof enough that the end is nigh.

He says: The great sign of The Woman as described in revelation 12:1-2 forms and lasts for only a few hours. According to computer generated astronomical models, this sign has never before occurred in human history.

It will occur once on September 23, 2017. It will never occur again. When it occurs, it places the Earth immediately before the time of the Sixth Seal of Revelation.

During this time frame on September 23, 2017, the moon appears under the feet of the Constellation Virgo. The Sun appears to precisely clothe Virgo.

Only the one that occurs in 2017 constitutes a birthing. This is when planets traverse within the legs of Virgo.

Mr Meade then points to Revelation 12:6, which he has linked to catastrophic events on Earth.

The text reads: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red.

YouTube conspiracy theory channel AMTV agrees with Mr Meades theory, and says that the elite have been warning us about it for years.

The host of the video, Christopher Greene, says: Elon Musk is digging underground and blasting off to space, so is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos through Blue Origin.

Stephen Hawking is warning of the end of the world, he says if we dont get off the planet in the next 100 years, well all be dead.

Bill Gates is warning and through his rhetoric and messaging, basically telling the American people and global citizens that close to a third or two thirds of the population could be wiped out if they dont take vaccines.

However, AMTVs followers were not so convinced.

One commented on the recent video: Christopher, you'd be advised to drop discussion on this ridiculous Planet X crap.

Another added: What utter nonsense. Many people predicted that Trump won't take office on Jan 20, the World will end on March 15 because of the Debt Ceiling and now this?!
Assyrian Militia in Syria Asks for Full Support From U.S.

Assyrian fighters in Syria. (AINA) -- The Syriac Military Council (SMC), a founding member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has issued a statement asking for full and equal support from the United States. SMC, along with Bethnahrin Women Protection Forces, a force comprised of Assyrian female fighters, participates fully in all combat and non-combat activities of SDF. In the statement SMC objects to being marginalized by the U.S. and being identified merely as a small Christian group. The statement stresses that Assyrians are not Arabs or Kurds or Turkmen, and that Assyrian forces should receive the same military supplies as Arab and Kurdish forces are receiving. Here is the full text of the statement:

General Votel stated in the congressional hearing of March 29th, 2017 that 'The most effective force (against ISIS) we have right now in Syria is the Syrian Democratic Forces that consist of both Kurds and Arabs, Turkmen and in some cases Christians
Heathrow Airport has welcomed the extra cargo capacity that a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner China Southern service will bring to the UK-China market.

The west London airport said that China Southerns new twice daily service between Heathrow and Guangzhou would increase capacity to the Chinese city to up to 8,760 metric tonnes per year.

The city is located 75 miles up the Pearl River bay from Hong Kong, has a strong business market and is home to one of the countrys biggest ports.

From Guangzhou China Southern offers connections to 120 destinations in China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Share this story
March 31, 2017

BAGHDAD  Controversy ensued when the flag of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was raised in Kirkuk on March 28. The local government in the province insisted on having the Kurdish flag fly alongside the Iraqi federal one, although the federal government in Baghdad disapproved of this decision.

The local government in Kirkuk province, in northern Iraq, voted on raising the KRG flag alongside the Iraqi federal one atop state institution buildings in the province. The voting session, held on March 28, was boycotted by 16 Arab and Turkmen members; only the 25 Kurdish members attended.

Less than 24 hours later, demonstrators took to the streets in Erbil, the KRG capital, to protest the decision. However, no one expected such demonstrations to occur in Erbil, which is controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani, one of the most prominent supporters of Kurdish dominance in Kirkuk.

In a session held April 1, the Iraqi parliament rejected the Kirkuk council decision and voted in favor of displaying only the Iraqi flag on public buildings in Kirkuk. Kurdish members left the parliament before the vote took place.

On the other hand, the KRG presidency supported raising the Kurdish flag over state buildings in Kirkuk, saying, Raising the KRG flag atop Kirkuks buildings and facilities is both natural and legal, just as raising the Iraqi flag is.

An official position was also expressed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said that raising the KRG flag in Kirkuk, which is not part of the KRG, is a violation of the Iraqi Constitution and the law governing provinces outside of the KRG.

Hadithi said in a press statement on March 28, Kirkuk was not within the areas under the KRG governments control on April 19, 2003. This is why it follows the federal government instead and it is still receiving the salaries of its employees from the government. So it cannot take such a decision [to raise the Kurdish flag] without first consulting the federal government.

Meanwhile, member of the KRG parliament Salar Mahmoud supported raising the flag and did not believe such a move violated the constitution because none of its articles stipulate that the KRG flag should not be raised in other provinces. He told al-Sumaria news agency that terrorism in Kirkuk was defeated under the KRG flag.

Both supporting and opposing points of view keep mentioning the constitution, although the Iraqi Constitution includes no mention of this issue and does not specify whether or not the KRG flag is allowed to be raised along with the Iraqi flag. This may imply that this issue can only be resolved by a political consensus over whether to keep the flag or take it down.

It should be noted that the KRG flag has been raised along with the Iraqi flag in provinces affiliated with the KRG and over official institutions in Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaimaniyah. The KRG flag has also been placed in buildings affiliated with Kurdish parties in other provinces, but never on top of buildings for the public to see.

Before Kirkuks provincial council voted on the decision to raise the KRG flag over government buildings, the governor of Kirkuk, Najmiddin Karim, called in a press conference on March 14 to raise the KRG flag over government buildings in the province, provoking controversy within Iraqi political circles.

The Iraqi Constitution does not include a text preventing Kirkuk from raising the KRG flag. Raising the flag will deepen the brotherly bond between the provinces components, Karim noted.

It was somewhat unexpected for Kirkuk to take such a decision, particularly since Karim, who holds the highest executive authority there, is a leader in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani, who has close ties with Iran and is known to be on good terms with the federal governments policies.

On March 22, the United Nations expressed concerns about raising the KRG flag in Kirkuk and warned against taking steps that threaten the peaceful coexistence in the province. The UN mission in Iraq noted in a press statement, The Iraqi government has made it clear that according to the constitution, Kirkuk falls under the central governments jurisdiction, and only the Iraqi flag should be raised in the province.

For its part, Turkey opposed raising a flag other than the Iraqi one in Kirkuk. Hussein Mufti Oglu, the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said in a press statement on March 20, We were shocked by the official letter issued by the Kirkuk province, in which the provincial council called on raising the KRG flag next the Iraqi one over official buildings in the city.

He added, Any unilateral decision regarding the future of Kirkuk affects the security and stability of Iraq and such an attempt also affects the social and economic aspects.

Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi described raising the Kurdish flag next to the Iraqi flag as a violation of national unity and the spirit of cooperation and understanding between the components of the province. He noted in a statement, It is unacceptable to impose the will of one component or one party over everyone else.

For Kirkuk to pose such an issue at this time may be a prelude to a bigger issue, that of determining the fate of this city. The Arab-Kurdish, Kurdish-Turkmen and Arab-Turkmen power struggle there is anxiously waiting for such issues to erupt and ultimately force conflicting parties to show their cards to the public.

In a nutshell, the federal government in Baghdad can, along with the Iraqi parliament, summon the governor of Kirkuk and question him about the purpose of raising the Kurdish flag next to the Iraqi one, and since Karim works under the central government, Baghdad is expected to have a say in taking the flag down.
April 4, 2017

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Mohammed Dahlan speaks about the stalled reconciliation efforts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and recent developments in Hamas. Dahlan, who spoke from Cairo, is a senior Fatah leader, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), former member of the Fatah Central Committee, former head of the Preventive Security Service and a staunch opponent of Abbas.

The dispute between the two erupted in 2011, when Abbas issued a decision to dismiss Dahlan from Fatahs Central Committee in May of that year on charges of attempting to lead a coup against him. Dahlan remains to this day a source of concern for Abbas.

Dahlan, also known as Abu Fadi, enjoys increasing influence and popularity among senior Fatah members in the Gaza Strip because of his support for them in light of Abbas' marginalization of Gaza.

In April 2016, Dahlan established the Democratic Reformist Current within Fatah, which includes a large number of Fatah leaders who oppose Abbas policies. He also has a growing network of regional and international relations in some Arab and Western countries. The dismissed leader sees himself a potential successor of Abbas in the political scene.

The text of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: What is the latest development on your disagreement with President Abbas? Were reconciliation attempts between you stalled? How do you respond to the allegations that you are providing your supporters in the West Bank with money and weapons to destabilize Abbas' authority there?

Dahlan: There are no reconciliation efforts for the time being. Abu Mazen [Abbas] has rejected all bona fide efforts, and the issue of reconciling with him, for me, is in the past now. But me and my colleagues in the Fatah Democratic Reformist Current will keep working to preserve Fatahs national positions regarding Jerusalem and the return of refugees. These issues are supported by Hamas and most factions of the PLO, and they may also be supported by the large majority of the Palestinian people. We are getting ready for the next stage that will witness comprehensive parliamentary and presidential elections, since Abu Mazens position today is weakened and he lost legitimacy. He is unable to pass political solutions affecting the rights of our Palestinian people as he lost the popular cover, legitimacy and support.

Al-Monitor: What about the recent conferences held in Cairo in the past few months? Were they held in response to Fatahs seventh General Conference in November 2016, from which Abbas excluded anyone who has any connection to you?

Dahlan: Egypt has hosted a wide range of seminars and conferences to discuss the situation of our people in Gaza with the participation of hundreds of prominent figures, intellectuals, dignitaries, youth and activists from Gaza.

The security situation in the Sinai Peninsula  especially the cities of Rafah, el-Arish and Sheikh Zuwaid  is difficult. Sinai is a zone of combat against terrorists, where the Egyptian state is carrying out daily security and military operations. However, Egypt is deploying serious efforts to re-equip the Rafah crossing and facilitate the movement of people and goods to and from Gaza.

Al-Monitor: Do you believe that Abbas recent appointment of two of your opponents  Mahmoud al-Aloul and Jibril Rajoub  to the posts of Fatah Central Committees deputy head and secretary killed your chance to return to the movement? Will there be an alliance between you and Marwan Barghouti, who was also denied any leading position in Fatah by President Abbas?

Dahlan: I do not want to mention names. No one  no matter how powerful and influential  can dominate a wide-ranging and spread-out movement such as Fatah. My colleagues and I defend our affiliation to this movement and seek to unify its rank and restore its natural position as a leading Palestinian national faction.

I call for a flexible and democratic political system, where powers are not limited in the hands of one person. I refuse to merge between the presidency of Fatah, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority [PA], and I seek separation of powers between the president and the prime minister. We prefer that the president and vice president of the PA run on the same ticket.

Al-Monitor: How do you read the results of the recent Hamas elections in Gaza and the rise of Yahya Sinwar as its new leader? Will Sinwar, whom you have known for 30 years, play a positive or negative role in the Hamas-Dahlan reconciliation?

Dahlan: I do not read the election of Sinwar in light of the rumors spread by Israel around him of being an extremist. We should not fall into the Israeli trap and characterize people according to its classification. The election of any fellow citizen in any leadership position within Hamas is an exclusive right for Hamas. I have known Sinwar for many years, and I hope he prioritizes general national interests over personal and partisan interests, ends the division and rearranges the Palestinian internal situation.

Al-Monitor: How do you see the assassination of senior Hamas militant Mazen Fuqaha, Hamas military commander?

Dahlan: It is a clear failure of the security situation in Gaza. The assassination is part of an ongoing conflict with Israel. I do not want to go into details; I prefer to wait for the announcements made by Hamas concerning its investigations into the crime.

Al-Monitor: What is the latest development regarding the rapprochement between Hamas and Egypt? Were you behind this rapprochement given your close relations with the Egyptian president and the Egyptian security services?

Dahlan: Today there is direct contact between our brothers in Egypt and Hamas leaders in Gaza, and this is a good thing that we intend to build on in the future. Egyptians are considering all possible means to ease the pressure on Gaza, which requires a good level of trust and coordinated procedures with Hamas. This would have positive effects on the movement of persons, trade and security in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Monitor: Do you think Donald Trump's presence in the White House would bring a solution to the Palestinian cause or, to the contrary, further complicate it in light of allegations that Trump is biased toward Israel? How do you see the current visits of Arab leaders to Washington?

Dahlan: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah should be trusted in their politics or approaches toward the United States. The Egyptian and Jordanian roles are essential in following up on the Palestinian cause with Washington in light of the internal Palestinian weakness.

Al-Monitor: What about the recent leaks about the Gaza-Sinai state as an alternative to the Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

Dahlan: Any just solution to the Palestinian cause must be based on the independence of our people and the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. I fear the weak internal situation of Abu Mazen in light of the continued division, the exacerbation of the Fatah crises and the undermined Palestinian legitimacies  especially of the presidency and the PLC  would shake his political position.

Abu Mazen is not authorized to relinquish and undermine the principles of the Palestinian cause, such as the principles related to borders, Jerusalem and refugees, and he does not have any authority to unilaterally decide to return to the negotiating table with Israel.

Al-Monitor: When will you return to your hometown in the Gaza Strip, and are there arrangements with Hamas in this regard?

Dahlan: At present I have no direct personal close relations with Hamas, but fellow leaders of the reformist movement within Fatah are in continuous contact with Hamas leaders to work on ensuring the best interest of our people.

Al-Monitor: How do you assess the outcome of the Arab summit held in Jordan on March 30 and its impact on the Palestinian cause?

Dahlan: Holding a summit with this high level of participation of Arab leaders is an achievement for Jordan and a culmination of the serious efforts deployed by King Abdullah.

The outcomes of the summit were good in light of the current Arab circumstances. The summit reaffirmed that the Arab Peace Initiative is the minimum accepted consensus at the Arab level. What remains to be seen is whether Arab leaders will put their money where their mouth is.
April 4, 2017

Turkeys quest to justify its recent courtship of Russia looks more difficult today in the aftermath of a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Idlib province in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border.

At least 65 people were killed and 350 wounded by jets that struck Khan Sheikhoun in the early morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The aircraft thought to belong to the Syrian air force then reportedly attacked local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists said. Horrific images of lifeless children, and of others foaming at the mouth and convulsing, have flooded social media. Turkeys pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper claimed that a mosque was hit in the strikes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the attacks as inhuman and unacceptable in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the semi-official Anatolian News Agency reported, but gave no further details of the conversation.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the attacks a crime against humanity.

The type of agents used remains unclear, but the attack appears to be the deadliest and most toxic chemical attack in Syria since August 2013, when more than 1,000 people perished in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta after exposure to the banned toxin sarin.

Syria's military has denied using chemical weapons against civilians, saying it is too "honorable" to carry out such "heinous" crimes. Under threat of retaliation, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to scrap his countrys chemical weapons program. But his regime continues to use chlorine gas, international monitors say.

Turkey dispatched some 30 ambulances from Hatay province bordering Syria to help ferry the wounded to Turkish hospitals where the first victims are being treated.

Turkey was responding to appeals from Syrian opposition fighters, Andalou reported. Khan Sheikhoun is held by al-Qaeda-linked groups and Turkey is facing increasing demands from the United States and Russia to take firmer action against them.

In August 2011, Turkey began overtly supporting rebels seeking to overthrow Assad. Ankara plied them with weapons and allowed them to operate out of Turkish territory with scant scrutiny, enabling jihadis to slip through in the process. The policy placed Turkey at odds with the regimes top backers Russia and Iran, a position that proved unsustainable after Turkey shot down a Russia jet in Syrian airspace in November 2015.

Russia reacted fiercely and only relented after Erdogan apologized for the incident last June, blaming it on rogue elements in the army. Putin pretended to believe him, but relations remain dicey.

Russia is bent on getting Turkey to withdraw support for all rebel groups that pose a meaningful threat to the Assad regime, and with the multiple ethnic Chechens among them, to Russia as well. Russia is deftly manipulating Turkeys paranoia over Syrian Kurdish gains to pressure Ankara into action. Striking a balance between the Russians and his pious base, which detests Russia and Assad, is testing the limits of Erdogans political savvy in the run-up to the April 16 referendum on boosting the powers of his presidency.

After todays carnage, defending rapprochement with Russia looks even trickier. Much will depend on whether US policy will be affected by the attack.

The White House condemned the Syrian government for what it described as a heinous and "reprehensible" attack against civilians. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesdays attack cannot be ignored by the civilized world.

But there is little evidence so far that the Trump administration is interested in regime change in Syria. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley drew sharp criticism last week when she said it was not a priority.

Sam Heller, a Beirut-based analyst for the Century Foundation, told Al-Monitor, This is going to be an important test of the extent of US repositioning on Syria, and the Assad regime in particular. He added, If Assad remaining is now a political reality  and realistically it is  then the regime doing horrible unconscionable things is part of that reality.

Another reality is that Russia and the regime are not alone in causing civilian casualties. Airwars is a journalist-led transparency project that monitors and assesses reports of civilian casualties caused by the anti-Islamic State coalition, Russian and other airstrikes in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Its head Chris Woods told Al-Monitor that since January, The coalition seems to be killing more civilians than the Russian campaign now. This is probably because the coalition campaigns against IS in Mosul and Raqqa are fully underway.

Turkeys hands are getting dirty, too. At least 300 civilians reportedly died in Turkish strikes that were carried out during a three-month offensive to seize the IS-held town of al-Bab. The situation in Syria is such that civilians are at risk from all airstrikes, Woods said.
April 4, 2017

The second-longest war in the 20th century began on Sept. 22, 1980, when forces led by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The conflict ended eight years later, in 1988, with the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 598, which called for a cease-fire. Irans then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini famously described approval of the decision as more deadly than taking poison, adding, I submitted myself to Gods will and drank this drink for his satisfaction.

Up to 1 million people are estimated to have lost their lives in the conflict, which has come to be known in Iran as the imposed war or the sacred defense. The Iranian state has used this terminology to describe the conflict and its cultural, social, political and economic impact on Iranian society ever since the war began. The term sacred defense has even turned into a genre in Iranian cinema and literature.

Sacred defense productions are often accompanied by an ideological, religious and propaganda angle aimed at forging heroes and portraying the war as sacred. This is while some independent artists have depicted the conflict as an unpleasant and destructive phenomenon on the front lines, cities and society as a whole. However, these works, some of which became the most lasting works of art in Iran, were unsuccessful in winning the support of the establishment when trying to obtain the necessary permits or at the production and distribution stage.

Thirty years on, the depiction of the Iran-Iraq War in Iranian literature and cinema remains a highly sensitive topic that is full of challenges. Last month, in a meeting with officials responsible for Rahian-e Noor, or Path of Light  tours of the war-era battlefields  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei highlighted the need for keeping the values of the sacred defense alive, saying, Those who produce anti-war poems or films are like individuals who extract a countrys oil and pour it into the sea.

The Iran-Iraq War began some 19 months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. At the time, some figures close to the revolutionary movement became involved in the field of arts under the Islamic Propagation Organization. After the outbreak of the war, various individuals, many of whom had experienced the front lines, started to publish pieces about the conflict in reports, memoirs, stories, documentaries and films. These were usually one-dimensional pieces that endorsed a sacred view of the war and its heroes, with the intention of inspiring the soldiers on the front lines and encouraging youths to sign up to fight. Meanwhile, independent literary and art figures who had often visited war-stricken regions tried to depict the other dimension of war in their works.

Iranian writer and literary critic Mohammad Hassan Shahsavari has described Burnt Land written by Ahmad Mahmoud as the first and most successful piece of literature about the Iran-Iraq War. In an interview, Shahsavari told Al-Monitor, After Mahmoud, authors and those who had a religious inclination started writing stories about the Holy War, [Iranian novelist and translator] Esmail Fasih, who was not a religious or revolutionary figure, also wrote The Winter of 62, an important novel that was published in 1986. Although both Mahmoud and Fasih questioned the Islamic Republics conduct of the war, they never questioned the soldiers or the issue of defense. Shahsavari added, Religious writers were not fans of the war either. In fact, neither of these two movements  had militarist [type] literature of the Hitler era or that of those who supported the war.

Burnt Land is based on Mahmouds personal experience in war-stricken regions. It deals with the first three months of the conflict, including the attacks by Iraq, the bombardment of cities, the deaths, the formation of resistance groups, the shortage of arms and ammunition, people crowding at train stations and roads to escape the war-torn cities and much more.

When Mahmoud's novel was published, intellectuals accused it of having a warmongering tone while authorities charged it with being opposed to the war. Burnt Land was published twice in 1982, each time with 33,000 copies, before being placed under a ban that continued until the end of the war.

In a meeting with a group of writers in 1998, Khamenei specifically criticized Mahmouds book, saying, Anti-war literature found its way in our own country through unfit people. Why should it be like this? Sometimes in war literature, which should naturally lead to a literature of resistance, one sees individuals who are intentionally promoting anti-war literature. Like the book Burnt Land.

Iranian cinema adopted a similar approach toward the eight-year conflict, with all films essentially focusing on the common goal of creating heroes. An Iranian film critic who asked not to be named said that though this approach was successful in motivating viewers to join the front lines, it was not considered warmongering. The film critic told Al-Monitor, In Iran, we dont have a war cinema; we have a sacred defense genre. This sacred defense is inherently anti-war because we were a nation that was attacked. Even the most vulgar films in this genre, those which have an industrial and commercial view, have an anti-war nature about them. But this is not the same as what is considered anti-war in human rights. This [being anti-war] is defined in the context of the sacred defense.

One of the most prominent works of the wartime cinema is Bashu, the Little Stranger by Iranian director Bahram Beizai. The film was produced in 1986, but was banned from theaters for five years due to its critical view of the war. In the film, Beizai tells the story of a young boy named Bashu from southern Iran who loses his home and family in the war and later seeks refuge in Irans northern cities. The film critic who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said, Even an open-minded director like Beizai creates heroes out of his characters when he portrays the ruins of war. He illustrates this in the context of defense and resistance and not in a context of war.

Ever since the late 1990s, when Reformists came to power, Irans cinema and literature has adopted a different approach toward war-related topics. These days, there are films and books where the main character is, for instance, forced to go to war because it coincides with his compulsory military service. There are also representations of topics such as homosexuality, drug abuse, fear of death or escaping the war while serving on the front lines  issues that are viewed as red lines for artistic works dealing with the sacred defense and in most cases lead authorities to demand alterations or to outright ban such works.

Shahsavari said the most enduring art and literary works about the war have been those created by independent artists who nonetheless sympathize with the ideology of the sacred defense. These figures are also those who have perhaps come under most fire. Shahsavari said, Individuals who have a religious disposition and have gone to the front lines but want to question the one-dimensional image of the war are accused of being anti-war and thus get no support. These individuals have suffered the worst blow from the restrictions that are placed on the illustration and narrations of the Iran-Iraq War.
April 4, 2017

One of the Likud Party's more provocative campaign ads from the 2015 elections features armed Islamic State militants driving a small pickup truck in Israel. The militants stop to ask a kind Israeli driver how to get to Jerusalem. He answers, "Go left." The message was clear. The left will be weak against terrorism, letting IS into the country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally led the campaign, approving every ad and statement and maximizing use of its theme: the danger posed by the left. Netanyahu wasn't the only politician to make use of that motif, but he was undoubtedly the most sophisticated.

A new study  "Stop Dismantling, Start Putting Together," presented April 3 by the leaders of Pnima (Inside, in Hebrew) to mark the launch of their new movement  suggests that the right's campaign to delegitimize the left has been effective. Pnima's leaders include former Israel Defense Forces Chiefs of Staff Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi and former Education Minister Shai Piron. They go to great lengths to talk about the risks posed by the growing rifts in Israeli society, chief among them the one between right and left, but one astonishing statistic cuts through their high-minded language: 22.5% of Jews in Israel believe that the left is dangerous. The very idea has far-reaching implications.

It is hard not to assume that this can be attributed, at least in part, to the right's campaign to delegitimize the left. Indeed, in 2017, being identified with the left is considered problematic image-wise to the point that Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid, a large part of whose followers hold moderate, left-leaning positions, carefully distances himself from any link to the left. The question is whether the left itself and its leadership are in some way responsible for their problematic image and the distancing of large segments of the population from the camp, which once had a grip on power. The day Pnima was founded  with the purpose of healing rifts and moderating today's spiteful dialogue  should be an opportunity for the left to boldly look inward and determine whether it also bears part of the blame.

Despite conventional wisdom, the division between right and left is not based solely on diplomatic issues or whether to support or oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state. Quite a few polls conducted over the last few years indicate that even among moderate right voters, there is a majority that supports the creation of a Palestinian state as part of an agreement that leads to peace. Furthermore, even their leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came out publicly in support of a Palestinian state in his 2009 Bar Ilan speech, and later repeated the same message. Even if Netanyahu is not doing anything to advance this objective, that he made such a statement proves that a Palestinian state is something that Likud voters could live with, if it leads to peace with the Palestinians. That is why the leaders of the left must search elsewhere for answers to why its image has suffered so much.

The 2015 election was one of the biggest moments of crisis in the history of the Israeli left. It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a structural failure in its connection with the periphery, development towns and even major cities. The Zionist Camp collapsed in the periphery, while the Likud won in eight of the 10 biggest cities. It was a breaking point, especially since the pundits and polls predicted that the Zionist Camp would win.

The anger and frustration on the left in the days immediately after its defeat resulted in the internet campaign "Don't Give (Charity to the Poor)." The campaign called for a halt to showing solidarity with the needy sectors and donating to them on the assumption that most of Netanyahus voters belong to the weak sectors. It was because of this same feeling that actor Moshe Ivgi, who was part of the Zionist Camp's campaign, used an interview with Channel 10 to describe Likud voters as undecided and confused. "People who voted for the Likud, or at least the large majority of them, are the same people who were screwed by the party during its past three terms in office. The diplomatic situation, the social situation, the economic situation: They have all deteriorated."

These two examples hold the answer to how the left has distanced itself from wide swathes of the population, including Likud supporters who might otherwise vote for them. They have a boorish attitude and stigmatize Likud supporters as a whole. In fact, it seems that the left-wing has not developed a serious profile of Likud voters. Most Likud voters, and certainly most of the party members, contrary to assumptions, are not poor. They are actually part of the middle class. Statistics from the last few years show that the poorest sectors in Israel are the Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, both of whom vote for sectorial parties.

Anyone who lives the Likud movement and is familiar with the profile of its voters knows that for the most part, they are not poor people. It might make sense to assume that about ultra-Orthodox Mizrahi Shas Party voters, many of whom, in the distant past, were Likud voters, and are now trapped in an endless cycle of poverty, but it makes no sense saying it about Likud voters today.

Likud leader Menachem Begin won the 1977 elections, beating Labor, the party that had ruled Israel since its foundation. This political feat earned the new prime minister the moniker "Begin, King of Israel" among Likud supporters. An anecdote underscores the social change in the Likud since those days: In the early 1990s, Likud Justice Minister Dan Meridor attended the circumcision of the son of a party supporter. Meridor stared in shock at a rabbi dressed in a traditional robe, surrounded by a circle of admirers. "Who is that?" Meridor asked. "He's the new Begin," he was told. The rabbi in the robe was the leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yose, who won 17 seats in the 1999 election. A large part of those seats were won at the expense of the Likud.

That is why anyone searching for reasons for the huge rift between right and left will discover that it is not only about disagreements over the diplomatic process, where Likud voters often hold more in common with the left than what divides them. It is also not only about the delegitimization of the "dangerous left." It is also about the patronizing way the left imagines Likud voters, neglecting to update their profile.
April 4, 2017

Had I been an American citizen, even a strictly kosher Jew, I would not have been allowed into the State of Israel.

Under new legislation approved on March 6 by the Knesset, non-Israeli citizens and nonpermanent residents (foreign nationals) who have committed to take part in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement will not be granted entry into the country. Based on a 2011 law outlining penalties for those who call for a boycott of Israel, boycott against the State of Israel applies to areas under control of the State of Israel. Five years ago, I published an article under a Hebrew headline translating to Additional Reasons Not to Buy Settlement Products. Not a single lettuce leaf grown in an Israeli settlement will enter my kitchen.

Few issues divide Israeli society and undermine political stability as does the occupation enterprise and the settlement machine. Just look at the verbal blows exchanged April 2 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and HaBayit HaYehudi Chair Naftali Bennett over the Cabinets decision to rein in construction in the settlements under US pressure. No issue inflicts more damage to Israels international standing. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union tussled in January following the EU resolution clarifying that EU agreements with Israel pertain only to areas within the pre-1967 border, a restriction that "does not constitute a boycott of Israel."

Over time, the settlements have become a bone of contention between Israel and liberal Jewish groups around the world, especially in the United States. Despite these groups' earlier activities, it appears as though the trauma of Hillary Clintons defeat in the presidential election and the budding romance between her rival, President Donald Trump, and Netanyahu have left protests against settlement expansion to relatively small organizations such as J Street, Americans for Peace Now and the New Israel Fund. Israels political right and participants at the recent 2017 annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention in Washington could not conceal their glee at the broadside attack by the Trump administrations UN Ambassador Nikki Haley against last Decembers Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning the settlements. Despite Trump stating in a February interview with the pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom, that settlement construction is not useful to the peace process and calling on Israel to act reasonably, the envoy promised to oppose any UN resolution against Israeli settlements.

But while the Israeli right and AIPAC supporters were basking in the glow of Haleys remarks, the Israeli government was curbing the construction of homes for Jews in the occupied territories. The most right-wing government in the history of the state decided on March 31 that there is a difference between territories under Israeli sovereignty and those under its occupation, and it limited settlement construction to the existing borders of the settlements.

Does this mean that boycotting settlement products is different from boycotting Israel? Yes. A clear response to this dilemma came from a quarter that proponents of the BDS activist ban (among them Knesset members of the centrist Yesh Atid) had not expected.

Reacting to the March 6 legislation, the American Jewish Committee said in a statement, As history has amply shown throughout the democratic world, barring entry to otherwise qualified visitors on the basis of their political views will not by itself defeat BDS. The committee's president, David Harris, warned that the new law would not help Israels image as the beacon of democracy in the Middle East," but make it hard to defend its legitimacy. The Anti-Defamation League, another organization central to the American Jewish community, said the new bill hurts Israel and that its best defenses against the BDS movement are Israeli democracy, pluralism and the openness of its society.

The settlement enterprise has succeeded in taking the controversy to the heart of the most important Jewish community outside Israels borders. There is no certainty that this time the settlers and their political patrons will have the upper hand. The comprehensive survey conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Center among American Jews indicated that 17% support the settlement enterprise and 44% believe the settlements are harmful to Israels security. Only 38% of respondents reported believing Israel is making a true effort to achieve peace with the Palestinians. It should be noted that Jewish leaders have always been prominent in the American Civil Liberties Union. To this day, American Jews proudly hail Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who walked alongside Martin Luther King in the famous 1965 Selma march.

Interestingly enough, Arab Knesset member Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab Joint List, said during the debate on the bill that during his last visit to the United States he met thousands of Jews who support the settlement boycott. These people are not opposed to the state, theyre opposed to the occupation, said Odeh. The occupation will one day make Israel a leper throughout the world. Likud Knesset member David Amsalem, chairman of the Knessets Internal Affairs Committee, said at the same debate that supporters of the boycott dont differentiate between the state and the settlements. I think these people are actually anti-Semites, he opined.

Thanks to my parents, who immigrated to Israel because of the anti-Semitism in Europe, I as an Israeli citizen can afford to support the anti-occupation boycott without risking expulsion from my country. Thanks to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, I will not see my name in the proposed database of Israeli citizens who support a boycott of Israeli settlement products and sanctions against the occupation. Mandelblit forced Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan  who was eager to create such a database  to leave the surveillance of Israeli citizens to the Shin Bet.
April 3, 2017

MOSUL, Iraq  Southwestern sections of Mosul retaken weeks ago from the Islamic State are now filling with various Iraqi security forces heading to and from the front and civilians fleeing newly liberated areas of the city.

Fighting continues less than a kilometer away, where streets are safe to use one day and riddled with sniper fire the next. Though the heavily damaged areas initially appear to be empty of civilians, some residents are still in their homes, where traditional outer walls protect them from the eyes of the street.

The federal police facilitated Al-Monitors mid-March visit to the home of one family.

A father of four in his early 50s living with his two youngest children, wife and mother-in-law told Al-Monitor that the family had not left the city throughout the over 2 years under IS.

IS, and and al-Qaeda in Iraq before it, are known to have financed themselves to a large degree with kidnappings and extortion, and the family has suffered from both crimes.

Abu Mohammad, asking that his real name not be used, said that his only son was kidnapped in 2006 "by Daesh" when the boy was only nine years old. He did not distinguish between IS and al-Qaeda, like many Iraqis.

"He was the first child in the city to be kidnapped by them," claimed Abu Mohammad. He added that the boy, now 20 years old, had been held for about a week until the family paid $10,000 to secure his release.

A businessman from the Dulaim tribe, Abu Mohammad said his family "didnt mix with" al-Qaeda and later IS, and that to avoid contact and conflict with them as much as possible, "I told my truck drivers to pay them whatever they asked."

He said that he had imported and exported various goods to and from countries including Turkey and Germany prior to IS taking control. When IS took over the city in June 2014, however, restrictions were put in place and cross-border trade eventually came to a halt.

His wife, who is originally from Baghdad, said, "In one day, they hanged 40 people from electrical towers" for such crimes as "having been part of the army and police. Some for having a cellphone."

"To set an example," Abu Mohammad added.

His wifes brother is a staff brigadier general in the Iraqi armed forces  and thus one of IS prime enemies  and she is a Shiite. When suspicions grew about possible government informants among the population about a year ago, the couple were taken by IS for one day for questioning. "They interrogated her with religious questions," Abu Mohammad told Al-Monitor, but later let them both go since he is Sunni and they had been married a long time.

Proud of his Mosul origins, Abu Mohammad noted that he lives in the city of his great-grandfather and that most of the IS members he had come into contact with were "Iraqis, but from villages."

Asked whether anyone in his family had acted as an informant for the security forces, Abu Mohammad laughed and said, "We would have been beheaded."

He added that he had had his cellphone with him the entire time but had hid it in his home. IS, he said, had checked houses and marked the doors with whether they had been found clear of prohibited goods. "If they had found our television, though, we would have been whipped," he said.

The house seems mostly undamaged. A widescreen television now has pride of place in the living room alongside a few couches, and photos of relatives hang proudly on the walls. The photos show female relatives with their heads covered but not their faces, which IS would have been deemed sacrilegious. The group is known for blacking out the faces on school walls of both people and animals in other parts of Iraq and Syria.

In visits to the surrounding area, Al-Monitor encountered many people fleeing areas closer to the front line: frightened women burdened with large shopping bags and blankets and dressed in long black attire, some with the fronts of their black niqabs thrown back to expose their faces, eyes and heads kept down for the most part. Few male civilians were in evidence except the elderly and children.

One exception was a 24-year-old man with a "jihadist-style" beard. Riad said in near-perfect English that he had been left alone by IS since he was the only son that could take care of his elderly father, who was with him. The elder man, who was unable to walk, was being carried on a garish, flower-print blanket to a federal police vehicle.

Riad, who is from the Bab al-Jadid area, said that he had been a first-year archaeology student when IS came and that his main hope now is to return to his studies. He told Al-Monitor there would be no way to contact him again since he did not have a cellphone before he and his father left with the federal police.

When the operation to retake eastern Mosul started on Oct. 17 last year, many expected a catastrophic situation for displaced Iraqis, with some estimating that 1.5 million would flee the city. UNHCR reports that 302,430 of those internally displaced from Mosul and the surrounding area since the operation began were still displaced as of April 2.

The fighting for the more densely populated western half, which began on Feb. 19, has been fiercer and many civilians have been killed both trying to escape and in other incidents for which it is still unclear which side was responsible.

Once liberated, these areas lack services such as clean water and food and are often still susceptible to IS attacks. Some citizens, like Abu Mohammad and his family, are nonetheless choosing to remain in their homes if at all possible.
April 4, 2017

Even as he was closing the door on Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria, Turkey's president threw open a window to potential new cross-border operations against anyone he considers terrorists, including  or perhaps especially  the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"There is no stopping; the road continues. We are making preparations for new operations in other regions for getting to the terrorists on their hills. We will give new names to the new operations," he said, according to a story published April 4 by The New Arab.

Operation Euphrates Shield, which launched Aug. 24, was declared finished 216 days later on March 29. Turkey's National Security Council, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the operation had been completed successfully.

The Turkish military command said 67 soldiers were killed in the operation: 40% by suicide attacks with armored vehicles, 30% with mortar and rocket fire and 20% by roadside bombs. In addition, 220 soldiers were wounded. Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups supported by Turkey suffered 800 wounded, and 380 were killed. Turkish command said about 3,000 Islamic State [IS] militants were neutralized."

The operation had three objectives, two of which were not stated. The only goal made public was to clear out IS from Jarablus and al-Rai, which was the group's only access to the outside world. This was achieved. An objective that wasnt stated was to control the Azaz-Jarablus line to prevent the Kurds from linking Kobani and Jazeera cantons east of the Euphrates River with the Afrin canton west of the river, which would have formed an unbroken stretch of Kurdish territory. A glance at the field situation today indicates that this unstated goal was partially achieved. Another never-mentioned objective was to restore the morale of the Turkish army, rebuild the nations confidence in the army and to keep the army busy, away from the politics of Ankara.

Polls taken during the operation showed that the publics support for the operation never dropped below 70%. There is no doubt that Operation Euphrates Shield helped the Turkish military recover its domestic public credibility, which had been badly eroded by the July 15 failed coup.

The operation was divided into phases: The first phase included capturing Jarablus and clearing the 34-mile border stretch from Jarablus west to al-Rai in just two months. But the operation lost momentum at the end of November when another phase, to seize al-Bab, began. Strong IS defenses caused significant problems for the Turkish army.

Actually, Operation Euphrates Shield truly ended at the beginning of March, when US Army Rangers at Manbij displayed their national flag, followed by Russian soldiers flying their flag at Afrin and the troops of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad imposing their control south of al-Bab, leaving Turkish forces with nowhere to go. At the end of the day, it will not be wrong to describe the operation as a "tactical success" story whose diplomatic phases toward the end were badly managed  although Turkey was able to return to the Syrian scene after restoring friendly ties. That is why, to encourage a public perception of the operation's overall success, Turkish news media have been overloaded with sagas of heroism of Turkish soldiers in the field.

There are five lessons Ankara has to learn from the operation:

Even if Turkey has a valid reason to combat IS in Syria, it's not easy to have a say in the field when the Americans and Russians are on the ground.

When fighting on the soil of another country, what one needs is carefully planned, well-thought-out, appropriate diplomatic language to avoid giving the impression of being an occupier. There should have been much less talk about the future stages of the operation and Ankaras intentions. An example of what not to say was Erdogan's hard-line statement April 3 announcing new Turkish operations soon across the border.

Operations like Euphrates Shield need a clearly defined political objective accompanied by a well-prepared operational road map and an exit strategy.

From now on, in all its steps west of the Euphrates, Turkey first has to gain Russia's agreement; east of the river it must convince the Assad regime and the United States. Irans moves have to be monitored carefully.

Urban combat with IS should be based more on conventional armored operations than special forces. It became clear that in the struggle against a new-generation terror organization like IS, special forces can best serve a secondary role. Success depends on armored operations, indirect fire support, close air support and effective use of proxies in the field.

An analysis of four different regions, two in Iraq and two in Syria, is necessary:

West of the Euphrates: It's not feasible for Turkey to conduct military operations in this area, which is now considered part of Russia's sphere of influence. The question then is whether Turkey will withdraw from the Jarablus/al-Rai/al-Bab triangle or try to consolidate its gains in this area. Field indicators show that Ankara wants to hold on to this triangle no matter the cost, as seen from a massive post-conflict reconstruction plan for this area. Some of the original inhabitants of Jarablus who had fled to Turkey have been returning to their homes since November.

Ankara hopes that in the first phase of that plan, about 10,000 Syrian refugees living in Turkey's Gaziantep and Kilis border provinces will be heading back to the triangle at the beginning of May.

What is not known yet is whether Russia will allow Turkey to consolidate its control of the triangle. The answer lies in Russia's plans for Idlib, which is currently under the control of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra). If Russia applies the same iron-fisted policy it used in Aleppo, it will have to find a place for the Sunni opposition amassed at Idlib. Russia is seeking to assemble the Sunni armed opposition from all over Syria at Idlib, and then clear out Idlib. Russia might therefore allow these opposition fighters to move to the Jarablus/al-Rai/al-Bab triangle that Turkey controls. Russia has learned from Aleppo that Salafist jihadis without an escape route will fight to the end.

East of the Euphrates: This is part of the US sphere of influence, and the United States will rely on its own troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces, for which the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) provides the backbone. Turkey, however, has three cards to play east of the Euphrates:

The United States badly needs Turkeys Incirlik Air Base for a Raqqa offensive, which will last for months.

Ankara also has armored and mechanized brigades on standby at Akcakale and Suruc near the border that could spearhead a cross-border operation against the Kurds in Kobani and Jazeera cantons, taking advantage of the YPG's absence as it participates in the fight for Raqqa. At this time, however, Ankara appears unlikely to launch such an operation, which a US official told Al-Monitor would be "pure madness."

Turkey's assistance will be needed to restore law and order in Raqqa, whose population is 99% Sunni Arab, and to help with reconstruction.

Iraqs Sinjar: Turkey, which has lost its influence in Mosul, now only has Sinjar where it can display its prowess. Sinjar has strategic importance because of its location and the presence of the Yazidi Sinjar Resistance Units, led by the PKK, and the peshmerga of Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani. Recent media reports indicate Turkey's military may take part in Sinjar clashes. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey will use a military option as long as the PKK remains at Sinjar.

Northern Iraqs Zap and Hakurk areas: Ankara knows well that when the adversary is the PKK, public support for cross-border operations never drops below 70%. Ankara was able to persuade the public that Operation Euphrates Shield was a successful ongoing effort for nine months and avoided angry public reactions to Turkish casualties. Erdogan and his government know that the cross-border operations dilute criticism against them. In other words, launching an operation far from the interests of the United States and Russia that directly targets the PKK may yield plenty of benefits.

That is why it wont come as a surprise if Turkey launches a medium-scale cross-border operation of, say, 10,000 troops with the support of Barzani's peshmerga against the PKK at Avasin-Basyan, Zap or Hakurk areas close to the Iraq-Turkey border.

Of course, opting for a new battlefront would clearly indicate Ankara has no interest in a new peace process with the Kurds for at least the next couple of years.
April 4, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  As part of the Big Sister/Little Sister program, girls 18-25 years old in the Gaza Strip and Beirut can choose a successful Arab businesswoman who lives either in an Arab or other foreign country as a big sister. They can consult with their big sisters by videoconference about the most important problems facing them in their educational or societal lives or even sensitive problems.

The Big Sister/Little Sister guidance program, which is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, was launched in Gaza in December 2016 and in Beirut in March this year. The program aims to guide Palestinian girls in Gaza, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Lebanese girls through key societal issues and empower them to confront the social challenges they encounter by connecting them with successful Arab women. These women play the role of Big Sister in video lectures specifically dedicated to them.

The program is part of the Challenge to Change platform, founded by Dina Bseisu, a Palestinian born in Bahrain. Bseisu is the platforms CEO and the person behind the idea of the program. She spent 25 years in Switzerland, and she currently lives in the United Arab Emirates. The program aims to help women in the Middle East gain mental well-being and motivate them to be active members of society.

The girls targeted by the program live in marginalized areas and are the most vulnerable to psychological crises. In this context, the program looks to fight taboos that portray mental illness as a stigma. It also seeks to support and empower women to meet social and emotional challenges and instill the idea that they are not alone. The program consists of an interactive network of little and big sisters. The big sister is an Arab woman with 10 years or more of experience in her field of work and who has been through a lot of challenges. This sister must be capable of giving some of her time to her little sister and agree on a schedule with her while remaining committed to privacy and confidentiality.

Within the framework of the program, the big sister dedicates four hours per week to communicate with her little sister via video and talk about the problems and challenges in the Gazan community. Currently, 22 girls from the Gaza Strip and nine from Beirut are interacting with their big sisters through individual sessions.

In addition to the weekly talks, an event between little and big sisters is held every two months both in Beirut and Gaza via videoconference. Other girls are allowed to attend and benefit from these events, which brings the total number of girls attending to about 50 in Gaza and 50 in Beirut.

In this context, Bseisu told Al-Monitor, We started working in Gaza and then in Beirut, which are considered to be conflict zones, be it at the political level or the social one given the prevailing customs and traditions. When the girls first joined the program, they were reluctant to openly express themselves.

Over time, Bseisu noted the mutual trust and respect among the big and little sisters. This encouraged the young girls to express themselves and become involved in all issues, especially after they saw the reports issued by the big sisters that included their observations on the different cases of girls targeted in Gaza and Beirut. These reports described the progress made by the little sisters and the positive impact on their lives.

Bseisu said that the main motive behind the launch of the program was that the girls in Gaza and Beirut lack the keys that allow them to refine their personality at the personal or professional levels. When these girls meet successful Arab women who have been through difficult experiences in life and they start engaging in discussions that enrich their knowledge, develop their skills, and enhance their confidence and self-esteem, they are able to move forward in their field of work, study or personal life. Bseisu hopes that the number of little sisters will increase in the coming months.

Sondos al-Qutati, the coordinator of the program in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor that the little sisters in the Gaza Strip and Beirut should be between 18 and 25 years of age. These girls should be starting university or embarking on a professional career and should be in need of guidance, empowerment, and psychological and social support to overcome the psychological problems facing them. Their cases are subsequently studied in order for little sisters to be linked with big sisters in accordance with their specialties, tendencies and interests. She said the program is still accepting applications.

Through the panel discussions, Qutati noted that most of the girls are too shy to openly talk about girl-related issues or other issues related to dealing with people, communication, time investment, time management, and their desire to acquire personal and life skills that can help them face future challenges and build a professional life that goes in line with their passions.

Palestinian Deya Leonard Dresner is a big sister. Dresner founded the Leonard Education Organization, an institution dedicated to providing scholarships to Palestinians from Palestine and Lebanon to study in the United States.

Other big sisters include Rola Nassar, a Syrian based in Switzerland who specializes in mentoring and guidance, and Hanane Benkhallouk, a Moroccan businesswoman in the United Arab Emirates who is the co-founder of the Big Sister/Little Sister program and the executive director of Sustain Leadership, an institution that offers programs in sustainable leadership and investment in human resources.

There is Shirin Farouni, an Egyptian based in Switzerland who runs an exhibition of fine art, and Fatima Ashour, a Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist based in the Gaza Strip.

Dana Akkad, 20, an education student at the English section of the Islamic University and one of the programs little sisters, told Al-Monitor, At the beginning of the program, I was full of despair and frustration as I was not fully convinced of my field. I was worried about not succeeding. I was indecisive and not so confident. But thanks to the program and the closed discussions I had with my big sister, I gradually managed to regain my self-confidence, overcome everyday challenges and strengthen my personality.

Bseisu is seeking to reach out to the largest number possible of girls who are in need of assistance and help and are based in different Arab countries. She also wants the program to include several Arab countries in order to involve the largest number of leading Arab women who can support and empower these young girls.
April 3, 2017

The Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has been in the hands of the Houthi rebel group for more than two years now. The Houthi takeover of the capital and large areas of the country in September 2014 led not only to the launch of the Saudi-led coalition military action in Yemen by the end of March 2015, but also started one of the worst man-made humanitarian catastrophes in the countrys history and in the world with more than 3.1 million internally displaced persons, and 17 million food-insecure people of whom about 7 million people are severely food insecure and do not know where their next meal is coming from.

The internationally recognized government headed by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi managed in the early months of the ongoing conflict to regain control of large areas of the south of Yemen, along with the key northern governorate of Marib. The governorate emerged from the rubble of the conflict as a new hub for economic activity that provided for the people of the city and kept the government public revenues treasury afloat. In addition to that, the internationally recognized government, with the help of the Saudi-led coalition and especially the United Arab Emirates, managed to regain control over Bab al-Mandab Strait, located at one of the most important routes of world trade and oil export from the region.

The Houthi rebel group, along with troops loyal to Yemens former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, is currently fighting fiercely to maintain control over the west coast of the country. The ongoing fighting does not only pose a threat to global trade, but also poses an existential threat to the Houthi rebel group. One of the reasons leading to the rebel groups takeover of the capital was arguably its disapproval of the outlined geographic division of the future Yemeni federal state, which was proposed at the end of the National Dialogue Conference in February 2014 as a solution to Yemens longstanding regional problems, which deprived them from a sea gate and trapped them in mountainous areas with little resources to survive.

The value the rebel group gains from controlling one of the countrys busiest ports  the port of Hodeidah  is of existential matter for income generation, especially after the relocation of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) to Aden cut the Sanaa-based Central Banks and commercial banks lines of communication with international banks and financial institutions. Recent fighting along the countrys west coast and Houthi-Saleh loyalists attacks on different vessels and ships in the Red Sea show their strategic interest in the western regions of the country and the great strategic loss the rebel group will suffer from when losing control of them.

The relocation of the CBY and redirecting the countrys small, yet existing revenues to the Central Banks new headquarters in Aden and the inability of the Sanaa-based CBY to serve importers demand for foreign currency, which led to a decline in economic activities in Houthi-held areas, took their toll on the rebel groups finances. The Houthi rebel group felt the tightening grip of the internationally recognized government and started looking to exploit other sources of state revenues.

In line with losing territorial advantage in their fight with the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government, the Houthi rebel group was aware of its populous advantage. Although the Houthi-Saleh alliance does not control as many areas as the internationally recognized government, it does in fact control more populated areas. The Houthis maintained collecting taxes and customs from people in their areas. Since oil exports were suspended at the outbreak of the war, a large portion of these state revenues came from customs on imported goods and value-added tax on all sorts of goods sold in markets under their control. When the internationally recognized government wins the battle for the port of Hodeidah, the Houthi rebel group will have lost one of its greatest sources of income.

When the city of Aden was liberated from the Houthi grip in July 2015, work in its port slowly resumed. This meant that the large parts of the country would rely again on imports shipped to the port of Aden. This took some pressure off the port of Hodeidah, as more and more goods were being unloaded at the port of Aden. Therefore, the Houthi rebel group decided to impose extra tariffs on goods unloaded in southern ports and transported to northern cities to compensate for fewer decreasing collected taxes and customs from the port of Hodeidah. The group also increased customs on shipments coming from Arab countries unloading in the port of Hodeidah.

Since the Houthi rebel group controls areas more populated than those under the internationally recognized governments control, the devastating effect of the war on food security in areas under the rebel groups control is the most visible.

The recent government troops expansion along the west coast of the country was met with fierce fighting form the Houthi-Saleh alliance, because they are aware of the fact that losing the west coast of Yemen will deprive them from major sources of income: taxes and customs.

The increase in food prices combined with the liquidity crisis in Yemen  which led to leaving about a million public servants, who provide to about 7 million Yemenis, without paychecks for the last six months  worsened the already-fragile food security situation of Yemenis. The Houthi rebel groups decision of imposing tariffs on imported commodities  with a large share of them being food items  contributed to increasing food prices. This comes at a time when the United Nations warns of a famine outbreak in the country.

Sanaa and other Houthi-held cities are witnessing a double economic siege: one imposed by the internationally recognized government and the Saudi-led coalition, with fighting along the west coast and the closure of Sanaa Airport since August 2016, which led to slowing or sometimes halting the delivery of basic commodities, and one by the Houthi rebel group with their collection of taxes, customs and tariffs from a population that mostly lost its source of income at the start of or during the war.

Although the Houthis are currently being economically besieged, which will lead to shortening the lifespan of such a militia, it is evident that the human cost of draining sources of income of the rebel group is higher than what most Yemenis can endure.
A career fair designed for workers with disabilities will take place this month in Huntsville.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services will host the second-annual Ability Career Fair from 8:30 a.m. to noon April 19 at the Conference Training Center on the UAH campus on 1410 Ben Graves Drive N.W.

The hiring event will connect employers and individuals with disabilities. On-site interviews, job seeker workshops, prizes and a business toolkit will be available.

For information and to register, visit tinyurl.com/uahjobseekers or call 256-539-7881. Residents can also email huntsville.regional.center@gmail.com for additional details.
Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health Corp. today finalized its sale of Cherokee Medical Center in Centre to NNZ Holdings LLC of Sunrise, Fla.

According to a news release, the effective date of the transaction was March 31. There were no details of the sale, which was first announced in March.

Cherokee Medical Center is a 60-bed facility in Cherokee County on Northwood Drive in Centre.

Last month, Quorum Health's president announced the sale, saying it was part of a continuing effort to divest assets from its group of 35 hospitals, similar to recent sales in Georgia and North Carolina. Further ones in other markets are anticipated over the next few months.

Quorum ended 2016 with a net loss of $347.7 million, compared to a net income of $1.3 million in the previous year, according to Becker's Hospital Review.
Learn which films you can stream this month, as well as which popular series will premiere, including "Veep" and "The Leftovers."

Don't Edit

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)

After attracting both media and police attention for accidentally knocking Kate Moss into the River Thames, Edina and Patsy hide out in the south of France. Based on the popular British sitcom. (Now available)

Don't Edit

War Dogs (2016)

Based on the true story of two young men who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan. Jonah Hill and Miles Teller co-star in this comedy from Todd Phillips ("The Hangover," "Old School"). (April 8)

Don't Edit

Suicide Squad (2016)

A secret government agency recruits some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to form a defensive task force. Their first mission: Save the world from the apocalypse. DC's experiment made good money, but critics tore it apart. Maybe you'll like it. Both the theatrical and extended cuts will be available. (April 15)

Don't Edit

Indignation (2016)

In 1951, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with sexual repression and cultural disaffection, amid the ongoing Korean War. Directed by James Schamus, it stars Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon. (April 17)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Told from Igor's perspective, we see the troubled young assistant's dark origins, his redemptive friendship with the young medical student Viktor Von Frankenstein, and become eyewitnesses to the emergence of how Frankenstein became the man and the legend we know today. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Igor, while James McAvoy plays Frankenstein. Critics hated it, but it's hard to believe these actors couldn't pull off something likable together. (April 29)

Don't Edit

Veep, season 6

The Emmy-winning series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer returns for a sixth season. Are more Emmys on the way? Warning: Trailer contains strong language. (Premieres April 16)

Don't Edit

The Leftovers, season 3

Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta's drama starring Justin Theroux returns for its third and final season. Will it answer your biggest questions? (Premieres April 16)

Don't Edit

Silicon Valley, season 4

Mike Judge's comedy series follows the struggle of Richard Hendricks, a silicon valley engineer trying to build his own company called Pied Piper. It stars Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani and Josh Brener. (Premieres April 23)

Don't Edit

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader. Recent Oscar-winner Casey Affleck scored his first nomination for this. Brad Pitt plays Jesse James. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Two bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars. Jack Black and Mos Def co-star in Michel Gondry's creative comedy. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Breaking Away (1979)

A small-town boy obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl. Peter Yates' charming coming-of-age comedy remains underrated. Co-stars a young Dennis Quad and Daniel Stern. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Cape Fear (1991)

A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a 14-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him. In Martin Scorsese's terrifying remake of the 1962 thriller, Nick Nolte plays the Gregory Peck role while a wild Robert De Niro takes over the Robert Mitchum role. (Now available)

Don't Edit

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2006)

Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion in this adaptation of the CS Lewis classic. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Crimson Tide (1995)

On a U.S. nuclear missile sub, a young First Officer (Denzel Washington) stages a mutiny, to prevent his trigger happy Captain (Gene Hackman) from launching his missiles, before confirming his orders to do so. Outstanding acting propels this submarine thriller from the late Tony Scott. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

The Deer Hunter (1978)

An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania. Michael Cimino's war drama starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep might be tough to watch for some, but it's a rewarding experience. Also a best picture winner. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

A group of Southern California high school students learn a little bit about sex, drugs and rock and roll in Amy Heckerling's hilarious coming-of-age comedy starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

Lindsay Lohan stars as the new owner of Number 53, the free-wheelin' Volkswagen bug with a mind of its own, putting the car through its paces on the road to becoming a NASCAR competitor. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Hollywood Ending (2002)

A director is forced to work with his ex-wife, who left him for the boss of the studio bankrolling his new film. But the night before the first day of shooting, he develops a case of psychosomatic blindness. Many consider this "lesser" Woody Allen, and maybe that's true, but it has plenty of the requisite laughs. Co-stars Teo Leoni and Treat Williams. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Last Man Standing (1996)

A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town. Another take on "Yojimbo" and "A Fistful of Dollars" didn't quite catch on like those classics. Co-stars Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken and Bruce Dern. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Adaptation of the Broadway musical that tells the story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father told using hit songs by the popular 1970s group ABBA. Stars Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)

To keep the loyalty of a village during the Vietnam war, a U.S. Army officer and his unit struggle to deliver it a live elephant. One of the weirdest movie titles ever makes for a decent little Disney film. Stars Danny Glover, Ray Liotta and Denis Leary. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Play Misty for Me (1971)

A brief fling between a male disc jockey and an obsessed female fan takes a frightening, and perhaps even deadly turn when another woman enters the picture. Clint Eastwood's outstanding and entirely creepy directorial debut. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Rat Race (2001)

A Las Vegas casino magnate, determined to find a new avenue for wagering, sets up a race for money. This ensemble comedy hearkens back to the days of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and stars Breckin Meyer, Cuba Gooding Jr., Amy Smart, Seth Green, Whoopi Goldberg and more. (Now available)

Don't Edit

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpson family are declared fugitives. They finally made a movie, years after the show's prime, but they managed to squeeze out enough laughs to remind us what made it so great from the start. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Danny Boyle's Oscar-winner for best picture starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto has aged nicely after nine years (wow!). (Now available)

Don't Edit

Speed Racer (2008)

Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile. Based on the animated series, this adaptation delivers on the visuals, thanks to the Wachowskis' knack for special effects. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Unforgiven (1992)

Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning masterpiece about a retired Old West gunslinger who reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man. This best picture-winner also stars Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Urban Cowboy (1980)

John Travolta plays a young man from the country who learns about life and love in a Houston bar. This popular romantic drama also stars Debra Winger and Scott Glenn. (Now available)

Don't Edit

Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com

Leaving HBO this month...

April 7

Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015 (ends 4/7)



April 30

28 Days Later, 2003

All the President's Men, 1976

The Aviator, 2004

By the Sea, 2015

Carlito's Way, 1993

Cocktail, 1988

Cop Car, 2015

Coyote Ugly, 2000

Demolition Man, 1993

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2000

Drumline, 2002

The Forest, 2016

Heartbreakers, 2001

The Hitcher, 2007

Hitman, 2007

Hitman: Agent 47, 2015

I Am Legend, 2007

The Jewel of the Nile, 1985

Paper Moon, 1973

Planet of the Apes, 2001

The Poseidon Adventure, 1972

The Revenant, 2015

The Road Warrior, 1982

Romancing the Stone, 1984

Sisters, 2015

Spider-Man, 2002

Spider-Man 2, 2004

Steve Jobs, 2015

The Wedding Singer, 1998

Don't Edit
Kristin Goodwin.JPG

The Air Force has nominated Col. Kristin Goodwin to be the commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy.

(Senior Airman Mozer O. DaCunha/Air Force)

The Alabama-based Foundation for Moral Law released a letter from President Kayla Moore today opposing the appointment of a lesbian commandant for the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The Air Force has nominated Col. Kristin Goodwin to be the commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy, according to Air Force Times.

"I oppose this nomination because Col. Goodwin does not set a proper moral example for youth," Mrs. Moore wrote in a letter to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. "The person responsible for the education of cadets at the academy is a role model and an exemplar of proper deportment and conduct."

Moore is the wife of suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

"By nominating an open lesbian who proclaims that she is married to another woman, the Department of Defense states its disregard for the fundamental moral order established by God, thus breaking trust with the millions of Christians who voted for the new president in hope that the ungodly policies of the previous administration would be repudiated," Mrs. Moore wrote.

Lt. Col. Allen Herritage, Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Air Force Academy, responded with the following statement:

"The Air Force Academy is looking forward to having Brigadier General (select) Goodwin as the commandant of cadets. She was hired for her superb record, which began here as cadet where she excelled and most recently concluded in the role as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force. Her experience as bomber pilot and commander at the squadron, group and wing levels make her an outstanding source of leadership and experience for tomorrow's lieutenants. "

Goodwin, who is also nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general, has been serving as the senior military assistant to the secretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C.

She previously led the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, becoming the wing's first female commander. Before that, she served as the vice commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Goodwin will take over as the academy's commandant after she is confirmed by the Senate. The commandant oversees the 4,000-member cadet wing, along with more than 300 Air Force and civilian support personnel at the Colorado Springs-based academy.

AL.com staff writer Mike Cason contributed to this report.
A search is underway after two gunmen after a Gadsden man was shot at his home Monday night.

The incident happened about 9:30 p.m. Monday at a home in the 1400 block of Forrest Avenue, said Gadsden police Sgt. John Hallman. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the 48-year-old male victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

Paramedics treated the victim at the scene and then airlifted him to UAB Hospital. His injuries are life-threatening.

Investigators said the suspects - two unidentified black males - forced their way into the victim's home and an argument ensued. The suspects left the residence, got into a silver or gray Honda SUV and began to shoot toward the residence. That's when the victim was wounded.

Hallman said authorities believe the victim is acquainted with the suspects. However, detectives are asking for the public's assistance in identifying them. Anyone with information is asked to call Gadsden Detective Sgt. Henderson at 256-549-4531 or the Gadsden Police Department's tip line at 256-543-2444.
The trial began today for a former Birmingham attorney charged with taking money from Hispanic clients who thought he was helping them earn legal immigration status, although he had been disbarred and ordered not to practice.

Douglas Howard Cooner, 62, was indicted on 14 charges: three counts of second-degree theft by deception, two counts of first-degree perjury, three counts of third-degree perjury, four counts of unauthorized practice of law, and two counts of first-degree theft by deception. He is currently released on bond.

"The worst times in our lives, we go to lawyers," Deputy District Attorney Patrick Lamb said in his opening statement Tuesday morning. "The public should be allowed to rely on lawyers."

Lamb explained to the jury the different licensing procedures a lawyer must go through before he or she is allowed to practice law. One must be certified by a state supreme court and must pass an exam through an accredited bar association. In immigration court, a lawyer must disclose their standing to the board and be allowed to stay on a case if he or she has any disciplinary matters pending.

Cooner was first disciplined by the Alabama State Bar in 2010 and ordered not to practice law in the state. That decision was appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, and went back multiple times to the disciplinary board before Cooner was officially disbarred in Sept. 2013. In 2014, he was suspended from practicing in the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or in immigration courts. That suspension was made final in March 2014.

"All of the victims hired [Cooner] from that point forward," Lamb said.

He described the experiences of multiple victims, who said they each hired Cooner to help them earn permanent residential status in the United States. They said they paid the disbarred attorney thousands of dollars, but no work was ever done on their cases.

"Who can you trust?" Lamb said. He said Conner used "poor, uneducated people who wanted nothing else than to be legally documented" to "suck" money from.

"He can say he deserves a break because of his military service decades ago, but he is a simple con-man," Lamb said.

William Dawson, one of the attorneys representing Cooner, said during his opening statement there was not a "smidgen of evidence" to show Cooner intended to steal money from the people he was representing.

"There's a lot more to this than Mr. Lamb's version," he said. Dawson said Cooner, who is married to a Colombian woman, believed immigration work was important and had a passion to work with those who were trying to achieve legal status. Dawson said Cooner was under the impression he could practice law in immigration court, and did not have any criminal intent.

"That doesn't make you a thief," Dawson said.

Cooner, who wore his purple heart pin on Tuesday, served in the military for 26 years and Dawson said Cooner suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He said Cooner was "mistaken" about his licensing.

Cesar Perez Martinez, a man who hired Cooner to help he and his wife achieve legal status, testified after opening statements. While Martinez believed his lawyer was filing for permanent status or a green card, Cooner had filed for Martinez to be granted asylum. In the documents, Cooner listed Martinez was seeking asylum because of gangs in his Mexican hometown and that he was afraid the gangs would harm his family if he returned to Mexico.

Martinez paid Cooner a total amount of over $2,000.

"I didn't say any of that, any of that that's in that paper," Martinez said. He told the courtroom he signed the asylum form when it was blank. "They said, 'just sign it,' and [Cooner] would take care of the rest," Martinez said. "They would figure it out for me."

If someone is not granted asylum after filing, they are subject to deportation.

"It means every time he has a client ... they're not going to go to the police," Lamb said.

Lamb mentioned another victim in his opening statements who paid Cooner to file for permanent status, but Cooner again filed for asylum. He cited the same reasons listed in Martinez's file, Lamb said. According to Lamb, Cooner did not sign papers with his name and/or disclose to the board that he was disbarred or facing any disciplinary measures.

Under questioning from Matthew Swerdlin, Cooner's other attorney, Perez said his current lawyer has applied for a U-Visa for Perez and his wife. A U-Visa, expert witness Professor Charles Kuck testified, is for illegal immigrants who are victims of crime. For cooperation with police and prosecution, a crime victim can apply to the government for a U-Visa to stay in the U.S. for three years legally. Once that expires, the person can apply for permanent resident status.

Perez said he paid his current lawyer approximately $7,000 for the U-Visa.

Swerdlin also described how Perez could have revised and submitted new asylum documents once he learned that the submitted ones were false, but did not do so. However, Kuck said immigration judges can still view the original documents even when new ones are submitted: "I can guarantee you'll lose your asylum case [if false documents are originally submitted] because you're not credible," Kuck said.

Someone who helps a person file immigration papers does not have to be a lawyer, Kuck said, but non-lawyers are not allowed to receive money from the people who they are helping. A lawyer who is not in good standing is not allowed to file paperwork on the behalf of any client.
Trading political freedoms for security and economic growth  thats the gist of the social contract which Russians struck with Vladimir Putin at the end of the tumultuous 1990s. But coupled with economic woes, the latest terror attack in St Petersburg raises doubts about his ability to keep his promise.

Fair or not  most Russians consider the decade that preceded Putins rise to power as the darkest period in their lives. This was the time when the country was struck by the triple calamity of extreme poverty, rampant crime and military conflict in the North Caucasus. At the end of the decade, the latter spilled out of the region into large urban centres, with the insurgents resorting to terror attacks.





Russias number one terrorist

That tactic was pioneered by Shamil Basayev, a Chechen militant who shot to fame in November 1991, when he hijacked a Russian passenger plane with 178 people on board. He surrendered to the Turkish authorities after freeing the hostages and was miraculously allowed to return to Chechnya. Next year, he displayed immense cruelty fighting in Georgia on the side of pro-Russian Abkhazian separatists, who were closely coordinated by elements in the Russian military.

Despite that short-lived collaboration, he gained the title of Russias number one terrorist in 1995, when he captured around 1,600 hostages in a hospital in the town of Budyonnovsk, forcing the Russian government to start talks with the Chechen leadership and eventually strike a peace agreement that ended the first Chechen war. In 1996, a bomb went off for the first time in the Moscow metro, killing four.

In the 1990s, the margin between terror attacks and traditional guerrilla operations was blurred. Targets tended to be found inside the North Caucasus region and to a varying extent related to the Russian military. The death toll was relatively low and hostages were mostly taken for ransom.

OPINION: Trump  Putins best frenemy

But during the interim between two Chechen wars, Basayev and the radical wing of Chechen liberation movement underwent an ideological transformation influenced by militants from the Middle East who became later known as al-Qaeda. Basayev abandoned the Chechnya independence cause in favour of creating an Islamic state in the whole of North Caucasus. The radicals also started squeezing out more traditional nationalists, with Basayev appointed the commander of Chechen armed forces.

That also transformed the conflict, which saw a radical escalation in 1999 that happened to coincide with the transition of power in Moscow. On March 19 that year, a powerful bomb went off at a busy market in Vladikavkaz, killing 52. A week later, the ailing president Boris Yeltsin appointed the young chief of the Federal Security Service, Vladimir Putin, the head of the Security Council, a body that coordinated Russian military efforts in the North Caucasus.

On August 7, Chechen forces invaded the neighbouring Dagestan with the aim of creating a pan-Caucasian caliphate, a goal publicly declared by Basayev. Two days later, Yeltsin elevated Putin to the post of prime minister and proclaimed him successor to the presidential post.

Just three weeks later, the outgoing and incoming Russian leaders faced an unprecedented disaster when devastating terror attacks hit Moscow and two other cities. This time, the terrorists targeted typical high-rise apartment blocs, in which the vast majority of Russians reside, killing nearly 300 civilians. The message was clear  no one in Russia is safe.

Power transfer

Those attacks had a dramatic psychological effect on Russians and on Putin himself, playing a crucial role in turning the man, who was then seen as a random and rather hapless figure, into what he is now. The result was a massive consolidation of once divided society around the unlikely leader.





Putin chose not to enter talks with Basayev, in the manner of his predecessors. Instead, after rooting out the militants in Dagestan, he ordered Russian troops to march on Chechnya. As the Russian army besieged the Chechen capital, Grozny, on New Years Eve, Yeltsin announced that he was stepping down and leaving Putin in charge. The new Russian leader chose to spend his first new year in office celebrating with soldiers on the front line.

The renewed conflict proceeded with numerous atrocities committed by both sides, often by former rebels co-opted by the Kremlin and used to conducting mopping-up and punitive operations. In response, the rebels took the insane brutality of terror attacks one level up, by seizing hundreds of hostages in Dubrovka theatre in Moscow in 2002 and in Beslan school in 2004. Both attacks ended in bloodbaths, often blamed on unprofessionalism of Russian security forces. But Putin masterfully used these tragedies in order to marginalise the opposition and concentrate power in his own hands, with a majority of Russians supporting both trends.

But despite numerous setbacks Putin was gradually taking the upper hand. Basayev was killed by a rocket attack in 2006. Yet, even as insurgency in Chechnya was largely quelled, the rebels managed to detonate bombs at two stations of the Moscow metro in 2010 and at Domodedovo international airport in 2011, killing dozens.

But the wave of terror eventually waned, while the economy and personal incomes were rising at high pace. Putin could have gone into history as Russias most successful leader in two centuries, but he chose to stay in power and preside over an economic recession that was caused by an oil price slump in 2014 and the countrys international isolation over its intervention in Ukraine.

The last thing he needed in those circumstances was another terror attack in a large urban centre. But it happened in his native city, and on the day of his visit. There is hardly a way for him now to pull the old trick of consolidating in the face of perceived adversity  the way he did in 1999 or when he seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The best he can do is to mitigate the negative PR impact and pray there are no new calamities in store.

Leonid Ragozin is a freelance journalist based in Moscow.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Jaxport CEO Eric Green said the $23.5 million grant marks a milestone in our initiatives to build the port of the future and move cargo in the most efficient and eco-friendly way possible.
Ayesha Kajee is a human rights activist and political analyst with a special focus on African governance and development. She tracks elections and democratic consolidation in the region.

The past week in South Africa has been fraught with political tensions and social melodrama that has, at times, resembled farce. President Jacob Zuma recalled Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and others from a key global economic roadshow (and recalled the deputy finance minister who was actually still in the country), amid rumours of a major cabinet reshuffle.

That reshuffle was delayed by the nations outpouring of grief at the passing of veteran anti-apartheid leader Ahmed Kathrada, one of the very few ANC members who have had the temerity and courage to publicly criticise the kleptocrat president and his allies for their depredations on the public purse.

The reshuffle (including the axing of Gordhan and his deputy) was announced after midnight on Thursday, and South Africans consumed widespread outrage along with their breakfast on the morning of April 1.

But this was no April Fools joke, attested to by calls to #OccupyTreasury to coincide with Gordhans final address to the Treasury staff.

Unprecedented announcements by the countrys deputy president, the ANCs secretary general and the partys treasurer that there had been no consultation on the new cabinet appointments, led to much speculation that the new cabinet would serve the interests of the Gupta family, Indian expats who were the main subject of the 2016 Public Protectors report into allegations of state capture.

Civic indignation





Civic indignation was exacerbated when the state memorial service for the former Robben Islander, Kathrada, was postponed indefinitely. The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Kathrada Foundation subsequently decided to go ahead with a civil society commemoration, in conjunction with the provincial arm of the ANC, trade union groupings and other organisations.

On Saturday, Johannesburg City Hall was packed to the rafters with people of all ages, races, political affiliations and backgrounds. Kathrada would have been delighted by this coming together that felt like a throwback to the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the United Democratic Front (UDF) managed to achieve broad-based mobilisation against the then apartheid regime.

Kathradas widow Barbara Hogan, herself a lifelong activist and former minister, reiterated her husbands public plea to the president to step down last year, telling Zuma: You have sacrificed everything we have stood for on the altar of corruption, greed and more greed  If you had ears to hear, you wouldnt have appointed four finance ministers in less than two years.

She went on to lambast Zumas inaction on the recent furore over the non-payment of social services grants to indigent South Africans, and was scathing about the nuclear deal proposed for South Africa, which will allegedly benefit Zuma and the Guptas. To loud applause, Hogan concluded: Mr President, this country is not for sale and a people united will never be defeated.

READ MORE: Ahmed Kathrada  the Robben Island diaries

Both the axed finance minister and the ANCs partner in government, the South African Communist Party (SACP) echoed these sentiments. The SACPs Solly Maimela said that the hard-won gains of democracy were being reversed and challenged the ANC to choose  either the people of South Africa or Zuma and the Guptas. Gordhan unapologetically called for mass mobilisation, exhorting citizens to leave their comfortable lounges and organise to hold government accountable.

If the most privileged in our society persistently refuse to acknowledge that their continuing privilege was achieved at the expense of the dignity and wellbeing of their compatriots, and remain impervious to calls for redress, we will not overcome the inequalities that are a suppurating wound on our nation's conscience. by

Possibility of a unified South Africa

While these calls were inspirational and energised, the real question is whether South Africans can overcome their differences and unite across class, race and party political lines.

Many poorer and black citizens see calls to dress in black clothes today and to march to Luthuli House on April 7 as emanating from either the opposition Democratic Alliance, or from neoliberal elements who are concerned about the economic implications of recent events, but remain uncaring about the daily lived struggles of their less privileged compatriots.

Where are the proponents of #ZumaMustFall, they ask, when students protest against unaffordable fees, and when residents of poor communities protest about non-delivery of essential services?

They point to the overt and covert racism and the conscious and unconscious privilege displayed on social media platforms by many people who support these anti-Zuma and SaveSA forums, and allege that the non-racial ideology espoused by Mandela and Kathrada has served to entrench such racism and privilege instead of integrating and uniting South Africans.

In stark contrast to the UDF era, when it was relatively easy to mobilise across class, party, age and race lines against the common enemy of the apartheid state, the rifts in South Africa today are more difficult to bridge, both within and outside the ruling tripartite alliance.

There is little agreement over who the enemy really is, and what should happen if and when Zuma goes. Most of those whove been touted as possible successors, including the deputy president and the speaker of parliament, are tainted in one sense or another.

OPINION: #FeesMustFall  decolonising education

Further, a huge generational and class divide exists between the #FeesMustFall activists and their mostly middle-class detractors (who also dominate many of the anti-Zuma initiatives). The students and their supporters are often dismissed as thugs by the mainstream media and its consumers, due to the violence that has accompanied the student protests over the past few years.

Meanwhile, the structural violence suffered by starving students living in crowded circumstances and saddled with mounting debt is largely ignored by their more affluent critics because it rarely directly affects them, except when buildings or other property are damaged during protest action. The older generation of activists hark back to the respect for elders which was a hallmark of the UDF tradition but become defensive when it is pointed out that nearly half a century of post-apartheid political leadership has largely failed to change land and capital ownership patterns, or bridge the huge socioeconomic divide that is still predicated on race.

Time to listen





Increasingly, young, black and poor South Africans are questioning whether the status quo will ever really benefit them, and are suspicious of initiatives that seek to gain their support for mass action towards ends that, they feel, are unlikely to bring any real change in their lived realities.

Many of these citizens are concerned about the recent political shenanigans and keen to express this, but are also justifiably wary of allying themselves with initiatives that are not inherently pro-poor nor free of party political bias.

Any attempts towards a truly broad coalition against the current kleptocracy must take this on board, and must include inclusive and strategic negotiation towards an outcome that is not purely about removing the president but also addresses the perceived complicity of those who enabled the corruption, including some of the most vociferous current critics, who need to be honestly and humbly self-critical.

While there have been calls for SACP ministers and MPs and other critics within the ruling alliance to resign, there is some merit in the notion that such a mass resignation would play into the hands of those whose sole aim is to loot the public purse. A multi-pronged approach on multiple fronts is needed, including the options of civic mass action, constitutional court applications, and impeachment or no-confidence motions, leaving party political jockeying out of the latter equation.

IN PICTURES: South Africa  University fee protests turn violent

While local and international media are gloomy about the economic and political outlook for South Africa, and most South Africans are honestly concerned about the future, it is starkly evident that unless we listen to and take on board the concerns of the poor and the youth among us, the rallying cries for unity will not be heeded by a generation that is legitimately angry and frustrated about the lack of real economic transformation in the country.

Equally, if the most privileged in our society persistently refuse to acknowledge that their continuing privilege was achieved at the expense of the dignity and wellbeing of their compatriots, and remain impervious to calls for redress, we will not overcome the inequalities that are a suppurating wound on our nations conscience.

Perhaps the most urgent lesson we must learn is to try to truly hear each other instead of speaking over one another; and to honestly commit to sacrifice some privileges on the one hand and to release some bitterness over the enduring legacy of structural apartheid on the other, in the interests of a shared future for us all.

Ayesha Kajee is a human rights activist and political analyst with a special focus on African governance and development. She tracks elections and democratic consolidation in the region.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Children among the dead as opposition says Syrian government or Russian jets bombed town with toxic substance.

WARNING: The above report contains images some may find distressing.

At least 58 people, including 11 children, have been killed in a toxic gas bombing raid on a rebel-held Syrian town, doctors and a monitor said, in an attack the United Nations quickly said it would investigate as a possible war crime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province caused many people to choke or faint, and some to foam from the mouth, citing medical sources who described the symptoms as possible signs that gas was used.

The Edlib Media Centre, a pro-opposition group, posted images that were widely shared on social media, showing people being treated by medics and what appeared to be dead bodies, many of them children.

It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near the capital in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack. Damascus blamed rebels.

Locals said the attack began in the early morning, when they heard planes in the sky followed by a series of loud explosions, after which people very quickly began to show symptoms. They said they could not identify the planes. Both Syrian and Russian jets have bombed the area before.

READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained

Russias defence ministry denied it was responsible, telling the state-run RIA news agency that it carried out no bombing runs in the area on Tuesday.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using such weapons in the past. On three previous occasions, though, United Nations investigations have found it guilty of using chemical weapons.

The Observatory monitoring group, which tracks the war through a network of contacts on the ground, was unable to confirm the nature of the substance used.

In a statement, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the use of chemical weapons, as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities, would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law.

It is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable, said the independent panel led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro.

Fainting, vomiting

The attack came from the air, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Tuesday at an international conference in Brussels aimed at shoring up ailing peace talks.

The European Unions top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said: Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people.

Opposition activists and the AFP news agency, citing one of its journalists on the scene, said a rocket later slammed into a hospital where the victims were being treated, bringing rubble down on medics as they struggled to deal with victims.

Al Jazeeras Alan Fisher, reporting from Beirut, said locals on the ground expected that the number of dead would increase and that many of the wounded were children.

There were people fainting, they were vomiting, they were foaming at the mouth, Fisher said.

READ MORE: Air raid destroys hospital in Idlibs Maaret al-Numan

In that situation, the treatment tends to be to try and strip people off, to get the chemicals away from their bodies, to hose them down as quickly as possible. But even then some of the pictures that have been posted on social media in the last couple of hours show very young people struggling for breath, many people dead where they fell.

Disgusting act

Fisher reported that hospitals in the area were overwhelmed with the scale of the apparent attack and that footage showed them struggling to cope with the number of victims.





Al Jazeera has no way of independently confirming the stories that are coming from there but the reality is there are a number of sources who are saying so many similar things, Fisher said.

It appears that what were being told is a fair reflection of the current events in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province in Syria.

A member of the White Helmets, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera that up to 300 people had been injured.

READ MORE: What next for Turkey in Syria?

Reaction to the attack was swift as it drew outrage from both Syrian and foreign groups, governments and members of the public on social media.

The White House called it reprehensible and said it could not be ignored.

A new and particularly serious chemical attack took place this morning in Idlib province. The first information suggests a large number of victims, including children. I condemn this disgusting act, Frances foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said in a statement.

In the face of such serious actions that threaten international security, I ask for everyone not to shirk their responsibilities, he added.

Britains foreign minister, Boris Johnson, said if it were proved the government had carried out the raid, President Bashar al-Assad would be guilty of a war crime.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the inhuman attack could endanger peace talks, AFP reported, citing sources.

Hospitals bombed

On Sunday, suspected Russian fighter jets bombed a hospital in another city in Idlib, wounding several people, the White Helmets said.

At least ten people were wounded when three air raids targeted the main hospital in Maaret al-Numan, destroying the building, a White Helmets official told Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: US says Assads overthrow no longer a priority

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, Majid, another member of the group, also known as the Syrian Civil Defence, said.

Over the past year, Doctors Without Borders has received reports of at least 71 attacks on at least 32 different health facilities which it runs or supports in Syria.

With reporting by Diana Al Rifai.
UN to investigate potential war crimes after dozens, including children, die in rebel-held town of Idlib province.

WARNING: The above report contains images some may find distressing.

A suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Syrias Idlib province has drawn widespread international condemnation, with the United Nations saying it will investigate the bombing raid as a possible war crime.

At least 72 people, including 11 children, were killed in Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday, according to the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which runs several field hospitals in the area. More than 550 people were injured.

SAMS doctors on the ground said the attack caused people to vomit and foam from the mouth. Others lost consciousness and suffered muscle spasms.

The group said the symptoms, which also included constricted pupils and slow heart rate, were indicative of an organo-phosphorus compounds agent  a category of toxic gases which includes sarin.





We were affected by the gas. We couldnt stand up, Veda Ajej, one of the survivors treated in a hospital in the Turkish town of Reyhanli, near the Syria border, told the Reuters news agency.

I felt dizzy and nauseous, she said, lying in a hospital bed. I couldnt breathe.

Local health workers said the death toll could rise and eventually reach 100. A member of the White Helmets, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera that up to 300 people had been injured.

The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, said a gas similar to sarin was used in the attack, which it blamed on government planes.

Syrias military rejected the accusation, saying in a statement that the army denies using any toxic or chemical agents in Khan Sheikhoun today, and it did not and never will use it anywhere.

Russia, an ally of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad, on Wednesday said Syrian aircraft had carried out a raid, but the chemicals were part of a terrorist stockpile of toxic substances that had been hit on the ground.

READ MORE: How chlorine gas became a weapon in Syrias civil war

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the attack, his spokesman said, adding that the world body was currently not in a position to independently verify the reports of use of chemical weapons.

An emergency Security Council meeting was scheduled for Wednesday. The United States, Britain and France proposed a Security Council resolution that diplomats said would be likely to be put to a vote.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, says Syrias government must provide an international investigation with flight plans and logs for Tuesday, the names of all helicopter squadron commanders and provide access to air bases where investigators believe attacks using chemicals may have been launched.

If confirmed, it would be the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta, near the capital, Damascus, in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack. Damascus blamed rebels.

Khan Sheikhoun residents said the attack began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when they heard planes in the sky followed by a series of loud explosions, after which people very quickly began to show symptoms. They said they could not identify the planes. Both Syrian and Russian jets have bombed the area before.

My family and I were sleeping during the attack, Ahmed, another survivor treated in Reyhanli, told Reuters. The bombing was carried out and there was a big explosion. I felt dizzy and nauseous. I had trouble breathing  I dont remember the rest.

This is the aftermath of a suspected chemical gas attack in Syria's Idlib. (Via @AJPlus) pic.twitter.com/DM2t7jwhE8  Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 4, 2017

Charles Duelfer, a chemical weapons expert in Washington DC, said it was unlikely that the attack was not the work of the Syrian regime.

What changed is the nature of the agent, he told Al Jazeera. There were previous cases where the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] and the UN have identified that the regime used a chemical but its only been chlorine. This agent appears to be a military agent which is far more effective.

Duelfer also said it was puzzling why government forces appeared to have resorted to using chemical weapons at a time when they are doing well militarily on the ground.





They [chemical weapons] are not really serving a substantial military purpose. They can certainly spread terror, and they certainly seem to have a political effect, although its hard for me to calculate how that would be a positive thing for Bashar al-Assad right now  unless he wants to demonstrate that hes there, no matter what anyone else says or wants to do about it.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey hopes the UN will punish the attacks perpetrators in the name of humanity.

The inhumane savagery in Idlib, Syria this morning, unfortunately, shocked all of us deeply, he said.

Britain and France also called for renewed efforts at the Security Council for those behind the use of toxic gas in the war to be held accountable.

Such attempts have been repeatedly blocked by Russia, Syrias main ally and a veto-wielding council member.

This is clearly a war crime, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course.

READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained

The US said Assad must be held accountable for chemical weapons attacks and demanded that Russia and Iran bring their ally to heel.

While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was extremely alarmed by reports of the attack, which he called reprehensible.

French President Francois Hollande accused the Syrian government of a massacre.

Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre, he said in a statement.

On three previous occasions, UN investigations have found the Syrian army guilty of using chemical weapons.

In a statement, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the use of chemical weapons, as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities, would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law.

It is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable, said the independent panel led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro.

The European Unions top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said: Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people.
The European Union expressed frustration with Israels continued demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank in a high-level meeting last week, according to Israels Haaretz newspaper.

In the meeting with the Israeli foreign ministrys newly appointed director-general, the EU ambassador read out a stern joint statement message, saying Israel was failing in its international legal obligations and needed to change its policy.





The issue came to a head after Israel issued demolition orders last month against 42 homes in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, where EU member states Belgium and Italy have funded a school and helped to build structures for the local population of around 150.

The practice of enforcement measures such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes and humanitarian assets (including EU-funded) and the obstruction of delivery of humanitarian assistance are contrary to Israels obligations under international law, Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen was quoted as saying by Haaretz, with envoys from all EU member states present.

We therefore call on Israel, as the occupying power, to meet its obligations vis-a-vis the Palestinian population  completely stop these demolitions and confiscations and allow full access of humanitarian assistance.

Were not giving up

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed the protest and that a document was submitted by the European ambassadors, Haaretz said.

The clampdown against Khan al-Ahmar, located in a sensitive area of the West Bank that Israel has earmarked for settlement expansion, is the latest in a series of demolitions that have been roundly condemned by the EU and the United Nations.

Israel says the demolitions are necessary because the construction was carried out without a permit in an area of the West Bank, known as Area C, where Israel retains full control. Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their own state together with Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The EU says Israel rarely issues permits in Area C and is concerned that by blocking Palestinian development there, and demolishing structures that are built, it is actively undermining the viability of any future Palestinian state.

OPINION: Land Day 2017  Israels relentless land grab continues

Figures from the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs show that Israel has sharply stepped up demolitions in Area C over the past year.

While between 450 and 560 Palestinian structures were demolished each year from 2012-2015, the number jumped to 876 in 2016, and in January this year alone there were 121 demolitions. More than 1,200 people were displaced last year.

To underline concern about the threat to Khan al-Ahmar, delegations from EU embassies have been visiting the site regularly. Officials hope public diplomacy might help secure an Israeli Supreme Court injunction against the demolitions.

Were not giving up, said one EU diplomat, according to the Reuters news agency, commenting on efforts to stop demolitions.

However, the diplomat acknowledged that it was an uphill battle to stop the demolitions: We have to be realistic.
More room needed for people streaming from city to escape fighting between US-backed Iraqi forces and ISIL.

The United Nations has said it is expanding camps for displaced people around the battered Iraqi city of Mosul as the number of displaced people hits 300,000, and a US-backed assault on ISIL there continued.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday that a total of 392,000 people had fled their homes since the Iraqi government offensive to push the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group from the city began in October. Some 94,500 have since returned, it said.

The International Organization for Migration puts the number of displaced at 302,400.





Mosul had a pre-campaign population of about a million and half, split more or less evenly between the sides lying east and west of the Tigris river, which runs through its middle.

Iraqi forces captured the eastern side in January, and in February launched a second phase to take the western side, with air and ground support from a US-led coalition.

They are now battling to take the northwestern part, but the civilian death toll has mounted in the densely populated Old City, where the fighters are dug in.

More people are expected to flee the fighting and camps for the displaced north and east of Mosul are expanding, the UN statement said.

ISIL commanders killed

Bombing raids on the city by the Iraqi air force resumed on Tuesday as the sky cleared after several days of bad weather, the Iraqi military said.

A number of ISIL commanders were killed in an air raid on a position in Hay al-Tanak, a stronghold of the group in the west of Mosul, the army said in statement.

Among those killed were commanders in charge of booby traps, of suicide fighters and child recruitment, the statement added, without identifying them by name.

The improved weather should also allow ground forces to resume their advance towards the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, where ISILs leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate nearly three years ago over parts of Iraq and Syria.
Protests outside burnt Congress building call for Senate vote on President Cartes re-election bid to be withdrawn.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Paraguays Congress in a new but peaceful demonstration over an unpopular Senate vote for an amendment last week that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election.

In addition to calling for the amendment to be withdrawn, thousands gathered peacefully outside Congress on Monday night, holding candles in a vigil for the 25-year-old protester, Rodrigo Quintana, killed by police during the demonstrations on Friday.

Signs reading S.O.S. Paraguay hung from tents in the plaza, where people grilled meat and settled in for a long night of protest. Dozens of police officers stood behind fences separating the plaza from the entrance to the Congress building, while another group carrying riot gear stood by.





Supporters of Cartes, a former soft-drink and tobacco businessman, want him to be able to seek a second term in a country that has constitutionally forbidden re-election after a 35-year dictatorship fell in 1989.

On Friday, protesters had clashed violently with police, storming and setting fire to the Congress building after a group of senators called a special session behind closed doors, rather than on the Senate floor, to pass the measure.

The officer accused of killing Quintana inside the Liberal Partys headquarters was charged with homicide on Monday and faces up to 30 years in prison, newspaper Ultima Hora reported.

The charged officer told local television he believed his gun was loaded with rubber bullets.

Late on Sunday, Cartes called on different political factions to meet and discuss ways to reduce tensions in the South American country of 6.8 million people after an appeal from Pope Francis, who hails from neighbouring Argentina.

The amendment would still have to be approved by the lower house, where it was expected to have strong support. But the head of the lower house and Cartes ally, Hugo Velazquez, told reporters on Monday the vote would be delayed until the dialogue Cartes requested took place. It is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

OPINION: Is populism really retreating in Latin America?

The protests punctured a period of relative stability under Cartes in which the soy and beef exporting nation became one of South Americas fastest-growing economies and began moving past a long history of political uncertainty.

Senator Lilian Samaniego, a Cartes ally, said re-election supporters would not be deterred by the protests and opposition.

The proposal will not be withdrawn, she said after leaving a meeting in the presidential palace with governors, mayors and other politicians.

Opposition leader Efrain Alegre said he would participate in the dialogue called by Cartes only after an investigation into Quintanas death was completed and Fridays Senate vote was annulled.

First we have to get things in order and then we can have a thousand meetings if thats what it takes, he said.
Democrats have gathered enough support to hold up a Senate confirmation vote on President Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee but Republicans threaten to change the Senate rules to ensure conservative judge Neil Gorsuch gets the lifetime job.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines on Monday to send Gorsuchs nomination to the full Senate, setting up a political showdown this week between Trumps fellow Republicans and the opposition Democrats that appears likely to trigger a change in long-standing Senate rules to allow his confirmation.

Democrats, portraying Gorsuch as so conservative that he is outside the judicial mainstream, have amassed 42 senators in support of a procedural hurdle called a filibuster requiring a super-majority of 60 votes in the Republican-led, 100-seat Senate to allow a confirmation vote.

Even before the panel voted, committee member Christopher Coons put the Democrats over the threshold as the 41st senator backing the filibuster bid, Reuters reported.

The Senates Republican leaders insist Gorsuch will be confirmed on the Senate floor on Friday regardless of what the Democrats do. Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority.

Senate Republicans who last year refused to even consider Democratic former President Barack Obamas nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to fill the same high court vacancy that Trump has selected Gorsuch to fill.

Democrats, including me, are still furious at the way Judge Merrick Garland was treated last year. But the traditions and principles that have defined the Senate are crumbling, and we are poised to hasten that destruction this week, Coons said.

Gorsuch was nominated to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Integrity questioned

Democrats have accused Gorsuch of being insufficiently independent of Trump, evading questions on key Supreme Court rulings of the past including on abortion and political spending, and favouring corporate interests over ordinary Americans.

In the face of the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be expected to force a confirmation vote by having the Senate change its rules and allow for a simple majority vote for confirmation of Supreme Court justices, a move sometimes called the nuclear option that Trump favours.





Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, leading the filibuster effort, said McConnell should have the vision and courage to see past this impasse and not go nuclear, suggesting that Trump replace Gorsuch with a new consensus nominee chosen after meeting with Democrats.

Senate confirmation of Gorsuch, 49, would restore the nine-seat high courts conservative majority, fulfilling one of Trumps top promises during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump in January nominated Gorsuch, a conservative appeals court judge from Colorado. He could be expected to serve for decades.

On the Senate floor, McConnell called the Democratic strategy a new low, saying there was no principled reason to oppose a judge as well qualified and widely respected as Gorsuch.

He did not explicitly say he would use the nuclear option, but several Republicans said that would happen.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the decision would be McConnells. Republican Senator John McCain, a long-time opponent of Senate rules changes, told reporters he would support the move.

Dangerous precedent

Republicans control the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade.

The inability of Senate Republicans to coax enough Democratic support to avoid the nuclear option reflected the intense partisan divide in Washington and the Trump administrations failure to win the cooperation of the opposition party.

Senators Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, and panel member Patrick Leahy, along with fellow Democrats Mark Warner and Ben Cardin, also announced filibuster support on Monday.

Spicer accused Democrats of partisan obstruction that sets a very dangerous precedent and told a briefing that were obviously disappointed that the overwhelming majority of them are still playing politics with the nations highest court.

The actual confirmation vote would be by a simple majority if the filibuster is stopped. To date, four Democrats oppose a filibuster, four short of the eight that Republicans needed.

With the failure of Republican healthcare legislation in Congress and with courts blocking the presidents ban on people from several Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, winning confirmation for Gorsuch has taken on even more importance for Trump.

The 60-vote supermajority threshold that gives the minority party power to hold up the majority party has over the decades forced the Senate to try to achieve bipartisanship in legislation and presidential appointments.

Republican committee member Lindsey Graham said, If we have to, we will change the rules, and it looks like were going to have to. I hate that. I really, really do.

While Gorsuchs opponents would fight a Senate rule change, it was the Democrats who in 2013 changed the Senate rules to limit filibusters after Republicans used the procedure against Obamas appeals court nominees.

The Senate, then led by Democrats, barred filibusters for executive branch nominees and federal judges aside from Supreme Court justices. Even if Republicans do change the rules, legislation, as opposed to appointments, would still need to meet a 60-vote threshold.
In her first official visit to the kingdom, the UK leader meets officials to discuss trade post-Brexit.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is visiting Saudi Arabia looking to secure post-Brexit investment from the UKs biggest trading partner in the Arab world.

May arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday with economic issues a priority on her trip.





Last month, May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally starting a two-year process of negotiations that will lead Britain to leave the European Union after 44 years.

May met Sarah al-Suhaimi, the head of the Saudi stock exchange, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the countrys interior minister and first in line to the throne.

She is scheduled to meet King Salman on Wednesday.

May has said she is looking to use the immense potential for Saudi investment to provide a boost to the British economy during her trip to the region.

With Britain looking to strike new trade deals as it prepares to leave the EU, May has eyed longtime partners in the energy-rich Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia is Britains largest trading partner in the Middle East, with exports of more than $8bn in British goods and services to the country in 2015.

Riyadh is also looking at boosting its foreign investments as part of a long-term plan known as Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on oil revenues.

Britain voted to leave the EU last June, after a campaign that divided the country. In a close result, 52 percent voted for Brexit, while 48 percent wanted to stay in the EU.

May has promised to take Britain out of the EU single market but negotiate a deal that keeps close trade relations with Europe, as she builds a strong, self-governing global Britain with control over its own borders and laws.
Clarification: About 750 supporters and 25 protestors were at the University Auditorium

At the heart of a gathering drawn together by Ben Shapiros appearance at UF, protesters and supporters deliberated the freedom of speech while awaiting the controversial conservative speaker.

The group of about 750 supporters and 25 protesters was drawn to the University Auditorium on Monday night before the editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, a right-wing media outlet, answered questions about rape culture, healthcare and fellow conservative Tomi Lahren.

Shapiro also mentioned an incident in 2015 in which he misgendered a transgender reporter. Shapiro was paid $20,000 to speak  $15,000 covered by Accent Speakers Bureau and the remaining $5,000 covered by Young Americans for Freedom, according to Alligator archives.

Hours before Shapiro spoke, David Glasser, 15, drove up with his mother and her boyfriend from Tampa to be one of the rst people in line. Glasser said he admires Shapiro because like Glasser, he is both Jewish and conservative.

I really wanted to hear the thug speak, Glasser said. I think a lot of him reminds me of when I would be older.

But as some waited to hear Shapiro speak, others organized in protest.

Nate Quinn, a UF psychology freshman, started organizing the protest Wednesday when he learned Shapiro was coming. One of Shapiros well-known beliefs is about transgenderism and how he said it is a mental illness.

A lot of people believe his rhetoric about trans people, Quinn, a 19-year-old trans man, said. Its harmful.

The group of protesters, carrying signs protesting Islamophobia and the treatment of Palestinians, stood by themselves, as some Shapiro supporters in line tried to ask questions. One supporter tried to tape a police tape around the area the protesters were occupying while others yelled, safe space.

At 7 p.m., Shapiro began his speech by thanking the crowd for attending despite the idiot protestors outside. He criticized an op-ed in the Alligator that was against him speaking.

Apparently, the premise here is that I make people feel unsafe, Shapiro said. I have one question, have you seen me? gesturing to his small stature.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

During the brief talk, followed by a Q&A, Shapiro spoke about the philosophy of intersectionality, which he said suggests liberals value people who identify with minority identities. He also argued pro-life and that women arent victimized in the U.S.

He also expanded on how people use emotions to counter facts, but that can be detrimental.

When we decide the facts can be cast out in favor of your emotions, we are creating a politics that cannot work in a free nation, Shapiro said.

Jacob Armstrong, a 19-year-old UF music education sophomore, said he thought Shapiro was well spoken.

I feel like anybody who would protest him hasnt heard him speak, he said. People are trying to label him as things without hearing his arguments first.

Correction: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of David Glasser's name.

Clarification: This article has been updated to include that about 25 people protested Shapiro's appearance.

Contact Paige Fry at pfry@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @paigexfry

Ben Shapiro, 33, a Harvard Law graduate and conservative political commentator, columnist and radio talk show host, delivered his talk inside the University Auditorium on Monday night. Shapiro's appearance was hosted by Accent Speakers Bureau and UF Young Americans for Freedom.

Members of the audience hold individual signs that read altogether "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings," a phrase commonly used by Ben Shapiro, before he made his appearance on stage. Throughout his speech, Shapiro outlined his views on intersectional hierarchy and rape culture.
After a months-long search, UFs Multicultural and Diversity Affairs ofcials have chosen Will Atkins as the new executive director.

Atkins has served in the interim executive director position since October after the former executive director Lloren Foster was red partly due to a lack of leadership, according to Alligator archives.

Atkins will assume the full executive director position immediately and will be paid $88,000, said university spokesperson Margot Winick.

Atkins said he hopes to help MCDA continue serving its students and giving them supportive spaces.

He said he also wants to continue educating the university about inclusion. One of his goals is to develop workshops for different on campus groups and classes.

To me, its all about making sure students feel like they are safe and they belong, Atkins said.

Atkins said he was humbled to be given the position.

I recognize that theres lots of work to be done moving forward, but Im very up for the challenge and look forward to seeing what MCDA will do in the future, he said.

In an email to Mary Kay Carodine, the assistant vice president for Student Affairs, the search committee chair Calvin Mosley said the committee was split between Atkins and another candidate, Kimberly Williams Brown.

Mosley said it was up to Carodine as the hiring manager. Some of the strengths the committee liked about Atkins were his ideas on how to improve MCDA, his consistent leadership and relationship with ambassadors and colleagues.

One weakness listed was that they were worried about how students would react to him in this position.

In the past semester, three directors within MCDA resigned, according to Alligator archives. Some felt pushed out. Another was accused of creating emotional abuse within her department.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

Outgoing and former directors have attributed the departments damaging culture as the reason for leaving. To help with the turmoil within the department, Atkins said he needs to listen to students experiences.

I think its really important for me to meet the students where they are and to really hear their voices and make sure that their voices are affirmed in the process, Atkins said.

Ashley Marceus, a 19-year-old UF political science and African American studies sophomore, said she was thankful Atkins got the position.

Marceus, an ambassador with Black Affairs, got to know Atkins while he helped out after the former director, Vee Byrd, resigned.

We have been through a lot as a whole family these four months, and I think he has gotten a feel for that, she said.

She said shes seen how much Atkins cares about the department and the students and expects him to use that as executive director.

I think hes going to use that passion and apply it to every one of the areas and make MCDA better overall, she said.

Contact Romy Ellenbogen at rellenbogen@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @romyellenbogen

Will Atkins
Gainesville-area residents will soon have a second chance to voice concerns to Rep. Ted Yoho after months of protests.

A town hall meeting will take place Monday at Abraham Lincoln Middle School, located at 1001 SE 12th St., from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. At the rst town hall meeting, which took place March 5 at Countryside Baptist Church, hundreds of residents  mostly comprised of Yoho protesters  gathered to voice their concerns with the congressman.

After the meeting ended, a supporter of President Donald Trump was punched in the face and eventually taken to the hospital, according to Alligator archives.

Yoho, a Republican serving North Central Floridas congressional district, was elected in 2012 and is currently serving his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He represents Alachua, Clay and Bradford counties, as well as parts of Marion County.

Brian Kaveney, a spokesperson for Yoho, said the congressman was pleased with the last meeting.

He liked it, Kaveney said. There were people he probably didnt agree with, and they didnt agree with him, but they still had a conversation about whats important, what needs to happen and what to do going forward.

Last month, Yoho, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, decided against voting yes on the American Health Care Reform Act, otherwise known as Trumpcare.

Even though Yoho was planning on voting against Trumpcare, his office received approximately 3,000 calls from Gainesvilles chapter of Indivisible demanding that the congressman vote against the bill, said Joy Pitts, the chapters leader.

Indivisible, a group dedicated to resisting the agenda of Trumps administration, helped organize the upcoming town hall meeting.

Pitts said although the first meeting was a good way to start an open dialogue with the congressman, the room was filled with tension between Yohos supporters and his opponents. That tension ultimately led to someone getting hurt, she said.

We always tell our members that were nonviolent, we dont want to engage in that sort of situation, Pitts said. Unfortunately, we cant control everyone.

She said shes hoping about 600 people make it to the meeting Monday. Last month, approximately 200 Yoho protesters and 20 Yoho supporters attended the town hall.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

I just want people to come that maybe have never been to a town hall before or have never met the congressman before, she said. Indivisibles role is to get people engaged who maybe have not been involved before. This is a great way to do that.

Contact Molly Vossler at mvossler@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @molly_vossler

Ted Yoho
Fans of fried chicken and biscuits have a reason to wake up today.

Bojangles Famous Chicken n Biscuits, a Southern style restaurant chain known for its fried chicken and biscuits, opens today at 3100 SW Archer Road.

To celebrate its opening day, the first 50 dine-in customers will receive a $25 Bojangles gift card.

All customers who attend can also enter to win a mountain bike or a patio umbrella among other giveaways.

The restaurant will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the drive-thru is open until 11 p.m.

Alan Chestnut, who is overseeing the Gainesville location, said he hopes to partner with UF for tailgating events and fundraising opportunities with student organizations.

We can also make discounted meals for different organizations, we really love many different types of partnerships to help college organizations fundraise, Chestnut said.

Aaron Mandell, a Santa Fe College English junior, said he is excited to see the franchise come to Gainesville.

Everybody loves fried chicken, the 21-year-old said.

Melissa Howell Johnson, a stay-at-home mom living in Gainesville, said she is happy to see a Bojangles come to Florida. Howell Johnson is originally from North Carolina, which is where the restaurant originally started.

There is a Bojangles on every block back home, and it is the place everyone goes, the 46-year-old said.

Howell Johnson said she expects the Bojangles to gain a lot of business from students and Gainesville residents.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

Its way better than any chicken place Gainesville has right now, she said. The UF kids are absolutely going to love it.

A picture of the Bojangles Famous Chicken n Biscuits restaurant on Monday evening. Bojangles is set to open today.
Seventy-five years after enlisting in the U.S. Army, Charles Moloney Sr. was honored for his service on Friday.

Moloney, a 95-year-old Gainesville resident who served as an airplane mechanic in World War II, joined the Army about four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was his duty as an American, he reasoned.

But it wasnt until Friday that his five years in the Army  time spent in China, Burma and India  were officially recognized, with Rep. Ted Yoho handing him award after award, along with an American flag that had flown over the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., during a ceremony in Starke, Florida.

I get a little choked up when I think of the price these people paid for our liberties and freedoms, said Yoho, a Republican serving North Central Floridas congressional district. Its amazing that you have people willing to serve our nation in that capacity.

About 50 service members, friends and family sat at the entrance of Camp Blanding in Starke, the site of the former Army base where Maloney enlisted in April 1942.

Maloney smiled as Yoho shook his hand.

In total, Moloney earned six awards: The Presidential Unit Citation, the Good Conduct Medal, Honorable Service Lapel Pin, the American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

Yoho said Moloney is one of the last World War II veterans from Camp Blanding.

When Yohos office contacted Moloney to tell him about the award ceremony, Moloney cried. He brought his family to the award ceremony, including his 3-month-old great-great-great-great grandson, Jordan.

After the ceremony, about 12 service members went up to shake Moloneys hand and thank him for his service. Moloney proudly introduced them to Jordan, who was sitting on his lap, giving a toothless grin and bobbing his head around.

Col. Daniel Johnson, of the Florida Army National Guard, said the service members volunteered to attend the ceremony because they wanted the chance to meet a World War II veteran.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

They saw it as important to shake that mans hand, Johnson said. He is a part of our history.

Moloney told each service member he met to always follow orders given to them by their commanding officers and to be honorable. He said that was the most valuable lesson he learned during the war  a lesson he passed on to his son, Charles Moloney Jr.

He told me if I was going to do a job, I should do it well and honorably, Charles Moloney Jr. said.

The elder Moloney said his life was often saved by God, and he still attends church four to five times a week.

I was bombed at, and they missed, Moloney Sr. said. I know it wasnt just luck.

He finally retired from being a mechanic in 1988 and currently lives on a 7-acre farm off Southwest Tower Road. He said, in 75 years, much remains the same.

The world hasnt changed, he said. The only thing thats changed is me. Im older.

Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield

Charles D. Moloney, a 95-year-old World War II veteran, shakes the hand of Rep. Ted Yoho during a ceremony honoring Moloney's service during WWII at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center on Friday. Moloney enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 4,1942, and received six medals on Friday that he hadn't received after leaving the U.S. Army.
On Monday night, a small group of UF students carried signs and yelled into megaphones in protest of Ben Shapiros appearance on campus. Remarkably outnumbered by students waiting in a snaking line to see the controversial conservative talking head, the protesters stood in the name of morality, for the sake of letting UF know that they wouldnt stand for Shapiros anti-LGBTQ+ stances.

We can respect that.

But tonight, a long line of equally eager fans will go unchallenged, as rap star Lil Wayne comes to the OConnell Center for a concert. Keep in mind that much of Lil Waynes discography includes insensitive remarks regarding homosexuals, the transgender community and women as an entire population.

While we at the Alligator respect the right to peacefully assemble on campus, especially when student dollars are being used, there is, very clearly, a double standard present here. And its baffling.

Dont get us wrong, quite a few of us at the office are fans of rap music and of Lil Wayne, but it is curious that the very same students protesting Shapiro, the former Breitbart news editor, have yet to organize anything against Lil Wayne, who has spewed hundreds of misogynistic, crass and at-times homophobic and transphobic lines over his decades-long career.

Do we forget about those lyrics, masked by the bass in his songs or the catchy cadences? Or do we simply not care enough?

This is a Lil Wayne line, from the 2008 song Go DJ: You homo n----- / Getting AIDS in the a-- / While the homie here / Trying to get paid in advance.

Here is another, from the 2010 song Right Above It: Guns turn you boys into p------/ (like a) Sex change.

In a 2016 interview with ABCs Linsey Davis, the rapper is asked, What do you say to people who call your music vulgar, misogynistic, offensive, degrading?

If thats what you think about the music, if thats what you categorize it under, then so be it, Lil Wayne replied. All those things made me who I am, and Im a very successful man.

Davis then asked him about Black Lives Matter, a nationwide activist movement popularized in the wake of high-profile shootings of black men by police.

Waynes response was apalling.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

I am a young black rich motherf-----. If that dont let you know that America understands black (expletive) matter these days, I dont know what it is. Dont come at me with that dumb s---, maam. My life matter, especially to my b----.

Is he connected to the plight of the movements followers?

I dont feel connected to a damn thing that aint got nothing to do with me. If you do, you crazy as s---. Im connected to this flag right (expletive) here, because Im connected. Im a gangbanger now.

This man is being paid $125,000 to perform at UF.

Shapiro, on the other hand, was paid just $20,000.

This isnt to say Shapiro is a saint. In 2015, during a panel on HLN, Shapiro misgendered Inside Edition reporter Zoey Tur, a transgender woman.

What are your genetics, sir? he asked, after saying transgender men and women must suffer from a mental disorder.

In no way are we calling for a protest against Lil Wayne. Hell, if we werent working, wed probably shell a couple bucks to see him. But the point remains: How does it make sense to protest Shapiro and yet sit idly by as rappers like Lil Wayne come to our campus?

Its clear that these two men dont exemplify the morals and values UF promotes.

Why not protest them both?

Ben Shapiro, left, and Lil Wayne, right










English News China is embracing its role in the world more: Bill Gates

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



Thats something that historically the U.S. has been very good at, but Id be disappointed if the US cuts back. But its fantastic that China, because of its success, is joining in and in its unique way. So I am glad to see the leadership. For example,the $60 billion commitment made in Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to help the African countries is a realistic acceleration under China's leadership.

By Zhang Niansheng from Peoples Daily Bill Gates, American business magnate, philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave an exclusive interview to the Peoples Daily out of his busy schedule before he licks off a Chinese visit.



Q: Thank you very much for your time. I hear that you will visit China soon. The first time you visited China was in 1994, still remember your first impression of China?

A: Every time I go, you know Chinas advancing, whether its the buildings, or the people we are meeting with, or the technology. So its been exciting to keep going back and see how quickly its improving.

Q: Youve made so many trips to China over the years. What do you think is the most significant change that has taken place in China?

A: Id say two things. One is the miracle of Chinese economic development, lifting people out of poverty, building up the infrastructure, and developing world-class universities.



I remember almost every year somebody says, well now the China boom will reach its limits. And then 3 years later, theyll say its reached its limitsOf course, even today theres some strains and challenges, but still the growth is lifting people up. And its quite impressive.



The second thing Id say is that China is embracing its role in the world more. Of course its first priority was the poverty in the country, but in parallel to that now China has joined the World Trade Organization, and Chinas made really big commitments to Africa, both financially and about partnership. And in the region, the Belt & Road project is about tying together the economies for mutual benefit. So all of that has been exciting to see.





Q: What's the strategic focus of the Gates Foundation in China? How do you see Chinas role in global development and governance?

A: The work of the Gates Foundation in China has two phases. One is the work in China itself, helping people with HIV, helping avoid people getting infected, working on tuberculosis and smoking (control).



Our second phase is a three-way partnership, where developing countries, China and the foundation find ways to work together. And taking some (of Chinas) strengths like livestock vaccines; rice, including super green rice, where Chinas very strong. So, (therere) many examples. Ethiopia is a good example, where funding animal vaccine projects are what we are working on together. A group called CAD Fund is the local Chinese partner.



So the commitment to help other parts of the world is very important. Thats something that historically the U.S. has been very good at, but Id be disappointed if the US cuts back. But its fantastic that China, because of its success, is joining in and in its unique way. So I am glad to see the leadership. For example,the $60 billion commitment made in Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to help the African countries is a realistic acceleration under China's leadership.



The Chinese partnership will go and help to accelerate that improvement. And there are many lessons and things that China did very, very well, in the agricultural economy and manufacturing economy.



Q: Being a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, you have made substantial contribution to communication and collaboration between the two countries. Based on your own experiences, how do you see the role that business collaboration plays in Sino-U.S. relations?

A: I do think that the business context is quite critical. We cannot rely just on government to government, we need business to business, and we need people to people type things as well, such as student exchange. We need to keep the level of interaction up at every level.

Q: Your life story is legendary to many people. What do you personally find as your greatest achievement in life and in work?

A: I am super lucky. Ive been in the area where things have been changing and been part of the digital revolution, the magic of software, the internet, the computer, and now the cellphone so its been a great privilege. For me, I like to read and learn. There are always so many new things, like artificial intelligence, is now a big thing. We are making rapid advances. All the top companies and universities, rapid advances there.





Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News China, US need more dialogues to expand common interest: diplomat

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



During his eight-year long term as governor of Washington, the state doubled its exports to China, with the number totaling at nearly 20 billion dollars in 2015. The China-US trade also increased to 446.7 billion dollars in 2011 from 366 billion dollars in 2009 during his tenure as commerce secretary.

By Zhang Penghui from Peoples Daily There needs to be more dialogues and face to face meetings between China and the US, so that they can expand common interests and manage disagreements, Gary Faye Locke, former US Ambassador to China told the Peoples Daily in a recent interview.



His statement came before Chinese President Xi Jinping starts his US trip on April 6, during which he will meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump.



The diplomat said that he is very impressed by how hardworking the Chinese people are, their desire for better life, as well as dedication of Chinese officials and people to modernize China to bring prosperity to people in all parts of the country.



The progress of China is due to the hard work of Chinese people, business leaders and government leaders, Locke told the Peoples Daily, praising their efforts to raise the standard of living and percentage of people in middle class in such a short period.



We are most impressed how warm and friendly the people of China were to our entire family, he recalled his tenure in Beijing as US ambassador, saying that it is very interesting for the family to discover the roots of their ancestors and to travel to explore all parts of China.



Defining China-US ties as the most important bilateral relationship in todays world, the former ambassador believed that such relations have gone beyond a bilateral range, and coordination between both sides is very important to settle global hotspot affairs and address challenges confronted by the world.



More communications and face to face discussion are required to develop China-US ties, the diplomat pointed out. Only by developing better personal and working relationship through dialogues, can they understand each other and talk about areas of common interests and disagreement, he explained.



They can finally expand shared interests and manage differences, he added.



According to him, the three communiques inked by China and the US, including the Shanghai communique, set the basis of US policy toward China. They constitute the cornerstone and guiding documents of bilateral relations.



Thanks to the persistence to these principles, he managed to deal with divergences of both nations and propel bilateral ties during his term, Locke said, adding that it is those guiding principles that enabled the US-China relations become the most important bilateral relationship in the world today.



Trump, in his recent phone conversation with Xi, reaffirmed its administrations adherence to the one-China policy, a guiding policy followed by successive US administrations governed by both Democratic and Republican parties.



Locke hoped that the Taiwan issue will no longer be an obstacle hampering bilateral relations.



He urged both nations to increase the exchanges and meetings between top government officials, especially face to face discussion, so that the most sensitive and important issues can continue moving forward.



China and the US have so much in common, but major areas of disagreement remained as well, Locke said, but emphasized that what is important is to minimize disagreements, improve upon bilateral ties, and address challenges through consultation and negotiations.



Both countries should continue with their dialogue mechanisms, the diplomat said, citing the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue as an example.



Locke, who also once served as governor of Washington and Secretary of Commerce, has been following the economic and trade ties between China and the US, a ballast stone and propeller of bilateral relationship.



During his eight-year long term as governor of Washington, the state doubled its exports to China, with the number totaling at nearly 20 billion dollars in 2015. The China-US trade also increased to 446.7 billion dollars in 2011 from 366 billion dollars in 2009 during his tenure as commerce secretary.



Commenting on bilateral trade relations, the most-concerned agenda of the new US administration together with creation of job opportunities, he said that trade should have greater improvements.



We need to avoid that will damage the work in both China and America, he urged both nations to avoid a trade war. Nobody wins a trade war, he stressed.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Chinese, US economies heavily dependent on each other: economist

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



If the treaty can be finally concluded, Trump administration has the chance for a quick win in his pro-growth agenda, Roach said, emphasizing that for a growth-starved US economy, there could be no better way of tapping into what promises to be the worlds greatest market expansion in the years ahead.

By Wang Rujun from Peoples Daily The US and Chinese economies are heavily dependent on each other. In such a codependent economic relationship, actions taken by any one partner have critical implications for the other, Stephen Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia told the Peoples Daily in a recent interview.



His remarks came ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming US visit, during which he will meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump.



Roach, also a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, pointed out that the US has long been one of Chinas largest and most lucrative export markets in its spectacular 30-plus years of development trajectory.



He illustrated that exports went from 5 percent of Chinese GDP in 1979 to nearly 38 percent in pre-crisis 2007  by far the sharpest increase of any major sector in the Chinese economy over that same period.



At the same time, the US has also become heavily dependent on China, he noted, explaining that China is now Americas third largest export market and its fastest growing source of foreign demand for American-made products over the past decade.



Moreover, with China long the largest foreign holder of US Treasuries and other dollar-based assets, it has played a vital role in funding Americas chronic budget deficits, the scholar said.



Their two-way trade increased 211 times from the 2.5 billion dollars in 1979 to 519.6 billion dollars in 2016, Roach added, citing it as another evidence of the increasing dependence between the two economies.



The expert also believed the codependency as a very reactive relationship, saying that if one partner alters the terms of engagement, the other will most certainly respond.



Specifically, if the US imposes some type of punitive sanctions on China, the Chinese can be expected to respond in kind, he said.



It would set in motion a vicious cycle that could well culminate in a US-China trade war that would take a big toll on both economies, as well as triggering spillovers that could put a major crimp in the global economy, the researcher expounded.



The Chinese economy remains the single largest contributor to world GDP growth, Roach affirmed Chinas contribution.



Chinese GDP growth has slowed significantly from the 10 percent average annual growth recorded during the 1980-2011 period, but of the 3.1 percent global growth in 2016, China contributed over 30 percent of the total, he said, adding that such share dwarfs the contribution of other major economies.



Citing the US, Europe and Japan economies as example, he illustrated that while the US is widely praised for a solid recovery, it contributed just 0.3 percentage points to overall world GDP growth, or only about one-fourth of the contribution made by China.



A sclerotic European economy is expected to add a mere 0.2 percentage points to world growth, and Japan not even 0.1-percentage point, the scholar underlined.



Chinas contribution to global growth is, in fact, 50 percent larger than the combined 0.8-percentage-point contribution likely to be made by all of the so-called advanced economies, the expert stressed.



Since China and the US formally initiated discussions on Bilateral Investment Treaty in 2008, there have been 30-plus rounds of painstakingly slow negotiations, Roach pointed out.



Significantly, there is now broad agreement between both countries on the principles of cross-border investment  especially in terms of transparency, technology transfer, ownership caps and the nondiscrimination of national treatment, he added.



If the treaty can be finally concluded, Trump administration has the chance for a quick win in his pro-growth agenda, Roach said, emphasizing that for a growth-starved US economy, there could be no better way of tapping into what promises to be the worlds greatest market expansion in the years ahead.



Both nations need to deal with their own unique economic challenges, the economist said, but noted that they have one important strategic objective in common  rebalancing.



He elaborated that China needs to shift from export- and investment-led growth to private consumption, whereas the US needs to shift from excess consumption to greater impetus from investment and exports.



To do that, China needs to save less and consume more, whereas the US needs to do the opposite and consume less and save more, Roach further explained, adding that successful economic restructuring of both nations will allow them to address their relationship from positions of strength.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Chinese, US leaders to work for positive outcomes from bilateral ties

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



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.

By Zhang Penghui from Peoples Daily 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 settle the 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.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Finnish company bets on Chinese market

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



Expecting the upcoming state visit paid by Xi, now Chinese President, to Finland, Eikens believed that the economic cooperation between the two countries will embrace new chances. As a key pillar of Finnish economy, forestry contributed 18 percent to the countrys industrial output as well as 15 percent to its job positions.

By Guan Kejiang from Peoples Daily Chinas supply-side structural reform, priority in innovation and other efforts in economic transformation have provided foreign companies more business opportunities. UPM, a Finnish frontrunner of the new forest industry, is one of those companies betting on the promising Chinese market.



In the past two decades, the company has invested a total of 2 billion dollars in Chinese market.



Bernd Eikens, Executive Vice President of UPM Specialty Papers told the Peoples Daily that since the company accessed to Chinese market in 1998, it has designed a long-term strategy for Chinese business.



With an emphasis on cyclic economy, resource efficiency and innovative development models, the firm will seek industrial transformation by applying high-tech into traditional industries, he added.



UPM hosted Xi Jinping, then the vice president of China, to see a forest harvest demonstration in Rovaniemi, administrative capital of Lapland province, during his Finnish trip seven years ago.



Xis tour in 2010 not only shows Chinese leaders emphasis on sustainable development, but also cements the companys confidence in Chinese market, Eikens pointed out.



Expecting the upcoming state visit paid by Xi, now Chinese President, to Finland, Eikens believed that the economic cooperation between the two countries will embrace new chances.



As a key pillar of Finnish economy, forestry contributed 18 percent to the countrys industrial output as well as 15 percent to its job positions.



Mikko Valikangas, manager of the biofore companys forest department, told the Peoples Daily during a visit to one of companys logging camps, that Finland plants more trees while felling them, in order to maximize their use.



The companys logging camp, located in a flourish forest north to Helsinki, the capital and largest city of Finland, takes about one-hour drive to arrive from the capital city.



Data showed the country cut down 56 million cubic metres of trees in 2014, but it planted over 100 million cubic metres each year. Valikangas explained that the plants can grow better with intermediate cuttings.



Eikens added that the Chinese government is now accelerating its efforts to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, divert foreign capital into emerging sectors, and seek technology cooperation through foreign investment.



The country, in both supply-side structural reform and its Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, required stricter rules on environmental protection, he said, believing it means promising business prospect for large-sized environment-friendly paper mills.



The UPMs business strategy in also in line with Chinas goals for green development, he said, pledging that the firm will keep its commitment and provide China with renewable products in an efficient fashion.



Caption: UPM staff in logging camp. Photo by Guan Kejiang from Peoples Daily



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Hope to visit China every year: Serbian President

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



Talking about the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation to be hosted by Beijing this May, Nikolic told the Peoples Daily that giving importance to this forum, Serbia will send a high-level delegation to the event.

By Song Haoxin, Sun Chao from Peoples Daily Serbia is willing to further consolidate ties with China within the framework of Belt and Road initiative as well as the 16+1 cooperation, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic told the Peoples Daily in a recent interview, expressing a hope that he could visit China every year.



Describing the Chinese visit as a call on old friend, Nikolic, who is now on a state visit to China, said that he has promised to Chinese President Xi Jinping that if possible, he would visit China every year.



The ongoing state visit is his third Chinese trip. The president said that todays China, just like the wheat in early spring, is growing sturdily.



I was impressed by Chinas rapid progress in politics, economy, culture, society and all other aspects each time when I visited the country, he explained.



Located in central-northern part of the Balkan Peninsula, Serbia has been placing emphasis on its profound friendship with China.



After both countries uplifted their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Xis successful Serbian visit in June, 2016, their agreement on a mutual visa-free regime came into effect this January. Bilateral pragmatic collaboration is moving into top gear as well.



Nikolic listed the Belt and Road initiative as a focus of bilateral cooperation. He explained that his country is willing to be the best bridge linking China and Europe by utilizing its favorable geographic location, highly-efficient manufacturing, qualified labors and investment-friendly business environment.



Serbia stands ready to deepen cooperation and cement relations with China within the framework of Belt and Road initiative as well as the 16+1 cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European countries, he pledged.



The president also believed that Serbia may grow into a hub for regional economy, trade and flow of commodities after the blueprint on Belt and Road comes into full swing.



The containers, after arriving at Piraeus Port of Greece by sea, can be transported to Central and Eastern European region via the railway connecting Belgrade, capital of Serbia and Budapest, the capital of Hungary, he elaborated, adding that it of great significance to regional transportation network.



Talking about the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation to be hosted by Beijing this May, Nikolic told the Peoples Daily that giving importance to this forum, Serbia will send a high-level delegation to the event.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Political heavyweight calls for maximized China-US cooperation

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 4 Avril 2017



Over the past 45 years after they signed the Shanghai Communique, China and the US have yielded historic progress from their ties despite ups and downs, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and contributing to regional and world peace, stability and development.

By Zhang Niansheng from Peoples Daily Despite of very different political and economic systems, as well as different cultures, China and the US should commit the energy and resources to maximize their cooperation in a series of fields, a US political heavyweight told the Peoples Daily in a recent interview.



These vast differences could have kept us apart and led to hostile relations. In retrospect, it is remarkable that we have been able, for over 45 years, to maintain a focus on the mutual benefits of deepening our relationship, rather than our differences, Madeleine Albright, former State Secretary of the US stressed.



Her remarks came ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming US visit, during which he will meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump.



As a witness and contributor to the development of US-China relationship, the 79-year-old politician, also the first female US State Secretary, has been following the updates of bilateral interactions.



Back to March 28 of 45 years ago, Chinese and the US governments issued the Shanghai Communique, a document ended 20-plus years of diplomatic estrangement between the two countries. It also opened the door to normalize bilateral ties.



Albright believed that the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Shanghai Communique deserves celebration, as it was a historic event that ushered in an incredible period in the development of US-China relationsthe most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.



The document also placed positive and far-reaching impacts on the Asia-Pacific and world arena, the politician added.



Over the past 45 years after they signed the Shanghai Communique, China and the US have yielded historic progress from their ties despite ups and downs, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and contributing to regional and world peace, stability and development.



I have visited China many times since 1977, and each visit has furthered my belief in the importance of building a strong and constructive bilateral relationship, she told the Peoples Daily, calling on the US and Chinese leaders to bear the sustainable development of bilateral ties in mind and avoid unnecessary conflicts.



When there are differences, both countries need to state them clearly, she underlined.



So far, China has grown into the largest trading partner of the US, while the US is the second largest trade partner of China. Both sides have also scored new progress from their cooperation in military, network, people-to-people exchanges as well as local affairs.



The US and China are capable of working in partnership on issues such as global economic growth and job creation, climate change, non-proliferation, regional issues, public health, and many others, Albright pointed out.



In the past, for example, we have seen joint efforts on subjects as diverse as battling Ebola in Africa, cooperation on energy and environmental issues, and the Iran nuclear issue, she elaborated, saying that such cooperation reveals the strategic and global significance of China-US ties.



Commenting on the current bilateral relationship, the 79-year-old woman said that their economic relationship is among the most concerned topics.



I am opposed to protectionist measures of all kinds and am hopeful they can be avoided in the US, she made clear her stance, adding that creating a more open trade and investment environment could defeat forces urging protectionism, strengthen bilateral relations overall, and create concrete benefits for the people of both countries.



Appreciating Chinas unremitting efforts and huge contributions to worlds common development, Albright noted that both the Belt and Road initiative and the AIIB are focused on fulfilling the needs many countries have for improved infrastructure.



Improved infrastructure can lead to enhanced trade and investment and better living standards for all, she explained.



But the politician at the same time stressed the importance of the softer infrastructure needs of good governance, healthcare, education, and transparency. Only with a focus on such issues can improved physical infrastructure make its full contribution to peoples wellbeing, she said at last.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's Beidou reaches world-leading level: white paper Silk Road e-commerce promotes trade among Belt and Road countries Irrigation project in Jiangsu gets world heritage designation Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
The iron ore transshipment and storage facility in Uruguays Nueva Palmira Free Zone can transship 10 million tons per year.



Navios South American Logistics, a subsidiary of Navios Maritime Holdings, inaugurated its newly-completed iron ore transshipment and storage facility in Uruguays Nueva Palmira Free Zone on Thursday.

The facility currently sits on 150 acres, but has an additional 70 acres left for future expansion, the company said.

Navios Logistics Chairman Angeliki Frangou said the facility was completed in four years and can transship 10 million tons per year with a loading rate of 3,900 tons per hour.

The facility can accommodate simultaneous loading of ocean-going vessels and unloading barges and has an initial storage capacity of not less than 700,000 tons of iron ore, Frangou said. The facilities include a new pier for loading ocean-going vessels, a new pier for unloading river barges, and a new mooring location for barge convoys. When the iron ore facility is fully operational, we expect to double the number of our employees to a total of 320 people.

Navios Logistics has a 20-year commitment to provide storage and ore transshipment services at a minimum of 4 million tons annually for Vale International S. A.
With their taskforce dedicated to tackling the American opioid epidemic, President Trump and Chris Christie are finally tackling a problem that lawmakers have been ignoring for years. Even with the presidents knack for hyperbole, he in no way exaggerated when he said at a White House roundtable that this is a total epidemic and I think it's probably, almost un-talked about compared to the severity that we're witnessing. Far from the halls of power in Washington, everyday Americans have been decimated by the two-headed opioid menace: prescription painkillers on the one hand and heroin on the other.

In Rust Belt towns like Huntington, West Virginia, one of four people in a community of 49,000 are dealing with an opioid habit and one out of ten babies born at the local hospital comes into the world addicted, whether to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, or some variation of drug cocktail. In West Virginias hardest-hit countries, there were well over 100 drug overdose deaths for every 100,000 people in 2015. Since then, the numbers have gone off the charts nationwide: over 50,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2016 alone, nearly 13,000 of them from heroin and over 17,500 from legal painkillers like Oxycontin and Vicodin. For the first time in over two decades, life expectancy in America dropped.

Coastal elites talk about places like Huntington with a mix of pity and scorn. The ravages of the heroin crisis arouse their sympathy, but the victims of the epidemic earned their righteous indignation the moment those long-ignored voters decided they would back the one candidate, Donald Trump, who spoke to the burden their communities were being forced to bear. For people in Washington, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, heroin and meth are in large part rural problems that happen safely away from their trendy neighborhoods and rich suburbs. Out of sight, out of mind, at least until those people start voting in a way they dont like.

The irony is that, at the same time liberals look down their noses at the damage drugs have done to Trump Country, their kids are developing habits of their own. Of course, the drug of choice is a much trendier one: cocaine. According to data from the federal government, 1 in 20 people aged 18-25 in the U.S. (an alarming 1.7 million young people) has done cocaine in the past year, and the overdose numbers have been climbing fast. Cocaine was directly responsible for killing 6,800 people in 2015, the second-highest rate recorded this century. If opioids are a regional crisis, cocaine is as well: usage rates are spiking in the Northeast and the Western states, affecting as many as 1 in 10 young adults in places like New Hampshire and Vermont.

Where are all these drugs coming from? As much as the Left is loath to admit it, the president once again has a point. Cross-border trafficking networks are stronger than ever, and the heroin corridor that runs between Mexico and the American Midwest has become a major cash cow for cartels who use drug mules to funnel their Mexican-made heroin across the border. It isnt even just the cartels: a few days ago, a state attorney general from Mexico was indicted on charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines into the U.S. for the past four years.

If heroin trafficking is enjoying banner years, the cocaine trade is also very much on the uptick. Between October 2015 and September 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard stopped 208 tons of cocaine from entering the U.S. -- a new record. Record busts arent good news, though. For every pound of cocaine stopped by the Coast Guard, how many more make their way in?

It doesnt help that production hubs have softened their drug strategies. Colombia especially has been in the middle of a coca-growing boom since President Juan Manuel Santos decided to stop a fumigation program using the pesticide glyphosate in 2015. Against the advice of their American partners, the Colombians decided to abandon glyphosate spraying after one cancer research agency in France, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) claimed there was a link between glyphosate and cancer risk. Never mind that every other international body, including the EPA, the World Health Organization (WHO), and multiple European regulatory groups have all rejected the alleged glyphosate-cancer link.

The cancer link may be disputed, but the results of Santos decision to stop spraying were easy to predict. Coca production in Colombia has exploded since 2015, and the hectares of land planted with coca have grown from 78,000 to 188,000 in just five years. The government in Bogota is trying to pay farmers to switch to other crops, but the farmers have been burned by too many failed incentives to get rid of their cash-cow crops that easily. Meanwhile, all that extra cocaine coming out of Colombia keeps making its way to Miami and points north.

President Trumps tough messages on drugs and crime earned him a lot of grief during the campaign, but there is no denying that America is in the midst of a serious drug crisis and candidate Trump was the only person in 2016s political conversation who really spoke to it. The administrations focus on the addiction epidemic is the right one, but it needs to be combined with a hard-nosed program to cut the Mexican drug cartels down to size and reverse the boom in heroin and cocaine production in Latin America. Otherwise, the new War on Drugs wont go any better than the ones before.
Cops are pulling back and yes, women and minorities will be "hardest hit."

I recently read an article on the results of the reforms of the Chicago Police Department from the Obama Just-Us" Department and the American Criminal Lovers Union. And the results:

Study: Chicago stop-and-frisk numbers drop, more work needed

CHICAGO  A study of the Chicago Police Department's stop-and-frisk procedures released Friday revealed a dramatic decrease in the number of stops since an American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois lawsuit, but found that officers were still targeting racial minorities.

The report by former U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys, the first one issued under an agreement the city reached with the ACLU in 2015, was not surprising to ACLU officials. The organization expected the decrease because of changes in the law and a deal the organization reached with the department that requires officers to fill out more detailed reports of stops than they once did.

According to the report, the number of investigatory stops fell from more than 1.3 million in 2014 and 2015 to just over 54,000 in the first six months of 2016

Lets look at those numbers. Assume 650,000 investigatory stops per year, you've now dropped to around 110,000 per year now. One fifth of the previous numbers. What are the results?:

Chicago murders per year:

2013: 422

2014: 428

2015: 495

2016: 747

2017: 134 (As of March 28, 2017)

You read that right, murder increased 50% in one year.

Not to be outdone, Los Angeles CA:

Police arrests are plummeting across California, fueling alarm and questions

In 2013, something changed on the streets of Los Angeles.

Police officers began making fewer arrests. The following year, the Los Angeles Police Departments arrest numbers dipped even lower and continued to fall, dropping by 25% from 2013 to 2015.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the San Diego Police Department also saw significant drops in arrests during that period.

The statewide numbers are just as striking: Police recorded the lowest number of arrests in nearly 50 years, according to the California attorney generals office, with about 1.1 million arrests in 2015 compared with 1.5 million in 2006.

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.

In Los Angeles, the drop in arrests comes amid a persistent increase in crime, which began in 2014. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck noted that arrests for the most serious crimes have risen along with the numbers of those offenses, while the decrease comes largely from narcotics arrests...

The arrest data include both felonies and misdemeanors  crimes ranging from homicide to disorderly conduct. From 2010 to 2015, felony arrests made by Los Angeles police officers were down 29% and misdemeanor arrests were down 32%.

Two other measures of police productivity, citations and field interviews, have also declined significantly

Those are dramatic numbers that definitely demand scrutiny and explanation, said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who sits on the Public Safety Committee and represents the Westside. If crime was dramatically down, I wouldnt have a problem with arrests going down. But if crime is going up, I want to see arrests going up

Mr. Bonin, you are a supergenius, to steal the term from Wile E. Coyote. Let me explain something to you:

Effective law enforcement is, by its nature, proactive. Cops have to go out, meet people, observe the actions on the street, know the usual suspects who commit most of the crime, terrorizing the people of these, mainly, minority communities. They need to concentrate their efforts on the relatively few people who do commit the crime. And once these criminals are put in jail, guess what? Well, while they are in jail, they cannot rob or murder the people on the street trying to go on with their lives. The fewer the people who are victims of crime, the lower the crime rate is.

A patrolman, seeing a known narcotics seller in areas known for narcotics, will watch him and if he makes suspicious actions (i.e. appears to conduct a drug sale), the officer initiates a stop. As part of the stop, he can conduct a quick pat down of the suspect for safety. He feels a knife or gun in this pocket, he handcuffs the suspect so he cannot get to the weapon and pulls out a pistol. He now has a known felon in possession of a firearm, he is arrested for that, his parole for his last offense is violated and he is taken off the streets.

The results not noted is that when this man is stopped and put away, he did not go to meet a fellow gang member and the group of them see members of a rival gang with the wrong colors, and have a shootout where five people are dead. That is what proactive policing does for the people in a community.

But something has happened on the way to more murders and mayhem. The Eric Holder/Loretta Lynch Justice Departments, in coordination with radical groups like Black Lives Matter and the ACLU, have made the police the targets of lawsuits, interference, harassment and other efforts to stop enforcement of the law. It climaxed with the railroading of six officers from Baltimore Police Department after the death of Freddie Gray.

The results: In many communities, cops are withdrawing to their safe space and going to fireman mode. Fire trucks do not patrol the street, looking for a fire. They are at their stations waiting until a call comes in. Effective policing, cannot act like that. In order to prevent crime, a cop must scan the streets looking for the proverbial smoke.

We, for the moment, (cant say what 2020 will bring) have an administration and an attorney general supportive of law enforcement. However, cops are not trusting by their nature, and after seeing officers being lynched for doing their jobs, will not stick their necks out immediately. Besides their own lives, they have families to worry about, finances, reputations. Darren Wilson did nothing wrong when he shot Michael Brown, yet he is the one who lost his job and is basically in hiding. Browns family is suing Wilson and Ferguson for a fortune. So until cops think they can police without being targeted for a political lynching, crime will go up, and the people hardest hit will be women and minorities.

Michael A. Thiac is a police patrol sergeant, a retired Army intelligence officer and has a great RN wife who helps edit his primitive English. When not patrolling the streets, he can be found on A Cops Watch.
Surrounded by Pennsylvania's Amish country, with its farmland, horses, and buggies, Lancaster School District officials are finding out how expensive it is to have the world come to them  especially if it comes in the form of briefcase-wielding American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys.

On March 28, the district agreed to bow to an ACLU demand to accommodate "immigrant refugees" aged 17 to 21 in a public high school, whose student body typically is aged 14 to 18.

On behalf of six of the immigrants, the ACLU sued the district last July, demanding full integration. Joining the suit with the ACLU were the Philadelphia-based Education Law Center, a recipient of funding from radical billionaire George Soros, and Pepper Hamilton LLP. In the settlement, the district will pony up more than $400,000, according to lancasteronline.com.

The news comes while authorities in Rockville, Maryland are dealing with the fallout of the rape of a 14-year-old girl in a high school bathroom by two illegal aliens aged 17 and 18. The alleged assailants had been placed in the public school apparently without vetting. Rockville is in Montgomery County, a wealthy suburb that has declared itself a "sanctuary" jurisdiction.

The Lancaster district had been sending newly settled refugees to a privately run school called the Phoenix Academy, where the district said their needs could better be met. None of the students, some of whom are from Somalia and Sudan, speaks English. They speak Swahili, Somali, Fur (an indigenous language of Darfur), and Hakha Chin (spoken in southern Asia), according to lancasteronline.com.

The settlement comes on the heels of a ruling by U.S. district judge Edward G. Smith, a 2013 Obama appointee, who issued a preliminary injunction ordering the district to enroll the immigrants in McCaskey High School. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Smith's ruling.

According to district lawyer Howard Kelin, McCaskey will create separate classrooms for refugee students ages 19 to 21.

"These aren't kids," he told a local reporter. "These are young adults."

The district's insurance carrier will pay $300,000 for the plaintiffs' legal fees, according to Lancasteronline.com, "while taxpayers will be on the hook for another $70,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, including plaintiffs' travel and translation."

The district also will create a $66,500 fund for adult education programs for immigrant students who were unable to enroll in the district or those placed at Phoenix since 2013.

The ACLU had been seeking $2 million in legal fees.

Robert Knight is a senior fellow for the American Civil Rights Union.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered his two top deputies to review Obama-era consent decrees that were slapped on police departments nationwide following racial unrest.

Activists fear that the review will lead to many of those consent decrees being withdrawn.

Washington Post:

In a two-page memo released Monday, Sessions said agreements reached previously between the department's civil rights division and local police departments  a key legacy of the Obama administration  will be subject to review by his two top deputies, throwing into question whether all of the agreements will stay in place. The memo was released not long before the department's civil rights lawyers asked a federal judge to postpone until at least the end of June a hearing on a sweeping police reform agreement, known as a consent decree, with the Baltimore Police Department that was announced just days before President Trump took office. "The Attorney General and the new leadership in the Department are actively developing strategies to support the thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country that seek to prevent crime and protect the public," Justice officials said in their filing. "The Department is working to ensure that those initiatives effectively dovetail with robust enforcement of federal laws designed to preserve and protect civil rights." Sessions has often criticized the effectiveness of consent decrees and has vowed in recent speeches to more strongly support law enforcement. Since 2009, the Justice Department opened 25 investigations into law enforcement agencies and has been enforcing 14 consent decrees, along with some other agreements. Civil rights advocates fear that Sessions's memo could particularly imperil the status of agreements that have yet to be finalized, such as a pending agreement with the Chicago Police Department. "This is terrifying," said Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, who spent five years as the department's chief of special litigation, overseeing investigations into 23 police departments such as New Orleans, Cleveland and Ferguson, Mo. "This raises the question of whether, under the current attorney general, the Department of Justice is going to walk away from its obligation to ensure that law enforcement across the country is following the Constitution."

There is no doubt that corruption and racial factors afflict some police departments across the country. But is having Washington hand the cities a consent decree the best way to reform police departments?

Ideally, reform efforts should bring together communities, politicians, and the police. They know best the problems associated with crime and unfair enforcement of the law. They are far more likely than a bunch of civil rights lawyers in Washington to achieve a rough balance between the need to protect the rights of citizens and the need to keep the community safe.

But there are cities where that simply isn't possible, and some sort of action by the Justice Department is called for. What Sessions wants to do is make sure the scales against police departments don't tip too far in the direction of lax enforcement. Too many of these consent decrees cite an imbalance in the racial makeup of those arrested. While not the sole criterion for issuing a consent decree, it is too often used to tie the hands of local police from doing an effective job.

Liberals will howl, but reviewing these consent decrees is the right thing to do  especially given the Obama administration's reliance on race-based criteria to address a problem that cuts across racial and economic lines. Hopefully, the review will lead to DoJ working with departments and local communities to improve the safety and security of residents.
The Philadelphia chapter of Black Lives Matter have explicitly banned white people from an organizational meeting.

In response to a concerned white person who didn't want to "overstep," BLM tweeted that the meeting was "black centered."

Daily Caller:

@BLMPhilly is it just your meetings that are black only spaces? or are all activities this way? I want to support but don't want to overstep pic.twitter.com/X5yvFBh9jU  Esther Greenwood (@_kevinjamesfan6) April 2, 2017 Our meetings are black centered https://t.co/Ew5Z5dEI5k  BLM Philly (@BLMPhilly) April 3, 2017 Anyone who identifies as "African disapora" is allowed to attend, the group explained over Twitter. "If you identify as a person of the African Diaspora You can attend our meetings and become a member. If not you can support us in other ways," Philly BLM said in a tweet. "African Disapora" usually refers to people who were taken out of Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trades.

Does that mean that a recent immigrant from Africa isn't welcome?

One Twitter user pointed out that Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. worked side by side with whites to accomplish his goals. Philly Black Lives Matter responded by saying that was King's decision. He made that choice and we have made ours. White people can support us but they cannot attend our meetings. https://t.co/7FeZ4hW3CY  BLM Philly (@BLMPhilly) April 3, 2017 The group also referred to Malcolm X, saying he too had banned whites from his meetings on race.

Malcolm X was heavily criticized by other black leaders for that policy. As it turned out, Dr. King was right, and Malcolm X and other black nationalists were wrong.

Regardless, the Philadelphia BLM chapter is perfectly willing to take white people's money and embrace their support for the organization. But when it comes to planning and organization, whites are not wanted. It raises the question: why would anyone  white or black  sit still for this kind of discrimination? If blacks aren't expected to tolerate being excluded, neither should whites.
Joseph diGenova is a former U.S. attorney and a man of impeccable honor. I don't believe he would put out a false story, a la Susan Rice. The intrepid Richard Pollock of The Daily Caller reports:

Former President Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice ordered U.S. spy agencies to produce "detailed spreadsheets" of legal phone calls involving Donald Trump and his aides when he was running for president, according to former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova.

"What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals," diGenova told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group Monday.

"The overheard conversations involved no illegal activity by anybody of the Trump associates, or anyone they were speaking with," diGenova said. "In short, the only apparent illegal activity was the unmasking of the people in the calls."

Other official sources with direct knowledge and who requested anonymity confirmed to TheDCNF diGenova's description of surveillance reports Rice ordered one year before the 2016 presidential election.
Much like the ancient Egyptians, who carved the length of the Sun God's golden arm into the Cubit Stone* and decreed that all the empire's measurements must derive from it, our career politicians measure all legislation against a rule that states that anyone already receiving a government check must continue to receive it. Forever.

This is why the government keeps reinsuring and reinsuring and paying for (and paying for again) the destroyed luxury beachfront properties built on hurricane-bait sandbars a mile offshore. It's why when we know that subsidizing single mothers leads to horrendous social pathologies, we ignore their behavior and continue to send them checks. Then more checks.

And of course, it was exactly with this standard of guaranteed entitlements that Paul Ryan began, he said, to "repeal" Obamacare  that is, by insisting that the twenty million people having health care premiums paid by Obamacare are untouchable. There is a program to give poor people medical coverage called Medicaid, but that's neither here nor there. There's an underground economy in this country that in toto may be greater than the entire economy of Japan, and a huge chunk of these people invisibly draw some or all of their income from that source, but that's neither here nor there. And the appalling truth that while twenty million may have gained coverage, a far greater number of working people lost it by having their deductibles jump to $5,000 or $10,000 or more, money they don't have, is neither here nor there, either.

Even the fact that few of these twenty million recipients voted Republican in the last election doesn't matter.

Because almost every politician believes that he could paint giant Dukes of Hazzard-style Confederate flags on the top of their government limousines and expose themselves to the next group of Iowa high school girls touring the Capitol rotunda and still stand a better chance of surviving politically than they would if they took someone's check away. Anyone's check. Because do it  vote to take school lunch money away from parents who make over $250,000 a year  and they'll be accused of starving kids. Vote to defund Planned Parenthood, and they'll be accused of denying vulnerable women vital medical services. Vote to defund the going nowhere in their sustainable energy research government-supported algae farms, and they'll be accused of being in the pay of big oil. And so on.

Better not to try. Besides, it's not as though they're giving their own money away.

And so, in Washington's Looney-Tunes world, once someone gets a government check, it's locked in. Even those millionaires building their beachfront homes in Hurricane Alley. Indeed, they stand about as much chance of being defunded as Congress itself.

But here's the sad part  a tragedy, really. Donald J. Trump is not a politician  it's why we elected him. He didn't have to get behind Paul Ryan's insane plan to tweak Obamacare just enough that he and the Republican Party would wind up owning that disaster. President Trump could have just stuck with his campaign trail arguments and advocated a free market in health care and, maybe in that way, killed the beast outright. He could even have elected to do nothing and let Obamacare implode.

But he didn't.

And this despite the fact that the worst that could happen was that at the end of four years, he'd be living back in his gold-encrusted four-story penthouse in the sky.

* Yes, this is the source of the biblical measurement and, at something like a yard, probably the origin of Imperial Measurements  and so (more or less) the system used by the only nation able put a man on the Moon. You should make this point when your ten-year-old son or daughter comes home all in a tizzy about the new and much more modern and logical metric system the teacher is pushing.
What if former President Obama had sent Michelle to negotiate for him at a NATO summit? What if Bill Clinton had sent one of his half-brothers to make peace in the Middle East?

Conservatives would be outraged. They would say Obama and Clinton are doing an end run around government, using nepotism to appoint unqualified envoys to do the jobs of government officials.

But when President Trump sent Jared Kushner to meet the leader of Iraq, not a sound can be heard. Not a conservative is stirring, not even a mouse. The photo-op of Jared Kushner going to Iraq and meeting with their prime minister is embarrassing. Foreign policy should be conducted by members of the State and Defense Departments who are confirmed by the Senate. By circumventing them, Trump is circumventing the constitutional requirement for Senate confirmation.

President Trump can have whomever he likes to advise him  Jared Kushner, Ivanka, Tiffany, even Barron. But the Constitution says those who have executive authority, those who take action on behalf of the government outside giving advice to the president, are required to be confirmed by the Senate. President Trump is setting a terrible example for future presidents, who will know they can ignore Senate confirmation by having their personal representatives circumvent government and set policy. Trumpistas may be excited when Trump does it, but what about when the next Democrat president does?

In the meantime, who is Jared Kushner? By many accounts, he is a liberal Democrat  or, as Mark Levin puts it, "some 32-year-old, liberal Democrat kid out of New York" with "an old-time liberal Democrat protectionist" policy.

His limited life experience has been in real estate. What it is about real estate that gives him the experience to negotiate with the leader of Iraq? Absolutely nothing. In the meantime, here are the things we know about that Kushner has been put in charge of:

That trust has resulted in a vast portfolio that so far includes negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, helping oversee relations with Canada, China and Mexico and, as of this week, reinventing the federal government through the new White House Office of American Innovation. "He's saving the government and the Middle East at the same time," one senior administration official quipped. He involves himself in high-level discussions on all manner of policy priorities, ranging from health care and tax reform to trade policy. In foreign policy, he's been publicly tasked with solving Middle East peace, while also handling Canada, China and Mexico issues. In a move that's alarming the West Wing's hardline conservatives, Kushner is increasingly aligning himself with national economic adviser Gary Cohn, who's participating in Kushner's innovation office and a Democrat whose moderate political positions in some ways mirror Kushner's own. Kushner played a key role in arranging for health expert Zeke Emanuel, an architect of Obamacare, to meet at the White House three times with senior staff and at least once with the president himself to discuss healthcare[.]

Subverting the constitutional requirement for confirmation.

Totally inexperienced.

Hopelessly liberal.

All part, I'm sure, of President Trump's secret plan to save America. One thing is for sure: maybe we can't understand the plan now, but the end result will be big and beautiful.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.
A high-ranking North Korean diplomat who defected last year told Lester Holt of NBC News that the "world should be ready" to deal with a "desperate" Kim Jong-un, who may launch nuclear missiles at the U.S. and its allies at the slightest provocation.

Thae Yong-ho said North Korea is developing a long-range missile that can hit the U.S. and that he would strike if there were an "imminent threat" of attack from the U.S.

NBC News:

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 added in an exclusive interview on Sunday. Thae was living in London and serving as North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom when he and his family defected to South Korea and were announced to the world in August. He was not directly involved in North Korea's weapons program but believes his country "has reached a very significant level of nuclear development." North Korea is estimated to have upward of eight nuclear weapons but has not demonstrated the ability to attach them to a long-range rocket, an ICBM, capable of hitting the U.S. Analysts are unsure exactly how close the regime is to achieving this aim, but a senior official told NBC News in January that his government was ready to test-fire an ICMB "at any time, at any place." Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told NBC News that American officials were particularly troubled by this latest 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." Thae's interview with NBC News comes against a backdrop of rising tensions surrounding North Korea, which has significantly increased its missile and nuclear tests under Kim's rule.

There are many unknowns about North Korea that make any threat of this kind particularly dangerous. For instance, it is thought that Kim's hold on power is tenuous at best. Evidence for this comes from the frequent arrests and executions of high-ranking officials and even members of his own family. Just last month, it is widely believed, Kim ordered the assassination of his half-brother in Malaysia.

The uncertain hold he has on power feeds a paranoia driving the North Korean missile program. While the reliability of their missiles is in question, the range of their weapons continues to increase. Their most recent test was of a modified sub-launched missile with a range that could hit most of Japan.

U.S. officials are watchful, but wary:

President Donald Trump told the Financial Times newspaper on Monday that "something had to be done" about North Korea. This came after Defense Secretary James Mattis said the country "has got to be stopped" and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said military action was "on the table." "It does feel more dangerous  I'll give you three reasons," according to Adm. James Stavridis, an NBC News analyst and dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. "One is [Kim's] own precarious situation in command of the nation. Number two is the instability in South Korea. We've just seen the South Korean president indicted, arrested, and incarcerated." "And, number three, a new and more aggressive American foreign policy coming from Washington," he added.

It appears that the U.S. and its allies  and China  are tiring of Kim's boasts and threats. But what to do about it is another issue altogether. President Trump will meet with Chinese president Xi this week, and you can bet that what to do about North Korea will be at the top of their agenda. It is believed that only China  whose trade and security assistance North Korea cannot live without  holds the key to reining in Kim. Whether the Chinese will see it in their strategic interest to put pressure on North Korea to behave will depend at least in part on the rapport the president can build with Xi.

Time is no longer on our side. While the North is not close to developing a missile that can hit the U.S., it may be on the cusp of being able to construct a warhead for the missiles they already have. That spells trouble for Japan and South Korea, who are currently on the front lines of any potential conflict.
For many weeks, we've watched the Democrats and their allies in the media attempt to hide what is now an established fact: the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign and transition team. The principal method of obfuscation is an effort to link Trump's people to Russia's efforts to influence our election. But there is a secondary effort that also needs to be addressed.

Ridicule is a powerful weapon. There a consistent media effort to ridicule President Trump by intentionally misunderstanding him. There is a parallel effort to ridicule the discoveries of House Intelligence chairman Nunes by questioning his methods for getting to the truth. The important point is that Nunes got to the truth.

Eli Lake writing in BloombergView reports that on dozens of occasions, Obama national security adviser Susan Rice requested raw intelligence reports involving members of the Trump team.

The intelligence, which is routinely collected on foreign nationals, adheres to a strict policy of masking any American inadvertently eavesdropped upon. On multiple occasions, Rice had the American Trump team members unmasked. Quoting Lake, "[o]ne U.S. official familiar with the reports said they 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." That is spying, pure and simple.

We all need to guard against letting our partisan perspectives interfere with sound judgment.

I want my liberal friends to ponder the following. The raw intelligence came from the NSA. They collect virtually everything communicated electronically. I'm told that the NSA often picks ordinary private face-to-face conversions. When a government official can pick through NSA transcripts, identify the ones she wants, remove all privacy safeguards, disseminate them, and leak them to the press, we've effectively repealed the Fourth Amendment.

We have been distracted by the investigations of Russian interference in our election and by the Democrats' vain hope of tying the Trump team to this interference. All we know about Russian influence is that they hacked John Podesta's emails. We can all agree that hacking into and disseminating other people's private communications is a bad thing. It's bad if the Russians did it, but not really any worse than if it had been done by a teenager in the next block. Hacking is a bad  period.

There is one case where we as Americans add an extra dimension to bad actions: when our government does bad things using the coercive power we reserve for the State, it is extraordinarily bad. That's why we have the Bill of Rights. That is also why Susan Rice's actions are worse than the Russians'.

It's difficult to sell that idea to many Democrats. They are convinced that absent the hacking and the imagined Trump collusion, Hilary would be president. We expect that from Democrats. They never lose an election fairly. These are the people who still believe that in the 2000 election, the Supreme Court selected Bush over Gore. Their belief is unshakable, even in the face of extensive research conducted by a consortium of news organizations including the NY Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and five other organizations. The consortium concluded that Bush won Florida and therefore won the presidency.

This sort of carping, then and now, is almost too boring to bother with. But let's list two quick points.

1. According to James Comey, the Russians did not affect the outcome of the election.

2. According to Nunes Democrat counterpart Adam Schiff, "there is no definitive evidence of a Trump-Russia connection." There is no publicly available evidence of any sort that there is a connection. The congressman promises to keep digging through the shifting sands until he gets to the bottom. Maybe there's a bottom, but more likely he's just forgotten the first rule of holes.

Congressman Nunes is to be commended. He revealed a plot that is a stain our belief in the peaceful transfer of power. It is amazing that anyone is concerned by his methods. In context, his methods are completely appropriate. He went to the executive office building to view Susan Rice's sign-in, sign-out logs in the secure facility. That's the only place such logs exist. He met with President Trump. Well, of course he did. Having just discovered that you were spied upon, you wouldn't meet with the president?

The last lines of defense against Nunes's revelations are his sources. They are White House appointees. If the information they provide is accurate, why is the source an issue? On a human level, it is interesting to know that the man known as Deep Throat who led Woodward and Bernstein through the maze of Nixon's deceptions was a fellow named Mark Felt. But if his identity had never been revealed, nothing would change. The facts that came to light mattered, not the source. The situation here is exactly the same.

Finally, we come to ridiculing and exaggerating what President Trump said. Both Chuck Todd and Jake Tapper, guys who play journalists on TV, insist they can read Trump's mind. His accusation that Obama had "wiretapped" Trump tower meant a literal actual wiretap at the tower. Most people recognize metaphors. To make it easy for us to understand his meaning, Trump put "wiretapped" in scare quotes. Trump is clearly saying the Obama administration spied on him. He is correct. Some of the intercepted conversations probably did come from Trump Tower.

I have two questions for Todd and Tapper. When meeting with a whistleblower, do you ask to inspect his whistle? When you encounter a leak, do you put your finger in the dike?

Here's what we know. The Russians played a little mischief in our election, but with no discernible effect. The claim that the Trump team colluded with Russians is a typical Democrat excuse for their election loss. The mainstream media have gone beyond their normal bounds in their efforts to discredit both President Trump and Chairman Nunes. Mr. Todd and Mr. Tapper are even sillier than they appear to be. Finally, we know that the Obama administration spied on the Trump team and perhaps even on President Trump.
As I remember, Harry Nillsson composed and Three Dog Night used to sing a great song that went like this:

...one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know.

It was one of those 45s that I probably still have in a box in the closet.

One is indeed the loneliest number when it comes to love, but zero is the worst number when it comes to health care choices.

According to a New York Times report, zero will soon be reality in many parts of the country:

Many counties already have just one insurer offering health plans in the Obamacare marketplaces, and some of those solo insurers are showing signs that they are eyeing the exits. Humana announced this year that theyd be leaving the markets altogether next year. That means there are parts of Tennessee that will have no insurance options unless another insurer decides to enter. And Anthem, which operates in 14 states, is getting nervous, an industry analyst told Bloomberg News this week. Its departure would be a much bigger problem. According to an analysis of government data by Katherine Hempstead at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Anthem is currently the only insurance carrier in nearly 300 counties, serving about a quarter of a million people.

I wonder what all those people with zero choices think of Obamacare imploding! It's very real to them, isn't it?

"Zero choices" makes a mockery of one of the objectives of Obamacare, or insurance for all. Perhaps we should change its name to the Unaffordable and Not Always Available Health Care Act.

The lack of choices also puts the failed Obamacare vote last month in a new perspective. The consensus was that the GOP blew a chance, and maybe they did. However, Obamacare's problems will make change even more possible now that reality, not the GOP, is killing the law.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
RT News is reporting that the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg subway Monday was the work of a Kyrgyz national with Russian citizenship. Based on the photos shown, he appears to be an Islamic militant.

We don't hear much from Kyrgyzstan, a relatively small Central Asian Muslim state situated among three giants: China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. It is a major producer of gold, and its fertile green valleys are ideal for agriculture, which it has been trying to develop. It was last heard from in the news when one of its nationals shot up a club in Istanbul, Turkey on New Year's Eve, creating massive casualties.

Well, they are back.

It's exceptionally bad news because terrorism tends to encourage other terrorism, and it may mean that ISIS, which claimed credit for the Petersburg attack, has infiltrated its society.

Here's another reason it's bad: it raises questions as to whether Russia can be of any use as a partner to the West in the war on ISIS. President Vladimir Putin does talk tough about terrorists and, where he has the space to do it, can crack down hard. But with Russians wary of any war (they all know how badly their soldiers have been treated in the aftermath; there is no wounded warrior social network), Putin may not have the public behind him. Ergo, Russia may be too weak as an ally to fight ISIS despite its national interests as the cultural guardian of orthodoxy, its geographical proximity to terrorist nesting grounds in the Middle East, and its impressive reputation for a hard hand against miscreants. They might just not be able to do it, given the problems emerging in what is known as its "Near Abroad," the scruffy Central Asian states on much of its southern border. They've got a big emerging problem here.

And don't think they aren't the first victim of it. Russia has a largely unguarded border and the largest population of illegals outside the U.S. (go figger  the reality is, the place is not as bad as the human rights groups paint it  its World Bank rankings on economic freedom are fairly good), and Russia is a major trans-shipment point of migrants to Europe through Murmansk and St. Petersburg. So this emerging terrorism problem with Kyrgyzstan is not just a problem for themselves; rather, it has potential to spread to western Europe. They may not be able to be helpful.

Fundamentalism has been popping up a lot in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Kazakhstan. Over the summer, there were several internal incidents, apparently combinations of coups and terrorism, though the Russian and Kazakh governments dismissed these incidents as tribal. Neighboring Uzbekistan seems to be more stable  the place has a lot of people and dates back to the tsarist empire and so seems to be an articulate state  and so far, the fundamentalist infection has not hit them. But those other areas are emerging trouble spots. Kyrgyzstan also is quite close to Xinjiang, where Islamic fundamentalism is a growing problem and of great concern to China.

Kazakhstan (which RT names in its report as an initial possible supplier of suspects) is significant because it has had currency devaluation that is horrifically destabilizing to anyone who has to live inside the country because it drives up prices and destroys savings. It was done by state policy with likely Russian connivance, in a conversation I roughly recall last summer with Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke because it enabled Kazakhstan to corner the global uranium market, including our uranium with their hard currency, through Hillary Clinton's dirty deal. This had been the plan since 2009, and Hanke had firsthand knowledge of the Kazakhs' initial efforts to stabilize their currency. The weak Kazakh currency drove down the global commodity price of uranium (they are the Saudi Arabia of uranium) and made it impossible for legitimate producers to stay in business over in Australia, Canada, and the states. The U.S. has just one or two working uranium mines as a result, something that alarms some of my sources in the Department of Energy. Australia is in a very similar bad way. The Canadians, who control very big companies such as Cameco, are in best shape, but they have suffered, too.

Driving down the currency, which drove down the price of uranium, upon which all nuclear power and nuclear weapons are derived, was a strategy to take over the industry. It worked, but now we have a Muslim fundamentalism problem in that country and in Kyrgyzstan, which has also seen fearsome devaluations as a small country with an economy tied to Russia and China, both of which have devalued in recent years. It has desperately tried to stabilize its currency, probably with only partial luck. It does not help that it is a major shipper of legal illegal immigrants (1 million) and relies on remittances, which the World Bank says tend to keep a country underdeveloped. But give it credit: it has tried.

Currency devaluation may be great for cornering the market on strategic national resources, but it makes everyone and everything suffer on the inside.

Now it's spilling over to Russia's borders and may go beyond that. Unless a hardcore free-market regime is instituted (something Hanke would be more than capable of doing), the terror attacks on St. Petersburg only expose the quietly festering problems Russia has with its near abroad, which may impact its capacity to fight terror beyond its borders to keep it from spreading.
The U.S. State Department informed U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker that the United States is cutting off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, an international program that promotes abortion and sterilizations.

In January, the Trump administration announced a return to the "Mexico City policy" of not funding international aid programs that encourage women to get abortions.

Reuters:

Known by critics as the "global gag" rule, Trump broadened its scope to include all global health assistance in his Jan. 23 executive order that withholds at least half a billion dollars in U.S. funds. A lack of clarity around the rule, however, has left aid groups scrambling and both Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers seeking clarity. In a statement on its website, UNFPA said it regrets the U.S. decision to end funding, which it said is based on an "erroneous claim" that the agency supports coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China. UNFPA said its mission is "to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young persons potential is fulfilled." "The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises," the statement said. The cut follows Trump's proposed 28 percent budget reduction for diplomacy and foreign aid, including an unspecified reduction in financial support for the United Nations and its agencies, announced last month. U.N. agencies such as the UNFPA are funded by governments voluntarily. The United States was the fourth-largest voluntary donor to UNFPA in 2015, giving $75 million in core budget and earmarked contributions. U.N. officials have warned that abrupt funding cuts could trigger more global instability and argued that dollars for diplomacy are more effective than military spending in combating terrorism.

Leaving aside the sophistry of that last statement, the idea of associating abortion with "family planning" or "population control" is morally repugnant. It's also a racist policy. It presupposes that babies of color in the Third World are less valuable than babies born in the West.

Forced sterilizations are almost as problematic. Population control advocates are foisting these policies on poor people, violating their individual rights and oftentimes the values and traditions they hold dear.

All the warnings from the 1970s about Earth being unable to sustain the population we have today were proved spectacularly wrong. The "Green Revolution" has allowed the planet to support a population that the naysayers like overpopulation guru Paul Ehrlich said would be impossible.

U.N. ambassador Haley says other U.N. agencies on the block include human rights and peacekeeping programs. Both agencies have long been eyed by U.N. opponents as examples of U.N. overreach and hypocrisy. Advocates say the cuts will weaken the U.N.

Yes. And their point is...?
As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.
19th Century French Painters & the Last Days of Pompeii.

Some cities never die; Pompeii is no exception. As we saw last week the final days of this noble city attracted painters in the previous century, and this fascination with Pompeii never subsided. Bryullovs tour de force of 1833 opened the floodgates to artists of all nationalities. Leading the French charge were artists like Joseph Franque (1774-1833), Frederic Schopin (1804-1880) and Hector Leroux (1829-1900). Hailing from a small village in the south of France, Franque and his brother trained in Grenoble, with Joseph eventually going on to Paris and becoming a pupil of Jacques Louis David. After exhibiting a classical subject, Hercules Rescuing Alcestis from the Underworld (1806), Franque went to Italy in 1814 near the end of Napoleons reign. Franque settled in Naples where he became a respected professor. Franques highly academic and overcharged Scene during the Eruption of Vesuvius (1827) (above) was the last work the artist sent to the Paris salon. [1] Schopin was born to a French family in northern Germany and he trained in the Paris studio of Antoine-Jean Gros, one of Davids star pupils. Schopins apocalyptic and chaotic vision of Pompeii pulls out all the stops including a fiery sky and a raging flood. Wether Schopin travelled to Pompeii is unknown, but in 1848 the Academy of St Petersburg named him a member. In Russia Schopin undoubtedly saw Bryullovs painting of Pompeiis demise ; other influences include Gericaults Raft of the Medusa (1819) and Chasserieaus Tepidarium (1853). Leroux was a member of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and a confirmed classicist. His Herculaneum 23rd August AD 79 (1881) shows a group of three exhausted Vestal Virgins watching the volcanic eruption; the group may be based upon a design of a mirror from Pompeii known through engravings by Tommaso Piroli.
Modern Art Discovers Pompeii (1): Surrealist Views of Pompeii and Gradiva.

If there is one solid link between Pompeii and surrealist art, then it is Wilhelm Jensens 1903 novella Gradiva: A Pompeii Fancy ; or, one could argue, Sigmund Freuds commentary on Gradiva which became more influential than the novella itself. [1] Gradiva gave Freud plenty of material to work on as it is the story of a neurotic archaeologist Harold Norbert who becomes obsessive about the young woman of the title who he believes lived in ancient Pompeii. Norbert associates the girl with an ancient relief, buys it, and pursues Gradiva to Pompeii itself. For Freud, the archaeology within this story became a model for the process of psychoanalysis: the analyst dredging things from the patients subconscious was analogous to the archaeologist uncovering different strata. Freud owned a cast of the original Gradiva which is now in the Vatican; it would have been this image that would have confronted patients lying down on his couch in his consulting rooms in Vienna or London. Many surrealist artists like Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, and Andre Masson were heavily influenced by Freuds ideas so it is unsurprising to find Gradiva appearing as a theme in their work. Breton, a doctor, was the leader of the surrealists, and his Surrealist Manifesto is heavily dependent on Freuds writings. In 1937 Breton opened a gallery on the Rive Gauche which he christened Gradiva. Marcel Duchamp was responsible for its design; he gave its door the form of a double cast shadow. The Spanish surrealist Salvador gave his wife Gala the nickname of Gradiva. In Dalis eponymous Gradiva , the ancient Pompeiian is a symbol of his wife whom he married in 1934; Gradiva thus became Gala/Gradiva. The ruins in the background do not specifically reference Pompeii, but Dali certainly knew about its excavation. According to Picasso, Dali had become obsessed with the human body cats from Pompeii and proposed casting entire sections of Paris to create a similar record of a simulated modern mass destruction. [2] The most jarring interpretation of the Gradiva story was left to Masson who depicted the scene of Gradivas death during the eruption of Vesuvius (above). [3] The actual figure is based on the Vatican Sleeping Ariadne ; but the bright colours seem to evoke the vivid wall painting of Pompeii, while the whole yokes the ancient and the contemporary together in some surrealist dream fantasy in which Gradiva is cast as a symbol of the female ideal, another obsession of the surrealists.

[1] Victoria C. Gardner Coates, Pompeii on the Couch: The Modern Fantasy of Gradiva in Last Days of Pompeii , 70-77, and no 14.

[2] Last Days of Pompeii , no. 15.
The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces 60 times, from late Monday night to early Tuesday morning.

April 4, 2017, 09:22 Azerbaijan fired from sniper rifles at night

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 4 ARTSAKHPRESS: During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 900 shots toward the position-holders of the Republic of Artsakh Defense Army, and with different-caliber shooting weapons, including sniper rifles, the defense army informed.

But the Artsakh defense army vanguard units continued reliably maintaining their military positions, and they took actions in response when necessary.
HENRY LAZENBY | Creamer Media Reporter

MARINE mining hopeful Nautilus Minerals will shortly start submerged testing of its fleet of seafloor production tools, following the equipments arrival in Papua New Guinea.

"We are delighted to be undertaking submerged trials in PNG. The trials will result in money and investment going into the PNG economy, and the employment of Papua New Guineans in state of the art technology, which are some of the key benefits of seafloor production, CEO Mike Johnston said on Monday.

The trials also allow us to work closely with our partner Petromin, government officers from the various government agencies, as well as representatives from provincial governments in New Ireland and East New Britain.

The submerged trials will happen in an existing facility on Motukea Island near Port Moresby.
With a growing number of aging inmates, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Tuesday the state's prison system is facing challenges, including increasing health care costs.

A report released by DiNapoli found the number of inmates age 50 and older increased 46 percent from 2007 to 2016. The rise occurred as the state's overall inmate population declined over the last decade.

In 2007, there were 63,304 inmates in the state prison system and nearly 11 percent of them  6,945  were at least 50 years old.

Last year, there were 52,344 inmates being held in the state's correctional facilities and 19 percent  10,140  were age 50 and older.

The rising number of older inmates could be a factor as the state's prisoner health care costs increase. The state doesn't have costs by age group available, DiNapoli's review found inmate health care costs increased to more than $380 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year. The health care expenses rose $64.5 million over a three-year period.

DiNapoli said more data is needed to help the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and lawmakers to develop strategies for addressing the rising costs.

"New York must confront the challenges of an aging inmate population," DiNapoli said in a statement. "We need to better understand and study the issues and examine what others are doing effectively to determine an approach that protects taxpayers, keeps the public safe and provides humane care."

There are a few ideas floated by DiNapoli in the report. He touted the benefits of medical parole, which has allowed for the release of 327 inmates since the program was established in 1992. The state has saved more than $15 million by granting medical parole to certain inmates, state officials said.

Recidivism rates are generally low for older inmates and that's especially true for those who are released on medical parole. From 1992 through 2014, only six inmates who were granted medical parole returned to prison.

Executive clemency is another possibility, but it's only granted in rare cases. Since 2006, governors have received 2,601 petitions for executive clemency. Fifteen of the requests were granted.

There are facilities within DOCCS that aid aging inmates, including a 30-bed unit at Fishkill Correctional Facility that treats inmates with Alzheimer's, Huntington's and and Parkinson's diseases.

In his executive budget proposal this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for nearly $500,000 to create a 50-bed dormitory at Ulster Correctional Facility that would house inmates who are age 55 or older.
Brexit voters blamed for Croydon attack on Reker Ahmed

Having couched the brutal attack on three Kuridish-Iranian asylum seekers as a hate crime fuelled by racism and prejudice rather than individual malice, a violent assault triggered by Brexit, facts are emerging from the Croydon crime scene. Its believed the mayhem began after the attackers learned the trio were asylum-seekers. But we dont know what happened. Not yet.

Police have made 13 arrests. The youngest suspect in the attack that left Reker Ahmed with a blood clot on the brain and a fractured spine is a 15-year-old boy. We dont know his politics.

The latest batch of alleged attackers charged with violent disorder are: James Neves, 22; Liam Neylen and Ellie Leite, both 19; Kyran Evans, 23; and a 17-year-old girl and the aforesaid 15-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Ben Harman, 20, and a 17-year-old boy, who also cannot be named, are accused of violent disorder and racially aggravated GBH. Mr Harman is also charged with dangerous driving. Add them to the list appearing before the Beak at Croydon Magistrates Court.

We dont know the suspects political beliefs or attitudes to immigration, the EU and multiculturalism. But the brutal crime has been used by Remain-supporting politicians to condemn all of the 17.4m aspirational, radical voters who sought self-determination, change, progress and a more accountable political class by voting for Brexit. As shadow home secretary Diane Abbott opined: Sadly [this] is not an isolated incident but part of a sustained increase in hate crimes With right-wing politicians across the world scapegoating migrants, refugees and others for their economic problems, we are seeing a deeply worrying rise in the politics of hate. We must make clear that there is no place for anti-foreigner myths, racism and hate in our society.

But before you nutters who voted for Brexit beat yourself with sticks and wonder how exercising your democratic vote turned you into such a violent bigot worthy of contempt, a word on what hate crime is. According to the CPS: A Hate Incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someones prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender. If you think its a hate crime, it is one. Its an imaginary and politicised crime, an instrument to be wielded by the knowing against naysayers, free speech and free thought. There are many offences covered by acts of bigotry and violence. But a hate crime frames everything in social attitudes.

As for the victim, the BBC says Mr Ahmed is on the mend. Good news. We hope he makes a full recovery and helps to nail the bastards who attacked him. Police have still not had any luck contacting his family who they believe live in Iran. Meanwhile, a fundraising page set up to help him has raised more than 22,000.

As for the investigation, the Standard says as many as a dozen or more suspects are through [sic] to be still at large. Readers hear from Patson Ngoma, the landlord of The Goat, a pub close to where the crime began.On the day all of us were having a nice time, he says. It was just a normal day like any other day. We didnt hear anything, we didnt know anything.

There was no far-Right march on the day of the attack. The pub close to the scene of the attack is not a haven for racists. But it is lively. In 2016, the Croydon Guardian reported: Councillors met on Monday to decide the fate of The Goat in Broom Road, which had been visited a number of times by police because of criminal and anti-social behaviour. One occasion, a firework was thrown at officers dealing with hostile customers at the pub.

Maybe it wasnt a hate crime. Maybe Reka Ahmed was unlucky to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Well know more soon enough.

Such are the facts.

Paul Sorene

Posted: 4th, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
TUNIS - Libyan Airlines will restart flights between Tripoli and the Tunisian island of Djerba beginning April 6, with two flights per week on Thursday and Sunday, said airline spokesman Saad Abu Khatwa.

The flights had been suspended for the past six years.

Without a flight, the only way to reach the two destinations is by car, which is difficult due to frequent road blocks along the coastal road from the Libyan capital to the Tunisian border.
BRUSSELS - A suspected Syrian regime sarin gas attack that killed 58 people including 11 children near the Syrian city of Idlib is "horrible" and "a dramatic reminder of the fact that the situation on the ground continues to be dramatic," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said Tuesday.



"Obviously there is a primary responsibility of the regime, because its responsibility is to protect its people, not attack them", she said on the eve of a meeting of ministers of the Conference on the Future of Syria. The issue of responsibility in Syria is "central", Mogherini told international news agencies including ANSA. She said the Syrians must decide on the future of President Bassar al-Assad but it was "unrealistic" to think he could stay on.



"Impunity is not an option" over the attack, Mogherini said. "Whoever is responsible must account for it", Mogherini added. UNICEF Italia spokesman Andrea Iacomini told ANSA that "the images are shocking, humanity died in Syria today". Speaking with tears in his eyes, Iacomini said "the international community, after six years of hell, must put an end to this ordeal". He added: "There are no children of Assad or of the rebels, they are all victims of a war that they did not want." Iacomini urged Italian politicians to condemn the attack.






At least 58 dead in Syrian airstrike with suspicious gas According to SOHR, in insurgent-controlled Idlib province

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 4 - Opposition sources in Syria said "dozens" of people were killed in an airstrike in insurgent-controlled Idlib province, in which chemical weapons were used.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Tuesday that 35 people, including 9 children, were killed.



Images online show medical workers intubating a child, and another child with an oxygen mask.



Eyewitnesses reported victims of the intoxication were vomiting and foaming at the mouth.



The Syrian coalition of opposition forces, with its headquarters abroad, accused government planes of conducting the airstrikes.



Idlib province is controlled by groups of insurgents and members of Fatah al Sham (formerly Al Nusra Front). According to the United Nations, Idlib hosts 900,000 Syrians displaced from other war zones.(ANSAmed).




'Doctors suspect sarin gas' in Syria chemical weapons attack But activist organisations provide no clarifications

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 4 - Mohammed Hassoun, who was cited by the AP as a member of an opposition information centre in the area of Idlib province in Syria, said that sarin gas may have been used in an attack in the area on Tuesday, referring to reports from doctors.



Eyewitnesses reported that victims exhibited symptoms including convulsions, foaming at the mouth, respiratory difficulties and dilated pupils.



None of the activist organisations that denounced the attack specified the type of gas that may have been used.



Hassoun said he heard doctors say that it was likely more than one gas was used, but they tended to rule out chlorine because it "doesn't provoke these convulsions".



In describing the symptoms of the victims being treated in hospital, the same source said that many of them were "unconscious and convulsing, and when an oxygen mask was applied to their faces they began bleeding from the nose and mouth".



(ANSAmed).




ROME - Lebanese Industry Minister Hussein El Hajj Hassan said Tuesday that his country needs the help of the international community and in particular the European Union in order to face what he called a "very dangerous" economic situation.



Hassan spoke at a roundtable organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) at Rome's Villa Celimontana, on the subject of access to credit for women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.



"Public debt is very high and the presence of Syrian refugees continues to weigh heavily," Hassan said.



"The EU has to negotiate with an eye on Lebanon and open to Lebanese products. Our products don't reach the European market," he said.



Lebanon aims to grow its exports in the coming years from 300 billion dollars to 600 billion dollars and to grow its commercial trade from three to five billion dollars, he said.



Hassan said the Syrian refugee crisis is weighing on the country, which since 2011 hosts more than a million refugees.



"We recently presented a report on the issue in Brussels, Paris and Berlin," he said.



Hassan said Lebanon has resisted in the face of many crises and won't resign itself or become pessimistic in the current one.



"The hope is to overcome this one too, as soon as possible," he said.(ANSAmed).


Syria gas raid 'horrible' says Mogherini (4) Today humanity died says UNICEF Italia

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, APRIL 4 - A suspected Syrian regime sarin gas attack that killed 58 people including 11 children near the Syrian city of Idlib is "horrible" and "a dramatic reminder of the fact that the situation on the ground continues to be dramatic," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said Tuesday.



"Obviously there is a primary responsibility of the regime, because its responsibility is to protect its people, not attack them", she said on the eve of a meeting of ministers of the Conference on the Future of Syria. The issue of responsibility in Syria is "central", Mogherini told international news agencies including ANSA. She said the Syrians must decide on the future of President Bassar al-Assad but it was "unrealistic" to think he could stay on.



"Impunity is not an option" over the attack, Mogherini said. "Whoever is responsible must account for it", Mogherini added. UNICEF Italia spokesman Andrea Iacomini told ANSA that "the images are shocking, humanity died in Syria today". Speaking with tears in his eyes, Iacomini said "the international community, after six years of hell, must put an end to this ordeal". He added: "There are no children of Assad or of the rebels, they are all victims of a war that they did not want." Iacomini urged Italian politicians to condemn the attack.



(ANSAMed).




NAPLES - Sustainable tourism and the upcoming European Year of Cultural Heritage are among the themes to be discussed at the 20th edition of the Mediterranean Exchange of Archaeological Tourism in Paestum from October 26 to 29.

The 2017 edition of the Exchange was launched at the Milan International Tourism Exchange travel exhibition in the Campania Region's exhibition space.

"The region of Campania is committed to the development of its cultural heritage, represented by six UNESCO sites, and it supports the Exchange, above all this year in which it will be a focus of the UNESCO archaeological sites," said Francesco Caruso, Campania regional councillor for international and UNESCO relationships.

"The Paestum Exchange is important not only for its archaeological dissemination, but also from a political point of view, because it melds traditions and heritages common to the countries of the Mediterranean," he said. The Exchange's director, Ugo Picarelli, said the 20th anniversary edition will be filled with events.

"Reaching the 20-year milestone is an extraordinary result, most of all for the international recognition we receive," Picarelli said.

"This year the presence at the Exchange of Taleb Rifai, the secretary general of UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation), allows us to also be part of the official programme for the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development organised by the UN for 2017". UNWTO is responsible for the conference on "Sustainable Tourism for the Development of World Archaeological Sites", which will examine the topic of tourism as a tool for safeguarding and promoting archaeological sites.

Among those invited to the event are Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, Jordan Tourism and Antiquities Minister Lina Annab, and Ethiopian Culture and Tourism Minister Amin Abdulkedir.

The Mediterranean Exchange of Archaeological Tourism welcomes each year to Paestum some 10,000 visitors and 100 exhibitors representing 20 foreign countries.

It is sponsored by the Italian Culture Ministry (MiBACT), UNESCO, UNWTO, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the Italian Foreign Ministry.
The state budget extender passed by New York lawmakers Monday includes one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's newer economic development competitions: A second round of the $100 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

The program launched last year and gave the state's 10 regional economic development councils the authority to determine which municipality should receive a $10 million grant to boost its downtown area.

In central New York, Auburn competed against three other cities  Cortland, Fulton and Oswego  for the multi-million dollar grant. Each city developed a plan for how it would invest the money.

Auburn's plan focused on some of the city's historical assets. City officials proposed a downtown welcoming center for visitors that would promote local sites, such as the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and the Seward House Museum.

A regional market was part of the plan. City leaders proposed using a portion of the funding for a mixed-use facility on State Street and to support the Auburn Schine Theater's redevelopment.

Auburn also wanted to invest in a new public safety building and establish a downtown housing initiative.

Ultimately, Auburn came up short. Oswego won the $10 million prize.

For the second round, details about the program have yet to be released. No timetable has been set for when municipalities should support plans for consideration by the regional councils.

While little is known about the second round of the initiative, Auburn officials previously expressed interest in submitting another plan for the $10 million contest.

In January, Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason told The Citizen that the city "would be eager to apply again."

Mason added that the city will benefit from its prior experience. Last year, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative was new and municipalities didn't know what to expect, or what specifics the regional council and state officials would look for in a plan.

Local governments also didn't have a lot of time to develop plans. Last year's state budget was approved on April 1 and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative launched a short time later.

Auburn and cities in the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council were required to submit plans for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative by the end of May.

Even though the Downtown Revitalization Initiative's second round hasn't been officially launched and it's not known when the state wants the plans submitted to the councils, local officials could begin work on their proposals for the competition.

"With last year's experience under our belt, I think the city would probably work with the downtown stakeholders as soon as we know that this is going to become a program," Mason said in January.
In a statement released on April 1, the company said the new facilities will be equipped to provide all air navigation services and ensure the full operation and safety of the airport. The $5.5 million contract is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

"With the construction of the new control tower, Libya will benefit from the highest level of efficiency and safety of flight operations. During the construction of the new facilities, Enav will temporarily supply the airport with an advanced mobile control tower equipped with state-of-the-art technology and work-stations, which will allow air traffic controllers and technical staff to perform their activity in the best possible conditions," the company said.

Enav Chief Executive Officer Roberta Neri said the contract was a result of solid cooperation between Libyan and Italian government institutions led by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

He described Libya as an area of strategic importance which goes beyond the economic value of the contract.

"The southern zone of the Italian airspace borders on the Libyan airspace, which is currently a no-fly zone. Encouraging the

development of air transport and flights between Libya and Europe will allow us to increase the traffic flows, thanks to the reinstatement of the routes that used to cross the Italian airspace before the no-fly zone over Libya was put in place," Neri said.

In terms of a strategic agreement signed in October 2016 for the development of air navigation services, Enav has started training 60 Libyan air traffic controllers who will run the MIA after years of a no-fly zone over Libya.

Presently, MIA handles international and domestic flights which were diverted from Tripoli International Airport, which was largely destroyed during the revolution that ousted long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Nicolas Tejera, a 45-year-old Spaniard, is the companys director of maintenance, who is leading a full remoulding of the FAS technical department.

Tejera said the boost was due to a significant restructuring of Falcons MRO offering, a greater focus on sales and client relations. It has resulted in our busiest year yet for third-party business on the maintenance side, he said.

We have competed on client satisfaction, on increasing the type and depth of our services. We have sent people for additional training and invested heavily in our planning department, increasing the staff count three-fold over the past seven months.

Our target for 2017 is ambitious but very realistic. Our constraint now is not with client requirements, but with space.

Falcons space constraints are likely to end in 18 months time, when its 15,000sqm multi-purpose hangar, being built at Al Maktoum International in Dubai, opens for maintenance and parking of VIP jets.

The hangar is 250% larger than its current Abu Dhabi facility and will have an adjoining wash bay and backshop.

Tejera said Falcons reputation as an approved Embraer service centre, along with certification from Bombardier and Gulfstream, has stood it in great stead, particularly for the growing business jet market.

We are cooperating closely with the manufacturers, who realise that its not only about selling aircraft these days but also about providing the service requirements. Thats where we come in because we can manage the warranties, explained Tejera.

FAS, which has its own corporate jet fleet of two Embraer Legacy 600s, a Gulfstream 450 and Embraer Lineage 1000, in addition to a substantial rotor-wing fleet, is now looking to forge strategic alliances with engine and component manufacturers and aircraft interiors specialist companies.

We are very close to finalising an agreement with an aircraft interior specialist to represent it for refurbishment, repairs and modifications, explained Tejera. The whole proposition will be to reduce downtime for owners and operators.

On the Falcon drawing board is the possibility of rolling Falcon Engineering out into a separate branded service offering.

The idea would be for this to service the GCC market, where there are various aircraft management companies requiring these kind of services. said Tejara.

He added that the company has been receiving a string of requests from the Saudi and Indian markets and is now pursuing approvals certification from the relevant authorities in both countries.

Falcon, which also has a fleet of six Dash Q400s, is also hoping that its 2016 record of operating the turbo-props to 96% reliability will enable it to escalate its capabilities in providing higher level of maintenance services for the twin-engine series in the near future.


Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $70 million plan for a second round of improvements at the New York State Fairgrounds is one of several projects funded in the state budget extender approved Monday.

The state fair improvements include $35 million for an 80,000-square-foot expo center, which would be used as a year-round venue at the fairgrounds in Geddes, Onondaga County.

An additional $20 million will be allocated for the Orange Lot expansion project. Parking was an issue at the record-setting 2016 fair which drew more than 1.1 million visitors.

To address the parking woes, the Orange Lot located on the westbound side of Interstate 690 will be expanded by 500 spots. A new exit will be installed to connect the lot to I-690.

The part of the plan that received the most attention is a $15 million aerial gondola linking the fairgrounds to the Lakeview Amphitheater on the shore of Onondaga Lake.

The 0.7 mile long gondola will have 38 cabins capable of transporting between 1,200 to 2,400 people an hour. The gondola could be expanded to 75 cabins over time.

Because the gondola would cross over I-690, it must be reviewed and approved by the Federal Highway Administration.

Construction of the gondola is expected to be completed by June 2018.

The state Legislature passed the budget extender Monday after Cuomo and legislative leaders couldn't reach an agreement on the 2017-18 state budget. The emergency extender will keep state government funded through May 31.

While several Cuomo-backed initiatives are funded in the extender, there are other policy proposals the governor is hoping to secure in the final state budget agreement. Perhaps the biggest challenge is finding common ground on a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

The budget extender may be a temporary funding measure, but that didn't stop Cuomo from celebrating the state support for several of his initiatives.

The state fair project wasn't the only central New York initiative to receive funding. The extender also includes $2 million for Auburn and Owasco to upgrade drinking water systems.

"We will not allow progress to stall on our ambitious program to rebuild our infrastructure and revitalize the central New York economy," Cuomo said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Bay Area drivers traveling into San Francisco across the Bay Bridge will be greeted by a familiar sign on Treasure Island, NBC Bay Area reported.

The banner, which is hanging above the tunnel on the eastern side of the bridge, reads "Armenian Genocide 1915" with a link to GenocideEducation.org.

Nearly 30,000 Armenian community members in the Bay Area paid for the banner, which will remain in its place during entire April.

It's great for people to see the banner for the whole month of April on the bridge because it brings awareness and will spark interest and that's what we want. We want people to go to the website. We want people to see and learn about our history, community leader Kim Bardakian saying as quoted by NBC Bay Area.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan on April 4 sent a congratulatory letter to Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of the 2017 parliamentary election, press service of the Artsakh Presidents Office told Armenpress.

The letter reads:

Your Excellency,

On behalf of the Artsakh Republic people, authorities and myself personally I congratulate you and Armenia's citizens on the parliamentary election held on April 2, 2017.

The elections took place in an atmosphere of free and active competition which was confirmed by the international observers.

I am confident that the election and the new governance system to be formed will contribute to the consistent development and strengthening of Mother Armenia, raising the governing efficiency and cementing the independent Armenian statehood.

I congratulate you once again and wish peace, good luck and all the best.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) released the signed voters lists of the April 2 parliamentary election.

The lists are available for download on the CEC website.

The lists were scanned by the CEC in accordance to the procedural standards.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. A fire erupted in the Armenian Evangelical Church of Alfortville on the morning of April 2, Asbarez reported.

It is the third attack on the church in the last 12 months.

According to reports, the flames woke Pastor Gilbert Leonian and his wife, who live in the first floor of the building.

Though no injuries reported in the incident, Leonian said that the two were shocked to wake up to the fire. The churchs entrance also sustained substantial damage as a result.

Eight days earlier, stones were thrown against the facade of the church causing some damage.

Mayor of Alfortville Luc Carvounas condemned the attack and expressed his solidarity to the churchs congregation and leadership.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The exact dates of Armenias newly elected parliaments powers entering into force will be clear after the Central Electoral Commission makes final decision on the parliaments formation, Hrayr Tovmasyan  Chief of Staff of the Parliament, told Armenpress.

He informed that the first session of the newly elected Parliament will be held on the third Thursday after the formation.

When the Central Electoral Commission will make a decision on when the new parliament will be formed, after that it will be calculated when will be the third Thursday, if during this period the election results are not debuted in the Constitutional Court, he said. As the CEC must release the final election results on April 9, the third Thursday following this is April 27 when the newly elected parliament will hold the first session.

On the day of the parliaments first session, the government lays down its powers. After that within 10 days the President of Armenia, consulting with parliamentary factions, appoints a person as Prime Minister whom majority of MPs support. These relationships are being still regulated under the 2005 Constitution. These norms are still maintained, Hrayr Tovmasyan said.

After appointing the Prime Minister, the new government must be formed within 20 days. This means, that by the proposal of the PM, the President will appoint Ministers. Thereafter, the newly formed government must submit its program to the parliaments discussion within 20 days.

These are the maximum dates. Shorter dates are also possible. For instance, if the PM is appointed the next day of the parliaments first session, the remaining processes must be counted starting from that day. It is possible that the government staff will be formed within 3 days, their program will be submitted to the parliaments discussion within 5 days and etc. In other words, all these can be organized very quickly, but the dates I mentioned are the maximum, he said.

He also informed that the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will have 58 seats, Tsarukyan bloc 31 seats, Yelk bloc 9 seats, and the ARF 7 seats in the new parliament.

Parliamentary election was held in Armenia on April 2. Based on the voting results, 4 political forces enter the Parliament: the Republican Party is leading with 49.12%, then come Tsarukyan and Yelk blocs with 27.32% and 7.77% respectively, and the ARF with 6.57%.
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. On behalf of Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia, the legal committee has submitted a written request to the European Court of Human Rights over the case of the return of Sis Catholicosate, the press service of the Catholicosate of Cilicia told Armenpress.

The committee asked the Court not to address the document submitted to the ECHR on December 7, 2016, to Turkey considering the current uncertainty inside the country, the violations of judicial laws, illegal attitude towards judges and lawyers, and the overall dictatorial situation in Turkey.

The committee stated that the Committee for Human Rights of the Council of Europe on February 15, and then the Venice Commission on March 13 expressed their concerns over the troubling situation in Turkey.

The legal committee proposed the ECHR to accelerate the trial of Sis Catholicosate based on the Courts 61st article, taking into account its significance for the Armenian Church and Armenian people.

The committee said they are closely following the developments on Sis trial.

The Constitutional court of Turkey rejected to discuss the request of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia demanding the return of the Sis Catholicosate. Catholicos Aram I announced they will submit a legal case to the ECHR. On December 6 it was submitted to the Court.
Maria and Bryan Indelicato are separated by hundreds of miles and a couple of family generations, but the two distant cousins were brought together by something very special to them  Sicilian food.

Maria learned to cook from her mother, Lucia Ruta Indelicato, who learned to cook from her mother, Mary Ruta. The Rutas grew up in Pozzallo, Sicily, cooking sweet ravioli, meatballs and braciola  many dishes with their own Sicilian twist. Following her husband seven years later, Mary Ruta arrived on Ellis Island by boat in 1927 with her 6-year-old daughter.

Over the years, Mary passed down her Sicilian recipes to Lucia. Lucia grew up and married Mike Indelicato, whose family was also from Sicily, but a different town called Siculiana. The husband and wife settled in Auburn and ran State Street Sporting Goods for 32 years. But Lucia was always in the kitchen cooking up something for her family, and young Maria Indelicato was always with her.

"My grandmother was a fabulous cook," Maria said. "My mother was a fabulous everything."

But when Maria moved from Auburn to Florida, she realized that no one else in the family could make the traditional Italian dishes she knew by heart. After all, her mother and grandmother never wrote down recipes. Everything was done by feel and by smell, Maria said. She didn't want the recipes to die with her, so she set out to remake and write down the list of more than 70 favorites she and her mother used to create.

A few years later and 30 pounds heavier, Maria jokes, she has finished the cookbook: "A Collection of Recipes from Cucina Lucia: Sicilian Cooking and Baking with Maria Indelicato." Available on Amazon and in several locations in Florida, Bryan Indelicato also agreed to sell the cookbook in his family's meat market on Columbus Street in Auburn.

"I remember a lot of these recipes myself as a kid," Bryan said, flipping through the pages. "A lot of this stuff gets lost. That's one of the nicest things about this, honestly. There's things in there that I haven't eaten since I was little."

He pointed to a sponge cake with maraschino cherries called cassata, which graces the front cover of the cookbook. That, for example, is something Bryan said he loved to eat as a child, but would never have made again without a recipe.

For Maria, making everything into a recipe was the challenge.

"It was kind of like doing things in reverse," she said.

She'd choose a recipe, creating the dish how she normally would by sight and taste. With the help of a friend writing, she'd pause and measure what she had eyeballed. Doing that for each recipe took time.

Bryan said many of the recipes are actually quite simple and not as time-consuming as the ones in a publication like Bon Appetite. As he flipped through the pages, he paused at some recipes, many of which only had four or five ingredients. Maria referred to her dishes as from a cucina povera  a poor kitchen with simple budget-friendly recipes. In todays world, where people are pressed for time and tend toward takeout, Bryan said the cookbooks recipes are not only good, theyre practical.

Another thing Maria realized as she moved from recipe to recipe was that each one had a story. Meatballs, for example, were something she made with her mother every Saturday.

There were stories that went with all of them, she said. Its more than a cookbook.

Bryan agreed. Several copies of the book are on display and for sale in Indelicatos. The books are stacked facing the meat counter, and Bryan said customers have been intrigued, flipping through the photos and the stories. Theyre his familys culinary history.

Its nice, he said. Its family, so Im very happy to have it here.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A ceremony honoring Eddy County soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country will be held Saturday, April 8, in Carlsbad.

Families of survivors of the Bataan Death March and their friends will host the event, which is set to begin at 10 a.m. April 8 at Veterans Memorial Park at the lower Tansill Dam on the Pecos River in Carlsbad.

Several speakers will take the podium, including family members, who will give accounts of fathers and mothers who endured the March and spent three to four years as prisoners of war.

Noted two-star Gen. Steve Stevens will also speak on the history of the 200th Battery and the unit he commanded in Artesia and Carlsbad following World War II.

Stevens and J.P. Clark, along with Vice Cmdr. Roy Norris of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post were instrumental in procuring the 90mm cannon displayed on the lawn of the Eddy County Courthouse from 1959-2016. The cannon has now been restored and stands, along with other military machines, in the new Veterans Memorial Park, where all branches of the military and its veterans are remembered in a serene, peaceful setting.

The park was funded by private donors and businesses, including Hall Machine.

Eddy County residents comprised a high percentage of the nearly 2,000 troops from New Mexico who were cast in the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942. Approximately one-third returned home alive.

The public is invited to attend Saturdays ceremony, particularly veterans of any war and their families and friends, and anyone wishing to pay respect for the high price of freedom.

(EDITORS NOTE: Photos and information for this article were provided by Glen Castleberry.)
Fingerlakes Mall is for sale.

New York City brokerage firm Eastern Consolidated has listed the Aurelius shopping center on its website and commercial real estate marketplace LoopNet with an asking price of $7 million.

The mall is owned by Sam Abram, CEO of New York City diamond wholesaler Siba Corporation. He is the mall's fifth owner since it opened in 1980.

Abram purchased the mall for $27 million in 2006. With the then-recent addition of outdoors retailer Bass Pro Shops and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Cayuga County that projected the mall's value would soar from $4.6 to $25 million by 2019, Abram called the mall an "attractive purchase."

But the mall's value stagnated. Shortly after Abram's purchase, its foot traffic and occupancy rate began declining due to a mix of the Great Recession, consumer habits shifting away from shopping malls and, according to some former tenants, rent increases. More than 20 national tenants, including anchors Sears and Steve & Barry's, have left the mall since 2008.

According to Cayuga County property records, the mall's market value is $4,651,163 as of 2016.

That year, the mall added several area retailers through a new program, Support Local Business, and continued aggressively programming events in its empty storefronts. Eastern Consolidated says in the 492,592-square-foot mall's listing that it now has an occupancy rate of 69 percent. The firm projects a net operating income of $540,693 for prospective owners.

"(The mall) represents a tremendous opportunity to redevelop a large-scale property at a strategic crossroads in the (Finger Lakes) as either a reconceived shopping destination and experience or as a completely new use," Eastern Consolidated says in the property's offering memorandum. The firm describes itself as being "at the forefront of transactions that define the New York City skyline."

Eastern Consolidated Director Michael Hunter Coghill told The Citizen Tuesday that Siba contracted the firm to sell the mall about two months ago. He could not immediately provide further comment.

Rene Patterson, the mall's general manager of two and a half years, declined comment. Siba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Blog Archive Nov 03 (1) Jun 01 (2) Nov 29 (1) Oct 13 (1) Aug 23 (1) Apr 13 (2) Apr 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Nov 17 (1) Feb 03 (2) Sep 08 (1) Sep 06 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (1) Aug 28 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 05 (1) Jul 04 (1) Jul 02 (4) Jun 09 (1) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (5) May 28 (1) May 23 (1) May 15 (6) May 07 (2) May 01 (1) Apr 27 (2) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (3) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 06 (3) Mar 01 (1) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (4) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (9) Feb 12 (5) Feb 09 (14) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (10) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (1) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (5) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (1) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (7) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (10) Jan 14 (1) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (7) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (13) Jan 01 (11) Dec 31 (1) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (8) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 18 (12) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (12) Dec 14 (21) Dec 11 (2) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (13) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (13) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (12) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (8) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (8) Nov 21 (13) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (9) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (8) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (14) Nov 11 (8) Nov 06 (1) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (24) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (11) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (14) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (1) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (15) Oct 17 (10) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (11) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (10) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (5) Oct 02 (9) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (11) Sep 23 (4) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (11) Sep 17 (1) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (12) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (13) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (12) Aug 30 (8) Aug 29 (14) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (12) Aug 21 (16) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (11) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (13) Aug 14 (6) Aug 12 (1) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (10) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (15) Aug 02 (11) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (7) Jul 26 (14) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (10) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (14) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (13) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (12) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (6) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (8) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (20) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (7) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (16) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (8) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (13) Jun 07 (6) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (8) May 30 (6) May 29 (13) May 28 (8) May 27 (3) May 26 (5) May 25 (1) May 24 (16) May 23 (12) May 22 (6) May 19 (6) May 18 (3) May 16 (8) May 15 (8) May 14 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (16) May 09 (3) May 08 (1) May 06 (1) May 05 (3) May 04 (10) May 02 (14) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (10) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (10) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (1) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (2) Apr 15 (9) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (12) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (11) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (9) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (15) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (8) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (11) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (12) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (1) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (2) Mar 04 (15) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (16) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (1) Feb 24 (1) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (15) Feb 19 (4) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (1) Feb 04 (1) Feb 03 (6) Feb 02 (6) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (10) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (12) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (9) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (10) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (5) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (13) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (7) Jan 06 (7) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (11) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (9) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (6) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (10) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (9) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (12) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (10) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (13) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (10) Dec 07 (14) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (11) Dec 04 (10) Dec 03 (1) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (14) Nov 28 (12) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (6) Nov 25 (7) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (17) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (11) Nov 19 (15) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (8) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (11) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (11) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (13) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (7) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (10) Oct 26 (8) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (9) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (9) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (12) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (10) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (17) Sep 25 (2) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (15) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (9) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (9) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (11) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (14) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (8) Aug 29 (7) Aug 28 (9) Aug 27 (3) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (12) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (12) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (7) Aug 13 (13) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (13) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (14) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (8) Jul 29 (1) Jul 28 (1) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (11) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (9) Jul 22 (11) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (11) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (13) Jul 16 (1) Jul 15 (13) Jul 14 (6) Jul 13 (9) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (14) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (2) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (12) Jun 26 (13) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (8) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (6) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (8) Jun 12 (7) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (8) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (7) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (10) May 30 (11) May 29 (3) May 27 (1) May 26 (8) May 25 (2) May 24 (6) May 23 (6) May 22 (4) May 21 (8) May 20 (9) May 19 (9) May 17 (5) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (6) May 13 (6) May 12 (6) May 11 (10) May 10 (5) May 09 (8) May 08 (4) May 07 (7) May 06 (1) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (8) May 02 (2) May 01 (10) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (11) Apr 25 (1) Apr 24 (7) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (14) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (6) Apr 13 (10) Apr 12 (6) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (8) Apr 02 (10) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (13) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (10) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (11) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (10) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (7) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (12) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (12) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (15) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (11) Mar 06 (7) Mar 04 (9) Mar 03 (10) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (6) Feb 29 (6) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (7) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (11) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (9) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (6) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (6) Jan 30 (13) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (16) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (8) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (3) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (15) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (8) Jan 15 (8) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (1) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (2) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (16) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (11) Dec 31 (7) Dec 30 (8) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (6) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (11) Dec 11 (1) Dec 10 (8) Dec 09 (1) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (8) Nov 23 (17) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (6) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (8) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (5) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (14) Nov 02 (1) Nov 01 (10) Oct 30 (3) Oct 28 (12) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (11) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (10) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (12) Oct 17 (1) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (10) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (1) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (6) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (2) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (4) Sep 27 (1) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (6) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (11) Sep 16 (8) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (10) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (6) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (6) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (9) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (10) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (7) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (7) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (13) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (6) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (12) Jul 27 (5) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (9) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (12) Jul 19 (5) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (15) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (13) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (9) Jul 09 (9) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (11) Jul 03 (12) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (10) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (10) Jun 24 (12) Jun 23 (1) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (14) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (11) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (10) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (8) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (7) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (12) May 31 (4) May 29 (6) May 28 (11) May 27 (4) May 26 (13) May 25 (11) May 24 (5) May 23 (6) May 22 (5) May 21 (14) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (12) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (10) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (4) May 03 (13) May 02 (7) May 01 (6) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (5) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (6) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (6) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (8) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (9) Mar 27 (4) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (11) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (10) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (1) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (6) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (2) Mar 05 (7) Mar 04 (8) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (5) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (1) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (2) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (8) Feb 08 (7) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (5) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (1) Jan 23 (1) Jan 22 (9) Jan 21 (7) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (10) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (2) Jan 11 (8) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (1) Jan 04 (13) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (1) Dec 30 (8) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (6) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (8) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (1) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (2) Dec 05 (7) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (2) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (1) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (6) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (7) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (10) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (1) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (5) Oct 29 (6) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (1) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (8) Oct 12 (4) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (4) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (8) Sep 30 (14) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (9) Sep 24 (7) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (2) Sep 17 (6) Sep 16 (12) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (1) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (11) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (6) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (12) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (7) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (2) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (1) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (10) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (10) Jul 25 (8) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (9) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (9) Jul 09 (8) Jul 08 (11) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (1) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (9) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (10) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (1) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (2) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (8) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (1) May 30 (4) May 29 (3) May 28 (6) May 27 (6) May 26 (2) May 25 (1) May 24 (3) May 23 (8) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (6) May 14 (2) May 13 (5) May 12 (12) May 11 (2) May 10 (1) May 09 (6) May 08 (11) May 07 (5) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (1) May 03 (13) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (12) Apr 26 (1) Apr 24 (5) Apr 23 (13) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (7) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (1) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (5) Apr 02 (11) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (1) Mar 26 (9) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (12) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (9) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (14) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Feb 28 (12) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (11) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (9) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (10) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (12) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (10) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (9) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (1) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (6) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (8) Jan 07 (7) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (16) Jan 03 (7) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (15) Dec 30 (8) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (12) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (10) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (10) Dec 21 (10) Dec 20 (2) Dec 19 (9) Dec 18 (10) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (6) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (6) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (9) Dec 05 (7) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (9) Dec 02 (18) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (8) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (9) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (12) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (8) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (10) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (7) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (16) Oct 29 (2) Oct 28 (6) Oct 27 (10) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (16) Oct 22 (10) Oct 21 (17) Oct 20 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (9) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (8) Oct 12 (6) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (6) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (12) Oct 05 (1) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (18) Oct 01 (10) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (9) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (21) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (7) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (6) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (14) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (19) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (13) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (8) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (13) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (8) Aug 14 (7) Aug 13 (8) Aug 12 (7) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (12) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (9) Aug 04 (21) Aug 02 (10) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (13) Jul 30 (9) Jul 29 (10) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (9) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (12) Jul 17 (17) Jul 16 (13) Jul 15 (11) Jul 14 (11) Jul 13 (1) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (16) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (16) Jul 08 (13) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (13) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (10) Jul 01 (13) Jun 30 (9) Jun 29 (11) Jun 28 (11) Jun 27 (10) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (13) Jun 24 (19) Jun 23 (13) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (12) Jun 20 (10) Jun 19 (12) Jun 18 (12) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (8) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (9) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (13) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (12) May 30 (6) May 29 (12) May 28 (9) May 27 (10) May 25 (11) May 24 (5) May 23 (10) May 22 (16) May 21 (10) May 20 (4) May 19 (8) May 18 (5) May 17 (6) May 16 (15) May 15 (5) May 14 (10) May 13 (10) May 12 (9) May 11 (1) May 10 (11) May 09 (10) May 08 (10) May 07 (10) May 06 (9) May 05 (8) May 04 (8) May 03 (11) May 02 (9) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (13) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (9) Apr 22 (12) Apr 21 (12) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (15) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (6) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (13) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (9) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (12) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (8) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (10) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (14) Mar 25 (9) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (17) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (8) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (8) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (9) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (14) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (17) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (9) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (6) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (14) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (2) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (8) Feb 04 (8) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (12) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (16) Jan 29 (8) Jan 28 (11) Jan 27 (22) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (7) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (16) Jan 20 (7) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (15) Jan 15 (10) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (10) Jan 12 (12) Jan 11 (17) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (13) Jan 08 (11) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (15) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (22) Jan 03 (14) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (18) Dec 31 (9) Dec 30 (29) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (18) Dec 26 (13) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (14) Dec 22 (14) Dec 21 (10) Dec 20 (12) Dec 19 (20) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (12) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (1) Dec 13 (14) Dec 12 (8) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (13) Dec 08 (8) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (18) Dec 05 (14) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (11) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (8) Nov 29 (13) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (8) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (9) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (16) Nov 20 (22) Nov 19 (13) Nov 18 (13) Nov 17 (8) Nov 16 (14) Nov 15 (19) Nov 14 (13) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (20) Nov 10 (14) Nov 09 (16) Nov 08 (6) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (17) Nov 05 (16) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (21) Nov 01 (21) Oct 31 (27) Oct 29 (17) Oct 28 (14) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (17) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (16) Oct 21 (20) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (9) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (18) Oct 16 (13) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (13) Oct 13 (8) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (14) Oct 09 (12) Oct 08 (9) Oct 07 (13) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (7) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (15) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (15) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (12) Sep 24 (14) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (13) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (15) Sep 19 (14) Sep 18 (20) Sep 17 (12) Sep 16 (22) Sep 15 (16) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (12) Sep 11 (27) Sep 10 (11) Sep 09 (11) Sep 08 (12) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (12) Sep 04 (12) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (13) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (15) Aug 29 (14) Aug 28 (9) Aug 27 (11) Aug 26 (20) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (12) Aug 23 (10) Aug 22 (9) Aug 21 (11) Aug 20 (15) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (16) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (13) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (16) Aug 10 (19) Aug 09 (11) Aug 08 (16) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (17) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (11) Jul 31 (14) Jul 30 (22) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (16) Jul 25 (8) Jul 24 (11) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (16) Jul 21 (12) Jul 20 (11) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (18) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (16) Jul 15 (17) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (15) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (12) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (20) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (11) Jul 05 (15) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (10) Jul 01 (10) Jun 30 (15) Jun 29 (14) Jun 28 (17) Jun 27 (13) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (8) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (14) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (11) Jun 15 (8) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (12) Jun 11 (12) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (6) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (11) Jun 06 (15) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (7) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (10) May 30 (11) May 29 (8) May 28 (9) May 27 (6) May 26 (10) May 25 (9) May 24 (8) May 23 (9) May 22 (6) May 21 (7) May 20 (9) May 19 (5) May 18 (8) May 17 (5) May 16 (10) May 15 (5) May 14 (9) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (5) May 06 (2) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (4) May 02 (10) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (6) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (5) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (7) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (6) Apr 13 (9) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (8) Apr 08 (8) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (8) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (7) Mar 29 (6) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (9) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (9) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (6) Mar 16 (10) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (9) Mar 07 (9) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (11) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (6) Feb 29 (7) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (10) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (10) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (12) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (7) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (6) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (10) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (7) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (1) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (11) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (10) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (7) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (7) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (10) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (2) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (7) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (6) Oct 28 (6) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (5) Oct 25 (12) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (1) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (2) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (4) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (5) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (7) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (2) Sep 11 (1) Sep 06 (2) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (1) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (2) Aug 28 (1) Aug 23 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 17 (1) Aug 16 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 10 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 02 (2) Jul 25 (1) Feb 14 (1)
A 45-year-old Syracuse man is facing multiple drug charges following a traffic stop Monday, said New York State Police out of Elbridge.

Robert M. Mothersell was pulled over by police on Route 5 in the village of Elbridge for speeding. Police said Mothersell gave officers a false name during the traffic stop. He also allegedly had drugs in plain view. Police searched Mothersell and found methamphetamine, prescription drugs not in their original bottle and a hypodermic needle.

He was charged with second-degree criminal impersonation, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and possession of a hypodermic instrument, all misdemeanors. He was also charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class C felony.

Police said he's also facing a public health law charge of possessing a controlled substance not in its original container. That drug was determined to be Alprazolam, a sedative than can be used to treat anxiety and panic disorders. Because it was not in its prescription container, police said they did not know if the medication belonged to Mothersell.

Mothersell was arraigned in the Town of Elbridge Court and remanded to the Onondaga County Jail with no set bail or bond.
Protesters claim scene of pregnant woman getting married could hurt religious sentiments.

Mumbai: A group of activists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) protested outside movie producer T.P Aggarwals office in Andheri. The protesters claimed that Mr Aggarwals forthcoming film, Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana has a scene of a nine-month-old pregnant woman getting married, which could hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. The film, Laali Ki Shaadi is scheduled for release on April 7. However, the director of the movie has claimed that he asked the protesters to show them where it was prohibited in any religion to not let a pregnant woman get married. The movie has actors Akshara Haasan and Vivan Shah.

Baru Bangar, a VHP activist who led the protest said that they had gone to meet the producer (Aggarwal) to discuss the issue. This whole representation of a Hindu nine-month-pregnant woman getting married is against out culture. We cannot tolerate this. We told the producer that had it been a real life story we would have no problems, but then theres an attempt to defame our religion, Mr Bangar said.

When contacted, Mr Aggarwal said, They protested outside my office today. In our promo, Akshara is nine-months pregnant and she is getting married. They were wondering how can we show her getting married when she is pregnant. I told them show me which religion says a girl cant get married when she is pregnant? I got a U/A certificate from the censor board.
The workers were brought to India after intervention of Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao and Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Hyderabad: Thirtythree workers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh who were stuck in Erbil, the town overrun by the ISIS in Iraq, reached New Delhi early on Monday.

The workers were brought to India after intervention of Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao and Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Some of them were sent back to their native places by train on Monday. The others are being accommodated overnight at the Telangana Bhavan, and will be accommodated in trains on Tuesday.

A few workers said they knew of the ISIS risk in Iraq but seeing on neighbours who had travelled to Iraq prosper, they decided to hunt for jobs.

Speaking to The Asian Age over the phone, one of the returnees, Durgam Ravi of Mancherial, said they were stranded in an area torn by conflict and war. Each one of them learnt to live with the fear of death, he said.

I went to Erbil two years back and had no hopes on visiting my family again. My only wish was to see my four-year-old son, he said. Before travelling to Iraq, Mr Ravi was working as a farm labourer in Jannaram, Mancherial district.

My neighbour, who was working in Iraq, came home and lured me with a job offer in Iraq with a salary up to Rs 40,000. I borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh from people in my village and paid him. When I reached Iraq, I found out that I was on a 15-day visit visa. My work was cleaning the premises of a college. But soon my neighbour disappeared. I was picking rags, collecting garbage and doing odd jobs. For days, there was no food, he said.

Medi Praveen from Karimnagar said his agent had cheated him on the pretext of providing a work visa. I got a visit visa for only three months. I did not understand it as the visa was in Arabic. In Iraq, Akama is official card for worker and we need to spend 3,000 Iraqi dinars for it. God knows how we stayed for a year, he said.

G. Shankar from Nizamabad said a worker without Akama in Iraq could be prosecuted by the government. I paid Rs 1.5 lakh to an agent as he promised me a job in a big company. When I reached Erbil, the agent forced me to join another company. The employer sacked me in three months and for six months, I had no work and was staying with other Indians, he said.
Khan also supported the Gujarat governments recent legislation awarding life sentence for those found guilty of killing cows.

Jaipur: Announcing that he will stop eating beef, Ajmer dargah head Zainul Abedin Khan called upon Muslims to give up beef eating. Mr Khan is the direct descendant in the 22nd generation of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, the Sufi saint.

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 while urging the Muslim community to do the same.

On the occasion of the 805th Urs (death anniversary) of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti, 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, he said.

Mr Khan also supported the Gujarat governments recent legislation awarding 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.

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.

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. In fact, he appealed that slaughter of any animal should be stopped.

The Dargah diwan also criticised practice of Triple Talaq, saying that this is not only irrelevant in todays time but also against spirit of holy Quran. According to him when marriage is matter between two families, how come Talaq can be given in private.

Why some people in the community are reluctant to give up the practice which Quran and Prophet Mohammed never approved and 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, Mr Khan said, adding that Prophet Hazrat Mohammed had said that Allah did not like Talaq.
New Delhi: Amid a row over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the government on Tuesday asked China not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it respects the "One-China" policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

Making a statement on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said here that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.

"There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs," he told reporters here.

Rijiju said India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate.

"We respect Beijing's 'One-China' policy and we expect China to reciprocate," he said.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and a "full-fledged state".

"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that soon it would be resolved.

"I appeal to China not to rake up Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state can't be questioned," he said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday during which he will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.

The minister said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state. "As a democratic country, India can't interfere in religious affairs of any community," he said.

Rijiju said that the Dalai Lama will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon line which have been closed since 1962.

"The trading points were beneficial. People of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China," he said.

Rijiju said the Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and making arrangements for his stay there.

Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijiju's) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.

The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.
Prakash Javadekar said the institutions that fared well in the annual rankings will be provided with more funding and enhanced autonomy.

New Delhi: The annual national rankings released by the ministry of human resource development has ranked the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, at the top with seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) making it to the list of the top 10 educational institutions in the country. Only two universities, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), have made it to the top 10 list released under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

Unlike 2016, the ranking this time is released under five categories  Overall, Colleges, Universities, Management And Engineering. IISc figured at the top in Overall and Universities categories. JNU, which was at the third position last year, is ranked second this year in Universities category. In the Overall ranking, the university, which remained at the centre of controversies for over a year, has been placed at the sixth position. The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.

The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a core committee set up by the ministry to identify broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.

The parameters broadly cover Teaching, Learning and Resources, Research and Professional Practices, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach and Inclusivity and Perception.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said the institutions that fared well in the annual rankings will be provided with more funding and enhanced autonomy.
Mehbooba said Modi's visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday asked Pakistan to stop backing militancy in the state and enable restoration of peace so that a dialogue process could begin.

"It is my appeal to those across (the border) that they should renew the policy of not supporting militancy or the gun that they had adopted during (Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee's time," she said addressing an election meeting in Dooru in Anantnag constituency.

"Help us restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir and then talks will take place here and across (PoK) as well," she added.

The Chief Minister was campaigning for Mufti Tassaduq Hussain, her brother and ruling PDP candidate for by-poll to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat vacated by her last year.

Mehbooba said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"Narendra Modi went on his own to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new hope was attached to it but unfortunately, Pathankot (terror attack) happened," the Chief Minister said.

"These (tense) times will not last forever. Vajpayee used to say that you can change friends but not the neighbours. We have to live with each other cordially," she added.
The SC in its December 15, 2016 order ruled that licenses of shops along national and state highways will not be renewed after March 31.

Jaipur: Rajasthan Public Works Department, (PWD) is mulling de-notification of state highways to urban highways to shield from the Supreme Court's direction to ban sale of liquor at national and state highways.

The apex court in its December 15, 2016 order had ruled that licenses of existing shops along national and state highways will not be renewed after March 31.

However, the ruling was challenged by several associations across states seeking modification of the judgment.

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.

However, the apex court on Friday granted partial relief to state liquor associations regarding banning of liquor stores on state and national highways.

Hearing a batch of petitions seeking modification of its December 2016 order banning liquor outlets within 500 metres of state and national highways across the country, the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Khehar said that in those areas where population was less than 20,000, the distance would be around 220 meters.

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.
Despite speculations, it appears that Railway minister Suresh Prabhu will not be shifted to defence.

New Delhi: The much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle is all set to take place after the Parliament session that concludes on April 12.

Despite speculations, Railway minister Suresh Prabhu will not be shifted to defence. After former defence minister Manohar Parrikar moved to Goa to take charge of the coastal state, finance minister Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of this crucial portfolio. The government is considering the option of bringing in a new face as defence minister.

It may be recalled that after the BJPs victory in the 2014 general elections, Mr Jaitley was given the additional charge of defence, but following heavy workload, Mr Parrikar, the then Goa chief minister, was brought in.

Minister of state (independent charge), telecommunications, Manoj Sinha, who was tripped by Yogi Adityanath in the race for the UP CM, could be given a full Cabinet rank. If Mr Sinha is promoted, the government would bring in another MP as minister of state for Railways. The minister for micro, small and medium enterprise, Kalraj Mishra, who would be nearly 76 years old, is expected to be sent as a governor.

Following the BJPs stupendous victory in Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to induct a representative from the hill state in his Cabinet.

There is also a strong possibility of moving Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje to the Centre. A section in the party felt that Ms Raje could be considered to replace external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Though Ms Swaraj was working full time, this key ministry required a lot of travel.

If Ms Raje was shifted to the Centre, BJP general secretary Om Mathur could be moved to Rajasthan to replace her. If the BJP came to power in Himachal Pradesh, union health minister J.P. Nadda could be considered for the post of the CM, sources said. The elections in Himachal Pradesh are due in October.

The Cabinet reshuffle would also be carried out with an eye on the forthcoming polls in other key states such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. These states will go to the polls next year.

Besides the Cabinet reshuffle, Mr Modi also intends to take a look at possible nominees for Rashtrapati Bhavan. The presidential elections are due by July.
Dont meddle in internal affairs, says govt as Tibetan monk arrives in Arunachal.

New Delhi: In a stern message to China on Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India has asked Beijing not interfere in its internal affairs, saying while it respects the One China policy, it expects the same from China.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said, there is no political angle behind His Holinesss visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs.

Mr Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, said the border state was not a disputed territory as it was a full fledged state and was an integral part and is part of the Union of India. He further added that India has never interfered in Chinas internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate.

There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh, the minister said. He also hoped that with talks on boundary dispute between New Delhi and Beijing going on, people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that the issue would be soon resolved.

I appeal to China not to rake up the Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state cant be questioned, he added. Mr Rijiju said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh on invitation from people of the state and will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

As a democratic country, India cant interfere in religious affairs of any community, Mr Rijiju said. He claimed that the Arunachal Pradesh government has given state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and is making arrangements for his stay there and that the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his village in West Kameng district where he would inaugurate a Buddhist monastery. Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009. Mr Rijiju reiterated that people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon Line which have been closed since 1962. The trading points were beneficial. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward co-operative attitude from China, he said. China has been closely monitoring Dalai Lamas visit, which started from Tuesday, and had warned India against the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader to Arunachal Pradesh, saying it will cause serious damage to bilateral ties.

But New Delhi has maintained that ``no additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India. Centre has always stated that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader who is deeply respected by the Indian people.

While stating that no ``artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the External Affairs Ministry also referred to the Dalai Lamas website which mentions that he has visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions.
The remarks are the first time that Ms Haley, as a member of the Trump Cabinet, has addressed tensions between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi: Hours after the United States rattled India with the suggestion that it would try and find its place in efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions and not wait till something happens, thereby indicating that President Donald Trump could play a role in such endeavours, India sent a strong signal to the US that the suggestion wasnt welcome. The Indian government reiterated that its position on the India-Pakistan issue being a bilateral one hadnt changed. New Delhi in its response also urged the international community to put in place international mechanisms to address terrorism emanating from Pakistan, thereby singling out Pakistan-based terrorism as the main obstacle in ties between the two countries.

India was reacting to a comment made by the Indian-origin US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley that signalled an apparent change in the US stance of not engaging in Indo-Pakistan disputes. The previous administration under former President Barack Obama had maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue between the two countries.

India has also always maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one with Pakistan and has ruled out any third party mediation, either by the UN or the US. Pakistan, on the other hand, has constantly raised the Kashmir issue at various UN fora and has always expressed readiness to have interlocutors from both the world body as well as from Washington to resolve the issue as it has constantly sought to internationalise it.

In its response from New Delhi, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said, The (Indian) governments position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasnt changed. We, of course, expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley was quoted by news agencies as telling reporters in New York, Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward. She said, We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that. So I think that will be something that you will see members of the National Security Council participate in but also wouldnt be surprised if the President participates in that as well, she said.

Ms Haley said she expects that the administration is going to be in talks and it would try and find its place to be a part of that (de-escalating tensions), she said, while addressing a press conference after assuming the role of president of the Security Council for the month of April. She made the remarks when asked if the US can make any efforts to get India and Pakistan together for peace talks as tensions between the two neighbours over the Kashmir issue have risen. The remarks are the first time that Ms Haley, as a member of the Trump Cabinet, has addressed tensions between India and Pakistan.

Former state department spokesman John Kirby had said that the issue of Kashmir was for the two nations to work out and the US had no role to play in it. The US had also earlier said it was for India and Pakistan to determine the pace, scope and character of talks on the Kashmir issue.

However, some foreign policy experts have cautioned that it will be premature to draw a conclusion based on comments by the US envoy. Firstly, the comments were in response to a question. We do not know whether it is a policy decision by the US or an off-the-cuff remark. It is too premature to come to a conclusion based on the remarks, former envoy to the US Meera Shankar told news agencies.

Former diplomat G. Parthasarathy also downplayed Ms Haleys comments, saying she is just US representative to the UN and she never mentioned that the US would mediate between India and Pakistan. Lets not jump to a conclusion. The US has always favoured de-escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, he was quoted as saying, adding, Ms Haleys statement was badly worded but it does not indicate that the US will mediate.
Senior police and government officials, however, said no such action was under consideration.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir authorities have launched a massive crackdown on what they said are miscreants who are misusing the cyber space.

During the past three days, several people were booked and some of them were subsequently arrested for placing objectionable content on social networking sites especially Facebook.

A police spokesman said the police across Kashmir Valley activated their technical cells to monitor the activities of people on social media.

During the screening and also on the basis of complaints filed by some people whose names have been withheld for obvious reasons, the police found that some videos and posts were uploaded and shared to harm the reputation of some professionals and government officers.

Consequently, three police stations in Srinagar  Pantha Chowk, Zakoora and Chanapora  arrested some miscreants who threatened these professionals and government functionaries through their posts and uploads, the spokesman said.

J&K DGP Sheesh Paul Vaid on Monday said the cyber space was being misused by miscreants and other vested interests to foment trouble in the state.

He had said that as soon as an encounter starts, Pakistan uses social media and instigates young boys to reach the spot and throw stones at security forces.

On Tuesday, there were concerns among social media users that use of Facebook and other social networks would be restricted by the government in J&K.

Senior police and government officials, however, said no such action was under consideration.
CPI leader Binoy Viswam moves SC, saying Centre has no legal backing in linking Aadhaar with PAN for filing ITR.

The apex court had said Aadhaar was not mandatory.

New Delhi: Kerala CPI leader Binoy Viswam has moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the recent law passed by Parliament making it mandatory for citizens to link Aadhaar with PAN card for filing income-tax returns from 2017-18 assessment year.

The petition filed via Mr Viswams advocate Sriram Parakkat questions the introduction of Section 139 AA in the Income Tax Act to link Aadhaar with permanent account numbers.

He said that till now he did not have an Aadhaar card on the legitimate expectation that the scheme was not mandatory in view of the orders of the Supreme Court. The apex court had said Aadhaar was not mandatory.

But due to the introduction of Section 139 AA in the Income Tax Act, the petitioner said he is being coerced into obtaining a Aadhaar in complete violation of his right to privacy as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Mr Viswam said this court has in various petitions dealing with the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme had directed that the scheme is purely voluntary and is to be obtained only on the consent of individuals.

He said biometric and demographic information are sought to be forcefully obtained by the state machineries, hence negating the requirement of consent.

He said that when an existing regime of PAN is in place, the Aadhaar provision has been enacted merely to negate the larger Benchs reference pending before this court.
Petition claims aviation regulators guidelines only for benefit of airlines.

Passengers plea questions DGCAs rules that provide for refund only if delay is nine hours and above.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will examine whether airlines can be compelled to refund fares and compensate passengers for delayed flight departure.

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notice to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a petition from a passenger, Nanita Sharma, questioning the DGCAs August 1, 2016 guidelines which provide for refund of ticket only if the delay is nine hours and above.

The present rule that passengers would be entitled to refund only if there is a nine-hour delay does not test the stand of logic and reason, is arbitrary, it was argued.

The court sought the DGCAs response within four weeks on the womans plea for considering some sops to harried passengers, such as fare refund, adjustment in an alternate flight, or compensation for delay beyond an hour.

Ms Nanita filed the appeal in the apex court, challenging the concurrent findings of the Delhi district consumer forum and the state consumer commission, which declined to entertain her plea for an award of compensation of Rs 20,000 toward mental and physical agony, Rs 3,975 refund of airfare from Mumbai to Delhi, and Rs 11,000 legal expense.

The passenger had booked a ticket on a GoAir flight from Mumbai to Delhi on January 30, 2007. The scheduled departure from the flight from Mumbai was at 2.15 pm and was scheduled to land in Delhi at 5.50 pm.

However, the flight took off at 6.50 pm in Mumbai and landed in Delhi at 11.15 pm. In her appeal, Ms Nanita challenged the DGCAs civil aviation requirements guidelines which came into effect on August 1, 2016 as being at the very outset, a farce, lopsided and issued only in the interest of the airlines (operators) and not the passenger/consumer.

She said the rules far from helping passengers was only giving immunity to airlines from any liability.
The CM asked the ministers concerned to work in a specified timeframe to develop the heritage city.

Lucknow: Fulfilling the promise made by the BJP in its election manifesto, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Tuesday that all loans of small and medium farmers up to Rs 1 lakh will be waived off  a burden of Rs 36, 359 crore on the state exchequer.

UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh said this includes the loan amount of Rs 5,630 crore taken by about 7 lakh additional farmers.

The minister said that the cutoff year for the loans would be the financial year 2016-2017.

The number of farmers who will benefit from this is around 86 lakhs. There are a total of 2.15 crore medium and small farmers in the state.

If the state government had waived off the aggregate loans of farmers without putting the Rs 1 lakh limit, the financial burden would have been around Rs 62,000 crore.

Though the government spokesman did not say so, sources in the finance department said that the UP government will either take loans from the Centre or other financial institutions to bear the financial burden.

The state government is already bearing an additional burden of Rs 25,000 after implementing the recommendations of the seventh pay commission.

The announcement came in the first Cabinet meeting of the new Yogi Adityanath government held on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his election campaign in the state, had promised that loan waiver for farmers would be done in the first Cabinet meeting if the BJP came to power.

The CM had delayed the Cabinet meeting ostensibly to work out the modalities of the scheme.

Interestingly, it was the Congress that had raised the issue of loan waiver for farmers in August last year when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi got over one crore farmers to list details of their debt burden. He later met the PM asking him to waive off their loans.

The Centre maintained a studied silence on the issue but when the BJP released its manifesto, it promised loan waiver for farmers, and then on February 13, during an election rally in Lakhimpur district, Mr Modi said that if the BJP came to power, it would waive off the loans of farmers in UP.

The CM also discussed the issue of development of Varanasi, the PMs Parliamentary constituency. The CM asked the ministers concerned to work in a specified timeframe to develop the heritage city. It may be recalled that the PM had promised to turn Varanasi into Kyoto, a heritage city of Japan.

The state Cabinet also approved the formation of Anti-Romeo Squads, but asked the police personnel not to harass young couples without a valid reason.

The Cabinet decided to set up 7,000 wheat purchase centres and added a sum of Rs 10 per quintal as transportation charges, payable to farmers on the minimum support price.
The girl used to stay in the college hostel, while the boy lived at a private accommodation in Lonavla.

Pune: Two students of an engineering college were found dead at a forest area in Lonavla hill station of the district, police said on Tuesday.

The deceased, a 22-year-old boy and a girl aged 21, were allegedly stripped and hit on the back of their heads with a blunt object. There were injuries on their other body parts also, they said.

The girl's hands were tied at the back and she was gagged, an officer at Lonavla city police station said.

"A local resident, who spotted the bodies yesterday in the forest area located near INS Shivaji Naval station here, alerted the police," he said.

The police rushed to the spot and sent the bodies for post-mortem, he said.

"Both the deceased were students of a third year engineering course at a college in Lonavla. The girl hailed from Otur in Pune district. The boy hailed from Rahuri in Ahmednagar," the officer said.

The girl used to stay in the college hostel, while the boy lived at a private accommodation in Lonavla, which is located about 100 km from the Pune district headquarters.

Both of them were friends and had gone out together on Sunday, the police officer said.

A murder case has been registered, he said.

"We are investigating the case from all angles and waiting for the post-mortem report," the officer said.

A probe is on into the case, he said adding that the police would talk to the family members of both the deceased.
Dr Swamy has alleged that the FIPB, of which P. Chidambaram was ex-officio chairman, had given illegal clearance to the deal.

New Delhi: In a sign that P. Chidambarams troubles may be mounting, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court on Monday that it is probing all possible angles of the allegation that the former finance minister had illegally given clearance to the Malaysian firm Maxis to buy 100 per cent of Aircel.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy had approached the court earlier this year alleging an illegality been committed by then finance minister Mr Chidambaram in granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to the Rs 3,500 crore deal in 2006.

In his application, Dr Swamy said that he had sought a CBI probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal and that the CBI had already filed a chargesheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and others. When the court asked him for proof on Mr Chidambarams alleged illegal action, he said his petition had nothing to do with the discharge of the Maran brothers in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

In February, a special court had dropped all charges against Mr Maran, his brother and others in the Aircel-Maxis deal cases lodged by the CBI and the ED.

On Monday, when Dr Swamy submitted to the two-judge bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that he had received a letter n Turn to Page 4

from CBI about the probe undertaken against Mr Chidambaram, and asked for a direction to the CBI to file a status report, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the court that the CBI was conducting the probe from all angles possible and that he would inform the court on the progress of the investigation after three weeks.

The ASG also submitted the status report of the probe conducted by the Enforcement Directorate against Mr Chidamabram to the bench in a sealed envelop. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on May 2.

Dr Swamy has alleged that the FIPB, of which Mr Chidambaram was ex-officio chairman, had given illegal clearance to the deal to enable Mr Chidambaram and his

son, Karti Chidambaram, to profit from it.

He said also said that since the deal was worth over Rs 600 crore, it ought to have been placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs by the finance minister for clearance. This, he has alleged, was never done.

Dr Swamy was asked by the court to show some concrete documentary proof of Mr Chidambarams role in the alleged illegality. He is hoping that investigations by ED and the CBI will provide that.
Arjun Bhardwaj, who hailed from Bengaluru, was studying at a college in suburban Vile Parle, a senior police official said.

Mumbai: A 24-year-old college student allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 19th floor of a star hotel in suburban Bandra on Monday, police said.

DNA reported, before ending his life, he went live on Facebook and recorded a video on how to end one's life.

Arjun Bhardwaj, who hailed from Bengaluru, was studying at a college in suburban Vile Parle, a senior police official said.

Bhardwaj had booked a suite on the 19th floor of a star hotel in the wee hours on Tuesday. He jumped from the room by breaking the glass of the window around 6:30 pm, the official said.

According to police, Bhardwaj had posted a video on a social networking site about steps to kill oneself before taking the extreme step.

"I'm a drug addict..I don't want to live anymore and hence committing suicide," the official said, quoting the suicide note purportedly written by him.

Image posted by Arjun Bharadwaj before he committed suicide. (Photo: Facebook)

The suicide note was found from the hotel room.

The hotel's security personnel said they heard a loud thud on the premises and soon rushed to the spot where they found Bhardwaj lying in pool of blood.

He was taken to nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

Bhardwaj had submitted proper documents before checking in, which helped the officials identify him.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.
A government spokesperson said that the chief minister was likely to visit the Bundelkhand region later this month.

Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has approved a Rs 47 crore-package to ensure immediate availability of drinking water in the parched Bundelkhand region. The chief minister said that if needed, the state government would also make available additional funds for the region to ensure that there is no drinking water problem for the people and the cattle in Bundelkhand region.

A government spokesperson said that the chief minister was likely to visit the Bundelkhand region later this month to see the ground realities and interact with the people.

The chief minister said at a review meeting that Bundelkhand had been continuously ignored by the governments in the last 15 years and no steps had been taken to ensure the development of the region. He said he was aware of the hardships faced by the people of the region. The chief minister 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. The state government now plans to initiate development of the Bundelkhand region in a planned manner.

The development of Bundelkhand will be all-inclusive and the chief minister has directed the concerned officials to prepare a blue print for the same, the spokesperson said.

It is noteworthy that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, during his election campaign, repeatedly spoke about the apathy of the state governments towards the Bundelkhand region which has bene battling drought conditions since the past two years. He said that the Bundelkhand region needed special attention since it had different needs.

Mr Gandhi also had alleged that the Congress-led UPA government had given a special package to the area, but the state government in Uttar Pradesh did not lend support to improve the situation in 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). The mandate under the MGNREGA was increased from 100 to 150 as a review was undertaken by the Prime Ministers Office of the situation in the region.
Devi had told Tiwari during an interaction that politicians never listened to poor people at which he had promised a solution to her.

New Delhi: Delhi BJP on Monday gave a civic poll ticket to a Class 10-pass slum resident who had told state party chief Manoj Tiwari during his stay at a west Delhi slum that politicians did not listen to the poor.

Tiwari had started his series of slum visits after taking charge as Delhi BJP chief, spending the night of December 31, 2016, with residents of Todapur slum, including Sarita Devi, in Inderpuri.

Devi had told Tiwari during an interaction that politicians never listened to poor people at which he had promised a solution to her.

Devi will contest MCD election from Inderpuri ward.

Tiwari has said his slum visits are a reality check on developments of unauthorised colonies and slums under the AAP government, and has led to his party's focus on residents of these parts of the city.
The victim filed a complaint at Vasunt Kunj police station, alleging that the officer had been harassing her since 2012.

New Delhi: A 26-year-old Indian Engineering Services (IES) officer has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman, police said on Tuesday.

The accused is posted as an assistant executive engineer in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The victim filed a complaint at Vasunt Kunj (North) police station on Monday, alleging that the officer had been harassing her since 2012 when she was a minor.

On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered against him and he was arrested. Further details are awaited.
The notice has come in the wake of an upcoming public meeting that was to be addressed by an MP.

New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has issued a notice advising all stakeholders to refrain from organising any event that is in violation of the rules, regulations and relevant court orders.

"Disciplinary action will be taken as per the university rules against the violators," the notice said.

The notice has come in the wake of an upcoming public meeting that was to be addressed by a Member of Parliament at the Administrative block of the university on Tuesday at 5:30 pm.

The university has also expressed doubt over the possibility of the MP being aware of the interim court orders related to holding such events in the JNU campus.

The notice further said that the invited speaker of Tuesday's event was informed and apprised of the situation.

"The president of the JNU Students Union has also been advised to discourage students from organising such events at prohibited areas in the campus," the notice added.

The JNU has seen unabated turbulent months with several crackdowns resulting in arrests of students and media chaos which led to a state of a crisis in the campus.
The notice said that the invited speaker was informed and apprised of the situation.

JNU campus has been on the boil for over a year now with several crackdowns resulting in arrests of students.

New Delhi: JNU on Tuesday issued a notice advising the university student union to refrain from violating a court order that restrains students from protesting near the administrative block. The notice was issued after a student group invited senior JD(U) leader and MP Sharad Yadav to speak on the issue of seats cuts in research programmes.

Mr Yadav, who later went on to address the on-campus event on Tuesday evening, said he was informed by the university registrar about the interim court orders related to holding of such events. In his address, he targeted the BJP-led Union government for seats cuts in JNU.

Earlier, the university had expressed doubt over the possibility of the MP being aware of the interim court orders related to holding such events in the JNU campus. The notice said that the invited speaker was informed and apprised of the situation.

The president of the JNU Students Union has also been advised to discourage students from organising such events at prohibited areas in the campus, the notice said. JNU campus has been on the boil for over a year now with several crackdowns resulting in arrests of students.

The administration advises all the stakeholders of JNU to refrain from organising any event that is in violation of the rules, regulations and relevant court orders. Disciplinary action will be taken as per the university rules against the violators, the notice said.

The JNU administration had moved the Delhi high court early this month, seeking direction to restrain its students from staging any demonstration within 100 metres of the administrative block.

Alleging that the students of JNU disobeyed the courts direction, despite assurances given by them before it, the universitys plea has sought action against the ones who have violated the orders.

The JNU administration has been at loggerheads with the student groups over a number of issues, including seats cuts in M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes and suicide by a research student and fund cut by the UGC.
Believe notes owners may have tipped off about notes in bid to retrieve currency later.

Mumbai: The Mumbai police suspects that in a majority of the 25-odd cases involving the seizure of demonetised currencies worth around Rs 22 crore in the city since January this year, it could be men with associated their owners who allegedly gave the anonymous tips.

It is being examined whether the tip-offs were allegedly given in an attempt to retrieve portions of the currencies that were subsequently seized using alibis once the case went for further probe to the Income Tax (IT) department, police sources said.

The banned notes could be exchanged with legal tender after December 30, 2016 except in the cases of NRIs and Indians who were abroad during November-December 2016, when the demonetisation decision was taken.

After the seizures, the police hands over the probe to the IT department, which begins investigating the source of the money.

The police has alerted the Income Tax department to conduct a deeper probe to ascertain the motive and the modus operandi seen to be in play in such seizures, sources said.

The polices suspicion arose due to the fact that in most of these cases, there was no trace of any actual middleman who could have exchanged the old notes with legal tender.

Further, in most cases, new notes were not found, said sources. In most cases, the police was told by men detained with scrapped notes that the currencies were to be exchanged with legal tender allegedly by an unidentified RBI employee, a claim that was found to be false, a police officer told The Asian Age.

The officer said, The owners claimed that the middlemen were to arrive in an official van with currencies of new notes to exchange with old notes. Their claims were unverified, aimed at misleading us.

According to the officer, in none of the cases, the exchange actually happened, even partially, so no new notes were found that could have proved the existence of a middleman or his ability to exchange the old notes with legal tender.

According to the source, it is being examined whether the aim of those behind the seizures was to somehow find ways to retrieve the seized notes by showing them to be part of legal transactions.

While the December 30, 2016 deadline was the original deadline for depositing scrapped notes, March 31 was the deadline for those Indians who were abroad during NovemberDecember 2016. The demonetisation decision was taken by the Centre to curb unaccounted money, counterfeit currencies and terror funding.

When contacted by The Asian Age, a Reserve Bank of India spokesperson said, This is a police matter entirely. We cannot comment on this.
The police has remanded him in police custody till Thursday and will transfer the case to the IT department after the polices probe.

Mumbai: The Powai police and Juhu ATS have recovered demonetised cash worth Rs 1.70 crore on Sunday afternoon. The police seized the banned currency from Ajay Gupta (36), a businessman from Kandivali east, who claimed that he had gone to deposit the money on Friday, but was unable to exchange the cash because of the crowd.

According to officials, the police raided the office of Ajay Gupta, situated at Saki Vihar Road in Powai on Sunday afternoon, acting on a tip-off. In the raid, the police found demonetised cash in the banned denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth Rs 1.70 crores in his office. Gupta is a businessman in the construction and production business. The police said that the money belonged to the earnings from these businesses and did not come from any illegal activity. He also said that he had waited in the queue in the Reserve Bank of India to get the notes exchanged, but his turn did not come till the deadline of 4 pm.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Balasahed Gavhate, the investigating officer of this case said, We are questioning Gupta to find out the source of his demonetised cash. In the probe until now, we do not see any role of an agent, and have ruled out the possibility of any third party interference. We are probing the case and will remand him in police custody till Thursday.

The police has remanded him in police custody till Thursday and will transfer the case to the Income Tax department after the polices probe.
Saamana editorial further noted that there must be single law to deal with beef ban issue in all over India.

Mumbai: In a scathing attack against Bharatiya Janata Party through its mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena has called state government responsible for the farmers suicides in state. Government is busy in protecting cow but it has left farmers dying, reads Saamana editorial on Monday.

If Hindutvavadi government has banned beef in India then how come export has increased in such a large numbers? asked Shiv Sena in editorial.

Sena has been sulking as the minor partner in BJP-led government in state and centre. Tiger party is continuously vocal against almost every issue that BJP is trying to set. As beef ban and cow protection issue has again peaked up in BJP led states especially in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh; Shiv Sena has seen an opportunity to corner BJP in Maharashtra.

Asking state government to provide financial relief to farmers through waiving off loans, Sena editorial reads, If people would get capital punishment for killing cows then governments also be booked for murder in case of farmers suicides. Who is responsible for it? Todays government cant escape its responsibility by showing fingers to earlier ones.

Saamana editorial further noted that there must be single law to deal with beef ban issue in all over India. We demand similar law in UP as well as Maharashtra. We also want to ask a question to government. If you are claiming beef ban is in implementation then how come export of beef has increased in many folds?, asks editorial.

In attempt to corner BJP further over beef, Saamana editorial has raked up a statement of BJPs candidate N Sriprakash in Lok Sabha by election of Mallapuram constituency. Mr Sriprakash has reportedly supported beef in his campaign. Over to it Sena asked, What BJP has to say on him? Even beef is not banned in BJP ruled Goa, Assam and Manipur? How BJP would reply on this duality? asked Sena editorial.
Sanjay Nirupam has sought an investigation into the land allotment.

Mumbai: City-based Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Monday filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court alleging violation of rules in the allotment of 600-acre land at throw away price to yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Food and Herbal Park at Mihan in Nagpur. Mr Nirupam has sought an investigation into the land allotment. "The PIL has been filed," said Ashok Sarogi, counsel of Nirupam. The petition alleges that the union and state government in collusion with each other allegedly allotted 600 acres to Patanjali in contrary to the rules.

According to the petitioner, the respondents allegedly misused their powers to allot the land. Mr Nirpam claimed that the formality of calling tender was done only on paper and the land was given to Patanjali at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per acre, while even as per government, the base price for auction was Rs 36 lakh. Mr Nirpuam said that the current market rate of the land is approximately `one crore per acre. The Airport Development Authority has also been made respondent saying it has also given some properties to Patanjali company. The Union of India has been made respondent through Nitin Gadkari, the guardian minister of Nagpur and state of Maharashtra has been made respondent through chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Patanjali Food and Herbal Park and the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd are also respondents in the matter.

S.K. Tijarawala, spokesperson of Patanjali said, The land was allotted in third round of auction only after following due procedure of law and that too with complete transparency. He also said that the Congress does not see welfare of public or nation they need to correct their thinking. We would file appropriate reply in court if there is any such situation, Mr Tijarawala said.

Despite repeated attempts, Mr Gadkari could not be reached for his reaction on the petition. While Kiran Rajhans, spokesperson of Airport Authority of India said, We dont have any idea about filing of such petition so could not make a comment on it.

It is alleged in the petition that said land is marked as Forest Land. A land meant for the preservation of forests and even if for any reason the government wants to dispose of the said property, they are bound and liable to dispose it of at the prevailing market rate that too after complying with all the legal formalities as per law.
Ashwini lost a finger after being attacked by classmate Rajesh Bakshi.

Pune: The 22-year-old daughter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Sanjiv Reddy Bodkurvar, who represents Wani constituency in Yavatmal district, was attacked by her classmate with a knife.

Ashwini Bodkurwar, an MBA student, was allegedly attacked by her classmate Rajesh Kumar Bakshi on Monday morning near her college in Pune. She lost the baby finger of her left hand in the attack. Ms Bodkurwar was rushed to a private hospital after the attack. Though her condition is stable, she sustained injuries on her hands and will have to go through multiple surgeries.

According to the first information report, Ms Bodkurwar is a first-year student studying System Management at Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM), Pune. She stays in a private apartment about 100 metres from the college. The attack happened when she was going to college on Monday at around 8.30 am.

Ganesh Shinde, deputy commissioner of police, Pune Zone III, said, We have arrested Bakshi and will book him under IPC 307 for attempt to murder. Bakshi has done his BE degree from Faridabad in Haryana. He had taken admission for MBA at BIMM in June 2016.

Mr Bodkurwar, who rushed to Pune from Wani, said, This is shocking news for me. My daughter had told me a couple of times that one of her classmates has been harassing her by sending messages, calling her and stalking her. When I asked her whether I should lodge a police complaint, she said no, saying it would affect his career.

He added the Bakshi should get maximum punishment so that other people would be deterred from attacking girls and women. All accused in cases of harassment of women should be sent behind bars for 10-12 years, Mr Bodkurvar said.

Meanwhile, K Balasubramanian, director of management institute, refuted charges that the institute did not take any action. This girl registered a complaint with the management yesterday at 2.30 pm that her classmate has been harassing her. We constituted a committee and conducted a primary enquiry. Bakshi gave it in writing that he would not harass her. Both of them shook hands and left, Mr Balasubramanian said.
Stemming from contentious projects, the raids have taken a heavy toll on Afghanistan-Pakistan relations.

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.

The frontier may be seen as one of the most volatile borders in the world. However, the humanitarian dimension should not be eclipsed by security considerations alone. Creating a new hurdle for the long-suffering tribespeople could be counterproductive in the prevailing circumstances.

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. Conservative estimates indicate that over 90 border guards, mostly from Afghanistan, have been killed and scores wounded in a series of exchanges of fire over the past 16 years. Apart from material losses and those of life, the 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. They have also sparked angry anti-Pakistan protests in Kabul, Jalalabad, Asadabad, Khost and elsewhere across the border.

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. But each time, such moves have fallen by the wayside and animosity has markedly deepened between the neighbours. 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 despite enjoying oodles of financial assistance and political support from the Bush administration. The ex-military ruler, his considerable clout with resourceful allies in the war on terror notwithstanding, could not execute the plan that is widely perceived as a sociocultural wall.

By arrangement with Dawn
PHOENIX  A federal court on Monday rejected efforts by some companies, aided by state officials, to void air quality requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In an extensive ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Asarco and CalPortland Co. have no legal right to challenge the mandates because neither company had first registered its objections with the EPA. Judge Jay Bybee, writing for the panel, said that is contrary to what federal law requires.

But procedural questions aside, the judges also rebuffed various other challenges to both the kind of equipment companies would be required to install as well as limits on their emissions. They said there was more than enough evidence to support the EPA's conclusion that these are necessary to protect visibility in national parks and forests.

Monday's ruling drew criticism from the state Department of Environmental Quality which had sided with the companies.

In a prepared statement, Timothy Franquist, director of the agency's air quality division, acknowledged there are "ancillary air quality benefits'' from the Regional Haze Program. And he said the intent of Congress in enacting these laws was "to improve visibility in our national parks and monuments.''

But Franquist said his agency is not convinced that what the EPA wants Arizona companies to do is worthwhile.

"The program only has resulted in unperceivable visibility improvements in Arizona, when improved visibility should be the focus of the program,'' he said. And with a change of administration in Washington and new leadership at EPA Franquist said officials at his agency "hope this matter will be one of the many rules the new EPA administration revisits.''

There was no immediate response from Asarco which is seeking to ease requirements for its Hayden smelter. Efforts to reach CalPortland, which operates a cement kiln at Rillito in Pima County, were unsuccessful.

At the heart of the legal battle is a 1970 federal law which declared it a "national goal'' to improve air visibility in federal parks and forests.

That provision in the Clean Air Act requires each state with emissions that impact federal lands to create a plan showing how it intends to make reasonable progress toward the national visibility goal. That includes requirements for companies to use "best available retrofit technology'' as well as for polluters to make "reasonable progress'' toward reducing emissions.

But the law also says if EPA finds the state plan wanting, it can implement its own plan.

That's exactly what happened here.

Bybee said the state plan listed proposals to manage and reduce emissions from various industrial sources.

"The EPA determined that Arizona could do better in improving visibility,'' he wrote. So the federal agency disapproved elements of the state plan and issued its own plan that "imposed enhanced emission-control measures.''

That led to the companies, with the assistance of the state DEQ, taking the federal agency to court.

Among the complaints by Asarco was the EPA saying it cannot emit more than 40 tons per year of nitrogen oxides from its smelter without installing new pollution-control equipment.

Attorneys for the company argued that was inappropriate, if for no reason other than its smelter currently produces less than that. Bybee said there's a flaw in that.

"Nothing prevents them from exceeding that threshold in the future,'' he wrote. And the judge said the EPA requirements "ensure that the smelters live up to their representations of keeping their nitrogen oxides emissions low.''

And Bybee said it makes no sense for Asarco to claim it cannot recover 99.8 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions since that was the number the company gave the EPA of what is it now recovering.

The appellate judges did consider claims by challengers that the difference in visibility from the requirements is so small as not to matter. That included the contention by CalPortland that its cement kiln, built before the 1970 federal law, should not be required to make reasonable progress in reducing its emissions.

But Bybee said the law on reasonable progress requires the EPA to consider four factors: cost of compliance, time necessary for compliance, energy and other non-air quality impacts, and the remaining useful life of the plant.

He said EPA was not required to consider visibility, though it did take it into account, albeit not to the degree CalPortland wanted. And that, said Bybee, does not allow the company to seek federal court review.

"Although petitioners may not like that the EPA accorded some factors greater weight than others, it is simply not our place to substitute our judgment for that of the EPA,'' he wrote.

Monday's ruling also affects the Phoenix Cement Co., which is operated by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which joined the lawsuit. It also affects Freeport-McMoran which also has an Arizona smelter in the Globe-Miami subject to EPA rules, though that company was not part of the lawsuit.
The problem is that Indian culture has a shadowy core full of festering toxic beliefs.

In the heart of India broods a subcontinent of darkness, shaped by centuries of crippling traditions, grotesque superstitions and formulated by the arrogance of ignorance. Occasionally, the darkness erupts in a show of primeval violence.

The latest episode in this recurrent dynamic was the murderous mob attack on a group of African students in Greater Noida, a suburb of New Delhi. Scores of local toughs pounced upon unprepared Africans, including girls, at a local shopping mall and beat them mercilessly. The proximate cause of the attack was the death of a local student caused by an overdose of drugs allegedly supplied by an African.

The police interceded much later, and arrested four or five youngsters. This did little to prevent locals from continuing to threaten Africans and demand that they leave.

The African student community in Greater Noida went into shock, stopped attending classes and many bought a ticket home. The local authorities advised African students to stay indoors as roving mobs were reported moving around the town.

The most monstrous part of the shameful episode was the local support for the hooligans behind the attack. In Greater Noida, rumour had it that Africans were not only drug dealers but cannibals as well who steal and feast on children.

This kind of highly offensive views on Africans is shared by a large number of Indians, mostly in north India but also in other parts of the country, though perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent.

It is this mindset that is responsible for recurring racial attacks on and the abuse of Africans, who are so bitter about their treatment by the average Indian that they claim cows get better treatment here.

The notion of an African as a maneating sub-human species is only conceivable in a worldview so steeped in ignorance and primitive fears that it negates the idea of India as an evolved civilisation.

It reflects a massive sullen morbidity in the collective Indian consciousness, one that is far gloomier than the once uncharted interiors of the great African continent.

In the nations capital, Africans are routinely abused, beaten and robbed in broad daylight. In May last year, a young Congolese was beaten to death near a prominent south Delhi residential area. At around the same time, 12 Africans in Rajpur Khurd village in south Delhi were thrashed mercilessly by locals because of their alleged loose morals.

A few years ago, CCTV cameras at New Delhis main metro station recorded a most distressing scene involving a mob beating three African students while three policemen witnessing the scene walked away.

In 2014, a local legislator led a mob to south Delhis Khirki Extension where his men assaulted four African women  two Nigerians and two Ugandans. The politician claimed the African women were on drugs and indulged in prostitution. None of the charges stuck as the government hospital where the injured women were admitted said they had no traces of any drugs in their blood. The legislator got away scot-free.

There is no concerted effort by either the government or civil society to counter egregious racial prejudices inherent in our society. This provides an open field to racist aggressors responsible for the spate of brutal attacks on Africans, people with Mongoloid features (including Indians from the Northeast) and other foreign-looking individuals.

In the worldview of the local brute, the outsider is to be despised, abused and assaulted; the outsider is not just different but evil and threatening as well. This is a mindset reminiscent of the Neanderthal slouching through primordial jungles, and not of a modern civilised individual.

The problem is that Indian culture has a shadowy core full of festering toxic beliefs. This often infects the best of us.

More than 120 years ago, a young Indian lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrived in South Africa with ingrained racist views about black Africans, whom he referred to as kaffirs. The early racist statements by Gandhi havent been forgotten in parts of Africa even today, although as Nelson Mandela explained in a 1995 article: Gandhi must be forgiven those prejudices and judged in the context of the time and circumstances. We are looking here at the young Gandhi, still to become a Mahatma, when he was without any human prejudice save that in favour of truth and justice.

Last year in Ghana, a university was forced to take down a statue of Gandhi after widespread local protests over his alleged racism. But Gandhi did not remain a racist, and quickly evolved away from it. The transformation came at a railway station at Pietermaritzburg where he was evicted from a first-class compartment due to his colour on the night of June 7, 1893.

This marked the beginning of his fight against racial oppression. Hermann Kallenbach, an associate of Gandhi, described in a 1937 interview how the two of them began to express solidarity with black people in South Africa: A black man may not use tramcars, so we walked together for miles. A black man may not use a hotel lift and bathroom, so both of us gladly left the use of both. A black man may not eat in the common dining room (so) I said I would not go there myself and we had our food in our rooms.

Gandhi, who went on to establish the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, worked with many prominent black South Africans involved in the establishment of the African National Congress that eventually led to the end of apartheid.

Several African leaders, including Nelson Mandela, have acknowledged Gandhis role in the fight against racism. The former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, once declared: Mahatma Gandhi will always be remembered as long as free men and those who love freedom and justice live.

The dismal reality is that even a century after Gandhis transformation in South Africa, the majority in India remain hostage to discredited values which continue to be passed on to new generations. The darkness is thus perpetuated and taints the entire subcontinent.

Though said in a different context, the famous words of Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement in America, are equally relevant in todays Indian context: Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.
A secular court must ideally protect everyones religious beliefs as well as the right to remain aloof from all of them.

The Chief Justice of India, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, says he would prefer that the Ayodhya dispute be settled outside the court, mutually, between the perpetually unyielding Hindu and Muslim petitioners. The apex court is currently studying the Allahabad high courts decision of 2010, which had insinuated that there was in fact a birthplace of Lord Ram as claimed by Hindu militants at the disputed site where the 16th-century Babri Masjid once stood. World-renowned historians and archaeologists have desisted from supporting such claims for want of basic evidence.

A progressive judge was earlier dealing with the dispute for years at the Allahabad high court. He retired with his unalloyed belief that matters of faith were essentially non-justiciable in a secular court such as the one he presided over. A secular court must ideally protect everyones religious beliefs as well as the right to remain aloof from all of them.

The Ayodhya dispute, therefore, given Indias secular Constitution put together by 85 per cent Hindus in the Constituent Assembly, boils down to a temporal standoff  the rival claims on the land in question between those who say that the mosque was arbitrarily built on what they believe to be the birthplace of Ram and those that want the courts to prevent their forcible eviction from the land on which the mediaeval mosque stood until December 6, 1992.

Justice Khehar has offered to personally mediate the complex case if accepted by the parties. There could be no doubt that the judge has offered his help with good intentions. A range of thoughts cross the mind nevertheless about why the SC would not prefer to explore a legal route and settle the case one way or another as Indias secular law mandates.

A rival fact begs discussion. It is not easy to enforce the law in India, with or without the states patronage of rogue parties. Remember that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was carried out as a brazen snub to the SCs authority. Its standing orders forbade any changing of the status of the disputed monument in Ayodhya. The world knows who all were complicit in disobeying the binding orders, and who led the mobs to wilfully undermine the highest and most revered institution of the Indian state.

Justice Khehar has described the dispute as a sensitive issue. What happens when he retires though, as early as August this year? Will there be a mechanism backed by the SC and the government for him to continue as a mediator whose imprimatur is honoured by all when he finds a solution? And what will we do if the solution, in which he suggests a little bit of give and take, widens into a full-blown assault on law and justice as it did in 1992?

We have after all chosen to accept the route, willy-nilly, of vigilante squads and Hindutva zealots swarming through Nehrus India. What is happening in India is a third or fourth carbon copy of what we have seen elsewhere. UP, for example, is a smudged copy of the moral policing in Iran. They too enforce dress codes there and are particularly severe on young men and women whose hands even brush each other in public squares. If the so-called anti-Romeo squads of UP are bodily lifted from the streets of Islamic Iran, the threat by another BJP chief minister to hang (without recourse to law, naturally) people who kill cows, brings to mind the laughing assassin of the early days of the Iranian Revolution. Ayatollah Khalkhali would roam the streets with a crane from which he hanged countless innocent men and women without ever losing the smile on his bearded face. There is a somewhat similar atmosphere in India in which Justice Khehar has offered to stick out his neck on behalf of reason.

A less discussed highlight of the mandir-masjid controversy is that it has created a dialogue (or a standoff) between overtly religious parties, both garnering their constituencies with right-wing agendas that leave out Indias open-minded middle ground to worry for the future helplessly.

In these days of right-wing ferment, be it Muslim, or Hindu, or Jewish, or Christian ferment, any demand for justice does seem laughably anachronistic. The Palestinians have a just cause, as do the Kashmiris, the Latinos, the blacks, the tribespeople of Chhattisgarh, or the liberal students of Indian universities, for example, at JNU. They have all been wronged and the world has put them together in a slot labeled terrorists. What they face is death, or eviction or slander.

If Justice Khehar can buck the trend, and prevent Ayodhya from mutating into Mathura and Kashi and a larger national inferno, Indias Muslims, but above all the overwhelming majority of secular Hindus, should give him a chance. The future cannot be worse than it looks.

By arrangement with Dawn
Colombian authorities said at least 273 people were killed when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed.

Colombian National Army, soldiers rescue a child, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. (Photo: AP)

MOCOA, Colombia: Lines of people quietly walked the streets of Mocoa, followed by hearses carrying coffins to a cemetery where open graves waited for the next somber burials.

The survivors of the deadly flood that washed through this city in southern Colombia were getting ready on Monday to bury their loved ones after authorities began to release the remains recovered from a disaster that has shaken the country.

Colombian authorities said at least 273 people were killed when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed and sent a wall of water and debris surging through the city over the weekend. The death toll was expected to rise since many more were missing and bodies are still being found.

Danilo Garzon Garcia, a 22-year-old resident of the city, had spent the previous day searching with other family members for his young sister. They finally found her body at the local hospital, able to recognize her battered remains because of her underwear.

"It is better this way, better to know," Garzon said as he walked alongside the car carrying her body to the cemetery. "At least we know where she is."

The Colombian Red Cross says it has received 374 requests for help from families unable to locate loved ones, people whose whereabouts were still unknown three days after the disaster.

President Manuel Santos, making his third visit to the remote city in as many days, said 90 percent of the dead had now been identified and that they would not consider anyone "disappeared" until they have established the death toll to the extent possible.

Much of Mocoa was still strewn with rocks, tree limbs, and brown muck. Search and rescue teams continued to probe debris piles when someone heard a possible sound of movement.

Many in this city of around 40,000 people still seemed in shock from the flood, which poured through the town after a punishing rainfall as people slept late Friday night and early Saturday.

"We do not like to create false expectations but where there is a possibility of life we will do everything possible," said Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of Colombia's National Unit of Disaster and Risk Management.

Many victims were young like Garzon's 14-year-old sister. "She had gone to sleep at a friend's house. When we got to where the house was we didn't find anyone," he said.

As he walked calmly in the funeral procession, his mother sobbed and screamed in grief: "Leidy! What did you leave me Leidy, my girl." Her son then put his arm around her as they made their way to the cemetery.

Santos and other officials pledged both emergency relief and that Mocoa would be rebuilt, including a new water system to replace the one damaged in the flood and new homes for those in the 17 neighborhoods hit hardest by the surging water. He said he had spoken by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised assistance as have other nations including China and Venezuela.

Santos also declared an "economic, social and ecological emergency," a designation intended to speed reconstruction efforts. "We are not going to stop until everyone affected by this natural disaster receives help," Marquez said.
A sharp shepherd of his flock, the Pope has mastered the art of containing people without making structural changes.

Buenos Aires: Priests are Catholicisms greatest figures: shepherds who manage the relationship with the divine. But their numbers have been dwindling worldwide since the 1930s.

In Argentina, the Church lost 23% of its priests and nuns from 1960 to 2013. France and Spain have also seen a dramatic reduction in clergy. In Europe, the number of priests declined 3.6% between 2012 and 2015 alone.

The demands of the job are a killer combination today. Between restrictions on sexuality and the loss of priests social status, there are ever fewer seminarians and, consequently, ever fewer men of the cloth, particularly in remote regions of the world such as the Amazon, where there is one priest for every 10,000 Catholics.

Responding to this challenge, Pope Francis recently suggested that the Church might allow married men to be ordained. Many Church officials believe the requirement of celibacy is the main reason fewer men are joining the priesthood, though theres no single cause for the fall in numbers.

Female deacons, married priests?

Rethinking celibacy was discussed by the Second Vatican Council (1965-1968, but advocates for abandoning the vow did not win out. Like many other questions about the Churchs regulation of its adherents lifestyles (clergy or otherwise)  from opposing contraception to prohibiting communion for divorced people  celibacy was set aside for further deliberation.

In truth, the Popes recent statements are not aimed at undoing an historic pillar of the sacred institution of the priesthood, as some headlines have imprecisely indicated, but rather at considering exceptions. The pontiff was referring to potentially allowing married Catholic men to assume certain church duties in far-flung regions, invoking the figure of the viri probati, or men of unquestionable faith, virtue and obedience.

In other words, the Pope suggested something markedly similar to an existing institution, the diaconate. Deacons are men who, after completing a two- to four-year course, are ordained to assist priests and bishops. They can baptise, marry, preach and administer the Eucharist, but they cannot take confession.

Though the concept is as old as Christianity itself  the Church traces it to the apostles  the diaconate has garnered renewed interest in recent years as priests become scarce.

Deacons dont have to remain chaste, but, like the priesthood, this ministry disallows women. In August 2016, at the request of the Synod of Bishops, the highest Catholic decision-making body, Pope Francis established a commission to study female deacons.

Thus, his recent statements about easing the celibacy requirement are converging with an ongoing conversation about allowing women in the diaconate. Ordained female deacons supporting an all-male ministry does not entirely fulfil progressive Catholics demands to allow women in the priesthood, but it has calmed some anxiety and indicated a potential path forward.

The view from Latin America

How has this news been greeted in Argentina, the Popes home country, and in Latin America, home to 40% of the worlds Catholics?

To paraphrase Emile Poulat, the great Church scholar, Catholicism is a world. And in Latin America, as in other Catholic places, this world is comprised of diverse groups, all of which have received the papacy of their old acquaintance Jorge Bergoglio in different ways.

Progressive Latin American Catholics were leery of this Pope early on, given his origins in the conservative pastoral-theologian tradition. When he was Bishop Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, this group did not have the best relationship with him.

Unexpectedly, theyve now been seduced by the open-minded pontiff who listens to concerns about the Churchs restrictive view on sexual diversity, abortion and convicted criminals. When the Pope was a cardinal, issues such as women in the priesthood, the celibacy vow and contraception were not on his agenda.

Works with the poor, on the other hand, were his strong suit; in Argentina, the ecclesiastical word on poverty is authoritative. Holding masses with cartoneros (rubbish-pickers) in the squares and train stations of Buenos Aires and doing ministerial work in its shantytowns? Very Cardinal Bergoglio.

Conservative Latin American Catholics, who celebrated Francis assumption in Buenos Aires main square, the Plaza de Mayo, have run an inverse course. They expected that the Argentinean Pope would continue in the same vein as before: moderate, and in constant dialogue with all sectors of the Church, as well as with government.

Such is the character of Pope Francis, a refined and intelligent man educated in the turbulent waters of Argentinean ecclesiastic politics, which have always been linked to national politics. After decades of political acrobatics, the Pope has learned an operating style that plays with the divide between public statements and whats said in private, between the general rule of mercy and actually engaging with personal suffering.

A sharp shepherd

Every papacy is political but the politics depend on nuances of the international scenario. Pope John Paul II came infused with anti-communist charisma, (which later hastened his fall), and Pope Benedict XVI demonstrated the continued preeminence of European academic theological thinking.

As Pope, Bergoglio, the pastoral theologian who hews closely to the faithful and the marginalised, is seeking to reify his commitment to societys most vulnerable  immigrants, the poor, peasants  without changing the Church in any fundamental way.

Bergoglio is a son of the Catholicism that has dominated in Argentina since the 1930s: plebeian in its social leanings, with strong government relations. This kind of Catholicism does not limit itself to personal belief; it has something to say to all society, is willing to recognise modernity and even, at times, to have a dialogue with it.

A sharp shepherd of his flock, the Pope has mastered the art of containing people without making structural changes. Argentina is full of stories about his papal calls: the time he called a divorced woman to comfort her with the possibility that she might one day again receive communion, for instance, or the human rights NGO director to whom the Pope committed his support for public political actions.

Much like these anecdotes, Franciss recent declarations about married viri probati are an extension of his conservative, people-centred pastoralism, rather than a sign that hes turned progressive on the moral question of sex. This is the Catholicism in which Father Bergolgio was raised, and Pope Francis continues to be its beloved son.
The Russian, Victor Podobnyy, was one of three men charged in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring.

Washington: A foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign met with a Russian intelligence operative in 2013 and provided him documents about the energy industry, according to court filings.

The Russian, Victor Podobnyy, was one of three men charged in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring. According to the court documents, Podobnyy tried to recruit Carter Page, an energy consultant working in New York at the time, as an intelligence source. Page is referred to in the filing as "Male-1."

Page briefly served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign, though he split from the campaign before the election and the White House says the president has no relationship with him.

He's among the Trump associates under scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

When contacted Monday by The Associated Press, Page said he was not available for comment. He confirmed to BuzzFeed News, which first reported on the filings, that he was "Male-1."

Trump has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election. He's blasted the focus on his possible Russia ties as a "ruse" and has insisted that the real story is the leaking of information to the media and allegations that he and his associates were improperly surveilled by the Obama administration.

"The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers," Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning.

Page's contacts with Podobnyy happened about three years before Trump listed him as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Trump and his advisers have been vague about how Page became connected with the campaign.

The court filings include a transcript of Podobnyy speaking with Igor Sporyshev, who was also charged in the spy ring, about Page.

"I like that he takes on everything," Podobnyy says. "For now his enthusiasm works for me. I also promised him a lot."

Separately, The Washington Post reported Monday that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between an American businessman supporting Trump 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 the incoming president.

Citing U.S., European and Arab officials, the Post reported that the UAE 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 be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions. The full agenda remains unclear, the newspaper said.

The meeting took place nine days before Trump's inauguration and involved businessman Erik Prince, the Post reported. Prince, the founder of the security firm Blackwater and now the head of the Hong Kong-based company Frontier Services Group, has ties to Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the meeting in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean as part of the broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump, the Post reported. The FBI declined to comment, the newspaper said.

The officials said Prince presented himself as an unofficial envoy for the president-elect to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, the Post reported. The officials did not identify the Russian.

Prince was a high-dollar campaign donor - he and his family reportedly gave more than $10 million to GOP candidates and super PACs in 2016 - and was a frequent critic of both President Barack Obama and Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In response to the Post story, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said "we are not aware of any meetings" and a Prince spokesman said the meeting "had nothing to do with President Trump." Both said Prince had no role in the Trump transition.
A Kyrgyzstan security services spokesperson said that the attacker could have acquired Russian nationality.

The explosion at the Sennaya Ploshchad station killed 11 people and injured dozens more. (Photo: AP)

Bishkek: A suicide bomber from Kyrgyzstan was behind the explosion that killed 11 people and injured dozens more in the Saint Petersburg metro, security services in the Central Asian country said on Tuesday.

"The suicide bomber in the Saint Petersburg metro was a Kyrgyz national Akbarjon Djalilov... born in 1995," said a spokesman for the country's security services.

"It is probable that he acquired Russian nationality," he said. Russia's Investigative Committee said it was probing an "act of terror" over the blast that rocked the metro in the country's second city on Monday afternoon, but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

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 against the jihadists.

At least 7,000 nationals from former Soviet countries, including 2,900 Russians, have joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, mostly IS, according to Russia's FSB intelligence service.
A hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack was also bombarded.

Paris: France called on Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over a suspected chemical attack in rebel-held north-western Syria that killed at least 58 civilians.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described the attack as "monstrous" and added: "I have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council."

Ayrault said "chemical weapons" had been used in the attack and that it was "more proof of the savagery that the Syrian people have been subjected to for so many years."

The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun left dozens struggling to breathe and displaying symptoms such as foaming at the mouth and vomiting and fainting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack was also bombarded, an AFP correspondent said.
Haley echoed the Trump administration's declaration on Friday making clear that the US focus is on defeating IS.

United Nations: US Ambassador Nikki Haley says Syrian President Bashar Assad is "a war criminal" who has been an obstacle to peace for years - but she says the United States isn't ruling out cooperating with him to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.

Haley told a news conference Friday that what Assad has done to the Syrian people "disgusting." She echoed the Trump administration's declaration on Friday making clear that the US focus is on defeating IS. She said last week it wasn't pursuing a strategy to push Assad out of power.

Haley said Friday the US focus is on negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the more than six-year Syrian conflict, though that could change. "Right now Assad is not our number one person to talk to," she said.
However, the Britain-based monitoring group was unable to confirm the nature of the substance.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in the central province of Idlib, had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. (Photo: Representational/AFP)

Beirut: At least 58 civilians, including two children, were killed in an air strike early on Tuesday that released "toxic gas" on a town in northwest Syria, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in the central province of Idlib, had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. It said that the dead include 11 children and says the toll is likely to climb further because of the large number of injured.

The Britain-based monitoring group was unable to confirm the nature of the substance, however.

Syria's opposition National Coalition accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of the attack and demanded a UN investigation.

"The National Coalition demands the Security Council convene an emergency session..., open an immediate investigation and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable," the body said in a statement.

Syrian opposition activists described the attack as among the worst poison gas attacks in the country's six-year civil war. They claimed it was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

There was no immediate comment by Syrian or Russian officials or any international agency on the attack.
Russia says its probing act of terror.

An injured man is helped by medics outside Technological Institute Metro station in St Petersburg. (Photo: AFP)

St. Petersburg: A bomb ripped through a subway train in St. Petersburg on Monday afternoon, killing 10 people and injuring dozens more. The explosion occurred on a subway train travelling between the Technology Institute and Sennaya Square stations. At the time of the attack, President Vladimir Putin was a few miles away in St. Petersburg, his hometown and the countrys second-largest city, on official business.

Authorities shut down the Metro system in St. Petersburg as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second Metro station.

Russias Investigative Committee said it was probing an act of terror but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

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, Mr Putin said.

According to the Independent, ISIS supporters were cheering what they claimed was a terror attack, and sharing images of people caught up in and killed by the blasts.

Some posters on ISIS forums linked the explosions to Russias backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting ISIS and other groups in the Syrian civil war.

The bomb, a homemade device filled with shrapnel, exploded in the third car just after the train had entered the tunnel.

Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.

PM Narendra Modi tweeted, Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at St. Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.
A seat is opening up on the Flagstaff Unified School District Governing Board. Boardmember Kim Khatibi is leaving the board April 12. Her husband has a new job out of state in Seattle.

Khatibi won her seat on the board by default in August 2014 after she and Kathryn Kozak were the only two candidates for the two open seats on the board. She has two years left on her term in office. The Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Risha VanderWey put out a request for applicants on Monday.

Applications for the position have to be turned in by 5 p.m. April 27. In order to apply, a person has to be a registered Arizona voter and have lived in the school district for at least one year. Neither the applicant nor their spouse can be an employee of the district. An advisory committee made up of district residents and FUSD boardmembers will conduct interviews and advise VanderWay on a replacement. VanderWay will appoint the new boardmember, who receives no pay under the state constitution.

Khatibi said it was not easy for her or her family to leave Flagstaff.

"Flag has been our home for almost 15 years. We love this community, but my husband is from Seattle and most of our extended family live there," she said.

Khatibi's husband has already moved to the Seattle area. She said the family decided to wait until the school year was over for their kids. And Khatibi wanted to be satisfied that the district had a plan to handle the minimum wage increase and that a new superintendent had been chosen.

The board voted 3-1-1 at the end of March for interim Mason City, Iowa, Superintendent Mike Penca, with final salary negotiations pending.

I think hes an excellent choice for the district, Khatibi said. She pointed to Pencas 20 years of experience as an administrator and a teacher. She felt his experience would help with some of the programs the district already has in place.

She was also confident that the district had a plan in place to deal with the increase in the local and state minimum wage for the next year and moving forward. The district board plans to create a committee that will create a solution for future increases in the minimum wage.

Khatibi said she hopes the person who replaces her will have a similar background to her. Khatibi was a transition program coordinator and academic adviser at Coconino Community College with a background in special education. Before accepting the board position, she was a transition counselor for Ponderosa High School. She has also worked for FUSD and the Arizona Department of Education.

She's hoping to find teaching position at a community college or K-12 school in Seattle.
Irans envoy to Pakistan said that his appointment may affect the unity of Islamic countries.

Islamabad: Iran on Tuesday said it has reservations on the appointment of Pakistans former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, warning it may impact the unity among Muslim countries.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted the countrys 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, Dawn newspaper quoted the envoy as saying.

He also said Pakistan had contacted Tehran before issuing the no-objection certificate to the retired general to head the Saudi-led alliance.

He said Tehran had informed Islamabad 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 Pakistans foreign policy, and whether it was fully sanctioned by parliament, the report said.

Pakistan had initially found itself in the crosshairs 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.

Raheels appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists and intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the former army chief to join a foreign military alliance after retirement.

The coalition was envisaged 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 Arabias arch rival 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.


by Christopher Sharma

As they prepare for baptism on Easter night, they tell their stories. More and more people are interested in Christianity since Nepal became a secular state.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews)  A number of Hindu Brahmins are preparing for baptism on Easter eve after years of catechesis. They are doing so because they say they found the true God in the Catholic lifestyle. Some of them spoke to AsiaNews about their journey of faith towards Jesus.

"I was born into a family that was thoroughly Brahmin, said Sujan Poudel, from Kathmandus Baniyatar parish. Going to church and reading the Bible was a taboo. But one of my friends in college was Catholic, and so I got a Bible and started reading it at night, after my family had gone to sleep.

afterwards, I started going to church and attend catechism classes. This helped me find out why the Catholic faith is important in a persons life. After years of efforts, I realised that the true God is what we experience in the Catholic faith."

"God for me is equality, Poudel added, the true guide to a happy life, in harmony and honesty with others. I have never found such practical and true qualities in Hinduism. So Jesus became my ideal.

Through faith, he has found a solution to "all the problems". Things are also looking up with regards to his family. "I share the Bible with them, and my brother and sister have started to come to Mass."

Pramila Pokhrel is also preparing for baptism in Pokhara, western Nepal. The young Brahmin woman is excited" and wants to celebrate her new faith with family and friends. "I often experienced discrimination and superstitious attitudes when I was a Brahmin. For four years I have tried to become a Catholic and now the pastor of our church has allowed my baptism."

Niroj Niraula, a Brahmin teacher in Damak parish, eastern Nepal, has always "looked for a way to become a better guide" for his students. He noted that after meeting with Catholic friends he began to attend Mass, and realised he wanted to follow Jesus as an "ideal".

For Niraula, although most Christians are not Brahmin, Christianity is even more important to them because of the difficulties and discrimination they experience. "For this reason, I encourage all Brahmins to experience God, be ready to receive His grace through baptism, so as to welcome God within ourselves."

"I am going to celebrate my new life with my students and friends, Niraula added, and share this message with all Brahmins and non-Brahmins because I am proud to be a Catholic."

Poudel, Pokhrel, and Niraula are not alone. At least 50 people will be baptised during Easter Vigil. In Nepal, more and more people are interested in and preparing to become Catholics, especially since Nepal became a secular state a decade ago.
by Purushottam Nayak

The first apparition of Our Lady took place on 13 May 1917, followed by four others until 13 October of the same year. The Indian archdiocese is organising special celebrations for the centenary, particularly on the five dates of the apparitions. The message of Fatima is still relevant. Penance remains important to sanctify the Christian life.

Panaji (AsiaNews)  The Diocese of Goa and Daman in India announced that everything is ready for the centenary of the apparitions of Fatima, on 13 May. Special ceremonies will be held to mark the feast of Our Lady of Fatima who appeared the first time in 1917 to shepherd children Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco.

The local Catholic community is ready to join wholeheartedly in this celebration, so dear to the Catholic world, and recommits itself to living out of the Message of Fatima, which draws us to the core of the Gospel message, by calling us to a genuine conversion of heart and the practice of prayer and penance, said Mgr Filipe Neri Ferrao, archbishop of Goa and Daman.

For the prelate, the apparition of the Virgin is "undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions". Hence, "our pastors, rectors of institutions and heads of religious communities must encourage those under their care to participate actively in the various pastoral activities and devotional programmes organised by the Goa unit of the World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF), an organisation approved by the Holy See in 2005.

For the occasion, the archdiocese, together with the Asian Regional Centre and the Indian National Centre, has approved a number of pastoral activities to be performed during the entire year.

One of these is called the Communion of Reparation on the five first Saturdays. It includes moments of penance and prayer, confession, communion, the recitation of five decades of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the sins committed by mankind.

For WAF vice chairman Celcio Dias, the reason for the five Saturdays is to be found in the five kinds of offences and blasphemies against Mother, namely rejection of her immaculate conception, virginity, divine maternity, as well as offences against her and her holy images.

As part of its activities, the archdiocese will promote the Rosary in every church and chapel, from 13 May to 13 October, to mark the days in 1917 in which the Virgin met the three Portuguese shepherd children.

In a statement, the archdiocese notes that the message of Fatima is valid to this day because "Fatima shows our modern society the need for conversion of the human heart. [. . .] In Fatima, the little shepherds contemplated the Holy Trinity through the immaculate heart of Mary and were transformed by the experience of love because they were immersed in God as in an ocean of infinite love, grace and mercy. "

In light of this, Gods mystery "can be contemplated through prayer. Thus, Those who want to grow in their spiritual life must practice the prayer of meditation." Indeed, the lack of prayer is precisely "the cause of the spiritual and moral crisis that assails the world today."

However, prayers are not enough; penance and sacrifice are also needed. "It is possible to be saintly and experience the joy of God and peace on earth through the daily offering of our duties to the sacred heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is the way to sanctify our lives and offer the witness of our Christian faith to our fellow human beings."
The government says the measure concerns persons involved in terrorism. Activists and human rights organizations warn: "vague" measure can be used to suppress critical voices and dissent. Reduced sentence for Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman.

Manama (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Bahrain's King Hamad yesterday ratified an amendment to the Constitution which empowers military courts to try civilians. Government sources said that the decision concerns only persons involved in terrorist cases. However, activists and human rights organizations warn that the measure is "very vague" and can be used to suppress any critical voice and internal dissent.

The last time the military court tried civilians dates back to 2011, during the three months that a state of emergency remained in effect , declared in response to the protests of the population, during the "Arab spring"; a spontaneous movement of citizens demanding more rights and democracy, violently suppressed by the authorities of the kingdom with the help of Saudi Arabia.

At that time, about 300 people were tried for crimes of a political "nature". During the hearings there were complaints of "gross" violation of the rights of the accused, including the admission of "confessions of guilt" obtained by use of torture.

Before the reform, the Constitution stipulated that the use of military courts were reserved exclusively to crimes committed "by members of the Armed Forces of Bahrain, the National Guard and the Security Forces", until the declaration of the court martial.

The text now states that "the military judiciary should be regulated by law", which should outline "jurisdiction and competence" in relation to these powers. According to the Ministry of Justice, the military court "will not have the authority to send civilians to trial." However, anyone involved "in acts of terrorism or violent crimes" will be prosecuted by judges in uniform because their actions will be considered "armed assaults."

A vague definition, and that is open to different interpretations: activists warn that this reform is a "disaster" for the future of justice in the country. "We are in a context - warns an international NGO - in which the government uses the courts to repress all forms of opposition, at the expense of human rights."

Also yesterday, the High Court reduced the prison sentence of the main Shiite Muslim opposition leader. Sheikh Ali Salman  leader of the now dissolved Wefaq Party - will have to serve four years, instead of the nine, for trying to "overthrow the political system" through the use of force. Now the charges have become hate speech, disobedience and insulting public institutions.

Bahrain is a Gulf monarchy ruled by a Sunni dynasty in a country where the majority of the population (at least 60-70%) is Shia and want constitutional changes and social and economic rights. In 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring, riots broke out that the king of Bahrain  a US ally supported by Riyadh  put down with Saudi military aid.

Last year, authorities arrested and sentenced Shia activists and religious leaders and suspended the activities of Al-Wefaq, the main Shia opposition group, on charges of terrorism, extremism and violence as well as ties to a foreign power (i.e. Iran).
The death toll stands at 58, 11 children included, but others sources put the number higher with many more wounded. In the afternoon, rockets hit clinics. Syrian government and Russia deny any involvement.

London (AsiaNews/Agencies)  At least 58 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suspected chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town some 50 kilometres from Idlib in north-western Syria some, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has reported that Syrian or Russian warplanes carried out the strike. A Syrian military source denied the government had used any such weapons. Russia's defence ministry said it had not carried out any air strikes in the vicinity.

Later, aircraft fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists said.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the pro-opposition Edlib Media Center (EMC), told the Associated Press that he was awoken by the sound of an explosion at about 06:30 (03:30 GMT).

When he reached the scene, there was no smell, he said. He found people lying on the ground, unable to move and with constricted pupils.

Mohammed Rasoul, the head of a charity ambulance service in Idlib, said that the situation is very serious and that his medics had found people, many of them children, choking in the street.

The SOHR put the death toll at 58, including 11 children, but Mr Rasoul reported 67 killed and 300 wounded. The pro-opposition Step news agency reported a hundred deaths.

The EMC, which said it had stopped counting the victims because there were so many, posted photos showing what appeared to be at least seven dead children in the back of a pick-up truck. There were no visible traumatic injuries on their bodies. It said it believes Sarin was used.

Sarin is highly toxic nerve agent that is considered 20 times as deadly as cyanide. It inhibits the action of an enzyme, which deactivates signals that cause human nerve cells to fire. This blockage pushes nerves into a continual "on" state. The heart and other muscles  including those involved in breathing  spasm.

An AFP news agency journalist saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, all with foam still visible around their mouths. The journalist also reported that the same facility was hit by a rocket on Tuesday afternoon, bringing down rubble on top of doctors treating the wounded.

Syrian authorities repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. In August 2013, the Syrian government was accused of using sarin gas in an attack that killed more than 500 people in a rebel-held area just outside Damascus.

On the occasion too, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected accusations, blaming instead the rebels. Eventually, he accepted that Syrias chemical arsenal be destroyed.

Since then, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has repeatedly documented the use of toxic chemicals in attacks in Syria. In January 2016, tests on blood samples from victims showed that they had been exposed to sarin or substances similar to it.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government, but a Syrian military source told the Reuters news agency that it "does not and has not" used chemical weapons.

For its part, the opposition National Coalition has accused the government of being behind what it called a "horrible crime". It has also called on the UN Security Council to open an immediate investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable. Meanwhile, France has called for an emergency Security Council meeting.

If confirmed, this would be one of the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since the civil war began six years ago.
The Muslim cleric, who pleaded guilty to inciting hatred on religious or racial grounds, apologised. For Home Affairs Ministry, no one can preach or create divisions.

Singapore (AsiaNews)  The Indian-born head of a Singapore mosque has been fined S$ 4,000 (US$ 2,862) for making offensive remarks towards Christians and Jews in a Friday sermon.

The religious leader, who pleaded guilty to inciting hatred on religious or racial grounds, will be repatriated.

During Friday prayers on 6 January, the cleric, Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel Abdul Malik, said, Grant us help against the Jews and the Christians, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on its website.

The case became public in February when someone from the congregation posted a video recording of the sermon on Facebook.

On 31 March, the 46-year-old apologised in the presence of 30 leaders of different religions, expressing great remorse for the malaise, tensions and divisiveness caused by his words.

Any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actions, the MHA statement said.

Under Singapore law, acts that are prejudicial to races or religions can be punished with up to three years in jail, a fine, or both.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Marking 50 years of Paul VIs Populorum Progressio affirming the principle of integral human development, summarized in the "development of every person and all of the person", integration remains the key to development: integrate the people, the personal and communal dimensions, social development models, body and soul, pointed out Pope Francis as he received the participants at a conference sponsored by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development marking the 50th anniversary of "Populorum Progressio", which ends today.

Francis said: To integrate the different peoples of the earth. The duty of solidarity requires us to seek ways to fair sharing, because there is the dramatic inequality between those who have too much and those who have nothing, those who discard and those who are discarded. Only the path of integration between peoples can lead humanity to a future of peace and hope. "

"It is to offer viable models of social integration. Everyone has a contribution to make to society, everyone has a feature that can be used to live together, no one is excluded from making something for the good of all. This is both a right and a duty. It is the principle of subsidiarity to ensure that everyones needs are considered, both as individuals and as groups, if we want to create a human society open to all."

It is also integrated in the development of all those elements that really make it such. The different systems: the economy, finance, labor, culture, family life, religion are, each in its own way, an essential moment of this growth. None of them can be absolute and none of them can be excluded from an integral human development, which takes into account that human life is like an orchestra that sounds good if the different instruments are in harmony and follow a score shared by all".

"It is to integrate individual and community dimensions. It is true that we are children of a culture, at least in the Western world, which has exalted the individual until it is like an island, as if one can be happy alone. On the other hand, there are ideological views and political powers that have crushed the person, have standardized and deprived the person of that freedom without which we cannot feel human. Economic powers are also interested in this massification who want to take advantage of globalization, instead of encouraging greater sharing among men, simply to impose a global market of which they themselves have set the rules and reap the profits. The self and the community are not competing with each other, but can mature only in the presence of authentic relationships and the community is generated when all of its components are thus disposed. This applies even more to the family, which is the first cell of society and where we learn to live together. "

"It is finally integrate the body and soul. Already Paul VI wrote that the development is not reduced to a mere economic growth (cf. n. 14); development does not consist in having more and more goods, for material well-being alone. Integrating body and soul also means that no development work can really achieve its purpose if it does not respect the place where God is present to us and speaks to our hearts. God has made himself fully known in Jesus Christ: in him, God and man are not divided and separated from each other. "

"God became man to make human life, both personal and social, a concrete path to salvation. So the manifestation of God in Christ - including his acts of healing, liberation, and reconciliation that we are called to propose to the many injured by the roadside - shows the way and the mode of service that the Church intends to offer to the world: in His light, one can understand what "integral" development means, which is not wrong either to God or to man, because it takes all the consistency of both. In this sense, the very concept of person, born and matured in Christianity, helps to pursue a fully human development. So that person means relationships, not individualism, inclusion and not exclusion, unique and inviolable dignity and not exploitation, freedom and not coercion. "
Semi-official agencies speak of a young 23 year old suicide bomber. Perhaps there was also a woman. Investigations into Chechen and Islamic origins. Many Chechen fighters have returned from Syria, where they fought alongside Daesh. Expressions of solidarity from Donald Trump, European Union, UN.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The man suspected of killing 11 people and injuring at least 45 in a suicide bomb on the St. Petersburg subway is believed to be a young man of about 20, from Central Asia. According to the semi-official agencies Tass and Interfax the man was identified from his remains.

Investigators say it was "a terrorist act", but so far there has been no claim. Meanwhile, the city has declared three days of mourning. Last night, President Vladimir Putin, who was in St. Petersburg to meet with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, paid tribute to the victims bringing flowers to the blast site.

Interfax said that the author of the attack is a young man of 23 from Central Asia, linked to radical Islam. Tass reported that there could also be a woman involved in the explosion. However, so far there has been no official confirmation.

Suspected Islamic origins to the attack are almost obvious. Russias involvement in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, could have caused such a reaction. But Mosocow has laso been fighting for decades against Chechen separatism. Or, indeed, it could be a combination of the two, since there are many young Chechens and Central Asia fighting in Syria alongside Daesh (at least 7 thousand). Many of them have returned to their homeland.

The St. Petersburg subway - used by at least 2 million passengers every day  had never been targeted to date. In contrast, in 2010 a suicide attack in the Moscow subway killed 38 people. A year later, a bomb went off on a high-speed train between Moscow and St. Petersburg, killing 27 people and injuring another 130. Both attacks were claimed by Islamist groups. Nor must one forget the attack on a Russian plane in flight from Egypt, in October 2015, which led to the death of 224 people. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State.

Other attacks linked to Chechen hostage-taking at Nord Ost theater in 2002 and the school in Beslan in 2004, in which terrorists demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
There are some experiences in life that are difficult to explain. These are the things that have to be experienced for one to truly comprehend the sights, sounds and tactile sensations. Trying to explain them to someone either cannot be done adequately or the impact of the experience is so personal that my yin might be your yang.

Watching a mountain lion and her three cubs play along the banks of the Black River can be adequately described while the experience of hunting the millions of doves in Argentina cannot be. You simply have to experience Argentina to comprehend it. All the adjectives in the world cannot prepare your brain for what you will see.

I recently had another indescribable experience.

This one was not nature-related at all. This one was manmade.

In attempting to describe it I could tell you about the millions of dollars worth of firearms along the quarter-mile firing line and the 3.5 million rounds fired over the three days. I could try to describe the incredible display of firepower, from the 50-caliber ma deuce to 37mm anti-tank artillery, the flares, the tracers, the firework explosions, the dynamite detonations with the resonant impacts on your body and the target planes that everyone tries to shoot down. But the bottom line is you have to experience it to comprehend it.

The Big Sandy Machine Gun Shoot is held twice a year about 12 miles north of Wikieup. Two hundred shooters from around the United States line up millions of dollars worth of machine guns and artillery from around the world while the 800 spectators move behind the firing line to enjoy the show. Occasionally a World War II vintage tank shows up, too.

It is is far more than just a show. It is also a fundraiser for the Wikieup School and the Mohave County 4-H Club. The shoot generates close to $300,000 for wildlife and it is the ultimate display of American style freedom.

Ed Hope of Flagstaff has been running machine gun shoots in northern Arizona for over 30 years. The shoot began north of Flagstaff in 1979 and nine years ago was moved to the Big Sandy Range near Wikieup, Arizona. Eds goal all those years ago was simply to provide a place where machine gun enthusiasts could get together to experience and share their passion.

That goal has been accomplished in spades. The Big Sandy is the largest machine gun shoot in the world. Even the spectators can get more personally involved by renting a machine gun they can shoot.

For information on the next shoot being held October 20-22, 2017, go to: www.mgshooters.com
Free newsletter

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole.

Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer.
MinterEllison IP head flies the nest for Two Birds

Leading Australian IP lawyer Lynne Lewis is joining global firm Bird & Bird in Sydney as a partner in Sydney along with two associates.



Lewis was head of the IP group at MinterEllison and is a significant addition to the Two Birds team with her practice covering a broad cross section of IP disciplines for clients in numerous sectors including fast moving consumer goods, automotive, aviation, fashion, food and beverages, financial services, mining and telecommunications.



"Lynne's appointment marks the next stage of growth for our significant Australian IP team, commented Shane Barber, managing partner of Bird & Bird Australia. Lynne will be a valuable asset for our team."



Lewis will be joined by associates Ashleigh Fehrenbach and Rochelle Schuenker, also from Minter Ellison.



KWM halves presence in Middle East

King & Wood Mallesons has closed its office in Riyadh, which it saved from the ashes of the legacy SJ Berwin part of the verein. It leaves the firm with only its Dubai office in the Middle East region.



The Saudi Arabia office was operated in association with local corporate lawyer Majed Almarshad and it is reported that the split was by mutual agreement with him.



Dentons opens in Netherlands

Global law firm Dentons has opened its latest office, in Amsterdam.



The Dutch expansion is the result of the completion of its combination with local firm Boekel, adding more than 70 lawyers including 17 partners to its global headcount of 7,800.



Within the Netherlands the firm will operate as Dentons Boekel.



Kennedys boosts Asia Pacific marine capabilities

The marine insurance and shipping practice of Kennedys has been strengthened with the addition of an Asia Pacific-focused partner.



Deug Rong (DR) has been hired from Clyde & Co and has a particular focus on the Korean market. He has more than 20 years experience including time as head of legal at Pan Ocean Co. Ltd.



He will be based on London where Kennedys marine insurance and shipping practice launched following the recent merger with Waltons & Morse.
Darryl Annett

Salvos Legal will soon be opening its doors in Victoria and establish its first humanitarian legal service in the state in the Melbourne CBD.The firm has appointed Darryl Annett, an experienced criminal lawyer, to lead the charge in Melbourne and grow the firm in the state.Salvos Legal currently provides free legal services in New South Wales, Queensland, and nationwide through a telephone service for rural and remote areas. Salvos Legal, wholly owned by the Salvation Army, uses all the profit from its commercial operations to fund Salvos Legal Humanitarian. The opening in Melbourne means the firm will now provide full coverage of the Eastern seaboard.Having a Melbourne headquarters for our humanitarian work will allow us to extend our reach and serve a diverse range of communities who otherwise do not have access to government funded legal services, said Luke Geary, founder and managing partner of Salvos Legal and Salvos Legal Humanitarian.Geary said the firms humanitarian practice groups already see around 200 cases each week for free.Once our Melbourne Salvos Legal Humanitarian service is fully operational, I anticipate we will be able to service almost 300 cases each week throughout Australia, at no cost to government or Salvation Army donors, Geary said. This is all thanks to the support we receive from our commercial fee-paying clients who trust us as their legal advisers, many of whom are headquartered in Melbourne.Annett becomes partner after working as principal solicitor for The Salvation Army in Melbourne since 2012. He was a solicitor advocate with Robert Stary & Assoc Criminal Defence Lawyers and spent 11 years with the Office of Public Prosecutions in Victoria.Annett said that with cuts to government-funded legal aid programs, many disadvantaged people have little prospect of accessing legal support or the expertise of someone who can represent their interests and give them sound advice.The Salvos have the signature characteristic of being there to catch people as they fall between the cracks, and in the practice of law, Salvos Legal plays a critical role in supporting this group of people, he said.
Please Donate

In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers.

If you appreciate what I write please make a donation.

Racist PayPal Tries to Close Down My Blog

As you can see from this article PayPal have removed my blog.

I would therefore ask people to make any future donations to the following:

Name of Account: Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre

Account No: 04094107

Sort Code: 09-01-50

Reference: Web donations
Model spotted testing on international roads comes with minor cosmetic updates.

Honda has started testing the facelifted Jazz for international markets, as evident from pictures of the premium hatchbacks test mule that have surfaced online.

As per those images, the facelifted Jazz or Fit (as its called in some markets) gets only a few cosmetic updates such as a new single slat grille, revised bumpers, and tweaks to the headlamps and tail-lamps, with the former being LED units on the test mule. The majority of the changes though seem to be focused on the front fascia with styling more in line with the recently-launched Honda City facelift.

While the Jazz could receive a facelift in international markets as early as the end of this year, the India-spec car is yet to complete its second year of sale. So a facelift here could still be some time away.

Though, when the model does receive a facelift, we could see similar changes to its exterior as on the international model, along with more equipment to impart a better sense of value. With the facelift, Honda could also look to improve some of the hatchbacks shortcomings such as the diesel models refinement levels.

Mechanically though, the facelifted hatchback is expected to carry forward the existing engines in the Indian market.

Image source
2017 models get Auto Headlamp On; Fascino scooter gets new two-tone paint.

Just a couple of days before the Supreme Courts ruling came into play banning the sale of BS-III vehicles across the country, Yamaha India announced the launch of its 2017 model year fleet which meets BS-IV emissions norms. After this announcement, the companys all motorcycles and scooters sold in the country will adhere to the more stringent Bharat Stage IV norms and will come with a mild update as well.

Speaking about updated features, all of Yamaha Indias two-wheelers come with AHO (Auto Headlamp On), which is just a fancy term for always-on headlights. This comes in light of a mandate set by a Supreme Court-appointed safety committee which put forth this feature to increase visibility of two-wheelers on Indian roads. With no on-off switch anymore, the headlights will be switched on automatically as soon as the engine starts and will continue to stay on until the engine is killed.

Coming back to Yamahas 2017 fleet, the updated models include all of the companys Blue Core-powered motorcycles such as the FZ series (which features the FZ-S FI, FZ FI and Fazer FI), as well as the SZ-RR. These bikes retain all their features and do not come with any mechanical changes in this update. The FZ series continues to be powered by the 149cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled and fuel-injected SOHC motor that makes 13.2hp of peak power and 12.8Nm of torque. The SZ-RR too continues to be powered by a 149cc carburetted engine good for 12.1hp of power and 12.8Nm of torque. Yamahas 110cc Saluto RX, launched last year, was already BS-IV compatible to start with.

The companys scooters now follow BS-IV norms as well. Again, there are no mechanical changes to the scooters and the Fascinos and Cygnus Alphas 113cc engine and the V-belt variomatic transmission are untouched in any other way. Power and torque figures remain at 7.1hp and 8.1Nm, respectively. However, the Fascino gets a small visual update in the form of a two-tone paint scheme.

There have been slight changes to the prices of these updated two-wheelers which are as follows:

Prices Model Price FZ-S FI Rs 82,789 FZ FI Rs 80,726 Fazer FI Rs 87,935 SZ-RR Rs 67,694 Fascino Rs 54,330 Cygnus Alpha (Disc) Rs 54,586 Cygnus Alpha Rs 51,369

(All prices ex-showroom, Delhi)
Photo of Ford F-250 courtesy of Ford.

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 48,421 2017 Ford F-250 gasoline-powered 6.2-liter pickup trucks in the U.S. because theyre at risk for unintended movement while in park.

Drivers should use the parking brake at all times when shifting into park to keep the truck stationary, Ford advised in a released statement about the recall.

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 said. 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.

Ford noted, however, that the company isnt aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this issue.

Ford dealers will inspect and replace the park rod actuating plate as necessary. There will be no charge for this service.

This safety compliance recall involves trucks built at Kentucky Assembly Plant from Oct. 9, 2015, to March 30 of this year.

Ford is also recalling 4,143 F-250 trucks in Canada for the same problem. The Ford reference number for this recall is 17C06.
Photo of 2018 Crosstrek courtesy of Subaru.

Subaru has provided full details about its 2018 Crosstrek ahead of the vehicle's unveiling at the New York International Auto Show later this month for a vehicle that will be the company's second to roll out on the new global platform.

The 2018 Crosstrek will follow the 2017 Impreza sedan and hatchback that arrived on the new platform, which improves driving dynamics and reduces NVH.

The 2018 Crosstrek arrives with improved styling inside and out, a modestly more powerful direct-injected 2.0-liter Boxer engine, active torque vectoring, an available off-road mode (X-Mode), new driver assitive technologies, and a revamped multimedia system that adds Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Dimensions shift a bit. The 2018 Crosstrek increases its wheelbase by 1.2 inches to 104.9 inches. It's also longer (by 0.6 inch) and wider (0.9 inch) than the outgoing model. It provides 8.7 inches of road clearance.

The new 2.0-liter engine boosts performance to 152 hp (from 148 hp).

The 2018 Crosstrek is available in three trim grades, including base, Limited and Premium. The base and Premium trims come standard with a 6-speed manual transmission and optional CVT (continuously variable transmission). Limited comes standard with the CVT.

The Premium trim adds leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter; shark fin antenna; Starlink safety and security features; the All-Weather Package with heated front seats, windshield, and exterior mirrors; and automatic headlights. The Premium trim adds an available power moonroof and driver assist technology systems.
My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make childcare accessible and affordable, [and] to help ensure new parents have paid family leave  President Trump announced this proposal during his first address to a joint session of Congress. It signals a substantial shift in paid leave in the United States.

During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump made maternity leave a signature issue. Now that he is in the White House, Trump appears intent on pushing for paid leave for new parents who dont receive time off from their employers.

Trump originally announced a plan last September. His plan, created with the input of his oldest daughter, Ivanka, includes six weeks of paid maternity leave for women whose companies dont offer paid time off. Trumps first joint speech to Congress may indicate that the plan will also apply to all new parents, but he has yet to reveal a formal proposal with this change.

With Trumps renewed emphasis on the issue, employers should start to prepare now so they are ready for any new changes to federal laws.

Federal, State Laws that Impact Maternity Leave

Currently, there are no federal laws that require paid maternity leave in the U.S. However, there are several laws that impact pregnant employees, new parents, and their employers.

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees can take up to 12 workweeks of job-protected unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a son or daughter or to bond with a newborn or newly placed adopted son or daughter.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, makes it illegal to discriminate against women based on pregnancy or related conditions.

Under Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child's birth. Employers must also provide a place for nursing mothers, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public.

New Push for National Paid Maternity Leave

Trump hasnt yet submitted a proposal for paid parental leave to Congress. The plan that Trump announced during his campaign guaranteed six weeks of paid maternity leave for mothers who have given birth and who dont receive paid time off from their employers. It did not extend paid leave to fathers or to adoptive mothers.



Whether the Republican majority in Congress will be eager to pass Trumps proposal remains to be seen. When Barack Obama called for laws offering paid maternity and sick leave in his 2015 State of the Union address, Congress failed to pass any legislation.

Next Steps

While the situation regarding paid parental leave remains unsettled, employers should take several steps so they are prepared for any new laws.

 Stay on top of new proposals

Employers should proactively monitor any proposed legislation at the federal and state levels. Business associations, human resources staff, in-house counsel, and law firm attorneys should be regularly consulted so employers arent blind-sided by the regulatory or financial fallout of any new laws.

 Comply with current laws

With the current patchwork of federal, state, and local laws governing time off for new parents, now is an excellent time for organizations to work with human resources and legal counsel to review their current policies and procedures and make sure they are in compliance. By ensuring they are currently up-to-date, it will be easier to adapt any new laws that may emerge.

 Consider refresher training and updates

With the topic of paid parental leave in the news, employees may be wondering about laws and rules that impact them. This is a good opportunity to communicate with employees and provide extra training to supervisors and managers, so everyone understands the companys policies and expectations.

As the Trump administration pushes for sweeping changes in the regulatory landscape, including parental leave, employers should start planning. Working with knowledgeable professionals now will help lay the groundwork for changes that could significantly impact employers and their workers.

About The Author

Richard D. Alaniz is senior partner at Alaniz Schraeder Linker Farris Mayes, L.L.P., a national labor and employment firm based in Houston. Alaniz has been involved in labor and employment law for over 30 years, including stints with the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board.

He can be reached at 281-833-2200 or ralaniz@alaniz-schraeder.com.
Photo via Wikimedia/WestportWiki

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland has boosted its fleet of vehicles and increased its inbound business from North America with the acquisition of Dooley Car Rentals, the car rental division of the Dan Dooley Group.

Under the arrangement, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland has bought the car rental business of the Dan Dooley Group. This includes a fleet of more than 1,400 vehicles and a book of business that contains a number of international customers and contracts, according to the company.

"Ive always admired the Dooley brand, which, like Enterprise, has a culture thats built upon excellent customer service, said George OConnor, managing director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland. Both companies are family-owned, entrepreneurial, and customer centric. We are both proud of our history in Ireland. Dooley Car Rentals has been serving customers for more than 50 years, while Enterprise, which began in the United States 60 years ago, celebrates its 20th anniversary in Ireland this year."

We have made significant investment in the Dooley Car Rental business and brand, and the sale of the business to Enterprise Rent-A-Car will ensure that the investment continues in the future so as to grow the business, said Pat Dooley, CEO of Dooley Group. Enterprises ability to invest in growing the new business will also present opportunities for Dooley employees within a global corporation.

Gerry McDermott, the operations director and general manager of Dooley Car Rentals, will continue to lead the Dooley Car Rentals business independently, which has around 50 employees. Pat Dooley will remain in an advisory role.

The other divisions within the Dan Dooley Group, including its Ford dealerships in Tipperary and County Limerick, are not affected by this agreement.

The completion of the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, means that Dooley Car Rentals is now part of Enterprise Holdings Inc., which together with its subsidiaries and independent franchisees, operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, and Alamo Rent A Car brands in more than 85 countries globally.
The 2017 BMW X3 will be available in select Executive Area locations of National Car Rental's Emerald Aisle. Photo courtesy of National Car Rental

For a limited time, National Car Rental is offering the 2017 BMW X3 to executive and executive elite members of its Emerald Club loyalty program.

Through May 31, 2017, the luxury vehicle will be available in select Executive Area locations of Nationals Emerald Aisle, a section of the rental car lot where Emerald Club members can bypass the counter and select any vehicle  as long as they reserve a mid-size car or larger.

The BMW X3 offs a panoramic sunroof, leather seats, keyless entry, and hands-free power tailgate and navigation.

As part of our commitment to providing choice and control to our Emerald Club members, National exclusively offers some of the most exciting, new vehicles in the automobile industry, said Rob Connors, National Car Rentals vice president of brand marketing. Our partnership with BMW enables us to provide the type of reliable luxury vehicles our customers enjoy driving for their frequent travels.
Just a day after a teaser image was shared by Buick, a leaked official image have inadvertently confirmed that the Velite 5 car will make its imminent debut in China. Based on the photos, the Velite 5 is a second-generation Chevrolet Bolt with a Buick logo on it.

The car is not entirely just a rebrand. Buick did some minor updates in order to somehow separate the two car from each other. The Velite 5 has slightly modified headlights, upper and lower grilles, bumpers, and the new horizontal LED lights which replace the vertical ones found in the Volt.

The Buick Velite 5 will be produced locally in China. The car will be Buick's first extended range electric vehicle which the company claims has a maximum range of more than 466 miles. However, this figure is speculated to be based on China's testing regulations. According to Green Car Reports, when running solely on electric power, the Velite 5 will have a mileage of around 62 miles.

Buick has yet to confirm it, but there are several rumors claiming that the Velite 5 will make its official debut at this year's Shanghai Motor Show which is expected to open its doors next month. Many believe that the Velite 5 is just the first phase of Buick's electric and hybrid rollout in China. The company is expected to release more models in the country within the next two years, according to Motor1.

China is strongly pushing towards the adoption of more eco-friendly cars in the country. Aside from rolling out electric and hybrid cars, Buick's parent company, General Motors, is also expected to open a new battery manufacturing facility in Shanghai. The facility is expected to open within this year.
Electra Meccanica unveiled two new EVs at the Vancouver Auto Show. One is the performance version of the iconic Solo, Solo R, and the other is the Mazda Miata look-alike Tofino. Since the company is best known for its trademark roadsters, the all-electric roadster could be the evolution of that heritage.

Let's get one thing clear first. Why does it resemble so much like the Mazda Miata? Well, Electra Meccanica is the electric division of the now-Canadian-based automaker InterMeccanica. Founded in 1959, this formerly Italian car brand sold sporty roadsters and coupes, including replica cars.

Electra Meccanica unveils new EV sports car that looks part MX-5, part 911 https://t.co/G81thFgVZ6 pic.twitter.com/GGEZvrFJWG  Car Keys (@CarKeys_UK) March 29, 2017

In fact, they are selling a replica of the Porsche 356 that they simply call "Roadster." They also sell the replica of the Volkswagen Kubelwagen. At least, that sort of solves the mystery that this EV rendering reminds you of the Miata.

According to Digital Trends, both the body and chassis of the Electra Meccanica Tofino roadster will be constructed of lightweight aerospace-grade composite. However, battery size wasn't disclosed during the unveiling of the vehicle.

The company claims that the Tofino roadster's 0 to 60 mph is less than 7 seconds with a top speed of 125 mph, reports Motor1. And on a single charge, it has a range of up to 250 miles or 400 km.

Potential and future buyers of Electra Meccanica Tofino will have the option of choosing from different colors: Electric Red, Raven Black, Bionic Bronze, Arctic White, and Titanium Silver. The starting price for the Electra Meccanica Tofino roadster is approximately $37,000 (USD) or $50,000 (CAD).

Also, the company is already taking reservations for the Electra Meccanica Tofino for $1000 (CAD) or $750 (USD). You can check their company website if you want to be one of the first few to take this baby out for a spin.

This sporty-looking Tofino from Electra Meccanica is set to be delivered by 2019. As to how it will fare compared with other all-electric vehicles from Tesla, VW, Ford, Nissan, and GM, we will yet to find out once the production model if off the rack. In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates.
With the recent release of Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung's assistant Bixby took center stage as well. This is Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri which has been widely used by Apple users. Now, it is not just about having a battle of mobile devices, even voice-activated virtual assistants also joined in the fight.

Samsung's Bixby is the Korean tech giant's break into a surging market of voice-activated virtual assistants joining the ranks of Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana. Bixby is different in such a way that it uses voice commands as opposed to touch to control handsets or applications. It also integrates location awareness and image recognition.

The integrated camera enables the users to identify buildings like famous tourist sites to access websites. All they have to do is take a photo and will be immediately processed for the required information needed.

It sure does have a lot more to offer, however, Bixby is still considered a work in progress according to Bob O'Donnell, an analyst and consultant with Technalysis Research. It is indeed an impressive innovation especially with its use of image recognition and context awareness. It did add new twists that were not seen before as he added. With all these interesting features, it still needs to be infused with Samsung's Viv.

Bixby will face tough competitions from established players such as Siri, Cortana, and much more. According to Richard Windsor, a contributing writer for Radio Free Mobile blog, it may have serious competition against Google Assistant as it will be in the home button of the newly launched phone (both Google Assistant and Bixby are available in S8 and S8+). Competition happens in the same flagship phone.

With Bixby, we've built intelligence into the camera, so it understands what were seeing. #UnboxYourPhone  Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) March 29, 2017

Bixby is considered a standout and is somehow different. Instead of asking for directions, movie schedules, and weather updates, users can ask Bixby to change the settings of the phone. However, Siri is still considered better as there are still many functions that don't work with Bixby. Questions like the age of a celebrity or something about geography may not be answered yet.

The competition between Siri and Bixby ensues. Apple's Siri is already established and is getting a steady stream of updates while Samsung's Bixby just recently joined the competition. It sure has a long way to go to be in direct competition but it will soon be a worthy opponent as it gets developed and improved more and more.
The Hill, BY PRIME MINISTER SHERIF ISMAIL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR -

A new U.S. administration naturally offers an opportunity for America's allies around the world to consider the past and find new ways to a more secure and prosperous world.

Egypt and other moderate states across the Arab world have an urgent request that the new administration engage in our region to build stronger and more resilient economies and societies, and address the spread of extremism, terrorism and violence that has brought so much human suffering.

It is a request our president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, will take to the White House on Monday when he meets with President Trump.

A retrenchment of U.S. leadership in the Middle East and North Africa in recent years has coincided with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and conflicts in Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia. Trump has called for a new strategy to defeat ISIS. We share his vision and the urgency to do so.

But winning on the battlefield will not be enough. We will also have to begin to rebuild the lives of millions of people who have been impacted by terrorism and chaos, as well strengthen the institutions of government, economies and societies that can serve them.

A comprehensive strategy to both prevent terrorism and promote peace and prosperity in the Arab world rests on four separate but interwoven elements. All of them will require America working together with Egypt and other moderate Arab states across the region.

1. Support counterterrorism efforts in moderate Arab states under siege by extremists within their own borders.

This will require the right mix of equipment, intelligence-sharing and logistics support. Egypt has been engaged in this struggle for many years on behalf of itself and others. Additionally, there should be the right alignment of strategies, tactics and shared responsibilities through a more robust dialogue between Washington and leaders in the region.

This begins with the United States placing the Middle East among its top foreign policy priorities.

2. Stop sources of funding and weapons to terrorist organizations.

This, too, will be achieved by a shared responsibility of the United States, the international community and moderate Arab states to both weaken the capability of terror organizations to conduct violence as well as reduce their ability to attract new recruits.

3. Expand trade and investment and share technologies to shore up the economies of the Arab world and enable them to provide a living standard that discourages citizens from being attracted to extreme ideologies.

Many countries in the region have very young populations. Creating employment and opportunities for them is a sound investment in our collective future.

4. Promote a serious and genuine reform of religious discourse.

Moderate Arabs must lead an effort to advance a culture of peace by discouraging hate speech and supporting the coexistence of all peoples. In Egypt, we are welcoming Pope Francis to Cairo next month, which is an opportunity to promote improved relations between Christians and Muslims.

While there is today a focus on defeating terrorism and ISIS, we must engage anew on the most longstanding conflict in our region  that between Israel and the Arab world. Egypt and the United States can work together to urge the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to begin a new round of serious negotiations to find a solution for how the people they represent can live together, side by side, in mutual security.

If negotiations take place, the moderate Arab world should support this effort and, where possible, help mediate the most difficult issues in any negotiation. Egypt has the credibility to participate as a result of our more than three decades of peace with, and diplomatic recognition of, the state of Israel.

Egypt's centrality in the Arab world and its long relationship with the United States offers an opportunity to advance our shared interests in regional peace and security. Progress will not always be smooth, and there will inevitably be disagreements and setbacks as we strive to deal with very complex security challenges. But progress can be made, and my government is prepared to play a more active diplomatic role.

Egypt looks forward to finding in the Trump administration a partner willing to invest with us in a more prosperous and secure Middle East and North Africa.

Sherif Ismail is prime minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Toyota is reportedly expanding its research and development on how to create more improved batteries for electric vehicles. The automaker will partner with various universities to check the significance of artificial intelligence in the project.

Toyota is ready to invest $35 million for the said expansion project. The automaker plans to establish partnerships with various universities to do the research and development, aiming to produce better quality batteries for electric vehicles.

The partnership will initially begin with Stanford University, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Connecticut and State University of New York at Buffalo. Toyota will also partner with Ilika, the materials science company based in the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, the project will make use of artificial intelligence to test possible solutions. Aside from the AI, the project also aims to look at other potential materials that can be used to produce the better quality batteries.

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are empowering the plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle batteries. According to Brian Storey, Toyota Research Institute program manager, they will try to explore other materials for EV batteries. The manager specified they will check if magnesium is a viable material substitute. Brian Storey's office is based in Los Altos, California while there are also other offices in Ann Arbor and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Brian Storey also detailed that the lithium-ion technology has begun nearly 40 years ago. Yet he also emphasized that it is only now that they are trying to perfect the technology.

Toyota mentioned that the project does not just aim to produce better quality batteries. The researchers will also try to explore new technologies to speed up the development of the new materials.

Meanwhile, Toyota plans to invest $2.4 million at the University of Michigan. The school is tasked to create computer simulation tools to determine in advance the performance of the battery.

Krishna Garikipati, University of Michigan professor of mechanical engineering and mathematics, released a statement saying they are looking forward to the partnership with Toyota Research Institute. The university is especially excited with the partnership to use machine learning principles in this project to advance computational materials science.

Reports say that Toyota Research Institute is continually pursuing more partners to expand further the research and development. We will update you with more progress in our next report.

In the meantime, you can check out this list of great car batteries reviews from green4u.
Hyundai teases with yet another addition to its crossover line featuring an exotic location dearly loved by locals and tourists alike. Enter Hyundai Kona which is expected to be launched later this year. Will the Kona be as lovely as that district in Hawaii's Big Island?

The answer may be leaning on Yes! However, Hyundai only released a picture of its headlights so not much can be said about how the crossover looks like as a whole. With what was available, the super thin profile follow's Hyundai's tradition of gradually slimming its front headlights. The upcoming Hyundai Kona makes it even more interesting as it takes it to another level.

From the tiny teaser released by Hyundai, the headlights are something that has never been shown on any of its recent vehicles. The Korean car manufacturer describes it as progressive with the design reflecting the lifestyle of modern customers. This is a promising pronouncement from Hyundai as "modern" may come in different forms. It is interesting to see how the Kona can bring modernity in all of its forms and levels.

Hyundai is also expected to be more generous with updates as it will release more information about the Kona in the near future. Vague as "near future" can be anytime from today until eternity, but better to just take their word for it. It may really be in the near future so better stay tuned.

Reports also suggest that the Hyundai Kona will be based on Hyundai i30 making it slightly bigger than the Mazda CX-3 which has gained impressive popularity. Hyundai also proudly said that the Kona has been recently developed with focus on enhancing driving dynamics and is set to redefine performance standards for the compact SUV segment.

Hyundai Kona is one promising crossover SUV to watch out for. More official information will definitely be made available for everyone's reference as it nears its launch towards the end of the year. Any official news from Hyundai regarding the Kona will immediately be reported.
image: CBS8.com

The pilot of a Piper Cherokee was arrested and charged with operating an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, after he landed in the parking lot of a warehouse in Whittier, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, according to the Pasadena Star-News. Darrel Roberts, 58, apparently had planned to fly south from Temecula to San Diego, a distance of about 60 miles, on Monday, but got lost and was running low on fuel. He was headed in the wrong direction and somehow ended up here in L.A. County, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Lt. Alex Villanueva told The Associated Press. Whittier is about 70 miles north of Temecula.

As deputies talked to Roberts, they suspected he might be intoxicated and took him into custody, Villanueva told the AP. A DUI involving an airplane, that doesnt happen very often, he said. One wing of the Cherokee clipped a stop sign and was damaged, but the airplane remained upright and Roberts was unhurt. Roberts was held in lieu of $1,000 bail, and is scheduled to appear in court July 5. The 1973 Piper PA-28-140 is registered in Roberts name, according to news reports.
Embraer Executive Jets delivered the first Phenom 100 EV to an undisclosed U.S. customer last Friday, the company announced this week. The new aircraft model has been certified both in Brazil and the U.S. An evolution of the Phenom 100, which entered service in 2008, the Phenom 100EV delivers enhanced performance, with new avionics and upgraded engines. The 100 EV features the Prodigy Touch flight deck, which is standard for the Phenom 300 light jet, plus new Pratt & Whitney Canada (PW617F1-E) engines that offer more speed and better performance in hot-and-high operations.

The 100 EV can reach up to 405 knots in high-speed cruise, and can fly up to 1,178 NM. The cockpit is designed for single-pilot operation. The new flight deck, based on the Garmin G3000, has larger HD displays, split-screen capability and a new weather radar. AVwebs editorial director Paul Bertorelli toured the airplane last year in Orlando; click here for his video report.
The FAA has concluded its investigation into Harrison Fords recent landing on a taxiway and said he will not be fined and can keep all of his certificates, according to a statement from the actors lawyer. The FAA conducted a full investigation into the matter, including an interview with Mr. Ford, and determined that no administrative or enforcement action was warranted, lawyer Stephen Hofer wrote. Ford flew above an American Airlines 737 that was waiting for takeoff at John Wayne Airport in Orange County on Feb. 13, then landed his Aviat Husky on Taxiway Charlie instead of the runway hed been cleared for, 20 Left.

Hofer added that the FAA had required Ford to complete some training, which already has been done. Neither Hofer nor the FAA would elaborate on the details of the training. Mr. Ford retains his pilots certificate without restriction, Hofer said. In closing the matter, the agency acknowledged Mr. Fords long history of compliance with the Federal Aviation Regulations and his cooperative attitude during the investigation. Ford, 74, has been a pilot for more than 20 years, and has logged more than 5,000 hours, Hofer said, and he has never been subject to an FAA administrative or enforcement action.
The first Airbus A319neo flew for the first time, on Friday, the company has announced. The airplane took off from Hamburg, Germany, and landed in Toulouse, France, five hours later. The crew used that flight time to assess the general handling of the aircraft and check the main systems, the company said. The airplane now will be based in Toulouse to complete its flight-test program. The A320neo family of jets is the top seller in its niche, according to Airbus, with more than 5,000 orders in hand from 90+ customers. New-generation engines from Pratt & Whitney and CFM, plus large Sharklet wingtip devices, produce fuel savings of 15 to 20 percent, according to Airbus.

The A319neo is the smallest member of the A320neo family; it offers superior short-field performance in hot and high conditions, Airbus says. It can accommodate up to 160 passengers. It has a range of 3,750 NM and a top cruising speed of Mach 0.82.
The Sunwing Airlines pilot who passed out in the cockpit of the Boeing 737 he was supposed to fly on Dec. 31 has been sentenced to eight months in jail by a Canadian court. As we reported earlier, Capt. Miroslav Gronych, a Slovak flying on a work permit in Canada, had to be woken up by flight crew members before being taken off the aircraft in Calgary. He pleaded guilty to having care and control of an aircraft while impaired earlier this month and was sentenced Monday in Calgary. At the earlier hearing, he admitted to drinking a full bottle of vodka between 1 a.m. and about 6 a.m. when a dispatcher called him to inquire why he hadnt reported for his 7 a.m. flight. He got to the aircraft at 7.05 a.m. and promptly passed out in the left seat after first losing his way in the airport.

In sentencing, Provincial Court Judge Anne Brown noted the he didnt actually manage to move the airplane and complied with all those who removed him from the plane. He has also expressed remorse and gone to rehab since the incident. But Brown also said she had a hard time finding legal precedents for the case since the instances of drunk pilots actually making it to the cockpit are so rare. In addition to the jail time, she barred him from flying for a year but also said thats probably a moot point since the publicity surrounding the case has made it unlikely hell ever fly again.
4 April 2017 16:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The April 2 parliamentary elections in Armenia, like the previous elections in this country, were held with a number of violations and fraud, and this was noted by a number of Armenian opposition members, local and international observers and journalists.

Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party is leading with almost the half of the vote  49.12 percent, according to the preliminary results of the elections.

As for other parties, the opposition coalition behind Gagik Tsarukian  one of the ex-Soviet state's wealthiest men  is trailing with 27.32 percent; the block Yelk ranks third with 7.77 percent; while the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun possesses 6.57 percent of the vote.

Even before the elections began, the European Union, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom issued a statement, saying that the states were aware of and concerned by allegations of voter intimidation, attempts to buy votes, and the systemic use of administrative resources to aid certain competing parties.

Notably, over the past year, the EU, the U.S., Germany, and the U.K. offered significant financial and technical support to Armenias voting process, including providing equipment to facilitate a free and fair parliamentary election on April 2.

However, it is now clear that the Armenian government has just wasted the provided money. Instead of holding transparent and clean elections at the expense of the funds, the authorities spent them on bribing the Armenian population.

Even before the polls closed on April 2, the opposition of Armenia accused authorities of fraud in the elections, as people with lists were walking around the Armenian cities and were 'directing' the voters.

In the course of voting, the light at polling stations was turning off and technical equipment and surveillance cameras were malfunctioning. At some stations, the proxies from Armenian parties had to sit on ballot boxes to prevent frauds,as they had no other way to stop the lawlessness. Witnesses noted that many voters came to polling stations with 'accompanying persons', who were making people vote for the ruling Republican Party.

On the next day, the Prosecutor General's office of Armenia reported that it had investigated about 2,000 reports on the violations during the voting, and 392 of these reports indeed contain criminal elements.

The agency reported that criminal cases were already launched into six facts, related to double voting attempt, and a suspect on one case was detained.

However, the Prosecutor General's office probably diminished the number of reports on violations, as the observes and representatives of the Armenian opposition presented more cases of fraud in the elections.

By and large, the reports were about the cases of voting more than once or instead of another person, open voting, and obstructing the work of proxies and journalists during the elections.

The international observers Atom Egoyan and Eric Nazaryan noted certain election violations having visited six polling stations. 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 says.

Another fact of violation was observed by Armenias Radio Liberty correspondent Sisak Gabrielian. The journalist was attacked near the polling station and the headquarters of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia when he tried to shot the fact of bribery by the Party.

Moreover, radio Azatutyun.am reported that ballot papers were taken out of the polling station in Zangak kindergarten in Armenias second largest city of Gyumri. A group of women was handing out bulletins near the polling station and accompanying people inside. The process was led by a middle-aged woman, who is known for providing fake votes for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia for years.

Besides, Arsine Khanjyan, Canadian actress of Armenian origin, who acted as an observer in the election, regretted that she couldnt witness a transparent and clean election.

Violations recorded by observers were refused to register. I had an impression that the observers were in despair, as they didnt have freedom for the exercise of their powers, Khanjyan says.

Moreover, international observers from the Council of Europe, OSCE and the European Parliament also noted the violations in their statement following the elections.

The statements reads that the parliamentary elections in Armenia were tainted by credible information about vote-buying and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies.

It was also stated that the elections did not remove long-standing doubts about the reliability and integrity of electoral processes in Armenia.

Thus, the Armenian government has again failed to conduct fair elections in the country. Being afraid of losing its seats in the National Assembly of Armenia, the Republican Party used bribery and fraud at the polling stations. And it is not surprising that the ruling Republican Party won 49 percent of votes...

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 11:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC and Kazakhstan Railways JSC have signed an agreement on creating a joint venture in the field of freight traffic on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TCITR).

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, Azertac reporetd.

The document is a main part of the agreement on strategic cooperation signed between the two sides in December 2016.

The Azerbaijani company reported that the JV 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.

Moreover, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are planning to use unique ferries on the Caspian Sea, and the signed agreement will be useful for these ferries operation.

Azerbaijan owns fifty percent of the JVs shares, 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.

Kazakhstan plans to export over 450,000 tons of gas oil via the new Kuryk port and then through Azerbaijan and Georgia until late 2017

The first cargo arrived at the Baku International Sea Trade Port from Kazakhstans new port Kuryk in Alat on March 25, 2017.

The Kuryk port with a total area of 40 hectares is located on the Trans-Caspian international transport route, which is of great importance for handling the cargo going via this route. The new complex is located closer to the Baku port, than the Aktau port, through which transit was carried out previously. The voyage from Kuryk to Baku takes 18 hours.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 16:45 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The State Committee on Property Issues held another auction for privatization of the state property on April 4. The Committee announced that 20 state objects were privatized at the auction.

The most expensive state facility sold in the auction was the dental clinic #1 in the city of Sumgayit at the price of 350,200 manats ($204,283). As for the regions of Azerbaijan, the most expensive privatized facility there was the Shakhmehi company in the Guba region.

The Committee informed that the state objects sold in the auction included eight vehicles, six small enterprises in Garadagh and Nasimi districts of Baku, in Sumgayit, Yevlakh and Guba regions of the country, six non-residential areas in Narimanov and Nasimi districts of Baku, as well as Mingachevir and Kurdamir.

The next auction on privatization of state property will take place on April 11.

The third stage of privatization in Azerbaijan started in the framework of the presidential decree dated May 19, 2016. Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy.

The portal for privatization  privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as improve the business environment of Azerbaijan.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Fresh prepared food manufacturer Bakkavor has announced the appointment of Yvette Sowerby as the companys new technical director.

Sowerby, who joins the company from her role at Sainsburys as the head of technical for chilled food, will be part of the UK operational team, but will provide technical support to Bakkavors US and Asia operations.

Prior to this, she worked in a number of senior technical roles, including two separate appointments at Marks & Spencer for a total of 20 years.

I look forward to joining the business as it continues to target growth both in the UK and internationally, Sowerby said.

Mike Edwards, chief operating office for Bakkavor UK, said he was delighted to welcome Sowerby to the team.

I am confident that her expertise will prove of significant value as we continue to drive the technical standards across our business.

Bakkavor announced in November 2016 that it was aiming to recruit more than 300 employees across its UK sites following an increase in demand from its customers.
4 April 2017 17:45 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) has so far paid compensations worth over 726.58 million manats ($411 million) to depositors of Parabank, Zaminbank, Dekabank, Kredobank, Caucasus Development Bank, Atrabank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Gandjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard, which were closed in 2016.

Banks Volume of paid compensations (million manats) Volume of paid compensation out of the total volume (pct) Bank Standard 436,2 99 Zaminbank 54,499 75 Dekabank 3,086 98,7 Kredobank 27,771 99,9 Caucasus Development Bank 1,974 94,4 Atrabank 14,28 98,1 Bank of Azerbaijan 24,161 97 Gandjabank 0,976 94 Texnikabank 120,433 98,2 Parabank 43,199 98,5

The licenses of all the banks were revoked in 2016, as their assets were not classified in line with the law, and they didnt create adequate reserves and their aggregate capital did not meet the minimum requirements.

Some 32 banks are currently implementing their activities in the country.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 12:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The OSCE is expected to monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on April 5, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on April 4.

The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative along the line of contact in the direction of the Garakhanbayli village of Azerbaijans Fuzuli district, the ministry said.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by Peter Svedberg, Simon Tiller, field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, and head of the High Level Planning Group, Colonel Hans Lampalzer.

On the Azerbaijani territories occupied and controlled by Armenian armed forces, the monitoring will be carried out by Ghenadie Petrica and Mikhail Olaru, field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Farrelly, representative of the High Level Planning Group.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 10:12 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has issued a statement in connection with the terror 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.

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 April 3.

A bomb went off at about 14:40 Moscow time on Monday in a metro train car when the train was moving from Tekhnologichesky Institut Station to Sennaya Ploshchad Station in St. Petersburg. The blast killed 11 and injured over 50 people.

The administration of St. Petersburg has declared three days of mourning starting from Tuesday after a metro blast on Monday.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 11:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Israels position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged, said Alon Ushpiz, the country's Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General, stressing that Israel supports Azerbaijans territorial integrity.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov on April 3.

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.

Azerbaijan is one of the few Muslim countries, which maintains deep political, diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.

The two countries cooperate not only in trade and economic sphere (Israel imports Azerbaijani oil through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline), but also have broad interaction in military and military-technical spheres. During the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-December, the two countries signed agreements on standardization, double taxation and agricultural cooperation.

In general, Israel is in the tenth place in terms of Azerbaijan's trade turnover with other countries.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 14:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan continue to expand the scope of bilateral cooperation, strengthening the basis of mutual trust. This became even more obvious after the two-day visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Baku on April 2-3.

For 25 years of independence, two countries, which are linked by common history, culture, religion and language, have built mutually beneficial cooperation and rightly call each other strategic partners.

During the meeting, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev noted that the positions of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan fully coincide on all the issues discussed. Nazarbayev, in turn, expressed confidence that the current visit and negotiations will lay new foundations for strengthening trade, economic and political relations and will affect the further rapprochement of the two countries.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan cooperate in almost all spheres, from culture and education to agriculture, ecology, defense and the fight against terrorism. More than 130,000 Azerbaijanis live in Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan act as a united front within the framework of international organizations and have similar positions on most regional and international issues.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan always emphasize closeness of history, culture, language and religion, and after gaining their independence, the two nations have built relations on trust, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

During a meeting in a narrow format with the Azerbaijani president, Nazarbayev noted that on April 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, he said.

During the expanded meeting with his Kazakh counterpart, President Aliyev stressed that positions of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on all the issues under discussion fully coincide.



This visit is of great importance for the further strengthening of friendly, fraternal relations between our countries," he said.



President Aliyev congratulated his counterpart on the occasion of Kazakhstans election as a member of the UN Security Council, adding that this decision means recognizing the role of Kazakhstan in issues of global scale, Nazarbayevs personal authority and the initiatives he puts forward to strengthen peace not only in the 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.



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.



In turn, Nazarbayev spoke of the five documents, relevant agreements and interministerial agreements to be signed during the visit. He said that issues of cooperation in the economic and financial spheres will be solved based on these documents, which mark a new stage in the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan relations.

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.

Another important issue discussed during the visit was the possibility of increasing the trade turnover that has decreased somewhat in recent years against the backdrop of the global economic crisis.

We have specified that it is possible to greatly increase the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan trade turnover by several times in the next two or three years, the Kazakh president said. 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.

To outline the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan relations in other issues  both economic and political, and cultural and humanitarian, Nazarbayev said that the two states must pay attention to admission of young people to the relevant universities in both countries, cultural relations, restoration of meetings of representatives of the intelligentsia, and mutual days of culture of the two countries.

The expanded meeting was followed by the signing of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan documents covering Joint Declaration of the Presidents, cooperation in logistics and rolling stock engineering, double taxation, international road transportation, cooperation Program for between Foreign Ministries and plant quarantine and conservation.

Within the framework of the visit, Nazarbayev was awarded the Heydar Aliyev Order for his exceptional merits rendered to the development of friendly and co-operative relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Cooperation between the two countries is not limited to the bilateral format. Both countries are participants in a number of international projects including transport, energy, information technologies, which offer great prospects for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and for the region as a whole.

The economic ties between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan should reach a new level in view of the fact that both countries adhere to the policy of economic diversification.

Both countries are interested in using their transit opportunities and turning into international transport hubs. Transport infrastructure of the two countries is actively developing.

In 2016 Kazakhstan launched new ferry port Kuryk, alongside of existing Aktau port and in recent years it has been working at the limit of its capabilities.



Azerbaijan, for its part, built a new international sea trading port and last week the first cargo was shipped from the port of Kuryk to the Baku port. In addition, it is planned to complete in the autumn of 2017 the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will help speed up the transportation of goods from Central Asia.

Now Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are working to promote a joint transport project - the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which involves cargo transportation from China via Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. Recently, the implementation of this project was once again discussed in Baku by the heads of railways and ports of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

Thus, the negotiations between the two countries at the highest level have once again confirmed the well-known fact that the Azerbaijani-Kazakh relations can be an example for imitation.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 17:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The next round of the talks between the European Union and Azerbaijan on new strategic partnership agreement is scheduled for late April in Baku, European External Action Service (EEAS) spokesperson Maja Kocijancic told Trend on April 4.

She added that the new agreement will offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The first meeting on a new agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan was held in Brussels on February 7, 2017.

The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan in November 2016.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.

The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of an agreement on partnership and cooperation that was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.

The new agreement envisages the compliance of Azerbaijans legislation and procedures with the EUs most important international trade norms and standards, which should lead to the improvement of Azerbaijani goods access to the EU markets.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 11:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

SOCAR exported 244,635 tons of crude oil from the Novorossiysk Port, 178,703 tons of crude oil from the Supsa Port, and 1,185,458 tons of crude oil from the Ceyhan Port in March, 2017.

In general, 404,413 tons of crude oil was exported from the Novorossiysk Port, 704,085 tons of crude oil from the Supsa Port and 3,906,969 tons of crude oil from the Ceyhan Port during January-March of 2017, Azertac reported.

The indices of crude oil exported by SOCAR reflect the volumes of crude oil belonging to both State of Azerbaijan and SOCAR.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan produces three grades of crude oil - Azeri BTC, Azeri Light, and Urals.

The Azerbaijani Energy Ministry revised its forecast for oil output, following the struck of the first since 2001 deal between OPEC and non-OPEC states to curtail oil output jointly. The participation of Azerbaijan in joint oil production cuts is defined at 35,000 barrels per day.

The volume of daily production last month amounted to some 776,400 barrels, with some 50,000 barrels falling to a share of condensate. The volume of daily export stood at 604,100 barrels of oil with some 50,000 barrels accounting for condensate and 26,800 barrels falling to a share of oil products.

This January, the volume of daily production amounted to some 793,900 barrels, while the daily export was 617,000 barrels.

Prior to the landmark deal, the volume of production in the country was at the level of 37.72 million tons of oil, while daily output was at 829,100 barrels. Oil production of the country in 2017 is forecasted to stand at 39.797 million, while average daily oil production will amount to 800,000-807,000 barrels

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 12:50 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

Kazakhstan intends to transport its oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, running from the Azerbaijani coast of the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev discussed with his Kazakh counterpart Kanat Bozumbayev possible crude transportation from the giant Kashagan field via the BTC pipeline at a meeting in Baku.

The meeting was held as part of the official visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Azerbaijan, the Energy Ministry reported.

Aliyev urged to undertake a series of measures within the intergovernmental commission to further strengthen ties between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

He said that in May Baku will host the 14th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission with the purpose to increase trade turnover between the countries and to maximize their export and import capacity.

In turn, Bozumbayev said Kazakhstan will take similar measures and proposed to hold a meeting of deputy ministers in early May to exchange views.

The two ministers also discussed the possible transportation of oil from Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan field to world markets via the BTC pipeline.

Kashagan, first discovered in 2000, is considered to be the world's largest discovery in the last 30 years, combined with the Tengiz Field. Oil extraction at Kashagan, a large oil and gas field located in the north of the Caspian Sea, was relaunched in autumn of 2016.

The volume of production and export from the field has already exceeded 1 million tons of crude oil and condensate. The figure was fixed on January 8, 2017.

The project participants are KMG Kashagan BV (16.88 percent), AGIP Caspian Sea BV (nearly 16.81 percent), CNPC Kazakhstan BV (8.33 percent), Exxon Mobil Kazakhstan Inc. (nearly 16.81 percent), INPEX North Caspian Sea Ltd. (nearly 16.81 percent), Shell Kazakhstan Development BV (nearly 16.81 percent), and Total E&P Kazakhstan (nearly 16.81 percent).

The field is operated by North Caspian Operating Company BV (NCOC).

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 12:33 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Camal

Azerbaijan, one of oil-producing nations that struck a deal to cut output along with OPEC, has submitted the daily oil production data for March 2017 to the OPEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC).

Azerbaijans Energy Ministry told Trend that the countrys oil output in March 2017 amounted to 733,300 barrels, 40,000 barrels of which accounted for condensate.

The Energy Ministry further informed that 596,000 barrels of oil, 40,000 barrels of condensate and 23,000 barrels of petroleum products were exported daily.

Last December, 11 non-OPEC countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to curtail oil output jointly by 558,000 barrels per day. The agreement was signed for the first half of 2017, with the possibility of extension.

The Joint Technical Committee was created January 22 under the OPEC Monitoring Committee, designed to monitor the implementation of countries obligations to cut oil production.

The participation of Azerbaijan in joint oil production cuts is defined at 35,000 barrels per day.

The volume of daily production last month amounted to some 776,400 barrels, while the volume of daily export at 604,100 barrels of oil with some 50,000 barrels accounting for condensate and 26,800 barrels fall to a share of oil products. This January, the volume of daily production amounted to some 793,900 barrels, while the daily export was 617,000 barrels.

Energy Ministrys spokesperson Zamina Aliyeva earlier said that the country is optimistic on the outcome of the OPEC output cut deal struck in late 2016 and supports extending the current deal beyond its June deadline.

"The execution of the oil cut deal is accompanied by a positive trend  the rising oil prices in the market. If at a regular meeting of OPEC, it will be decided to extend the agreement on the reduction of oil production, Azerbaijan is ready to take appropriate steps, Aliyeva said.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan produces three grades of crude oil - Azeri BTC, Azeri Light, and Urals. The price of a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil increased $0.10 to stand at $53.72 on the world markets on April 4.

Prior to the landmark deal, the volume of production in the country was at the level of 37.72 million tons of oil, while daily output stood at 829,100 barrels. Oil production of the country in 2017 is forecasted to stand at 39.797 million, while average daily oil production will amount to 800,000-807,000 barrels.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Turkmen Customs Committee will take measures aimed at strengthening the customs service of Turkmenistan, which turns into an intersection of international transport and transit corridors, and ensuring thorough examination of cargo passing through the border.

The Turkmen government reported that a relevant decision was made following the meeting of the State Council for Security.

The meeting participants noted the need for further improvement of working methods by using modern technologies and conducting regular training courses for workers at checkpoints.

Ashgabat sees development of large-scale North-South and East-West transport corridors, expansion of the Central Asian-Persian Gulf communication network and development of transport communications in the Caspian-Black Sea region as priority directions of its policy.

These projects concern the expansion of transport and communication between the countries of Central Asia with further access to the markets of Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

In particular, sea cargo transportation in the Caspian Sea is becoming increasingly important in Turkmenistan's foreign economic relations, the volumes of cargo processed are growing at the harbor, through which industrial and agricultural equipment, motor vehicles, metal products, timber, mineral fertilizers are transported to the country, while polypropylene, coke and other oil products, products of chemical and construction industry are sent abroad.

Turkmenistans natural gas reserves rank fourth in the world after Iran, Russia, and Qatar, according to the report of British Petroleum (BP).

--

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 15:19 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Israel, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have signed a joint declaration to promote the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project that envisages gas supply from the eastern Mediterranean region for Europe, the Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change reported .

The document was undersigned by energy ministers of four countries with participation of European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete in Tel Aviv on April 3.

In this declaration, the parties support the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean as another corridor for gas supplies to Europe.

The document states that the EastMed pipeline project, while complementing other export options under evaluation, is a strategic priority for exporting part of the current gas reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean region to Europe.

Israels Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said the concerned parties have set a target of 2025 for completion of the project.

For his part, Elio Ruggeri, CEO of the IGI Poseidon joint venture promoting the EastMed option, said a final investment decision for the project is expected by 2020.

Ruggeri noted that the segment of the pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Greek shores is estimated to cost some 5 billion euros, plus another 6 billion euros for the segment linking Greece to Italy.

The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project relates to an offshore/onshore natural gas pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete.

The project is designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the off-shore gas reserves in the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and Israel) as well as from the potential gas reserves in Greece.

Earlier, senior officials from Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel agreed to advance talks on a pipeline from Israel to Europe after an EU-sponsored study showed the project would be very feasible.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili and European Police Agency Director (Europol) Rob Wainwright signed an agreement on operational and strategic cooperation on April 4, TASS reported.

As Mghebrishvili said at the signing ceremony, the document "translates cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Georgia and EU member states to a new, higher level."

The deal will allow to expand cooperation in combating terrorism, as well as serious and organized cross-border criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, organized property crime, cybercrime and migrant smuggling.



The agreement covers all areas of crime within Europols mandate and allows for the exchange of information, including personal data of suspected criminals, and the joint planning of operational activities. As part of the document, Georgia will designate a national contact point to act to liaise between Europol and the law enforcement agencies of Georgia.

This is a historic agreement, an important step forward for Georgia on its way to European integration. From today on, Georgia will become Europols operational and strategic partner, which brings us to an entirely new level of cooperation with Europol ... This means more security, more cooperation with European law enforcement agencies and more effective fight against transnational crime. This [also] means that we have become a member of the European family in the law enforcement field, Mghebrishvili stated after the signing ceremony in Tbilisi.

Wainwright, in turn, said that Europol is committed to strengthening cooperation with Georgia and recognizes that effective law enforcement cooperation is an important element of Georgias deepening relationship with the EU.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who assessed the signing of the document as an important event.

The cooperation agreement between Georgia and Europol was approved by the Council of the European Union and backed by the European Parliament. The agreement will enter into force after ratification by the Parliament of Georgia.

Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Europol is the European Unions law enforcement agency, which assists the 28 EU Member States in their fight against serious international crime and terrorism.

The organization also partners with many non-EU partner states and international organizations. It runs Operational and Strategic Cooperation agreements with 16 countries around the world.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 16:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) signed a cooperation document with two Japanese logistic and port service companies.

The IRISL signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japans Suzue Corporation and Kamigumi in Singapore, Iran's Maritime News Agency reported on April 4.

Under the deal, the sides will survey grounds for cooperation in construction of dry ports and investment in Irans port terminals.

Once the preliminary studies are completed, the sides will sign an operational contract.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 17:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The number of Russian tourists, who visited the Turkish city of Antalya in March, increased by over eight times compared to the same period of the last year, Turkish media reported on April 4.

As many as 24,134 Russian citizens arrived in Antalya in March.

Overall, the number of arrivals to Antalya from abroad last month decreased by 35.6 percent to 165,741 people.

In January-March of 2017, 337,663 foreigners arrived to Antalya, which is 27 percent less compared to the same period of 2016.

During this period, the number of Russian tourists grew by 672 percent.

This year, Turkish tourism sector expects to receive about five million tourists from Russia.

Russia has been the second largest source of foreign tourists visiting Turkey, but the number of Russian tourists began to decline after a diplomatic crisis between the two countries in late 2015. However, there has been a notable increase in arrivals from Russia since the normalization of bilateral ties between the two countries began.

In March 2017, a number of documents in the sphere of tourism were signed in Moscow following the talks between Turkish Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Huseyin Yayman and Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia (Rosturizm) Oleg Safonov.

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey dropped to 25.3 million in 2016. That is a 30 percent drop compared to 2015.

Turkeys tourism revenue dropped to $22.1 billion in 2016, a 29.7 percent decrease compared to 2015, as the number of foreign arrivals to the country witnessed a dramatic plunge, the official data showed.

Turkeys Tourism Ministry confirmed that the drop is correlated to a number of terrorist attacks and to the failed military coup on July 15, 2016.

TUIK said that the countrys tourism revenue dropped to $22.1 billion in 2016; a 29.7 percent decrease compared to 2015. While some 72.8 percent of the revenue was obtained from foreign visitors, the remaining 27.2 percent was obtained from Turkish citizens who reside abroad.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 April 2017 17:51 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Syrian opposition expects to see progress in the next, sixth, round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, a member of the leadership of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation, representative of the Moscow Platform Kadri Jamil said on April 4, RIA Novosti reported.

"We expect progress in the next round, as there was little progress last time, Jamil said adding that the current situation is favorable as the regional and international forces are serious about implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and it is seen in various statement and declarations.

The direct dialogue between the opposition and the Syrian authorities is "the only option for completing Geneva process", according to the source.

Jamil noted that this will become possible "after the completion of the work of the four groups."

"After that, there must be direct negotiations, for which a single unified delegation from the opposition is needed," the opposition leader said.

The date of the sixth round of Geneva talks is yet to be revealed. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he wouldnt announce a new start date for the next round before consulting the UN Security Council and Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

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.

The UN has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since it began five years ago.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 63F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
The Beatrice City Council approved property acquisitions on Ella Street during its Monday meeting.

The council approved both the sale of a house owned by the city and receipt of a condemned house to the city on Ella Street at the meeting.

The condemned house at 813 Ella St. was signed over to the city on March 8 by its owners, Chet and Laura Bigley. The roof above the 2,627 square-foot buildings front porch collapsed some time ago and was condemned. The building, at one point, contained several apartments.

The donation of the building included a payment of $2,000 from the Bigleys for later demolition of the structure and for improvements to the property, according to the contract signed by the city, which is scheduled to close on April 7.

Council member Dwight Parde said he believed the demolition costs and asbestos removal, which city administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer said could run from $8,000-$10,000, should be covered by the owners before the city agreed to take the property.

"I know it's an ugly mess, Parde said, but it's his responsibility."

Council member Ted Fairbanks said he fundamentally agreed with Parde, but argued that the current state of the structure hurts property values in the entire neighborhood, and not receiving the property could be more expensive and cause more headaches down the road.

When you look at this, this building collapsed, Fairbanks said. If he does nothing with this, if he wasn't willing to work with the city, if we were in a court battle with this guy, this could sit like this for years. We've got to get this cleaned up."

The council voted unanimously to take receipt of the property.

In another vote, the council agreed to sell the 1,200 square foot house built by Prairie Gold Homes at 1923 Ella Street in Beatrice. It was sold to Trevor and Erin Chadwick for $154,000.

The home, owned by the city and completed in October of 2016, was built by Nebraska Department of Correctional Services inmates as part of a vocational program aimed at rehabilitating prisoners and giving them valuable skills upon their release.

We were able to get an offer about a week ago for the full asking price, Tempelmeyer said. No appliances are included, the only only thing is, we have to finish out the basement.

Once carpeting, trim and electric is finished in the basement, the sale of the home is scheduled to close on or before May 26. The sale is not contingent on the sale of the Chadwicks' current home, Tempelmeyer said.

The total cost of the construction came to about $171,000, so the city did lose money ($17,000) on the building of the house. Mayor Stan Wirth was undeterred, and saw opportunity in repeating the process.

I still think it was a good project," Wirth said. "We've got some lots that the city currently owns and I'd like to see us maybe engage Prairie Gold some point in time if we can make some sense out of it. I think it's a nice home in a nice area, and it's going to, again, generate some additional tax dollars."

According to the Gage County Assessor's Office, the home is assessed at $141,390 for tax purposes, which breaks down to $9,800 for the lot and $131,590 for the home.
The World Worst Children 2. With illustrations in glorious colour by Tony Ross, it will publish in hardback on 25th May 2017. HarperCollins Childrens Books is thrilled to announce the publication of David Walliams,. With illustrations in glorious colour by Tony Ross, it will publish in hardback on 25th May 2017.

The Worlds Worst Children, stormed the market with its surprise publication last year, delighting his millions of readers and supercharging the book industry. From launch, the book dominated the charts. From launch, the book dominated the charts. It held the industry No.1 slot for three weeks. Success continued throughout 2016.* Davids release of his first volume,, stormed the market with its surprise publication last year, delighting his millions of readers and supercharging the book industry. From launch, the book dominated the charts. From launch, the book dominated the charts. It held the industry No.1 slot for three weeks. Success continued throughout 2016.*

The Worlds Worst Children 2 welcomes another line-up of disgraceful children even more deliciously wicked than before! This stunning collection of cautionary tales will be published in the UK and across key international territories including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as simultaneously in ebook and audio formats with the story uproariously read by David himself!
Raport Biezacy nr 1/2017

EBI report no. 1/2017 dated 4 April 2017

Subject: Non-compliance with Recommendation IV.R.1

Report: The Executive Board of UNIWHEELS AG (the "Company") hereby informs that the Company's Executive Board on March 30, 2017, with the consent of the Company's Supervisory Board of today, adopted a resolution on the postponement of the Companys annual shareholders meeting to August 1, 2017. As consequence, the Company will not comply with Recommendation IV.R.1 of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Best Practices for GPW Listed Companies 2016 according to which Companies should strive to hold an ordinary general meeting as soon as possible after the publication of an annual report and set the date in keeping with the applicable legislation. The Company published its annual report on March 23, 2017. According to German corporate law the annual general meeting shall take place not later than on August 31, 2017.

As initially announced on its website under Financial Calendar 2017, the Company has planned to hold its annual shareholders meeting on May 30, 2017 in Bad Durkheim. However, the Company's Executive Board does not consider that it would be in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders to hold the Company's annual shareholders' meeting on May 30, 2017, as initially envisaged, due to, inter alia, the fact that on March 23, 2017, the Companys current major shareholder, UNIWHEELS Holding (Malta) Ltd. ("UHM") notified the Company that is has entered into an irrevocable undertaking (the "Irrevocable Undertaking") with Superior Industries International, Inc. ("Superior") to sell all its shares in the Company (representing approximately 61.29% of the current outstanding share capital of the Company) to Superior Industries International AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Superior and that on the same day the Company has further been informed that Superior Industries International AG launched a tender offer to acquire 100% of the Companys shares (including the shares held by UHM).

In this context, the Company has learned from the content of the Irrevocable Undertaking (as published by Superior on March 24, 2017 at www.sec.gov) that two members of the Supervisory Board (including the current chairman of the Supervisory Board who would normally chair the Company's annual shareholders' meeting) will step down from their office as members of the Company's Supervisory Board once the tender offer has successfully been closed; and that there can therefore be no certainty that the Company will be in a position to replace these two members of the Supervisory Board in a timely manner by court decision for the new members of the Supervisory Board to be able to participate in the Company's annual shareholders' meeting. Furthermore it is not in the Company's best interest to make the annual shareholders' meeting a forum for the shareholders to discuss the tender offer, also with a view to the obligation of UHM contained in the Irrevocable Undertaking to vote against any resolution on the distribution of dividends until the settlement of the tender offer. Furthermore, since the initially envisaged record date for the annual shareholders' meeting to take place on May 30, 2017 would fall on May 9, 2017, it could result in a situation where none of the persons or entities voting on the annual shareholders' meeting would be the Companys shareholder anymore and could also adversely impact the attendance rate at the annual shareholders' meeting.

The Company does not expect that a similar situation will occur again in the foreseeable future.

Legal grounds:  29.3 of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Rules

Wiecej na: http://biznes.pap.pl/pl/reports/ebi/all,0,0,0,1

kom ebi zdz
This story was last posted on: 3:34 p.m., Tuesday, April 04, 2017.

State Attorney Brad King has filed paperwork saying the state of Florida will seek the death penalty against Markeith Loyd in the slaying of Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton.

State Attorney Brad King to seek death in Markeith Loyd case

Loyd is accused in the slaying of Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton

READ: Brad King's notice of intent to seek death penalty against Markeith Loyd (PDF)

OUR NEW APP: Watch News 13 or Bay News 9 on the go or wherever you are with the new Spectrum TV app

The notice of intent to seek the death penalty was filed Monday evening in the circuit court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

The filing spells out some of the reasons why the state will pursue the death penalty against Loyd, who is accused of slaying Clayton in January as she tried to apprehend him at a Wal-Mart store on John Young Parkway.

It says "the capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner," among other reasons.

It also says that "the victim of the capital felony was a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of her official duties," referring to Clayton.

King was assigned Loyd's prosecution after Ninth Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced she wouldn't pursue the death penalty during her watch, outraging law enforcement groups and lawmakers. Gov. Rick Scott subsequently removed Ayala from the Loyd case. On Monday, Scott removed Ayala from 21 other first-degree murder cases.

Loyd also faces charges in the December 2016 slaying of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon.

Attorney for Loyd?

During a hearing Monday at the Orange County Courthouse, Loyd told Judge Frederick Lauten that he wanted the court to appoint Miami-based attorney Terence Lenamon to defend his case.

Loyd said Lenamon is the only person he trusts to represent him. In past hearings, Loyd has refused counsel, telling Lauten that he wants to represent himself.

Lenamons office has confirmed they are considering the case. On Lenamons website, he claims to have extensive criminal defense experience, being sought by Casey Anthony and Ceasar Mena. Lenamon also claims he has successfully persuaded the state to waive the death penalty more than 26 times.
With the Midterm Elections less than one week away: What do you consider the top issues that you will be voting on to be corrected by your better representation?

Education Crime Big Government getting Bigger Biden /Democrat controlled Spike in Energy Cost Inflation created by Legislation of Majority in Power Gender Reassignment Corrupted Bureaucratic /Service (DOJ, FBI, etc.) Institutions Abortion Discredited Legacy Media Ending the Corruption of Dishonest Politicians Corruptive Influence of Social Media Wide Open Southern Border
A Tampa teacher is facing serious charges after police said she was drunk and had an unlicensed teen boy driving her around.

Tampa Police say Terra Virgin was intoxicated and had an open beer in car

Police pulled SUV over to find boy, 14, driving

Virgin, who had boy drive her to Waffle House, charged with child neglect

Terra Virgin was arrested on Sunday and charged with child abuse and neglect.

Police said Virgin, 32, was intoxicated and had an open can of beer while in the passenger seat of a Toyota SUV that was stopped on suspicion of DUI at Kennedy Boulevard and Westland Avenue.

Officers said the 14-year-old son of Virgin's boyfriend was driving the SUV. The teen does not have a driver's license.

Police said Virgin told them she had five beers, was too drunk to drive and was getting the teen to drive her to a Waffle House.

Virgin is a math teacher at Freedom High School. She has been a teacher in Hillsborough County since 2013.

The boy was transported and released into his father's custody.

Virgin bonded out of jail Monday afternoon.
A new bill proposed in the state legislature could be a game changer for students suffering from autism.

Florida bill would help children with autism be excused from school

Helps families take children to therapy

CAPITOL CONNECTION: Latest News | Contact your Florida legislators

Javier is a 7-year-old child with autism. He goes to Santiago and Friends, a family center for autism, three hours a week. But his doctor prescribed 40 hours a week.

Centers like this one are so scarce. The issue is finding therapy times that fit your child's schedule without them missing school.

This is why State Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, has proposed House Bill 127. It's a bill that could help children with autism be excused from school for therapy reasons.

"As a parent, if they say the only spot they have available is Friday at 9 a.m., you have to take it, said Javiers mother, Gladys Beltran. Because the only other choice is not giving him the therapy and that is not a choice."

The Osceola County School District said there is no limit to the number of excused absences a child can get. But it's up to each school following district guidelines to determine if the absence is excused or unexcused.

A spokesperson with Osceola County Schools said their goal is to have kids stay in school as much as possible, but are willing to work with student cases individually and determine whats the greater need.

"As a parent, they know what's best for their child and they need to receive that therapy, said Marucci Guzman, the executive director for Santiago & Friends. They're able to end or start the day at school, leave at whatever point of the day."

The parents we spoke to say therapy time at centers like Santiago and Friends make all the difference in the world. Beltran says the "Applied Behavior Analysis" one-on-one time Javier gets there is his lifeline for the future.

"The main concern is what is going to happen when I am not there, Beltran added. So we worry everyday about that. To make our kids as much productive as possible."

At this point, HB 127 has one more committee stop before it can go to the floor for a vote. There is a companion bill in the Florida Senate.
GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.
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

OUR NEW APP: Watch News 13 or Bay News 9 on the go or wherever you are with the new Spectrum TV app

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.


Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, addresses the Senate Rules Committee March 30 as he introduces House Bill 142, the legislative vehicle for replacing House Bill 2. He is flanked by Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake (left), and Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick. (CJ photo by Kari Travis)

Repeals House Bill 2, the controversial "bathroom bill" approved one year ago.

Specifies that regulation of access to multioccupancy restrooms, showers, and changing facilities will be left to the state, and

Blocks local governments from adopting any ordinances regulating private employment practices or public accommodations before Dec. 1, 2020.

UPDATE, 1:35 p.m. After more than 90 minutes of debate, including rejected motions to delay the vote until Tuesday and to adjourn the session, the House passed the measure, 70-48.Forty Republicans and 30 Democrats supported the bill. Thirty-three Republicans and 15 Democrats voted no.UPDATE, 11:42 a.m. The Senate passed House Bill 142, the H.B. 2 "reset," 32-16. Sens. Berger and Blue spoke in support of the bill. Sen. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, spoke against the bill, suggesting it would only delay Charlotte-style ordinances rather than prohibiting them.Twenty-three Republicans and nine Democrats voted in favor of the bill. Ten Republicans and six Democrats voted no.After the Senate vote, Berger spoke briefly with reporters.he said.he added.The N.C. Senate's Rules Committee voted Thursday morning to advance a House Bill 2 compromise to the full Senate for consideration later this morning. The so-called "voice vote," in which no yes and no votes are tallied, keeps the bill on track to be approved today.The Senate's top Republican and Democrat made a joint Rules Committee presentation on the proposal, which has been inserted into a stripped version of House Bill 142. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said the measureSenate Minority Leader Dan Blue, R-Wake, said the measure would return state anti discrimination laws to their status before Charlotte passed an ordinance in February 2016 allowing people to use bathroom and changing-room facilities of the gender with which they identify rather than their birth gender. H.B. 2 banned such local ordinances.No other committee members spoke on the bill before the voice vote.After the committee vote, representatives of Equality NC, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union held a brief press conference outside the Legislative Building, urging lawmakers to reject the compromise or Cooper to veto the measure if passed.The process of stripping an existing bill that already cleared the House means that the bill can be finalized and sent to Gov. Roy Cooper today.If the full Senate endorses its version of H.B. 142, the House can accept the plan with one "concurrence" vote, meaning a single vote to accept the Senate's changes.Cooper already has indicated that he will support the compromise measure.The bill, with barely 200 words of text, does the following:A joint news release from Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore says the second portion of the bill "protects privacy in bathrooms and shower facilities" and returns North Carolina "to the status quo prior to passage of Charlotte's bathroom ordinance." Charlotte's controversial 2016 ordinance served as the catalyst for H.B. 2.
S.B. 325 would cut individual and corporate income tax rates, increase standard deduction and include new per-child tax deduction



Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union, presents Senate Bill 325 to that body's finance committee. It passed the Senate Rules Committee March 30 and was sent to the full Senate. (CJ photo by Dan Way)

Stark differences in conservative Republican and liberal Democratic fiscal priorities were clearly on display during a Senate Finance Committee meeting Wednesday at which a $1 billion tax cut package was approved by voice vote. Senate Bill 325 was then forwarded to the Senate Rules Committee, where it was passed Thursday morning, and now heads to the Senate floor.Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union, a committee co-chairman, said in presenting the bill.The legislation would remove 94,000 people from state tax rolls, primarily affecting people whose income is between $20,000 and $50,000, Tucker said.Among key highlights of the plan are a decrease in the personal income tax rate from 5.499 percent to 5.35 percent, and an increase in the standard deduction from $17,500 to $20,000 for married couples filing a joint return. The nonrefundable child tax credit, which is roughly $125, would be replaced with a child tax deduction ranging from $2,500 at the lower end of the income scale to $500 for higher income earners.The bill trims corporate income tax rates, and implements a market-based sourcing tax scheme. Current law taxes North Carolina-based companies on all revenue generated. Market-based sourcing would tax income only from North Carolina customers. Advocates say it encourages employment growth and capital investment instead of penalizing it.Differences in political party budget priorities surfaced immediately.said Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham.Tucker said.Based on a fiscal note attached to the legislation, McKissick said, tax revenue reductions in successive years would be $323 million, $709 million, $774 million, $806 million, and $839 million.McKissick said.Improving broadband Internet service, road, bridge, water, and sewer infrastructure are vital needs.McKissick said.Tucker was unmoved.Tucker said, referring to the elimination of a temporary sales tax Gov. Bev Perdue wanted to make permanent.This would be the fourth tax cut since Republicans took control of the legislature in 2010, Tucker said, and McKissick fails to recognize those cuts increased tax collections by stimulating economic activity.Tucker said.S.B. 325 continues that practice, he said.Committee co-chairman Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, told McKissick Republicans handle budget surpluses differently than Democrats.Democrats, Tillman said, spend it all.Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie, a committee co-chairman, recalled a $1 billion budget surplus created from a federal tobacco buyout program when Democrats were in the majority. TheyBrock said the money doesn't belong to lawmakers, but rather to taxpaying families and small businesses.Brock said.Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, was concerned about reducing the corporate income tax from 3 percent to 2.75 percent next year, and 2.5 percent the year after.Robinson asked.Sen. Jim Davis, R-Macon, defended the corporate tax cuts.Davis said.Sen. Andy Wells, R-Alexander, questioned the premise of sending taxpayers' money to the government to redistribute.Wells said.Sen. Joyce Waddell, D- Mecklenburg, questioned the Republican narrative about the tax cut package favoring middle-class taxpayers.Waddell claimed.Emma Turner of the legislative fiscal research staff said the percentage of those earning greater than $200,000 who would benefit isn't 50 percent and is actually much lower.
Bridal Extravaganza on Central Oregon Coast This Weekend a Massive Affair

Published 04/04/2017 at 5:03 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Newport, Oregon)  On Saturday, April 8, you'll find a wide array of reasons to get married on the central Oregon coast. A Bridal Extravaganza on the Coast happens in Newport that day. Featuring multiple vendors showcasing all manner of wedding needs  and things you didn't know you wanted. It takes place at the Best Western Agate Beach from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Organizer Joyce Porch, of Glamourous Events, said you'll find numerous resources for your wedding. There will be two bridal fashion shows, a demo of bridal dresses and a showcase of attire for bridesmaids. Hairdo's for brides will be a big aspect, including ideas for your stylist on how to do your hair on that special day, various packages from hair salons, and even inspirations on hairpieces. Some stylists will actually perform their work live as a demonstration.

Bridal veils will be another focus, along with accessories like bags, purses and any other delights you could wear as a bride. Porch said lipstick, shoes, photography, music, and bakers with their creative wedding cakes will be on display.

The Bridal Extravaganza will first greet you with a room decorated like a lavish reception, Porch said. After that you'll find free cupcakes and coffee.

Porch has years in this biz, having worked for a company out on the east coast where she put together about 12 such events a year. This is the first one she's done on the Oregon coast, and she said more large-scale events are coming.

This is also the first such grand bridal undertaking in Newport, and Porch believes it's about time as there is much the town offers for a memorable wedding.

It's a great destination wedding spot: the beach, the sunsets, she said. Everything is fresh and new. You can walk on the beach, get married on the beach. It's unique and like no other place. It's a small town setting, a sort of intimacy with your wedding here, with everybody pitching in to make sure your day is special.

Indeed, the central Oregon coast hotspot boasts several miles of pristine beaches, along with two lighthouses, a historic bayfront always frenetic in activity, and numerous indoor attractions. The culinary scene in Newport has also become quite famous with some exceptional infusions of new restaurant approaches in the last year  and even more are coming. Getting married on the beach takes a special license that is easily obtained from Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department. There are several venues in town or closeby with large facilities as well.

The Best Western Agate Beach is at 3019 Oregon Coast Hwy, Newport, Oregon. A Bridal Extravaganza on the Coast is free. Call Joyce at Glamourous Events at 541-264-8429. Newport Hotels for this event - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour























More About Newport Lodging.....

More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining.....

Coastal Spotlight



LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles

Back to Oregon Coast

Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net

All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted
Local and state authorities carried out surprise checks at registered sex offenders' homes and workplaces on Tuesday morning in Hardin County, Sheriff Mark Davis announced in an email.

The checks - conducted by officers with the Hardin County Sheriff's Office, Kountze Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Hardin County Adult Probation Department - began at 4 a.m., he said.
Proclamation Raises Awareness of Second-Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Women, Occurring in 30 Percent of Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Contact: Ford Porter

Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov

RALEIGH: Governor Roy Cooper has declared April as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Month in North Carolina to bring attention to this second-leading cause of cancer death among women.First Lady Kristin Cooper read the proclamation today at the Executive Mansion during a luncheon hosted by the North Carolina Oncology Navigator Association to honor metastatic breast cancer patients.said Gov. Cooper.Metastatic breast cancer, which is incurable but treatable, occurs when cancer has spread beyond the breast to other organs. It is estimated that 30 percent of all women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will develop metastatic breast cancer, even five-to-20 years after completing treatment for breast cancer.Today's luncheon featured panel discussions on metastatic breast cancer. Panelists included breast cancer clinicians and researchers from UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Duke Cancer Institute as well as a metastatic breast cancer patient and a representative of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.Jean Sellers, RN, MSN, president of the North Carolina Oncology Navigator Association and administrative clinical director at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, said raising awareness about the disease will lead to greater support.she said.A national survey conducted by Kelton Global in 2014 found more than 70 percent of respondents incorrectly believed that metastatic breast cancer is curable if diagnosed early, and half incorrectly believed breast cancer progresses because patients either did not take the right treatment or preventive measures. Because of this awareness gap, women and men with metastatic breast cancer often feel isolated and unsupported in their ongoing battles with the disease.Read Governor Cooper's proclamation declaring April 2017 Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Month
A class of fourth-graders jostled each other for a spot on the newest addition to their playground at Jones-Clark Elementary, trying to squeeze as many as possible on the bright blue "buddy bench."

The bench, one of two brought to the school Tuesday by students from West Brook and Ozen High Schools, is for students looking for a friend.
Houstonians and leaders across Texas are mourning the death of Clint Greenwood, a seasoned law enforcement leader who was shot in Baytown while arriving to work.

Greenwood was the assistant chief deputy with Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office. He had three decades of experience with law enforcement.
James Murray, former CEO and executive vice president of Louisville, Ky.-based Humana, is departing the company to take on the CEO position at another company, according to Louisville Business First.

Here are five things to know:

1. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows Humana will pay Mr. Murray $1.29 million, which equates to 19 months of his annual base salary.

2. If Mr. Murray maintains his noncompete and confidentiality agreements until Dec. 31, 2018, he could receive a $646,000 lump-sum payment. This payment is equal to nine months of his annual base salary.

3. In sum, Humana could pay Mr. Murray $1.94 million.

4. Louisville Business First reports Mr. Murray's total compensation was $3.65 million in 2016, up from $1.2 million in 2015. He had a $678,000 bonus last year.

5. Humana representatives did not comment to Louisville Business First regarding Mr. Murray's payments.
The Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act aims to expand telehealth services nationwide through increased Medicare reimbursement, mHealthIntelligence reports.

Here's what you should know.

1. Senators Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., reintroduced the Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act. The bill did not advance out of Congress last year.

2. The senators released a joint press release criticizing CMS for their lackluster telehealth coverage. CMS covers limited telehealth services, which the senators argue is discouraging innovation and restricting access to specialized services.

3. The senators hope HHS and CMS will embrace digital health if the passes. The bill would allow hospitals to test telehealth services through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. It would also direct the center to complete an independent evaluation of the telehealth model.

4. Several professional organizations, like the American Association of Family Physicians and American Health Association, criticized legislators over their underutilization of telehealth.
Throughout Florida, officials are monitoring the mosquito population in anticipation of another Zika outbreak, according to The Hill.

Here are five key notes:

1. The virus has infected more than 5,100 Americans to date.

2. Florida accounts for 216 of the 222 confirmed cases in the nation. Brownsville, Texas is responsible for the remaining six cases.

3. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R, met with officials earlier this week to assess their preparation for the weeks leading up to the state's rainy season, which contributes to a high mosquito population.

4. Denise Jamieson, chief of the CDC's women's health and fertility branch and the official in charge of the CDC's Zika response, told The Hill, "We learned a lot last year. The Florida experience in particular was very helpful in learning how to deal with local transmission. We learned a lot about how to designate and communicate about areas of risk."

5. The CDC plans to hire more contractors to spray chemicals intended to kill mosquitoes. The agency will also increase its surveillance of 130 mosquito traps throughout the Miami-Dade area.
Andrew Hayek is the chairman and CEO for one of the leading U.S. ASC management companies  Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates.

Here are six things to know about Mr. Hayek:

1. He joined the company in 2008 as president and CEO.

2. Mr. Hayek will continue leading SCA and the Optum platform following the companies' merger.

3. He was the president of a Denver-based DaVita Healthcare Partners' division.

4. Mr. Hayek's healthcare experience is extensive, previously serving as president and COO of Anaheim, Calif.-based Alliance Healthcare Services.

5. He is a 2014 Henry Crown Fellow of Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute. The Henry Crown Fellowship Program aims to develop community-driven leaders.

6. Mr. Hayek earned a bachelor of arts from Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
Officials of Jupiter (Fla.) Medical Center are not holding their tongues as Florida's legislature discusses eliminating the state's certificate of need laws, which require hospitals to demonstrate need in the community before building new facilities or expanding service lines, reports the Palm Beach Post.

The hospital recently published an open letter in The Palm Beach Post and other outlets in response to Republican lawmakers' proposal to scrap CON laws. The proposed bill, SB 676, is currently making its way through the committee stage. Gov. Rick Scott, R, has backed the proposal.

"They believe by deregulating healthcare, costs would be reduced and quality would be improved. We disagree," the letter, signed by Jupiter Medical Center President and CEO John Couris and hospital board members, states.

While he isn't opposed to a free market, Mr. Couris told The Post that he doesn't believe more competition will inevitably lead to higher-quality and less expensive care.

"We are not widget makers in the healthcare industry," he said, according to the report. "We are not flipping hamburgers, we are not selling pizza. We are taking care of the most important single asset of this state and that is its people."

Mr. Couris said South Florida hospitals already face competition, especially on heart surgery and maternity care.

"South Florida is a hyper-competitive environment," he said, according to the report. "We compete all the time, but as a leader in healthcare, I have an obligation greater than just competing. I have an obligation to care for the health and wellness of this community."
Medicaid expansion in Kansas is off the table  at least for the time being, reports The New York Times.

Here are five things to know.

1. On March 30, Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed a bill to expand the state's Medicaid program under the ACA. The bill had previously passed the state's House and Senate.

2. On Monday, the state House voted 81-44 to uphold the governor's veto, according to the report. Three additional votes were necessary to override the veto.

3. If Medicaid were expanded in Kansas, it would cover an additional 150,000 low-income people.

4. Kansas lawmakers in favor of Medicaid expansion have claimed it could benefit people's lives as well as rural hospitals, reports NYT.

"We have the ability to help people who truly need it the most," Rep. Cindy Holscher, D-Olathe, said in the report. "We have the ability to make a decision ... that will save lives  not just one, but potentially thousands."

Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, added: "What we know most of all is that if we do this, it will prevent closures of hospitals."

5. However, those who are against Kansas expanding Medicaid expressed concerns about potential costs to the state and how possible repeal of the ACA could affect those costs, reports NYT. According to the report, Gov. Brownback also wanted the Medicaid expansion bill to include a work requirement for those who would gain coverage.
MAS Holdings to create 133 jobs in Asheboro

Contact: Ford Porter

Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov

RALEIGH: MAS Holdings, a global apparel technology and manufacturing company, will locate its first manufacturing and development center in the United States in Randolph County, creating 133 new jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company plans to invest nearly $20 million in a facility located in Asheboro, providing additional payroll impact exceeding $4 million annually.Governor Cooper said.MAS is an innovative textile company headquartered in Sri Lanka, employing more than 85,000 associates worldwide, operating 48 state-of-the-art facilities in 15 countries including design offices, apparel and component manufacturing plants and private industrial parks. MAS also provides technology solutions to the apparel and footwear industry. Recently, the company has been working to integrate technology into clothing, partnering with startup companies in the Silicon Valley region of California and in New York in the fields of wearable technology and health & wellness.MAS Holdings' selection of a North Carolina location includes a pending acquisition of Acme-McCrary, a 108-year-old textile manufacturer currently located in Asheboro with additional facilities in Chatham County and the Republic of Honduras. The company produces legwear and active wear for large U.S. retailers.Mahesh Amalean, Chairman of MAS Holdings stated,W.H. Redding Jr., Chairman of Acme-McCrary stated,A performance-based grant of $575,000 from the One North Carolina Fund will help facilitate MAS Holdings' location into Randolph County. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance to support local government efforts to attract economic investment and create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. In the case of MAS Holdings' grant, in addition to its new job-creation target, the company is also required to retain 374 existing jobs currently located in North Carolina at Acme-McCrary. All One NC grants are also contingent upon a matching grant from local governments.said N.C. Representative Pat Hurley.N.C. Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. led the state's response to the company's search for a business location.Other key partners in the project include the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, North Carolina State University, Duke Energy, the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, and the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation.
Who doesn't love receiving unexpected medical bills? North Memorial Health Care in Robbinsdale, Minn., mixes a healthy dose of sarcasm and dry humor in its new tongue-in-cheek branding campaign debuting Tuesday, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.

The multimillion-dollar branding campaign, created by New York City-based BrandFire, plays to Americans' various frustrations with the healthcare system, from long wait times to opaque hospital billing practices.

"Healthcare is viewed by the public as broken," North Memorial CEO Kevin Croston, MD, told Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. "We wanted to let people know [North Memorial is] different  we understand and we're working to make it better."

The campaign features patients sarcastically praising irritating aspects of their healthcare experience, saying phrases like, "I love not knowing exactly how much my visit is going to cost  it makes healthcare so exciting," and, "I love being uninformed and totally uninvolved with my healthcare  it really makes me feel empowered."

The campaign includes TV commercials, radio spots, billboards and online ads. In the billboards and print ads, North Memorial portrays its brand as alleviating these frustrations by crossing out some words and replacing them with others.

For instance, one print ad reads, "The doctor will see you after you read an old issue of Fishing Life and you wonder if they forgot about you after sitting in your undies for 25 minutes." A red slash crosses out the end of the sentence, beginning on the word "after," changing the sentence to read, "The doctor will see you now."

Dr. Croston said the campaign appeals to North Memorial's spirit as the healthcare underdog in a market that has undergone substantial consolidation. "The other guys have all merged and we're the survivors. We're providing value and I think playing a vital role," Dr. Croston told Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Whether prescribed legitimately or obtained illegally, prescription painkillers are being abused at an alarming rate and with devastating consequences.

More than 1,000 Virginians lost their lives to opioid abuse in 2015 alone, a 22 percent increase since just 2013i. To combat the public health emergency that is the state's opioid abuse crisis, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed HB 2165 into law on February 23, 2017, which mandates the electronic prescribing of opioid medications in Virginia beginning July 1, 2020.

The electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), including prescription opioids, became legal nationwide in August of 2015. To date, Maine, New York and now Virginia have legislation in place requiring EPCS, but other states seem poised to follow suit. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois and Texas are among those that recently introduced proposed legislation mandating e-prescribing for opioid medications.

As more and more states embrace EPCS, technology will continue to play an increasingly critical role in the nation's opioid crisis. By digitizing the prescribing process, providers can improve patient safety, reduce doctor shopping and minimize the risk of stolen or fraudulent prescriptions. Additionally, EPCS can improve workflows, prescription accuracy, compliance rates and both provider and patient satisfaction. EPCS deters diversion and abuse while simultaneously allowing patients who legitimately need treatment to get timely and safe access to their medication

Although 60 percent of Virginia's NON-controlled substance medications were electronically prescribed in 2013, there are a different set of regulations that apply when e-prescribing opioids and other controlled substances. These include a number of DEA requirements that are designed to track and audit prescribers' EPCS orders, including:

 The employed electronic health record and/or e-prescribing applications must be certified as DEA-compliant

 Pharmacies must use software certified as DEA-compliant to accept controlled substance e-prescriptions

 Prescribers must complete an identity proofing process

 Prescribers must use two-factor authentication when writing an EPCS prescription

As a practicing emergency physician in Massachusetts, I've seen the power and potential of EPCS first-hand. I've also seen how critical it is to partner with the right solutions providers to ensure a smooth, compliant implementation process. Opioid overdoses claim the lives of 91 people each day. As a caregiver, becoming EPCS-enabled -- including having a trusted security partner in the process -- has never been more important.

# # #

i Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths  United States, 20102015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:14451452. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm655051e1

The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
A 47-year-old woman has been charged with second-degree felony theft after police say she stole an ambulance from South Austin (Texas) Medical Center March 29, according to CBS Austin.

Authorities say Shelly Robinson drove away in an Austin-Travis County EMS ambulance after she was discharged from South Austin Medical Center. She abandoned the ambulance a few blocks away from the hospital.

A few hours after police found the ambulance they arrested Ms. Robinson for being drunk in public and then realized she was the person who had taken the ambulance earlier that day, according to the report.

Because three Austin-Travis County EMS ambulances have been stolen in the past few months, the agency is now installing anti-theft devices on its vehicles, according to the report.

More articles on legal and regulatory issues:

Man arrested for impersonating a nurse practitioner at California medical clinic

8 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements

Collection company president accused of stealing $1.6M from NYC hospital
Hospitals in Massachusetts experienced the highest rate of opioid-related emergency department visits in 2014, according to a report based on state reported data conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

From 2009 to 2014, the rate of opioid-related visits to the ED jumped 71 percent in Massachusetts. In 2014, state officials reported 450.2 opioid-related ED visits per 100,000 people, the highest rate among the 30 states reporting data on ED opioid visits for 2014. At a distant second, Maryland reported a rate of 300.7 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts' rate was also 10 times that of Iowa's, which was 45.1 per 100,000 people, the lowest rate reported.

Traci Green, PhD, deputy director of the Injury Prevention Center at Boston Medical Center, told The Boston Globe the increases may be attributable to rise of fentanyl  a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. In 2016, fentanyl surpassed heroin as the most deadly opioid in the state, according toxicology reports assessed by the Massachusetts Department of Health.

"If anything, these data are just the tip of the fentanyl effects," Dr. Green told the Globe. "Fentanyl is what is driving everything right now."

More articles on opioids:

Study: American heroin use jumps fivefold in 10 years

Gov. Chris Christie to lead Trump's new opioid commission: 5 things to know

Partners, GE help lead initiative to combat opioid epidemic in Massachusetts
ASCs are increasingly incorporating spine procedures as techniques advance and welcoming surgeons trained in minimally invasive procedures.

Westchester, Ill.-based Regent Surgical Health Chief Development Officer Jeff Simmons spoke about the key trends seen in ASC spine procedures today.

Mr. Simmons is speaking on a panel titled "Spine procedures in ASCs" at the Becker's 15th Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference + The Future of Spine, June 22 to 24, 2017 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register.

Q: Which recent developments in technology and technique have impacted ASC spine procedures the most?

Jeff Simmons: As more spine fellows complete their education and training they are being trained not only with the latest technology but in environments where it is safe to perform many more procedures. Thus the market is increasing in the number of surgeons willing and practiced in performing these cases in an outpatient setting. The greatest impact that would continue to prevent this growth is the ability of payers to recognize that these procedures can be performed safely in an ASC setting.



Q: Where do you see spine procedures in ASCs heading in the future?

JS: Look at total joints: once this was considered only as an inpatient procedure and spine was the outlier. In many cases, outpatient spine is considered as a mature market.



Q: What are the best ways to incorporate new spine procedures and techniques into your ASC?

JS: The answer is safely. Pre-selection of patients who will do best in an outpatient setting is the best method to make sure new techniques are performed in an ASC.

More articles on MIS:

SI-BONE reports 50th peer-reviewed publication of iFuse Implant paper  6 things to know



5 things to know about the top 50 minimally invasive spine surgery articles



Expert Network welcomes MIS surgeon Dr. Anthony Yeung 5 insights
Utica, N.Y.-based Conmed Executive Vice President Heather L. Cohen bought 440 shares of company stock on March 13, according to The Cerbat Gem.

Here are five insights:

1. Ms. Cohen purchased the stock at an average cost of $40 per share.

2. The total cost of the shares was $17,600.

3. With this purchase, Ms. Cohen owns 11,291 company shares totaling about $441,640.

4. Conmed disclosed this transaction in a legal filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

5. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion and a P/E ratio of 83.65.
To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below
The External Affairs Ministry on Tuesday asserted that the countrys stand on disputes with Pakistan would only be solved bilaterally and without a third party mediation remains unchanged. Notably, this comes after the US reportedly suggested that President Donald Trump's administration could play a role in de-escalating tension between India and Pakistan.
Indian Government has reportedly proposed a $5-billion line of credit to Bangladesh. According to reports, India hopes to fund 17 projects, including a road and railway project through this credit. The deal is likely to be finalized later this week. The loan is also said to have a 20-year repayment term, including a grace period of five years.
Seems Obvious to Me

The headline to another one of my newspaper's Must Read Articles is...



Smartphones May Be To Blame for Big Spike in Pedestrian Deaths

As we used to say in Grammar School, "No Chit Sherlock". The predicament our Walking People find themselves in is part of an Evolutionary Process...



 The car was invented.

 In the beginning, drivers of cars in the Good Ole USofA stared intensively at the road in front of them with both hands on the wheel.

 Crosswalks were invented and the Walking People used them to cross streets.

 When a Two Hands on the Wheel Driver approached a Walking Person walking outside of a crosswalk, they either put on their brakes and/or swerved around the Jaywalking Person.

 The Two Hands on the Wheel Drivers who were most concerned for the Jaywalking Person's well-being blew their horn as they put on the brakes and/or swerved around the Jaywalking Person.

 The use of the horn was appreciated by the Jaywalker and made him say to himself, "Self, that was a stupid thing to do. Next time I am going to use the crosswalk when I cross a street. I sure thank that kind driver with his two hands on the wheel for using his brakes and/or swerving around me while blowing his horn."



All was well in the Good Ole USofA.

------------------------

The first sign that this Driving/Walking Bliss was coming to an end was when someone invented The Finger. As if on cue, drivers and walkers started giving each other The Finger and our world was never that same again.

------------------------

As if the invention of The Finger was not bad enough, other inventors got into the act... 

While all of this consternation was swirling around in the Hand Basket of the Good Ole USofA, Steve Jobs was invented and he invented the Smartphone.

That, my dear readers, was The Tipping Point, the Straw that Broke the Camel's Back, the Point Of No Return and/or All She Wrote.

Now we find ourselves reading Must Read Articles in our newspapers about increasing pedestrian deaths and asking, "How Did We Get Here?"



Is it not obvious?



It is to me.



Would I kid u?

Smartfella



Lagniappe: Yes, I heard you ask yourself, "Self, where does the term 'Jaywalking' come from?" (Yes, I am always listening.)

Jaywalking comes from the fact that "Jay" used to be a generic term for someone who was an idiot, dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or simpleton.

More precisely, it was once a common term for "country bumpkins" or "hicks", usually seen as inherently stupid by "city" folk.

In Politically Correct America they are now called, "Mentally Challenged Walkers".


James Mason with Kathleen Ryan in Odd Man Out

It may be a boom time for the movie industry in Northern Ireland today, but that was not always the case.

A previously unseen document has revealed how a senior civil servant warned in the 1940s that there was little to be gained from making a film in Belfast.

Back in 1946, a production company asked the Government for funding to shoot what later became seminal thriller Odd Man Out.

Starring James Mason, Kathleen Ryan and Cyril Cusack, it tells the story of a Belfast gunman called Johnny McQueen who is badly wounded during a robbery and is left on the run from the authorities in his home town.

However, documents released by the Public Record Office (PRONI) in Belfast reveal the film nearly did not make it off the ground.

A Ministry of Commerce file cautions against financial support for the filming.

The file, entitled: Application by Two Cities Films Ltd to film in Belfast, contains a letter from one of the Joseph Arthur Rank companies from 1946.

However, it is the response from the Ministry of Commerce that catches the eye.

The Permanent Secretary writes that he can see no commercial opportunities for making a film in Belfast.

Stephen Scarth, from PRONI, said: "This contrasts starkly with the position today where the film industry is a massive draw for tourists and Northern Ireland is home to internationally successful brands such as Game of Thrones.

"Even now, Odd Man Out remains a seminal movie in the history of film-making."

The film, released in 1947, included Belfast as a backdrop, with some of the film shot in the city.

However, the Crown Bar's famous interior was recreated in a studio in Buckinghamshire.
The head of the European Parliament's biggest political bloc poured cold water on hopes euro clearing might stay in London after Brexit, putting over 200,000 jobs at risk.

Manfred Weber, chair of the European People's Party, was outlining the group's political priorities or "red lines" on Brexit during a press conference in Strasbourg, when he said EU citizens must "decide on their own money".

"That's about the financial markets.

"When Great Britain is leaving the European Union, for us it's not thinkable that at the end the whole euro business is still managed in London.

"When this is an external place, this is not an EU place any more, then the euro business should be managed on EU soil," Mr Weber told reporters on Tuesday.

The party leader did not clarify whether he was referring specifically to euro clearing, which settles business and trade conducted in euros, b ut Mr Weber's comments have dampened hopes London will end up hosting the operations after Britain completes its divorce from the EU.

An independent report conducted by EY for the London Stock Exchange last autumn said up to 83,000 clearing jobs could be lost over the next seven years if euro-denominated clearing leaves London.

But those job losses would create a domino effect on other financial sectors, impacting up to 232,000 jobs across the UK, the report said.

John McDonnell, Labour MP and shadow chancellor, said the job threat is "all too predictable given the Tories' extreme approach to the Brexit negotiations".

He said: "This is yet another major concern facing our country since Theresa May triggered Article 50, and yet Tory ministers appear stunned and unprepared when obvious issues arise."

"We need to know immediately from the Government what its strategy is to protect jobs in the finance sector, because all we have witnessed so far is silent bewilderment."

A Government spokesman said: "London is a global financial hub and we are determined to maintain the City's leading position as we prepare for negotiations to leave the EU.

"That's why the Government is working closely with the financial services sector to understand the issues affecting it and ensure we get the best deal for Britain.

"We want financial services to continue to thrive here and we stand ready to help the industry maximise the opportunities that leaving the EU presents."
Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom has moved to quash speculation it is looking to relocate its London operations due to fears over trade barriers after Brexit.

The firm's deputy chairman said London-based Gazprom Marketing and Trading (GM&T), which takes part in the company's global trading, retail carbon and liquefied natural gas business, would not be impacted by Britain's divorce from the EU.

"The operations of Gazprom's London-based unit Gazprom Marketing and Trading are not affected by Brexit," Alexander Medvedev said in a statement.

"GM&T operates worldwide, and focuses on trading, LNG and UK retail, while European business is mostly covered by the long-term contracts of Russian-based Gazprom Export.

"The announced Brexit has not impacted our activities on the UK gas market, neither the LNG portfolio."

His statement follows speculation Gazprom is considering moving GM&T operations out of London.

It has been reported a review was launched amid concerns over Brexit trade tariffs that could raise the cost of doing business with its most important export market, the EU.

GM&T was set up in London in 1999 and employs around 450 staff, while a further 100 employees are based at its site in Manchester, which focuses on retail operations, according to its website.

Gazprom's website identifies London as GM&T's headquarters, but lists other offices in France, Switzerland, Singapore and the US.

GM&T is owned by Gazprom Export, which falls under the Gazprom Group umbrella.

The parent company is more than 50% owned by the Russian state.

William Jackson, a senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said Russian industry tends to rely far more on EU countries than the UK for trade, and that potential tariffs between the two may not bode well for business.

"Russia's exports to Germany are about three times as large as they are to the UK. It exports more to Italy than it does to the UK. Clearly it wouldn't be helpful if there were barriers," he said.

Terms of trading between the EU and Britain have yet to be set, but Mr Jackson noted that natural resources such as oil and gas more readily get a free pass between borders - which could be good news for Gazprom.

Taking a wider view of Russia's economic challenges, he said Brexit has fallen down the list of investor concerns compared with the prospect of oil prices, the country's fiscal and monetary policy, and international sanctions.

"There are a lot of problems for Russia's economy, this has sort of slipped off the radar a bit."
Northern Ireland risks becoming "toxic" to investors and damaging its global business reputation if it cannot deliver a low rate of corporation tax, business leaders have said.

There is renewed anger in the business community here after the Belfast Telegraph revealed that an April 2018 deadline for the devolution of corporation tax "may slip" - in the words of the Department of Finance.

And despite months of luring major foreign investment on the premise that Northern Ireland will have a lower 12.5% rate from April next year, Invest NI has admitted it will "amend its international sales and marketing activity to reflect this".

Angela McGowan, regional director of the CBI, told the Belfast Telegraph: "CBI member companies recognise that Northern Ireland's international reputation is compromised when politicians commit to policy actions and then fail to deliver them."

And economist Andrew Webb said there is "increasing sense that we have had all our eggs in one basket" over the "policy jewel in the crown for the last Executive".

He warned Northern Ireland runs the risk of "becoming toxic to potential investors".

Invest NI has now removed a reference to the April 2018 date for devolving the tax here.

It was continuing to promote the date for a 12.5% rate as recently as last week.

Ann McGregor, chief executive of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "If Northern Ireland loses out on the chance to achieve this (corporation tax) because political parties remain in a position of stalemate, then the region will have lost the best opportunity ever to attractive inward investors and in the process create jobs."

And the UK government also warned that the devolving of corporation tax powers cannot happen under direct rule.

A spokesman for Grow NI, the business body set up to campaign for corporation tax devolution, said: "Legally and politically speaking we are not at the end of the road yet in regard to the 2018 date for a lower rate.

"However, the new rate does require legislation to be introduced by the Finance Minister and then voted on by the Assembly and as things stand we have neither an Assembly or a minister."

Invest NI reiterated it "will continue to promote the commitment to a reduced rate of corporation tax and the additional benefit this will have on investment projects".

Linda Brown, director of the Institute of Directors Northern Ireland, said: "Concerns that the planned April 2018 date for implementation may slip creates uncertainty which does not help businesses hoping to expand, or Invest NI as it sells Northern Ireland to foreign direct investors."

Stephen Kelly, chief executive of Manufacturing NI, warned that any delay in agreeing the rate "will be will be damaging to both our international reputation to investors overseas and plans by local firms to make critical business investments in new machinery, production lines and market development."

And John Armstrong, managing director of the Construction Employers' Federation, said that the "mixed message we are sending to potential investors, both local and global, about our corporate taxation regime is doing little to give businesses the much needed certainty that they require".

Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts said: "It is clearly disappointing that April 2018 is looking like it will be delayed."

Ms McGowan said that "despite the current disappointment, it is important to focus on the fact that widespread support for a reduced corporation tax rate remains strong and indeed the current political impasse along with all the associated economic implications could potentially be resolved."

In March last year, former First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness joined Invest NI boss Alastair Hamilton on a trade trip to the US to promote the 12.5% rate.

The campaign even drafted in Ballymena's own superstar Liam Neeson, who said "the commitment of the Northern Ireland Executive to reduce the rate of corporation tax to 12.5% from April 2018 really is a potential game-changer for our economy."

Ms McGregor added: "It is more important than ever that Northern Ireland continues to sell itself as an attractive location for inward investment based on the combination of tax, talent and value in light of the UK's exit from Europe.

"Therefore it is crucial that a lower corporation tax rate is implemented by 2018 and that we prioritise investment in talent."
Premium

Margaret Canning Opinion Conservatives have gone back to traditional territory with a mini-budget that just might cost the party the next election

Many of the measures in Kwasi Kwartengs first big statement as Chancellor had been trailed in advance  changes to stamp duty, the cancellation of both the rise in National Insurance and the rise in corporation tax, and bringing forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence.
For most people, spending a night with an ex-partner and stripping off on television would rank among their worst fears. But one Downpatrick man says he found the experience liberating.

Aspiring actor Ronan Rice (22) is well on his way to becoming a reality veteran and has hinted he is set to star in his biggest show yet this summer.

Last week the performing arts graduate's episode on Channel 5's One Night With My Ex saw him rejected by his former boyfriend.

But he said he received mostly positive feedback, with television reviewers describing him as a "lovely lad".

The series sees former couples reunited for 24 hours, and delves into the heart of their broken romance.

"I was struggling this year because all my friends had got into relationships and moving away, so I thought it would be a really good opportunity to patch things up with my ex," explained Ronan.

"I thought I'm just going to do it."

However, things did not go as planned for Ronan when his ex decided he did not want to rekindle their relationship, despite agreeing to go on the show.

"He had moved on big time. It was heartbreaking," Ronan explained.

"It was strange watching it back because, whenever you are in there, you forget about the cameras. So when you see the show, it is quite overwhelming because you get so much attention out of it. People are really judging you for being you.

"But I really enjoyed watching it and my family and friends loved it too, they were so proud of me, they thought I came across really well. I got a couple of nasty comments on Twitter but you just move on and ignore them."

He told the Belfast Telegraph that he had such severe body confidence issues that he would not wear swimming shorts on the beach.

Despite this, he took the bold decision to strip off for the TLC programme Undressed.

"I was really uncomfortable with my body," he added.

"The show is about two strangers meeting for the first time and have to strip each other down to their underwear. We have to do tasks like stare in each other's eyes for 30 seconds. It's a social experiment and I thought that went very well. I was very confident.

"I would never go to the beach but I could do that on TV. I felt really confident; obviously, you get the odd person putting you down but I really do feel so much more confident about myself."

Ronan's experiences have led to him being approached for a major reality television programme this summer - the name of which he can't reveal yet.

"It's weird, when I was younger I had always wanted to be an actor, to inspire people, but, after falling down this reality road, it's nice to be accepted and inspire others," he added.
A local nonprofit organization, Hope 2 One Life, Inc., will host the 10th annual Walk for Water at Rocky Mountain College's Bair Student Center on April 22.

Registration for the event begins at 9:30 a.m., with the walk beginning at 10. World Water Day is an international day of observance and an opportunity to learn more about water-related issues and be inspired to tell others.

Participants are encouraged to take action to make a difference. Since the United Nations designation in 1992, World Water Day is celebrated all over the world by tens of thousands of people and organizations.

This is the only event of its kind in Montana, which is held in partnership with the Rocky Mountain College Student Environmental Club and the Institute for Peace Studies.

Wastewater is this years theme and it highlights how safely managed wastewater can be a sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and recoverable materials.

Why Waste Water? is about reducing and reusing wastewater. In developing countries, the vast majority of all the wastewater from cities, villages, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused, polluting the environment.

Participants are encouraged to collect fact cards and play a game. A multi-media forum will take place after the walk, as well as an opportunity to view a documentary and purchase international crafts for vendors, including Family Empowerment Uganda.

Participants can enjoy Starbucks coffee, Great American Bagels, and fruit from Lucky's Market. T-shirts from Mosaic Threads will be available for purchase for $10.
Almost half of students feel that these worries have impacted on their health and also their studies, the research from student body NUS-USI has revealed

Eight out of 10 students in Northern Ireland have experienced mental health worries in the last year, an alarming new survey has uncovered.

Almost half of students feel that these worries have impacted on their health and also their studies, the research from student body NUS-USI has revealed.

NUS-USI President Fergal McFerran has warned Northern Ireland faces a crisis if no action is taken.

Speaking on the eve of the organisation's annual two-day conference, which begins at Armagh City Hotel today, Mr McFerran has described the findings of the survey as "extremely worrying".

The student wellbeing survey questioned more than 3,600 students. It suggested that:

 78% of students said they had experienced mental health worries in the last year.

 50% did not reach out for support and a third were unaware of support that was available.

 46% said mental health issues had impacted on their quality of life.

 44% said mental health issues had impacted on their studies.

 43% said mental health issues had impacted on their relationships.

 49% believe that student mental health in Northern Ireland has deteriorated over the past five years.

Mr McFerran said: "If action is not taken immediately, we could see a crisis in student mental health and wellbeing in Northern Ireland."

He said: "It is essential that we have stable and sustainable devolved government here to enable the delivery of the responsive strategies and investment needed to address this extremely challenging area of mental health."

Mr McFerran said the number of students in financial stress puts the onus on government to scrap tuition fees.

"When asked which factor they believed contributed to any mental health issues they had, 42% of respondents said their course, and 39% said lack of money/financial pressure, and these were the two most chosen responses," Mr McFerran added.
The partnership will take in arts bodies from across the UK

The UK must embrace culture at a time when working together is "more necessary and more urgent than ever", the BBC's director-general has said, as he launched a UK-wide creative partnership.

As he announced Culture UK with the arts councils of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Lord Tony Hall called for Britain to become the world's most "culturally engaged and creative country, where everybody, wherever they come from, can take part".

The new body announced a raft of schemes including the Artists First 4 million fund, which aims to open up the process of making television to artists and art organisations, and utilising the broadcaster's online platform for existing cultural festivals, similar to their digital coverage of the Rio Olympics and Glastonbury Festival.

First to benefit from the online coverage will be the Manchester International Festival, the Edinburgh Festivals and the Hay Festival.

Announcing the launch of Culture UK at the BBC's Radio Theatre in London, Lord Hall said the UK should "ignore at our peril" culture's ability to unite.

He said the broadcaster had teamed up with the arts councils and Creative Scotland at a time when "there are real challenges that make working together more necessary and more urgent than ever".

"Culture is one of the things that unites us all and expresses our identity," he added.

Inspired by the success of Shakespeare Lives, which marked the 400th anniversary of the death of the playwright in 2016 with a programme of events and activities, Culture UK will also hold three major broadcast and live event festivals each year, with the BBC appointing cultural leads in each of its major national and regional offices to ensure "representation right across the country".

Each event will be based around themes, with poetry and opera taking the lead in 2017 while next year will celebrate the centenary of women's suffrage.

A number of Artists First commissions have already been announced, including Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere, a political play written and performed by Paul Mason, the former economics editor of Channel 4 News and BBC's Newsnight, which traces the path from the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement to the election of Donald Trump as US president.

The play is part of Performance Live, a two-year strand of programmes developed between Arts Council England and Battersea Arts Centre, and will be broadcast on the BBC later this year.

The Culture UK initiative follows the renewal of the BBC Charter which came in force in 2017, and included the abolition of the BBC Trust, which was replaced by media watchdog Ofcom as regulator.
The PSNI is probing the sudden deaths of three men in Belfast yesterday.

One of the deceased was named locally as west Belfast man Christopher Lavery.

Two of the men died in west Belfast while the third died in the south of the city yesterday morning. Investigations are under way to establish the cause of the deaths.

There was speculation on social media that one or more of the tragedies may be linked to prescription drug Lyrica.

However, no cause of death can be attributed until a post mortem is carried out. Police are not treating the deaths as suspicious.

Mr Lavery, who was in his 30s and from Dunmurry, was described on social media as having a heart of gold.

He had been staying at a house in Riverdale Park North, where he was found dead.

Police in forensic suits were seen entering the property yesterday.

Christophers cousin Jennifer Lavery posted online, saying: This is such a sad time for myself and my family and we appreciate all the genuine condolences.

Rest in peace, Christopher, you were a big gentle soul with a heart of gold.

The other two men are understood to be aged in their 20s. One is understood to have died in Utility Street and the other on the Springfield Road.

The PSNI confirmed that detectives were investigating the circumstances surrounding the three sudden deaths.

Police are not investigating a link between these deaths, it said. Post mortem examinations will take place to determine the cause. However, they are not being treated as suspicious at this time.
A deviant who sexually abused a mentally disabled woman while holding her prisoner in his house for eight years has been jailed.

Keith Baker was sentenced to 15 years in prison for keeping the woman as an invisible sex slave in a room with no light bulb, carpets or curtains at his filthy house in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

The door had no handle on the inside and the toilet was overflowing with human excrement.

Baker, 61, filmed many of his attacks for his own sexual gratification and held sway over his wife, who was also imprisoned, and another partner through his willingness to resort to violence and total immorality, a judge said at Craigavon Crown Court.

The victim was so badly emaciated she had only one tooth left once she was rescued by police in 2012 after Baker's second partner raised the alarm.

Judge Patrick Lynch QC said: "It is not easy to understand how these individuals have so lost their moral compass that they could subject an individual who clearly exhibited serious mental defects to mistreatment, in sexual terms depriving her of any dignity and even the most basic of living standards."

Baker's wife Caroline, 54, was imprisoned for three, with half to be served in the community under licence, after the pair were filmed sexually assaulting their victim.

The woman's learning difficulties were so severe her IQ placed her in the lowest 0.3% of the population.

She did not appear on the electoral register, was not with a GP or dentist and never claimed benefits.

Neighbours did not even know the victim, completely isolated from the rest of society, was there.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke said: "Her basic human rights were stolen from her by people who can only be described as evil."

Keith Baker slumped in a wheelchair outside the dock. Caroline stood inside the box, with her head bowed throughout, even as she was led away in handcuffs by prison guards.

The judge concluded: "Mr Baker presented as a Svengali figure, exercising control on three women based on his dominance, willingness to resort to violence and total immorality."

The woman was reported missing in Cambridge in England in 2004. She was taken to Northern Ireland by Baker, the judge said.

Once there she was subjected to the most horrific of ordeals, naked and unable to defend herself.

She did not even know Keith Baker's correct name.

At one stage she was told by the perpetrators that she had "learned quite a bit" over the last few years, the judge said.

Keith Baker, whose address was given as prison, and Caroline Baker pleaded guilty to sexual activity involving penetration and causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity.

He was also charged with rape and indecent assault. Caroline Baker was charged with aiding and abetting rape and other sexual offences including indecent assault.

Keith Baker had been raised in Guernsey and lived most of his life in Kent. He met his wife when they both worked for the Salvation Army.
David Anthony Joseph Barry was driving an unsafe BMW when he jumped a red light while trying to flee police during a high-speed chase across Belfast last year

A motorist who left a man with life-changing injuries after hitting his car has been jailed.

David Anthony Joseph Barry was driving an unsafe BMW when he jumped a red light while trying to flee police during a high-speed chase across Belfast last year.

The 23-year-old, from Parkmore, Craigavon, Co Armagh, pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court to causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving.

He further admitted driving with no licence, without insurance and with excess alcohol.

The defendant was handed a sentence of four years and eight months, half of which will be served in custody.

He was also banned from driving for five years.

The court heard that such was the force of the 60mph side impact that the other motorist, who was wearing a seatbelt, was catapulted from his Peugeot car and landed on a pavement, where he was found unconscious and suffering from horrific fractures and internal abdominal injuries.

The victim, who now uses in a wheelchair is travelling to London this week for surgery, but the court heard that, because of the smash, he would never be able to work again.

Judge Patricia Smyth told him: "I appreciate that there is no sentence I can pass that can change things that have happened to you, and I deeply regret that.''

Sitting in the court in his wheelchair listening to proceedings through a head set, the victim replied: "Thank you."

Prosecutor Philip Henry told the court how officers on patrol at 1.20am on February 21 last year noticed a BMW on the Ballyclare Road in Glengormley with no rear number plate and its "mud flaps hanging off".

During a subsequent police chase, with sirens and blue lights, an experienced PSNI pursuit driver followed Barry's BMW out of Glengormley down the Antrim Road, onto the Shore Road, back out of Belfast City centre and onto the Antrim Road again.

The court was told the defendant jumped two red lights, mounted a pavement at a roundabout, "narrowly missing a police car that had stopped'' and hit speeds of up to 70mph.

Mr Henry said police deployed a stinger device near Belfast Zoo in bid to halt the vehicle, but Barry failed to stop and hurtled up into Glengormley village, passing people on the footpath who had just left a bar and restaurant.

Seconds later, the defendant passed through his third red light at the Hightown Road junction at an estimated speed of 60mph - twice the speed limit.

Mr Henry said: "The injured party was coming out of the Hightown Road in his Peugeot car and his son was in the passenger seat."

The prosecutor added that after the impact, both cars ended up facing in the same direction.

At the time of the incident, the injured man was 59. Despite wearing a seat belt, he was thrown from the car and was found lying on the pavement.

In a victim impact statement, he said the first thing he remembered after the collision was "waking up in hospital and screaming in pain".

"The victim impact (report) speaks for itself," Mr Henry told Judge Smyth.

"His injures were serious and very restrictive. This week he is to go to London for pre-planned surgery."

The man's son, who now acts as a carer to his father, sustained rib injuries in the crash.
Michaella McCollum, right, and Melissa Reid, left, were jailed in Peru last year after they admitted trying to smuggle cocaine worth 1.5 million pounds from Peru to Spain (AP)

Belfast solicitor Peter Madden said Michaella McCollum and co-accused Melissa Reid have been well treated by the authorities

Lawyer Peter Madden, who represents Michaella McCollum, has claimed his client has suffered from a lack of food.

Michaella McCollum, centre, and Melissa Reid leave the court after being sentenced in Peru.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Michaella and Melissa caught on CCTV loading bags into a car in Peru

SECRET STASH: The drugs found in food packs in the girls luggage

Michaella McCollum Connolly with rugby star Tommy Bowe while doing promotional work at an official Ulster Rugby event

Michaella McCollum Connolly (left) and friend Melissa Reid in the airport after they were arrested

Police escort Michaella McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid from the National Police anti-drug headquarters in Peru (AP)

Michaella McCollum, left, and Melissa Reid listen to a translator during a hearing at court in Callao, Peru (AP)

Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum, both handcuffed, arrive for a court hearing in Lima, Peru (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Michaella McCollum Connolly arrives to court for her sentencing in Callao, Peru (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Michaella McCollum Connolly, handcuffed, arrives for a court hearing in Lima, Peru, clutching the book 'Secrets About Life Every Woman Should Know: Ten principles for spiritual and emotional fulfillment' (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Michaella McCollum Connolly pictured during an interview with RTE in 2016 after being released on parole from a Peruvian prison

Michaella McCollum Connolly in one of her club hostess outfits

Michaella McCollum Connolly in one of the Ibiza clubs where she worked as a dancer

Convicted drugs mule Michaella McCollum has returned to the scene of her crime as she travelled to Ibiza.

McCollum was caught trying to smuggle 24lb (11kg) of cocaine worth 1.5 million out of Peru with accomplice Melissa Reid in 2013.

The pair - nicknamed the Peru Two - were working in Ibiza for the summer when they travelled to South America three years ago.

They were arrested as they attempted to smuggle the cocaine in their suitcases. However, they denied knowing the luggage contained drugs, claiming they had been kidnapped and forced to become drug runners.

They later came clean and were jailed for six years and eight months but were freed in 2016 after striking a deal with Peruvian authorities.

Now the Co Tyrone woman has returned to Ibiza with a friend - the place where she was hired to smuggle the drugs.

McCollum was pictured by the Daily Mail drinking cocktails and taking selfies in the sun.

After her release from prison the Dungannon woman revealed how she secretly took pictures on a mobile she got by bribing a prison guard to send home to her family to reassure them she was coping with prison life.

She told how she rose to "top tog" in her block being elected "general co-ordinator" and also ran a beauty salon offering prisoners treatments which she made about 230 a week from.

She also told how she shared a cell with seven other inmates including Melissa Reid, slept on concrete bunks and the toilet was a hole in the floor.

Expand Close Michaella McCollum Connolly pictured during an interview with RTE in 2016 after being released on parole from a Peruvian prison / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Michaella McCollum Connolly pictured during an interview with RTE in 2016 after being released on parole from a Peruvian prison

Recent reports suggest that McCollum is set to land a job presenting a new prime-time show on prisoners.

It's understood she has met TV bosses over the show which will delve into unsolved or unusual crime cases around the world and will include interviews with prisoners on death row.

The pair were also recently linked to reports that they could take part in Big Brother.

In February writing on Facebook McCollum thanked followers for those who "cared and had my back" during the past few years.

She said: "It has been a long ride to get where I am today but it just shows that when we fight hard enough for something we can achieve."
At the end of 2013 I decided to hang up my helmet - for good. My walking away from the roads was nothing to do with money and everything to do with money. Aye, I was p****d off at Honda but I realised they were the tip of the iceberg. The things on my mind would sink the Titanic.

The problem, I have to admit now, is that I never dealt with things as they crept up on me. Maybe if I'd told Honda what I needed more money for, they'd have struck a deal better suited to my needs. Because I wasn't after big bucks to spend on booze and birds. I just wanted to keep a roof over my Ma's head.

Read More

In 2013 our time ran out. The bailiff knocked on the door and said the banks had claimed back the house. Mum was alone when they came. I'd have lamped them if I'd been there, even if they were just doing their jobs. You don't terrorise someone like that. We had to pack our bags and get out. As simple as that. We both found little places that weren't what you'd call "home".

I let the problems build up, I know I did. When I was racing I was doing so well that the real world didn't touch me. I ignored the s**t going on with the house, with Dad's estate, his memorial, everything. It was denial, plain and simple. The debt collector was ringing every day but while I was on the track he couldn't touch me. He couldn't get into my helmet. There was no phone in there. But at the end of the year, when I took the helmet off, it felt like the floodgates had opened - as though I'd been Moses parting the Red Sea but now it was all about to come crashing down. And there wasn't a thing I could do.

I was lost to the point that I didn't know where it would end. There were all these things going on and I was just being worn down from every side. It starts gradually and then builds up. When so much stuff is punching you at once, it's very hard to see anything positive between the blows.

When the Honda thing fell through I couldn't actually be bothered fighting any more. I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't realise it but racing was my crutch. My enabler, I think you'd call it. I had reached such heights in 2013 that below was a long way down. And I fell all the way without a parachute.

I never spoke to anyone about what I was going through. I'm a man in a man's world. The only person I could discuss things with, apart from my dogs, was myself. I've never told a soul about any of this before now. I'll be interested to see how it goes down. I can't be the only man who's felt everything slip away yet not care enough to stop it; the only boy who's felt like he was in the eye of a hurricane and just wanted to curl up and hide.

* * *

At the start of 2014 things were bleak. I'd sold my bikes or locked them away. The banks were putting Mum's old house up for auction. There was nothing on the horizon worth looking at. I just wasn't interested. Still the phone kept ringing, though. I'd ignore the calls, then look at numbers. I noticed one number kept calling. For days on end it kept ringing. Eventually I picked up (it was someone with the offer of a new bike who wouldn't take no for an answer)...

And that is how I got back into bikes. It all snowballed from there. Other things were beginning to sort themselves out as well. Our old house hadn't yet sold at auction and I wanted it to remain like that until I could get some cash together to make my own bid. Eventually the bank lost patience with the lack of bids and I was able to get the house myself.

My Dad's legacy, the house that Robert built, was staying in the family. It was an emotional time. Apart from the bikes, that house was our connection with our Dad. Over the course of a few weeks I felt a bit of light beginning to shine in my head again. The light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose.

Mum was happy to have the house back in the family on principle - that word again - but she didn't want to live there any more. It was too big and there were too many memories of Dad, so we found her a nice, smaller place she could rent and make her own.

As for me, I took a slice of the old grounds and decided I'd follow in Dad's footsteps and build my own home. I rented out the main house to pay for it. It would take a couple of years but I loved getting out there, personally taking every job as far as I could then getting the experts in to finish it off. The skills I learned. I can't think of anything more satisfying. When it was finally ready to move into it, the first thing I did was put my TT trophies in pride of place on the wide mantelpiece, all seven of them. They looked the business, but there was space for plenty more.

Joey and Robert

Joey Dunlop, the boy from Ballymoney, was untouchable at every circuit he raced. But the one where he was the undisputed master isn't in Ireland at all. The Isle of Man Touring Trophy is the pinnacle of the sport.

Between 1977 and 2000 he won 26 races around the mountain circuit - a record that stands today. Uncle Joey was a trailblazer, no mistake, but he wasn't the only one dragging the town into the headlines. When Joey brought home another winged lady trophy there wasn't a prouder person in all of Ballymoney than his wee brother.

Eight years younger, Robert idolised his big brother, like everyone did. Scratching around for something to do with his own life, Robert decided he'd follow in Joey's footsteps, but by anyone's standards those are some boots to fill. The weight of the Dunlop name, people said, would be too great for him. The media, even my grandad, they all said he needed to find his own way in life or forever be compared to big brother Joe. And maybe they would have been right, assuming that all Robert wanted to do was win.

To a degree I think Dad chose to ride because the craic - the good time - was there. The boys are away every weekend, having a laugh, drinking beer, chasing women, and he wanted a slice of that. So he took up the bike as a way to get in on the fun. That's my honest opinion.

Then a thing happened: my dad realised he was actually good at it. Bloody good. Joey Dunlop fans are not going to like this, but a lot of experts said that Dad was a rare talent. On plenty of tracks he was every bit as good as Joey, and maybe on some days even better.

I'm not saying that to disrespect Joey in any way, because he was the undisputed king of the roads. He was The Man. Our entire family owes everything to that boy, as does our town. But I think if my dad had come to racing earlier in his life he might have made more of a name for himself...

While Joey had a reputation for being withdrawn and quiet, Dad was happy to live up to his title as the 'George Best of racing'. But that was a bit of a con, to tell the truth. When Dad was trying to make his way out of Joey's shadow, it was actually my mum who suggested he try to come out of his shell a bit and grab a few headlines.

Racing is a very private sport; you need your own people and your own space around you. But if Joey had a problem on his bike, he knew there was one man on the grid who'd give up his own engine if it meant his hero getting over the finish line first. And afterwards they'd both go for a glass of red wine with the boys, both get a bit lairy, and when the journalists came sniffing for a quote, Robert would be the man leading the singing and dancing. Joey loved that. The fewer the people wanting a word with him, the happier he was.

They were peas in a pod, Joey and Robert. They'd walk over hot coals for a sniff of a race and I think that's what people respected.

I've been into pubs in the middle of nowhere and there's a photo of one or both of them on the wall. I've been in Hong Kong and had people who don't speak English shake my hand because of those boys.

I've even experienced a couple of scenarios where I've had strangers go down on their knees and bow to me, in Ballymoney and beyond. So, yeah, Dunlop country is a thing. No pressure on the rest of us then.

Joey dead

It tore the town apart, no word of a lie. Strangers were hugging each other and crying in the streets. No one could believe that Joey was gone. It was July 2, 2000. My uncle's racing over in Tallinn, Estonia, and the conditions are wet to say the least. These days the TT won't run if the weather's bad, but it used to, and so did the other events.

No one really knows what occurred. It was nothing to do with not knowing the track, because Joey had already won the 750cc race and the 600. He was going for the hat-trick on the 125 when his bike left the road and smashed into the nearby trees. There were no spectators there. It's only when he didn't go past his next checkpoint that questions began to be asked.

Obviously they rang my Dad. He was over with Joey's family like a shot. There was all the practical stuff to attend to. First things first, they needed to get the body back to the UK. Telling his mum was the worst. You should never bury your own children and that woman, May, had suffered enough with my Dad's injuries and Uncle Jim's as well.

The worst thing for her and Grandad Willy was having no time to themselves. It's all right lovely strangers commiserating on your loss when you nip out to buy some bread, but they had no time to grieve themselves. They were in the spotlight from the moment the news about Joey hit Ballymoney.

It was well intended but not right. Everyone was in shock. Even at 48, Uncle Joey was flying that year. He'd recently won his third hat-trick at the TT so you'd never say he was losing his touch. It didn't make sense. Whereas my Dad was unbreakable - no pain, no accident could stop him - Uncle Joey just never crashed. He never had any of those moments that dot every racer's career. The boy just never made mistakes.

I remember the mood in the house being awful. No one spoke for ages. I think in case we started crying. It was terrible.

Flowers kept arriving and you'd again be reminded why. My dad was not given to tears but you could see he was hurting worse than when he'd come off his bike himself. The whole town shut down. Everyone felt they knew Joey. He'd done so much for them, they wanted to give something back.

On the day of the funeral there couldn't have been a house with a soul in. Everyone turned out. And not just from Ballymoney. People travelled from all over the country. And of course, more than ever, bikers were welcome. Among the 50,000 mourners a good few were on two wheels.

The procession to Garryduff Presbyterian Church was like something out of a film. You'd think the Queen had died. My dad went in the main car. I walked ahead with my cousin Ben, Jim's son. We were dying inside but it was Joey's kids we really felt for. We'd lost an uncle. Those boys and girls a dad. I couldn't imagine how that must feel.

All I knew is I never wanted to find out.

ADAPTED BY LAURENCE WHITE

Get 30% off the price of Road Racer by Michael Dunlop (RRP 20) at Belfast Telegraph Studio https://www.belfasttelegraphstudio.co.uk/ belfasttelegraph studio.co.uk/
A 30-year-old-man arrested by police investigating the murder of Paul McCready in Belfast city centre has been released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

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 Chief Inspector Geoffrey Boyce said: "My team have carried out extensive enquiries following the death of Mr McCready on Sunday.

"CCTV footage has been examined and statements taken from over 20 people in our effort to gather as much information as possible about this tragic incident. Following consultation with the PPS, a file will be forwarded to them in due course.

Read more

Read More

"I would appeal to those people who were in the Donegall Street area at the time of the incident and who havent yet got in touch with the investigation team to phone now and tell us what they saw. The number to call is 101 quoting reference number 94 02/04/17.

"If someone would prefer to provide information without leaving their name they can contact the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111."

Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes, from the PSNI's serious crime branch, said on Monday that the victim was father to two children aged under 10.

Expand Close Paul McCready and his long-term partner Ruth Patterson / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Paul McCready and his long-term partner Ruth Patterson

"Tragically they have now been left with a long life ahead of them with no dad."
The report criticised the PSNI and Policing Board for failing to show a 'positive attitude' towards delivering improvement

The report criticised the PSNI and Policing Board for failing to show a 'positive attitude' towards delivering improvement

Police failed to meet almost a quarter of performance targets set last year by the Policing Board, an Audit Office report has found.

It said too many targets had been set and suggested a reduction would improve performance.

The report criticised the PSNI and Policing Board for failing to show a "positive attitude" towards delivering improvement.

Publishing his latest report on performance targets, auditor general Kieran Donnelly said: "Long-standing issues remain around the need for shared leadership between the Policing Board and the PSNI and the need for effective programme and project management arrangements to drive continuous improvement."

The Policing Board's business plan for 2015/16 included 48 targets for the PSNI.

Overall, 77% had been fully achieved, but 23% had been partially achieved or not achieved at all.

The report said the recent audit had "once again identified many of the issues raised in previous years".

It added: "The continuing failure to address previous years' recommendations is not indicative of a positive attitude towards delivering improvement.

"It is essential that the board and the PSNI now address long-standing issues around their shared leadership and management of continuous improvement."

A recommendation was made in 2016 by the auditor general to reduce the number of performance indicators to focus on the most important aspects of policing performance.

The report found that while there had been some progress, there remained scope for further reductions.

It also said that previous reports identified "slippage" in the delivery of continuous improvement projects and "this issue persists".

Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris said they and the Policing Board were progressing each of the five recommendations.

"We also welcome the Comptroller and Auditor General's comments on the suggested review of legislation governing continuous improvement so that the Police Service of Northern Ireland can continue to drive the best outcome from limited resources.

"We will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Policing Board to fully implement the recommendations made within the report."

A spokeswoman for the Policing Board welcomed the report's publication.

"The Board and the PSNI have devoted significant time and energy to addressing recommendations from the NIAO, and as such it is disappointing that some of these efforts have not fully achieved the required NIAO outcome," she added.

"It is welcome that the NIAO has acknowledged the need for the Department of Justice to review the current legislative provision governing continuous improvement as the landscape has changed significantly since these provisions were introduced.

"The Board remains committed to ensuring that the Audit recommendations are implemented in full."
Yellowstone County has great access to medical facilities and poor environmental quality relative to the rest of Montana.

The findings, released Wednesday in the 2017 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps study for Montana, show Yellowstone County sitting just above average for the state by most measures.

Yellowstone, the most densely populated county in the state, scored best in clinical care where it ranks fourth among the 47 counties evaluated for the study. Nine counties were left out of the ranking for lack of data.

Yellowstone's high ranking in the clinical care category is unsurprising. The county is home to two large regional medical centers, St. Vincent Healthcare and Billings Clinic, as well as a host of other medical care providers.

The county performed worst in the physical environment category, where it ranked 44 out of 47. Yellowstone's air quality, drinking water violations and longer commutes for residents who tend to drive alone all contributed to the poor ranking.

Physical environment also represented the county's biggest drop over last year. In 2016, Yellowstone ranked 29 among the 47 counties. In most other categories it remained relatively unchanged from 2016.

One notable improvement was a small drop in the county's uninsured rate. In 2016, 18 percent of the county's population was uninsured compared to 15 percent uninsured in 2017, a reflection of the state's expansion of Medicaid in 2015.

The study is conducted each year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit group focused on improving health and health care for Americans. The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Study is designed to be used by communities as they look to improve the quality of life within their neighborhoods and cities.

"The data matches fairly closely with our community health needs assessment," said Claire Oakley, director of population health services at RiverStone Health.

That's important, she said, because the findings in the county rankings study validate the research RiverStone, along with Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare, has done in assessing health trends and issues in Yellowstone County.

The study highlights the unhealthy pockets of the population and, combined with the community health needs assessment data, it shows where the disparities lie between the healthy parts of the population and unhealthy parts.

"Those disparities center around income," Oakley said. "Where you live, work and play has a tremendous impact (on your health)."

The county improved slightly in its healthy behavior rankings over last year. In categories that include obesity, access to opportunities for exercise, smoking, drinking, sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies, Yellowstone jumped to 16 this year from 24 last year out of the 47 counties.

Despite the improvement, Oakley still saw reason for concern. Yellowstone County's is still home to some hard drinkers. The study found that 22 percent of county residents participated in excessive drinking. Nationally, the number is 12 percent.

The county fares worse with deaths related to drunk driving. Yellowstone's rate for drunk driving deaths is 44 percent. Nationally, that figure is at 13 percent.

"We could reduce the amount of alcohol-impaired driving and binge drinking," Oakley said.

In other corners of Montana, Madison County, in the southwest corner of the state, was ranked first in quality of life and fourth in healthy behaviors. Roosevelt County, in the northeast corner of the state, was ranked last in healthy behaviors and 46th in quality of life.
John McAreavey has said he and the Harte family have the resources to revisit Mauritius as many times as it takes to ensure justice is done for Michaela as he offered a substantial reward for information leading to a prosecution.

Mr McAreavey has travelled to Mauritius with his sister Claire and Mark Harte, Michaela's eldest brother. They have met with the authorities including the country's prime minister and set up a confidential telephone in their bid for those responsible to be brought before a court. An elite task force has also been established by police.

On Tuesday he gave a news conference appealing for the public's help offering a near 45,000 reward. He said that they should not have had to make the "very painful" return to the island but that they had been "let down, time and time again and betrayed" by the process.

He said they will return to the island as many times as it takes to see the killers brought to justice.

It is our sincere hope that the substantial reward which we are offering will send out a powerful message about our determination to keep on seeking justice," he said.

"We have the determination, the energy, the resources to be here for as long as it takes, repeatedly as many times as is required. We have no problem being in Mauritius next week, next month, next year. We will simply not relent until the people responsible for Michaela's brutal murder are served justice."

We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference

Earlier, speaking to the BBC Mr McAreavey said 2017 would provide the opportunity for a renewed push for justice.

He said it was difficult returning to the holiday island but made easier with the support of his own family and the Hartes but he hoped the visit would trigger more activity, leading to arrests.

"If you have a clear objective - this is for justice for Michaela - you can focus toward that and so far it has been working for us," he said.

Mrs McAreavey was killed while on honeymoon, just 12 days after marrying John. She was discovered dead at their luxury hotel. The daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte, she had been strangled. Two hotel workers were tried for murder, but found not guilty in 2012.

John said he had found determination from his meetings so far and was confident it would continue on his return home. He said he wondered how he would be received thinking the public would be "fed up" with the case and wanting to forget it.

"2017 for me is start of new process," he said. "We are engaged in seeking determination from the Mauritius authorities to get justice.

"Largely the response from the authorities has been very positive. Words are easily spoken but we are very much hoping when we return to Ireland we will see the wheels of justice move.

"The mood among the Mauritian public has been good, I have spoken with many people here and I suppose the Mauritius people have felt this as well. Their reputation has been tarnished and they feel they want to have this solved and feel it can be achieved."

Mr McAreavey remarried in September last year. He said grieving for Michaela had been a "complicated process".

He continued: "As a 26-year-old man I had to learn a lot about life at that time but I do feel that I have grieved. From my understanding grieving is not something you do and you park it and that's that, it is a process and justice would aid that.

"I have to stress, this is not about me this is about Michaela and with all this what happened to her can get lost.

"She was a 27-year-old woman who had just begun a new stage in life and she was brutally murdered on her honeymoon and that is just so unjust.

"I have taken the lead with her family, to ensure that, ok we can not bring her back, but see that justice is served."
A veteran loyalist charged in connection with two murders appeared in a Belfast court to receive the alleged evidence against him.

Winston "Winkie" Rea was handed files prepared by the prosecution over the separate paramilitary killings of Catholic workmen John Devine and John O'Hara more than 25 years ago at a hearing on Tuesday.

The 66-year-old, of Springwell Crescent in Groomsport, Co Down, arrived on a wheelchair for the latest development in the case against him.

He faces a catalogue of charges, including conspiracy to murder, and aiding and abetting in murder.

Rea is also accused of weapons offences, membership of the outlawed Red Hand Commando terror grouping, and conspiring in a threat to kill Billy Wright.

Family members wheeled him into Belfast Magistrates' Court after he had been ordered to attend amid wrangling over documents in the case.

Defence barrister Tom McCreanor confirmed: "The papers have been served this morning on Mr Rea.

"We are now in receipt of those papers and would require some times to consider the contents and references to any exhibits."

Rea was charged in June last year by detectives from the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch investigating killings stretching back into the Troubles. He denies the allegations.

The renewed probe came after police won a legal battle to gain access to interviews he gave to Boston College researchers behind a project on the Northern Ireland conflict.

Mr Devine, 37, was shot dead at his home on Fallswater Street in west Belfast on July 23, 1989.

He was sitting in his living room with his 13-year-old son when gunmen forced their way in and killed him.

Mr O'Hara, a 41-year-old taxi driver, was murdered at Dunluce Avenue in the south of the city on April 17, 1991.

He was en route to pick up a passenger when two masked men approached and fired several shots at his car, fatally injuring him.

Rea is now charged with conspiring in their killings, rather than actually carrying out the murders.

Other alleged offences cover a period from the attempted murder of an unknown male on Belfast's Falls Road between July 1971 and February 1973, to the conspiracy to threaten Wright in August 1996.

Attempts to hold a preliminary enquiry have been delayed amid claims that defence lawyers were refusing to sign an undertaking about the handling of American documents in the case.

But the prosecution is now understood to have revised the papers so they could be presented to the accused.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall listed the case for a further review in May, when any challenge to the strength of the evidence will be set out.

She told Rea he is excused from attending that hearing on medical grounds.
Sisters of Ibrahim Halawa, who is being held in Egypt

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has written a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pleading for the release of a jailed Irishman on humanitarian grounds.

Ibrahim Halawa, 21, has been incarcerated without trial for almost four years after being detained during Muslim Brotherhood protests in Cairo in 2013.

In recent weeks he has been refusing food while suffering a heart complaint and skin disease.

Mr Kenny revealed an Irish GP travelled to Wadi al Natrum prison last week along with ambassador Damien Cole and met with Mr Halawa for an hour-and-a-half.

He sat in on a medical examination carried out by an Egyptian doctor and has written a report on his observations, which is expected to be given to the Halawa family in the coming days.

Mr Kenny said the GP recommended Mr Halawa's release on humanitarian grounds and for him to be flown back to Ireland to undergo further specialist tests.

The Taoiseach revealed the detail of his plea to President el-Sisi after being pressured in the Dail parliament on the Irish Government's response to the long-running case.

"We are very concerned about it and it is receiving the most urgent attention of any Irish citizen abroad," he said.

Mr Halawa, the son of a prominent Muslim cleric in Dublin, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, was imprisoned after being detained in a mosque near Ramses Square in Cairo as the Muslim Brotherhood protested over the removal of elected president Mohamed Morsi in August 2013.

He has been in jail for more than 1,300 days awaiting a mass trial along with hundreds of others.

The case is due before a court again on Wednesday.

During his time in jail his family have reported that he has been tortured, suffered electric shocks and beatings, been spat on and moved without their knowledge.

His sister Somaia revealed he collapsed on Sunday and was rushed to the clinic in Wadi al Natrum prison after his blood sugar level plummeted but he refused glucose treatment after regaining consciousness.

He was also said to be suffering dehydration and vomiting.

Another sister, Khadija, said she did not recognise her brother when she went to visit him last week for the first time in three months.

President el-Sisi has given previous assurances that Mr Halawa will be freed but only once his trial is over.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at a gala dinner at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will meet Pope Francis in Rome on the penultimate day of their tour of Italy.

Charles and Camilla will have an audience with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican.

Pope Francis, 80, the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina, was the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years and the first Latin American pontiff when he was elected as the 266th head of the Catholic Church four year ago.

On Monday night during an acceptance speech for a major award Charles spoke of the enduring bonds between the UK and Italy less than a week after Theresa May triggered the start of the nation's 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 last time Charles travelled to the Holy See - the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome - to meet the Pope was in 2009. He had a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

The royal couple are likely to be greeted by a guard of honour formed by the famous Swiss Guards who protect the Pope.

A traditional exchange of gifts will also take place but it is thought the Duchess will not wear black or a mantilla - a lace veil - as Vatican protocol usually dictates.

Before the meeting with the Pope the royal couple will visit the British School in Rome, while Charles will attend a climate change meeting and visit the English College.
The hearing will take place at Croydon Magistrates' Court

Eight more people, including a 15-year-old boy, have appeared in court over a suspected hate attack which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life.

Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and set upon while at a bus stop with two others in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

He was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleed to the brain, and is now recovering after being placed in an induced coma.

Liam Neylen, 19, Ellie Leite, 19, Kyran Evans, 23, all from Croydon, and James Neves, 22, of Beckenham, south-east London, spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, where they were charged with violent disorder.

Ben Harman, 20, from Croydon, appeared accused of violent disorder and dangerous driving.

A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, both from the Croydon area, were charged with violent disorder.

A third youth, a 17-year-old boy from the Croydon area, was charged with violent disorder and wounding with intent.

All eight defendants were granted conditional bail and magistrate Terry Carpenter sent the case for trial at Croydon Crown Court on May 2.

It takes the total amount of suspects accused of involvement with the attack to 13, after five people, including two sets of siblings, appeared in court on Monday.

On Tuesday, District Judge Robert Roscoe amended an order from Mr Carpenter banning the identification of the victim following representations from the Press Association.

On Monday, Daryl Davis, 20, his sister Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and his brother Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, appeared in court charged with violent disorder relating to the same incident.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and the Davis siblings were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.

They will appear at Croydon Crown Court on May 1.
Ken Livingstone says he has been suspended from the Labour Party for one year over controversial comments about Adolf Hitler and Zionism, following a disciplinary hearing in London.

The former London mayor - who has been suspended since April last year - faced a charge that he engaged in conduct which was "grossly detrimental" to the party.

It followed a radio interview in which he claimed that Hitler had supported Zionism in the 1930s before he ''went mad and ended up killing six million Jews''.

Mr Livingstone, who had threatened to launch a judicial review if he was expelled from the party, said he would now consult with lawyers about his legal position.

Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has been suspended from Labour for another year pic.twitter.com/ER0uLubzJF  Sky News (@SkyNews) April 4, 2017

The ex-mayor said earlier he had expected to be expelled because the disciplinary panel investigating the case was dominated by "right-wingers".

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The National Constitutional Committee of the Labour Party has today found that all three charges of a breach of the Labour Party's rule 2.1.8 by Ken Livingstone have been found proved.

"The NCC consequently determined that the sanction for the breach of Labour Party rules will be suspension from holding office and representation within the Labour Party for two years.

"Taking account of the period of administrative suspension already served the period of suspension will end on 27 April 2018.

"The Labour Party will make no further comment on this matter."

Mr Livingstone said: "Today's Labour Party panel extended my suspension for another year because of my political views, not because I have done anything to harm the Labour Party.

"The Labour Party's disciplinary process was not in accord with natural justice in a number of ways. For example the panel hearing was not held in public, despite the fact that it could have been under Labour's rules. I was suspended for more than 11 months before the hearing was held.

"Scheduling the final day of this disciplinary hearing, on the day the Labour Party launched its campaign for the May 4 elections, was a supreme misjudgment by whoever planned this in the Labour Party headquarters.

"It was clearly not in Labour's interests as the hearing will inevitably generate unfavourable headlines at a time when Labour should be focused on campaigning.

"I will be launching a campaign to overturn my suspension of party membership."

Mr Livingstone had previously said the process was fair and said he was hopeful about its outcome.

He said: "I'm always hopeful. It's pretty fair. The injustice was actually suspending me for something I hadn't said.

"Have I said anything that wasn't true? All the Jewish activists who spoke on my behalf yesterday, all actually confirmed what I said was true.

"The big difference is that, though I said that Hitler supported Zionism, MPs like John Mann were immediately claiming that I said Hitler was a Zionist.

"That was repeated on the Jewish Chronicle website with appalling other stories saying that I said Jews were like Nazis, none of this is true. So, as long as the truth prevails, we will be OK."
Starting with Montana's Yellowstone River, Bozeman-based Simms Fishing Products is kicking off a campaign to Save Our Streams by raising money and awareness for the protection and preservation of American waterways.

Across the United States watersheds beloved by anglers and relied upon by fishing-focused businesses face threats in the form of mines, pollution, closure and more.

Each month, Simms will produce a limited edition T-shirt inspired by a threatened river or stream and designed by artists from across the country. A portion of every T-shirt sale (available through retail partners and www.simmsfishing.com/sos) will go to a nonprofit partner for the conservancy of that body of water.

Save Our Streams kicks off in April with the Yellowstone River. Two gold mining companies  Lucky Minerals and Crevice Mining Group  are planning to explore along the banks of the upper tributaries of the Yellowstone.

To bolster efforts against the proposed mines on the Yellowstone, Simms has partnered with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

Simms next T-shirts will raise money for Minnesotas Boundary Waters followed by Montanas Smith River, May and June respectfully.
The research has surprised academics and experts, who had assumed Catholics in the province faced greater disadvantage than their Scottish counterparts

The economic gap between Protestants and Catholics is greater in Scotland than it is in Northern Ireland, a new study has found.

The research has surprised academics and experts, who had assumed Catholics in the province faced greater disadvantage than their Scottish counterparts.

Now the Catholic Church in Scotland has called for more to be done to narrow the divide, which includes long-term unemployment, education, house ownership and mortality.

The report involved experts at Queen's and Ulster Universities and the University of Edinburgh.

They said initial analysis showed Catholic men in Scotland were 39% more likely to die between the ages of 25 and 74 than Protestants.

When the data was adjusted to take the effect of socio-economic status on death rates into account, the figure was revised to 14%; and with Scottish women it was 12%.

In Northern Ireland, Protestant men were almost 5% more likely to die aged between 25 and 74 than Catholics, and Protestant women about 1% more likely to die than Catholics.

The authors conclude the situation may have been caused in part because Scotland does not have specific legislation to tackle religious inequality introduced in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

David Wright of Queen's, the lead author among the academics involved, admitted he and his colleagues had been surprised by the findings.

"Normally if you want to find a story about religion then you come to Northern Ireland, where we knew we would find a difference," he said.

"But we didn't really expect to find it in Scotland."

The study used a sample of 156,448 Scots and 248,255 people from Northern Ireland aged between 25 and 74 during the 2001 census, who were then observed over the following nearly seven years.

Researchers concluded that 20.9% of Scottish Catholics were in the professional class compared with 27.1% of Catholics here.

Some 10.2% of Scottish Catholics were long-term unemployed compared with 8.6% of Catholics here.

In education, just 14.2% of Scottish Catholics had a degree compared to 16.7% of Scottish Protestants. In Northern Ireland, the figures are 17% and 15.3% respectively.

More Scottish Catholics (35.7%) did not have a car, compared with 32% of Scottish Protestants. Here the corresponding figures were 17% of Catholics and 12.8% of Protestants.

More NI Catholics owned their own home (77.6%) compared to 66.2% in Scotland.

"These disadvantages (in Scotland) may result from sectarian discrimination acting on a much smaller minority group that is without the protection of the well-established anti-discrimination legislation enacted in Northern Ireland," the report said.
President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A Democratic senator has said he will not vote for Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee because of a constitutional crisis that may be looming and which could result in the presidents impeachment.

Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would vote against Neil Gorsuch, not only at Mondays committee meeting - where an 11-9 vote along party lines sent Mr Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate - but on Friday when that full Senate vote to confirm Mr Trump's nominee for the countrys top court will take place.

Democrats have revealed they have 41 senators who will vote against the 49-year-old judge on Friday, enough to filibuster the nomination.

Republicans have said they will trigger the so-called nuclear option, a procedural issue not used in recent history, to allow them to confirm Mr Gorsuch with a simple majority, rather than the 60-40 margin traditionally required for such an appointment.

Mr Blumenthal justified his decision by explaining that Democrats were still angry over the way Republicans had refused to even schedule a hearing for Merrick Garland, a middle of the road judge nominated by Barack Obama for the court.

Yet, he said the ongoing probe by the FBI and two congressional committees into Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Moscow and Mr Trumps campaign, was another factor.

I am still angry about the treatment of Merrick Garland. My Republican colleagues have said if the shoe were on the other foot, we would have done the same. It would have been as wrong if we had done so, as it was when they did, he said as the televised hearing.

Mr Blumenthal, from Connecticut, said FBI Director James Comey had testified that the agency was investigating possible ties between Mr Trumps associates and Russia.

Mr Blumenthal referred in passing to what happened in 1974 when the House Judiciary Committee recommended Articles of Impeachment in regard to President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned before the House could vote on the articles.

The independence of our judicial branch has never been more threatened or more important, he said. The possibility of a Supreme Court needing to enforce a subpoena against the president of the United States is far from idle speculation. It has happened before in United States vs Nixon."

At this point, the likelihood of Mr Trump being impeached appears distant. All the statements that have to date been made in public by US intelligence officials, have said no evidence has been uncovered to show collusion between Mr Trump and Russia, something the New York tycoon has strongly denied.

Republicans would also need some motivation to go along with such a censure. At the moment, the party controls not only the White House, but the House and the Senate.

The partys elected members and officials would need to be in a position where they felt that continuing to support Mr Trump would hurt their own electoral chances, either at the midterms of 2018, or in 2020.

Mr Blumenthals comments came as the Massachusetts city of Cambridge passed a resolution calling for an impeachment investigation into Mr Trump.

The Associated Press said Cambridge City Council passed the resolution on Monday evening by a 7-1 vote. One council member abstained from voting.

The resolution calls on the House to review whether Mr Trump's many business interests violate the foreign emoluments clause or the domestic emoluments clause of the US Constitution.
The Pink Star diamond has sold at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong (AP /Vincent Yu)

A 59.6 carat diamond known as the Pink Star has sold for 71.2 million US dollars (57.2 million) at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, setting a world record for any diamond or jewel, according to the auction house.

The oval mixed-cut diamond smashed the 60 million US dollars (48.2 million) pre-sale estimate set by Sotheby's when it went on the block on Tuesday evening.

The sale comes three years after the gem was sold at an even higher price at another Sotheby's auction in Geneva. That deal later fell apart.

Sotheby's said the gem is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.

It was sold for a hammer price of 63 million dollars (50.6 million), not including fees and the buyer's premium.

Sotheby's said the buyer is Hong Kong jewellery company Chow Tai Fook, which beat two other telephone bidders.

Until now, the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was the Oppenheimer Blue, which fetched 56.8 million Swiss francs (then 57.6 million US dollars) last May.

The previous world auction record for a pink diamond was 46.2 million US dollars for the 24.78 carat Graff Pink in 2010.

Sotheby's decided the time was right to bring the diamond back to the market because of rising demand from wealthy Asian buyers.

"The Asian element in the jewellery market is extremely important and from what I've been hearing from members of the trade I've been talking to, in the last six months they have become more and more important," said David Bennett, chairman of the auction house's jewellery division.

The Pink Star was mined in Africa by De Beers in 1999 as a raw 132.5 carat gem and cut over a two-year period.

AP
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

Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, a 22-year old man born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, was behind a blast on the St Petersburg subway that killed 14 people, Russian investigators have said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second biggest and Mr Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister on Tuesday raised the death toll from 11 to 14 and said 49 people are still in hospital. Authorities did not say whether the suicide attacker was included in the death toll.

City hall officials said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens had been killed in the attack.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

Russian investigators on Tuesday said the bomb was set off by a suicide bomber and identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the man's DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the man's identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova who did take the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

Expand Close A picture shows the damaged train carriage at Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A picture shows the damaged train carriage at Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. AFP/Getty Images

Monday's explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

"I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

Expand Close At least 10 people were killed and around 50 injured after an explosive device was detonated on a metro train in St Petersburg. The credit GRAPHIC NEWS mu / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp At least 10 people were killed and around 50 injured after an explosive device was detonated on a metro train in St Petersburg.

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities, who said it helped evacuation efforts and reduced the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

Oleg Alexeyev, 53, who trains sniffer dogs for the police, went to the Technological Institute station on Tuesday morning to lay flowers in memory of those who died nearby.

"I travelled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

Four stations on the subway were closed again on Tuesday due to a bomb threat, but later reopened.

People from Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian former Soviet republics are common sights in St Petersburg, home to a large number of migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia.

While most Central Asian migrants in Russia hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

Expand Close A man lays flowers in memory of victims of the blast in the Saint Petersburg metro at a memorial stone reading Leningrad by the Kremlin wall in central Moscow on April 3, 2017. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A man lays flowers in memory of victims of the blast in the Saint Petersburg metro at a memorial stone reading Leningrad by the Kremlin wall in central Moscow on April 3, 2017. AFP/Getty Images

Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.

Patriach Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a service at Moscow's main cathedral on Tuesday for those killed in the blast.

"This terrorist act is a threat to all of us, all our nation," he said.

#Petersburg The Kyrgyz security authorities named the suspected bomber as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in Osh in 1995@rcadyn @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/ZQkRT6RNjZ  Rosanna (@RosannaMrtnz) April 4, 2017

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

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.

Separately, in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, two police officers were killed in the early hours on Tuesday in a suspected Islamic militant attack. Alexander Zhilkin, governor of the region, said the attackers are on the run.
Few people, even among pro-Brexit voters, want a 'hard' border. In Northern Ireland, 56%, including a sizeable minority of unionists, voted Remain. But contrary to Brexiteer promises of an electronic or 'soft' border, there will be a hard border. The question is where?

The North-South land border leaks like a sieve. It wanders through towns, local communities, farms and, occasionally, houses. Even when militarised in the Troubles with 200 cross-border roads closed it was leaky. It will not stop immigrants entering the UK - the main motivation for Brexit. Here, the real, hard border will be the sea around the island of Britain, and the ports and airports connecting with the island of Ireland (though an independent Scotland within the EU would modify that).

There are similarly strong reasons for locating the hard border for freight at the ports and airports. Retaining our island-wide free trade area also limits the Brexit damage to the substantially integrated but fragile economies of North and South.

A land border would leak for goods as well as for people. For example, cheap US hormone-saturated beef imported into the UK, which contravenes EU health standards, could easily be smuggled into the South. The ports and airports already have more secure infrastructures for handling freight, whereas a leaky land border would still cause costly delays and clog up border roads for the roughly 30,000 commuters who cross the border to work and all the others who cross to shop, socialise, or use shared services.

Re-imposing a hard border would be extremely disruptive and widely unpopular, provoking mass protests and civil disobedience.

More ominously, it would undermine the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement and a peace process based on cross-border institutions and minimising the border. A hard border would simply wreck the strategy. Here, only the paramilitaries would benefit. Constructing land border installations would be an open invitation for the dissident republicans to copy the IRA's 1950s' 'Border Campaign' against border posts and personnel. That could boost their presently small numbers, in turn boosting opposing unionist paramilitaries and conceivably re-igniting at least a mini-version of the Troubles.

Avoiding all these dangers won't be easy. Mrs May's priorities lie elsewhere. The DUP is pro-Brexit and out-of-step with the majority; and there has always been a sizeable right-wing fringe of unionists who prefer nationalistic fantasies of British sovereignty to actually dealing with the economic and social problems which confront us.

But there are good omens for a hybrid solution which retains our island-wide free trade and avoids a hard land border. The EU is committed to sorting this out before the start of trade talks with Britain (which could fail). It has poured millions into the cross-border peace process and knows a hybrid solution is needed.

Ireland, partly thanks to the EU, has already pioneered hybrid border-crossing innovations to deal with practical problems of conventional sovereignty. It already has institutional infrastructures (e.g., a North-South Ministerial Council and a British-Irish Council) on which to develop the shared management of the island's borders.

The call for 'special EU status' for Northern Ireland is only shorthand for some wider UK-EU arrangement to retain the present island-wide free-trade area. It has to include all the island's borders, and being an island makes it easier - as the song says, "Thank God we're surrounded by water"! It involves customs arrangements not only with 'the rest of the UK', (i.e., Britain, with or without Scotland), but also with 'the rest of the (continental) EU', and with 'the rest of the world'.

Princeton Professor Philip Pettit has proposed an imaginative 'shared-space' model for how this might work. It safeguards the South's crucial access to Britain's markets and the North's to EU markets. Ireland would simultaneously be in a free-trade zone with Britain, and in one with the continental EU. These larger zones would overlap in Ireland but would otherwise be separated from each other by the hard borders which Britain and the continental EU want for themselves. Ireland could go from being potentially the worst hit by Brexit to being comparatively advantaged.

The entry and exit customs regulations are typically complex, but Pettit's main points are: they stay as at present for the entry of people and goods from the continental EU and from Britain; exit to them would also follow the existing rules of free-movement for people and goods originating in Ireland; but not for those originating outside Ireland (e.g., non-Irish EU citizens can be denied entry to Britain; and non-Irish goods, such as US hormoned-beef, can be denied entry to the continent).

This solution's great strength is that much remains the same, but this is also a weakness. The customs authorities North and South would mostly operate as presently for things entering and exiting the island, but there is no acknowledgement that their 'shared-space' needs shared management - even if it annoys a right-wing unionist fringe. Shared border management democratically accountable to both political jurisdictions North and South is absolutely essential. Existing trade patterns, far from remaining the same, will change in new and threatening ways, and Ireland's border management must be able to respond. Take the dreaded US hormoned-beef: the UK might import it, but Ireland's customs might be instructed to stop it entering.

The reasons for avoiding a hard land border are compelling, but we cannot rely on 'reason' or the official Brexit negotiators. Popular pressure is needed. The Dublin Government must be directly involved - the EU may not owe Britain any favours but it certainly owes the vulnerable Irish Republic, 'EU loyal' to a fault. Northern Ireland, likewise vulnerable, will have a major concentration of EU/Irish citizens living outside the EU who can demand their rights. If the EU is politically smart - always a question - it will reward its supporters (including Scotland where 62% opposed Brexit).

And if Irish nationalists were smart - sometimes another big 'if' - they would avoid the usual re-heated rhetoric about a border poll on politically re-uniting Ireland. Some assume this will be boosted by a reckless Brexit, and they might eventually be proved right. It's even conceivable that Brexit could ultimately result in a united federal Ireland in a confederation with Scotland and both in the EU.

But all this is unpredictable, long-run speculation.

Meanwhile, here and now, the nationalists demanding a border poll are perhaps losing the run of themselves. Brexit could actually undermine it, especially if the effects across Ireland are very damaging. The late Martin McGuinness, who knew a thing or two, was reportedly more concerned about Brexit's damage to the 'peace process'. But either way, given the deep-seated opposition to political re-unification from most Northern unionists, and the South's reluctance (increased by Brexit uncertainties) to take over the annual 9bn British subsidy to the North's economy, a border poll seems unlikely to achieve the majorities required North and South.

It's actually a confusing distraction which could alienate unionists from the new and immediate challenge of stopping a hard land border. Stopping it needs support from unionists and others as well as nationalists.

James Anderson is Emeritus Professor of Political Geography in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and a founder-member of the Centre for International Borders Research at Queen's University Belfast.
Randy Hafer, president and co-owner of High Plains Architects, announced Monday he will run for Billings mayor to succeed Tom Hanel, who is term-limited.

Billings is on the edge of greatness, and Id like to be in position to make that happen, he said.

He said he plans to file on the first day he can, April 20. Hes the first to announce for the citys top elected job, which pays $9,200 annually.

The citys primary election is Sept. 12. The fall election is Nov. 7.

Hafer, 62, attended Billings West High School, where he won the only political race hes ever entered  for senior class vice president. His undergraduate degree is from Stanford University, with a masters in architecture from Yale University.

His wife, Jana, is a School District 2 trustee. Between them, the couple has seven children.

When he moved back to Billings in 1992, the town was considered as Whats going on over there? mostly by people in the western side of the state, he said. Theyre still saying that, but theyre jealous. Weve got some big projects and some small ones coming in, and people continue to move here. I think there is potential for growth to continue strong.

Hafer said a strong motivation to run is that we develop the place to be attractive to young people, citing his daughter Lindsey as an example. She moved to Billings three years ago after spending an hour commuting each way to her job in Illinois.

It was the obvious opportunity, and she was coming to Billings to try something different, he said. She was blown away by what we have to offer  the ability to meet people quickly and to have adventures. She got that right away.

Increasingly, he said, young architects have come to his firm for similar reasons. We have something cooking here, he said. We are doing good things.

While part-time duties as mayor would require time away from his downtown office, it will be a little less of a gearshift for me than for others, he said, because architects work with the city all the time, both collectively and individually.

One item on his to-do list is city officials upcoming efforts to rewrite the city's zoning ordinances.

At some level we would have been involved in that anyway, he said. Being in the mayors position is a way to look at it from two points of view. The (zoning) code is very old and a lot has changed.

Hafer said he doesnt know of another architect to be elected mayor of Montana's largest community.

I feel like I know the staff and I know the issues, he said, and hes worked on projects from both sides  as a developer and an architect.

A lot of council time is spent on land issues, and that is what our training is all about, he said.

Two instances where the council could have done things differently, he said, are the proposed One Big Sky Center development and the lease with the Billings Mustangs.

Some of the council has been reluctant to support One Big Sky Center, and its frustrating to me, he said. Does a project fit or not?"

Expressing that kind of support is "a skill set that can be really valuable as the city continues to grow.

The council's decision to create a committee to deal with the Mustangs lease added at least three or four months to the process, Hafer said, and theyve come right back to where they started.

Although if he's elected he wouldn't join the council until January 2018, he said hes eager to aid in the city administrator selection process because its absolutely essential. I have appreciated Tina Voleks work over the last 12 years, and Ive served on many boards with her. We certainly dont want to lose that kind of forward thinking.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) greets Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Razaks wife, Rosmah Mansor, at The Presidents House in New Delhi, April 1, 2017.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday wrapped up a six-day visit to India that signaled the beginning of bilateral cooperation in countering terrorism and efforts to improve de-radicalization efforts in the region, analysts said.

During Najibs trip, India and Malaysia signed 31 economic pacts valued at about U.S. $36 billion (2.3 trillion rupee or 159 billion ringgit) and that cover sectors ranging from security to construction, education and medicine.

But a memorandum of understanding on promoting de-radicalization in combating terrorism and a regional threat posed by Islamic State was high on the agenda. Home to the worlds third-largest Muslim population, India is among the top 10 countries most affected by terrorism, according the latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI), an annual report released by the Australia-based think-tank Institute for Economics and Peace.

India can learn how to encourage modernization tendencies in Islam  something that is supported by the Malaysian government. There is a very moderate version of Islam in Malaysia and the two countries can work together in studying the cultures and tenets of Islam, Rajiv Kumar of the New Delhi-based Center of Policy Research told BenarNews.

The issue of radicalization affects both countries. This kind of cooperation is important and both must learn from each other, Kumar said, referring to reports of extremists attempting to radicalize Muslim youths via online platforms.

Najib and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, agreed following a one-on-one meeting over the weekend that relations were at a historic high, according to Najibs latest blog post.

India and Malaysia reaffirmed their commitment to fight any form of terrorism and extremism, Najib wrote.

Partnership

Modi was particularly interested in Malaysias de- radicalization program and we are more than happy to share our knowledge and experience with India, Najib said.

Malaysia is home to about 19.5 million Muslims that make up more than 60 percent of its population. India, on the other hand, has about 180 million Muslims, which represent more than 14 percent of the countrys 1.25 billion people.

Authorities in Malaysia have long warned of a threat from IS recruiting local youths into its ranks through social media platforms. Over the years scores of young Malaysians have traveled abroad to join IS and, since 2013, Malaysian authorities have arrested nearly 300 people on suspicion of having links to the Middle East-based terror group.

We believe defense and strategic partnership will be very important for us to fight global terrorism, militancy, extremism and that includes our fight against IS (Islamic State) and against any form of extremism and for this we will enhance our cooperation, Najib said in a statement following his meeting with Modi.

If more and more countries work together, we believe we can make this world a safer place. We have very much in common between the two countries, he said.

Modi offered similar praise for the two nations.

To secure our societies and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges, Modi said.

But both countries will need to work together in taking concrete steps in combating radicalism, another expert said.

Its good to have [a] well-intended framework in place and expansion of several existing security and economic partnerships. India already has a reasonable partnership with Malaysia. Whats needed is further deepening of these pacts and agreements, Praveen Jha, from the Center of Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told BenarNews.
A Malaysian court on Tuesday sentenced a kayak instructor to six years in prison for allowing Malaysias leading Islamic State (IS) figure, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, to use his bank account to finance terrorist activities.

Ab Karim Ab Rahman, a judicial commissioner at Kuala Lumpurs High Court, sentenced Mohamad Jazrin Mohamad Azaha after he pleaded guilty to the charge. The judge ordered the sentence to run from the day the defendant was arrested, May 18, 2016.

Mohamad Jazrin, 23, was charged with indirectly handling property belonging to Wanndy by allowing 1,990 ringgit (U.S $449) to be deposited into his bank account for Wanndys benefit. He allowed the deposit at the RHB Bank in the state of Perak, between Jan. 30 and Feb. 6, 2016.

Your act of allowing Wanndy to handle your bank account is called handling a terrorists property. It can allow a terrorist to continue carrying out terror activities.

It is a very serious offense and is worthy of a jail sentence, the judge said.

Mohamad Jazrin also allegedly deposited 2,000 ringgit (U.S $451) into a bank account belonging to an unknown individual on Feb. 10, 2016, at the direction of Wanndy. The defendant faced up to 20 years in prison or a fine and seizure of property.

According to investigators, Mohamad Jazrin got to know Wanndy through Facebook in early 2015 before changing to WhatsApp to exchange messages. In mid-January 2016, Wanndy suggested that Mohamad Jazrim allow access to his bank account.

Defense attorney P.A Sharon asked for the sentence to run from the date of his arrest because her client was still young.

My client has also repented and is studying religion in prison, she told the court. He would like to return to his family as soon as possible and since he is so young, he has plenty of chance to right his wrongs.

Sharon added that Mohamad Jazrin had cooperated with the police following his arrest, leading to detention of several other suspects.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Izhanudin Alias had asked for a deterrent sentence to stop the spread of terror ideology.

High on wanted list

Wanndy is the best-known IS fighter from Malaysia.

Last week, the United States classified Wanndy and Indonesian Bahrun Naim as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for providing financial and operational support for IS recruitment and for attack plots in Indonesia, Malaysia and in Southeast Asia, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Wanndy, who lives in Syria with his wife and child, has been accused of orchestrating a grenade attack at a nightclub on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur that injured eight people in June 2016, and was the first attack claimed by IS in Malaysia.

The 26-year-old, known as Abu Hamza on Facebook, actively recruited Malaysians to join the IS-cause in the Middle East, through social media channels.

Wanndy was thrust into notoriety when he and another Malaysian militant appeared in a video depicting the beheading of a Syrian prisoner, which went viral in February 2015.

In a September 2015 interview with BenarNews, Wanndy said he did not regret leaving the country to join the IS.

I must say that I do harbor the hope of returning to Malaysia, but it is not my priority as my focus now is to stay here and fight, to achieve my dream of defending the IS, he said then.

Since 2013, Malaysian authorities have arrested 294 people suspected of having links to IS links, of whom 66 have since been freed, according to the latest figures obtained by BenarNews.
In settling a diplomatic crisis following the assassination in Malaysia of the North Korean leaders half-brother, Kuala Lumpur had little choice but to agree to send the victims body and three suspects to North Korea in exchange for nine Malaysians, analysts told BenarNews.

Malaysias government was pushed into a corner where it had to put the welfare of its nine citizens, who were trapped in North Korea for more than three weeks due to an exit ban, above other considerations, some international relations analysts suggested in assessing the Malaysian decision.

A six-week-long crisis came to an end last week when Malaysia agreed to hand over the body of Kim Jong Nam and three North Koreans initially identified by Malaysian police as among at least seven North Korean men wanted in connection with Kims assassination by poisoning at a Kuala Lumpur area airport on Feb. 13.

Malaysia made the trade although its police chief had vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and the prime minister had, during the height of the crisis, accused North Korean government agents of being behind the assassination.

Just what other outcomes do people expect? At stake was the liberty and possibly the lives of nine Malaysians, including children, Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst in the Foreign Policy and Security Studies Program at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, told BenarNews.

Nobody couldve gauged how far the North Koreans were willing to go, how much pain theyd be willing to endure, to get what they wanted. What would you do in such a situation? Would you take chances? The results might be sub-optimal, but welcome to the real world, he said.

Ahn Sang Wuk, an associate professor at University Malayas International and Strategic Studies Department, voiced a similar opinion.

The Malaysian governments top priority had been to bring its citizens home, said Ahn, who is South Korean, likening the recent crisis to a hostage situation.

If North Korea is not holding Malaysians hostages, then Malaysia will not consider suspending its diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

Wake-up call

Kim was killed with an internationally banned nerve agent, according to Malaysian police, and the question of who could claim custody of his body was a flashpoint in the dispute that shook relations dating back to 1973. During the dispute the two countries expelled their respective ambassadors, froze mutual free-entry visa programs and imposed exit bans on each others citizens.

In a joint statement last week, the two countries announced that the crisis was over, saying they had agreed to lift reciprocal exit bans and to discuss re-instating their mutual visa-free programs.

Since then, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said bilateral relations remained intact and, over the weekend, his deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, announced Malaysia would keep its embassy in Pyongyang open. He said he hoped Pyongyang would reciprocate. However, on Tuesday it remained unclear whether Malaysia would send its ambassador to North Korea back to Pyongyang.

Shahriman said the episode around the murder of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on Malaysian soil was a wake-up call to Malaysia on the risks of maintaining ties with North Korea, a country under global sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.

The episode also did much damage to bilateral relations, he suggested.

Dont confuse diplomatic niceties for actual policy. The fact of the matter is that Malaysia-North Korea relations have crossed a point of no return, Shahriman said, referring to the joint statement that announced an end to the crisis.

But Abdul Muein Abadi, a political scientist who lectures at the National University of Malaysia, was optimistic about the future of Malaysian-North Korean ties, saying he expected them to recover in stages.

It is clear that the solution is for the long term. The travel ban on Malaysians has also been lifted. It is an early and positive sign that bilateral ties will recover, he told BenarNews.

He said mutual trust could be expected in the future because the Malaysians who were stranded in North Korea for three weeks said they were treated well by the authorities in Pyongyang.

Left behind

The crisis may be over but, after the government agreed to send Kim Jong Nams body to North Korea along with the three men, Malaysian authorities no longer have access to any of the North Korean suspects.

Four of the suspects are believed to have fled Malaysia on the day of the assassination and another North Korean suspect, a trained chemist, was released and deported earlier because of insufficient evidence, police said.

Now, police are left to deal with only two suspects, an Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman who have been charged as co-assassins in the Kim murder.

When BenarNews contacted them separately, the lawyers for both women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, declined to comment on how Malaysias decision to allow North Korea to take custody of Kims body and release the three North Korean suspects would affect their clients cases.

Gooi Soon Seng, the lawyer for the Indonesian woman, said it was too early to see the implications.

Naran Singh (co-counsel) and I are doing the best we can to [represent] our client, and we believe she has a good defense, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, an attorney representing the Vietnamese woman, told BenarNews.

Hadi Azmi contributed to this report.
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.
Once again, a Montana legislative committee has eschewed its biennial opportunity to stop puppy mills from churning out sickness and suffering.

Reps. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, and Willis Curdy, D-Missoula, brought separate, but similar, bills to hold large-scale pet breeders accountable for humane treatment of their cats and dogs.

The intent was to reduce the incidence of unhealthy pets being sold in Montana, to prevent suffering on the part of cats, dogs and the people who adopt them. The problem of inhumane pet breeders has repeatedly been a major expense for Montana communities. With no official oversight, bad operators know they can do business in our state with impunity. Problems dont get attention until conditions are so bad that the animal cruelty law applies. Numerous counties have had to tend to dozens, even hundreds of sick, starving and dying dogs rescued from filthy kennels or cages that were too small for the animals.

This years puppy mill bills were handled in the House Business and Labor Committee, where hearings drew many supporters and few opponents. Hertzs HB582 died with two votes in favor and 17 against.

Later in the same meeting, the committee killed Curdys HB570 by a margin of one vote: 9-10. Rep. Sharon Stewart-Peregoy of Billings voted yes. Voting no from Billings were Adam Rosendale, Sue Vinton and Daniel Zolnikov.

Perhaps those legislators dont recall when Yellowstone County taxpayers had to spend $250,000 on the care of more than 100 English shepherds removed from a Ballantine breeding operation.

The Montana Association of Counties and law enforcement officers supported HB570. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell testified earlier that the breeders whose sick dogs wound up in county care had moved to Montana because it is one of few states that doesnt regulate pet breeders. Bell gave the committee a copy of the Sheriffs Office report on a case his office investigated last year after receiving complaints about neglected dogs. The sheriffs office obtained a search warrant, and deputies inspected the kennel accompanied by a veterinary. They found dogs walking inside wire cages. Heres some of what a deputy reported:

Inside the first kennel, the lights were not on. There was feces and urine in each of the interior catch pans. The odor of ammonia overpowered the odor of feces. The majority of the dogs in this area had matted fur that appeared to be caked with feces and urine.

Among the dogs Lake County deputies took to a vet clinic for examination were a hypothermic, severely dehydrated Chihuahua that was so weak it couldnt stand, a Maltese with bad teeth and some kind of skin disease, a thin, male cocker spaniel with no teeth that was being used as a breeding dog, a skinny female pug that was nursing puppies, and three dirty Pomeranians, including one that was pregnant.

Licensing would give authorities a tool to intervene with large-scale dog and cat breeders. These business would be required to meet standards for a license  or go somewhere other than Montana. Good operators would have no problem; bad ones would think twice about moving in.

Sadly, the lack of legislative action means Montana remains at high risk for another puppy mill disaster.
As current and former justices of the Montana Supreme Court, we write to express our deep concern with the proposal to eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation and the Corporation for National and Community Service. These programs are critical partners in ensuring that the Montana justice system meets the Constitutions command to establish Justice ... and secure the Blessings of Liberty to all Montanans.

For 50 years, the Montana Legal Services Association has provided civil legal aid to Montanans with basic human needs. MLSA helps protect domestic violence victims and obtain support for their children; secure housing for veterans; relieve seniors from consumer scams; and obtain access to justice in rural Montana where few, if any, other legal services are available.

And for nearly a decade, dozens of AmeriCorps members have devoted a year or two years of service to Montanas Court Help Program, giving tens of thousands of Montanans legal information to help understand and navigate the court system to resolve their own legal issues when they cannot afford an attorney.

Together, these programs help meet a vital need in a Montana court system that is simply overwhelmed with record-setting caseloads, self-represented litigants, and alarming increases in time-intensive cases involving abused and neglected children. When people show up in court unprepared and with their lives in crisis, the system becomes inefficient and hurts all court users. Because children and families in crisis take the courts priority, other cases move to the back of the line, and justice waits.

The plain truth is that MLSA and AmeriCorps Justice For Montanans Program are an incredibly effective use of a small amount of federal dollars that deliver results to Montana every day. Our justice system depends on them, as partners with the courts, the private bar, and nonprofit community organizations to address the demands on Montana courts and to achieve our nations promise of justice for all.

We encourage your leadership and strong support for current-level funding of the Legal Services Corporation and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
For Immediate Release, April 4, 2017 Contact: Emily Jeffers, (408) 348-6958, ejeffers@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Signs Legislation to Kill Wolves, Bears in Alaska Republicans Repeal Rules Against Cruel, Unsportsmanlike Killings of Predators in National Wildlife Refuges WASHINGTON President Trump late Monday signed legislation to strip away protections implemented by the Obama administration for wolves, bears and other predators on national wildlife refuges in Alaska. The bill, approved by Congress and signed by Trump, allows wolves and their pups to be killed in their dens and bears to be gunned down at bait stations. Because of Trump and Republicans in Congress, wolves and bears in Alaska will now be subject to cruel, unsportsmanlike killings, in violation of the very purpose of the wildlife refuge system, said Emily Jeffers, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. These rules were repealed for one reason: to give the state of Alaska freedom to kill predators on wildlife refuges. In August 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized regulations that protected predators from new predator-control tactics approved by Alaska's Board of Game. These tactics include killing black bear cubs or mother with cubs at den sites; killing brown bears over bait; trapping and killing brown and black bears with steel-jaw leghold traps or wire snares; killing wolves and coyotes during denning season; and killing brown and black bears from aircraft. Alaska's predator-control activities are intended solely to artificially inflate prey populations, such as moose, for human hunting. Citing authority under the Congressional Review Act, House and Senate Republicans pushed the legislation to repeal the rules on a highly partisan vote. Wildlife refuges are supposed to be a haven for biological diversity, not a place where wolf pups can be killed in their dens, Jeffers said. Once again, this administration is ignoring science and listening only to narrow special interests. Predator-protection regulations in national parks are also under attack from the state of Alaska, which is challenging those regulations in federal court. The Center and its allies have intervened on behalf of the National Park Service to defend the challenged regulations. 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.
For Immediate Release, April 2, 2017 Contact: Miyoko Sakashita, (510) 845-6703 After Gas Leak, Now Hilcorp Reports Oil Leak in Alaska's Cook Inlet Spill Is Latest to Threaten Inlet's Threatened Beluga Whales ANCHORAGE, Alaska Hilcorp Alaska on Saturday reported an oil leak from a pipeline in Alaska's Cook Inlet. The oil spilling from the offshore pipeline south of Tyonek is in critical habitat for the critically 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 fool's joke because it seemed like Hilcorp couldn't spring another leak so soon. We're 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, said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. Hilcorp reported the leak on Saturday, April 1. The cause of the leak is unknown and oil sheens have been reported in the area. The company says it has shut-in production at the platforms, known as Anna and Bruce, that are connected by the leaking pipeline. 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. It's clear that there's 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, said Sakashita. 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. 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.
For Immediate Release, April 4, 2017 Contact: Andrea Santarsiere, (303) 854-7748, asantarsiere@biologicaldiversity.org

Carleen Pickard, (415) 400-9301, cpickard@lush.com 55,000-plus Postcards Urge Trump Administration Not to End Protections for Yellowstone Grizzlies WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity delivered more than 55,000 postcards from across the country today urging the Trump administration not to remove Endangered Species Act protections from Yellowstone's grizzly bears. The Center had originally planned to deliver the postcards to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, but the Department of the Interior refused to accept them or communicate with the Center's organizers. Today they were delivered to the headquarters of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Americans across the country love Yellowstone's grizzlies, and the last thing they want is for these bears to lose federal protections and face cruel and senseless trophy hunts, said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney with the Center. It's disappointing that Secretary Zinke's Interior Department refused to hear the public's voice on this issue  and it doesn't bode well for the future of grizzly bears. Grizzly bear numbers in and around Yellowstone have improved since the animals were protected in 1975. But they are still threatened by isolation from other grizzly populations, loss of key food sources, human-caused mortalities and, of most concern, proposed trophy hunting by the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming if protections are removed. Overall grizzly bears occupy less than 4 percent of their historic range in the lower 48 states. It's more critical than ever to maintain endangered species protections for grizzly bears, Santarsiere said. There's so much more to be done to recover these magnificent animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to end endangered species protection for Yellowstone grizzly bears in March 2016. All three states where Yellowstone bears live  Idaho, Montana and Wyoming  have moved ahead with plans and regulations to permit trophy hunting of grizzly bears, anticipating removal of the bears' federal protection. Although the Service had originally planned to make a final determination by December 2016, the agency recently stated it had received over 650,000 comments on the proposed rule and therefore needed more time. A final rule could be issued as soon as this summer. Yellowstone's grizzly bears are loved by people around the world, and they deserve a real shot at survival, said Santarsiere. The job of fully recovering grizzly bears has a long way to go. Historically grizzly bears ranged from Alaska to Mexico, with an estimated 50,000 bears occupying the western half of the contiguous United States. With European settlement of the American West, they were shot, poisoned and trapped to near extinction. Today just 1,500 to 1,800 grizzlies are found in five isolated populations in the northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades, including approximately 700 in the Yellowstone area. Today's event was made possible by the Center and by Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, a global cosmetics company with 250 shops in North America. In partnership with the Center, Lush collected the postcards in-shop and online in November 2016 to oppose the trophy hunting and the delisting of grizzly bears in the United States. To accompany this campaign, Lush also produced a 30-minute documentary called Trophy featuring the work of the Center and other nonprofit organizations working to protect grizzly bears in the U.S. and Canada. 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. Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics are purveyors of good, clean fun. They offer luxurious and ethical skincare, haircare and bath indulgences, as well as unique gifts filled with fragrant and effective products. 2015 marked Lush's 20th anniversary of creating innovative cosmetics using fresh fruits and vegetables, the finest essential oils and ingredients that are ethically and sustainably sourced. Never tested on animals, every single Lush product is vegetarian, and about 85 % are vegan, 40% preservative-free and 35% unpackaged. Lush supports Fair Trade, Community Trade and charitable initiatives and follows the simple policy: have the least possible impact on the environment while still producing beautiful and effective products. Lush has more than 250 locations across North America. Learn more at www.lushusa.com
For Immediate Release, April 4, 2017 Contact: Collette Adkins, Center for Biological Diversity, (651) 955-3821, cadkins@biologicaldiversity.org

Bethany Cotton, WildEarth Guardians, (406) 414-7227, bcotton@wildearthguardians.org

Samantha Miller, The Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals, (240) 672-2361, smiller@humanesociety.org Lawsuit Filed to Save Imperiled Native Carnivores From Deadly 'Cyanide Bombs' Restrictions Sought on Poisons That Recently Killed Oregon Wolf, Three Family Dogs in Idaho, Wyoming WASHINGTON Four conservation and animal-welfare groups sued the Trump administration today for failing to protect endangered species from two deadly pesticides used to kill coyotes and other native carnivores. The lawsuit seeks common-sense measures to prevent unintended deaths from Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide used in M-44s  also known as cyanide bombs  which killed an Oregon wolf in February, temporarily blinded a child and killed three family dogs in two separate incidents in Idaho and Wyoming in March alone. Cyanide bombs are indiscriminate killers, said Collette Adkins, an attorney and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. In just the past several weeks they've injured a child and killed a wolf and several family dogs. These dangerous pesticides need to be banned, but until then, they shouldn't be used where they can hurt people or kill family pets and endangered wildlife.



The Environmental Protection Agency has registered the pesticides at issue  sodium cyanide and Compound 1080  for use by Wildlife Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife-killing program, as well as by certain state agencies in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas. In 2011 the EPA began, but never finished, an analysis of how the poisons could affect threatened and endangered species. The lawsuit seeks to compel completion of that stalled process, which should lead to mitigation measures to protect imperiled wildlife. The recent tragedies prove current restrictions are failing to ensure people, domestic animals and imperiled wildlife are not at risk from these dangerous and outdated tools, said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. With the wide array of nonlethal, effective wildlife conflict management tools available, and the unacceptable threats these poisons pose, it is past time we end the use of cyanide M-44s and Compound 1080. M-44s propel one gram of sodium cyanide into the mouths of animals lured by a smelly bait, while Compound 1080 is used in livestock protection collars strapped onto the necks of sheep and goats and used in only a handful of states. The collars contain bladders filled with liquid poison intended to kill coyotes. Cyanide bombs are also dangerous for people and companion animals. The cyanide bomb that killed a family dog in Idaho last month was triggered by a teenager who was sprayed with the poison, momentarily blinded and sent to the hospital. He is still experiencing lingering headaches, according to recent news reports. These pesticides pose a high risk for endangered animals capable of triggering the devices such as grizzly bears, Canada lynx and wolves. Secondary exposure through Compound 1080-poisoned carcasses can also kill imperiled scavengers like California condors and bald eagles. According to the USDA's Wildlife Services data, cyanide bombs killed 13,530 animals, mostly coyotes and foxes, in 2016. Of these 321 deaths were nontarget animals, including foxes, a black bear, opossums, raccoons, skunks, a fisher and family dogs. An interactive map shows how many nontarget animals of each species died from exposure to M-44 cyanide bombs between 2010 and 2016. These numbers are likely a significant undercount of the true death toll, as Wildlife Services is notorious for poor data collection and a shoot, shovel, shut up mentality. Impacts of these pesticides on endangered wildlife have not been analyzed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1993, said Anna Frostic, senior wildlife attorney at The Humane Society of the United States. Through this lawsuit, we intend to spur U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recommend additional measures to protect endangered wildlife, such as restricting the use of the pesticides where imperiled animals live. The Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund for Animals brought the suit.
For Immediate Release, April 4, 2017 Contact: Tierra Curry, (928) 522-3681, tcurry@biologicaldiversity.org

Yellow Lance Proposed for Endangered Species Act Protection in Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia RALEIGH, N.C. In response to an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed Endangered Species Act protection for a freshwater mussel that lives in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. The yellow lance was first identified as being in need of federal protection in 1991. It has declined by nearly 60 percent because of poor water quality caused by pollution and dams. The Center petitioned for its protection in 2010. Although most people have never even heard of them, freshwater mussels are the most endangered animals in North America. So it's great news that this one, the yellow lance, has been proposed for the Endangered Species Act protection that can ensure its survival, said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center. Mussels are indicators of water quality. Protecting their habitat directly benefits people as well as other wildlife that rely on clean rivers. The yellow lance grows to be around 3.5 inches in length, with a shell that is more than twice as long as it is tall, and lance-shaped when viewed from the side. Juveniles have bright-yellow shells that darken to brown or black with age, and the inside of the shell is iridescent white, salmon or blue. It is threatened by pollution from agriculture, logging and urban development, as well as by climate change. In North Carolina it is found in the Chowan, Neuse and Tar River watersheds. In Virginia it is found in the James and Rappahannock River basins. In Maryland it is found in the Chesapeake River Basin. There are eight surviving populations, six of which have low resiliency. Only the population in the Tar River in North Carolina is estimated to have moderate resiliency. In terms of habitat health, 86 percent of its remaining streams are estimated to be in low or very low condition. When viewed geographically, the species has declined by 70 percent in the Coastal Plain region and by approximately 50 percent in both the Piedmont and the Mountain regions.



More species of freshwater mussels are found in the southeastern United States than anywhere else in the world, but 75 percent of the region's freshwater mussels are now imperiled. Thirty-six species have already been lost to extinction. Once widely used to make buttons and jewelry, mussel shells, like trees, accumulate growth rings that can be used to determine their age. Freshwater mussels can live for a hundred years, making them among the longest-lived invertebrates. Mussels improve water quality by filtering small particles from the water as they eat. They reproduce by making lures that looks like fish, crayfish, or worms; when their host fishes attempt to prey upon the lures, the mussels release their fertilized eggs onto the fish's gills, sometimes clamping the fish's face inside their shell. Juvenile mussels develop as parasites on the gills before dropping off to begin life on their own. In dirty water, the fish cannot see the mussel's lure, so the mussel cannot reproduce. Dams can also separate mussels from their specific host fishes. Freshwater mussels are fascinating and underappreciated animals, and we should all pitch in to make sure they survive for future generations, said Curry.
LARAMIE, Wyo.  Faculty members at the University of Wyoming are calling for more diversity on the school's board of trustees.

The Laramie Boomerang (http://bit.ly/2nxPmks ) reports that the university's Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution last week asking Gov. Matt Mead to recognize the need for more diversity on the board. In 2014, it passed a measure calling for parity of men and women on the board.

Faculty Senate Secretary Donal O'Toole said there are only two women on the 12-member board.

Mead recently declined to reappoint Democrat Mike Massie and named four men  three Republicans and one independent  to the board.

The next trustees aren't scheduled to be appointed until after he leaves office but political science professor Maggi Murdock said the faculty still wanted to make a statement on the issue.

___

Information from: Laramie Boomerang, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
SAN FRANCISCO, US: Google 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 comes 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 apologised 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 programmes 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 signalled 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, McDonald's 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.

Source: AFP
I must say that when I saw the shapely blonde woman running across my screen the other day, I looked twice. And I looked even closer when I saw the trim, fit body was topped by a mature' face and grey hair.

Its about time, was my first thought.

You see, in this country, our ad clevers  and many in the media business  are making the same mistakes in assuming that older people are irrelevant when it comes to selling things.

The truth is just the opposite. According to research company Nielsen, people over 50 account for 50 percent of all consumer spending in the United States. That same demographic controls more than 70 percent of the wealth in America. Yet, marketers and ad agencies target just 10 percent of their spend at this group.

Travel companies have known this for a long time: the old cliche of the Love Boat cruises has been overtaken by a new reality that older people are travelling more and spending what they have worked hard over decades to accumulate.

Interestingly, though, this latest TV ad featuring the attractive mature woman was not specifically aimed at older people, but was making a point about long life, using an older person.

Toyota is currently offering a special range of deals on services for older cars. And the way they and their ad agency, FCB Joburg, chose to get that message across was to show that with the proper care and attention, aged can be defied  both for humans and cars.

So, look after your body and youll amaze the onlookers as you take to the streets for your regular run  and youll amaze others when your car still looks like new (as does the Toyota Tazz in the ad, which has got to be almost 20 years old).

As someone who has always conscientiously looked after my cars, if not myself, the ad strikes a chord.

Nice way to make a marketing point and a nice way to remind everyone that age is just a number.

So, Orchids to Toyota and FCB Joburg.

I cant resist quoting that old saying about growing old: A beautiful young person is an accident of nature; a beautiful old person is a work of art

Screengrabs from the ad.

I was interested recently to see the row which followed the threatened and actual withdrawal of advertising from Google and its platforms like YouTube. The vast majority of digital advertising these days is bought, and placed through what is called programmatic buying  where clever computers and their software decided on where your ad is going to have the best audience. The problem with that is that the bots go for eyeballs, not demographics or psychographics among your potential customers.

So some of the worlds biggest brands have found their ads airing on YouTube especially, alongside some very unsavoury sites. Case in point was a Toyota commercial, which ran alongside of an Isis beheading video.

Advertisers are demanding that Google clean up its act  but the problem will persist, and get worse, because the new god of marketing is Adtech.

Silly  even damaging  media placement was what happened a few times recently with TV ads for Emirates and for Air France. Both ads are attractive in that they show flying as being a pleasurable experience and, of course, in advertising, rose-coloured spectacles are standard issue

However, if you were Emirates or Air France, where is the last place you would like your ads placed on the DStv bouquet? You would think that basic media planning would try to avoid placing those ads in the breaks on programmes of Air Crash Investigation.

Yet that is precisely what happened. Either some dim computer programme decided that anything related to flying was an appropriate place to put the ads  or some dim human did.

In the case of Air France, there is the double danger of the ads running at the same time as the programme about the crash of their brand-new Airbus A330 into the Atlantic a few years ago. So far, that hasnt happened, but if you are reading this, Air France, you may want to take a look.

The Onion, then, goes to whoever did the media planning for the airlines. But they each get half an Onion for allowing it to happen. You have to monitor where and when your advertising messages run, people.

Thulani Sibeko, Group executive of group marketing, communications corporate affairs at Nedbank Limited, has sent in the following:

I have read your article and would like to share some feedback for your consideration.

Nedbank's new brand commercial conceptualised and produced by Joe Public United, aims to introduce the bank's new positioning and payoff line, 'See Money Differently;, by exposing people to the insight that money is neither good nor bad, it's what you as a consumer makes of it. In the right hands and when managed well, it can make a real and meaningful difference to the lives of people. The tale of a note, for this reason, had to expose consumers to relevant and insightful positive as well as negative uses of money.

The challenge with this direction was two-fold:

1) The bank didn't want to come across as judging South Africans, albeit still tapping into very relevant market insights.

2) The bank wanted to create a piece that would be relevant in South Africa and other African markets where Nedbank is present.

For this reason, the correct currency which is central to the idea, became an important creative choice. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) prohibits the use of SA money denominations in advertising. Therefore, we created a fictitious note drawing inspiration from the SA currency and yet distinct from it, to honour the SARB regulations. Also, because the advert will be shown in other Nedbank markets like Swaziland and Namibia where the Rand is not the official currency, a neutral currency makes sense.

The commercial was actually shot on location in Los Angeles, with one scene picked up at The Rand Club in Johannesburg. The most fundamental reason for shooting abroad was to enable us to create a nondescript city in order to comment on both good and bad money behaviours, without being seen to be judging the South African public or organisations. It was a critical creative decision to have no reference of any local context for this reason.

We hope that the above provides clarity, and we would be more than happy to discuss further should you have any comments or questions.

*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.*
Top talent joins a growing and globally connected federation of entrepreneurs

Adam Weber

Advertising agency M&C Saatchi Abel Joburg has appointed Adam Weber as partner and executive creative director.

Weber, who began his career over 20 years ago, joins the partnership at M&C Saatchi Abel, coming from Joe Public. He has worked with several industry icons at high-profile agencies including Red Nail and Hunt Lascaris.

M&C Saatchi Abel is positioned as an ideas company. Our creative philosophy of Brutal Simplicity of Thought demands that we produce ideas that are easy for the consumer to engage with, while delivering a return on marketing investment for our clients, notes Jerry Mpufane, Chairman of the M&C Saatchi JHB Group of Companies. We are committed to producing discipline-neutral ideas, and I am very excited that Adam's experience is a perfect match to our ideals.

To build upon his natural talents and eye for design, Weber moved from design into art direction and then into creative direction. Having travelled the globe and accrued vast industry knowledge, Weber has also racked up a number of awards. These include accolades won at Loeries, Cannes, Clio and One Show. Weber has also been featured in D&AD for both art direction and illustration.

While opportunities to be an executive creative director don't come around often, I haven't taken the decision lightly, says Weber. It's the next step in my career and an exciting personal challenge. I'm joining a great partnership and want to continue building on their success as both a creative and strategic force in the local and international market. These are interesting times for advertising and my focus will be on building an environment for the Joburg team to truly transform the landscape with their unique creative insights and abilities.

Weber joins the fast-growing, independent global network, M&C Saatchi, started by Maurice and Charles Saatchi in 1995 after leaving Saatchi & Saatchi. The M&C Saatchi Abel Johannesburg office will certainly offer Weber unlimited opportunities to apply his creative talents and leadership skills, with an impressive array of high profile clients including Nedbank, Sun International, Nandos SA and AVI.

This is a tremendous opportunity, and Im thrilled to be joining M&C Saatchi Abel, a true federation of entrepreneurs, adds Weber. Far more than an advertising agency, it is a creative company producing world class work while constantly seeking to create meaningful impact.




The sum of $1.1bn is currently required to vaccinate 22m people in the five Nigerian states affected by the outbreak of the type C cerebro-spinal meningitis.

The five states are Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Niger, while 16 other states have recorded at least one case each of the disease.

The acting director general of the NPHCDA, Dr Emmanuel Odu, said each vaccine costs between $30 and $50. He added that the vaccine is expensive and scarce.

The widespread outbreak might have been averted if relevant agencies had commenced campaigns to raise awareness on preventive measures when it first started in December 2016.

Source: World Health Organisation

Also briefing the committee, the CEO/national coordinator of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the Type C strain of the disease is new to West Africa, hence the seeming unpreparedness to tackle it.

The vaccination would commence on Wednesday, following the procurement of the vaccines from the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said, adding that the vaccine was only procured two weeks ago as the criterion for application is that the country must be experiencing an outbreak.

He added that the centre, working in collaboration with the state governments, ministry of health, and the National Primary Healthcare Commission, has adopted a motion three-pronged line of action for prevention, early detection and pushing hard to ensure the vaccines are available.

Ihekweazu added that while available treatments work when the disease is detected early, most victims arrive at the hospital late for various reasons. The centre has however enlisted community and traditional rulers to help persuade their people to go to the hospital immediately they feel ill.

While the centre has sent support teams to Zamfara and other affected states for rapid response, alongside the establishment of treatment centres, not much has been done with the 16 states that are not fully affected, he admitted.
NEWSWATCH: Pick n Pay has announced steep cuts to it popular Smart Shopper rewards programme, essentially halving the value of the cash rewards in the pursuit of personalisation.

Image credit: Kevin Sutherland via Business Day

According to Moneyweb, as of 30 March cashback points will be earned for every R2 spent at stores, from R1 previously. This effectively halves the cashback rate to customers from 1% to 0.5%.

Business Day reports that according to Pick n Pay management, a key feature of the overhaul would be weekly personalised discounts tailored specifically to individual Smart Shoppers based on shopping habits. The aim is to give customers more than R500 in personal discounts over the year.

"With the new Smart Shopper, Pick n Pay will be offering 30-million personal discounts every week or three discounts per customer every Thursday for 10-million customers," the company said.

The news comes just a few weeks after the retail giant announced it had committed more than R500m to cutting prices on more than 1,300 essential items. Analysts told Business Day that retailers are caught between offering discounts in tough economic conditions and protecting margins.

Smart Shopper, since its launch in 2011, has consistently been voted as one of South Africans' favourite rewards programmes, no doubt due to its generous nature. The public's initial response to the programme overhaul has not been one of support.

@KeMohale PicknPay was on some we are getting the value back in cheaper products. I don't think they get how some of us used Smart Shopper points.  Sharapova Apologist (@Gruntpova) April 4, 2017

@PicknPay halving their smart shopper rewards - to Spar and beyond!  Sean Aspeling (@ItsAspeling) April 4, 2017

No more Pick n Pay smart shopper? What do you even mean? Mothers across the nation are gonna be so upset...  Hloni_M (@hloni_maniers) April 4, 2017

I could deal with ratings downgrades and earthquakes and an empty jar of peanutbutter,but Smart Shopper points,Smart Shopper points??  dan chaitowitz (@russianbearhunt) April 4, 2017
Recently held at Regent Business School in Durban, the Critical Conversations in Sustainability Seminar Series opening night showcased a stellar lineup of speakers, and provided a raft of provocative ideas on what the corporate sector can do to mitigate the excesses of climate change.

The inaugural session for the seminar series provided a gathering place for individuals from private, public and non-governmental sectors and highlighted the need for a seismic shift in the mindsets for global sustainable development.

Realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The session opened with a minute of silence in respect for fallen hero and icon of the liberation struggle in South Africa, Ahmed Kathrada. The programme director, Professor Marvin Kambuwa then introduced the major objectives of the seminar series and urged representatives and delegates from partnering organisations and the corporate, public and civil society sectors to make concerted efforts to realise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Managing director of Regent Business School, Ahmed Shaikh said, The future of Earth will depend on the sustainable efforts put in by a collective of all stakeholders today. Within this context, the Critical Conversations Seminar Series in Sustainability, Shaikh said, reflects Regent Business Schools commitment to help shape future business leaders who will be at the vanguard in encouraging the triple bottom line approach towards sustainability.

Held at the main auditorium of the new Institute of Entrepreneurship Building, the event drew a record 150 delegates from across Durbans socio-economic spectrum.

Responsible leadership

Councillor, Fawzia Peer, the deputy mayor of eThekwini Municipality delivered a stirring keynote address on Responsive and Responsible Leadership in Sustainability. She reminded those present that the leaders from the corporate sector had a responsibility to assist both government and civil society in achieving a sustainable planet, a notion that proved to be one of the seminar series motifs.

Indeed, said Dr Mahmoud Youssef-Baker, the chairperson of Iqraa Trust, an economist by profession and a former leader of an international banking organisation, the issue of corporate social responsibility has to be given the prominence it rightfully deserves. For too long the profit bottom line dominated the narrative of business. In order to become responsible, leaders from the corporate sector had to play their part in sustainability. Representatives from Nedbank and Indoni, a non-governmental organisation also passionately supported the need for sustainability.

All the participants condemned those denying the effects of climate change.

Considering the welfare of generations to come

The programme director then handed the floor over to Fred Kockott who was assigned the position of moderator for the session. Kockott informed the audience that he arranged for short video clips to be shown, one of which was narrated by actor Morgan Freeman and was titled, Our Future. The other, "Business can play a Profitable Role in Combating Climate Change, was narrated by Andrew Winston.

However, prior to the screening of the videos, Kockott, in a presentation that encapsulated the spirit and intention of the conference, challenged the audience to think about the welfare of generations to come, quoting 87-year-old Native American, Oren Lyons: In our way of life, in our government, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the seventh generation to come. Its our job to see that the people coming ahead, the generations still unborn, have a world no worse than ours  and hopefully better. When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.

Oren Lyons is a leading human rights and environmental activist, and author of numerous books.

Immediately after the showing of the video clips, the moderator engaged with the audience in meaningful banter. The session then came to a close after a vote of thanks was passed by Professor Anis Karodia who also reminded the participants that, A shared view of where we are going will make it easier to overcome incumbency issues.

It will also enable us to work with government on transition pathways to achieve sustainability.
This reporting is part of a special project that explores the impact of climate change on the food security and livelihoods of small-scale farmers in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zimbabwe.

KAROI, Zimbabwe - It was first detected in African barely a year ago, yet the fall armyworm, a type of caterpillar whose name derives from its tendency to maraud in vast numbers, has already infested hundreds of thousands of hectares of maize across more than a dozen countries on the continent, presenting a serious threat to food security.

Mikhail Kochiev via 123RF

Spodoptera frugiperda is a formidable foe. Pesticides only work when the larvae are very small and before they have begun to cause visible damage to the crop. After that, there are no quick fixes. The pest can cause crop losses of more than 70 percent.

In Zimbabwe, El Nino-induced droughts left four million people needing food aid during the 2015/2016 agricultural season. This year, good rains had raised hopes of a decent harvest, but now the fall armyworm is dashing them for many farmers.

Vavariro Mashamba, 51, hoped to harvest 10 tonnes of maize from each of the 20 hectares he planted on his farm in the Karoi district, in north-central Zimbabwe. But when he started to see ragged holes on the foliage of his crop and sawdust-like frass near the whorl and upper leaves of the plants, he knew he was in trouble. His best hope now is a yield of six or seven tonnes per hectare. "At first I thought it was the African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) that was damaging my crops. I bought Cabaryl pesticide and sprayed on the plants. There was no change. Instead, the worms continued to multiply in my field," Mashamba told IRIN.

Experts from the Ministry of Agriculture visited his farm, but by then it was too late to eradicate the fall armyworm (The "fall" part of the name comes from the caterpillar's feeding habits: in its native Americas, it does most damage in late summer and early autumn - or "fall" in US English. See here for more details).

Mashamba experimented with different pesticides, but to no avail.

Widespread problem

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, which held an emergency meeting on the pest in Harare in February, up to 130,000 hectares of maize and corn could already be infested by fall armyworm in Zimbabwe, 90,000 in Zambia, and 50,000 in Namibia. It was first detected in Africa in Nigeria in January 2016 and its presence has also been confirmed in Botswana, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, and Uganda.

Shingirayi Nyamutukwa, acting head of plant protection at the government's Department of Research and Specialist Services, said all of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces had reported being affected by the caterpillar but it was difficult to ascertain the extent of the damage to yields now as crops were at varying stages of growth.

"We started receiving reports that there was a pest causing damage on crops in October last year in Matabeleland North," said Nyamutukwa, warning that most of the country's 1.3 million hectares of land under maize cultivation were potentially at risk.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union Director Paul Zacariya said the country was ill-prepared for the arrival of fall armyworm. "No information or warnings were given to notify farmers of the pest. As such, many farmers could not identify the pest and lacked the knowledge and requisite skills on how to contain the damages caused," he told IRIN.

Food security threatened

Noting its stubborn resistance to available control methods, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Southern Africa David Phiri said he was worried "the pest could be here to stay."

"The costs and implication of such a scenario are very serious indeed, as seen in places where the pest is endemic, like in Brazil where the government incurs control costs in excess of $600 million per annum," he warned. "The implications for livelihoods and food security are also too serious to contemplate, and assessments have to be done to ascertain the damage caused."

At the emergency meeting, the FAO advocated a countrywide response as part of a regional programme of integrated management of Fall armyworm. "Already, we are working in collaboration with other partners. We are ready to assist countries with the necessary assessment activities aimed at improving understanding of the extent and intensity of the fall armyworm threat to the region," said Phiri.

But he warned that it could take several years to develop effective methods to control the pest. "Planting quick-maturing crop varieties and early planting may lessen infestation and damage caused by the fall armyworms," he said. "And no single method or product has been found to completely eradicate the fall armyworm."

Additional measures proposed at the meeting included the deployment of other insects such as lacewing, ladybirds, minute pirate bugs, parasitic wasps, and flies - all of which feed on armyworm eggs.

Prompt action

Nyamutukwa said farmers should treat their crops before armyworm larvae burrow deep into the whorl or enter ears of more mature plants. If applied early enough, insecticide applications by ground rig using at least 30 gallons per acre (340 litres per hectare) and high pressure are believed to give the best results.

"It is also advisable to apply pesticides early or late in the day because Fall armyworm larvae are most active at these times," said Nyamutukwa, adding that ministry experts who directly advise farmers, known as extension workers, were now better placed to respond to the infestation. "So far, 479 [extension] officers and task force teams have been trained in all 10 provinces in the country and procured chemicals, which were distributed for free in all provinces for the management of the Fall armyworm," he said.

In addition, the Zimbabwean government is preparing for the winter wheat season by putting in place community-based armyworm forecasting systems and intends to put plant clinics in rural communities. "If farmers do not control the pest and it attacks the cobs and developing grain, then farmers lose by a percentage yet to be determined because crops are still in the field. Fall armyworm infestation impacts negatively on yields, [so] a reduction in yield is a threat to food security and nutrition," he explained.

Zacariya, the director of the farmers' union, noted how critical food security is to Zimbabwe's rural development and the need for assistance given the armyworm invasion. "The fall armyworm has the effect of drastically reducing the yields of rural farmers," he said. "As such, the gap created will need to be covered through local safety nets or government and food aid agencies will have to step in with food aid programmes to avert any shortages that may rise."

Read the original article on IRIN.
After a record 19,879 votes cast by wine loving consumers and wine farm visitors to determined some of the ultimate wine and food experiences offered in the Western Cape Winelands, the best of wine tourism were announced at the fifth annual Klink Awards , presented by Wine Tourism South Africa.

In a record-breaking year, 8,506 more votes were received than in previous year. The 13 categories ranged from wine estates that provide unforgettable food to wine-tastings with a twist, game-viewing, or simply naturistic views of vineyards, and a 14th award for the finalist that received the most overall votes from consumers  the SupaNova award.

The Klink Awards is the South African wine tourism industrys only consumer-driven competition (determining the winners), with a one vote per person, per category rule. An exciting new category introduced this year was Touring - big and small touring companies were called upon in order to uncover the brightest gems of destinations, experiences, wine and food that are distinctively wine tourism.

Says Monika Elias, founder of the Klink Awards: Our wine farms are without a doubt and unquestionably at a world-class standard, so its a great honour that we can acknowledge the outstanding contribution that theyre making to attract tourists from all over the world to South Africa, and provide them with the unique experience that each one offers. The winners should feel incredibly proud as they certainly competed against some very stiff competition. A heartfelt congratulations to all the winners from us at Wine Tourism South Africa.

The 2017 Klink Awards winners are:

Best Winelands Burger:

A burger is not just a burger; it is a staple on any menu worth its salt. Whether it is as simple as the good old-fashioned beef variety or something with a twist, the quest was on to find the juiciest, yummiest burger created at a winery eating spot.

Winner - Beyerskloof

Wine Country Cuisine:

This category was selected for bistros, casual dining or cafe society in the Cape Winelands without all the fancy frills. The search was on for laidback venues, which showcase local and artisanal farm produce in the best possible way.

Winner  Leopards Leap

Great Pairings:

From biltong, nuts, dried fruits to cheese, chocolate, nougat and gourmet canape tasting platters, all go down well with wine. The art is in finding the perfect match.

Winner  Creation Wines

Gourmet Traveller:

This category recognises gastronomic destinations with signature chefs who create cutting edge cuisine. Restaurants that pay great attention to detail in terms of an overall wine and food experience, have a great location, first-class service, a focus on artisanal and local Winelands produce, seasonal favourites and tasting menus which expertly pair food and wine.

Winner  The Kitchen at Maison

Out of the Ordinary:

A wild card is the most unusual and memorable attraction, something that offers a unique selling point for attracting wine tourists to the cellar door.

Winner  The Franschhoek Cellar

Boutique Cellars:

Small production, artisanal or even cult... boutique is more a state of mind than a number of bottles. It is more of an attitude than a location.

Winner  Hillcrest Estate

SA Wine Icon:

This category is for wineries that have invested time and passion into making quality wine. These icons are brands that have proven themselves both locally and internationally and have contributed to building SA wine culture.

Winner  Groot Constantia Wine Estate

Best Bubbly:

For breakfast, lunch or actually, anytime. The search was on for an MCC that is out of this world, quirky and fun and the ultimate experience at a tasting room - the best to quaff, sip or savour.

Winner  Graham Beck

Great Outdoors:

A spectacularly scenic vineyard hike, a challenging wine farm bike trail, a spirited wine route horse ride or something a little more challenging, a taste of adventure to a Winelands offering was what this category was all about.

Winner  Waterford Estate

Events and Festivals:

An event, festival, or winery event, which draws visitors and helps to build a regional wine brand or market a specific wine route destination.

Winner  Robertson Wine on the River

On The Hop:

There's something of a craft beer evolution in South Africa. With around 130 craft breweries, it is no wonder that beer adds a unique style, pair-ability with cured meats and cheeses, and a complementary relationship with wine.

Winner  Darling Brew

Touring:

A new addition to our categories. Touring companies were called upon  big and small  in order to uncover the brightest gems of destinations, experiences, wine and food that are distinctively wine tourism.

Winner  City Sightseeing Wine Tour

The Ultimate Winelands Experience:

This is the perfect package. One that successfully seduces, not just with a tasting experience, but also with the ambiance to match. Architecture, furnishings, lighting, sound, temperature and kinetics, which combine in different ways to enhance the brand experience of their customers.

Winner  Groot Constantia Wine Estate

Supanova:

This award went to the Klink finalist with the most overall consumer votes.

Winner  Hillcrest Estate
GREEN RIVER, Wyo.  A 68-year-old Wyoming man has pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the deaths of a 62-year-old woman and her great-granddaughter.

The Rocket Miner reports (bit.ly/2nwqclO) George Maestas also pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of driving under in the influence of a controlled substance causing serious bodily injury.

Prosecutors say Maestas had taken narcotics before striking a house in Green River on March 10, killing Debra Devries and 1-year-old Stella Doak.

District Court Judge Nena James set Maestas' trial for July 10. He remains jailed with his bail set at $1 million.

Defense attorney Stan Cannon said he would address the issue of Maestas' bail after he receives the results of blood tests, including tests to determine whether Maestas may have suffered a stroke or other medical issue.

___

Information from: Rock Springs (Wyo.) Rocket-Miner, http://www.rocketminer.com
Turning maize to silage makes sense for dairy farmers and cattle - but could it lead to food shortages? - Githongo

Collectie Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen via Wikimedia Commons

Farming fodder

Dressed in a green hat and black mud boots, Gilbert Gitonga is busy tending his three-acre (1.2-hectare) farm in Kenya's Meru County. Moving among rows of maize plants, he pulls weeds and reaches for the maize heads, squeezing them to see if they are mature enough to harvest. But Gitonga's crop, which covers one-third of his land, is not destined for human consumption - it's purely to provide fodder for livestock.

Gitonga is one among a growing number farmers in Meru County who are cultivating maize to produce silage - maize stalks and immature ears that are chopped up and then compressed for at least three weeks in an airless container to ferment without rotting. Silage is considered more nutritious for livestock than other kinds of plant fodder.

Chopping down a maize crop before it is ripe might sound unwise. But farmers say it makes perfect sense - particularly as worsening drought in Kenya makes it harder to get a normal maize crop to harvest.

Benefits of turning maize crop silage

"I embarked on farming fodder for my animals after I realised that the returns were tremendous, with the milk production of my dairy cattle doubling from a mere 30 litres a day to 68 litres," said George Muthamia, who lives in Nkubu, also in Meru County. Since 2012, Muthamia has devoted four acres of his six-acre farm, where previously he grew crops such cabbages, tomatoes, and potatoes, to fodder. He learned about silage-making from SNV, a Dutch non-governmental organisation that helps farmers increase their income and their employment opportunities.

Phillip Oketch, an agricultural consultant, reckons that 30-40 percent of farmers in Meru County now produce silage as a regular part of their crop production, and the proportion is growing. Experts say there are similar trends in other parts of the country.

Saverino Kinge Manene, the county's chief officer for agriculture, livestock and fisheries, said the benefits of turning maize crops to silage are clear in Meru, where an estimated 70 percent of farmers have dairy cattle. Cows fed silage produce at least 50 percent more milk than those fed on ordinary dry fodder such as maize leaves and stalks or Napier grass, he said.

Meru's farmers have grouped together to sell their growing milk production to cooperatives, and a larger grouping, the Meru Dairy Union, now processes and sells the milk. Even though increased production overall has led to lower prices, farmers say their individual incomes have risen because they have so much more milk to sell.

More silage, less food?

But while farmers welcome the gains in income, some experts warn that there are risks to food security if too many growers stop using land to grow crops that people can eat. "The size of farmland is not expanding, yet the size of human population is increasing by the day, and if more land is to be converted to farming fodder food, the effect on food security will be magnified," said David Mugambi, a lecturer in natural resources management at Kenya's Chuka University.

Mugambi said that most people who have turned to silage-making are larger-scale farmers, which means that bigger areas of land - as much as 10 acres (four hectares) per farmer - are being diverted from producing crops for people.

He pointed out that feeding silage to cows does not guarantee an increase in milk production because other factors such as the animal's general health and its environment also influence the amount of milk produced. He said he believes it is better for farmers to have food on hand than money in their wallets, particularly in an environment like Kenya's, where more frequent droughts linked to climate change are affecting food production, leading to food shortages and rising prices.

These problems are exacerbated when land is diverted from cultivating crops to growing fodder, Mugambi said.

Instead, he advises farmers to use land that does not support the production of food crops for growing silage, or to instead grow maize for human consumption and keep the stalks and leaves for fodder. That approach is more sustainable and will help ensure food security at the local and national level, he said.

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Reporting by Caroline Wambui; editing by James Baer and Laurie Goering
Government says this coming Friday is a normal working day, despite social media messages calling for a shutdown.

The image doing the rounds on social media calling for the national shut down on Friday - #StayAwayFriday

This, following messages doing the rounds on social media, calling for a shutdown of the country on Friday, 7 April 2017.

Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on Monday said it has noted the call for a shutdown, which can have unexpected consequences especially for the countrys fragile economy, business and communities.

The departments acting Director General Donald Liphoko said whilst the public has a democratic right to embark on protest action, government does not support acts of civil disobedience and the actions of a select few to infringe on the constitutional rights of the majority.

When citizens take to the streets illegally, we often witness violence, destruction of property and lawlessness. These illegal protests do not possess the characteristics of strengthening democracy. Those found guilty of any form of violence will face the might of the law, said Liphoko.

Government is of the view that South Africans can engage each other on differences through meaningful dialogue and through appropriate platforms.

The department said the social media messages are sent to bring the image of South Africa into disrepute, to disturb the economy and to create the impression of disorder and fear in communities.

Civil society organizations, business and society at large are encouraged to work with government in strengthening the countrys democracy to create a better South Africa and contribute to a better and safer Africa.
While many may think that a sale of execution and a repossessed property are one in the same, they do differ.

If a homeowner can no longer pay their bond and are in substantial arrears, the bank will take legal action by serving the owner with a summons, taking judgment and eventually attaching the property. If the homeowner is still in arrears by the time the property has been attached, the bank will instruct the sheriff of the court to provide with selling the property at a public auction. A representative from the bank is entitled to attend the auction and purchase the home if the bidding amounts are not substantial enough to cover the outstanding balance owed to the bank. The home will become a repossessed property or property in possession once it has been bought back by the bank at the sale in execution.

Bank becomes legal registered owner

Once the bank has purchased the property at the auction, it becomes the legal registered owner. At this stage, one of two things are likely to happen. Either the bank will sell the property to recoup their losses, or in some cases, they may allow the previous owner to rent back the property from them on a month-to-month lease agreement. If the bank decides to sell, they will advertise the property for sale. Certain banks will also provide lists of repossessed properties to real estate companies for them to sell.

As a buyer, there are several benefits to purchasing a repossessed home  especially if the amount owed to the bank is less than the homes market value. Banks are not looking to make a profit on the sale, but merely recoup their losses, so buyers could find themselves a bargain by purchasing one of these homes. Another benefit is that because the bank is a VAT vendor, there is no transfer duty payable on a repossessed property. And the bank will need to ensure that the municipal accounts are up to date, so no need to worry about taking on someone elses municipal debt.

Possible renovations required

On the flipside, repossessed homes are often in poor condition and will require renovation. Buyers will need to factor in the cost of the renovation on top of the purchase price to see whether they are really getting a bargain or buying a money trap. As with all property purchases, location is vital. It is best not to compromise on location just to get a perceivably good deal.

Another possible disadvantage is that if there are tenants in the property, the new owner will be responsible for vacating them. It could be as simple as giving the occupants notice, or it could entail going through the process of a legal eviction. While purchasing a repossessed property does have its perks, buyers need to be aware of the possible hassles and decide whether the purchase is still worth their while.
The Cambridge International Examinations has acknowledged 99 learners from 33 schools for their outstanding performance in the June 2016 and November 2016 Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge International AS & A Level examination series.

Top achiever, Gregory Thomas Hardman from St Charles College

These included three Cambridge learners winning Top in the World awards for achieving the highest standard marks in the world in a single Cambridge International AS Level subject. They were Gregory Thomas Hardman from St Charles College in Language & Literature in English, Jonathan De Sousa from International School of South Africa in French Language and Connor William Dooley from St John's College in Geography.

Hardman said, Ever since I heard about the first St Charles scholar earning Top in the World in Cambridge Mathematics, I aspired and worked hard to do the same in English. The papers were made easier by my love of the syllabus; studying English did not feel like studying at all. This necessary passion drove me to achieve my goal. If there are any current scholars with similar ambitions in English Language & Literature, all I implore you to do is appreciate that what you are reading originated from a brain no less flawed or human than your own. Merely, it was an inspired one.

The principal of St Charles College, Allen van Blerk, said that the awards recognised the talent, dedication and commitment of both learners and staff. Cambridge requires that we teach for conceptual understanding and demands intellectual character from our students. It introduces students to challenging ideas that inspire thinking and result in an enjoyment of their subjects. When we succeed then we know we are as good as anyone else is in the world. Gregorys achievement adds to many Cambridge success stories. He is now a freshman at the Quinnipiac University in the USA studying towards a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Film, Television & Media; and English.

Students were also recognised in other award categories:



Top in Country (learners who have gained the highest standard mark in South Africa for a single subject)



High Achievement (awarded to learners who achieved outstanding results in subjects that are not so widely taken in the country)



Best Across (awarded to learners who achieved the highest cumulative total standard marks across a number of subjects).

The Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards programme celebrates the success of learners taking its examinations in over 40 countries around the world.

Juan Visser, Regional Director, Cambridge International Examinations, sub-Saharan Africa says, We are very proud of the performance of our learners this year, many of whom will soon face the new and exciting challenge of university. Our programmes help learners reach their potential and become confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged. These students have a bright future ahead of them and I wish them every success.

For more information, go to www.cie.org.uk.
Radisson Blu recently announced the opening of a new Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence in Cape Town. The hotel is currently the highest residential building in Cape Town, has won several awards for its architectural design, and is proof of Carlson Rezidor's commitment to expanding in Africa. Desmond O'Connor, GM for Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town tells us more about the Mother City's newest five-star hotel.

Desmond O'Connor

Tell us about The Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town

Based in the architecturally award-winning building situated on the corner of Riebeeck and Long on Cape Towns foreshore, the five-star hotel features designs that range from historic to ultra-modern, and is within walking distance of all the citys main tourist attractions, as well as a kilometre from the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) - one of only two five-star hotels in the precinct. The hotel is also the Mother Citys highest residential building and, with a total of 214 luxuriously appointed hotel rooms, will form a focal point in the citys elegant and sophisticated skyline.

What makes The Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town special? How does the hotel plan to differentiate itself from competitors in the city?

A truly great hotel expresses a view of the history and heritage of its location, and the Radisson Blus architecture does just this, conveying a strong historical story filtering through to each room. The art and classic decor of the hotel plays a major role in the theme of the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town and lends itself to a classic and elegant approach rather that the current trend of being contemporary and leaning towards a trendy look and feel. It all flows hand in hand with the Art Deco architecture to the interior design elements that have the same overtones.

We will differentiate ourselves by focussing all our energies on guests needs and our five-star service philosophy, a trend that has taken a back seat in an era where the focus has been placed on financial results.

Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town

Why open a five-star luxury hotel in Cape Town?

Both hotel occupancy rates and visitor numbers are on the rise in South Africa, and we are capitalising on this growing demand by launching a world-class hotel in the heart of Cape Town.

With Cape Town recording year-on-year increases in tourist arrivals and cementing its place as one of the worlds leading conferencing and exhibition capitals, the hotel is set to take advantage of the influx of corporate and leisure travellers. Many of these travellers are return visitors seeking a superlative experience, which creates the perfect market for which a luxury hotel, such as the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residences, can cater to.

Geared towards the modern business traveler, Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town offers guests access to a state-of-the-art executive business lounge, as well as a range of modern meeting and conference rooms, all featuring the latest technology and amenities.

Tell us about the architecture and design of the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence and what kind of luxuries guests can look forward to?

The iconic Art Deco design of the building pays homage to Old Mutual Heights building in Adderley Street which was inspired by the same design team. A tribute to the Adderley Street building is a mural in the Stratus Room, the main dining area of the hotel. This same design ethos has been applied in the public areas and to an extent in the bedrooms. In conjunction with this design direction, inspiration was also drawn from the natural elements of the city, water, mist, clouds, etc. The design and decor of the rooms thus create a cocoon and also instills a welcoming calm to the traveller, something that is not common in hotels around the world today. It creates a sense of serenity.

Lobby of Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence Cape Town

Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence is set to open its doors in April 2017. Are you ready? Have you had any interest ahead of the opening?

The hotel is ready to accept its first guests and will be offering a style and service ethos that harks back to an elegant era of travel. An understated level of sophistication will be on offer without losing focus on the requirements of the modern traveller.

I have always had a keen interest in this project due to the iconic nature of the building as well as the complexity of the development. It is incredible to imagine that this was once one of the most sought after office complexes in the city and now it is one of the most iconic mixed-use hotel and residential offerings in the city. And to top it off, it is situated in the most exciting precinct in the city when it comes to development.

What are your wishes for Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence in its first year?

We wish to ensure that our guests comfort is our number one priority, and we look forward to welcoming them to Cape Towns newest and most contemporary hotel property. That this hotel becomes a beacon for the discerning traveller into the City of Cape Town, and a residence of choice to regular travellers, offering a level of service end sophistication from a bygone era.
Standing on the grass outside the Vineyard's conference centre, we sipped Pongracz brut and early cups of cappuccino to ward off the autumnal chill, while an excited buzz grew on the night of the finale regional launch of the Cape Legends & Artisan Spirits Inter Hotel Challenge 2017.

The Cape hospitalitys industry finest were treated to canapes of figgy-Woodview waygu biltong and walnut pate canapes, prepared by Carl van Rooyen of the Vineyard, and little white ladles of lamb on sweet potato cakes with mint puree and cress, created by Roberto de Carvalho of the CTICC.

Once the sun had truly set behind Table Mountain, the nights esteemed guests  including then-deputy Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa and her daughter arrived. The room was elegantly and exquisitely dressed by Flower Walker of Petals who in her inimitable way arranged each table individually, which was a great talking point.

Uplifting, investing and growing

Showcook editor Annette Kesler said 2017 is the fifth year of the inter hotel challenge, partnered by Distells fine wines and choice artisan spirits, with 29 hotels across the country competing against each other. The Palace at the Lost City, Hartford House in Natal and the NH Lord Charles launches had already been held with nine hotels more taking part this evening at the Vineyard. Its fitting as Kesler stated: The hotel industry is known for its professionalism, while also uplifting and investing in people is part of a huge ripple effect that raises the overall standard.

Distells Carina Gous commented that what was important was supporting, upskilling and growing the youth to play an important role in the hospitality industry.

The menu was a collaborative executive chefs showcase. We enjoyed alternating dishes; Khoisan seaweed salt-cured smoked salmon with Rio Largo olive oil, cured beetroot salad, horseradish cream and ginger presented by Grant Cullingworth of the Westin, paired with Plaisir de Merle Chardonnay; Coal-smoked barbecued beetroot with smoked yoghurt and burnt orange as envisioned by Christo Pretorius of the Twelve Apostles and Spa, paired with Nederburg Heritage Heroes Beautiful Lady (Gewurztraminer).

Hibiscus chicken supreme followed with sous vide chicken breast filled with wild garlic, cranberry, hibiscus-infused Lancewood cream cheese, lemon-crush potato and hibiscus jus, created by Jocelyn Myers-Adams of The Table Bay and paired with superb Uitkyk Shiraz. The Puy lentil bobotie spring roll: Bo-Kaap dhal curry with lemon coriander, apricot chutney, pickled cucumber and four-onion salsa was presented by Henrico Grobbelaar of the Southern Sun The Cullinan, paired with Bains Cape Mountain whisky, with the third option a succulent Springbok tortellini on cauliflower puree with toasted sunflower seeds and parmesan, as worked up by Rudi Liebenberg of the Belmond Mount Nelson and paired with Alto Rouge.

Minister of SA Tourism Tokozile Xasa gave the keynote address and spoke about the role hotels play in tourism. She stated that it gives her great pleasure to meet the people who are making the difference. Xasa began by thanking Kesler and Showcooks managing editor Chania Morritt-Smith for championing the challenge: a wonderful initiative that encourages development, challenging and stretching those taking part to ensure the bar is continuously raised.

Tourism: All about the experience

On the importance of the hotel industry for tourism overall, Xasa stated that South Africa saw an 8% increase in tourist arrivals to the country over the past year with a 19% in December alone and roughly 10m tourists over the year. She added that It's the big hotels that make things happen in the country, so thanked them for the work and service they put into making South Africa a sought-after destination of choice, whether for business or leisure.

Xasa added that tourism is ultimately the heartbeat of the economy, where we can talk resilience and growth in terms of job figures as it is this sector that recently created more than 120,000 jobs last year.

You are playing in a dynamic, sexy, sassy industry and making it such that even young people entering the market think it is the place to be, praised Xasa. She explained that the culinary niche forms an integral part of the overall tourism value chain and that theres always room to grow the innovation and young talent to be upskilled so that South Africa remains a destination of choice. It is currently ranked 38th globally and in the top 15 as a long-haul destination. For this reason, Xasa looks forward to working with the industry to keep our hotels full, and once theyre full to keep them that way.

Xasa ended by pointing out that the challenge lends credence to fact that tourism is about the experience more than it is the destination and that all the participants are winners in her eyes.

The main course was braised Angus beef cheek tart tatin with Shiitake mushroom ketchup, braising jus and summer vegetables presented by Carl van Rooyen of The Vineyard, paired with Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Pinotage.

Recognising future talent

Next was the key part of the evening with executive chefs introducing their candidate chefs and wine stewards. There was a clearly friendly yet competitive spirit on display with some having competed before and all wanting to win. Thats because it presents a true development opportunity, with the winning chef of the hotel Oscars visiting Dubai to be introduced to large-scale catering for two weeks at the JW Marquis Marriott and one week at The Ritz Carlton Marriott. The winning wine steward will be treated to a stay at the Red Carnation Hotel Group in London working closely with the 67 Pall Mall sommelier team then on to Scotland to visit the top distilleries; Deanston and Bunnahabhain, and to France Bisquit in stunning Cognac and finally an introduction to the world of wines in Bordeaux.

Regional cook-offs will take place in June in Johannesburg and Cape Town at the Capsicum Culinary Studio, and in Durban at the International Hotel School. The judging panel will be headed by Heinz Brunner, honorary lifetime president of the South African Chefs Association and team manager of the Culinary Olympics team; with the remainder of the panel comprising hospitality consultant Horst Frehse; innovative celebrity chef Craig Cormack; Woodview Angus and Waygu Beefs Megan Angus; Cape Wine Academy director Michelle Grimbeek; South African Sommeliers Association chairman Higgo Jacobs; Sandy Harper (Cape Wine Master); and Mosaic sommelier Germain Lehodey.

What better way to end than with dessert and Avanti coffee: milk chocolate Sacher torte with hazelnut praline, raspberry salad, white chocolate vanilla creme, raspberry skin and dark chocolate dried raspberry truffle, created by Alfred Henry of the Southern Sun Cape Sun; or a silky mango mousse with passion fruit glaze and quenelle of banana frozen yoghurt accompanied by berry gel, vanilla crumble and tart pineapple salad presented by Chris Mare of the One&Only Cape Town. A fine finale with Van Ryns 12-Year-Old, Bisquit VSOP and Bunnahabhain as winners of the generously donated raffle prizes; a luxurious weekend at Radisson Blu Waterfront, fine linen from Debbie Hall of The Hall Collection, pearl drop earrings from the Diamond Works Institute, and choice brandy from Van Ryns and Uitkyk in aid of chefs uniforms and replacement computers stolen from the Eziko Cooking & Training Centre in Langa were announced.

Truly a delightful evening filled with laughter, merriment and good cheer  those judges are in for a tough time!

Click here for a gallery of images. You can follow Showcook on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more, using the #InterHotelChallenge hashtag.
Nowadays, as we are gradually coming out of a global recession and economic crisis in which communication agencies have been greatly affected, all agencies of all disciplines have continued to compete ferociously for local clients.

And sometimes, we have found that independent agencies have achieved higher billings than some of the multinational agencies.

In the Agency Scope South Africa 2016, we found that the value of independence versus multinationalism or membership of international networks was not verbalised by marketers when selecting an agency, and neither when defining its 'ideal' agency. This happens not only in South Africa but also in many other countries.

In South Africa, only 4.7% of marketers stated that it is a deciding factor for them that the selected agency is independent; 28.6% give the factor of independence a certain level of importance and almost a half of them (47.6%) think that this issue does not have any importance.

28.6% of marketers also recognised that it is not important for them whether the agency is multinational. This means that agency independence or internationalism are not influential factors for marketers when selecting an agency.

Nonetheless, it is important that 19% of marketers acknowledged that it is a deciding factor that the agency belongs to an international network and 24% state that it is important.

This means that independent agencies have no access to 43% of the accounts assigned in South Africa, unless they have a network of independent agencies that can cover the needs of their clients in other countries.

Impact of internationalisation

The internationalisation of some South African companies has led to the need of an international network that is becoming increasingly relevant for marketers. Foreign multinational marketers and now South African multinational marketers, require agencies that have a network in other countries.

And this expansion of South African companies also pushes South African agencies to provide services within the region, especially sub-Saharan Africa.

Maybe the most successful are Joe Public, Jupiter, King James, House of Brave, OFyt and 34. In the ranking of the most creative agencies in the Agency Scope study, we find revealing results for independent agencies: in the top 20 there are 11 independent agencies, and in the top five there are two.

The five independent agencies that appear with stronger positions among South African marketers are: Black River, House of Brave, Joe Public, King James and Promise (in alphabetical order, as ranking order varies).

And more importantly: in the ranking of the top five agencies best rated by their clients we find three independent agencies. These agencies lead not only in attributes related to creativity, but in other key aspects such as strategic planning, digital capabilities, integrated services, management team involved in the accounts, value for money, good account service...

We found that when marketers had to evaluate account service, in general, there was not much difference between multinational and independent agencies. But if we take into account the marketers point of view when they evaluate the agencies they work with, the main strengths of independent agencies are those related to service: proactivity, senior managers involvement in the accounts, meeting deadlines and efficient problem solving. Overall, clients rank working processes in independent agencies as being better than in multinationals.

A general value of this sector, regardless of the type of agency, and for which they should be very proud of, is the high level of the professional teams, evaluated positively in 87% of the cases, both in multinational and independent agencies.

Strategic planning is something in which multinational agencies stand slightly higher (63%) than independents (58%), teams are often more numerous in network agencies (which can also count on their international resources). Knowledge and understanding of clients businesses stands out in both types of agencies, highlighted by clients working with independent agencies (74%) compared to those working with multinationals (72%).

If we analyse creative attributes, we also find that independent agencies stand out far above the multinationals. More than 25 percentage points in innovation (65.8% vs. 40.4%), but also in good thinking beyond traditional advertising (42.1% vs. 68.4%) and effective creativity (81.6% vs. 66.7%).

As marketers value more attributes related to creativity and account service, in independent agencies, it is logical that they also appreciate better value for money in those agencies, compared to multinationals (55% vs. 44%).

In other respects, there are not so many differences between the two types of agencies. Marketers give the same value to strengths such as understanding of the consumer, good momentum, or pricing structure.

And also aspects where we identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement, such as digital skills, branded content, or tools to evaluate ROI.

The great majority of marketers work with both multinational and independent agencies at the same time, tapping into each other's talents and abilities. The ability of marketing directors to take advantage of the strengths of both of them, becomes a clear path to success in their work and the brand communications they manage.

Proud of local talent

Johanna McDowell comments, South Africans are demonstrating their successes and, after a period where everything that came from outside was always better, including the multinationals because of their international profiles, it seems that we are reaching another stage in which we proudly show local talent. She adds that South Africa is also pushing this talent, in a far less chauvinistic or protectionist way, unlike the Brazilian, Australian and New Zealand markets.

Technology and the access to information, talent and innovation have helped independent agencies to have a different vision and capacity, sometimes even better than multinationals. The agility of their processes, the ability to make immediate decisions and the proximity of their leaders to the clients, are not always possible in larger structures.

We are convinced that we must defend local talent and entrepreneurship. This activates, not only the economy, but the circulation and growth of South African talent.

In a world where users increasingly value their local brands (as stated in Brand Capital by Y&R), and in categories such as food where people are concerned about carbon footprint and local production, it makes perfect sense that, in communications also, we give value and support to local brands and local talent.

Click here for more on Agency Scope: South Africa 2016.

*With contribution from Johanna McDowell, founder of IAS in South Africa.
My support for nuclear energy in the last 25 years has been closely linked to my firm conviction about the need to cut carbon emissions to address climate change.

Tim Yeo, chair: New Nuclear Watch Europe

Cheaper nuclear energy

Cost is the only significant barrier to the rapid expansion of nuclear power, because it has already proven to be a reliable, clean and secure energy source with a safety record that is among the best in the whole energy sector.

But while fossil fuel prices remain low and the cost of renewables is still falling the need for nuclear to demonstrate that it is cost competitive is as strong as ever. The good news is that cheaper nuclear energy is quickly becoming available.

Within the next 12 months, the first of four new Korean nuclear reactors will start producing electricity in UAE at a price, which will be cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation.

Or consider the case of Rosatom, which is building more latest generation reactors globally than any other vendor. Rosatom appears to have managed to make it to the stage where the learning curve and the economies of scale enable it to enjoy falling costs too.

As for China's Hualong One reactor, which in the UK has just started to go through the rigorous GDA process required by the UK ONR in preparation for being built at Bradwell in UK. Given the size of China's domestic market I wouldn't bet against that design also generating cost competitive electricity before the end of the 2020s.

I'm aware that some of the strongest opponents of nuclear argue that South Africa can't afford the big upfront costs. I don't believe that they have recognised the extent of the fall in the price of nuclear, which the offerings from each of these vendors may well provide for the benefit of SA consumers. What's more these offerings aren't necessarily limited to the technologies available. The accompanying financial packages are also important.

The terms of any loan for nuclear new build projects have a big impact on the eventual cost of the electricity generated. So the question isn't "Can SA afford to invest in nuclear?". It's "Can SA afford not to invest in nuclear?"

SA's GDP almost half of neighbours

This imminent prospect of affordable new nuclear power means that the time for decisions about South Africa's energy infrastructure is now. This economy, blessed with great natural resources and a talented workforce has not fulfilled the high hopes, which accompanied the arrival of democracy in the last few years of the last century. Capital investment has recently lagged all the countries in the region apart from Zimbabwe. And not surprisingly in the last five years, South Africas GDP growth has been around half of its neighbours.

The government's National Development Plan has rightly recognised that investment in infrastructure is necessary to support development and should be prioritised. Investment in nuclear will therefore not only guarantee a supply of secure reliable low carbon electricity, it will also give the economy a much needed shot in the arm.

But to capture these benefits this decision must be taken very soon. South Africa can't afford to wait until 2037 for its first new nuclear units come on line.

At a difficult economic time the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity published last November effectively set back the wider adoption of new nuclear. So I hope the government will now consider the representations from across the energy sector urging revision of the plan to prioritise development of new nuclear.

The deadline for submission of the new nuclear build programme means certainty is needed to facilitate investment and progress. According to the conclusions of the report which New Nuclear Watch Europe (NNWE) commissioned from Trusted Sources, the multiplier effect of investment in nuclear would be 3.4 x the monetary value added would amount to $77bn. That's close to a quarter of South Africas current GDP.

By contrast much of the economic benefit of additional investment in renewable energy goes to other countries, mostly in Asia from where the bulk of the components have to be imported.

The consequence of delaying new nuclear build until the late 2030s means slower economic growth, fewer high quality jobs and a less reliable power supply. Furthermore, investment in new nuclear offers South Africa the chance to develop a local supply chain network which in due course will have potential export markets across Africa and further afield.

Skills development

Skills development in the STEM subjects will grow to meet the demand triggered by the investment in energy infrastructure. The opportunity, which this creates for a new generation of black industrialists who can participate in and lead the building of the power plants and the supply of goods and services to the nuclear industry, is substantial and attractive.

Energy investment decisions cannot be short term. The impact of how South Africa decides in 2017 to meet its future energy needs will be felt right through to the second half of this century. The energy problems which Germany now faces after its mistaken decision to shut down its nuclear fleet in the wake of Fukushima are a testament to the dangers of becoming too reliant on energy sources which are beyond a country's control.

The key to making the right choices for South Africa are to recognise that thinking of SA's energy needs, only in terms of today's demand, or even the next five years demand, would be to rob the country of the future it deserves.

Nuclear energy will provide South Africa with a low carbon baseload power source at a predetermined cost that will help transform the entire country. With countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana moving ahead with nuclear ambitions and leading nations like UK, the US, France, China and Canada continuing with their nuclear energy programmes, it's time for South Africa to follow suit or risk being left in the dark.
It's a lovely story about a girl and a boy, and at the end of the film you are absolutely shocked that you missed the boy entering the school with a gun because you were distracted by their love story. That's how Gaston Bigio, CCO at David and One Show film juror, introduced the entry that was a delight for him to watch.

The One Show and Art Directors Clubs judging took place on location on Bermuda. In order to keep the rest of the world intrigued and informed, theyve shared selected judges Picks of the Day throughout the judging process.

Bigio explains why Evan" by BBDO New York, speaks to him 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.
You may have heard about the sword of Damocles, hanging above its target by a single hair. It's a metaphor often used to describe impending doom, yet this is not the actual meaning.

Brett Parker

The story goes that a servant was taken by all of a king's wealth and wanted to partake in that luxury. The king offered the servant supper on his throne, but with a sword hanging above him held by a single strand. Afterwards he asked the servant if he enjoyed the meal, but the servant was too worried about the sword falling.

The sword of Damocles is not about impending doom. It's about the pressures of power and responsibility. Every business leader feels this, knowing that it takes only a few wrong decisions, or a dollop too much complacency, for disaster to land. Today this pressure is more poignant than ever. Change, as always, is in the air, only now it is happening at breakneck speed. The lifespans of companies are fast become shorter and even historic precedent fails to contextualise what is happening today.

Speed matters and technology is the means to accomplish that speed. Yet technology is not a fix. Any solution purchased to catalyse change is a waste of money. The real reason why companies fail to change and to shift into new spaces, is because they lack the right innovation cultures.

Innovation

Innovation is a tricky principle to nail down, but it has a simple formula: Innovation = Execution x Creativity. Companies struggle to engage this dynamic, because they suffer from corporate cholesterol. These are the unwelcome fats clogging a company's arteries: rigid processes, risk avoidance and complacency - anchored through faith in existing frameworks - all effectively suffocate a business' ability to push forward.

Digital transformation has brought this problem to a head. But, as said earlier, technology is not the solution. Digital transformation is not a process. It is actually an end goal, a new state of business defined by a revolution in technology. Getting there requires transformation on a different level. A transformation that enables people.

Creativity

Humans are key to innovation. It is human thought that creates new ideas and tests new opportunities. A common barrier for any transformation is a reliance on the familiar. Companies seek out to improve on existing solutions and discover 'comfortable' problems that can be turned in a familiar context. But real innovation means going where the business has not gone before - and for that, humans are crucial. The best AI can accomplish incredible things, but what it can't do is be creative. Technology helps to amplify and augment humans, not replace them.

SAP stumbled upon this concept a number of years ago. In the early 2000s one of its founders wrestled with the company's wayward direction. The exciting, customer-focus culture of SAP's startup days - and which brought it success - had been replaced by a regime of prescriptive thought patterns. Then came the concept of Design Thinking.

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation. It helps companies be empathic around customer and business needs, use collaboration to bring functions and perspectives closer together, and aims to be highly iterative so to better understand and embrace the market.

When you focus on people, processes and environments, you encourage creativity. Turn that into a scalable culture and you invite disruptive innovation, not the incremental innovation that translates to little new value.

Harnessing a risk-taking culture is key. McKinsey, the same consultancy that helped change corporate thinking in the early 20th century, has noted that digital performance and positive risks are joined at the hip. This type of culture not only understands that exponential rewards come with increased risk, but that failure (at least fast failure) is a powerful learning opportunity. Just like learning to ride a bike - if you never fall, you will not know how to find ways to be better.

It's interesting to note that delivering iterations, far outweighs the importance of delivering the perfect product.

3D Robotics, a drone company established by technology evangelist Chris Anderson, pulled out of its ambitious drone-manufacture plans because it spent all its resources to make the 'perfect' drone. Meanwhile DJI, a Chinese company, used constant innovation to drive new products to market. Not all of DJI's products succeeded, but its momentum held ground. Today DJI rules the drone space while 3D Robotics has exited this market altogether. Enable rapid innovation and you progress.

Human experience

Design thinking creates a mindset to merge technological feasibility, business viability and human experience. This doesn't just pertain to outward-facing products. Design thinking is as much about innovating internal processes and ideas. For example, creating new career paths facilitating a wider talent pool, requires a creative approach to what is important to a business.

I won't claim that SAP has perfected design thinking, but it has done amazing things for the company. The goal of moving out of its stoic enterprise trappings is being achieved in unbelievable ways. We have engineered groundbreaking new products, created a workplace for a very diverse workforce, and realised digital transformation by becoming a real-time data-driven business. I'm not pitching a product here. I am stating that without design thinking, SAP may today be facing extinction. Nobody is immune from this.

We have since realised the value of bringing this message to our customers and offer free insights into how design thinking can help an organisation. The sword of pressure hangs over every business leader. Instead of worrying if it will fall, you can find confidence in a new philosophy that will change your company's creative and innovation cultures. If you are worried about your business tomorrow, look at design thinking today.

Link to the original whitepaper: http://www.sap.com/documents/2016/12/4086a5d3-9d7c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html.
LARAMIE, Wyo.  A therapist has pleaded not guilty to two dozen charges including sexual assault, blackmail and sexual exploitation of a child.

Scott Addison, 48, pleaded not guilty on March 28 to 25 felony charges he received in February. District Court Judge Tori Kricken said that the therapist could face up to 275 years in prison and up to $200,000 in fines if convicted of all charges.

Addison's trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 28. He has a $50,000 cash bail bond.

Defense attorney Charles Pelkey argued that his client's significant ties to the community qualified him for a bond modification. Kricken did not change the bond.

Addison was a therapist for Pendley & Associates, a mental health services provider that serves Laramie and Cheyenne.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has given dotAfrica the green light to move forward with its launch plan and dates as Africa's new home on the web gets ready for its long-awaited entry.

 Matthias Ziegler via 123RF

Final and confirmed is how the CEO of the dotAfrica gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) Registry Operator, Lucky Masilela, described the launch dates approved by ICANN this week. ICANN is the US non-profit tasked with maintaining the efficient functioning of the worldwide web.

ICANNs approval of the dotAfrica Launch Plan has triggered a final countdown process starting on 4 April 2017 leading to General Availability on 4 July 2017, when the public can apply for dotAfrica domain names.

This is when the gates to the most desirable African real estate in cyberspace will be thrown open, said Masilela.

The delegation of dotAfrica to ZA Central Registry Non Profit Company (ZACR NPC) has ensured that the online economic journey of the continent will finally be realised.

Confirmation of the dotAfrica launch dates follows the delegation by ICANN of the rights to administer the new, pan-African dotAfrica gTLD to ZACR on 15 February 2017. Delegation means dotAfrica names can be published on the web.

The Sunrise Phase, where trademark holders and other intellectual property (IP) rights holders can apply for dotAfrica domain names associated with their IP, will take place from 4 April to 3 June 2017. The Landrush Phase, where anyone can apply for premium dotAfrica domain names with auctions likely featuring here, has been confirmed for the month of June 2017. General Availability, commencing on 4 July 2017, will see members of the public registering their own dotAfrica domain names for the very first time.

We are extremely grateful to the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African public for their unwavering support throughout the long journey to launch dotAfrica. It began as far back as the OR Tambo and Abuja Declarations where it was resolved to use ICT to ensure the development of Africa. It is now time to create the next chapter in the dotAfrica story as we focus firmly on making General Availability a reality in July, Masilela said.

The AUC many times underscored the importance of dotAfrica as a vehicle for African socio-cultural activities in the digital era that will allow the continent to contribute to the global digital economy. The entire continent can now be united together as one Internet community; enabling e-commerce, technology and infrastructure to flourish under a single African umbrella.
NAIROBI, Kenya - A landmark report, Companies to Inspire in Africa' has launched, identifying the fastest-growing and most dynamic private businesses across Africa.

The report shows the breadth and diversity of African business, with 42 countries across seven major sectors represented. It also highlights strong company performances and the potential for these firms to become the next corporate champions powering Africas future economic and social development.

The report identifies 343 companies from 42 African countries as the continents most exciting and dynamic small businesses. Companies delivered impressive average compound annual growth rate (revenue) of 16% over a three-year period 2013-2015.

Fast-growing companies appear in all regions of Africa. The highest concentration of companies are from West Africa with 31% of companies; closely followed by East Africa with 26% and Southern Africa with 22%.

South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are the countries with the most companies in the publication, each represented by over 50 companies.

Fast-growing companies are present across a wide range of sectors. There is strong representation from innovative industries, with 22 companies in renewable energy and 40 in technology and telecoms.

Oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and chemicals, is the biggest sector , with 23% of companies in the report, followed by financial services which includes mobile banking, micro-credit, disruptive technology and Fintech, with 16%, indicating that the continent has great promise for both traditional and more recent economic success stories.

Consumer demand

The 47 consumer services companies corroborate the trend of burgeoning consumer demand and growth of the middle-class across the entire continent.

The report also highlights the important role of female entrepreneurship: 12% of the companies in the report are led by female CEOs, three times the average for companies across Africa.

Company CEOs featured in the report were welcomed to London Stock Exchange Group by British MP Priti Patel and Xavier Rolet, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group, at a special launch event to celebrate African companies success, ambition and uniquely African entrepreneurial spirit.

They were also joined by a broad range of Africa-focused investors, as well as senior representatives of African Development Bank Group, CDC Group and PwC, all partners on the report.

International development secretary, Priti Patel said, London Stock Exchanges first-ever Companies to Inspire Africa report is proof of the dynamism and vision of the City of London in supporting Africas growing economies.

Now is the time for UK businesses to seize the opportunities offered by Africa, and the UK Government is supporting the City of London to become the global financial centre for the developing world.

This will help Africa industrialise faster, trade more and create millions of jobs, driving the continent forward to a future of prosperity, and helping some of the worlds poorest countries stand on their own two feet.

Xavier Rolet, chief executive, London Stock Exchange Group said: We are delighted to release the first edition of London Stock Exchange Groups Companies to Inspire Africa report, which follows the success of our research focused on the UK and European SMEs. For the first time ever, we have identified hundreds of Africas most inspirational and dynamic private companies.

The report demonstrates the huge role that small and medium sized enterprises are playing as the driving force behind African economies: developing skills, creating high quality jobs and delivering growth.

London Stock Exchange has made it our mission for over 300 years to support access to growth capital for small and large companies in all parts of the world. We are proud to play our part in this great economic journey by shining a light on Africas success stories. We are also continuing to work in partnership with African stock exchanges to help develop robust, efficient and transparent capital markets to raise finance for companies like the ones listed in this report and thousands of others to realise their potential.

A full searchable database of all of the companies in the report, along with a downloadable pdf of the publication can be found online at: lseg.com/inspireafrica.

The report was produced in partnership with African Development Bank Group, CDC Group and PwC who contributed their expertise to the report, and is sponsored by Citi, Diamond Bank and FTI Consulting.
The rapid growth of the middle class in Africa is resulting in the growth of private universities and schools across the continent, as parents increasingly seek a quality education for their children outside of the state offering.

Jaco Lotz

The private education sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, with private providers in the rest of Africa lining up to partner with credible and experienced counterparts in South Africa, to be able to sustainably grow in response to the huge demand for quality basic and higher education institutions, says Jaco Lotz, who heads international business development at ADvTECH, Africas largest private education provider.

Research about the growth of the middle class in Africa, conducted by the African Development Bank, shows that by 2010, the middle class had surged by 60% from a decade before, and the number keeps growing. The report highlighted the fact that increased prosperity led to a rise in investment in education, and that private education was increasingly seen as an attractive option for parents.

We are really starting to see the effect of this continued rise in the ranks of those joining the middle class, says Lotz.

In addition to the growth of the middle class, the sharp rise in demand for private education is also fuelled by the fact that the average age of Africas population is getting lower - in other words there is also growth in the younger population - as well as the fact that governments and the public sector simply cant keep up with the demand for space in schools and public universities.

Throughout Africa, governments are under pressure in terms of resourcing, and are battling to increase capacity in the public sector, notes Lotz.

As a result, private schools and universities are popping up all over Africa as business tries to capitalise on the demand, however many of these institutions dont have full accreditation or, at present, a benchmark quality assurance standard.

However parents are becoming more informed, demanding that institutions prove their track records and credibility, and that they are able to provide a quality education.

Owing to ADvTECHs track record in schools and higher education, and because they are a listed entity, the company is being approached by numerous education institutions throughout the continent who seek to partner with them, Lotz notes.

Additionally, we are able to prove sustained good corporate governance, and as a result we are constantly being approached by institutions responding to the demand from parents who seek not only a private education for their children, but a quality, accredited private offering, he says.

Africa expansion

Last year, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, acquired a 4% equity stake in ADvTECH, in a partnership aimed at supporting the companys plans to expand into the rest of Africa.

IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Oumar Seydi, noted at the time that the investment would further enable ADvTECH to fill gaps in the education market on the continent, which will enable Africas workforce to meet the challenges of changing job markets in Africa and globally.

This partnership with the IFC has enabled us to work on numerous projects, from acquisitions and partnerships, to developing new schools and universities. The pipeline is growing, and we are anticipating a domino effect in the future, Lotz says.

We already have a significant footprint across Africa, with 6% of revenue coming from our African operations outside the borders of South Africa, which include Gaborone International School in Botswana, the University of Africa in Zambia in which we recently secured the majority stake, and CA Global and Africa HR Solutions, which fall under the Resourcing division.

Lotz says ADvTECH has expanded its delivery model through the implementation of technology-enabled models in both blended and distance learning, and that the IFC partnership is providing valuable on-the-ground insight to identify additional suitable investment opportunities and partners in other African markets.

As a result, we expect to provide a quality education to thousands of new students in the foreseeable future, which is a very exciting prospect.
Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries

SUBSCRIBE
The South African National Editors Forum has received reports of verbal attacks and physical threats of harm against ANN7 journalists. The journalists said they were attacked while they were covering a protest in Cape Town, last week.

Sanef urged the journalists to report the incident to the South African Police Service and call on authorities to investigate and charge those responsible for the threats to cause harm.
Two journalists, Siraji Kiberu of Kingdom Television and Dodoviko Mukasa of Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) radio were assaulted by police on 31 March 2017. The journalists were covering the arrest of an opposition member of parliament for Mukono Municipality, Betty Nambooze Bakireke.

 Kheng Guan Toh via 123RF

Another journalist  Henry Kasomoko of Bukedde paper  had his camera destroyed during the fracas.

Nambooze is the opposition Democratic Party vice president in charge of the central region. The police arrested her, along with other supporters as they tried to make their way into Nsambya Sharing Hall, where they had scheduled to hold a party consultative meeting. They were taken to Kiira Road police station.

Journalists followed on commercial motorcycles (boda bodas) up to Kiira Road police station. While there, a scuffle ensued between the police and Nambooze's supporters, who were resisting her continued detention.

Police were uneasy with the journalists covering the scuffle, so they turned their wrath on them. Henry Kikomeko told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda that, there was a fracas [and] police did not want journalists to cover the scuffle. As I was pulling out my camera, the police officer who was standing next to me hit my camera and smashed it. I reported the matter to Kiira Road Police station.

Kiberu was badly beaten. He told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda: I was standing at the reception only to be beaten by a police officer. He boxed me in the stomach and I fell down. I stood up immediately and got out but he followed me and continued beating me up.

The Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Emilian Kayima, feigned ignorance of the attack when contacted. nobody should beat journalists, why should they beat them, who are those who were beaten, let them make a formal complaint at police and we shall deal with those who beat them in accordance with the law, Emilian told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda.

Police has continuously continued to be the lead perpetrators of violence against journalists in Uganda for the last six years according to different local and international human rights reports, but little is done by the authorities to reprimand the implicated errant officers

'We highly condemn the continued actions by the Uganda Police Force of assaulting journalists in the course of their duties. Such actions violate the journalists' constitutionally guaranteed right of practicing their profession. We will follow this matter and ensure that justice prevails, said the HRNJ-Uganda national coordinator, Robert Sempala
Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.
The widow of a 42-year-old Mandan man shot twice in the back by a Bismarck Police officer is suing the department over the death of her husband.

In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, Jamie Scott argues that Officer Shaun Burkhartsmeier used excessive force against James Anthony "Tony" Scott, who was not armed at the time he was killed.

"Burkhartsmeier, acting under color of law, intentionally, negligently, maliciously and willfully, without justification, chased and shot Tony Scott in the back, when Scott posed no immediate threat to the officers or anyone elses safety, according to the lawsuit.

Tony Scott was shot during an incident in east Bismarck in March 2016. Officers were responding to a report of an intoxicated man threatening another with a shotgun.

Tony Scott, who was the suspect, fled officers and disobeyed commands to put up his hands, according to police. He was shot while running away, and some officers knew he had left the shotgun behind in an apartment hallway.

But due partly to dispatch information about a pistol, some officers, including Burkhartsmeier, believed Tony Scott was still armed, according to a report from the state attorney general's office. This belief was apparently supported by the way Tony Scott held his hands near his waist when he ran.

The lawsuit also names Bismarck Police Chief Dan Donlin as responsible for the death. It says that policies, practices, customs and training were not in place to prevent the use of force and protect Tony Scott's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

The lawsuit also alleges that officers knew of inconsistent statements regarding who had the pistol. Officers did not follow chain of command or listen to dispatch, who stated that the pistol was with the neighbor and 911 caller, not Tony Scott, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit points out that there was little video of the incident, and the department does not use body cameras.

"If properly trained and supervised officers had been on scene, excessive force would not have been used," the lawsuit alleges.

The March incident was the third of four officer-involved shootings by Bismarck Police officers last year. The other three men survived their injuries.

No criminal charges have been filed against Burkharstmeier since the incident. A report from the state attorney general's office concluded in August that charges against Burkhartsmeier were not warranted, as it would be, "difficult to disprove Burkhartsmeier's perceived need to defend himself and others."

Burkhartsmeier is still an officer with the police department. He had eight years of experience when the shooting occurred. He returned to patrol duty on Aug. 12, after the shooting was returned justified, according to Donlin. An internal shooting review board was convened on Jan. 4, which found his shooting was also justified within policy.

The Bismarck Police Department is accredited by Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a national authority that promulgates standards for police departments. It is one of only three accredited departments in the state.

Shawn Grinolds, who, along with Randall Bakke, is representing the police officers and the department, said he has received a copy of the complaint and is reviewing it. He declined further comment on the allegations.

Jamie Scott, 33, said in an interview that the suit is not primarily about money, but that she is still seeking answers about the death.

"If somebody would have came up to me, said listen, there were errors on a lot of parts. We're sorry. What can we do to help you? I would have accepted that and moved on with my life," she said. "The way they shut me out and treated me afterwards, it is very unfair."

Jamie Scott and her 5-year-old son have faced financial challenges since her husband's death. She lost her house and car, and other bills are piling up without the second income. She said she would want to donate any unneeded money from the suit to the police department to improve training.

"I dont ever want another family to have to go through something like this," she said.

The suit seeks unspecified damages relating to pain and suffering, lost future income, burial expenses and legal fees.

Bismarck City Attorney Charlie Whitman said it was the first excessive force case against the police department in his recollection.

Jamie Scott is being represented by Tyrone Turner, of Bismarck, and Mel Orchard II and Noah Drew of the Spence Law Firm in Jackson, Wyo.
We are witnesses to an abuse of power by government that represents a test of our democracy. Anyone who fails to rally to the cause of the Americans victimized in this case should be discredited.

Though I have not been shy about criticizing President Donald Trump when I think he deserves it, he is not involved.

I refer to the Kafkaesque malfeasance by Xavier Becerra, attorney general of California. Becerra, for many years a Democratic congressman, is using his office to hound two citizen journalists. They came into his sights because their videos exposed the sickening reality behind the euphemistic surface of Planned Parenthood. Becerra and other abortion-rights absolutists found this embarrassing. Why do I call it Kafkaesque? Because David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who went undercover to reveal the law breaking of Planned Parenthood, now find themselves, not Planned Parenthood, accused of 15 felony counts by the state of California.

Their crimes? Recording people without their consent. The editorial board of the LA Times, to its credit, has called this a "disturbing overreach." And Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, while condemning Daleiden's politics, has defended his rights, saying, "This was a legitimate investigation, and no level of government should be in the business of chilling it."

Xavier Becerra is no stickler about secret recordings. In 2012, he relished the release of Mitt Romney's surreptitiously recorded comments to donors in which Romney mentioned the "47 percent." Romney had joked that if he were Hispanic, he'd win the election. Becerra didn't seem concerned about Romney's privacy rights when he rushed to the press to denounce the Republican: "The insult of all insults, Mitt Romney says if he was Latino he would win the presidential election, as if being Latino would have given him any advantage to win the White House."

Could there have been a political motive? Consider that the prosecution began under Becerra's predecessor, Kamala Harris (now California's junior senator), whose website urged Californians to "support Planned Parenthood" (recusal anyone?) and who was not above sending police to raid not just Daleiden's office but also his home, in search of video footage.

Let's review. When the Daleiden videos were first released in 2015, they were so damning that Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards felt the need to release a video apologizing for the "tone and statements" of a Planned Parenthood executive. That was Dr. Deborah Nucatola, who said this about the techniques she uses to preserve body parts for donation (and sale): "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact."

Daleiden's group recorded dozens of hours of video at several abortion clinics. It's a disgrace that no prosecutor followed up with charges against Planned Parenthood based on the evidence Daleiden obtained. The explicit haggling over the price of body parts should have been enough to at least get started.

And it is a scandal that most of what Daleiden documented is legal. I personally will never forget the images of those tiny baby parts being picked over with a tweezer on a light table. How atrophied does your human sympathy have to become to push human remains (excuse me, "tissue") about as if they were frog cadavers? And the callous insouciance of the Planned Parenthood doctors and other employees who spoke of getting "intact calvariums" (heads) and other specimens was enough to nauseate a neutral observer.

That's why Planned Parenthood has circulated the false story that the videos were "deceptively edited." Alexandra DeSanctis debunked that fiction. Planned Parenthood has resorted to lies about its grisly trade for many years. Recall that in 1995, Ron Fitzsimmons acknowledged that the entire abortion industry, of which he was a part, had "lied through (our) teeth" about partial birth abortion.

The lying is a civic hygiene problem. But what is happening to David Daleiden goes beyond that. This is a political vendetta and thus a malicious prosecution. Yes, California law forbids recording a person without his consent. But there are exceptions, as the LA Times editorial noted, in cases of public interest. Thus, ABC News, among others, has done covert investigations of various entities without risking retaliation from the attorney general. Animal welfare activists who have gone undercover to reveal the mistreatment of chickens have not been prosecuted. But then, baby chicks are defenseless.
PR Newswire

MIAMI, April 4, 2017

MIAMI, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- One of the greatest civilizations in world history, the Roman Empire is still a blueprint for how to manage a civilization, and Rome is perhaps the greatest city of the ancient world. The luxurious city is brimming with history and landmarks to see, as well as modern touches that can be explored. With a multitude of attractions and all the sights and sounds of Italy to savor, it is a once in a lifetime experience for the whole family. So pack your bags and learn how to drive a Vespa, asFirst Choice Travel explores Rome!

First Choice Travel realizes that no trip to Rome is truly a trip without visiting the world famous Roman Colosseum. Constructed from AD 72 to AD 80, this structure is an architectural triumph. Built out of concrete and sand, the colosseum was used most often for the incredible gladiator fights, pitting the best warriors from ancient Rome in bloody battles. Sometimes, the Colosseum would be filled with water and massive sea reenactments would take place, telling the stories of the sea battles that took place in Roman history. Guided and self-guided tours are available to learn all about the history of one of the great wonders of the world. See where the gladiators were held, and get a look at the amenities available to only the wealthiest Romans. Gaze in awe at the technological marvels of the time, and put yourself into the shoes of an ancient civilization.

First Choice Travel next looks at another architectural marvel, the Roman Pantheon. Not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece, the Pantheon was commissioned as a temple and constructed during the reign of Augustus by Marcus Agrippa in 126 AD. Since the 7th century, this structure has been used as a church, and dedicated to "St Mary's and the Martyrs". It also sits as well-preserved building, mostly because of its constant use, which would ensure numerous maintenance and upkeep. Visitors can take guided tours learning all about this Roman landmark, from its large granite columns and massive rotunda, to its gorgeous interior and granite floors. Visitors can also learn about how the Pantheon has gone on to be an inspiration for buildings in modern times, such as Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello, and how Roman architecture has influenced buildings like the White House and Supreme Court.

These are just two of the many different attractions you can visit while in Rome. The Vatican, Roman aqueduct, and Roman forum are also worth checking out if you have the time. Whatever tour you decide to do, the best way to book your trip is through First Choice Travel, the leaders in fantastic vacations and incredible memories. Happy travels and Viva Roma! For more information please visit http://www.firstchoicefortravel.com

Media Contact: First Choice Travel, First Choice Travel, 888-972-4017, [email protected]

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE First Choice Travel
The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels.



You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us!





WARNING:

Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised.





COMMENTS:

We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately.




Under Montana law, the crime of rape is called sexual intercourse without consent.

The language implies that a crime occurs if one person says no to sex. In fact, no doesnt mean no under present Montana law. Instead, the statute makes rape prosecution extremely difficult if the victim is an adult  unless he or she was cut, bruised or otherwise injured. No other criminal law requires victims to prove they resisted their attacker.

Requiring evidence that a victim fought back or suffered injury in addition to the rape is one reason  not the only reason  why zero cases of rape were charged in Yellowstone County last year, despite at least 60 adults reporting rape to local law enforcement agencies. As reported in the Billings Gazette March 26 editions by Ashley Nerbovig, police and sheriffs detectives sent 18 cases to the Yellowstone County attorney for review, but county prosecutors didnt find a single one they could take to trial (which is another traumatic experience for the victim) with the expectation of getting a conviction. The county attorneys did prosecute 15 cases of sexual assault in which children were victimized.

The Montana Legislature now has the responsibility to strengthen and update Montanas criminal code by passing Senate Bill 29. The Senate was unanimous in approving SB29. Thanks to each senator, especially to Billings Sens. Jen Gross and Margie MacDonald who were part of the unanimous vote of approval in Senate Judiciary Committee, and to Doug Kary, who served on the Interim Law and Justice Committee that unanimously requested the changes proposed in SB29.

SB29 sponsor Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, also served on the interim committee that studied sexual assault laws in Montana for nearly two years, as did Rep. Dale Mortensen of Billings. Thanks to Mortensen, Virginia Court, Kathy Kelker and Barry Usher, all of Billings, for joining in the unanimous vote Friday to pass SB29 out of the House Judiciary Committee. Now it must be approved by the full House and return to the Senate as amended.

SB29 is supported by the Montana County Attorneys Association, Montana Board of Crime Control, Montana Sex Offender Treatment Association, Disability Rights Montana, Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Montana Attorney Generals Office.

Many cases of sexual assault in Montana are not actually prosecutable under our states antiquated legal definition, and, as a result, many victims do not receive the justice, or the support and assistance they deserve, Attorney General Tim Fox told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on March 24. The myth that our current statute perpetuates is that a victim cant actually express a lack of consent unless theres proof that he or she was physically forced to have sex.

SB29 says that an expression of lack of consent through words or conduct means there is no consent or consent had been withdrawn and that a current or previous dating or social or sexual relationship or the manner of dress of the person involved with the accused in the conduct at issue does not by itself constitute consent. This is similar to the definition of consent that other states have adopted in recent years.

We believe that all sexual assault victims deserve justice, said Kelsen Young, executive director of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Lack of ability to prosecute the crime is overwhelming.

Young said SB29 would make an important change in Montana law by clearly stating that no means no consent in the crime of sexual intercourse without consent. Also, SB29 would define a more serious crime of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent for incidents that also involved the use of force by the attacker. SB29 would set a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for aggravated sexual intercourse without consent.

We call on the House to consider the evidence that persuaded the committees and the Senate to unanimously approve SB29. Send this desperately needed legislation to the governor's desk.

As Young said: We dont believe that changes in our criminal code are the only answer, but they are a start.

-- Billings (Mont.) Gazette
Ten North Dakota state agencies are offering buyouts to their employees due to continued budget cuts.

A letter sent by participating agency heads Tuesday, announcing the voluntary separation incentive program, cites a $1.5 billion revenue shortfall in the current two-year funding cycle that has already prompted budget cuts and workforce reductions.

With the legislative session now in its final month, additional steps will be needed to balance the budget for this biennium and the next, and we anticipate further (full-time equivalent employee) cuts, the draft letter, provided by Gov. Doug Burgums spokesman Mike Nowatzki, states.

Participating agencies are hoping to limit the number of non-voluntary reductions that may be necessary, according to the letter. Nowatzki said theres no target for the amount of buyouts the agencies are seeking.

Ten of the 17 executive-level agencies are offering the buyouts, Nowatzki said, along with the governors office. They are:

Office of Management and Budget

Department of Financial Institutions

Department of Health, except for the Environmental Health Section

Department of Human Services

Securities Department

Workforce Safety and Insurance

Highway Patrol

Adjutant General

Department of Commerce

Parks and Recreation Department

Those 10 agencies and the governors office have about 3,600 of the 6,300 FTE positions across the executive agencies, Nowatzki said. Employees were asked to share their interest in a buyout by May 22.

Employees have the choice of receiving a lump sum equal to three months salary and payment equal to three months of health insurance, remaining on the payroll for three months after the separation date and receiving salary and benefits as if they were working during that time, or receiving health insurance for a year after the buyout date with the full premium paid by the agency.

Participating agencies have to find money within their budgets for the buyouts, Nowatzki said. Temporary or probationary employees are not eligible, according to the letter.

Nick Archuleta, president of the union for public employees and teachers North Dakota United, said he was a little surprised by the announcement, although he appreciated the state trying to create a softer landing for some employees.

It drives the point home that there will be fewer public employees, one way or another, he said.

North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota have both offered buyouts in recent months due to the states budget woes.

State lawmakers are in the closing weeks of the 2017 session as they look to balance the states books on reduced tax revenue. Lawmakers approved a forecast last month that predicts a roughly $103 million general fund revenue shortfall in the biennium that begins in July.
A bill in front of the Legislature raises the question of discrimination if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turns back land to the Three Affiliated Tribes without the same opportunity for non-natives.

House Concurrent Resolution 3019 is a revised version of earlier attempts to return Lake Oahe land south of Bismarck to original owners, including to Rep. Jim Schmidt, R-Huff, and now includes land around Lake Oahe and Lake Sakakawea.

It states that, after returning to the tribes some 25,000 acres of land not needed to operate the Lake Sakakawea reservoir last fall, fairness dictates the corps do the same for prior owners, or their heirs, off the reservation.

A coalition of outdoor groups is opposed, fearing it could privatize tens of thousands of acres of public lands from the Montana border to South Dakota now open for fishing, hunting, boat ramps, camping and general recreation, says spokesman Randy Kreil, of Bismarck. He said there are 18,000 acres around Lake Oahe in state Wildlife Management Areas and other public uses that could be in jeopardy.

The resolution is in conference committee and chairman Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, said the committee met Tuesday to clarify the content. He said the committee wants more information about the Three Affiliated Tribes transfer, about the status of the Legislatures earlier efforts and about the effect on existing cabin owners access if corps-owned property between them and the lake were returned to private ownership.

Porter said he supports returning excess corps land to the state, but not to private ownership, because the state has so much at stake in investment in ramps and other improvements. He said its his job to represent the House's interests.

Sponsor Rep. Terry Jones, R-New Town, said the scope of the resolution is limited: After the corps identifies land it doesnt need for flood control, individuals would have to make a case to the state Board of University and School Lands to repurchase it.

Were asking the federal government to not discriminate. They made land available to the tribes, and, if they did that for the tribes, they should also give land back to North Dakota citizens, said Jones of small ranch tracts  hills or calving pastures  that were wrongfully taken because of how the corps drew its taking lines.

Jones said he expects this might amount to 5,000 to 10,000 acres along Lake Sakakawea.

This would create a program in the state specifically to reattach land that was wrongfully taken. People would make a claim that fit the criteria of the program and pay market value and survey costs so theres no net cost to the state, he said.

Bill Helphrey, a lobbyist for North Dakota Bowhunters Association and other sporting interests, said its ironic that the resolution calls out the corps for discrimination at the same time it proposes to sell land to only select people even after the taxpayers paid for it decades ago. He said hes opposed to any loss of land used for recreation.

Even though the resolution says any repurchase could not conflict with state interest, Kreil said the language is so ambiguous that no one knows what state interest really means.

Is it wildlife management areas, state parks? What about county parks and boat ramps? he said.

Kreil said this attempt to take public lands off the table is worse than the last time, when Schmidt sponsored a bill to restore, among other tracts, his family land south of Mandan, now a wildlife management area shooting range and hunting grounds. He said amendments to include land around Lake Sakakawea, instead of just Lake Oahe, came up practically overnight in the Senate.

This affects thousands of North Dakotans and again, nobody knew about it. Its the same dirty pool, because they know if people know about it, it wouldnt pass muster, he said.

Of equal concern is the potential effect on the corps management plan for the reservoirs and Missouri River system, Kreil said, because North Dakota had to fight hard to make a case for including recreation in system management, along with navigation and flood control.

Recreation is a defined purpose and people dont realize the implications, Kreil said. The ramifications of this are very poorly understood  how are they even going to define which heir to deal with?

Schmidt sponsored previous legislation on the matter, but is not a sponsor on the resolution now in play. Asked for comment on HCR3019, he said, I just read it and have no comment.

The federal law to restore tribal land prevented individuals from benefiting and requires the land be held in tribal trust status by the Department of the Interior.

Porter said there's no sure outcome with the resolution in conference because the House disagrees with the Senate's amended version. If there's no agreement, it could go to the House and be defeated, or if a solution is found, it could pass both chambers again.
SPEARFISH, S.D. -- A candlelight vigil is planned for Tuesday night at the site of a multi-family dwelling where five children -- all sleeping in the same upstairs bedroom -- died early Saturday morning in a fire.

The children were from different families, although Spearfish Lt. Boyd Dean said he didnt know exactly how many families are involved as some were stepchildren.

Names of the children were released Monday. They included two siblings -- Justice Lillian Gene Roden, 9, and Tanlynn Crystal Rain Roden, 11 -- and three younger children -- Phibie Joyce Moyer, 6, Clinton James Johnson, 9 and Rhylin Zane Gee, 8.

Dean said they didnt know if they would release the names of the several adults and a 13-year-old child who escaped the fire, some of whom were treated for smoke inhalation at the Spearfish Regional Medical Center and released.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire, which occurred at about 4:20 a.m. Saturday. The home was fully engulfed when firefighters and police arrived. Dean said there is no indication it was arson.

The lead investigator is Mike Erickson with the South Dakota State Fire Marshals office.

Dean said there were numerous rental rooms in the two-story home near Black Hills State University in the city of about 11,000 people tucked into the Black Hills of far western South Dakota.

Dean said the community has given the parents and survivors an overwhelming display of support.

Besides the planning for the vigil, Dean said there have been flowers and teddy bears placed at the site of the fire and donations for the families have also poured in.

The United Methodist Church in Spearfish has offered their services as a drop off point for donations with Pastor Scott McKirdy and others from the church coordinating the effort.. The church is at 845 North 5th Street, with additional contact information at 605-642-3457 and office@spearfishumc.org.
WEST FARGO -- Upon the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, Callie Bahls was faced with a multitude of significant life decisions. Among them was whether to stay in the house where he had killed himself in the garage.

At first, I thought we would have to move, Bahls said.

Friends, family and others encouraged the family to move, but Bahls knew in heart that she had to stay. Its who she is: a fighter, not a quitter.

I was worried it would be too hard on the kids emotionally to leave, Bahls said. People always ask me, How can you handle it?

The truth is, she said in an interview last week, she couldnt handle it. But for her kids, she had no other choice.

Life forever changed

A native of Hawley, Minn., Bahls moved to Fargo after high school to attend North Dakota State University. In 2000, Callie met Lee Bahls, an engineering student who also attended NDSU. They fell in love, got married and moved into an apartment together near NDSUs campus.

That is where, two years later, Callie and Lee would give birth to their first child, a son named Landen. It wouldnt be long until they realized they were quickly outgrowing their little apartment near campus.

In 2004, the Bahls family purchased their first home, a cozy three-bedroom in West Fargo.

We liked that West Fargo had a diversion and that the house was a corner lot close to a school, Bahls said. We put a bid on it and we were so happy to get it because that was our first home as a family.

They were a family on the grow. In 2005, they welcomed their first daughter, Delaney. Two years later, another girl, Gracie. With three young kids at home, Callie and Lee decided it would be best for her to stay at home with the kids while Lee kept his job as an engineer. The Bahls were one big, happy family.

But as the next five years went by, something wasnt right with Lee, his wife said.

On Monday, July 6, 2009, the Bahls had just returned from spending the holiday weekend at the family lake cabin. Lee seemed off.

He seemed very tired and lethargic, Callie said.

She didnt think much of it, though, eating dinner with Lee before heading off to a nursing class. Little did she know, that would be the last time shed ever speak with her husband.

When she returned from her class, Callie opened the garage door to find her husband hanged to death inside. Life as Callie and her kids knew it was forever changed.

When I came and found him it was shocking, she said. It was very surreal.

Pulling back the curtain

In the month after her husbands suicide, Bahls took great lengths to avoid the garage where it had happened.

I put a curtain over the door to the garage because it had a window in it, she said. Sometimes at night your mind can play tricks on you, so I completely blocked the window so I couldnt even see out into the garage and I had anxiety even going near the door.

But Bahls knew that eventually the curtain had to be drawn, and she would have to face the anxiety that had consumed her life. She had her friends by her side when she took her first steps back into the garage.

It was one of those things where I made myself do it, Bahls said. I knew it would be emotional, but I did it.

She slowly continued to do it until she was confident enough to park her car in the garage, which she hadnt done since that day.

I remember I went into the garage and I parked the car and shut the garage door and ran into the house, she said.

Immediately upon entering her home, Bahls began to weep, and weep heavily.

It was a hard thing to do, she said. But it was also a victory because I got through it.

And with that, the Bahls family would never look back. There was now a light at the end of an extremely dark tunnel.

One thing that I always told myself -- and I even used to say it out loud -- is that I own this house, Bahls said. I will not let this house own me.

Moving on

The Bahls church, Living Hope Baptist Church of West Fargo, was a big help in recovering from Lees death. Fellow members of Living Hope volunteered to come over to the home and check in on the family and also helped out with maintenance checkups, work her husband used to keep an eye on.

They would just come over and check to see if my sump pump was working or to make sure I took the hose off the house before winter hit, Bahls said. They did things that as a single mom I may not have known what to check or what to do.

Volunteers from the church even gathered enough funds to be able to redo the garage. Insulation and sheetrock were added to make the garage look different.

Nearly eight years later, Bahls has remarried and added another boy to the family, 2-year-old Gavin. The family just recently sold their West Fargo home and will soon be moving to a new home in Glyndon, Minn., to begin a new chapter of their life.

Bahls said while shes ready to move on from the home, itll be tough for her kids. Landen, her oldest, is now 14.

I can see where the kids have a little hesitancy to move just because thats where all their memories of their Dad came from is in that house, she said.

The day they close on the sale and officially leave the house will be emotional, in both goods ways and bad, Bahls said.

Theres been a lot of joy and sorrow in that home. Weve added children, Ive lost a husband, gotten remarried, had another child, but I feel ready for the next step of what God has planned for us, she said.


The US Navy has announced a contract for 17 additional P-8A Poseidon plus provisions for 32 more aircraft, bringing their total contracted aircraft to 97. A Boeing photo

SEATTLE (BNS): Boeing has received a contract worth US$ 2.2 billion to deliver a total of 17 P-8A Poseidon long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to the US Navy and the Air Forces of Australia and UK.



While the US Navy will receive 11 of the MPAs, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will get four. The UK Royal Air Force's first two P-8As are also part of the agreement, with first delivery set for 2019, Boeing announced on April 3.



The agreement also includes options for 32 additional aircraft, as well as money for long-lead parts for future orders. After exercising all options, the total contract value will be $6.8 billion, the company said.



Boeing has so far delivered 53 Poseidons to the US Navy and two to the RAAF. The British Defence Ministry had in July 2016 announced to procure a total of nine P-8As for its Air Force.



The P-8A Poseidon multi-role aircraft is based on the Boeing 737-800 airframe with state-of-the art equipment for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions along with anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare operations.



The US Navy has deployed multiple squadrons of the aircraft around the globe since its operations began in 2013.



The Indian Navy also flies the P-8I variant of the aircraft. It has received eight aircraft to date and has signed a contract in July 2016 for four more P-8Is.




Surface-to-air missile Barak-8.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The government on Monday approved procurement of a fresh batch of Barak surface-to-air missiles for Naval warships from Israel to enhance India's maritime capability in view of the changing security dynamics in the Indian Ocean region.



A meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, approved capital acquisition proposals totalling over Rs 860 crore, including for the purchase of Barak missiles.



The clearance to procure Barak missiles from Israeli firm Rafael Advance Defense Systems Limited at an approximate cost of around Rs 500 crore comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit to the Jewish country. Almost all ships of the Indian navy will be equipped with these missiles.



Chairing the DAC meeting after taking charge as defence minister on March 14, Jaitley also issued directions to speed up procurement of military platform and weapons, defence ministry sources said.



The DAC, which is Defence Ministry's highest decision making body for capital acquisition, also accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for procurement of equipment such as underwater robot to counter mines in the sea.



The equipment is being procured as a repeat order with 'buy global' categorisation at a cost of approximately Rs 311 crore.



At the meeting, Jaitley took stock of various procurement proposals and issued directions for close monitoring and expeditious clearance of pending capital acquisition cases, said the sources.



He particularly asked for close monitoring of the proposals which are with CFA (Competent Finanancial Authority) and CNC (Contract Negotiation Committee).



The sources said DAC also reviewed several old proposals and gave instructions for their speedy processing.



The DAC also cleared procurement of 'Expendable Bathythermograph Systems', a small torpedo-shaped device that holds a temperature sensor and a transducer to detect changes in water temperature, for the Indian Navy which will be acquired from the US.




A File Photo of T-90 Bhisma Main Battle Tank.

NEW YORK (TASS-DEFENSE): India has started talks with Russia to discuss the upgrade of about 1,000 T-90 tanks, Bloomberg business news agency reported.



A multi-million contract may be signed, the news agency added.



According to sources, the talks began on March 17-18 in New Delhi where Indias Defence Ministry was holding a relevant conference involving Russia.



The T-90 is one the most hi-tech tanks in the world. It can accurately fire ammunition of various types, including missiles, both in the daytime and at night.



Tanks of the type were involved in the Shatrujeet army exercise held in the state of Rajasthan in northwest India in April 2016.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Fathers Pantry Inc. will host the eighth annual Easter Meal in the Park, on Good Friday, April 14, at the Fellowship Hall by the Church on 1037 Lorne Ave.

As usual, the meal is free of charge to the poor, hungry, less fortunate and homeless.

Every year on the Easter weekend there are four days where the soup kitchen and similar outlets are closed and access to free nutritious food in Brandon is minimized. Traditionally the meal was served at Princess Park outside, but due to the cold weather the meal is served indoors where people can enjoy warm surroundings and fellowship.

The Fathers Pantry Inc. is a Christian based organization of volunteers that relies entirely on community donations. Sponsors include the Bethel Christian Assembly, Blue Hills Bakery, Komfort Kitchen, Waldersee Christ Lutheran Church, City of Brandon, Wilfred Baer (Sidney), Super Store, Canada Safeway, Brandon Vineyard Christian Assembly, Kuipers Baker, Sobeys, and individuals from within the community.

Last year, Meal in the Park served more than 500 hot meals and handed out more than 300 sandwiches at the Youth for Christ building. This year, they will be in the Fellowship Hall serving a hot meal from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are being distributed to the needy by the Loaves and Fishes Feeding Program.

According to a press release, most of those who partake in the meal are primarily children, teens and seniors.

Everyone is welcome and no one will be refused.

For more information, contact Wendy Flannigan, wendhy01@mymts.net; Lisa Halter, ladiejane@gmail.com; or Rose Parker, bluer13@hotmail.com.

 The Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A witness to a shooting has been fined for lying to police about one important detail.

Crown attorney Brett Rach said that, while the woman provided police with some information about the shooting, she lied about her name.

Certainly, Miss Sandy was an important witness. Im not sure why she decided to lie to police  It is concerning that Miss Sandy, she did have some direct involvement that would have been quite helpful to the investigation, Rach said.

On Sept. 17, a shotgun was fired at a Ninth Street home and a woman received minor injuries, either from flying glass or pellets from the blast itself.

Police interviewed a number of potential witnesses, including Desiree Faith Sandy. Rach said that Sandy provided investigators with an account of what she knew  which included hearing at least one shot, seeing people running, and driving an injured person to the hospital except she identified herself to police by her sisters name.

That sibling must have found out, because she called police about 10 days later to report her sisters misuse of her name.

Sandy later admitted to lying she thought she was going to be arrested and wanted to avoid a night in jail  perhaps because she hadnt reported to her probation officer like she was meant to.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to personation for the above events.

She also admitted to failing to attend court twice, breach of probation and to providing police with the wrong name on another occasion.

In total, she was fined $700 and put on probation for a year.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com
North Dakota House members killed a study of the states long-term energy plan on Monday, included in a bill that prompted debate over wind energys impact on the states coal industry.

Meanwhile, state legislative leaders are calling on U.S. Sen. John Hoeven to repeal federal subsidies for wind energy they say are negatively affecting coal.

Most of the discussion on the state House floor Monday focused on amendments to Senate Bill 2314, which would have required the Public Service Commission to consider the need for a proposed energy facility, a factor not currently in the agencys criteria.

Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, R-Fargo, said while the amendment did not specifically call for a moratorium on wind development, a proposal defeated earlier this year in the Senate, she thought it had a similar goal.

This version, while worded more discreetly, has the same intent, to hamstring new energy development with the intent of protecting the coal industry, specifically intending to prevent additional wind development in the state, Roers Jones said.

Other opponents said the amendments would prompt wind farms to be developed in neighboring South Dakota or Minnesota, causing North Dakota to lose out on property tax revenue, jobs and payments to landowners.

Why do we want to hang a closed for business sign on North Dakota? asked Rep. David Monson, R-Osnabrock.

Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, who supported the amendments, said the proposal was not intended to be a war on wind, but to require the PSC to determine whether energy is needed in the grid when considering proposals.

House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, who also urged support of the amendments, said he doesnt see the proposal as threatening an industry, but as protecting the reliability and affordability of electricity for consumers.

House members defeated the amendments in a 27-62 vote.

Without the amendments, the bill approved by the Senate called for Legislative Management to consider studying the long-term energy plan for the state.

Carlson said the study had no teeth and he wouldnt support it. He urged legislators to protect the reliability of electricity in future sessions and not throw coal under the bus.

Lets make sure that as you promote alternatives, that you never forget that the key to this is the baseload that goes with it to supplant those, Carlson said.

The full bill failed in a 13-77 vote.

Carlson and other state Republican leaders also directed concerns to Hoeven, R-N.D., in a recent letter prompted by a news release in which Hoeven welcomed Xcel Energys announcement of seven wind farms planned in the Upper Midwest, including North Dakota.

The news release noted that Hoeven worked to support a compromise to extend the wind production tax credit (PTC) for five years with a phase down to a market-based rate.

The letter, signed by House and Senate majority leaders and four legislative committee leaders, called on Hoeven to help repeal the wind tax credits immediately.

We are concerned about the federal government subsidizing out-of-state companies to use North Dakota as a staging area to mine federal taxpayer funds, the letter states.

The legislators requested a meeting with Hoeven to discuss the role of federal and state policies in protecting affordable, reliable and clean electricity in North Dakota.

Hoeven said he called Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, because his was the first name on the letter, and offered to meet with the legislators.

In an interview Monday, Hoeven said the wind energy tax credits are phasing out and will expire in 2019. Hoeven said hes also working to support the coal industry by reducing the regulatory burden created under the Obama administration and supporting research and development projects.

I think were making real progress in trying to help the lignite-fired industry, Hoeven said.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO  How much should the federal government pay toward health-care costs?

Hardly a week goes by without this thorny issue being disputed between federal and provincial governments  even now that the federal budget has been tabled and health accord agreements have been reached, one-by-one.

Theres considerable scope for inflating or deflating the numbers on both sides. The simple solution often repeated is that health costs should be shared between the federal government and the provinces 50-50.

But this is far from simple and very misleading.

The old model of shared-cost financing (with the federal government paying about half) has not existed since 1977. At that time, the shared-cost model was replaced with a block transfer of funds  with roughly half of the new transfer being in the form of tax points. The federal government reduced its tax rate, allowing provinces to increase their rates without any net effect on the taxpayer.

So, since 1977, the federal cash contribution toward health care has been roughly 25 per cent of provincial medicare expenditures. Today, provincial governments routinely  and conveniently  ignore the tax points when calculating how much money they receive for health care from the federal government.

To make matters more confusing, the block transfer (called the Canada Health Transfer) is not earmarked for provincial health ministries to spend on health care. Instead, the transfer goes into provincial general revenue  and its up to the provinces where and how they spend it.

This funding system makes it impossible to know whether a Canada Health Transfer dollar from Ottawa ends up being spent on health care.

Additionally, the cost-shared model didnt cover all provincial health expenditures. Federal money was directed only to universal coverage for medically-required hospital and medical-care services. This still applies  the Canada Health Act definition of insured services only requires provinces to cover hospital and medical-care (largely doctor) services, although they can (and often do) go beyond that.

So how much does the federal government contribute to health care?

If we very roughly estimate the federal contribution to provincial spending on hospital and physician services  without counting the tax points or including all provincial health spending  we end up with a federal cash contribution of close to 30 per cent.

Why, then, is there the perception of a funding crisis? Why are the provinces crying foul when it comes to health-care funding?

One key reason is that how we deliver health care has changed.

Provincial governments spend considerably on items that arent insured under the Canada Health Act. This includes outpatient prescription drugs (since drugs administered in hospitals must be covered), long-term care, home care, rehabilitation, dental care and mental health.

There are no national standards or conditions on covering these services.

Researchers have long pointed out the potential for improving outcomes and cutting costs if provinces and territories worked together to identify and implement best practices and potentially gain buying power. Some of this is now, thankfully, beginning to happen (e.g., purchasing pharmaceuticals on a national basis).

So rather than squabbling over whether the federal government is contributing its fair share, its time to move on. We need federal and provincial governments to talk about the important areas of health care never required to be covered by medicare. This is particularly pertinent as technology allows more care to be delivered by non-physicians in homes and in the community.

Provinces are spending more in health arenas outside of the Canada Health Act, with considerable coverage variability across jurisdictions.

Our governments need to work out a 21st-century health arrangement. Filling these gaps with better and more cost-effective coverage should be the focus of first ministers.

Targeted funding for some of the home care and mental-health programs in the bilateral agreements could be a first step. But they still omit critical cost drivers such as pharmacare, dental care and rehabilitation.

Its time we started constructing a better health-care future for all Canadians.

 Greg Marchildon and Raisa Deber are expert advisers with EvidenceNetwork.ca and professors in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

 Troy Media
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/04/2017 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brexit is underway, as Britain has officially started the process to leave the European Union. Its being characterized as a separation prior to a divorce  the metaphor is an easy way to explain this major political event.

The decision by the United Kingdom to divest itself of the shackles of the European Union, particularly as it relates to fiscal and immigration policy, was laden with concern about the effect of the global on the local, particularly outside the major urban areas where unemployment is an issue.

This speaks as well to the fears that resulted in U.S. President Donald Trumps election in November, with those in manufacturing areas or in states that rely on coal mining for employment worrying about job losses to the global economy.

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England and former Bank of Canada governor, remarked in an address to a Liverpool University in December that the world is in a period of great disruption, similar to the rise of the Industrial Revolution and socialism in the 1860s.

Mr. Carney underscored the role changing technology has had on the way people work, trade, consume and live. As he suggested, workers are increasingly linked by global supply chains that have spread from goods to services. In parallel, an explosion of technological innovations has brought access, at the click of a virtual button, to the sum of human knowledge to three-and-a-half billion people.

As Mr. Carney outlined, globalization didnt have the effect many anticipated. It didnt distribute wealth equally. In fact, global inequality is greater than ever in most advanced economies, with the income share of the top one per cent rising to 20 per cent of all income.

For Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, neo-liberalism is dead, as Brexit certainly indicates. Neo-liberalism is a modified form of liberalism that tends to favour free-market capitalism and the advancement of the private sector. This movement toward free trade, globalization, open markets, privatization, deregulation and reductions in government spending  which dominated Western political and economic thinking over the last 30 years  is sputtering its last, Stiglitz says.

Weve gone from a neoliberal euphoria that markets work well almost all the time and all we need to do is keep governments on course, to markets dont work and the debate is now about how we get governments to function in ways that can alleviate this, Stiglitz told the U.K.s Business Insider last August.

Mr. Stiglitz is joined in his renouncement of neo-liberalism by other stalwarts of the system, including former Australian prime minister Mark Keating, who said last week that neo-liberalism has run its course. Mr. Keating suggested experiments in privatization have failed.

Yet, privatization and deregulation, along with reductions in government spending, remain the clarion call of governments  especially conservative governments.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Walls latest budget, delivered in late March, mentions wage cuts for public-sector workers and privatization. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is pushing to cut down on red tape so the economy can thrive, raising concerns that the environment will be a casualty.

And while Trump has pushed for an America first policy on manufacturing, he, too, is deregulating and privatizing while cutting salaries.

This is a period of great disruption, with the economy still faltering as it attempts to rebound from 2008. Mr. Carney suggests to move forward, governments must grow economies by rebalancing the mix of monetary policy, fiscal policy and structural reforms.

Doing more of the same isnt working.

 Winnipeg Free Press & The Brandon Sun
The Tanaiste and Justice Minister will outline proposals for an independent review of the Gardai to Cabinet this morning.

It is understood it would involve giving more power to the Policing Authority and the Garda Ombudsman.
Gardai have arrested a man in Dublin today who is being described as a "world-renowned hitman".

The man, who is Estonian and nicknamed "The Butcher", was said to have a list of Hutch associates on him when he was detained this afternoon on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

According to Independent.ie, the wanted criminal also had details of their movements and various disguises, while he was suspected of being hired by the Kinahans.

Two others, Irish men in their 30s and 50s, were arrested in the raid when officers forced their way into a house in Blakestown.

One is said to be an associate of the Kinahan cartel. Cocaine worth around 5,000 was also seized.

One of them is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, and the second is being questioned on suspicion of possession of drugs.

The Butcher, who is in his 50s, is known abroad and Gardai are checking with Interpol.

A senior source told the paper: "This man had written details of Hutch associates and specific information about their movements. He also had a number of disguises.

"This man is world-renowned and it is suspected he was hired by the Kinahan cartel. He is a war veteran with military training."

They are being held at Garda stations in West Dublin.
The British government is focused on returning the North's powersharing institutions as soon as possible, Secretary of State James Brokenshire has said.

On day two of a 10-day negotiation period between Stormont parties and the Irish and British governments, Mr Brokenshire (pictured) said that devolved government was vital for industrial and economic success.

He called on members of the business community to encourage political parties "to deliver a functioning and effective Executive so we can continue to build an economy that works for everyone".

Speaking following a meeting with his Business Advisory Group in Belfast, Mr Brokenshire said: "Political stability is a fundamental basis for industrial success.

"Securing strong, stable, devolved institutions in Northern Ireland that will provide leadership, support innovation and boost skills will be integral to delivering on Northern Ireland's potential as a place to invest and do business.

"It is, therefore, vital that devolved government is returned to Northern Ireland as soon as possible and the Government's clear focus is on achieving that."

Party leaders have again met at Stormont Castle for roundtable talks in an effort to strike a deal to resolve the political crisis.

The parties missed last week's deadline for forming a powersharing executive.

Mr Brokenshire has given them until April 18, when Westminster returns after the Easter recess, to reach a deal.

A number of matters related to the divisive issue of legacy were agreed among political parties on Tuesday. However, more contentious Troubles-related issues are set for discussion on Wednesday.

Legacy, an Irish Language Act and Brexit have become major stumbling blocks to the Stormont negotiations.

The SDLP's Colin McGrath said it was too early to predict if this round of talks would be successful.

He added, however, that the roundtable structure of the negotiations was allowing the parties to focus more of their attention on the difficult issues.

"I don't think you can call an outcome to the talks on day two," he said. "The fact all parties are engaging and being open and honest is going to make achieving a solution much easier.

"I think we should take the time to make sure any deal reached is comprehensive and solid. If that takes an extra day or two it is well worth the time.

"I think we should take as long as it reasonably takes to get a solution."
Update 5.55pm: A new row has broken out over the future of water charges after Fine Gael accused other parties of backing out of a previous deal.

Last week the major parties agreed in principle to only issue fines or charges to households who use an excessive amount of water.

However, Fine Gael has now accused the other parties of voting in favour of language which suggests there will be no charge at all.

Party chairman Martin Heydon says the State will be in breach of EU law if there is no charge for excessive use.

Mr Heydon said: "We want to have a situation where those who use over and beyond a very generous amount make a contribution for that. We don't believe other taxpayers should have to pay for somebody who uses an excessive amount.

"Language is important here, and if ultimately we are going to have a charge for excess usage, then that has to be reflected in the wording of the report."

Update 4.30pm:Sinn Fein's Eoin O'Broin has said Fine Gael today tried to restore water charges through the back door.

It comes after the Oireachtas committee on water today formally voted to scrap charges, and fund water through general taxation.

The position was sealed after three votes this afternoon, where Fine Gael voted to retain up-front charges.

Mr O'Broin said: "The report as it currently stands calls for domestic water services to be funded through existing general taxation and all talk of a separate charge for excessive use, normal and abnormal use or the State being a customer of Irish Water has been defeated.

"We'll go back into commitee tomorrow at 1.30pm, we'll look at meters, we'll look at the issue of wilful wastage and we're hopeful that the report can be concluded this week."

Update 4.10pm: Fine Gael has abandoned this afternoon's meetings of the committee on water charges, after losing in a series of votes earlier.

The party was defeated 14-6 in a vote to have the water system funded through general taxation.

The committee met at lunchtime today and was due to gather again this afternoon, but Fine Gael's six members have made themselves unavailable.

It is believed the party wants to take time to consider today's votes which will be reflected in final report.

Earlier:Anti-water charge campaigners have claimed victory in defeating the failed charging regime and say up to one billion euro went down the drain in wasted costs and spending on meters, writes Irish Examiner political correspondent Juno McEnroe.

Right2Water's Brendan Ogle though said there was still a battle to ensure activists are not jailed in upcoming prosecutions for protesting and for a referendum on keeping water in public ownership.

Brendan Ogle. File photo.

Speaking in Dublin, he and other anti-water charge campaigners said they had a number of objections to the final negotiations and recommendations of a special Oireachtas Committee on Water.

This group is meeting today with the intention of formally recommending the end of domestic regular charges and of refunding bills to homeowners.

But some Right2Water members are opposed to draft plans to include that apartments be bulk metered and that new builds are fitted with devices.

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy said this could lead to the reintroduction of water charges by the back door. It was a trojan horse, he warned.

This the final phase in a momentous battle, said the Dublin TD, who is also facing serious charges for false imprisonment at an anti-water charge protest in court later this month.

Mr Ogle said 500m had been spent on installing domestic water meters and almost another half billion had gone on work through Irish Water, including on the billing system, accountants and consultants.

Some Right2Water members also disagree with the Oireachtas committee's proposed calculations for wilful wastage charge for water. The draft committee recommendations suggest any home using 1.7 times the amount for normal usage could face fines after warnings.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has written a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pleading for the release of a jailed Irishman on humanitarian grounds.

Ibrahim Halawa, 21, has been incarcerated without trial for almost four years after being detained during Muslim Brotherhood protests in Cairo in 2013.

In recent weeks he has been refusing food while suffering a heart complaint and skin disease.

Mr Kenny revealed an Irish GP travelled to Wadi al Natrum prison last week along with ambassador Damien Cole and met with Mr Halawa for an hour-and-a-half.

He sat in on a medical examination carried out by an Egyptian doctor and has written a report on his observations, which is expected to be given to the Halawa family in the coming days.

Mr Kenny said the GP recommended Mr Halawa's release on humanitarian grounds and for him to be flown back to Ireland to undergo further specialist tests.

The Taoiseach revealed the detail of his plea to President el-Sisi after being pressured in the Dail on the Government's response to the long-running case.

"We are very concerned about it and it is receiving the most urgent attention of any Irish citizen abroad," he said.

Mr Halawa, the son of a prominent Muslim cleric in Dublin, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, was imprisoned after being detained in a mosque near Ramses Square in Cairo as the Muslim Brotherhood protested over the removal of elected president Mohamed Morsi in August 2013.

He has been in jail for more than 1,300 days awaiting a mass trial along with hundreds of others.

The case is due before a court again on Wednesday.

During his time in jail his family have reported that he has been tortured, suffered electric shocks and beatings, been spat on and moved without their knowledge.

His sister Somaia revealed he collapsed on Sunday and was rushed to the clinic in Wadi al Natrum prison after his blood sugar level plummeted but he refused glucose treatment after regaining consciousness.

He was also said to be suffering dehydration and vomiting.

Another sister, Khadija, said she did not recognise her brother when she went to visit him last week for the first time in three months.

President el-Sisi has given previous assurances that Mr Halawa will be freed but only once his trial is over.
Update 11am: The widower of murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavey has offered a 50,000 reward for help catching his wife's killer.

John McAreavey has returned to Mauritius where his new bride was strangled to make an emotional public appeal for help.

He said he felt betrayed by the justice authorities on the holiday island, accusing them of inaction in the stalled investigation.

Mrs McAreavey, a 27-year-old teacher who was the only daughter of Tyrone gaelic football manager Mickey Harte, was killed in her room in a luxury resort hotel in 2011.

Two former hotel workers were acquitted of the crime after a high-profile trial in the summer of 2012.

Mr McAreavey, who has since remarried, said his quest for justice would not end until those responsible were brought to justice.

"Over the past six-and-a-half years our resolve to win justice for Michaela remains undiminished," he said.

"We believe we have given the Mauritian authorities every chance to deliver on their very public promise that justice would be done.

"However, until this visit the reality falls far short of that and as the years have passed it appears that the unofficial policy has become one of 'out of sight - out of mind.'

"But we have no intention of just slipping out of mind or sight. Michaela deserves justice and we intend to get it. We should not have needed to make this very painful return journey.

"Put quite bluntly, we have felt let down time and time again, and, indeed, feel betrayed by a process that has failed us and Michaela."

The reward will be paid to anyone who provides information that leads to the successful prosecution of the killer or killers.

Mr McAreavey was accompanied by his sister Claire and Mrs McAreavey's brother Mark as he addressed the media in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis.

He has already met police chiefs and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on the visit.

"Today we take some comfort from the assurances given by the Prime Minister yesterday that Michaela will get justice, but to achieve that we need the help of those who may know something, but have not yet come forward for whatever reason," he said.

"Therefore, we are now making a direct appeal to the people of Mauritius, many of whom have shown us kindness and sympathy, and who were outraged at the atrocity at the time, to come forward with any piece of information, no matter how small, but which may be relevant in bringing the day of justice closer for the killers of Michaela.

"It is our sincere hope that the substantial reward which we are offering will send out a powerful message about our determination to keep on seeking justice."

A confidential telephone hotline has been set up to enable people to contact the Mauritian police anonymously.

"As time marches on this could be our final chance to obtain justice for Michaela, but we can't do it alone," he said.

"We need the help of the people of Mauritius. Please help us as our fight goes on."

Earlier: The widower of murdered Irish honeymooner Michaela McAreavey has returned to the holiday island where she died to make a fresh appeal for help in catching her killer.

John McAreavey had meetings with the Mauritian police, prosecutors and the Prime Minister yesterday - he's due to hold a major press conference today.

27-year-old Michaela was found strangled in the bath of her hotel room less than two weeks after her wedding in January 2011.

Two hotel workers were found not guilty of her murder in 2012.

An elite task force has now been placed on the investigation.
A suspected government chemical attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria has killed dozens of people.

If confirmed, it would be the deadliest chemical attack in four years.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which operates through a network of activists on the ground, said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

US President Donald Trump has blamed the Assad regime for the chemical attack and said it was a consequence of the Obama administration's "weakness and irresolution".

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Mr Trump said.

"President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack, which he called "reprehensible".

Mr Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Mr Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Center, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows victims of a suspected chemical attack, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria.

Doctors struggled to cope and videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies.

Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year civil war.

After the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad's government agreed to destroy its chemical arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons convention.

Today's incident drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including the White House, which called it a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilised world".

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's high representative, Federica Mogherini.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Center, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian doctors treating a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria.

The Syrian government "categorically rejected" claims that it was responsible, saying it does not possess chemical weapons, has not used them in the past and will not use them in the future.

It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government.

The Russian Defence Ministry also denied any involvement

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults.

Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pick-up trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a UN investigation said used sarin gas.

Faced with international outrage over that attack, President Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal.

His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Mr Assad declared everything.

The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

AP
The North Dakota Senate voted Monday to provide $1 million for repairs meant to stop erosion at the Double Ditch Historic Site.

If also approved by the state House, the appropriation would shore up the majority of funding needed by the State Historical Society of North Dakota to preserve the Mandan Indian village, a site north of Bismarck, once occupied by thousands of American Indians, where more than a dozen graves have recently been exposed.

The $3.5 million project has been in limbo this legislative session. The House voted in February to discourage the historical society from taking out a $1.25 million loan authorized last session and needed to complete the project. The House did this by writing legislative intent language into the bill that says, would the agency take out a loan from the Bank of North Dakota, the state would not pay it back. In essence, the House was telling the historical society to raise the money from private donors.

The million dollars for Double Ditch would be moved from the Parks and Recreation budget, HB1019, to the historical society budget, HB1018.

Both budgets were approved by a 46-1 vote in the Senate Monday.

These dollars were supposed to be given from the state Water Commission to the Parks and Recreation Department last session. The money was intended for development of recreational opportunities on sovereign lands, but no spending authority was given to the department. This year, the House appropriated the money for that development.

Sovereign lands are areas, including beds and islands, that lie within the high water marks of lakes and streams.

Sen. Ronald Sorvaag, R-Fargo, of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the reasoning behind the transfer was that the Double Ditch project fell within the same general concept of developing land near the river. But it constituted an "immediate need" and a "defined project."

Sen. Karen Krebsbach, R-Minot, said the committee, "thought it would be a better fit taking care of Double Ditch at this time than recreational planning."

The Senate also removed the legislative intent language from the historical society budget. This reinstates the agency's ability to take out a loan for the additional $250,000 or more, if the million dollars is moved again during a conference committee, according to Krebsbach.

"Its not over until its passed out of both chambers," she said.
Eight more people, including a 15-year-old boy, have appeared in court in England over a suspected hate attack which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life.

Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and set upon while at a bus stop with two others in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

He was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleed to the brain, and is now recovering after being placed in an induced coma.

Liam Neylen, 19, Ellie Leite, 19, Kyran Evans, 23, all from Croydon, and James Neves, 22, of Beckenham, south-east London, spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, where they were charged with violent disorder.

Ellie Leite, 19 (left), leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court today.

Ben Harman, 20, from Croydon, appeared accused of violent disorder and dangerous driving.

A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, both from the Croydon area, were charged with violent disorder.

A third youth, a 17-year-old boy from the Croydon area, was charged with violent disorder and wounding with intent.

All eight defendants were granted conditional bail and magistrate Terry Carpenter sent the case for trial at Croydon Crown Court on May 2.

It takes the total amount of suspects accused of involvement with the attack to 13, after five people, including two sets of siblings, appeared in court on Monday.

Liam Neylen, 19, leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court today

On Tuesday, District Judge Robert Roscoe amended an order from Mr Carpenter banning the identification of the victim following representations from the Press Association.

On Monday, Daryl Davis, 20, his sister Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and his brother Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, appeared in court charged with violent disorder relating to the same incident.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and the Davis siblings were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.

James Neves, 22 (centre), leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court today.

They will appear at Croydon Crown Court on May 1.
Gibraltar has criticised Madrid for breaching UN rules after a Spanish naval vessel was ordered out of British territorial waters off the Rock.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar due to Brexit.

The patrol boat Infanta Cristina was told to exit the area by the Royal Navy unit stationed in the British overseas territory.

The Spanish naval incursion follows the country's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis telling the UK to calm down after former Tory leader Lord Howard suggested UK Prime Minister Theresa May might be ready to go to war to keep Gibraltar British.

A spokesman for the government of Gibraltar said: "Today's illegal incursion by a Spanish naval vessel is a timely demonstration of the way in which Spain routinely conducts itself in breach of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is almost as if Lord Howard has unnerved someone senior in the Spanish navy."

Tensions increased after an EU document suggested that Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements regarding the British overseas territory.

This prompted Lord Howard to say he believed Mrs May would defend the Rock as Margaret Thatcher did the Falklands.

While the EU Brexit negotiating guidelines released by European Council president Donald Tusk last week made no reference to Spain's claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, the decision to give Madrid a key role in deciding if a trade deal will apply to the Rock caused deep unease in Britain.

A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "The Royal Navy challenges all unlawful maritime incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters - and did so again on this occasion."
A group of 28 German tourists have been robbed by men who stopped their bus on a rural road in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas.

The tourists were robbed on a road heading towards Palenque, the site of famous Mayan ruins, according to the state prosecutor's office.
Theresa May has denied Britain is selling its principles for trade deals as she prepares to fly into Saudi Arabia amid widespread criticism over its human rights record.

The UK Prime Minister has faced repeated calls to suspend arms sales following claims of breaches of international law in Yemen under the Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign.

Labour called on Mrs May to halt weapons exports to the state immediately and urged her to back an independent investigation into war crimes in the conflict.

But the PM insisted the UK must engage with Saudi Arabia rather than snipe from the sidelines.

She told the BBC: "We are concerned about the humanitarian situation. That's why the UK last year was the fourth largest donor to the Yemen in terms of humanitarian aid - 103 million. We will be continuing with that.

"And, yes, we will be raising the humanitarian issue. We believe it is important that we recognise the threat that there is in terms of people's lives. We will be supporting that through the aid and support that we give."

Asked whether she would be raising human rights issues with her Saudi hosts, Mrs May said: "The important thing for the United Kingdom when we meet people and we want to raise issues of human rights - and that may be in a number of countries around the world - is if we have the relationship with them, then we are able to do that.

"So, rather than just standing on the sidelines and sniping, it's important to engage, to talk to people, to talk about our interests and to raise, yes, difficult issues when we feel it's necessary to do so."

Asked if the UK was selling its principles cheaply for the sake of trade and arms deals, she replied: "No we are not doing that. What we are doing is continuing the links that we have had for a long time with countries that are important to us around the world."

The Saudis back the war-torn Yemen's internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Britain has continued to allow arms sales, with more than 3.3 billion 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.
A 22-year old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St Petersburg subway that killed 14 people, Russian investigators have said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second biggest and Mr Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister on Tuesday raised the death toll from 11 to 14 and said 49 people are still in hospital. Authorities did not say whether the suicide attacker was included in the death toll.

City hall officials said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens had been killed in the attack.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

Russian investigators on Tuesday said the bomb was set off by a suicide bomber and identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the man's DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the man's identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova who did take the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

Monday's explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

"I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities, who said it helped evacuation efforts and reduced the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

Oleg Alexeyev, 53, who trains sniffer dogs for the police, went to the Technological Institute station on Tuesday morning to lay flowers in memory of those who died nearby.

"I travelled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

Four stations on the subway were closed again on Tuesday due to a bomb threat, but later reopened.

People from Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian former Soviet republics are common sights in St Petersburg, home to a large number of migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia.

While most Central Asian migrants in Russia hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.

Patriach Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a service at Moscow's main cathedral on Tuesday for those killed in the blast.

"This terrorist act is a threat to all of us, all our nation," he said.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

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.

Separately, in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, two police officers were killed in the early hours on Tuesday in a suspected Islamic militant attack. Alexander Zhilkin, governor of the region, said the attackers are on the run.

- AP
Six Iranian migrants have been rescued from a sinking boat as they attempted to cross the English Channel.

French authorities received a distress call from the small fishing vessel, which was travelling from Calais to Dover, just after midnight on Tuesday.

Search operations were hampered by "thick fog" but the group was eventually located at 2.45am around one mile (1.6km) north-east of Calais, French maritime authority Cross said.

The UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it had been assisting French authorities with the search operation.

The six migrants, who were suffering from mild hypothermia, received first aid before being handed over to Calais border police, Cross said.

A permanent telephone link was kept with the group throughout the search operation.

A spokeswoman for the MCA said: "The UK Coastguard has been working with the French Coastguard overnight following a call from a small fishing vessel reporting that it had six people on board and that it was sinking.

"The vessel was en route from Calais to Dover. The UK Coastguard broadcast requests for all shipping to look for the small vessel and the Dover RNLI lifeboat was launched.

"A French patrol vessel located and rescued the six people in the early hours of this morning.

"They are being taken back to Calais harbour where they will be met by French police."

Cross warned that such journeys are "extremely risky and dangerous", with strong currents, winds and heavy traffic on the Channel.
Six more people including a 15-year-old boy have been charged over a suspected hate attack which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life.

The Metropolitan Police said the suspects will appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on Tuesday following the attack in south London last week.

The group, aged between 15 and 22, have all been charged with violent disorder, while two, Ben Harman, 20, and a 17-year-old boy, have also charged with racially aggravated GBH.

Liam Neylen, 19, Ellie Leite, 19, James Neves, 22, and a 15-year-old boy are the others accused by police on Tuesday of involvement with the attack.

Harman is also charged with dangerous driving, police said.

The six, who are all from the Croydon area except Neves, who is of no fixed address, will appear in court alongside a 17-year-old girl and Kyran Evans, 23, police said.

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.

He was set upon while at a bus stop with two others, Dilshad Mohammed, an Iraqi Kurd, and Hamo Mustafa, in Croydon on Friday night.

Approximately 20 people were involved in the incident, police said, which left Reker with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and a bleed on his brain.

On Monday, five people, including two sets of siblings, appeared in court charged with violent disorder.

Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses during the short hearing.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and siblings Danyelle and Daryl Davis were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.
South Africa's president has responded to the political crisis that erupted after he fired the finance minister, acknowledging that public disputes at the top of the government are a "serious weakness".

His admission came as the country's biggest labour group urged him to resign.

The call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a traditional ally of the ruling party, increased pressure on President Jacob Zuma, who made his first public comments about last week's dismissal of finance minister Pravin Gordhan.

The firing deepened worries about government corruption and infighting.

South Africa's rand fell on Monday after Standard & Poor's, an international credit ratings agency, lowered the country to below investment grade, citing political instability and threats to economic growth.

In a speech in an industrial area of the capital, Pretoria, Mr Zuma thanked Mr Gordhan for assisting in the handover of the finance ministry to successor Malusi Gigaba, and he said the government "will do everything possible" to promote unity within its ranks.

"We know that public statements which indicate disagreements within government by ministers, for example, demoralise our people and create confusion," said Mr Zuma, who still commands significant support within the ruling African National Congress party despite growing calls for him to resign.

"This is a serious weakness and we shall attend to it within renewed vigour," the president said.

Mr Gigaba said the Standard & Poor's downgrade was a setback but noted what he described as the strengths of the South African economy, including increasing exports and a strong banking system.

The alliance between the ruling party and the trade union federation, or COSATU, has come under strain in the past.

On Tuesday, Bheki Ntshalintshali, the federation's general secretary, referred to Mr Zuma's "negligent leadership" and cited scandals including a Constitutional Court ruling against the president over millions of dollars in state spending on his private home.

"COSATU believes that he is no longer the right person to unite and lead the movement, the alliance and the country," Mr Ntshalintshali said, according to the African News Agency.

Some senior ruling party figures have also criticised the dismissal of Mr Gordhan, who generally received positive reviews for his strong anti-corruption stance and stewardship of one of Africa's biggest economies.

They include deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and Zweli Mkhize, the party's treasurer-general.

Over the weekend, Mr Ramaphosa called for South Africans to get rid of "greedy" and "corrupt" people, though he did not mention anyone by name.

Emboldened opposition groups are planning demonstrations against Mr Zuma, hoping to capitalise on national discontent with the party that has led South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is pushing for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Mr Zuma; previous votes have failed to dislodge him because the ruling party has a majority of seats.

The government has said social media calls to hold protests against Mr Zuma on Friday are designed to damage the country's image and economy.

It referred to messages that it said have called for a "shutdown of the country" and warned against any illegal protests that could lead to violence and destruction of property.

AP
Figures released under freedom of information confirm the NBN roll-out in Canberra is slower than many other regions.

The communications department last week disclosed connection data for each federal electorate.

New data reveals the Eden-Monaro electorate has more premises connected to the NBN than Canberra. Credit:Angie Gillies

In the seat of Canberra at November 25 last year, only 18,514 homes and businesses had NBN services available.

The other ACT seat of Fenner fared better, with 32,434 premises connected while the adjoining bellwether marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro had 45,209 connections.
"The political and technical responsibilities for infrastructure management need to be separated and clearly defined," it says.

The report says infrastructure planning should be removed from election cycles, adding that political interference often leads to inferior outcomes and higher costs.

The Snowy Hydro announcement was an example of ad hoc infrastructure planning, according to Engineers Australia.

The peak body representing 100,000 members releases its state of the profession report on Wednesday.

Politicians should stop meddling with infrastructure planning, according to Engineers Australia.

Infrastructure spokesman Chris Warnock told Fairfax Media that major projects should be thoroughly planned and rigorously assessed.

"The timeframe needed for that to occur is typically longer than the political cycle, especially for the mega projects that are worth more than a billion dollars in capital cost," he said.

Mr Warnock cited the Prime Minister's $2 billion Snowy Hydro announcement as an example of ad hoc decision making.

"That concept is not listed anywhere in Infrastructure Australia's latest plan, which was only released in February," he said.

"There's nothing wrong with new ideas, but the release of new ideas without rigorous planning is becoming increasingly common."
None of the 35 Canberra clubs investigated in 2015 had daily limits on the amount of cash that could be withdrawn each day from eftpos machines, the ACT government has revealed.

One of the clubs had a limit of $1000 per transaction, but no daily limit, and three had limits of $200 per transaction, a government spokeswoman said.

Poker machines in Canberra: No limits on eftpos withdrawals in a number of clubs. Credit:Mark Graham

Clubs' handling of cash withdrawals is once again under the spotlight, after a pokie addict says she lost tens of thousands of dollars, most recently at the Raiders Belconnen club, feeding money into the poker machines for up to six hours at a time, with no intervention by staff.

"I gambled over something like an 18-month period, I was gambling thousands of dollars a night and at no time did anyone ever intervene," gambler Laurie told ABC radio.
The trail of destruction left by ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie made the north Queensland town of Proserpine unrecognisable to one Canberra firefighter.

When ACT Fire and Rescue commander Neil Maher holidayed there years ago, he was in awe of its luscious tropical greenery.

Two teams from the ACT ESA recently returned from north Queensland where they provided assistance to the recovery of Cyclone Debbie. From left, ACT fire and rescue commander Neil Maher, and ACT SES volunteer Matt Colman. Credit:Jamila Toderas

"When I went back last week, you could see right through the houses that were once hidden by vegetation," he said.

"The trees that remained were stripped of all of their leaves, there were just all these sticks standing among the houses."
A portfolio of six newly developed Victorian childcare centres offered to the market for the first time are expected to fetch $50 million.

The centres scattered across Melbourne's middle suburbs from Point Cook in the west to Ashwood in the east have been developed by Bamfa Properties and LR & EC Enterprises, property records show.

Childcare centre at 103-107 Koonung Road, Blackburn North. Credit:Stephen Wood

Key attributes of childcare centres  stable long-term leases arrangements underpinned by guaranteed government-supported fees  have made them an investment market darling and keenly sought after.

Most of the centres in Ashwood, Hughesdale, Blackburn North, Point Cook, Carnegie and Mentone have 20-year leases to ASX listed G8 Education, Guardian Early Learning and Nino Early Learning Adventures.
The Australian Human Rights Commission is unwavering in our commitment to ensuring the national project on sexual assault and sexual harassment at universities presents an accurate picture of the current situation at Australia's universities and leads to immediate action.

At the heart of the concerns raised by students and reported on in Fairfax Media on Tuesday is a sense of frustration at the slow pace of change. We absolutely share these concerns.

Confidentiality of victims will be safeguarded through de-identified quotes and case studies in the national report.

The fact that universities have asked the commission to independently investigate the issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment, by conducting both a national survey and an open call for submissions, shows that they intend to take the report seriously.

I speak for all those involved in the project and who will be involved in the response when I acknowledge the courage of all those who have come forward to share their experiences.
The Australian Electoral Commission will investigate claims that Pauline Hanson's One Nation party breached electoral disclosure laws by failing to declare a private plane allegedly donated by a Victorian businessman.

In an episode of Four Corners on Monday night, former One Nation treasurer Ian Nelson claimed he urged Senator Hanson and her high-profile chief of staff, James Ashby, to disclose the donation, but was overruled.

Mr Nelson, who has since fallen out with Senator Hanson, alleged Melbourne property developer Bill McNee transferred funds to buy the plane to Mr Ashby and that it was insured in his name.

Mr Nelson said the Jabiru plane, decorated with party logos and a cartoon of Ms Hanson, was used to "ferry Pauline Hanson around" Queensland ahead of the 2016 election.
In 2008, with much of Australia deep in the torment of what became known as the millennium drought, a new Governor-General set out across the backblocks of NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Everywhere Quentin Bryce went on that long tour of the parched Murray-Darling basin, women spilled their pent-up fears to her.

Dame Quentin Bryce Credit:Wayne Taylor

In Deniliquin, the women of rice farms gave her a box of letters bound in purple ribbon, telling their deepest, most secret anxieties.

"People often express their innermost thoughts in writing in a way that they can't or won't speak about otherwise," Dame Quentin Bryce reflected on Tuesday.
The Turnbull government's $24 billion company tax cut will boost the economy by less than 0.2 per cent when fully implemented, according to a preliminary analysis by the Grattan Institute.

The federal government has been resisting pressure from Labor to outline the growth dividend from the cuts, which will see company tax fall to 25 per cent over a decade for companies with a turnover of up to $50 million, after they passed the Senate last week.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison said on Tuesday the company tax cut would deliver "substantial economic growth", but would not quantify the contribution to GDP.

Mr Morrison said while Labor argued an econometric model was needed to quantify the benefits of the cut, "I tell you what, if you go down the pub and you talk to small business people, they're not talking about econometric models. What they're talking about is how they're going to grow their businesses".
When clinical psychologist Feriha Peracha was asked by the Pakistan Army in 2009 to drive up to the Swat Valley and profile 12 young Islamist radicals, she was terrified.

Based out of the old fort where Winston Churchill once wrote part of his war memoirs, she was wondering "which of them may kill us tomorrow?"

She wore a headscarf and face veil but it wasn't long before these coverings came off as her fear gave way to sympathy.

The boys, aged between eight and 16, were brainwashed. They had barely any ability to think for themselves. They had been rote-taught the Koran in Arabic, a language they otherwise didn't understand. One had attended a Madrassa  or religious school  run by his own father where child suicide bombers were being recruited.
Will this attack change that view? 2. US politics FILE - In this Friday, March 31, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump's upcoming summit with China's leader will be closely watched for signs of how relations between the world's top two economies will proceed as they tackle weighty questions over trade, North Korea and the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Credit:Evan Vucci The Wall Street Journal has a story with potentially major implications for travellers to the US from allied countries, including Australia. [Laura Meckler] [The Australian] The Trump administration could extend its so-called extreme vetting of visitors to citizens from the 38 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program - yes that includes Australia.

This could mean handing over your telephone to border security so they can see your contacts and text messages, your private Facebook and browsing activity. Sounds like a boon in the pre-paid cellphone market in the US for travellers opting to leave their phones at home. In other news, the Trump administration has withdrawn funding from the UN Population Fund, the largest provider of contraception globally. [Fairfax] 3. Aus politics Philip Lowe speaking at the Reserve Bank Board Dinner in Melbourne. Credit:Pat Scala It seems every day there is a new credible voice lending weight to Labor's calls to wind back negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions. On Tuesday night it was none other than Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe blasting "taxation arrangements" and irresponsible interest-only loans for the skyrocketing price of housing in Melbourne and Sydney. [Peter Martin/The Age]

The budget will contain a plan to recoup $25 billion in the black and cash economy. [Nassim Khadem/The Sydney Morning Herald] Scott Morrison deployed full "it's the vibe" mode when asking those pressing for economic modelling on what sort of benefit the tax cut for businesses turning over up to $50 million would add to the economy, when he urged the pub test instead. Michelle Grattan is particularly excellent on this. [The Conversation] The Grattan Institute believes the boost could be worth as little as 0.2 per cent growth per year (for $24 billion cost). [James Massola and Eryk Bagshaw/Fairfax] Not for the first time is Morrison proving to his colleagues that he was promoted out of his depth when Turnbull made him Treasurer.

Attorney-General Senator George Brandis in the Senate at Parliament House. Credit:Andrew Meares Gratts also has a scoop on the London appointment. Turnbull wants to send Attorney-General George Brandis to Stoke Lodge but is delaying the decision. Uh oh. [The Conversation] The High Court is due to rule on Family First Bob Day and whether he is an eligible Senator. [ABC] Preference Whisperer Glenn Druery claims he's stopped Pauline Hanson from claiming even more seats in numerous elections, including recently in Western Australia. [David Lipson/Lateline] 4. UK politics

Theresa May says like Winston she prefers "jaw-jaw" over "war-war" but the situation involving Gilbraltar became a little more serious on Tuesday when the government of the overseas territory said the Spanish navy made an illegal foray into its waters. And if there's any proof the leadership is always looking over its shoulder watching out for the hard-right flank, May - speaking in Jordan - went on the attack against Cadbury and the National Trust for removing the word 'Easter' from their annual egg hunt. [Rachel Cunliffe/The Spectator] And Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond admitted that there are some in his own party who don't want the UK to strike a Brexit deal with the EU. [Bloomberg] 5. Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at a place near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St Petersburg. Credit:AP More is known about the motives behind the St Petersburg metro terror attack. The perpetrator has been named as a 22-year old male from Kyrgyzstan linked to radical Islamist groups. [Fairfax] 6. Spotify premium I haven't used iTunes since I switched to Spotify about four years ago and almost instantly decided premium was worth the ad-free and mobile experience.

Spotify has 100 million users (half subscribers) but is loathed by sections of the music community including popstars Beyonce and Jay-Z who bought rival service Tidal (and then memorably tried to promote it as though it was some kind of social movement, by encouraging their club of mega-rich musician pals to turn their social media profiles blue accompanied by the cringeworthy hashtag #TidalForAll.) The stars complain their music is streamed for what amounts to be a pittance in royalties, leading to some to boycott Spotify entirely (like Taylor Swift) while others delay the release of their albums on the platform to boost sales and downloads (like Adele.) Adele performs at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Credit:Graham Denholm Now Spotify, which still operates at a loss, has signed a deal with Universal music to stream new albums for two weeks to its premium customers before all tracks are released to general users. Spotify hopes to sign deals with Sony and Warner, ahead of a stock market flotation. [BBC]
A Sydney lifeguard sexually assaulted three nippers at an eastern suburbs surf life saving club and at a nearby Catholic church in the 1980s, a jury has been told.

During his opening address in the man's trial in the NSW District Court on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Rohan Cooley said he also expected the jury to hear evidence that the man further assaulted another two boys on the grounds of the church between 1982 and 1986.

The youngest alleged victim was aged between seven and 10 at the time of the offences, while the oldest was between 12 and 13 years old, Mr Cooley said in the NSW District Court on Tuesday.

He said he expected the jury to hear evidence that the man, now 49, raped one of the boys on church grounds, and incited the same boy and his younger boy to perform oral sex on each other.

On another occasion, the accused fondled a nipper's genitals in a room at the surf life saving club where he was a lifeguard while a St John ambulance officer watched, Mr Cooley said.
Floodwaters started to inundate parts of Rockhampton on Tuesday afternoon, as the Fitzroy River continued to inch towards its peak.

However, the atmosphere in the town wasn't one of desperation, but business as usual, as the Fitzroy River hit the eight-metre mark after 6pm, ahead of its expected peak of nine metres on Thursday.

The low-lying suburb of Depot Hill, whose residents were affectionately known as 'swampies' due to the regularity of flooding, started to see water cover residential streets and authorities shut down parts of the Capricorn Highway as a precaution.
Seqwater is planning the biggest ever upgrade of Wivenhoe Dam, a "once-in-a-lifetime" safety-driven revamp that follows studies revealing a failure at the dam would put at risk 300,000 people downstream.

One option being considered in the upgrade, expected to cost up to $900 million, is to raise the dam wall by four metres, which would increase the capacity of Wivenhoe Lake by almost a million megalitres, or the equivalent of two Sydney Harbours.

Studies found that a Wivenhoe Dam failure would put at risk almost 300,000 people, with a cost to the community of up to $100 billion. Credit:Dean Saffron

Wivenhoe Dam, completed in 1984, has not met national safety guidelines for large dams since about 2002, despite more than $100 million of expenditure on upgrades.

Studies by engineering firm URS in 2013 and 2014 found that a failure at the dam would put at risk almost 300,000 people and kill about 400 of them, with a cost to the community of up to $100 billion, or "a significant portion of Australia's GDP".
The alleged motive for the killing of Bendigo mother Samantha Kelly was extraordinary, and there has never been a case like it, a prosecutor has told the Supreme Court.

Peter James Arthur has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Kelly, 39. Arthur's plea hearing concluded on Tuesday.

From left: Ronald Lyons, Christine Lyons and Peter Arthur. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

"The motive for the killing is extraordinary; I am not able to find any other case with such an extraordinary motive," Crown prosecutor Fran Dalziel said.

"It's not a domestic killing, it's not a killing of passion, it is a killing for gain ... and it's a heinous motive, in my submission."
The addresses of registered sex offenders may be released publicly if the Coalition wins the 2018 Victorian election.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy said some jurisdictions in the United States had released the locations of sex offenders and suggested the Coalition may follow suit.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has unveiled a suite of changes to sentencing laws. Credit:Simon Schluter

"It is something I'm certainly looking at as a policy for the future," he said.

Mr Guy said Victoria had a sex offender register but details were not released publicly.
A South Perth man caught dumping rubbish on private properties, a verge and a construction site was fined $40,000 in Perth Magistrates court on Tuesday.

The Department of Environmental Regulation launched legal action against Jacek Kotnowski after he was caught on video and photographed offloading truckloads of refurbishment waste four times in eight months in 2014 and 2015.

The March 2015 Wembley incident. Credit:Department of Environment Regulation

The first incident occurred on July 31 2014, when police alleged the white Isuzu tip truck Mr Kotnowski was driving had dumped the contents of the rear tray loaded with demolition waste onto the driveway of a vacant property on Berwick Street in Victoria Park.

The remaining three incidents occurred across a two-week period in March 2015. On 19 March 2015, Mr Kotnowski dumped a truck load of waste including old roofing timber and polystyrene onto the road verge on Rason Street in Wembley, as well as another truck load of waste onto a private property on Mill Point Road in South Perth.
Another Scarborough beachfront business has made an impassioned plea to local customers as it struggles to keep its doors open amid heavy construction.

The Sandbar Scarborough Beach, in an open letter to customers on Monday, implored the community to support them as road detours, car park closures and construction in the area continued to deter diners.

Construction at Scarborough beach is disrupting business.

"We all know things are difficult with parking and accessibility  but please don't let that stop your trip to Scarborough Beach!" the letter said.

"Our beachfront, albeit under serious construction, is still open...our magical Scarborough Beach is still here and available.
Washington: Carter Page, who served briefly as a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, made an appearance in a federal espionage case several years ago because he communicated with a Russian intelligence agent under surveillance by the FBI.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Page confirmed his role in the 2015 Justice Department spy case, adding another twist to the still unfolding story of Donald Trump's peculiar and expanding ties to people connected to Russia.

Page said he assisted US prosecutors in their case against Evgeny Buryakov, an undercover Kremlin agent posing then as a bank executive in New York. Buryakov was convicted of espionage and released from federal prison just last week, a few months short of completing a 30-month sentence. Buryakov agreed to be immediately deported to Russia.

Page's involvement was first disclosed Monday by Buzzfeed, which said Page was identified as "Male 1" in the Justice Department's complaint against Russian spy network based in New York.
Seoul: North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea off the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's military said.

The launch follows previous tests in February and March, as the isolated country defies United Nations sanctions by working on a missile that could deliver a nuclear weapon to the continental US.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has launched a series of projectiles and conducted three nuclear tests since he came to power more than five years ago.

He claimed in January to be in the final stage of preparations to test fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

They can dance if they want to!

Two hard-partying Brooklyn councilmen are backing a bill that will free bars and restaurants to let patrons get their groove on without the threat of being targeted by the citys dance police.

Councilmen Rafael Espinal (DBushwick) and Antonio Reynoso (DBushwick) say they are tired of an antiquated city law that bans dancing in bistros and dives without a hard-to-get cabaret license not the least of which because they are the ones cutting a rug.

Ive probably danced illegally more than anyone in this room, its what I do, said Reynoso at a standing-room-only meeting on the law last Thursday at the Market Hotel in Bushwick. Its what I have a passion for so youll catch me dancing illegally in other places until we get this law gone from the book.

Espinal added that he enjoys getting down too, telling the crowd that he went on an Ok Cupid date eight years ago during which he danced all night at the same hotel while drinking 40 oz. of malt liquor he bought at the bodega downstairs.

That isnt allowed thanks to the controversial Prohibition-era Cabaret Law, which some say was put in place to target black jazz clubs, that sics cops on venues that allow people to boogie without a license. It was revved up back in the 1990s when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to put nightclubs out of business, and the pols say it has since wreaked havoc in Brooklyn, where inspectors cite people for not obeying the law frequently with fines up to $3,000 for the first offense.

Activists claim Brooklynites are going to get down no matter what, and the law is forcing them into unsafe spaces  like the Oakland, California warehouse that burnt down with dozens of revelers inside  so they can move freely.

Espinal said repealing the law is one of his top priorities right now, and he is trying to drum up support for the issue amongst his fellow Council members in the coming weeks.

But he thinks some pols might not get on board because they fear scrapping the law will impede on safety and serenity in the neighborhoods people are dancing.

I think theres a lot of hesitation because they believe the law is in place to protect public safety and improve quality of life in communities, he said.

Espinal added he is in the process of crafting legislation that will repeal the law.

The move comes less than a week after members of the activist group the Dance Liberation Network went live with its petition to repeal the law, which now has nearly 3,000 signatures.
Millions had assumed that Brexit meant that, in the words of Prime Minister Theresa May, our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. But the government has announced that it will continue to be bound by thousands of EU regulations, passed in Brussels, for the foreseeable future.

The revelation is part of the government white paper on the forthcoming Great Repeal Bill. It will revoke the European Communities Act of 1972, the legislation that maintains the UKs membership in the EU. But it will also adopt the entire body of EU law into the UKs legal code, where it will remain in force until the day when (or if) each individual measure is changed or repealed.

The size and scope of this legal corpus  known as the acquis  is hard to convey. One study from Thomson Reuters estimates that the EU has passed 52,741 pieces of legislation since 1990, including 6,718 laws that affect the UK since 2010. The government places the figure much lower, at more than 12,000, while other sources list the number of Brussels regulations at 19,000.

That alone does not do justice to the shadow that four decades of remote, international government will cast over the UKs economic future. The EU regulates such minute tasks as:

the collection, processing, storage and transport of [pig] semen;

the proper curvature of bananas; and

the exact levels of vehicle noise emission.

No fewer than 41 directives deal with the treatment of animals. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recently boasted that the EU finally gave up a bid to regulate the flushing of toilets.

Everyday consumers have already paid a steep price for EU overregulation, whether they stem from the best motivations (worker safety, environmental preservation) or the worst (special interest lobbying and ideological extremism).

The think tank Open Europe calculated that EU regulations siphoned 13 billion ($16.2 billion U.S.) out of the UKs economy a year. The Telegraph reports that the EUs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which places high tariffs on imported food, reportedly costs 10 billion in direct costs and by inflating food prices annually. These analyses do not include another estimated 14.3 percent of all acts passed by the UKs Parliament from 1980 to 2009, which incorporated a degree of EU influence.

By freeing itself of EU regulation, the UK can manifest another kind of European economic culture: one that frees the wealth-creating powers of the private sector by valuing innovation, growth, dynamism, initiative, entrepreneurship, subsidiarity, choice, and the traditional charitable role of intermediary institutions. This contrasts sharply with Brussels economic culture: one that empowers global governance institutions by valuing regulation, preservation of the economic status quo, stability, bureaucracy pliable to the lobbying of labor unions and special interest constituencies, public-private partnerships, centralization, and the social assistance (welfare) state.

Why would London wish to maintain this edifice after declaring independence? Should it do otherwise, the government warns, UKs statute book would contain significant gaps once we left the EU.

That is precisely what many British experts hope for. Brexit gives us the opportunity: all regulations, but not directives, will fall away automatically, writes Tim Ambler at the Adam Smith Institutes blog. The Great Repeal Bill White Paper has it the wrong way round: we should let them all go and invite Whitehall to re-present those we really need.

That would bring government ever-closer to the electorate. The white paper envisions a nation in which power sits closer to the people of the UK than ever before through a significant increase in the decision making power of each devolved administration. Former Environmental Secretary Owen Patterson says clearing out EU regulation allows the British people to settle upon a path that is tailored to what is right for us.

That is the heart of subsidiarity, the social justice principle that no function should be undertaken by a higher level of government that can be handled by a lower order.

However, the government faces opposition within and without. Up to 1,000 EU statutes must be updated in order to work with the post-Brexit legal code. The government is asking Parliament for a form of deferred authority to rewrite them, invoking the Henry VII clauses. This has invited considerable skepticism  and concern that the Tory government will deregulate too much for the Labour Partys liking.

Ironically, UK Parliament is invoking subsidiarity to defend the concentration of power at the international level.

The EU also has no interest in a dynamic post-Brexit Britain that thrives after cutting ties  or that competes with it globally. European Council President Donald Tusk announced that, should the UK ask for a transition period to smooth the exit process for businesses, Brussels will demand that all EU regulatory, budgetary, supervisory and enforcement instruments and structures [continue] to apply. Germanys deputy economy minister has insisted that post-Brexit London adopt a reasonable framework of tax and regulation, because a race to the bottom in tax and regulation matters  the Eurosocialists term for freeing the economy from government intervention  would make trade relations difficult. The EU27 hope to impose enough regulatory burden on the UKs economy to level competition globally.

The scene calls to mind the words of the priest and philosopher Antonio Rosmini, who died more than a century before the founding of the EEC, the predecessor of the EU. These legislators are inclined to let the government into all those enterprises that should be freely left to private industry, he wrote, because they care very little about the damage that is caused to private entrepreneurs and to capitalists. (Quoted in Hoevel, The Fiscal and Tributary Philosophy of Antonio Rosmini, Journal of Markets and Morality, Spring 2007.)

By heeding his words, the UK could show the transatlantic sphere a better model  and its people a future of greater flourishing.

(Photo credit: Descrier. This photo has been modified for size. CC BY 2.0.)
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...
The search is on to give one of Northern Ireland's nightmare bathrooms a much-needed upgrade

Bassetts has launched its first 'Northern Ireland's Nightmare Bathroom Competition', where the most deserving entrant will win a dream bathroom renovation worth 10,000.

With the likes of avocado bathrooms being voted as one of the biggest turn-offs in houses, the competition aims to provide householders in Northern Ireland with the chance to bring their bathroom up to date with the installation of a new, top-quality bathroom.

The cost of a new bathroom varies from around 2,500 to upwards of 6,000, and householders with nightmare bathrooms are being urged to submit an image or video of their bathroom, along with a reason why they deserve a dream bathroom, for a chance to win theirs for free.

Judging the entries will be an expert panel led by interior designer Philip Rodgers, the owner of Dungannon-based Philip Rodgers Design. He has worked on projects such as The Cloud 9 Skybar in the Hilton Prague, as well as the Crowne Plaza and the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast.

The entry with the most potential will be crowned the winner and its owner awarded a brand new bathroom renovation of their choice. The four runners-up will each receive a special discount for bathrooms in any Bassetts' store.

Mr Rodgers said: "A recent bathroom trends report revealed that 62% of people want their bathroom easy to clean and disinfect, 47% want their bathroom to relax them and 43% want good lighting in their bathroom. 0% said they wanted theirs to give them nightmares!

"People considering renovating their bathroom should look to recent trends such as wooden features, brass finishes, bold tiles and mixing dark colours and textures to create a modern bathroom that will add value to your house in 2017."

Bassetts managing director Alan Wright said: "We recognise the impact a quality bathroom can have, not only on the overall of a house but also on the quality of someones life. We are looking forward to receiving floods of entries and may the worst bathroom win."

To enter, post your image or video entries on Bassetts' Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/bassettsbathrooms or tweet it to @bassetts_ph using #NightmareBathrooms.
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.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India's biggest private port operating firm, plans to undertake a feasibility study on building a greenfield multi-purpose port, mainly for handling containers at Carey Island in Malaysia's Selangor state, about 50 km southwest of capital Kuala Lumpur.
Limited (GEL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd. and TNB Repair and Maintenance Sdn Bhd (TNB Remaco) have inked a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and set up an O&M joint venture. TNB Remaco, a Malaysias premier specialist in power plant repair and maintenance is the repair and maintenance arm of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).
is betting on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive demand for its electronic chips, for which it is aiming to train 15,000 scientists, developers, engineers and students on AI in India over the next one year.
SoftBank, which is trying to pull off the biggest consolidation in the Indian e-commerce ecosystem, again failed to convince the board of directors of Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd, owner of Snapdeal, to sell the online marketplace to Flipkart.
The $115-billion software services sector in the country will possibly have to deal with fresh restrictions after the Donald Trump government announced measures to step up scrutiny of H1B visa holders in the US. There are plans to prohibit visas to entry-level engineers too.
Tata Motors is betting big on the first time upgraders owning small hatchback cars to drive sales of its newly launched compact sedan 'Style Back' in the passenger vehicle portfolio.

"First time upgraders looking for functional and style aspects and upgrade from small hatches will go for . We are targeting the 66 per cent of people in India as the statistics say, who will have a replacement or an additional car", said S N Barman, vice president (sales), passenger vehicle business unit, Tata Motors.
Tata Motors, the fourth-largest player in domestic passenger vehicle market, will change the look and feel of its 600-plus showrooms to offer a better experience to buyers. Showrooms will be reworked on the lines of a lounge and technology will be used to enhance the experience.
Land losers of Tata Power's 1000 Mw coal-based power project originally supposed to come up at Naraj near Cuttack, are bracing for an agitation on the lines of their counterparts in Singur (West Bengal) who had demanded return of land lost for the Tata Motors' Nano project.

With relocating its project and later purportedly shelving it, the land losers are left with no livelihood option. People in five villages- Mundali, Talagarh, Naraj-Marthapur, Ramdaspur and Nuagaon had lost 1,200 acres of agricultural land for the project that never took off. The one-time compensation paid by the company for their surrendered lands is no solace for the people who are now battling for survival.
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.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it is unfortunate to term the criminal act on Nigerian nationals in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida, which was triggered following the untimely death of a young Indian student under suspicious circumstances, as 'xenophobic and racial.'

MEA added that India is committed to ensuring safety and security of all the foreign nationals in the country, including African nationals, who remain our valued partners.

MEA's reaction comes after Dean of African Head of Missions (HOM), in a statement, termed the recent attacks against as 'racial and xenophobic.'

"We have seen the statement by the Eritrean Ambassador to India, who is also the dean of the African Head of Missions, apparently issued on their behalf. 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," MEA said in a statement.

"Investigations on the death of Indian teenager and the subsequent incident by local authorities are ongoing," the statement further read.

The Indian Government had condemned and described the attack on a few Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida as 'unacceptable.'

MEA said the significance attached to addressing the matter is reflected in the detailed statement by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the discussion in the Parliament.

Local authorities had expeditiously arrested suspects following Swaraj's conversation with the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh immediately after the incident.

Police had registered an FIR and are investigating the matter comprehensively.

Local authorities have also taken measures to strengthen safety and security of the Nigerian nationals.

Ministry of External Affairs has further sensitised the local authorities towards ensuring safety and security of Africans in general and in particular.

"It may be noted that a subsequent report of an assault on a Kenyan has been withdrawn and the Government has been informed by Kenyan High Commission that the concerned Kenyan national, whose tourist visa has expired, is returning to Kenya. Nevertheless, the Kenyan High Commission has expressed appreciation for prompt response by local police authorities on her complaint," MEA said.

Earlier, dubbing the recent violence against in India as 'xenophobic,' heads of African missions in India 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.

However, according to sources, a very small number of African HOMs may have been consulted in the issuance of the press release by the African HOM Dean and also some of the prominent African HoMs denied that they attended the reported meeting or were consulted.
Veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's counsel in the defamation case filed against him by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Tuesday said that he would work for free if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo cannot pay him his fees.

"Even now if the government doesn't pay or he can't pay, I will appear free. I will then treat him as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani told ANI in an exclusive conversation.

Venting his ire over reports suggesting that Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in clearing the bills, the veteran lawyer said they are all in Jaitley's control.

Jethmalani further said that he charges only the rich clients.

"Everybody knows this in this country that I charge only the rich, but for poor people I do work free and the poor people are about 90 percent of my client," he said.

Jethmalani, who is defending Kejriwal in both a criminal and a civil defamation case filed by Jaitley, has reportedly sent bills for Rs one crore in retainership and Rs 22 lakh for each appearance in court to the Delhi chief minister.

Jethmalani has made 11 appearances so far, leading to a total of Rs 3.42 crore.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has signed off on the bills and sent them for clearance to the Lieutenant Governor, who has sought the opinion of experts on how to proceed.

Baijal's move comes after the Delhi Government's Law Department, responding to a note by Sisodia, said that Lieutenant Governor's permission for clearing the bills was necessary.
The Liquor industry has been hit hard by the recent order of the Supreme Court that has imposed prohibition on the sale or serving of alcohol on all and state highways. The Supreme Court recently reserved its order on a batch of petitions seeking modification of its order banning liquor vendors along and state highways. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice L. Nageswara Rao said that in the "interest of the public health" the liquor shops were ordered to be removed to a distance of 500 meters from either side of the highways.
The first time the came to the Tawang tract of Arunachal Pradesh in 1959, he was fleeing Mao Tse-tung's Red Army after Lhasa and its surroundings had exploded in revolution against communist oppression. New Delhi's role in the Dalai Lama's perilous flight and the refuge he was granted in India (which still continues) fanned Chinese suspicions of India's intentions in Tibet, leading inexorably to war three years later, in 1962.

Harmandar Singh, the young frontier official who received the 24-year-old soon after he crossed into India, and who escorted him to safety in Bomdila, recalled for this correspondent the experience of accompanying this living God through the Buddhist villages of the local Monpa tribe.

It was as if I had been asked to escort Guru Nanak through Punjab, says Harmandar.

Netan Tashi, now retired in Bomdila, was the Intelligence Bureau operative chosen to protect the once he crossed into India. Every village turned out to greet him on his way to Tawang. People would stand with bowed heads, outstretched hands offering khadas (ceremonial silk scarves, a token of respect). They would light dhoop (incense) and then prostrate themselves before him. Many would be crying; there was happiness as well as sorrow."

When the Dalai Lama arrives in Tawang today, he will find the same local anger at China's treatment of their living God and of countless Buddhist monks across a landscape of defiled monasteries in Tibet.

China sensed that anger when it occupied the Tawang region for a month after the Indian Army withdrew in the 1962 war. The local Monpa tribal populace steadfastly resisted Chinese blandishments and suggestions from their occupiers that the ethnically mongoloid Monpas were more Chinese than Indian.

To this day, as Tibet simmers and occasionally flares into armed rebellion, as in 2008-09, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and a host of security agencies that control Tibet look nervously at a free Tawang, a source of inflammatory thoughts and ideas across the border in India.

Strengthening Tawang as a source of rebellious ideas, is the 15th century Buddhist gompa (monastery) that overlooks the Tawang bowl. While communist China strangulated independent thought in Lhasas monasteries  even the ecclesiastical powerhouses of Sera, Ganden and Drebung  Tawang Gompa remained beyond communist control. Beijing appoints the heads of Tibets monasteries, but the Dalai Lama appoints the Tawang Gompa chief. The current khempo (monastery head) is a Monpa, the first non-Tibetan to have that honour.

Tawang's importance as a Buddhist centre is further enhanced by its status as the 6th Dalai Lama's birthplace.

Aware of Tawang's religious power, New Delhi has avoided provoking China by inviting high profile visitors, especially the Dalai Lama and senior Indian officials. Beijing reacts to all such visits by accusing India of "interfering" with the status of a disputed area.

The Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh several times over the preceding decades, but visited Tawang only in 2009, a full 50 years after his first visit. Now on his third visit eight years later, China has warned that this would "damage ties with India." Junior home minister, Kiren Rijuji has dismissed this in unusually forthright terms.

China had been similarly prickly about the entry of a third party into disputed territory, when US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, visited Tawang in October as a guest of the Arunachal Pradesh government. Six months earlier, the US consul general in Kolkata said the US was absolutely clear that Tawang belongs to India.

Yet, China sees no third party problem with its own entry into the Northern Areas, claimed by India but occupied by Pakistan. Decades ago, China built a major highway through the area, linking China with Pakistan. Now, as part of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, China will execute further major projects there.

Earlier submissive, New Delhi has taken a stronger line on the territorial dispute at least since 2012, when United Progressive Alliance foreign minister, SM Krishna, reacted to a protracted Chinese border intrusion at Daulat Beg Oldi, in Ladakh, by delivering Beijing the reminder that Kashmir is to India what Tibet is to China.

The Democratic Alliance has been even more forthright, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting to his swearing ceremony the Central Tibetan Administration (government-in-exile) chief, Lobsang Sangay.

In December, President Pranab Mukherjee evoked Beijing's ire by inviting the Dalai Lama to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a literary function.

In November, one of the claimants to the disputed post of 17th Karmapa  the head of the Kagyu sect of Buddhism  also visited Tawang, accompanied by an Indian government official. Buddhist leaders' visits invariably acquire an anti-China flavour.

In what appears an action-reaction dynamic, Beijing has, in recent years, aligned itself openly with Pakistan. Since 2016, it has obliged Islamabad by blocking India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group; and opposing the inclusion of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Azhar Mehmood in a list of UN designated terrorists.

In the military realm, Beijing has strengthened arms supplies to Pakistan, including fighter aircraft, warships and submarines. China is building up Gwadar Port, on the Makran coast, as a potential naval base.

Even so, Beijing is clearly rattled by the Dalai Lama's visit. Unlike the 2009 visit, which was a four-day religious tour, the current visit is a high-decibel, ten-day affair, without the fig leaf of a "religious event". Beijing's concern is evident from a threat from the armed separatist Assamese group, United Liberation Front of Asom, warning the Dalai Lama not to speak against China.

New Delhi's response is increasingly robust. It has strengthened military deployment on the Sino-Indian border, and PLA patrols often find themselves at the receiving end in patrol confrontations. Border infrastructure is being strengthened, including the construction of airfields and roads. Beijing has called for restraint on the proposed first rail link to Arunachal Pradesh.

Even so, India can hardly match China's infrastructure build up in Tibet. Besides a series of road and rail links radiating to the Indian border, the 13th Five Year Plan for the Tibet Autonomous Region refers to construction of a new airport in Lhuntse county (Lhunzi Xian), close to the Arunachal border.

Notwithstanding New Delhi's muddled approach to the border region, it continues to enjoy equities that China cannot lay claim to. Noted Tibetologist, Matthew Akester, tells Business Standard: "History aside, India's claim to Tawang district rests on its record of benevolent governance there since the 1950s --- something China cannot credibly claim for its rule of Tibet in the same period. Rather than competing with China's infrastructure binge, it is the strength of popular democracy and local autonomy that must be built on for a progressive solution to the border issue."

For now, Beijing insists that India must cede Tawang to China in any border settlement. From the 1950s till 1983, China offered an "east-for-west" settlement, with Beijing accepting the territorial status-quo in Arunachal Pradesh on the basis of the McMahon Line; while India would accept the territorial status-quo in Ladakh, with minor exchanges in the relatively insignificant central sector. Since 1983, however, Beijing insists that India must make "territorial concessions" in the east as well. It is clear that China means to have Tawang.
India is using the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to upset China and New Delhi should deliver on its political commitments to Beijing on Tibet related issues, state-run Chinese media said today.

The 14th Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang bordering China will hurt Sino-Indian ties because China opposes any official invitations to him, the Global Times quoted an unnamed Chinese analyst as saying.

"The Dalai's visit to the controversial area, especially Tawang, which China hopes will be returned, will affect relations between China and India," an analyst from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the paper on condition of anonymity.

"India (is) using Dalai Lama's visit to upset Beijing," the paper quoted the analyst as saying.

The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader today arrived at Bomdila in West Kameng district, marking the beginning of his nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"India should deliver its political commitments to China on Tibet-related issues, including opposition to separatists," he said, noting that China would take steps against any government which invites the .

He said Tawang is also the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, which gives the place religious meaning to Tibetans.

Reacting to Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks that the Dalai Lama's visit is "purely religious," and that there is no political angle behind it, the expert said this is not the first time India has used the to express its displeasure to China, especially when bilateral talks fail to include their demands or to "pander to domestic anti-China issues".

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, which is currently on a holiday for the Tomb sweeping festival, has not responded to a query seeking its reaction to External Affairs Ministry remarks as well as comments by Rijju over the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as southern Tibet.
Presence of terror safe havens in Pakistan, aggressive Chinese behaviour and the Afghanistan situation dominated last month's meeting between US Defence Secretary Gen (retd) James Mattis and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, according to an American defence official.

"They talked a lot about China...The concern about China sometimes bullying some of its neighbours in the region. There was concern about that," a US defence official told PTI about the Mattis-Doval meeting at the Pentagon on March 24.

This was the highest-level interaction of Mattis with a top Indian official after becoming the Defence Secretary.

China is also very important to the US with regard to the North Korea situation, said the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan and Afghanistan were the two major topics of discussion between the two leaders, the official said.

"They talked about Pakistan," the official said, adding that Doval "talked more" on the issue than Mattis.

"There was not a whole lot specifics. We have a number of concerns with respect to Pakistan...Counter-terrorism, nuclear weapons. They talked a little bit about that. It is obviously a concern of India's and it is an important player in the region and the world," the defence official said.

The US would like to see Pakistan in a situation with it where they can have a productive relationship, the official said.

"They talked a lot about Afghanistan...And the need to try to get it...Just finish it (the war). It has been going on (for) too long," the defence official said.

The official explained that this meant "finish the operations and leave (Afghanistan) in a stable state".

While successive US administrations have praised India's developmental assistance in Afghanistan, some recent media reports both in India and the US have referred to Trump Administration's desire of enhanced military role of India in the war-torn country.

The official said he "did not recall" any such conversation during the Pentagon meeting.

Reflecting on the meeting, the official said the Defence Secretary is "very keen on India".

Mattis "recognises the important role that it plays in the region and the world and It's unique position vis-a-vis Pakistan, vis-a-vis China," said the defence official.

Secretary Mattis wants to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said.

The Secretary was interested in listening from the NSA what India's perspective was on most of these issues, both regional and global.

"I think, the NSA probably did most of the talking. It bodes well for the future. I think, he (Mattis) wants to have a solid defence relationship with India," the official said in response to a question.

Doval made a quite visit to the United States for a few days around March 20, during which he also met the Homeland Security Secretary Gen (retd) John Kelly and US National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster.

(Reopens FGN 11)



According to the defence official, there was unlikely to be any major change in the US assistance to Pakistan when it comes to funding it for counter-terrorism operations.

"I do not see it changing. The way that counter-terrorism aid works that they (Pakistan) have to show progress. We give it to them in parts and pieces. They have to demonstrate certain progress when we reach the next level," the official said.

Doval, during his visit, also met Senator John McCain, Chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

This was his first visit to the United States after Donald Trump became the 45th President of the US in January.

Soon after his election in November, Doval had made a trip to the US during which he had met the then NSA-designate Gen Michael Flynn, who resigned a few weeks after he took over the job due to the controversy surrounding Russian diplomats during the transition period and the election campaign.

Flynn was quickly replaced by McMaster, who according to the officials, has a very positive view about India.

Doval and McMaster during their meeting at the White House "committed" to work together as partners to "combat the full spectrum" of terrorist threats, affirming that both great democracies stand together in the fight against terrorism.
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.
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond on Tuesday refused to comment on the extradition of embattled liquor tycoon saying the matter is sub-judice.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is here for the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, said the extradition request by India is before a court and so he would not like to comment on the issue.

"I believe in one of the cases concerned, an extradition request has been made, and that is sub-judice... I am afraid I would not be able to discuss and it would not be proper for ministers to discuss. It is a matter before a court," he said in a reply to a question regarding the extradition of Mallya and former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

He was addressing a press briefing alongside Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the talks.

Last month, the British government sent India's extradition request to a district judge, the first step towards a judicial decision that could bring Mallya back to India to face a court.

Facing heat over Rs 9,000 crore loan default by his now defunct Kingfisher airlines, Mallya had fled to the UK on March 2 last year. He left the country just as the Supreme Court ordered him to appear before it in person with his passport on March 30, 2016.

India had on February 8 this year handed over a formal extradition request to the British government to bring back Mallya under the India-UK extradition treaty.

In January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against the absconding businessman in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case.

In November last year, an Indian court had also allowed the Enforcement Directorate to send a request for extradition of former IPL chief Modi.
It was a year ago that Bihar decided to end its tryst with alcohol. The decision was celebrated with much fanfare during the three-day Bihar Diwas. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was beaming with pride. You cant imagine how much the image of Bihar will blossom if prohibition is successful. The demand for prohibition will rise from every nook and corner, he said on March 22, 2016.
Fresh from its success, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to go into the 2019 polls with more pro-poor image and less as a pro-economic reform party. To maintain this, the Modi government plans to roll out two big measures in the coming months.
President Xi Jinping is on track to shut down Chinas domestic ivory market, as he promised in 2015 alongside President Obama. Photo by iStockphoto

607 shares







Last week the Chinese government published a list of 67 licensed ivory carving factories and retailers set to close by March 31, with the balance of the other operations slated to shutter by December 31.

This is part of a rather astonishing turnaround for a nation long regarded as an outlier on animal welfare. There are movements afoot there to combat the trade in ivory, shark fins, and even dog meat. Theres even a push for meat reduction, as the government has called for a massive drop in the consumption of animal products.

On some of these fronts, China may be showing more resolve than the United States, given the regressive actions we are seeing from the new administration in Washington. In a rush of actions over the last two and a half months, our federal agencies are setting back the United States on climate change, environmental protection, wildlife protection, and other critical areas of our work.

Later this week President Trump will host President Xi Jinping of China at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. While the United States and China may have divergent views on a host of geopolitical and economic issues, there is one area that the two countries should continue to agree upon  the goal to combat wildlife trafficking. In fact, President Trump has taken a positive step in this area  issuing an Executive Order on February 9 to strengthen the enforcement of federal law on international trafficking, including the trafficking of wildlife.

For his part, President Xi is on track to shut down Chinas domestic ivory market, as he promised in 2015 alongside President Obama. Without question, the closure of the worlds largest ivory market is not only a landmark victory for the elephants, but a stellar achievement of the previous administrations diplomatic engagement with China. Last weeks closure announcement coincided with the release of a report by Save the Elephants, which documents the plummeting price of ivory in China. The report found that the wholesale price of ivory in early 2014 was $2,100 per kilogram, but that by last month, it had dropped to $730 per kilogram. Ivory dealers cannot move fast enough to get rid of their stock, but no one is buying. China is sending an unequivocal message to its citizens and the rest of the world: trading in elephant ivory is no longer acceptable because elephant ivory products represent cruel poaching, extinction, and continued fueling of dangerous transnational organized crime. As Save the Elephants president and the worlds premier elephant scientist Iain Douglas-Hamilton said, There is still a long way to go to end the excessive killing of elephants for ivory, but there is now greater hope for the species.

Many nations of the world are taking matters of animal welfare and conservation with a new level of seriousness, and the Trump team at the White House and within our federal agencies should take note. Over the weekend, Indonesia took on illegal fishing with the public destruction of 81 foreign vessels engaging in poaching in the countrys waters. Indonesia is the worlds largest archipelago country and one of the worlds biodiversity hotspots. Its tough stance not only aims to protect its marine resources but also to curb transnational marine wildlife crime.

Last week, U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Cory Booker introduced legislation to ban any trade in shark fins in the United States. There was just a major bust of a shark finning operation in Florida over the weekend, so it remains an urgent concern. Theres no reason Congress and the Trump administration shouldnt get behind that legislation and pass it with urgency. And theres no reason for the United States to cede its leadership role on animal welfare and domestic and global conservation.
In a significant order, the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of all drought-hit farmers and restrained cooperative societies and banks from recovering their dues.

It noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single-handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide and suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."



A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and M V Muralidaran gave the order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association.

"We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the Advocate General also reiterated the same. The government is already single-handedly shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore."



In this difficult situation, the central government cannot be a silent spectator and should come forward to extend help to the state government to share the burden, the court said.

It directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of 2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres.

"We further direct the department to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench said.

The Association alleged that government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal and to direct authorities to give relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of extent of land owned.

The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement on Tuesday at the principal seat in Chennai.

"In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said.
After the passage of four crucial Bills related to the goods and services tax (GST) in the Lok Sabha last week, only a few issues remain to be addressed for introducing the new tax regime from July 1. However, these issues may turn out to be tricky for companies as well as other stakeholders.

Corporates are already fretting over four sets of rules on input tax credit, transition, composition and valuation. Then there is the fitment of items into five slabs of rates  zero per cent, five per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent  which may evoke contrasting emotions. Besides these slabs, another rate may be fixed for jewellery.

Awareness programmes for companies, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the process of registration of firms with the Network are also yet to be completed. Then comes the issue of training indirect tax officials.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has approved the reorganisation of field formations of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), which is now being renamed the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). States will also have to train their officials, more so because they will have to administer services tax as well, which is more or less an exclusive domain of the Centre at present.

Though the four Bills  central GST, union territory GST, integrated (relating to inter-state movement of goods and services), and compensation  will be taken up by the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of Parliament does not have any powers to change the money Bills. However, it may embarrass the ruling coalition, which does not enjoy a majority there, by recommending some changes, as had happened in the case of the Finance Bill.

Assemblies are yet to approve their respective Bills, which are the replicas of the central GST Bill.

They have to clear the Bill, as they will not be in a position to impose any indirect tax except GST from September 16 onwards.

The GST Council on Friday cleared rules on five aspects of the new indirect tax regime and tentatively approved four sets of norms. Later, the CBEC came out with four sets of rules on registration, invoice, refund and payment. These are final rules.

It also released another set of rules on transition, valuation, input tax credit and composition. These are tentatively approved by the council and will be taken up for finalisation next month after inputs from stakeholders. The fitment of items in the five slabs will also be decided then.

This will leave just six weeks for businesses to prepare for these changes before the planned roll-out on July 1. That is why industry is demanding a September roll-out.

Implementing GST from July 1 may be extremely difficult for the government. One could expect that the voice for September 1 implementation would get stronger over the next few days, says Pratik Jain of PwC.

However, M S Mani of Deloitte says the July 1 roll-out looks likely, though industry is asking for the GST implementation from September.

Even if the fitment of rates and pending four rules are finalised by May-end or the first week of June, GST can be introduced from July, he says.

Mani, however, advises the governments to adopt a soft approach in the first six months of the roll-out. As it will be an entirely new animal, a harsh approach is not warranted for some inadvertent mistakes here and there on the part of businesses, he says.

For instance, companies will have to go for a registration in each state wherever they have offices, besides the central registration. Also, against the requirement of services companies to file just two returns every year and for goods companies to file 12 returns each for VAT and excise duties, all of them will have to file 37 returns each, according to draft norms.

Prashant Pillai, head-corporate business, Thomson Reuters, South Asia, says corporations have to be nimble to execute a comprehensive strategy for the new taxation regime.

This, he says, will require corporations to establish robust processes and systems to ensure master data changes, rates and rules maintenance, accurate determination of tax, integration with various upstream and downstream systems, so that compliance is effectively managed with a long-term perspective.

This change will encourage corporations to adopt better technologies in tax and fundamentally transform the way indirect tax compliance is managed in India, he says.

Way Forward
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two persons, one of them an engineering graduate, as part of its recent operation against 500 suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money.

The agency identified the two as G D Reddy and K Liakath Ali. It said they have been arrested from Bengaluru and Chennai respectively under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as part of its follow-up action against .

It has also frozen bank deposits worth Rs 20 crore in different accounts in the country as part of the operation.

The ED had conducted nation-wide raids on April 1 in 16 states with sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down allegedly dubious and suspicious firms which the agency believes are the "backbone" of black money in the country.

The agency said Reddy is an engineering graduate in industrial production in Bengaluru and "had masterminded floating of more than 20 shell companies, obtained loan by dubious means and defrauded the United Bank of India and other banks to the tune of more than Rs 70 crore by submitting forged/fake documents and also by impersonating".

It said there are three PMLA cases registered against Reddy, a "wilful defaulter" of loans, who had allegedly floated shell firms in India and Dubai.

He has now been sent to two days of ED custody by a special court.

In the second case in Chennai, Ali was arrested for "remitting foreign exchange through using fake documents".

He was involved in cheating the Indian Bank in Chennai using eight shell companies and remitted USD 11,778,120 (about Rs 78 crore) out of India against forged bill of entries without affecting any actual imports, it said.

"On the basis of the alert triggered by the Indian Bank, the Chennai Customs through their in-house verification confirmed the fabrication of the bills of entry and referred the matter to ED for detailed investigation following which an FIR was also registered by the Chennai City Police and action under PMLA was also initiated," it said.

The ED said Ali had made outward remittances of over Rs 18 crore "without any actual imports into India, causing depletion of precious foreign exchange to the country."



Ali has now been sent to the Central jail in Puzhal in Chennai after he was produced before a special court.

On April 1, ED teams had visited at least 110 locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar and Indore besides some in Haryana.

The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.

Shell companies are firms set up with nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies and no dividend income or high amount of cash-in-hand.

Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.

The agency said further probe in these cases is "in progress".
Within a fortnight of taking office, the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Tuesday fulfilled its key poll promise, writing off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh for about 21.5 million small and marginal farmers.
As per Central Electricity Authority, the Designated Authority of Government of India for Cross Border Trade of Electricity, 1st time India has turned around from a net importer of electricity to Net Exporter of electricity. During the current year 2016-17 (April to February 2017), India has exported around 5,798 Million Units to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar which is 213 Million units more than the import of around 5,585 Million units from Bhutan. Export to Nepal and Bangladesh increased 2.5 and 2.8 times respectively in last three years. .

.

Ever since the cross border trade of electricity started in mid-Eighties, India has been importing power from Bhutan and marginally exporting to Nepal in radial mode at 33 kV and 132 kV from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. On an average Bhutan has been supplying around 5,000- 5500 Million units to India. .

.

India had also been exporting around 190 MW power to Nepal over 12 cross border interconnections at 11kV, 33kV and 132 kV level. The export of power to Nepal further increased by around 145 MW with commissioning of Muzaffarpur (India) Dhalkhebar(Nepal) 400kV line (being operated at 132 kV) in 2016. .

.

Export of power to Bangladesh from India got further boost with commissioning of 1st cross border Interconnection between Baharampur in India and Bheramara in Bangladesh at 400kV in September 2013. It was further augmented by commissioning of 2nd cross border Interconnection between Surjyamaninagar (Tripura) in India and South Comilla in Bangladesh. At present around 600 MW power is being exported to Bangladesh. .

.

Export of power to Nepal is expected to increase by around 145 MW shortly over 132 kV Katiya (Bihar) Kusaha (Nepal) and 132 kV Raxaul (Bihar) Parwanipur (Nepal). .

.

A few more cross border links with neighbouring countries are in pipe line which would further increase export of Power. .

.
They protest, picket and sing to defend Maos memory, yearning for the East to be red again. But lately some of Chinas Maoists are finding inspiration in an unlikely insurgent in the West: Donald J. Trump.
Leading brands are boycotting advertising services on Googles YouTube after their ads were placed alongside content they deemed inappropriate and  even worse  were charged for the privilege. The long list includes household names such as Starbucks, Pepsi, Walmart, Tesco, the BBC and the UK government. Some have even suggested that they may have inadvertently sponsored extremist and hateful groups to the tune of more than 250,000.
Trumps secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has said Ayn Rands novel Atlas Shrugged is his favorite book. Mike Pompeo, head of the CIA, cited Rand as a major inspiration. Before he withdrew his nomination, Trumps pick to head the Labor Department, Andrew Puzder, revealed that he devotes much free time to reading Rand.
Group is considering a sale of its food business, which makes Frenchs mustard and ketchup, to help pay for the $16.6-billion acquisition of infant-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition.
A US flag is seen next to a section of the wall separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: Reuters
The US-led coalition on Tuesday bombed Islamic State (IS) positions in Iraq's Mosul city, killing four key commanders, military officials in Baghdad said.

According to a statement issued by the Military Intelligence, the coalition airstrikes hit several positions in the al-Tanak neighbourhood in western Mosul, Efe news reported.

The warplanes of the coalition resumed bombings on Tuesday after a 16-hour suspension of operations due to bad weather.

On February 19, Iraqi security forces began an offensive in western Mosul, two weeks after concluding operations to expel IS from the eastern section of the city.

The IS seized Mosul in 2014.
Although worried about the prospect of a trade war, American businesses operating in China nonetheless want President Donald Trump to wring some concessions on market access from China's leader Xi Jingping when the two meet this week.

Trump warned in a tweet last week the meetings at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday and Friday will be "very difficult" and "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."

Trump has said he wants US companies to stop investing in China and instead create jobs at home. He has also accused China of manipulating its currency to boost exports.

Critics within US industry have accused China of unfair government subsidies to its companies, and of flooding the US market with cheap products from steel to solar panels, while restricting foreign investment over vast swathes of the world's second-biggest .

But they also worry Trump's policies on China are not entirely clear, with his trade team still not in place, and may be subject to a 'grand bargain' involving other issues such as North Korea.

Trump is set to enter the meeting without several key advisors, including his pick for trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer who has yet to be confirmed by Congress. His nominee as ambassador to China, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, has also yet to be confirmed, while several posts in the US State Department that formulate Asia policy remain unfilled.

"With this in mind, it is hard to imagine that there will be much in the way of concrete accomplishments at this summit, or even that there has been any significant interagency discussion on strategy leading up to it," said Randal Phillips, Mintz Group's Beijing-based managing partner for Asia and the former chief CIA representative in China.

'ACTIONS, NOT WORDS'

Some of the largest US companies have contributed to the billions of dollars of foreign direct investment that have poured into China over the past two decades, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. They include tech companies like Apple, which makes much of its iPhone in China, automakers such as General Motors and Ford, heavy machinery firms like Caterpillar, retailers like Starbucks and makers of shaving foam and detergent, like Procter & Gamble.

US steel producers want Trump to press Xi on Chinese steel prices, according to a source who has been in discussions with the administration in advance of the summit.

US automakers complain about a disparity in tariffs: The United States has a 2.5 per cent tariff on auto imports, China's is 25 per cent.

But the stakes are perhaps highest for American technology firms, who worry that China's new cyber-security law, which takes effect in June, sets potentially discriminatory standards for multinationals.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think-tank whose board includes representatives from Apple, IBM Google and other tech heavyweights, has urged the Trump administration to pressure China to "stop rigging markets". It warned that possible retaliation from Beijing was not a reason for inaction.

Trump has staked out various positions on China as president in his tweets, phone calls and statements.

In a phone call with Xi after taking office, Trump gave ground on one of Beijing's most sensitive issues - the status of Taiwan - after earlier suggesting he might not stick to Washington's long-held "one China" policy.

Trump signed two executive orders on trade on Friday, one to improve import tariff collection and another to study the causes of the US trade deficit. Trump said at the White House signing ceremony he and Xi were "going to get down to some serious business" and vowed that "the theft of American prosperity" by foreign countries would end.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday the US-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries' economic structures and noted China had a trade deficit in services.

China tops the list of countries who have trade surpluses with the United States, with a $347 billion surplus last year.

TRADE WARS

Some in the US business community worry about tit-for-tat retaliation in trade disputes with China.

Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the US-China Business Council, said the two presidents need to take "positive actions that would lead to a more durable relationship, not retaliatory actions that would lead to a trade war".

The list of commercial issues between the two countries was so long, it would be impossible to make a major dent in them with one meeting, he said.

China is the largest export market for US soybean producers, accounting for 62 per cent of US soy exports in 2016 with a value of over $14 billion, leading some experts to suggest the sector could be particularly vulnerable to retaliation.

Steve Censky, chief executive of the American Soybean Association, told Reuters he hopes Trump will take a "prudent" approach to the trade relationship and address any issues in a "workman-like manner", recognising that both countries have a lot to lose if the relationship suffers.

William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China met senior Trump administration officials in February, and said "it was clear they were very familiar with the issues facing American companies in China, perhaps more so than previous administrations".

But several corporate lobbyists, representing a range of companies expressed concern Trump's lack of attention to detail could prove counterproductive when it comes to the intricacies of the massive trade and investment relationship.

"It's not yet clear whether ... this is a White House that wants to fundamentally reset the terms of the relationship or tinker at the edges and declare a public relations win," said a China expert at a Washington business lobby who asked not to be named.
Following an advice from the Prime Minister, Indian exporters have for the first time prepared a detailed export promotion strategy and a target of $60 billion worth of gems and exports in five years.
Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), the countrys largest in commodities, has fallen in global ranking despite growth in the number of contracts traded. Russias Moscow Exchange has surpassed Eurex, which used to be the largest in Europe so far.
A day after former Delhi minister A.K. Walia threatened to quit the party while expressing his displeasure over denying tickets in the MCD polls to those having strong support on the ground, the Congress Party on Tuesday attempted to downplay the issue and said these are initial hiccups which will be sorted out after proper consultation and discussion.

Expressing confidence over the functioning of Delhi Congress headed by former union minister Ajay Maken, party leader Shakeel Ahmed told ANI that Walia is a senior and efficient leader

"These are initial hiccups that take place during tickets distribution.The president and in-charge and all senior leaders will sit and sort out these issues and we will stand united for the MCD elections," he added.

Walia had yesterday offered to resign from the membership of Congress Party while stating that some of the tickets were given to 'outsiders' in his constituency.

Former Delhi legislator Amrish Gautam on Monday quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and former minister Haroon Yusuf have also expressed concern over functioning of Delhi Congress headed by Maken.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BEAVERTON, Ore. - Growing up in Seattle, Judith Marie Templer attended Catholic grade schools and high schools. "I always admired the Sisters I had as teachers," she said. "I knew I wanted to become a Sister or teacher or both." As Sr. Veronica Marie Templer of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon (SSMO), she became both.

Sr. Veronica Marie Templer died on March 31, 2017, at the Maryville skilled care facility, located on the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon campus in Beaverton. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place on April 5 at 4 p.m. in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel in the SSMO Motherhouse. The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon campus is located on Murray Blvd. at TV Highway in Beaverton.

Born in Seattle on Oct. 1, 1937, Sr. Veronica Marie received her elementary and secondary education from the Sisters of the Holy Names at Holy Names Academy and the Dominican Sisters.

In 1962, she became one of the first teachers at Our Lady of Guadalupe School in West Seattle. Several Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon were also assigned there. "The Sisters were always cheerful and helpful," she said. "I knew this was the Community I wanted to join."

After entering the SSMO Community, she taught typing, shorthand, bookkeeping and recordkeeping at St. Mary of the Valley High School (now Valley Catholic). Sister Veronica Marie then supported the Sisters' ministries in health care by serving at Maryville, where she worked in medical records and later as an administrative assistant.

In 2014, Sister Veronica Marie celebrated her 50th Jubilee as a Sister of St. Mary of Oregon. "It doesn't seem possible," she said. "Time goes so quickly."

Sr. Veronica Marie was preceded in death by her parents, James and Louise Templer. She is survived by her Sisters in the SSMO Community and by her sister and brother-in-law, Jeanne and Bob Sarkies of Seattle, and their family.

Memorial offerings may be directed to Maryville through the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Foundation.

Sr. Veronica Marie Templer: In her own words and in photos and video


Hailing the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Tibetan government-in-exile today said that China should not have any problem with it as the spiritual leader's visit is purely religious.

"He has been invited by the people of Tawang to come and give teachings and blessings. He is visiting as a religious leader. He travels all over the world and give teachings on Buddhist philosophy, inter religious harmony and peace. There is no reason for China to protest Lama visiting to the places where his followers are there," Tibetan government-in-exile spokesperson Sonam Dagpo told ANI.

He further said China is not protesting against the Dalai Lama's visit for the first time.

"He has been visiting Tawang for the last many years. So, you don't see any kind of Chinese projects coming openly. But may be about five-six years now whenever he is being invited by the people of Tawang, China begins to protest against the Indian Government," he added.

Earlier in the day, the government warned against any 'artificial controversy' being created and asserted that the Dalai Lama's visit was strictly religious and not political.

"His (Dalai Lama) visit is purely religious in nature and there should be no political angle given to that," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told the media here.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) yesyerday issued a statement, saying that no additional colour should be ascribed to the Dalai Lama's religious and spiritual activities.

The Dalai Lama, who was set to reach Tawang today, has been forced to change his schedule due to bad weather and will now reach Bomdila by evening.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was set to leave Guwahati by a chopper, but the inclement weather has forced him to travel by road and change his stop to Bomdila, where he will make a public appearance tomorrow.

After staying there for two days, he will proceed to Tawang.

During his visit, he is also expected to hold a religious discourse at the stadium of Tawang's senior secondary school and will also deliver a public talk on 'Secular Ethics and Happiness' at the Kala Wangpo Convention Centre.

On global stage, China has repeatedly warned India that the Dalai Lama's visit would hit the bilateral ties significantly.

Protesting Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, China earlier on Friday warned India to avoid damaging bilateral relations between the two nations and adhere to political pledges or else face the consequences.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As President Xi Jinping heads to the USA on 6-7 April for his first meeting with President Donald Trump, protocol and face off will be at the top of the Chinese leader's list of priorities. More than anything, he wants to be treated as an equal, as the paramount leader of a rejuvenated China.

Already, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's deferential visit to China last month, the new U.S. leadership has uncritically accepted China's narrative without batting an eyelid. On that occasion, Tillerson said, "The U.S. side is ready to develop relations with China based on the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation."

However, his choice of word distinctively echoed what President Xi himself said on previous occasions, lending credence to China's egotistical pretensions to equality in terms of global power. Indeed, the Global Times cloyingly trumpeted that "Tillerson has implicitly endorsed the new model of major power relations".

There have been a number of recent indications of Beijing's far-from-honest approaches to a range of governance issues. One was the election of Hong Kong's new chief executive on 26 March. Carrie Lam, the former chief secretary, was duly selected as the next leader with a runaway total of 777 votes out of the 1,161 cast.

Of course, the election committee consisted mostly of Beijing loyalists, so there was no hope of anyone other than Beijing's top pick from winning. However, there was murky insider dealing going on throughout the election process.

Some of this was revealed in the online publication Hong Kong Free Press. Mark Pinkstone, the chief information officer for one of the candidates running for chief executive nomination, Regina Ip, lifted the lid on this Pandora's box. He stated: "The chief executive election makes one commonly known, but not spoken about, point: It is all controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government. The whole election protocol is a farce."

Pinkstone claimed that Lam had been anointed as early as midway through 2016 to succeed C.Y Leung. Remarkable was Lam's reversal of her decision not to run in the leadership race after earlier expressing a desire to retire.

One of the other contenders, John Tsang was the most popular candidate in terms of public opinion, but the Liaison Office attempted to lure him out of the race with an offer of the position of CEO of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Furthermore, Pinkstone claimed the Liaison Office phoned every member of the nominating committee advising them to reject Ip and throw their weight behind Lam.

Pinkstone continued with his allegations, even though Ip quickly distanced herself from them. "Almost every weekend prior to the elections, clandestine meetings were held in Shenzhen with Beijing officials, members of the Hong Kong Liaison Office and election committee members to discuss the outcome of the March 26 chief executive elections."

Such allegations demonstrate that the Liaison Office violated Article 22 of Hong Kong's Basic Law, which prevents the Chinese government from interfering in affairs rightly administered by the territory itself. Pinkstone lamented, ".The Central Government has lost all trust of the Hong Kong people in maintaining the One Country Two Systems principle."

Of interest, the South China Morning Post, now controlled by Jack Ma of Alibaba fame and with a decidedly pro-Beijing stance on every issue, refused to publish Pinkstone's claims. On the other hand, Chinese-language newspapers were not reluctant at all about plastering Pinkstone's revelations on their front pages.

As occurred with the Hong Kong election, China is renowned for its all-encompassing propaganda machine, one that will no doubt be in full flow during the Trump-Xi summit as it dignifies the Chinese president.

Just how nefarious Chinese propaganda tactics are was revealed by Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She tweeted, "China Daily solicits articles on US-China relations, but only wants analysis of positives, win-win and mutual respect."

She showed a copy of a recent letter from the China Daily asking inviting her to submit an opinion piece for online publication. The letter stipulated, "We hope you could focus more on mutual respect, cooperation (especially on economic and trade) and win-win instead of conflict and confrontation.We prefer a piece of the bigger picture to that of criticism of China or the US.Thus, we look forward to you [sic] could find a topic related to this theme and write us a piece."

Such letters have been received by other academics too, where Chinese media organizations have specified the tone and content of the puff pieces they want. As if party censorship within China was not enough, state-run media are alarmingly using exactly the same methods in the West too.

There are other reasons why Trump should call out China on its atrocious proclivity to silence its people and instead herald China's and Xi's unparalleled glories. One glaring example was the sentencing of two citizens for supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014 on social media.

A Guangdong court sentenced Su Changlan to three years in prison for "incitement to subvert state power" on 31 March. The judge's verdict said she had "created an influence, attacking the socialist system, [and] inciting others to subvert state power".

Chen Qitang, meanwhile, was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on the same charge. His crime was taking photos of the Hong Kong protests and posting them on WeChat, as well as voicing support for Su. They had been tried in April 2016 but the court had repeatedly delayed its verdict.

Ironically, Su was stripped of her political rights for a period of three years. Obviously, one must question what kind of political rights Chinese citizens have in the first place? It seems the only right people have is to agree with the Communist Party of China. Her lawyer described the verdict and proceedings as "extremely absurd".

Religious freedom is another area where Trump should attack Xi's facade of global leadership. It recently emerged that churches in Wenzhou, often referred to as China's Jerusalem because of the preponderance of Christian churches and an estimated one million believers, are being forced to install surveillance cameras for so-called "anti-terrorism and security purposes". Cameras were to be located at gates, rostrums and offering boxes.

The order was given late last year and began to be implemented in January, sometimes by sufficient force that believers have had to be hospitalized. In 2014 Wenzhou grabbed the headlines because churches were forced to remove around 360 rooftop crosses, purportedly because they were illegal structures. Pastor Huang Yizi was jailed for one year for protesting these removals, and he has subsequently been closely monitored.

The Christian community is simply suffering what the Muslim Uighur population has been enduring for years. In the latest restrictions implemented on 1 April, Xinjiang Province passed new regulations banning any "manifestations of extremism".

The measures include women wearing veils, men wearing "abnormal beards", what names are given to children and damaging legal documents. Other crimes are refusing to watch state television or listening to state radio, or stopping children from receiving a regular education.

In many respects, China has not acted wisely in international relations either. While all countries can be blamed for parochialism, China's behavior over the US Army deployment of a THAAD missile defense system in South Korea has been particularly one-eyed.

Beijing has complained vociferously that the associated radar will impinge upon China's own security, but it has conveniently forgotten that South Korea and Japan are directly facing the threat of North Korean ballistic missile launches. Indeed, such a reality is totally absent from China's tide of invective. Indeed, one could argue that China has brought this upon itself, for Beijing has done very little to dissuade Pyongyang from its belligerent pathway to ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

By the same token, China conducted clandestine oceanographic tasks with research vessels around Benham Rise in waters to the east of thePhilippines. The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs revealed this was not the first time China has shown unusual interest in the area off the Luzon coast, after applying for permission to conduct "marine scientific research" there in 2015.

Manila refused to give such permission, with China's main aim likely to be study of the ocean floor to benefit submarine operations. Yet Beijing vociferously protests the presence of US Navy research vessels within the South China Sea, again underscoring that China is willing to take but never to give, even where required under internationally accepted practices.

Trump has many reasons to take Xi to task over the way China is being run so authoritatively. Legal injustices, censorship, political interference and religious persecution are all rife within China, and these influences are spreading beyond its shores.

Trump has made a name for himself by being blunt, so this is a good opportunity to continue in that vein. If Xi, China's "core leader", wants to sit at the global table, then he should be required to grant basic freedoms to his countrymen and start treating others with respect.

Trump promised the meeting with Xi would be "a very difficult one", but this has to be for reasons beyond mere trade and jobs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Six more people were charged in connection with an attack on a teenage asylum seeker in south London, The Guardian reports.

Liam Neylen, 19, Ben Harman, 20, James Neves, 22, Ellie Leite, 19, a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy were charged on Tuesday after Reker Ahmed was attacked near a bus stop in Croydon.

The six suspects will appear in custody on Tuesday at Croydon magistrates court alongside Kyran Evans, 23, and a 17-year-old girl. All eight are accused of violent disorder.

Earlier, five people were charged in connection with the brutal attack on the asylum-seeker that left him with serious head injuries.

The teenager was a Kurdish Iranian and suffered a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain.

The Police has said that as many as 20 people were involved in the attack on the 17-year-old, which they said was being treated as a hate crime.

The teenager remained in intensive care in a hospital on Monday, where his condition was "serious" but not life threatening. He had sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of the attack.

Police arrested nine people over the weekend and another person on Monday in connection with the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Warning against any 'artificial controversy' being created around His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Centre on Monday asserted that his visit was strictly religious, not political.

"His (Dalai Lama) visit is purely religious in nature and there should be no political angle given to that," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told the media here.

Asserting that the Centre never had any problem with the neighboring countries, Rijiju said the people of Arunachal Pradesh desire to have cordial relations with people of China.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued a statement saying that no additional colour should be ascribed to Dalai Lama's religious and spiritual activities.

It also urged that no artificial controversy should be created around his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"The Government has clearly stated on several occasions that (HHDL) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the statement read.

The Dalai Lama, who was set to reach Tawang today has been forced to change his schedule due to bad weather, and will now reach Bomdila by evening.

The Tibetan Spiritual lead was set to leave Guwahati by a chopper, but the inclement weather has forced him to travel by road and change his stop to Bomdila, where he will make a public appearance tomorrow.

After staying there for two days, he will proceed to Tawang.

After several hours of thundershowers, members of Tibetan refugee community of Monpas and residents of the northwestern town of Arunachal Pradesh were out of their homes to clean the road to welcome their spiritual leader.

Tawang monastery, a place where Dalai Lama is going to stay for next four days is decorated with religious flags and coloured clothes with mantras inscribed on them.

In 1959, along with thousands of supporters the spiritual leader escaped from China and crossed over at Chuthangmu post. On global stage, China has repeatedly warned India that Dalai Lama's visit would hit the bilateral ties significantly.

Dressed in traditional costumes, around 800 monks will welcome their spiritual leader Dalai Lama in the 400 year old monastery which is India's largest and world's second largest.

During his visit he is also expected to hold a religious discourse at the stadium of Tawang's senior secondary school and will also deliver a public talk on 'Secular Ethics and Happiness' at the Kala Wangpo Convention Centre.

On April 9, he will be inaugurating the Thupsung Dhargeyling Monastery.

Security arrangements are also deployed by the Arunachal Pradesh Police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to avoid any unwelcomed tensions.

Protesting Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, China earlier on Friday warned India to avoid damaging bilateral relations between the two nations and adhere to political pledges, or else face the consequences.

"Therefore, we have asked India to earnestly honor its political pledges and avoid damaging China-India relations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sonal (Name Changed) is an activist and she is only 12 year's old. She is a member of the "Little star children's group" from Shahbad dairy that works towards educating children on protecting themselves against abuse. Like the other members of the group, she has been working with other children from the basti who are yet not associated with the children group.

She is a part of Aarzoo a movement, a promise to fulfill dreams of countless young girls from the lower income group families by facilitating guidance and resources to supplement their dedication and enthusiasm. In association with 'CRY - Child Rights and You', and as a part of its corporate social initiative, HTC Corporation, a leading innovator in mobile and virtual reality technology, has launched the initiative 'Aarzoo: ek wish har aarzoo poori karneki' in India.

The initiative brings together HTC and CRY in an effort to create education and basic training opportunities for the girl child from the under privileged sections of our society. As a part of this initiative, beginning February 2017, HTC will, for a period of six months, contribute part of consumer sales proceeds towards delivering an on-ground impact on girl child education for 1500 girls through CRY.

'Aarzoo' aims to bring positive changes in the lives of the under-privileged girls by giving them the opportunity to learn whilst working towards recognizing, promoting and protecting their rights. In order to build mass reach and awareness and establish connect it will involve the use of Digital consumer connect campaigns as well as on ground activation via events and activities. HTC employees will also join the drive by donating their time towards the cause - volunteer for CRY. The initiative will culminate with a large children festival in Delhi.

Speaking on the association, Faisal Siddiqui, President-South Asia, HTC said, "According to DHS data around the world, female literacy rates are improving but India ranks 38th among the 51 developing countries for which comparable data is available. Indonesia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania - all rank higher than India. We firmly believe that education is the birth right of every child, especially girls as their education and awareness helps build a better and progressive society. We are pleased to associate with a reputable organization like CRY, which has been dedicatedly working towards providing a better childhood to children to take a step forward towards fulfilling this vision of ours. I would like to reiterate our commitment towards providing quality education and enable better prospects for the girl child in the country."

Welcoming this initiative, Soha Moitra, Regional Director- North, Child Rights and You (CRY) said, "Education is a powerful tool with which we can empower the girl child. It not only helps them to become confident individuals but also goes a long way in fighting several social evils and issues like child marriage, abuse, maternal and child mortality, malnutrition etc. Educating a girl child is the first step towards transforming society and we are extremely glad that HTC is championing this cause and supporting us in making education accessible to every child. We believe this initiative will go a long way in empowering girls and bringing them into the mainstream.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Islamic religious leader who made offensive comments against Christians and Jews will be repatriated.

Imam Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, hailing from India had been working in Singapore at the Jamae Chulia Mosque since 2010 on a work permit, the Straits Times reported.

The Imam pleaded guilty yesterday for promoting hatred between the two communities on religious grounds and bringing in disharmony.

"Nalla has paid the fine. He will be repatriated," said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement on Monday.

Earlier in February, a video of the Imam was circulated online, in which he was seen reciting a prayer in Arabic that read "God help us against Jews and Christians".

Last Friday, he apologised for his remarks and also clarified that that the text was not from the Quran but from an old Arabic text having its roots in his village in India.

The Imam apologised to a group of leaders of various religious groups, including those from the Christian faith on Friday.

Meanwhile, the police have issued strict warning to other two Muslims Singaporeans connected with the video.

Out of the two, one had uploaded the video on Facebook while the other had supported the Imam's remarks.

However, the two have tendered public apologies through the MHA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Condemning the recent German tourist rape in Tamil Nadu's Mahabalipuram, social activist on Tuesday asserted that this should be stopped immediately as such types of incidents put India in a negative image on the global platform.

Speaking to ANI here, social activist Ruby Mukherjee said, "It is a shameful incident and we must condemn it. This should be stopped immediately as such type of incidents are pushing India lower, we feel ashamed of ourselves."

Mukherjee further said those found guilty should be given strict punishment.

Echoing similar emotions, Mumbai-based advocate and activist Abha Singh asserting that it was a shocking incident.

"It is shocking that people are still emboldened to rape foreigners. This clearly shows that the police are not serious towards the foreigners and it is sending a very wrong image of India abroad, "Abha Singh told ANI.

Singh further stated that the tourist coming to India numbers have fallen because they think India is unsafe country for women.

"In fact a few countries have issued advisories warning women not to travel India," she added.

The social activist said strong action needs to taken to stop such types of crime.

"It is the duty of the police to provide adequate security to women so that they feel safe and it will not give bad name to India," Abha said.

Earlier on Sunday evening, a German filed a complaint with Mahabalipuram police that she was kidnapped and raped by two unknown men.

She was immediately taken to Kanchipuram General Hospital for a medical check-up and was later moved to the resort where she is staying.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
While Rakhi Sawant claims she has been arrested for allegedly making inflammatory remarks against the sage, the Ludhiana Police has denied confirmation of the same.

"A non-bailable warrant was issued against Rakhi Sawant from the court. To get it executed, a team from Ludhiana has been sent to Mumbai. There has been no confirmation regarding the arrest," Ludhiana Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh told ANI.

Rakhi, the 'Queen of controversy', earlier in the day had claimed she was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with the case.

Earlier on March 9, a local court in Ludhiana issued an arrest warrant against her for allegedly making inflammatory remarks against the sage, which has allegedly hurt religious sentiments of the Valmiki Community.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United Kingdom Chancellor of Exchequer P. Hammond on Tuesday said that extradition request for liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been made by India, adding it will be proper for the concerned ministers to discuss it.

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that extradition of absconding Mallya has been certified by Secretary of State of the U.K. Government and soon a warrant would be released against him.

"Somewhere in the month in the month of February, the home office of the U.K. Government conveyed that India's request for extradition of Mallya has been certified by Secretary of State and sent to Westminster Magistrate court," MEA official spokesperson Gopal Bagley told the media here.

Earlier in March, the Supreme Court fast-tracked the proceedings against Mallya and reserved its order on contempt proceedings against him for allegedly diverting $40 million to his children's accounts in foreign banks in violation of court orders.

A bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit reserved its order on whether or not Mallya was guilty of contempt and what action should be taken to bring back the money.

The court concluded the proceedings after a three-and-a-half-hour hearing during which the Centre contended that Mallya was mocking the Indian system after fleeing the country. It said the government was holding talks with U.K. authorities to get him deported.

The apex court had started proceedings against Mallya a year ago and had issued notice to him on March 8, 2016 on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for recovery of about Rs. 9,000 crore which the businessman and his companies owed to them.

The liquor baron, however, fled the country days before the apex court took up the case against him.

Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi urged the court to direct Mallya to bring back the $40 million which he had received from Diageo. He told the bench that Mallya had breached court orders and his refusal to bring back the money had aggravated the breach and he should be directed to appear personally before the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three teams from Next Tech Lab at SRM University's Kattankulathur campus have won Smart India Hackathon 2017 organized by Government of India's MHRD and AICTE.

The hackathon is by far the biggest hackathon to be ever conducted in the world and is the starting point of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign for Digital India, Start-Up India and Make in India.

About 29 ministries and government departments had identified 598 problem statements and the initial response for it came from over 7,500 teams with approximately 42,000 students. The Grand Finale of the hackathon was conducted across 26 states on 1st and 2nd April and saw around 10,000 selected students participating from various parts of the country.

Tesla, Minsky and Pausch Lab at Next Tech from SRM University were the teams that provided solutions to problem statements proposed by the Ministries of Steel, Tourism and Electronics and Information Technology.

They competed against 50+ other teams in their assigned Ministries in three different locations - Cochin, Indore, Pune and raced to the top.

Team Tesla and Pausch Lab at Next Tech emerged as Winners at competitions held in and bagged Rs. 1 Lakh which was facilitated by Ministry of Steel's Union Minister of State Vishnu Deo Sai and Ministry of Tourism's Meenakshi Sharma, (IA & AS) Addl. D.G. Team Minsky bagged the Innovation Prize of Rs. 10,000 from Persistent Systems at Pune.

Team Tesla's which comprised of Soham Chatterjee, Archana Iyer, Rohit Saha, Fenil Doshi, Raghav Gupta and Karthik Suresh; problem statement was to create a mobile application platform that reduces power theft in the country.

The team coupled the application with Artificial Intelligence to predict power theft locations and time. At the end of the 36 hour long hackathon, the team was able to develop a fully functional prototype of the user end mobile app and a highly sophisticated government sided software. The app had features that cater to the masses of India by integrating Aadhar card login and multilingual capabilities.

Pausch Lab at Next Tech which comprised of Naman Maheshwari, Amarnath Murugen, Siddharth Suresh, Vijayalakshmi Girijala, Farhan Ahmed and Zubin Datta Choudhary; problem statement was to provide a solution for commentary in Museums around India. Their product was a mobile application which integrated Mixed Reality along with commentary in multiple regional languages, which gave their idea an edge over the others.

Not only did they provide a Minimum viable product at the end, but also a thoroughly researched profitable plan.

Minsky Lab at Next Tech team included Rohan Pooniwala, Arjun Bahuguna,

Sree Harsha Nelaturu, Aparna Krishnakuar, Tanmay Madaan and Sourav Sharan; problem statement was to create a Video Surveillance system with video analytics. The solution provided was in the form of an autonomous Deep Learning Surveillance system which used Convolutional Neural Networks to first filter out suspicious activities and then labels the crime or accident and automatically informs the relevant authority without anyone needing to manage it. A hardware solution where live footage is received and analyzed on the central server from the CCTV camera all over an area. The solution provided was scalable and cheap when compared to present day methods as it can be deployed on already installed CCTV cameras without needing to change them.

The three team leaders Soham Chatterjee, Naman Maheshwari and Rohan Pooniwala along with their team belong to a student-run lab at SRM University called Next Tech Lab. Next Tech Lab was founded by Anshuman Pandey and Aditthya Ramakrishnan upon their return from USA after spending a semester at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in February of 2016. The lab focuses on cross-disciplinary research in various fields spanning from Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction and Internet of Things, Computational Biology to name a few. Members of the lab have won several national level competitions earlier, presented their research work at International Conferences and published in reputed journals.

Recently Next Tech Lab started a fund raising campaign on Ketto and were able to reach 80% of their goal within two days.

After the competition was over, the teams were approached by the Ministries who were very impressed by their solutions and wanted to know how to scale these prototypes to serve the nation and its citizens. The lab plans to further continue its research in cutting edge technology for the benefit of the nation.

SRM University is the only University to have won the most prizes at Smart India Hackathon 2017, thus setting a benchmark in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


Digital Transformation reaches across all areas of your organization  from business process to communications. In fact, we would argue it starts with communications. In retail however, shrinkage  the colloqialized term for theft is a major problem. How major? In 2015 it was $45.2 billion!

So when you are one of the largest retailers, you can imagine that reducing theft of merchandise should be your top priority. And it is.

Walmart is one of six companies in the United States that run digital-forensics laboratories accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. American Express has an accredited lab; Target has two of them.

These labs can unlock cell phones, restore damaged hard drives or monitor the network to see which employees might be borrowing information for theft on the black market or dark web.

We are in a golden age of tech innovation. Over the next decade, many technologies will be adopted as companies realize that technology can still dramatically improve their profit margins.

How well is it working? Well, a recent post highlighted on Reddits official blog last year offers a look at that process. A user called StiggyPop wrote about getting caught after stealing about $15,000 in Blu-Rays from a Target store. Target investigators had assembled a file on him, he wrote, and figured out where he lived, what car he drove, and where he resold the stolen discs. He was turned over to the police and charged with grand larceny.

Bottom line, digital transformation is very real. The priorities might be different based on the organization or the industry but the end result is the same An intense desire to adapt to a changing world so you can survive the competitive onslaught from new entrants and existing competitors.

It will be an exciting future indeed!



Communications 20/20 will be held July 18-20, 2017 at Caesars Palace,

Las Vegas, Nevada and will focus on the next wave of technology and innovation that will transcend the importance of person to person contact, disrupting the future of the entire communications industry. Communications 20/20 will provide vital knowledge and insight through unique programming, hands on training, live demos, keynotes, exhibits and networking events.

This unique conference will allow for individuals and companies entrenched in the traditional communications ecosystem that want to understand how to adapt and profit from the new software-defined communications trends that will permeate through all industries and enterprises.
The Pakistan High Commission hosted a reception here in the honour of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is on official visit to U.K.

Gen. Bajwa interacted with UK-based Pakistani community, apprising them about the environment in Pakistan, achievements in efforts against terrorism and militancy and projected its results through whole of nation approach.

According to an ISPR release, Gen. Bajwa hailed the role of oversees Pakistanis towards the progress of Pakistan and assured them that the Pakistan Army shall perform its due role towards security of Pakistan.

All Pakistanis expressed their pride in role and contributions of Pakistan Army towards well being of Pakistan.

Earlier, on arrival, Gen. Bajwa was received by Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, Syed Ibne Abbas.

According to The Nation, General Bajwa used his visit to London to inform his British counterpart that Pakistan's eastern and western borders were currently vulnerable and that its relations with both India and Afghanistan were a matter of concern for Islamabad.

He also informed Pakistani diaspora that he was optimistic about relations with India being normalised.

According to the daily, General Bajwa met YK Chief of General Staff General Sir Nick Carter, reviewed a guard of honour at Horse Guards Square, had separate meetings with UK Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan Mr. Owen Jenkins and also US Resolute Support Mission (RSM) Commander General John Nicholson.

Matters of mutual interest including regional geo-political environment with special reference to Afghanistan came under discussion. The UK leadership and RSM Commander appreciated and acknowledged positive role played by Pakistan and Pakistan Army towards peace and stability.

Gen. Bajwa also highlighted that CPEC should be viewed as an economic manoeuvre since it aims at fostering inclusive development in best interest of the region and beyond. He thanked UK leadership for their assistance during war on terror.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir elections, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday asked Pakistan to stop backing militancy in the state and enable restoration of peace between the two countries.

"It is my appeal to those across (the border) that they should renew the policy of not supporting militancy or the gun that they had adopted during (Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee's time. Help us restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir and then talks will take place here and across (PoK) as well," Mehbooba said while addressing an election meeting in Anantnag constituency.

She further asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"Narendra Modi went on his own to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new hope was attached to it but unfortunately Pathankot (terror attack) happened," she added.

Mehbooba later added that these (tense) times will not last forever.

"Vajpayeeji used to say that you can change friends but not the neighbours. We have to live with each other cordially," she added.

Earlier this week, ahead of the by-polls for Anantnag parliamentary seat, the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested 18 persons on stone pelting charges.

The police have launched a massive crackdown against the youth in South Kashmir by arresting at least 135 youth in the past two weeks.

The arrested youth were wanted for disrupting law and order in the district by resorting to violence, the police officials said.

Though the situation has improved gradually after the five-month unrest in 2016, South Kashmir remains charged as there are gun battles between militants and security forces and stone-pelting protests near encounter sites have become a routine in the last few months.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan has called for nuclear restraint and an avoidance of an arms race in South Asia.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi told the United Nations Disarmament Commission on Tuesday, "Our conduct continues to be defined by restraint and responsibility, and avoidance of an arms race [in South Asia]."

According to the Express Tribune, she also said there was a lack of progress on the part of nuclear-weapon states in fulfilling their legal nuclear disarmament obligations, which could be further impeded by countries "greatly strengthening and expanding [their] nuclear capabilities".

Another key challenge, Dr Lodhi said, was granting discriminatory waivers to some, which constitute nuclear double standards.

Many states, she said, particularly in South Asia, continued to pursue the policies of proliferation with military expenditures rising and conventional weapons inventories expanding.

"Disruption of strategic stability in South Asia by induction of nuclear weapons in our neighborhood fundamentally challenged my country's security," she said, in an obvious reference to the 1974 Indian nuclear test.

"We were left with no option but to follow suit in order to restore strategic stability in the region and deter all forms of aggression."

The ambassador emphasised the discriminatory nature of the proposed fissile material cut-off treaty and the urgency of providing legally binding assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states.

Lodhi told the delegates that Pakistan had the requisite credentials and expertise to be part of international export control bodies and has therefore, as a first step, sought membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"As the NSG deliberates on the legal, technical and political aspects of membership of non-NPT countries, it must establish and adhere to a transparent, objective and non-discriminatory criteria that ensures equal treatment of non-NPT applicants for the Group's membership," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's relationship with the U.S. has often been touted as that of a 'frenemy', as Islamabad has on several occasions been accused of playing a double game - securing U.S. aid to fight terrorism and then using that aid to maintain its Islamist assets, but Islamabad's relentless criticism of its former Ambassador to the U.S. Hussain Haqqani proves that it is no friend of the U.S.

Associate professor at Georgetown University's Security Studies Program C. Christine Fair highlights in his recent article that since the earliest years of the so-called global war on terrorism, Pakistan on one hand has taken some USD 33 billion from Washington in the name of partnering with it to fight Islamist militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan and on the other hand, it continued to kill Americans and their Afghan partners, as well as NATO and non-NATO allies in Afghanistan, through its varied proxies such as the Afghan Taliban, the Jalaluddin Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and others.

The article appearing in The National Interest says that while Pakistan has tenaciously maintained the viability of these so-called Islamist militant assets, it has prosecuted a brutal campaign of violence and threats of violence against Pakistanis who are fighting for a saner Pakistan.

It offers the recent example of how Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States from 2008-2011. A recent article by Haqqani in the Washington Post on how diplomats build contacts with incoming administration officials was described in Pakistan variously as a "confession" or "admission" of secretly helping the Americans in finding al-Qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Haqqani said in his article that while having lived most of the Pervez Musharraf's military dictatorship years in exile in Washington, he had established close ties with members of Congress and others influential in policymaking. These ties later helped in closer cooperation between Pakistan and the United States in fighting terrorism and eventually these connections enabled the United States to discover and eliminate bin Laden without depending on Pakistan's intelligence service or military, which were suspected of sympathy toward Islamist militants

He discloses that friends he made from the Obama campaign were able to ask for help in stationing U.S. Special Operations and intelligence personnel on the ground in Pakistan. These requests were taken directly to Pakistan's civilian leaders and approved.

"Although the United States kept us officially out of the loop about the operation, these locally stationed Americans proved invaluable when Obama decided to send in Navy SEAL Team 6 without notifying Pakistan," he said in his article.

Fair writes that post Haqqani's article the Pakistani politicians and media are busy condemning him for inadvertently helping conclude the hunt for the world's most wanted terrorist by granting visas to American operatives who, along with Pakistani nationals, located bin Laden while ignoring the question of why and how bin Laden lived for years in Pakistan.

Fair cites a report by Carlotta Gall, in her 2014 volume The Wrong Enemy, in which the author asserts that Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, the ISI, had a desk dedicated to overseeing bin Laden's protection. Laden was "hiding" in plain sight a mere mile or so from the famed Pakistan Military Academy. His home was a Spartan but fortified compound with high walls, limited communications and a small electrical profile for the outsize compound. They even burned their trash in the compound itself. His security was surprisingly absent, suggesting that bin Laden felt reasonably secure.

Pakistan's position on bin Laden is difficult to parse as when the United States initially offered Pakistan, in the words of one highly-placed official, "a ride on the victory bus," Pakistan had no interest, says Fair.

Soon thereafter, civilian and military leaders alike vocally decried the U.S. raid that killed him as a breach of Pakistan's sovereignty.

Fair writes that Haqqani is not the only foe of terrorism that the state is hunting but in recent years, the Pakistani state has launched a tenacious crackdown upon a wide array of activists who oppose the perduring state project of jihad. These activists include secular bloggers and other social media activists, civil rights lawyers, journalists, musicians, and other dissidents, such as Baloch and Sindhi ethnic activists.

These diverse activists generally oppose the army's instrumentalisation of so-called jihadis as principal tools of foreign policy and the government's tacit alignment with Islamism and for this reason, they are considered "enemies of the state" and have been relentlessly harassed and threatened with violence.

Meanwhile, the article also accuses the United States of having emboldened the Pakistani military and its intelligence agencies over the last fifteen years to hunt down reformers at home, because it believes the United States needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs the United States. Pakistanis frequently lament that while the United States never brought down a civilian regime, its historical support to the military ensures that a praetorian junta, unaccountable to any law, truly governs the state.

It further calls upon the United States to correct this course and demand that Pakistan knock off its jihad habit while at the same time working to ensure this relentless liberal witch hunt ends.

The article says that to achieve this, the United States has many tools at its disposal, ranging from sanctions, to declaring Pakistan to be a state sponsor of terror, to significant curbs on military assistance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the wake of the explosion that ripped through St. Petersburg metro station in Russia killing at least 11 people, United States President Donald Trump called up his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and offered his condolences.

According to a statement from the White House, Trump spoke with Putin by phone on Monday expressing his condolences and offering support to the Russian people.

Both Presidents agreed that terrorism must meet a swift end.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion on the St. Petersburg metro, although the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described it as a "terrorist act."

This was the first official call between the two leaders since shortly after Trump took office, he spoke with Putin as well as four other leaders in the same day.

Putin also congratulated Trump hours after his electoral victory in November.

St. Petersburg was shaken by an explosion that tore through a metro train on Monday, leaving at least 10 people dead and dozens injured.

The attack occurred as Putin was visiting the city to address a media forum and meet the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"Naturally, we always consider all options -- both domestic and criminal, primarily incidents of a terrorist nature," Putin said.

The attacks come at a time of domestic political upheaval is Russia, as anti-corruption demonstrations have been held across Moscow and dozens of other cities over the past two weeks, with thousands of Russians taking to the streets to protest against corruption.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An explosion inside a butcher shop in Granada, Spain has reportedly left seven people injured.

The local police, civil guard and firefighters of Granada evacuated the people from either side of the devastated shop.

Initial reports suggested that the explosion could have been caused by a gas leak.

However, the Spanish police is investigating the incident to determine the exact cause of the blast.

Among the seven wounded people are three women, who have been transferred to the Hospital Campus de la Salud in Granada, local media reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Inspired by the renowned spiritual leader, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Yoga Club was inaugurated at the Japanese Parliament by Ravi Shankar himself on Tuesday.

Over a hundred parliamentarians have already signed up to be members of the club, said senior parliamentarian Hiroshi Yamada.

"With guidance from Sri Sri, we are very sure that the initiative will become a grand success," he added.

The year 2017 having been declared as the year of 'Japan-India Friendly Exchanges,' this initiative is being seen as a milestone in the tradition bound Japanese culture.

Yamada, who is the chief coordinator of the proposed Yoga Club in Japanese Parliament said, "This idea of Yoga in the parliament has many takers and already more than hundred parliamentarians have signed up to be members of the Yoga club. With guidance from Sri Sri, we are very sure that this initiative will become a grand success."

Hakubun Shimomura, who has held many senior ministerial berths in the Government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will be the Chairman of the Yoga Club.

Shimomura shared that he is inspired by Ravi Shankar's vision of a stress-free society and one family.

"The most memorable moment of my life was when I read the message from Prime Minister M Abe addressing the Culture Festival held in New Delhi last year," he added.

"We are very happy that Japanese parliamentarians are showing interest in yoga and meditation. This is much needed in current times," said renowned educationist Prof Pema Gyalpo, who is also the chairman of Art Of Living in Japan.

Hon'ble Hakubun Shimomura, who has held many senior ministerial berths in the Government of PM Shinzo Abe, will be the Chairman of the Yoga Club. Mr Shimomura shared that he is inspired by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's vision of a stress-free society and one family.

"The most memorable moment of my life was when I read the message from Hon'ble PM Shinzo Abe addressing the World Culture Festival held in New Delhi last year," he added.

"We are very happy that Japanese parliamentarians are showing interest in yoga and meditation. This is much needed in current times," said renowned educationist Prof Pema Gyalpo, who is also the chairman of Art Of Living in Japan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that a gas attack in a rebel-controlled area of Syria was a 'consequence' of former president Barack Obama administration's 'weakness and irresolution.'

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people including women and children is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized . These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," the CNN quoted Spicer as saying.

Dozens of people, including at least ten children, were killed and over 200 injured as a result of asphyxiation caused by the exposure to an unknown gas in northern Syria on Tuesday.

Spicer said that the United States stands with its allies across the globe in condemning this intolerable act.

He said President Obama did nothing despite saying in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons.

Spicer added that President Trump had spoken with his national security team about the issue.

According to Anas al-Diab, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center, airstrikes hit the city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province giving off a poisonous gas that led to this asphyxiation.

Three more strikes hit the same city center location but did not result in any gas, al-Diab added.

Doctors are attempting to evacuate the wounded to Turkey.

The death toll is said to be at least 67, according to al-Diab, while the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported it to be 58.

The High Negotiations Committee claimed the death toll could be as high as 100 with up to 400 injured.

Activist groups have blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the attack.

The Syrian Coalition, an umbrella opposition group, referred to the attack as a "crime similar to that in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 that the international community allowed to pass without accountability or punishment," in a Twitter post.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari has expressed his grief at the loss of life in explosions at St. Petersburg, Russia.

In a message, he said that terrorism is a threat to all pluralist and open societies and we need to act together for dealing with this menace.

"I am grieved to learn of the loss of civilians lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. Terrorism is a threat to all pluralist and open societies and we need to act together for dealing with this menace. We stand with the people and Government of Russia in their moment of grief and pray for the bereaved families and early recovery of the injured," the Vice-President said.

St. Petersburg was shaken by an explosion that tore through a metro train on Monday, leaving at least 10 people dead and dozens injured.

The attack occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city to address a media forum and meet the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"Naturally, we always consider all options -- both domestic and criminal, primarily incidents of a terrorist nature," Putin said.

The attacks come at a time of domestic political upheaval is Russia, as anti-corruption demonstrations have been held across Moscow and dozens of other cities over the past two weeks, with thousands of Russians taking to the streets to protest against corruption.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump praised his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for doing a "fantastic job" as he hosted the latter in his Oval Office and pledged unstinting support for the authoritarian ruler.

"We agree on so many things. 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. The United States has, believe me, backing, and we have strong backing," New York Times quoted Trump as saying.

President Sisi had been barred from the White House ever since he seized power in a military takeover nearly four years ago.

Trump's predecessors considered authoritarians like Sisi to be distasteful and at times shied away from them.

However, Trump meeting Sisi is being seen as a shift in American foreign policy.

Sisi's visit is the first visit by an Egyptian president to United States since 2009, when former president Hosni Mubarak had visited the country.

"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 told Sisi.

Responding to Trump's Statement, Sisi informed Trump that he and Egypt will always stand with him in bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism effort

He called Trump's effort to negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians as an effort to find a solution to the problem of the century in the deal of the century and also pledged his support for this.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump repeated a few promises related to the Common Core State Standards and education governance from his 2016 campaign, and also praised Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, at a town hall of business executives in Washington on Tuesday.

In response to a question about college- and career readiness at the event, Trump sharply criticized the academic performance of students New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, while also praising charter schools. I dont call it an experiment any more. Its far beyond an experiment, he said of charters. (More on recent academic performance of students in Chicago and L.A. here .)

He then moved on to one of his key priorities for education: shifting control from federal to state and local leaders. You can watch video of Trumps remarks on schools beginning at about the 2-hour, 2-minute mark in the video below:

We have to bring education more local. We cant be managing education from Washington, Trump said, adding that when he goes to states to discuss education policy, they want to run their school programs locally. And theyll do a much better job [than Washington]. He added that many federal bureaucrats cant match state officials grasp of what their schools need.

Boosting local decision making power was one of Trumps major themes when he discussed K-12 education during his presidential bid, which he didnt do very often. (Neither did his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.) The Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in late 2015, returns many key education policy decisions to state and local officials. And DeVos has already pledged to give state leaders a lot of leeway in choosing how to hold schools accountable under ESSA.

At the same time, Trump also told the audience, Were going to spend a lot of money and a lot of expertise, were going to have great talent when it comes to education, because theres nothing more important than education.

Trumps proposed fiscal 2018 budget would cut federal spending on education by about 13 percent, reducing the U.S. Department of Educations budget to about $59 billion. His spending plan would eliminate state grants for teachers professional development, as well as support for after-school and extended-learning programs. Trumps proposed budget would boost federal grants to charters by 50 percent, up to $500 million.

Trump also touched on the Common Core State Standards, saying that it ran counter to his desire to give local officials more power over education: We have to end it.

The president repeatedly stated his desire to end the common core during his presidential campaign. And his counselor, Kellyane Conway, reiterated the presidents intention to end the common core earlier this year, after Trump took over as president. However, the common core isnt governed by federal law, and the president cant unilaterally get rid of the standardsCongress could pass a law banning the standards outright, but lawmakers have shown no interest in doing so.

And he singled out DeVos for being highly respected and for dealing with difficult issues.

Shes got one of the toughest jobs of any of our secretaries, Trump said.

A recent national poll found that DeVos, who experienced a rocky confirmation process, has relatively low approval ratings compared to other top Trump officials.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said that the Trump Administration will try to be part of efforts to deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan.

"It's absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we deescalate any sort of conflict going forward," she told media here on Monday after the United States assumed the presidentship of the United Nations Security Council for the month of April.

Ambassador Haley, who is of Indian ancestry, was asked whether Washington would make any effort to get India and Pakistan to engage in peace talks.

It was the first comment by a member of the Trump Administration on escalating tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Chancellor Philip Hammond will participate in high-level talks aimed at deepening the UK's economic and trading relationship with India and showcasing Britain as one of the best places in the world to do business.

Building on the Prime Minister's ambitious vision for the India-UK Strategic Partnership last November, the ninth EFD will involve a series of events over a two-day period, including discussions on trade, financial services, and infrastructure. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and the CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, will also take part in the dialogue with Mr Jaitley.

The Dialogue itself will take place in Delhi will also focus on how the UK and India can forge a stronger strategic partnership together.

In Mumbai, the Chancellor will meet Indian FinTech start-ups at Barclays RISE, as well as the Chairman of Mahindra group, and will give a speech at the UK-India FinTech conference.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said:"As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India, one of the world's leading economies and one of our oldest friends and allies.

"Our trade and investment relationship is already strong - the UK has been the largest G20 investor in India during the last 10 years and India is a leading global investor in the UK, creating over 7,000 new jobs last year alone, but there is much more we can do. I am looking forward to positive and productive talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team."

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, said:"As we deliver on the shared commitment to provide sustainable, secure and affordable energy in both our countries, the India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue will enable us to explore the immense shared economic opportunities lying ahead.

"India invests more in the UK than in the rest of the EU combined, while the UK is the biggest G20 investor in India. I look forward to discussing how the UK Government's Industrial Strategy will increase the prospects for shared trade, investment and energy innovation between our two great countries."

Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: "The UK is a great, global trading nation and we are determined to strengthen our relationship with old friends like India as part of our plan for Britain.

"Nowhere is this more true than in financial services, where the UK's world leading financial sector is helping to support growth all over India.

"I want this to continue long into the future and I am therefore delighted that we are deepening our collaboration in FinTech to advance cooperation in this fast-growing sector."

HM Treasury's special envoy for FinTech, Eileen Burbidge, said: "It's brilliant to see so many FinTech-related initiatives announced as part of this Economic Financial Dialogue. Since the UK is the world's leading FinTech hub, we look forward to supporting the growing FinTech ecosystem of India -- and exchanging ideas, talent and investment between our two countries.

As the UK regulator deepens its cooperation with India this is an important signal to UK FinTech companies, SMEs and larger financial services institutions alike, and I find it encouraging that this collaboration will now be made even easier."

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade, Mark Garnier said:"The UK and India enjoy a strong trading relationship, we are the largest G20 investor in India and in 2015-16 India was the UK's second biggest job creator. With the world' largest young population and an ambitious reform agenda, there are huge opportunities for UK businesses as we have the skills, expertise and technology to meet India's demands. As we prepare to leave the EU, we will continue to ensure our businesses seize the global demand for British goods and services and I look forward to discussing how we can forge even stronger links with this key trading partner."

In the same week Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will participate in the first-ever India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue and meet with his Ministerial Counterparts to deepen energy cooperation between the two countries. Through the Dialogue, India and the UK will agree priority areas for bilateral collaboration and a business delegation of over 40 companies will explore commercial opportunities.

Since 2000 the UK has invested over 19 billion in India, more than the US or any other European country and Indian companies play a major part in the success of the UK economy. Many of these operate in fast growths sectors such as technology & telecoms (32%), pharmaceuticals (19%) and financial services (10%).

Ministers will showcase how Britain is open for business by making a series of announcements on including:

 Encouraging more City of London investment into India's rapidly growing energy and renewables market, through a UK-India sub-fund of India's Investment and Infrastructure Fund. With an a core investment of 120 million from each government, this will aim to raise 500 million for vital Indian infrastructure projects

 Increased collaboration between the UK and Indian Fintech sectors - taking forward a regulatory cooperation agreement that will make it easier to share information about innovations, emerging trends and regulatory issues and make it easier to invest in FinTech in both India and the UK.

 Chevening Financial Services Scholarships - eight top Indian financial services leaders of the future will attend an eight week intensive course in financial services in London in spring. Standard Chartered is sponsoring the scholarships, which is being supported through the Government's Chevening scheme.

A number of commercial deals are expected to be signed during the visit, creating and securing jobs at home and demonstrating market confidence in the strength of the British economy.

These include:

 Mumbai based Indsur Group, will invest 12 million in UK-based Western Thermal Limited, creating 100 jobs in the UK.

 Barclays will create a UK-India Fintech Exchange Programme, where three Fintech start-ups from both the UK and India will travel out to each other's countries and work closely with mentors and finance professionals. Barclays Rise Accelerator Mumbai, the successful scheme to support Fintech start-ups, will now expand and take in firms continuously from around the world, including the UK.

 Lloyd's of London will welcome the opening of its Indian reinsurance branch in Mumbai and the successful registration of MS Amlin as the first Lloyd's syndicate to operate there, which will provide speciality reinsurance protection onshore in India for the first time.

 World First, a UK-based foreign exchange company, will announce that they are opening their first office in Bangalore in autumn 2017, with plans to handle half a billion pounds in international transfers by 2020.

 HDFC, a leading Indian financial conglomerate, will issue a 400 million masala bond as part of a new Medium Term Note programme listed on the London Stock Exchange.

 Arecor, a leading UK formulation technology research company, will sign a 45 million licencing agreement with Cadila Pharmaceuticals to research and develop insulin glargine for diabetes.

 AstraZeneca, one of the UK's leading biopharmaceutical companies invested in a Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Chennai two years ago with more than 2,000 employees. The company will announce a further expansion of this GTC this month with the opening of a new facility that will focus on IT and non-IT services.

 WealthObjects a UK company that provides a B2B Robo Advisory, Financial Planning and Engagement ready-made platform or modular APIs for Consumer Banks, Fund Managers, Investment firms, and Insurance firms. This helps firms launch a customised and automated digital wealth proposition faster and at a fraction of the cost. WealthObjects will shortly be launching these in India to add to their growing list of clients.

 With its 4th global FinTech program, Startupbootcamp will continue its objective of fostering collaboration between corporates and startups in financial innovation by announcing its first cohort of start-ups from its Mumbai programme.

List of delegates

 Mark Carney, Governor, BoE

 Andrew Bailey, CEO, FCA

 Chris Woolard, Executive Director, FCA

 Gerry Grimstome, Standard Life

 John Nelson, Lloyd's of London

 Chris Davies, CEO HSBC International

 Nikhil Rathi, CEO, LSE

 Ashu Khullar, Co-head Corporate Banking EMEA, Cit Group

 John Laws, Managing Director, Head of Regulatory and Government Relations, Asia Pacific, Barclays

 Eileen Burbidge, Partner, Passion Capital and HM Treasury FinTech Envoy

 Christoph Rieche, Co-founder Iwoca Ltd

 Sajeev Viswanathan, Earthport

 Rohit Bammi, Earthport

 Kristo Kaarman, Co-founder, TransferWise

 Husayn Kassai, Onfido

 Nikhil Saigal, Onfido

 Kush Patel, Tallysticks

 Raj Pofale, SCA

 Alistair Tebbit, RELX

 Jeff Parker, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, World First

 Emma Davis, WorldFirst

 Rahul Tripathy, Fundaura

 Uday Bhaskar, WealthObjects

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
This was earlier stated by Health and Family Welfare Minister Siddharth Nath Singh in Allahabad.

The Cabinet, chaired by the Chief Minister is likely to take up several key issues including a loan waiver for farmers.

During recent assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to wave off agricultural loans of farmers in the first cabinet meeting after coming to power.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared at an election rally that if the BJP comes to power, he will ensure that government in its first cabinet meeting takes decision to waive of farmers' loan.

Farm loan waiver was one of the key promises of BJP, which swept to power with two-third majority in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terming the Uttar Pradesh Government's decision to waive off farmers' loans worth Rs 30,729 crore as 'unprecedented', state Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma on Tuesday said this day is dedicated to the farmers.

"The decision taken by the government today is unprecedented. This day is dedicated to the farmers," Sharma told the media.

Resonating similar sentiments, another Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya termed the decision as 'historic'.

"The government under Yogi Adityanath has waived off farmers' loans. This is historic. This decision has been taken in the government's first Cabinet meeting. I extend my best wishes," Maurya told ANI.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath headed a cabinet meeting at Lucknow's Shastri Bhawan this evening, the first since he was sworn in on March 19.

A major announcement was over Rs. 30,000 crore worth farm loan waiver, which is expected to benefit the state's 2 crore 30 lakh farmers.

This was a key election promise made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The new Cabinet also discussed electricity for rural areas and issued new guidelines for slaughterhouses.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to waive Rs. 30,729 crore in farm loans and Rs. 5,630 in Non-Performing Assets (NPA).

Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said the total amount waived-off is Rs. 36,359 crore.

The farmers will also be paid for harvests to their bank accounts, via Aadhaar.

The Cabinet agreed that anti-Romeo squads, who are meant to target men who harass women, are doing great work. However, it directed the police not to harass couples who are sitting in public places. They would be subject to action if found guilty, the government said.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet agreed that all illegal slaughterhouses will be shut, in adherence to norms set by the Supreme Court and Green Tribunal (NGT).

Singh said that as per the government's information, 26 illegal slaughterhouses have been shut across the state.

The BJP had in its poll manifesto or Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra for Uttar Pradesh promised to write off loans taken by small and marginal farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, said this would be announced in the very first cabinet meeting if the BJP formed government in the state.

The BJP won 312 of Uttar Pradesh's 403 seats, 325 along with allies in a landslide victory last month in the state assembly polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie has once again trained his guns on United States President Donald Trump, saying that the White House is waging a war on the fourth estate under the label of 'fake news'.

Speaking at the New York public library at 'A Dangerous Moment: Shades of Red and Blue', hosted by the Ethics Centre and supported by the Guardian, the noted novelist said it is a worrying development that Trump is declaring the media as the 'enemy of the people.'

Rushdie further opined that the entire force of the U.S. Government is aimed at the fourth estate, which is an extremely important part of the democracy.

"The White House, from which all untrue flows, is now flipping it and accusing its opponents in the mainstream media of being liars. It's very worrying because if we are going to live in a country in which truth is an aspect of your belief system, then that's a very unstable society," he said at the event.

The President on several occasions has lashed out against certain sections of the media, often branding them as 'fake news'.

In February, the White House had barred several media organizations from covering spokesman Sean Spicer's off-camera question-and-answer session.

The list of organizations not allowed to attend included CNN, The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, BuzzFeed, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News.

Trump has persisted with his continued criticism of the media, saying that fake news is "the enemy of the people."

"A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are - they are the enemy of the people," Trump said.

Later in the day, the President took to Twitter to project the press as "a great danger" to America.

"FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn't tell the truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!," Trump tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political leaders across the minced no words while condemning Tuesday's suspected chemical attack on Syria's rebel-held Idlib province.

The White House blamed the former administration's weak Syria policy for opening the door to such attacks.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the chemical weapons strike was the direct result of "the past administration's weakness and irresolution" toward the Assad regime, the Washington Times reports.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act," Spicer said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) would hold a rare open session on Syria's chemical weapons use at the organisation's headquarters in New York later this week.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande directly blamed the Syrian Government forces and said his allies were emboldening him to act with impunity.

"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility in this massacre. Like in 2013, Bashar al-Assad counts on the complicity of his allies to act with impunity," Hollande said in a statement.

"Those who support this regime can once again assess the magnitude of their political, strategic and moral responsibility," he added.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called on for an emergency meeting of the UNSC after what he said was a 'disgusting' gas attack.

"A new and particularly serious chemical attack took place this morning in Idlib province. The first information suggests a large number of victims, including children. I condemn this disgusting act," Ayrault said in a statement.

"In the face of such serious actions that threaten international security, I ask for everyone not to shirk their responsibilities. With this in mind, I ask for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council," he added.

Britain also condemned the attack, saying it bore 'all the hallmarks' of action by government forces calling for those responsible to be 'held to account'.

"Horrific reports of chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria. Incident must be investigated and perpetrators held to account," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In February, France, Britain and the U.S. put forward a resolution to impose sanctions targetting Syrian government officials over accusations of chemical weapon attacks during the six-year conflict.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Tuesday's attack is likely to rise further.

Dozens of people, including at least ten children, were killed and over 200 injured as a result of asphyxiation caused by exposure to an unknown gas, as reported by CNN.

According to Anas al-Diab, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center, airstrikes hit the city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province giving off a poisonous gas that led to this asphyxiation.

Three more strikes hit the same city center location but did not result in any gas, al-Diab added.

The death toll is said to be at least 67, according to al-Diab, while the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported it to be 58.

The High Negotiations Committee claimed the death toll could be as high as 100 with up to 400 injured.

Activist groups have blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Federation of Biscuit Manufacturers of India (FBMI), representing Rs.27,000 crores, organized biscuit Industry, is proud to be a part of the ONE NATION, ONE MARKET initiative, to be achieved through GST. FBMI, affiliated to PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been supporting various initiatives of the government for more than 60 years. It has contributed to the nation's goals of achieving food safety, food fortification and wastage reduction.

FBMI is fully supportive of the mammoth efforts of the Government in transforming the current indirect tax regime through GST, through participative and consensus-building process.

With 93% of the food basket comprising basic food, which is proposed to be exempt or taxed at lower GST rate, taxing the remaining 7% that comprises processed food items at higher GST rate will not be in the interest of fairness and simplicity, the basic goals of GST.

Biscuits are an affordable and nutritious food item for all ages and socio-economic segments, consumed by 85% of all households and across all income segments in India. Commensurate with the growth in the aspiring middle class, there has been an increase in the consumption of all types of biscuits. More varieties are now available and being bought across all income segments. Given this, the tax system should not distort or interfere with the different products being introduced in the market, nor with the choices among them.

Differentiating between different varieties will create complexity and classification disputes

FBMI does not endorse differentiation in GST rates within biscuits, as all varities of biscuits, such as cookies, creams, crackers and glucose, are available at the same price points.

Any distortion in the rates within competing products in this sector will create artificial layers.

It will encourage spurious products to the detriment of the consumers. Moreover, it will make GST complex to administer and difficult to comply with by the traders, kirana stores etc. involved in the sale of these products. There is a predominance of the SMEs at the retail level and they will are ill-equipped to handle multiple rates within a sector or industry. GST provides the right opportunity to correct these anomalies, by providing a simple uniform lower GST rate on all biscuits, instead of price based taxation.

Further, discrimination of food products, on the basis of their being branded or un-branded, premium or non-premium, will not only be against the principles of efficiency and equity, but will also lead to classification disputes and complex record-keeping and compliance system.

Hence, FBMI, in a representation to the Government, has requested for a fair, simple, equitable and neutral GST regime. This will be in line with the other good policy initiatives being taken by the government, such as ease of doing business and a liberal FDI policy, to attract new investors in the food processing sector in India and encourage existing businesses to expand.

FBMI is of the view that GST regime can reach its optimum efficiency in tax collection, by expansion of tax base within biscuit industry at lower merit rate and not by taxing a section of the consumers at higher rates at the cost of others.

A higher GST rate, even for a segment of biscuits, would impact demand in the entire value chain. It would result in cutting down on procurement of raw materials by biscuit manufacturers, that would adversely impact farmers across India. Lower demand will also negatively impact investments, exports and employment in the food industry.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following Supreme Court verdict on compliance with BS-IV

Mahindra & Mahindra announced that the total inventory of BS-III Vehicles that the Company had before the Supreme Court verdict was worth little over Rs.2,000 crore and the Company has been able to remove more than half of it at a discount of upto 15%. The Company and industry has incurred a loss because of the heavily discounted sale that it had to do on 30 March and 31 March 2017.

The Company still has an inventory of approximately 18,000 BS-III vehicles (two wheelers to trucks). The Company may be able to export some of these vehicles which will not incur much of a cost; and convert some of these vehicles to BS-IV, which will have a cost of as little as Rs.3,000-4,000 for some of the Small Commercial Vehicles to as much as Rs.2,00,000 for HCVs. Some of the vehicles can neither be exported nor converted to BS-IV.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A young scientist who turned trash into biofuel, educationists, filmmakers and humanitarian workers were among 10 distinguished women from Egypt who were honoured for their exceptional achievements and contributions in a wide array of fields by the Indian Embassy in Egypt.

The 10 women and one institution - the Missionaries of Charity - were felicitated as part of the 'India by the Nile 2017' celebration of Indian music, dance, theatre, food and well-being, at a reception in the Indian Embassy here.

The women achievers included Amna Nosseir, MP, Al Azhar Scholar, who took steps to amend the anti-blasphemy law; Azza Faiad, a young scientist who turned trash into biofuel; Heba Elsewedy, founder Ahl Masr Foundation for burn victims; Nadia Jereidini, Vice President of Egypt-India Friendship Association; Naima Ismail Saleh, President - The Right to Live Association; Sawsan and Yosra El Lozy, film actress, said an official statement.

The Missionaries of Charity was also felicitated for its humanitarian work in Egypt. It was founded by Mother Teresa on October 7, 1950 in Calcutta and is functional in Egypt since 1981. In Egypt they have four houses: Shoubra and Mukkattam in Cairo and Alexandria and Assiut, where they care for the elderly and the homeless.

--IANS

rn

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) Police in southern Italy on Tuesday arrested 11 Calabrian mafia suspects and impounded assets worth 4 million euros including property, companies and bank accounts.

The suspects were arrested in the Calabria region and face charges of mafia association, unfair competition through threats and violence, fraud, and abetting jailed clan chief Marcello Pesce while he was on the run.

Among the suspects held on Tuesday was Marcello Pesce's son Rocco Pesce, who passed on his father's orders to clan members, enabling him to forge a new business strategy to tighten the 'Ndragheta's economic grip.

Thanks to Marcello Pesce's business acumen and network of collaborators, the clan had a stranglehold on the transport of fruit and vegetables as well as drugs trafficking, according to investigators.

Tuesday's operation followed a probe during which local anti-mafia prosecutors said they had uncovered ongoing police collusion with the 'Ndrangheta.

"We established collusion with the police which obliged us to immediately issue the arrest warrants," said prosecutor Gaetano Paci.

Drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering rackets have in recent decades made the Calabrian mafia or 'Ndrangheta Italy's wealthiest and most powerful international crime syndicate.

It operates throughout Italy and overseas and its influence and networks extend from northern Europe to Australia and North and South America.

--IANS/AKI

mr/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Efforts to improve mobile learning, boost broadband capacity, and protect cybersecurity are the three top priorities for IT leaders in K-12 school systems, though those administrators continue to face financial and personnel shortages that hamper their work, according to a new survey .

The 2017 K-12 IT Leadership Survey was released today by the Consortium for School Networking, which represents chief technology officers around the country. The survey, conducted this year in partnership with MDR , is based on data collected from 495 respondentseither chief technology officers or other IT leadersin school districts.

The pressure on chief technology officers is enormous because [theyre] being asked to do more every year, said Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking , in an interview.

The survey also reinforced a lack of diversity among district tech leaders, and disparities in how much top female administrators in those roles are being paid, compared with their male counterparts.

The report was released to kickoff the CoSN annual conference, being held in Chicago this week. Reporter Ben Herold will be posting updates from the conference on this blog. You can also follow him on Twitter @BenjaminBHerold .

CoSN has tracked districts tech priorities since the first IT Leadership survey in 2013. In 2014, when cybersecurity was first introduced as a priority option on the survey, it ranked second-to-last on the list.This is the first year that cybersecurity has ranked in the top three, according to the report. Cybersecurity was the number-three priority for districts, with 61 percent of leaders reporting the concern as more important than it was last year, and 30 percent saying it was much more important.

Cybersecurity is a growing concern as criminals increasingly target schools. A recent BitSight study of IT infrastructure in several industries found that education experienced the highest rate of ransomware, noted the CoSN report, which also pointed to a recent warning from the IRS about phishing scams targeting districts. (For an inside look at districts experiences combatting ransomware, see Education Weeks recent story, Ransomware Attacks Force Districts to Shore Up--or Pay Up .)

In an effort to help districts, CoSN has developed a cyber security self-assessment and planning template for IT leaders looking for a strategy to address these issues. Cyber criminals are getting very sophisticated, said Krueger.

The report also highlights shifts in other district priorities:



Improving mobile learning , which has been listed consistently as a top issue for district officials, notched the highest spot this year. The ubiquity of mobile devices is a driving factor behind this priority, said Krueger.

Increasing broadband and network capacity , the number-one priority in 2016, took the number-two spot this year. Its not surprising to Krueger that improving broadband is a consistent priority for districts. Beyond simply having broadband access, leaders are also concerned about making sure their classrooms have a robust connection, he said.

Despite the recent scaling up of the open educational resources movement , the report found a slight shift in district officials preferences for proprietary digital resources. CoSNs survey showed a decrease in the percent of respondents planning for 50/50 use of OER and proprietary digital materials within the next three years, from 46 to 43 percent. At the same time, the percent of respondents who predicted use of proprietary materials that are only digital increased, from 31 to 36 percent. Krueger said that while there has been some overhype around OER, districts are still interested in incorporating the resources in some way. Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents, for instance, indicated that OER was a part of their districts digital content strategy. OER is an important piece of curriculum, said Krueger, but its unlikely to replace all proprietary digital content in the near future. There will be some districts that will be on the edge of the frontier where theyve gone totally OER, he said, but for the average school district, I think its going to be a mix.

Bring-your-own-device initiatives were at their least popular in the surveys history, in last place on the district priorities list. Though the percentage of districts with fully implemented BYOD programs increased to 24 percent this year from 16 percent in 2016, the percent of districts with no interest in BYOD reached a high of 34 percent. Device prices have dramatically come down, and so you see much lower [priced] optionsChromebooks and things like thatthat [have] changed the economics for school districts, said Krueger. He predicts that districts will gradually move to a dual model, in which students are invited to use their own devices and the district provides devices for students who are not able to bring their own.

Budget constraints was identified by district officials as the number-one challenge in the report, for the third year in a row. Though the majority of leaders, 59 percent, said their technology budgets remained the same over the past year, more district officials are reporting decreases in budget. Since 2015, the percent of districts reporting budget decreases has gone up each year.

Of all respondents, 43 percent said their budgets were not sufficient to meet the overall expectations of the school board/district leaders and 36 percent said IT budgets did not allocate enough financial resources to support the technology assets that have already been purchased.

Within these districts experiencing gaps, 53 percent plan to use E-rate funds to address funding shortages. But the future of E-rate funding is uncertain, the report noted. The recently appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has said he supports the programs overall mission but also has criticized what he sees as lack of oversight and accountability. Recent decisions to boost E-rate funding by the FCC have been a major factor in connecting districts to reliable internet, said Krueger.

Short Staffing, Lack of Diversity

Staffing is also a key challenge for districts trying to make ed-tech work for their students, with only 13 percent of districts reporting that their personnel are matched to needs. IT teams responsibilities have increased as more of the districts functions take place on the network, said Krueger, but staff sizes have not increased. The majority of districts, 66 percent, reported that staff sizes have remained flat over the past year.

Districts ed-tech leadership also lacks racial and gender diversity, the survey found. Of survey respondents, 90 percent of IT leaders are white, while 4 percent identify as black or African American and 5 percent identify as of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. The report notes that significant and similar racial gaps exist at the highest levels of district leadership and in senior positions across other tech industries.

Its very disappointing [that] we have so many majority-minority districts and so few technology leaders who reflect that diversity, Krueger said. School districts and CoSN need to do a better job about making [the profession] appealing, and recruiting and celebrating a diverse workforce.

And while school districts represented in the survey presented far better numbers on gender diversity47 percent of all survey respondents were womena significant salary gap remains for women IT leaders. Women are overrepresented in the lowest salary category, those earning under $70,000, and underrepresented in the highest salary categories, for employees making $130,000 and above.

You might expect that there was some education or length of experience that would differentiate [salaries], but in fact, its counterintuitive, said Krueger of ed-tech administrators. Women have more education and more years of service than the average male, and theyre still getting paid less.

Photo: 2017 K-12 IT Leadership Survey Report Infographic.

See also:
At least 18 people were killed in an alleged chemical attack on Tuesday in Syria, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the attack struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, Efe news reported.

According to medical teams, the victims showed symptoms of asphyxiation.

--IANS

ksk/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) A boat docked in the western Sicilian port of Trapani on Tuesday with 262 men and women on board who were rescued in the Mediterranean.

Tuesday's arrivals came as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said 29,369 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 till April 2, with 80 percent reaching Italy and the rest Spain and Greece.

Arrivals to Italy were up by almost one-fifth while the number of people who died during the perilous crossing (602) was almost double compared with the same period last year, the IOM figures showed.

As many as one million migrants are heading to Libya and Europe from countries across Africa, the former head of the British embassy in Benghazi warned last week.

--IANS/AKI

mr/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 58 people, including 11 children, were on Tuesday killed in a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Syria, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the attack struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, Efe news reported.

According to medical teams, the victims showed symptoms of asphyxiation.

Meanwhile, the High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian opposition on Twitter claimed that around 100 people were killed in the attack. It was unclear if the planes involved in the attack were Syrian or those of government ally Russia.

In a Facebook post earlier on Tuesday, it said that four thermobaric bombs containing chlorine gas were dropped.

The reported gas attack comes at the start of a two-day conference on Syria's future hosted in Brussels by the European Union and the United Nations.
He made only seven films in an over two-decade career, where he also had to contend with his homeland's authoritarian regime (which had resources beyond pliant censor boards to squelch 'undesirable' content), but still Soviet Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky rose to become one of the most influential filmmakers ever.

Widely considered the greatest Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Tarkovsky (1932-86), whose 85th birth anniversary is on Tuesday, is one of the few directors whose name serves to describe their unique style.

In his case, Tarkovskian denotes his penchant for spiritual and metaphysical themes, with self-reflection a major component, and lack of conventional dramatic structure. It also includes images of rare, natural beauty and motifs such as water (either sight or sound), wind, dreams, memories (usually of childhood) and bells and candles, which have gone to influence the likes of Iran's Majid Majidi and many others.

"All art, of course, is intellectual, but for me, all the arts, and cinema even more so, must above all be emotional and act upon the heart," noted Tarkovsky at the beginning of his career. He also once said that children understood his films better than adults.

Son of poet Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky, he grew up an industrial town in Russia before moving to Moscow in 1939 where he was enrolled in school. He subsequently studied Arabic at the Oriental Institute in Moscow, and though doing well initially, did not finish the course, beginning work as a mineral prospector. It was while on an year-long research expedition to Siberia, he decided to go into films.

Admitted to the film-directing programme at the State Institute of Cinematography in 1954, Tarkovsky was lucky that this period of his study coincided with the "Thaw" of the Khruschev years, allowing him to see the works of the Italian neorealists, French New Wave, and of directors such as Akiro Kurosawa, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson and Andrzej Wajda.

He was an admirer of the films of Kurosawa and Bergman, who would eventually praise Tarkovsky's own films, with Bergman lauding him as "one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream".

Tarkovsky, who made three student films - "The Killers" (1956, 19 minutes), "There Will be No Leave Today" (1959, 46 minutes) and "The Steamroller and the Violin" (1961, 46 minutes) - achieved fame with his first film "Ivan's Childhood" (1962).

Set during the Second World War, the harrowing tale of a young boy, who has experienced the horrors of war and is determined to make his own contribution to the fight against the Nazi invaders enjoyed widespread acclaim, winning the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.

His next "Andrei Rublev" (1965) about the life of a 15th-century Russian icon painter, however raised the hackles of the Soviet regime, and after a solitary screening in Moscow, was never shown till a heavily censored version finally came out in 1971. Shown at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival at 4 a.m. on the last day, in order to prevent it from winning a prize, it won one nonetheless.

Tarkovsky then followed the lead of many Soviet authors who told stories they knew would rub the establishment the wrong way through the medium of science fiction, with two of his subsequent films, "Solaris" (1972) and "Stalker" (1979) in the same genre. However his semi-autobiographical "The Mirror" which also poems recited by his father, again was not welcomed much including by outside critics though it is now thought one of the greatest films ever.

Going to Italy in 1979 to shoot documentary "Travel in Time" about his groundwork for his next film, joint Italian-Soviet venture "Nostalghia" about a Russian writer travelling there to research the life of an 18th century Russian composer Tarkovsky saw his country pulling out midway and decided never to return home again. The film was eventually completed with Italian and French backing.

He spent the last four years of his life in Europe, where he did only one more film "The Sacrifice" about an intellectual who seeks to bargain with God to stop nuclear war. It went on win an unprecedented four prizes at Cannes.

Tarkovsky died shortly afterwards of lung cancer, and there are rumours that the KGB was behind it. An aide however says it was possible that the chemical plant where "The Stalker" was shot could be responsible as his wife Larisa and actor Anatoly Solitsyn, who acted in most of Tarkovsky's films, died of the same cause.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

--IANS

vd/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday said the anti-Romeo squads were doing a "good job" and slammed opposition parties for creating a controversy about them.

Addressing the media after the first cabinet meeting of the Yogi Adityanath government, the state's Power Minister Srikant Sharma said: "Anti-Romeo squads are doing a good job and are being hailed by the people of the entire state."

Sharma said that opposition parties tried to create controversy and demean it after the squads were formed.

He said that before going to the field, members of the squads are properly briefed by senior police officials.

--IANS

bns/rn

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Australian government on Tuesday announced a major crackdown on foreign bribery, a media report said.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan announced tough new laws to ensure that perpetrators bribing foreign officials faced the full force of the law, Xinhua news agency reported.

Keenan was speaking at the headquarters of the Australian Federal Police.

Corruption costs Australia an estimated $6.46 billion every year.

"Foreign bribery is a serious offence. It harms those who play by the rules, siphons money away from local communities and undermines the rule of law," Keenan said.

"But foreign bribery is also very difficult to detect and enforce... Evidence is hard to identify and it can easily be concealed as a legitimate transaction," he added.

--IANS

sm/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz held meetings with a parliamentary delegation from Britain at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, a statement said.

During the meeting, the two countries discussed strengthening of cooperation in the areas of trade and investment.

Aziz "highlighted the progress made by Pakistan during the last four years in counter-terrorism, economic development and democratic consolidation," the press release said.

The delegation recognised the role the country has played in "promoting international peace and security as well as its contribution in regional stability," the press release said.

Commending the role of Pakistani diaspora in Britain, the delegation called for greater interaction between the two countries.

The adviser also gave a briefing to the delegation regarding the country's "efforts for regional peace and initiatives aimed at promoting regional connectivity."

Aziz also apprised the delegation of the human rights violations taking place in Jammu and Kashmir and the current state of Pakistan-India relations, the statement said.

The Britain delegation arrived in Pakistan on April 2 and will conclude its visit on April 8.

--IANS

ahm/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The central government has sanctioned Rs 150 crore for the construction of markets in Manipur's hill areas, officials said on Tuesday.

The news was confirmed on Monday night and Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said that the construction work would start shortly.

In Manipur, all markets are exclusively run by women.

The unique Ima market, a conglomeration of three women's market complexes in Imphal city, is world famous.

"The government is giving more importance to the hill areas in developmental work. Manipur cannot forge ahead without developing the hill areas which constitute 80 per cent of the total size of the state", the Chief Minister said.

Trust deficit is the main cause for the widening communal chasm in Manipur, he said.

"We are doing everything possible for a rapprochement among different groups".

Weapon Zimik, president of Tangkhul Naga Long said that "When the Chief Minister visits Ukhrul on April 11, all sections of people shall accord a warm welcome to him."

When former Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh had visited Ukhrul earlier, there was a shutdown and the security personnel did not allow him and his colleagues to get out of their helicopter.

Tribal organisations dubbed O. Ibobi Singh as "communal and anti-tribal".

--IANS

il/ksk/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Beijing on Tuesday criticised Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama for his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, calling him an "anti-China separatist", but stopped short of directly denouncing New Delhi.

"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 told Efe news.

"The Chinese government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities," read the statement without alluding directly to India.

Tensions between the two Asian giants have been raised by the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of south Tibet.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday that the Tibetan leader had been to Arunachal on six previous occasions, and rejected any controversy that may have been caused due to this visit.

Inclement weather conditions in the area have forced the Dalai Lama to change his itinerary, and the March 5-7 visit to the important Buddhist centre of Tawang has been delayed.

Arunachal Pradesh holds a special significance for the Tibetan leader, as it was the first territory in India he entered while fleeing Chinese troops in 1959 before moving to Dharamsala, where he now resides. He is to attend a major Buddhist event in Tawang.

--IANS

ksk/rn

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congressional Democrats want the Trump administration to stress thatdespite drastic changes in federal immigration enforcement policythe nations public K-12 schools are still obligated to educate undocumented children.

Seeking to ensure that the administration intends to honors its sensitive locations memorandum, which broadly prohibits the arrest of undocumented students and parents on school grounds schools and other sensitive locations , the lawmakersincluding U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the U.S. House Education Committeewrote a letter to key appointees of President Donald Trump, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The sensitive locations policy has been on the books since 2011.

Scott and three other Democratic U.S. House members cautioned that, without a stern reminder to schools, the educational rights of undocumented students could be trampled upon as the new administrations expands its immigration enforcement actions.

In this environment of trepidation, it is important that we do all we can to minimize the impact these policies have on public school attendance and student learning, the letter read, in part.

The Supreme Court ruled 25 years ago in Plyler v. Doe that U.S. public schools must serve all children, regardless of their immigration status.

Despite the ruling, school leaders have reported a spike in fear among immigrant families since Trumps election in November, and in some cases even before Election Day . To address the concerns, dozens of districts nationwide have passed resolutions seeking to reassure families that students are safe at school.

The Democratic lawmakers addressed the letter to DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.

Unfortunately, President Trumps immigration enforcement policies, coupled with recent press reports of immigration enforcements actions near schools, are creating justified concerns about the safety of schools for children and their parents, the letter reads.

To assuage increasing apprehensions, we request that the Department of Homeland Security issue a statement making clear that, in spite of other changes in enforcement policy, the sensitive locations policy remains in full effect, at schools and other localities. Fear of immigration enforcement actions cannot be allowed to create a hostile learning environment for our children.

Last month, an alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School in suburban Maryland stoked the national debate on immigration. The two suspects in the case, both undocumented immigrant male students from Central America, came to the United States on their own within the last year to join relatives already living in the country.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer cited the incident as the latest proof that an immigration enforcement crackdown is necessary. DeVos also offer comment on the alleged rape, ahead of a short visit to another school in Montgomery County. Md., though she made no mention of the immigration status of the suspects or the legal duty of schools to enroll all students.

Heres a look at the letter from the Democratic lawmakers .

Related Stories

High School Rape Case Becomes Flashpoint in Immigration Debate

How Much Can Schools Protect Undocumented Students?

If Immigration Agents Come Knocking, Schools Must Follow These Steps

AFT President Urges Big-City Mayors to Shield Immigrant Students, Families

As Trump Weighs Fate of Immigrant Students, Schools Ponder Their Roles

Educators to Trump: ELL, Immigrant Students Need Safe, Well-Funded Schools

Elections Intolerant Tone Stokes Fears for Latino Students
Communal tension gripped a town in Bihar on Tuesday after religious posters were torn by anti-social elements a day ahead of the Ram Navmi festival on Tuesday, police said.

According to police, security forces have been deployed in the town and the situation is under control.

Hundreds of people on Tuesday morning blocked national highway 31 to protest and demanded action against anti-social elements involved in tearing religious posters in Nawada town, about 150 km from here.

The situation took a communal colour when some youths of another community pelted stones at those demonstrating near Sadbhavna Chowk in Nawada.

"Both slogan shouting groups clashed and pelted stones at each other. They broke the glasses of vehicles and set a few shops ablaze," Superintendent of Police Vikas Barman said.

"When the situation went out of control, the police opened fire to disperse the mob," he said.

Barman said the situation is tense but under control now. "The district administration is fully alert."

According to a police official, union minister Griraaj Singh, who is the BJP MP from Nawada parliamentary constituency, was present in the town at the time of the incident.

"Soon after being informed about the incident, Singh reached the site and appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony," he said.

Nawada district magistrate Manoj Kumar said a preliminary inquiry suggests the dispute was a result of a report that religious posters were torn by some anti-social elements. It took a communal turn later.

"The administration has begun a probe into the matter and deployed adequate security forces at all sensitive places," Kumar said.

Communal tension erupted in Nawada in 2013 after an altercation between a group of kanwarias (Hindu pilgrims) and another community over the menu of a roadside eatery.

--IANS

ik/py/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than 1,000 units of corrugated box manufacturers in Kerala are facing a crisis due to an increase in the price of raw materials.

The fate of over a lakh of people directly and indirectly employed by these units also hangs in balance.

"It has been a double blow for us as in the past two months, there has been four price increases of kraft paper -- the raw material. There have also been frequent closures of paper mills, leading to erratic supply of kraft paper. This has affected us very badly," said Xavier Jose, President of Kerala Corrugated Box Manufacturers' Association.

The association said that in addition to the increase in the cost of kraft paper, other inputs like manpower cost, ink, starch, stitching wire, freight charges, energy charges and other overheads have also witnessed huge increases in the last few months.

The corrugated box industry not only caters to the packaging needs of the common man but also protects the environment as its products are completely eco-friendly, he pointed out.

"Since corrugated packaging is the mode of packaging for the common man, it is critical that its main raw material, kraft paper, should be made available at reasonable prices without any bottlenecks," added Jose.

According to Rajeeve Gopalakrishnan, who runs a unit in Kochi, the paper mills need to stop frequent closures so as to avoid an artificial shortage of paper.

"If this does not happen, there are strong chances of production lines of essential public consumption items coming to halt for want of boxes. We also request the central government to come to the rescue of the box-making industry by giving directions to the paper mills to avoid shut-downs and maintain a smooth flow of supplies.

"Artificial scarcity created by such closures by kraft paper mills would jeopardise the packaging industry," said Gopalakrishnan, calling for kraft paper mills in the public sector.

--IANS

sg/sm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Daniel Craig is ready to sign on to return as fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond, pagesix.com reported.

Multiple sources told the publication that Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli has "just about persuaded Daniel Craig to do one more Bond movie".

This comes after Broccoli produced his hit off-Broadway production of "Othello" with actor-producer David Oyelowo.

A Hollywood source said: "Daniel was very pleased with how 'Othello' went and the great reviews. Now Daniel's talks with Barbara are going in the right direction. They have a script - screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who've penned several Bond movies) are writing and they'll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit."

The source added: "Plus, Barbara Broccoli doesn't like Tom Hiddleston, he's a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond."

In 2015, Craig was asked if he'd be back again after finishing a difficult "Spectre" shoot, and replied: "I'd rather... slash my wrists... I'm over it at the moment."

Another source said: "Daniel had such a good time in 'Othello', produced by Barbara that he's ready to do a final Bond."

Representatives for Craig and Broccoli haven't commented on it.

--IANS

nn/rb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Even as China protested ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Tuesday said that the Tibetan spiritual leader has visited the state six times earlier and no "additional colour" should be given to his visit starting from April 5.

"The government has clearly stated on several occasions that HHDL (His Highness Dalai Lama) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," it said.

"The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh."

China in March said ties with India would be hit if New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Beijing was concerned over India permitting the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the northeastern state of India.

Geng said China was strictly opposed to the impending visit by the Dalai Lama.

"China is strongly opposed to the Dalai Lama visiting disputed areas," he told a regular press briefing.

Geng said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it South Tibet. Besides, it accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activities in Tibet.

Citing the Dalai Lama's website, the External Affairs Ministry statement said that the spiritual leader has visited the northeast Indian state six times earlier - in 1983; in 1996; in 1997; twice in 2003; and again in 2009.

According to the Dalai Lama's office, from April 5 to 7 he will give teachings at Yiga Choezin in Tawang. On April 10, he will give teachings at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang.

A day later, the Dalai Lama will be at the Buddha Park in Bomdila and on April 12 he will talk at Thupten Gatsal Ling in Itanagar.

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is home to one of most sacred Buddhist monasteries.

The Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled into exile in 1959. Moreover, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century.

The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule over Tibet. The government-in-exile is based at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. It is not recognised by any country.

The spiritual leader is already in the northeast where he attended the Namami Brahmaputra river festival in Assam that started on March 31.

--IANS

ab/in/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 36 crore of suspended Chhattisgarh official B.L. Agrawal, who allegedly laundered money through fake bank accounts, an officer said on Tuesday.

Agrawal, an Indian Administrative Service officer then Principal Secretary (Higher Education) in the Chhattisgarh government, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 21 on charge of trying to "settle" a case being probed by the central agency against him.

"ED has attached assets worth Rs 36.09 crore under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act)," an ED officer told IANS.

The attached property belongs to Agarwal and Raipur-based Prime Ispat Ltd, a compnay owned by his brothers.

According to the Directorate, Agarwal laundered money amassed by him through various fake bank accounts.

With "active connivance of bank officials", Agarwal is alleged to have opened 446 benami bank accounts in the names of villagers in the Union Bank of India, Raipur.

"The cash deposited in the accounts was channelised to shell companies as share application money and thereafter, the shell companies invested the said money as equity at a large premium in Prime Ispat Ltd," said the agency.

"These equity shares belonging to the shell companies were purchased, in the end, by sister concerns of Prime Ispat Ltd, thus leaving the control of the entire tainted money with Babulal Agrawal and his brothers," it said.

The money was also used for investing in factory building, land and machinery and other immovable properties of the company.

The agency said that the funds were moved from the benami bank accounts to 13 shell companies operated by Agrawal, by way of investment.

"In total, the 13 shell companies received investment in its equity to the extent of Rs 39.67 crore," it said.

The ED so far has attached Rs 4.40 crore worth of land, Rs 23.89 crore worth plant and machinery, Rs 7.07 crore worth of factory building as well as a vehicle and residential building belonging to Agarwal.

The CBI had in 2010 registered cases against Agarwal on charges relating to impersonation, cheating and disproportionate assets. The Chhattisgarh Police, too, had registered a disproportionate assets case against him.

--IANS

and/nir/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday ruled to uphold a visa ban on an Iranian student who applied to German universities to study "sensitive security topics".

The student had a masters degree from a university that is subject to European Union (EU) restrictive measures, as it supports the Iranian government, and she had received a scholarship for a doctorate in information technology security in Germany, with a particular focus on the security of mobile systems and their protocols, Efe news reported.

"The Court observes in this respect that the collection of confidential information in western countries, internal repression or, more generally, human rights violations are purposes contrary to the maintenance of public security," said the ruling.

According to the ECJ, national authorities have the right to reject visas for public security reasons, though they must state proper reasons for the visas' refusal.

The German government had tried to justify its decision by claiming that the knowledge she could acquire could be later misused in Iran for malicious purposes, such as gathering confidential information in Europe.

The German court that first refused to grant the student a visa consulted with the ECJ to clarify EU countries' scope with regards to rejecting visas for security purposes in a way that would not interfere with the European directive on the promotion of the EU as a world centre of excellence in education.

The ECJ ruling considered that it was up to national authorities to decide whether a visa applicant posed a security threat and the German court would have to decide whether her rejection was justified.

"The German court will have to ascertain whether the decision to refuse the student a visa is based on duly justified grounds and a sufficiently solid factual basis," the ruling added.

--IANS

ksk/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four members of an inter-state gang of auto thieves have been arrested for stealing cars from different areas of south Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

Twelve cars, including Hyundai i20, Maruti Suzuki Creta, Swift Dzire and Honda City, have been seized from them.

Accused Sagir Ahmed, Aamir, Shoib Khan and Safruddin learnt to render centre-locking systems of vehicles ineffective by watching YouTube videos and accessing other sites on Internet, police said.

They were arrested on Saturday near New Friends Colony.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said the four shared details of targeted vehicles through WhatsApp.

--IANS

sp/tsb/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The central government is in the process to draft a policy to address issues such as data security, storage and privacy which would enable smart manufacturing, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

According to Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, for smooth transition to "Industry 4.0" and "smart manufacturing", the central government was working on a policy, which addresses issues such as data security, data storage and privacy.

Abhishek informed about the new policy during his address at 'Digital Economy Commission Meeting' organised by International Chamber of Commerce, the Indian affiliate of the Paris based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and an associate body of Ficci.

On providing the last-mile connectivity in far-flung areas, Abhishek pointed out that the government has expedited the process of connecting 150,000 gram panchayats with broadband services.

--IANS

rv/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the bombing in St Petersburg subway, which killed at least 10 people, saying that those responsible for the attack should be held accountable.

"The Secretary-General condemns today's bombing in the St Petersburg metro," Xinhua news agency qoted UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying on Monday.

"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."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump also denounced the attack.

"Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing," Efe news quoted Trump as saying.

Expressing full solidarity with the Russian people and government in such hard times, Egypt offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery for the wounded.

"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," a Polish ministry statement said.

President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city on Monday to meet the Belarusian President, said that all possible causes would be considered.

The blast took place on a subway train in the Russian city of St Petersburg on 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

vgu/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With reports of US President Donald Trump offering to personally get involved to resolve India-Pakistan issues, New Delhi on Tuesday reasserted that its position for bilateral redressal of all issues between the two South Asian neighbours has not changed.

"Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

"We, of course, expect international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," he said.

Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, said on Monday that the US was concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Trump himself might get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists.

"This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.

"I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process," the former Governor of South Carolina state said

She added, "And also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates as well."

--IANS

ab/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A suburban Chicago school districts decision to give a transgender girl access to the girls locker room has dominated a school board race there, but the student at the center of the controversy told the Chicago Tribune her peers have no issue with the policy.

The Palatine District 211, in Illinois, first amended its rules to allow locker room access for the unidentified student under threat of federal civil rights enforcement actions by the Obama-era U.S. Department of Education. That agency argued that Title IX applied to gender identity and that Palatines previous policy of requiring the student to use a separate room to change was a violation of her civil rights.

The Trump administration has since rescinded the Obama administrations position on transgender students , and Palatines policy is now the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by a group of 50 families organized under the name Parents for Privacy, who argue that allowing transgender students access to facilities that match their gender identities violates the privacy rights of their peers.

The issue has taken center stage in the districts school board race, drowning out issues like finances, facilities, and academic achievement, the Tribune reports.

It basically overtakes the whole concept of being a school board member, candidate Ed Yung told the paper. It kind of ignores the fact that theres a lot more to being on a school board than a handful of transgender students.

Three school board candidates have organized under the name Parents With Purpose, according to the Tribune:

Along with other issues, such as opposing tax increases and calling for better community representation, the group has pledged to "usher in change" by providing "reasonable accommodations" but ending locker room and restroom access for students of the opposite biological sex. Their campaign has even drawn financial support from well-known donor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, who has donated millions to conservative candidates and causes. But the student at the forefront of the case says transgender access to bathrooms and locker rooms is a nonissue for her fellow students. She said she's used the privacy stalls in the locker room without hassle, as many other students have. "Honestly, (students) are sick of this issue. They think it's quite ridiculous," said the student, who asked not to be named. She worries that, depending on the outcome of the election, "other students could have to go through what I went through (before the agreement) or even worse."

Among other things, the Obama-era guidance on Title IX instructed schools and districts to provide transgender students access to restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. The Trump administration argued that revoking that interpretation gives discretion to state and local decision makers. But advocates for transgender students and some education groups have argued that the guidance provided needed clarity and consistency for schools.

The interpretation of Title IX is the focus of a handful of federal lawsuits, which could provide further clarity in the absence of federal guidance.

Photo: Getty Images

Related reading on transgender students:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
India on Tuesday snubbed the US' offer to help de-escalate tensions with Pakistan, saying that its position on bilateral redressal of all issues between the two neighbours has not changed.

It also said that the international community needs to address the issue of emanating from Pakistan.

"Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

"We, of course, expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," he said.

The reaction came after Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, said on Monday that the US was concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself might get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists.

"This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Indian-American Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.

"I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that process," the former Governor of South Carolina said, adding: "And also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates as well."

--IANS

ab/rn/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Britain on Tuesday agreed to jointly set up a fund with corpus contributions of 120 million pounds each to finance Indian infrastructure projects, it was announcement.

"In a major step taken today (Tuesday) on the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a sub fund with UK and NIIF participation was agreed upon," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.

It came after the ninth India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue here with the British delegation led by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.

"The Green Growth Equity Fund will have contributions of 120 million pounds from each participant to finance energy needs in India," he added.

The joint statement at the end of the talks said the "joint fund aims to raise 500 million pounds by also leveraging private sector investment from the city of London to finance Indian infrastructure projects."

India set up the NIIF in December 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.

While the government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF, the remaining would come from private domestic and foreign investors who can invest in the umbrella fund or smaller sector or project-specific funds within it.

Last year, the government announced that it is in the process of setting up two sub-funds under NIIF -- one in clean energy, which will primarily focus on renewable energy, and another with focus on highway projects.

--IANS

bc/py/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Singapore court has fined an Indian Imam 4,000 Singapore dollars ($2,860) and he will be deported to India for making offensive remarks against Jews and Christians.

The Straits Times reported on Tuesday that Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, 46, will have to leave Singapore.

A court on Monday fined him for making the remarks which he knew were "prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between religious groups and was likely to disturb the public tranquillity" in the island state.

Nalla admitted to committing the offence on January 6 at the Jamae Chulia Mosque on South Bridge Road where he was the Chief Imam.

After the Friday sermon that day, he recited a prayer on his own in Arabic which said: "Grant us help against the Jews and Christians."

The Straits Times quoted the court papers as saying: "The accused knew what the words meant and knew that the phrase may also be interpreted as asking God to grant Muslims victory against the Jews and Christians."

The Imam issued a public apology and met leaders of various religious groups after the offensive remark went viral in February, triggering a police probe.

Nalla could have been jailed for up to three years, or fined, or both.

His lawyer Noor Mohamed Marican told the court that the Imam recognised that his actions were wrong, he had expressed remorse and apologized to Jewish and Christian leaders as well as to the Muslim community and the public.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur fined him after considering the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case.

"Having lived in Singapore since 2010, you would have been aware of the fact that Singapore is a multiracial and multi-religious society and that it was necessary for you to be sensitive and not to say anything in your sermons that may undermine the harmony that exists among the different races and religions," the judge said.

"This incident demonstrated that comments made, albeit irresponsibly or thoughtlessly, to a small group of people, can easily be uploaded onto the Internet that provides access to a potential audience of thousands and sometimes millions," she added.

"Your strong sense of remorse and the active steps that you have taken to contain the harm caused are compelling mitigating factors."

The Imam, who turned up in court with Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist leaders, was calm when the sentence was read, the newspaper reported.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the Imam would be repatriated. The phrase he recited, it added, "was and is unacceptable in a multiracial and multi-religious society".

--IANS

ksk-lok/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian man has pleaded guilty to entering the US illegally in January, a media report said.

Manish Patel, 43, was pronounced guilty by the court of US Attorney Richard S. Hartunian on Monday, The American Bazaar said.

"As part of his guilty plea, Patel admitted to presenting a forged Indian passport to Border Patrol agents (on) January 20. Patel used the forged passport, which was in another person's name but bore Patel's photograph, to fly from India to Toronto, by way of London, prior to illegally entering the US," a Justice Department statement said.

Patel did not present himself for inspection when he entered the country.

Upon investigation, US Border Patrol agents found that Patel was wanted for multiple felony charges including attempted homicide of an unborn child.

Patel faces a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and three years of post-imprisonment supervised release.

The court may also fine him with $250,000. He will be sentenced on August 16, reported The American Bazaar.

--IANS

ksk/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Washington, April 4 (IANS/AKI) The Islamic State jihadist group, in a new audio tape, on Tuesday called on its supporters in the US, Europe and Russia and elsewhere in the world to stage attacks.

The 36-minute tape purportedly by IS spokesman Abu Hassan states: "Our war with our enemy is a global war," the director of US-based terrorist tracking website, Rita Katz tweeted.

"Abu Hassan portrays #ISIS as the defender of Muslims, calls upon Sunnis in #Iraq and #Syria to join the group's self-proclaimed Caliphate," Katz said in a further tweet.

Hassan praises IS-inspired attacks in Europe in the tape and claims an Islamic Caliphate will spread from Baghdad to Damascus, Jerusalem, Amman, Istanbul and Rome after Tehran.

The message calls US President Donald Trump "a bumbling fool who doesn't know what the Levant, Iraq and Islam are".

"The United States is sinking under the leadership of a bumbling fool...it is bankrupt," the message states.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turin, April 3 (IANS/AKI) 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.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Geetha Johri was on Tuesday appointed Gujarat's first woman Director General of Police (DGP).

The development took place a day after P.P. Pandey stepped down from the post after his appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court for his alleged involvement in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan "encounter" death.

A 1982 batch officer, Johri will hold be the DGP in addition to being the Managing Director of the Gujarat State Police Housing Corp. She is also the first woman IPS officer of the state.

Johri retires at the end of this year around the time of assembly elections.

Pandey, an accused in the "encounter" in which four persons were killed, was made the "in-charge" DGP after his release on bail last year.

He was due to retire on January 31 this year but was given an extension for three months till the end of April.

His appointment to the top post was challenged by senior retired police officer Julio Ribeiro in the Gujarat High Court contending that an officer charged with murder cannot head the police force.

Pandey has been charged along with others with conspiracy, illegal confinement and murder by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court had dismissed the petition after the state government argued that Pandey was made only the "in-charge" and it was not a regular posting. Besides, he was the senior most officer.

However, this was challenged in the Supreme Court, which had indicated that it might order removing him. Pre-empting this, the Gujarat government stated that Pandey had resigned on his own.

Johri, 60, also had her share of controversy in the 2005 Sohrabudin Sheikh encounter killing which she investigated before the case was handed over to the CBI.

She was accused of botching up the investigation, but charges against her were later dropped by a court.

In both the cases, it was claimed that those killed were terrorists out to assassinate then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

--IANS

desai/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kerala government's decision on an all-party meet to discuss the apex court's ban on liquor vends along highways has got a jolt, with the Congress-led UDF supporting the ban.

Following this setback, a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday morning, asked Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh to see that a petition is filed in the apex court.

The petition will seek three months' time to shift the 207 of the 850 retail liquor outlets owned by the state that come under the purview of the ban order.

The outlets have already downed shutters from April 1 in compliance with the Supreme Court directive of December 2016 banning liquor vends within 500 metres on either side of state and national highways.

"We are of the firm opinion that liquor is not good, but there are people in Kerala who have to consume it. If they don't get liquor, then they will be forced to drink other intoxicants, which could lead to their death," State Excise Minister G. Sudhakaran told reporters here, soon after the meeting.

"With this reality in mind before us, we will file the petition on Monday which will ask for three months' time to shift these outlets," Sudhakaran added.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters that the Left government is in a Catch-22 situation.

The situation arose because they always opposed whatever the earlier government did, Chandy said.

"Our policy was based on the Udayabhanu Commission Report, that was appointed by K. Karunakaran, then A.K. Antony (1995) banned arrack," he said.

"When I was in office (in 2005) I decided to hit the road of total prohibition in 10 years time by reaching there in a phased manner," the Congress leader said.

But the Left, then in opposition, fought the UDF policy tooth and nail and gave an impression that "they had something up their sleeve", Chandy said adding "and now they are in dire straits".

"We are of the firm opinion that the apex court guidelines be followed and when a new retail outlet is opened, it has to be done where there is not going to be any opposition," he said.

It should not be done through confrontation, Chandy said, "As it's the women and children who protest the opening of the new vends".

State Finance Minister Thomas Issac is the one feeling the heat as the state stands to lose around Rs 10 crore revenue daily.

At least 1,749 places that used to sell liquor, beer, wine and toddy have not been able to carry on business since the commencement of the new fiscal.

"Things are tough on account of this revenue loss and hence we have to look for alternative revenues to make up for this loss," said Issac.

According to the latest estimates on account of the new order, around 24,000 workers have lost their job while another 10,000 indirect jobs have disappeared.

"Suicide is the only option left before me, as... with this new order I have lost my job. I have a family... if something does not happen quickly, then I really will have just one option," said an angry toddy shop worker.

On Tuesday, serpentine queues were seen in front of the remaining liquor vends and tipplers were up against this order.

"We need liquor everyday and if we don't get it, then we will start to distil our own brew. Let us see what will happen then," said an angry tippler.

Another innovative suggestion to end this impasse was to allow liquor to be sold through ration shops, as accountability would then be easy and streamlined.

--IANS

sg/in/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The second 1,000 MW atomic power unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) that suffered an outage on Monday due to a problem in its steam dump valve is expected to start operations on Friday, said a senior official of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).

"Due to some problem in the steam valve, the unit was shut down on Monday. We will be opening the valve today (Tuesday) to set right the issue. We expect the unit to start generating power on April 7," H.N. Sahu, Site Director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) told IANS on Tuesday.

Kudankulam is in Tirunelveli district around 650 km from here.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), the nuclear power unit is under forced outage from April 3 "to rectify the passing of steam dump valves to condenser in secondary side".

He said the problem is not a series one.

The unit started commercial operation on March 31, 2017.

"Only on March 31, it was declared as commercially stabilised and this tripping happens within three days," said G. Sundarrajan, an anti nuclear power activist and who had filed cases against setting up of atomic power plant at Kudankulam.

Speaking about Unit 1, Sahu said it will be shut down on April 13 for refuelling purposes.

"The first unit will be shut down for around 55 days," Sahu said.

Every year, one third of the reactor's 163 fuel assemblies -- 54 assemblies -- will be replaced.

This coming refuelling cycle will be the second for Unit 1.

Meanwhile, the first 220 MW unit of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) belonging to NPCIL under annual maintenance shut down is expected to come into operation from April 27 onwards.

--IANS

vj/sm/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese technology giant Lenovo on Tuesday launched its new Lenovo Data Centre Partner Programme for Asia Pacific, aimed at helping Lenovo channel partners to bring best-of-breed data centre solutions to the enterprise market.

The programme provides Lenovo business partners with exclusive access to top quality support and attractive incentives.

"We are excited to launch the Lenovo Data Centre Partner Programme for Asia Pacific, which reflects Lenovo's commitment and dedication to our channel partners in the region," said Sumir Bhatia, Vice President of Data Centre Group for Asia Pacific.

Channel partners are rewarded with generous economic incentives, training and dedicated resources regardless of their partner tiers.

"We are 100 per cent dedicated to our 'channel first' strategy and are laser-focused in our mission to deliver value to our Asia Pacific partners through profitability," Bhatia added.

Partner tiers include Silver, Gold and the exclusive Platinum tier which extends additional privileges such as certification vouchers, invitations to advisory councils and direct access to Lenovo's knowledge base.

--IANS

vc/sm/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In line with the April 3 deadline for the first round of state plans to be submitted to the feds under Every Student Succeeds Act, its good to be reminded of all the logistical, political, and technical hurdles state education departments have had to jump through to get their plans on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos desk.

Unlike the No Child Left Behind Act and waivers under that law, states had plenty more flexibility in deciding what goes into their ESSA plans. But, as Ive outlined in a series of stories over the past year, states, most of which are controlled by Republicans, have murky power infrastructures, thin budgets, and deep capacity challenges. This played out during town hall meetings, state board meetings, and legislatures education committees as the ESSA plans stumbled toward their final drafts. Its fair to say many states plans may have gotten more scrutiny within the state than itll get from the federal peer-review process.

Heres a rundown of some of the key issues.

Convoluted power structures : Because many state constitutions arent clear, legislatures, governors, state board members, and state superintendents have all made attempts to dictate the contents of their accountability plan. State superintendents, the Chief Council of State School Officers told me , are ultimately in charge. But the National Association of State Boards of Education said many states boards are constitutionally in charge of approving things like standards and tests. These fissures and confusion over whos in charge have become especially acute in recent months as separate agencies have attempted to override each other when it comes to decisions over new state accountability systems. Some states, like Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana, had task forces established by both the governor and the state departments. In Louisiana, when the superintendents decided they didnt like the new accountability system, they first threatened to create an accountability system of their own (not possible under ESSA law, according to CCSSO) and then pushed the governor to try to delay the submission of the plan. He ultimately failed . In Maryland, the legislature has passed a measure pushed by the states teachers union that would dictate the states accountability system. The governor says it will lower state standards and has promised to veto the bill.

Freshman class of Policy Makers : Half the nations state legislatures have at least one new education committee chairperson this year, and a quarter of state schools chiefs are less than a year into the job, according to an analysis I conducted earlier this year. That has dramatic implications for ESSA state plans. Many leaders are so new to the job they have an elementary understanding of their states challenges, experts and critics told me. And new leaders often want to deliver on campaign promises and dismantle their predecessors initiatives or roll out new initiatives that lack political support. In many instances, state leaders have punted key decision-making to lobbyists, consultants or education groups, such as teachers unions. In states such as Montana , North Carolina and New Hampshire , recently elected Republican state chiefs who replaced Democratic state chiefs are in the process of making dramatic changes to their predecessors ESSA plans.

State boards power : State board members in most states are now the most permanent fixture at state departments, typically serving four or more years in office, whether appointed or elected. Many of them saw ESSA, which cuts across the education policy arena, as a way to reassert their authority. In some states, such as California and New York, board members were crucial in leading ESSA discussions and requiring board approval for any final decisions. But in other states, such as Kentucky, Maryland, Washington, and West Virginia, legislatures overrode board decisions or wrote ESSA plans on their own, to the dismay of board members. Board members across the country told the National Association of State Boards of Education that they felt buoyed and encouraged this year about their role and influence over education policy thanks to more leadership opportunities and ESSA.

Stakeholder Input : Following the pitched battles over the Common Core State Standards, some states got really aggressive about including as many peoples thoughts as possible while crafting their ESSA plans. For many state superintendents, ESSA was a way to restart soured relationships with unions, parents, and other advocacy groups. Some states, such as Colorado, Idaho Michigan, and North Dakota went above and beyond ESSAs minimum requirements, launching statewide listening tours and posting livestreams of meetings on social media platforms. Kentucky had tens of thousands of people show up to its meetings. Despite the outreach, plenty of states had trouble engaging parents, and some states didnt have crowds show up at all, something my colleague Denisa Superville wrote about here . Some principals complained early on that since theyll be the ones having to implement any new policy changes, they should have a voice, too. As state officials started making decisions, many district officials lashed out. Ohios kickback from stakeholders was so intense and broad (its plan was nicknamed NCLB 2.0) the state decided at the last minute to delay turning in the plan, deciding instead to submit the plan in September.

Budget squeezes : While districts saw an uptick in funding after the Great Recession, many state education departments did not. Alaskas legislature cut a third of its education departments budget, and Louisianas legislature considered a bill that would have gotten rid of its department (it ultimately failed). Other departments, like Minnesotas, told me staffing has remained stagnant even during a statewide budget surplus. State departments have been cautious of adopting plans that are overly ambitious or unaffordable and some states have decided to outsource some data-collecting and school turnaround strategies . Because many state departments are relying mostly on federal money, thats made it especially difficult to roll out new state-specific initiatives.

Capacity : Instead of focusing mainly on whether districts are spending federal money appropriately and abiding by state law, state department personnel under ESSA are tasked mainly with innovation, such as coming up with state-specific ways to close achievement gaps, improve overall achievement, and measure the performance of English-language learners. They also have to find ways to broaden their accountability systems to include more factors than just testing. Departments have long been criticize d as poorly organized and thinly staffed clearinghouses, and more than a third of state chiefs have been in the job for less than a year. This matters greatly in the areas of testing, state takeover of underperforming schools, and chiefs political willpower to push new initiatives across the finish line.

New Accountability Systems : ESSA allows states to dramatically expand their accountability systems to include more measures of success and change the way they display school success to the general public. This portion of ESSA accountability plans (likely because its the most outward facing) became the most controversial in many states. States mostly are debating two different types of plans: dashboard-style plans and A-F systems . Dashboard-style accountability systems display several key indicators of success, in addition to performance on state testing. Theyve been lauded by superintendents for being more comprehensive in describing the performance of a school, but theyve been criticized by parent-advocacy groups for being confusing and difficult to navigate. A-F report cards take several factors of success and, using a mathematical formula, boil that down to one letter grade. Suburban superintendents (many who have gotten low grades for their inability to close achievement gaps) have described this approach as oversimplistic and rife with errors. But parents and accountability hawks say letter grades are most understood by the general public and can spur districts into paying attention to underperforming groups.

Data-collection challenges : ESSA requires state departments to collect plenty more data for their accountability systems, and department officials have made known their data-collection challenges. Under NCLB, superintendents complained they were being asked to constantly fill out paperwork for federal reporting requirements. In addition, data-collection systems are antiquatedSouth Carolina spent more than $1 million on purchasing a new data collection system for the stateand plenty of school secretaries and technicians traditionally tasked with entering data into those systems were laid off during the Great Recession. ESSA requires reporting for new groups of students such as foster and military students, and states will need to collect data when they add a new indicator to their accountability system. During the stakeholder-engagement process, some state departments rejected proposed indicators because departments didnt think new data would be reliable enough.

Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
A Muslim man brutally beaten up by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan's Alwar district has died from his injuries, the police said on Tuesday.

Pehlu Khan, in his fifties, died late Monday night in a hospital where he was admitted for treatment.

Khan and others were injured when a mob attacked nearly 15 persons hailing from Haryana, while transporting cows in vehicles on the Behror highway in Alwar district on Saturday, the police said.

Other injured persons, whose number could not be known immediately, were recuperating in hospital.

--IANS

as/tsb/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Motorola Mobility, a Lenovo brand on Tuesday launched its Moto G5 smartphone in India.

Priced at Rs 11,999, consumers can buy the G5 on Amazon.in starting midnight April 4.

The 5-inch full-HD display carrying G5 has splash proof design and equips a finger print sensor.

G5 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM and houses 2,800mAh battery.

The device comes with 13MP rear camera with phase detection auto-focus, a 5MP wide angle selfie camera and has quick capture, beautification and pro modes.

Consumers can get Rs 1,000 cash back with HDFC bank credit card, free Sandisk Ultra 16GB micro-SD card. The offers are valid for April 5 and April 6, the company said.

--IANS

anuj/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Continuing on its path through the outer regions of the solar system, NASAs New Horizons spacecraft has now travelled half the distance from Pluto.

It is heading towards its next target - 2014 MU69 - which is the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) and the probe will fly past it on January 1, 2019, said in a statement late on Monday.

The spacecraft was 782.45 million kms beyond Pluto and the same distance from MU69.

"It's fantastic to have completed half the journey to our next flyby; that flyby will set the record for the most distant world ever explored in the history of civilization," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

New Horizons will begin a new period of hibernation later this week.

In fact, the spacecraft will be sleeping through the April 7 halfway timing marker to MU69 because mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland will have put the spacecraft into hibernation two hours beforehand.

In addition to its historic Pluto encounter and 16 subsequent months of relaying the data from that encounter back to Earth, New Horizons has made breakthrough, distant observations of a dozen Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs).

It has collected unique data on the dust and charged-particle environment of the Kuiper Belt and studied the hydrogen gas that permeates the vast space surrounding the Sun, called the heliosphere.

"The January 2019 MU69 flyby is the next big event for us, but New Horizons is truly a mission to more broadly explore the Kuiper Belt," said Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist from APL.

"In addition to MU69, we plan to study more than two-dozen other KBOs in the distance and measure the charged particle and dust environment all the way across the Kuiper Belt," Weaver added.

New Horizons is currently 5.7 billion kms from Earth. At that distance, a radio signal sent from the operations team - and travelling at light speed - needs about five hours and 20 minutes to reach the spacecraft.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad has appealed to all non-BJP political parties to come together on a platform to counter the "aggressive" Hinduvta agenda of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Sensing a tough challenge, Lalu Prasad has also warned that a united non-Bharatiya Janata Party political force will be the only option to take on the BJP and Modi in the next general elections.

Lalu Prasad's major ally Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already said a "Mahagathbandhan" (Grand Alliance) of non-BJP parties is needed at the national level to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"I have appealed to all non-BJP parties to come together on a platform. Unity among non-BJP parties is the only option available now to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," Lalu told media here on Tuesday.

Lalu Prasad said if non-BJP parties remain divided and fail to unite as a political force, they will be finished.

"I have already initiated talk with several top leaders of different regional parties with commitment to social justice agenda for unity among the non-BJP parties across the country," he said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief said that initially he has started approaching different leaders on the telephone, and this will be followed by his personal visit to talk to them face to face. After that, all like-minded leaders of different parties will sit together to formulate something concrete, he added.

"We have to come together soon to chalk out strategies because after one year, there will be little time with us to prepare for the 2019 polls."

Lalu said Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is a strong force in West Bengal, AIADMK and DMK are strong forces in Tamil Nadu, while the Biju Janata Dal is strong in Odisha, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav are strong in Uttar Pradesh. "If BSP, SP and Congress had joined hands like the JD-U, RJD and Congress joined hands in Bihar, the result of the Uttar Pradesh polls would have been totally different. The BJP got an opportunity due to a clear cut split in opposition votes."

Lalu Prasad cautioned that Modi may go for early Lok Sabha polls to cash in on the massive victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. "I and my party RJD are ready for it, but others have to be ready to face any such situation," he said.

Lalu Prasad said the Congress is a national party and it should come forward to unite non-BJP parties.

Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United said that a "Mahagathbandhan" would prove successful in the next parliamentary polls.

--IANS

ik/rn

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pakistan Army resorted to overnight heavy shelling and firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.

Using small arms, automatics and mortars, they targeted military and civilian facilities in nearly a dozen areas of the Balakote sector late on Tuesday, Defence Ministry sources said.

"The Indian positions retaliated effectively. Firing exchanges continued for nearly two hours," the sources said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Pakistan Army had resorted to ceasefire violations on the LoC in Rajouri district.

However, except for damages to some civilian houses, no casualty had occurred on the Indian side, the sources added.

--IANS

sq/in

(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.)
In the wake of terror attacks across Pakistan, the Punjab government has given a 10-day deadline to improve the security of Sufi shrines.

The order was issued to the representatives of the shrines and the Auqaf Department in Rawalpindi on Monday by Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal, Dawn online reported on Tuesday.

There are more than 70 shrines in Rawalpindi and most are run by private organisations or individuals.

Custodian Abdul Waheed on Sunday confessed killing 20 devotees at the Darbar Ali Muhammad Gujjar shrine in Sargodha.

Waheed and his accomplices intoxicated the disciples before torturing them to death.

The Deputy Commissioner expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of work on the construction of boundary walls and installation of security gadgets at the shrines.

He said it was not possible for the government to provide funds to all the small and big shrines.

He said the shrines earned a handsome revenue from donations made by devotees and can easily buy the security gadgets without any help from the government.

--IANS

py/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lawyer-politician on Tuesday apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna in relation to the formation of anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Hindu organisations are up in arms against the Swaraj Abhiyan founder after he said that he opposed the anti-Romeo squads as they violated the spirit of love and had questioned if the Uttar Pradesh government would even harass Lord Krishna, whom he termed a "legendary eve teaser".

Bhushan on Tuesday tweeted: "I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads and Krishna was inappropriately phrased and unintentionally hurt sentiments of many people. Apologize and delete it."

I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads&Krishna was inappropriately phrased&unintentionally hurt sentiments of many ppl. Apologize&delete it  (@pbhushan1) April 4, 2017

Bhushan on Sunday tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"

While a demonstration was held outside his residence in Noida, protests also took place in Pratapgarh, Firozabad and Hathras.

Police said they have stepped up vigil and would not allow anybody to take law in their hands.

Security has been beefed up following a threat from a Bajrang Dal functionary in Firozabad who announced a Rs 1 lakh bounty on the head of the eminent social activist and lawyer.

City coordinator of Bajrang Dal in Firozabad Aachman Upadhya said he will give Rs 1 lakh to anyone who brings the head of Bhushan.

Sadhus in Mathura have filed a complaint against in Govardhan and have staged a protest in Vrindavan.

Office bearers of the Hindu Jagran March who met senior police officials in Hathras said they will not tolerate such a comment against Hindu gods.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has threatened to launch a stir in Allahabad against the lawyer and VHP workers burnt an effigy of Bhushan in Pratapgarh.

A case has also been filed against Bhushan in the CJM court in Maharajganj under sections 295 A and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. May 20 has been fixed as the date of hearing.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has to confront many unique challenges in laying tracks in the mountainous northeastern region due to its topography and the danger of natural calamities, a top official has said.

According to Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Shailesh Kumar Pathak, the NFR gets to work at optimum pace for only four to five months a year as the region witnesses intense rain from March to end-October with the actual monsoon running from June to September.

"As the Himalayan region, specially the northeastern states, are siltation- and landslide-prone areas, the railways have to take additional measures to deal the natural adversities. A lesser working period makes the task more challenging for railway engineers and others," Pathak told IANS while on a visit here.

He said the per-kilometre cost of laying single-line tracks in the mainland states is Rs 7 crore and for double line tracks Rs 10 crore. "These costs are much higher in the northeastern region due to terrain, marshy land and various other hostile factors."

The CRS was in Tripura for inspecting the newly-laid 9.26 km Udaipur-Garjee section of the 114-km-long track that links Agartala with Sabroom in southern Tripura.

With Sabroom just 75 km from the Chittagong seaport in southern Bangladesh, the Rs 1,150 crore project, to be completed by 2019, will enable the ferrying of men and material from and to the landlocked northeastern states.

An NFR engineer said that due to the large number of rivulets and small rivers, manysmall, medium and big bridges, besides many tunnels, have to be built in the northeastern region.

He noted in this context that India's longest 11.55 km rail tunnel is now under construction as part of the 111-km-long Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal line that ends in the Manipur capital. This is longer than the the 11.2 km Pir Panjal tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund line in Jammu and Kashmir.

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain has said there are ambitious plans to connect, by 2020, all the eight capitals of the northeastern states.

In October 2008, with the extension of the metre gauge track up to Agartala through southern Assam, it became the first state capital in the northeast to be brought on India's rail map after the country's independence. Subsequently, the metre gauge was converted into broad gauge.

Today, Assam capital Guwahati (from pre-independence times) and Imphal are also on the rail map.

"The NFR has converted all the metre gauge railway tracks into broad gauge. Metre gauge tracks have become history in northeast India," Gohain said.

The last 30 km metre gauge section -- Baraigram-Dullabcherra in southern Assam's Karimganj district -- has been converted into broad gauge and passenger trains began running on this section from Friday.

"As the century-old metre gauge railway track has now become history in northeast India and to display the other aspects ofIndian Railways I have a plan to build a rail museum in Nowgong (in central Assam)," the minister said.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)

--IANS

sc/vm/tb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Filmmaker Ridley Scott has been roped in to direct and produce the upcoming film "Battle of Britain", based around World War II.

The Battle of Britain began on July 10, 1940, as Adolf Hitler's Nazi air force, the Luftwaffe, bombarded the British Isles through October, reports variety.com.

British seaports and shipping lanes were the first targets, followed by the Royal Air Force airfields and nightly attacks on London. But the Nazis were unable to overcome British resistance in what was the first major defeat for Germany in the war and the plans for the invasion, dubbed Operation Sea Lion, were scrapped.

Scott has completed production on "Alien: Covenant", which is slated to release on May 19.

He is also in talks to direct two other projects -- "All the Money in the World", centering on the 1973 kidnapping of industrialist J. Paul Getty, and "The Cartel".

A 1960s' film was also titled "Battle of Britain", which was directed by Guy Hamilton.

--IANS

sas/rb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed confidence that his country and Belarus will settle their ongoing gas and oil disputes in 10 days.

After meeting visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko here on Monday, Putin said Moscow and Minsk have agreed to find an acceptable pricing scheme for both sides, and all the disputes in oil and gas sector between the two will be settled in 10 days.

Both countries will also develop rules for the common gas market by January 1, 2018, TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying.

Russia and Belarus have no issues of dispute left, Putin said. The disputes between both countries lasted for over a year.

"We were able to look into the future of our economies' functioning. We solved these matters. I think our governments will formalise everything and bring our economies into the normal functioning rhythm within ten days," Lukashenko said.

Belarus and Russia have been negotiating a reduction in gas prices since early 2016.

Minsk insisted on lowering the price of Russian natural gas from $132 to $73 per 1,000 cubic metres and demanded that Moscow switch to equal netback pricing.

In reply, Russia decided in the third quarter of 2016 to reduce the supply of tax-free oil to Belarus.

--IANS

py/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Earlier this month, I spent a very long day with 118 middle school musicians from 28 schools in northern Michigan. The event was the MI School Band and Orchestra Association District Two Junior High Honors Band, and it was a blast, start to finish. The day began as most band rehearsals do, with (boring) long-tone warmups. Then we struggled through cold-reading five pieces of music in varying degrees of difficulty, playing together for the first time. The day ended, 12 hours later, with a solid, energizing concert performance.

I was the guest conductor of this very big band and proud of what we accomplisheda minor miracle, when you think of it. But I can take very little credit for the outcomesthe parent-pleasing concert, the day of new musical learnings, that gorgeous chord that made us all a little breathless, mid-afternoon.

There were also 28 music teachers present, and they were teaching their hearts out all day long, running small-group workshops, providing instruction on techniques required by the music that some students hadnt yet learned, and tweaking the occasional out-of-tune saxophone. Most of them, in fact, drove their students to the Honors Band site, Kalkaska, in an area of Michigan where schools are tiny and far apart. It was a taxing, extended day for them, as welllong drives ferrying their middle schoolers over snow-slick roads early in the morning, returning home after at 9:00 p.m.

It was a genuine pleasure to hang with these teachers for a day. Many of them are in their first years of teaching, and responsible for all the music classes taught in a rural K-12 district, involuntary job-embedded training in jack-of-all-trades music pedagogy. They were cheerful and upbeat through two (count em) pizza meals, pulling out their own instruments to improvise some rambunctious jazz dinner music, entertaining the students and having a good time themselves. When they werent on duty, they were chatting about band literature and budgets and trill fingerings.

They were collaborating, and not in the overused, edu-jargon sense of the word.

The day was a great success on many fronts. The remark I heard most frequently from the teachers? This is so good for my kids.

One the reasons for that was the lack of competition built into the structure of the day. Each school selected four musicians to participatewhichever students teachers thought could benefit. While there are a couple of larger districts in the northwest quadrant of Michigan, most of the students in the gathering play in small (small but mighty, their directors might say) bands. To sit in a huge band, surrounded by capable musicians their own age, and make glorious music, is always a high-water mark in musical learning, no matter what their daily instruction was like.

While we pursued excellence all day long, correcting and fine-tuning the music, we were trying to be excellent together. None of what we were able to accomplish hinged on who was the best player, school-to-school rivalries, or the arrogance that is often fostered in competitive school music programs. We were making music for the right reasons.

Mitchel Resnick observes that pushing kids to compete around things that dont require competition (4th grade spelling tests, in his case) skews the purpose of learning, elevating winning and prizes over the joy of simply doing well. In the Honors Band, the kids were having a creative experience with good music and living up to their potential. And eating a lot of pizza.

About halfway through my 30-year career as a band teacher, I eliminated the typical bandroom custom of chairs and challenges and tried to strip unnecessary competing out of daily classroom practice. I had about 120 eighth graders in two performing groups, and shifted from having a top group (skimming off the best players for an elite band), to building two relatively equal bands. I gave them neutral names3rd hour band and 4th hour bandrather than Symphonic Band or Cadet Band.

This was confusing to students at first, mainly because they couldnt figure out who the winners and losers were. I told them the truth: I had assessed their prowess as musicians in 7th grade and tried to divide the groups evenly, so nobody would be in the top band or left behind. Our job was to play well all the time, to live up to our potential as performersnot to be better than the other band.

It took a while, but this policy eventually led to greater achievement, especially from students who did not start out at the top of the skills spectrum. (And yes, of course theres always a spectrum of accomplishment and talent.) By Year Two, both 8th grade groups were playing as well as my previous top group. Dividing students by perceived ability had never yielded great results.

And so it was with the Honors Bandstudents collaborating with students, teachers sharing tips and camaraderie, parents treated to an entertaining evening. It was a splendid day, and everyone came out ahead.
The suspect in the metro train explosions in St. Petersburgsia that killed 11 people has been identified by Russian security services, it was announced on Tuesday.

"It has been established that an individual suspected of carrying out the terrorist attack is a native of our republic," Kyrgyzstan National Security Committee spokesman Rakhat Sulaimanov told TASS news agency.

According to Sulaimanov, the suspect, Akbarzhon Jalilov, also had Russian citizenship.

Sulaimanov added that Kyrgyzstan's special services "are closely working with their Russian counterparts" in investigating the explosion.

An unidentified device went off on Monday in the metro train car when it was moving from Tekhnologichesky Institut Station to Sennaya Ploshchad Station.

The Russian Investigative Committee termed the blast a "terrorist attack".

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said 51 people were injured.

Authorities in St. Petersburg have declared three days of mourning for the victims, the BBC reported.

President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast occurred, visited the scene on Monday evening and laid flowers at a makeshift shrine.

"Certainly, we will consider all variants, common, criminal, first of all, of a terrorist nature," RT news quoted him as saying.

--IANS

ksk/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday deplored the suspected chemical attack in northwestern Syria in which at least 58 people were killed and dozens injured, calling it "a crime against humanity".

"The news of a chemical attack against defenceless civilians in Syria and the bombing of hospitals where victims were receiving treatment is distressing," Alfano said, referring to Tuesday's attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

"Italy will be at the forefront criticism of the attack at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council requested by France and Britain," he went on.

"And tomorrow (on Wednesday) during the international conference on Syria taking place in Brussels, it will lead condemnation of the use of weapons of mass destruction against the Syrian people and demand that those responsible for this crime against humanity are identified."

Britain-based The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian warplanes had caused many people to choke.

Later, aircraft fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists said.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
UN observers in Jammu and are investigating allegations of ceasefire violations across the Line of Control (LoC) in the state, a spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said. India does not recognise the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.

Asked at the daily briefing on Monday about the situation in Kashmir, Stephane Dujarric said: "We've seen the alleged ceasefire violations over the Line of Control, which are currently being investigated by the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (Unmogip), in the Pakistani-administered side of the LoC at Domel, Kotli and Bhimber, where the security situation has, indeed, been tense."

"We continue to underline the need for the parties to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue," he added.

He said that when the Unmogip presents its report on the alleged incidents, "We will share."

He ignored a reporter's claim that India was pressuring the Unmogip not to make a report.

Last week, Guterres's Deputy Spokesperson had categorically denied that India was blocking the Unmogip from filing reports.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

al/in/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UN wants those responsible for attacks on Africans in India to be brought to justice, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

He was answering a reporter's question about that African ambassadors in New Delhi want to take to the UN the "xenophobica" attacks on their citizens.

"There's no UN involvement that I'm aware of," Dujarric said. "We do very much hope that these people who are responsible for these attacks are brought to justice."

Earlier on Monday, the Ambassador of Eritrea, who is the dean of African diplomats in India, issued a statement on behalf of the envoys decrying the recent spate of attacks on African students in and around Delhi as "xenophobic and racial in nature".

The African ambassadors "agreed to take further actions, including the call for an independent investigation by the (UN) Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies" into the attacks, the statement said.

The External Affairs Ministry said that there was no need for international investigations because "strong Indian institutions are adequate to deal with aberrations that represent act of a few criminals,"

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

abl/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US House of Representatives has approved a request by the State Department to put North Korea back on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, from which the it was removed in 2008.

The lower house adopted the resolution late Monday with 394 votes in favour and only one against, weeks after Pyongyang tested a rocket engine and following multiple missile and nuclear tests, Efe news reported.

North Korea was delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2008 in an attempt by former US President George W. Bush to negotiate its disarmament.

In the past, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have featured in the list drawn up by the state department, and which now includes countries such as Sudan, Syria and Iran.

The House of Representatives also approved 398-3, a resolution condemning North Korea's efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the two resolutions are "concrete actions" to hold North Korea accountable for its actions and called former US President Barack Obama's policies towards Pyongyang a failure.

--IANS

ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Washington will take the lead in getting sanctions imposed on terrorists or look for other ways to take action if faced with Security Council vetoes, according to US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley.

Haley, who assumed the presidency of the Security Council for April, was asked at a news conference on Monday about terrorist attacks on India and, having said that she "would take names," what would she do about a permanent member's veto on imposing sanctions on certain terrorists.

Describing the US administration as "more aggressive," Haley, who has a cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's government, said that to fight terrorism "the administration is very much looking at all these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list".

"We want to make sure that we are calling out those that we want to call out. We want to make sure that we are leading towards a result and not sitting back and allowing things to happen," she added.

Haley said: "You are seeing a more aggressive administration because we feel that in order to lead we need to act, and in order to act, we need to make sure we have those conversations."

As permanent member of the Security Council China has used its veto to protect Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who was behind the attack on an air force base in Pathankot, from being included in a list of terrorists who face UN action.

China also provided cover for Pakistan, when it released on bail Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lakshar-e-Taiban commander who masterminded the 2008 attack on Mumbai which killed more than 160 people. He was already on the UN list of those facing sanctions as terrorists.

Haley did not name China in her remarks. "Are we going to have people who veto certain issues," she asked and answered, "Yes."

"But that doesn't preclude the US from acting and it certainly doesn't preclude us from seeing if we can change that as well," she said.

"So our goal," Haley said, "is to get more done together, then we do separately, and if we cannot get it done separately, then we move in another direction and still get the same things done."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

al/in/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US trade deficit fell 9.6 per cent in February to $43.6 billion, after reaching the highest level in five years in January, the government said.

The figure came in below economists' estimates of a $44.5 billion trade deficit, Efe news agency reported.

Imports decreased by 1.8 per cent to $236.4 billion in February, while exports rose 0.20 per cent to $192.9 billion, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

In February, US consumers bought fewer cellular phones from Asian countries and fewer automobiles from Europe, but the trade deficit in the first two months of the year was still 3.1 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The US trade deficit with China dropped to $23 billion in February from $31.3 billion in January.

President Donald Trump, who during last year's campaign repeatedly accused China of engaging in unfair trade practices, will meet on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

Last week, Trump signed two executive orders intended to prevent unfair practices in international trade and identify those he calls "cheaters" and accuses of causing the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs.

--IANS

vgu/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of women activists on Tuesday demanded immediate disbanding of the "anti-Romeo squads" in Uttar Pradesh and withdrawal of FIRs and complaints against Advocate Prashant Bhushan, filed over his tweet involving Lord Krishna.

In a joint statement, they said that these squads were a threat to women's freedom, and added that the serious issue of violence against women and routine sexual harassment of women in Uttar Pradesh "cannot be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads".

"We demand that the anti-Romeo squads be immediately wound up by the U.P. state, and women's groups that have been engaged with issues of ending sexual harassment and violence against women for long periods of time be consulted to develop mechanisms to end such violence," said the statement issued here.

The group of over 20 women activists who sought disbanding of the anti-Romeo squads included Aruna Roy of the National Federation of Indian Women; Syeda Hameed of the Muslim Women's Forum; Indira Jaising, a lawyer and human rights activist; Dipa Sinha of the Right to Food Campaign; Vrinda Grover, Advocate, human rights activist; and Arundhati Dhuru of the National Alliance of People's Movement.

Anti-Romeo squads were introduced by the recently-installed Yogi Adityanath government in the state to curb instances of eve-teasing, which was one of the poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"It has already come to light that in many cases, these anti-Romeo squads have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men, which has even been acknowledged by the DG Police, U.P...," reads the statement.

These activists said the so-called anti-Romeo squads were being encouraged by a state, which "reneges on its own obligations to maintain law and order".

They alleged the FIR against Prashant Bhushan was "a clear case of abuse of power" and demanded it to be squashed.

"Curbs on freedom of speech is not just intolerance, but in violation of the fundamental rights," the statement said.

Bhushan had tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve-teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"

However, he later apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna.

--IANS

spk/nir/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday said he will waive off legal fees from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal if he can't pay to fight a defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Jethmalani spoke to the media after Kejriwal reportedly wrote to the Delhi government to foot a Rs 3.4 crore bill from Jethmalani.

"I charge only the rich but for the poor I work for free. If the (Delhi) government doesn't pay or he (Kejriwal) can't pay, I will appear for free. (I) will treat him as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani said.

He accused Jaitley of instigating all this because the minister was "afraid of my cross-examination".

--IANS

bns/sar/ksk/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leading amusement park operator Wonderla Holidays Ltd will be expanding its footprints with the development of its fourth property in Chennai with an investment of Rs 350 crore, a top company official said on Tuesday.

The company is also looking to set up an amusement park in Goa or Maharashtra and also has plans to foray into the northern region.

Arun K. Chittilappilly, Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays, said the investment in Chennai amusement park will be made over the next two years.

The company, which has so far invested Rs 250 crore in its amusement park in Hyderabad, will be spending another Rs 40 crore by September to add two new attractions -- sky wheel and space theme ride.

Wonderla currently owns and operates three amusement parks -- one each in Kochi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad -- and a resort in Bengaluru. It also plans to develop a resort in Hyderabad.

--IANS

ms/in/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The smash-hit musical Hamilton has ignited students interest in history, creating a ready-made opportunity for teachers.

The Broadway musical, which is now also playing in Chicago and San Francisco, tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, the $10 founding father without a father , in rap and hip-hop songs. Teachers have tried to capitalize on their students interest by using the show as a teaching toolin terms of learning about history, language arts, and diversity in pop culture. (Hamilton purposefully chose nonwhite actors and actresses to play the lead parts.)

Last month, 400 New York City public school teachers, half of whom were Teach for America corps members, saw the musical. They then received training on teaching in diverse classrooms. (This was a fundraiser for Teach for Americas New York chapter and was sponsored by Barclays. The training was hosted by the citys department of education and The Fund for Public Schools, based in New York.)

The Education Week video team captured some of the training, which features teachers drawing parallels to the musical for their lessons. Hamilton was an immigrant, right? When we learn about our forefathers, we dont usually have that perspective, a social studies teacher said. Another teacher said the musicals use of actors and actresses of color provided a nice bridge to discussing race with students: Was George Washington really black? No, but where were the black people? What were they doing? What were some of them saying? Where were the women?

More on Hamilton in the Classroom:
Former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto lashed out on Tuesday at Nawaz Sharif-led government for "not doing much against terrorism during last two years".

"The country (Pakistan) has made no progress against terrorism and is standing exactly where it was two years ago," claimed Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Bilawal Bhutto while addressing a mammoth rally held to mark the 38th death anniversary of party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Bilawal cautioned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about the dangerous game of undermining federation by allocating huge funds for certain areas.

"Mian Sahib, you are playing a dangerous game. What do you want to prove by approving Rs 37 billion gas project for an area," he said.

Regarding the glamorous political life of PPP's founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Bilawal maintained that it (April 4) was the darkest day in the history of Pakistan.

"On this day, the leader who defeated dictators was hanged," Bilawal said.

The 28-year-old chairman enquired about the progress made during the PML-N's current stint and added that billions of rupees were being spent in an extravagant fashion to advertise this progress.

Asif Ali Zardari said in his speech that PPP was not afraid of people who were targeting the party.

Zardari maintained that he was waiting for the Panama papers verdict to chalk out the future strategy and claimed that his party was ready for parliamentary elections even in 2017.

--IANS

ahm/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Qatar Airways mercurial CEO Akbar Al Baker set the cat among the pigeons recently when he expressed his desire to set up an Indian subsidiary along with Qatar Investment Authority. What Al Baker perhaps missed out on was that the Foreign Direct Investment Circular of June 7, 2016, allows 100 per cent FDI only if theres no investment by a foreign airline. If a foreign airline is involved the FDI limit is 49 per cent.
While contoversies around Aadhaar refuse to die down, with questions being raised over its security and fear of misuse, Union Minister for Electronics and IT has denied any such threats and called these a negative campaign around Aadhaar. In an intervew with The Economic Times, Prasad also said Muslim women could associate with the Modi government's stand on triple talaq and many of them voted for the Bharatiya Janta Party.
Eleven people were killed and dozens more injured as an explosion rocked the Saint Petersburg metro yesterday, in what Russian authorities described as an "act of terror".

Authorities shut down the metro system in Russia's second city for several hours as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second metro station.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it was probing an "act of terror" but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

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.

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.

As the city prepared to mark three days of mourning, President Vladimir Putin placed a bouquet of red flowers at the entrance to the station in the late evening hours, after chairing a meeting of officials from the FSB intelligence agency, rescuers and the interior ministry.

Anti-terror authorities said in a statement to Russian agencies that the toll had risen to 11 dead and 45 injured.

"I will be afraid to take the metro now," said Maria Ilyina, 30, standing near the station, where a growing pile of flowers has been left in tribute to the victims.

"Before we thought that this would not come to Saint Petersburg -- now our city is under threat."



Pensioner Vyacheslav Veselov told AFP he had seen four bodies at the station.

"A station attendant in tears called on the men to help carry the bodies," he said.

The blast occurred in a train carriage as it was travelling between the Technological Institute and Vosstaniya Square stations at 2:40 pm (1140 GMT), said anti-terrorist committee (NAK) spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky.

The NAK committee later confirmed security services had found another explosive device at the Vosstaniya Square metro station. This device did not explode and was immediately "neutralised."



The Moscow metro tweeted that it was "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations, while NAK said in a statement carried by Russian agencies that security was being stepped up at transportation hubs and crowded spots across the country.

Putin, who had been in Saint Petersburg holding a meeting at his Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to the wounded and to the loved ones of those killed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the explosion as a "barbaric act," while US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice," the White House said in a statement about the phone call.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eighteeen of 38 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy between March 21 and 26, were released by the island nation today and will be handed over to India this afternoon, officials said.

Sri Lankan naval personnel will hand over the fishermen to the Indian Coast Guard at the International Maritime Boundary Line at 12 noon, 'Q' branch Inspector Kennedy and Assistant Director (Fisheries) Kulangainathan said.

The fishermen would later proceed to Karaikal and reach there by around 4 PM, they said.

On March 21, 10 fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing near Katchatheevu on charges of crossing the IMBL.

The following day, 16 more fishermen from Nagapattinam and Rameswaram districts were arrested in two separate incidents on the same charge.

On March 26, 12 fishermen from Pudukottai district were arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in the island nation's territorial waters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two South Florida men who authorities say had sought to join the Islamic State extremist group overseas have pleaded guilty in an FBI terrorism sting operation. A third man is set for trial in October.

Court records show 51-year-old Darren Jackson pleaded guilty today to terrorism support conspiracy in West Palm Beach federal court. Last week, 32-year-old Dayne Christian pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge and also being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Set for the October trial is the sting's main target, 53-year-old Gregory Hubbard.

Investigators say Hubbard sought to travel overseas to fight with Islamic State militants. The other two men along with an FBI informant were accused of assisting him. Hubbard was arrested in July at Miami International Airport with the FBI informant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Assam Riffles today felicitated its veteran, Naren Chandra Das, who escorted the Dalai Lama during his escape from Tibet nearly 60 years ago at the force's headquarter here.

Assam Riffles DG Lieutenant General Shokin Chauhan felicitated Das in the presence of the rank and file of the force during the commanders' conference.

Assam Riffles chief reaffirmed the force's pledge to look after its veterans and how a special cell was started wherein all veterans can register and interact directly for their grievances, Assam Riffles spokesman Lt Col Rahul Josan told PTI.

He said a befitting tribute was paid to 76 year-old Das, the only surviving jawan among the eight Assam Riffles men who escorted the Tibetan spiritual leader in 1959.

Das, who was dressed in the force's uniforms, carried a broad smiled boasting of how he happily carried the duty entrusted to him when he was posted at Lungla near the China border.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama had an emotional reunion with Das at Guwahati recently during the Namami Brahmaputra festival.

Das will leave for his hometown in Balipara in Assam's Sonitpur district, the spokesman said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The beheaded body of a middle-aged farmer was found in a remote village about 20 meters from the Indo-Bangla border, the police said today.

East Khasi Hills district Superintendent of Police, Davies N R Marak told PTI that the body was found last week from near the farmer's betel nut field.

Since the entire stretch of the border is unfenced, villagers had suspected it was the handiwork of miscreants from Bangladesh but the matter was not reported to the authorities, the SP said.

The farmer's headless body was found on Saturday last and his severed head was found a few feet away from the body.

The villagers took the body back and as per the orders of the village chief, cremated it, he said.

The village chief too had not informed the authorities about the incident or his orders to cremate the body.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two toddlers were killed and 30 others injured today when a tourist bus overturned at Ranital, about 35-kms from here, police said.

The accident happened this afternoon on Dharamshala- Chandigarh national highway in which two-year-old Gopal, son of Kalicharan and resident of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh and one year-old Suryashi, daughter of Ravi Kumar and resident of Agra were killed, a senior police official said.

30 people were also injured in the accident, and rushed to a hospital where most of them are said to be out of danger.

Police suspect that the bus overturned due to negligence or rash driving by the driver.

"The bus overturned possibly due to the driver could not negotiate the hill track or was driving rashly," Suprindent of Police Kangra S Gandhi said, adding a case was registered against the driver.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: The English Language Assessment programme offered by Cambridge University has launched the Cambridge English: Business Certification Exam package on popular e-commerce portal - Amazon.

The package includes the Cambridge English preparation material for Business Benchmark Book and CD along with the examination fee for three levels of the BEC (Business English Certificate) programme, a press release said.

The programme would be available through Amazon initially in Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru under the pilot programme.

The Business English Certificate is recognised by more than 2,000 various MNCs during the recruitment process of a candidate.

Students from various universities across the country would be able to assess the programme which helps a successful candidate to work overseas and also study business related subjects, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
No Criminal Charges After Inmate Was Boiled to Death in Florida Prison

There was no question that Darren Rainey died in the showers of the Dade Correctional Institution in 2012. What was unanswered was whether the officers who locked Rainey for two hours in showers that could run as hot at 160 degrees were criminally liable for his death.

That answer came last month, when the state attorney for Miami-Dade County released an "In Custody Death Investigation Close-Out Memo" that attributed Rainey's death to schizophrenia, heart disease, and "confinement inside the shower room." Yet the state attorney declined to press criminal charges against the officers or the prison, saying instead that "the evidence does not show that Rainey's well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff."

Deadly Disregard

The details of Rainey's death are as grisly as they are tragic. Rainey, schizophrenic and heavily medicated, was a resident of Dade's "Temporary Transitional Unit" which houses mentally disabled inmates. According to the report, corrections officers Roland Clarke and Cornelius Thompson took Rainey to the showers after he defecated in his cell and smearing the feces on himself and the cell.

Determining what exactly happened from there depends on whom you believe. Harold Hempstead, an inmate whose cell was below the shower, said he heard much of the incident, including Rainey screaming, "I can't take it anymore!" Another inmate said he heard guards sarcastically ask Rainey "Is it hot enough?" Rainey allegedly screamed, kicked the door, and begged to be let out, before he was found unresponsive almost two hours after he was locked in.

A later investigation found that the water temperature, which could only be controlled from a closet outside the showers, could reach as high as 160 degrees. Mark Joiner, another former inmate at Dade, said guards ordered him to clean pieces of skin that had peeled off Rainey's body from the shower floor. And nurses allegedly said Rainey's body "was covered in burns so severe that his skin came off at the touch," according to the New Yorker.

Charging Accounts

The Close-Out Memo, on the other hand gave the benefit of the doubt to Thompson and Clarke, who told detectives he made sure the water wasn't too hot. And although a preliminary medical report detailed "visible trauma ... throughout the decedents' body," the final autopsy, not completed until 2016 and yet to be released found no trauma and "no thermal injuries (burns) of any kind on his body."

In the end, the state attorney cited a lack of sufficient and consistent evidence in deciding not to criminally charge any of the officers involved in Rainey's death.

Related Resources:
Four persons, who allegedly stole cars using latest technology and equipment, have been arrested here, police said today.

The accused - Sagir Ahmad, Safruddin alias Safar, Aamir alias Aman and Shoib Khan - are active members of an interstate gang led by Sagir alias Sata of Sambhal in western UP, said DCP (Southeast) Romil Baaniya.

The accused used latest technology and instruments to bypass and programme the alternative ECM (Electronic control module) of targeted cars, he said.

They used to buy these electronic equipments like key programmers, alternate ECMs, etc from e-commerce websites, said the officer.

They had gained technical expertise by watching YouTube videos, he said.

Police have recovered 12 stolen luxury vehicles and it has been found that they conducted the recce during daytime and the location of the target vehicle was shared on Whatsapp with Sata, who used to further share it with his gang members.

The accused were arrested around 5 AM on April 1 from near Meerabai Polytechnic College in New Friends Colony following a tip-off.

The accused used to steal the cars on demand and every member of the gang is an expert in stealing cars of different brands, said Baaniya.

For instance, Aamir is an expert in stealing Toyoto Innova, Fortuner and Maruti cars.

While carrying out theft of Innovas, Fortuners and Marutis, the accused used to first park their car alongside the target car.

"They would then cut the wire of the targeted car's horn from under the bonnet of the car. If the car's indicators started to flash, they would rush to their own car and wait till the indicators went off," he said.

After this, they used to break the rear quarter glass and enter into the car after unlocking it and pulling the ignition point by using drill machine.

Then, they used to take out the wires from plugs below the dashboard and connect these wires through cuplinks into the alternative ECM brought by them and then start the car by inserting a screwdriver into the ignition point.

The accused used a laptop to scan the programme after connecting the wires into their own ECM, which they used to call as a 'bypass'.

They used to carry covers for the stolen vehicles along with them.

After stealing the car, they used to deliver them to the party that had demanded them and if they did not have orders for cars, they used to hide them in parking lots after covering them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The CBI today arrested an additional general manager of BSNL, Bhubaneswar, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh from a contractor.

CBI sources said Gupta Chandra Bidika, Additional General Manager, Microwave Project, Bhubaneswar accepted a bribe of Rs one lakh from a contractor for passing his pending bills with BSNL.

The complainant had alleged in the complaint filed today that Bidika had demanded bribe for passing his pending bills worth Rs 10 lakh for duct-laying and other related works which was due for payment to him, CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said.

He said a trap was laid and the accused was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe from the contractor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The CBI has registered a case to probe the alleged suicide by an Indian sailor on board a ship with Cyprus flag while sailing from China to Fujairah.

The case of criminal conspiracy and murder has been registered on a complaint by sailor Satyanarayan Singh's son Sunil Kumar who had alleged that his father had not committed suicide.

"It was the result of a planned conspiracy resulting in the death of my father," Kumar, a resident of Sonipat, said in his complaint.

It is alleged that Singh was working as a pumpman on board ship M T Peterpaul, which was sailing from China to Fujairah with Cyprus flag, had committed suicide on July 21, 2015.

Kumar had alleged that after meeting some of his father's fellow crew members, he came to know that his father was tortured in barbaric manner by the Captain and that the death of his father was not due to hanging.

He has alleged that the crew members were threatened by the Captain not to disclose the matter to anybody.

The matter was referred to Union minister Nitin Gadkari by Congress Member of Parliament Deepender Singh Hooda whose office then referred it to the Department of Personnel and Training and the Home Ministry for necessary action.

After receiving the reference, the agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy and murder which allegedly took place on high seas while the ship was near Sri Lanka.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The second edition of the India Baja-an international motorsports event, promoted by Northern Motorsports India, will be held in Jaisalmer from April 7-9.

The event this year will have the added attraction of being the third inclusion to the Dakar Challenge series, along with the Sonora Rally in South Africa and the Afriquia Merzouga Rally in Morocco.

India Baja 2017 will be the first motorsports event from the country to achieve this distinction.

This means an opportunity to the moto winner in the two-wheeler category will be granted a free-entry at the 2018 Dakar Rally, which will begin from Peru in January 2018. The moto winner will also get a free entry in the Afriquia Merzouga Rally in Morocco that will be held in May 2017 and is part of the Dakar Series of races.

Both the Dakar Challenge and Dakar Series races are meant to unearth fresh talent to compete in the ultimate off-road race on the planet - The Dakar Rally.

For the winning rider at the India Baja, the free entries in the two top-level global competitions translates into a prize worth in excess of Euro 20,000.

Rajasthan Tourism is partnering Northern Motorsports India for the smooth conduct of the India Baja 2017.

Raj Kapoor, Co-founder, Northern Motorsports said: "The 2017 edition of the India Baja has all the makings of an exciting motorsport event. We will see state-of-the-art competition machines fighting in the extreme heat and challenging terrain.

"India Baja will also pit India's best riders against some most skillful riders in the world. All this makes for a compelling human interest story as the participants battle it out against the terrain and the conditions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China today strongly condemned the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in Russia that killed 14 people and expressed willingness to work with the country to tackle the threat of terrorism.

"China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the terrorist attack. China extends profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Calling terrorism a common enemy of the mankind, Hua said China is willing to work with Russia and the international community to tackle the threat and challenges of terrorism to maintain world peace and security, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city yesterday, killing 14 people and wounding about 40.

The security services in Kyrgyzstan today said the suicide bomber was from the Central Asian country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China has not commented on India's assertion today that Arunachal Pradesh is its inseparable part and no "artificial controversy" should be created over the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, which is currently on a holiday for the Tomb sweeping festival, has not responded to a query seeking its reaction to External Affairs Ministry remarks as well as comments made by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijju over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

On April 2, China had termed the Dalai Lama as anti-China separatist.

"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 Foreign Ministry had 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, recalling the day when he entered India through Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of Tibet.

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".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Comedy Central has announced a new weekly late-night series "The President Show" starring Anthony Atamanuik as Donald Trump.

Atamanuik, a noted Trump impersonator, will play the President, who will host his desk segments, comedy bits and guest interviews from the Oval Office, reported The New York Times.

Starting on April 27, it is scheduled to air on Thursday nights after "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah".

"Laughing at the President is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department. I'd just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if we're lucky, end up in prison," Atamanuik said.

While, the network added, "In the world of 'The President Show', Trump is bypassing the crooked media by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office.

"No unfair questions from reporters, no awkward photo ops with German ladies, and no bedtimes. Just a fun show where he can put his unique Trumpian spin on such late-night staples as desk segments, field pieces and guest interviews.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived at Bomdila in West Kameng district this evening marking the beginning of his nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived by road as his chopper could not take off from Guwahati due to inclement weather.

He was accompanied by Chief Minister Pema Khandu besides other high-ranking police and civil officials.

The Dalai Lama's visit to the state comes eight years after his previous visit in 2009 which was exactly 50 years after he had passed through the town on his way from Lhasa in Tibet to India.

He is scheduled to give a discourse at the Buddha Park in Bomdila tomorrow.

On April 6, he will impart teachings at Dirang and confer the 'Avalokiteshvara Permission' at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in the morning.

From April 8-10, the Dalai Lama will deliver discourses in Tawang. He will reach here on April 11 and give a discourse the next day.

Amid persistent Chinese objections to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh, India today said no "artificial controversy" should be created around the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Trump administration has issued a stern warning to companies not to discriminate against American workers by "misusing" the H-1B work visas programme, the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals.

"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.

The warning came as the government began accepting employers' H-1B visa petitions for the next fiscal year beginning October 1, 2017.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday also announced multiple measures to "deter and detect" what it described as "fraud and abuse" of the H-1B work visas.

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 will further "deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse", the USCIS said the H-1B visa 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 programs is a priority for the USCIS," a statement said.

During his election campaign, President Donald Trump had promised to increase oversight of the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes.

The anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers from discriminating against US workers because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting.

"Employers violate the INA if they have a discriminatory hiring preference that favours H-1B visa holders over US workers," the Justice Department said in a statement.

"US workers should not be placed in a disfavoured status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims," Wheeler warned.

H-1B visa programme allows companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations such as science and information technology.

Indian IT giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas.

The Department of Justice said applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral, should contact Civil Right Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER).

Meanwhile, the USCIS also announced the launch of an 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 release said.

Noting that it will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide, the 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 H-1B visa programme negatively affect US workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court has upheld 10 years jail term to a man whose wife committed self-immolation, saying she ended her life due to cruelty and harassment meted out by him for dowry.

The high court said it does not find any illegality or irregularity in the trial court's February 2000 verdict and dismissed the appeal of Delhi resident Durga Dass while asking him to surrender.

Justice P S Teji said it was clear from the testimonies of the woman's parents that their daughter was treated with cruelty by the accused for the purpose of dowry so as to intimidate and pressurize her to meet their illegal demands.

"It is, therefore, apparent that Sangita (victim) was harassed with a view to coerce her to meet unlawful demands of dowry from her husband and father-in-law....

"It is also clearly established that for the reasons of such cruelty and harassment which was made soon before her death, Sangita had set herself ablaze by pouring kerosene oil and that the same was the real cause of her death," the bench said, adding that the case squarely falls within the ambit of dowry death.

The couple got married in April 1995 and the wife died in August 1995 after setting herself ablaze.

The court noted that the woman's parents have deposed that Dass visited their house and demanded Rs 20,000 cash and scooter and his father also raised the same demand.

The in-laws used to ill-treat the woman to pressurize her to meet their demands, it noted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Teens Charged in Sexual Assault Live-Streamed on Facebook

No matter how many stories get written about criminal activity streamed on Facebook Live, criminals don't cease to record their crimes for prosecutorial prosperity and the crimes themselves don't get any less heinous.

A 14-year old girl in Chicago was lured into a home and raped by as many as six men, one of whom broadcast the sexual assault live on Facebook. The Chicago Tribune notes it's at least the fourth crime in the city captured on Facebook Live since the end of October 2016. Two teens are in custody thus far, and the victim and her family have been moved following threats and online bullying after reporting the crime.

Facebook Crime

According to the Tribune, the girl was attacked on her way home from church, and not found until two days later. A relative was told the assault was on Facebook, and Chicago activist Andrew Holmes was able to forward the video of the sexual assault to police. The girl's mother was then able to identify her daughter from screen shots of the video.

Two boys, one 14 and the other 15, are now in custody facing charges relating to the rape and the posting of the video. Both have been charged as juveniles with aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacture of child pornography, and dissemination of child pornography, though it is unclear if either was the one who initiated the broadcast of the assault.

Social Media Cycle of Trauma

Police say their investigation has been hampered by the victim's trauma and harassment of her and her family. Chicago Police Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan described the difficulty at a news conference over the weekend:

"She's just having such a difficult time even communicating what occurred to her. We obviously have a video of the incident, so we have verifiable objective evidence of what occurred to this young lady, but she's just having a very difficult time ... On top of it, there's constant social media ... bullying (of the girl), making fun of what occurred. This is just a very traumatic incident."

The social media bullying has manifested in real life as well. The victim's mother told the Tribune that after word of the attack got out, people began harassing the family at home, ringing the doorbell and appearing at the house in a threatening manner.

Police were also frustrated with the lack of response from the estimated 40 people who viewed the livestream of the assault, none of whom called 911. Deenihan says authorities are exploring what criminal charges may be available against those who watched the video, but proving exactly who did watch the video may be impossible.

Related Resources:
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has arrested a person in Kolkata with 14 kgs of smuggled gold valued at Rs 4.1 crore.

Official sources said the arrest was made in Nager Bazaar on April 2 during which 120 gold pieces of 116 grams each were seized.

They said 62 of these seized pieces had Swiss markings and 58 had markings of the United Arab Emirates.

Investigations indicate that gold was smuggled into India from Bangladesh, they said, adding that it was brought into Bangladesh from Dubai, they said.

It was handed over to the accused in Basirhat near India-Bangladesh border, they said.

Earlier in January this year, the DRI had seized 41 kgs gold smuggled into India from Bangladesh, the sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Loss-making Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has outspaced the national average in electricity generation, registering a growth of 20.8 per cent in FY17'.

"DVC has generated 33581 million units in FY17 from thermal and hydel capacities, growing at 20.8 per cent over 2015-16 with generation of 27,778 million units. The national average generation growth is just 4.72 per cent, NTPC generation has expanded by 3.32 per cent while, eastern region growth is 7.34 per cent," a DVC official said.

Revenue also jumped by 12.2 per cent to Rs 14,700 crore for the year under review compared to Rs 13,096 crore registered in 2015-16.

"Beside, overall better operational efficiency there had been high exchange power trading and more short term power sale were major factors for such performance," DVC chairman Andrew WK Langstieh told PTI.

DVC's merchant power sale (through power exchange) had tripled to 582 million units in 2016-17 compared to 171 million units in 2015-16.

The long term debt had also got reduced to Rs 19,500 crore (as on March 31, 2017) from Rs 21,560 crore in FY16' with debt restructuring, DVC said.

The corporation will be at a loss at net level due to high interest burden due to unsustainable long term debt, they declined to share the details.

Sources said, once Raghunathpur thermal power plant is successfully hived-off in a joint venture soon after West Bengal's nod is received, the corporation will be back in black.

DVC during the year commissioned long delayed thermal power projects totalling 1700 MW during the year, one unit of 500 MW at Bokaro at Jharkhand and two units of 600 MW each (total 1200 MW) at Raghunathpur TPS in West Bengal.

While, generation of 130 MW of Chandrapura TPS was decommissioned in January 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A letter from renowned physicist Albert Einstein written in response to a science teacher in 1953 has sold for USD 53,503 at an auction.

Einstein penned the letter in reply to a two-page questionnaire submitted by Arthur Converse, a science teacher from Iowa, concerning electrostatic theory and special relativity.

The letter with an opening price of USD 15,000 was bought by an unidentified person.

The letter had been in the Converse family's possession for many years, said Sam Heller, a spokesman for the Nate D Sanders Auctions auctions that sold the letter.

The letter - whose envelope indicated it was sent from 'Room 115' of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, on September 7, 1953 seems to answer questions about Einstein's theory of relativity and how to reconcile the theory with experiments, 'Live Science' reported.

Converse was a science teacher and had sent Einstein a questionnaire regarding experiments with electroscopes, which are charge-measuring instruments.

The famous physicist also wrote an opening page that says one should expect to measure a potential difference, a voltage, whose level depends on the distance from the Earth's surface.

Einstein wrote that the only assumption one needs to make is that there is some difference in the charge of the surface of the Earth and the upper atmosphere and that the electroscope, in this case, would behave as though it were inside a charged sphere.

One question bears a question mark and a bit of mathematical notation from the famous physicist, who appeared to think the query was poorly phrased and defined.

In response, Einstein said there is no problem with explaining an experimental result with "standard electrostatic theory."



"It is clear to the reader [that] Einstein was interested in Converse's questions and generous in his considerate response," said Nate Sanders, owner of Nate D Sanders Auctions.

"These documents provide a rare glimpse into Einstein's generous nature and willingness to help teachers better understand and communicate his theories," Nate said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri was appointed Gujarat's new DGP-in-charge today, becoming the state's first woman police chief as incumbent PP Pandey quit the post following the apex court's reservation against him.

A 1982-batch IPS officer, Johri had a controversial stint in the the Supreme Court-appointed SIT appointed to probe the post-Godhra riots and was discharged as an accused in an alleged fake encounter case.

The apex court had yesterday asked the Gujarat government to accept Pandey's to relinquish the posts of director general and inspector general of police forthwith.

A 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, Pandey was on extension till April 30 this year and had made the offer to resign from the post after his removal was sought by former top cop Julio Francis Ribeiro in a plea to the apex court.

Ribeiro had sought his removal on the ground that the CBI had filed charge sheet against him and others in the case of alleged fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan.

"Smt Geetha Johri, Managing Director Gujarat Police Housing Corporation (GPHC), Gandhinagar, will hold the additional charge as director general and inspector general of police, Gujarat state, Gandhinagar, in addition to her duty as managing director, GPHC," the official order said.

It also stated the government is "pleased to superannuate and revoke the extension of P P Pandey, Anti-Corruption Bureau director, Ahmedabad, and Director General and Inspector General-in-charge of Gujarat state, Gandhinagar from April 4, 2017 (after office hours)."



While making the announcement, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said the government has accepted Pandey's resignation.

"We have accepted the resignation of P P Pandey. Our Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today appointed Geetha Johri, the senior-most IPS officer at present, as the new DGP-in-charge of Gujarat," said Jadeja.

As per the government records, Johri was born on November 28, 1957.

In her career spanning almost 35 years, Johri has seen many ups and downs. In the beginning of her career, she came into limelight while serving as Ahmedabad DCP in mid-1990s.

At that time, she had raided the den of slain underworld don Abdul Latif in highly sensitive Dariyapur area and had caught his key aide Sharif Khan.

Recently, she was in for her role in the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots and as the investigation officer in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases.

In 2010, the Supreme Court had asked Johri to dissociate herself from the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots after the victims alleged her of bias.

In 2015, a special CBI court in Mumbai had dropped charges against Johri in alleged fake encounter cases of Sohrabuddin and Prajapati of 2005 and 2006 respectively for want of mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for her prosecution.

The CBI had alleged that Johri delayed investigations into the Prajapati case and destroyed some case records.

The government had promoted Johri from the rank of Additional DGP to DGP the same year.

She had filed an FIR on the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and sudden disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi, which had eventually led to the arrest of the three erstwhile IPS officers, including D G Vanzara.

Addressing the media in Gandhinagar, Johri said her priority would be addressing the problems faced by the women and maintaining law and order in the state.

"I will assume the office immediately. Being the first woman DGP of the state, my priority will be to address the women's problems. They can come to me anytime and I will try my best to solve their problems," she said.

She said though Gujarat has a peaceful atmosphere, it will be her duty to maintain law and order.

"Since this is an election year, I will have to ensure peace during the polls," the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri was today appointed as the new Gujarat DGP following the resignation of incumbent P P Pandey.

The 1982-batch IPS officer is the first woman to become the Gujarat police chief. At present, the 59-year-old is the Managing Director of Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation (GSPHC), a post she will continue to hold.

Making the announcement at Gandhinagar, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said the government has accepted the resignation of Pandey.

Johri will replace Pandey, who had to put in his papers after his appointment was challenged by former top cop Julio Riberio in the Supreme Court.

Riberio had filed a plea seeking a direction for removal of Pandey on several grounds including that CBI had filed charge sheet against him and others in the case of alleged fake encounter killing of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan. He had also challenged Pandey's extension as in-charge DGP.

"We have accepted the resignation of P P Pandey. Our Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today appointed Geetha Johri, the senior most IPS officer at present, as the new DGP in-charge of Gujarat," said Jadeja.

The minister said Johri would continue to serve as the MD of GSPHC.

Yesterday, Pandey, a 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, expressed his willingness to step down, an offer accepted by the state government.

As per the government records, Johri was born on November 28, 1957.

Talking to the media after being appointed to the top post, she said her priority will be to address problems faced by women and to maintain law and order.

"I will assume the office immediately. Being the first woman DGP of the state, my priority will be to address the problems of women. They can come to me anytime and I will try my best to solve their problems," she said in Gandhinagar.

"Gujarat already has a peaceful atmosphere. It will be my duty to maintain law and order. Since this is an election year, I will have to ensure peace during polls," she added.

In her career spanning almost 35 years, Johri has seen many ups and downs.

In the beginning of her career, she shot into limelight while serving as DCP in the city during mid 1990s.

At that time, she raided the den of slain underworld don Abdul Latif in highly sensitive Dariyapur area and managed to catch Latif's key aide Sharif Khan.

In the recent past, she was in for her role in the SIT probing post-Godhra riots and as investigating officer in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases.

In 2010, the Supreme Court asked Johri to dissociate herself from the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots following some allegations.

In 2015, a special CBI court dropped charges against Johri in connection with the Sohrabuddin and Prajapati fake encounter cases for want of mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for her prosecution.

The CBI had alleged Johri delayed investigations into the Prajapati case and destroyed some case records.

In the same year, the government promoted Johri from the rank of Additional DGP to DGP.

Johri had filed the first investigation report in the apex court on the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and sudden disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi which eventually led to the arrest of three then serving IPS officers, including D G Vanzara.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"Star Trek" icon George Takei is turning his family's painful past during World War Two into a graphic novel.

The Japanese-American actor and his relatives were forced to leave their Los Angeles home and live in a US internment camp in Arkansas following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941.

Takei was just five-years-old when his family was relocated, and now he is set to tell his story in the form of a child-friendly comic book as part of his "ongoing mission of spreading awareness of this disgraceful chapter of American history," reported the New York Times.

The 79-year-old actor plans to release the project next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
German officials met today with a German-Turkish journalist imprisoned in Istanbul for the first time since his incarceration, saying he is doing well but voicing concerns that he is being kept in jail for political purposes and calling for his release.

German Foreign Ministry official Michael Roth, a deputy foreign minister, told reporters that Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel met with Consul General Georg Birgelen and a German consulate attorney in prison.

"He's doing well overall given the circumstances, but is finding the solitary confinement a great strain," Roth said.

It was the first consular contact Yucel has been allowed since he was arrested on charges of producing terrorist propaganda and incitement to hatred accusations he denies.

He was taken into custody in mid-February after reporting on a hacker attack on the email account of the country's energy minister, who is also Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law. Yucel was formally arrested later in the month.

Roth thanked Turkey for providing access to Yucel, and said Germany expects to be able to continue to send consular officials to meet with him and is working to have him freed.

"He's obviously being made a political project of," Roth said. "The case has a political and a legal dimension."



In campaign rallies last month Erdogan accused Yucel of being "a terrorist," "a German spy" and a "representative" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, a rebel group which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey for over three decades.

Erdogan also claimed that the German consulate in Istanbul had harbored Yucel for a month and refused to surrender him when Turkey demanded his return.

Yucel had sought refuge at a German diplomatic residence in Istanbul for several weeks before presenting himself for questioning.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry referred queries on whether the consular access would continue to the Justice Ministry. The Justice Ministry had no immediate comment



Roth said Yucel is only one of more than 100 journalists who are being detained in Turkey something he said had been brought up in talks with officials there.

"Rule of law, democracy and press freedom played a large role in all conversations," he said. "And I emphasized once more that it's not just about one case... But about the situation of journalists in Turkey in general."



In a letter released Tuesday by Die Welt that the newspaper said was dictated by Yucel to his attorney, the journalist thanked the public for their "support for me and my colleagues incarcerated in Turkey" and urged people to subscribe to the "few remaining independent" newspapers in Turkey.

"You don't have to be Turkish to make a concrete contribution to the freedom of the press in Turkey," he wrote.

The case has been one of several issues that have led to increased friction between Germany and Turkey in recent months.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
October 15, 2022, Saturday

US President Joe Biden has said Pakistan is one of the most dangerous nations in the world as it has nuclear weapons without ...
French President Francois Hollande today accused Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad of responsibility for a "massacre" after a suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in Syria.

"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre," Hollande said in a statement.

"Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility," Hollande added.

France called earlier Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The annual national ranking of educational institutions released by HRD Ministry needs more participants to present a "credible" picture to the public, academicians have pointed out.

The second edition of the NDA government's ambitious project-- National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)-- was released yesterday by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.

While prestigious institutions like IISc Bangalore, several IITs and IIMs figured in the top 10 lists released under six categories, there were some "surprises" with several "not-so-reputed" colleges making it to the list, way above prominent institutions.

While some prominent DU colleges including St Stephen's, Ramjas and Hindu College did not participate in the process, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm (ARSD) College has been ranked above prestigious LSR College for Women and Kolkata's St. Xavier's.

Other prestigious Delhi colleges which did not apply were Hansraj, Kirori Mal, Jesus and Mary, Kamala Nehru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa, Daulat Ram College and Gargi.

A total of 2,995 institutions participated this time against last year's 3,563 participants.

Academicians point out that participation of more institutions will present a credible picture.

"There were certain loopholes in the ranking parameters in the last edition but the government has rectified them this year. However, if the prominent institutions don't participate they will of course decide the ranking from those who have participated but it does not reflect a clear picture," a senior Delhi University professor said.

"For a school student who will join college in an year or two, if he or she goes by the list, ARSD is the college to struggle for and Stephen's will be a complete 'no'. How misleading is that?" he added.

Dinesh Khattar, acting principal of Kirori Mal college said, "We would have loved to be part of the process but were busy with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection and the application needed a lot of homework. We will apply next year onwards."



HRD ministry officials attribute the lack of participation to stringent norms under the NIRF.

"There are very stringent norms for those participating in the ranking. The institutions are required to submit an affidavit declaring infrastructure availability, developmental plans and much more.

"This could have been the reason behind lesser participation. Also there are not much institutions which have been maintaining the data sought by us for analysis under NIRF, so they may participate in coming years," an HRD official said.

The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.

The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a core committee set up by the ministry to identify the broad parameters for ranking universities and institutions.

The parameters broadly cover: Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practices; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity; and Perception.

Unlike last year, this time the ranking was released under six categories-- Overall, Colleges, Universities, Management, Engineering and Pharmacy.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, the first Indian institution to make it to the top 10 in a global ranking, has been ranked at the top. Jawaharlal Nehru University, ranked third last year, has been placed at the second position this year.

Along with the IISC and the JNU, seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) make the top 10 of the list.

The Hyderabad University, ranked fourth last year, has slipped to the seventh, and Jamia Millia Islamia, which was at the 83rd position, has shot up to rank 20.

Delhi University's Miranda House has been adjudged the best college in the country followed by Chennai's Loyola College. Five other DU colleges have made it to the top 10 of the list of colleges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
So You Married a Criminal? 3 Legal Tips

While accidentally marrying a criminal sounds more like the subject of TV drama (or comedy) than a real life occurrence, it does happen in real life. Unfortunately, even when a person marries a criminal on accident, there could be real life consequences. Most often, legal consequences for uninvolved spouses stem from organized, or white-collar, criminal activities.

For instance, spouses that agree to put things in their names, or sign checks, or take other relatively passive roles, can find themselves looking at actual jail time. Alternatively, spouses that merely reap the financial benefits, completely passively, without being involved at all, can usually expect to minimally have those benefits seized and forfeited.

Here are three legal tips on what to do if you accidentally marry a criminal:

1. Annulment May Be Possible

If you were tricked into the marriage, you may be able to qualify for an annulment based upon fraud. Unlike a divorce, an annulment will dissolve a marriage and treat it like it never happened. There may be some complicated issues when it comes to separating joint property, but it could potentially protect an innocent spouse from liability.

State laws differ about how and when a person will qualify for an annulment, but generally state laws require a showing that the innocent spouse materially relied on a significant misrepresentation in agreeing to marry. If an annulment isn't possible, divorce or legal separation can be pursued.

2. Consult and Retain an Independent Attorney

So long as you are not actively involved in the criminal enterprise, you can consult with an attorney on how to keep on the right side of the law. Depending on your situation, this may involve legal separation, divorce, annulment, or maybe not.

If you get involved with the criminal enterprise, an attorney will not be able to assist you in continuing to break the law, but may be able to help keep you out of trouble if you are arrested. It is also important to retain your own attorney, rather than rely on joint representation, particularly for a spouse that is not actively engaged.

3. Maintain Separate Accounts

Maintaining sufficient separation of financial accounts may not be possible if the criminal enterprise is the sole source of income. However, if there are premarital assets, or you earn legitimate income, these should be maintained separately and diligently tracked. In the event that a criminal prosecution occurs against the criminal spouse, depending on the jurisdiction, being able to trace separate legitimate income may be what prevents it from being seized by the authorities.

Related Resources:
India today hit out at China over its objection to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh, saying no "artificial controversy" should be created around the visit and asked Beijing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

China has kept a close watch ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit, starting today, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India against the visit of theTibetan spiritual leaderto Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, saying it will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.

However, unfazed by the Chinese warning, India asserted, "No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India."



It also reiterated the government's position that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader who is deeply respected by the Indian people.

The government, therefore, urges that no "artificial controversy" should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the external affairs ministry said in a press release.

Reacting sharply, Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju asked China not to interfere in India's internal affairs and asserted that New Delhi respects the "One-China" policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

He said, "There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious.

"Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs."



India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate, the minister told reporters.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the border state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and is a "full-fledged state".

"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that the issue will be soon resolved.

"I appeal to China not to rake up the Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state can't be questioned," he said.

During his visit to the northeastern state, the Dalai Lama will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdila and other areas.

Rijiju said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state and will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

"As a democratic country, India can't interfere in religious affairs of any community," he added.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and is making arrangements for his stay there, Rijiju said, adding the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijiju's) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.

The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.

He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon Line which have been closed since 1962.

"The trading points were beneficial. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China," he said.

The external affairs ministry also referred to the Dalai Lama's website which mentions that he has visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and the United Kingdom decided to set up a 240 million pound fund to finance clean energy projects here, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

The Green Growth Equity Fund will be a sub-fund of NIIF.

"We have established the NIIF. Our first major step in the fund has been taken and there is going to be a sub-fund. With the NIIF participating in it, this is going to be a Green Growth Equity Fund where both are going to make a contribution of 120 million pounds and this will be financing the energy needs in India," Jaitley said.

India had in 2015 set up the Rs 40,000 crore Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) to finance greenfield as well as brownfield projects.

"This is going to be the first a major beginning as far as the fund is concerned," Jaitley said while addressing the media after the 9th India-UK Financial Dialogue.

During the meeting between Jaitley and the visiting UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to invest up to 120 million Pound each in the joint fund which aims to raise around 500 million pound.

The fund will focus initial investments in India's rapidly growing energy and renewables market and a "fund manager would be selected by autumn".

"Progress will be accelerated by starting the process of appointing a fund manager now with early market engagement via the publication of a blueprint with the aim to identify additional and complementary sectors for fund investments," said the joint statement after the meeting of the two ministers.
An Islamic State group spokesman called on today for countries attacking it to be targeted, in an audio recording in which he also insulted US President Donald Trump.

The recording posted on jihadist sites online was Abulhassan al-Muhajer's first since December.

Since then, IS has been under sustained assault in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and also in Syria.

Muhajer said the "bankrupt" United States was run by "an ugly idiot who doesn't know what Syria is, what Iraq is, and what Islam is".

He said Washington should "apologise for the past and retreat" or face consequences, urging what he called "the caliphate's soldiers" to attack "the criminal infidels".

Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, prompting more than 200,000 civilians to flee the city.

The jihadists also face an offensive against their bastion Raqa in northern Syria conducted by a Kurdish and Arab coalition supported by the US-led coalition fighting the group.

IS has suffered heavy losses over the past two years in both countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Foreign Policy experts on Tuesday said it will be premature to draw a conclusion based on comments by US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley about possible intervention by the Trump administration to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.

But at the same time, they felt India must send a strong message to Washington that no third party mediation of the issue is acceptable to India.

"Firstly, the comments were in response to a question. We do not know whether it is a policy decision by the US or an off-the-cuff remark. It is too premature to come to a conclusion based on the remarks," said Meera Shankar, who was India's Ambassador to the US from 2009 to 2011.

Haley, a senior Indian-American member of the Trump administration, said in New York that the US would try and "find its place" in efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions and not wait till "something happens", indicating President Donald Trump could play a role in such endeavours.

Shankar said the US policy has been to ensure de- escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan but America never saw a role for it in resolving issues between the two countries.

"Still, we should make our position very clear to the US that we are not open to any third party intervention (in resolving issues with Pakistan)," she said.

Echoing Shankar's view, former diplomat G Parthasarathy also downplayed Haley's comments, saying she is just US' representative to the UN and she never mentioned that the US will mediate between India and Pakistan.

"Let's not jump to a conclusion. The US has always favoured de-escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan," he said.

Parthasarathy, who was India's High Commissioner to Pakistan, said there were instances of US intervention, including during Kargil war, in bringing down tension between the two south asian neighbours.

"Haley's statement was badly worded but it does not indicate that the US will mediate," said Parthasarathy.

India's former envoy to US Naresh Chandra called the comments a "clever move" by the US to send a signal to Pakistan that it was with Islamabad on the issue.

He said there is an "aggressive lobby" in the US which wants intervention by Washington in resolving issues between India and Pakistan.

"It is an ill advised move. There is a clever design by a lobby which wants US intervention...We should tell the Trump administration very clearly that there is no question of any intervention by either the US or the UN (in resolving issues between India and Pakistan," Chandra, who served as Indian Ambassador to the US between 1996 and 2001, said.

Shankar said Barack Obama, after taking over as the US President, had also made some remarks about American intervention in defusing tension between India and Pakistan but did not go ahead after India's objection.

"There is always a learning curve for a new administration," she said.
National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah today claimed that the upcoming bypolls to two parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir presented an opportunity to the people to fight against the wave of tyranny and fascism sweeping across the country.

This election is a war of survival between "fascism and dignity between BJPs cultural and tyrannical onslaught on one end" and Kashmirs collective honour and prestige on the other end, the NC leader claimed.

Abdullah, who is the candidate of the NC-Congress alliance for the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, was addressing public meetings in Khan Sahib assembly segment of Budgam and Safakadal area of Eidgah in the city here.

We are fighting this battle against those forces that have defamed our youth, robbed them of their dignity and eyesight and attacked our cultural and religious legacy of tolerance and co-existence, he said attacking political rivals.

The NC president alleged that the PDP's alliance with the BJP had brought the State at the crossroads of political suppression and uncertainty as basic liberties and rights of the people had been unofficially suspended under a chronic anti-Kashmir agenda that has been harboured by the RSS ever since 1947.

These are the people who have always questioned the state's special status, its flag and its regional political identity and have always advocated its complete abrogation, he said.

By aligning with them, PDP has provided them a space to attack us from within and weaken us internally and for this the people can never forgive them, Abdullah said.

He accused the PDP pf providing legislative foothold to the BJP in Kashmir valley. BJP has three legislators from Kashmir Valley because of PDPs support in MLC elections, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a "major lapse," the Jabalpur-Atari Express today took an incorrect track at Katni South station and reached a wrong station nearly five kms away before being reversed and set on the right path.

Following the incident involving the "lapse," the station master of the Katni South railway station has been put under suspension for his alleged lapse and a probe has been ordered.

The West Central Railway's Chief PRO Surendra Yadav told PTI that the Katni South station master has been suspended as reversing a train is considered a major lapse by the Railways.

The incident occurred at Katni South station under the Jabalpur railway division, where the station master prima facie flagged off the Jabalpur-Atari Express (01707) from Katni South station to the wrong track in afternoon, he said.

"However, after realising that the train has entered the main line, the station master got it reversed (from New Katni junction). Later, the train chugged off to Murwara station via which it goes to its destination Atari (in Punjab)," Yadav added.

The approximate distance between Katni South and Katni Junction is 3 to 5 kms.

According to sources, when the train headed towards Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, which was not the route it was supposed to take, the passengers panicked and started ringing up railway authorities.

"After a while, the train was stopped at New Katni junction and was reversed. It was then put on the right track from Katni South station.

"I have told you the fact that is reported to us by our Katni counterparts," Yadav said when asked if the panicked passengers alerted the authorities about the goof-up over phone and averted the possible mishap.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor John Barrowman says he would love to do a Disney live-action movie, though he isn't sure which part would suit him.

The 50-year-old actor says he's a fan of the recent trend of remaking classic animated Disney films in a live-action format - such as the recently released "Beauty and the Beast" remake - and has said he's itching to be a part of phenomenon, reported Contactmusic.

"I'd love to do a Disney live-action movie. I really would. It's just a question of what ones they're going to do now because of the massive success they've had with 'Beauty and the Beast', which I thought was awesome. I sat like a kid in a candy store watching it," Barrowman says.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A two-member bench of Lahore High Court hearing the petition filed by JuD chief Hafiz Saeed and four otherschallenging their house arrest under the anti- terrorism act was today dissolved as one of the judges has been transferred.

In today's hearing, the bench comprising Justice Kazim Raza Shamsi and Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad said they would not be able to further hear the case since the new roster of judges has been issued for next week.

The bench adjourned the hearing till April 12.

"One of the judges of...The bench has been transferred therefore a new bench will be constituted next week by the chief justice," a court official told PTI, adding it was unprecedented that two bench had been dissolved in less than one month in the case.

Last month, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had changed the two-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan which was hearing the petition of the Mumbai attack mastermind.

A court official then had declared the change of bench (in Saeed's case) a "routine matter".

In the last hearing on March 27, the court had asked the Punjab government to explain its powers to detain Saeed "without a trial".

Referring to an Indian movie wherein Saeed was portrayed as a villain, the judge said the government should see if there is any "international conspiracy" against the Pakistani citizens.

A K Dogar, counsel for Saeed, concluded his arguments saying the government had detained the JuD leaders without any justification.

Dogar also questioned the powers of the provincial government to include any citizen in the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). He said such powers were solely vested with the federal government.

He said the government had detained him (Saeed) and others to please India and the US.

The government on January 30 had put Saeed and the four leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat (FIF) under house arrest in Lahore under the country's anti- terrorism act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Giving a push to the much talked about Ramayana Museum in Ayodhya, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma today met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and held detailed deliberations on starting the project, part of the Ramayana circuit of his ministry.

"We had a detailed discussion on the works related to Ramayana museum which had run into some problems during the previous government even though the Union government was all set to release Rs 154 crore for the project," Sharma said after the meeting.

"I have full faith that the central and state governments will work together to boost tourism and spiritual tourism in the state and UP will become a hub of tourism in the country," he said.

Soon after taking over the reins of the state, the Chief Minister had on March 21 met Mahesh Sharma in Delhi and reportedly discussed the construction of Ramayana museum in Ayodhya.

BJP sources had said Adityanath has accepted the Centre's proposal for the museum and agreed to provide land for it in a week's time.

Sharma, who promised that work will also be undertaken for developing the Buddhist circuit and Sonebhadra for boosting tourism, had in October last year visited Ayodhya. He had also talked about building a Ramayana museum just before the Assembly polls in UP.

The previous Samajwadi Party government had identified a 25-acre plot for the museum which is some 15 km away from the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex.

The museum will be part of the Ramayana Circuit for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 225 crore, with Rs 151 crore exclusively for Ayodhya, which would be the hub of the circuit.

"Ram is in the heart of millions of people. As the Tourism Minister, I have to see how Ayodhya can be developed, how Ramayana circuit can be developed from tourism point of view," the minister had said, drawing criticism from political opponents who termed it as an attempt at polarisation of Hindu votes.

Sharma had earned the wrath of rivals including BSP supremo Mayawati, Congress and the DMK. These parties had accused the Modi government of linking religion with politics and also questioned the timing of the move.

The Union govenrment has identified three circuits - Ramayana Circuit, Krishna Circuit and Buddhist Circuit - to boost religious tourism in the country.

Sources in the government said there were plans to connect Ramayana-related sites in Nepal and Sri Lanka with the proposed museum which would portray the epic journey of Lord Rama.

The government also plans to hold an International Ramayana Conclave in Ayodhya or Chitrakoot district to be attended by delegates from about 12 countries, sources said. The date for the conclave has not yet been finalised.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The main reason we lost in these constituencies is low voter turnout, said the NLD Central Executive Committee secretariat member. Even in Yangon, the voter turnout was only 30%. At the 2015 general elections, the figure was over 60%, and in some constituencies 70%.

Despite Win Theins claims, other reports from Yangon indicated a high voter turnout.

The veteran NLD members comments to the media on Sunday came after several official results were declared by the Union Election Commission (UEC). Despite performing strongly in Yangon strongholds it would have expected to retain, the NLD was reported to be lagging in other constituencies.

Win Htein said that according to field reports from party observers, the NLD had lost in nine of the 18 constituencies it was contesting.

In the 18 seats we contested, we have lost the Lower House seat for Chaungsone; the Lower House seat in Ann; and in Shan State, we have lost all three seats in Monghsu,all three seats in Kehsi, and the single seat in Kengtung, he said.

By-elections were held on Saturday for a total of 19 vacant seats. The NLD did not compete in Phruso, Kayah State, because its candidate failed to submit his application papers in time.

UEC announced that Tae Ye from All Nationalities Democracy Party won the Phruso constituency (1) for Kayah State legislative assembly.

On Sunday morning at 9am, the UEC announced the biggest surprise of this years by-election  Aung Kyi Thein from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) had won the popular vote for the Lower House seat of Chaungsone in Mon State, a constituency that the NLD won comfortably in 2015.

Some may speculate that voters in the Mon State township may have switched allegiance due to a recent dispute when the NLD-led Lower House of Parliament in Naypyitaw approved a motion to rename a bridge in the area after Burmas independence hero Gen. Aung San, who is the father of NLD de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Questioned on this issue by reporters, Win Htein said, Some say the loss in this constituency is because of bridge issue, some say its not. Others say its down to the weakness of the ethnic Mon parties in the area. We have listened to all these comments, but have not yet reached a conclusion. We will comment only after we meet and discuss the results with all relevant persons.

Regarding the NLDs losses in Kehsi and Monghsu townships in Shan State, Win Htein commented: The main reason [for the loss] was the language barrier. We cannot speak Shan language. In this constituency, only two out of ten voters can speak Burmese, so they didnt understand our speeches during the election campaigns there.

According to field reports, the vacant Lower House and State Assembly seats in Kehsi and Monghsu may all have been won by the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

Polls were postponed in Kehsi and Monghsu during the 2015 elections due to armed conflict in the area.

Addressing the news of the forecasts from Shan State yesterday, Win Thein said, We expected this result.

The NLD also lost in Ann constituency in Rakhine State, where the Lower House seat appears to have been won by Dr. Aye Maung of the Rakhine National Party (RNP).
The Malaysian government today offered to provide consultancy support to Uttarakhand for carrying out various infrastructure related works in the state.

The proposal came during a meeting of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and a Malaysian delegation.

Minister of Works Malaysia Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof was part of delegation which comprised representatives from the Malaysian government and the private sector.

"The Malaysian government proposed to support the infrastructure related projects in Uttarakhand by its consultancy firm Performance Management and Delivery Unit," a release said.

The two sides also discussed the PPP model for implementation of projects related to infrastructure and urban development like metro and roadways.

Besides, both sides also gave consent to form a Joint Working Committee (JWC) which will hold its first meeting in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Rawat, who last month took over as chief minister of Uttarakhand, also met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval at the latter's residence.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat and Uttarakhand minister Dhan Singh Rawat, among others, were present on the occasion. Doval and the army chief both hail from Uttarakhand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today mourned the death of renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Kishori Amonkar.

"Let me express deep regret over the death of legendary classical musician Kishori Amonkar...Her death has caused immense loss to the world of Hindustani classical music," Banerjee said in a message.

Stating that Amonkar had received numerous awards in recognition to her contribution to music, Banerjee said, "May her soul rest in peace."



The CM also consoled her family members.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than half a million people have signed a petition demanding that First Lady Melania Trump move into the White House or foot the expense of living in New York herself.

The Slovenian-born former model and mother of one has continued to live at her Manhattan penthouse apartment more than two months after husband Donald Trump was sworn in as 45th president of the United States.

The first lady has said that she and 11-year-old son Barron will move to Washington after the current school year ends in the summer.

New York expects to spend an average of USD 127,000- USD 146,000 a day for the police and USD 4.5 million annually for the fire department to protect the first lady and her child while they live in Trump Tower, city police chief James O'Neill wrote February in a letter to local members of Congress.

Police spent USD 24 million on protecting the family from election day on November 8 2016 to inauguration day on January 20, on the eve of which the New York real estate tycoon moved to Washington.

"The US taxpayer is paying an exorbitant amount of money to protect the First Lady in Trump Tower," said the petition set up on Change.Org.

"As to help relieve the national debt, this expense yields no positive results for the nation and should be cut from being funded," it added.

The petition, which was started two weeks ago, has already been signed by more than 514,200 people. It has a goal of reaching one million supporters.

The petition is to be delivered to Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both prominent Trump opponents on the left of US politics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Muslim cleric was today arrested from Vijay Nagar area here for allegedly smuggling firearms into the national capital region (NCR) from Bihar's Munger district.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team intercepted Tahir Hassan (55) at Tigri roundabout. They searched his baggage and found a dozen .32 bore pistols and 11 magazines in it, following which he was arrested, Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said.

Hassan, a resident of Sherpur area in UP's Muzaffarnagar district and a cleric of a mosque at Jansath, told police that the arms he was carrying from Munger in Bihar were to be supplied to criminal groups in Noida, Ghaziabad and other regions of NCR, he said.

The SSP said the man had been jailed in the past by the Muzaffarnagar Police's Crime Branch for allegedly supplying at least 500 illegal arms in the communally-sensitive district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said the world must act to rid Syria of chemical weapons, after a suspected gas attack killed at least 58 civilians there.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that an air strike in rebel-held northwestern Syria, likely carried out by government warplanes, released "toxic gas".

It said 11 children were among the dead, with at least 160 injured, and that many people were dying even after arriving at medical facilities.

Pictures and videos being posted online show what appear to be the lifeless bodies of young children.

"When I saw pictures of babies suffocating from a chemical attack in Syria, I was shocked and outraged," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying in English.

"I call on the international community to fulfil its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria."



Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.

That agreement came after hundreds of people -- up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report -- were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops east and southwest of Damascus.

But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

Tuesday's attack was the latest apparently involving chemical weapons since protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 morphed into a civil war, which has since left more than 320,000 people dead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid rising instances of Internet curbs, a group of individuals and organisations have urged the chief ministers of 12 states to only restrict specific online content rather than resort to complete shutdown.

SFLC.In, a Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation, along with various Internet-related firms have sent letters in this regard to the chief ministers of these states impacted by Internet shutdowns.

The letters have been written to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Maharashtra, J&K, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana.

"The Internet shutdowns are imposed using state power under Section 144 by these specific states and not by the Union Government. The central government is bound to follow the process under Section 69 IT act.

"These letters to the chief ministers of all 12 states, which have been affected by Internet shutdowns till date, are an effort by us to address the source of the problem," SFLC.In President and Legal Director Mishi Choudhary told PTI.

As per Internet Shutdown tracker of SFLC, there have been 28 incidents of Internet closure in Jammu & Kashmir, 9 cases each in Gujarat and Haryana, 8 in Rajasthan, 3 Nagaland, 2 cases each in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Manipur and 1 incident each in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh since 2012.

As per the tracker, far India has experienced a record number of 66 such incidents since 2012, with the number increasing more than two-fold from 14 in 2015 to 31 in 2016.

The letters sent to the chief ministers urge them to "take requisite action that would prohibit the issuance of orders that make Internet services entirely inaccessible for a particular area, and rather recommend that Section 69A and the procedure established by the rules therein be applied to limit the restriction to certain specific online content."



The signatories of the letters include the Centre for Internet and Society, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Internet Democracy Project, IT for Change and Society for Knowledge Commons, individuals like Anivar Aravind (Executive Director, Indic Project), IIT Bombay professor Kannan Moudgalya and others.

"We are hopeful that our efforts will make the government take in account the enormous effects of Internet shutdowns on the social-economic condition of our citizens and understand their plight," Choudhary said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles, the National Green Tribunal has directed public sector oil companies to submit a roadmap to phase out all such diesel tankers which are not Bharat Stage-IV compliant.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum to hold a meeting along with representatives of their contractors and devise a mechanism to remove BS-III oil tankers.

The Supreme Court had earlier imposed a ban on sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant in India from April 1 when the new emission norms came into force.

"As far as the BS-III compliant vehicles run by the contractors under the tenders are concerned, within two weeks the Managing Directors of all the three companies along with representatives of the contractors shall hold a meeting and submit to the Tribunal a complete programme in regard to phasing out of all the diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old and are BS-III compliant," the bench said.

The apex environment watchdog, however, directed the authorities not to renew registration of these vehicles in Delhi-NCR in the meanwhile.

The NGT had earlier directed oil companies to immediately stop plying Bharat Stage-I and Bharat Stage-II vehicles in the National Capital Region for transporting petrol or petroleum products.

The direction came while hearing a batch of petitions filed by various contractors seeking registration of new BS-IV compliant diesel vehicles purchased for transport of petrol from company depots to identified petrol pumps in Delhi-NCR.

The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted by the government to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.

These norms were introduced in India in 2000, when the Bharat Stage norms were adopted by the then government, based on the European emission norms.

Each stage specifies a certain limit on the pollutants released, which is controlled by the type of fuel made by the oil companies and the upgradations and modifications made by the auto firms to their vehicles to control the pollutants released from the vehicle.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai unit Congress president Sanjay Nirupam today demanded setting up of a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the brutal attack on a journalist in adjoining Navi Mumbai on March 31.

In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nirupam urged him to personally look into the case, saying the mastermind of the attack is yet to be nabbed.

Sudhir Suryavanshi, a journalist with a Mumbai-based English newspaper, and his friend Santosh Fatate were attacked by 4 to 5 persons in Kharghar area.

Nirupam said the attackers, who were nabbed three days after the assault, should be booked under section 307 (atempt to murder) of IPC.

Police have arrested five persons in the case and booked them under section 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.

According to police, the assailants had punctured the tyres of Fatate's Swift car in which both had come from Panvel, and fled the spot on motorcycles after the attack.

The attack was suspected to be related to some dispute between Suryavanshi and some members over elections held in his housing society in Panvel.

Suryawanshi and Fatate were admitted to the Medicity Hospital at Kharghar.

Following the incident, a delegation of journalist organisations had met the Chief Minister here and apprised him of recent cases of attacks and threats to journalists in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Have sympathies with a banned organisation or any terror outfit? Be ready for more troubles with Delhi government denying admission to those students in the city schools who are found to have any such association.

The move comes amid a raging debate on "nationalism" at campuses of varsities and higher educational institutions across the country.

As per the recent Model Code of Conduct issued by the Directorate of Education, "association with any banned organisation" has been described as a "forbidden practice" and may lead to either denial of admission to a new student or expulsion of an existing student if such a fact is discovered.

Some of the organisations banned by the Indian government include the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Babbar Khalsa International, Communist Part of India (Maoists) and even several insurgent groups of the North East.

"There are a host of guidelines under the model code of conduct for students which are handed over to them at the time of admission or commencement of new academic session. These also include association with any banned outfit or organisation," a senior DoE official said on the condition of anonymity.

"The guideline is majorly for students from Class 6 to 12, especially those coming from disturbed areas where such groups operate," the official added.

Other pointers mentioned in the model code include --absence from classes without permission, bullying, rowdyism and rude behavior, eve-teasing, smoking, chewing gutkha, use of drugs, gambling and bringing electronic gadgets including mobile phones to schools.

The penalty prescribed for violation of the guidelines range from written warning to student and parents, suspension for a specified period to expulsion or rustication from school.

The model code, which is applicable for students from nursery to class 12, has attracted the ire of civil rights groups which have demanded that the clause be withdrawn.

"Ever heard a 3-year-old associated with a terror group? Even if some grown up children are found to have any such association they need to be counseled and not be denied admission. Such an absurd clause it is," said Ashok Agarwal, founder of a civil rights group, Social Jurist.

Principal of a school in East Delhi, who did not wish to be named said, "We have received these guidelines but many parents have approached us seeking clarification on the clause. This is the first time when such an obnoxious point has been included by the DoE in its module of the code of conduct".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The United States and its allies would have "no defense" against large numbers of ground-launched cruise missiles of the type recently deployed by Russia, a top US general warned today.

Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of deploying a land-based cruise missile system in contravention of a 1987 US-Russia arms control deal, known as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

General John Hyten, who heads the US military's Strategic Command, told lawmakers that a single ground-launched cruise missile is not a significant threat, but the calculus changes if multiple missiles are launched.

"We have no defense for it, especially in defense of our European allies," Hyten told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed. ... It is a concern and we're going to have to figure out how to deal with it as a nation."



US officials have not described the missile deployed by the Russians, but experts say it could be easily tipped with a nuclear warhead.

The New York Times has reported that the Russian missile deployment is in the region of Volgograd and at a second non-identified site.

The 1987 INF treaty put an end to a mini-arms race triggered by the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western European capitals.

Russia says it has not violated the INF treaty, but has accused Washington of doing so itself.

Though he was critical of the land-based missile deployment, Hyten said Moscow was still respecting its obligations under another treaty, known as New START, which requires Russia and America to reduce the number of warheads they each deploy to 1,550 by February 2018.

"We're on track to do that," Hyten said, adding: "As far as we can tell, the Russians are on track to do that."



Russia is modernizing its entire nuclear force, and Hyten said the breaching of the INF treaty was a "concern" that "we're going to have to consider as we look forward to how we deal with Russia."



The general also warned about the growing threat to America's satellites, an essential component of its global security apparatus



China and Russia are developing technologies to target the satellites in the event of a conflict, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following an emergency meeting of the groups central executive committee in Chiang Mai yesterday, UNFC Vice-Chairman Nai Hong Sa told reporters that the ethnic bloc had discussed current political developments, and the principles of the so-called Panglong paper passed and adopted at the Mai Jar Yang meeting in Kachin State in July 2016.

Those principles covered matters of security and defence; federalism; and the peace process.

And then we debated on whether to continue our policy of political dialogue in line with the NCA, Nai Hong Sa said. We have reached an understanding to continue this path, but further details will have to be discussed at a later date.

The UNFC vice-chairman quashed rumours that two members  the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP)  would resign from the UNFC. He said that neither group raised such a suggestion, and that they only discussed matters relating to the peace process as laid out in the NCA.

He further said that the UNFC had held this emergency meeting after the recent government announcement to convene the next round of the 21stCentury Panglong Conference  the commonly used name for this current round of peace talks.

Furthermore, he added, members needed a chance to review the dialogue between the blocs Delegation for Political Negotiations (DPN) and the governments Peace Commission (PC).

The DPN held a coordination meeting on Sunday, 2 April, when it solicited opinions from each member on the format for negotiations with the PC on its nine-point proposal for signing the NCA.

Nai Hong Sa said that there had been some changes to the wording of the nine-point plan at the last meeting of the DPN and PC, in particular to a clause which referred to negotiations being all-exclusive of ethnic armed groups (EAOs).

Nai Hong Sa said, We cannot call for all inclusive dialogue as some of us cannot yet take part in this NCA. Thats why we had to make some minor changes.

Nai Hong Sa explained that the UNFC officially retains the principle of the peace process being all-inclusive or encompassing all EAOs. However, three members  the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Palaung State Liberation Front/ Taang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA), and Arakan Army (AA)  have been excluded from peace talks by Naypyitaw and have subsequently said they will not follow the NCA guidelines.

Now the AA, the Kokang [MNDAA] and Palaung [PSLF/TNLA] have declared that they will not follow the NCA path. So we cannot call this policy all-inclusive any longer. We have to drop this principle, Nai Hong Sa said.

He further said that the UNFC representatives had agreed with the governments team to continue negotiations, and to include a UN representative in the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) in an appropriate manner.

Yesterdays UNFC emergency meeting was attended by delegates of: Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO); Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA); New Mon State Party (NMSP); Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP); Arakan National Council (ANC); Lahu Democratic Union (LDU); and Wa National Organization (WNO), and included the presence of UNFC Chairman Gen. N Banla; Vice-Chairman Nai Hong Sa; and Secretary Khoo Oo Reh.

Discussions continue on 4 April.
A Norwegian court today sentenced an Islamist to nine years in prison for recruiting a jihadist candidate who wanted to join the Islamic State (IS) group.

An Oslo court also found Ubaydullah Hussain, a 31-year-old Norwegian citizen, guilty of pledging allegiance to IS, financially supporting the group, providing its supporters with equipment and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The trial was Norway's first over recruitment of potential jihadists to fight for IS, listed as a terror organisation by the United Nations.

In 2015, Hussain prepared Simen Andreassen, a Muslim convert who's now 20, to go to fight in Syria.

He took Andreassen to Gothenburg in neighbouring Sweden from where he flew to Turkey to enter the neighbouring war-torn country.

Swedish police arrested Andreassen at Landvetter Airport in Gothenburg just before he was supposed to leave. He was sentenced on Tuesday to two years and 10 months in prison.

Hussain's lawyer, John Christian Elden, told Norwegian television he would likely appeal the verdict.

The prosecution had sought 10 years in prison for Hussain and three years for Andreassen.

A former figurehead for Profetens Ummah, a highly controversial Salafist group in Norway, Hussain was also accused of recruiting another converted Norwegian, Thorn Alexander Karlsen, who was killed in Syria in March 2015.

The Islamist threat remains the main concern of the Norwegian intelligence services.

Around 100 people with links to Norway have travelled to Syria, authorities estimate.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Gujarat on April 17 to inaugurate several projects, including a hospital in Surat and Sumul Dairy's cattle feed plant in Tapi district, officials said today.

The PM is also scheduled to inaugurate Phase-I of the SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) project.

Providing details of Modi's scheduled visit, BJP MP from Surat C R Patil said, "Modi would land at Surat airport in the evening of April 16, where we will give him a grand welcome. Next morning, he will inaugurate Kiran Hospital in Katargam area of Surat."



The hospital has been built at a cost of Rs 400 crore by a trust, he said.

PM Modi would then head to Bajipura village in the neighbouring Tapi district to inaugurate a cattle feed plant and an ice-cream plant of Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, popularly known as Sumul Dairy.

"He will also address a large gathering at Bajipura. We expect that over 3 lakh women would turn up for this mega event," Sumul chairman Rajubhai Pathak said.

According to him, the PM had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the project in 2014 during his tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Sumul CEO S V Chaudhary said apart from the cattle feed plant, the PM would also lay foundation stone for Sumul's other projects coming up in nearby Nava Pardi.

"However, instead of visiting Nava Pardi, Modi would lay foundation stone for these projects from Bajipura. These projects include a bakery plant, honey project and a milk powder facility," Chaudhary said.

Later in the day, the PM would reach Botad district in Saurashtra region to inaugurate Phase-1 of SAUNI project for Botad and surrounding districts. There, he would also lay foundation stone for phase II of the project, District Development Officer of Botad H K Koya said.

"On April 17, Modi would inaugurate the phase-I of the project, wherein some of the dams in our region would be filled. In addition, he will lay foundation stone for the second phase. Modi would also deliver his speech at the event to be held on the outskirts of Botad town," Koya said.

In August last year, Modi had inaugurated the first phase of the ambitious Sauni project from Jamnagar.

Under this project, which is divided into four phases, Gujarat government plans to fill 115 dams of Saurashtra region with excess overflowing water of the Sardar Sarovar dam across river Narmada, through a pipeline network.

Modi had last visited his home state last month, when he attended a number of meetings and events, including a national convention of women sarpanch at Gandhinagar on the International Women's Day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Oscar winning-filmmaker Roman Polanski has failed to secure assurances from a US court that he will not be put behind bars over a decades-old rape case.

Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fled the US ahead of his sentencing in 1978.

Lawyers for the 83-year-old director said he was willing to return to the US after nearly 40 years on the run if he was assured he would not serve more jail time, reported The Guardian.

A Los Angeles superior court spokesman confirmed, "Judge Gordon has ruled that defendant's motions and corresponding requests are denied."



Polanski's travel has been confined to three countries -- France, Switzerland and his native Poland.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pope Francis is meeting with four British imams two weeks after the London extremist attack, part of his effort to give prominence and a platform to Muslim leaders who renounce using religion to justify violence.

The tomorrow audience was scheduled before the March 22 attack, in which a man mowed down pedestrians on Westminster bridge, killing three, before fatally stabbing a policeman on the grounds of Parliament.

The head of the British Muslim Forum, Muhammad Shahid Raza, said in an interview today that the pope's invitation and message of solidarity after the attack "strengthened our position that we, like other communities, condemn all terrorist activities."



Francis will try to further the cause later this month when he visits Al Azhar in Cairo, Sunni Islam's main center of learning.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off 17 Advance Life Support (ALS) ambulances here which have been provided to the Haryana Health Department under MPLAD fund.

These ambulances, equipped with modern equipment and costing a total of Rs 3.5 crore, would serve patients in far-flung areas, thereby strengthening healthcare services in the state, he said.

The ambulances are for Ambala City, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Sonipat, SHKM Medical College, Mewat, Kalpana Chawla Medical College, Karnal, Maharaja Agarsen Medical College, Hissar, and three ambulances for Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Prabhu said.

These ambulances have been provided to the state health department under MPLAD fund, an official release said.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the state government is focusing on opening medical colleges in every district to increase the number of doctors in the state.

This would help in preparing about 2,000 doctors every year. These medical institutes would be set up either by the government or in public-private-partnership mode, he said, adding his government is making concerted efforts to strengthen infrastructure of the health sector in Haryana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC today called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle.

Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit ratings downgrade to junk status yesterday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet.

"We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing.

"The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot".

Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994.

It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down.

"Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying today that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same".

"(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria.

"We are proud of having added many young ministers."



Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that yesterday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy.

"We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference.

"What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines."



S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers.

The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing.

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 three per cent against the US dollar following last night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT today.

Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".

South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country".

"It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article.

Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence.

"The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The strike by resident doctors, protesting against the assault on a colleague by allegedly the relatives of a patient, in West Delhi's Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital entered its second day today.

The strike affected the services in the hospital, including the emeregency which is being run by a few senior doctors with help of skeletal staff.

Resident doctors of some other Delhi government hospitals today extended support to the protest by observing a "token strike" in their respective hospitals.

The resident doctors yesterday went on an indefinite strike after one of their colleagues and hospital guards were allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient on Sunday.

Three persons have been arrested in the case and it was found that one of the accused had served as a guard in the hospital before. He alleged that his wife was not attended by the doctors in time.

The strike affected the services in the hospital as the out-patient department (OPD) remained shut and 40 routine surgeries were cancelled yesterday.

The protest by doctors comes barely two weeks after resident doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against a series of assaults on doctors.

President of the resident doctors' association at DDU hospital, Sumit Paria said the incident occurred around 11 PM on Sunday when a woman came to the emergency with complaints of abdomen pain.

"She was given primary treatment and was sent to the labour room for examination. As it was taking some time, the relatives of the patient demanded the doctors examine their patient first.

"They then suddenly started abusing the doctors and even assaulted the senior resident doctor on duty," Paria said.

According to Paria, the group of people appeared after a few minutes and started beating the guards standing in front of the emergency door.

When the senior resident doctor intervened, he too was beaten up.

"Other female doctors in the emergency department locked themselves in toilets and the room of chief medical officer. The door to the CO office was broken down by the relatives. We do not know the cause of the assault as the pregnant woman they were with had already been sent to the labour room," he added.

The protesting doctors are demanding enhanced security at the hospital premises.

"Their representation has been forwarded to the Health Secretary. The patient was attended and her problems were solve. So the reason for such an aggression is not known," Dr A K Mehta, the medical superintendent of the hospital said.

Dr Sanjay, CMO, DDU Hospital had given a written complaint wherein he alleged that the attendants of the patient Pooja attacked and physically assaulted special security guard Vikram Chauhan and a senior doctor Shashank Srivastav while on duty.

The accused had also damaged property.

A case was registered at Hari Nagar police station and three accused Amresh Kumar, Mukesh and Nirmal Kumar were arrested and sent to judicial custody.

Amresh had worked as a guard at the hospital and he claimed that his wife was not attended to properly.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Battle-hardened Southeast Asian Islamic State (IS) fighters returning from the Middle East following the group's setbacks are expected to rebase in the southern Philippines, a security conference heard today.

Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups, said speakers at the Milipol conference on homeland security in Singapore.

"Currently, IS is moving towards creating a territory in southern Philippines. The most recent communication issued by IS has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines," counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told the conference.

"Our forecast for 2017 is that the threat in this region will grow because of the creation of an IS nucleus in the southern Philippines," added Gunaratna.

"The instability in the southern Philippines and the availability of weapons, internal displacement, refugee flows... Create the ripe conditions for foreign terrorists to come," he told AFP after his speech.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam also told the conference that the southern Philippines "is becoming an area that is difficult to control despite the best efforts of the Philippine government".

"So that is an area that can serve as a sanctuary for returning fighters from the Middle East. It can be a place where would-be terrorists can go... They can train, arms seem to move fairly easily into that area," Shanmugam added.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy. Hundreds of radicals from the region, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, have flocked to join IS in Iraq and Syria.

But as IS suffers battlefield setbacks, officials and analysts fear these fighters would return to their home region.

Southeast Asia suffered its first IS-linked attack in January last year when extremists launched a deadly suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta.

In Mindanao, which has long battled a Muslim insurgency, a handful of groups have sworn allegiance to IS.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan today defended the appointment of former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of a Saudi-led multi-national military coalition saying the alliance is not against any country, a day after Iran raised its concern on the issue.

"The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country," Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today said during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here.

The meeting discussed the issue of clearance given to former army chief to lead the Saudi-led 41-nation military alliance and Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Referring to ex-army chief's appointment, Janjua said, "any retired military officer is free to accept any job."



Her remarks came a day after Iran's state-run IRNA agency quoted the Islamic republic'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.

Gen Sharif, who retired as Pakistan's army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim NATO', this month.

Janjua said Pakistan remains committed to its policy of non-interference in the conflicts of Muslim countries and ruled out any change in the policy regarding Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

She said Pakistan and Iran enjoy cordial and brotherly relations and have no border dispute between them.

Pakistan is trying to reduce tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, she said, but acknowledged that her country was finding it hard to maintain balance in ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the wake of appointment of Gen Sharif.

"It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Iran's interests," she said.

Gen Sharif will not act against Iran as the head of the military alliance, she asserted.

The former army chief's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the retired general to join a foreign military alliance.

Pakistan government is under pressure from opposition as it was asked by parliament in 2015 through a resolution to stay neutral in the conflict in Yemen.

It is feared that the alliance may be forced to intervene in Yemen in the name of tackling terrorism.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that statements by the Pakistan government and foreign office were contradictory.

He warned against any tilt towards Iran or Saudi Arabia in the conflict.

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.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
MNA reporter Mi Aow Mon, on April 2, interviewed the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)s U Aung Kyi Thein, who was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house of parliament) in an April 1 by-election. He will represent Mon States Chaungzon Township.

Question: Why did you win the by-election so handedly?

Answer: I think the people of Chaungzon trust me to address their needs. I had a significant lead in all of the large villages of Ywalut, Thetkaw, Kahnyaw, and Murit-Kalay.

Question: How did you conduct your campaign?

Answer: The main thing is that of 60 days that we were allowed to campaign, we went out for 55. We were campaigning sometimes four times a day. We met with local residents and discussed their desires for what the government should do. And while we were talking I explained why I was running, and I promised them that if I won I would work to develop the regions agriculture and make sure they have job opportunities.

Question: When will you implement the promises that you made during the campaign?

Answer: We have already begun implementing our promiseswe have already ordered seeds for the farmers, and we are planning to dig tube-wells in areas where water is scarce. Were fulfilling a lot of plans as a party.

Question: Now that youve been elected, what kind of proposals do you plan to submit to the Hluttaw?

Answer: I am going to meet with my constituents today to listen to their concerns and desires. I want to make sure that my proposals sit well with local residents, and then carefully prepare legislation. Once I have a list of proposals I will bring each of them before the Hluttaw.

Question: Among those proposals, which will be your focus?

Answer: Representative in the Pyithu Hluttaw are only there by the will of their constituents, so we have to listen to their voices. Many of my constituents are cleverer than me, so I do not plan to propose any legislation without consulting with them. Historically, legislators who are not responsive to their constituents have found themselves in trouble.

Question: How will you collaborate with other local representatives?

Answer: Yes, we have to collaborate, and we have to contact each other to discuss the needs of our constituents. There may be times when state representatives will need to work with the union parliament on issues outside of their jurisdiction. So we must unite and collaborate to develop the island.

Question: What are you going to do for Bilugyun Island?

Answer: Many farmers on the island lose much of their rice crop every year, so to address that I want to work to educate them about how to make a profit, what the best agricultural practices are and how to use wetlands for hydroponics. For technical issues like these I will help them contact the relevant department.

Question: Many acres of the islands farmland flood annually. How do you plan to address that?

Answer: Most of the creeks on this island are very shallow, so a lot of them need attention. But really that is not why USDP won this election. So we will get involved only if submissions to the relevant irrigation department do not produce changes. Only if the government does nothing, will our party step in to dig the creeks.

Question: Lastly, do you have anything you want to add?

Answer: Yes; I made promises to my constituents, and I plan to implement them as much as I can. I only represent my constituents, so I want to tell them that they should always contact me and I will try to act, using all of my experience.

Reported by Mi Aow Mon, Mon News Agency.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has signed a climate change agreement with California Gov. Jerry Brown at the start of a five-day visit to the US that comes as Scotland considers its independence from the United Kingdom.

In June, the UK voted to leave the European Union sparking outrage in Scotland where the majority was opposed. Sturgeon says Scotland is planning to hold a referendum on Scottish independence sometime between fall 2018 and spring 2019.

Sturgeon tells The Associated Press yesterday she in the US to strengthen Scotland's trade and business relationships with "one of its most important markets."



Sturgeon also toured Tesla Motors' Silicon Valley facility and discussed connecting Scottish women entrepreneurs with American investors.

She plans to speak at Stanford University today before heading to New York.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Beleaguered Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad is expected to attend Lok Sabha proceedings later this week where he may present his side of the story in the House about assaulting an Air India official.

"Gaikwad will attend Parliament session either on Thursday or Friday," a source close to the Shiv MP from Osmanabad told PTI.

"He will first present his side of the story in the House and only then will appear before media," the source said.

Gaikwad was on March 24 barred from flying by four private Indian carriers and Air India after his brazen assault on an official of the national carrier.

The source said Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had suggested to Gaikwad to keep away from media after the infamous episode.

Asked what would be Gaikwad's stance if Thackeray were to ask him to tender an apology over the assault, the source said "going by Gaikwad's innocence in the matter and also going by the Sena's track record of not giving in to injustice, such a scenario appears unlikely."



Asked about the MP's whereabouts as he has disappeared from public gaze after the assault, the source said Gaikwad is "somewhere in Maharashtra".

Meanwhile, in a statement issued today, a local Sena functionary in Osmanabad district alleged that fliers with 'Gaikwad' surname have been suffering due to the curbs imposed by domestic airlines on the parliamentarian.

He also said that the Shiv Sena MP won't book a flight ticket till the matter was resolved by the Parliament and his party.

"Gaikwad won't ever book a flight ticket till the issue is resolved by the Parliament, DGCA and Shiv Sena party," the functionary, from Gaikwad's hometown Omerga in Osmanabad district said.

"After the infamous Pune-Delhi flight, Ravi Sir (Gaikwad) booked flight tickets only three times and all were cancelled owing to the unjust curbs imposed by the airlines. The fourth and last ticket he booked was for an 8 AM flight from Mumbai to Delhi and that was also cancelled.

"He did not book any ticket after that. All this talk of his being on a flight ticket booking spree is a ploy to malign him and we condemn such tactics," he said.

The tickets were booked by the Sena MP's namesake who bore the brunt of the mistaken identity, he claimed.

"The airline companies do not have any mechanism to distinguish between the namesakes and as a result, innocent fliers are being inconvenienced," he said.

A grave injustice has been heaped on Gaikwad, who now has the "dubious distinction of being the first person to be ever grounded by scheduled Indian air carrier," he added.

The clarification came after recent reports that Gaikwad made at least four vain attempts to fly to Delhi using several permutations and combinations of the titles and initials of his names.

It was also reported that Air India detected this by either cancelling the bookings or not allowing them to be made. Gaikwad has been barred from flying by domestic airlines for assaulting an Air India staffer recently.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Separatists in Kashmir today called for 2016-like protests in the Valley on the polling days for by-election to two Lok Sabha constituencies and asked people to stay away from the electoral exercise.

The call for protest was given in a joint statement issued by chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik.

The trio, who spearheaded the 2016 agitation, following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces, also asked people of central and south Kashmir to observe complete shutdown on April 9 and 12 when Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary constituencies are going to bypolls respectively.

They asked shopkeepers to down the shutters of their establishments at 6 PM on April 8 and organise protests and rallies.

Seventy-six people besides two police personnel were killed during the five month-long unrest in the Kashmir Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani by security forces in an encounter on July 8.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An RSS-affiliate today suggested shunning of Chinese goods and called for passing of "Buy Indian Act" to give a boost to domestic production.

Citing the "Buy American Act of 1933" which requires the United States government to prefer US-made products in its purchases, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) demanded that the government enact a "Buy Indian Act" to push its 'Make in India', 'Start Up India' and 'Ease of doing business' programmes.

"Indian union and its states should emulate the US and give preference to indigenous goods in government procurement. India should enact the 'Buy Indian Act' on the lines of 'Buy American Act' in the Parliament," SJM's national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan told PTI.

He said a committee of secretaries has sent a recommendation in this regard to the Centre.

The RSS body has also initiated a campaign to create awareness on how Chinese goods adversely impacted domestic production and asked the government to have a relook at its trade policy.

Mahajan further emphasised that as per the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, if a government gives preference to indigenous products for its own consumption, it would not be treated as violation of WTO rules.

"But if a commercial entity is forced to give preference to indigenously produced goods for commercial use or sale, that would be considered a violation of WTO rules," he said.

The SJM official said the government should not be dependent on imports from China as the "domestic manufacturing is drying up, thus adversely impacting the job market."



The outfit had earlier campaigned aggressively against use of Chinese products, especially crackers and lights, and urged the people to buy Indian products.

The body has also been critical of NDA's policy of allowing increased FDI in pharma and defence sectors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British police today charged another six people over a suspected hate crime attack on a teenage Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker in London, bringing the total facing court to 13.

Reker Ahmed, 17, was left with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain after he was set upon by a group of up to 30 people at a bus stop outside a pub in Croydon, south London, on Friday.

Seven people were charged yesterday over the attack and another six were charged on Tuesday -- including a 15-year-old boy. All the suspects are local to Croydon, and the eldest is aged 24.

"I think this was probably confidence by numbers," Police Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said on Monday as she described the attack on Ahmed, who was with two friends at the time.

"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."



All the suspects have been charged with violent disorder, and three of them have also been charged with racially-aggravated grievous bodily harm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Spanish police investigating a money laundering case today raided properties and blocked dozens of bank accounts, including some belonging or linked to relatives of former Syrian vice president Rifaat Assad the exiled uncle of Syria's current leader.

Civil Guard police said the searches were carried out in the southern coastal towns of Marbella and Puerto Banus with the aid of French police.

They followed a request by National Court judge Jose de la Mata who is probing money-laundering crimes carried out by a gang in the two towns, a court statement said.

Two of Rifaat Assad's wives and six of his sons are among the 15 people investigated.

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by Rifaat Assad and his relatives, a court statement said.

Most of them are located in Puerto Banus, a luxury marina in Costa del Sol. The property stock, valued at 691 million euros (USD 735 million), includes a 33-square kilometer (12.7 sq mile) estate valued at 60 million euros.

The accounts of 76 "legal entities" which include companies, trusts and funds that were owned, administered or linked to Rifaat Assad and his relatives were also blocked, a court statement said.

The court said that no arrests were made.

Rifaat Assad is the exiled uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He was vice president of Syria when the country was ruled by the current leader's father.

He fled into exile after a failed 1984 coup attempt against his brother, then-President Hafez Assad, and lives mostly in France. He tried to take power again in Syria in 2000, when his brother died, but the ruling party closed ranks around Bashar.

Rifaat was critical of Bashar after the country's crisis began in March 2011, vowing to work to topple the Syrian president and give the power to the people.

Spain opened the money laundering investigation last December following one started by France in 2013. Last June, France's financial prosecutor's office filed preliminary charges against Rifaat Assad for embezzlement and other counts.

Anti-corruption group Sherpa, which filed the original French suit, suspects Rifaat Assad of using ill-gotten gains from corruption in Syria to build a real estate fortune in France. French authorities found that much of his real estate was in southern Spain.

In a 2011 interview, Rifaat Assad told The Associated Press that he had lost all his money in the stock market and lived off the largesse of his 16 children. His son Siwar said at the time that the holdings mostly included real estate, TV networks, hotels and a restaurant in Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Spotify, the world's largest music streaming company, and Universal Music Group said today they have signed a new multi-year global licence agreement.

Under the deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, Spotify's paying subscribers can have access to a new album by a Universal artist for a period of two weeks after its release, the two companies said in a joint statement.

But "singles are available on Spotify for all listeners," its chairman and CEO Daniel Ek said in the statement.

Since it was founded in 2008, the online music listening service has never been able to generate a net profit, with the majority of its turnover going to the rights holders such as artists, producers and record majors.

For its part, the Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest record label, will also get unprecedented access to data, "creating the foundation for new tools for artists and labels to expand, engage and build deeper connections with their fans."



The musicians will know better about their listeners' habits and profiles based on Spotify's data.

Lucian Grainge, UMG's chairman and CEO, underlined the need for the music industry to make Spotify profitable, as record music companies seek to limit its free services.

"Today, streaming represents the majority of the business. Our challenge is transforming that upturn into sustainable growth," Grainge said.

"Spotify, with its position in its market, has the ability to make deals with the major record companies and large internet operators," Jean-Emmanuel Verney, managing director at Paris-based Invest Securities, told AFP.

"If their business model becomes profitable, they will have even more power compared to their competitors. We have little data on Apple Music, Deezer or Napster, but we know that prospects for profitability are at Spotify," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked Pakistan to stop backing militancy in the state and enable restoration of peace so that a dialogue process could begin.

"It is my appeal to those across (the border) that they should renew the policy of not supporting militancy or the gun that they had adopted during (Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee's time," she said addressing an election meeting in Dooru in Anantnag constituency.

"Help us restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir and then talks will take place here and across (PoK) as well," she added.

The Chief Minister was campaining for Mufti Tassaduq Hussain, her brother and ruling PDP candidate for by-poll to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat vacated by her last year.

Mehbooba said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"Narendra Modi went on his own to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new hope was attached to it but unfortunately Pathankot (terror attack) happened," the Chief Minister said.

"These (tense) times will not last forever. Vajpayeeji used to say that you can change friends but not the neighbours. We have to live with each other cordially," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain today condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria, saying it bore "all the hallmarks" of action by government forces and calling for those responsible to be "held to account".

"Horrific reports of chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria. Incident must be investigated and perpetrators held to account," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In a separate statement, he added: "This bears all the hallmarks of an attack by the regime, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons".

"If this is shown to be the work of the regime, it is further evidence of the atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian people over six years of appalling conflict," he said.

At least 58 people were killed and dozens left with breathing problems after the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun, which also caused symptoms such as vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the incident and the EU has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bears "primary responsibility" for the incident.

A senior Syrian security source, however, told AFP that the attack was "a false accusation".

Britain is co-hosting a Syria donors' conference in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Johnson said he hoped it "steps up international assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict".

Syria agreed in a landmark 2013 deal to hand over its previously undeclared stock of chemical weapons for destruction by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in the civil war, which has killed 310,000 people since March 2011.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Is anyone surprised that Eric Prince, CEO of Blackwater, brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and familiar face around the NYC Trump transition office, held a clandestine meeting in the Seychelles with a close advisor to El Sr. Putin just days before the inauguration?

Via the Washington Post:

Prince was an avid supporter of Trump who gave $250,000 last year to support the GOP nominee's campaign, records show. He has ties to people in Trump's circle, including Stephen K. Bannon, now serving as the president's chief strategist and senior counselor. Prince's 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.
Syrian rebels including Al-Qaeda's former affiliate have vowed to avenge the deaths of dozens of people in a suspected gas attack, calling on allied fighters to "ignite the fronts".

"We call on all the fighters of Sham (Syria) to ignite the fronts," the Tahrir al-Sham alliance said in a statement posted online yesterday.

"We promise the criminal regime and its allies revenge that will soothe the hearts of our people in Khan Sheikhun in particular, and Syria in general," the statement said.

At least 58 people, including 19 children, were killed early morning yesterday after air strikes on Khan Sheikhun in northwest Idlib Province, most of which is held by Tahrir al-Sham.

The alliance is dominated by the Fateh al-Sham Front, which was known as Al-Nusra Front before it cut its ties to Al-Qaeda.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported the death toll, said another 160 people were wounded in the raids on Khan Sheikhun.

The monitoring group and local medics told AFP that those affected were suffering from difficulty breathing, rapid pulses, pinpoint pupils, and foaming at the mouth.

Syria's political opposition blamed President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying the attack cast doubt on the future of peace talks.

But the army denied any involvement, blaming "terrorist groups" for using "chemical and toxic substances".

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Syria said it had opened up an investigation into the allegations, which if confirmed would be one of the worst chemical attacks since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011.

Damascus officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its declared chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action after chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by government troops.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 18 civilians, including two children, were killed in an air strike early today that released "toxic gas" on a town in northwest Syria, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in the central province of Idlib, had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas.

The Britain-based monitoring group was unable to confirm the nature of the substance, however.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two 15-year-old boys broke into the grounds of the Parliament and were arrested, Scotland Yard said today, days after the deadly Westminster terror attack that killed four people.

The Metropolitan Police said the incident was not being treated as "terrorist-related" and the two boys were arrested and have been released on bail until May.

"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 Met Police statement said.

"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," it added.

The police stressed that the trespasser did not gain access to any building.

The security breach follows Khalid Masood's attack on the Parliament complex at the Palace of Westminster.

Four people died and 50 injured when lone attacker Masood rammed a car into pedestrians on the bridge, before crashing his vehicle and fatally stabbing an on-duty police officer in the grounds of Parliament. Masood was shot dead by police at the scene.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thailand's government today agreed to buy 10 tanks from China for USD 58 million in the latest defence spending by a junta with a taste for Chinese hardware.

The military is replacing its US-made M41 rolling stock with Chinese VT-4 tanks, as it continues to upgrade its equipment three years after seizing power from a civilian government.

The Southeast Asian country has already snapped up 28 Chinese tanks and secured around $380 million for a submarine -- with cash being sought for two more.

Today the cabinet approved the purchase of 10 more VT-4s for around two billion baht ($58 million), Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.

"These are to replace the M41 tanks which we have used since World War II," he added.

Thailand is facing a decade-long insurgency in its southernmost provinces but rarely deploys tanks there.

Its last international conflict came during border skirmishes with Cambodia in 2011.

The kingdom's well-oiled military has ousted two elected governments in the last decade.

In parallel the defence budget has nearly tripled to around $6 billion.

Thailand's generosity to its armed forces has raised eyebrows, especially given the stuttering post-coup economy.

Critics say the military -- which boasts one of the highest proportion of generals in the world -- has a penchant for non-essential big ticket purchases, including an aircraft carrier which currently has no aircraft.

China has soaked up Thai defence spending.

That has raised questions over the kingdom's relationship with its oldest ally -- the US -- whose own policies towards Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia have been cast into uncertainty by the rise of protectionist President Donald Trump.

Thailand is among 16 countries that the US has a trade deficit with, something Trump's administration has promised to probe.

Thai junta leader and premier, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, on Tuesday urged his country not to "panic" as the US is yet to threaten action against the countries it has a trade imbalance with.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the physically challenged minor rape victim of Baripada's Jagannath temple struggles for survival at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, a large number of people today prayed to the Lord for her speedy recovery.

The activists of BJP Yuva Morcha held a rally that culminated at the Jagannath Temple here and lit lamps invoking the Lord's blessings for quick recovery of the girl, who was raped by an alleged drug addict youth inside the temple in Baripada town on Friday night.

The students of Baripada College also held a rally in this district headquarters town of Mayurbhanj and submitted a memorandum to Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Dinajan Nayak. The students, mostly girls, demanded stringent action against the accused youth who has been arrested by the police immediately after he committed the heinous crime.

The students alleged that the rape was committed under the influence of narcotic substances which were easily available in the town, Baripada Municipality vice-chairman Jitendra Mohanty said. The students urged the police to take take steps to stop drugs peddling in the town.

Meanwhile, the district administration of Mayurbhanj today provided financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the family of the rape victim. Earlier, the administration had given Rs 10,000 to the victim's family, said Mayurbhanj district collector R P Patil.

Sources in the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack said, the victim is gradually improving.

The incident took place when the 11-year-old girl went inside the temple for 'Darshan' of the Lord late on Friday night when the shrine was virtually deserted, police said.

Taking advantage of the situation, a 28-year-old youth escorted her to the bathing mandap of the Lord and raped her before fleeing.

The victim was rescued in a critical condition from the spot. Angry locals spotted the accused and thrashed him before handing him over to the police.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A photojournalist of a Hindi daily was allegedly assaulted by traffic policemen when he tried to click their pictures near India Gate today.

Following the incident, a policemnan has been sent to district police line and departmental action is being taken while the other two have been transferred.

A photojournalist of a Hindi daily was clicking photos of traffic staff at C Hexagon Rajpath at about 1.30 PM today as part of his job requirement, said a senior police officer.

Jasmer Singh, an assistant sub-inspector objected to it and had a quarrel with him.

The photojournalist alleged that he was pulled by his collar by Singh. Following which, PCR calls were made by the traffic staff and photojournalist.

The matter was sorted out with the intervention of senior district and traffic police officers.

"ASI Jasmer Singh has been sent to lines and departmental action is being initiated. A constable has been shifted from the area to another beat. Motorcyclist ASI Sumer has also been changed from present beat to Bhairon Marg," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump today called for reducing trade deficit with China as he geared up to meet his Chinese counterpart at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida later this week.

"I'm meeting with the President of China on Thursday and Friday in Palm Beach, Florida. And I think we're going to have a very interesting talk," Trump said during a town hall meeting with CEOs on the American Business Climate at the White House.

"We're having a lot of respect for him. I've spoken to him numerous times. But we have to do better, because our deficit with China, as you know USD 504 billion (sic). That's a year. That's enough for a lifetime," Trump said.

A recent Commerce Department report pegged the US trade deficit with China around USD 350 billion.

Trump said his meeting with his Chinese counterpart would be great.

"We are going to have a great meeting. I'm sure we're going to have a fantastic meeting. And we're going to talk about a lot of things, including, of course, North Korea (which is) a problem. And that's really a humanity problem. So we're going to be talking about that also," Trump said giving a preview of his most anticipated meeting.

In his interaction with the CEOs, Trump said his policies reforms have resulted in reduction in trade deficit.

"We're getting unbelievable credit for what we've done, other than the mainstream media which gives us no credit whatsoever. But we are getting tremendous credit. If you look at the real estate industry, the mining industry, the farming industry -- if you look at any of the major industries, you see what's going on," he asserted.

"In fact, even today I was very happy as I read this morning early that our trade deficit with others has gone down very considerably in the last short period of time. It's having a big impact," Trump said.

(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 the US's top military officer met with Kurdish leaders in Arbil today, the second day of their visit to Iraq.

His inclusion in the US delegation is a sign of the influence wielded by Jared Kushner, a 36-year-old with no prior government experience who has become one of the most powerful men in Washington by virtue of his family connection to Trump.

Kushner -- whose wife Ivanka also plays a key role in advising her father -- accompanied General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a visit to Baghdad before heading to Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Kushner and Dunford met with officials including Kurdish leader Massud Barzani and the region's prime minister Nechirvan Barzani in Arbil, but journalists were ushered out before the talks got underway.

As in the Trump administration, family ties can translate into senior posts in Iraqi Kurdish government: Nechirvan is Massud's nephew, while the Kurdish chief's sons Masrour and Mansour play leading roles in the region's security forces.

Kushner and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert were travelling with Dunford at the general's invitation, according to US Navy Captain Greg Hicks.

The day before, Dunford and Kushner met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali in Baghdad to discuss the war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Iraqi forces launched a major operation to retake second city Mosul from IS in October, recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on its smaller but more densely-populated west.

The grinding battle for west Mosul has taken a heavy toll on civilians, killing and wounding hundreds and pushing more than 200,000 to flee their homes.

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.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
HDFC Bank and Master Card today announed Tauseef Rehman as regional winner from Kolkata for their #CelebrateHERos campaign for his outstanding campaign for women empowerment in the city and initiating 'swaach' campaign in his own way.

Rehman received Rs eight lakh as a regional winner. He had been working for women empowerment in the slums, focusing at rag-pickers.

"We educated more than 6000 girls in city and built around 50 toilets in the last six years and plan to build some 200 more in four slums," Rehman said.

"Interestingly, when I planned to build toilets for slum women six years back I did not receive support with even necessary permissions," he added.

HDFC Bank branch banking head (east) Atul Barve said "At HDFC Bank, we believe that the best way to celebrate women is empowering them. By recognising and rewarding people who had been working steadfastly for women empowerment, we want to give greater impetus to the cause."



HDFC Bank said they had received 200 enteries and total seven regional and one national winner were announced.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Robbery could be the motive behind brutal murder of two engineering college students whose bodies were found in a forest near Lonavla in the district, police said this evening.

Stripped bodies of a 22-year-old boy and a 21-year-old girl were found in a jungle near the naval station INS Shivaji yesterday.

Vishwas Nangare-Patil, Inspector General (Kolhapur Range), who visited the spot today, prima-facie ruled out the honour killing and sexual assault angles.

"We are working on all possible angles and emphasising robbery angle. Multiple teams have been formed to probe the case," he said.

The boy might have resisted robbery, leading to murders, Nangare-Patil said.

The victims were at a secluded place for over three hours and someone seemed to have followed them, he said, adding, "we are also questioning criminals on record."



The victims were hit on the back of heads with some blunt object and there were injuries on other parts of the body too. The girl's hands were tied at the back and she was gagged.

A local resident who spotted the bodies alerted the police.

Both the deceased were third-year students of an engineering college in Lonavla. The girl hailed from Otur in Pune district and the boy from Rahuri tehsil of Ahmednagar district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
How does the President of the United States respond to news that the Syrian government of Bashar-el-Assad has just gassed its own people, leaving untold scores of innocent people dead?

That's right. Donald Trump blames The Black Guy. Again.

That's right, Barack "Hussein" Obama traveled back to the future to mess up Trump's presidency, and gas the citizens of Syria. Thanks, Obama.

Tweren't always thus.

Trump on Syria, from years past:

Trump today: Blame Obama's "weakness" for Syria!

Trump in 2013: Hey Obama, don't attack Syria! https://t.co/N7rocwbayI  Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) April 4, 2017

This is how Trump responded to Assad's chemical attack in 2013. Now that Spicer blamed today's attack on Assad, what will Trump say and do? pic.twitter.com/m3DQufifLF  Jason Stern (@IbnLarry) April 4, 2017

The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria,fix U.S.A.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2013

AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA  IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2013

What I am saying is stay out of Syria.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2013

Wait was our inaction due to Obama's weakness and indecision in asking Congressional approval? https://t.co/WrWm1GAEWz  Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) April 4, 2017

That time in 2013 Trump suggested we "knock the hell out of Iran" while the world waits for us to attack Syria https://t.co/VRwp3tHo1J  Anthony De Rosa ? (@Anthony) April 4, 2017

Trump in 2012: we should have got the oil in Syria https://t.co/8oW9TVbNwS  Anthony De Rosa ? (@Anthony) April 4, 2017

Trump has blamed the use of chemical weapons in Syria on the Obama administration's "weakness and irresolution." Remember this, @POTUS? pic.twitter.com/lzPoN1CAVi  Fusion (@Fusion) April 4, 2017

It's weird how we never mention the Obama admin asked the Republican congress for an authorization to strike Syria and didn't get it.  southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 4, 2017

"What is it going to take?" Watch @arwaCNN's emotional appeal to the world about Syria after gas attack https://t.co/cdfKNpNUgw pic.twitter.com/XSSQ6uXVjH  CNN International (@cnni) April 4, 2017

Coverage of the chemical weapons attack, at Reuters:

A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons. The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke and some to foam at the mouth. Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid. "We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time neither in past or in future," the Syrian army command said in a statement. The Russian Defence Ministry said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.



PHOTO, Reuters: A man carries the body of a dead child, after what rescue workers described as a chemical weapons gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria.
Two professors of Gwalior's Jiwaji University have been booked under the provisions of SC/ST Act following a controversy over holding a programme to mark the birth anniversaries of Dr B R Ambedkar and social reformer Jyotirao Phule.

A complaint against the professors was lodged by a girl student of the University, who alleged that she was pushed and manhandled by them, said police.

Yesterday, police had arrested some Dalit students, who were staging protest against the alleged denial of permission to hold a quiz competition in the Law department of the University.

"We had arrested 167 students yesterday and later released them. Besides, a case against two professors including Ganesh Dubey (Head, Law Department) and RS Sharma (Proctor) was also registered under relevant section of SC/ST Act on the complaint of a girl," City Superintendent of Police (University), Gwalior, Shailendra Singh Jadon told PTI.

"No arrest has been made so far. Earlier, a case against some students was registered on the complaint of professor Sharma," he said.

The dispute started on Friday last week when some law students approached the Dubey seeking permission to hold quiz competition on April 11 to mark the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar (April 14) and Jyotirao Phule (April 11).

After getting no response from Dubey, the students reportedly met the Vice Chancellor, who deputed Proctor RS Sharma to talk to them.

The students, however, allegedly insisted that they would talk only to the Vice Chancellor. This reportedly led to heated arguments between professor Sharma and the students.

Later, professor Sharma registered a complaint with the police against the students for allegedly manhandling him.

The students also alleged that professor Sharma manhandled them.

University's Registrar Anand Mishra told PTI that all the issues have been sorted out now.

"We were always ready to issue permission for holding the quiz competition in the auditorium. But, the situation deteriorated as students misbehaved with professor Sharma. Both the sides have registered police complaints against each-other," Mishra added.

He said that Dubey had only pleaded before the students that he would have to take the permission from the university administration.

Meanwhile, the Dalit teachers and students today formed an organisation - Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bahujan Samajik Parivartan Sangh (MP) to continue their fight in support of their demands including termination of these two professors.

The Sangh submitted the memorandum today to the Vice- Chancellor and the Governor.

"We have submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor and to the Governor through the SP. We have demanded that the cases filed against the Dalit students be withdrawn and HOD, Law Department should be terminated," Convener of Sangh Vinod Sevaria told PTI.

He demanded that Sharma and Dubey should be arrested immediately and the University's Law Department should be named after B R Ambedkar.

Sevaria claimed that the students were forced to resort to hunger strike after repeated denial by Law Department for holding the quiz competition.

"The auditorium hall was allotted to the ABVP. On the other hand, the professors used casteist remarks against the Dalit students. Some students were also threatened over phone," he alleged.

Sevaria said that a small issue has snowballed into a controversy due to negligence by the University administration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley today to promote trade and investments between the two countries.

Hammond is visiting India to participate in the Economic and Financial Dialogue.

According to the British High Commission, the ninth Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) is hosted by the Indian Finance Minister.

The high-level talks are aimed at deepening the UK's economic and trading relationship with India and showcasing Britain as one of the best places in the world to do business, it said.

It added that the EFD will involve a series of events over the two-day period, including discussions on trade, financial services, and infrastructure.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, will also take part in the dialogue with Jaitley.

Hammond will also visit Mumbai where he would meet Indian fintech start-ups at Barclays RISE, as well as the Chairman of Mahindra group.

"As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India," he said.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said the India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue will enable both the sides to explore the immense shared economic opportunities lying ahead.

"I look forward to discussing how the UK Government's industrial strategy will increase the prospects for shared trade, investment and energy innovation between our two great countries," Clark said.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade, MarkGarnier said that there are huge opportunities for UK businesses as it has the skills, expertise and technology to meet India's demands.
Tougher and more expensive visa rules announced by the UK Home Office last year are set to take effect from Thursday, affecting Indians and other nationals from outside the European Union (EU).

The Tier 2 category of visas, a route used by many Indians and other nationals from outside the EU, will undergo major set of changes under the new rules.

Companies in the UK hiring workers from outside the EU, such as Indians, will have to shell out an additional 1,000-pound annual "Immigration Skills Charge", announced in March last year.

"Set at 1,000 pounds per employee per year, and a reduced rate of 364 pounds for small or charitable organisations, it (Immigration Skills Charge) is designed to cut down on the number of businesses taking on migrant workers and incentivise training British staff to fill those jobs," the UK Home Office said, in reference to the new levy.

An exemption to the charge will mean that it will not apply toPhD-level jobs and students switching from student visas to working visas - "a key protection to help retain the talented workers and students who are vital in helping the British economy grow", the Home Office added.

The latest charge is among a wider changes made to the Tier 2 visa regime in an effort to cut immigration numbers from countries outside the EU and tighten visa regulations.

Most recently, the UK government had announced that professionals such as teachers, nurses and social workers from countries like India who apply for a Tier 2visato live and work in the UKwill need to provide a certificate from their home country authorities with their applications disclosing whether they have any criminal convictions.

Under plans becoming effective from this week, skilled migrants applying within the Tier 2 category for these specific professions will now be required to provide a criminal record check certificate from any countries they have lived in for more than 12 months in the past 10 years.

An applicant's partner, or a partner wishing to join an existing skilled migrant worker in the same sectors, will also be asked to produce a certificate.

The requirement could be waived where it is deemed not "reasonably practicable" to obtain a certificate, such as if a country or authority does not produce such documents.

Some of the other changes include those applying for a Tier 2 Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) visa being required to pay a health surcharge of 200 pounds per person per year.

Any dependents of the main applicant will also have to pay around the same amount as the main applicant.

The minimum salary level that UK-based sponsors can offer a Tier 2 (General) worker has been increased from 25,000 pounds to 30,000 pounds for experienced workers.

Some jobs in the health and education sectors are exempted from this higher threshold until July 2019.

The Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term Staff category has been closed, which implies that all workers applying under this route, except graduate trainees, must qualify under a single salary threshold of 41,500 pounds.

The latest rules are part of a number of tougher measures being introduced after a review by the UK's independent Migration Advisory Committee recommended changes to the visa system last year.

It has already been announced that the minimum salary threshold before a Tier 2visais granted to skilled workers from outside the EU will rise from 20,800 pounds a year to 30,000 pounds for most jobs.

Also, chemistry teachers are being removed from a list of UK "shortage occupations" but those who teach combined science, computer science and Mandarin are being added to the list.

Jobs on the shortage occupations list imply relatively easier visa norms for applicants from outside the EU.
In a case of suspected 'honour' killing, a young couple was axed to death by the father of a girl in neighbouring Mahoba district here, police said today.

19-year-old Sunil Ahirwar had gone to meet his beloved Geeta (19) in Bamhauri Kurmin village under Mahobakanth police station area where the girl's father attacked him with an axe yesterday, ASP Rajesh Saxena said.

The father, Moolchand, also attacked the girl when she rushed to save Sunil, the ASP said, adding the couple died on the spot.

On the complaint of the grandfather of the youth, the FIR was lodged and Moolchand has been arrested, he said.

The bodies were sent for post mortem examination.

The ASP said that the couple was in a relationship for the past three years but the girl's family had fixed her marriage elsewhere.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US today strongly condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria that killed 58 people, describing it as "reprehensible" and "intolerable" attack.

"The US stands with its allies to condemn this horrible attack," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during an off-camera conference.

Asserting that such an attack is "unacceptable", Spicer suggested it was in the "best interest" of the Syrians for President Bashar Al-Assad not to lead the country.

He, however, did not disclose the next steps that the Trump administration plans to take against this attack.

"We are not ready to say what should be the next step, but we will get there soon," Spicer said in response to a question, adding that the US President Donald Trump was briefed on this issue by his national security staff.

Spicer said "heinous actions" by the Assad regime is a consequence of weakness and lack of resolution by the previous Obama Administration.

The suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun in Syria's Idlib province has killed at least 58 people, including 11 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"With President Obama's 'red line' far in the rear-view mirror, Assad believes he can commit war crimes with impunity. The question that confronts the US now is whether we will take any action to disabuse him of this murderous notion," Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US and Egypt have agreed to work together in combating terrorism and restoring peace in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump "strongly backed" his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, disregarding the human rights concerns over the ex-general's regime.

Trump and Sisi held a series of meetings at the White House yesterday and expressed their mutual interest in supporting the Israelis and Palestinians in moving toward a genuine and lasting peace.

Sisi is on his first six-day visit to the US as Egyptian President during which he is expected to meet top US leaders. Hosni Mubarak was the last Egyptian president who was at the White House in 2010 to attend Middle East peace talks.

"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. We have a great bond with the people of Egypt," Trump said in his joint media appearance with al-Sisi at the Oval Office.

"I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sisi. He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt. We have strong backing," Trump said.

The two leaders agreed on the critical importance of advancing peace throughout the Middle East including in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, the White House said.

"The United States and Egypt stand fully committed to addressing critical bilateral and international issues in a spirit of mutual respect and open cooperation," a readout of the meeting said.

"Trump reaffirmed our deep and abiding commitment to Egypt's security, stability, and prosperity, and pledged continued support to Egypt's ongoing fight against terrorism and Egypt's historic economic reform programme," it said.

The two leaders also agreed to continue with coordinating military, diplomatic and political efforts to defeat terrorism.

Both recognised that terrorism cannot be defeated solely by military force and pledged to explore ways to address the economic, social, political and ideological factors that fuel terrorism, the White House said.

During their interactions, Trump applauded al-Sisi's "courageous efforts" in promoting moderate understanding of Islam, the White House said, adding that they agreed on the necessity of recognising the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world.

Sisi's arrival at the White House marks a reversal of US



policy after President Barack Obama refused to invite him because of concerns over human rights violations.

Trump and Sisi also agreed on the importance of deepening bilateral economic and commercial ties.

American and Egyptian companies have built deep trade and investment relationships and both countries' economies stand to benefit from further engagement in the years ahead, it said.

Egypt's ambitious homegrown economic reform plan, backed by a USD 12 billion agreement with the IMF, will help stabilise its economy and set the foundation for private sector-led growth and prosperity, the White House said.

"The two presidents had an honest discussion focused on areas of cooperation. The president made clear that this is a new day in the relationship between Egypt and the US and the president affirmed his strong support of the Egyptian people," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

Egypt is battling an IS affiliate groups in its restive northern Sinai Peninsula where a number of attacks on the military has killed a number of soldiers in recent months.
US National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster has roped in Lisa Curtis, an India expert, to a key White House position and in her capacity she would be Trump administration's point person for South Asia.

"Yes, (Lisa) Curtis will be joining (NSC) as Senior Director for South Asia," a White House official told PTI conforming the first reported by The Washington Post.

It was previously held by Peter Lavoy, who has now joined the private sector.

The White House has not officially announced her appointment.

A well-known and respected foreign policy expert on South Asian issues, Curtis, from The Heritage Foundation recently was co-author of a report 'New U S Approach to Pakistan: Enforcing Aid Conditions without Cutting Ties" along with Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US.

Well known in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Curtis has been a strong advocate of fight against radical Islamic terrorism ranging from Afghanistan to Bangladesh.

Curtis has been a leading voice on the Republican side of the South Asia expert community for decades, having worked at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as an advisor to the State Department during the George W Bush administration and as an analyst with the CIA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US said on Tuesday said that countries using veto to scuttle sanctioning of terrorists will not "preclude" it from taking actions, amid continued Chinese opposition to efforts to get Pakistan-based JeM chief banned by the UN.

"The administration very much is looking at all of these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list and how we have managed that," US' envoy to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters here.

"And that is part of what we are going to try and find our place with is that we do want to make sure that we are calling out those that we need to call out," she said.

Haley made the remarks while addressing a press conference after assuming role of President of the Security Council for the month of April.

She was asked about efforts to get terrorists, particularly those in the South Asian region, sanctioned under UNSC's sanctions list and how another permanent member scuttles these efforts by using its veto power, a veiled reference to China blocking moves to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar.

"Are we going to have people that veto certain issues? Yes. But that doesn't preclude the US from acting and it certainly does not preclude us from trying to see if we can change that as well," Haley said.

"Our goal is to get more done together than we do separately. If we cannot get it done separately then we just move in another direction to still get the same things done," she said.

The US wants to make sure that it is leading towards a "result" and "not sitting back" and allowing things to happen.

"I think you are obviously seeing a very aggressive administration because we feel like in order to lead we need to act and in order to act we need to make sure we have those conversations with the National Security Council and we are having those conversations with the National Security Council," she said.

Haley noted that a lot has happened in the last two months of her assuming the UN ambassador's role under the Trump administration and a lot will continue to happen "but it is all about how we can make sure we are moving the ball".

Haley also brought up her Indian heritage when she asked about her qualities of being able to speak freely and openly and whether she was offered the role of Secretary of State by Donald Trump.

"Every position that I have ever had, people have assumed that I'm looking towards something bigger when in reality I'm the daughter of Indian parents who said to me 'whatever you do be great at it and make sure people remember you for it'. That is all I am trying to do," Haley said.

"That is all I have ever known how to be is to try and just do my job to the best of my ability and if that comes out blunt and if that comes out strong  I'm one of two brothers and a sister  my parents raised us all to be strong," she said.

Haley said the original call she received to go to Trump Tower following Trump's election win last November was to discuss the position of Secretary of State but she was not offered the post.

"No he (Trump) did not offer it (post of Secretary of State). It was the discussion that we were having at the time. So when we went in, that was the position that we were discussing," she said.

Haley also described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a "war criminal", saying what he has done to the people of his country is disgusting.

Asked about US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks in Ankara where he said that Assad's status would be decided by the Syrian people, she said, "It's that we don't think the people want Assad anymore; we don't think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have."



"We have no love for Assad. We've made that very clear. We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He's a war criminal. What he's done to his people is nothing more than disgusting," she said.

Haley said that the goal of the Trump administration is to do what needs to be done to defeat ISIS.

"I don't know that our goal is to talk to Assad in doing that...Now that could change and the administration could think otherwise, but right now Assad is not our No.1 person to talk to," said Haley.
Chinese President Xi Jinping today left for Finland from where he would travel to the US for his first summit with US President Donald Trump during which the two leaders are expected to discuss a range of global issues, including North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Xi will hold talks with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto during his visit to Helsinki and will meet Trump on April 6 at his luxurious home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Ahead of the key summit, Chinese and US officials held talks to ensure that the first summit is a complete success amid tough assertions byTrumpthat Washington will act alone if Beijing failed to take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

In his telephone talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi said that the upcoming meeting between the Presidents mattered a lot to the development of China-US relations.

The meeting to be held on April 6-7 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.

"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 will exert all efforts to prepare for the meeting and is willing to work with the Chinese side to make sure that it can produce positive results.

Their talks took place afterTrumpdelivered tough messages ahead of his meeting withXiover North Korea.

Trumpsaid in an interview with the'Financial Times'that the US was prepared to act alone if China did 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," Trumpwas quoted as saying.

Trumptweeted last week that the meeting would be "very difficult" due to trade issues with China.

Xi's entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan and State Councillor Yang Jiechi.

After initial apprehensions overTrump'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 that Taiwan is a part of its mainland.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kenichi Yokoyama has taken over as the new Country Director of India Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Yokoyama replaces M Teresa Kho who is now posted as Deputy Director General of ADB's East Asia Department in Manila. Yokoyama was previously heading the Nepal Resident Mission of ADB.

"I am honoured to work for India under the ever strengthening partnership between India and ADB, and the high expectation of India that ADB contributes stronger while transferring knowledge and building capacities," said an ADB statement quoting Yokoyama.

Prior to joining ADB, Yokoyama worked with the Government of Japan for about 16 years in various capacities. He is an agriculture engineer from Iwate University, Japan and holds a master's degree in agriculture economics from Stanford University.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Seeking to calm employees rattled by reports of a cash crunch, the founders of Indian online retailer Snapdeal have gone directly to them with a string of townhall meetings in past weeks, according to sources, promising profit and brushing off takeover talk.

The sources, familiar with the group, declined to be named as the meetings were not public.

Like most e-commerce players in India, Snapdeal is burning cash to sustain discounts - and keep customers - in a cut-throat online market.

But as the number three player, it also is under growing pressure from investors and its own employees to consider its bottom line, as well as market share.

ALSO READ: Snapdeal to sell Japanese products on its platform



One of the sources said there had been at least five townhalls in recent weeks, with founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal delivering motivational speeches. "It was only profitability and profitability," one source said, describing answers to questions from employees whether the company was a takeover target. The country's booming online retail sector is led by homegrown player Flipkart - now followed by Amazon, after the US giant overtook Snapdeal's sales volumes a year ago. Thanks to its deep pockets, Amazon has been an increasingly prominent investor in India, compensating for its mistakes in China, where it has been all but squeezed out by aggressive local rivals with a better grasp of demand. Snapdeal sought funding support in China, from Chinese funds and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, already an investor, sources with knowledge of the matter said. It has so far come back empty handed. Snapdeal expects to turn profitable in two years and is eyeing a market listing around the same time. But the China setback, and a valuation that has dropped from a peak of $6.5 billion last year, has unsettled some staff. Two employees and three people familiar with Snapdeal's internal discussions said there were concerns over the group's direction, as well as over contradictory messages from investors - some seeking profit, others growth - and, increasingly, over potential senior-level departures or cuts. Headhunters like Sinosh Panicker, a partner at Hunt Partners, said some of his clients had witnessed a jump in applications from Snapdeal employees. ALSO READ: Snapdeal, Flipkart merger on cards as SoftBank-led talks intensify



Some employees cite concerns after the departure of 600 staff in February, laid off from Snapdeal, its logistics arm Vulcan Express and payments unit FreeCharge. Snapdeal declined to comment on staff exits or sentiment, but said its annual appraisals were currently underway, and staff would be offered incentives. In a letter to employees late last month, co-founder and chief executive Bahl said that Snapdeal, in which Japan's SoftBank is also an investor, was on the right path, despite differing views from some investors. "Investors in our industry need to understand that driving indiscriminate growth at any cost doesn't create long-term value," Bahl wrote in the letter. ALSO READ: Flipkart grabs $1 bn deal with eBay and Tencent to fight Amazon, Alibaba: Report



A spokeswoman for SoftBank in India declined comment while other Snapdeal investors - Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital - did not respond to Reuters queries. Alibaba has not commented on Snapdeal.

Snapdeal clocked up losses of Rs 2,960 ($456.5 million) in the fiscal year to March 31, 2016. Flipkart's wholesale unit and its online marketplace made a combined loss of Rs 2,850 crore in the same period.
Uttar Pradesh's new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is holding his first cabinet meeting today after forming the government last month following the Bharatiya JanAta Party's thumping victory in the state elections.

Adityanath is expected to take important decisions, including a loan waiver for farmers, with focus on BJP's poll promises in the cabinet meeting today. The BJP had promised in its manifesto that it would waive loans of small and marginal farmers if it came to power.

Uttar Pradesh has close to 2.3 crore small and marginal farmers who owe about Rs 62000 crore to banks and cooperatives. According to reports, it is unlikely that the government will be able to completely write off the loans, but there could be a partial waive off.

The cabinet meeting will take place at Shastri Bhavan in Lucknow. Here are the main issues likely to be discussed:



1. Loan waiver programme for farmers which could be approved

2. Cleaning of the Ganga

3. Ordinance on slaughterhouses may also be taken up

4. Wheat purchase, and construction of a stadium in Ghazipur are also on agenda, according to sources

5. Possible changes in some schemes launched by the Akhilesh government

Yogi Adityanath has announced a slew of measures even before his first cabinet meeting after becoming the chief minister on March 19. He has aggressively pushed policies that are an extension of Modi's nationwide agenda, including ban on beef and shut down of illegal slaughter houses.



He has also asked his state ministers declare their incomes and assets as part of a crackdown on corruption. He also ordered the formation of the controversial 'Romeo-squads' to stop eve teasing and sexual harassment. But there have been criticisms of the decision to create 'Rome squads' saying it amounts to moral policing.


Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh, which would benefit farmers in the state.

The decision was taken at the first Cabinet meeting of the newly formed Uttar Pradesh government.



ALSO READ: "Misconceptions" due to my saffron-clad look, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath



The move will cost around Rs 30,729 crore to the exchequer.

Uttar Pradesh has close to 2.3 crore small and marginal farmers who owe about Rs 62,000 crore to banks and cooperatives.

Ban on slaughter houses

Meanwhile, the state government also decided to impose a ban on electronic slaughter houses in the state. Yogi Adityanath's decision is in line with the BJP's vision document 'Sankalp Patra' released ahead of the Assembly elections. In its document, the Party had promised a complete shutdown of illegal slaughter houses in UP. It is India's largest meat processing state. ALSO READ: UP CM Yogi Adityanath: More of a statesman than a rabble-rouser

Yogi Adityanath had announced a slew of measures after taking over as chief minister on March 19. He has aggressively pushed policies that are an extension of Modi's nationwide agenda, including ban on beef and shutdown of illegal slaughter houses. He also asked his ministers to declare their incomes and assets as part of a crackdown on corruption.

ALSO READ: 'Modi-fied' Yogi mockingly invokes Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav in Lok Sabha speech



He also ordered the formation of the controversial 'Romeo-squads' to stop eve teasing and sexual harassment. But there have been criticisms of the decision to create 'Rome squads' saying it amounts to moral policing.


The Reserve Bank of India has cleared a proposal to issue Rs 200 notes, according to reports. In fact, the printing of Rs 200 notes could begin after June.

The Live Mint on Tuesday reported that the RBI board meeting happened in March where the central bank decided to go ahead with the new notes.

However, there has be no official confirmation from the RBI so far.

According to a report by India Today, the new note is already in the pipeline and is only awaiting instructions from the central government to go ahead with the printing procedure.

"Rs 200 currency note is in the pipeline. But, unless it is notified by the central government, making a dye (block), working on security features and printing process of Rs 200 would not take place. So this time, RBI would implement its plan only after the Centre's notification," a source told India Today. The source also suggested that the government is planning to issue new Rs 1000 note.

The demonetisation drive that started after Prime Minister Modi's November 8 speech, has so far witnessed the introduction of two new notes in the Indian currency - Rs 500 and Rs 1000. These new notes are made according to international standards and also have enhanced security features to discourage duplication.

Furthermore, to check counterfeiting, some reports suggest the government plans to change security features of higher denomination banknotes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 every 3-4 years in a bid to fight fake currency problem.
The Trump administration has issued a stern warning to companies not to discriminate against American workers by "misusing" the H-1B work visas programme, the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals.

"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.

The warning came as the government began accepting employers' H-1B visa petitions for the next fiscal year beginning October 1, 2017.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Monday also announced multiple measures to "deter and detect" what it described as "fraud and abuse" of the H-1B work visas.

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 will further "deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse", the USCIS said the H-1B visa 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 programs is a priority for the USCIS," a statement said.

During his election campaign, President Donald Trump had promised to increase oversight of the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes.

The anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers from discriminating against US workers because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting.

"Employers violate the INA if they have a discriminatory hiring preference that favours H-1B visa holders over US workers," the Justice Department said in a statement.

"US workers should not be placed in a disfavoured status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims," Wheeler warned.

H-1B visa programme allows companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations such as science and information technology.

Indian IT giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas.

The Department of Justice said applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral, should contact Civil Right Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER).

Meanwhile, the USCIS also announced the launch of an 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 release said.

Noting that it will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide, the 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 H-1B visa programme negatively affect US workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers," it said.


The US Department of Homeland Security announced steps on Monday to prevent the fraudulent use of H1B visas, used by employers to bring in specialized foreign workers temporarily, which appeared to fall short of President Donald Trump's campaign promises to overhaul the program.

A White House official said Trump may still do more on the program.

Trump had promised to end the lottery system for H1B visas, which gives each applicant an equal chance at 65,000 positions each year.

Lobbyists for businesses who rely on H1B visas, commonly used by the tech sector, had expected Trump to upend the lottery in favor of a system that prioritized workers who are highly skilled and would be highly paid in the United States.

The lottery for fiscal year 2018 opened on Monday without changes.

The start of the lottery was seen by those watching the issue as the unofficial deadline for the Trump administration to enact H1B visa reform, and the failure to meet that deadline signals that Trump's promised overhaul of the system may be off the table or long delayed.

"More oversight is a good start, but employers can still use the program legally to depress wages and replace American workers. That falls short of the promises President Trump made to protect American workers," said Peter Robbio, a spokesman for Numbers USA, a Washington-based group that advocates for limiting immigration into the United States.

The Trump administration has taken other steps to crackdown on H1B visa abuse, such as issuing a Justice Department warning to employers and announcing plans to increase transparency on applicants.

"These are important first steps to bring more accountability and transparency to the H1B system," a White House official said. "The administration is considering several additional options for the president to use his existing authority to ensure federal agencies more rigorously enforce all aspects of the program."

Tech companies rely on the program to bring in workers with special skills and have lobbied for an expansion of the number of H1B visas awarded.

Proponents of limiting legal immigration, including Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller, have argued the program gives jobs that Americans could fill to foreign workers at a less expensive cost.

The measures announced by DHS on Monday focus on site visits by US authorities to employers who use H1B visas.

In future site visits, US Citizenship and Immigration Services agents will investigate incidents where an employer's basic business information cannot be validated; businesses that have a high ratio of H1B employees compared with US workers; and employers petitioning for H1B workers who work off-site.


Uncertainty on the visa front is the main challenge for India's Information Technology sector in 2017-18 but it's going to be business as usual otherwise, said industry veteran Kris Gopalakrishnan.

"The challenge mainly arises because of uncertainties on the visa front (emanating from US)," the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys told PTI in an interview, discussing prospects of IT industry in the new financial year.

"That's one challenge I see. I don't see anything particularly different this year except for the visa issue.

Everything points to a steady growth for the industry," said the former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

"If the global GDP grows around 2-3 per cent, (global) IT investment will grow around 3-5 per cent and Indian IT will grow about 4-5 per cent higher than that. So, it (Indian IT industry) will grow around 9-10 per cent (in 2017-18)."

He said the current fiscal is not going to be the most challenging for the IT industry, noting the financial crisis in 2008 had brought the growth rate to almost zero then.

In the era of digitisation, Indian companies are moving in that space, where new firms are also emerging.

Clients and the industry are increasing investments into some of the new technologies, he said.

Hiring in the IT sector has come down because of slower growth rate, and increasing automation on some types of services such as infrastructure management and testing, he said.

On salaries of entry-level IT engineers not seeing hike in recent years, Gopalakrishnan said it's a function of supply and demand, and the industry had a large supply and so the salaries are modestly growing.

He said Indian IT engineers also need to move into user industries such as retail manufacturing, healthcare and financial services which require larges-scale IT deployment.

They also need to look at opportunities such as those in product companies and firms providing services on the cloud which require "unique and specialised skills".

He did not agree with perception in some quarters that India is "pleading" with the US on the visa issue.

"This is a trade issue. We have certain strengths which we need to leverage. Services is our strength. Having said that, we need to look at new models, we need to look at how the industry can transform. I see this happening. Lot more US companies are setting up IT operations in India. So, the companies are shifting to India," Gopalakrishnan said.

There have been apprehensions that under the new administration in US, there may be a clamp down on H1B visas which can hurt Indian IT industry. The US is the largest market for Indian IT-ITes firms.

H1-B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies, including those from India, depend on it for hiring tens of thousands of employees each year.
Railways have roped in self-help groups (SHGs) for providing local cuisines in running trains through station-based e-catering service.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), the catering arm of railways, has empanelled nine SHGs to provide authentic regional food cooked in hygienic conditions at 10 stations including Adra, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Mysore, Ernakulam and Vishakhapatnam.

Passengers of all trains originating/stopping at these stations can avail of the facility of SHG cooked food through e-catering.

Currently, 11 lakh meals are served in a day at running trains across the country out of which private caterers provide majority of meals.

Railways had launched the station-based e-catering facility last year to widen the scope of catering options for train travellers.

The local cuisine scheme has been launched to encourage self-help groups to participate in the public transporter's catering system and also to provide multiple options for passengers to avail on the train journey, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

To begin with, nine SHGs have come forward to provide popular local cuisine at 10 stations and it is expected that more and more SHGs would join the scheme, he said.

Railways has announced a new catering policy with the aim of providing quality food at rail premises and reduce the number of complaints against the existing catering system.

Railways receives about 25 complaints against food quality in a day which are being addressed, the official said.

The new catering policy envisages separation of cooking from distribution of food on trains and encourages e-catering system.

Involvement of SHGs in e-catering provides scope for employment generation and proliferation of the scheme is expected in the days to come.


LOGAN  A 25-year-old Hyrum man, Juan R. Gutierrez-Lopez, accused of stalking and harassing multiple women is returning to jail, less than a year since being sentenced for similar charges.

Gutierrez appeared in 1st District Court Monday, after previously pleading guilty to stalking, a class A misdemeanor.

Cache County Attorney James Swink said the defendant has been in trouble multiple times, accused of roaming the halls of school buildings and harassing people. He told the court, sometimes incarceration is the only way to protect the community.

Police report the defendant was trespassed from several locations including the Cache Valley Transit District.

Judge Kevin Allen said the case was serious enough that everyone should be concerned. He ordered Gutierrez to serve one-year in jail and warned that he will be sentenced to prison if arrested again, after getting out.

Court records show Gutierrez was sentenced to one-year in jail last June on two counts of stalking. He had reportedly been released early for good behavior, before being arrested again in December.

<hr /><p style=text-align: center;>will@cvradio.com
Captain Jessica Hines (second from right) answers student questions during the Aggie Aviation Career Conference. Hines, a 2006 USU graduate, is a pilot and recruiter with Envoy Air, Inc.

On Thursday, March 30, Utah State Universitys aviation technology program hosted an Aggie Aviation Career Conference in the Taggart Student Center to introduce participants to career opportunities in flying and maintaining aircraft. Professor Baron Andreas Wesemann said the event was more than a typical job fair.

This fairs an opportunity for students to come and not just be recruited by a company, but to actually talk about professionalism, career development and where they want to see themselves in five or ten years, said Wesemann. We have a lot of airlines that come visit us, but this year for the first time we had a corporate pilot, an Alaska bush pilot and a cargo pilot comealso, maintenance from one of the regional carriers. So we had an opportunity to see and hear from other professionals that we dont normally have.

Wesemann was pleased with how many of the corporate representatives who attended the conference were USU aviation technology graduates. He said bringing alumni back to the university gives students an opportunity to connect in a very important way.

Thats why we call this a mentoring event, he said, because networking and mentoring are so vital in the aviation profession, especially when it comes to college students trying to find a job right after graduation.

Kolby Widmier, one of the aviation technology programs certified flight instructors, helped coordinate the conference. Widmier is also part of the USU flight team and currently serves as vice president of the universitys chapter of Alpha Eta Rho, an international college aviation fraternity. He appreciated how the event allowed students to interact with aviation professionals on a personal level.

Its an opportunity for students to come and talk to all these different companies and ask them about their careers without the other people trying to recruit them and say, Hey, we need you, we need you, Widmier said. Its more of a, Hey, this is what we do, this is how its done with us. What other questions can we answer to help you learn more about aviation?

Captain Jessica Hines is a 2006 USU Aviation Technology graduate who attended the conference representing <a href=https://www.envoyair.com/>Envoy Air, Inc.</a>, one of the events sponsors. Hines, who pilots Envoys Embraer 145 aircraft, visits USU at least twice per semester as a full-time recruiter.

Its also really important to do a mentorship for these students, she said. When I was coming up, I wish I could have done something like this. Its hard to describe what its like to be an airline pilot to an upcoming student, but we do the best we can to open their eyes to the possibilities and some of the things that they maybe didnt think about. Its a lot of fun chatting with them. And the questions they askyou sit there and go, Wow! I wish I would have thought about that when I was coming through. I just figured it out along the way. But now they know even before they get there, so theyll be that much more prepared when they get to the airlines.

Some suggestions Hines offers to aspiring pilots include getting good grades, having a clean driving record and staying out of trouble with the law. She also advises students to pay close attention to what they post on social media.

This is an area where Ive seen a lot of students struggle, she said, and, unfortunately, social media is permanent. Make sure youre only posting things on social media that you want the whole world to see, including your potential future employers.

Adding to Hines advice, Widmier said the most important advice he can give students involves professionalism.

That is number one in this industry, he said. Be professional, act professional, dress professional. Go above and beyond with everything you do.

Utah State Universitys aviation technology program offers Bachelor of Science degrees in professional piloting and aircraft maintenance management. More information is available at <a href=https://aste.usu.edu/aviation/>www. aste.usu.edu/aviation</a>.

<hr />

jennifer@cvradio.com
FISH HAVEN, Idaho  Bear Lake is rising, fast.

According to Claudia Cottle, executive director of Bear Lake Watch, the water level has risen 1.5 feet in less than a week, and there is still a much higher-than-normal amount of snowpack left.

Its coming in at about at around 3,500 (cubic feet per second), she said. It might be a little higher, especially on the west side where it is shallow. Were just watching that water come closer and closer. In some places there is no exposed beach left. The water is up to the rocky areas in some places.

Cottle said it will likely get to the point that the lake appears full.

It wont be the max, but it will look full, she said. Theres always a possibility. Its still April, it could all blow away with hot winds. Its happened before, but there is still a lot of snowpack in the high country.

The higher water level will likely affect beachgoers this summer. Cottle said the lake should nearly reach the road, meaning all the lakebed normally used as beach, will be covered.

Where people are able to access when its low, they wont be able to access that, she said. They will be limited to public areas.

That includes areas like Rendezvous Beach, North Beach and areas on the east side.

There are places to go, Cottle said. People just need to know they have to plan a little differently and probably plan ahead.

Cottle said the high flow from the Bear River has turned the lake brown, but she is hoping it will soon revert to its normal blue. When high water struck in 2011, the inundated lakebed vegetation turned the lake green.

The lake did not turn blue until October 5, she said. That was the first day I declared Bear Lake blue again.

Cottle said the water along the shore will be deeper than what most are used to and that parents should keep that in mind when bringing children.
Warren Buffetts face has been gracing limited-edition cans of Cherry Coke in China since the drinks rollout in the country on March.10. Photo: The Coca-Cola Co.

(Beijing)  Chinese who are thirsty for a date with billionaire investor Warren Buffett need no longer pay extravagant sums for the privilege.

Local fans of the man known as the Oracle of Omaha may not be able to get much investment advice for just 3.5 yuan (51 U.S. cents) a pop. But at least theyll be able to enjoy a limited meeting with Buffett, whose cartoon likeness has begun appearing on cans of Cherry Coca-Cola on sale in China, along with the words The choice that Warren Buffett loves.

The move is part of a promotion for the drink, which officially went on sale in China on March 10. Buffett is both an investor in The Coca-Cola Co. and also a well-known fan of the cherry-flavored drink, which marked the companys first experiment with a flavored version of its trademark drink with the products launch in 1985.

Warren Buffett drinks a can of Cherry Coke. Buffett is a major investor in The Coca-Cola Co. and a fan of the fruit-flavored cola. Photo: The Coca-Cola Co.

As we thought of the most creative ways to bring the great taste of Cherry Coke to China, we thought, Who better to celebrate the launch of this special drink than its best-known fan? said Shelly Lin, Coca-Cola Chinas marketing director, according to a post on the companys website. We honestly were surprised when Mr. Buffett agreed to the idea. But were thrilled, and hes selling well.

China is one of Cokes largest markets, and Buffett is a big investor in the company. Buffett is also relatively well-known in the market, both for his overall investing prowess and also following his $230 million investment in 2008 in BYD Co. Ltd., a Chinese maker of traditional and new-energy cars.

Buffetts broader fame in the region has made an annual lunch that he auctions for charity a favorite of Asian investors, especially from China. Of the five publicly named investors over the last 10 years who submitted winning bids for the famous Power Lunch With Warren Buffett, two have come from China. Most recently, online game entrepreneur Zhu Ye paid $2.35 million for the honor of lunching with Buffett in 2015.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)
Maurice Kamto, President du MRC Archives

The National President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement Political party, CRM, Prof Maurice Kamto has hinted that the Cameroon is finalizing procedures to arrest him because of his stance on the Anglophone problem.

The legal Luminary revealed in a Press Conference held in Yaounde, Centre region Monday April 3, 2017 that the Black Cabinet is preparing his arrest and that they are now making final touches to incriminate him which will lead to his arrest in future.

The possible arrest he says is because of his stance on the Anglophone problem.

Maurice Kamto during his Press Conference strongly criticized the international Community for keeping silence on the issue.

The International Community has remained strangely silent since the unset of this deadly crisis. The United Nations Secretariat, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and the United Nations regional office for Central Africa has not been heard, not even the center for Democracy and Human Rights, no Press release, Maurice Kamto said.

He even blamed the international Community for creating the Anglophone problem especially during the days of independence, She dares say today that nothing happened in the North West and the South West region.

By Wilson MUSA
| BY Ricki Green |

Award-winning creative Andy Ward (left) has been hired by independent agency BCM, joining the creative team as a senior writer and conceptualiser.

Ward brings with him a wealth of experience, with over 30 years in the industry, which has included creative director, creative group head and senior creative roles with DDB Brisbane and Sydney, and Clemenger BBDO Sydney.

He began his career as an art director at Bates Dorland in London where he worked on Land Rover and UNICEF, and award-winning campaigns for Heinz (which were recognised at Cannes and D&AD).

Before his appointment at BCM, he headed up Publicis Mojo Brisbanes creative line-up as creative director, a role which he held for 11 years.

Wards experience includes leading international and Australian brands McDonalds, Volkswagen, Wrigleys, Subway, Sanofi, AirAsia, Oak, RSPCA, Instant Scratch-Its, Powerball and TattsBet.

At BCM, Ward will be working on a variety of client accounts and campaigns.
| BY Lynchy |

Havas Sydney has unveiled a significant new brand campaign for the Australian Army, in its latest work for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The fully integrated, mobile-first campaign is the most holistic and interactive produced by Defence Force Recruiting (DFR) to date. Its scale and breadth also make it the largest.

In delivering this campaign Havas continues its long term strategy of humanising the ADF. The integrated 360 campaign features engaging stories that potential Army candidates can relate to. It brings to life the stories of nine Australian Army personnel with different jobs, education levels and backgrounds, revealing the people behind the uniforms.

Content films:

Says Director Military Recruitment, Group Captain Kaarin Kooij: The campaign demonstrates beautifully, that the Australian Army is a modern, technologically advanced employer.

In the ADF our people are our biggest strength. This campaign acknowledges this by sharing the personal, real-life stories of Army members. By sharing their individual Army experiences theyre helping us to start a conversation with potential candidates about the range of rewarding, professional Army career opportunities on offer.

Says Seamus Higgins, joint-ECD, Havas Sydney: The Australian Army is one of the most progressive in the world. We wanted our campaign to be true to this; so we harnessed the power of innovative digital and social to tell the true stories of the people who thrive within it.

Weve utilised the full capabilities within Havas across strategy, digital and social, to develop an authentic and immersive experience, which will help the Australian Army to reach and engage with the next generation of recruits.

The campaign will run across cinema, TV and print, as well as digital and social channels, with bespoke content encouraging audiences to explore and learn each individuals story. It will be rolled out nationally in the coming weeks.

Client: Defence Force Recruiting

General Marketing Manager: Pat Duffy

National Marketing Manager: Fiona Boughton

Marketing Operations Manager: Andrew Edmunds

Army Senior Marketing Manager: Grant ODonnell

Army Senior Marketing Officer: Nicola Friedlieb

Army Marketing Officer: Melissa Saint

Creative Agency: Havas Sydney

ECD: Seamus Higgins, Stu Turner

Art Director: Sal Cavallaro

Copywriter: Dave Biddle

Managing Director: Dan Smith

Account Director: Charlie Read

Senior Account Manager: Charlotte El Baz

Planning Director: Phil Johnston/Bohdi Lewis

Head of Broadcast: Monique Pardavi

Digital Executive Producer: Peter Segerer

Digital Producers: Olivier Boulbain/Shiv Suchdeva

Developers: Brendon Betheldo/Thao McAvoy/Alec Pirillo

Print Producers: Thea Clausen/Sonia Ebrington

Design: Darren Cole/Nic Adamovic/Michael Macgregor/Michelle Wong

Social: Mark McKissock

Production Credits:

Director: Damon Cameron

EP: Rachel Ford-Davies

Producer: Annie Schutt

DOP: Ross Giardina

Music: Sonar Music/Electricsheep

Sound Design: Song Zu/Abby Sie

Content Director: Ken Karpel

Photography: The Pool Collective

360 Website: Pixelcase
| BY Ricki Green |

London International Awards (LIA) has announced Amber Finlay, senior director, global brand communications at Converse as jury president of The NEW.

The NEW hopes to constantly drive the industry to evolve by spawning new categories that are fruitful directions for agencies and brands. This year LIA has made some significant changes to The NEW, adding new categories to reflect and champion evolution in the industry.

Says Barbara Levy, president of LIA: Ambers diverse background  agency and client, creative, media and digital, makes her the best fit to chair this jury. The NEW was created for work that pushed the boundaries. It is a medium that is ever-changing to reflect the evolution of our industry and to honor those that create outside the box.

As the senior director of global brand communications at Converse, Finlay gets to put her obsession with fashion and culture to use every day, overseeing the development of creative content that reflects the daring spirit of youth that drives the Converse brand. Before taking a role on the brand side at Converse, Finlay spent her career in roles spanning brand, digital and communications strategy at agencies such as Arnold Worldwide, Naked Communications, Deep Focus, McGarry Bowen, and DDB. With a passion for technology and how it shapes culture and people, Finlay has worked on projects across those agencies for brands including Google, HBO, Johnson & Johnson, Jack Daniels, and Progressive Insurance.

Says Finlay on presiding over the LIA jury: Im honored to chair the 2017 jury for LIAs competition for The NEW. If you buy into Arthur C Clarkes thought that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, then there is nothing more exciting than creative work that fits into none of the existing boxes. Im ready to see some magic.

Judging will take place at Encore Las Vegas from September 29th through October 7th.

The Entry System is open for entries. The initial entry deadline is the 9th June.
| BY Lynchy |

Helen Pak, Chief Creative Officer at Grey Group Canada, will join Ad Stars line-up of Executive Judges overseeing this years Ad Stars Awards in August.

Pak (pictured) will join Suthisak Sucharittanonta, BBDO Bangkok Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, as the first Executive Judge to be announced for Ad Stars 2017, which runs from 24th to 26th August in Busan, South Korea.

Pak is a multi-talented creative leader, who was part of the original global team behind the highly recognized Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.

Before embarking on a career in advertising, she was an award-winning architect, and her holistic approach to creativity has helped transform some of the most loved and trusted brands. She joined Grey Group in March 2017 from Havas Canada, where she was CEO and Chief Creative Officer.

Im excited to be attending Ad Stars for the first time this year. I have heard great things about Ad Stars and admire the organisations commitment to being a festival that is free to enter, and open to everyone  Im looking forward to being part of the jury in August, says Pak.

Ad Stars is inviting agencies, creatives, production companies, students and advertising enthusiasts from all over the world to submit their entries to the 10th annual Ad Stars Awards before 15th May 2017.

With more than 20,000 entries anticipated in 2017 from over 70 countries, Ad Stars is the biggest advertising awards show in Asia and the only festival with a US$10,000 cash prize for Grand Prix of the Year winners.
Monday, April 3, 2017 at 11:10PM

Netflix released a few months back the ability to download for offline viewing some of its catalogue to Android and iOS devices. The feature now comes to Windows 10 app. When you open the app, youll be greeted by the prompt that you can download some of the shows and movies for offline viewing. If your app doesnt update on its own, youll have to make sure to update your Netflix app to get the new Download & Go feature. Much like how it works in mobile, you can visit the Available for Download section to check out what shows and movies you can check out. According to BGR, it doesnt seem to be available on Windows 10 Mobile and Xbox One apps yet but perhaps it will in the near future.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 9:13AM

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has quietly updated the cylindrical Mac Pro line while making a commitment to releasing updated desktops and even a proper pro display in the future. Apple has taken a lot of heat for its neglect of pro users who desire the fastest performance and modularity to be able to stay on top of the curve.

To address the issue, Apple invited a handful of journalists to discuss the perception that the company has abandoned the Mac in favour of focusing on more profitable products like the iPhone. This is a perception that's led to various competitors making moves in the high end of the PC space to gather disgruntled Apple pros into their fold. Microsoft and HP are just a few of the companies who have newer, more powerful and multifunctional high-end PCs they've skewed towards the pro and creative market.

While Apple CEO Tim Cook has openly said Apple is 'very committed to the Mac' and to 'stay tuned,' most people take the 4-year-drought of Mac Pro hardware as writing on the wall that desktops (once referred to as Trucks by founding CEO Steve Jobs) are nowhere as important as iOS devices and wearables.

Apple wants to change the perception and promises that their pro customers will have the Mac Pros they want.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who was in attendance in the Cupertino sit down with Apple media confirmed that new Mac Pros are coming and that the current generation are getting new components. "Apple is today releasing meager speed-bump updates to the existing Mac Pros. The $2999 model goes from 4 Xeon CPU cores to 6, and from dual AMD G300 GPUs to dual G500 GPUs. The $3999 model goes from 6 CPU cores to 8, and from dual D500 GPUs to dual D800 GPUs. Nothing else is changing, including the ports. No USB-C, no Thunderbolt 3 (and so no support for the LG UltraFine 5K display)," he wrote in his blog.

Were working on it, said Apple SVP for Marketing Phil Schiller. We have a team working hard on it right now, and we want to architect it so that we can keep it fresh with regular improvements, and were committed to making it our highest-end, high throughput desktop system, designed for our demanding pro customers.

Gruber and other sources like Techrunch confirmed that Apple is busy creating all-new Mac Pros with the ability to handle top of the line GPUs as well as all the modularity and flexibility expected of high-end computational devices.

The bad news, however, is that we shouldn't expect these to come anytime soon. Certainly not this year and maybe not until mid to late 2018. Apple also said that new iMacs were coming, again with no definite date, but likely in time for the back-to-school shopping season.

Sources: Techcrunch, Daring Fireball
Flights were assessed before landing based on the risk they posed but a spokesperson for the Agriculture Department said it was still up to the public to do the right thing.
The Weston Creek Community Council was forced to call off a meeting last week after the crowd couldn't fit in the room, and has rescheduled for Thursday, April 6, at the Chapman primary school. But the council has been told the Public Housing Renewal Taskforce will not attend, concerned that officials might not be treated with respect, and that people who support public housing might not be heard.
Blog Archive November (13) October (52) September (37) August (51) July (53) June (58) May (45) April (49) March (43) February (50) January (54) December (49) November (42) October (48) September (53) August (55) July (64) June (60) May (68) April (66) March (56) February (61) January (51) December (61) November (67) October (87) September (79) August (84) July (82) June (84) May (73) April (74) March (74) February (50) January (66) December (56) November (53) October (70) September (73) August (60) July (86) June (73) May (91) April (64) March (53) February (49) January (79) December (50) November (55) October (46) September (48) August (57) July (46) June (55) May (48) April (49) March (54) February (50) January (52) December (45) November (55) October (56) September (57) August (65) July (47) June (67) May (54) April (64) March (72) February (49) January (58) December (52) November (72) October (60) September (82) August (59) July (64) June (61) May (67) April (65) March (78) February (66) January (72) December (90) November (58) October (71) September (58) August (67) July (68) June (67) May (69) April (58) March (58) February (39) January (49) December (45) November (36) October (48) September (64) August (59) July (58) June (62) May (70) April (72) March (67) February (52) January (68) December (45) November (68) October (68) September (59) August (67) July (53) June (68) May (66) April (63) March (71) February (49) January (60) December (43) November (39) October (74) September (62) August (69) July (86) June (60) May (84) April (71) March (96) February (70) January (82) December (62) November (62) October (66) September (81) August (71) July (61) June (55) May (67) April (46) March (53) February (43) January (54) December (46) November (38) October (46) September (57) August (71) July (73) June (75) May (48) April (44) March (59) February (46) January (36) December (45) November (45) October (41) September (46) August (36) July (40) June (48) May (38) April (35) March (30) February (26) January (30) December (22) November (26) October (34) September (26) August (16) July (17) June (19) May (19) April (12) March (14) February (13) January (26) December (21) November (16) October (14) September (15) August (15) July (17) June (16) May (15) April (11) March (13) February (12) January (11) December (16) November (30) October (28) September (23) August (7) July (6) June (7) May (2) April (1) March (2) February (2) January (2) December (2) November (2) October (1) September (1) August (2) July (3) June (4) May (1) April (1) February (2)
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
Miranda House Delhi

Miranda House, residential college for women was established in 1948.

It is affiliated with the University of Delhi.

is one of the premier Women's Institutions of Delhi University. It was founded in 1948 by the then Vice-Chancellor Sir Maurice Gwyer; its foundation stone was laid by Lady Edwina Mountbatten on March 7 in the same year.

Located on the University campus, Miranda House is built in warm red brick with cool and spacious verandahs. Its original design was by the renowned architect Walter George, the college shares an architectural affinity with other colonial educational institutions of the country.

In the past five decades, as the college has grown, several other buildings have been added to its original design. It is now declared a heritage building and work is on to maintain its pristine glory.

Loyola College Tamil Nadu

Loyola College, Chennai was established in 1925. Its affiliated with the University of Madras. by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) with the primary objective of providing University Education in a Christian atmosphere for deserving Students, especially those belonging to the Catholic Community. Loyola College became autonomous in 1978. The College, however, continues to be affiliated to the University of Madras and is autonomous, with 18 departments (Arts, Sciences and Commerce) and 9 special Institutes offering more than 111 programs to over 10,000 students. NAAC re-accredited the college in 2006 and awarded A+ status.

Shri Ram College of Commerce Delhi

Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi was established in 1920. SRCC is one of the first Commerce and Economics institutes of India. SRCC was initially a Commercial School. Later on, in 1932, the college was converted into a degree college. In 1926, SRCC was affiliated to University of Delhi. SRCC is a specialized constituent college of the University of Delhi located in New Delhi, India. In 1932, the College was upgraded to the status of a degree College and started awarding its graduates the B.A. (Pass) (Commerce Group) degrees of the University.

Bishop Heber College Tiruchirapalli

Bishop Heber College (BHC), Tiruchirappalli was established in 1864.

Its affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli. Bishop Heber College exists to impart quality higher education with creativity to all, especially the poor, the needy and the under-privileged, to cause their holistic development in response to the great commandment and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and contribute towards building a great India.

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College Delhi

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College (ARSD College), formerly Sanatan Dharma College, is a co-educational best constituent college of the University of Delhi. The college was founded on August 3, 1959, by the Sanatan Dharma Sabha, Delhi.

St. Xavier`s College West Bengal

St. Xavier's College is a private, co- educational college located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Founded in 1860 by Henri Depelchin it is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Navarre Jesuit of the 16th century, who ministered in India. In 2006, it became the first autonomous college in West Bengal, India, and is affiliated with the University of Calcutta. The college has now become a full university through the St. Xavier's University Bill passed on 16 December 2016, by the state assembly of West Bengal, India. Currently, the college offers Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees, diplomas and certificates.

Lady Shri Ram College for Women Delhi

Lady Shri Ram College for Women Delhi was established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife Phoolan Devi (Lady Shri Ram), the college began in a school building in Daryaganj, Central Delhi with 243 students, nine faculty, four support staff and three distinct courses of study. Today, the college is located in a 15-acre (61,000 m2) campus in Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi. It has approximately 2000 students, over 150 faculty, administrative and support staff and 16 courses of study.

Dyal Singh College Delhi

Dyal Singh College Delhi is a co-educational institute of University of Delhi. The college is one of the institutions of the University of Delhi. It was established in 1959 and is situated in Delhi. It offers undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in science, the humanities and commerce.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College Delhi

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College Delhi was established in 1990. The college is affiliated to the University of Delhi. The college takes the quantum leap so that it stands apart from other such institutions. The college excels even outside the hallowed portals of the main University campus by creating its own campus and acquiring its own personality.

The Women's Christian College Tamil Nadu

The Women's Christian College (WCC), Chennai was established in 1915. It's affiliated with the University of Madras. as a joint venture of 12 missionary societies from England and USA. In 1916 it was declared a first-grade college and was shifted to its present campus in Nungambakkam located in the heart of Chennai city. It fulfills its mission to provide higher education to women of India in liberal arts and sciences. It is affiliated to the University of Madras and was given recognition as an autonomous college in 1982.
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad established in 1962.

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad is run by the Board of Governors, constituted by the IIMA Society. IIMA has consistently been ranked as the number one management school in the country year after year in the last several years.

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

Indian Institute of Management (IIMB), Bangalore was established in 1973, the Institute has since then built on its base of highly accomplished faculty, world class infrastructure and motivated student body to emerge as one of the premier institutes for management education and research promoting managerial excellence in the country. A feature that sets IIMB apart from other B-schools is the carefully selected mix of students with diversity so that students can leverage from each other's experience in addition to theoretical studies in the classroom, thereby creating a truly enriching learning experience.

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

Indian Institute of Management (IIMC), Calcutta was established in 1961 as the first national institute for Post-Graduate studies and Research in Management by the Government of India in collaboration with Alfred P. Sloan School of Management (MIT), the Government of West Bengal, The Ford Foundation and Indian industry. IIMC has grown into a mature institution with global reputation, imparting high-quality management education.

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow was established in 1984 and has since then grown into a fully integrated global management school. The objectives of imparting education, combined with creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge, are being met in an integrated form, to create a synergetic impact.

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Indian Institute of Management (IIMK), Kozhikode was established in 1996 by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Kerala, it aims to provide education, training, consulting and research facilities in management. The institute today is a leader in Faculty Development Programs (FDP), conducting the largest number of programs (18) totaling 20 weeks in 2008-09 and is the major QIP (Quality Improvement Program) Centre of the All Indian Council of Technical Education, in the field of management education.

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) established in 1961.

IIT Delhi is one of the seven IITs created as centers of excellence for higher training, research, and development in science, engineering, and technology in India.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT-K), Kharagpur was established in 1950 at Hijli. The Institute started its journey in the old Hijli Detention Camp where some of the great freedom fighters toiled and sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country.

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT R), Roorkee established in 1847. IIT Roorkee is among the foremost of institutes of national importance in higher technological education and in engineering, basic and applied research.

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI)

XLRI- Xavier School of Management is a management school founded in 1949 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.

XLRI has maintained an aura of culture and legacy over six decades of innovative growth and excellence.

Indian Institute of Management Indore

Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIMI), Indore established in 1996, is the sixth in the prestigious IIM family of management schools. The institute was chosen to be set up in Indore to give an impetus to management education in central India and has ever since been acting as the pioneer in the field of management, interfacing with the industry, government sectors and PSUs. The vision of the institute is to evolve as a contextually relevant business school with world-class academic standards and to propagate, assimilate and develop contemporary innovative management practices and systems to contribute to social capitalism in India.
University College Dublin (UCD) and Loyola College, Chennai signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Maurya Hotel in Delhi, India on Monday, 27th March, 2017.

Who signed the MoU between UCD and Loyola College?

The MoU between UCD and Loyola College was signed by UCD President, Professor Andrew J Deeks and by the Principal, Rev. Dr. M. Arockiasamy Xavier, S. J. from Loyola College.This signing ceremony formally acknowledges the commencement of a new University partnership between University College Dublin (UCD) and Loyola College. Head, Department of History Dr. L. Selvanathan and Principal, Rev. Dr. M. Arockiasamy Xavier, S.J. from Loyola College in Chennai, both traveled to Delhi for the signing ceremony.

Significance of the partnership

At the signing event, the significance of this new partnership was discussed by University College Dublin President, Professor Andrew J Deeks, "University College Dublin is pleased to commence a partnership with one of the highest ranked Colleges in south India and we look forward to fostering deeper collaborations in the future".

Speaking at the occasion Rev. Dr. M. Arockiasamy Xavier, S.J., said, "this partnership between UCD and Loyola College represents an extremely promising opportunity as the historic and cultural synergies between the two institutions can lead the way to creating a mutually beneficial partnership in the field of humanities".

Dr. Conor Mulvagh, Lecturer in History at UCD, stated, "the partnership is a major development for UCD College of Arts and Humanities. Loyola College is highly regarded in humanities. There is a close historic link between Chennai and UCD's historic Indian student community began with the first incoming student groups to UCD between the years (1913-16)".

Professor of Modern Irish History, Prof Mary E. Daly and UCD Director for International Affairs, Douglas Proctor, also attended the signing ceremony.

About University College Dublin:

University College Dublin (UCD) is Ireland's Global University. It was established in 1854. There are over 30,000 students including 6,000 international students from 127 countries studying in UCD. A public, government-funded institution UCD receives the highest levels of research funding in the country and is ranked within the top 1% of world universities.

About Loyola College

Loyola College is one of the most prestigious colleges in India. Loyola College is a catholic minority Institution and was founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1925. It started functioning in July 1925 with just 75 students on the rolls in three undergraduate courses of Mathematics, History, and Economics. Loyola College, though affiliated to University of Madras, became autonomous in July 1978.

Today, there are 19 P.G courses and 19 U.G courses (Arts, Sciences, and Commerce) and 12 special Institutes offering various programs to 12,107 students. 11 departments are offering M.Phil. programmes and 12 departments offer Ph.D. programs. At present, 117 teaching staff members out of 286 hold doctoral degree. There are 182 non-teaching staff in service.

Top 10 Engineering Colleges Formulated by NIRF and Released by MHRD
Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore established in 1909 as a 'Research Institute' or 'University of Research' by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. IISc Bangalore is a unique institute concerned with research in frontier areas and education in current technologically important areas. It came into existence with the combined endeavors of Tatas, the Government of India, and the Government of Maharaja of Mysore. The University Grants Commission, which was established in 1956, granted IIS Bangalore the status of deemed University.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) established in 1959, is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research. IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 460 faculty, 4500 students and 1250 administrative & supporting staff and is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares. It has established itself as a premier centre for teaching, research and industrial consultancy in the country.

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

According to IIT Bombay official website, IIT B strives to reach out beyond its student community to the larger society that exists beyond its walls. This reflects the institute's inherent philosophy - to teach what we know and share what we have.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT-K), Kharagpur was established in 1950 at Hijli. The Institute started its journey in the old Hijli Detention Camp where some of the great freedom fighters toiled and sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country.

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) established in 1961. IIT Delhi is one of the seven IITs created as centres of excellence for higher training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India.

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi was established in 1969. It is one of the most prestigious universities across the country. JNU is basically a research oriented university. Instead of colleges, JNU offers undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and research courses through various schools and centres of the university, which makes JNU different from other universities in the country.

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur established in 1960. IIT Kanpur is one of the premier institutions established by the Government of India. The aim of the Institute is to provide meaningful education, to conduct original research of the highest standard and to provide leadership in technological innovation for the industrial growth of the country.

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) was established in 1994. It is one of the sixth member of IIT fraternity and the academic programme of IIT Guwahati commenced from 1995. The college is affiliated to be a Deemed University and accredited / approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT R), Roorkee established in 1847. IIT Roorkee is among the foremost of institutes of national importance in higher technological education and in engineering, basic and applied research.

Banaras Hindu University

Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi was established in 1916,. BHU today has nearly twenty thousand students including 2500 research scholars and 650 foreign students from 34 nations, under one roof who are pursuing different academic programs at this campus as well as the newly established Rajiv Gandhi South Campus.

To promote the study of the Hindu Shastras and of Sanskrit literature generally as a means of preserving and popularizing for the benefit of the Hindus in particular and of the world at large in general, the best thought and culture of the Hindus and all that was good and great in the ancient civilization of India.
Business / Companies

by Staff reporter

Rwanda's national carrier, RwandAir, begins flights between Kigali and Harare tomorrow, in another vote of confidence of Zimbabwe as a destination. The carrier will be flying four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.The coming on board of RwandAir is on the back of concerted efforts by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) to lure airlines that used to fly to Zimbabwe and new carriers.At its peak in 1999, 42 airlines flew into Zimbabwe. The number included eight cargo planes. Currently 20 airlines are flying into Zimbabwe.RwandAir operates one of the youngest fleet on the African continent and flies to over 20 destinations across Africa.
Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore established in 1909 as a 'Research Institute' or 'University of Research' by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. IISc Bangalore is a unique institute concerned with research in frontier areas and education in current technologically important areas. It came into existence with the combined endeavors of Tatas, the Government of India, and the Government of Maharaja of Mysore. The University Grants Commission, which was established in 1956, granted IIS Bangalore the status of deemed University.

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi was established in 1969. It is one of the most prestigious universities across the country. JNU is basically a research oriented university. Instead of colleges, JNU offers undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and research courses through various schools and centres of the university, which makes JNU different from other universities in the country.

Banaras Hindu University

Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi was established in 1916,. BHU today has nearly twenty thousand students including 2500 research scholars and 650 foreign students from 34 nations, under one roof who are pursuing different academic programs at this campus as well as the newly established Rajiv Gandhi South Campus.

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore was established in 1989 by the department of science and technology of the Government of India. Since 2002, the centre is recognized as a Deemed to be University by the University Grants Commission, and students' degrees are awarded directly by JNCASR. Researchers at the centre are divided into seven units, chemistry and physics of materials, engineering mechanics, evolutionary and organizmal biology, molecular biology and genetics, theoretical sciences, educational technology and geodynamics.

Jadavpur University

Jadavpur University (JU), Kolkata was established in 1955. Vision and Mission: The University not only engages itself in teaching and research of international quality, but also provides societal services for the benefit of rural and urban populations. The programmes are directed towards achieving excellence in education and extending the benefits of improved technology to the society as a whole.

Anna University

Anna University, Chennai was established in 1978. It offers higher education in engineering, technology and allied sciences relevant to the current and projected needs of the society. Besides promoting research and disseminating knowledge gained therefrom, it fosters cooperation between the academic and industrial communities.

University of Hyderabad

University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad was established in 1974. University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad was established with Prof. Gurbaksh Singh as its first Vice Chancellor, UoH - also known as Hyderabad Central University or HCU- has emerged as a leading centre of teaching and research.

University of Delhi

University of Delhi (DU), Delhi was established in 1922.

Its rich academic tradition has always attracted the most talented students who later on went on to make important contributions to their society.

At present, there are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 77 colleges and 5 other recognised institutes spread all over the city, with 132435 regular students (UG: 114494,PG:17941) and 261169 students (UG:258831,PG:2338) in non-formal education programme.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Coimbatore was established in 2005. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, also known as Amrita University, is a multi-campus and multi-disciplinary teaching and research university. It has been accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) as a grade A' institute. Amrita University offers education to large numbers of students through its several campuses spread across South India.

Savitribai Phule Pune University

According to the University's official website, Savitribai Phule Pune University, one of the premier universities in India, is positioned in the North-western part of Pune city. It occupies an area of about 411 acres. It was established on 10th February, 1949 under the Poona University Act. The university houses 46 academic departments. It is popularly known as the 'Oxford of the East'. It has about 307 recognized research institutes and 612 affiliated colleges offering graduate and under-graduate courses.
When the Toyota Raize came into the picture early this year , it commanded the kind of attention that made you think of it as possibly just ...
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya has said President Robert Mugabe is reaching the end of his era whether his loyalists want it or not.This comes in the wake of the ruling Zanu PF government and party members having reportedly secured a wheel chair for the 93 year old leader who ruled Zimbabwe sine 1980."President Mugabe is reaching the END OF AN ERA/ERROR whether those in Zanu PF like it or not. Call it wheel chair, mobile chair or special massage chair; the undeniable and inescapable truth is that the physical and mental mortality of His Excellency is giving up," Ruhanya said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday claimed that he does not wear the famous apostolic white robes and has no intention of consulting the enigmatic Mudzidzi Wimbo in his political life.In a brief interview with the Daily News, Kasukuwere said contrary to reports in the State media that he is behind the troubles ripping apart the Madziwa-based church, after their leader failed to anoint him to be the next Zimbabwe president, the fiery Zanu-PF heavyweight said the government media should name the real people who consult Wimbo for power."Handisati ndambopfeka magements kana kumboenda ikoko, hameno vanoenda ikoko vanozviziva (I have never worn their garments or even visited the shrine, I am not sure about those who visit the place and they know themselves," said Kasukuwere.Zanu-PF bigwigs angling to succeed Mugabe believe that Wimbo has a great bearing on the political landscape in the country.Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa made headlines in 2015 when he visited the shrine of the enigmatic prophet who is famed for allegedly prophesying that President Robert Mugabe would be the first black president as early as 1957. Mnangagwa was in October 2015 caught up in bizarre church rituals where Wimbo, real name Aaron Mhukata, in the presence of Daily News reporters flatly refused to anoint him Mugabe's successor and advised the vice president that he needed assistance in his quest to become the country's next president.Recently, Mugabe had to appoint a ministerial team led by State Security minister Kembo Mohadi to try and rescue Wimbo, who was allegedly kidnapped from his home in mid-2015 but the team drew blanks as those holding the prophet vowed that he would never be reunited with his family.The family accuses Ishmael Magodi, Zex Pamacheche, Shepherd Chingwena and Edison Mukohwa, the so-called four church prefects, of having allegedly abducted Wimbo on June 29, 2015 for the furtherance of their factional interests as well as political motives.According to the family, Mnangagwa, who was pictured wearing the church robes, visited Wimbo after he had reportedly been told that he was to be anointed only to be told that he needed assistance.There is a general belief in the hugely superstitious Zanu-PF that Wimbo, having predicted rightly that Mugabe would become the first black Zimbabwe leader will also anoint the aging strongman's successor.According to the family, the four church prefects fear that if Wimbo is ever allowed to return to his family, their plan to influence the country's politics would crumble.Zanu-PF bigwigs angling to succeed Mugabe believe that Wimbo has a great bearing on the political landscape in the country.It is this supposed bearing, that has been taken out of context by the four with the deliberate intention to over-politicise the church for furtherance of their political ambitions and cover their corrupt activities, the family says.
Exactly 100 cars painted bright yellow cruised through the small British town of Bibury over the weekend to show their support for a local resident.



84-year-old Peter Maddox came under fire from tourists visiting the picturesque Arlington Row because his yellow Vauxhall Corsa (parked outside his cottage) was photobombing the scene. Earlier this year, Maddoxs car was vandilized and had the word MOVE scratched into its side.

In an act of solidarity for Maddox and to celebrate anything yellow, Coventry-resident Matty Bee decided to gather a huge fleet of yellow vehicles to drive through Bibury.

Speaking to UPI, Bee said The response has been amazing and overwhelming; people from all over the country and all over the world have applied to join the group. Weve had everything here from a three-wheeler and a Mini to a Lamborghini super carIve never seen so many yellow colored cars in one place.

So many people wanted to join that organizers had to set a limit of 100 cars for safety.

VIDEO
A bright red Ferrari F430, previously owned by US President Donald Trump, left the sale block over the weekend before meeting the sellers reserve.



Bidding stopped at $240,000, according to AutoNews which says it was $10,000 below its low estimate, but an avid collector felt that he had to have it in his garage and ended up paying $270,000 just a few minutes after it left the podium.

AuctionsAmerica, didnt give any additional information on this off-the-record sale, nor did it reveal who purchased it. However, despite its celebrity ownership, it might not be such a good investment, considering that an F430 usually sell for around $150,000 (some even less than that) on the used car market, and that nobody wanted it bad enough during the Florida event.

As for the Ferrari F430, this is believed to be the only supercar to have been owned by a sitting president. It was bought by Trump brand-new back in 2007 and he held on to it for the next four years, putting 2,400 miles (3,862 km) on the clock, out of the total mileage that stands at almost 6,000 miles (9,656 km).

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Contributed

A campaign office has been set up in Vernon for Liberal Eric Foster's third run for MLA.

The public has been invited to an official opening of the office, situated at 3008 34 Street, on Apr. 6 between 5 p.m.-8 p.m.

Candidates are getting smarter when in comes to using social media to bolster their campaigns.

Foster's election staff have set up both Facebook and Twitter accounts ahead of the May 9 provincial vote.

Green Party candidate Keli Westgate is also organized.

Her office is already open at 701 Hwy 97 south. The office is open daily, according to Westgate's campaign manager.

The Greens have also latched on to social media with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts for Westgate.
Photo: Kate Bouey

Empowering women and having a laugh are two of the key components of next weekend's Women of Worth (WOW) event of the year at Sparkling Hill Resort.

Award-winning humorist Linda Edgecombe is hosting the event.

Sponsored in part by Cotton's Chocolates and Nature's Fare, speakers include:

Jo Dibblee, a witness protection program survivor who lived in hiding for 35 years as the key witness in a Pentiction murder investigation

Karlene Karst, is the author of The Full Fat Solution and is an expert in nutrition and health

Isabelle Mercier, a TV host and author will tell you how to get into your leap zone

Maureen McGrath, is a radio host and workplace anti-bullying advocate

Dana Smithers, is an author, speaker, consultant and certified 'law of attraction' trainer

There will also be some fun movement with Kelowna's Femme Fatale dancers.

WOW will also spotlight its philanthropic project, in association with Kelowna-based IWEN, which is to rescue Nepalese girls from slavery through educational scholarships and micro-financing and the bulding of a new school.

There are only a few seats left for the Apr. 8 event.

More information can be found online.
Madison Erhardt

No one was injured in a large fire at a barn in West Kelowna.

A barn became fully engulfed in flames on Monday around 2:15 p.m., but firefighters were able to work quickly to knock down the flames.

I was just driving over here to a job and I noticed a puff of smoke and as soon as I saw how black it was I figured there was something seriously wrong, said Julie Pringle.

A number of children were able to get out of a nearby home safely and were very upset as they watched firefighters battle the fire.

They all got out and they are all safe, the pets are safe, said Pringle. I think there are still a few chickens in the bus, most of them are out, which is great because they provide free-range to some of the local businesses around here.

It is not clear what caused the fire, but a witness at the scene said it may be due to a heat lamp.

They think there was maybe a heat lamp they purchased inside that was maybe defective, said Pringle.

Assistant Fire Chief Chad Gartrell said their main concern was (the fire) extending into the residential structure.

"They were able to keep it knocked down and away from there.

He said the damage was so extensive the cause will remain undetermined, however, he says it is not suspicious.
Photo: Contributed

Three people were injured when a Jeep YJ rolled over on Glenrosa Road near the Telemark Nordic Club.

Police said five people were in the vehicle when it flipped on its roof Sunday just after 5:30 p.m.

"The driver, an 18-year-old West Kelowna man, did not report any injuries, while three of his four passengers sustained relatively minor non-life threatening injuries as a result of the rollover," said Kelowna RCMP in a statement.

"One of those passengers was transported to hospital for further medical assessment."

Police say no charges have been laid and alcohol is not believed to be a factor.
Photo: Facebook

Vernon Search and Rescue has been inundated with calls for service, especially over the last three weekends when searchers were called out six times.

A total of 22 volunteers were involved in an intensive search for a missing Alberta man at Mabel Lake last weekend, while a smaller group headed up to the Hunter's Range area and found four lost snowmobilers.

"It's very unusual," said Leigh Pearson, search and rescue manager. "We would be part way into a call and have a second one on all three weekends. We had to split resources and call for mutual aid, from Salmon Arm, from Kelowna. It all works out."

Pearson said the group had responded to 17 calls already this year, higher than the same time last year which was a record amount.

He said not all involved big groups of volunteers.

"When the helicopter goes out we have two or three to run central command and three or four on the helicopter. However, we always go to plan B when the chopper goes up to look for missing sledders. We get the snowmobile team ready to go."
Photo: The Canadian Press

A 22-year-old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St. Petersburg subway that killed 13 other people, Russian investigators said Tuesday.

No claim of responsibility has been made for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second-biggest and Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister said the death toll as of Tuesday stood at 14, including the bomber. The nation's top investigative agency said 10 of the dead have been identified and that genetic tests would be required to identify the rest.

Another 49 victims were hospitalized, some of them in grave condition.

St. Petersburg City Hall said several foreign nationals were among those killed and injured, but would not provide details. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens was killed in the attack.

Although police originally were seeking two people as possible suspects in the hours after the attack, Russian investigators said Tuesday that it was the work of a suicide bomber. They identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts found Dzhalilov's DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and de-activated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed his identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency reported Monday that authorities think the bomber was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Talk about being lucky  an Edmonton couple is celebrating their third lottery win.

Barbara and Douglas Fink won $8,163,061.10 on the Feb. 22 Lotto 6/49 draw.

The Finks have won on the lottery before  Douglas shared in a $128,000 Lotto 6-49 win with four of his friends in 1989. In 2010, the couple won $100,000.

I knew we had all the numbers, but I didnt know how many winners there were, Barbara said. I called Douglas back before midnight and told him it was more than $8 million!

The couple says they will use the money to ensure their daughters and grandkids are looked after. They also say they want to continue to travel and will start looking for a new home.

The winning ticket was a free play won on a previous draw. A ticket sold in Ontario won the other half of the $16.3 million jackpot.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Every person running in British Columbia's upcoming general election will have some housing homework to do as the campaign gets underway.

Officials with the BC Non-Profit Housing Association say it will provide each candidate with a comprehensive report on the state of housing across the province.

Association CEO Kishone Roy says the document outlines what kind of housing is needed, how many homes are required, who needs the shelter and how much it will cost.

He says the data will come from federal sources, as well as the association's own rental housing index, provincial projections on demographics and the condition of current rental housing stocks.

Roy says anyone who is serious about becoming a member of the legislative assembly must have a solution on housing.

He says the document should give prospective politicians all the data they need to advocate for good housing decisions.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC-T's Nelson Chamisa, pictured, has said he is praying for good health for President Robert Mugabe so he lives beyond 2018 "to see a new MDC-run Zimbabwe in which he will need not travel overseas for healthcare."This comes as the 93-year-old leader continues to splurge millions on frequent foreign healthcare travels, a habit which has infuriated long-suffering Zimbabweans failing to access basic drugs, including pain killers, at most public hospitals.Currently, the State-run hospitals are in a sorry state, with the institutions not having been retooled in a long time, while doctors and crucial health professionals recently called off a crippling three-week strike over poor remuneration, among other concerns.Addressing a rally in the densely-populated Mufakose suburb on Sunday, the MDC vice president said the deepening socio-economic and political crisis was testament that Zimbabwe was on the verge of change.He said the hoped for transition will indirectly benefit Mugabe - Zimbabwe's only president since the country's independence 37 years ago."When we get into power in 2018 . . . these hospitals you see are not going to be death traps that you see today in which you have to go with your own water and . . . drugs," Chamisa told the gathered crowd."These hospitals will be five-star hospitals . . . others are going to fake injuries just to get into hospital. When we get into power, I am praying that . . . Mugabe will still be alive to enjoy those benefits," he said, igniting applause."I want him to get healthcare at Parirenyatwa and not in Singapore. It's my greatest wish. To show that we can do it as Zimbabweans, after all we have the best doctors. Let Zimbabwe be a country of excellence."Chamisa added that Zimbabwe's rot did not need a rocket scientist or witch doctor to decipher, adding any ordinary Zimbabwean can see that bad governance has driven the country to the verge of collapse."Things are difficult in Zimbabwe not because of bad luck but bad governance," he said.The party's' youth were launching a door-to-door voter registration campaign dubbed Bereka Mwana to urge party members to register as voters ahead of next year's general elections.And the Kuwadzana legislator grabbed the opportunity to promise a utopian society under the MDC, if they are voted into power.The changes included a change of governance culture, separation of party politics and government business, infrastructure development, provision of social services and greater international cooperation.Chamisa said the party's road map can only be implemented if every citizen registers to vote."The people in Zanu PF want us to help them, and we have to help them but all of us need to register to vote," he said."Every revolution is shaped by the circumstances of that time . . . the new bullet we have is the ballot . . . if you are youth and you have never voted know that you are the other reason for the problems we are facing, if you are a mother, a father, and you have never voted know that you are the other reason we are facing these problems."The MDC has been realigning forces with the war veterans and Chamisa reiterated the party's open tent policy insisting they are open to a grand coalition to struggling and fledgling opposition parties alike."We are saying ana Biti ana Mangoma, chero muchinakidzwa nekuridza ngoma yenyu, ngoma inonaka inenge ichiyambutsa nyika, iyoyo inorohwa na Save, siyai dzimwe ngoma muuye kuno. (We are saying to People's Democratic Party president Tendai Biti and Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe president Elton Mangoma the only credible political party is the one led by MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai)," Chamisa said."Tiri kuti kunana Mujuru hongu basa ringabatwe asi mujuru wakasimba ndiwo wakabatwa na Save.""All parties let's unite and see how we can overcome this problem. Can we be less than dogs? Dogs will never eat each other no matter how hungry they are. As Zimbabweans we must be united . . . no one should be beaten for their political persuasion."He said the MDC "will not repeat the mistake of the 2013 election", insisting the party will not enter a plebiscite that will not be preceded by electoral reforms."We can't be less than a Form Four student who will refuse to write examinations whose questions were not drawn from the syllabus," he said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Manitoba RCMP say the younger sister of Tina Fontaine, an indigenous girl whose body was found in a Winnipeg river three years ago, was found safe and sound Tuesday.

Sarah Fontaine, who is 16, had been missing since last week.

Her great-aunt, Thelma Favel, said Sarah had been reeling from the violent killings of three family members in recent years.

"All I wanted was for her to be found safe and sound and to go back home," Favel said Tuesday. "I was just crying when (a social worker) told me she was found."

Tina Fontaine was 15 when her body, wrapped in a plastic bag, was pulled from the Red River on Aug. 17, 2014.

The death shocked Winnipeg and prompted renewed calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

Sarah and Tina's father, Eugene Fontaine, had been beaten to death three years earlier. Last month, the girls' cousin, Jeanenne Fontaine, 29, died after being shot in the back of the head in a Winnipeg house that was set on fire.
Photo: The Canadian Press House Speaker Paul Ryan

A White House offensive to resurrect the moribund House Republican health care bill got an uneven reception Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives, leaving prospects shaky for the party's operation to salvage one of its leading priorities.

Vice-President Mike Pence and other top administration officials were offering to let states request federal exemptions from insurance coverage requirements imposed by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Pence said he and President Donald Trump "remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare," while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump "would like to see this done," if possible.

"I'm not going to raise expectations, but I think that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote," Spicer said.

But there was no initial evidence that the proposal won over any of the GOP opponents that forced Trump and party leaders to beat an unceremonious retreat on their bill on March 24, when they cancelled a House vote that was doomed to failure.

"We want to make sure that when we go, we have the votes to pass this bill," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. He said talks were in "the conceptual stage" and GOP lawmakers were close to consensus, but he declined to predict a vote before Congress leaves town shortly for a two-week recess  when lawmakers could face antagonistic grilling from voters at town hall meetings.

Under the White House proposal, states could apply for a federal waiver from a provision in Obama's statute obliging insurers to cover "essential health benefits," including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but let states reimpose it on their own, language that is opposed by many moderates.

"The biggest change was putting the essential health benefits back in," said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a leading moderate and Trump loyalist. He said that moved some moderates "to yes from no."

In addition, the White House would let states seek an exemption to the law's ban against insurers charging higher premiums for seriously ill people. Conservatives have argued that such restrictions inflate consumers' costs.Reaction from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers was mixed, with conservatives and moderates alike saying they'd examine legislative language before deciding whether to accept the offer.
Photo: Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen

The federal and provincial governments have pitched in nearly $3.7 million toward repairs on the water system in Naramata.

That makes up 83 per cent of the cost to replace, with local government to pick up the remaining 17 per cent. The BC Clean Water grant takes on 33 per cent of the cost, while the Canadian Wastewater Fund takes on about 50 per cent.

The programs will help fund five projects in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, with a total of 144 projects throughout the province. Among the five projects, Naramata will replace about five kilometres of water main, along with replacing valves and hydrants.

The RDOS is currently designing the project, and construction is set to be finished by Mar. 31 next year.

Safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater systems are essential infrastructure for all communities in our province, said Penticton MLA Dan Ashton, adding that the 144 projects will create close to 4,000 direct and indirect jobs that will benefit families across British Columbia.

The RDOS says the piping in the area, originally built in the 1950s, has deteriorated over the years. Sixty per cent of the piping is still made of asbestos cement, according to the regional district.

RDOS officials hope to limit main breaks, leaking and cut down on unplanned system shutdowns through the replacement program.
Photo: CTV

City council is expected to make a decision on the fate of the northeastern Ontario home where the Dionne quintuplets were born.

North Bay, Ont., council is set to vote on a committee's recommendations to keep the home and its contents in the city, but relocate them to a waterfront area.

The two surviving quintuplets, Cecile and Annette Dionne, wrote a letter to councillors suggesting there is a "moral obligation" to safeguard the home as a part of Canadian history.

The 82-year-old sisters currently live in Montreal.

The quintuplets were born in 1934. They were the first set of quintuplets to survive more than a few days.

The Ontario government took them from their parents and put them in a special hospital where they spent the first nine years of their lives.

They served as a tourist attraction that contributed roughly $500 million into provincial coffers.

 with files from CTV
Photo: The Canadian Press

From extreme pack ice to record-breaking snow falls, it's the winter that just won't let go across much of Newfoundland.

There are at least 230 centimetres of snow (more than seven feet) on the ground in Gander  the town featured in the hit Broadway show "Come From Away"  smashing the previous record for the same day in 2001.

More than 100 centimetres of that fell over the last five days. That's almost as much snow as Toronto gets on average in a whole winter.

At least another 10 centimetres was falling on Gander through Tuesday, as another powerful storm was forecast to dump up to 75 cm in some parts of the weather-battered province.

"I can look out my living room window and my son's truck is parked in my driveway and I can't see any of his truck  the snow bank is so high on my front lawn," said Gander resident Beulah Cooper. She is one of several locals whose kindness to stranded international airline passengers after the 9/11 terror attacks in the U.S. inspired the story of "Come From Away."

"Thank God I'm not in need of anything outside the house."

Cooper said it's one of the worst winters in the 42 years she has lived in Gander.

Environment Canada meteorologist David Neil agreed it's all a bit much even for hardy residents used to severe weather.

"It has just been a relentless week," said Neil, adding snow drifts at his own home in the area are above his head. "People are getting vehicles stuck.

"There are roads where two lanes are down to one lane, and three-lane roads down to two."
Photo: Twitter

An explosion at a fireworks factory in northern Portugal killed at least four people from the same family Tuesday and at least three other workers were missing, emergency services said.

Officials from the Civil Protection Service and local police told Portuguese media at the scene there was a huge explosion in the early evening at the family-owned factory in Avoes, a village near the town of Lamego, about 350 kilometres north of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

All of the workers at the factory came from three local families, according to Manuel Coutinho, Lamego Council's emergency services co-ordinator. He told Radio Renascenca that officials had little hope of finding survivors.

Broadcaster TVI showed the burning remnants of the small factory, which lies on a hillside amid woods far from local homes.

Officials told TVI they were not sure how many workers were in the factory at the time of the blast. The factory was believed to employ 15 people.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The head of the Juno Awards is apologizing for comments that co-host Russell Peters made during Sunday's telecast.

In a statement, Allan Reid distanced himself and the show's organizers from jokes that have been criticized for sexualizing women.

The comedian opened the show with a monologue that referenced young girls in the audience as a "felony waiting to happen."

Peters also jokingly questioned why Heritage Minister Melanie Joly was handing out an award, but added that it didn't matter because "she's hot, so who cares?"

Reid, who is also president of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said the Junos do not "in any way support, nor did we sanction, the off-script remarks."

On Monday, Joly called the jokes inappropriate, while Peters did not respond to requests for comment.

"CARAS and our charitable arm MusiCounts conduct significant efforts to engage and support women, particularly funding initiatives for girls in school and community music programs," Reid said in his statement.

"While we understand that there is still a lot of work to be done in these areas, we firmly believe the first step is empowering females. CARAS, the Juno Awards, and myself, deeply apologize for the upset this has caused. This incident is not reflective of any views held in our organization."
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
News / National

by Staff reporter

Judge President George Chiweshe has postponed to the 25th of April the matter in which a Lebanese businessman, Jamel Ahmed is involved in a legal battle with the First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe over a diamond ring.The First Lady's lawyer, Mr Wilson Manase said the postponement came with the consent of the legal practitioners of both parties after there was a realisation that there are supplementary papers required to be filed.More details to follow.
Improving Malaysias supply

Published 27 March 2017

In May 2016 Christian Pfeiffer successfully handed over the new cement grinding plant of Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) in Malaysia. The new unit will help CMS to increase its cement output and supply the market with a range of cement products. By Christian Pfeiffer, Germany.

The new cement grinding unit for Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) is the first turnkey cement grinding plant in Malaysia supplied by Christian Pfeiffer of Beckum, Germany. The EPC contract for the unit was signed in May 2014 in line with FIDIC regulations. The project includes raw material handling and finish product storage silos as well as a fully-automated packing plant (see Figure 1).

Located next to an existing rotary kiln line in Mambong, Kuching, the new plant meets CMS requirement to increase its cement production with a reliable and energy-efficient grinding plant that is capable of delivering various cement types in bulk, big-bags and 50kg bags, in loose or palletised form, with or without pallets.

To continue reading this story and get access to all News, Articles and Video sections of the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login
Cemex - March 2017

Cemex has agreed the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for around US$53m.

To continue reading this story and have 100% free access to the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login
LafargeHolcim - March 2017

LafargeHolcim's underlying turnover for 2016 amounted to CHF26,904m, a decline of 8.7 per cent, while in euro terms there was an 8.3 per cent decrease to EUR25,255m. The Asia-Pacific region generated 29.9 per cent of group turnover, while Europe represented 25.5 per cent and North America 20.3 per cent. Latin America contributed 10.1 per cent and Africa/Middle East 14.2 per cent. Margins improved from 19.5 per cent to 21.6 per cent and underlying operating EBITDA recovered by 1.3 per cent to CHF5825m in Swiss franc terms, while it improved by 1.1 per cent to EUR5450m, when measured in euros. At the trading level there was s swing from a loss of CHF347m to a profit of CHF2837m (EUR2663m) and after a 31.5 per cent reduction in the net financial charge to CHF917m (EUR861m) there was a pretax profit of CHF2882m (EUR2705m). The net attributable profit emerged at CHF1791m (EUR1681m) compared with a CHF2116m loss the year before.

To continue reading this story and have 100% free access to the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login
(TNS) -- Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens on Monday announced a plan to equip every school in the state with broadband internet.More than 100 Missouri school districts lack access to quality internet, according to a release from Greitens office. Greitens wants to steer $6 million in state funding and pull down an estimated $39 million in federal funds through the Federal Communications Commissions E-Rate program to help bring broadband to the rural districts without high-speed internet.Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced a similar initiative in November . Both states are partnering with San Francisco-based nonprofit EducationSuperHighway on their efforts.With this partnership, Missouris students will finally have access to the same learning opportunities that kids around the country have. Were proud to stand up for our rural communities, and were going to keep fighting for them every day, Greitens said in a statement.
Tweet

Its difficult to grasp just how ignorant Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro is about trade. Nearly everything that Navarro says or writes about trade is not only mistaken, its also downright backward. (Im being kind by prefacing the previous sentence with the word nearly.) Indeed, Navarros complete cluelessness about the subject on which he is regarded by many to be an expert would be comical were the inevitable consequences of following his policy advise not so horrible.

My Mercatus Center colleague Dan Griswold recently summoned up the strength-of-stomach to watch Navarros 2012 shock-u-drama film, Death by China. When I reflect on this film, as recounted by Dan, words fail me. Fortunately, words do not fail Dan. Read all of Dans smack-down of Navarro, but here are some slices from Dans blog post:

Death by China is as subtle as Navarro himself, which is to say, not at all. It is 80 minutes of talking heads, gruesome photos, and low-budget graphics, all in support of the thesis that imports from China are killing us, economically and literally. The message from beginning to end is that a flood of illegally subsidized and dangerous imports from China has devastated Americas manufacturing base and put millions of Americans out of work. A key to making American great again is to stop importing stuff made in China.

Trade with China is a serious subject. It raises important questions about the benefits of trade, the evolution of manufacturing, and geo-strategic relations in East Asia. The film Death by China is not a serious treatment of the subject, and its manifold exaggerations, misstatements, and omissions raise disquieting questions of their own about where President Trumps trade policy towards China will lead us.

.

Based on the false assumption of a flood of Chinese imports to the United States, Death by China makes the unsupported leap that those imports have devastated American manufacturing. In case you dont get the connection, it features computer generated graphics that show bombers flying from China across the Pacific and carpet bombing U.S. factories.

Back in reality, the United States remains a manufacturing powerhouse. In 2016, U.S. workers in U.S. factories on U.S. soil produced a record $2.17 trillion in manufacturing value added. In the 20012012 timeframe covered in Death by China, when U.S. factories were supposedly being laid waste by Chinese imports, real manufacturing value added in the United States rose by $290 billion, or almost 20 percent. Real output did fall in factories making furniture, paper products, textiles, apparel, and plastic and rubber products, while output rose far more in factories making computer and electronic products, motor vehicles and parts, chemical products, and machinery.

This is how international trade is supposed to work. It allows Americans to make more of what we are best at, in this case more capital intensive, sophisticated products, while shifting resources away from making more labor intensive products that we are not so competitive at making, such as clothing and furniture. This has been the trend in U.S. industry for decades, long before China re-emerged as a trading nation.
Open Letter to U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-Virginia)

Tweet

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)

Capitol Hill

Mr. Beyer:

Thanks for sending me the blast e-mail in which you assert that the gender pay gap is both real and large enough to justify remedial government action.

Youre a member of a political community that prides itself on its self-proclaimed commitment to science and to dispassionate, rational thought. So what gives with your e-mail? A reality-based person such as yourself surely knows that the alleged gender pay gap largely disappears when account is taken of economically relevant factors such as differences in mens and womens work experience, job choices, and number of hours worked annually. That is, the problem that you boast that youll work to solve is mythical.

Whats worse, whatever government actions you have in mind when you boast that youll seek solutions would backfire. For example, mandating equal pay for equal work  or creating further causes of action for women workers to sue employers for alleged gender bias in pay  will raise firms costs of employing women. Firms will respond in part by employing fewer women and also by finding legal ways of paying women less than women would be paid in the absence of your solutions. Your intervention into the labor market, therefore, would be the very device that turns the now-mythical gender pay gap into the very real gap that your intervention is ostensibly meant to eliminate!

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

Professor of Economics

and

Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA 22030

Comments
Wheelings & Dealings: Calabrio Buys Symmetrics

Calabrio today revealed its acquisition of Symmetrics, which sells a visualized reporting tool that combines and presents call center and enterprise data. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The seven-year-old companys solution works on all switches, and can leverage both structured and unstructured data in any format from any source. For example, the Symmetrics solution allows for the aggregation and analysis of data from custom-built applications, customer relationship management systems, human resource management systems, omnichannel routing systems, voice analysis solutions, and workforce management solutions.

Speaking of workforce management solutions, that is the product category for which Calabrio is probably best know. The Calabrio ONE solution includes call recording, comprehensive analytics, quality management, and a workforce optimization suite.

In an interview with me last week, Calabrio President and CEO Tom Goodmanson said the company has been working with Symmetrics for several years. The acquisition of the Vancouver, Canada-based company, he added, is a natural fit for where Calabrio is going with analytics. It lets Calabrio soup up the front end, he said, and provide customers with ease of use by putting reporting in the end users hands and delivering information in real time.

Placing the user at the center of the product experience always has been our priority, and that includes leveraging data in a way that has a direct, positive impact on the customer and employee, Goodmanson said in a statement the company issued today. This acquisition directly aligns with that approach. Symmetrics has delivered a cloud-based, visual reporting platform that makes customer data impactful for the entire organization. We're thrilled to welcome this talented group to the Calabrio team and look forward to introducing customers to this unrivaled reporting and analytics solution.

The deal also enables Calabrio to establish a center of excellence for customer and employee engagement in Vancouver. Richard McElroy, former president and COO at Symmetrics, will lead that center, which will be staffed by a combination of former Symmetrics employees and existing Calabrio staff.

Edited by Alicia Young
A steel panel with the new anti-corrosion treatment, after being exposed to hundreds of hours of salt spray, and showing virtually no signs of corrosion

Laser scans of the steelmaking vessel acquired during production identified a weak link near the bottom blowing elements. Remedying this will improve efficiency and quality.

Two steel research projects led by Swansea University -- a better way to tackle corrosion, and more efficient use of furnaces -- are on a list of only eleven awards, across all subjects and the whole UK, by the Royal Society, one of the world's most prestigious scientific organisations.

The awards are to help turn research into real products; as the Royal Society puts it, "from labs to riches". The idea is to help researchers develop a proven novel concept or prototype into products that are almost ready for the market.

Swansea University joins Cambridge, Imperial College London and Warwick University as a recipient of two awards. However, Swansea University was the only institution to receive awards for its work on steel.

The awards underline Swansea's status as the home of innovation for the UK steel industry. The City Deal for Swansea Bay, recently announced on the Swansea University campus by Prime Minister Theresa May, includes funding for a UK steel science centre.

Swansea's winning projects in the Royal Society Awards are:

A smarter, safer way to beat corrosion: Corrosion inhibitors are commonly used in construction, aircraft and cars. However the inhibitor used most widely -- hexavalent chromate -- is to be banned from 2019 due to environmental and health concerns. The Swansea team discovered a material and manufacturing process for a smart release coating which has lower environmental impact and outperforms hexavalent chromate in laboratory tests. It lasts 12 times as long in delaying corrosion and makes testing 20 times as fast. Award: 30,000: Professor Geraint Williams, Dr Patrick Dodds, College of Engineering

Making furnaces more efficient with new stirring techniques: researchers reviewed the stirring method used for liquid steel at the Port Talbot site. Argon gas is blown into the 300 tonne steel melt using metal elements called tuyeres. By analysing these after they were removed from service, and laser scanning the steelmaking vessel, the team identified points of weakness. They devised a new design, now patented by the University, which is set to improve efficiency and product quality. Award: 50,000: Dr Cameron Pleydell-Pearce, Mr Szymon Kubal, College of Engineering, with Dr Albert Wraith (Newcastle University)

The entries were co-ordinated by Dr Adrian Walters of the College of Engineering.

The awards are the latest accolades for Swansea's steel researchers. From greener buildings that generate their own energy, to lighter steel for a new generation of cars, they are using steel to develop tomorrow's technologies. Situated in the heartland of British steel, only a few miles from the Port Talbot plant, Swansea University's record of innovation is built on strong links with the industry.

Swansea University Vice Chancellor Professor Richard B Davies said:

"To win two Royal Society awards for our steel research is a magnificent achievement. It is further proof that Swansea is the natural home for innovation in the UK steel industry.

Innovation is the bedrock of the 21st century steel industry. Ever since Swansea University was founded to meet the needs of the metal industry, it has been at the forefront of innovation. That remains the case today, as these awards illustrate.

We have a wealth of expertise and talent, and a rich network of partnerships with the industry. All this is being mobilised to help the UK become a world leader in steel."

Dr Hermann Hauser KBE FREng FRS, science entrepreneur and co-chair of the Royal Society's Science, Industry and Translation Committee, said,

"These awards support some of the very best, innovative researchers in UK universities to increase their chances of entrepreneurial success. The process of translating research from academia into commercially viable products can be challenging and we are proud to help bridge the journey for researchers."

Describing the follow-up to the work on steel stirring, Dr Cameron Pleydell-Pearce of Swansea University said:

"We have now devised a new product which is expected to make a significant improvement to steelmaking efficiency and product quality. The potential market for this product alone is in excess of 12M Pa, though it is anticipated that this technology could be rolled out to a wider range of potential high temperature stirring applications."

Describing the work on corrosion, Professor Geraint Williams, team leader and corrosion expert at Swansea University, said:

"This is a significant breakthrough, showing a smarter and safer way of reducing corrosion. The new product is environmentally sound, economical and outperforms the market leader in laboratory tests. It illustrates that Swansea, with its close links between research and industry, remains at the heart of innovation in steel"

Dr Patrick Dodds of Tata Steel and the College of Engineering at Swansea University, added:

"The system has been shown to prevent the onset of corrosion for over 24 hours compared to less than 2 hours for the current market leader. We have also been able to demonstrate that the rate of corrosion can be slowed down significantly once it has started. This is by far the best result seen in 15 years of research on this topic."
Scientists have discovered a group of materials which could pave the way for a new generation of high-efficiency lighting, solving a quandary which has inhibited the performance of display technology for decades. The development of energy saving concepts in display and lighting applications is a major focus of research, since a fifth of the world's electricity is used for generating light.

The team, from the University of Cambridge, the University of East Anglia and the University of Eastern Finland, describes how it developed a new type of material that uses rotatable molecules to emit light faster than has ever been achieved before. It could lead to televisions, smart-phone displays and room lights which are more power-efficient, brighter and longer lasting than those currently on the market.

Corresponding author, Dr Dan Credgington, of the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, says: "It's amazing that the very first demonstration of this new kind of material already beats the performance of technologies which have taken decades to develop. If the effect we have discovered can be harnessed across the spectrum, it could change the way we generate light."

Molecular materials are the driving force behind modern organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Invented in the 1980s, these devices emit light when electricity is applied to the organic (carbon based) molecules in them. OLED lighting is now widely used in televisions, computers and mobile phones. However it has to overcome a fundamental issue which has limited efficiency when it comes to converting electrical energy into light.

Passing an electric current through these molecules puts them into an excited state, but only 25% of these are 'bright' states that can emit light rapidly. The remaining 75% are 'dark' states that usually waste their energy as heat limiting the efficiency of the OLED device. This mode of operation produces more heat than light just like in an old fashioned filament light bulb. The underlying reason is a quantum property called 'spin' and the dark states have the wrong type.

One approach to tackle this problem is to use rare elements, such as iridium, which help the dark states to emit light by allowing them to change their spin. The problem is this process takes too long, so the energy tied up in the dark states can build up to damaging levels and make the OLED unstable. This effect is such a problem for blue emitting materials (blue light has the highest energy of all the colours) that, in practice, the approach can't be used.

Chemists at the University of East Anglia have now developed a new type of material where two different organic molecules are joined together by an atom of copper or gold. The resulting structure looks a bit like a propeller. The compounds, which can be made by a simple one-pot procedure from readily available materials, were found to be surprisingly luminescent. By rotating their "propeller", dark states formed on these materials become twisted, which allows them to change their spin quickly. The process significantly increases the rate at which electrical energy is converted into light achieving an efficiency of almost 100% and preventing the damaging build-up of dark states.

Dr Dawei Di and Dr Le Yang, from Cambridge, were co-lead authors, along with Dr Alexander Romanov, from the UEA. He says:

"Our discovery that simple compounds of copper and gold can be used as bright and efficient materials for OLEDs demonstrates how chemistry can bring tangible benefits to society. All previous attempts to build OLEDs based on these metals have led to only mediocre success. The problem is that those materials required the sophisticated organic molecules to be bound with copper but has not met industrial standards. Our results address an on-going research and development challenge which can bring affordable high-tech OLED products to every home."

Computational modelling played a major role in uncovering this novel way of harnessing intramolecular twisting motions for energy conversion.

Professor Mikko Linnolahti, of the University of Eastern Finland, where this was done, comments:

"This work forms the case study for how we can explain the principles behind the functioning of these new materials and their application in OLEDS."

The next step is to design new molecules that take full advantage of this mechanism, with the ultimate goal of removing the need for rare elements entirely. This would solve the longest standing problem in the field - how to make OLEDs without having to trade-off between efficiency and stability.

Co-lead author, Dr Dawei Di, of the Cavendish Laboratory, says:

"Our work shows that excited-state spin and molecular motion can work together to strongly impact the performance of OLEDs. This is an excellent demonstration of how quantum mechanics, an important branch of fundamental science, can have direct consequences for a commercial application which has a massive global market."








The Prison Service parole board recommended on Monday that a rabbi serving a prison term for a sexual assault conviction be granted an early release, months after being jailed following an international manhunt.





Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 80, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November after being convicted of two counts of indecent acts and one case of assault as part of a plea deal.





His 2016 capture in South Africa followed years of authorities trying to bring him to justice after he fled Israel in 2013.





Under the conditions of his early release, Berland would remain under house arrest at a hotel adjacent to Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center and be under constant surveillance until October 2017, the parole board decided.





He would also be required to fulfill all of the conditions agreed upon with the Parole Board and attend follow up meetings as part of his release, as well as pay for the mandated constant security presence.





According to Channel 10, Berland is suffering from numerous cancerous growths.





The Parole Board did not specify at which Hadassah campus in Jerusalem Berland would be treated.





Despite the Parole Board's recommendation to reduce Berland's sentence from 18 months to a year and grant him an early conditional release, the State Prosecutor's Office requested a delay of Berland's release, as it remains strongly opposed to the decision and is expected to appeal, the Haaretz daily reported.





Considered a cult-like leader to thousands of his followers from the Bratslav Hasidic sect, Berland fled Israel in 2013 amid allegations that he molested two female followers, one of them a minor.





He was on the run from authorities until 2016, eluding several Israeli attempts to extradite him. He moved between Zimbabwe, Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa, accompanied by a group of devout followers numbering around 40 families.





According to the indictment, Berland would often receive people in his homes in Jerusalem and in Beitar Illit and held private meetings intended for spiritual guidance, counseling or benedictions. The rabbi would sometimes take advantage of the meetings and of his position in the community to commit sexual acts with women, including minors.





Berland, founder of the Shuvu Bonim religious seminary in Israel, had also been accused of instructing two of his disciples to hurt anyone who tried to expose his actions.





Days after his July 2016 return and subsequent arrest in Israel, Channel 2 aired a recording, allegedly of Berland admitting to rape. Berland's attorney denied that the voice on the recording was Berland's, saying his enemies were trying to hurt him.





In the summer of 2015, prior to a move to South Africa, Berland fought his extradition from the Netherlands on the grounds that the alleged assaults happened in the West Bank and that Israel does not have jurisdiction there.
Workers package cookies at Matt's Cookies in Wheeling. A new nonprofit, the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network,opes to establish the city's reputation as the Silicon Valley of the food and beverage industry by partnering with local businesses to address regional concerns. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

A new Chicago nonprofit hopes to establish the city's reputation as the Silicon Valley of the food and beverage industry by partnering with local businesses to address regional concerns.

The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network, backed by World Business Chicago and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, launched Tuesday at a Kendall College event. Though it's just getting started, the group intends to secure funding for a new food manufacturing institute to train workers, said Alan Reed, executive director for the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network.

Advertisement

The Chicago area, home to giants of the food and beverage industry like Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International, Beam Suntory and MillerCoors, also boasts a growing number of small and midsized food companies, Reed said. Working together to develop the workforce would benefit all, he said.

Ultimately, the network could be a catalyst for decent-paying jobs in economically depressed Chicago neighborhoods, he said. But first, the nonprofit has to convince food and beverage companies, some of whom are competitors, to work together.

Advertisement

"Everyone loves the idea but says, 'I'm not sure who's in charge of that in our company.' ... It's going to take a minute to bring all the parties together," Reed said.

With regards to the proposed manufacturing institute, the nonprofit is seeking foundation funding to help develop the concept before trying to partner with businesses, he said. The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network is teaming up with Instituto del Progreso Latino on that effort.

Such an institute could train workers new to the industry, as well as providing midcareer training on new technology and skills, Reed said.

More generally, the network hopes to convene and collaborate with food and beverage businesses on workforce development, food safety and business services. The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network received initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

gtrotter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
Last summer, Tronc sold Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, right, a 12.9 percent stake in the company for $70.5 million, a move that shored up support for a plan by Tronc Chairman Michael Ferro, left, to keep the company independent. (Michael Stewart / FilmMagic; Danny Moloshok / AP)

In the latest flare-up between the two top investors in the Chicago Tribune's parent company, Tronc Inc. has accused Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong of demanding an investment in his own company before he agreed to buy millions of shares in the newspaper publisher last year.

The allegation by an attorney for Tronc, contained in a letter filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, marks an escalation in the battle between Tronc Chairman Michael Ferro and Soon-Shiong.

Advertisement

Soon-Shiong declined to comment on the letter. Charles Kim, legal counsel for Soon-Shiong's company, called Tronc's allegation a "complete fabrication."

Last summer, Tronc sold Soon-Shiong a 12.9 percent stake in the company for $70.5 million, a move that shored up support for Ferro's plan to keep the company independent rather than sell to Gannett Co. The deal made Soon-Shiong the company's second-largest shareholder after Ferro and gave him a seat on the board.

Advertisement

But any amity between the two seems to have crumbled.

In a March 27 letter sent to the company, Soon-Shiong argued that Tronc had made several moves adverse to shareholders and that serve only to entrench the current board and management. He also demanded that Tronc allow him to boost his stake in the company  which now stands at 26.7 percent  to 30 percent, something Ferro has been allowed to do.

In the response letter filed Monday, Tronc attorney Yosef Riemer said the board was expected to consider Soon-Shiong's request at an upcoming meeting.

Riemer portrayed Ferro as a long-term shareholder whose interests in Tronc "are aligned with, and supportive of, the best interests of the stockholders as a whole." He characterized Soon-Shiong as a self-interested investor trying to steer Tronc's cash into his own enterprises.

Riemer wrote that Soon-Shiong, before agreeing to invest in Tronc last May, tried to get the company's board to approve an investment by Tronc in NantHealth, a Soon-Shiong-controlled biotech company that went public in June.

When the board declined, according to Riemer, Soon-Shiong approached Ferro and his investment firm, Merrick Ventures.

"The implicit threat was that, if Merrick did not invest in NantHealth, Dr. Soon-Shiong would not invest in Tronc," Riemer wrote. "Mr. Ferro ... told the board that Merrick would make the requested $10 million investment in NantHealth so that Tronc did not have to."

Riemer concluded by saying: "I understand that since its IPO, NantHealth's stock price has declined by approximately 66 percent."

Advertisement

NantHealth shares priced at $14 apiece in the June 2016 public offering but closed Monday at $5.31, a decline of about 62 percent.

Riemer said he would respond separately to Soon-Shiong's demand for corporate records and other documents. Such a request could be a prelude to legal action.

james.koren@latimes.com

Follow me: @jrkoren
The logo of Fast Food restaurant McDonald's is pictured in Herzogenaurach, Germany, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. (Matthias Schrader / AP)

McDonald's was accused of forcing franchisees in France, Germany and Italy to charge more in their restaurants than the company charges in stores it operates directly.

Antitrust complaints were filed Tuesday in those European nations, alleging that McDonald's abused its market power to harm franchisees and customers, said Indecosa-CGT, a consumer organization affiliated with a French trade union. The group estimated the excessive pricing practices by McDonald's French franchisees cost consumers an extra 232 million euros ($247.2 million) in 2015.

Advertisement

McDonald's is "forcing customers of its franchised restaurants to bear unjustifiable price increases," Martine Sellier, the association's president, said by email.

Terri Hickey, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, said the company invests heavily in programs to help franchisees succeed. "McDonald's and our franchisees operate in a highly competitive marketplace, and our franchisees set their own menu prices," she said by email.

Advertisement

McDonald's shares declined by 0.3 percent to $129.26 at 1:10 p.m. in New York.

The criticisms add to McDonald's woes on the continent. The company is under investigation by French authorities over an alleged strategy of shifting revenue to Luxembourg and Switzerland to avoid taxes. McDonald's could also face a hefty tax recovery bill as European Union regulators put the final touches on a decision in a parallel case.

Last year, a coalition of Italian consumer organizations and European and U.S. trade unions urged the European Union to rein in alleged antitrust abuses by the world's largest restaurant chain. The complaint was later withdrawn, the European Union said on Tuesday.

--Bloomberg contributors: Leslie Patton and Aoife White
The 28-story tower at 200 W. Jackson Blvd. in Chicago's Loop features a new fitness center, part of a major upgrade to the property. The tower will host TV ratings and analytics firm Nielsen, which already leases offices in the building but is expanding its space and moving in all of its Chicago-area workers. (James Steinkamp / White Oak Realty Partners)

TV ratings and data analytics firm Nielsen plans to move all of its Chicago-area workers to one large space in the Loop, becoming the latest company to shift a large number of jobs downtown from the suburbs.

The Nielsen Co. has leased 215,000 square feet in the 28-story tower at 200 W. Jackson Blvd., the company and the building's owner said.

Advertisement

Nielsen confirmed plans to consolidate all its Chicago-area employees into one office, but did not say how many workers it has in the area.

Typically, a 215,000-square-foot space could accommodate more than 800 employees.

Advertisement

"As a standard practice, we regularly review our real estate and facilities needs to ensure that they align with the needs of our business," Nielsen said in an emailed statement. "We recently entered into an agreement to expand our downtown Chicago offices to house all of our Chicagoland associates in a single location. As a company with deep roots in the Chicago community for more than 90 years, we view this move as win-win. Not only does it provide more opportunities for collaboration and increased operational efficiencies, it also streamlines costs by consolidating our offices from multiple locations into a single downtown Chicago hub."

The company is leaving a large office in Schaumburg, where it leases about 190,000 square feet, and smaller offices in Evanston, West Dundee and Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood.

Nielsen is already a tenant at 200 W. Jackson, leasing about 71,000 square feet on four floors, according to Tom Saletta, a principal at building owner White Oak Realty Partners. Nielsen signed a new long-term lease in which it will add another eight floors, increasing its space to about 215,000 square feet, Saletta said.

The new deal includes naming rights and signage atop the building and in the lobby, Saletta said. Nielsen will occupy about 45 percent of the building after the moves are completed.

In moving workers from the suburbs, Nielsen is continuing a trend of urban migration among many well-known companies.

McDonald's, Motorola Mobility, Kraft Heinz, Hillshire Brands and Motorola Solutions are among the corporations that have signed deals to move their headquarters downtown from Chicago's suburbs in recent years. Other companies based in the suburbs have created secondary offices downtown, citing some of the same reasons  company branding, access to younger employees and proximity to public transportation.

Nielsen, best known for television ratings, also measures and analyzes data on sales of consumer products. Nielsen's services also include advertising and media planning. The company was formerly known as ACNielsen.

Nielsen's U.S. headquarters are in New York. Parent company Nielsen Holdings is based in England.

Advertisement

Chicago-based White Oak and New York-based investment partner Angelo Gordon & Co. bought the building on Jackson for more than $73 million in 2015. They bought the building with the knowledge that online lender Enova International was set to leave more than 150,000 square feet, moving to a building across the street.

Knowing they would have a big hole to fill, White Oak and Angelo Gordon made major upgrades to the building, including a lobby overhaul and creating a lounge and fitness and conference centers.

The building is now more than 80 percent leased, and is expected to be more than 90 percent leased by the end of 2017, Saletta said.

"We were in constant communication over the last year and a half," Saletta said. "We were fortunate that the timing of them deciding their future coincided with us finishing the renovations and improving the quality of the building."

rori@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Ryan_Ori
Trunk Club plans to hire 80 people for its Chicago headquarters, a move that will offset some of the 250 jobs that will be lost when it closes its Goose Island distribution center. (Handout)

Trunk Club plans to hire 80 people for its Chicago headquarters, a move that will offset some of the 250 jobs that will be lost when it closes its Goose Island distribution center.

The personal styling service has been trying to move past a rough patch. In November, parent company Nordstrom wrote down Trunk Club's value by more than half the $350 million Nordstrom paid to buy it in 2014, saying Trunk Club's performance had fallen short of expectations. Trunk Club founder and CEO Brian Spaly left the company in January.

Advertisement

Trunk Club said it now needs a hiring push to keep up with growing demand for styling services, particularly from customers who shop from trunks of apparel shipped to their homes.

Stylists currently split their time between advising customers who shop in-person at bricks-and-mortar "clubhouses," including one at its headquarters in the River North neighborhood, and assembling trunks with a mix of items picked for customers who prefer to try them at home or don't live near a store.

Advertisement

Trunk Club also is planning to hire 50 employees for a similar role in Dallas. That will bring the company's total headcount to more than 1,000 employees, not including workers in the distribution center expected to close this summer.

One qualification not required in Trunk Club's job notice for the new stylists? A background in fashion.

The company uses a mix of technology and in-house training to get employees up to speed on styling, said spokesman Kyle Donash said. Because the new employees will be working with customers via phone, web chat or email, Trunk Club wants people with a background in customer service and solid communications skills.

"We really want to make sure those customers get responses quickly and have a great experience," Donash said. "When it comes to the styling aspect, that's something we can teach."

lzumbach@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @laurenzumbach
In a community association, figuring out who's responsible for replacing windows, garage doors and roofs can be complicated. Associations usually maintain common elements and owners usually are responsible for limited common elements, which are those that serve one particular unit. (iStock)

In the best of times, boards, managers and owners work together to create stable, harmonious community associations. Each group has specific tasks defined by contract or governing document. Curious about who's on the hook for what? Here's a breakdown of the division of labor.

Whose job is it to elect the board? Unit owners elect the board at an annual meeting of the membership.

Advertisement

"One person per unit is allowed to vote, and that person has to be on the title," said Jim Stoller, president and CEO at The Building Group, a property management company in Chicago.

"The board and management have a responsibility to make sure election procedures are properly followed," said association attorney Michael Kim, of Chicago.

Advertisement

Board members elect their own officers  such as the president  said Andrea Sorgani, president at RealManage Illinois in Schaumburg.

Create the budget? Michele Trina, director of suburban operations at Lieberman Management Services, which has locations in Chicago and Elk Grove Village, explained: The budget draft is prepared by the management company, as it is aware of the contract pricing and terms as well as the association trends and reserve study recommendations. The draft budget typically is distributed to the board for review.

"However, sometimes it is given to the finance committee for review and recommendations prior to being given to the board," she said. "The board has final approval."

Prioritize repairs and improvements? Both board members and management can make recommendations as to which projects should be tackled and when.

"Many associations even reach out for unit owner input or have a building and grounds committee which can submit recommendations," Stoller said. "Ultimately the board makes the decision where money will be spent."

"Oftentimes, there is a cap amount that the management is authorized to spend on any repair," Sorgani said. "If the cap is to be exceeded, it is up to the board to make the decision."

Hire contractors? "Hiring decisions are board decisions," Kim said. " Sometimes boards may delegate that function to a manager or even a board member for minor items."

For larger projects like wood and concrete replacement, management often assists by vetting contractors, requesting bids and preparing comparisons for the board to review, Sorgani said.

Advertisement

Make a new rule? The adoption of rules is a board function, provided they follow the requirements of their governing documents, Sorgani said.

But when it comes to amending the declaration, a supermajority  usually two-thirds or three-quarters of unit owners  must vote to approve changes.

"The standard is higher for amending the declaration than for changing the rules," Stoller said.

Replace garage doors, windows and roofs? It's complicated. Governing documents typically itemize common elements and limited common elements, which are those that serve one particular unit. Associations usually are responsible for maintaining, repairing and replacing common elements, and owners usually are responsible for their limited common elements.

"Declarations vary widely," Kim said. "Some declarations are simplistic. They say everything except the air space within the unit is the association's responsibility and they fix everything. Others are very detailed, and say windows and doors are the owner's responsibility."

Associations often maintain limited common elements and charge the cost back to the owner, he added.

Advertisement

"We find the process to be much easier when the association takes responsibility," Stoller said. "We can get better prices for the whole association, and the work is done in a more organized manner. There are a few buildings in Chicago where the windows don't match because the unit owners were individually responsible for them."

Pick up dog poop? Owners should clean up after their pets. If they don't, they can be fined.

"Some associations are doing DNA testing on dog poop, and they will find the dog owner," Stoller said. "Many have cameras around, and they find someone not picking up after their dog."

pmckuen@aol.com







Watch our latest Real Estate videos.
Amari, those bitter, Italian-style digestivi, are quite the rage behind the bar, and all the fruits and vegetables with a bitter side are getting to show their stuff. We've seen rhubarb, arugula, sour orange and cardoons in the mix along with the typical herbs, barks and roots that add their depth and richness to these macerated spirits.

Now comes the artichoke  the bitter, beautiful thistle with a tough exterior and a tender heart. A longtime favorite in Italy, amaro made from artichokes (or carciofi in Italian) has recently gained popularity in the States. The most common artichoke liqueur is the classic Italian brand, Cynar, which is experiencing a surge of popularity in bars, both as cocktail ingredient and as cocktail star. The Cynar Julep at Ronero, packed with fresh mint and hand-crushed ice, showcases Cynar's bittersweet self in a refreshing spring appearance.

Advertisement

Less sweet then Cynar, the new C3 Carciofo, a domestic version from Washington, D.C., distillery Don Ciccio & Figli, shows how deep and savory an artichoke liqueur can go. Like all of founder/distiller Francesco Amodeo's handcrafted creations, it is complex, Old World and unique in flavor.

Amodeo, known for his small batch Italian-style spirits based on family recipes, infuses his C3 with a blend of three types of artichokes, grapefruit and 18 botanicals. It is then barrel-aged for a full year. "My (distiller) grandfather Giovanni gave me the 18 botanicals blend recipe," says Amodeo. "He said to me, 'You have to make sure that your artichoke aperitivo will taste like it has been made in 1950.' Since he tasted the first Cynar bottles made around that time, he wanted me to be able to create a product that reminded him of the original."

Advertisement

I recently tried it as a one-to-one substitute for Campari in my negroni recipe, and the Artichoke Negroni earned an immediate top spot in my cocktail rotation. Lee Zaremba, formerly general manager and head bartender at Chicago's Billy Sunday, (which, by the way, holds the largest collection of vintage amari outside of Italy) adores the new liqueur and created the cocktail, A Loss for Words, to "showcase its interesting attributes." It's a dry, boozy, bitter affair, which allows this powerful amaro to be highlighted by the richness of malted bourbon and the herbs and spices in the genever and fenugreek syrup.

When I asked Zaremba how he named his cocktail, he said, "it's hard to describe, I like that about it." Imagine the first person who tried to describe an artichoke.

Lisa Futterman is a freelance writer.

Francesco Amodeo's grandfather told him to make sure his artichoke liqueur Carciofo C3 tasted like the original Cynar did in the 1950s. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

A Loss for Words

Prep: 5 minutes

Makes: 1 drink

Lee Zaremba created this drink to showcase C3 Carciofo. He makes his own bitters and fenugreek syrup, but you can sub with any herbaceous bitters and use plain simple syrup, or make your own fenugreek syrup.

1 ounce bourbon

Advertisement

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

 ounce genever

 ounce C3 Carciofo

 ounce fenugreek gomme or simple syrup, see note

1 dash angelica root bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice; stir. Strain into a rocks glass over ice (preferably 1 giant cube). Serve with an orange twist.

Note: For fenugreek syrup, cook 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon whole fenugreek seeds, toasted, in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Simmer a few minutes. Then cool before using. You can also omit the fenugreek.

Advertisement

This story has been updated.






Flutist Nicole Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble will play the world premiere of a commissioned work with Malian musicians Ballake Sissoko, Fassery Diabate and Fatim Kouyate on Sept. 23 in Chicago. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

For years, the genre-bending flutist Nicole Mitchell has dreamed of collaborating with musicians from Mali.

The mystical sounds of the balafon and kora  akin to the marimba and harp  caught her ear when she was a student at Oberlin Conservatory in the late 1980s, even before she became a leading Chicago instrumentalist-bandleader in the 1990s.

Advertisement

After she left the city in 2011 to teach at the University of California at Irvine, she hoped to overcome formidable obstacles of geography, funding and genre to play with Malian counterparts.

Come September, Mitchell's long-delayed aspirations will be realized in Chicago, thanks to a unique convergence of support from the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, World Music Festival Chicago, Ravinia Festival and MacArthur Foundation.

Advertisement

On Sept. 23, Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble will play the world premiere of commissioned work with kora master Ballake Sissoko and colleagues Fassery Diabate on balafon and Fatim Kouyate on vocals. They'll present two performances of "Bamako*Chicago Sound System" at the University of Chicago's Logan Center, co-sponsored by the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and the World Music Festival.

In the days leading up to the concerts, Mitchell and her Malian colleagues will take their music and life stories to the Chicago public schools, offering students a window into a culture far removed from their own.

"Cultural exchange at this moment, particularly with international artists, is important, as we all try to remember how big the world is," says Kate Dumbleton, executive and artistic director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.

Having run into the flutist at Chicago cellist Tomeka Reid's Chicago Jazz String Summit last May, Dumbleton recognized Mitchell's enthusiasm for the Mali project and recalled receiving requests-for-proposals from the MacArthur Foundation for international exchanges.

MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR

"We had literally like two days to put together the whole proposal, because the deadline was coming," says Dumbleton.

"We scrambled like crazy. I hit the send button one minute before the deadline.  We were totally shocked when we were invited to do the project."

The invitation came with a $35,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, though that was just the beginning of Dumbleton's and Mitchell's work in fundraising and event planning.

Advertisement

"One of the major challenges is that the visas application process is really so complex now and fraught," says Dumbleton.

"You have to account for every single day that everyone's here. The planning process is expedited beyond belief. To try to raise all the funds necessary to do every aspect of the project, and to do it nine months out, to be sure we have the visas, is really challenging."

Nonetheless, Mitchell and Dumbleton are not easily deterred and command deep support in the Chicago cultural community.

When they took the idea to the World Music Festival, they were welcomed.

"Kate is very open-minded and progressive in her bookings, and I think she saw what we saw in Nicole: She's an artist in the jazz tradition, but she's in no way bound by that," says Carlos Tortolero, who directs the World Music Festival with David Chavez.

"Ballake Sissoko is not a lightweight," continues Tortolero. "He's a monster figure in the kora music world and Malian music."

Advertisement

As for Mitchell's previous challenges in finding adequate support for this venture, "The purists that dominate the jazz bookings scene, they don't look at these projects as jazz projects, which they are," says Tortolero.

But performance was just one facet of Mitchell's vision. She also was determined to bring this cross-genre music to kids in the classroom.

"I spent almost a decade working in Chicago's public schools as a teaching artist, and I know how so many of the schools on the South and West sides of Chicago don't have the resources they should have," says Mitchell in an email, amid her international travels.

"But music can be life-changing. It saved my life when I was a youth. For some of these youths to have the opportunity to meet Ballake and his friends and to hear their music is something that could be life-changing.  They could see that there is something else, something beautiful, something they are connected to."

To launch this facet of the project, Mitchell and Dumbleton contacted the Ravinia Festival, which long has championed its Guest Artists in the Classroom program.

"We want to bring live music performance to the kids in an intimate setting in a way that's going to spark their interest in music and their passion for music," says Christine Taylor, director of Ravinia's Reach Teach Play Education Programs.

Advertisement

"Guest Artists in the Classroom is music in its purest form, in an intimate setting in the school, usually in the multipurpose room or library, so kids can sit right around the musicians and ask a ton of questions.  The main thing is that the kids walk away from that experience just wanting to have a new relationship with music.

"If it's a relationship that continues with Ravinia, that's fantastic. If they want to reach out to musicians, if they want to study more about Mali  anything they want to do to deepen their relationship with music, that's our goal."

And what is Mitchell's goal?

"I hope we can create music that is a true dialogue between Bamako and Chicago," she says, citing both the Malian capital and the city where she launched her career and has performed steadily despite moving west.

"I know we're not doing something new, that many great jazz musicians have already paved the way for this idea. I'll be happy if  when people hear the music  they recognize sounds of Bamako intertwined with sounds of Chicago.

"What would kora and balafon sound like, embracing the musical unknown? Black Earth Ensemble, as a group, is a descendant of the Chicago AACM's creative music legacy," she adds, referencing the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Advertisement

"I hope it really sounds like black music, ancient to future, but in its own original way."

Plus there's Mitchell's other objective: making human contact across oceans.

"I think it's important that we keep our doors and hearts open to people around the world," she says, "especially now."

Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.

hreich@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @howardreich

Advertisement

RELATED STORIES:

It's time for the Last Waltz, again

From Tony to Chick to Ramsey, a jazzy summer at Ravinia

Chicano Batman rocks, in addition to having the best name in rock







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Phillipa Soo has the title role and Adam Chanler-Berat plays her love interest in the Broadway musical Amelie at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. (Joan Marcus photo)

NEW YORK  To make a cinephile smile, merely mention "Amelie." Who can recall the French film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the one in which Audrey Tautou stars as a young woman who overcomes her own enfance triste to become a minister of happiness to emotionally needy Parisians of all quirky stripes, without warmth rushing into your heart? Certainly not moi.

Alas, the attempt to turn this film into a Broadway musical starring the original "Hamilton" star Phillipa Soo  it opened Monday night in a deeply disappointing production at the Walter Kerr Theatre  rests on several erroneous assumptions.

Advertisement

The first is the notion that organically grown whimsy easily is subject to the replication of brand extension, when experience actually teaches us that dancing on the tightrope stretched between quirk and charm is hard enough the first time around. And nothing, but nothing, is more temporally bound.

Once you've made it across  as Jeunet and Tautou certainly did in 2001  a return trip by different personages in a different medium at a different time tempts folly. Especially if the new adventurers  the book to the musical is by Craig Lucas, the music is by Daniel Messe and lyrics are by Messe and Nathan Tysen  have not settled on a workable metaphor for a fresh medium and moment.

Advertisement

That truth surely explains why it's so painful to watch the very determined Soo, who is both an exceptionally capable actor and completely miscast here, trying to replicate what surely was a one-time discovery, inextricably linked to a very different, much more vulnerable actress. If you watch the film "Amelie," you'll see it was filled with risk-taking and suffused with a veritable explosion of ideas  aesthetic, formative, emotional, philosophical. There were many reasons why it should not have worked, but work it did. In that moment. In that form.

The director, Pam MacKinnon, needed to help Soo find a completely different path, but then there's not a lot of evidence here of a viably engaging theatrical path for this show overall, never mind one that Soo could herself take in its most crucial performance.

I suspect the magnificent musical "Once"  which features a similarly philanthropic and redemptive central character and did indeed create a charming, whimsical musical from a charming, whimsical movie  was dancing in everyone's heads here (Its keyboard-and-strings mode certainly suffuses the score.) And understandably so. But "Once" became a cross-platform hit by jettisoning the cinematic for the overtly theatrical, by invoking the style and substance of classical transcendence and by exploiting what it means to be alive and in love.

"Amelie" manages none of that. It's both afeared of the movie, trying to break away without quite knowing how, and ever more trapped within its memory.

The design, by David Zinn, lurches uneasily from techno-savvy to the hand-drawn, from the personally esoteric to the urbanely epic and from the curvy and ephemeral to the neon-fused emblematic. You never feel like you really belong anywhere specific  we're not in a clearly theatrical environment, we don't really feel like we're in Amelie's subconscious (which would be a fine place to be), and it certainly never feels like we actually are in Paris, which raises the question of why the Parisian setting was retained when nobody makes the slightest effort to be anything approaching, well, French.

This must have been a conscious choice, but it is surely a perplexing one.

Staged in one act, "Amelie" has a small ensemble, filled with skilled veteran players like Harriett D. Foy, Tony Sheldon and Alison Cimmet; Cimmet, who is very funny, is about the one performer who really feels consistently secure in something throughout. Amelie's love interest is played by Adam Chanler-Berat, a charming fellow. But it takes one heck of a guy to be worthy of Amelie, certainly one who seems more open of heart, and thus you don't pull for them to be together. Actually, neither seems to have all that much need for the other.

Such a shame. We all either could use an "Amelie," or at least to figure out how we might be more like her ourselves.

Advertisement

"Amelie" plays at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St.; www.ameliebroadway.com.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib
The U.S. Senate on Monday passed S.89, a bill to amend title 46 by an impressive vote of 85 to 12 bringing the Delta Queen one step closer to restoring overnight passenger service. Bill S.89 will now move to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration. If passed, this legislation will exempt the Delta Queen from the 1966 Safety at Sea Act (P.L. 89-777) which was intended to prohibit wooden cruise ships from carrying U.S. citizens overnight on oceans far from shore. The legendary riverboat, which in 1966 was the only overnight vessel operating on America's inland rivers, has been barred from carrying overnight passengers since an exemption to the 1966 Safety at Sea Act for the vessel lapsed back in 2008.

Congress immediately passed a law following the 1966 Safety at Sea Act exempting the Delta Queen from the law which was approved nine times over the next 40 years. When the last exemption expired in 2008, the then owners failed to secure a renewal and the vessel became a dockside hotel in Chattanooga, from 2009 until 2014. In 2015, new owners bought the vessel with a mission to completely restore the historic icon and restore overnight passenger service.



Even before acquiring the vessel, we have been working with Congress to renew the exemption, said Cornel Martin, president and CEO of The Delta Queen Steamboat Company. The fact that the U.S. Senate would make time in their extremely busy schedule to consider this legislation is a testament to the importance of the Delta Queen to Americas history. This is a truly important step in our voyage to return theDelta Queen to cruising throughout Americas heartland and Deep South.



The Delta Queen is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is classified as a National Historic Landmark and has recently been designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a National Treasure.



The rich history that the Delta Queen will bring to our city perfectly complements our historic destination and will help to develop a greater awareness of Kimmswick, said Mayor Philip D. Stang, City of Kimmswick. We are extremely appreciative of the substantial economic impact the Delta Queen will bring to Kimmswick and to all of the ports along her route.



The vessels return to Americas rivers will initiate millions of dollars in repair work, provide more than 175 permanent jobs aboard the vessel and in the companys corporate headquarters and bring thousands of expected new visitors each year to more than 80 river towns and ports along the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, Kanawha, Illinois and Arkansas Rivers. The Delta Queen has provided overnight cruises safely on America's rivers for more than 80 years.



The Delta Queen is the last chance for us to provide Americans and international visitors alike the opportunity to see our great country from the decks of an authentic 1927 paddlewheel steamboat. Mr. Martin concluded.



In 2013, the House approved similar legislation by an overwhelming vote of 280 to 89. That measure was never voted on in the Senate.



The Delta Queen began service as an overnight passenger vessel in 1927, carrying passengers, cargo and automobiles between Sacramento, Calif. and San Francisco, Calif. After a brief period of service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, the vessel was sold as war surplus to Captain Tom Greene, owner of the Greene Line Steamers of Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1946 to 2008, the Delta Queen operated as an overnight cruise vessel along many of the prominent rivers and waterways running through Americas heartland and Deep South.



For more information, visit www.dqsteamboat.com or follow the Delta Queen Steamboat Company on Facebook.


PAWS Chicago hosted its 11th annual Animal Magnetism event March 24 at Morgan Manufacturing. Nearly 650 guests, many with dogs in tow, enjoyed a night of pet-friendly fun that raised nearly $190,000 to benefit Chicagoland's largest no-kill shelter.

Partygoers browsed a silent auction with packages that included a meet-and-greet with Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein (that sold for $6,100) and enjoyed dance music provided by DJ D Jones, beverage stations and a lavish buffet. Canine guests lapped up their own doggy buffet and relaxed in the spa where they were treated to massages, brush-outs and "paw-dicures." An illustrator was on hand to capture portraits of owners and their pets.

Advertisement

Emcees Jenny Milkowski and Jake Hamilton (Fox 32's "Good Day Chicago" hosts) welcomed guests and introduced co-chairs Jena Gambaccini and Drew Osika. "Since PAWS was founded in 1997, the number of homeless pets killed in Chicago has been reduced by more than 80 percent," Osika said.

PAWS Chicago founder and event chair Paula Fasseas presented the Animal Welfare Leadership Award to Susan Taney, director of Lost Dogs Illinois. Taney's nonprofit reunites lost pets with their families through an all-volunteer program. To date, over 25,000 dogs have been reunited with their owners.

Advertisement

Throughout the evening, PAWS volunteers introduced adoptable dogs and cats to attendees and shared their stories. Farnsworth, a 6-month-old male Siamese kitten, was released onto the street after his family had a baby. Allie, a 4-month-old female Chihuahua, was thrown from a moving vehicle and had her leg in a cast at the event. Both animals were treated at PAWS Medical Center and are doing well.

PAWS Chicago presents its Adoptable Animal Showcase at the 11th annual Animal Magnetism party. (Chicago Tribune)

Laurie Maxwell, PAWS community outreach assistant director, announced efforts by the organization to increase support in at-risk communities. In Englewood, PAWS for Life volunteers and staff go door to door facilitating spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, medical treatment and other services at no cost to pet owners who live there. She said, "Englewood is an animal welfare desert. There are no veterinarians, no groomers and no place to even buy a leash. Where there are people living in poverty, pets are living in poverty as well. However, a lack of resources doesn't mean a lack of love. I've seen people go without food for themselves in order to feed their pets."

In 2016, PAWS Chicago found homes for 5,125 homeless pets through its Lincoln Park and Highland Park adoption centers and performed 17,236 free and low cost spay/neuter surgeries through its Lurie Clinic and GusMobile Spay/Neuter Van.

Freelance writer Candace Jordan is involved with many local organizations, including some whose events she covers.

More coverage

Find more photos and events at www.chicagotribune.com/candidcandace. Visit Candid Candace's website at www.candidcandace.com, or follow her on Twitter @CandidCandace.

RELATED STORIES:

Dwyane Wade fashion show scores for at-risk kids

Garfield Park Conservatory's fashion show blooms for charity

Advertisement

Bear Tie Ball fights pediatric cancer, grants wishes






Malaysia Airlines recently changed my flight times on a trip from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Phuket, Thailand. The airline contacted me and asked me to accept a new flight, but I couldn't. I asked for a refund.

Malaysia Airlines said the refund would take three weeks, but it's been more than three months. Can you help me get my $280 back?

Advertisement

 Alice Bu, Masai, Johor, Malaysia

A: The airline should have refunded your fare promptly. According to section 11.3 of its general conditions of carriage  that's the legal agreement between you and the carrier  you're owed exactly $280.

Advertisement

But the fine print deserves to be reviewed, as it always does. Malaysia Airlines says if it cancels a flight or fails to operate a flight "reasonably according to schedule" and if no portion of your ticket is used, you'll receive a full refund. Virtually every airline has an identical policy, although some carriers will squabble about the definition of "reasonable."

The important question that comes next is: When?

"All refunds will be subject to the laws, rules, regulations and government orders of the country in which the Ticket was originally purchased and of the country in which we make the refund," says the contract. But it doesn't say you'll get your money in three weeks, three months  or three years.

And that's a problem.

See, Malaysia Airlines can take your money in an instant, thanks to the miracle of credit cards. But when it comes to returning it, the airline can take its time, as many airlines do. It is under no obligation to refund you quickly. So it takes its time.

True, sometimes it takes a few extra weeks for the money to show up on your credit card (please don't get me started with "billing cycles"). But even so, you should have had your money a long time ago.

A brief, polite email to Malaysia Airlines might have shaken something loose. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the airline's executive contacts on my consumer-advocacy site: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/malaysia-airlines/. They sometimes have the power to give the accounting department a little push.

I contacted Malaysia Airlines on your behalf. It sent you the promised refund, minus a mysterious $33 service charge and a $22 travel insurance charge. Airlines!

Advertisement

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of "How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler." You can read more travel tips on his blog, www.elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.

RELATED STORIES:

What to do if you lose your passport

Dollar said I was a 'no-show' and took my money

How to turn any hotel room into a sleeping cave, and other travel tips
Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, speaks about the Archdiocese of Chicagos anti-violence initiatives April 4, 2017, at Peace Corner Youth Center in Chicago's South Austin neighborhood. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) ((Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)/Chicago Tribune)

With the blessing and prayers of Pope Francis, Cardinal Blase Cupich on Tuesday pledged a quarter of a million dollars to support grass-roots anti-violence initiatives and announced more parishes would invest in social services and youth programs to reduce poverty and violence throughout the city.

"If we don't do this as a church, we might as well pack up," Cupich said at a news conference at the Peace Corner Youth Center in the South Austin neighborhood, which was founded 15 years ago by a Catholic priest. "This is what we should be doing."

Advertisement

To highlight the priority, Cupich plans to lead a peace walk next week through the violence-plagued neighborhood of Englewood as he prays the annual Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

Francis commended the efforts and offered his condolences to families who have lost loved ones to violence.

Advertisement

"I pray that the people of your beautiful city never lose hope, that they work together to become builders of peace, showing future generations the true power of love," Francis wrote in a letter to the Chicago church.

Cupich pledged to devote about $250,000  half of his discretionary funds  to grass-roots neighborhood and parish initiatives for young people and victims of violence who might not get the attention of large foundations. "Seed money," he called it, for the new Instruments of Peace Fund, a venture philanthropy program to which he hopes to draw more donations.

"It is going to take neighborhood by neighborhood. It's going to take person by person, parish by parish in order for this to happen," said Cupich, who pledged to address the city's cycle of violence when he arrived in Chicago about 2 1/2 years ago. "These people are so overlooked, and yet they're so affected."

The archdiocese's effort to curb violence follows a bloody 2016 in which more than 4,300 people were shot and more than 760 were killed in Chicago, the worst toll in nearly two decades. So far this year, shootings and homicides are down slightly. Through early Tuesday, there have been 142 homicides in the city, according to Chicago police statistics. At least 755 people have been shot this year as of Monday, according to data collected by the Tribune.

The unprecedented plan to stem the violence plaguing Chicago borrows largely from existing programs run by other Catholic groups.

Mentoring programs at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and two programs run by St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood  Strong Futures for at-risk youth and ex-offenders and Peacemakers, in which former gang members mentor young people  will be duplicated in other parishes, Cupich said.

The archdiocese also announced it would rejuvenate the Catholic Youth Organization, a legendary youth sports initiative founded in 1930 to give young people alternatives to crime and unify the city during the Great Depression. "A robust anti-racism component" also will be added to parish-based religious education programs, the archdiocese said.

"Young people cannot reject violence if that's the only thing they have known," said the Rev. Scott Donahue, president of Mercy Home. "They cannot reject violence if retaliation is the only response they have seen, if the gang is the only support system they've experienced in their young lives."

Advertisement

The archdiocese's plan also includes business partnerships. The Austin Bank Corp. has donated a 25,000-square-foot facility for Catholic Charities to provide a food pantry, youth and senior services, and job training and placement, Cupich announced.

"Just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we shouldn't do something," Cupich said. "I think when we hear, for instance, people with hopelessness in their voices, it's time for us to stand up and say: Wait a minute. A lot of good things are happening already. Let's look for a way we can build on that. But it is going to take one person at a time."

Cupich said Pope Francis summoned him for a general meeting when he was in Rome last week, which gave the cardinal a chance to tell him about the anti-violence work the archdiocese planned to launch Tuesday, the 49th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

Francis commended Cupich for heeding the words of his homily on New Year's Day, which the church marks as World Peace Day, and the pontiff insisted on writing a letter to offer his support.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

"As I make my own Way of the Cross in Rome (on Good Friday), I will accompany you in prayer, as well as those who walk with you and who have suffered violence in the city," Francis wrote.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor at St. Sabina, commended the cardinal for rolling up his sleeves and investing time, energy and money to address violence, which he said has not gotten the attention it deserves from previous archbishops.

Advertisement

"I'm glad to have lived long enough to see a pope and a cardinal who are really speaking about people's needs and people's hurts and pains," Pfleger said. "People are dying in this city. People are hurting in this city and feeling abandoned and forgotten."

Cupich emphasized the need for all residents, regardless of neighborhood or religious tradition, to think compassionately about the city's children and create opportunities.

"These kids are not born bad," he said. "They really are kids that don't see a pathway forward. The responsibility is not on them. It's on us."

mbrachear@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TribSeeker
Chicago Public Schools in a court filing this week rejected the State of Illinois' claim that the district can borrow money to avoid an early end to the school year.

But in legal documents filed Monday, the district provided no direct answers on its finances. Instead, CPS said that it may provide sworn testimony on the issues officials say are forcing tough choices such as closing schools about three weeks early and drastically cutting summer school programs.

Advertisement

CPS continued to press a Cook County judge for a preliminary ruling on a lawsuit that contends the state maintains separate and unequal methods of financing teacher pensions. CPS has said it wants a decision by the end of April in order to give schools time to plan for the end of the year.

Parents and school officials have fretted over the district's warning that classes could end as early as June 1 without a preliminary injunction. Attorneys for the state filed their response to the lawsuit last month, outlining their objections to the district's request for a preliminary injunction and asking a judge to dismiss the action.

Advertisement

In its response, CPS said the state offered "no answer to a claim to end discriminatory funding, for the defendants to say that the victim may be able to borrow more money to make up the difference."

"If the State truly questions whether CPS must take drastic actions, including shortening the school year, Plaintiffs are prepared to submit sworn testimony addressing those issues," at a hearing later this month, the district said.

Backing the district in its legal battle are the City Council's Black and Latino caucuses, who joined city religious and business leaders in filing briefs that buttressed the district's arguments.

"We want the judge that hears this case to act quickly, lest we have a draconian result coming at the end of this school year," said the Rev. Leon Finney Jr., who is also head of the not-for-profit Woodlawn Community Development Corp., during a press conference Monday.

"It's important that the judge understand that this is crucial and it's time to act," Finney said.

CPS budget officials have said the district has emptied its once-flush cash reserves and ended the past school year with a negative operating fund balance of $127 million.

The state argues that CPS has provided no evidence to prove it cannot borrow to fill the budget gap that remains despite furlough days and budget cuts ordered in response to the loss of $215 million the district assumed was coming from the state.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

A handful of council members said they're looking at fee increases and transfers from city accounts to help CPS avert an early end to the school year. Aldermen said the council still has to sort out what it is able to do, and they would not say how much how much money the city might come up with.

Advertisement

"We're hoping that we can avoid fee increases, taxes and borrowing  debt," South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, the chairman of the council's Black Caucus, said Monday.

"Those are things that we never want to do, but if we have to, we've got to figure out a way  collectively, I have no individual solution right now  but collaborating with our colleagues here, the City Council, we're going to have to come up with something if the state does not act," Sawyer said.

The Black Caucus filing was prepared by Neal & LeRoy, a firm that has been paid millions of dollars by CPS for legal services in recent years and is owned by former Chicago election board chair Langdon Neal. The Latino Caucus was represented by Franczek Radelet, the firm that's represented CPS in labor negotiations.

"We've got to find the money somewhere," said Ald. George Cardenas, 12th. "This would be temporary, but you'd hate to borrow more money. You cannot close the schools, that's for sure."

jjperez@tribpub.com

Twitter @PerezJr
Rev. Hans Fiene of southwest suburban Channahon wrote a column in The Federalist titled, "Why Men and Women Can Never Be 'Just Friends.'" (Provided by Hans Fiene)

The Pope's prayers for an end to Chicago gun violence made headlines Tuesday  but he wasn't the only clergyman making waves.

Channeling Billy Crystal in "When Harry Met Sally," the Rev. Hans Fiene of southwest suburban Channahon wrote a column in The Federalist titled, "Why Men and Women Can Never Be 'Just Friends.'"

Advertisement

Coming hot on the heels of revelations that devout Christian Vice President Mike Pence will neither dine with women nor attend events where alcohol is served without the presence of his wife, Fiene's column quickly went viral, and not in a good way.

"Accept the truth, ladies," wrote Fiene, who is pastor of River of Life Lutheran Church and is 36 years old. "You don't have any guy friends. You can't have any guy friends. And because America can no longer afford to have its young adults waste their fertile years thinking otherwise, the time has come to tear down the Friend Zone and set free every man trapped within its confines."

Advertisement

Other gems include Fiene's odd analogy of friendship as an "economic good," his warning to women that, "telling him he's like a brother to you won't stop his brain from shouting 'Marry that woman and impregnate her now' when he encounters your femininity," and his suggestion that women can never be as good as men at the things he said men most value in pals: playing video games, avoiding emotional intimacy and behaving like a jackass.

It's fair to say that the internet was not kind to Fiene, who promoted his column by stating that it offered "Economic proof that men and women can't just be friends."

"What a perfect name for someone no women want to [expletive]," wrote popular and prolific tweeter Brandy Jensen  one of many who mocked Fiene.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Fiene, though, said he had been misunderstood. He took a "comic approach" and believed "only about 40% of what I wrote," he told Chicago Inc. While young men who take a keen interest in theology are particularly apt to suffer in the so-called "friend zone," he said, he has been "happily married for nearly 12 years," has three children, and was not writing about himself.

His serious point, he said, was that women who spend a lot of time alone with a man they do not want to marry should "be straightforward" and let the man know "it's not going to happen but here's someone who might be interested."

Critics simply dismissed his ideas because they were published by a conservative web magazine, he added.

The pastor, who has "Lutheran Satire" YouTube and Twitter accounts, said the joke was on mean Twitter critics who cited a photo of him wearing a comedy beard and glasses as evidence that "no women want to hang out with me."

"That picture was actually taken at a community event at the local library, which I attended with my wife and children," he said. So there!

Advertisement

kjanssen@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimjnews
Which Wich is set to open next week at 14934 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. (Bob Bong / Daily Southtown)

A different kind of sandwich shop is set to open next week in Orland Park.

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches is scheduled to open April 10 at 14934 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park's Park Pointe Plaza shopping center.

Advertisement

What makes Which Wich different is its unorthodox ordering system, says owner Vishal Patel.

"Guests use red Sharpies to write their names on preprinted sandwich bags," said Vishal. "They then select a sandwich from one of 10 preprinted menu categories, then choose the bread, cheese, spreads, and toppings."

Advertisement

The shop offers more than 50 different kinds of sandwiches, he said. "The shop's signature sandwich is the Wicked with five kinds of meat and three kinds of cheese."

In addition to customized sandwiches, customers can enjoy hand-dipped shakes, signature house chips, and just-out-of-the-oven cookies. Which Wich locations have newspaper reading stations, free Wi-Fi, and a community wall showcasing the sandwich bag artwork.

After customers have finished their sandwiches, guests are encouraged to draw on their bags using the Sharpies and hang their "artwork" on the community wall.

"We guarantee 100 percent satisfaction," he said. "If the customer is not happy, we will make him another sandwich."

Patel said he settled on Orland Park because his wife knows the area. "She grew up in Oak Forest," he said.

"I was looking for an opportunity and the Orland area has a good mixture of business and people," he said. "With a population of 60,000 and median household income over $88,000, Orland Park offers sophistication and affluence. Orland Park is home to over 11 million square feet of commercial development. We're excited to bring the first Which Wich to Orland Park."

Vishal said he was trained as an engineer and this will be his first restaurant.

He said a family member has a Which Wich franchise in Naperville, where he learned how to run a shop of his own.

Advertisement

The chain sponsors a campaign that will provide a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a community shelter when a customer buys one.

Which Wich was founded in Dallas in late 2003 by restaurant entrepreneur Jeff Sinelli. The national sandwich chain has 400 locations open or in development in 38 states and eight countries.

The Orland location is the first in the south suburbs, but another one by a different franchisee is planned for Mokena, Vishal said.

Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Athens Gyros reopens after crash

Athens Gyros, which was knocked out of business on Jan. 3 when a motorist lost control of her vehicle and crashed into the restaurant's kitchen, reopened this week.

Advertisement

The restaurant came back to life Monday night after repairs and remodeling of the 40-year-old eatery at 3941 Sauk Trail in Richton Park.

"No business ever wants to close its doors like we had to, but it created the opportunity to gut the entire place and create a completely new interior decor, complete with all new kitchen equipment," Peter Kanavos, family patriarch, said in a release. "I think our customers will be impressed by the new look."

Athens' Manager Kostas Kanavos stated in the release, "We'll all be glad to get back to work and I'm sure our customers will be glad to know we're open again. For three months, our Facebook page has been lighting up, with hundreds upon hundreds of people posting and phones have been ringing off the hook; all asking us when we'll be open again."

To welcome back their customers, Kanavos promised that the first 1,000 customers who walk through the new accessible front door to place their orders will receive a $5 gift certificate, which may be on their next meal purchased at the shop between April 10 and April 30.

Athens Gyros is now open for carry-out, delivery and dine-in business. Online ordering is available at www.athensrichton.com.

The business is located on the southeast corner of Sauk Trail and Governors Highway, across from the Richton Park Metra Station. Business hours are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Advertisement

Flower shop moving in Tinley

Classy Flowers has outgrown its location at 17311 S. Oak Park Ave. in downtown Tinley Park and is planning a move this month to the former Our Lady of Perpetual Help religious store at 16708 S. Oak Park Ave.

As for Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the store's owners retired earlier this year and closed the store after several years of selling religious gifts and books.

They said in a posting on their Facebook page that might reopen in the future as an online business.

Frankfort boutique expanding to Orland Park

The Dressing Room boutique announced that it will be opening a second store in Orland Park this spring and is now hiring for the new location.

Advertisement

The women's boutique opened in Frankfort in July 2014. Owner Angela Williamson had 12 years retail experience when she opened at the Crown Centre, 9645 Lincolnway Lane. It sells trendy clothing, accessories and jewelry.

The second location will be at 11269 W. 159th St., next to the Girl in the Park restaurant.

If interested in applying, send a resume to TheDressingRoomOP@gmail.com.

New salon opens in Orland

JL&CO Hair Industries Salon opened recently at 7046 W. 157th St., north of the Meijer store.

Bob Bong is a freelancer.
Oscar Robles walks his daughters Natalia, 10, and Patricia, 7, to the door of their school in Chicago on March 20, 2017. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Oscar Robles sits in a room on the fourth floor of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, waiting for officials to call him for his annual check-in.

He fills out paperwork on a clipboard and brings it up to the receptionist, as though he were at the doctor's office. At least three other immigrants sit near him, waiting for their own check-ins. One wears an ironed cardigan, her hair clipped back in a neat bun. Her attorney squeezes her hand. Another immigrant's fingers shake as he fills out his forms.

Advertisement

Robles, 42, doesn't look around. He stares at the dated carpet, then at the blank wall in front of him. He's a soft-spoken man who illegally entered the U.S. as a teenager, a devout Catholic with no criminal history and who never considered skipping the check-in or side-stepping the law. He kept his fears to himself, not wanting to scare his young daughters. They both cried that morning, begging their father to let them skip school to be there for him.

A door opens. "Oscar?" an ICE official calls out. They're ready for him.

Advertisement

Robles is among many immigrants who the government knows are living in the U.S. illegally, but who, under the previous administration, were not considered priorities for deportation because of their clean criminal records or sympathetic cases. But as the political climate changes, those immigrants  who were allowed to stay in the U.S. provided they checked in with ICE officials every six months to a year  now fear they'll be handed notices of deportation at those check-ins.

Under Barack Obama, immigration agents were ordered to target high-priority immigrants like violent criminals, and for the most part left everyone else alone. They often gave low-priority immigrants who didn't have criminal histories more time, especially those with U.S.-born children, attorneys said. But President Donald Trump has ordered ICE to move more aggressively to deport people who are in this country illegally.

The immediate practical impact of Trump's immigration policies is uncertain in the Chicago area. Raids and deportations occurred under Obama, and they are continuing now, with no clear indication that they have ramped up.

One effect is obvious, however: Some immigrants are now afraid to show up for their check-ins, unsure whether this will be the year that immigration agents detain or deport them.

Some have gone to their check-ins and been released, like Elvira Arellano, an immigration activist whose year living inside a Humboldt Park church a decade ago pushed her to the forefront of the nation's immigration debate. Immigration agents ruled Arellano can remain in the U.S. for another year while she awaits a hearing on her political asylum petition.

But a 50-year-old Bolingbrook mother of six, Francisca Lino, who for years had no trouble during her check-ins, went to a check-in a few weeks ago and was handed a deportation notice. Lino, who was deported once before, was told to return to Chicago's immigration office in July with packed suitcases and a plane ticket.

"It's horrible. They want to divide us, and we don't have anything in Mexico. All we got is here," said Lino's husband, Diego Lino, a U.S. citizen. "My kids are growing up right now, and it's hard for them, because my girls don't speak very good Spanish, so there's no way for them to go to school over there ... it's impossible for them to be successful."

Several immigration attorneys said stricter Department of Homeland Security policies have led to a change in how these check-ins are conducted. And some people living in this country illegally are choosing to skip their check-ins altogether and go into hiding, preferring to live as fugitives with fixed targets on their backs than risk being deported.

Advertisement

"What would you do?" said longtime immigration attorney Kalman Resnick. "Go get deported, go to the horrible violence and poverty of much of Central America and Mexico, to horrible instability and no jobs?"

"You'd go underground," he said.

ICE did not immediately respond to questions about whether more immigrants are skipping check-ins since Trump's policy changes, but local immigration lawyers and activists say they believe that is the case and know of several who have gone into hiding.

While ICE declined to comment on whether more immigrants are being detained or deported after their supervision checks, Lino is among about a half dozen people across the country who have been deported or scheduled for deportation after their check-ins in the past two months, according to news reports.

Since the change to Homeland Security policies, immigration agents deported a 31-year-old Houston father of two American children, Jose Escobar, who was living in the country since he was 15 and who had a temporary delay of deportation. He had no criminal record.

The mother of two teenagers in Mesa, Ariz., Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, was deported to Mexico in February after her check-in with immigration agents. She had routine meetings with them for years following a felony conviction for using a false Social Security number to get a job. Another Arizona immigrant, Juan Carlos Fomperosa Garcia, 44, was taken into custody in March when he arrived for his check-in in Phoenix. The single father of three U.S. citizens was deported to Mexico the next day, according to news reports.

Advertisement

Stricter approach

During Obama's administration, ICE officials focused on deporting high-priority immigrants, like those who were considered a threat to public safety. A November 2014 Homeland Security memo to immigration agents said low-priority immigrants should generally be removed  unless, in the judgment of the immigration officer, the immigrant was not a threat to the "integrity of the immigration system" or if another factor suggested the immigrant shouldn't be a priority.

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump directed the federal government to enforce the nation's immigration laws more aggressively. In January, he signed an executive order expanding the list of deportation priorities, which now includes any noncitizen who is charged with a criminal offense of any kind or who is suspected of committing criminal acts. It also prioritizes immigrants who have pending orders of removal or who have re-entered the country after previously being deported.

His administration additionally stripped the November 2014 memo that gave immigration agents case-by-case discretion. A Feb. 20 Homeland Security memo stated that, with the exception of the memo establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, all existing directives for enforcing immigration laws and deportation priorities were rescinded.

"Now what's happening is that people are showing up on their regular report dates, and some of them are getting picked up or detained or deported. And many of them have no remedies they can pursue at this point," said Resnick, the immigration attorney. He is an Obama supporter who volunteered with his senate and presidential campaigns.

One of the easiest ways for ICE agents to detain immigrants is to go after the ones who are showing up for check-ins, he said. If the immigrants don't go to their check-ins, he said, immigration agents can look up their addresses and go to their homes or places of employment.

Advertisement

At check-ins under the previous administration, ICE agents would ask about immigrants' jobs and families, and then ask them to come in for another check-in, usually in about a year. Check-ins now are short and to-the-point, attorneys say. They'll tell immigrants their fate, and, in most cases, promptly dismiss them.

"You show up. And then they're telling you, 'We're detaining you today,' or 'We're giving you a new report date, but expect to (be deported),'" Resnick said.

The stricter enforcement is welcomed by many who believe immigration laws need to be enforced more rigorously. Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said he doesn't think anyone living in the country illegally has a right to stay, as it's unfair to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who emigrate to the U.S. legally each year.

Oscar Robles walks his daughters Natalia, 10, and Patricia, 7, to the door of their school in Chicago on March 20, 2017. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

"I think the administration is doing the right thing in prioritizing criminal illegal aliens," he said. "But the fact that they're prioritized doesn't mean all the others should get a free pass."

Oscar Robles came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1994, when he was 18. He was smuggled across the border, a journey he recalls as frightening, at times  particularly when he spent three hours crammed body-to-body with three other men in the trunk of a truck. He settled in Chicago, met his wife a decade later and had two little girls, Natalia and Patricia.

Robles applied for a green card in 2001, which initially tipped immigration agents that Robles was living in the U.S. illegally. His application was rejected. ICE agents contacted him in 2009, and what followed were several years of court proceedings. In 2013, Robles received a final order for deportation. Robles' last chance at staying in the U.S. was applying for an administrative stay of removal, a discretionary tool under the Obama administration that allowed ICE to temporarily delay a person's deportation. It was granted about a year later.

Advertisement

Each year since, Robles has checked in with ICE officials to renew his stay of removal application.

The family lives in a small apartment on the Northwest Side, filled with crayons and Elmer's glue, a children's artist easel and a keyboard. Robles pays his taxes, works at an auto body shop and hasn't committed a crime since crossing the border 23 years ago. He dreams of buying a house or opening his own auto body shop  something he can't do if he has to renew his request to delay deportation each year.

Though he fears deportation, it never crossed his mind to skip his March check-in.

"I'll go regardless of what the response is," he said. "I have to present myself. Otherwise I am a criminal. I'd be a fugitive of the legal system."

Meanwhile, the daughters struggle. Natalia, who is 10 and has a learning disability, is old enough to understand the fragility of her father's fate. When her father's deportation notice was issued in 2014, she was in third grade, and during that year refused to do her homework or engage in normal activities. She cried in the days leading up to Robles' check-in.

"I know I'm going to be fine. Don't be afraid," Robles told Natalia. "We believe in God, and we know everything is going to be fine. After, I will pick you up from school, and we will go eat. You can pick any place you like."

Advertisement

She thought for a bit. "McDonald's," she said with a shy smile.

You show up (to your ICE check-in). And then they're telling you, 'We're detaining you today,' or 'We're giving you a new report date, but expect to (be deported)'  Kalman Resnick, immigration attorney

Skipping check-ins

Although some immigrants are choosing to skip their check-ins, immigration attorneys for the most part are advising their clients against this. Immigrants who skip check-ins become fugitives and as a result may endanger relatives or friends who are also living in the country illegally.

"If they're living with other undocumented people, ICE will likely conduct an enforcement operation at their home. They'd be exposing other individuals as well," said Vanessa Esparza-Lopez, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Community members are also taking it upon themselves to ensure immigrants attend their check-ins. The Resurrection Project, a Pilsen-based organization that focuses on education, organizing and community development, has trained 200 volunteers to conduct "Know Your Rights" programming for immigrant communities across the city. The volunteers walk immigrants through what they should do if an immigration agent knocks on their door or detains them, explaining how immigrants living in the country illegally have the right to remain silent and request a lawyer.

During these presentations, volunteers encourage immigrants under supervision to attend their check-ins, and explain the consequences of skipping.

Advertisement

"Not going to your check-in doesn't mean you're not gonna get deported," said Erendira Rendon, a community organizer with the Resurrection Project. "And going in (for a check-in) doesn't mean you will get deported, either."

The group also sends staff and volunteers to accompany immigrants to check-ins. They'll rally elected officials and community organizers to meet outside the ICE building on the day of an immigrant's check-in to pray for them and support them before they head inside.

Volunteers with the Resurrection Project were present the morning of Robles' check-in, part of a group of more than 30 people who stood outside the ICE building in the biting wind to support him.

Efren Toledo, the principal of O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy, where Robles' daughters attend school, also came to support Robles. Toledo was among dozens of people who'd submitted letters of support for Robles to help bolster his chances of staying in the country. Toledo knows that if Robles is deported, the family wouldn't separate, and his daughters would move to Mexico. The principal fears the girls' educational development would be compromised if that were the case.

"Natalia and Patricia will one day help create the America that we all live in. It is in our interest that we support these girls and families like theirs," he wrote in the letter.

Robles prayed with the group and then entered the building's glass doors with his attorney, Katie Vannucci. They made their way up to the fourth floor. A half hour later, he was called in.

Advertisement

The check-in lasted about five minutes. Robles exited with a soft smile, and Vannucci was beaming.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

"Really nice officer," she said.

Robles was given a few more months to finalize his application to stay. But he was told to return for another check-in in June. While he wasn't handed a deportation notice, he knew he could receive one in a few short months when he returned.

He was met with applause when he walked outside, from the volunteers and elected officials. "Back to work," his boss told him with a wide grin.

For now.

Chicago Tribune's Jeff Coen contributed.

Advertisement

meltagouri@chicagotribune

Twitter @marwaeltagouri
Police investigate a crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway between Roosevelt Road and 18th Street that killed Fausto Manzera and Andrew Cazares early on April 10, 2009. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

Off-duty Chicago police detective Joseph Frugoli's blood-alcohol content was more than four times the legal limit when his SUV plowed into a disabled vehicle on the Dan Ryan Expressway in April 2009, killing two young men trapped in the fiery wreckage.

The crash exposed how Frugoli had managed to escape discipline despite being suspected of drunken driving twice before, including an off-duty incident a year earlier when he T-boned a squad car while driving home from a casino.

Advertisement

Frugoli's conviction and eight-year prison sentence brought his career as a Chicago homicide detective to an end, but it came too late for the families of Andrew Cazares and Fausto Manzera.

Now, a federal judge has given a green light to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the victims' families alleging the Police Department's so-called code of silence led the longtime homicide detective to believe that he could "drink and drive with impunity" because fellow officers had protected him in the past.

Advertisement

In denying the city's motion to throw out the lawsuit against the officer and the city, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall found ample evidence that Frugoli was treated differently in his traffic-related incidents than average citizens who face an immediate license suspension if they refuse to participate in field sobriety tests.

"A reasonable jury may find that, failing to discipline or arrest a police officer who had repeatedly endangered the lives of others, increased the danger to plaintiffs, proximately causing their deaths," Kendall wrote in the 45-page decision issued Friday.

The case, currently set for trial in October, is believed to be the first to highlight how the Police Department's code of silence protects officers involved in drunken driving incidents by allowing them either to skirt field sobriety testing or let hours pass before blood is drawn at a hospital.

One expert hired by the plaintiffs is expected to testify that only 10 percent of alcohol-related complaints filed against Chicago police officers between 2003 and 2009 resulted in a DUI conviction, court records show. When an arresting officer knew the person they were investigating was a Chicago police officer, it took an average of more than three hours to issue an intoxication test  more than twice as long as if the investigator was unaware of the arrestee's status with CPD, that expert found.

Attorney Timothy Cavanagh, who represents the Cazares family, said the case shows "the devastating consequences" that the code of silence can have by leaving problem officers on the street.

"We believe those two young men would be alive today had the police done their jobs," Cavanagh said. "If they would've treated him like any other citizen and let the chips fall where they may, Detective Frugoli might have been forced to deal with his drinking and driving problem instead of getting behind the wheel."

A city Law Department spokesman had no comment Monday, citing the ongoing litigation.

Off-duty Chicago police Detective Joseph Frugoli arrives at Cook County Criminal Court on April 13, 2009, for a follow-up to his bond hearing over the weekend in Chicago. Frugoli, 41, was facing reckless homicide, DUI and other charges after he slammed into a disabled car on the Dan Ryan Expressway early April 10, igniting the fiery crash that killed two people, authorities said. Andrew Cazares, 23, and Fausto Manzera, 21, were killed in the collision. (Kuni Takahashi / Chicago Tribune)

Fled from fatal crash

Advertisement

Frugoli, who joined the department in 1990, had amassed 18 citizen complaints for on-duty behavior in his career, including allegations of excessive use of force, verbal abuse, unprofessional behavior and illegal searches. He was never found at fault, records show

According to court records, in January 2005, Frugoli rear-ended another vehicle on the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the Illinois state trooper who showed up to investigate noticed a strong odor of alcohol on Frugoli's breath.

Frugoli told the trooper he'd had one beer prior to the crash and asked for an ambulance to take him to the hospital for treatment. By the time the trooper got to the hospital to continue the investigation, however, Frugoli had left. He never was given a Breathalyzer or had his blood-alcohol content measured, records show. Instead, the trooper drove to Frugoli's home and left two traffic citations for him.

When the trooper went to Cook County traffic court on Frugoli's court date, he saw Frugoli leaving the Daley Center and "learned that the tickets had already been dismissed," Kendall said in her ruling.

"There is no evidence in the record that Frugoli ever reported this incident to CPD or that the CPD was otherwise aware" he'd been involved in a crash, Kendall said.

Three years later, in January 2008, Frugoli was involved in two crashes about 24 hours apart. The first occurred about 4:30 a.m. while he was on duty. Frugoli denied drinking that day and later said in sworn testimony he'd "skidded on a patch of ice and hit a curb," the judge said.

Advertisement

Early the next morning, Frugoli was driving home off-duty after a six-hour stint at an area casino when he broadsided a Chicago police squad car in the Bridgeport neighborhood, injuring the two on-duty officers inside, records show. One of the officers testified at Frugoli's sentencing hearing for the 2009 fatal crash that Frugoli's eyes were glassy and that he appeared "dumbfounded" at the scene.

But Frugoli said in a sworn deposition that the crash occurred after he reached for his cell phone and blew through a stop sign. Records show that the same Chicago police sergeant who had responded to Frugoli's crash the day before allowed Frugoli to sit in her squad car while officers investigated at the scene.

The officers never spoke to Frugoli directly or administered any intoxication tests. They wound up ticketing the detective for running a stop sign, handing the citation to the sergeant, who drove Frugoli home. Neither officer was ever notified of Frugoli's court date, and the allegations were dismissed, records show.

Then,15 months later, Frugoli got behind the wheel of his Lexus SUV after drinking for nearly five hours at the Greektown bar Dugan's on Halsted as well as at least one other establishment, according to court records. He entered the southbound Dan Ryan at a high rate of speed and slammed into the back of the victims' car near Roosevelt Road, where they had pulled over because of a flat tire.

Frugoli was pulled from the wreckage by a good Samaritan and limped away on a ramp as the vehicle he'd struck burst into flames. Frugoli, who was bleeding from a head injury, was found walking near Clinton Street and Roosevelt by Chicago police officers responding to the call of the crash. When they learned Frugoli was a detective, they called for an ambulance and a supervisor but issued no sobriety tests, according to court records.

"When questioned by the officers, Frugoli admitted that he was in an accident and also conceded that he had been at a bar that evening," Kendall wrote in her opinion. "Despite interviewing, handcuffing, and placing Frugoli in a squad car," the officers failed to notice the odor of alcohol on him or any signs of impairment, Kendall said.

Advertisement

Paramedics who rode with Frugoli in the ambulance, however, noticed he appeared to be drunk, according to Kendall's ruling. His blood-alcohol level was later measured at the hospital at 0.328 percent, more than four times the legal limit of 0.08 percent, the judge wrote.

Frugoli later pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI and was found guilty in a bench trial of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

At his sentencing, Frugoli apologized to the families, saying it haunted him even more because of the many times as a detective he had to notify family members about the deaths of loved ones.

"I never in my life thought that I would become the cause of that pain," Frugoli said.

Frugoli, who turns 50 later this month, is scheduled to be released from prison in April 2019, Illinois prison records show.

Fausto Manzera, 21, left, and Andrew Cazares, 23, were killed on the Dan Ryan Expressway on April 10, 2009. The two were in a disabled car north of 18th Street in the southbound lanes of the expressway when their car was struck by Joseph Frugoli, 41, an off-duty Chicago police detective. (Family photos)

A string of fatal DUIs

Advertisement

Frugoli was among a string of Chicago police officers to be charged in fatal DUIs over a four-year span.

In 2005, Officer Jason Casper was off-duty with a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit when he ran a red light at nearly 90 mph and collided with another vehicle in Tinley Park, killing two Sandburg High School students. Casper, who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI, was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2009, veteran narcotics officer Richard Bolling was charged in the hit-and-run death of a 13-year-old boy riding a bike. According to trial testimony, Bolling was pulled over minutes later driving the wrong way down a one-way street, his windshield smashed and splattered with blood and an open beer in the front console.

One of the two officers who stopped him testified that she was ordered to "hold off" on field sobriety tests by her watch commander. At the time, both arresting officers said Bolling passed the sobriety tests, but at the trial each changed their opinion, testifying that Bolling had flunked key parts of the tests.

It wasn't until 4 1/2 hours after the crash that Bolling, on orders of an internal affairs sergeant, took a breath test, showing that at the time of crash his blood-alcohol content was about twice the legal limit.

Bolling was sentenced in 2012 to three years in prison. The watch commander was suspended 10 days for his handling of the case, but no one else was disciplined.

Perhaps the most infamous case involved then-Officer John Ardelean, who was speeding off-duty on Damen Avenue on Thanksgiving morning in 2007 when his car slammed into another vehicle on the city's North Side, killing two young men.

Advertisement

Ardelean wasn't tested for alcohol until seven hours after the crash, when his supervising lieutenant reportedly noticed he had bloodshot eyes and alcohol on his breath.

The original charges against him were dismissed, but Cook County prosecutors re-opened the investigation after surveillance video from the Martini Ranch bar in River North surfaced showing Ardelean minutes before the crash drinking what appeared to be shots of liquor  including one being poured down his throat by a "shot girl" employed by the bar.

The bartender later testified in a civil deposition that Ardelean was drinking shots of water.

In a controversial decision, Cook County Judge Thomas Gainer threw out reckless homicide charges against Ardelean in 2010, ruling the police had no probable cause to arrest him or give him the Breathalyzer.

Ardelean, who left the force after he was charged, was hired in 2014 as a laborer for the city's Department of Water Management, where he currently earns $73,000 a year, records show.

Maria Velez, left, mother of Fausto Manzera, describes her disappointment in the sentencing of Joseph Frugoli, the Chicago police detective who killed her son and Andrew Cazares on the Dan Ryan Expressway while intoxicated after Frugoli's sentencing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Nov. 16, 2012. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

'Immune from discipline'

Advertisement

Records show that Frugoli has given two sworn depositions in the ongoing lawsuit against him. In the first, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer questions. Later, he denied that his decision to drink and drive had anything to do with the lack of discipline or any code of silence at the Police Department.

In her ruling, Kendall called Frugoli's answers "self-serving" and unreliable. She also noted that the existence of the code of silence has been confirmed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Police Accountability Task Force he impaneled to recommend reforms. The code was also cited in the scathing January report by the U.S. Justice Department on its investigation of civil rights violations by Chicago police.

In arguing to have the Frugoli lawsuit dismissed, lawyers for the city argued the Police Department should not be held responsible for his actions because he was not acting "under the color of law" at the time of the crash.

But Kendall said a reasonable jury could conclude that Frugoli was emboldened to drive drunk because he believed he was "impervious to consequences."

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

With no citizen complaints ever sustained against him and after being given preferential treatment in a string of traffic accidents, Frugoli may have been led to believe "that he was immune from discipline for any of his actions, on or off duty," the judge said.

Kendall also drew parallels to the case of Anthony Abbate, a burly, off-duty tactical officer caught on surveillance video in 2007 beating a petite female bartender who had refused to serve him more alcohol. Prior to the beating, Abbate told the bartender that "nobody tells me what to do," the judge noted in her ruling. Other police officers later went into the bar and offered her money if she declined to press charges.

Advertisement

After years of embarrassing headlines for the city, a federal jury in 2012 awarded the bartender $850,000 in damages, ruling that the department's code of silence allowed Abbate to act with impunity.

Former Los Angeles chief of police Lou Reiter, who testified for the plaintiffs in the Abbate trial, is also expected to take the witness stand if Frugoli's case goes to trial. Reiter's analysis of Chicago police files showed that officers were never investigated for DUI following routine traffic stops while off-duty  a practice he linked to the code of silence, records show.

Reiter also found several instances in which Chicago police officers had denied noticing signs of intoxication in their fellow officers.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b
Christian Green, 17, was shot by Chicago police July 4, 2013. His family is calling for a federal investigation into his shooting. (Provided by family)

Veteran Chicago tactical Officer Robert Gonzalez has always maintained that he shot Christian Green after the black teenager turned and pointed a gun at him during a South Side foot chase on the Fourth of July 2013.

On Tuesday, a lawyer representing Green's mother in a wrongful death lawsuit against Gonzalez told jurors the officer's story was a lie.

Advertisement

"The evidence will show you Christian didn't point a gun at the police. He was running from them," attorney Victor Henderson said in his opening statement at the Daley Center. "He was running, and he was running hard."

In her opening remarks, Gonzalez's attorney, Assistant Corporation Counsel Dana O'Malley, said what happened on that warm, sunny holiday afternoon was a "tragedy" but that it was Green's own actions that led to his death.

Advertisement

"Officer Gonzalez didn't go out to shoot anyone that day," O'Malley said. "He was put in a situation where he had no choice."

Green's death was one of scores of officer-involved shootings in recent years that occurred after a foot chase. In fact, an unprecedented database compiled by the Tribune showed that foot chases played a role in more than a third of the 235 police shootings from 2010 through 2015 that ended with someone wounded or killed.

The issue was red-flagged by the U.S. Justice Department in its scathing report in January that found Chicago police routinely violated the civil rights of citizens, particularly in African-American and Hispanic communities.

Last month, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson unveiled a list of the department's "next steps for reform" that included new training that would cover when and how officers should engage in foot pursuits.

Johnson is expected to testify this week in the trial over Green's death because at the time of the shooting he was the acting street deputy who responded to the scene and signed off on official police reports of the incident, records show. He also gave a sworn deposition in the lawsuit last year.

Meanwhile, the judge has barred testimony about Gonzalez's checkered career, including at least a dozen citizen complaints  many alleging excessive force  as well as lawsuits alleging he falsified arrests and lied in court and in police reports.

The Green shooting was one of three fatal police shootings Gonzalez was involved in over a two-year span, records show. In the other two cases  the 2012 shooting of 16-year-old Rickey Childs and the 2014 shooting of Ronald Johnson III, 25  it was Gonzalez's partner who opened fire.

All three shootings involved strikingly similar details: a black suspect allegedly armed with a gun fleeing from police when he was shot by an officer in the back. Police said guns were recovered at all three scenes, and the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police shootings, found each shooting justified.

Advertisement

Court filings show that beginning in the early 2000s, Gonzalez was investigated by the Police Department's Internal Affairs Division as well as the FBI for his connection to a corrupt team of tactical officers led by then-Sgt. Ronald Watts.

Gonzalez was never charged with any wrongdoing, but Watts and another member of his team were sent to federal prison for shaking down a drug courier for protection money at the now-shuttered Ida B. Wells housing complex.

The Tribune has written several front-page stories since last year detailing the fallout over Watts' nearly decadelong run of corruption. So far, four drug convictions involving three defendants have been tossed because of Watts' tainted history. In addition, two officers who maintained they were victims of the "code of silence" won a $2 million settlement to their whistleblower lawsuit that alleged they were blackballed for trying to expose Watts' corruption years ago.

In an extraordinary move, the Cook County state's attorney's office announced in February it would investigate hundreds of other previous cases brought by Watts and his team to determine whether other convictions were tainted.

Gonzalez is one of five former members of Watts' team who are still on the force. Two others  tactical officers Manuel Leano and Douglas Nichols Jr.  were also on the scene of Green's shooting in July 2013.

According to court records, Gonzalez and his partner, Officer George Hernandez, were patrolling around 1:30 p.m. when they responded to a call that Leano and Nichols were chasing a person with a gun.

Advertisement

Surveillance footage from a nearby liquor store played in court Tuesday showed Green trying to throw a gun into a trash can as he sprinted up State Street. The gun bounced off the can's rim onto the sidewalk. Green doubled back, bent quickly and picked it up before taking off again.

At 57th Street, Green crossed into a vacant lot with Gonzalez and Hernandez in pursuit in an unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe. The Tahoe jumped the curb into the lot. As Gonzalez was about to get out of the SUV, the officers said Green turned toward them with a black Smith and Wesson .45-caliber pistol in his right hand and pointed the barrel in their direction, records show.

Riding in the passenger seat, Gonzalez aimed out the window of the Tahoe and opened fire, taking 11 shots before seeing Green stumble a few yards and collapse. A bullet had entered Green in the left side of his back and pierced his lung and heart. He died en route to Stroger Hospital.

The gun carried by Green was found in the vacant lot more than 70 feet from the teen's body, according to court records. Initial police reports showed that Green had been shot in the chest, a fact that had not been corrected when the officers were interviewed by IPRA.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

In his interview the next day, Gonzalez explained to an IPRA investigator that he felt as though he had "no other option" but to fire.

"I felt like I was going to um, you know, be killed or incur, uh, great injury," Gonzalez said, according to a transcript of the audio-recorded interview obtained by the Tribune.

Advertisement

"Great injury," the investigator said. "So you were in fear of your life?"

"Yes, in fear of my life," Gonzalez replied.

Hernandez, Nichols and Leano all backed up Gonzalez' account in their interviews with IPRA. The agency ruled the shooting was justified in September 2014.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b
One man was killed on the West Side, and six other men were wounded in separate shootings from Monday to early Tuesday, according to Chicago police.

A 47-year-old man was shot to death in the Lawndale neighborhood Monday morning, police said.

Advertisement

He was shot in the chest in the 1300 block of South Karlov Avenue just before noon. Paramedics took him to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.

Police did not release additional details about what led to the shooting. No one was in custody.

Advertisement

Other shootings:

About 4:40 a.m. Tuesday on the Southwest Side, a 26-year-old man was shot while he was in a gas station in the 3600 block of South Kedzie Avenue in the Brighton Park neighborhood, police said. The shooter approached and opened fire, striking the man in the arm, shoulder and back. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

About 2:40 a.m. on the South Side, two men were shot while driving in the 7100 block of South State Street in the Park Manor neighborhood. Someone in another vehicle began shooting at them. A 33-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and neck area, and a 39-year-old man was shot in the back. They drove themselves to St. Bernard Hospital, and they were later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized.

Just before midnight on the Southwest Side, an 18-year-old man was grazed on the forearm while sitting in a car in the 5700 block of South Artesian Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood, police said. The shooter approached from the rear and fired shots at the vehicle. The 18-year-old man took himself to St. Bernard Hospital, where he was treated and released.

About 10:45 p.m. Monday on the South Side, a 45-year-old man was grazed in the face during an argument in There Lounge, located in the 8200 block of South Ashland Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, police said. He was arguing with another man inside the bar when the man pulled out a handgun and shot at the victim. His condition was stabilized at Little Company of Mary Hospital, and he was expected to be transferred to Advocate Christ Medical Center.

About 5:55 p.m. on the Northwest Side, a 26-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the leg in the Belmont Heights neighborhood, police said. The shooting happened in the 3600 block of North Harlem Avenue, and he took himself to Presence Resurrection Medical Center. He first told officers that he was shot by a man inside an SUV that had pulled up next to him in an alley, but he later told police that he shot himself.
Public Education Foundation is recruiting Chattanooga area businesses to hire Hamilton County Department of Education (HCDE) high school students for paid summer internships through its STEP-UP Chattanooga initiative. Launched in January 2016, this robust internship program for high school sophomores, juniors and seniors is designed to address the challenges faced by both businesses and students in a complex, changing global economy.

STEP-UP Chattanooga will provide work readiness training designed to help students be successful in interviews and professional settings. Throughout the experience, students will receive support and feedback from STEP-UP staff and supervisors at their place of employment. STEP-UP Chattanooga aims to place 150 students in internships this summer, doubling the number of participants from last year.



Organizations hosting STEP-UP interns will build relationships with a pool of talented, diverse future employees while filling job vacancies and demonstrating a commitment to improving the lives of at-risk youth. Students will have opportunities to explore careers while developing work skills, as well as to network with adult professionals who can help them achieve educational and professional goals.



The following businesses, nonprofits and organizations have already signed up for Summer 2017: 2nds in Building Materials (Southeastern Salvage), 3H Group Hotels, Application Researchers, Art 120, Benwood Foundation, Bessie Smith Cultural Center, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Bridge Scholars, CBL & Associates Properties Inc., Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga Autism Center, Chattanooga Cares, Chattanooga Gas, Chattanooga Library, Chattanooga Publishing Company, Chattanooga Renaissance Fund, Chattanooga State Community College, Chattanooga Zoo, Chattem, Inc., City of Chattanooga, Creative Discovery Museum, Doubletree Hotel, Elders Ace Hardware, Electric Power Board (EPB), Elemi Architects, EMJ Corporation, Erlanger Health System, The Enterprise Center, Greenspaces, Habitat for Humanity, Hullco, Lamp Post Properties, Lifeline Inc., MediTract, Merrill Lynch, Newcomb Spring, Northside Neighborhood House, Public Market Inc., Regions Bank, River City Company, Riverside Plumbing, Rock City, Signal Centers, Siskin Hospital, SmartBank, Southeastern Tennessee Development District, SunTrust Bank, Tennessee American Water Co., Tennessee Aquarium, UnifiEd, United Way of Greater Chattanooga, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Unum, VaynerMedia, Vision Hospitality, Warren & Griffin, P.C., and WRCB-TV.



Many of these businesses participated in the 2016 pilot year of STEP-UP Chattanooga, employing 76 HCDE high school students in summer 2016 who earned over $100,000 in combined income.100 percent of STEP-UP Chattanooga 2016 interns indicated they would participate again if given the opportunity.



BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation, Inc. committed $300,000 and Benwood Foundation contributed $200,000 to fully fund the first two years of the program which serves underrepresented students, those most at risk for joblessness. The City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, HCDE, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce are also founding partners.



STEP-UP Chattanooga is modeled after the nationally-recognized STEP-UP Achieve Minneapolis program, which has served more than 20,000 students since 2004. The program complements PEFs other College Access & Success initiatives, including Camp College, Passport Scholars, support for Hamilton Countys College Access & Career Advisers, and community education. For more information on becoming a business partner, visit stepupchattanooga.org.


Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson stands with 10th District officers as he talks with reporters about charging the first of several juvenile offenders from the March 19 criminal sexual assault incident broadcast on Facebook Live, during a press conference Sunday April 2, 2017 at the City of Chicago Public Safety Headquarters. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

At least four males who streamed their sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl live on Facebook lured the acquaintance into a basement, slapped her several times and threatened to have a dog attack her if she tried to flee, Cook County prosecutors alleged Tuesday.

A 14-year-old boy, the first of two to be charged so far, told the victim she could "have sex the easy way or the hard way," Assistant State's Attorney Maha Gardner said in court.

Advertisement

Judge Patricia Mendoza, assigned to the Juvenile Division, ordered Tuesday that a 15-year-old boy be held in custody, calling the gang rape "one of the most serious cases that I have seen." She also said she decided to detain the eighth-grader for his own safety, noting her concern that he was at risk because of the national publicity the case has drawn.

He marks the second teen in as many days to be ordered held at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center while awaiting trial.

Advertisement

Each suspect faces 10 felony counts of aggravated sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.

Anthony Guglielmi, a Chicago police spokesman, appealed to the families of the remaining suspects "to do the right thing for this young girl and bring them in to detectives to be questioned."

"One by one, we are building criminal cases against these young men to seek justice, and our work will not stop until all are brought forward," Guglielmi said in an email.

Gardner said the two boys charged so far, both identified from stills of the video, admitted to others that they were involved in the sexual assault of the girl. Each also video-recorded the sexual assault, she said. The 14-year-old boy was captured on the video sexually assaulting the girl, according to the prosecutor.

"Both videotaped these egregious actions," Gardner said. "They didn't stop there. They put them up on Facebook for the world to see."

"A life wasn't lost. ... But this is worse for the young woman," she said.

The 15-year-old boy's lawyer, assistant public defender Liliana Dago, questioned that prosecutors had proven probable cause, particularly on the child pornography charges. She also said that most of the sex acts were carried out by the 14-year-old.

In ordering the 15-year-old held in custody, the judge said he bore responsibility for the assault as well.

Advertisement

"The very nature that he's in the video ... one can assume he was manufacturing child pornography," Mendoza said.

The 15-year-old boy turned himself in Monday at the Ogden District police station accompanied by his mother, Guglielmi said.

Police are also trying to identify others who took part in the assault, officials said, but the investigation has been slowed by the trauma experienced by the girl.

One of the suspects livestreamed the assault on Facebook Live, and authorities have said that as many as 40 people saw it. None called police, a point that enraged Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

"We've seen a couple acts in this city now in the last few months involving social media, and it just disgusts me that people could look at those videos and not pick up the phone and dial 911," Johnson said at a news conference on Sunday. "It makes you wonder where are we going, what are we doing as a society?"

The attack was at least the fourth Chicago crime caught on Facebook Live since the end of October.

Advertisement

The girl had stayed over with family the evening of March 18 and gone to church with them the next day, then was dropped off near home before disappearing.

She was found two days later walking down the street near her home.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

The girl was reunited with her mother and taken to a hospital, where she was examined for injuries, a family member later told the Tribune.

As news of the attack spread, people began ringing the family's doorbell and coming around the house in a menacing way, the girl's mother has told the Tribune, and police described a campaign of social media bullying against her.

The taunts prompted authorities to relocate her family to another home, described by Guglielmi as "a safe place."

Police said that authorities have looked into possible charges against those who watched the video and bullied the girl but said that making charges stick appears to be a complicated task.

Advertisement

Guglielmi said Facebook has told authorities it's not possible to identify who is watching a video on the platform. And police said the bullying hasn't risen to the level of criminal conduct.

hschroering@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @OhItsHeather
A former Champaign-area paramedic who was set to become a fire chief in Alaska is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say he drugged and sexually assaulted a man who attended his going-away party.

David J. Dunn, 43, of Savoy, was arraigned in the Champaign County Courthouse Monday for felony criminal sexual assault, according to the Champaign County state's attorney office.

Advertisement

Dunn, a former Savoy Fire Department captain and paramedic, had thrown himself a going away party Sunday to celebrate his position as a fire chief in Alaska, according to authorities. During the gathering, Dunn administered an IV to a guest who had been drinking, "allegedly to provide him with medication for nausea," prosecutors said.

Soon after, the guest said he was unable to move or speak. While paralyzed, the victim said that Dunn assaulted him. The victim reported the attack to police when awoke the next morning.

Advertisement

The Champaign County Sheriff's Office interviewed Dunn, who admitted to administering medication to the victim through an IV and having sex with him.

Champaign County judge Brett Olmstead set bond for Dunn at $500,000.00. Olmstead also prohibited Dunn from contacting the victim or leaving the state if he posts bail.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

He remains in custody Monday night.

Michael Forrest, chief of Savoy Fire Department, said Dunn's last day working for the department was Friday. Forrest said Dunn was expected to catch a flight to Alaska on Monday.

"I don't want to make any comment on this unfortunate situation at this time," Forrest said.

Dunn is scheduled to return to court April 18.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to call the Champaign County Sheriff's Office.

tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @_tonybriscoe
Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Subscribe here.

Topspin

It's Election Day in the suburbs, and there's more on that below.

Advertisement

But on Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel spent some time sharing lessons from his days as a ballet dancer when he visited the reopened Dyett High School for the Arts in Washington Park.

Emanuel held a news conference at the school to announce a partnership with the tech hub 1871 to provide lessons in entrepreneurship at the high school, which had been scheduled to close after the 2014-15 school year. But after protests that included a 34-day hunger strike and protests that disrupted Emanuel's city budget hearings, the mayor's administration decided to reopen the high school last fall with a focus on the arts.

Advertisement

As Emanuel toured the school Monday, he learned several of the students had a focus in dance. He's quite familiar with the subject as a former ballet dancer who studied at the Evanston School of Ballet and Sarah Lawrence College and continued to take weekend ballet classes as a senior adviser in the Clinton White House. Emanuel often recalls how as a 17-year-old he turned down a scholarship offer from the Joffrey Ballet, much to the disappointment of his mother.

"I was a dancer," Emanuel told a group of four Dyett students gathered around a classroom table, a couple of whom seemed to think the mayor was pulling their leg. "It's true," a teacher chimed in, before turning to the mayor. "I don't think she believed you."

The mayor joked that the students would not want to see him dance these days, and the group laughed. But the mayor said he would talk dance with them.

"The one thing I will tell you about dance is it takes discipline," Emanuel said. "If you don't learn anything else: You cannot be casual about it if you want to be good at it."

The mayor then crossed a hallway and met a group of six other students, many of whom also said they were studying dance. A teacher noted that one of the students hoped to study at Juilliard, the famed dance school in New York. Emanuel seemed impressed.

"I had a scholarship to Joffrey. I didn't do it," Emanuel said. "Yeah, I was a dancer. Now you're checking out whether you thought I could dance?"

The students laughed. Emanuel explained dancing takes a lot of perseverance. Then, he offered some stage advice.

"Remember this: When you're on the stage, you're not just there to recite the steps, you're there to dance. So, if you do the steps perfect, but don't dance ... . Think about this, when you watch people dance, your eye is always drawn to somebody, right? Why?" Emanuel said.

Advertisement

"Because they stand out," a student replied.

"That's right. They dominate the space," Emanuel said. "So it's always important, when you're performing, not just to recite the steps, but to be able to dance and give expression to the actual steps ... they are able to put the steps into a way of performing that draws the person's eyes. So when you're onstage, take the actual very specific steps and give it expression." (Bill Ruthhart)

What's on tap

*Mayor Emanuel will join Tom McNamee, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Page Editor, for a one-on-one conversation.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner will attend a Springfield breakfast hosted by the nonprofit Sparc and tour the Kewanee Life Skills Re-Entry Center in the afternoon. He'll also hold a Facebook Live talk. More on that below.

*More on Tuesday's suburban elections below too.

*The Illinois House and Senate meet for the first of four scheduled days this week.

Advertisement

From the notebook

*Election Day in the suburbs: Voters in Illinois' second-biggest city will pick a new mayor Tuesday, and thousands of suburban candidates are hoping to win other local posts, many to run schools, libraries and townships across the region.

In suburban Cook County, 2,541 candidates will be on ballots in 1,031 races, according to Clerk David Orr's office. His office says more people have voted early than in previous local elections, and polls will be open from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday.

In Aurora, Ald. Richard Irvin and assistant chief of staff Rick Guzman will be on the ballot trying to get the mayor job after longtime Mayor Tom Weisner stepped down last year and state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia failed to advance past February's primary election.

And in Bolingbrook, longtime Mayor Roger Claar faces a challenge from Will County Board member Jackie Traynere. Claar last year hosted a local fundraiser for then-candidate Donald Trump, and the race has attracted money from outside groups.

Evanston, Waukegan, Oak Lawn and Orland Park are among the places that also have races for mayor.

Advertisement

There won't be any contests in Chicago after Ald. Sophia King, 4th, avoided a special election runoff, winning in February a bid to keep the seat to which she was appointed.

*Rauner takes to Facebook again: Gov. Rauner will hold a Facebook Live talk billed as a "Mid-session Meetup" as lawmakers have two months left in their scheduled spring session. He'll appear at 11 a.m. with state Rep. Tom Demmer and Sen. Karen McConnaughay.

The governor posted a preview of sorts Monday on Facebook, saying "the time to act is now" on a budget. Rauner sought to put the blame for the impasse on Democrats in the General Assembly, labeling them "the party of no."

He repeated calls for a property tax freeze, term limits and an overhaul of how legislative districts are drawn  ideas Democrats argue will do little to address the state's financial problems.

"We're working every single day with all of you on our minds," Rauner said. "We want what's best for you and your families, and we won't stop till we get it done." (Monique Garcia)

What we're writing

*Radio host Steve Cochran "offended" by Mendoza's reaction to his duct tape comment.

Advertisement

*Gov. Rauner's "superstar" team runs into political reality.

*Public money goes to private lottery firm's secretive advisory board.

*Durbin criticizes Gorsuch before voting "No" in Senate committee.

*Transgender controversy dominates high school board election.

*Illinois contractor bidding to build Trump's border wall  with a tourist draw.

What we're reading

Advertisement

*Chicago consent decree may be in doubt after Sessions orders review of police reform deals.

*Judge green-lights lawsuit alleging CPD's "code of silence" led to deadly DUI crash.

*Google Doodle pays tribute to engineer for Chicago's Hancock, Willis towers.

Follow the money

*Candidates and committees have started to file their first-quarter fundraising reports.

*Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here.



Advertisement

Beyond Chicago

*Sessions orders Justice Department to review all police reform agreements.

*Democrats get enough votes to filibuster Gorsuch, setting up potential "nuclear option."

*AP explains the nuclear option.

*Trump offers praise to Egyptian leader.

*At least 11 dead in St. Petersburg subway explosion.
NEW YORK  A Fox News contributor came forward to level more sexual-harassment allegations against deposed chief executive Roger Ailes on Monday, two days after it was revealed the network's most popular on-air personality, Bill O'Reilly, has settled multiple complaints about his own behavior with women.

O'Reilly returned to the air on Monday following a weekend report in The New York Times that he and his employer had paid five women $13 million to settle allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate conduct by Fox's ratings king. He made no mention of the case on his show.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

Roginsky said Ailes, who lost his job last summer following sexual-harassment complaints 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 her to bend over so he could look down her dress.

She was seeking a permanent role on Fox's show "The Five." But after an April 2015 meeting at which she turned down Ailes' advances, he wouldn't meet with her again, and she never got the regular role, 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 he didn't believe the allegations against Ailes until recently. But the lawsuit alleges 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.

Fox News representatives did not immediately return messages for comment. But Fox's new human resources chief sent a memo to staff late Monday, saying that "in light of some of the accounts published over the last few days," he wanted to make clear the various avenues network employees could take if they had concerns about behavior in the workplace.

Roginsky said she believes Shine hasn't given her an opportunity for advancement in retaliation for her harassment complaint and her refusal to speak out against Carlson.

Advertisement

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 O'Reilly had told Walsh 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 go 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 the 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 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.

Advertisement

O'Reilly's 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. But at least one advertiser, car company Mercedes-Benz, said it was pulling its ads from the show because of the "disturbing" allegations.

Associated Press writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Republicans led by Vice President Mike Pence pushed to revive a moribund health care bill on Tuesday, meeting late into the night with key lawmakers eager to build new GOP consensus to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Pence spent much of Tuesday on Capitol Hill meeting with key groups of lawmakers, as well as with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a day after visiting separately with conservative hard-liners and moderates to gauge the potential for a revamped version of legislation that collapsed last month.

Advertisement

The crux of the new proposal would be to allow states to seek exemptions from certain mandates established under the Affordable Care Act - including a requirement that insurers cover 10 "essential health benefits" as well as a prohibition on charging those with preexisting medical conditions more than the healthy.

While the largely behind-the-scenes effort generated optimistic talk, no clear path has emerged toward House passage of the Republican bill. On Tuesday evening, key players said they were still waiting to see new proposals in writing, and some lawmakers said they were wary of rushing the process.

Advertisement

"There is a value sometimes to the vetting process," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, a group targeted by President Donald Trump last week for its opposition to the bill. "That having been said, we'll see what comes our way."

Pence and other Trump administration officials attended a meeting late Tuesday in the Capitol with member of key House GOP factions, including the Freedom Caucus. But the meeting broke after two hours without a clear resolution, though several participants said there was progress and plan to continue the discussions on Wednesday.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the Freedom Caucus chairman, said before the meeting that his group was still seeking broad relief from the ACA's insurance mandates. Afterward, he said there was debate but no real accord on that contentious issue.

"There were no agreements tonight, and no agreements in principle, and certainly no agreements in terms of a foundation," he said. "There was a general agreement that the progress we're making is certainly progress, and there are good discussions, but understanding that there's a whole lot of things that we have to work out."

Others - both Republicans and Democrats - objected to the idea of undoing protections for people with preexisting conditions. That ACA requirement, known as "community rating," prohibits insurers from segregating healthy subscribers from sick ones or charging the latter higher prices. Instead, they may vary their prices based only on age, geographic location and tobacco use, allowing the premiums paid by the healthy to subsidize the sick.

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that the proposal would "give power back to the insurance companies, increase costs, and undermine care for people with preexisting conditions."

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., a member of the Ways and Means Committee, called the provision "a very significant reform" that he was concerned about rolling back, even if states would have to be granted a waiver.

The new proposal could also allow states to strip back other mandates, including requirements that insurers provide coverage for mental-health care, substance abuse treatment, maternity care and prescription drugs.

Advertisement

The changes were largely calibrated to win over the hard-liners in the Freedom Caucus, who blame the mandates for driving up insurance premiums. But the proposal also takes into account the qualms of moderates who are wary of undermining the ACA's key reforms by requiring states to apply for waivers and to justify why insurers should not be required to provide certain coverage.

Those moderates helped defeat the original version of the American Health Care Act nearly two weeks ago, largely out of concern over a similar provision governing essential health benefits. And advocates of the new proposal appeared to be making little headway Tuesday.

"While we haven't picked up any votes yet, this concept is already showing signs of losing a ton of them," said a House Republican leadership aide, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly.

Ryan said Tuesday that the talks were in the "conceptual stages" and did not commit to a timeline for resolving the differences that sank the bill last month. "It's important that we don't just win the votes of one caucus or one group," he said.

Pence sounded a similarly nonspecific note, telling a gathering of business executives at the White House that he and President Trump "remain confident" that Congress would repeal and replace the ACA.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer offered no timetable either, saying only that administration officials would continue meeting with lawmakers in hopes of advancing the bill.

Advertisement

"The president would like to see this done if we can get a deal," Spicer said. "I'm not going to raise expectations, but I think that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote."

Though aides said Trump has been in touch with both House and Senate members in recent days, he was playing a much less visible role in deliberations than in the days leading up to the aborted vote. Aides said that was partly because of a string of visits this week from three world leaders.

Pence, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney began the two-day push to revive the repeal effort late Monday, with a trip to Capitol Hill to attend a Freedom Caucus meeting. Meadows said they offered a "solid idea" in that meeting to build a potential compromise around.

But both Freedom Caucus members and moderates emerged from a Tuesday morning House GOP conference lacking clarity on the path forward.

"Right now there are really just discussions, there's no deal in the works, there's been no deal on anything," said Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., a Freedom Caucus member.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a House leadership ally, said he didn't get the sense that a compromise was near.

Advertisement

"I didn't get any vibe this morning of 'hold the phone, we may be close to a deal here,' " he said. "There's no white smoke coming out of any leadership office that I'm seeing."

Meadows said late Monday that he expected that the proposal would be drafted into legislative text within 24 hours, but he said after the Tuesday-night meeting that no such text had been offered by the White House or congressional leaders, leaving "unanswered questions" for hard-liners.

While addressing reporters, Spicer was asked whether a deal that rolled back protections for preexisting conditions would violate a campaign pledge by Trump. "We're not there yet," he said. "We're having discussions."

Two other moderate House members also said they remained opposed: Rep. Frank LoBiando, R-N.J., tweeted that he had "seen nothing in terms of reported possible changes to American Health Care Act warranting reconsideration." And Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., said changes to community rating would undermine protections for those with preexisting conditions.

On the flip side, it was unclear just how many Freedom Caucus members could be swayed with the softened provision to give states the option of requesting exemptions to some of the ACA's mandates.

"I don't think that a long-term solution consists of allowing states to ask the federal government for waivers, because presidents change," said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. "States ought to have as a matter of right the ability to determine what insurance policies for their citizens should contain."

Advertisement

A health care industry official argued that the proposed changes to the bill appear to leave in place most of the core problems with the original bill and exacerbate others by making changes that would effectively make insurance either too expensive or too skimpy for sick people.

"To put it simply, this is making a bad bill worse," said the industry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak frankly. The official added that his industry is waiting to see the details of the revised bill before weighing in publicly: "You don't want to rain on a parade until you know it's headed into town."

As part of his push to revive the bill, Pence also arranged on short notice a meeting and phone call Tuesday with some leading conservative activists who have been skeptical of the health care proposals floated so far.

The group included Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List; Jim DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity; and Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union.

The flurry of activity Monday and Tuesday raised some hopes that the closely watched legislation could be revived and passed through the House quickly. But with lawmakers ready to leave town Thursday for a two-week Easter recess, others questioned the rush.

"A lot of people would love to get this done this week - kind of unrealistic given all the changes that are being discussed," said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., a Freedom Caucus member who supported the original version of the AHCA. "Some people want to come back next week - kind of unrealistic given all of the plans everybody has in their district for next week. And then the most realistic thing, I think, is to try and get something done when we get back."

Advertisement

Meadows said Tuesday night that it was "premature" to rule out a vote this week but also made clear no deal was at hand and there are "no real discussions" about potentially keeping the House in session to push the bill through.

Ryan has taken a less direct role in the renewed negotiations, aides involved in the discussions say, out of a desire to let the various GOP factions work matters out on their own timetable rather than forcing a deal that could backfire.

Trump took aim at the Freedom Caucus in tweets Thursday, pledging to "fight them" at the polls in the 2018 midterms. He remained active on Twitter over the weekend, suggesting that the situation was still fluid - and that he is looking at ways to move forward with the help of either moderate Democrats or conservative Republicans.

The president also played a round of golf Sunday with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the libertarian-oriented former presidential candidate who has been a sharp critic of the House bill and celebrated its failure less than two weeks before.

The Washington Post's Paige Winfield Cunningham, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Sean Sullivan, Ashley Parker and Abby Phillip contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump's administration is exploring the creation of two controversial new taxes - a value-added tax and a carbon tax - as part of a broad overhaul of the tax code, according to an administration official and one other person briefed on the process.

Administration officials are aware how politically divisive these ideas are, but they are searching for ways find new revenue sources.

Advertisement

The value-added tax, which is popular in many other countries, would serve as a kind of national sales tax, one that consumers would pay when they make purchases and that businesses would pay for supplies, services and raw materials. But many economists view a VAT as a tax that disproportionately hurts lower-income workers, who typically benefit from a progressive income-tax system.

A carbon tax would target the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases in the burning of gasoline, coal and other fossil fuels. Many Democrats support the creation of a carbon tax as a way to address climate change, but they couldn't even reach an agreement on the issue when they had control of Congress and the White House during the early years of the Obama administration.

Advertisement

The study of the new options - which would represent major changes to American economic policy - comes as the administration looks to tax reform as its next major battleground for implementing its agenda. Trump wants to cut taxes sharply, but his advisers are looking for ways to raise revenue so as not to create a giant hole in the deficit.

Administration officials stressed that no final decision has been made and they are reviewing different alternatives. Two officials and a third person confirmed the consideration of the value-added tax, while one official and the third person confirmed the consideration of the carbon tax. The carbon tax idea is very controversial within the administration, and some officials strongly oppose it, one person said.

The search for new options reflects a recognition of the political challenges facing a proposal known as a border-adjustment tax that the White House and some Republicans had begun to rally around. The proposal, effectively a tax on imports, would not only raise needed revenue but also serve to fulfill Trump's pledge to protect American companies from unfair export competition.

White House officials are split on whether to endorse the creation of this specific tax. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month that the Trump administration was exploring a number of different ideas, including tailoring border adjustment tax so that it was applied differently to different industries or products.

Adjusting taxes at the border would create incentives for companies to manufacture and produce goods domestically. But the proposal is unpopular with many other Republicans, who have said it would raise costs for consumers on things such as automobiles, electronics and clothing.

A value-added tax and a carbon tax have long been favored tools among many economists, including some on the right, to raise revenue in a way that supports economic growth. But the prospect of any new taxes has long drawn skepticism from Republicans.

Many GOP politicians have opposed value-added taxes. President Reagan warned that a value-added tax could become way for the government to raise revenue without the public being aware of it. "It's hidden in the price of a product. And that tax can quietly be increased, and all the people know is that the price went up," Reagan said.

All the same, value-added taxes enjoy broad support from economists, who argue that they are an efficient way of raising revenue without discouraging work or investment - a frequent criticism of the current system, which taxes income and capital gains. Conservative policymakers and politicians have proposed value-added taxes over the years, though often without using that term to describe them.

Advertisement

For instance, economists described the plan that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed as a presidential candidate in 2015 as a value-added tax, though Cruz insisted his plan was not one. His primary opponent Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attacked Cruz's plan relentlessly, appealing to Reagan's opposition.

Caroline Freund, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said she was glad to learn that the White House was considering a value-added tax, though she doubted that GOP lawmakers would be more accepting of that idea than the border adjustment proposed by Republicans in the House last year.

"I've always been told, 'VAT is a four-letter word on the Hill,' even though it's only three letters," Freund said. "To me, that is the right way to go, and I'm just really pleased to hear that someone's thinking like that."

Some Democrats might also support a value-added tax, depending on the other provisions of the overall reform.

A value-added tax is a provision in a proposal from Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., but Sue Walitsky, a spokeswoman for the senator, said that Cardin would want to ensure that any value-added tax did not disproportionately increase the burden on households with modest incomes. Because households with less money have to spend a greater fraction of their incomes on staples, they would pay relatively more under a tax on consumption such as a value-added tax.

Walitsky said the administration had not been in touch with Cardin's office about the possibility of a value-added tax. "They don't share a lot with us," she said.

Advertisement

The chance of Congress passing a carbon tax might not be much better, especially since any tax on emissions that cause global warming would draw opposition from the fossil-fuel industry. All the same, a carbon tax also has some support from prominent Republicans.

A group of veteran GOP officials including James Baker, Henry Paulson and George P. Schultz - all of whom served as treasury secretary under Republican presidents - met with White House staff in February to advocate a national tax on carbon.

"I really don't know the extent to which it is man-made, and I don't think anybody can tell you with certainty that it's all man-made," Baker said in an interview with The Washington Post at the time, referring to climate change. He added, though, that the country needed to protect itself from the serious risks involved in global warming.

In 2013, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that a modest tax of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions would raise roughly $1.2 trillion over a decade -- roughly the same amount that would be raised by the border adjustment.
Neil Gorsuch as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be an associate justice of the US Supreme Court during a hearing in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP/Getty Images)

The coming battle over the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court is ostensibly about whether the nominee is in the "mainstream" of American constitutional jurisprudence.

The American Bar Association, a group that is not known for leaning to the right in recent years, has bestowed its highest rating of "well-qualified" on Gorsuch, and, from some parts of the academy and even the higher reaches of former Democrat administrations, Gorsuch has been lauded as a judge of exceptional even-handedness, intelligence and wit. And yet, it is now clear that the Democrats in the Senate will mount a filibuster against the nomination, the first time this has ever been done for purely partisan reasons.

Advertisement

The filibuster is justified by its organizer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the grounds that Gorsuch is not a "mainstream" nominee, and, because, as other Democrats have suggested, some of the judge's prior decisions reflect a preference for corporate interests and an insufficient regard for the powerless in society. For the Democrats, then, the "mainstream" of constitutional theory requires, as President Barack Obama suggested when he was describing his nomination philosophy, a justice who takes account of what it is like to be a member of a minority, or a single parent struggling to provide for a family.

Prior to the debacle involving President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, there was a broad consensus that the job of judges was simply to follow the rules laid down and, if those rules were unjust, legal or constitutional change was thought better to come from the legislatures or through constitutional amendments. Political battles over Supreme Court justices were relatively rare, and there was, in general, bipartisan agreement on what constituted an acceptable nominee.

Advertisement

This is no longer the case, and I think the reason is that a division which has roiled the legal academy since the middle of the last century has finally spilled over into American politics and society. Ever since the Warren Court and, later, the Burger Court, refashioned constitutional doctrines in order to promote racial and sexual equality, the rights of criminal defendants, democratic representation and privacy rights, law professors have tried to justify this bold constitutional change.

They have done this by maintaining, first, that it was inevitable that judges should exercise some discretion, and, eventually, that that discretion ought to be employed in favoring the formerly powerless. A few brave souls in the academy fought these notions, none more strenuously than the late law professor and Justice Antonin Scalia, who, with a few other intrepid traditionalists, still argued that it was for the legislatures and the people themselves to create any legal changes.

Justice Scalia and the traditionalists maintained the court was supposed to be blind, and if judges altered the rules, our most cherished rights  and, in particular, the right to self-government  were in danger.

Not for nothing did Donald Trump maintain that Scalia was his favorite justice, and that he would nominate to the court a jurist in the Scalia mold. This, of course, is just what the new president has done with the nomination of Gorsuch, who was reported to have shed tears of sorrow on learning of Scalia's passing.

It could truly be said that Judge Gorsuch, who taught at the University of Colorado, was somewhat out of the mainstream of the legal academy, though by all accounts he was an exceptionally popular and capable teacher. By now, given the behavior of the courts over the past few decades, the majority of the academy's view of what judges ought to do has frequently been reflected in judicial behavior. Still, there may have been an understanding in most of the country that government by judiciary was not what the framers had in mind, and in the heartland, the "mainstream" in the academy was not flowing.

Our proudest boast, as Americans, has always been that ours is a government of laws and not men (or persons), which means that no one is above the law, not even judges. This, apparently, is no longer the view of one of our political parties, but it remains the view of the other, and the view of the current president. We are about to find out if the Republicans in the Senate are willing to alter their rules to defeat the filibuster to seat a Justice Gorsuch and, once again, to try to return us to the original mainstream.

Stephen B. Presser is the Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History Emeritus at Northwestern's Pritzker School of Law and the author of the recently published "Law Professors: Three Centuries of Shaping American Law."
Distracted driving and drunk driving --both can kill, so why is distracted driving punished with about the same bite as a speeding ticket? (Dark Horse / Getty Images/Cultura RF)

The ubiquity of distracted drivers should alarm every Chicagoan. They're roadway menaces, and we know how to spot them.

Stopped at a red light, the distracted driver is seen from behind gazing downward and to the right. The light turns green, but the distracted driver's car doesn't move, not until the motorist behind taps his horn. In traffic, the distracted driver is given away by slow swerves across the lane lines, as his or her head darts from cellphone to windshield, cellphone to windshield. At night, like hyena eyes that glow in the dark, the distracted driver's presence is obvious  suffused in the device's glow, head darting from cellphone to windshield and back.

Advertisement

By no means an endangered species, the distracted driver teems in every neighborhood, every suburb. And if there's a crash in your neighborhood or suburb, there's a decent chance that it involved distracted driving.

A study released by Cambridge Mobile Telematics found that nearly 1 of every 4 drivers involved in a crash was using a cellphone within a minute before the accident, the Tribune's Mary Wisniewski reports. The study also found that distracted driving occurred in more than half of car trips that ended in a crash.

Advertisement

All too often, those crashes entail senseless tragedy. In Texas, the driver of a pickup truck was texting on his cellphone March 29 when he collided with a church minibus, killing 12 on the bus. A 13th passenger later died in the hospital. The bus passengers ranged in age from 61 to 87. A witness at the scene said the driver told him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting."

Since 2014, it's been illegal in Illinois to use a hand-held device while driving. Chicago has banned cellphone use while driving since 2005. The Cambridge study cited Chicago's most notorious locations for distracted driving: the drop-off areas at Midway and O'Hare airports; on Solidarity Drive between the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum; King Drive and the Stevenson Expressway; and Lake Shore Drive and Grand Avenue.

Illinois State Trooper David Roman told Wisniewski it's easy to spot the scofflaws. What's hard  often impossible  is ginning up the manpower to catch them all. "There's not enough of us," he said.

The most recent Chicago Police Department data we could obtain showed that in the first four months of 2014, cops issued more than 16,500 tickets for cellphone violations, the Tribune reported that year. That's a rate of nearly 50,000 a year. Certainly Chicago police should focus on the hot spots cited in the Cambridge study, but no department can muster the manpower to cope with the multitudes of scofflaws. In 2015, the Daily Herald sent reporters to 10 suburban intersections during rush hour to spot motorists using cellphones while driving. In a single hour, they spotted more than 1,000 lawbreakers, a rate of nearly two drivers a minute per intersection.

Technology aimed at curbing distracted driving is already available. Most new cars have software that permits motorists to make phone calls, dictate texts and use apps hands-free. Cellular phone carriers Sprint and AT&T offer apps that send automatic not-now-I'm-driving replies to incoming emails and texts, when a car reaches a certain speed. All good, but still not enough.

Distracted driving today is where drunken driving was a couple of decades ago  reckless behavior capable of deadly consequences, but shrugged off with an everyone-does-it dismissiveness. We know it's pervasive; a 2015 Harris poll found that nearly a third of American motorists said they text while driving. And we know it's deadly; roughly 10 percent of the 35,000 traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2015 involved a distracted driver, a nearly 9 percent jump from 2014.

Yet, it's behavior punished with about the same severity as a speeding ticket. In Illinois, fines for using a hand-held device while driving start at $75. The most that someone can get fined is $150 for a repeat offense. That has to change.

Distracted driving needs to be as stigmatized as drunken driving is today. Public awareness campaigns can play a useful role. But that has to be accompanied by harsher penalties that deter  and shame. A DUI conviction means mandatory revocation of driving privileges for a year  two years if you're under 21. If your blood alcohol content is over 0.16 percent, you're also looking at a minimum $500 fine and 100 hours of community service. Penalties ramp up for subsequent convictions.

Advertisement

We leave it to lawmakers to decide how much of a step-up in punishment there should be for distracted drivers. But there needs to be a step-up, and it should put some hurt on the scofflaw. It should be harsh enough to get motorists to think twice about the damage they can do in a few seconds of texting, checking an email or sending a Snapchat  damage that can wreck cars and end lives.
Judge Neil Gorsuch, a thoughtful conservative who is President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, likely wins Senate confirmation this week. The question is under what terms: conventional or nuclear? With American democracy unscathed or, um, scathed?

Our hope, now fading, is that Gorsuch gets to the high court the old-fashioned way  confirmed with the support of at least 60 senators, including several Democrats. There's something assuring, not to mention refreshingly constitutional, about senators from both sides of the aisle coming together to fulfill their responsibility to provide "advice and consent" on judicial nominations. Since Gorsuch, who's been on the federal bench for a decade, clearly is qualified, he should be confirmed  by Republicans and Democrats.

Advertisement

If only. In Washington, Republicans and Democrats will go to extremes to win their battles and damage the other side, even if that means attacking the ideal of compromise that should define effective bipartisan governance. The Gorsuch nomination is a crucial test for the Senate because there's more at stake than a vote on an individual Supreme Court seat. There is also the preservation of an honorable system for doing the people's business. The Senate stands at the brink of abandoning this important democratic practice of reasonable cooperation on judgeships.

Here's why: When the full Senate votes on confirmation, Gorsuch appears set to receive all 52 Republican votes, but his nomination has no direct path to a super-majority of 60 because there are not eight Democratic and independent senators willing to join. That fact became clear Monday when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Gorsuch's nomination on a party-line vote but the 41st Democrat came out against the nominee.

Advertisement

Without 60 votes for confirmation, Democrats can filibuster, effectively icing the Gorsuch nomination  unless Republicans invoke the extreme measure of changing Senate rules governing Supreme Court confirmations. Under this so-called nuclear option, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could push through a straight majority vote to deliver the high court seat to Gorsuch. That's probably what he'll do.

They don't call this the "nuclear option" for nothing, though. The Senate has never experienced a partisan filibuster to block a Supreme Court justice, so there's never been a case of a majority party blowing up Senate rules to circumvent minority party opposition to a high court appointment. Supreme Court nominations have been withdrawn, and the 1987 nomination of Judge Robert Bork was defeated, but when the vote's up for grabs, the Senate has found a way to do the responsible thing. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, an arch-conservative whose seat Gorsuch would fill, was confirmed with 98 votes. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal, got 96 votes. Those were the days: politics, the art of the possible.

This sorry confrontation over Gorsuch has direct roots in a 2013 action by Senate Democrats. Then-Majority Leader Harry Reid deployed the nuclear option to crush Republican dissent over some presidential nominations. President Barack Obama endorsed Reid's move, blaming Republican obstructionism that "just isn't normal." Funny how hyper-partisanship is starting to look more normal every day.

Democrats say Gorsuch doesn't deserve the Supreme Court seat because they believe he'll allow his political convictions to color rulings from the bench. He gave a strong defense of his judicial philosophy and commitment to the Constitution, but of course declined to discuss specific cases to avoid accusations of being prejudicial. Democrats characterized his caution  similar to that of several sitting justices during their confirmation hearings  as evasiveness. The Democrats weren't ever going to go easy on Gorsuch, though, and much of that blame sits with Republicans. Last year they refused to even hold a nomination hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, Obama's choice to succeed Scalia.

This time it's a Republican president whose legitimate pick for the Supreme Court is hung up by Democratic rancor. If the only option is nuclear, the Republicans will take it. And you can bet Democrats won't forget. That's how we got here: revenge instead of compromise, destruction over cooperation, an escalating cycle of win-at-all-costs cynicism.

Senators, all of you know that Gorsuch will be a good justice. He deserves to be confirmed  and likely will be. If you also quash the filibuster, that's on you.
The April 1 Tribune editorial lauding rulings protecting Chicago's lakefront appropriately paid tribute to recently deceased U.S. District Judge John Darrah. I taught with Jack, and he was my friend. He was a wonderful judge and a wonderful man.

I am confident, though, that Jack, a lifelong Republican, would share my disappointment that in praising him, the Tribune took yet another irresponsible shot at the integrity of state court judges. The editorial needlessly and unfairly included reference to keeping the case "beyond the reach of politically attuned Cook County judges who tend to rule however Democratic mayors of Chicago want them to rule." That is not how judges do their difficult jobs. Not Democrats, like me when I sat as a judge in Cook County, or Republicans, like Jack when he served as a state judge in Republican DuPage County. We decided cases on the law and evidence, without regard to who in government, or for that matter in the partisan press, would be disappointed in our rulings. And the vast majority of judges in state and federal courts act exactly the same way.

Advertisement

So give Judge John Darrah the praise he earned for an exemplary career in true public service, but don't do so by taking a cheap shot at others who do their best to rule fairly without fear or favor.

 James R. Epstein, Wilmette, retired judge, Cook County Circuit Court, Illinois Appellate Court
M5 Mexican Brass Band will perform at Southern Adventist University Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Review for M5 Mexican Brass Band:

Combining their skills performing all styles of chamber music with inborn showmanship and charm, nonstop interaction with the audience, and their very own sound, M5 will provide a unique and musical-theatrical experience. The group is internationally recognized and considered to be Latin Americas most successful brass quintet.

The performance will be at Southern Adventist University, Iles Physical Education Center, 4870 University Dr. in Collegedale.

Tickets are $5 for individuals and $12 for a family (free to current Southern students and staff). For more information call 236-2581.
This ain't no disco, as the Talking Heads song goes, but I sometimes take requests  especially when they come from my wife.

"You ought to write about this," said the Missus, steaming over a debate that was heating up her social networks: Is it proper for a married man to eat a meal in the company of a woman who is not his wife?

Advertisement

Yes, as you may have heard by now, a Washington Post profile of Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, turned up a 15-year-old interview in which then-congressman Pence of Indiana made a startling revelation: He never eats alone with a woman other than his wife or attends events without her that feature alcohol.

For my wife, Pence's policy triggered memories of a state government official for whom she worked as a speechwriter. Whenever they were chauffeured from one event to another, he insisted that she ride in the back seat while he rode up front with the driver.

Advertisement

"People talk," he would say. Nothing personal, he said, but he didn't want any passers-by to see him cruising around town with a woman who was not his wife.

This double standard, which he did not practice with his male staffers, infuriated my wife, who grew up on the South Side of Chicago. It surprised me, too, but having grown up, as her boss did, in a small town where gossip was the leading form of local communication, I understood where he was coming from.

People do talk, I would agree, but how much should we care? Efforts to avoid the possibility of gossip should not require the certainty of unfairness.

Pence's dining policy didn't raise many eyebrows back in 2002. It was "typical Mike," say those who knew him. The proudly evangelical Pence often calls himself "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." But now that he's the VP to President Donald Trump, the man who launched a million pussy-hat marchers, Pence's dining-partner policy has ignited a new culture war along predictable battle lines.

Internet chatter stirred vigorous and furious debate about how gender works in the halls of political power. Conservatives saw a prudent policy by a heart-warmingly happy pair. Feminists fumed at the implicit sexism of Pence's blanket discrimination against all women, however benevolent it may be. Late-night comedians mocked the vice president's supposed unwillingness to trust his own urges when alone with women.

Yet, at least two women who formerly worked for Pence defended him in commentaries.

"My work product determined my success  not private dinners with the congressman," wrote one of them, Mary Vought, now president of Vought Strategies LLC, in a Washington Post op-ed. Looking back on her time as press secretary to the House Republican Conference under then-Chairman Pence, she said, "I don't consider it to be a period of missed opportunities."

But this controversy is bigger than Pence. It raises long-simmering questions about the many ways that cultural norms, traditions and attitudes can subtly work to elbow women out of the normal everyday circles of access and communications that can crack glass ceilings.

Advertisement

Pence's policy appears to be grounded in what is often called in evangelical circles the Billy Graham Rule. The famous evangelist came up with the ban on alone time with women among other behavioral guidelines in a 1948 meeting with his ministry team. They wanted to reassure the faithful and the public that they would behave better on the preaching circuit than the Elmer Gantry stereotypes left behind by some other traveling evangelists.

But in today's world, rules intended to protect women from exploitation sometimes make them vulnerable to discrimination. I am certain, by the way, that this discrimination can work in reverse. But even as women have moved upward in massive numbers in recent decades, they remain too few to benefit much from discriminating against men, even if they wanted to.

Quite the opposite, many have been all the more sensitized as they move up the ranks to how pervasive sexist structures can be  even on Capitol Hill. An anonymous 2015 National Journal survey of female staffers in Congress, also reported in The Atlantic, found that exclusion from one-on-one time with their male bosses was a "huge impediment to moving up."

Ironically, treating any employee differently on account of gender may be illegal under civil rights laws that Congress has passed. But with so many women equaling and often out-achieving men in colleges and the workplace, smart managers should not need legal action to tell them a simple, durable truth: No-girls-allowed policies and habits are bad for business.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

cpage@chicagotribune.com

Advertisement

Twitter @cptime
At least 13 were killed in Texas when a car smashed into a school bus. The driver admitted to texting just before striking the bus. Seriously, people, no text is that important. Every time I drive on the freeway my wife and I play a game when we see a vehicle swerving all over the place. "Drunk or texting?". 99 times out of 100 the driver has their face glued to a glowing screen.
From left, Shirley and Leonard Wass visit with author and former FBI agent Terrance Hake, who has written a book about the undercover anti-corruption investigation Operation Greylord in Chicago. (David Sharos / The Beacon-News)

Members of Aurora's Navy League Council 247 spent a recent evening hearing about one our nation's biggest undercover operations as former state's attorney turned FBI agent Terrance Hake spoke about his recent book, "Operation Greylord."

The event included a reception and dinner held at Grandma's Table in Montgomery, which drew a crowd of 40 who listened to Hake, a Chicago resident who wore a recording device from 1980 through 1983, during which he recorded conversations of both corrupt judges and attorneys.

Advertisement

Leonard Wass, a board member of the Navy League Council, said in addition to lining up monthly speakers for the group he also served as a member of the Chicago Crime Commission and heard Hake speak recently at a luncheon.

"I thought his presentation there was remarkable and I asked him if he'd mind coming out," Wass said before the presentation. "The only thing that is off the table as far as presenters is politics  and this is a story unto itself about the corruption."

Advertisement

Hake, 65, who now lives in Winnetka, said he was just 27 years old when he filed a complaint about corruption in Cook County regarding judges and attorneys and that the FBI recruited him as an agent the following year.

"This was the first time ever that judges' chambers were bugged and the first time an attorney had been made into an agent," Hake said. "In the end, 103 individuals wound up being charged, and it was one of the FBI's longest, most successful undercover cases."

Hake said his complaint filed in 1980 regarding cases that involved child molestation, murder, and rape led to an investigation with him posing as a criminal defense attorney during which he himself received 60 bribes.

"Over a two-year period, I received 60 bribes and as I've said in my book, judges in narcotics court were basically receiving their salary, worth about $52,000 back in the early 1980s, in cash," he said. "In today's dollars, you're looking at about $192,000  so that was a lot of money."

Hake also spoke about the personal risks he assumed by being an undercover agent as well as the ostracism he received from his colleagues since the undercover work has ended.

"I retired from the FBI in 2008 and went back to work in the state's attorney's office as a lawyer and people in Cook County would tell me that things were now 100 percent better," Hake said. "There were others in the legal community who would tell people they shouldn't talk to me and there were still a lot of individuals who harbored resentment. There were at least two times I was concerned for my personal safety and requested backup."

Navy League Council members like Wass' sister Shirley Wass of Glen Ellyn said she "remembers living in Cook County back in the 1980s" and was not surprised to learn of the corruption there.

"That was a very crooked time in the Chicago area, and the judicial system was certainly not honorable," she said. "I was happy about what Mr. Hake did and feel that corruption still exists and where it does  we need investigations."

Advertisement

Rick Todas of Sugar Grove, who serves as the local Navy League president, said "we are a nation of laws, not men" and that "no one was too big to do wrong."

"When people break the law, it undermines the process and destroys our system and I think what Hake did was heroic as well as necessary," Todas said. "Sometimes we have to do not what we want to do, but what we should do."

Leonard Wass said Hake's message and experiences have a universal application.

"As people, we need to continue to be vigilant. I've visited 70 countries in my lifetime and people across the world are subject to the same temptations," he said. "Political corruption is everywhere and we need to be attentive to it and weed it out as it impedes our republic."

For those considering take a risk such as he did, Hake offered this advice.

"You have to think carefully first about what you're getting into given the risks someone like I took, but you also have to follow what's in your heart," Hake said. "If you do the right thing, you might face scorn but I think for me that was outweighed by the good that was done for the system and for me personally."

Advertisement

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Miller & Martin hosted its fourth "Miller & Martin Mornings" breakfast series on Friday titled "The Trump Administration: The 'First Year' Crucible." In partnership with the Miller Center's First Year Project, the discussion was led by panelists that included Ambassador Eric Edleman, former under secretary of Defense for Policy and Ambassador to Finland and Turkey; Mr. Christopher P. LU who served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor in the Obama Administration; and William J. Antholis, director and CEO of the Miller Center. The event also featured a special appearance by Senator Bob Corker who offered his unique perspective to questions from the audience covering the current political landscape.

We are honored to share Miller Center's First Year Project with our guests in Chattanooga and hear insights from the Scholars and Senior Fellows on how the administration has met the numerous challenges to date, said Jim Haley, chairman of Miller & Martin. Our firm is proud to have played a role in founding the Miller Center and in preserving and promoting this valuable national and international resource. Additionally, we are always appreciative of Senator Bob Corker's insights and leadership with respect to the many concerns currently facing our nation.

Panelists discussed transition processes, challenges and opportunities the Trump administration is facing in its first year. The panel provided their insights regarding areas of optimism and concern relating to the administrations agenda, policy changes, bi-partisan relations and budget blueprint.

The series, "Miller & Martin Mornings: Fresh Takes on Issues that Keep us up at Night," draws from the firm's 150 years of experience and a practice that spans more than 35 areas of law. It provides in-depth discussions around trending topics of the moment that present challenges for those in business leadership roles.
Ivy Academy will host its 4th annual fundraiser coined Running with Sasquatch, a 5k Fun Run Trail Race, on Saturday at 9 a.m. at 8520 Dayton Pike in Soddy-Daisy. Runners get in free, others are asked to give a donation for entrance. Funds raised will directly benefit the educational offerings for Ivy Academy students.

"Attendees are welcome to leisurely hike the trails, but for those who plan on running competitively the goal of the race is to outrun our local Sasquatch. If this happens, crowning glory of a I Whooped Sas t-shirt will be given at the finish line. The race is guaranteed to be an enjoyable morning on the trails, while also supporting the great efforts of an innovative school, said Ginny Kelly Race Liaison and Board Member at Ivy Academy.

To sign up for the race, visit http://www.ivyacademychattanooga.com/running-with-sasquatch/. To volunteer or provide donations, contact Ginny Kelly at ginnylkelly@gmail.com.
Glass House Collective has partnered with green|spaces Empower to host the East Chatt Highlight Festival at the 1900 block of Roanoke Avenue, near Glass Street. This three-day neighborhood festival is in conjunction with "The Pool" by Jen Lewin, an interactive lighted art exhibit where all ages are encouraged to come out to play, dance and move as the colors change with and around them.

Made up of 40,000 LEDs on 106 computer-powered 3-foot discs arranged in concentric circles, the piece activates when someone steps on the pads, setting in motion colored light effects. With Empower's emphasis on helping neighbors lower their energy costs, this art exhibit literally highlights neighbors and guests as they enjoy the festival into the evening hours. This is a festival for both day and night.

The third annual Gospel on Glass will be a free and family friendly. Food vendors will be on site. Participants may bring their own lawn chairs. Hope for the Inner City will also coordinate their annual plant sale on site.

Glass House Collective has partnered with Marcellus Barnes (former Orchard Knob Elementary music teacher) and UPAFC to celebrate the local gospel music talent in and around East Chattanooga. This years performers include some new names, along with favorites from the past two years: The Dance Ministry of Ms. Kessala Dorsey, Comedian Trish Rutledge, Pastor Corey Prather & Hi Praize, Larry Hurston & Genuine, Trent Williams, Drummers!!! Jarrod White, Eddie Heyward, DJ "Big Bam" Gates, Ashley Brison from the Group Eddie James, Pastor Jo Foster and Team Judah, Darius Ware and IPM, Tiffany Coleman, Jarvis Menifee and Chozen, Carlos and Janelle Drake, Miracle Baptist Church Mass Choir, Rock Island Church Mass Choir, The Spiritual Highlights, Justin Radford (Clarksville, TN), and Pastor Marcellus Barnes & VOT.

The event is sponsored by Tennessee Arts Commission, with additional support from Hope for the Inner City, SunTrust, Coca Cola United, New Blue Construction, and Elliott Davis Decosimo.



Lyrical Lights: Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Showcase will be Friday, April 21, from 7:30-10:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 22, from 3-10:30 p.m.



Gospel on Glass: Featuring Unity Performing Arts Foundation will be Sunday, April 23, from 3-10:30 p.m. There will be a live DJ starting at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a family fun picnic, bounce houses, games, vendors and food.

For additional information email info@glasshousecollective.org, call 402-0565 or visit Glass House Collectives website with festival event page or the Facebook event page.








The Greenslake Road Church of Christ in East Ridge invites the public to its spring meeting with evangelist Eddie Craft of Elizabethton. The meeting will run Sunday, April 9 through Thursday, April 13 with Sunday service times at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. Craft is a Signal Mountain native and holds degrees from The Memphis School of Preaching, Tennessee Bible College, and International College of the Bible. He served as a full-time minister with the Elizabethton Church of Christ for 24 years, and now works full time as a director and instructor in the Tri-cities School of Preaching. His other works include a weekly radio program Arise to Truth, a weekly television program Biblical Viewpoints which airs in six states and on the Gospel Broadcasting Network.

Officials said, "We welcome visitors to all of our services which are 9:30 a.m. on Sunday with Bible study at 10:45 a.m., and evening service at 6 p.m. Our Wednesday Bible study is at 7 p.m. We provide Bible classes for all ages."
Representatives of Erlanger Health System and Tennessee Donors Services along with special guests Monica and Terry Meece, Jerri Gunn and Kinah Sanders raised the Donate Life flag on Tuesday in honor of the 59 organ donors at Erlanger in 2016.

Once on the transplant list, a patient can wait years for a match to be found. Terry Meece found his match in his wife, Monica, in 2016. By participating in live kidney donation, Terry began the transplant process and received a new kidney the very same year he was placed on dialysis.



Rocky Trammell was 20 years old when he was in a terrible car accident on June 28, 2014. On July 3, 2014 he gave the ultimate gift of life to several people through organ donation. One of those individuals, Kinah Sander, was the recipient of one of Rockys kidneys. Rockys mother, Jerri Gunn, and Kinah met in October 2014 and have remained friends ever since.



Erlanger joins thousands of hospitals and organizations across the nation by flying the Donate Life flag in recognition of Donor Awareness Month, and in honor of the uncountable lives touched by organ, eye and tissue donation. Currently, Erlanger is the second leading donor hospital system in Tennessee resulting in 187 organs transplants and 29 kidney transplants at the regions only Kidney Transplant Center at Erlanger in 2016.



More than 118,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant and nearly 3,000 of those live in Tennessee. Every day 22 people die waiting for a transplant, and every 10 minutes a new name will be added to a waiting list. Those who are on a kidney transplant waiting list make up 80% of the organ patient population.


2022 election guide: Here are Pueblo County's top races, ballot issues

Here's what you need to know about the local candidates and ballot questions in the 2022 election, as well as how to vote in Pueblo, Colorado.
Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) plans to woo Chinese investors in order to deepen the capital market, the bourse's top official said.

NSE CEO Geoffrey Odundo told Xinhua in a recent interview in Nairobi that currently there is very minimal Chinese capital at the NSE.

"We are therefore planning to conduct road shows in China in the coming months so that we create awareness of the NSE in China," Odundo said.

Over the past decade, Chinese firms have begun to play a prominent role in Kenya's economy. Odundo said that most Chinese firms operating in Kenya are either state-owned or privately held firms.

"By listing in the NSE, the Chinese can access long-term capital at cheaper rates," he added. The CEO noted that China has a high savings ratio as compared to Kenya.

"There is therefore a huge pool of Chinese funds that is looking for high returns that the NSE currently offers," he added.

The NSE is currently having discussions with Chinese investors who want to list their companies in African stock exchanges.

Odundo said that the Chinese have adopted a long-term view of Africa and therefore are seeking to grow their firms as the continent also grows.

Some of the advantages that Chinese firms will get by listing in Kenya are that they will gain more acceptance by local consumers.

The NSE has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Shanghai Securities Exchange in order to enhance knowledge sharing among the two exchanges.

Under the agreement, Kenya will be assisted to develop products that appeal to Chinese capital markets investors.

Odundo noted that some NSE personnel will also visit the Shanghai bourse in order to understand how the Chinese exchange has expanded rapidly in the past decade.
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.
You are here: Home

Vehicles for investigation are seen at the local government building in Suxian District of Chenzhou City, central China's Hunan Province, April 4, 2017. Twelve people died and another 19 were injured in Hunan Province Monday after their truck overturned, local authorities said. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao)

Twelve people died and another 19 were injured in central China's Hunan Province Monday after their truck overturned, local authorities said.

The accident happened at about 5:50 p.m. as 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 said.

Eleven workers died at the scene and one died later at hospital. The injured have been rushed to hospitals nearby.

The legal representative of the landscaping company and the truck driver have been held by police.

The accident is under investigation.
You are here: Home

A Japanese man has donated 16 Chinese historical military documents to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

Retired Japanese school principal Iwamatsu attending a donation ceremony in Nanjing with a Japanese delegation, during which he donated historical documents about the Battle of Nanjing to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, March 31, 2017. [Photo/ jschina.com.cn]

The 76-year-old retired primary school principal, Iwamatsu, discovered the documents in a bookshop in Japan in 2007, and decided to return them to China after buying them.

They contain orders issued by a commander named Tang Shengzhi relating to the Battle of Nanjing in 1937 when the then Chinese capital was captured by Japanese troops, and a permit for foreign missionaries.

It's not the first time that Iwamatsu has visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Back in 1997 when he was a high school teacher, he was part of a delegation from the Japanese National Board of Education.

Historical documents about the Battle of Nanjing donated by Japanese man Iwamatsu.[Photo/ jschina.com.cn]

On returning to Japan, Iwamatsu told his students about the history of the Nanjing Massacre, where over 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed by Japanese soldiers.

Iwamatsu attended the donation ceremony in Nanjing with a Japanese delegation visiting Nanjing to commemorate the victims of the Nanjing Massacre by planting trees during the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday. The practice has been an annual event since 1986.
Huang Juan tells the story of The Little Prince to the pupils in the village. [Photo by Lin Aihua/China Daily]

The first time Huang Juan arrived at Sanjia village, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, her goal was to demolish decrepit buildings and homes, rather than preserve them.

She was working on a tourism development program to boost incomes by improving living conditions and rural tourism.

Just less than 100 km from Nanning, the region's capital, the village is located in Mashan county surrounded by looming karst mountains.

Most of the villagers had moved into their new houses with the help of the government in 2014 when a reconstruction program was launched to promote rural tourism.

"How could people make a sustainable future out of a place with little tourism resources like Sanjia," said Huang. "I began to wonder whether there is a way to inspire the villagers to be more involved to attract visitors".

South yard is a house she decided to renovate. Its cob brick structure was built more than 60 years ago.

"When there are very few old dwellings left, I began to realize the villagers may lose their past and how urgent it is to save the authentic heart of the place," said Huang.

She wanted to restore it as a public space for the villagers and a platform to exchange ideas and introduce resources, or even use it as a place of retreat and contemplation.

Mu Wei, an architect who designed the Norwegian pavilion for the Shanghai Expo, joined her and undertook the design.

The building was designed in two sections, the former main building and a new light house, which stand together in harmony by the river.

The main building, which presents the past, was renovated in its original style with a tilt roof.

The light house is characterized with large area of French casement and a wood framework which makes the space transparent and bright.

Nearby villagers offered their help in the renovation although they didn't understand her concept at first.

South yard was completed in September 2016, after a year's hard work, at a cost of 1.3 million yuan ($190,000).
Primary school students, including those affected by autism, sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" at a public activity for autism awareness on April 1, 2017. [Photo by Chen Boyuan/China.org.cn]

The prestigious national China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) is using big data to analyze the readership of autism-related online articles as part of its effort to promote public awareness.

The CSCLF teamed up with Toutiao, a search engine-like provider for online news and information, prior to the 10th World Autism Awareness Day falling on April 2, 2017.

The two parties analyzed the reading habits of some 600 million users on Toutiao, and came up with a preliminary profile of readers most interested in autism awareness in China. They hope the findings will help clarify programs designed to remove social misunderstandings of autism, and hence encourage families with autistic children to be more open in acknowledging it.

Data analysis found the most common attributes expressed by such parents were acceptance, love, assistance, common knowledge and tolerance.

Autism is currently an incurable disorder that sufferers experience throughout their life. The greatest hope of parents of autistic children is that schools and the society can accept their children.

"Only in an amicable environment can autistic children study and live like others, and their specific behavior can be tolerated," said Du Jiamei, founder of the Beijing Star Hope Rehabilitation Center for Autistic Children, presenting the findings of the big data research on April 1.

As for autistic children's future employment, their parents are most concerned about the children's "capability," the analysis showed.

"Everyone needs to work to survive, but autistic children have difficulties in acquiring necessary job skills. Therefore, their parents are highly concerned with how to rehabilitate them," said Du. Skills, welfare, planning, insurance, shelter, career guidance, tax exemption and protection were also among the keywords that represent the worries in autistic families.

The data also showed that only 0.5 percent of readers shared the knowledge gained about autism on their social network platforms. Despite rising attention in regard to autism, parents of autistic children are still reluctant to speak out about their own families, said Du, explaining that concern of privacy might be the main reason.

The CSCLF and the Beijing Star Hope Rehabilitation Center for Autistic Children jointly established the Autism Special Fund in 2015 and use the donations to develop therapies for autistic children, along with the education and training of those who attend to them.

Yet, the CSCLF hopes the annual observance of World Autism Awareness Day can go beyond donations. "What [the parents] need even more is a good guide and a lamp to lighten up their path. This is what every one of us can do," said Liu Ying from CSCLF.

Autism is a congenital neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs a child's development in both social interaction and non-verbal communication. Restricted and repetitive behavior are also characteristic of the disease.

In China, autistic children are called "children of the stars" because of their poor attention span and unsteady behavior, in some way resembling the flicker of distant stars. Statistics in 2016 showed that autism affected more than 10 million people -- including two million children -- in China.

China officially categorized autism as a mental disability in 2006, and began providing social security assistance to autistic people accordingly.

The United Nations created World Autism Awareness Day in 2007, encouraging its member states to raise awareness of autistic children around the world. The theme this year was "Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination."

In his special message for the day, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the world to change its attitude towards those with autism and recognize their rights as citizens.

Guterres said autistic people are entitled to claim their full rights and make decisions about their lives in accordance with their own will and preferences.

"When they enjoy equal opportunity for self-determination and autonomy, persons with autism will be empowered to make an even stronger positive impact on our shared future," he said.
Xi Jinping, then Chinese vice president, addresses the Finland-China Business Dinner Reception in Helsinki, Finland, March 26, 2010. [File photo]

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan will pay a state visit to Finland between April 4-6.

This is the second time a Chinese head of state has visited Finland (the previous one being by President Jiang Zemin some 20 years ago), and is designed to highlight 67 years of friendly diplomatic relations and also to celebrate the 100th anniversary of independence for the small Nordic country this year.

The Chinese-Finnish relationship is a perfect example of how two nations so different in size, culture and political system can complement each other based on mutual economic and business interests.

In 1950, Finland was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and also the first capitalist country to sign a trade deal in 1953.

Finland's moves, which also included staunch support for China's gaining membership in the United Nations, created much goodwill in China, and resulted in active cultural exchanges beginning as early as the 1950s.

Finland and China have had an agreement on economic, industrial, scientific and technological cooperation since 1973, it last being revised in 2005. Since the early 1990s, there has been at least one official ministerial-level visit from Finland to China each year.

Today there are all kinds of contacts and exchanges, especially when it comes to work and education: around 8,000 Chinese people living in Finland, less the other way round, with an emphasis on study.

For Finland, cooperation is focused on trade and business. China is its biggest trading partner in Asia and the fifth biggest overall, and currently some 400 Finnish companies do business in China, such as the elevator giant Kone, paper industry leaders StoreEnso and UPM, and not forgetting Nokia Networks, even though the former biggest foreign investor in China, Nokia Mobile Phones, has gone.

Finnish investments in China amount to 10 billion, employing some 60,000 people. Furthermore, projects and programs to promote Finnish companies and solutions in clean technology, food safety, tourism, education, health and welfare services, design, rule of law, etc., in China, have been in place in recent years, hopefully resulting in both business opportunities and closer bilateral cooperation in the long run.

Finland is also active in participating in Chinese-led international initiatives such as becoming a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2015 and looking forward to cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative being promoted by the Chinese government.

From a Chinese perspective, mutual benefit and respect have been the foundation of the relationship. The past 67 years have been of great importance to the two countries. In this period, China and Finland experienced a significant change from being poor and weak to the rich and strong.

The good relations have certainly served their development. Today, facing a changing world, both the countries are bravely ambitious to increase their competitiveness to meet new challenges in globalization. On the basis of past successful cooperation, China and Finland should enhance joint efforts to open a new chapter for greater future relations.

In a speech offered by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xing several years ago, she specifically outlined a few points:

First, deepening China-Finland relationship from the strategic heights. A multi-polar world increases both interdependence and mutual demands. The two nations need to plan and treat bilateral ties from a long-term viewpoint; need to keep high-level contacts, learn more from each other, be more inclusive and strengthen common ground so as to highlight China-Finland cooperation as the model for China-Europe ties as well as international relations in general.

Second, widen economic and trade cooperation. The mainstream of a future world is to strive to build a green economy with high-tech as the core. The two nations' economies are complementary in many fields helping promote bilateral investment and trade, and increase technological exchanges and cooperation in telecommunications, resources, energy saving and the environment to foster new industries.

Third, strive to create highlights in cultural and people-to-people exchanges. In recent years, Finnish leaders, entrepreneurs and tourists have visited China for such events as the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo as well as for holidays. And there have been more active student exchange programs between the schools and universities of the two countries. Much bigger numbers of Chinese are now visiting Finland each year.

President Xi's visit will enable him to have wide-ranging discussions with his Finnish counterpart, particularly in the areas previously outlined. A series of bilateral documents and agreements are expected to be signed to strengthen the Finnish-Chinese relationships and ensure better, mutually-beneficial cooperation.

The author is a Finn originally born in Beijing, China. Graduated from University of Helsniki, he is a lecturer in Social sciences and cultural studies at Beijing International Studies University and Beijing Capital University of Business and Economics.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
 Flash

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal National Council (FNC) in Abu Dhabi condemned the terrorist blast that targeted the metro line in the Russian metropolis St. Petersburg on Monday, and claimed the lives of dozens of victims, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

The FNC also decried this "terrorist crime," deeming it completely against all moral and human values.

During the phone call with Valentina Matvienko, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of FNC, condemned "this cowardly terrorist attack."

She also stressed that combating terrorism, which targets civilians everywhere, requires a firm response. She offered her heartfelt condolences to the government, the people of the Russian Federation and the families of the victims.

Dr. Al Qubaisi wished quick recovery to the injured, and reiterated the UAE's unwavering stance towards renouncing violence and "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."
 Flash

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.
 Flash

French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Monday said French Guiana protest movement's demand of an emergency package worth 2.5 billion euros (2.66 billion U.S. dollars) was "unrealistic," calling for a continued negotiation to end social unrest in the country's overseas territory.

"It would be easy for the government to take the easy way out and promise an unrealistic amount of financial aid and after leaving the responsibility to another government," Cazeneuve said.

"That is not the idea that we have of responsibility," he added after a ministerial meeting to discuss an eventual alternative to end social unrest in the territory in South America.

With the general strike in French Guiana entered the eighth day, Cazeneuve asked representatives of demonstrators to accept further negotiations.

He added 11 agreements had been reached in "key areas" such as security and justice, fishing, transport, mining, agriculture and energy.

Last Saturday, the government proposed a 1 billion euro aid plan including investments in health, education and infrastructure, in addition to the deployment of extra police and construction of a prison to stop massive protests over poor living conditions, unemployment and insecurity.

However, domestic labor unions refused the offer, demanding instead 2.5 billon euros.

The prime minister defended French President Francois Hollande's record on the issue, affirming that investments in French Guiana had "risen by 79 percent in five years."

He also announced that the government would deliver 4.5 million euros in advance for the General Council of Guiana "in order to pay debts to enterprises" and that the state would "provide support" to develop road infrastructure in the department, notably with the doubling of capacity on certain principle arteries.

French Guiana is one of the poorest departments in France where the unemployment rate stands at 22.3 percent. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars)
 Flash

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.
 Flash

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.
 Flash

At least 14 people had been killed and 42 others were injured in an explosion of an unknown explosive device with destructive elements in St. Petersburg, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Tuesday.

The blast site at a metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia. [Photo/Xinhua]

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 said 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.
 Flash

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.
 Flash

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila has pledged that his country will join with China in advocating free trade and globalization, even as the concepts come under attack in some parts of the world.

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said during an exclusive interview with China Daily that his country and the European Union will join President Xi Jinping in defending free trade. Xi will visit Finland from Tuesday to Thursday. [Photo/China Daily]

"First of all, free trade is very important," Sipila said ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to Finland.

Sipila said from his office in downtown Helsinki that he has been preparing for the visit for some time and looking forward to it "very eagerly". He noted that both sides have "a lot of issues" to discuss.

Against the backdrop of the rising threats of isolationism and protectionism, he recalled that, at a recent European Council meeting, European leaders discussed the speech that Xi delivered in January at the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Xi will visit Finland from Tuesday to Thursday before meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Sipila said Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will focus on political and foreign affairs with Xi, while Sipila will focus on economic issues.

The prime minister said Xi's speech in Davos was encouraging because it supported free trade at a time when there was discussion in the United States about imposing trade barriers in an effort to protect US manufacturers.

"My understanding is that the president is flying to the US after his visit in Finland," he said. "For Europe and for Finland, it's also very important that China and the US have a very good relationship, and that free trade continues, because that affects us as well.

"I think it's in our common interests to continue free trade," Sipila said.

China's investment in Finland is increasing. Currently, according to the prime minister, Chinese companies are expected to invest about 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in each of two projects in the north of the country, and there are plans for investment in two biofactories. Sipila said that China and Finland were expected to sign investment agreements during Xi's trip, but details had not been finalized.

Tourism has also been increasing. The number of tourists from China has doubled in recent years because many Chinese people have developed an interest in seeing one of the fictional homelands of Santa Claus.

Sipila said Finland has a strong record of innovation at its universities and among its business start-ups, which could complement China's manufacturing capabilities, although he noted that China had also made major improvements in its indigenous innovation. Other areas of cooperation could be in biofuels, clean technology, green energy, metals and forestry, he added.

Some interests in Europe have viewed Chinese investment with suspicion, he noted, but Finland and the European Union have put no barriers in place to block Chinese investment.

"I am a friend of free trade, and without limitations. So, Finland is a supporter of free trade and investment flow," said Sipila.
Rahm 'Still Committed To Reform' After Sessions' Review Spells Big Trouble For Consent Decree

By Stephen Gossett in News on Apr 4, 2017 3:37PM



Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has never been bashful about letting his skepticism of consent decrees be known. On Monday, Sessions plowed that path even further, ordering a wide-ranging review of federal agreements, including potential consent decreescasting ever more doubt on the possibility of federal enforcement for recommendations made to reform the Chicago Police Department made under the Obama-era Justice Department. Mayor Rahm Emanuel responded in kind by affirming his pledge to reform.

The review was outlined in a two-page memo that was written late last month. According to the New York Times, the instruction "directed his staff to look at whether law enforcement programs adhere to principles put forth by the Trump administration." "[T]he individual misdeeds of bad actors should not impugn" police efforts, the memo reads, according to the Times.

Launched in the wake of the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video and subsequent uproar, the Department of Justice's yearlong investigation into the police department culminated with a blistering conclusionthat the Department engaged in a pattern or practice of using forceincluding use of deadly forcethat violated the Fourth Amendment. But the prospect of a federal consent decree to enforce the DOJ's recommendations for reform were up in the air, considering the tenor of the incoming administration. In the wake of Sessions' latest move, Emanuel said that the city is still "committed to reform."

Emanuel, along with Supt. Eddie Johnson, said in a joint statement:



"We can only speak for our intentions, we can't speak for the federal government. The reforms we have made over the past year are built on the principles of partnership and trust between our residents and our officers, and they laid the foundation for the 2017 reform plan we outlined just a few weeks ago. Through these ongoing reforms we will ensure our officers have the training and support they need to do a tough job well, we will strengthen the relationship with our residents, and we will make our city a stronger, safer place. Reform is in our self-interest and that is why Chicago has been, is, and always will be committed to reform."

Sessions has shown to be deeply dubious of consent decrees in the recent past. During his confirmation hearings in January, Sessions stressed that low police morale was in part fuelling Chicago violence. Late in February, the AG called the Obama-era DOJ's Chicago findings "pretty anecdotal and not scientifically based," while admitting that he had only read summaries and not the entire report. And he offered no guarantee of a consent decree when he met with Johnson in March. Police union chief Dean Angelo didn't answer when asked about such an agreement after he too recently met with the Trump administration.

So given the history, Sessions' directiveand the uncertainty it casts upon a possible decreeis par for his course. But unlike so many previous non-guarantees, this new active review looks like the biggest, official punctuation to all that prelude. If the DOJ reforms are to go forward, now more than ever it looks like it will have to come from the local level.
 Flash

China-U.S. trade benefits both sides and China is not to blame for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States, said a renowned U.S. expert on China.

Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that two-way trade of goods exceeded 519.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, making China America's largest trading partner and America China's second largest.

"I think respectable economists, not people who were just working for politicians, all agree that bilateral trade has benefited both the U.S. and China," Avery Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania (U Penn), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The standard of living of the American people has became higher because of less costly Chinese products, added Goldstein, who was listed among the top 20 China experts in the United States by China Foreign Affairs University in 2015.

It is unfair for some politicians to blame China for America's loss of manufacturing jobs, Goldstein pointed out, noting that it is more about worldwide market competition, and about automation, which leads to higher productivity -- and fewer workers -- in factories.

"Of course, if the relationship is poorly managed, if the negotiations with China on trade don't go well, and if tariffs are imposed on China, Americans will quickly see the effect, which would be an increase in the price of goods," said the expert.

According to an Oxford Economics report, China-U.S. trade was credited for creating some 2.6 million jobs in the United States and contributing 216 billion dollars to U.S. economic growth in 2015.

"We should not try to keep China poor or to prevent China from playing a bigger role in the global economy, but rather to figure out how to cooperate with China in addressing the problems of global economy and managing some of the difficult trade and financial issues that come up in international economics," said Goldstein.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida, the expert stressed that the significance of the event should not be underestimated.

The two leaders, first of all, will "get a deeper understanding of each other and each other's general views about the U.S.-China bilateral relationship," said the professor, who is also director of the U Penn Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

"Beyond that, each side may want to lay out a general road map for dealing with some of the areas where cooperation looks most feasible, and some of the areas where it is clear the two sides will have to work hard to manage their disagreements," he added.

Noting that Trump, who has been in the White House for over two months, might not have a "comprehensive China strategy" in place with his entire foreign policy team being assembled, he observed that the U.S. president is turning from "tough talk to pragmatism" on policies towards China.

Trump has reversed his previous assertions and pledged to honor the one-China policy, a cornerstone of China-U.S. diplomatic relations. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has vowed that the U.S. side is ready to develop relations with China based on the China-proposed principles of non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

The upcoming meeting will provide "an incentive" for the Trump administration to "have a tentative outline of how they like to approach the U.S.-China relationship, and help them understand how they may have to adjust," Goldstein said.

"But even such success will only be a start with much work to be done by both sides in subsequent months and years," as bilateral ties have become increasingly important and complex in recent years, said the professor.

Moreover, the two countries share responsibilities in dealing with many regional and global issues, like climate change, non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, disease control and disaster relief, he added.

"Look, the bottom line here is for President Trump," said Goldstein. "Domestic economy is the most important issue as it is for most presidents, and so he's going to have to calculate. It's pretty clear picking up a fight with China would not be good for the United States."
 Flash

Former Argentinean president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is trialed by a federal court for charges of conspiracy and money laundering on Tuesday.

A statement by the court added that federal judge Claudio Bonadio had frozen assets belonging to Fernandez de Kirchner, who was in power from 2007 to 2015, worth 130 million pesos (8.4 million U.S. dollars).

Bonadio, of Buenos Aires' 11th Federal Criminal and Correctional Court, is investigating Fernandez de Kirchner for her alleged role in a conspiracy when she was president. She is accused of laundering assets and of blurring the line between her political role and business interests.

The case has become known in Argentina as "Los Sauces," the name of the former president's family company, dedicated to real estate.

The court is seeking to determine whether the former president and her children, Maximo and Florencia Kirchner, received money through Los Sauces from companies who were then handed public works contracts, gaming licenses and oil exploration contracts.

Bonadio's ruling, which is 392 pages long, also opened a trial into her children "for playing a leading role in a conspiracy," as well as entrepreneurs Cristobal Lopez, Lazaro Baez, Fabian De Sousa and Osvaldo Sanfelice, as "organizers."

The judge also ruled that none of the concerned were allowed to leave the country.

This is the second case opened into Fernandez de Kirchner. In December, another federal judge accused her of conspiracy and fraud because of dealings in Hotesur, her company dedicated to hotel investments.

The case saw other assets worth 10 billion pesos being frozen.

On March 23, Bonadio demanded that Fernandez de Kirchner appear in court to testify on whether, in the final days of her presidency, she conspired with executives at the central bank to carry out financial operations against the interests of the treasury.

According to the charge, the Central Bank sold U.S. dollars at a rate of 10.65 pesos, almost 50 percent lower than the price set by the New York Stock Exchange at the time.
Water 'Monsters', Crime-Solving Moss & More Tell Their Secrets At The Field Museum's 'Specimens'

By Sponsor in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 4, 2017 5:00AM



The first gobsmacking pearl of knowledge that you encounter in Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Lifethe Field Museum's first curated peek behind the curtain into its massive collection of fossils and rare natural artifactsis one of extreme size and scope.

The Field is home to over 30 million specimens and artifacts, most of them tucked out of view in the bellies of the museum, nestled above and below the familiar exhibition halls. But whether it's a crime-solving patch of moss or the final piece of a decades-long classification puzzle for an ancient, Illinois-native water "monster," it's that seemingly limitless capacity for "aha!" moments inscribed in these artifacts that truly dazzles in Specimens.

Still, volume is key to unlocking those discoveries. Let's take that monster. We found it slightly heartening to learn that, for decades, researchers struggled with the same question we laymen did upon meeting the otherworldly-looking micro-beast known as the Tully Monster: what on Earth is this thing? The museum has more than 2,000 specimens of the ancient Tully Monsterplucked from Mazon Creek fossil site, roughly 70 miles southwest of Chicago. (They've only ever been found in Illinois.) And it needed them all to answer that question. "No single fossil shows all the features clearly," Marie Georg, Exhibition Developer, told Chicagoist. After decades of "uncertain classification," only recently were scientists able to finally determine from the collection that the Tully Monster was a jawless vertebrate, akin to those equally nightmare-fueling toothy bloodsuckers, the lampreys.



(Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist)

For more testimony to the power of numbers, meet Harry Nelson. Cutting the very image of the eccentric scientist with his prodigious ponytail and dapper bolo tie, the late Field member collected 600,000 beetles in 6,000 streams, many in the upper Midwest. But Nelson's wherewithal to track where he didn't find the critters was just as key. That extra layer of data becomes key because "we can use that information to find where beetles are now, compare it to where they disappeared from, and start to look at why that might be the case," Georg said.

Speaking of measuring sticks, Specimens boasts a few whoppers. The most eye-grabbing are the vertebrae and sacrum of a Brachiosaurus, unearthed in 1900 in Colorado. It's also the holotype, or the barometer, if you willmeaning, if you think you've discovered remnants of a Brachiosaurus dinosaur of your own, this is the actual specimen by which you'd have to gauge. Among other holotypes on display are the Field's headline-making Olinguito, a raccoon family mammal, native to Colombia and Ecuador, thata bit mind-bogglinglywasn't formally "discovered" until 2013. It was the first identification of a new carnivore mammal in the Americas in 35 years. And the one at Specimens is "the one that carries the name," as Georg puts it.

There are even a few specimens that have carried their name to the very end of the line. For example, the Xerces butterflies on displayonce plentiful around San Francisco, but extinct since the early 1940s due to urban developmentare part of handful that you will literally find nowhere else in the world.



(Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist)

There's a broader practicality at play, tooone that extends well beyond the walls of natural history. That case of mounted African squirrels and fruit bats? They're a fraction of the 600 that were gathered alongside staff from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a 2013 trip to isolate the source of monkeypox. The CDC can use blood samples from those little fellas to help track how diseases move through populations.

Then there's what you might call CSI: Museum Campus. Testimony from the Field Museum's Head of Botanical Collectionsand his analysis of moss-fragment matches between grave siteshelped lead to the conviction of two people involved in the gruesome Burr Oak cemetery scandal. Four people were alleged to have dug up graves, dumped the bodies and reused the plots. "You never know when and how something is going to be put to use," Georg said.

On a similar wavelength is the "SWAT team concept," as one scientist calls it, that Field staff employed to identify thousands of small mammal fossils gathered decades ago in caves in southern Australia. They recently reached out to a researcher from outside the institution and built a small army of identifiers to catalog the overwhelming haul. No, the effort didn't solve a crime, but the implications could be even bigger, in terms of wildlife restoration. "How can you restore something if you don't know what it was like?" says Bill Simpson, Collections Manager of Fossil Vertebrates. "This is a document of what [the ecosystem] looked like 20,000 years ago."

Despite the collection's aggregate age, these Specimens remain defiantly alive and kicking, with millennia of stories awaiting an audience.

Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life is open at the Field Museum now through January 18, 2018.

This is a sponsored collaboration between the Field Museum and Gothamist staff.
Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei and Henan provinces are covered by heavy air pollution that started on Monday and was forecast to last through Saturday, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Monday.

Beijing issued an orange alert on Monday afternoon, the second-highest level in the four-tiered emergency response against air pollution, which requires some plants to suspend production. Beijing did not disclose when the alert will be lifted.

On Wednesday, the first working day after the three-day Tomb-Sweeping Festival, residents in Tianjin as well as Zhengzhou and Anyang, Henan province, are expected to face severe air pollution.

On Thursday and Friday, the air pollution will expand to cover some cities in Hebei province as well, including Baoding, Langfang and Tangshan, which surround Beijing, results from the ministry showed.

Amid concerns by residents that smog has been frequent even after emissions from heavy coal consumption for winter heating had ended, experts blamed vehicles and active industrial production.

According to the ministry's experts, the coming smog is mainly because of increasing pollutants emission from more vehicles and more active industrial production in the region, especially those plants that resumed production after heating-season restrictions ended. The reasons were pinpointed through economic data and monitoring results of satellites and equipment installed at plants.

The monitoring network showed that 55 cement plants that suspended production during the heating season, from Nov 15 to March 15, have all resumed production.

Additionally, industrial production, especially in the iron and steel and glass-making industries, has increased since January, driving the growth of coal-fired power generation, experts said.

In Tianjin, crude steel production has grown by 22.5 percent year-on-year in the first three months of the year, and coal-fired power generation grew by 16.8 percent year-on-year, the ministry's data showed.

In Henan province, glass production has soared, increasing by 107.7 percent year-on-year in the first three months, it added.

The soaring production has discharged massive pollutants, excessive for the environment, the experts said, adding that the vehicle amount in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region increased by 11.3 percent year-on-year.

The excessive emissions were the root reason for the smog, they said.

Environmental Minister Chen Jining required the affected governments to take restriction efforts and strictly monitor to reduce air pollution.

Anyang had experienced severe air pollution lasting for about a week in late March, and it found companies with excessive emissions during an inspection from Feb 15 to March 18.

On Sunday, Zhao Yingmin, deputy environmental minister, led inspectors to check several plants in Anyang to push forward the government's efforts to tackle air pollution.

Seven more inspection teams will monitor cities in the region beginning on April 1, the ministry said.
Police in central China's Henan province have arrested 11 people on suspicion of involvement in the raping of minors.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Police Bureau of Kaifeng, Henan, a couple in Weishi county organized schoolgirls and forced them to have sex with two businessmen, both in their 40s.

The two businessmen were charged with rape. The couple and another two people were charged with organizing prostitution, which is punishable with sentences between five years and life in prison.

Another five people who took part in organizing the prostitution activities were detained.

The statement said police authorities at city and provincial levels arrived at Weishi county, which is under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng, a city known for being the capital for several dynasties in ancient China.

Police will thoroughly review the case, bring every criminal involved to justice and clamp down on crimes against minors, the statement said.

The news caught wide public attention after a Wechat post went viral, saying more than 30 middle school students in Weishi county were forced into prostitution.

Parents of the victims were shocked by the online post, which included the names and identification card numbers of their children, according to a news report from the Mirror, a Beijing newspaper.

The parents feared that the leak of personal information would bring the trauma of victimization to their children and asked police to help delete the information on the internet.

The report said the parents did not learn how their children's personal information was leaked.

The case was uncovered when a victim told her aunt about what she went through and the aunt reported the case to police in February.

A mother of another victim told the Mirror that her girl said she was taken to a hotel room and was given 300 yuan ($44) after sex. The girl refused to accept the money.

Li Wei, a lawyer specializing in criminal law at Jie Qiang Law Firm in Beijing, said those who are convicted of raping multiple women or raping a minor who is under 14 face a severe penalty, which is normally between 10 years and life in prison, or even the death penalty if the rape resulted in severe harm, such as causing the death of a victim.

According to statistics from the Supreme People's Court, the number of child molestation cases has risen in recent years. In 2012, 2,017 such cases were closed in courts across the country. The number rose to 2,828 in 2014.

The number of child sexual abuse cases filed in 2015 in the juvenile court of Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court increased by 50 percent year-on-year.
Wang Fuhe shows just a small sample of his collection that spans the centuries. [Photo by Yuan Chen for China Daily]

Most of us have various reasons for travel. It could be to enjoy beautiful scenery, relax, sample delicious food or even have an adventure. But Wang Fuhe is unique. The native of Hainan Island has made numerous trips searching for antique lamps.

As a son of a first-generation electricity worker, an occupation he followed, Wang's life has been full of stories about light and lamps in Hainan, the country's only tropical island province.

"When I was a boy, I enjoyed sitting by my father's legs, turning my head and listening to him telling stories about light and lamps," said Wang. The stories created the seeds of love for lamps.

"Father collected the first lamp for the family when I was about 10 years old. Now I am in my 60s and I have more than 1,000 lamps and lights in my house," said Wang.

In his 20 square-meter living room, Wang has placed more than 200 ancient lamps in glass showcases, on wooden shelves, on the walls and even on the ceiling, making his house more like an antique museum.

"All these lamps in front of your eyes, including the collections of the Warring States period (475-221 BC), kerosene lamps of various shapes and lamps lined up in the style of early last century, are the fruits of my efforts over the past 50 years," Wang said, naming the lamps as if they were part of his family, which of course, they are.

"Look, this lamp is the most special and the only one left in China", said Wang, carefully taking out a lamp with an ancient ceramic texture from a showcase.

"It was a lamp that was usually hung on top of a boat by fishermen in the South China Sea. The lamp had to shine in wind and rain. It was very practically designed.

"Old objects from the South China Sea like this are rare. I saw it by chance one day in Haikou, capital of Hainan province. Experts at the Haikou Collection Association traced the lamp back to the Song Dynasty (420-479 AD)," said Wang, a retired worker from the transformer substation of the Haikou Power Supply Bureau.

"This is Hainan's first electric light," said Wang with great pride.
Planting a tree over remains of a loved one teaches lesson

People bury the ashes of their family members under trees in Pingshan county, Hebei province. [Photo by Zhai Yujia/China News Service]

Dong Lizhi died in 1997 at the age of 70. As a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, Dong had been dispatched from North China by the central government to Hubei province to help with local development. He held a strong belief that "a man should not fight for his fame when he is alive, nor should he occupy land after he dies".

Honoring his will, Dong's daughter Dong Weilin, now 62, made a decision at the time, after consulting other family members, to keep her father's ashes at home temporarily.

At that time, the Xiaoen Grave Yard on Wuhan's Longquan Mountain had just introduced a new service-the green funeral. The idea filled a small consumer niche by promoting minimal impact on the environment and low cost. Green funerals usually involve a biodegradable container, or casket, that can easily dissolve in the ground, rather than an expensive coffin. Such containers can be used, for instance, to bury a person's ashes under a tree or commit them to the ocean, as former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping asked in his will.

Dong's wife, learned about the eco-friendly package and wanted to give it a try. With the family's approval, she became the first client, arranging for her husband's ashes to be buried beneath a young pine tree.

Dong Weilin, the daughter, recalled: "We fell in love with the location at first sight. Green hills and clear water. Picturesque scenery. That was a great resting place for my dad."

"As the first customer, we did not even use a casket," she said. "We just wrapped our father's ashes in the Party's flag. The tree was less than 1 meter tall back then. After two decades, it has grown to more than 2 meters."

She takes her family to visit the tree every year. "The kids have been watching the tree growing year by year. They get some insight by seeing a red life changing into a green life."

Dong's wife turned 88 this year. She decided long ago to remain with her husband after her own death. Her name was cut into the stone marker in front of Dong's tree 20 years ago. Dong's four children all backed her decision.

"At first, we were worried that people might think we were bad, or mean about money. But we gradually found out that people actually get our point. In fact, five friends' families have chosen the same service for later on," Dong Weilin said.

Every year, Dong's children bring fresh flowers of various colors to honor their father, rather than the white and yellow chrysanthemums Chinese traditionally use on such occasions. They decorate the tree with the flowers and make it as beautiful as they can.

"Father loves flowers. So we have to give him the best," his daughter said.

Liu Kun and Du Juan contributed to the story.

Contact the writer at chenmengwei@chinadaily.com.cn
TAIYUAN -- Four firefighters were engulfed by a forest fire in North China's Shanxi province and were found dead on Monday, local authorities said Tuesday.

The fire broke out around noon on Monday in Wenjiazhuang Village of Taigu County, the county's publicity office said.

The fire was put out late Monday. An initial investigation showed that it was caused by a villager, surnamed Cheng, who burned paper money when visiting relatives' tombs before Tomb Sweeping Day.

Cheng was taken into police custody.

Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 4 this year, is a time for Chinese people to pay respects to deceased family members. Traditionally, the tributes involve burning incense and paper money, occasionally causing fires in the wild.
President Xi Jinping sent a letter of condolence to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday over the St Petersburg metro explosion.

Xi said he was shocked to learn that the metro explosion resulted in major casualties, and that China strongly condemns the terrorist attack.

"On behalf of the Chinese government and Chinese people, and in my own name, I would like to offer profound condolences to the deceased and sincere sympathies to the injured and families of the victims," he said.

He said the Chinese people would stand firmly with the Russian people at this difficult moment.

China firmly opposes terrorism in all forms, and is willing to step up cooperation on counterterrorism with Russia and the international community to safeguard peace and security in the region and the world, he said.

At least 11 people were killed and 45 others were wounded in a blast in the St. Petersburg subway on Monday, the Russian news agency sputniknews reported.
Short trips to admire the beauty of spring flowers were popular among Chinese during the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, which lasted from Sunday to Tuesday, according to travel agencies.

A report released on Tuesday by leading online travel agency Ctrip showed that people were keen to take short trips around their home cities to enjoy spring blossoms during the three-day holiday.

In cities like Beijing and Chongqing, short trip packages to suburban areas or city outskirts with blossom-viewing opportunities were among the best-selling, the report said.

Apart from seasonal flowers like cole flowers and sakura, peach flowers also attracted lots of attention, thanks to Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, a TV serial romance that has gone viral recently among young people.

Ctrip's finding was echoed in a report by online travel agency lvmama.com, which found that people were passionate about spring outings during the holiday, due to the sunny and warm days. Bookings of short trips on Lvmama tripled that from the same period last year.

The report also found that apart from some traditionally hot tourism destinations, like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, other major cities, including Nanjing and Suzhou of Jiangsu province, Hangzhou of Zhejiang province and Wuhan of Hubei province, also attracted large numbers of tourists during the holiday.
BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over the explosion in the subway system in St Petersburg.

On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, and in his own name, Li extended his deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims.

China strongly condemns the terrorist attack, Li said, adding China firmly opposes terrorism in all forms and is willing to work with Russia to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism to jointly safeguard security and peace of both countries and the world.

At least 11 people were killed, dozens of others injured in the metro attack Monday afternoon in St Petersburg, the second largest city of Russia.
This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power.
BEIJING - China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has urged all procuratorial agencies to increase supervision over criminal investigations conducted by local police stations.

The move will improve cooperation between public security organs and procuratorates so as to deepen the country's judicial reform, said the SPP.

Since 2015, the SPP has carried out a pilot program in 10 provincial level regions involving 1,064 local procuratorates and 8,370 police stations, it said.

Procuratorial agencies have supervised 5,243 cases filed by police stations in the program since 2015, and made suggestions on dealing with criminal investigations that violated the law, it said.

Such supervision should spread across the country by the end of 2017, it added.

Deputy Procurator-General Sun Qian said that the supervision will ensure the validity of evidence and improve effectiveness of investigations.
BEIJING - A total of 2,105 police officers have died and 22,977 have been injured while on duty since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2012, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

In 2016, 362 police officers died while on duty, the ministry said.

During the three-day holiday for Tomb-Sweeping Day, people across the nation commemorated police officers who have died.

The China Police Daily launched a section on its website for online memorial activities, with millions of visits and more than 6,400 comments.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, falls on Tuesday, when Chinese people honor their deceased loved ones by visiting tombs and making offerings.
BEIJING - Nearly 14.56 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives during the three-day holiday for Tomb Sweeping Day, which lasts from Sunday to Tuesday.

The number of people visiting burial sites across the nation increased by 8.8 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The cemeteries deployed service staff to help direct more than 2.27 million vehicles, up 31 percent from the year before, the ministry said.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors.

In addition, 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 during the holiday.
TAIPEI - Two poultry farms in Taiwan's Yunlin County, a major chicken supplier on the island, were confirmed to be infected with the H5N2 bird flu virus, leading to a culling of more than 30,000 birds, the local animal inspection authority said Tuesday.

More than 4,000 birds on a farm in Cihtong Township were killed Tuesday after its chickens tested positive for the H5N2 virus in late March.

Another farm in Yunlin's Douliu City was also confirmed to have the virus after more than half of its 56,000 chickens died in one week. The local inspection authority decided to cull the remaining birds Tuesday afternoon.

A large temperature difference has led to a rise in bird flu infections, according to the local animal inspection authority. It also warned farms to strengthen quarantine and sanitation work and report any unusual deaths of poultry in a timely manner.

A total of 117 poultry farms have been infected with highly pathogenic avian flu viruses across Taiwan since the beginning of this year, with 62 of the farms in Yunlin.
JIUQUAN - Staff and students from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center honored aerospace martyrs at a cemetery in northwest China's Gobi Desert on Tomb Sweeping Day, which fell on Tuesday.

Sci-tech workers, students and staff of the center visited the Dong Feng revolutionary martyrs' cemetery and paid tribute to more than 700 people who devoted themselves to national defense and sci-tech projects.

Among them was Marshal Nie Rongzhen, who headed research on the country's first atomic bomb and satellite in the 1950s and 1960s.

The center has witnessed 24 firsts in the country's aerospace history, including the successful launch of its first man-made satellite and the first space lab.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. The three-day holiday lasts from April 2 to 4.
China is the largest exporter of military drones today, and it is ready to place a new model on the international market.

The TYW-1, developed by Beihang University in Beijing, one of China's top institutes for science and technology, is an unmanned aircraft for reconnaissance and combat based on the BZK-005 high-altitude, long-range reconnaissance drone, which the university also developed.

The BZK-005 is widely used by the People's Liberation Army and has performed many operations, foreign media have reported.

The drone is to make its maiden flight in September and will be placed on the international market in 2018, according to Wang Jianping, deputy general manager and chief designer at Beihang Unmanned Aircraft System Technology.

The firm was set up by Beihang University, formerly known as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to develop and market drones.

"We aim to tap the markets in neighboring nations, as well as in Southeast Asia and the Middle East," Wang said in an exclusive interview.

This would be the first time a Chinese university sells large unmanned combat aircraft on the international market. Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, has sold small, unarmed military drones to foreign buyers.

The best-known Chinese military drones are the Wing Loong family, made by Aviation Industry Corp of China, and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp's CH series.

CH drones have been sold to military users in more than 10 countries, while the Wing Loong II, which made its maiden flight in late February, has received the largest contract ever for a Chinese drone made for export.

Though facing competition, Wang said he has confidence in the TYW-1 because it is based on the BZK-005, which has proved itself with an outstanding service record.

"It's fair to say the BZK-005 is the best aerodynamic design in China, as it has the best lift-to-drag ratio of the drones of its kind," he said. Lift-to-drag ratio is a key indicator of an aircraft's capability.

"Taking advantage of the good design of the BZK-005, the TYW-1 will be able to fly for about 40 hours. With a maximum takeoff weight of 1,500kilograms, it will be capable of carrying six missiles or bombs with a total weight of 300 kg."

Another edge of the TYW-1 is its high level of automation. Wang said the drone can autonomously take off and land, and will be able to track a target and strike without manual control.

"It's very easy to learn how to operate this drone. It will take only a month to train an operator," he said.

The TYW-1 also will be an open and modular platform, which means it can use equipment and weapons developed not only by Chinese companies, but also by other nations, he added.

Wang Ya'nan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge, said the TYW-1 will have bright market prospects for two key reasons.

"First, its predecessor, the BZK-005, has a good reputation in this field through its performance in actual operations," he said. "Second, the drone's modular design will give users a wide range of options when it comes to the procurement of equipment and weapons, enabling them to choose the most suitable products.

"In addition, its long endurance in the sky will be attractive to nations that must monitor vast territorial waters."
The central government and local authorities will accelerate planning for the Xiongan New Area, the country's top economic planner said on Tuesday.

In addition, those governments will provide policy and financial support for key projects and budgeting, said He Lifeng, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission.

A master blueprint of the new area, overall and detailed blueprints of the initial area and a plan on ecological conservation of the Baiyangdian region, are among the first plans to be mapped out, He told Xinhua News Agency.

The commission will guide the Hebei provincial government and authorities as they draft these plans to ensure they meet the high standards of quality needed for the project, He said.

"Apart from having world-class urban planning, the architecture in the new area will also showcase Chinese cultural characteristics," He said.

"We'll also give support to major transportation, ecology, water conservation, energy and public service projects in the new area," he said.

The central leadership announced on Saturday a historic decision to establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province as part of measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The new area, similar to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area, is of national significance and "crucial for the millennium to come", according to an official circular.

The area includes Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties and their surrounding areas. It will eventually expand from the initial 100 to 2,000 square kilometers.

He said the site of the new area was carefully chosen, See New area, "based on practicality, and after rounds of comparison and rigorous research by experts".

The new zone has convenient transportation options; Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang are all within a half-hour's commute, He said. The zone is ecologically healthy and has a relatively strong environmental capacity as it is home to Baiyangdian Lake, northern China's largest freshwater lake.

The relatively less-developed economy in the region also offers developers plenty of room, He said.

He said the new zone will also take over many of Beijing's noncapital functions, thus becoming the other wing that complements Beijing's Tongzhou district, which has been designated as a subcenter of Beijing municipality.

Beijing's population has reached more than 21 million, creating urban problems such as traffic congestion and overburdened public resources. The root of these issues lies in the capital taking on too many noncapital functions, He said.

A development plan for Beijing has made clear it will be the center of politics, culture, international exchange, technology and innovation the core functions of the capital.

He said another major task of the Xiongan area is to promote Hebei's economic and social development and help develop the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region into a world-class metropolitan area.

The new area, along with Zhangjiakouwhere the 2022 Winter Olympics will be heldwill become two driving forces for Hebei's development, He said.

People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, said in an opinion piece posted on its WeChat social media account that the intention in building the new area is not to relocate the capital or to build another capital subcenter.

"It's to accommodate urban functions distributed from Beijing ... including administrative and public agencies, company headquarters, financial institutions, colleges and scientific research centers that are not related to the core function of the capital," it said.

Xu Kuangdi, head of the expert advisory committee on the collaborative development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, suggested that the construction of Xiongan New Area should focus on technological and innovative industries, and the region should attract high-end innovative talent and resources.

Supporting policies have to adapt to local conditions, he said.




MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY

On April 1, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China's Cabinet, jointly announced the Xiongan New Area will be established in Hebei province. The new zone, located about 100 kilometers south of Beijing, will house the offices and facilities that are not related to the capital, and thus offload some of Beijing's "non-capital functions". It will also create a new model of optimized development in densely populated areas and restructure the urban layout of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The Xiongan New Area, according to the announcement, is a historic and strategic choice, and being similar to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in South China's Guangdong province and the Shanghai Pudong New Area in East China, it will serve as an economic engine and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

In fact, the Xiongan New Area has greater potential than the Shenzhen and Shanghai zones. It will start as an 100 sq km zone, and in the long run cover 2,000 sq kman area larger than that of the Shenzhen SEZ's 1,900 sq km and the Pudong zone's 1,700 sq km. And being close to Beijing, the new economic zone will enjoy incomparable geographical advantages.

More important, Xiongan will develop according to the central leadership plans, and enjoy a high administrative level than neighboring cities.

About 5 million people live in relatively poor economic conditions in areas surrounding Beijing. The establishment of North China's New Area will help them move across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and accelerate the formation of a national level growth pole.

The leading officials for the Xiongan New Area, too, have been carefully selected to boost its growth. Xu Qin, former Party chief of Shenzhen city, was appointed deputy Party chief of Hebei province on April 1. And Yuan Tongli, Party chief of the preparatory committee of Xiongan New Area, used to serve in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin municipality. These officials will use their experiences of serving in other development zones to help the Xiongan New Area achieve its goals.

But to help the new area realize that, the State needs to provide it with further policy support.

Xiongan's current population is only 300,000, and its local GDP is about 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) and financial income a few hundred million yuan, which are small compared with the giant strategic plan. Which means more investment is needed to help the zone meet the entire nation's expectations.

Some attribute the Shenzhen and Pudong zones' success to the fast pace of China's manufacturing industries at the time. But with the opposition to globalization in many countries and weak global economic recovery, Xiongan faces greater challenges.

All this makes it even more important for Xiongan to get better policy support from the government. Beijing, for instance, can do a lot in rendering such support. As China's political, economic, cultural and technological center, Beijing can help Xiongan develop industries that are complementary to its own, so that the latter can develop fast and pay back.

To truly transform Xiongan into a new growth pole, the new development area and capital need to work together.

For Xiongan New Area, a very important job is to first optimize local governance structure, so that the potential of the enterprises can be realized. And if Xiongan can attract national and global enterprises to develop and prosper, it will indeed achieve success.

The author is a professor at Chinese Academy of Governance.
In the lexicon of Chinese authorities, only matters of extremely vital and long-lasting impacts, such as national education, qualify as being of "centennial" significance.

The idea to build a Xiongan New Area in North China's Hebei province, which the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced on April 1, however, is labeled as "millennial".

Although the yet-to-materialize new area is cited as another key experimental move akin to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in South China's Guangdong province and the Pudong New Area in Shanghai, two milestones in China's reform and opening-up, the way it is being officially positioned is symbolic of the higher hopes it carries.

The new area is expected to accommodate the "non-capital functions" of Beijing, advance coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, create a fresh growth pole and success story to the west of the country's coastal belt, energize the landlocked, relatively less developed area, and explore the solutions to the "metropolitan malaise" afflicting cities such as Beijing.

As a natural extension and outgrowth of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration project, which President Xi Jinping has championed, the future Xiongan New Area boasts a peculiar advantage neither Shenzhen nor Pudong had. China has never been so financially capable of executing a project of such a scale. And the national leadership has never been so willing to get involved in a specific development project.

The immediate, unanimous upsurge in Xiongan-concept stocks is just the first sign of public confidence that the area may take off. But translating the ambitious blueprint into reality entails a lot more than a strong political will. The so far less-than-impressive progress in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration project illustrates the difficulty in coordinating conflicting local interests.

If there is anything in common between Shenzhen and Xiongan, it is reform. The appointment of a former mayor and Party chief of Shenzhen as the new deputy Party secretary of Hebei province raises hopes that Shenzhen's successful reform story will be repeated in the relatively conservative north.

But the reforms necessary for fulfilling the Xiongan dream could be far more challenging than those needed to turn Shenzhen from an impoverished fishing village to an economic powerhouse. Xiongan could be more about further deepening the reform than about the economy.

The progress of the Xiongan project will thus testify to China's political resolve and capability to press ahead with the needed reforms.
President Xi's trip.

In three months, President Xi Jinping has traveled to Europe twice. Following his trip to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum and a state visit to Switzerland in January, Xi reached Finland on Tuesday before flying to the United States for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Xi has used his overseas trips to deliver messages on how China views the world and the global economy at a time when populism and protectionism seem to be gathering strength. Xi used his Switzerland visit, and will now use his Finland trip to express China's views that all global players, including the European Union and the US, should fulfill their due responsibilities to build a prosperous and peaceful world, instead of telling China what its global duties are. Besides, Switzerland and Finland can also help China strengthen its domestic program for innovation.

Last year, China announced a three-step plan to encourage and improve innovation. First, by 2020, China aims to increase its spending on research and development to 2.5 percent of GDP and ensure its knowledge-intensive service industry accounts for 20 percent of the economy.

Second, by 2030, China aims to raise the budget for research and development to 2.8 percent of the national economy and lift Chinese businesses to the medium-and high-end global supply chain, as well as make the country a global leader in innovation.

And third, by 2050, China aims to become a world leader in science and technology, with its economy mainly driven by innovation. By that time, China aims to make its universities and research institutions world leaders, with science and research becoming the backbone of national strategic resources.

Such innovation goals go hand in hand with China's other economic restructuring efforts such as poverty reduction, tackling the aging population and improving people's livelihoods. Though it has made rapid progress in innovation in recent years, the gap between China and its competitors remains wide. Based on the World Intellectual Property Organization's annual report, China ranked 25th in 2016, moving up nine spots from 2012.

In Switzerland and Finland, China has perfect economic partners; Switzerland occupied the top spot in the World Intellectual Property Organization rankings, with Finland taking the fifth slot. And the two countries are willing to share knowledge and technology with China.

Such openness offers great opportunities for Switzerland and Finland. Even though the two countries' population is less than 10 million each, they can get access to China's market of more than 1.3 billion consumers.

And since innovation has become an integral part of the national policy, even Southwest China's Guizhou province, a relatively poor region, has made Switzerland an example of its efforts to reduce poverty.

Guizhou and Switzerland are both mountainous and landlocked areas, although their economies differ radically. But learning from Switzerland, China is injecting resources in environmental protection, infrastructure construction, tourism and education to remodel Guizhou into the Switzerland of the East. China has a lot to learn from Finland, too, especially in terms of innovation, and scientific and technological research.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Auctioneers must improve integrity to move up to the next level.

Last year, China took the largest share of the market in global sales of art and antiques at open auctions. However, if one adds up transactions at auctions and through dealers and galleries, China ranked third by value, after the United States and the United Kingdom, according to a recent report.

A 15th-century blue-and-white jar fetched HK$158 million ($20 million) at a Hong Kong auction last year. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report said Chinese auction sales accounted for 34 percent of the world total by value, exceeding the US, which recorded 32 percent, and Britain, which had 18 percent.

However, China falls behind those countries when the bigger art industry picture is taken into consideration, because deals are also made by dealers and galleries at sales exhibitions and art fairs, as well as via expanding online sales.

The report said the US maintains the premier position. It accounts for 40 percent of global share by value, followed by the UK with 21 percent and China with 20 percent.

It also said the global art market generated $56.6 billion in total sales, and the top three marketsthe US, UK and Chinacemented a combined dominant position that has endured for a decade.

The report was published by Art Basel, an international art fair, and UBS during the fifth Art Basel Hong Kong event, held from March 23 to 25. It navigates the current trends in the global art and antiques trade, and analyzes the performances of auction houses, dealers and online sales.

The report was written by Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a researcher and consultancy in Dublin. McAndrew based her analysis on market statistics provided by several institutions, including Collectrium, an international art collection management platform that provided the bulk of data, and the Art Market Monitor of Artron, of Artron Art Group, which provided Chinese auction data.

McAndrew said China's leading auction sales is the result of a decline in US auction sales and a "relatively stable performance at the high end" (objects sold for more than $1 million) in domestic salerooms.
More people in the United States have favorable views of China, according to the latest surveys by Pew Research Center and Gallup.

The Pew survey released on Tuesday finds that 44 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of China, up from 37 percent a year ago. It described the growth in positive ratings for China as partly due to declining concerns about economic threats from China.

"The share of the public that sees the amount of US debt held by Beijing, the loss of jobs to China and the trade deficit with China as very serious problems has dropped significantly in recent years," the Pew survey says.

Only 44 percent said trade deficit was a very serious problem, compared with 61 percent in 2012.

Most US economists have dismissed bilateral trade deficits as a problem. Rather, they point out that it was a fiscal policy issue for the US. This contrasts to US President Donald Trump's rhetoric of blaming trade deficits with China, Germany and Mexico for US job losses and economic woes.

A study by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University showed that 85 percent of the job losses are attributed to technological change, largely automation rather than international trade.

Yukon Huang, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former official with the World Bank and US Treasury Department, pointed out that conventional wisdom on many of the bilateral economic issues, such as trade deficits, job losses and exchange rate, is often wrong.

The Pew survey was basically in line with a Gallup poll released in early February, which showed that Americans have been feeling more positively toward China in recent years. It showed that 50 percent of 1,035 respondents interviewed in the US from Feb 1-5, say they have a favorable opinion of China, compared with 44 percent in 2016 and 41 percent in 2012. It was the highest rating in about 28 years.

The latest Pew survey shows that Democrats and young people have more favorable views towards China.

Republicans' view of China has also improved to 39 percent today compared with 27 percent a year ago when then-presidential candidate Trump and other Republican contenders shouted negative rhetoric about China on the campaign trail.

Republicans generally hold more negative attitudes toward China and express stronger worries about economic challenges in the US-China relationship. This was reflected by 71 percent of Republicans saying job losses to China are a very big problem for the US, compared with only 47 percent of Democrats.

While jobs are the top Republican concern about China, among Democrats it is China's impact on the global environment. More than six-in-10 Democrats call it a serious problem, compared with only 44 percent of Republicans, according to the Pew survey, conducted among 1,505 respondents in the US from Feb 16 to March 15.

The Pew survey also finds that people in the US tend to be more concerned about China's economic strength than its military prowess. For example, the amount of US debt held by China is the top concern among the eight sources of tension between the two countries included in the survey.
China is expanding cooperation with Finland in renewable energy, as Beijing works toward its goal of ensuring green development.

Following an outline agreement last November that set out intentions, China CAMC Engineering Company, an arm of Chinas State-owned Sinomach, signed a further agreement with Finlands Boreal Bioref in February that will facilitate the investment of 800 million euros ($854 million) in a new pulp mill.The final deal is likely to be signed during President Xi Jinpings visit. The plant will produce electricity, heat, wood, and pine oil from trees.

HeikkiNivala, CEO of Boreal Bioref, said CAMCEs highly relevant experience in constructing pulp mills and its strategic aim to secure pulp supplies for China will benefit the Finnish company.

"In addition to being our engineering, procurement and construction service provider, CAMCE will act as a leading investor in the project and intends to take an active role in facilitating pulp sales into China," Nivala said.

China has the largest paper, cardboard and viscose industries in the world. It imports 20 million metric tons of pulp to supply these industries.

Nivala said Finland exports 3 million tons of pulp, of which about 1 million tons goes to China, making China Finlands largest trading partner in pulp.

Chinas economy is in historic transition and green development is one of the five major development concepts in Chinas new five-year plan. Experts believe China will strengthen collaboration with Finland in the areas of energy and the environment to make the transition smoother.

EsaVakkilainen, a professor of energy technology at Lappeenranta University of Technology, said Oilon, a Finnish company that makes industrial gas and oil burners, is a prime example of how Finnish know-how benefits China. Huge numbers of the companys low-pollution, new-technology burners have been recently installed in China.

"Finland is one of the leading countries in clean tech," said Vakkilainen, who believes the countries can also work together on waste treatment, biogas generation, water purification, and air pollution abatement.

CAMCE is not alone in making inroads in the Finnish energy sector. In February 2016, one of the leading renewable energy companies in China, Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group, announced its plan to invest up to one billion euros in the construction of a bio-refinery in Kemi, Northern Finland.

The plan was firmed up when Carl Haglund, the CEO of the companys Finnish subsidiary, confirmed in December that the Chinese firm had given the tentative green light to the facility in northern Finland.

The refinery is projected to produce up to 200,000 tons of advanced biofuel a year, with around 4,000 jobs created during the building process and a permanent staff of 150.

Both projects would benefit the bio-economy concept that the Finnish government wants to bring forward, Vakkilainen said.

"The major benefit to China is the internationalization of the respective Chinese companies," he said. "In addition to reaping the profits from the business, they get the possibility to showcase their technological knowhow in the EU."
Sanna Lauslahti has fond memories of the time her husband lived and worked in Shanghai and she visited him there regularly. She couldnot leave her job in Finland back then, but greatly enjoyed her China visits.

"I have so many beautiful memories from that time," said Lauslahti, who spoke ahead of President Xi Jinping's arrival in Finland on Tuesday. She said she loved the atmosphere of Shanghai and almost everything about China - except the pollution.

When Lauslahti moved from business to politics and became a member of the Finnish Parliament in 2007, she was able to turn her passion for China into efforts to "bring China into the Finnish Parliament" by organizing a series of activities.

"Even this morning, we had Chinese lessons and six of my colleagues attended," said Lauslahti, who heads the China-Finland friendship group in Parliament. "I aim to introduce China to those who have not visited the country." Finland was one of the earliest Western countries to establish diplomatic relationships with China - in 1950 - and a delegation from the Finnish Parliament visited China for the first time in 1956.

Ahead of Xi's visit, Lauslahti said she was expecting China's president to deepen bilateral relations and find new areas for cooperation between the two countries.

Xi will meet Maria Lohela, speaker of the Finnish Parliament, and Lauslahti will attend the meeting. Lauslahti said education and health are two areas in which Finland could share its experience with China.

"Personalized medicine and health are big things for Finnish people and we have done a lot of work in this area," she said. Lauslahti said Finland is also willing to work as a bridge-builder between China and the European Union.

"I hope China and the EU can be useful partners, and deepen their relationships in the future," she said. Lauslahti said she met Xi during his visit to Finland nearly seven years ago, when he was vice-president of China.

"I remember he is a gentle, polite, and warm person," said Lauslahti. "I possibly won't have the chance to talk with him this time, but I do hope China and Finland can have more deep, open, and trustful relations in the future."

As to Xi's meeting with United States President Donald Trump after Xi's visit to Finland, Lauslahti said the biggest global players should inject impetus to stimulate the global economy and speed up growth.

"Of course, climate change and global peace should also top their agenda," said Lauslahti.

Zheng Jinqiang and Zhang Zhaoqing in Brussels contributed to the story.
In an exclusive interview with China Daily on Monday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said he is well prepared to host President Xi Jinping and discuss free trade and the Paris Climate Change Agreement by going beyond bilateral relations. [Photo by Wang Mingjie/chinadaily.com.cn]

Praising his Chinese counterpart for his "stable and deep" thinking, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said he was pleased to get the chance to discuss free trade and the Paris Climate Change Agreement with President Xi Jinping at their meeting.

"It is a short visit but we are doing our best to make our great visitor President Xi and his wife feel at home," Niinisto told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Xi started his visit to Finland on Tuesday, and is then set to leave for the United States where he will meet with US President Donald Trump.

Niinisto said in the interview in Helsinki's presidential palace that he expects the two nations' bilateral relationship to be elevated to a new level.

Four years ago, during his visit to China, Niinisto said he agreed with President Xi that there would be a new kind of strategic partnership between the countries. "What we have seen in concrete terms is a lot of development in business but also in our political contacts," said Niinisto as he looked back on his first meeting with China's president after Xi became head of state in 2012.

Niinisto said he has a sound personal relationship with Xi following several meetings over the years at various events.

"It has been my great honor to meet him several times and I found President Xi has very stable and deep thinking," said Niinisto. "It is great to have such a leader."

He said it is important for leaders to have contact with each other at a time when the world faces a range of problems.

"Now that President Xi is continuing from here to the United States, I think the whole world is looking at how that visit will go," said Niinisto, who mentioned his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week at the Arctic Forum.

Niinisto said he appreciated the points Xi raised in Davos earlier this year and especially his attitude toward free trade. He said Xi's opinions are very similar to those of the European Union and Finland, which are both keen supporters of free trade.

And Niinisto emphasized the importance of maintaining the Paris Climate Change Agreement, another area in which China and the EU share similar views.

"Apart from other questions, these are very big ones and how we enhance that kind of thinking is important," Niinisto said.

"That is also one element why we are so eager to see what is going to happen." He said cooperation around green technology is one area where the nations may work closely together.

"The innovation in clean-tech is quite important because this is essential when urbanization is still booming China." He said Chinese companies want to invest in Finland and are especially interested in renewable energy.

Zheng Jinqiang contributed to this story.
A Finnish scholar has said that President Xi Jinping's visit to Finland will improve mutual understanding between China and Finland.

"President Xi Jinpings visit to Finland is important to Finland and important for our relations with China," said Jyrki Kallio, a senior research fellow at the Helsinki-based Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

He hoped that the visit will further encourage more Chinese investment in Finland and media coverage of Xis visit will make Chinese tourists more inclined to visit..

"More tourists from China are certainly welcome to visit Finland. Also, we hope that this state visit will further enhance the relations between the people of Finland and China," he said.

As a fluent Chinese-speaking scholar, Kallio believes that it is important for him to help Finnish people to understand China better.

"And one way of understanding China better is through Chinese traditional culture," he said, adding that he had translated some traditional literature and philosophy books into Finnish language

For example, he has translated "(Gu Wen Guan Zhi)"an anthology of classical prose, and also " (Lun Yu)"the Analects by Confucius, into Finnish.

"I hope that through this kind of texts, the Finish people will have a better understanding of how the Chinese think, and what Chinese culture is like," said Kallio.
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing Tuesday afternoon for a state visit to Finland before travelling to Florida, the United States for the China-US presidents' meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

At the invitation of President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and President Donald Trump of the United States, Xi is scheduled to visit Finland from April 4 to 6 and meet with Trump from April 6 to 7, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced earlier.

Xi's entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan; Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Wang Yang, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday, which is hailed by Finnish media as the year's most significant visit.

The followings are some major events between China and Finland since the two counties established diplomatic relations on October 28, 1950.

In 1953, an agreement on the governmental trade and payment was signed between the governments of China and Finland, which was the first bilateral trade agreement ever signed between China and a western country.

In 1988, Mauno Koivisto paid a state visit to China, becoming the first Finnish president ever to visit the country.

In 1992, then Chinese Premier Li Peng visited Finland. It was the first visit by a Chinese head of government since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1950.

In 1995, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to Finland, the first by a Chinese head of state to the Nordic country.

During Jiang's visit, the two countries signed an exchange of notes concerning the establishment of consulates in both countries, a memorandum of understanding on environmental protection cooperation as well as six agreements on trade and economic cooperation.

During then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Finland in 2006, China and Finland signed agreements to deepen their cooperation in trade and commerce, education and communication.

In April 2013, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto paid a state visit to China and attended the annual Boao Forum for Asia. President Xi and Niinisto announced the upgrading of the two countries' relations to a future-oriented new-type of cooperative partnership.

In March 2014, Xi met with Niinisto at the third Nuclear Security Summit in Netherlands.

In November 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb at the 10th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Milan, Italy.
President Xi Jinping is likely to send a strong message that further supports globalization and free trade during his visit to Finland, a senior Finnish scholar has predicted.

"I think President Xi has a global signal to send, and it is that both Finland and China are supportive of the current international order and globalization," said Julie Yu-Wen Chen, a professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki.

Amid rising nationalism, populism and isolationism around the world, Chen said Xi's visit to Finland will not only boost the Sino-Finnish relationship but encourage cooperation between China and the wider Nordic region.

Xi delivered the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January and stressed at the time that China would further boost globalization.

"As you may know, in certain countries, some kind of isolationist or inward-looking behavior has emerged strongly," said Chen. "So, I think cooperation between China and Finland would send a very strong joint signal to leaders in other parts of the world that we should continue to take responsibility to have sound global governance and to make sure that our world can be sustainable and harmonious."

Chen said China's Belt and Road Initiative and the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, two global initiatives led by China, have attracted tremendous interest in Finland.

"The professors and professionals in this country have been enthusiastic in enriching the contents of these global proposals," said Chen.

She said Finland and China have always had a very good relationship because Finnish people are very practical and have welcomed economic, cultural and political exchanges.

Chen said Xi's visit will boost confidence among the Finnish people to deepen exchanges with China, and the promotion of innovation and technology exchanges should become a priority.

"My understanding is China wants to become a great power in innovation and science and Finland has a lot to offer, or at least to share their experiences with the Chinese side," said Chen.

Chen said she has been promoting Finnish educational experiences among Chinese government officials and educators.

She sees Xi's visit as signaling that China attaches great importance to the Nordic region, which is key player in the European Union.

"I am sure this visit will be of great importance to deepen cooperation between China and Nordic countries as well," said Chen, who noted that countries in the region have shared and coordinated positions in many areas, in terms of China policy.

Julie Yu-Wen Chen, a professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

Zheng Jinqiang in Brussels contributed to this story.




China's Global Newspaper





Sorry, the page you requested was not found. Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Chinadaily.com.cn, try visiting the Chinadaily home page
(Photo : Getty Images. ) U.S. President Donald Trump has warned China it is ready to go solo on the North Korea issue if Beijing continues to take an hesitant stance against its embattled communist ally.

Advertisement

U.S. President Donald Trump has given an upfront warning to China that the U.S. is ready to tackle the North Korea issue all alone if Beijing does not take a tough stance against its embattled communist ally. The warning comes barely days before Trump is supposed to host the Chinese President Xi Jinping at his real estate mansion in South Florida.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

"If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," Trump said in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times. He, however, did not elaborate on how his administration plans to prevent the isolated communist nation from pursuing its controversial nuclear program.



The outspoken Republican leader sought to remind Beijing that it will be for China's good to cooperate with the U.S. on the North Korea issue and if it does not cooperate "it won't be good for anyone."



The contentious North Korea issue has come back to put further strain on U.S.-Sino relation after the improvised communist state test fired a series of missiles over the past few weeks. The latest missile tests are widely seen as Pyongyang's show of strength against the new Trump administration.



The latest tests have also caused further headache for China, which is Pyongyang's sole ally and therefore the only mediator available for the international community. The U.S. and its allies including South Korea and Japan are adamant that Beijing needs to do more on the North Korea nuclear issue.



However, an equally-frustrated Chinese government has sought to repeatedly remind the international community that holding negotiations or resorting to United Nations sanctions are the only options available to deal with the North Korea issue.



Beijing sought to deliver the same message to Rex Tillerson, who was on a first Asia tour last month as a U.S. secretary of state.



Sensitive issue of trade also likely to dominate Trump-Xi talks



Last week, Trump once again raked up the sensitive issue of trade with China through his latest tweets. The tweets came barely hours after Beijing confirmed Xi and Trump's meeting in Florida.



"The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," trump tweeted, while adding further that "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."



President Trump and his policymakers have spoken about launching a trade war against China's allegedly unfair trade practices.



Other contentious issues such as the South China Sea dispute and Taiwan are likely to also dominate the first public meeting between the two leaders.



Advertisement

Tagsdonald trump, North Korea, North Korea Nuclear Issue, china, China and U.S.
(Photo : Getty Images. ) Hyundai and Kia Motors in the Chinese market halved by nearly 52 percent in March from a year earlier.

Advertisement

The THAAD impasse continues to take a toll on South Korean companies operating in China. The latest to bear the brunt is Hyundai Motors and its sister company Kia Motors, which has been forced to cut down on its production target in the Chinese markets due to a slump in sales.



South Korea's Yonhap News Agency claims that the combined sales of Hyundai and Kia Motors in the Chinese market halved by nearly 52 percent in March from a year earlier. The massive drop in sales will not just affect the two auto companies, but also the South Korean local suppliers.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Hyundai and Kia are yet to officially comment on this report. But the fact that Chinese authorities have been openly targeting Korean companies after the THAAD fallout gives a lot of credence to this report.



Last month, a South Korean-based news website reported that Hyundai decided to temporarily shut down a manufacturing plant at Guangzhou town in Hebei Province for maintenance purposes. But analysts claim that the auto giant was forced to make the tough decision due to flattening sales in the Chinese market.



Meanwhile, the Lotte Group, which is facing the most ire from Chinese authorities, said on Monday that it would continue to invest in the Chinese market despite the ongoing actions against the group. In the previous month, the South Korean conglomerate faced a tough challenge after dozens of Lotte Mart retail stores were asked to close down across China.



With the operation of Korean companies relentlessly suffering in China, last month Seoul was forced to lodge an official complaint with the WTO against what it described was China's alleged unfair trade practices.



China opposes deployment of THAAD Missile



Beijing has repeatedly cited security concerns for its vehement opposition to the U.S. missile system on the Korean Peninsula. It also claims that the installment of the THAAD anti-missile system is likely to prove counterproductive in the long run since North Korea is unlikely to give up on its controversial nuclear program.



However, Seoul and Washington are adamant that such an extreme move is necessary to counter any possible attack from North Korea. Both countries have started preliminary preparations for the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system on the Korean border.





Advertisement

TagsHyundai Motos, kia motors, china, THAAD Missile, China and South Korea
(Photo : Twitter) Coca-Cola introduced Cherry Coke in China on March 10.

Advertisement

Billionaire Warren Buffett has announced that he will be working with Coca-Cola to launch Cherry Coke in China.



The billionaire investor has allowed the soft drink giant to use his likeness on cans to promote the launch of Cherry Coke in the Chinese market. Coca-Cola said that the cans would be available for a limited time, while supplies last. The company introduced Cherry Coke in the Asian nation on March 10.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway owns a 9.3 percent stake in Coca-Cola. The 86-year-old billionaire has been a major shareholder in the beverage giant for over a quarter-century and spent about $1.3 billion building the stake. Berkshire is considered as Cokes largest institutional shareholder.



He said that he consumes Cherry Coke daily, an average of five cans everyday. Buffett has been seen sipping the popular soda beverage at public events.



I can't think of a better way to launch Cherry Coke than with its best-known fan on the package. It is an honor for us to be able to feature Warren on his favorite drink as it rolls out in one of the world's most exciting and dynamic consumer markets, said Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent in a press release.



The American business magnate is popular in China, and Chinese investors have tried to copy his business tactics. Annually, more Chinese investors are flocking to Omaha, Nebraska for Berkshires annual meeting. In 2016, Berkshire webcast its meeting for the first time and offered simultaneous translation in Mandarin only.



The special-edition Cherry Coke cans will be available as well in the United States during Berkshires annual shareholder meeting in Omaha in May.



Advertisement

TagsCherry Coke Cans, Coca Cola, china, Warren Buffett, Cherry Coke, berkshire hathaway
(Photo : TASS) Russia's RD-180 rocket engines.

Advertisement

The United States will stop buying Russia's RD-180 rocket engine that powers the Atlas V launch vehicle from United Launch Alliance (ULA), a situation that's becoming more scandalous as diplomatic ties with Russia plunge from worse to worst.



Each Atlas V rocket uses the Russian-built RD-180 engine that burns kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage. Atlas V is a heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of carrying over 18,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit (LEO) and is widely used by the U.S. Air Force to launch military satellites.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

The United States Congress has set Dec. 31, 2022 as the end date for use of the RD-180 engine.



The sharp deterioration in U.S.-Russia ties after Russia's invasion and annexation of the Crimea in March 2014 compelled ULA to looks elsewhere for a replacement for the RD-180. Studies recommended the Atlas V be replaced by a new launch vehicle named Vulcan powered by American-made boosters.



Vulcan's first stage booster will be the Aerojet Rocketdyne AR1 rocket engine still being developed.



The heavy-lift Vulcan has been in the works since 2014 by ULA and is being funded by a public-private partnership with the U.S. government. ULA expects the first launch of the new rocket to occur no earlier than 2019.



Aerojet Rocketdyne's AR1 will be able to power both the Vulcan and the Atlas V. AR1 develops 550,000 pounds of thrust and uses the same propellant as the RD-180.



"We're on the path we laid out two years ago on schedule. We'll have a certified production engine coming off a production line, which we have outside of Los Angeles right now, in 2019," said John Schumacher, Aerojet Rocketdyne's vice president of Washington operations.



"Depending on the pace of integration with ULA and the pace they're moving on with Vulcan or Atlas, it's ready for integration --the work can start ahead of that -- but it's a 2019, 2020 proposition."



Aerojet Rocketdyne has built full scale flight type components for Vulcan and conducted several hundred component tests in advance of a critical design review next month.



Apart from ULA, the Air Force plans to retain the services of SpaceX as one of its two primary launch providers.



SpaceX uses the Merlin 1D, a homegrown rocket engine, for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. The company, however, is requesting government funding to help pay for the development of the Raptor, its next-generation methane-fueled rocket engine that could power Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and the planned Interplanetary Transport System launch system.



Advertisement

TagsUnited States, Russia, RD-180 rocket engine, Atlas V, United Launch Alliance, ULA, Vulcan, Aerojet Rocketdyne, AR1 rocket engine
In eighth grade in Minnesota, Jason Spetz wrote an essay about why he wanted to be a police officer when he grew up. Lots of children want to be police officers and firefighters, he noted recently, but I followed through on it.

On Monday, March 27, Spetz took the oath of office as just the second sworn police chief in the history of University of Wisconsin-Stout, succeeding Lisa Walter, who was chief from 1999 to January 2017. Spetz, a UW-Stout police employee since May 2008, has served as interim chief.

My number one priority is ensuring the safety of everyone on campus, Spetz said. This is probably something that goes without saying, but at the end of the day its something that now rests on my shoulders. It is a huge responsibility that will weigh in on the majority of the decisions I make throughout the rest of my career.

Spetz is a graduate of Minnesota State University-Mankato with a Bachelor of Science degree in law enforcement. He also graduated in March 2016 from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.

His long career in law enforcement and public service began at Mankato, where he served as a patrol officer and EMT for the college.

Spetz worked for the Wisconsin State Patrol from July 1996 to March 2005, but he also was involved with the Baldwin rescue and fire departments.

That led to a nearly six-year career with the Menomonie Fire Department as a firefighter and EMT.

Spetz said he enjoyed his time as a firefighter. Its a public service type of job, he said. You always get to be the good guy.

But it became clear, he said, that his heart really was in law enforcement; Spetz worked part-time for the Dunn County Sheriffs Department while at the Fire Department. In 2008 he was given the opportunity to join the campus police department as a limited-term employee, which turned into a full-time patrol officer position and then a series of supervisory roles.

You feel like you can make a difference serving for a campus police department, Spetz said, noting the tight knit community that exists at UW-Stout.

One of the downsides of becoming a police supervisor and now chief, he said, is that the administrative demands take away from the time he can spend on campus getting to know students, faculty and staff.

Spetz said he goes to every graduation ceremony and invariably runs into students he has interacted with during their time on campus. We can influence in a positive way the lives of these kids, Spetz said. I wouldnt miss that (ceremony).

Even though Spetz knows he will be office-bound more as chief, I still want to be engaged in the community, as well as work with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Spetz said Walter left the department in great shape, but his immediate goals include filling two full-time positions that are open. One of the longer-term goals involves the parking division, which also falls under Spetzs purview.

We are a little old-school in how we do business, he said. There are a lot of ways we can automate the services we provide, thus providing a better customer experience.

Spetz said he also wants to concentrate on addressing ongoing concerns with alcohol and other drug abuse; because of his position, he is a member of the Chancellors Coalition on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse.

I want to be a little more proactive (on AODA issues) on this end, Spetz said.

Spetz also said he believes there is agreement to allow him and other officers some time to speak to all freshmen during fall orientation on various issues, including the need to stay safe and ensuring their companions are safe as well. We understand the issues they are dealing with, Spetz added.

Phil Lyons, vice chancellor for Administrative and Student Life Services, said Spetz stood out among the other finalists because of his experience and close connections on campus.

Jason will do a great job building on the already excellent reputation of our campus police department and parking services, Lyons said. We are lucky to have an experienced leader like Jason ready to take over the department.

Spetz said he is excited about the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead: You have the chance to make a positive difference on this campus.
An evangelical church in France was recently the target of an arson attack--the second attack on the church in just over a week.

According to Christian Today, the Armenian Evangelical Church in Alfortville, France, near Paris, was damaged by flames from a trash can that was set on fire directly outside the churchs front doors.

The pastor of the church, Gilbert Leonian, has a residence within the church building. He said he and his wife were woken up from sleep by the fire and that they were shocked, but were able to evacuate the building unharmed.

Just eight days before the arson attack, the church was the subject of another attack. In this attack stones were thrown at the building and its telephone system was damaged.

Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien, Leonian said the attacks were a surprise in such a quiet neighbourhood, but that he and church members were not going to become angry because of what happened.

Church members and Pastor Leonian still held a church service the Sunday after the arson attack.

Attacks on French churches have been increasing in the past year. The arson attack on the Armenian Evangelical Church was the third in the last 12 months.

Publication date: April 4, 2017
Imagine one of the worlds most dramatic landscapessixteen thousand square miles of canyons, channels, waterfalls (one of them ten times the size of Niagara)now all completely dry. What youre imagining is the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington State, a breathtaking memorial to one of the largest floods in Earths history.

But writing in National Geographic, Michael Hodges recounts how, when a high school teacher came to that obvious conclusion in 1909, he was laughed out of the room by the scientific community.

Looking across the aptly-named Scablands today, its easy to see why 27-year-old Harley Bretz, who had no formal training in geology at the time, saw the work of a flood. But a century ago, earth science was locked in the dogma of Charles Lyells 1830 text, Principles of Geology. Lyell taught that changes in the Earths rocks and soil are the product of processes now in operation, steadily eating at the landscape over millions of years. This theory was a crucial underpinning to Charles Darwins work, published just a few years later.

Lyells uniformitarian ideas had gained such acceptance that when Bretz presented his findings about the great flood of Washington State to geologists in the nations capital, he received the closest thing they could give to a flogging.

These scientists, none of whom had ever visited the Scablands, called Bretzs hypothesis wholly inadequate, preposterous, and incompetent. Despite taking the time to earn his Ph.D. before publishing his theory, this high-school teacher-turned-rock-hound became a laughing stock among his peers for propounding what amounted to geological heresy.

It didnt matter how meticulous Bretzs research was, or how sound his reasoning might be, Hodges explains. He seemed to be advocating a return to geologys dark ages when benighted buffoons explained landscapes like the Scablands as the result of the biblical Flood.

Of course, scientists now agree that Bretz was right. During peak glaciation, a wall of ice thousands of feet high dammed up the Clark Fork River, creating Glacial Lake Missoula, a body of water twice the size of Rhode Island. When the glacier retreated and the dam broke, it unleashed one of the biggest torrents in historya flood raging across the Columbia Plateau to the Pacific Ocean, carrying more water than all of the worlds rivers combined. This flood or series of floods carved the now-dry canyons, cliffs, and waterfalls that awed Bretz and puzzled his sadly misinformed critics.

With the flood story in mind, it all seems so obvious, writes Hodges. Its almost impossible to see the terrain and not see the floodwaters that shaped it. Why, then, were the experts in Bretzs day so blind?

Well because, as National Geographic concludes without a hint of irony, scientists are first and foremost human beings [whore] loathe to change their theories or their minds because of mere data. In fact, many critics of the great Washington flood carried their doubts to their graves, and it took decades for this plain fact to gain widespread acceptance in the scientific community.

Now why does this sound so familiar? Is there perhaps another theory that comes to mind which modern scientists are unwilling to questiona theory whose most lucid critics are laughed out of the room and called names?

There is. Its called Darwinism. And scientists who dare to question it point to astonishing evidence from biology, astronomy, and geology that suggests an intelligence behind life in all of its complexity. But like Bretz, theyre usually dismissed. And because scientists are human, first and foremost, heretics who question Darwin, like those who questioned Lyell, may have to await vindication by future generations. Ironically, evidenceeven a deluge of itcan take a long time to erode dogma.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.

John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Publication date: April 4, 2017
How my right-hand man and I reconciled our political differences for the sake of our church.

Last November I voted for Hillary Clinton. Dan, my right-hand man in church leadership, voted for Donald Trump. I lobby vigorously against the refugee ban and any wall anywhere. He believes them to be necessary. I want gun control laws like Sweden. He prefers the gun laws in Arizona.

You might assume any cooperative church leadership, let alone friendship, could not take root in such soil. That assumption would be wrong.

As we navigated this challenging political vista, Danwho is responsible for the pulpit and pastoral duties when I am absentand I came to a surprising conclusion: we are God-made to work at one anothers side. God used our different political stances to form a working relationship neither of us expected. In the most divisive season our church has known, we didnt merely survive a church leadership divisionwe used it to disciple people in the way of healthy disagreement. It changed the church. It changed me.

Here are some of the decisions we made to persevere and flourish in our working relationship. Some of these choices I made. Others Dan and I made together. They provide a recipe for working through leadership disagreements of all types.

We make intentional time.

Our working relationship is not a case of keeping our friends close and our enemies closer. Its not for the purpose of manipulation or keeping tabs. We have Starbucks meetings because we are friends and colleagues. I ask for sermon reflections from Dan because I value his input. We swap theological ideas because he has insight I might not consider.

Last fall we team-preached a sermon called, Why Should I Believe in the Bible? I taught the apologetics, and he followed with a personal testimony about how Scripture changed him. I could not have contributed what he did, but it was the perfect application.

When Ive spent enough time with a person to see how his heart beats and what it beats for, I have a much harder time dismissing his opinions. I cant write off someone with whom Ive shared countless chai lattes and stories about our kids rough school issues.

Is there trust? Not necessarily agreementbut trust? If so, then why not offer it completely?

So I ask Dan, What do you see in this situation that I dont? How am I missing some other option? What have you read in Scripture about this? But I also ask him, How is your life? Whats going on? What is stressing you out? How can I pray for you? Time and talk keep people human.

We trust each other.

Because weve taken that intentional time together, I know Dan follows Jesus earnestly. I believe in his sincere desire to obey. And he says the same thing about me: I trust that Jill means as well as I do.

At our core, we want the same things. We want our families safe. We want our ministry real. We want our church strong. We want to live as citizens of Gods kingdom. We may not agree on the best roads to get there. But were facing in the same direction, so we focus on the goals and negotiate the means.

I am the prophet-teacher of the team. Dan is the shepherd. While I focus on reaching outside of the church and serving others, he believes our priority should be caring for those already in the church. Thats a conflict on the very mission of our churchare we here for the insiders or the outsiders?

Im not going to change Dans outlook on this, and hes not going to change mine. Thats good, because God gave us these gifts. It turns out, healthy, cared-for church members make better servants to those outside the church walls. And those who serve others grow into healthier, caring people. When we recognize that our contradicting roads actually weave together in places, its not difficult to take that next step: supporting one anothers means to get to our common goal.

Our leadership preferences dont always align so neatly. I preach often about helping refugees and other immigrants (because I believe thats a biblical issue and not just a political one), but I know Dan and I dont agree on the implementation of that. Weve talked about what we think are answers to the problem. When I speak about the issue, I suggest personal actions without mandating political actions. Dan accepts that resolution. He says, I insist on being at peace with the fact that I am not the pastor. He chooses to submit to a united message (even when I dont ask him to) for the sake of the kingdom.

I have faith in Dans integrity, and he has faith in mine. We trust that our goals are kingdom goals, even when our paths to the finish line diverge.

I named the elephant in the room.

The Sunday after Novembers election, I preached on being thankful for the future, even when the earth shakes beneath you. The topic had been planned for months. It seemed appropriate no matter who won the election because our congregation is as politically divided as Dan and me. That morning I felt like the earth had shaken, and over half the congregation did too.

Dan felt off-kilter for a different reason. I hadnt talked to him about the election that week, but I knew from interactions on social media that he felt isolated and even attacked by people who assumed the worst of him because of his political opinions. I didnt want that belief to hang in the air one week longer.

It would have been easy to ignore the election and avoid conflict. But that would have broken my pledge to be transparent with this congregationeven when its painful.

So I talked about that which must not be named. I told them that, for the first time ever, I had voted for a Democrat for president. (I would never tell the congregation my voting plans before an election or attempt to sway theirs from the pulpit. But after the fact, I decided it was best to talk about it.) I told them that I knew some of them had voted differently, and that I loved and respected those people because I knew their hearts. I said I hoped they also believed the best of me.

Naming the realitywe disagree, I love you, and I choose to be with youfreed the congregation to find a way through a treacherous season.

The collective sigh of relief was almost audible. The room felt lighter, and people no longer had to eggshell-walk the sanctuary floor. Two women approached me later to say thank you. Several felt comfortable talking with me through their own grief and fears. One person put it this way: Thank you for taking the lid off this situation and letting out what could have festered.

Was I terrified to talk about this? Of course I was. Its a small congregation; we couldnt afford to lose anyone. But we also couldnt afford rampant mistrust based on our voting records. Naming the realitywe disagree, I love you, and I choose to be with youfreed the congregation to find a way through a treacherous season.

We find value in each other.

God places something beautiful in each of his followers. When I disagree with someone on serious issues, it is my job to find and focus on that beautiful thing. This isnt an If you cant say something nice, dont say anything at all situation. No one is forcing me to do it. Its easy, really. God put his image in each of us, and I guarantee theres something of it to admire in everyone.

Even though Dan and I voted differently, theres so much I appreciate about who he is. I admire his dedication to good craftsmanship. Our church moved into a warehouse building last fall, and he spent months painting the interior, all on his own time. No one would ever guess the painting was done by a volunteerhe did professional-grade work. Dan does not embrace the common mantra, Its not great, but its good enough for church work. He demands quality from himself, while giving grace to others less talented with a paintbrush (me, for instance).

I also love Dans devotion to his wife. I cant count the number of times Ive seen him lift her up on Facebook, sharing her accomplishments and what she means to him. When she found a job she loved that made things better for their family, Dan willingly stayed home with their son to support her.

I cant help but cultivate genuine love for someone in whom I see Gods image.

We learn from each other.

I dont know everything. Im not always right. I need another persons perspective to find the center from which to lead. Im not prone to taking that perspective from someone with whom I disagree, but Im learning thats the best place to start. The writer of Proverbs says, As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Prov. 27:17). Iron cant be sharpened unless it remains a bit pliable.

When I asked Dan about this point, he referenced Davids encounter with Shemei. This man cursed David and threw rocks at the king and his officials. Heres what happened next:

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head. But the king said, What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, Curse David, who can ask, Why do you do this?

In other words, maybe the person I disagree with is telling me something I need to hear.

Dan often tells me he believes God appoints some of us to be bridge builders and others to be bridge defenders. Guess which one I am. In my zeal to build bridges and give anyone the benefit of the doubt, Dan is a voice of conservatism in its best sense: Wait. Go slow. Ensure that we keep what is good here and dont invite in something that could destroy. I still chafe at the idea of defending anything; I want to go headlong into the battle for any underdog anywhere. Thats why I need Dans voice in the background: Wait. It never hurts to slow down and keep everyone in the boat.

Dan is in leadership with me because God intends for us to sharpen one another. He planned for a partnership that glorifies him. When we believe that, were free to lead our church in the best possible direction.

I offer more leadership responsibility, not less.

I want Dan to preach more, not less. To disciple others more, not less. This may seem counterintuitive. Shouldnt I be afraid this will lead people in a direction I dont agree with? Not really. People need to go in the direction God wants for them, not the one I prefer. So, when delegating responsibilities to Dan, I ask myself, Is there trust?Not necessarily agreementbut trust? If so, then why not offer it completely?

When trust, rather than total agreement, is the foundation for our leadership relationship, Dan and I can give things over to Gods beautiful direction. We can, for instance, support refugees and veterans.

If someone wanted to go all fire and brimstone with their political stances during a sermon, I would offer the door, not the pulpit.

This doesnt mean I will allow just anyone to step behind the pulpit or into a position of leadership. I recently preached a series on the Apostles Creed. If someone disagreed on an element of that, I couldnt offer that person a position of leadership. Theres a theological line that cant be crossed.

Also, I require a baseline of respect and humility for that kind of role. Dan and I work hard not to inject our political beliefs into our sermons. We both talk to others in the church about the direction we think our country should go, but its strictly on our own time. When Dan is in front of the church, I trust him to separate personal opinions from the Word of God. If someone wanted to go all fire and brimstone with their political stances during a sermon, I would offer the door, not the pulpit.

We trust God and serve our congregation.

I asked Dan the other day how he dealt with leading beside a card-carrying member of the #resistance. His response was insightful: I have to feel confident enough in my own skin that I can let other people be who they are.

Were both adults. Were both secure in Gods call on our lives. So we trust each other to pursue that call in divergent ways. That trickles into the congregation and into situations other than political divisions. I ask myself regularly, Am I discipling the entire congregation to be confident in Gods call on their lives, whatever that is?

Disagreement can shut down a church. It can keep people from speaking their minds, or it can cause them to take sides with fighting leaders. Those werent palatable options for the good church God gave to us. By openly dealing with our disagreements, Dan and I offered something valuable to our congregation: freedom. They can trust that honesty will be met with love and that political disagreements are reconcilable for the sake of ministry.

Jill Richardson is lead pastor of Resolution Church in Oswego, Illinois.
WonderWe Hosts David Daleiden Crowdfunding for Legal Battle in California Pro-life advocate, who released Planned Parenthood fetal body part videos, finds safe haven to raise funds with Pro-life crowdfunding website



Contact: Tara Hampton, 816-527-8801, tara@wonderwe.com



KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 4, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Crowdfunding company, WonderWe, announced it is hosting an online funding campaign for David Daleiden, a Pro-life advocate recently charged in California with a total of 15 felony counts, 14 counts of unlawfully recording people without their consent, and one count of conspiracy to invade privacy.



Prior to the recording incidents, Daleiden and colleagues at the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) constructed a fake company and infiltrated Planned Parenthood using fake identities. The citizen journalist recorded many hours of undercover footage, numerous eyewitness testimonies, as well as ample primary source documents.



In 2015, Daleiden released videos showing Planned Parenthood officials ostensibly discussing fees for human fetal tissue and organs.



In January, 2016, a grand jury in Harris County, Texas, indicted Daleiden on a felony and misdemeanor charges. All charges were dropped at the request of the Harris County District Attorney later that year.



Daleiden's attorney, Life Legal Defense Foundation director, Alexandra Snyder, stated Daleiden's charges are, "nothing short of a witch hunt."



"David Daleiden's investigative journalism provided an indispensable public service by shedding light on Planned Parenthood's criminal activities and its callous disregard for human life. As a direct result of Daleiden's efforts, federal and state prosecutors are investigating the nation's largest abortion giant and its taxpayer funding is threatened. Now Planned Parenthood is calling in favors from its political cronies in retaliation," Snyder stated.



Life Legal Defense Foundation is defending Daleiden in two lawsuits filed against him by the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood. The nonprofit firm created a crowdfunding campaign at: www.wonderwe.com/daviddaleiden.



"WonderWe is standing behind David Daleiden completely and invites everyone to support this Pro-life soldier!" WonderWe founder, Dominic Ismert stated. "All contributions to Life Legal Defense Foundation's campaign are tax-deductible upon donation."



About WonderWe:

WonderWe is a free crowdfunding site focused on helping individuals, nonprofit organizations, churches and schools go beyond "me" to find the power of "we" with the launching of key innovative features. With a focus on faith, life and family, WonderWe takes the "me" out of fundraising and turns it into a "we." The WonderWe crowdfunding platform offers advanced features like group fundraising, peer-to-peer fundraising and viral video sharing. A WonderWe fund is the future of fundraising!

Share Tweet
Professor at Kentucky Mountain Bible College Responds to the Continued Baby-Murdering Tyranny by the Federal Judiciary

Contact: David Street, 606-824-4693



JACKSON, Ky., April 4, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers has issued his opinion that innocent babies should continue to be slaughtered at the last remaining surgical abortuary in Kentucky. His opinion is included in a temporary restraining order trying to prevent Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin from upholding Kentucky law and closing down the illegal EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville.



Professor Dave Street, who leads KMBC in peaceful pro-life efforts, commented: "Courts cannot make laws. Judge Stivers is, in effect, invading and usurping Kentucky law. I personally feel Governor Matt Bevin should ignore this lawless action and continue doing his duty by upholding Kentucky law."



Street continues: "We also call upon our elected federal representatives and senators to do their sworn duty by impeaching and removing Judge Stivers. Kentucky should take the lead to protect every preborn child, by love and by law. I believe this dehumanizing of children must stop!"
Interviews with 17 people who work with him said Chippewa County Jail Captain Ernan De La Rosa told employees to take their complaints to underlings, repeatedly failed to get inmates to courtrooms on time and on several days claimed he started working earlier than he actually came to work.

A five-page summary of interview results were released by Chippewa County after Wisconsin Open Records requests by the Herald about why De La Rosa was placed on administrative leave in January.

De La Rosa, who began working for the county on Oct. 27, 2014, and was paid $83,700 annually, resigned his position on March 10.

The county used a procedure under Wisconsin law to allow De La Rosa a chance to challenge the release of the record. De La Rosa did not file a challenge.

The jail captain oversees the county jail, which has a capacity of up to 190 inmates a day, according to the countys website.

The report was prepared for the county by the Bruce-based Meyer, Sullivan, Hahn and Associates, LLC. One of the firms managing partners, Dean Meyer, served as police chief in Ladysmith for eight years.

According to the report:

Employees said De La Rosa insisted they follow a chain-of-command on operational issues, instructing them to take questions to their sergeant, even if the sergeants were at home. The captain stresses to sergeant and the lieutenant that they are to bring concerns and issues to him and to to the chief deputy (Chad Holum) or sheriff (James Kowalczyk).

Every jail supervisor interviewed said De La Rosa stressed the chain-of-command. When the sergeants and lieutenant were asked about bringing concerns to the chief deputy or sheriff, they each stressed the strict chain-of-command structure and said they did not make the chief deputy or sheriff aware of the incidents and conduct documented during the investigation.

The report continues: Every jail supervisor interviewed said that the captain does not provide written documentation on procedural or policy changes and almost always gives verbal instructions and later says, I never told you that.

A sergeant said De La Rosa specifically said to stop making consular and INS notifications when specific qualifying people are booked into the jail. Consular notifications are set under federal treaties, and the county could lose federal funding if it doesnt follow interagency agreements relating to illegal aliens.

Several sergeants indicated that the captain provides verbal instruction and guidance at regular meetings but rarely provides written or documented instruction on jail duties and procedural changes, according to the report.

Jail supervisors said De La Rose told them to have jail staff document each time Kowalczyk comes to the jail, an assertion De La Rosa denies.

When asked about three high-liability jail policies to strip searches, inmate money and inmate grievances, the captain acknowledges that the policy is not updated but said he has been waiting for the sheriff or jail inspector to sign off on those policies since 2015.

The report said Judge James Isaacson said he was displeased over the increased number of times his court has had to wait for inmates to be taken to his courtroom. The judge explained two situations where he, his court staff and attorneys waited 25 minutes and 50 minutes for the inmate to be brought to the courtroom.

Isaacson was also concerned about the jail not letting an attorney visit with a prisoner during a scheduled attorney-client visit.

Several purchase invoices were located that indicate the captain made purchases in 2016 without a purchase order as required by policy. During the interview with Captain De La Rosa he acknowledged knowing the policy and not following the policy the examples reviewed.

Six months of payroll time sheet records were reviewed. For the months of July-August-September, on 21 of 33 days, De La Rosas keyfob showed he entered the building at a later time than his payroll sheet showed he began working. There were four out of six days when that happened in October, and 15 out of 24 days in December and January.
Studio Visit: Todd Hido

We catch up with the photographer behind the wheel of his car while cruising through the California suburbs after dark  looking to add to his celebrated series, Homes at Night

Ive never had the urge to make a movie and I definitely cant write, confesses Ohio-born photographer Todd Hido. Photography is the thing I use to express myself, or to figure myself out. Driving through the suburbs of San Francisco, he pauses occasionally to train his camera on a building that could be the next in his celebrated series, Homes at Night. I always gravitate towards some place that looks like home, Hido continues, explaining that his aim is to find a house lit by a single window  a quiet indication of the life that is at the heart of the series. These photographs, he insists, really arent about houses. Theyre about people.


This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The face of Latin America's cartels is changing as more women are rising up in leadership and taking on roles in drug trafficking and assassination.

Known as "Las Flakas" (Skinny Girls), young women are taking up lives of crime, becoming effective agents for the cartels' causes. Since the chance of being assassinated is great, the title of "La Flaka" has been passed from one female to another.

HOW IT WORKS: This is how drug cartels get American guns into Mexico

The Daily Beast named the first "La Flaca" as Veronica Mireya Moreno Carreon, who worked for Los Zetas and was arrested in 2011. The second was Nancy Manriquez Quintanar, who was also arrested in 2011.

The most recent to make headlines was Joselyn Alejandra Nino, who was found dismembered and stuffed in an ice chest along the US-Mexico border in April of 2015. The Gulf Cartel assassin's chopped up body was found along with another dismembered woman and a decapitated man in the back of a truck.

She made headlines after a photo of her toting an assault rifle with a smile went viral months before her murder.

Facebook screenshots

Nino's death has been credited to La Gladys of the Zetas Cartel, who remains "at large terrorizing the communities of northern Mexico," Fox News reported.

TEXAS CARTEL TIES: Lubbock woman goes to prison for ties to Sinaloa Cartel

"They are ideal killers; young, beautiful and reckless," Andrew Chesnut, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Fox News. "By keeping a low profile they avoid suspicion where men doing the same job would quickly find themselves in trouble."

Chesnut continued to explain that the young female assassins work their way up to become killers - beginning as low-level lookout workers or prostitutes. Some others are recruited in prison or were born into cartel families.

"There's an inextricable link between sex and death in the culture of these female killers," Chesnut told Fox News. "In seeking to be the most desired by the narco men, they seek also to be the most brutal among their group of peers. It's gone as far as having them worship the image of Saint Death in their own likenesses, dressed in lingerie."

Last year, another female killer known as "La Peque" (the little one) claimed to have had intercourse with beheaded corpses and bathed in and drank their blood. The 29-year -old member of the Sinaloa Cartel is currently in prison in Baja California Sur.

DRUG MIGRATION: DEA maps show where drug cartels hold sway in Texas, U.S.

Melisa Margarita Calderon Ojeda, known as "La China", is another former assassin who is currently locked up in a Baja California Sur prison for homicide. She and her ex-partner, Eduardo Martin Alvarado "El Kumi," were ordered to kill another rival assassin, but they accidentally killed his father instead, according to reports.

Though not an official assassin, Ann Marie Hernandez, known as "La Muneca," was another leading female cartel member who was arrested in 2015 for drug smuggling and bribery charges. She and her ex-husband Daniel Ledezma smuggled thousands of kilograms of cocaine through an El Paso border crossing where he worked.

To see these and other female assassins who have made a name for themselves for their ruthlessness, click through the gallery above. And continue clicking to see the other inside photos that have been leaked through the years of the world of cartel men and women.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Even with advancements like Facetime, Snapchat and you know  Google  internet daters are still getting wrapped up in "Catfish" situations in 2017.

It's unclear whether a New Braunfels resident was a Catfish victim or perpetrator, but MTV hosts Nev Schulman and Max Joseph were in the town, about 40 minutes north of San Antonio, for filming on Saturday.

A Facebook video shot by user Dean Thorstensen shows crews filming in a mobile home park with cameras aimed at a woman in overalls and a boy on a bicycle, leading people online to speculate if the "savage little kid (was) gettin' all the babes online."

RELATED: Social media applauding Central Texas Target for offering 'awesome' breastfeeding station

The network was not immediately available to comment on the storyline for the New Braunfels-based episode, but Nev confirmed via social media that he and Max were filming there.

Aside from trying to catch a 'catfish,' the two ventured around the town, visiting places like Alamo Drafthouse and the Gristmill. They tried checking out historic Gruene Hall, but plans were halted by a "hostile" door lady, according to Nev.

"I know it's 'sold out' but you can bet your bottom dollar I'm gonna be at Gruene Hall tonight! #Yeehaw #Texas," Nev tweeted Saturday.

Stoney LaRue was the act scheduled for the night. Nev missed the show, he said in a follow-up tweet.

RELATED: MTV's 'My Super Sweet 16' is back and interested in showcasing 'turnt' S.A. quinceaneras

"Lady working door at Gruene Hall said 'I know who you are and you can't come in,'" the tweet read. "Felt very hostile. Oh well..."

Aside from his experience at the hall, Nev said he felt at home in New Braunfels and acknowledged the recent bus crash that killed 13 members of the community last week.

RELATED: Nick Jonas throws surprise bacon parties at San Antonio diners

"Despite the recent tragedy, the amazingly upbeat people of New Braunfels have been so warm and welcoming," he captioned an Instagram photo taken outside the local fire museum. "Thanks for having us."

Fans who were able to meet up with the two reality TV stars commented on how receptive they were to the attention.

"They were super nice to everyone who asked for a photo, very cool dudes," Instagram user aesparza47 said in a post.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
A neighborhood water outage Tuesday morning at Bellaire High School forced school administrators to dismiss students early, canceling classes and other extracurricular activities on campus.

City crews are working to restore water pressure and they are expected to complete the work by 5 p.m.

Students not picked up by their parents by 11:30 a.m. were transported to Meyerland Middle School.

And student not picked up from Meyerland by dismissal time will be transported back to Bellaire High School for regular dismissal procedures, according to a school spokesman.

School officials expect to resume normal operations by Wednesday.

Parents with any questions can call Bellaire High School at 713-295-3704.
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.
A trade association of attorneys said this week that more evidence should be required to find that a student is guilty of sexual assault on campus.

Right now, federal guidelines ask universities to use a preponderance of the evidence standard  that is, if an adjudicating body found that a student was more likely than not to have committed the crime, he or she would be found responsible. Students found responsible for sexual assault can be expelled from some Texas campuses.

Courts use a higher standard for the criminal trials  the adjudicating body would have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

The American College of Trial Lawyers said Monday that it sought a middle ground  a clear and convincing evidence standard, which means that evidence must leave observers with a firm belief that the defenses claims are true.

We submit that the preponderance of evidence standard for a finding of responsibility in these cases is too low when the stakes are so high, and the full protections provided by our traditional judicial system are not available, said Elizabeth Mulvey, a member of the task force of members that examined the responses of universities and colleges to sexual assault allegations.

The federal Office for Civil Rights asks universities to adhere to a preponderance of the evidence standard for sexual assault hearings because the crime falls under Title IX, which forbids gender-based discrimination at universities.

Victims advocates groups applaud the lower standard because they said it can help bring forward accounts of sexual assault, a traditionally underreported crime.

The University of Texas System found in a survey released last month that 72 percent of victims said they did not tell anyone they had been raped prior to taking the survey. Baylor University in Waco has come under fire this year for mishandling reports of rape and allowing accused students to skirt sanctions.

But in a report released Monday, the American College of Trial Lawyers said that the preponderance of the evidence standard stacks the deck against accused students.

It also recommended that accused students should have the right to be advised and accompanied by legal counsel at all stages of the investigation, and that witnesses should be allowed to be cross-examined during an adjudication process.

I'd like to hear from readers -- particularly students and professors -- about sexual assault adjudication on Texas campuses. Email me at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Texas A&M Universitys Haynes Ring Plaza has been vandalized with an explosive quotation attributed to a prominent graduate.

"Rape is inevitable may as well enjoy it," the graffiti reads, scrawled in black in front of the bronze Aggie Ring statue. The vandal tagged the statement with "Clayton Williams" with an arrow pointed toward the nearby alumni center that bears his name.

Oilman Clayton W. Williams Jr. graduated from Texas A&M in 1954. In an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1990, he suggested that rape victims should "relax and enjoy it," remarks that created an uproar. He later apologized.

BAYLOR SCANDAL: Ex-Baylor football player charged with sexual assault

Kathryn Greenwade, a spokeswoman for the Association of Former Students, said the vandalism occurred at about 3:50 a.m. Tuesday. The association expects to have the graffiti removed later today, she said.

University police spokesman Bobby Richardson said officers were on the scene late Tuesday morning and were in the process of obtaining video footage. If the cost of cleaning the scene exceeds $750, he said, the person found responsible will be face felony charges of graffiti.

The graffiti comes shortly before Aggie Ring Day, when students close to graduation pose for photos with their families near the sculpture with their class rings.

Texas A&M's alumni association began construction on the alumni center headquarters in 1985, before Williams' remarks on rape. Williams donated $2.5 million toward its construction. The building, situated near Kyle Field, opened in 1987, but it was rededicated with the unveiling of a 12-foot bronze ring replica in 2009.

Williams and his wife have contributed more than $7 million to the university and were recognized in 2015 for their philanthropy, volunteerism and leadership by the Texas A&M Foundation Board of Trustees.

Williams was considered a frontrunner for governor in 1990 and said he wanted to unite A&M alumni and students as an important voting bloc. He lost eventually to Democrat Ann Richards after a series of campaign gaffes that startled voters over the course of the campaign.

He said he would be "less comfortable" campaigning against a woman after the Democratic primary whittled the candidates down to Richards, then-state treasurer, and then-Attorney General Jim Mattox.

Shortly afterward, he hosted a group of reporters at his ranch. He was overheard comparing bad weather to rape, saying, "If it's inevitable, you might as well relax and enjoy it." He refused to shake Richards' hand later in the campaign.

His remarks on rape drew the ire of John McCain during his presidential campaign. When the remarks resurfaced in June 2008, McCain called off a fundraising event at Williams' home in Midland.

The graffiti came shortly before Aggie Ring Day, when students close to graduation pose for photos with their families near the sculpture with their class rings.

>>>Scroll through the gallery to see which universities have the highest crime rates
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

AUSTIN  Thursday will be a very long night in the Texas House, where lawmakers will consider more than 400 amendments to the chambers proposed $218.2 billion, two-year budget.

Promising to stretch into the early morning hours of Friday, the process is a biennial tradition in the lower chamber when legislators try to circumvent the committee process and push their pet issues on the floor for a full vote.

In forcing an up-or-down vote, House lawmakers can steer public money to causes they support and away from those they want to cripple.

For example, the House leadership wants to keep bathroom-related legislation off the agenda at all costs. After the Senate passed the so-called bathroom bill, which supporters dub the Texas Privacy Act, Speaker Joe Straus has reiterated his criticism of the legislation backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as a useless distraction.

HONORARY TEXAN: TV tough guy made honorary Texas citizen

The Senate bill would restrict bathroom access in government buildings and public schools and colleges based on a persons sex listed on their birth certificate. A group of right-wing House Republicans have pushed the issue unsuccessfully at several points this session, and Thursday night is shaping up to be the next battle over state-mandated bathroom restrictions and transgender rights.

Consider one by Rep. Valorie Swanson that would prohibit a state agency from using its budgeted money to build or renovate a gender-neutral rest room, shower room, or locker room.

Another by Rep. Briscoe Cain would bar the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from using state funds to provide to an inmate any surgery related to sex reassignment or gender identity transitioning.

Abortion rights, the perennial issue in the Texas Legislature, is slated to come up again too.

Some Republicans want to increase state funding to programs that counsel women on alternatives to abortion, taking tens of millions of dollars from state agencies like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of Agriculture to do so.

BIG DEBATE: State Senate to start special education funding discussions

Democratic Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, on the other hand, wants to cut $18.3 million from the alternatives to abortion services and give that money to the Department of Family and Protective Services, which has been under fire from lawmakers after widespread accounts of neglected children languishing in state care.

In a tweet Monday defending her amendment, Hinojosa said: Kids in states care are dying. Its time to put politics aside & do whats right.

Capitol observers know well where the House stands on school vouchers. They have strong support in the Senate, but the lower chamber sees so-called school choice measures  which would allow parents to use public money to send their children to private schools  as an attempt to rob already cash-strapped public schools. The House avoided a vote on the issue last session when Rep. Abel Herrero, a Democrat from Robstown, withdrew his amendment in opposition to school vouchers before it was brought up.

He could go all the way this time.

An amendment Herrero filed Monday states that the Texas Comptroller cannot use any money in the budget to pay for or support a school voucher, education savings account, or a tax credit scholarship. That, essentially, would gut the voucher bill the Senate passed last week, which creates a narrow education savings account program and establishes tax credit scholarships funded by business contributions.

The Houses voucher supporters will try to counter Herreros amendment with one of their own that would take $20 million of the chambers $1.6 billion school finance bill and use it for an education savings account program for children with disabilities.

Many amendments will fail. Others will be pulled down by their authors as the night drags on.

Rep. Jason Villalba, a Republican from Dallas, tweeted Monday that he did not file any amendments. #KabukiTheater, he wrote.

One way or another, the Texas House certainly will pass its version of the state budget early Friday morning, after which the chambers negotiators will meet the Senates to work out a compromise with about 50 days left in the legislative session.

>>>Scroll through the gallery above to see what special education bills are being weighed by Texas lawmakers
BOYCEVILLE  Boyceville high school senior Abigail Erickson loves cows. She is raising one and his name is Gomer. As Abby tells it, Gomer is an 800-pound steer who follows me around like a puppy.

Gomer suffered a broken leg when he was a calf and needed a lot of extra attention, so Abby fed him a bottle every day and watched for signs of pneumonia. The odds were against Gomer but because of Abbys efforts to help him heal, Gomer made it.

And it is because of Gomer that Abigail Erickson is going to become a large animal veterinary technician. Along the way, she might want to consider writing a childrens book about Gomer because that is one charming little story.

Competitive artistry

Abby is the recipient of the Chippewa Valley Newspapers Extra Effort Award this year. Her big heart and talent for tending an animal most would back away from is not the end of her story, however; she is also an artist.

She is a member of the Art Club and has been active in the Visual Arts Classic  a competition that takes place on the regional and state level  for the past few years.

This year, seven teams went to the competition and Abby was selected as captain of the Boyceville High School team, comprised of 12 students. Preparation and training is done outside of the classroom, and students prepare from October through March.

This years theme was Art in Wisconsin. The team selected 10 famous Wisconsin artists and were challenged to use many different mediums  ceramics, sculpture, clothing, drawing and painting  to represent a specific artist. Abby chose a ceramics project based on artist Susan Frackelton, an artist famous for painting china using only the colors of blue and gray.

Abby created a vase in the style of Frackelton with blue Morning Glory flowers on it, representing love and honoring the memory of her grandmother, Ruth Ann Bradford, with the piece, according to Karlene Berry, Boyceville High School counselor.

Abby and her team also competed in the Art Quiz Bowl, a collection of trivia based on Wisconsin artists and their work. They had to study materials and art collections to prepare for the regional competition, which they won. They are now preparing for the state competition.

The team also competed in another competitive event called the Critical Thinking Skit, which gives them one hour to prepare and create a small-scale set and write about the piece. This year, the artists chosen for the competition were Susan Frackelton and Frank Lloyd Wright, with the Boyceville team winning first place.

Increased confidence

Abby said she has challenged herself in art, having once been self-conscious about her work to now being confident in her abilities. She said her latest art piece is a five-foot by three-foot self portrait  something she would never have thought about doing in middle school.

Since second grade, Abby has had a hearing loss. Over the years and with the support of her friends, she has learned to accommodate for that, wearing just one hearing aid and using eye contact.

Abby has also signed up for the Vet Science Explore program in October. The program is voluntary and focuses on the pet industry as well as agriculture from a veterinarian side. After high school graduation she plans to attend the Rochester, Minn. Technical College and complete the veterinary technician program.

Abby is the daughter of Kathy Bradford and Brad Erickson. She has lived in Boyceville her entire life and will graduate in May.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

AUSTIN  Answering the attempted assassination of an Austin judge in 2015 and the Monday slaying of a Harris County constable, the Texas Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to ramp up security for judges and at courthouses statewide.

In a unanimous vote with state District Judge Julie Kocurek looking on, the Senate quickly approved Senate Bill 42 that supporters said is designed to prevent future attacks on judges and court employees.

Kocurek was ambushed and critically wounded outside her West Austin home in November 2015 by a gunman who reportedly was upset about a case in her court. After months of recovery, she returned to the bench in early 2016.

ATTACK OUTLINED: New details emerge in shooting death of constable

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, the author of the bill, said the estimated $5 million cost of the measure  named the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act  is an investment in protecting the administration of justice in Texas.

Noting the Monday ambush death of Harris County Constable Clint Greenwood in Baytown, Zaffirini said additional security is required. A study of court security in Texas after the attack on Kocurek revealed numerous lapses and flaws in proper protection.

"Unfortunately, this tragedy (in Baytown) reminds us of the need for this bill," Zaffirini said.

LAWMAN MOURNED: Slain constable remembered as a 'cop's cop'

In addition to additional security at courthouses, the personal information about judges and prosecutors will be kept confidential in the future -- and existing records will be redacted.

The bill now goes to the House. where passage is expected.

After passing the bill, the Senate approved a resolution honoring Kocurek for her resolve in returning to the bench to send a message that justice will not impaired and to her son, Will, now 17, for his bravery in stepping in front of his mother during the attack to save her life.

Three men, one of whom was facing a murder charge in Houston at the time of the attack on Kocurek, are facing criminal charges in connection with the Austin attack.

>>>Scroll through the above gallery to see things to know about Clint Greenwood, the constable who was shot and killed
Some 500 community leaders gathered March 20 at the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Texas Chapter Gala Dinner, which raised $500,000 to support well-being and educational programs for Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.

The gala, which has become one of the Houston Jewish community's largest events, featured a keynote speech by Anat Ariel, the bereaved mother of Israeli Air Force (IAF) Capt. Tamar Ariel Z"L, the first Orthodox Israeli woman to navigate an F-16 fighter jet in combat, who was killed in a Nepal avalanche in 2014.

"Tamar was the first religious young woman to complete the pilot's course. It wasn't easy but she loved a challenge and was respected by everyone," said Ariel. "After Operation Protective Edge, Tamar took a well-deserved vacation to Nepal with some friends. A horrible snowstorm had hit the region where they were hiking. Later we learned that, even in the freezing storm, Tamar took control of the group, helping to clear paths and even warming her friends' bodies. Thanks to her, two of them are still alive today."

Also speaking were IDF soldiers Capt. "O.," a pilot in the IAF; Sgt. (Res.) Emma, who immigrated to Israel from the U.K. and served in the Military Police Corps; and Sgt. (Res.) Yonat, a combat paramedic.

The gala was co-chaired by Sandra and Steve Finkelman and Rhoda and Steve Saka.

"It is a privilege to be able to support all the incredible work FIDF accomplishes. Our comfortable lives in the Diaspora are totally connected with the safety and strength of Israel. That is why supporting the IDF soldiers is our mission  it is the least that we can do to ensure a strong Israel and a strong Jewish Diaspora," said FIDF Texas Chairman Max Blankfeld.

Other distinguished guests included FIDF National Director and CEO Maj. Gen. (Res.) Meir Klifi-Amir; Blankfeld; FIDF Texas Chapter Development Director Danny Gutman; and former Lone Soldiers  those who immigrate to Israel without immediate family in order to serve in the IDF  from the Texas community.

"The brave soldiers of the IDF risk everything to safeguard Israel and Jews around the world," said Gutman. "This gala gave our supporters an intimate way to meet and personally thank these young men and women for their service, and to see the impact they have on the soldiers' lives."
Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram

Target Logistics Management, a provider of workforce housing in the U.S. and Canada, will consolidate its offices in Boston to its operational headquarters in The Woodlands.

The move, to be made in the second quarter, puts the company closer to its customers in regions such as the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford, where it provides lodging for oil and gas workers.
Courtesy Photo

Jimmy Webb's website refers to him as "America's Songwriter," which is a lofty claim, but then, he's a lofty songwriter. And having written "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman" all but guarantees sainthood. Webb was just in Houston a year ago, so another visit isn't Earth-shaking news. But this time he's not in Houston, he's down the road in Galveston. And seeing as Webb wrote the Glen Campbell hit "Galveston," that makes the show a pretty cool convergence of artist and location.

Webb has been playing shows this year billed as "Jimmy Webb: The Glen Campbell Years," tied to the iconic tunes he wrote for the pop-country superstar in the '60s and '70s.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Harris County student artists and writers in grades 7-12 earn 59 national Scholastic Art & Writing Medals through awards announced by the New York nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers on March 14. The students advanced from a regional competition sponsored by Harris County Department of Education, and their work is exhibited at art exhibits and celebrations in Houston.

The awards, founded in 1923, allow creative teen artists and writers to earn recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships. Visit http://www.hcde-texas.org/ to view the list of the 59 medalists.

National medalists from Harris County increased from 50 in 2016 to a record 59 in 2017. Gold medalists, the top award, more than doubled in Harris County, increasing from 12 in 2016 to 28 in 2017. Nationally, about 2,500 students are recognized overall as medalists this year.

Among local gold medalists was Fatemeh Ebrahimi, a student at Taylor High School in Katy Independent School District. Her sculpture is called "Talk to the Hands." Ebrahimi won a national Gold Medal for her sculpture through Scholastic Art & Writing, as well as a regional Gold Key from Harris County Department of Education. She and her teacher Ashley Niemi are eligible to travel to New York City's Carnegie Hall to gain the national award. Her sculpture was displayed at Spring Street Studios in Houston through March 30.

Ebrahimi also earned recognition at the 2017 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Her sculpture called "The Spirit Within" sold for a record-breaking auction price of $102,000.

"We have an amazing number of talented teen artists in Houston and Harris County," said Harris County School Superintendent James Colbert, Jr. "We celebrate the teachers and volunteer judges, along with the community supporters who provide venues for artist ceremonies and receptions."

In addition, regional Scholastic Art & Writing sponsor Harris County Department of Education is being recognized for its extraordinary dedication to the Awards program as a regional affiliate. The award for "2017 Gold Key for Excellence in the Field" will be awarded in a national ceremony at Carnegie Hall June 8. Andrea Segraves coordinates the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for HCDE and is applauded by organizers for growing the program in Harris County.

"I remain in awe of the talent and original voice of the creative teens in our region and am humbled to be a part of this outstanding, time-honored, fine arts program," said Segraves.

Area teens competed among a record-breaking 330,000 works of art and writing submitted for judging throughout the nation across 29 different categories. Through the 2017 Awards, students receive opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships. Past winners include celebrated artists and writers such as Robert Redford, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, John Lithgow, Joyce Carol Oates and Sylvia Plath.

Sharing in the national limelight are students from public school districts Alief, Aldine, Cypress-Fairbanks, Deer Park, Galena Park, Houston, Katy, Klein, Pasadena, Pearland and Spring Branch. Private school medalists are from Duchesne Academy of Sacred Heart, The Kinkaid School, River Oaks Baptist School, Strake Jesuit College Prep School, St. John's School, St. Thomas High School and The Village School.

Gold Key Medalists, Gold Portfolio awardees and Silver Medal with Distinction students are invited to a ceremony in New York City's Carnegie Hall on June 8 with surprise appearances from notable celebrities and creative leaders. Work from more than 1,000 students is exhibited from June 2-12 at several prominent New York galleries. Visit www.hcde-texas.org/Scholastic for a complete list of the 50 national awards.
If you live in Houston or its surrounding areas, you've probably seen stickers on the back of cars that say "100 Club," but do you know what they mean?

To the ones in the Club, it's a symbol of commitment, of wanting to lend a helping hand. To those the Club has helped, it is a saving grace.

The 100 Club started in 1953 by a group of people in Houston that felt that there was a need to provide financial support to the dependents of the Houston peace officers and firefighters that were killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty. Their initial goal was finding 100 people willing to pay annual membership dues of $100 each. They succeeded, and today the 100 Club has about 32,000 members.

The 100 Club has helped 176 families to date, and provided more than $20 million to families left behind.

"We have a real need in our community as citizens to show compassion for our peace officers and firefighters. They put their lives on the line for each of us every day. It is a small way that each of us can give back," Executive Director Richard Hartley said.

As soon as the 100 Club has been notified that there has been a line-of-duty death and there are dependents left behind, the 100 Club tries to visit with the surviving spouse and family within 24 hours, and give them a $20,000 check.

"Sadly, a lot of our first responders live from paycheck to paycheck and have to work second jobs to have a standard of living that most people take for granted. We want them to use the $20,000 for whatever they need," Hartley said.

After some time has passed, the 100 Club will go back and visit with the family and do a needs assessment. The 100 Club has provided all sorts of help including putting a new roof on a house, paying off mortgage and credit card debt, and putting children through college. The average amount provided for the families is $300,000.

"When we lose a hero in the line of duty, we send a note to all 32,000 members letting them know of the loss, and we ask them to make a donation to our survivor's fund. Our members have been phenomenal in supporting the mission to provide that help. We have been so fortunate that we don't need any outside money," Hartley said.

One of those families that has been helped is Amanda Hurst and her son Kyle.

Justin Hurst, Amanda's husband, was a Texas Game Warden who grew up loving to hunt, fish and ride his bike. He received a degree in Wildlife Ecology from Texas A&M University, and through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, he managed 12,000 acres in Brazoria County, now known as the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area. Justin also managed numerous prairie wetland projects. Justin married Amanda in 2001 and graduated from the Texas Game Warden Academy in August 2002. He helped farmers harvest rice and was a professional waterfowl guide for 12 years.

Justin was gunned down on March 17, 2007, on his 34th birthday. Their son, Kyle, was only four months old at the time.

"The 100 Club responded in the first few days after Justin's death. They took care of any immediate bills that were looming overhead, and said they'd be back," Amanda Hurst said. "When the 100 Club returned, they replaced all my aging appliances and provided me with a new John Deere mower that cut my mowing time in half (which was important for a new mom who mowed during nap time), and paid off my mortgage and car. A couple years later, the 100 Club installed a sprinkler system in my yard to help with the upkeep of our country home. It's been 10 years since we lost Justin. In the darkest, most difficult days of our lives, the 100 Club made sure that with everything going on, our finances were not an additional burden."

Hurst continued, "There's not a dollar sign large enough to diminish the pain caused by Justin's death. And that's not the intention of the 100 Club. Instead, it realizes the family and monetary sacrifices our first responders make on a daily basis ... but they do it out of love of their careers. Justin and I worked hard for what we had. The 100 Club insured that the lifestyle we created would not go away, nor be burdensome."

The 100 Club prides itself on making lifelong connections and friends with the families that they help.

"We learned of a police officer's daughter who he had never met, because when he died in the line of duty, she had not been born yet. His wife was pregnant at the time. We heard from her grandfather that she was going to Texas A&M and working two jobs to be able to finish her degree. We took care of her and put her through school. It wasn't too long after that my wife and I received an invitation to her wedding," Hartley said.

Hartley notes that members of other charities may want something in return for being a member, but the 100 Club is a non-typical charity.

"You get the pride of knowing that you're helping, and that decal on your car is a symbol of support," Hartley said. He also noted that a lot of charities have fundraisers but the 100 Club is an on-going fundraiser based on membership.

Along with helping families in need, the 100 Club is also proactive as well. A program was started to provide life-protecting equipment such as bullet proof vests and radios. So far the Club has given $12 million toward purchasing such equipment. The 100 Club also provides scholarships to full-time peace officers for undergraduate and graduate degrees at Sam Houston State University, Prairie View A&M and University of Houston Downtown.

The 100 Club hosts an awards banquet every May at which peace officers and firefighters who do things above and beyond the call of duty are honored. This year 29 law enforcement officers and 10 firefighters are being recognized.

Anyone can join the 100 Club, which covers a 32-county coverage area. The fee is $100 per year. For more information or to join visit www.the100club.org or call 713-952-0100.

"We're always looking for new numbers. We're fortunate that over the years we've been able to grow to the size we are now," Hartley said.
March 17

At 9:53 p.m., Officer Liccketto was dispatched to the 4600 block of Bellaire Blvd E/B in reference to a major accident. Officer Liccketto made contact with the driver of a Mazda CX-5 who stated someone ran a red light and struck her. Multiple witnesses stated the driver and passenger of the suspect vehicle fled the scene. The driver and passenger were later found and charged with fail to stop and give information and the passenger was charged with criminal trespass.

March 20

About 2:28 a.m., Officer Clisham was dispatched to a single vehicle accident where a vehicle had driven into a building at 6639 Ferris. After arriving on scene, it was found the vehicle in question had crashed into a concrete sign. After further investigation, the driver of the vehicle was placed into custody and charged with driving while intoxicated.

At 12:06 p.m. at 5910 W. Loop South, an unknown white male exited a silver four-door sedan, opened the unsecured passenger door to the victim's vehicle and stole the victim's purse. The suspect vehicle then fled the area and was last seen southbound in the 6000 block of IH 610 West Service Road.

March 21

At 10:20 a.m., Bellaire Officer Manriquez checked by with the Bellaire Fire Department at 4600 Braeburn Drive in reference to an injured city employee. A garbage collector was struck in the stomach and chin by debris.

At 12:55 p.m., the suspect entered the 5130 Bellaire Blvd. and stole multiple items. The suspect walked past all points of sale and exited the building. Upon exiting the building, the suspect was stopped by a Loss Prevention Agent. The LP Agent attempted to detain the suspect and a struggle ensued. The suspect struck the LP Agent in the face causing bodily injury. Officers Lysack, Andrade, and Vorhees along with Sgt. Hefferin arrived on scene and placed the suspect in custody. The suspect was transported to the Bellaire Police Department and charged with robbery.

At 6:55 p.m., Bellaire Police were dispatched to the 5600 block of Saint Paul in reference to an identity theft call. Upon arrival, Officer M. Santillanes met with the victim who advised an unknown suspect stole their identity.

March 22

At 6:24 p.m., Officer O'Sullivan and Officer Schwausch were dispatched to the Bellaire Police lobby in regards to an identity theft in the 5200 block of Mimosa Street. Officer O'Sullivan met with the reportee who stated on 03/12/2014 at an unknown time, she received a Chase Sapphire credit card in the mail. On 03/20/2017 at an unknown time she received an alert from All Clear I.D. showing someone opened a Citi Bank Card in her name.

At 5:35 p.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to the lobby of the Bellaire Police station in regards to the reportee reporting an identity theft in the 5300 block of Grand Lake.

At 9:30 p.m., Officer's O'Sullivan and Schwausch were dispatched to 5861 Bissonnet St. in reference to a robbery in progress. Upon arrival, Officers O'Sullivan and Schwausch made contact with the reportee who stated one suspect came into the store brandishing a handgun and stole money from the cash drawer. The suspect fled the scene on foot headed toward Renwick Drive.

March 23

At 3:03 p.m., Officer Liccketto responded to a burglary of a habitation in the 5200 block of Pine Street. Officer Liccketto arrived and found the suspect had forced entry into the back door and burglarized the house. The suspect was later found and arrested for burglary of a habitation and transported to the Bellaire Police Department for booking and processing without incident.

At 2:03 a.m., Sgt. D. Hollie was patrolling the 6200 block of IH 610 WSR (S/B), when he observed a blue, 2007, Jeep Liberty, traveling southbound with defective equipment: right tail light out. Sgt. Hollie made a traffic stop on this vehicle and after further investigation, the driver was arrested for Driving While License Invalid (DWLI).

At 6:24 a.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to the 4500 block of Geneva Street in reference to a burglary of a vehicle call. The victim stated his vehicle was burglarized.

At 5:21 p.m., Officer Liccketto was dispatched to the 5200 block of Mimosa in reference to a suspicious circumstance involving a young Hispanic male leaving a vacant house. Officer Liccketto waited for the male to come back to the house and was arrested for Criminal Trespass. A female was later found at the same house and was arrested for criminal trespass. Both were also in possession of a dangerous drug.

At 6:14 p.m., Officer Liccketto was dispatched to 4900 block of Imperial in reference to a burglary of a motor vehicle. The owner of the vehicle left the vehicle locked on 03/21/2017 at 2230 hours. The owner found the vehicle at about 1800 hours on 03/23/2017 with the driver side door lock broken. The unknown suspect made entry into the vehicle and burglarized the vehicle and took the stereo system.

March 24

At 8:15 p.m. Officers O'Sullivan, Schwausch and Liccketto were dispatched to 4900 Bissonnet Street in regards to a vehicle driving slowly and striking the curb multiple times. Officer Liccketto observed a vehicle heading west and driving only 5 to 10 miles per hour while striking the curb multiple times. Officer O'Sullivan's investigation found the driver being charged with driving while intoxicated. Officer Liccketto placed the suspect into custody and transported him to the Bellaire jail to be processed.

March 25

At 2:30 p.m., Sgt. Kerr was dispatched to the lobby of the PD in reference to a missing person call. Upon arrival Sgt Kerr met with the reportee who stated her brother has been missing for 7 days and was requesting a police report.

At 4:53 p.m., Officers O'Sullivan and Schwausch were dispatched to the area of 5002 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a theft in progress. Officers searched the area and located a suspect with stolen goods from Walgreens. The suspect was arrested for felony theft.

March 26

At 1:51 a.m., Reporting Officer C. Barber, while responding to a report of a man walking around his vehicle in the main lanes of IH-610 in the area 6700 IH-610 South, observed a paper tag that was smudged, out of focus with uneven lettering. Upon further investigation, the man, the owner and driver of the vehicle, admitted to printing the false tag out and displaying it on his vehicle. The Driver was arrested for displaying a Deceptively Similar License Plate, Transportation Code 504.946, a 3rd degree felony.

At 6:10 p.m., Officers were dispatched to Randall's Grocery store at 5130 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a theft in progress. The reportee stated a black male had exited the store without paying for items. The black male was located in the 5100 block of Bellaire Boulevard with the stolen items. The black male was placed under arrest for the theft.
Mike Bianchi: Jimbo Fisher cant even beat the Florida Gators... You know Jimbo Fisher has lost his mojo when he cant even beat the Florida Gators anymore. The...

Mattress Mack wins record $75M on Astros World Series bets The Houston superfan just cashed the largest legal sports bet payout in U.S. history.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Homelessness is a problem for many veterans.

They can be couch surfing with friends or family members, living in shelters or on the streets, or simply just don't have a place to stay beyond a month or two.

However, thanks to students at St. Pius X High School and St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, having the basic necessities of living is a problem that is being addressed.

On Thursday, students at St. Pius packed a van from the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program through Volunteers of America-Texas. After gathering so much stuff - including clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags, blankets and backpacks - a second van was needed to help with the overflow of collections.

TRUMP CONCERNS: Advocates of homeless vets fear president's budget could hurt them

Sophomore Nina Martinez is the president and founder of St. Pius X High School's Students Serving Soldiers group. Currently the group has about 55 members. It is the second such drive to collect items for veterans this year. The first ended in January, with those donations being taken to Killeen, home of Fort Hood.

"Our drive had just ended and Channel 13 did a story," Martinez said. "(Darryl Harper) heard about us  he wanted to team up with us."

Darryl Harper is the HVRP outreach coordinator in Houston.

"People just go through dressers and gather stuff," Martinez said. In the first drive this year, a Boy Scout member "went to his troop leader and they gave us a boatload of stuff."

Not all donations are second-hand goods.

"We had a lot of brand new clothes," Martinez said. "Someone brought in a bunch of jeans with tags still on them."

For its part, St. Pius supports the philanthropic efforts of its students.

"We are really open to student ideas for new organizations," said Principal Diane Larsen. "They find a sponsor interested in the organization."

The support offered by the school includes putting out notices and making announcements, but the students are the ones driving the needs of any particular group.

St. Pius supports numerous drives in the school - a food drive around Thanksgiving, a toy drive at Christmas and a diaper drive, to name a few.

For his part, Harper is happy to have the donated goods to help out local homeless veterans. There is a "returning home" event for the veteran population scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the United Way at 50 Waugh Dr, Houston, TX 77007.

For more information on the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, go to www.voatx.org/houston.

For more information on St. Pius X High School, go to www.stpiusx.org. For info on St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, go to www.stroselima.org.
Harris County Department of Education

Harris County Department of Education Head Start is hosting the 3rd annual Healthy Minds Healthy Families Conference on May 5 from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. at 6300 Irvington. Cost of the workshop is only $10 and includes lunch and free parking through a grant-funded initiative from the Hogg Foundation.

The conference is open to early childhood educators, families, members of the Head Start community and others who work with children with challenging behaviors. The focus of the event is to provide participants with tools for working with children with challenging behaviors and increase public awareness of mental health issues among children and adults.
Moving Stronger, an exercise and education program specifically designed for people with multiple sclerosis, will be launched in April by three institutions that are national leaders in their respective fields.

The program, which is free of charge and the first of its kind in the country, was created in a collaboration between YMCA of Greater Houston, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of Houston.

"We've all been working hand-in-hand to create a safe exercise and education program for people with MS," said Leorah Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and multiple sclerosis expert in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. "The program was designed after detailed analysis of existing data showing the benefit of different exercise modalities and healthy living strategies in people with MS."

While exercise was once discouraged for people with MS, evidence now shows that exercise in a controlled environment can help improve mobility and alleviate certain symptoms from the disease if done regularly.

"The YMCA of Greater Houston has a long history of serving communities in youth development, social responsibility, and healthy living. Moving Stronger is an exciting new offering and we anticipate that it will bring needed resources to those with MS," said Lharissa Jacobs, director of Community Health for the YMCA. "The YMCA is the perfect setting to meet the health needs of the MS community through increased physical activity and social support."

MS is a chronic, inflammatory and degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system. It is a leading cause of disability among young- and middle-aged adults, for which there is no cure. MS can cause fatigue, imbalance, weakness, stiffness, numbness and even cognitive dysfunction. It affects an estimated 2.3 million people worldwide and 400,000 in the United States.

"We are very excited about this new wellness program, Moving Stronger, and the collective work we are doing to bring wellness solutions to people living with MS. For a person living with MS, the road to wellness involves more than treatment of the disease and its symptoms," said Elaine Liserio, associate vice president of Program Development for the National MS Society. "The adaptive wellness opportunities being created through supportive partners such as the YMCA of Greater Houston and UTHealth will make an impact and help people with MS live their best lives."

The 12-week program will be held at the Monty Ballard YMCA at Cinco Ranch, 22807 Westheimer Parkway. It will include 24 sessions of exercise, education and bonding discussions around subjects relevant to people with MS.

"It is very stressful for people with multiple sclerosis to go to a gym and most don't have access to trainers with knowledge about their disease and disability," said Freeman, who treats patients at UT Physicians, the clinical practice of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. "Moving Stronger aims to enhance participants' overall mobility, to improve their quality of life through exercise and social engagement and to give them the tools to stay active consistently. My long-term goal is to make this program accessible to all people with MS, to empower each of them to take part in their care."

During the first five weeks of the program, patients will learn different modalities of exercise, such as yoga, aquatics and circuit training, which consists of light cardio and weightlifting. The activities will then rotate with increasing difficulty according to the participants' abilities.

"It has been repeatedly shown that exercise not only improves walking speed, endurance and balance, but it can also improve fatigue, one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis," said Freeman.

The program will include an exercise specialist and yoga and aquatics instructors who are trained through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, as well as in-person training delivered under the supervision of UTHealth neurologists, to fully understand the needs of people with MS.

"When an MS patient comes to the UTHealth Neurorehabilitation clinic, I provide a comprehensive assessment of physical and cognitive function," said Nneka Ifejika M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of neurology and director of neurorehabilitation at McGovern Medical School, who worked with Freeman to develop the program. "But what about patients who do not have access to a comprehensive MS center such as the one at UT Physicians? By offering this program at the YMCA, Moving Stronger allows us to bridge the gap  to create a program, tailored to people with MS, delivered in their community  with the goals of directly improving strength, flexibility, balance, coordination and gait, and indirectly improving confidence and quality of life."

Contact betterhealth@ymcahouston.org or 713-758-9186 for information about class dates and times at the Monty Ballard YMCA at Cinco Ranch.

For information about the UT Physicians Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center, call 832-325-7080.
Organized in partnership with the Fort Bend County Global Initiative, Fort Bend Independent School District's annual trip to China is meant to give high school students an academic and cultural experience abroad.

The two-week trip, held in January, is part of an annual student exchange that partners FBISD students with students from one of the district's sister school, Foshan #2 High School, in China. The students are immersed in local culture and they return with expanded perspectives of themselves and the world. The trip, now in its third year, is an example of how the district's partnerships enhance the education of its students.

The students who participated in the 2017 trip were, by high school:

Austin: Shea Davis

Clements: Madison Taylor, and Ross Trivisonno

Dulles: Marina Baez, Jessica Chambers, Ashley Clopton, Nicole Quintero and Taylor Zylicz

Elkins: Raegan Cruse, Abraham Pazhoor, and Lindsey Strickler

Hightower: Elijah Hughes, William Johnson and Navneet Venugopal

Kempner: Cierra Farris

Ridge Point: Natalie Bassett, Seth Brotherton, and Megan Van der Walt

Willowridge: Terrian Spurs

The group began the trip in Beijing, spending two days sightseeing and visiting historical landmarks including the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. After that, they traveled to Guanzhou/Foshan, where the group remained for the duration of the trip, in addition to a quick trip to Hong Kong.

Spurs, a junior at Willowridge High School, hoped to learn more about the history of China, outside of the classroom. When asked about the highlights of the trip, she noted the time spent learning about calligraphy and traditional Chinese music and dance as her favorites. The trip has even sparked an interest in pursuing international business as a career path. She has nothing but encouraging things to say to other students considering the trip.

"I would encourage other students to participate in this once in a lifetime experience," said Spurs. "Students will learn a lot from this trip and make unforgettable memories and friends."

In Guanzhou/Foshan, the students became part of the student body at Foshan #2 High School. They were paired with local students and were able to communicate in advance with their host friends and family. They were given uniforms, attended classes taught in English, and like their classmates, stayed in dormitories during the week. During the weekend, the students were able to live with their host families and enjoy local activities.

The annual trip is just one part of the district's partnership with the Fort Bend County Global Initiative.

Each fall, students from Foshan #2 High School visit Houston and live the Fort Bend ISD experience. Families host the students and they attend school and events with their district counterpart. Lorelei Thorp, the FBISD Global Initiative program coordinator, has already seen a relationship between these two parts of the exchange. Families who host visiting students from China are often among the families whose students participate in the trip to China. This is what led Kempner student Cierra Farris to apply for the trip - her family hosted a Chinese student who Cierra now considers part of her family. The two students were even able to reconnect during the group's trip to China.

"When I went to China it was amazing to meet her again and to meet her family," she said. "This trip, or even hosting a student, will give you everlasting friendships and experiences if you keep an open mindset."

District administrators have also begun talking about how to expand the partnership with the Fort Bend County Global Initiative. Possibilities include creating a teacher exchange with the sister schools in China. The district hosted a group of students from Taiwan in the fall and there is an opportunity for FBISD students to visit Taiwan in a similar type of exchange.

"For me, that's the big thing  getting them to think about other places. It opens up a whole new world for them," said Thorp. "All of the students come back changed."

The students, high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, were accompanied by istrict administrators, board members and educators. They were: FBISD trustees KP George and Grayle James; Steve Bassett, FBISD chief financial officer; Anthony Indelicato, assistant superintendent; Lorelei Thorp, ESL Teacher at Kempner High School; and Meng-Yu Wang, Dulles High School Chinese teacher. Thorp and Wang have helped lead and facilitate the cultural exchange with China for the last three years.

Applications for the fall 2017 trip to China are available. An informational meeting will be held at the Fort Bend ISD Board Room on April 5, 2017 at 5 p.m. The China trip is anticipated to occur on Nov. 16-30, 2017.

The Fort Bend County Global Initiative, created in 2012, is dedicated to enriching the Fort Bend community through international and cultural exchange and commerce. Visit fbgi.org to find out more about the Fort Bend County Global Initiative. To learn more about the FBISD Global Partnership Initiative, contact Audra Ude, director of student leadership at audra.ude@fortbendisd.com or 281-634-0293.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Houston's India House has been overwhelmed with a flood of supportive letters and gifts since last month's $100,000 donation to a Kansas man who tried to save two immigrants targeted in a bar shooting in February.

Hundreds of kind notes - some including unsolicited donations - have poured in, further boosting the funding set aside for Ian Grillot.

"Good always wins over evil, and these messages of appreciation from places and faces far away from Houston demonstrate clearly that the America, I know is full of good people," said India House gala chair Jiten Agarwal. "We will continue building bridges between communities."

Grillot, 24, was hailed as a hero after he intervened on Feb. 22 when a Kansas man reportedly shouted "get out of my country" before opening fire at Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, killing one man and wounding Grillot and another.

DONATION: Houston's India House honors man who intervened in Kansas bar shooting

At the end of last month, Houstonians gathered to honor Grillot during the annual India House gala, which drew a slew of local politicians and well-known community members, including Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, star chef Vikas Khanna, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Navtej Sarna and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

"I applaud what the Indian community has achieved," Dr. Anupam Ray, consulate general of India, said in a statement Monday.

"It has transformed the narrative and demonstrated that it is a community that represents the best both in America and India."

The new wave of donations has netted just a few hundred dollars, but also an outpouring of supportive notes.

"I'm a teacher in Oregon, and have so many students with diverse backgrounds," one person wrote. "When I heard about the shooting I just kept thinking how it could've been one of my sweet students, or their families, and was filled with grief and rage. Your incredible gesture brought hope and reassurance."

Strangers from Florida to Los Angeles echoed the sentiment with their own heartfelt words.

Although Grillot survived the shooting with injuries, 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed. A third man, 32-year-old Alok Madasani was also wounded.

The chaos unfolded after 51-year-old Adam Purinton confronted the two Indian men in the bar, asking whether their "status was legal," according to an affidavit released last month.

Purinton left after Grillot and another person confronted him. But 30 minutes later he returned with a weapon and opened fire, prosecutors say.

RODEO: Border Patrol presence turns heads, creates worries at the Rodeo



Grillot jumped in and started chasing the gunman, thinking the he was out of ammunition.

But he was wrong and Purinton shot him once.

"I don't know if I could've lived with myself if I wouldn't have stopped or attempted to stop the shooter because that would've been completely devastating," Grillot said later in a statement.

Authorities collared Purinton hours later at an Applebee's 70 miles away in Clinton, Missouri.

After his arrest, Purinton was jailed in Johnson County, Kansas, on $2 million bond. The FBI is investigating the case as a hate crime.
For three years, the U.S. did its best to stay out of Europe's bloody conflict, but in the first week of April, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked congress to enter the "the war to end all wars."

In his address at the capitol on April 2, Wilson argued "the world must be made safe for democracy." Four days later, the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany.
City and school officials in east Fort Bend County are on the same page when it comes to the Texas Legislature.

Trustees in the Fort Bend Independent School District unanimously adopted resolutions on March 27 that had previously been adopted by city officials in Missouri City and Sugar Land. The resolutions were part of the consent agenda and there was no discussion.

Legislative issues addressed by the resolutions include proposed spending caps for local taxing units and replacement of the A-F accountability system for public schools.

Fort Bend ISD trustee Kristin Tassin said there was no history of joint meetings to her knowledge prior to this spring's sessions. "It's the first year we did both of those meetings."

Tassin said she coordinated with mayors and school staff coordinated with city planners.

Both school and city officials visited Austin to meet with legislators once, said Tassin. Nothing else was scheduled as of last week. She did plan to meet with mayors in a couple of weeks.

"Both cities have expressed a desire and willingness to continue doing this like that," said Tassin.

City officials from Missouri City said, "It is important for city and school officials to, at the very least, discuss legislative priorities because city and school officials are some of the closest officials to the public and share various issues. For example, decreases in state funding of public education have led to increases in school property taxes. Because of that, residents have had to pay additional property taxes to pay for public schools. Instead of directly addressing that issue, the state has proposed legislation that may limit the city's ability to raise revenue. As such, the state funding of schools issue directly impacts the city and its ability to provide services."

Sugar Land City Council unanimously adopted the resolutions on March 21 after a Feb. 13 joint meeting of city council and school trustees. Missouri City held a special March 21 City Council meeting with a similar agenda to discuss coordination of planning for growth between the governments, to discuss legislative priorities and to vote on resolutions.

Jennifer May, Sugar Land executive director business and government affairs, spoke to Sugar Land City Council members prior to their March 21 vote.

She referred to the Feb. 13 joint meeting with school officials to review legislative priorities and to start ongoing practice of coordinating when it comes to the planning and development process.

"It's important to have adequate funding for public schools and municipal services," said May. "And to recognize that public schools are consistently ranked as one of the top reasons why people choose to live in Sugar Land."

In regard to the first resolution, she said that it advances local control, opposes legislation that would pre-empt local authority and calls for adequate funding for public schools.

She referred to discussion in the Legislature of revenue caps and specifically cited Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 15. She said neither bill provides meaningful tax relief. What's equally bad if not worse is that it threatens public safety funding because those services comprise a large portion of the general fund, she said.

According to May, the bills ignore what she called the real reason why property taxes continue to rise which is the Legislature's failure to address the broken school finance system which has led to reduced state funding for education.

In voting for the resolution, Councilwoman Amy Mitchell said, "I'm very excited that we are working with the school district to develop policy that will work to protect our students, our schools, our community, our residents. I think it's very proactive and rather historic."

When the vote was called to vote on the resolution calling for the repeal of the A-F accountability system, Councilwoman Bridget Yeung said, "It's extremely disrespectful of our state elected officials to even create an A-F grading of our schools. It can be very damaging to schools, parents, schoolchildren and school districts. I'm happy the city is able to support a resolution to try to get the state to develop a meaningful accountability system."

Resolution I reads: "Support legislation that advances the principles of local control and allows for locally elected officials to govern and make decisions that are beneficial to the interests of district and city residents; and Support legislation that updates and adequately funds the school finance system in Texas; and oppose legislation that pre-empts or erodes the authority of local government or is detrimental to the rights and authority of local residents to make decisions concerning their communities, the school district and city, specifically legislation that would: "Impose a revenue cap on cities that does not provide meaningful tax relief, robs cities of the ability to meet local needs, and diverts attention from the real cause of higher property taxes, which is the Legislature's failure to fix the brokenness of the school finance system; and impose unfunded mandates that would require any school district or city expenditure unless all costs are reimbursed by the state"

Resolution 2 reads: "The Board of Trustees and City Council members respectively call upon state representatives and senators in the Texas Legislature to repeal the rating system utilizing A through F grades for schools and districts and to support the development of a meaningful accountability system that relies on multiple assessments and more accurately reflects student learning, informs teachers, and reports academic progress to parents to meet the needs and interests of each student and their communities; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this new system should encompass multiple considerations, reflect greater validity, and, more accurately reflect what students know and can do in terms of the rigorous standards."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

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.

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

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.

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
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

On April 5, 1976 eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes died at the age of 70 aboard his plane as it was en route to Houston from Acapulco.

He was due to receive medical treatment here in the city but didn't quite make it.

THE BEGINNING: Eccentric businessman and aviator Howard Hughes got his start in Houston

The luminary who left Houston as a young man was returning to his hometown as an emaciated, elderly 90-pound figure decades removed from his playboy heyday.

His body was taken to Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center for an autopsy. The official cause of death was listed as kidney failure.

Three years later in an interview with People magazine, Hughes' personal physician, Dr. Wilbur Thain, revealed that he believed Hughes had died from "prolonged, massive doses of aspirin."

Within days Hughes was laid to rest at Glenwood Cemetery off Washington in the family plot. Hughes took his place in the graveyard surrounded by Houston luminaries like William P. Hobby and George H. Hermann.

HOWARD SR.: Howard Hughes Sr. changed oil industry, and Houston, forever

Now Playing: Latest Local And State News Video: Houston Chronicle

Hughes has since been joined by Judge Roy Hofheinz, oilman Glenn McCarthy, Oveta Culp Hobby and Denton Cooley.

The cemetery has been called "The River Oaks of the dead" for containing the earthly remains of some of the people who shaped the fortunes of Houston and the state of Texas.

Businessmen, politicians and philanthropists are buried adjacent to each other like some sort of eternal cocktail party.

Click through to see where some of the area's most notable dead eternally rest...
NOM, CitizenGO and IOF Wrap Up Successful, Enlightening #FreeSpeechBus Tour Contact:



WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 /



"We launched the #FreeSpeechBus tour as a way to spark a conversation about gender, that it is determined by biology rather than by emotions and feelings, and to call for all sides to respect the free speech rights of citizens to debate these issues without fear of being demeaned, harassed, or threatened with retaliation," said Brian S. Brown, president of NOM and IOF. "What we encountered was a sustained, violent, coordinated attack designed to shut us down and force us to just go away. They failed to stop the tour or silence us, and, ironically, in the process made our very point that they don't want to debate the issues and instead will use force and political power to silence Christians and all Americans who understand that biology determines gender."



On the first day of the bus tour, the #FreeSpeechBus was attacked by two LGBT activists while parked near the United Nations in New York City. They assaulted the African American bus driver and destroyed several of the bus's windows with a hammer, while also using graffiti to cover the bus with militant "trans liberation" messages. After repairs, the bus continued the tour to Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia and concluded in Washington, DC. Along the way, it was frequently met by an angry mob of LGBT extremists and anarchists. It was revealed that prominent Democratic politicians were involved in promoting the violence and hate, including coordinating with anarchist groups.



"In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney's office was deeply involved in organizing the violent demonstrations against us, including coordinating with anarchist groups that are closely watched by the FBI," said Ignacio Arsuaga, president of CitizenGo. "The mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs proudly referred to themselves as 'an accomplice' in organizing protests which turned violent, with attacks on the bus and on police officers by gay activists and anarchists. At least one of them was arrested and bus organizers were prevented from speaking, an act of intolerant bullying the Mayor's office takes pride in. Meanwhile, while we were being prevented from engaging in a discussion with the protestors, the mayors of both Philadelphia and Boston ordered LGBT/transgendered flags to be flown at City Hall."



Brown noted that the intolerance and violence shown to those who hold traditional, majoritarian beliefs about the biological nature of gender is a powerful argument why Congress should move forward immediately to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, legislation which would prevent the federal government from discriminating against people of faith based on their views of gender and similar matters. "No American should be subjected to discrimination or harassment by the government simply for standing by their deeply held beliefs about the nature of gender, marriage and similar subjects. Citizens on both sides of these debates should be able to express their viewpoints without the heavy hand of government harassing and discriminating against them."



To schedule an interview with a representative from NOM, IOF or CitizenGo, please contact Joseph Grabowski,



Share Tweet Contact: Joseph Grabowski National Organization for Marriage , 202-276-4404WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), CitizenGO and the International Organization for the Family (IOF) today wrapped their #FreeSpeechBus tour intended to spark a national discussion about the biological truth of gender with a visit to the nation's capital in Washington, DC. The organizers said the tour revealed the ugly side of the LGBT movement, which engaged in violence and assault, and inflicted substantial property damage, in a failed effort to derail the bus tour. They also said that the response to the tour indicated deep coordination between the LGBT movement, Democratic politicians and anarchists who are committed to the destruction of civil society. Organizers said the tour was a success in that it highlighted the vicious intolerance shown to anyone in society who expresses dissent regarding the transgender agenda."We launched the #FreeSpeechBus tour as a way to spark a conversation about gender, that it is determined by biology rather than by emotions and feelings, and to call for all sides to respect the free speech rights of citizens to debate these issues without fear of being demeaned, harassed, or threatened with retaliation," said Brian S. Brown, president of NOM and IOF. "What we encountered was a sustained, violent, coordinated attack designed to shut us down and force us to just go away. They failed to stop the tour or silence us, and, ironically, in the process made our very point that they don't want to debate the issues and instead will use force and political power to silence Christians and all Americans who understand that biology determines gender."On the first day of the bus tour, the #FreeSpeechBus was attacked by two LGBT activists while parked near the United Nations in New York City. They assaulted the African American bus driver and destroyed several of the bus's windows with a hammer, while also using graffiti to cover the bus with militant "trans liberation" messages. After repairs, the bus continued the tour to Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia and concluded in Washington, DC. Along the way, it was frequently met by an angry mob of LGBT extremists and anarchists. It was revealed that prominent Democratic politicians were involved in promoting the violence and hate, including coordinating with anarchist groups."In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney's office was deeply involved in organizing the violent demonstrations against us, including coordinating with anarchist groups that are closely watched by the FBI," said Ignacio Arsuaga, president of CitizenGo. "The mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs proudly referred to themselves as 'an accomplice' in organizing protests which turned violent, with attacks on the bus and on police officers by gay activists and anarchists. At least one of them was arrested and bus organizers were prevented from speaking, an act of intolerant bullying the Mayor's office takes pride in. Meanwhile, while we were being prevented from engaging in a discussion with the protestors, the mayors of both Philadelphia and Boston ordered LGBT/transgendered flags to be flown at City Hall."Brown noted that the intolerance and violence shown to those who hold traditional, majoritarian beliefs about the biological nature of gender is a powerful argument why Congress should move forward immediately to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, legislation which would prevent the federal government from discriminating against people of faith based on their views of gender and similar matters. "No American should be subjected to discrimination or harassment by the government simply for standing by their deeply held beliefs about the nature of gender, marriage and similar subjects. Citizens on both sides of these debates should be able to express their viewpoints without the heavy hand of government harassing and discriminating against them."To schedule an interview with a representative from NOM, IOF or CitizenGo, please contact Joseph Grabowski, jgrabowski@nationformarriage.org , (202) 276-4404.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A Texas constable previously arrested and accused of abusing his girlfriend found himself in jail again after he was allegedly seen putting a tracking device on her car.

According to the Star-Telegram, Charles Hunt, the Precinct 1 constable for Parker County, was arrested in February after his girlfriend told police he assaulted her multiple times.

BUSTED: Police say coach had sexual relationship with student

The constable posted $15,000 bail the Star-Telegram reports and prohibited from going within 200 yards of her. He was also ordered to appear at the Parker County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, the newspaper reports.

But the court order apparently wasn't enough to keep the constable away from his girlfriend. According to court documents obtained by the newspaper, the victim left a business on March 25 and saw Hunt crouched at the back of her vehicle. Hunt reportedly ran, leaving behind his phone.

Lake Worth police found a portable tracking device attached to the woman's car, the Star-Telegram reports. They were also able to trace the phone to Hunt since it had a screen saver with his Parker County Constable Precinct 1 badge on it.

DEADLY AFFILIATION: Texas woman nets 5 years for ties to Sinaloa Cartel

According to the report, Hunt's wife called the victim, asking where her husband's phone was. Hunt also reportedly called a Lake Worth officer, telling him "he had done something bad."

The Star-Telegram reports Hunt didn't show up to the Parker County Community Supervision and Corrections Department at 8 a.m. on March 27 like he was ordered to. He was arrested that same day and was still in the Parker County Jail on Friday, according to the report.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

On Monday, a seasoned Harris County law enforcement officer was killed in an ambush while arriving to work.

Chief Deputy Constable Clint Greenwood's death marks the second law enforcement officer to be killed in Texas on the line of duty in 2017. The first was Detective Jerry Ronald Walker of the Little Elm Police Department, north of Dallas.

Last year, eight Texas police officers were killed due to non-accidental gunfire, most of them in the attack that left five Dallas officers dead, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website that collects obituaries and data on slain police officers.

THINGS TO KNOW: Clint Greenwood, the officer shot and killed in Baytown

Nationwide, the overall number of officer fatalities in 2016 increased by 10 percent compared to the previous year, a recent study by The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found.

"Firearms-related incidents were the number one cause of death in 2016, with 64 officers shot and killed across the country," explained the study's news release. "This represents a significant spike56 percentover the 41 officers killed by gunfire in 2015. Of the 64 shooting deaths of officers this year, 21 were the result of ambush-style attacksthe highest total in more than two decades."

Despite the grim, high-profile shootings in recent years, the number of American officers killed due to crime has seen a declining trend since its peak in 1979, when a shocking 106 officers were killed in the line of duty, according to Criminal Justice Statistics examined by the BBC.

UPDATE: New details emerge in ambush killing of veteran lawman Clint Greenwood

In general, Texas is a more dangerous state to work as a lawman, as it leads the nation in the amount of officer fatalities. A recent Harvard study found that states with high rates of gun ownership had three times more line-of-duty homicide rates among police officers.

Click through above to see Texas police officers who have been killed in recent years.
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.
AUSTIN - After six months of talking about the need to fix Texas' embattled special education system, state lawmakers are getting to work.

The House Public Education Committee is holding hearings today on a half-dozen different pieces of legislation related to special education. It will be the first chance for many parents to speak with lawmakers since the Houston Chronicle revealed that Texas had set a de facto cap on the percentage of students who could receive special ed services, blocking tens of thousands of students with disabilities from needed help.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

AUSTIN -- Texas lawmakers in both political parties promised Tuesday to fix the state's special education system to ensure that children with disabilities are never again denied help arbitrarily.

In an emotional meeting of the House Public Education Committee, the first major meeting about special education during this year's legislative session, the lawmakers laid out a variety of proposals, from boosting early identification of dyslexia to creating a grant program to spur innovation in teaching students with autism.

The most high-profile idea, introduced by state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, would bar the state from ever again punishing schools for providing special education services to "too many" students.

Texas education officials set a de facto enrollment cap in 2004, without telling the public, the Houston Chronicle revealed last September. As a result of the policy, which was not based on any research, tens of thousands of children with disabilities were shut out of critical services such as tutoring, therapy and counseling.

The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating the state, with a full report expected by June.

The Texas Education Agency agreed to eliminate the benchmark after it was exposed, but Wu and the other lawmakers said action was needed to make sure nothing similar could happen again.

"This is not a bipartisan issue. It's nonpartisan. There is no other side on this," Wu said. "There cannot be another side on this."

The committee chairman, Republican Dan Huberty of Humble, agreed, saying nobody on the panel opposed the legislation.

"This is very important," said Huberty, who has a child with dyslexia.

About a dozen members of the public testified after lawmakers discussed the bill. None opposed the bill.

One, Kristin Tassin, the president of the Fort Bend School Board, tried to debunk the argument by the Texas Education Agency that the 12-year-old policy was just an "indicator of school performance," not a hard cap on enrollment.

"Districts do pay attention to those indicators, and they do follow them," Tassin said.

Nearly 200 current and former Texas educators have told the Chronicle the same thing.

The most emotional testimony Tuesday came from family members of children with disabilities who had been denied access to services.

"I am the sister of a student who was denied access to a free and appropriate public education by two different school districts. But we were never advised or helped to get her services," said Maricela Martinez, who said that her sister Judie had Asperger syndrome, ADHD, a neurocognitive disorder and severe anxiety.

"I understand, as a parent of a special-needs kid, how critical and important this is," Huberty replied. "I cannot stress the importance."

A committee vote is expected soon.

Above, see a slideshow of bills being discussed.

***

Watch the hearings live and read more about the bills on our subscriber website, HoustonChronicle.com. Click here to read Denied, a Houston Chronicle investigation into a Texas special education enrollment target that has kept tens of thousands of disabled kids from receiving services, prompting federal action.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.
CanadaVisa Social: Where Immigration Springs into Action CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

Welcome to CanadaVisa Social. Our range of social media outlets is carefully curated to bring you the information you need, on the platform you love. Check us out today on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram  we always love to hear from our community, and we hope youll get in touch. If you or your friends and family are thinking of working, studying, and settling in Canada, join us today to make your dream to come to Canada a reality.



We recently passed 900,000 likes on Facebook, and were very excited to share this milestone with you! Our community on Facebook is the place to discuss immigration updates, learn more about your options, and start planning your future in Canada. Like us today, and join the Facebook conversation!



We also have a Facebook page for our international student community  follow Canada Study News today for breaking news about studying in Canada, tips on student life, and more.

Featuring breaking news updates as well as tips and tricks for your immigration project, our Twitter feed has got you covered. Feel free to tweet us  we will get back to you.

It doesnt stop there  join us over at @CanadaStudyNews for the latest updates on international education in Canada, and learn more about how studying in Canada could be your pathway to Canadian permanent residence.

Here we feature inspiring images from across Canada, showcasing the stunning landscapes and vibrant cities that make Canada so unique. Follow us today, and start planning your dream Canadian getaway. Or get some ideas for your future home! Whatever youre looking for, CanadaVisa on Instagram is sure to offer inspiration.

The CanadaVisa YouTube channel is where you will find up-to-date multimedia content on topics relating to Canadian immigration. Our channel hosts a range of videos including immigration news updates, interviews with Attorney David Cohen, and clips of Canadian cultural moments. We want to hear from you and read your comments  it helps us to provide the content that you want! Watch one of our recent videos on immigration to Canada, and let us know what you think.

If you are a user of LinkedIn, make sure to connect with CanadaVisa on our profile page. If you would like to connect with Attorney David Cohen professionally, you may also find him on LinkedIn, where you will also encounter hundreds of Canadian and international professionals interested in immigration to Canada.

Join us on Google+  we share our exclusive content here, as well as across all of our social media channels. Check us out, and bookmark CanadaVisa today.

 2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Express Entry Quarterly Review: Number of ITAs Issued Skyrockets CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

The opening months of 2017 have been a groundbreaking period in the history of Canadas Express Entry immigration selection system. More candidates are being invited to apply than ever before, processing times remain short, and successful applicants continue to land in Canada as permanent residents. This quarterly review will take stock of the year so far, while also looking forward to what may come in the future.

Through the opening three months of 2017, a total of 24,652 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residence have been issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), an increase of more than 160 percent on the 9,465 ITAs issued over the first quarter of 2016. For the same period in 2015, a total of 6,851 ITAs were issued.

Indeed, the number of ITAs issued to candidates in the pool over the first quarter of 2017 is far greater than during any other quarter since the Express Entry system was first launched in January, 2015.

The increase in the number of ITAs issued was not entirely unexpected, as IRCC had stated last year that it expected invitation rounds (draws) to increase in size through the fall/autumn season. However, the scale of this increase was substantial, and the effect of this increase on CRS cut-off thresholds is clear to see when compared with the opening months of 2015 and 2016.

Other factors contributing towards this increase include a reduction in the backlog of applications submitted under the federal economic immigration programs before Express Entry was launched, as well as Canadas Immigration Plan for 2017, which targets more newcomers through these programs  now managed through Express Entry  than ever before.

A transitional period

Early 2017 may be seen as a transitional period within the unfolding history of Express Entry, coming as it did between two sets of improvements to the system.

The first set of improvements came last November, when the number of Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points awarded for a qualifying job offer was changed from 600 points to either 50 or 200, depending on the position offered (note: a job offer is not required to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry). In making these changes, IRCC predicted that a reduction of points to candidates with arranged employment means the CRS cut-off will decline, adding that it aimed to balance the Comprehensive Ranking System to put greater weight on human capital, skills and experience.

While the number of points a candidate could obtain for a job offer decreased, the requirements surrounding such a job offer were relaxed to include many candidates holding employer-specific work permits in Canada. Therefore, a number of candidates in the pool were immediately in line for a 50- or 200-point boost to their scores.

As a result, it was expected that the CRS threshold in the first few draws after the changes were introduced would actually go up temporarily to allow for the fact that more candidates with job offers could claim additional points. Once this initial group of candidates exited the pool, however, IRCC expected the CRS threshold to go down.

Ultimately, this is what happened through closing weeks of 2016 and into 2017, as the point requirement for a candidate to receive an ITA went from 497 to 434 in just two-and-a-half months. In that time, the CRS threshold reached a new record low on three occasions. In addition, by inviting more candidates IRCC had to reach deeper into the pool  therefore, more candidates were in line to receive an ITA.

Candidates who had studied in Canada also benefited from the introduction of additional points for their Canadian education last November.

The next set of improvements to Express Entry are due come into force on June 6. The three changes to come are the introduction of additional points for candidates with a sibling in Canada, additional points for candidates with French ability, and a change to make registration in the Canada Job Bank voluntary. These changes are not expected to alter the CRS as significantly as the changes introduced last November.

The effect of Provincial Nominee Programs

Since IRCC made improvements to the CRS last November, provincial nomination has become by far the most valuable factor  the only factor worth 600 points, in a system that awards up to 1,200 points in total.

The number of newcomers expected to arrive through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2017 is around seven percent higher than last years target, and most PNPs include at least one enhanced stream aligned with the Express Entry system. Indeed, Ontario, BC, and Nova Scotia have each opened multiple enhanced streams since 2015, while other Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan have also engaged with Express Entry on an ongoing basis through their PNPs.

Around 13 percent of candidates issued an ITA in 2015 had obtained a provincial nomination. However, over the first nine months (or 20 draws) of 2016, this figure increased to 23 percent, showing the increasing importance of these programs over time as more provinces welcome newcomers through their enhanced streams.

The 600 CRS points that may be obtained through provincial nomination has an effect on the make-up of the pool as a whole, as certain proactive candidates benefit from a nomination. This can contribute to an increase in the CRS threshold in some draws from the pool; for example, in the most recent draw the threshold moved from 434 to 441 following a slightly longer gap than usual between draws. A longer gap may have given more candidates an opportunity to obtain a nomination in the meantime, and the threshold may then have increased as a result.

Admissions to Canada through Express Entry

On March 31, IRCC disclosed that Canada has welcomed more than 43,000 new permanent residents through Express Entry since its launch in January, 2015.

Given that the department had already released a half-year and a full-year report on Express Entry for 2015, including data on admissions, it can now be revealed how many more admissions took place over the last five quarters compared to the first year of the system being operational.

Over the first six months or so of 2015, 411 new permanent residents landed in Canada through Express Entry, an average of 16 per week. This relatively low number can be attributed to the fact that these newcomers would have had to receive an ITA, submit an e-application, successfully have that application processed to completion, and physically land in Canada  all within six months. Indeed, the fact that Express Entry admissions were possible within this period shows how successful IRCC was in making the process quick and simple.

Over the next six months, the rate of admissions shot up to an average of 361 per week. And since early January, 2016, this rate has again increased to 514 new landings per week.

Suffice to say, Canadian immigration authorities are welcoming more and more new immigrants through Express Entry as time goes by. Besides, the increased number of ITAs being issued over recent months will mean a corresponding increase in the rate of admissions, as IRCC sees the Express Entry system as the main driver of economic immigration to Canada.

A look forward

Overall, the first three months of 2017 can be viewed rather positively on reflection. The improvements made last November have had the desired effect of more candidates being invited based on the human capital, skills, and experience. These improvements, past and future, show that the Liberal government is optimizing its economic immigration for the betterment of the country and its economy, says Attorney David Cohen. And if draw sizes remain relatively large  or increase again  we may see lower CRS thresholds deeper into 2017.

There are many steps that individuals may take towards realizing their Canadian immigration goals through Express Entry, depending on where they are in the process. Getting into the pool with an accurate, up-to-date profile is the first, and after this point its about being proactive, keeping track of PNP updates and developments, and finding other potential ways to improve your chances of selection.

Once an ITA has been obtained, it is then crucial to have documents and forms prepared and reviewed so that you can join the more than 43,000 individuals who have already made Canada their home through Express Entry.

A New CRS Calculator is Available

Readers can use the new and improved CRS Calculator to find out what their score would be under the existing system, as well as under the tweaked system due to come into force as of June 6.

To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form .

 2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Over the past few years, we have seen Altadis U.S.A. incorporate themes such as collaborations, making cigars in Nicaragua, and resurrecting dormant brands. Recently a new release has arrived at retailers from Altadis U.S.A. that incorporates all three of these elements  the Gispert Intenso.

For starters, the Gispert Intenso is a collaboration between A.J. Fernandez and Altadis Grupo de Maestros. The Grupo de Maestros team represents some of Altadis most skilled cigar makers and have been involved on many of Altadis high profile releases. The new Gispert Intenso is being produced out of Tabacalera Fernandez. While Fernandez has already worked on blends for Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta, those projects are being distributed by Santa Clara Cigars. The Gispert Intenso is being distributed directly by Altadis U.S.A.

Gispert is a brand that has pre-revolution origins in Cuba. Today the Gispert on the market is a milder Connecticut Shade offering made in Honduras. Except for some packaging changes, the Gispert brand has been pretty quiet in Altadis U.S.As portfolio.

Meanwhile the new Gispert Intenso brings what the name says  a more intense and bolder cigar experience. Intenso uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and a combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It is available in three sizes  packaged in 20 count boxes. Pricing is in the $6.00 to $6.95 per cigar.

As for making cigars in Nicaragua, we have seen several brands over the years. In addition to teaming up with Fernandez, Altadis has also worked with the Placencia family to produce releases such as Espada by Montecristo and Romeo 505 Nicaragua.

At a glance, here is a look at the Gispert Intenso:

Blend Profile

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Vitolas Available

Corona: 5 x 44

Toro: 6 x 50

Belicoso: 6 1/8 x 52

Image Credit: Altadis USA
Fundatia de Binefacere Caritas Moldova solicita oferte de pret de la companii cu privire la productia de materiale de vizibilitate
On the subject of Donald Trump and his relationship with intelligence agencies, theres one commentator you are bound to see quoted more than anyone else: Michael Hayden, the former NSA chief and CIA director under George W. Bush.

It doesnt matter what cable channel you prefer (CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News), what talk show you watch (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher), or website you read (The New York Times, Washington Post, or The Wall Street Journal), Hayden is everywhere, commenting on the days news, while inevitably being portrayed as Mr. Reasonable: a post-partisan straight shooter who will tell you How It Really Works.

But members of the media who play along with this fantasyland portrayal of Hayden should be embarrassed. Hayden has a long history of making misleading and outright false statements, and by the estimation of many lawyers, likely committed countless felonies during the Bush administration. It is something of a wonder that someone responsible for so many reprehensible acts is now considered a totally above-the-fray, honest commentator on all issues intelligence.

Its easy to see why television bookers keep calling his phone. Hayden smiles and tries to tell jokes (like when he joked about putting Edward Snowden on a kill listso funny!), he uses clever turns of phrase (he called the NSAs massive metadata surveillance program dipping our toe in domestic collection), and occasionally overshares about US intelligence activities (Comparing US and Russian cyber aggression, he said: A foreign intelligence service getting the internal emails of a major political party in a major foreign adversary? Game on. Thats what we do.)

These days, Hayden is the go-to authority on Trumps on-again, off-again war with US intelligence agencies, and most recently, Trumps discredited allegation that President Obama ordered Trump Tower wiretapped. No example could be more perfect to show what a fraud Hayden is.

Now, its clear Trump was living in his own warped reality when he falsely tweeted that Obama himself ordered a wiretapp on Trump Tower. But Hayden gets away with commenting at length on the topic with nary a mention that he himself actually did carry out a wiretapping program on Americans directly ordered by a president.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

TRENDING: One question that turns courageous journalists into cowards

Is the media attention span really so short that they forget that New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau won a Pulitzer prize in 2006 for exposing Bushs illegal NSA warrantless wiretapping program that was headed up by none other than Michael Hayden, the agencys director at the time?

You can point to any of his countless appearances on television and in print where this inconvenient fact is avoided at all costs, but this Business Insider video takes the cake. In it, Hayden can be seen, in his usual folksy manner, claiming its it couldnt happen. A president could never order someone be wiretapped. He states:

The president of the United States does not have the authority to authorize electronic surveillance. The authority was taken away from him in the 1970s with the great intelligence reforms of that era. The only institution of the US government that can now authorize surveillance against a US person is the United States court system.

Lets review what happened right after 9/11 and see how it stands up to what Hayden says: In October 2001, President Bush called up Michael Hayden at the NSA and asked him what more the NSA could do to conduct surveillance in the US, despite the NSA operating for years exclusively as a foreign intelligence collection agency. In fact, the administration literally called it the Presidents Surveillance Program. (In other words, the president was directly authorizing electronic surveillance.)

Hayden proceeded to set up a program where the NSA collected all the phone records of everyone in the United States, and targeted untold number of US persons for wiretapping the content of their international phone calls and emails (surveillance by anyones definition).

The White House and NSA did all this while not getting individual court orders and initially circumventing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (also known as the FISC, part of the US court system Hayden references). That was in direct violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (often referred to as FISA, which was part of the great intelligence reforms of the 1970s Hayden professed his fondness for).

So literally every sentence he uttered there was, at best, completely misleading, and at worst, a blatant falsehood, given its exactly what he carried out under President Bush.

It should be noted that after The New York Times story broke in 2005, instead of prosecutions for those involved, Congress later passed the FISA Amendments Act, which essentially allowed the type of wiretapping Haydens NSA engaged in, as long as the stated target was outside the US. Congress also gave telecommunications companies like AT&T complete immunity for helping the government break the law. And Hayden was promoted.

Heres another example of the medias reverence of Hayden thats just as infuriating: This week, Foreign Policy magazine showcased Hayden in a glowing report about one of his recent public appearances, titled Bushs Former CIA and NSA Director Slams Trump For Delegitimizing Facts. Hayden is quoted as saying, What Im seeing is a straight-out attempt to delegitimize the bearers of the facts. Its certainly true that Trump has taken lying and deception to new depths, but is it really Hayden who we should be turning to for a lecture of the subject of truth?

In the Senates blistering 2014 CIA torture report, the name Michael Hayden is singled out more than 200 times. He was named CIA director in 2006, after the worst of the CIAs crimes went down, but it was his job to be chief defender of the agency in Bushs second term when many of the stories of torture first came to light.

TRENDING: What I learned about journalism after 27 years in prison

The Senates report ends with a special appendix that is over three dozen pages long that is almost exclusively dedicated to Hayden. It is filled with his testimony to Congress, next to the actual facts showing statement after statement he made was inaccurate, misleading, false, or outright lies. Three dozen pages!

The Senate Committee documented in meticulous detail why no one should take Michael Haydens word on anything, yet even at the time of the reports release, he was allowed to skate away in interviews with only the slightest questioning. Andrew Sullivan wrote at the time, How does any media institution justify having this person comment on this report? He has lied so brazenly and so often, anything he says must be treated with instant suspicion.

That was in 2014. Now, its even worse: The question of Haydens dishonesty isnt even broached in any interview. Instead hes treated a mix between the wise old hand and your avuncular, straight-shooting uncle.

Thats not to say everything Michael Hayden says is inherently wrong. Again, hes right that President Obama almost certainly did not directly order a wiretap of Donald Trump, and he generally has a reasonable positions on Trumps dangerous Muslim Ban and even encryption.



But the idea that he should be everyones go-to prognosticator on truth is absurd, and any interviewer who treats him with kid gloves is doing the publicand the trutha disservice.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Trevor Timm is the executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports and defends journalism dedicated to transparency and accountability. He is also a twice-weekly columnist for the Guardian, where he writes about privacy, national security, and the media.
Service dogs may be tempting to pet, but a proposed Connecticut law would make it a crime to intentionally interfere with their duties.

People who rely on guide and service dogs to help them cope with anything from blindness to post-traumatic stress to bipolar disorder have requested the legislation. They say its not uncommon for members of the public to purposely distract the animals, even if the dog is wearing a vest identifying it as a service animal.

I wish I could say that people understand, or that they respect us when we ask them not to distract our dogs, but they dont, Christine Elkins, of Bristol, recently told members of the General Assemblys Judiciary Committee. She said a man once followed her to the parking lot of a store and banged on her car window after she asked him to please stop distracting her dog.

Elkins has balance and mobility problems. She said she could fall and end up living her life in a wheelchair if her dog is distracted.

Connecticut is one of the few states without some variation of a law on the books prohibiting the interference with or harassment of service animals, according to the Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University. For example, in Georgia, anyone who knowingly and intentionally harasses or attempts to harass an assistance dog and knows the animal is an assistance dog, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by not less than 90 days in prison or a fine not to exceed $500, or both.

Under the bill that cleared the Connecticut Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, people who intentionally interfere with an assistance animal could face a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to three months in prison.

It is surprising that it is not a crime in Connecticut to harass or otherwise interfere with a guide/assistance dog or the dogs handler, wrote the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, in testimony submitted to the Judiciary Committee. Connecticut is behind less progressive states with regard to protecting the rights of guide/assistance dogs and their handlers.

Some lawmakers have voiced concerns that someone who just wants to be friendly with a dog might face serious consequences under this legislation. That prompted the committee to amend the bill to make it clear its only targeting any person who intentionally interferes with the service animals duties. The bill now awaits further action in the House of Representatives.

Current Connecticut law requires guide dogs to be on leashes, licensed and wearing harnesses or orange-colored leashes and collars that ensure theyre recognized as service animals. There are also provisions that allow impaired people and their service dogs to use public transportation and enter any place of public accommodation  an issue the commission said it receives many complaints about from people with disabilities whove been denied access.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Timmel Joins Safety National as National Director of Cyber and Technology

Safety National announced that Spencer Timmel, CIPP/US, CIPM, joined the company as national director of Cyber and Technology. In his new capacity with Safety National, Timmel will be responsible for leading Safety Nationals emergence as a provider of cyber liability and other related coverage.

With nearly 20 years in the industry and a decade of cyber-related experience, Timmel brings an extensive background to Safety National, including a particular focus in the areas of risk identification and modeling, breach preparedness, coverage analysis and claims advocacy. He held a variety of client- and market-facing roles at brokerage firms, most recently serving as Cyber and Technology Risk Practice Leader.

Safety National expects to launch its cyber liability offerings in the second quarter of 2017.

Navigators Group Promotes DeFalco to EVP, Navigators Holdings Appoints Deal Managing Director

The Navigators Group, Inc. announced the promotion of Ciro M. DeFalco to executive vice president of The Navigators Group, Inc. DeFalco has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer since December 2011.

DeFalco joined Navigators in September 2011.

In a separate announcement, Navigators Holdings (UK) Ltd., a subsidiary of The Navigators Group, Inc., announced the appointment of Guillaume Deal as managing director, Continental Europe.

In this newly created position, Deal will assume responsibility for operations in France, where Navigators has a Paris-based underwriting team of five employees, and lead the expansion of the business across Europe.

Deal joins Navigators from Credit Agricole Group, where he was chief underwriting officer of its insurance company, CAMCA. Previously, he spent nearly 20 years with Chubb Insurance Company of Europe SE, most recently serving as vice president of Europe, Strategic Alliances and alternative distribution manager. His experience includes overseeing operations of underwriting, claims and insurance back-office functions, as well as developing and directing best practices and business strategies.

Lieutenant Governor Steps Down as Ohio Insurance Director

Ohios lieutenant governor stepped down Friday 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 effective Friday. The governor 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 Friday 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 Friday 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.
Latest Case and Growing Trend Say it Must Fall Down or Cave in

The scope of insurance coverage for collapse, first provided by the industry in 1954, has long been the subject of litigation in many jurisdictions. The arguments for what triggers coverage appear to fall into three categories: (1) actual collapse, (2) imminent collapse, or (3) substantial impairment of a buildings structural integrity.

The most recent decision on the subject, which applies Illinois law, was filed March 14, 2017. It is entitled The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company v. Walsh. It is reported at 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35841. That case held that, read as a whole, the homeowners policy the Walshes purchased intended to cover only loss and damage resulting from actual collapse of the dwelling insured, i.e. where the building loses its character as a building.

The policy in Walsh defined the term collapse as an abrupt falling down or caving in of the building or any part of a building with the result that the building or part of the building cannot be occupied. The parties agreed that the loss incident was abrupt and caused the property to be uninhabitable  but still the court found no coverage.

The causal facts were that in 2014, the Walshes engaged a contractor to build a second story addition above the existing dwelling and a two-story addition off the rear of the residence. In August 2015, as a result of the contractors malfeasance, the foundation of the dwelling was compromised, failed and cracked, rendering the dwelling structurally unsound and unsafe, both for use as a dwelling and for completion of the construction project. The west brick wall was laterally displaced. The first story floor/basement ceiling sloped downward toward the west wall and the second-story floor moved. Additionally, the incident left large gaps and separations in the existing mortar, between the bricks and window framing, and there were cracks in the mortar and large gaps or separations between the bricks on the east wall.

On the other hand, however, no wall had fallen to the ground, and no one observed that anything had come off of the dwelling and fallen to the ground, such as the bricks that formed the construction materials of the dwelling.

Recognizing that Illinois law applied, the District Court observed that two Illinois appellate court decisions addressing collapse insurance coverage had adopted the modern view that the term was sufficiently ambiguous to include coverage for any substantial impairment of the structural integrity of a building, and that the term does not require complete destruction or falling in and of a building or a part of the building, nor does it require that the loss result from a sudden catastrophic occurrence.

In light of those two decisions, the court in Walsh said that until the Illinois Supreme Court decides otherwise, the legal meaning of collapse in a homeowners policy, disregarding exclusions, is the sudden impairment/undermining of a structure even if the structure has not completely fallen down. If this view were adopted, the court held, the subject dwelling would be in a state of collapse, triggering coverage for loss.

The policy purchased by the Walshes, however, had one additional exclusion from coverage not present in the policies addressed in the two Illinois appellate court decisions. The Walshes policy did not cover a loss from a collapse if the building remained standing, even if it was cracked, bulging, sagging, bending, leaning, settled, shrunk or expanded. This exclusion, and the dictionary definition of the term standing, caused the court in Walsh to declare there was no coverage. By using the phrase a building that is standing, the policy meant to exclude coverage if the structure remained erect, in place on its foundation. This word study caused the court to say that, A house that is cracked but still upright on its base is standing; a part of a house that has dropped downward but is still upright is standing. . . Because it is undisputed that the Dwelling, including the west wall, remained upright on its foundation after the loss incident, the loss is excluded from coverage of a collapse.

Some courts interpret collapse coverage to mean that there is coverage, too, if collapse is imminent. They point out that imposing a strict requirement of actual collapse would make an insured seeking insurance benefits to neglect repairs and allow a building to fall, a course of action that could not possibly conform to an insureds reasonable expectation of coverage, or advance the best interests of the insured, the public or even the insurer, if it remained on the risk until the expected actual collapse occurred. (See, e.g., Doheny West Homeowners Association v. American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Company (1997) 60 Cal.App. 4th 400, 404.)

Requiring actual collapse would also be inconsistent with policy language which in some cases, including Doheny West, covers loss or damage caused by or resulting from risks of direct physical loss involving collapse of a building. (Emphasis added.) By using the phrases risk of loss and involving collapse, these policies broaden their coverage beyond actual collapse, to include imminent collapse. According to the court in Doheny West this broader interpretation has been said to be the view of the majority of modern courts, and that it more realistically reflects the purposes of the insurance policy.

But logically a limitation on the expansion of meaning is necessary to avoid converting insurance policies into maintenance agreements. For this reason, the court said in Doheny West it did not agree that broadening the insuring language to encompass the risk of loss of collapse creates coverage whenever there is a substantial impairment of structural integrity. To do otherwise would be contrary to the fundamental rule of construing insurance policies requiring them to be viewed in light of their general objects and purposes.

In accordance with the Walsh decision, however, property insurance policies have been revised to clarify what constitutes a covered collapse. The current ISO Homeowners Insurance form has been revised to state, A building or any part of the building that is standing is not considered to be in a state of collapse even if it shows evidence of cracking, bulging, sagging, leaning, settling, shrinkage or expansion. (ISO Form HO 00 03 10 00, Sec. I  Property Coverages, Para E.8.a.(4).)

As a leading insurance treatise states, These words emphasize the requirement of an actual or imminent collapse due to a covered peril: it is difficult indeed to imagine a building collapsing without any of these symptoms appearing. The only reasonable interpretation of this ISO policy language is that mere settling, cracking, shrinkage, bulging or expansion is not enough: there must also be an actual or imminent collapse of the structure. (Stamm Theaters, Inc. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., supra, 93 Cal app 4th at 541-542 . . . . (California Insurance Litigation (The Rutter Group, California Practice Guide, Sec. 6:287.1. Emphasis in original.)

On the other hand, some recent policies attempt to resolve any ambiguity by defining collapse to mean actual, physical collapse of the structure. (Ibid., Sec. 6:287.10.) Such policies do not cover a structure facing imminent collapse even though delaying payment until it falls down creates a risk of injury or death or greater property damage.

Importantly, in 2003 the California Supreme Court affirmed that it does not rewrite any provision of any contract, including insurance policies, for any purpose. The court rejected public policy arguments for coverage that had persuaded the Court of Appeal that as a matter of public policy State Farm must provide insurance benefits for imminent collapse of [the insureds] two decks. (Rosen v. State Farm Gen. Ins. Co. (2003) 30 Cal. 4th 1070, 1077-1078.) In a stirring pronouncement against judicial overreach, the court said:

It is conceivable that to rewrite the [insurance policy collapse] provision thus might result in providing society itself with benefits that might outweigh any costs that it might impose on individual insurers and individual insureds. It is conceivable. But unknown. Knowledge depend[s] in large part on what we are ill suited for, that is, the amassing and analyzing of complex and extensive empirical data. . . . Without such knowledge we could not proceed. (Rosen, p. 1078.)

Although the Rosen case did not involve an ISO form policy, the current ISO Homeowners Insurance form is explicit: Collapse means an abrupt falling down or caving in of a building or any part of the building with the result that the building or part of the building cannot be occupied for its current intended purpose A building or any part of a building that is in danger of falling down or caving in is not considered to be in a state of collapse. (ISO Form HO 00 03 10 00, Sec. I  Property Coverages, Sec. E.8.a.(1), (2).) Finally, a current ISO form states that a part of a building that is standing is not considered to be in a state of collapse even if it has separated from another part of the building. (ISO Form H0 00 03 10 00, Sec. I  Property Coverages, Sec. E.8.a.(3).)
Beth Henrys eyes sometimes itch and her throat begins to swell when shes on an American Airlines plane, even if shes not wearing a new uniform blamed by thousands of flight attendants for causing allergies.

Henry and other flight attendants think the airline hasnt done enough to protect them.

The only thing that will make us safe is if there is a total recall, she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a story published Saturday.

American last year introduced a gray, wool uniform for its flight attendants that departed from its traditional navy blue. It quickly led to hundreds of complaints from flight attendants about hives, migraine headaches and other symptoms of allergic reactions.

The Fort Worth-based airline recently offered a replacement uniform made by a different manufacturer. Airline spokesman Ron DeFeo told the newspaper that more than 4,600 employees ordered that new uniform in the last week.

But Henry, a 17-year veteran of American, and other flight attendants remain concerned. More than 3,000 people complained to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

It was like overnight, I turned into an old lady and I could not get better, said Cathleen Rusk del Rio, a San Francisco-based flight attendant who suffered skin reactions and bronchitis.

Rusk del Rio, 61, said she called an employee hotline and was told to box up the new uniform and keep it away from small children and animals.

I realize the company doesnt want to say it was a big mistake but I think they need to come up with a solution, she said.

Another attendant, Kimberly Terpening of New York, said she hasnt returned to work since having an allergic reaction last fall and remains on sick leave.

I dont want to be part of a company that is not taking responsibility for its actions and is putting people in danger, she said.

The airline and the maker of the uniform in question, Twin Hill, insist the uniforms have been tested for chemicals or any problems with production. All the scientific evidence we have available to us tells us these uniforms are safe for wear, the company said in a statement.

And American CEO Doug Parker told the crowd at an employee meeting earlier this year that a mass recall of uniforms also posed an issue.

We have 75,000 people who like this uniform, Parker said. So thats not the answer. We know that. But also the answer cant just be deal with it. This is a real issue for a large number of flight attendants. We will keep working through it.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A witness says the driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas, killing 13 people, acknowledged he had been texting while driving  highlighting the dangers of sending messages on smartphones while behind the wheel.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein wouldnt comment Friday on whether texting might have played a role in the Wednesday collision on a two-lane road about 75 miles west (120 km) of San Antonio, near the town of Concan. But officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line.

Jennifer Morrison, the investigator in charge of the team from the National Transportation Safety Board, would only say that distracted driving will be among the issues investigated.

The witness, Jody Kuchler, a 55-year-old self-employed welder, told The Associated Press he and his girlfriend were driving back to their home in the nearby town of Leakey when he came across a truck that was driving erratically across the road.

He kept going off the road and into oncoming traffic and he just kept doing that, said Kuchler, who first shared the account of what happened with the San Antonio Express-News.

Kuchler, who followed the truck for at least 15 minutes, said he called the sheriffs offices for both Uvalde and Real counties and told them they needed to get him off the road before he hit somebody.

Kuchler said he witnessed the crash and afterward, he checked on both the bus and the truck and was able to speak with the driver of the truck, who the Department of Public Safety has identified as 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young, of Leakey.

He said, Im sorry, Im sorry. I was texting. I said, `Son, do you know what you just did? He said, Im sorry. Im sorry, Kuchler recalled.

Texas is unusual in that it has no statewide ban on texting while driving. Dozens of cities across the state prohibit the practice, but local ordinances may not have applied in the rural area where Wednesdays crash occurred. Laws in 46 other states ban sending or reading email, using apps or engaging in other use of the internet while driving.

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature approved a statewide ban in 2011 but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Rick Perry, who characterized such prohibitions as government micromanagement and said educating drivers was the key to deterrence. A similar proposal passed the Texas House a few weeks ago but has yet to make it to a Senate floor vote.

The wreck on Wednesday occurred along a curve in the road where the speed limit is 65 mph, according to Department of Public Safety officials. The bus occupants  members of First Baptist Church of New Braunfels in Texas  were returning from a three-day retreat in Leakey, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) from where the crash happened.

Twelve people on the bus died at the scene, authorities said. Another died at a hospital. One bus passenger remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition, according to the church.

Young, the driver of the pickup, also remains hospitalized.

The number of motor vehicle deaths in the U.S. last year topped 40,000 for the first time since 2007, according to the National Safety Council. The number of vehicle crash deaths in Texas rose 7 percent last year to 3,464, slightly higher than the national rise. One-in-10 driving fatalities in 2015 were caused by some kind of distraction, the U.S Department of Transportation said.

Morrison said most, if not all, of the bus occupants in the Texas crash  who ranged in age from 61 to 87  were wearing seatbelts. The driver and front-passenger seats had three-point lap-and-shoulder belts while the rest of the seats behind had lap belts only, she said.

Three-point seat belts are always preferable to lap belts because they hold the upper torso in place and help prevent head injuries, said automotive safety advocate Joan Claybrook. One of the problems with lap belts only is that in a frontal impact crash, people will remain in their seats but their upper bodies will go forward and their heads can strike the back of the seat in front, she said.

If the passengers wearing lap-only belts are seated along the sides of the buses, instead of facing forward, they will often hit their heads on the sides of the vehicle or the windows, said Henry Jasny, senior vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. A frontal crash of this type would be like hitting a brick wall, he said.

The NTSB identified the church vehicle as a 2004 Ford E-350 series van that had been converted to a minibus. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the only safety issues identified with that vehicle model from that particular year was a fuse problem reported in 2007 in vehicles that had been retrofitted to become ambulances.

(Associated Press writers Joan Lowy in Washington, D.C., Will Weissert in Austin and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
bethcavener.jpg

Sculpture artist Beth Cavener will give a free talk and answer questions at the Akron Art Museum on Thursday, April 27. Her work is currently on view as part of the museum's "Turn The Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose" exhibition.

(Courtesy of Beth Cavener)

AKRON, Ohio -- The Akron Art Museum will host artist Beth Cavener at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27 for a free talk.

Cavener is known for her dynamic, hand-built ceramic sculptures of animals, many of which she describes as self-portraits. Two of her sculptures, "Unrequited (Variation in Pink)" and "Strange Attraction," are currently on view at the museum as part of the exhibition "Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose."

Cavener's sculptures combine human emotions with animal figures, their body language acting as a metaphor for human psychological states.

"On the surface, these figures are simply feral and domestic individuals suspended in a moment of tension," Cavener said in a news release. "Beneath the surface they embody the impacts of aggression, territorial desires, isolation and pack mentality."

The artist's work addresses many themes, often responding to events in her personal life. "Unrequited (Variation in Pink)" refers to Cavener's feelings of undesirability after having her first child. While the artworks on view in "Turn the Page" are intimate in scale, Cavener has created many large-scale works, such as "In Boca al Lupo," which employ upwards of 2,000 pounds of clay. She builds these larger pieces using metal armatures of her own design.

Cavener's ceramic sculptures are held in notable collections throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Her work has been featured in art publications such as Hi-Fructose, Ceramics Monthly and Sculpture.

During her talk at the Akron Art Museum, Cavener will discuss how she tackles elements of gesture and expression with subtle shifts in line and form. Seating for the event is limited.

For more information about "Turn the Page" at the Akron Art Museum, visit AkronArtMuseum.org.
AKRON, Ohio -- A Lorain Correctional Institution employee was arrested after police found crystal meth in her home, according to a police report.

Darice Clay, 37, resigned from her position Tuesday, LCI spokeswoman Chris Miller said. She's charged with drug trafficking, tampering with evidence and endangering children.

She was taken to Summit County Jail where she was released on a $25,000 bond. She is scheduled for a court hearing at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Akron Municipal Court.

Officers executed a search warrant from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at her home on Garman Road just south of Walton Drive, Lt. Richard Edwards of the Akron Police Department said.

Police found nearly two pounds of crystal meth in her home, Edwards said. Clay's 3-year-old son was in the home when officers arrived, Edwards said. The boy was placed in the custody of Summit County Children Services, he indicated.

Clay was a 10-year-employee of LCI. She started as a corrections officer and was a classifications specialist when she resigned. The arrest comes as a shock, Miller said.

"We had no issues from her," Miller said.

Officials at LCI don't believe Clay brought crystal meth to the facility, Miller said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
BHS Orchestra performing inside the Basilica Estergom.png

The Beachwood High School Orchestra performing at the Esztergom Basilica, the largest cathedral in Hungary.

(Courtesy of Lisa Goldman)

BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- For members of the Beachwood High School Orchestra, it was the trip of their young lives.

Members of the string orchestra had the opportunity to play one-hour concerts in Sulzberg and Vienna, Austria and in Budapest, Hungary during their trip abroad, which lasted from March 23-30.

Serving as chaperones were members of the Friends of the Beachwood Orchestra, which helped raise funds for the trip, and parents. One of those parents, Jennifer Womer, whose daughter Julia is a sophomore violinist with the orchestra, said of the trip, "It was the best experience ever. I was so happy to share this opportunity with my daughter."

Orchestra Director Lisa Goldman, who also serves as the school district's fine arts subject coordinator, said the orchestra takes a trip abroad every three years, assuring that all four-year members have the opportunity to travel and experience foreign lands.

"We've been to Rome, Italy, France, England and Spain," said Goldman, who has directed the orchestra for 18 years. "We try to take trips to culturally appropriate venues, and this trip took them to where so many pieces were written."

Goldman said she works with a company that helps set up the trips and venues at which the orchestra plays.

While in Hungary, the orchestra played at the Esztergom Basilica, which Goldman described as "unbelievably huge," and while in Sulzberg at the Parish Church of St. Andra.

In Vienna, the Beachwood teens participated in a cultural exchange performance with The Music School of Neulengbach, as the two orchestras gave a joint concert.

"It was a great match," Goldman said. "The kids enjoyed getting to know each other. It was beautiful."

Goldman said the student musicians have been working since the beginning of the school year on their program, attending after-school and evening rehearsals. The program included selections from Vivaldi and Handel's Concerto Grossi.

While in Europe, not everything was about the music.

"We had guided walking tours," Goldman said. "We went down in a salt mine in Sulzberg, we took a 'Sound of Music' tour from the movie, and went to Schonbrunn Palace in Austria. We saw a concentration camp in Austria, Mauthausen."

The group stayed in an historic hotel in Austria, and enjoyed foods such as wienerschnitzel, Bavarian pretzels, brats, paprakash and strudel.

In all, 72 of the 105 orchestra members were able to make the trip. Goldman expressed gratitude to the Friends of the Beachwood Orchestra for helping make the trip affordable for those who could go.

As for the performances, Goldman said, "They (Beachwood students) were very excited and it showed. They rose to the occasion and I was very proud of them.

"I get great pleasure from seeing them and being a part of them doing the best they can. That is all I'm really asking of them -- just do the best you can and develop skills and an appreciation and understanding of being right at the source of the music."

Goldman said that the Beachwood High School Orchestra will next perform a free concert to which the community is invited at 7:30 p.m. April 19 at the high school, 25100 Fairmount Blvd.
Brecksville Downtown.JPG

The city of Brecksville is concerned about what its downtown and neighborhoods would look like with new micro-wireless communications devices. City officials are also concerned about safety.

(Bob Sandrick, special to cleveland.com)

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio - Brecksville has joined Cleveland and about 80 other communities in a lawsuit challenging new wireless-network legislation passed by the Ohio General Assembly last year.

Senate Bill 331 regulates state-of-the-art, smaller telecommunications devices - known as "micro-wireless" or "small-cell" equipment - and how cities can restrict them. The bill was referred to as a Christmas tree because it was hung with several amendments addressing diverse topics, including pet-store regulations, bestiality and minimum wage.

"SB 331 clearly violates the one-subject rule in legislative enactment, obliterates the city's home rule authority and leaves (Brecksville's) neighborhoods and historic town center without necessary regulatory protection from micro-wireless facilities," Brecksville Law Director David Matty said in an email to cleveland.com.

Cleveland announced in March that it was suing the state of Ohio over SB 331. At the time, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said it wasn't right that a wireless company - in this case AT&T, which had lobbied the state legislature to approve the new small-cell rules - can "usurp" a city's right to govern and provide for its citizens.

On the same day as Cleveland's announcement, Beachwood City Council voted to join Cleveland and other municipalities in the lawsuit. Brecksville was not far behind.

Going underground

Brecksville, like most cities, already regulates conventional cell towers, antennas and equipment. Local ordinances typically ban cell towers, which can reach 100 feet tall, from municipal right-of-way along streets.

However, telecommunications companies - including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint - no longer need towers that high and are proposing shorter ones. They can also attach newer equipment to existing utility poles.

The hitch is that telecommunications firms want micro-wireless equipment in the municipal right-of-way. Cities worry about how the devices will look, and if they will block the vision of drivers.

In January, Brecksville Mayor Jerry Hruby said two companies, Verizon Small Cell and Ohio Exchange Facilities Network LLC, had applied for permits to install micro-wireless poles and-or equipment in residential neighborhoods.

The problem is that Brecksville bans overhead utilities in residential neighborhoods. Only underground lines are allowed. Hruby said the two companies had failed to explain how they would comply with that ordinance.

Hruby said the city also asked Verizon Small Cell and Ohio Facilities Network to show how many devices they planned to install and where. He said the companies never responded.

Micro-moratorium

In September, Strongsville established a six-month moratorium on new wireless communications towers, antennas and equipment. The city wanted time to draft regulations on micro-wireless devices.

When the moratorium expired in January, the city could not extend it, because SB 331 prohibited moratoriums on small-cell equipment, said Strongsville Law Director Neal Jamison.

But Jamison said SB 331 does give cities room to regulate the new technology. City Council has introduced an ordinance to do just that and placed the ordinance on second reading Monday night.

Under the Strongsville ordinance, companies would need Planning Commission approval to install micro-wireless equipment in the city's right-of-way. The commission would consider, among other factors, whether the equipment interferes with a driver's ability to see, how the equipment affects storm water drainage and whether the equipment's size is compatible with its surroundings. Companies would have to screen the equipment.

Telecommunications firms would have to demonstrate how the equipment impacts trees in or near the right-of-way and submit a landscaping plan showing how they would protect or replace trees. Also, companies would have to provide a traffic-control plan if they block lanes during construction.

The Strongsville ordinance would allow companies to attach new equipment on existing poles only if it adds no more than 10 feet in height and doesn't take the total pole height over 50 feet. The ordinance would not permit micro-wireless devices to come with signs, interfere with the city's use of the right-of-way or damage the right-of-way.

In addition, each antenna of the micro-wireless device would have to fit within 6 cubic feet, enclosed or not. Supporting equipment would not exceed 28 cubic feet.

Jamison said Strongsville hasn't decided whether to join the Cleveland lawsuit against the state of Ohio over SB 331.

Holding pattern

North Royalton established a moratorium against new wireless communications equipment in July. The city will let the moratorium expire, and then sit tight.

"We not looking at our own regulatory ordinance until the dust settles on this," North Royalton Mayor Robert Stefanik said. He added that the new state law doesn't give cities room to adopt meaningful local rules.

Like Brecksville, North Royalton requires underground utilities in residential zones. Stefanik isn't sure whether that provision will hold up in court under SB 331.

Stefanik, historically a sharp critic of state government, said the city has no plans to join the Cleveland lawsuit, due to legal costs.

"The big cities have more resources and ability to hire more experts than smaller communities," Stefanik said. "But we're 100 percent behind them and hope they're successful.

"(SB 331) is another grab at home rule," Stefanik said. "Columbus continues to pound on the communities, whether it's home-rule issues like this or taking local government funding away."

Broadview Heights Mayor Sam Alai did not return emails.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson gives the 2017 State of the City Address

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson gives the 2017 State of the City address at Public Hall on March 9. Jackson on Tuesday said he thinks changes in the Justice Department will affect the city's plan to reform the police department.

(John Kuntz/cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson on Tuesday took another chance to reiterate what his administration has said since President Donald Trump won the election in November: the city will reform its police department.

However, the election of a president who displays unwavering support for police has the potential to influence how those reforms, outlined in an agreement with the Justice Department, are executed, Jackson said.

The mayor's comments come one day after the public release of a memo Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent to Justice Department staffers. The memo directs his department to review, among other things, "existing or contemplated consent decrees" to ensure they are in line with Sessions' views on policing and public safety.

The changes won't necessarily mean Cleveland police will be off the hook for major portions of its consent decree, such as training on new use-of-force policies or drastically re-working how internal investigations are done. However, the president's Justice Department may change what it means to be in "compliance," according to the mayor.

In other words, what was unacceptable to Barack Obama's Justice Department may be OK with the Trump administration, Jackson said. While the monitor and a federal judge have ultimate say over whether Cleveland is in full compliance with its consent decree, the Justice Department is a party to the case and gives input on whether it feels the city is making headway.

"What they press and don't press will probably change," Jackson said of the Justice Department. "Now, what those things are, I don't know and that is where we'll have to wait and see what those things are."

Sessions' memo was addressed to target what it says is rising crime rates. While homicides rates in major cities such as Chicago and Cleveland are up, statistics show that crime over the longterm is trending downward nationwide.

As for policing the police, the memo says staying out of perceived problems with local police departments is one way to support a peaceful society where the civil rights of all people are protected.

"Local control and local accountability are necessary for effective local policing," the memo says. "It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies."

The Sessions memo was made public in a court filing in Baltimore, where the Justice Department is seeking a delay for a hearing related to a proposed consent decree with the city's police department. The Washington Post first reported on the memo.

Its release was met with sharp rebukes from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which strongly encourages police reform efforts.

The city of Cleveland entered into its consent decree in 2015. It was designed to address what Obama's Justice Department considered systemic issues with how officers use force and how the police department handles investigations into those incidents.

Trump, Sessions and the president's surrogates have said the kind of court-mandated reform efforts favored by Obama's Justice Department are not necessary and that officers need support to ensure they can effectively fight crime.

Jackson interprets Sessions' statements to mean reform efforts shouldn't impede an officer's ability to address crime. Cleveland's reform agreement does not appear to affect an officer's ability to patrol and solve cases, he said, though issues may arise as the consent decree is implemented further.

The mayor thinks the Justice Department might change portions of Cleveland's consent decree if it believes the agreement hinders the ability to fight crime.

"There's nothing in there that I see now that says you can't go out and do aggressive policing," Jackson said. "It says if you're going to do it, you have to do it in a constitutional way and do it with a community component."

In many ways, nothing has changed for Cleveland's police reform efforts since Trump took office in January. The slow churn of the federal government has ensured priorities set by Trump and Sessions have not yet fully trickled down to the work being done in the offices outside of Washington.

Local Justice Department attorneys and employees have continued to participate in the city's reform efforts, most recently helping to run two public meetings on community-oriented policing.

Changes to the Cleveland agreement, if proposed, would also be slow to happen because a federal judge has already overseen the case for nearly two years and has said he does not want Trump to alter what he sees as a solid agreement.

That doesn't mean those opposed to the government-mandated reforms, like Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis, won't try to change it.

Loomis, a Trump supporter whose union endorsed the New York businessman and reality star's bid for the presidency, has said the union's attorneys are looking into ways to change the reform agreement, which might be difficult since the union is not a party to the case.

"Our concerns for the unfair, politically motivated and life threatening characterizations of law Enforcement by the Obama Administration were not unique to Cleveland or the CPPA," Loomis said in a text message Tuesday.

Jackson said that for all of Loomis' ballyhoo, the union has not come to the city to say it wants to dismantle large parts of the reform effort. The mayor said there have been a few gripes from the union, especially if a piece of the consent decree contradicts the CPPA's collective-bargaining agreement.

He noted that his 2017 budget proposal was written to address crime in the city -- which Loomis has been vocal about -- and not expressly to comport with the terms of the consent decree. That said, Jackson pointed out that some aspects of it, such as money to hire more officers, also go toward the police reform goals.

"If you're working an agenda, you can take the same set of facts and circumstances and make them line up to fit the agenda," Jackson said of Sessions' view on policing. "Our agenda is reform and safety. We have a two-edged sword here. We have real reform and we have safety in our neighborhoods."

This article has been correct to reflect the correct language quoted from Sessions' memo.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
Cleveland Heights police car.jpg

Cleveland Heights police are searching for two men involved in a Saturday car theft.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - Detectives are searching for two men who rear-ended a South Euclid man's SUV, then stole it during an ensuing argument on a Cleveland Heights street.

The 47-year-old man's 2000 Mitsubishi Montero was taken Saturday evening on Hampshire Road near Coventry Road. Authorities found it a short time later near the East Cleveland Police Department, according to a police report.

The South Euclid man parked on Hampshire Road just after 7 p.m. to pick up food he ordered from Hunan on Coventry. A Chevrolet Tahoe pulled up behind him and struck his rear bumper, the report says.

A man got out of the Chevrolet's passenger seat, and the South Euclid man asked him for his ID so he could file a police report. The other man tried to punch the South Euclid man, the report says.

The other man then jumped into the Mitsubishi, which was still running, and drove away. The Chevrolet followed, the report says.

East Cleveland police officers found the Mitsubishi while the South Euclid man was filing a report at the Cleveland Heights Police Department. The SUV sustained front-end damage and its GPS was missing.

Another driver reported that the Mitsubishi rear-ended his car approximately six times near the East Cleveland Police Department. The SUV was then abandoned on the street.

Investigators found a cellphone in the Mitsubishi and entered it into evidence. Investigators also lifted two fingerprints from the SUV.

No arrests have been made but the incident remains under investigation, police said.

Similar "bump-and-run" car robberies have been reported in recent months in Greater Cleveland. Two weeks ago, a small SUV rear-ended a Lakewood man's car, and the SUV's driver and passenger took the driver's wallet and the car at gunpoint.

In late November, Cleveland Heights police warned residents of a string of similar incidents in that city, Beachwood, and other eastern suburbs.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
Cleveland Clinic Lakewood FHC Rendering.jpg

When it opens in spring 2018, the 62,000-square-foot $34 million Lakewood Family Health Center will offer specialty care, family medicine, imaging, chronic disease management, an LGBT care center and a new emergency department. (Image: Cleveland Clinic)

LAKEWOOD, Ohio - When the Cleveland Clinic broke ground today for the new Lakewood Family Health Center, some community members were there to express their disapproval.

Known as Save Lakewood Hospital, the group of Lakewood residents rallying against the new family health center has sought to convince the city of Lakewood to reverse its decision to close the hospital.

"The bottom line is this: The Family Health Center is nothing more than a glorified urgent care center and cannot handle true emergencies. That means we have a healthcare crisis in Lakewood," said Kevin Young, spokesperson for Save Lakewood Hospital.

When the new center opens in spring 2018, the 62,000-square-foot $34 million Lakewood Family Health Center will offer specialty care, family medicine, imaging, chronic disease management, an LGBT care center and a new emergency department. It will be the Cleveland Clinic's 19th such family health center and will have the system's second LGBT care center.

Save the Lakewood Hospital supporters are concerned about the effects losing a full-service hospital will have on the city.

"There's a delay in care that occurs and the resulting delays mean people could not see full recovery and could die," Young said.

He said people taken to the emergency department at the Family Health Center likely would need to be transferred to full-service hospitals for care, which could delay care and increase the costs patients see because additional transfers might not be covered by health insurance.

"There are people who are going to have heart attacks and strokes in this city who just may not make it," Young said. "One thing is for sure, if someone doesn't say something, lives will be at stake."

Known as Save Lakewood Hospital, the group of Lakewood residents rallying against the new family health center has sought to convince the city of Lakewood to reverse its decision to close the hospital. (Photo: Save Lakewood Hospital)

But Lakewood officials say claims about transport times are exaggerated and encourage a "dangerous rhetoric."

Young said his group plans to continue to rally against the new center and raise public awareness of what they see as a dangerous move for the community.

Clinic officials say today is an "exciting day" about the future of healthcare.

"This day is a momentous day because it really is about moving forward," said Heather Phillips, senior director of corporate communications for the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. James Hekman, medical director of the Lakewood Family Health Center, said the new center is part of a nationwide trend of focusing on wellness to improve the health of citizens.

"I think we're all very excited to get this off the ground. I think the people of Lakewood are really going to value the facility once it's up and open," Hekman said.

When the Cleveland Clinic first announced its plans for the Lakewood Hospital back in 2015, Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Toby Cosgrove said the hospital had been operating at a loss for the last decade, driven by low occupancy rates and weak demand for inpatient care.

"In 2012, Lakewood Hospital trustees realized the financial trends of the hospital; we knew there was no denying the seismic shift in how healthcare was delivered. We knew these trends would only continue," said Lakewood Mayor Mike Summers.

"The decision to close Lakewood Hospital wasn't the popular one. For many, it was difficult to overcome the emotional attachment -- that's something that I understand. But I have absolutely no doubt, and I have never wavered, that this is what's best for the city of Lakewood and its citizens," he said.

At today's groundbreaking, Cosgrove called the center a "commitment to the future of Lakewood and the health of this community."

"The Lakewood Family Health Center represents a new concept in healthcare which is custom-designed to meet the needs of Lakewood residents and their families. We are proud to also offer a new foundation dedicated to the health and wellness of Lakewood citizens," Cosgrove said.

The new center will have an emergency department on the first floor, a family medicine residency center on the second and primary and specialty care services on the third.

"We know healthcare is changing in the United States," Hekman said. "The focus is increasing on keeping people well."

He said the services to be offered at Lakewood Family Health Center are customized for the Lakewood community. From offering smoking cessation assistance and diabetes care and prevention to having a team of surgeons and mental health professionals trained in LGBT care, the center will offer both primary care and specialized care suitable for the local community, Hekman said.

Summers echoed the sentiments of those at the Cleveland Clinic.

"We need to prepare our community for its second century. And the second century of healthcare in Lakewood is upon us," Summers said.

The city of Lakewood just reached an agreement with Senior Transportation Connection to expand the city's shuttle service that takes senior citizens to medical appointments to include appointments outside of the city to improve access in the community.

The Cleveland Clinic, city of Lakewood and the Lakewood Hospital Association also will create a new $32-million nonprofit organization focused on community health and wellness in Lakewood.
kentstate.JPG

Kent State University has named a dean for the Honors College, four years after the prior dean left.

(Karen Farkas, cleveland.com)

Alison Smith

KENT, Ohio - Alison Smith has been named dean of Kent State University's Honors College.

Smith currently serves as the acting chair in the university's department of geology and has served in various administrative, research and teaching roles at the university.

She will begin on July 1 and earn $170,000 a year.

"Alison Smith brings a wealth of experience and excellence to this position," Todd Diacon, Kent State's senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said in a statement. "She is an accomplished researcher and scholar who combines this success with a fierce commitment to our students."

Smith, selected following a national search, said she is excited about joining the college, which sent its first group of freshmen to study in Florence last fall.

Last fall 421 freshmen enrolled in the honors college.

"Kent State's Honors Program is one of the oldest in the country, and is in a strong position to move forward," Smith said in a statement. "I anticipate working with the university community to strengthen and expand initiatives in student success, to build more honors courses into the majors, and increase options for interdisciplinary research and international experiences."

Smith will succeed Donald Palmer, professor emeritus of geology, who has served as interim dean of the college since 2012. Palmer, who was supposed to serve for a year as a search was conducted, succeeded Donald Williams, who took a yearlong sabbatical and returned to teaching.

Kent State began its search process last December.

Smith has taught at Kent State since 1990 and has been a professor of geology since 2001. Smith's research has primarily focused on micropaleontology, the study of past climate and hydrology, and Quaternary environmental changes.

Smith earned her Ph.D. in geology at Brown University, a master's degree in geology from the University of Delaware, a master's degree in archaeology from the University of Cambridge, England and a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Wheaton College, Massachusetts.
Australia's trade surplus came in much higher than expected in February, but that's likely a signal of economic weakness, not strength.

The trade surplus Down Under surged to 3.57 billion Australian dollars ($2.72 billion) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms, according to data released on Tuesday, well above the around A$1.8 billion forecast in a Reuters poll.

That surge appeared to be less due to exports, which rose 1 percent on-month, to A$32.4 billion in seasonally adjusted terms, and more due to imports, which dropped 5 percent on-month to A$28.83 billion, seasonally adjusted.

The data spurred the Australian dollar up to as high as $0.7614, up from levels as low as $0.7585 before the data.

Analysts weren't optimistic about what the trade surplus signalled for the economy.

"It's sort of good news, but it is a bit mixed," Felicity Emmett, senior economist at ANZ, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "Weakness in imports could actually suggest that there's some softening in momentum on domestic demand. So on the one hand, that's a bit concerning, but obviously the strength in exports is very positive. "
Gold prices hit a one-week high on Tuesday, boosted by a lower dollar after U.S. economic data persuaded investors to reassess the idea of an imminent Fed rate hike and rising security concerns following the bomb blast in Russia.

Spot gold added 0.19 percent to $1,255.29 an ounce after touching $1,260.09, its highest since March 27. U.S. gold futures climbed $4.40 percent to $1,258.40.

Gold broke above its 200-day level of 1,261.5 on an intraday basis for the first time since February 27.

The U.S. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 57.2 in March from 57.7 in February, which was the highest since August 2014, while automakers reported a 1.6 percent fall in U.S. sales last month.

"The dollar's gains could be coming to an end. It has been rising and that's a headwind for the U.S. economy," said Marex Spectron analyst Guy Wolf.

"People are not so worried about inflation, they don't think the Fed is behind the curve. People are not so optimistic about (U.S. President Donald) Trump being able to deliver quickly on his election promises about taxes and infrastructure."

A falling U.S. currency makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Lockheed Martin is getting offered a multiyear block buy for its F-35 aircraft in exchange for not objecting to its rival Boeing getting new orders from the Navy for the F/A-18 fighter, according to a report.

"It is common knowledge within the defense industry that Lockheed Martin employees are not to complain about the Navy's plans to purchase another batch of Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets because of a deal worked out by the president to push for a multiyear block buy of Lockheed Martin F-35s," Dan Grazier, a defense industry expert at the Washington watchdog group Project On Government Oversight, wrote in a blog post Monday.

A Lockheed spokesman called the report "100 percent false." Boeing and the Pentagon declined comment for this story.

Analysts have previously said a multiyear block buy could help Lockheed change the economics on the aircraft and help improve margins and lower costs. It also would give the company more leverage with its partner companies and supply base by providing a steady flow of work over several years.

Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy. That's the big problem with this."

The analyst said he hasn't seen any figures on a block buy price for the F-35.

"If this [F-35] block buy goes through, the United States taxpayers will be committed to buying about 33 percent of the planned buy of F-35s," said Grazier. "We're talking nearly 800 aircraft."

To date, more than 200 F-35s are in operation by the U.S. armed forces and seven partner nations. Earlier this year, Lockheed estimated that more than 3,000 of the aircraft would be purchased, with about 600 jets going to international allies.

Until now, the government has purchased F-35 stealth aircraft under a series of so-called low-rate initial production agreements.

"They're moving beyond low-rate initial production, but they're just not saying that they're doing it," Grazier said. "That's kind of the fuzzy gray area of legality that's going on here."

The F-35A variant, a conventional takeoff and landing plane, is expected to represent the majority of the aircraft produced. There's also the F-35B variant for the Marines capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, while the F-35C for the Navy is a carrier variant.

Last month, Lockheed and the Department of Defense agreed on a deal involving the 10th batch of F-35 aircraft, resulting in a savings of $728 million  a nearly 8 percent reduction in the price on the F-35C variant of the joint strike fighter.

Even so, the F-35C Navy variant under the 10th batch deal still was priced at $121.8 million, while the F-35A, or Air Force variant, was $94.6 million.

Grazier said his source within the defense industry indicated that there's been a "tonal change" due to "a much larger deal worked out by President Donald Trump with Lockheed Martin and Boeing."

The F-35 joint strike program, the largest weapons acquisition program in Pentagon history, is expected to cost more than a $1 trillion over its life cycle of an estimated 50-plus years. While Lockheed is the prime contractor on the F-35, one of the major partner companies is Northrop Grumman . In all, more than 1,300 supplier companies are involved in the F-35 program.

Since December, Trump has met several times to discuss the F-35 program with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson. He's also met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to discuss the company's F/A-18 fighter and Air Force One replacement contact. Trump has criticized both programs for the costs.

"The decision to purchase weapons should be based solely on the performance of the system, not on backroom political and business deals," Grazier said in his blog.

If Boeing secures a new deal for its F/A-18 or gets an update on the plane, it could be good news for the company because it would be a shot in the arm for its tactical aircraft business and extend production of the jet.

"Heavy F-18 use and F-35 delays are straining the Navy fighter fleet and so we could see the service seeking perhaps a dozen more F-18's annually over the next couple of years," JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman said in a research note Friday.

According to Grazier, the F-35 doesn't legally qualify for a multiyear block buy because it fails to meet all the required criteria. Specifically, one area it falls short in is a "stable design" requirement, the analyst said.

The F-35 has not completed the development phase yet so the design "is inherently unstable," Grazier told CNBC in an interview. As an example, he said the F-35C engineers are having to "redesign the nose gear" due to a "vertical oscillation problem" during carrier launches. "It bounces a whole lot ... and gives the pilots whiplash."

In January, Defense Secretary James Mattis ordered a review of the F-35 program and how the government can reduce costs and options it might have with Boeing's F/A-18. He also ordered a review of Boeing's presidential plane replacement program.

Reports suggest an upgraded F/A-18  sometimes dubbed the Advanced Super Hornet  could come in at a cost lower than the F-35C and feature new sensor technology and more range, among other things.

But in testimony last week at her Senate confirmation hearing, Air Force secretary nominee Heather Wilson questioned whether the F/A-18 can provide stealth features such as the fifth-generation F-35.

"The real thing I don't think you could do with an F-18 or a F-15 or a F-16 is give it stealth capability retroactively," Wilson said.

She pointed out that the Chinese are developing stealth capability in fighters and added, "I don't see how we can stop modernizing and expect to win a near-peer fight. I'd rather have that fight be unfair and be on our side."
President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of U.S.-China trade relations since his days on the campaign trail, often calling for a stronger stance against Beijing.

That rhetoric led many analysts to suggest a trade war between the world's two largest economies could be on the horizon, and it would have major global ramifications. But, Alex Capri, an expert on international trade and a visiting senior fellow at the National University of Singapore's business school, told CNBC that such a trade war is unlikely  although an increase in certain kinds of tariffs on Chinese products could well occur.

Speaking with CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Monday, Capri said "there will be an increase in anti-dumping duties, there will be an increase in countervailing duties levied against Chinese products."

Still, he said, "it's unlikely that we will see an across-the-board tariff of 45 percent across a whole suite of Chinese products."

Capri stressed that it would be unlikely for a trade war to break out between the nations as such a move would be unlikely to benefit anyone.

He did, however, caution against possible retaliation by the Chinese government if the U.S. decided to take actions on trade which Beijing deems too drastic or unfair. U.S. businesses would obviously be concerned by the prospect of retaliation, Capri added, as many are already facing difficulties in China.

"[The Chinese government] could certainly make business much more difficult for companies on the ground in China, and it's not exactly easy for them now as is," Capri said.
watch now

1) Trump's West Wing is very, very rich

Trump's White House just might be the wealthiest in history, the new documents show. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka Trump  both official, if unpaid, advisers  are together worth as much as $768 million. Cohn, the director of the NEC and the former president of Goldman Sachs, is worth as much as $611 million. Even the advisers who came to Trump from the political or media worlds  such as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Bannon  are doing comparably well. Priebus made $1.4 million last year. Bannon made as much as $2.3 million and is worth as much as $54 million. Julia Hahn, a former Breitbart reporter who's now a White House staffer, still in her 20s, is worth as much as $1.5 million. Working at the White House means you've reached the pinnacle of your career  so it's not surprising that Trump's staff was well-compensated in the private sector. Nor is Trump the first president to have wealthy advisers. But even by the standards of previous administrations, some of Trump's aides, such as Kushner and Cohn, are extraordinarily rich. As the White House tries to reform or cut taxes, it matters that the people with the president's ear come almost overwhelmingly from a narrow slice of the superrich.

2) Conservative megadonors are responsible for much of Steve Bannon's income

Bannon, the former executive chair of Breitbart News, represents the populist wing of Trump's White House, encouraging Trump to keep pleasing the base. It turns out that he's a very wealthy populist indeed, and that his ties to the conservative movement aren't just ideological  they're lucrative. Last year alone, Bannon made more than $500,000 from companies and think tanks linked to Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, Republican donors who were heavily involved with the Trump campaign. The Mercers back Breitbart, which paid Bannon $191,000. They have a stake in the data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump campaign; Bannon's disclosures list him as a vice president of that company. (Before working for Trump in the general election, Cambridge Analytica worked on Ted Cruz's primary campaign.) And the Mercers fund the nonprofit Government Accountability Institute, a think tank that paid Bannon more than $60,000 last year. To be sure, this is what political players (on all ends of the political spectrum) do. But Bannon's disclosures, as well as those from other White House staffers formerly on the Breitbart payroll, also illustrate how the Mercer family is becoming a bigger player in American politics. The Mercers weren't just influential in getting Trump to the White House; they funded the network that paid Bannon, the man who has the president's ear. Bannon isn't the only one whose money came at least in part from conservative networks. Two other White House staffers  Hahn and deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka  were on the Breitbart payroll last year, and Gorka reported royalties worth up to $100,000 from the right-wing publisher Regnery.

3) Ivanka Trump is still making money from the Trump Organization

The disclosures reveal an estimate of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's net worth  they're worth as much as $740 million, according to Kushner's disclosure. The documents also show how tightly intertwined their financial interests are with the Trump Organization and with Kushner's family business, even as they both also work for President Trump as advisers. Kushner and Ivanka Trump both stepped back from their day-to-day roles in their businesses. But they continue to benefit them in ways that will create dozens of conflicts of interest. Ivanka Trump still owns a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, as well as her fashion brands, part of a trust worth an estimated $50 million. Kushner is keeping an interest in some of his real estate ventures, including a luxury rental complex in New Jersey. Hotels and real estate ventures offer a way for anyone who wants to influence Trump administration policy to directly enrich Trump's most trusted advisers  his daughter and son-in-law. Kushner has real estate loans from big banks affected by the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul and continues to benefit from parts of the tax code built for real estate developers. Ivanka Trump's fashion business is influenced by trade agreements around textiles and American policies on imports and exports. The result, according to ethics experts, is that two of the most powerful people in the West Wing should be prevented from making policy on a wide range of economic issues due to their conflicts of interest.

4) Trump's proposed tax reforms would be good for him and his advisers

The tax reform proposal Trump made on the campaign trail called for taxing "pass-through income"  money made through partnerships, sole proprietorships, and so forth  as corporate, not personal, income. That means that if you own a business that's structured as a collection of these entities, as Trump does, the proposed tax reform would be a huge tax break. It's not just the president who would benefit. Kushner's business ventures are also mostly structured as limited liability corporations. The profit Kushner makes through them would be taxed at the corporate rate of 15 percent rather than higher personal tax rates. The same is true for Ivanka Trump. Trump's tax reform plan would also have been a big tax break for Bannon, who earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in pass-through income from two companies he owns  Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., his consulting firm, and Bannon Film Industries Inc.  according to his disclosure. Bannon's companies will be dormant while he's in the White House and receiving only "passive income," such as royalties. Still, any changes to tax rates for pass-through income would affect one of the president's most important advisers, as well as his daughter and son-in-law, while he's still in office  not to mention after he leaves. This is especially notable because Bannon, Kushner, and Ivanka Trump aren't tax policy experts. So their thinking about the tax code is likely to be strongly influenced by their own experiences with it.

5) Trump clearly believes wealth is a signifier of the "best people"
Stock for Acuity brands fell more than 14 percent after the company announced disappointing second quarter earnings.

The Atlanta-based company said adjusted earnings for its fiscal second quarter totaled $1.77 per share, below a consensus estimate of $1.82. Sales also missed expectations at $804.7 million.

The company largely blamed weaker-than-anticipated demand in the North American market, with continued weakness in smaller, short-cycle projects.

"Like last quarter, we carried a higher manufacturing cost structure into the quarter in anticipation of servicing a greater level of demand than occurred," said Acuity Brands President and CEO Vernon Nagel, in a statement.

The company also attributed the decline to year-over-year sales down in certain international markets like Europe and Mexico.

Acuity Brands said it hopes to capitalize on what they see as a forecast return to growth in the North American lighting market during fiscal year 2018.

Acuity manufactures and distributes lighting fixtures and control systems, including sub-brands Holophane, Lithonia, and Peerless.
Citing a supply chain source, Nikkei reported that Apple has placed orders for bendable organic light-emitting diode panels for use in 70 million handsets for the year. OLED offers brighter displays and better power efficiency over liquid crystal displays currently in use.

Shares of Samsung Electronics got a boost on Tuesday after the Nikkei Asian Review reported that archrival Apple had ordered 70 million display panels that the South Korean giant specializes in for the upcoming iPhone.

Samsung's OLED displays are used on its own flagship Galaxy devices, and the company is a market leader in the area. Apple is expected to launch three new iPhones later this year, with the anniversary edition iPhone 8 believed to have a slightly curved 5.2-inch OLED screen. This will be the most expensive model. The two other iPhones will have LCD displays.

It would be the first time Apple has used OLED displays on its flagship device.

Samsung has not responded to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC. Apple declined to comment.

Nikkei Asian Review quoted IHS Markit analyst David Hsieh as saying that the order for 70 million units of OLED panels is in line with his expectations. He added that Samsung is expecting to produce as many as 95 million units for Apple in 2017, in case demand exceeds expectations. Hsieh also said Samsung is likely to be the sole supplier.

"It is also possible that some of these 70 million handsets will not be shipped to customers this year and be carried over to next year depending on demand," Hsieh told Nikkei.

The 70 million unit figure gives a sense of the kind of bullish demand Apple is expecting for the anniversary model, which some analysts are suggesting could cost $900 to $1,000.

But some analysts have said it's not likely Apple will sell all 70 million OLED iPhones this year looking at previous performance. In the fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Apple sold 78.2 million iPhones  latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models and older versions.
The decision on who will build the Air Force's next-generation jet trainer is not expected until later this year but pressure may have already eased on Boeing to score a must win against its rival Lockheed Martin .

The two defense giants are the likely front-runners in the roughly $16 billion competition known as the T-X Trainer. The winning team will get an order for 350 jets to replace the Air Force's aging T-38 trainers that have been around since the 1960s.

"It would be an important win for Boeing given that it does not have the F-35 and it didn't win the bomber program for the B-21," said Jonathan Root, an analyst at Moody's in New York.

Last year, Boeing's tactical aircraft division suffered a setback when the government rejected the company's protest of Northrop Grumman winning the B-21, an advanced long-range strike bomber deal valued at more than $80 billion.

Yet some analysts who earlier this year saw the competition as a "must-win" for Boeing now believe the pressure may have moderated since the Chicago-based defense contractor may be close to securing more orders on its F/A-18 fighters.

"The pressure has been alleviated some because it looks like the F-18 is going to get a little bit of a resurgence here," said Richard Safran, a defense analyst at Buckingham Research in New York. He noted that recent reports have indicated that the government may do an additional buy of an upgraded F/A-18 so that would provide a boost for Boeing's tactical aircraft business.

Even so, Boeing and its bid partner, Swedish aerospace manufacturer Saab , may need to absorb the development costs on the company's so-called clean-sheet version of the trainer aircraft. In contrast, Lockheed's entry in the competition is the T-50A in partnership with South Korea's Korea Aerospace Industries and uses a platform based off the existing T-50 Golden Eagle, a legacy plane introduced more than a decade ago.

Overall, there are at least five separate bids in the T-X Trainer competition.

Analysts estimate the Boeing team already has spent $1 billion to $3 billion on development costs associated with its new trainer.

"They still have the problem of making all those upfront development costs disappear in their bid price  and that's challenging," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Virginia-based industry consultancy Teal Group. He said Boeing's price on the plane could end up being higher "unless they just want to eat that."

Aboulafia calls the T-X trainer contract "Lockheed Martin's to lose but not a slam dunk." That said, he believes Boeing could prevail if it puts in "an extremely aggressive bid."

Lockheed, a Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor, touted its entry for the T-X contract on the company's website by noting the single-engine, two-seat trainer has registered more than 142,000 flight hours and "is ready to deliver on day one."

The T-50 Golden Eagle was previously procured by several international air forces, including South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, among others. If Lockheed wins the trainer contract, it is expected to build the aircraft in South Carolina.

"We're excited to offer the U.S. Air Force a low-risk proposal that meets all their needs for advanced pilot training, and can help them achieve initial operational capability earlier," Mike Griswold, Lockheed Martin T-50A's business development director, said in a statement to CNBC.

The Pentagon started accepting final request for proposals in late December for the T-X Trainer and the formal deadline was last week for submissions. The Air Force is expected to use the new trainer for pilot training for the F-35 as well as the F-16 and F-22 fighter aircraft.

Boeing said on its website that its trainer jet features a single engine, twin tails, stadium seating and claims its entry is "more affordable and flexible" when compared against older, existing planes.

Boeing has already built at least two of the jets and said it is prepared to build more.

"We're confident that our all-new, purpose-built Boeing T-X advanced pilot training system  which includes the aircraft, ground-based training and support designed together from the ground up  is the right choice for the U.S. Air Force," Boeing said in a statement.

Analysts say the Boeing trainer jet, which closely resembles the Super Hornet, is considered heavier and also might contribute to it costing more to produce than the Lockheed entry.

Boeing's trainer jet had its inaugural first flight in December.

Boeing could make a case to the Air Force that it should get the trainer jet contract because it has an advantage in manufacturing, or it could claim the plane is easier to assemble, industry experts suggest.

Then again, Boeing also might be willing to accept a lower margin with the U.S. government if it believes a high-performance trainer might have potential in the export market with allies. In addition to selling 350 training jets to the U.S. Air Force, Aboulafia said the allies could potentially buy another 100 to 150 planes.

Other T-X Trainer bidders include a unit of Italy's Leonardo in building its T-100 trainer at a factory in Alabama. Stavatti Aerospace proposed its Javelin T-X as a trainer, a jet originally designed as a civilian sport aircraft. Sierra Nevada Corp. and Turkish Aerospace Industries also are expressed interest this year in teaming in a joint venture to offer the Air Force an advanced trainer.

Stavatti CEO Christopher Beskar said in an email response that the Javelin T-X entry is "a re-imagining of the original ATG Javelin aircraft that first flew in 2005." He said the aircraft's flyaway cost is $10 million per jet and the executive added that the company submitted a second bid offering for the SM-47 T-X, a jet costing $20 million each.

Leonardo, Sierra Nevada and TAI didn't respond to requests for comment.

In January, Raytheon ended its partnership with Leonardo for the T-X Trainer program. Northrop Grumman, maker of the legacy T-38 jet currently used as a trainer, had been partnered with U.K.-based BAE Systems but pulled out of the competition in February.

Finally, Textron also had earlier been expected to participate with its Scorpion jet but ultimately exited the competition.
The Government of California and the Scottish Government have signed a joint agreement which sees them commit to work with one another to fight climate change.

The agreement was signed on Monday by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Governor of California Edmund G Brown.



Among other things, the memorandum of understanding states both California and Scotland are looking to "capitalise on the huge potential of the Under2 MoU, the ambitious commitment to bold and decisive climate action covering over one billion people and over a third of the global economy to which both jurisdictions are signatories."



Signatories to the Under2 MoU agreement have committed to either cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 percent below 1990 levels or to limit emissions to less than two metric tons per capita by mid-century.



"Scotland is making huge progress in delivering our climate change ambitions, but we are not complacent and there is still much to achieve," Sturgeon said.

"Today's meeting strengthened our relationship with the Government of California and I'm confident we can work together to achieve the targets set out by the Under2 MoU," she added.

For its part, California has ambitious plans when it comes to renewable energy and climate change. The state has set itself the target of generating 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and has committed to cutting petroleum use in cars and trucks by as much as 50 percent in the next 15 years.



Environmental groups welcomed the agreement.



"It is good to see climate action high on the agenda of Scotland's First Minister on her trip to the United States," Lou Leonard, WWF-U.S.'s senior vice president of Climate Change and Energy, said in a statement.



"This is a strong reminder that climate change is a priority for our allies around the world," Leonard added.
Elon Musk's Telsa needs to produce a lot more cars to justify its sky-high stock price, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday.

"Is Telsa overvalued? If they make 500,000 cars, no," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."

The Silicon Valley carmaker's stock hit a record high Monday, moving its market capitalization past Ford , after the company reported strong first-quarter vehicle deliveries.

On Tuesday, the company's stock went above $300 a share for the first time ever.

Tesla said it delivered just more than 25,000 vehicles in the first quarter. That's a 69 percent increase from last year and edging past Goldman Sachs ' forecast of 23,500 vehicles.

The carmaker is on track to meet or beat expectations for the first half of 2017, according to analysts, as it moves closer to beginning production on its Model 3 Sedan later this year.

"Telsa is a loved car, and people buy the stock, Cramer said.

Shortly after the news Monday, Walt Mossberg, executive editor and columnist at The Verge, tweeted that he admired the luxury electric car company but said, "stock market valuations don't reflect reality."

@WaltMossberg: I admire Tesla and @elonmusk, but this is the billionth example of why stock market valuations don't reflect reality.

Musk fired back in a tweet, saying "Tesla is absurdly overvalued if based on the past, but that's irrelevant. A stock price represents risk-adjusted future cash flows."

@ElonMusk: Exactly. Tesla is absurdly overvalued if based on the past, but that's irrelevant. A stock price represents risk-adjusted future cash flows.
As lawmakers continue to debate how to repeal Obamacare, investors would be remiss to ignore the one thing most Republicans can agree on about health care: health savings accounts. HSAs, introduced in 2003, offer you triple tax advantages: First, contributions are tax-deductible. Second, those contributions can be invested and grow tax-free. Third, withdrawals aren't taxed as long as you use them for qualified medical expenses, such as doctor's visits, prescription drugs and dental care.

Anne Baek | iStock | Getty Images

"HSAs are favored by Washington at the moment," said Eric Dowley, head of Fidelity Investments' HSA business. Dowley said he thinks Congress could eventually raise HSA contribution limits, either as part of tax or health-care reform. In 2017, you (and your employer) can contribute up to $3,400 to an HSA for individuals and $6,750 for families. Account holders age 55 and older can contribute an extra $1,000.

HSAs are favored by Washington at the moment. Eric Dowley Fidelity Investments

Unlike with flexible spending accounts, where you have to use most of your tax-deferred money each year or you lose it, people with HSAs can invest their money after they reach a certain threshold. The typical minimum investment level is $1,000, but it depends on your HSA provider. A triple-tax-advantaged investment account doesn't come free. HSAs must be paired with a high-deductible health plan. That means you'll have to pay a deductible of at least $1,300 for individual coverage and $2,600 for families in plans this year. The maximum annual out-of-pocket costs for these plans are $6,550 for individuals and $13,100 for families. More from Your Money Your Future:

Here are the top 10 cities for early retirees

This year's hot tax trend ... saving not splurging

Warren Buffett's advice 'doesn't work anymore,' robo-advisor CEO says Provisions of the failed American Health Care Act would have nearly doubled the contribution limits for HSAs to match the annual deductible and out-of-pocket expenses under a high-deductible health plan.

A patient is monitored in an examination room inside the Clinical Decision Unit at Kaiser Permanente's Capitol Hill Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Brooks Kraft LLC | Corbis | Getty Images

Even without the higher contributions limits, health savings accounts grew to an estimated $37 billion in assets and 20 million accounts at the end of last year and reached $41 billion in assets during January, according to Devenir, an HSA consulting firm in Minneapolis. Given the momentum, Devenir forecasts assets in the accounts could reach more than $53 billion by 2018, a 20 percent increase from 2017. (See chart below.)

Roughly three-quarters of people who have HSAs withdraw less than they contribute. People who invest their HSA money in stocks and bonds have an average balance of $14,000 compared with $2,500 for those who keep it 100 percent in cash, according to new research from Fidelity Investments based on data from the accounts it administers. "An HSA is an ideal vehicle to fund retiree medical expenses," said Chris Byrd, executive vice president at WEX Health, a payments technology company that administers benefits for more than 225,000 employers. Health costs in retirement can seem daunting. Fidelity estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2016 would need roughly $260,000 to cover health-care costs during retirement. Sounds like a daunting number. But keep in mind that is over all your retirement. So if you have 22 years of retirement, that's roughly $985 per month. It is still a high number, but not insurmountable. How should people invest their HSA money? "It's going to be a different case for everyone," Dowley said. Generally, you should have enough cash in your HSA to cover expected medical expenses and invest the rest. Here are some portfolio guidelines Fidelity uses based on age:

You may not have robust investing options in your current HSA. "There is a lack of standardization in the marketplace," said Shelby George, senior vice president of advisor services at Manning & Napier. Your employer may direct you to sign up with its preferred HSA provider, although if you are enrolled in a qualified high-deductible health plan, you can choose whatever provider you want. However, if employers only offer matching HSA contributions to their preferred provider, it makes sense to stick with them. HSAs can travel with you if you change jobs or insurers. Use HSASearch, which is run by Devenir, to comparison shop for more than 320 providers. Just like with any retirement account, fees and investment options matter.

watch now
Emerging markets funds could see further upside after logging a stellar first quarter, according to traders betting on emerging markets' growth.

One popular emerging markets exchange-traded fund, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM ), has gained 13 percent year to date and attracted $674 million in fund flows in that time per FactSet. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) is up just over 5 percent year to date.

"I think we're going to see continued outperformance of the emerging markets," Richard Ross, head of technical analysis at Evercore ISI, commented Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

"If you had [emerging markets] up 13 percent, more than twice the , with crude down 10 percent, then you likely also had Mississippi State over UConn and you had South Carolina and Oregon in your Final Four; you just didn't have it," said Ross, who has apparently been up on his March Madness brackets.

Examining a chart of the EEM going back to last summer, Ross noted that shortly after the U.S. election in November the fund "fizzled out quickly, for fears of that pro-U.S. Trump trade, kind of protectionist, but it's gone completely the other way in the face of the collapse in crude oil on a year-to-date basis."

Analyzing the EEM further back, to 2012, Ross pointed out a "head and shoulders" bottoming pattern formed between 2015 and 2016. Such a technical pattern typically shows a bullish-to-bearish reversal in an asset's price movement, but gave way to new highs toward the end of 2016.

"I would stick with the emerging markets on a relative basis; not to say that I'm not buying the U.S., but I like [emerging markets] over the S&P right now," Ross said.

The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG ), which is larger than the EEM by assets under management but charges a lower fee and includes many smaller companies, has logged over $6.6 billion in total fund flows year to date, according to FactSet. The IEMG, which has similar country exposures to the EEM, has gained 13.5 percent in that time.

The growth so far this year in the EEM, top-weighted holdings of which include Samsung, Tencent , Taiwan Semiconductors and Alibaba , could just be the beginning, said Eddy Elfenbein, editor of the Crossing Wall Street bog.

"I think there's a really good emerging markets story going on right now," Elfenbein commented Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

"As well as it did in the first quarter, going back from October 2010, to today, the ETF is flat while the S&P 500 has doubled. People don't realize just how much the U.S. has done better than these other markets around the world. The valuation differential is of the highest in recent history," he said.

And when the trade "turns," as it has in Elfenbein's eyes, "it tends to last for a couple years."

"In fact, I think there's a very good chance that this is the beginning of a long-term cycle that can last three or five years or even longer. I think this is a great time to get into emerging markets," he said.

The EEM rose modestly in Tuesday trading.
Stocks have struggled for direction at the start of the current quarter and U.S. Treasury yields have dipped Tuesday, leading one strategist to suggest nervous sentiment is "everywhere".

The 10-year Treasury yield, which moves inversely to the bond price, is down two basis points to 2.33 per cent, at levels not seen for five weeks. Moves into so-called safe havens are seen as indicative of a wider "risk-off" trade by global investors.

"There's an abundance of angst this morning, stemming from weak U.S. car data, the explosion in the St. Petersburg subway, the prospect of (President) Donald Trump meeting (Chinese Premier) Xi Jinping at the end of the week and the rapidly approaching French election," said Kit Juckes, a foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale, in a note Tuesday.

Juckes argued that the second quarter's asset performance will rely on robust economic data from the United States.



"The moodhas taken bond yields, equity and commodity prices lower to kick off (the second quarter)  The only cure is a steadying hand from U.S. data that will put a floor under bond yields and, given how low that floor is, send money off in search of yield again," he said.

"But for now, angst everywhere," he concluded.

The U.S. February trade balance is due at 08:30 a.m. ET followed an hour-and-a-half later by durable goods orders for the same month.

European jitters

Juckes also highlighted the French election as giving investors pause for thought, despite polls suggesting a win for centrist Emmanuel Macron. He said increased spreads of Italian and French debt against the German bund reveal some apprehension remains that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could still win.

However, Juckes said this could mean a trading opportunity based around buying the euro. "The temptation is to think that French pre-election nerves are just that, and the opinion polls can't be THAT wrong," said.

"On that basis, these would be good levels to buy EUR/USD and also, EUR/GBP," he added.
Markets in Europe closed up higher on Tuesday as investors focused on an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping. The FTSE 100 finished the day up 0.54 percent, the German DAX was up 0.21 percent, and the French CAC finished the day higher by 0.3 percent. Across the pond, however, U.S. stocks opened lower in anticipation of the premiers' meeting.

European markets



The pan-European Stoxx 600 seen higher 0.2 percent by the close of play Tuesday. Basic Resources led the gains, up 1.45 percent, as gold mining company Centamin and metals and mining business Rio Tinto headed to the top of the market. Industrials were also among those seen higher, up 0.32 percent. British-based manufacturing company Rotork was among the best performers on the European benchmark in afternoon trading, up by 4.3 percent. Meanwhile, stocks in the auto sector led the falls, dropping 0.59 percent, after U.S. data showed a slowdown in car sales. Shares in the telecommunications sector dropped 0.45 percent in afternoon trade with Telecom Italia falling 2.6 percent. This followed reports that its French rival Iliad wants to reach 25 percent of the Italian mobile market. Banking stocks also dropped during afternoon trade, down by 0.5 percent, with the German lender Deutsche Bank leading the losses. Its shares were down by more than 0.67 percent as it reshuffled more executives while continuing to search for a new chief financial officer. Retail stocks were also trading in negative territory. The market research company Kantar showed Tuesday that the big U.K. supermarkets are going through a troubling time with sales dropping as inflation jumps. Sainsbury's shares were 2.1 percent down on Tuesday. The online fashion retailer Asos fell 3.2 percent on Tuesday despite announcing higher profits. Investors were not happy with the company's declining margins. Shares of Investec , Steinhoff and Old Mutual were also lower on Tuesday given their exposure to South Africa. Its currency, the rand, dropped as much as 1.9 percent in early European trading following a cut to the country's credit rating by S&P. Imagination Technologies was trading 12.5 percent higher on Tuesday after dropping more than 60 percent on Monday following an announcement by Apple that it was ending its contract with the firm.

Political uncertainty dominates

Investors seem to be taking a cautious approach ahead of the U.S.-China summit later this week after Trump said the meeting would be a "difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits." This has boosted the search for safe havens. In Europe, political uncertainty is also playing a role. On Tuesday, a U.K. parliamentary committee asked Prime Minister Theresa May to prove that a "no (Brexit) deal is better than a bad deal" by presenting an economic assessment of leaving the EU without a deal. The same committee wants the government to publish its contingency plans in case it doesn't strike a deal with the EU within the two-year deadline. An EU lawmaker said Tuesday morning that all financial business in euros based in the U.K. should be transferred to the remaining 27 countries, Reuters reported.

Bank of England worried about rapid credit growth
Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) had a mixed first quarter with a slide in the number of deals announced but a rise in the overall value of dealmaking activity, according to a report from Mergermarket released Tuesday.

While the total number of deals announced fell by 17.9 percent versus the first quarter of 2016, overall deal value was up by 8.9 percent to a total of $678.5 billion. This dynamic fed through to lift average deal value to $403.4 million.

The move towards larger deals reflects a reversion back towards trends seen in 2015  often referred to as the "year of the megadeal"  after a 2016 characterized by more of a focus on midmarket activity.

Key themes in evidence for the quarter were the spike in dealmaking in the consumer sector, an enormous scaling back of activity from Chinese buyers and a drop-off of inbound European M&A.

The consumer sector recorded a whopping $136.1 billion of deal value spread over just under 400 deals and including three megadeals (valued at $10 billion or above). The figure would have been substantially higher still had Kraft-Heinz's aborted $155 billion hostile bid for Unilever - which was withdrawn after only two days in the face of substantial opposition - proceeded.

Enthusiasm for pairing up within the sector is largely owing to a search for revenue growth, Cedric Besnard, consumer equity analyst at Citi, told CNBC via email on Tuesday.

"The erosion in barriers to entry and the slowdown in emerging markets is forcing struggling multinationals into finding new avenues of growth.M&A is actually the quickest route - sometimes easier than innovation and less risky than extreme cost cutting," Besnard observed.
In the United States, women are paid about 20% less than men. According to the American Association of University Women, at this rate, national pay equity will not be achieved until 2152.

Earnings ratios vary state to state and student debt has been contributing to the lack of progress. Statistically, the pay gap is even worse for women of color. Black women make 37 percent less and Hispanic women are paid 46 percent less than whites.

Ratios vary by industry as well, and tech has progress to make. According to an evaluation by Hired, female candidates in the field are offered an average of four percent less than their male counterparts, and "63 percent of the time women receive lower salary offers than men for the same job at the same company."

Equal Pay Day aims to raise awareness of this issue. To commemorate it, and to help solve the underlying problem, here are what some top tech leaders are doing.

1) Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of Lean In

In honor of Equal Pay Day, Sandberg launched the #20percentCounts campaign via her organization Lean In, which also partnered with other companies to offer 20 percent discounts and raise awareness through social media. Companies participating include LUNA, Lyft and P&G.

"Equal pay is essential to the goal of gender equality," Sandberg says in a news release about the campaign. "This issue speaks to how we value women's labor, knowledge, time, training, and so much more. In short, it's about women's worth. There's nothing more fundamental than that."
Google anticipates that new guidance on H-1B visas will not affect its own employees, according to an email obtained by Recode.

"Wanted to quickly weigh in on behalf of the immigration team to let you all know that we're following this and for now, don't anticipate an impact to Googlers," says the email to Google staff from an employee in human resources. "Our software engineering roles don't fall into the job categories included in the USCIS's [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] new guidance. We'll continue to watch the H-1B visa space closely and keep Googlers updated on any changes they need to be aware of."

More from Recode:

The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department are promising greater scrutiny of the H-1B visa program, through which many foreign engineers are hired as high-skilled labor. President Donald Trump's stricter approach to immigration has already raised concerns with Silicon Valley companies that rely on immigrant talent to fill key roles.

When the new administration called for a ban on entry to immigrants from several majority-Muslim countries, at least one Google employee found herself temporarily stranded outside the country. Product manager Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, an Iran-born Canadian citizen who now resides in the U.S., was on a business trip to Switzerland when the first version of Trump's travel ban went into effect.

By Tess Townsend, Re/code.net.

CNBC's parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Recode's parent Vox, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.
Several years ago, a male colleague and I left a meeting on one side of campus at the university where we both teach to return to our offices, a 15-minute walk away. Since I had driven my car to the meeting, I asked my colleague if he'd like a ride back. After an almost imperceptible hesitation, he politely thanked me and said no.

Walking to my car, I suddenly realized I'd just had my first encounter with the "Billy Graham rule," a concept highlighted in recent news as a result of reports of Vice President Mike Pence's longstanding principle of not having meals alone with a woman or attending events serving alcohol unless accompanied by his wife.

The rule, famously articulated by the evangelical minister Billy Graham, is basically a guideline that says men and women should not meet alone, whether in offices, or cars, or other places in order to avoid illicit temptations or appearances of impropriety. It's been adopted by other evangelical pastors and leaders (a history of its origin is here): The late founder of the evangelical university where I work was known for saying that he'd pass by a female member of his church walking in the rain if he were alone in his car to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

More from Vox:

Black-ish became its own worst enemy when it cast Chris Brown

Netflix's 13 Reasons Why smartly solves its source material's biggest problems

The case for immigration

Once I realized why my colleague had turned down my offer, I felt a twinge of embarrassment and awkwardness, as though I'd invited him to a game of strip poker instead of a three-minute ride to the other end of campus. Besides, I thought in an imaginary retort, "I'm just not that into you."

But the good part of this story is that despite working for nearly two decades at an evangelical university, I've had only two or three such encounters with the Billy Graham rule. While I have tremendous respect for men who place their marriages before their work, such a rule befits the world of "Mad Men" more than the modern-day work world where women are to be treated as equals. But even more importantly, good character is even more trustworthy than the most well-intentioned rules.

Virtue ethics is better than the Billy Graham rule.

Virtue ethics relies on moral character that is developed through good habits rather than rules or consequences for the governing of behavior. Aristotle defined virtue as the mean between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency. It is a habit of moral character, which, because it is a habit, becomes a kind of second nature. As Aristotle explained, it does not depend upon rules.

Despite decades of working at evangelical institutions, I haven't encountered the Billy Graham rule all that often

Although I had grown up evangelical, I had never heard of the Billy Graham rule until well into my 30 years of professional life, most of it ministry- and church-related. I've spent a lot of time around a lot of men in educational, political, and church contexts, some of that time one on one: discussing a book proposal over lunch, talking politics over coffee, traveling overseas to meet with foreign leaders, and having many closed-door meetings with male colleagues, male bosses, male students, and men under my supervision.

In fact, my first secretary was a man. I was an administrator in a church-run school, and we spent a lot of time in close proximity, our two desks jammed into an office that had been built to hold just one person. Our little office was a busy place where a steady stream of students, parents, and teachers, flowed throughout most of each day. Still, we spent a lot of time alone together, man and woman, each of us married to other people. Somehow we managed to do our jobs without having an affair, falling in love, or (speaking for myself, at least) feeling one passing moment that even closely resembled lust.

And yet as soon as I type these words, I am checked by a sense of undue pride in my own self-mastery, remembering that it is exactly such that goes before a fall.

While most Vox readers are at least passingly familiar with Billy Graham (and now his "rule"), many may not know about his grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, once a Presbyterian minister like his grandfather, but now disgraced after a series of extramarital affairs involving women under his ministerial care. The distance between the rule and its fall is, apparently, just one generation  and perhaps one dose of a sense of invincibility.

The real tool for avoiding workplace romance: the virtue of prudence

Of course, one need not look far to find myriad examples of such failures and betrayals. If these don't give us pause, then we are imprudent indeed.
There are many reasons why Panera Bread would be attractive to a strategic buyer, but the most logical fit would be JAB Holding, analyst Bob Derrington told CNBC on Tuesday.

The privately held company, headquartered in Luxembourg, owns other brands such as Keurig Green Mountain and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

"An acquisition of Panera Bread not only brings them a digital platform that ultimately that they can use across their portfolio, but also it provides them an opportunity for some vertical integration of the coffee business," the senior research analyst at Telsey Advisory Group said in an interview with "Power Lunch."

On Monday, Bloomberg reported Panera was exploring strategic options, including a possible sale, citing sources close to Panera. The restaurant's chief financial officer told CNBC the company never comments on rumor or speculation.

JAB Holding, which was mentioned as a potential suitor by one of Bloomberg's sources, also did not have a comment, a spokesperson told CNBC.

The stock surged on Monday after the report, hitting an all-time high of $292.42 before closing up 7.9 percent at $282.63. It gave back some of those gains in midafternoon trading on Tuesday.

Derrington thinks if Panera gets a "really motivated buyer" and the sale came down to an auction, the price could go over $300 a share.

For one, the company has some of the best fundamentals in the industry, he noted. Plus, "there's a number of pieces to Panera's story that, I think, for a strategic buyer make an awful lot of sense, especially the technology, the digital platform the company has, the loyalty program."

 CNBC's Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank spent $9.5 billion on technology in 2016 and has plans this year to introduce products for digital banking, online investment advice and electronic trading.



In his annual letter to shareholders on Tuesday, Dimon said the bank is also "collaborating with some excellent fintech companies to dramatically improve our digital and other customer offerings."

Among the leading bank executives, Dimon has established himself as the biggest presence in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, making regular trips West to meet with tech executives and venture capitalists. He made headlines in his shareholder letter two years ago, warning investors that "Silicon Valley is coming."

Rather than view potential banking disruption as a threat to JPMorgan, Dimon has embraced new technologies. About $3 billion, or almost one-third, of last year's investment went to "new initiatives," including $600 million on fintech solutions and projects.

Dimon highlighted partnerships with emerging tech companies like Zelle for consumer payments, Roostify for online mortgages, TrueCar for auto finance and On Deck Capital , which provides loans to small businesses.

The JPMorgan CEO also took a swipe at the U.S. immigration system and how it hurts this country's ability to compete globally. Dimon said that about 40 percent of people receiving advanced degrees in science, technology engineering and math at American universities are from other countries. Yet they have no legal way to stay when they're finished with school.

"We are forcing great talent overseas by not allowing these young people to build their dreams here," Dimon wrote.
"The American public has the right to demand that if a major bank fails, they, as taxpayers, would not have to pay for it, and the failure wouldn't unduly harm the U.S. economy," he added. "In my view, these demands have now both been met."

"Essentially, too big to fail has been solved  taxpayers will not pay if a bank fails," Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders released Tuesday.

Though the financial crisis is still fresh in the minds of many investors, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon believes there's nothing to worry about.

Market panic will never disappear entirely, and regulations must be flexible enough to allow banks to act as a bulwark against it rather than forcing financial institutions into a defensive crouch that will only make things worse.

The expression is a relic from the 2008 financial crisis that refers to regulators' determination then that certain institutions could not be allowed to go bankrupt, because of the danger such an outcome would pose to the wider financial system. Multiple financial institutions received taxpayer aid in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers that year.

Dimon cites multiple reasons why he believes the too-big-to-fail phenomenon no longer exists. Among them are higher capital and liquidity levels, more transparency and disclosure and a general regulatory environment that has made the system far more secure.

In fact, he said some regulations go too far.

"Market panic will never disappear entirely, and regulations must be flexible enough to allow banks to act as a bulwark against it rather than forcing financial institutions into a defensive crouch that will only make things worse," he said.

Dimon cites the need for "consistent, transparent, simplified and more risk-based capital standards."

However, he contends that under today's capital rules, Lehman probably wouldn't have even failed. The bank's capital would now be $45 billion as opposed to the $23 billion in 2007. If Lehman still failed, he said multiple safeguards put into place now wouldn't put the onus on taxpayers.

Dimon added that due to the existence of "living wills" that show how a bank would be unwound in case of emergency, "Too Big to Fail was solved before any additional rules were put in place."
Complicating the situation even more is globalization.



Weakening the emission rules in the U.S. does nothing to achieve the common platforms and standards that make automakers better able to manage costs. Foreign auto companies already make cars to meet tougher emission standards across the global market.



Reversing our emissions rules runs the risks of driving a higher cost structure onto U.S. vehicles by bifurcating the standards between federal and state. Even more importantly, those foreign cars made in other parts of the world would be able to comply with stricter standards, making U.S.-built vehicles less competitive in the global markets. If our vehicles don't have the same kind of fuel efficiency than the cars they're competing against in other countries, they won't sell very well.



The foreign makers that are here in the U.S. would potentially take advantage of this, too. It's more likely that they'll bring better emissions technology over here, and then U.S. manufacturers will be more exposed to gas price spikes. Despite the critics, the reality in 2009, when gasoline was well over $3 per gallon, was that the high-mileage, hybrid Toyota Prius was flying off the dealer lots.



From a supplier's standpoint, foreign or domestic, the question is this: Do you think emission standards are going to be altered so much that it changes the OEM product programs, potentially delaying implementation of some of the technologies in new vehicle programs, such as hybrids, electrics or light-weighting?



Personally, I doubt that any new EPA rules will result in significant changes in new model timelines that have already been put in place.



Perhaps the industry should rethink this aggressive stance, put the brakes on their drive to lower emission standards and seek other avenues of support from the president.



Commentary by Daron Gifford, partner and automotive industry consulting leader at Plante Moran, an accounting firm and consultancy in Detroit.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
With the GOP's failure to repeal Obamacare last month, House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to give a time line for a new bill.

However, Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly been working with the Freedom Caucus to devise new ideas and proposals to potentially revive the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Two of those ideas allow states to opt out of essential benefits (which include mental health care, maternity care, substance abuse care, chemotherapy and more) and community ratings.

But many health-care providers are wary of the fast pace the GOP seems to be taking with repealing Obamacare.

"This again is a rush to accomplish something when we really need a comprehensive bipartisan approach to health-care reform," Molina Healthcare CEO Dr. Mario Molina told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Tuesday.

Molina is particularly worried about the potentially higher premiums and misleading packages insurance companies can price and sell.

"Well, what worries me is it allows insurance companies to charge much higher premiums for people with preexisting conditions and at the same time, by changing the essential health benefits, insurance policy companies offer packages at a lower price, which theoretically will appeal to younger people," Molina said. "The problem is, those people find out when they get sick, the insurance premium and the package they purchased do not cover their sickness or the treatment needed or the medications."

According to Molina, funding CSRs (cost sharing reduction), a discount that lowers the price you pay for deductibles, copayments and coinsurance, is imperative for the market and individual insurance.

"They need to fund the CSRs for the next two years to buy Congress the time to come up with some reform legislation," Molina said. "If they don't do that, the individual market collapses, and that would be terrible for the country. It would be terrible for people buying individual insurance, and it would be a black eye for the Republicans."
It's spring break time, and plenty of people are planning trips  and renting cars. And that brings many questions: Do you want to prepay your fuel? What are all those mysterious fees? Should you pay for extra insurance? More from TODAY:

Study on slow breathing may lead to treatments for anxiety disorders, even SIDS

Crayola announces it will retire Dandelion from its iconic pack of crayons

This teacher raised enough money to buy new bikes for each student in her school To address prepaying for fuel, TODAY national investigative Jeff Rossen and two members of the Rossen Reports team rented the same make and model car (a 2016 Toyota Camry SE) from the same place before driving to the Grand Canyon, but paid three different ways. Jovanna Billington prepaid at the counter; Rossen did not prepay, and filled the tank just before returning the car at the end of the trip; and Josh Davis didn't prepay and didn't fill up the car before returning. After they all drove the same distance  two hours to the Grand Canyon and two hours back  Davis paid the most for gas: $59.22. Billington was charged $41.65 for the entire tank, even though she used only about half. The money-saving winner was Rossen: $16.74. "So the moral of the story is, unless you're going to drip that tank empty, fill it up yourself," Rossen said.

Travel expert Gary Leff explained the many fees you may see on your rental charge: Concession recovery fee: "The rental company has to pay the airport to rent you a car, so they are going to charge you for that fee," Leff said. Tire and battery recovery fee: "Tires wear out; they are going to have to be replaced," Leff explained. "You pay them to throw away old tires." Customer transportation fee: That "free" shuttle that takes you to and from the airport "isn't so free, and you pay whether you use it or not," Leff said. Parking recovery fee: "When you are not renting the car and they are not renting it to someone else, it's got to park somewhere, and they are charging you for the parking." Energy recovery fee: To offset the significant costs of utility charges, bus fuel, oil and grease, and related costs. Air conditioner surcharge: The company that makes the car pays a tax on the air conditioner installed in it; that gets passed on to the rental company, which passes it on to you. City-based fees: All vehicle rental transactions in Boston are subject to a $10 surcharge to help pay for convention centers in Massachusetts. Cleveland requires car rental companies to collect a Motor Vehicle Lessor Tax to finance various city projects. And Kansas City imposes a daily $6 fee to provide funds to a downtown area.
PepsiCo has tapped Kendall Jenner to represent its brand  a move to make its products resonate more with younger consumers.

The beverage behemoth announced Tuesday that Jenner will star in Pepsi's latest "Moments" campaign, which aims at reflecting today's millennial generation and "what living for now looks like."

"To me, Pepsi is more than just a beverage  it registers as a pop culture icon and a lifestyle that shares a voice with the generation of today," Jenner said in a statement. She tweeted "honored" on Monday, referring to the Pepsi announcement, but later removed the tweet after backlash began to build online.

Jenner is a star in E! TV's reality show "Keeping up with the Kardashians." The 21-year-old fashionista is the daughter of Kris Jenner and the former Bruce Jenner  who is now known as Caitlyn after sex reassignment.

In a short film titled "Jump In," a diverse group of millennials is seen marching through the streets protesting for love while Jenner poses for a photo shoot. That is, until she decides to wipe off her makeup and walk through the streets herself, joining the peaceful protests with a Pepsi can in hand.

The ad ends by saying: "Live bolder, live louder, live for now."
Real estate mogul Sean Conlon has seen every type of neighborhood. As a child, he lived in a 1,000-square-foot house with his family of seven in the small town of Rathangan in County Kildare, Ireland. In 1990, Conlon moved to Chicago with $500 dollars and took a job as an assistant janitor.

Sean Conlon of "The Deed" Maarten de Boer/NBC | Getty Images

His key to breaking out of that job and breaking into the real estate industry was finding an up-and-coming neighborhood right on the cusp of popularity. Conlon began studying the zoning laws for one specific neighborhood and became an expert. When his neighborhood became popular, Conlon managed to make a name for himself and blow away his competition. He tells CNBC, "Your average broker was doing $2 million a year, I was like $100 million to $200 million." So how did he manage to find that opportunity? Whether you are interested in real estate flipping or simply looking to buy a home, his advice can teach you what to look for.

Wally Skalij | Getty Images

Then: Starbucks Conlon explains that, back in 1993, he looked to invest in real estate in neighborhoods with a Starbucks. He explains, "A Starbucks was a sure sign back then that the neighborhood was really about to pop." Today, however, he looks for something entirely different. Instead of looking for expensive chains like Starbucks or Whole Foods, he looks for trendy small businesses, good schools and transportation. Now: Cool stores

Small shops crowd the main street in the Elmwood Village neighborhood, in Buffalo, New York. Elmwood Village was named one of the 'Top 10 Great Places in America' by the American Planning Association. Christian Science Monitor | Getty Images

Conlon explains that small businesses are an indication that people are contributing to the community: "You want to see cool little stores opening, you want to see people investing in the neighborhood." Now: Great schools

Murals adorn walls around campus at Coronado High School. Sandy Huffaker | Getty Images

Additionally, Conlon says that investing in neighborhoods with good schools is a smart bet because people are willing to pay extra for a great school district. Conlon says being in the best school district is "massively important in America right now." His company, Conlon/Christie's International Real Estate, has invested heavily in a neighborhood where people are willing to pay 10 to 15 percent more so that they can send their kids to the great schools nearby. Now: Transportation

Metro trains pull into the Capitol South station in Washington D.C. Bill Clark | Getty Images
Samsung already offers screens that are flexible and curved, on phones and other smart devices likes its Gear Fit watch. But a truly foldable Galaxy phone isn't out yet, though company officials previously indicated that 2018 could be the year if technical problems are solved.

A Samsung engineer recently said that he expects foldable smartphone displays to be ready for mass consumption in 2019.

"Because the bezel-free display currently sells so well, we still have enough time to develop foldable display[s]," Samsung Display principal engineer Kim Tae-woong told The Korea Herald. "The technology is expected to be mature around 2019."

A foldable display will pave the way for gadgets that can be folded into smaller sizes. Imagine a tablet that can be folded into a smartphone that can be folded into something even tinier and more pocket-friendly.

Phone-makers have experimented with this sort of "foldable" technology before, though rather unsuccessfully. Kyocera launched a phone on Sprint named the "Echo" that folded in half, but used two separate display panels instead of a truly foldable display.

A report from Bloomberg last summer suggested that Samsung was going to launch a foldable smartphone much sooner. The device, reportedly code named "Project Valley" inside Samsung, was expected to make its debut in February during Mobile World Congress. No such device ever materialized in public view.

There's another reason why Samsung may be dragging its feet with foldable screens, though.

Samsung is currently leading the market in bendable displays. Its curvy displays have been used in its flagship smartphones for the past several years, most recently making an appearance on the Galaxy S8 that launches later this month. They're used to minimize the bezels on the front of a smartphone, allowing for a display that appears to pour over the edges of the device. Foldable displays will make bendable screens obsolete.

The comments made by Tae-woong suggest that Samsung is going to take its time perfecting foldable displays, especially while interest in its bendable screens is still growing. Rumor has it, for example, that Apple will finally adopt Samsung's display technology, possibly employing a bendable AMOLED display in the iPhone 8.
Small business hiring fell slightly in March after three months of positive gains, according to a Paychex report on Tuesday.

The Small Business Jobs Index decreased 0.05 percent from the previous month to 100.73. Year-over-year, the pace of small business employment growth is essentially unchanged, the human resources solution firm said.

The national index averaged 100.71 during the first quarters of 2016 and 2017.

"This month's jobs index once again reflects consistent small business job growth, far above pre-recession levels," Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO, said in a release.

Tennessee remains the top-ranked state, the report said. Dallas became the country's new top metro area for small business jobs, following a 1.45 percent one-month decrease in Atlanta, which had held the top position.

Last month, Mucci attributed the growth to President Donald Trump's pro-business agenda, including tax reform, regulation rollback and the potential for health care reform.

After the House Republicans' failed health-care bill last month, Trump said the administration would move on a plan to broadly cut taxes.

Like repealing and replacing Obamacare, reducing tax rates was a central promise by Trump during his presidential campaign. Investors have had doubts about the time frame for a tax proposal, with some not expecting reform until next year.
J.Crew enjoyed ten phenomenal years under quirky creative director Jenna Lyons, who remade the brand in her own distinctive image. The company, when she joined as a knitwear designer in 1990, was a small brand known for its predictably preppy style and popular catalogue. By 2003 the company was successful but had stagnated, so they brought in Mickey Drexler, the man behind the meteoric success of the Gap in the 1990s, to reshape the brand.

Lyons and Drexler instantly clicked, and the new J.Crew was their love child.

For the next ten years, Lyons did the unimaginable: She transformed generic all-American tastes to reflect her love of pattern, texture, and color, all with her quirky, sensual style  but most importantly mixed with much love  for herself.

More from Jeetendr Sehdev:

Study: Oscar Win Lifts Brand Paydays

Stars inspire but do they move us to action?

Starbucks Initiative on Race Relations Draws Attacks Online

At the brand's peak of hipness she presented collections full of her cool-girl aesthetic, styling the models in thick black glasses and long, straight hair to look exactly like her (or, as she described it, "Little Edie goes to girl scout camp"). Jenna Lyons was dope and she knew it. She was a cover star and an Instagram-friendly executive-cum-style icon in her own right.

Besides, you know you've made it into the twenty-first-century old boys' club when flocks of women dress up as you for Halloween.
Russia President Vladimir Putin may be prepared to adopt an ever tougher stance against Kremlin protestors in the immediate aftermath of a deadly subway attack in St. Petersburg on Monday afternoon.

Authorities reported at least 50 people had been injured and 14 people were killed after an explosion between two underground metro stations in Russia's second-largest city on Monday.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described the blast as a "terrorist attack." Although, an anti-terror investigation has been initiated, other potential causes are also being investigated.

The suspected suicide bomber is believed to have been a Kyrgyzstan native who had later obtained Russian citizenship, the central Asian country's security service said on Tuesday.

"The Kremlin has experienced two unexpected and jarring incidents in just over a week, and this could lead to action against dissent that is stronger than it would otherwise be," Eurasia Group analysts said in a note.

"Such action would add to U.S. and European governments' criticisms of the arrests that followed the 26 March protests."
MOSCOW  A suspect in the deadly subway bombing in St. Petersburg, Russia, was reportedly identified by authorities Tuesday as a Kyrgyz-born man in his early 20s.

The central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said it believed Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in Osh in 1995, was linked to the attack but his exact role was unclear, the Associated Press and Reuters reported.

The explosion, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown, tore through a train under Russia's second-largest city, killing 14 and wounding close to 50. Police later found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another station.

More from NBC News:

Death Toll Climbs to 273 as Rivers Recede in Colombia

Trump Campaign Associate Revealed as Target of Russian Spies

Blackwater Founder Repped Trump at Secret Meeting Overseas

Interfax news service cited an unidentified Russian law enforcement official saying that investigators believe a single suspect left the second device before blowing himself up on the train, according to the Associated Press. None of the reports could be independently confirmed by NBC News.

Russia is home to a large diaspora of Central Asian migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed Chechen separatists or Islamic militants, but 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."

Putin laid flowers at St. Petersburg's Tekhnologichesky Institut station late Monday, according to official state news service TASS. The president stepped out of his car in Moskovsky Prospekt Avenue with a bunch of scarlet roses.

The blast happened when the train was between the Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institute subway stations. There was praise for the driver, who took the damaged cars forward so that victims could be treated more quickly by first responders.

The second device was found at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station. It was loaded with shrapnel and contained up to 2.2 pounds of explosives, Interfax reported.

The subway was closed for several hours while authorities checked the system for other threats. It was reopened later with tighter security and the city offered free bus travel.

In a phone call with Putin, President Donald Trump offered condolences, the White House said in a statement Monday night.

Trump also pledged to support Russia's response to the attack and its pursuit of justice, the statement said.

"Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated," the statement said.

ISIS claimed it had created a bomb brought down a Russian MetroJet passenger jet over the Sinai desert in Egypt in 2015. The Dec. 25, 2016, crash of a Russian plane near Sochi that killed 92 people, including members of the Red Army Choir, is widely believed to have been due to a bomb, but no official cause has been given.

Previous attacks in Russia include the bombing of a Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train on Nov. 27, 2009 that left 26 dead and 100 injured.

On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber blew himself up at 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.

Alastair Jamieson reported from London.
If you're trying to avoid filing a return and paying the taxes you owe, forget about claiming that the Constitution protects your right to do so. You can also forget about asserting that the IRS isn't an agency of the United States. These arguments are just two of the excuses tax dodgers love to dole out this time of year as reasons why they don't have to submit a return and cough up levies.

Buena Vista Images | Photodisc | Getty Images

You're running out of time to turn in that Form 1040 and pay what you owe, by the way: Tax Day is April 18. As of March 24, the IRS received 85.3 million individual income tax returns, down 4.7 percent from the year-ago period. For your convenience, the IRS created a list of common frivolous tax arguments that would-be tax skippers concoct around filing time. The agency has also spotlighted fishy tax shelters, schemes built by promoters to fool wealthy taxpayers into thinking they can outsmart the IRS. "These scams can end up costing taxpayers more in penalties, back taxes and interest than they saved in the first place," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said.

The Constitution as a tax dodge

Ambitious tax evaders point to the Constitution as a reason why they can avoid coughing up their fair share. For instance, some taxpayers claim they don't have to file a return because the Fifth Amendment protects them from self-incrimination.

Getty Images

Here's the surprise: The Supreme Court deflated this argument in 1927 in United States v. Sullivan, asserting that this claim would press the protection of the Fifth Amendment "too far." The IRS has issued a bulletin against constitutionally based arguments, threatening penalties and the possibility of prison for these attempts.

'Voluntary' tax payments

Others have tried to assert that filing a return and paying the federal income tax are voluntary actions. What's "voluntary" about our tax system is that taxpayers are permitted initially to figure out the amount of taxes they owe and complete the returns, as opposed to having the government do that for them, according to the IRS. Payment of taxes isn't an option, however. The IRS points to Section 1 of the Internal Revenue Code, which imposes levies on taxable income.

There is something about taxes that turns the brains of smart and sophisticated people into mush. Ed Slott CPA and founder of Ed Slott and Company

Other whoppers include, "I don't owe federal income taxes because I'm a citizen of my state and not the United States," "I owe no income taxes because I've filed a return that reports no income and no liability" and "wages I've received for personal services don't count as income." The IRS has debunked all of these. Indeed, you can complain about the tax code, but you still have to abide by it. "The biggest complaint I see in general about our tax system is income that is earned is taxed as ordinary income, while investment income gets beneficial tax treatment," said Debbie J. Freeman, director of tax and financial planning at Peak Financial Advisors in Denver. Grumbling aside, her clients still file and pay what they owe.

Too good to be true

Some professionals have sought creative ways to try to beat the IRS at its own game through the creation of abusive tax shelters. This year, the IRS called out micro-captive insurance tax shelters, in which a promoter helps the owner of a business build a small "captive" insurance company in a bid to avoid taxes. Roth IRA tax-evasion scams are another favorite among the unscrupulous. In this case, a promoter might suggest that a small business owner open a Roth IRA and transfer ownership of the company to the account.

watch now
watch now

Dragging your feet on saving for your kid's college? Or worse, haven't even started? As you probably know, college can cost a small fortune. So if you want to help the kids pay those big bills it's time to stop procrastinating and starting funding a 529 savings plan. These education savings accounts can offer parents huge tax advantages and lots of flexibility. Yet many seem to be confused about how these plans work.

Jamie Grill | JGI | Getty Images

Here are some common misconceptions: "I don't need a 529 because I'm already saving in a brokerage account." It's good to diversify how you're saving for college. The biggest benefit of a 529 account boils down to these two words: tax free.

That's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a home run for clients. Reed Finney Bleakley Financial Group

"The greatest thing about the 529 is the money grows tax free and comes out tax free. That's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a home run for clients," said Reed Finney, a financial planner with Bleakley Financial Group in Fairfield, New Jersey. Unlike a traditional brokerage account, you'll pay no taxes on any dividends or interest you earn. Plus, when you start making withdrawals you'll pay no tax on the capital gains as long as the money is being used for qualifying educational expenses, he said. Also in some states you'll get an additional tax break on your income taxes if you use your state's plan.

John Fedele | Getty Images
COLUMBUS  Tuesday was a big day for Columbus.

That was the message delivered by Mayor Jim Bulkley before city officials and local and area dignitaries lifted their shovels to break ground on a nearly $11 million project that will be the realization of a long-awaited dream for the community.

This is the beginning of some really great transformation in Columbus, Bulkley said while describing construction of a Third Avenue viaduct spanning the Union Pacific Railroad tracks that ends 25-plus years of discussion and delays on a second viaduct for the community.

Bulkley, speaking before a crowd of about 50 people at a groundbreaking ceremony on the north side of the railroad crossing along Third Avenue, said the viaduct is not the culmination of 12 years of efforts that began when he was named to serve on a city committee in 2005.

This is something thats been thought about for 25 or 30 years, Bulkley said from the podium. Its finally going to happen. The day has finally arrived when were going to do it.

Columbus civic and business leaders have been mulling a second viaduct in the community since the 1930s.

The citys viaducts plan was approved by voters in 2008.

A.M. Cohron and Son Inc. of Atlantic, Iowa, was awarded the bid for the Third Avenue viaduct and 18th Avenue pedestrian overpass project last year by the Nebraska Department of Roads. The total cost for construction is $10.89 million.

The two structures will be built concurrently, with a time frame of 12-18 months for completion. Construction of a 12th Avenue viaduct will begin once those two structures are complete.

Kevin Domogalla, a Norfolk-based district engineer for NDOR, told the crowd Columbus viaduct plans are an example of the state agency, community and railroad forging a partnership in 21st century infrastructure investments.

A cost-sharing agreement calls for 80 percent of the total price tag, including design and property acquisition fees, to be covered by federal funding, 13 percent by Union Pacific and 7 percent by the city using local sales tax revenue.

The Third Avenue viaduct project will provide improved access to the south side of the community  commercial, residential and schools  that will spur growth in the community, Domogalla said.

We thank city officials for their persistence (in pursuing the project) and the citizens of Columbus for their patience on this long-awaited project," he said.

Construction materials are already stacked on the east side of Third Avenue just north of the railroad crossing. Work is underway on the east side of the road with tree removal in preparation for trucking in fill dirt.

City officials said plans call for Third Avenue to remain open until late this year, with access open for adjacent businesses and residences. The road is expected to be closed for no more than a six-month period during late 2017 and early 2018.

Officials said the Iowa contractor is working to squeeze that time frame by being more efficient, weather permitting, in getting the work done.
Looks like the bulls are back in the China shop, pushing stocks up for the first quarter of the year on the back of stronger economic data and better-than-expected corporate earnings.

The benchmark MSCI China Index gained 13 percent in the first three months of 2017, while the Shanghai Composite added 3.8 percent. Over the last year, mainland-traded stocks have posted a pretty steady ascent  markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen have added 7 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

"This past quarter was a great one for China stocks," said Larry Hu, China economist at Macquarie, attributing the rise to solid earnings growth, a strengthening property market and a stable yuan.

It's a sign that perhaps confidence is returning to China, the world's second-largest economy. For years, the fear had been that the country's growth would implode in a "hard landing," disrupting the global economy.

"There's been this cyclical recovery  China's in an easing mode  It shows up in the economic numbers, and it shows up in many company earnings reports," said Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at Krane Funds Advisors. It's a "stealth bull market."

China restricts international investment on its domestic stock markets, but foreign investors can seek exposure by trading Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong or New York. They can also buy through special programs set up by the Chinese government to boost investment flows between the mainland and the rest of the world.
Then-U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

There is no reason to believe Rice did anything wrong

There are two important things to note about this controversy. The first is that the revelations about Rice do not in any way support the president's claim that team Obama "wire tapped" Trump Tower during the campaign. The timing is off  the intercepts Rice sought access to cover the transition, not the campaign  and getting the name of an American caught up in lawful US surveillance of foreign nationals is completely different from an illegal wiretap targeting the president's chief political opponent. The second is that there is no evidence whatsoever that Rice's behavior was improper. The closest thing to such evidence is an anonymously sourced report, from Bloomberg View's Eli Lake, that the contents of the intercepted calls contained important information about the Trump people. "One US official familiar with the reports said they 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," Lake writes. But Lake's story contains a vital detail to understanding this. He notes that the intercepted conversations "were 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." This means that Rice wasn't sifting through the Trump administration's internal conversations to find their secrets. Either the Trump transition officials were sharing these vital secrets with foreign officials, on calls they should have known were being monitored, or the foreign officials had learned this information somewhere else and were discussing it among themselves. Either way, potentially valuable information about the next US administration had gotten into the hands of foreign governments. It would be surprising if America's national security adviser didn't want the names of Trump officials who were involved in these calls in order to identify possible counterintelligence risks. Business Insider's Natasha Bertrand asked four separate intelligence experts, of varying ideological stripes, whether they thought the behavior described by Lake was improper. Their answer was unanimous: It wasn't. "We should be disturbed if whoever was in office was not keeping close tabs on that sort of thing," Paul Pillar, a 28-year CIA veteran and current Georgetown University professor, told Bertrand. "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." Nadio Bakos another longtime CIA analyst and current senior fellow at the right-leaning Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted a similar assessment to Pillar's. Bakos tweet "She was the National Security Advisor reading a report of foreign officials discussing US persons coming into [the White House]," Bakos tweeted. "This isn't odd or wrong."

What Rice actually did

To understand the Rice allegations, and why intelligence experts are so skeptical about any allegations of wrongdoing, you need to understand a little bit about how American spies actually work. While government surveillance of US citizens is heavily constrained by statute and the US Constitution, spying on foreigners is relatively easy. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows secret courts to issue surveillance warrants for non-Americans, which they are very willing to grant. In 2015, the FBI and the NSA  the two agencies that handle most electronic surveillance  asked for a combined total of 1,457 FISA surveillance warrants. Not a single request was denied. Oftentimes, targets of FISA warrants  like foreign diplomats  speak to or about Americans on the phone. The result is an American being accidentally surveilled, or an American's personal information being collected, under a warrant that's supposed to target foreigners only. This is called "incidental collection" in intelligence jargon, and it creates a bit of a privacy rights dilemma. You don't want to let the US intelligence community use FISA warrants as a backdoor way of spying on US citizens, and you also don't want the names of Americans who have been surveilled incidentally to leak publicly. The solution is a process called "minimization," wherein the name of US citizens on the call or mentioned on the call is replaced with some kind of descriptor in the intelligence community's write-ups. Let's say the US government has a FISA warrant on my fiancee, who is Canadian, and intercepts some boring call we have about groceries. She would be identified by name in the transcript, but I would be referred to as something like "Journalist #1" or "Relative #2." On occasion, high-level officials  say, the national security adviser  can ask the intelligence community to reveal the names of Americans picked up in the surveillance. Theoretically, they're only supposed to ask for someone to be "unmasked" when the report is unintelligible without the person's identity OR when there's a compelling national security reason to do so (like if a suspected foreign terrorist was talking to a US citizen about their joint plan to blow up a building). Such requests make a lot of sense, and do happen with some frequency. But out of context, it sounds scary  the US government is trying to find out individual citizens' names on warrants that are supposed to target foreigners! This is what Nunes's initial disclosures last month were all about. Nunes announced that US intelligence had incidentally collected information on Trump transition officials and, moreover, that the names of these Trump officials had been unmasked. This did raise some questions about privacy rights. But because Nunes was extremely vague about who was unmasked and why, the controversy didn't initially focus on that aspect of things. The Rice reports have refocused things significantly, linking the unmasking to a specific Trump administration official. This led, almost immediately, to speculation that Rice had asked for the unmasking for improper political reasons  building off Trump's unsubstantiated allegation that Obama had spied on him during the campaign. By giving Republicans a specific target, rather than a vague one, they could make a lot more hay out of unmasking allegations  even though if you understand how surveillance actually works, you realize that what Rice was doing was fairly routine. The fact that Susan Rice is the one at the center of the new flap, and not a different former Obama administration official, was the last ingredient necessary to turn this non-scandal into a conservative obsession.

How this nothingburger became such a big deal
Don't count on value-added or carbon taxes from Republicans.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was looking at the two provisions as part of its tax reform plan. They could potentially raise revenue to help offset major tax cuts if the House's current border adjustment proposal hits a snag.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady signaled Tuesday that a proposal with value-added or carbon taxes would face resistance in Congress.

"Both the House and Senate in recent years have weighed in pretty heavily with resistance against those ideas," the top House tax writer told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

As the Texas Republican spoke, the White House said in a statement that "as of now" those taxes are not "under consideration."

Brady said he expects some form of border adjustment to remain part of a Republican tax plan. He added that the House may consider some tweaks to the plan to address "valid concerns" brought by retailers, particularly those who buy component parts abroad.

He called a potentially revised plan a "border equalization tax," without going into much detail about what would change. Retailers and some lawmakers have opposed border adjustment, saying that it could raise the cost of product inputs and potentially pass those costs onto consumers.

Republicans will need some form of new revenue, though, if they want to chop tax rates without expanding the deficit.

Brady also did not commit to the White House's public goal of passing tax reform before Congress' August recess, though he said he wanted to get it done this year. He said he learned from the failed attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act not to "rush."

Watch: Carbon & VAT taxes not under consideration
Trump economic advisor Gary Cohn said Elon Musk could build new infrastructure all over the United States.

Or, rather, beneath it.

At a White House town hall meeting for CEOs and business leaders on Tuesday, Cohn said he has been soliciting Musk for ideas on how to construct new rails and roads for better transportation around the country.

And the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he can "tunnel the whole way," according to Cohn.

Eamon

Musk first began discussing his tunneling project in December 2016, after saying that traffic was driving him "nuts."

Since then he has said he plans to start a separate company and develop machinery that can burrow underground at a faster pace than what's currently available. He even said he would name it "The Boring Company."

elon

Musk has also been digging a tunnel under SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, and, as Cohn says, has been at work on tunnels at other locations.

The logic behind the goal is this: Musk says tunneling into the Earth solves the problem posed by the congestion created in dense cities with tall buildings and limited street space.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria that left dozens dead, pinning the massacre on Syrian President Bashar Assad and taking a swipe at his American predecessor in the process.

At least 83 people, including 25 children, died in the attack, and the death toll could rise, according to NBC News. Leaders around the world condemned the massacre on Tuesday afternoon.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world. These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said in a statement. "President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack."

The Syrian government has denied that it had a role and said it was complying with an international ban on chemical weapons. It has blamed past chemical attacks on the rebels fighting the Assad regime.

The Associated Press said Tuesday marked the third claimed chemical attack in Syria in a little more than a week.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also released a statement condemning the attack Tuesday after he received some criticism for not answering questions about it earlier in the day.

"Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions," Tillerson said in a statement. "Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable."

 NBC News contributed to this report.

Watch: Syria on docket at Munich Security Conference
One of the men leading President Donald Trump's push to redesign trade with China owns a stake in a shipping company that does business in China and whose vessels sail under Hong Kong's flag.

Trump has pledged to get tough on trade when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who will play a role in any trade policy changes, has part ownership of Diamond S Shipping, a company with ties to China and other parts of Asia.

Ross, a billionaire financier, divested from many assets that could have posed ethics issues before taking the Cabinet spot. In his required financial disclosure, Ross said he would step down from his management roles with Diamond S Shipping and remove himself from decision-making but keep a passive stake in the company, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

His remaining ownership stake in the company underscores the conflicts that wealthy members of Trump's administration could face as they shape his economic agenda.

A Commerce Department spokesman declined to tell CNBC whether Ross sees a need to distance himself from any specific trade negotiations, but said that "as a general matter, Commerce's ethics officials provide the secretary with ongoing guidance to avoid any potential conflicts of interest."

Trump tweet

Trump has repeatedly criticized China, alleging that the world's second-largest economy manipulates its currency in order to make its exports cheaper than comparable U.S. products and rack up a massive trade surplus with the United States. Last week, Trump previewed the meeting with Xi by saying "we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses."

On Friday, Ross further highlighted the U.S. trade deficit with China in a CNBC interview. Asked why the administration thinks deficits are bad, Ross said, "if trade deficits are good, why is China so pleased that they run a huge trade surplus?"
President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed direct credit for a Ford investment in the United States that was largely planned since 2015.

"That was not going to happen, believe me, if I didn't win," Trump said of Ford's investment during a town hall with CEOs at the White House.

Last week, the White House heavily promoted Ford's announcement that it would put $1.2 billion into three Michigan plants, planning to create or retain 130 jobs at one of those facilities.

Still, more than 70 percent of that investment was part of a previously announced project.

About $850 million of Ford's announcement was part of the company's $9 billion investment in its U.S. facilities, first announced in 2015 as part of its contract with the United Auto Workers, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president for the Americas. About $200 million of the new investment is for a data center.

Trump has pushed automakers and other companies to produce their products in the U.S., saying those efforts will boost American manufacturing and create jobs. He has repeatedly threatened penalties for American companies that make products abroad and try to sell them at home, doing so again Tuesday.

Ford, General Motors and Fiat-Chrysler have made U.S. jobs announcements since Trump won the presidential election in November, and he has repeatedly touted their plans. On Tuesday, he again highlighted those announcements, saying American automakers are "staying here."

However, many of those projects were in the works well before Trump won the presidency.

Since taking office, Trump has met with Ford CEO Mark Fields, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.
Andy Puzder, former CKE Restaurants CEO, told CNBC on Tuesday he's used to being attacked for conservative economic positions, but he's seen nothing like the vitriol he experienced from the media as President Donald Trump's first Labor secretary nominee.

After several delays of his confirmation hearing  in part over financial disclosure and ethics paperwork  and not enough GOP support, Puzder bowed out on Feb. 15.

Puzder said he couldn't even tweet during the vetting  adding he would have liked to defend himself against accusations that were being circulated at the time, including alleged wage violations at CKE locations and decades-old abuse allegations from his ex-wife.

"It was tough. When I became the focus of the efforts to try and wipe somebody out, it became very intense," he said on "Squawk Box." "It's hard if you can't go on and defend yourself."

In making his case for confirmation, Puzder said he had "some good meetings with Democratic senators who "probably would have supported" him.

"One of the things that came out talking to senators is that Democrats really thought they were going to win," he continued. "They thought they were doing to have the presidency into the foreseeable future."

Late last month, Puzder decided to step down as chief executive CKE, the parent company of fast food chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr. His last day on the job he held since 2000 was Monday.

The president's second choice for Labor secretary, Alex Acosta, received Senate committee approval at the end of last month. The nomination of Acosta, a former Justice official, is expected to soon go before the full Senate. If confirmed, Acosta would be the first Hispanic member of Trump's Cabinet.
watch now

The general who commands America's nuclear arsenal on Tuesday warned about North Korean missile advances, calling it "very challenging" in remarks to a Senate panel. At the same time, Gen. John Hyten, U.S. Air Force Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, expressed frustration about the lengthy delays and budget instability that he said are hindering the ability to modernize the nation's nuclear deterrence capabilities. Speaking to the full Senate Armed Services Committee, Hyten said North Korea now has the capability to deploy an intercontinental ballistic missile and hinted it's only time before they can do it with a nuclear warhead. He said the rogue Asian nation also demonstrated new capability in February that moved them into a new league with solid-fueled missile technology. "Ballistic missile proliferation is increasing as more countries acquire greater numbers of ballistic missiles while simultaneously advancing technical sophistication to defeat U.S. defense systems," Hyten testified.

U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, testifies in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Yuri Gripas | Reuters

The Air Force general said the U.S. must continue to advance its missile capabilities and forces to deter threats and aggression. But he said if the U.S. military doesn't get stable budgets to modernize its capabilities there could be risks. As an example, he said the Navy's Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine program is delivering new ships on a "just in time" basis. However, if the program slips due to budget issues it will be falling below required numbers and pose a problem for military leaders due to the existing fleet of aging Ohio-class submarines. "There is a certain time in the future where the Ohio-class submarine... will not go under the water anymore," the general said. "Just the pressure on the vessel itself will not allow it to go down. That [program] has to stay on time." The government's funding using a continuing resolution, or CR, "makes it very hard to start new programs," Hyten said. Moreover, he said as weapons programs move from development phase into production the CR means "you can't ramp up the funding you need." The general also said the effect of the CR is the government breaks defense contracts. "It's a very significant issue in terms of cost to the taxpayers as well as risk to our national security." Hyten also vented that the Pentagon's current weapons acquisition process is dysfunctional despite earlier attempts to streamline it. His lengthy military career included earlier roles in a variety of space acquisition and operations positions. "Our acquisition system has not been very effective in the last 10 years in delivering things on time," he said. "I think what you have to do is eliminate a lot of the bureaucracy in the middle." Tuesday's hearing also touched on how there's an added risk since early warning missile sensor technology used by the U.S. military in space is seen as increasingly vulnerable due to advances by China and others. The growing threat of offensive space weapons also troubles other experts.

watch now

The Senate panel also discussed vulnerabilities of defensive options available to the U.S. Specifically, Hyten was asked generally about capabilities after a launch of nuclear weapons by an adversary as well as post-launch interceptors  a weapon designed to disable weapons in the early launch phase (sometimes known as the boost phase). "We don't have a significant, or really any boost phase, intercept capability," the general said. "It is a very challenging technology because you basically have to be properly positioned with the right kind of weapons capability in order to respond to an immediate launch." Indeed, if you look at the North Korean launch on Feb. 11, it occurred out of a new location and with new capability  including a new transporter erector launcher technology believed to have been developed by the regime that has threatened the U.S. "All those things bring the time of warning down to a very small number," Hyten said, reiterating the importance of being properly positioned to respond to the threat. The general said the new solid-fueled missile demonstrated by the North Koreans and the new launcher "showed a new technology, a new North Korean capability to employ a very challenging technology for us." That's because the liquid fuel that the North Koreans previously used takes more time to prepare and offered the U.S. time to observe, watch and prepare for any responses. Yet the solid-fuel missile can be "rolled out and launched at a moment's notice," Hyten said. "They moved what was demonstrated at sea onto land." Hyten oversees the global command and control structure of U.S. strategic forces, including the nation's three-leg nuclear deterrent  land, sea and air-based capabilities. The nuclear triad has been a centerpiece of the nation's strategic defense since the 1960s but relies in part on an aging stockpile of weapons and delivery systems. But the general said the last 20 years the U.S. has "deemphasized nuclear weapons" while adversaries have been investing in them in recent years. "We need to modernize our capabilities across the board," he said. "I never want to be able to sit down with a potential adversary and have a negotiation from a position of weakness." Elsewhere, Hyten said the Russian's ground-launched cruise missiles are currently in violation of the INF Treaty (a 1987 agreement formally known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty). "We have no defense for it," he said, adding that the Russian system can carry nuclear-tipped weapons and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed. "It is a concern and we have to figure out how to deal with it as a nation," Hyten said. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) responded that the Russian cruise missiles and INF Treaty violation was "a compelling argument for [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's disregard for most norms of behavior." Hyten said the U.S. needed to respond to Moscow's moves by strengthening its own forces and capabilities. "The only way we can deal with them in the future is from a position of strength," the general said. "I'm asking for help in modernizing our entire forcesto make sure we can deter not only today but in the future." Watch: Trump on N. Korea, China
Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio attends the opening ceremony of Asia's first Victoria's Secret flagship store on March 08, 2017 in Shanghai, China.

Another Wall Street analyst is losing confidence in the once high-flying parent of Victoria's Secret.

Citi analyst Paul Lejuez on Tuesday downgraded L Brands ' shares to neutral from buy, saying the company is operating in too many mediocre or underperforming malls.

The ratings cut comes just two weeks after KeyBanc analyst Ed Yruma downgraded the company's stock to underweight because half of its 2,600-plus U.S. stores are located in "B" and "C" malls.

L Brands' shares fell 3 percent in early trading Tuesday, to near $44.31. They've lost nearly half of their value over the past year.

"The 2017 L Brands stock story likely comes down to [the second half]," Lejuez told investors. "If business stabilizes, we will look back on the past 12 months and be impressed with how well they managed through all the challenges they faced."

However, if sales and/or pressure on L Brands' gross margin continues, "we will question if there is any stabilization in sight," Lejuez said.

L Brands has been working through a slew of challenges at its Victoria's Secret brand. The label discontinued its catalog, exited the $500 million swim category and is focusing on lower-margin products such as bralettes and sport bras.

It's also struggled to bring traffic into its stores due to self-inflicted and macroeconomic pressures. They include a tweak to its promotional strategy and a shift toward online shopping.

In February, L Brands issued first-quarter and 2017 guidance that fell well short of Wall Street's expectations. Victoria's Secret has posted double-digit comparable sales declines in the first two months of the year.

Jefferies analyst Randal Konik has gone so far as to say that Victoria's Secret has a branding problem, as women are no longer interested in the bombshell look that defines its aesthetic. He has an underperform rating on its stock.

Still, not everyone has lost faith in the brand. FBR Capital Markets last month upgraded L Brands' shares to buy, arguing its consumers have stayed loyal.

L Brands will report its March sales on Thursday.
COLUMBUS  A new county treasurer has been appointed.

Jenny Reppert was approved for the position effective immediately during Tuesday's Platte County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The position opened after Theresa Gabriels resignation was accepted by the board last month. Since then, Deputy Treasurer Patti Renken has served as county treasurer on an interim basis.

Reppert has worked in the treasurers office for 21 years, which was a factor in the boards personnel committee recommending her for the head position.

The experience was a big factor, said Supervisor Jerry Micek, a member of the personnel committee.

Other factors, he said, were Repperts knowledge of the office, including the employees, and her vision for how the office should be run and policies and procedures.

Reppert said she has experience with various jobs in the treasurers office and was already learning some of the treasurer's duties.

It seemed like a good opportunity, Reppert said of her interest in the position.

There were 17 applicants for the county treasurers job, with two interviewed by the committee before a recommendation was made.

Reppert will serve the remainder of Gabriels term, which ends in January 2019.

Also during the meeting, the board discussed supporting a legislative bill that would allow a county board or voters to determine if county elections should be nonpartisan.

The supervisors previously voiced their support for nonpartisan county elections and discussed signing a resolution backing LB139. The bill introduced by Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue is one of three nonpartisan county election proposals referred to the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Platte County board members said nonpartisan elections could stem voter apathy and allow voters to show support for the best candidates regardless of their party.

We worry about people not voting. We think it is horrible that people dont go to the polls. But yet, people who do go to the polls dont get to vote on everything. I think thats wrong and that helps encourage voter apathy, said Supervisor Jerry Engdahl.

The Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) has opposed all the proposals because other elected positions in the state are on partisan ballots.

County Assessor Tom Placzek, who serves on the NACO board, spoke to the county supervisors at Tuesday's meeting. He said there was discussion by the NACO board both for and against supporting nonpartisan ballots, with more support from western Nebraska counties that have little representation outside Republicans.

He thinks there is a benefit to having political parties listed on ballots.

I also feel that the R and the D do mean something to people. A lot of times its a philosophy they believe in and thats why its important to them. They feel that it carries through not only on the lower local government, but up to the federal government, Placzek said.

The board took no action on the resolution. County board members said none of the bills will likely move forward this legislative session, but they are interested in writing a letter in support of nonpartisan elections at the county level.

In other action, the board:

 approved right-of-way negotiations for $75,491 with property owners for a grading project near Tarnov. The estimated $900,000 project will put shoulders on 385th Street from Tarnov to 355th Avenue.

 tabled discussing updates on the remodeling process at the new location for the Platte County Extension Office. The issue was tabled because the building and grounds committee didn't have enough time to look at the plans and cost for renovating the building at 2715 13th St.
An oversupply of natural gas is keeping prices low for an extended period of time, but U.S. gas exporter Cheniere Energy says it has no problems finding homes for its products as the company keeps its contract terms flexible.

"What you're seeing is a supply-demand price reaction, which is what you'd expect when the market becomes more transparent, more liquid, more seasonal and less bilateral," said Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco.

The market, Fusco said, is moving away from bilateral contracts that have dominated the market for decades to spot contract trading, which now makes up to a third of the market.

His comments come on the back of a pact by the world's largest liquefied natural gas buyers, all of whom are located in Asia, to secure more flexible supply contracts in a move that shifts power to importers from producers amid the supply glut, Reuters reported on March 23.
watch now

OKINAWA-While the world watches mounting military tensions in the South China Sea, another, more ominous situation is brewing in the East China Sea that could be the trigger point for a major war between the superpowers. At the heart of tensions are eight uninhabited islands controlled by Japan that are close to important shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas reserves. China contests Japan's claims and is escalating its military activity in Japan airspace. In response, Japan has been doubling its F-15 jet intercepts. The situation increases the risk of an accidental confrontation  and could draw other countries, like the United States, into a conflict. It's a topic President Trump will likely bring up with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate this week. From the departure lounge at Naha International Airport on the Japanese island of Okinawa, passengers can easily see what's going on. Between the regular comings and goings of commercial airliners, first one, then two, then two more F-15 fighter jets streak down the runway that Japanese Air Self Defense Forces (JASDF) share with Naha's regular airline traffic. Rising rapidly from the tarmac, the quartet of combat aircraft heads out to sea to intercept yet another Chinese military aircraft  usually other fighter jets, sometimes a bomber or reconnaissance plane  flying into or close to Japanese airspace. Such airborne intercepts are on the rise over the East China Sea, with Japan now averaging roughly two intercepts of Chinese aircraft per day since April of last year, nearly twice as many as in the 12 months prior. In response to the uptick in Chinese military activity in airspace Japan considers its responsibility, JASDF has doubled the number of fighter aircraft at its Naha Air Base, adding a second squadron of F-15Js  the Japanese version of the U.S.-made F-15 fighter jet  in January of last year. The increased intrusion of Chinese military air traffic into airspace protected by the JASDF, along with the uptick in aerial intercepts, heightens the risk of an accident or misunderstanding between the two militaries  a situation that could rapidly escalate, given the already heightened military tensions in the region. Such an incident, intentional or not, could quickly spiral, potentially drawing U.S. forces in the region into the fray.

Rising tensions

"They've routinized their intrusions into our territorial sea space," says Eisuke Tanabe, a senior policy coordinator in the joint staff councilor's office at the Japanese Ministry of Defense, noting that incursions by Chinese surface ships into waters claimed by Japan are increasing alongside airborne incursions by Chinese fighter jets. "We send our fighters, and that makes the situation possibly very dangerous, when fighters and fighters come close." From April to December of last year, Japanese fighter jets scrambled to intercept Chinese aircraft 644 times (Japan's fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31 of the following year). While Japan has not yet released total figures for fiscal 2016, Ministry of Defense officials briefing CNBC on the matter maintain that the tempo of airborne intercepts continues to increase, as it has every year since 2008. JASDF forces haven't intercepted this many aircraft since the busiest days of the Cold War, when aircraft from the Soviet Union were active in the region. Today tensions in the region are heightened by new catalysts, primarily overlapping territorial claims in the East and South China seas, the lingering threat of military action on the Korean Peninsula, and an increasingly capable Chinese military that seeks to secure its near-abroad rivals through a mix of air and sea power. Neighboring U.S. allies, like South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, are forced to look on nervously as China continues to test and improve its capabilities in the western Pacific Ocean and in the seas abutting China to its south and east.

A political hot button

On Okinawa  home to several major U.S. military installations as well as a meaningful contingent of Japan's Self Defense Forces  one particular sticking point serves as a regular reminder to Tokyo of just how tense Japan/China military relations have become: the Senkaku Islands.

Chinese aircraft carrier fleet operates during a training exercise in the South China Sea last December. VCG | Getty Images

The Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu Islands to China), located some 225 nautical miles west of the main island of Okinawa and just 90 miles north of the Japanese island of Ishigaki, are claimed by both countries, creating an ambiguous security situation as both nations' militaries attempt to administer the uninhabited land masses and their surrounding territorial waters and airspace. Key to the dispute are both the rich fishing waters around the Senkakus and reports of potential oil and gas reserves in the seabed of the surrounding East China Sea. Sovereignty over the islands for either China or Japan (or Taiwan, which also claims the islands) would bolster any future claims to those energy reserves. In recent years, the Senkakus have become a political hot button for both nations, stirring nationalism on both sides while driving a cautious approach by a Japanese government eager to avoid open confrontation with China. Following an incident near the Senkakus in September of 2010, when a Chinese fishing trawler deliberately rammed a Japanese Coast Guard ship, Japan claims it has taken a soft approach, urging Japanese fishermen to steer clear of the islands even as Chinese ships continue to ply the waters around the Senkakus.

Flexing military muscle

China has openly said it aims to secure access to the Western Pacific beyond what's known as the "first island chain"  the string of islands stretching from the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan to the Philippines and across the southern fringe of the South China Sea, all the way to the Malay Peninsula. Ultimately, China aims to extend its military reach into the South China Sea and Western Pacific in such a way that it can effectively control who can  and cannot  enter those regions, analysts say. But increased Chinese military activity in the East China Sea could prove to be the by-product of more specific aims. "Our observation is that China is trying to develop the capabilities of their various aircraft in the Western Pacific Ocean," Yurie Mitsui, deputy director of the Strategic Intelligence Analysis Office within the Japanese Ministry of Defense, says. Because the increase in both surface ships around the Senkakus and airborne missions in the region require long-term planning and preparation, intelligence analysts have no choice but to read the uptick in activity as deliberate policy, she says. "'First island chain' is a term created by the U.S . " Mitsui says, and while she agrees with the idea that China is looking to extend its military capability deeper into the Western Pacific beyond U.S. allies like Japan and the Philippines, there's another, more fundamental issue at play for China. "When we analyze China's activities in the Western Pacific Ocean, we always think of Taiwan," she says.

China is trying to develop the capabilities of their various aircraft in the Western Pacific Ocean. Yurie Mitsui deputy director of intel at the Japanese Ministry of Defense

It's a troubling addendum, suggesting that while territorial disputes and Chinese military activity in the East China Sea often take a backseat to more provocative island-building and military exercises in the South China Sea, the issues underpinning Chinese military activities along its eastern coastline are in some sense more volatile. China considers democratic Taiwan a breakaway province and has vowed to bring it back under mainland Chinese rule. Doing so isn't just a matter of geopolitical strategy or economic necessity, but a matter of nationalistic pride for many Chinese citizens and the ruling communist party.

The Taiwan card

As the Trump administration reportedly crafts a major new military arms package for Taiwan to help the island deter a rising Chinese military, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told a press briefing last week that "it is futile to use weapons to refuse unification, and is doomed to have no way out." President Trump will host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate April 67, and security issues concerning North Korea and South China Sea will undoubtedly fill out the top of the agenda. Whether or not Taiwan or issues related to the East China Sea come up will be telling for those in Japan watching closely for clues as to how the new administration's relationship with China is likely to play out. With the Trump administration still trying to find its feet after a shaky first two months in office, China could look to press a perceived advantage in the Western Pacific, says Dr. Akio Takahara, an expert on Chinese politics and professor in the graduate school of law and politics at the University of Tokyo. "The Chinese are always looking at what the Americans do," he says. "So when the Americans aren't doing well, they think they are doing very well."  By Clay Dillow, special to CNBC.com

WATCH: Why Trump's foreign policy is on a collision course in the South China Sea
SULLIVAN, N.Y.  The Oneida Indian Nation plans to build a new 65,000-square-foot casino in the Bridgeport area of the town of Sullivan in Madison County.

The Oneidas will build Point Place Casino on Route 31, near the corner of Bridgeport-Kirkville Road, just a few hundred feet from the border with the town of Cicero, according to a news release posted on the Oneida Nations website.

Construction will begin in May with an expected opening in spring 2018.

The project cost is $40 million, Joel Barkin, VP of communication for the Oneida Indian Nation, said in an email response to a BJNN inquiry.

Point Place Casino will create more than 200 full- and part-time jobs in the town of Sullivan. The casino will open a recruitment office in Cicero and will begin hiring this fall.

The construction of Point Place Casino will follow a project-labor agreement with Central New York trade unions, creating 250 local construction jobs, the Oneida Nation said.

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, Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and Nation Enterprises CEO, said in the release. Over the last few decades, we have worked hard to build a well-planned economic model that has sustained and invigorated the local economy, and our expansion projects have almost always exceeded expectations. In the coming months, we are looking forward to working with the community to launch this latest project and build off that success.

The new smoke-free facility will include a gaming floor with nearly 500 slot machines and 20 table games.

Itll have two, fast-casual, counter-service restaurants, including the newest location of Wicked Good Pizza, the pizza shop that originated at the Oneida Nations Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango and Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona.

Point Place Casino will also include Burgers of Madison County, a family-friendly, restaurant offering burgers, milkshakes, and more.

Additionally, Point Place Casino will introduce a second location of Opals Confectionary, the chocolatier and bakery from Turning Stone, and will have two bars, per the release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Visual caption: A rendering of Point Place Casino, which the Oneida Indian Nation plans to building in the Bridgeport section of the town of Sullivan in Madison County. The construction site for the $40 million, 65,000-square-foot venue is a few hundred feet from the border with the town of Cicero. (Visual credit: Oneida Indian Nation)
COLUMBUS  Monday evening's Entrepreneurs In Action showcase featured quite a bit of variety.

We have some unique businesses, said Doris Lux, director of the Central Community College-Columbus Entrepreneurship Center, which organized the showcase held at Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.

For instance, Columbus High School junior Samuel Reyes is the first Latino student to participate in the program for area high schoolers.

Reyes, who came to the U.S. from Venezuela, speaks English and Spanish, is studying German and picked up some Portuguese while living in a Brazilian neighborhood in Florida. He turned his love of languages into Map Journeys, a business that translates legal documents.

I think in the U.S. theres so much immigration and travel because its the U.S. Its huge, he said. Thats why a business like this could be successful.

Boone Central High School junior April Johnsons business also has a global theme. Johnson loves to bake, but wanted to make something different for Global Goodies.

Ive never been a huge fan of cake, she said.

Instead, she learned how to make baked goods from around the world.

During last years Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island, the 4-H'er received special recognition for her baklava, a Turkish treat with layers of phyllo dough, honey or syrup and chopped nuts, and a purple ribbon for her brigadeiro, a Brazilian dessert made from condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles.

For her Entrepreneurs In Action (EIA) project, Johnson expanded her menu to include Black Forest cake, scones and Swedish almond bars. Now that she finished the program, she plans to add more goodies for the Albion farmers market.

I want to pull in Asian and African desserts, said Johnson. I need to experiment with those because I know a lot of Europe baked goods.

Scotus Central Catholic senior Megan Ohnoutkas business is directly related to her plan of studying graphic design at Northeast Community College. She started Custom Designs through the entrepreneurship program to sell her home decor items.

I just like making things out of nothing, she said. This is a way of having people show what I make around their homes and their rooms.

Twin River High School senior Payton Cherry started her business, Billy Goat Bubbles, out of necessity. Cherry has severe allergies, which just a few months gave her anaphylaxis.

I found out Im allergic to a lot of things I dont know about, said Cherry. Its dangerous.

Her mother Tracy started Farmhouse Spa so Cherry and others like her can find soap and bath products that are safe. Cherry based her business off her mothers for the EIA program.

My favorite part was learning how much work it is to start your own business, said Cherry. It gave me a lot of respect for entrepreneurs.

Cherry said she hopes to continue her business through college. She donates some of the profits to allergy research.

The seven-month EIA program allowed high schoolers to connect with businesspeople and mentors while learning how to start, promote and finance their own businesses.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
The holidays are creeping up on us
Joan Goshgarian, wife of former commissioner at the state Department of Cultural Resources Van McLeod, hugs Rep. Steve Shurtleff and property developer Steve Duprey after the groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the John Gilbert Winant statue that will be placed in front of the state library on Park Street in Concord. McLeod was instrumental in the project before he passed away last July. GEOFF FORESTERMonitor staff

The crowd for the John Gilbert Winant statue groundbreaking arrives as workers from R&T Electric had already started to lay the electric groundwork for the statue Monday in front of the New Hampshire State Library on Park Street in Concord. GEOFF FORESTERMonitor staff

The groundbreaking ceremony for the John Gilbert Winant statue in front of the New Hampshire State Library on Park Street in Concord on Monday served as an emotional event, honoring not only the New Hampshire politician commemorated with the statue but also Van McLeod, the commissioner of the state Department of Cultural Resources who was instrumental in the project. McLeods widow was in attendance.
A proposal to bring an indoor gun range and retail store to Warner is off to a rocky start.

A Warner planning board public hearing scheduled for Monday night was postponed for two weeks because at least one of the abutters was not properly notified when the proposal went before the towns Zoning Board of Adjustment in early March. According to a motion for rehearing filed by Alfano Law Office on behalf of Norm Carlson, the owner of abutter MadgeTech Inc., the state of New Hampshire was not given notice when Eric Miller, owner of Dragonfly Holdings LLC and applicant for the gun range, brought his proposal before the ZBA and was granted a special exception to the towns zoning laws.

The development, if approved, would be located on Warner Road off Interstate 89s Exit 7, just shy of a mile from the Hopkinton town line. The states Department of Recreation and Economic Development owns a plot of land called the Davisville State Forest across from the proposed location of the range, and there is also a state Department of Transportation shed near the property. Neither department received notification from Miller, who was responsible for notifying abutters, according to the motion.

Planning board Chairman Ben Frost said the board is required to make sure all abutters are notified properly before a public meeting is held. The hearing is rescheduled for April 17 at 7 p.m. at the town hall. Frost said there was a miscommunication between the town and Miller about who needed to be notified before the meeting.

The board also determined the development would not cause a regional impact and therefore would not require the town to notice abutting municipalities.

That impact can include  but is not limited to  noise, light, smoke emissions, proximity to neighboring communities, proximity to waterways that cross town boundaries, or shared facilities such as schools.

That would be news to the Hopkinton select board, who questioned whether they should have been notified before the planning board hearing. The Hopkinton board voted to send a letter to Warner during a select board hearing held on Monday, before the planning board meeting, after discussing whether Hopkinton should be involved.

Select board member Sabrina Dunlap during that meeting said they should be included based on environmental concerns and because the range would be within 2 miles of Hopkintons high school. She said the board had received several emails from concerned residents, who said they did not have enough notice prior to Mondays meeting. I think people have a right to be heard, she said.

Frost said Hopkinton residents who have a demonstrable interest in the proposal would be allowed to speak.
Ken Livingstone should probably just give up talking about Hitler for a while, given the problems hes caused for Labour thus far. Indeed, today his Partys disciplinary panel reports back on his behaviour. But hes Ken Livingstone, so he went on the Today Programme this morning to say Hitler a few more times just for good measure.

It wasnt a very wise idea. Throughout the row, the line of Livingstone and his supporters has been that he isnt trying to link Hitler and the Nazis to Israel in order to discredit the Jewish state, he is simply talking about the historical facts about Zionism in the 1930s.

Unfortunately, Livingstone himself blew a hole in this rather threadbare argument in his Radio 4 interview. Among other claims, he asserted that the Gestapo worked with Israeli agents in Mossad. This would have been quite difficult for the Gestapo, which was abolished in 1945, given that Mossad was founded in 1949.

Presumably Livingstone meant Mossad le Aliyah Bet, the Office for the Second Immigration, which worked to encourage and facilitate clandestine immigration into Palestine  a different organisation, though in some senses a partial forerunner of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. At the time that the Gestapo existed, Mossad le Aliyah Bet could accurately be described as Zionist, but not as Israeli.

The former mayor appears to have blown his own gaff  his critics have always argued that this endless focus on Hitlers links with Zionism was about associating Israel with the Nazis, and he has just done so on national radio.
Christopher Howarth is a senior researcher working in the House of Commons. Prior to this he worked for Open Europe, as a Conservative Foreign Affairs Adviser and senior researcher to a Shadow Europe Minister.

It stands to reason that for the Brexit deal to work, it has to be in both sides interests. However, reason takes us only so far; an element of the EU27 have a self-imposed need to prove that leaving the EU is not something others should follow. They believe there must be some visible, if not actual, pain.

To this end, we have seen press speculation that the EU27 would try and mete out punishments or even refuse to discuss cross-channel trade at all until after departure  insisting that all other matters, including a ludicrous demand for cash, be agreed first.

These are early days, but, contrary to the press reports, Donald Tusks draft EU27 negotiating mandate, circulated (and leaked) in response to the Prime Ministers Article 50 letter, actually gives us reasons to be optimistic that a mutually beneficial deal can and will be found.

Sequentialism versus Parallelism

First, there is a hard-core EU element, mostly in the Commission, that insist that sequential deals are the best way to prove that leaving the EU is a difficult and painful affair. By contrast the UK has asked for parallel or concurrent withdrawal and trade talks achieving agreement at the same time.

Sequentialism would, however, be difficult for the EU27 to uphold, given that in the absence of trade talks there would be little to keep the UK at the table. However, the EU27 text seems to include a potential solution that would allow trade talks to kick off while giving the EU27 the formal exit deal they require. The wording of the text states that after departure:

Any free trade agreement should be balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging. It cannot, however, amount to participation in the Single Market or parts therof.

Far from creating a division, this wording is actually very similar to the Prime Ministers desired trade agreement. It also, conveniently, allows those who believe the Single Market is the pinnacle of Western civilisation to mete out their punishment to the UK  we will be excluded whether we like it or not (we, of course, like it).

It is also possible for this trade agreement to provide for a smooth transition. While the draft states an agreementcan only be concluded once the United Kingdom has become a third country, there is nothing preventing concurrent negotiation followed by a conclusion at 00:05 on Saturday 30th March 2019. The guidelines go on to say an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship could be identified during the second phase of the negotiations as soon as sufficient progress has been made in the first phase.

This seems to be the basis of a deal, an agreement on an outline orderly withdrawal from the EU followed by concurrent trade and exit talks covering future cooperation. While nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, to use a house conveyancing analogy, on departure we do a quick exchange and completion allowing it to come into force without a cliff-edge or interruption.

The EU desire for an exit payment need not hold things up

The first stumbling block could be the EU27s demands for a golden goodbye cash payment. These ludicrous demands (helpfully calculated by the CER) could be a deal-breaker for the UK, based, as they are, on no legal authority and ignoring the UKs counter claims. The authors of the guidelines seem to have also considered how to avoid the talks falling at this first fence, stating that the withdrawal agreement should include appropriate dispute settlement mechanisms regarding the application and interpretation of the withdrawal agreement. As the UK is clear it will pay what is legally due, and that it believes that what is legally due is very little or nothing, this issue could potentially be sent to an independent body to assess, freeing up the UK & EU to negotiate the other matters.

No cliff-edge

The EU27s objectives overlap with the UKs in a number of key areas. Regularising the position of EU and UK citizens and the desire to avoid a cliff-edge are the most important. The guidelines state that: The main purpose of the negotiations will be to ensure that the United Kingdoms orderly withdrawal so as to reduce uncertainty and, to the extent possible, minimise disruption caused by this abrupt change. This seems to be a sensible recognition that it is in nobodys interests to allow politics to get in the way of basic co-operation on issues such as aviation, data-sharing and the technicalities of co-operation with EU agencies and customs administration. This is also the basis of a deal.

The EU27 cannot avoid talking trade

While the EU27 have a tactical reason not to wish to front-end the trade element of the talks, at least one member  Ireland  has every reason to wish to see trade front-ended. Indeed, a desire to retain an open Northern Irish border is another point of agreement between the UK and the EU27. This begs the question as to whether the EU27 can demand that the border is kept as frictionless as possible while refusing to discuss free trade. They cannot avoid it.

Nobody expected the EU27 to immediately agree everything, or be anything other than melancholy at the prospect of negotiating a states exit. However, the EU27 have avoided most of the rocks and put forward some practical solutions to concluding a deal that should benefit both the UK and the EU. It looks perfectly possible that both sides can remain content: the UK will not get full Single Market access (demonstrating visible  to some  if not actual pain), while the UK will gain a trade agreement that benefits both sides.
James Frayne is Director of communications agency Public First and author of Meet the People, a guide to moving public opinion. The focus of this column is Theresa Mays conservatism for ordinary working people.

Claims that Prince Charles made a significant personal donation to the charity Aid to the Church in Need  which supports persecuted Christians  are surprising. Not because of the merits of the organisation  which are strong  but because its so rare for public figures in Britain to be linked with the active defence of Christianity. Does the Princes act signal any change? Perhaps, but if it does, it probably only signals the growing weakness of Christian churches here in Britain.

British politicians and public figures rarely promote Christianity; were not that sort of country. Not only do few people attend churches on Sundays, but even fewer are prepared to talk about their faith publicly. This might be because of fear of ridicule and hostility  which has been common in recent times  but also because faith hasnt been part of the British (or, perhaps, English) public conversation for many years. American politicians talk about religion openly, in a country where religious observance is still high. Where British people believe in God, they do so very quietly. Tony Blair has very occasionally dabbled in the public discussion of faith and its rarely gone well.

But many public figures also seem worried that promoting Christianity in some way breaches the code of multiculturalism so strongly felt in Britain. They worry that it sends the wrong signal out, suggesting other faiths arent actively welcome in this country. Some fear a backlash from the politically correct left (rather than those that practice other faiths, who are rarely hostile) for supposed insensitivity, while others actually worry about not looking welcoming.

However, such is the decline in the power of Christian churches in Britain, that Christians might soon be seen as just another religious minority  a minority living in an overwhelmingly and passively agnostic society (with a small number of vocal atheists). Active Christians numerical irrelevance and their lack of influence in public debate means they might therefore be seen as a largely harmless sect. Rather than being a muscular, proselytising religion, Christianity in Britain might be viewed as a religion in decline  as far from a threat, culturally and morally, as its possible to be.

Ironically, it might be Christianitys weakness that gives public figures the confidence to promote and defend it. If its not seen as a symbol of the establishment and not worthy of the politically lefts active hostility or the mainstream medias derision, it will be easy for anyone, including squeamish public figures, to highlight important issues like the plight of Christians around the world. Thats not to diminish the actions of Prince Charles, but simply to say that what is surprising now, might become more commonplace as Christianity declines here.

Christian churches should welcome those that speak out on their behalf. But they should also ask themselves a difficult question: is public kindness a result of public indifference? If it is, the answer is not necessarily to leap into every public battle to rekindle old animosities, but it strongly suggests they should all be considering a complete reboot of their public role.
ALEXANDRIA, Ontario  The Province of Ontario has released the 2016 Sunshine List. The list names members of Ontarios public sector who made more than $100, 000 in 2016.

Among the names of those who made the Sunshine List for 2016 are police officers who had been suspended with pay, including one member of the SD&G OPP detachments Alexandria office.

Luanne MacDonald was suspended July 22, 2014 when she and fellow officer John Bernard were arrested. She was charged with three counts of breach of trust by an officer, obstruction of justice, one count each of fraud, voyeurism, distribution of voyeurism material and theft of communications.

It was claimed that Cst. MacDonald had filmed a woman naked and distributed the recording.

It was alleged that the incidents occurred between November 2011 and July 2014.

On Jan. 16 of this year, MacDonald pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

In 2016, which was her second full year on paid suspension, MacDonald still made $100, 626.82 according to the Sunshine List.

MacDonald resigned from the OPP before being sentenced on March 3.

She was an 11-year active veteran police officer.

MacDonald was handed a 15 month conditional sentence on March 3 including 10 months of house arrest.
Close

Observers tag this season as the deadliest outbreak of the H7N9 bird flu in China as government officials have recorded 161 deaths since October 2016. The US is also wary of the avian flu as news of outbreaks has also been reported in Tennessee and Georgia.

China has just announced that there are six new cases in Hunan province that included one death. A total of 161 deaths related to the H7N9 bird flu in China were already recorded in this avian flu season, the South China Morning Post reported. Provincial health authorities have said that 79 of the deaths were reported in the month of January alone.

The health authorities in Changsa also disclosed that these new cases have been recorded despite the total poultry ban that has been in effect since March 17, the News.com.au reported. The confirmed source of H7N9 bird flu in China was on a farm with over 29,000 chickens and prompted the health officers to cull 170,000 chickens in an effort to stave off the spread of infection.

Several US states have also confirmed outbreaks of the avian flu. The latest reports were from Wisconsin, Georgia, Minnesota, and Tennessee, where at least 74,000 chickens were culled. The USDA for its part informed the poultry industry of the outbreak through the World Organization for Animal Health.

The organization is now deciding if there will be a ban on chicken products from Tennessee as the bird flu outbreak there was caused by the deadly H7 strain.

The USDA also has issued a directive to temporarily stop people from organizing poultry fairs to mitigate the spread around the states. The avian flu was also recorded in Kentucky and Wisconsin. Farmers hope that this new outbreak in the US will not be a repeat of the last major outbreak where approximately 9 million chickens had to be destroyed in Minnesota alone and caused a $500 million damage to the state economy.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Close

Nick Anderson and Michele Bangsboll, a veterinarian couple, host rescue kittens on their wedding day. The couple said that the kittens named Houdini and Jeeves were rescued stray cats by their volunteer organization called Divine Feline.

Nick and Michele met when they were both veterinary students at St. Matthew's University in the Cayman Islands and since then, they have been inseparable. Their love for kittens bonded the two together.

The wedding took place at the Spruce Mountain Ranch in Larkspur, Colorado where the veterinarian couple hosts rescue kittens to promote their organization, Divine Feline. The couple volunteers there on their free time since the two both adored cats and then decided to have their feline friends be a part of their wedding day. The featured kittens on their wedding were also a way to help raise awareness of cat welfare issues, the couple said in an interview with the ABC News.

The guests in the wedding did not about the surprise purring guests but when they did, the room was in awe and could not get enough of the kitten's cuteness. Despite the cold, everyone felt warm upon seeing Jeeves and Houdini present in the ceremony, Nick shared to the Huffington Post.

Though the kittens in their wedding had ample exposure from media and guests, they have yet to find permanent homes since they were still too young to be neutered. Once they reach two months old and ready for the procedure, the kittens will then be looking for their forever homes.

The Anderson's posed with the kittens on their wedding photos together with family and friends. They included their love for kitties on their cake toppers and even on the bride's shoes.

The veterinarian couple hosts rescue kittens on their special day to not only offer a sense of uniqueness but to also show the community that there are still a lot of adoptable kittens around that are worthy of attention and love.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Australia sides with nuclear annihilation

The case for a nuclear weapons ban treaty

Australia has made clear it is committed to nuclear first-strike power by the worlds nuclear bully, the USA, with its boycott of negotiations for a global treaty on nuclear weapons. An agreement was reached on negotiations in the UN General Assembly last December. Richard Tanter, of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, noted: This is the first chance weve had in more than 50 years for any legal prohibition.

In one of its final acts of 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted with overwhelming support a landmark resolution to begin negotiations on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. This historic decision heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts.

Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction not yet prohibited in a comprehensive and universal manner, despite their well-documented impacts. Biological weapons, chemical weapons, landmines and cluster munitions have all been explicitly and completely banned under international law.

The vast majority of UN member states believe that weapons intended to inflict catastrophic humanitarian harm should, as a matter of principle, be prohibited under international law. They have concluded that nuclear weapons must now be placed on the same legal footing as other weapons of mass destruction.

The new treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons will strengthen the global norms against using and possessing these weapons. And it will spur long-overdue progress towards disarmament. Experience shows that the prohibition of a particular type of weapon provides a solid legal and political foundation for advancing its progressive elimination.

Eliminating the nuclear threat has been high on the UN agenda since the organisations formation in 1945. But international efforts to advance this goal have stalled in recent years, with nuclear-armed nations investing heavily in the build-up and modernisation of their nuclear arsenals.

Weapons that are outlawed are increasingly seen as illegitimate, losing their political status and, along with it, the resources for their production, modernisation and retention. Arms companies find it more difficult to acquire resources for work on illegal weapons, and such work carries a great reputational risk.

The treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons will complement existing bans on other indiscriminate and inhumane weapons, and reinforce existing legal instruments on nuclear weapons, such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, regional nuclear-weapon-free zones, and the treaty banning nuclear test explosions.

Underpinning the decision by governments and civil society to pursue a ban treaty is our belief that changing the rules regarding nuclear weapons will have a major impact beyond those nations that may formally adopt the treaty at the outset. This belief stems from experience with treaties banning other weapons, which have established powerful norms.

The new treaty will aim not only to advance nuclear disarmament, but also to help prevent further proliferation. It will enhance the security of people everywhere, not least of all those in nations currently armed with nuclear weapons who are more likely than others to be the victims of a nuclear attack.

The three conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons hosted by Norway in 2013 and Mexico and Austria in 2014 shed new light on the perils of living in a world armed to the brink with nuclear weapons. They clarified the urgent need to prohibit these weapons under international law. Governments are now taking action.

Principles of a treaty

The humanitarian initiative on nuclear weapons has provided stark and irrefutable evidence that nuclear weapons cause death and displacement on a catastrophic scale, with profound and potentially irreversible damage to health and the environment, to socioeconomic development, and to the social order. No state or international body could adequately address the immediate humanitarian emergency or long term consequences caused by nuclear weapon detonations.

Nuclear testing in several parts of the world has left a legacy of serious and persisting health and environmental impacts that cannot be undone and have yet to be adequately addressed. Regular activities around the command and control of nuclear weapons, such as transport of warheads and materials, military exercises, maintenance and upgrades pose a continued risk of accidents, miscalculations or errors.

The risks of nuclear weapon use are real and increasing.

In this context, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) believes that a treaty banning nuclear weapons is the best step that can now be taken to prevent their use and progress their elimination.

The renewed attention to the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons since 2010 has reinvigorated global determination to prohibit and eliminate these weapons once and for all.

In 2016, the UN General Assembly decided by overwhelming majority to negotiate a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, with negotiations commencing in March 2017.

A legally binding international instrument that comprehensively and explicitly prohibits nuclear weapons based on their unacceptable consequences would put nuclear weapons on the same footing as the other weapons of mass destruction, which are subject to prohibition through specific treaties. This treaty has the transformative potential to codify the illegality of nuclear weapons, stigmatise their possession, and facilitate nuclear disarmament.

A treaty banning nuclear weapons would build on existing norms and reinforce existing legal instruments, notably obligations under Article VI of the NPT. It would also strengthen the existing nuclear weapons regime and clearly codify the illegitimacy of possession. In line with other international legal instruments addressing unacceptable weapons, it should also reaffirm the rights of people who have been victimised by nuclear weapons.

A treaty banning nuclear weapons should establish a non-discriminatory international legal instrument that would prohibit its parties, their nationals, and any other individual subject to its jurisdiction from engaging in activities such as development, production, testing, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer, deployment and use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The treaty should also prohibit its parties from assisting, financing, encouraging, and inducing prohibited acts. Provide an obligation for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and a framework to achieve it.

The ban treaty would not need to establish specific provisions for elimination, but states that are parties to the treaty could agree to relevant measures and timelines as part of the implementation process: through protocols or other appropriate legal instruments; include positive obligations for states parties, such as ensuring the rights of victims and survivors of nuclear weapons activities; requiring actions to address damage to affected environments; and providing for international cooperation and assistance to meet the obligations of the instrument.

The process for banning nuclear weapons should be open to all states and inclusive of civil society and international organisations; be initiated, conducted, concluded, and adopted by governments who share the objective of banning and eliminating nuclear weapons, even, if necessary, without the participation of the nuclear-armed states; and not rely on rules of consensus and thus be blockable by none.

Source: ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons)
Israel wont defeat solidarity

The Israeli state has violated international law more than any other country yet has rarely, if ever, been held accountable for crimes and misconduct. Israels successful public relations campaigns through the ever-willing Western media partners, coupled with the relentless work and pressure carried out by its powerful backers in Washington DC, London, Paris and elsewhere, has borne stupendous results.

For a while, it seemed that Israel was capable of maintaining its occupation and denying Palestinians their rights indefinitely, while promoting itself as the only democracy in the Middle East.

Those who dared challenge that skewed paradigm through resistance in Palestine were eliminated or imprisoned; those who challenged Israel in public arenas anywhere in the world were smeared as anti-Semitic or self-hating Jews.

Things seemed to move forward nicely for Israel. With US financial and military aid, the size, population and economy of illegal settlements grew at a fast rate. Israels trade partners seemed oblivious to the fact that settlement products were manufactured or grown on illegally occupied Palestinian land.

Indeed, for a long time the occupation was very profitable with very little censure or pressure.

All that Israeli leaders needed to do was to adhere to the script: Palestinians are terrorists; we have no peace partner; Israel is a democracy; our wars are all carried out in self defence and so on. The media repeated such misleading notions in unison. Palestinians, oppressed, occupied and disowned were duly demonised. Those who knew the truth about the situation either faced the risk of speaking out  and suffered the consequences  or remained silent.

Justice for Palestinians, which once appeared as a lost cause, received a massive resurgence during the second Palestinian intifada in 2000.

Growing awareness resulting from the dedicated work of many intellectuals, journalists and students saw the arrival of thousands of international activists to Palestine as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Academicians, artists, students, religious officials and ordinary people came to Palestine and then fanned out to many parts of the globe, utilising whatever medium available to spread a unified message to their numerous communities. It was that groundwork that facilitated the success of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS).

Established in 2005, BDS was a call made by Palestinian civil society organisations to people around the world to take part in exposing Israeli crimes and to hold accountable the Israeli government, army and companies that benefit from the subjugation of Palestinians.

With large and growing networks already in place, BDS spread quickly and took the Israeli government by surprise. In the last decade, BDS proved resilient and resourceful, opening many new channels and platforms for discussions on Israel, its occupation, Palestinian rights and the moral accountability for those who either support or ignore Israels violations of human rights.

What worries Israel most about BDS is what it calls the movements attempt to delegitimise Israel. Since its inception, Israel has fought for legitimacy. But it is difficult to achieve legitimacy without respecting the rules required for a country to be legitimate. Israel wants to have it both ways: sustain its profitable occupation, test its latest weapons technology, detain and torture, besiege and assassinate while receiving international nods of approval.

Using threats, intimidation, cutting off of funds, the US and Israel have laboured to silence criticism of Israel. A United Nations report said that Israel has established an apartheid regime and although the author of the report Rima Khalaf resigned under pressure, the genie cannot go back into the bottle.

Progressively, BDS has grown to become the incubator of much of the international censure of Israel. Its early impact included artists who refused to entertain in Israel, then companies started to shut down their Israel operations, followed by churches and universities divesting from the Israeli economy. With time, Israel has found itself facing a unique and formidable challenge.

Ignoring BDS has proved dangerous and costly. Fighting BDS is like launching a war on civil society. Worse, the more Israel tries to disrupt the work of BDS, the more it legitimises the movement, offering it new platforms for debate, media coverage and public discussions.

In March 2016, a large conference brought together Israeli government officials, leaders from the opposition, media pundits, scholars and even entertainers from Israel, the US and elsewhere.

The conference was organised by one of Israels largest media companies, Yedioth Ahronoth.

It was a rare display of unity in Israeli politics; hundreds of influential Israelis and their backers trying to forge a strategy aimed at defeating BDS. Many ideas were put on the table. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri threatened to revoke the resident status of Omar Barghouti, BDS co-founder and one of its most effective voices.

Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Yisrael Katz called for the targeted civil elimination of BDS leaders, signalling Barghouti in particular. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan wanted BDS activists to pay the price.

The war on BDS had officially started, although the groundwork for that battle was already in motion.

The British government announced earlier in the year that it was illegal to refuse to buy goods and services from companies involved in arms trade, fossil fuels, tobacco products, or Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

That same month, Canada passed a motion that criminalises BDS. A couple of months earlier, the US Senate passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, conflating the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israel on US campuses, many of which have responded positively to the call made by BDS.

Eventually, Britain adopted a similar definition equating anti-Jewish hate crimes and criticism of Israel.

More recently, Israel passed a law that bans individuals accused of supporting the BDS movement from entry to Israel. Considering that entering Israel is the only way of gaining access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Israeli ban is aimed at severing the strong rapport that has been connecting Palestinians to the global solidarity movement.

The anti-BDS campaign finally culminated in the detention and interrogation of Omar Barghouti himself. On March 19, Israeli tax authorities detained Barghouti and accused him of tax evasion.

By doing so, Israel has revealed the nature of the next stage of its fight, using smear tactics and faulting leading activists based on charges that are seemingly apolitical in order to distract from the urgent political discussion at hand.

Along with other steps, Israel feels that defeating BDS is possible through censorship, travel bans and intimidation tactics. However, Israels war on BDS is destined to fail, and as a direct result of that failure, BDS will continue to flourish.

Israel has kept global civil society in the dark for decades: selling it a misleading version of reality. But in the age of digital media and globalised activism, the old strategy will no longer deliver.

Regardless of what transpires in the case of Barghouti, BDS will not weaken. It is a decentralised movement with local, regional, national and global networks spanning hundreds of cities across the world.

Smearing one individual, or a hundred, will not alter the upward movement of BDS.

Israel will soon realise that its war on BDS, freedom of speech and expression is unwinnable

Morning Star
Brexit stage right

The Article 50 bill has cleared parliament and awaits Royal Assent when it will ascend into law. While there is still more drama to unfold as the negotiations get underway, the triggering of Article 50 this week is likely to be one of the most dramatic constitutional changes to the UK for a generation, writes Adam Maanit.

National sovereignty was the Leave campaigns hottest hit single. It was on constant rotation in Fleet Street, Sky, and Broadcasting House. Michael Gove, lead vocalist of Leave house-band The Brexiteers, belted out memorable lines like, our membership of the EU stops us being able to choose who makes critical decisions which affect all our lives, in dulcet Oxbridge falsetto. Gove, Boris and Nigel were the Three Tenors of taking back control. Or perhaps they fancy themselves as The Sopranos 

Gina Miller was subject to a tsunami of racist and sexist abuse.

When MPs demanded that triggering Article 50 must first be put to parliament, Theresa May (became Prime Minister not via electoral contest but appointed by her Conservative chums in some pantomime papal succession) tried to bypass parliament by exercising her prerogative power. One wonders whether talk of regaining sovereignty was confused with restoring a reigning sovereign.

Brexit means Brexit was the tautological refrain. Red, white and blue Brexit its scatological cousin. A political discourse so vapid it leaves any hope of a well-informed public debate concussed and shivering by a barren litter-strewn lay-by.

The people stirred. A crowdfunded legal challenge ensued led by Gina Miller, Deir Dos Santos and the Peoples Challenge Group. Miller explained their case thus: It is about any government, any prime minister, in the future being able to take away peoples rights without consulting parliament. We cannot have a democracy like that. That isnt a democracy, that is verging on dictatorship.

The High Court judges agreed and ruled that parliament should have a vote on such a massive constitutional change. The Brexiteers were apoplectic. The Mail declared the judges enemies of the people alongside photos of each of them. It alleged conflicts of interest and divided loyalties, describing one of the judges as an openly gay ex-Olympic fencer, as if that in itself was somehow an act of high treason.

The Sun cried: Who do you think EU are? and blamed the loaded foreign elite for defying the will of the people. It did so with no irony whatsoever that The Sun is owned by an Australian billionaire media baron or that the Leave campaign employed the data-munging, fake-news generating, social media engineering nous of a Canadian one-per centre.

Miller was subject to a tsunami of racist and sexist abuse. She is black and therefore a primate, so we should hunt her down, went one rabid Leaver. Another chillingly threatened that she should be the new Jo Cox. She has had to restrict her travel and public appearances, and was forced to hire personal bodyguards to protect her for daring to speak up for the very parliamentary sovereignty the Brexiteers claimed they cherished above all else.

Few pro-Leave political leaders spoke out against the abuse and threats to her life. Some fanned the flames further. Nigel Farage waved an accusatory finger at Miller and called her the Chief Wrexiteer on live television. He threatened riots in the streets if Brexit was impeded. If the people of this country think that theyre going to be cheated, theyre going to be betrayed, then we will see political anger, the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed in this country.

Asked if he meant disturbances in the street, he replied: Yeah, I think thats right. This just five months since Labour MP and Remain supporter Jo Cox was murdered in the street by a white supremacist Leave supporter shouting Britain First. Twenty-five thousand tweets on Twitter hailed her murderer a hero and a patriot.

The government appealed in vain, as the Supreme Court upheld the High Court ruling. The judges defended parliamentary sovereignty but were nevertheless derided for it by very same people who had been telling us all along that it was the most precious thing in the world. The judges explained it thus: Where, as in this case, implementation of a referendum result requires a change in the law of the land, and statute has not provided for that change, the change in the law must be made in the only way in which the UK constitution permits, namely through parliamentary legislation. A modest victory for democracy and an opportunity for parliament to finally grab hold of the reins.

Or so we had hoped 

Fast forward to the past few weeks skulduggery in parliament and it was clear that most politicians didnt even bother to saddle up. The bill was skilfully and swiftly manoeuvred through the process straight off the gate by May & Cos chicanery and sheer belligerence.

MPs and Lords attempted to ensure that parliament would have a say in the negotiations with the EU and/or a guarantee of a final debate and vote on the terms and content of any ensuing deal. However, Chief Brexiteer for the government David Davis bared his teeth at the Lords and, in Trumpian fashion, commanded them to do your patriotic duty. Tory MP Suella Fernandes threatened that the House of Lords could be abolished if it obstructed the holy will of the people (a sacred invocation cast by the Brexit priesthood in order to ward off any momentary pangs of doubt or conscience). Not enough Lords were willing to sacrifice their subsidised wine-bar privileges at Westminster to call that particular bit of bluff.

The UK first applied to join the then EEC in 1961. Years of painstaking effort, diplomacy, debate and negotiation led to the European Communities Bill being introduced in 1972. It took 300 hours of debate in parliament to pass. It took this parliament a mere 70 hours of debate to begin to take us back out. All this because David Cameron wanted to put an end to the internecine warfare between eurosceptics and Europhiles in his own party by making it all of our problem now. (#thanksdave)

And so, we have arrived at the culmination of this kakistocratic farce of a process to leave the European Union like some drunk gatecrasher that finally left the party before the police arrived. There will be more dramatic acts in this tragicomedy to be sure, and we await still its suspenseful denouement with bated breath and paracetamol. Nevertheless, this moment passing before us was our great missed opportunity to change course, or at least stop for a toilet break and double-check that the GPS is working properly lest we, in our haste, wind up driving into the Thames.

Dressed in full Orwellian (or Trumpian) garb, this governments flagrant rejection of democratic accountability and parliamentary sovereignty is apparently urgent and necessary in order to take our country back. By which they probably mean, back behind the shed.

The Brexitspeak assaults us at every turn.

We deny votes to young people, EU residents and expats in order to safeguard their future.

We refuse to give a voice to the people of Scotland and Northern Ireland  the majority of whom voted Remain  in order to treat them with mutual respect.

We will spend more to get less;

Bring prosperity through austerity;

Broker peace by waging war; and

Help children in need by turning them away.

We will strike trade deals without treaties;

Protect EU residents by bargaining with their lives;

Promote education by making it unattainable; and

Defend the NHS castle by raising the portcullis to an invading army of privateers led by a windsurfing Gordon Gecko acolyte.

We will respect the will of the people: by ignoring half of them.

We will be independent by holding hands with demagogues and introducing them to the Queen in a taxpayer-refurbished palatial monument to British plunder, conceit and arrogance.

We are taking our country back 

When ex-Olympic fencer Mercutio sees his miserable drip of a friend Romeo refuse to fight the bully Tybalt, he is appalled by his friends calm, dishonourable, vile submission and fights the brigand himself. Romeo tries to stop them only to get in the way, enabling Tybalt to slay Mercutio and abscond. As Mercutio lay there dying, he realises only too late that his valiant effort was for nought. The houses of Capulet and Montague were as bad as each other. Both alike in feculence, they served no greater interest than their own petit-barbarian concerns. All else to them was just collateral damage. It is in this final realisation that he curses them both in epic Shakespearean fashion.

And so I say to those who were chosen to serve in the nations interest  be they Commons or Lords  and who knowingly voted against their own better judgement, whether for short-term political expediency or out of fear of the baying mob at the gates:

A plague on both your houses!

New Internationalist
Culture & Life

Divide and rule

When the major capitalist powers decided that they were losing control of Saddam Hussein, their strong man in oil-rich Iraq, they resorted to a policy they had perfected elsewhere: demonisation.

Suddenly, the whole world was told something the Iraqi people had known all along: that Saddam was in fact a brutal dictator. This fact had not bothered the imperialist powers when they installed Saddam in power. But he turned out to also be a nationalist, who objected to his countrys oil revenues being looted by the West.

The last straw was when Saddam began investigating the establishment of an independent oil market, with oil traded in currencies other than US petrodollars. He had to go, and suddenly Iraq was found to have weapons of mass destruction necessitating invasion by the West.

Iraq was conquered, Saddam was executed, and the countrys oil was secured for the big Western oil companies. But that was not enough for imperialism: Iraq was not to be allowed to ever threaten Western corporate dominance again. The once-rich countrys economy and infrastructure were systematically wrecked and ethnic and religious divisions fostered.

This was not a new idea for the strategists of imperialism. The British had used it to prolong their control of India for several years and various British possessions in Africa were split into smaller countries before being given their independence.

However, the country that has elevated partitioning to the level of strategic policy is the USA. The policy was seen in full display during the destruction of Yugoslavia. As a central element of the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslavia had long been a thorn in the side of the US and NATO. By playing on ethnic and religious differences that had always existed but had not previously been considered significant; and by pandering to local politicians who thought playing the nationalist card was their best bet for gaining power if only in part of the country, the US set about breaking the country up. Germany helped by encouraging the revival in Croatia of the Ustashi who had backed the pro-Nazi puppet regime in WW2.

Serbias President, Slobodan Milosevic, led his country in firmly opposing NATOs plan, so they demonised him, then kidnapped him and bundled him off to The Hague as a war criminal. Confined in a small cell he died there from harassment and medical neglect.

From being a pillar of the non-aligned countries, Yugoslavia became a collection of tiny little states that were individually powerless but which were nevertheless encouraged to engage in internecine warfare with one another.

A very similar procedure was followed with regard to another country that had pursued a foreign policy independent of the Western capitalist powers: Libya. Its oil revenues were used to give its population the highest standard of living in Africa. It aided countries struggling for independence or to overcome the legacy of colonialism, and was esteemed throughout Africa and the Third World generally.

Its long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was alternately courted and demonised. At the beginning of 2011, a Western-engineered revolt broke out in Benghazi. It had all the hallmarks of the similarly Western-backed colour revolutions that had brought down numerous progressive governments from Moldova to Ukraine. The revolt began in February. In March, as Libyan government forces prepared to crush it, the UN Security Council was persuaded to impose a No Fly Zone on the country. However, instead of preventing outside interference as anticipated, the decision was implemented by NATO, which talked fulsomely about freedom and even democracy, but in fact set about systematically bombing and destroying the countrys infrastructure.

French, British, US, Canadian, Swedish and Italian air-forces backed up by the Gulf States launched air-strikes against the Libyan Army. NATOs bombing campaign continued until October, and only ended with the capture, brutalisation and murder of Gaddafi.

Libya was left in chaos, with tens of thousands dead and millions  a third of the countrys population, in fact  forced to seek refuge in other countries. Tens of thousands still languish in the prisons of the NATO-installed government while various warlords and power-hungry factions  including Daesh/ISIS and other terrorist groups  wage civil war for control of portions of the countrys oil industry. At the same time antiquities have been looted and the countrys uranium resources appropriated by thieves and fly-by-nighters.

As an article in Sputnik noted: At the beginning of 2011, when the revolt began, the Libyan state had approximately US$600 billion worth of assets, inside and outside the country, including US$200 billion in bank accounts abroad, along with tons of gold and silver. Six years on, all this has been plundered.

And Muammar Gaddafis cousin, Gaddaf al-Dam adds: During these six years, not a single brick has been laid. The streets of the capital have no electricity, the water supply has been turned off, wages are not paid, schools are not functioning. ...

If the problem [in Libya and Iraq] lay in the need for Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein to give up power, as some have claimed, then why is all this senseless destruction and killing still going on?

Because the US has no interest in normal-sized countries being viable as independent political and cultural entities. Its interest is not in the countries themselves but in their resources. And their resources are more easily looted if the countries have been broken up into barely viable statelets.

Libya is ripe for partitioning between its various factions. The US has floated the idea of partitioning both Iraq and Syria. Turkey would support the partitioning of Syria, expecting that the north-east of the country would fall under its control. The US of course would support partition because a segmented Syria would be unable to stand up to Israel/US plans in the Middle East or to be part of the proposed Iran-Syria-Europe oil pipeline, and would be useless to Russia as an ally in the eastern Mediterranean.

Divide and rule was a guiding law of imperialism from the 17th century onwards. It still is  its just a little harder to apply.
But here's the weird thing: Rich Uncle Pennybags never had a monocle. Seriously, go to your closet and dig up the Monopoly box inevitably buried near the back. And before you ask, no, his design hasn't changed at all since he was introduced in Monopoly's Community and Chance cards in 1936:

Hasbro

He's as constant as the concept of economic malfeasance.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

The most likely explanation for this widespread confusion is the existence of another popular monocle-wearing mascot who shares many traits with Pennybags (the cane, the top hat, the air of douchiness), but has two important differences:

One, he does have a monocle.

Two, he's a fucking mutant peanut.
Having had a few days to digest the ruling awarding summary judgment to the trustee (suing at the direction of the Russian government), I wanted to elaborate on my earlier thoughts about the court's reasoning. As Anna points out , the ruling may be appealed, and in any event the dispute will not be settled for some time. But the recent ruling may be the most significant to come out of the case, so it's worth talking about in a bit more detail. I have already described the defenses Ukraine raised in response to the lawsuit, so I'll skip those details here. In brief, however, Ukraine argued that the loan was made under duress, that the government lacked capacity to enter it, and that the loan included implied terms equivalent to the doctrines of prevention or impracticability--i.e., that Russia implicitly promised not to seek repayment if its own conduct (annexation of Crimea and military intervention in the east) made it difficult or impossible to repay.

The duress argument always struck me as odd. The defense would have required a showing that Russia made wrongful threats that gave Ukraine no reasonable alternative but to assent to the loan. The first of those elements would have required the court to opine on the legality of Russia's conduct, which it was understandably reluctant to do. And in fact, the court ruled the defense was non-justiciable precisely to avoid having to engage this question. But the second element--no reasonable alternative--is also a challenge. To find that Ukraine was forced into the loan, the judge would have had to overlook or explain away some rather inconvenient facts. Given the procedural posture of the dispute, the judge was obliged to accept the truth of Ukraine's factual assertions, and there is plenty of evidence that the Russian government was playing hardball to disrupt Ukraine's ties to the rest of Europe. But there is also evidence that the two governments negotiated over the terms and structure of the loan, and active negotiation is hardly the hallmark of duress. There is also the fact that Ukraine actually made coupon payments and thus arguably ratified the loan even if it was initially the product of duress. All in all, I'm a bit puzzled that this defense featured so prominently in Ukraine's papers.

I don't have much to say about the judge's rejection of the lack of capacity defense. The judge's reason was that sovereign states always have the capacity to borrow. True, the agents responsible for the transaction may not have had the authority to incur the debt. But the important question, in the court's eyes, was whether the Minister of Finance had the "ostensible" or "usual" (i.e., apparent, as opposed to actual) authority to enter the loan. The judge found that the minister had such authority.

I am most perplexed by the part of the ruling rejecting the argument that an "implied" term of the loan was that Russia would not prevent Ukraine from repaying it. As explained in my last post, even though the judge acknowledged that Russia was controlling the Trustee's actions and would be the beneficiary of any payments (p. 66), he ruled that defenses of this sort can't be asserted when the loan is represented by a tradable market instrument. This doesn't make much sense to me. To draw an analogy to the Uniform Commercial Code: A person who meets the definition of a holder in due course takes the instrument free of competing ownership claims and most defenses to payment. But the fact that an instrument might be transferred to a holder in due course doesn't negate defenses when asserted against someone who does not meet the definition. And what possible argument could there be for such a rule? The court's answer is that "the question of the implication of the terms has to be decided at the time of contracting." But this is pure formality. Russia has not transferred the notes--in part, because continuing to hold them has allowed it to play both sides of the street with regard to whether the loan constitutes an official debt. Sure, the law wants to protect innocent purchasers of tradable instruments. But how does it advance that goal to allow an original lender to insist on repayment despite its own culpability?

To frame the issue a bit differently, suppose that Holder 1 transfers notes to Holder 2, which has no knowledge of any possible defense to payment. Now suppose Holder 2 thereafter decides to fund a private army, which invades the obligor and destroys its ability to pay. I find it hard to believe that English or any other courts would allow Holder 2 to sue to enforce the notes, on the theory that there was no "implied term" forbidding it to demand payment in such circumstances. If Ukraine's version of the facts is taken as true (as it must be at this procedural stage), it isn't clear to me how the Russian government is any differently situated.
Cloud News

Microsoft Upgrades Office 365 'Kiosk Plans' With Advanced Features

Joseph Tsidulko

Share this

Microsoft rolled out upgrades Monday for the Office 365 version made for enterprise workers who aren't bound to desks.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has added collaboration and productivity tools to Office 365 Enterprise K1 plans  often called "kiosk plans"  that are used by frontline employees in many industries, from retail to health care and hospitality.

"Giving those [services] to kiosk workers is the right move for Microsoft at this point, given some of the pressures they're getting from Salesforce and Google and some other competitors," said Tony Pagnusat, senior alliance director at Perficient, a Microsoft partner based in St. Louis, Mo.

[Related: Microsoft's New Dynamics 365 Combines CRM, ERP In The Cloud, Enticing Channel Partners To Expand Practices]

The kiosk plan is especially popular with Perficient's health care and manufacturing customers, Pagnusat told CRN, adding the upgrades keep Office 365 competitive with other products targeting that market.

While K1 once delivered only a very basic user interface, "with this new set of tools, you get more of a full-fledged information-worker type interface," he said.

The product additions to the K1 plans include Skype for Business messaging; Teams, a popular collaboration tool; the Office 365 video content service; and PowerApps and Flow, which automate workflows.

"Microsoft is recognizing that a lot of employees in a company dont have access today to the technology they could be using," said Matt Scherocman, president of Interlink Cloud Advisors, a partner based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Because those employees are carrying smartphones, they have "the power in their pockets to collaborate like never before," Scherocman told CRN.

In January, Microsoft introduced StaffHub to Office 365 K1, an application meant to automate the management of worker shift schedules. It also recently added 2 GB of OneDrive cloud storage to those plans.

Interlink has seen customers adopt kiosk licensing to give workers portals to human resource and employment information, Office Web Apps for filling out forms like incident reports, and email addresses with company domains, which makes those users feel more connected to their firm.

"This new offering will only accelerate the deployment of technology to frontline employees who are typically underserved by technology today," Scherocman told CRN.

K1, at $4 per user per month, is half the cost of the lightest version of E1, for office employees, and the features gap has been shrinking between the two products. That's driving adoption of kiosk plans, which leads to new opportunities for partners to add services.

"I'm sure IT departments aren't just going to flip these features on to everybody," Pagnusat said. "They'll need more deployment, planning, and training for the kiosk worker to understand the features available to them."

Microsoft partners will be tapped to create processes governing how those new capabilities are deployed to frontline workers, Pagnusat said, especially with the addition of products like Skype and Teams that combine multiple technologies and allow users to interact more intuitively.
Security News

McAfee CEO Says The Company Will Make Acquisitions, Investments To Grow

Sarah Kuranda

Share this

With its separation from Intel complete, McAfee CEO Chris Young said the security vendor will now look to expand its portfolio, which includes making acquisitions.

In an interview with CRN, Young said McAfee would have "available to us all options" as it looks to build out its portfolio, including building, partnering and buying products.

"One of the benefits of our focus in cyber is that we're able to put all of our energy around building out our product portfolio  Clearly, there is a fair amount of consolidation happening in our market. It is an active market, and we expect to be an active participant in that as one of the largest and most trusted players in the cybersecurity space," Young said.

[Related: Intel Security Re-Emerges As McAfee, A $2 Billion Security Company]

"We will seek to add pieces to that portfolio that we believe are going to help us solve the customer['s] problem  Adding pieces to our portfolio both organically and inorganically is what we will be doing when we separate [from Intel]  Stay tuned," Young said.

Young said McAfee would also be looking to make organic investments, citing examples of where the company has added capabilities in machine learning, analytics, intelligent security operations, and next-generation endpoint security. Last fall, the company rolled out new technologies around endpoint, data center, data protection and cloud security. It expanded its Data Exchange Layer (DXL) to new technology partners while providing OpenDXL, its open source threat intelligence network.

"I think there will be more consolidation around the security space," said Andrew Nowinski, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray. He noted that endpoint security, where McAfee plays in part, is particularly ripe for consolidation.

"It will be interesting to see what McAfee does now from the standpoint of technology, but also through acquisition," said Jeremy Samide, CEO of North Olmsted, Ohio-based Stealthcare. "I think McAfee will want to remain as one of the top leaders in the space, as is their legacy, and I think you're starting to see a lot of consolidation in the marketplace," he said, citing the example of Symantec buying Blue Coat Systems last summer.

"I definitely think some acquisitions would be good," said Mark Miller, vice president of sales South Central for M&S Technologies, a Kudelski Security company.

He added: "There's a lot of new and exciting technology out there. [McAfee is] definitely a security company now, and they don't yet have every type of security technology in place."
Something went wrong, please try again later.

Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.

A passenger who was listening to Gospel music says she was punched in the face by another woman after getting into an argument with the woman's friend over whether God exists.

Susan Arscott was travelling towards East Croydon last Wednesday evening at about 10.40pm (March 29) when she says the vicious attack happened.

The 42-year-old, who was listening to a religious R&B and gospel song called Freedom, wants to see guards on trams to make them safer.

The personal trainer, who has recently moved from Croydon to South West London, boarded the tram at Therapia Lane to pick up her remaining possessions from her previous home in Leicester Road.

During her journey Susan says two men and one woman, who she estimates were aged between 19 and 21, got on at Ampere Way.

She believes the group may have been drunk, because of their behaviour on the tram and because they had open bottles.

"They were just scattered all over the tram and they walked towards my seat on the tram," she explained.

"The female was dancing and singing and I just tried to ignore it. I was listening to my Christian music and she was just dancing and being silly."

Susan added that as she was listening to her music on her iPad and did not have earphones in it was possible for other passengers to hear it.

"I was just listening to my music and trying to ignore her," she said.

"I was thanking God and listening to my music, I didn't know what they were going to do.

"And then he [one of the males on the tram] said 'There is no God' and I said 'Yes there is', and afterwards just tried to ignore him."

Following this, Susan claims the woman was trying to agitate her by playing with her handbag.

After this, Susan claims the woman's mood "just switched".

"I used to work in mental health, so I know when people's moods switch," she said.

Susan says the two then got into a scuffle, as she tried to "wrestle" her belongings back.

She said: "She was so angry, she was growling. She really wanted my bag."

Susan claims that the woman then punched her in the eye before the group left the tram at the next stop.

One of the reasons Susan is calling for guards on the trams, is because she says no other passengers intervened to try and help her.

"I was yelling, I was screaming, I was crying," she said.

"I felt like blood was gushing out of my eye.

"I was crying and screaming to other passengers 'Call 999' but no one budged, no one did anything. I was on the floor and I had to get my breath back, I felt so isolated."

The driver then announced the tram would be terminating at East Croydon, Susan believes because of the incident, and once the tram arrived at its end destination a passenger approached her to say he would be a witness for her.

"He said he would have phoned for help for me, but he thought someone else was because it looked like they were on their phone," she added.

"But it turned out they were just on the phone talking to someone else, they just kept talking."

Susan reported the incident to the police, who are now investigating the incident.

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: "At approximately 10.40pm on Wednesday, March 29 officers from British Transport Police were called to East Croydon tram stop following reports of an assault.

"The alleged incident was reported to have happened on board a tram at Centrale tram stop where a 42-year-old woman was assaulted.

"Officers are now investigating the incident and are in the process of seizing available CCTV and speaking with witnesses."

Susan previously lived in New York - where she says she felt safer than she does in Croydon.

"I don't like Croydon any more, I didn't realise how bad it was," she said.

"I want to go back to the States, I feel safer on a subway in New York than here. People don't drink on the subway like they do here."

Jon Fox, Director of London Rail, maintained passenger safety was important to the company.

He said: "The safety of our passengers is our top priority and everyone has the right to travel on the tram network without fear or intimidation.

"We are concerned to hear of this incident and I urge anyone with information to contact the British Transport Police."

Any witnesses are asked to send a text to the BTP on 61016.
Ransomware grew into a $1 billion industry last year, and ransom payments now account for nearly 10 percent of the entire Bitcoin economy.

Avoiding becoming part of that statistic requires good endpoint security and effective backups. But what if your defenses fail, your backups are inadequate, all attempts to restore the data fail, and you have to pay the ransom after all -- what do you do?

First of all, get the ball rolling on improving your security. Second, if the ransomware includes a recommendation for where to buy the Bitcoins, take it with a grain of salt. These guys are, after all, criminals. They might steer you wrong.

Instead, go to a reputable exchange.

Several experts recommended Coinbase. It's the largest Bitcoin company and received a license from the New York Department of Financial Services earlier this year. That means it has met the state's consumer protection and cybersecurity standards.

"Coinbase is also the only exchange that is insured," said Konstantinos Karagiannis, CTO of the security consulting practice at BT Americas. "They have Lloyds of London."

It also has low transaction fees and is easy to use, he added.

"That's what I recommend for newbies," he said. "Coinbase is the most user-friendly and safest way to get Bitcoin."

"But if you lose your password, they're not going to cover you," he warned.

Rick Holland, vice president of strategy at London-based Digital Shadows, also recommended Coinbase, but added that transactions can sometimes take up to four days.

"When dealing with a ransomware payment, however, time might be critical, so you need to find an exchange that transfers Bitcoin into your account quickly," he said, recommending the Bitcoin broker Local Bitcoins.

For more exchanges, check out the list of recommendations at Bitcoin.com, said Israel Barak, CISO and incident response director at Cybereason.

"There are plenty of reputable sources there," he said.

Barak said that he's used several Bitcoin exchanges, including Coinbase, Bitpay, and Coingate, and they've delivered on their premises.

In addition, some vendors may also offer Bitcoin-related services, said Barak, if one of their clients needs to pay a ransom in a hurry.

Stock up in advance

If you think there's a chance that your company will be hit and that you might have to pay a ransom, it might make sense to set up your Bitcoin account ahead of time and go through the exchange's authentication system, and maybe even buy some Bitcoins to keep in reserve.

This is particularly important for companies that don't have an emergency procurement process, said Barak.

"In some enterprises, if they get hit by ransomware and want to buy Bitcoin, it can take a while to go through procurement," he said. "In some organizations, that can take days, maybe even more."

The currency exchanges will normally have a wallet to keep Bitcoins in.

Coinbase, for example, allows customers to set up multiple wallets for their Bitcoins, and also offers a Bitcoin "vault" with extra security measures including the option to require approval from multiple users for each transaction.

"So if someone hijacks one of your email addresses, they won't be able to get the money out that way," said BT America's Karagiannis.

"If it's a small modest amount you want to keep on hand for quick transactions, Coinbase is good for that," he added.

There are also other Bitcoin wallet alternatives out there, including ones that a company can keep on its own premises -- though if the wallet itself gets caught up in the ransomware attack, that could cause problems.

How much should you buy?

According to Barak, ransom sizes vary based on the size of the victim. Individual consumers are typically hit for 1 or 2 Bitcoin, which is approximately $1,000 or $2,000.

Small to midsized companies see typical ransom demands of between 2 and 20 Bitcoin, said Barak.

"A large enterprise can see higher demands," he added. "The largest we've seen was about $150,000, which was about 150 Bitcoin. But we are seeing a trend for an increase in the ransom demands, especially as it relates to larger enterprises and in ransomware that creates a bit more damage."

Most experts recommend not paying the ransoms.

"The fact that ransomware attacks keep growing and are so prevalent is because there are people paying," said Luis Corrons, PandaLabs technical director at Panda Security. "If all victims stopped paying, ransomware attacks would disappear in a matter of days."

But that isn't always practical, said Barak. Say, for example, the ransomware propagates through a large number of machines and attacks not only the data but also the operating systems.

If all victims stopped paying, ransomware attacks would disappear in a matter of days

Luis Corrons, PandaLabs technical director at Panda Security

"Option number one is that you reinstall all those machines," he said. "That could take you days. Or you could pay the ransom and recover your business operations in an hour or so."

But in some circumstances, you should never pay a ransom at all. Say, for example, an attacker threatens to release your corporate data.

"Even if the attacker proves that they have the data, shows some of it to you, you can never control where the data will go once they have it," he said. There's no guarantee that the criminal will erase all the data, like they promised.

And if you're trying to avoid having to report a breach, paying the ransom won't help, since you know the criminals have the data.

Another situation where you shouldn't pay a ransom is to fend off a Distributed Denial-of-service attack (DDoS), said Barak.

"Ransom demands for DDoS attacks have been around for a long time and most of them are fraudulent," he said.

Even for traditional ransomware, where the attackers encrypt your files, there are some good reasons not to pay, said Eldon Sprickerhoff, founder and chief security strategist at eSentire.

For example, the hackers may have embedded themselves in your systems, and if you don't wipe the machines and restore from a good backup, they may stick around.

"You put yourself at risk for future attacks," he said. "If a hacker is successful the first time, they will try again."

Plus, even if you pay up, they might not restore all your files, or restore nothing at all, he said. "It's just not worth the risk," he said.

Instead, companies should prepare for an attack by making sure their back-ups are good, patching is up to date, systems are hardened and that users have been trained on what to look for, he said.

Finally, before deciding to make that ransomware payment, check with your legal department.

"Organizations need to understand the implications of paying out a ransom," said Digital Shadows' Holland. "A cyber security insurance policy could be invalidated because of a ransom payment."

Alternatives to paying the ransom

If you've been hit by ransomware, there's a problem with the backups, and you don't want to pay -- or the criminals took your money and didn't restore your data -- there may be some options.

"The first thing you should do is look at some of the tools already published," said Karagiannis. "It might be possible that you could have that removed without paying a penny."

One place to get started is No More Ransom, a site backed by security companies including Intel Security, Kaspersky, Avast, Bitdefender and Trend Micro and a number of law enforcement organizations including Europol.

The site helps victims identify the type of ransomware they've been hit with, and offers downloads of the decryption solution if one is available.

Ransomware and the Bitcoin economy There are no exact numbers for what percent of Bitcoin transactions are payments for ransomware. But there are a couple of ways to get estimates. One way is to look at the public ledgers associated with wallets connected with ransomware criminals. The Bitcoin system records every single transaction. That wallets are not identified by name makes them convenient for crooks, but they can still be tracked. One company doing that is Cyence, a cyber risk modeling company. "Based upon Cyences analysis of the ledger of bitcoin transactions and traffic to known ransomware servers, we estimate that approximately 9 percent of Bitcoin transaction value is attributable to ransomware or some other form of cyber extortion payment," said Phil Rosace, Cyence's solutions manager. Cyence has also seen an uptick of Bitcoin use, and a possible correlation with sectors hit by ransomware payments. Another way to come up with an estimate is to look at the estimates of the total amount spent on ransomware payments, and compare it to the total Bitcoin market value, which passed $12 billion last year. "The total ransom payments in 2016 was about $1 billion, which I think is a conservative estimation," said Barak. "Almost all of it paid in bitcoin." That means that ransomware accounts for about 8 percent, he said. "It's a pretty big chunk of the Bitcoin economy," he said.

Related video: Ransomware marketplaces and the future of malware
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON  A senior Pentagon general acknowledged on Tuesday that an effort to replace aging Huey helicopters that still defend U.S. nuclear installations is way behind schedule.

I cant even describe how upset I get about the helicopter replacement program, said Air Force Gen. John Hyten, head of U.S. Strategic Command. Its a helicopter, for gosh sakes. I dont understand why the heck it is so hard to buy a helicopter.

Hyten was questioned Tuesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal at a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing.

In my view, we can ill-afford this kind of delay, Blumenthal said at the hearing. Ive written numerous letters to the previous Administration urging that they expedite this replacement.

The Air Force uses the Vietnam-era Hueys to protect nuclear silos in the Great Plains and guard overland transports of missiles. Blumenthal has pursued the issue in part because Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircrafts Black Hawk helicopter would be a logical replacement.

Blumenthal wrote an amendment to last years National Defense Authorization Act that paved the way for DOD purchase of Black Hawks. But the amendment did not make it into the final bill because the Pentagon wanted competitive bidding.

The idea of replacing the Hueys dates back to 2001. At the Wednesday hearing, Blumenthal said the acquisition process had been delayed till this summer because none of the competitors were able to meet all the threshold requirements.

In the best-case scenario, the Air Force wouldnt get the first replacement until the second quarter of FY 2021.

Im working to make sure Sikorsky Black Hawks are bought because they are they are the most appropriate and effective helicopters for the job, Blumenthal said after the hearing.

We appreciate Senator Blumenthals statements and look forward to offering the Sikorsky HH-60U for the UH-1N Huey Replacement Program as soon as the Air Force is ready to proceed with the program, Sikorsky said in a statement.

Sikorskys main competition is an Italian aircraft company, Leonardo, whose AW139 helicopter is assembled in Philadelphia. Several Pennsylvania lawmakers have banded together to win the contract for Leonardo.

dan@hearstdc.com
STORY LINK GBP NZD Exchange Fluctuates as Construction PMI Disappoints

Pound New Zealand Dollar (GBP NZD) Volatile as Construction Activity Slows

New Zealand Dollar Strengthened by Upswing in Dairy Prices

GBP NZD Exchange Rate Forecast: UK Services PMI Ahead

Current Interbank Exchange Rates

Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues:

The British Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate surged on Wednesday afternoon, recovering its weekly losses and hitting a fresh 2016 high of 1.7954. This was also GBP/NZDs best level since September 2016.Poor risk-sentiment and solid UK services data means the pair has the potential to hold most of its gains for the remainder of the week  unless markets begin to return to risk-correlated currencies.[Previously updated 05/04/2017]A disappointing ANX commodity price index weighed on the New Zealand Dollar, suggesting that the domestic outlook is not overly positive at this juncture.Demand for the Pound, meanwhile, picked up as a result of a bullish UK services PMI, which helped to ease concerns over the economys health at the end of the first quarter.[Previously updated 04/04/2017]The GBP NZD exchange rate became increasingly volatile today as the UKs Construction PMI performed worse than expected in March.The Pound New Zealand Dollar (GBP NZD) exchange rate fluctuated this morning as IHS Markit reported that growth slowed again in the UKs construction sector last month.According to purchasing managers surveyed by the London-based analytics firm, activity fell from 52.5 to 52.2 last month, with the drop being partly blamed on the slowdown in the UKs housing market. As Tim Moore, Senior Economist at IHS Markit explained;UK construction firms experienced a growth slowdown in March, with the loss of momentum centred on housebuilding. A weaker trend for residential work has been reported throughout 2017 so far, which provides an indication that the cooling UK housing market has started to act as a drag on the construction sector.The decline was also attributed to the diminished value of the Pound which has prompted costs to rise for importing materials, placing more pressure on firms.However despite the issues facing the industry, the outlook from builders appeared to remain relatively upbeat as they suggested that the drop in Brexit anxiety was leading to greater client demand, after development projects were disrupted following the EU referendum last summer.The New Zealand Dollar was bolstered this afternoon following the latest Global Dairy Auction as prices climbed 1.6% and building upon the 1.7% rise at the previous auction.NZD investors were upbeat following the release as it suggested that the downturn in prices which has marred the dairy market since the beginning of the year could beginning to subside.However it was not all positive for the dairy industry as while prices rose by 2.4% to $2,924 for New Zealands latest export, whole milk powder, butter milk powder fared significantly worse as prices plummeted by 12.2% to $1,588.The GBP NZD exchange rate may rally tomorrow following the release of the UKs latest Services PMI as economists predict that it will have climbed from 53.3 to 53.5 last month.However should the UKs private sector fail to improve in line with expectations or sees growth mirror the slowdown in the Manufacturing and Construction PMIs then Sterling is highly likely to cede ground as the services industry being one of the main wealth generating sectors for the UK.Meanwhile those looking to trade in the New Zealand Dollar is likely to slide on Wednesday if the domestic Business PMI drops as expected in March.Looking further ahead however the Pound may tumble over the coming weeks as the UK government prepares to begin Brexit negotiations with the EU, with markets likely to be upset if UK ministers continue to make aggressive remarks ahead of talks, such as the recent furore over Gibraltar.At the time of writing the GBP NZD exchange rate was trending around 1.78 and the NZD GBP exchange rate was trending around 0.56.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: Pound New Zealand Dollar Forecasts
What to do in Pennsylvania if you made an error on your mail-in ballot

The state Supreme Court recently ruled that undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots cannot be counted. Here's what voters can do about an error.
The latest figure to fall foul of their bizarre and narrow-minded obsessions is Dame Jenni Murray, doyenne of Radio 4s Womans Hour

Of all our cultural institutions that have been captured by intolerant Leftist activists, our universities present the saddest and most ridiculous spectacle.

A university is meant to be a place of intellectual enquiry, where young minds obtain an education that will expand their horizons and expose them to the best that Western civilisation has to offer.

But many have fallen very far from this ideal. Instead, they have degenerated into places more of indoctrination than education, wasting precious time pandering to the demands of special interest groups, beset by small-minded and self-absorbed campaigns to do with students well-being.

Universities appear to have forgotten the genuine challenges and lofty pleasures of learning, or their role as key transmitters of our national culture, history and heritage.

The latest figure to fall foul of their bizarre and narrow-minded obsessions is Dame Jenni Murray, doyenne of Radio 4s Womans Hour.

A few weeks ago, she dared to express her opinion that a man who has undergone a sex change to become a woman is still not a woman in the life-long sense of having been born and grown up female.

This would sound like common sense to most of us, or even a statement of the plain and simple truth. But nothing is plain and simple any more.

Murray was due to give a talk last Sunday at the Oxford Literary Festival, but ran into vociferous protests from the Oxford University Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer Society, which wanted to ban her from speaking.

The organisers were, thankfully, unmoved and Murray spoke as planned.

Alas, the sorry story just confirms ones sense of campuses today as overgrown kindergartens, full of squeaking millennials so painfully conscious of their rights and feelings it seems doubtful they can be conscious of much else.

Like the need to buckle down and get a decent education for the looming world of real life ahead of them, for instance.

Hull University has also devoted time to worrying about non-existent gender problems. As the Mail reported yesterday, it is the first UK university to make PC language an academic requirement, warning students: Failure to use gender-sensitive language will impact your mark.

Yet such petty concerns are typical of the thinking that now plagues our places of higher education. There was the ridiculous row about removing the statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College, Oxford, because he didnt think in a 21st-century way. Perhaps thats because he wasnt a 21st-century person? Just an idea.

At least Oriel stood its ground  shortly after donors threatened to withdraw support. But the insidious censorship and suppression continues, undermining our nations finest places of learning like woodworm or dry rot.

Only last week, Oxford announced it would replace some venerable old portraits of Dead White Males with others featuring women and ethnic minorities.

A spokesman for the University said, however, that the new portraits would add to rather than replace existing ones.

In fact, this attempt to rewrite history has already started. In an outstanding example of idiocy, the universitys Hertford College in recent years experimented by removing portraits of men such as scholar William Tyndale, and putting up photos of newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and other female graduates and fellows of the College.

Tyndale was one of the first translators of the Bible into English. He gave us such immortal phrases as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, let there be light, and signs of the times. His contribution to Christianity, English history and the world was immeasurable, and he paid for his heretical courage by being burned at the stake in 1536.

Demonstrators outside the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford where radio presenter Jenni Murray was speaking as part of the Oxford Literary Festival

It will seem unlikely to even the biggest admirer of Kaplinsky that 500 years hence she will be as widely venerated. And, of course, where Oxford leads, others follow, in a mad race to prove who is the most progressively daft of all.

Lincolns Students Union recently closed all social media accounts for the Conservative society, simply because they disliked what they said.

In a similar vein, Cardiff Metropolitan University bans words such as foreman and workmanlike from usage, advising instead supervisor and efficient. I have to ask: what will happen when these intolerant young people leave their university safe havens and enter the real world?

One hopes itll soon knock them into line  but I fear that these self-righteous standard bearers of perpetual moral outrage will soon dominate the workplace as well.

There are ominous signs that their influence is already being felt. Take the recent announcement from HSBC on gender-fluid or non-binary personal titles. Utterly straight-faced, HSBC now offers you titles such as: Mx, Mre, and Msr. That last one is if you see yourself as a mix of Miss and Sir.

Of course, the original archetypal Trendy University lecturer was the fictional Howard Kirk, in Malcolm Bradburys hilarious novel The History Man from the Seventies. It later became a TV series with Antony Sher.

In one scene, a meeting failed to progress because attendees couldnt agree whether the term chairman, chairwoman or chairperson should be used.

What was once satire is now reality. The situation may yet deteriorate further. Many of the more extreme manifestations of campus activism originate in the U.S., and then travel here like some sinister infection. And the looniness that now unfolds daily on American university campuses is hard to believe.

Californias universities have ruled that saying America is a land of opportunity constitutes a microaggression  a subtle, even unconscious, slight against minorities.

Murray was due to give a talk last Sunday at the Oxford Literary Festival, but ran into vociferous protests from the Oxford University Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer Society, which wanted to ban her from speaking

The University of Illinois believes that a classroom full of only white students is a microaggression in itself.

Meanwhile, the University of New Hampshires list of banned or problematic words now includes: fathering and mothering (because they gender the act of parenting), and even American (because the term too often ignores the existence of South America).

Naturally, a group at Loyola University in Chicago has announced it is establishing a safe space for self-identified white students to explore their feelings of whiteness, acknowledge their manifold sins and begin the journey of operating in solidarity with others and their privilege.

As for the tricky transgender issue which has caught out poor Jenni Murray, shes certainly not alone.

Colorado College ran into trouble over screening the gay rights movie Stonewall, because the film didnt include enough transgender people!

Trans students at the college said the film  on New York riots that sparked the birth of the mainstream gay rights movement  was discursively violent and reinforced a hierarchy of oppression.

Lets be clear. Opposing this kind of madness isnt defending anyones right to spout racist or any other type of abuse. Thats been illegal for decades, and socially unacceptable for much longer still.

Its about defending the right to have different, nuanced opinions about complex issues, such as gender reassignment or British imperial history.

The reality is that many people will still have doubts about what sex-change surgery really achieves, or decline to view a figure such as Cecil Rhodes as so unquestionably evil that his likeness must be removed from our public spaces.

Because although there is much to laugh at in the creeping insanity beginning to grip our leading universities, some of our most hard-won values are at stake  free speech foremost among them. After all, if our universities wont defend free speech, who will?
Diane Abbott managed to blame both the Tories and Brexit for the Croydon attack

No one could disagree with Croydon MP Gavin Barwell when he describes the gang of savages who attacked a teenage asylum seeker in South London as cowardly and despicable scum.

The 17-year old Kurdish Iranian suffered horrific injuries, including a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain. Hes lucky to be alive. Police have charged seven suspects, five of whom appeared in court yesterday. The charges include violent disorder and racially aggravated GBH. They also released CCTV images of others they wished to interview.

The unfortunate victim, said to be an unaccompanied child refugee living with foster parents, was approached by the mob as he waited at a bus stop just before midnight. After being chased for 100 yards, he was subjected to a sustained, frenzied beating.

Detectives are investigating whether some of those involved tipped out of a nearby pub, The Goat. According to a police statement, they attacked him after establishing that he was an asylum seeker.

We will have to wait until the evidence is presented in court before we know the full picture. But the police are already treating it as a hate crime.

Inevitably, too, Left-wing politicians have seized on this awful, unprovoked attack as more proof that Britain has become a vicious, racist country since we voted to leave the EU.

First out of the blocks was Diane Abbott, who managed to blame both the Tories and Brexit, without any concrete evidence. Oh, do get back in your box, Diane.

The Remain camp would have us believe there has been an upsurge of racist violence against migrants by white working-class voters.

But check out the CCTV pictures of two of the suspects police in Croydon published yesterday. They dont exactly fit the profile of knuckle-scraping white supremacists.

One is black, the other appears to be mixed race. Yet the Left always maintain racism is something committed exclusively by whites against ethnic minorities.

Given that some of those in the frame seem to be from immigrant backgrounds themselves, would Abbott care to revise her conclusions about the motivation behind this attack?

The 17-year old Kurdish Iranian suffered horrific injuries in the attack near this bus stop, including a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain (pictured, the scene of the assault)

There are undoubted tensions between different races who have made their homes in Britain  not just whites versus the rest.

The open borders policies of the past 15 years have fostered bitter resentment between settled immigrants and more recent arrivals  something the political elite simply refuse to accept.

They would rather concentrate on the alleged backlash by ignorant whites against foreigners to reinforce the myth that the Leave vote was driven purely by racism and bigotry.

Which is why the likes of Abbott were so eager to pounce on this incident and rush to judgment. How much more convenient it would have been for Diane if the suspects had all been white skinheads.

Look, Im not trying to diminish this vile assault. It was certainly a hateful crime. As the Mail said yesterday, when those responsible are brought to justice lets hope they receive the maximum sentences possible.

But take away the fact the victim was a young asylum seeker, could this not have been just another of those affrays which occur in town centres across the country every weekend at chucking out time?

Even the detective leading the investigation thinks the attack wasnt planned and said that alcohol was a major factor.

According to locals, this particular area of South London is culturally diverse and many asylum seekers have lived there for years without trouble. The chairman of the residents association said: I have been here for decades and never experienced a racist incident.

So while this is a deeply disturbing example of wanton thuggery, people should be careful before exploiting it for the sake of political expediency. London Mayor Sadiq Khan immediately joined Abbott in labelling it a hate crime.

According to locals, this particular area of South London is culturally diverse and many asylum seekers have lived there for years without trouble

But if Britain is brimming with racial hatred, why did Londoners elect Khan, a Muslim, as their mayor? How did a black woman like Diane Abbott manage to rise so high in politics? Of course, the police are always eager to keep up their hate crime quota.

The ludicrous definition of a hate crime as any incident which anyone perceives as a hate crime has contributed to the hysteria being stoked by the Remainers.

Funny how those such as Abbott, who delight in linking hate crime to Brexit and the Tories, are always reluctant to link terrorist attacks to Islam in any shape or form, even when the evidence is staring them in the face.

Then there is also a multi-million-pound, taxpayer-funded hate crime industry, which needs to create the myth of a hate crime epidemic to justify its existence.

In the wake of the referendum, they produced a report claiming a 57 per cent increase in hate crime. Yet when the Mail investigated this figure, it was demonstrably untrue and was quickly withdrawn.

That doesnt stop it being trotted out regularly on radio, TV and in the Left-wing press. European politicians also allege that Brexit is behind a spate of racist attacks on Britains streets.

How, then, do they explain the widespread hostility towards migrants in cities across France and Germany  which, the last time anyone looked, were still in the EU and had no intention of leaving?

The plain fact is Britain is one of the most tolerant and generous countries in the world when it comes to immigrants and asylum seekers  which is why millions want to come and live here.

Thats not to be complacent. There are still pockets of intolerance and, I emphasise, the kind of savagery we saw on the streets of Croydon last week has no place in a civilised society.

But even if this attack does prove to have been motivated by racial hatred, its high time cynical, opportunist politicians like Diane Abbott put aside their own bigotry and ceased exploiting the despicable actions of a handful of cowardly scum to smear 17.4 million decent people who voted Leave.

This column loves daft animal stories, if only to give Gary material for his brilliant cartoons. Neither of these were April Fools, although they could well have been.

Plans to have a donkey called Clover lead an Easter Parade pulling a cart in East London have been abandoned because she refuses to cross the road.

Clover, who lives on an urban farm in Hackney, is also averse to potholes and manhole covers.

Apparently, shes worried about falling down and breaking her leg. Elsewhere, it is claimed Britain is being invaded by bodybuilding parakeets.

About 50,000 have made their way from Africa via Europe. They have bulked up to cope with the colder winters and can chew their way through trees.

If theyre that strong, perhaps they could get one to pull a cart in the Easter Parade. Weve all got our cross to bear.

For several years, Ive felt that April Fools jokes have run their course. Its almost impossible any more to separate fact from fiction.

Among the stories on Saturday was a report that one police force is introducing a unisex uniform for male and female coppers to attract more transsexual/transgender recruits.

Then there was the London lawyer who has apparently changed sex three times since 1997. Sam Kane has gone from Sam to Samantha and back again.

He must be a fan of the old Cliff Richard song: Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha. Oh, and one report said Doctor Who is getting a lesbian sidekick called Bill. Of course he is.

Any of these stories could be true or made up. Your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, Virgin Trains got in on the act with a spoof press release announcing that in future passengers season tickets would be tattooed on their arms so they wouldnt get lost.

Unfortunately, they were a week late. Last Tuesday I told you how German scientists have designed a range of tattoos which look like barcodes and can unlock an assortment of electronic devices.

You couldnt make it up.

Overheard by reader Mark Lyndon in the snug bar of the Canny Mans pub, in Morningside, Edinburgh.

A drinker was studying that picture of Wee Burney sitting on a sofa with her legs tucked coyly beneath her  like another famous photo of Mrs Thatcher.

Och, he said, sipping his pint. Shes mair like Twee Burney.

Nicola Sturgeon posed for a photo which was strikingly similar to one of Margaret Thatcher

The NHS is to ban ambulance-chasing lawyers touting for business in accident and emergency.

Just one question: why the hell were they ever allowed into hospitals in the first place?
Drug-taking author and journalist Julie Burchill  now reformed at 57

Drug-taking author and journalist Julie Burchill  now reformed at 57  recalls her self-indulgent, Eighties social life, remarking in an interview for Stylist magazine: Wherever I was, the party went with me. Id take cocaine with my second husband, Cosmo Landesman, my best friend, Toby Young, and impressionable youngsters who worked for my magazine, The Modern Review. Surely Young, 53, now un homme serieux as director of the Government-backed New Schools Network, wont appreciate her lamentable candour about their coke-snorting antics.

Snooty commentators who deride Donald Trumps $3billion-plus fortune (more than 2.4billion)  and that of his family and associates  forget that an earlier, much admired American president, John F Kennedy, was the scion of another arriviste family. Patriarch Joseph Kennedy, an alleged Prohibition bootlegger, officially left $500million, now worth around $3.4billion, when he died in 1969, sponsoring the political careers of three sons, John, Bobby and Edward, as well as several of their children.

The 10billion hole in the Ministry of Defences finances wont be filled by getting rid of the Armys 500-plus horses  at least not while the Queen is alive. HM wants to save ceremonial units such as the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery and Household Cavalry, whose horses rack up huge bills in food, farriers and veterinary bills. There are now twice as many horses as tanks but there wont be major changes during the Queens reign, my source advises.

Apropos the royals and the Army, Prince Philip and his uncle, the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma, are now blamed for disgraced disc jockey Jimmy Savile, whom they both admired, becoming the first civilian to undertake the demanding Marines commando test and be awarded its coveted green beret. At his funeral, a detachment of Royal Marines bore Saviles tasteful gold coffin. He was buried holding his green beret.

John Cleese is facing a backlash after his supportive comments about Fox News anchor Bill OReilly

John Cleese, 77, is facing a backlash after his supportive comments about Fox News anchor Bill OReilly, who is accused of sexual harassment, responds: Id like to add my name to the list of people sexually harassed by Bill OReilly. Apparently, you can get 2 million (dollars) even if nothing happened. Cleese, who increasingly resembles The Simpsons misanthropic Krusty the Clown, explains: If I have to start making jokes for people with no sense of humour, itll spoil it for the people who have. The old fool has a point, doesnt he?

Andrew Marr, 57, is replaced by silver-tongued BBC colleague Eddie Mair, 51, of Radio 4s PM show, on his Sunday TV interview slot. Eddie Mair definitely a step up from Marr, remarks one viewer. Another adds: Can we let Eddie Mair take over the Marr show? Designed of course to infuriate Marr, who, I am sure, generous soul that he is, is tickled that Mair filled in for him so successfully!
With her glossy blonde hair, flawless skin and calm demeanour, she is about as far from the image of a harassed first-time mum as you can get.

But the model staring down from billboards in Baby Dove's latest advertising campaign is not in fact a real woman but a data-generated amalgamation of thousands of images of the 'perfect mum'.

Baby Dove has revealed that the woman currently projected on a giant billboard at London's Waterloo station is not a real person.

However, mothers are not happy about the brand's choice of image and have blasted the company on Twitter for piling additional pressure on women.

One commenter accused the company of irresponsible advertising, while another echoed the sentiments of many, telling the brand that it shouldn't be promoting the myth that the perfect mother exists.

Baby Dove's eerily flawless 'Perfect Mum', nicknamed Aimee, was created using thousands of images of motherhood in response to a study showing mums feel under pressure to be perfect

Baby Dove's new campaign provoked a furious response from customers who said that no mother is perfect, and there is no need to be either

Others pointed out that as long as children are happy and well-cared for then a mother shouldn't worry that they're not doing enough.

The face in the new campaign was created using artificial intelligence technology, based on the images of motherhood that new mums are exposed to every day.

And it looks as if the campaign has succeeded in provoking a debate around the 'unrealistic' expectations surrounding motherhood,

The campaign is in response to research suggesting that almost nine out of 10 first-time mothers feel the pressure to be perfect, citing the images they see of parents in the media and social media as the leading cause of this pressure.

One mother joked that her general daily demeanour is that of Regan from The Exorcist

Some commenters questioned why there never seems to be the same pressure on fathers to attain perfection as parents

The company was accused of setting a bad example by disgruntled customers

Advertisers gathered together thousands of images and advertisements of mothers from newspapers, magazines and social media, and used them to build an algorithm based on typical facial characteristics.

The eerily flawless 'AI Perfect Mum', nicknamed Aimee, has a composed, confident expression.

She's fair-haired, with sparkly green eyes, unblemished skin, and not a single blonde hair out of place.

All is not as it seems: The face was created using artificial intelligence technology, based on the images of motherhood that new mums are exposed to every day

She was revealed to the public on Europes largest billboard, at Waterloo, on Monday with the question Is there a perfect mum? in a bid to spark debate on social media.

The Perfect Mum experiment was conducted in response to nationwide research of 3,000 first-time British mums, that revealed that nearly nine out of 10 (88 per cent) of first-time mums feel the pressure to be perfect, citing media representations of motherhood in the media, images on social media sites and celebrity mums as the biggest contributors to this pressure.

Being regularly exposed to images of parenting perfection in the media is setting unrealistic expectations for new parents all over the country.

Food for thought: The new campaign from Dove was in response to research suggesting that almost nine out of 10 first-time mothers feel the pressure to be perfect

The research showed it can also make new mums feel anxious and uncertain about their own abilities to parent: over half (56 per cent) said motherhood was not what they expected, while 44 per cent said they felt inadequate.

Biggest causes of pressure to mothers . Images in the media: 47 % . Images on social media: 33% . Celebrity mums: 28% Advertisement

Marcus Buck, Baby Dove brand manager, said: The Perfect Mum experiment addresses a real issue in society: images of seemingly perfect parenting in the media and social media are denting mums confidence to be herself.

'In reality, theres no "right" or "wrong" way to be a parent, just your way. Thats why its important for parents everywhere to trust their instincts and feel confident in their own parenting abilities, rather than worry about how well others seem to be doing it.

'This reflects Baby Doves belief that there are no perfect mums, just real ones.'
As summer looms, more and more of us will be thinking about shedding those stubborn extra pounds.

But while we all know what to do - eat less and exercise more - for many of us, following a healthy regime is easier said than done.

Here, experts share some of their weirdest weightloss tricks with FEMAIL - and some of them will surprise you.

From Instagramming your meal to practising Pilates at your desk, we reveal the surprisingly easy ways to slim down this summer.

Housework can be a great workout. If you clean windows in a circular motion you can expect to sweat off around 125 calories an hour, according to Muscle Food

1. Embrace your inner domestic goddess

Finding it hard to burn calories when you there are so many chores to do around the house?

Why not combine the two? Housework can be a great workout; if you clean windows in a circular motion you can expect to sweat off around 125 calories an hour, according to Muscle Food.

2. Sneak some moves in at your desk

The workplace isn't the most obvious place to exercise, but doing a few minutes of Pilates at your desk every day can be very beneficial, according to Lynne Robinson, author of Pilates For Life.

'To keep yourself feeling fit and healthy, why not set yourself the goal of doing five minutes Pilates at your desk whenever you get a break?' says Lynne. 'If youve time for coffee, youve time for Pilates.

'Even though you are only doing 5 minutes, you need to focus, and do the exercises mindfully. Then try to retain what youve learnt with you as you move around the office.'

The workplace isn't a typical place to exercise, but doing a few minutes of Pilates at your desk every day can be very beneficial, according to Lynne Robinson, author of Pilates For Life

3. Check yourself out while you're eating

Hang a mirror up opposite you when you're eating and you'll be surprised by how much less you will eat.

According to a 2015 study from the University of Central Florida, the presence of a mirror makes unhealthy foods less palatable by increasing the eater's self-awareness.

Hang a mirror up opposite you when you're eating and you'll be surprised by how much less you will eat. In fact, seeing your reflection could cut down your food intake by a third

4. Give up guilt

No need to give up on your favourite foods entirely - give up guilt instead!

As psychologist Corinne Sweet explains: 'People talk about themselves in terms of being "good" or "bad" according to how habitually they eat or drink things, or whether they snack.

'"I've been bad today," might mean someone has had a chocolate bar or muffin with their coffee. Or "I've been good" can mean they have abstained from the biscuit round in the tearoom.'

This attitude can often create stress and complex feelings, which can actually accentuate and increase the behaviour rather than curb it, she warns,

'It can also have a negative impact on your children, making them feel "bad" for having an ice cream and "good" for eating broccoli.'

Labelling food as 'good' or 'bad' can often create stress and complex feelings, which can actually accentuate and increase the behaviour rather than curb it, warns Corinne Sweet

5. Drink tomato juice

Can't decide which cold beverage you fancy? According to a 2015 report, tomato juice can help trim your waistline.

The study, conducted by scientists at the China Medical University in Taiwan, asked 25 women to drink a glass of the juice every day, without making any changes to their lifestyle.

The women who drank the juice for two months lost almost an inch off their waistline and their cholesterol levels also dropped.

Is this the easiest weightloss hack ever? Research suggests that tomato juice can help trim your waistline, even without making any other changes to your lifestyle

6. Instagram your meal

Snapping away at the dinner table is not just about making others envious of your food; research shows that it may also benefit your waistline.

As nutritionist Dr Marilyn Glenville, author of Natural Alternatives to Sugar explains: 'Researchers suggest that taking a photograph of food just before you eat concentrates the mind to eat not only healthier foods but also less of it.

'The photographs seem to deter binges.'

'Researchers suggest that taking a photograph of food just before you eat concentrates the mind to eat not only healthier foods but also less of it,' says nutritionist Dr Marilyn Glenville

7. Have a warm soak

Don't fancy slogging it out on the treadmill today? Mix up your calorie burning techniques by having a soak in a hot bath.

Research by Loughborough-based researcher Dr Steve Faulkner suggests that relaxing in a tub increases energy expenditure levels by 80 percent, which can burn 126 calories per hour.

Who knew that burning calories could be so relaxing?

Time for a soak? Research suggests that relaxing in a bath tub increases energy expenditure levels by 80 percent, which can burn 126 calories per hour

8. Treat yourself

If you can't resist the odd cheat meal, such as a burger, don't deprive yourself completely on every occasion.

Instead, where possible, give it a healthier boost. As Shona Wilkinson, nutritionist at SuperfoodUK.com explains: 'Add a simple green salad as a side dish for a tasty yet healthier meal.

'I wouldn't order a burger that contained too much cheese and mayo, as these can up the calories. Always ask for any sauces to be served on the side so you have control over the amount you use.'

If you can't resist fries, she suggests opting for the sweet potato fries, which don't affect your blood sugar levels as much.

'This will help avoid that energy slump some people feel after a meal,' she says.

If you can't resist the odd cheat meal, such as a burger, don't deprive yourself completely on every occasion. Instead, give it a healthier boost like adding a nutritious side dish

9. Eat with a man

Got a date lined up this week? Researchers from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of Akron found that women tend to purchase fewer calories when eating with a male compared to when they're with women.

As Marci Cottingham, a co-author of the study, explained in an interview with abcnews: 'The theory is you're more aware of gender when you're with the opposite gender and may want to prove your gender more.'
Advertisement

Jack Morris, 26, and his girlfriend Lauren Bullen, 24, met in March, 2016, while both travelling in Fiji.

Since, the inseparable pair have grown to be world-renowned travel bloggers and visited 45 countries together - all while earning a six figure salary for their stunning photographs and breathtaking Instagram feeds.

And now, Jack, who is originally from Manchester, has revealed some of his top tips and how he and his Australian girlfriend have transformed their passion into a full time career.

Scroll down for video

Kenya: Jack Morris, 26, and his girlfriend Lauren Bullen, 24, met in March, 2016, while both travelling in Fiji - since, the inseparable pair have grown to be world-renowned travel bloggers and visited 45 countries together

Philippines: And now, Jack, who is originally from Manchester, has revealed some of his top tips and how he and his Australian girlfriend were both able to quit their jobs and transform their passion into a full time career

Philippines: 'Most of the time we like to shoot around one hour after sunrise. Busy locations don't tend to be as busy at this time of day,' Jack wrote

Video courtesy of Lauren Bullen and Jack Morris:

Taking to his blog, Do You Travel, Jack said the key to taking the perfect photograph in a busy location is timing.

'Most of the time we like to shoot around one hour after sunrise. Busy locations don't tend to be as busy at this time of day,' he wrote.

Jack also said he avoids Instagram filters and always takes the time to ensure his images match.

'I edit all my photos in the same kind of style with my own Lightroom presets so I guess they all look somewhat similar because of that. I also look at the grid and try to plan the next image to make sure it works well with the rest of my recent feed,' he said.

Fiji: Jack also said he avoids Instagram filters and always takes the time to ensure his images match

Maldives: 'I edit all my photos in the same kind of style with my own Lightroom presets so I guess they all look somewhat similar because of that,' he said

Spain: 'I don't use any mobile apps or filters, I edit using Lightroom on my Macbook Pro. If a photo looks a little dark or contrasty I sometimes tweak the edit just on the pre post Instagram editor,' he added

'I don't use any mobile apps or filters, I edit using Lightroom on my Macbook Pro. If a photo looks a little dark or contrasty [sic] I sometimes tweak the edit just on the pre post Instagram editor.'

The former carpet cleaner, who lived out of his backpack between 2012 and 2016 before moving to Bali with Lauren, also said the pair rely on word of mouth, Pinterest and Instagram to find the 'off the grid' places they are so often pictured in.

He added: 'We try to balance our life between being at home in Bali, travel jobs and travelling for fun. We aim to visit at least one new country each month, non work related, which most of the time is decided on by a last minute decision.'

Jack also revealed that he and Lauren, aka Gypsea_Lust, take all their own photos and that any snaps of the two of them together are taken via a tripod with a timer remote.

Philippines: The former carpet cleaner, who lived out of his backpack between 2012 and 2016 before moving to Bali with Lauren, also said the pair rely on word of mouth, Pinterest and Instagram to find the 'off the grid' places

Bali: Not only has it been a another year of continuous travel, it's been the year I found the girl of my dreams, fell in love, and moved to Bali!,' he captioned this snap

Bali: He added: 'We try to balance our life between being at home in Bali, travel jobs and travelling for fun. We aim to visit at least one new country each month non work related which most of the time is decided on by a last minute decision

What countries have Jack and Lauren been to since meeting? Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, England, Greece, Italy, France, Turkey, Croatia, Spain, Morocco, New Zealand, USA, Hawaii, Mauritius, China, India, a few of the Caribbean islands, Dubai and Cambodia Where to next? Tahiti and Finland Advertisement

The pair have mastered the art of blogging and as a result, share an incredible three million followers between them and earn thousands of dollars for any sponsored posts.

Jack revealed to Cosmopolitan in January that he and Lauren won't do a sponsored post for less than $3,000 USD ($3,948 AUD).

The most he has been paid for one post is $9,000 USD ($11,846 AUD) while the most Lauren has ever got from one snap is $7,500 USD ($9,872 AUD).

'I did a job for a phone company where I flew out for three days; there were two days filming and then I had to do five photos on Instagram, and that was $35,000,' he told the magazine.

'We've even turned up to jobs before that we've charged thousands for, and we've got there and they've been like, "your rates are so low".'

Philippines: The pair have mastered the art of blogging and as a result, share an incredible three million followers between them and earn thousands of dollars for any sponsored posts

Rome: The most Jack has been paid for one post is $9,000 USD ($11,846 AUD) while the most Lauren has ever got from one snap is $7,500 USD ($9,872 AUD)

Cambodia: 'I did a job for a phone company where I flew out for three days; there were two days filming and then I had to do five photos on Instagram, and that was $35,000,' Jack said

But despite the high rates, Jack insists the pair only do sponsored posts if they support the brand, company or tourism board.

'I was contacted by brands way before I started accepting offers. I didn't care about making money, it was always just a project I did for fun. Eventually as I grew bigger some of the offers were too good to turn down,' he wrote.

'I only promote or post about the things I truly like or believe in, which is very important to me and why my posts resonate with so many.'

Jack did admit that the job can get overwhelming at times and that they do sometimes travel to places 'for the sole purpose of a "gram worthy" shot'.

Virgin islands: But despite the high rates, Jack insists the pair only do sponsored posts if they support the brand, company or tourism board

Bali: Jack did admit, however, that the job can get overwhelming, saying they do sometimes travel to places 'for the sole purpose of a "gram worthy" shot'

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2016, Jack said that within the first nine months of meeting each other, Lauren gained more than 700,000 followers and he gained more than half a million.

'I think it was because it was mixing the photography up with Lauren and people enjoy seeing a couple and it works for us,' he said.

Jack and Lauren's jaw-dropping photography and enviable lifestyle drew the admiration of plenty of brands who inundated the pair with opportunities over the next 12 months.

Global brands such as Royal Caribbean Cruises, Disney, Air NZ, AirBnB, NRMA insurance and other headlining acts have all approached the duo.

Lauren has even had to turn down fashion brands.

Arabian Desert: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2016, Jack said that within the first nine months of meeting each other, Lauren gained more than 700,000 followers and he gained more than half a million

Philippines: 'She has to turn down a lot of brands, if she wouldn't wear it she won't work with it as she tries to keep it authentic,' Jack said of Lauren

'She has to turn down a lot of brands, if she wouldn't wear it she won't work with it as she tries to keep it authentic,' Jack said.

Despite their work load, the duo are aware of how truly lucky they are.

'It is almost a dream. Being able to do what I want every day is nice,' he said.

'It is ideal, I never really expected to find someone I could share this with, so it worked out really well.'
Recipe queen Delia Smith was in high spirits at the 40th anniversary of celebrity haunt Langans Brasserie in London.

Delia, 75, was not short of male company as she was joined by fellow chefs Brian Turner, 70, Antony Worrall Thompson, 65, and Fergus Henderson, 53.

Even though its colourful owner, Peter Langan, died in 1988, his exuberant legacy lives on.

Delia Smith, 75, joined Brian Turner, 70, Antony Worrall Thompson, 65, and Fergus Henderson, 53, at the 40th anniversary of celebrity haunt Langan's Brasserie in London

Three ages of supermodel bask down Mexico way

They may be decades apart in age but the trio of Bella Hadid, 20, Sienna Miller, 35, and Gwyneth Paltrow, 44 are all sporting the classic dark bikini for their latest seaside jaunts in Mexico.

Oscar winner Paltrow, the elder stateswoman of the group, boasts the priciest ensemble with her Helen Jon two-piece retailing at 147.

Bohemian actress Miller chooses the miss-matched combo of a bandeau top and light blue bottoms, while model Hadid pulls the strings of her 124 JYork bikini high over her hips, drawing attention to her curvaceous figure.

The trio of Bella Hadid, Sienna Miller and Gwyneth Paltrow (left to right) are all sporting the classic dark bikini for their latest seaside jaunts in Mexico

History man pours scorn on 'Churchill'

The forthcoming movie Churchill  starring Brian Cox as the iconic wartime leader in the days before the Normandy landings of June 1944  has been subjected to a preliminary bombardment by historian Andrew Roberts.

Roberts is unable to award it top marks  or, many marks at all, pointing out, for instance, that Churchill made his We Shall Never Surrender speech in 1940, not in 1944 when there was no danger of invasion.

Nor, adds Roberts, who is writing a new biography of Churchill, did Winston attempt to widen the scope of the invasion  and nor did he fight the war dressed in white tie, wearing it only once a year at the Lord Mayor of Londons Mansion House dinner.

Oh dear. And thats just from the two-and-a-half minute trailer.

Has the Palace made a scheduling cock-up? Prince Harry is holding an International Mine Awareness Day reception tonight at Kensington Palace, while the Duchess of Cambridge will attend the opening of 42nd Street in aid of East Anglia Childrens Hospices.

Harry and the Cambridges traditionally never hold engagements at the same time in order to avoid a publicity clash.

There is a feeling that should Prince Harry marry his actress girlfriend Meghan Markle, they will totally eclipse the Cambridges.

Campbell tipped as Cambridge Master

Tony Blairs former henchman Alastair Campbell was 2013s Humanitas Visiting Professor of Media at Cambridge University.

There is now excitable talk among students that he could succeed Professor Sir Alan Fersht, who stands down as Master of Caius College in September 2018.

The College is at an early stage of seeking a Master, says a spokesman.

We have used several methods to secure a diverse field of possible names, including a circulation to our 7,700 alumni and the engagement of professional headhunters.

Might Campbell, an alumnus of Caius, propel himself forward? He is unavailable for comment, but friends think not. He bitterly regrets any link with Cambridge because its elitist, says a contemporary.

Perhaps other Blairites will have no such qualms.

Labour has an impressive hold on no fewer than three Cambridge colleges  Pembroke, Queens and Clare, respectively headed by Tony Blairs first Culture Secretary Chris Smith (now Lord Smith of Finsbury), Neil Kinnocks former chief economic adviser Lord Eatwell and Lord Grabiner, who remains a party member despite his distaste for Jeremy Corbyn.
Melinda Brady, model and stylist with more than 30 years experience, knows a thing or two about ageing well.

The 54-year-old recommends reinventing yourself, mixing vintage clothes with high end products, dressing for your body shape, and incorporating menswear into your wardrobe.

'I think it's important to reinvent yourself every decade or so, often the older we get the more we have on our plate so eventually we just dont make the time to pay attention to our own style we once did,' she told Mamamia.

Scroll down for video

Melinda Brady, 54 (pictured) is a model and stylist with 30 years experience in the industry

Knowing what works on your body, like screen sirens Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren did, can really help hone your personal style.

For Miss Brady it's vintage, 50s style pieces that work to her proportions.

She's always been a firm fan of vintage op-shopping but doesn't mind mixing cheaper pieces with high end designer labels.

It helps the 54-year-old stand out from her age bracket with a unique sense of style.

She is an advocate for embracing age, and said confidence is the most attractive quality

Finding op-shop threads used to be associated with 'being a student' but nowadays it's a strong statement to rock vintage threads. Ms Brady's personal favourite is Shag in Melbourne.

And once you've organised your closet she said it's time to play with different structures.

'If you opt for a tiny pencil skirt because you have a great bum and good legs then oversize your top go two or three sizes bigger than you normally would.

'If youre more of a pear shape with a narrow waist, great shoulders and a larger bottom, then wear something tight to show your shoulders and decolletage and something tailored that skims your bottom rather than something clingy,' she said.

Menswear is also a huge hit for the 54-year-old who incorporates white men's dinner shirts into her everyday attire. She said women's knits are often too tight and don't accommodate for a bigger bust.

Men's chunky cardigans can be worn over a nice pair of blue jeans or over a silk slip dress. You don't have to sacrifice femininity when you incorporate menswear, the stylist said.

It takes less effort to embrace age than it does to hold back the years,' she said

As for the parts of your body that might age more obviously than others, for example the colour of your hair, Ms Brady recommended mixing it up by transitioning your silver to champagne blonde or even pastel.

She explained that harnessing dark hair and brows at a later age can appear harsh rather than youthful.

The stylist also sent a strong message around being sexy and how to maintain your femininity as you age.

'Being sexy isnt a competition; we run our own race so to speak. Im often dismayed when Im out at just how much flesh is on show in my age bracket.

Ms Brady appeared in a campaign for retail giant Target where she modeled a bikini, a move that thrust her in to the spotlight

'Yes, yes its okay for our daughters to expose that much more but once were into our middle age sexy should be more a suggestion than a promise.

The model and stylist, 54, cut her teeth in the industry 30 years ago, and witnessed first-hand the shift towards digital re-touching.

When analogue shifted to digital we lost something, she told Daily Mail Australia.

Sure we gained the Internet, we gained a whole heap of things, but we also gained the ability to perfect ourselves digitally and now cosmetically.

Im trying to be what I want to see in the world, she said

Everything is re-touched, how do we know whats real and whats not?

So why is this important?

Ms Brady, who lives in Melbourne, is a pioneer for embracing age and doing it gracefully.

Confidence, she says, is the most attractive quality, and being constantly bombarded with perfect images does not have a positive effect on anyone with body issues.

The realisation is one that came to her as she grew older.

Her main advice for women is to take a step back from the mirror and realise there are other women who embrace ageing

The upside of ageing is we have a greater ownership of ourselves, she said.

I know deep down confidence it the most attractive thing about me.

It takes less effort to embrace age than it does to hold back the years.

The more we toy with our appearance the less likely it is to make us feel better about ourselves.

Her uninhibited confidence came to light when the 54-year-old modelled in a swimwear shoot for Australian retail giant Target's 'Every Body' campaign.

With her long silver hair, she made headlines across major news outlets.

And her point of difference was simple.

The model and stylist recommends embracing your age as you get older

Here was a 50-something woman portrayed as youthful, in a bikini, in an industry where other women her age are modelling nanny nighties, retirement homes and incontinence products.

Im trying to be what I want to see in the world, she said.

The campaign not only thrust her in the spotlight, but saw her gain thousands of Instagram followers.

Her page is a place where she can practice what she preaches, so to say, and she told Daily Mail Australia her most sound advice was to take a step away from the mirror.

The funny thing about that tip is my mum said that to me when I was 16 and found my first grey hair, she said.

I promptly forgot that tip and somewhere in my fifties it surfaced back to the top of my brain.

Im not going to change my face, I really am excited to about seeing what Im going to look like when Im older,' she said

I dont look at wrinkles and imperfections, I never look in the mirror that close.

Take a breath, take a step away from the mirror and have a look around you, there are other women who are embracing age.

Im not going to change my face, I really am excited to about seeing what Im going to look like when Im older.
For many people, the prospect of living without a car, a smartphone, a laptop and a watch is unthinkable.

However, for Miriam Lancewood, life without all of these things and more is perfect.

The 33-year-old, who is originally from Wehl in Holland, has spent the past seven years living 'off grid' with her New Zealand-born husband Peter, 63, in the New Zealand wilderness.

While the couple originally set out to challenge themselves to just one year without the modern day necessities of technology, society and electricity, some seven years later, they are still living in the wild.

According to Ms Lancewood, they have no plans to go home to civilisation.

Miriam Lancewood (pictured) has been living in the wilderness in New Zealand for the past seven years with her partner, Peter - she spoke to FEMAIL about her life and existence

Miriam and Peter Lancewood came up with the idea to go and live in the wilderness of South Marlborough one day after they finished a hike in Holland.

'We wanted to be a part of nature, rather than just observing it,' Ms Lancewood told Daily Mail Australia.

'We wondered whether we could survive a year in the wild.'

And so, pursuing their idea of a radically different lifestyle, the pair began to prepare to head to New Zealand.

'We wanted to be a part of nature, rather than just observing it,' Ms Lancewood told Daily Mail Australia of her initial wish to trip over to New Zealand and do a year there (pictured with Peter)

'We packed up two 85-kilo bags with everything we needed, from rolled oats to milk powder, flour yeast, honey, rice and vegetables.

'We counted out everything perfectly, including the teabags,' Ms Lancewood said.

While the ambitious couple did train a little before they arrived in New Zealand, with a couple of long 10-day hikes through the bush and practice lighting fires in the rain, Ms Lancewood admitted that because she had been a P.E teacher at home, she hoped she would be okay:

'I knew how to shoot with a bow and arrow at a target, which I knew would be useful.

'What I didn't know is how much more difficult it is to shoot at something moving,' she laughed.

Before they went on their expedition, Ms Lancewood practised by going on 10 kilometre hikes and lighting fires in the rain; she also practised with her bow and arrow (pictured)

The pair set out for South Marlborough in late 2010, where they passed the winter before moving on to the Nelson Lakes District, and later the West Coast for summer and autumn:

A DAY IN THE WILD * According to Miriam Lancewood, the pair would wake up around the time when the sun rose, before heading out to find firewood. * They would then light the fire and make cups of tea and toast with bread they had made the day before. * Obviously, they had no sense of time - they merely followed the sunlight - but after breakfast, they might go exploring or for a walk. * The couple would later head back to their tent and go hunting in the afternoon and early evening. * They would sit around the fire and have dinner once it got dark, going to bed possibly one hour later. Advertisement

'We were totally dependent on the weather, we didn't know what time it was at any point,' Ms Lancewood said.

'We got up when the sun rose and went to sleep when it went down. In the winter, we must have been sleeping for 13 or 14 hours, but it wasn't good quality sleep at the start.

'We woke up with pains in our stomachs from trying to keep warm. We knew we needed to hunt to get warm in our bodies.'

Ms Lancewood caught her first animal - a possum - that year. She had been a vegetarian for most of her life before that, but realised that she would have to hunt in order to stay warm.

The 33-year-old later shot and killed her first goat with her bow and arrow.

'I remember thinking "this is terrible" at the time, and crying, but later I also felt very proud of myself,' she said.

Ms Lancewood caught her first animal - a possum - that year; she later caught a goat, which she said was terrible initially as a vegetarian, but also made her proud of herself

They got up when the sun rose, went to bed when it went down - and also hunted, shot and looked after themselves full time, exploring where possible (pictured)

For the nomadic couple, wilderness life soon got into a regular pattern.

Between hunting, cooking, exploring and sleeping, they filled their days without modern-day conveniences, and only tripped into various towns when they needed to top up their food supplies:

'We have no need for money in the wild. When we go into towns, we do obviously have to buy more rolled oats, honey, rice etc - and so I do take money out of the bank.

Ms Lancewood has written a book about her inspiring experiences (pictured)

'But I often play my guitar in shopping centres when we are in town to also help to tide money over.

'It's amazing when you remove yourself from modern day life how much better you feel.

'Sleep comes very easily when the mind is quiet; I'm never able to sleep in cities now.'

While she did miss some things, namely contact with her family, Ms Lancewood said she created a system whereby she wrote her parents letters with a pen and paper, before giving them to passing hunters to post when they were in town.

'My parents would then reply to me by email and I would pick up the emails every two or three months when I was in a village,' she said.

However, Ms Lancewood also said she preferred their new quality of life much more, and so - when they got to the end of their first year - they decided to stay living in the wild.

'The peace of mind you find from living in the wild is indescribable,' she said.

'Plus, I have no home and no backup plan, so this had to work!'

She said that she has learned a lot from this entire experience (pictured), and has no intention of going back to her life in civilisation - the couple hope to go to Eastern Europe next

'I feel happy, healthy and exploring gives me so much joy and energy,' Ms Lancewood said of her exploring (pictured with Peter)

Ms Lancewood explained that she has learned much from seven years spent in the wild, but the biggest and most important lesson of all is how 'insignificant' we are:

'I've learned how small our problems really are, and because of this, my personal issues seem tiny and pathetic.

'This has been a huge help for my anxiety. I feel happy, healthy and exploring gives me so much joy and energy.

I feel happy, healthy and exploring gives me so much joy and energy... Why would I go back to my old life?

'Why would I go back to my old life?'.

Ms Lancewood has written a book, Woman in the Wilderness, about her inspiring adventure and what she has learned, and she said that the couple hold hopes of living off grid in Eastern Europe at some point in the future:

'I am a bit nervous about things like bears there, but I would also love to find wild places in Eastern Europe,' she said.

'To do something like this, you do need to be physically quite strong and have quite a bit of endurance and stamina.

'But I'd recommend it to many people. I don't think I will ever go back to civilisation.'

Miriam Lancewood's book, Woman in the Wilderness, is published by Allen & Unwin, and retails for AUD $32.99. For more information, click here.
The designer of Sylvia Jeffreys' wedding gown has revealed intricate details behind the making of the extravagant bridal attire.

The Channel Nine news presenter tied the knot with her groom Peter Stefanovic in a lavish ceremony in Kangaroo Valley in rural NSW on Saturday.

And the 33-year-old bride certainly stunned in a custom-made gown by Australian designer Rebecca Vallance and a cathedral veil when she walked down the aisle for the intimate occasion.

The making behind the wedding dress: Gown features 15 metres of lace and 29 silk buttons

Special day: The Channel Nine news presenter tied the knot with her groom Peter Stefanovic in a lavish ceremony in Kangaroo Valley in rural NSW on Saturday

The tiered white dress featured a plunging neckline, custom-made corsetry, 15 metres of lace, 10 metres of Italian fine silk double organza and a six metre silk train.

After more than 200 hours in the making, the elegant gown was finished off with 29 silk buttons, micro sequins and feathered yarns.

The world-renowned designer, from Victoria's Ballarat, sourced fine dentelle de Calais lace from a lace mill - used to design France's finest haute couture.

'We began the design process six months ago and worked closely together to create the perfect dress for her special day,' Ms Vallance told Nine Style.

'We are both really pleased with the outcome, I feel honoured to have designed the dress for such a special friend, she couldn't have looked more beautiful.'

While Ms Vallance's ready-to-wear dresses retail for as much as AU$1,249, it is not known how much her bespoke gown for Sylvia cost.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the designer's representatives for comment.

The 33-year-old bride stunned in a custom-made gown by Australian designer Rebecca Vallance (pictured) for the intimate occasion over the weekend

Party time! The bridesmaids (pictured Claire Going, Alison Ariotti, Meggie Palmer and Jenna Stefanovic) were all dressed in off-the-shoulder desert rose gowns made by Rebecca Vallance

Beautiful day: The happy couple posed for a series of post-wedding snaps after their nuptials

The designer also revealed Sylvia's bridesmaids were dressed in off-the-shoulder custom-made desert rose gowns from her evening collection.

Ms Vallance shared a shot of the couple to her Instagram page over the weekend, confirming she had created the extravagant gown, after much speculation.

She captioned the image: 'AND THE BRIDE WORE... Australian journalist Sylvia Jeffreys married Peter Stefanovic this weekend wearing custom Rebecca Vallance.'

And Ms Vallance was praised on social media for intricate work behind the bride's dress, with many describing the garment as 'stunning' and 'beautiful'.

Let the fun begin! Up 160 guests gathered at the exclusive Ooralba property in NSW's Kangaroo Valley on Saturday to see Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic tie the knot

You may now kiss the bride! The media personalities were pictured in a passionate embrace

Pictured: A beaming Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins (far left) congratulated the bride and groom after the ceremony on Saturday

The designer was praised on Instagram for her intricate work behind the bride's dress, with many describing the garment as 'stunning' and 'beautiful'

One person wrote on Instagram: 'You and your team did an AMAZING job, Rebecca. An exquisite dress for an exquisite bride.'

Another said: 'The dress was so beautiful and suited Sylvia perfectly. Excellent job guys.'

And another posted: 'Wow Rebecca. Amazing dress. Sylvia looks stunning.'

And much to the designer's delight, the bride herself commented on the dress: 'And she loved every minute of it!!!! Thank you @rebeccavallance.'
The semi-final of University Challenge last night was a male-heavy affair, with eight men, including host Jeremy Paxman, and just one woman.

However, when a tampon-related question came up, at a crucial moment near the end of the semi-final battle between Edinburgh and Oxford Balliol, the male brains in the studio looked suitably stumped.

Step forward Emily Goddard, a chemistry student from team Edinburgh, who had largely been quiet during the show, to correctly answer that the abbreviation TSS referred to Toxic Shock Syndrome, a bacterial infection sometimes associated with tampon use.

Scroll down for video

Female viewers of University Challenge took to Twitter during last night's semi final between Oxford Balliol and Edinburgh to comment on the fact that the seven male team-mates looked 'clueless' when a question about Toxic Shock Syndrome, an infection sometimes related to tampon use came up

There's not much Goldman can't answer, but he looked stumped by Paxman's question on TSS; his team eventually claimed a 215 to 140 victory

Goddard, who hadn't answered any other questions correctly, looked thrilled to have boosted the flailing Edinburgh's chances of a fightback.

On social media, many female viewers said that they too had got the question right, which is perhaps testament to the warning literature carried on boxes of tampons about Toxic Shock Syndrome.

@made_of_sand wrote: 'Toxic Shock Syndrome. Anyone who's ever read the leaflet in a tampon packet has heard of that.'

While @VickyMack added: 'Laughed at the question about Toxic Shock Syndrome being answered by the only woman in #UniversityChallenge. The men looked clueless.'

@evemariadust added: 'every girl from about the age of 12 knows about TSS!'

Goddard, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, sparked a mini comeback with her correct answer...but Edinburgh weren't quite strong enough to topple Oxford Balliol

IT'S A MONKMAN VS GOLDMAN FINAL (...WITH PAXMAN AT THE HELM) While Eric Monkman may have grabbed the headlines with his distinctive, shouty answering of questions, it's likely he'll face his toughest challenge yet when he leads Wolfson Cambridge out against Oxford Balliol in the University Challenge final. Man, he's clever! Joey Goldman, a student at Oxford Balliol impressed last night by barking back the correct answer to a question about Douglas Hofstadter's 1973 book before Paxman had asked the question The host chuckled after Goldman followed up his correct answer with the rest of the characters from Hofstadter's work...and the sub-title Joey Goldman, who's earned a reputation for his fierce intellect and occasional surly answers, dominated the semi-final last night. His finest moment came when he interrupted Paxman at the beginning of a question that asked for one of the three names of the characters who appeared in the title of Douglas Hofstadter's 1973 work Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid? Goldman barked back: 'Godel!' Before firing the rest of the title out upon Paxman's request...'Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid!' Advertisement

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection.

It is caused by staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus pyogenes - bacteria that normally live harmlessly on the skin, nose or mouth.

Anyone can develop TSS but for reasons that are not fully understood, a significant number of cases are in women who are on their period and using a tampon - particularly those designed to be 'super absorbent'.

Back in the studio, Oxford Balliol, lead by superbrain Joey Goldman, proved too strong and booked the team's place in the semi-final with a 215 - 140 victory.

The prospect of Goldman meeting Eric Monkman, the intense Canadian-based captain of Wolfson College, Cambridge next week has already left fans in a heady whirl of anticipation.

The 29-year-old from Ottawa, who spent ten months studying at Cambridge and is enjoying his new-found stardom on this side of the Atlantic, has become the stand-out-star of University Challenge 2017 for his iconic frown and bellowing voice.

Fans on Twitter have described him as the 'most intense contestant ever'.
A Kate super-fan has spent 7,000 replicating The Duchess of Cambridge's iconic look  emulating everything from the princess' wardrobe to her beauty and skincare regime.

But whilst some of The Duchess of Cambridge's individual designer clothes alone can cost thousands, Kate Urbanksa, 29, has managed to copy her style for a fraction of the price. And she has shared all the tricks so anyone can copy Kate's style without breaking the bank.

Kate, from Berkshire, has created her own royal wardrobe by religiously scouring Ebay while she waits for the bus, hiring a tailor to reconstruct pieces, and being selective about which of the princess' outfits she chooses to emulate.

Kate Urbanksa, 29, from Berkshire, has created her own royal wardrobe by religiously scouring Ebay

She is pictured wearing the Duchess of Cambridge's 3,192 Naeem Khan dress, which the Duchess wore in India, right, and which Kate found a replica of for just 30

Beautician Kate hunted down The Duchess' favourite 75 Great Plains Cezanne dress  which the princess owns in three colours  for a steal at just 3.

She also got her hands on Kate's 325 L.K. Bennett Addison dress for a much discounted 150 and hired a tailor to reconstruct Kate Middleton's 3,191 Naeem Khan dress for the bargain price of 30.

With her resourceful ways, the only items of clothing that Kate has ever had to buy at full-price are The Duchess' much-loved 450 Gianvito Rossi 105 heels  which the princess owns in four different shades.

Kate  who is a hit on Instagram (@greatreplikate) for her Royal inspired look  explains: 'I love Kate Middleton and her style  her look is modest, timeless and so different compared to other celebrities nowadays.

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's jewel-coloured 325 flecked-print L.K. Bennett dress, which she wore to welcome the Obamas to London, right

She got her hands on Kate's 325 L.K. Bennett dress for a much discounted 150

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate's New Balance shoes and a Perfect Moment red jacket, which Kate wore at a London Marathon Training Day at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Feburary

The beautician dons a 325 coat by high street store Reiss, which Kate has worn numerous times to wrap up warm, right

The super-fan has spent 7,000 replicating The Duchess of Cambridgeis iconic look - emulating everything from the princessi wardrobe to her beauty and skincare regime

Kate, left, wearing Kate Middleton's 640 Alexander McQueen red pleated dress remade for the bargain price of 102

'And her designer clothes are such good quality that she is able to wear them time and time again. Kate does don a lot of expensive clothes. But by being selective and tenacious, anyone can recreate The Duchess' closet without breaking the bank!

'Rather than going for high-street replicas, I like to buy the exact high-end outfit the princess wore so I'm always looking for bargains. I check Ebay and online auctions daily so I can get the exact pieces Kate Middleton has worn without the hefty price tag.

'It doesn't matter whether I'm on the bus or waiting in line for something, whenever I have a spare moment, I'm always checking the different sites.

'But you have to also be realistic about which of Kate's outfits you'll actually be able to wear in reality. You might be dazzled by a full-length gown the princess wore, but if your lifestyle doesn't require a couture dress, then don't buy it!

'The only item I've bought at full price is The Duchess' Gianvito Rossi heels in praline  sadly, they never seem to go on sale!'

Kate's love for all things Kate Middleton has also extended to trying the Duchess' rumoured beauty products so she can get the princess' glow.

She has purchased everything from the princess' favourite 50 Karin Herzog face cream to her 16 Bobbi Brown Sandwashed Pink lipstick and 30.50 Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Compact.

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's Hobbs matching jacket and skirt. The Duchess of Cambridge wore the green look, right, for a visit to East Anglia's Children's Hospices in Quidenham in January. Kate's Gerard Darel blouse cost 105

Kate has also splashed out on The Duchess' signature scent, the Jo Malone Orange Blossom Candle - retailing at 44.00 - which she is said to have lit in Westminster Abbey on the royal wedding day on 29 April 2011.

KATE'S DUCHESS COSTS Clothes - 2,900 Shoes - 4,000 Beauty products  around 100 Kate scours Ebay and high street sales for bargains Hunted down The Duchess' favourite 75 Great Plains Cezanne dress  which the princess owns in three colours  for a steal at just 3 Got her hands on Kate's 325 L.K. Bennett Addison dress for a much discounted 150 Hired a tailor to reconstruct Kate Middleton's 3,191 Naeem Khan dress for the bargain price of 30 Advertisement

Married Kate said: 'I love The Duchess' clothes of course, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't tried her skincare routine too.

'I'm a natural long-haired brunette like Kate but I did try her favourite 50 Karin Herzog moisturizer to perfect the look and all her Bobbi Brown make-up products.

'I also couldn't resist buying the Jo Malone Orange Blossom candle, which is Kate's rumoured fragrance.'

Kate first became enamoured with The Duchess of Cambridge's fashion sense when she stepped out the day after The Royal Wedding in 300 Stuart Weitzman Corkswoon wedges and a 49.99 Zara pleated dress.

Soon, Kate was hooked on the princess' style and in 2012, she bought the very same outfit and shoes as her first purchases. However Kate realised she would had to be inventive if she wanted to expand her royal wardrobe on a cheaper budget.

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's graphic 21.99 printed Gap pants and 426 Smythe jacket. The Duchess of Cambridge wore it as she visited the Eden Project last September

KATE'S TOP TIPS TO RECREATE THE DUCHESS' LOOKS WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK NEVER STOP LOOKING  Check ebay and the different retailer websites daily for reduced original pieces. I'll have a look when I'm on the bus or waiting in a queue somewhere. It's always worthwhile to check  and you have to be quick because as soon as Kate's clothes goes on sale, they sell out fast. HIRE A TAILOR  Sometime Kate wears a bespoke item or it's just impossible to purchase one of her clothes for a reasonable price. When that happens, hire a tailor to recreate that outfit for you. THINK BEFORE YOU BUY  You need to be happy with your purchase so before you buy Kate's outfit, think whether you actually need it. Does the shape flatter you? Is it actually in-keeping with your taste? Kate never follows fashion trends so don't buy anything unless you really like it. BE SELECTIVE  Don't be so dazzled by everything The Duchess has worn. For example, my lifestyle doesn't require a couture gown so I will probably never buy any full-length gowns she wore or will wear in the future. Advertisement

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's Orla Kiely dress. The royal wore it at Chance UK's Early Intervention Programme at Islington Town Hall in 2015

Kate, who has almost 4,500 followers on Instagram, explains: 'There was something about The Duchess' style that instantly struck a chord with me. She never follows trends and she picks clothes that are comfortable, elegant and classic.

'As soon as I purchased the Zara dress and the Stuart Weitzman shoes, I knew I just wanted to keep replicating her outfits and pursue that further. I wanted to purchase the original designer items the princess wore but I didn't have the same royal budget as Kate.

'So I had to become adept at trawling the internet to find second-hand pieces on ebay or looking out for her outfits in the sale. The key is to regularly keep track of Kate's outfits and be quick once they are reduced in the sale as they sell out quickly.'

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's 275 purple tweed Seraphine maternity coat. Kate wore the coat at The Carlyle Hotel in New York

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's graphic printed pants from Gap and Reiss Vinnie blouse. The Duchess of Cambridge wore it as she talked to children from the 'Real Truth' video blog

Kate Urbanksa wearing Kate Middleton's Zara blazer, a H&M top and Prada shoes. Kate wore the outfit in Canada. She wore tasselled loafers, 278, by J. Crew

When The Duchess of Cambridge's outfit is bespoke or too expensive, Kate will hire a tailor to reconstruct the piece. For example, she is currently having Kate Middleton's 640 Alexander Mcqueen red pleated dress remade for the bargain price of 102.

It is not just The Duchess of Cambridge's style that Kate is inspired by. She also admires the fashion-sense of Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle.

Kate says: 'I love Meghan Markle  I'm in the middle of watching "Suits" on Netflix because of her exciting relationship with Prince Harry.

'Her style is feminine like Kate's but also much more modern and edgy. I can't wait to see some clear photos of Harry and Meghan together possibly at Pippa's wedding this year.

'And who knows, maybe I'll start replicating Meghan's outfits too!'

Kate Urbanksa, left, wearing Kate Middleton's Reiss Angel coat. The Angel was originally priced at 325
Instead of being offended by a rogue recipe ingredient in Mary Berry's Everyday series this time it was one of her guests that stunned.

Viewers couldn't believe their eyes when the 82-year-old introduced one of her oldest friends, Shirley - who bears a striking resemblance to the baking doyenne.

As the pair whipped up a classic dish of asparagus rolls, fans watching at home took to Twitter to ask whether Shirley was actually Mary's 'stunt double'.

Shirley (left) made her debut alongside her best friend Mary Berry (right) and viewers couldn't help spot the similarities between them

Mary Berry and her best friend Shirley whipped up sixties-inspired canapes while they reminisced about their friendship

Viewers were stunned to see the two women side-by-side in the kitchen and joked that they couldn't tell them apart

It was had to ignore the similarities between the two women - from their pastel clothes and statement necklaces to their matching ash blonde hairdos.

'Is Shirley Mary Berry's stunt double?' asked one viewer.

Another joked: 'Mary & Shirley. Same hairdresser & M&S section.'

'Did we really see Shirley and Mary in the same room? #shirleyisafake,' questioned one.

Mary explained how she and Shirley used to have 'great fun' working together in the '60s and decided to revisit the decade for inspiration for canapes.

Tinned asparagus rolled in brown bread and butter - which Mary admitted she used to think was a 'great luxury' - and discs of brown bread piped with a cream cheese, butter and paprika mix were on the menu.

Mary also reminisced about the morning of her wedding to Paul Hunnings, during which she and Shirley decorated her wedding cake at the last minute.

The former Great British Bake Off judge - who was cooking recipes to celebrate her 50th anniversary - also revealed her honeymoon destination was the less than glamorous Shipton-under-Wychwood, a village in Oxfordshire.

Mary Berry and her husband Paul Hunnings on their wedding day. She made her own cake and decorated it the morning of the wedding with greenery from her garden

Mary and Paul celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the last episode of the Everyday series

It was the final episode for the BBC Two series, which earlier provoked something of a public outcry when Mary revealed she adds white wine to her ragu sauce, instead of the usual red.

Eyebrows were also raised over a salad recipe featuring red and white quinoa, bulgur wheat and pomegranate molasses, and her admission that she has never ordered a takeaway pizza.

She and her daughter Annabel, 44, also demonstrated their goat-milking skills in order to make their own cheese.

Mary Berry Everyday is available to watch on BBC iPlayer
The half-sister of Meghan Markle has defended plans for a new 'tell-all' book - and slammed her famous sibling for not contacting her after she was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Samantha Grant, 52, told Australian radio show hosts Hughesy and Kate that she had been left 'hurt' by the fact that divorcee Markle, 35, who has been dating Prince Harry since last summer, hadn't been in touch for nine years despite knowing about Grant's MS diagnosis.

Despite revealing earlier this year on Twitter that the title of her new book would be 'The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister', she denied that she planned to dish the dirt on Meghan, saying instead it would be about her 'bi-racial experiences'.

Scroll down for video

'Hurt': Samantha Grant, 52, has defended her decision to write a book about her life growing up with her younger half-sister Meghan Markle. The mother-of-three, who's in a wheelchair because of MS, told Australian radio hosts Hughesy and Kate that she was surprised Meghan hadn't been in touch about Grant's medical condition, considering her public charity work

Grant, who hasn't spoken to her younger half-sibling for nine years, said she thought Markle was 'furious' after hearing that the title of Grant's book was likely to be 'The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister'. Markle, 35, has been dating Prince Harry since last year

Grant, who works as a mental health counsellor, told Australian radio that she's being portrayed as a 'gossipy little peer' by the media when in fact she's merely a 'an older sister'

The Mother-of-three, who uses a wheelchair and has multiple sclerosis, also revealed that the last time she saw her half-sister - the siblings share the same father, Thomas Markle - was at her graduation in 2008.

She told the Australian radio hosts that she was particularly upset that Meghan hadn't acknowledged her medical condition despite being heavily involved with charities.

Grant offered: 'It's not about the money, it's more about general consideration and support.'

She added: 'Humanitarianism begins at home. That doesn't mean monetary, it means reaching out.'

Continuing, she said: ' I am in a wheelchair and she did meet Harry at the Invictus Games. I felt like it was an opportunity to be a voice and bring a lot of awareness to it [disability].

Outburst: This was the lengthy Twitter announcement for Samantha Grant's literary project

' I think she believed the tabloids that I was writing a 'tell-all' book.

'That's rubbish. It's a book about my bi-racial experiences and evolution. It has nothing to do with talking about Megan.

'That's her personal business. I'm an older sister, not her gossipy little peer. And I would never judge her about those things, that would ruin her private life.

Grant has previously told reporters that the Queen's grandson would be 'appalled by what she's done'.

She also claimed her sister was a shallow social climber who would watch programmes showing the Royal Family as a child and had a soft spot for gingers.

Grant said that Markle does remain in contact with their father Thomas but that she hasn't contacted her directly because she's 'furious' about the prospect of her half-sibling dishing the dirt in a book.

Close: Meghan posted a picture of herself with her mother, yoga teacher Doria, at her graduation

Grant said she hadn't heard from the palace in response to her planned book about being 'Princess Pushy's Sister'

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.

The rest of the Markle family have been quick to distance themselves from the book. 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'.

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.'
Renowned for her flirtatious manner of presenting, best-selling cookbooks and gloriously curvy figure, Nigella Lawson has long been regarded as the 'queen of food porn'.

But the 57-year-old chef's carefully polished public image suffered a blow fin 2013 after she was pictured being choked by her now ex-partner of 10 years, Charles Saatchi, as well as finding herself embroiled in a bitter court case with former assistants charged with fraud.

However, Nigella, who retreated from the limelight, is clearly keen to prove she's come out on top as she gets set to release her tenth cookbook, At My Table.

Taking to her website, Nigella revealed a sneak peek of the book's cover, which shows her in one of her favourite form-fitting dresses. Nigella last released a cookbook, Simply Nigella, back in 2015, and has been notably absent from the limelight and TV.

Nigella Lawson has long been regarded as the 'queen of food porn' with ten recipe books and countless TV shows. She went quiet after a public divorce and court case but is back with a vengeance as she releases her new cookbook

Explaining the premise behind her new book, she wrote: 'It's no secret that I've been writing a new book, but I have kept pretty quiet about it. But now the recipes are done, the book written, and I've just started the book shoot - which means my house is pleasurably frantic, every surface covered and there are four recipes on the go right now.'

Nigella, whose cooking range, Living Kitchen, is worth 7m, went on to explain how penning books is a 'glorious' experience and describes At My Table as a book of recipes that tell her ongoing life with food.

'Food is not just fuel, it's about memory and the stories of our lives and for me that means the food I ate growing up, the food I've cooked for friends and family sitting around my table and the recipes in this book reflect that,' she explains.

'This book, like all the books I've written is not just a manual, but a collection of stories and a container of memories. But of course, for all that, a cookery book - this cookery book - also has to answer that important, everyday question 'What are we going to eat?'.'

The book, due on shelves in September, looks set to include recipes such as Chicken and Pea Traybake, Apple Pork Chops with Sauerkraut Slaw, Flash-Fried Squid with Tomato and Tequila Salsa, Moroccan Vegetable Pot, Victoria Sponge with Cardamom and Creme Fraiche, and Emergency Brownies.

She concluded: 'It's a big moment when a book stops being something that's just in my head, my heart and my computer and steps into the real world, and I'm excited (if a little tremulously so) to share it with you.'

The 57-year-old chef from London stepped away from the spotlight in June 2013 after she was pictured being choked at the hand of her now ex-partner, Charles Saatchi

During the year of her public split, she was also embroiled in a bitter court case with former assistants charged with fraud

Nigella's life came under a microscope in 2013 after her very public spat with her ex, who is now dating Trinny Woodall. Nigella told a jury in 2013 that her infamous row with her ex-husband Charles Saatchi outside Scott's restaurant was over having grandchildren.

NIGELLA'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Graduated from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University Worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic Worked as deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986 Released first cookery book, How To Eat, in 1998, which became a best-seller Penned second book, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, in 2000 and took home British Book Award for Author of the Year Launched TV series, Nigella Bites, on Channel 4 in 1999 Went on to release eight cookbooks Hosted Food Network's Nigella Feasts in 2006 in the US and Nigella Express on BBC2 in 2007 Had public divorce in 2013 Released Simply Nigella in 2015 Will release At My Table in September 2017 Advertisement

Shocking images of the couple's argument, in which Mr Saatchi had his hand on the food writer's throat, were published that summer, quickly followed by news of their divorce.

Mother-of-two Ms Lawson, 53, told Isleworth Crown Court said that the row was sparked when she spoke about having grandchildren, with Mr Saatchi telling her 'I'm the only person you should be concerned with'

However, the chef told the court that Mr Saatchi had 'told everyone' he was taking cocaine out of her nose after he was photographed holding her neck at the Mayfair restaurant.

Other images, taken by freelance photographer Jean-Paul and published in a Sunday newspaper in June 2013, showed Mr Saatchi repeatedly tweaking and twisting Ms Lawson's nose outside the Mayfair restaurant, and even putting a finger in one of her nostrils.

She appeared tearful throughout the exchange, but stayed with him to finish their meal.

The photographer who took them timed the incident at just under half an hour, describing it as '27 minutes of madness'.

At the time Mr Saatchi laughed off the incident as a 'playful tiff', and accepted a police caution for assault.

However, in July, former advertising tycoon Mr Saatchi announced via the Mail On Sunday that he would be divorcing Ms Lawson after 10 years of marriage because she refused to defend his reputation following the publication of the photographs.

Nigella has been noticeably quiet since her last book and TV series, Simply Nigella, in 2015

Nigella is back to her best after a bitter court case, pictured, where she gave evidence in a case in which her two personal assistants (Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo) were accused of defrauding her and former husband Charles Saatchi

Around the same time, Nigella gave evidence in a case in which her two personal assistants (Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo) were accused of defrauding her and former husband Charles Saatchi.

Lisa and Francesca Grillo, who were cleared of fraud, had been accused of spending 685,000 on credit cards given to them by Miss Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi.

The pair were acquitted by a jury even though Francesca, 35, had used her family card to spend 8,000 on designer clothes in a single day.

Their defence, which involved lurid drug allegations against their former boss, was that the TV cook let them spend whatever they liked providing they kept quiet about her cocaine and cannabis use.

The jury also heard Miss Lawson describe her ex-husband as a 'brilliant but brutal man' who grabbed her throat out of jealousy when she idly wished for grandchildren, and who she said drove her to drugs with his 'intimate terrorism'.

Referring to details of her doomed marriage to Mr Saatchi being revealed in court, the then 54-year-old said: 'To have not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying'.
A private detective who insists jealousy is 'healthy' was slammed for her 'dated' views after appearing on This Morning.

Mother-of-two Rebecca Jane, 32, who founded The Lady Detective Agency in Manchester, was on the daytime show to debate whether it is acceptable for a married man to spend time alone with a woman who is not his wife.

Rebecca was firmly against it, pointing out: 'Someone once said to me if youre not a little bit psycho then it's not okay. I agree with that.

But some viewers accused her of 'talking nonsense' - while others were as distracted by her revealing outfit as her 'sad' opinions.

Rebecca Jane caused quite the stir when she appeared on This Morning in a bold white look to talk jealousy in relationships

She joined journalist Martin Daubney and presenters Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene to discuss if it was okay for husbands to spend time with other women alone

Viewers were distracted by Rebecca's dress and mocked her for choosing the off-the-shoulder look for daytime TV

Some questioned whether the outspoken guest was heading for a night out after her appearance on This Morning.

Referring to her white off-the-shoulder sheer striped mini dress and heels, one viewer tweeted: 'Is she going clubbing after this segment?'

Another thought her revealing outfit was inappropriate for the 11am segment: 'Why is she dressed like that so early in the morning?'

'Is it just me or is that woman slightly over dressed for a morning TV programme? She looks great but really?' another said.

Rebecca, who founded her private investigation company in Manchester before launching it in London and Stockholm, became embroiled in a heated debate with her fellow guest, journalist and father Martin Daubney.

Martin insisted he wasn't jealous of his wife, who he happily encouraged to spend time with the men from her place of work, and added that after the school run he would often go for coffee with the other mothers.

Those watching at home blasted her opinions for being 'dated' and 'complete nonsense' as she claimed jealousy is healthy

He even added that he felt it kept him on his toes: 'My wife is a very beautiful lady, men flirt with her, I trust her and I am not the jealous type.

I think it is control freakery of the very highest order.'

Rebecca bit back: 'You have absolutely no jealousy? I think theres something wrong there.'

She claimed that people should be wary of social engagements with the opposite sex as it could cause too much temptation.

Martin insisted he never got jealous of his own wife who he encouraged to spend time with the men from her workplace

Rebecca didn't agree with Martin, and claimed his lack of jealousy meant that there was something wrong in his relationship

Viewers didn't agree with Rebecca and said that the notion of jealousy was controlling and claimed she was 'insecure' about herself

But viewers slammed her for talking 'complete nonsense' and even suggested she was insecure.

'Jealously is not healthy at all. This woman is talking nonsense,' said one.

'This girl is obviously really insecure in her relationships,' suggested another.

While a third commented: 'If being jealous that someone else has your partners attention/company for a while and you don't... is controlling.'

This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10.30am
The Duchess of Cornwall broke with tradition and wore gold as she and Prince Charles met Pope Francis for the first time today.

The move was a nod to the 'relaxed' approach taken by the famously laid-back Pope, who has adopted a 'no dress code' policy for private audiences. It marks a significant departure from Vatican protocol, which states women meeting the Pontiff should wear black, preferably with a black veil, or mantilla, over their head.

For the meeting today, Camilla wore her head uncovered and donned a gold silk dress and coat by Anna Valentine, one of her favourite designers.

It sits in contrast to the royal couple's meeting with Pope Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to which Camilla wore the required black dress and veil.

Scroll down for video

Honour: Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met Pope Francis for the first time at a private audience at the Vatican. The duchess wore gold in keeping with his 'relaxed' approach

Last visit: Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met Pope Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2009, pictured. Camilla wore traditional black for the occasion

First wife: Princess Diana followed protocol and wore black and covered her head during her two meetings with Pope John Paul II, in the UK in 1982 and at the Vatican in 1985, pictured

Similarly, Princess Diana wore black and covered her head during her two audiences with Pope John Paul II, in the UK in 1982 and at the Vatican in 1985.

Speaking today, a spokesman at The Vatican explained: 'The Pope is very relaxed about protocol and there is no dress code, so to speak.'

The pope was waiting at the door of his study for his guests and, after shaking hands, all three sat down for a half-hour discussion, with only an interpreter present.

As their discussion concluded Pope Francis urged Charles to work to bring peace in the world, saying: 'Wherever you go, may you be a man of peace.' 'I'll do my best,' Charles replied.

Private audience: Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall with Pope Francis today. The three of them moved to another room to exchange gifts after their initial meeting

Smiling: The Duchess of Cornwall, dressed in gold in a nod to new 'relaxed' sartorial guidelines. looked pleased to be speaking to Pope Francis

The pair are given a tour of the Apolostic Library. Charles was given a bronze olive branch - signifying peace - and copies of the Pope's writings on climate change bound in red leather

The couple inside the library. After their tour, they met the Pope and the three of them sat down for a half-hour discussion, with only an interpreter present

The pair inspect an antique text in the Apolistic Library. Other members of the royal entourage were later introduced to the Pontiff, including Sir Alan Duncan the Europe Minister

Charm offensive: Ministers say the couple want to utilise their unique brand of 'soft power' and several further royal trips to the continent are being lined up

The three of them then moved to another room to exchange gifts, the prince giving the Pope a large hamper of produce from his Highgrove estate - to be given to the homeless - and framed photos of himself and Camilla.

Charles told the Pope, with no small understatement: 'It's difficult to know what to give your Holiness.' Looking at the hamper he added depreciatingly: 'Somebody else might like it.

As an aide lifted the lid of the wicker basket, jars could be seen amongst the straw and the prince told the Pontiff: 'They're all homemade things I produce.'

'It's very good,' Camilla added.

Light-hearted: The royal couple exchanged gifts with the Pope at the Vatican today

Shaking hands: Pope Francis seemed grateful for the gift he received from Prince Charles

Pope Francis, in the middle, posed with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall

In return Charles was given a bronze olive branch - signifying peace - and copies of the Pope's writings on climate change bound in red leather, an ideal gift for the environmentally-minded prince.

Other members of the royal entourage were introduced to the Pontiff, including Sir Alan Duncan, Europe Minister, whose presence there is a sign of how crucial Charles's post-Brexit charm offensive is being viewed by the British Government.

A few minutes before their arrival, Pope Francis, who has been lauded for his down-to-earth approach, made the short walk from his private residence to the audience hall known as Aula Paolo VI.

He genially smiled and waved to the waiting media as he walked across the cobbles and past the brightly-garbed Swiss Guards.

Pope Francis, centre, is famously far more relaxed than his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI

Picture time: The royals took their time to pose for photographs with Pope Francis in Vatican City

CHARLES AND CAMILLA TOUR THE VATICAN'S SECRET ARCHIVE By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent in the Vatican City for the Daily Mail Earlier Charles and Camilla toured the Vatican's secret archive and examined original documents relating to the Catholic Church and Britain. The rare manuscripts, not open to the public, are kept in Sala Sistina of the Vatican Library. On arrival at the archives they were met by Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, Segretario Generale, Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. The royal couple admired items in the Vatican's secret archive before the private meeting with the Pope, pictured The royal couple were shown a number of original rare letters including the last letter ever written by condemned Mary Queen of Scots on 8 February 1587 before her execution for treason. They were shown a letter written in 1555 by England's Tudor Queen Mary 1st and King Philip II on Spain about the restoration of the Catholic Church in England. There was also a letter by Pope Paul IV condemning Thomas Cranmer, the leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VIII and briefly under Mary I, who put him on trial for treason and heresy. He was eventually executed. The couple also poured over a letter by King Charles I approving his ambassador in Rome. Advertisement

Leading the way: Prince Charles and Pope Francis spoke as they walked

The heir to the British throne and the Duchess of Cornwall's European trip will end in Vienna this week

The couple were led on a private tour of the Vatican Secret Archives and Apostolic library

Admiring: Prince Charles and Camilla visit the Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum

Impressed by what they say: The British royals are given a tour as they walk around

Charles and Camilla are led on a tour by officials through the Archives

Prince Charles points at something in the Vatican Apostolic Library

The pair of them looked engrossed as they were shown something in the library

Charles points at an illustration in a book at the library

Pope Francis, centre, sits by Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Pope Francis is photographed leaving after he held a private audience with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall

Pope Francis leaves flanked by prefect of the papal household Georg Gaenswein (left) and his butler Sandro Mariotti

Georg Gaenswein smiles as he greets Prince Charles and Camilla today

The Prince of Wales smiles as he is ushered in to meet Pope Francis

Pope Francis and the British royal exchange gifts during their time together

They both appear to thank each other for their presents that they have given

What is in there: Prince Charles appears to point at something in the wicker hamper

Charles and Camilla arrived in an official car having just visited the Vatican Library and Archives, and were greeted by one of the Pope's senior aides before being ushered inside.

They touched down in the Italian capital today after spending the last five days in Florence, where they were based while they carried out engagements around Italy.

Their European tour - which has also taken in Romania and will end in Vienna later this week - is being seen as an important salvo in the Government's efforts to maintain good relations with Europe after the Brexit vote.

Next stop: Prince Charles, 68, and the Duchess of Cornwall, 69, landed in Rome today

Camilla was wearing an elegant gold and cream Anna Valentine coat and dress for her arrival

Hectic schedule: The royal couple, pictured today, have spent the last five days in Florence

Warm welcome: Charles and Camilla enjoyed glorious sunshine as they stepped off the plane

Ministers say they want to utilise their unique brand of 'soft power' and several further royal trips to the continent are being lined up.

Bright sunshine greeted the couple as they stepped on to the runway in Rome. They travelled on a converted RAF refuelling jet dubbed 'Cam Force One', which was ordered by David Cameron for the use of the Prime Minister and the Royal Family.

The couple first visited The British School, which was founded in 1901 as a school for research into archaeology and Italian studies. It received its Royal Charter in 1912.

First engagement: The couple smiled as they arrived at The British School in Rome

Fascinated: The couple spent time admiring some of the artwork in the school's collection

Presentation: Charles and Camilla with Christopher Smith, director of The British School

Grand entrance: The royal couple step through the imposing doors of The British School

Stylish: The Duchess of Cornwall leaves The British School after a visit on Tuesday

After being greeted by Professor Christopher Smith, Director of The British School, Charles and Camilla were given a brief tour of the building - it was designed by the legendary architect Lutyens - and its history and viewed artworks produced by several of its artists in residence.

Camilla met Catherine Parsonage, 27, from Birkenhead, who is studying at the school for 12 months as a Sainsbury's Scholar.

Camilla, whose daughter Laura, worked in the art world, and is a keen amateur dauber herself said she was 'very envious' of the experience.

The couple at The British School, which carries out research into archaeology and Italian studies

Camilla waves to the camera following a visit to the British School in Rome on Tuesday

'I just dabble, really. I love painting but I am really not very good,' she said.

Asked if she had ever exhibited any of her work, she laughed and said: 'You must be joking! Although I did sell two of my paintings for charity at a village fair. Thankfully no-one will ever get to see them.'

They will also get the chance for what has been described as a 'brief tete-a-tete' with Angelino Alfano, The Foreign Minister.

Also present will be representatives of INTBAU, an international educational charity which, under the patronage The Prince of Wales, promotes traditional building, architecture, and urbanism. Its Italian Chapter was established in Milan in 2008.

Discussion: Prince Charles with Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Cardinal Peter Turkson

In a speech in Florence last night Charles urged EU countries not too turn their backs on Britain.

Although the heir to the throne deliberately chose not to use the word Brexit, his appeal to countries such as Italy was clear.

He described the partnership between the two countries as a 'force for good in the world' and highlighted Britain and Italy's roles as global peacekeepers.
Prince Harry championed his late mother's anti-landmine cause tonight as he supported a bid to rid the world of the dangerous explosives by 2025.

Harry, 32, gave a keynote speech at a Kensington Palace reception on Tuesday to mark International Mine Awareness Day.

The prince paid tribute to his late mother's work at the Landmine Free World 2025 event, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Princess's death in August this year.

Scroll down for video

Following in his mother's footsteps: Prince Harry (pictured visiting a mine clearance site in Angola in 2013) is set to champion his late mother's anti-landmine cause tonight

Just months before she died in a car crash in 1997, Diana, wearing a protective visor and vest, walked through a mine field in Angola being cleared by the HALO Trust

Just months before she died in a car crash in 1997, the Princess of Wales, wearing a protective visor and vest, walked through a mine field in Angola being cleared by the HALO Trust.

She spoke out vociferously against the sale and use of landmines, and controversially called for an international ban on the devices during her trip.

But her actions led to the then junior defence minister Earl Howe branding her 'ill-informed' and a 'loose cannon that Her Majesty's government did not need'.

The Princess' last overseas tour was to Bosnia in August 1997, when she met victims of the weapons.

Harry, who became patron of the HALO Trust's 25th Anniversary Appeal, has followed in his mother's footsteps by visiting mine fields in Angola and Mozambique.

Harry (pictured tonight) became patron of the HALO Trust's 25th Anniversary Appeal, and has followed in his mother's footsteps by visiting mine fields in Angola and Mozambique

The prince paid tribute to his late mother's work at the Landmine Free World 2025 event, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Princess's death in August this year

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'In the year marking the 20th anniversary of the Princess' death, Prince Harry is pleased to have this moment to recognise the significant contribution his mother made in this field'

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'In the year marking the 20th anniversary of the Princess' death, Prince Harry is pleased to have this moment to recognise the significant contribution his mother made in this field.'

They said he would also highlight 'the progress which has been made by MAG (Mines Advisory Group), HALO, the UK Government and other organisations, and the opportunity to continue raising awareness of making the world landmine-free by 2025.'

The reception, hosted by the HALO Trust and the Mines Advisory Group, also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

Important cause: The reception, hosted by the HALO Trust and the Mines Advisory Group, will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty

Ongoing problem: Nearly 30 countries have been declared mine-free in the last 20 years, but more than 60 million people are estimated to still live with the fear of unexploded munitions

In his speech tonight, Harry also highlighted 'the progress which has been made by MAG (Mines Advisory Group), HALO, the UK Government and other organisations'

The reception, hosted by the HALO Trust and the Mines Advisory Group, will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

In December 1997, 128 countries signed the Ottawa Treaty to ban the use and production of anti-personnel mines.

Many of those involved in the 1997 campaign attended the reception, along with senior representatives of governments who support international mine action. International Development Secretary Priti Patel is among the speakers.

Nearly 30 countries have been declared mine-free in the last 20 years, but more than 60 million people are estimated to still live with the daily fear of unexploded munitions.

Prince Harry holds an Anti-Personnel Fragmentation Mine as he attends an International Mine Awareness Day reception

Prince Harry, right, speaks to Dr Jane Cocking, Chief Executive of Mines Advisory Group as he arrives at the reception

In December 1997, 128 countries signed the Ottawa Treaty to ban the use and production of anti-personnel mines
A popular online clothing retailer is facing legal action after thousands of unhappy customers have come forward with allegations of defective products.

LuLaRoe, which was established in 2012, has exploded in popularity in recent months due in large part to the success of its $25 leggings. However, the brand is now scrambling to defend itself against thousands of complaints, and an official lawsuit filed in the state of California.

The suit, filed by Julie Dean and Suzanne Jones, alleges that LuLaRoe knowingly created low-quality products that are 'of such poor quality that holes, tears, and rips appear before wearing, during the first use or shortly thereafter.'

Downward spiral: LuLaRoe, who was once dubbed as the maker of 'the greatest leggings ever,' now faces thousands of complaints over defective products

Faulty: A Facebook page has been set up where customers can share their stories - and their pictures - of the brand's 'defective' products, many of which rip in the butt area

In a particularly disturbing allegation, the plaintiffs insist LuLaRoe's leggings tear as easily as 'wet toilet paper.'

Furthermore, the suit claims that LuLaRoe was not only aware of these issues, but that the company actually refused to properly assist customers who filed complaints or initiated returns.

The plaintiffs' claims are supported by thousands of unhappy customers. The problem is so severe that a Facebook group created specifically to share and discuss images of the ripped leggings has more than 20,300 members and counting.

The faults in our fabric: While LuLaRoe claims their leggings are thin to evoke a 'buttery' texture, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit have compared them to 'wet toilet paper'

Showing skin: According to the lawsuit, LuLaRoe's return policy is unnecessarily sneaky and forces customers into buying new merchandise instead of getting a refund

Less than a year ago, women everywhere were praising LuLaRoe for creating the 'greatest leggings ever.' Now, the two plaintiffs are seeking damages for all products created after March 31, 2016.

The suit suggests that LuLaRoe's uptick in popularity may have motivated the company to lower their quality standards in favor of upping the volume of their output.

The company has attempted to assure its loyal fan base that they stand by their product. A LuLaRoe representative told Daily Mail Online, 'We categorically reject the fabricated and exaggerated claims of this suit in the strongest terms and believe it is completely without merit.'

Customer complaints reveal product flaws in all shapes and sizes. From gaping holes to discoloration, it seems these leggings are wrong in every way

Time's up: Just a few hours of wear is evidently all it takes for these notorious leggings to start showing signs of distress. The LuLaRoe team has chosen to stand by their product

Meanwhile, the lawsuit paints a darker portrait of what is happening behind the scenes at LuLaRoe.

According to the complaint, a company e-mail that circulated at LuLaRoe insisted, 'The leggings may get holes, because we weaken the fibers to make them buttery soft.'

This philosophy of denial seems to be coming from the very top of the company. CEO Mark Stidham allegedly encouraged employees to try and 're-sell [defective products] to customers, including by learning to sew ...'

It seems unlikely that LuLaRoe customers will pick up the needle and thread - or that sewing could even resolve many of these problems. Instead, the unhappy plaintiffs hope to secure 'monetary damages, restitution, injunctive and declaratory relief' from the company.
Nivea has apologised after sharing a controversial advert for its deodorant with the tag line 'White is Purity'.

The campaign, which appeared on the brand's Middle Eastern Facebook page, has since been removed after fans dubbed it racist.

As well as the offending text the advert was captioned: 'Keep it clean, keep it bright. Don't let anything ruin it.'

Nivea has apologised after pulling controversial 'White is Purity' advert after it was branded racist by fans and shared by far right groups

Nivea issued its apology after the poster, featuring a photograph of a woman from behind, was shared by extremist right-wing groups.

The campaign was advertising the Black & White Invisible deodorant and the brand have since admitted that the advert was 'misleading'.

The so-called misleading message was then picked up by far-right Facebook groups who shared the post commenting: 'We enthusiastically support this new direction your company is taking. I'm glad we can all agree that #WhiteIsPurity'.

The campaign was then picked up by far-right Facebook groups who shared the post and Nivea has now agreed that the advert is 'misleading'

Another alt-right group commented: 'Nivea has chosen our side and the most like comments are glorious'.

The ad was also shared on Twitter where many pointed out the unfortunate nature of the slogan.

In their apology Nivea representatives were eager to state that any connotations in the post were completely unintentional.

Many took to Twitter to point out the unfortunate nature of the advert branding the company the 'official deodorant of the alt-right'

Speaking to the MailOnline a spokesperson for Nivea said: 'There have been concerns risen about ethnic discrimination due to a post about NIVEA Deodorant Invisible for Black & White on our NIVEA Middle East Facebook page.

'We are deeply sorry to anyone who may take offense to this specific post. After realizing that the post is misleading, it was immediately withdrawn.

'Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of NIVEA: The brand represents diversity, tolerance, and equal opportunity. We value difference. Direct or indirect discrimination must be ruled out in all decisions by, and in all areas of our activities.

'This applies regardless of gender, age, race, skin colour, religion, ideology, sexual orientation, or disability. Nor should cultural, ethnic, or national origin, and political or philosophical conviction be of any significance.'
Advertisement

A real-life Miss Doolittle has been showing off her unique relationship with the animal kingdom in a series of stunning selfies.

Awesome underwater pictures show 23-year-old diver Amelia Klonaris cozying up to a range of animals including turtles, stingray and even sharks.

The blonde shows she also has that same special touch when it comes to land animals as she cuddles up to cute pigs and lizards in a series of sun-soaked images.

Up close and personal: Scuba instructor Amelia Klonaris regularly snaps selfies with all manner of exotic creatures, including these unique swimming pigs, who live on the beach near her Bahamas home in Stuart's Cove

Darling it's better, down where it's wetter! The 23-year-old happily cozies up to a variety of animals, both on land, and under the sea when she is diving

Happy as can be: Amelia uses an underwater camera to capture some of her most impressive selfies

Doing better: The Bahamas resident suffered from depression in college - but says she overcame it thanks to her new-found career as a scuba instructror

The sunny selfies were taken in the Bahamas by the Stuart's Cove-based dive instructor and native of the island  who says her enviably exotic and fun-filled lifestyle actually helped her to beat depression.

'I love capturing moments and being able to look back on them,' she said.

'I love all types of photography, mostly underwater or anywhere on the water.

'Being underwater is like being in a whole different world.

'It's very peaceful and you interact with some pretty cool animals.'

But all has not been plain sailing for beach babe Amelia.

She revealed how she faced tough times while studying business at Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, before learning to become a dive guide.

'When I was in high school I never was good in school, but I went on to college,' Amelia explained.

'I had this idea in my head that I was supposed to go into business just like all my friends were doing.

'I became super depressed and went through a hard time.

'But then I moved back home and started all of my diving courses.

'I went on to becoming and instructor. I am finally doing what I love and I am the happiest I've ever been.

'My message for young people would be to find your niche and do what you love.

'Life is too short to be unhappy.'

A change of pace: Amelia left her hometown to go and study business at Trinity College in Dublin, but quickly discovered that she was not cut out for the collegiate lifestyle and returned home to pursue her passion for wildlife and diving

Go out and get it! Amelia urges all young people to discover their true passion and pursue it - rather than doing something just because they think they have to

Tranquil: 'Being underwater is like being in a whole different world,' Amelia says of her dives

Branching out: Before embracing her love of all things underwater, Amelia says that she pursued a degree in business because that's what all of her friends were doing

Paradise: Moving back home and living a life devoted to the outdoors has made Amelia so much more happy

Bravery: While many are terrified of the underwater creatures, Amelia says she is a huge fan of sharks

Content: 'I am the happiest I've ever been,' Amelia says of her incredible lifestyle

Beach bum! The idyllic settings in Amelia's images are also showcased on her Instagram account, where she has several thousand followers

Smile for the camera! In this image, Amelia can be seen cuddling up to one of the Bahamas' famous porcine residents
A mother of four is paying a hilarious tribute to celebrity culture with her parodies of A-listers' carefully posed photo shoots.

Kate Casey, 40, a comedian and author, grew up as 'the kid who read People magazine in the library' and took her love of all things celeb-related one step further when she decided to transpose stars' glamorous snaps into real life.

The Newport Beach, California mom draws inspiration from her own existence parenting four children aged 7, 5, 3 and 1 to turn her own photos into a much needed reality check.

Homemade: Mother of four Kate Casey (right), once covered her legs in plastic wrap in a bit to imitate a photo of Kim Kardashian wearing see-through plastic knee-high boots

Pragmatic: The comedian (pictured right parodying a photo of Mariah Carey), 40, grew up loving celebrity pop culture and now produces her own, hilarious renditions of celebs' snaps

Family affair: Casey's photos (such as this funny take on Victoria Beckham's display of flexibility) often involve her children, now aged 7, 5, 3 and 1

One of her snaps shows her with her legs wrapped in plastic film in an attempt to copy Kim Kardashian's see-through knee-high boots, while another sees her contorted into an uncomfortable position in a playground swing set in a throwback to an Ivy Park ad starring Beyonce.

Casey, who had a first career providing media consulting to law firms because she started writing comedy for a living, began incorporating celebrity culture into her material about eight years ago.

Her interest focused on celebrities who had had babies about four years ago, coinciding with the infancy of her first children.

One of her first inspiration for a photo parody was a picture of Nicole Richie posing in a ball gown and pushing an antique baby strolled. Her equivalent was just a photo of herself, pushing a modern, typical baby stroller.

The effect was 'just the juxtaposition of someone who has a makeup team and a styling team, and what a real mother looks like after she's had a baby,' Casey told DailyMail.com.

Then came a photo of Jennifer Lopez with her newborn twins and 'perfect makeup and hair,' Casey said.

'Most women who just had a baby are sleep deprived. You age progressively after you've had a child. Your hair is falling out and you're wearing mesh underwear for the first week weeks. Its so unrelatable it's funny to me,' she added.

Real life: Casey's photos, such as this one in which she cooks mac'n'cheese next to her son, bring a more realistic perspective on life, especially as a parent

Down-to-earth: One of Casey's first inspiration was a photo of Kristen Stewart modeling Chanel designs in front of a supermarket's dairy aisle

Acrobatic: The mother contorted herself into a playground swing set as she worked on her own version of Beyonce's Ivy Park ad - and had to enlist a friend's husband's help to get there

Comforting: Casey (pictured imitating a glamorous shot of Carey in the bath with her jewelry) hopes her photos remind others not to compare themselves with celebrities on social media

A picture of Kristen Stewart modeling Chanel clothes in a supermarket led her to replicate the snap, wearing a pink skirt and jacket just like the actress inside a store. Casey, who said it takes 'a village' to complete her shoots, asked her babysitter to take the photo.

Her snaps, which she usually captions with the words 'Same, right?' have become so well-known that Casey gets plenty of requests to parody certain celebrity pictures.

She sometimes reaches out to her friends and neighbors for help with the accessories, as she did for the Kim Kardashian photo in which the reality star wears see-through plastic knee-highs.

' I screenshot it and asked if anyone owned boots like that, she said. 'No one did, so I thought maybe Ill take [plastic] wrap.'

Sometimes, it is crucial to get one of her contacts to help out, as was the case for her acrobatic Ivy Park parody.

'I had to have my friends husband put me into that position. Hes an adolescent therapist and I kept telling him he would have to go to therapy after helping me into this contraption,' she said.

'I thought all the blood would rush to my head and I would vomit. These are so absurd. Anything absurd makes me laugh.'

Context: She shared images of herself and Hilaria Baldwin, both 24 hours after giving birth, writing: 'I had obviously forgotten to pack my sexy lingerie...'

Natural: Casey brought three of her children to the produce aisle in a bid to recreate a photo of actress Salma Hayek posing lavishly on top of some apples and carrots

Glam squad! 'My hair team consists of myself and a 3-year-old who only brushes the front of my head and enjoys glitter barrettes,' Casey wrote next to this Kim Kardashian parody

The photo shoots sometimes surprise onlookers who don't know what Casey is doing, including that day at the playground.

'These kids rode by on their bikes and yelled at me to 'Put some clothes on, lady!' I have no shame. I will pretty much do anything for good reason,' she said. 'Ill ask anybody who's around to take a picture.'

Her children regularly appear in the parody pictures.

'Most of the time, they say it's fun. I have been known to bribe them with chocolate or toys,' Casey added.

'For the most part, I think they've accepted the fact that their mom is not a normal person. I say, 'If you want to write a tell-all, I support that." '

The pictures have earned attention not just from fans, but also from some of the people who are being parodied.

Nailed it! The mom (pictured right mirroring this photo of Coco pushing her stroller in a gown) captions all of her pictures with the words: 'Same, right?'

Shade: Casey included this photo of herself at the beach with a crying baby in her lap as a counterpart to this glamorous shot of Blac Chyna

Seal of approval: Gwyneth Paltrow herself commented 'This is awesome' on Casey's version of the star's photo shoot in the cereal aisle wearing a black dress

Flexible: Casey offered her own take on Baldwin's home yoga pose by resting her abdomen on her own kitchen counter, her disgruntled son by her side wearing a pirate hat

On one occasion, Gwyneth Paltrow herself commented: 'This is awesome' next to Casey's rendition of a supermarket photo shoot that saw the star in a black dress in the cereal aisle.

'I think in the end its like an homage to them,' the mother said. 'I think its a form of flattery. Im paying attention to what you're doing, and its a tongue-in-cheek thing.'

Casey hopes her photos can help bring more pragmatism to social media and reassure other users whose lives might not be as pristine as the existences portrayed in A-listers' glamorous shots.

'I think it's very easy to look at someone's Instagram and compare yourself, especially celebrities,' she said. 'What I'm trying to do is make people laugh and remind people that's not necessarily their reality.'

She insists most celebrities have a sense of humor and now dreams of starring in a photo shoot next to one of the celebrities she has parodied - this time, with the star imitating the mother.

'My whole goal is to highlight the difference between real life and celebrity life,' she said. 'You can't beat yourself up if you don't look like you can go to the Oscars when you have a newborn and toddlers.'
A designer showcased five black women with different skin tones in a powerful photo - and got attacked by viewers who thought he had made the lighter-skinned model too prominent.

Isaac West, a fashion designer and the creative director of the project, collaborated with photographer Haythem Lafhaj on the photo series. West was born in Liberia and raised in Ghana, and wanted to show how diverse black skin tones are.

One of the pictures in the series features five black female models, each with a different skin tone. The woman with the lightest skin is placed at the front and center of the group, which some took as an act of favoritism - even though West insists it wasn't.

Questions: A creative director and designer showcased five black women with different skin tones in this photo, prompting some to wonder why the lighter-skinned model was in front

Statement: Isaac West, the creative director behind the photo shoot, wanted to show how diverse black skin tones areand insisted there was no favoritism at play

Embrace: West said he created the series, for which he worked with photographer Haythem Lafhaj, to encourage black women to love their skin tones and embrace their appearances

The designer and student, who came to the United States with his parents in 2005 and currently lives in Minnesota, explained that his project began as a celebration of black skin tones.

'As black people, we have something very unique about us  our skin tone. It comes in all different shades, and some people sometimes use that against us. It doesn't matter if she's dark, she's brown, she's light brown, or she has fair skin. We all are black and we all are one,' he told Yahoo Beauty.

His photo series showcases the models in different setups, posing in front of bright yellow or blue backdrops.

One of the pictures shows the five women sitting on the ground, their arms and hands around each other. In that photo, one of the darker-skinned women is at the center of the image.

Another shot showcases the models lining up in front of each other, the lighter-skinned woman at the back.

Inclusive: 'It doesn't matter if she's dark, she's brown, she's light brown, or she has fair skin. We all are black and we all are one,' West, who was born in Liberia and raised in Ghana, said

Outlook: The photo series showcases the five models in different setups, posing in front of bright yellow or blue backdrops while wearing lingerie

Love: West, who came to the United States with his parents in 2005 and currently lives in Minnesota, explained that his project began as a celebration of black skin tones

Yet, some of West's followers on Instagram, where he shared the pictures earlier this month, focused on one of the group snaps, in which the lighter-skinned model is given a prominent position.

'Why did the light girl go in front???' one person asked.

'They are all beautiful black and black mix women,' someone else wrote. 'Didn't have to centralize the lightest skin one... How typical .'

Another follower wondered: 'Why is the lightest skin girl in the front like that?'

West, who said he did the shoot to encourage black women to embrace their skin tones and love their appearances, explained that he chose to have the lighter-skinned model pose in this position in order to show that people with black heritage can have lighter skin too - not to imply that lighter skin was preferable.

'It is just so amazing that her skin is so fair yet she's black,' he said.

Other viewers responded positively to West's work, with one of them writing: 'Why are people getting upset with this post because a light skinned girl is in front?

'The whole point is their black and black mixed women, none of them are "white", but people are still upset? I think this is honestly a really cool post [in my opinion].'
A Korean-American actress has revealed she was once told she shouldn't wear yellow due to her ethnicity - but she has now reclaimed the color by wearing it in a stunning photo shoot.

Arden Cho, 31, shared the pictures of herself modeling a yellow turtleneck sweater by Los Angeles-based brand UNIF, along with a denim skirt and white sneakers, on her blog earlier this month.

The former Teen Wolf star explained in her post, titled 'Don't wear yellow because you're yellow', how racist remarks have affected her, and how she came to wear the color by listening to her own tastes instead of other people's comments.

Shocking: Korean-American actress Arden Cho (pictured), 31, revealed she was told she shouldn't wear yellow due to her ethnicity - and has reclaimed the color in a stunning shoot

'Someone once told me I shouldn't wear yellow because I'm yellow, and it's not going to be flattering on me. I think I might disagree,' the actress wrote.

'I might actually like yellow on me. Sometimes it's best to take someone else's opinion with a grain of salt.'

Cho, who was born and raised in Texas, said she had heard so many racist remarks that she isn't even fazed by them anymore. However, she warned that her thick skin isn't a positive thing because these comments shouldn't be normalized.

'I'm working on listening to myself more and caring less about the opinion of others. Especially when it's racist, I'm not actually yellow,' she added next to the photos.

Opening up: The former Teen Wolf star explained in her post, titled 'Don't wear yellow because you're yellow', how racist remarks have affected her

Speaking out: Cho, who was born and raised in Texas, said she had heard so many racist remarks she isn't even fazed by them anymore, and warned that this wasn't a positive thing

The actress said it took her three decades to feel comfortable in her own skin after years of feeling 'like an alien' and thinking like she didn't fit in or belong.

'I'm not sure when that started to change but I know the last few years have been about embracing who I am,' she wrote.

She also urged her readers to embrace their own personalities too, adding: 'Don't judge yourself because you're different.'

Cho's readers showed their appreciation in the comments section and applauded her empowering message.

'Great feels and story. Continue to smile and shine,' one of them wrote.

Another follower pointed out: 'That's exactly what I'm talking about, your difference makes you beautiful.'
A make-up artist on YouTube has gained praise for being honest with an admirer about how she enhances her beauty.

Canadian beauty vlogger Gina Shkeda, 21, has amassed more than 450,000 subscribers on YouTube for her make-up and skincare videos, as well as a legion of social media followers who can't get enough of her photos.

Recently, one of those fans shared a selfie that Gina took in bed one morning, appearing fresh-faced and make-up-free.

Making the effort: YouTuber Gina Shkeda, 21, from Canada, revealed to a fan that she has had cosmetic procedures when she said she loved her 'natural' look

Showing love: Paige Matthews, 19, from Massachusetts, shared one of Gina's selfies saying that she would be 'the happiest girl alive' if she looked like her

'If I could wake up as beautiful as @GinaShkeda I'd be the happiest girl alive,' she wrote on Twitter.

The fan, 19-year-old Paige Matthews from Massachusetts, even finished the message with the hashtag #NaturalBeauty.

It only took one minute for Gina to shoot back with a response, which included a big compliment for her fan.

Sending it back: In just one minute, Gina responded, telling Paige that her look was less than natural and that she was 'flawless'

The process: In fact, Gina admitted to having micro-bladed brows, eyelash extensions and even lip injections

Big surprise: Paige (pictured) said that it 'blew me away how she was so confident in herself'

The big time: Gina has more than 450,000 subscribers on YouTube

'Girl I have micro bladed brows, lash extensions in and lip injections - I don't even look like this. You're flawless,' she wrote.

Her honest answer attracted the praise of thousands - and sent the tweet viral, with more than 26,000 shares.

'This response is so important!' wrote one Twitter user, while another said: 'The fact that she is so honest makes her ten times more beautiful.'

Back in the day: Gina was rocking a different, yet still immaculately made-up look in 2013 (pictured)

Lots of love: She was immediately met with praise from followers for her honesty

Spreading the word: Plenty of users offered compliments to both of the young ladies

One even replied to tell Gina how it was so 'positive' and 'refreshing' to see 'someone plainly admit their natural-look isn't natural.'

Speaking to BuzzFeed, Paige also offered some praise of her own.

'It kind of blew me away how she was so confident in herself. That she could put herself out like that, because not a lot of people do,' she said. 'I realized if someone I look up to can be so confident, so can I.'
A machine that sniffs out prostate cancer could spare men from painful and needless biopsies.

The urine test was devised to mimic the ability of dogs to diagnose prostate cancer with their noses.

Labradors and spaniels can be trained to sniff out 97 per cent of cases. They sit up straight if a patient has the deadly disease and walk away if they are clear.

A machine that 'sniffs' out prostate cancer from urine samples was developed to mimic the ability of dogs to diagnose the disease. Labradors and spaniels can be trained to detect 97 per cent of cases (file photo)

A machine can now achieve the same results, by recording the molecules a dogs delicate nose picks up in a urine sample.

US academics at Indiana University detected these molecules in 90 per cent of men with prostate cancer.

In just a few years the breakthrough could spare many men a painful, intrusive biopsy, in which a needle is inserted into the prostate gland to remove tissue for assessment.

Most of the time it is unnecessary because the patient has an infection or an illness other than cancer.

Amanda Siegel, who will present the research at the American Chemical Societys annual conference today, said: About 60 per cent of men who get a biopsy to test for prostate cancer dont need one.

We hope our research will help doctors and patients make better informed decisions about whether to have a biopsy, and to avoid unwarranted procedures.

Dogs have astounded scientists with their ability to find prostate cancer through scent.

Dr Siegel said: If dogs can smell prostate cancer, we should be able to, too. The team collected urine samples from 100 men undergoing prostate biopsies.

They used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry  a chemical-measuring technique  to identify the volatile organic compounds wafting from the urine samples.

In just a few years the breakthrough could spare many men a painful, intrusive biopsy, in which a needle is inserted into the prostate gland to remove tissue for assessment (file photo)

Researchers from Liverpool University and the University of the West of Scotland made a similar breakthrough last year to sniff out prostate cancer with a machine called the Odoreader, which was also found to work for bladder cancer. But the US team say a test for patients in doctors surgeries could be only a few years away.

More than 46,000 men a year are diagnosed accurately with prostate cancer. And with the annual death toll at almost 11,000, early detection is vital.

Simon Grieveson of charity Prostate Cancer UK said: Diagnosing prostate cancer accurately continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing the disease and many men every year have to endure painful, yet unnecessary, biopsies.

A non-invasive test for prostate cancer would be game-changing and this is an area that Prostate Cancer UK continues to invest in.

Although this research is interesting, we are a long way from this type of test being used to benefit men. We look forward to further results from larger clinical trials.
Undiagnosed for years: Nicola Taylor

Most women experience menstrual discomfort at times, but for 16 years Nicola Taylor, 29, had such bad periods that her life ground to a halt every month.

Painkillers and using a TENS machine (a portable nerve-stimulating device to ease pain for women in early labour) only took the edge off her agony.

She lived with the belief that she was just unluckier than most women.

During my period and while ovulating, I was often doubled over. It felt like someone had a knife to my abdomen and was slicing through it, says Nicola.

But after the birth of her daughter in 2014 the pain took a curious turn  and started affecting her shoulder each month, too. It was impossible to sleep. I was in agony with my shoulder at that time of the month, too, she says.

And it wasnt just pain that distressed her. Shed also experienced very heavy bleeding ever since her periods started.

I remember being in a science lesson and drenching my uniform, says Nicola, a baby yoga teacher, who lives with her husband Paul and their three-year-old daughter Elsie in Southport.

When the teacher asked me to come up to the blackboard, I simply shook my head as I was too terrified to move. It was mortifying.

During her teens, Nicolas mother took her repeatedly to the familys GP, but each time her symptoms were dismissed as nothing out of the ordinary.

He told me over and over again that the pain was a normal part of growing up, and I had to get used to it, says Nicola. I was made to feel as if I was making a fuss.

Once, when Nicola was 15, she bled so badly her mother took her to A&E. Doctors carried out a pregnancy test, believing she was having a miscarriage, despite Nicolas repeated insistence that she was not sexually active.

Over the years, she saw countless doctors and gynaecologists, who again told her there was nothing wrong.

It was only last December that it was discovered that far from making a fuss about nothing, like 1.5 million women in this country, Nicola has endometriosis.

This often intensely painful condition occurs when tissue that normally forms in the lining of the womb each month is found elsewhere. It typically develops around the pelvis, but can occur in other areas  in rare cases, its been found around the spine, lungs and even the brain.

And just like the lining of the womb, the endometrial tissue, fed by oestrogen, swells and bleeds each month. However, there is nowhere for this blood to go so it can cause inflammation that leads to a build-up of scar tissue that typically gets worse over time.

And each month, endometrial tissue is irritated by more bleeding and swelling.

The result is women find themselves in agony each month, not just during a period but also during ovulation, when the womans body is getting ready to release the egg.

But as the symptoms follow the cycle of the period, endometriosis is often mistaken as just heavy or painful periods, says Michael Dooley, a consultant gynaecologist at King Edward VII hospital in London and a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Symptoms vary depending on where the tissue grows: as well as heavy painful periods it can cause pain during sex if there is tissue in the pelvis. And if it builds up around the reproductive organs, it can cause fertility issues.

Some 68 per cent of endometriosis cases are misdiagnosed at first

If the endometriosis spreads to the bladder or bowel it can trigger pain when going to the loo.

Nicola had diaphragmatic endometriosis  a build-up of tissue around her diaphragm, the sheet of horizontal muscle dividing the chest and the abdomen  and as this has a nerve connecting to the shoulder, it was triggering referred pain there, too. At times she found the pain hard to bear.

Yet Nicolas lengthy wait for a diagnosis is not unique.

Many women suffer for years before finding out what is wrong. A damning report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Womens Health last week revealed that more than 40 per cent of the 2,600 women with endometriosis they surveyed had to visit a GP at least ten times before getting a correct diagnosis.

On average, women wait seven- and-a-half years  in 10 per cent of cases, 15 years  before being diagnosed, the report found.

Emma Cox, chief executive of Endometriosis UK, says the findings are shocking, but not surprising. We hear all too often about delays in diagnosis and symptoms being ignored, she says.

Endometriosis can be challenging to diagnose as it grows differently in every woman.

But doctors and nurses need to be better trained to identify it.

Many other conditions cause similar symptoms, from irritable bowel syndrome to fibroids (benign growths in the womb).

Unfortunately there is no simple non-invasive test for endometriosis and no one set of symptoms that can definitely confirm the condition, says Mr Dooley.

The best way to diagnose it is with a laparoscopy  where a tiny camera is inserted into the pelvis via a small incision near the navel to look for endometrial tissue.

This tissue can be very subtle and can occasionally be missed, especially in younger women where there might not be much scarring, says Sanjay Vyas, a consultant gynaecologist at Southmead Hospital, Bristol and a trustee of Endometriosis UK.

Once endometriosis is diagnosed there are treatments.

The contraceptive Pill and coil are often prescribed because they help to reduce oestrogen levels, which helps stop the endometriosis growing.

The contraceptive Pill and coil are often prescribed because they help to reduce oestrogen levels, which helps stop the endometriosis growing

However, medication alone wont help everyone. Some may need the endometrial tissue removing by laser via a keyhole procedure, though many specialists now favour surgically cutting it away.

According to Endometriosis UK, the chances of endometriosis recurring after surgery is between 5 and 20 per cent.

If this doesnt work some women opt for a hysterectomy or an oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries). But even that is no guarantee the symptoms wont return and about 13 per cent of women with severe endometriosis find it recurs within three years

For Nicola, just getting diagnosed was a long slog. At 19 she was referred to a gynaecologist for a laparoscopy, but it found nothing  not surprisingly, as she was so young. She was prescribed a coil, but it did little to help. The symptoms were embarrassing and unpredictable so I skipped parties and holidays. It could also make intimacy difficult as I was often in so much pain.

The only time she was symptom-free was during her pregnancy in 2014, but within months of baby Elsies birth, the pain returned with a vengeance  and spread to her shoulder each month.

She took to the internet to try to find out what was wrong and discovered endometriosis could cause referred pain (felt in one part of the body, but originating elsewhere) in the shoulder.

So she went back to her GP and was referred for a pelvic scan and MRI  but neither investigation found anything.

In 2015, Nicola had yet another clear scan  but endometriosis rarely shows up on a scan.

Over the next 18 months, she tried acupuncture, physiotherapy and she even changed her contraceptive Pill twice, but nothing seemed to work.

Eventually last year, she persuaded her GP to refer her to another gynaecologist, and in December had her first laparoscopy since she was 19.

It was then, at the age of 29, that she was found to have endometriosis in her diaphragm and pelvis.

Nicola is due to have an operation in June to have it surgically cut away and is hopeful of a less painful future.

Not surprisingly, she is angry that it has taken her so long to get this far.

The pain at times has been completely overwhelming, but I was made to feel like a nuisance.

I just hope lessons can be learned from my experience and other women wont be so easily dismissed in the future.

www.endometriosis-uk.org
Anxiety is a modern epidemic  which ruins so many womens lives. But now theres a cure with the Anxiety Solution, serialised exclusively here and concluding in todays Mail. Written by an expert who suffered herself and came up with a pioneering treatment, it can restore your serenity and heal the deepest worries . . .

Let's be honest: to some extent, we all aspire to be like Mary Poppins  practically perfect in every way. This drive to be flawless can sometimes be positive, driving us to achieve more, work harder and be meticulous.

But, all too often, our tendency to strive for nothing less than perfection can be incredibly debilitating.

It can fuel deep insecurity, damaging what is often already low self-esteem.

Our tendency to demand nothing less then perfection can be incredibly debilitating

And, when were feeling low or self-critical, profound worries and anxious feelings come soon after.

Indeed, I truly believe that one of the biggest causes of our current anxiety explosion is that we often feel as if were not doing enough, or that were somehow not enough. Today, its as if anything less than perfect is rubbish.

But there is a way to beat the anxiety that struggling for unattainable perfection can bring.

And thats through rebuilding your self-esteem  and realising you dont have to be perfect to be happy. Today, Im going to show you how to conquer the cult of perfectionism from which so many of us, particularly women, suffer.

Im also going to help you see that being constantly busy  another modern curse strongly linked to perfectionism  is no badge of honour, and could well be making you worry more.

There is a way to beat the anxiety which struggling for unattainable perfection can bring

Theres also a prescription for those who find it difficult to make decisions, and advice for those who struggle to let go.

With my help, Ill show you the art of surrender  how to be a bit more zen about life.

With all this wisdom, you should be able to tap into that precious sense of calm, which can so often be jeopardised by our frenetic pace of life.

PUT A STOP TO PERFECTIONISM

Until recently, it didnt matter to me what Id achieved in any one day  it never felt like enough. There was always more to do, more to achieve and more pressing items on my to-do list.

I simply didnt think I deserved relaxation time.

I would even feel guilty if I took the evening off to watch a film, telling myself I should be doing something more productive.

I put so much pressure on myself that I would either overwork until my head and muscles ached with tension, or spiral the other way, procrastinating and unable to tackle any of the tasks on my long list because the pressure I was putting myself under made me too anxious.

We all strive to be perfect in every way like Mary Poppins. But perfectionism has a dark side - making us work until we drop or paralysing us with fear

Many of my female clients experience the same feelings. Perfectionism can have truly pernicious effects  either making us work until we drop, or paralysing us with fear.

The idea that we have to be perfect is so often at the root of why we push ourselves so hard and give ourselves such a mental beating. But if you allow yourself to feel youre already good enough, you can just do your best, knowing its always enough. Of course, there may be very real pressures on you, be they from your employer, your partner or your parents.

In the UK, one in six adults experience some form of anxiety of weekly

But if you are honest, much of the time the pressure you experience is put upon you by one person alone: yourself. Whether its to be successful, look a certain way, be a certain weight or please other people, theres a belief that, once you achieve whatever target youve alighted on, only then will you be happy. Yet this means people often sacrifice happiness they could be experiencing in the present and instead choose to create a well of pressure and anxiety, in the misguided belief that this will lead to happiness at some point in the future.

When we put our happiness first, though, it actually enables us to be more successful. When were happy, were more engaged, creative and productive.

In the battle against perfectionism, its also crucial to live according to your own values and not let anyone elses definition of success rule your life. Ask yourself: Is what Im striving for what I want?

Instead of measuring success in money, inches lost round your bottom, or how many social engagements you have, why not measure your achievements in happiness, peace of mind and fun?

Perfectionism is important, but isn't it better to measure success in terms of happiness, peace of mind and fun?

Putting our happiness first can be scary, though. Perhaps you feel youre not worth it  that you somehow deserve a life of turmoil and struggle.

Its a common feeling  and its often down to the fact that so many of us have low self-esteem.

Let me be precise about what I mean by self-esteem. Its not about being confident  thats just your belief in your ability to do something. Your self-esteem is how you value yourself.

Having a healthy self-esteem doesnt mean you think youre perfect. Quite the opposite. It means loving yourself, faults and all. A healthy self-esteem is a vital ally in conquering perfectionism.

After all, if your self-esteem is fragile, youre less likely to be able to handle criticism and bounce back after disappointments. It can also stop you from taking care of yourself and hold you back from trying new things.

So, why do so many of us have low self-esteem?

Being busy isn't a badge of honour Have you ever proudly proclaimed that youre so busy? Do you need constant work and activity to feel that youre worth something? Running around, chasing after goals, pushing to get things done, working hard and playing harder for fear of missing out only results in us being too burnt out and anxious to enjoy our lives. Of course, its good to set goals and work towards them, but not at the expense of your mental health. If you act like the Duracell bunny every hour of the day, then youre going to be an exhausted, anxious mess  and thats no good for you or anyone else. Thats because being constantly busy creates an overwhelming stream of information, which your overworked brain has to process. You need breaks to work through it all. And your adrenal glands, which are responsible for producing the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, also need a rest from being constantly in go mode. So, why not start to view rest and relaxation as being just as productive as busyness? Repeat after me: I need rest to be at my best. Advertisement

I see two main causes. First, the self-esteem movement that took off in the Seventies. Experts told parents that the key to raising happy children was to boost their self-esteem, no matter what.

And so, in an attempt to ensure that children felt great about themselves, many parents and teachers told them how smart, brilliant and perfect they were. But this approach  however well-intentioned  can backfire.

Take one of my clients, Anna, who told me she was brought up to believe she was like a princess. She was told she was special  more intelligent and beautiful than other children.

Her family wanted her to feel good about herself, but the perfection they preached simply doesnt exist. When she went to university, Anna discovered that she wasnt the smartest person there, nor the prettiest. Her artificially inflated self-esteem was crushed.

The 'self-esteem' movement of the 1970s is ironically one of the main reasons today for anxiety and low self-esteem in young people

Our low-self esteem is also caused by something I call comparisonitis.

Yes, its only natural for us to compare ourselves with other people, but, fuelled by the internet, TV and glossy magazines, its got way out of hand.

Proof of the link is in the story of television coming to the island of Fiji in 1995. Suddenly, young girls were exposed to ads showing skinny models, and programmes lauding a wealthy, glamorous lifestyle.

Traditional Fijian culture had always appreciated women with larger bodies, but, following the introduction of TV, girls on the island quickly became unhappy with their bodies.

One study revealed that 45 per cent of these girls showed signs of eating disorders and body anxiety, using purging methods such as laxatives and vomiting in order to lose weight.

Theres only one cure for comparisonitis. Try to view the media you consume as you do the food you eat.

If you consume rubbish, youre going to feel that way. If a programme, magazine or website triggers self-doubt and worthlessness, ask yourself: Is it worth reading or watching this?

THE PERILS OF TOO MUCH CHOICE

Does making decisions leave you anxious and overwhelmed? Youre not alone. Weve never had so many decisions to make.

One of the advantages of the modern world is that its made so many possibilities available to us.

But the downside is that it can all feel overwhelming. So much so that we end up shying away from choosing for fear of making the wrong choice.

Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes, but if you suffer from anxiety, you are more prone to beating yourself up about your past decisions, convinced you made bad ones. When we are anxious, even stuff thats pretty unimportant in the grand scheme of things  such as which brand of butter or dog food to buy in the supermarket  can seem impossible to resolve.

Comfort food proven to give your mood a boost All these delicious recipes contain ingredients proven to help your brain make feel-good chemicals - and they taste so scrummy too! Baked sweet potato with guacamole Serves 2 2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed 1 tsp olive oil 1 ripe avocado 2 tsp lime juice  small onion, finely chopped 1 tomato, finely chopped 2 tbsp natural yoghurt  tsp paprika Preheat the oven to 190c/375f/gas 5. Rub a little oil over the sweet potatoes. Put onto a baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes, or until the potato is tender when pierced. Meanwhile, put the avocado flesh into a bowl and mash with the lime juice. Stir in the onion, tomato and yoghurt. Season to taste. Split the potatoes in half. Add a large spoonful of the guacamole and sprinkle with paprika. Serve hot. Spicy coconut beef stir-fry with leeks and peppers Serves 4 2 tbsp coconut oil 250g fillet steak, finely sliced 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 3 cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated 2 red chillies deseeded and finely chopped 2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and finely shredded 1 red pepper, deseeded and stalk removed 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and stalk removed 1 green pepper, deseeded and stalk removed 2 courgettes, trimmed and cut into finger-sized pieces 100g sugar snap peas 300g bean sprouts 2 tbsp rice wine 3 tbsp sesame seeds Brown rice or noodles, to serve Heat half of the coconut oil in a large wok, stir-fry the beef for 2-3 minutes until cooked to your liking. Lift out of the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli to the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the rest of the coconut oil, leeks, peppers, courgette, sugar snap peas and 2 tbsp water and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until heated through and still slightly crisp. Add the bean shoots and rice wine and return the beef to the wok. Stir-fry for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the sesame seeds and serve immediately with cooked brown rice or noodles. Butternut squash chilli Serves 4 300g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, peeled and chopped 1 red chilli, trimmed and finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 1 red pepper, deseeded and stalk removed, sliced 1 tbsp paprika 1 tsp chilli powder 400g can chopped tomatoes 2 tbsp tomato puree 2 x 400g can mixed beans including red kidney beans, drained 4 tbsp natural yoghurt 2 tsp fresh chives, chopped Green salad, to serve 4 wholemeal pitta bread, toasted, to serve Pear, apple and blackberry with cinnamon and almond crumble Serves 4-6 100g wholemeal flour 100g plain flour 100g butter 75g soft brown sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon 50g flaked almonds 2 tbsp milled flaxseeds 4 pears, peeled, cored and roughly chopped 4 cooking apples, cored peeled and roughly chopped 4-6 tbsp honey, or to taste 150g blackberries, thawed if frozen Natural yoghurt, to serve Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Put the flours and butter into a food processor and blend until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, flaked almonds and flaxseeds. Set aside. Put the pears and apples into a 2.5l ovenproof dish. Drizzle with the honey. Scatter the blackberries on top. Spoon over the cinnamon crumble mixture. Bake for 50 minutes, or until golden brown and the fruit is tender when pierced. Serve with yoghurt. Banana and cashew nut ice cream Serves 3-4 2 large ripe bananas, frozen in their skins 2 tbsp cashew nut butter 6 tbsp natural yoghurt Take the bananas out of the freezer and leave for 15 minutes. Peel, roughly chop and put the banana into a blender with the cashew nut butter and yoghurt. Blend. Serve immediately, or refreeze. Thaw for 15-30 minutes before serving. Blackberry, mint and cucumber smoothie Serves 1 80g fresh or frozen blackberries (thawed if frozen)  tsp fresh mint, chopped 50g cucumber, roughly chopped 75ml natural yoghurt 80ml milk 1 tbsp honey, or to taste Blend the blackberries, mint, cucumber and yoghurt together. Add milk to give preferred consistency and sweeten to taste with honey. Enjoy immediately, or chill and consume within 24 hours. Ginger, turmeric and lemon tea Serves 1  tsp fresh ginger, grated  tsp ground turmeric  tsp lemon zest, grated 1 tbsp lemon juice Honey, to taste Put the grated ginger, turmeric and lemon zest into a jug and add 300ml boiling water. Leave the mixture to infuse for 3-4 minutes and stir well. Pour through a sieve into a mug, before adding the lemon juice and honey to taste. Advertisement

Sometimes, we end up in analysis paralysis, taking no action at all because its all too scary.

Of course, having too much choice seems like a First World problem  but its no less real for that. One of my clients, Katherine, 42, finds supermarket shopping, with all its many products to choose between, makes her anxiety rocket  and so shes only able to shop online, with the aid of a spreadsheet.

Too many choices can also lead to you thinking that the elusive perfect option must exist, if you could just figure it out.

Whether its finding your perfect pair of jeans or choosing Mr Right, having infinite choices and endless information at your fingertips means you can set your standards incredibly high and put pressure on yourself not to make a bad decision.

But what if we settled for good enough instead?

Researchers have found those who do are far more likely to find contentment. And remember, there is no such thing as the perfect decision.

Settling for good enough means were less likely to get worn out by decision-making. Indeed, theres a good reason why making decisions is exhausting  it literally uses up mental energy.

The process of choosing drains our willpower, which is a finite resource, and uses up glucose, because your brain runs on sugar.

So, dont be surprised if youre constantly reaching for chocolate or sweets when youre trying to choose, decide or make plans.

Thats why, if your anxious mind is making you analyse every single tiny choice, you end up exhausted pretty quickly. So, what can you do to deal with all these decisions? Having a solid routine can help you create structure, which removes the need for decision-making and feels comforting.

For example, I like having the same morning routine each day. I also like exercising at the same time, having fewer options in my wardrobe and sticking to a shopping list when I buy food.

You should also remember that no decision is more important than how you deal with whatever arises from it. You can make your decisions good.

The process of choosing is a finite resource - so if you analyse every single tiny choice you can get exhausted pretty quickly

You can adapt to whatever results from that choice.

I used to get caught up in little decisions, such as which restaurant to suggest for a night out with a friend.

I would spend the whole time worrying about whether they liked it and whether Id made the right choice, so much so that it was hard for me to just relax and enjoy the evening. Now, I tell myself that its up to me to make the decision good by accepting it. You can make almost any decision the right one by adjusting the attitude you bring to it.

Be kind to yourself about the decisions you make. And notice the way you speak to yourself about your choices and apply the friend filter: would you speak to your best friend like that if she were worrying about a decision?

Remember, very few decisions are final. There is almost always a way to reverse decisions if they really dont work out.

Evidence suggests that the beginning of the day is the best time for making big or important decisions. This is when most peoples mental energy resources are at their highest.

Dont make decisions when youre tired or extremely anxious because your brain wont be at its best and youre more likely to be irrational.

If you suspect you could have anxiety, its essential to have it diagnosed by your GP. They will be able to help you decide if therapy or medication is a good option, and also distinguish anxiety from other issues such as depression.

How to soothe away your child's fears

How incredibly difficult it can be to watch your child struggle with anxiety. Indeed, more and more young people are dealing with anxiety today than ever before.

There are many potential reasons for this explosion of worrying.

Its been suggested that the millennial generation  those born between 19802000  have grown up with some particular factors that might account for their sky-high anxiety levels.

The millennial generation has grown up with some particular factors that might account for their sky-high anxiety levels

They are often described as the over-protected generation, thanks to their baby boomer parents being more likely to endlessly hover over them, ready to help at the drop of a hat.

Studies have linked this style of so-called helicopter parenting with increased rates of anxiety and depression in children.

While being close to your child is a wonderful thing, the flipside is that your child may be unable to function as an adult, preferring to defer responsibility to authority figures.

Its also the case that if youre fearful, your child might be, too. If youve been warned to be careful! often enough, its easy to grow up thinking that the world is a dangerous place.

Owing to a psychological phenomenon called confirmation bias, youre likely to unconsciously seek out evidence for the things you believe are true.

If, unconsciously, youre sure potential tragedy lurks around every corner, your brain scans your environment for evidence to support this. It can mean youre constantly on high alert, expecting something bad to happen.

This plays havoc with your stress response. When your adrenal glands are producing too much of the stress hormone cortisol, you end up feeling permanently anxious.

Letting go can also mean taking back control We all love being in control. But have you ever considered that sometimes, being in control actually means deciding to let go? Things often happen more smoothly and easily when we allow them to unfold in their own time. Over the past few years, Ive been learning to loosen my grip. I used to feel I had to control things in order for them to be good and to feel happy. But that tense, tight, controlling sensation doesnt feel so nice. In fact, it often sabotages the happiness its trying to create. Today, I try to practise the art of surrender. It means allowing things to be as they are and trusting that everything will work out. If Im nervous about, say, making a presentation then, once I get to the meeting, I remind myself to surrender to it, let go and remember that, no matter what happens, Ill be OK. Its out of my control now. Its the mental and emotional equivalent of letting out a big sigh and allowing your shoulders to drop down. It feels so much better than forcing, controlling and being tense. When we surrender to the symptoms of anxiety and just allow them to be there, without trying to change or control them, they will often start to change all by themselves. Surrendering to the circumstances of life means you can stop fighting against them and just let them be. Some of us find it hard to surrender, because it can seem like giving up. But sometimes, letting go means regaining control, and giving up the struggle is the most empowering thing we can do. If trying to control things all the time hasnt been working for you, isnt it time to try something different? When you surrender and flow with life, you relax. And when you relax youre more able to tune in to your intuition and creativity: its easier to think clearly and solutions start to arise more easily. Advertisement

Another big problem with over-protecting your children is that their failures are prevented before theyve even happened.

Indeed, young people and children today are the first to grow up with mobile phones, which means that parental advice is never more than a few seconds away.

But if a child doesnt feel able to make decisions alone, or has been protected from making mistakes and experiencing rejection, they wont learn how to overcome setbacks. The result is anxiety that, if something bad does happen, they wont be able to deal with it.

Happily, all of these anxious symptoms are simply learnt behaviours, not innate  so it is possible to help your child become less anxious.

If a child doesn't to make decisions alone they won't learn how to overcome setbacks

The first step should be to explain to your child why anxiety happens  how worrying and nervous feelings are caused by your fight or flight response being triggered by a stressful situation, and how this excess pent-up adrenaline contributes to the racing heart and buzzing mind so commonly associated with anxiety.

You should also explain to your child that, while it feels uncomfortable, its not actually dangerous, and anxious symptoms such as a racing heart wont hurt you. You could also do some deep breathing with your child to help to calm the fight or flight response, expanding the belly on the in breath and letting it flatten on the out breath.

You might find your child tries to avoid the situation that makes them anxious  whether its a social situation with lots of people, or answering questions in class. While this is understandable, it can make anxiety worse in the long run.

Try instead to discuss possible solutions with your child. What do they think would help? Is there a way they can take tiny steps in the direction of overcoming their anxiety?

Anxiety can trigger a panic attack - the symptoms include a racing heart and shortness of breath

For example, if theyre afraid of dogs, over a few days or weeks start by looking at a friendly dog in the park, then gradually going closer, then stroking it for a few seconds, then a minute.

Gradual exposure helps them learn dogs arent dangerous.

While you might feel like offering some tough love, telling a child to stop worrying or to snap out of it isnt helpful. If they could do this, they would.

Instead, try to listen with compassion and understanding, because the feeling of isolation that comes from not being understood makes things so much worse. Read about other peoples experiences of anxiety on blogs  www.time-to-change.org.uk/category/blog/anxiety has several  so you can get a sense of what your child might be going through.

Doing visualisation exercises with your child can also be beneficial. Try this: ask them to imagine their worries floating up into a cloud, making the cloud darker and heavier-looking, before the sun bursts through the cloud, leaving only a blue sky behind.

Learning a new skill, such as a martial art, an instrument or horse-riding can help your child see they are capable.

If they have setbacks or become discouraged, point out their strengths and encourage them to try things, no matter what the outcome is.

Praise their efforts, rather than their ability, to reinforce the sense that their worth is not dependent on how well they do.

Try to help them to cut back on their use of social media.

Sites such as Instagram and Facebook arent helpful if youre anxious  and this goes for adults, too  because they end up adding fuel to the fire of self-doubt and perfectionism so many of us feel.

Social media sites like Instagram and Facebook end up adding fuel to the fire of self-doubt and perfectionism many of us feel

Ask your child to put their smartphone in a drawer downstairs when they get home from school, and encourage time away from the screen.

It might be difficult at first  but thats because being constantly connected to social media can become addictive.

Research says we check our phones up to 85 times a day. Thats a lot of potential for added stress and information overload, not to mention envy and dissatisfaction with our own lives.

You might wonder why were all so hooked on our screens, from grandmothers to teenagers. The answer is that dopamine causes us to seek out a hit of gossip, information or news and, along the way, triggers the same neural pathways as cocaine and nicotine.

Prepare for your teenager to resist giving up their phone, but persist, as the benefit for their anxiety can be incalculable.

Extracted by Maureen Brookbanks. The Anxiety Solution, by Chloe Brotheridge, is published by Michael Joseph at 12.99. To order a copy for 9.74 (25 per cent discount)visit www.mailbookshop.co.uk, or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15. Offer valid until April 11, 2017.
Being overweight at any point in adulthood increases the chance of an early death, warns a major study.

The risk of dying from heart disease, cancer or other health problems rises among those who are overweight or obese  even temporarily  at any point, experts found.

Scientists examined data from 225,000 people aged 25 to 91, analysing their weight history over a period of time, rather than at a single point.

The researchers said this revealed becoming overweight at any stage could have a detrimental impact on health later.

The risk of dying from heart disease, cancer or other health problems rises among those who are overweight or obese  even temporarily  at any point, experts found.

They found that the more weight someone put on, the greater the risk of early death. The study by Harvard School of Public Health and Boston University also undermines the theory that being heavier can be protective for the elderly.

The scientists assessed people in broad age groups, looking at their heaviest weight over a 16-year period and then examining their subsequent health. More than 32,500 participants died during the study.

Those who had a peak body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30  classed as overweight  had a 6 per cent increased risk of death from any cause within the next 12 years, they found.

HEART DANGER TO FIREMEN Fighting fires can dramatically raise the risk of heart attack, a study shows. Firemen have the highest cardiac risk of all emergency services workers, with heart attacks the leading cause of death among on-duty staff. Tackling blazes puts strain on the heart, increases blood clotting and worsens blood vessel function, researchers at the University of Edinburgh found. Blood thickens and becomes stickier when physical exertion takes place in heat. This increases blood clotting by two thirds  a major contributor to heart attacks, the study in the journal Circulation showed. Advertisement

Those classed as obese with a BMI between 30 and 35 had a 24 per cent higher risk of dying in the same time frame. The increased chance of death in the next dozen years was 73 per cent for the severely obese with a BMI of more than 35.

In the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers wrote: The strongest association was observed for cardiovascular disease mortality. Among the overweight group, the increased risk of cardiovascular disease death was 21 per cent, soaring to 174 per cent for the severely obese.

The higher risk of dying from cancer varied from 1 per cent to 28 per cent, depending on weight. Senior study author Andrew Stokes, of Boston University, said: Having a history of being overweight or obese is linked to an increased risk for death from any cause.

Last week, data from NHS Digital showed in England 58 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men are overweight or obese. These are the second highest rates in Europe after Hungary.

The same report revealed a quarter of adults take less than 30 minutes of exercise each week. Official advice is at least 150 minutes to prevent obesity, heart disease and dementia.
A tiny sensor the size of a 5p piece could slash the risk of dying from heart failure. Cardiologists have fitted the miniature device into the first two British patients in a breakthrough they hope will herald a revolution in cardiac care.

The device  called the CardioMEMS heart failure system  monitors the flow of blood leaving the heart, warning doctors if it begins to weaken.

If a patients heart starts to decline in strength, an automatic alert is sent to their hospital, triggering urgent action.

A tiny sensor the size of a 5p piece could slash the risk of dying from heart failure. The CardioMEMS heart failure system sends an alert to doctors if the heart starts to weaken (file photo)

It is the first time the device, which was implanted in two women in Southampton last month, has been used in the UK outside a clinical trial.

Heart failure is a debilitating and incurable condition in which damaged or weakened heart muscles struggle to pump blood properly around the body.

Up to 900,000 people in the UK suffer from the condition, which is often caused by a heart attack.

In severe cases, people with heart failure are left unable to walk up a flight of stairs and are often breathless, even when resting. A third of patients die within a year of developing the condition  a survival rate thats worse than many cancers.

The device was implanted in two women in Southampton last month. Up to 900,000 people in the UK suffer from the condition, which is often caused by a heart attack (file photo)

But trials in the U.S. have found severe cases can be carefully managed using the CardioMEMS system, because doctors are able to react quickly if someones condition deteriorates.

A study published in the Lancet last year found hospitalisation rates could be reduced by 48 per cent using the system.

Dr Andrew Flett, a consultant cardiologist at Southampton General Hospital who fitted the first UK devices, called the technology a game-changer. The majority of hospital admissions for patients with heart failure occur as a result of a build-up of excess fluid in the body, which causes increased pressure in the pulmonary artery, he says.

This goes undetected until it is too late to treat and the patient ends up needing to be admitted.

Until now, heart failure has been monitored by taking blood pressure readings on a patients arm and keeping an eye on their weight to make sure they are not accumulating fluid. The new system, which sends readings once a day to a hospital computer, spots problems more quickly.

The device  a tiny sensor and two loops of wire  is inserted through an artery in the groin and pushed up the blood vessel until it nestles in the pulmonary artery leaving the heart.

Until now, heart failure has been monitored by taking blood pressure readings on a patients arm and keeping an eye on their weight to make sure they are not accumulating fluid (file photo)

There the vibrating wires measure blood flow in the artery.

Once a day the patient lies on an electronic pillow, which receives a radio signal from the sensor containing information from their heart. This is then sent through a wireless internet connection to the hospital server.

The data is checked regularly by a doctor on a secure website, but if the readings fall too low or rise too high, an automatic alert is sent to the patients care team.

They would then be monitored and treated with drugs to counter- act the problem before it becomes too serious.

Patients who receive this implant can send readings to us every day via the internet from their home so we can monitor them and adjust medications immediately  it is a revolution and a very exciting piece of technology, says Dr Flett.

Being able to monitor pulmonary artery pressure on a daily basis will undoubtedly reduce hospital admissions, improving patients quality of life and relieving pressure on hospitals.

The data is checked regularly by a doctor on a secure website, but if the readings fall too low or rise too high, an automatic alert is sent to the patients care team (file photo)

Jennifer Harvey, 70, the first woman to undergo the procedure last month, said: Last year I suffered a lot of problems associated with heart failure and was in hospital for ten weeks over four months.

While I felt fine after coming out of hospital at the end of that time, I did worry if it would happen again.

This device will give me the security of knowing the medical team will be informed of my readings on a regular basis and give them the chance to intervene and, if necessary, change my medication to prevent all the problems I faced last year.

Last month, a second woman, aged 53, underwent the treatment and is said to be recovering well.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, says: A randomised clinical trial has shown this device substantially reduced the need for hospitalisation in people with heart failure, making it extremely relevant for the NHS.

Further trials in other settings and groups of patients are needed to confirm these findings.

If they demonstrate that these devices also improve patient outcomes beyond hospitalisation, then the use of these devices may become more common.
This a tale of two victims of sepsis, the silent killer that each year claims the lives of 44,000 people in Britain and leaves another 100,000 with permanent, life-changing injuries, from irreversible damage to internal organs to amputated limbs.

One of them is Liz Frood, a 41-year-old mother and Egyptologist at Oxford University, who in August 2015 was suddenly struck down with what she thought was a mere tummy bug.

The other is Luke Hendrick, a 37-year-old father and drugs and alcohol counsellor from Sidmouth, Devon, who developed a sore throat in July 2014.

Sepsis survivor: Liz Frood, a 41-year-old mother and Egyptologist at Oxford University

They fell prey to sepsis, the fast-moving condition that occurs when the bodys immune system overreacts to an infection, caused by anything from a cut finger to the flu, and starts attacking its own tissues and organs as well as the invading bugs.

Neither Liz nor Luke knew what was happening to them: sepsis and its symptoms are largely unknown to the public and poorly recognised even by many doctors.

The tragedy is that the condition is easily treated with a prompt dose of antibiotics, but all too often its missed, with terrible consequences  as Liz and Lukes stories graphically illustrate.

For Liz, who survived, the price of late diagnosis was the loss of both her legs, which turned gangrenous and had to be amputated below the knees on September 22, 2015, a month after she became ill and the day after her son Emerans first birthday.

Nevertheless, the plucky New Zealander says: I was lucky. Her son will grow up with a mother.

Luke was tragically unlucky. Despite four attempts to get help from three GPs and, near the end, a desperate visit to A&E, no one thought to give him antibiotics for what turned out to be a serious bacterial throat infection.

Had they done so, he might have survived.

As it was, his doctor gave him nothing more effective than paracetamol and, as the infection spread, causing him weeks of increasing agony in his leg muscles (a sign of sepsis), his pain was written off as a trapped nerve.

Near the end, when he began slurring his words  another of six classic signs  people who spoke to him, including his father Laurie, thought that he was uncharacteristically drunk.

Warning signs In the early stages, sepsis can be mistaken for a chest infection, flu or upset stomach. The six signs of something potentially deadly can be identified by the acronym SEPSIS: Slurred speech or confusion.

Extreme shivering or muscle pain.

Passing no urine in a day.

Severe breathlessness.

I feel like I might die.

Skin thats mottled or discoloured. Anyone who develops any of these symptoms should seek medical help urgently  and ask doctors: Could this be sepsis? Advertisement

A few days later, he found Luke dead in the hallway of his flat, his keys and his shopping still in his hand.

His six-year-old son, Dalton, will grow up without his father. Lukes parents were left grief-stricken, bewildered and angry. Lukes death need not have happened, says Laurie, 62, a former soldier. Each year thousands of families in similar circumstances face similar, needless heartbreak.

Last year the Daily Mails End the Sepsis Scandal campaign was launched following the revelation that one-year-old William Mead, from Penryn, Cornwall, died in 2014 because a series of doctors had overlooked telltale signs of sepsis.

Williams mother, Melissa, has campaigned tirelessly with The UK Sepsis Trust to raise awareness of the condition, and other courageous parents have come forward to share their tales of unspeakable loss in the hope that others might be spared the agony they have endured.

Last December, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to distribute a million leaflets and posters throughout GP surgeries, maternity wards and Casualty departments, and to retrain doctors and nurses to spot the signs of sepsis in children.

Now The UK Sepsis Trust, backed once again by the Mail, is building on that success to focus on the threat to adults from the deadly condition.

Each year sepsis claims more lives than bowel, breast and prostate cancer combined, and the charity hopes to raise enough funding for an awareness campaign for adults.

Former deputy chair of the Conservative Party Lord Ashcroft survived sepsis in 2015

This will encourage people to seek medical attention early and Just Ask: could it be sepsis?  says Dr Ron Daniels, an NHS consultant in critical care and chief executive of The UK Sepsis Trust.

The charitys fundraising efforts have been given a terrific boost by Lord Ashcroft, the author, businessman and former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, and himself a sepsis survivor.

In September 2015, Lord Ashcroft became ill with a bout of vomiting, which he put down to food poisoning. The next day he flew to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean for a business meeting and feeling no better, went to a small clinic on the island of Providenciales.

Fortunately, a doctor recognised his symptoms as sepsis and Lord Ashcroft was quickly flown to a hospital in the U.S., where he spent 19 days in intensive care.

Remarkably, he escaped from his ordeal unscathed, and knows just how lucky he was.

Few things, says Lord Ashcroft could be more harrowing than the stories of small children whose young lives have been cut short by sepsis.

Thanks to The UK Sepsis Trust, awareness of the telltale signs of this dreadful condition in children is being raised among medical professionals and parents alike, which will doubtless save many lives.

But it is important, he says, to remember that sepsis can strike anyone, at any age. I discovered this the hard way, which is why I am supporting the trust in the next stage of its campaign to draw attention to the danger of sepsis among adults.

Quite simply, I dont want what happened to me to happen to others and the importance of catching this little known but highly dangerous condition early cannot be overemphasised.

Back in January, Lord Ashcroft tweeted the list of sepsis symptoms with an offer to give 1 to The UK Sepsis Trust, up to a total of 50,000, every time it was retweeted. The target was soon hit. Now he has offered to match every penny raised by the charity up to 250,000.

Lord Ashcroft has offered to match every penny raised by The UK Sepsis Trust up to 250,000

This new campaign has the backing of Melissa Mead. Sepsis is an indiscriminate condition and affects adults, too, she told Good Health. Everyone needs to be aware of the symptoms and act quickly.

Thats a sentiment endorsed by Liz Frood. Until she was struck down, neither she nor her husband, Christoph, an archaeologist, had even heard of sepsis.

I still cant quite believe that something so catastrophic could happen so suddenly, she says. Her first sepsis symptom, which occurred shortly after sitting down to an evening meal, was violent shivering like nothing shed ever experienced before. I couldnt even hold a fork, she says.

It was quickly followed by nausea and vomiting.

She went to bed, thinking she had flu, but the next day felt even worse. The shivering had given way to muscle pain  a sepsis symptom  and her hands and feet started to tingle (starved of oxygen, skin and muscle at her extremities were already beginning to die).

By the evening her feet were so numb and her legs so painful she couldnt stand and Christoph had to carry her to the bathroom to be sick. At some point  I dont remember this, but Christoph does, vividly  I told him I was dying, and I was, says Liz.

The feeling that death is imminent is another sepsis symptom. At 2am, Christoph called for an ambulance. It was two days since Lizs violent shivering began and this delay could have cost Liz her life. But fortunately, at A&E at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, she was given antibiotics immediately.

She would spend the next five months in hospital, battling to survive and undergoing amputations of both legs and extensive surgery to her hands and nose.

I have no doubt the doctors acted as quickly and effectively as they could and that they saved my life, she says.

Doctors were never able to determine the source of the infection that triggered her sepsis, though one blood test revealed the presence of the pneumonia bug, streptococcus pneumoniae.

Luke was tragically unlucky. Despite four attempts to get help from three GPs, no one thought to give him antibiotics for what turned out to be a serious bacterial throat infection

Near the end, when Luke began slurring his words people who spoke to him, including his father Laurie (pictured with Luke's mother Jasmine), thought he was drunk

What you can do to help Sepsis causes 44,000 deaths in the UK annually  more than bowel, breast and prostate cancer combined. The condition is easily treatable if spotted soon enough. But many people  even doctors  are unaware of the signs. Now the charity The UK Sepsis Trust, collaborating with Lord Ashcroft, the author and businessman, and a sepsis survivor himself, are launching a fundraising drive for a public health awareness campaign for adults. This will encourage people to seek medical attention early, and ask: could it be sepsis? Lord Ashcroft will match every penny the charity raises up to 250,000. Its essential that we increase public recognition of the key symptoms of adult sepsis, says Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust. Sepsis poses an urgent problem for the UK, but if we join forces its a problem we can solve. We need everyone  friends and foes  to come together in the name of #Ashcroft4SepsisUnited campaign. Choose an adversary so you can donate as a pair and ask them to join you in tweeting www.JustGiving.com/SepsisUnited alongside our hashtag. Advertisement

But I was very fit and healthy, says Liz. I didnt even have a cold in the week before it happened.

Life for Liz and her family will never be as it was. As well as losing her legs and needing to have her damaged nose rebuilt using cartilage from her ribs, Liz has lost much of the use of her hands.

As her work involves copying by hand ancient graffiti written on the walls of temples in Egypt, she says: I have to think about how Im going to productively work in Egypt any more. That side of things has gone. Its heartbreaking.

But she and her husband are determined to make the most of our new normal, to get on with things and live our lives in the way we want to.

In September 2016, a little over a year after becoming ill, Liz returned to work lecturing and working on two books and papers. Thats miraculous, she says.

Im so fortunate I have a job that I can return to and that people have worked so hard to make that happen.

In the next couple of weeks, thanks to a new pair of waterproof prosthetic legs, she plans to start teaching her son Emeran, two-and-a-half, to swim.

Im very excited about that, she says. We used to swim together as a family and Ive been desperate to get back into the pool with him.

But as determined as she is to look positively to the future, she says: I cant help wondering whether we might have been able to prevent all of this if wed only been more aware about sepsis.
Getting a good night's sleep is not only essential for being well-rested - it could mean the difference between life and death.

Sleeping less than five hours a night makes you twice as likely to develop prostate cancer.

Scientists say that men younger than 65 who are not getting the recommended seven hours of sleep are raising their risk of the hard-to-treat disease by 55 percent.

A new study has found that men younger than 65 years old who sleep five hours or less per night increase their risk of prostate cancer by 55 percent (file image)

The study, conducted at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia, examined data from two large, long-term cohort studies.

The first study followed more than 407,000 men between 1950 and 1972. The second followed more than 416,000 men from 1982 to 2012.

All the men were cancer-free when the studies began.

But more than 1,500 men in the first study and more than 8,700 men in the second study died of prostate cancer during the follow-up periods.

Afterwards, the researchers studied the men's sleeping patterns.

During the first eight years of follow-up, men younger than 65 years old who slept between three and five hours per night had a 55 percent greater risk of dying from prostate cancer than those who slept seven hours per night.

NEW PROSTATE CANCER TEST CAN 'SNIFF OUT' TUMORS A machine that sniffs out prostate cancer could spare men from painful and needless biopsies. The urine test was devised to mimic the ability of dogs to diagnose prostate cancer with their noses. Labradors and spaniels can be trained to sniff out 97 percent of cases. They sit up straight if a patient has the deadly disease and walk away if they are clear. Researchers at Indiana University detected these molecules in 90 percent of men with prostate cancer. In just a few years the breakthrough could spare many men a painful, intrusive biopsy, in which a needle is inserted into the prostate gland to remove tissue for assessment. Advertisement

And six hours of sleep a night was linked to a 29 percent higher risk of prostate cancer death compared to seven hours, as prescribed by the National Sleep Foundation.

Those who were age 65 or older showed no difference in the risk of death from prostate cancer, no matter how much sleep they got.

Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men.

About six of 10 cases are diagnosed in men aged 65 or older.

Every year, about 26,700 men will die from the disease.

'If confirmed in other studies, these findings would contribute to evidence suggesting the importance of obtaining adequate sleep for better health,' said lead study author Dr Susan Gapstur, vice president of epidemiology at the American Cancer Society.

Dr Gapstur added, however, that more research is needed to better understand the biologic mechanisms, so sleep-deprived males shouldn't be alarmed just yet.

Still, the findings contribute to evidence that the body's natural sleep-wake cycle - called circadian rhythm - might play a role in prostate cancer development.

Not only does poor sleep turn off genes that protect against cancer growth, but past research has found that not getting enough shuteye can inhibit production of melatonin, a hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle.

Low levels of melatonin can lead to an increase in genetic mutations, reduced DNA repair and a weakened immune system, according to Dr Gapstur.

And although the link between limited sleep and prostate cancer isn't clear, Dr Gapstur says a possibility is that the natural decline in nighttime melatonin levels as you age can reduce the relative impact of lack of sleep.
At 89 years old, Donald Tenbrunsel is a decade past the average male life expectancy.

But his brain is as sharp as a millennial's.

The highly engaged and delightful conversationalist, who reads, volunteers and routinely researches questions on the Internet, is just as likely to talk to you about Chance the Rapper as reminisce about Frank Sinatra.

And now, his dynamic skill set is the focus of a groundbreaking scientific study at Northwestern Medicine study that shows there is such a thing as 'SuperAgers', a rare group aged 80 plus whose memories are as sharp as those of young people.

Donald Tenbrunsel, 89, has the cognitive age of a millennial. He is pictured here speaking with a researcher at Northwestern Medicine, who is examining his brain in a groundbreaking study

The highly engaged and delightful conversationalist, who reads, volunteers and routinely researches questions on the Internet, is just as likely to talk to you about Chance the Rapper as reminisce about Frank Sinatra

Over the course of the 18-month study, researchers have found SuperAgers' brains shrink much slower than their age-matched peers, meaning they have greater resistance to 'typical' memory loss and dementia.

Normal agers, meanwhile, lost volume in the cortex twice as fast as SuperAgers.

'Increasing age is often accompanied by 'typical' cognitive decline or, in some cases, more severe cognitive decline called dementia,' said first author Amanda Cook, a clinical neuropsychology doctoral student in the laboratory of Emily Rogalski and Sandra Weintraub.

'SuperAgers suggest that age-related cognitive decline is not inevitable.'

Donald, who lives with his daughter's family, is intent on being a good conversationalist with his three grandchildren.

'I have to adapt to that kind of life,' Donald said. 'They don't know much about Frank Sinatra or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, so I have to keep saying, "Is the Chance the Rapper coming this week or is it Taylor Swift?"'

The researchers already knew SuperAgers' brains tended to retain more brain volume and typically don't show the same wear-and-tear as normal agers.

'For this study we explored whether SuperAgers' brains were on a different trajectory of decline,' said Rogalski, associate professor at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

'We found that SuperAgers are resistant to the normal rate of decline that we see in average elderly, and they're managing to strike a balance between life span and health span, really living well and enjoying their later years of life.'

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the scientists measured the thickness of the cortex in 24 SuperAgers and 12 same-age, educationally and cognitive average peers (control group) to determine the approximate health of the brain over 18 months.

The annual percent decline in thickness between the first and second visit for the SuperAgers was 1.06 and 2.24 for the control group.

Previous research showed that SuperAgers have a thicker cortex than those who age normally.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the scientists measured the thickness of the cortex in 24 SuperAgers and 12 same-age, educationally and cognitive average peers (control group) to determine the approximate health of the brain over 18 months (pictured: SuperAger brain)

By studying what makes SuperAgers unique, the scientists said they hope to undercover biological factors, such as the reduced cortical brain atrophy demonstrated here, that might contribute to the maintenance of memory ability in advanced age.

SuperAger research at Northwestern is flipping the traditional approach to Alzheimer's research of focusing on brains that are underperforming to instead focusing on outperforming brains.

'Sometimes it's useful to turn a complex problem on its head and look from a different vantage point,' Rogalski said.

'The SuperAging program studies people at the opposite end of the spectrum: those with unexpectedly high memory performance for their age.'
Brushing your teeth doesn't just prevent cavities, it could also help lower your cancer risk.

Research has shown that the bacteria in our mouths can indicate our risk for different forms of cancer.

Although the link isn't directly understood, it's believed that the bacteria travels into the bloodstream and enters different organs, where they infect the tissue.

Several studies has found links to breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer and bowel cancer.

By further studying this connection, scientists one day hope to be able to tell a person what his or her cancer risk is based only on the bacteria present in his or her body.

Scientists have discovered that different types of bacteria in our mouths can indicate our risk for different forms of cancer - likely by traveling via the bloodstream to different organ tissues and infecting them

According to Dr Jiyoung Ahn, an associate professor of epidemiology at New York University School of Medicine, research into the body's microbiome is relatively new.

In fact, scientists have discovered only within the past five years that 80 percent of the bacteria found in the human body can't be grown in a lab dish, she told Live Science.

And while other factors play a role in changing the oral microbiome, including smoking and drinking alcohol, Dr Ahn says she hopes it can give people information about what they can do to lower their risk.

Here, we reveal what germs hiding in your gums and teeth can trigger potentially deadly diseases:

PANCREATIC CANCER

Research has found that people who have higher levels of one type of oral bacteria, P gingivalis, had a 60 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those with lower levels.

And another bacterium, A actinomycetemcomitans, was linked to a more than doubled risk of pancreatic cancer.

Both are known to be a cause of periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, in part because it's very difficult to diagnose at an early stage.

Dr Ahn says she hopes that, in the future, doctors will be able to identify the cancer by just looking at a person's oral bacteria.

BOWEL CANCER

A 2016 study has suggested that the mouth bacteria that causes bleeding gums could raise your risk for bowel cancer.

Scientists say the bug, called fusobacterium, can travel via the blood to the bowel where they could trigger cancer or worsen existing tumors.

It's been found to be hundreds of times more common in cancerous tumors than in normal cells.

Researchers say that not only can these microbes make pre-cancerous growths in the bowel turn cancerous, they can also make any existing tumors in the bowel grow larger.

ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

Studies have found differences in the oral microbiomes of people with esophageal cancer compared with those of people who do not have the disease.

Dr Ahn said people with esophageal cancer tend to have much lower levels of a type of bacteria called proteobacteria.

Proteobacteria are associated with the imbalance of the lower reproductive tract of women as well as inflammation.

And last year, researchers at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, in Kentucky, found that P gingivalis was present in 61 percent of patients with esophageal cancer.

There are two likely explanations: either the cancer cells are a preferred area for P gingivalis to thrive or the infection of the bacteria facilitates the development of esophageal cancer.

BREAST CANCER

A 2015 study from the University of Buffalo in New York has found the bacteria associated with gum disease can trigger breast cancer.

Studying more than 73,000 postmenopausal women, scientists said those with the disease were 14 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.

Scientists believe that bacteria from the mouth enter the circulatory system and they affect breast tissues.

Researchers also found that in women who had quit smoking within the past 20 years, those with gum disease were found to have a 36 percent higher risk of breast cancer.
Female autism sufferers are better at overcoming their difficulties with social skills, a new study reveals.

The research carried out at Holland's Leiden University has been hailed as a significant step in understanding both autism and gender.

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that impacts the nervous system, affecting sufferers' emotional skills. It means autistic people can often come across as unsympathetic or unempathic.

However, the study of 68 teenagers found girls were far more likely than boys to react to other people with empathy.

While autism affects social skills, females are naturally more intuitive about emotions, Dutch researchers found (file image)

It is a landmark step in developing more research on girls with autism, since most data focuses on males.

The researchers analysed the behaviour of 68 teenagers, girls and boys, both with and without autism.

As part of the test, the researcher pretended to have caught her finger in the ringbinder of a file, and exclaimed: 'Ow, that hurt,' while shaking her hand in pain.

Two fellow researchers looked at the video afterwards to assess how empathically the participants had reacted.

Girls, whether or not they suffer from autism, reacted with more empathy than boys.

Lead author Professor Carolien Riefe said: 'We didn't find any differences between the participants with or without autism. But we did see a qualitative difference between girls and boys.

'The girls more often responded to the emotion of the person conducting the test with questions such as: 'Are you OK?' The boys, on the other hand, looked for a solution to the problem: 'If you do it like this, you won't trap your finger.'

Rieffe adds that neither boys nor girls have difficulty empathizing with the emotions of another person.

However, the ability to understand why the person feels as they do is often lacking in both girls and boys with autism.

This is why it is more difficult for young autism sufferers to react with empathy to such situations as love problems or conflict situations with parents or peers, all of which are topics that young people spend a lot of their time talking about.

According to Rieffe and her co-authors, girls with autism have the big advantage that they have a good understanding of many of the social rules.

Nonetheless, their care providers should not be misled by this, because it does not necessarily indicate a strong capacity for empathy or the skills to actually be able to form good social relations and friendships.

Rieffe added that it is important when treating girls with autism to look at what their specific needs are. This may call for a different approach and strategy than for boys with autism.
About one in 10 women in the United States who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant had a fetus or baby with deformities last year, US government scientists said Tuesday.

The study released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracked 250 pregnant women who had confirmed Zika infection in 2016.

Twenty-four of these women either had a fetus or baby with defects, said the CDC Vital Signs report, the first research of its kind to be released since the mosquito-borne virus made its way into the United States last year.

Zika can cause brain defects such as microcephaly, an irreversible condition in which the child's brain and skull are unusually small and misshapen.

A pregnant woman signs up for free Zika testing in Miami Beach

But even though some babies are born without any outward signs of defects, they may go on to show developmental delays, so researchers cautioned that their estimates may be lower than reality.

Since Zika erupted on a large scale in mid-2015, more than 1.5 million people have been infected, mostly in Brazil and other countries in South America. Some 70 countries have been impacted.

Zika may lead to an itchy rash but often causes no symptoms.

Its effects on the fetus were particularly acute when the virus attacked a woman in the first trimester of pregnancy.

'Confirmed infections in the first trimester posed the highest risk -- with about 15 percent having Zika-related birth defects,' said the CDC Vital Signs report.

Most of the cases involved women who acquired the virus while traveling outside the country.

Local cases of Zika have been reported in Florida and Texas, and the virus can also be transmitted through sex.

'Zika continues to be a threat to pregnant women across the US,' said CDC Acting Director Anne Schuchat.

'With warm weather and a new mosquito season approaching, prevention is crucial to protect the health of mothers and babies.'

The CDC continues to track pregnant women who may be infected with Zika, and the current count is about 1,600, she said.

Experts urge pregnant women to consider avoiding travel to places where Zika is spreading, to use condoms or practice abstinence with partners who have been in areas of active Zika transmission, and take steps to prevent mosquito bites.

'All pregnant women should be educated about how to avoid Zika virus exposure during prenatal visits,' said James Ducey, director of maternal-fetal medicine at Staten Island University Hospital.

The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in February last year due to Zika, and declared it over in mid-November.

The WHO has said no vaccine is likely to be available until 2020.

'Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this infection,' said Michael Grosso, chief medical officer at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital in New York.

'We should hope that efforts at a vaccine will be successful so that parents and children are spared the neurologic and other disabilities associated with this virus.'
Exposure to pesticides can cause boys to hit puberty earlier, a shocking new study finds.

Scientists say boys with a 10 percent increase of the chemicals in their body were up to 110 percent more likely to be in an advanced stage of puberty.

The pesticides increase levels of hormones that spur the production of testosterone.

Previous research has shown that early puberty increases the risk of diseases in adulthood, such as testicular cancer in men and breast cancer in women.

Early puberty also can stunt growth and cause behavioral problems.

A new study has found that being exposed to common pesticides advances puberty in boys (file image)

Researchers at Zhejang University, in Hangzhou, China, looked at a class of pesticides called pyrethroids that account for more than 30 percent of global insecticide use.

Pyrethroids are used indoors and outdoors to kill mosquitoes and other insects, and are sprayed on crops. Humans are most likely exposed to them from food and residential use.

'Residues of this pesticide are often found in vegetables, in milk and in baby food,' said lead investigator Dr Jing Liu, an associate professor at Zhejiang University.

Evidence of recent exposure to the chemical appears in human urine as a metabolite, or molecule, called 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA).

The metabolite is known to be an endocrine-disrupting chemical that interferes with the body's hormones.

The researchers studied more than 460 Chinese boys between the ages of 9 and 16.

SEXUAL ABUSE ACCELERATES PUBERTY IN KIDS Abuse accelerates the physical growth and maturity of children, a new study warns. Scientists say that young girls who are emotionally and physically abused hit puberty eight to 12 months earlier than their non-abused peers. The study, conducted at Pennsylvania State University, compared the pubescent trajectories of 84 females with a sexual abuse history and 89 of their non-abused counterparts. Researchers found that girls with histories of sexual abuse were far more likely to transition into high puberty stages earlier than the girls who weren't abused. Sexual abuse in particular forces children to physically mature at a faster rate. Premature physical development such as this has been linked to breast and ovarian cancers due to the increased exposure to the hormone estrogen over a longer period of time. Advertisement

They found that a 10 percent increase in 3-PBA was associated with a four percent increase in the boys' levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

Both of these hormones spur production of testosterone in males.

Having increased levels of 3-PBA in urine raised the odds of a boy being at an advanced stage of genital development by between 73 and 110 percent.

On average, boys mature between the ages of nine and 14, according to the Hormone Health Network.

Experts believe that many factors, including environmental toxins, are responsible for the trend of both girls and boys going through puberty earlier.

'We recognize pyrethroids as a new environmental contributor to the observed trend toward earlier sexual maturity in boys,' Dr Liu said.

However, the researchers have not clearly stated how often boys would have to be exposed or how they can avoid exposure to high levels of the pesticide.

Because it's difficult to test the cause of environmental risk factors in humans, the researchers used animals to identify how pyrethroids alter the timing of puberty.

They exposed male mice to cypermethrin, a widely used pyrethroid insecticide, at the levels that were present in humans - and observed an accelerated onset of puberty.

Dr Liu said the cypermethrin had a direct effect by inducing testosterone formation and interfering with intracellular processes that are critical to male sexual development.

'This is the first study to provide evidence that environmental exposure to pyrethroidsis associated with measurable effects on male pubertal development,' she said.

'Given the growing use of pyrethroid insecticides, we must prudently assess these chemicals for their risks to children's health.'
Late into her pregnancy, Christina DePino began to feel incredibly itchy.

At first, the 28-year-old thought it might be a combination of regular pregnancy stretching and having recently moved to a drier climate - from Denham Springs, Louisiana, to Monroe, Michigan.

But at 36 weeks gestation she was diagnosed with a disorder that impairs the flow of bile from the liver.

Doctors told Christina that complications for her unborn daughter could be severe - possibly resulting in stillbirth - if she did not deliver.

One week after her diagnosis, she was induced, and gave birth last week to a healthy baby girl.

Now she's encouraging other women to not 'ignore the itch' and to get checked out before it's too late.

Christina DePino, 28, from Monroe, Michigan (pictured here with husband Aaron) began feeling severe itching all over her body in the third trimester of her pregnancy. She was soon diagnosed with ICP, a serious condition that impairs the flow of bile from the liver

ICP is caused by high hormone levels during pregnancy, interrupting the communication of the gall bladder and the liver. Doctors told Christina that complications for her daughter (pictured) could be severe, meaning she could be born prematurely or be stillborn

When Christina began feeling uncomfortable itching all over her body in the third trimester of her pregnancy, she didn't know how to control the pain.

'The itching was so severe that I would wake up and I wouldn't be able to go back to bed, and my legs and arms were scabbed and bleeding from the uncontrollable need to scratch,' Christina told CBS News.

She asked her friends on Facebook if they could provide any clues as to what was wrong or offer relief for the constant itching.

A few friends suggested that maybe Christina had intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), a serious condition that impairs the flow of bile from the liver.

The condition occurs in late pregnancy and triggers intense itching, usually starting on the hands and feet and spreading to other parts of the body.

Christina scheduled a doctor's appointment to voice her concerns and, after a series of blood tests to check her liver function, she was diagnosed with ICP at 36 weeks pregnant.

A maternal-fetal medicine specialist told Christina that ICP is caused by high hormone levels during pregnancy, interrupting the communication of the gall bladder and the liver. This causes bile to back up into the bloodstream.

For some women, however, there could be a genetic component that makes them more susceptible.

Complications for babies from ICP can be severe. It increases the risk of a premature birth or even fetal death late in pregnancy.

'My doctor explained that while not all the reasons are understood, after 37 weeks, patients with ICP are at a very high risk of having a stillborn,' Christina said.

'He also explained that induction was still my choice, as it is possible to carry a baby to full term and not have a stillborn.'

Christina and her husband, Aaron, decided not to take any chances.

Christina and Aaron decided not to take any chances and induced labor at 37 weeks. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl (pictured with parents), whose name has not been revealed

Christina is now encouraging women to recognize the symptoms before it's too late. She said: 'Don't ignore the itch. A simple blood test could save your baby's life'

And although the couple was thrilled, Christina says she can't help but think of what could have happened if she hadn't investigated her condition.

'If you're pregnant and you're itching REALLY bad, don't ignore it!' Christina wrote in a Facebook post on Friday that's since gone viral with more than 22,000 shares.

The condition is fairly rare and not everyone may get the same diagnosis, but Christina says it's an important message to send.

'Don't ignore the itch,' she said.

'A simple blood test could save your baby's life.'
China's state media said that India was 'using' the Dalai Lama to convey its 'displeasure' to the country as the Tibetan spiritual leader arrived on a rare visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday.

The visit to India's remote north east would also adversely affect relations, reported the Global Times, a Communist Party-run nationalistic tabloid.

The paper quoted an unnamed expert as saying 'this is not the first time India has used the Dalai Lama to express its displeasure to China, especially when bilateral talks fail to include their demands or to pander to domestic anti-China issues.'

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrives at the Thubchok Gatsel Ling Monastery in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh

China claims the partly ethnically Tibetan Himalayan state as its own territory, and warned last month of 'severe damage' to relations with India and increased regional instability if the Dalai Lama proceeded with his trip.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said last month that 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.

But India has stressed that the Dalai Lama's visit was purely a religious affair without a political message.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama greets devotees at the Thubchok Gatsel Ling Monastery in Bomdila at the start of a week-long visit

China's Foreign Ministry warned last month of 'severe damage' to relations with India and increased regional instability if the Dalai Lama proceeded with his trip

The expert quoted in China, identified as being from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the influential Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: 'India should deliver its political commitments to China on Tibet-related issues, including opposition to separatists.

'China would take steps against any government which invites the Dalai Lama to express its position to the international community.'

'His visit to the controversial area, especially Tawang, which China hopes will be returned, will affect relations between China and India,' added the expert.

Tibetan devotees greet their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as he arrives in Arunachal Pradesh

Lian Xiangmin, director of Institute of Contemporary Tibetan Studies at the China Tibetology Research Centre (CTRC), an influential official think-tank that advises the government on its Tibet policy, said: 'One of the three major temples of Tibet is Zhaibang (Drepung monastery near Lhasa), and Tawang was a subsidiary of Drepung and in history, Tawang's monks went to Drepung to study sutras.

'Tawang under Drepung also made contributions to the local government.

'So Tawang is part of Tibet and Tibet is part of China, so Tawang is part of China. So this is not much of a question.'

Exile Tibetan monks pray inside a temple in New Delhi on the day the visit began

Although Tawang may have had historical links with Lhasa, the real source of contention is whether or not Tibet was then a part of China as Beijing claims, or whether that only began with the People's Liberation Army's occupation of Tibet in 1951.

Lian said the Dalai Lama's visit, as his 2009 Tawang trip did, would 'undermine' relations.

Meanwhile, India said on Tuesday that China should not interfere in its internal affairs.

Exile Tibetan monks perform rituals inside a temple at Majnu Ka Tilla in New Delhi on Tuesday

Indian Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said Tuesday that New Delhi respects Beijing's 'one China' policy and expects China to accept India's policies.

'Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to the Dalai Lama's visit and interfere in India's internal affairs,' he said.

The Dalai Lama is visiting the state at the invitation of the people of Arunachal Pradesh, Rijiju said. 'As a democratic country, India cannot interfere in the religious affairs of any community,' he said.

Tibetan monks sit on a bench outside a temple at Majnu Ka Tilla in New Delhi on Tuesday

Hundreds of supporters, some waving Tibetan flags, cheered as the Dalai Lama's motorcade entered Bomdila, a town in Arunachal Pradesh that borders China.

The Dalai Lama had to cancel his plans to fly to the state due to bad weather, giving people in Bomdila a surprise chance to greet their spiritual leader.

This is the Dalai Lama's seventh visit to Arunachal Pradesh, and his first since 2009.

An Indian man prepares a thangka to hang on wall at a Tibetan colony in New Delhi

Lama Tashi, a senior monk, said by phone from Bomdila that there was 'tremendous enthusiasm among all of us here over the visit.'

'This visit is purely related to culture and faith, and there is no politics involved,' he said.

The Dalai Lama will travel to the Arunachal Pradesh district of Tawang on Thursday, where he is scheduled to consecrate a monastery and address his followers.

An exile Tibetan monk takes pictures on his mobile sitting outside a temple in New Delhi. India said Tuesday that China should not interfere in its internal affairs

People from nearby areas, including from the Himalayan country of Bhutan, which borders Arunachal Pradesh, were already gathering at Tawang, local officials said.

'The mood in Tawang is very joyous and spiritual,' said Sonam Chombey, a Tawang official.

The visit comes amid other strains in ties, from China's projects in PoK to its shielding of Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar at the UNSC sanctions committee.

The frontier between the two Asian giants remains tense more than 50 years after they fought a brief but bloody border war high in the peaks.

China claims about 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) in Arunachal Pradesh, referred to informally by some Chinese as 'Southern Tibet.'

India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau.

More than a dozen rounds of talks have failed to make substantial progress on the dispute, although there have been relatively few confrontations in recent years.
One phone call, that's all it took. In a city where bystanders are notoriously passive, an unidentified Good Samaritan helped cops pull a 20-year-old woman out of the clutches of sex traffickers.

The traffickers, who were arrested and later sent to jail, brought the woman from Assam to Delhi and pushed her into prostitution.

Sex syndicates often lure vulnerable women and girls with promises of employment, while some parents are desperate enough to sell their daughters to the trade.

Human rights activists say Assam has become a hotbed of human traffickers (photo for representation only)

Government data shows almost 20,000 women and children were victims of human trafficking in India in 2016, a rise of nearly 25 per cent from 2015.

During an attempted escape this year, the victim was caught by the goons on a busy road at a little red-light area in south Delhi's Mahipalpur. They started dragging her towards their car.

A crowd began to gather and one of the witnesses called the police. The traffickers fled the scene but were later caught.

Experts say rapid urbanisation, gender imbalance resulting from sex-selective abortion practices and migration of large numbers of men into urban centres creates a market for commercial sex.

The beautician from Assam was approached by one of the traffickers at work (photo for representation only)

Police arrested a couple - Shahtun Begum, 25 and Shukur Ali, 30 - who brought the victim to Delhi. Cops booked them for causing hurt, wrongful restraint, trafficking, exploitation, rape and criminal intimidation. A charge sheet was filed on Monday.

In November 2016, Shahtun, who also hails from Assam, met the victim at a beauty parlour where she worked.

According to the victim, Shahtun had come to the salon to get make-up done and later offered her a job.

'She appreciated my work and said there was a big opportunity for me to make money. I told her that I did not need money and was happy at home.'

However, the young woman's refusal did not end the matter. Shahtun and her husband Shukur met the victim's parents and convinced them.

'My parents agreed and I came to Delhi on a train in November. I was put in a small house in Mahipalpur. I was told that if I wanted to make money I would have to do as they said.'

The victim was sent to different men at hotels across the city.

Sex syndicates often lure vulnerable women and girls with promises of employment, while some parents are desperate enough to sell their daughters (photo for representation only

'I was made to sit in cars and then raped. Whenever I resisted, they used to threaten me and even beat me. I was often told that as I had no one to go in Delhi I would have to be at their mercy.'

Human rights activists say Assam has become a hotbed of human traffickers. In 2016, a 250 per cent jump was witnessed in human trafficking cases from the Northeast compared to the previous year.

Most of the instances were reported from Assam.

Of the total 1,539 human trafficking cases registered in 2015, as many as 1,494 were from Assam, 20 from Meghalaya, 16 from Tripura, six from Nagaland and three from Arunachal Pradesh.

Shukur Ali and Shahtun Begum told authorities that when they met the 20-year-old and learnt that she was from a poor family, they saw an opportunity to trap her.

They also revealed the details of a man who used to seek girls from them for flesh trade. Officials say traffickers have now resorted to social engineering to lure young girls from the Northeast on the pretext of 'good career and friendships'.

Delhi Police has also received complaints from their counterparts in the northeastern states over the past few months about teenage girls fleeing their homes to meet their Facebook friends in the Capital.
One lesson which could be drawn from the Imagination Technologies fiasco is if a rich bidder like Apple comes into view, it is best to bite their hand off.

Otherwise there could be a doomsday ahead as Imagination investors (including this writer) have just realised after a 62 per cent share-price collapse.

That may well be a good reason why the board of WS Atkins looks ready to succumb to the courtship of Canadas SNC-Lavalin.

Top British engineer: WS Atkins helped to design and build New Street station in Birmingham (seen above) and has a toehold in a nuclear fusion project in France

The prospect of capturing a premium for a company which has seen its shares jump by 34 per cent this year must seem too good to be true.

Atkins, with a pre-bid market value of about 2 billion, might be considered too small to the regarded as a national champion.

But there are a couple of questions the board, chaired by former Cobham boss Allan Cook and run by the German physicist Professor Uwe Krueger, needs to answer before offering up Britains top engineering consultancy on a plate.

The companys leaders should remember that like other UK corporations operating on the global stage, they are beneficiaries of the depreciation of the pound, which both boosts income and profits and diminishes the real value of any takeover premium.

It should also be noted that the company could well fall within the Governments guidelines for part of the critical national infrastructure.

Among other things, Atkins is playing a key role in the Thames Tideway super sewer project for London, helped to design and build New Street station in Birmingham and has a toehold in a nuclear fusion project in France.

Epsom-based WS Atkins, is also involved in the the construction of London's Crossrail system

It also has critical air transport expertise, which is being put to use in the worlds busiest airport in Atlanta.

Acquiring such skills would no doubt be terrific for the Canadian predator SNC-Lavalin, which only does 5.3 per cent of its sales in Europe as opposed to 57 per cent for Atkins. It has to be asked whether a British company bidding for a Canadian firm would be welcomed with such open arms?

Canada has a long history of keeping outside interests, including London-quoted miner BHP and the London Stock Exchange, at bay. Justin Trudeaus government has shown signs of liberalising that policy. But no deal passes without intense scrutiny from Ottawa and provincial governments.

Spanish practices

Declaring war on Spain over Gibraltar does seem a little extreme. But if Britain really wanted to rattle the cage in Madrid and Brussels, it has very powerful weapons at its disposal.

The Spanish tax code allows corporations to write-off the cost of takeovers, and this combined with Britains policy of open markets allowed the UKs Iberian friends to become big owners of former UK-quoted enterprises. Key assets were snapped up by Spanish buyers before the financial crisis and the eurozone implosion brought matters to a shuddering halt.

The most eye-catching asset in Spanish hands was Heathrow airport, bought by Ferrovial in 2006. It is still a dominant shareholder with 25 per cent of the equity. Spanish energy group Iberdrola bought Scottish Power only to be accused by politicians in Scotland of siphoning off income to invest in the US.

The biggest takeover of all was the 18 billion purchase by Telefonica of mobile network O2. The Spanish firm wants to sell O2 back to British investors but has not managed to launch its initial public offering as yet. Spain also owns a great chunk of our banking market through Santander UK and Barcelona-based Sabadell, which bought itself a British hedge against Catalan independence when it swallowed TSB.

The UK has a long history of plundering Spanish assets dating back to the Armada, and countries often turn to the economic weapon when they want to make a point.

The seizure of Iranian assets held in London at the time of the US hostage crisis in 1989 is a case in point, and financial sanctions played a big part in bringing both the apartheid regime in South Africa and more recently Iran to the bargaining table.

In spite of Britains historic love of gunboats, there is no reason to fire off that fusillade quite yet. There are plenty of other ways to make the Spanish pips squeak.

Worker power

Remember the Linde takeover of British Oxygen in 2006 which saw a vital supplier of services to the NHS fall into overseas hands? Linde itself now finds itself under siege from US rival Praxair and Lindes workers, who sit on the supervisory board, want it blocked.

Pity employees in our own firms dont have the same powers.
Xavier Rolet has been handed a lifeline by the Prime Minister. The chief executive of the London Stock Exchange is one of the select few City bigwigs who were on the plane with Theresa May as she seeks to keep Saudi Arabia on side for the Brexit era.

Rolets job is to capture Saudi state oil company Aramco for a global float of its shares, and beat off the Wall Street challenge. London would seem to be an excellent choice.

The historic ties between Britain and Saudi Arabia are durable despite groans from human rights activists and a reported probe by the Metropolitan Police into the bombing campaign against the Iranian-inspired Houthi rebel movement in Yemen.

Theresa May looks on as she attends a meeting with Xavier Rolet, chief executive officer of London Stock Exchange, right, inside the Saudi Stock Exchange on April 4

Britain has not baulked at the task of keeping Saudi planes armed and in the air. London has long been a haven for Gulf money, whereas the Americans are much more questioning.

Congress intervened to prevent Dubai buying the East Coast American ports from P&O whereas not a peep was heard from UK investors.

President Trumps efforts to curb immigration from some Muslim countries will not have helped improve the USs status across the Middle East.

The commercial arguments are much more finely balanced for an initial public offering, which could place a value of $1trillion to $2trillion on Aramco depending on oil prices. The LSE trades some of the worlds biggest natural resource stocks, including BHP, Shell and Glencore.

Rolets job is to capture Saudi state oil company Aramco for a global float of its shares, and beat off the Wall Street challenge. London would seem to be an excellent choice.

During the commodity price boom of the noughties, it was the preferred IPO destination for mining floats.

In recent times, the City has fallen behind in the IPO stakes. Prospective floats including tech firm Misys and O2 have failed to happen or have been slow to get off the ground amid complaints of Brexit uncertainty and lack of liquidity.

New York has suffered none of that. Indeed, the Trump promises of deregulation and tax cuts produced one of the longest bull runs in the history of Wall Street. The enthusiastic response to the Snap Inc IPO shows the US markets can flexibly handle outsized floats.

The fact that HSBC is among the advisers to Aramco, along with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, ought to be helpful to the UK. Rolet may be able to offer the Saudis technical assurance, but this is one of those floats where realpolitik likely will prevail.

Darkening skies

When 21st Century Fox launched its 11.7bn bid for the 61pc of Sky it doesnt own in December 2016, there was a quiet confidence in the Murdoch camp that this time it would not be thwarted.

The Sky board, under the interim chairman Martin Gilbert, saw the price as irresistible and there was confidence that there was enough distance between the hacking scandal at News International and the bid for obstacles to be negotiated. The Culture Secretary Karen Bradley surprised by going for scrutiny max with a fit and proper person test for James Murdoch, chief executive of 21st Century Fox, and a probe by the Competition and Markets Authority. In addition, the formidable European Competition authorities also will be taking a look.

What is really starting to cloud the horizon are the ethical challenges. In the US Fox News is facing a high profile gender discrimination suit from contributor Julie Roginsky. Allegations of sexual harassment have led two big advertisers, Mercedes-Benz and Uber, to withdraw commercials amid claims of a toxic culture. The company has made pay-outs of $3m to settle allegations brought by five women who appeared as guests on a popular news show.

Here in Britain some 50 people, including actor David Tennant, are among those taking action against News UK, owner of The Sun, over alleged phone hacking. This means that both arms of the Murdoch empire, News Corporation and 21st Century Fox, face legal entanglements.

It goes without saying that at any time most big corporations find themselves embroiled in potential legal cases. The last HSBC annual report listed 37 possible claims! The difficulty for 21st Century Fox is that traditional news outlets are held to the very highest standards.

Electric trades

American investors love growth stories, as Snap illustrated. The Tesla story is even more remarkable with the shares zooming through the $300 threshold where the lithium-powered car maker is worth more than Ford and is in line with General Motors which sold 10m cars last year against Teslas 76,000. Yes, Tesla sales were up 69pc in the first quarter. But this narrative has bubble written all over it.
Micro Focus International stormed ahead after publishing the financial details of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which it is about to buy.

The tech duo announced an acquisition deal back in September, whereby HPE would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Micro Focus in a 7 billion reverse takeover (where a smaller company buys a larger one).

Micro Focus is in the process of raising 4.4 billion, of which 2 billion will be used to fund the acquisition.

Micro Focus International stormed ahead after publishing the financial details of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which it is about to buy

Yesterday it updated the financial results for HPE for the past three years, revealing that revenue at the firm had climbed 0.8 per cent year-on-year to 2.5 billion while earnings for the last financial year were 594 million.

Micro shares gained 1.2 per cent, or 27p, to 2305p while the FTSE 100 finished down 0.55 per cent, or 40.23 points, at 7282.69.

One of the greatest fallers of the day was Next, which slipped after BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to underperform from neutral.

Analysts are concerned the high street retailer is losing market share. It lowered its price target to 3700p from 3900p.

STOCK WATCH: FITBUG Fitbug shares plunged as it revealed revenue had fallen to 1.1 million in 2016, from 1.3 million the previous year. The firm makes fitness tracker devices  similar to an Apple Watch or Fitbit  and aims to sell them to businesses, which provide them to employees. The business managed to cut losses by 42 per cent to 3.5 million after reducing operating costs by almost a third and raising 1 million in a share placing in January. Shares in the company dipped 2 per cent to 0.12p.

The downgrade comes despite a recent post-results rally for Next, which saw analysts at Credit Suisse reiterate their neutral rating last week.

Next shares will begin trading ex-dividend from Thursday, ahead of a special 45p dividend due on May 2. Shares tumbled 3.6 per cent, or 154p, to 4166p.

Experian edged down after it announced an agreement to offload its email marketing business. The deal with private equity investor Vector Capital values the business at 320.6 million. Vector will get a 75 per cent interest in the division and Experian will keep the rest. Shares fell 0.5 per cent, or 8p, to 1620p.

Ashtead was off after an acquisition announcement. The equipment rental firm said its US business  Sunbelt Rentals  had bought Pride Equipment Corporation for 224 million, a rental equipment provider based in New York. Shares fell 0.7 per cent, or 11p, to 1642p.

Shares in animal genetics firm Genus leapt after a judge permanently lifted restrictions blocking the launch of its technology, which is used for sexing bull semen.

Genus Sexed Semen had been created as an alternative to technology already in use by rival Inguran and can skew which gender is produced through artificial insemination  important because dairy farmers prefer female calves.

In August a court placed restrictions on the launch after ruling Genus had breached confidentiality obligations with Inguran.

But a jury concluded that Inguran had wilfully maintained monopoly power over the technology and awarded Genus a permanent injunction.

It can now launch the product in the US and elsewhere later this year. Shares gained 1.6 per cent, or 27p, to 1752p.

Avocet Mining, which plunged last year after it had a gold shipment seized by angry ex-workers, fell again yesterday as it revealed its Inata mine continued to be affected after it originally suspended operations in October.

The business said it was in discussions with creditors to fund repairs and keep production going.

Avocet has increased security after incidents in the area and is in talks with the Burkina Faso government about enhancing the military presence in the vicinity.

It warned a deterioration of the situation could mean staff have to be evacuated for safety reasons.

Avocet also announced the appointment of Boudewijn Wentink as chief executive. Shares plunged 8.1 per cent, or 4.8p, to 53.8p.
CHOCS AWAY Card shop Clintons is launching its own premium chocolate, called Cocoa Paradise.

BOOKIE SHAKE-UP The shake-up at William Hill has continued with the appointment of former Betfair chief operating officer Mark Brooker as a non-executive director. Last week Worldpays chief operating officer Ruth Prior was appointed finance director. Shares fell 1.8 per cent, or 5.2p, to 285.6p.

HOTELS BOUGHT Elegant Hotels Group, which owns six hotels in Barbados, bought smaller rival Treasure Beach Limited and expects to spend 8.4 million on the deal. Shares fell 0.6 per cent, or 0.5p, to 86.5p.

Card shop Clintons is launching its own premium chocolate, called Cocoa Paradise

PROFITS UP Publishing software provider Ingenta is back in the black after buying advertising firm 5 Fifteen. The company reported profits of 861,000 in 2016 after making a 1.9 million loss the year before. Sales were up 9 per cent to 15.2 million from 13.9 million.

STUDENT BOOST Strong demand for student accommodation helped shares in builder Watkin Jones climb. Trading in the first six months to March 31 had been successful. The stock rose 2.7 per cent, or 4p, to 154p.

NAVY TIE-UP Babcock is likely to win a 360 million seven-year contract with the Ministry of Defence. The engineer has been selected as the preferred bidder to provide technical and mechanical support for new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.

FORTIES SALE Energy giant Ineos is buying BPs historic Forties pipeline system, which links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets to the UK and Ineoss refinery in Grangemouth, for 200 million.

STAKE CUT The taxpayers stake in Lloyds Banking Group has been cut to below 2 per cent. More than 20 billion has been returned to Government coffers since the lenders 20.3 billion bailout during the financial crisis.

ROSSI RETURNS Luxury online fashion giant Yoox Net-A-Porter has appointed Alessandra Rossi as president of its off-season division. It marks a return for Rossi who left the firm in 2015 for family reasons.

SECURITY DEAL G4S has struck a 45.2 million deal to offload its 31 youth detention centres across America to BHSB Holdings.

TOP TAN Shares in Skinny Tan-maker InnovaDerma soared 22 per cent, or 29.5p, to 163p yesterday after it revealed it was Superdrugs top selling brand in its category.
Apple poached 25 employees, including three senior staff, from Imagination Technologies in the two years before it pulled the plug on its deal.

The Silicon Valley giant has plundered a host of engineers and senior managers  one as recently as last month.

It has also lured Imaginations chief operation officer, a head of hardware and a leading designer.

Apple poached 25 employees, including three senior staff, from Imagination Technologies in the two years before it pulled the plug on its deal

The recruitment drive from one of its leading suppliers came as Apple ramped up plans to designing its own graphics chips. Imaginations chips have been a key component of the iPhone since it was launched ten years ago.

On Monday Apple announced it would no longer be using Imagination  sparking a wave of panic selling among its investors, wiping almost half a billion pounds off the value of the company.

Yesterday, however, shares climbed back up, as analysts tipped a potential acquisition interest, soaring 12.9 per cent or 13.25p to 116.25p.

Among the departures, confirmed from postings on business networking website LinkedIn, is former Imagination chief operating officer John Metcalfe, who is now a senior director at Apple.

Others joining Apple include senior designer Dave Roberts, and vice president of hardware engineering Jonathan Redshaw.

More than 25 have jumped ship to Apple over the last two and a half years.

At least six joined just in October 2016, and one  Tim Rochester, a graphics modelling engineer, only left last month.

Imagination has raised the prospect of launching legal proceedings after it disputed whether Apple could design its own chips without ripping off its designs.

In a statement 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. Imagination does not accept Apples assertions.

Apple, which has an 8.2 per cent stake in Imagination, had confirmed it had held takeover talks with the company last year.

But no deal materialised, and now 1,200 jobs are at risk at Hertfordshire-based Imagination.

Apple is thought to have established a team in London to work on its own graphic processor units  meaning it no longer needs Imagination.

The departures to Apple did however come after Imagination had announced a series of job cuts as part of a restructuring.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Roman Polanski cannot return to the States without fear of being put in prison.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon ruled Monday against the fugitive director's petition to be able to finally return to the US with time served for having sex with a minor, according to TMZ.

His lawyer, Harland Braun, had asked a judge to unseal a secret transcript that he said proved that L.A. County Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband in 1978 had accepted a plea deal, with Polanski set to serve a 48-day sentence.

Fearful that the judge was going to reneg and sentence him to 50 years, Polanski fled for France, where he's lived ever since.

A judge said Monday that fugitive Polish-French director Roman Polanski, seen in 2016 in France, cannot return to the US without fear of being jailed for having sex with a minor

Polanski appeared at the Santa Monica courthouse in 1977 on charges he had raped a minor; he pleaded down to statutory rape

Braun wanted the new judge to sentence the director to time served, as he spent an initial 42 days in prison before getting out on bail and an additional 10 months in prison and under house arrest in Switzerland.

The judge ruled that since he was in contempt of court for fleeing, he is a fugitive and therefore can't make deals with the court, echoing similar court decisions in the past, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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 prison before getting out on bail.

Victim Samantha Geimer was 13 (left) when she met the then-42 year old Polanski; today (right) she says that he should be allowed to return to the US

He was also arrested in Switzerland in 2009 on a US extradition request and spent 10 months under house arrest before the request was rejected.

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.

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.

Polanski, above in 1977, served 42 days in jail and said he thought he was getting a plea deal to have served 48 days, however, he came to believe the judge was about to reneg and sentence him to 50 years

But the district attorney's office is objecting to what they say amounts to an 'advance preview' of Polanski's potential sentence.

'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.

Hanisee wrote in a filing to the court that Polanski 'wants answers - but will only show up if he likes the answers.'

Polanski lives in Paris with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, with whom he is currently filming a movie

'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.

The United States 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.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, now 54, has long said that Polanski has suffered enough and should be allowed to return to the States.

In 2013, she wrote a book about her experience, called The Girl, and revealed she had exchanged friendly emails with Polanski and said she 'wishes him nothing but a nice life.'

Asked about her apparent change of heart about Polanski, Steve Cooley, the LA District Attorney once said 'You may want to ask her the details of the settlement she reached with Polanski, he said, referring to a 1993 out-of-court, six-figure settlement after she sued him in civil court.'

Polanski has fascinated the public for decades with his movies, and his personal life, which included second wife actress Sharon Tate being murdered in 1969 by the Manson family.

He is currently filming a movie with his third wife, Emmanuelle Seigner.
At least nine companies have pulled ads from Bill O'Reilly's popular Fox News show.

BMW announced the move in a statement on Tuesday, telling The New York Times that they were suspending all advertising in the wake of a report this weekend that claimed five women had been paid settlements by O'Reilly and the network after they were harassed by the host.

Four of those women said they were sexually harassed by O'Reilly.

O'Reilly, in his first televised appearance since the Times' story on sexual harassment allegations against him, made no mention of the claims on Monday.

The cable news personality had segments on Monday night's 'The O'Reilly Factor' on Democrats opposing Donald Trump and a story with contributor Jesse Watters visiting Columbia University to ask if Fox News Channel was welcome there.

He did not however address the five women - Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, Andrea Mackris, Rebecca Gomez Diamond, Laurie Dhue, and Juliet Huddy - who all at some point over the past 15 years said O'Reilly had either sexually harassed or verbally abused him, with three of those settlements costing $13million to pay out.

Scroll down for video

Bill O'Reilly, pictured, has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. Since 2012, five women had received $13m total from Fox News and the talk show host following allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse

The German automaker is one of three car companies to pull ads, along with Mercedez-Benz and Hyundai.

Mercedes Benz said in a statement Monday afternoon: 'The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now.'

Later that evening Hyundai said that they too would be pulling ad placements in their own statement, saying they would seek to partner with shows that share their 'values of inclusion and diversity.'

At least six other companies, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, the parent company of dog food brand Nutrish; Constant Contact and consumer healthcare company Sanofi have announced they will be severing their ties.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said they were temporarily pulling their ads while it 'assesses this situation', while Allstate and men's clothing retailer UNTUCKit also decided to cut the cord.

Representatives for Fox News and owner 21st Century Fox have not responded to questions.

This comes as an attorney and former guest on his show are calling for an independent investigation of sexual harassment allegations against him.

Lisa Bloom represents Wendy Walsh, a regular guest on Fox's 'The O'Reilly Factor,' who claims her appearances dried up after she refused to go to a hotel room with O'Reilly following a 2013 dinner in Los Angeles.

She is seeking an investigation by New York City's Commission on Human Rights.

A spokesman for the commission said as of Monday night that no claim has been filed. Claims have to address activity that happened in New York and must be filed within a year of an alleged infraction.

'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.

Walsh said she came forward because she was told by a New York 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 has passed for her to sue.

'Nobody can silence me because my voice is not for sale,' Walsh said. 'Nobody can buy my voice.'

WHO'S WHO: THE COMPANIES WHO HAVE SEVERED TIES Hyundai: Hyundai currently has no advertising running on The O'Reilly Factor. We had upcoming advertising spots on the show but are reallocating them due to the recent and disturbing allegations. Mercedes-Benz: We had advertising running on The O'Reilly Factor (we run on most major cable news shows) and it has been reassigned in the midst of this controversy. The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now. BMW statement: In light of the recent New York Times investigation, BMW of North America has suspended its advertising with 'The O'Reilly Factor'. Ainsworth Pet Nutrition: Said it 'removed our advertising from the program because of these recent and disturbing allegations.' Constant Contact: Based on the recent allegations and our strong commitment to inclusion, respect and tolerance in the workplace, we have decided to pull Constant Contact's ads from The O'Reilly Factor. Sanofi: The controversy around The O'Reilly Factor program and allegations made against Bill O'Reilly are matters that we take seriously and will continue to monitor. We do not endorse the behavior or opinions of program hosts or the content. GSK: We are continually reviewing our advertising to ensure it is conducted in a responsible manner aligned with our values. Allstate: Inclusivity and support for women are important Allstate Values. We are concerned about the issues surrounding the program and we have suspended our advertising UNTUCKit: In light of the disturbing allegations, we instructed our media buyer this morning to reallocate our ad dollars to other shows, effective immediately. We will continue to closely monitor the situation, but believe this is the right decision at this time. Advertisement

Former Fox News contributor Wendy Walsh, left, says she lost a segment on 'The O'Reilly Factor' after she refused to go to O'Reilly's bedroom following a 2013 dinner in Los Angeles. Pictured right: O'Reilly

Last year, Fox News chief Roger Ailes left the network following accusations he had made unwanted sexual advances against women. Ailes has denied the charges.

Earlier Monday, a Fox News contributor filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes, saying she was denied opportunities after she rebuffed Ailes' advances and that current management sought to keep her complaints quiet.

Julie Roginsky, the Fox contributor, said that a promised position on the Fox show 'The Five' never happened after she rejected Ailes' sexual advances.

In a complaint filed in New York state Supreme Court on Monday, Roginsky said she was pressured to join 'Team Roger' to defend Ailes when Gretchen Carlson filed the initial harassment complaint against him but that she refused. Roginsky is being represented by Carlson's legal team.

Roginsky said that even though current Fox executive Bill Shine was aware of her complaint, she was never contacted by the law firm investigating harassment charges against Ailes, and has continued to be denied advancement opportunities.
An Uber driver shot and wounded one of two men he told authorities had tried to carjack him.

The Uber driver reported to police in New Orleans that two men jumped into his car on Bienville and North Telemachus streets in Mid-City about 1.20am Monday shortly after he let a passenger out.

Cops say at least one of the two men was armed and pointed a gun at the driver and told him to drive, according to the driver.

An Uber driver in New Orleans said that he shot at two wannabe carjackers, wounding one

Authorities say the men subsequently forced the driver out of his car somewhere on Bienville Street. But the driver turned out to be armed as well.

The driver reportedly fired at the two suspects, wounding one. Both suspects got out of the car and ran away.

Authorities have not released the name of the 44-year-old victim.

The incident was the talk of Uber drivers in NOLA.

'I just kind of heard from another Uber driver and he kind of gave us a heads up,' driver James Leggins told WDSU. 'I've never had a problem with anything like that or close encounter like that.'

Leggins said he doesn't blame the man for carrying a gun, though it wouldn't be his choice.

'I wouldn't say any Uber driver should be riding around with a gun on them, but it's 2017. Everybody is trying to protect themselves. I would never have a gun in my car or anything like that,' he said.

An Uber spokesperson told the outlet that the company has not been able to confirm that the driver was an Uber driver.

On Saturday night, an Uber driver in Charlotte, North Carolina was shot as he was dropping off a customer. He was brought to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The Trump administration's failure to keep senior adviser Jared Kushner's trip to Iraq a secret was a security breach, as the news of his arrival broke before he had even landed.

Such trips for high ranking officials to war zones are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until they arrive in order to ensure maximum security.

A senior administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner - President Donald Trump's son-in-law - was in Iraq, even though he was still en route.

The White House said the timing on the logistics of the trip had been slightly off, it admitted on Monday.

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.

Scroll down for video

News of Jared Kushner's (right) trip to Iraq on Sunday night was a security breach by the Trump administration, it was confirmed on Monday

The senior adviser to Trump actually didn't land in the country until Monday morning. It was a violation of policy for the White House to confirm his visit to a war zone before he had arrived

The White House said the timing on the logistics of the trip had been slightly off, it admitted on Monday

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 war zones,' 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.'

Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while they're on the ground.

U.S. security details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure, trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.

The choice of plane, too, is determined by danger level. In war zones, officials often fly more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Force's heavy C-17 transport plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper, corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from surface-to-air missiles.

Kushner (left) speaks with Marine Corps General Joe Dunford (right) before leaving Ramstein Air Base, Germany, en route to Baghdad on Monday

His visit comes as military divisions were deployed to northern Iraq as they increase efforts to reclaim the city of Mosul (above) from the Islamic State

Kushner, who is peace envoy to the Middle East, traveled with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Joseph Dunford

Reporters cooperate, too. Those traveling with top leaders into conflict areas must keep the trip secret, with reports generally 'embargoed' until landing. Restrictions can be tighter on rare occasions.

But these practices all are predicated on the administration not making the trip public prematurely.

'The moment of vulnerability is, if they know you're coming, a surface-to-air missile going after the airplane,' said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's White House press secretary. 'If you can diminish the time they know - and by the time you're there, the whole thing is a flood of security agents - it makes it almost impossible in theory for them to do anything bad.'

For the Trump administration, Kushner's voyage marks the second time a secret trip hasn't gone as planned.

In February, the White House arranged for Trump to visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed a week earlier. In keeping with the practice of past White Houses, the trip wasn't announced. News organizations agreed not to report on the trip until after Trump arrived at the base.

Such trips for high ranking officials to war zones are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until they arrive in order to ensure maximum security

But unlike past occurrences, Trump left the White House in broad daylight in Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, taking off in full view of pedestrians. The AP was forced to report that Trump had left the building.

For the last 15 years, as Republican and Democratic presidents and Cabinet members have traveled in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, media have largely adhered to the unwritten rules.

In 2003, when then-President George W. Bush secretly traveled to Iraq to see troops on Thanksgiving Day, about a dozen reporters accompanying him had to hand over their cellphones, pagers and other electronics upon boarding Air Force One. They couldn't file stories while Bush was on the ground, only after he left Iraqi airspace.

There have been occasional mistakes and misunderstandings. Host countries sometimes spill the beans and Cabinet members also slip up, though rarely with details about flights as they're incoming.

Security incidents aren't uncommon.

When Defense Secretary Panetta's plane was taxiing after landing in Afghanistan in 2012, an Afghan contractor hijacked an SUV and tried to run down senior Marine officers waiting on the ramp to welcome the Pentagon chief. The contractor then set himself aflame inside the vehicle, forcing the plane to taxi elsewhere on the runway to avoid the fire.

Officials said they didn't think the man knew about Panetta's arrival.
A New Jersey teenager has admitted plotting to kill Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia in 2015, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Santos Colon, Jr pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

The 17-year-old Lindenwold resident was charged as an adult and faces up to 15 years in prison, but a sentencing date hasn't been scheduled.

New Jersey's Santos Colon, Jr has admitted plotting to kill Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia in 2015, federal prosecutors said Monday. Pope Francis is seen here with officers at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia on September 27, 2015

Colon admitted plotting the assassination during a nearly two-month period in the weeks leading up to the Pope's visit in September 2015, federal prosecutors said.

The plot, which wasn't carried out, involved using a sniper to shoot the pope during a Mass and setting off explosive devices nearby, they said.

Colon engaged someone he thought would be the sniper but was an undercover FBI employee, prosecutors said.

He engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to buy materials to make explosive devices, they said.

FBI agents arrested Colon in 2015.

Colon engaged someone he thought would be the sniper but was an undercover FBI employee, prosecutors said. Pope Francis is seen here during the Pastoral visit in Carpi, Italy on Sunday

Prosecutors declined to comment on a motive for the plot or why the pope was targeted. They said the investigation is ongoing.

The Pope visited Philadelphia over September 26-27, 2015. He celebrated Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered.

An after-hours voicemail message left for Santos' lawyer, Richard Coughlin, who heads the federal public defender's office in Camden, New Jersey was not returned Monday.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-Attorney General Michael Mukasey of going above their heads in order to get charges tossed against a Turkey-based business mogul.

Giuliani and Mukasey were hired to defend Reza Zarrab, who was arrested last year in Miami, for allegedly laundering money for Iran.

In their effort to get Zarrab's case tossed, Giuliani and Mukasey want to meet with President Donald Trump's officials, instead of speaking with prosecutors on the case directly.

Zarrab's attorneys sent a letter to the judge on the case saying that what Giuliani and Mukasey are up to 'quite frankly is none of the government's business'.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (right) and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey (left) were hired by Turkey-based business mogul Reza Zarrab's defense

Zarrab (right), a 33-year-old gold-trader, was arrested in Florida last year for allegedly laundering money for Iran

In the year since 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 Giuliani and Mukasey made to Turkey to consult with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the case.

Federal prosecutors raised fresh concerns about a recent trip that Giuliani and Mukasey made to Turkey to consult with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) about Zarrab's case

Turkey is pressing the Trump administration to get Zarrab's case tossed

Zarrab, a 33-year-old gold-trader married to a Turkish pop star, and several others are accused of conspiring to evade US 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.

Trump fired Preet Bharara (pictured), the US attorney who launched the case against Zarrab

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 US 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.

Bharara's possible replacement could be Mukasey's son, Marc Mukasey (pictured), who would be put in charge of prosecuting Zarrab, 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 US after blaming him for a failed coup attempt last July that killed more than 270 people.

Michael Flynn (pictured), Trump's former national security adviser, had to register retroactively for work he performed in 2016 that could have benefited Turkey's government

Gulen denies involvement in the coup, and the US has said Turkey's evidence is unconvincing.

Although the Turkish charges against Zarrab were ultimately dropped, his subsequent arrest in the US 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.'
Former Tory leader Lord Howard sent a jolt of snuff up the nations nostrils on Sunday by suggesting Theresa May could send a Falklands-style task force to Gibralta should Madrid play silly-beggars

There was no sign of Admiral Howard of Lympnes smokestack on the horizon in the Lords when peers briefly discussed Spains designs on Gibraltar.

Former Tory leader Lord Howard sent a jolt of snuff up the nations nostrils on Sunday by suggesting Theresa May could send a Falklands-style task force to Gib, should Madrid play silly-beggars once we leave the EU. Sounded possible to me.

Any Tory prime minister who lost the Rock would swiftly be toppled.

Lefties were horrified by Lord Howards salty talk. Yesterday afternoon Lord Collins (Lab) accused him of gunboat diplomacy.

It was unhelpful, said Lord Collins. Unhelpful is a word this elite uses when assuming superior airs. Disappointing is another.

They have found the whole Brexit business deeply unhelpful and disappointing. We, the people, have let them down.

As I say, Lord Howard was not in Westminster waters. Presumably he was at home on the South Coast, polishing his cutlass and bidding stoical farewell to his weepy wench before hopping aboard the nearest man o war, a copy of G.A. Hentys novel Held Fast for England under his arm. Set course for the Pillars of Hercules, Mr Bosun!

Lady Northover, a damp, faintly silly creature on the Lib Dem benches, raised Gibraltar by means of a Private Notice Question.

She twittered on about the Government not mentioning Gib in its Article 50 letter to the EU last week.

She also noted that the EU had won the Nobel peace prize, yet now there was all this talk about conflict, boo hoo. The EUs peace prize? Would that have been for its achievements in Ukraine?

The Foreign Offices Joyce Anelay had the helm at the Government despatch box, swaying slightly on the swell.

Lady Anelay, who may use the same hairdresser as the Bay City Rollers, is very much one of lifes Joyces: that is to say, she is sensible, firm, a touch matronly, not to be taken for a fool.

It was unhelpful, said Lord Collins. Unhelpful is a word this elite uses when assuming superior airs. They have found the whole Brexit business deeply unhelpful and disappointing

Having heard Lady Northovers dribbly demands that the Government distance itself from Lord Howards swashbuckling, Lady Anelay summoned an oh do grow up expression to her face and replied: We do still have freedom of expression in this country. Long may that continue.

There came a pah! as she spat a chewed bullet of dried seagull meat from a corner of her mouth.

Lord Garel-Jones (Con) rose to make equivocal remarks about this dreadful deadlock we have with Spain over Gibraltar.

Only a long-standing Hispanophile such as Lord G-J could be so sympathetic to the Latins side of the argument, perhaps.

The Foreign Offices Joyce Anelay had the helm at the Government despatch box, swaying slightly on the swell and summoned an 'oh do grow up' expression on her face

The register of peers interests informs us that Lord Garel-Jones is a board member of Banco Santander Espana and chairman of a second bank, UBS Latin America.

He also decorates the international advisory board of Everis (Spain), a consultancy firm.

Lord Foulkes (Lab), that old fool caught snoozing in the Chamber by the BBCs documentary film crew, launched into a question with the premise if Brexit goes ahead . Does he think it will not?

He, too, wanted to know why Gibraltar was not mentioned in the Governments Article 50 letter.

Lord Forsyth (Con) suspected that the Government had not done so because Gibraltar is no earthly business of the EU. To have included it in the letter might have suggested the opposite.

And we heard from Lord Hannay (Crossbencher), most silken of pro-EU matelots. The tip of his nose actually twitched  with pleasure?  as he smoothly asserted that Spain was in a strong position now. G.A. Henty would have enjoyed writing about a smarmer such as Hannay.

Lady Anelay, her Joyce indicator turned to maximum, said that Gibraltars position was as secure today as it was before the EU referendum.

We will conclude merely by noting that, moments earlier, the House heard of delays to the next generation of Royal Navy frigates. All concerned with that project might want to get a ruddy move on.
A cognitively impaired Aboriginal man jailed for killing a 21-year-old man in Western Australia's north claims he gave a false confession because police repeatedly asked him if he did it and no one believed him.

Gene Gibson, from the remote desert community of Kiwirrkurra, is serving seven-and-a-half years behind bars for fatally striking Josh Warneke from behind as he walked home from a night out 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.

Gene Gibson, (pictured) a cognitively impaired Aboriginal man, claims he falsely confessed to killing Josh Warneke in Broome in 2010 because he didn't understand the police and was 'frightened'

Gibson, from the remote desert community of Kiwirrkurra, is serving seven-and-a-half years behind bars for fatally striking Mr Warneke (pictured) from behind as he walked home from a night out

Gibson's conviction is being appealed on the basis he suffered a miscarriage of justice because he did not have the cognitive ability or language skills to understand what was happening.

The 25-year-old testified in the WA Court of Appeal on Monday in a separate room with the help of an interpreter, saying he gave a false confession because police showed him photographs and said they had witnesses.

Gibson said he was frightened and could not understand everything.

'The police were showing me statements ... and they kept asking me ... if I killed the white boy - that's why I said I did it,' he said.

Later, when he was in prison, Gibson saw lawyer Dominic Brunello without an interpreter and said he only understood 'a little bit'.

'I only understood that he said that I was going to get charged with murder,' he said.

'He said probably I will be in prison for life.

'I asked him to try to help me out.'

The 25-year-old (pictured) testified in the WA Court of Appeal on Monday, saying he gave a false confession because police showed him photographs and said they had witnesses

'The police were showing me statements ... and they kept asking me ... if I killed the white boy - that's why I said I did it,' Gibson said (pictured is Mr Warneke)

Mr Warneke was killed as he walked home after a night out with friends in Broome around 3am (pictured)

Gibson says he initially told Mr Brunello he wanted to plead not guilty, telling lawyer for the state Amanda Forrester he understood that to mean innocent.

He later told Mr Brunello he hit Mr Warneke with an iron bar but it wasn't true.

Asked by defence lawyer Sam Vandongen why he said that, Gibson replied: 'Because the police wasn't listening to me and nobody else was listening to me.'

Gibson also told Ms Forrester he gave the false confession 'because I wasn't really understanding'.

The night Mr Warneke died, after Gibson had been drinking and smoking cannabis, he said he saw the 21-year-old lying on the ground as he drove past in a stolen car with some others and thought he was 'probably dead'.

Mr Warneke's mother Ingrid Bishop (pictured) has said she doesn't believe Gibson killed her son

'I just want to know how Josh died and I just want to know who killed him,' Ms Bishop told 60 Minutes last year (pictured with her other son, Matt)

In his opening statement, Mr Vandongen said the focus of the appeal hearing would be the integrity of the plea, the statements relied upon by the prosecution and what Gibson was told and understood.

'The evidence will show that this case represents something of a perfect storm,' he said.

A Corruption and Crime Commission report concluded the botched police interviews had exposed systemic failures in the force.

Changes have since been made, including providing an interpreter to people not proficient in English.

Mr Warneke's mother Ingrid Bishop has said she doesn't believe Gibson killed her son.
When booking a holiday, knowing the best day to book for domestic and international destinations can save you up to 60 per cent on your flights.

Travel search engine Kayak.com.au compiled data from more than a billion searches to discover the best time for Australians to book flights to save.

If you were keen to get the best deal on domestic flights, looking to book two to three months in advance can save travellers 46 per cent.

Booking six months in advance when flying Melbourne (pictured), leaving on a Saturday and returning on a Tuesday, can save travellers 59 per cent (Stock Image)

'Getting the best deal on airfares depends on a number of factors such as knowing the best days of the week to travel, as well as optimum time to book,' a Kayak media release read.

'Armed with this information, Australian travellers can save considerable amounts of money, up to 59 per cent on domestic flights, and as much as 63 per cent on international flights among these popular destinations.'

Sydney

Booking one month in advance to travel to Sydney and departing on a Sunday and returning on a Tuesday can save you for up to 53 per cent compared to the most expensive month.

If you are looking to travel to Sydney (pictured), book one month out in advance departing on a Sunday and returning on a Tuesday. This could save up to 53 per cent on the booking (Stock Image)

Melbourne

You need to book as far in advance for Melbourne with the optimal time around six months ahead leaving on a Sunday and returning on Tuesday. This can save you up to 59 per cent.

Brisbane

Flying from Brisbane is ideal on a Saturday, with the flights booked two weeks in advance to return on a Wednesday. This can save you up to 37 per cent compared to the most expensive month.

Adelaide

Travellers can save up to 38 per cent flying to Adelaide if you book just one month in advance and leave on a Monday and return on a Wednesday.

Travellers can save up to 69 per cent when booking just one month out from flying to Adelaide (pictured) on a Monday (Stock Image)

KAYAK's formula when looking to save on domestic flights

International flights are often ideal to book well in advance to help save up to 30 per cent.

Of Kayak's top 10 destinations, travellers can save up to 30 per cent on seven of them when booking seven to 10 months out from the flight.

London

For the best savings when flying across the world to visit London, flyers must book three months in advance. Departing on a Wednesday and returning on a Tuesday can save up to 31 per cent.

Tokyo

Travellers must book up to nine months in advance to fly to Japanese capital, Tokyo, saving up to 41 per cent. Leaving on a Tuesday and returning on a Monday will also add to the savings.

To save when looking to fly to the hustle and bustle of London (pictured) is ideal when booking three months in advance (Stock Image)

Travellers can save up to 41 per cent when looking to book nine months in advance when flying to Tokyo, Japan (Stock Image)

Los Angeles

Booking nine months in advance when flying into the U.S. through LA, on a Tuesday and returning on a Sunday can save up to 40 per cent.

Denpasar (Bali)

A popular destination for Australians, booking 10 months out can save up to 50 per cent. Flying on a Monday and returning on a Wednesday is best for savings.

Auckland

Flying across the ditch to Auckland, New Zealand, is best on a Thursday and to return on a Friday. Booking three months in advance on these days can save you up to 53 per cent.

Kayak is a world travel search engine for flights, hotels, rental cars and vacation packages.

Leaving on a Tuesday and returning on a Sunday when flying to Los Angeles could save travellers up to 40 per cent (Stock Image)
Daniel Korski, 39, who already stands accused of using his government position to lobby Uber, has launched business Public, which helps companies apply for public sector contracts

Yet another Cameron crony is cashing in on his time in government. The latest is Daniel Korski, former deputy head of the Prime Ministers policy unit who already stands accused of using his position in government to lobby for the U.S. internet taxi firm Uber.

Korski, 39, right, has launched the business Public, which helps companies apply for public sector contracts. It does this in return for a 3 per cent equity stake.

Although approved by the cabinet office, the venture will raise eyebrows due to the apparently revolving door between government and the private sector.

Learn from experts, boasts the Public website, with the experts it lays claim to including Korskis successor as deputy head of policy at No. 10, Natalie Black, and serving special advisers to three ministers.

Europhile Korski joined No.10 as a special adviser in 2013, having previously served as an adviser for the vice-president of the European Commission. He was awarded a CBE in Camerons controversial resignation honours.

In launching Public, Korski has dug deep into his contacts book to recruit the best and brightest from the civil service. His new team boasts Calvin Dudek, formerly head of Data Science Innovation at the Department of Work and Pensions.

Korski is a controversial character. After the then Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce John Longworth announced himself a Brexiteer last spring, Korski was swiftly on the phone to admonish him. Longworth quit several days later.

I never oversaw any contracts while working in government, nor have any privileged commercially sensitive information, Korski tells me.

Forget Pippas Tips. Pippa Middletons brother James is trying to offer photography advice via his struggling marshmallow company Boomf.

Are you a photographer who specialises in urban marshmallow photography? reads the blurb on Boomfs Instagram site.

If so, head to Boomf to check out our readymade designs! Perfect for that edgy graffiti shot.

Time to dust off the sporran  if you fancy becoming assistant private secretary to the Prince of Wales, paying particular attention to his Caledonian concerns.

The successful candidate must be educated to degree level or equivalent and substantial experience of a range of Scottish issues is required.

The applicant will be answerable to the Princes Private Secretary, Mark Leishman, 55, who is a splinter off his grandfathers block  the legendary Lord Reith, first Director-General of the BBC.

Age hasnt mellowed Sex Pistol John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. I tend not to like famous people, as you tend to find out they are famous for all the wrong reasons, the 61-year-old informs me.

I tell you what musicians are. They are copycat ***** who copy what everyone else has done.
HS2 was accused of wasting taxpayers money last night as it emerged it has seventeen public relations companies on its payroll.

The Department of Transport made the extraordinary disclosure in response to a parliamentary question over the number of external agencies it is paying to promote the controversial 56 billion project.

The PR firms on its books include Blue Rubicon, MHP Communications, Brand and Deliver, Weber Shandwick, Westbourne Communications and Gorkana.

One of the firms appointed to spin for HS2 - called Hopscotch Consulting - was awarded a 280,000 contract to deliver an educational course to primary school children living along the route, extolling the benefits of HS2.

HS2 was accused of wasting taxpayers money last night as it emerged it has seventeen public relations companies on its payroll

In addition, twelve consultancy and production firms have been handed lucrative deals to work for HS2.

They are among an army of more than 400 companies  including engineers, lawyers and recruitment firms -that have been awarded publicly funded contracts.

One of the more offbeat firms on the payroll is LifeClubs, which provides motivation for stressed and burnt out staff.

The latest revelations have fuelled accusations that HS2 has become a gravy train for highly paid lawyers and consultants, at vast expense to taxpayers.

Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire said: HS2 has got 17 PR companies but cant hang on to a chief executive.

The reason they need 17 PR companies is that the case for HS2 cannot be defended. Its a white elephant project that grows bigger buy the minute.

This project has already cost almost 3billion and not one yard of track has been laid.

I would urge the government to pull the project and spend the money on the NHS, social care and improving existing transport infrastructure.

Jill Seymour, transport spokesman for UKIP said: This is a disgusting waste of our hard earned money on a project which is neither wanted, or needed.

It doesnt matter how many PR companies are recruited to try to convince people that theres a need for HS2, they wont find a compelling business case which is backed by hard evidence.

Its a never ending gravy train, with taxpayers forking out for all the fuel.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said Britain needs HS2 more than ever, arguing it will create jobs, boost capacity and link the country together

Fresh criticism of HS2s use of public money comes as transport secretary Chris Grayling faces calls to launch an independent inquiry into HS2s most bruising set back to date.

The project was thrown into chaos last week when US engineering firm CH2M pulled out of a contract to deliver the second phase of the route amid allegations of conflicts of interest.

CH2M was handed a 170million deal last month to deliver two stretches of the high speed rail line from Crewe to Manchester and from Birmingham to Leeds.

But the contract signing was delayed as officials from HS2 were forced to investigate concerns raised by one of the rival bidders  British engineering group Mace - that there was a revolving door between HS2and CH2M for senior executives.

These concerns increased when HS2 poached Mark Thurston, a senior employee of CH2M to be its new 535,000 a year chief executive.

He replaced temporary chief executive Roy Hill, another former CH2M executive.

The main source of concern is the role of HS2s former chief of staff Christopher Reynolds, who spearheaded CH2Ms successful bid for the second phase of the project.

Transport minister Andrew Jones recently revealed recently that 25 HS2 staff previously worked for CH2M, while 37 CH2M employees are on secondment to HS2.

Cheryl Gillan and Labours shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald are both pressing for a public inquiry into the debacle.

The commons Public Accounts Committee has also promised to probe the close links between HS2 and CH2M.

HS2 has insisted that CH2Ms decision to pull out of the second phase would not lead to delays. It is expected to award the deal to second placed bidder Bechtel  another American engineering firm.

The first phase of the project between London and Birmingham is set to begin in the summer, and is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

HS2 suffered another blow last week with the resignation of David Prout, the director general of HS2.

Sources said his resignation has nothing to do with the scandal.

But it comes just weeks before work is finally set to begin on the project and is just the latest in a string of senior departures.

The legislation for the first phase of HS2 finally received Royal Assent in February despite fierce criticism from economists, campaign groups and MPs, including Tories whose constituencies will be affected by the rail line.

Several reports have warned the cost to taxpayers will spiral to as much as 90billion, while not delivering the benefits promised.

Critics have argued the money would be better spent on improving Britains creaking rail infrastructure.

But transport secretary Chris Grayling has said Britain needs HS2 more than ever, arguing it will create jobs, boost capacity and link the country together.

A CH2M spokesman said: CH2M is clear that it went above and beyond the conflict of interest protocols, as set out by HS2 Ltd. HS2 Ltd were aware of the involvement of Christopher Reynolds throughout the procurement process, as documented in CH2M s bid, which expressly identified Christopher Reynolds and included quotes from him.

Mr Reynolds appointment to CH2M took place 5 months after him leaving HS2 Ltd. Mr Reynolds is a valued member of CH2M staff and brings with him a wealth of technical experience.

HS2 said neither Roy Hill nor Mark Thurston played any role in the decision to award the contract to HS2.

A spokesman said: HS2 is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world, and has a legal obligation to consult affected communities, support the bills passage through parliament, and help people and the supply chain understand how the project affects them.

To this end, HS2 has engaged the support of various print, production, video and content creation, logistical, and events companies.

This includes the delivery of recent consultation events attended by nearly 20,000 people along the line of route. We always do so while ensuring value for money for the tax payer, and have not used PR agencies to deliver any communications.
A senior Labor politician in Australia says there is no connection between fundamentalist Islam and assaults on free speech.

Linda Burney, an opposition frontbencher with Labor leader Bill Shorten's team, was asked on Q&A about literal interpretations of the Koran.

ABC audience member Peter Knespal had asked if politicians and media outlets needed to do more to defend free speech, following the abrupt cancellation of Somali-born Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Australian tour.

Q&A host Tony Jones (pictured) asked Linda Burney if fundamentalist Islam was incompatible with free speech

His question was about the 47-year-old writer and former Dutch politician pulling out of appearing on Q&A for security reasons, as she stayed in the United States.

'Does the panel agree that Australian politicians, media outlets and public figures should be doing more to defend the right to critique all religions, including Islam?,' he asked on Monday night.

As Ms Burney, an MP from Sydney's inner south, proceeded to address the question, Q&A host Tony Jones interrupted her to seek a clarification.

'Just very briefly, the questioner also suggested there's an incompatibility between fundamentalist Islam and free expression. Do you agree with that?'

Peter Knespal (right) asked if politicians needed to do more to defend the freedom of speech

Labor frontbencher said she disagreed that fundamentalist Islam was incompatible with free speech

Linda Burney replied: 'No I don't agree with that.'

The politician from Labor's Left faction downplayed the attempts of Muslim activists to censor free speech during a panel discussion that covered how a change.org petition, with 389 signatures, had called for Ms Ali's Australian tour to be cancelled.

'The implication that some particular faith shuts down freedom of speech I don't think is an accurate one, certainly in Australia,' Ms Burney said.

Denmark's former centre-left prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who was an MP in 2005 when a Danish cartoon portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist with a bomb sparked terrorist attacks, condemned assaults on free speech.

'It's so simple for us to conclude that that is just not right,' she said.

Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali cancelled her Australia and New Zealand tour for security reasons

Denmark's former centre-left prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt defended free speech

The former leader of Denmark's Social Democratic Party recalled how a terrorist attacked a political meeting after Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten had published that cartoon.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who now heads Save The Children International, praised Ms Ali, a former Muslim turned atheist, for speaking out against female genital mutilation, which the writer endured as a girl in Somalia.

'She was a voice and is a voice for those children that had to endure that,' she said.

'She should have a strong voice. This is Australia. She should be able to come and speak her mind. You don't have to agree with her because I don't necessarily agree with everything she says but that's not the point.'

Fundamentalist Islamist extremists are campaigning for a global Islamic caliphate based on sharia law.

A former leader of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir based in London, Maajid Nawaz, who now fights extremism coined the term 'regressive left' to criticise progressive politicians who refuse to criticise Islamism for fear of being branded racist.
Jim Gleim knew the drill as a Marine deployed during Operation Desert Storm.

It never failed. Whenever a care package arrived from home, he was surrounded by friendly forces determined to get at the snacks stored in the cardboard box.

Everyone would swarm around him, Lois Gleim recalled. They knew there was food in it ... Slim Jims, crackers and cookies. He shared it with the other guys.

I know how important it was when my son was overseas, she said. They dont get beef jerky out in the desert. They dont get potato chips. It means a lot when they have a snack over there.

Gleim was one of nine volunteers Tuesday who prepared a shipment of care packages to send to 27 people who are deployed overseas in Iraq. She serves as third vice-president for the AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary of Post 274 in Carlisle  the group that coordinates the program and invites the public to submit names.

They can email or call me the name of the soldier and their address overseas, said Donna Moyer, Ladies Auxiliary president. I guarantee that our ladies will be on it and that a box will be out within a couple of days.

Our soldiers are overseas fighting for the things we take for granted over here stateside, Moyer said. Our main focus is our soldiers and our veterans.

Readers can provide information on a deployed soldier, sailor, Marine, airman and coast guardsman by sending an email to Moyer at dlmred@embarqmail.com or by calling her cellphone at 226-6083.

Volunteers will then prepare a care package to send. Each package includes personal toiletries and plenty of snack food to boost morale.

By contacting Moyer, the public can donate such toiletries as shaving cream, razors, wet wipes, foot powder, shampoo, deodorant, hand sanitizer, Q-tips, contact lens solution, tissues and sunscreen with a high SPF.

Often those deployed have to buy their personal hygiene products from the post exchange, Moyer said. By collecting items for shipment overseas, it saves servicemen and women money they could put to other uses.

Money preferred

The Ladies Auxiliary would prefer the public donate money toward the future purchase of snacks rather than donate food directly to the AMVETS post. Money is preferred because weeks or months could go by before auxiliary members receive new names and addresses.

I dont want snack food lying around to get stale, Moyer said. I want to get it fresh.

To donate money, checks should be made payable to: AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary, 1580 Ritner Highway, Carlisle 17013. Moyer advised donors to write in the memo line care packages so that the money could be earmarked to the correct bank account.

The public can also support the Ladies Auxiliary by buying products during fundraisers such as the Mothers Day flower sale scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at the Country Nook at 1003 Trindle Road, Mechanicsburg.

Over the years, the Ladies Auxiliary has shipped board games, crossword puzzle books and decks of cards to those deployed overseas. While appreciated, what those in the military really crave are snack foods including honey buns, Tastykakes, M&Ms, Swedish Fish, peanut butter crackers and sunflower seeds.

Judy Killinger, first vice-president of the auxiliary, has been involved in the volunteer effort for about two years. She has a son who is an active duty Marine and a granddaughter in the Army National Guard in North Carolina.

This is just a little piece of home that says we know you are over there and we support you, Killinger said of the packages. This is just my little way of saying thank you.

The Ladies Auxiliary started sending care packages to service men and women during Operation Desert Storm, Gleim said. The local effort had renewed momentum after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the deployment of US forces to Afghanistan and Iraq.

For almost 16 years now, the Ladies Auxiliary has upheld a tradition in downtown Carlisle that began in the wake of the attacks. They gather on the Square in Carlisle on the 11th day of every month to wave signs and American flags from 4 to 4:30 p.m., urging drivers to show their support for men and women in uniform.
An 11-year-old girl who lost her mother and two sisters in a tragic car crash seven years ago has been left orphaned after her father died in a motorbike accident last week.

Sydney man Trevor Gordon, 35, was making a new life with daughter Makayla after his partner Amanda, then 29, and two of their children Madderson, two, and Marissa, eight, were killed in a car crash in October 2010.

The Gordon family before the first accident in 2010, which killed Amanda and two of their daughters, Madderson, centre and Marissa, front. Makayla and Trevor, left, survived

But last week, Mr Gordon was riding a motorbike over Ropes Crossing in western Sydney and slammed into a garbage truck, killing him instantly.

Mr Gordon's aunt Leanne Gordon told Daily Mail Australia Makayla and her father were 'inseparable' - that her nephew had 'lived for his daughter'.

The 11-year-old girl has been left 'completely distraught, and hasn't stopped crying' since she found out her dad died.

She said Mr Gordon had 'just started coming good' after the death of his childhood sweetheart and his other two children.

Makayla and her father before his accident last week - family members say the pair were 'inseparable' and that he lived for his surviving daughter

Mr Gordon and his partner Amanda were high school sweethearts - he blamed himself when she died

'To be honest Trev died on the inside the day his two young daughters and their mum died in that crash,' Mrs Gordon said.

'They were travelling from Sydney to Bathurst to see him  so he always blamed himself.

'He was in a bad state of mind for a long time but then finally realised he still had Makayla and devoted himself to her  they were just inseparable.'

The grieving relative has been reflecting on her nephew's love for his daughters and describes him as the 'perfect dad'.

'He was just the best  people would see this big muscle man with tattoos with all these little girls and didn't realise that he was a sucker for the kids.

'He never complained when they wanted to watch Care Bears again he would just sit up on the couch with one tucked under each arm and one on his lap.

'He would always play with them and go along with their tea-parties,' she said.

Trevor Gordon's extended family made a memorial near where he died last week

Trevor pictured as a child with his grandmother - who he adored

She also said Mr Gordon never managed to 'find love' again after the accident which tore his family apart.

'At first he thought there was something wrong with him but then he just realised he was never going to find another Amanda.

'They has been together since they were 16,' she said.

'They were a match made in heaven.'

Makayla lived with her maternal grandmother while her father 'tried to get his head straight' after the accident.

The young father was left devastated after the accident which tore his family apart - pictured with Makayla

The father slammed into a garbage truck while driving home last week

He was killed instantly - leaving behind his daughter Makayla

'One day it just clicked that he had this beautiful baby girl that needed him and he was the perfect dad again.

'He would always be bringing her to the beach and on picnics and barbecues.'

The doting dad was on his way home from having his youngest daughter's name added to the many tattoos on his body when he had the accident.

'I think the little one was calling out to her dad from heaven, the angels heard and they took him,' she said.

The father in happoer times with his middle daughter Makayla

Trevor will be farewelled by friends and family on Sunday - the day before his 36th birthday

Before he passed away Mr Gordon had given his daughter a teddy bear with recordings of his voice.

'She will have that and be able to remember what he sounded like.

'They would always get each other little presents, not long ago Makayla had written her dad some letters from her dead sisters, I know that meant a lot to him.'

Mr Gordon's family will lay him to rest at Pinegrove in Sydney's west on Sunday  the day before he was due to celebrate his 36th birthday.

The family are setting up a trust fund for Makayla to help her with a future without her doting father and mother.

Trevor with his daughter Makayla after deciding he would live his life again for her
A woman has missed out on a $110,000 cash giveaway when her voicemail told Today Show she was 'too busy' to take the call live on air.

'We are going to Elwood in Victoria and we're calling Leanne Spruce,' Lisa Wilkinson said as the dial tone was broadcast on live national television.

'Sorry I'm busy, I'll call you back just leave your number,' the Melbourne woman's voicemail recording abruptly told the morning show hosts before cutting off.

Wilkinson, Karl Stefanovic and Richard Wilkins were broadcasting from a Gold Coast beach on Tuesday when they phoned the woman.

The hosts appeared devastated for the viewer when she missed out on the giveaway.

The woman would have won $110,000 had she answered the call within three rings and said: 'I wake up with Today.'

The Block of Cash Giveaway will now grow to $130,000 for Wednesday's program.

Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins cross their fingers while they call a viewer live on air with a $110,000 cash giveaway
Federal immigration officials have detained Canadian prostitute Alix Tichelman after she completed a jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter after she gave a Google executive a fatal overdose of heroin

Federal immigration officials detained a Canadian prostitute as soon as she completed a jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter after she gave a married Google executive a fatal overdose of heroin.

Alix Tichelman, 30, who had a privileged upbringing in Atlanta, Georgia, and then California, was freed from prison on March 29, after serving just two years behind bars.

But as she soon as she stepped outside the prison gates, ICE agents took her into their custody.

She injected Forrest Timothy Hayes, a married father-of-five, with heroin in November 2013 and then left without seeking help when he passed out on his yacht in the Santa Cruz harbor.

Police said Hayes hired Tichelman several times for drug-fueled sex after they met on the website Seeking Arrangement, which pairs 'sugar babies' with rich older men or women.

Santa Cruz sheriff's officials confirmed they turned over Tichelman to the custody of Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after her release from prison.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel, citing court records, said Tichelman holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada, where she was born.

She could end up being deported.

Santa Cruz County Immigration Project director Doug Keegan said: 'Anyone with a felony is put in a very special category, and there's virtually no way of preventing their deportation.'

Although rare, it is possible for a naturalized U.S. citizen to have his or her citizenship stripped through a process called 'denaturalization.'

Natural-born U.S. citizens may not have their citizenship revoked against their will.

Tichelman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and drugs charges, which resulted in the 2013 death of Forrest Timothy Hayes (pictured)

Hayes hired Tichelman (above) several times for drug-fueled sex after they met on the website Seeking Arrangement, which pairs 'sugar babies' with rich older men or women

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.

Defense attorney Larry Biggam said Tichelman injected herself with heroin before she injected Hayes, and the drugs clouded her judgement at the time.

Speaking in 2014, he said: '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.

'To demonize, and sensationalize, and totally blame Alix Tichelman for his death is misplaced, unfair, and simply wrong. She's like a wounded bird.'

She was seen in a surveillance video gathering her belongings, stepping over Hayes' body, finishing a glass of wine and lowering a blind before leaving the yacht. His body was discovered the next day. She was arrested eight months later.

Tichelman (left and in court right) 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

Police originally recommended homicide charges.

Several charges were later dropped or reduced by prosecutors, she pleaded guilty before the case went to trial, and a judge sentenced her to serve six years in jail.

Tichelman completed drug rehab programs during her time in jail because she was addicted to heroin.

She grew up in a wealthy, upper-class family but rejected her privileged upbringing.

Tichelman became addicted to heroin and turned to high-class prostitution to support herself.

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.

Her ex-boyfriend, 53-year-old monkey trainer Dean Riopelle, died from a heroin overdose in Georgia two months before Hayes' death.

His death was ruled as accidental.
A male 'sex witch' who used hypnotism to rape and enslave teenage girls has been found living three doors away from a Melbourne primary school, a month after he was set free.

Robin Angus Fletcher, 60, who is legally blind, was jailed in 1998 for eight years after he prostituted, raped and enslaved two 15-year-old girls.

Fletcher had been the subject of a supervision order since the end of his jail term which saw him placed at a Victorian sex offender's facility known as 'the village of the damned' but that order was revoked in February.

Robin Fletcher (pictured) was jailed in 1998 for eight years after he prostituted, raped and enslaved two 15-year-old girls (file image)

'Sex witch' Robin Fletcher (pictured) has been found living three doors away from a primary school

Rapist Robin Fletcher (pictured) has been living within 500 metres of a kindergarten and child care centre

He has now been found living in Cheltenham, in Melbourne's south-east, just three doors away from Le Page Primary School, Seven News reports.

Fletcher's new home, on a quiet street populated by young families, is barely 100 metres from the school. There is also a kindergarten and a child care centre within 500 metres of Fletcher's front door.

Neighbours have said they fear Fletcher living so close to their children.

'It's certainly going to change the way I let them out the front door,' one anonymous resident told Seven News.

Lorrina Layuni agreed. 'II don't feel safe at all,' Ms Layuni said. 'This is the way they walk to school. This is the way they go to play at the park.'

Police had visited Fletcher at his new home several times to check on his living arrangements, according to Seven.

Rapist Robin Fletcher has been living three doors away from Le Page Primary School at Cheltenham (pictured)

Robin Fletcher was jailed in 1998 for raping and enslaving two 15-year-old girls

The Victorian State Government had asked the Supreme Court to extend Fletcher's supervision order last year.

However, the court revoked Fletcher's supervision order on February 8, when Justice Phillip Priest ruled despite Fletcher's 'repellent' offences, he did not pose an 'unacceptable risk' to the community, according to the law.

The Department of Justice challenged the decision in the Court of Appeal but lost last month.

Convicted rapist Robin Fletcher (centre) leaves the Victorian Supreme Court in February after his supervision order was revoked

Before his release into the community, 'sex witch' Robin Fletcher (pictured) had been under a supervision order

Fletcher used mind-altering techniques on the two teenagers he raped in 1998, telling them it was necessary to fulfill their destiny as 'high priestesses of the dark covenant,' and forcing them into prostitution.

His offences included one count of sexual penetration of a child and three of committing an indecent act with a child.

Fletcher had been under supervision at the Corella Place sex offenders facility, known as 'the village of the damned', in south west Victoria.
A Melbourne woman was sexually assaulted by a man wearing a Jim Beam T-shirt on Christmas Eve, police claim.

Officers with the Sexual Crimes Squad are searching for the man, who they claim assaulted the woman as she leaned onto the driver's side of her car on Daymar Avenue in Mooroolbark.

The man allegedly approached her from behind between 8pm and 10pm on December 24.

Officers with the Sexual Crimes Squad are searching for a man (pictured) they claim sexually assaulted a Melbourne woman as she leaned onto the driver's side of her car on Christmas Eve

He ran away after a nearby dog began to bark, police said.

Investigators released digital composites this week of the man they want to interview in relation to the assault.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Former One Nation Senator Rod Culleton has released a secretly recorded phone call he had with Pauline Hanson before defecting from the party.

The WA Senator, who quit the party last year amid concerns over his legal woes and criminal convictions, aired the conversation on ABC's 4 Corners program.

The furious call came after Mr Culleton's matters made it into the public arena and Senator Hanson publicly declared she was 'glad to see the back of him'.

Scroll down for video

Former One Nation Senator Rod Culleton released a secretly recorded phone conversation with Senator Pauline Hanson

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson (pictured) was called a 'populist' by a former party candidate on the ABC's 4 Corners program

'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.

'Go and read your constitution section 44.2 and it states that if you have a criminal conviction, more than 12 months sentence.

'I haven't done that, Rod. You did it before you were actually standing. Now they've caught up with you over this. That is the facts. Right? Now don't try and blame me.'

Mr Culleton responded: 'I'm not blaming you. But I don't seem to be getting support from you in a sense now you're wanting me to stand down.'

But Ms Hanson bluntly told him to 'think about it' and speak to his lawyers.

'I'll leave it up to you. I'll see you at parliament next week,' she said.

Ian Nelson (pictured), who was One Nation's former Queensland state president and treasurer, described the party was a 'brutal dictatorship'

The program also 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.

'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.

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'.

On the same program, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts claimed the ABC is using 'Nazi-style mind control'.

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

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.
Private contractors are behaving 'appallingly' by overcharging the taxpayer for providing foreign aid, MPs said last night.

Ministers must take action so the public can have confidence that firms are not 'getting rich' on the back of the UK aid budget, the Commons international development committee demanded.

The MPs warned there were 'fundamental flaws' in the working practices of some of the organisations responsible for handling tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

International Development secretary Priti Patel has been warned taxpayers are being overcharged by contractors working on projects funded by the UK international aid budget

They concluded that one of the largest aid contractors, Adam Smith International (ASI), acted improperly by making multimillion-pound profits, and warned that this was not an isolated incident.

In a damning report, they highlighted another example of an unscrupulous contractor charging the aid ministry more than double the true cost of the staff who worked on a project.

The report also called on ministers to use the opportunity of Brexit to strengthen controls on private contractors by blacklisting those who waste money.

At present, Dfid officials blame EU procurement regulations for stopping them taking into account a firm's previous failure when they put in a bid for a contract.

The MPs said that, outside the EU, Britain will be able to take this into account, just as the US aid department does.

The MPs said the Department for International Development (Dfid) must take a 'more robust approach' towards regulating contractors, who distribute an increasing amount of Britain's 12billion aid budget.

MPs claimed EU procurement regulations are leading to excessive charges for the taxpayer

'We are greatly concerned about the appalling conduct of some contractors who have behaved in a way that is entirely misaligned with the department's purpose,' they wrote.

'We have heard that there are fundamental flaws in the working practices of some organisations.

'The allegations made of ASI should not be approached as an isolated incident by Dfid, but as evidence that there is something inherently wrong with the culture in certain organisations.

'Dfid needs to take a more robust approach in creating regulations and incentives that shape the sector so that it operates to the highest ethical standards.'

Ministers have in the past few years dramatically increased the amount of aid money they channel through private firms rather than distributing the help themselves. The report said that over the past five years Dfid has more than doubled the cash it gives private contractors from 540million to 1.34billion.

Much of the concern has centred on the activities of ASI, which was strongly criticised in an earlier report by the committee for trying to manipulate evidence to its inquiry.

The firm sparked widespread anger after it emerged its profits had trebled since 2010 while executives reportedly earned multimillion-pound share payouts.

The revelations prompted Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, to promise a crackdown on 'extensive profiteering' by contractors.

ASI, which has received at least 300million in public funds over the past five years, recently announced that its four founders were leaving in a complete restructuring of its top team.

Last night the MPs said Ministers were not doing enough to ensure that money channelled through private contractors is spent effectively, and that firms were not profiteering.

They criticised a Dfid official who told them that contractors' profits should be 'fair but not excessive' without spelling out what this meant.

'We stress that there is a critical difference between profiting and profiteering,' the MPs said.

'The vague definition of 'fair but not excessive' profits provides little reassurance to the public that contractors are not getting rich from UK aid.

'While we recognise that being too prescriptive on what is 'fair but not excessive' may distort the market, there is room for discussion on what this constitutes.

'Dfid should determine some clear parameters on what constitutes fair but not excessive profits. It should also consider whether other donors are achieving better value for money through their differing procurement processes.'

The MPs quoted one example of how a private contractor had been able to profiteer thanks to Dfid's lax rules.

'Concerns were raised to this inquiry that in past Dfid programmes, the management mark-up fees were high,' the committee concluded.

'Staff costing breakdowns provided to us in confidence suggest that, for one project, the contractor had a margin of 141 per cent between what staffing costs were charged to Dfid and the cost at market rates.'

The MPs criticised the department for setting rules for contractors but relying on them to regulate themselves. This means the rules are never enforced.

Labour MP Stephen Twigg, pictured, said the department has taken some steps to improve relations with some contractors, however he admitted there were still some real concerns

They said Dfid needs to do more to ensure that contractors are adhering to the principles that drive its work.

While competitive pressures in the market can drive value for money, they can also drive poor behaviours in contractors trying to seek a commercial advantage, they added.

Last night committee chairman Stephen Twigg said: 'Dfid has taken some steps to improving working relationships with contractors.

'However, there are real concerns, also reflected by the Secretary of State and in media, that clear parameters should be set for this work.

'We agree with Priti Patel that Dfid's contractors and partners should be held to the highest standards and there should be 'no room for excessive profiteering or unethical practices' in this work to deliver aid to the poorest people across the globe.'

A Dfid spokesman said: 'The Secretary of State has been crystal clear that she expects all suppliers to deliver results for the world's poorest, provide value for taxpayers' money and that she will not tolerate anything less.

'The department is undertaking a fundamental review of its work with suppliers to instigate root and branch reform based on accountability and transparency.'
A motorcyclist has had a lucky escape after almost being knocked from his bike by a mattress that came loose from the tray of a truck.

CCTV footage has emerged of the moment the mattress flew dangerously into the air inside the Clem 7 tunnel, in Brisbane, and hurtled towards Aaron Wood.

Becoming trapped beneath Mr Wood's bike, the cyclist of more than 20 years called on all his experience to prevent himself being thrown over the handlebars as he travelled at 80km/h.

A motorcyclist has had a lucky escape (pictured) after almost being knocked from his bike by a mattress that came loose from the tray of a ute inside a busy Brisbane tunnel

Video from inside the tunnel shows the mattress coming loose from the ute around a bend and being flung high into the air.

After flipping a number of times it lands just in front of Mr Wood, who was unable to avoid it becoming trapped in between both his wheels.

Somehow managing to come to a halt, he battles to prevent the road bike falling on top of him as he disembarks, before a fellow motorist came to his aid.

Aaron Wood (pictured) was lucky not to be injured when the mattress flew into the air inside the Clem 7 tunnel, in Brisbane, and hurtled towards him

Talking to the Gatton Star after the incident, Mr Wood said he ripped the grip on his handlebars because of the force with which he tried to suddenly stop.

'The mattress went under the bike and flipped me up onto my front wheel for about 50m,' Mr Wood said.

'I was lucky that the bloke behind me had time to stop and help.

The mattress became trapped beneath Mr Wood's bike, with the cyclist of more than 20 years forced to call on all his experience to prevent himself being thrown over the handlebars

Travelling at 80 km/h when the mattress hit his bike, Mr Wood said he was lucky not to be hurt

'When I stopped I realised I had torn the grips right off the handlebars - I thought I was a goner for sure.'

Following the accident, Mr Wood took to his Facebook page to share images of the damage caused to his bike by the mattress.

The undercarriage of the bike and his grips were torn apart by the impact, however
The mother whose car plunged into a flood-swollen river has been praised as a 'hero' after desperately trying in vain to save the lives of her young children.

Stephanie King, 43, died attempting to save her son Jacob, seven, and daughter Ella Jane, 11, after their car careered into the Tweed River, according to the police.

The brave mother-of-three 'would be alive today' if she had not tried to free her young children from the murky depths of the river in Tumbulgum, a New South Wales Police Superintendent Wayne Starling said.

Ms King and two of her children died after failing to escape from the submerged vehicle, but her eight-year-old daughter Chloe-May made it out and survived.

Police pulled three bodies from the water on Tuesday afternoon, as well as the family's white Hyundai.

Scroll down for video

Stephanie King, 43, her seven-year-old son Jacob Kabealo and daughter Ella-Jane Kabealo (right), 11, have been named as the three trapped inside a car that careered into the Tweed River. Chloe-May, who escaped the car, is pictured left

The family whose car plunged into a flood-swollen river on Monday have been identified. The three children are pictured left, with Jacob and Chloe-May right

'Hero': Ms King, from Bilambil, and the two children were unable to escape as the car sank

Grim discovery: Police divers found three bodies in the river early on Tuesday afternoon

Tragic: The eight-year-old girl lost her mother, brother and sister in the horrific accident

Supt Starling said the mother was a 'hero'.

'She died trying to save a child. I've got no doubt whatsoever that that woman is a hero. She'd be alive today if she wasn't trying to save her children,' he said.

'I can tell you the mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away. She was with the child, holding the child.

'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

He added that there were 'terrible conditions' on the flood-affected road on Monday afternoon, when the car veered into the water.

'The roadway is very very slippery,' Supt Starling said. 'Even now it's not safe to put the crane in to get the car out.'

Sending his condolences, he added: 'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

Superintendent Starling added that Chloe-May was a 'very brave little girl'.

'She had injuries to her feet, trying to get out. Her main focus was trying to save her mum, her brother and sister.

'I wouldn't be surprised if the mother helped her out,' he added.

A body, which was covered in a dark green sheet, is carried into the back of waiting ambulance

The family's white Hyundai van was hauled out of the River Tweed on Tuesday afternoon

The van did not appear to be badly damaged when it was removed from the waterway

Police divers were seen searching the river today as they looked for bodies among the wreckage of the car

Tributes have poured in for the family from heartbroken friends.

'It makes me sick knowing a beautiful family is still in the water, such a precious loss to all that knew you, I know I will miss you terribly,' one friend said.

'I love you Steph,' another wrote.

Friend Alicia Morgan told the Daily Telegraph that she knew the family because their children had attended Tumbulgum Primary School together.

'I have no words,' Ms Morgan said.

'Steph was the sort of mother who would do anything for the kids, she was such a community-minded person, she would get in there and help anyone who needed a hand.

'My daughter and Chloe went right though school together. She and my daughter were friends.'

She added that Chloe-May, the lone survivor of the crash, was a 'tough nut'.

Ms King, who lived in Belongil but was originally from Auckland, New Zealand, used to work at Tweed Heads Bowls Club but had more recently been working as a care home nurse.

Tributes have poured in for the family. Police divers are pictured by the river

The vehicle was located using sonar equipment on Monday evening and police divers will inspect the wreckage later on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Matthew Grinham was first on the scene after a car carrying a mother and two children plunged into a river

One of her neighbours, Steven Moller, said they were a 'perfectly normal family'.

'I would see her loading her kids into the car. I only saw her the other day,' he saidm, adding that he would often say hello to Ms King.

Former policeman Matthew Grinham was driving by the flood-swollen river in Tumbulgum when Chloe-May came running up the road, screaming hysterically.

Mr Grinham said the child was yelling that her mother, sister and brother were in a car that was submerged in the river.

'We pulled up just after the car went under,' he said,

'She couldn't say much, she just said 'my mum, my little sister and my (older) brother have gone in the river in a car'.'

Mr Grinham later told The Australian that he could see skid marks leading into the river.

The desperate former police officer leaped into the river and followed a trail of air bubbles, but could not find the car.

'The helplessness of not being able to find the car, the bubbles were there, we could find the bubbles, we just couldn't get to the car,' he said.

'At first we were going to go feet first, just pushing down to try and see if we could feel it with our feet. I tried a couple of times, but the bubbles, they trailed away. They just got less and less.'

Tumbulgum, just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods over the weekend

The search to recover the bodies of the car's occupants was suspended at around 6.30pm on Monday, before beginning again on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Tumbulgum, which lies just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods following Cyclone Debbie, with record rainfall. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Witness Sophie Grinham told 7 News that she saw the the eight-year-old girl's father dive into the water in an attempt to save his family.

'The husband came down, and dad and two other boys just jumped into the water and couldn't dive deep enough,' she said.

The girl reportedly told police that her mother, younger sister and older brother were in the car.

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 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.

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday.

Road closures are in place for two kilometres south from the intersection of Dulguigan and MacCauley's roads.

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. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

The attempts to find the bodies of the family continued on Tuesday, with rescuers at the scene

Three people died after a car was swept into a flood-swollen river in northern New South Wales. Pictured, emergency services at the scene on Monday

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.

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.
The Archbishop of York said it was like 'spitting on the grave' of John Cadbury

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said removing the word Easter from the National Trust egg hunt was tantamount to spitting on the grave of John Cadbury, who founded the chocolate company

The National Trust has been accused of airbrushing faith after the word Easter was removed from its annual Easter egg hunt.

The event, which sees hundreds of thousands of children search for chocolate eggs at National Trust sites, has been called an Easter Egg Trail for the past ten years.

But this year it has been renamed the Great British Egg Hunt to appeal to non-Christians, sparking anger among senior figures in the Church.

A spokesman for the Church of England said: This marketing campaign  highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter.

Cadbury, which sponsors the event, said it aimed to appeal to non-Christians and that it invites people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats.

However, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said removing the word Easter from the egg hunt was tantamount to spitting on the grave of John Cadbury, who founded the chocolate company.

The Cadburys were Great Quaker industrialists, Dr Sentamu told the Daily Telegraph. If people visited Birmingham today, in the Cadbury World [museum] they will discover how Cadburys Christian faith influenced his industrial output.

He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools. It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin.

To drop Easter from Cadburys Easter egg hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury.

Some 350,000 people are expected to attend hunts at more than 250 National Trust properties this year, up by nearly 100,000 on last year.

The organisations webpage for the event invites people to join the Cadbury Egg hunt at the National Trust while it previously said National Trust Easter Egg Trail supported by Cadbury.

The event, which is organised at sites around the country, has been renamed the Great British Egg Hunt. Some 350,000 people are expected to attend hunts at more than 250 National Trust properties this year (file photo)

A spokesman for the National Trust said: We work closely with Cadbury, who are responsible for the branding and wording of our egg hunt campaign  Its nonsense to suggest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year. A casual glance at our website will see dozens of references to Easter.

Our Easter events include our partnership with Cadburys, which has been running Easter egg hunts with us for ten years. Theyve proved consistently popular 

As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadburys will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns.
Five State Banks, Bharatiya Mahila Bank merge with SBI

Published: April 3, 2017

Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank have officially merged with countrys largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). With this merger, SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.

The five associate banks are: State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore.

Key facts

With this merger, SBIs market share has increased to 22.5-23% from 17% with total business of over 37 lakh crore rupees.

The merged entity now has a deposit base of more than Rs. 26 lakh-crore and advances level of Rs 18.50 lakh crore accounting for one-fourth of the deposit and loan market in the country .

SBI now has 2.77 lakh employees, 50 crore customers and more than 25,000 branches and 58,000 ATMs. Its total customer base of the SBI now has reached to 37 crore across the country.

Post-merger, all the customers of associate banks will now enjoy the benefits of a wide array of digital products and services offered by SBI.

Comment

The merger will help SBI to rationalise its branch network by relocating some of the branches to maximise reach. This will also help to optimise its operations and improve profitability. It will also bring in substantial cost saving and synergy in treasury operations. Moreover, the combined entity will enhance the productivity, mitigate geographical risks, increase operational efficiency and drive synergies across multiple dimensions of the SBI.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017

Topics: Banking  Business  Economy  IBPS  National  SBI  SBI Merger

Latest E-Books
Jeremy Corbyn's youngest son has revealed he was mugged while walking home in London.

Tommy Corbyn, 23, said he was attacked by a man on a moped who 'stole his phone' and 'tried to run him over'.

He had been walking in his father's Islington North constituency at the time of the incident.

Jeremy Corbyn's (right) youngest son Tommy (left), 23, claims his phone was stolen by a mugger on a moped in London

The University of York graduate, pictured, said the thief took his Samsung Galaxy 5 and almost 'ran him over'

Writing on Facebook, he said: 'Wasn't expecting to get mugged on my own street walking home this evening. Friends if you're going to walk and text PLEASE be vigilant!

'Anyone in the Holloway area keep your eyes peeled for someone with a black and white moped selling a Galaxy S5 with a cracked screen, I look forward to meeting him!'

Speaking to a friend online, he added: 'It'll take more than a p**** and his bike to get to me!'

Tommy said the thief would 'struggle to get 50 for the phone' and warned people 'not to walk around like zombies'.

He added: 'I'm sure the guy who did it was more desperate than bad and I'm glad it happened to me not someone who would have been badly affected by it.'

Tommy, pictured alongside Jeremy's wife Laura Alvarez, was previously attacked outside a nightclub in York last year

It is the second time in just more than a year Tommy has been attacked after he was headbutted outside a nightclub in York in February 2016.

As reported by MailOnline, Tommy, who studied electrical engineering at the University of York, sustained a cut to his eye in the incident.

The left-wing activist was said to have been partying with friends inside the Mansion nightclub prior to the alleged attack, after earlier helping put on a Party for Palestine hip-hop event at a separate club in the city.

According to the Mirror, Jeremy Corbyn's office declined to comment on this week's incident.
A woman has been forced to postpone the funeral of her 96-year-old grandmother after the cemetery announced it would close for three days for the Food and Wine Festival.

Vanessa Guerra's grandmother had pre-organsied to be buried next to her late husband at Melbourne's General Cemetery in the city's north and unexpectedly passed away on Sunday.

While organising the funeral, Ms Guerra said she was contacted by the cemetery director and told the burial would 'need to be delayed' until Monday - four days after the family had planned, 3AW reported.

The cemetery is holding an 'Italian Culinary Heritage Tour' as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine festival and are selling $123 tickets for Friday night.

Vanessa Guerra's grandmother had pre-organsied to be buried next to her late husband at Melbourne's General Cemetery (pictured) in the city's north

The cemetery is holding an 'Italian Culinary Heritage Tour' as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine festival and are selling $123 tickets for Friday night

Ms Guerra said she was told the cemetery would be closed for three days in preparation for the event.

'I rang the cemetery myself to ask if they could shut down the funeral for people wanting to bury their loved ones because they're holding an event,' she said.

'For my mum, auntie and uncle it's quite traumatic as a funeral is a time to say goodbye and then you can have your grieving process'.

Ms Guerra, who is Roman Catholic, said it is tradition in her family to have burials within three days of a death.

On Tuesday, the cemetery said it had 'made an error' and would accommodate the funeral for Ms Guerra's grandmother.

'We understand they would be distressed about the loss of their mother. We have offered to accommodate their plans for an interment on either Thursday or Friday,' a statement read.

'We believe events like this are an important part of what we do, but we have to acknowledge that they should never impinge on our commitment to client families.

'We will ensure that the needs of grieving families always come first'.

Ms Guerra said she was told the cemetery (pictured) would be closed for three days in preparation for the event

The event, described as a 'sensory adventure' is a guided tour of the cemetery, stopping at the graves of famous chefs to taste their signature dishes

The Melbourne General Cemetery has advertised the 'Italian Culinary Heritage Tour' on its Facebook page and website.

The event, described as a 'sensory adventure' is a guided tour of the cemetery, stopping at the graves of famous chefs to taste their signature dishes.

'As the final resting place of many of Melbourne's prominent restaurateurs, cafe owners, vignerons and merchants, experience a fascinating cultural tour with stops to taste signature dishes at notable gravesites along the way,' the event page reads.

'You'll be able to discover the final resting places of some of Melbourne's finest foodies, pausing at notable grave sites to taste signature dishes re-created by the head chef of Cafe Vita et flores Allan Koh'.

The cemetery also came under fire on social media, with some saying the event is 'offensive and disrespectful'.

'Having recently buried my brother there I am utterly disgusted at anyone who attends this function,' one woman wrote.

Some called the event 'appalling,' saying 'a cemetery is not the place to hold a food and wine festival
Verizon Communications will create a new company called Oath after it completes its $4.5bn acquisition of Yahoo and melds the troubled internet company with its AOL operations.

Oath will oversee Yahoo and AOL after the deal is completed.

Tim Armstrong, AOL's CEO, is expected to run Oath while Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer will not be part of the new venture, Recode reported.

Neither AOL nor Yahoo commented on what her severance might entail.

Following the completion of Verizon Communications's $4.5bn acquisition of Yahoo, the technology company and Verizon subsidiary AOL will merge to form 'Oath'

The CEO of AOL Tim Armstrong, pictured, will lead the new venture, which he said will involve more than 20 brands

Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer, pictured, will not be a part of Oath. Both the Yahoo and the AOL brand are expected to survive in some capacity

The Yahoo and AOL brands are expected to survive, although Verizon said it will not provide any details about its plans for Oath until this summer.

'You can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital,' AOL said in a Monday statement.

Tim Armstrong, AOL's CEO, posted a tweet Monday indicating Oath will manage more than 20 different brands.

He tweeted: 'Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017.'

Yahoo was sold for $300m less than expected after two separate hacking attacks rattled the internet giant. Mayer, the company's embattled CEO, could receive a severance package of up to $23m, it has been speculated

An AOL statement released Monday read: 'You can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital'

Verizon is counting on the combination of Yahoo and AOL to help it sell more digital ads, even though the two internet pioneers had been struggling on their own.

Yahoo originally agreed to sell its online operations to Verizon for $4.8bn after years of unsuccessful attempts to boosts its revenue.

It had to slash the price after discovering that two separate hacking attacks had stolen personal information from more than 1billion user accounts.

The security breakdown marked the two biggest breaches in internet history, raising concerns that people might start using Yahoo less frequently and reduce the opportunities to show ads.

Armstrong on Monday tweeted about Oath. Details about the new company will be kept under wraps until the summer

Mayer could get a $23m payout in her Yahoo severance package if the internet company fires her after Verizon's $4.48bn buyout.

A mid-March announcement that Thomas McInerney would lead the business after the sale could trigger the multi-million dollar severance package for her, contingent on the sale and her being fired without cause.

At the helm of the company for nearly five years, Mayer's reign of the struggling business was met with much criticism as Yahoo never caught up to its internet counterparts.

Verizon's offer to purchase the company in a multi-billion dollar buyout was seen as a lifesaver, a way for Yahoo to recover and allow for a restructuring of management.

Verizon plans to take over Yahoo's email and other online operations sometime between now and June 30.

After the deal closes, Yahoo's cash and lucrative stakes in Asian internet companies Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan will be controlled by another new company called Altaba.
Just two days after complaining of dizzy spells and nausea, young mum Emily Stokes was in an induced coma and paralysed from the waist up.

The Queensland woman was just days away from celebrating her 21st birthday in May last year when she began to feel unwell, and went to the GP.

'I was 17 weeks pregnant and kept almost passing out, everything would go black and I'd start throwing up but just thought it was morning sickness,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I went to my doctor and he said it was vertigo to go home.'

Just two days after complaining of dizzy spells and nausea, young mum Emily Stokes (pictured with daughter Etosha, 2) was in an induced coma wand paralysed from the waist up

'It's basically as if someone poured acid over my spinal nerves and brain stem': Doctors have diagnosed Ms Stokes with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare autoimmune disease

But when Ms Stokes woke up the next morning, she couldn't move her arm or hold her head.

She was rushed to hospital where a CT scan found brain and spinal haemorrhages, so she was rushed to Townsville Hospital where her condition deteriorated.

'I woke up ten days later from a coma with the blue tube down my throat on a ventilator, paralysed from my waist up in intense pain,'she said.

'When I woke up after the coma I didn't understand what was going on or why I couldn't move or talk.

'I was so scared for myself and my unborn child and when they told me I had to terminate I was gutted but being a mother you do what is right for your children.'

The harmful effects of Ms Stokes' medication meant doctors had to terminate her pregnancy.

But she still wants to be strong for her daughter Etosha, 2, who visits her mother a couple of times a week.

'Helen [Ms Stokes' mother-in-law] brings her down once or twice a week for a few hours and I play and read to her.

'Etosha knows mummy is sick and can't pick her up anymore but she keeps telling me "mummy come home in daddy's car" it breaks my heart!'

'Etosha knows mummy is sick and can't pick her up anymore but she keeps telling me "mummy come home in daddy's car" it breaks my heart,' Ms Stokes said

The harmful effects of Ms Stokes' medication meant doctors had to terminate the pregnancy of her second child

Ms Stokes has now been in hospital for 325 days, and it's been a long and painful journey to get better

Doctors have diagnosed Ms Stokes with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.

'It's basically as if someone poured acid over my spinal nerves and brain stem.'

The disease affects about one person in every eight million.

Ms Stokes has now been in hospital for 325 days, and it's been a long and painful journey to get better.

'I have had many test and procedures done, they have tried many different antibiotics and plasmapheresis but nothing has worked.

'There is no cure for me, this is me forever.'

'There is no cure for me, this is me forever': Ms Stokes needs 24/7 carers in order to look after herself and be a mother to her toddler

'I can't get out of bed without help from the nursing staff, I need to wear a collar to allow me to hold my head up, she told Daily Mail Australia

Ms Stokes has done eight months of intense physiotherapy while in hospital, where she says the doctors and nurses have made her feel like family.

'I can't get out of bed without help from the nursing staff, I need to wear a collar to allow me to hold my head up, she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Without the nurses I can't even toilet myself, feed myself or have a drink, I need 24/7 carers in order to look after myself and be a mother to my baby girl.'

Her brother Karl has set up a fundraising page for medical equipment that would help the young mum finally leave the hospital and go home with her husband and daughter.
An iPhone USB cord on sale for a staggering $63 at a store inside Sydney Airport's international terminal has infuriated budget-conscious travellers.

With flights from Sydney to Melbourne on sale for half the price of the USB charger, a photograph of the price hike instantly set the internet alight.

The three-metre charging cord, made by third-party retailer Gecko, can be bought online for $40 - prompting many to ask why the store would charge a further $22.99.

'That store is a f***ing highway robbery,' one furious man wrote on Reddit. 'Runway robbery,' corrected another user.

A photo has surfaced of an iPhone charger on sale for $63 inside Sydney Airport - infuriating social media users

A photograph of the huge price hike instantly set the internet alight, with some users labelling it 'runway robbery'

Other social media users said the store was capitalising on the 'desperation' of travellers who had forgotten to bring iPhone chargers

'So store is charging ~55% more than buying directly from the Gecko brand itself (who at $40 are probably sitting on a ridiculous margin anyway),' wrote one man.

Other social media users said the store was capitalising on the 'desperation' of travellers who found themselves stuck inside without their chargers.

Third-party iPhone USB cords can be bought for as little as $4 online, with standard prices from retailers like Kogan and eBay ranging from $8-15.

But some pointed out the internet reaction was unjustified, claiming the price of the charger was a clear example of 'how capitalism works'.

'Why is everyone surprised and disgusted by this?,' wrote one Reddit user.

The iPhone charger was sold in a convenience store at Sydney Airport's international terminal

Other users online pointed out the internet reaction was unjustified, claiming the price of the charger was a clear example of 'how capitalism works'

'Airports charge more because it's a captive audience and that's how capitalism works. It's priced liek that because enough people buy it at that price to make it worthwhile for the shop to price it like that,' the user reasoned.

'If you're buying brand name USB cables, you're already failing at life. Nobody forced you to buy it, unlike airport parking.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted two competitor travel retailers inside Sydney Airport's international terminals - who both said they sold iPhone chargers starting at $30.

An Apple store operating out of JB Hi-Fi inside Sydney Airport's Terminal 1 also sells legitimate iPhone chargers.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Gecko for comment.
A British family in Berlin have had to pull their teenage son from school after he was viciously bullied for being Jewish.

Phillip (not his real name) attended the Friedenauer Gemeinschaftsschule state school in south west Berlin.

The family had picked the school after they had read that it was a model multicultural high school.

The Friedenauer Gemeinschaftsschule state school in south west Berlin

But when the teenager's classmates found out he was Jewish they began to become abusive, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

One of them said: 'Listen, you are a cool dude but I can't be friends with you, Jews are all murderers.'

Philip's mother Emma (not her real name) said that it had never occurred to her son to deny his Jewishness.

But the abuse quickly escalated, and earlier in March Phillip was almost strangled.

Emma said: 'The guy pulled a toy gun on him that looked like a real gun. And the whole crowd of kids laughed. He was completely shaken.

Phillip said: 'It was terrible, but I didn't have time to think what's happening at the time. Now when I look back I think, oh my God.'

Emma's in-laws, who are Holocaust survivors, have spoken at the school, and she's also spoken to the principal about educating the children in antisemitism and Islamophobia.

The Holocaust memorial in Berlin. Each year the Jewish high school in the city receives nearly a dozen applications from parents who want to move their children due to antisemitic harassment

However she added that the principal only made 'all the right noises' but did not act to stop the bullying.

The headmaster, Uwe Runkel, said he regretted Phillip's bullying and added that the bullies would face consequences.

The Jewish high school in Berlin receives nearly a dozen applications each year from parents who want to move their children away from antisemitic harassment according to principal Aaron Eckstaedt.

The harassment comes, 'overwhelmingly from Arabic or Turkish classmates.'

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said the report was 'deeply shocking' if true, local media reported.

He said that the Muslim community should, 'actively fight antisemitism among their ranks.

He added: 'It cant be accepted that hatred of Jews and Israel can be promoted in German mosques.'
Denmark's former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has chastised Australia for slashing its foreign aid budget to an all-time low.

In a tense exchange with Turnbull government minister Josh Frydenberg, Ms Thorning-Schmidt called on Australia to be a world leader in helping developing nations.

'When your development budget is at an all-time low, which it is right now, it feels like Australia is not taking its place in the world,' she told the ABC's Q&A program to applause from the audience.

Former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt criticised Australia's foreign aid in the presence of Turnbull government minister Josh Frydenberg

Mr Frydenberg interjected to say Australia was the 12th highest per capita spender when it came to foreign aid for poor nations.

However Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who now heads Save The Children International from London, argued Australia needed to set an example.

'We kind of miss you. We miss Australia. Australia should be big, influential, taking your space, helping in humanitarian situations, helping with development and you are doing that,' she said.

This prompted Mr Frydenberg to say: 'Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, Helle.'

Australia's foreign aid spending of $3.8 billion in 2016/17 made up just 0.22 per cent of gross domestic product, the value of everything produced in the economy.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt said Australia needed to be an influential player in foreign aid

Only a decade ago, both sides of politics promised to spend 0.5 per cent of GDP on foreign aid.

In the United Kingdom, Conservative governments led by David Cameron and Theresa May managed to make 0.7 per cent contributions to foreign aid despite embarking on harsh austerity measures following the global financial crisis.

Earlier, Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who led a centre-left government at the same time as Labor's Julia Gillard in Australia, had earlier apologised for weighing into Australian politics.

'I'm a foreigner and I shouldn't be telling Australia what Australia should be doing and I know how annoying it is when someone comes in from abroad and and sort of raises their finger,' she said.

She described Australia as a nation with a 'generosity of spirit' after Mr Frydenberg argued there were budgetary constraints.
A Colorado man fatally choked Sunday while trying to eat a large donut.

Travis Malouff, 42, was at Voodoo Doughnut in Denver participating in the chain's 'Tex-Ass Challenge', where the goal is to eat a one-pound glazed donut - the equivalent of six Voodoo donuts - in 80 seconds or less.

Participants are allowed to drink liquids and dunk the donut, according to contest rules.

Travis Malouff, 42, choked to death Sunday morning while trying to eat a largedonut

Winners don't have to pay for the $4.50 donut and receive a button that reads: 'I won the Tex-Ass Challenge'.

'It's tragic,' Malouff's father, Curtis, told 9News. 'It's a loss of life that shouldn't be.'

Witnesses rushed to help Malouff when they saw that he was choking on the donut but were unable to perform the Heimlich maneuver because they weren't trained to do so.

Officials arrived at the popular donut shop around 1.30am on Sunday in the 1500 block of East Colfax Avenue after they were notified that Malouff was choking.

But it was too late. Malouff died in the shop's lobby from 'asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway,' the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner announced Monday morning.

Malouff was at Voodoo Doughnut in Denver (left) participating in the chain's 'Tex-Ass Challenge', where the goal is to eat a one-pound donut (right) in 80 seconds or less

'Its too much food for one person, even as the size that he was,' witness Julia Edelstein told 9News. 'Thats too much for someone to eat. He was trying to force it down.'

Foul play is not suspected, according to Denver police.

Voodoo Doughnut said they are 'saddened by what happened' and are cooperating with police.

Malouff died in the shop's lobby from 'asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway,' the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner announced Monday morning

His father, Curtis Malouff, described his son as an 'energetic and open-minded person'

Curtis Malouff described his son as an 'energetic and open-minded person'.

'If a challenge is there - he'd probably take it,' Malouff said.

Travis Malouff is survived by his father, mother Kay Malouff and brother Ferris Malouff.
A high school student in Michigan used his connections from a White Hall Police Department internship to arrange an epic prom proposal and he caught the whole thing on camera.

Reeths-Puffer High School senior Wesley Wade arranged for his girlfriend, Samantha Vallier, to be pulled over for a fake traffic stop while he was in the car with her on Friday.

The officer who initiated the stop then handed her a fake ticket, with the words, 'Will you go to prom with Wes,' typed out where the description of the violation would normally be.

Michigan high school senior Wesley Wade arranged for his girlfriend, Samantha Vallier, to be pulled over for a fake traffic stop as part of an epic prom proposal caught on camera while he was in the car with her on Friday

'She was not expecting it,' Wade said. 'She has never been pulled over before.'

Vallier can be heard reacting nervously as the police car pulled up behind her while she was driving in the video.

'Is that for me?' she asked her boyfriend, riding in the front passenger seat with her.

'Wes, I'm gonna freak out. Wesley what the eff? Wesley stop, what do I do? What do I do?'

Vallier (pictured) looked to Wade for advice, as she had never been pulled over by an officer

Wade (pictured) caught the fake traffic stop on camera while his girlfriend, Vallier, freaked out

The officer who initiated the stop handed Vallier a fake ticket, with the words, 'Will you go to prom with Wes,' where the description of the violation would normally be. She said yes

'Pull over here,' Wade said.

The officer's voice can be heard off camera asking typical traffic stop questions.

'Just sit tight, I'll be right back,' the officer said to Vallier.

Still frazzled from the experience and not yet knowing it was a set up, Vallier blamed Wade for the stop.

'It's your fault, you told me to go faster,' she said.

Wade didn't break character. 'You were going slow,' he said.

In a second short clip, Vallier can be seen reading the 'ticket' the officer handed her.

'There's just words on it,' the officer said, as the teen slowly realized what was happening.

'Wesley, what the frick?' she said, reacting with a big smile. 'Why would you do that to me?'

Wade says Vallier said yes. The video has since been viewed more than 16,000 times.

The prom proposal took place on White Lake Drive near Twin Lake in Michigan.

The two will attend the dance together on May 6.
An 11-year-old girl kidnapped by her uncle after a double homicide in North Carolina cried out for help when police found her in Washington DC, court documents reveal.

Arieyana Simone Forney was in the car with her uncle Curtis Atkinson Jr on Sunday night when he led police on a chase and crashed into another vehicle on Independence Ave. SW.

Atkinson was arrested and charged with killing his own parents Curtis and Ruby Atkinson, who were fatally shot in their Charlotte home on Sunday morning after authorities responded to a house fire.

The two victims were Forney's guardians after her father was murdered in 2013.

Scroll down for video

FBI officials found 11-year-old Arieyana Simone Forney (L) and her uncle Curtis Atkinson Jr (R)

They were inside a 2005 white Chevy Impala (above) that was chased by police in DC Sunday

Police chased the car before it crashed into another vehicle near the Washington Memorial

Authorities responded to a fire on the 7600 block of Glencannon Drive in Charlotte at 11am on Sunday and found Curtis and Ruby Atkinson dead inside their home.

An Amber Alert was issued after Forney, who lived with her grandparents, was nowhere to be found.

Police received a tip at around 8pm - apparently from the young girl herself, who said she had been kidnapped.

She managed to communicate her whereabouts and police began searching for a 2005 Chevy Impala in Washington DC - about 400 miles away from the crime scene.

Atkinson, who is accused of abducting his niece after killing his own parents, led police on a brief chase before he rear-ended another vehicle about half an hour later.

The young girl, along with her uncle, a 25-year-old woman, and a dog were all thrown to the front of the car upon impact, police said.

Forney cried 'Help me' when police found her wedged between the front seats of the car and a witness said she cried on the curb next to an officer.

The 11-year-old was taken to the hospital for evaluation and no serious injuries were reported in the crash.

Atkinson was charged with homicide, while Nakkia Cooper was wanted for kidnapping, according to court documents filed on Monday. Police spelled her name 'Nikkia'.

Atkinson and Cooper lived together, with court records showing they were evicted early March, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Authorities are looking to extradite the pair back to their home state, according to court documents.

Earlier in the day, an Amber Alert was issued for Forney (L) and the Chevy Impala (R)

A relative spoke to child protective services on Monday, but Forney's future remains unclear.

Curtis and Ruby Atkinson were doting parents to the 11-year-old girl, whose father, Micah Atkinson, was murdered in 2013.

'When Arieyana got into volleyball, Curtis (Sr.) put a volleyball court in the front yard and had all the kids in the neighborhood come over and play,' one neighbor told the Charlotte Observer.

'Whatever she wanted, he was there to make sure she survived and thrived beyond the death of her father. They were wonderful grandparents.'

But neighbors said they witnessed 'an edgy situation' between the 36-year-old suspect and his parents when he asked them them to take care of his pit bulls.

Another neighbor told the Charlotte Observer Atkinson was not allowed to have a key to his parents' house.

But others were left puzzled. Cousin Nina Chandler said: 'Curtis Jr. loved his dad. We can't get our hands on it. We don't know what went wrong.'

The 36-year-old has a criminal record including convictions for drug dealing and possessing stolen goods dating back to 1999, according to state prison records. He served 11 months in prison before being released in 2011, those records show.
The Trump administration has announced it will cut off US funding to the United Nations agency that works on maternal and reproductive health.

Last year the US government contributed $75million to the UN Population Fund, the majority of which was used in crisis situations.

The move was criticized by campaigners who said it would be a huge blow to women in at least 155 countries.

The US government justified the decision by accusing the agency of supporting population control programs in China that include coercive abortion.

It said that violated the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which prohibits foreign aid to any organization that the administration determines is involved in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.

But activists claim evidence has repeatedly shown that its work in China does not violate the amendment.

The Trump administration has announced it will cut off US funding to the United Nations agency that works on maternal and reproductive health

The UN fund will lose $32.5 million in funding from the 2017 budget, the State Department said, with funds shifted to similar programs at the US Agency for International Development.

The State Department said the UN fund partners with China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, responsible for overseeing China's 'two-child policy' - a loosened version of the notorious 'one-child policy' in place from 1979 to 2015.

It claimed the UN collaborates with the Chinese agency on family planning - yet acknowledged there was no evidence of UN support for forced abortions or sterilization in China.

The agency said it regretted the US move and argued it was 'erroneous' to suggest it was complicit in China's policies.

In a statement, the agency said: 'UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.'

In 2016, health advocacy groups say, US support for the organization's work prevented an estimated 320,000 pregnancies and averted 100,000 unsafe abortions, while ensuring 800,000 people had access to contraception.

Peter Yeo, vice president for public policy and advocacy at the United Nations Foundation, a non-profit that supports the UN's work, said: 'The irony is that UNFPA provides no financial support to the government of China for any program whatsoever.

'So I don't think this is a fact-based determination process. I think they know what they wanted to [do] and they'll throw some language against the wall and call it a 'reasonable determination.''

Brian Dixon, vice president of government relations and media for the Population Connection Action Fund, a reproductive health organization, added: 'The signals here are clear, and they're not in support of...the human rights of women, or any other vulnerable people.'

The International Women's Health Coalition said in a statement that the Trump administration's decision was 'a major blow to the world's most important agency for reproductive health.'

The White House has proposed cutting roughly one-third from the State Department's budget, with much of it expected to come from foreign aid and global organization dollars

The designation was the latest move by the Trump administration to prioritize traditionally conservative issues in the federal budget.

The Trump administration has vowed to cut all dollars for climate change programming, and also restored the so-called global gag rule, which prohibits funding to non-governmental groups that support even voluntary abortions.

It has also said it no longer sees a need for the US to so generously fund UN and other international organizations.

The White House has proposed cutting roughly one-third from the State Department's budget, with much of it expected to come from foreign aid and global organization dollars, although Congress is expected to claw back at least some of that funding.

Under the three-decade-old law, the U.S. is barred from funding organizations that aid or participate in forced abortion or involuntary sterilization.

It is down to each administration to determine which organizations meet that condition.

The UN Population Fund has typically been cut off during Republican administrations and had its funding resumed when Democrats control the White House.

The cut-off funds will be 'reprogrammed' to USAID's Global Health Programs account to focus on similar issues, said a State Department official, who requested anonymity.
A second teenager suspected in the sexual assault of a Chicago teenager that was streamed on Facebook Live turned himself in to police on Monday afternoon.

The mother of a 15-year-old boy who was being sought on an arrest warrant issued Sunday brought him to a police station, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Guglielmi said the boy would be later brought to a juvenile detention center where a 14-year-old boy who was arrested in the case over the weekend is being held.

Each teen faces felony counts of criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography, Guglielmi said.

Stacey Elkins (pictured), the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was gang-raped in an attack that was live streamed on Facebook said neighborhood kids have been joking about the incident and harassing her family

Police have said authorities were not aware of the attack until the mother of the girl (pictured) approached Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson as he was leaving a police station on the city's West Side and showed him the video

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson stands with 10th District officers as he talks with reporters about charging the first of several juvenile offenders from the March 19 criminal sexual assault incident broadcast on Facebook

'Both suspects in Facebook case face [criminal] sexual assault/manufacturing & distribution of child pornography charges. Charged as Juveniles,' he wrote on Twitter.

This makes the second arrest in the case of a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted on March 19 by five or six males after she was lured into a residence by one of the suspects. Police said more arrests should be coming.

Police said the assault was streamed live on Facebook, and at least 40 people watched, none of whom called police. It was also recorded on cell phones, said police.

During a press conference last month, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the harassment the family has been receiving is unsettling

Chicago Police Department Area Central Detective Commander Brendan Deenihan talks with reporters on April 2 about the horrific case

Guglielmi has said police were not aware of the attack until the girl's mother approached Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson as he was leaving a police station on the city's West Side and showed him the video.

Guglielmi said Johnson was 'visibly upset' after he watched, both by the video's content and the fact that there were '40 or so live viewers and no one thought to call authorities'.

The girl's mother, Stacey Elkins, said last month that her daughter received online threats following the attack.

The Chicago Sun-Times later reported that the girl's family had been relocated and the girl hasn't returned to her school.

She has been described as 'traumatized' by police and moved to a 'safe place.'

The video marks the second time in recent months that Chicago police have investigated an apparent attack that was broadcast live on Facebook.

In January, four people were arrested after video showed them allegedly taunting and beating a mentally disabled man.
A foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign met with a Russian spy in 2013 and gave him documents about the energy industry, according to court filings.

The Russian, Victor Podobnyy, tried to recruit Carter Page, an energy consultant working in New York at the time, as an intelligence source, according to the court documents.

Podobnyy was one of three men charged in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring.

Page briefly served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign, though he split from the campaign before the election and the White House says the president has no relationship with him.

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, met with Russian intelligence operative Victor Podobnyy in 2013 and provided him documents about the energy industry, according to court filings; Page is seen here in Moscow in December 2016

He's among the Trump associates under scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Page acknowledged in a statement Monday night that he 'shared basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents' with Podobnyy.

He described the information as 'nothing more than a few samples from the far more detailed lectures' he delivered at New York University in 2013.

BuzzFeed News first reported the filings.

Trump, seen here during a meeting with Egypt's president in Washington, DC on Monday, has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election

Trump has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election.

He's blasted the focus on his possible Russia ties as a 'ruse' and has insisted that the real story is the leaking of information to the media and allegations that he and his associates were improperly surveilled by the Obama administration.

'The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers,' Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning.

'The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers,' Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning

Page's contacts with Podobnyy happened about three years before Trump listed him as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Trump and his advisers have been vague about how Page became connected with the campaign.

The court filings include a transcript of Podobnyy speaking with Igor Sporyshev, who was also charged in the spy ring, about Page.

'I like that he takes on everything,' Podobnyy said, according to the transcript. 'For now his enthusiasm works for me. I also promised him a lot.'

Separately, it was reported Monday that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between American businessman and Trump supporter 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 the incoming president, in an article by The Washington Post.

It was reported Monday by The Washington Post that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between American businessman and Trump supporter Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin; Prince is seen here testifying regarding private security contracting overseas before Congress in Washington, DC in October 2007

Citing US, European and Arab officials, the Post reported that the UAE 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 be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on US sanctions. The full agenda remains unclear, the newspaper said.

The meeting took place nine days before Trump's inauguration, the Post reported.

Prince, the founder of the security firm Blackwater and now the head of the Hong Kong-based company Frontier Services Group, has ties to Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Prince (L), pictured testifying regarding private security contracting overseas before Congress in Washington, DC in October 2007, is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (R), pictured at the White House in Washington, DC on March 29, 2017

Prince has ties to Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, pictured here at the White House in Washington, DC on February 7, 2017

The FBI has been scrutinizing the meeting in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean as part of the broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 US election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump, the Post reported that US officials said.

The FBI declined to comment, the newspaper said.

Prince reportedly presented himself as an unofficial envoy for the president-elect to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, the officials said, according to The Post. The officials did not identify the Russian.

Prince was a high-dollar campaign donor. He and his family reportedly gave more than $10 million to GOP candidates and super PACs in 2016. He was also a frequent critic of both President Barack Obama and Trump's opponent, Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In response to the Post story, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said 'we are not aware of any meetings.' A Prince spokesman said the meeting 'had nothing to do with President Trump.'

Both said Prince had no role in the Trump transition.
Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali has hit back at Australian Muslim women for accusing her of being a white supremacist and a misogynist, describing them as apologists for terrorist groups.

Six Muslim women, including four wearing hijabs, feature in a video describing the Somali-born writer and former refugee as someone who marginalises followers of Islam.

The three-minute clip, posted on Facebook by a group called Persons of Interest, describes Ms Ali as a racist and sexist person.

They overlook how she is a black woman who campaigns against female genital mutilation.

'This is the language of patriarchy and misogyny. This is the language of white supremacy. This is the language used to justify war and genocide,' the women say.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has accused the women in the video of being apologists for terror groups

They posted the video on Monday, after Ms Ali's AHA Foundation and event organisers Think Inc announced she had abruptly cancelled her Australian tour for security reasons.

Speaking from the United States, Ms Ali accused the woman of 'carrying water' for Islamist extremist groups campaigning for a global caliphate based on sharia law.

The 47-year-old former Dutch politician linked them to the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood, which is outlawed in its home nation, Islamic State and Boko Haram, which captured 276 schoolgirls in 2014.

'I just want to point my finger at all the places in the world today where Islamic law is applied and how women are treated and I want to say to these women, "shame on you",' Ms Hirsi Ali told Australian Associated Press on Tuesday.

'Shame on you for carrying water for the Islamists, shame on you for trying to shut people up who are trying to raise awareness about sharia law.'

Moroccan Soup Bar owner Hana Assafiri (pictured) features in the video and authored a petition calling for Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Australian tour to be cancelled

The change.org petition against Ayaan Hirsi Ali amassed less than 400 signatures

Moroccan Soup Bar owner Hana Assafiri, who featured in the video, is the same person who was a spokeswoman for a change.org petition calling for Ms Ali's Australian tour to be cancelled.

That petition was authored by Islamic Museum of Australia board director Sherene Hassan.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Assafiri for comment on Tuesday.

However, on Monday she declined to criticise sharia law, which secular Muslims reject.

'Sharia law is a whole massive conversation we need time to discuss and debate with,' she said.

'It's not something I can give you a quick sound bite.'

This ex-Muslims denounced the video condemning Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who cancelled her tour

Zerin Firoze, a former Muslim turned atheist who lives in New York, denounced the video.

'This is the dumbest video I have seen recently,' she said on Facebook.

'Ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali are not demonising Muslim women or Islam.

'Islam itself demonises Muslims, especially Muslim women.'

Ms Ali, a former Muslim turned atheist who spent part of her childhood in Saudi Arabia, has called for a reformation of Islam so the Koran isn't taken literally and individual rights are respected.

She has made the case in several books, including Infidel and Heretic, and is accused by her critics of profiting from criticising Islam.

One woman in the video accused Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a black woman, of white supremacy
A mother and her child have been killed in a collision with a truck on the New South Wales south coast.

Police told Daily Mail Australia the incident took place about 11.45am on Princes Highway near Tindalls Lane, just north of Berry.

Emergency services were called to the scene after reports of a truck and a car colliding.

Scroll down for video

A mother and her child have been killed in a collision with a truck on Princes Highway on the New South Wales south coast, just north of Berry

The second passenger in the car, also a child, was treated for serious injuries at the scene and was airlifted to Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick in a critical condition (pictured)

The driver of the car and one passenger died at the scene, while the second passenger was being treated for serious injuries.

The surviving child was airlifted to Prince of Wales Hospital, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Police said the child was in a critical condition, while the Illawarra Mercury reported the girl suffered a head injury and multiple fractures.

The driver of the truck was not injured in the collision, while the car was reportedly almost flattened.

Princes Highway is still closed and police are advising motorists to avoid the area and check live traffic updates.
This graphic picture shows the horrifying moment a puppy was eaten alive by a crocodile.

The troubling image shows Rusty, a one-year-old pet kelpie, between the jaws of a crocodile, with his paw sticking out above the surface of the water.

The dog was taken from a family home in Innisfail in the far north of Queensland last weekend.

This graphic picture shows the horrifying moment a puppy was eaten alive by a crocodile

Queensland MP Shane Knuth called for crocodiles to be culled and warned that the next attack could be on a child.

'This image is confronting and frankly heartbreaking for residents who are imagining that dog could have been their beloved pet, or much worse, their child,' he told the Cairns Post.

'Attacks are on the rise, the crocs we're seeing are big, aggressive and territorial, and crocs are surfacing in places they've never been before.

Queensland MP Shane Knuth called for crocodiles to be culled and warned that the next attack could be on a child

'People come to Queensland to enjoy sunshine and beaches, but the image they're seeing now is croc attacks and croc signs everywhere,' he said.

He added that recent heavy rain in the area following Cyclone Debbie could lead to increased crocodile sightings.

Mr Knuth's party, Katter's Australian Party, wants to bring in legislation allowing culling and hunting of the reptiles.

Last month, a crocodile was caught in Innisfail after it attacked an 18-year-old who jumped into a river to impress a backpacker.

Lee De Paauw, who had drunk 10 cups of goon before he leaped into the infested river, was lucky to get away with his life, punching the huge reptile in the face after it sunk its jaws into his arm and tried to drown him in a 'death roll'.

Remarkably the stunt appeared to work, with British tourist Sophie Paterson agreeing to go on a date with him.

In a separate crocodile attack near Innisfail in March, spear fisherman Warren Hughes, 35, was killed by one of the huge beasts.
Stuart Kelly will be remembered with 'Stay Kind Day' - an initiative to encourage compassion for people 'suffering in silence'

The charity set up in tribute to Sydney coward punch victim Thomas Kelly has announced a new initiative for young people with mental health issues.

Stay Kind Day, to be held for the first time on July 23, is dedicated to his late brother Stuart, who was found dead last year aged 19.

The tragic death came four years after Stuart's older brother was killed on his first trip with friends to party district Kings Cross.

The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation - which is headed by the brothers' father Ralph - announced the initiative to Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

In a statement, the foundation said the day's purpose was to encourage compassion and empathy for people suffering in silence.

In loving memory: A plaque - laid close to where Stuart died - remembers the 19-year-old for his 'smile, wit, laugh and gentle soul'

'Many of our youth find themselves overwhelmed by life, by others and unable to speak out,' it said.

'Our youth may not seek help for themselves when these events take place or when they are dealing with mental health issues.'

Mr Kelly told a conference in Sydney on Tuesday: 'We are proud to launch a new campaign called Stay Kind in memory of our late son'.

The foundation's announcement came months after Daily Mail Australia revealed big changes at the top of the foundation.

Ralph Kelly, a key advocate of the city's lockout laws, had been drawing a six-figure salary from the charity for two years.

Ralph Kelly (pictured left) - the father of Thomas (right) and Stuart, is the CEO of the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation

But the charity stopped paying him wages last July, according to a financial statement signed in November 2016 and obtained by the Daily Mail.

The charity's most recent annual report revealed it had undergone a shake-up at the top with several board positions being 'refreshed'.

Six directors resigned in the first half of 2016, including St Vincent's Hospital head of emergency Dr Gordian Fulde, who quit last April.

The foundation said the board now included business executives who had 'specialist' expertise.

For 24 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
Curvy women are proving they have what it takes to pole dance - and say flaunting their bodies and showing off their skills gives them more confidence.

The new craze, which is sweeping studios across the country, is boosting self-esteem and women's health in the process.

Mother-of-one, Xanthea Emerson has revealed to Daily Mail Australia how a western Sydney pole dancing studio has 'changed her life' by encouraging plus-sized women to take up the sport.

'I had a neighbour who had been trying to get me to start classes for ages but I wasn't confident enough  I felt intimidated by all the pretty, skinny, flexible girls,' Ms Emerson said.

Zoe Heath says pole dancing for curvy women has given her more body confidence

When Zoe first started pole dancing she weighed 150 kilograms, she has lost 50 kilograms

Two women, Xanthea Emerson and Rhiannon nailing their moves in the exclusive class

But then she found out World of Pole were bringing in a class designed for plus-sized women and said the experience has helped her find herself.

'I didn't realise how self-conscious I was  or how low my self-esteem was,' she said.

'Pole really strips you down  I mean parading around in little shorts and a little shirt and hauling your body into different poses as a bigger girl is quite confronting.'

The classes were started by Dee Heath, the studio owner, after one of her students who felt self-conscious suggested a plus-sized only class.

'It has been more popular than I ever thought it would,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'We have about 30 women doing classes now and have three on every week.

'The classes go for an extra half an hour to give them extra time to work on their moves.'

'My whole first year I couldn't get up on the pole  so did a whole year of floor work,' Zoe said

Dee Heath, owns the studio where the curves classes are held and claims they are more popular than she thought they would be

The curves classes include floor work and strength excercises as well as learning moves on the pole at a slower speed to main classes

Zoe Heath, no relation to Dee, is one of the original class members  she weighed 150 kilograms when she first started and says anyone can do it.

'It has given me a lot more confidence, the people in the class are the same as me and we are going at the same pace and taking the same journey,' she said.

The dancer started at the studio a year before the curvy classes began and felt like she was being left behind by the fitter women in the class.

'Weighing 150 kilos and walking in to a class with a bunch of skinny people can be pretty upsetting,' she said.

'My whole first year I couldn't get up on the pole  so did a whole year of floor work.

'I still remember when I nailed my first move I cried of happiness, I was in my second year.

Xanthea says she has lost 30 centimetres around the waist since starting dancing at the studio

Many of the pole4curves participants were afraid to do mainstream classes with 'skinny women'

'The girls in our class are told it doesn't matter how long it takes to do each move as long as they are working towards something.'

Zoe has lost 50 kilograms since she started pole dancing and says while she had self-confidence before she has more now.

'I feel a lot happier with my self  my mum keeps telling me that she sees a massive difference in me as well.

'My friends and family are constantly amazed at some of the moves I can do  I am learning to go upside down at the moment.'

One of the participants, Aleisha, during a class

Zoe before her massive weight loss - she said she had confidence then but is happier now

Ms Emerson has only lost eight kilos, bring her to 98 kilograms, but says her 'entire body shape has changed'.

'I have lost 30 centimetres and I feel strong and fit,' she said.

She admitted she almost gave up on the class when she couldn't grip to the pole but the 'sense of family' made her stay.

'It really strips you down and you see each other's most vulnerable moments. We are like family now.'

The mother wants to join mainstream classes and says she feels confident enough in herself to work with the 'skinny women'.

'It has made me mentally stronger  now if customers at work tell me I am over weight I can just brush it off because I know I am getting fitter and stronger.

'If there are any big girls out there who are worried about being taught by one of those skinny, pretty girls they don't have to because our instructor is amazing and before you know it you will be part of our big family.'

Zoe after her weight loss - it took her more than a year to be able to hold her weight on the pole
A controversial drug rehabilitation clinic is tackling the ice epidemic with a 'boot camp,' where users are asked to go cold turkey, shave their heads and attend church.

Shalom House in Perth's Swan Valley is run by former drug addict and dealer Peter Lyndon-James, who said the aim of the clinic is to restore the residents' finances and relationships.

Nathan, 26, moved into Shalom House in January and said he has already 'changed' after 22 years of using drugs.

'I was born into drugs. First time I probably got stoned was four years old and then around 10 years old my brother stick a needle in my arm.  Tried anything and everything,' he told the ABC's Australian Story.

A controversial drug rehabilitation clinic is tackling the ice epidemic with a 'boot camp'. Nathan, 26, (pictured, left while using and right, after) moved into Shalom House in January and said he has already 'changed' after 22 years of using drugs

Before turning his life around, Mr Lyndon-James ran a drug-dealing syndicate in Western Australia and spent a year in jail (pictured when he was dealing drugs)

Another resident, Brian, said he started smoking methamphetamine after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from being in the Sari Club during the Bali bombing in 2002.

Mr Lyndon-James said all residents have to go cold turkey from their drug of choice in order to participate in the 12-month program costing $300 per week.

'We help our fellows completely restore their finances, their relationships. We get every one of our fellas off Centrelink within eight months,' he said.

Part of the program requires the former users to shave their heads in a small pool during the end of their stay and there is a strict no smoking policy.

Residents are also required to attend church three times a week.

Shalom House accepts one out of twenty applications, even though there is often room for more.

'We are not interested in filling beds, we are interested in changing lives and so we save those beds for those who are serious about wanting to do so,' the website says.

'We help our fellows completely restore their finances, their relationships. We get every one of our fellas off Centrelink within eight months,' Mr Lyndon-James, pictured now, said

Mr Lyndon-James said all residents have to go cold turkey from their drug of choice in order to participate in the 12-month program costing $300 per week. Pictured is resident Jackson before he joined Shalom House (left) and after (right)

Brian (pictured at Shalom House) said he started smoking methamphetamine after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from being in the Sari Club during the Bali bombing in 2002

Each Saturday night Shalom House hosts a 'Family Night,' where wives, children and girlfriends can come to the clinic for dinner.

Before turning his life around, Mr Lyndon-James ran a drug-dealing syndicate in Western Australia and spent a year in jail.

He told the ABC it was only once he became a Christian and found God in 2000 he stopped using methamphetamine.

A report released on March 26 by the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program found a significant growth in methamphetamine importation, manufacture and supply.

After cannabis and MDMA, methamphetamine is the third most commonly used illicit drug in Australia among users.

'Of all illicit drugs, the ACC assesses that methylamphetamine, and in particular crystal methylamphetamine, poses the highest risk to the Australian community,' the report said.

Breaking Good airs on Monday at 8pm on ABC's Australian Story
A cafe owner slammed as 'racist' by a Maori woman who found the words 'black lady' written on her receipt has refused to back down, taking things a step further and calling her 'very ugly'.

Don Choa was lashed online after a New Zealand woman took to Facebook to share a docket from his Cypress Cafe, in St Heliers, Auckland, that had the phrase scrawled on it.

But despite refuting claims of racism and saying the words weren't written by a cafe employee, Mr Choa has now gone on the attack - telling the New Zealand Herald the woman is 'bad' and 'ugly'.

A cafe owner slammed as 'racist' by a Maori woman who found the words 'black lady' written on her receipt has refused to back down, calling her 'very ugly'

'She [the complainant] is a very ugly woman, I think,' Mr Choa said.

'If something had happened, she had to complain to me, but she contacts New Zealand Herald newspaper [sic].'

However the young woman - who wishes to remain anonymous - is standing by her story, saying Mr Choa's claims are further proof of racism.

'I mean, I have a photo of the receipt, so clearly I didn't lie about it,' she said.

The woman and her friend had ordered drinks from Cypress Cafe in St Heliers, NZ (pictured)

'Racism, alive and well in the suburbs': The woman's friend posted the receipt on Facebook

'He doesn't know me, and just because my skin is dark, that doesn't make me a criminal.'

The confronting image of the docket was posted by the woman's friend to Cypress Cafe's Facebook page where he described the note as 'racist'.

'No label on my food which was delivered to me at the table while she had to go to the counter for her drink,' the friend wrote on Facebook.

'I was frothing at the mouth. [She] is much calmer than I am. Racism, alive and well in the suburbs.'

Social media users quickly took to Facebook to slam Cypress Cafe as 'racist'

Auckland locals were furious to find out that the Maori woman had experienced racism at the cafe

After the 'racist' note was shared on social media, Facebook users took to the Cypress Cafe page to blast the owner for its racist antics.

'So disturbing and embarrassing! Ought to be ashamed of yourselves!' one person wrote.

Another said: 'Racist. Will let family and friends know not to dine here especially if they are brown skinned or in their words "black skinned"'.

The cafe's rating on Facebook has dropped from 3.3 to 1.2 stars since the incident.
Country

Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Mark Latham says voters made the right decision to reject him for prime minister, and quoted Jerry Seinfeld to justify calling a schoolboy gay on television.

The former federal Labor leader, who was sacked by Sky News last week, told Melbourne radio 3AW's Neil Mitchell the public had made the right call about him in 2004, when he lost in a landslide to incumbent John Howard.

'The public's never wrong,' he said.

'It's a democratic decision. It's a beautiful thing about democracy.'

Scroll down for video

Mark Latham says voters were right to reject him for prime minister at the 2004 election

Melbourne radio 3AW's Neil Mitchell told Mark Latham not to lecture him on ethics

However, he lectured Mitchell about quoting anonymous sources after the radio personality said an unnamed senior Labor politician had told him the party would have controlled Mr Latham if he had made it to The Lodge in Canberra.

'Well, Neil, I don't respond to anonymous sources,' Mr Latham said.

Mitchell replied: 'Don't you lecture me on ethics.'

Earlier in the interview, Mr Latham quoted comedian Jerry Seinfeld to justify his comments on Sky News about a Sydney schoolboy's sexuality, that caused him to be sacked last week as a co-host of The Outsiders.

'My first reaction to the video was to think he was gay. Not that theres anything wrong with that,' he said.

'Why do people in the outrage industry assume the word "gay" is derogatory.'

Mark Latham quoted Jerry Seinfeld (left) to justify calling a schoolboy gay, using the phrase, 'Not that there's anything wrong with that' from an episode about him and George Costanza

Mitchell replied it was because his comments related to a kid.

'Who cares and it doesnt matter. Any child is going to have problems with his sexuality and to be talking about it publicly is not good,' he said.

Latham also clarified his comments about Sydney radio presenter Wendy Harmer, who sued him after he told Sky News viewers she was a commercial failure.

After Mitchell told him Harmer had been a Sydney breakfast radio ratings winner for 2Day-FM for a decade until 2003, Latham said he was referring to her Hoopla website.

Mark Latham now says he was referring to Wendy Harmer's Hoopla website and not her radio career

'I raised the point that she'd had the Hoopla website up and running and it collapsed commercially. Now that's a matter of fact, it's unfortunate for her but you can't avoid the facts,' he said.

Mr Latham's new Facebook page 'Mark Latham's Outsiders' is going live on Friday.

The former MP promised it would be a 'politically incorrect' site, following his sacking from Sky News for questioning the sexuality of a Sydney Boys High School student who had participated in video to support feminism on International Women's Day.

'I thought the first guy was gay  maybe that's all they have left now,' Latham said on his former program he co-hosted with former federal Liberal MP Ross Cameron.
The mother whose car plunged into a flood-swollen river died while holding one of her children in her arms.

Stephanie King, 43, died attempting to save her son Jacob, seven, and daughter Ella Jane, 11, after their car careered into the Tweed River, according to the police.

The brave mother-of-three 'would be alive today' if she had not tried to free her young children from the murky depths of the river in Tumbulgum, a New South Wales Police Superintendent Wayne Starling said.

'I can tell you the mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away. She was with the child, holding the child,' he said.

Ms King and two of her children failed to escape from the submerged vehicle, but her eight-year-old daughter Chloe-May made it out and survived.

Police pulled three bodies from the water on Tuesday afternoon, as well as the family's white Hyundai.

Scroll down for video

Stephanie King, 43, her seven-year-old son Jacob Kabealo and daughter Ella-Jane Kabealo (right), 11, have been named as the three trapped inside a car that careered into the Tweed River. Chloe-May, who escaped the car, is pictured left

The family whose car plunged into a flood-swollen river on Monday have been identified. The three children are pictured left, with Jacob and Chloe-May right

'Hero': Ms King, from Bilambil, and the two children were unable to escape as the car sank

Grim discovery: Police divers found three bodies in the river early on Tuesday afternoon

Tragic: The eight-year-old girl lost her mother, brother and sister in the horrific accident

Supt Starling said the mother was a 'hero'.

'She died trying to save a child. I've got no doubt whatsoever that that woman is a hero. She'd be alive today if she wasn't trying to save her children,' he said.

'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

He added that there were 'terrible conditions' on the flood-affected road on Monday afternoon, when the car veered into the water.

'The roadway is very very slippery,' Supt Starling said. 'Even now it's not safe to put the crane in to get the car out.'

Sending his condolences, he added: 'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

Superintendent Starling added that Chloe-May was a 'very brave little girl'.

'She had injuries to her feet, trying to get out. Her main focus was trying to save her mum, her brother and sister.

'I wouldn't be surprised if the mother helped her out,' he added.

A body, which was covered in a dark green sheet, is carried into the back of waiting ambulance

The family's white Hyundai van was hauled out of the River Tweed on Tuesday afternoon

The van did not appear to be badly damaged when it was removed from the waterway

Police divers were seen searching the river today as they looked for bodies among the wreckage of the car

Tributes have poured in for the family from heartbroken friends.

'It makes me sick knowing a beautiful family is still in the water, such a precious loss to all that knew you, I know I will miss you terribly,' one friend said.

'I love you Steph,' another wrote.

Friend Alicia Morgan told the Daily Telegraph that she knew the family because their children had attended Tumbulgum Primary School together.

'I have no words,' Ms Morgan said.

'Steph was the sort of mother who would do anything for the kids, she was such a community-minded person, she would get in there and help anyone who needed a hand.

'My daughter and Chloe went right though school together. She and my daughter were friends.'

She added that Chloe-May, the lone survivor of the crash, was a 'tough nut'.

Ms King, who lived in Belongil but was originally from Auckland, New Zealand, used to work at Tweed Heads Bowls Club but had more recently been working as a care home nurse.

Tributes have poured in for the family. Police divers are pictured by the river

The vehicle was located using sonar equipment on Monday evening and police divers will inspect the wreckage later on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Matthew Grinham was first on the scene after a car carrying a mother and two children plunged into a river

One of her neighbours, Steven Moller, said they were a 'perfectly normal family'.

'I would see her loading her kids into the car. I only saw her the other day,' he saidm, adding that he would often say hello to Ms King.

Former policeman Matthew Grinham was driving by the flood-swollen river in Tumbulgum when Chloe-May came running up the road, screaming hysterically.

Mr Grinham said the child was yelling that her mother, sister and brother were in a car that was submerged in the river.

'We pulled up just after the car went under,' he said,

'She couldn't say much, she just said 'my mum, my little sister and my (older) brother have gone in the river in a car'.'

Mr Grinham later told The Australian that he could see skid marks leading into the river.

The desperate former police officer leaped into the river and followed a trail of air bubbles, but could not find the car.

'The helplessness of not being able to find the car, the bubbles were there, we could find the bubbles, we just couldn't get to the car,' he said.

'At first we were going to go feet first, just pushing down to try and see if we could feel it with our feet. I tried a couple of times, but the bubbles, they trailed away. They just got less and less.'

Tumbulgum, just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods over the weekend

The search to recover the bodies of the car's occupants was suspended at around 6.30pm on Monday, before beginning again on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Tumbulgum, which lies just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods following Cyclone Debbie, with record rainfall. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Witness Sophie Grinham told 7 News that she saw the the eight-year-old girl's father dive into the water in an attempt to save his family.

'The husband came down, and dad and two other boys just jumped into the water and couldn't dive deep enough,' she said.

The girl reportedly told police that her mother, younger sister and older brother were in the car.

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 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.

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday.

Road closures are in place for two kilometres south from the intersection of Dulguigan and MacCauley's roads.

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. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

The attempts to find the bodies of the family continued on Tuesday, with rescuers at the scene

Three people died after a car was swept into a flood-swollen river in northern New South Wales. Pictured, emergency services at the scene on Monday

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.

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.
Victims of the bombing atrocity in St Petersburg were identified today as the Russian authorities put the death toll at 14 with 51 wounded - four of them in a critical condition.

Well-known doll-maker Irina Medyantseva, 50, was among those killed in the bloodbath after an explosion ripped apart a carriage on the underground railway.

She threw herself over her daughter Yelena, 29, and in doing so saved her life, according to reports today. Yelena underwent surgery last night and is now in intensive care.

It comes as Russian citizen Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22, who was born in ex-Soviet state Kyrgyzstan, has been named by security services as the suspected bomber who also planted a second device hidden in a fire extinguisher that failed to explode.

Well-known doll-maker Irina Medyantseva (pictured), 50, was among those killed in the bloodbath after an explosion ripped apart a carriage on the underground railway in St Petersburg. She died saving her daughter

Medyantseva threw herself over her daughter Yelena, 29, and in doing so saved her life, according to reports today. Yelena is pictured, left, with a black choker necklace and, right, with a red skirt

Also killed in the lethal shrapnel bomb in the city's metro was Dilbara Alieva (pictured), 20, from Azerbaijan, who died from injuries at hospital after the terror attack

Yelena's father Alexander Medyantsev said this morning: 'Yelena was accompanying her mother who was on the way to Veliky Novgorod town.

'I managed to talk to my daughter after her surgery when she recovered from the anaesthesia. She said that they jumped into the carriage at the last moment.

'A minute later there was an explosion. Mother died in front of her. I have lost my beloved wife.'

Also killed in the lethal shrapnel bomb in the city's metro was Dilbara Alieva, 20, from Azerbaijan, who died from injuries at hospital after the terror attack.

The head of one passenger, Maxim Aryshev, 22, from Kazakhstan, was torn off in the explosion. Initially there were claims he was a suicide bomber but this was later discounted.

Aryshev was a regular visitor to St Petersburg, and last year had visited with his girlfriend. Others killed in the horror were identified as Yury Nalimov, 71 and Kseniya Milyukova, 18.

Maxim Aryshev (pictured), 22, from Kazakhstan, was also killed in the explosion. Initially there were claims he was a suicide bomber but this was later discounted

Also wounded was 15-year-old Alexandra Zyablitskaya from Barnaul in Siberia. She had been to the city on a sightseeing tour with her grandmother

Psychologist Nadezhda Sosedova (pictured), 53, narrowly escaped death as she dozed in the bomb-hit metro carriage in St Petersburg

Student nurse Ksenia Malyukova, 18, was killed in the St Petersburg metro blast, her tutors said today.

A male friend Alexei friend said of her: 'She was a great person with soul of an angel.

'She was caring and hard-working. It's such a tragedy that her dreams won't come true.'

Svetlana Ilatovskaya, deputy director of St Petersburg Obstetrics College, where she studied, said: 'She was smart, goal-seeking, studying to become a nurse.

'There is now a memorial at the college with her photos, words of sorrow, flowers, candles, and her student card on a table nearby.'

Student nurse Ksenia Malyukova (pictured), 18, was killed in the St Petersburg metro blast, her tutors said today

Also wounded was 15-year-old Alexandra Zyablitskaya from Barnaul in Siberia. She had been to the city on a sightseeing tour with her grandmother.

Psychologist Nadezhda Sosedova, 53, narrowly escaped death as she dozed in the bomb-hit metro carriage in St Petersburg.

'It happened so suddenly,' she said. 'I was sitting and snoozing. Suddenly something hit me on the head, there was a fire, my hair was burning, I managed to put it out.

'When we arrived at Technologichesky Institut station the doors were so crumpled that it was impossible to get out.

WOMAN FURIOUSLY DENIES HER BOYFRIEND BLEW HIMSELF UP The girlfriend of Maxim Aryshev today angrily denied that he blew himself up in the St Petersburg metro attack. Alexandra Rybalchenko, 20, refuses to believe he is dead despite macabre evidence he was beheaded by the blast in the atrocity. But she has furiously hit out at earlier reports that Aryshev, 22, from Kazakhstan, was a suicide bomber. 'Maxim was going back home for lunch after his studies,' she said. Aryshev (left) was a regular visitor to St Petersburg, and last year had visited with his girlfriend Alexandra Rybalchenko (right) 'He is a third year student of St Petersburg Economics University. He had four lectures yesterday but he decided to go back home after the third one. 'He had to take metro from Nevsky Prospekt to Frunzenskaya. 'Together with his mate, Maxim went down to the metro but they entered different carriages. Last time we were in touch at about 2.30pm and then I got to know about the explosion. 'He is a sociable and good guy, and all that has been written about him in press - I don't even want to talk about it. 'We are shocked, it is so low and disgusting. We know Maxim was not a suicide bomber.' This has been backed by the Kazakhstan security service which revealed the Russians have informed them that Aryshev was NOT a bomber. 'We called all hospitals and morgues, but there is no information,' she said. 'He is not among those victims who were already officially identified.' Alexandra Rybalchenko, 20, refuses to believe Maxim Aryshev is dead despite macabre evidence he was beheaded by the blast in the atrocity Rybalchenko (right) has furiously hit out at earlier reports that Aryshev (left), 22, from Kazakhstan, was a suicide bomber She said: 'We were told that there will be more information will be in a few hours, we can only wait.' The couple have been going out for around 18 months. The Kazakh authorities have denied that Aryshev was a suicide bomber. He was a third year student of St. Petersburg Economic University, who lived in the city with his girlfriend, and her sister and brother. Nurgali Bilisbekov, chairman of the Kazakh committee for national security, said: 'I'd like to say that this information is not accurate,' he said. 'He was never on our watch list, and our partners from Russian intelligence do not consider him as a perpetrator of the terrorist attack. 'Most likely, he is a victim of the terrorist attack who was at the very heart of the explosion.' Advertisement

'Some young men pushed out the window and dragged me out. I was helped other passengers.

'I was talking to injured people, I am a psychologist, I was helping them to get to an ambulance.

'There were many contused people, all were scared, those who were closer to the epicentre of the explosion were all covered in blood of dead people. I was just the lucky one.'

It emerged today that Russian security services knew about a possible attack in St Petersburg and were tracking suspected bombers, according to Kommersant newspaper.

A Russian source in ISIS, detained returning from Syria, had given several identities of suspects, and their mobile numbers.

'Special services had mobile numbers of the alleged terrorists and by following them, they found that all their SIM cards were bought on markets and were not linked to real people.

'So all they had were the terrorists phone chats which they listened to, hoping to either locate them or at least get to know details of their plans.'

Suspected bomber: Russian citizen Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22, left, who was born in Kyrgyzstan, has been named by security services as the suspected bomber who also planted a second device that failed to explode. CCTV images of the suspect (right) have been released and shows him in a red Parka jacket and carrying a rucksack

The image shows a man in a red Parka jacket, wearing glasses and a dark green beanie hat and carrying a rucksack on his back

The horrifying pictures show bodies, blood wreckage and debris strewn across the carriage of the train, which was hit by the blast while travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya metro stations.

These are the first images showing carnage inside the carriage of a St Petersburg metro train after a nail bomb exploded inside - killing 11 people and injuring 50

An FSB source told the newspaper that a second unexploded bomb, at Ploshad Vosstaniya, was filled with metal balls and coins.

It was reported to be up to five times as powerful as the first one, according to Novaya Gazeta.

Both bombs were supposed to go off at a call from mobile phone. The explosive was made based on nitre, according to first reports.

The terrorist who had been due to set off the second bomb 'panicked' after his mobile failed to work, a source told Kommersant.

He left a bag containing the bomb under a bench. The authorities had blocked the suspects' phones after the first explosion.

There were claims today that one suspect had visited a mosque before entering the metro at Gorkovskaya station, according to Life.ru

A woman crouches over a man who has been injured in the blast as they are surrounded by carnage and blood

A man was seen on the ground on the platform after a bomb blast ripped through a metro carriage in the city of St Petersburg

Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid flowers in tribute to the victims of the St Petersburg bomb attack

Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.

This morning, it emerged that a key suspect in the St Petersburg bombing was born in the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Rakhat Sulaymanov, the spokesman for the country's secret service, said: 'It was established, that the suspect in this act of terror was born in our republic.'

He named him as Akbarjon Djalilov... born in 1995.

'It is probable that he acquired Russian nationality,' he said.

The Kazakhstan authorities also reported they are aiding Russian law enforcement.

A Russian Interior Ministry source told Life.ru: 'All regional departments of the Interior Ministry, FSB and Russian Guards have received pictures and descriptions for two alleged terrorists. Despite this, we do not exclude that it was a group.'

Security has been intensified around Russia, said reports.

Thousands of policemen and FSB in civil clothes have been deployed in St Petersburg's shopping centres, railway stations, airports - and other areas with crowds of people, reported Life.ru

Russian president Vladimir Putin puts flowers down outside Tekhnologicheskiy Institut metro station in St Petersburg

Russian President Vladimir Putin was back in his hometown of St Petersburg today to meet with the president of Belarus

Smoke fills the air at the platform of the metro station after a nail bomb was detonated in St Petersburg

They have been issued with pictures of two suspected terrorists.

An FSB source said: 'Pictures of the terrorist were passed to border control and check points in the regions of Leningrad, Murmansk, Pskov, and the Republic of Karelia.'

These regions have borders with Finland, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

'Not only police squads but military units in all regional centres are on the highest alert,' said a police source.

'All regional police stations are ordered to work through every private house in their area.'

As the city prepared to mark three days of mourning, President Putin, who was holding a summit with Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko at the time of the attack, placed a bouquet of red flowers at the entrance to a metro station.

'The president is constantly provided with the latest updates by the security services and investigative bodies,' said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He said US President Donald Trump called Putin to extend condolences after the blast in St. Petersburg.

'Donald Trump extended deep condolences to the families of those who were killed in a barbaric terror attack in St. Petersburg subway, and asked to pass on words of encouragement to the Russian people,' he said.

An injured passenger is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following an explosion on a train in St. Petersburg

A second bomb, disguised as a fire extinguisher and packed with ball-bearings, was found and defused at a nearby station

An injured person walks outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station with a blood-drenched coat and red hands

'The presidents consider terrorism to be an evil that should be tackled in a concerted effort.'

The St Petersburg metro was re-opened and would be fully operational on Tuesday, said city officials.

Last night images emerged showing carnage inside the carriage of the metro train after a nail bomb exploded inside.

The horrifying pictures show bodies, blood, wreckage and debris strewn across the carriage of the train, which was hit by the blast while travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya metro stations.

KYRGYZSTAN: A HOTBED OF ISLAMIST TERROR Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim nation of six million, is a close political ally of the Kremlin and even hosts a Russian military airbase. But this morning it emerged that Akbarzhon Jalilov, the man suspected of being behind the St Petersburg massacre, was born in the Central Asian country. Previously, terror attacks on Russia have been blamed on Chechen rebels and, more recently, ISIS fanatics. But up to 500 jihadists from Kyrgyzstan, which borders China, thousands of miles south east of St Petersburg, are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS. At least 7,000 nationals from former Soviet countries, including 2,900 Russians, have been recruited by Islamists in the terror group's so-called caliphate, according to Russia's FSB intelligence service - and there are fears some are now returning with the intention of carrying out attacks. It is not the first time Kyrgyzstan nationals have been linked to terror attacks. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was born in Kyrgyzstan, was convicted of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, together with his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim nation of six million, is a close political ally of the Kremlin and even hosts a Russian military airbase. But this morning it emerged that Akbarzhon Jalilov, the man suspected of being behind the St Petersburg massacre, was born in the Central Asian country In 2015, ISIS fanatics said they were responsible for bombing a Russian MetroJet plane flying from Egypt to St Petersburg killing all 217 on board St. Petersburg, like Moscow, is home to a large diaspora of Central Asian migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants in Russia have work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades. Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday investigators are examining all causes for the blast in St Petersburg yesterday including terrorism. And while no-one has yet come forward to claim responsibility, the country's security services have previously said they had foiled 'terrorist attacks' on Moscow's public transport system by militants. An attack on St Petersburg, Russia's old imperial capital, would have some symbolic force for any militant group, especially ISIS or Chechen secessionist rebels. ISIS, which has drawn recruits from the ranks of Chechen rebels, has also threatened attacks across Russia in retaliation for the Kremlin's military intervention in war-torn Syria. Russia has been on particular alert against radicalised Chechen militants returning from the battlefield in Syria - and wary of any attempts to resume attacks that dogged the country several years ago. Just days ago, the Kremlin said authorities had detained one of the attackers who carried out a deadly strike on a military base in Chechnya, in which six soldiers and six rebels died. ISIS claimed responsibility for the March 24 attack, which targeted a base of Russia's National Guard, a new branch of troops which answers directly to Putin and is tasked with defending borders and counter extremism. Over 330 people, half of them children, were killed in 2004 when police stormed a school in Beslan, southern Russia after a hostage taking by Islamist militants It came two years after ISIS fanatics said they were responsible for bombing a Russian MetroJet plane flying from Egypt to St Petersburg killing all 217 on board. In 2013, the southern city of Volgograd was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. A bombing at the main railway station killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives. Days later a statement and video claiming responsibility for the bombings was posted on the website of Vilayat Dagestan, a subgroup of the militant jihadist group Caucasus Emirate. 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. The same airport in August 2004 saw Islamic suicide bombers board two planes and bring them down, killing a total of 90 people. 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 (pictured) In March 2010, two suicide bombings in the Moscow subway killed 40 people and wounded more than 100 people. 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 November 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and some 100 injured. Umarov's group also said he ordered this attack. A previous attempt on the rail line in 2007 caused more than two dozen injuries but no deaths. In October 2005: Islamic militants launch a series of attacks on police in Nalchik, capital of the tense Kabardino-Balkariya republic near Chechnya. Chechen rebels claimed credit for the attack, in which 139 people were killed, including 94 militants. A year earlier, in September 2004, about 30 Chechen militants seized a school in the southern town of Beslan and took hundreds of hostages - a siege that ended in a bloodbath two days later. More than 330 people, about half of them children, were killed. A month earlier, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a Moscow subway station, killing 10 people. It followed an attack in the capital during rush hour in February in which a suicide bomber struck a subway car, killing 41 people and injuring more than 100. In October, 2002, Chechen militants took 800 people hostage at a Moscow theatre. Two days later, Russian special forces stormed the building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters were killed, mostly from the effects of narcotic gas Russian forces used to subdue the attackers In December 2003 another suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia killed 44 people, two days before the Russian parliamentary elections. A year earlier, in October, 2002, Chechen militants took 800 people hostage at a Moscow theatre. Two days later, Russian special forces stormed the building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters were killed, mostly from the effects of narcotic gas Russian forces used to subdue the attackers. In August 1999, four apartment building bombings killed about 300 people in Moscow and two other Russian cities. The Kremlin named the attacks as a key reason for sending troops back into Chechnya the following month. Chechnya was the scene of two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, but violence in the region has largely been suppressed under the iron-fisted rule of strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov. 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. Advertisement

Police in Russia now believe a bomber, who has close links to radical Islamists, was behind the attack.

He was described as being a 22-year-old from central Asia and CCTV images of the suspect have been released.

One image shows a man in a red Parka jacket, wearing glasses and a dark green beanie hat and carrying a rucksack on his back. Another CCTV image shows the suspected bomber walking along the street with both his fists clenched.

Despite initially issuing search warrants for two suspected terrorists, authorities believe the suspected bomber was behind the attack and also have intelligence to suggest he planted a second explosive device - disguised as a fire extinguisher - which was found and defused at a nearby station.
MPs were warned months ago that 'opportunistic' Spain would use Brexit as leverage in the dispute over Gibraltar.

The Rock's chief minister Fabian Picardo raised the danger as he gave evidence to a cross-party committee in January.

The warning will raise fresh questions about why Theresa May failed to reiterate the UK's commitment to the territory in her historic letter triggering Article 50 last week.

The EU's initial response on Friday caused fury by stating that Spain would have a veto on any new arrangements over Gibraltar.

Nigel Farage has condemned for making a 'catastrophic error' in starting the row.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo raised the danger of Spain exploiting Brexit as he gave evidence to a cross-party committee in January

The row caught fire over the weekend when senior Tories made clear the government was willing to defend the Rock by force if necessary.

Mrs May tried to ease tensions last night by stressing that she favoured 'jaw jaw' above 'war war'. but the fallout could hamper looming negotiations with Brussels.

In his evidence to the Brexit Committee in January, Mr Picardo said there was a 'risk that Spain will raise the Gibraltar question in its preliminary internal discussions with the other Member States as they seek to agree a common position for the EU/UK negotiations'.

'Indeed, the previous acting Spanish Foreign Minister has written to all the other EU capitals in order to put across his views on shared sovereignty over Gibraltar, as the price to pay for maintaining a relationship with the EU,' Mr Picardo said.

'Spain cannot be allowed to use her obsession with Gibraltar as a bargaining chip in the negotiations between the UK and the EU.

'However, it is important to be aware that this is an unnecessary and opportunistic challenge that the negotiating process may face.'

There are reports that the government chose not to include Gibraltar in Mrs May's letter because it was considered 'strategically' better for Spain to raise the issue first.

However, Downing Street has insisted the commitment to the Rock has never been in doubt.

Ex Ukip leader Mr Farage told his nightly LBC show: 'Donald Tusk and co have made an absolutely catastrophic error!

'We are not some little nation that's going to get bullied around by overpaid, unelected eurocrats  we will simply not put up with it!

Theresa May's letter triggering Article 50 last week did not include a specific commitment to Gibraltar. The PM is pictured speaking to troops on a visit to Jordan yesterday

'Isn't it funny, they are actually prepared here to play dirty with us, to try to bully us, to do it over Gibraltar, to send us a bill for 52 billion  which cannot be justified.

'If they don't want a deal, tell us now, save us two years and we'll simply walk out tomorrow.

'What an inconsistent bunch of hypocrites these people are, what they are actually doing here is they are actually making a deliberate attempt to ruin negotiations before they even start.'

The warning from Mr Picardo emerged as the Brexit Committee published a report criticising the PM's approach to talks with the EU - despite many of the MPs declaring they did not agree with its findings.

Nigel Farage has condemned for making a 'catastrophic error' in starting the row over Gibraltar

The report complained that Mrs May had no evidence to sustain her position that 'no deal' is better than a 'bad deal'.

Six pro-Brexit MPs voted against publication, having walked out of a meeting in protest because it was 'too gloomy'.

Five Conservatives, including former ministers John Whittingdale and Dominic Raab, and Democratic Unionist Sammy Wilson voted against the report.

However, they were outnumbered by 10 Remain-backing Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat, SNP and SDLP committee members.

Mr Whittingdale said the report was 'unduly negative' and had 'very much concentrated on the problems without really recognising the opportunities' of Brexit.

Mr Raab said: 'The report was rushed, skewed and partisan. After two reports that had strong support, it's regrettable that this one split the committee.

John Whittindale was among those who opposed the report

'That undermines its credibility and influence, but I hope and expect the committee will learn the right lessons as we move forward.'

The committee last month heard Brexit Secretary David Davis admit no assessment had been made of the cost of leaving the EU without a trade deal and falling back on World Trade Organisation tariffs.

'Without an economic assessment of 'no deal' having been done and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate what would be the damaging effect of such an outcome, the Government's assertion that 'no deal is better than a bad deal', is unsubstantiated,' the report warned.

It backed the finding of a previous report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that a no deal scenario 'represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK'.

Parliament and the public have a 'right to the maximum possible information' about the impact of failing to secure a deal, and the Government should conduct 'a thorough assessment of the economic, legal and other implications' of all options under consideration, the report said.

The committee challenged Mrs May's insistence that she will offer only a 'take it or leave it' vote to Parliament on any deal she achieves, stating it was 'essential' MPs also get a vote 'in the event that there is no deal'.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn said: 'Leaving the EU without a future trade deal and in doing so defaulting to World Trade Organisation rules is no less an important decision for the UK's economic future than the terms of any future Free Trade Agreement between the UK and the EU.

Former justice minister Dominic Raab, who campaigned for Brexit, dismissed the findings as 'skewed'

'It is therefore essential that such a step is not taken without Parliament having a vote on the matter.'

The committee called on the UK Government and EU to reach a 'stand-alone and separate' deal on the rights of expatriate citizens as soon as negotiations start, warning it would be 'unconscionable' to make three million EU nationals in the UK and one million Britons living on the continent wait until the end of the Article 50 process for certainty about their status.

It urged ministers to seek a 'passporting'-style agreement to allow cross-border financial services following Brexit, and said the Government should agree the phased implementation of new arrangements for the sector.
The widow of an American tourist killed in the Westminster terrorist attack is expected to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry at a memorial service tomorrow.

Melissa Payne Cochran, 46, who broke her leg and shattered her ribs in last month's terrorist attack, is expected to leave her hospital bed at noon for Westminster Abbey's Service of Hope.

Kensington Palace has confirmed the royals will meet with families of those killed in the attack, other victims, witnesses and first responders after the service.

Melissa, who was celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary with her husband Kurt in London, has not been seen in public since he was killed after being thrown from Westminster Bridge.

Honoured: Melissa Payne Cochran, who lost her husband Kurt in the Westminster terror attack, is due to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a memorial service tomorrow

Grateful: Melissa, pictured in hospital, 46, broke her leg and shattered her ribs in last month's terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge. She is expected to leave her hospital bed at noon for Westminster Abbey's Service of Hope, where she may meet the British royal family

Tragedy: Kurt Cochran, left, was killed on March 22 after being thrown onto a concrete underpass while his widow Melissa, right, was left with a broken leg and a gashed head

Meeting: Melissa will attend the service with her parents Sandra and Dimmon Payne and have a brief meeting with members of the royal family including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, above

Melissa, from West Bountiful, Utah, will attend the service with her parents Sandra and Dimmon Payne. Her siblings, who flew over to Britain for a press conference, have now returned home to the US.

Last night her brother Clint told the Mail online: 'Melissa will be attending a memorial service at Westminster Abbey with my parents and sister in London this Wednesday.

'I am told they will have a brief meeting with members of the royal family. We hope she will be able to return to Utah soon. I have returned with my siblings to the United States.'

Kurt Cochran was one of three members of the public who died in last month's terrorist attack after terrorist Khalid Masood mowed into them on Westminster Bridge.

He was thrown onto a concrete underpass while his widow Melissa was left with a broken leg and a gashed head.

A distressing picture of her being comforted by a passerby on the pavement in the aftermath became one of the defining images of the attack.

Survivor: Melissa was left with a broken leg and rib and a badly cut head after the collision on Westminster Bridge and was comforted on the pavement in one of the defining images of the attack

On the mend: Melissa's brother Clint shared photos of her remarkable recovery on a GoFundMe page which raised more than 60,000 for the widow and her children

Privacy: Melissa, who was celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary in London with husband Kurt, both pictured, has not been seen in public since the attack

Photographs of Melissa's extraordinary recovery were shared on a crowdfunding page, which has raised $75,000 (60,000) for her and their children.

Her brother Clint Payne said on the family's GoFundMe page: 'Her health is steadily improving and she has been strengthened by the presence of her family. She is so grateful for the outpouring of love and generosity.

The most difficult part of all of this is that Kurt is no longer with us, and we miss him terribly Melissa Cochran's brother, Clint

'So many people have been so kind, and we are deeply touched by their goodness and generosity.

'The most difficult part of all of this is that Kurt is no longer with us, and we miss him terribly. He was an amazing individual who loved everyone and tried to make the world a better place.

Londoner Leslie Rhodes and mother-of-two Aysha Frade were also killed in the March 22 atrocity.

PC Keith Palmer was fatally stabbed when Masood crashed his Hyundai SUV into the railings in front of Parliament Yard and burst through the gate to the Palace of Westminster.

Killer: Khalid Masood, the terrorist who mowed down Melissa's husband on Westminster Bridge, died in St Mary's Hospital after being shot in the chest during the attack

Heartbroken: Melissa, from West Bountiful, Utah, will attend Westminster Abbey's Service of Hope with her parents Sandra and Dimmon Payne. Pictured from left to right: Melissa's husband's sister Sandy, son Dallas and his partner Cheyenne Peck

Respects: Melissa's brother Clint told MailOnline she will meet the British Royals, adding: 'We hope she will be able to return to Utah soon'. Pictured: members of Kurt Cochran's family drop flowers into the Thames, near to where he was killed

Announcing the Service of Hope, Westminster Abbey wrote: 'A Service of Hope Following the Terror Attack in Westminster will be held in Westminster Abbey at Noon on Wednesday 5th April.

'The service will be attended by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, and will be broadcast live on BBC Television.

'Families of those killed in the attack, together with other victims, witnesses and first responders from the police, fire, paramedics, RNLI, lifeboat and NHS hospital services will be among the congregation.'

Kensington Palace confirmed the Royals' attendance in a statement which said: 'The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry will meet members of the congregation.

'Families of those killed in the attack, together with other victims, witnesses and first responders from the police, fire, ambulance and NHS hospital services will form part of the congregation.

'During the service, which will be broadcast live on BBC One, The Duke will give a reading from Luke 10: 2937, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.'
A disabled father was on a flight with his family when he made a series of abusive remarks towards crew and passengers, telling a steward 'go on, bye, f****** queer', a court heard.

John Hawkins, 47, who was injured in a road accident in 1999, was refused alcohol on the flight from Malaga to Manchester last July - triggering the tirade of abuse.

During the two-and-a-half hour flight the father-of-two, from Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside, called the captain a 'sp*****' after he came to warn him about his behaviour, before calling a nearby passenger a 'd***head', it was heard.

John Hawkins (left and right with wife Karen Hawkins) was refused alcohol on the flight from Malaga to Manchester last July - triggering the tirade of abuse

Police were on hand when the flight arrived at Manchester Airport to assist the Thomson cabin crew but Hawkins was not arrested due to his medical condition.

Hawkins, who suffers with chronic pain syndrome and was diagnosed with a tumour in his spine in 2015, was later interviewed and denied any wrongdoing.

After being found guilty at Manchester magistrates court, Hawkins was given a six month suspended sentence and ordered to pay 300 compensation to the crew member he hurled the homophobic abuse at, as well as 415 in other court costs.

It emerged after the trial that in 2012, Hawkins was sentenced to eight months in prison for an identical offence on a Thomas Cook flight from Tenerife when he became aggressive and shouted insults - directing gay jibes at male cabin crew.

During that incident, he had to be restrained and the pilot felt he had no alternative but to return to Tenerife, at a cost of 12,500 to the airline.

During the two-and-a-half hour flight Hawkins (pictured on holiday) called the captain a 'sp*****' after he came to warn him about his behaviour

The father-of-two, who suffers with chronic pain syndrome and was diagnosed with a tumour in his spine in 2015, was interviewed and denied any wrongdoing

This time, Hawkins had been in Spain for 10 days before his flight on July 15, 2016.

He was described by an off duty police officer as being 'aggressive, disruptive and abusive' in the Spanish airport, but later said his demeanour changed as he thanked crew for letting him board the plane, and quietened down.

Staff were aware that Hawkins would not be offered alcohol on board and when they explained that 'alcohol, medication and altitude don't mix', he began verbally abusing both staff and holidaymakers - telling the steward 'you think you're f****** doctors'.

Flight attendant, Mark Platt, told the court that in 15 years of flying he had never been through such an 'embarrassing' experience.

Police were on hand when the flight arrived at Manchester Airport (pictured, stock image) to assist the Thomson cabin crew but Hawkins was not arrested due to his medical condition

In a victim personal statement, Mr Platt said: 'I've never had my sexuality used against me and never seen any passenger behave like he did. At the time I had to act professionally but it made me feel I was being personally attacked.'

In his live evidence, Mr Platt said: 'I told him alcohol, medication and altitude don't mix and he said "you think you're f****** doctors". I felt, personally all this was targeted at me because I dealt with him. When I turned around he said "go on, go on, bye, f****** queer".

'I've never been given anything like that in 15 years of flying, it made me feel embarrassed really. I've never experienced any homophobic abuse.'

Justices of the Peace in Manchester found Hawkins guilty of using threatening behaviour to cause harrassment because of his lack of consistent evidence

A flight attendant told the court that in 15 years of flying he had never been through such an 'embarrassing' experience

'On this flight there's just the one drinks bar, I wasn't going down the side of the plane where Mr Hawkins was. As we came into the cabin, he started to say "I can't believe you're not giving me anything to eat and drink".

'He said "go on, go on, bye bye, f****** queer" I felt like he was getting agitated and he could assault me. In 15 years of flying I've never heard that and when you hear that I will never forget those words.'

A fellow passenger and off duty police officer, Alice Holden, was watching the altercation on board the plane.

She said: 'He was behaving initially fairly quiet, he had a conversation with a few of the staff and I think there was a debate over whether he was well or able to fly. When we set off his demeanour changed to aggressive, disruptive and abusive throughout the flight.

'He called my partner a d***head and said he would have him when we stepped off the flight. He called the captain a sp***** and called one of the cabin crew queer. I heard the conversation and commotion but when I heard f****** queer I noted it down.

In his own evidence, Hawkins said: 'I had not consumed any alcohol that day at all.' Pictured, Malaga in the south of Spain (stock image)

In his own evidence, Hawkins said: 'I had not consumed any alcohol that day at all. I told them "I've not had a drink, I'm ill". I was just making these noises that I can't help, they were making me so embarrassed. I was holding my hand over my mouth and then saying sorry, it was more for my wife and my daughter.

'My wife and kids were going through this all because I'm disabled, we got picked on on holiday, in the airport and on the plane. I've never felt so embarrassed in my life, I wish I wasn't disabled.

'I can't drink alcohol because of the medication I'm on. I did say "you're not a doctor you can't tell me whether I can drink or not on my medication, that's not your job". I never said I'd had half a pint of beer, I hadn't had any alcohol all through my holiday.

'I've got friends all over the UK who stick up for me because I'm not homophobic. I've not done nothing wrong and I don't care whether you send me down or beat me to death. I've done nothing wrong.'

But Justices of the Peace in Manchester found Hawkins guilty of using threatening behaviour to cause harrassment because of his lack of consistent evidence.

Chairing the panel, Ravji Patel, said: 'It was an offence committed in a confined space, the offences were committed towards people carrying out their duties to the public. The defendant sees himself as a victim. We impose a four month custodial sentence, we add an uplift by two months because this is a hate crime.'
Advertisement

Never before seen images have revealed the harsh and treacherous landscapes British soldiers had to endure during the Kenya Emergency as they sought to suppress the Mau Mau Rebellion.

Incredible photographs show British and African soldiers navigating a rocky river and wading through a semi-tropical forest where rebel forces would ambush them.

Other shots show a Mau Mau gang proudly posing for the camera, Mau Mau prisoners being guarded and soldiers checking identity cards in Nairobi during a period of increased internal security threat.

The striking images were captured during British counter-insurgency operations in Kenya between 1952 and 1956.

In this photo taken in the mid 1950s, a Kenya Police officer uses a fingerprinting kit - a reliable forensic method for identifying a body - however it would have proved unsuitable in wet conditions

A soldier searches a Mau Mau suspect in the depths of the semi-tropical forest, where rebel forces would ambush British and African soldiers. The striking images were captured during British counter-insurgency operations in Kenya between 1952 and 1956

Four (Uganda) KAR on the ranges with Bren light machine guns. While the askaris were happy with small arms, they were less confident with mortars. The Mau Mau was a secret society confined almost entirely to the Kikuyu tribe who inhabited parts of the Central Highlands

KENYA'S BLOODY CONFLICT: THE MAU MAU UPRISING Home Guard and a police officer escort four captured Mau Mau. The Mau Mau had suffered badly from the introduction of British colonialism in the late 19th Century and had lost grazing grounds and homesteads to white farmers, many from the British upper classes The Mau Mau was a secret society confined almost entirely to the Kikuyu tribe who inhabited parts of the Central Highlands. The Mau Mau uprising was a military conflict which took place in British Kenya between 1952 and 1960. Kikuyu hostility first emerged after the First World War and developed into a political movement that was first proscribed for subversive activities in 1940. They had suffered badly from the introduction of British colonialism in the late 19th Century and had lost grazing grounds and homesteads to white farmers, many from the British upper classes. Independence was not widely supported by other Africans, many of whom retained loyalty to the colonial authorities. So extremists formed the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), which became known as the Mau Mau. As tension increased in 1952, the State of Emergency was declared in 20 October and the 1st Lancashire Battalion was sent from Egypt. Britain dealt with the Mau Mau by seeking to confine them to the Prohibited Areas around Mount Kenya. Various war crimes took place on both sides including the Chuka Massacre where members of King's African Rifles B Company killed unarmed people suspected of being Mau Mau fighters. The people executed belonged to the Kikuyu Home Guard  a loyalist militia recruited by the British to fight the guerrillas. British interrogation techniques also involved torture while Mau Mau militants carried out the Lari massacre where they herded Kikuyu men, women and children into huts and set fire to them. According to David Anderson in Histories of the Hanged (2005), Mau Mau attacks were mostly well organised and planned - contrary to British propaganda. He wrote: 'the insurgents' lack of heavy weaponry and the heavily entrenched police and Home Guard positions meant that Mau Mau attacks were restricted to nighttime and where loyalist positions were weak. When attacks did commence they were fast and brutal, as insurgents were easily able to identify loyalists because they were often local to those communities themselves. 'The Lari massacre was by comparison rather outstanding and in contrast to regular Mau Mau strikes which more often than not targeted only loyalists without such massive civilian casualties. "Even the attack upon Lari, in the view of the rebel commanders was strategic and specific.' Advertisement

Members of the Kenya Regiment sit and enjoy a drink together following what would no doubt have been a stressful and life-threatening patrol. The never before seen images have revealed the harsh and treacherous landscapes British soldiers had to endure during the Kenya Emergency as they sought to suppress the Mau Mau Rebellion

A Rifle Brigade patrol flanked by two former Mau Mau. The tall figure seen in the middle is Sergeant Oulton of the Kenya Regiment. The Mau Mau was a secret society confined almost entirely to the Kikuyu tribe who inhabited parts of the Central Highlands

A wounded soldier is unloaded by his comrades from the only Sycamore helicopter which had been deployed to Kenya. Many of the service personell were National Service, some of whom had seen active service in Korea. Among the regulars were veterans of the Second World, the Palestine Emergency, Malaya and Korea

In this image taken on 16 February 1954, the wounded General Chinai is loaded into an ambulance at Nyeri for transfer to Nairobi

Privates Horsely and Green, of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, were attached to 1 Rifle Brigade. They are pictured here standing in the camp with their Labradors

Gray Leakey, accompanied by his family outside Buckingham Palace, after collecting the Victoria Cross awarded to his son. Leakey was murdered by the Mau Mau on 13 October 1954

Mau Mau fighters raped, castrated and beaten in Kenya's uprising against Britain get 14m compensation In 2013 the UK government announced it was to pay 14million in compensation to some 5,000 elderly Kenyans tortured by British colonial forces - following a legal battle which lasted four years. The admission came at the end of a test case brought by the law firm Leigh Day which established UK courts did have jurisdiction to hear historical claims brought by those detained in military camps. Negotiations began after a London court ruled that three elderly Kenyans, who suffered castration, rape and beatings while in detention during a crackdown by British forces and their Kenyan allies in the 1950s , could sue Britain. With legal fees, the total bill for the brutal treatment of thousands of prisoners tortured and raped under colonial rule was some 20million. But Foreign Secretary William Hague stopped short of issuing an apology. Mr Hague told MPS the the British Government continued to deny liability for what happened during the uprising as he only conceded 'we understand the pain and grievance felt by those who were involved'. The torture took place during the so-called Kenyan 'Emergency' of 1952-60, when fighters from the Mau Mau movement attacked British targets, causing panic among white settlers and alarming the government in London. Then- Foreign Secretary William Hague said at the time: 'The British Government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration. The British Government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and they marred Kenya's progress towards independence. 'Torture and ill-treatment are abhorrent violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn.' Advertisement

Christmas lunch in a forest camp: British service personell, in an attempt to regain some sort of normality, celebrated Christmas day with a hearty meal together amidst the violence and fighting around them

Nairobi, April 1955: 1 Rifle Brigade march past Governor Baring on leaving Kenya. Military ceremony was deemed important in maintaining civil morale so would be made into something of a spectacle, watched by members of the public

Little Lynn Munro pictured boarding her school run bus - which for many service children was a Bedford one tonne Army lorry

The pictures are showcased in a new book, The Mau Mau Rebellion, by Nick van der Bijl and published by Pen and Sword.

'The book adds to the understanding of the Mau Mau Emergency by describing the purpose and lives of British Service personnel serving in Kenya,' said Mr van der Bijl.

'Many were National Service, some of whom had seen active service in Korea. Among the regulars were veterans of the Second World, the Palestine Emergency, Malaya and Korea.

'The Army was thoroughly familiar to adapting to different environments - in 1952, Malaya, Korea, Egypt. Lessons learnt in Burma during the Second World War and being applied in Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) and Kenya developed into the British counter-insurgency strategy that is largely current today. A training school was established. British units arrived direct from UK, Korea and Egypt.

'After the Mau-Mau was banned in 1951, the Mau Mau Central Committee established camps in the Aberdare Highlands, Mt. Kenya, the Rift Valley, the 'White Highlands' and gained support in the Kikuyu reserves.

'While the Mau Mau intimidated loyalist Kikuyu though murder, burning of crops and grasslands and hamstringing of cattle, Governor Mitchell dismissed their oath ceremonies as primitive therefore not unusual.'

'While there was ill-discipline among the Kings African Rifles and other Kenyan units, the British Armed forces maintained their discipline,' said Mr van der Bijl.

'The concentration camps were the responsibility of the Kenyan colonial government and not the Army. The Kikuyu also committed war crimes is conveniently forgotten.

'The Kenya Emergency was essentially a peasants' revolt against dominant colonists who had occupied the land they had usurped less than 50 years previously.

'It was fought between peasants who knew how to exploit the forest against young British and African soldiers who learnt to survive in a hostile environment.

'Militarily, the peasants were defeated. Politically, they won, are still in power.'
Prince Charles last night used a speech on what has been dubbed his European 'charm offensive' to call on EU countries not to turn their backs on Britain.

Although the heir to the throne deliberately chose not to use the word Brexit during his address in Florence, his appeal to countries such as Italy was clear.

Speaking at a gala dinner in the historic Palazzo Vecchio, where he was awarded an award for being the 'Renaissance Man of the Year', the prince 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.

Prince Charles last night used a speech on what has been dubbed his European 'charm offensive' to call on EU countries not to turn their backs on Britain (He is pictured yesterday)

'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.'

Charles also said of the relationship between the two countries: 'It is also a force for good in the world.

The United Kingdom and Italy are Europe's two biggest contributors to global peacekeeping.

Together, we are fighting Daesh; tackling the challenges of mass migration and climate change; and striving to defend the values we share  of pluralism, democracy and human rights.'

He added:' All of this is possible because of the rich exchange of ideas that has for centuries been a bridge between us.

Charles said of the relationship between the two countries: 'It is a force for good in the world'

'So many of those ideas  which have shaped both our countries, and indeed shaped the world we share  emerged or were rediscovered here in Florence during the remarkable years of the Renaissance.'

The message, say many of those associated with negotiating Britain's exit from EU, was unequivocal: don't throw the baby out with the bath water, Europe.

As well as his award, Charles, who received a standing ovation, was also handed the keys to the city of Florence.

Significantly, Europe Minister Sir Alan Duncan arrived in Florence yesterday to join Charles and will fly on with him to Rome today where he will 'piggyback' in on meetings with both the Pope and the Italian President.

One senior diplomat said: 'The Royal Family can open doors and facilitate introductions with senior politicians and figures in a way that others can't. It would be very difficult for a politician to get the sort of face to face time here that the Prince of Wales and his team have been able to secure. '

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visit Sant'Ambrogio Market to celebrate the Slow Food movement and meet the founder Carlo Petrini (pictured left) yesterday in Florence

Sir Alan yesterday described the Royal Family as the country's 'best ambassadors' and the UK's 'great natural resource'.

Speaking to the Mail at an event held by the British Council attended by the prince he said: 'As you can see here, the Royal Family are our best ambassadors. They always take a country by storm and the hospitality and reception here is amazing. At a time when there is a lot of politics about, it's marvellous that the UK has people who are above politics. It [the trip] is going extremely well.

'The reaction to both the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall has been fantastic. '

Asked whether he thought their role at the forefront of Britain's so-called 'soft diplomacy' efforts would become even more important over the next few years, he said: 'Yes. They work on such a human level. The way in which he is so approachable and talks in a very natural way.

'The Royal Family are our great natural resource, if you like.'

One source said that it was 'no co-incidence' Charles's nine-day tour of three European countries began last Wednesday, the day that the Prime MInister Theresa May triggered Article 50, paving the way to Britain's exit from the EU.

Although the heir to the throne deliberately chose not to use the word Brexit during his address in Florence, his appeal to countries such as Italy was clear

Neither, they said, was the choice of country the trip started in - Romania - which will hold the European presidency at the time Britain leaves.

Charles, who owns two holiday homes in Transylvania and has set up extensive charitable interests in the country, is seen as a key figure in fostering good relations.

Later this week he and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, will fly into Vienna.

By the end of the year the Royal Family will have visited the majority of the EU's major member states - France, Germany, Italy and Poland - with the King of Spain also coming to the UK for a state visit.

Earlier in the day Charles and Camilla were putting that charm offensive into action as they visited the Mercato Sant' Ambrogio, a bustling market in the heart of Florence .

Just like the locals, they stood at the bar of Caffe Barni for an eye-wincingly strong coffee.

Charles got served straight away and poured a stream of sugar into his drink, presumably to make it more palatable.

Prince Charles stands next to Italy's Civil Protection agency members during his visit to the town of Amatrice, which was levelled after an earthquake last year, in central Italy

Unfortunately none of the staff remembered to order one for the Duchess and by the time it arrived she only had time for a quick sip before she had to race off

'I've not got time to drink it but it was very good,' she laughed. The couple were mobbed by crowds of admirers as they fought their way through to a

Slow Food event, designed to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures, where they tried dozens of delicacies including local ham, cheese and beer made from potatoes.

The couple also found time in a busy day of engagements to pose for photographs on a terrace at the glorious Renaissance Palazzo Pitti, which offers sweeping views of the famous Florentine skyline.

'I hope we've got nothing growing out of our heads,' Charles joked, gesturing to the many towers and spires behind him.

The couple will remain in Italy until Wednesday before flying onto Vienna.
A man is in a serious condition after being stabbed and slashed across the face at a railway station in the middle of Melbourne.

Three men were fighting at Melbourne Central railway station on Tuesday afternoon and one was stabbed and taken to hospital in a serious condition, police said

A 42-year-old man was arrested at the scene and a third man fled and has not been found.

The scene of a stabbing at Melbourne Central railway station on Tuesday afternoon

Three men were fighting at Melbourne Central railway station on Tuesday afternoon and one was stabbed and taken to hospital in a serious condition

A witness told The Age two men started arguing before a brawl broke out.

'They were yelling incoherent things,' the witness, who asked not to be named, said.

'Then they pushed each other up to Monkey King [restaurant], where one picked up a yellow stool and another pulled a knife.

'The man who picked up the stool was the one who was slashed on the cheek.'

The injured man, also in his 40s, was taken to St Vincent's Hospital.

Police took a yellow bicycle from the scene.

The injured man, also in his 40s, was taken to St Vincent's Hospital (scene of the brawl pictured)
Callum McBrearty admitted attempting to cause a child age 14 to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity

A man who was snared by paedophile hunters in a McDonald's has been spared jail after he sent a picture of his penis to someone he believed was a 14-year-old boy on dating app Grindr.

Callum McBrearty thought he was speaking with Jamie, a 14-year-old boy, but the account was being run by members of The Hunted One, a paedophile catching vigilante group.

McBrearty arranged to meet 'Jamie' at a branch of the fast food chain in Eltham, south east London, and was quickly confronted by three of the group's members when he arrived.

Mobile phone footage captures the moment the hunters walk up to the offender and ask him why he is there.

The group spotted McBrearty in the queue at McDonald's at the end of June, 2016 and pulled him aside to ask him if they knew why they were there.

One of the group asks him what he's doing, to which he responds: 'Coming to get some food?'

Another asks: 'Coming to meet a 14-year-old boy, aren't you?'

McBrearty was spotted by the paedophile hunters in McDonald's, where he had arranged to meet 'Jamie' the 14-year-old he thought he'd been speaking with on Grindr

McBrearty is pulled aside by the group who confront him about why he's there, and tell him they know he's trying to meet the teen

When he denies it, he is shown the conversation and images of his own penis which he sent to the men, thinking he was sending it to 'Jamie'

He denies the claim and the men hold up screen shots of the conversation he's been having with the teenager.

As McBrearty protests, the cameraman lays out the group's charges, that he has sent a picture of his penis to a 14-year-old boy who doesn't know if he's gay or not, and that he has been grooming the teen for three weeks.

McBrearty attempts to leave the restaurant, but the group surround him, threatening to perform a citizen's arrest.

They handed over evidence to police when they arrived, who arrested him.

McBrearty, of Bromley, South East London, had made his intentions clear as he asked the boy if he wanted to meet so he could perform a sex act on him.

The McDonald's in Eltham where the group met McBrearty after he believed he was about to meet a 14-year-old boy

Within an hour the registered sex offender told the child 'show me your d**k lol' and sent him an explicit image.

McBrearty admitted one count of attempting to cause a child age 14 to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity at Southwark Crown Court.

But he did not breach a previous order handed to him, as he was banned from speaking to children under the age of 13.

The court heard McBrearty had since lost his job as a barman and was planning to change his name to avoid the 'humiliation' his public outing as a paedophile has caused him.

He told police: 'As a 14-year-old I would have welcomed some guidance from an older gay person as to how he would conduct himself in the future.'

The men told McBrearty they would perform a citizen's arrest and refused to let him leave the restaurant when he tried to get away

McBrearty was arrested and pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to attempting to cause a child to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity

He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday in a grey suit, white shirt and blue tie to face sentencing for one count of attempting to cause a child age 14 to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity.

Christopher Amis, representing McBrearty, said: 'These proceedings have resulted in the defendant's complete humiliation.

'The group who carried out this investigative work have a website on which there is a gallery of all those whom they have chose to name and shame.'

Mr Amis said that McBrearty had appeared on YouTube, Facebook and other sites, meaning 'his family, friends and work colleagues have all become aware of the defendant's predicament. He has really heaped humiliation on himself.

'These proceedings have been extremely salutary. The defendant has lost his job working as a barman. He has said he will have to change his name now his name is all over the internet.

'Fortunately, there is no victim in the normal sense in this case. No damage has been done to any child.'

Mr Amis added that McBrearty was 'himself a vulnerable person' who suffered from depression.

McBrearty was given a suspended sentence at court on Monday

Passing sentence, Judge Deborah Taylor said: 'You made contact through Grindr and engaged in a sexually explicit chat with a boy you believed to be 14.

'Whilst in fact this was not a real child, you did not know that.'

Judge Taylor noted that McBrearty's offending had escalated 'from merely having images to moving to contacting young people, in fact children under the age of 16.'

But she spared McBrearty immediate custody, having heard from Mr Amis that he would 'simply emerge as an unreformed paedophile'.

He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed, preventing him from making any contact with or possessing any images of any child under the age of 16, save for his immediate family.

One count of attempting to cause a boy aged 14 to engage in sexual activity involving oral sex and one of attempting to meet a boy aged 14 for the purposes of committing a sexual offence were left to lie on file.

McBrearty signed the Sex Offenders' Register in 2013 and was handed a two-year conditional discharge after admitting 14 counts of making indecent images of children at Wood Green Crown Court.
Advertisement

President Bashar al-Assad has been accused of a sarin gas attack in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib that killed up to 100 civilians, including at least 11 children, on Tuesday.

Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals in the area say dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun are showing signs of sarin poisoning, including foaming at the mouth, breathing difficulties and limp bodies.

Moments after the attack a projectile hit a hospital in the area, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to treat victims.

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an investigation into the attack saying: 'If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime.'

Syrian opposition activists have claimed the chemical attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by President Assad's forces or Russian warplanes. Russia's military said its planes did not carry out any strikes near the town.

It is believed that another 400 people were injured after being exposed to toxins during the attack.

Some 100 people have died from suffocation after a toxic gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held central province of Idlib, Syria, early Tuesday morning. Pictured above, a child gets treatment at a hospital after Assad Regime forces attacked

The death toll is likely to rise, according to the Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria and which is partly based in Paris.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. The monitor could not confirm the nature of the gas, and said the strike was likely carried out by government warplanes.

A senior Syrian security source, however, claims that allegations that Syria's government killed dozens of civilians on Tuesday in a chemical attack on a northwestern rebel-held town are 'false'.

'This is a false accusation,' the source said, adding that opposition forces were attempting to 'achieve in the media what they could not achieve on the ground'.

Following news of the attack, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the attack a 'war crime', saying that it 'bears all hallmarks of an attack by the regime which has repeatedly used chemical weapons'.

Theresa May said sarin gas use was proven, it would be further evidence of the 'barbarism of the Syrian regime'. A CBRN investigative team (pictured) has crossed the Turkish border and is en route to collect evidence

At least 11 of the 100 people who died in the chemical attack were children. Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals in the area say dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun are showing signs of sarin poisoning

Many victims, including children, were stripped down to their underwear and sprayed with hoses as activists tried to wash the gas off of them. Pictured above, a Syrian child receives treatment following the attack

The death toll is likely to rise, according to the Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria and which is partly based in Paris. Pictured above, Syrian children receive treatment following the suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun on Tuesday

Syrian doctors treat a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light. Pictured above, a Syrian child receives treatment following the attack

Civilians were seen carrying unconscious children to makeshift hospitals in hopes of receiving treatment following the attack

Some victims were foaming at the mouth following the toxin attack - a symptom of the poison sarin, which is used as a chemical weapon

People collapsed outside during the attacks on Tuesday, something that usually only happens when banned nerve agents are involved

WORLD LEADERS REACT: INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OF SARIN GAS ATTACK Theresa May has called for an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria Theresa May has called for an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria as she condemned the atrocity which has claimed the lives of dozens of people. The Prime Minister called on Russia to ensure Bashar Assad's regime is brought to an end. Mrs May said: 'I'm appalled by the reports that there's been a chemical weapons attack on a town south of Idlib allegedly by the Syrian regime. 'We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances. 'If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime, and the UK has led international efforts to call to account the Syrian regime and Daesh for the use of chemical weapons and I would urge the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate this incident as soon as possible. 'I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad. 'We cannot allow this suffering to continue.' French President Francois Hollande accused Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad of responsibility for the 'massacre'. 'Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre,' Hollande said in a statement. 'Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility,' Hollande added. France called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world must act to rid Syria of chemical weapons. 'When I saw pictures of babies suffocating from a chemical attack in Syria, I was shocked and outraged,' Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying. 'I call on the international community to fulfil its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria.' Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked appealed specifically for action from the United States. 'We have an obligation to cry out to the nations of the world, and especially to President (Donald) Trump, to stop this atrocity,' she said, adding that chemical warfare in neighbouring Syria 'also has strategic implications for Israel'. Advertisement

Local reports quoted doctors saying the chemical that killed dozens of people in the region could have been chlorine or sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid nerve agent that's used as a chemical weapon.

Chlorine attacks are used quite often in Syira, to kill small groups of people in enclosed spaces where gas dissipates quickly, according to the New York Times.

But Tuesday's attack was different: people collapsed outdoors, in large numbers and suffered different symptoms.

Victims foamed at the mouth and had pinpoint pupils - a side effect that happens when people come into contact with nerve agents and other banned toxins.

A Syrian military source denied that government forces used any such weapons, saying the army 'does not and has not' used chemical weapons 'not in the past and not in the future'.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war have used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

Volunteers wrote the names of victims who could be identified on their shrouds after they were killed in airstrikes which hit the civilian areas of Douma

An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following the gas attack

Still, Damascus has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.

Victims suffered from fainting, vomiting, foaming at the mouth and pinpoint pupils, medical sources told local reports.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a reported victim with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost naked children squirming on the floor.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

Syrian activists said that makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating from toxins following the attack.

A medical doctor going by the name of Dr Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light.

He published video of the patients on his Twitter account.

Many patients had to receive help breathing following the attack, as one of the several symptoms of sarin is having trouble breathing

A boy covers his face with his hands as doctors evaluate wounds to his legs and feet following the toxin attack on Tuesday

An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province

A man gets treatment at a hospital after Assad Regime forces released a suspected toxic gas on to Khan Shaykhun

Sarin, which is made by combining the fluorine in sodium fluoride with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, is considered one of the world's most dangerous chemical warfare agents. Pictured above, a Syrian man receives treatment after an alleged chemical attack at a field hospital in Saraqib, Idlib

The government denies the use of chemical weapons and has in turn accused rebels of using banned weapons. Pictured above, a wounded kid receives treatment following the attach

A Syrian military source denied that government forces used chemical weapons, saying the army 'does not and has not' used chemical weapons 'not in the past and not in the future'. Pictured above children are treated following the attach

Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties, and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure.

'Our hospital getting full from sarin attack today,' he wrote of his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun. 'Anyone that wants evidence, I will video call you.'

Dr Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital.

'The patients keep just flooding in from this chemical attack,' he says in a Twitter video , purportedly taken inside a Syrian hospital this morning. 'Every one - every one - has got pinpoint pupils'.

'The patients keep coming, we've run out of ventilators,' the humanitarian aid added.

'We don't have enough ventilator space, so we're now taking out the transport ventilators we have in our ambulances and we're going to try to modify them to see if we can use them for our patients.'

HOW PRESIDENT ASSAD HAS USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON HIS OWN PEOPLE Syria has a long history with chemical weapons dating back more than 40 years. Syria first developed chemical weapons in the 1970s, when it was given a small number of chemicals and delivery systems by Egypt before the start of the Arab-Israeli war in 1973. Damascus started acquiring materials to produce its own chemical weapons in the 1980s, reportedly with the help of the Soviet Union, according to the BBC. By 2011, Syria was still 'dependent on foreign sources of key elements' of its chemical weapons, the US director of national intelligence reported. In 2013, the country saw its worst sarin attack in Syria's civil war. In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. The agreement came after hundreds of people - up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report - were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops east and southwest of Damascus. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons amid international outrage at a nerve gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus. Those weapons have been destroyed, but member states of the OPCW have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything in 2013. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then. The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead. But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015. The government denies using chemical weapons and has accused rebels of using banned weapons. Advertisement

Dr Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used.

Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives.

'I will show you the evidence again and again, but you know what? The world doesn't care and no-one is doing anything,' says Dr Islam. 'We urge you to put pressure on your government - put pressure on anyone - to help us.'

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin - also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred - said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.

The wounded have been 'distributed around in rural Idlib', he told The Associated Press by phone.

'There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth,' he added.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. 'Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions,' he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

An AFP journalist in Khan Sheikhun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, with foam still visible around their mouths.

Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing.

A father carried his dead little girl, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible, wrapped in a blue sheet.

As doctors worked, a warplane circled overhead, striking first near the facility and then hitting it twice, bringing rubble down on medics and patients.

Following news of the attack, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, said he was 'horrified' by what had happened.

He said of Tuesday's incident: 'I am horrified by the reports of an attack near Idlib in Syria. The reports we are receiving strongly suggest the use of chemical weapons.

'And although we cannot yet be certain about what has happened, this bears all the hallmarks of an attack by the regime which has repeatedly used chemical weapons.

'The UK condemns the use of chemical weapons wherever and by whomever they are used and we will continue to lead international efforts to hold perpetrators to account.

'We continue to support the work of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and will work closely with them as they seek to investigate this latest incident.

'If this is shown to be the work of the regime, it is further evidence of the atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian people over six years of appalling conflict.'

He later added: 'If this were proved to have been committed by the Assad regime, it would be another reason to think they are an absolutely heinous outfit.

'Bombing your own civilians with chemical weapons is unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account.

'It is unbelievable to think that in the long term, Bashar Assad can play a part in the future of Syria, given what he has done to his people.'

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition and is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.

It is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.

But the province is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations.

Local reports quoted doctors saying the chemical that killed dozens of people in the region could have been chlorine or sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid nerve agent that's used as a chemical weapon

Victims suffered from fainting, vomiting, foaming at the mouth and pin-point pupils, medical sources told local reports. Pictured above, a Syrian man receives treatment following the gas attack

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin - also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred - said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising Syrian activists said that makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating from toxins following the attack

Idlib province is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front. Civil defense members tried to reduce the effects of chlorine gas with water as they carried out search and rescue works after a suspected chlorine gas attack in Idlib, Syria

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. Symptoms of sarin poison include foaming at the mouth and having trouble breathing

Local reports quoted doctors saying the chemical could have been chlorine or Sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid nerve agent that's used as a chemical weapon

Moments after the attack a projectile hit a hospital in the area, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to treat victims

DOCTOR TELLS OF HORRORS AFTER TOXIN ATTACK A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light. He published video of the patients on his Twitter account. Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties, and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure. 'Our hospital getting full from sarin attack today,' he wrote of his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun. 'Anyone that wants evidence, I will video call you.' Dr Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital. A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light Dr Islam said that his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun, received several victims of a suspected sarin attack 'The patients keep just flooding in from this chemical attack,' he says in a Twitter video , purportedly taken inside a Syrian hospital this morning. 'Every one - every one - has got pinpoint pupils'. 'The patients keep coming, we've run out of ventilators,' the humanitarian aid added. 'We don't have enough ventilator space, so we're now taking out the transport ventilators we have in our ambulances and we're going to try to modify them to see if we can use them for our patients.' Dr Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used. Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives. 'I will show you the evidence again and again, but you know what? The world doesn't care and no-one is doing anything,' says Dr Islam. 'We urge you to put pressure on your government - put pressure on anyone - to help us.' Dr Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used. Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives. Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing following the attack An AFP journalist in Khan Sheikhun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, with foam still visible around their mouths. Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing. A father carried his dead little girl, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible, wrapped in a blue sheet. As doctors worked, a warplane circled overhead, striking first near the facility and then hitting it twice, bringing rubble down on medics and patients. In a video posted online by Idlib's local medical directorate, a doctor described patient symptoms as he treated a child. 'We are seeing unconsciousness, convulsions, pinpoint pupils, severe foaming, and lack of oxygen,' he said. Dr Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital Advertisement

The reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region hosted by the EU's High Representative, Federica Mogherini.

Claims of chemical weapons attacks, particularly the use of the chlorine agent, are not uncommon in Syria's conflict.

The worst attack was what a UN report said was an attack by toxic sarin gas in August 2013 on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians.

HOW SARIN AND CHLORINE ARE USED IN CHEMICAL AND TOXIC GAS ATTACKS SARIN Sarin, which is made by combining the fluorine in sodium fluoride with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, is considered one of the world's most dangerous chemical warfare agents. It disrupts the nervous system, over-stimulating muscles and vital organs. It is more than 500 times as toxic as cyanide. It can be inhaled as a gas or absorbed through the skin. In high doses, sarin suffocates its victims by paralysing the muscles around their lungs, and one drop can kill in minutes. CHLORINE Chlorine is a toxic industrial gas that irritates the throat can cause victim's lungs to fill with water, drowning them. The gas can also attack the skin and eyes, causing burning, swelling, itching and irritation. The first large-scale use of chlorine as a weapon, at Ieper, Belgium, on April 22, 1915, unleashed massive use of gas by both Germany and the Allies during the last three years of the 1914-1918 war. Chemical weapons killed nearly 100,000 and injured around 1 million more during the conflict. The horrific scale of World War I gas casualties  and the suffering they caused  helped launch what has been hailed as one of the most successful disarmament campaigns in history. It culminated in the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention and creation of the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The watchdog with 190 member states won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Advertisement

Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

The Syrian Coalition, an opposition group based outside the country, said government planes fired missiles carrying poisonous gases on Khan Sheikhoun, describing the attack as a 'horrifying massacre'.

Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.

But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

The government denies the use of chemical weapons and has in turn accused rebels of using banned weapons.

Tuesday's attack comes only days after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were accused of using chemical weapons in a counter-offensive in neighbouring Hama province.

Syria's opposition National Coalition accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of a suspected toxic, and demanded a UN investigation.

'The National Coalition demands the Security Council convene an emergency session..., open an immediate investigation and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable,' the body said in a statement.

Syrian and Russian air strikes have battered parts of Idlib, according to the Observatory, despite a ceasefire that Turkey and Russia brokered in December.

Jets also struck the town of Salqin in the north of Idlib province on Tuesday, killing eight people, the monitor said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the suspected attack, Turkish presidential sources said.

They said the two leaders had also emphasised the importance of maintaining the ceasefire. Turkey's foreign minister called the attack a crime against humanity.

The European Union's top diplomat says Syrian President Bashar Assad's government must assume its responsibilities following reports of a suspected chemical attacks in northern Syria that killed dozens of people.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Tuesday that 'the news is awful' and that Assad's government 'has the primary responsibility of protecting its people and not attacking its people', while Syria's opposition warned it 'calls the political process into question'.

She said the attack in a town in Idlib province 'is a dramatic reminder of the fact that the first priority is, as in any conflict, stopping the fighting.'

If confirmed, it would be one of the worst chemical attacks since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago.

The international chemical weapons watchdog says it is gathering and analyzing information about the suspected chemical attack.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says its Fact Finding Mission 'is in the process of gathering and analyzing information from all available sources.'

A civil defence member breathes through an oxygen mask, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A man breathes through an oxygen mask, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A Syrian doctor helped a boy following the suspected attack, which has been described as one of the worst in the country's six-year civil war

Idlib is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists. pictured above, a victim of a suspected chemical attack as he receives treatment at a makeshift hospital

A Syrian man is taken by civil defence workers to a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following the suspected sarin attack

People stand near a dead body, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria

The mission will report its findings to the OPCW's executive council. Syria joined the organization in 2013.

The organization, which won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its chemical disarmament efforts, says it 'strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances.'

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, he was 'shocked and outraged' by images of the victims of Tuesday's attack and called on the international community to 'fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria'.

France's foreign minister is calling for an emergency UN Security Council meeting over the suspected chemical attack.

Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the 'monstrous' and 'atrocious act' in a statement Tuesday, saying he is seeking the emergency meeting because of events of extreme gravity 'that threaten international security.'

France has supported Syrian rebels against President Bashar Assad for years, and lobbied for an international military campaign against Assad over his use of chemical weapons in 2013. France is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

On Thursday, air strikes on several areas in the north of Hama province left around 50 people suffering respiratory problems, according to the Observatory, which could not confirm the cause of the symptoms.

The monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Tuesday's gathering in Brussels has been billed as a follow-up to a donors' conference last year in London, which raised about $11 billion (10 billion euros) for humanitarian aid programmes in the devastated country.
Six Iranian migrants have been rescued from a sinking boat as they attempted to cross the English Channel.

French authorities received a distress call from the small fishing vessel, which was travelling from Calais to Dover, just after midnight on Tuesday.

Search operations were hampered by 'thick fog' but the group was eventually located at 2.45am around one mile (1.6km) north-east of Calais, French maritime authority Cross said.

The six migrants, who were suffering from mild hypothermia, received first aid before being handed over to Calais border police, Cross said.

Six Iranian migrants were rescued after French authorities received a distress call from the small fishing vessel, which was travelling from Calais to Dover, just after midnight on Tuesday (file photo of Dover, from the English Channel)

The UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it had been assisting French authorities with the search operation.

A permanent telephone link was kept with the group throughout the search operation.

A spokeswoman for the MCA said: 'The UK Coastguard has been working with the French Coastguard overnight following a call from a small fishing vessel reporting that it had six people on board and that it was sinking.

'The vessel was en route from Calais to Dover. The UK Coastguard broadcast requests for all shipping to look for the small vessel and the Dover RNLI lifeboat was launched.

'A French patrol vessel located and rescued the six people in the early hours of this morning.

'They are being taken back to Calais harbour where they will be met by French police.'

Migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa continue to converge on Calais in hopes of sneaking across to Britain, despite the closure of a vast migrant camp there last year. Pictured above, migrants walk past a flag of England inside the "Jungle" camp for migrants and refugees in Calais in 2016

Cross warned that such journeys are 'extremely risky and dangerous', with strong currents, winds and heavy traffic on the Channel.

Migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa continue to converge on Calais in hopes of sneaking across to Britain, despite the closure of a vast migrant camp there last year.

French authorities announced last month that they to evacuate more than half the migrants living in a camp on the English Channel.

Housing Minister Emmanuelle Cosse announced the plan Friday at the camp in Grande-Synthe, a suburb of Dunkirk, where people fleeing war and poverty in the Mideast and Africa have come in hopes of sneaking into Britain.

She says 'with 1,500 people, it is impossible to manage' the camp properly. She said authorities will move asylum-seekers to special reception centers to reduce the camp's population to 700.

Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux wants the camp dismantled because of recent fires and knife attacks. Dunkirk Mayor Damien Careme opposes an abrupt closure but says the camp is seeing increasing cases of scabies and rats.

France closed a larger, unkempt refugee camp in Calais last year.
A father-of-two could end up losing both his arms after already having both legs amputated when a spider bite became infected with a flesh-eating bug.

Terry Pareja was visiting his family in Birchip, Victoria, when he was bitten on the right leg by what is believed to have been a white-tailed spider.

Hours after the incident in late February, the 65-year-olds leg began to swell and became very painful.

A day later, it became incredibly painful and he began to walk with a limp - but because there was no doctor available at the weekend in the area, he was forced to wait until Monday to seek medical advice.

A father-of-two could end up losing both his arms after already having both legs amputated when a spider bite became infected with a flesh-eating bug.

His sister Raquel Ogleby, 68, took him to see her GP and Mr Pareja was taken to Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham.

There, the retired sales worker underwent emergency surgery to amputate his right leg to stop the rapid spread of bacteria.

It was understood to be either rare necrotising arachnidism, characterised by ulceration and skin loss; or necrotising fasciitis, a rare but serious bacterial infection, affecting the tissue beneath the skin, surrounding muscles and organs.

After the operation, he was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne where  as the bacteria continued to spread  he had his left leg amputated.

Weeks on, he remains critically ill in the hospital's intensive care unit. His kidneys are failing and his blood pressure is high.

Having already undergone nine operations, he might also need to have his arms amputated, as the infection takes hold.

I am not sure how well his arms are doing, his sister told the Western Advocate.

Terry Pareja (left) was visiting his family in Birchip, Victoria, when he was bitten on the right leg by what is believed to have been a white-tailed spider

Hours after the incident in February, the 65-year-olds leg began to swell and became painful

That is what I am scared about because they didnt look too good last time.

And Ms Ogleby says it could be as long as 18 months before her brother is discharged from hospital  and that her family are planning to move house so he has more space for rehab.

He has been in hospital for 34 days, but he is slowly getting better.

Recently, more than $2,000 was raised by a garage sale arranged by the Wimmera Filipino-Australian Club president Marivic Vix to help towards Mr Varejas medical costs.

Meanwhile, his 27-year-old daughter Jeffmarey Pareja, who works in publishing, has flown to Melbourne from the familys home in the Phillipines to care for her father.

Mr Parejas wife Emma, who also has health problems, and his son Jeffrey, do not have passports so were not able to travel to see him.

Mr Pareja had emergency surgery to amputate his right leg to stop the spread of bacteria

After both of his legs were amputated, his family worry that he may have to lose both arms too

Jeffmarey, who is pregnant with her third child, said: My dad went to Australia to visit my aunt and uncle for they have not seen each other for the longest time.

A spider bit him, but he really wasnt aware, not until he felt sick  but then a few hours later, his foot began to hurt and then swell eventually.

She revealed how once he was admitted to hospital, her fathers condition quickly deteriorated.

'Now he is in intensive care. His kidneys don't work and he is aided by kidney support.'

She added: 'He is not fully coherent and is struggling a lot. He is in a great deal of pain.

'We don't believe his illness is caused from any poison released by the spider, as the spider's venom isn't poisonous to humans, but rather by bacteria passed in via the wound.

'It's so shocking as you don't expect this to happen on a family visit.'

BITE FROM WHITE-TAILED SPIDER The 65-year-old had both legs amputated when he was bitten on his right leg by what is believed to have been a white-tailed spider (file picture) A bite from a white-tailed spider 'can be painful but is unlikely to cause necrotising arachnidism, a rare condition characterised by ulceration and skin loss.' They say: 'Occasionally, weals, blistering or local ulceration have been reported  symptoms together known medically as necrotising arachnidism, although recent research suggests that the white-tailed spider bite is probably not linked to this condition. 'In most cases, the bite from a white-tailed spider only causes a mild reaction, including itching and skin discolouration, which usually resolves after a few weeks. There are no specific first aid treatments for a white-tailed spider bite, except the use of icepacks to help relieve the swelling. You should not use antibiotics. Always see your doctor if any spider bite does not clear up. 'Necrotising arachnidism is a type of skin inflammation and ulceration that is caused by the bite of some spiders. Occasionally, the reaction is so severe that the person loses large amounts of skin and needs extensive skin grafts.' Source: Government guidelines in Victoria, Australia Advertisement

Although doctors cannot be 100 per cent certain what initially bit him, they believe it was a white-tailed spider, a species native to southern and eastern Australia, which measures up to two centimetres, is greyish-brown in colour and boasts glossy legs.

Unfortunately, Mr Pareja travelled without insurance and his hospital bills are mounting up.

His daughter said he was not offered insurance when he bought his plane ticket and it did not occur to him to buy it.

Family members are now clubbing together to help pay his medical fees, with his sister even planning to sell her house.

But the treatment looks set to cost thousands of pounds and the family are unsure how long Terry is expected to stay in hospital.

Jeffmarey has set up a GoFundMe page to raise the $30,000 needed to pay for the cost of the treatment so far, although the final total could be much higher.

'We do not have much and we are not rich. I am knocking on your hearts to help with my dad's medication and hospital bills, Jeffmarey said.
Charlie Gard's parents have today revealed they have had to up their 1.2million fundraising target by 100,000 to cover a fundraising organisation's giant handling fee.

Connie Yates, 31, and her partner Chris Gard, 32, say they need even more cash because the GoFundMe website takes up to five per cent of donations.

The heartbroken couple also face waiting until at least Friday to hear whether a judge will choose to save their son or let him die.

Charlie's parents were given a month to raise the 1.2million to take seven-month-old Charlie to America for treatment they believe could spare his life.

More than 80,000 people donated but it GoFundMe could take a cut of up to 65,000 based on their current 1.24million total and is refusing to waive it. The website's 'payment processor' charges a further 2.68 per cent - around 20,000.

Today Miss Yates posted a new message to supporters, saying they have raised the target to 1.3million as a result.

Scroll down for video

Bereft: Charlie's parents Connie Yates (left yesterday) and Chris Gard (right) must wait until Friday to hear their son's fate

Heartbreaking: Doctors at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital say there is no accepted cure and it would be kinder to allow Charlie, pictured above, to die

Upsetting: Connie Yates, pictured left with her partner Chris and their son Charlie, sobbed as she heard her son would certainly die without any more treatment

She said: 'We have had to put our total up to cover gofundme fee's plus the more money we get the more time we can spend in America.'

The family will have to wait until at least Friday to hear if Justice Francis will allow Charlie can fly to the US for pioneering treatment that has 'not been tried on animal or human'.

Tomorrow Miss Yates will personally beg Mr Justice Francis to save Charlie and let him travel to America, against the wishes of his British doctors.

The company hosting the 'Save Charlie' fundraising site says it is free to sign up but their fees are standard for all appeals.

'If Charlie dies we'll use the cash to save other children', says his bereft mother Connie Yates, 31, right yesterday, has indicated what would happen to money raised if the judge sides with Great Ormond Street, who wish to withdraw life-support treatment. 'A few people have asked us what we'll do if we don't win the court case,' she said in a statement. 'We have thought long and hard about it and we would set up a charity for mitochondrial depletion syndrome's (there are others that are more common than Charlie's specific gene). 'We'd like to save other babies and children because these medications have been proven to work and we honestly have so much belief in them. 'We would like some of it to go to research at the specific hospital that are willing to treat Charlie and the rest will be available to help other families to get the medication that their children desperately need. 'We hope that you can all support us in making treatments available so that nobody else ever has to go through what we have.' Advertisement

A GoFundMe spokesman said: 'Guidelines regarding our fees are stated clearly on our website and are standard for all campaigns. We are looking closely at Charlie's case as it develops.'

Last month it emerged that the JustGiving charity website will take tens of thousands of pounds from money donated by members of the public to the family of murdered PC Keith Palmer.

Well-wishers had given more than 698,841 to the wife and daughter of the 48-year-old officer who lost his life guarding Parliament.

But the money has been raised through JustGiving, which takes a cut of at least 5 per cent from all donations.

As it stood the sites administration fee for PC Palmers fund was more than 34,000.

Miss Yates, 31, sobbed in court yesterday and Charlie's father Chris Gard clutched his son's favourite cuddly toy monkey as Great Ormond Street doctors said there is only a 'vanishingly small' chance of saving their little boy.

Mr Justice Francis will make the final decision on whether Charlie can fly to the US for pioneering treatment that has 'not been tried on animal or human'.

The court will sit again tomorrow with the option of extending the case to Friday because the judge pledged not to rush the 'dire' case. He could choose to delay the decision further while he considers his decision.

Connie Yates, 31, wearing a white flower in her hair, hung her head as doctors said her incurable seven-month-old son should be allowed to die.

Debra Powell QC, for Great Ormond Street Hospital, revealed Charlie's British doctors say a brain scan from March 27 shows 'he's in the terminal stages of his illness.'

Even the American doctor who has offered to try an experimental therapy on his rare genetic condition admitted he had not realised how unwell Charlie was.

But he said if the little boy lived in the States, he would certainly be getting the pioneering treatment his parents longed for.

Miss Yates and Charlie's father Chris Gard have raised 1.2million in a month after a public appeal to help secure pioneering treatment in the United States

Support: The couple, pictured with their QC, who is giving her services for free in the hope they can save Charlie and get him the care he needs in America

Helen Barnes (shown right) was so taken by Charlie's plight that she generously donated her life savings, amounting to 45,000. Tamara Ecclestone (left) also donated 10,000

Unwell: Seven-month-old Charlie Gard is believed to be only the 16th person in the world to be diagnosed with his ultra-rare genetic condition

At an emotional hearing at the High Court in London to decide Charlie's fate, his ashen-faced father Chris Gard, 32, hurled his son's cuddly toy monkey on to a bench in exasperation.

The defiant parents raised an astonishing 1.2million in a public appeal to 'help save Charlie'  the cost of taking him to the United States and paying his medical fees. More than 80,000 well-wishers gave money including Tamara Ecclestone who put in 10,000 and Tunbridge Wells housewife Helen Barnes, 45, who handed over 40,000.

Yesterday in a dramatic twist, one of Charlie's British doctors accused American medics being more interested in money than his suffering.

The Great Ormond Street Hospital expert told the High Court that UK doctors always put the child's best interests first  but she said in America, 'provided the parents have money, the doctors there would do anything the parents would like to be done, regardless of what is happening with the child.'

None of the doctors can be named for legal reasons. The American doctor, giving evidence by speaker phone, agreed there was a 'cultural difference' which meant US medics were more likely to try 'last-ditch treatments on those for whom death would otherwise be sadly inevitable'.

A disease that harms EVERY cell in the body Mitochondrial disease affects the body's cells and can cause heart, liver, kidney, breathing, sight and hearing problems. Every cell in the human body contains mitochondria, which have been described as the tiny 'power stations' of our bodies, supplying the energy every cell needs. If our cells do not have enough energy, then the body's organs and tissue do not work properly. Mitochondrial disease can cause energy 'blackouts' in practically every part of the body. Approximately one in 200 babies born in the UK has slight genetic 'mistakes' that can cause the disease. Charlie has a particularly rare type of the disease known as mitochondrial depletion syndrome, and within that he has a strain that is so uncommon he is believed to be only the 16th person in the world to have it. Mitochondrial disease can affect anyone. Depending on the underlying genetic error, it can be passed down from the mother or father or both, as in Charlie's case  it seemed to be inherited from his parents who did not know they carried the rare gene. It is also possible that the mistake may have arisen for the first time in the affected person. There is currently no cure although some treatments have been found to partially alleviate the symptoms. Advertisement

He has offered a therapy called nucleosides to try to treat Charlie's damaged DNA. He has a rare type of mitochondrial disease, which saps energy from the organs.

But British doctors do not think it will work.

Mr Justice Francis must decide whether to agree to Great Ormond Street's application to withdraw Charlie's life support and let him 'die with dignity'. Charlie's parents, from Bedfont, south-west London, are begging the judge to give their son a chance, and he has pledged not to rush the 'dire' case.

They were given a glimmer of hope when the American doctor said Charlie would certainly die without the treatment, but it might prolong his life.

However, the British expert said Charlie was 'extremely unwell' and likely to be feeling pain. He was also deaf, and blinded by eyelids too weak to open. She told the judge: 'Charlie is suffering, and that outweighs the small theoretical chance that this may be effective treatment.

'It has never been about costs for us. This is treatment that, theoretically, he could get here. We don't feel it is right for this child at this time because of the suffering and the extent of the neurological damage.'

She added that, having spoken to the American doctor by phone, 'I don't think we differ on the science. We both agree very sadly that it would be unlikely to help Charlie.'

Miss Yates (pictured left with Charlie) wrote about how her son's plight has taken a toll on her (shown right)

Chris Gard, 32, a postman, from Bedfont, South-West London, have kept a bedside vigil for his son (pictured together)

Debra Powell QC, for the hospital, revealed that a doctor who saw Charlie's brain scan from last week wrote: 'I think he's in the terminal stages of his illness.' Miss Powell suggested there was now a 'vanishingly small chance' for Charlie.

In his evidence, the American specialist admitted things looked bleak He told the court: 'The update I received about Charlie's medical condition is certainly very concerning. He seems to be very severely affected neurologically. That makes me a bit less enthusiastic about him coming to the United States.'

The family's barrister Sophia Roper, who is working for free, said the American doctor was at the forefront of research into the kind of condition Charlie has.

Miss Yates and Mr Gard, who spend every waking hour with their son, dispute the hospital's analysis, saying they do not believe Charlie is suffering and believe he is growing stronger.

The case was adjourned until Wednesday.

To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/please-help-to-save-charlies-life or click HERE
More than a dozen people suspected of being involved in an attack that left a teenage asylum seeker scarred for life are feared to be at large, police have said.

The Kurdish Iranian student was waiting at a bus stop in Croydon, south London, with two friends when they were assaulted at around 11.40pm on Friday.

The 17-year-old is 'lucky to be alive' after being subjected to a 'prolonged, violent assault' which included being kicked and having his head stamped on, police said.

A Kurdish Iranian asylum seeker was attacked by a mob of up to 30 people at this bus stop

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, a court heard yesterday.

Police have made 16 arrests but are hunting others said to be among the 30 involved in the attack at just before midnight in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

Detectives are also trying to trace the driver and the occupants of a white hatchback with a black roof that stopped at the scene during the frenzy.

Five people appeared in court yesterday charged over the incident and two more will appear before magistrates today.

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. Her brother Daryl Davis, 20, is also charged.

George Walder, 20, brother, Jack Walder, 24, also came before magistrates yesterday.

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

Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as 'absolutely despicable'.

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 person's head  there is no provocation for that.'

Detectives are investigating if the attackers had been drinking in the nearby Goat pub before approaching the victim and his friends.

She said: 'He's 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.

'I've not seen an attack of this nature for very long time, and it is really disturbing.'

Brothers Jack, left, and George Walder, right, also appeared in court over the attack on the teenager

Det Supt Corrigan added: 'I genuinely don't think people have gone out with the intention to commit this horrific attack.

'You've 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.'

The victim 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.'

Yesterday, friends said the victim 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 wasn't 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'.

Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan speaking near the scene yesterday morning

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.'

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 yesterday's 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.
A serial rapist jailed in Australia for the murder and rape of an Irish nurse has been refused parole because his native England refuses to accept him back in the country until it is ready.

Englishman Barry Whiteoak, 69, raped and murdered Irish nurse Noreen Hannon on September 25, 1983 and has been behind bars since.

Now 35 years later he has been refused parole and will continue serving time at Long Bay Correctional Centre, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Englishman Barry Whiteoak, 69, raped and murdered Irish nurse Noreen Hannon (pictured) on September 25, 1983 and has been behind bars since

Australia's Department of Immigration cancelled Whiteoak's permanent resident visa in 2008 which means he will be deported back to England on his release from jail.

The English Parole Board does not oversee prisoners like Whiteoak, and despite his serious criminal history, said it 'will not be informed' when he arrives back in the country.

The Irish family of Whiteoak's victim, Ms Hannon, said it was terrified about his return to the UK because they had been refused a photograph of what he looked like now.

The Irish family of Whiteoak's victim, Ms Hannon (pictured), said it was terrified about his return to the UK because they had been refused a photograph of what he looked like now

The State Parole Authority was told on Monday there was two weeks' accommodation set up for Whiteoak on his return, but he would not be forced to live there.

The UK reportedly had nothing more set up for Whiteoak should he return to the UK this year.

State Parole Authority head James Wood said he had a duty to protect the UK community as well as the Australian community and needed more information before Whiteoak could be released.

Now 35 years after the rape and murder Whiteoak has been refused parole and will continue serving time at Long Bay Correctional Centre (pictured)

Whiteoak forced his way into 25-year-old nurse Noreen Hannon's Parramatta flat, in western Sydney, in September 1983, after she rejected his sexual advances.

He stabbed and strangled her to death, leaving her naked body in the lift of the building.

Ms Hannon arrived in Australia from Ireland on a working holiday before she was killed.

Despite pleading innocent, Whiteoak was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison (Long Bay Correctional Centre pictured)

Despite pleading innocent, Whiteoak was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.

When he murdered Ms Hannon, Whiteoak was on parole for a rape he committed in 1980.

When he committed the rape, he was already on parole for indecently assaulting a woman a knifepoint in 1978.

Despite pleading innocent, Whiteoak was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison (Long Bay Correctional Centre pictured)

After arriving in Australia when he was 20-years-old, Whiteoak was jailed for indecent assault by the time he was 27.

He reportedly told his victim to undress, before tying her up and telling her 'it would be very easy to carve you up'.

For the rape of his next victim, Whiteoak received an 18-month jail sentence and was described by the judge as an inadequate, lonely socially inept man.

Whiteoak is next due to be reviewed by the parole authority on August 15.
MPs are embroiled in a furious row over a 'skewed' committee report slamming Theresa May's strategy towards the EU.

A huge rift has emerged on the Brexit Committee after half-a-dozen members refused to sign off the text.

The spat has escalated after MPs walked out of a meeting last week in protest at an attempt by pro-EU chairman Hilary Benn to 'bounce' them into agreeing the report.

Despite the dispute, the report was published by the committee today, complaining that Mrs May had no evidence to sustain her position that 'no deal' is better than a 'bad deal'.

Former justice minister Dominic Raab, pictured left, who campaigned for Brexit, dismissed the findings of the report as 'skewed'. Pro-EU chairman Hilary Benn (pictured right) had been accused of trying to 'bounce' the committee into agreeing the text

'Without an economic assessment of "no deal" having been done and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate what would be the damaging effect of such an outcome, the Government's assertion that "no deal is better than a bad deal", is unsubstantiated,' the report warned.

It backed the finding of a previous report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that a no deal scenario 'represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK'.

Parliament and the public have a 'right to the maximum possible information' about the impact of failing to secure a deal, and the Government should conduct 'a thorough assessment of the economic, legal and other implications' of all options under consideration, the report said.

The document challenged Mrs May's insistence that she will offer only a 'take it or leave it' vote to Parliament on any deal she achieves, stating it was 'essential' MPs also get a vote 'in the event that there is no deal'.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn said: 'Leaving the EU without a future trade deal and in doing so defaulting to World Trade Organisation rules is no less an important decision for the UK's economic future than the terms of any future Free Trade Agreement between the UK and the EU.

'It is therefore essential that such a step is not taken without Parliament having a vote on the matter.'

The report lashed out at Theresa May's tough approach to the Brexit negotiations. The PM is pictured speaking to troops on a visit to Jordan yesterday

Six pro-Brexit MPs voted against publication, having walked out of a meeting in protest because it was 'too gloomy'.

Five Conservatives, including former ministers John Whittingdale and Dominic Raab, voted against the report along with Democratic Unionist Sammy Wilson.

THE SIX MPS WHO REFUSED TO SIGN OFF BREXIT REPORT Dominic Raab (Conservative) John Whittingdale (Conservative) Karl McCartney (Conservative) Maria Caulfield (Conservative) Craig Mackinlay (Conservative) Sammy Wilson (DUP) Advertisement

However, they were outnumbered by 10 Remain-backing Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat, SNP and SDLP committee members.

Mr Whittingdale said the report was 'unduly negative' and had 'very much concentrated on the problems without really recognising the opportunities' of Brexit.

Mr Raab said: 'The report was rushed, skewed and partisan. After two reports that had strong support, it's regrettable that this one split the committee.

'That undermines its credibility and influence, but I hope and expect the committee will learn the right lessons as we move forward.'

Meanwhile, it has emergedMPs were warned months ago that 'opportunistic' Spain would use Brexit as leverage in the dispute over Gibraltar.

The Rock's chief minister Fabian Picardo raised the danger as he gave evidence to the Brexit committee in January.

The warning will raise fresh questions about why Mrs May failed to reiterate the UK's commitment to the territory in her historic letter triggering Article 50 last week.

John Whittindale was among those who opposed the report

The EU's initial response on Friday caused fury by stating that Spain would have a veto on any new arrangements over Gibraltar.

The row caught fire over the weekend when senior Tories made clear the government was willing to defend the Rock by force if necessary.

Mrs May tried to ease tensions last night by stressing that she favoured 'jaw jaw' above 'war war'. but the fallout could hamper looming negotiations with Brussels.

In his evidence to the Brexit Committee in January, Mr Picardo said there was a 'risk that Spain will raise the Gibraltar question in its preliminary internal discussions with the other Member States as they seek to agree a common position for the EU/UK negotiations'.

'Indeed, the previous acting Spanish Foreign Minister has written to all the other EU capitals in order to put across his views on shared sovereignty over Gibraltar, as the price to pay for maintaining a relationship with the EU,' Mr Picardo said.

'Spain cannot be allowed to use her obsession with Gibraltar as a bargaining chip in the negotiations between the UK and the EU.

'However, it is important to be aware that this is an unnecessary and opportunistic challenge that the negotiating process may face.'

There are reports that the government chose not to include Gibraltar in Mrs May's letter because it was considered 'strategically' better for Spain to raise the issue first.

However, Downing Street has insisted the commitment to the Rock has never been in doubt.
Theresa May met the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for trade talks without wearing a headscarf today.

Mrs May followed in the footsteps of Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton by opting for a Western-style, dark trouser suit.

The Prime Minister's dress had been the subject of intense speculation ahead of her visit to the deeply conservative country and Mrs May has said she hopes to inspire women in the country on her trip.

Foreign Office advice to British women visiting Saudi Arabia is to wear a headscarf, together with 'conservative, loose fitting clothes'.

Theresa May was greeted by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Palace in Riyadh today. Mrs May stuck to her normal dress and did not wear a head scarf

Mrs May followed in the footsteps of Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton by opting for a Western-style, dark trouser suit, pictured. She is seen here being greeted by dignitaries at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh

Mrs May introduced her staff to the Crown Prince ahead of the trade talks in Riyadh. The occasion was photographed by Saudi officials

Mrs May met Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Palace in Riyadh for talks on trade and arms sales.

The Prime Minister is set to bow to pressure and raise human rights abuses on her trip amid condemnation British-made weapons are being used in alleged atrocities by the Saudi military in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is attacking terrorist targets under a UN mandate but has been accused of targeting civilians. The Metropolitan Police is studying allegations of war crimes.

No 10 had refused to confirm what Mrs May would wear on her visit but speaking to reporters on the plane en-route to the Gulf, the premier said: 'I hope that people see me as a woman leader and will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions.'

Mrs May's visit is focused on trade and as recently as yesterday No 10 said human rights was not on the agenda. Saudi is a major defence customer of Britain.

Asked if the UK was selling its principles cheaply for the sake of trade and arms deals, she replied: 'No we are not doing that.

The talks in Riyadh, pictured, were due to focus on trade and prosperity but Mrs May said she also plans to raise human rights abuses in Yemen

Mrs May, also visited Al Zahra School for Girls in Amman, Jordan, today, pictured, and said she hopes to inspire women in the country on her trip

Speaking about her trip, the PM said 'I hope that people see me as a woman leader and will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions.'

'What we are doing is continuing the links that we have had for a long time with countries that are important to us around the world.'

The PM told the BBC: 'We are concerned about the humanitarian situation. That's why the UK last year was the fourth largest donor to the Yemen in terms of humanitarian aid - 103 million. We will be continuing with that.

BREXIT TRADE DEAL MAY NOT BE SIGNED BEFORE WE QUIT Theresa May has been accused of backing away from a key Brexit promise after she appeared to concede that a trade deal with the EU cannot be signed until after the UK leaves. Opponents of a hard Brexit called on the Prime Minister to ensure that a transitional agreement was in place to avoid the risk of disruption to business if the UK makes a 'cliff edge' departure from the EU without a trade deal. Speaking during a visit to Jordan, Mrs May said she expected the shape of a new trade relationship to be clear to everybody by Brexit Day in March 2019, but appeared to accept that the formal conclusion of the agreement will have to wait until after withdrawal. European Council president Donald Tusk left no doubt in his draft guidelines for negotiations, released on Friday, that EU rules state that trade deals can only be done with non-members, so that the most the UK can hope for prior to Brexit is an 'overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship'. Mrs May insisted it will be possible to reach clarity on the deal within two years. But asked if the deal could be finalised in that timescale, she told Sky News: 'There's obviously a legal situation in terms of how the EU can conduct trade negotiations. 'I'm clear that by the point at which we leave the EU, it's right that everybody should know what the future arrangements, the future relationship, that future partnership between us and the European Union will be. 'That's the sensible thing, it's the pragmatic way to look at this, and I believe that's what we will do.' Advertisement

'And, yes, we will be raising the humanitarian issue. We believe it is important that we recognise the threat that there is in terms of people's lives. We will be supporting that through the aid and support that we give.'

Asked whether she would be raising human rights issues with her Saudi hosts, Mrs May said: 'The important thing for the United Kingdom when we meet people and we want to raise issues of human rights - and that may be in a number of countries around the world - is if we have the relationship with them, then we are able to do that.

'So, rather than just standing on the sidelines and sniping, it's important to engage, to talk to people, to talk about our interests and to raise, yes, difficult issues when we feel it's necessary to do so.'

Labour called on Mrs May to halt weapons exports to the state immediately and urged her to back an independent investigation into war crimes in the conflict.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: 'Numerous human rights organisations, including the UNHRC and Amnesty International, have documented the dictatorial Saudi monarchy's shocking human rights record.

'The Saudi-led coalition bombing in Yemen, backed by the British government, has left thousands dead, 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and three million refugees uprooted from their homes.

'Yemen urgently needs a ceasefire, a political settlement, and food aid, not more bombing. British-made weapons are being used in a war which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.'

He added: 'As it stands, the British-Saudi relationship is damaging to the people of Saudi Arabia, Britain and the wider Middle East, and helping to export insecurity to the rest of the world.

'Unless the Prime Minister challenges the Saudi regime over its abuses this week, it will be clear she is ready to sacrifice human rights and security on the altar of the arms trade.'

The Prime Minister has been urged to use the rare meeting with the Crown Prince to lobby him to stop the Saudi military killing civilians in a war in Yemen

The Saudis back the war-torn Yemen's internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Britain has continued to allow arms sales, with more than 3.3 billion 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.

No 10 yesterday said: 'For the most part, the Saudi visit is part of the attempt to showcase the UK as an outward looking and global country.

'The discussions will mostly be focused on defence and prosperity issues.'

The spokesman said Yemen and human rights were not on the agenda for the summit but that Britain's strong relationship with Saudi Arabia meant difficult issues could be raised.
Advertisement

They were once the bustling, lively valley towns of South Wales Coalfield - full of miners and their families who had lived and worked there for generations.

Today the sites of the coal mines are deserted while the streets of nearby towns are virtually empty after hoards of people were forced to move out in search of work or face a life on benefits.

The sad demise has been captured over four decades by photographer Roger Tiley, 57, who grew up in the Gwent Valleys, and has dedicated his life to documenting the dramatic changes on camera in a series of haunting photographs.

Scroll down for video

Photographer Roger Tiley has spent the last 40 years documenting the daily lives of the people of the South Wales Valleys. His work takes him from the rise and fall of the coal mines across the country

End of an era: Mr Tiley captured the pit his uncle Bill worked at - Bedwas Colliery - which was forced to close in 1985. When he first started in photography, there were 30 deep coal mines and numerous private drift mines in the South Wales area

Alien: Roger Tiley said: 'The valleys in a short period of time became alien to me. Some argue that the pits were dangerous and the coal tips left a shadow over valley communities, but the villages were vibrant. The pubs and clubs were full; the corner shop was still in existence and the many activities supported by miners' contributions were no longer'

Pictured: A young girl sunbathing on a rock where the landscape used to be covered with pits, coal tips and railway tracks. Afan valley, 2000

Pictured: Retired miners spoke to Mr Tiley about their lives underground at the Wyndham Western colliery in Ogmore Vale

When he first started in photography, he concentrated on the mining communities when there were 30 National Coal Board (NCB) deep coal mines and numerous private drift mines.

Mr Tiley said he watched communities that depended on the pits become ghost towns, forcing people to move to nearby towns and cities to find work.

'In the 1970s, job opportunities seemed to be plentiful,' said Mr Tiley, who now lives in Ystradgynlais, Swansea.

'Now, almost everything has gone. All the pits have closed and factories have been and gone. This has changed many communities beyond recognition. Chapels, pubs and workingmen's' institutions have all but gone.

'During the nineteenth century, the valleys, once green, were witness to a mass influx of workers to find employment in the pits, iron and steel works. The terraced houses still grasp to the steep valley contours, the inhabitants of many homes travel to nearby towns and cities to reach their work places. Rail and road links in some of the valleys has improved.

He said: 'Though places such as Maerdy, at the top of the Rhondda Fach has stood still. It's colliery was the last pit to close in the coal producing Rhondda valley and the miners were known to be militant, thus gaining the name 'Little Moscow'. Not one miner from Maerdy colliery broke the year long strike during 1984/85.'

Mr Tiley's has a long history with the coal mines with many of his family members working and some losing their lives in the pits.

His grandfather died in a coal mining accident and his grandfather's brother also lost his life underground at the age of just 15.

Mr Tiley watched communities that depended on the pits become ghost towns, forcing people to move to nearby towns and cities to find work. Pictured: Workers at the Lucas factory in the upper Swansea Valley protesting as their factory was about to close in 1999

Mr Tiley said: 'I feel sad that the pits have gone. A coal miner was a very special breed, a breed we shall never see again.' Pictured: A retired miner collecting scrap metal from an NCB colliery site in 1982

Pictured: A family on a visit to the Rhondda Heritage Park Mining Museum in Wales. It is located at the site of the former Lewis Merthyr colliery which closed in 1983

New wheels: Roles started to develop in factories on new industrial estates in the valleys, many built on former coal mines. Photographer Roger Tiley captured the moment an employee was awarded with a new car

Survivor: Gaynor Madwick, pictured above in Aberfan, in 2016 - 50 years on since the Aberfan disaster. Gaynor was dragged out with two broken legs, from the coal slurry that engulfed the school but sadly her brother and sister were killed in the disaster. Photographer Roger Tiley made a portrait of Gaynor half a century on from the disaster, looking up at where the coal tip came tumbling down

Very dangerous: The only plus side to the closure Mr Tiley said was the fact mining was very dangerous. Pictured above, children playing on the old Cambrian Colliery site in the Clydach Vale. This was the site of the last major colliery disaster in the South Wales after an explosion killed 33 miners in 1965

His father also came to help with recovery after a coal tip came down a mountain in the small village of Aberfan.

Last year Mr Tiley photographed Gaynor Madgwick, 50 years after she was pulled out with two broken legs from her local school following the disaster.

Mr Tiley said: 'I feel sad that the pits have gone. A coal miner was a very special breed, a breed we shall never see again. The plus side is, coal mining was very dangerous. Thousands have been killed over the history of coal extraction. Not just miners, I should add.

'In 1966 a coal tip came thundering down the mountain side in a small village called Aberfan. A farm, school and terraced houses were engulfed in black slurry. This happened on a October Friday morning, just before the half term holidays.

'Gaynor Madgwick was dragged from the remains of the school, but her brother and sister were killed. My father was a member of the territorial army and he went with his colleagues to help on the Sunday.'

Uncertain future: Mr Tiley said the closure of the mines has left generations with fewer opportunities for work. Pictured: Young boy on the Penrhys Housing Estate in the Rhondda Valley in 1995

Deserted: An old colliery site in Cwmdare, Cynon valley, would have once been a hub of activity now lays deserted

Pictured: Peter Haine, former labour Government Minister, at the 'Pride' reunion in 2014

Changing times: Photographer Roger Tiley documented the social changes as well as the economic changes to the Valleys. Pictured above, Mr Tiley photographed a pair at a transgender party in Swansea valley in 2016

As the coal mines closed one by one, Mr Tiley turned his attention to covering the different communities that make up the South Wales Valleys, ranging from transgender parties to Looney Party hustings.

He also turned his attention to documenting the police in Rhondda during the early 90s.

Mr Tiley managed to capture rare images such as a police officer interviewing a young woman after she had been assaulted by her partner in her home.

He said: 'By 1996, when I spent time with the police in the valleys, things were back to normal. Fights outside pubs on a Saturday night and domestics. It was a buzz when the calls came through and the blues and twos were loud and colourful, as we raced to a shout.

'The flash on my camera was a flash point for drunks to aim their anger towards me. But the police always protected me.'

Mr Tiley has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a book of his over four decades of documenting his local area.

He added: 'I felt it would be important to put a collection of images of where I've lived all of my life together and publish them in a book. This would be a personal achievement and a thank you to all the people I've photographed over the years.

'Photography is an excuse for me to be a witness to meeting people and seeing places that normally I would pass by. That is the fascination of photography for me.'

For more information, visit Mr Tiley's fundraising page here.
Advertisement

Beautiful portraits of Native Americans from almost 120 years ago have been brought to life in a collection of color photos.

The stunning array offers an insight into the vibrant cultures of each tribe from the resplendent feathered headdress of the fierce Sioux nation to the ornate beaded clothing of the Crow tribe.

The colored pictures, some dating as far back as 1899, include tribespeople from the Sioux, Crow, Ute, Passamaquoddy, Pawnee, Maricopa, Blackfeet and Salish.

Among the interesting figures captured in the vintage collection, are Iron White Man from the Sioux, who traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, while wearing a police uniform.

Other pictures show Plain Owl of the Crow tribe wearing traditional dress and holding a tomahawk in his lap.

Porrum and Pedro, Ute men, 1899. The Utes were a large tribe that lived in the mountain regions of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada and Northern New Mexico. Utes were skilled hunters, but after introducing horses into tribe life in the 17th century they became known as expert big game hunters - especially of Buffalo, which they were particularly reliant on. They also had a reputation of fierce warriors, with Spanish settlers speaking of their fine physiques and ability to live in harsh conditions - a stark contrast to the soft dispositions of their Europeans counterparts. All members of the tribe were willing to fight, with women and children also known to defend their camps with lances if needed

Left, Peter Tall Mandan, Grandson of Long Mandan, and right, Iron White Man, Sioux, 1900. The Sioux - arguably one of the most well known Native American tribes - lived on the Great Plains in Minnesota. They were a tribe split across three divisions The Lakota, The Dakota and The Nakota. The Sioux were known to be fierce warriors, with battles such as the Little Bighorn still legendary to this day, and going to war was seen as a rights of passage for Sioux men. However, they were also a very spiritual people and their lives were centered around their families with the raising of children of the up-most importance

Left, Sitting Eagle and right, Po-Pa-Trecash (Plain Owl) both from Crow nation, early 1900s. The Crow people were a plains tribe from land near the base of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming and Montana. The tribe were powerful and skilled hunters on horseback and could demonstrate this during battle with techniques like hanging underneath a galloping horse by gripping the animals mane. They were also known for their distinctive clothing, particularly their ornate and decorative bead-work (as seen in this picture). The tribe adorned beads on almost every aspect of their lives, with clothes and horses covered in them. Beads and shapes often had a common symbolism but could also be specific to a certain person, representing their standing in the community and achievements

Wiwi-Yokpa or Mary Elmanico, Passamaquoddy, 1913. The Passamaquoddy tribe has been living in north eastern US for several thousands years. They originate from Maine and New Brunswick and inhabited the coastal areas of Passamaquoddy Bay, Bay of Fundy and Gulf Of Maine. The Passamaquoddy were the first Native American tribe to meet European settlers in the 17th century. While the tribe traded furs with both French and English settlers, they generally distrusted the English and eventually supported the American colonists during the Revolutionary War

Ke-Wa-Ko (Good Fox), Pawnee, 1902. The Pawnee people were a plains tribe that lived in Oklahoma for hundreds of years, before late inhabiting land along the North Platt River in Nebraska. Pawnees were known for their courage and endurance in battle. A testament to their warrior lineage, is that Pawnees have served in every US conflict to date, starting with Pawnee Scouts during the Native American wars of 1622. An identifiable trait of the Pawnees, although, not visible here, was a particular way of preparing their scalp locks - the lock of hair at the back of the head. The tribe would use buffalo fat to make the hair erect and arch it back like a horn

Yellow Feather, Maricopa tribe. The Maricopa tribe were people that lived along the Lower Gila and Colorado Rivers in Arizona. Unlike other tribes, the Maricopa were not known for their skill as warriors and instead were farmers and known for their basket weaving, textiles and red pottery making. To avoid attacks from Quechan and Mojave tribes they formed with the Pima people and migrated to the Gila River in the 16th century

Thunder Cloud, Blackfeet tribe. Blackfeet people lived in the plains around the Rocky Mountains in Montana, Idaho and Alberta in Canada for over 10,000 years. They were skilled hunters and relied heavily on buffalo and when Europeans hunted the animals close to extinction in the 1800s hundreds of Blackfeet died from starvation. The tribe was known for its artistry and skill at embroidering, basket making and beading. However, it was also known for its reluctance to get along with other tribes and clashed with those living in close proximity, including Assiniboine, Cree, Crows, Flatheads, Kutenai, and the Sioux
Tunisian authorities shut down a nightclub and launched an investigation after a British DJ played a remix recording of the Muslim call to prayer.

A video shows clubbers dancing at the weekend in the northeastern town of Nabeul to music that includes the sound usually used to summon Muslims to the mosque to worship.

Shortly afterwards, the club was locked down and the manager has been detained for 'violations against good morals and public outrage against modesty'.

Scroll down for video

The nightclub understood to have been embroiled in the issue over the Muslim call to prayer

Two European DJs played at the party on Friday as part of a music festival near the popular resort of Hammamet.

Nabeul governor Mnaouar Ouertani said: 'After confirming the facts, we decided to close this nightclub' until further notice

'We will not allow attacks against religious feelings and the sacred.'

Reaction to the video caused a storm on social media and Tunisia's religious affairs ministry in a statement said: 'Mocking the opinions and religious principles of Tunisians is absolutely unacceptable.'

Organisers of the Orbit Festival for techno music fans on Monday apologised in a post on the event's Facebook page, but said it took no responsibility for the offensive tune.

'Dax J is English and played the track recently in Europe and did not realise it might offend an audience from a Muslim country like ours', they said.

The DJ also apologised and said: 'I want to offer my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been offended by music that I played at Orbit Festival in Tunisia on Friday.

'It was never my intention to upset or cause offence to anybody.'
Controversial Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali has launched a scathing attack on Sharia law and compared the burqa to a 'very big swastika'.

Ms Hirsi Ali, who cancelled her upcoming Australian speaking tour over security fears, also likened the garment to the ISIS flag.

'The burqa that covers the face... that is just like the ISIS flag. It's like wearing a very big swastika,' she told Seven News.

Scroll down for video

Controversial Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali (pictured) has launched a scathing attack on Sharia law and compared the burqa to a 'very big swastika'

Ms Hirsi Ali was forced to cancel her upcoming Australian speaking tour over security fears

'Everywhere where Sharia law is applied women are robbed of their rights and their dignity.

'I cannot think of a system of law that dehumanises and degrades women more than Islamic law,' she said.

Ms Hirsi Ali also called for Islamic schools to be banned 'in Australia and all other liberal societies.'

The outspoken Islam critic, who was born in Somali, was subjected to female genital mutilation as a child.

Ms Hirsi Ali also compared the burqa to an Islamic State flag. Above, men and women dressed in burqas from the group 'Faceless' call for the banning of the conservative Muslim apparel

'The burqa that covers the face... that is just like the ISIS flag. It's like wearing a very big swastika,' she said. Above, she attends a book presentation in Germany in 2015

She became an MP in the Netherlands after seeking political asylum in an attempt to escape an arranged marriage.

For years she has lived with tight security as a result of her stance on radical Islamists.

Ms Hirsi Ali was due to speak at events in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland this week.

Organisers of her trip Think Inc advised on Monday of the cancellation.

Ms Hirsi Ali became an MP in the Netherlands after seeking political asylum in an attempt to escape an arranged marriage

For years she has lived with tight security as a result of her stance on radical Islamists

'Ayaan Hirsi Ali regrets that for a number of reasons including security concerns she must cancel her upcoming appearances,' Think Inc said in a statement on Monday.

'She wishes the event organisers success in their future endeavours and hopes to return to Australia in the not too distant future.'

Ms Hirsi Ali's trip to Australia had sparked protests from a group of Muslim women who accused her of hate mongering and bigotry.

Nearly 400 people signed an online petition against Ms Hirsi Ali's speaking tour.

'Against a backdrop of increasing global Islamophobia, Hirsi-Ali's divisive rhetoric simply serves to increase hostility and hatred towards Muslims,' the petition, posted on Change.org, said.
A 51-year-old man has died in Germany after a delivery man stabbed him during an argument over his newspapers arriving late.

The man, who has not been identified, exchanged heated words with the 42-year-old courier several times about his local Luneburg newspaper being late before the altercation on Saturday.

On Saturday at about 5pm in the Luneburg district of Oedeme, a fight broke out between the two men when the delivery man again turned up late with the mans newspaper.

The 51-year-old man had exchanged heated words with the 42-year-old courier several times about his local Luneburg, Germany, newspaper being late before the altercation on Saturday

The delivery man pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed the customer in his upper body, according to a police report.

A 23-year-old relative of the customer saw the attack and pulled the delivery man off of him, pinning the attacker down until police arrived.

Emergency responders tried to resuscitate the victim at the scene, but he died of his wounds at the hospital.

The delivery man was taken into custody at the scene and brought in front of a judge on Sunday, where he was issued an arrest warrant.
A mentally ill man has killed three hospital roommates by stabbing them with a chopstick.

The attacker, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, untied himself from his hospital bed before carrying out the assault on four women in Henan Province, central China, in February.

Only one woman survived the stabbings and all three others died of head injuries.

Surveillance footage shows Yang, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, untying himself from the hospital bed (left) before going towards a coffee table (right) at a hospital in China

The shocking incident took place on February 24, but was only reported by media last week.

According to Chinese newspaper The Paper, the attacker, surnamed Yang, was admitted into the Luoning Public Hospital in Luoyang on the day of the attack.

The hospital classified his condition as 'critical'. It also said that Yang was 'an imminent danger to himself and the others'. The hospital required one of Yang's family members to accompany the patient.

Mr Yi, Director of the hospital, told The Paper that Yang had been allocated to stay in a ward where all patients had severe mental disorders and 'rely on the support of carers significantly'.

Yang used the chopstick (circled) he had found to stab four female patients in the same ward

Ms Yun, 63, died at the scene while Ms Zhang, 43, sustained injuries but survived the attack

According to surveillance footage, a hospital carer tidied the ward and arranged the duvets for the patients at 8:16pm. Yang was lying on his bed at the time, with his hands and feet strapped in protective limb holders.

Five minutes later after the carer left the ward, Yang started to untie the restraints on his limbs. He eventually got off the bed.

The reporter from the The Paper also said that his brother, who was looking after Yang in the hospital, went out to a nearby convenience store at that time to buy some milk powder for Yang.

The video shows Yang picking up a chopstick from a coffee table in the middle of the ward and tying one of his shoes before going into a separate room in the ward.

The surveillance camera did not capture Yang's activities in the other room. However, The Paper claimed that there were two patients staying in the other room and both of them were diagnosed with head injuries after Yang was captured.

The two patients, surnamed Bai and Wei, later died.

Yang first went up to Ms Yun, who slept in the bed next to him, and stabbed her in the head

The mental health patient then walked to a neighbouring bed where Ms Zhang slept

Ms Zhang is the only survivor among the four female patients whom Yang had attacked

At 8:30pm, Yang went up to a third patient, identified as 63-year-old Yun, and stabbed her in the head with the chopstick, as the video showed. Yun allegedly died at the scene.

Afterwards, he walked to the neighbouring bed, where a 43-year-old female patient, surnamed Zhang, slept. Yang also stabbed her in the head.

Zhang sustained injuries on her head and in her left eye. But she was the only survivor among the four whom Yang attacked.

One patient from the opposite row woke up after Yang attacked Zhang. Seconds later, two hospital carers rushed into the ward and brought Yang under control.

The hospital confirmed that all straps had been functional and Yang had taken antipsychotic medication before being put to bed, said The Paper.

Two hospital carers rushed into the after Yang attacker four of his roommates at the hospital

Yang was brought under control by one carer and sent to a different ward afterwards

According to Huanqui.com, an affiliation to People's Daily Online, the hospital agreed to give 80,000 yuan (9317) to the family of Ms Yun, who died from the incident, as compensation.

In return, Ms Yun's family would have to agree not to file any complaints to any departments, including the ministerial departments. And Ms Yun's family have agreed.

The hospital is still trying to settle with the families of Ms Bai and Ms Wei, who were also killed.

The two families demanded that the hospital pay them 1,200,000 yuan (139,000) each as compensation.

Since the incident occurred, Yang has been moved into another ward. However, it remains unclear if he is sharing the ward with any patients.

The Luoning County Public Security Bureau released a statement on April 1.

The statement confirmed that three patients died at the Luoning Public Hospital as a result of Yang's stabbings. It confirmed that Ms Yun died at the scene while Ms Bai and Ms Wei died on March 5 and March 9 respectively.

The police said they are carrying out further investigation.

It also remains unclear if Yang would be hold accountable for his actions, or if any charges would be brought against him.
Laying with two black eyes, a drip hanging from his arm and his hand clutched to his chest, these are the first pictures of the teenage asylum seeker who was nearly killed in a shocking mob attack in south London.

Reker Ahmed suffered a fractured spine, a fractured eye socket and a bleed to the brain after the attack in Croydon on Friday night.

The 17-year-old was so badly injured he did not even recognise his own brother, Hadi, during a hospital visit.

The battered victim was pictured for the first time since the attack today, during a visit from Kurdish politician Faysal Sariyildiz and Zinar Demeni, a member of a Kurdish community group.

A Kurdish community group tweeted this picture of Reker Ahmed, the victim of a mob attack in Croydon last week, as he recovers from life-threatening injuries in King's College Hospital

Reker is seen conversing with visitors, although his brother said he has suffered amnesia and didn't recognise him when he arrived to see him

Reker was visited by Kurdish politician Faysal Sariyildiz (right) and community figure Zinar Demeni. A group tweeted the pictures with a plea to donate towards his recovery

Mr Sariyildiz, speaking exclusively to MailOnline through an interpreter, said: 'When we arrived he was a little drowsy and was beginning to wake up, but he was able to recognise us and have a little talk.

'He was pleased to see people and was happy to talk. It seems that he is making a good recovery and after being a little drowsy was able to smile which was a very good sign.'

Mr Sariylidiz said Reker was very grateful for all the support he had received and to all the people who had contributed to a recovery fund set up online.

The teenager was visited by family and friends yesterday, but, after receiving severe head injuries in the attack, is struggling with memory.

His brother Hadi Ahmed, 23, said: 'When I saw him the first time he was like "are you my brother?" and I said "what do you mean?... yeah I'm your brother what are you talking about?"

'It was like that, just shocked. I was just hugging him saying "you're my brother".

'I didn't recognise him as well when the first time I see him... he didn't have any affection. He didn't want to hug me.'

He added: 'It was horrible. I started crying. It's really bad, I feel really gutted and disappointed about the situation that happened.'

Asylum seeker Reker Ahmed was telling friends how happy he was to be living in England shortly before he was attacked, a friend has revealed. His brother, Hadi (right), said he had lost his memory after the shocking beating

Members from the Iranian Kurdish community met senior police officers and Communities Saijid Javid near the scene of the attack today

Brother Hadi, who also lives in the UK, said he was 'heartbroken' after the visit at London's King's College Hospital. He said his brother's face was so swollen and bruised he could barely recognise him.

'His eyes were all red and black,' he said. 'It was shocking.'

A total of 13 people have now been charged over the incident. The Metropolitan Police believe three 'key individuals' are still at large.

Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe said today: 'There are three more key individuals believed to have played a part and we are appealing for people to continue to come forward.'

Extra officers have been deployed to patrol the area to try to reassure residents after the attack on Friday morning, he added.

A JustGiving page for Reker, who is believed to have come to Britain through The Jungle camp in Calais, has raised more than 40,000.

Police are still searching for these two men and another 'key individual' who has been linked to the attack last week

The youth arrived in the UK around last July after coming with family from Iran to Calais, initially staying at a hostel in Bognor Regis.

Dilshad Mohammed, who was one of those with Reker on the night of the attack, said: 'He told us about half an hour before that when he was back home [in Iran] he [had been] wishing to get to this country, to England, and he was thinking, 'that's all my wishes coming true, I'm here now'.

'He was an open guy, he made his friends happy.

'None of us are going to go back there [to the Shrublands estate where the attack happened].

'We came here to be safe in this country, not to die. If I'd have known the UK was like that I wouldn't have come.'

Mr Mohammed, who for legal reasons cannot talk about the attack itself, suffered minor injuries and is desperate to go to the hospital to visit Reker.

Ben Harman and Ellie Leite - two of the latest group of people charged over the attack in Croydon - leave court after they appeared before magistates today

James Neves and Kyran Evans hid their faces behind coats as they left court this morning

Liam Neylen leaves court today - he is one of 13 people now charged over the 'race hate' attack

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: 'We are his friends, the people he has here.

'We are calling the police as we want to see him. We are going to try our best today.'

Online fund raises 40,000 for victim More than 1,000 people have contributed to an online fund for the attack victim. The crowdfunding webpage, set up on the JustGiving site, set a target of raising 3,500 to help him during his recovery. The total paid into the fund topped 40,000 this morning. Advertisement

A total of 13 people have now been charged, with a group of eight appearing in court yesterday. Ben Harman, 20, and a 17-year-old boy, have been charged with racially aggravated GBH and violent disorder. Harman is also charged with dangerous driving.

Liam Neylen, 19, pub barmaid Ellie Leite, 19, James Neves, 22, and a 15-year-old boy face violent disorder charges.

The latest group of defendants appeared before magistrates this morning, along with Kyran Evans, 23, and a 17-year-old girl who were also charged with violent disorder last night.

Police have made 16 arrests but are hunting others said to be among the 30 involved in the attack at just before midnight in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

Five other people appeared in court yesterday charged over the incident.

Danyelle Davis, 24, held the hand of Barry Potts, 20, in the dock as they were charged in connection with the assault yesterday. Her brother Daryl Davis, 20, is also charged.

Daryl Davies and his sister Danyelle Davies are among 13 people charged over the attack. They appeared in court yesterday

Another of the five people charged over the incident, believed to be Jack Walder, is pictured leaving Croydon Magistrates' Court

George Walder, 20, and his brother, Jack Walder, 24, also came before magistrates yesterday.

Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as 'absolutely despicable'.

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 person's head  there is no provocation for that.'

Brothers Jack, left, and George Walder, right, also appeared in court over the attack on the teenager

Detectives are investigating if the attackers had been drinking in the nearby Goat pub before approaching the victim and his friends.

Croydon attack: Who has been charged? Daryl Davis, 20, violent disorder Danyelle Davis, 24, violent disorder Barry Potts, 20, violent disorder George Walder, 20, violent disorder and racially aggravated GBH Jack Walder, 24, violent disorder Unnamed girl, 17, violent disorder Kyran Evans, 23, violent disorder Liam Neylen, 19, violent disorder Ben Harman, 20, violent disorder, racially aggravated GBH and dangerous driving Unnamed boy, 15, violent disorder Unnamed boy, 17, violent disorder and racially aggravated GBH Ellie Leite, 19, violent disorder James Neves, 22, violent disorder Advertisement

Det Supt Corrigan said: 'He's 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.

'I've not seen an attack of this nature for very long time, and it is really disturbing.'

Det Supt Corrigan added: 'I genuinely don't think people have gone out with the intention to commit this horrific attack.

'You've 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.'

The victim 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.'

The young asylum seeker was attacked near this bus stop in south London

Yesterday, friends said the victim 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 wasn't 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 yesterday morning

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 yesterday's 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.
Jack Keane, a four-star general who turned down Trump's offer of Defense Secretary, issued a stark warning on North Korea

A four-star general with close ties to Donald Trump has warned that military strikes are 'rapidly' becoming the only solution to North Korea's nuclear program.

Jack Keane, who declined the President's offer to become Defense Secretary last year, said bombing Kim Jong-un's nuclear facilities 'may be the only option left.'

His stark assessment comes ahead of a meeting between Trump and Chinese premier Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday at Mar-a-Lago, where the subject of North Korea is expected to dominate.

Trump signaled his agenda for the talks on Monday, when he told reporters that America is willing to go it alone in order to 'solve North Korea'.

Speaking to The Times on Tuesday, Keane said: 'A preemptive strike against launch facilities, underground nuclear sites, artillery and rocket response forces and regime leadership targets may be the only option left on the table.

'We are rapidly and dangerously moving towards a military solution.'

Keane believes talks with China over more sanctions against Kim Jong-un's regime are likely to fail, leaving pre-emptive strikes as 'the only option left on the table'

Keane added that any attempt to pressure the Chinese into sanctioning North Korea is likely to end in failure.

'Our attempts to leverage China in the past have failed miserably,' he said.

'Sanctions have not worked against North Korea and I doubt more sanctions will and I don't believe sanctions against China will work any better.'

While it is not clear what exactly Trump meant by 'solving' North Korea, he was likely referring to shutting down the country's nuclear weapons program, rather than removing the Kim regime entirely.

Back in January Trump tweeted that North Korea was 'in the final stages' of developing a weapon capable of hitting the US, pledging: 'It won't happen.'

Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese premier Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort this week where the issue of North Korea will be at the top of the agenda

Opinion on how long it will actually take the communist state to develop such a weapon varies, though most respectable sources estimate it could happen within the next four years.

Earlier this year the regime launched newly developed missiles from an airbase in the country's north which flew roughly 310 miles before dropping into the ocean, while last year it is thought to have conducted two nuclear weapon tests.

Any solution involving China is likely to rely on further economic sanctions, as the country is responsible for around 90 per cent of North Korea's trade.

Other options could include cyber attacks against North Korean nuclear facilities, such as the Stuxnet virus attack on Iran, though this would likely only delay the program, rather than end it.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has come under fire for making comments suggesting that gay people can become straight.

The Tasmanian senator was speaking to Sky News's Samantha Maiden about companies that are pushing for marriage equality by asking Australians to wear an 'acceptance ring' until same-sex marriage is legal.

Mr Abetz criticised the businesses  which include Qantas, ANZ, Foxtel and Airbnb  saying they should focus on their customers rather than 'politically correct' causes.

And when asked by Ms Maiden if gays and lesbians can become heterosexual, he replied that he believes there is evidence that supports it.

Scroll down for video

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has been blasted for making comments suggesting that gay people can become straight

'The reality is and evidence has been given to Senate Committees where people that have been in gay relationships have then gone into heterosexual relationships and I believe that can happen courtesy of the evidence,' he said.

'It is up to the individual as to what they want to be and how they want to express themselves. That is up to them in a free society.'

Mr Abetz added that the media is failing to report on people who go from homosexual to heterosexual relationships.

'My complaint has been that when people say they have moved from a gay relationship to heterosexual relationship, they are never reported.

'They give evidence to Senate Committees and it's as though the evidence was never given, yet when people say they were in a straight relationship going into a gay relationship then that's all that is reported.'

The Tasmanian senator was speaking to Sky News about companies that are pushing for marriage equality

Mr Abetz quickly began to trend on Twitter in the wake of his comments  with many users slamming his view and others mocking him for discovering bisexuality

Mr Abetz quickly began to trend on Twitter in the wake of his comments  with many users slamming his view and others mocking him for discovering bisexuality.

Lauren Ingram wrote: 'Hey @SenatorAbetz, there's a word for 'gay people in heterosexual relationships' (hint: they're called bisexuals).'

'It seems Eric Abetz has just discovered bisexuality exists,' another person wrote.

Alan Vertue added: 'What a relic. Abetz should be preserved in formaldehyde and displayed in a museum alongside dinosaurs.'

Another joked: 'There is evidence intelligent people can become morons if they listen to Tasmanian Senator Abetz for more than 20 minutes.'

Mr Abetz defended himself in a statement posted on his website, saying: 'News reports that I have suggested gay people can become straight 'if they try hard enough' are not just another example of fake news but are also completely dishonest.'

He also called out Ms Maiden for her 'extremist' questioning.

Others on Twitter blasted the Tasmanian senator for his outdated views

'Any objective analysis of the video or the transcript shows that I did not respond to Ms Maiden's extremist questioning,' he said.

However, he reiterated his earlier claims that many homosexuals have become heterosexual.

'Just as people who were at one point straight can become homosexual, there are many instances of people who were homosexual who determine that they are no longer gay,' he said.

'Indeed, it is also universally accepted that a larger number of people 'experiment' with homosexuality than ultimately identify in that way.'

He added: 'In this age of 'celebrating diversity and acceptance', I would hope that these unremarkable statements would be accepted in the same goodwill as most Australians accept that people are free to determine their own sexual identity.

'It is disappointing that the same old outrage merchants are quick out of the blocks to recharacterize my comments to enable their victimhood status and that elements of the media are reporting off other media commentary rather than the substance of the interview.'
Cartoon portraits of billionaire businessman Warren Buffett have been circulating on thousands of Cherry Coca-Cola cans in China

Cartoon portraits of billionaire businessman Warren Buffett have been circulating on thousands of Cherry Coca-Cola cans in China to celebrate its official launch in the country.

Images of the novel drinks containers surfaced last week, with the 86-year-old seen sporting a pinkish complexion and a slight grin while dressed in collared shirt.

Mr Buffett is an obvious fit for the brand, with a reported five-a-day Coca-Cola habit and a 9.3 per cent stake in the soda brand.

He is also somewhat of a celebrity in China, with many fascinated by his phenomenal success. The octogenarian is the second wealthiest person on the planet with a net worth of $74.9 billion (60.1 billion).

According to its website, Coca-Cola got permission from the investor to use his image on cans for a limited time, while supplies last.

It launched Cherry Coke in China on March 10.

Shelly Lin, Coca-Cola Chinas marketing director said in a press release her team were surprised when Mr Buffett agreed to the idea.

She added: 'But we're thrilled, and hes selling well.'

For the drawing, Mr Buffett said he did not sit down for a portrait as he's 'never been keen on that sort of activity'.

Mr Buffett is an obvious fit for the brand, with a reported five-a-day Coca-Cola habit and a 9.3 per cent stake in the soda brand

Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which Mr Buffett runs, is Coke's largest investor, with a 9.3 percent stake worth roughly $17 billion.

Mr Buffett has many fans in China, which often sends a large contingent to watch him at Berkshire's annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska.

Last year, Berkshire webcast its meeting for the first time, and provided simultaneous translation only in Mandarin.

Mr Buffett told shareholders at Berkshire's annual meeting last April that he drinks five Cokes a day, and joked that he is 'one quarter Coca-Cola' because the beverage accounts for 25 per cent of his caloric intake.

The father-of-three also added that he had no evidence he would be more likely to live to 100 if he switched to 'water and broccoli.'
Police are to pay 44,500 of taxpayers' money on a phone bill racked up by a burglar.

The thief was given a phone by North Wales Police while he was on bail, so they could keep tabs on him.

But after he was jailed, he handed the device to two of his friends, who ran up the astonishing bill in just six months.

Taxpayers will cover the cost of a 45,000 phone bill run up by a burglar who was given the device by police so they could keep in contact with him while he was on bail

The huge bill - the equivalent of 250 a day - came about after the criminal was accidentally given an Orange contract phone, whose use was unlimited, rather than a pay-as-you-go device.

The burglar's two friends were arrested on suspicion of theft, but no charges were brought against them when it emerged the criminal wasn't asked to sign any forms when he was given the phone.

North Wales Police has now agreed to settled the 44,500 bill.

A spokesman for the force said: 'This phone was provided under the Integrated Offender Management process in order to allow frequent support/communication of an offender in their rehabilitation into the community.

North Wales Constabulary made the blunder by giving the man a contract phone rather than a pay-as-you-go model

'It was used for a number of months and the bills were paid monthly as part of the overall force-wide invoice.

'In the case of this particular phone a contract SIM was mistakenly supplied as opposed to a credit limited PAYG (pay as you go) SIM card.

'When the irregularity came to light in early 2014 the Deputy Chief Constable requested an immediate investigation into how this had occurred, and the matter was passed to Crime Services for further investigation.

'A criminal investigation took place which established three individuals to whom the phone could be attributed.

'Two people were arrested and interviewed in relation to the usage and they provided accounts with regards to their use of the mobile telephone, which included how it came into their possession.'

John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'This is a huge error by the police force and taxpayers will want answers as to how this mistake went unnoticed for so long.

'Most will find it pretty staggering that ex-offenders are given mobile phones at all so it is absolutely vital that forces make sure that costs are kept down. When money is wasted like this it means that there is less that can go into front-line policing.'
An anti-Uber activist who performed citizen's arrests on drivers has been slammed with a court order banning him from harassing those using the ride sharing app.

Russell Howarth, a limo driver who has been previously affiliated with Uber, became notorious after he arrested nine Uber drivers claiming they were breaking the law under the Passenger Transport Act.

But the Supreme Court of NSW has hit the anti-Uber activist with a court order and told him to stop harassing drivers on the ride sharing app.

Anti-Uber activist Russell Howarth, who performed citizen's arrests on drivers has been slammed with a court order banning him from harassing those using the ride sharing app

Russell Howarth, a limo driver who has been previously affiliated with Uber, became notorious after he arrested nine Uber drivers claiming they were breaking the law

Mr Howarth was part of a wide spread social media campaign called Arresting Uber which gained traction while the ride sharing app was trying to make headway in Australia.

Uber launched action in the NSW Supreme Court against Mr Howarth citing harassment of drivers and passengers.

Uber alleged he performed nine citizen's arrests on Uber drivers between October 2014 and June 2015, as well as other acts of intimidation in 2016.

One citizen's arrest involved Uber driver Mr Dara Khodor.

Uber alleged that on June 30, 2015 a number of Uber drivers, including Mr Khodor were lured to Leichhardt Oval in Sydney where multiple citizen arrests took place.

When Mr Khodor arrived at Leichhardt Oval his passenger asked him to open the boot so he could get his luggage.

As he did so Mr Khodor was ambushed by up to ten people, including Mr Howarth who said 'you are under arrest because you are driving Uber'.

The court agreed that it was necessary to put an end Mr Howarth's campaign and ordered him not to harass any driver or passenger of an Uber vehicle.

Uber launched action in the NSW Supreme Court against Mr Howarth citing harassment of drivers and passengers (stock image)
Thank you for reading!

To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99.
The Trump administration has hired a Louisiana-based Republican operative whose name was exposed during the 2015 Ashley Madison hack.

Politico first connected the dots that Jason Dore began a new job yesterday as an assistant chief counsel for external affairs for the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy.

Dore, then the Louisiana GOP executive director, told the Times-Picayune in August 2015 that he used the site, in which married people seek out affairs, for 'opposition research.'

Scroll down for video

Jason Dore's name was exposed in the 2015 Ashley Madison hack, while he was serving as the head of Louisiana's Republican Party

The Republican political operative told the Times-Picayune at the time that he used the site (pictured), where cheaters can seek out affairs, for opposition research

Dore told the Times-Picayune, via a text message, that the account was in his name and used his personal credit card billing address, though was for the work he did at the Dore Jeansonne law firm.

He wouldn't tell the paper who is was trying to ensnare.

'As the state's leading opposition research firm, our law office routinely searches public records, online databases and websites of all types to provide clients with comprehensive reports,' Dore told the newspaper.

'Our utilization of this site was for standard opposition research,' he continued.

'Unfortunately, it ended up being a waste of money and time,' he added.

The leaked database of Ashley Madison users shows that Dore signed up for the cheating website in 2013 and spent $175.98.

Talking to Politico about being exposed, Dore pointed to how the Louisiana Republican Party won additional seats in Congress and the state government.

'We won majorities on the Supreme Court and the state Board of Education and the Public Service Commission, all first-time things, and defeated Mary Landrieu, which was a big deal,' Dore told Politico.

Landrieu, a Democratic U.S. senator, was unseated in 2014 by Republican Bill Cassidy.

Her brother, Mitch Landrieu, is the Democratic mayor of New Orleans.

The White House told Politico that Dore wasn't a poitical hire from the Presidential Personnel Office and wouldn't comment further.
Advertisement

A German GP has built an incredible replica World War One triplane in tribute to his hero the Red Baron - and is set to take the skies of Britain in it.

Dr Peter Brueggemann, who lives in Norfolk, will fulfill his childhood dream and emulate German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen.

The WWI airman is credited with dozens of wartime victories and terrified British airmen from the Royal Flying Corps by insisting his aircraft was the only one in vivid red because he wanted the enemy to know he was coming.

Dr Peter Brueggemann, pictured, who lives in Norfolk, will fulfill his childhood dream after building a replica of the Fokker Dreidecker Dr.1 fighter aircraft

German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen is credited with dozens of wartime victories and terrified British airmen by insisting his aircraft, pictured, was the only one in vivid red because he wanted the enemy to know he was coming

The Dreidecker measures 18ft 11in in length, has a wingspan of 23ft 7in and is 9ft 8in tall. It has a maximum speed of 115mph

Dr Brueggemann's model of the Fokker Dreidecker Dr.1 fighter is an almost exact replica of the original aircraft and he has used the same materials as almost 100 years ago

The GP at the Holt Medical Practice in Norfolk says he has devoted thousands of man hours to the project. Pictured is the plane's cockpit

Dr Brueggemann, 52, has used the same metal as in the original Fokker Dreidecker Dr.1 fighter to construct the fuselage of his replica and wood imported from Finland to build the three wings. For safety reasons, he has fitted a modern engine.

He has even equipped the aircraft with two fake Spandau 7.92 mm machine guns which make an almighty racket and fires flames from a butane tank at his feet.

The Dreidecker measures 18ft 11in in length, has a wingspan of 23ft 7in and is 9ft 8in tall. It has a maximum speed of 115mph.

Father-of-two Dr Brueggemann, pictured, has lived in England for 20 years and is married to wife Sue

Dr Brueggemann has his pilot's licence and has prepared for the maiden flight in his distinctive 'Richthofen red' tri-plane in a 1930s Tiger Moth

The 52-year-old has used the same metal as in the original Fokker Dreidecker Dr.1 fighter to construct the fuselage of his replica and wood imported from Finland to build the three wings. For safety reasons, he has fitted a modern engine

Since all the original Dreideckers' were destroyed or lost, Dr Brueggemann, 52, has used technical drawings created in 1976 by American aviation fanatic Ron Sands as a blueprint to build his own Red Baron.

His model is an almost exact replica of the original aircraft and he has used the same materials as almost 100 years ago.

Dr Brueggemann has sourced 'Richthofen red' fabric for skin of the aircraft from Germany and has painted large four black crosses - the insignia for the German Flying Corps - on the wings and tail.

He has also acquired the title Baron from the independent territory of Sealand off the English coast so he will be Baron von Brueggemann in homage to his idol.

His long-standing ambition is to fly to his homeland of Germany and he has fitted a transponder specifically for continental journeys so he can liaise with air traffic control

The doctor's idol Von Richthofen was a baron from an aristocratic Prussian family who is credited with 84 victories during the war. Pictured is Dr Brueggemann beside his replica triplane

Von Richthofen was shot down and died in action on April 21, 1918 near Amiens, France, while trying to defend his cousin Wolfram, who would go on to be a field marshal during the Second World War. Pictured is Dr Brueggemann in his replica plane

The GP at the Holt Medical Practice in Norfolk has devoted thousands of man hours to the project.

Dr Brueggemann said: 'This plane is almost identical to the one 100 years ago - the only difference is the engine.

'The machine guns really sound like machine guns. I've done it to make the plane more realistic so people can see the aircraft and hear the noises so they know what it was really like in the First World War.

'It is a devil to fly - many pilots were killed trying to fly it - so I've been practicing with older triplanes like the Tiger Moth.

'You have to respect the aircraft and not be arrogant when you fly it. There are nerves but it is my dream to fly to Germany.

'My son had heard about the territory of Sealand where you can officially buy a title so on my plane it will be written Baron von Brueggemann.'

Since all the original Dreideckers' were destroyed or lost, Dr Brueggemann has used technical drawings created in 1976 to construct the replica plane

The drawings used by Dr Brueggemann were created by American aviation fanatic Ron Sands as a blueprint to build his own Red Baron

The father-of-two, who has lived in England for 20 years and is married to wife Sue, has his pilot's licence and has prepared for the maiden flight in his distinctive 'Richthofen red' tri-plane in a 1930s Tiger Moth.

He hopes to be airborne in a few months once tests on the engine are completed at Felthorpe airfield near Norwich.

His long-standing ambition is to fly to his homeland of Germany and he has fitted a transponder specifically for continental journeys so he can liaise with air traffic control.

The doctor's idol Von Richthofen was a baron from an aristocratic Prussian family who is credited with 84 victories during the war.

He became formidable quickly. Just a month after first sitting in a flying plane as a gunner, he took his first solo flight and soon became one of the best-known names in the German military.

He was shot down and died in action on April 21, 1918 near Amiens, France, while trying to defend his cousin Wolfram, who would go on to be a field marshal during the Second World War.

Many theories exist about who killed him, and for a long time the RAF credited Canadian Captain Arthur 'Roy' Brown, who had to dive steeply at high speed to intervene in the dogfight. Later theories suggested the bullet which downed the Baron was fired from the ground.

Dr Brueggemann has sourced 'Richthofen red' fabric for skin of the aircraft from Germany

He has also painted large four black crosses - the insignia for the German Flying Corps - on the wings and tail

Dr Brueggemann said: 'This type of aircraft is so unique - the way it looks and its red colour - and the history behind it is quite fascinating.' Pictured is the plane's propeller

Dr Brueggemann hopes to be airborne in a few months once tests on the engine are completed at Felthorpe airfield near Norwich

Dr Brueggemann said: 'This type of aircraft is so unique - the way it looks and its red colour - and the history behind it is quite fascinating.

'It was Richthofen's idea for the plane to be painted red because he wanted to be seen fairly quickly by the enemy and for them to be afraid of him because they knew he was the only pilot with a red plane.

'Richthofen was not really a good pilot when he started by he really grew into the role and in the end had 84 victories.

'He actually came from the cavalry but he had a killer instinct and he always wanted to be more efficient.

'Richthofen was killed protecting his cousin Wolfram because in following him to see if he was okay during his first flight he disregarded his own principles for a pilot to protect themselves.'

The plane is said to be difficult to fly with 'many pilots' killed in the cockpit but the doctor, pictured, said he is ready for the challenge

The surgeon said he has used his well-honed skills to sew together the wings of the Dreidecker using needles and forceps. Dr Brueggemann is pictured at work on the wings for the aircraft

Dr Brueggemann said: 'You have to respect the aircraft and not be arrogant when you fly it. There are nerves but it is my dream to fly to Germany'

He has even equipped the aircraft with two fake Spandau 7.92 mm machine guns, pictured, which make an almighty racket

Dr Brueggemann, pictured working on the plane, said the response to his project has been 'extremely supportive' and some patients have even started referring to him as the 'Red Baron of Norfolk'

The surgeon said he has used his well-honed skills to sew together the wings of the Dreidecker using needles and forceps.

He said: 'Being a surgeon has certainly helped and I have used surgical equipment like needles and forceps when stitching materials to the ribs of the plane.'

Dr Brueggemann said the response to his project has been 'extremely supportive' and some patients have even started referring to him as the 'Red Baron of Norfolk'.

The 52-year-old has also acquired the title Baron from the independent territory of Sealand off the English coast so he will be Baron von Brueggemann in homage to his idol

Dr Brueggeman, pictured at work, said: 'Being a surgeon has certainly helped and I have used surgical equipment like needles and forceps when stitching materials to the ribs of the plane'

He said: 'Everyone has been extremely supportive of my project. People are fascinated by my plane. I've never had any negative comments because I'm from Germany and I'm building a German plane.

'My patients know I'm building the plane and they can't wait to see it. They already call me the Red Baron of Norfolk.

'They can't wait to see me fly over Norfolk because they know who's going to be in it.'

Dr Brueggemann, who went to medical school in Essen, Germany, estimates he has spent 70,000 on his plane and thousands of hours researching and building it.

The GP, pictured, added: 'Everyone has been extremely supportive of my project. People are fascinated by my plane. I've never had any negative comments because I'm from Germany and I'm building a German plane'

He built the wings and part of the fuselage in his garage but the plane got too big for it so he has relocated to an air hangar at Felthorpe airfield to complete the job.

His wife Sue, 51, who is a nurse, said she has seen so little of her husband because of the project she has felt like a 'golf widow'.

Their two children, Felix, 21, and Lottie, 18, are very proud of him although Sue said they think he is 'nuts'.

She said: 'It's taken so many years and he's dedicated all his holidays and weekends to it so we've seen so little of each other I've felt like the equivalent of a golf widow!

'When he first told me he wanted to build a plane I thought there is no way he would be able to do it.

'But what he's done - the attention to detail - is amazing. We're very proud of him.

'Felix and Lottie are very proud of him too although they think he's a bit nuts - not every father wants to fly a First World War plane.

'The whole family has helped out. He even had my mum, who is in her 70s, in the garage holding up a wing.

'We'll all be there for his first flight. I'm a bit worried about him because it's a flimsy looking plane but he's had safety checks every step of the way.

'I just hope he doesn't expect me to go up in it.'
The naked body of Emma Caldwell, 27, was discovered in a ditch in isolated woodland in Lanarkshire by a dog walker in May 2005

Police have begun a new search of the site where a woman who had been a prostitute was found dead 12 years ago.

The naked body of Emma Caldwell, 27, was discovered in a ditch in isolated woodland in Lanarkshire by a dog walker in May 2005.

Six other women who also worked the streets of Glasgow were found murdered in the decade before her - leading some to claim there were fears of a serial killer.

Police ruled out the theory and said prostitutes were statistically more likely to encounter violence.

But they faced criticism that they failed to fully investigate the deaths and began a detailed forensic search of Emma's last resting place.

A specialist team began exploring the woodland site in Roberton, near Biggar, South Lanarkshire, in a bid to recover items belonging to her.

The operation was launched on the 12th anniversary of the day Emma was last seen alive in April 2005.

Emma's mother Margaret Caldwell thanked the police and made a fresh appeal to find her daughter's killer.

She said: 'Today is always a difficult day for my family, as we are usually at home thinking of Emma.

Emma's (left) mother Margaret Caldwell (right) thanked the police and made a fresh appeal to find her daughter's killer

Police carrying out a new search today in the South Lanarkshire forest today where Emma Caldwell was found in 2005

'Every day I think of Emma, every day I grieve for her, as a mother I know my pain will never end.

'But I am here to make a direct appeal to those who know or suspect who the killer is.

'Please do the right thing, as long as the killer is still out there another life could be in danger.

EMMA CALDWELL TIMELINE April 4, 2005: Last recorded sighting of Emma Caldwell. Detectives now believe Emma may have been seen at the bottom of Argyle Street in Glasgow on the night she went missing May 2005: She was found strangled in woodland near Biggar, South Lanarkshire by a dog walker 2007: Four men were charged with strangling Emma before ditching her body 2008: Case against the men collapses 2013: One of the men settled out of court after suing police for 100,000 2015: A local man admitted taking Emma six times to the remote spot where her body was found. He initially denied knowing Emma but later drove officers to the woods 45 minutes south of Glasgow Today: Police reveal they are carrying out new searches near where her body was found Advertisement

'If you are the one who took Emma's life then I ask you to come forward, living with the guilt of taking her life must be dreadful.

'But if you have no conscience, then be aware my family and I will never give up on fighting for justice on Emma's behalf.

'We can do no less for we love and miss her every day, not just today.'

Emma's clothing and the belongings she had with her on the night she went missing have never been found.

The new search aims to recover any of those items, which also bring clear forensic opportunities that could assist the inquiry.

Police said they were keen to speak to anyone who uses this area, perhaps walkers, joggers, dog walkers or courting couples.

Detective Superintendent David McLaren said: 'Finding the person or people responsible for Emma's murder is a priority for us.

'Emma would have been 39 in October this year and it is important that her mother, Margaret finds peace after all this time.

'We have been working tirelessly to find that vital piece of evidence that will allow us to put the person that killed Emma behind bars and I firmly believe that there are people out there who can assist.

'The area where Emma was found is crucial in this investigation.

Police said they were keen to speak to anyone who uses this area, perhaps walkers, joggers, dog walkers or courting couples

'I'm particularly keen to hear from anyone who has been involved in prostitution and who may have been taken to the woods near Roberton.

'It's a remote location and would take around 40 minutes to travel there from Glasgow city centre on the M74.

'Even if you can't be sure if it's the same location you were taken to, please get in touch if someone has taken you out with the city centre.

OTHER GLASGOW WOMEN WHO WERE KILLED... In 1991, Diane McInally, 23, was found dead in bushes in Pollok Park. Two men were charged with her murder but later released because of a lack of evidence. In 1993, Karen McGregor, 28, a mother-of-two, was strangled and her body was found near the SECC car park. Her husband, Charles, was tried for murder but the jury found the case not proven. In 1995, Leona McGovern, 25, was found dead in a Glasgow car park, stabbed 17 times and throttled. George Walker was cleared of her murder. A further man was questioned but eliminated from the police inquiries. In 1996, Jacqueline Gallacher, 26, was found dead on a grass verge in Dumbartonshire. Eight years later, a man was tried for her murder but the case was found not proven. In 1997, Tracey Wylde, 21, was found beaten to death in her flat in Barmulloch, Glasgow. In 1998, Margo Lafferty, 27, was murdered after picking up a client in Glasgow city centre. Brian Donnelly was jailed for life for the killing in 2001. Advertisement

'I understand that some people are reluctant to come forward but we are not looking to cast judgments on people, I am only interested in finding information that could help us.

Detectives now believe Emma may have been seen at the bottom of Argyle Street in Glasgow on the night she went missing on Monday 4 April 2005.

Previously, the last recorded sighting of her Emma was on Butterbiggins Road in the south-side of the city.

Detectives think she may have got into a black saloon style vehicle similar to a BMW which it may have originated from the Dumfries area.

Margaret Caldwell sits alongiside solicitor Aamer Anwar (centre) and Detective Superintendent David McLaren during a press conference in East Kilbride

Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 or anonymously Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Iain Packer, a regular client of Caldwell's, was at first treated as the main suspect and interviewed six times - but not charged.

The investiation then focused on a Turkish cafe in Glasgow and four men.

Huseyin Cobanoglu, 63, Halil Kandil, 42, Abubekir Oncu, 39, and Mustafa Soylemez, 44 were charged with strangling Emma before taking her body to the woodland.

But the case collapsed due to incompetence by the police and the Crown prosecution.

In 2013, one of the men settled out of court after suing police for 100,000.

In 2015, it was revealed that a local man had admitted taking Emma six times to the remote spot where her body was found.

He initially denied knowing Emma but later drove officers to the woods 45 minutes south of Glasgow.
Two children and a 21-year-old man have been burned to death after deliberately being trapped inside a cave-den in Spain.

Witnesses told police a mattress was placed outside the entrance to the limescale cave in Almeria before being torched on purpose creating what fire crews described as a kiln effect.

The fire then created a wall of ferocious flames and thick smoke, preventing the victims - including children aged 12 and 14 - from getting out.

Shocked firemen found their charred bodies huddled together in the cave which, it is believed, were being used as a secret den for smoking and drinking.

Scroll down for video

Three people, including two children aged 12 and 14, have been burned to death after deliberately being trapped inside a cave-den in Almeria, Spain

Police have been interviewing five people, some of them teenagers, in connection with the tragedy.

There are reports that tape was also found around the entrance to the cave which was made of limestone. Because of this, the heat of the fire was intensified, likened by firemen to a kiln.

The tragedy happened in the mountains of the northern part of Almeria at about 8pm last night.

Nearby residents said they could see the flames from a distance but thought it was stubble burning. A man walking his dog called the fire brigade when he realised this wasn't the case.

Spanish newspaper La Voz de Almeria says witnesses saw a group of children running away from the scene.

'The cave was a furnace of fire, they had no escape,' said one of them.

Medics had to treat one of the relatives for an anxiety attack.
Advertisement

At first glance it appears to be an enviable waterfront mansion like any other.

But on closer inspection, theres an unusual feature hiding in plain sight behind the glass walls of this luxury home in the elite north-Sydney suburb of Mosman.

The kitchen in the opulent abode of 28 Fairfax Road, which has recently hit the market, bears a sign that casually reads: I dont have to be a good cook, Im a trophy wife.

The online listing boasts a raft of luxury features, including sweeping harbour views, a lift, a gym, and a pool

There is no mention of an unusual feature which is sure to turn some heads in the kitchen of the property - a sign that casually reads: I dont have to be a good cook, Im a trophy wife

The online listing for the lavish four-bedroom home boasts a raft of features, including sweeping harbour views, a lift, a gym, and a pool.

It does not mention the bizarre kitchen message, though it is clearly shown in a set of flashy photographs.

Last year, Mosman ranked as the sixth most expensive suburb in Sydney with a median sold price of $3,100,000.

One could only assume the home-owners thought this message would strike a chord with cashed-up prospective buyers, but its probably just as likely to ruffle their feathers.

The online listing with Belle Propertys bills the abode as having: 'Exceptional design and palatial proportions, with an approximate internal size of 505sqm, brings a sense of contemporary grandeur to this custom-built home, which nestles serenely in an exclusive cul-de-sac.'

Expressions of interest close at 2pm next Tuesday, and the sign in the kitchen has served to help shine the spotlight on the sale - for better or worse.

The luxury waterfront mansion has hit the market this week in the elite north-Sydney suburb of Mosman

The online listing with Belle Propertys bills the abode as having: 'Exceptional design and palatial proportions, with an approximate internal size of 505sqm, brings a sense of contemporary grandeur to this custom-built home, which nestles serenely in an exclusive cul-de-sac'

The home boasts timber floors, formal lounge and dining with fireplace, and ducted air conditioning

The sweeping harbour views are a definite drawcard for the plush property

Chinamans Beach and Rosherville Reserve are on the doorstep of the opulent abode

The master bedroom offers custom robes and luxe ensuite opens to a private terrace

The affluent home offers one-of-a-kind views of the surrounding harbour
Chelsea Clinton is putting questions about her political ambitions to bed, for now.

Rumors have been circulating that the former first daughter will run since her mother lost to Donald Trump in November's presidential election.

The mother-of-two could have joined the race for New York Sen. Kristin Gillbrand's seat, if she vacates it to run against Trump in 2020.

But in an interview on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Chelsea said that she isn't planning on running for office at the moment.

However she didn't rule out the possibility in the future.

'No. No, no, no,' Clinton said, when Gayle King asked if she was eyeing a foray into politics.

Scroll down for video

In an interview with CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Chelsea Clinton said she was not planning on following in her parents' footsteps by running for office. But the former first daughter did not rule out a foray into politics in the future

Chelsea was on the show to promote a new paperback version of her children's book It's Your World (pictured)

'Right now, the answer is no. But I think we all need to be asking ourselves that question periodically,' she added.

Chelsea also talked about her mother's ambitions, and said she doesn't think that she's looking to run for office again.

'I don't think so,' she said. 'I think right now she's focused on her book, he's focused - thankfully - on her grandchildren, she's focused on what she can do to help support work she's been engaged in for longer than I've been alive - around children, around women, around families.

'And I'm just really grateful to have more time with her now than I've had in a long time.'

Chelsea said she visited her mother just last weekend, at the family home in Chappaqua, New York, and that she's doing 'great'.

She said the two of them had a good laugh about her daughter Charlotte's latest ambition to be either a mermaid or a zookeeper when she grows up.

Chelsea said she visited her mother just last weekend at her parents' home in Chappaqua, New York and that she's doing 'great'. Above, Clinton giving a speech at Georgetown University on March 31

Chelsea had a book signing at Housing Works in New York for a signing of her new book on Tuesday. More than a 100 people turned out for the signing (pictured)

The 37-year-old walked past all the dozens of people waiting in line without noticing

Earlier in the day she took her daughter Charlotte to Appleseeds nursery, accompanied by a nanny (pictured)

Chelsea was noticeably less comfortable when questioned about Russia's possible interference in the presidential election.

'What I know about that is what I learned from people in the media.

'I think it's clear that there are lots of questions that have yet to be answered and I think Americans deserve an answer to those questions,' Chelsea said.

When asked if she thought that the alleged interference may have cost her mother the election, Chelsea said 'I think we don't yet know the answer to anything around Russia and we all deserve those answers.'

She also got around answering a question about why she thought her mother lost.

Chelsea and her husband Marc Mezvinsky are pictured above in September on a walk with their daughter Charlotte, age two

The interview made no mention of her other book, Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?, which was released earlier this year

Chelsea was on the show to promote a new paperback version of her children's book It's Your World.

The interview made no mention of her other book, Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?, which was released earlier this year.

King was set to interview Ivanka Trump later in the day and asked if Chelsea had any kind words for her longtime friend who's now enjoying her own time as first daughter - albeit at the expense Chelsea's mother's ambitions.

'I hope her kids are doing well,' Chelsea said. 'I hope they're enjoying their new home in Washington.'
This is the terrifying moment an elderly man manages to escape death after seemingly being mowed down by a train.

CCTV footage captured at a rail station in the eastern Chinese port town of Dalian shows the pensioner, who is said to be ill at the time, jumping down onto the tracks moments before a locomotive pulls in.

The clip then cuts to rescue workers retrieving the octogenarian on a stretcher before rushing him to hospital.

CCTV footage captured at a rail station in the eastern Chinese port town of Dalian shows the pensioner jumping down on to the tracks moments before a locomotive pulls in

Bystanders are seen in a state of shock as the man rolls down to the ground

According to Liaoning Satellite TV Channel, the unnamed man, in his 80s, jumped down at around 12:47pm on April 2. He was said to suffer from disorientation at the time.

He was waiting for a train at a light rail station on Dalian's Jinma Road when the incident occurred.

In a video detailing the event, he is seen suddenly rolling down to the charged lines.

Bystanders are seen panicking about his safety but there is no time to act with a train due any moment.

According to huanqui.com , the unnamed man fell down around 12:47pm on April 2 after feeling faint

In a video detailing the event, he is seen suddenly rolling down to the charged lines as a train rails in at high speed

All of a sudden the footage cuts to a later scene, showing firefighters pulling the man out from under a train carriage.

Sun Jiaqi, a firefighter involved in the rescue, said the pensioner was found lying under the second carriage of the train.

Sun told Liaoning Satellite TV channel that the man was able to wedge himself between the tracks to avoid being hurt.

He said the pensioner was able to move when they saw him. He sustained grazes on his skin.

It's believed he is now in a stable condition after being treated for shock.

The case is currently under investigation.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.

Quick action: All of a sudden the footage cuts to a later scene, showing firefighters pulling the man out from under a train carriage
Jason Clarke, 47, necked six pints before boarding the Birmingham-bound Ryanair flight from Malaga, Spain

A drunk British plane passenger who threatened to 'do a 9/11' and urinate on a flight has been jailed for eight months.

Jason Clarke, 47, necked six pints before boarding the Birmingham-bound Ryanair flight from Malaga, Spain, at 7.35pm on January 13.

On board he called passengers c***s and labelled cabin crew b**** and f****s before threatening to kill everyone on board.

He crawled around on the floor of the plane and behaved 'appallingly' for the duration of the two-and-a-half hour flight.

Terrified passengers applauded when he was arrested on landing, but Clarke continued to be abusive to officers.

When he sobered up the next day he told cops alcohol 'affects his personality' and he said he could not remember his behaviour and apologised.

Clarke, of Castle Vale, Birmingham, admitted entering an aircraft while drunk and was jailed for eight months at Birmingham Crown Court today.

Recorder Anthony Warner said: 'On January 13 you were returning from Spain on a Ryanair flight from Malaga to Birmingham; a flight lasting two hours and 30 minutes.

'By the time you got on that flight you were obviously very seriously affected by drink. The other passengers were subjected to continuous abuse by you towards them.

'When your behaviour was drawn to your attention you continued to be drunk and abusive.

'Two of the people on that flight are experienced and regular travellers and they were absolutely shocked by you behaviour, as evidently were many other passengers.

'Staff attempted to intervene to moderate your behaviour, which it is their duty to do, but you didn't do that.

'You were arrested by the police as soon as the flight landed and unsurprisingly the other passengers greeted that with some relief.

'The difference between behaving that way on an aircraft and in the street or in a bar is that in a bar people can leave and get away from you.

Terrified passengers on the flight from Malaga (pictured) applauded when he was arrested on landing, but Clarke continued to be abusive to officers

'But they couldn't get away from you because they were trapped in the same aircraft. Your behaviour was continuously drunk and for the entirety of your flight.

'It was appalling for the other passengers to have to endure and gave a feeling of powerlessness to do anything about it.

'You persisted even when staff tried to intervene. What you did was quite appalling.'

The court heard he was suffering from 'anxiety and depression' following the breakdown of a relationship.

Clarke, who has two previous alcohol-related convictions, quit his job and went to Spain to 'camp' for several months, but did not take his medication.

When he suffered an injury he turned to drink 'to cope' before boarding the flight to return to the UK.

Prosecutor Peter Grice said: 'During the flight the defendant was loud and abusive towards both passengers and crew members.

'It began with him singing loudly while listening to music on his headphones. After he was asked on at least six occasions to quiet down quiet down he swore at passengers calling them c****.

'He referred to cabin staff as b**** and f*******. He made comments about doing a 9/11 and taking the plane down. He threatened to kill them all.

'Towards the end of the flight when the seatbelt signs were displayed he was prevented from using the toilets.

Clarke, of Castle Vale, Birmingham, admitted entering an aircraft while drunk and was jailed for eight months at Birmingham Crown Court today (Stock image)

'He threatened to urinate on his own seat. He was arrested following landing and taken to Solihull police station.

'The following day he claimed alcohol affects his personality and the interview ended with him offering his apology.'

The court heard Clarke had been charged for being drunk on public transport in 2001 and had another alcohol related conviction in 2002.

Rob Cowley, defending, said: 'Dr Edwards described the defendant as suffering from severe anxiety and depression.

'The defendant had been working, he had been in a relationship. The relationship ended and he felt he could no longer keep on working.

'He stopped his job and went over to Spain intending to camp there for several months, but an accident prevented him from carrying on camping.

'He tends to turn to alcohol when things go wrong in his life and he feels unable to cope.

'He was recommended in the past to take medication, but he found that that had adverse side effects so he did not take medication with him when he went to Spain.

'But the defendant has said to me: 'I have made my bed and I have to lie in it'.

'He has come to court today expecting immediate custody. He is quite prepared to face up to what he has done and take responsibility.'
Ivanka Trump took her plea for equal pay for equal work directly to CEOs at a Tuesday summit at the White House.

Ivanka told CEOs attending the morning event that encouraging young women to pursue jobs in STEM professions - science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - will help to reduce the pay gap.

'It's really important we think about the introduction of girls in STEM fields in our school system...because when we think about equal pay and the challenge we have to finally level the playing field, I think this will be a very important component,' the first daughter and senior adviser to the president said.

Ivanka joined women across America in promoting Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, saying in an early morning tweet, '#EqualPayDay is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap!'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Ivanka Trump took her plea for equal pay for equal work directly to CEOs at a Tuesday summit at the White House

Ivanka Trump spoke on a panel Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on business. In her remarks, she said CEOs should encourage women to go into STEM professions

Ivanka Trump joined women across America in promoting Equal Pay Day on Tuesday on Twitter

'It's really important we think about the introduction of girls in STEM fields in our school system...because when we think about equal pay and the challenge we have to finally level the playing field, I think this will be a very important component,' the first daughter and senior adviser to the president said

The first daughter is seen leaving her Washington, D.C. home on Tuesday afternoon

WHO'S WHO OF CEOS Co-Chairs Michael L. Corbat, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup Inc. Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone Ajay Banga, President & CEO, MasterCard Patrick J. Burke, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA Beth Comstock, Vice Chair, General Electric Company Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P. Catherine Engelbert, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte Thomas W. Farley, President, NYSE John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk Mark T. Gallogly, Co-Founder and Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners Kenneth M. Garschina, Principal, Mason Capital Management, LLC Gerald L. Hassell, Chairman & CEO, BNY Mellon Robin Hayes, President & CEO, JetBlue Airways Corporation Paul Horgan, CEO, Global Corporate, North America, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd Jerry Jacobs, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Delaware North Companies, Inc. Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, USA Building, SKANSKA Jeremy M. Kroll, CEO & Co-Founder, K2 Intelligence David Levin, President & CEO, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc. Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co. Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairman, Collective[i] Mitchell Modell, Chief Executive Officer, Modell's Sporting Goods Greg Mondre, Managing Partner & Managing Director, Silver Lake Deanna M. Mulligan, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America John Paulson, President, Paulson & Co., Inc. John Romeo, Managing Partner, Americas, Oliver Wyman Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc. William C. Rudin, Co-Vice Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc. Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC Jerry I. Speyer, Chairman, Tishman Speyer Jason Stevens, President & CEO, Mitsubishi International, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst Paul Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners, LP Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty Jennifer Warren, Managing Director - Head, U.S. Region, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP Christopher J. Williams, Chairman & CEO, The Williams Capital Group, L.P. Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC Advertisement

Her post linked to a USA Today article that said women are paid eighty cents for every dollar a man makes. Black and Latina women earn 68 cents and 62 cents per dollar, respectively, the piece said.

The eldest daughter of the president promised in July at the Republican National Convention that her father would back wage equality if he made it to the White House - and she would, too.

In bringing pay equity up as she introduced her dad on the most-watched night party's nominating, Ivanka recast the issue as a bipartisan one after years of Republican opposition to legislation addressing disparities in compensation.

Donald Trump's White House has taken not taken a formal stance on a law proposed by Democrats that would force businesses to be transparent about pay.

Companies would also be prohibited under the Paycheck Fairness Act from punishing workers who discuss their salaries with one another.

The president voiced support for wage equality during his candidacy.

'If they do the same job, they should get the same pay,' he said in August of 2015.

But he contended at the time that it would be 'dangerous' to mandate equal pay through federal policy.

'Its very hard to say what is the same job,' he said on MSNBC to 'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzezinski. 'Its a very, very tricky question.

Continuing, Trump told her, 'I talked about competition with other places and other parts of the world, Mika. This is one of the things we have to look at very strongly.'

Trump landed himself in frying pan several months later when he told a New Hampshire student asking about equal pay who turned out to be a Jeb Bush intern, 'Youre gonna make the same if you do as good a job.'

Hillary Clinton subsequently claimed in the waning days of the general election campaign that her Republican opponent 'doesn't believe in equal pay' while she filleted him for 'demeaning, degrading, insulting, and assaulting women.'

Ivanka had reaffirmed at the July convention that her father does believe in the policy broadly, however, as she worked to improve his image with female voters.

'Politicians talk about wage equality, but my father has made it a practice at his company throughout his entire career,' she said. 'He will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right along side of him.'

Ivanka has made women's empowerment a major part of her portfolio at the White House.

Even before she accepted a formal position, the first daughter was participating in White House summits for working women. She joined her father and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the February launch of a task force highlighting female entrepreneurs.

After sitting in on a meeting with German business leaders when Chancellor Angela Merkel came to the White House, Ivanka accepted an invitation to attend a women's economic summit in Berlin later this month.

Germany has 'led the way' on apprenticeships, Ivanka said at the CEO town hall on Tuesday.

The USA Today article Ivanka linked to on Tuesday cites a McKinsey study that said full pay equity could raise global GDP by 11 to 26 percent by 2025 - a $12 trillion to $28 trillion increase.

Equal pay is a traditionally Democratic cause, and legislators on the left are reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act again today in the House of Representatives as a symbolic gesture in support of Equal Pay Day.

In 2014, Republicans used a procedural mechanism to keep the legislation from coming to the floor of the Senate.




A Pennsylvania has been arrested and charged with driving around a mobile methamphetamine lab with his six-year-old son inside.

Pennsylvania State Police stopped 25-year-old Nathan Schnitzler's car just after midnight Sunday on North Rosina Avenue in Somerset Borough, because they say it had a faulty brake light Sunday.

At the time of the traffic stop, police say his six-year-old son and the child's mother were in the car. Police say the child was not seated in a proper child seat.

Nathan Schnitzler (above in arrest photo) was arrested on drug and child endangerment charges after police say they found his six-year-old son riding with him inside a vehicle that was a mobile methamphetamine lab

Authorities say they stopped Schnitzler's (pictured) car just after midnight Sunday because they say it had a faulty brake light Sunday. During the stop, troopers saw a loaded hypodermic needle along with two unused needles on the floor

Authorities saw a loaded hypodermic needle along with two unused needles on the floor.

They later found substances used to cook up meth.

In addition, they also found a backpack containing lithium batteries, a bottle of epsom salts and a can of Crown Xylol Xylene slow-dry solvent.

Police say there was also burn and chemical residue inside the car that appeared to come from a previous explosion while cooking the highly volatile drug.

Troopers say they later found substances used to cook up meth, a backpack containing lithium batteries, a bottle of epsom salts and a can of Crown Xylol Xylene slow-dry solvent. Schnitzler (pictured above with his girlfriend and son's mother) is being held on $50,000 bail

Schnitzler was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.

Online court records don't list an attorney for the Somerset man, who remained in jail Tuesday unable to post $50,000 bond while waiting for an April 11 preliminary hearing.

According to the criminal complaint, Schnitzler has previously been charged with having a mobile meth lab in his vehicle.

He has also been found passed out in a car and was charged with a DUI on that occasion.
Rebecca Ryan faces a life sentence for murdering her ex-boyfriend Michael Beckwith

A woman labelled 'a black widow' hatched a plan to batter her former boyfriend to death after suspecting him of cheating on her.

Rebecca Ryan plotted with another ex, Scott Swift, to attack care worker Michael Beckwith, who has been described a 'gentle giant'.

Ryan, 22, and Swift, 27, were today convicted of murder over the attack in Harwich, Essex and now face life sentences.

The court heard Ryan believed Mr Beckwith had been unfaithful to her when they were together.

Swift, who was obsessed with Ryan, also hated Mr Beckwith, the man he blamed for splitting him and Ryan up.

On July 31 last year, Ryan told Mr Beckwith she wanted to chat and they met near Barrack Lane, Harwich.

Mr Beckwith was then hit over the head at least 17 times with metal bars.

Mr Beckwith was lured to a quiet track in Harwich, Essex before he was battered to death

He initially survived the vicious attack but died two days later from his injuries.

Amjad Malik QC, prosecuting during the seven week trial, told the jury: 'They jumped, they launched their attack uninterrupted. They struck him repeatedly, rapidly, a frenzy.'

Joseph Smith, 18, was cleared of murder after admitting manslaughter having helped the pair in their plans.

Another of Ryan's former partners, Scott Swift, took part in the attack

Triston Biddlecombe, 24, and wife Enderlein Biddlecombe, 20, both of Harwich, were convicted of assisting offenders by washing clothes belonging to the attackers.

Speaking after the verdicts were given, Detective Inspector Al Pitcher said: 'This has been a lengthy and complicated investigation and I am pleased with the verdicts.

'Ryan had callously planned with her ex-boyfriend, Scott Swift, to cause Michael serious harm, deliberately trapping him in a secluded area where Swift and Joseph Smith laid in wait, hiding in the undergrowth.

'Michael pleaded with them that he did not want any trouble. But they shrugged and then repeatedly beat him about the head, torso and legs with metal bars.

'Ryan then left enough time for Swift and Smith to escape before calling the police and claimed it was a random attack.

'A few minutes later, she and Swift had a pre-arranged phone conversation to give him his opportunity to return to the scene in an effort to pretend he was a concerned friend. He even asked Michael "What have they done to you?".'

Mr Beckwith worked as a care worker and looked after his mother, Iris (pictured together). Following his death, his mother also passed away, their family said

Mr Beckwith's family issued a statement saying: 'Words cannot express the shock and pain we as a family have suffered since Michael's early passing.

'His loss is beyond words, especially the events that led to his death. Michael had a big heart, as big as the world.

'He would have given the shirt off his back to help anyone if asked.

'He was compassionate, caring and loving. He would judge no-one and was considerate to all. He was a gentle giant.

'His death has left a gaping hole in our family but also with those who knew Michael and those he cared for within his role as a healthcare assistant.

'Michael was not just a carer at work, he also was the main carer for his mother Iris, who had already suffered the early loss of her husband and daughter and who now had to go through the loss of her devoted son, on whom she relied upon a great deal.

'We as a family believe that the death of Michael had affected Iris so much that before the trial she too passed away after suffering a heart attack.'
A video that shows the extrajudicial killings of two suspected gang members in Kenya is being investigated after it was claimed that a police officer was the one who shot the men dead on Friday.

It is believed that the two victims were members of the notorious Gaza or Super Power Gang in Nairobi and were about to commit a robbery before they were killed in the suburb of Eastleigh.

Kenyans were outraged after it was claimed a policeman was involved in the shooting and have demanded that those seen in the video be identified.

A video that shows the extrajudicial killings of two suspected gang members in a suburb of Nairobi Kenya is being investigated after viewers claimed that the shooter was a police officer

Inspector General of the Police Joseph Boinnet has ordered an investigation and called for the officers involved to be punished.

'I have seen the video and I condemn those actions. Investigations have already started and I can assure you action will be taken against the officers involved,' Boinett told The Star.

Police spokesman Charles Owino said that for an investigation to continue, the men involved have to be identified.

'The important thing is the person must be identified whether they are policemen or not,' he told the Star on phone.

He added: 'In the police service we don't take collective responsibility because a policeman makes his/her own decision. We will be able to make a decision after a conclusive probe.'

The Super Power Gang - the group the victims were believed to be part of - is one of more than 90 groups outlawed in a notice by Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery in December last year.

Kenyans were outraged after it was claimed a policeman was involved in the shooting and have demanded that those seen in the video be identified

The father of one of the men involved has said that son was involved in criminal activity but has pleaded with the government to release his body.

'He was not one to use knives or guns. He was just a thief of going into people's pockets and such things,' he told the star.

In the minute-long clip of the incident, which was released Friday, a person who is allegedly a plainclothes officer is seen apprehending a suspect as a body of another victim lies in the middle of the road, covered in blood.

Nearby, a police officer carrying what looks like an AK-47 is seen dispersing a gathering crowd.

The incident is the latest of a series of shootings allegedly involving police officers in Kenya.
An Ohio teenager died of a suspected heroin overdose on Saturday after allegedly getting into his father's drug stash.

Nathan Wylie, 13, was taken to hospital on March 28 after he apparently consumed drugs owned by his father, Robert Wylie, 40, who was allegedly also on drugs at the time. A family member said they were both living on the streets.

This was just the latest - and most tragic - in a string of incidents for Robert, who was also arrested in December after he and Nathan were found in a car full of drugs driving through a seedy section of Dayton, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Scroll down for video

Overdose: Nathan Wylie (left) suffered an apparent heroin overdose on March 28. He died on Saturday. The drugs allegedly belonged to his father, Robert (right), who was arrested

Not breathing: Nathan was at this garage when he found the stash, according to Wylie's colleague. His dad and the colleague rushed Nathan to the fire station next door

Wylie and his colleague from a roofing business took Nathan to a Dayton fire station after the boy fell unconscious in a garage next door on March 28. It's not clear why they were at the garage.

The co-worker told medics that Wylie was on drugs and that Nathan had 'got into his stuff,' a police report said.

Medics gave Nathan four milligrams of Narcan, a spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses, without any success.

He was taken to Miami Valley Hospital because he was not breathing, and was pronounced dead at 11:56am Saturday.

Dayton police Lt. Andrew Booher said on Monday that police don't 'know what kind of drugs' Nathan had consumed before his death.

'We're still waiting for a [toxicology] report from the coroners office,' he added. An officer told DailyMail.com that it could take six-to-eight weeks for the report to arrive.

A second child was removed from Wylie's home as a precaution, police said. The father was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment.

Trouble: Wylie (center, with five-year-old Nathan right) had been arrested in December after cops found both of them in a car that contained needles, crack and what seemed to be heroin

Nathan's aunt, Peggy Jo Bilbury, said that Nathan and his father had been homeless before the boy's death, and blamed the system for failing him.

'He had to be a survivor because he was a victim,' she told ABC 22. 'He was a victim of the system, he was a victim of heroin.'

'He deserves a second chance, he deserved a life,' she added.

Nathan's tragic death wasn't the first time that police had investigated Wylie in connection with a drugs charge.

In December Wylie and his girlfriend, Tina Davis, were arrested while Davis was driving her car through an area of Dayton 'known for high drug activity,' a police report said.

Nathan was in the car at the time, according to the report.

Wylie told the officer that 'Nathan was allowed to stay with Tina and she agreed to it.'

The officer said that before he patted Wylie down, the father told him he had a hypodermic needle and syringe, or a 'rig', in his pocket.

Inside the car, the cop also found more needles, what appeared to be containers of heroin and a cigarette box containing what Wylie said was crack cocaine.

Tragic: Wylie was charged with child endangerment after that. Photos apparently showing a crack pipe and white powder in Wylie's home were also sent to cops last year

Wylie was jailed in relation to the car stop after reporting Nathan's apparent overdose.

And according to a February 8, 2016 police report, another child sent photos from Wylie's home apparently showing a plate of white powder, a razor blade, and a crack pipe. Those photos made their way to the police.

'The razor had white residue on the razor's edge,' the report said. 'Next to the plate was a metal crack pipe with a burnt end along with a cut straw.'

An officer then looked around the home, finding two crack pipes and a capped needle in a drawer.

Wylie and his girlfriend Tina Davis, 37, were arrested on charges of child endangerment and possession of drug abuse instruments and drug paraphernalia.

Davis was found guilty of misdemeanor child endangerment, given a suspended 180-day jail sentence and ordered to undergo a life skills class. Her probation was later revoked.

Montgomery County Children Services was also contacted after the investigation.

Wylie was technically released on March 30, two days after Nathan's overdose, but remains in jail on a $100,000 surety bond in connection with the December car stop.

Further charges related to Nathan's overdose are likely, pending the prosecutors' confirmation, police said.

Davis was arrested Sunday on suspicion of drunk driving, possession of drugs and physical control and booked into jail.

Municipal court records for Wylie show multiple misdemeanor drug cases for drug abuse, marijuana possession and drug abuse in a park dating back to 1998, when he was 22.

Dead: Nathan was not breathing when he was taken to hospital. Police investigated Wylie's home after seeing the photos in February 2016 and found crack pipes, according to cops

Nathan is just one in a series of tragic victims of the growing opioid epidemic that is swallowing America.

In a report by Fox 45 and hosted by ABC 22, first responders from Trotwood - located around seven miles from Dayton - said overdoses were all too common.

'Anyone who is unconscious under the age of 40 or so we automatically think it's an overdose and till we get there,' said firefighter and paramedic Brad Phillips.

March 2017 saw 108 more calls to authorities than March 2016, he said, and that in one instance he was called out when 'Two adults overdosed in the park with their kids in the backseat.'
Former self-made British millionaire Krishna Maharaj, who has been in a US jail for 30 years, will be granted a new hearing after new evidence came to light.

Maharaj, now 78, has always maintained his innocence after he was sentenced to death over the 1986 murders of Derrick and Duane Moo Young in a Miami hotel room.

He has been held for more than 30 years, and had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 2002.

Krishna Maharaj, now 78, has always maintained his innocence after he was sentenced to death over the 1986 murders of Derrick and Duane Moo Young in a Miami hotel room

Maharaj's lawyer at the human rights organization Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, has presented new evidence from people linked to Colombian drug cartels, who have conceded that they  not Maharaj  committed the crime.

The cartel members claim the Moo Youngs were murdered on the orders of drug baron Pablo Escobar, whose murderous reign as the Medellin cartel's chief drug lord ended in a shootout with Colombian police in 1993.

They claimed Escobar had ordered the hit because he'd discovered the Moo Youngs were taking a cut of cocaine money they were supposed to launder.

The new ruling from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta says: 'Mr Maharaj has made a prima facie showing that his new evidence, when viewed in light of the evidence as a whole, would demonstrate that he could not have been found guilty of the Moo Young murders beyond a reasonable doubt because if a hit man for the cartel committed the murders, Mr Maharaj did not.'

The judgment said the additional witnesses had presented 'compelling' accounts that 'independently corroborate one another's All five individuals' stories reflect that the Moo Youngs were killed by the cartel.'

The case will now move back to Miami for a federal hearing before a single judge, who will consider the new evidence.

As part of the proceedings, Maharaj's lawyers will also be able to access previously unexamined evidence showing Jaime Vallejo Mejia  a guest in the hotel on the night of the murders  was a Colombian cartel operative.

Former self-made millionaire Krishna Maharaj, 77, who was once the second biggest racehorse owner in the UK, was convicted in 1987 of the murders of two men

THE NEW EVIDENCE Speaking to MailOnline, Maharaj's lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said one witness - Witness A - only came forward in 2016. He said: 'Witness A tracked down several cartel witnesses on the case, including Jaime Vallejo Mejia, the man who was in Room 1214 across the hall from the murder scene in Room 1215, who was a cartel launderer wanted for sending $40 million to Switzerland. She went to see him and got kidnapped by him. She's also got statements from two other carter assassins that admit to the cartel involvement in the case.' In addition to this Lieutenant John Buhrmaster, a detective from Miami police department's homicide squad who was working on the case at the time, has since been seen on a video telling his junior officers to threaten suspects - to 'break his balls'. Advertisement

Speaking through his lawyers Maharaj - who has suffered bouts of the flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis in jail - said he had lived a fortunate life before it turned into a living 'hell' in 1987.

He said: 'I would have been dead long ago if it were not for [wife] Marita and Reprieve. What I long for now is to be living (back) in England, in the countryside.'

His wife, Marita Maharaj, 77, said: 'At last perhaps everyone will see the truth. Kris will be thrilled. He has been unwell, but this will finally give him hope.'

She added: 'Whatever happens I will be with him. I don't think he would survive without me by him. I would be happy with a few years with Kris. I have hope and I believe that we will be going home.'

Mr Stafford Smith, who has acted as lawyer for Maharaj for 24 years, told MailOnline: 'My first response it what I am really happy and then totally knackered by the thought of having to go through another hearing.

'I am confident every day the sun is going to rise but this case feels like the end of the world keeps coming.'

'Marita spoke to him on the phone and said he was numb and couldn't believe it was true that he would get a proper hearing and he was extremely happy.'

He added: 'We still have a long way to go, as we need to force disclosure of the rest of the evidence the government has held all these years.

'But it is a great day for Kris, and I hope now we will finally get him the justice he has long been denied.'

Speaking to MailOnline, Sir Peter Bottomley MP said: 'It would make a grand Hollywood script the amount of twists and turns there have been over the last 31 years.

'He's innocent and should never have been charged, let alone convicted.'

His campaign had suffered a blow last week when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson refused to formally accept his legal team's request for support.

His wife, Marita Maharaj, 77, said: 'At last perhaps everyone will see the truth. Kris will be thrilled. He has been unwell, but this will finally give him hope'

Maharaj has been imprisoned since 1987

Former self-made millionaire Krishna Maharaj, 78, who was once the second biggest racehorse owner in the UK, was convicted in 1987 of the murders of two men, Derrick and Duane Moo Young, in the Dupont Plaza hotel in central Miami.

He spent 15 years on death row before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 and he is currently incarcerated at South Florida Reception Center.

Originally from Trinidad, Maharaj moved to Peckham, South London, in 1960.

With the help of a 1,500 loan he quickly built up a thriving food import business.

A fixture of the 'swinging London' social scene, he loved collecting Rolls-Royces, but his greatest passion was racehorses.

At one time he owned 110  the second-biggest stable in Britain.

In 1974 his horse King Levanstell won the prestigious Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, defeating a thoroughbred owned by the Queen.

He then began to invest in property in the 1980s and formed a business with Derrick Moo Young, a respectable Florida businessman.

Maharaj was convicted in 1987 of the murders of two men, Derrick and Duane Moo Young, pictured, in the Dupont Plaza hotel in central Miami

The cartel members claim the Moo Youngs were murdered on the orders of drug baron Pablo Escobar

But Maharaj claims he soon discovered that Moo Young had embezzled 300,000 from the firm. The bodies of Derrick and his son Duane were found in room 1215 of the Miami Plaza Hotel on October 16, 1986.

Derrick, 53, had been shot six times. His son, 23, died from a single bullet from a gun placed in his mouth as he knelt by the bed.

Maharaj has always insisted that he was having lunch 30 miles away at the time  an alibi supported by five witnesses, who were never called to testify.

But his fingerprints were in room 1215. Maharaj said he had been let into the room for a business meeting there earlier that day, but the man he was waiting for did not turn up.

Maharaj had his last bid for a new trial rejected in January 2015 despite members of the Colombia cartel saying they had committed the murders.

Speaking at the time his lawyer described the decision as an 'epic miscarriage of justice'.

But with the new evidence they are finally hoping to get him back on a plane home, as a free man.
A mother-of-four was shot dead by her new husband in southeast Atlanta on Friday before being placed in her car with her four children, according to police.

James Leon Beard, 42, was arrested on the scene when police found the body of his wife Angela Juanette Bishop outside his home, but he claims the shooting was an accident.

After the shooting, Beard allegedly placed Bishop in the passenger seat of her Toyota Camry where her children, aged eight to 13, were sitting in the backseat.

James Leon Beard, 42, reportedly shot his new wife and mother-of-four Angela Juanette Bishop twice in the chest, killing her

Police believe that Beard shot Bishop twice in the chest in the doorway of his Panthersville apartment on Friday.

'The (victim's) body was placed in the passenger seat of her car after being shot,' Beard's arrest warrant states, according to the AJC.

'The victim's four children were in the car and gave the same account of events.'

Bishop's two sons and two daughters are all aged between eight and 13

Police are still unsure as to why Bishop's body was placed in the car, or why the children were inside of it. The mother was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities believe the shooting was intentional, as Beard disposed of the Beretta .40-caliber allegedly used to kill his wife in nearby woods.

He told police that when he heard a knock at his door on Friday, he couldn't tell who was there through the peephole.

When police arrived, they found the body of 38-year-old Bishop in her car outside Beard's home on Panthersville Road in Decatur, Georgia. The mother was pronounced dead on the scene

He has previously posted on social media about carrying a gun for his safety due to the high rate of murders in Atlanta

When he answered, his gun 'went off,' and struck Bishop twice in the chest.

He has previously posted on social media about carrying a gun for his safety due to the high rate of murders in Atlanta.

Beard now faces felony murder charges in DeKalb County.
An Indian student filmed himself jumping to his death from the 19th floor of a five-star hotel on Facebook Live in a tragic suicide tutorial.

Arjun Bhardwaj, 24, checked into the Taj Lands End Hotel in the Bandra area of Mumbai at 3am on Monday.

In the late afternoon he posted the clip, which lasted one minute and 43 seconds, saying he had written a note to his family and had got drunk and eaten a good dinner.

The harrowing video, which has since been deleted, cuts out after the tragic student says, 'see you on the other side' to camera, before he threw a chair at the window to smash it and hurled himself from the room.

Arjun Bhardwaj, 24, a student, saying goodbye before committing suicide by jumping from his hotel room

He said he had written to his family (right), got drunk and had eaten a good meal (left)

The window of the hotel room through which Arjun Bhardwaj, 24, jumped from 19th floor room at Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai, India

Bhardwaj streamed a Facebook Live video moments before he jumped to his death

Before the student took his life, he waved to the camera and said, 'see you on the other side'

Mr Bhardwaj, a third year economics student at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, a reputed university in Mumbai city, died on impact.

He was spotted by a security guard in a pool of blood and was rushed to KB Bhabha Hospital in Bandra but was declared dead on arrival.

Arjun was originally from Bengaluru city, in Karnataka, in southern India, and had been in Mumbai for four years attending college and renting a place in Andheri.

He left a suicide note stating nobody shall be held responsible for his death and was taking this drastic step because he was 'a drug addict and fed up of life'.

Bhardwaj drinks wine from the bottle in the clip

Senior Inspector Pandit Thackeray, from Bandra Police Station, said: We have recovered seven letters written by him from the hotel room in which he has apologised to his family and friends.

'He was depressed for a long time and a drug addict.

'We have registered the case as accidental death.

'Post mortem is happening today and we shall handover the body to his family, who arrived in Mumbai last night, later today.

Police investigating the case are checking CCTV from the hotel to check if anyone visited Arjun on the day he took his life.

A spokesperson of the Taj Lands End Hotel said: We are aware of the unfortunate incident that took place yesterday.

'We are extending our full cooperation to all the investigating authorities concerned.

'Our heartfelt condolences are with the family of the bereaved.

 For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or go to www.samaritans.org
Advertisement

The worlds largest aircraft has been given a pair of inflatable landing feet in the hope of protecting the 25million giant bum if it were to suffer a repeat of its test flight crash in August last year.

The Airlander 10 airship, which earned the nickname the giant bum because of its appearance, nose-dived and careered into power lines in an accident at Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire.

No-one was injured but the cockpit was destroyed in the crash on August 24, 2016.

Now, eight months on and after extensive tests, two three-metre inflatable plinths have been added which a spokesman said will stop the cockpit from ever getting damaged again.

Pictured: The Airlander, which crashed in August 2016, has now been fitted with two inflatable feet (a safety officer pictured checking he inflatable above). They are stowed during the flight and are inflated to protect the cock pit on landing. They are officially known as an auxiliary landing system, according to Hybrid Air Vehicles

Up, up and away! Airlander 10 now has two new and very important additions to its aircraft. The new 'feet' airbags allow the ship to land safely at a greater range of landing angles and are more than three metres in length

Oops! The scene, pictured above, after the humongous airship crashed in August 2016 in an airfield in Bedfordshire, luckily no one was hurt. Now eight months on, Martha Gwyn has been given gigantic landing feet to help it stop

A spokesman for Hybrid Air Vehicles said: If we had the same series of events, having the feet now would stop the cockpit from getting damaged.

The inflatables are an additional set to help protect the cockpit when landing. They are stowed during flight but are deployed as the plane comes in to land.

A report by The Air Accidents Investigation Branch found the 320ft long airship was flying at an excessive height when it prepared to land.

It 'suddenly pitched down to about 18 degrees and started to descend' after its mooring line got tangled up.

A spokesman for Hybrid Air Vehicles said internal experts came up with 63 recommendations for improvements  including the installation of the inflatable airbags which resemble feet.

Nick Allman, programmes director at Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), said: 'What we've done is put in 63 changes - some to the aircraft but most to process, procedure, and training - so that sort of event is extremely unlikely to ever happen again

'We had to look at how you stop 35 tonnes of airship coming down and squashing that composite flightdeck area.

'It will give us no drag [and] no change in how the aircraft flies normally.'

Christened the Martha Gwyn, the vast aircraft measures 302ft long and is around 50ft longer than the biggest passenger jets.

Engineers spent three years working on the Airlander 10, which is filled with 1.3 million cubic feet of helium - enough to fill 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

HAV said the repairs and changes were now complete and, following 'an extensive test phase', it is hoped Airlander will take to the skies again by the end of April.

Protection: Hybrid Air Vehicles said the repairs and alterations to the Airlander were now complete and it is hoped it will be ready to take to the skies again by the end of April, with its new inflatable feet (pictured above)

Christened the Martha Gwyn, the vast aircraft measures 302ft long and is around 50ft longer than the biggest passenger jets

Bottomed out: World's largest 25million aircraft crashed during a test flight when its mooring line got caught in power lines after flying too high, a report found

After the crash in August, aviation experts estimated the damage would cost in the region of 20,000 unique nature of the project.

In a video of the crash stunned witnesses could be heard voicing concerns.

At first one man watching it said: 'Surely you'd be worried that you're just going to smash that into the ground.'

'GIANT BUM' IN STATS WEIGHT: 44,100 lbs (20,000kg) LENGTH: 302ft (size of a football pitch) ALTITUDE: 20,000ft (6,100m) MAXIMUM SPEED: 80 knots (148km/h) MAXIMUM AIRBORNE TIME: 5 days TOTAL WEIGHT IT CAN CARRY: 22,050 lbs (10,000kg) Advertisement

He then added: 'Oh my God, hes actually just broken it. He's just smashed that up.'

One eyewitness said: 'A line that was hanging down from the plane hit the telegraph pole about two fields away. Then, as it came in to land, it seemed to nose dive and landed on the cockpit, smashing it up.'

Martha Gwyn was created at Cardington, where the manufacture of British airships began during the First World War. It has been billed as a modern milestone in airships, which were all but abandoned after two horrific disasters in the last century.

Almost 50 people, including Britain's air minister, died when the British airship crashed on a hill in Beauvais, France, leading to questions over the safety of airships.

In 1937 crash of the Hindenburg in New Jersey then killed 35 people, finally dashing the dream of the airship as a mode of transportation for decades.

But unlike hydrogen, the gas used in the Hindenburg, the Airlander uses helium, which is not flammable.

The company hopes to have an even bigger aircraft, capable of carrying 50 metric tons (110,000 pounds), in service by the early 2020s.
A woman who was raised inside a notorious 'cult-like' yoga ashram has revealed horrific details of her traumatic childhood.

The woman, identified only as Sandra although that is not her real name, opened up about how her upbringing inside the Satyananda Ashram - now known as Mangrove Yoga Ashram - left her broken in a heart-breaking piece published on news.com.au.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found children in the ashram - located in the foothills of Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast were raped, sexually assaulted and threatened with violence.

A woman (not pictured) who was raised inside a notorious 'cult-like' yoga ashram has revealed details of her horrific childhood

Although Sandra was not sexually abused, she revealed the brutal treatment she endured there from the age of four in the 1970s and 1980s left her traumatised for life.

'I did not receive the nurturing that is needed as a child so that I could grow up to be a normal functioning person,' she wrote.

'Instead, my upbringing broke me. I might even go so far as to say that it fragmented me.'

Sandra said she was forced to live in the ashram by her by her mother, who was attracted to the alternative lifestyle.

Once she got there though, she was isolated from her mother as renouncing family members and 'worshipping' the guru only was one of the ashram's rules.

A royal commission found children at the Satyananda Ashram were sexually abused

Last year, the royal commission found Satyananda Ashram was insensitive in its handling of abuse complaints against its former spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati (above)

While her mother was unavailable to her, she was brought up among the other children living in the ashram in huts or dorms away from the adults.

She says children were punished for the smallest things, like talking on the bus ride from school, had their heads flushed in the public toilets for not brushing their teeth, and were beaten in public is they said anything negative about the guru.

Sandra also revealed how at times, women and girls were forced to bathe in the creek where the water was below freezing, instead of taking hot showers like the men.

She said she didn't cope with the tough conditions  and began taking drugs at 14 and was in a self-induced coma for three days when she was 16.

The woman lived in the ashram in the foothills of Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast

As an adult, she says she went from one abusive relationship to another  and ended up having a child with a physically abusive paedophile.

Since discovering the latter fact, Sandra says she moved her two children away. She and her family have been in hiding ever since.

Although she wants nothing more than to give her own children the 'normal' life she never had, Sandra says she struggles to hold down a steady job.

'I can only describe that it's like living with PTSD for a lifetime,' she adds. 'I tell people it is like being punched in the face.'

Last year, the royal commission found Satyananda Ashram was insensitive and defensive in its handling of abuse complaints from the 1970s and 1980s against its former spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

Commissioner Justice Jennifer Coate during the opening address at the Royal Commission's public hearing into the Satyananda Yoga Ashram in 2014

The commission released its report into the ashram in September and revealed a culture of 'violence and humiliation' prevented victims from reporting the abuse  and some were even threatened with murder.

Ten women and one man gave evidence saying they had been sexually abused by him as children at the ashram.

Children as young as four were physically abused by Akhandananda or his former partner Shishy, former residents of the ashram reported.

The abuse ranged from slaps to repeated striking with heavy objects and forms of discipline included hard labour, starvation and humiliation through public nudity.

One victim said she was stripped, held down and had the skin between her breasts cut at the age of seven in an initiation ceremony  before Akhandananda raped her.

Shishy witnessed him rape two girls and also summoned girls to have sex with him, the commission heard.

But she was also subjected to sexual violence and abuse at the hands of Akhandananda.
Spain has been accused of an act of war after one of its gunboats was chased out of British waters off Gibraltar amid rising tensions over the peninsula in the lead up to Brexit.

The Infanta Christina ship sailed past the coast of the British territory at around lunchtime in what Gibraltar said was an illegal incursion and was pursued by a British naval vessel patrolling the Rock until it left.

The armed ship sailed into British waters just hours after Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis told Britain to 'calm down' following Lord Howard's suggestion Theresa May would go to war over Gibraltar.

This image was taken off the coats of Gibraltar earlier today. The Spanish ship, pictured right flying the Spanish flag, made incursions into British waters where it was followed by HMS Scimitar (left)

The ship was around a mile off the coast of Gibraltar, a witness who lived on the said

British ship HMS Scimitar (left) tailing the Spanish Patrol Boat P77 Infanta Christina (right)

The government of Gibraltar posted a video of the ship on Twitter and wrote: 'Illegal incursion into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by Spanish Navy patrol ship Infanta Cristina this afternoon.'

Tweeting a picture of the ship that he took today, David Parody wrote: 'In true Spanish style, to calm down, they send us a gun boat!'

Mr Parody, a Gibraltarian who was born and lives there, said the ship was around a mile off the coast, and claimed it is the seventh incursion into British waters by Spanish ships this year.

Asked if Britain should take military action, he said: 'We don't want to see gun boat diplomacy because there would be no winner in that, but this is bullying.

'We live in an age of diplomacy and Spain should respect that. Britain has even offered to take Spain to international court to resolve this issue and Spain has refused.'

The path of the British HMS Scimitar, which followed the Spanish vessel today, reveals how it had sailed well within Gibraltarian waters.

Colonel Bob Stewart, a former senior British military commander and Tory MP, said: I have raised before the number of incursions by Spanish naval vessels and said they are deliberately sending their ships into the territorial waters of another state without permission.

This could, at the very least, be deemed a very hostile act. It could be an act of war. Spain is deliberately stoking up the situation.

The red line shows the path of the HMS Scimitar, which pursued the Spanish ship today. The purple line marks the end of Gibraltarian waters

Mr Parody claims that there have been more than 100 incursions into British waters by Spanish navy ships since 2014, and even aircraft have also flown in Gibraltarian airspace without permission.

The vessel's appearance today comes after Lord Howard said Britain should be ready to go to war over Gibraltar, which MPs have warned will be used as Brexit leverage by Spain.

A Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said the Infanta Cristina was conducting a routine patrol to monitor migration or drug trafficking across the Gibraltar Strait.

Mr Parody added: 'The Spanish are claiming this is a matter of routine but to do it hours after Lord Howard says Britain would be willing to go to war is obviously to send a message.'

A spokesperson for HM Government of Gibraltar said: Todays illegal incursion by a Spanish naval vessel is a timely demonstration of the way in which Spain routinely conducts itself in breach of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is almost as if Lord Howard has unnerved someone senior in the Spanish Navy.

This week's war of words comes after years of disagreements between Britain and Spain over the peninsula off the Spanish coast, which has been a British overseas territory since the 18th century.

Its 30,000 resident overwhelmingly rejected Spanish sovereignty in two referendums in 1967 and 2002, but Brexit raised new questions after they voted to stay in the European Union in June.

But Mr Parody says Spain needs to respect their international waters as the constant incursions are making residents feel nervous.

'If there were armed paramilitary vehicles arriving in London every day, people wouldn't feel secure,' Mr Parody added.

This graphic shows how the Spanish vessel entered British waters before being intercepted

The Spanish Patrol Boat P77 Infanta Christina which sailed into Gibraltar's territory today

It comes just hours after Spain told Britain to 'calm down' and demanded that Gibraltar (pictured) be returned to them once Britain leaves the EU

A file photo of the HMS Scimitar, which has seen off the Spanish ship that ventured illegally into Gibraltar's territory

Theresa May yesterday played down the threat of military conflict over Gibraltar yesterday.

Former Tory leader Michael Howard had suggested she was prepared to show the 'same resolve' defending the Rock as Margaret Thatcher had over the Falklands

The EU has said Madrid would have a veto over Gibraltar's inclusion in any post-Brexit trade deal but yesterday Mrs May dismissed the idea of going to war with a Nato ally.

Asked whether, in Winston Churchill's famous phrase, it would be 'jaw-jaw, not war-war', Mrs May said: 'What we're doing with all European countries in the European Union is sitting down and talking to them.

'We're going to be talking to them about getting the best possible deal for the UK, and for those countries, Spain included. It's definitely jaw-jaw.'

Mrs May also rejected suggestions that Gibraltar had been hung out to dry by her failure to mention the fate of the Rock in her letter to the EU setting out her Brexit negotiating position last week.

Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said Spain was trying to bully Gibraltar and that the EU was allowing the bullying to happen

'I spoke to the chief minister of Gibraltar yesterday. What we are going to be doing is continuing to support Gibraltar  our position on Gibraltar has not changed,' she said.

'We will be working with them as part of our negotiations to get the best possible trade deal for the UK and the best possible deal for Gibraltar.

'Our position on the sovereignty of Gibraltar has not changed and will not change.'

Spain's foreign minister yesterday mocked how tensions had quickly escalated since the EU published its draft Brexit negotiating guidelines on Friday and called for Britain to calm down.

Ahead of a meeting with Brexit Secretary David Davis in Madrid, 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.'

Meanwhile, Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo attacked European Council president Donald Tusk.

'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 ,' he said.

Mr Picardo said Spain was trying to bully Gibraltar and that the EU was allowing the bullying to happen.

But the European Union's Brexit negotiator was today refusing to be drawn into a row over the future of Gibraltar as Britain moves forward with its divorce from the bloc.

Asked whether Brexit negotiations launched last week are off to bad start due to the dispute about the British territory, Michel Barnier said Tuesday 'keep calm and negotiate.'

Pushed to comment, Barnier said 'juridically speaking, Gibraltar will exit the Union at the same time as the United Kingdom.'

The rocky enclave at the tip of the Iberian peninsula has been a British territory - and cause of friction between the U.K. and Spain - since 1713.

The latest spat arose from the EU's Brexit negotiating guidelines which leave Britain and Spain to thrash out what agreements will apply to Gibraltar.
Mischa Barton has been granted an extension to restraining orders against two former boyfriends she believes are trying to sell an explicit sex tape of her, legal papers obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.

And the legal filing shows that the two men are at loggerheads, blaming each other for trying to shop the x-rated material.

According to the paperwork, filed by Barton's lawyer Lisa Bloom at Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, the requests for extended domestic violence restraining orders against Jon Zacharias and Adam Spaw, previously known as Adam Shaw, were submitted to the court.

The requests, DailyMail.com has learned, were both approved by the judge the same day.

Actress Mischa Barton has been granted an extension to restraining orders against two former boyfriends she believes are trying to sell an explicit sex tape of her

Jon Zacharias is believed to be the ex-boyfriend who surreptitiously taped himself and Mischa having sex but says it is Spaw who is trying to sell the tape

The documents state that Spaw gave a deposition to Barton's lawyer on March 30 confirming the existence of the sex tapes and stating that Zacharias - the son of Revenge of the Nerds screenwriter Steve Zacharias - told him that he intended to sell the tapes.

He also told lawyers that two other people have access to the material, which includes secretly filmed footage of the OC star having sex and taking a shower.

DailyMail.com first broke the exclusive story that a video showing Barton having sex with a dark haired man - now believed to be Zacharias - was being offered to the highest bidder with the starting price of $500,000.

The footage was being touted to online porn companies, with a number of porn industry giants still considering the offer.

The latest court documents state: 'At his deposition, Mr. Spaw testified that Mr. Zacharias had taken videos of Ms. Barton without her knowledge or permission.

'Mr. Spaw admitted to making multiple copies of these tapes and compressing a copy to make it easier to email to an unnamed third party.'

Spaw, who says he is still in touch with Barton, wrote: 'I've been worried sick about Mischa, and that it's been insinuated...that I had anything to do with the shopping of Jon's heinous videos makes me physically ill. I love and care about Mischa more than anything in the world, and I've done everything in my power (since November) to prevent Jon's tapes from ever being released.' Spaw claims he told Barton about the tapes from the beginning and was even able to obtain an audio confession from Zacharias

In text messages to Spaw, Zacharias accuses him of stealing the computer that housed the X-rated sex tape

The filing also states that Spaw showed Barton's legal team text messages he had recently received from Zacharias pleading with him not to release the tapes.

In the texts Zacharias tells Spaw: 'Midchas (sic) lawyers and I now know u stole my computer. Do u understand this is a criminal offense? Just promise me u won't release anything.'

Zacharias says he has just left rehab, before adding: 'Just promise me nothing will be f***ing released man.'

But according to Spaw, who sent an email to Bloom's office along with copies of the text messages, Zacharias is trying to 'flip the script' by claiming it's him who is behind the sale of the sex tapes.

Spaw claims in the email that Zacharias 'illegally filmed' Barton, then proceeded to 'openly brag' that he was going to shop the tapes around to the highest bidder.

Zacharias' goal, he wrote, was to sell the explicit footage to showbiz site TMZ for $1million.

The 31-year old bitterly reflected on the moment she discovered the tape was being offered to the highest bidder during a televised interview with Dr. Phil

He added that Zacharias was already responsible for selling photos and text messages between the two to another showbiz website.

Spaw, who says he is still in touch with Barton, wrote: 'I've been worried sick about Mischa, and that it's been insinuated...that I had anything to do with the shopping of Jon's heinous videos makes me physically ill.

'I love and care about Mischa more than anything in the world, and I've done everything in my power (since November) to prevent Jon's tapes from ever being released.'

Spaw claims he hasn't seen or spoken with Zacharias since November last year when he 'copied the tapes he had made onto a flash drive'.

'I want nothing to do with him, I'm repulsed and infuriated at what he's put Mischa through, and what he's put me through in the process. I wanted nothing to do with any of this.'

Spaw claims he told Barton about the tapes from the beginning and was even able to obtain an audio confession from Zacharias.

He added: 'It's obvious to me that Jon's trying to flip the script in his texts, attempting to make himself look innocent (cover his own behind) and paint me as the bad guy, which is fundamentally absurd.'

According to the documents Hollywood sex tape broker Kevin Blatt also gave a deposition in the case.

'However, Mr. Blatt was unable to positively identify the individual who was attempting to sell the tapes in question,' the papers state.

JZacharias describes himself a s a technology and marketing expert on Facebook. In the court documents Mischa says he's 'great with technology'

The filing, which states that Barton was unable to locate elusive Zacharias to serve him with his restraining order, despite several attempts through a service company, adds: 'Good cause exists for a continuance on the grounds that the parties are still obtaining evidence that will confirm who is attempting to get back at Ms. Barton by selling revenge pornography, and additional time is needed to complete this investigation.'

Barton's lawyer, leading civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom, told DailyMail.com Monday: 'Every day that the images are not released is a victory for us. We are pleased the judge has extended the orders for a few weeks so that we can track down Mr Zacharias, who seems to be evading service.

'We will not rest until we have permanent orders in place protecting Ms. Barton's rights to the privacy of images of her own body.'

Zacharias, 30, is a technology and marketing expert from Illinois who dated Barton for several months in 2016.

Barton said in a statement last month that she didn't realize Zacharias was recording their 'intimate relations' and taking 'photos of me naked in the shower' until after they broke up.

The actress says she split with Zacharias after she learned he was only interested in her because she was a celebrity.

She then began dating Spaw, a former friend of Zacharias, who told her that her ex had been bragging about the intimate material in his possession.

She goes on to say Spaw - who she knows as Shaw - copied the photos and videos and tried to erase them from Zacharias' computer.

She said: 'Mr Zacharias is very technical, so I doubt that Mr Shaw was actually able to erase anything from Mr Zacharias' computer.'

Mischa Barton and her lawyer Lisa Bloom held news conference last month during which Mischa said she had been the victim of revenge porn

Barton said her and Spaw eventually broke up recently when he, too, 'tried to take advantage of me and forged my signature on some checks. He was arrested.'

The Beautiful Life star claims both guys are desperate for money, and she believes one or both are responsible for shopping the sex tape.

London-born Barton, 31, said she would be 'devastated' if the material were published and it would 'hurt' her career and cause her to be 'publicly embarrassed'.

DailyMail.com first broke the story on March 13 that Hollywood sex tape broker Kevin Blatt had been approached by a third party with the video.

He said: 'The tape is being shopped around porn valley, the asking price is $500,000.'

Last week Barton opened up about being the apparent victim of the 'revenge porn' scheme.

'I feel very conned by the whole thing,' she said in an interview on Dr Phil.
One of the two men charged with murder over a shooting at a nightclub in Cincinnati last month has died.

Deondre Davis, 29, had been hospitalized and on a ventilator after the shooting at the crowded Cameo club on March 26.

The 29-year-old died shortly after 1am on Tuesday after he was taken off life-support at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to WCPO.

He had been non-responsive since he arrived following the shooting.

Deondre Davis (pictured), one of the two men charged with murder over a shooting at a nightclub in Cincinnati last month, has died in hospital after his life-support was turned off

Davis and a second man, 27-year-old Cornell Beckley, are suspects in a shooting that left one person dead and 16 wounded.

Police believe more than 20 shots were fired in the nightclub after a dispute escalated.

There were about 200 people inside at the time, including 27-year-old O'Bryan Spikes - who was shot dead.

Davis' lawyer, Carl Lewis, maintained his client's family believe he was innocent.

Police believe more than 20 shots were fired in the nightclub (pictured on March 26) after a dispute escalated

O'Bryan Spikes (pictured), 27, died in the horrific shooting that left another 15 people injured on March 26

'They want me to continue to fight to clear his name,' Lewis said on Tuesday.

Beckley has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and his lawyer dismissed them as: 'a product of public outcry, social appeasement and politics.'

He is being held on bond of $1.7million. Police have said more arrests are possible.

A woman who witnessed the shooting last month was heard on the call telling police there was 'blood everywhere' inside the club - which has since closed.

Davis' mother said her son and Spikes were close friends.

Cornell Beckley, the second suspect in the shooting, is pictured in Cincinnati court on Friday March 31
As fingers point to President Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice as the individual who requested the 'unmasking' of Trumpworld names on raw intelligence reports, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., today demanded that she testify before Congress.

'I believe Susan Rice abused this system and she did it for political purposes,' Paul said today on Morning Joe. 'She needs to be brought in and questioned under oath.'

Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake wrote that from her position as chief of the National Security Council, Rice asked government agencies to identify names that had been withheld from raw intelligence reports linked with Trump campaign and transition figures.

Monday evening, the Daily Caller News Foundation's Investigative Group piggybacked on this reporting, writing that Rice had asked U.S. spy agencies for 'detailed spreadsheets,' of legal phone calls involving Trump and his aides during the presidential campaign, U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova told the news site.

Scroll down for video

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appeared on Morning Joe today and demanded that President Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice testify under oath before Congress

Former national security adviser Susan Rice is being blamed for requesting that members of President Trump's teams names were unmasked in intelligence reports

'What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals,' diGenova said.

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.

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.

Paul told the Morning Joe panel that Rice needed to be asked whether President Obama ordered these names unmasked and whether he knew about it.

'This is a big deal,' the Kentucky Republican said. 'If the outgoing administration was actually, literally sifting through things and part of the administration already said we were going to scatter, we were going to get as much information, we were going to scatter it out there publicly to try and harm the Trump administration.'

'This was a witch hunt that began with the Obama administration,' Paul charged. 'Sour grapes on the way out the door.'

'They were going to use the intelligence apparatus to attack Trump and I think they did,' the senator added.

Paul had previously called the allegations against Rice a smoking gun.'

Today he said that 'this is actually, eerily similar to what Trump accused them of which is eavesdropping on conversations for political reasons.'

The Republican senator also excused away Trump's original claims of 'wiretapping,' because 'we don't have wires in our phones anymore ... for the most part we use the term wiretapping to mean eavesdropping.'

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

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 reported 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".'
Families and estates of more than a dozen victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre are suing Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube for allegedly contributing to the radicalization of the ISIS-inspired gunman.

The federal lawsuit was originally filed in Michigan last December by the estates of three victims, but it was amended last week to include ten more plaintiffs.

The complaint accuses the two social media sites, the video-sharing platform and the worlds most popular search engine of allowing ISIS to share content that allegedly inspired Omar Mateen.

He opened fire inside the packed Pulse nightclub in Orlando on the night of June 12, 2016, killing 49 people and injuring 68 others before he was shot dead by police.

Scroll down for video

More than a dozen families, estates and survivors of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting are suing multiple social media companies for allegedly contributing to the radicalization of the ISIS-inspired gunman

Extremist: Omar Mateen (left and right) opened fire inside the packed Pulse nightclub in Orlando on the night of June 12, 2016, killing 49 people and injuring 68 others

Faces of carnage: This photo combination shows victims of the Pulse mass shooting. Top row from left are: Amanda Alvear, Angel L. Candelario-Padro, Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, Antonio Davon Brown, Christopher Leinonen, Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz and Darryl Roman Burt II. Second row from left are: Edward Sotomayor Jr., Enrique L. Rios Jr., Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Frank Hernandez, Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez, Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez and Jason Benjamin Josaphat. Third row from left are: Javier Jorge-Reyes, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, Joel Rayon Paniagua, Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, Juan Ramon Guerrero and Kimberly Morris. Fourth row from left are: Leroy Valentin Fernandez, Luis D. Conde, Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Luis S. Vielma, Martin Benitez Torres and Mercedez Marisol Flores. Fifth row from left are: Miguel Angel Honorato, Oscar A Aracena-Montero, Paul Terrell Henry, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, Shane Evan Tomlinson and Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez. Sixth row from left are: Stanley Almodovar III, Tevin Eugene Crosby, Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, Brenda Lee Marquez McCool and Geraldo Ortiz-Jimenez. Bottom row from left are: Juan Chavez Martinez, Jerald Arthur Wright, Jean Carlos Nieves Rodriguez, Akyra Murray, Deonka Deidra Drayton, Cory James Connell and Alejandro Barrios Martinez

In late March, more than a dozen Pulse victims or their families filed another lawsuit against G4S, the security firm where Mateen worked as a guard, and against the killer's wife, Noor.

Among the new plaintiffs in the social media lawsuit is Christine Leinonen, the mother of deceased victim Christopher 'Dru' Leinonen, who has emerged as an outspoken anti-gun violence advocate in the wake of the deadly rampage.

I think this is one lawsuit that may actually work, so that we could prevent some future tragedies, she told the Orlando Sentinel.

In case of a legal victory, Mrs Leinonen plans to give all the money from the lawsuit to the foundation she has started in memory of her son, The Dru Project, which promotes gay-straight alliances in schools.

Even if the damages are minimal, thats irrelevant. I have the opportunity to eradicate future evil. That would promote my sons honor, his name, his legacy, Leinonen said.

The civil suit seeks a federal judge to declare that the social media sites have violated the Anti-Terrorism Act by allowing ISIS supporters to use the Internet services and disseminate extremist content.

Twitter, Google and Facebook have filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit.

Plaintiff: Among the plaintiffs in the social media lawsuit is Christine Leinonen, the mother of deceased victim Christopher 'Dru' Leinonen (pictured together)

Sued: The newly amended federal lawsuit names (clockwise) Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube as defendants in the civil case

The complaint contends that Mateen was radicalized by ISIS's use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, but the companies have argued that the lawsuit fails to show any evidence that the attack was 'in any way impacted, helped by, or the result of ISIS's presence on the social networks.'

The legal action brought by the families of nine deceased victims and four survivors of the carnage in Orlando makes mention of the widely reported fact that Omar Mateeen went on Facebook during the rampage, but it does not cite any specific examples of the gunman watching ISIS videos online.

Two weeks ago, attorneys for 61 Pulse victims and family members of those killed filed another lawsuit in state court in Palm Beach County, Florida, against Omar Mateens former employer and his widow, blaming them for failing to prevent the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The lawsuit accused the security firm that hired Mateen of ignoring his comments supporting violence prior to the rampage.

Another lawsuit was filed in March against Mateen's widow, Noor Salman (pictured in family photo) and his former employer

The complaint also claimed that Noor Salman conspired in the attack by assisting her husband with his purchase of firearms and surveillance of the Pulse nightclub. She faces federal charges of aiding and abetting her husband and obstructing justice by lying to authorities.

G4S Secure Solutions said in a statement it planned to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit which it considers to be wholly without merit.

Noor Salmans attorney said his client has pleaded not guilty and has denied responsibility for her husbands actions.
Advertisement

A team of expert surgeons are celebrating after successfully saving a sea lion's eyesight by removing the lens from her eye.

Bella, 22, a California sea lion at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling in Scotland, needed treatment after developing keratitis in both eyes.

The park brought in leading veterinarian specialists ophthalmologist Claudia Hartley and Andrew Greenwood, of the International Zoo Vet Group, to carry out the major operation.

Bella the 22-year-old California Sea Lion, fully recovered, after having the lens removed from her right eye

Ophthalmologist Claudia Hartley (front left) and International Zoo Vet Group's Andrew Greenwood (rear right) being assisted by Blair Drummond Safari park keeper Nikki Morrison (top left) during an operation to remove the lens

Bella gives keeper Alex Wainwright a kiss: Park bosses said that at the age of 22, Bella is starting to slow down and can now begin her transition into retirement

Bella first underwent surgery in June 2016 due to lens luxation, a dislocation of the lens, in her left eye induced by the disease.

The surgery was successful, with Bella making a speedy recovery.

However, the right eye lens soon followed the same deterioration and she needed a second operation which took place on February 27.

The sea lion stage, which usually hosts educational presentations, was transformed into a veterinary theatre for the operation.

Keratitis is an ocular disease found in more than 60 per cent of sea lions over 14 years old most of sea lions over 26.

Park bosses said that at the age of 22, Bella is starting to slow down and begin her transition into retirement.

They hope to make this as 'comfortable and fulfilled a process as possible', and ensure that she continues to receive the best management and medical care.

Bella first underwent surgery in June 2016 due to lens luxation, a dislocation of the lens, in her left eye induced by the disease - but was forced to undergo another operation

Keratitis is an ocular disease found in more than 60 per cent of sea lions over 14 years old most of sea lions over 26

The intricate surgery saw a team of several specialist surgeons and keepers work together to help Bella see again

Within two weeks of major surgery, Bella is eating and interacting well with the rest of the sea lion group and can see and manoeuvre her surroundings reasonably comfortably

The sea lion stage, which usually hosts educational presentations, was transformed into a veterinary theatre for the operation

Nikki Morrison, head of the sea lion department, said: 'The stage was the best place to carry out the surgery; it gave us the most room and lighting for all concerned.

'We were able to anaesthetise Bella in the penning room, then safely carry her to the operating table using a stretcher.

'I have great confidence in Claudia and Andrew; they are the leading experts in the field.

'Both surgeries have been a great success and Blair Drummond's team of sea lion and veterinary specialists were all on-hand to assist.

'Claudia and Andrew were very clear about explaining each step of the process, enabling us to follow the operation. We remain in contact and keep everyone updated on Bella's recovery.

'Bella has blown us all away with how resilient she is.

'Within two weeks of major surgery, she's eating and interacting well with the rest of the sea lion group and although her vision is limited, it appears she can actually still see and manoeuvre her surroundings reasonably comfortably.'
Navy fighter jets are depriving pilot's of oxygen mid-flight, prompting safety concerns over a fleet of aircraft President Trump has publicly supported.

Court documents obtained by Bloomberg News shows F-18 models, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet, are causing pilots to have 'physiological episodes' in the air.

This includes episodes of decompression sickness, which can cause headaches, nausea, numbness and make it difficult to think clear.

The dangerous side effects are a cause for concern, as the Commander-in-chief has urged the Pentagon to invest in the aircraft.

President Trump has praised Boeing F-18 Super Hornets for being a cheaper alternative to the Lockheed Martin F-35

Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet Navy Jets (pictured) have had increasing problems with depriving fighter pilots of oxygen

Back in December, Trump praised the F-18 jets tweeting: 'Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!'

By switching from the F-35s to the F-18, taxpayers are estimated to save $29 billion according to CNN.

The report from a hearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee explains the F-18's oxygen problems. The testimony shows that over the past seven years, the models have shown a consistent increase in the number of physiological episodes.

There have also been issues with the EA-18G Growler.

The episodes are caused by either 'pilot breathing gas' or by problems with 'unscheduled pressure changes in the flight station'.

Both of these issues put the pilot at risk and 'jeopardize safe flight' according to Rear Admiral Michael Moran.

Trump praised Super Hornets on Twitter for being a cheaper alternatives to Lockheed Martins

Trump is shown a 781-10 Dreamliner during a tour of the Boeing South Carolina facility

It is difficult to determine the root cause of these issues because 'depressurization, tissue hypoxia and contaminant intoxication overlap.'

Part of this is because hypoxic related events, or deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues, are not always noticeable during the flight.

The report shows since May 1, 2010: 'Of 382 cases adjudicated by the [Physiological Episode Team] so far, 130 have involved some form of contamination, 114 involved an [Environmental Control System] component failure, 91 involved human factors, 50 involved an [Onboard Oxygen Generation Systems] component failure, 13 involved a breathing gas delivery component failure, and 76 were inconclusive or involved another aircraft system failure.'

Some of the problems may have been caused by more than one factor.
A mother abandoned her baby in the front yard of a home after taking drugs and getting paranoid, police say.

The woman, who has not been identified, left the three-month-old boy in the front yard of a house in Lakewood, Washington, late on Sunday night, officers claim.

Investigators say the woman confessed to leaving the baby there after taking drugs at a friend's house and thinking people were chasing her.

A mother abandoned this three-month-old baby in a front yard in Lakewood, Washington, after taking drugs and thinking people were chasing her, police say

While it is not clear what time the baby was abandoned, the boy was not discovered until a neighbor happened to be passing around 1.30am on Monday.

The passerby heard what she thought was an injured animal but after using her cell phone light to investigate she discovered it was a child, the Seattle Times reports.

The baby was not covered with a blanket, and was only wearing a striped onesie with 'little brother' written across the front.

Police were called and the child was handed over to protective services while investigators hunted for his parents. The boy was cold, but unharmed.

Detectives were eventually tipped off that a woman in a nearby hospital was claiming to be the baby's mother after seeing him on the news.

Medics say the woman was found running around the streets shortly after 7am, around three miles from where the infant was found.

A passerby found the boy at 1.30am on Monday after hearing what she thought was an injured animal. She is now facing a charge of second-degree abandonment of a dependent

Officers say she admitted abandoning the boy in the hopes that someone would find him and keep him safe.

A man claiming to be the baby's father and the woman's husband then arrived at the hospital, saying he last saw the pair on Sunday night when he had been arguing with his wife.

He claims he left before the woman took drugs and had no idea his son had been abandoned.

Friends of the woman say they have called child protective services on the couple several times in the last year, but their calls went ignored.

The woman will be booked on a charge of second degree abandonment of a dependent person when she is declared medically fit.

The father has also been detained on an outstanding arrest warrant. The boy is still with child services.

Police say their identities will be released once charges have been filed.
These fascinating images show that its not all doom and gloom in North Korea, with workmen serenaded to the sweet sound of a brass band as they dig away.

French photographer Eric Lafforgue was captivated by the scene as he recently journeyed though the secretive state.

While riding down a desolate highway he spotted the musicians playing trumpets, trombones and drums in a bid to encourage construction workers to keep shovelling away.

One shot shows the uniformed orchestra smiling for the camera as they stop for a swift break. But its not just the musical antics that are slightly bizarre in North Korea.

Mr Lafforgue's images show that the gaping highways are eerily empty with hardly any vehicles in sight. They appear to be more like areoplane runways than roads, with vast swathes of tarmac motor-free. Speed signs and adverts promoting the latest must-have vehicles seem to be redundant.

Mr Lafforgue, who has ventured to North Korea six times since 2008, manages to capture images the authorities don't want the outside world to see by saving them externally on digital memory cards.

He has pulled together dozens of photos of men, women, and children looking happy and relaxed, while at work and play, from his various visits to the communist enclave.

His pictures are perhaps the closest thing to candid photographs taken by western photographers in the secretive state.

'Some say about North Korea that the only ones who smile are the "Dear Leaders" on the propaganda stuff', he said.

'But after six trips in the most closed country, I can say that North Koreans are not the robots many depict... They also smile!'
North Korean cyber attackers have targeted banks in 18 countries with Pyongyang using the money to boost its terrifying nuclear programme, security experts have claimed.

A hacking operation known as Lazarus has targeted financial institutions in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, India and the Middle East, according to Russian researchers.

Cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab said it had obtained digital evidence that fuels suspicions 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.

Security experts fear money stolen from the cyber heists is being used to bolster Kim Jong-Un's plans to create a long-range nuclear missile system.

Scroll down for video

North Korean cyber attackers have targeted banks in 18 countries, security experts have claimed, amid fears the money is being used to bolster Kim Jong Un's (pictured) terrifying nuclear programme

Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow for Foundation for Defense of Democracies who tracks North Korea's activities, told CNN: 'This is all for their nuclear weapons and missile programs. They need this money for building and researching more ballistic missiles.'

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.

According to CNN, banks in Poland, India, Thailand and Nigeria are among those that have been hacked. Financial institutions in Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malaysia, Iraq, Taiwan, Uruguay and Indonesia have also been targeted, the researchers said.

Russian-based Kaspersky released a 58-page report on Lazarus, a group linked to the heist 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.

Security experts fear money stolen from the cyber heists is being used to bolster Kim Jong-Un's plans to create a long-range nuclear missile system

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.

The North Korean government has denied allegations of hacking made by officials in Washington and South Korea as well as 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.'

Adrian Nish, head of threat intelligence with cyber security firm BAE Systems PLC, 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.
An 18-year-old has been accused of shooting and killing a 14-year-old girl who was found dead in a park.

Taylor Sorera Smith of Charlotte was found with gunshot wounds at River Street Park in Mount Holly on Monday afternoon.

Smith was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Darvon Malik Fletcher, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her tragic death.

Scroll down for video

Shooting: An 18-year-old has been charged in the murder of a 14-year-old girl who died after being found shot at a North Carolina park. Pictured is victim Taylor Sorera Smith

Suspect: Darvon Malik Fletcher, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder. He is pictured left and right in his mugshot

Authorities took him into custody on Tuesday, WSOC reported.

The suspect's father Patrick Cole told the Gaston Gazette: 'I don't know what to say right now. I'm confused. This has put a dark cloud over our family.'

Cole told the newspaper his son was set to graduate from high school in June.

Smith lived with her grandmother and mother in East Charlotte, which is 20 miles away from where she was shot and killed.

Her grandmother Carolyn Grimsley-Lisenby told the paper: 'She's not familiar with Mount Holly, not at all. We don't know how she got there.'

But police told WSOC that the incident didn't seem random.

The shooting happened about 3 p.m. in River Street Park (pictured) in Mount Holly

Mount Holly Police Chief Don Roper told the news outlet: 'It's a good neighborhood park, so this is uncommon.

'It does cause concern, and it's elevated whenever it's a young victim.'

A GoFundMe page for the girl's funeral expenses says: 'We can't comprehend why anyone would kill a 14 year old child.

'In her grandma's words, "She was a flower that was not fully bloomed."

'No parent should ever have to bury their daughter but now Taylor's mom, Sabrina has the unfortunate responsibility of having to plan a funeral for her 14 year old daughter.

'We all are still in shock and disbelief that Taylor is gone.'
An angry protester has daubed a new housing development in Latin graffiti - but didn't quite get their grammar right.

Local residents in Chesterton, Cambridge, described the damage as the 'most Cambridge thing ever' on social media despite academics criticising the vandal's use of language.

The graffiti is reminiscent of the 'Romans go home' scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian - in which Brian daubs an anti-Roman slogan on the walls of Pontius Pilate's palace but accidentally messes up the grammar.

Local residents in Chesterton, Cambridge, described the damage as the 'most Cambridge thing ever'

The graffiti is reminiscent of the 'Romans go home' scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian, pictured

He is confronted by a centurion but the soldier is distracted by the poor use of Latin and is then ordered to write the slogan 100 times.

Police are investigating after the brand new properties, which are on the market for 1.25 million each, were covered with artistic white and black lettering apparently complaining about the site.

According to local residents, the houses replaced the popular Penny Ferry pub that had stood on the site and provided locals with a 'green space' by the river.

The Latin reads 'locus in domos' and 'loci populum' and has proven difficult to accurately translate - even for Cambridge scholar and TV personality Mary Beard.

However, it loosely means 'room in the house' and 'local people'.

The Latin reads 'locus in domos' and 'loci populum', and has proven difficult to accurately translate

The Latin loosely translates as 'room in the house' and 'local people'.

Cambridge University Professor of Classics Mary Beard said: 'This is a bit hard to translate, but I think what they were trying to say is that a lovely place has been turned into houses.'

Dr Charles Weiss, from Cambridge University's Faculty of Classics, said: 'His capital D is odd.

'I assume this is an impossible form of 'domus' and that the word 'houses' or 'homes' is meant but if the lettering is deliberate it could refer to some non-declining proper noun, like a place or even a person.

'"Doma" is the name of a few obscure places, evidently, and might be an alternate to Tomas.

'It could also be capitalised because the writer is accustomed to capitalising nouns, as in German and some English.

Cambridge University Professor of Classics Mary Beard said: 'This is a bit hard to translate, but I think what they were trying to say is that a lovely place has been turned into houses'

Residents believe the graffiti is a protest against the popular Penny Ferry pub which is being replaced

'"Populum" is also very odd. I assume that a genitive or dative is actually meant. It could be a rare spelling of the genitive plural but given 'Domas' that seems unlikely.'

Residents believe the graffiti is a protest against the pub being replaced, the high prices of the new housing and the fact they have remained empty for months.

Richard Taylor, 36, lives three streets away from the site. He said: 'It's very strange. Who has the ability to do quite neat and artistic graffiti like this?

'On the one hand it's an effective way of getting people talking about it. On the other, it's quite a serious crime. They've caused a lot of damage.

'There are four police officers investigating it now, and they are looking at the builders' ladders. The artist appears to have used their ladders to do this.

Local PCSO Dan Eaton said: 'Only in Cambridge will you find graffiti in Latin'

Richard Taylor, 36, lives three streets away from the site. He said: 'It's very strange. Who has the ability to do quite neat and artistic graffiti like this?'

'The site used to be a pub and gave some public access to a green space by the river.

'Now these houses have gone up you can no longer access it, and the graffiti appears to be a protest against that.'

Cambridge has faced increasing tension over its housing situation. According to a recent Lloyds Bank study it comes fourth on the list of the UK's least affordable cities.

The average property price is about ten times the average income.

Richard said: 'There are a lot of people here who are unhappy about the cost of housing and living.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said an investigation had been launched into the graffiti

The houses targeted by graffiti vandals were developed by HC Moss (Builders) Ltd. A spokesman for the construction firm said: 'We have been made aware of the incident of criminal damage at our Water Street development and are taking steps to remove the graffiti.'

'It's becoming increasingly difficult to afford decent housing, and people in housing estates are increasingly living next to people in very expensive housing.

'In some way the city is very successful, but there is real pressure on housing and transport and commuting from nearby towns and villages is not easy. We have real problems.'

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: 'We were called at 8am this morning to a report of criminal damage on Water Street in Cambridge.

'We have launched a criminal investigation into the incident and anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number CFO 836 201 17.'

The houses targeted by graffiti vandals were developed by HC Moss (Builders) Ltd.

The homes are near where a new railway station providing high-speed links to London is expected to open in May

A spokesman for the construction firm said: 'We have been made aware of the incident of criminal damage at our Water Street development and are taking steps to remove the graffiti.

'This appears to be an isolated incident and it has been reported to the police who are investigating.

'We will be reviewing our current security measures at the location.'

Local PCSO Dan Eaton said: 'Only in Cambridge will you find graffiti in Latin.'

The homes are near where a new railway station providing high-speed links to London is expected to open on May 21.
A new month and time for a new prompt. Oh, I wish I really was in Paris. It must have been wishful thinking when I decided on Paris in April for this month's reading prompt theme. Surely any book set in Paris will be an enjoyable read, right? My stack of choices seems to grow each month, too. Last month I managed to read two books for my prompt, I wonder if I can make it three this time around? But if I only finish one, that's okay, too.

I want to read at least one book that is translated from French, but otherwise any book with a Paris setting, even if it is written in English is fine. I have already started my first selection, which sits at the top of the pile, Helene Gremillon's The Confidant. This is her first novel, which has been translated into more than twenty languages. The English translation is from 2012. It is a dual narrative set in mid-1970s Paris and pre-War France. It is a letter that initially ties the parallel plots together. It is both a historical novel and a thriller which the NYT called 'riveting'! Almost fifty pages in and I am finding it very engaging indeed.

Next in line is Elena Mauli Shapiro's 13 rue Therese, which is a gorgeous book in its own right. Creamy pages, slightly oversize with color and sepia-toned pictures illustrating the text. I have owned this for ages and should have read it long ago. So, now is its moment. Although Shapiro was born and raised in Paris, the book is written in English, and I believe the Paris apartment where she lived was the inspiration for this novel. The premise is a man living in a Paris apartment finds a box full of WWI artifacts that belonged to a woman living there through both World Wars. One blurb calls this a 'puzzle novel' and I think the protagonist pieces together/imagines her life. It is going to be my second choice and hopefully one I will get to.

I'm also hoping to squeeze in a Georges Simenon/Maigret novel. I've found two with Paris settings in my reading pile. The first is The Carter of La Providence--"a well-dressed woman has been found strangled in a stable near a canal. Why did her glamorous, hedonistic life to such a brutal end here? Surely her aristocratic, taciturn husband knows--or maybe the answers lie with the crew of the barge La Providence?" The other is Night at the Crossroads--"On the outskirts of Paris, a sensational crime in an isolated neighborhood becomes the focus of Maigret's investigation. But the strange behavior of an enigmatic Danish aristocrat and his reclusive sister prove to be even more troubling." Interesting how aristocrats abound in Maigret stories. Maigret novels are always slender, quick reads. Maybe I will start one sooner rather than later. And maybe I'll read them both.

As for the other books in the pile--who know--maybe one of them will grab me and I will pick up one of these instead: Mayhem by J. Robert Janes--the first in a series of WWII mysteries that features a French and a German detective working together. Agatha Christie's Death in the Clouds is a mystery set in an airplane--the flight goes from Paris to Croyden. American author Katherine Mosby's Twilight is set in the 1930s/WWII about the "political and sexual awakening" of a 'spinster'. And Pierre Lemaitre's Irene is the first in a trilogy of books featuring Commandant Camille Verhoeven. I read his first novel, Alex, which was pretty harrowing. I'm both compelled and a little afraid to pick up another book by Lemaitre . . . (but in the end I will eventually).

Do people who don't like to read have any idea what they are missing out on? The joy of choosing a new book (or two) to read-happy contented sigh. Not that I need more ideas or anything, but have you read any really good stories (or even short stories) set in Paris? (I am a book glutton and I'm afraid I cannot resist asking).
Mark Bartell (pictured) has been found guilty of raping his wife and then trying to arrange to have her killed

A man has been found guilty of raping his wife and then trying to arrange to have her killed.

Mark Bartell, 50, faces up to 75 years behind bars for the crimes, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.

The department announced it had found that the 50-year-old raped his wife in her bedroom after they had an argument in November 2015, which led to him being arrested and jailed at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.

While he was behind bars, Bartell tried to hire two fellow inmates to kill his wife, the department said, according to the Delaware News Journal.

Bartell was recently convicted by a jury of two counts of criminal solicitation for trying to convince the jailbirds to kill his wife, as well as two counts of second-degree rape, and one count of fourth-degree rape.

He is due to be sentenced in May.

The 50-year-old faces between 20 and 75 years in prison.
A gang of five masked thugs armed with hammers have robbed a Melbourne jewellery store in broad daylight - the shop's second attack in three months.

Five bandits burst into the H & H jewellery outlet in Elsternwick as terrified customers shopped about 3.10pm on Tuesday afternoon, police say.

The men used metal poles and hammers to violently smash counters and display cabinets before stuffing jewellery into bags and running out.

A gang of five masked thugs armed with hammers have robbed a Melbourne jewellery store

They then jumped into a white Jeep and fled the scene at high speeds. The five men remain on the run.

Four staff and two customers were in the store but no injuries were reported.

A man from a nearby toy store was seen on CCTV trying to stop the men as they fled but he was pushed to the ground.

Witness Marcelle Lhuillier said people were shoved out of the way as they stormed the store.

'They ran out and sort of pushed me out of the way but the guy from Toy World copped it more than me, Ms Lhuillier told the Nine Network.

'They were just on a mission, just getting in and getting out very quickly.'

The men used metal poles and hammers to violently smash counters and display cabinets before stuffing jewellery into bags

A man from a nearby toy store was seen on CCTV trying to stop the men as they fled but he was pushed to the ground

They raiders jumped into a white Jeep and fled the scene at high speed

The same store was targeted in January 4 by three men armed with a gun and a machete

It's the second attack on the store this year. It was targeted in January 4 by three men armed with a gun and a machete.

In that robbery, staff were threatened and the men stole jewellery before leaving the scene in a car without registration plates.

The gun was later aimed at a woman watching the three men flee in a getaway car.

Tuesday's raid comes less than a fortnight after three machete-wielding robbers stormed a Canterbury jewellery store in another repeat attack.

Police said in January the wave of jewellery store robberies across Melbourne may be linked to an organised network of crime gangs.
The legal turmoil at Fox News triggered by the downfall of former boss Roger Ailes (above) has reportedly provided fodder for upcoming television projects

The legal turmoil at Fox News triggered by the downfall of former boss Roger Ailes has reportedly provided fodder for upcoming television projects.

The long-running NBC series Law and Order: SVU will air an episode later this month in which a television news executive is accused of raping a subordinate female news anchor, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The episode is loosely based on the scandal surrounding deposed Fox News boss Ailes.

Ailes was forced out of his job last year after a number of women came forward and accused him of sexual harassment.

The executive will be portrayed on Law and Order: SVU by Christopher McDonald, a character actor whose past credits include Thelma and Louise, Happy Gilmore, and Requiem for a Dream.

The female news anchor will be played by Bonnie Somerville, whose long list of television credits include supporting roles on NYPD Blue, Friends, and The O.C.

Mark Moses, who was on Mad Men, will play Somerville's co-anchor.

In the episode, which is titled 'The Newsroom,' the plotline sees 'Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Barba (Raul Esparza) ask[ing] witnesses to put their jobs on the line after a news anchor (Somerville) makes an on-air disclosure of rape against her boss.'

Law and Order: SVU is not the only television project that has used the Ailes scandal for creative fodder.

Law and Order: SVU will air an episode in which a TV executive allegedly rapes a subordinate female news anchor. Above are the show's stars, Mariska Hargitay (left), Raul Esparza (center), Ice-T (third from right), Peter Scanavino (second from right), and Kelli Giddish

The executive will be portrayed on Law and Order: SVU by Christopher McDonald (left), whose past credits include Thelma and Louise and Happy Gilmore. The female news anchor will be played by Bonnie Somerville (right), whose credits include roles on NYPD Blue and Friends

The cable network Showtime has bought the rights to air a miniseries titled Secure and Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes.

The miniseries is produced by Blumhouse Productions. It will enlist the services of Gabriel Sherman, a journalist for New York magazine who has been out in front in reporting on the Ailes scandal.

Sherman is the author of the 2014 bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News - and Divided a Country.

The miniseries will also be led by Tom McCarthy, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director of the acclaimed picture Spotlight.

Showtime has bought the rights to air a miniseries about Ailes written by Gabriel Sherman (left), a journalist for New York magazine who has been out in front in reporting on the Ailes scandal, and Tom McCarthy (right), the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director

Fox News was rocked once again this week by revelations that five women who were once employed by the network received payouts totaling $13million after accusing star host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment.

Two days after the bombshell report in The New York Times, Fox News was hit with another lawsuit.

Julie Roginsky filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the County of New York on Monday claiming that she was sexually harassed by Ailes during her time at the network and refused a promised promotion when she turned down his sexual advances.

She began working as a contributor for the network back in 2011, and things went fine until in 2015 Ailes began asking her to meet in private where he would ask her personal questions about her love and sex life according to the complaint.

The court filing claims that Ailes would insist Roginsky, 43, kiss him when she entered the room for these meetings while he sat in his armchair, forcing her to bend down and allowing him to see down her dress.

Ailes also made sexist comments about her co-hosts on 'The Five' according to the complaint, which states that the former CEO once told Roginsky that Kimberly Guilfoyle would 'get on her knees for anyone.'

She is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages in her lawsuit, which could be the first to actually play out in public due to the fact that unlike past women who have sued the network Roginsky does not have an arbitration agreement.

Nancy Erika Smith, who is representing Roginsky, said in a statement: 'We look forward to a public trial in front of a jury in New York City.'

Fox News Channel was rocked once again this week by revelations that five women who were once employed by the network received payouts totaling $13million after accusing star host Bill O'Reilly (above) of sexual harassment

Two days after the bombshell report about O'Reilly in The New York Times, Fox News was hit with another lawsuit. Julie Roginsky (left) filed a complaint claiming that she was refused a promotion promised by Ailes when she turned down his sexual advances

Ailes also made sexist comments about her co-hosts on 'The Five,' according to the complaint. The show's hosts - Kimberly Guilfoyle (far left), Bob Beckel (second from left), Eric Bolling (center), Dana Perino (second from right), and Greg Gutfeld - are seen in the above file photo

In addition to the litany of complaints about a hostile work environment for females at Fox News, it was learned on Tuesday that a third female African American employee in the network's payroll department joined a lawsuit first filed last week alleging racial discrimination.

As if that weren't enough, the federal government is investigating whether Fox News broke the law by failing to disclose its financial settlements with women employees to its shareholders.

Fox News is owned by 21st Century Fox, a media conglomerate run by Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

The Ailes saga first began on June 23 of last year, when veteran Fox News anchor and former 'Fox & Friends' co-host Gretchen Carlson was quietly let go after 11 years with the network upon the expiration of her contract.

Weeks later, Carlson sued her former boss, claiming she was cut loose after she refused his sexual advances and complained about harassment in the workplace.

Though the complaint was filed against Ailes, she also cited her former 'Fox & Friends' colleague Steve Doocy for alleged sexual harassment.

Ailes denied the allegations and accused Carlson of filing the lawsuit in retaliation for her contract not being renewed.

Fox News then announced that it would launch an internal review to investigate the allegations.

On July 9, New York magazine published allegations of sexual misconduct by Ailes from six other women, two of whom speak on the record.

Three days later, veteran Fox News Channel host Neil Cavuto published a defense of Ailes in the Business Insider website, describing the accusations against him as 'sick.'

Cavuto joined a number of female Fox News on-air personalities including Martha MacCallum, Sandra Smith, Greta Van Susteren and Maria Bartiromo who publicly pushed back against Carlson's allegations.

The next week, a New York magazine story, citing anonymous sources, reported that Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, decided to remove Ailes.

New York magazine also reported that Megyn Kelly, who was one of Fox News' biggest stars before bolting the network for a lucrative deal with NBC, told investigators that Ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her about 10 years ago when she was beginning at the network.

On July 21, Ailes resigned. Rupert Murdoch took over as acting CEO.
One of the stars of Channel 5's bailiff show Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away has a conviction for extreme animal pornography, it has been revealed.

Philip Gardiner, 40, from Dereham, Norfolk, controversially appeared on an episode of the show after he was punished over the offence.

In August 2014, he pleaded guilty at Norwich Magistrates' Court to a charge of possessing an extreme pornographic video depicting a sex act with an animal.

Philip Gardiner (pictured) from Channel 5's bailiff show Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away has a conviction for extreme animal pornography

He was fined 500 with 85 costs and a 50 victim surcharge, according to The Sun.

In the show, Gardiner was billed as a 'High Court enforcement' officer - a position the law states must be occupied by a 'fit and proper person' with no criminal record.

But staff at the show told the paper Gardiner was acting as a 'back-up colleague' for the show while travellers were being evicted from a site in Luton and not officially performing the role.

He previously appeared on the show as an enforcement officer in two episodes before he was convicted.

Channel 5 did not wish to make a statement when contacted. MailOnline has also tried to contact Philip Gardiner.

In the show, Gardiner has evicted a woman and her two children from a property in Wandsworth, South London.

Gardiner (left), 40, from Dereham, Norfolk, should be barred from appearing as a court 'heavy' because of the conviction

In another episode a mother-of-six is evicted from a house in Biggin Hill, Kent.

A spokesman for Brinkworth Films, which produces the show, also did not wish to comment.

Earlier a source from the company told The Sun that Gardner is not and never has been a High Court Enforcement Agent and did not appear in that role on the show.

The source said he appeared in two episodes filmed before the conviction and another episode in Series three where he is pixelated.

The source added that the production company was not aware of the conviction when he was filmed.

A High Court Enforcement Officer is a person who has been authorised by the Ministry of Justice to enforce High Court judgments.

In August 2014, Gardiner (centre) pleaded guilty at Norwich Magistrates' Court to a charge of possessing an extreme pornographic video depicting a sex act with an animal

Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away is a reality show that follows the work of High Court Enforcement officers across the UK.

The series first aired in 2014 and there have been five seasons of the show so far.

A statement on the show's website says: 'Five years on from the credit crunch, this series reveals the dramatic stories of British people on the sharp end of bad debt.

'Following the no-nonsense repo men and bailiffs charged with sorting the whole mess out, this is the human face of credit-crunched Britain and debt in action.'
Police officers answering a domestic assault call out faced a chilling scene when they found dozens of knives pierced into a staircase.

The image was likened to 'something out of a horror movie' when Met Police officers found at least 19 blades wedged into every step at the property in Isleworth, west London.

The sinister picture - which also showed what appear to be bullets strewn among the knives - sparked horror on social media after it was shared by Inspector Jack Rowlands.

Ipswich Police said it was like 'something out of a horror movie' when they found the knives wedged into every step at the property in Isleworth, west London

The photographs show the blades strategically placed up the staircase, piercing orange cards.

Insp Rowlands tweeted: 'A few weeks back a colleague of mine went to a domestic assault & found this when he entered. Male arrested & charged.'

His post has since been retweeted hundreds of times, with many describing the scene as 'frightening in the extreme' and 'completely terrifying'.

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Took true courage. Scary unreal scene - Alfred Hitchcock film. Hope female appreciative.'

Others later tweeted: 'that is completely terrifying. Poor poor woman.'

The picture - which also showed several bullets strewn among the blades - sparked horror on social media after Inspector Jack Rowlands (pictured) shared the chilling image

Insp Rowlands said: 'A few weeks back a colleague of mine went to a domestic assault & found this when he entered. Male arrested & charged'

Ipswich East Police said it was 'like something from a horror movie'.

Insp Rowlands later wrote: 'Lots of comments & shock about this picture.

'An image that raises the awareness of #domesticviolence & how much more is needed to be done.'

Guy Slade, 42, is due to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on April 4 charged with common assault.
A gynaecologist has been sacked after a woman claimed she made her 'lose her virginity' during a routine examination.

The devout Christian patient, 29, who must remain anonymous, was devastated after she was informed that her hyman had 'partially broken' during an appointment with her female doctor at a state-run clinic in Novosibirsk, Russia.

She had remained a virgin because her beliefs demanded that she did not have sex out of wedlock.

However, when she told her fiance about the incident he was so furious that he broke off their engagement.

A gynaecologist has been sacked after a woman claimed she made her 'lose her virginity' from a routine examination (file photo)

Recalling her check-up, she said: 'It was my first meeting with the doctor and I told her that at 29, I was still a virgin.

'I felt pain during the check up and saw blood on the doctor's gloves. But she (the doctor) told me that everything was fine. '

The woman had an 'unpleasant sensation' afterwards and went to a private clinic 'to verify my suspicions'.

She said: 'They told me that the hymen was partially broken. People will understand my fury.

'I wept all night and the next day, I just could not stop crying. How could she do it?

'I would have never expected it to happen this way, that I'd be treated in such a terrible manner.

The woman had gone for a routine check-up at this state run gynaecology clinic in Novosibirsk

'Only God knows how much I suffered, as did my mother.'

The woman is 'a devout Christian Orthodox believer who wanted to stay virgin until her wedding night,' reported The Siberian Times.

'These are my principles and I wanted to stick by them,' she said.

'Perhaps this was surprising for the medics, but I told them straight away that I wasn't married and therefore I didn't have sex because I believed it should happen after marriage. This is what the Bible says.'

Her fiance 'queried if it was possible that a doctor could have broken a hymen', she said.

Only God knows how much I suffered, as did my mother

He subsequently broke off their engagement.

The ruling by a female judge is seen as unique in Russia.

The victim had sought 28,500 in compensation and her lawyer Tatiana Popova said the in the West people 'get millions for mistakes like this'.

'But I am pleased with the court order, because (in Russia) we are just beginning to recognise moral damage cases,' she said.

'The fact is that this is the first case in Russia when a court grants a compensation for loss of virginity in a gynaecological chair.'

The award would be compensate her for 'moral damages'.

'Why should I be hide in the corner at home and go through my pain all alone?' she said.

Chief doctor Irina Gevorkyan declined to issue a public apology, saying: 'I am not commenting on the court decision. They won, so they won.'
A Maryland Democratic congressman who often inserts himself into the politics of race condemned chief White House strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday as 'a white supremacist-type person.'

Rep. Elijah Cummings said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program of Bannon, who helped steer Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign after years at the helm of the conservative Breitbart News outlet, that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'would be disappointed' to see him holding the levers of power.

Assassin James Earl Ray killed King, the famed civil rights icon, 49 years ago today.

'I think that if Dr. King were here ... I think he would be a bit disappointed,' Cummings said Tuesday.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings called chief Trump strategist Steve Bannon 'a white supremacist-type person'

Bannon is a lightning rod for liberals who cast the Trump administration as racist

'In a way he would have been pleased to have seen the first African-American elected president, to have seen many doors opened for people like me, and others who now have opportunities that would not have had them back then.'

'But at the same time, when we see a guy like Bannon who is, as far as Im concerned, a white supremacist-type person, sitting in the White House  sitting in the White House!  and Im paying his salary, I think he'd be very disappointed,' he continued.

'I think he'd be disappointed with all the hate talk that we are hearing now, and the climate that we find ourselves in.'

Reached on Tuesday by DailyMail.com, Bannon had no comment. He indicated, however, that he wasn't aware of Cummings' morning ambush.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed 49 years ago today

Cummings demanded in November that Trump revoke Bannon's appointment as chief White House strategist

Cummings was one of more than 150 House Democrats who demanded Trump revoke his appointment of Bannon barely one week after the November election.

'Leading white nationalists like David Duke have praised Steve Bannon,' Cummings tweeted at the time. 'Donald Trump should rescind his appointment. #NoHateinWhiteHouse.'

Bannon was one of the first two major hires of the new administration, getting top billing over White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in a press release announcing the duo's positions.
Berlin and Paris have been slammed for failing to light up their most famous landmarks in solidarity with victims of the St Petersburg attack.

The German capital's Brandenburg Gate was lit up in the colours of the British flag in the wake of the terror attack on Westminster in March while the lights of the Eiffel Tower went off as a mark of respect.

But in Berlin, no such measure has been ordered after a suicide bomber launched a deadly attack killing 14 in St Petersburg, which German officials insist is not a 'sister city'.

In Paris, the city's mayor Anne Hidalgo came under pressure to explain why the Eiffel Tower's lights were not dimmed. One Twitter user asked: 'Why no Russian flag on the Eiffel Tower? Do some deaths count more than other?'

Scroll down for video

Solidarity: The German capital's Brandenburg Gate was lit up in the colours of the British flag in the wake of the terror attack on Westminster in March - but there has reportedly been no such tribute following the St Petersburg bombings

Mark of respect: In Paris, moves to turn off the Eiffel Tower's lights were only approved after the city's mayor Anne Hidalgo came under pressure to do so

Far right National Front councillor Gabriel de Payrecave added: 'Mrs Hidalgo, no support, no solidarity for Russia after the attack?'

Hidalgo reportedly later gave the go ahead for the lights to be dimmed on Tuesday night.

Today a spokesperson from the London Eye told the Evening Standard that despite changing colour for the November 2015 Paris attacks, there currently isn't a plan to light up the riverside landmark in light of the Russia attacks.

They added: 'There is no hard-and-fast rule and we havent heard anything from the Mayor or No 10 at this stage.'

A Number 10 spokesperson then responded saying it wasn't their call to make, while the Mayor's office apparently responded saying it was up to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Today a spokesperson from the London Eye said that despite changing colour for the November 2015 Paris attacks, there currently isn't a plan to light up the riverside landmark in light of the Russia attacks

Paying tribute: The Brandenburg Gate was lit p in the colours of the Turkish flag after a terror attack on Istanbul's airport in June, 2016

Across the pond in Germany, the Brandenburg Gate flew the colours of the UK last week following the Westminster attack and has in the past flown the colours of the French flag and the Israeli flag on the historic landmark following other terror atrocities.

But Berlin today confirmed they will not show the same solidarity to the Russian victims.

A spokesman of the Senate of Berlin said that it was only in 'exceptional cases' that the monument is lit up in the colours of a national flag, adding that St Petersburg is 'not a sister city' of the German capital.

It is reported that the Berlin Senate Chancellery has worked out a guide on how to proceed with commemorating such terrorist attacks.

The report says: 'The governing mayor has made the decision that the Brandenburg Gate will be lit only following a terrorist act in a partner town.'

Support: Belgium was also offered solidarity in Berlin in the wake of attacks on Brussels last year

Backing: The Eiffel Tower was lit up in the colours of the rainbow flag (left) to pay a tribute for victims of a shooting inside a gay nightclub, Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida. The colours of the Belgian flag were also projected onto the landmark (right) after attacks on Brussels

But sceptics say this is in direct contradiction to past acts, with the gate previously lit up with the rainbow flag to commemorate the victims of a terror shooting in a gay club in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Jerusalem is also not a sister city of Berlin but the gate has displayed the Israeli flag before.

A Senate spokesman said that those cities are 'places to which Berlin has a special relationship'.

He said: 'This is the case at Jerusalem and also with Orlando as a rainbow city.'

In Paris, the mayor was asked to explain why the Eiffel Tower had not dimmed its lights in the wake of the St Petersburg attack, according to The Local - France.

She later announced that the lights on the landmark would be dimmed on Tuesday night.
A woman in Argentina who tied up her wealthy sugardaddy during a sex game before stabbing him to death and stealing his money has been sentenced to life in prison.

Paula Romano, 34, stabbed her boyfriend Julio Cesar Vittoria, 62, 24 times while he was naked and tied up in July 2014.

She stole 20,000 ARS (1,045) from the ice cream shop owner before fleeing the scene in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Paula Romano (center), 34, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing her boyfriend Julio Cesar Vittoria, 62, 24 times while he was naked and tied up in July 2014 at a property in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Vittoria's (pictured left and right) body was discovered at a property in the neighbourhood of Flores, in Buenos Aires. On the day of the murder, in July 2014, Romano texted her boyfriend saying she was going to tie him up and that he should be ready for 'a party'

The businessman was later found dead with a rope around his neck, his hands tied and stab wounds by his horrified son.

His body was discovered at a property in the neighbourhood of Flores, in the capital city of Buenos Aires.

Romano was eventually caught by police after a 15-month police investigation, and has now been sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutor Carlos Gimenez Bauer said of the crime: 'Romano started a sex game in which the man was naked and had his hands tied with a rope around his neck.

'Once he was like this, she stabbed him 24 times and stole the money. She left the place and ran away.'

The couple had started their relationship in 2003, when she was working as a waitress in a bar that her victim owned.

But the court in Buenos Aires heard that Romano was only ever interested in Vittoria's money.

Bauer said: 'Both had an interest in the relationship: one was economical by the part of Romano and the other was more intimate, for Julio's part.'

On the day of the murder, in July 2014, Romano texted her boyfriend saying she was going to tie him up and that he should be ready for 'a party'.

The businessman was found dead with a rope around his neck, his hands tied and stab wounds by his horrified son

But when he was tied up, she stabbed him repeatedly before running away with his cash.

Romano later confessed to having been at the place of the crime but denied taking part in any sex game.

During the trial she said she could not remember what had happened and refused to answer questions.

She told the court: 'I loved Julio, I do not understand what happened.'

But she was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder after the court heard she took advantage of the 'trust' that Julio had in her.

Crime scene doctors confirmed that the silk ties were not tight enough to completely limit the victim's movements.

This led investigators to believe that Vittoria entered willingly into a sexual game with someone he trusted, who then took advantage of his vulnerable position.

Court witnesses claim that Romano was 'addicted to sex' and in her hospital records she had been diagnosed with a sex-related behaviour disorder.

Doctors said as well as experiencing rage attacks, she had an uncontrollable impulse to be unfaithful and sometimes experienced 'disgust' and 'rejection' when having sex.
Peers queued up to rail at 'mumbling' and 'indecipherable regional accents' in BBC dramas like Jamaica Inn and Happy Valley today.

The corporation's failure to make dialogue audible was condemned by senior figures including Downton Abbey creator Lord Fellowes during a House of Lords debate.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Blunkett also waded in, pointing out that blind people were not able to lip read - while other members admitted their advancing years meant it was difficult to hear programmes at the best of times.

Downton Abbey creator Lord Fellowes complained about the 'fashion' for mumbling on screen during the House of Lords debate today

The discussion in the Upper House was triggered by a question from Tory peer Lord Naseby

Fans have criticised Tom Hardy for ruining BBC series Taboo with his grunting and 'incoherent mumbling'

The BBC has been repeatedly slated over recent years for sound failures on primetime shows ranging from Jamaica Inn to Poldark, Happy Valley, Rillington Place, and Taboo.

Amid a slew of complaints, director general Tony Hall told executives last year to look into 'audibility' issues.

But Tory Lord Naseby raised the matter in the House of Lords today, urging ministers to step in.

He insisted 25 million licence fee holders wanted to hear dramas on the BBC, which was the 'main offender'.

The problem started in 2014 with Jamaica Inn and had continued with Happy Valley and SS-GB, drawing many complaints, he said.

'Is it appropriate the ordinary viewer has to go to subtitles to understand what the dialogue is?' he demanded.

Culture minister Lord Ashton said the BBC took the issue seriously and had issued new guidelines last December.

The corporation made 22,000 hours of new programmes every year but only six programmes had had audibility problems.

Lord Fellowes of West Stafford told the Lords: 'The fashion for mumbling dialogue in search of greater truth, because that's what it's all about, is simply that, a fashion.'

'We had a lot of trouble with it in the 1950s and 60s and when it comes to an unfortunate fashion the Government has no proper role other than to hope it will soon pass.'

Last year director general Tony Hall told executives to look into 'audibility' issues following complaints from fans of shows like Happy Valley (pictured)

Lord Dobbs, who wrote the original House of Cards series and produced the US remake, blamed modern TVs for many of the problems and admitted getting older did not help

Lord Blunkett pointed out that blind people were not able to rely on lip reading characters

Lord Ashton agreed that the issue was about editorial policy under the director's charge.

But he risked fueling dissatisfaction by adding: 'One person's mumbling is another person's atmosphere.'

Labour former cabinet minister Lord Blunkett, who is blind, said atmosphere was fine if people could lip-read.

'When you can't, the mumbling ... becomes not just an irritant but an impossibility,' he said.

He urged ministers to lean on the regulator Ofcom to 'bring a bit of common sense' so every word and whisper could be heard.

But Baroness Kidron, who directed the second Bridget Jones film, said: 'We would prefer fine performance over fine diction.'

Lord Gordon of Strathblane pitched in to say that not only was there too much mumbling it was often in 'indecipherable regional accents'

Lord Gordon of Strathblane pitched in to say that not only was there too much mumbling it was often in 'indecipherable regional accents'.

Baroness Kidron, who directed the second Bridget Jones film, said the UK had some of the finest actors in the world, adding, to some jeers: 'We would prefer fine performance over fine diction.'

House Of Cards creator and Tory peer Lord Dobbs said when dialogue was written it was always clear.

He blamed the problem of inaudibility on modern TVs, which were 'all screen and with the speakers actually facing backwards'.

Sound was bound to be a problem when the speakers were facing away from viewers, adding: 'Apart from the fact that we're all getting a little older.'
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Advertisement

Russia has launched its most powerful submarine ever which is said to be capable of blasting nuclear warheads at targets 1,500 miles away on land.

The Project 885 Yassen class fourth-generation Kazan nuclear submarine has been under construction since 2009 ahead of its launch on Friday Severodvinsk in northern Russia.

The high-tech vessel is said to be a throwback to the Soviet era and will be able to hit the East Coast of America from the middle of the Atlantic.

The monster submarine is launched at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia ahead of it going live sometime in 2018

Crew members at the launching of the Kazan, a Project 885M Yasen-class nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine, at the Sevmash shipyard

These crew members in their snow-covered traditional uniform will be part of the personnel on board when the submarine is launched

The massive submarine, which measures in at 139m long and about 13m wide and has a draft of 10m will be in active service by 2018

The submarine, pictured here during its launch to sea, is to join the Russian Northern Fleet and will be one of seven similar submarines

What is Russia's new submarine armed with? The sizey submarine displaces 8,600 tonnes in its surface position and up to 13,800 tonnes in its underwater position The Project 885 submarine is about 139m long and about 13m wide and has a draft of 10m. The submarine displaces 8,600 tonnes in its surface position and up to 13,800 tonnes in its underwater position. It can submerge to a maximum depth of 600 meters and develops a speed of 16 knots in its surface position and up to 31 knots in its underwater position. The submarine has a sea endurance of 100 days and a crew of 85-90 men. It is equipped with a single-shaft steam turbine nuclear power unit with a capacity of about 43,000 hp. The submarines OK-650V water-cooled and water-moderated reactor has a thermal capacity of 190 MW (modernized Project 885M submarines will be outfitted with a power unit of over 200 MW). The Project 885 submarine is armed with eight vertical silos for Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles, ten 533mm torpedo tubes with an ammunition load of 30 torpedoes each. Submarines of this type can be eventually armed with new Kh-101 (Kh-102) cruise missiles and universal deep-water homing torpedoes. Source: TASS Advertisement

It was launched in the Sevmash Shipyard and the yards deputy CEO Mikhail Budnichenko ordered the subs commander Captain Aleksandr Beketov to pop a bottle of champagne over the hull, according to the state-sponsored TASS News Agency.

Among the dignitaries were Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and the Navys commander Vladimir Korolyov, who said: 'The launch of an advanced multi-role submarine of the improved project Yasen-M is quite an event for the whole of the country, its armed forces and its Navy. We are working together on a plan approved by the government.

'We are in the process of creating a submarine group capable of coping with missions around the world and maintaining Russias security.'

The new-generation Kazan has was being built at the Sevmash shipyards and is to be handed over to the Russian Northern Fleet in 2018.

By 2023 there will be seven in active service.

Huge crowds gather for the launch of the sub in the Sevmash Shipyard in Severodvinsk in northern Russia and the yards deputy CEO Mikhail Budnichenko ordered the subs commander Captain Aleksandr Beketov to pop a bottle of champagne over the hull

A construction worker wearing a blue helmet and a black and orange jacket walks over the snow-dusted ground at the shipyard during the launch

A priest at the launching of the Kazan, a Project 885M Yasen-class nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine, at the Sevmash shipyard

The newly-launched fourth-generation sub will out-fire its current fleet in the Black Sea by more than 50 percent.

Russia has a Black Sea Fleet of at least ten ships headed by a Slava class guided missile cruiser in eastern Mediterranean waters, which provide logistics and an air defence 'umbrella' over Latakia and Tartus regions.

It includes a diesel electric submarine known as the Rostov-on-Don, which launched Kalibr cruise missiles against targets near the Syrian city of Raqqa, ISIS's de facto capital on November 17.

Commissioned in late December 2014, the submarine is a Project 636 Varshavyanka sub deemed to be one of the quietest in the world.

The stealth submarine is so advanced it is dubbed the 'black hole' because it is so hard to detect. It is the second submarine out of six planned for the Black Sea Fleet by the end of 2016.

It is backed up by Buyan-M class warships - four of which launched a barrage of 26 cruise missiles which blitzed ISIS targets located more than 930 miles away.

Each Buyan-class ship carries eight 3M-54K cruise missiles - known as 'Sizzlers' - which are 27ft long and carry a 450kg warhead.

The missile system is designed to destroy submarines, other 'surface vessels' and 'slow moving targets whose coordinates are known in advance'.

The rockets have a range of up to 410miles.

Russian submarines have increased combat patrols to the level last seen during the Cold War, the navy chief said today.

Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said Russian submarine crews spent more than 3,000 days on patrol last year, matching the Soviet-era operational tempo.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin's top spokesman said the relationship between the US and Russia may be more antagonistic now than it was during the decades-long Cold War.

Asked by ABC's 'Good Morning America' host George Stephanopoulos if the US and Russia were in a 'new Cold War,' Dmitry Peskov said the current situation may be worse, pinning the blaming on the US.

He said: 'New Cold War? Well, maybe even worse.

'Maybe even worse taking into account actions of the present presidential administration in Washington.'

Russian submarines have increased combat patrols to the level last seen during the Cold War. Pictured is the Yuri Dolgoruky, is seen during sea trials near Arkhangelsk, Russia

Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said Russian submarine crews spent more than 3,000 days on patrol last year, matching the Soviet-era operational tempo

The Russian military had fallen on hard times after the 1991 Soviet collapse when it was forced to scrap many relatively new ships and keep most others at harbour for lack of funds.

The military has revived its strength thanks to a sweeping arms modernization program amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

Mr Korolyov spoke after attending the launch of a new Yasen-class nuclear-powered attack submarine called the Kazan.

He hailed the new ship as the most modern in the world, emphasizing its low noise level making it hard to track it.

'It represents the cutting edge of nuclear submarine design,' Mr Korolyov said in televised remarks.

The navy plans to commission seven Yasen-class submarines that are armed with torpedoes and long-range Kalibr cruise missiles, which for the first time have been tested in combat during the Russian campaign in Syria.
Lucy Richards (pictured), who believes the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, has been arrested after she failed to show up to a court date for charges she sent death threats to the father of boy who died in the shooting

A woman who believes the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax has been arrested after she failed to show up to a court date for charges she sent death threats to the father of boy who died in the shooting.

Lucy Richards, 57, was taken into custody in Hillsborough County, Florida, on Saturday after she did not show up for a change-of-plea hearing last Wednesday.

The 57-year-old was set to plead guilty at the hearing to a charge of interstate transmission of a threat to injure for threatening Lenny Pozner, the father of six-year-old Noah Pozner who died in the mass shooting in December 2012.

Authorities say Richards made four voicemail and email threats to Pozner on January 10, 2016, including messages that said 'you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon' and 'LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH.'

Another threat ended with, 'and there's nothing you can do about it.'

Each of the four charges carries a potential five-year maximum prison sentence.

Prosecutors said she told them she believed the shooting was a hoax.

Richards, 57, was taken into custody in Hillsborough County, Florida, on Saturday after she did not show up for a change-of-plea hearing last Wednesday. She is pictured in December 2016

Richards was set to plead guilty at the hearing to a charge of interstate transmission of a threat to injure for threatening Lenny Pozner, the father of six-year-old Noah Pozner (both pictured) who died in the mass shooting in December 2012

Richards' lawyer told US District Judge James Cohn she contacted his office Wednesday morning and said she was refusing to come to court for her scheduled hearing to plead guilty.

When Richards failed to appear, Cohn issued a warrant for her arrest.

The 57-year-old lives in Brandon, Florida, on the state's west coast about four hours from the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse - where she was meant to appear

In previous court appearances she used a walker and wheelchair to get around and said she was on disability.

Authorities say Richards made four voicemail and email threats to Pozner (pictured with his son) on January 10, 2016, including messages that said 'you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon' and 'LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH'

Mourners embrace following services for six year-old Noah Pozner on December 17, 2012

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who argue it was staged to erode support for Second Amendment gun rights.

Richards previously was barred from visiting websites that promote conspiracy theories and ordered to have no contact with anyone connected to the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

She had been free on $25,000 bail.
This is the bizarre moment a police officer stops his press conference mid speech to arrest a man yelling abuse.

Video shows Detective Inspector Winston Woodward address the media outside Albury police station in southern New South Wales on Monday morning.

A disheveled looking man with a glass bottle in his hand walked past and yelled out 'bulls***t', interrupting Det Insp Woodward's speech.

This is the bizarre moment a police officer stops his press conference mid speech to arrest a man yelling abuse

Det Insp Woodward then stopped his conference mid-sentence and walked over to the man, forcing him to tip out the beer.

The officer then grabbed the man by the t-shirt and walked him inside the police station.

The man continuing yelling out as he was led into the station.

A spokesperson for Albury Police told 9 News the man was issued with a criminal infringement notice for offensive language and given an on-the-spot fine of $500.

The strange incident happened outside the Albury police station in southern New South Wales on Monday morning

Detective Inspector Woodward stopped the conference mid sentence and walked over to the man, forcing him to tip out his beverage
Mohamed Amrani, pictured, denies one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration, six counts of indecent assault and three counts of sexual assault

A top heart surgeon accused of sexually abusing five women at work was considered very important to his NHS Trust because he brought in a 'huge amount of money', a court has heard.

Mohamed Amrani, 53, allegedly raped one alleged victim in his office while still wearing his theatre scrubs at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon, west London, in September 2013.

He is also said to have groped four other women between 2001 and 2014 after assuming they would not dare to make a complaint against a consultant surgeon of his renown.

Dr Ian McGovern, the Theatre Director at Harefield, told the court that Amrani was 'highly regarded and highly respected' and a very good, productive surgeon.

He said: 'Mr Amrani was considered very important to the Trust. The caseload he put through and the number of patients he operated on exceeded his colleagues by a country mile.

'Every case we do is money for the Trust, we are penalised if we don't get cases done.

'He was also very active privately and that also brings in a huge amount of money to the Trust.'

Dr McGovern said the alleged rape victim made a complaint to him in November 2013 but did not give any details of the attack in Amrani's office.

He decided to meet with Amrani on 28 November 2013 'in accordance with the formal process of bullying and harassment policy of the Trust', the court heard.

Dr McGovern said: 'I told Mr Amrani that she had made allegations that he had made inappropriate sexual advances towards her and on one occasion in his office with the door locked and had subsequently continued to harass her with sexually explicit comments.

Amrani, 53, allegedly raped one alleged victim while still wearing his theatre scrubs at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon, west London, pictured, in September 2013 (file photo)

'Mr Amrani denied all the allegations. He stated the sexual advances had never happened and he did not make sexually explicit comments.

'He did say he had helped to get medical advice for her child and he and his wife thought they were good friends to her and he would never have done anything to jeopardise his marriage.

'I tried to make it clear that sexual harassment is what is experienced than was is intended to be delivered and is serious irrespective of intent and all suggestive comments and suggestions must stop.'

Amrani responded by asking whether he should speak directly to the woman or get a lawyer, the court heard.

Dr McGovern advised him not to go to a solicitor because 'that might be considered to be threatening.'

He added: 'I made it clear she had no desire to pursue a formal action but she wanted this behaviour to stop.'

The alleged victim approached Dr McGovern again in January 2015 saying she was 'not coping well', the court heard.

She told him in a text message: 'I was never wanting it and was never having sex with him at the time or ever and therefore not after revenge.

'I do not wish to [report it], I just need some help myself. I do not want to make a complaint, certainly not at the moment.

'I just want to carry on as normally as I can without hassle and without retribution, just want to keep my life simple and try to forget it all.'

Amrani also 'expressed fear' about the alleged victim making a formal complaint and asked whether he should speak to the NHS Trust's Medical Director.

The alleged victim finally made a formal complaint about the attack in Amrani's office in February 2015.

She claimed that he stripped her naked and said: 'I'm going to f*** you,' as he sexually assaulted her with his fingers, it is claimed.

When she protested he sat her down on the sofa and forced her to perform a sex act, jurors were told.

Amrani is accused of sexually assaulting three other women at the Harefield between 2001 and 2014 and tapping a fifth victim on the bottom at the Cromwell private hospital in Kensington, southwest London, in June 2014.

The surgeon, who performed the UK's first double valve replacement using keyhole surgery in 2007 and has carried out many life-saving operations during his career, claims that all five women have made up their allegations.

Amrani, of Georgian Way, Harrow, northwest London, denies one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration, six counts of indecent assault and three counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.
Kylle Godfrey, 30, admitted to two counts of actual bodily harm, perverting the course of justice and witness intimidation

A violent thug who abused two partners is thought to be the first in the country to have to tell police if he manages to get a girlfriend.

Kylle Godfrey, who subjected a woman to a campaign of 'horrendous' abuse, has been ordered by a court to let police know if he is seeing anyone for more than two weeks.

The 30-year-old banged his victim's head on the floor and strangled her, inflicting blunt force trauma injuries to her head.

Following his arrest Godfrey continued to intimidate the victim and while on bail before his court appearance, he assaulted another woman he was in a relationship with.

He is thought to be the first in England and Wales to have to tell police every time he gets a girlfriend.

Already serving a three-year sentence for actual bodily harm, perverting the course of justice and witness intimidation, Godfrey was given a Criminal Behaviour Order on Monday.

At Wood Green Crown Court in February, Godfrey, from Neasden in north west London, was sentenced to three years in jail for attacking his partner over several days in October last year.

He admitted to two counts of actual bodily harm, perverting the course of justice and witness intimidation.

The order made at Wood Green Crown Court requires Godfrey to inform police if he is in a relationship for more than 14 days and allows police to inform these partners of his previous violent behaviour to women

DI Jane Topping, Hackney Community Safety Unit said: 'This order gives us a new way of protecting victims of domestic abuse and prevent other women from suffering at the hands of people like Godfrey, and help our efforts to tackle domestic violence.

'The victim in Godfrey's case was subjected to a horrendous ordeal by him following a sustained campaign of domestic violence.

'She has shown incredible bravery in supporting our investigation, and I hope she feels safer now Godfrey is behind bars and will be subject to closer scrutiny.'

Part of this order, which lasts for seven years, requires Godfrey to inform police if he is in a relationship for more than 14 days.

The order also allows police to inform these partners of his previous violent behaviour to women under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

The order will be in place for seven years, and was made under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
The mother who died holding one of her children as she tried to free them from their sinking car buried her father only two weeks ago.

Stephanie King, 43, died attempting to save her son Jacob, seven, and daughter Ella Jane, 11, after their car careered into the Tweed River, according to the police. Her eight-year-old daughter Chloe-May survived.

Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, Ms King flew back there only two weeks ago for her father's funeral.

Scroll down for video

Stephanie King , 43, (left) died attempting to save her son Jacob, seven, (far right) and daughter Ella Jane, 11, (centre) after their car careered into the Tweed River

Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, Ms King flew back there only two weeks ago for her father's funeral

The family whose car plunged into a flood-swollen river on Monday have been identified. The three children are pictured left, with Jacob and Chloe-May right

The brave mother-of-three 'would be alive today' if she had not tried to free her young children from the murky depths of the river in Tumbulgum, New South Wales Police Superintendent Wayne Starling said.

'I can tell you the mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away. She was with the child, holding the child,' he said.

Ms King and two of her children failed to escape from the submerged vehicle, but her eight-year-old daughter Chloe-May made it out and survived.

Police pulled three bodies from the water on Tuesday afternoon, as well as the family's white Hyundai.

Superintendent Starling said the slippery road was meant to be closed to the public, The Daily Telegraph reported.

'We are investigating how she was able to get through,' he said.

The children pictured with their father Matthew Kabealo in 2010

Ms King and two of her children failed to escape from the submerged vehicle, but her eight-year-old daughter Chloe-May (pictured) made it out and survived

But locals yesterday said the road was not closed due to flooding and had been open on Monday.

This comes as tributes flowed on social media for Ms King and her family.

'Every single time I saw you, I spun out at what an amazing mother you are,' wrote Sally Fraser on Facebook.

Ms Fraser mentioned the devastating loss for Ms King's mother- losing her husband and daughter in the short space of two weeks.

Your (Ms King's) mother... I cannot imagine her loss, after losing your dad just two weeks ago it's beyond comprehension,' Ms Fraser wrote.

'I'm sure he was waiting for you with open arms. We know how much you were missing him.'

Stephanie King, 43, her seven-year-old son Jacob Kabealo and daughter Ella-Jane Kabealo (right), 11, have been named as the three trapped inside a car that careered into the Tweed River. Chloe-May, who escaped the car, is pictured left

'Hero': Ms King, from Bilambil, and the two children were unable to escape as the car sank

Grim discovery: Police divers found three bodies in the river early on Tuesday afternoon

Tragic: The eight-year-old girl lost her mother, brother and sister in the horrific accident

Supt Starling said the mother was a 'hero'.

'She died trying to save a child. I've got no doubt whatsoever that that woman is a hero. She'd be alive today if she wasn't trying to save her children,' he said.

'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

He added that there were 'terrible conditions' on the flood-affected road on Monday afternoon, when the car veered into the water.

'The roadway is very very slippery,' Supt Starling said. 'Even now it's not safe to put the crane in to get the car out.'

Sending his condolences, he added: 'We can't imagine what the family are going through. We can't imagine what their school friends are going through. It's just horrific.'

Superintendent Starling added that Chloe-May was a 'very brave little girl'.

'She had injuries to her feet, trying to get out. Her main focus was trying to save her mum, her brother and sister.

'I wouldn't be surprised if the mother helped her out,' he added.

A body, which was covered in a dark green sheet, is carried into the back of waiting ambulance

The family's white Hyundai van was hauled out of the River Tweed on Tuesday afternoon

The van did not appear to be badly damaged when it was removed from the waterway

Police divers were seen searching the river today as they looked for bodies among the wreckage of the car

Tributes have poured in for the family from heartbroken friends.

'It makes me sick knowing a beautiful family is still in the water, such a precious loss to all that knew you, I know I will miss you terribly,' one friend said.

'I love you Steph,' another wrote.

Friend Alicia Morgan told the Daily Telegraph that she knew the family because their children had attended Tumbulgum Primary School together.

'I have no words,' Ms Morgan said.

'Steph was the sort of mother who would do anything for the kids, she was such a community-minded person, she would get in there and help anyone who needed a hand.

'My daughter and Chloe went right though school together. She and my daughter were friends.'

She added that Chloe-May, the lone survivor of the crash, was a 'tough nut'.

Ms King, who lived in Belongil but was originally from Auckland, New Zealand, used to work at Tweed Heads Bowls Club but had more recently been working as a care home nurse.

Tributes have poured in for the family. Police divers are pictured by the river

The vehicle was located using sonar equipment on Monday evening and police divers will inspect the wreckage later on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Matthew Grinham was first on the scene after a car carrying a mother and two children plunged into a river

One of her neighbours, Steven Moller, said they were a 'perfectly normal family'.

'I would see her loading her kids into the car. I only saw her the other day,' he saidm, adding that he would often say hello to Ms King.

Former policeman Matthew Grinham was driving by the flood-swollen river in Tumbulgum when Chloe-May came running up the road, screaming hysterically.

Mr Grinham said the child was yelling that her mother, sister and brother were in a car that was submerged in the river.

'We pulled up just after the car went under,' he said,

'She couldn't say much, she just said 'my mum, my little sister and my (older) brother have gone in the river in a car'.'

Mr Grinham later told The Australian that he could see skid marks leading into the river.

The desperate former police officer leaped into the river and followed a trail of air bubbles, but could not find the car.

'The helplessness of not being able to find the car, the bubbles were there, we could find the bubbles, we just couldn't get to the car,' he said.

'At first we were going to go feet first, just pushing down to try and see if we could feel it with our feet. I tried a couple of times, but the bubbles, they trailed away. They just got less and less.'

Tumbulgum, just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods over the weekend

The search to recover the bodies of the car's occupants was suspended at around 6.30pm on Monday, before beginning again on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Tumbulgum, which lies just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods following Cyclone Debbie, with record rainfall. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

Witness Sophie Grinham told 7 News that she saw the the eight-year-old girl's father dive into the water in an attempt to save his family.

'The husband came down, and dad and two other boys just jumped into the water and couldn't dive deep enough,' she said.

The girl reportedly told police that her mother, younger sister and older brother were in the car.

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 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.

Police divers travelled up from Sydney to join the operation on Tuesday.

Road closures are in place for two kilometres south from the intersection of Dulguigan and MacCauley's roads.

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. Pictured, police at the scene on Tuesday

The attempts to find the bodies of the family continued on Tuesday, with rescuers at the scene

Three people died after a car was swept into a flood-swollen river in northern New South Wales. Pictured, emergency services at the scene on Monday

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.

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.
A woman is 'amazed' after plumbers found her long-long wedding ring a decade after she placed them by the sink.

Nicole Wade, now 33, who lives in Salt Lake City in Utah, misplaced her wedding ring in 2007 while living in her childhood home in Hilliard, Ohio.

Her father, Gary Beauchamp, 58, told ABC News that his daughter was taking a shower when she took off her rings and they were accidentally washed down the drain.

Speaking to the broadcaster, she said: 'I was pretty upset when I lost it. I had only been married for two years.'

Nicole Wade, now 33, who lives in Salt Lake City in Utah, misplaced her wedding ring in 2007 while living in her childhood home in Hilliard, Ohio but has now been reunited with it

However, ten years later, her father's sewer drain was blocked and so he called out Mr. Rooter Plumbing and Drain Company in Columbus to come out and fix it.

Troy Bronson, an excavation crew leader, said: '[We were] excavating a sewer line in our customer Gary Beauchamp's backyard and while showing him a piece of the line that we had removed, I noticed something fall out of the pipe onto the ground.

'I immediately knew it was a ring, but my team didn't believe me at first.

'We all started searching the ground - even Gary got on the ground - and we recovered it! It makes you feel good.'

Beauchamp then contacted his daughter on FaceTime.

The mother-of-three said: 'I looked at it and immediately recognized it. I couldn't believe it...I never thought I'd see it again.

'I'm thankful that [Bronson] was honest enough to give it back instead of stealing it and selling it. It's just wonderful.'

Beauchamp and his wife plan to hand-deliver the ring to their daughter in Utah next time they visit.
A hospital has banned security guards from wearing the Union flag on their uniforms after just one complaint from the public.

Around half the 12-strong workforce at the Bristol Royal Infirmary had stuck the Velcro patches of the national symbol on their stab vests.

But all of the guards, who are employed by the NHS, have now had an e-mail telling them to remove the black and blue patches with immediate effect.

The badges are similar to those sold in aid of the Care of Police Survivors charity, dedicated to helping families of police officers who have lost their lives whilst on duty.

But all of the guards, who are employed by the NHS, have had an e-mail telling them to remove the black and blue patches from their vests, pictured

They rose to prominence two weeks ago when many police officers donned them after the terrorist murder of PC Keith Palmer at the House of Parliament, pictured

They rose to prominence two weeks ago when many police officers donned them after the terrorist murder of PC Keith Palmer at the House of Parliament.

A hospital source said: 'The badges have been a recent thing. The security guards got new stab vests that had Velcro on them and so decided to get the badges.

The badges were seen as a tribute to PC Palmer, pictured, after he was murdered

'It is an insult to the British people that they are having to be taken off.

'All the security staff are upset about it and cannot quite believe there has been a complaint.

'The staff are doing their best for everyone in the hospital, trying to keep people safe and a complaint like this is made.

'Personally I find it offensive that someone is offended that much by the Union Jack.'

In 2015 a Sussex Police officer was asked to remove the badge by his supervisor because it breached uniform policy.

Other forces followed later that year telling officers to take off the flags because they were not functional with policing uniforms and may cause offence to some.

The University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust confirmed there had been a complaint and staff were asked to remove the flag.

A spokesman said: 'We were contacted recently by a member of the public who saw security officers at the Bristol Royal Infirmary wearing Union Jack flag patches on their uniforms.

A source at Bristol Royal Infirmary, pictured, said: 'The badges have been a recent thing. The security guards got new stab vests that had Velcro on them and so decided to get the badges'

The University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust confirmed there had been a complaint and staff were asked to remove the flag (file photo)

'The member of the public commended the security staff on how well they dealt with a difficult incident and asked about a union jack patch that they had on their uniforms as they had not seen it before on an NHS uniform.

'Our trust policy says that uniforms cannot be altered or personalised and that only professional badge adornments are permitted.

'Security staff were therefore reminded of this and asked to remove any non-authorised badges or symbols from their uniforms.

'We also shared with them compliment from the member of public.'
ISIS has directly addressed American citizens and claimed the country is drowning and 'being run by an idiot'.

In the first official remarks by the group referring to Donald Trump since he assumed office, spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer unloaded on the President.

'America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye,' he said in the statement that was released on Tuesday.

'There is no more evidence than (that) you being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.'

Scroll down for video

ISIS has released a new statement claiming the US is drowning and being 'run by an idiot'. Donald Trump is pictured

The statement continued: 'Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated.'

The first comments directly about Trump were released after he spent much of his campaign talking up his ability to immediately defeat the group.

US-backed forces are currently fighting to retake Islamic State's two biggest cities - Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

And the President is examining ways to accelerate the American-led coalition's campaign that US and Iraqi officials have deemed largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

The loss of Mosul, ISIS' last major stronghold in Iraq, would deal a major defeat to the terrorist group.

US and Iraqi officials are preparing for smaller battles after the city is recaptured and expect the group to go underground to fight as a traditional insurgency.

The statement was released just one day after Trump topped a 'kill-list' released by a pro-ISIS hacker group.

The United Cyber Caliphate posted a video over the weekend in which they threatened the US and Trump - while also revealing their full new 'list.'

The list included both the names and addresses of 8,786 Americans.

'Kill them wherever you find them,' said the UCC in their message according to SITE Intelligence Group.

'We have a message to the people of the US and most importantly your President Trump,' states the group at the start of the message

'Know that we continue to wage war against you. Know that your counter attacks only make us stronger. The UCC will start a new step in this war against you. So expect us soon Insha Allah!'

This is not the first time that UCC has released a kill list, with this now becoming a common practice for the group.

In the first official remarks by the group referring to Donald Trump since he assumed office, spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer unloaded on the president. Pictured are ISIS fighters in Syria

The statement continued: 'Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated.' ISIS militants are pictured in 2013

And it comes after a top commander branded Trump a 'complete maniac' last year, and said his 'utter hate' towards Muslims will help the terror group.

Abu Omar Khorasani, who heads up the terror group in Afghanistan, said Trump's shock election victory would be used to recruit disaffected youths in the West.

Jihadists plan to use Trump as a propaganda tool to rally thousands of new fighters and inspire terror attacks across the world.

'This guy is a complete maniac,' Khorasani told Reuters.

'His utter hate towards Muslims will make our job much easier because we can recruit thousands.'

Khorasani described President Barack Obama as a moderate infidel with at least a little brain in comparison to Trump.

He added: 'Our leaders were closely following the US election but it was unexpected that the Americans will dig their own graves and they did so.'
The father of Stuart Lubbock, who died in entertainer Michael Barrymore's swimming pool 16 years ago, has revealed there are still 'lots of questions' he wants to ask him.

Terry Lubbock, 72, said that he is still looking for answers over his 31-year-old son's death at a drug-fuelled party at Michael Barrymore's mansion in Roydon, Essex, on March 31, 2001.

He added he hoped Barrymore's unnamed new sitcom - which also stars Games of Thrones star Tom Brooke - flops, saying he wanted it to 'go down like a sinking ship'.

The sitcom will mark the 64-year-old entertainer's TV comeback after more than 10 years in the 'showbiz wilderness' after his arrest on suspicion of murder and rape in 2007.

Terry Lubbock said entertainer Michael Barrymore, left, still had 'lots of questions to answer' over the death of his son Stuart, right, 31 in 2001

Stuart Lubbock was found in the swimming pool, pictured, of Barrymore's mansion in Essex following a party

He and two other men did not have charges brought against them - and nobody has ever been charged over Mr Lubbock's death.

It was revealed last year how the former Strike it Lucky host was suing Essex Police for 2.5million for wrongful arrest and detention - although police say he is entitled to a 'nominal sum' of just 1.

A court battle between Barrymore and the police is set to kick-off in May this year.

Speaking this week, Mr Lubbock, who lives in Harlow, Essex, said he was still grieving for his son.

He said he was 'happy' Barrymore would be in the spotlight again - after many years living in New Zealand - as it could 'open things up' and says he wants the investigation to continue.

Speaking to Essex Live, Mr Lubbock said: 'I was happy that he is making an appearance because it will open everything up.'

Mr Lubbock, pictured, alleged Barrymore 'has a secret' and wants a meeting with him to discuss his son's death

Asked if he thought Barrymore's comeback was a good thing, he said: 'It all depends what reception he gets. I would like it to go down like a sunken ship.

'This could be a watershed and it could go two ways.

'I think if the public get behind him it will be very successful. I saw him perform a long time ago and he was very good, he will be giving it his best shot. I will be watching it.'

He added he would like to meet Barrymore to discuss the night of his son's death.

Mr Lubbock added: 'There are a lot of questions I would like to ask him, I would like to have a meeting with him.

'The police have let me down big time, I think they have a lot of questions to answer.

'I would like to know what is going to happen to those two other men who were arrested with Barrymore. It has dragged on for ten years.'

Bosses at Essex Police say a murder investigation into Stuart Lubbock's death is still open.

Mr Barrymore announced his new project on Twitter last month but said he 'could not say' what it was called or what channel it will air on until filming was completed.

The show is being produced by London company Antenna Pictures.

It comes after London-based production company Antenna Pictures revealed Barrymore was filming a new sitcom with Game of Thrones actor Tom Brooke, pictured
Theresa May, pictured today in Saudi Arabia, has insisted a Brexit trade deal can be ready to sign in two years despite German sneers that it is too difficult

Theresa May has insisted a Brexit trade deal can be ready to sign in two years despite German sneers that it is too difficult.

The Prime Minister said there was no reason the deal on Britain's new trading relationship with the EU cannot be ready to sign as Brexit takes place in March 2019.

Mrs May today said she accepted EU rules which say the future deal cannot be signed off while Britain is still a member of the bloc.

But she wants parallel talks on the divorce and the future relationship to ensure there is no gap between the two.

Government sources last week said the deal can be done 'in pencil' to stay within single market rules and ensure a seamless transition at the end of the two year talks.

The Premier's confidence was in stark contrast to pessimistic grumbling from German politicians.

Berlin's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel complained securing Brexit in two years was a 'laborious endeavour'.

And senior MEP Manfred Weber claimed British voters had failed to understand Brexit would mean 'being alone'.

Speaking during a visit to Jordan, Mrs May said she expected the shape of a new trade relationship to be clear to everybody by Brexit Day in March 2019.

But asked if the deal could be finalised in that timescale, she told Sky News: 'There's obviously a legal situation in terms of how the EU can conduct trade negotiations.

'I'm clear that by the point at which we leave the EU, it's right that everybody should know what the future arrangements, the future relationship, that future partnership between us and the European Union will be.

'That's the sensible thing, it's the pragmatic way to look at this, and I believe that's what we will do.'

Mrs May today said she accepted EU rules which say the future deal cannot be signed off while Britain is still a member of the bloc

Labour said that Mrs May's comments amounted to a 'significant retreat' from the Government's previous position that a trade deal could be done within the two-year deadline for withdrawal negotiations set down in Article 50 of the EU treaties.

The party's Brexit spokesman Paul Blomfield said: 'It is less than a week since the Prime Minister triggered Article 50, and it seems every day brings another broken promise from the Government.

'First they said immigration may go up after Brexit. Now they are backpedalling on trade deals.

'We will hold the Government to account on the pledges made to the British people during the referendum campaign and since. They promised a comprehensive free trade agreement, with the EU giving the 'exact same benefits' we have now. They said it would be ready for the day we leave, along with new trade deals with other countries.

'Now, as they face reality, they are trying to downplay expectations. They need to spell out the transitional deal that will be in place, to stop the economy falling off a cliff edge without new agreements in two years' time.'

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, pictured left with Chancellor Angela Merkel, complained securing Brexit in two years was a 'laborious endeavour'

Meanwhile, senior MEP Manfred Weber claimed British voters had failed to understand Brexit would mean 'being alone'

Labour MP Owen Smith, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said: 'Bit

Mr Weber, a leading MEP and ally of Angela Merkel said that a 'tough approach' was necessary to make the UK feel isolated.

'A lot of British citizens and a lot of British politicians don't understand what leaving the European Union means,' he said. 'It means being alone.'

ROYAL NAVY SHIP PURSUES SPANISH VESSEL OF GIBRALTAR The row over Gibraltar escalated again today as British waters were breached by a Spanish ship A Spanish naval vessel has been ordered to leave British territorial waters off Gibraltar at a time of heightened tension between London and Madrid over the Rock due to Brexit. The patrol boat Infanta Cristina was told to exit the area by the Royal Navy unit stationed in the British overseas territory. A spokeswoman for the government of Gibraltar told the Press Association: 'The ship entered British/Gibraltarian territorial waters. It was met by the Gibraltar Squadron and invited to leave.' The spokeswoman was unable to say if Gibraltar would make a formal protest to Spain over the incident. The Spanish naval incursion follows the country's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis telling the UK to calm down after former Tory leader Lord Howard suggested Prime Minister Theresa May might be ready to go to war to keep Gibraltar British. Tensions increased after an EU document suggested that Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements governing the British overseas territory. This prompted Lord Howard to say he believed Mrs May would defend the Rock as Margaret Thatcher did the Falklands. While the EU Brexit negotiating guidelines released by European Council president Donald Tusk last week made no reference to Spain's claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, the decision to give Madrid a key role in deciding if a trade deal will apply to the Rock caused deep unease in Whitehall. Advertisement

As part of the hard-line strategy, the European People's Party leader said that British MEPs should also be frozen out of debates and discussions for the next two years.

His attempt to paralyse the role of British politicians while maintaining that the UK keeps paying billions into the EU budget was described as 'undemocratic and unconstitutional' by British MEPs.

Mr Weber made the comments as the European Parliament prepares to pass a crucial document setting out a list of demands to be satisfied before the chamber votes through a final Brexit deal.

Amongst his 'red lines' is a demand for Britain to relinquish control of one of its vital financial sectors when it finally cuts its ties with Brussels.

The German politician and confidante of Jean-Claude Junker said the City's euro-clearing industry, responsible for three quarters of all trade transactions involving the currency, should be returned to EU soil.

He said: 'EU citizens decide on their own money. When the UK is leaving the European Union it is not thinkable that at the end the whole euro business is managed in London.

'This is an external place, this is not an EU place any more. The euro business should be managed on EU soil.'

In other developments today, the influential House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee has called on Mrs May to commission an assessment of the cost of leaving the EU without a trade deal, in a report which said her claim that this scenario would be 'better than a bad deal' was 'unsubstantiated'.

Responding to the report - which was repudiated by six pro-Brexit members of the committee - Mrs May told Sky: 'As I said in the Article 50 letter, I set out what would be a 'no deal' situation, but I also said that I don't think that's in anybody's interests.

'We will be working to get the best possible deal in the British national interest.

'I believe that deal will be good for the European Union as well. I believe both sides will be working to ensure we have a good, positive, deep and special partnership going into the future.'

In India, Chancellor Philip Hammond warned there were people on both sides of the negotiations who did not want a deal.

He said: 'There are definitely some people on both sides who do not want a deal, they do not want to see Britain continuing to collaborate in what the prime minister described in a letter as a deep and special partnership with the European Union.

'I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that we will come up against tensions in this process.'
Former national security advisor Susan Rice forcefully denied on Tuesday that she purposely collected classified intelligence information about Americans associated with the Trump campaign, and said any suspicion that she leaked names to the press were ridiculous.

'The allegations that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes, that's absolutely false,' she said.

She used the same words  'absolutely false'  to deny a report in The Daily Caller that she had requested intelligence information on Trump associates and compiled it into a spreadsheet.

'No spreadsheet, no nothing of the sort,' Rice said.

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice forcefully denied on Tuesday that she or anyone in the White House ever went out of their way to 'unmask' the identities of Donald turmp or his associates from raw intelligence reports

Rice sat down with MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell for a noontime interview that the network hastily began promoting at 11:30 a.m.

She has been the subject of numerous news reports in the past three days, alleging that she was at the top of a plot to snoop on people in Trump's inner circle.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters late Tuesday morning that it was suspicious to see news reports denying Rice's involvement by citing anonymous sources.

'You would assume that if you stood by the comments that you made several weeks ago, that you wouldn't need someone who was close to you ... to defend it,' he said.

Spicer singled out CNN for labeling the Rice saga a diversion.

'I get that at some point they have an invested angle and narrative in this,' he said, but 'the more we find out about this, the more you learn that there was clearly something there.'

A half-hour later, Rice blasted President Donald Trump's tweeted claims a month ago that Obama had authorized surveillance of him and his team before and after the November election.

'There was no such collection, surveillance on Trump Tower or Trump individuals ... and by that I mean directed by the White House or targeted at Trump individuals,' she said.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said a half-hour before Rice's interview that some news outlets defending Rice have 'an invested angle and narrative'

House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff said Susan Rice is 'a perennial target for the hard right'

White House officials, including any president, Rice added, 'do not have the ability to order such collection.'

'That can only come from the Justice Department through an established process. It never originates in the White House. So not only did it not occur, it didn't occur and it could not have occurred  directed by the White House.'

Rice said she was 'surprised' and 'shocked' by Trump's accusation, saying 'it had no basis in fact.'

'And it wasn't typical of the way presidents treat their predecessors.'

Rice was interviewed on MSNBC in an appearance that the network hurriedly announced a half-hour before airtime.

President Trump retweeted a message from Internet newsman Matt Drudge on Tuesday, pointing to an article that claimed Rice ordered intelligence agencies to spy on him

Host Andrea Mitchell asked her whether she ever intentionally 'unmasked' Trump-related names 'in order to spy on them and expose them.

'Absolutely not for any political purposes, to spy, expose, anything,' Rice responded.

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

She also flatly denied leaking the name of Gen. Michael Flynn, her successor, to reporters.

'I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have and never would,' Rice insisted.

Flynn was forced out of the national security advisor position after a transcript of an intercepted phone call was leaked to The Washington Post, detailing a conversation he had last year with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.  a discussion that reportedly included mention of rolling back U.S. sanctions on Moscow.

Tuesday afternoon on CNN, Rep. Adam Schiff  the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee  defended Rice and said she has been 'a perennial target for the hard right.'

Schiff said there is 'a strong desire by the White House that we lose our focus, that we not pursue the investigation of Russia, particularly as it might impact the Trump campaign.'

He also said continuing Rice-bashing 'is appealing to the Breitbart crowd.'

Rice explained Tuesday that it isn't uncommon for White House or cabinet officials to request the unmasking of names of U.S. citizens when they are incidentally snared in a spying net.

'There were occasions when I would receive a report in which a U.S. person was referred to. Name not provided, just "U.S. person",' she recalled.

'And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report, and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to who that U.S. official was.'

Rice said intelligence officials 'can't be passive consumers' of information.

But 'there's no equivalence between so-called unmasking and leaking,' she insisted.

The Daily Caller report quoted former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who said: 'What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul appeared on Morning and demanded that Rice testify under oath before Congress

Rice is being blamed for requesting that members of President Trump's teams names were unmasked in intelligence reports

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.

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.

Paul told the Morning Joe panel that Rice needed to be asked whether President Obama ordered these names unmasked and whether he knew about it.

'This is a big deal,' the Kentucky Republican said. 'If the outgoing administration was actually, literally sifting through things and part of the administration already said we were going to scatter, we were going to get as much information, we were going to scatter it out there publicly to try and harm the Trump administration.'

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

'This was a witch hunt that began with the Obama administration,' Paul charged. 'Sour grapes on the way out the door.'

'They were going to use the intelligence apparatus to attack Trump and I think they did,' the senator added.

Paul had previously called the allegations against Rice a smoking gun.'

Today he said that 'this is actually, eerily similar to what Trump accused them of which is eavesdropping on conversations for political reasons.'

The Republican senator also excused away Trump's original claims of 'wiretapping,' because 'we don't have wires in our phones anymore ... for the most part we use the term wiretapping to mean eavesdropping.'

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

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.'

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 reported 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.

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'

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.

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.

Trump hasn't stopped tweeting about reports that support his March claims that he was surveilled for political purposes

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.'

'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".'
Lithuania has warned NATO that Russia has the capability to attack the Baltic states with as little as 24 hours' notice according to intelligence sources.

Such a sneak attack would force NATO to respond with just the small number of military assets in place, the Lithuanian intelligence service claimed.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s but now part of both NATO and the European Union, have been increasingly nervous since the Russian takeover of Crimea in 2014.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis warned that the Russian military could launch a strike on the Baltic states with only 24 hour's notice as a result of a military build-up

NATO has deployed troops and aircraft to the region, but Lithuania believes the numbers are not sufficient to deter possible Russian aggression in the medium term

The Lithuanian intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Russia had upgraded its military in the Kaliningrad region last year, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing NATO reinforcements.

The Russian upgrade included Su-30 fighter aircraft and missile systems allowing ships to be targeted almost anywhere in the Baltic Sea.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis said: 'This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed. NATO's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be.'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the concerns as a display of anti-Russian sentiment.

He replied: 'There is total Russophobia, hysterical Russophobia going on. Moscow has always supported good relations with the Baltic states.'

Lithuania, which borders the Russian military enclave of Kaliningrad has reported a massive buildup of troops and aircraft in the region leading to fears about a possible sneak attack

The Russian military has seen a major build-up of forces in the Kaliningrad region

US troops, such as these from the 173rd Airborne Brigade are regularly sent to the Baltic region to conduct military exercises with other NATO troops to prepare to defend a possible attack

This year NATO is deploying a force of about 1,000 soldiers in each of the Baltic states and Poland, in addition to smaller contingents of U.S. troops already in the region.

Karoblis continued: 'The force is adequate in the short-term, but in the medium-term perspective we would like more capability, and not only land troops but also air defences and capabilities to counter any blockade.'

Russia is monitoring and suppressing radio frequencies used by NATO pilots over the Baltic Sea and is using commercial and scientific ships for surveillance, the report said.

The intelligence service said there was also the risk of 'deliberate or accidental incidents' involving Russian and Belarusian troops who are taking part in military exercises planned for March.

The Baltic states have previously said they would press the United States and NATO to take additional security measures in the region ahead of the exercises.

Intelligence officers said disinformation aimed at discrediting NATO soldiers stationed in Lithuania, such as a recent false report of a rape by German soldiers, was likely to persist.

Head of Lithuanian military counter intelligence Remigijus Baltrenas added: 'Provocations against NATO units in Lithuania will continue and will get bigger.'
President Donald Trump told a collection of workers from building trades he had the backing of 'all the workers'  then suggested that if they strayed, 'You won't be having so many jobs.'

Trump issued the warning as he addressed the North Americas Building Trades Unions in Washington Tuesday, hours after addressing a group of CEOs.

Recounting his 2016 win  after saying the odds were 'stacked' against Republicans in the Electoral College and ticking through states he won  Trump said, 'I had the support of I would say almost everybody in this room, we had tremendous support.'

That prompted some murmurs and a few shouts inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, the largest such event space in D.C.

Trump told builders unions that if they wanted to 'make a change,' then 'You won't be having so many jobs'

Scroll down for video

The comment got a mix of laughter, whistles, and a few boos, according to a pool report.

'No we did. We had tremendous support,' Trump pushed back.

'And Ill tell you we really had the support of the workers.' Then, in comments that could have been directed either at the entire crowd or a group of naysayers, Trump said: 'Would you like to make a change folks? Would you like to make a change? Because if anybody wants to make a change, you wont be having so many jobs, that I can tell you. Your jobs will be  itll be a whole different story,' Trump said.

If Trump was making a threat about the jobs on the line, he also deployed some carrots.

'Washington and Wall Street have done very very well for themselves. Now its your turn and youre going to be also sharing the wealth,' Trump said.

Trump reeled through his election wins, saying the system was 'stacked' against Republicans in the Electoral College

'Washington and Wall Street have done very very well for themselves. Now its your turn and youre going to be also sharing the wealth,' Trump said

'Now you have a builder as your president,' he told the workers, after running through plumbers, pipe-fitters, and other construction-related jobs.

He was apologetic when he got to plasterers.

'Were not using as much plaster as we used to fellows, no matter how you cut it,' he quipped.

'We brought back the coal miners, Im not sure about the plasterers. Well do the best we can,' he said.

He promised to give workers the 'level playing field you deserve.'

He also cited a new monthly drop in the trade deficit.

HIT A DRYWALL: Trump couldn't provide much hope to plaster workers. 'We brought back the coal miners, Im not sure about the plasterers. Well do the best we can,' he said

President Donald Trump, flanked by DJ Gribbin, Special Assistant to the President for Infrastructure Policy, left, and Reed Cordish, Assistant to the President for Intragovernmental and Technology Initiatives, looks at a chart of the regulatory process to build a highway at a roundtable with CEOs

Ivanka Trump (C), daughter of President Donald J. Trump, speaks with attendees before a town hall meeting on the business climate in the United States, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House complex. She started her job this week as an advisor to the president

Trump spoke nostalgically about construction of the Empire State Building

Construction laborers work on the site of a new residential building in the Hudson Yards development, August 16, 2016 in New York City

'For a reason, not by accident, believe me. Its for a reason,' he said.

Trump said he would crack down on 'visa abuses that undermine the American worker.'

He touted his support for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, despite resistance.

'Were the nation that built the tallest skyscrapers on what was once the Hudson River and put neon lights of Las Vegas in the middle of the desert. But if government continues to punish Americas builders, then we will not be that nation any longer,' Trump said.

Continuing about the Empire State building, the New York real estate mogul told how the building went up in 13 months.

'Nowadays you couldnt even get a building permit or approval in that amount of time.

As he did at a meeting with CEOs earlier at the White House, Trump brandished an eight-foot flow chart he said showed approvals needed to get a highway built.

'If you want to build a highway in the United States these are some of the permits that you need,' Trump said. 'You have to go through 17 agencies  many permits in each agency.'

The White House has yet to share the chart with DailyMail.com.
Dayne Antani Christian, 32, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to provide material support to Islamic State

Two Florida men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS by planning to travel to Syria to join the militant group.

The men who are U.S. citizens and live in Palm Beach County even took part in firearms training whereby they passed on their knowledge to a third potential terror suspect, who was also arrested, along with an FBI informant who was witness to the whole affair.

The training took part in a remote part of Palm Beach County where the four men would not be disturbed or cause alarm, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Dayne Antani Christian, 32, and Darren Arness Jackson, 51, each pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to provide material support to Islamic State.

Jackson made his plea on Tuesday and Christian pleaded last week, each to US District Judge Robin Rosenberg.

Each man faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on the conspiracy charges.

Christian also pleaded guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and faces up to 10 yeas in prison if convicted for that charge.

The two men, along with co-defendant Gregory Hubbard, 53, were arrested by the FBI, after Jackson last July drove Hubbard and an FBI confidential informant to Miami International Airport for a flight to Germany.

Court records show that prosecutors claim that Hubbard bought a ticket for Berlin and planned to travel by train to Turkey and then cross into Syria to join Islamic State.

Christian and Jackson told the FBI's confidential informant about supporting Islamic State and of a desire to travel to Syria for that purpose (file photo of ISIS fighters)

A July 2016 indictment returned by a grand jury charged all three men with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

That indictment says that at least as far back as July 2015 and continuing until their arrests, Christian and Jackson told Hubbard and the FBI confidential informant about supporting ISIS and of a desire to travel to Syria for that purpose, the Justice Department's press statement issued on Tuesday shows.

The same indictment says Christian and Jackson provided firearms and training in a remote area of Palm Beach County so that Hubbard and the FBI source could learn to shoot.

All three have been detained since their arrests. Hubbard is scheduled for trial on October 30.

Forces backed by the United States, Turkey and Russia are advancing on Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

Iraqi government forces also retook several Iraqi cities last year and the eastern part of the city of Mosul.
For a pair of avid snake wranglers from Florida, the catch of the day on Saturday was a hulking 15-foot python.

Nicholas Banos and his trapping partner, Leonardo Sanchez, headed into Everglades National Park looking for snakes as part a pilot program launched by the South Florida Water Management District encouraging private citizens to hunt down Burmese pythons, which is an invasive species.

On Saturday, the duo were driving through the park when Sanchez caught a glimpse of the 15-foot critter in the bushes.

Nose to tail: Nicholas Banos and his trapping partner, Leonardo Sanchez, managed to bag this massive 15-foot, 144-pound Burmese python in Everglades National Park on April 1

One cool customer: The monster snake managed to bite one of the trappers a couple of times before it was subdued

The snake proved feisty and tried first to slither away, then put up a fight, but the wranglers were eventually able to subdue the python and stuff it into a large bag.

Banos said his partner even got bitten by the non-venomous serpent a couple of time while holding onto its head during the tussle.

The captured monster python weighing in at 144lbs was later euthanized by the trappers.

Speaking of their killing the snake, Banos told the station WSVN that the experience was both satisfying but also 'a little bit of heartbreak.'

Banos and Sanchez were among 25 people who were picked and commissioned by the South Florida Water Management District to hunt down Burmese pythons in the area.

Men on a mission: The duo headed into the park as part a pilot program launched by the South Florida Water Management District encouraging private citizens to hunt down Burmese pythons

Trappers have 60 days to get rid of as many of the snakes as they can in exchange for a small compensation.

All the participants are being paid minimum wage hourly rate, up to eight hours a day, with an additional $50 payment for pythons measuring up to four feet.

Trappers like Banos and Sanchez bagging a larger specimen will earn an extra $25 for each foot measured above four feet, which, in their case, amounts to $275.

The $175,000 python-trapping pilot program would last for two months until early June.

Snake charmer: Banos is no stranger to the craft of snake-trapping: his Facebook page is filled with images showing his scaly trophies

It comes on the heels of last years Everglades Python Challenge, which saw 106 snakes turned in by amateur wranglers in less than a month. After having the pythons euthanized, the hunters were allowed to sell the valuable snake skin and meat, reported CNN.

The Burmese python is a native of Southeast Asia. The first specimens began appearing in south Florida in 2000 after being released by irresponsible pet owners.

According to the National Park Services website, more than 2,000 pythons have been removed from the Everglades since 2002, likely representing only a fraction of the total population.
A body has been found in the basement of a condemned home in New Hampshire after the property exploded.

The corpse was seen through a cellar window after flames engulfed the house in Salem on Monday night.

Police have not yet been able to get into the ravaged property because of the damage.

Investigators found items on the property at 20 Irving Street such as boards with nails poking through them, which appear to be intended to hurt or slow anyone approaching the house, Capt. Joel Dolan said.

Scroll down for video

Inferno: Flames and plumes of black smoke are seen rising from a home on Irving Street in Salem, New Hampshire, following an explosion Monday evening

A body was found in the basement of the booby-trapped home following the blast

The Nashua bomb squad was called in to assist.

Police have not identified the victim in the basement but said the homeowner's vehicle was in the driveway.

Public records indicate the house was built in 1952 and was registered to Alice and Charles Hill, a married couple in their late 50s, according to The Eagle-Tribune.

Dolan said the investigation was in its early stages, but it appears that the explosion was intentional.

'I don't think this was an accident,' he said.

Police responded to the neighborhood at 5.15pm Monday for a neighbor dispute about stacking firewood.

Police said they tried to approach an unnamed man, believed to be Mr Hill, near the home but never spoke to him. They heard a hissing sound, followed by a strong odor of gas and backed away.

A powerful blast blew the roof off the house and shattered windows. Neighbors said they heard a popping sound.

The force of the explosion blew the roof off the house and shattered windows (pictured)

Public records indicate the house was built in 1952 and was registered to Alice and Charles Hill, but the town condemned the property in July 2015

A SWAT team and other officers were called to the scene and about eight nearby homes had to be evacuated as a precaution. The incident also led to road closures.

'We were eating dinner, and then the cops pulled up' with guns, neighbor Cindy Lombardi told WMUR-TV. 'We were like, "What did we do?"'

No officers or neighbors were hurt. Police said no one was supposed to be living in the home, as it was condemned nearly two years ago. Firearms and ammunition had been confiscated from the house in the past.

Speaking to The New Hampshire Union-Leader, neighbor Suzanne Redfern said that Charles Hill was known to walk around with a gun; she said that the death of Hill's wife a year ago had drastically changed him.

Around the time the Town of Salem condemned Hill's home in July 2015, citing unlivable conditions inside, including lack of electricity and running water and the presence of urine and feces, Hill was charged with criminal threatening for allegedly telling a neighbor he would put a bullet in his head.
The White House says President Donald Trump is not responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Syria - Barack Obama is.

'President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing,' White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday morning.

Trump's administration last week said it was no longer a 'priority' of the United States to boot Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from power. Instead, it said would apply pressure to Assad to make changes inside his country.

Tuesday Assad was accused of using sarin gas against his own people, killing at least 70 civilians, including 11 children.

The White House says President Donald Trump is not responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Syria - Barack Obama is. 'President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing,' Donald Trump's spokesman said

Despite the timing, Spicer said blame for the atrocity does not lie with the current administration.

'These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequences of the past administrations weakness and irresolution,' the Trump spokesman said during a non-televised briefing.

He would not say how the United States plans to respond, contending that he'd 'rather not get ahead' of the national security team.

But he said the chemical weapons attack 'is not something that any civilized nation should sit back and accept or tolerate.'

The White House official at the same time denied that the administration is comfortable with Assad staying in power.

'I think the president is extremely alarmed at these revelations,' he said.

Syrian opposition activists have claimed the chemical attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by President Assad's forces or Russian warplanes. Russia's military said its planes did not carry out any strikes near the town.

It is believed that 400 people were injured after being exposed to toxins during the attack in addition to the more than 70 who were killed.

A formal statement from the White House on the attack derided Assad for using chemical weapons 'against innocent people, including women and children. It did not mention Russia.

'We feel very confident in the statement that we're making,' Spicer said.

Trump's administration last week said it was no longer a 'priority' of the United States to boot Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from power. Instead, it said would apply pressure to Assad to make changes inside his country

Assad's behavior is 'reprehensible and cannot be ignored,' the president's spokesman said, reading it off at the top of his Tuesday briefing.

It went on to lambaste Obama for his infamous 'red line' threat in 2012 that he never acted. His administration argued that there was no military solution in Syria and tried to remove Assad through diplomatic negotiations instead.

'What's the point of red lines? America's credibility was at stake, and I think the president wants to point out that there was a red line, and they did cross it, and we did have alternatives to regime change, and they weren't taken,' Spicer later explained.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said last Thursday that the United States was shifting from the Obama administration's approach and was not 'going to sit there and focus on getting [Assad] out.'

Haley, who just took the reigns of the UN Security Council, said Monday, 'We have no love for Assad. Weve made that very clear.

'We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. Hes a war criminal. What hes done to his people is nothing more than disgusting,' she said.

Spicer said Tuesday the administration's new tact reflects the current 'political reality.'

At least 100 people have died from suffocation after a toxic gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held central province of Idlib, Syria, early Tuesday morning. Pictured above, a child gets treatment at a hospital after Assad Regime forces attacked

At least 11 of the more than 70 perople people who died in the chemical attack were children. Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals in the area say dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun are showing signs of sarin poisoning

Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals say dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun are showing signs of sarin poisoning, including foaming at the mouth, breathing difficulties and limp bodies, following the Tuesday attack.

Moments after the Tuesday attack a projectile hit a hospital in the area, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to treat victims.

The death toll is likely to rise, according to the Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria and which is partly based in Paris.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. The monitor could not confirm the nature of the gas, and said the strike was likely carried out by government warplanes.

A senior Syrian security source claims that allegations that Syria's government killed dozens of civilians on Tuesday in a chemical attack on a northwestern rebel-held town are 'false'.

'This is a false accusation,' the source said, adding that opposition forces were attempting to 'achieve in the media what they could not achieve on the ground'.

Many victims, including children, were stripped down to their underwear and sprayed with hoses as activists tried to wash the gas off of them. Pictured above, a Syrian child receives treatment following the attack

The death toll is likely to rise, according to the Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria and which is partly based in Paris. Pictured above, Syrian children receive treatment following the suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun on Tuesday

Syrian doctors treat a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

Some victims were foaming at the mouth following the toxin attack - a symptom of the poison sarin, which is used as a chemical weapon

Local reports quoted doctors saying the chemical that killed dozens of people in the region could have been chlorine or sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid nerve agent that's used as a chemical weapon.

Chlorine attacks are used quite often in Syira, to kill small groups of people in enclosed spaces where gas dissipates quickly, according to the New York Times.

But Tuesday's attack was different: people collapsed outdoors, in large numbers and suffered different symptoms.

Victims foamed at the mouth and had pinpoint pupils - a side effect that happens when people come into contact with nerve agents and other banned toxins.

A Syrian military source denied that government forces used any such weapons, saying the army 'does not and has not' used chemical weapons 'not in the past and not in the future'.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war have used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

Still, Damascus has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.

Victims suffered from fainting, vomiting, foaming at the mouth and pinpoint pupils, medical sources told local reports.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a reported victim with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost naked children squirming on the floor.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

Syrian activists said that makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating from toxins following the attack.

A medical doctor going by the name of Dr Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light.

He published video of the patients on his Twitter account.

An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following the gas attack

Many patients had to receive help breathing following the attack, as one of the several symptoms of sarin is having trouble breathing

A boy covers his face with his hands as doctors evaluate wounds to his legs and feet following the toxin attack on Tuesday

An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province

A man gets treatment at a hospital after Assad Regime forces released a suspected toxic gas on to Khan Shaykhun

Sarin, which is made by combining the fluorine in sodium fluoride with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, is considered one of the world's most dangerous chemical warfare agents. Pictured above, a Syrian man receives treatment after an alleged chemical attack at a field hospital in Saraqib, Idlib

Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties, and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure.

'Our hospital getting full from sarin attack today,' he wrote of his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun. 'Anyone that wants evidence, I will video call you.'

Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital.

'The patients keep just flooding in from this chemical attack,' he says in a Twitter video , purportedly taken inside a Syrian hospital this morning. 'Every one - every one - has got pinpoint pupils'.

'The patients keep coming, we've run out of ventilators,' the humanitarian aid added.

'We don't have enough ventilator space, so we're now taking out the transport ventilators we have in our ambulances and we're going to try to modify them to see if we can use them for our patients.'

HOW PRESIDENT ASSAD HAS USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON HIS OWN PEOPLE Syria has a long history with chemical weapons dating back more than 40 years. Syria first developed chemical weapons in the 1970s, when it was given a small number of chemicals and delivery systems by Egypt before the start of the Arab-Israeli war in 1973. Damascus started acquiring materials to produce its own chemical weapons in the 1980s, reportedly with the help of the Soviet Union, according to the BBC. By 2011, Syria was still 'dependent on foreign sources of key elements' of its chemical weapons, the US director of national intelligence reported. In 2013, the country saw its worst sarin attack in Syria's civil war. In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. The agreement came after hundreds of people - up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report - were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops east and southwest of Damascus. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons amid international outrage at a nerve gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus. Those weapons have been destroyed, but member states of the OPCW have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything in 2013. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then. The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead. But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015. The government denies using chemical weapons and has accused rebels of using banned weapons. Advertisement

Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used.

Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives.

'I will show you the evidence again and again, but you know what? The world doesn't care and no-one is doing anything,' says Dr Islam. 'We urge you to put pressure on your government - put pressure on anyone - to help us.'

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin - also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred - said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.

The wounded have been 'distributed around in rural Idlib', he told The Associated Press by phone.

'There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth,' he added.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. 'Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions,' he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

An AFP journalist in Khan Sheikhun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, with foam still visible around their mouths.

Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing.

A father carried his dead little girl, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible, wrapped in a blue sheet.

As doctors worked, a warplane circled overhead, striking first near the facility and then hitting it twice, bringing rubble down on medics and patients.

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition and is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.

It is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.

But the province is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations.

Local reports quoted doctors saying the chemical that killed dozens of people in the region could have been chlorine or sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid nerve agent that's used as a chemical weapon

Victims suffered from fainting, vomiting, foaming at the mouth and pin-point pupils, medical sources told local reports. Pictured above, a Syrian man receives treatment following the gas attack

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin - also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred - said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising Syrian activists said that makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating from toxins following the attack

Idlib province is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front. Civil defense members tried to reduce the effects of chlorine gas with water as they carried out search and rescue works after a suspected chlorine gas attack in Idlib, Syria

Moments after the attack a projectile hit a hospital in the area, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to treat victims

DOCTOR TELLS OF HORRORS AFTER TOXIN ATTACK A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light. He published video of the patients on his Twitter account. Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties, and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure. 'Our hospital getting full from sarin attack today,' he wrote of his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun. 'Anyone that wants evidence, I will video call you.' Dr Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital. A medical doctor going by the name of Dr. Shajul Islam on Twitter said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light Dr Islam said that his hospital in Hama, which is a short drive away from Khan Sheikhoun, received several victims of a suspected sarin attack 'The patients keep just flooding in from this chemical attack,' he says in a Twitter video , purportedly taken inside a Syrian hospital this morning. 'Every one - every one - has got pinpoint pupils'. 'The patients keep coming, we've run out of ventilators,' the humanitarian aid added. 'We don't have enough ventilator space, so we're now taking out the transport ventilators we have in our ambulances and we're going to try to modify them to see if we can use them for our patients.' Dr Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used. Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives. 'I will show you the evidence again and again, but you know what? The world doesn't care and no-one is doing anything,' says Dr Islam. 'We urge you to put pressure on your government - put pressure on anyone - to help us.' Dr Islam said that it was 'definitely not a chlorine attack', suggesting that the more severe sarin was used. Footage from his hospital shows adults and children lying on hospital beds unresponsive, as medics work to save their lives. Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing following the attack An AFP journalist in Khan Sheikhun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, with foam still visible around their mouths. Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing. A father carried his dead little girl, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible, wrapped in a blue sheet. As doctors worked, a warplane circled overhead, striking first near the facility and then hitting it twice, bringing rubble down on medics and patients. In a video posted online by Idlib's local medical directorate, a doctor described patient symptoms as he treated a child. 'We are seeing unconsciousness, convulsions, pinpoint pupils, severe foaming, and lack of oxygen,' he said. Dr Islam, who trained in the UK and now works in northern Syria, said that seriously ill patients were still 'flooding' into his hospital Advertisement

The reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region hosted by the EU's High Representative, Federica Mogherini.

Claims of chemical weapons attacks, particularly the use of the chlorine agent, are not uncommon in Syria's conflict.

The worst attack was what a UN report said was an attack by toxic sarin gas in August 2013 on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians.

HOW SARIN AND CHLORINE ARE USED IN CHEMICAL AND TOXIC GAS ATTACKS SARIN Sarin, which is made by combining the fluorine in sodium fluoride with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, is considered one of the world's most dangerous chemical warfare agents. It disrupts the nervous system, over-stimulating muscles and vital organs. It is more than 500 times as toxic as cyanide. It can be inhaled as a gas or absorbed through the skin. In high doses, sarin suffocates its victims by paralysing the muscles around their lungs, and one drop can kill in minutes. CHLORINE Chlorine is a toxic industrial gas that irritates the throat can cause victim's lungs to fill with water, drowning them. The gas can also attack the skin and eyes, causing burning, swelling, itching and irritation. The first large-scale use of chlorine as a weapon, at Ieper, Belgium, on April 22, 1915, unleashed massive use of gas by both Germany and the Allies during the last three years of the 1914-1918 war. Chemical weapons killed nearly 100,000 and injured around 1 million more during the conflict. The horrific scale of World War I gas casualties  and the suffering they caused  helped launch what has been hailed as one of the most successful disarmament campaigns in history. It culminated in the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention and creation of the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The watchdog with 190 member states won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Advertisement

Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

The Syrian Coalition, an opposition group based outside the country, said government planes fired missiles carrying poisonous gases on Khan Sheikhoun, describing the attack as a 'horrifying massacre'.

Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.

But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

The government denies the use of chemical weapons and has in turn accused rebels of using banned weapons.

Tuesday's attack comes only days after forces loyal to Assad were accused of using chemical weapons in a counter-offensive in neighbouring Hama province.

Syria's opposition National Coalition accused Assad's government of a suspected toxic, and demanded a UN investigation.

'The National Coalition demands the Security Council convene an emergency session..., open an immediate investigation and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable,' the body said in a statement.

Syrian and Russian air strikes have battered parts of Idlib, according to the Observatory, despite a ceasefire that Turkey and Russia brokered in December.

Jets also struck the town of Salqin in the north of Idlib province on Tuesday, killing eight people, the monitor said.

If confirmed, it would be one of the worst chemical attacks since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago.

An international chemical weapons watchdog says it is gathering and analyzing information about the suspected chemical attack.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says its Fact Finding Mission 'is in the process of gathering and analyzing information from all available sources.'

A civil defence member breathes through an oxygen mask, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A man breathes through an oxygen mask, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A Syrian doctor helped a boy following the suspected attack, which has been described as one of the worst in the country's six-year civil war

Idlib is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists. pictured above, a victim of a suspected chemical attack as he receives treatment at a makeshift hospital

A Syrian man is taken by civil defence workers to a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following the suspected sarin attack

People stand near a dead body, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria

The mission will report its findings to the OPCW's executive council. Syria joined the organization in 2013.

The organization, which won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its chemical disarmament efforts, says it 'strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances.'

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Tuesday's gathering in Brussels was been billed as a follow-up to a donors' conference last year in London, which raised about $11 billion for humanitarian aid programs in the devastated country.
A Rhode Island man has been convicted of repeatedly raping his then-girlfriend because he was angry she smoked their last cigarette.

A Superior Court jury on Monday convicted 36-year-old Leopoldo Belen, of Woonsocket, of four counts of first-degree sexual assault for the April 2014 attack.

Prosecutors say Belen violently assaulted the then-21-year-old woman, who fled the Woonsocket apartment wearing only a bed sheet after the April 1, 2014, attack. A neighbor called 911.

Criminal: Leopoldo Belen, 36, pictured in court in May 2015, has been convicted of repeatedly raping his 21-year-old girlfriend in 2014 after discovering she had smoked their last cigarette

The victim later testified at her ex-boyfriend's trial, telling the court that Belen became enraged after finding out they were all out of cigarettes and that she had smoked the last one.

It took the jury six hours to return a guilty verdict at the conclusion of the five-day trial, Woonsocket Patch reported. Belen's sentencing in the sexual assault case is still pending.

Belen, a career criminal who goes by the monikers 'Blah' or 'Black,' is also a defendant in an unrelated case in which he is accused of beating to death 78-year-old Delor 'Dean' Cabral during a home invasion in November 2013.

Authorities have said that Cabral, a landlord, was trying to defend one of his tenants, identified as Jonathan Angilly, from being robbed by Belen.

According to prosecutors, Belen and his co-defendant, 29-year-old Joel Valdez, hatched a plan to break into Angilly's apartment and rob him of marijuana, narcotics and cash, reported Providence Journal.

Separate case: Belen, pictured in a mugshot left, is also a suspect in an unrelated 2013 murder in which he is accused of beating to death 78-year-old Delor Cabral (right)

When Cabral tried to intervene, Belen allegedly attacked the elderly homeowner, pistol-whipping him, stomping on his back and repeatedly kicking him.

The 78-year-old victim succumbed to his injuries days later at Rhode Island Hospital.

Belen has pleaded not guilty to 13 charges in the slaying case. In March, Valdez pleaded guilty to multiple criminal counts and is facing a life sentence plus 111 years in prison.

According to his obituary, Delor Cabral was a native of Portugal who served in the US Air Force and at one time worked as a deputy sheriff. He is survived by three grown children and a granddaughter.
A five-year-old boy was struck and killed by an SUV while he was playing in his front yard on Friday.

Authorities say the child was outside his home around 6pm on the 19000 block of South Chapin Road in Saginaw County, Michigan when a Buick Rendezvouz backed into him.

An investigation is currently underway into whether the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

A five-year-old boy was struck and killed by an SUV while he was playing in his front yard on Friday

Saginaw County Sheriff Bill Federspiel said that police have chosen not to release the names of the young victim and the driver.

However, they do believe that the driver was someone the boy's family knew, according to KTLA.

After being hit, he was rushed to a hospital in nearby Lansing, Michigan and was later pronounced dead.

His uncle, Gary Scruggs, told ABC 12 that he had spent the day in church, speaking with his pastor and seeking answers for such an unspeakable tragedy.

His uncle, Gary Scruggs, told ABC 12 that he had spent the day in church, speaking with his pastor and seeking answers for such an unspeakable tragedy

After being hit, he was rushed to a hospital in nearby Lansing, Michigan and was later pronounced dead

'I just want to let everybody know he was loved, he was a good kid, I'm going to miss him, it just won't be the same without him,' he said.

Sheriff Federspiel said the incident serves as a grave warning to families with young children as the weather gets warmer and more children flock outdoors to play.

'Be very careful. And as we near the end of the school year, where more and more children will be out playing on the sidewalks crossing the street, let's be cautious.

He continued: 'It's always so important to know where your kids are. And know where they are playing at and as your drive. Whether you're on private property. Know where your kids are,'
Ivanka Trump is not holding back in her first post-inauguration interview, which will air Wednesday on 'CBS This Morning.'

In a preview of her sit-down with Gayle King, Ivanka responded to critics who have criticized her for not standing up more for women's rights and becoming 'complicit' in aiding the agenda of her father's administration.

'If being complicit is wanting to, is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact then Im complicit,' Ivanka tells King.

'I dont know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing.'

Ivanka then adds: 'So I hope to make a positive impact. I dont know what it means to be complicit, but you know, I hope time will prove that I have done a good job and much more importantly that my fathers administration is the success that I know it will be.'

The rest of Ivanka's interview and more will air on 'CBS This Morning' Wednesday.

Scroll down for video

Big day: Gayle King interviewed Ivanka Trump on Tuesday afternoon (above) at her $5.5million home in Kalorama

Spring has sprung: Ivanka has not sat down for an interview since the week before her father took office, when she revealed her plans for the next four years

Taking it to the streets: The two spent an hour inside the home then headed out for a walk and talk during Ivanka's first interview since her father took office

Taped: The two women looked like old friends as they walked and talked on Ivanka's block

Strike a pose: The ladies appear to have just been walking and talking for B-roll footage as neither was wearing a microphone and there were no signs of a mic pack on either Ivanka or Gayle

No fuss or fanfare: Gayle had no issue getting wanded by Secret Service (above) just like everyone else on Wednesday

Getting down to business: In a preview of the interview Ivanka (above) is asked to comment on criticism she has received from her critics over the past three months

Speaking up: 'If being complicit is wanting to, is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact then Im complicit,' Ivanka tells King (above)

Tuesday was perhaps the biggest, and busiest, day of King's journalistic career on Wednesday after scoring interviews with two first daughters.

She kicked things off in New York City with a sit-down on CBS This Morning with Chelsea Clinton, before heading down to the nation's capital to chat with Ivanka Trump.

King, 62, was seen pulling up in front of Ivanka's $5.5million rental home in the fashionable Kalorama neighborhood shortly after noon with her crew and glam squad, who made their way one-by-one through a thorough Secret Service pat down before heading inside.

Also joining King and her five-person team was 'CBS This Morning' senior producer Chloe Arensberg, who is based in Washington DC, and Brian Gottlieb, a producer for the 'CBS Evening News'.

The pair arrived ahead of Gayle and her team, and they were not the only CBS names who were seen at Ivanka's house on Tuesday.

Vice President of CBS News Christopher Isham, who like Arensberg is based in DC, also showed up for the interview.

Ivanka kept things simple, having her glam squad come and go early that morning before she headed to work at the White House, and returning home midday for the interview.

She was joined meanwhile by Risa Heller, who has been working with Ivanka over the past few months and runs her own communications and public affairs consultancy based in New York City.

Heller could be seen walking next to Ivanka while she was outside filming with Gayle and arrived without fanfare in a leather jacket and oversized Goyard bag.

She has previously worked with a number of Democrats, including Anthony Weiner, but last year was hired to do some work for Jared Kushner.

Ivanka' husband was not home on Tuesday however to see his wife in action, and instead 6,000 miles away in Iraq.

Dynamic duo: Ivanka's glam squad (above) arrived early on Tuesday to prep Ivanka for her big day

One and done: Ivanka kept things simple and was joined by communications director Risa Heller (above arriving at house), who has been working with Ivanka over the past few months

Putting it together: 'CBS This Morning' and senior producer Chloe Arensberg (left) outside Ivanka's house with Brian Gottlieb (right) a Washington producer for the 'CBS Evening News'

Loading up: Vice President of CBS Christopher Isham (in sunglasses) outside Ivanka's home

Bag check: CBS Communications Director Caitlin Conant arriving to the interview (above)

Lining up: Gayle's five-person team prepares to go through the Secret Service agents outside the door

Seven nation army: The massive CBS team surrounded a solo Ivanka at one point on Tuesday

Monster interview: '@ivankatrump aka first daughter & assistant to Pres Trump responds to critics who say SHE is not doing enough.. her life in D.C. & oh yea monster trucks...' wrote King on her Instagram preview of the interview

Step by step: The ladies pose at the bottom of the staircase at Ivanka's home

It did not appear that Hope Hicks, the White House Director of Strategic Communications, or anyone else from the administration was with Ivanka for the interview despite the somewhat momentous occasion.

She and Ivanka are close, with Hicks having worked with the first daughter in some capacity for the past five years beginning with her job at Hiltzik Strategies where she was part of the team that represented Ivanka's fashion brand.

Ivanka then hired Hicks away in 2014 for an in-house role at the Trump Organisation, and one year later President Trump snapped up the 28-year-old to help on his campaign.

No other employee in the White House has worked with President Trump longer than Hicks, who joined the campaign staff five months before her even announced he was running in January 2015.

Ivanka and Hicks are also now co-workers with the first daughter officially receiving a job in the White House.

That controversial appointment was made a little over two months after Ivanka stepped down from her other two positions to avoid any possible conflicts or ethics violations once her father took office.

Leader of the pack: Ivanka and King are lead out of the first daughter's home (above) by Gottlieb

Dressed for success: Ivanka wore a green dress from designer Joseph Altuzurra for the interview

Prep work: Gayle could be seen carrying a handful of note cards with her while she chatted with Ivanka and Heller outside

Well heeled: Gayle wore a Roland Mouret dress from the designer's Fall 2013 collection

Intimate chat: Ivanka agreed to the interview on the same week that she is beginning her new job in the White House

Strike a pose: Ivanka and Gayle line up for a few photos during the interview

Right hand: Ivanka (above) will be serving as an adviser to her father in her new White House role

In Ivanka's new role she will not be paid a salary in order to avoid any possible ethics complaints given her status as a federal employee, who cannot be appointed to their posts by family members.

That move is one Trump administration successfully used to secure Kushner's staff position back in January.

Kushner and the rest of the Trump administration are now dealing with backlash from some on both sides of the aisle after the announcement of Ivanka's post last this week.

Ivanka will be serving as an adviser to her father in that new role.

It would be difficult to declare the announcement of Ivanka's new position a surprise, as shocking as the decision to put her in a federal position may be to many.

In anticipation of the backlash and criticism she was bound to face when the news broke about her new White House position Ivanka released a statement last Wednesday

The statement was an attempt to quell the fears of those who might be angered by the move of Ivanka working for her father

'I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees, said Ivanka'

'Throughout this process I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role,' said Ivanka

Now both Jared Kushner and his wife are unpaid employees in the Trump administration

Ivanka and Gayle have been close for years, and Gayle attended a meeting of journalists at Trump Tower after the election

Ivanka recently had her hair cut and dyed in New York Cityover the weekend just in time for the interview

Ivanka heads out after the interview with CBS, which will air on Wednesday morning

President Trump's oldest daughter has been the only one of his five children to have remained by his side ever since he won the election this past November, first as part of his transition team and then by moving to Washington DC.

Ivanka packed up and left New York City for her family's new $5.5million home just one day before her father was sworn in to office.

She also stepped down from her role in the Trump organization and as the head of her eponymous fashion brand prior to her move.

Ivanka also put the Park Avenue apartment she purchased in 2004 on the market for $4.1million in December, while also offering to rent it out for $13,000 per month.

She returned home to the Big Apple this weekend, where she celebrated her son Theodore's first birthday with her mother and father-in-law, Seryll and Charles Kushner, at their $12million Fifth Avenue apartment.

Her only other trip home came two weeks ago, when she joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada at the opening night of the Broadway play 'Come From Away.'

President Trump's oldest daughter has been the only one of his five children to have remained by his side ever since he won the election this past November

Ivanka packed up and left New York City for her family's new $5.5million home just one day before her father was sworn in to office

Ivanka also put the Park Avenue apartment she purchased in 2004 on the market for $4.1million in December

Ivanka returned home to the Big Apple this weekend with her three children while Jared was in DC

Ivanka celebrated her son Theodore's first birthday with her mother and father-in-law, Seryll and Charles Kushner, at their $12million Fifth Avenue apartment

The crew gets to work moving the lighting and camera equipment into Ivanka's home

The producers gather outside ahead on the warm April day in DC

Police and a K9 squad were also on the scene at the home

In anticipation of the backlash and criticism she was bound to face when the news broke about her new White House position Ivanka released a statement last Wednesday in an attempt to quell the fears of those who might be angered by the move.

'I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees,' said Ivanka.

'Throughout this process I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role.'

On the go: Ivanka heads out earlier in the day on Tuesday to the White House for work

Pop of color: The first daughter wore a pair of bright orange shoes with her pale white and green dress

Big willy style: Ivanka joined Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (above) for a town hall at the White House

Master: Ivanka's resident glam squad gal created her understated and natural look on Tuesday

Working the room: Ivanka spoke with attendees at the Town Hall after the session

Not in Kalorama anymore: Jared Kushner was halfway round the world in Iraq on Tuesday (above)

Instagram stamp of approval: 'Together, we are working on ways to ensure job creation and economic growth in our country!' Ivanka wrote after the town hall (above with Ross and Dina Powell)

Ivanka seemed to take her time inserting herself into White House affairs in the first few weeks of her father's term, with her first appearance coming in early February when she accompanied her father to Dover Air Force Base to receive the body of a fallen SEAL Team 6 member.

That same day was also her first outing as President Trump's proxy, with Ivanka stopping by the Chinese Embassy for a party celebrating the lunar new year.

The first daughter was warmly greeted by Ambassador Cui Tiankai outside the event, who escorted her through the event which featured singers, dancers and art.

Always the thoughtful guest, Ivanka brought the perfect girl to wow those in attendance - her Mandarin-speaking daughter Arabella, 5, who she filmed performing a traditional Chinese song the following day.

She then began to make more frequent appearances at more high-profile events, including the state visits of Prime Minister Trudeau and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ivanka not only participated in a roundtable on worker productivity during the visit by the German leader, but also organized the event according to sources who claimed at the time that Chancellor Merkel had reached out to Ivanka in hopes she could serve as a buffer to her father.
A furious row erupted inside and outside the Labour party last night after former London mayor Ken Livingstone was 'given a slap on the wrist' over anti-Semitic comments.

Mr Livingstone  who had been suspended from the party last April over remarks saying Hitler had supported Zionism  was handed a further 12-month ban from representing Labour.

He will remain a full member of the party and will still be allowed to take part in Labour votes and attend meetings.

But MPs, including some from his own party's shadow cabinet, described the move as 'shameful' and said the party leadership had 'bottled it' and should have expelled the controversial politician.

And Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Labour had failed the Jewish community in Britain.

Ken Livingstone has today been suspended from the Labour party for another year over claims about Hitler's links to Zionists

The former Mayor of London was suspended from the party in April last year after claiming that Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s 'before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews'

Mr Mirvis said: 'This was a chance for the Labour Party to show that it would not tolerate wilful and unapologetic baiting of the Jewish community, by shamefully using the Holocaust as a tool with which to inflict the maximum amount of offence.

'Worryingly, the party has yet again failed to show that it is sufficiently serious about tackling the scourge of anti-Semitism.

'The Labour Party has failed the Jewish community, it has failed its members and it has failed all those who believe in zero tolerance of anti-Semitism.'

The former Mayor of London was suspended from the party in April last year after claiming that Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s 'before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews'.

He refused to apologise for his comments when speaking to the media after the hearing in Westminster, adding that had been 'suspended for stating the truth'.

The decision was also slammed by senior members of the Labour Party.

Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade Barry Gardiner said Livingstone had 'caused enormous offence and should have apologised'.

'He was found guilty of bringing the Party into disrepute and should be expelled,' he said.

Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is herself Jewish, tweeted: 'A new low for my party this evening. Appalling decision. Why is antisemitism being treated differently from any other form of racism?'

Lisa Nandy said: 'Standing against racism is one of the many reasons I'm proud to be in the Labour Party. Today is a sad day for this movement.'

Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Kilburn, called the ruling 'absolutely ridiculous' and asked: 'Why has this man not been expelled?'

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy added: 'What more does he have to say or do to be told there is no place for him in Labour movement?'

He refused to apologise for his comments when speaking to the media after the hearing in Westminster, adding that had been 'suspended for stating the truth'

Michael Dugher, who previously served as Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport under Jeremy Corbyn, told The Independent: 'Labour have spent 12 months investigating what to every sensible person is an open-and-shut case.

'This looks like an embarrassing fudge. The Jewish Board of Deputies said it was anti-Semitism, as did the Holocaust Education Trust, the Jewish Labour Movement and the chief rabbi.

'Is the party really saying it knows more about anti-Semitism than the chief rabbi? The current reluctance of the party to apparently take swift and severe action against Livingstone does us no credit whatsoever.'

A Jewish Labour Movement statement: 'One year suspension is insufficient for a party the claims zero tolerance on antisemitism.

'This is a betrayal of our Party's values. One year suspension allows for a revolving door for repeat offenders.'

Karen Pollock CEO of the Holocaust Educational Trust said: 'Ken Livingstone has continued to cause significant pain and great offence to the Jewish community with his persistent rewriting of history. We have spent over a year now having to tolerate misinformation and falsehoods about the Holocaust - including during this hearing.

'This verdict is a slap on the wrist for a serial offender. That a mainstream political party would consider these views to be welcome within their ranks simply demonstrates that antisemitism is not taken as seriously as all other forms of racism and prejudice.'

Ken Livingstone has today been suspended from the Labour party for another year over claims about Hitler's links to Zionists

Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism said: 'Ken Livingstone has been portraying Jews as Nazis for decades.

'His claim that Hitler acted in support of Zionism, along with his constant repetition of that distortion, has been a repulsive spectacle.

'We felt sure that the Labour Party, blighted by antisemitism as it is, would reclaim some of its former self and expel him. Labour has long had a moral duty to expel Ken Livingstone, but instead it has allowed his vile views to gain support in the Party.

'Today's verdict confirms our worst fears: that it is possible to husband and broadcast such repellant beliefs and still remain a Labour Party member has shocked even us. This surely represents the last of the death throes of the Labour Party's long relationship with the Jewish community.

'The Labour Party had this one last chance to prove that it is not beyond salvation. Today's decision is the party's final act of brazen, painful betrayal.'

He refused to apologise for his comments when speaking to the media after the hearing in Westminster, adding that had been 'suspended for stating the truth'

Mr Livingstone, who had threatened to launch a judicial review if he was expelled from the party, said he would now consult with lawyers about his legal position.

The ex-mayor said earlier he had expected to be expelled because the disciplinary panel investigating the case was dominated by 'right-wingers'.

Addressing a crowd of journalists immediately after the hearing, Mr Livingstone said: 'The panel have decided that I should be suspended for one more year and during that time I can't stand for Parliament or my local council.

'I expected them to expel me, so I've now got to consider whether I challenge this legally or just live with it.

Mr Livingstone, who had threatened to launch a judicial review if he was expelled from the party, said he would now consult with lawyers about his legal position

'As I'm not seeking a return to Parliament or to stand for the local council, it doesn't make a great deal of change.'

Mr Livingstone said the experience 'was like sitting through a court in North Korea'.

He maintained that he had not brought the party into disrepute, saying: 'There's an issue here that matters - should someone be disciplined for stating a historical truth, and I think that's really important.

'I'm not going to make an immediate decision, I've got to sit around and think about this with the lawyers.

Today's Labour Party panel extended my suspension for another year because of my political views, not because I have done anything to harm the Labour Party.

'The Labour Party's disciplinary process was not in accord with natural justice in a number of ways. For example the panel hearing was not held in public, despite the fact that it could have been under Labour's rules. I was suspended for more than 11 months before the hearing was held.

'Scheduling the final day of this disciplinary hearing, on the day the Labour Party launched its campaign for the May 4 elections, was a supreme misjudgment by whoever planned this in the Labour Party headquarters.

'It was clearly not in Labour's interests as the hearing will inevitably generate unfavourable headlines at a time when Labour should be focused on campaigning.

'I will be launching a campaign to overturn my suspension of party membership.'

On Saturday, 32 Jewish members of the Labour Party, including the mother of former leader Ed Miliband, backed Mr Livingstone ahead of the hearing conclusion in a letter to The Times.

The ex-mayor said earlier he had expected to be expelled because the disciplinary panel investigating the case was dominated by 'right-wingers'

A Labour Party spokesman said: 'The National Constitutional Committee of the Labour Party has today found that all three charges of a breach of the Labour Party's rule 2.1.8 by Ken Livingstone have been found proved.

'The NCC consequently determined that the sanction for the breach of Labour Party rules will be suspension from holding office and representation within the Labour Party for two years.

'Taking account of the period of administrative suspension already served the period of suspension will end on 27 April 2018. The Labour Party will make no further comment on this matter.'

Labour's shadow attorney general, Shami Chakrabarti, who carried out a controversial inquiry into allegations of anti-Semitism in the party before being made a peer by Jeremy Corbyn, said: 'Labour is the party of both equality and natural justice.

'This is demonstrated by its record of legislation in Government and its ability to look at itself fairly and carefully in the mirror in more difficult times, however painful this might be.

'I hope people might now revisit my report and remind themselves of better ways to argue about difficult issues without compromising our values of solidarity, tolerance and respect.'

The former Mayor of London was suspended from the party in April last year after claiming that Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s 'before he went mad and ended up killing six million jews'

After his suspension last year, he was then embroiled in a furious on-camera confrontation with Labour MP John Mann who accused him of being a 'Nazi apologist' and 'disgrace'.

But arriving in Westminster for the hearing of Labour's national constitutional committee last week, Mr Livingstone insisted he had nothing to apologise for.

'I simply said, back in 1933 Hitler's government signed a deal with the Zionist movement, which would mean that Germany's Jewish community were moved to what is now Israel,' he told reporters at the time.

'They started selling Mauser pistols to the independent Jewish army.

'You had, right up until the start of the Second World War, real collaboration.'

The Labour veteran, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, also complained that the hearing was being held in private.

'It's completely unfair. We have a tradition of law and that is open,' he said.

'There's absolutely no justification for something like this being done in private.'

Mr Livingstone was embroiled in a furious on-camera confrontation with Labour MP John Mann after his comments in April last year

Mr Mann branded the former London Mayor a 'Nazi apologist' and a 'disgrace' during the clash

He pointed out that he had been defending Labour MP Naz Shah after she suggested Israel should be 'relocated into the United States'.

'They have dropped all the charges that I'm anti-Semitic,' he said.

'They've dropped the charge that I said Hitler was a Zionist.

'It's really coming down to claiming I brought the party into disrepute by defending Naz Shah.

'As she's been readmitted to the party that does seem a bit excessive to try and expel me for supporting her.'

Mr Livingstone insisted he had nothing to apologise for, repeating his previous argument that he had only stated historical fact.

It is not the first time Mr Livingstone has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row.

In 2006 a High Court judge said he made 'unnecessarily offensive' and 'indefensible' remarks likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. But he was cleared of bringing the office of mayor into disrepute.

Mr Livingstone's hearing in Westminster could last until tomorrow

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said Mr Livingstone had persisted in causing offence.

She said: 'Even when it has been made blatantly clear that his comments have caused deep hurt and offence to Jewish people, and in particular to Holocaust survivors, still Ken Livingstone has persisted down this route promoting a misleading and misinformed version of history to further his agenda. Enough is enough.'

In a written submission to the panel, Mr Livingstone said he had 'raised the issue of the collaboration between Hitler and a section of Zionism in the early 1930s' as a result of a misunderstanding of presenter Vanessa Feltz's question during a BBC London interview.

He said he had 'no intention' to cause offence but was 'sorry' if his remarks did so.

He claimed 'supporters of Israel' had called on Labour to expel him to 'silence' his criticism of 'Israeli aggression'.

'I did not say or suggest that Hitler was a Zionist. I did not make any equation of Hitler and Zionism. I neither criticised the transfer agreement or the section of Zionism that participated in the agreement,' Mr Livingstone added.

Mr Livingstone, who was being represented by high profile lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, was previously expelled from the party when he announced he would stand as an independent in the London mayoral race after losing the Labour selection process.
A frugal couple decided to forego formalities and have their wedding reception at the popular burger joint In-N-Out.

Juan Pablo Cervantes and Vanessa Cervantes were wed on Friday at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Rowland Heights, California then headed straight for their favorite fast food.

They celebrated their big day by both ordering double-doubles, while Juan tacked on an order of the restaurant's famous animal fries.

A frugal couple decided to forego formalities and have their wedding reception at the popular burger joint In-N-Out

The California-based burger chain is highly revered as the best fast food in the state by its loyal residents.

The double-double burgers are comprised of two meat patties, while their animal fries are topped with a special sauce.

The newlyweds said the plan to host the reception at the In-N-Out in the City of Industry began as a joke.

But later on, they decided that they liked the idea so much they wanted to go through with it.

Juan also said that due to his enrollment in the US Air Force, he doesn't get to enjoy the famous food very often anymore.

Juan Pablo Cervantes and Vanessa Cervantes were wed on Friday at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Rowland Heights, California then headed straight for their favorite fast food

The newlyweds said the plan to host the reception at the In-N-Out in the City of Industry began as a joke. But later on, they decided that they liked the idea so much they wanted to go through with it

'I'm currently stationed in New Mexico, and there are no In-N-Outs over there,' he told KTLA.

'I've been gone for a while and we really like In-N-Out.'

Although the two enjoyed their unique reception, they are planning to embark on a honeymoon in England.
Advertisement

A toddler who was savaged by a dog as she played on a slide with her sister has been named locally as 18-month-old Victoria Resetnjova.

She was bitten in the face and thrown in the air by the head 'like a toy' in the Jenkins' Dale area of Chatham, Kent just before 5.30pm yesterday.

The little girl had been playing with her 14-year-old sister Kristina and was flown to St George's Hospital in London by air ambulance after being pulled from the dog's jaws by up to six other bloodied children before armed police shot it dead.

Victoria's parents, Sergei and Valentina Resetnjova, are believed to be at her bedside - Mr Resetnjova answered his mobile phone this afternoon but said: 'I've got no comment.'

One witness told MailOnline: 'The dog ran into the park and attacked the girl under the slide. It was going for her head all the time, grabbed her and threw her up two or three times like she was a toy. It was brutal'.

Today mother-of-five Katy Ayres claims same dog had 'pinned down' her son Charlie 24 hours before and said: 'It scratched his leg - but the little girl, it ripped holes in her head'.

Three people - a man, a woman and a teenage girl - have been arrested by Kent Police under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Enquiries are ongoing to establish the breed of the dog.

A spokesman said: 'The child continues to be treated for very serious injuries, but these are no longer described as life threatening'.

Gunned down: This is the body of a large Pitbull crossed with a Staffordshire Bull Terrier after it was shot dead for attacking toddler Victoria Resetnjova in a playground

Crime scene: This is the playground slide where the toddler was playing when she was mauled by the dog in front of at least six other terrified children (pictured today)

Tragedy: The dog began biting her head and face. Signs show that dogs are banned from the area - but witnesses said it had been there for much of the day

Upset: Mother-of-five Katy Ayres (pictured left) believes the same dog had attacked her son Charlie on Monday, and suffered a scratch on his leg (right)

The victim's terrified mother, who was reportedly at work and left her children with a childminder, ran over screaming as people gave first aid and wrapped her in a blanket to 'keep her alive'.

Describing the attack one witness said: 'The baby's head was being shaken in the dog's mouth and it was covered in blood. It was absolutely horrific and there were about six children aged eight to twelve covered in blood who witnessed it all.'

DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED? Call 020 3615 1866 or email martin.robinson@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

A family friend told MailOnline: 'It was just a complete mess - a brutal mess. Everyone was screaming'. Another said the child was thrown around like a toy, adding: 'Police did the right thing. Round here they call them trophy dogs - once they get the taste for blood they won't stop'.

The little girl is believed to have been in the park with a babysitter and her parents are thought to have been at work at the time of the attack.

Armed police called to the scene yelled at crowds to 'stand back' before they 'shot it twice', one witness said, and the dead pitbull-type dog, described as 'crazy and very strong', was photographed being covered with a blanket.

Mother-of-five Katy Ayres believes the same dog had attacked her son Charlie on Monday.

She said: 'He pinned him down. I grabbed my son to protect him and the dog jumped up. It scratched his leg and he has bruises.

'The police came and took pictures of the scratch. It happened all so fast. I said that day to my brother that dog will end up hurting someone, and it happened.

She added: 'I'm lost for words . I hope that little girl is going to be ok. It could have been my son. I'm in shock really. I said to my brother I bet it goes for someone. And I bet it's a child'.

Describing the attack on the toddler yesterday she said: 'I heard screaming. I saw the girl carrying the little girl from that end of the park and I see all blood running down her head'.

James Hamilton, who lives in a flat overlooking the play area said the dog - believed to be a staffer pitbull cross, had been in the park for most of the day on Tueaday.

Mr Hamilton saw the toddler bitten by the dog several times and spoke to her parents afterwards and believes they may be Polish.

He said: 'I saw the dog with the child in its mouth.

'My partner Clare had seen the dog pick up the girl and drop her twice. I saw it do it another time. It was shaking her around.

'The little girl was lying there. She was conscious and her eyes were rolling back. I think she was in shock.

'She had an eye wound - looked like an open gash. And an injury to the back of her head which was bleeding. She was awake.'

'She was so tiny. We were only in the park five minutes before with our little girls. I was in tears myself. I hope I never see that again.'

Mr Hamilton said police then arrived at the scene but the dog kept getting loose.

He added: 'A lad was holding the dog on a lead by now. It was just standing there. The police came and I told them it needed to be put down. They said it will be done.

'It kept getting loose from my It's collar and then they shot it.'

Mr Hamilton said the dog had been running around in the park earlier in the day and said: 'My partner had seen the dog at the park in the day.It was running around. It wasn't on a lead'.

Rescue: The child was rescued by up to six other children and then flown by air ambulance to a London hospital

Shut down: This is the flat believed to belong to the couple who have been arrested since the dog attack

Neighbours say that the dog may have lived in this flat overlooking the playground and the owners may have only just got it

Some witnesses said the dog had been on this grass area without a lead for much of yesterday before the mauling took place

Operation: Officers in Chatham were called to reports that the toddler, who is believed to be about 18 months old, had been bitten and was severely injured just before 5.30pm. She was treated by these flats were residents rushed to help

Witness Alisha Robinson said: 'They said we need lots of towels because she is losing a lot of blood. They were trying to keep her alive. You couldn't see her face, she was covered in blood. Then her mum came up screaming, that did it for me, I wanted to cry. People were throwing blankets from the balcony above because she was cold'.

A family friend said he was 'absolutely shocked' by the attack.

He wrote on social media: 'Hoping the little girl, who I will not name, is OK and is in the best possible care.

'I'm with the sister now who is shocked and shaken. Never jumped out of the car so fast once i knew what was going on.'

Local MP Tracey Crouch said: 'Horrible news from Chatham this evening. My thoughts and prayers are with the child and their family.'

Shopkeeper Ugir Hisir told KentOnline today that the dog's owner comes in most days buy Rizlas with the pitbull and said it is: 'Crazy, aggressive and very strong'.

Neighbours said they heard a gun fired and saw a child covered with a blanket being carried to an ambulance.

Jaspreet Uppal said: 'First I heard a gunshot, there was a dog on the floor. A few officers carried out a child from the back area of the flats.

'There is a little park there. I could not see the child, they were covered. I think they were quite small.'

Another neighbour added: 'I saw the aftermath, the emergency services do a excellent job it's times likes these we should be so grateful they act so quickly.'

A Kent Police spokesman confirmed that firearms officers shot the dog dead.

He said: 'Kent Police was called at 5.26pm on Tuesday 4 April 2017 to an incident in the Jenkins Dale area of the town. The child, of toddler age, had suffered serious injuries and was taken by ambulance crews to a London hospital.

'The child continues to be treated for very serious injuries, but these are no longer described as life threatening.

'Following the incident, police, including firearms officers, attended the scene and to ensure public safety the dog was shot dead. A man and a teenager, both from Chatham, were arrested under the Dangerous Dogs Act and remain in custody.

'On Wednesday 5 April, a woman from Chatham was also arrested in connection with the incident. Enquiries are ongoing to establish the breed of the dog'.

Investigation: Police sealed off the area last night and arrested two people, who remain in custody today

Detectives were pictured filling evidence bags in a small park behind a block of flats in the hours after the attack - the dog is believed to have leapt over this fence

Detectives cordoned off a small park and children's play area (left and right) on the estate. A neighbour said: 'A few officers carried out a child from the back area of the flats'

Two people were arrested in connection with the attack and remain in police custody pending further enquiries

The little girl is believed to have been in the park with a babysitter and her parents are thought to have been at work at the time of the attack

The injured child was airlifted to a London hospital in a critical condition after being attacked in the Jenkins' Dale are of Chatham, Kent, last night

The South East Coast Ambulance Service and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance also attended and the injured child was airlifted to a London hospital in a critical condition.

Two people have been arrested and remain in police custody.

The attack comes just days after armed police were forced to shoot dead a pack of dogs that went on a rampage in Manchester.
In a New York magazine profile of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democrat from New York's potty mouth is on full display, as she drops the F-bomb three times throughout.

Gillibrand utters 'f***' in the first scene, as she speaks about her post-President Trump anxiety and recalls recently waking up in the middle of the night and realizing she had forgotten to order Girl Scout cookies from a friend's daughter.

'Oh my God, I've got to f***ing order those cookies. I'm terrible! I didn't respond properly!' Gillibrand told the magazine's Rebecca Traister she remembered thinking.

POTTY MOUTH? Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., drops the F-bomb three times in a new New York magazine profile that discusses her resistance campaign against President Trump

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (center), flanked by Democratic peers Sen. Bernie Sanders (left) and Sen. Patty Murray, says she's simply looking ahead to her re-election in 2018, but she's already getting attention as a possible 2020 White House contender

Gillibrand has been working for the last fives years to get women Off The Sidelines, as her political action committee is literally called, so she fretted she had sent the wrong message.

'This little girl is doing what she's supposed to be doing, learning how to ask for the raise, and I totally dissed it!' she exclaimed, while noting that she had put in an order for nine additional boxes of Tagalongs and Samoas.

Traister's profile charts Gillibrand's transition from the pro-gun, upstate New York, 'moderate hack,' as the senator was portrayed when she first moved from the House of Representatives to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, to the more progressive lawmaker she is today.

'The press pool was taking bets on how many months I would last,' Gillibrand said of her early days in the Senate. 'There was nobody in the state who thought I had any shot at being a good senator.'

Gillibrand's most recent claim to fame is voting 'no,' more than any of her Senate peers, when it came to Trump's cabinet appointees.

'If they suck, I vote against them. If they're worthy, I vote for them,' she said.

Using that rule, the only Trump appointees who didn't 'suck,' and got the Gillibrand stamp of approval, were Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration.

Gillibrand figures she can push back at the Trump administration  though work across the aisle with Senate Republicans too  because they weren't all fans of Trump when the now-president entered the political arena.

For example, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, ran against Trump in the GOP primary and got booed at his party's convention for not then-and-there endorsing the nominee.

He's worked with Gillibrand on her military sexual assault bill.

'Most of these Republican senators did not think Trump as the best nominee,' the New York Democrat said. 'They don't agree with everything he says.'

Gillibrand, deploying her second F-bomb, explained that even if the female Republican senators weren't officially signing on to her legislation, they were still gladly whispering in her ear.

'To pass [the 9/11 health] bill, I first went to my female colleagues and said, "How do I do this? I have no f***ing clue,' she told the magazine.

The GOP women weren't co-sponsors but they advised: 'Listen, if you pay for it this way and not that way, they can't say no. If you hold the vote, they'll have to vote yes,' Gillibrand remembered them saying.

Sen. Susan Collins  who was given wedding night lingerie by Gillibrand  agreed that she didn't think the Democrat's resistance to Trump would poison the well with colleagues on Capitol Hill.

'She is a good person. And that still counts, even in the Senate,' Collins said.

Former New York Gov. David Paterson talked about Gillibrand's goodness too, saying in 2013 that one of the reasons he gave her Clinton's highly-coveted Senate seat was that she was nice to him after he became a joke on Saturday Night Live.

Of course, Traister also asked Gillibrand about her future ambitions, as she's been mentioned as a potential Democratic contender for the White House in 2020.

'I am running for the Senate in 2018,' Gillibrand offered.

Collins, however, read the tea leaves a little more.

'It would not surprise me if Kirsten were a candidate for higher office some day,' the Maine Republican said. 'She has enormous ability, she works extremely hard, she's engaging, she's young.'

'And don't take that as an endorsement, or I'll be in even more trouble than I am now,' Collins added.

Gillibrand used a four-letter word to pay Collins a compliment.

'I know Susan's worldview is similar to my worldview,' she said. 'Which is that we're here to help people, and if we're not helping people, we should go the f*** home.'
Girls star Jemima Kirke took to Twitter on Tuesday to pen a heart-wrenching memorial to her younger brother who died last month just shy of his 20th birthday.

In sharing the memorial for her brother Simon Creager, the 31-year-old actress recounted 'why he is no longer with us', as she claimed the doctor who delivered him during birth allegedly made a mistake that left him severely disabled.

'Last week, march (sic) 31st was my little brothers (sic) birthday. He is no longer with us and let me explain why: His mother's pregnancy was absolutely healthy. As was the baby and the labor,' Kirke's note begins.

Kirke then claims that the doctor, who DailyMail.com will not publicly name, 'took his life on march (sic) 31st 1997'.

'With his heart rate dropping dramatically towards the end of the labor (due to the umbilical cord around him (sic) neck) Dr. (redacted) decided that it was a better idea to use a Vacuum rather than conduct an emergency c section on his mother.'

Girls star Jemima Kirke (above in February) took to Twitter on Tuesday to pen a heart-wrenching memorial to her younger brother who died last month just shy of his 20th birthday Kirke is pictured right with her brother Simon Creager who is center

In sharing the memorial for her brother Simon (left), the 31-year-old actress (right) recounted 'why he is no longer with us', as she claimed the doctor who delivered him during birth allegedly made a mistake that left him severely disabled

Kirke claims that the doctor 'pulled on that baby's head for close to 45 minutes.'

In the note, the British artist added: 'When he was finally delivered the abrasions to his crown were so bad and he'd been without sufficient oxygen for so long that he was left mostly brain dead.

'He wasn't expected to live past the age of 2 or 3.'

Kirke acknowledges that she believes the doctor did make a 'mistake', noting that everyone does in their particular field of work.

'But in her particular line of work, THIS kind of mistake should have cost her her job. 20 yrs. (sic) later. She's still working and practicing (redacted),' Kirke wrote.

'If you're in the area stop by her practice and let her know he lived.

In sharing the memorial for her brother Simon Creager, the 31-year-old actress recounted 'why he is no longer with us'. Above left and right is the note she shared to her Twitter account

'Tell her, 'Dr, (redacted), Simon Creager lived until he was 19! He died just shy of his 20th bday. (sic) Albeit, immobile, unable to talk or eat, blind and with severe cerebral palsy. But a spirit that survives on and offers nothing but love is a most valuable one. Just incase (sic) you're interested!'

'He changed all who came in contact with him. Including me.'

Calls placed by DailyMail.com to the doctor in question were not returned as of Tuesday afternoon

This seems to be the first time Kirke has spoken of Creager and what she claims happened during his birth. It's unclear who his mother is and where he was living. It's also unclear if Creager's family took any legal action.

Calls placed by DailyMail.com to the doctor in question were not returned as of Tuesday afternoon.

Since sharing the post about her brother on Twitter, one of her followers replied with words of simply towards the actress.

'Awful. Thoughts are with you & yours. Good on your bro for proving them wrong & living as long (albeit not nearly long enough) as he did,' @marap23 wrote to Kirke.

The tragic post about her brother comes three months after the actress announced she was divorcing husband Michael Mosberg.

The couple share two children together, Rafaella, six, and four-year-old Memphis.

'I got divorced, and I attribute that to acting,' she said. 'And just asking myself, 'Is this really me?' So much of my life has been about reaction, just following the flow rather than making a strong choice.'
Hedge fund workers at a swanky new London office will be able to order champagne to their desks merely by pressing a button.

Caviar, cocktails and glasses of bubbly will be served to staff at 40 Beak Street, in Soho, from a sushi restaurant on the ground floor.

The 'press for champagne' buttons were inspired by Bob Bob Ricard - an eatery frequented by stars including Kylie Minogue and Tamara Eccleston.

The 'press for champagne' buttons are inspired by those at Bob Bob Ricard, pictured

How the 15million 40 Beak Street building will look when it is completed in March 2018

The posh refreshments will be delivered via dumbwaiter lifts that will run through the building.

Staff at the 15million development will also have access to spa style washrooms modelled on those at The Gansevoort Park Avenue hotel in New York - a favourite of the Kardashians.

It will also have valet staff and private terraces and balconies.

Kylie Minogue is a big fan of Bob Bob Ricard

Chief executive of Enstar Capital, the company developing the office, Simon Lyons told the Evening Standard it will be 'the finest office complex in Soho, built to last 100 years'.

The development is being built on the site of a former police station at a costly price of 550 per sq ft with construction having already begun.

The project has been designed by architects Stiff + Trenton. The firm's director, Michael Stiff, said: 'We know Enstar Capital want their developments to be exemplary: 40 Beak Street is no exception, set in the heart of Soho.

'We have sought to produce a piece of architecture that celebrates this unique location.'

The building is set to be completed by March 2018.
Atlanta cops say CCTV has caught images of a man suspected of gunning down a female lawyer in a 'targeted' killing on Monday morning.

The man was filmed on camera before and after Trinh Huynh, 40, was shot several times at a busy intersection in midtown Atlanta at 7:40am.

'We definitely believe that she was a target,' said Lt. Ricardo Vazquez. 'Why she was a target, we do not know that yet.'

Scroll down for video

Murder: Trinh Huynh (left), 40, was shot dead on Monday morning during rush hour. Her killer was seen in CCTV footage (right), police claim. They said he appeared calm before the attack

The man was spotted walking down Peachtree Place to the junction of Peachtree Road, where he shot Huynh in the back before fleeing the way he came.

'I look up and see the woman, she just drops in the crosswalk bleeding,' witness Toney Booker told Fox 5 Atlanta.

'She's clutching her wound trying to keep pressure, and then she went unresponsive, So civilians run out to her and give her chest compression's to bring her back, while they're applying pressure.'

She was pronounced dead later, at Grady Memorial Hospital.

the killer didn't talk to Huynh before he killed her - suggesting that the killing was 'targeted' - police said.

'We see him following her in another piece of video,' Vazquez said. 'There was another person in that intersection and it appears that he specifically targeted her.'

He added that the killer was unusually calm throughout.

'Even though he runs after the shooting incident, he again slows back down and just starts to walk away,' Vazquez said. 'It wasn't a big effort to get away.'

Police released the footage of the man - who is described as white or Hispanic, bald, and wearing blue shorts and a dark sweatshirt - in the hopes that members of the public would be able to identify him.

A connection between the shooter and Huynh hasn't yet been established, Vazquez said.

Help: Police need help identifying the man. They believe that Huynh was targeted although they aren't sure why. She had performed free work for sex trafficking victims, among others

Huynh was as an in-house lawyer at UPS who had previously worked at law firms Powell Goldstein and Alston & Bird, Law.com reported.

'Trinh's an incredibly vibrant, really energetic person who is all smiles all the time,' said Shaney Lokken, Huynh's friend and a fellow boardmember of the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

'She has a tremendous heart, and this loss is terrible.'

Immigrant: Huynh (pictured in 1979) came to the US as a child immigrant from Vietnam, and went on to graduate from Princeton. She said she was thankful to the US and Georgia

Outside of work, Huynh traveled extensively and was active in both pro bono legal work and voluneering.

She was a member of the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network, which provides free legal services to immigrant victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes

Huynh was born in Saigon, Vietnam, but came to America as a child immigrant. She graduated Princeton University in 1998 and Emory University School of Law in 2004.

In a January Facebook post, Huynh put up a childhood picture of herself that was taken at a refugee camp on Galang Island in Indonesia in 1979, after her family had fled Vietnam.

'We left under the cover of darkness, uncertain of where our tiny boat would drift and how long it would be seaworthy, uncertain if we would see land again,' she wrote.

'This is the face of a refugee. I am proud of my refugee status. I am thankful for the opportunities this wonderful country has afforded me and my family.

'I would not be here if the State of Georgia and this country had closed their doors and hearts to my family. I think this great state and the US have more love to give.'

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 404- 577-TIPS (8477).
Former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter and his estranged wife have finally reached a settlement in their bitter divorce - but a judge has denied their request to keep it sealed.

Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle Biden had asked to keep the details of their divorce private to save themselves and their family from further embarrassment.

But Family Court Judge Craig Iscoe refused their request, saying that not only was embarrassment not a good enough reason to seal a public record, but that the cat was already out of the bag.

Hunter Biden (left) and Kathleen Buhle Biden (right) have finally reached a settlement in their bitter divorce

Earlier court filings had accused Hunter, who is now dating his brother Beau's widow Hallie, of blowing the married couple's money 'on drugs, alcohol, strip clubs and prostitutes.'

Each spouse then accused the other of cheating, with Kathleen adding that her now ex-husband spent $80,000 on a diamond, then lied and said he didn't have the rock.

'There is information in the file and the parties' marital settlement agreement that would be damaging and embarrassing to the parties and their families if it became public,' attorneys wrote in the motion to seal. 'To protect the parties and, most importantly, the children, it is essential that the file in this case be sealed.'

Iscoe noted the couple had not specified what damages, other than embarrassment, they might face.

Hunter (left with his estranged wife Kathleen in April 2016) is now dating his late brother Beau's widow Hallie (pictured with Beau in 2015)

'Embarrassment, however, is not a basis for sealing the record of a public case, even where a party arguably faces more embarrassment than do the parties do here,' he wrote.

'Furthermore, sealing the court's records now may not be effective in preventing the media from repeating their earlier reports about the parties' then-public filings.'

The judge granted the Bidens, who have since made efforts to tone down their bitter divorce in the press, request to lift a stay imposed last month in their contested divorce case and schedule an uncontested divorce hearing, which is set for April 14.

If the settlement agreement is made part of the court record, Iscoe said the court would redact sensitive information about the Bidens' 16-year-old daughter, the youngest of their three children, as well as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, email addresses and similar information.

Court records indicate that Kathleen asked her husband to leave the couple's Washington, D.C., home on July 5, 2015, prompted by his actions on the night of July Fourth. The filing does not offer details.

Damning allegation: Kathleen claims Hunter spends money on 'drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he had sexual relations' in her new motion (above)

Biden bling: The motion claims that last month Kathleen learned Hunter 'was in possession of a large diamond ... worth approximately $80,000,' which he admitted was true (above)

Full court press: Kathleen made it clear in her filing last week that she is not holding back in this case (motion above)

The couple agreed to separate three months later because of what Kathleen describes as irreconcilable differences, including drug use and infidelity.

Kathleen filed for divorce in December although Hunter denied that his conduct resulted in the separation. Kathleen appears to disagree, based on the shocking claims she about her estranged husband Hunter in the documents.

Biden, an attorney and former lobbyist who works at an investment firm, was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.

In court papers, Kathleen's attorney described the couple's outstanding debts as 'shocking and overwhelming,' with maxed-out credit cards, double mortgages on two homes, and tax debt of more than $313,000.

Kathleen and Hunter have also 'bounced three checks to their housekeeper and owe medical providers and therapists for outstanding bills' according to the motion.

In a motion that was submitted on February 27, Kathleen accused Hunter of 'dissipating hundreds of thousands of dollars of marital funds' by 'spending extravagantly on his own interests' in the year since the two made the decision to formally separate while asking the court to freeze his assets.

Separation time: This photograph was taken in October 2015, the same month that Hunter (left) split from his wife Kathleen. He and Hallie (center) are now in a relationship with the blessing of Joe (right)

Kathleen went on to claim that these interests include 'drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he had sexual relations.'

The motion later details another big purchase made by Hunter recently - a diamond.

'On or about February 17, 2017, Ms. Biden learned that Mr. Biden was in possession of a large diamond, on information and belief worth approximately $80,000,' states the motion.

'When Ms. Biden, through counsel, asked Mr. Biden to place the diamond in a safety deposit box accessible only to both parties together, Mr. Biden, through counsel, denied possession of the diamond.'

Hunter has now admitted to being in possession of the diamond according to the motion, which was filed just days before it was revealed that the son of former vice president Joe Biden was dating his brother Beau's widow Hallie.

In the December 9 filing, Kathleen also asked for sole custody of her minor child.

Kathleen continues to live in the home she kicked Hunter out of in July 2015 with 16-year-old daughter Maisy.

Hunter is fighting her on custody, asking that he get joint physical and legal for Maisy.

Daughters Finnegan, 18, and Naomi, 23, do not feature as much in the divorce documents, though Kathleen does request support for the two older children.

On to the next one: Hunter is now dating his brother Beau's widow Hallie (pair above in August)

In the dark: Friends of the Biden family said they had no idea this affair was going on, and were also shocked Hunter and his wife Kathleen split in October of 2015 (Kathleen and Michelle Obama above in April)

Kathleen went on to explain in her Plantiff's Motion to Enjoin Dissipation of Assets that her estranged husband has been the 'sole source of funds to support the family throughout the entirety of the parties' marriage.'

She claims that Hunter's office had been sending her a monthly transfer of approximately $17,000 for herself and their three daughters - Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy - but that this amount was drastically decreased to just $7,500 in October of last year.

And while he was decreasing the money to his estranged wife and children, Hunter 'secretly continued to spend lavishly' according to Kathleen's motion, and at one point 'instructed a large payment of marital income ($122,179) be made to a TD Bank account in his sole name.'

That money could not be touched by Kathleen or Hunter's office according to the filing, which then claims: 'On information and belief, taxes were not withheld from these funds.'

Hunter later dissipated the funds however according to court papers.

Kathleen also claims Hunter 'continued to incur debt on any available cards,' 'maxed out all available cash advances,' and 'transferred money to himself from an account solely in [Kathleen's] name.'

Broken family: Kathleen asked for Hunter to provide support payments for their three children that are above the standard DC rate (l to r: Finnegan, Hunter, Maisy, Joe, Dr, Jill and Kathleen)

The charges and cash advances Hunter takes are 'rarely' being spent on 'legitimate family expenses' according to the filing, and instead 'focuses on his own travel ( at times multiple hotel rooms on the same night), gifts for other women, alcohol, strip clubs, and other personal indulgences.'

When asked for comment about Kathleen's filing, Hunter's lawyer Sarah Mancinelli told DailyMail.com: 'Hunter and Kathleen have been separated for some time and are in the process of finalizing a divorce. Hunter loves and admires Kathleen as a person, a mother, and a friend. He hopes their privacy can be respected at this time. '

The relationship between the couple appeared to fall apart quickly after the death of Beau Biden in May of 2015.

July 4, 2015, is when Hunter allegedly committed the offense that Kathleen references in her divorce filing.

Hunter and Kathleen's minor daughter Maisy was not at their Washington DC home at the time, but instead in Los Angeles with her grandfather Joe and best friend Sasha Obama watching the World Cup.

Hallie's two children were also not home as her father-in-law also took along her son Hunter and daughter Natalie on the trip.

'His recent conduct creates situations that are unsafe or traumatic for the parties' children and his judgment, is frequently impaired,' wrote Kathleen in the filing.

Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle Biden (together last year) had asked to keep the details of their divorce private to save themselves and their family from further embarrassment

It was then reported a month later in August of 2015 that a Robert Biden's name was found among the hacked records of users on the extramarital affair site Ashley Madison.

Hunter denied having an account on the site.

Two months after that report emerged however the couple formally separated, which would have also been right around the same time that Joe Biden announced he would not seek office.

The former vice president has gone on to say publicly that he is complete support of the new relationship.

Soon after, Hallie's father Ron Olivere echoed that sentiment in an interview with Delaware Online , saying he 'stands with the Bidens' before adding: 'I'm in total support of the family and what they've gone through and what they continue to go through.'

Friends of the Biden family felt a bit different however, with multiple people revealing they have no idea Hallie and Hunter had been having an affair.

Page Six was the first to break the news of the relationship between Hallie and Hunter.

In a statement Hunter said of the relationship: 'Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and thats been obvious to the people who love us most. Weve been so lucky to have family and friends who have supported us every step of the way.'

Joe and Dr. Jill Biden said in their statement: 'We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. They have mine and Jills full and complete support and we are happy for them.'

The two have been spotted together a number of times since Beau's death in May 2015, but never alone.
Donald Trump was on the verge of granting Fox News exclusive rights to broadcast his inauguration, a new report has claimed.

The president was planning to make the network, owned by Rupert Murdoch, the only home of his January 20 swearing-in ceremony - and it took a last minute intervention from CNN President Jeff Zucker to stop him breaking with tradition.

Trump, through his son-in-law Jared Kushner, was nearing a deal with the Australian media mogul in what would have been another battle in his ongoing war with CNN, the New York Times reports.

But after hearing whispers about the would-be exclusive, Zucker called the man he had known for 15 years and let him have it.

Donald Trump was on the verge of granting Fox News exclusive rights to broadcast his inauguration before he was warned against doing so by CNN President Jeff Zucker

'Bottom line is that I said, "This is crazy",' he told the newspaper, recounting the tense conversation.

'Youre just going to give your inaugural coverage to your base of support? It makes no sense.'

Ultimately, Trump backed down on his reported plan, and his inauguration was broadcast on 12 cable and broadcast networks.

Despite not having the event all to itself, Fox News still pulled in the most viewers for a single channel, and overall an average 30.6 million tuned in to watch the festivities, the Hollywood Reporter wrote at the time.

Trump (pictured om inauguration day) was reportedly planning to make Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, the sole home of his January 20 swearing-in ceremony

Trump, through his son-in-law Jared Kushner, had been working on a deal with Rupert Murdoch. Kushner and Murdoch are seen together in May 2014

The ratings figure was about 18 per cent lower than the number of people who tuned in to watch Barack Obama's historic inauguration in 2009. Obama's number of nearly 38 million equated to an estimated 25.5 per cent of US households watching the event.

In his New York Times profile, Zucker also revealed how Trump's camp pressured him to silence voices who did not support the president.

The CNN President recounted to the newspaper a meeting he had with Kushner after the election - but prior to learning of the president's exclusive inauguration idea.

'Bottom line is that I said, "This is crazy",' Zucker (pictured with Donald and Melania Trump) said, recounting the tense conversation

Even though it did not have the exclusive rights, Fox News had the highest ratings for Trump's inauguration of the 12 networks that carried it

Zucker told the Times Kushner, 'wanted to know why CNN still hadnt fired anti-Trump commentators', including Van Jones and Ana Navarro.

The 51-year-old said he explained to the 36-year-old the network needed a 'diversity of opinion'.

In the weeks and months that have followed, Trump has only increased his war of words with the network.

He has repeatedly branded it as 'fake news', and refused to call on reporter Jim Acosta during his first press conference as president.

When Acosta attempted to press the president, he shot at him: 'Not you... your organization is terrible'.
Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, 50, also known as the 4th Viscount St Davids

A polo-loving viscount has been charged over a 'menacing and racist' Facebook post about anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller.

Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, 50, also known as the 4th Viscount St Davids, was due to appear in court in London today, but the case was put off until next month.

He faces a charge of 'racially aggravated malicious communications' over a social media post on November 7, 2016.

According to charges Philipps made a Facebook post of a menacing nature about Ms Miller, 51, four days after the High Court ruled that Parliament must vote before the government could trigger Article 50.

The viscount, who holds the titles Lord Hungerford, Lord de Moleyns, and Lord Strange of Knockin, will remain on bail ahead of his first appearance, now fixed for May 2.

Philips has experienced two bankruptcies during a string of financial problems that resulted in his 3.6million Sussex mansion, Strange Place, being repossessed by Barclays Bank in 2011.

Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to obtain the approval of both Houses of Parliament before beginning the two-year process of pulling the UK out of the European Union following Ms Millers successful legal challenge.

The Guyana-born mother-of-three has since hired private security and claims she has been told she should be the new Jo Cox.

Philipps, from Knightsbridge, will next appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on May 2 charged with racially aggravated malicious communications.
Payless ShoeSource has filed for bankruptcy and is to close 400 stores in the US and Puerto Rico immediately.

The discount shoe chain has filed for Chapter 11 protection with less than $1 billion in assets and $10 billion in liabilities.

Payless was in talks for months over a restructuring plan that suggested closing 1,000 stores which is about a quarter of the company's locations, according to Business Insider.

About 400 Payless Shoesource stores will close as part of a debt- restructuring deal

Despite this latest attempt to stem the bleeding, more store closures are virtually inevitable.

The company said it planned to 'work to aggressively manage the remaining' stores.

The company currently employs 22,000 people across 4,400 stores in 30 countries.

Payless CEO W. Paul Jones said that a challenging retail environment lead to the bankrupcty proceedings.

'This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify,' he said in a statement.

'We will build a stronger Payless for our customers, vendors and suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders through this process.'

Payless is not the only American main street chain to be closing stores.

Macy's, Sears, JCPenney and Kmart have all announced closures this year.

Many retailers are struggling to compete and are still finding their way when it comes to online retail, which can often undercut the brick-and-mortar stores that must pay for fixed overheads such as rent and wages.
A Houston man found himself in a sticky situation on Sunday when his friends duct-taped him to the side of their car and drove him down a highway for losing a bet - then posted the footage online.

The video, posted on Instagram by Miguel Chavez, 17, shows the 'victim' going from nervous trepidation in a parking lot to joyfully shouting to his friends as he roars down the freeway.

The stunt came two days after the victim - who goes under the name 'My House is Dirty' - made the news for taping Chavez to a signpost, also for losing a bet.

Scroll down for video

Driven crazy: Video shows a victim named 'Dirty' (right) being driven down a Houston freeway on Sunday after losing a bet. He refuses to say exactly what the nature of the bet was

The video starts with 'Dirty' looking queasy as he's strapped to the 4x4 car with bright orange duct tape by a third man, who uses Instagram under @matthew_g94.

'What bet you lost now, Dirty?' asks Chavez.

'I don't even want to talk about it,' says the victim.

'Cash me outside,' he adds, and soon they're heading out of the parking lot - over a curb - and onto the freeway.

The victim shouts 'drop your speed!' to Chavez, who is driving alongside in another car. Chavez then shows that his speedometer is pushing 50 miles per hour.

'This is how we do with my hostage Dirty,' he laughs.

Dirty is then seen laughing and waving off-camera, presumably to other cars behind them.

An officer at the Houston Police Department said that Matthew, who was driving the 4x4, could potentially be charged with reckless driving.

That crime is punishable by a fine of up to $200, up to 30 days in prison, or both.

Chavez could be ticketed for driving while using his phone, she added.

Pranks: Dirty is part of a trio of online pranksters. The latest video is shot by Miguel Chavez (right), 17, who was himself taped to a road sign by 'Dirty' last week

'Hostage': The driver of the car to which the 'hostage' was taped was 'Matthew G' (pictured). They're seen driving at speeds of close to 50mph

The video is a follow-up to one filmed last Thursday in which Chavez was the one being taped up.

That video shows Dirty and Matthew taping Chavez to a Yield sign at a Houston intersection after he lost a bet on a Rockets-Warriors game.

Describing the moment, Chavez wrote on Instagram: 'At this moment I knew I f***** up. No one wanted to help me down.'

In the video, the pair drive around him several times - with the final shot showing police and an ambulance arriving.

When police arrived they intercepted a man with a knife.

'Drop the knife or I'll Tase you,' one officer shouted, according to WTSP 10 News.

After realizing the man's kind-hearted intentions, they helped him get Chavez down and gave the teenager a lift home.

Nobody was arrested or detained after the incident.

The freeway stunt is the latest in a series of such so-called 'pranks' by the trio, which also include a video of 'Dirty' riding on top of a mattress that is itself on top of a car.
A kangaroo has been struck and killed by a car while trying to escape floodwaters in Queensland after losing her joey.

The animal was hit on Quay street, next to the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, north of Brisbane, with witnesses saying it was jumping erratically across the road.

Svetlana Mitin, from Wildlife Rockhampton, said the kangaroo almost certainly had a joey, but there was no sign of it near the accident site.

'She's lactating, so she had a joey but she probably lost it at some point recently as she was moving to higher ground,' Ms Mitin said.

Scroll down for video

A kangaroo has been struck and killed by a car while trying to escape floodwaters in Rockhampton after losing her joey

Police have also urged drivers to be alert for animals moving across roads as the floodwaters are expected to rise to nine metres on Thursday

'The injuries she had wouldn't have been enough to kill her, but I'd say she was very stressed, and the stress and the accident got her.'

Ms Mitin said the joey would unfortunately have very little chance of survival without its mother, especially if it was still suckling.

She said lots of land animals would be on the move because of rising floodwaters - including snakes - and urged locals to be extra vigilant, even if they were directly affected by floodwaters.

'Pythons will just climb a tree, but brown snakes and that sort of thing will seek higher ground, which means houses for the most part,' Ms Mitin said.

Police have also urged drivers to be alert for animals moving across roads.

The Fitzroy river is expected to peak at nine metres on Thursday, with the flood gauge at Rockhampton reading almost eight metres at 10am on Tuesday.

The flooding is a result of the massive amounts of rain dumped on the region by Cyclone Debbie and authorities are preparing for a number of low lying areas to start to go under, including almost the entire suburb of Depot Hill.

Svetlana Mitin from Wildlife Rockhampton said the kangaroo almost certainly had a joey, but there was no sign of it near the accident site

Ms Mitin said lots of land animals would be on the move because of rising floodwaters

The flooding is a result of the massive amounts of rain dumped on the region by Cyclone Debbie and authorities are preparing for a number of low lying areas to start to go under

'She's lactating, so she had a joey, but she probably lost it at some point recently as she was moving to higher ground,' Ms Mitin said

Temporary levees have been set up around the suburb of Beserker, but they only protect part of the area, with other parts left at the mercy of the rising river.

Most locals in affected areas have elected to stay in their homes, despite the risk of being cut off, with many owning boats or kayaks which they plan to get around in.

The emergency evacuation centre has been set up in the city's Showgrounds, but so far only a handful of people have arrived there.

The slowly rising water has cut a number of roads, with authorities closing a number of others as a precaution, as well as diverting Bruce Highway traffic through the town on a specially designed route which doesn't flood.

An extra 60 police have been brought from other parts of the state to assist with patrols.

The city flooded in 2011 and again in 2013, as well as being hit with a cyclone and related flooding in 2015, and the mood of both local authorities and residents has been quiet preparedness as the river slowly inches higher.

Most locals in affected areas have elected to stay in their homes, despite the risk of being cut off, with many owning boats or kayaks which they plan to get around in

An extra 60 police have been brought from other parts of the state to assist with patrols
A doctor who covered up a mistake that led to a boy dying from sepsis has escaped being struck off.

Thomas Hulls illness was dismissed by Thiagarajan Sundaravadivelu as a chest infection after a brief consultation in A&E.

Following Thomass death the locum registrar wrote up a report giving false readings suggesting he had examined the nine-year-old properly and that he had been on the mend.

Thomas Hull, left, from St Helens died after Dr Thiagarajan Sundaravadivelu, right, failed to diagnose sepsis in the youngster and instead told his family that he had a chest infection

The cover-up attempt was revealed after his grieving mother rejected the hospitals claim that no mistakes had been made and complained to the health ombudsman.

Dr Sundaravadivelu was hauled before a medical tribunal, which branded his conduct deplorable. However it gave him just a four-month suspension from practising.

Thomass mother Donna, 38, said last night: Im disgusted that he hasnt been struck off  if a child dying unnecessarily isnt enough for a doctor to be banned, I dont know what is.

Hes a disgrace to the medical profession and I dread to think what will happen if he gets another job in the NHS.

The 11-year-old boy who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy was taken to the Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside, when the severity of his illness was missed by Dr Sundaravadivelu

Thomas, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy and needed dedicated care from his mother and a specialist nurse, was taken to Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside in December 2013 with a chest infection.

PEER'S PLEDGE A peer who was nearly killed by sepsis yesterday launched a fundraising campaign to raise awareness of the deadly infection. Lord Ashcroft pledged to match every 1 donated to the UK Sepsis Trust up to 250,000. The pollster and former Tory Party treasurer was on a business trip in the Caribbean in 2015 when he was diagnosed with sepsis. Flown to the US for treatment, he was in intensive care for 19 days. It was touch and go whether I lived or died, he said. My liver and kidneys were close to shutting down. Advertisement

A consultant suspected the youngster might have sepsis but she failed to alert colleagues or his mother. Thomas was later seen briefly by Dr Sundaravadivelu who sent him home. The boy died just six hours later at his St Helens home.

Dr Sundaravadivelu, who is believed to be working in his native India, went before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. He denied failing to carry out a full examination but admitted other failures.

The tribunal found him guilty of misconduct but accepted it was an isolated incident.

The disturbing case comes as the NHS introduces tough rules in a bid to reduce the toll of silent killer sepsis.

It is a victory for a campaign by the Daily Mail following the death of 12-month-old William Mead, whose condition was also missed by doctors.
A Sydney private school student accused of raping a teenage girl in a filmed attack has been excused from attending court as he now lives interstate.

The 15-year-old, who was a boarder at the exclusive male-only Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, is accused of raping the girl at a house party in early March while another boy filmed it.

The 15-year-old girl was intoxicated during the alleged incident and did not know what had happened until she was told by text message the next day, according to court documents.

A Sydney private school student accused of raping a teenage girl in a filmed attack has been excused from attending court as he now lives interstate. Pictured, Cranbrook School

Police have seized footage of the alleged attack, the documents state.

The boy accused of rape has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, while the other boy, who is also 15, has been charged with filming and disseminating child abuse material.

The accused rapist had his first court appearance scheduled for Tuesday but he was excused from appearing and the matter was adjourned until May 2 when the other boy also has a court mention.

Magistrate Sue Duncombe continued the boy's bail and an interim AVO for the protection of the alleged victim.

Ms Duncombe further excused him from attending the May court mention because he is living interstate.

The case continues.
Four Democratic governors from states that allow for recreational pot use have written the Trump administration asking for the government to maintain its current policies regarding their status.

The governors, who represent Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, want the feds to maintain an Obama administration policy reached in 2013 to avoid strict enforcement of federal drug laws.

The states, which adopted the relaxation for recreational use, want to be able to continue their state policies without facing a federal crackdown by continuing the application of the 2013 Cole Memo issued by the Justice Department.

'Overhauling the Cole Memo is sure to produce unintended and harmful consequences, the governors wrote, The Hill newspaper reported.

Changes that hurt the regulated market would divert existing marijuana product into the black market and increase dangerous activity in both our states and our neighboring states,' they wrote.

Four governors from states that have legalized recreational pot use have written Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking consultation if the government makes any changes to enforcement of marijuana laws

On Election Day in Florida, a medical marijuana initiative got 2 million votes than Trump did, Politico reported.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer promised in February there would be 'greater enforcement' of marijuana laws, while stressing differences between recreational and medicinal use.

'The president understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing, especially terminal diseases, and the comfort that some of these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring to them, Spicer said

The governors wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Sessions famously said of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s when he was a U.S. attorney that he thought they 'were OK until I found out they smoked pot.'

He said last year that 'good people don't smoke marijuana,' calling it 'not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized.'

Marijuana continues to be a Schedule 1 drug, which the DEA categorizes along with Heroin and LSD.

The 2013 Justice Department memo by James Cole states that, 'In jurisdictions that have enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form ... conduct in compliance with those laws and regulations is less likely to threaten the federal priorities,' basically stating a lack of priority for enforcement of marijuana cases.

Governors from four states with legal recreational marijuana have written the Trump adminsitration

Two storefronts in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York are filled with "faux" marijuana on Wednesday, as a promotion for the so-called "Weed Week" programming on the Viceland television channel

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is among four governors who have written the Trump administration regarding marijuana policy

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper told The Hill last month, 'I took an oath to support the constitution of Colorado. I want to make sure that we have a discussion about it. Ill come back, well try to set a meeting up.'

The letter states: 'As governors of states that have legalized marijuana in some form, we ask the Trump Administration to engage with us before embarking on any changes to regulatory and enforcement systems. The balance struck by the 2013 Department of Justice Cole Memorandum (Cole Memo) has been indispensable  providing the necessary framework for state regulatory programs centered on public safety and health protections.

'Twenty-eight states, representing more than 60 percent of Americans, have authorized some form of marijuana-related conduct,' they wrote.

GROWTH INDUSTRY: Josh Howdyshell ties limbs of a High CBD hemp plant up to help sustain vertical growth at Ambary Gardens in Kittredge, Colorado on March 9, 2016. Arvada has approved a hemp growing operation for cultivation of CBD oil

The governors noted that not all of them were cheerleaders for legalization in their states.

'We understand you and others in the administration have some concerns regarding marijuana,' according to the letter, according to Westword, a Denver weekly. 'We sympathize, as many of us expressed apprehensions before our states adopted current laws. As governors, we have committed to implementing the will of our citizens and have worked cooperatively with our legislatures to establish robust regulatory structures that prioritize public health and public safety, reduce inequitable incarceration and expand our economies.'

The letters also brings up the safety risk posed by marijuana related business being forced to do business on a cash basis due to banking issues, referencing guidelines for lenders.

Without federal guidance, 'financial institutions will be less willing to provide services to marijuana-related businesses,' they write. 'This would force industry participants to be even more cash reliant, posing safety risks both to the public and to state regulators conducting enforcement activity.

Colorado and Washington voters both approved measures allowing for recreational marijuana use in 2012.
The family of Westminster terror attack victim Les Rhodes have said they wish Khalid Masood 'had suffered' after he killed four people.

Mr Rhodes' niece, Amanda, and his cousin, Carol Mardon, spoke of their anguish over the loss of his life.

Ms Rhodes told Sky News: 'I just feel numb. I feel angry in some ways because I wasn't there when he died. They'd turned the life support machine off.

Les Rhodes (right) died after being struck by a car driven by killer Khalid Masood. Above he is pictured with his late brother (left) on a family occasion

Mr Rhodes was a retired window cleaner from Clapham (left). Left is Khalid Masood

Four people died as a result of the Westminster attack and around 35 people were injured

'I think he [Khalid Masood] should have f****** suffered, the way that all the families now are suffering, through this one man deciding to do what he did.'

Mr Rhodes, a retired window cleaner from Clapham, London, was walking across Westminster bridge after going to a hospital appointment when he was struck by a car, driven by Masood, on March 22.

The 75-year-old was taken to King's College Hospital with critical injuries. His life support machine was switched off the next day.

Amanda Rhodes (left) and Carol Mardon (right) revealed their anguish over the death of Les Rhodes

Ms Rhodes said: 'I think he [Khalid Masood] should have f****** suffered, the way that all the families now are suffering, through this one man deciding to do what he did'

She added Mr Rhodes was 'lovely...an angel' and he reminded her of her late father

Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer (left), Spanish teacher Aysha Frade (centre) and US tourist Kurt Cochran (right) were also victims of the attack

Ms Rhodes added that her uncle reminded her of her late father.

She said: 'I used to love waiting for Les to come up because, to me, Les looked so much like my dad. It was like my dad walking along and I got comfort from that. He was lovely...just an angel.'

Masood died after being shot by police officers outside of the east parliament gates at the Houses of Parliament.

Three other people died as a result of the incident, including US tourist Kurt Cochrane, 54, Spanish teacher Aysha Frade, 44, and Keith Palmer, 48, a Metropolitan policeman who was stabbed by Masood.

Around 35 people were also injured during the attack.
Professor Sir David King, 77, was the architect of the policy to cut fuel duty for diesel cars as Tony Blairs personal scientist

The scientist behind the dash for diesel is a committed climate change activist who once described global warming as a greater threat than terrorism.

Professor Sir David King, 77, was the architect of the policy to cut fuel duty for diesel cars as Tony Blairs personal scientist.

Yesterday he admitted he got it wrong, having been driven by an obsession with carbon emissions. The former Government chief scientific adviser, knighted in 2003, has presided over many controversies.

In 2004 he wrote in the journal Science: In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today  more serious even than the threat of terrorism.

He refused to back down when called in to Parliament and asked about his comments, which came just three years after the 9/11 attacks.

Sir David also persuaded Tony Blair to order a mass cull of livestock after being put in charge of handling the foot-and-mouth crisis.

In 2007, the South Africa-born academic divided opinion by recommending a badger cull to control the spread of TB. He has also been a long-term supporter of GM food.

His strong belief in man-made climate change has seen him publish a book, The Hot Topic, on how to tackle global warming, and he has been accused of being a politician in scientists clothing for his strong views.

Just over a decade ago the chemist warned that temperatures will rise to dangerous levels within decades, leaving large sections of Britains coastline under water, while 400 million people could go hungry.

He has also said that global warming is pushing thousands of animals and plants towards extinction.

Sir David has stuck to his guns on GM crops, which he claimed had cost Britain up to 4billion through the countrys failure to embrace them.

Under current Vehicle Excise Duty bands drivers of diesel vehicles generally pay less - because the cars emit less CO2 despite producing other dangerous fumes

Ministers have come under fire after spending years recommending that motorists should buy diesel cars

This graphic shows the amount diesel drivers will pay under the plans compared to car owners who drive petrol and electric vehicles

In 2003 he chaired the Governments GM Science Review Panel, at the time of allegations that a leading member of the scientific establishment had warned senior academic Dr Andrew Stirling his career would be ruined unless he stopped questioning the safety of so-called Frankenstein food.

Sir David admitted he had made no effort to identify the culprit, despite the resignation of another expert, Professor Carlo Leifert, in protest at the influence of GM supporters on the panel.

Also in 2003, he backed research to create animal-human embryos, saying they could have massive impacts on society, generating treatments for conditions from Alzheimers to heart disease.

He was appointed permanent Special Representative for Climate Change in September 2013 and left the post last month.
A father has been stabbed in the throat after he tried to stop teenagers breaking into cars on the Gold Coast.

The 45-year-old and his son, 25, chased and caught a 15-year-old girl they had seen targeting cars on Monterey Keys Drive in Helensvale about 4am on Wednesday.

The father was stabbed in the neck during a struggle with the teenager who was then restrained by the man's son until police arrived.

A father has been stabbed in the throat after he tried to stop teenagers breaking into cars on the Gold Coast. Police are pictured on the scene on Wednesday morning

The father was stabbed in the neck during a struggle with the teenager, who was then restrained by the man's son until police arrived

A 17-year-old boy, who was allegedly breaking into cars with the teenage girl, fled the scene.

Police searched the area and found him a short time later.

Both teenagers were arrested and officers are continuing to investigate.

The 45-year-old man was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital with a severe laceration to his throat and is in a stable condition.

A 17-year-old boy, who was allegedly breaking into cars with the teenage girl, fled the scene

Both teenagers were arrested and officers are continuing to investigate
Harvard University students have started a school to resist Donald Trump.

The school, aptly named 'Resistance School,' isn't an official part of the college, nor will it get anyone Ivy League credits. But it does promise to teach activists how to 'resist' the president in a four-week course.

It says its goal is to 'effectively fight Trump's agenda.'

The Resistance School at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Business has proven popular and all classes are full

The 'Resistance' has been a popular term for progressives who are protesting Trump's presidency

Resistance School co-founder Shanoor Seervai said the course was born out of a 'sense of outrage and despair'

'Resistance School is a free four-week practical training program that will sharpen the tools we need to fight back at the federal, state, and local levels. Our goal is to keep the embers of resistance alive through concrete learning, community engagement, and forward-looking action,' the school's website says.

The course is open to anyone, worldwide, and takes place at the Kennedy School of Government on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The idea for the school started with overwhelming emotions, said co-founder Shanoor Seervai.

'Resistance School started with a couple of students chatting with a couple of professors, having a sense of outrage and despair and beginning to feel overwhelmed and exhausted with the question of "What are we going to do after the election?"' she told CNN.

The school says it will include staff from 'the Obama, Bernie, and Hillary presidential election campaigns.'

Progressives have been actively protesting Trump's presidency, and have adopted the term 'resist' to describe their activism

The Resistance School is an outcrop of the various protests that have popped up since Trump took office

The course has turned out to be popular, with all four sessions full. The sessions will feature historian and activist Timothy McCarthy, grassroots activist Sara El-Amine, grassroots activist Marshall Gantz, and former campaign aide to Obama and current New York State Assemblyman Michael Blake.

Classes include How to Communicate our Values in Political Advocacy and How to Mobilize and Organize our Communities.

School is in session starting April 5.

Harvard's hometown Cambridge, a Clinton stronghold, recently voted to call on the House of Representatives to open an impeachment probe into Trump.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush touted his signature aid project for Africa during a visit to Botswana on Tuesday, saying he hoped Washington would recognize its importance in saving lives threatened by AIDS.

Launched in 2003 during the first Bush administration, PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is the world's largest provider of AIDS-fighting medicine and has branched out over the years to include provision of services for cervical cancer, which is linked to HIV infections in women.

U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed steep cuts in the budget for diplomacy and foreign aid but his administration has so far said it will 'maintain current commitments and all current patient levels on HIV/AIDS treatment' under PEPFAR.

Scroll down for video

Former US President George W. Bush and his wife Laura pose with pupils at the Theresanyo Primary School in Gaborone, Botswana, during their two-day official visit to the sub-Saharan African nation

The Bushes are in Botswana to promote PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was launched during Bush's first presidential term in 2003

The organization is the world's largest provider of AIDS-fighting medicine. Since its founding, it has expanded to include provision of services for cervical cancer

The Bushes, pictured at the school, also visited a cervical cancer clinic, where he spoke of his hope that the Trump administration would continue to honor PEPFAR

Bush, visiting a clinic with his wife Laura that provides screening and treatment for cervical cancer, said he hoped such commitments would remain.

'I hope our government when they analyze what works around the world will understand that PEPFAR has saved over 11million lives,' he said.

'And while progress has been made we've got to continue to stay in this battle in order to save lives. Every human life matters. And I hope the people of America understand that through their generosity millions now live.'

Bush said cervical cancer was now the leading cause of death among women in Botswana, a sparsely-populated southern African nation where one in five adults is infected with HIV, according to the United Nations.

Bush, pictured arriving in Gaborone with his wife, said: 'I hope our government when they analyze what works around the world will understand that PEPFAR has saved over 11million lives'

Bush added: 'And while progress has been made we've got to continue to stay in this battle in order to save lives. Every human life matters. And I hope the people of America understand that through their generosity millions now live'

Bush, a Republican, had historically low popularity ratings - about 33 per cent - when he left office.

But the Obama administration maintained PEPFAR and the program enjoys bipartisan support - a rarity in Washington's polarized atmosphere.

Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, an initiative of the George W. Bush Institute, works with PEPFAR on programs to reduce mortality rates among women from cervical and breast cancer in developing countries.

Trump's administration has said it will honor PEPFAR but has also pledged to reduce US foreign aid
A mammoth 10-hour rescue effort took place on Monday evening in east China after a toddler plunged into a 50-foot deep well.

Dozens of emergency workers stayed on site throughout the night in the Zhangdian district of Zibo city, with media crews capturing the nail-biting event.

After employing the use of cranes and diggers the two-and-a-half-year-old boy, named Jia Zhihao, was eventually hauled out of the narrow channel.

Scroll down for video

A mammoth ten-hour rescue effort took place on Monday evening in east China after a toddler plunged into a 50-foot deep well

Dozens of emergency workers stayed on site throughout the night in the Zhangdian district of Zibo city, with media crews capturing the nail-biting event

The child, who emerged conscious, was rushed to a local hospital where he remains under observation.

According to a report on People's Daily Online, the well opening was so small that rescuers couldn't physically get to the boy.

In a bid to keep Jia alive and comfortable, they dropped down oxygen and food supplies.

After employing the use of cranes and diggers the two-and-a-half-year-old boy, named Jia Zhihao, was eventually hauled out of the narrow channel

Apparently the boy had been playing near the grass-covered well on Monday afternoon around 5:30pm.

The opening was difficult to spot and he fell into the deep chute, which had a diameter of just 12 inches.

Rescuers resorted to digging a trench near the mouth of the dry well so they could reach the infant.

Rescuers resorted to digging a trench near the mouth of the dry well so they could reach the infant

By using cameras and other specialised pieces of equipment, they were able to retrieve Jia

By using cameras and other specialised pieces of equipment, they were able to retrieve Jia.

The rescue operation took almost ten hours, with things wrapping up at 3.06am Tuesday morning.

It has been highlighted that Jia had a lucky escape.

Last November, a six-year-old boy in Hebei Province died after falling down a 262-foot-deep dry well with a similar diameter.

The fervent rescue operation lasted for four days and attracted attention nationwide.
If you can't decide on Chinese or Italian for dinner there's now the perfect solution: The Bao-zza.

The quirky food hybrid consists of a traditional Chinese steamed bun, known as a baozi, stuffed with pizza fillings in lieu of the usual chopped vegetables, shrimp and pork.

Entrepreneurs Alex Cree and Loren Heinold are behind the wacky concoction and they have now opened up a store selling the fusion buns in Beijing.

East meets west: If you can't decide on Chinese or Italian for dinner there's now the perfect solution: The Bao-zza

Fusion of flavours: Owen Zheng, who sampled a 'bao-zza' during a recent publicity event in the Chinese capital, said he liked the combination of spices and chewy cheese

Their outlet serves the spongy parcels in a spread of flavours including margherita, meat lover, BBQ chicken and Hawaiian jalapeno, according to a report on People's Daily Online.

Revealing how their novel idea came about, Mr Cree told Reuters: 'We were talking about the idea of maybe combining baozi with more traditional American flavours like burger and different things and somebody said "pizza baozi".

On a roll: Entrepreneurs Alex Cree and Loren Heinold are behind the wacky concoction and they have now opened up a store selling the fusion buns in Beijing

Cooking process: Their outlet serves the buns in a spread of flavours including margherita, meat lover, BBQ chicken and Hawaiian jalapeno (seen above)

'I said "bao-zza!" and the more I thought about it, the more I thought there might be something to this.'

Mr Cree started experimenting with recipes while living in the U.S.

He later quit his job and moved to China in 2016 to set up shop in the basement of a Beijing shopping mall along with Mr Heinold.

The business partners are currently charging customers 20 yuan (2.30) for two buns.

Lightbulb moment: Mr Cree started experimenting with recipes while living in the U.S.

Mixing it up: The steamed buns also appear to have seasoning in the dough, with a speckled appearance

Owen Zheng, who sampled a 'bao-zza' during a recent publicity event in the Chinese capital, said he liked the combination of spices and chewy cheese.

'It's the first time I've ever had a baozi like this and I think it's not bad,' he said.

Vendors of traditional steamed buns however, are less convinced.

'I don't think it's going to become very popular in China,' said baozi shop owner Zhan Mimi.
Advertisement

It is the event which made Britain an island, ripping us apart from France and creating the iconic white cliffs of Dover.

Now scientists have the best evidence yet of how the first Brexit from Europe happened nearly 450,000 years ago.

A strip of ice-topped land once linked the white cliffs of Dover to Calais, but this land crumbled away when a lake over spilled and sparked powerful waterfalls, researchers have found.

Britain broke away from mainland Europe after a wave of dramatic megafloods nearly 450,000 years ago. Pictured is a timeline of geological events that led to Britain becoming an island. Dramatic flooding left permanent etchings on the floor of the English Channel (shown in inset where blue represents deep ridges and yellow shows shallow water)

Cascading water triggered a wave of megafloods which, together with rising sea levels, swallowed up the land connecting Britain to Europe.

'Dover and Calais were once connected by a chalky ridge,' Professor Sanjeev Gupta, from the department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London told MailOnline.

'This is Brexit 1.0  the Brexit nobody voted for.

'The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity even today.

'When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland.

'Without this dramatic breaching Britain would still be a part of Europe.'

WHY DID WE BREAK AWAY FROM EUROPE? The separation of Britain from Europe happened in two stages. Nearly 450,000 years ago, when Earth was in the grip of an ice age, ice stretched right across the North Sea, from Britain to Scandinavia. The scientists have found that a chalk ridge connected Britain and France and acted as a large dam, holding back water from a large glacial lake. But it a fault appeared in the chalk ridge, likely to be the result of tremors in the Earth's crust. Over time, water pressure from the lake wore away at the fault in the rock until one day the ridge crumbled in a matter of hours. This may have sparked the glacial lake to over spill in giant, powerful waterfalls. The waterfalls were so powerful that they created deep ridges in the floor of the channel, which are known as plunge pools. These waterfalls punched holes through the chalky land holding Britain to France, weakening it and eventually causing it to fail. The land collapsed, causing the release of huge volumes of water onto the valley floor below. Thousands of years later, another spill over of smaller lakes sparked another megaflood, which caused more water to rush into the English Channel. The final wave of flooding coincided with a period of global warming, when ice began to thaw into sea water. The rising water levels swallowed up the chalk ridge completely, causing Britain to become an isolated island. Advertisement

Bathymetry (water depth) map of the Dover Strait (space between Dover and Calais), where dark blue indicates deep ocean ridges carved by megaflooding. The chalky ridge (escarpment) pictured either side of the Strait in southern Britain and northern France once stretched across the channel

BRITAIN'S FINAL SPLIT Britain's first separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spill over from a pro-glacial lake. But it wasn't to be its last. During the last ice age, frozen ice lowered sea levels causing land to appear around the UK. A vast land bridge - a mixture of icy tundra and marshland now referred to as Doggerland - connected the eastern edge of Britain with parts of Norway and Denmark as recently as 7,500 years ago. Only as the last ice age ended and the ice receded did large, isolated lakes spill their water, raising sea levels around the UK. This flooded Doggerland, finally making Britain an island. Advertisement

Nearly 450,000 years ago, when Earth was in the grip of an ice age, ice stretched across the North Sea, from Britain to Scandinavia.

The low sea levels meant that the entire English Channel was dry land, a frozen tundra landscape crisscrossed by small rivers.

Britain's first separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spill over from a pro-glacial lake - a type of lake formed in front of an ice sheet - in the North Sea, but this until now has remained unproven.

But it wasn't to be its last. During the last ice age, frozen ice lowered sea levels causing land to appear around the UK.

A vast land bridge - a mixture of icy tundra and marshland now referred to as Doggerland - connected the eastern edge of Britain with parts of Norway and Denmark as recently as 7,500 years ago.

Only as the last ice age ended and the ice receded did large, isolated lakes spill their water, raising sea levels.

This flooded Doggerland, finally making Britain an island.

Ten years ago, researchers from Imperial College London revealed geophysical evidence of giant valleys on the seafloor in the central part of English Channel that may have been signs of the original split.

They believed these valley networks were evidence of a megaflood gouging out the land, which they speculated may have been caused by a catastrophic breach in a chalk rock ridge joining Britain to France.

The new study now shows for the first time the details of how this chalk ridge between Dover and Calais crumbled.

The researchers said that the chalk ridge acted like a huge dam and behind it was a proglacial lake.

A 3D perspective of the Dover Strait showing a prominent valley in the central part of Strait. The deep valley (blue) was carved out by water erosion from megafloods which swallowed up the land bridge that connected Dover (left) to Calais (right)

'At the peak of glaciation, this lake extended from Britain to Scandinavia,' said Professor Gupta.

'It was dammed to the south by the rocky ridge.'

The existence of the lake was first predicted by scientists more than 100 years ago.

But the new study shows how the lake overflowed in giant waterfalls, eroding the rock escarpment, weakening it and eventually causing it to fail and release huge volumes of water onto the valley floor below.

Dr Jenny Collier, from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, said: 'Based on the evidence that we've seen, we believe the Dover Strait 450,000 years ago would have been a huge rock ridge made of chalk joining Britain to France, looking more like the frozen tundra in Siberia than the green environment we know today.

'It would have been a cold world dotted with waterfalls plunging over the iconic white chalk escarpment that we see today in the White Cliffs of Dover.

'We still don't know for sure why the proglacial lake spilt over.

'Perhaps part of the ice sheet broke off, collapsing into the lake, causing a surge that carved a path for the water to cascade off the chalk ridge.

Illustration of what the land bridge may have looked like before the formation of the Dover Strait. The foreground is around where the port of Calais is today and way in the distance is early Britain. Huge waterfalls cascading over the land bridge represents the beginning of physical separation of Britain from Europe

'In terms of the catastrophic failure of the ridge, maybe an earth tremor, which is still characteristic of this region today, further weakened the ridge.

'This may have caused the chalk ridge to collapse, releasing the megaflood that we have found evidence for in our studies.'

New geophysical and seafloor data shows evidence of huge holes and a valley system located at the bottom of the sea.

The team believe that the huge holes that they analysed on the seafloor are plunge pools, created when water cascading over the edge of the land ridge hit the ground and eroded rock.

The plunge pools in the Dover Strait are huge  up to several miles (kilometres) in diameter and around 328ft (100m) deep and were drilled into solid rock.

Geophysical data showing a cross-section of the floor from the Dover Strait area. The section shows a large depression eroded into bedrock (Fosse A) that is 1600ft in width and filled with sediment. This depression is an ancient plunge pool

A 3D perspective of cross-section showing the shape of an ancient plunge pool (Fosse D) formed at the base of the rock ridge across the Dover Strait by waterfalls. The depression is eroded 262ft (80m) into bedrock

Around seven plunge pools run in a line from the ports of Calais to Dover.

Engineers first found evidence of the plunge pools when they were carrying out geological surveys of the Dover Strait seafloor back in the 1960s.

No one knew what caused them, but they were called the Fosse Dangeard.

The loose gravel and sand infilling these plunge pools meant that the engineers had to move the route of the Channel Tunnel to avoid them.

The researchers suggest these plunge pools are evidence of an overflow of water from the lake in the southern North Sea.

The straight line of the plunge pools suggests they were cascading off one single rock ridge that was 20 miles (32km) long and 328ft (100m) high.

Map of the Dover Strait showing the uneven distribution of craters in the Strait's surface. Red shows the location of deep ancient plunge pools

The researchers have also found evidence that a second event fully opened the Dover Strait.

Thousands of years later, a new valley system, the Lobourg Channel, was carved by megaflood processes that crossed the Dover Strait.

'We looked at the present day landscape under the sea using sonar.

'What we saw is evidence of a big valley running through to centre of the Dover Strait.

'The valley has lots of features that suggest it was carved by big floods.'

The researchers believe this valley system is connected to the giant valley network in the central English Channel.

Detailed map with colours indicating water depth showing morphology of valley (Lobourg Channel) in central part of Strait. Presence of cataracts (broken land surface) in centre of channel suggest valley erosion was by high-magnitude floods

They believe that a spill over of smaller lakes into the cratered valley may have been responsible for the later episode of flood erosion.

The final wave of flooding coincided with a period of global warming, when ice began to thaw into sea water.

The rising water levels swallowed up the chalk ridge completely, causing Britain to become an isolated island.

'Once Europe moved into a warm glacial, ice sheets melted into the English Channel,' he said.

'We know that the two separate events together caused the break away, but we don't have an exact timescale of when each event happened.

A 3D perspective view of ancient cataract in valley in central part of Dover Strait. A small plunge pool was found at the base of the cataract. The data suggests erosion of the valley was by high-magnitude flood flows

'It is possible that the two events occurred hundreds of thousands of years apart.'

He added that the current shape of our island is likely to change again because of erosion from sea water.

'The White Cliffs of Dover appear the way they do today because of marine erosion,' he said.

'Marine erosion is cutting away at these cliffs and it's likely that they will be eroded further.'

And if we were to enter into another ice age, it's possible that Britain would rejoin continental Europe, he said.

'If we were to go back into a glaciation and sea levels fell, Britain would become part of the continent.

'Sea levels are quite shallow in the Dover Strait so it would not take dramatic change to see Britain become part of Europe again.'

The research was published in Nature Communications.
A stretchy, self-healing material could help make the next generation of durable electronics and robots.

The material is stretchable and transparent, conducts ions to generate current and could one day help your broken smartphone to repair itself.

And the researchers' inspiration for the futuristic technology comes from an unlikely source - X-Men's invincible superhero Wolverine.

Scroll down for video

A new material not only heals itself, but it also stretches up to 50 times its usual size (pictured). These properties could fix your phone's battery if it cracks or prevent it from breaking in the first place

HOW THE MATERIAL REPAIRS ITSELF Study lead author Professor Chao Wang says that the key to self-repair is in the chemical bonding. Two types of bonds exist in materials, he explains. Covalent bonds are strong and don't readily repair once broken, while non-covalent bonds, which are weaker and more dynamic. 'The mechanism of the self-healing polymer is that the strong covalent bonds and weaker non-covalent bonds exist in the materials at the same time,' Professor Wang told MailOnline. 'When there is a mechanical damage, the weaker non-covalent bonds will break first to protect the strong covalent bonds. 'However, these non-covalent bonds are reversible, which means that they can be broken and recovered many times.' When the two ends of the split material touch, the broken bonds re-form, Professor Wang said. Advertisement

'When I was young, my idol was Wolverine from the X-Men,' study lead author Professor Chao Wang said.

'He could save the world, but only because he could heal himself.

'A self-healing material, when carved into two parts, can go back together like nothing has happened, just like our human skin.

'I've been researching making a self-healing lithium ion battery, so when you drop your cell phone, it could fix itself and last much longer.'

Professor Wang and his team, based at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, created a material based on a mixture of chemical bonds that gives it strange abilities.

It could stretch up to 50 times its usual size, and after being torn in two the material automatically stitched itself back together within a day.

As a test, the researchers generated an 'artificial muscle' by placing a non-conductive membrane between two layers of the conductor.

The new material responded to electrical signals, bringing motion to these artificial muscles, so-named because biological muscles similarly move in response to electrical signals.

Professor Wang says that the key to self-repair is in the chemical bonding.

Two types of bonds exist in materials, he explains.

Covalent bonds are strong and don't readily repair once broken, while non-covalent bonds, which are weaker and more dynamic.

In the X-Men comic books, Wolverine's mutant power is an accelerated healing process, allowing him to regenerate damaged tissues. And the development of a new material could see Wolverine's self-healing talents replicated in real life

'The mechanism of the self-healing polymer is that the strong covalent bonds and weaker non-covalent bonds exist in the materials at the same time,' Professor Wang told MailOnline.

'When there is a mechanical damage, the weaker non-covalent bonds will break first to protect the strong covalent bonds.

'However, these non-covalent bonds are reversible, which means that they can be broken and recovered many times.'

When the two ends of the split material touch, the broken bonds re-form, Professor Wang said.

'This drives the polymer chains to diffuse through the interfaces. Therefore, the polymers can recover and the mechanical properties can be healed,' he told MailOnline.

For their next step, the researchers are working on altering the polymer to improve the material's properties.

For example, they are testing the material in harsh conditions, such as high humidity.

'Previous self-healing polymers haven't worked well in high humidity, Professor Wang said.

'Water gets in there and messes things up. It can change the mechanical properties.

'We are currently tweaking the covalent bonds within the polymer itself to get these materials ready for real-world applications.
A hobby diver has made the 'surprise' discovery of Europe's first cave fish in a cold and labyrinth-like cave in southern Germany.

Noticing that the fish were 'strange looking' to him, diver Joachim Kreiselmaier took some photos and showed them to friends, only to find that he had stumbled upon a rare loach.

Despite only living in the cave for 20,000 years, loaches have quickly adapted to the dark conditions, growing elongated whisker-like barbels and larger nostrils than related fish living closer to the surface.

Scroll down for video

Hobby diver Joachim Kreiselmaier first sighted the loaches in August 2015 while exploring the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach system. Genetic studies of the fish showed it arose within the last 20,000 years. Pictured is a male which is about three inches (8.5 cm) long

DISCOVERING THE CAVE LOACH Joachim Kreiselmaier first sighted the loaches in August 2015 while exploring the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach system, which can only be reached under particularly dry conditions in summer and autumn. No more than 30 divers have ever reached the place where the fish were found. In November 2015, on another dive, Mr Kreiselmaier succeeded in catching a live specimen, which allowed the researchers to study its features in greater detail. The following year, he caught four more fish, enabling further study of the loach's form and genetics. Researchers found that the cave loaches were an isolated population and the first known European cave fish. Advertisement

Researchers at the University of Konstanz in Germany carried out genetic studies of the loach which showed that the species had only been living in the cave for 20,000 years.

Comparing the results to other fish caught upstream and downstream of the cave, the researchers discovered that the cave loaches were an isolated population and the first known European cave fish.

Until now, researchers thought that the Pleistocene glaciations had prevented fish from colonising subterranean habitats so far north.

Arne Nolte, co-author of the study, said: 'It was only when the glaciers retreated that the system first became a suitable habitat for fish.'

Despite that relatively short period of evolutionary time, the fish already show adaptations characteristic of 'real' cave fish.

The loach's eyes are much smaller, appearing almost as if curved inwards, and their colour has all but disappeared.

'From the entrance of the cave to where I found the fish it is completely dark. This is a distance of 550m [1800ft] ', Mr Kreiselmaier told MailOnline.

'The only light is the light you bring with you', he added.

Mr Kreiselmaier first sighted the loaches in August 2015 while exploring the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach system, which can only be reached under particularly dry conditions in summer and autumn.

'No more than 30 divers have ever reached the place where the fish have been found,' Mr Kreiselmaier said.

'Due to the usually bad visibility, strong current, cold temperature, and a labyrinth at the entrance, most divers do not come back again for diving.'

The cave where the fish lived was relatively inaccessible due to usually bad visibility, strong current, cold temperature, and a labyrinth at the entrance (stock image)

In November 2015, on another dive, Mr Kreiselmaier succeeded in catching a live specimen, which allowed the researchers to study its features in greater detail.

The following year, he caught four more fish, enabling further study of the loach's form and genetics.

The findings show that adaptation to subterranean habitats can be fast - requiring only a few thousand years.

Mr Kreiselmaier first sighted the loaches in August 2015 while exploring the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach system, which can only be reached under particularly dry conditions in summer and autumn

They also come as reminder that 'wonders of nature can turn up anywhere, even in your own backyard,' said co-author Jorg Freyhof.

The researchers say they'll continue to study this new cave fish in more detail, including its genetic, genomic, and behavioural characteristics.

Ultimately, they'd like to explore, through this newly discovered loach, the first steps toward life in caves.
People have long been intrigued by figuring out the center of the places where we live.

Youre probably familiar with the concept of center of population.

Imagine placing an equal weight at the residential location of each individual; the center of population would be the single point on a map that balances all those weighted spots.

The geographic center for the entire contiguous US lies near Agra, Kansas (pictured), 27.9 miles from the US Geological Survey's long-designated center in Lebanon, Kansas

The U.S. Census Bureau, for example, produces a map each decade showing the location of the countrys center, summarizing the geographic distribution of the national population.

The U.S. center has moved steadily west  it first crossed the Mississippi River in 1980  and in recent decades has taken a turn to the south.

What about if you sweep all the people off the landscape? Where is the geographic center of a region?

This simple question has both a clear answer and an interesting history.

The geographic center is also a balance point  its analogous to a center of mass or a center of gravity.

For a two-dimensional region, it is the point at which you could balance, say, a cardboard cutout of the region on the head of a pin.

Road-trippers and tourist bureaus dont need to panic, but there are 10 states where the geographic center, as determined by this method, moved by more than five miles from the old US Geological Survey's centers. Pictured is a map showing the former geographic center of the contiguous US at Lebanon, Kansas

And that, surprisingly, is exactly how the geographic center of the United States and its states were found by the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1920s.

Spots in Piscataquis County, Maine, Twiggs County, Georgia, and McCulloch County, Texas, for instance, all got their claims to fame almost a century ago based on the head-of-a-pin method.

The USGS findings at that time have since been perpetuated and sustained as lists youd find in almanacs, statistical abstracts, various online sites and beyond.

Surely we can improve upon this cardboard cutout approach.

Ive come up with a new technique that can, in fact, find more accurate geographic centers.

Who really cares about finding a geographic center, though?

After all, it has no real-world correlation with how a landscape functions or the way an ecosystem works.

One motivating reason is that a geographic center is a location that provides maximum accessibility to all parts of the region.

Historically, they were often used as the location for the seats of county government.

We want to find the one spot where, when we square the great-circle distances from it to every other point in the region and add them all up, its the smallest sum. The arrows are just four of the great-circle distances that would be used to find the geographic center of North America

Such locations ensured government offices would be equally accessible to all.

A second raison detre for geographic centers is that the concept has given places a way to claim something unique  a perhaps odd, but nevertheless definite, source of civic pride that simultaneously allows individual identification with place.

Its a way to tout the town and market it to tourists.

Just as some people want to visit all state capitals or every states highest point, geographic centers offer yet another inventory for those compiling creative bucket lists.

WHY DO PEOPLE CARE ABOUT FINDING A GEOGRAPHIC CENTER? One reason is that a geographic center is a location that provides maximum accessibility to all parts of the region. Historically, they were often used as the location for the seats of county government. Such locations ensured government offices would be equally accessible to all. A second reason for geographic centers is that the concept has given places a way to claim something unique  a perhaps odd, but nevertheless definite, source of civic pride that simultaneously allows individual identification with place. Its a way to tout the town and market it to tourists. Just as some people want to visit all state capitals or every states highest point, geographic centers offer yet another inventory for those compiling creative bucket lists. Other tourists simply find themselves close to the center and are drawn to it for a classic photo opp in front of a plaque or monument. A third reason is more basic  as a fundamental summary measure for regions, we should make sure that we locate them accurately. Just as the center (or average, or mean) of a set of data provides a convenient summary measure, a geographic center summarizes succinctly the location of a region. Advertisement

Other tourists simply find themselves close to the center and are drawn to it for a classic photo opp in front of a plaque or monument.

A third reason is more basic  as a fundamental summary measure for regions, we should make sure that we locate them accurately.

Just as the center (or average, or mean) of a set of data provides a convenient summary measure, a geographic center summarizes succinctly the location of a region.

So, how do we find this point accurately? Most states have somewhat irregular shapes which make it harder to answer this question than if their borders described simple rectangles, for instance.

Some people have found the geographic center of two-dimensional polygons by taking a mathematical approach that uses the coordinates of the polygons corners.

We know that the average of a set of numbers is the number which minimizes the sum of squared distances from all numbers in the set to itself.

This is a characteristic of simple averages as well as centers of gravity.

Until recently, Lebanon, Kansas was designated the geographic center of the contiguous US, but now new measurements reveal it's actually Agra, Kansas

We can apply it to our region.

Were looking for the one spot in the regions interior that has the smallest sum of squared distances from each point in the region.

While this two-dimensional solution might be adequate for finding the center of small geographical regions, for large regions we need to consider that they lie on the surface of what is close to a three-dimensional sphere  Earth.

Now the goal becomes one of finding the balance point as the location that minimizes the sum of squared great-circle distances from all points in the region to it (the great-circle distance is the shortest distance between two points located on the surface of a sphere).

To do this, the trick is to find an appropriate map projection.

All map projections result in distortion of the Earths surface  the familiar Mercator projection (pictured), for example, is well known for its distortions of areas at high latitudes

All map projections result in distortion of the Earths surface  the familiar Mercator projection, for example, is well known for its distortions of areas at high latitudes.

It turns out that another projection  the azimuthal equidistant projection  provides exactly what we want: It measures distance accurately from the center of the map.

This is the version of our planet that you find on the United Nations emblem, where the map has been centered on the North Pole.

So, we can find the geographic center of a large region as follows, using a process of repeated refinement:

Map the regions boundary using the azimuthal equidistant projection, initially guessing where the geographic center might be, and centering the map there.

Use the existing mathematical method for finding the center of a two-dimensional polygon to find the geographic center on this initial map.

It turns out that another projection  the azimuthal equidistant projection  provides exactly what we want: It measures distance accurately from the center of the map. This is the version of our planet that you find on the United Nations emblem (pictured), where the map has been centered on the North Pole

Use the result from step 2 to create a new azimuthal equidistant map, this time centered on the new estimate of the center.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the location of the center does not change from one step to the next.

How much of an improvement is this over the old cardboard method?

Road-trippers and tourist bureaus dont need to panic, but there are 10 states where the geographic center, as determined by this method, moved by more than five miles from the old USGS centers.

Discrepancies tend to be largest for the largest states and states with more complex shapes (including Alaska, Florida, Texas and New York).

The geographic center for the entire contiguous U.S. lies near Agra, Kansas, 27.9 miles from the USGS long-designated center in Lebanon, Kansas.

No word on whether a rivalry has emerged in the Sunflower State.
He was famed for his brutal four-year reign and love of wild orgies.

Now a wild party boat used by Emperor Caligula for sex parties is to be recovered after 2,000 years.

Researchers are planning to dive to the bottom of Lake Nemi in Italy to find the famed ruler's 120-metre-long vessel.

They hope that the boat - described as 'the world's first luxury cruise ship' - will give more of an insight into Caligula's depraved lifestyle.

Researchers are planning to dive to the bottom of Lake Nemi, Italy, to recover the famed ruler's 2,000-year-old party boat (artist's impression pictured)

Emperor Caligula had a wild four year reign from AD37 to 41, in which he killed for pleasure, tried to appoint his horse a consul, and slept with his own sister, before being assassinated by his successors.

The unruly Caligula was famed for his enormous boat parties that included orgies, but researchers have struggled to find his boat.

Now, divers from Nemi are planning to use scanners to scour the bottom of Lake Nemi in the hunt for the 120 metre (400 foot) vessel.

Two smaller ships have previously been discovered in the volcanic lake, but researchers suspect that Caligula's boat may still linger in the depths.

Alberto Bertucci, mayor of Nemi, told The Times: 'If it's down there, and it's that long, then we are talking about the world's first luxury cruise ship.

'Every emperor had a villa  but Caligula demanded floating villas complete with columns, hot water, gold and mosaics.'

CALIGULA, THE ORGY ENTHUSIAST Emperor Caligula, whose real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, was the third Roman emperor, in succession to Tiberius. The 24-year-old emperor was initially hugely popular, providing lavish games for the Romans to enjoy, and abolished the sales tax. But seven months into his reign he fell ill, and he emerged from this as a tyrannical ruler. He went out of his way to humiliate the senate by trying to make his horse consul, and encouraged treason trials for his own financial benefit. He also insisted on being treated as a god. Caligula had three sisters, who he allegedly forced to have sex with him. He also particularly offended the Jews, intending to place a statue of himself in the Temple at Jerusalem. In 41 AD, the Praetorian Guard assassinated Gaius, together with his wife Caesonia and his daughter. Only the common people, who benefited from his extravagant spending, lamented his death. Advertisement

The two smaller ships, which were brought to the surface in the 1920s, were very advanced for their time. They were fitted with modern naval technology, including piston pumps and an anchor with a folding timber stock  which was only reinvented by the Royal Navy in 1841

THE PARTY BOAT Emperor Caligula was famed for his boat parties that included wild orgies, but researchers have struggled to find his boat. Two smaller ships have previously been discovered in the volcanic lake, but researchers suspect that Caligula's boat may still linger in the depths. In a book called 'The Lives of the Twelve Caesars', Roman historian, Suetonius, described Caligula's huge boat. He wrote: 'Ten banks of oars . . . the poops of which blazed with jewels . . . filled with ample baths, galleries, and saloons, and supplied with a great variety of vines and fruit trees.' When Caligula was assassinated in AD41, it is believed that his boat may have been sunk in an attempt to remove his legacy. Advertisement

The team of researchers arrived at the lake yesterday, armed with a sonar to search the waters for lost objects, and a scanner that uses ground-penetrating sound waves to spot objects buried up to 2.7 metres (nine feet) below the bottom.

Mr Bertucci said: 'Divers have tried to find the boat in the lake but the mud means visibility is only 15 cm.'

In the 16th century, Francesco de Marchi, an Italian nobleman, discovered two smaller ships in Lake Nemi.

Mr Bertucci said: 'He reported bringing up relics on the far side of the lake from where the two other boats were found, and talked of a boat measuring up to 400ft long.

'Since then we have oral testimony from fishermen bringing up items in the nets at that spot.'

In a book called 'The Lives of the Twelve Caesars', Roman historian, Suetonius, described Caligula's huge boats.

He wrote: 'Ten banks of oars . . . the poops of which blazed with jewels . . . filled with ample baths, galleries, and saloons, and supplied with a great variety of vines and fruit trees.'

When Caligula was assassinated in AD41, it is believed that his boats may have been sunk in an attempt to remove his legacy.

The boats discovered in the 1920s also had ornate bronze lion heads, although these were removed and are now housed in the National Roman Museum in Rome

The two smaller ships, which were brought to the surface in the 1920s, were very advanced for their time.

They were fitted with modern naval technology, including piston pumps and an anchor with a folding timber stock  which was only reinvented by the Royal Navy in 1841.

They also had ornate bronze lion heads, although these were removed and are now housed in the National Roman Museum in Rome.

Researchers will now scan the lake, which sits at the bottom of the town of Nemi, for ten days, on the hunt for the party boat

The ships themselves were kept in a museum beside the lake, which unfortunately burned down in 1944.

Researchers will now scan the lake for ten days on the hunt for the party boat.

Mr Bertucci added: 'Now, 2,000 years on, we can finally discover if there is a third boat down there.'
It is one of the world's most complex geometry and probability problems that has left experts baffled for decades.

But now a retired German man has solved the fiendishly difficult GCI conjecture.

Despite first solving it in 2014 while brushing his teeth, Thomas Royen's solution went largely unnoticed until now.

Scroll down for video

It is one of the world's most complex geometry and probability problems that has left experts baffled for decades. But now a retired German man has solved the fiendishly difficult GCI Conjecture (stock image)

THE GCI PROBLEM The Gaussian correlation inequality (GCI) was first proposed in the 1950s, and was refined in 1972. Thousands of mathematicians have unsuccessfully tried to solve it. The GCI principle states that if two shapes overlap  such as a rectangle and a circle  the probability of striking one, for example in a game of darts, increases the chances of also striking the other. Mr Royen realised that the GCI conjecture could be analytically explained through statistical formulas. This allowed him to simplify his function and use existing equations to solve it. Advertisement

Thomas Royen, 67, from Schwalbach am Taunus, near Frankfurt, was brushing his teeth when the solution to the Gaussian correlation inequality (GCI) struck him in 2014.

At the time, his solution went largely unnoticed, but it is slowly spreading amongst the mathematical community, according to Quanta Magazine.

The problem was first proposed in the 1950s, and was refined in 1972, and thousands of mathematicians have unsuccessfully tried to solve it.

The GCI principle states that if two shapes overlap  such as a rectangle and a circle  the probability of striking one, for example in a game of darts, increases the chances of also striking the other.

Mr Royen realised that the GCI conjecture could be analytically explained through statistical formulas.

Thomas Royen, 67, is a retired statistician from Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany

This allowed him to simplify his function and use existing equations to solve it.

Speaking to Quanta, Mr Royen said: 'In mathematics, it occurs frequently that a seemingly difficult special problem can be solved by answering a more general question.

'The evening of this day, my first draft of the proof was written.'

His answer has been compiled in a paper called 'A simple proof of the Gaussian correlation conjecture', and only uses classic mathematical techniques.

Mr Royen said that he hopes the 'surprisingly simple proofmight encourage young students to use their own creativity to find new mathematical theorems.'

Thomas Royen, 67, from Schwalbach am Taunus, near Frankfurt, was brushing his teeth when the solution to the Gaussian correlation inequality (GCI) struck him in 2014 (stock image)

He added that 'a very high theoretical level is not always required.'

While some mathematicians have praised Mr Royen's efforts, others have dismissed his work.

Mr Royen sent his findings to Bo'az Klartag of the Weizmann at the Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University.

The GCI principle states that if two shapes overlap  such as a rectangle and a circle  the probability of striking one, for example in a game of darts, increases the chances of also striking the other

But his solution arrived in a batch with three other papers, and Mr Klartag found a mistake in one of the others, leading him to overlook Mr Royen's paper.

Despite not submitting his paper for publication, Mr Royen said that he felt a 'feeling of deep joy and gratitude' from simply knowing he had solved it.

He added: 'It is like a kind of grace. We can work for a long time on a problem and suddenly an angel  [which] stands here poetically for the mysteries of our neurons  brings a good idea.'
Indigenous groups living today in southern Alaska and the western coast of British Columbia are descendants of the first humans to make their homes in northwest America more than 10,000 years ago.

The researchers looked at genetic data from Shuka Kaa (Tlingit for 'Man Before Us'), an ancient individual whose remains - found in a cave in southeastern Alaska - date to about 10,300 years ago.

DNA found in ancient remains adds to the body of evidence that indigenous groups have lived in these areas for a long time.

Researchers are analyzing DNA from ancient individuals found in southeast Alaska, coastal British Columbia, Washington state and Montana. A new genetic analysis of some of these human remains finds that many of today's indigenous peoples living in the same regions are descendants of ancient individuals dating to at least 10,300 years ago

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also suggest that these early American peoples had a complex population history.

'Our analysis suggests that this is the same population living in this part of the world over time, so we have genetic continuity from 10,000 years ago to the present,' said University of Illinois anthropology professor Dr Ripan Malhi, who led the study with University of Chicago postdoctoral researcher Dr John Lindo.

This new research builds on other studies of Ancient Americans focusing on mitochondrial DNA - a type of DNA that is only passed on through mothers to their children.

'Mitochondrial DNA just traces the maternal line  your mothers mothers lineage  so, youre missing information about all of these other ancestors,' said Dr Lindo, the first author on the paper.

'We wanted to analyze the nuclear genome so we could get a better assessment of the population history of this region.'

The researchers analyzed the remains of Shuka Kaa, an ancient person dating back from 10,300 years ago.

They also analyzed the genomes of three more people from the nearby British Columbia coast in Canada, whose remains date back between 6,075 and 1,750 years ago.

'Interestingly, the mitochondrial type that Shuka Kaa belonged to was also observed from another ancient skeleton dated to about 6,000 years ago,' said Dr Brian Kemp, a University of Oklahoma professor who was also involved in the study.

'It seems to disappear after that.

WHO ARE THE TLINGIT PEOPLE? The Tlingit are indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is Lingit, meaning 'People of the Tides'. The Tlingit have a matrilineal kinship system, with children considered born into the mother's clan, and property and hereditary roles passing through the mother's line. Their culture and society developed in the rainforest of the southeast Alaska coast and the Alexander Archipelago. Totem pole at Saxman Village tribal house near Ketchikan, Alaska with the Sun Raven in background. Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, served as a summer fish camp for Tlingit natives for untold years before the town was established by Mike Martin in 1885 The Tlingit maintained a complex hunter-gatherer culture based on fisheries. Tlingit society is divided into two moieties, the Raven and the Eagle. These are divided into clans, which are subdivided into lineages or house groups. These groups have heraldic crests, which are displayed on totem poles, feast dishes, house posts, weavings, jewelry, and other art forms. Advertisement

'The nuclear DNA suggests that this is probably not about population replacement, but rather chance occurrence through time.

'If a female has no children or only sons, the mitochondrial DNA is not passed to the next generation.

'As a male, Shuka kaa could not have passed on his own mitochondrial DNA; he must have had some maternal relatives that did so.'

The researchers also focused on nuclear DNA, the DNA contained within the nucleus of the cell that encodes for the majority of the DNA.

'DNA from the mitochondria and Y chromosome provides unique yet sometimes conflicting stories, but the nuclear genome provides a more comprehensive view of past events,' said Dr Michael DiGiorgio, a Penn state University Biology professor also involved in the study.

This new research builds on other studies of Ancient Americans focusing on mitochondrial DNA (pictured) - a type of DNA in the cell that is only passed on through mother's to their children. 'Mitochondrial DNA just traces the maternal line  your mothers mothers lineage  so, youre missing information about all of these other ancestors,' said Dr Lindo, the first author on the paper.

'The data suggest that there were multiple genetic lineages in the Americas from at least 10,300 years ago,' Dr Malhi said.

The descendants of some of the lineages identified are still living the same region today, some of whom are co-authors of the study.

Their participation is as a result of a long-term collaboration between researchers and native groups who want to use genetic studies to learn about their ancestors, said Dr Rosita Worl, the director of the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, who is Tlingit and was involved in the study.

'We supported DNA testing of Shuka Kaa because we believed science ultimately would agree with what our oral traditions have always said  that we have lived in southeast Alaska since time immemorial,' said Dr Worl.

'The initial analysis showed the young man was native, and now further studies are showing that our ancestral lineage stems from the first initial peopling of the region.

'Science is corroborating our oral histories.'
Advertisement

The process of rearranging molecules in two or more substances to create a new one may be monotonous to some  but for others, it is a stunning display of science.

A new video has shared an up-close view of different chemical reactions when liquids become solids  or as the project has noted, 'precipitates'.

The short film, entitled Precipitation3, recreates the perspective from a microscope, allowing viewers to see the hidden colorful and breathtaking display of that occurs during eight different reactions.

Scroll down for videos

The process of rearranging molecules in two or more substances to create a new one may be monotonous to some  but for others, it is a stunning display of science. A new video has shared an up-close view of eight different chemical reactions when liquids become solids  or as the project has noted, 'precipitates'

WHAT IS A PRECIPITATE? A precipitate is a solid that is produced from a solution, of two or more liquids, during a chemical reaction and forms because the solid is insoluble in water. The chemical that causes the solid to form is called the 'precipitant'. Because of an inefficient amount of gravitational force to merge the particles together, the precipitate remains in suspension. Precipitation reactions are commonly used in making pigments and eliminating salts from water in water treatment. Advertisement

The project was created by Beauty of Science, which is an educational organization that produces 'inspiring' content focused around science.

The team releases a new video every week and the latest shares the stunning world of chemical reactions.

A precipitate is a solid that is produced in a solution of two or more liquids during a chemical reaction and forms because the solid is insoluble in water.

The first reaction in the video occurs when nickel chloride and sodium carbonate are combined.

Light blues, whites and grays combine in an exploding display that creates nickel carbonate.

The next reaction is between iron (III) chloride and sodium hydroxide, which produces iron (III) hydroxide precipitation.

Iron chloride is a yellow solution, whereas the sodium hydroxide is colorless and the iron hydroxide is a reddish brown precipitate and sodium chloride is again colorless.

When the yellow solution is added to sodium hydroxide, it creates a reddish brown precipitate that is insoluble in sodium hydroxide.

As barium chloride and sodium sulfate are mixed, the two create barium sulfate  and the show looks similar to that of a snow storm or a heavy fog that has just rolled in.

Barium chloride and sodium sulfate are soluble ionic compounds that exists in aqueous solution  a solution in which the solvent is water.

And when mixed, to two make a barium sulfate precipitation.

Chromium chloride and sodium hydroxide are the next two to combine in the short film.

These solutions create a stunning shade of different blues and when combined, seem to mimic a flowering opening up  although, it is the image of chromium hydroxide being produced.

The first reaction in the video occurs when nickel chloride and sodium carbonate are combined. Light blues, whites and grays combine in an exploding display that creates nickel carbonate, as carbonates are not soluble

The next reaction is between iron (III) chloride and sodium hydroxide, which produces iron (III) hydroxide precipitation. Iron chloride is a yellow solution, whereas the sodium hydroxide is colorless and the iron hydroxide is a reddish brown precipitate and sodium chloride is again colorless

The next reaction is Copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide and although the first is a strong base, the latter is an acidic salt.

When the solutions are mixed, a pale blue precipitate of basic copper hydroxide and a solution of neutral salt sodium sulfate is formed, according to Quora.

As silver nitrate and potassium chromate are blended into one, they combine in a fiery red and yellow display to produce the precipitate silver chromate.

Chromium chloride and sodium carbonate is next and the two create a pale blue precipitate, chromium carbonate.

As barium chloride and sodium sulfate are mixed, the two create barium sulfate  and the show looks similar to that of a snow storm or a heavy fog that has just rolled in. Barium chloride and sodium sulfate are soluble ionic compounds that exists in aqueous solution  a solution in which the solvent is water. And when mixed, to two make a barium sulfate precipitation

As silver nitrate and potassium chromate are blended into one, they combine in a fiery red and yellow display to produce the precipitate silver chromate. Chromium chloride and sodium carbonate is next and the two create a pale blue precipitate, chromium carbonate

And finally, Beauty of Science reveals the wonders of combining sliver nitrate and sodium chloride which produces silver chloride precipitation.

The film was produced by Yan Liang, who is the main creator of Beautiful Chemistry and a contract associate professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)  he has also been turning science into art for years.

Another one of his projects consisted of various droplets of saturated aqueous solutions containing various inorganic salts  such as table salt and sodium.

Chromium chloride and sodium hydroxide are the next two to combine in the short film. These solutions create a stunning shade of different blues and when combined, seem to mimic a flowering opening up  although, it is the image of chromium hydroxide being produced

The next reaction is Copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide and although the first is a strong base, the latter is an acidic salt. When the solutions are mixed, a pale blue precipitate of basic copper hydroxide and a solution of neutral salt sodium sulfate is formed

Named Crystallization 2, this stunning art project is part of an a larger effort called Beauty of Science.

'We set out to shoot chemical phenomena from fresh new angles using the latest photo equipment,' he told PetaPixel.

'We chose the crystallization processes first because these processes are extremely beautiful, and we knew we could improve on our initial attempt from two years ago.'

Chromium chloride and sodium carbonate is next and the two create a pale blue precipitate, chromium carbonate

And finally, Beauty of Science reveals the wonders of combining sliver nitrate and sodium chloride which produces silver chloride precipitation. The film was produced by Yan Liang, who is the main creator of Beautiful Chemistry and a contract associate professor at the University of Science and Technology of China  he has also been turning science into art for years

Liang and his team used a Sony A&R II attached to a canon EF 100mm f/2.8L macro lens to capture the final timelapse of the crystallization process.

Due to the size of the RAW files (81Mb for uncompressed RAW, 41Mb for compressed RAW) they went with JPEG for this process, he said.

'Utilizing the 42.4MP full-frame sensor of the A7R II, we got images with great detail,' Liang told PetaPixel.

However, because with the size of the RAW files (81Mb for uncompressed RAW, 41Mb for compressed RAW), the team decided to use JPEG instead, Liang explained.

And since the crystal images were mainly black and white or other simple colors, there was no need to deal with larger files.

To some, observing droplets of saturated aqueous solutions crystallize is monotonous. But, one professor compares this natural reaction to beautiful works of art, as the colors and structures appear to form tiny intricate snowflakes

Yan Liang used the evaporation of water to initiate the process inside the droplets and captured the breathtaking display with timelapse photography. Liang, a contract associate professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), has been turning science into art for years

With his latest project consists of various droplets of saturated aqueous solutions containing various inorganic salts  such as table salt and sodium Named Crystallization 2, this stunning art project is part of an a larger effort called Beauty of Science

The team had to do a few minor color corrections and stabilization in After Effects and generate a 4K timelapse from an 8K video in Final Cut Pro X before reaching the final product.

'The image quality and level of detail of the final 4K video is stunning,' Liang said.

'We also selected the best still images for each crystal from the timelapse sequence.'

Two years ago, Liang released a series of images that how reactions taking place after acid is dripped onto a flower, or when a copper sulfate solution was mixed with sodium hydroxide, to create copper sulfate precipitate, which looks like a brilliantly blue swimming pool.

The images showcase the dazzling array of colors and textures created when chemicals clash.

Liang became fascinated by chemical reactions during his studies and joined with two other professors at USTC in February to share their love of colorful potions by taking photographs.

'We set out to shoot chemical phenomena from fresh new angles using the latest photo equipment,' Liang told PetaPixel . 'We chose the crystallization processes first because these processes are extremely beautiful, and we knew we could improve on our initial attempt from two years ago

Liang and his team used a Sony A&R II attached to a canon EF 100mm f/2.8L macro lens to capture the final timelapse of the crystallization process. Due to the size of the RAW files (81Mb for uncompressed RAW, 41Mb for compressed RAW) they went with JPEG for this process, he said

With help from Tsinghua University Press and visual effects experts, Professor Liang, Professor Xiangang Tao and Dr Wei Huang researched which reactions would look the most eye-catching on camera.

The scientists then carried out small-scale experiments before shooting the best possible images of the prettiest reactions.

The trio uploaded the work to their website - including reactions such as precipitation, crystallization, bubbling and metal displacement  where they proved popular.

Liang, avoids working with reactions that could potentially be hazardous.

'The image quality and level of detail of the final 4K video is stunning,' Liang said. 'We also selected the best still images for each crystal from the timelapse sequence'

Crystallization2 is a short video about beautiful crystallization processes. The subjects of this project were droplets of saturated aqueous solutions containing various inorganic salts (e.g. table salt, sodium sulfate etc.). The evaporation of water initiated the crystallization processes inside the droplets, which were captured by time-lapse photography

'I was always fascinated by the beauty of chemistry - both the colorful chemical reactions and the invisible molecular structures,' he said.

'The first step was doing research and selecting the potential reactions that could be beautiful then we conducted experiments and make sure these reactions were indeed worth filming.

'Once we found the proper reactions, the third step was to optimize both the reaction parameters and our shooting techniques and make sure we get the perfect images.

'However, during experiments, something unexpected could happen and we ended up getting some extra beautiful shots.'
After another long, dark winter, spring is finally making a tentative appearance across Britain.

For many, it's the most beautiful time of the year - when the trees turn emerald and daffodils explode from every corner, the air fills with fragrance and newborn animals take their first wobbly steps.

It's also the perfect time to explore other countries across the world, many of which are at their very best just before tourists pile in for summer.

Japan for example is renowned for its abundance of cherry trees, which, come spring, bloom into clouds of baby pink that hover around its ornate temples.

Or head to Germany to navigate the 200-mile Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) - a stunning scenic route from Wurzburg to Fussen, through medieval towns such as Rothenburg, which come alive with floral window boxes as they creep out of winter.

Here, MailOnline Travel presents some of Earth's most breath-taking spring displays from near and far, to welcome in the new season.
A boat glides through the inky abyss, a chunk of ice crashes into the water and a pod of whales frolic under frozen sky.

Antarctica is one of the least visited terrains on the planet yet its also one of the most breath-taking.

A mesmerising video has captured the regions endless serenity, taking viewers on an aerial journey to the southern wilderness.

Swedish traveller Kalle Ljung created the footage during an excursion to the Melchior islands between December 2014 and January 2015

The mesmerising film was captured during 16 days exploring the frozen continent

Swedish traveller Kalle Ljung created the footage during an excursion to the Melchior islands between December 2014 and January 2015.

Inspired by his 73-year-old father who had set off on a three-year global trip eight months earlier, Mr Llung decided to board his fathers boat for the Antarctica section of the journey.

Along with a friend, the crew left Ushuaia in Argentina on 24 December, travelled through Port Williams in Chile, rounded Cape Horn and headed for Melchior Islands in Antarctica.

The footage was captured during 16 days exploring the frozen continent.

Antarcticas vastness is conveyed as the camera soars over thousands of broken icebergs scattered across the ocean

Tabular icebergs glisten on the mirror-like water and the camera travels under an iceberg archway

Antarctica is one of the least visited terrains on the planet yet its also one of the most breath-taking

Antarcticas vastness is conveyed as the camera soars over thousands of broken icebergs scattered across the ocean.

Tabular icebergs glisten on the mirror-like water and the camera travels under an iceberg archway.

Mr Llungs boat is featured zipping through the water and one of the men stands on an icy island.

The regions otherworldly calm is conveyed in the footage, then disrupting the stillness suddenly is a pod of whales splashing through the cobalt waves and spraying water from their blowholes

The stunning Antarctica film emerges as more and more curious tourists have begun eyeing the destination as a once-in-a-lifetime holiday spot

The regions otherworldly calm is conveyed in the footage, then disrupting the stillness suddenly is a pod of whales splashing through the cobalt waves and spraying water from their blowholes.

Commenting on the expedition when he shared his film on Vimeo, Mr Llung said: [We] got to experience the most amazing scenery and wildlife, we met people who welcomed us with open arms and offered their hospitality, this is a memory for life.

The stunning Antarctica film emerges as more and more curious tourists have begun eyeing the destination as a once-in-a-lifetime holiday spot.
They shared 'husband' Andrew Jones on Married At First Sight this season.

And now Lauren Bran has formed her own relationship with Cheryl Maitland, even going so far as to call them 'bosom buddies'.

The 33-year-old appeared on The Kyle & Jackie O Show on Tuesday to talk about her new friendship and why she gave Andrew 'a spray' on the show's reunion.

Scroll down for video

Besties: Lauren Bran has formed her own relationship with Cheryl Maitland, even going so far as to call them 'bosom buddies'

The Sutherland Shire beauty described joining the cast for the final episode as 'a little strange and intimidating and daunting'.

She was then asked by Kyle about seeing the 'love of her life Andrew' there and quickly changed the topic to Cheryl.

'I much prefer Cheryl over Andrew,' she gushed.

'I much prefer Cheryl over Andrew,' she gushed over her MAFS co-star

'We should have gotten married,' she added.

She then explained how although it took some time for her and Andrew to connect during the reunion, they 'obviously chat' in the end.

'I didn't get to see the way he spoke about Cheryl in the previous episodes, so it was quite interesting to see the boys' night played back,' she offered.

'I didn't get to see the way he spoke about Cheryl in the previous episodes, so it was quite interesting to see the boys' night played back,' she offered

Lauren told the radio hosts the cast was regularly plied with alcohol and how that contributed to her calling Andrew a 'cocky little pr***' and a 'wanker'.

'I'm quite honest and once I got a few under my belt, that's when I decided to give Andrew a bit of a spray, give him what I really thought,' she explained.

Kyle asked her if there was any 'lesbianism' going on behind the scenes of the show.

'Cheryl and I are bosom buddies, but there wasn't any lesbianism on Married At First Sight,' she responded with a laugh. 'Definitely not.'
Her year got off to a rocky start when she split from fiance Joshua Sasse.

But things appeared to be looking up for Kylie Minogue as she flashed a giant smile after receiving the Britain-Australia Society Award in London on Monday.

Clad in a canary yellow gown. the Aussie pop princess, 48, looked sensational as she headed for dinner after being awarded the accolade.

Scroll down for video

On the up: Kylie Minogue flashed a giant smile after receiving the Britain-Australia Society Award in London on Monday, where she was joined by Australian novellist Kathy Lette

Cinching in at her slender waist, the garment fell at ankle length, exposing a pair of barely-there heels.

Keeping her accessories simple, Kylie donned a slender gold bracelet and a pair of chandelier earrings.

She finished off the look by styling her honey hued locks in a sleek centre parting that framed her pretty face.

Golden girl: Clad in a canary yellow gown. the Aussie pop princess, 48, looked sensational as she headed for dinner after being awarded the accolade

The Spinning Around hitmaker was the 2016 recipient of the Brit-Australia Society Award, which recognises both British and Australian individuals who have made a significant contribution to our bilateral relations.

After the ceremony she was joined for dinner by Australian novellist Kathy Lette.

Kylie was no doubt pleased to have a girls night out following her shock breakup with younger fiance Joshua Sasse, 29.

Leggy lady! Cinching in at her slender waist, the garment fell at ankle length, exposing a pair of barely-there heels. Keeping her accessories simple, Kylie donned a slender gold bracelet

Speaking at a press conference last month, she announced: 'It has been an interesting few months, but fantastic for moving forward creatively.

'I feel like I just want to spread the love and that is what the album is going to be about.'

News of Kylie's break up from Joshua came in early February this year, almost one year after the pair revealed they were engaged with a newspaper announcement.
Harlots

Rating:

Broadchurch

Rating:

Bad telly is so hard to do well. The Georgian period drama Harlots (ITV Encore) made a hopeful start, with dire dialogue and hilarious costumes, but it still threatened to dribble tepidly away.

Instead, the second episode was magnificently, lip-smackingly awful. Harlots is more embarrassing than naked karaoke, and tackier than superglue on a toilet seat.

For heavens sake dont pay extra for this trash but, if you can find this obscure subscription channel anywhere in your TV package, you should relish it.

In ITV Encore's Harlots everyone wears 18 layers of satin and fake taffeta

Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil from Downton) appears to be loathing every moment, in a wig that looks like cold candyfloss. Shes a courtesan whose aristocratic lover (Hugh Skinner, the dim intern on W1A) crawls around besotted in his nightshirt, pleading with Madam Candyfloss to forgive my naughty serpent.

Everyone wears 18 layers of satin and fake taffeta. Bedroom scenes look like explosions in Boy Georges laundry basket, a bare bum protruding here and there.

The script, crammed with dubious 18th-century obscenities, deserves to be nominated for a Bad Sex award. One middle-aged strumpet (Samantha Morton), shocked to be propositioned by a punter, exclaimed: I havent been with another man since 1758!

Dictum of the night Designer Kenneth Bordewick told Howd You Get So Rich? (C4) that he sacks any employee who says the word No to a client. The customer is always right  thats how you make money. Advertisement

Because this is entirely written, produced and directed by women, all the male characters are fools. Con ONeill plays a slave trader who is gravely offended by racist remarks. Rory Fleck-Byrne is a sedan chair carrier who does a striptease at a funeral.

Star turn of the night was Amy Dawson, as a streetwalker dying noisily from French pox, which was apparently a strain of terminal acne. One minute she was lifeless in the gutter, the next she was running about the house screaming for gin and roast chicken.

Once she spluttered her last, the harlots took her body to the house of their sworn enemy in Soho, surrounded her with scented candles and waited in the shadows.

Spend an hour watching Harlots, and everything else this week will feel like five-star telly

When the hated brothel madam (Lesley Manville) opened her door to see where the smell of pot pourri came from, the ladies stepped forward one by one, scowling silently, as though auditioning for the most pretentious Duran Duran video ever made.

The cheesiest Eighties electro-pop would be better than the hideous noise of the Harlots soundtrack, which alternates between heavy metal folk music and weirdly tuned drums that sound like a harp made from rubber bands.

Spend an hour watching Harlots, and everything else this week will feel like five-star telly.

The slow-burning crime serial Broadchurch (ITV) has been genuinely five-star for weeks, as detectives Hardy and Miller (David Tennant and Olivia Colman) comb through dozens of suspects and fragmented clues in their hunt for a rapist.

This time, though, it opened and closed with Twin Peaks-style dream sequences that were at odds with the low-key, methodical writing that characterises the rest of the series.

Bereaved father Mark (Andrew Buchan) dreamed of playing video games with his dead son, as he slept in his van. After confronting the boys killer, he stood at the top of the Broadchurch cliffs and made a farewell phonecall to his daughter.

This week's episode of Broadchurch opened and closed with Twin Peaks-style dream sequences at odds with the rest of the series

Moments later he was in a fishing boat with his son, before slipping overboard and floating on his back in a sea that looked like a swimming pool.

Was he dead, or drowning, or just drifting away?

For a show that finds deep emotion in the mundane, this was irritating and silly. No more dream sequences, please.
It was business as usual for Kylie Jenner on Monday.

Just hours after it was revealed she'd once again split from her on-off beau, Tyga, the 19-year-old was spotted heading into a studio in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

It's believed she was preparing to film a scene for an upcoming episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, presumably where she will address the break-up.

Joining the young businesswoman at the studio was her big sister, Kim Kardashian, who would no doubt have offered her a shoulder to cry on.

Scroll down for video

Back on the market: Kylie Jenner was spotted arriving at a studio in LA, shortly after it was revealed she'd broken up with her longtime on-off beau, Tyga

Kylie was seen arriving at the studio in a black Range Rover, having driven herself separately to her sister, who arrived in a white Rolls Royce.

The young reality star appeared unable to crack a smile, as she emerged from her vehicle looking stony-faced.

Dressed in a baggy black sweatsuit, the brunette beauty kept her head bowed as she made her way inside.

Lending support: Kylie's big sister, Kim Kardashian was also seen arriving at the studio, where they were reportedly filming scenes for Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Keeping it casual: The normally glamorous reality star appeared dressed down in maroon sweatpants and an oversize green parka

Heartbroken: The 19-year-old star appeared puffy eyed as she stepped out of her car, after it was revealed she'd split from Tyga

She wore white sneakers and carried a black leather handbag.

Her long black hair sat loose, and a pair of dark sunglasses hid her eyes.

Meanwhile, Kim, 36, appeared to have come straight from the shower, her raven hair sitting wet around her shoulders.

The normally fashionable star donned a mismatched ensemble, wearing maroon velvet sweatpants and camel-colored stiletto booties.

Rolling out the Royce: The 36-year-old arrived separately to her younger sister, showing up in her white Rolls Royce

Fresh out of the shower: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was seen arriving at the studio with wet hair

Downcast: It was a solemn Kylie who was spotted arriving at a Westlake studio, where she was reportedly filming scenes for Keeping Up With The Kardashians

She also wore a grey tank top and oversize green parka with a grey hood.

Like Kylie, Kim also kept her head down as she walked into the studio, appearing serious as she carried her black designer handbag.

Despite their downcast expressions though, both sisters appeared to be slightly more upbeat when they took to their respective social media accounts.

Both sharing photos from their cars on Snapchat, Kylie managed to muster a slight grin for the camera, her face fully made up.

Reaching out: The brunette beauty appeared to be slightly more upbeat when she took to her Snapchat account

Putting on a brave face: Kylie managed to muster a slight grin for the camera, her face fully made up

Meanwhile, Kim applied a leopard filter to her photo, giving herself animal ears and a small black nose.

And while Kylie and Tyga, 27, may be broken up for now, insiders say there is a possibility they will reunite in the not too distant future.

'They tend to take little breaks all the time and then get back together,' a source told People. 'Its definitely possible theyll work things out again.'
Actress and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson has lamented the absence of elderly people in plays

Actress and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson has lamented the absence of elderly people in plays, saying she longs to be sent a script that wasnt just about age.

The 80-year-old veteran actress, who has an Olivier nomination for her role as King Lear, said women are still sidelined when it comes to acting roles.

She said: I cannot understand why creative writers do not find women interesting. Even contemporary ones. Men are still almost invariably the dramatic engine, women on the sidelines. In film, there was a period when really the only reason to have a woman was to show that the guy wasnt gay.

She added: It would be nice if someone sent me a contemporary play with an old person in it that wasnt just about old age.

Miss Jackson took a break from acting for more than a quarter of a century before her return to the stage to play Shakespeares tragic King Lear last October.

During her break, she became a Labour MP and made her maiden speech to Parliament in 1992 after being elected to represent Hampstead and Kilburn in North London.

Speaking about her return, the Oscar nominated actress told The Radio Times, she said: One of the amazing things about theatre people is that you might not see each other for years, and then when you do its as if youd just walked into the room again on the same day.

'Maybe its the vagaries of being rarely employed  and castigated as well as praised. I have yet to meet an actor who is not firmly convinced that the moment the present job finishes they will be unemployed. Vulnerability is always there.

Miss Jackson, an Oscar-nominated actress, is seen in character as Mary, Queen of Scots

Miss Jackson also said that she had been concerned that her physical and vocal strength would not stand up to playing King Lear, but discovered that the best gym in the world is Shakespeare.

She said: What really kicks you into shape is the play itself: theres such energy in it that it sort of feeds you. The times I felt most tired were Sundays when we didnt have to do it.

On the treatment of elderly people in general, she said: I once said blithely that when I finished being an MP I was going to form an old peoples robbery group.

Everybody ignores old people so we could shoplift and burgle till the cows come home. It still comes as a shock to me when somebody stands up and offers me their seat on the bus or the Tube.
He's the funny Frenchman who is known for his crude sense of humour.

But on Tuesday, Manu Feildel took the jokes to a new level in a raunchy interview on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show.

As host Kyle Sandilands brought up a recent DNA test the presenters had taken showing Jackie 'O' Henderson had 89 per cent French ancestry, the chef quipped: 'Would you like to be 100?'

Scroll down for video

'Would you like to be 100 French?' Manu Feildel showed his crude sense of humour in a raunchy interview on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show Tuesday, commenting on the blonde beauty's recent DNA test that revealed she was 89 per cent French

The blonde beauty was left trying to awkwardly laugh off the moment, replying simply: 'That was quick!'

Meanwhile Kyle teased the joke further as he crudely stated, 'he'll put his 11 per cent, err, in her,' before the segment quickly moved on to his own heritage.

The uncomfortable exchange wasn't the only innuendo present in the interview, featuring a number of suggestive lines about his food and Manu's relationship with business-partner Phil Davenport.

Awkward exchange: Jackie O was left trying to laugh off the moment, replying simply: 'That was quick!'

Manu was on the program to spruik his new pop-up Duck In Duck Out, which is set to open this Thursday in Surry Hills.

The themed restaurant is set to sell quick but upmarket versions of burgers, hot dogs and bao buns built around the process of duck confit.

Bringing an assortment of the new food for the hosts to test, Kyle eagerly dug into them on air after Manu asked for his opinion.

As he tried the dishes, the shock jock continued to add a raunchy twist to the interview, asking whether the chef got off on watching him eat, before commenting how he would put his lips around to food and 'suck' the duck out.

Co-host Jackie O also taste-tested a duck stick, commenting: 'Oh my god, that's like an orgasm, I'm not kidding.'

At one point Kyle also made suggestive jokes about Manu's partnership with chef Phil, with the My Kitchen Rules judge playing along.

The French-born star explained that the pair had worked together 17 years ago, before finally deciding to team up on a joint venture.

The presenter jokingly asked whether the two had 'never done anything together before?'

Manu replied coyly, 'Oh yes, plenty of things,' before a laughing Kyle continued to jest, stating: 'Ah ha, I bet you have. Does it rhyme with duck?''

Business friends: At one point Kyle also made suggestive jokes about Manu's partnership with chef Phil, with the My Kitchen Rules judge playing along

Manu also revealed in the interview that outside his restaurant commitments he has been busy filming a new Australian comedy.

The production, titled The BBQ, is set for release later this year and will also star Shane Jacobson and Magda Szubanksi.

Speaking about his character, he claimed he will be playing an 'arrogant, French w****r', joking that he 'didn't have to act' for the role.
Australian shock jock Kyle Sandilands is no stranger to talking about vulgar things.

And the 45-year-old seemed in his element on his KIIS FM radio show on Tuesday, during a DR. KIIS segment.

A female fan called into the show and revealed she can't grow pubic hair much to her boyfriend's dismay, when Kyle said it was a 'blessing in disguise.'

Scroll down for video

'It's a blessing in disguise': Kyle Sandilands was left shocked on his KIIS FM radio show on Tuesday, hearing a female fan can't grow pubic hair

'I've never heard of it before, no pubes. I'd love to see that, does it look different Renae?,' he told the caller.

Kyle also said that she should get a new boyfriend, as he's the only male that would want their girlfriend to have pubic hair.

'The only guy that wants a full on bloody wombat down there and you can't grow a hair!'

Speaking for the male population: Kyle also said that she should get a new boyfriend, as he's the only male that would want their girlfriend to have pubic hair (pictured is Jackie O)

Renae said she thinks it's 'weird' that she doesn't grow pubic hair in her nether regions.

'My whole life I haven't had it and obviously my friends have and stuff like that,' she said.

DR. KIIS meanwhile said he was 'stumped,' as Renae had thick hair under her arms and around her nipples so she should have pubic hair.

Kyle - who is dating budding fashion designer and model Imogen Anthony - then suggested Renae should get a merkin, a wig for private parts.

Awkward! Kyle - who is dating budding fashion designer and model Imogen Anthony (pictured) - then suggested Renae should get a merkin, a wig for private parts

'You can get a merkin Renae, if your boyfriend loves it that much,' Kyle said.

'Jackie, when you trim, can you give your hairs to Renae,' he joked.

'I'll collect them in a little ball and I'll send it to you in the post,' Jackie added, laughing.

Meanwhile on the show on Monday, Kyle found out he was '56 per cent viking.'

Thrilled: Meanwhile on the show on Monday, Kyle found out he was '56 per cent viking'

Kyle, who had an inkling he had 'viking' blood, was equally shocked and amazed to find that he was six per cent West Asian (Armenian, Turkish, Iranian and Syrian), seven per cent Italian, 13 per cent British and Irish, 18 per cent Spanish and 56 per cent Scandinavian.

'You know who told me at first that I was viking... Robbie Williams... he just looked at me, the first time we ever sat with Robbie Williams he said [to me] you look like a viking,' Kyle explained.

Jackie meanwhile was told she was 89 per cent French, 11 per cent British and Irish.
She has never demurred from showing off her model figure and at times Elizabeth Hurley seems to live in bikinis.

The 51-year-old was at it again on Monday when she shared a beach selfie with her 530,000 Instagram followers.

The brunette beauty pouted in the snap which showed off her pert bust in a skimpy tangerine halterneck bikini top.

Scroll down for video

Ahoy there! Elizabeth Hurley, 51, looked sizzling in the saucy selfie as she posed on a windswept beach and offered fans a glimpse of her cleavage in a tiny tangerine bikini top

The Royals actress shot a wide-eyed, slightly distressed look at the camera and captioned the image: 'Valley Of The Dolls'.

She was referring to the cult 1967 film about three young women attempting to make it in Hollywood who succumb to ill-fated romance and the lure of drug abuse.

The face of Estee Lauder rocked a sexy bed-head hairstyle with her highlighted locks swept around her face.

Her lashes were loaded with mascara and she sported a baby pink lip gloss.

Mother and son time! Elizabeth shared another selfie, this time taken during a long country walk with her 14-year-old son Damian

The mum-of-one has been enjoying spending some quality time with her 14-year-old son Damian recently.

Elizabeth shared a touching selfie with Damian on Monday with the pair enjoying a long country walk together.

The Bedazzled star rocked a fur trim hat as Damian grinned sheepishly behind her.

Damian, whose father is Elizabeth's former partner billionaire Steve Bing, is clearly devoted to his famous mother.

The school boy paid tribute to her on Mother's Day by sharing an adorable picture of the pair when Damian was just a toddler.

He captioned the image: 'Happy Mothers Day Mummy xxx'

Devoted: Damian paid tribute to his famous mother on Mother's Day with an adorable throw-back snap to when he was much younger
She's the Aussie actress known for her laid back lifestyle away from Hollywood.

But still Naomi Watts isn't immune to having an occasional photo taken of her by an excited fan on the New York City.

The 48-year-old movie star got revenge on a fan who took a photo of her by sharing a picture of the sneaky snapper with her 667,000 followers on Instagram - the hilarious move since going viral after the fan 'fessed up to taking the picture.

Scroll down for video

Don't mess with Naomi Watts! Actress gets revenge on fan who took sneaky picture of her on Subway in the best way possible

In June last year, portrait photographer Aubrey Lofgren was on holiday in New York City when she spied Naomi Watts sitting opposite her on the Subway.

Snapping a photo of the actress looking at her phone and sharing it to her Instagram account, Aubrey captioned the picture: 'The beautiful Naomi Watts on the subway today. #fanningout.'

But Naomi wasn't quite as unaware of the photo as Aubrey thought, sharing a photo of the fan aiming her phone and taking the picture that same day.

'You think you're pretty sneaky?' But Naomi wasn't quite as unaware of the photo as Aubrey thought, sharing a photo of the fan aiming her phone and taking the picture that same day

'Busted': After Naomi's post Aubrey confessed on her Instagram that the photo was of her, sharing a screenshot of the movie star's post

'Think you're pretty sneaky? #gotyou #snap #subwayscenes,' the actress cheekily captioned the photo on her Instagram.

After Naomi's post Aubrey confessed on her Instagram that the photo was of her, sharing a screenshot of the movie star's post and writing: 'Busted.'

While Naomi and Aubrey's inadvertent Instagram exchange went unnoticed last year, it went viral on Monday after a Twitter user made the connection between the two hilarious photos.

Internet famous: While Naomi and Aubrey's inadvertent Instagram exchange went unnoticed last year, it went viral on Monday after a Twitter user made the connection between the two hilarious photos

The sneaky photo of her unsuspecting fan won the actress plenty of praise, with one person tweeting: 'Naomi Watts 1 Everybody else 0.'

'naomi watts just bumped naomi watts for first place on my girlfriend list [sic],' another fan gushed online.

One Twitter user was keen to have the actress appear in more movies: 'I'm ready for Naomi Watts to have her own renaissance.'
She has forged a hugely successful modelling career from humble beginnings in London's Hammersmith.

But Jourdan Dunn, who worked until she was six-months pregnant, now reveals her fear on discovering she was pregnant with son Riley at the age of 19, four years into her career.

Jourdan, 26, was scouted at the tender age of 15 before rocketing to being named one of Forbe's top-earning models but admits she had lots of body hang-ups growing up.

Scroll down for video

Successful single mum: Jourdan Dunn has opened up about discovering she was pregnant with son Riley aged just 19

Speaking to FASHION magazine, Jourdan admitted it was a huge shock discovering she was pregnant at such a young age.

'I asked myself "Can I be responsible for another human being? Like, what the hell!" I was lucky I had my mum to guide me, but at the same time she let me learn to trust my own instincts,' she admitted.

And the British model, who splits her time between living in London and New York while her seven-year-old son lives with her mum, revealed she was saddened by the little boy's awareness of 'Trump's America'.

Touching on his attempted immigration ban, Jourdan revealed her shock when Riley asked her: 'Mommy, you're black; aren't you scared that you're going to be killed?'

Mother-son: Jourdan is a mum to seven-year-old Riley (left)

Cutie: She says he is a bundle of 'humour, talent, sarcasm, intelligence, beauty and love'

'That's a very hard thing to hear that your son thinks that. I was taken aback, and I just had to reassure him that I'm going to be OK. But it's sad that he even had to ask me.'

And the statuesque supermodel revealed she was bullied for standing out when she grew up, adding: 'People pick up on your differences and want to tear you down.

'It got to the point where I didn't want to walk down the street because I was so paranoid that people were looking at me and judging me; I was definitely insecure about my body.'

Bright and beautiful: The issue hits Canadian newsstands in May 2017

Fashion fan: Jourdan opens up about diversity in the fashion industry

Being a mother: She talks about her fear on discovering she was pregnant at 19

Pushing on: She's gone on to become one of Forbes' top-earning models

The beauty was first discovered by a model scout in a branch of budget high street store Primark in west London, aged just 15.

She has since appeared on countless covers of fashion bible Vogue and featured in campaigns for the likes of Burberry, Balmain, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, DKNY, John Galliano and Tommy Hilfiger.

The model welcomed her son with ex-boyfriend Jordan Cummings, who was sentenced to a drugs-related prison sentence shortly after Riley's birth.

Pictured on the Victoria's Secret runway in 2013: despite being scouted at the tender age of 15 before rocketing to being named one of Forbe's top-earning models, the 26-year-old admitted she had lots of body hang-ups growing up

It got to the point where I didn't want to walk down the street because I was so paranoid that people were looking at me and judging me; I was definitely insecure about my body', she admitted about growing up

Covergirl: The brunette was discovered in London

However proving she was the ultimate professional, Jourdan modelled until she was six months pregnant and couldn't fit into clothes - and returned to the catwalk just 10 weeks after the birth.

The model recently praised her own mother for helping out with Riley while she jets across the globe to fulfill work commitments.

In a previous interview with the Daily Telegraph, she said: 'Thank God for my mum, because she's amazing.

'She said to me, 'Once you have Riley, I'm going to be here for you, 100 per cent. So do what you have to do'.'

Jourdan has been seen to break down a multitude of barriers in the modelling industry.

In 2008 she became the first black model to walk Prada's 2008 runway in a decade, in 2014 she was the first black British model to make it onto Forbe's top-earning models list, and in 2015 she became the first solo black model in 12 years to land on the cover of British Vogue in 2015 before bagging the number 1 spot on the 100 Most Beautiful Faces list last year.
She was the 'runaway bride' on a reality show that paired couples and moved them in together on national television.

But Married At First Sight's Lauren Bran has suggested co-star Scarlett Cooper only participated in the show 'for publicity' not to find love.

Pulling no punches, on Tuesday the New South Wales car dealer told the Kyle and Jackie O Show that Scarlett was a 'drama queen' who had blocked her on social media 'probably because she's having it off' with Lauren's on-show husband Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones in Perth.

Scroll down for video

Show pony: Married At First Sight's Lauren Bran (left) has suggested co-star Scarlett Cooper (right) only participated in the show 'for publicity' not to find love

The 33-year-old spoke to Kyle and Jackie the morning after the final reunion episode aired on Monday night, and blamed her on screen confrontation with Andrew on 'the white wine'.

'I was throwing them back,' she said. 'I looked a little worse for wear.

'Once I got a few under my belt that's when I decided to give Andrew a little bit of a spray and give him what I really thought.'

Seeing red over Scarlett: The New South Wales car dealer told the Kyle and Jackie O Show that Scarlett was a 'drama queen' who had blocked her on social media 'probably because she's having it off' with Lauren's on-show husband Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones in Perth

Kyle then played a clip in which Lauren told Andrew 'you're a c**ky little p***k. That's why it didn't work out. You're arrogant. You're full of yourself. You need to be pulled down a few cogs. Don't be a f***ing w**ker.'

Lauren also explained Scarlett's absence from the second half of the reunion special as being due to co-star Cheryl confronting her at the wine-fuelled reunion dinner.

But she noted that since the reunion, which she said was filmed the night before the first episode aired in January, that Scarlett had been seen in Perth with Lauren's show 'husband' Jonesy.

Enjoying dinner: 'I was throwing them back,' she said. 'I looked a little worse for wear'

Home truths: 'Once I got a few under my belt that's when I decided to give Andrew a little bit of a spray and give him what I really thought'

Getting it off her chest: 'Kyle then played a clip in which Lauren told Andrew 'you're a c**ky little p***k. That's why it didn't work out. You're arrogant. You're full of yourself. You need to be pulled down a few cogs. Don't be a f***ing w**ker'

'Scarlett is a bit of a drama queen,' she said.

'Now she's getting photos with Jonesy over in Perth so I don't know exactly what she was after.'

Later in the interview she speculated further on Scarlett's motives saying 'some people are in it for publicity and trying to expose themselves.'

Unimpressed: Lauren noted that since the reunion which Scarlett skipped, which she said was filmed the night before the first episode aired in January, that Scarlett had been seen in Perth with Lauren's show 'husband' Jonesy

In the picture: 'Scarlett is a bit of a drama queen,' she said. 'Now she's getting photos with Jonesy over in Perth so I don't know exactly what she was after'

Playing the game: Later in the interview she speculated further on Scarlett's motives saying 'some people are in it for publicity and trying to expose themselves'

Asked to name names she suggested 'Scarlett definitely.

'She's blocked me on Instagram for some reason.

'Probably because she's having it off with Jonesy.'

Lauren also took aim at the show's producers, who she said had pushed the waiters to keep up the wine and baited the pariticipants.

'They're like little con artists,' she said. 'They're salespeople. My producer. I was going to swap my bridesmaid for her.'

Blocked by Scarlett: 'She's blocked me on Instagram for some reason,' said Lauren. 'Probably because she's having it off with Jonesy'

Eyes opened: Lauren also took aim at the show's producers, who she said had pushed the waiters to keep up the wine and baited the pariticipants. 'They're like little con artists,' she said. 'They're salespeople. My producer. I was going to swap my bridesmaid for her'

Ma chere Cheryl: The brunette beauty was candid in her feelings about her time on the show, indicating that the best thing she got out of it was her friendship with Cheryl

The brunette beauty was candid in her feelings about her time on the show, indicating that the best thing she got out of it was her friendship with Cheryl.

'I much prefer Cheryl over Andrew - we should have got married,' she joked.

Pressed for details of any lesbian relationships coming out of the show by Kyle, she was quick to clarify that 'Cheryl and I are bosom buddies but no there wasn't any lesbianism at Married At First Sight, definitely not.'

Lauren confirmed that she has now been seeing a new man 'Jake' who she 'met at Northies' for the last few months.

'He's all good,' she said, 'he's a normal guy.'

Jake has two children and she also told Kyle he is circumcised.
She's the glamorous niece of casino magnate James Packer.

But Francesca Packer Barham, 22, isn't above enjoying the simpler things in life.

The eldest grandchild of Kerry Packer posted a makeup-free selfie to Instagram on Tuesday as she picked up a box of doughnuts following a session at the gym.

Scroll down for video

'Life's all about balance!' Casino heiress Francesca Packer Barham goes makeup free after getting doughnuts following a session at the gym

The brunette showed off her glowing natural complexion in the photo shared online with her 321,000 Instagram followers.

Francesca posed for the social media snap in a navy jumper, her dark locks back from her face in a ponytail.

Sitting in her car, Francesca had a box of the sweet treats on the passenger seat beside her, purchased from cult confectionery shop Doughnut Time.

On holiday? Francesca is in Australia after moving to London earlier this year to study a $50,000 a year interior design course at the prestigious Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea

'Playing Easter bunny after the gym...life's all about balance!' she captioned the photo.

Francesca is in Australia after moving to London earlier this year to study a $50,000 a year interior design course at the prestigious Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea.

Previously starting a psychology degree at Sydney University, Francesca has expressed little interest at joining her uncle James in the casino world.

Philanthropic passion: Previously starting a psychology degree at Sydney University, Francesca has expressed little interest at joining her uncle James in the casino world

But the striking brunette is passionate about charity work, said to be the driving force behind the setting up of a $200 million National Philanthropic Fund, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Francesca will also inherit a slice of her mother Gretel Packer's $739million fortune alongside her brothers Benjamin and William.

An avid Instagrammer, the heiress told Fairfax Media last year that she believes her grandfather Kerry, who died in 2005, would have been a fan of social media.

'He loved TV because you got to see it - it was in front of your face - which is Instagram. Everything is online, everything is at the touch of your finger,' Francesca said.

'Maybe the privacy and over-sharing, he'd be a little bit, "Woah, what is going on there?" but I think that's how most people would react who haven't experienced the level of openness that my generation seems to find very, very exciting.'
She's come under fire for sharing 'inappropriate' snaps of her nine-year-old.

But Katie Price brushed off the criticism as she enjoyed some girly time with daughter Princess on their Maldives holiday.

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the former glamour model, 38, shared a sweet video of the youngster giving her a facial as she enjoyed some more pampering on their sunny getaway.

Scroll down for video

Fun in the sun: Katie Price brushed off the criticism as she enjoyed some girly time with daughter Princess on their Maldives holiday on Monday

In the clip, Princess is seen beaming as she rubs lotion on her mothers face whilst pretending to be a beautician.

Katie captioned the snap: 'Princess wanting to play facials before bedtime rubbing in my Katie price face cream on my face in the dark soo cute.'

Whilst the pair seemed in great spirits, their family trip to the Maldives has been steeped with controversy.

Fire: Katie previously came under fire for sharing 'inappropriate' snaps of her nine-year-old

The Loose Women panellist 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'.

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.

Bonding: Taking to Instagram on Monday, the former glamour model, 38, shared a sweet video of the youngster giving her a facial as she enjoyed some more pampering

Baby beautician: In the clip, Princess is seen beaming as she rubs lotion on her mothers face whilst pretending to be a beautician

Girly fun: Katie captioned the snap: 'Princess wanting to play facials before bedtime rubbing in my Katie price face cream on my face in the dark soo cute'

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.

Trouble again: Katie 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

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'

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
Last month Nicky Whelan hinted that she had wed her longtime beau Kerry Rhodes after referring to him as her 'hubby' in an Instagram post.

But it seems the 35-year-old star is still set to walk down the aisle, after enjoying a wild bachelorette party with friends in Las Vegas over the weekend.

The event was a joint affair, with fiance Kerry and his crew joining the girls as they enjoyed a fancy dinner together before partying by the pool the next day.

Scroll down for video

Joint party! Nicky Whelan enjoyed a joint bachelor and bachelorette party with fiance Kerry Rhodes in Vegas over the weekend

The trip began Saturday, with Nicky posting a series of snaps to her Instagram of the girls having fun as they danced and posed in the Nevada desert.

'It's started! The Bachelor and bachelorette party for me and my love @kerryrhodes... meet some of the family joining us this weekend,' she excitedly captioned the moment.

The former Neighbours star stunned as she stepped out alongside her beau later in the weekend, donning a sultry ensemble that featured thigh-high boots, dark jeans and a lacy, sheer corset-style top.

Soon-to-be-wed: The couple were rumoured to have wed last month keeping their nuptials secret, but now appear like they will be walking down the aisle soon

Friends and family: Nicky posted a series of snaps to her Instagram of the group attending the parties, writing: 'meet some of the family joining us this weekend'

Sexy and sultry: The former Neighbours star stunned as she stepped out alongside her beau, donning a revealing ensemble that featured thigh-high boots, dark jeans and a lacy, sheer corset-style top

The blonde beauty wore her hair slicked back in a tight bun, accessorising her sexy ensemble with a gold drop necklace and vibrant red lip.

Husband-to-be Kerry looked stylish as he put his arm around Nicky's shoulder, rocking dark pants, a black button-up shirt and cream boots.

The actress partied it up poolside with the former NRL star the following day, rocking tassled brown boots with her skimpy ensemble.

Enjoying a meal: The couple celebrated a number of ways over the weekend, as they head out to dinner and partied it up by the pool

Incredible abs! She showed off her toned and trim physique in a crimson bikini top and a pair of tight jean mini-shorts

She showed off her toned and trim physique in a crimson bikini top and a pair of tight jean mini-shorts.

Her long blonde hair hung loose and wild around her face, pushed back slightly by a thick ebony headband.

Stopping for a photo with Kerry, who dressed down in a white singlet and board-shorts, Nicky clasped a cold beverage in her hand.

'Bachelor bachelorette weekend together in Vegas with my love @kerryrhodes ... what a blast,' she wrote in the caption.

Gal pals: Some of the party guests included Australian actress and presenter Kate Neilson (far right) and personal trainer Jena Kirmse (far left)

Star power: The cute couple were joined over the weekend was a bevy of stars, including Kim DeJesus (right) and Anna-Lynne McCord (left) who got in on the water fun

The cute couple were joined over the weekend was a bevy of stars, including Kim DeJesus and Anna-Lynne McCord who got in on the water fun.

Kim looked gorgeous in a revealing low-cut cobalt blue number, while Anna-Lynne stunned in a revealing white one-piece she complimented with a metallic statement necklace.

Some of the other party guests included Australian actress and presenter Kate Neilson and personal trainer Jena Kirmse.

Party by the pool: Nicky and former NRL star Kerry Rhodes enjoyed themselves by the pool, dancing around together

Spring vibes: Stopping for a photo with Kerry, who dressed down in a white singlet and board-shorts, Nicky enjoyed the warm weather in the lead up to America's summer

Two weeks ago Nicky enjoyed a 'magical' bridal shower in Beverly Hills, California.

The venue was decorated lavishly with gold balloons and gift bags, with the tables covered in floral arrangements and tasty canapes.

The Scrubs actress was joined by her gal pals there as well, with her fiance dropping by to surprise her with a kiss.
He has been enjoying a trip to the Middle East over the past week.

And on Monday, Zac Efron was quite the tourist as he hopped aboard a camel in the United Arab Emirates desert.

The fit actor is travelling on behalf of men's brand Hugo Boss, who he is an ambassador for.

Scroll down for video

Living it up! On Monday, Zac Efron, 29, displayed his abs during a trip to the UAE desert

The young actor choose to go shirtless for his adventure as he showed off his very impressive physique.

The High School Musical star wore a pair of black trousers and a red and white ghutra on his head.

His only accessories were a simple leather-looking necklace and mirrored shades.

What fun! The High School Musical star was quite the tourist as he spent time riding camels

Pals: For his camel ride, the 17 Again star was joined by an unknown female companion

For his camel ride, the 17 Again star was joined by an unknown female companion.

Although most likely a rookie, the California native looked to be a pro as he confidently lead the way.

His vacation surely came at a perfect time, as Zac has a busy year ahead of him.

He's got this! Although most likely a rookie, the California native looked to be a pro as he confidently lead the way

This year, the dapper star will appear in three films, including the raunchy and explicit-filled movie, Baywatch.

Zac will also star alongside Zendaya and Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman, which tells the story of P.T Barnum, the founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus.

He'll also join Kristen Bell and James Franco in The Disaster Artist, a 'behind-the-scenes look into the making of The Room', according to IMDB.
This year April Fools' Day in Australia saw a bevy of businesses and brands get in on the fun, from Krispy Kreme's 'new theme park' to Virgin's canine crew.

And it seems even Australia Zoo wasn't above pranking their guests, with Robert Irwin and Chandler Powell crashing the Bindi and the Jungle Girls presentation.

But their joke appears to have fell flat with the crowd, having been labelled 'cringe-worthy' by fans on social media.

Scroll down for video

'Cringe-worthy': Robert Irwin and Chandler Powell pulled an April Fools' joke on Australia Zoo crowds Saturday, when they crashed the Bindi and the Jungle Girls presentation

The segment began with an employee welcoming 'Bindi and the Jungle Girls' to the stage, only for her boyfriend Chandler to take to the stage.

Dressed in the zoo's classic khakis, he had also donned a bright Hawaiian lei around his neck, as well as a Frangipani flower in his hair.

He then began to introduce the act, saying 'G'Day and welcome to Bindi and the Jungle Girls,' asking the crowd what the show would be without its leading lady.

Embarrassing trick: The segment began with an employee welcoming 'Bindi and the Jungle Girls' to the stage, only for her boyfriend Chandler and brother Robert to take to the stage

Not impressed: The joke appears to have fell flat with the crowd, with many fans labelling it 'cringe-worthy' on social media

Dropping the act he asked the crowd to give the real Bindi a warm welcome, before 13-year-old Robert, her brother, ran on stage.

Doing his best to impersonate his sister, Robert complimented his 'jungle girls,' before awkwardly proclaiming 'April Fools'.

The actual Bindi, 18 then swiftly appeared, sporting a black slogan tee and bright blue leggings, declaring the trick 'hilarious'.

Joking around: Facebook users were quick to comment on the video, with one user writing: 'Love these guys but...oh dear. That fell flat on it's face. Shame'

Family business: It comes after American-born Chandler was reported to have moved into the zoo last month, taking up residence in a leafy, sectioned-off area of the park

Facebook users were quick to comment on the video and it's cringe-worthy nature, with one user writing: 'Love these guys but...oh dear. That fell flat on it's face. Shame'.

Another added: 'Oh the cringe hope they don't venture into acting too much'.

'The most cringe-worthy thing I've ever seen my whole life,' one user weighed in.

Another less-than-impressed user, wrote: 'I genuinely thought it was going to be funny...'

In their genes: Bindi and Robert have been following in their father Steve Irwin's footsteps, feeding crocodiles and presenting shows at the zoo

It comes after American-born Chandler was reported to have moved into the zoo last month, taking up residence in a leafy, sectioned-off area of the park.

The wakeboarding champion has been dating Bindi for the last two years and was invited along to the Irwin family's annual trip to Far North Queensland in 2016.

While there he achieved his first 'croc-jump' on a 10-foot saltwater crocodile.

Meanwhile, Bindi continues to follow in her famous father's footsteps, pictured feeding a huge crocodile in Australia Zoo's 'crocoseum' last week.
He's been busy filming scenes for The Greatest Showman In The World.

But Hugh Jackman took the evening off his very busy schedule to attend that launch of the Montblanc for UNICEF collection in New York, on Monday.

The 48-year-old triple threat lead star studded arrivals at the at the New York Public Library.

Scroll down for video

Looking sharp! Hugh Jackman attend that launch of the Montblanc for UNICEF collection held at the New York Public Library on Monday

The Aussie star cut a dapper figure in his fitted navy blue ensemble.

Hugh, who is a global ambassador for Montblac, was spotted striding confidently on his way to the famous New York City landmark, arriving ahead of his wife Deborra Lee-Furness.

The 61-year-old adoption advocate was a vision of elegance in her all black outfit.

Dazzling: Deborra Lee-Furness arrived a shortly after Hugh and smiled for cameras at the steps of the New York Public library

Cutting a dapper figure: Hugh donned a fitted navy blue suit ensemble

Suited up: Hugh smiled for awaiting photographers as he strode confidently to the New York City landmark

She smiled for the cameras at the steps of the library.

Her floor length dress featured an opaque skirt under sheer material and a thigh high split, which she did not show off, and paired the look with matching platform heels.

The Wolverine star posed alongside Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzk and fellow brand ambassador and Monegasque royalty Charlotte Casiraghi.

Global ambassador: He smiled for cameras at the event's media wall. Montblanc in partnership with UNICEF are hoping to raise money to provide more children with access to primary education

Supporting the UNICEF cause: The 61-year-old adoption advocate was a vision of elegance in an all black ensemble

She's all smiles: Her floor length dress featured an opaque skirt under sheer material and a thigh high split, which she did not show off. She also paired the look with matching platform heels

Special guests: The Wolverine star posed alongside Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzk and fellow brand ambassador and Monegasque royalty Charlotte Casiraghi

The socialite turned heads in an chic white mid-length dress, while the boss of the Swiss luxury group donned a black suit and navy tie.

The partnership between Montblanc and UNICEF, which began in 2004, hopes to raise money to provide more children with access to primary education.

Earlier in the year Hugh hit back at claims that he and Deborra were living separate lives, his rep slammed the rumour calling it '100 per cent fabricated.'
She's one of Australia's hottest model exports.

And Jessica Hart chose to display her edgy individual style on Tuesday when she attended the Tribeca Ball in New York City.

The 31-year-old was spotted arriving at the historic Franklin Street building that houses the charity event, which was co-chaired by fellow Australian Naomi Watts.

Scroll down for video

Supermodel: Jessica Hart chose to display her edgy individual style on Tuesday when she attended the Tribeca Ball

Based in the Big Apple for the past 10 years, the Sydney-born beauty donned an all-black ensemble to attend the downtown soiree.

She paired a short glittery dress complete with tutu skirt with a cropped jacket and high-heeled lace-up boots.

The statuesque star wore her signature blonde locks in a wavy style with a middle part and appeared to have on minimal makeup.

Stepping out: Based in New York for the past 10 years, the Sydney-born beauty donned an all-black ensemble to attend the downtown soiree

She appeared happy to see the awaiting photographers, posing for shots including a close-up of her outfit from behind.

The former Victoria's Secret model had her first name embroidered on the back of her jacket in white lettering.

She recently gave an interview to The Sydney Morning Herald about calling New York City home, but appreciating Australia during this Donald Trump presidency.

Smiling: She appeared happy to see the paparazzi, eventually posing for shots including a close-up of her outfit from behind

'Every day is a bit of a nail-biter and like, "what's going to be next?" Nothing surprises me at this point. Anything can happen. What can you do?' she explained.

The model went on to express her gratitude for her home country.

'I'm lucky to call Australia home, that's for sure. I'm lucky that that is my back-up option,' she said.
She was last seen storming off set during Married At First Sight's reunion episode.

And Scarlett Cooper, the reality star whose marriage to miner turned stripper Michael on the show was short-lived, has been spotted with a mystery man.

The blonde beauty was recently seen on Cottesloe Beach in Perth where she was joined by a male companion.

Scroll down for video

New beginnings? Scarlett Cooper, the reality star whose marriage to miner turned stripper Michael on the show was short-lived, was spotted with a mystery man in Perth recently

Given the job description of 'aspiring author' on the show, Scarlett enjoyed a warm autumn day on the west coast by laying out in the sun and later grabbing a bite.

She wore a tiny floral bikini and strolled the streets in simple black thongs.

She covered her long blonde locks with a black trucker hat that matched her black cardigan, and paired light pink mini-shorts with a bright pink handbag.

Better days: She was last seen storming off set during Married At First Sight's reunion episode

Low-key: She covered her long blonde locks with a black trucker hat that matched her black cardigan, and paired light pink mini-shorts with a bright pink handbag

It takes two: Her male companinon carried a beach towel and was dressed casually in a grey T-shirt, knee-length black shorts and thongs

Her pal carried a beach towel and was dressed casually in a grey T-shirt, knee-length black shorts and thongs.

The pair walked towards the sand and chose a spot away from other beach goers.

They stripped down to their swimsuits as they worked on their tans.

Both seemed to be intrigued by what was on their phones, taking moments in between their conversation to stop and check their devices.

Isolated: The pair walked towards the sand and chose a spot away from other beach goers

Screen time: Both seemed to be intrigued by what was on their phones, taking moments in between their conversation to stop and check their devices

Gimme five! Scarlett's blonde locks blew in the wind

Sun's out: The pair stripped down to their swimsuits as they worked on their tans

Pardon our backs! The pair soaked up the sun as they smiled and made conversation with each other

The duo later headed to lunch where they enjoyed beers and Scarlett tucked into hot chips.

Married At First Sight viewers watched as Scarlett had an explosive confrontation with her co-star Cheryl Maitland during Sunday's final dinner party of the series.

Cheryl called Scarlett 'manipulative' and accused her of ruining things when she was 'trying to give it my all' with her first 'husband' Jonathan, due to Scarlett's flirtation.

Things quickly escalated after the dinner between the ladies, with Scarlett reportedly calling the police after she ran away from the set after their argument.

She later withdrew her police complaint after it was found there was no threat to her safety.

Change of scenery: MAFS viewers watched as Scarlett had an explosive confrontation with her co-star Cheryl Maitland on Sunday's final dinner party of the series

Quality time: The blonde beauty was recently spotted on Cottesloe Beach in Perth

Better vibe: Cheryl had called Scarlett 'manipulative' and accused her of ruining things when she was 'trying to give it my all' with her first 'husband' Jonathan, due to Scarlett's flirtation

Action on-screen: Things quickly escalated after the filmed dinner between the ladies, with Scarlett reportedly calling the police after she ran away from the set after their argument
The pressure is on for the teams on My Kitchen Rules to perform well, as they get closer to the $250,000 on offer.

And it seems Court and Duncan wanted their dishes to be so perfect during their ultimate instant restaurant on Tuesday, that they failed with their time management skills.

The married couple left the guests waiting more than three hours between each course, with judge Manu Feildel slamming them when he gave his feedback.

Scroll down for video

'I'm not sure it's acceptable': On MKR on Tuesday, judge Manu Feildel slammed Court and Duncan at their ultimate instant restaurant as they took to long to serve their dishes to guests

When critiquing their profiterole dessert, Manu said they took too long in the kitchen, with the contestants coming close to dozing off.

'We did wait a long time for the main and we waited a long time for dessert,' Manu said.

'It has been a very long night and I'm not sure it's acceptable,' he said.

Over it: The contestants rested at the table and came close to falling asleep as they waited to eat

Not impressed! Manu added that their dessert was lousy considering how long they waited for it

He added that their dessert was lousy considering how long they waited for it.

'The dessert you served me was somewhat incomplete, technically it was a tiny profiterole and not correct. Very little honey, it was a very disappointing finish to a three course meal,' he said, scoring them just one point for the dessert.

The teams were left waiting three and a half hours for their main and over three hours for their dessert, with the teams saying they ate their main close to midnight.

After enjoying the entree, Josh said to camera about the wait: 'It's not New Years eve, I'm not waiting for fireworks to come out!'

While waiting for the dessert to come out, the teams were that bored that they joked they were calling Court and Duncan on a 'turf phone,' using a menu as a phone.

Bottom of the leader board! Court and Duncan (pictured) scored 40/70 from their fellow contestants and scored a grand total of 77 points after the judges scores

Della - who usually gives fair critiques - said their chicken main was 'not worth the wait' and said she would be scoring them lower for the wait time.

Court and Duncan scored 40/70 from their fellow contestants and scored a grand total of 77 points after the judges scores.

They served an entree of venison, smoked labne and blackberries and an entree of snapper, asparagus and mussel butter.

For the main, they served chicken, cauliflower rice and charred carrots, and pepperberry roo, eggplant and spinach.

Fresh: They also served an entree of snapper, asparagus and mussel butter

Tasty: They served an entree of venison, smoked labne and blackberries

Traditional: For the main, they served chicken, cauliflower rice and charred carrots

For dessert, they whipped up goats cheese profiterole, thyme and honey, and whiskey sour.

Manu said their snapper was 'gorgeous and full of flavour,' giving them an eight, but their chicken main was 'really dry' and there wasn't enough sauce, scoring them a five.

Pete Evans said their venison entree was 'bold, beautiful and delicious,' and was a 'wonderful dish on so many levels,' scoring them ten points.

Their roo main was scored a nine, as he loved the roo tail.

Kangaroo : The other main was pepperberry roo, with eggplant and spinach

He scored them a four for dessert and said he wasn't sure about how all the flavours worked together for the whiskey sour.

After receiving their scores, Duncan said how disappointed they were with their performance.

'I'm mortified, I'm painfully embarrassed by it,' he said.

Up next to cook are midwives Karen and Ros.
Olivia Palermo is a fixture on the gala circuit who never fails to make a sleek style statement.

And the 31-year-old did not disappoint on Monday in New York City at Mont Blanc's Unicef gala.

The City alum looked chic in a tuxedo jacket over a belted LBD, but her most handsome accessory was on her arm  her husband, Johannes Huebl.

Date night! Olivia Palermo and husband Johannes Huebl were a stylish pair on Monday in New York City at the Mont Blanc Unicef gala

Olivia teamed the outfit with a pair of green snakeskin pumps, a bronze snakeskin clutch and black choker.

Her brown hair was slicked back and she had on a natural palette of make-up.

Joining the socialite was her 39-year-old husband Johannes.

City chic: The City alum looked chic in a tuxedo jacket over a belted LBD

The 6ft2in German model looked sharp in a dark blue suit teamed with lace-up shoes that featured a blue gradient color.

The couple will celebrate three years of marriage in June.

The star-studded soiree attracted a boldface roster of stars, including Diane Kruger, who greeted Olivia and posed for photos.

Hot accessory! The 6ft2in German model looked sharp in a dark blue suit

The blonde actress turned up the heat in a strapless black top that featured sheer detail around the bust and showed a generous portion of her decolletage.

A pair of flared trousers and a sparkling necklace completed the outfit.

' UNICEF & Montblanc  Making sure so many children will get the opportunity to learn and write,' she said of the event on Instagram.

Gala girls! The star-studded soiree attracted a boldface roster of stars, including Diane Kruger

Bust in show! The blonde actress turned up the heat in a strapless black top that featured sheer detail around the bust

Victoria's Secret stunner Elsa Hosk looked sultry in a very sheer asymmetric mini dress, and Hugh Jackman looked dapper in a blue suit.

Other guests included actress Carly Chaikin and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek.

Eye-catching: The Swedish model's thigh-skimming number had one long sleeve and she added black nylons and black heels. Hosk wore her long blonde hair in voluminous curls
Channel Ten has rubbished claims that Masterchef is in trouble after its celebrity judge George Calombaris was found to have underpaid restaurant staff by $2.6 million.

The network stood by its star chef, arguing that 'it is ridiculous and illogical' for the 38-year-old's payment troubles to affect the ratings of the long-running show, news.com.au reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, George's MAdE Establishment was advised by the Fair Work Ombudsman more than 18 months ago that 162 staff across three Melbourne restaurants were being underpaid.

Scroll down for video

'It is ridiculous and illogical': Channel Ten rubbishes claims that Masterchef will be impacted by scrutiny of judge George Calombaris

Channel Ten told News Corp Australia that the George had the 'full support' of the network, adding that the restaurateur was already taking steps to rectify the underpayments.

'George Calombaris and his team at MAdE are dealing with the incorrect payments made to employees to ensure every affected employee receives their full entitlements,' a spokesperson said.

Media analyst Steve Allen also told the website he didn't believe Masterchef would suffer because of George's underpayments.

Supported: Channel Ten told News Corp Australia that the George had the 'full support' of the network

He cited the controversy around My Kitchen Rules' judge Pete Evans and his paleo lifestyle, which have not impacted the Channel Seven show's ratings.

'It would have been a disaster in a couple of weeks or during the early run of MasterChef Australia 2017 but it has been well handled by expediting it now,' Steve said.

On Monday George was forced to apologise after his restaurant business underpaid staff by a whopping $2.6 million.

George's MAdE Establishment was advised by the Fair Work Ombudsman more than 18 months ago that 162 staff across three Melbourne restaurants were being underpaid.

But underpaid staff had to wait until Monday to receive their full entitlements.

Paying up: MasterChef host George Calombaris (pictured) has been forced to apologise after his restaurant business underpaid staff by a whopping $2.6 million

The business, which confirmed the underpayments through internal and external analysis, put the matter down to 'historically poor processes'.

George told staff he was 'devastated by what had happened' and 'was so sorry we have messed up and let you down'.

'We received a heads-up from FWO [Fair Work Ombudsman] more than 18 months ago, which should have resulted in us fixing our systems sooner,' he said in an email to staff on Monday.

'Regrettably, our attention to detail at that time wasn't at a level it should have been but we now have a CEO and Human Resources Manager in place, supported by good processes and systems to properly support the business.

Employed: Some of the underpaid staff were employees of Melbourne restaurant Gazi (pictured)

Another venue: Of the 162 staff who were underpaid a total of $2.6 million, some were employees of Hellenic Republic (pictured)

Underpaid: Employees at MAdE Establishments' The Press Club (pictured) were also affected by underpayments

'We are truly sorry for the impact this has had on our incredibly hard-working, talented and dedicated staff.'

Staff affected were employees of MAdE Establishment restaurants The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic, while those at the group's chain Jimmy Grant's were not impacted.

In the same email, the chief executive of MAdE Establishment and the board of directors said the business should have acted quicker to rectify the issue.

'Regrettably, concerns around our payroll system were brought to the business's attention more than 18 months ago by the Fair Work Ombudsman and further investigation by us at this time should have uncovered the problem and allowed the business to act with more speed and focus to sort it out,' the email said.

The business also said about half the affected team members were found to have been paid a higher base salary than they were entitled to but all employees had not receive overtime payments owed.

Those higher salaries will not be lowered, the business said.
Cara Santana joined BFF Ashley Greene for a belated birthday celebration on Monday.

Cara, who turned 33 on Sunday, joined her pal for dinner at trendy Craig's in West Hollywood.

She left carrying a large paper bag containing gifts from the Twilight actress as the pair headed home from their 'date'.

Girls night out: Cara Santana joined BFF Ashley Greene for a belated birthday celebration on Monday and the two actresses were seen giggling as they left trendy Craig's in Hollywood

Cara, an actress, was dressed in a long pale pink dress with long sleeves and a cowl neck.

She added gray and black snakeskin boots and carried a white shoulder purse.

The dark-haired beauty wore her tresses in a sophisticated bun, a style echoed by Ashley.

Birthday girl: Cara, who turned 33 on Sunday, was dressed in a long pale pink dress with long sleeves and a cowl neck. She added snakeskin boots and carried a white shoulder purse

Casual style: Ashley, 30, wore skinny blue jeans with nude heels and a white t-shirt. She added a lightweight jacket and carried a black and tan purse and a large phone

The 30-year-old wore skinny blue jeans with nude heels and a white t-shirt.

She added a lightweight jacket and carried a black and tan purse and a large phone.

Ashley also wore the diamond sparkler her Australian fiance Paul Khoury gave her when he proposed on December 19.
She has been spending plenty of time with her partner Simon Cowell since he returned to the States.

But Lauren Silverman enjoyed a day to herself on Monday as she indulged in a spot of shopping in Los Angeles.

The socialite, 39, kept things casually chic in a simple skinny jeans and cardigan combo as she picked up a few essentials in West Hollywood.

Scroll down for video

Natural beauty: Lauren Silverman enjoyed a day to herself on Monday as she indulged in a spot of shopping in Los Angeles

The mother-of-one looked truly radiant as she stepped out in her low-key look of figure-hugging jeans and a cardigan with statement red and khaki sleeves.

Never without a trademark hint of glamour however, the brunette carried a sleek quilted Chanel handbag and sported a pair of velvet heeled sandals, to add height to her already leggy frame.

Sweeping her hair off her face with oversized shades, Lauren displayed her glowing complexion and naturally pretty features for all to see - which she accentuated with rosy blusher and a nude lip.

Keeping it casual: The mother-of-one looked truly radiant as she stepped out in her low-key look of figure-hugging jeans and a cardigan with statement red and khaki sleeves

The stunner appeared completely relaxed as she browsed the shops of her local area - enjoying some time alone without Simon Cowell or their sweet son Eric, 3, in tow.

After a few weeks alone in the States while Simon filmed Britain's Got Talent in the UK, Lauren was reunited with her partner last month.

Proving their relationship to be stronger than ever, the pair were seen enjoying a date night together last week as they celebrated their philanthropist pal Haim Saban receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Relaxed: Lauren has been enjoying quality time with her son Eric, three, in LA while her partner Simon Cowell filmed Britain's Got Talent in the UK

In 2013, it was revealed Simon had been in a relationship with his then-best friend Andrew Silverman's wife, after pictures emerged showing them kissing on a yacht.

The pair then welcomed their son - a half-sibling for Lauren's son Adam from her previous marriage - in February 2014, and named him after Simon's late father, who died in 1999.

However, the Syco owner confessed last year that he had struggled to form a close relationship with his son following his arrival.

Speaking to Jimmy Fallon, the TV star admitted that he was worried about a disconnect between the pair.

'I wasn't good to begin with,' he began. 'I thought he was going to be like a puppy. Like you could throw thing and he would retrieve them.

'After eight months I thought he hated me. Then one day he was watching me on TV and then he kind of got me, and he started talking to me and now we're buddies.'

Yet, speaking to the Mirror late last year, Simon went on to gush that his son has now given him a whole new perspective on life.

He said in the heartfelt chat: 'Now that I am a father I understand on a much deeper level how devastating it would be to hear the news that your child was unwell.'
Married At First Sight contestant Susan Rawlings has spoken out against show producers again on Tuesday, claiming other contestants are 'too scared' to speak up about the 'horrific' treatment because they fear legal action.

The 37-year-old Perth truck driver's allegations come after she broke a confidentiality agreement and risked legal action on Sunday to speak out about staff who she believed breached her 'basic human rights.'

Next, cast mate Lauren Bran alleged the Endemol Shine Production company 'bullied' contestants, and while no other participants have spoken out since, expert Psychologists have now expressed concern for entrant's 'mental health.'

'Too scared': Married At First Sight contestant's are reportedly 'too scared' to speak out about 'horrific' treatment from show producers, with Susan again risking legal action to express her frustration

Expressing concern in particular for supposed show 'villain' Anthony, Susan believes the reality show has unfairly portrayed the Sydney-based racing broadcaster, leaving him housebound.

'Anthony doesnt go out of the house. Hes been threatened so many times from drunk people at the racetrack from the way hes being portrayed and they dont even care,' she told news.com.au

Explaining why he hasn't made these claims himself, the personality added: 'He texted me this morning, saying: Good on you... you just said what we all want to say and were all too scared to say it. Were all too scared.'

Not bound by the same confidentiality agreement as participants, expert Psychologist Dr Melissa Keogh added some professional weight to the claims on Tuesday.

Speaking for them: 'Anthony doesnt go out of the house. Hes been threatened so many times from drunk people at the racetrack from the way hes being portrayed and they dont even care,' she said

Taking a risk: Explaining why he hasn't made these claims himself, the personality added: 'He texted me this morning, saying: 'You just said what we all want to say and were all too scared to say it'

'[Copping national backlash] Can have an enormous impact on ones mental health which can have flow on effects to their physical health,' the doctor remarked.

She also believed that despite Endemol Shine's insistence that Psychologists are on hand to help contestants - a fact that Susan has confirmed - it is within their duty of care to reach out to any distressed contestants themselves.

The Perth truck driver is adamant that this has not happened, even though she insists she reached out to show producers to express concern several times.

Not scared: Joining Susan, cast mate Lauren Bran alleged the Endemol Shine Production company 'bullied' contestants, but no other contestant has spoken up since

Doctor's word: Psychologists also expressed concerns, saying: '[Copping national backlash] Can have an enormous impact on ones mental health which can have flow on effects to their physical health,'

Even after going public, the personality has been met with a swathe of negative commentary from show fans, prompting her to ask program execs why they couldn't just 'tell the truth.'

The latest round of criticism for the Channel Nine Experiment comes after the former 'Wife' of fellow contestant Sean risked legal action to speak to Perth Now on Sunday.

She alleged producers on the show 'fed lines' to contestants and psychologists, used editing to 'fake' her breakup with Sean and made participants 'beg for toilet breaks.'

In addition to allegations of inadequate facilities and conditions, the 37-year-old has also claimed producers turned up at her hotel room with a script.

The latest round of criticism for the Channel Nine Experiment comes after Susan alleged producers on the show 'fed lines' to contestants and psychologists, used editing to 'fake' her breakup with Sean and made participants 'beg for toilet breaks.'

A spokesperson for show production house Endemol Shine Australia also spoke to the publication, refuting a lot of Susan's claims, without commenting on her specific examples.

'All participants are given adequate food, water and breaks and have access to psychological support, which has always been available at any time throughout the show and continues to be,' the spokesperson said.

They were adamant they treated their duty of care seriously, and were in regular contact with contestants.
She recently released her second fitness DVD after working hard to slim down.

And Frankie Essex was flaunting the results of her hard work in a white bikini as she enjoyed a dip in the sea on holiday in Crete.

The TOWIE star, 28, displayed her flat stomach and slimline legs in the simple two-piece, featuring crossover strap detailing on the top.

Scroll down for video

Weight loss: Frankie Essex was flaunting the results of her hard work in a white bikini as she enjoyed a dip in the sea on holiday in Crete

Frankie was safety conscious, donning a life jacket before hopping on a jet ski.

The blonde beauty looked like she was having a whale of a time during her solo session, riding the waves like a pro.

The ITVBe star lost over two stone in seven months after her weight ballooned to 12st 8lbs when she turned to food in the wake of a painful love split.

In great shape: The TOWIE star, 28, displayed her flat stomach and slimline legs in the simple two-piece

Speaking recently about her lowest point, Frankie told MailOnline: 'I've had a year and a half of being sad and depressed and not even wanting to leave the house at times.'

The reality star previously blamed a bad boyfriend for 'the worst year of her life' in which she contemplated suicide.

Joey and Frankie lost their mother to suicide during their teenage years and Frankie said she feared she might 'fall into the same hole'.

Taking to the seas: The blonde beauty looked like she was having a whale of a time during her solo session, riding the waves like a pro

She added: 'I want to show everyone that being sad is all in your head and you need to believe in yourself and that you can do it.'

Frankie fought her own inner battles to find a love of fitness, explaining that she had to overcome the fear of being judged when she first rejoined a gym and embarked on her weight loss journey.

'Sometimes I think the gym's a bit scary,' she said. 'I didn't go for ages, it's a bit intimidating. Especially being on TV, I felt like everyone was looking at me anyway, and I was bigger and I felt fat.'
She recently showed her support for her former flame Jeremy McConnell on Twitter with a touching tribute as he enters rehab.

And now, Stephanie Davis, 24, has revealed her three-month-old son Caben-Albi is getting her through the difficult time in a candid Snapchat on Monday.

The former Hollyoaks actress - who welcomed her newborn with the Irish model - has been a constant support for her ex, 27, as he deals with the grief of losing his father and aunt in the space of a month.

Scroll down for video

Tribute: Stephanie Davis, 24, has revealed her three-month-old son Caben-Albi is getting her through the difficult time in a candid Snapchat on Monday

As the CBB alum battles his demons in a treatment facility, Stephanie admitted having their son has given her a newfound strength to pull through the darkness.

She shared the sweet snap of her little tot fast asleep in his striped baby grow to her social media, captioning it: 'He keeps me going my absolute world'.

Her darling snap comes after she confessed that she is 'so proud' of her former flame in her encouraging Twitter tribute after he checked 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.

'Proud': Stephanie vocalised her support of her on/off beau's brave decision to check into rehab, 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 - 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.

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'.

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.

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'

After endless tensions throughout her pregnancy as Jeremy staunchly denied he was the father of her child, the pair then rekindled their relationship a few weeks after Caben-Albi was born in January.

However, the pair seemingly split again earlier this month when Jeremy allegedly assaulted his former flame while he was staying at her home in Liverpool - which Stephanie now implies is down to his addiction.

The Irish model was taken into police custody at a Merseyside police station in North West England a few days after the alleged incident for questioning - just days after Stephanie shared a shocking photo of her brusied legs to Instagram.

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.

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

'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.
He rose to fame as loudmouthed alcoholic rockstar Billy Mack in Love Actually.

And 14-years on, Bill Nighy STILL gets asked to recite his infamous words of 'wisdom' from the show for fans.

Appearing on The Project, the 67-year-old said one particular line was requested so often it would 'become his epitaph', before revealing he still managed to squeeze into his skin-tight costume for the romantic comedy's recent reunion film.

Still successful: Bill Nighy appeared on The Project on Tuesday night, revealing that he was asked to recite one infamous line so often that it would 'become his epitaph' when he dies

When asked by comedian Peter Helliar what line fans bug him to recite the most, the veteran actor barely had to think about his answer.

'Hey kids, don't buy drugs - become a rock star and people give you them for free!' he said, easily dipping back into character as the reckless rocker.

'When I die it will become my epitaph,' he added, garnering rapturous laughter from the studio crowd.

Next, Bill talked about his time filming the Love Actually reunion short film for comic relief last month.

The line: When asked by Peter Helliar what line fans bug him to recite the most 'Hey kids, don't buy drugs - become a rock star and people give you them for free!' he quipped

Straight back into it: The 67-year-old quickly dipped back into character, despite the film now being 14-years old

'My epitaph': 'When I die it will become my epitaph,' he added, garnering rapturous laughter from the studio crowd

The follow up that dropped back in on the likes of Hugh Grant's David, Keira Knightley's runaway bride Juliet and Colin Firth's Jamie, also saw the now almost 70-year-old dropping back into his infamous snakeskin pants.

'Well, the big news is I can still get into those trousers!' he quipped, earning another rousing response from the audience.

'And I had to wear some industrial jewellery! And if you asked me how Billy Mack is doing, I'd say he is not in very good shape!'

He then praised the cast for returning, despite many of their careers reaching stratospheric levels following the film's cult success.

Bill wears the pants: Speaking about the recently released reunion film that saw the now almost 70-year-old back in his infamous snakeskin pants, he happily announced 'they still fit!'

'Nobody hesitated because it's Comic Relief which has saved millions of children's lives... Everybody is back for it.'

He also discussed his upcoming film 'Their finest,' commenting on how rare it was to work with a female director.

'I don't know what the actual numbers are, but they're not enough,' he said of female representation in writing and directing roles.

'There should be total equality in those areas - there's no reason why one's gender would recommend you more than another.'

Singing praises: He then praised the rest of the cast for appearing in the charity clip, saying 'Nobody hesitated because it's Comic Relief which has saved millions of children's lives'
She co-hosts Just Tattoo Of Us with her beau Stephen Bear, which is currently airing on MTV.

But Charlotte Crosby couldn't tear herself away from the inking parlour on Monday, as she was pictured posing up a storm outside Nemesis tattoo shop in Camden.

The 26-year-old former Geordie Shore star styled a short and stylish T-shirt dress with the slogan 'searching out the snakes' emblazoned on it.

Scroll down for video

Check her out: Charlotte Crosby puts on leggy display in daring mini slogan T-shirt dress for stunning magazine shoot outside tattoo shop in Camden on Monday

All eyes were on the tattoo fanatic as she leaned against the backdrop of a graffiti wall in the trendy attire with a plunging neckline.

The V-shaped inset neckline gives off the same effect as a cloth chic choker.

She dressed down her chic ensemble with comfy lilac trainers and only wore a silver watch to accessorise.

Going for a windswept look, she wore her tousled golden curls in natural waves around her face.

Sexy: The 26-year-old Geordie Shore star styled a grey short stylish T-shirt dress with the slogan 'Searching out the snakes' emblazoned on it

Super legs: The little white dress showed off her slender elongated limbs to her legion of 5.7million followers. Her legs looked even longer as she teamed the gown with beige boots

Fashion icon: The reality TV star isn't shy to show off her leggy frame on Instagram. She styles a range of fabulous clothing lines such as the black knitwear jumper decorated with roses

Pulling out all the stops, she wore bold eye-catching smoky eye makeup teamed with a pale lipstick for the shoot.

Playfully the reality TV queen gestured with her hands, revealing one of her many inks.

The tattoo of the peace sign inside a triangle on her wrist, which means 'Power, Love and Peace', was inspired by her former beau and co-star Gary Beadle.

They met when Geordie Shore began in 2011 but viewers watched as the former flames struggled to make their relationship work over the course of five years.

Moving on, Charlotte is now very loved-up with Stephen, 27, after the pair rekindled their love.

Tattoo fanatic: The star once again puts the emphasis on her leggy frame as she shows off her best assets in fishnet tights and transparent white plastic boots

Head-over-heels in love: Charlotte is now very loved-up with Stephen Bear, 27, after the pair rekindled their relationship

She revealed on This Morning that she believes Bear is 'the one' and she wants to have children with him.

She said: 'When you've met The One, its The One. I want to be with Stephen for the rest of my life, otherwise why would I be wasting my time with him now?

'I want to be with him for the rest of my life, so he is the person I will have children with.'

The lovebirds are really enjoying soaking up each other's company as they jetted off to the sunny Dominican Republic for a romantic break.
They're the Married At First Sight couple who have enjoyed a scandal-free relationship since filming on the controversial matchmaking show aired.

And Alene Khactcherian and Simon McQuillan claim they are 'open' to whatever comes next.

Speaking on A Current Affair on Tuesday, Alene revealed they've been 'talking about broadening' their relationship, despite still living interstate.Scroll down for video

'Although it's the beginning, we're hopeful': Married At First Sight's Alene and Simone discuss their next step together, including having TWINS during interview with A Current Affair on Tuesday

TV pairing: Alene and Simon revealed they've been 'talking about broadening' their relationship since being paired on the controversial matchmaking series and are 'open' to whatever comes next

The loved-up pair insisted they are still together after filming ended a month ago.

Alene appeared clucky during the chat, saying: 'I think having twins: one pregnancy, two kids. twice. Why would you fall pregnant when you can do it in one go?'

'No, I'm not pregnant right now,' she quickly said, before speaking about the future: 'Who knows. We're open.'

The show's relationship experts and psychologists agreed the pair were 'everyone's favourites' and are the real deal.

Is she clucky? While Alene insisted 'I'm not pregnant right now', she claimed having twins would be ideal as 'Why would you fall pregnant when you can do it in one go?'

'They are a great couple. Such growth there': The show's relationship experts and psychologists agreed the pair were 'everyone's favourites' and are the real deal

'Alene and Simon. They are a great couple. Such growth there,' they said.

The experts also praised Alene: 'She's so caring and so soft, with his dad dying and having to go back home and his dad wasn't there, and taking Alene home was really tough for Simon. and they are doing so well.'

Alene said: 'I think we're doing well, considering how we met the experiment itself and, you know, and the distance relationship, unusual circumstances.'

While Simon chimed in to say despite living in Queensland and Alene in Sydney: 'We're still working on it. That's something.'

'We're still working on it. That's something': While the pair still live in separate states, Simon said they are still working on being together

The nurse was matched on the show with the Ipswich truckie, with the two enjoying one of the more stable love matches in the face of other couple's cheating scandals and verbal spats.

And Alene has previously said she has no interest in a media career and only went on the show because she was 'getting desperate' in her search for love in an interview with The Daily Telegraph last week.

The couple have also expressed no interest in further media attention, unlike their fellow contestants who have used their time on the show to attend events and boost their social media profiles.

'I was getting desperate': Married At First Sight's Alene went on the show because she was 'sick of being alone' and plans to stick to nursing once series ends

Lucky in love: Alene was matched on the show with Ipswich truckie Simon McQuillan, with the two enjoying a scandal-free relationship

'I actually applied because I was getting desperate': The bubbly brunette told News Corp Australia that she had only gone on the show because she wanted to find love

'I actually applied because I was getting desperate, I was sick of being alone,' Alene confessed.

She also explained that she had made a conscious effort to be herself and act naturally on the show, and would be happy to have things return to normal once the show's publicity died down.

'I know media and TV work is not for me, I will stick to nursing,' Alene said.

Alene revealed that she had received a largely positive reaction from the public, often getting stopped on the street by fans.

'I know media and TV work is not for me': She also explained that she had made a conscious effort to be herself and act naturally on the show

She said the warm reception was in contrast to her school yard days.

'I was never that popular at school so this was a welcome relief,' Alene said.

During a recent Married At First Sight episode, Alene hinted that she would be open to relocating to the country to live with Simon.

The couple have purposefully been taking things slow during their relationship, with Simon explaining that he wouldn't be saying 'I love you' to Alene until they were further along.

A Current Affair revealed 7000 people have already applied for the 2018 season, with applications still open for hopeful contestants.
They've been kept busy with their careers of late.

Yet, Michelle Keegan and husband Mark Wright made sure to take a time out of their gruelling schedules to enjoy a whirlwind trip to the City of Love, Paris, ahead of their second wedding anniversary next month.

The loved-up couple - who married in 2015 - looked blissfully happy as they strolled along the streets of the French capital arm-in-arm on Tuesday.

Scroll down for video

Happy couple: Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright looked blissfully happy as they strolled along the streets of the French capital arm-in-arm on Tuesday

The TV power couple enjoyed lunch at L'Avenue restaurant before shopping for designer wares at Gucci.

Michelle was casually clad for their outing, sporting a loose pink knit with ripped jeans embellished with a frayed hem.

She added some glamour to her look thanks to cream coloured caged heels and coordinating handbag.

Mark opted to showcase his muscles in a tight khaki top paired with simple black jeans.

Shopping spree: The TV power couple enjoyed lunch at L'Avenue restaurant before shopping for designer wares at Gucci

Off-duty chic: Michelle was casually clad for their outing, sporting a loose pink knit with ripped jeans embellished with a frayed hem

Colour coordinated: She added some glamour to her look thanks to cream coloured caged heels and coordinating handbag

The pair were soaking up the atmosphere, looking loved-up as ever during their romantic walk.

Michelle and Mark were sure to document their romantic breakaway, taking to Instagram to showcase their many candid moments on Monday.

Making his social media followers envious, former TOWIE star Mark posted a magical photo with the city's most famous landmark - the Eiffel Tower -glistening in the background.

Smitten: The pair were soaking up the atmosphere, looking loved-up as ever during their romantic walk

Touchy feely: The couple put on a rare public display of affection as they strolled along

Mr. muscular: Mark opted to showcase his ripped physique in a tight khaki top paired with simple black jeans

Tactile: Michelle grabbed hold of Mark's arm to steady herself as she crossed the street

The I'm A Celeb alum posed shirtless in the sizzling snap, showcasing his muscular back as he looked out from his hotel balcony towards the breath-taking spectacle.

Captioning the photo, he wrote: 'Just one last look before bed. #roomwithaview #wheninparis'.

The Heart FM presenter Mark - who recently turned 30 - also shared a number of other snaps that showcased their first day in the French capital, enjoying a number of his and hers cocktails at Le Bar Botaniste at Shangri-La Hotel.

All of the lights: Michelle and Mark made sure to take a time out of their gruelling schedules to enjoy a whirlwind trip to the City of Love, Paris, ahead of their second wedding anniversary next month

Romantic: The loved-up couple - who married in 2015 - were sure to document their romantic breakaway, taking to Instagram to showcase their many candid moments on Monday

Former Corrie star Michelle, 30, shared several snaps on her Instagram story, showcasing that the many French delicacies they enjoyed, including a dish of escargots.

Also taken a back from the incredible view from their dazzling lodgings, the actress - who has enjoyed two breaks away this already with Mark - shared a short clip of the Eiffel Tower's lights twinkling in the moonlight.

Writing along the mesmerising video, she wrote: 'With love from Paris' with a lip emoji.

Their amorous display comes as Michelle prepares to jet off to South Africa ahead of filming for the second series of BBC drama Our Girl.

Cheers: The Heart FM presenter Mark - who recently turned 30 - also shared a number of other snaps that showcased their first day in the French capital, enjoying a number of his and hers cocktails at Le Bar Botaniste at Shangri-La Hotel

Amorous: Their amorous display comes as Michelle prepares to jet off to South Africa ahead of filming for the second series of BBC drama Our Girl (Pictured in Oman in March)

The brunette beauty - who plays Corporal Georgie Lane in the hit show - is set to film the third series of the popular drama later this month.

The starlet is reportedly expected to be away for up to eight months but her man will no doubt fly out to join her on occasion.

Late last month, the actress brushed off rumours that her marriage of a-year-and-a-half was in trouble.

Back to it: The brunette beauty - who plays Corporal Georgie Lane in the hit show - is set to film the third series of the popular drama later this month

She told Daily Star Sunday's TV Life magazine: 'Are the rumours rubbish? Yeah. We are all very good and everything is fine. Our marriage is going really well.

'Were happy. I dont want to constantly say "were happy, were fine", because why validate it? If were happy, were happy.'

She also says that Mark has never had a problem with her racy appearances on TV - which has included a steamy sex scene with Our Girl co-star Luke Pasqualino.

No problem: She also says that Mark has never had a problem with her racy appearances on TV - which has included a steamy sex scene with Our Girl co-star Luke Pasqualino (Pictured)

Brunette beauty Michelle said: 'People like to build [the sex scenes] up like its really embarrassing for him, but hes seen it so many times, I dont think it fazes him.'

The pairs marriage came under scrutiny last year as Michelle filmed Our Girl over several months in South Africa  away from Mark.

Rumours at the time surfaced claiming Michelle was growing increasingly close to her co-star Luke, who plays maverick Special Forces officer Elvis Harte.
The offspring of Hollywood superstars often carry the hallmark of being nepotistically-reliant, privileged and spoilt.

Yet Clint Eastwood's son Scott is adamant he fits no such bill as he spoke to this month's Men's Health magazine about life as the son of a legend atop his feelings about stepping into his late pal Paul Walker's shoes in Fast And The Furious.

The 31-year-old actor spoke candidly for the publication before stripping off to show off his incredibly muscular frame in a sizzling new shoot.

Scroll down for video

Pumping it: Clint Eastwood's son Scott is adamant he fits no such bill as he spoke to this month's Men's Health magazine about life as the son of a legend atop his feelings about stepping into his late pal Paul Walker's shoes in Fast And The Furious

Scott is one of Clint's eight children, and while he is one of Hollywood's living legends, Scott insists they were not given an easy ride.

The struggle for the handsome actor is that when he first tried to forge a career in Hollywood he was not taken seriously because of the shadow of the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly star.

He said: 'I came (to Hollywood) to try and do something and nobody took me seriously. Everyone brushed me off, like: "Youre Clint Eastwoods son, youre not a real f**king actor". Some people are still like that. I never thought I would last in this business, but it finally seems to be working out.'

As a double edged sword, he was not helped by his father in the manner his critics seem to believe as he insisted he went it alone: 'My dad never gave me a cent. He made me work for everything.

Hunky: The 31-year-old actor spoke candidly for the publication before stripping off to show off his incredibly muscular frame in a sizzling new shoot

Not easy: Scott is one of Clint's seven children, as he is also father to Kimber, 52, Kyle, 48, Alison, 44, Kathryn, 29, Francesca, 23 and Morgan, 20, and while he is one of Hollywood's living legends, Scott insists they were not given an easy ride

'Man he was hard on me but it hardened me and gave me drive. My dad is a machine about exercise. He showed me how to lift when I was 14 or 15  he gave me some advice, then left me to do it on my own.'

Scott's latest acting role is in the upcoming movie Fast 8, also known as The Fate of the Furious - the first in the franchise not to star his late friend Paul.

Paul died in 2013, when he was in a horrific car crash alongside pal Roger Rodas, whose Porsche Carrera crashed into a lamp post and two trees, after which Paul died from trauma and burns, while Roger died from multiple trauma.

Pump it up: Scott's latest acting role is in the upcoming movie Fast 8, also known as The Fate of the Furious - the first in the franchise not to star his late friend Paul

Hold on tight: Amid the devastation of their friend's passing, the tight-knit cast, including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson, have managed to continue in the next endeavor with Scott stepping in to the eighth installment

Amid the devastation of their friend's passing, the tight-knit cast, including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson, have managed to continue in the next endeavor with Scott stepping in to the eighth installment.

Scott, who was close friends with Paul, stated: 'I knew Paul for close to 15 years, he was a mentor and an older brother to me.

'So when my agents brought up the project, my first thought was that it was just too close to home. But the more I thought about it, I imagined that Paul would be looking down at me, saying Dont be an idiot, just go out there and do it.

'On some days I would feel his presence there and suddenly Id be on the verge of tears. There were moments when I just felt completely overwhelmed by missing him, so Vin and Tyrese and I would stop and share stories about him.

Close.. Scott, who was close friends with Paul, stated: 'I knew Paul for close to 15 years, he was a mentor and an older brother to me'

The full interview is available in the May 2017 issue of Mens Health

'The whole experience mirrored a lot of the themes that feature in the movie  about family, about going on a journey. It was a powerful thing and I was honoured to be a part of it.'

Aside from family and work, Scott spoke about his quest for happiness: 'The less I judge myself, the happier life is. Im not interested in being remembered as a rich, successful actor.

'I want to be remembered as someone who did what he loved and who affected people in a positive way. Not much frightens me, but thinking I wont impact people in that way scares me to death.'

The full interview is available in the May 2017 issue of Mens Health, on sale Wednesday 5th April
He's joined a modelling agency and moved out of his mother's guest cottage since appearing on Married At First Sight.

But Jesse Konstantinoff claims while he's getting plenty of attention, he has no love interests right now.

The Adelaide-based hunk revealed to A Current Affair on Tuesday: 'A lot more people know me. I still feel like me, it's just very surreal for me.'

Scroll down for video

'There is no one special until this is all over': MAFS's Jesse claims he's holding off finding his new love interest until media attention dies down in an interview with A Current Affair on Tuesday

In the interview he revealed he'd been on 'a couple of dates', but wasn't looking for anything serious.

'There is no one special until this is all over,' he said.

'I'm just trying to wait for it to simmer down,' Jesse said of the media attention as he dates and seeks a new partner after TV 'bride' Michelle Marsh.

Speaking to the Today show last month, the handsome grocer claimed he was never 'in love' with the blonde bombshell.

'I'm just trying to wait for it to simmer down': While Jesse is not looking for anything serious in terms of his love life right now, he's recently joined a modelling agency and moved out of his mother's guest cottage since appearing on Married At First Sight

'I wouldn't go that far,' he said when asked by host Karl Stefanovic if he has fallen for Michelle.

Jesse appeared 'heartbroken' over Michelle's choice to leave him on the show, telling the twin at the time: 'I will fight for us, for as long as you let me. Michelle.'

But the handsome reality star backtracked during his appearance on the morning show, telling Karl and his co-host Lisa Wilkinson: 'I look back at it now. I look at each other and I think we're better off as mates.'

He also took a thinly veiled swipe at Michelle, telling Karl and Lisa he is now looking for someone that isn't 'high maintenance'.

'I wouldn't go that far': MAFS's Jesse claimed he was never in love with his TV bride Michelle during an appearance on the Today show on Wednesday, after he got dumped by the blonde bombshell

'Australia's most eligible bachelor': The newly single grocer was happy to talk about his future dating requirements to hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson

Meanwhile, the morning duo were quick to label the newly single 31-year-old as 'Australia's most eligible bachelor.'

The good-looking retail clerk appeared chuffed, happily obliging to further questions on his dating future.

Among other qualities, Jesse added that he wanted a girl 'who is down to earth and easy going.'
Wil Anderson has been vocal about his use of Medical Marijuana to treat chronic pain in the past, and has even appeared on camera smoking the substance.

Now, the 43-year-old Australian comedian is leading the charge to have cannabis legalised for medical use in the country.

Speaking to Channel 10's The Project on Tuesday, the funnyman said that similar measures in America are 'saving lives,' before joking that he gets his prescription off 'Dr. Dre.'

Wil on weed: Australian comedian Wil Anderson has called for the government to legalise medical marijuana, claiming it has 'saved lives' in America

When asked by show host Carrie Bickmore about the differences he's found splitting his time between America and Australia, the topic of marijuana was quickly brought up.

'I hope so,' he said of Australia's chances of legalising the substance, before mentioning that it's a much better way to treat chronic pain than the current methods.

'In America, since they've (allowed) medicinal marijuana, in some states opioid deaths have gone down by one-third, so it is saving lives,' he claimed.

'Three million people have chronic pain in this country and it's a thing where they normally will diagnose you open opioids, and there's this amazing opioid addiction as a result.'

Ongoing project: Speaking on The Project, the 43-year-old said: 'In America, since they've (allowed) medicinal marijuana, in some states opioid deaths have gone down by one-third, so it is saving lives'

Like a true comedian, he made sure to quickly bring the mood back up again after discussing the contentious topic.

'My doctor tells me, and you may of heard of him: [American rapper] Dr.Dre, and he says it all checks out!' he quipped.

In the past, the international acclaimed Gruen Transfer host has been open about his day-to-day use of medical marijuana to treat his chronic osteoarthritis.

Lighting up: Like a true comedian, he made sure to quickly bring the mood back up: 'My doctor tells me, and you may of heard of him: [American rapper] Dr.Dre, and he says it all checks out!' he quipped

In 2014, he appeared on US comic Doug Benson's 'Getting Doug With High' Youtube show, smoking a weed pipe several times throughout.

At times during the clip, Wil appeared to be laughing uncontrollably at largely inconsequential topics.

At one point, fellow comedian Doug mentioned that he wasn't very good at keeping the bowl of his pipe clean, sending the Australian into a fit of laughter that lasted several seconds.

Needs weed: In the past, the international acclaimed Gruen Transfer host has been open about his day-to-day use of medical marijuana to treat his chronic osteoarthritis
She's back from flaunting her pregnant frame in a bikini during her Hamilton Island 'babymoon' with hubby Hamish Blake.

And now, Zoe Foster-Blake has been spotted covering up her baby bump in much cooler temperatures.

The 36-year-old blended comfort with style on Tuesday, pairing a navy sweater with skintight activewear as she ran errands in Melbourne.

Blue for two! Zoe Foster-Blake mixed comfort with style on Tuesday, covering her burgeoning baby bump in a navy sweater as she ran errands in Melbourne

The style blogger continues to prove it's possible to look your best when you're with-child, barely showing any signs of her burgeoning bump.

Zoe appeared to be back from a gym session, rugging-up in a blue Nike sweater while flaunting her lithe legs in tight black leggings.

The beauty added a touch of brightness to her understated yet elegant look, fitting-out her training shoes with lime green laces.

Staying fit! The 36-year-old appeared to be back from a gym session, rugging-up in a blue Nike sweater and wearing skintight leggings

Brighten up! The soon to be mother-of-two added a touch of brightness to her understated yet elegant look, fitting-out her training shoes with lime green laces

Tying her hair back into an effortless low bun, she completed her casual outfit with a pair of thick sunglasses.

Not content to use her pregnancy as an excuse to take it easy, she was spotted running errands near the Melbourne home she shares with radio funnyman Hamish and their two-year-old child Sonny.

The journalist had her hands full on the expedition, balancing a quilted blue and red handbag on her forearm to make room for her single-shot coffee and plastic grocery bag.

Zoe looked in deep though as she strolled past her hometown's trendy cafes and graffiti-damaged walls, stopping to cross the road as she made her way home.

Sun safe! Tying her hair back into an effortless low bun, she completed her casual outfit with a pair of thick sunglasses

Close to home! He expedition took place near the Melbourne home she shares with radio funnyman Hamish Blake and their two-year-old child Sonny

Artsy home! Zoe looked in deep though as she strolled past her hometowns trendy cafe's and graffiti-damaged walls, stopping to cross the road as she made her way home

Last month, Zoe took to Instagram to share a snap of her burgeoning bump from her tropical 'babymoon' in Queensland.

In the picture, the star tagged the designer labels of her sunglasses (Celine), sandals (Miu Miu) and bag (Gucci), before humorously tagging her bump as 'teenybaby.'

In what appears to be a sponsored post, Zoe captioned the snap, 'Babymoon? BabySUN more like it!! Ha ha ha classic. We've had a heck of a time, thanks for hosting us, Qualia. And! We only looked at photos of our son about 130x a day!'

Zoe and Hamish stayed at the luxurious Qualia resort during their babymoon, although their toddler son did not appear to join them.

Babymoon! Last month, Zoe took to Instagram to share a snap of her burgeoning bump from her tropical 'babymoon' in Queensland

Absent: Zoe and Hamish stayed at the luxurious Qualia resort during their babymoon, although their toddler son did not appear to join




He's become a household name in the States thanks to his star turn hosting The Late Late Show.

And James Corden is now set to bring the US chat show to his native Britain this summer with three special episodes.

The former Gavin & Stacey favourite is heading to London this June, with the three installments broadcast exclusively on Sky 1 and NOW TV in the UK.

Scroll down for video

Coming home: James Corden is set to bring the US chat show to his native Britain this summer with three special episodes

Filmed at Westminsters Central Hall, London the shows signature musical and comedy segments - including Carpool Karaoke - will also be given a British twist.

Speaking about his forthcoming trip, Corden said: 'To bring The Late Late Show to the UK is a dream come true for me. I'm incredibly proud of the show and we're going to do our best to make this week in London memorable.'

Adam MacDonald, Director of Sky 1, added: 'Im beyond excited that James and The Late Late Show are coming to the UK for three very special episodes.

On home turf: Filmed at Westminsters Central Hall, London the shows signature musical and comedy segments - including Carpool Karaoke - will also be given a British twist

'James is hugely loved by the Sky 1 audience and it will be a proud moment for the channel to share what he and The Late Late Show gang have in store for us.'

Sky 1 will broadcast the three home-grown episodes from 7-9 June at 10pm and they will be also be available on NOW TV.

A teaser clip was released, showing Corden and bandleader Reggie Watts packing for the trip.

British born and bredL Sky 1 will broadcast the three home-grown episodes from 7-9 June at 10pm and they will be also be available on NOW TV

James has seen his popularity across the pond soar, with the show's official YouTube channel reached the 10million subscribers landmark this week.

According to Tubular Labs, the CBS show boast the three most viewed ate night videos on YouTube.

Adele's Carpool Karaoke sits in the top spot with 153 million views, Justin Bieber is in number two with 109 million views, and One Direction are in third with 98 million views.

Popular: James has seen his popularity across the pond soar, with the show's official YouTube channel reached the 10million subscribers landmark this week




A few thoughts on Trump Care.^_^



The American Medical Association has weighed in on Trump's health care package:

The Allergists were in favor of scratching it, but

the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.



The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but

the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.

Meanwhile, Obstetricians felt certain everyone was laboring under a misconception, while

the Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.



Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while

the Pediatricians said, "Oh, grow up!"

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while

the Radiologists could see right through it.



Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing and

the Internists claimed it would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow.

The Plastic Surgeons opined that this proposal would "put a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.



Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and those lofty Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say "No."

In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the ******** in Washington.


Neighbours star Lily Van Der Meer joined a parade of celebrities at Kookai's AW17 showcase in Melbourne on Tuesday.

She wore a black mullet singlet over wet-look leggings and boots, while accessorizing with a leather neck-tie choker.

Wearing her long blonde locks out, the 16-year-old who has been touted as the next Margot Robbie let her natural beauty shine through with a low key makeup look.

Beauty in Black! Neighbours star Lily Van Der Meer joined a parade of celebrities at Kookai's AW17 showcase in Melbourne on Tuesday

Blonde bombshell: Wearing her long blonde locks out, the 16-year-old who has been touted as the next Margot Robbie let her natural beauty shine through with a low key makeup look

Meanwhile, Alex Nation was also spotted without her beau's white gold promise ring at the event.

The 25-year-old looked flawless as she posed solo on the red carpet in a strapless long-sleeve number.

The blonde bombshell appeared in high-spirits during the outing, wearing an off the shoulder dress that highlighted her svelte frame.

Where's the ring? Alex Nation flaunts svelte frame in flirty white frock and DITCHES Richie's promise ring



Also fronting the event solo was former Bachelor star Anna Heinrich, who posed up a storm without partner Tim Robards.

Anna wore white trousers with a silk black singlet that gave a glimpse of her cleavage.

She draped a navy jacket over her shoulders, while finishing the look with a metallic clutch, statement earrings and black strappy heels.

Her long blonde tresses were styled in loose waves, while her makeup was applied in neutral tones.

Anna wore white trousers with a silk black singlet that gave a glimpse of her cleavage

The Bachelorette couple! The happy couple appeared to coordinate their outfits, with Lee wearing a dapper grey suit with a crisp white button-up and Georgia wore a short white playsuit with a material belt tied in a bow around her slim waist

While Richie and Tim weren't anywhere to be seen, former Bachelorette Georgia Love had her reality star partner Lee Elliott on her arm.

The happy couple appeared to coordinate their outfits, with Lee wearing a dapper grey suit with a crisp white button-up.

Georgia wore a short white playsuit with a material belt tied in a bow around her slim waist.

She added a white cape, a black clutch and black lace-up heels to complete her look.

The TV journalist pulled her brunette tresses back into a stylish bun for the evening, while opting for a focus on eye makeup and a pink lip.

Daring: Opting for a more daring ensemble, model and actress Olympia Valance sported semi-sheer trousers and a silk blouse that provided a glimpse of her assets

Opting for a more daring ensemble, model and actress Olympia Valance sported semi-sheer trousers and a silk blouse that provided a glimpse of her assets.

The singlet's fabric draped to show off bare decolletage, as she let strands of her brunette locks fall down over her shoulders from her up 'do.

Olympia carried a small black clutch with her, while strutting in a pair of black high heels.

A vision in white: Seeming to follow with the monochromatic theme of A-list guests, Rebecca Harding arrived at the event in an all-white ensemble

Seeming to follow with the monochromatic theme of A-list guests, Rebecca Harding arrived at the event in an all-white ensemble.

Rebecca, the partner of radio funnyman Andy Lee, looked chic in a high-neck and long-sleeved white frock.

She partnered the elegant look with a black clutch thrown over her shoulders with a chain strap and boho-inspired earrings.

Pretty in pink: The Bachelor's Emily Simms and AFL star Jobe Watson's glamorous girlfriend Virginia Slaghekke looked pretty in pink among the sea of black and white ensembles

The Bachelor's Emily Simms and AFL star Jobe Watson's glamorous girlfriend Virginia Slaghekke looked pretty in pink among the sea of black and white ensembles.

Emily wore a silk playsuit with flared sleeves, while toting a lilac tassel-covered bag and wearing pink tassel earrings.

Virginia partnered her figure-hugging number with a light-coloured shoes and makeup and a contrasting burgundy handbag.

Sisters in arms: Sisters, and daughters of former AFL star Billy Brownless, Lucy and Ruby Brownless were also spotted at the event

Sisters, and daughters of former AFL star Billy Brownless, Lucy and Ruby Brownless were also spotted at the event.

Ruby wore an off-the-shoulder white frock, while Lucy wore a stunning red Manning Cartel cold-shoulder dress with lavender heels and a metallic handbag.

Also sporting red to the fashion event was former Big Brother star Tully Smyth and Neighbours star Emma Lane.

Emma appeared on the red carpet with fellow Neighbours star, Travis Burns.

Red hot! Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth showed off her svelte physique in a figure-hugging red frock
On Tuesday at Kookai's AW17 showcase in Melbourne, former Bachelor star Anna Heinrich posed up a storm as she stepped out without partner Tim Robards.

Anna wore white trousers with a silk black singlet that gave a glimpse of her cleavage.

The 30-year-old draped a navy jacket over her shoulders, while finishing the look with a metallic clutch, statement earrings and black strappy heels.

Chic! Anna wore white trousers with a silk black singlet that gave a glimpse of her cleavage, while draping a navy jacket over her shoulders at Kookai's AW17 showcase in Melbourne on Tuesday

Natural beauty! Her long blonde tresses were styled in loose waves, while her makeup was applied in neutral tones

Her long blonde tresses were styled in loose waves, while her makeup was applied in neutral tones.

Alex Nation was also spotted solo without her beau Richie Strahan.

The 25-year-old looked flawless as she posed solo on the red carpet in a strapless long-sleeve number.

Where's the ring? Alex Nation flaunts svelte frame in flirty white frock and DITCHES Richie's promise ring at Kookai's AW17 showcase in Melbourne on Tuesday

The blonde bombshell appeared in high-spirits during the outing, wearing an off the shoulder dress that highlighted her svelte frame.

The ensemble, which included striped patterning, showcased her slender waistline and sculptured arms.

Cute couple! Georgia Love and Lee Elliott appeared to coordinate their outfits, with Lee wearing a dapper grey suit with a crisp white button-up and Georgia wearing a white playsuit with a matching white cape

While Richie and Tim weren't anywhere to be seen, former Bachelorette Georgia Love had her reality star partner Lee Elliott on her arm.

The happy couple appeared to coordinate their outfits, with Lee wearing a dapper grey suit with a crisp white button-up.

Georgia wore a short white playsuit with a material belt tied in a bow around her slim waist.

She added a white cape, a black clutch and black lace-up heels to complete her look.

The TV journalist pulled her brunette tresses back into a stylish bun for the evening, while opting for a focus on eye makeup and a pink lip.

Daring! Model and actress Olympia Valance sported semi-sheer trousers and a silk blouse that provided a glimpse of her assets

Stunning! The singlet's fabric draped to show off bare decolletage, as she let strands of her brunette locks fall down over her shoulders from her up 'do

Opting for a more daring ensemble, model and actress Olympia Valance sported semi-sheer trousers and a silk blouse that provided a glimpse of her assets.

The singlet's fabric draped to show off bare decolletage, as she let strands of her brunette locks fall down over her shoulders from her up 'do.

Olympia carried a small black clutch with her, while strutting in a pair of black high heels.

Elegant! Rebecca, the partner of radio funnyman Andy Lee, looked chic in a high-neck and long-sleeved white frock

Details: She partnered the elegant look with a black clutch thrown over her shoulders with a chain strap and boho-inspired earrings

Seeming to follow with the monochromatic theme of A-list guests, Rebecca Harding arrived at the event in an all-white ensemble.

Rebecca, the partner of radio funnyman Andy Lee, looked chic in a high-neck and long-sleeved white frock.

She partnered the elegant look with a black clutch thrown over her shoulders with a chain strap and boho-inspired earrings.

Pretty in pink! The Bachelor's Emily Simms (L) and AFL star Jobe Watson's glamorous girlfriend Virginia Slaghekke (R) looked pretty in pink among the sea of black and white ensembles.

The Bachelor's Emily Simms and AFL star Jobe Watson's glamorous girlfriend Virginia Slaghekke looked pretty in pink among the sea of black and white ensembles.

Emily wore a silk playsuit with flared sleeves, while toting a lilac tassel-covered bag and wearing pink tassel earrings.

Virginia partnered her figure-hugging number with a light-coloured shoes and makeup and a contrasting burgundy handbag.

Sister act! Daughters of former AFL star Billy Brownless, Lucy and Ruby Brownless were also spotted at the event in designer ensembles

Sisters, and daughters of former AFL star Billy Brownless, Lucy and Ruby Brownless were also spotted at the event.

Ruby wore an off-the-shoulder white frock, while Lucy wore a stunning red Manning Cartel cold-shoulder dress with lavender heels and a metallic handbag.

Also sporting red to the fashion event was former Big Brother star Tully Smyth and Neighbours star Emma Lane.

Emma appeared on the red carpet with fellow Neighbours star, Travis Burns.

Red hot! Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth showed off her svelte physique in a figure-hugging red frock

Co-stars: Emma appeared on the red carpet in thigh-high boots and a waist belt alongside fellow Neighbours star, Travis Burn, who wore jeans, a white T-shirt and a leather jacket

Neighbours star Lily Van Der Meer also joined Emma and Travis at the star-studded turn out.

She wore a black mullet singlet over wet-look leggings and boots, while accessorizing with a leather neck-tie choker.

Law graduate turned Instagram sensation Pia Muehlenbeck also struck a pose in a khaki T-shirt dress clinched around her waist with a belt.

Babe! Neighbours star Lily Van Der Meer wore a black mullet singlet over wet-look leggings and boots, while accessorizing with a leather neck-tie choker
She's been a regular feature on Australian screens as a judge on The Voice.

So fans of Delta Goodrem, 32, might be shocked to know she hasn't appeared in a scripted show for a massive 12-years.

The beauty who cut her teeth on iconic Australian soap Neighbours will star on House Husbands this season, but at one stage, her long-awaited return was looking far from triumphant.

Voicing her fears: Delta Goodrem has revealed that nerves threatened to overshadow her performance in drama House Husbands, the role her first acting work in 12 years

'I was definitely nervous the first day,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

'I really just wanted to be able to make sure I did a good job of my scenes. That first line, I have to say, my heart was pounding.'

Eventually, the self-confident songstress got back into the swing of things, singing the praises of her House Husbands co-stars, including hunky Hugh Sheridan, to whom Delta has previously been linked to romantically.

'I was really lucky that my character had such a big story line with him,' she said of her role as Izzy Dreyfus on the show.

Nerves: That first line, I have to say, my heart was pounding,' the former Neighbours actress said of her first day on set

Helpful Hugh: Eventually, the self-confident songstress got back into the swing of things, singing the praises of her House Husbands co-stars, including hunky Hugh Sheridan

The ARIA winning talent revealed that her addition to the show's fifth season was everything she hoped for and more, with her original nerves seemingly a distant memory.

'I feel like a flame for that part of the arts has really blown up in me again. I will also be making music, and writing music, but its nice to be able to rediscover that side of me,' she told the publication.

Delta was linked to actor Hugh this year after the pair shared flirtatious Instagram posts together.

Lovers? The 32-year-old songstress and the former Packed To The Rafters star had previously been romantically linked

They've been plagued with dating rumours since ever since their first steamy on-set pictures emerged.

However after much speculation in his comment section, the House Husbands star tweaked his caption to end with: '#BESTMATES that's all :).'

Delta was also linked to Karl Stefanovic at the end of last year, however those rumours were also denied.

House Husbands airs Mondays at 8.40 on Channel Nine.

Spark: 'I feel like a flame for that part of the arts has really blown up in me again,' Delta said, revealing she eventually overcame her nerves
Olena Khamula from The Bachelor would draw attention in any setting.

And at the at the Fashion Palette Spring Launch at the Art Gallery of NSW on Tuesday, the blonde beauty certainly wowed the crowds.

The beauty's professionally curled tresses were the stand-out feature of her stylish outfit, which was complete with a silky salmon one-piece and abstract black cape.

All eyes on Olena! Olena Khamula fromThe Bachelor would draw attention in any setting, and at the at the Fashion Palette Spring Launch at the Art Gallery of NSW on Tuesday, the blonde beauty certainly wowed the crowds

Happy couple: After failing to find love on the show, she looked smitten with her new beau Rodney Maroun, the couple spotted smiling at one point as they shared a private joke

After failing to find love on the show, Olena looked smitten with her new beau Rodney Maroun, the couple spotted smiling at one point as they shared a private joke.

Rodney looked dapper in a dark blue suit teamed with a baby blue shirt.

The couple put on a relaxed figure as they comfortably sat down to watch the show.

Looking to the future: On Tuesday, they were showcasing the best of what's to come in Spring 2017 and Summer 2018

Meanwhile Real Housewives Of Sydney stars Athena X Levendi and Matty Samei were also drawing attention.

The duo looked like two peas in a pod despite opting for radically different outfits, highlighting a star-studded event that was bolstered by stunning gowns from the likes of Lana Jeavons-Fellows and a heavily pregnant Kara Ryan.

Turning heads! Real Housewives Of Sydney Stars Athena x Levendi (R) and Matty Samaei (L)turned heads for the right reasons at the Fashion Palette Spring launch in Sydney on Tuesday

Usually spotted bickering on their reality show, the beauties could hardly wipe the smiles from their faces as they huddled-up on the red carpet.

Athena, 40, exuded sophistication in a crimson gown and matching silk wrap that covered her from head to toe.

Complimentary rouge lipstick and nail polish attributed to a style that was all her own, while her chunky gold necklace looked like it belonged more to her co-star Matty.

The 43-year-old proved why she's renowned in the beauty industry, slipping into a revealing and yet refined golden gown.

Exposing her ample cleavage in the plunging corset-style gown, her star-status shone bright thanks to the hundreds of shimmering metallic beads that adorned her outfit.

Blackchelor: The Bachelor beauty Lana Jeavons-Fellows barely looked like she was dressed for the same event as the attention-grabbing housewives, opting for a restrained all-black ensemble

The Bachelor beauty Lana Jeavons-Fellows barely looked like she was dressed for the same event as the attention-grabbing housewives, opting for a restrained all-black ensemble.

Letting her slender, curvaceous frame take the lead, she stepped out in a figure-hugging viscose top with contrasting puffy sleeves.

Flaunting some flesh, the TV personality's tanned legs were on show in a skin-tight black pants with a see-through crisscross pattern running up the hem.

Her silky brunette locks were thrown behind her back, drawing focus to her smoky eyeliner and glowing, natural features.

Also oozing monochromatic elegance was Kara Ryan, who is married to former NRL star Beau.

Her hubby wasn't spotted on the red carpet, but the blonde beauty was hardly solo, showing off her burgeoning baby bump in a simple high-necked gown.

Monochrome: Also oozing monochromatic elegance was Kara Ryan, who is married to former NRL star Beau

Holding her hand to her hip, the beauty held a pose that accentuated her pert posterior.

Her soft, glowing skin was clearly reaping one of the few upsides of carrying a baby, requiring only minimal use of red lipstick.

Also representing the Real Housewives clan at the popular fashion show was Krissy Marsh and Nicole O'Neil, who both put on leggy displays in their black gowns.

Housewives assemble! Also representing the Real Housewives clan at the popular fashion show was Krissy Marsh and Nicole O'Neil, who both put on leggy displays in their black gowns

The 45-year-old Double Bay resident Krissy was statuesque in her off-the-shoulder ensemble, flaunting her trim thanks to a large side-slit than ran to her thigh.

She was joined by former Miss Australia cast mate Nicole, who looked a tad outclassed in the presence of towering Krissy.

Her unique velour dress gave her surprisingly muscular legs some breathing room as it stopped at the knee.

Accessorising with hoop earrings, the former model ensured she wasn't going to misplace her clutch handbag thanks to cursive gold lettering on the back that spelled her own name.

Casual! Bachelorette buds Courtney Dober and Jake Ellis looked a tad under-dressed for the occasion, foregoing the traditional suit for comfy casual wear

Bachelorette buds Courtney Dober and Jake Ellis looked a tad under-dressed for the occasion, foregoing the traditional suit for comfy casual wear.

Courtney played around with a layering effect, matching an extra-long silver cardigan with a white tall-tee and skinny jeans.

He radiated a carefree charisma, wedging his hands in his pockets while he treated photographers to a boyish smile.

Buddy Jake's silky button-up shirt was just as open at the top as he was with his feelings on the show, exposing his slim, hairless chest.

He put his arm around cast mate Courtney, completing his similarly effortless ensemble with blue denim jeans.
Jesse Eisenberg is understood to have become a father for the first time.

The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star is thought to have welcomed a child with his long term partner Anna Strout after the pair were seen out and about in New York with their baby on Monday, according to reports.

The 33-year-old is yet to make an official announcement.

The Social Network star has kept quite private about his 14-year relationship with Anna and had previously admitted that he loves surrounding himself with people who want to help other people'.

Taking the next step! Jesse Eisenberg is thought to have welcomed a child with his long term partner Anna Strout; they are pictured together in 2005

He said previously: 'My job is so selfish and focused on my own vanity that I like to surround myself with people who are actually helping people throughout their day.'

Jesse and Anna dated from 2002 to 2012 before deciding to take a break whilst Jesse focused on his career.

Then the actor spent four months volunteering for a domestic violence shelter in Bloomington, Indiana.

It was whilst volunteering that Jesse was put back in touch with Anna, as her mother is the shelter's executive director.

Speaking about his work with the shelter, he remained coy.

He told The Guardian: 'I was there for, like, personal reasons. For reasons I don't want to bring up in an interview.'

Taking a producing role! Jesse had been seen Sunday night at the opening night party of Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields' farce The Play That Goes Wrong

Relaxed style! For opening night, Jesse - one of the producers of the Broadway production - wore a red, green and white flannel shirt

Jesse had been seen Sunday night at the opening night party of Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields' farce The Play That Goes Wrong.

The setpiece-smashing, Noises Off-esque comic romp started life at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012.

It moved to The Duchess Theatre in the West End in 2014 and won Best New Comedy at the Oliviers the next year before winding up stateside.
Jessica Chastain has thanked Tom Cruise for helping her land a role of a lifetime that made her career what it is today.

The flame-haired actress told The Hollywood Reporter that the star did her the favor of releasing her from co-starring with him in 2013's Oblivion so she could work on Zero Dark Thirty.

Starring in Zero Dark Thirty earned the 40-year-old beauty an Oscar nomination and she went on to make such acclaimed movies as The Martian.

So grateful: Jessica Chastain, pictured in March, told The Hollywood Reporter she owes a lot to Tom Cruise

He made her career: The actor released her from working on Oblivion so she could take a starring role in Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica explained in detail how it all worked out.

'I got cold-called by [director] Kathryn Bigelow. I was in Toronto, and I had heard from [producer] Megan Ellison. We had done a film, Lawless, together,' she said.

'And she said, "By the way, do you know Kathryn Bigelow's trying to get a hold of you? She wants to meet with you on something,"' Jessica continued. 'And I was like, "What? Please give her my number."'

Her replacement: Olga Kurylenko ended up taking the role opposite Cruise in Oblivion

At the time, Jessica was signed to do a different movie: Oblivion, alongside Tom.

'I was contractually obligated to do something else that I was really wanting to do, and I was excited to do,' she explained. 'But when this came my way, I realized I had to do this.'

Tom, 54, heard about Jessica's predicament and decided to try and help.

Her catch: And Jessica went on to co-star with Jason Clarke in Zero Dark Thirty

'Someone contacted him from my agency,' Jessica said. 'And he said, "OK, we're going to let you out of your contract.'"

Tom's new lead for the sci-fi film was Olga Kurylenko.

Upon being released from her Oblivion obligations, Jessica went to work on Kathryn's military film.

As it turned out, Zero Dark Thirty became a game-changer for Jessica.

The Sacramento native received an Oscar nomination for her starring role as CIA intelligence analyst Maya in the 2012 Sony film.

All wrapped up: Tom is about to get busy promoting The Mummy, due June 9, which Universal Pictures has high hopes will launch a new-generation Universal Monsters movie franchise

The critically acclaimed motion picture, inspired by the true story of Navy SEALs taking out master terrorist Bin Ladin, also became a commercial success, grossing $132 million worldwide.

The actress hasn't worked with Tom since, but she did reveal that she would relish the opportunity to do so.

'I really hope to find something in the future to do with him because I'm very grateful,' said Jessica, who added that she has talked to the Mission: Impossible star since the contractual tangle.

'I've seen him afterwards,' The Martian actress said. 'And I was like, "Dude, you're awesome!"'
The temperature in Montreal hit near-freezing lows on Tuesday.

Luckily for Lucy Hale, her boyfriend of one year Anthony Kalabretta was around to add some extra warmth as they took a walk in the Canadian city.

The Pretty Little Liars actress looked chilly in her pink overcoat, placing both hands into her pockets for warmth.

Chilly: Anthony Kalabretta and Lucy Hale looked cold as they made their way through Montreal on Tuesday morning

Kalabretta, who Hale met through mutual friends, held his arm around the actress as she took a break from filming a new TV pilot called Life Sentence.

After appearing on PLL for six years, the 27-year-old actress will star in the new CW series.

The hour-long dramedy follows a woman who decides to 'live like she's dying' after being diagnosed with cancer, only to find out later she does not have the life-threatening illness.

Up north: The former Pretty Little Liars actress is in Montreal filming her new CW network show Life Sentence

Anthony appeared to be in town visiting Lucy while she filmed the series in Canada.

On their walk, she paired her pink suede coat with a high-necked white top, black jeans that were ripped at the knee and shiny gold boots.

Her hair was pulled back into a short ponytail for the casual outing.

She's gotta shine: The star added attention-grabbing gold boots to her Tuesday outfit

The last time the actress posted a photo with her boyfriend on Instagram was in February, where they appeared to be in a much sunnier spot.

'Throwback Thurs,' she captioned the snap of herself winking to the camera while her man appeared to be taking the selfie.

She wore a ring on her engagement finger and disabled comments on the photo, leading some fans to believe it may have been a sly way of announcing their plans to wed, but Hale never confirmed or denied the chatter.
Jessica Alba was spotted out and about in New York City on Tuesday wearing a stylish pewter grey overcoat that fell to her knees.

The 35-year-old actress-cum-magnate tucked in her black top, emphasizing her trim torso, and wore casual black and white workout trousers.

Her father Mark Alba, whose work for the Air Force meant moving around during Jessica's childhood, had joined her on her trip to town.

Scroll down for video

Manhattan chic: Jessica Alba was spotted out and about in New York City on Tuesday wearing a stylish pewter grey overcoat that fell to her knees

For her Tuesday morning outing, Jessica had slicked her hair severely back and wound it into a bun, and she toted along a disposable coffee cup.

Meanwhile, her father had flung a patterned scarf over his shoulders and layered with an open button-down shirt over a cardigan over another button-down shirt.

Her Snapchat Story the previous day had played host to videos and photos showing Jessica and Mark sitting next to each other on the plane en route to New York.

Ready with a coffee cup: The 35-year-old actress-cum-magnate tucked in her black top, emphasizing her trim torso, and wore casual black and white workout trousers

Quality time: Her father Mark Alba, whose work for the Air Force meant quite a lot of moving around during Jessica's childhood, had joined her in town

In a video, the filter had given them monkey ears and paws, and Jessica's voice was exceedingly squeaky as she and her father toasted and she said: 'Cheers!'

One photo showed Jessica giving a thumbs up, the filter having put an animated Dodgers cap on her head and the words 'OPENING DAY' under her eyes.

It was followed by a video of Mark with the same words beneath his eyes, but with an Angels cap popped on his head via the filter. 'Go Angels and Dodgers!' he said.

In transit: Her Snapchat Story the previous day had played host to videos and photos showing Jessica and Mark sitting next to each other on the plane en route to New York

Post-landing, she posted a video of herself in pink-fringed white pajamas, a filter having put attached a dog's ears to her hairdo and a dog's snout to her face.

As she yawned, the filter gave her a dog's massive tongue as well, as well as seeming to voice higher and thinner as she wished her Snapchat following: 'Night!'

The next day, her Story showed her promoting The Honest Company in what appeared to be the same outfit she'd been seen in out on the New York City streets.

'Night!': Post-landing, she posted a video of herself in pink-fringed white pajamas, a filter having put attached a dog's ears to her hairdo and a dog's snout to her face

Jessica co-founded consumer goods brand The Honest Company in 2012, and by August of 2015 it was being valued at $1.7 billion in the Wall Street Journal.

As she urged fans to visit the Facebook page for Honest Beauty, her caption revealed her company was 'doing an ambush makeover on a Target guest in New Jersey!'

After that came a selfie with a beaming ponytailed woman whom Jessica's captions revealed was an 'Honest Beauty makeover guest!' in Jersey City.

Plugging away: The next day, her Story showed her promoting The Honest Company in what appeared to be the same outfit she'd been seen in out on the New York City streets

Ear to ear: After that came a selfie with a beaming ponytailed woman whom Jessica's captions revealed was an 'Honest Beauty makeover guest!' in Jersey City

Jessica also wound up photographed that day in Target, posing against the Honest Beauty display in the section marked 'Specialty Skincare.'

She placed a hand at her side, throwing her trim waistline into relief as she smiled for the camera in front of her company's product.

The movie star also posed with both the recipients of her makeovers, smiling for a selfie with the second woman, who'd got her hair in a bun.

Proud co-founder: Jessica also wound up photographed that day in Target, posing against the Honest Beauty display in the section marked 'Specialty Skincare.'

Glowing: She placed a hand at her side, throwing her trim waistline into relief as she smiled for the camera in front of her company's product

Cheerful: The movie star also posed with both the recipients of her makeovers, smiling for a selfie with the second woman, who'd got her hair in a bun

Jessica appeared in a snapshot with that second woman during what seemed as if it could be the moment she'd selected her to be primped for Honest Beauty.

The makeover recipient beamed, clapping one hand to her chest as she held her shopping with the other and chatted to Jessica.

While being photographed with the first makeover recipient, both Jessica and the lucky Target guest were laughing during a conversation.

Dropping the bombshell?: Jessica appeared in a snapshot with that second woman during what seemed as if it could be the moment she'd selected her to be primped for Honest Beauty
The first trailer for the new documentary I Am Heath Ledger debuted on Tuesday, which would have been his 38th birthday.

In the clip, The Dark Knight actor is shown in never-seen-before footage, often taken by his own camera.

Ledger was only 28 when he died in January 2008 from what was suspected to be an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Scroll down for trailer...

Remembering a rising star: The first trailer for the documentary I Am Heath Ledger was released on Tuesday, which would have been the late actor's 38th birthday

Rolling: In the clip, The Dark Knight actor is shown in never-seen-before footage, often taken by his own camera

Filmmaker Derik Murray (the man behind the 2015 documentary I Am Chris Farley) offers viewers an intimate portrait of the A Knight's Tale actor using never-before-seen home footage shot by Heath.

The trailer opens with Heath looking into the film camera as he snaps still photographs on a Rolliflex.

Derik also engages members of Heath's inner circle as family members and friends discuss the late actor. They include Naomi Watts and Ben Mendelsohn, and Heath's Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee.

Close up: The trailer opens with Heath looking into the film camera as he snaps still photographs on a Rolliflex

On show: 'There were always cameras around...Thats the only way I think of him - with the camera in hand,' said model Christina Cauchi in the documentary's preview

'There were always cameras around...Thats the only way I think of him - with the camera in hand,' said model Christina Cauchi in the documentary's preview.

Heath's sister, Kate Ledger, recalls telling her older brother, '"Youre going to be nominated for this, Im telling you this right now." He just smiled.'

'He was always a director, acting was just a way to get there,' said Trevor DiCarlo, a childhood friend of the 10 Things I Hate About You actor.

Artist first: 'He was always a director, acting was just a way to get there,' said Trevor DiCarlo, a childhood friend of the 10 Things I Hate About You actor

Not on the carpet: Several images show Ledger at ease, like here when he was strumming his guitar on a sofa

Family: Heath's sister, Kate Ledger, recalls telling her older brother, '"Youre going to be nominated for this, Im telling you this right now." He just smiled'

The documentary chronicles Heaths fast ascension as a respected Hollywood actor.

Heath made impressions with a succession of brilliant turns in such movies as The Patriot, The Four Feathers, Monster's Ball, and with arguably his most memorable parts - Ennis in the controversial 2005 gay love drama Brokeback Mountain, and psychotic super villain The Joker in Christopher Nolan's 2008 Batman sequel The Dark Knight.

'Before Brokeback Mountain came out it would have been unthinkable to have a romantic tragedy involving two gay cowboys,' Mendelsohn said in the clip. 'This is one of the biggest heartthrobs on Earth taking on the character. Thats an artist.'

Stellar performance: Heath (right) floored audiences with his turn opposite Jake Gyllenhaal (left) as gay cowboys in Ang Lee's controversial 2005 film Brokeback Mountain

A fan: 'Even as a supporting actor, he would steal the whole show - thats the power of Heath Ledger,' said Heath's Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee

'Even as a supporting actor, he would steal the whole show - thats the power of Heath Ledger,' said Heath's Brokeback Mountain director Ang while Heath's friend and business partner Matt Amato added, 'He wanted fame, and then when he got it, he didnt want it.'

Previous to Derik's film, Heath was already a subject of the docu-series Too Young To Die. In that 2012 look at the actor, Kim Ledger, Heath's father, displayed pages from the Joker diary which Heath had kept on the set of The Dark Knight.

'He pretty well locked himself up in a hotel, in his apartment, for a month or so, to sort of galvanize the upcoming character in his own mind,' Kim recalled. 'That was typical of Heath on any movie. He would certainly immerse himself in the upcoming character. I think this was just a whole new level.'

Brooklyn memories: Heath, seen here with girlfriend Michelle Williams and their baby daughter, Matilda Rose, on the streets of New York in 2006

Ultimately, I Am Heath Ledger promises to show new facets of an actor who achieved much respect and recognition during his all-too-brief career by making unorthodox choices and taking plenty of risks.

As musician Ben Harper said in the doc's preview, 'Heath was the most alive human, and if it wasnt on the edge, it didnt interest him.'

I Am Heath Ledger will premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on April 23 before screening in select theaters on May 3. After a theatrical release, the documentary airs on Spike TV beginning May 17. A digital and DVD release is scheduled for May 23.
He famously played Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings franchise.

But Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he once turned down the chance to play another hugely popular character - Albus Dumbledore.

The veteran actor, 77, said he was contacted about the part after the death of Richard Harris, who played the Hogwarts' headmaster in the first two Harry Potter movies.

Scroll down for video

'I couldn't take over the part': Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he once turned down the chance to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films

But he said he couldn't take over the role, because he knew Harris 'didn't approve' of him.

Sir Ian told BBC's HARDtalk: 'When they called me up and said would I be interested in being in the films, they didnt say in what part.

'I worked out what they were thinking, and I couldnt. I couldnt take over the part from an actor who Id known didnt approve of me.'

Host Stephen Sackur had asked the X-Men star about Harris's criticism of his acting abilities.

Original Dumbledore: Richard Harris, who played the Hogwarts' headmaster in the first two Harry Potter movies, died in 2002

The Irish actor had suggested that Sir Ian, along with Derek Jacobi and Kenneth Brannagh, were 'technically brilliant, but passionless'.

Speaking on the programme, Sir Ian dismissed the criticism as 'nonsense'.

Harris died in 2002 at the age of 72 following a battle with cancer. Michael Gambon took over the role of Dumbledore after his death.

Legendary: Sir Ian, who plays Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings franchise, said he couldn't take the role knowing that Harris 'didn't approve' of him

Popular character: Michael Gambon took over the role of Dumbledore after Harris's death

Sir Ian admitted that even he sometimes gets confused between himself and Gambon, saying: 'When I see the posters of Mike Gambon, who gloriously played Dumbledore, I think sometimes it's me.'

He added: 'We get asked for each other's autographs.'

Sir Ian played Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, later reprising the role in the Hobbit films.

Most recently, he stars as Cogsworth in the new Beauty And The Beast movie.
Tuesday, the California Assemblys Committee on Privacy and Consumer Affairs, which Chau chairs, will consider A.B. 1104a censorship bill so obviously unconstitutional, we had to double check that it was real.



Its real. The proposed law reads:



18320.5. It is unlawful for a person to knowingly and willingly make, publish or circulate on an Internet Web site, or cause to be made, published, or circulated in any writing posted on an Internet Web site, a false or deceptive statement designed to influence the vote on either of the following:



(a) Any issue submitted to voters at an election.



(b) Any candidate for election to public office.





other words, it would be illegal to be wrong on the internet if it could impact an election. The bill is unconstitutional under U.S. Supreme Court case law (see our opposition letter for more information on that), and likely to draw immediate and costly lawsuits if it is signed into law.



For Chau, A.B. 1104 is an attempt to address the issue of fake news that many believe plagued the 2016 election: websites publishing false stories and promoting them over social media.



No law, and certainly not A.B. 1104, will remedy this problem.



American political speech dating back as far as the John Adams-Thomas Jefferson rivalry has involved unfair smears, half and stretched truths, and even outright lies. During the 2016 campaign alone, PolitiFact ranked 202 statements made by President Donald Trump as mostly false or false statements and 63 Pants on Fire statements. Hillary Cllinton made 69 statements ranked mostly false or false and seven as Pants on Fire.



This bill will fuel a chaotic free-for-all of mudslinging with candidates and others being accused of crimes at the slightest hint of hyperbole, exaggeration, poetic license, or common error. While those accusations may not ultimately hold up, politically motivated prosecutionsor the threat of suchmay harm democracy more than if the issue had just been left alone. Furthermore, A.B. 1104 makes no exception for satire and parody, leaving The Onion and Saturday Night Live open to accusations of illegal content. Nor does it exempt news organizations who quote deceptive statements made by politicians in their online reportingeven if their reporting is meant to debunk those claims. And what of everyday citizens who are duped by misleading materials: if 1,000 Californians retweet an incorrect statement by a presidential candidate, have they all broken the law?
Shes spoken candidly about her health concerns after revealing an ongoing battle with endometriosis.

But Zara Hollands quest to raise awareness of the chronic condition has been momentarily put to one side while she focuses on a stunning new promotional campaign in tropical Barbados.

The model, 21, poses for a new photoshoot on behalf of her imminent Beach Angels collection of vibrantly coloured swimwear and bikinis.

Scroll down for video

Striking: Zara Hollands quest to raise awareness of the chronic condition has been momentarily put to one side while she focuses on a stunning new promotional campaign in tropical Barbados

Wading from the surf, Zara shows off her curves in a mismatched pastel pink and blue two-piece in one of two new shots from her latest promotional missive.

In a second shot the model brushes her wet hair away from her face as she reclines on the beach, the sweeping coastline providing an idyllic backdrop.

Elsewhere Zara wants to raise awareness about endometriosis, which causes the tissue that normally lines the womb to grow outside the uterus, after revealing her struggle with the condition.

Don't mind me: The model brushes her wet hair away from her face as she reclines on the beach, the sweeping Caribbean coastline providing an idyllic backdrop

She told OK! Online: 'Living with endometriosis is terrible. I have had heavy bleeding, I've had to take time off work, I wouldn't eat, [I've had] painful sex and [am] so tired. Endometriosis can affect fertility too, which really really scares me.'

The former Miss Great Britain, who was stripped of her crown after her raunchy exploits on reality show Love Island, revealed she was diagnosed with endometriosis three years ago.

But she added that the condition appears to be in control, saying: 'I am ovulating so all good for now!'

Meanwhile: Zara wants to raise awareness about the common chronic condition, which means the tissue that normally lines the womb is outside the uterus

Zara posted a photograph of herself holding an endometriosis awareness leaflet on Twitter, which she captioned: 'Girls night! Raising awareness for @EndometriosisUK #endometriosisawarenessweek #endothenight'

She revealed that she has undergone surgery for the condition, with doctors using a laser to destroy the endometriosis tissue.

The reality star also said she has been fitted with a Mirena coil, which is commonly used to treat the condition.

Endometriosis is estimated to affect around two million women in the UK - with most patients being diagnosed between the age of 25 and 30 - and can be extremely debilitating.
She's most known for posting bikini-clad pictures.

And Ashley James did what she is best at as she enjoyed a sunbathing session on the rooftop of her hotel in Madrid on Tuesday.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 29, flaunted her enviable curves in a sizzling white swimsuit as she posed for the snap.

Scroll down for video

Senorita! Ashley James shared a snap as she enjoyed a sunbathing session on the rooftop of her hotel in Madrid on Tuesday

The reality star turned DJ showed off her toned legs and midriff in the high-cut one piece.

Flashing a hint of side-boob and the delicate tattoo on her ribs, she leaned back with her face tilted towards the sun, against the backdrop of the Spanish capital.

'Chilling on the roof at our hotel in Madrid ahead of DJ'ing at the @globalgiftfoundation this evening. First time in #Madrid and I have tomorrow to look around - any recommendations?' she captioned the snap.

'Slightly self-indulgent straight out of the shower selfie': Ashley James was full of confidence as she posed for a completely make-up free selfie on Monday afternoon (L - with make-up)

The snap comes after she dyed her hair platinum blonde recently. She bravely revealed her secret battle with body dysmorphia last year.

Going completely make-up free, she ditched her usual vampy party look in favour of going au natural after getting out of the shower.

Joking that her smouldering social media snap was a tad 'self-indulgent', the reality star told her army of followers she was pleased with 'how good' her skin was looking without cosmetic assistance.

The DJ wore her newly-dyed platinum locks hanging around her shoulders in loose tendrils and was positively glowing as she gazed into the camera.

Alongside the shot, Ashley wrote on her Instagram page: 'Slightly self-indulgent straight out of the shower selfie to show off how good my skin is looking right now with no makeup.'

Naturally, the TV starlet - who shot to fame as Ollie Locke's girlfriend in Made In Chelsea in 2012 - went on to plug a whole host of products to accompany the shot.

Off-duty beauty: The naturally pretty former Made In Chelsea star, 29, ditched her usual vampy party look in favour of going au natural after getting out of the shower

Ashley flashed a hint of ample cleavage in a low-cut baby pink vest top as she posed for her social media snap.

The star's legion of 81,800 followers flooded the make-up free picture with compliments about her face.

One said: 'There is always a freshness in your look.'

Another added: 'No eye makeup? Well, that's something you don't see everyday.'

An admirer wrote: 'Natural beauty love.'

Blonde ambition: The DJ debuted her new, choppy, platinum blonde bob as she attended the launch of Popchips Crazy Hot Stop on Greek Street in London's Soho last week

Ashley is a keen purveyor of body confidence messages.

In 2016, she revealed she battled with body dysmorphia after her 2014 break-up with TV presenter Matt Richardson, 25.

Speaking to MailOnline, Ashley said: 'It was breakup that knocked my confidence. I put everything into a relationship, moved in with someone for the first time and that didn't work.

'I'm a perfectionist and when that didn't work it had a big effect on me and because it was in the public eye it was a difficult change for me.'

The former flames were dating for a year and a half before things ended acrimoniously.

Moving on: In 2016, Ashley revealed she battled with body dysmorphia after a 2014 break-up

Although Ashley is now friends with the former Xtra Factor presenter, the split took its toll on the star.

She continued: 'We're friends now so it's fine. It was my first difficult breakup where it was in the public eye and it was a difficult time in my life. The stress it caused with my acne and body confidence.

'Even up till a few years ago I've had panic attacks before events because I really struggled with body dysmorphia.

'So body confidence was something I had in a sure way as a teenager then I lost it because there's so much pressure on women. Girls are harsh, so everything I do now is to not tear women down.'
She's preparing for her second wedding anniversary celebrations with husband Mark Wright.

But romantic pursuits were momentarily forgotten on Tuesday as Michelle Keegan shot a new promotional campaign on behalf of online retailer Lipsy London.

Combining business with pleasure, the Mancunian actress, 29, struck a series of sultry poses for the clothing brand during a short break in Paris with her reality star husband.

Scroll down for video

Back at work: Michelle Keegan struck a series of sultry poses for clothing brand Lipsy during a short break in Paris with her reality star husband Mark Wright on Tuesday

Standing on a wrought iron balcony, Michelle looked typically glamorous in a sweeping blue evening dress while preparing for her latest collaboration with the popular label.

Evidently in high spirits, the former Coronation Street star beamed as she gazed down at the picturesque Parisian street shortly before work commenced.

Showcasing the bold new design, a sleeveless evening dress complete with glittering embellishments, Michelle stretched her arms above her head, thus drawing attention to her slender physique.

Strike a pose: Combining business with pleasure, the Mancunian actress, 29, fulfilled her promotional commitments while celebrating her second wedding anniversary in the French capital with husband Mark Wright

Looking good: Standing on a wrought iron balcony, Michelle looked typically glamorous in a sweeping blue evening dress while preparing for her latest collaboration with the popular label

Plenty to smile about: Evidently in high spirits, the former Coronation Street star beamed as she gazed down at the picturesque Parisian street shortly before work commenced

With work underway, Michelle later clutched a small bouquet of flowers while leaning against the balcony.

A quick outfit change saw the actress trade her smart evening wear for a comparatively casual cream coat as she posed for a series of close-ups.

With Mark looking on from the sidelines, Michelle eventually made her way onto the street, where she sported a smart winter jacket, leggings and stylish ankle boots as the production team filmed her walking a dog.

Blooming lovely: With work underway, Michelle later clutched a small bouquet of flowers while leaning against the balcony

Don't mind me: Mark looked on as his wife took centre stage on Tuesday

All eyes on me: Michelle sported sunglasses while posing for a series of close-ups

Michelle and husband Mark are currently enjoy a whirlwind trip to the City of Love ahead of their second wedding anniversary next month.

The loved-up couple - who married in 2015 - looked blissfully happy as they strolled along the streets of the French capital arm-in-arm ahead of Michelle's photo-shoot on Tuesday.

The TV power couple enjoyed lunch at L'Avenue restaurant before shopping for designer wares at Gucci.

Cause for celebration: Michelle and husband Mark are currently enjoying a whirlwind trip to the City of Love ahead of their second wedding anniversary next month

Mixing things up: A quick outfit change saw the actress trade her smart evening wear for a comparatively casual cream coat as she posed for a series of close-ups

High glamour: Michelle swept her hair away from her face as a photographer shot her for the new campaign

Street level: Michelle sported a smart winter jacket, leggings and stylish ankle boots as the production team filmed her walking a dog

Walkies: The star commanded attention while posing alongside the pet pooch

Michelle was casually clad for their outing, sporting a loose pink knit with ripped jeans embellished with a frayed hem.

She added some glamour to her look thanks to cream coloured caged heels and coordinating handbag.

Mark opted to showcase his muscles in a tight khaki top paired with simple black jeans.

Happy couple: Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright looked blissfully happy as they strolled along the streets of the French capital arm-in-arm on Tuesday

Shopping spree: The TV power couple enjoyed lunch at L'Avenue restaurant before shopping for designer wares at Gucci

Off-duty chic: Michelle was casually clad for their outing, sporting a loose pink knit with ripped jeans embellished with a frayed hem

Colour coordinated: She added some glamour to her look thanks to cream coloured caged heels and coordinating handbag

The pair were soaking up the atmosphere, looking loved-up as ever during their romantic walk.

Michelle and Mark were sure to document their romantic breakaway, taking to Instagram to showcase their many candid moments on Monday.

Making his social media followers envious, former TOWIE star Mark posted a magical photo with the city's most famous landmark - the Eiffel Tower -glistening in the background.

Smitten: The pair were soaking up the atmosphere, looking loved-up as ever during their romantic walk

Touchy feely: The couple put on a rare public display of affection as they strolled along

Mr. muscular: Mark opted to showcase his ripped physique in a tight khaki top paired with simple black jeans

Tactile: Michelle grabbed hold of Mark's arm to steady herself as she crossed the street

The I'm A Celeb alum posed shirtless in the sizzling snap, showcasing his muscular back as he looked out from his hotel balcony towards the breath-taking spectacle.

Captioning the photo, he wrote: 'Just one last look before bed. #roomwithaview #wheninparis'.

The Heart FM presenter Mark - who recently turned 30 - also shared a number of other snaps that showcased their first day in the French capital, enjoying a number of his and hers cocktails at Le Bar Botaniste at Shangri-La Hotel.

All of the lights: Michelle and Mark made sure to take a time out of their gruelling schedules to enjoy a whirlwind trip to the City of Love, Paris, ahead of their second wedding anniversary next month

Romantic: The loved-up couple - who married in 2015 - were sure to document their romantic breakaway, taking to Instagram to showcase their many candid moments on Monday

Former Corrie star Michelle, 30, shared several snaps on her Instagram story, showcasing that the many French delicacies they enjoyed, including a dish of escargots.

Also taken a back from the incredible view from their dazzling lodgings, the actress - who has enjoyed two breaks away this already with Mark - shared a short clip of the Eiffel Tower's lights twinkling in the moonlight.

Writing along the mesmerising video, she wrote: 'With love from Paris' with a lip emoji.

Their amorous display comes as Michelle prepares to jet off to South Africa ahead of filming for the second series of BBC drama Our Girl.

Cheers: The Heart FM presenter Mark - who recently turned 30 - also shared a number of other snaps that showcased their first day in the French capital, enjoying a number of his and hers cocktails at Le Bar Botaniste at Shangri-La Hotel

Amorous: Their amorous display comes as Michelle prepares to jet off to South Africa ahead of filming for the second series of BBC drama Our Girl (Pictured in Oman in March)

The brunette beauty - who plays Corporal Georgie Lane in the hit show - is set to film the third series of the popular drama later this month.

The starlet is reportedly expected to be away for up to eight months but her man will no doubt fly out to join her on occasion.

Late last month, the actress brushed off rumours that her marriage of a-year-and-a-half was in trouble.

Back to it: The brunette beauty - who plays Corporal Georgie Lane in the hit show - is set to film the third series of the popular drama later this month

She told Daily Star Sunday's TV Life magazine: 'Are the rumours rubbish? Yeah. We are all very good and everything is fine. Our marriage is going really well.

'Were happy. I dont want to constantly say "were happy, were fine", because why validate it? If were happy, were happy.'

She also says that Mark has never had a problem with her racy appearances on TV - which has included a steamy sex scene with Our Girl co-star Luke Pasqualino.

No problem: She also says that Mark has never had a problem with her racy appearances on TV - which has included a steamy sex scene with Our Girl co-star Luke Pasqualino (Pictured)

Brunette beauty Michelle said: 'People like to build [the sex scenes] up like its really embarrassing for him, but hes seen it so many times, I dont think it fazes him.'

The pairs marriage came under scrutiny last year as Michelle filmed Our Girl over several months in South Africa  away from Mark.

Rumours at the time surfaced claiming Michelle was growing increasingly close to her co-star Luke, who plays maverick Special Forces officer Elvis Harte.
She's been modelling since the age of 14.

And Leomie Anderson proved that a decade in the industry had paid off, as she made a London sidewalk her catwalk at Hotel Cafe Royal on Tuesday.

The British model, 24, turned heads in a pale pink slip as she attended the BFC Vogue designer fashion fund cocktail reception.

Scroll down for video

Turning heads: Leomie Anderson proved that a decade in the industry had paid off, as she made a London sidewalk her catwalk at Hotel Cafe Royal on Tuesday

Flaunting her long lean physique, the ethereal frock reached an elegant length, and showcased her slender limbs slashed high on her thigh.

Accentuating her 5"9 stature, she added a pair of rose gold strappy sandals and rocked a pale pink pedicure.

Adding a splash of colour she showed off a bright blue faux fur stole, wearing her raven hair poker straight and minimal make-up as she strutted towards the bash, held in association with Perrier-Jouet champagne.

Chic: The British model, 24, turned heads in a pale pink slip as she attended the BFC Vogue designer fashion fund cocktail reception

The natural beauty, who has been modelling since the age of of 14, has been using her growing profile to campaign about things she is passionate about.

Last year she spoke out and urged her young fans to avoid sending explicit pictures.

But her words of wisdom were quickly twisted, and she was accused of being a hypocrite after posing in her underwear- despite being a lingerie model.

Peachy: Accentuating her 5"9 stature, she added a pair of rose gold strappy sandals and rocked a pale pink pedicure

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, she was forced to defend her advice, explaining: 'I am a 23 year old woman and these children are all under age. They may see my images out there but they need to understand I was asked before hand whether I wanted to take part in the pictures, I knew where it was going and who would see it - there was full consent throughout the process.

'When children send pictures they don't know what will happen and that is where the danger lies,' she added.

And despite modelling for the likes of Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, and mingling with Rihanna and the A-list, the Tooting-born model is still the average Londoner at heart.

Brightening a dreary day: Adding a splash of colour she showed off a bright blue faux fur stole, wearing her raven hair poker straight and minimal make-up as she strutted towards the venue

Speaking to the Evening Standard last December, the down-to-earth star admitted: 'I feel so proud to come from south London and always let people know where I'm from - so to be able to fly the flag as part of the biggest show on Earth is an amazing feeling.'

'I have met a few celebrities so far in my career, but my favourite has to be Rihanna, as she is just as amazing in person as she seems in pictures, and she's a very down-to-earth and inspiring woman.'

'One of the first stops back home after being in America for a long time is a cheeky Nando's.'
In the breakfast show ratings battle, Sunrise has pulled out the big guns with a tour of the USA but it turns out Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys wedding beats even the most lush international views.

Sunrise have been on their USA 'mystery tour' which has taken them to Hawaii, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Meanwhile Nine's Today show has been touring rural areas like Bowral NSW, and has won the ratings battles thanks to coverage of Peter and Sylvia's wedding.

Scroll down for video

Winners: In the breakfast show ratings battle, Sunrise has pulled out the big guns with a tour of the USA but it turns out Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys wedding beats even the most lush international views

Sunrise scored 236,000 viewers on Monday while Sunrise came in well ahead on the same day with 322,000.

While viewers tuned in to see the Today crew at Burleigh Beach, Queensland just 288,000 watched the Sunrise team at the upmarket Royal Hawaiian hotel.

Peter's brother Karl Stefanovic and his co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins, all attended the 'wedding of the year'.

It's believed that their waxing lyrical about the wedding drew viewers in during the days after the event.

On tour: Sunrise have been on their USA 'mystery tour' which has taken them to Hawaii, San Francisco and Las Vegas

Ratings war: Nine's Today show has been touring rural areas like Bowral NSW, and has won the ratings battles thanks to coverage of Peter and Sylvia's wedding

The trio joined a slew of 160 guests who attended the Kangaroo Valley nuptials in the New South Wales southern highlands on Saturday.

Details of the star-studded party were shared by the show's hosts on Monday's episode as they broadcast from Bowral, a convenient 40 minutes north of Kangaroo Valley where the wedding took place.

The bride's custom Rebecca Valance gown received several mentions throughout the show, as well as the details of her bridesmaids' dresses, made by the same designer.

Inside goss: It's believed that their waxing lyrical about the wedding drew viewers in during the days after the event

Eyes on the prize: Sunrise scored 236,000 viewers on Monday while Sunrise came in well ahead on the same day with 322,000

The groom's high-end Armani suit was also mentioned, as well as the jeweler who provided the pair's wedding rings.

It comes after the groom's older brother Karl, who got straight back to work on Monday morning following the celebrations, said in his wedding speech that the family never pay for anything due to their star status.
She's just released her comeback single Mo Bounce and a sultry film clip to match.

And after twerking in a cut-out pink leotard to promote her new track, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has made a surprise visit to New Zealand.

The 26-year-old took to Snapchat to share snaps of herself donning leopard ears in Queenstown.

Scroll down for video

Bounce, bounce, bouncing in! Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has made a surprise visit to New Zealand

The hit maker has her long blonde locks out and over her shoulders in loose tousled curls and wears makeup including a smokey eye.

She also had a makeup artist in her hotel room, presumably as she's set make an appearance.

It comes after the LA-based artist thrilled fans when she took to Snapchat to share a video of herself twerking in a pink leotard to the beat of her single.

Touchdown: The 26-year-old shared to her Snapchat, snaps of herself donning leopard ears in Queenstown

Getting into it: It comes after the LA-based artist thrilled fans when she took to Snapchat to share a video of herself twerking in a pink leotard to the beat of her single

In the video, Iggy stands against the wall wearing a bright-coloured coat, before dropping it to the floor and bending over.

The risque leotard offered a glimpse of sideboob as the Fancy rapper placed her hands on a wall an began to twerk.

Bouncing along to the music, she enthusiastically shakes her behind wearing the same outfit seen in her Mo Bounce video.

Music star: Bouncing along to the music, she enthusiastically shakes her behind wearing the same outfit seen in her Mo Bounce video (pictured)

Iggy's new single Mo Bounce was produced by The Stereotypes and co-written by Far East Movement's Kev Nish.

In the clip, she heads to Hong Kong and finds some of the world's best twerkers who bounce their behinds faster than the speed of light.

She wears several scantily-clad outfits in the while showcasing her own skills.
42nd Street, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Rating:

From the opening moments of 42nd Street you know you are in for a good night. The first note from the orchestra is a deep, cheeky parp of brass. Then comes the curtain rise and it stops at knee length long enough for us to see 80 feet tap-dancing, kicking up a noise like so many mad rattlesnakes. Clack clack clack clack clack. Mesmerising.

Here is Londons second big American-throwback musical in a month and it is another winner.

If I slightly preferred An American In Paris that is because it has balletic artistry and stronger lead performances but both shows will give families a taste of classic, sequin-spangled glamour.

Bruce Montague as Abner Dillon, Sheena Easton as Dorothy Brock and Tom Lister as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street

Glum to glam: Sheena as Miss Brock, left, and right in 2013 after a tooth removal

Harry Warrens music (Lullaby Of Broadway, Keep Young And Beautiful) dates to the 1930s.

The yarn  unknown dancer rescues Depression-era Broadway show and becomes a woman in her own right  was revived as a New York stage musical in 1980, its appeal being chorus-line nostalgia.

Showgirl legs, we got em. One almost expected Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon to come hoofing in from stage right and left.

Sheena Easton plays grouchy Miss Brock, the A-list star who breaks an ankle and has to be replaced by provincial newcomer Peggy Sawyer (Clare Halse). Brock is an unenviable role, though she gets to sing I Only Have Eyes For You.

Miss Easton, in purple hair, has a ruby voice and a certain matronliness but she could flare her nostrils a little more.

A touch heavier with the dragon, dear.

Backstage miracles abound: quick changes, lush backdrops, silhouettes and sumptuous costumes including a line of boys in white tailcoats and toppers.

Princess Kate talks to Lord Michael Grade ahead of the show at the Theatre Royal

The Duchess of Cambridge on stage with the cast following the curtain call

In one scene the girls are done up as flowers with petal hats. Almost in the next they are flashing their teeth at us from a gorgeous array of yellows and pinks and oranges and blues.

The chorus line is enormous  the producers must have invested a fortune. Such ambition is too rare on the West End these days.

Director Mark Bramble tilts a vast mirror over the stage when the dancers are on the floor, kicking and waving. A giant, human water lily could be flapping its tendrils. Great stuff.

A little tap-dancing goes a long way for me but the technique here is of a high order, none more so than from tiny, muscular Miss Halse. Maybe I was too busy watching her feet but I wonder if she has yet made Peggy tender enough.

Tom Listers impresario Mr Marsh, well sung, is a stern if rigid presence. Jasna Ivir injects comedy as mother-duck Maggie. And old Bruce Montague hams it up as an ageing ogler who has put $100,000 into the production simply because he fancies Miss Brock. An old man investing in musicals simply to eye the showgirls? Never.
The future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been the key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at ending the six-year war in Syria

The United States believes the Syrian people do not want President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power and does not accept that he could stand in elections, Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday.

Haley told a news conference that Assad is a "war criminal," "a hindrance to peace for a long time" and that his treatment of Syrians was "disgusting."

The ambassador was asked about whether US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's comments that Assad's future was up to the Syrian people meant that the United States would accept that he could once again run for the presidency in elections.

"No, it doesn't mean that the US will accept it," she said.

"We don't think that the people want Assad any more. We don't think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have."

Following talks in Ankara last week, Tillerson said the "longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people," suggesting that the United States would no longer insist on his departure.

The future of Assad has been the key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at ending the six-year war in Syria.

"We continue to strongly condemn the actions of Assad and what he has done and he continues to be directly on our radar in terms of what he does," said Haley.

The United States, which holds this month's presidency of the UN Security Council, will be chairing a meeting next week to take stock of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria.

UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva have made little progress and UN diplomats are not holding out hope for a breakthrough in the peace process.

Haley said the United States is concerned about Russian and Iranian support for Assad and is looking to the UN-brokered talks in Geneva to point the way to a settlement.

"We do think that we have forged new ground (in the Geneva talks) and we can start to at least analyze again where the United States is going to be and how we can handle things in Syria," she said.

Last week, Haley told reporters that the US would no longer insist on ending Assad's rule as a priority.

"You pick and choose your battles," she said.

"And when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out."
North Korea has warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.

The warning comes as President Donald Trump threatened the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.

The isolated state has quickened its missile programme in recent months, with a volley of tests it says are putting it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.

North Korea has carried out a barrage of missile tests in recent months, which it says are bringing it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped weapon

North Korea boasts a huge military and frequently threaten retribution for what it says are plans by the US and its allies for an imminent invasion

US-based analysts have said North Korea appears to be preparing a new atomic test.

It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.

North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The 'reckless actions' are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula 'to the brink of a war', a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its 'nuclear deterrent' through sanctions is 'the wildest dream'.

'Now that the US fails to face up to the trend of times but incites confrontation to strangle the DPRK (North Korea), the DPRK is left with no option but to take necessary counteraction against it.

'The world will soon witness what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hideous and reckless sanctions racket', he said without elaborating.

North Korea frequently makes unspecific threats in its state media.

President Donald Trump, who meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week has warned the US is prepared to act unilaterally to counter the threat from North Korea

The statement comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The comment by the North's foreign ministry spokesman came hours before the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill relisting the North as a state sponsor of terror, along with a resolution denouncing the North's nuclear and missile development.

The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanctions last week, seeking to further isolate the country's economy.

Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after the Trump-Xi meeting.

'It is most likely to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of its army on April 25 with either a sixth nuclear test, or the launch of a satellite or an ICBM test', Yang said.
Sauber F1 team Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi replaces the injured Pascal Wehrlein in the Chinese Grand Prix

Antonio Giovinazzi will replace Pascal Wehrlein for the second race in a row and drive for Sauber in this week's Chinese Grand Prix.

Wehrlein is battling to regain fitness following a crash in January's Race of Champions event which meant he missed most of pre-season training and testing.

Giovinazzi, 23, finished 12th on his grand prix debut in Melbourne 10 days ago, having had just two days of pre-season testing with the Sauber team.

"For me the most important is that I can train intensively to ensure a 100 percent performance from my side as soon as possible," Wehrlein said in a statement posted late Monday on the Sauber team website.

The 22-year-old German is hoping to be able to return at next week's Bahrain Grand Prix but admitted he might have to wait until the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, which is three weeks away.

"Hopefully this can be in Bahrain but, if not, then we will take the time it needs until Russia to make sure I am completely ready," said Wehrlein.
FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
An attack on a heavily-guarded Kabul hospital has been a major source of embarrassment for the Afghan military

Afghanistan on Tuesday sacked 12 army officers including two generals for negligence over an insurgent attack on the country's largest military hospital, which pointed to a spectacular intelligence failure.

Gunmen disguised as doctors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital in Kabul last month, with multiple surviving staff telling AFP that insiders including two interns were among the attackers.

The military head of intelligence and the official in charge of medical support were among those who have been dismissed and will face prosecution, the defence ministry said.

"They have been sacked for negligence of duty over the hospital attack," ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP.

The carnage inside the heavily guarded hospital was a major embarrassment for the military, spotlighting how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government institutions in Afghanistan.

The defence ministry denies that insiders were involved and asserts that only 50 people were killed. But security sources and the survivors, some of whom counted bodies, told AFP that the death toll exceeded 100.

Public anger has grown over the episode, with speculation swirling on social media that such a brazen attack on the tightly guarded hospital could not have happened without the complicity of high-ranking officials.

The savagery of the assault was characterised by how the assailants stabbed bedridden patients, threw grenades into crowded wards and shot people at point-blank range.

The Islamic State group claimed it was behind the attack via its propaganda agency Amaq -- hours after the Taliban denied responsibility.

But the survivors whom AFP spoke to said the attackers chanted "Long live Taliban" in Pashto and attacked all but two wards on the hospital's first floor, where Taliban patients were admitted.
Dozens of people, including children, suffered breathing problems after the suspected chemical attack

A suspected chemical attack in rebel-held northwestern Syria killed dozens of civilians including children and left many more sick and gasping, causing international outrage Wednesday.

The attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 58 civilians and saw dozens suffer respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Syria's opposition blamed President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying the attack cast doubt on the future of peace talks.

Syria: suspected chemical attack

The army denied any involvement in a statement blaming "terrorist groups" for using "chemical and toxic substances".

At least 19 children and 13 women were among the dead, the Observatory said, and an AFP correspondent in Khan Sheikhun saw many people on respirators.

If confirmed, it would be one of the worst chemical attacks since Syria's civil war began six years ago.

The incident brought swift international condemnation, with the United States, France and Britain presenting a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding a full investigation.

"This is clearly a war crime," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

The Tahrir al-Sham rebel alliance, which includes Al-Qaeda's former affiliate, the Fateh al-Sham Front, vowed to avenge the deaths, calling on fighters to "ignite the fronts".

- 'Brutal, unabashed barbarism' -

Washington condemned what it called a "reprehensible" attack by Assad's forces and US officials said his allies Russia and Iran must bring the dictator to heel.

"While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

Symptoms included vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the attack was believed to be chemical and launched from the air, adding there should be a "clear identification of responsibilities and accountability".

The Observatory said the attack on a residential part of Khan Sheikhun came early on Tuesday, when a warplane carried out strikes that released "toxic gas".

As well as those killed, at least 160 people were injured, it said, and many died even after arriving at medical facilities.

The monitor could not confirm the nature of the gas, but said the attack was probably carried out by government warplanes.

Syrian warplanes were also blamed for a series of deadly air strikes on a rebel-held region near Damascus that killed at least 22 civilians on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

"We ran inside the houses and saw whole families just dead in their beds," resident Abu Mustafa said.

"Children, women, old people dead in the streets."

Russia's military, which has been fighting in support of Assad's government since September 2015, denied carrying out any strikes near the town.

Hours after the initial attack, air strikes also hit a hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims, the AFP correspondent said, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they worked.

He saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital.

A father carried his dead little girl wrapped in a sheet, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible.

Speaking to AFP, medic Hazem Shehwan said victims of the earlier attack had symptoms including "pinpoint pupils, convulsions, foaming at the mouth and rapid pulses".

- Army denial -

Khan Sheikhun is in Idlib province, which is largely controlled by the Tahrir al-Sham rebel alliance.

The province is regularly targeted in government and Russian air strikes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the suspected chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun was launched from the air

The Observatory said 16 people, including 11 children, were killed Tuesday by air strikes in Salqin, in north Idlib province.

Syria's leading opposition group, the National Coalition, blamed Assad for the Khan Sheikhun attack.

Damascus officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its declared chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.

That agreement came after hundreds of people -- up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report -- were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by government troops east and southwest of Damascus.

But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use since, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.

The army again denied using chemical weapons on Tuesday, insisting "it has never used them, any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future".

- Peace talks doubts -

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Successive rounds of peace talks, including a UN-sponsored meeting in Geneva last week, have failed to produce a political breakthrough.

Tuesday's attack cast new doubt on the peace process, said the opposition's chief negotiator Mohamad Sabra.

"If the United Nations cannot deter the regime from carrying out such crimes, how can it achieve a process that leads to political transition in Syria?" he told AFP.

A senior Syrian security source told AFP that opposition forces were trying to "achieve in the media what they could not achieve on the ground" by spreading images from the alleged attack site.

The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the attack following calls from France and Britain.
Syrian refugee patients from the makeshift Rukban camp, which lies in no-man's-land off the border between Syria and Jordan on March 1, 2017

The UN warned Tuesday the plight of millions of Syrian refugees was becoming "desperate," with aid funds running low as donors and humanitarian groups met in Brussels to discuss the next steps.

The EU and the UN are co-chairing a two-day conference to follow up on a London meeting last year which raised $11 billion (10 billion euros) for aid programmes to help the devastated country.

"The situation is getting desperate," Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement with the UN Development Programme as the conference opened.

"We are already seeing children who arent able to go to school, families who cannot access adequate shelter or provide for their basic needs," Grandi said.

The UNHCR and UNDP said they, along with aid groups and governments, were "extremely concerned by the current low funding levels of the response to help millions of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them."

More than five million Syrian refugees have fled to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with many also going to Europe, a statement said.

"Yet, as the world prepares to meet in Brussels, only a fraction of the funds needed to assist them has been received," it said.

The UN estimates 3.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion) is needed for humanitarian aid this year inside Syria, with another 4.7 billion euros required to help the refugees.

The UNHCR and UNDP said that of this 4.7 billion euros, only 433 million euros or just nine percent had been pledged so far.

"Without additional funding, all areas of assistance will be curtailed this year," they warned.

"Food and cash assistance will be reduced or cut by mid-year, challenging stability and security in the region," they added.

The 28-nation European Union, with Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Britain and the United Nations, are co-chairing the "Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region."

It began Tuesday with a series of workshops, to be followed by a formal session Wednesday to review progress on the London pledges and see what additional measures might be taken.

The conference will "also consider the prospects for post-agreement assistance once a genuinely inclusive political transition is firmly under way."

More than 320,000 people have died in fighting since protests against President Bashar al-Assad turned into a full-blown civil war in 2011, while the majority of the population has been displaced.

The EU estimates that about 13.5 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance inside the country, in addition to the five million who have fled.
Syrian rebels being evacuated from Aleppo drive through a rebel-held territory near Rashidin, west of the embattled city, on December 22, 2016

The implementation of a deal to evacuate four besieged Syrian towns has been delayed over last-minute negotiations, a monitor and government negotiator said on Tuesday.

The evacuation of more than 30,000 people from the towns of Fuaa, Kafraya, Madaya and Zabadani, brokered by rebel supporter Qatar and regime ally Iran, was scheduled to start Tuesday.

But both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and one of the government's point-people on the deal said it had been delayed.

Fuaa and Kafraya are government-held Shiite-majority villages in the otherwise rebel-held province of Idlib, while Madaya and Zabadani are opposition enclaves surrounded by regime forces in Damascus province.

The Observatory said residents in all four towns had expressed reservations about the evacuations, which would probably take place later in the week.

Negotiations were also ongoing about the status of Madaya and Zabadani after the evacuation, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring group.

"The issue is whether the civilians will leave, because some want to stay, and whether the regime forces will enter Madaya and Zabadani in full, or there will be an agreement just to raise the flag," he told AFP.

All 16,000 residents of Fuaa and Kafraya are expected to leave under the deal, which prompted resistance from locals, the Observatory said.

Hassan Sharaf, who is coordinating the deal on behalf of the government, confirmed the delay but blamed it on disagreement among the various rebel factions controlling the route between Fuaa and Kafraya and government territory further west.

"For the agreement to be successful, there needs to be a clear, public, solid consensus among them so the residents of the two towns can be reassured," he said.

"The process is complicated, it needs patience and deep breaths," Sharaf told AFP.

Syria's government has negotiated a series of "reconciliation deals" with formerly rebel-held towns, offering fighters safe passage in exchange for surrender.

In some cases army troops enter the areas after the deal is implemented, but in others the government flag has simply been raised and administrative control resumed.

The four towns are part of an existing deal reached in 2015 that has seen simultaneous evacuations and aid deliveries, the last of which took place in November.

But the aid has proved insufficient, with reports of malnutrition and deaths from lack of food and medical care in the towns.

At least 600,000 people are living under siege in Syria, according to the United Nations, with another four million people in so-called "hard-to-reach" areas.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
South African President Jacob 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

South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC, on Tuesday called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle.

Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit ratings downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet.

"We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing.

"The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot".

Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994.

It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down.

- 'Marching into the street' -

"Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying Tuesday that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same".

"(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria.

"We are proud of having added many young ministers."

Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that Monday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy.

"We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference.

People hold placards during a rally outside the South African National Treasury to protest against President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on April 3, 2017

"What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines."

S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers.

The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing.

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 three percent against the US dollar following Monday night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT on Tuesday.

- 'Black day for the country' -

Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".

South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country".

"It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article.

Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence.

"The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.
A Syrian man receives treatment at a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected chemical gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, on April 4, 2017

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Tuesday that a "horrific" attack on a rebel-held town in the country that killed at least 58 people was believed to be chemical and launched from the air.

"What we have understood, it was a chemical attack and it came from the air," de Mistura told reporters in Brussels, adding that there should be a "clear identification of responsibilities and accountability."

De Mistura, fresh from the latest round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva between the rebels and Damascus, said that every time there was a sign of progress, someone -- unnamed -- always tried to sabotage it.

"Every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together, there is someone, somehow that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage," he said on the sidelines of a Syrian aid conference in Brussels.

"But we are not going to give up. On the contrary, we make use of all these horror moments to show they cannot prevail," de Mistura added.

Separately, the UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria said it had begun investigating the attack on a rebel-held town in northwestern Idlib Province.

"Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning," it said in a statement.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague, meanwhile also said it was "gathering and analysing information from all available sources" about the attack.
"The O'Reilly Factor" is the most widely viewed cable news show with an average of 3.98 million viewers in early 2017, according to Adweek

Major advertisers have begun cancelling spots on America's most-watched cable news show following reports of sexual harassment involving the star Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

US insurer Allstate and French pharmaceutical maker Sanofi became the latest to exit on Tuesday, following the lead of a handful of auto brands dropping ads for Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor," a favorite among conservatives.

Allstate spokesman Justin Herndon said, "Inclusivity and support for women are important Allstate values. We are concerned about the issues surrounding the program and we have suspended our advertising."

A Sanofi statement said the group had "reallocated" its ads.

"The controversy around 'The O'Reilly Factor' program and allegations made against Bill O'Reilly are matters that we take seriously and will continue to monitor," Sanofi said.

The moves came after a New York Times report said the cable news giant and O'Reilly had paid five women a total of $13 million in the cases spanning 15 years, in exchange for their silence and agreement not to pursue litigation against Fox News, a favorite among conservatives.

While two of the cases were previously known, the Times said it had unearthed three more cases of harassment, two of a sexual nature and one alleging verbally abusive behavior by O'Reilly.

Companies previously dropping advertising included BMW North America, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz.

"While it's hard to tell what the facts are, the allegations are disturbing," Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Donna Boland said.

"Given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now."

- Cash generator -

"The O'Reilly Factor" is the most widely viewed US cable news show, with an average of 3.98 million viewers in early 2017, according to Adweek.

From January 2015 to September 2016, the program pulled in some $297 million in ad revenues, according to the research firm Kantar Media.

A BMW spokesman said the German auto giant was suspending ads for the program "in light of the recent New York Times investigation."

Hyundai said it had no current ads on the program but had scheduled some.

The South Korean firm is "reallocating them (to other Fox programs) due to the recent and disturbing allegations," a statement read.

"As a company we seek to partner with companies and programming that share our values of inclusion and diversity," Hyundai said.

"We will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation as we plan future advertising decisions."

Toyota suspended ads for the show, saying "we take our duties as a responsible advertiser."

A Fox statement said the channel was working with its "partners to address the concerns.

"At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other (Fox) programs," said Paul Rittenberg, executive vice president for ad sales.

Media reports said as many as 12 brands had decided to drop ads on the show as of Tuesday.

The reports on O'Reilly came as 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.
A picture taken on April 4, 2017 shows destruction at a hospital room in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack

For Diaeddin Al Zamel, the call to save Syria at a EU-UN conference in Brussels was not supposed to be a punch to the gut.

The gathering was meant to be an all-too-typical plea for aid from rich donors -- but then came the text message from the world's bloodiest battleground.

A source on the ground said the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib Province had been hit by a chemical gas airstrike that left many dead and dozens others vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth.

Zamel, of the Syrian UOSSM hospital network, said he had no choice but to share the tragedy being played out on his phone screen.

Facing delegates assembled in a packed conference room, Zamel said warplanes had just unleashed the suspected toxic gas attack on the town in northwestern Syria.

He told the audience of a terrible scene: haunting images of the dead, mainly children, eyes coal-black and lifeless but open.

"They are still counting the dead," Zamel told AFP in Arabic via an interpreter.

"Most killed were children, which is normal because their bodies do not tolerate the chemicals," he said.

Hours later, air strikes hit a hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack.

"The type of gas or chemical has not been confirmed but the symptoms seem like sarin," Zamel said.

- 'There are no red lines' -

Syria hit by suspected chemical attack

"The hospitals on the ground can't take everyone and are not prepared to deal with these cases. The biggest problem is the lack of special suits and masks," he added.

With zero warning, the worst that six bloody years of conflict in Syria had to offer had muscled its way into the conference in Brussels.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that it could be seen as "surreal" to be talking about the post-conflict prospects for Syria with attacks still going on.

"I know these people, we all know each other," said Manal Fahham, a neurologist who works with Al Seeraj, a Syrian medical NGO.

"This is supposed to be a red line in the conflict but you know that there are no red lines in this conflict," she said, referring to the suspected gas attack.

Syrian children receive treatment at a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on April 4, 2017

Fahham studied medicine in Damascus before working for 20 years in Saudi Arabia. In early 2011 she moved with her husband to Syria and set up a network of clandestine doctors as the war raged.

"You know what people tell me on the ground? They say they want a quick death, not a slow death," she said.

"Lately the attacks have been using chlorine gas which is almost worse. Chlorine doesn't kill you, it just makes you suffer, causing psychological problems," she said.

Zamel said the most pressing problem was the lack of training and supplies after years of conflict that have seen doctors experienced doctors killed or choosing exile.

"These attacks require a lot of medication. There were only 50 injections of a Atropine antidote available at the hospital" in Idlib, he said.

"There is a lack of experience to deal with chemical-type attacks. There is lack of oxygen, medication and most important proper chemical suits, gloves and masks," he said.

"We need properly trained medical personnel to deal with these attacks. We need support," he said.

- 'The worst' -

The gathered officials from embassies, aid agencies and NGOs could only listen, with even the most war-weathered veterans dumbstruck by the latest news.

"This sixth year of the conflict has been by far the worst in the conflict. Today is the worst type of violation," said Justin Byworth of World Vision, a Christian NGO with many missions in Syria.

"I've worked in humanitarian work for thirty years -- Africa, Asia the Middle East -- and I've never had a experience like the Syrian conflict," he said.

"Today, sitting in that conference room with the head of all these major institutions: UN, EU... for everyone in the room, who have seen the horrific situation in Syria, it really hit home," he said.

"The problem is, Are the right people in the room who need to hear that message?"
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns of a growing risk of a EU breakup

The odds of a breakup of the European Union have increased after Brexit, an outcome that could have "devastating" economic and political effects, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive said Tuesday.

JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, in an annual letter to shareholders, said he had hoped Britain's decision last year to exit the EU would have led the bloc to focus on "fixing its issues," such as immigration and rigid labor rules.

"Our fear, however, is that it could instead result in political unrest that would force the EU to split apart," Dimon said.

"The unraveling of the EU and the monetary union could have devastating economic and political effects. While we are not predicting this will happen, the probabilities have certainly gone up -- and we will keep a close eye on the situation in Europe over the next several years."

Regarding Brexit itself, Dimon expressed confidence the bank would be able to meet all its European' clients needs once Britain exits the EU following negotiations expected to take two years.

The bank doesn't foresee shifting much staff from Britain over the next two years, but "we do suspect that following Brexit, there will be constant pressure by the EU not to 'outsource' services to the United Kingdom but to continue to move people and capabilities into EU subsidiaries," Dimon said.

Dimon, who is chair of the Washington lobby group the Business Roundtable and sits on a CEO advisory board to President Donald Trump, also expressed support for international trade in the wake of criticism by Trump and others of major trade agreements.

Dimon called Mexico, a leading Trump target, a "long-standing peaceful neighbor" whose interests are intertwined with those of the United States.

"Our trade agreement with Mexico helps ensure that the young democracy in Mexico is not hijacked by populist and anti-American leaders (like Chavez in Venezuela)," Dimon said. "

"While there are some clear identifiable problems with NAFTA, I believe they will be worked out in a way that is fair and beneficial to both sides."

Dimon described the challenges with China as "more complex" and include cybersecurity and the protection intellectual property.

"However, there is no inevitable or compelling reason that China and America have to clash," Dimon said.

Dimon also reiterated stances on a number of other issues, voicing support for less onerous financial regulation and endorsing tax reform to eliminate the incentive for multinationals to move overseas.
A picture taken on April 4, 2017 shows destruction at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack

The United States' stumbling response Tuesday to the latest apparent chemical weapons strike in Syria underlined the disarray at the heart of its strategy for the country.

After an awkward delay, Washington officials joined a global chorus of outrage after dozens of civilians were killed by a suspected chemical agent in a strike on a rebel-held town.

The White House said it was confident that Bashar al-Assad's regime was to blame, and US officials said his allies Russia and Iran must bring the dictator to heel.

"While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

In a separate statement, President Donald Trump criticized his predecessor Barack Obama's "weakness and irresolution" in failing to punish previous Syrian chemical attacks in 2013.

But no senior figure appeared on camera to denounce the attack. Tillerson ignored questions from reporters and Trump went ahead with an address to building workers without mentioning it.

Next week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Moscow for talks with the government of President Vladimir Putin, Assad's main military and diplomatic backer in Syria's six-year-old civil war

Next week, Tillerson will visit Moscow for talks with the government of President Vladimir Putin, Assad's main military and diplomatic backer in Syria's six-year-old civil war.

"We call upon Russia and Iran, yet again, to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again," he said.

"As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths," he warned.

The Syrian army and Russia have categorically denied involvement in the strike on Khan Sheikhun.

The latest attack came as Trump's administration was already struggling to explain its policy towards Syria, beyond rejecting Obama's previous strategy.

- Assad not the priority -

Building on Trump's bellicose campaign rhetoric, the core of the new approach was to be a single-minded re-focusing of US efforts towards the defeat of the Islamic State group.

US-made armoured vehicles bearing markings of the US Marine Corps are seen on a road north of Raqa in northern Syria on March 27, 2017

This ambitious jihadist force exploited the disorder thrown up by Syria's civil war, which allowed it to seize Raqa in eastern Syria and a pocket of land leading to the Iraqi city of Mosul.

But the IS group is already on the back foot after a campaign by US-backed local forces that began under Obama, and Assad's war against his domestic opposition is a far deadlier conflict.

Under Obama, Washington hoped to defeat the Islamic State group on the battlefield while working with Russia and US Arab allies to pressure Assad and his civil war opponents to negotiate peace.

Back in 2013, Obama warned Assad his use of banned chemical weapons against his own people crossed a "red line", but he famously decided not to order US intervention.

Instead, then secretary of state John Kerry negotiated a deal with Russia to oversee the dismantling of Assad's declared chemical stockpiles, although it is now obvious some remained.

Under Trump, new secretary Tillerson's job is to get Russia on board with the battle against "radical Islamic terrorism" and, until this week, Assad's fate was far from a priority.

Syria:deadly chemical attack

Last week, Tillerson said the "status of president Assad will be decided by the Syrian people" -- tacitly aligning Washington with Russia's plan to allow him to seek re-election.

Nikki Haley -- the US ambassador to the United Nations and increasingly the voice of US foreign policy compared to the taciturn Tillerson -- underlined this choice.

- Pick your battles -

"You pick and choose your battles," she told reporters.

"And when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out," she explained.

Haley later walked this back, declaring Assad a "war criminal" and insisting that the Syrian people themselves reject him.

But even after Tuesday's chemical attack, Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer admitted that Assad's rule is a "political reality" and that there is no "fundamental option of regime change."

US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley walked back comments that getting Bashar al-Assad out of Syria was not a "priority," declaring him a "war criminal" and insisting that the Syrian people themselves reject him

This will be welcome news for Putin as he prepares to receive Tillerson on Wednesday next week, but it outraged Washington hawks who see Trump as going soft on a bloody dictator.

Republican Senator John McCain derided the idea the Syrian people would be able to decide on the future of Assad while under bombardment by him as "an absurd fiction."

And, in a nod to Tillerson and Haley, he said: "The recent statements by US officials suggesting otherwise only serve to legitimize the actions of this war criminal in Damascus."
Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti was seized by armed men on February 7 in the southern Malian village of Karangasso, near the Burkina Faso border

Authorities in Mali charged four men Tuesday over the kidnapping of a Colombian nun, whose whereabouts remain unknown, judicial sources told AFP.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Franciscan nun in her fifties, was seized by armed men on February 7 in the southern Malian village of Karangasso, near the Burkina Faso border, where she had been working.

Mali's interior ministry has said officials believe she was abducted by jihadists who then drove towards the border.

Malian and Burkinabe security sources told AFP in February that search operations were being expanded around the frontier.

A judicial source said Tuesday that the suspects who have been charged -- all Malian nationals -- included three workers from the parish where the nun was kidnapped.

"They are accused of kidnap linked to terrorism," the source said.

A second source said the four had been charged with conspiracy and possession of illegal weapons.

The suspects are in detention in Bamako but neither source confirmed when and where they had been arrested.

According to a source close to Koutiala parish, near where the nun was kidnapped, they were detained Sunday near the town and driven to the capital, where they appeared before an anti-terrorism judge and were charged on Tuesday.

A prison source said the four included "two occasional ambulance drivers in the parish where the nun lived".

After the kidnapping, "the kidnappers fled with Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti in the ambulance", the source alleged, identifying the other two suspects as a parish cook and a Karangasso resident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping, but attacks in the south of Mali by jihadists, a threat that was once confined to the restive north, have become increasingly common.

The north fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012. They were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

But the implementation of a peace accord reached in 2015 has been piecemeal, with insurgents still active across large parts of the nation.
If confirmed to be a missile, it would be the latest such launch by the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un

Nuclear-armed North Korea on Wednesday fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, South Korea's defence ministry said, days after Pyongyang warned of retaliation if the global community ramps up sanctions.

"At 06:42 am (2142 GMT Tuesday) today, North Korea fired a ballistic missile from Sinpo area into the Sea of Japan," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the missile had flown some 60 kilometres (about 40 miles), adding South Korea and the United States were analysing its flight path to determine its type.

"The military is keeping a close watch over North Korea's provocative moves and maintaining a high defence posture", it said.

The launch is likely to fuel international concerns about 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.

Wednesday's launch came after President Donald Trump threatened the US was prepared to go it alone in bringing the North to heel if China did not step in, and ahead of a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its "nuclear deterrent" through sanctions is "the wildest dream", it said.

Trump and Xi will hold their first face-to-face meeting this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula are expected to be high on the agenda.

The hardened US stance followed recent North Korean missile launches that Pyongyang described as practice for an attack on US bases in Japan.

In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan.

Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile 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.

Pyongyang is barred under UN resolutions from carrying out ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests.
PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. (AP) - Someone has returned a book to a New Jersey library 50 years after it was taken out.

The Phillipsburg Free Public Library says its copy of Jules Verne's "Dropped From The Clouds" was left in its book drop on Thursday. It had been checked out on Jan. 5, 1967.

Library director Deb Messling tells NJ.com (http://bit.ly/2nA0u0o ) that records don't go back that far to determine who had checked it out. Messling says the book's condition is too poor to return to the shelves.

The library's late fee is 10 cents a day, but it is capped at $3.

___

Information from: NJ.com, http://www.nj.com
NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian police searched Monday for two men suspected of raping a German tourist in the beach town of Mamallapuram in southern India, the latest case of sexual violence to shock the country.

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 no arrests had been made.

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.

In response to the attack and the widespread public protests it provoked, the government rushed through legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid the turmoil over staff shake-ups, blocked travel bans and the Russia cloud hanging overhead, President Donald Trump is steadily plugging away at a major piece of his agenda: Undoing Obama.

From abortion to energy to climate change and personal investments, Trump is keeping his promises in methodically overturning regulations and policies adopted when Barack Obama was president.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing.

FILE - In this March 24, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump announces the approval of a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, clearing the way for the $8 billion project in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. From left are, TransCanada CEO Russell K. Girling, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Amid staff turmoil and shake-ups, travel bans blocked by federal courts and the Russia cloud hanging overhead, Trump is plucking away at another piece of his agenda: undoing Obama. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump recently failed to fulfill his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which continues to stand as Obama's most recognizable domestic policy achievement. Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan couldn't persuade enough fellow Republicans to back new health care legislation last month. Ryan pulled the measure just before a scheduled House vote.

Trump has had better outcomes in other areas.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Trump signed an executive order last week to deliver on his pledge to unravel Obama's efforts to curb global warming. The order launched a review of the Clean Power Plan, Obama's chief effort to curb carbon emissions by restricting greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. Trump also lifted a 14-month-old halt on new coal leases on federal lands. The Obama administration had imposed a three-year freeze on such leases in January 2016.

The executive order covers a range of other Obama-era rules, including requirements to factor the "social cost" of carbon emissions into all regulatory actions and to crack down on methane emissions at oil and gas wells. Business groups had complained to Trump, himself a businessman, that the rules were intrusive and expensive.

INTERNET PRIVACY

Trump signed a measure Monday blocking online privacy regulations the Federal Communications Commission issued during Obama's final months in office. It's a first step toward allowing internet providers to sell information about their customers' browsing habits. The FCC rule was designed to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share information. Critics complained that the rule would have increased costs, stifled innovation and picked winners and losers among internet companies.

ABORTION/FAMILY PLANNING

Trump is expected to sign legislation erasing another Obama rule, one that barred states from withholding federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other clinics that provide abortions. The rule was finalized shortly before Obama left office in January.

The measure cleared the Senate last week with Vice President Mike Pence, who is also president of the Senate, casting the tie-breaking 51st vote in the 100-member chamber.

KEYSTONE XL OIL PIPELINE

Trump greenlighted the long-delayed project on March 24, reversing Obama's decision less than 18 months earlier. After Trump invited TransCanada, the Canadian company building the $8 billion pipeline, to resubmit its application, the State Department approved the project, saying it would advance U.S. national interests. Obama had said the project would not.

Approval came nearly a decade after TransCanada applied to complete the 1,700-mile (2,735 kilometers) pipeline to carry oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Trump says the project will reduce costs and reliance on foreign oil, and create thousands of jobs. Obama had said it would undercut U.S. credibility in international efforts to tackle climate change.

DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE

Under Obama, the Army Corps of Engineers had declined in December to allow pipeline construction under South Dakota's Lake Oahe on grounds that alternate routes needed to be considered. Native American tribes had sued to block construction, arguing that the pipeline threatened their water supply and cultural sites.

The project has moved forward again under Trump, who acted shortly after taking office. In February, the Army Corps of Engineers abandoned further study and granted an easement that was needed to complete the pipeline. Energy Transfer Partners immediately began drilling under the lake.

FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS

The Trump administration is re-examining federal requirements governing the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks. In 2012, the Obama administration set fuel economy regulations for model years 2017-2025 and agreed to complete a midterm evaluation by next year. Then, days before Obama left office, the Environmental Protection Agency decided to keep stringent requirements it had set in place for model years 2022-2025.

The auto industry balked. Trump announced in Michigan that he's putting the midterm review back on track. His decision has no immediate effect but requires the EPA to determine no later than April 2018 whether the 2022-2025 standards are appropriate.

TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Obama was his administration's biggest cheerleader for the sweeping agreement involving the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. But the Senate needed to ratify it, and bipartisan opposition basically doomed it before he left office.

As a candidate, Trump railed against the agreement and pledged to withdraw from it, saying he was a better negotiator and could strike better deals. Shortly after taking office, he directed the U.S. trade representative to withdraw and said he would pursue individual deals with the other countries.

ABORTION/MEXICO CITY POLICY

Trump reinstated a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information about them. Obama had lifted the ban when he took office in 2009.

Known as the "Mexico City Policy" or, by critics, as the "global gag rule," the regulation has been a political volleyball, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984. Trump signed it one day after the 44th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. The policy also prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that lobby to legalize abortion or promote it as a family planning method.

PERSONAL FINANCE

Trump has instructed the Department of Labor to delay an Obama-era rule that would require financial professionals who charge commissions to put their clients' best interests first when advising them on retirement investments. The "fiduciary rule" was aimed at blocking consultants from steering clients toward investments with higher commissions and fees that can eat away at retirement savings. The rule was to take effect this month. The financial services industry argued that the rule would limit retirees' investment choices by forcing asset managers to steer them to low-risk options.

Undoing the rule was part of a promised assault by Trump on banking rules enacted after the Great Recession. He has directed the Treasury secretary to review the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, which he has said is a disaster. The law's aim was to keep banks from repeating practices that many blamed for the financial meltdown.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after a recent summit hosted by the monarch renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood.

Could the revived Arab plan, coupled with Trump's stated eagerness to strike a deal, signal an opening for restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks?

Here's a look ahead.

FILE -- In this Monday, March 27, 2017 file photo, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, left, rides in a vintage Mercedes with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a week after a Jordan-hosted summit renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel for Palestinian statehood. (AP Photo/ Raad Adayleh, File)

WHAT'S ON THE TABLE?

At their annual summit last week, Arab leaders renewed an offer they first made to Israel in 2002 - recognition by dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in exchange for allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Israel has balked, among other things, at the envisioned scope of withdrawal from the lands it captured in 1967 and unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the initial proposal.

With the summit declaration to back his case, Jordan's king will be able to tell Trump that Arab leaders are serious about achieving what Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, described as the "historic reconciliation between Israel and the whole Arab world."

But the king will couple the enticing prospect of regional peace with a warning. Jordan argues that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the root of regional turmoil and that, if allowed to fester, it will undercut the Trump administration's Mideast goals of containing Iran and defeating Islamic State extremists.

WILL TRUMP ENGAGE?

Trump's international envoy, Jason Greenblatt, told Arab leaders on the sidelines of last week's summit in Jordan that the U.S. president has a personal interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian deal and that he believes it is doable.

Trump hasn't said what kind of agreement he seeks, but appears to have backed away from initial suggestions that he could envision alternatives to the globally backed two-state solution that has been supported by previous U.S. presidents.

For now, Trump envoys are trying to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction on war-won lands and ease economic restrictions on Palestinians - a traditional U.S. move when trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Greenblatt also won praise from Palestinian officials, who say he was surprisingly open to their concerns during his recent "listening tour" in the region.

A RARE OPENING?

Early on, Trump positioned himself as a staunch Israel supporter, eliciting alarm in parts of the Arab world and cheers among Israeli hard-liners.

The administration has since tried to adjust the balance on some issues, seeking a settlement slowdown and holding off on a promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem. U.S. ally Jordan, custodian of a major Muslim-run shrine in Jerusalem, has warned such a move would fuel extremism.

Some argue that recent events could create an opening for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - despite perceptions that the Trump White House hasn't formulated a clear Mideast strategy.

Trump's personal interest in a deal contrasts with his predecessor Barack Obama's more hands-off approach, and the current president's amicable relationship with Netanyahu could give him greater leverage with Israel, said Jordanian analyst Musa Shteiwi.

Another key ingredient - broad Arab support for negotiations - will be delivered by Jordan's king on Wednesday.

"There is an opening," said Shteiwi, head of the Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank at Jordan University. "We should be cautiously optimistic."

WHAT DOES JORDAN WANT?

The White House meeting will affirm the king's traditional role as Mideast mediator and raise his profile as an arbiter of Arab consensus.

Jordan seeks a solid U.S. promise that Washington will try to revive peace efforts, most importantly by persuading Israel to engage in credible talks on Palestinian statehood, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters about diplomatic efforts.

There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian talks since gaps widened with Netanyahu's 2009 election. Netanyahu hasn't formally reneged on the principle of a two-state solution, but has stopped short of mentioning it in recent weeks, and most of his Cabinet members oppose the idea.

WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL?

Netanyahu reportedly told Cabinet ministers last week that it's important for Israel to show goodwill and not be seen by Trump as an obstacle to any U.S. initiative. Still, talks with the U.S. on slowing settlement construction haven't led to results and Israel last week approved a new settlement - the first in 20 years - billed by Netanyahu as keeping a previous promise to settlers. At the same time, Netanyahu reportedly proposed unilateral Israeli construction limits.

Netanyahu envoy Michael Oren, who recently met with Greenblatt, said on Monday that Israel wants Arab states to take concrete steps to "show that they are not just talking about peace, but actually mean it."

This would include "aspects of normalization," Oren said, but did not elaborate. He described a process of mutual goodwill gestures that could gradually lead to a peace agreement.

WHAT ELSE WILL COME UP?

Another important issue for Jordan will be the fight against the Islamic State group, which controls territory in neighboring Iraq and Syria. The militants have shown with a series of recent attacks that they pose an internal and external threat to pro-Western Jordan.

Jordan has been part of a U.S.-led military coalition against IS for the past two years, hosting Western military trainers and carrying out airstrikes against IS targets. A senior White House official last week portrayed Jordan as a "critical" U.S. partner in the fight against the extremists.

Jordanian and U.S. interests appear to converge, with both seeking to step up the anti-IS campaign.

___

Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE -- In this Wednesday, March 29, 2017 file photo, a section of the twenty one kings, presidents and top officials who attended the Arab League summit pose for a group photo, at a gathering near the Dead Sea in Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a week after a Jordan-hosted summit renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel for Palestinian statehood. (AP Photo/ Raad Adayleh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration's failure to keep senior adviser Jared Kushner's trip to Iraq secret isn't standard practice for top U.S. officials visiting warzones. Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security.

A senior administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner - President Donald Trump's son-in-law - was in Iraq, even though he was still en route. 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.

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, arrives at the Ministry of Defense, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 3, 2017. Kushner, flew to Iraq with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford on Monday. (AP Photo)

"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."

Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while they're on the ground.

U.S. security details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure, trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.

The choice of plane, too, is determined by danger level. In warzones, officials often fly more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Force's heavy C-17 transport plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper, corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from surface-to-air missiles.

Reporters cooperate, too. Those traveling with top leaders into conflict areas must keep the trip secret, with reports generally "embargoed" until landing. Restrictions can be tighter on rare occasions.

But these practices all are predicated on the administration not making the trip public prematurely.

"The moment of vulnerability is, if they know you're coming, a surface-to-air missile going after the airplane," said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's White House press secretary. "If you can diminish the time they know - and by the time you're there, the whole thing is a flood of security agents - it makes it almost impossible in theory for them to do anything bad."

For the Trump administration, Kushner's voyage marks the second time a secret trip hasn't gone as planned.

In February, the White House arranged for Trump to visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed a week earlier. In keeping with the practice of past White Houses, the trip wasn't announced. News organizations agreed not to report on the trip until after Trump arrived at the base.

But unlike past occurrences, Trump left the White House in broad daylight in Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, taking off in full view of pedestrians. The AP was forced to report that Trump had left the building.

For the last 15 years, as Republican and Democratic presidents and Cabinet members have traveled in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, media have largely adhered to the unwritten rules.

In 2003, when then-President George W. Bush secretly traveled to Iraq to see troops on Thanksgiving Day, about a dozen reporters accompanying him had to hand over their cellphones, pagers and other electronics upon boarding Air Force One. They couldn't file stories while Bush was on the ground, only after he left Iraqi airspace.

There have been occasional mistakes and misunderstandings. Host countries sometimes spill the beans and Cabinet members also slip up, though rarely with details about flights as they're incoming.

Security incidents aren't uncommon.

When Defense Secretary Panetta's plane was taxiing after landing in Afghanistan in 2012, an Afghan contractor hijacked an SUV and tried to run down senior Marine officers waiting on the ramp to welcome the Pentagon chief. The contractor then set himself aflame inside the vehicle, forcing the plane to taxi elsewhere on the runway to avoid the fire.

Officials said they didn't think the man knew about Panetta's arrival.

___

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Washington and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The case involving Roman Polanski, who fled the United States after he forced himself on a teenage girl during a photo shoot, has spanned more than 40 years, sparking court battles on both sides of the Atlantic. The Oscar winner remains a fugitive and has repeatedly requested that a court end the case without his presence. Meanwhile, prosecutors have repeatedly sought his extradition so the case can end with his sentencing. A ruling Monday failed to provide Polanski what he has wanted for years - an avenue to end the case from afar.

Here are some key dates in the long-running court saga:

___

March 10, 1977 - Roman Polanski conducts a photo shoot with a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house. As she later testifies, Polanski gives the girl champagne and part of a sedative during the shoot, then forced her to have sex. She says she repeatedly told Polanski no during intercourse, but says she did not fight him because she was afraid of him. The girl's mother calls police after finding out what happened.

March 24, 1977 - A grand jury indicts Polanski on six felony charges, including rape, furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and sodomy. He later pleads not guilty at arraignment.

August 1977 - Polanski pleads guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and a judge orders the director to undergo further proceedings.

September 1977 - A judge orders the director to undergo a 90-day diagnostic screening at a California state prison to help determine sentencing.

January 1978 - The diagnostic screening - completed after 42 days - recommends Polanski be placed on probation.

Feb. 1, 1978 - Polanski flees the United States on eve of sentencing after learning that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband intended to send Polanski back to prison. An arrest warrant is issued, confining Polanski's movements to France, Poland and Switzerland. Polanski alleges Rittenband met with a prosecutor who was not assigned to the case - without Polanski's lawyer present - to discuss sentencing.

September 1997 - A new judge meets with prosecutors and Polanski's attorney to discuss the case in chambers. The meeting is not reported, and elements of the discussion remain in dispute. Polanski's attorney contends the judge wanted Polanski's sentencing hearing televised, which the judge denies. Prosecutors contend Polanski sought to be sentenced without reporters present, which the director denies.

November 2002 - Lawyers for Conde Nast Publications successfully unseal grand jury testimony presented in Polanski's case.

March 2003 - Polanski wins the best director Academy Award for "The Pianist," but is unable to collect his Oscar in person due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

December 2008 - Polanski's lawyers seek a dismissal of the charges against him. His motion is supported by his victim.

February 2009 - A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejects Polanski's dismissal motion, stating that Polanski must appear in court to resolve his case. The order goes into effect in May 2009.

July 2009 - Polanski appeals the February ruling in his case.

September 2009 - Polanski is arrested in Switzerland pursuant to a warrant. Extradition proceedings begin.

December 2009 - A California court panel rejects Polanski's appeal, ruling that the director must appear in court to resolve his case.

January 2010 - Polanski's lawyers request the director be sentenced without being present in Los Angeles.

February 2010 - A Los Angeles court takes sealed testimony from Roger Gunson, the original prosecutor who handled Polanski's case, about his recollections of the judge's 1977 promises to the director.

May 2010 - A judge rejects a motion by Polanski's lawyers to unseal Gunson's testimony.

July 2010 - Switzerland rejects U.S. request to extradite Polanski, citing its inability to obtain the Gunson testimony.

December 2014 - Polanski's lawyers seek an evidentiary hearing to explore the director's allegations of judicial misconduct in Los Angeles. A judge rejects the motion without conducting a hearing.

February 2015 - Roman Polanski appears in a Polish court for hours of questioning on whether a U.S. request to extradite the director is valid.

October 2015 - A Polish court rejects an effort to extradite Polanski.

May 2016 - Poland's new justice minister revives extradition proceedings against Polanski.

December 2016 - The Polish Supreme Court rules Polanski will not be extradited to the United States.

February 2017 - Polanski's attorney seeks an order in Los Angeles to unseal Gunson's testimony. Later motions by Polanski seek an order confirming the director should not serve any additional time behind bars if he returns to Los Angeles. Polanski's lawyer relies on information included in a lengthy Polish court decision.

April 2017 - A Los Angeles judge rejects Polanski's requests to be sentenced without returning to court or for a determination he has served his sentence.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is cutting off U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for reproductive health under an abortion-related provision in a law that Democratic and Republican administrations have used as a cudgel in the global culture wars.

The U.N. Population Fund will lose $32.5 million in funding from the 2017 budget, the State Department said, with funds shifted to similar programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The administration accused the agency, through its work with China's government, of supporting population control programs in China that include coercive abortion.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the U.N. fund would also lose out on tens of millions of additional dollars it has typically received from the U.S. in "non-core" funds.

By halting assistance to the U.N. Population Fund, the Trump administration is following through on promises to let socially conservative policies that President Donald Trump embraced in his campaign determine the way the U.S. government operates and conducts itself in the world. Though focused on forced abortion - a concept opposed by liberals and conservatives alike - the move to invoke the "Kemp-Kasten amendment" was sure to be perceived as a gesture to anti-abortion advocates and other conservative interests.

The policy change comes days before Trump is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a highly anticipated meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. In a shift from President Barack Obama's approach, Trump has avoided elevating human rights concerns in diplomacy, with White House officials saying those issues are most effectively advanced by raising them with foreign leaders in private.

Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called it a "grave error" that sent a dangerous message about the administration's policies toward women. He predicted women and girls "will suffer."

"Donald Trump should put the health and dignity of women ahead of political points and reverse this decision immediately," said Engel, D-N.Y.

Under a three-decade-old law, the U.S. is barred from funding organizations that aid or participate in forced abortion of involuntary sterilization. It's up to each administration to determine which organizations meet that condition. The U.N. Population Fund has typically been cut off by Republican presidents and restored when Democrats control the White House.

In a lengthy memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, the State Department said the U.N. fund partners with China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, responsible for overseeing China's "two-child policy." It said the U.N. collaborates with the Chinese agency on family planning. Still, the memo acknowledged there was no evidence of U.N. support for forced abortions or sterilization in China.

The U.N. Population Fund, known as UNFPA, said it regretted the U.S. move and argued it was "erroneous" to suggest it was complicit in China's policies.

"UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination," the agency said in a statement.

Starting in 1979, China had a "one-child policy" enforced in many cases with state-mandated abortions. But the policy was eased over the years, and now allows married couples to have two children, in a nod to the aging population in the world's most populous country.

The designation was the latest move by the Trump administration to prioritize traditionally conservative issues in the federal budget. The Trump administration has vowed to cut all dollars for climate change programming, and also restored the so-called global gag rule, which prohibits funding to non-governmental groups that support even voluntary abortions.

The Trump administration has also signaled that it no longer sees a need for the U.S. to so generously fund U.N. and other international organizations. The White House has proposed cutting roughly one-third from the State Department's budget, with much of it expected to come from foreign aid and global organization dollars, although Congress is expected to restore at least some of that funding

The U.N. agency's mission involves promoting universal access to family planning and reproductive health, with a goal of reducing maternal deaths and practices like female genital mutilation. The cut-off funds will be "reprogrammed" to USAID's Global Health Programs account to focus on similar issues, said a State Department official, who wasn't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.

The Kemp-Kasten amendment, enacted in 1985, led to some of the U.N. agency's funding being initially cut off, then restored by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, USAID said in a report. Republican George W. Bush's administration reversed the decision in 2002, but President Barack Obama - a Democrat - gave the funding back after taking office.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - The Latest on the deadly subway bombing in St. Petersburg (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says the Eiffel Tower will remain dark overnight to honor the victims of the St. Petersburg subway bombing.

A woman pays her respects at a symbolic memorial at Tekhnologichesky Institute subway station in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city St. Petersburg Monday, killing several people and wounding many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Hidalgo said the lights on the famous monument will be switched off at midnight in Paris, when it will be 1 a.m. Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

The mayor made the announcement in a tweet that carried the hashtag #WeareUnited written in French.

The move came as officials in Berlin were being criticized for deciding not to bathe the Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Russian flag.

___

5:30 p.m.

A row has erupted over Berlin's decision not to illuminate the Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Russian flag following the deadly subway bombing in St. Petersburg.

Critics accuse the state of Berlin of being indifferent to the deaths of Russians, noting that the city's iconic monument was bathed in the colors of other countries following attacks in London, Paris, Brussels and Istanbul.

Berlin authorities say those four places are Berlin's official partner cities, but acknowledge that exceptions have been made. The gate was lit up with the relevant colors after attacks in Jerusalem and Orlando, Florida, for example.

Klaus Lederer, Berlin's top cultural official, called Tuesday for an end to the practice to prevent debates about the issue in future. He says that until then, Russia's national colors should be projected on the gate.

___

3:50 p.m.

Russian investigators have identified a 22-year old Kyrgyz-born man as the suicide bomber in Monday's blast on the St. Petersburg subway.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that they believe Akbardzhon Dzhalilov set off a bomb on a train that killed 14 people and wounded dozens. It was unclear if the figure of 14 included the bomber.

The investigators also said that forensic experts found Dzhalilov's DNA on a bag containing a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday.

___

3:10 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin ways to boost anti-terrorism cooperation in the aftermath of the St. Petersburg subway bombing.

The Kremlin on Tuesday published summaries of Putin's phone calls with Merkel and Hollande as well as with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who also called Putin on Tuesday to offer his condolences for the attack that claimed 14 lives and injured dozens.

The Kremlin said Merkel, Hollande and Putin "stressed the need to intensify cooperation in order to counter terrorism which is a common threat for all nations" and agreed to improve intelligence sharing.

___

2:20 p.m.

The foreign ministry of the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan says a Kazakh citizen was among the 14 killed in Monday's blast on the St. Petersburg subway.

The ministry said on its website on Tuesday that relatives have identified the victim's body, and that it will be taken to Kazakhstan for burial.

The St. Petersburg City Hall said there are several foreign nationals among those killed and 49 injured but it would not give details.

Russian officials said investigators have identified a man whose body parts were found on the train and who is suspected to be a suicide bomber

___

2:05 p.m.

Russian news agencies say the St. Petersburg subway stations shut down after a bomb threat have reopened.

At least four stations were closed on Tuesday after a call about a possible bomb.

Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted the subway administration that full service on all lines and at all stations was restored by early afternoon.

The bomb scare follows a train bombing on Monday that killed at least 14 people in Russia's second-largest city.

___

1:10 p.m.

Russian investigators say they believe a suicide bomber was behind a deadly attack on the subway in Russia's second-largest city on Monday.

A blast inside a train on the St. Petersburg subway claimed 14 lives and injured dozens.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that they suspect that a man whose body fragments they found in the train was a suicide bomber. The committee said they identified him but would not release the details in the interests of the probe.

Earlier, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security identified a suspect as Kyrgyz-born Russian Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. It is unclear whether the Russian and Kyrgyz statements referred to the same man.

___

1 p.m.

The Kremlin spokesman says intelligence agencies will look into the fact that Monday's subway blast in St. Petersburg happened while President Vladimir Putin was in town.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the fact that Putin was in the city when the bomb went off, although several dozen miles away from where he was hosting talks, "makes one pause" and is "something for the intelligence agencies to analyze."

The explosion on a subway train under Russia's second-largest city killed at least 14 people on Monday and wounded dozens.

___

12:35 p.m.

Four subway stations in St. Petersburg are now closed following a bomb threat, the day after a bomb killed 14 people and wounded dozens.

The Sennaya Square station in the city center was cordoned off on Tuesday, and commuters were told via a PA announcement that three more stations have also been closed down.

A bomb went off on a subway train under Russia's second-largest city on Monday. A second device was found and deactivated.

___

12:15 p.m.

The driver of the St. Petersburg subway train hit by a bomb appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

"I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

Oleg Alexeyev, 53, who trains sniffer dogs for the police, went to the Technological Institute station Tuesday morning to lay flowers in the memory of those who died nearby.

"I traveled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

The explosion occurred in midafternoon as the train traveled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines.

___

12:05 p.m.

Russian emergency officials say they have closed a subway station in St. Petersburg following a bomb threat.

The press office of the local emergency situations ministry said on Tuesday they received a call about a bomb at the Sennaya Square station.

An explosion on a moving train near the same station killed 14 people on Monday and wounded dozens.

Fire engines and ambulances were seen parked on the square outside the security cordon on Sennaya Tuesday morning.

___

11:20 a.m.

Russia's health minister has raised the death toll from Monday's blast on the St. Petersburg subway to 14.

Veronika Skvortsova said in a televised briefing on Tuesday that 11 people died on the spot, one died in an ambulance and two at the hospital. Forty-nine people are still hospitalized, Skvortsova said.

An unidentified explosive device went off in a subway train under Russia's second-largest city while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city. A second bomb was found and deactivated. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

___

9:30 a.m.

The intelligence agency in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan says the man behind Monday's deadly bombing on the St. Petersburg subway is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.

A bomb blast tore through a subway train under Russia's second-largest city on Monday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said in a statement on Tuesday that the man behind the bombing is a Kyrgyz-born Russian national. The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

It is unclear whether the attack was a suicide bombing or whether the bomber got away.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill conducts a memorial religious service in the Christ The Saviour Cathedral for subway explosion victims in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city St. Petersburg Monday, killing several people and wounding many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, lays flowers at a place near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city Monday, killing several people and wounding many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Blast victims lie near a subway train hit by a explosion at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. The subway in the Russian city of St. Petersburg is reporting that several people have been injured in an explosion on a subway train. (AP Photo/DTP&ChP St. Peterburg via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's news conference following their talks at Konstantin palace in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. The two leaders announced that they have settled the energy dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbors and allies during their talks Monday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)

Women cry near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city Monday, killing several people and wounding many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A woman lights a candle at a place near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city Monday, killing several people and wounding many more in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A woman lights a candle at an entrance of Sennaya subway station after an explosion on the subway in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. A bomb blast tore through a subway train in Russia's second-largest city Monday, killing several people and injuring many more as President Vladimir Putin was visiting St. Petersburg, authorities said. (AP Photo/Yevgeny Kurskov)

Russian emergency service patrol an area near to the Tekhnologicheskaya metro station after an explosion in St.Petersburg subway in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017, with fatalities and many injured in the subway train blast. A spokesman for Russia's top anti-terror agency says law enforcement agents have found and defused another explosive device on St. Petersburg's subway. (AP Photo/Yevgeny Kurskov)
ISTANBUL (AP) - German officials met Tuesday with a German-Turkish journalist imprisoned in Istanbul, for the first time since his incarceration, saying he is doing well but voicing concerns that he is being kept in jail for political purposes and calling for his release.

German Foreign Ministry official Michael Roth, a deputy foreign minister, told reporters that Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel met with Consul General Georg Birgelen and a German consulate attorney in prison.

"He's doing well overall given the circumstances, but is finding the solitary confinement a great strain," Roth said.

German Minister of State Michael Roth speaks to the media on detained German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, in Istanbul, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Foreign Ministry official Michael Roth told reporters that Deniz Yucel met Tuesday with Consul General Georg Birgelen and a German consulate attorney in prison. It was the first consular contact Yucel, a reporter for Die Welt newspaper, has been allowed since he was arrested on charges of producing terrorist propaganda and incitement to hatred - accusations he denies. ( AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

It was the first consular contact Yucel has been allowed since he was arrested on charges of producing terrorist propaganda and incitement to hatred - accusations he denies. He was taken into custody in mid-February after reporting on a hacker attack on the email account of the country's energy minister, who is also Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law. Yucel was formally arrested later in the month.

Roth thanked Turkey for providing access to Yucel, and said Germany expects to be able to continue to send consular officials to meet with him and is working to have him freed.

"He's obviously being made a political project of," Roth said, noting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had mentioned the case.

"The case has a political and a legal dimension."

Turkey's Foreign Ministry referred queries on whether the consular access would continue to the Justice Ministry. The Justice Ministry had no immediate comment.

In campaign rallies last month Erdogan accused Yucel of being "a terrorist," ''a German spy" and a "representative" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, a rebel group which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey for over three decades. Erdogan also claimed that the German consulate in Istanbul had harbored Yucel for a month and refused to surrender him when Turkey demanded his return.

Roth said Yucel is only one of more than 100 journalists who are being detained in Turkey - something he said had been brought up in talks with officials there.

"Rule of law, democracy and press freedom played a large role in all conversations," he said. "And I emphasized once more that it's not just about one case... but about the situation of journalists in Turkey in general."

In a letter released Tuesday by Die Welt that the newspaper said was dictated by Yucel to his attorney, the journalist thanked the public for their "support for me and my colleagues incarcerated in Turkey" and urged people to subscribe to the "few remaining independent" newspapers in Turkey.

"You don't have to be Turkish to make a concrete contribution to the freedom of the press in Turkey," he wrote.

The case has been one of several issues that have led to increased friction between Germany and Turkey in recent months.

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 last year sparked the first round of tensions between the two countries.

Turkish officials' attempts to rally support among their citizens living in Germany last month for a referendum over whether to expand Erdogan's power then 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.

Roth said part of the purpose of his visit to Turkey was also to try to ensure no further escalation, saying that the Nazi comparisons were "completely unacceptable" and "deeply hurt" Germany.

_____

David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

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)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Portugal's prime minister says the country's finance minister was recently asked whether he would be available to become the eurozone's top official, replacing Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Antonio Costa said in an interview with Lisbon's Radio Renascenca on Tuesday that Portugal rejected the approach because Finance Minister Mario Centeno is still guiding the country out of its recent financial crisis.

Costa did not say who approached Portugal nor when, but he confirmed a report in Portuguese weekly Expresso last weekend that said Centeno was a potential candidate to chair meetings of the 19-country eurozone's finance ministers.

Portugal called last month for Dijsselbloem to quit after he made what some saw as derogatory remarks about southern EU nations.

Dijsselbloem's future is unclear after his Labor Party's weak showing in recent Dutch elections.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party on Tuesday approved an education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire American philanthropist George Soros.

The move prompted thousands to protest outside the Central European University's campus in Budapest, and drew swift criticism from the top U.S. diplomat in Hungary's capital.

The bill modifies rules regulating the 28 foreign universities in Hungary. CEU says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close.

Demonstrators protest against the amendment of the higher education law seen by many as an action aiming at the closure of the Central European University, founded by Hungarian born American billionaire businessman George Soros, outside the university's central building in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

The legislation would require the governments of the United States and Hungary to agree on new terms for the university's operations within the next few months. If a deal doesn't materialize, CEU would be banned from enrolling new students after Jan. 1 and would have to conclude its educational activities by 2021.

"The United States is disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting Central European University," David Kostelancik, the charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy, said in a statement. "The United States will continue to advocate for its independence and unhindered operation in Hungary."

CEU rector Michael Ignatieff met Tuesday in Washington with U.S. Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon. Ignatieff said the institution would appeal to Hungarian President Janos Ader to review the legislation, which it considers to be a violation of Hungary's constitution

"CEU will continue its operation and maintain the continuity of its program in all circumstances," Ignatieff said. "We want to remain in Budapest. We've done nothing wrong."

Orban, a former Soros scholarship recipient, has been increasingly critical of the Hungarian-born philanthropist, accusing him of trying to influence Hungarian politics.

Orban said last week that CEU was "cheating" because it did not have a campus in the United States, but issued diplomas recognized both in Hungary and the U.S. CEU is accredited in New York state but does not have a U.S. campus.

Despite protestations from the U.S. State Department, Orban insists that the future of the Soros-funded institution should be negotiated with the administration of President Donald Trump.

Orban, who wants to turn Hungary into an "illiberal state" while promoting Hungarian nationalism, appears to be trying to ally himself with Trump against the Hungarian-born Soros, a promoter of liberal ideals around the world and a prominent backer of Hillary Clinton in last year's U.S. presidential election.

However, Washington is not considering negotiating with Hungary over the university because it doesn't consider it to be a bilateral issue between the U.S and Hungary, said a U.S. official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

The U.S. supports the university and hopes that Hungary's government, having created the obstacle to the university's operation, will find a way for the university to stay open, the official said.

Hundreds of academics and universities have expressed support for CEU, founded in 1991. It currently enrolls 1,400 students from 108 countries.

"This law is practically a witch-hunt against CEU, freedom of education and against independent, autonomous and critical thinking," said Bernadett Szel, a lawmaker from the Hungarian opposition party Politics Can Be Different.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Tuesday that Europe "cannot be silent if the air to breathe is taken from civil society, and even science, like now at the Central European University."

Hungary's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned diplomats from the U.S. and Germany to discuss the new law on Wednesday.

Zoltan Balog, whose ministry oversees education, appeared to link CEU to the non-governmental organizations supported by Soros in Hungary.

Speaking at the start of the debate in parliament, he described them as "faux-civic, agent organizations" working to hinder the democratically elected Hungarian government.

"Instead of respecting the laws, the Soros university has chosen to keep its privileges at all costs and is using every means to achieve this," Balog's Ministry of Human Resources said in a statement.

The deadlines for meeting the new conditions were markedly shortened in a last-minute modification backed by the government.

"This is not how a normal democratic society should function," Ignatieff said. "This is a punitive timetable."

On Tuesday evening, protesters marched a few blocks from CEU to Parliament, where they stood facing rows of police officers on the steps of the legislature and demanded to place a European Union flag on the building.

___

Josh Lederman in Washington and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

A woman holds a placard with a photo of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as demonstrators protest against the amendment of the higher education law seen by many as an action aiming at the closure of the Central European University, founded by Hungarian born American billionaire businessman George Soros, outside the university's central building in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP)

A woman is covered with an American flag as demonstrators protest against the amendment of the higher education law seen by many as an action aiming at the closure of the Central European University, founded by Hungarian born American billionaire businessman George Soros, outside the university's central building in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban votes on the the proposal of modifying rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are expected to approve a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The bill, scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, modifies rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary. Central European University says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)

FILE - In this April 2, 2017 file photo participants walk during the rally, organized by the Freedom for Education movement, in downtown Budapest, Hungary. Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are expected to approve a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The bill, scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, modifies rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary. Central European University says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP,file)

Demonstrators face policemen as they protest against the amendment of the higher education law seen by many as an action aiming at the closure of the Central European University, founded by Hungarian born American billionaire businessman George Soros, in front of the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. The amendment regulating the activities of foreign universities in Hungary was passed by the Parliament earlier Tuesday, and demonstrators demand that the President of Hungary should veto the bill. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP)

FILE - In this April 2, 2017 file photo participants walk during the rally, organized by the Freedom for Education movement, called CEU in downtown Budapest, Hungary. Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are expected to approve a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The bill, scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, modifies rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary. Central European University says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP.file)

FILE- In this April 2, 2017 file photo participants walk during the rally, organized by the Freedom for Education movement, called CEU in downtown Budapest. Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are expected to approve a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The bill, scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, modifies rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary. Central European University says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP,file)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Head of the Prime Minister's Office Janos Lazar, right, during the debate of the proposal of modifying rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party are expected to approve a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The bill, scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, modifies rules regulating foreign universities in Hungary. Central European University says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close. (Zoltan Mathe/MTI via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Most people who search on Google, share on Facebook and shop on Amazon have never heard of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. But they might not be doing any of those things had he not invented the World Wide Web.

Berners-Lee, 61, is this year's recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing's version of the Nobel Prize.

The award, announced Tuesday by the Association for Computing Machinery, marks another pinnacle for the British native, who has already been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and named as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th Century by Time magazine.

In this Monday, April 3, 2017, photo, Tim Berners-Lee poses outside his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Berners-Lee, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, is this year's recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing's version of the Nobel Prize. The honor comes with a $1 million prize funded by Google, one of many companies that made a fortune thanks to Berners-Lee's efforts to make the internet more accessible and useful. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

"It's a crowning achievement," Berners-Lee said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But I think the award is for the Web as a project, and the massive international collaborative spirit of all that have joined me to help."

The honor comes with a $1 million prize funded by Google, one of many companies that made a fortune as a result of Berners-Lee's efforts to make the internet more accessible. He managed that largely by figuring out a simple way to post documents, pictures and video - everything, really, beyond plain text - online.

SPINNING THE WEB

Starting in 1989, Berners-Lee began working on ways digital object could be identified and retrieved through browser software capable of rendering graphics and other images. In August 1991, he launched the world's first website, http://info.cern.ch .

Besides coming up with the web's technical specifications, Berners-Lee "offered a coherent vision of how each of these elements would work together as part of an integrated whole," said Vicki Hanson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery.

In an even more significant move, Berners-Lee decided against patenting his technology and instead offered it as royalty-free software. That allowed other programmers to build upon the foundation he'd laid, spawning more than a billion websites today that have helped lure more than 3 billion people online.

CAUGHT IN THE WEB

The web's widespread appeal gratifies Berners-Lee, who now splits his time shuttling between the U.S. and Britain as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford.

But he fears parts of the web will become less accessible in the U.S. if the Federal Communication Commission dismantles regulations protecting "net neutrality." That's the principle that internet service providers should treat all websites equally instead of favoring some destinations that might be willing to pay for special treatment.

If the Trump administration tries to dump net neutrality, "it's going to have a fight on its hands because I think the American people realize it's important," Berners-Lee said. "It allowed America to benefit from a thriving internet market for connectivity and content. It has become part of the spirit of America."

Berners-Lee also worries about governments around the world using the internet as a surveillance tool, calling it a "recurrent threat." He admits that preserving personal privacy as technology advances remains a thorny problem, one that he doesn't have a ready solution for. But figuring that out is "really important to the future of society," he says.

"As an individual, I should be able to keep my own notes, keep my own journal and not share it with anybody. That is just part of being a person."

BEYOND THE WEB

Like several other prominent figures in technology, Berners-Lee isn't sure if humanity will be better or worse off as computers grow better at thinking like people via artificial intelligence.

"Computing has grown exponentially more powerful, so It's only logical that it will get to the point when computers will become smarter than us," Berners-Lee said. "So, yes, we should logically think about those consequences."

This is the 50th anniversary of the A.M. Turing award, named after English computer scientist Alan Turing, whose revolutionary work with early computers and artificial intelligence helped crack Nazi Germany's codes during World War II. Previous award winners include Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn, who did some of the pioneering work on the internet that Berners-Lee spun into the World Wide Web.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - An Oslo court has sentenced a Norwegian man to nine years in prison for recruiting others to join radical Islamic State militants in Syria, in the first such ruling in Norway.

The Oslo District Court says 31-year-old Arslan Maroof, known as Ubaydullah Hussain, had recruited "at least two people" for IS.

Hussain is a former leading member of local Islamic extremist group, "The Prophet's Ummah." He had been acquitted earlier of multiple counts of encouraging others to commit murder and acts of terrorism.

The court handed down Tuesday a 34-month sentence to Simen Johan Andreassen, for violating Norwegian laws by intending to join the extremists.

Both were arrested June 8, 2015, in neighboring Sweden.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Germany says the United States' plan to spend more on its military won't guarantee peace and it criticizes the Trump administration's proposed cuts to foreign aid.

Germany's development minister, Gerd Muller, spoke Tuesday while announcing what he called a "Marshall Plan with Africa" focused on improving economic growth, security and rule of law.

Diplomats applauded as Muller said that "anyone who pretends that more military is the answer will see that he will not be getting more peace."

President Donald Trump's proposed budget seeks a $54 billion boost for the military and deep cuts of roughly 31 percent for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - A program to provide direct funds to Serbian Holocaust survivors all over the world has been launched in Serbia, an international Jewish group said Tuesday.

The program results from a law passed last year in Serbia allowing for the restitution to the Jewish community of heirless and unclaimed Jewish property seized during the Holocaust, the World Jewish Restitution Organization said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of Serbian Jews perished during Nazi occupation of the Balkan country during World War II.

The law envisions the Serbian government paying 950,000 euros ($1 million) per year for 25 years to the Federation of Jewish Communities. For at least the first 10 years, one-fifth of the money will be set aside for direct payments to Holocaust survivors, the World Jewish Restitution Organization said.

"This is a historic step to provide compassion and a measure of justice to Serbian Holocaust survivors more than 70 years after the Nazis declared Serbia free of Jews," WJRO Chair of Operations Gideon Taylor said.

The first payments are just starting, and the organization has been reaching out to 1,000 survivors who now live in 27 countries around the world, including Serbia, Taylor told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"It's a powerful symbol, it is a symbol of recognition of history, it is recognition that many Jews perished in the Holocaust in Serbia and that there are survivors alive today who are acknowledged through this modest compensation payment," Taylor said.

Taylor praised Serbia's willingness to tackle the issue of heirless and unclaimed Jewish property, urging other countries to follow the example.

"The fact that Serbian survivors are living in so many countries is significant," he added. "It emphasizes how global is this issue."

WJRO's statement said the survivors can apply by the end of July for the direct payments.

Some 3,000 Jews live in Serbia today.
Bruce Shomper, 56, was arrested on Saturday

A Pennsylvania man was charged after he allegedly beat and raped the same woman twice just eight days apart, but he claims that he does not remember doing it because he was drunk.

Bruce Shomper, 56, allegedly entered a woman's home on March 23, and forced her to perform oral sex on him then proceeded to rape her, according to Pennsylvania police.

The intoxicated man then reportedly told the unidentified woman that he would kill her if she reported him to police.

He then returned to the same home eight days later on March 31, where he proceeded to assault the same woman in the previous fashion, officials said.

The Halifax Township, Pennsylvania, man now faces charges of rape, burglary, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse for the incidents, after he was arrested on Saturday.

The Halifax Township, Pennsylvania, man was charged after he allegedly beat and raped the same woman twice just eight days apart, on March 23 and March 31. He claims that he does not remember doing it because he was drunk

Shomper said he didn't remember the events on those particular nights and blamed alcohol as the reason he couldn't recall, reported Fox 43.

The day after the alleged second sexual assault, the woman reported the incident to Pennsylvania State Police at Lykens.

She told officers that Shomper entered her house the first night through an unlocked door. The woman claimed that on March 31, he banged on a door until she answered then allegedly pushed his way inside.

Shomper allegedly hit her in the face, choked her until she couldn't breathe and threatened to kill her in both sexual assaults, People reported.

Online court records don't list an attorney for Shomper, who remains jailed at Dauphin County Prison with a bond set at $50,000.
LUXEMBOURG (AP) - The European Union's Brexit negotiator is refusing to be drawn into a row over the future of Gibraltar as Britain moves forward with its divorce from the bloc.

Asked whether Brexit negotiations launched last week are off to bad start due to the dispute about the British territory, Michel Barnier said Tuesday "keep calm and negotiate."

Pushed to comment, Barnier said "juridically speaking, Gibraltar will exit the Union at the same time as the United Kingdom."

The rocky enclave at the tip of the Iberian peninsula has been a British territory - and cause of friction between the U.K. and Spain - since 1713.

The latest spat arose from the EU's Brexit negotiating guidelines which leave Britain and Spain to thrash out what agreements will apply to Gibraltar.
MADRID (AP) - Spanish police investigating a money laundering case on Tuesday raided properties and blocked dozens of bank accounts, including some belonging or linked to relatives of former Syrian vice president Rifaat Assad - the exiled uncle of Syria's current leader.

Civil Guard police said the searches were carried out in the southern coastal towns of Marbella and Puerto Banus with the aid of French police. They followed a request by National Court judge Jose de la Mata who is probing money-laundering crimes carried out by a gang in the two towns, a court statement said.

Two of Rifaat Assad's wives and six of his sons are among the 15 people investigated.

FILE - In this May 27, 2005 file photo, Rifaat Assad, the exiled uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in Marbella, southern Spain. Spanish police are raiding properties and blocking bank accounts of relatives of Rifaat Assad, former Syrian vice president and uncle of the current Syrian president as part of a money laundering investigation after Spain's Civil Guard said searches on Tuesday April 4, 2017 were carried out in the southern coastal towns of Marbella and Puerto Banus with the aid of French police. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by Rifaat Assad and his relatives, a court statement said. Most of them are located in Puerto Banus, a luxury marina in Costa del Sol. The property stock, valued at 691 million euros ($735 million), includes a 33-square kilometer (12.7 sq. mile) estate valued at 60 million euros.

The accounts of 76 "legal entities" -which include companies, trusts and funds- that were owned, administered or linked to Rifaat Assad and his relatives were also blocked, a court statement said.

The court said that no arrests were made.

Rifaat Assad is the exiled uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He was vice president of Syria when the country was ruled by the current leader's father.

He fled into exile after a failed 1984 coup attempt against his brother, then-President Hafez Assad, and lives mostly in France. He tried to take power again in Syria in 2000, when his brother died, but the ruling party closed ranks around Bashar.

Rifaat was critical of Bashar after the country's crisis began in March 2011, vowing to work to topple the Syrian president and give the power to the people.

Spain opened the money laundering investigation last December following one started by France in 2013. Last June, France's financial prosecutor's office filed preliminary charges against Rifaat Assad for embezzlement and other counts.

Anti-corruption group Sherpa, which filed the original French suit, suspects Rifaat Assad of using ill-gotten gains from corruption in Syria to build a real estate fortune in France. French authorities found that much of his real estate was in southern Spain.

In a 2011 interview, Rifaat Assad told The Associated Press that he had lost all his money in the stock market and lived off the largesse of his 16 children. His son Siwar said at the time that the holdings mostly included real estate, TV networks, hotels and a restaurant in Syria.

Siwar told the AP in 2013 that his father wasn't worried about the allegations because he was too busy with his work organizing one faction of Syria's opposition.

Rifaat is widely reviled back home. As leader of an elite military corps under his brother Hafez - Syria's longtime dictator - he allegedly had a role in the 1982 massacre of thousands in the central city of Hama, one of the darkest moments in the modern Middle East.

Rifaat denied any role in the massacre, saying it was ordered by Hafez.

_____

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
Police shot dead a 46-year-old man who tried to climb into their patrol car while wearing nothing but boxer shorts.

Jose Antonio Hernandez, originally from Puerto Rico, died after he tried to get into the officer's car on Monday night.

Pendleton Police Chief Doyle Burdette said he charged at an officer, who first used his stun gun to try to contain him.

Burdette said the officer shot Hernandez after he refused commands to stop and attempted to enter the officer's car.

The officer fired multiple times into the vehicle, and the patrol car ended up rolling backwards into a tree

Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said a neighbor called police to notify them about a domestic disturbance at a home.

Shore said the Pendleton officer arrived to find Hernandez standing in the road wearing only boxer shorts.

He said: 'They saw the suspect get into the patrol car and start driving forward just a few feet and then start driving backwards.'

The officer fired multiple times into the vehicle, and the patrol car ended up rolling backwards into a tree.

He was shot four times, once in the head, once in the neck and twice in the left pelvis, Shore said.

The officer was not injured.

Hernandez was wearing only underwear and apparently trying to drive a police car

Speaking to the Independent Mail, Hernandez's wife Jessica said: 'He was passionate, full of life. He wasn't done living. He wasn't done loving. He wasn't done.

The Hernandezes had six children between them, including three living at the Pendleton home.

She added: 'He took these children's daddy. Did you really feel threatened enough to shoot him in his head?'

Burdette has refused to say which officer fired the fatal shot, referring those questions to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

The agency also has not disclosed the officer's name.

Burdette has not responded to questions about whether Hernandez was armed.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Nigerian and international health officials say a meningitis epidemic has killed 336 children amid fears it could spread across the border to Niger.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and U.N. agencies say 2,997 cases have been reported in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto in northwest and north-central Nigeria since the disease surfaced in December.

A statement Tuesday says most victims are between 5 and 14.

Some 500,000 doses of vaccine have arrived in Zamfara, where the disease surfaced. But officials say 2 million doses are needed and there's a worldwide shortage for the strain, which inflames the spinal cord and brain.

The statement notes the "risk of international border transmission."

Meningitis killed 1,100 people and infected more than 10,000 in Nigeria and Niger in 2015.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan authorities say they've arrested six officials for taking bribes to issue identification documents to Syrians.

The country's top prosecutor said on Monday that the six officials worked on data entry for the immigration service. They are charged with taking $5,000 in exchange for granting Venezuelan national identification cards and passports to Syrians,.

The illegal sale of passports has been a sensitive subject since CNN released a report in February saying some officials were selling the documents to the highest bidder. Transmissions of CNN in Spanish were banned from Venezuela after the report.
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - A former analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been sentenced to a year and a half in federal prison for making a gun silencer at his home.

Jonathan L. Wienke had reached a plea deal in December, pleading guilty to one count of violating the National Firearms Act, news outlets report.

The 46-year-old was indicted on seven charges after he was found in possession of a loaded .22-caliber revolver at his government workplace in Washington, D.C., in 2016, prompting federal officials to search his West Virginia home. The remaining charges were dismissed in the plea deal, which includes two years' supervised release after his time in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Krasinski told the court a federal agent deemed Wienke's silencer to be "the most effective silencer that he had ever seen," and that Wienke's social media indicated he was well aware of tax and licensing regulations for firearm manufacturing. Security officers at the government workplace found a folding knife, handheld radio-communication devices, pepper spray labeled for use by law enforcement, handcuffs, an infrared camera and a device to test blood-alcohol levels in Wienke's backpack.

However, the government found no evidence of terrorist intentions, assistant federal public defender Nicholas J. Compton told the court. Compton highlighted Wienke's lack of criminal history and military service, which included a deployment to Iraq and a medical discharge. He said the silencer was intended for use at a firing range. Wienke, who was subsequently fired, had a top-secret clearance.

He has moved to Pennsylvania and remains free on bond, pending appeal.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Confronted by one of his first foreign crises, President Donald Trump on Tuesday split the blame for Syria's worst chemical weapons attack in years between its Russian-backed leader and former President Barack Obama, as the new American administration struggled to explain what it might do in response.

In a surprising statement, Trump called the assault in an opposition-held town in northern Syria "reprehensible" and one that "cannot be ignored by the civilized world," rhetoric that harkened back to Obama's criticism in 2013 of an earlier chemical attack ascribed to President Bashar Assad's forces. Trump said Assad was responsible for Tuesday's deaths, yet also targeted his predecessor's failed strategy to deter such attacks.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said. It was a clear reference to four years ago, when Obama failed to deliver on his "red line" when he didn't authorize military action against Assad in response to a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds outside Damascus.

President Donald Trump listens to a question during a town hall with business leaders in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Obama aides declined Tuesday to comment on Trump's assignment of blame.

The political tone of Trump's statement took many U.S. officials by surprise. They noted that U.S. presidents have rarely attacked their predecessors so aggressively for events like a chemical weapons attacks that Democrats and Republicans both abhor.

Several officials involved in internal administration discussions said Trump's National Security Council had been preparing a different statement, until the president's closest advisers took over the process. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

Trump left it to his top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to assign culpability to Russia and Iran, Assad's most powerful allies. Tillerson noted both countries signed up as guarantors to a recent Syrian ceasefire and said they must pressure Assad not to conduct more such attacks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people, including 11 children, died in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. Witnesses claimed Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments were involved. Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using firehoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies and lifeless children being piled in heaps.

"Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths," Tillerson said.

The twin statements illustrated the competing forces pulling at the Trump administration. While Trump tries to show he's dealing with extremist groups in Syria more aggressively than Obama, his administration has suggested it could align with Russia, Assad's key military backer. And in recent days, top U.S. officials like U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley have suggested Assad's removal is no longer a U.S. priority.

But America's Arab and European allies oppose any accommodation with Assad. Tillerson, in Turkey last week, outraged some foreign partners when he said Assad's future was up to the Syrian people. And the idea of even an indirect alliance with a Syrian government that is gassing its own people will be a hard sell with a U.S. public appalled by the reams of footage of the six-year civil war's horror.

"It is at the least embarrassing to have Assad be massacring civilians with chemical weapons at the same time Trump is trying to make the case that they're potentially a partner," said Phil Gordon, Obama's top Mideast adviser from 2013 to 2015, including when the U.S. president declined to retaliate militarily against Assad. Obama opted instead for a Russian-backed agreement to remove Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.

The chapter was seen internationally as a major blow to U.S. credibility and, for Obama's critics, a prime example of weak leadership. Syrian chemical weapons attacks continued after the deal with Russia and Syria.

Trump, Gordon noted, was facing the same dilemma and lack of solutions that plagued Obama's deliberations.

In 2013, internal debate focused on everything from so-called pinprick operations that would have negligible effect on Assad to a broader strategy to push him from power. But regime change had its drawbacks, too, because it would require significant U.S. military force and potentially leave a vacuum that could be filled by al-Qaida-linked and other extremist fighters among the opposition.

The Islamic State group's later emergence only hardened Obama's resistance to intervening. By the end of his tenure, the Obama administration had largely abandoned its pressure, first advocated by the president in 2011, for Assad to immediately leave power.

"President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing," Trump's statement said. But while Trump called the latest attack "intolerable," he offered no suggestion of what he would now do.

It was a far different view than one Trump took at the time. Among his tweets on the matter, he urged Obama in all caps, "DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN."

Asked how Trump might respond now, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday, "I'm not ready to talk about our next step but we'll talk about that soon."

Both Trump and Tillerson referred flatly to chemical weapons usage, rather than a "suspected" or "reported" attack. The lack of restraint suggested the U.S. had reached a high degree of confidence about what transpired and who was responsible.

U.S. officials said there were some indications nerve gas had been used, though they suggested it could also be another in a series of chlorine gas attacks by Assad's military. Chlorine isn't a banned chemical substance, though it cannot be used as a weapon of war.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union's top diplomat said Tuesday that the United Nations, EU and world financial institutions have begun technical work to figure out what will be needed to rebuild war-ravaged Syria.

Speaking on the eve of an international conference on Syria, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the work would foster peace efforts by giving Syrians a sense of their post-conflict future.

"It is easier to imagine peace if you are given some hope that that process can be supported by others," she told reporters in Brussels ahead of Wednesday's conference, expected to draw officials from around 70 countries.

European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, right, speaks with the media as she arrives for 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)

"We have seen that too many times the international community is taken by surprise (by) the end of the conflict," Mogherini said.

Nearly 400,000 people have been killed during the six years of the Syrian conflict, while half of the country's population has been displaced by the violence.

U.N. agencies have estimated war damages across Syria so far at $350 billion, including physical damage and loss of economic activity.

The conference, also to be attended by aid and development groups, follows reports Tuesday that a suspected chemical attack killed dozens in northern Syria.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura called for "clear identification of responsibilities and accountability" for the chemical strike in Idlib province.

"Every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together - 70 countries tomorrow - there is someone, somehow, that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage," de Mistura said. "But we are not going to give up."

The aim of the conference is to drum up funds for Syria and the region and to support efforts to secure a lasting political solution to the conflict.

The EU, which is hosting the event with the United Nations, Britain, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and Qatar , hopes financial support will continue at the levels of recent years, amid concern about donor fatigue.

Last year's conference in London raised more than $12 billion in pledges - $6 billion for 2016 and $6.1 billion more for 2017-20.

"It is vital that the international community continues to support the Syrian people," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said.

Participants will also look at ways to help rebuild, but only once a political transition involving all Syrians is underway.

"We do not imagine in any possible way that there can be a situation where the European Union takes the bill regardless of any kind of political dynamic. This is simply not going to happen," Mogherini warned.

___

Danica Kirka in London contributed.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Two South Florida men who authorities say had sought to join the Islamic State extremist group overseas have pleaded guilty in an FBI terrorism sting operation. A third man is set for trial in October.

Court records show 51-year-old Darren Jackson pleaded guilty Tuesday to terrorism support conspiracy in West Palm Beach federal court. Last week, 32-year-old Dayne Christian pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge and also being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Set for the October trial is the sting's main target, 53-year-old Gregory Hubbard.

Investigators say Hubbard sought to travel overseas to fight with Islamic State militants. The other two men along with an FBI informant were accused of assisting him.

Hubbard was arrested in July at Miami International Airport with the FBI informant.
VIENNA (AP) - Administrators of an Austrian fund created to compensate Jews and others illegally stripped of property and finances by the Nazis say the fund has awarded over $200 million (nearly 190 million euros) to more than 18,000 applicants since its inception.

The claims committee of the General Settlement fund for Victims of National Society says 18,155 people - nearly 88 percent of applicants - were awarded compensation, sometimes on multiple claims.

In its final report, the committee says nearly $212 million (nearly 200 million euros) were disbursed to claimants since the fund was set up 16 years ago.

It says it is still possible to lay claim to payments until the end of April 2019, after which they become subject to the statute of limitations.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has forgone wearing a headscarf during her visit to Saudi Arabia.

May stepped off a plane in the Saudi capital of Riyadh Tuesday morning without the headscarf the kingdom favors for women.

Under the kingdom's dress code, Saudi women are required to wear a headscarf and loose, black robes in public, but covering one's head is not required for foreigners.

In this Tuesday, April 4, 2017 photo released by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, rear left, meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama also declined to wear headscarves during visits to the country.

May is getting a mixed reaction on social media to the move. Some users see it as a display of feminism, while others call it disrespectful.

May's Downing Street office had no comment on her wardrobe choice.
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - The United Nations says 13 new mass graves have been found in central Congo, bringing the total to 23 amid mounting violence in the area.

Jose Maria Aranaz, director of the U.N. human rights office in Kinshasa, said Tuesday that Congolese authorities would try to determine how many bodies were in the graves.

The mass graves are in a part of central Congo where at least 400 civilians have been killed since August amid a rebellion loyal to former traditional leader Kamwina Nsapu. The U.N. says at least 434,000 people are internally displaced.

Among the victims were two U.N. experts - American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zaida Catalan - and their Congolese interpreter. Three others who were with them remain missing.
Hours after a deadly bombing in St. Petersburg, members of the special services knocked on the door of a house in Kyrgyzstan's city of Osh, more than 2,000 miles away.

The leafy and socially conservative bazaar city of Osh, on the edge of Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, was until a few years ago the home of the suspected bomber - Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 only two days before Monday's attack.

It is economically struggling cities and towns like Osh that swell the vast ranks of mainly Muslim migrants from Central Asia seeking their luck on Russia's labor market.

A house of parents of a suicide bomber who was behind Monday's blast on the St. Petersburg, Russia, subway, in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Russian investigators on Tuesday said the bomb on the St. Petersburg subway was set off by a suicide bomber and identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack. (AP Photo)

And of the hundreds of thousands who make that leap from countries like Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, many have fallen under the sway of recruiters from militant Islamist groups.

Security service officers in Osh are questioning Dzhalilov's parents as to what might have led their son to blow himself up on the St. Petersburg train.

Dzhalilov left Kyrgyzstan to live in Russia in 2011 - the year after violent clashes in Osh between the ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities left hundreds dead. The violence not only claimed mostly Uzbek lives, but it also destroyed an uncounted number of their businesses and shut them out of the city's public life. After those events, many Uzbeks left the country for good.

For most people in Central Asia, the circumstances that propel them to Russia are more straightforward. Unemployment is rampant across the region, and deep-set corruption limits opportunities for the industrious to create their own wealth. Jobs as construction workers and janitors abound, but the conditions are poor and the monthly pay typically is in the low hundreds of dollars.

At the start of 2016, there were more than half a million people from Kyrgyzstan, around 850,000 Tajiks and 1 million Uzbeks living in Russia, according to officials in Moscow. Unofficially, the figure is likely much greater. Visa-free travel for most Central Asians - a legacy fringe benefit of the former Soviet Union - has always made getting to Russia relatively easy. Securing permanent residence is more complicated.

For many poorly educated, financially struggling and lonely men condemned to an existence of abuse in the workplace or at the hands of police in search of bribes, the sense of solidarity to be found in religious associations is a valuable consolation.

The unlucky ones drift toward extremist groups propagating messages of violence. Some are drafted by recruiters; others find their way there through social media.

The most malleable eventually become fodder for militant Islamist groups in the Middle East.

While war in Syria and Iraq has helped boost the number of volunteers to militant organizations, Noah Tucker, the senior editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Uzbek Service, said recruitment among ethnic Uzbeks actually predates the current stage of the conflict.

"Already before the Syria conflict was really heating up, the al-Qaida affiliate, the Islamic Jihad Union based in Pakistan, was targeting Uzbek-speaking migrants working in Russia ... particularly trying to target them based on resentment toward the way that they were treated," Tucker said.

Estimates on how many people from Central Asia have gone that route vary wildly. Officials in Kyrgyzstan have at various junctures estimated the number of citizens from their country enrolled in militant groups at around 500 - the bulk are said to be from the ethnic Uzbek community. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan offer even larger numbers for their own citizens.

Security experts caution against taking such evaluations at face value.

"Ultimately, we do not know how many have traveled. Those who give estimates are not transparent about how they reached their conclusions. So it is difficult to ascertain their accuracy," said Edward Lemon, a research scholar at Columbia University, specializing in radicalism in Central Asia. "There are still more questions than answers regarding how many Central Asians have gone to Syria and Iraq."

Central Asian governments as a rule speak about the dangers of terrorism in vague generalities, dwelling in sensationalist terms on the scale of the threat, while failing to distinguish between various groups.

Getting to the bottom of the St. Petersburg attack will require a nuanced understanding of the distinctions about which nationalities and communities are represented in which groups.

In the last two years, Kyrgyzstan's security services have repeatedly said their country has been made the object of numerous plots from the Islamic State group, although they have provided only muddled evidence to support such assertions.

As far as ethnic Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan are concerned, they are predominantly represented in groups linked to the Nusra Front, which was formed as al-Qaida's branch in Syria, rather than to their avowed enemies in the Islamic State group.

"There seem to be very few ethnic Uzbeks from southern Kyrgyzstan fighting with (the Islamic State)," Tucker said. "There's very little propaganda that's produced to target them."

Tucker said the indiscriminate killing of civilians is a closer fit to the model favored by the Islamic State group. Nusra Front-affiliated Uzbeks instead traditionally try to limit their killing to the battlefield.

"The Uzbeks who fought in Aleppo, who were connected in one way or another to (the Nusra Front) ... they don't spend their time debating and rationalizing killing noncombatants, because they don't target noncombatants. ISIS guys do," Tucker said.

Then again, it is the Nusra Front - including its Uzbek contingent - that has been particularly badly battered by Russian-aided offensives in Syria.

Whoever ultimately is determined to be behind the St. Petersburg bombing, Russia could find itself once more counting the costs of its Syrian adventure.
BEIRUT (AP) - Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people since the start of Syria's civil war, with the U.N. blaming three attacks on the Syrian government and a fourth on the Islamic State group.

Syrian rebels and opposition activists say pro-government forces have used chemical weapons and bombs containing chlorine on numerous occasions. They say a chemical weapons attack on a town in northern Syria on Tuesday killed dozens of people. The Syrian government has denied ever using such weapons.

Here is a timeline of events related to chemical weapons use in Syria.

Turkish experts evacuate a victim of a suspected chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Idlib, at a local hospital in Reyhanli, Turkey, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria's rebel-held northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country's six-year civil war. (DHA-Depo Photos via AP)

Aug. 20, 2012: U.S. President Barack Obama says the use of chemical weapons would be a "red line" that would change his calculus on intervening in the civil war and have "enormous consequences."

March 19, 2013: The Syrian government and opposition trade accusations over a gas attack that killed some 26 people, including more than a dozen government soldiers, in the town of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. A U.N. investigation later finds that sarin nerve gas was used, but does not identify a culprit.

Aug. 21, 2013: Hundreds of people suffocate to death in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital, with many suffering from convulsions, pinpoint pupils, and foaming at the mouth. U.N. investigators visit the sites and determine that ground-to-ground missiles loaded with sarin were fired on civilian areas while residents slept. The U.S. and others blame the Syrian government, the only party to the conflict known to have sarin gas.

Aug. 31, 2013: Obama says he will go to Congress for authorization to carry out punitive strikes against the Syrian government, but appears to lack the necessary support in the legislature.

Sept. 27, 2013: The U.N. Security Council orders Syria to account for and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, following a surprise agreement between Washington and Moscow, averting U.S. strikes. The Security Council threatens to authorize the use of force in the event of non-compliance.

Oct. 14, 2013: Syria becomes a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, prohibiting it from producing, stockpiling, or using chemical weapons.

June 23, 2014: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says it has removed the last of the Syrian government's chemical weapons. Syrian opposition officials maintain that the government's stocks were not fully accounted for, and that it retained supplies.

Aug. 7, 2015: The U.N. Security Council authorizes the OPCW and U.N. investigators to probe reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, as reports circulate of repeated chlorine gas attacks by government forces against civilians in opposition-held areas. Chlorine gas, though not as toxic as nerve agents, can be classified as a chemical weapon depending on its use.

Aug. 24, 2016: The joint OPCW-U.N. panel determines the Syrian government twice used helicopters to deploy chlorine gas against its opponents, in civilian areas in the northern Idlib province. A later report holds the government responsible for a third attack. The attacks occurred in 2014 and 2015. The panel also finds that the Islamic State group used mustard gas.

Feb. 28, 2017: Russia, a stalwart ally of the Syrian government, and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions against the Syrian government for chemical weapons use.

April 4, 2017: At least 58 people are killed in what doctors say could be a nerve gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the rebel-held Idlib province. Victims show signs of suffocation, convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and pupil constriction. Witnesses say the attack was carried out by either Russian or Syrian Sukhoi jets. Moscow and Damascus deny responsibility.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A veteran GOP congressman who's been Russia's leading defender on Capitol Hill lashed out at the country's critics as he prepared to meet Tuesday with President Donald Trump.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California also angrily dismissed the suggestion that Trump has been too cozy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Because of the brouhaha over nothing that the Democrats are trying to distract everybody's attention with, the ability to actually try to establish the type of relationship with Russia that we could possibly do is being blocked," Rohrabacher told a small group of reporters at the Capitol.

FILE - In this June 14, 2016 file photo, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rohrabacher, who's been Russia's leading defender on Capitol Hill lashed out at the country's critics as he prepared to meet Tuesday, April 4, 2017, with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Paul Holston)

"There are people here who want to go to war with Russia, they just say they hate Russia for whatever reason," Rohrabacher added. "Or they're trying to exploit some kind of fear among the public that would prevent us from actually having good relations with this very big country and very powerful country."

Federal law enforcement authorities and bipartisan congressional investigators are looking into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and potential ties between Trump's campaign and Russia. GOP hawks including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, have raised repeated concerns over Putin's conduct, including suppressing and killing political enemies and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

McCain and others have also questioned why Trump has been uniformly positive about Putin and has never criticized the Russian leader. But Rohrabacher objected to the notion that Trump was too cozy with Putin, pointing out the two men have never met.

"He's met with a lot of other leaders and he hasn't met with Putin yet, so your question is stupid, it's a stupid question," Rohrabacher told an Associated Press reporter. "If he's too cozy, how come he hasn't even met with him yet?"

Rohrabacher, in his 15th term representing the GOP stronghold of Orange County, has a history on the issue that's drawn attention in the past. He claims to have unsuccessfully arm-wrestled Putin years ago and has traveled to Russia and worked to alter a 2012 law opposed by Russia that imposed travel bans and froze assets of Russian officials implicated in the jailhouse death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

But Rohrabacher argued Tuesday that the U.S. and Russia have a common enemy in "radical Islamic terrorism" and critics are preventing them from working together to defeat it.

"What's happening is you've got the fake news avalanche trying to create the impression that something sinister is happening with Russia and that is preventing us from negotiating and getting down into a real relationship where we can actually do some good by working together with Russia," Rohrabacher said.

Rohrabacher declined to say what he planned to talk about with Trump in their one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office. But he did say he intended to tell the president "what a great job he's doing and how much I like him."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The IRS is resuming the use of private debt collectors amid a wave of telephone scams in which fake government agents tell innocent taxpayers to pay up or face jail, the tax agency announced Tuesday.

The IRS stopped using private debt collectors in 2009 after the agency determined that IRS employees could better do the work. But Congress passed a law in 2015 requiring the IRS to restart the program.

The IRS says it will soon start turning over the accounts of 100 taxpayers a week to four private debt collectors. The program will grow to 1,000 accounts a week for each firm by the end of summer.

In this photo taken Aug. 19, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service Building in Washington. The IRS says it is once again using private debt collectors to go after tax delinquents. The resumption of the program comes amid a wave of telephone scams in which fake IRS agents try to con innocent taxpayers out of their money. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The firms can keep up to 25 percent of what they collect.

To combat fraud, the IRS says it is sending letters to taxpayers alerting them that their accounts are being turned over to private debt collectors. The private companies will then send letters to the taxpayers before calling them.

"The IRS remains extremely concerned about the many con artists out there who masquerade as IRS employees or contractors," said Mary Beth Murphy, who heads the small business and self-employed division at the IRS.

"We urge everyone to be on the lookout for scammers who might use this program as a cover to swindle taxpayers," she said.

Since the fall of 2013, more than 1.9 million people have received unsolicited telephone calls from fake government agents, according to the inspector general for tax administration. The callers demand money, saying the victim owes unpaid taxes. To date, over 10,300 victims have paid more than $55 million to the criminals.

The IRS has said the scam is so widespread that multiple criminal organizations are taking part.

In October, the Justice Department announced charges against 61 defendants in the United States and abroad in connection with call center operations based in India.

Callers worked off scripts posing as agents for the IRS or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They told unsuspecting victims that they had failed to pay taxes or were at risk of deportation, and that a fast payment was needed to get out of trouble.

Murphy offered several tips to detect con artists.

"No one will hear from a private collection firm unless they have unpaid tax debts going back several years and they've already heard from IRS multiple times about this debt," she said. "We don't collect taxes on iTunes cards or gift cards, and we don't do it with aggressive, threatening phone calls."

"We will never use a phone call to threaten to bring in the police or have someone arrested," Murphy added.

Even though private firms will be contacting taxpayers, all payments should be made to the U.S. Treasury, Murphy said.

The use of private debt collectors has sparked a political and ideological debate over the value of public employees and government privatization.

"The private debt collection program is a disservice to American taxpayers. It undermines the confidence Americans should have in government action," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

The union representing IRS workers and the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent ombudsman within the IRS, oppose the program.

"Every time this has been tried before, it has failed," said Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union. "But once again Congress has forced this policy on the IRS, and we expect the results to be the same: collection agents getting paid to harass taxpayers, many of whom need assistance, not threats."

Other powerful lawmakers from both political parties supported it.

"It's been clear for a long time that the IRS isn't collecting the debt that these contractors will focus on. Collecting tax debt that's due and not in dispute is a matter of fairness to the many taxpayers who pay what they owe," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Nina Olson, the taxpayer advocate, says the new program doesn't provide enough protections for taxpayers, especially those facing financial hardship.

The new program could grow larger, depending on its success. The IRS will start by assigning cases in which the debt is less than $50,000. As it progresses, the agency will assign larger, more complicated cases to the private collectors, said Bill Banowsky, who will head the program for the IRS.

"I think we learned some things from the last iteration," Banowsky said. "One of those was to ensure the taxpayers are confident that they are talking to a private collection agency."

The law requiring the new program was enacted in December 2015. The IRS said officials spent the past year or so designing the program and going through the federal process of selecting the private debt collectors.

The collection firms are CBE Group of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Conserve of Fairport, New York; Performant of Livermore, California; and Pioneer of Horseheads, New York.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephenatap
DETROIT (AP) - An 80-year-old Detroit man was sentenced to 366 days in prison Tuesday for spending $265,000 in Social Security benefits that mistakenly went into his mother's bank account long after her death in 1989.

At trial, Otis Wilder tried to convince jurors that he believed the money in his mother's account was his inheritance, not Social Security payments. But U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts didn't buy it.

"He was perfectly aware of what he was doing," Roberts said of Wilder's regular use of his late mother's debit card to spend the money. "This theft did not represent a lapse in judgment."

It took 24 years - until 2014 - for the government to catch up to Wilder, but that doesn't dilute the crime, Roberts said.

Wilder leans on a cane, walks with his right leg in a protective boot and has chronic health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure. The judge said the federal prison system is equipped to handle medical issues.

The government learns about deaths of Social Security recipients through families, funeral homes and state reporting systems. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Particka said Iotis Wilder's death in 1989 may have been overlooked and not triggered a halt in payments because her widow's benefits were tied to her husband's Social Security number.

Particka noted that Otis Wilder didn't appear to be hurting for money: He has his own Social Security and a pension from Ford Motor Co. The government asked for 18 months in prison.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Wilder said in court Tuesday. "I'm not sure how I got in this mess."

A 366-day sentence qualifies him for good behavior credits. He could be released from prison in less than a year.

Since 2013, more than a dozen people in eastern Michigan have been sentenced for stealing more than $2 million in benefits after relatives died. Prison is rare.

___

Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap
GRANBURY, Texas (AP) - A North Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for intentionally veering his car into a passing motorcycle, injuring the two riders.

Another motorcyclist who was wearing a camera recorded the 2015 crash near Granbury and the video was shared broadly across social media.

Sixty-nine-year-old William Sam Crum was sentenced last week after being convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Crum was unable to post bail after being jailed in the days after the wreck and has been incarcerated since that time.

The video showed Crum pulling over and the second cyclist yelled: "What were you doing? You hit them."

Crum responded: "I don't care."

He initially claimed an insect bit him, causing him to swerve into the motorcycle as it tried to pass him.
Following nearly two hours of closed session debate, Albany city councilors voted 5-2 Monday to offer the city manager's position to Washington resident Peter Troedsson.

The offer is contingent upon a check of Troedsson's references and background and on a visit to city and community offices in Bothell, Washington, where Troedsson currently is deputy city manager and chief operating officer.

David Shaw, Albany's director of human resources, said Monday he plans to make the trip. Councilor Bill Coburn volunteered to accompany him.

No salary or official start date have been named for the position. Mayor Sharon Konopa said following Monday's decision that Troedsson's current salary in Washington is $153,000. Albany pays $137,796 to City Manager Wes Hare, who is retiring at the end of June.

Troedsson received the nod for the job over finalist Jorge Salinas, the city's current assistant city manager and chief information officer.

In a brief statement following Monday's closed session, Councilor Rich Kellum said the council "made the choice based on who we thought was best for the job." He declined to elaborate.

Kellum made the motion to offer the position to Troedsson. Coburn, Bessie Johnson, Dick Olsen and Mike Sykes joined him in voting yes, with Konopa and Ray Kopczynski dissenting.

The mayor, who does not usually vote unless as a tiebreaker, cast a vote because the city charter specifically states the council as a whole hires the city manager.

The City of Albany received 37 applications for the position, selecting five finalists in February. They narrowed the search to Troedsson and Salinas in March.

Department directors and a citizen review panel met with both candidates Monday, and about 40 people attended an evening reception to ask questions.

Troedsson, 55, holds a master's degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Air Force War College. He spent 30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, including three years as commander of the air station in Astoria. For many years, his job entailed piloting helicopters.

He said he wanted to continue serving after his retirement and particularly loves the Pacific Northwest, so he wanted to stay in Oregon or Washington. Becoming a full-time city manager has been his goal, he said.

Troedsson told the audience at Monday's reception he agrees with Salinas that he expects street maintenance to be an issue to address in Albany.

He also cited affordable housing and the pressure on city and social services caused by homelessness and addiction to opiods and heroin as challenges he expects to face. He said he believes partnerships with other agencies is the key to finding solutions.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Three Greek cabinet officials have returned to Brussels for emergency meetings on delayed bailout negotiations, officials from Greece's government and the European Union said late Tuesday.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, deputy George Chouliarakis, and Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou traveled to the Belgian capital to meet with representatives of bailout lenders ahead of a Friday meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Malta.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the current president of the Eurogroup, was expected to be at the meeting, along with EU Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and other senior officials involved in the Greek bailout, according to the officials.

An elderly man stands in front of police officers, during a protest outside the Labor Ministry in Athens, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. About 3,000 pensioners marched through the Greek capital to protest years of cuts to their pensions under the country's bailout commitments. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

They asked not to be identified because the meeting was not formally announced.

The bailout talks have been delayed for months, freezing loan installment payouts and hurting chances of a Greek recovery after years of recession and flat growth.

Rescue lenders from Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund are at odds over the severity of future cuts being demanded of Athens and actions needed to make Greece's massive national debt sustainable.

Speaking in the European Parliament earlier Tuesday, Moscovici urged all sides to reach a compromise quickly.

"All of Greece's partners must now come together to put an end to this uncertainty, which is damaging, and at last create a cycle of virtuous recovery. Greece deserves it," he said.

"But (an agreement) requires a real commitment and a willingness to conclude on behalf of all - and I stress all - the parties involved," Moscovici said. "This requires difficult political choices. We are aware of this, and it is particularly true for Greece."

Greece is being asked to make further long-term pension cuts, to strip job protection regulations for workers and to maintain high budget surpluses for years to help pay off its debts.

The issue is likely to be discussed further Wednesday during a visit to Athens by European Council President Donald Tusk.

__

Casert reported from Brussels. Follow Gatopoulos at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Casert at http://www.twitter.com/rcasert

Elderly men shout slogans during a protest in Athens, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. About 3,000 pensioners marched through the Greek capital to protest years of cuts to their pensions under the country's bailout commitments. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the derailment of a New Jersey Transit train at New York's Penn Station (all times local):

9:30 p.m.

The Long Island Rail Road says it will cancel 10 trains to Penn Station during the morning rush hour.

Commuters board a ferry bound for lower Manhattan in Hoboken, N.J., Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A minor derailment on Monday at Penn Station involving a New Jersey Transit train and other rail issues are causing major problems for New York City metro area commuters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The railroad will also terminate three trains at Jamaica and divert one train to Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens on Wednesday.

Monday's derailment of a New Jersey Transit train has also caused service disruptions on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.

Officials say it could be days before full service is restored.

___

6:40 p.m.

Rail officials say service disruptions due to Monday's train derailment at New York's Penn Station could last for days.

The Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak are operating on reduced schedules.

The derailment of a New Jersey Transit train knocked out service to eight of 21 tracks. Crews for track owner Amtrak have been working to repair the damage.

The derailment has caused havoc up and down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston.

___

3:15 p.m.

Monday's train derailment in Penn Station is continuing to bedevil commuters.

The Long Island Rail Road announced it is canceling 18 trains out of Penn Station between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday and diverting eight other trains.

Remaining LIRR trains from Penn Station are expected to experience delays and crowding.

New Jersey Transit is operating on a limited schedule.

The derailment of a New Jersey Transit train knocked out service to eight of 21 tracks Monday morning. Officials from Amtrak, which owns the tracks, didn't give an estimate Tuesday of when full rail service would be restored.

The derailment came 10 days after an Amtrak train derailed while leaving the station and scraped against an inbound NJ Transit train.

No serious injuries were reported in either derailment.

___

2 p.m.

Rail officials aren't saying when normal service will resume at New York's Penn Station after the second derailment in less than two weeks.

Amtrak and New Jersey Transit officials said Tuesday that crews were working around the clock to repair the damage from Monday's derailment that knocked out service on eight of 21 tracks.

NJ Transit is operating on a limited schedule, causing delays for the estimated 100,000 people who ride into New York each weekday.

Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek says he believes Monday's derailment of an inbound NJ Transit train and the March 24 derailment of an Amtrak train aren't related.

No serious injuries were reported in either derailment, but the track shutdowns caused havoc up and down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston.

___

12:20 p.m.

The head of New Jersey's commuter rail agency says it's unclear when full service will resume after Monday's train derailment in New York's Penn Station.

New Jersey Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro said Tuesday that eight tracks in the station are either unusable or partially usable.

Investigators are looking into why a NJ Transit train derailed just outside the station Monday morning. No serious injuries were reported. Service was disrupted throughout the day.

The Long Island Rail Road canceled 10 trains to Penn Station on Tuesday morning and terminated four others at Jamaica in Queens.

Amtrak says riders using Penn Station should expect delays of 30 minutes to an hour.

A transit official directs crowds with a megaphone at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A minor derailment on Monday at Penn Station involving a New Jersey Transit train and other rail issues are causing major problems for New York City metro area commuters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A transit official directs crowds with a megaphone at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A minor derailment on Monday at Penn Station involving a New Jersey Transit train and other rail issues are causing major problems for New York City metro area commuters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Commuters make their way to buses bound for New York City in Hoboken, N.J., Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A minor derailment on Monday at Penn Station involving a New Jersey Transit train and other rail issues are causing major problems for New York City metro area commuters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - An explosion at a fireworks factory in northern Portugal killed at least four people from the same family Tuesday and at least three other workers were missing, emergency services said.

Officials from the Civil Protection Service and local police told Portuguese media at the scene there was a huge explosion in the early evening at the family-owned factory in Avoes, a village near the town of Lamego, about 350 kilometers (200 miles) north of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

All of the workers at the factory came from three local families, according to Manuel Coutinho, Lamego Council's emergency services coordinator. He told Radio Renascenca that officials had little hope of finding survivors.

Broadcaster TVI showed the burning remnants of the small factory, which lies on a hillside amid woods far from local homes.

Officials told TVI they were not sure how many workers were in the factory at the time of the blast. The factory was believed to employ 15 people.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Activists claiming an imbalance in economic and social equality prayed, rallied and marched in Memphis on Tuesday, the 49th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Hundreds of supporters of the Black Lives Matter and Fight for $15 movements demanded higher wages and equal rights as they walked more than a mile (1.6 kilometers), from Memphis City Hall to the National Civil Rights Museum.

The museum is at the site of the former Lorraine Motel. King was standing on the motel's balcony when he was shot down by a sniper's bullet on April 4, 1968. He was in the midst of his "Poor People's Campaign" when he came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers seeking better pay, safer working conditions and union rights.

Demonstrators carry signs and shout slogans during a protest Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Boston, held to voice their concerns about racism and call attention to low wages. Tuesday was the 49th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Led by a 220-piece band from Talladega College in Alabama, marchers chanted "This is what democracy looks like" and held signs saying "I Am A Man." Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Show Me $15. Real Change. No Pennies."

The Fight for $15 group wants a higher hourly minimum wage for low-pay workers, including fast food employees and home and child care workers. The Black Lives Matter movement developed after the deaths of unarmed black men during confrontations with white police officers and has waged protests throughout the country.

Marchers also came from Arkansas and Missouri to join their Tennessee colleagues. Police did not immediately have an estimate of the number of marchers who participated.

Renita Moore, a 54-year-old nursing assistant from St. Louis, said raising the minimum wage is important because her cost of living keeps going up.

"We've all come together as one," Moore said. "It's very important that we stick together, stand together and fight together."

The march was one of many King-related events in Memphis.

Earlier Tuesday, more than 200 people gathered at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church to hear the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. William Barber talk about how King's fight for economic and racial equality and social justice is far from over.

A vocalist belted out a religious hymn and another song, "The Impossible Dream," and attendees held hands in prayer.

Barber, known for his firebrand public speaking style, called for those seeking progress on social and economic issues affecting poor people to help register more blacks voters and engage in "civil disobedience."

The pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, was critical of President Donald Trump, including his effort to suspend new visas for people in six Muslim-majority countries. He called Trump a "narcissistic tweeter."

"We are not those who believe the terrible lies that the best way to better America is to attack public education and attack Muslims and attack immigrants and attack living wages," said Barber, progressively raising his voice. "How in the world can America attack refugees when we sing 'God bless America, shed his grace on us,' but we don't have grace for immigrants? That's contradictory to everything we say we believe."

Then, he added: "We are the crowd that believes in justice and love and mercy and goodness and hope, the common good, the general welfare. We believe 'liberal' is a good word, and 'conservative' is a good word."

Outside the church, Sharon Johnson, 60, said she came to the rally to honor King's memory.

"He came from the right place in his heart, believing that all people are equal, that everyone should be treated with respect, that people deserve equal pay for their work," said Johnson, a pharmacy technician. "He sacrificed his life to make that happen."

Rallies also were scheduled in Florida, California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan. In Boston, dozens of people marched through the Boston Common to call for less racism and a higher minimum wage. Marchers held a moment of silence at 6:01 p.m. Central Time to mark when King was shot.

Attendees of a rally honoring the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jr. hold hands in prayer on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)

The Rev. William Barber speaks at a rally honoring the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jr., on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)

Supporters of the Black Lives Matter and Fight for $15 movements march down the streets of Memphis on the 49th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
SAN DIEGO (AP) - One bidder wants to cover President Donald Trump's border wall with solar panels. Another suggests building a wall large enough for a deck that would offer tourists scenic views of the desert.

In the competition to build the wall, traditional bids are interspersed with more whimsical ideas.

As Tuesday's deadline for bids passed, U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to identify bidders or say how many there were, which is standard practice in government contracting. The federal government expects to announce around June 1 which companies will be hired to build prototypes.

FILE - In this May 11, 2016, file photo, Tim Foley shows how to climb a section of the border wall separating Mexico and the United States near where it ends as journalists Chitose Nakagawa, right, and Marcie Mieko Kagawa look on in Sasabe, Ariz. Foley, a former construction foreman, founded Arizona Border Recon, a group of armed volunteers who dedicate themselves to border surveillance. With bids due Tuesday, April 4, 2017, on the first border wall design contracts, companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative but controversial job. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

Designs must be able to repel pickaxes and sledgehammers for at least an hour and be aesthetically pleasing from the north side.

Trump's multibillion-dollar plan promises potentially big profits but also risks inviting a backlash from people who oppose the project.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico said last week that Mexican companies expressing interest were betraying their country.

"This isn't the kind of project that you'd want to put in your portfolio, said Gene Grabowski, a partner in kglobal, a Washington public-relations firm. "Unlike a dam or bridge, this is one where the risk of being associated with the political philosophy of the administration can be damaging to current and future business."

That did not stop some companies from releasing their plans - some traditional, some more imaginative.

Concrete Contractors Interstate proposed a polished concrete wall augmented with stones and artifacts that are tailored to different sections of the 2,000-mile border.

"The idea is to make the wall a piece of art," said Russ Baumgartner, chief executive officer of the San Diego-based company.

Gleason Partners LLC of Las Vegas said its solar panels would generate 2 megawatts of electricity an hour. Both proposals were first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

"For the younger generation, they say if there is going to be a wall, let's have it be green," said Gleason Managing Partner Thomas Gleason.

The other specifications, like preventing people from digging tunnels beneath the wall, will eliminate some designs immediately. Winners must also have done border security or similar projects worth $25 million or more in the past five years.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public said four to 10 bidders are expected to be chosen to build prototypes for $200,000 to $500,000 each.

The prototypes will be constructed on a quarter-mile (400-meter) strip of federally owned land in San Diego within 120 feet (37 meters) of the border, though a final decision has not been made on the precise spot, the official said.

The Border Patrol and local police would establish a buffer zone around the construction site if necessary, the U.S. official said. The San Diego police and sheriff's departments said they will respect constitutional rights to free speech and assembly for law-abiding protesters.

Bidders are also asked to submit security plans and demonstrate experience "executing high-profile, high-visibility and politically contentious" projects.

The prototypes are preliminary steps for a project that will face deep resistance in Congress and beyond.

During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said that Mexico would pay for the wall, but he has since requested that Congress approve billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Democrats vow to oppose any wall funding, and many Republicans are also wary of his plans for a massive brick-and-mortar barrier.

Meanwhile, the head of Homeland Security said that arrests of people entering illegally across the border plummeted last month. That's a signal that fewer people are trying to sneak into the U.S.

In written testimony submitted Tuesday to a Senate panel, John Kelly said fewer than 12,500 people were caught crossing the border last month. That compares with more than 43,000 who were detained in December. It's the lowest monthly figure in at least 17 years.

Kelly said the decrease is "no accident" and credits Trump's approach to illegal immigration. The administration has not yet changed how the border is patrolled, but the president's tough talk on immigration and arrests of immigrants living in the country illegally have likely acted as deterrents.

An "interested vendors list" on a government website for contractors lists more than 200 companies. It's unclear how many of those companies bid and how many that do not appear on the list submitted proposals.

"If you win, you have a contract," Grabowski said. "If you lose, you have the publicity of competing for the business without the payoff of the contract. I think companies would want to avoid that."

___

Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

This undated rendering provided by Gleason Partners LLC shows shows sections South Side (Mexico) connected like a snake along the border. Solar panels would cover sections of the wall proposed by Las Vegas-based Gleason Partners LLC so it could generate power. The wall's solar panel system would generate 2.0 megawatts of electricity per hour, according to the company's proposal. (Gleason Partners via AP)

This undated rendering provided by DarkPulse Technologies Inc. shows a proposed border wall between Mexico and the U.S. The wall proposed by Arizona-based DarkPulse Technologies would be constructed with ballistic concrete that can withstand tampering or attacks of any kind, according to founder Dennis O'Leary. "You could fire a tank round at it and it will take the impact," he told The Associated Press. (DarkPulse Technologies Inc via AP)

This undated rendering provided by iCON Wall Solution by Single Eagle dba Concrete Contractors Interstate, shows a decorative addition to a proposed border wall. San Diego County-based Concrete Contractors Interstate's proposal is for a polished concrete wall that can be augmented with stones and artifacts specific to local areas it cuts through. "The idea is to make the wall a piece of art," CEO Russ Baumgartner told The Associated Press. Baumgartner said he wants to decorate both sides of the structure, unlike the government proposals, which only call for the American side to be "aesthetically pleasing." (iCON Wall Solution by Single Eagle dba Concrete Contractors Interstate via AP)

This undated rendering provided by iCON Wall Solution shows a proposed border wall between Mexico and the U.S. The San Diego County-based Concrete Contractors Interstate's proposal is for a polished concrete wall that can be augmented with stones and artifacts specific to local areas it cuts through. "The idea is to make the wall a piece of art," CEO Russ Baumgartner told The Associated Press. Baumgartner said he wants to decorate both sides of the structure, unlike the government proposals, which only call for the American side to be "aesthetically pleasing." (iCON Wall Solution by Single Eagle dba Concrete Contractors Interstate via AP)

FILE - In this June 13, 2013, file photo, hands from Daniel Zambrano of Tijuana, Mexico, hold on to the bars that make up the border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico as the border meets the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. One potential bidder on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico wanted to know if the government would help if its workers came under "hostile attack." With bids due Tuesday, April 4, 2017, on the first design contracts, companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative but controversial job. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

FILE - In this June 13, 2013, file photo, a U.S. Border Patrol agent working with a border wall repair crew welds a section of steel over a hole cut in the border wall in San Diego. One potential bidder on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico wanted to know if the government would help if its workers came under "hostile attack." With bids due Tuesday, April 4, 2017, on the first design contracts, companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative but controversial job. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

In this April 3, 2017 image, Reverend Guy A. Leemhuis, center, of the Holy Faith Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, leads a song on the U.S. side of the border fence separating Tijuana, Mexico, from San Diego. With bids due Tuesday, April 4, 2017, on the first design contracts, companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative but controversial job. Groups are already planning protests and prayer vigils for both sides of the border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on the presidential election in France (all times local):

12 p.m.

France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen and conservative candidate Francois Fillon are trying to fend off accusations of corruption by other candidates in the presidential race.

Far-right candidate for the presidential election Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during a meeting in La Bazoche Gouet, central France, Monday, April 3, 2017. A self-described patriot, Le Pen hopes to extract France from the European Union and do away with France's membership in the shared euro currency. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

They both denied any wrongdoing.

The televised debate among the 11 candidates heated up Tuesday night when they discussed the "moralization" of French politics. Several candidates openly mentioned legal cases regarding Le Pen and Fillon.

Le Pen is embroiled in a set of corruption allegations, along with her anti-immigration National Front party.

Le Pen said she is "politically persecuted" and said that in any case, as a member of the European Parliament, "I have parliamentary immunity."

Fillon was given preliminary charges for allegedly giving his wife and two children government-funded jobs which they never did.

He said "I am entitled to the presumption of innocence" he said.

"I didn't acknowledge errors. ... I'm still here and nobody will come intimidate me. The French will make a judgment in a little less than three weeks."

___

9:45 p.m.

France's top candidates for president are advocating opposite economic policies during a crucial debate.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron promoted pro-free market, pro-European views. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen expressed support for a "clever" protectionism.

The debate Tuesday night - less than three weeks before the first round of voting - featured the 11 candidates in France's presidential race.

Macron wants to cut business taxes, loosen France's stringent labor rules and boost negotiations between unions and employers to help create jobs.

Le Pen, who wants France to exit the European Union, proposed a tax on businesses that hire foreign workers.

She says her priority would be to cut taxes on French small and middle-size business.

The first-round vote is set for April 23. The top two finishers will go to a runoff on May 7.

___

7:35 p.m.

The 11 candidates in France's presidential race are preparing to face off in a crucial debate Tuesday evening, less than three weeks before the first round of the election.

The debate, scheduled to last three and a half hour on news channels BFM TV and CNews, will focus on three themes: creating jobs, protecting the French people and the country's social model.

Polls suggest independent centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are the two top contenders in the April 23-May 7 two-round election.

Conservative candidate Francois Fillon, battered by allegations that he gave his wife and two children government-funded jobs which they never did, is struggling to survive in the race.

He faces charges in the case, and has denied any wrongdoing.

This combination of file photos show the eleven French official presidential candidates: Top from left: Emmanuel Macron, Benoit Hamon, Francois Fillon, Marine le Pen. Middle form left: Jean-Luc Melelchon, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Nathalie Arthaud, Philippe Poutou. Below from the left: Jean Lassalle, Jacques Cheminade, Francois Asselineau. Imagine if Americans elected a president who was neither Democrat nor Republican. France is facing a similarly shocking scenario: As the 11 candidates head into a debate Tuesday, the traditional left-right contenders are overshadowed by rivals pledging to turn today's system on its head. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Francois Mori, Michel Euler, Jean-Francois Badias, Files)
CINCINNATI (AP) - The father of a 4-year-old boy hit by a car and injured in Cincinnati has been arrested on charges of murder and felonious assault in the driver's slaying.

A police statement says Jamall Killings turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday. Court records don't show an attorney for him.

Police are seeking a second suspect in the shooting.

Killings' son was struck March 24. His injuries weren't life-threatening.

Driver Jamie Urton was shot repeatedly when he got out of his car and apparently became involved in a confrontation. Urton died at a hospital.

Police last week released 911 calls in which a man apparently tells the boy, "The dude that hit you with the car, I killed him." It's unclear who was speaking.
A 22-year old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St Petersburg subway that killed 13 people, Russian investigators have said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russias second biggest and Mr Putins hometown.

Russias health minister said the death toll as of Tuesday stood at 14, including the bomber. The nations top investigative agency said 10 of the dead have been identified and that genetic tests would be required to identify the rest. Another 49 victims were in hospital, some of them in a grave condition.

St Petersburg city hall said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens had been killed in the attack.

Although police originally were seeking two people as possible suspects in the hours after the attack, Russian investigators said on Tuesday that it was the work of a suicide bomber. They identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the mans DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the mans identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

Those responsible for St. Petersburg metro attack must be held accountable  UN chief @antonioguterres https://t.co/7xvKc9vnmA  United Nations (@UN) April 3, 2017

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

Security agencies and the Federal Security Service report to the President. We'll ensure full investigation of the St Petersburg metro blast  President of Russia (@KremlinRussia_E) April 3, 2017

Vladimir Putin: We will take all the necessary measures to provide assistance to those affected by the St Petersburg metro explosion  President of Russia (@KremlinRussia_E) April 3, 2017

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

Mondays explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the citys north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

I had no time to think about fear at that moment, he said.
British astronaut Tim Peake has dined with the Queen at Windsor Castle.

Major Peake, who became the first Briton to form part of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS), and his wife Rebecca joined the monarch at her favourite home in Berkshire on Monday evening.

The Queen takes up official residence at Windsor for a month each spring for Easter Court when she hosts dinner parties, often for famous guests who in the past have included director Tim Burton, actress Helena Bonham Carter, James Bond star Daniel Craig and actress Rachel Weisz. Known as dine and sleep events, guests are also given a bed for the night.

Major Peake was the first person to deliver a "God save the Queen" message from space (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Major Peake, who returned to Earth from a historic six-month European Space Agency mission in June, corresponded with the Queen while he was in orbit.

The astronaut became the first person to deliver a God save the Queen message directly to the monarch from space when he addressed the Queen in a video message live from the ISS after she sent him her own wishes.

He was also made a CMG  Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George  in the monarchs birthday honours, making him the first person to be honoured while in space.

Major Peake receives his CMG from the Queen in December (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Major Peake collected the award from the Queen in December.

Among others listed in the Court Circular as attending the soiree with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were the Belgian ambassador, the Brazilian ambassador, the former Bishop of London the Rt Rev and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, and the head of Eton College Simon Henderson.
A deviant who sexually abused a mentally disabled woman while holding her prisoner in his house for eight years has been jailed.

Keith Baker was sentenced to 15 years in prison for keeping the woman as an invisible sex slave in a room with no light bulb, carpets or curtains at his filthy house in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

The door had no handle on the inside and the toilet was overflowing with human excrement.

Keith Baker who, along with wife Caroline, has been jailed for holding prisoner and sexually abusing a mentally disordered woman (PSNI/PA)

Baker, 61, filmed many of his attacks for his own sexual gratification and held sway over his wife, who was also imprisoned, and another partner through his willingness to resort to violence and total immorality, a judge said at Craigavon Crown Court.

The victim was so badly emaciated, she had only one tooth left when she was rescued by police in 2012 after Bakers second partner raised the alarm.

Judge Patrick Lynch QC said: It is not easy to understand how these individuals have so lost their moral compass that they could subject an individual who clearly exhibited serious mental defects to mistreatment, in sexual terms depriving her of any dignity and even the most basic of living standards.

Baker filmed many of his attacks for his own sexual gratification

Bakers wife Caroline, 54, was imprisoned for three years, with half to be served in the community under licence, after the pair were filmed sexually assaulting their victim.

The womans learning difficulties were so severe, her IQ placed her in the lowest 0.3% of the population. She did not appear on the electoral register, was not with a GP or dentist and never claimed benefits.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke said: Her basic human rights were stolen from her by people who can only be described as evil.

A door missing a handle in the home of Keith and Caroline Baker

The judge concluded: Mr Baker presented as a Svengali figure, exercising control on three women based on his dominance, willingness to resort to violence and total immorality.

The woman was reported missing in Cambridge in England in 2004. She was taken to Northern Ireland by Baker, the judge said. Once there, she was subjected to the most horrific of ordeals, naked and unable to defend herself. She did not even know Keith Bakers correct name.

At one stage, she was told by the perpetrators that she had learned quite a bit over the past few years, the judge said.

PSNI Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke (David Young/PA)

Keith Baker, whose address was given as prison, and Caroline Baker pleaded guilty to sexual activity involving penetration and causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity.

He was also charged with rape and indecent assault. Caroline Baker was charged with aiding and abetting rape and other sexual offences including indecent assault.
March 8, 1935  March 21, 2017

Jon DeAtley Snow, known to her friends as Jonie, left her earthly home in Corvallis for her heavenly home on March 21, 2017, 13 days after her 82nd birthday.

She ran her race, and in the presence of her husband and son, finished well, with dignity, representing Jesus well to the very end.

She was the only child born to Charles E. DeAtley and Dena DeAtley (Saxon) on March 8, 1935 in Twin Falls, Idaho. She graduated from Jerome High School (Go Tigers!) and for a short while attended Eastern Oregon State College. She married Don Snow in Fort Meade, Maryland, on Jan. 18, 1958. This began an adventure of 59 years. The couple has two children, La Dena Vae Snow Logan and David Wayne Snow.

For over 25 years Jonie lived the life of a soldiers wife. She and the children moved, with or without Don, about every 18 months for all those years. Don, Jonie and Dena spent the first four years of marriage in Germany where Jonie gave birth to Dave in 1960. During that time Don was away from home over half the time on the East-West German border. She was dad and mom to the children during Dons two tours in Vietnam. Throughout all those moves, broken bones when dad was gone, Dave setting fire to the inside of the car, getting the children to the many different activities day in and day out, making wherever we lived home Jonie was a faithful, loving wife and mom.

After the military, Don and Jonie attended Multnomah School of the Bible, then began the real adventure. Ministry was her life; God kept stretching her and using her at every turn  first, ministry at the local church, Bible studies and discipleship of younger women. The next step was ministry at the national level. For nine years Jonie was deeply involved in serving men and women of the armed forces at the Officers Christian Fellowship Retreat Center, Spring Canyon near Buena Vista, Colorado. She was a driver, nurse, food packer, and radio operator for the adventure ministry tailored to teach leadership and ethics to the students of our national military academies and ROTCs. Then for over 13 years, Jonie and Don worked with indigenous military Christian men and women throughout Asia teaching them how to do inductive Bible study, conversational prayer, leadership and ethics according to the principles and precepts of the Bible. This was the pinnacle of her ministry and the capstone of a mission well done. Jonie will be remembered as a loving, loyal and giving woman who poured herself into her family and others. She loved the Lord with all her heart and served him for his glory alone.

Jonie is survived by her beloved husband of 59 years; daughter and son-in-law Dena and Richard Logan; son David; two grandchildren, Sheri and Louis; and one great-grandson, John Deere.

A memorial service to honor Jonies life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Northwest Hills Community Church, 3300 N.W. Walnut Blvd., Corvallis.

Memorial donations in Jonies name may be directed to Benton Hospice Service or Northwest Hills Community Church in care of McHenry Funeral Home, 206 N.W. Fifth St., Corvallis, OR 97330.
Theresa May has called for an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria as she condemned the atrocity that has claimed the lives of dozens of people.

The Prime Minister called on Russia to ensure Bashar Assads regime is brought to an end.

Opposition activists claim that dozens of people died in the attack in a town in the northern province of Idlib, with the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights putting the death toll at 58, including 11 children.

Mrs May said: Im appalled by the reports that theres been a chemical weapons attack on a town south of Idlib allegedly by the Syrian regime.

We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances.

If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime, and the UK has led international efforts to call to account the Syrian regime and Daesh for the use of chemical weapons and I would urge the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate this incident as soon as possible.

A frame grab from a video provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Center thought to show a victim of a suspected chemical attack (Edlib Media Center/AP)

Im very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad. We cannot allow this suffering to continue.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson denounced the attack as a war crime and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Speaking in London, Mr Johnson said: If this were proved to have been committed by the Assad regime, it would be another reason to think they are an absolutely heinous outfit.
Gibraltar has criticised Madrid for breaching UN rules after a Spanish naval vessel was ordered out of British territorial waters off the Rock.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar due to Brexit.

The patrol boat Infanta Cristina was told to exit the area by the Royal Navy unit stationed in the British overseas territory.

Spanish naval vessel Infanta Cristina which was ordered out of British territorial waters off Gibraltar

The Spanish naval incursion follows the countrys foreign minister Alfonso Dastis telling the UK to calm down after former Tory leader Lord Howard suggested Prime Minister Theresa May might be ready to go to war to keep Gibraltar British.

A spokesman for the government of Gibraltar said: Todays illegal incursion by a Spanish naval vessel is a timely demonstration of the way in which Spain routinely conducts itself in breach of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is almost as if Lord Howard has unnerved someone senior in the Spanish navy.

Tensions increased after an EU document suggested that Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements regarding the British overseas territory. This prompted Lord Howard to say he believed Mrs May would defend the Rock as Margaret Thatcher did the Falklands.

While the EU Brexit negotiating guidelines released by European Council president Donald Tusk last week made no reference to Spains claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, the decision to give Madrid a key role in deciding if a trade deal will apply to the Rock caused deep unease in Whitehall.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: The Royal Navy challenges all unlawful maritime incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters  and did so again on this occasion.
A toddler bitten by a dog is no longer in a life-threatening condition in hospital as police revealed a third person has been arrested.

Police shot the animal dead after it bit the little girl in the Jenkins Dale area of Chatham, Kent, on Tuesday evening.

The child was taken to a London hospital while critically ill but her condition has since improved.

A Kent Police spokesman said: The child continues to be treated for very serious injuries, but these are no longer described as life-threatening.

Update regarding child seriously injured by dog in #Chathamhttps://t.co/7pJgVqDVSD  Kent Police (UK) (@kent_police) April 5, 2017

A man and a teenager, both from Chatham, were arrested on Tuesday under the Dangerous Dogs Act and remain in police custody.

A third person, a woman also from Chatham, was detained on Wednesday.

A neighbour said she heard a gunshot and saw the child being carried to an ambulance.

The attack came two days after armed police shot dead two pitbull-type dogs that attacked a man and woman in the street in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Members of the public who may have footage of the incident are asked to call us on 101 and not share it online 2/2 https://t.co/7pJgVqDVSD  Kent Police (UK) (@kent_police) April 4, 2017

Officers were called to Queens Park in Chorley New Road on Sunday after reports that five dogs were dangerously out of control.

Daniel Hennessy, 39, has been charged with allowing dogs to be dangerously out of control.

As inquiries continued in Chatham, Kent Police said they were trying to establish the breed of the dog and appealed to members of the public with footage of the incident to contact them and not to share it on social media.

One man wrote on Facebook: Personally knowing the family and the child involved and seeing the aftermath of such an event has shocked me!

Hoping the little girl ,which I will not name, is ok and is in the best possible care. Im with the sister now who is shocked and shaken.

Coronation Flats, where the toddler was attacked (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Jaspreet Uppal, who lives nearby, told the Press Association: First I heard a gunshot, there was a dog on the floor. A few officers carried out a child from the back area of the flats.

There is a little park there. I could not see the child, they were covered. I think they were quite small.

Local MP Tracey Crouch said: Horrible news from Chatham this evening. My thoughts and prayers are with the child and their family tonight.
BRUSSELS, April 3 (Reuters) - The European Commission sees a possible solution in the coming weeks on the bailout of two small Italian banks from the Veneto region, a spokesman said on Monday.

Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca have applied to receive state support using an exception to EU banking liquidation rules that would allow public money to be injected in the two lenders with a limited contribution from the banks' creditors.

The Commission said it was in "constructive talks" with the Italian authorities and the European Central Bank on the bailout request.

"All players are sitting around a table with the objective of coming to a common solution that is efficient, sustainable and in the interest of financial stability," the spokesman said.

"We are confident that a solution on this basis can be found in the coming weeks," he added. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, editing by Julia Fioretti)
GABORONE, April 3 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake struck in a remote region of Botswana on Monday near the renowned Kalahari game reserve, sending shockwaves across the southern African country though there were no early reports of casualties or damage.

The magnitude 6.5 quake's epicentre was nearly 250 km (155 miles) north-northwest of the capital Gaborone at a depth of 12 km (7 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush is due to visit the city on Tuesday to highlight the importance of America's overseas humanitarian aid, officials have said.

Anglo American said in email that there were "no reported safety incidents or damage to infrastructure" to any of its operations in Botswana caused by the earthquake.

Tremors were also felt in neighbouring South Africa.

"We certainly felt (the quake) here in central Gaborone. The buildings ... were trembling," said, Botswana's chief government spokesman, Jeff Ramsay.

"We don't have an reports of casualties or damage yet but its a bit early to tell."

Kgosi Kgomokgwana, the traditional chief of Moiyabana, a village close to the epicentre, said: "This is the first time we have felt something like that in this area." (Reporting by Ed Stoddard in Gaborone and Mfuneko Toyana, Tanisha Heiberg and James Macharia in Johannesburg and Barbara Lewis in London; Editing by Tom Brown)
UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Reuters) - The United States does not believe that the Syrian people want President Bashar al-Assad as their leader any longer, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Monday.

"We don't think the people want Assad anymore," Haley said at a news conference on Monday, when asked about U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks in the Turkish capital Ankara last week, in which he said that Assad's status would be decided by the Syrian people. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
PARIS, April 4 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister on Tuesday called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council after a suspected gas attack on Syria's rebel-held Idlib province.

"A new and particularly serious chemical attack took place this morning in Idlib province. The first information suggests a large number of victims, including children. I condemn this disgusting act," Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement.

"In the face of such serious actions that threaten international security, I ask for everyone not to shirk their responsibilities. With this in mind, I ask for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council," he added.

Ahead of a meeting in Brussels to discuss aid for Syria, Ayrault said Europe could not play a role in the country's reconstruction without a credible transition. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
By Luke Baker

JERUSALEM, April 4 (Reuters) - The European Union has expressed frustration with Israel over its demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, with the EU ambassador taking the unusual step of reading out a joint statement denouncing the practice.

At a meeting last week with the Israeli foreign ministry's newly appointed director-general, the ambassador delivered a stern diplomatic message, saying Israel was failing in its international legal obligations and needed to change policy.

The issue came to a head after Israel issued demolition orders last month against 42 homes in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, where EU member states Belgium and Italy have funded a school and helped build structures for the local population of around 150.

"The practice of enforcement measures such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes and humanitarian assets (including EU-funded) and the obstruction of delivery of humanitarian assistance are contrary to Israel's obligations under international law," ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said, with envoys from all EU member states present.

"We therefore call on Israel, as the occupying power, to meet its obligations vis-a-vis the Palestinian population..., completely stop these demolitions and confiscations and allow full access of humanitarian assistance."

Faaborg-Andersen's intervention was first reported by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment on the substance of the statement, known in diplomatic parlance as a demarche, but said it was delivered at a "get to know you" meeting with the ministry's director-general.

The clampdown against Khan al-Ahmar, located in a sensitive area of the West Bank that Israel has earmarked for settlement expansion, is the latest in a series of demolitions that have been roundly condemned by the EU and the United Nations.

Israel says the demolitions are necessary because the building was carried out without a permit in an area of the West Bank, known as Area C, where Israel retains full control. Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their own state together with Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The EU says Israel rarely issues permits in Area C and is concerned that by blocking Palestinian development there, and demolishing structures that are built, it is actively undermining the viability of any future Palestinian state.

Figures from the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs show that Israel has sharply stepped up demolitions in Area C over the past year.

While between 450 and 560 Palestinian structures were demolished each year from 2012-2015, the number jumped to 876 in 2016, and in January this year alone there were 121 demolitions. More than 1,200 people were displaced last year.

To underscore concern about the threat to Khan al-Ahmar, delegations from EU embassies have been visiting the site regularly. Officials hope public diplomacy might help secure an Israeli Supreme Court injunction against the demolitions.

That worked with an earlier demolition order targeting the Palestinian village of Susiya, in the southern West Bank.

"We're not giving up," said one EU diplomat, while acknowledging that it was an uphill battle to stop the demolitions. "We have to be realistic." (Writing by Luke Baker; Editing by Stephen Powell)
By Nevzat Devranoglu

ANKARA, April 4 (Reuters) - Turkey is taking steps to give its central bank the right of first refusal on domestically produced gold, two sources said, allowing it to boost reserves of the precious metal without depleting foreign currency holdings.

Like other central banks, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey holds a mix of assets, including foreign currencies and gold, as official reserves. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that Turkey bolster its foreign reserves to shield itself from external volatility.

Buying more domestically produced gold, which is priced in lira, will allow the bank to avoid depleting foreign reserves at a time when the domestic currency, has been hammered by political concerns.

"The central bank is being given first option," to buy locally mined gold, said an official from the domestic gold sector. "This means the central bank will become a primary gold buyer in lira."

No one was immediately available for comment at the central bank.

Under the scheme, the central bank is under no obligation to buy domestic gold, the sources said, adding it would decide on the timing and amount of its purchases.

A total of 27.5 tonnes of gold was produced in Turkey in 2015, according to the latest industry data, equal to around $1.1 billion at current prices.

"It is important to increase the central bank's reserves. This adjustment will contribute to the central bank's gold reserves over time," one source said.

As of last month, the central bank's gold reserves stood at $17.25 billion, according to official data. (Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan and Stephen Powell)
By Celine Aswad

DUBAI, April 4 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Middle East rose on Tuesday with Abu Dhabi gaining the most, buoyed by heavy trade in the shares of a newly merged bank while buying from foreign funds boosted Egypt.

Shares of recently merged First Abu Dhabi Bank jumped 4.8 percent in very heavy trade, helping lift Abu Dhabi's index 1.8 percent.

Shares of Abu Dhabi National Energy, however, retreated 5.3 percent as investors booked profits after they had soared 24 percent since Sunday.

On Tuesday, TAQA said government-run utility company Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) has raised its stake in the energy company to 74 percent from 52.38 percent.

Dubai's index extended on the 1.4 percent gains made on Monday to add 0.6 percent supported by gains in large and mid-sized shares.

Builder of the tallest tower in the world, Emaar Properties added 1.2 percent and Dubai Islamic Bank rose 1.8 percent.

In Qatar, the index rose 0.5 percent, recovering from some of the small losses made earlier in the day. Shares of Islamic lender Masraf Al Rayan jumped 3.2 percent; on Monday they fell 3.0 percent as its shares went ex-dividend.

But shares of Qatar International Islamic Bank dropped 4.5 percent as they went ex-dividend on Tuesday.

Egypt's index added a further 1.6 percent to 13,265 points with a little over two-thirds of the shares closing higher.

"Some positive momentum is building in the market again mainly because of inflow from foreign funds, and the market may test technical resistance at the January peak of 13,544 points," said a Cairo based technical trader.

Exchange data showed foreign funds were net buyers on Tuesday by a wide margin. Stocks, favoured by those international funds, outperformed with Commercial International Bank adding 2.7 percent.

Palm Hills Development rose 1.3 percent. Analysts at Prime Holding have increased their valuation of the company by 14 percent mainly because of an appreciation in price of the company's inventory and expected new unit launches.

The analysts also said they were positive on the short term cash flow of the company although they are cautious on the demand outlook, especially on the premium real estate market.

"A slowdown in sales activity is imminent and sooner than expected, with second quarter 2017 marking the official slowdown starting point in our view, as the current unit prices have appreciated to the level of demand elasticity ignition," said Prime Holding.

Saudi Arabia's index edged up 0.3 percent in the lowest daily traded volume since mid-September. Number of gaining and declining shares were equal at 66.

Dairy and juice producer National Agriculture Development jumped 4.0 percent, after it fell 2.1 percent the previous session.

The two listed real estate investment trusts - a security which provides investors with an extremely liquid stake in real estate - were some of the main laggards. Al Jazira REIT lost 2.9 percent and was the worst performer on Tuesday and Riyad REIT fell 1.8 percent.

TUESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index edged down 0.3 percent to 6,968 points.

DUBAI

* The index added 0.6 percent to 3,560 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index rose 1.8 percent to 4,549 points.

QATAR

* The index edged up 0.5 percent to 10,392 points.

KUWAIT

* The index added 0.2 percent to 7,016 points.

EGYPT

* The index rose 1.6 percent to 13,265 points.

OMAN

* The index rose 0.5 percent to 5,623 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index edged up 0.05 percent to 1,349 points.

(Additional reporting Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Jon Boyle and David Evans)
1932  2017

Professor Emeritus Richard Everett Ross died Jan. 2 at home with his family at his side.

There will be a memorial ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, April 28, at Oregon State University in Room 211 of the Memorial Union. A military ceremony was held at Willamette National Cemetery on March 14.

Dick was born in Trenton, Missouri, in 1932. As a young boy, he traveled with his parents, uncles and aunts throughout the country as the men looked for construction work. He joined the Navy at the age of 17 and served in the Pacific throughout the Korean War. Upon his return, he became an ironworker and then entered college under the GI Bill. He received his Ph.D. in archaeology from Washington State University.

He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Kathryn Vance; three children from his first marriage to Barbara Ross; three stepsons, Robert, Greg and James Tackett; sister Barbara; several cousins; and 11 grandchildren. He was especially proud of his intelligent, adventuresome, and socially and environmentally conscious children, Jennifer Sandhu, Serena Jaspera and John Craig Ross.

During some 30 years at Oregon State, Dick taught anthropology and archaeology and supervised students during many summers of archaeological field training. He conducted archaeological surveys in Alaska, Texas, California, Utah, Arizona, Oregon and Micronesia. His primary focus, however, was on Native American peoples living along the Oregon Coast and the cultures that thrived for more than 10,000 years along the rivers of southern Oregon.

He was well known for his collaborations with contemporary Native American tribes. He encouraged Native Americans to enroll in the anthropology program at Oregon State; many of his students returned to their tribes to work as resource managers. Along with Esther Stutzman of the Kalapuya, he created an organization dedicated to improving the relations between archaeologists and native peoples. They established a yearly conference (Sacred Lands) where tribes and scientists could share their knowledge and perspectives. As a result of their work and that of others who joined them, Oregon became a model of cooperation among archaeologists, tribes, and the state.

Dick was a dedicated environmentalist and headed to the outdoors whenever he could, traveling to many countries  on the back of a motorcycle in Thailand, on a camel in Mongolia, on a bicycle in Ireland. He kayaked down the Yukon, finished the 1st Bike Oregon, climbed mountains in Scotland, and walked the Oregon portion of the Pacific Crest Trail with his son, John. He and Kathryn were in Budapest on 9/11 and in Australia at outset of the invasion of Iraq, gaining a unique perspective on both events. For five weeks they drove Dicks old diesel truck through the Southwest, exploring as many Native American communities and sites as they could, and later spent six weeks traveling by train around the United States. He was an avid woodworker and landscaper and always an interesting companion. We shall miss him and his optimism and enthusiasm very much.

Contributions may be made in Dicks name to the Oregon State University Foundation, Anthropology Excellence Fund.
ISTANBUL, April 4 (Reuters) - A German-Turkish journalist whose arrest in Turkey has jolted relations between Ankara and Berlin is doing well in prison but Germany is pushing for his release, German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth said after consular officials visited him.

Turkish authorities arrested Deniz Yucel, who holds both German and Turkish citizenship, in February on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organisation and inciting public violence. Yucel denies the charges.

Describing the case as "one of the big tests of German-Turkish relations", Roth spoke to reporters after talking to a lawyer from the German consulate who had visited Yucel in prison in Istanbul on Tuesday.

"Mr Yucel is, given the circumstances, doing well. What remains a burden for him is the solitary confinement," said Roth, who thanked Turkish authorities for allowing consular officials to meet Yucel after they had denied access for weeks.

"But this can't be the end for us," Roth added. "We are still pushing for the release of Deniz Yucel."

Yucel faces up to 10-1/2 years in jail if convicted.

Relations between Turkey and Germany have been further strained following bans on planned rallies by Turkish ministers in Germany to drum up support for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan ahead of an April 16 referendum on boosting his powers.

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.

Stressing that Nazi comparisons were unacceptable, Roth underlined the importance Berlin attaches to the Yucel case.

"This is one of the big tests of German-Turkish relations, and I can only hope that we come to a satisfactory solution soon," Roth said.

Yucel, a journalist with German daily Die Welt, is the first German reporter to be held in a widespread crackdown that has followed the failed July 15 coup in Turkey and frequently targeted the media.

More than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from Turkey's police, military, civil service and private sector since the failed coup and tens of thousands arrested. Ankara says the measures are necessary given the security threats it faces.

Roth said Germany wanted to restore its relationship with Turkey to one marked by trust and cooperation, adding: "At the moment we are going through a stormy period but we are not going to be deterred from talking and keeping up ties." (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Stephen Powell)
By Gergely Szakacs and Marton Dunai

BUDAPEST, April 4 (Reuters) - Hungary approved a new law on Tuesday that could force a university founded by financier George Soros out of the country despite protests against the plan in Budapest and condemnation abroad.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a critic of liberal civil organisations funded by Soros, said last week the Central European University had violated regulations in awarding diplomas, an allegation the college rejects.

The law, which the government says is designed to address the administrative shortcomings of foreign universities, marks the latest clampdown on independent institutions that has seen Orban allies increase their influence over the judiciary, the media and the central bank.

U.S. and European leaders have spoken out in defence of the university and of academic freedom in general.

After the law was passed in parliament, thousands of students, professors and civilians held a rally, surrounding the central blocks in downtown Budapest that are also home to the headquarters of the CEU.

Protesters shouted "Free country, free university" and held up banners saying "Veto", referring to the new legislation.

Orban's human affairs minister told parliament earlier that institutions backed by Soros were trying to undermine the government.

"The organisations of George Soros operating in Hungary and around the world are just such pseudo-civilian agents, and we are committed to stamping out such activity," Zoltan Balog said.

CEU, founded in Budapest in 1991, has 1,400 students. It said it operated lawfully. The school will challenge the law's constitutionality and mount an international campaign to convince Orban's government to reverse course, CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff told a press conference.

Ignatieff spoke from Washington DC, where he is meeting lawmakers and government members, including Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Shannon.

"We will respectfully ask the president of Hungary to exercise his constitutional responsibility (regarding) the legislation," he said.

"In the fight to save CEU we are fighting for the academic freedom of all Hungarian institutions of higher learning."

LOCAL PROTEST, INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

Thousands of students, professors and supporters rallied in Budapest already on Sunday demanding the government withdraw the draft legislation.

The new law sets several requirements that could force the CEU to leave Hungary.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the European Parliament on Tuesday to defend human rights, specifically citing CEU.

"Europe should not remain silent, if civil society, even science - we are seeing now at the Central European University in Budapest - is being stifled," Steinmeier said.

The Council of Europe, Europe's leading human rights organisation, said it was following developments.

Under the law, foreign universities must have campuses in Budapest and their home country. The CEU operates in Budapest but is the only international college with no overseas branch.

Foreign universities can henceforth only award degrees in Hungary if its government and, in CEU's case, the United States sign an accord on the matter within six months of the law taking effect.

The top U.S. diplomat in Hungary said Washington was "disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting Central European University."

"The United States will continue to advocate for its independence and unhindered operation in Hungary," charge d'affaires David Kostelancik said.

Hungary's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the German and US charge d'affaires for Wednesday saying the new law was only meant to ensure all universities obey the laws, and "any statements to the contrary are false." (Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Editing by Stephen Powell and Hugh Lawson)
By Aishwarya Venugopal

April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. cable TV mogul John Malone's Liberty Interactive Corp announced a complex deal that would help eliminate its "tracking stock" structure, giving the company greater access to the equity market and flexibility to make acquisitions.

The deal includes the purchase of Alaska-based telecom company General Communication Inc for $1.12 billion, which will then be combined with Liberty Ventures, the holding entity for Liberty Interactive's cable TV and other assets.

Liberty Ventures is one of Liberty Interactive's two tracking stocks - a type of common stock that "tracks" or depends on the financial performance of a specific business unit of a company rather than the operations of a company as a whole.

The other tracking stock - QVC Group - reflects the value of Liberty Interactive's home-shopping businesses including HSN and QVC.

The company said eliminating the tracking stock structure would make the stocks eligible for inclusion in stock indexes, allowing them easier access to the equity market.

FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh said dropping the tracking stock structure would highlight the asset value for both QVC and Liberty Ventures.

"A lot of investors can't own tracking stocks, so by creating asset-backed securities it makes them interested ... You can buy one without being tethered to the other," Routh said.

General Communication (GCI) shareholders will receive $32.50 for each share, representing a premium of 58.1 percent to the stock's close on Monday.

QVC Group shares gained about 4 percent and Liberty Ventures shares jumped nearly 10 percent in morning trading.

TAX-FREE DEAL

Liberty Interactive will combine GCI with Liberty Ventures and then split off the combined company to Liberty Ventures shareholders in a tax-free transaction.

Liberty Interactive will be renamed QVC Group Inc after the deal, housing the home-shopping businesses of QVC Group as well as some assets and liabilities to be transferred from the newly-minted GCI Liberty, which will be remain a listed company.

"This transaction will ultimately create a standalone Liberty Ventures, reducing the tracking stock discount and enabling an asset-backed QVC Group," said Liberty Interactive Chief Executive Greg Maffei.

Liberty Interactive will hold a 77 percent equity interest and an 84 percent voting interest in GCI Liberty, which is expected to trade on the Nasdaq.

Malone is known for striking complex deals and running companies with intricate structures.

Liberty Interactive was itself split-off from Liberty Media in 2013.

Maffei will become CEO of GCI Liberty, while GCI CEO Ron Duncan will join the board.

After the transaction, total pro-forma net asset value of GCI Liberty would be $6.46 billion.

GCI Liberty will be an Alaska corporation at the time of the closing of the deal, but will seek to reincorporate itself in Delaware. (Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
By Ingrid Melander and Johnny Cotton

HAYANGE, France, April 4 (Reuters) - Aline Dugravot is in a bind over whether to vote for Marine Le Pen in France's presidential election: she likes the National Front leader's anti-immigration message, but also likes the EU and the euro currency, which Le Pen wants to abandon.

The 34-year-old commutes to her insurance job across the border in EU neighbour Luxembourg, and is worried that she would be hurt if the National Front takes France out of the bloc.

"The euro, the European Union, that's really important for me. An exit would be a complete mess," Dugravot said outside her house in Hayange, a town of less than 16,000 people just 20 km from the border.

Le Pen, 48, is on course this month for a first or second place finish in the first round of France's presidential election. In a May 7 runoff she is likely to come closer than any far right leader since World War Two to winning the French presidency, although polls still show her losing.

One result of her surge in popularity is that it has outstripped support for one of her main ideas: ditching the euro and quitting the EU, which remains a fringe position in France even as Le Pen has won greater acceptance in the mainstream.

While one in two voters agree with Le Pen's stance that there are too many immigrants in France, only 22 percent want to ditch the euro, a Kantar Sofres poll showed.

Le Pen blames the EU and its common currency for stifling the French economy. She says that after taking power she would negotiate for six months and then hold a referendum on whether to quit the EU and ditch the euro.

For Marc Schmitt, a 25-year old cleaner who commutes to Luxembourg from a village next to Hayange, that makes it possible to support Le Pen for president, even though he wants to keep the euro.

It takes him 45 minutes to commute across the open EU border every day, and he worries that if France quit the bloc and brought back border checks it would take far longer to cross.

"I would simply vote 'No' in the referendum," said Schmitt, who said he was still undecided about the presidential vote but thinks Le Pen has "a lot of good ideas".

"SCAREMONGERING"?

Opposition to the EU is popular with grassroots National Front voters and helps establish the party's anti-establishment image, but makes it harder for it to win over other voters.

Some leaders within the National Front wanted to back away from hostility to the euro when the party failed to win control of any regional and local councils in two sets of elections in 2015, despite strong scores. But a party meeting devoted to the issue decide not to change tack.

Instead, Le Pen is hoping to win over enough voters who, like Schmitt, are willing to vote for her for president even though they want to stay in the EU.

Areas in northeast France near the borders with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany are some of the strongest pockets of National Front support in the country. (See map: http://tmsnrt.rs/2n70MzB )

The steel mills have shut in Hayange, where unemployment tops 17 percent. About a third of those in the town with jobs now work across the nearby border in Luxembourg, a tiny, wealthy country where the number of workers commuting in from France has tripled since border checks were eliminated in 1995.

Yet despite its reliance on its EU neighbours, Hayange has elected a mayor from the National Front, Fabien Engelmann, 37.

He says it would still be possible for commuters to work in Luxembourg or Germany if France left the EU. Special passes could be issued to speed their crossing of the border.

"I am European but I am against the European Union," Engelmann said in front of the town hall, which flies only the French tricolour, without the blue and yellow EU star flag which flies next to it above most municipalities in France.

"Many French people worked in Luxembourg before borders were opened up, and that wasn't a problem," he said. "There will be a referendum and French voters can decide for themselves if they want to stay in the EU or not. Let's stop this scaremongering."

Michele Pavesi, a 69-year-old retiree whose two sons work across the border, said she would still vote for Le Pen.

"I don't think that leaving Europe would change the fact that commuters go and work in Luxembourg. If all the commuters left Luxembourg, where will Luxembourg find its workers?"

But 58-year old Andre Sobies, an assembly line worker for carmaker Peugeot PSA who saves up what he can to go on holidays to EU countries like Greece, said he wanted France to stay in the bloc.

"We're lucky to live near the border and travel with the same currency. It's such an advantage."

(Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Peter Graff)
SANTIAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - The Chilean government's plans to reform the country's pension system will be in doubt if governing coalition members are unable to reach agreement among themselves on the design of any new legislation, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

Chile's privatized pension system was started in the 1980s during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The so-called 'Chilean model' has been much copied and adopted worldwide.

But opposition to it is rising in Chile, with regular noisy street protests demanding changes. Opponents claim it forces workers to give their earnings to for-profit funds, called AFPs, and that the payouts are meager.

Center-left President Michelle Bachelet, now entering the last year of her four-year term, has pledged reform and set up a commission to look into the current system.

But differences of opinion among her increasingly divided coalition may make a new law impossible, Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes said.

"(Bachelet) has not yet decided on the contents, or even if the bill will go ahead, because that will depend on what kind of consensus we can get," he said in an interview with Radio Cooperativa.

Possible changes could include raising the contribution minimum to 15 percent from the current 10 percent. But there has been disagreement on whether that extra should go direct to workers who pay it or to a shared "solidarity fund."

Lawmakers are also in disagreement on whether the extra cash should be administrated by the AFPs or a new state-run fund.

As Bachelet's popularity has slid and differences emerged over other reforms such as abortion and labor, she has increasingly struggled to keep her coalition, ranging from centrist Christian Democrats to Communists, on the same page.

"If in doing something we are going to fight between ourselves, there is not much point," Valdes said. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
ATHENS, April 4 (Reuters) - Leaders of the divided island of Cyprus have agreed to resume peace talks on April 11, the United Nations said on Tuesday, following a two-month interruption after historical grievances boiled to the surface.

Talks stalled in February, with Turkish Cypriots angry at a decision by Greek Cypriot lawmakers to commemorate a symbolic referendum held in 1950 calling for union of the island with Greece.

The negotiations will be held under the auspices of Espen Barth Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who has been overseeing talks for the past two years, the United Nations mission said in a news release.

Cyprus was split when Turkey invaded in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci had met United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Brussels.

Peace talks between Akinci and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades - who attends in his capacity as Greek Cypriot leader - had been progressing well until the unexpected breakdown in February, underscoring the fragility of the process.

(Writing By Michele Kambas; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
ANKARA, April 4 (Reuters) - Turkey said images and information from the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib showed that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in an attack on Tuesday in what Ankara said was a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"Images and information obtained from Khan Sheikhoun show that the regime has clearly violated the U.N. Security Council's 2118th and 2209th resolutions by using chemical weapons," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

It called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to begin an immediate investigation and urged "the sides that influence the Syrian regime" to help put a stop to what it said were heavy ceasefire violations.

The suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 people, including 11 children, a monitor, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Nick Tattersall)
By Emma Batha

LONDON, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Silence around female genital mutilation (FGM) in Egypt is costing lives, campaigners warned on Tuesday ahead of the traditional "cutting season" when thousands of girls are expected to undergo the ancient ritual.

They called for better sex education in schools and urged clerics to talk about FGM at Friday prayers.

National data suggests almost 90 percent of girls and women in Egypt have undergone FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia.

Egypt banned the practice in 2008, but it remains widespread with around three quarters of procedures carried out by health professionals, a report by anti-FGM group 28 Too Many said on Tuesday.

There has been mounting concern following the deaths of several girls during botched procedures, including a teenager who bled to death in a hospital last May.

"The silence around the harmful practice ... has cost too many Egyptian girls their lives," said Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy, a leading voice on women's rights in the Arab world.

Egypt, which has the highest number of women affected by FGM in the world, strengthened its law last year, but 28 Too Many said convictions were rare and sentences light.

It called for law enforcement officers and community leaders to be especially vigilant during the cutting season which peaks in May and June.

Campaigners said a lack of sex education and information about FGM were preventing its eradication.

"Something that hurts so many girls and women is kept silent and taboo because it has to do with our vaginas and with sex," Eltahawy said in a statement.

The report said FGM in Egypt was often carried out in the name of religion and perpetuated by a "pervasive idea that women are 'oversexed', and that FGM curbs their sexual appetite".

More than half of Egyptians believe a husband prefers his wife to be cut and around half of men think it prevents adultery, it said.

Surveys suggest around half of Egyptians believe FGM is a religious requirement even though it is not mentioned in the Koran or Bible.

Even medical practitioners will often defer to their cleric over anything taught in medical school, 28 Too Many said.

Campaigners said religious leaders from all faiths must speak out against FGM and called for better training for medical staff.

"...it is incredibly disappointing to see that despite encouraging work to end FGM in Egypt, medicalisation continues to be a huge concern and the prevalence of FGM remains extremely high," said 28 Too Many founder Ann-Marie Wilson.

Worldwide, more than 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM, according to U.N. estimates. (Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
By Wilda Asmarini

JAKARTA, April 5 (Reuters) - Indonesia is trying a new approach to ease a deadlock over mining rights, promising to allow Freeport McMoRan Inc to resume concentrate exports from its Grasberg mine, the world's second-biggest copper mine.

Indonesia and Freeport have sparred over rights to mine Grasberg, new taxes, royalties and divestment rules, as well as stipulations that the U.S. miner build a second smelter, moves Indonesia hopes will increase its returns from the sector.

The impasse has halted Grasberg's concentrate exports for 12 weeks, since Indonesia first announced the new rules.

But after both sides initially dug in, the tone has shifted markedly in recent weeks. Indonesia's Secretary General for the Energy Ministry, Teguh Pamuji, announced on Tuesday that Freeport would receive a temporary "special mining permit" in a plan to allow Freeport's operations to continue and exports to resume while discussions on longer-term issues continued.

The change has boosted Freeport's shares on Wall Street, but some analysts have questioned the legal basis of the temporary permit and said the two sides may be kicking the can down the road.

With the temporary permit, and provided it commits to building a second smelter, "Freeport can export concentrate and pay an export duty," Pamuji told reporters. The permit will be valid for the next six months, during which the two sides will aim to finalise agreements on investment stability, divestment and domestic smelting, among other issues, Pamuji said.

Freeport's shares rose 2 percent to $13.54 in New York.

"A resumption of exports would be a significant positive for Freeport in the near-term and would make us more optimistic about an eventual agreement over the more difficult longer-term issues," Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said in a client note.

Indonesia stopped miners from exporting mineral concentrates on Jan. 12 under the rules that required Freeport to adopt a new mining permit before resuming shipments.

Freeport has insisted that any new permit must have the same fiscal and legal guarantees as those in its 30-year mining contract, and warned if the matter was not resolved by June 17 it could go to arbitration.

"SMOKE AND MIRRORS" The dispute has fanned nationalist fervour in Indonesia with newspaper headlines calling for Freeport to be "kicked out of Papua," where Grasberg is located. In January, Mining Minister Ignasius Jonan said "we do not negotiate" and that Freeport should follow regulations.

As tensions escalated, Freeport Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said Indonesian ministers had been "aggressive" and that the new regulations were "in effect a form of expropriation".

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is due to visit Jakarta this month and the Grasberg dispute is expected to be raised. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said last week in an interview there was no political pressure and that this was "normal" in business, but warned Washington against politicising the Freeport issues.

"The important thing is that Freeport's immediate operations will be extended," he said.

Jakarta-based foreign legal counsel Bill Sullivan described the government approach as a "smoke and mirrors strategy", on the one hand appearing to retain a tough stance on miners for a domestic audience, while being careful to allow them enough room to continue commercial operations.

An earlier recommendation for Freeport to export up to 1.1 million tonnes of concentrate until February 2018 would still apply, but the company still needs an export permit from the Trade Ministry, said Director General of Coal and Minerals Bambang Gatot at the briefing with Pamuji.

A spokesman for Freeport Indonesia said on Tuesday the company was in the process of finalising its application for an export permit "so that exports can resume immediately".

(Additional reporting by Fergus Jensen and Kanupriya Kapoor in Jakarta and Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Writing by Fergus Jensen and Ed Davies; Editing by Dan Grebler and Christian Schmollinger)
By Natalia Zinets and Alexei Kalmykov

KIEV, April 4 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that Ukraine's domestic politics could derail vital reforms such as raising the pension age and tackling corruption that are needed to crank up economic growth and tame high public debt.

The Fund released $1 billion to Kiev this week as part of a $17.5 billion aid-for-reforms bailout for the Ukrainian economy, which plunged into recession following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of separatist violence.

The extra funds paved the way for the central bank to deliver an immediate boon to investors by cutting the amount of foreign currency businesses are required to sell to 50 percent of their overseas earnings from 65 percent.

Ukraine's international backers have mixed praise for the country's return to macroeconomic stability with criticism for Kiev's stop-start progress on tackling entrenched corruption and modernising its laws and institutions.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who took power a year ago after the previous government collapsed, has a thin parliament majority and has been unable so far to pass pension and land reforms that are resisted by a noisy opposition.

Flagship anti-corruption schemes have also struggled to get off the ground or been sabotaged by vested interests, most recently in the case of a law forcing public officials and lawmakers to disclose their assets online.

"The main risks on the domestic side stem from reform delays due to the narrow majority of the governing coalition in parliament and possible policy reversals as key reforms face strong pushback from vested interests," said an IMF report.

Kiev expects three further aid tranches this year worth $4.5 billion in total. So far, counting the $1 billion disbursed on Monday, it has received $8.38 billion under the programme launched in March 2015.

Ukraine has one of the highest levels of pension spending in Europe, while having one of the lowest levels of average pension benefits, providing an old-age income of slightly more than $2 per day, the IMF said.

Ukraine has as many pensioners as workers who pay into the pension system and many people shirk paying pension contributions. That means Ukraine's pension deficit is estimated at 6 percent of GDP, the IMF said.

The government has asked for more time to implement pension reforms, promising to do so by January next year.

The IMF had delayed its decision on disbursing new aid from March to assess the impact of an economic blockade Kiev imposed on separatist-held territory. It now expects the economy to grow by 2 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 2.9 percent. (Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Traffic is moving slowly along the southbound lane of Interstate 5 just south of Albany, following an Oregon State Police chase that ended in a single-vehicle crash in the median at milepost 229, authorities said.

OSP troopers attempted to stop the vehicle for a driving complaint. The suspect was not injured in the crash, just north of the Seven Mile Lane overpass and is in custody, according to the OSP.

The Oregon Department of Transportation assisted at the scene.
PARIS, April 4 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister said on Tuesday a suspected chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces was a way of testing the new U.S. administration and it was time Washington clarified its position on President Bashar al-Assad.

"It's a test. That's why France repeats the messages, notably to the Americans to clarify their position," Jean-Marc Ayrault told RTL radio, adding that it could do so when the U.N. Security Council meets on Wednesday.

"I told them that we need clarity. What's your position? The question is to know, yes or no, whether the Americans support a political transition in Syria, which means organising this transition, elections and that at the end of the process the question of Assad's departure is asked." (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Adrian Croft)
By Sophie Hares

TEPIC, Mexico, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Standing in El Salvadors Congress as the Central American state voted to become the first in the world to ban metal mining, Vidalina Morales elation was muted by the memory of four activist colleagues killed during a 12-year campaign.

With its "No to mining, yes to life" banners and yellow skull-and-crossbones signs, the long push to win support for a ban and to protect fragile water supplies from damage by OceanaGold Corps El Dorado mine in Morales home department of Cabanas showed grassroots groups can have a national impact, she said.

"The image of our colleagues came to my mind - they would have been feeling the same emotions as we were, of happiness, of satisfaction to see that our fight had not been in vain," said Morales, president of the Economic and Social Development Association of Santa Marta, in Cabanas, east of San Salvador.

"The threat we saw from mining was that it would generate catastrophic consequences," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, listing the names of her colleagues whose deaths have been tied to their anti-mining activism.

Experts said last weeks vote to ban mining and the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury - following a failed attempt by OceanaGold to sue El Salvador - could pressure mining companies to protect water sources and embolden other countries to restrict mining in environmentally sensitive areas.

The ban, actively supported by the powerful Catholic Church which was able to bridge deep political divides, could also give momentum to a much-needed water law for the densely populated country that has lost much of its forest cover and declared a drought emergency last year, experts said.

Some 90 percent of El Salvadors rivers are polluted by industry, municipal wastewater and agricultural chemicals, while many areas suffer water rationing and shortages, and farmers in places like Cabanas cannot grow enough food crops.

Australian-Canadian mining firm OceanaGold undertook only exploratory work at El Dorado. But full exploitation would have sucked up vast amounts of water in the parched area, and risked polluting waterways that feed into the Lempa, one of the few uncontaminated rivers providing water to over half the population, said experts.

"It became a national movement because the water for all the population would have been further polluted," said Manuel Perez-Rocha, associate fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies. "It is clear to people that there is very little benefit, and the trade-off is too much in terms of the environment."

BENEFIT NOW, PAY LATER

A 2015 Central American University poll showed that almost 80 percent of the Salvadoran population wanted to ban metal mining, which can contaminate water with harmful chemicals such as the cyanide used to extract gold and silver from ore.

After El Salvador blocked mining permits in 2008, OceanaGold sued the small, cash-strapped country for around $284 million in compensation.

In October 2016, the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes found in favour of El Salvador. The government was awarded $8 million to cover legal costs for the claim, first brought in 2009 by Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining, which was acquired by OceanaGold in 2013.

After last weeks vote, OceanaGold said in a statement the El Dorado mine was "not part of the business strategy at this time".

While no other country has instituted an outright ban, Costa Rica already prohibits open pit mining, Argentina bans mining in sensitive glacial areas, and Colombia is moving to prevent gold mining in parts already awarded for exploitation.

"Countries are starting to say... these mining companies might give us short-term benefits for 10 to 20 years but then theyre going to leave and were going to have these environmental impacts that really can never be resolved," said Robin Broad, professor at the American University in Washington.

Ahead of the El Salvador vote, the governor of Nueva Vizcaya in the Philippines travelled to Central America to highlight the impact of mining by OceanaGold in his province, where he said excavation had wrecked the landscape with thousands of trees felled, homes demolished, vital springs exhausted and few local jobs created.

"Whatever income our government gets from the mining company, I think (it) is nothing compared to the expenditure we may incur in order to address the destruction brought about by their operations," said Governor Carlos Padilla by telephone from San Salvador.

WATER LAW NEXT?

Campaigners hope the ban will hike pressure on larger mining companies to use more expensive technology to control damage, and to take responsibility for the degradation caused by the small-scale prospectors they often buy up.

"All mining causes some kind of environmental impact," said Keith Slack, global programme director for extractive industries at Oxfam America.

"In a place like El Salvador and Cabanas, where you already have water issues... its hard to see how you could do it in a way that would be responsible," he added.

Some hope the Catholic Church - whose nuns and archbishops took to the streets to back the ban - will now help build support for a national water law.

"Within the country, it gives a lot of hope and inspiration for whats possible politically, as you have support from both the left and the right," said Paul Hicks, a water advisor for Catholic Relief Services in Latin America. (Reporting by Sophie Hares; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/)
MADRID, April 4 (Reuters) - A spokesman for Spain's foreign ministry denied on Tuesday that a Spanish naval vessel had made an illegal incursion into disputed waters off the British enclave of Gibraltar.

The government of Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Spain, said earlier on Tuesday that a navy patrol ship entered Gibraltar's territorial waters without permission.

"An illegal incursion, no, because for us it is the utilization of our waters," a spokesman for the foreign ministry said on the phone.

"Spain does not recognize others rights and situations belonging to Great Britain in the maritime spaces that are not included in Article 10 of the Utrecht treaty," he said. (Reporting by Angus Berwick; Editing by Julien Toyer)
By Daniela Desantis

ASUNCION, April 4 (Reuters) - A U.N. official on Tuesday called for an investigation into the killing of a Paraguayan protester during violent demonstrations last week, while President Horacio Cartes canceled an overseas trip to concentrate on resolving the country's political crisis.

Amerigo Incalcaterra, Representative for South America of the U.N Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Paraguayan authorities were "doing what they have to do" after police stormed an opposition party's headquarters last week and shot dead 25-year-old protester Rodrigo Quintana.

Cartes fired Paraguay's national police chief on Saturday, and an officer was charged with homicide of the protestor on Monday. Government officials told a news conference on Tuesday there had been no order to open fire.

The incident occurred during unrest over an unpopular closed-door Senate vote to amend the constitution to allow for presidential re-election. Thousands took to the streets in protest, and a group of demonstrators stormed and set fire to the country's Congress building.

"We expect the events will be investigated and that those responsible both for the acts of violence and for the death of a Paraguayan citizen will be punished," Incalcaterra said after meeting with Paraguay's foreign minister Eladio Lozaiga in the capital city of Asuncion.

Cartes canceled a trip to Argentina to attend a dialogue opposition leaders, currently set for Wednesday, Lozaiga told reporters on Tuesday. Cartes had invited opponents to the dialogue late on Sunday.

Paraguay's Senate voted on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber.

The measure to change the constitution to allow presidential re-election still would have to be approved by the lower house and via popular referendum.

The measure has strong support in the lower house, though the chamber's leader has said it would not be considered while the dialogue is ongoing. The opposition Liberal Party has pledged not to attend the negotiations until the proposal was withdrawn.

Supporters of Cartes, a former soft-drink and tobacco businessman, want him to be able to seek a second term in a country that constitutionally forbid re-election after a 35-year dictatorship fell in 1989. (Additional reporting by Monica Machicao, writing by Luc Cohen; editing by Diane Craft)
At least 58 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in north-western Syria, the BBC reported a short while ago quoting a monitoring group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian jets had caused many people to choke.

Later, aircraft fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists said.

A Syrian military source denied the government had used any such weapons. Russia's defence ministry meanwhile insisted it had not carried out any air strikes in the vicinity.

If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria's civil war.

The warplanes are reported to have attacked Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km (30 miles) south of the city of Idlib, early on Tuesday, when many people were asleep.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the pro-opposition Edlib Media Center (EMC), has told the Associated Press that he was awoken by the sound of an explosion at about 06:30 (03:30 GMT).

When he reached the scene, there was no smell, he said. He found people lying on the floor, unable to move and with constricted pupils, he added.

Mohammed Rasoul, the head of a charity ambulance service in Idlib, told the BBC that his medics had found people, many of them children, choking in the street.

The Syrian Observatory (SOHR) quoted medics as saying that they had been treating people with symptoms including fainting, vomiting and foaming at the mouth.
Scarcity of fresh water giving rise to conflict is no longer a theme in sci-fi narratives. Today, for most living in arid parts of the world, it is a daily reality. Nearly one billion people in the developing world do not have access to fresh, clean water. Yet, we in Sri Lanka, an island of abundant resources, take the availability of freshwater for granted. Unbeknown to us with drought threatening livelihoods in the dry zones of the country, unregulated utilisation of groundwater is also threatening the availability of this precious resource.



What is groundwater?

Potable water resources are mainly identified as surface water or groundwater. Unlike surface water bodies such as rivers, lakes and tanks which are usually exposed to harmful human activity, groundwater is less affected as it is the water that is held underground. In other words, groundwater flows through porous media in a paced, slow dispersal and is stored under the topsoil or in pores and crevices found in rock. Because it is hidden beneath and protected from human activity, groundwater is one of the safest and reliable sources of drinking water.

In Sri Lanka, almost 80% of the rural population depend on groundwater sources for their day-to-day needs which include drinking and sanitation needs. It is also a vital source of water supply to hundreds of farmers and cultivators who depend on groundwater sources in the form of agro-wells scattered across the island. Considering the significance of this gift of nature, it is alarming that little attention has been paid to risks of exhaustion and contamination of groundwater sources. The need to protect these valuable sources of water arose when reports emerged early this year that Coca Cola was eyeing Sri Lanka for a bottling plant after having exhausted groundwater resources in India.

80% of the rural population depend on groundwater sources for their day-to-day needs

Health implications associated with contaminated sources should be considered seriously

Little attention paid to risks of exhaustion and contamination of groundwater sources

Over-use threatens water table and surface water bodies

Poor management of resources threatening water bodies



Use of groundwater

Groundwater resources are widely used for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes, small-scale irrigation and water supply schemes. The Water Resources Board (WRB) states that about 80% of the rural domestic water supply needs are met from groundwater by means of dug and tube wells. Most of the local industries depend heavily on deep wells where groundwater is safe and of good quality. It is manifest that the demand for groundwater supply is increasing, particularly in urban areas in addition to rural water supplies and irrigation of agriculture. As highlighted during the past few months, the rapid expansion of commercial projects is exerting pressure on the available groundwater resources.

Groundwater is a main water source for irrigation by small farmers, especially during drought periods when tank storage is inadequate. Small farmers, particularly in the areas of North Western and North Central provinces, use large  diameter agro-wells. In coastal sand aquifer areas like the Kalpitiya Peninsula in the Northwest and Nilaveli in the East coast, there has been intensive use of the shallow groundwater for agriculture during the last three decades.



Over-use and depletion

The U.S. Geological Survey compares the water stored in the ground to money kept in a bank account. If the money is withdrawn at a faster rate than new money is deposited, there will eventually be account-supply problems. Pumping water out of the ground at a faster rate than it is replenished over the long-term causes similar problems. Groundwater pumping, a saviour of dry zone cultivators in Sri Lanka, is the primary cause of groundwater depletion. This in turn can lower the water table where the well is no longer able to reach groundwater. As the water table lowers, pumps must reach farther in the ground, consuming more power and thereby invoking more costs. Little known is the fact that surface water will not exist without groundwater. Depletion of groundwater tables threatens the water supply to surface water resources such as rivers and lakes. Ultimately, over pumping also threatens to collapse layers of soil causing what is known as land subsidence.



Threats of contamination

According to the Head of the Bio-systems Engineering Department, Wayamba University Dr. D.S.P. Kuruppuarachchi, some aquifers in Sri Lanka are already contaminated with poisonous chemicals in intensely cultivated areas. An aquifer is an underground layer of permeable rock, sediment or soil that yields water. The pore spaces in aquifers are filled with water and are interconnected, so that water flows through them. This means that sandstone, unconsolidated gravel and porous limestone make the best aquifers.

Nitrate is a common Nitrogenous compound found in the natural processes of the Nitrogen cycle. In Sri Lanka, researchers have uncovered that concentrations of the compound have greatly increased, particularly in groundwater; the key reason of contamination being the application of Nitrogen-rich fertilizers in agricultural processes.

Studies in coastal sand aquifers revealed that the build-up of Nitrate was quite dramatic and estimated at 12 mg-N l-1per annum, which is certainly unacceptable both in terms of water quality deterioration and waste of valuable crop nutrients, Dr. Kuruppuarachchi cites in his research.

As groundwater is the main or probably the only source of potable water in aquifers where intensive agriculture is practised, health implications associated with high intake of Nitrate should be considered seriously and appropriate management plans should be implemented in order to enhance the sustainable and efficient use of the groundwater resource, he warns.

As Dr. Kuruppuarachchi notes, agriculture in many developing countries including Sri Lanka is increasingly dependent on chemicals, mainly due to cost and yield concerns in organic cultivating. As the land available for crop production and water for irrigation is meanwhile becoming increasingly limited, increased food production to meet the demands must use intensive agriculture methods.

According to Dr. Kuruppuarachchi, in many areas, intensive crop production occurs on soils directly overlying shallow aquifers used for potable water supply as well as irrigation. The threat to groundwater quality and the risk to potable supplies are growing, mainly due to the intensification of irrigated agriculture and accompanying increase of the use of fertilizers and pesticides.



Unregulated agro-wells

Even without a drought threatening the island, the supply of water has constantly been a problem for the intermediate and dry zones of Sri Lanka. Research suggests that 90% of these zones are on hard-rock aquifers, where agro-wells have been installed in place of hard-rock aquifers. However, the lack of guidance and a general unawareness have resulted in a spring of unauthorised agro-wells.

At present, a farmer can (at free will) exploit his private land and use a resource of water that is in fact a resource belonging to all. When reviewing the use of groundwater sources, it is apparent that development of agro-wells has taken place in a rather haphazard and chaotic manner sans the expertise of the relevant authorities. So far, government authorities have only been able to offer technical services and offer financial aid for the installation of agro-wells.

When questioned of this flaw in resource management, Water Resources Board (WRB) Chairman A.C.M. Zulficar said prompt measures were underway to address the issue.

A special Gazette was issued in March to help address the unregulated digging of agro-wells. So far, the water management system in Sri Lanka has been governed by an act of 1954, where no improvements had been made to address the shortcomings. However, the new Gazette addresses three main issues in groundwater, namely water contamination, over extraction and misuse of natural springs, Zulficar explained.

When questioned as to why such action was delayed, the WRB Chairman responded saying no authority had taken interest in the matter all these years.

I was appointed Chairman during the latter part of 2015 and began to implement these procedures. We are now formulating a programme to raise awareness on the proper use of groundwater resources. For this purpose, we are building a network including the Divisional Secretariats, District Secretariats and our zonal officers. This joint programme will be launched in the coming weeks to educate the public on the proper use and management of groundwater resources, he said.



New regulations

According to the Gazette issued on March 15 under the Water Resources Board Act No. 29 of 1964, any individual, government or private institute seeking to utilise natural water springs or groundwater for any purpose or project, should obtain written permission from the WRB and it should be carried out under its supervision.

The construction of agro-wells with diameters more than four metres, dug and tube wells for commercial purposes utilising natural springs, and those engaged in the construction of tube and dug wells must be registered with the WRB prior to drilling. The safe yield of the well should be assessed under the supervision of the WRB.

A flow metre should be fixed by the industry owner to monitor the amount of water pumped from the well daily and the data on daily pumped water capacities should be maintained.

Data in respect to all tube wells constructed by the above registered parties must be submitted to the WRB every three months.

If any individual or organisation is engaged in water bottling industry, beverage industry and uses water from springs or groundwater for their manufacturing purposes, a water sample should be analysed once in every six months from a chemical laboratory.

A perimeter protection report should be taken from the WRB of those who extract groundwater amounting to more than 30,000 litres per month for commercial agriculture or industry. The WRB states that it will use these records to maintain their database and employ the information in groundwater management and planning in future. The Daily Mirror s attempts to contact officials of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board to query their strategies in accordance with the new regulations to tackle the management issues of groundwater resources resulted in failure.
A 24-hour-strike would be launched from Wednesday, April 5 midnight by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Joint Trade Unions Alliance against the alleged oppression of trade unions and to urge the Government to rectify CEB employees salary anomalies.

We are looking at a massive strike, which involves drivers, storekeepers and all the employees. In a case of a breakdown, no employee will be available to repair them, till Friday morning, Ceylon Electricity Employees Union Secretary Ranjan Jayalal told the Daily Mirror.

He said all of the CEBs work would be hindered on Thursday at all its plants. Bill payment, maintenance, tender calling are some of the other procedures which will be affected, he said.

He said the main objective of the strike was to rectify the current salary anomaly within the CEB.

The standard salary difference between the management level and lower level employees should be 4:1. Any salary increase should be made based on this rate. However, it was changed to 5:1 in 2012. Then Government agreed to rectify this by increasing salaries of all employees by 30 percent in 2014, he said.

He said at present, management level employees enjoy a salary hike between 70-120 percent while other employees salary had only been increased by 30 percent following two discreet gazettes issued on last presidential Election Day.

CEB top management officials salaries were increased during the last Presidential Election so the politicians could distribute light posts and other CEB properties during the election.

When we raised the issue, they agreed to increase the salaries of all employees, but on the Election Day, two different Gazette notices were issued, he said.

He said they had had discussions with Ministers Champika Ranawaka and Ranjith Siyambalapitiya but to no avail. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
Sri Lanka must not place its head in the noose

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera

After the UN Human Rights Council 34th session ended in Geneva, the US said it introduced three resolutions that were adopted with broad cross regional support. The list included Resolution 34/1 on Sri Lanka.

The statement says that Sri Lanka was one of the 47 co-sponsors of Resolution 34/1. This assertion is extremely disingenuous, if it is made on the basis that the resolution was adopted without a vote in the 47-member HRC. How could any member state of the HRC or friend of Sri Lanka be expected to raise its voice against the resolution when Sri Lanka itself had submitted to co-sponsoring it?

Interestingly the other two resolutions led by the US at the 34th session, on South Sudan and North Korea, relate to HRC mandated exercises to collect evidence that can be used in future accountability mechanisms. The Commission on South Sudan is chaired by Yasmin Sooka who was one of the panelists on Ban Ki Moons infamous Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka. While there is no comparison between the very different situations of Sri Lanka and those of South Sudan or North Korea, this should give us a clue as to what the HRC resolutions 30/1 and 34/1 are really about.

It would suggest that the resolutions are intended to lead to prosecutions of Sri Lankan armed forces under international law. The security forces are directly targeted in the resolution and although parties pushing for its implementation like to say that the issue of foreign judges is getting undue attention, it may be seen that insistence on international participation in a retributive (as opposed to restorative) process, with a special prosecutors office etc, is a consistent thread in the resolutions and the reports coming out of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"In spite of hearing sharply divided opinions from Tamils in the North and East, and Sinhalese in the South, the CTF ends up recommending a hybrid court"



Security forces in their submissions to the Consultative Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF report) have expressed unequivocal support for the governments reconciliation initiative, and for a restorative as opposed to retributive approach. In spite of hearing sharply divided opinions from Tamils in the North and East, and Sinhalese in the South, the CTF ends up recommending a hybrid court with full participation of foreign judges, defence lawyers, prosecutors and investigators, saying that this recommendation is made in line with the 2015 Geneva resolution. The High Commissioner for Human Rights in turn, refers to the CTFs recommendations to justify his reiteration of the need for international participation. So this has become a somewhat circular argument. While many governments representing the Western bloc spoke in support of the CTFs recommendations during the Interactive Dialogue on Sri Lanka, its worth noting that the CTFs Secretary heads an NGO funded by those very same governments. The question as to why there is an insistence on prosecutions, and from where that pressure originates, needs to be answered if we are to believe that the goal of reconciliation is being pursued in good faith.



As the High Commissioner for Human Rights himself has admitted, the ICC (International Criminal Court) route is unlikely to succeed in bringing prosecutions because Russia and China could exercise their vetoes as permanent members of the Security Council. During his visit to Sri Lanka last year he also admitted to the difficulty in trying to have a Bill passed in the Sri Lankan parliament for this purpose. So those pursuing this resolution know that the only way it could be done is to get Sri Lanka itself to set up a judicial mechanism of its own accord, with foreign participation to try Sri Lankan security forces under international law, amending the constitution and enacting legislation with retrospective effect to enable the process. This is a tall order, seeing that Sri Lankan soldiers were fighting legally, on the orders of their political leaders, on their own territory, to defeat a separatist terrorist enemy, and achieved their objective. In the absence of other tools, is human rights being used as a political weapon? This approach in dealing with weaker states with strategic importance to the US would perhaps explain the superpowers more active involvement in the HRC in recent times.

After making the initial blunder of co-sponsoring the resolution, the yahapalana leadership has made contradictory statements on it, raising questions as to who was really behind the move.

President Sirisena who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has categorically said he will not allow prosecutions of armed forces over alleged violations of human rights during the war. He has vehemently rejected the rights chiefs proposal to have foreign judges.

"President Sirisena who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has categorically said he will not allow prosecutions of armed forces over alleged violations of human rights during the war. He has vehemently rejected the rights chiefs proposal to have foreign judges."





Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has publicly acknowledged not only that having foreign judges in a hybrid court was impossible under the present constitution, but that a constitutional amendment to make way for it was not acceptable either. Adressing Buddhist monks at a religious ceremony in Weeraketiya last month he said Our judges have taken oaths (prathignawa) in this country, foreign judges have not. Therefore it there is no provision for it. If the constitution is amended what happens? There would have to be a referendum. Then what would happen is that we will lose the referendum like David Cameron. If we take the constitutional route we will lose in a referendum. So we have said this cannot be done either. Wickremesinghe went on to say that if any in the tri-forces have broken the law, action could be taken under the tri-forces law or national law, and stressed that the need of the hour was to reach a settlement (rata samathayakata path kireemai). So the prime minister has realized the futility of expecting reconciliation to come about through this path. He reiterated these points in parliament.

The other recommendation that the prime minister told the monks he would not agree to is for Sri Lanka to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC. He said he was always opposed to it, that former US president George Bush had advised him against it in 2003, and that all of South Asia opposed it. The call for Sri Lanka to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC was a recommendation made by rights chief Zeid in his report on Sri Lanka.

The US under George Bush fiercely opposed ratification of the Rome Statute on the grounds that it would be used against Americans for political reasons. It argued that the court did not have the power to try US citizens for crimes committed in US territory, and that it was inconsistent with US constitutional protections. It even enacted a law that authorized the president to use military force to free US personnel held by the court! The US wants others to do as it says, but not as it does, it appears.

"If we take the constitutional route we will lose in a referendum. So we have said this cannot be done either"



Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, in the light of glaring inconsistency between his stance and that of the President and Prime Minister seems to have finally realized that he cannot clap with one hand. Having repeatedly assured western audiences of Sri Lankas commitment to fully implement the resolution, Samaraweera has had to engage in considerable verbal gymnastics to save face with his western patrons. He now admits that the government cant bring foreign judges under the present constitution. But he stops short of saying the government will not do so. Asked by a journalist whether there would be changes in the new constitution that would allow for foreign judges, Samaraweera evaded the question saying that foreign judges are not our sole obsession.

This brings us to the unanswered question of where the pressure for a process targeting Sri Lankas security forces comes from. It is known that the main architects of the resolution are the US and the UK. While they are backed by others in the western bloc, this time Japan has added its name among six new co-sponsors - the only country in the Asian group to do so. This is possibly an outcome of Japans closer alignment with the US in the international arena recent times.



The changing geopolitics of the Indian Ocean Region is a factor that cannot be ignored in discussing the behaviour of international actors in relation to Sri Lanka. Its no secret that the islands strategic location has made it a pivot-point in an ongoing contest between the US and China for regional dominance, especially in the maritime sphere. China has been playing hard ball in relation to its infrastructure investments, particularly Hambantota port, while the US has made a series of ship visits to ports of Colombo, Trincomalee and Hambantota, under the rubric of a strategic partnership. Within a space of 12 months no less than seven ships and the Boeing P8-A Poseidon aircraft of the US Navy visited. These are the most sophisticated war machines of the worlds superpower. Five of the ships are designed for amphibious operations while the other two are for anti-submarine warfare and submarine-tending. The Poseidon - designed for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and ship interdiction. - left from Mattala airport in Hambantota while the USS Fall River also docked in Hambantota for two weeks. Is there a message here?

The US wants to develop relations with Sri Lankan armed forces, but as an obedient, docile partner, not as a proud, victorious army that defeated the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world. Could this perhaps explain why the US is gunning for the generals in Geneva, using human rights as the weapon? Is the saga of HRC resolutions against Sri Lanka, in the end, not about reconciliation at all, but about retribution?
The joint opposition yesterday hit out at Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran for claiming that broad agreement had been reached on power devolution and as such the interim report could be now presented.

JOs parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardane told Daily Mirror that what Mr. Sumanthiran said was untrue. He said no agreement had been reached on key matters such as the presidency, power devolution, electoral reforms and the parliamentary system.

He said no decision had been taken on presenting the interim report with the JO and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) thinking diffeently on these matters. (Kelum Bandara)
Relatives of the late Ravi Jayewardene were seen carrying his casket to the Jayewardene Centre for the public to pay their respects last evening. Mr. Jayewardene passed away at his residence in Colombo on Monday. He was 80 years old at the time of his demise. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja
After pulling a vehicle over early Friday morning for a traffic violation, an Oregon State Police Trooper allegedly discovered 13 pounds of cocaine in a 2007 Mercury SUV, according to a press release.

Juan Yonic Perez Palafox, 30, of Washington, was the only occupant and consented to have the vehicle searched after the trooper became suspicious. Authorities said, Perez Palafox was arrested when cocaine was found in the back seat of the SUV, along Interstate 5 north of Medford.

Perez Palafox was taken to the Jackson County Jail on the charges of possession, delivery, and manufacturing of cocaine.

OSP is continuing to investigate this case and no further details are available at this time.
Some Preliminary Thoughts

Women activists demand that reforms should address demands such as the minimum age of marriage and reform of divorce provisions.

The reformation of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) has become a hot button topic over the past few months. There is expectation that the committee headed by Justice Saleem Marsoof which is tasked with making recommendations on the reform of the MMDA will make their report public soon. Women activists both within and from outside the Muslim community have made clear that the proposed reforms should address a number of demands.These demands relate (among other things) to the minimum age of marriage, the requirement for the womans consent for marriage to be mandatory, reform of divorce provisions, practices relating to dowry and alimony, and significant reform of the Quazi court system including allowing for women Quazis.[i]The debate over the reform of the MMDA has thus far been bracketed as an internal discussion for the Muslim community, particularly since Muslims are only allowed to marry under the MMDA and not the general marriage law of the country. However, in this short essay I will argue that the debate over the MMDA is also an invitation to a much broader discussion on the relationship between sex, politics, and governance in Sri Lanka.



The problem of governing sex and desire is one of the core questions at the heart of the current debate over the MMDA. For example, activists campaigning for stipulating a minimum age of marriage under the MMDA emphasize the need to ensure the  bodily maturity and the ability to consent freely to marriage and sexual intercourse.[ii]In contrast, the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulama (ACJU)argue against stipulating the minimum age of marriage on the grounds (among others) that Ibn Hazm says: A father giving in marriage of his daughter before attaining puberty is possible and this is the evidence that Abu Bakkar (Radhi Allahu Anhu) gave Aishah (Radhi Allahu Anhu) on marriage to Prophet (Peace be upon him) when she was 6 years old).[iii]For reformists, the emphasis is on the right of an adult woman (who is at least 18) to determine when and who she marries and by extension, has sex with. Desire is the implicit (yet, silent) partner in this demand for a Muslim womans right to consent. Conservatives in contrast, emphasize religious teaching and cultural tradition to argue against the need to radically alter the conditions under which the Muslim community currently makes decisions about marriage and sex. What undergirds both these seemingly contradictory stances is the question of how to and who should regulate/ govern sex and desire.

The problem of governing sex and desire is one of the core questions at the heart of the current debate

It also reminds us of the need to consider how powerful groups within communities can collude with the very structures that they claim pose a threat to the community

The campaign marked this out as a dastardly plot by radical elements in the Muslim community to alter the demography of the island with a view to eventually becoming the majority in the country



The concern with regulating sex and desire draws attention to the ways in which concerns about the population have increasingly become the focus of debates about the governance of minorities in the country. For example, it was only earlier this year that moves to include the decriminalization of homosexuality in the Human Rights Action Plan were rejected on grounds such as social concerns[iv], the need for a future generation[v]and the possibility of cultural destruction that could ensue.[vi] Similarly it was only a few years ago that a campaign was carried out on social media warning Sinhalese that certain Muslim department stores were allegedly handing out sweets that would result in impotency. The campaign marked this out as a dastardly plot by radical elements in the Muslim community to alter the demography of the island with a view to eventually becoming the majority in the country. Other social media campaigns have attempted to call on Sinhala women to procreate more frequently as a means of resisting the spread of the Muslim population in the country. There was also serious concern expressed at one point that the delay in publishing the final report of the 2012 Census was because the Muslim community now outnumbered the Sinhala community.[vii]These campaigns also echo long-standing concerns about declining fertility rates in the Sinhala community and its impact on recruitment to the military as well as the Buddhist clergy.[viii]What all these examples highlight is how the regulation of sex and desire is indexed towards exerting control over minorities and women in the country. The foregrounding of concerns about sex and desire draws our attention to the politics of governing and regulating populations and relationships between populations in Sri Lanka. Therefore, choosing to ignore or side-step the MMDA debate on the grounds that it is an internal discussion for the Muslim community fails to take into account the larger sexual politics at work in the country.



The MMDA debate draws our attention to these larger questions about the function of sexual politics within the country.For example, the sexual curiosity of children is often proffered as an argument against increasing the minimum age of marriage among the Muslim community by law. However, at the heart of this argument is the question of to what extent law is an effective form of regulating sex and desire. We can see how the MMDA debate resonates with the conversation over the use of the death penalty as a way of regulating the sexual proclivities of child abusers and rapists. The reader may remember that at the time, the proponents of the death penalty strongly argued that the reintroduction of the death penalty would regulate the sexual desire of these criminal elements. A related question is also what purpose does the regulation of sex and desire within a community serve. These arguments over regulation are an attempt to establish control for those who wish to be identified as the gatekeepers of morality. The struggle by men to preserve their status as the gatekeepers of the morality of their community is indexed as a way of determining who can be considered a true Muslim. By establishing the parameters for inclusion and exclusion, these power struggles work towards concretising and defining membership in a community. If we remember that the earliest concerns with defining the parameters of cultural identity were rooted in attempts to further colonial control of subject populations, we begin to be far more suspicious of these projects of definition.

"The debate over the MMDA is also an invitation to a much broader discussion on the relationship between sex, politics, and governance in Sri Lanka. "

It also reminds us of the need to consider how powerful groups within communities can collude with the very structures that they claim pose a threat to the community. Therefore, supporting the moves for reforming the MMDA also affords a way of challenging many of the colonial legacies that continue to play a role in determining how the country is governed today. Contextualizing the MMDA debate within the struggle over the trajectory of Sri Lankas sexual politics makes it possible to open more pathways for understanding and coalition building between various groups around the country. Therefore, it is no longer possible to bracket off the MMDA struggle as a solely Muslim concern. When we begin to trace the flows of power, we begin to see how the MMDA reform debate has much broader repercussions. We see how the regulation of sex and desire are increasingly staked as the terrain for determining the relationship between law and social control. Nor can our stance on the MMDA be divorced from the question of how projects of definition are linked today to the drive to police womens bodies, sex, and desires. The debate also demonstrates how the logic of sexual regulation through insecurities about birth rates, infertility, and spread of minority cultures is increasingly coded in discussions on governing populations in Sri Lanka. In other words, the reform of the MMDA is not only circumscribed by the question of the rights of women within Muslim personal law. It challenges us to consider how the very terms of this debate continue to invoke the relationship between the disciplinary logic of sexual regulation and the production of populations for more malleable governance of the country. And when we begin to see that we can no longer afford to cast aside the questions raised by the MMDA reform movement as irrelevant to larger debates over rights, populations, and governance in Sri Lanka today.



The writer is a Senior Researcher attached to the Social Scientists Association, Sri Lanka. He can be contacted via email  andi@ssalanka.org
Sri Lanka will not break with its violent past until it reckons with the cruel history of enforced disappearance and delivers justice to as many as 100,000 families who have spent years waiting for it, Amnesty International (AI) said yesterday in a report.

Amnesty Internationals report, Only Justice can heal our wounds, was scheduled to be launched by the organizations Secretary General Salil Shetty at a meeting with families of the disappeared at Mannar, Sri Lanka.

There is no community in Sri Lanka that remains untouched by the trauma of enforced disappearance. Most people in the country suffer the absence of a loved one or know someone who does. They have waited years, and in some cases, decades, to learn of the fate of their relatives. Until justice is delivered to these victims, the country cannot begin to heal, let alone move towards a more promising future, said AI Secretary General Salil Shetty.

The report said the authorities have failed to investigate the cases of disappearances, identify the whereabouts or fate of the victim, or prosecute those suspected of the crimes despite international commitments to end impunity for enforced disappearance.

Sri Lanka needs to put the victims at the heart of any reconciliation process. The authorities must hear their demands and implement them. The current government has taken encouraging steps to acknowledge the need to end impunity, but it cannot leave the victims waiting any longer. They have waited too long already. If Sri Lanka wants to successfully pull away from its violent past, it must address victims demands for justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Shetty said.

To move forward, the report said the Sri Lankan government should enact legislation making disappearance a crime under national law in accordance with the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The dawn of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year will see the traditional sarong receive a new lease in life as Hameedia launches the worlds first linen sarongs. The sarong, considered by many as comfort couture sparked the interest of Sri Lankas premier mens fashion brand. Hameedia, which spent an entire year of trials and has transformed the sarong into a world-class high fashion statement.

Sri Lankas decorated menswear specialist Fouzul Hameed, Managing Director at Hameedia (Pvt) Ltd says, These sarongs are unique since the entire fabric is woven into a sarong which means there are neither joints nor hems. Yes this IS the worlds first sarong which is born out of our abiding passion for creating the latest trends for the sartorially savvy gentleman. Our sarongs are a combination of ease and elegance since were passionate about enhancing mens fashion wear and optimising on our unique styles. The sarong, which is steeped in traditional Sri Lankan culture, is the ideal item to get this boost as it incorporates world trends with traditional clothes thus making the wearer stand out at any event. In recent years, the sarong has gained momentum in social circles, and this Sinhala and Tamil New Year season we wish to present the fashion-conscious man with the best of traditional menswear.

These are also the worlds first sarongs which have a selvedge. Sarongs featured in the collection exude sophistication and simplicity. They have been pre-washed to offer extra comfort and come with clean-cut and refined designs, and, vibrant colours. The entire linen range includes a selection of shirts, trousers, jackets, kurthas, sarongs, ties, bows and pocket squares. The linen sarongs are available in 30 colours ranging from deeper hues to muted pastel shades.

The new, updated sarongs have been designed for versatility and are suited for day wear, smart casual, formal and festive wear. They can be worn with a range of kurtha tops with either tunic, round or standard collars. The varied styling methods include pin tux, embroidery and laser-cut bonding.

Natural, lightweight, lint-free and long-lasting, most of the linen used comes from the finest Irish yarns. The texture lends itself to crispness in design and style, allowing its wearer to look effortlessly stylish with minimum hassle. The garment has received a further value addition through the usage of corozo buttons which is the seed found in the fruit known as corozo.

From time, immemorial linen has been a firm favourite among the elite, who wish to strike a balance between style and comfort. This innovative design is bound to create the desired effect. Linen is considered a health fabric, due to its anti-bacterial properties, thus giving it the added advantage as the optimum choice in clothing. Linen is also said to protect the skin from harmful UV rays and sun-allergies.

Linen gained great popularity in recent times as well and achieved a boost in haute-couture stardom for many reasons. Unlike other fibres, linen insulates in winter and is breathable in summer, thus making it a fabric for all seasons. It is also rich in moisture and clearly more absorbent than cotton, which makes it comfortable to wear thus making it the preferred choice for a variety of occasions.

The Hameedias linen collection has gained popularity among the fashionable Sri Lankans and expatriates alike as it offers a blend of sophistication and comfort. The collection is available in ready-to-wear designs and made-to-measure for that perfect fit and an added personalised finish. Customers also have the flexibility of mixing and matching colours and styles to achieve their perfect look. With the Aluth Avurudhu season just around the corner, the collection is ideal as the perfect gift and comes in gift boxes.
The days of the liberal transatlantic visa regime for the foreign shore-loving techies, long known as the cushy H-1B issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), are perhaps now over. A new diktat that was nevertheless widely expected has said that being a regular computer programmer would not be enough to apply for the coveted H-1B work visa, which is a specialty occupation needing highly qualified applicants for highly paid positions.

In a move that would impact the humongous information technology (IT) industry in India, which considers client servicing one of its chief sources of revenue, the USCIS has ruled that an entry level computer programmer position would not qualify as a specialty occupation, and would therefore be not eligible for an H-1B work visa".

It must be noted here that until now, on an average, the USCIS had issued about 85,000 H-1B visas on a yearly basis, a substantial chunk of which had gone to Indian and Chinese companies, IT engineers mostly, who have formed the fat base of the immigrant-dependent Silicon Valley. This has led to the culture of start-ups, innovation and the general upward bounce in the tech industry, most of which have been immigrant driven.

However, the latest ruling has come right in time when the April 1 window opens to invite a fresh batch of H-1B visa applications, definitely in a bid to curb Indian computer programmers with dreams of America in their eyes from applying en masse. The ruling as issued on March 31, 2017, supersedes and rescinds the previous guidelines of the USCIS  those issued in December 2000  and imposes strict restrictions on the eligibility criteria to apply for the much desired H-1B visa.

Trumps Buy American, Hire American

It must be noted here that the new USCIS memorandum is hardly unexpected, given that President Donald Trump ran his noxious, blatantly racist election campaign on the promise of Buy American, Hire American. He reiterated this in his inauguration speech on January 20, 2017, when he insisted that he would overhaul the manner in which Americans do trade and commerce, significantly curbing the tendency to bring in cheap labour from foreign countries in lieu of American counterparts.

Trumps America First policy has firm backing from the Congress, particularly from US attorney general Jeff Sessions, who has opposed the H-1B programme from its inception. In addition, several instances of rampant exploitation of H-1B norms, with tech companies giving out H-1B visas to entry-level positions that require simple code writing and checking, has created a sense of disenchantment among Americans in competition for the same jobs but legally requiring at least double the salary.

According to a Bloomberg report, a coalition of employers relying on highly skilled immigrants actually backed the new ruling.

Every year India sends thousands of engineers and tech workers on H-1B visas to work in the US. Photo: Reuters

Scott Corley, executive director, Compete America, a coalition of employers that rely on high-skilled immigrants, said in a statement on Monday that H-1B reform should be part of a broader re-assessment of the countrys immigration priorities. Our nations outdated legal immigration system relies heavily on a single temporary visa category, the H-1B, to prove work authorisation for every kind of high-skilled foreign professional we recruit," he said.

The immigration reforms are also to give priority to companies paying higher salaries and also would explicitly prohibit companies from replacing qualified US workers with H-1B workers.

How will this impact India?

Every year India sends thousands of engineers and tech workers on H-1B visas to work in the US. Indian tech companies such as Infosys and TCS, which have offices in the US, also find it cheaper to send an Indian to their US offices rather than hire American citizens purely because of the monetary gain made in the process.

H-1B revenue is a sizeable chunk of the remittances pie and props up investment in Digital India, PM Narendra Modis flagship project. Given that both Modi and Trump are populist leaders putting their countries first in a bid to overhaul respective economies, that they are now at odds over an employment criteria is definitely a thorn in the throat of the future of the India-US special relationship.

The USCIS memorandum would have a prohibitory effect on the H-1B visa regime as a whole, because its transatlantic lure would be significantly thwarted once it starts showing impact on the Indian and Chinese tech sector.

Given that highly-qualified professionals anyway do not depend on a stringent visa regime, and that they usually come from the upper crust of the global capitalist elite whose nationality doesnt really hinder movements across borders, this new H-1B ruling would be chiefly impacting the Indian middle classes which see the tech sector as a gateway to a globally savvy, cosmopolitan lifestyle, unaffected by local issues.

Indians targeted in US

There is also a correlation between the politics of racial intolerance that is getting legitimised in the US at present because of the new president and the Republican regime at the helm, and the fresh curbs on a visa regime that drives an immigrant-dependent sector.

The murder of an Indian engineer from Hyderabad  Srinivas Kuchibholta  in Kansas City, Texas, by a retired US navy personnel is not entirely disconnected from this new era of American protectionism under President Trump.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tel Aviv later this year, he will correct a long tale of neglect and even diplomatic rejection of a friendship on offer for six long decades merely to please the Arabs abroad and cater to the appeasement of the Islamic lobby at home.

This is no party rhetoric. Take a look at the relationship between India and Jews over the millennia. India was the land of refuge for Jews as well as a trading centre for international trade for the children of Abraham (as per Yahowite belief) centuries before disaster struck them in AD 70.

Roman Emperor Titus, in an overreaction to the Jewish rebellion against the Roman colonialism, reduced their prestigious temple built by their emperor Solomon to rubble, killed some 70,000 Jews  men, women and children  and banished the entire ethnic group out of their ancestral home in Palestine.

Brutality

Since then, the Jews have been wandering like nomads from place to place, mostly in Europe where Christian forces  in power and outside it  made it a pastime to abuse them, rob them and ill-treat them with periodic pogroms.

Under Adolf Hitler this horrific ethnic brutality against them reached its acme. All these centuries when the Jews were targets of mass hatred in Christian lands, they found respect, dignity and freedom in India, more precisely in Hindu kingdoms.

In the port city of Kochi, for instance, stands a Jewish synagogue and the Jewish lane.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Tel Aviv later this year, he will correct a long tale of neglect and even diplomatic rejection of a friendship on offer for six long decades.

Visitors to this heritage place  there are only a handful of Jews left there out of the thousands who resided there for centuries and are now in Israel  note two things: one the locale and two the copper plates given by the Kochi kings leasing the land to construct the synagogue and right to live in the land around.

That a Hindu ruler should allow these abode seekers place to live freely may be no surprise; but to allow these migrants their temple exactly touching the royal palace-cum-Hindu temple in an age of huge ethnic and political hostilities is a tribute to the Hindu mind and its breadth of universal vision.

Not just in Kochi, in many other places across this country, the Jews flourished while they were being subjected to atrocities in Christian Europe.

Post-Independence, India recognised Israel and diplomatic engagement with the newly independent Israel were beginning to take shape when the Arab hostility to Israel began to enter Jawaharlal Nehrus policy.

For no reason other than placating Muslims in India, New Delhi declared total hostility to Israel despite the diplomatic recognition of the new nation created by the UN.

Israel became the new international untouchable for India.

Terrorism

For decades the Palestinian Muslims practised terrorism like abduction, assassination, sabotage of public buildings, bombings and hijacking of passenger aircraft beside ground-level hostility against Israel in general and Jews in particular.

The 13 Arab nations not only cut off diplomatic relations with Israel but also sought to surround the tiny Jewish state (compared to the large Muslim ones around it).

We rightly oppose terrorism. But history sitting in judgement will ask us why our government in the 1970s and 1980s did not seek to gather international opinion against terrorism regularly practised by the Palestinian militants against Israel when planes with Israeli passengers among others were hijacked and held to ransom.

However, when it came to Pakistans attack on India in 1965 and Chinas in 1962 these same non-aligned humbugs did not side with India; they were more eager to ignore the Indian complaint about Chinese aggression.

Only Israel did. Despite being treated by New Delhi as a pariah, Tel Aviv through back-channels helped us with vital intelligence inputs and also critical equipment.

Admiration

The admiration for Israel facing total hostility from 13 Arab nations around it has been worldwide. Egypt itself, after leading three wars against Israel and getting disastrously defeated, had the courage to sign a peace treaty under American prodding.

Over 161 out of 192 UN member nations are now friends with Israel. With India continuing to face terrorism and China seeking to establish the Beijing hegemony over much of the Asian continent, relationship with Israel is of immense importance in pursuing India as a fully defended country.

The prime minister, who is visiting Israel, had earlier separately visited Palestine state, clearly delineating that he does not hyphenate Israel with Palestine regimes.

The proposed visit thus will put India back into the developing number one global conflict area in seeking peace through negotiations for lasting accommodation and abandoning the idea of exclusivity.

Israel too needs an ancient friend to tell its exclusivists that there cannot be a return to historic borders of the time of Solomon.
ALBANY POLICE

Failure to appear arrest  4:15 a.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Daniel Walburn, 33, of Albany, was arrested on charges of failure to appear and possession of methamphetamine. His initial bail was set at $6,000.

DUII crash  12:38 a.m. Sunday, 6300 block Columbus Street SE. Police received a report of a sedan in the ditch, facing the wrong way on the west side of the roadway. A female and elementary-aged child were present, the caller said. Jennifer Lyn Jones, 24, of Halsey, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants and reckless endangering. She was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on May 24.

Meth arrests  11:50 a.m. Sunday, Linn County Jail. Casey Lee Burford, 32, of Albany, was arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine, frequenting a place of controlled substance use, and on warrants for failure to perform community service and parole violation. A no bail hold was placed on him at the jail. In the same case, Tammy Lynn Green, 33, of Albany, was arrested on charges of first-degree child neglect, possession of methamphetamine and frequenting a place of controlled substance use. She was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on April 26.

Burglary arrest  3:15 p.m. Sunday, Linn County Jail. Michael William Ongley, 46, of Albany, was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespass, offensive littering, resisting arrest and harassment. His initial bail was set at $25,000.

Meth arrest  11:45 p.m. Sunday, Linn County Jail. James Edward Blackburn, 32, of Jefferson, was arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine, resisting arrest and failure to present a drivers license. He was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on May 3.

LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Burglary arrest  7:07 p.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Kolton Stephen Kramer, 26, of Salem, was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, third-degree theft and possession of a controlled substance schedule II. His initial bail was set at $26,500.

Theft cite  3 p.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Travis Bradley Teague, 26, of Albany, was booked, cited and released on charges of first-degree theft, identity theft and second-degree forgery. He also had a warrant for failure to perform community service. Teague was scheduled to appear in court on April 26.

Assault arrest  2:05 p.m. Sunday, Linn County Jail. David Eugene Patterson, 41, of Harrisburg, was arrested on a charge of third-degree assault. His initial bail was set at $6,000.

Trailer theft  2:06 p.m. Sunday, Diamond K Trailer Sales, 15 American Drive, Halsey. A 16-foot enclosed cargo trailer was stolen from the business.

DUII crash  12:18 a.m. Monday, 35100 block Knox Butte Road. A vehicle crashed into a field. The 9-1-1 caller said that the car was trying to leave. Carol Santiago Penn, 57, of Salem, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants  controlled substance. He was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on May 24.

LEBANON POLICE

Stolen vehicle arrest  8:32 a.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Cary Nathan Pedigo, 28, of Lebanon, was arrested on warrants for unauthorized use of a vehicle, felony attempt to elude (vehicle), possession of methamphetamine and reckless driving. His initial bail was set at $10,000.

Firearms theft  1:56 p.m. Friday, "zero" block Pine Street. A caller reported that three firearms had been stolen from his residence.

Stolen vehicle arrest  12:51 p.m. Monday, Linn County Jail. Lucas Neil Riley, 38, of Sweet Home, was arrested on warrants for unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, felony attempt to elude (vehicle), possession of methamphetamine, possession of heroin, failure to appear and reckless driving. His initial bail was set at $20,000.

SWEET HOME POLICE

Car prowl  10:43 p.m. Sunday, 1200 block Main Street. A man reported that he left his pickup overnight at the location and it was broken into and items were stolen. The damage to the vehicle was more than $2,000, and a case report also was taken for second-degree theft.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers sparred Tuesday morning in the opening hours of the Roberta Samard murder trial.

The trial, which centers on the Nov. 16, 2015 shooting death of Samard's husband, Kenneth Arlen Samard, 57, is set to last four days, with a closing date of April 14.

Roberta Samard, 62, originally was charged with manslaughter after she allegedly told investigators she had been threatening to kill herself when the gun she was holding discharged, striking and killing her husband during an early-morning altercation at the couple's home.

But prosecutors later decided to change that charge to murder. The mandatory sentence is 25 years in prison, while manslaughter carries a 10-year sentence.

Samard is lodged at the Marion County Jail.

In Judge Daniel Murphy's courtroom Tuesday morning, prosecutor Ani Yardumian and defense attorney Laura Fine Moro argued what elements of the case could or should be used, and how they should be presented.

At issue were more than 80 hours of recorded phone conversations involving the defendant while she was housed in the Linn County Jail, plus photographic evidence of the crime scene and autopsy photographs.

Fine Moro said the prosecution has not indicated which, if any, of the recorded phone calls might be included as exhibits. Yardumian said the recordings have to do with mental evaluations that would only be used if needed.

"There are many of them," she said. "I cannot tell the court which ones we might use."

The prosecution has 51 witnesses who may or may not testify. This, said Fine Moro, could cause the trial to run substantially over schedule. But Yardumian told the court many of those witnesses would be used only for rebuttal.

"We still believe that we will be done in the amount of time that we said we could," she said.

Two other points of contention involved stipulations and chain of custody, or the rules concerning how exhibits and evidence can be characterized, and the order in which they may be introduced.

"The state has a right to present evidence in the order in which it sees fit," Yardumian said, concerning chain of custody. She also said she did not yet want to agree to some stipulations.

But when Murphy asked, "Why would we not agree to stipulations now to get it out of the way?," Yardumian agreed to some, including one involving a re-enactment of a recorded phone call to police and the original 911 dispatch recording.

Co-prosecutor Alex Olenick declared the state also would present photos of the deck at the home of the deceased, and of a confiscated gun. But the defense mentioned the body in the photos had been moved (rolled over) before being photographed. Olenick also said they would use photographs from the re-enactment.

But when it came to autopsy photos, Fine Moro argued they would not be relevant, because, she said, the gunshot wound did not illustrate intent.

"In each (police) interview (Samard) said, 'I intentionally pulled the trigger, but I never intended to shoot him," Fine Moro said. "You cannot determine intent from the nature of the wound; therefore the wound is irrelevant."

Fine Moro added that the fact at issue in the case is the defendant's state of mind, which cannot be proven with a photo of a wound.

"The medical examiner described it as 'a bloody mess,'" she said.

But Yardumian countered that it was important to determine whether the wound was a contact wound, which occurs when the muzzle of the gun is pressed against the body. Other types include close range and proximity wounds.

"Whether this is a contact wound is relevant to intent," she said. "The wound photos would explain to the jury why the medical examiner came to the conclusion that he did."

Murphy said a close-up photo of the wound in this case could be relevant, adding the court would consider allowing additional photographs if the testifying medical examiner needed them.

Fine Moro also moved to prevent jurors from hearing that the defendant refused to answer some questions from investigators.

"Just because she was in shock and she chose to stop answering questions does not mean she's guilty," said Fine Moro.

Murphy appeared to side with Fine Moro on the motion, referring to a defendant's right to remain silent, but also mentioned that in Great Britain, defendants are cautioned that anything they do not say could be used as evidence against them.

"Your honor, I assume it's too late to move the trial to Great Britain," remarked Fine Moro.

Murphy agreed that it was.

Both legal teams spent the balance of the day in jury selection, which is not expected to last more than one additional day.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company also operates a portfolio of oil and gas properties primarily located in offshore California and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2021, it operated approximately 135 wells. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine and its derivatives, lithium and its derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers. It also provides iodine and its derivatives for use in medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial applications comprising x-ray contrast media, polarizing films for LCD and LED, antiseptics, biocides and disinfectants, pharmaceutical synthesis, electronics, pigments, and dye components. In addition, the company offers lithium carbonates for various applications that include electrochemical materials for batteries, frits for the ceramic and enamel industries, heat-resistant glass, air conditioning chemicals, continuous casting powder for steel extrusion, primary aluminum smelting process, pharmaceuticals, and lithium derivatives, as well as ingredient in manufacturing of gunpowder. Further, it supplies lithium hydroxide for the lubricating greases industry, as well as cathodes for batteries. Additionally, it offers potassium chloride and potassium sulfate for various crops, including corn, rice, sugar, soybean, and wheat; industrial chemicals, including sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, and solar salts; and other fertilizers and blends. The company operates in Chile, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North America, Asia, and internationally. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.
We've written before about the troubles facing the state's Energy Department, issues serious enough to make at least some legislators considering whether to shutter the agency.

In fact, legislators last year formed an interim panel to examine the department, in the wake of reports of mismanagement regarding the state's business energy tax credit program. This program, part of a well-intentioned effort to kick-start energy-saving projects to stimulate the economy and create jobs, cost Oregon taxpayers a billion dollars.

The Department of Energy was tabbed to run the program, but it was over its head from the start, auditors found. The auditors concluded that the program's staff "lacked formal training, employee turnover caused a loss of institutional knowledge, there had been cultural clashes between employees, the work volume and sometimes the complexity overwhelmed staffs' abilities, and there was missing quality and compliance oversight."

The result was what The Oregonian newspaper termed years of "rolling scandal" in the program and the department, part of the reason why some legislators were thinking the best option was to close the department completely and move its functions to other agencies.

So it's surprising to learn that some legislators now are considering adding another complicated task to the Energy Department's portfolio: House Bill 2020, sponsored by Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, would charge the department with coordinating the state's climate change policies.

Some of the changes envisioned by the bill seem as if they would be cosmetic: For example, the department would be renamed the Oregon Department of Energy and Climate.

But Holvey's bill would give the department some wide-ranging additional duties: Under the terms of House Bill 2020, the department would provide technical analysis and advice to the governor and the Legislature on energy and climate policy.

The department also would track and evaluate progress toward the state's greenhouse gas reduction goals and local and regional efforts to prepare for the effects of climate change.

The question of how involved the Energy Department should be in climate change issues was a divisive one for the panel pondering the future of the department  so much so, in fact, that legislators were unable to agree on a single set of recommendations.

As a result, legislators have introduced a variety of competing bills this session regarding the future of the department. As The Oregonian reported over the weekend, many of those bills aim to move some of the department's more troubled programs to other agencies: For example, a number of bills this session call for transferring the department's tax credit and energy loan programs to other agencies with more financial savvy. That seems smart.

But even if that happens, it still leaves unanswered a fundamental question: What should be the primary mission of the Energy Department? And how do we know that adding additional duties to the department won't set it up for failure?

These are not academic questions: Again and again over the last couple of years, we've seen state agencies struggling. Just recently, we've seen fresh troubles brewing at the state Department of Environmental Quality, where Gov. Kate Brown last week fired three of the five members of the Environmental Quality Commission, which oversees the department.

And an internal report last week from the Department of Human Services concluded that state social workers regularly fail to identify threats to children's safety; a state lawmaker said the report depicts an agency in a "state of chaos and disrepair."

The Energy Department also would appear to be in a state of disrepair. Before we expand its duties, we should determine first if the department is able to tackle its current workload. (mm)
That day, our editorial was entitled Senseless Murder in Memphis: A National Tragedy. The editorial read: The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis yesterday was another one of those national tragedies which are the despair of the vast mass of Americans who sincerely and earnestly seek a better world for all. It was a deep and personal tragedy for Dr. Kings wife and his four children and it was a tragedy made all the worse by the utter senselessness of the act. If the assassin hoped by murder to stem the movement that Dr. King launched and continued to lead, he must surely have known that the very reverse of what he sought would be the result. He must have known that, unless in the true meaning of the word he was mad. But it is a tragedy so often compounded within a tragedy that the occasional zealot or fanatic  be he sane or insane  can with a single stroke so seriously affect the course of events for millions.There are those who did not agree with all that Dr. King did, but none can deny his dedication to his cause and the determination and the bravery with which he pursued his course. His death will not extinguish that cause. Rather the hope is that the path toward what he sought will become less rocky for those who take over for him.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King Jr.

No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Nelson Mandela

We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist

James Baldwin

There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence.

Newton Lee

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Albert Einstein
 AARP Tax-Aide offers free tax help to qualified individuals through April 17. Call individual locations for an appointment. Tax help is offered at the Senior Center at (434) 974-7756, Northside Library at (434) 972-1703, Piedmont Virginia Community College at (434) 972-1703 and Fluvanna County Library (434) 296-9704.

 American Red Cross Club at UVa holds a blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 at the Chemistry Building on McCormick Road on UVa Grounds. (321) 704-3999.

 City of Charlottesville offers a one-time citywide collection of bagged leaves only beginning Monday. Bagged leaves must be at curbside by 7 a.m. Monday to qualify for free collection sometime that week. Residents should use clear plastic bags. Trash, sticks or other yard waste will not be collected. (434) 970-3830.

 Community Meeting about traffic concerns at Sunset Avenue Extended, Old Lynchburg Road and Fifth Street Extended is hosted by supervisors Liz Palmer of Samuel Miller District and Rick Randolph of Scottsville District at 7 p.m. Monday at the Albemarle County Office Building on Fifth Street Extended. (434) 296-5822.

 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau holds a town hall-style meeting on state and federal services available to those impacted by unfair banking practices from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday at Central Library on East Market Street. (415) 269-4570.

 Cville Tax Aid, led by United Way  Thomas Jefferson Area, offers free tax preparation for most taxpayers with household incomes of $55,000 or less through April 18 at sites in Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties. cvilletaxaid.org. Details and appointments are available by calling (434) 972-1703.

 Flu vaccines are available at local health departments, including the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department at 1138 Rose Hill Drive, (434) 972-6200; Fluvanna County Health Department at 132 Main St. (U.S. 15) in Palmyra, (434) 591-1960; Greene County Health Department at 50 Stanard St. in Stanardsville, (434) 985-2262; Louisa County Health Department at 540 Industrial Drive in Louisa, (540) 967-3703; and Nelson County Health Department at 4038 Thomas Nelson Highway in Arrington, (434) 263-8315.

 My Help List Essay Contest, coordinated by Mr. Alex-Zan, accepts entries from Central Virginia Students in kindergarten through 12th grade through April 12. Entries, titled Its important to help others because ., must be 150 words or fewer and must list five things the writer has done to help others or can do to help someone. Four winners will be chosen by judges in categories for kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grades, sixth through eighth grades and ninth through 12th grades and will receive a cash prize of $100. There will be a reception for all winners. Entries can be mailed or dropped off at Carver Recreation Center, 233 Fourth St. NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Details are available at myhelplist.wordpress.com. (804) 321-3636.

 Piedmont Virginia Community College holds Getting Started information sessions for prospective students from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Day Soiree at Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center, from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at Nelson Memorial Library in Lovingston, from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Carver Recreation Center and from 6 to 7 p.m. April 12 at Friendship Court. Additional sessions will be held in April. pvcc.edu/outreach. (434) 961-5275.

 Piedmont Virginia Community College has information sessions for veterans and service members interested in attending PVCC and registering for summer and fall semester classes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 13 and 27 and on May 11, 18 and 25 at 501 College Drive. pvcc.edu/veterans. (434) 961-5282.

 Virginia Blood Services holds blood drives from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at University of Virginia Physicians Group at 4105 Lewis and Clark Drive and from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday at Clark Hall on UVa Grounds. (434) 973-0716.

 Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles DMV 2 Go Mobile Office, providing all DMV vehicle and driver transactions, is available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Reids Supermarket at 600 Preston Ave. Details are available at dmv.virginia.gov. (804) 497-7100.

 Womens Center at UVa offerss a free legal clinic from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at OpenGrounds at 1400 University Ave. Appointments are required. (434) 982-2361.
The Charlottesville City Council opted Monday to forgo a final work session on Thursday, effectively signaling it will next week adopt a $171.6 million budget for the 2018 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

With commercial property assessments up by an average of 30 percent, staff has estimated that revenue  and expenditures  for the city will increase by $9.6 million in the upcoming fiscal year. The proposed budget is a nearly 6 percent increase over the current years budget.

Last month, Mayor Mike Signer proposed that the citys real estate tax rate of 95 cents per $100 of assessed value be decreased by 2 cents to offset an effective increase in taxes for many property owners.

No other councilor supported the idea.

I think it's been a good debate  there wasn't support for that idea, but that's OK because I think the public sees that its a very lean, progressive and moral [budget proposal], Signer said.

In the final public hearing for the proposed budget and tax levy, Paul Long, who recently announced his intention to run for City Council as an independent candidate, applauded Signer for proposing the tax decrease.

A lot of small-business people are suffering terribly; I think something should be done about it, Long said about the increase in tax assessments for commercial property owners. It's rare for me to commend you Mr. Signer, but you were the only one to address that issue, he added.

City Manager Maurice Jones addressed the controversy surrounding the assessments during the meeting.

Responding directly to a question Long raised about the possibility of the city phasing in the assessments, Jones said such a measure had been considered several months ago.

We looked into that, Jones said. It was something we considered when the assessments came back, but we cannot do that, he said, explaining that the city is prohibited by law from breaking up assessments to phase in tax increases once they are completed.

Others who spoke in the public hearing Monday thanked the council for proposing new public jobs in the budget.

Bill Emory, a resident of the Woolen Mills neighborhood, said he appreciates Councilor Kathy Galvins proposal to create a new position that will address urban planning needs.

Melvin Burruss, a Louisa County resident who recently served on the citys Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces said he supports Councilor Wes Bellamys proposal to create a new African-American youth achievement coordinator position.

Following the public hearing, each councilor spoke briefly about the budget process this year.

Councilor Bob Fenwick said he was glad this years budget did more to provide funding for community agencies and nonprofits.

In the councils budget work session last week, staff reviewed how much money is going to new organizations based on an evaluation by the Agency Budget Review Team, a panel of city and Albemarle County officials.

The city is increasing funding for those organizations by more than $145,000  $19,800 went to new programs and $31,149 went to programs the ABRT rated as excellent.

The council also agreed last week to restore funding to three organizations: $18,000 for New City Arts; $34,800 for the Bridge Ministry; and $3,938 for the African-American Teaching Fellows.

Assistant City Manager Leslie Beauregard said the city will pay for those grants by drawing funds from a planned $500,000 transfer to the capital improvement program budget contingency fund.

We've done things to bring everybody across the city together instead of having all the money going toward West Main Street [planning] and consultants. We have much more of a balance in this budget, Fenwick said.

Responding to the concern about the assessments and tax increases, Councilor Kathy Galvin said properties in the city have been undervalued in recent years and that the new revenue from taxpayers will be used wisely.

Galvin pointed to the rising number of families in the local school system that are applying for reduced-cost or free lunches to say that the city needs to do more to address poverty.

We are not ending poverty in our city, she said. And until such time we get a major handle on that, we need to have every kind of tool at our disposal to try and reverse that trend.

The City Council will meet in a special session at 5:30 p.m. next Tuesday to adopt the budget.
The Virginia Department of Education announced Tuesday that it has awarded $2.5 million to 13 programs to benefit mathematics and science teachers in Virginia, and a little more than $175,000 of it will go toward a program helping science teachers in Albemarle County.

The money from the grants go toward colleges and universities to provide services such as professional development with the intent to improve instruction and work to closing achievement gaps in these core subject areas, according to a news release from the VDOE.

The grants come from the federal Mathematics and Science Partnership program.

Sixty teachers in Albemarle County and Waynesboro will benefit from $175,492 that was awarded to Virginia Initiative for Science Teaching and Achievement Elementary Literacy Integrated with Science at the University of Virginia. Both UVa and Virginia Commonwealth University were awarded the grant funding.

About 30 teachers from the county school division have been involved in the program and have been able to implement what theyve learned into their classrooms, said Phil Giaramita, county schools spokesman.

The MSP grants were authorized in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, according to the news release. Funding for the grant program was not included in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, the new federal education law.
Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, has introduced legislation to designate April 23 as Barbara Johns Day, in honor of the late civil rights icon, according to a news release.

Johns led her classmates in a walkout on April 23, 1951, in Prince Edward County to protest school segregation. Johns case was later included in Brown v. Board of Education.

Barbara Johns embodies everything that we value as both Virginians and Americans, Garrett said in a statement. Real courage by a 16-year-old girl who sought to change a clear injustice is something we should admire and remember. Designation of this day will preserve her legacy and serve as a reminder that we should always strive to stand for what's right, even in the face of adversity.

A similar version of this bill passed in the Virginia Senate earlier this year.

State Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, carried the resolution that was introduced by Garrett when he was a senator, according to the Farmville Herald.

Earlier bills introduced by Garrett in his first term include one that would rename the federal building in Charlottesville after the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and another would roll back gun reforms in Washington, D.C.

Garrett will hold a radio town hall with Joe Thomas on WCHV 107.5 from 7-9 p.m. April 13. His second in-person town hall is scheduled for May 9 in Moneta.
RICHMOND  U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed former congressman Tom Perriello for Virginia governor Tuesday, burnishing Perriello's progressive credentials as he competes with Lt. Gov Ralph Northam for the Democratic nomination.

Sanders, the Vermont independent and self-described democratic socialist who gained a national following by running for president, called Perriello a "committed progressive who will stand up for working families in Richmond."

"Tom is committed to fighting the rigged economy and income inequality," Sanders said in a news release from the Perriello campaign. "He was the first major statewide candidate in Virginia to run on a $15 minimum wage and the first to say two years of community college should be tuition-free. He is standing up to fossil fuel corporations and special interests in opposing two fracked gas pipelines that would cut across Virginia."

The Democratic contest between Perriello and Northam, who has the support of the state's Democratic establishment including Gov. Terry McAuliffe, is shaping up as the more competitive political battle as both parties prepare to choose their gubernatorial nominees in June 13 primaries.

Polls have shown Perriello and Northam virtually tied, while former Republican National Committee chairman and 2014 U.S. Senate candidate Ed Gillespie is well ahead of his two opponents in the GOP primary, Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and state Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach.

Perriello's surprise challenge to Northam has drawn comparisons to Sanders' progressive primary campaign against eventual Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Perriello has downplayed the analogy as imprecise by highlighting his political kinship with former President Barack Obama, but he welcomed the Sanders endorsement.

"Bernie has electrified a movement of Americans ready to take on our biggest challenges, including inequality and corruption, and I'm proud to have his support in my campaign," Perriello said in a statement.

Though Perriello has drawn support from national Democrats, including several former Obama aides and John Podesta, the chair of Clinton's 2016 campaign, Northam is backed by the governor, Attorney General Mark R. Herring and U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

On Tuesday, the Northam campaign circulated a video of Del. Marcia Price, D-Newport News, describing herself as the "highest-ranking official in Virginia" to endorse Sanders and talking up her support for Northam in the governor's race.

"He is the candidate who has consistently been there. Every single time," said Price, who is serving as chair of Northam's campaign.

Republicans, who have repeatedly sought to paint the Democratic primary as a "race to the left," pounced on the Sanders endorsement.

"Sanders decision to take sides in an already divisive Democrat primary pushes the race even further to the left and further out-of-touch, hurting the partys ability to attract mainstream Virginia voters in November as Perriello and Ralph Northam continue to embrace extremism," the Republican Governors Association said in a statement.

Clinton and Obama have not endorsed in the race.
The other day a man fell out of a fourth-floor Moscow apartment and suffered serious head injuries. The real surprise is not that Nikolai Gorokhov had an accident but that he survived. People who dare to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin often don't.

Gorokhov's fall came just a day before he was to appear in court on behalf of the family of Sergei Magnitsky  who died in a Russian prison cell where he languished after, yes, daring to challenge Putin.

Two days after Gorokhov's hard landing, a former Russian parliamentarian was shot to death in broad daylight in Kiev. It may not surprise you to learn that Denis Voronenkov had defected to Ukraine last year, had criticized Putin's seizure of Crimea and was planning to testify in a corruption case against a Putin ally.

Episodes like these are not rare: The Washington Post has counted 10 Putin critics who met sudden ends, often in mysterious or violent circumstances. The deaths send the message that no dissenter is safe.

But Putin learned that some people are not easily cowed. In more than 90 cities, marchers turned out to protest corruption, with particular regard to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He was the subject of an incriminating video put out by Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption crusader who has said he will run against Putin in 2018.

A Moscow radio station estimated that more than 60,000 Russians had taken part in the demonstrations. In any case, they were reported to be the biggest unauthorized rallies in five years.

This is not the only cause for Putin to worry. Hobbled by international sanctions, Russias economy is limping. Truckers are also planning a campaign of protests against new highway tolls.

These marches were notable for the large number of young people, who may have yet to absorb the full danger of defying the regime. Hundreds of protesters were arrested, others were beaten and Navalany got a 15-day sentence for supposedly resisting arrest. Worse may be in the offing, given Putin's brutal tendencies.

The West can't prevent Putin from dealing harshly with critics, but it can let him know his abuses won't be ignored or excused. In light of President Donald Trump's friendly attitude toward the Kremlin, it was a pleasant surprise to hear the U.S. State Department issue a statement condemning the mass arrests.

Maybe Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others in the administration are willing to judge Putin on the basis of his vicious record, not on Trump's foolish hopes. And it may be that the investigations and questions around the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian officials have left the president little room to cozy up to the Kremlin.

Amid his growing international isolation and signs of discontent at home, Putin may hope for sympathy or a show of support from the White House. He shouldn't get it.

Excerpted from The Chicago Tribune.
Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont, on Tuesday endorsed Democrat Tom Perriello for governor of Virginia.

We need to elect progressives at every level of government if we are going to beat back the dangerous agenda of the Trump administration and its Republican allies, Sanders said in a statement about the Virginia election. Now more than ever we need people in elected office who will fight for middle-income and working families.

Sanders lauded Perriello for supporting a higher minimum wage and tuition free community college as well as opposing fracking and ending the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.

At a time when the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are fighting to destroy the Affordable Care Act, Tom is one who fought hard for its passage when he was a member of Congress. He is a committed progressive who will stand up for working families in Richmond, Sanders said.

Perriello returned the compliment saying Sanders had spent his career fighting for working families against a rigged system.

We need to unite the Democratic Party behind an agenda of inclusive economic growth, that leaves no community, race, or region behind, Perriello said.

Perriello is competing for the Democratic nomination in the June 13 primary against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who is backed by nearly every Democrat in the state legislature, congressional delegation and statewide office, according to the Washington Post.
Landing and parked Vietnam Airlines aircraft are seen with a VietJet aircraft at the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Reuters

The Transport Ministry says it will study the proposal carefully before making a final decision.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has proposed to the aviation authority to set a floor price for air tickets, similar to a plan sought by its subsidiary Jetstar Pacific, but budget airline VietJet has opposed the move, saying it would create "unfair competition".

Vietnam Airlines, which reported a huge loss in late 2016, suggested the floor price for domestic air fares should be set at between VND1.54 million and VND4.2 million ($68-$185) in a proposal sent to the transport ministry in late March.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is seeking opinions from airlines whether to raise the air fare cap for economy class by 7-16 percent from the current range of VND1.6 million to VND3.75 million.

Jetstar Pacific, one of Vietnam's two budget airlines, has suggested the floor be set at 29-34 percent of the cap. The carrier is 70 percent owned by Vietnam Airlines, while Australia's Qantas Airways owns the remaining 30 percent.

But VietJet Air, Vietnam's only private airliner, said setting a price floor is not a common rule worldwide and is also against Vietnams Competition Law.

The rule will hinder the opportunities for low-cost carriers. That means it will create unfair competition, a VietJet representative said.

Lai Xuan Thanh, head of the CAAV, said the aviation authority has yet to make a proposal to the transport ministry, and the idea of a floor price comes from the carriers.

The transport ministry will study the proposals carefully before making a final decision, while any price regulation will need to ensure sustainable growth and healthy competition, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong told VnExpress on Monday.

Vietnam Airlines said while it has been offering a wide range of air fares starting from VND800,000, the average spending per passenger last year dropped nearly 20 percent from 2013 to VND1.3 million.

It said higher fuel prices and foreign exchange rates have increased its costs compared to 2015. If the proposed floor prices are adopted, they could add VND2.5 trillion to Vietnam Airlines' revenue in one year, the airline said.

The national carrier reported its net profit last year soared four-fold from 2015 to VND2.1 trillion, even though revenue jumped only 43 percent in the same period to VND70 trillion, it said in its financial report published late last month.

The annual net profit was cut due to a net loss of nearly VND444 billion in the last quarter ending December, the airline said. Its shares are now traded on the country's Unlisted Public Company Market after its January 3 debut.

Vietnams aviation market has potential for expansion after annual growth of 29 percent in 2016, with passengers reaching 52.2 million, based on CAAV data. Malaysian budget airline AirAsia has said it will develop a low-cost carrier in Vietnam by teaming up with local businesses to catch up with the countrys travel boom.
The case has prompted local police to work with Interpol and other foreign police forces.

Five Colombians have been arrested in Hanoi over the last week and billions of VND worth of stolen property has been recovered as police broke up what is believed to be a multi-national theft ring operating across over 30 countries.

The arrests were carried out following a report on March 28 by a local man, identified only by his surname Pham, who said two foreigners had stolen VND1.6 billion ($70,000) from his car after he'd withdrawn it from a bank in Thanh Xuan District.

An initial investigation found that Pham was followed by four foreigners on two motorbikes after he left the bank, who snatched the money from the back seat of the car.

Looking back at previous cases, police noticed similarities between Pham's case and another theft that took place on February 22 in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. Combined with a tip-off on the recent arrival of a Colombian crime group in Vietnam, police were able to narrow down the possible culpits to 11 foreigners.

Police later pinpointed the location of two members of the ring, later identified as Jersain Ladino Cardona, 51, and Carlos Alberto Lamprea Pena, 47, and arrested them at an apartment in Ciputra Hanoi in Bac Tu Liem District, where they found nearly VND800 million ($35,000).

Based on leads provided by the two suspects, police arrested Fabian Lucero Witches, 35, Jose Aureliano Rosas Pena, 55, and Rodricuez Cuervo Luis Alexander, 40, all of whom are from Colombia.

Under questioning, Fabian, who is the suspected ringleader, admitted that his group had conducted over 100 property thefts in Asia, Europe and South America since 2014. In Vietnam, the ring has committed 13 robberies, with the stolen goods said to have a retail value of nearly VND10 billion ($440,000), police said.

Police said they will work with Interpol and other foreign police forces to investigate the case.
New Delhi: The Aditya Birla Group today said it has received licence from the Reserve Bank of India to start payments bank. Headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla, the group's outfit Aditya Birla Nuvo had set up a 51:49 joint venture -- Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd -- with telecom major Idea Cellular to launch payments bank services in the country.

"... the Reserve Bank of India... has granted licence to Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd to carry on the business of payments bank in India," Aditya Birla Nuvo said in a BSE filing.

At present, Airtel and India Post are offering payments bank services in the country. Idea Cellular Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajat Mukarji had earlier said the Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank will be launched in the first half of 2017.

With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked off an era of differentiated banking by allowing SFBs (small finance banks) and PBs (payments banks) to start services. A total of 21 entities were given in-principle nod, including 11 for payments banks.

Later, three entities -- Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services -- backed out of the payments bank licensing. Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh per account.
Company said rising commodity prices are beginning to put pressure and it will take a review of the situation to consider pricing changes after April. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Tax rates on automobiles in the upcoming GST and monsoon will be crucial factors which will influence the rate of growth of the industry in the new fiscal, according to Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

The company said rising commodity prices are beginning to put pressure and it will take a review of the situation to consider pricing changes after April.

"The key factors for auto industry in the new fiscal is at what rates vehicles will be taxed under the GST and how monsoon will be this year," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Director and Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, N Raja told PTI.

He was responding to a query on what could be the major challenges faced by the auto industry faced a lot of speed breakers in last fiscal.

Elaborating, Raja said: "If the automobiles are taxed similarly under GST as it is today, it will not make much of a difference."

However, if they are taxed more, prices will have to go up and it will definitely have an impact on demand, he added. The GST Council has already decided on a four-tier rate structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent and a cess on the peak rate for demerit and luxury goods.

The Lok Sabha has also approved four supplementary legislations -- Central GST, Integrated GST, Union Territory GST and Compensation Law. On monsoon, Raja said already reports of below normal monsoon have started to come, while the country is witnessing a heat wave.

"If the monsoon is not normal, it will have an impact on rural demand and even urban demand could also be affected," he said. In 2017-18, the passenger vehicles segment is expected to grow in single digit after witnessing 4-5 per cent growth in 2016-17, Raja said.

In 2016-17, TKM registered 12 per cent growth in sales riding on its Innova Crysta, which sold close to 75,000 units in less than a year of launch.

On commodity prices, he said: "We are challenged on that front. Items like steel and copper have seen rise in prices."

When asked if the company would pass the burden to customers, he said: "At the moment we are reviewing it. By the end of April, we will exactly know what steps we need to take."
The US accounts for over 60 per cent of the export revenues of the Indian IT industry.

New Delhi: IT industry body Nasscom today said the US' latest memo on H-1B visas would have "little impact" on Indian IT firms as they have already started applying for visas for higher-level specialised professionals this year.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently come out with a policy memorandum saying companies applying for visas must provide "evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation".

The new H-1B guideline rescinds a memorandum issued in December, 2000. Seeking to play down the impact on outsourcing companies, Nasscom said the memorandum "reinforces existing practice by adjudicators and clarifies requirements for certain computer professionals".

"The clarifying guidance should have little impact on Nasscom members as this has been the adjudicatory practice for years and also as several of our member executives have noted recently, they are applying for visas for higher level professionals this year," Nasscom said in a statement.

Nasscom counts IT outsourcing firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro as well as American firms such as Cognizant, Microsoft, and IBM, and Ireland-based Accenture as members.

It added that the demand for additional evidence showing that the said job is complex/specialised and requires professional degrees mentioned in the memo has been the de facto requirement for years.

India accounts for a significant portion of the H-1B visas, which are non-immigrant visas used by American firms to employ foreign workers that require specific expertise.

USCIS -- a government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the US -- has emphasised that the H-1B visa programme should help US companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country.

USCIS issues about 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.

Nasscom said the H-1B visa system exists specifically because of the "persistent shortage" of highly-skilled domestic IT talent in the US. The US accounts for over 60 per cent of the export revenues of the Indian IT industry.

"Nasscom member companies have and will continue to provide skilled talent and solutions to fill that gap and keep US companies competitive globally," it added.

However, industry watchers believe that coupled with immigration pushbacks being seen in other geographies like the UK and Singapore, the overall impact would make movement of labour difficult and operation costlier in the short term.

During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump had promised stricter immigration laws and protection of local jobs. An US legislation (Lofgren Bill) was introduced that proposed doubling of the minimum wages of H1-B visa holders to USD 130,000.

Indian firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro -- on their part -- have been reducing their dependence on H-1B visas, ramping up local hiring to meet requirement.
New Delhi: Policybazaar.com, a platform that helps consumers compare and analyse insurance products, has set its eyes on Rs 2,000 crore turnover by the end of the current fiscal and is also gearing up to be IPO-ready by October.

"With the financials auguring well, we plan to go more aggressive in marketing and technology in this financial year. We are now targeting Rs 2,000 crore insurance premium (turnover) in this financial year. The company intends to get IPO ready by October 2017," Policybazaar.Com CEO and co-founder Yashish Dahiya told PTI.

He further said: "However, that does not imply we will necessarily do an IPO. Being IPO ready implies financial, statutory, and regulatory preparedness."

The company reported a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore during the fiscal ended March 2017. Dahiya said the company has crossed Rs 10 crore a day premium mark, becoming the first player in the country to achieve this milestone in online insurance sales. PolicyBazaar.com, which saw break-even in November last year, is looking at raising Rs 330 crore (USD 50 million).

"The company is currently in the advanced stage of discussions to raise a funding worth Rs 330 crore," Dahiya said.

PolicyBazaar.com has backing of high-profile investors including InfoEdge (Naukri.com), Inventus Capital, Tiger Global Management, Steadview Capital, Premji Invest, Temasek and Ribbit Capital.

The company has raised so far Rs 500 crore from its existing investors and is valued at Rs 2,500 crore. The portal, which was launched eight years back, controls more than 90 per cent of the online insurance comparison market in India.
Snapdeal expects to turn profitable in two years and is eyeing a market listing around the same time.

New Delhi: Seeking to calm employees rattled by reports of a cash crunch, the founders of Indian online retailer Snapdeal have gone directly to them with a string of townhall meetings in past weeks, according to sources, promising profit and brushing off takeover talk.

The sources, familiar with the group, declined to be named as the meetings were not public.

Like most e-commerce players in India, Snapdeal is burning cash to sustain discounts - and keep customers - in a cut-throat online market. But as the number three player, it also is under growing pressure from investors and its own employees to consider its bottom line, as well as market share.

One of the sources said there had been at least five townhalls in recent weeks, with founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal delivering motivational speeches.

"It was only profitability and profitability," one source said, describing answers to questions from employees whether the company was a takeover target.

India's booming online retail sector is led by homegrown player Flipkart - now followed by Amazon, after the US giant overtook Snapdeal's sales volumes a year ago.

Thanks to its deep pockets, Amazon has been an increasingly prominent investor in India, compensating for its mistakes in China, where it has been all but squeezed out by aggressive local rivals with a better grasp of demand.

Snapdeal sought funding support in China, from Chinese funds and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, already an investor, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

It has so far come back empty handed.

Snapdeal expects to turn profitable in two years and is eyeing a market listing around the same time.

But the China setback, and a valuation that has dropped from a peak of $6.5 billion last year, has unsettled some staff.

Two employees and three people familiar with Snapdeal's internal discussions said there were concerns over the group's direction, as well as over contradictory messages from investors - some seeking profit, others growth - and, increasingly, over potential senior-level departures or cuts.

Headhunters like Sinosh Panicker, a partner at Hunt Partners, said some of his clients had witnessed a jump in applications from Snapdeal employees.

Some employees cite concerns after the departure of 600 staff in February, laid off from Snapdeal, its logistics arm Vulcan Express and payments unit FreeCharge.

Snapdeal declined to comment on staff exits or sentiment, but said its annual appraisals were currently underway, and staff would be offered incentives.

In a letter to employees late last month, co-founder and chief executive Bahl said that Snapdeal, in which Japan's SoftBank is also an investor, was on the right path, despite differing views from some investors.

"Investors in our industry need to understand that driving indiscriminate growth at any cost doesn't create long-term value," Bahl wrote in the letter.

A spokeswoman for SoftBank in India declined comment while other Snapdeal investors - Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital - did not respond to Reuters queries. Alibaba has not commented on Snapdeal.

Snapdeal clocked up losses of 29.6 billion rupees ($456.5 million) in the fiscal year to March 31, 2016. Flipkart's wholesale unit and its online marketplace made a combined loss of 28.5 billion rupees in the same period.
Mumbai: Believe us or not but India is fast becoming a cashless economy as number of people opting for digital transactions is rising manifold with each passing day. This should not come as a surprise especially in the backdrop of demonetisation.

Under the 'sudden' notes recall decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over 86 per cent of total currency in circulation were scrapped on a few hours notice and new legal tenders were introduced afterwards.

A finding by State Bank of India has revealed that there was no surge in cash withdrawals after the Reserve Bank of India abolished limits on cash withdrawals, according to a report on moneycontrol.com.

"In the span of one week (i.e. between 17-24 March), cash withdrawal has declined by Rs 20 billion (Rs 2,000 crore), the news portal quoted the SBI research.

The research cites an RBI data to say that cash withdrawals have come down drastically after 50 days note ban period, from November 10 to December 30 last year.

"From the peak of Rs 528 billion in January 13 weekend it has come down to Rs 325 million in weekend ending March 24," the report said.

The government and the RBI had brought in limits on cash withdrawals in November last year after 86 per cent currency in circulation of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations were scrapped overnight.

In March this year, the central bank lifted all the restrictions on cash withdrawals as, according to the government, new legal tender worth over Rs 10 lakh crore had been remonetised back into banking system by January 2017.

The cash supply in the banking system has also improved since the RBI in tandem with the government stated the remonetisation exercise that aims to do away with severe cash crunch.

According to government data, new currency notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 worth Rs 12 lakh crore have already been remonetised back into the banking system.

A bank official told Livemint that there has been a sharp fall in currency production. Not enough quantity of cash supply could also be the reason for drop in cash withdrawals. Apart from that people banks are still not ensuring ample supply of lower denomination currency notes.

On November 8 last year, old legal tenders worth Rs 15 lakh crore were recalled, a decision that has widely been promulgated as an anti-black money and anti-counterfeiting measure.
The remaining 53,000 which goes for the lottery is for the rest of the world. Of this about 31,800 is allotted to India.

Bengaluru: The Indian IT industry body Nasscom on Tuesday said that the Donald Trump administrations decision to tighten the rules governing H1B visa could have a little impact on the Indian IT companies.

The clarifying guidance should have little impact on Nasscom members as this has been the adjudicatory practice for years, said Nasscom in a statement released on Tuesday.

However, the IT trade association also stated that its member companies have been providing skilled talent and solutions to the US companies. The H-1B visa system exists specifically because of the persistent shortage of highly-skilled domestic IT talent in the US, and Nasscom member companies have and will continue to provide skilled talent and solutions to fill that gap and keep US companies competitive globally, it said.

Mohandas Pai, the chairman of Manipal Global, said that the new policy will not affect Indian IT firms as the employees, who work in the US on H1-B visa, are qualified and meet the minimum requirements.

The policy memorandum has clarified that all computer programming jobs cannot be deemed as Specialty Occupations. The computer programmers with a degree of two year long duration will not be allowed to obtain H1-B visa.

This would bar diploma-level software programmers from availing an H-1B visa.

Indian IT professionals are all qualified to work in the US as they have the skills and education qualifications required to take up specialty occupations in the US, Mr Pai said.

If required, the IT companies could shift their base to Canada to service their American clients. Since Canada enjoy free trade with the US, there could little difficulty doing business with American companies.

Similarly, Indian companies may get a lot of offsource business as US companies seek to keep their costs in control.

While the Trump administration has threatened to withdraw subsidies for US companies, which outsource their work, the IT companies believe that the cost-benefit analysis would still favour shipping work to India.

As the new rules prefer an applicant, who is educated in the US on an associated bachelors degree in computer sciences, more people could enrol themselves for US universities.

Despite their optimism, the Indian IT companies operating in the United States could face headwinds as the US authorities made it clear about their intention to increase regulatory oversight.

The measures announced by DHS on Monday focus on site visits by U.S. authorities to employers who use H1B visas.

On Monday, the US Department of Homeland Security said that US Citizenship and Immigration Services agents will investigate incidents where an employers basic business information cannot be validated; businesses that have a high ratio of H1B employees compared with US workers; and employers petitioning for H1B workers who work off-site.

The US agency will focus especially on companies, which considered H-1B dependent or those employing 15 per cent or more of their work force are on H-1B visas.

These measures, however, have failed to earn appreciation for Mr Trump in his country as advocates for local employment criticised him for continuing with the lottery system for H1B visas for the current year. Mr Trump had promised to abolish the lottery system, but it was not implemented for this year.

Each year 65,000 of the visas are allotted by lottery, with another 20,000 going to foreign nationals who have an advanced degree from an American university.

More oversight is a good start, but employers can still use the programme legally to depress wages and replace American workers. That falls short of the promises President Trump made to protect American workers, Peter Robbio, a spokesman for Numbers USA, a Washington-based group that advocates for limiting immigration into the US, told Reuters.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley along with UKs Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond prior to their delegation level talks in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: India and the UK on Tuesday discussed the possibility of a new trade pact as Britain looks to build on its bilateral business ties post its exit from the 27-nation European Union.

As Britains top financial policymakers began a two-day visit to India, a free trade agreement (FTA) figured during talks at the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue.

UK finance minister Philip Hammond, business secretary Greg Clark, Bank of England governor Mark Carney and Financial conduct authority (FCA) CEO Andrew Bailey are visiting the national capital on Tuesday and Mumbai on Wednesday to boost trade ties with the worlds fastest growing major economy.

While Britain, which is attempting to establish itself as a truly global player after Brexit, pitched for increased trade engagement with India, New Delhi said a formal dialogue on possible bilateral trade agreement can start only after the completion of UKs exit from EU that may take up to two years.

After talks, Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley said India in its communication with the UK government has stated that post Brexit it will look for more open trade, and more trade arrangements. Obviously this can be formally discussed after the Brexit takes place but it is probably going to imply a far wider and a far higher engagement between the two countries.

What shape it is going to take can only be formalised post Brexit negotiation, he told a joint press briefing.

Mr Jaitley further said India is open to all arrangements which are in mutual interest for expanding trade once opportunities arise after Brexit.

India as you have seen has been opening up. We are opening up in terms of nature of investment in India, we are opening in terms of our trade. I am quite certain that arrangements which are mutually beneficial to both the economies would be arrived at, he said.

Hammond said the two nations have very significant trade and investment relationship and Britain is the largest G20 investor in India in the last 10 years.
Heroin was seized from the three Lao nationals attempting to enter Vietnam.

Three Lao nationals were caught attempting to smuggle heroin in two cars over the Vietnam-Laos border by local authorities at around noon on Tuesday, according to border guards from the central province of Ha Tinh. A total of 97 packs, or approximately 34 kilograms of heroin, two cars and documents were seized during the swoop.

The three suspects arrested by local authorities. Photo by Vietnam's Border Guards

The suspects were identified as Po Ly, 23, Xa Ly, 29, and Ho Giang, 23, TuoiTre reported.

Police said they had been tracking the international drug ring for some time and had made the arrests after a reconnaissance unit discovered their plan to smuggle drugs into Vietnam.

The drugs seized by police. Photo by Vietnam's Border Guards

Further investigations are being conducted by both countries.

Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.

Although the laws are strictly enforced with capital punishment handed down regularly, drug smugglers continue to operate regularly in border areas. Several drug raids are carried out at the Vietnam-Laos border every month.
Karan and Kareena have earlier worked together in 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham'

Mumbai: The recently turned yummy mummy in Bollywood, Kareena Kapoor Khan has resumed work with grace and panache.

Be it at the red carpets or a magazines photo shoot she is just nailing it with her post maternity fashion style.

Not only that, this dynamic and bold actress has started working on Rhea Kapoors Veere di Wedding alongside Sonam Kapoor.

As of now, this is the only film in Bebos kitty.

However, a source informed a daily that the flamboyant filmmaker Karan Johar has approached his best pal Bebo for one of his next home productions.

Well, lets wait for either of them to confirm the news.

If this association is happening, we are way too excited for it.
Mumbai: Punjab Police has detained Rakhi Sawant after an FIR was lodged against the item girl 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: Punjab Police today denied reports that actress Rakhi Sawant, against whom a local court has issued arrest warrant for her alleged objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, has been arrested, saying she was not found at her address in Mumbai.

"Rakhi Sawant has not been arrested. Warrant of arrest has been issued against her by the court... A police team from Ludhiana went to Mumbai to execute the warrant, but she has not been arrested," Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said here.

Ludhiana DCP Dhruman Nimbley said, "A police team from Ludhiana had gone to Mumbai to execute a warrant issued by a court here. However, she was not found at the given address. She has not been arrested yet."

He said police will report the matter to the court. The warrant was issued by a local court on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of the Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year.

Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing of the case on March 9.

On the court's instruction, a two member team of Ludhiana police had left for Mumbai with arrest warrants on Sunday.

The next hearing of the case was fixed for April 10.
Mumbai: Veteran Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna has been admitted to HN Reliance Foundation and Research Centre in Girgaon, Mumbai.

While the family has not revealed much information about his ailment, Indian Express quoted a close associate as saying, I am not allowed to reveal anything but Vinod ji is getting better and there is nothing serious. We are just wishing that he is out of the hospital soon.

The actor, who is all set to be seen in Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi, was admitted on Sunday night.

He was admitted on Sunday, April 2, and not on Friday, March 31 (some reports came in that the veteran actor was hospitalised on Friday). Also, the patients family members have asked us not to reveal more details, but there is definitely an improvement in Vinod Khannajis health, an official from the hospital was quoted as saying by the daily.

Currently active in politics, Khanna was last seen in Shah Rukh Khans Dilwale.
Mumbai: Political objection to films has become quite frequent nowadays and the controversy is especially heightened when the film is just a few days away from the release.

Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Deewana, set to release this Friday, which stars Kamal Haasans daughter Akshara and Naseeruddin Shahs son Vivaan, and Gurmeet Choudhary has landed in trouble with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The outfit is protesting a scene in the film where Aksharas character, who is pregnant, is getting married. They believe that the scene can hurt Hindu sentiments and have demanded the makers to remove the scene.

According to a report in firstpost.com, members of the outfit protested outside the maker's office and held slogans against the film.

The makers are, however, keen to go ahead with the release of the film.

"We are not going to delete a single scene from our film. We have got a U/A certificate and not even one scene has been chopped from the film," TP Aggarwal, co-producer of the film, told the news portal.

Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana is directed by Manish Harishankar.
Mumbai: The 52nd Annual American Country Music Awards, recently held at Las Vegas, honoured the best in country music from the past year.

While Miranda Lambert and Thomas Rhett won in Vocalist of the Year category, James Aldean took home Entertainer of the Year trophy.

Here is the list of all those who won big at 2017 ACM awards:

Entertainer of the Year: James Aldean

Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert

Male Vocalist of the Year: Thomas Rhett

Vocal duo of the Year: Brothers Osborne

Vocal group of the Year: Little Big Town

New Male vocalist of the Year: Jon Pardi

New Female vocalist of the Year: Maren Morris

Album of the Year: 'The Weight of These Things' - Miranda Lambert

Single Record of the Year: 'H.O.L.Y.' - Florida Georgia Line

Song of the Year: 'Die a Happy Man' - Thomas Rhett

Video of the Year: 'Forever Country' - Artists of Then, Now and Forever

Songwriter of the Year: Lori McKenna

Vocal Event of the Year: 'May we All' - Florida Georgia Line featuring Tim McGraw
The Chennai branch of the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) was recently served a notice by the honourable High Court after a minor pregnant girl told the court that she obtained inspiration from director A. Sarkunams 2010 Tamil film Kalavani.

The movie, which starred Vimal and Oviya, is a rural entertainer in which the hero falls in love with a school girl, and about the turn of events when the girls family doesnt approve of their relationship.

Elaborating on the shocking turn of events, the CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani said, It is true that our representative at the Chennai branch was summoned in the honourable High Court to explain how the film, Kalavani, which has such a detrimental influence on this 13-year old girl was allowed to be passed by the censor board. After this girl eloped to an undisclosed place, it was discovered that the boy had criminal antecedents.

The girls parents filed a habeas corpus. She was found recently and produced in court. The honourable judge summoned our CBFC representative to ask how a film like Kalavani could be passed by us.

In fact, Kalavani was certified by the CBFC as a U (for all ages). Asks Nihalani, What do we do? If we follow the guidelines strictly, we are supposed to stop any film that propagates any idea that could be harmful to society. But if we dont pass films, we are accused of curbing creative freedom. Either way, the CBFC gets the blame.

When we contacted Sarkunam, who went on to make the likes of national award-winning film Vaagai Sooda Vaa and Chandi Veeran, he was quite defensive in his stance. I think blaming my film Kalavani for the incident is completely unnecessary. I dont wish to comment about the whole issue, replied the director.
Its probably the first time that just days after his film released, actor Pawan Kalyan has begun work on another film. On Monday, just around 10 days after the release of Katamarayudu, he joined the sets of his next film with director Trivikram (marking their third collaboration after Jalsa and Attarintiki Daredi). This is the first schedule of the film and will go on for a couple of days before the team starts a longer schedule at a popular film studio in the city, later this month, where a set has been erected.

One of the leading ladies in the film, Anu Emmanuel, also joined the shoot. Keerthy Suresh is the other female lead and will be joining the sets soon. Apparently, the makers are keen to wrap up the film at the earliest in order to ready it for Dasara, one of the favourite holiday seasons for a Telugu films release.

Renowned Kollywood composer Anirudh Ravichander will make his Tollywood debut with this film, which is a production of Haarika and Haasine Creations. Interstingly, Trivikrams earlier film A... Aa was to mark his debut.
It is important that people consider constantly keep their minds active with mind games like sudoku and others. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: As per a recent survey conducted by Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital, Vasant Kunj (FHVK) to calculate the understanding of Alzheimer's and Dementia, it is found that forgetfulness is not considered as a disease among youth of India.

According to World Alzheimer report 2015, The Global Impact, 'today over 46 million people are living with dementia, and by 2050 this number will have risen to 13.15 million.

In just three years' time the global economic cost of dementia will reach US$1 trillion. And among the top 10 countries India is at no. 3 position with 4.1 million dementia patients.' By 2050 68% of all people living with dementia will live in low and middle income groups, hence it is vital to know its understanding among youth.

The FHVK Survey conducted by Dr Madhuri Behari, Consultant, Neurology at Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital, Vasant Kunj (FHVK), aimed to know youth's perspective towards Alzheimer's.The sample answers were collected from December 2016-January 2017 wherein 2000 people participated within the age group of 15-40yrs and the findings are:

-91% youth don't consider forgetfulness as a disease

-85% don't know about Alzheimer as a disease

-82% said no - does diabetes predispose to dementia

-72% said no- do you know if alcoholism can predispose to dementia

-90 % said no- do you know that repeated stroke can cause memory impairment

-97% don't know the cause of dementia

-91% don't know that dementia is reversible

Even people are not sure about the gender and age group of people affected with dementia.

According to Dr Behari- "Every minute someone in India develops dementia and with no known cure on the horizon. The directly attributed cost of dementia treatment may exceed that of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer. A patient not only needs medication but adequate care by family members to deal with the disease. They become more dependent on their immediate family members for survival. It all starts with minor forgetfulness and progresses to a situation where a person is not able to identify their near and dear ones. Loss of visual and verbal memories such as misplacing object and losing way in known surroundings is very common. Imagine a situation when you are 60 or 70 and not able to find your way to home from market or found in an uncomfortable situation."

The symptoms appear slowly and progress slowly. In most people it starts with memory disturbance especially for recent events, like events that may have happened the same day, what they might have eaten, or where they had gone etc.

Some other patients do not recall words, that need to be spoken or the context in which they are to be spoken or their correct pronunciation, some patients cannot comprehend what is said. Some other patients cannot remember the way inside or outside the house and get lost.

They go to kitchen thinking it is toilet, pass urine there without realizing, or cannot recognize the time, get up any time thinking it is morning and go and have bath, they do not know how to wear clothes, and do not recognize their relatives. For them time has become to a standstill. They think that they are what they were when the disease started. So they may think they are only 40 year old and their wife who might have become older, treat them as strangers.

On the findings Sandeep Guduru, Facility Director, FHVK said- 'While in Asia the number was 22.9 million in 2015 which will grow to 38.5 million in 2030 to 67.2 million in 2050. Today more than 80% people living with dementia live in the G20 countries, in India the numbers of Alzheimer's patients is expected to double by 2030 and the costs involved will increase three folds.

This study was aimed to build a base for comprehensive development of dementia program. And there is urgent need by government and private players to create a program where dementia caring program will be developed.'

It is equally becoming important to use the brain in the form of intellectual activities like brain teasers, Sudoku and other puzzles to prevent brain decline. It is also important for people to continue to do some brain related games and activities for brain. It is said "use it or lose it".
Bengaluru: Three members of a notorious inter-state gang, involved in vehicle thefts and church robberies in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala, have been arrested by the Bommanahalli police.

Six four-wheelers worth Rs 40 lakh, Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and gold jewellery have been recovered from the accused. With the arrest of the gang, the police claim to have solved the robberies at the famous Velankanni Church in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu and three other prominent churches in Kerala.

The accused have been identified as Alex alias Surya alias Murali (29) from Ernakulam in Kerala, J. Jayaprakash alias JP (35), from Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, and Sujoy (35) from Kannur district in Kerala. The accused were wanted in a number of cases registered at Madiwala, Mico Layout, Ramamurthy Nagar, Bommanahalli and Hulimavu police stations in Bengaluru and Palamaner police station in Andhra Pradesh.

As the number of vehicle theft cases had seen a spurt in the city, the police had intensified the search for vehicle thieves. Based on a tipoff, they managed to arrest the trio who, according to the police, were involved in stealing four-wheelers in all Southern states, besides committing robberies at houses and churches.The police said that the trio had a small garage in Tamil Nadu, where they dismantled the stolen vehicles and sold the parts.

Trio formed gang at Parappana Agrahara Jail

Separated by boundaries, the trio had one thing in common  their occupation  which eventually brought them closer and helped them form a gang. The accused, according to the police, got acquainted at Parappana Agrahara Jail between August and November 2016 when they were serving their terms for thefts and robberies. From then, they started working together.

Alex was involved in many house burglaries in Bengaluru and had been arrested. He came to Bengaluru first in 2011 in to get his friend treated for cancer at Kidwai Hospital. He settled down here and started committing robberies at houses, the police said.

Velankanni Church robbery solved

The robbery at Velankanni Church occurred in the early hours of January 31. Alex had barged into the rectors office by cutting the grills of the window and decamped with Rs 1.25 lakh cash and 60 gm gold ornaments that were donated by the devotees to the church.

Though it was captured on CCTV cameras, the Nagapattinam police were yet to make headway in the case. After their arrest, Alex spilled the beans on the robbery at the church.
The worst enemies of air travel in Vietnam: dogs and birds

A dog on the tarmac at a Vietnamese airport in a file photo. Photo by Bao Giao Thong (Transport Newspaper)

At least crying babies or tasteless sandwiches won't disrupt your schedule.

Dogs and birds are cute and all. Until they are not.

Aviation authorities in Vietnam have reported that the animals continued to show up at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat Airport out of nowhere, causing delays and threatening safety.

Over the past three months, a flock of around 30 pigeons occupied the runways almost every day. And at least 10 cases of wandering dogs have been reported during the period.

The Southern Airport Authority said that most of these "invasions" happened in the morning and sometimes a plane had to circle because there was a dog on the tarmac.

On February 9, a Saigon-Hanoi flight had to be delayed because a dog prevented the plane from taking off.

Tan Son Nhat, the country's biggest airport, is not the only one feeling helpless. On February 27, a dog wandering around an airport in the northern province of Dien Bien caused an airplane to land 15 minutes late.

Aviation officials said flight safety at Tan Son Nhat has also been threatened regularly by people flying kites and pointing lasers at aircraft. These human-related incidents were first reported last year and kept happening this year.

Police in Hanoi are looking for the person flashing laser beams at a VistaJet plane flying from Phnom Penh to Noi Bai Airport last month.

Aviation officials said it is hard to identify a specific location where the beams came from and thus no one has been punished in cases such as this.

Last summer, the management of Vietnamese airports proposed a $52-million system to detect objects and hazards, including birds, to improve aviation safety in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Critics dismissed the proposal as unfeasible.
Kollam: The police on Monday arrested a temple priest for the death of a 12-year-old girl who was found hanging at her house at Kulasekharapuram, Karunagappally here, on March 28. The girls mother, who was allegedly the lover of the priest, was also arrested. Her father is an Army man. The accused R. Renju, 29, of Puthumangalathu veedu, Alumkadavu, Karunagappally, is the priest of a nearby temple. He had made the girl a victim of unnatural sex, according to the autopsy at the Thiruvananthapuram MCH. Renju was charged under sections of POCSO and rape, and the girls mother under sections of POCSO, abetment of suicide and concealing the sexual assault on the girl, said Karunagapally police.

On the previous night of her death, the girl had gone to her room on the pretext of studying and locked the door from inside. As she did not come out of the room the next morning, her mother and neighbours broke open the door and found her hanging from the grill of the windows. She was a seventh standard student of Kulasekharapuram Higher Secondary School. A forensic team from Kollam conducted an inquest in the presence of Kollam city police commissioner Satheesh Bino.
Unidentified people stripped the 22-year-old man and his female friend and tied their hands before smashing their heads with a blunt object. (Photo: Representational Image)

Lonavala (Maharashtra): Two engineering students were bludgeoned to death on an isolated hill near INS Shivaji in Maharashtras Lonavala.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, unidentified people stripped the 22-year-old man and his female friend and tied their hands before smashing their heads with a blunt object.

The man, a mechanical engineering student at the Sinhgad Engineering College on the Lonavala campus, was a resident of Rahuri in Ahmednagar. His female friend, hailing from Otur in Pune, was pursuing a course in computer engineering at the same institution. They were both in their final year.

College authorities were quoted as saying that the woman had secured a job and was planning to take it up after completion of her course.

The woman had told others at her hostel that she was going out with a friend, and would return home late, an officer was quoted as saying.

Police identified the man and his female friend from Aadhaar cards and driving licenses they recovered from the spot. A motorcycle belonging to the male victim was also found.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Lonavala police station, the report said.
Minutes after she delivered her son in the bathroom of the Kakatiya Hospital at Gachibowli, a 22-year-old woman drowned the baby in a bucket of water. (Photo: Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Minutes after she delivered her son in the bathroom of the Kakatiya Hospital at Gachibowli, a 22-year-old woman drowned the baby in a bucket of water.

Police said G. Hemaja could have killed the baby as it was born of a premarital affair. She had joined the hospital on Sunday.

Police said that one of the staff nurses, Krishnamma, heard the cries of a newborn and started searching for the baby along with two other nurses. In the nurses rest room on the third floor, they saw blood stains on the floor.

They found Hemaja on the floor in the restroom lying in a pool of blood and the infant was in a bucket filled with water. She could have been seven to eight months pregnant and delivered the baby in the washroom. She was bleeding heavily when they saw her, said Raidurgam inspector D. Durga Prasad. Based on a complaint from hospital manager Chandra Madhusudhan, a murder case is registered against Hemaja.

As she was bleeding excessively, she was admitted in the hospital and was reported to be unconscious. Mr Madhusudan said Hemaja had joined the hospital on Sunday after an interview.

She was accompanied by an unidentified man.

Hospital officials informed the police about the man. Sources said the police had picked up a youth for questioning. Police said Hemaja who had graduated in physiotherapy had worked as a lab technician on contract for a year at the Bhadrachalam Government Hospital.
A few members of the group that returned from Iraq on Monday speak with the resident commissioner of Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi, Arvind Kumar.

Hyderabad: The 33 workers from TS and AP who were stuck in Erbil, the town overrun by the ISIS in Iraq, reached New Delhi early on Monday. The workers were brought to India after intervention of Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao and Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Some of them were sent back to their native places by train on Monday. The others are being accommodated overnight at the Telangana Bhavan, and will be accommodated in trains on Tuesday.

A few workers said they knew of the ISIS risk in Iraq but seeing their neighbours who had travelled to Iraq prosper, they too decided to hunt for jobs in the troubled country.

Speaking to this newspaper over the phone, one of the returnees, Durgam Ravi of Mancherial, said they were stranded in an area torn by conflict and war. Each one of them learnt to live with the fear of death, he said.

I went to Erbil two years back and had no hopes on visiting my family again. My only wish was to see my four-year-old son, he said.

Agents back home had made grand promises

My neighbour, who was working in Iraq, came home and lured me with a job offer in Iraq with a salary up to Rs 40,000 per month. I then borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh from people in my village and paid him for the opportunity. But when I reached Iraq, I found out that I was on a 15-day visit visa.

My work was limited to cleaning the premises of a college and soon, my neighbour disappeared. I was picking rags, collecting garbage and doing other odd jobs. For days, there was not even food, one of the workers Durgam Ravi said.

Before travelling to Iraq, he was working as a farm worker at Jannaram, Mancherial district. Meanwhile, Medi Praveen from Karimnagar said his agent had cheated him on the pretext of providing a work visa.

I got a visit visa for only three months. I did not understand the details as the visa was in Arabic. In Iraq, the Akama is the official card for worker and we need to spend 3,000 Iraqi dinars for it. Only God knows how we stayed there for a year, he said.

G. Shankar from Nizamabad said a worker without the Akama in Iraq could be prosecuted by the government.

I paid Rs 1.5 lakh to an agent as he had promised me a job at a big company. But when I reached Erbil, the agent forced me to join another company. The employer sacked me in three months and for six months, I had no work and was staying with other Indians. I was arrested during inspections; they seized my passport and imposed ID 500 as penalty. I really had no hopes on coming back, he said.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today termed the Delhi government's move to clear bills related to a defamation case against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a "dacoity and loot" of the people's money and said it will not let this happen.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that Kejriwal was taken to court by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his "personal crime" and the Delhi government's decision to foot the bill of the AAP leader's lawyer is against the law and rules of the government.

"It's illegal and immoral. Why should the people of Delhi pay for your (Kejriwal) sins? This is a dacoity and loot of their money and is completely unacceptable," he told a press conference.

Javadekar said Jaitley had paid Rs 10 lakh stamp duty from his pocket and has been paying the bills of his lawyers as well.

He alleged that Kejriwal's politics is based on defaming others and people should not pay for his "sins".

The Delhi government has reportedly made a proposal to pay a bill of close to Rs 4 crore sought by Kejriwal's lawyer but Lt Governor Anil Baijal has sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in the matter.

Javadekar said Kejriwal is facing at least seven cases of defamation and wondered if the city government would pay over Rs 100 crore when he is asked to pay this sum of money.

He accused the AAP of first denying such a proposal and said it is now claiming that the government wants to pay it as the case is against the chief minister.

"The fact is the case is not against a chief minister but an individual. His actions have nothing to do with the government. He has tried to defame Jaitley and his family members and will have to pay for it," he said.

Taking a dig at the party, he said its leaders had promised to not avail official vehicles and residences, and lead a simple life if elected to power but it has become an example for reasons completely opposite to its claims.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has decided to throw an open challenge to test the infallibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), in response to a flurry of accusations from political parties that the EVMs could be tampered.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the poll panel has decided to bring back the exercise it conducted in 2009, when similar accusations were made against EVMs.

We will soon fix a date for this open challenge. In 2009, too, the ECI had thrown an open challenge for anyone to demonstrate how EVMs owned by the ECI can be tampered with. No one could prove it. Since such apprehensions have been raised once again, we have decided to repeat the exercise to put all doubts to rest, the Indian Express quoted EC sources as saying.

Representatives from political parties will be invited to take part in the challenge, said the report.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal had challenged the ECto make the EVMs available to the party for 72 hours and claimed that we will read the code and rewrite it too.

Other Opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have also claimed that EVMs had been tampered in the recently concluded Assembly elections, to enable a BJP victory.

BSP chief Mayawati had in particular claimed that EVM tampering was responsible for her partys abysmal performance in the Uttar Pradesh polls, a charge also made by SP and Congress for their own poor showing.

The AAP had blamed EVM tampering for its loss in Punjab, a state which was, interestingly, won by the Congress.

parties have demanded that EVMs should not be used for elections unless equipped with a Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) facility.

These allegations gained currency on Saturday following reports that a VVPAT machine used during a trial in Madhya Pradesh only dispensed slips with the BJPs poll symbol. While the EC has continued to maintain that EVMs cannot be tampered with, it suspended 3 SHOs in Bhind of MP follwing the incident.
New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today accused the Enforcement Directorate of "concealing" facts and giving out a "concocted" value of the assets seized by the agency in connection with its money laundering probe against him and others.

"While one expected political opponents to distort facts to drive political mileage, it is a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency is behaving in such a manner and spreading a canard against me," he claimed in a statement.

Singh's reaction came in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attaching a farmhouse here having a market value of Rs 27 crore.

The agency alleged the property in the upmarket south Delhi area of Dera Mandi near Mehrauli was purchased "out of laundered money through shell firms".

It indicated that the funds were paid as quid pro quo by the director of a Delhi-based firm for establishing a hydro power plant in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district.

Singh said that the Centre had been using its full might to harass and destablise a duly elected government in Himachal Pradesh and "the ED and CBI were being misused to probe bogus charges against him, even though nothing incriminating had been found so far."

He also accused the Deputy Director of Income Tax, Faridabad for creating "baseless and fictitious survey reports and dossiers under instructions from the IT department, Chandigarh."

"The farmland in question was purchased for only Rs 1.20 crore by the company Ms Mapple, promoted by my son Vikrmaditya," the Congress leader said, adding that he gave Rs 90 lakh to his son from his personal account through proper banking channels, and the remaining amount was paid from his personal accrued money.

"My family took friendly loans amounting to Rs 5.90 crore from V Chandersekhar and the amount had been paid back in full with interest long time back and accounted for tax appropriately. It is on record that the said property was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore, but the ED gave its value at Rs 27 crore," the statement said.

The Chief Minister also alleged that an officer, whose wife is a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, was assigned the duty of assessing Maple as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi. He said that the officer instead of assessing the revenue, made "malafide conclusions that the property was worth Rs 27 crore."

"Now the ED was using the baseless revenue assessment figure of Rs 27 crore to sensatonalise the matter to malign and defame him," he further alleged.

"All this was a matter of record yet my family members have been harassed and persecuted using multiple central agencies since 2013," he said.

Singh added that he would take appropriate legal remedies to contest all charges and not only come out clean but also politically victorious.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled later this year.
Hyderabad: A 38-year-old man, identified as Mohammed Haneef, was arrested on Friday after he sent a postcard with triple talaq to divorce his wife.

According to reports, the man has accused his wife of ridiculing him, while the police has charged him with harassing his wife.

This is the first arrest related to the triple talaq practice, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Muslim women. Triple talaq allows Muslim men to get an instant divorce by saying the word talaq thrice.

The arrest came a day after his wife lodged a complaint against him. Haneef married the 26-year-old woman on March 9. The couple reportedly fought after which the man drank mosquito repellent and had to be taken to hospital, following which he sent the triple talaq postcard.

Las week, the Supreme Court had said that Islamic practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are issues that are "very important" and involve "sentiments", and had decided a Constitution Bench would hear petitions challenging these from May 11.

Influential Muslim organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have opposed court's adjudication of these matters, maintaining these practices stemmed from the Holy Quran and were not justiciable.

Several Muslim women have challenged the practice of triple talaq in which the husband, quite often, pronounces talaq thrice in one go, sometimes even by phone or text message.

Nikah Halala is a practice intended to curb incidence of divorce under which a man cannot remarry his former wife without her having to go through the process of marrying someone else, consummating it, getting divorced, observing the separation period called 'Iddat' and then coming back to him again.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud observed that "sentiments" were involved in the matter pending before it and a five-judge constitution bench would adjudicate the issue, which required a detailed hearing.

The apex court had earlier said it would decide issues pertaining to the legal aspects of the practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims but would not deal with the question whether divorce under Muslim law needs to be supervised by courts as it falls under the legislative domain.

The Centre had on October 7 last year 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.

On March 27, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had told the apex court that pleas challenging such practices among Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary.

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.

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
An Army soldier arrives at the site where militants attacked a CRPF convoy on the outskirts of Srinagar along Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar: In a bizarre incident, the J&K polices anti-hijacking squad on Monday arrested an Army jawan who was trying to board a Delhi-bound flight with two live hand grenades at the Srinagar airport.

The Army jawan identified as Bhupal Mukhiya, a resident of Darjeelings Basuli village, was quickly taken to an interrogation centre where he reportedly changed his statements thrice.

The police said that the grenades were found in the jawans baggage during a check. He 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, he said that a Major Sahib had asked him to take the grenades to Delhi where these were to be delivered to some unknown person and that he was just a courier for the grenades. He also reportedly mentioned the names of two junior level officers.

The J&K police has approached the Army authorities and sought access to these officers for their questioning, the sources said.

Director General of J&K police, Sheesh Paul Vaid, said that an FIR has been registered at Srinagar's Humhama police Station and that "it would be too early to draw conclusions". He, however, also told reporters here, "Necessary action will be taken against him. I'm heading to the airport now." Replying queries, the police chief said, "He (Army jawan) will face action according to the law. Be it an Army jawan, a policeman or a civilian, everyone will have to face action." Asked if it was a hijacking bid, Mr. Vaid said, "I cannot say anything on that."

The soldier had entered the Airport without being stopped because there is no checking for the Army at the main entry. He serves at a unit of Army JAK LI in Uri near the Line of Control (LoC).



Former Chief minister, Omar Abdullah, said that recovery of grenades from a soldier tells a wide story of problem of unaccounted weapons and ammunition. He wrote on micro blogging site twitter, " Not something, one would usually forget to unpack before boarding a flight. Tells a wider story of the problem of unaccounted weapons & ammo."
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Tuesday said it will seek time from the Supreme Court to implement its order banning the sale of liquor along highways, taking into account the "special situation" in the state.

The decision to move the apex court was taken at a high-level meeting held by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Excise Minister G Sudhakaran and top officials, including the Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh.

It was also resolved in the meeting to shift as many liquor outlets as possible in accordance with the law, sources in the Chief Minister's Office said.

"The circumstances in Kerala are different from other states and it needs time to shift liquor outlets and implement the directive," Sudhakaran said after the meeting.

The Supreme Court in its March 31 order had said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways would have to shut down from April 1.

It had exempted the hill states of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh and areas having a population up to 20,000.

Sudhakaran said the Excise Commissioner has been entrusted with the responsibility to take necessary steps for approaching the apex court to seek time to implement the directive.

Asked about resistance from people in some areas, the excise minister said, "The outlets will be relocated with the cooperation of the people."

The excise department has estimated a revenue loss of Rs 5,000 crore to the state as a result of the Supreme Court order which will also necessitate the relocation of 1,956 outlets.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Kadakampalli Surendran has said that the apex court order would "wreck" the tourism sector in Kerala.

Talking to reporters at a tourism promotion function here last night, he said government would take steps to sustain the industry as it the state's responsibility to do so.

"The apex court order will adversely affect not only the tourism sector, but also hit the transport sector that rely on it," Surendran added.
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.
Mumbai: If all goes as per plan, the Made in India aeroplane will soon touch the skies of Maharashtra. Impressed with city-based Air India pilot, Captain Amol Yadavs indigenous aeroplane models, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday asked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to allot a 157-acre land parcel at Saphale, Palghar for mass production of the aeroplanes.

The land will be allotted free of cost, but in return Mr Yadav has to sign a partnership with the MIDC. Mr Fadnavis asked the MIDC officers to finalise the details of an agreement in the next two days.

In a meeting held at Mantralaya on Monday, Mr Fadnavis directed the officers concerned to expedite the ambitious project. Mr Yadav has built a six-seater TAC 003-plane (name of the aeroplane) over 18 years. Mr Yadav has also formed an aircraft production company Trust Aircraft for the mass production of six and 20-seater aeroplanes. Mr Yadavs plane models had created a buzz at the Make In India exhibition last year at the Bandra Kurla Complex.

In August 2016, Mr Fadnavis had assured him land to start mass production in Maharashtra. On Monday, Mr Fadnavis chaired a meeting with officers from the industry, revenue department and a representative of the union aviation ministry. Mr Yadav too was present at the meeting.

Mr Fadnavis also assured Mr Yadav about the Director General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) licence for flying. The Chief Minister will speak to the PM regarding the licence and see that it will be issued to our company very soon, said Mr Yadav.
New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government plans to come out with narratives to counter political allegations on its various policies as it prepares a 'report card' on the eve of its third anniversary next month.

"The government will present a three-year report card to the people on the eve of its anniversary. Taking note of the criticism, it will also come out with counter narratives," a source said.

The 'report card' will highlight various achievements of the government during the last three years as well as will consist of counter points to tear off the political allegations, the source added.

The report card will consist of "facts, figures, data and statistics" on various policies of the government.

The rationale behind the move is to effectively communicate with the people on the positive changes as well as to dispel the alleged misinformation that is tarnishing the government's image, the source said.

Each ministry has been assigned specific sectoral topics to prepare a note on them.

The Opposition parties have accused the Centre of not generating enough employment and for alleged inconsistent performance in core economic sectors.

The BJP-led NDA government completes three years in office on May 26 after rooting out 10-year rule of the Congress-led UPA regime.
New Delhi: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday criticised the Delhi government's move to pay fees of a lawyer representing Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation case, saying no chief minister has ever burdened the exchequer to fight his own case.

"I just can't recall any other chief minister who has ever burdened the exchequer to save himself or promote himself," he told reporters here, reacting to the city government's move to pay around Rs 3 crore to top lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

Rijiju said the defamation case was slapped against Kejriwal for speaking against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

"Whatever he had said about Jaitley was his own statement. So, why should the people of Delhi pay? Did the people of Delhi ask him to fight the case? Then why should people of Delhi pay now?" he said.

Later, in a tweet, Rijiju said, "Public money for defending Kejriwal ji !! Already too much money is being used to advertise him (sic)".

In December, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had asked for releasing appearance fee to Jethmalani who has been fighting the defamation case slapped against Kejriwal by Jaitley.

The amount of pending dues to Jethmalani is around Rs 3 crore and the Delhi Law Department had asked why the Delhi government should foot the bills when the case is not related to city administration, sources said.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal is also learnt to have sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in clearing bills.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama delivers a lecture on "Ancient Indian Knowledge in Modern Times" at the Guwahati university campus in Assam. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Amid a row over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the government on Tuesday asked China not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it respects the "One-China" policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

Making a statement on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said here that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.

"There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs," he told reporters here.

Rijiju said India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate.

"We respect Beijing's 'One-China' policy and we expect China to reciprocate," he said.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and a "full-fledged state".

"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that soon it would be resolved.

"I appeal to China not to rake up Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state can't be questioned," he said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday during which he will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.

The minister said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state. "As a democratic country, India can't interfere in religious affairs of any community," he said.

Rijiju said that the Dalai Lama will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon line which have been closed since 1962.

"The trading points were beneficial. People of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China," he said.

Rijiju said the Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and making arrangements for his stay there.

Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijiju's) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.

The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 61 crore, including a fleet of luxury cars and showrooms, in its drug-money laundering probe against politicians and an ex-minister in Punjab.

The agency issued a provisional attachment order against Jagdish Singh alias Bhola, former Punjab Minister for Jails Sarwan Singh Phillaur, ex-MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary of the state Avinash Chander, Chunni Lal Gaba and eight others.

The ED had earlier attached assets worth Rs 34 in this case, and with the latest order attaching Rs 61.61 crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the total attachments stand at over Rs 95 crore.

The agency has also filed a charge sheet against 48 people and companies in this case in the past.

Under the latest order, the ED said, it has attached showrooms, agricultural land, residential houses, assets of businesses, firms, fix deposits and seven luxury cars including Range Rover, Land Rover, Mercedes, BMW, Honda Accord, and Hyundai Terracan of 13 people involved in the case.

Assets of three Canada-based NRIs-- Sukhraj Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Avtar Singh-- have also been attached under the order, it said.

Phillaur's assets are valued at Rs 14.37 lakh while that of Chander are valued at Rs 55.45 lakh, the ED said.

The agency had registered a PMLA case to probe the alleged multi-crore synthetic drugs racket in the state, based on a police FIR of 2013.
Out of the five-lakh deaths caused by road accidents in India each year, drunken driving is responsible for a mere 3.3% of this number. The Supreme Court banning liquor vends along highways will destroy the livelihood of lakhs of people and incur serious losses to the state. Experts feel that stricter enforcement of drunken driving laws would have been a better way to curb the menace and point out that more hospitals along highways will go a long way in bringing down the number of fatalities, report Bala Chauhan and Ranjani Madhavan

Travelling long distance by road is not everyone's cup of tea. But those who do attempt it, sometimes try to break the monotony by 'having one for the road' at a roadside hotel, before continuing the journey. This luxury may, however, have just been placed out of their reach as the Supreme Court has banned vendors, hotels and restaurants within 500 meters of both the national and state highways from serving liquor in the interest of safe driving. It has expectedly been met with protest by hoteliers, who believe it is shortsighted and will cost in terms of both jobs and revenue.

"Many of our customers celebrate weddings, parties and birthdays at the hotel and expect alcohol to be served. We also serve liquor to foreign tourists. This revenue is important. But now tourism will be affected by this ban," regrets Mr. Raj, manager of Royal Orchid Hotels. Noting that 80 per cent of the revenue of highway hotels is from the sale of liquor, he believes the ban will impact business badly.

Also, the state and Union governments earn revenue from liquor. And what about those who will lose their jobs?" he asks.

Arguing on similar lines, Mr M.S Subramanya Holla, secretary of the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Assosciation, warns the ruling could see 30 to 40 per cent of hotels and bars shut shop.

" We are the IT hub, and techies living or working on the outskirts of the city are bound to crib about the ban. And what about those who come from Kerala to Karnataka because of the easy availability of liquor here? Everything will be affected. Business, jobs, tourism and even the government's excise revenue, he says.

Pointing out that truck drivers, who generally drink on highways, and are usually responsible for accidents, choose to go to small cheap wine shops and dont frequent big hotels or restaurants, he argues that while these small shops can easily shift a few 100 meters away and continue their business, the bigger establishments will suffer as they cannot afford to do the same.

To Mr N Vasudevan, president of the Hotel Employees Federation of India , the ruling appears  emotional. It is will affect workers in a big way. People can drive 600 metres away and drink, but hundreds of migrant workers will be thrown out of their jobs. Drunk driving is not a small issue, but this ban is not the way to deal with it," he insists.

Ban will destroy livelihood of thousands in these areas

The Karnataka government plans to implement the Supreme Court order of March 31 banning of liquor vendors along national and state highways, according to sources in the secretariat.. Chief Minister Siddramaiah will honour the apex court ruling as he does not want to be seen as a law breaker, explained an officer.

While it was suggested that the government should denotify state highways to turn them into merely urban roads to accommodate the affected excise licencees in the 500 meter zone of the highways, the Chief Minister was reportedly not keen on the idea as the government could then be accused of trying to circumvent the courts ruling.

The financial repercussions of the order are however, still being examined and the Excise Department is conducting a survey to establish the exact number of licencees, which will be affected by the modified court order that has reduced the distance for application of the ban from 500 meters to 220 meters from the highways in areas with a population of upto 20,000. It will remain 500 meters for the others. The department will submit the final figures to the government on April 5, according to sources. We will act as ordered to by the government, said a senior excise officer.

Going by present estimates as many as 6,081 of the 10,091 excise licencees in the state - 900 from Bengaluru alone - could be adversely impacted. And the Excise Department,which is the single largest contributor to the state revenue, may have to scale down its target of Rs 18,050 crore for the financial year 2017-18 once the ban is enforced, according to sources.

Also, the existing liquor licences in Karnataka will be valid till June 30 and be given an extension of three months, till the end of September, to relocate outside the highway zones to be considered for renewal.

The ban will not only dent the states revenue but also destroy the livelihood of lakhs of people in Karnataka, who own and work in these places. Relocation is completely ruled out for many of the affected because of factors like cost, availability of a suitable alternative retail outlet and infrastructure, warned a spokesperson of the Karnataka Wine Merchants Association.

While several state and national highways cross and touch several cities, towns and municipalities in Karnataka, two national highways, NH4 and NH-7, run through Bengaluru and many of its watering holes will have to go dry in compliance with the apex court ruling. NH4 runs through the city between Tumakuru Road and Old Madras Road and so does NH7, which touches MG Road and Hosur Road on its Hyderabad - Bengaluru stretch, pointed out Mr Ashish Kothare, president of the Association of Bars and Restaurant, Pubs and Hotels, Bengaluru.

Excise licencees & affected

West 911  157

East 643  191

North 655 - 252

South 887  300

Speeding, overloaded trucks main causes of highway deaths: Riyaaz Amlani, President of National Restaurant Association of India

To say that drunk driving is the cause of all road accidents is quite irrational. In India of the five lakh accidents reported in a year , one- and- a- half lakh result in death. Of these only 3.3 per cent are caused by drunk driving. As many as 28,000 deaths are caused by overloaded trucks and 68,000 due to speeding. Instead of tackling these major causes first, we are attacking the smaller. In the process, one million jobs will be lost and the loss to the state will be around Rs 65,000 crore. This is definitely not a good thing. We must remember that Gujarat, which has the 10th highest number of road accidents, doesnt even serve liquor.

The major point we are all missing is that the Supreme Court says liquor shops are banned and not bars and restaurants near the highways. There is a big difference between serving liquor in restaurants and selling it in a shop over the counter. But all state governments are misinterpreting the ruling . Why they are doing this is something only they can answer. Instead of concentrating on tackling speeding and overloaded trucks, they are cancelling liquor licenses, leading to major loss of revenue and employment. In my view, the solution is to have stricter enforcement of drunken driving laws.

Strangely, although 80 per cent of road accidents are beyond city limits, in rural areas, there are few trauma centres in these parts. This despite the fact that 95 per cent of accident victims can be saved if they reach trauma centres within the first golden hour.

This ruling also sends a very negative signal to tourists. When people stay over in hotels, they like having alcohol. When we issue e-visas to 148 countries, but don't serve tourists alcohol, they will be discouraged from visiting us. Even today tourism numbers are dismal in India. Only eight million people visit it in a year and of them many are from Nepal and Bangladesh. Compare this to the Dubai Mall, which sees 100 million people annually.

Moreover, how can hotels, which have invested in infrastructure, relocate? Hotels and bars must get their licenses back, or they will shut shop. What we need is technology to combat road accidents. After all, this is done in many countries, which use speed radars to curb speeding.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two persons, one of them an engineering graduate, as part of its recent operation against 500 shell companies suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money.

The agency identified the two as G D Reddy and K Liakath Ali. It said they have been arrested from Bengaluru and Chennai respectively under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as part of its follow-up action against shell companies.

It has also frozen bank deposits worth Rs 20 crore in different accounts in the country as part of the operation.

The ED had conducted nation-wide raids on April 1 in 16 states with sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down allegedly dubious and suspicious firms, which the agency believes are the "backbone" of black money in the country.

The agency said Reddy is an engineering graduate in industrial production in Bengaluru and "had masterminded floating of more than 20 shell companies, obtained loan by dubious means and defrauded the United Bank of India and other banks to the tune of more than Rs 70 crore by submitting forged/fake documents and also by impersonating".

It said there are three PMLA cases registered against Reddy, a "wilful defaulter" of loans, who had allegedly floated shell firms in India and Dubai.

He has now been sent to two days of ED custody by a special court.

In the second case in Chennai, Ali was arrested for "remitting foreign exchange through shell companies using fake documents".

He was involved in cheating the Indian Bank in Chennai using eight shell companies and remitted USD 11,778,120 (about Rs 78 crore) out of India against forged bill of entries without affecting any actual imports, it said.

"On the basis of the alert triggered by the Indian Bank, the Chennai Customs through their in-house verification confirmed the fabrication of the bills of entry and referred the matter to ED for detailed investigation following which an FIR was also registered by the Chennai City Police and action under PMLA was also initiated," it said.

The ED said Ali had made outward remittances of over Rs 18 crore "without any actual imports into India, causing depletion of precious foreign exchange to the country."

Ali has now been sent to the Central jail in Puzhal in Chennai after he was produced before a special court.

On April 1, ED teams had visited at least 110 locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar and Indore besides some in Haryana.

The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.

Shell companies are firms set up with nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies and no dividend income or high amount of cash-in-hand.

Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.

The agency said further probe in these cases is "in progress".
Both Anna University and the University of Madras have significantly done better without Vice-Chancellors in the past one year.

Chennai: As many as 24 universities from Tamil Nadu featured in the top 100 universities list released on Monday.

The Anna University, as the states premier technical university, bagged the 6th rank among the universities in the country. It also got the 8th rank in engineering and 13th in the overall category. Its Registrar S.Ganesan attributed the ranking to the thriving research environment in the university.

In the past three years, it is the only technical university producing more research articles in the reputed research journals, he said, while pointing out that the university got selected out of 100 universities which applied for the University with Potential for Excellence (UPE) scheme for the year 2015-16.

We have received Rs 23 crore to carry out biomedical engineering research and to develop portable healthcare devices.

The state government also awarded many centres of excellence in the university to conduct research and other activities, he added. Each department and faculty will identify the thrust areas to strengthen the R and D activities and to focus on research relevant to the needs of society.

The VIT scored the top rank among the private engineering institutions in the country for the second consecutive year. This is the second consecutive year that we are at the number-one position among the private engineering institutions, said VIT vice-president G. V. Selvam. This has become possible because of the high quality of education that we ensure for our students through constant updating of the curriculum by interacting with the industry, he said.

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University ranked 17th and Bharathiar University university ranked 28th in the rankings.

The University of Madras surprisingly secured 41st rank in the rankings. Professors in the university have raised the issue of funds diversion meant for nanotechnology research in the university.

Both Anna University and the University of Madras have significantly done better without Vice-Chancellors in the past one year.

Of private universities, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham secured 9th rank and Vellore Institute of Technology secured 14th rank.

It is a great feeling to reach the top of the ranking for private universities in India in just one year and right behind some of the prestigious public-funded universities in the country, said P. Venkat Rangan, Vice Chancellor, Amrita University. Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research and SASTRA ranked 21 and 32 respectively. Sri Ramachandra University ranked 39th among the universities.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee today said the blast in St. Petersburg is a reminder that terrorism must be dealt with "urgently and comprehensively".

Mukherjee also conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that people of India stand by Russia in this difficult hour.

In a message to Putin, the President conveyed his condolences on the loss of lives in the blast in a metro carriage in St. Petersburg yesterday. "This is yet another reminder that the menace of terrorism must be addressed urgently and comprehensively by the world community," he said.

Mukherjee said the people of India stand with the Russian people in this difficult hour and offer their sincere sympathies to the families of the victims. "Please accept my heartfelt condolences for the loss of innocent lives in the blast that occurred in the metro system of St. Petersburg.

"We pray for the early recovery of all those injured in the attacks," he said.

A suicide bomber was behind the attack that killed 14 people and left dozens wounded.
The order will apply on roads passing through limits of cities and towns. (Photo: DC)

Jaipur: The Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan is set to designate sections of highways passing through populated areas as urban roads if they are connected to a bypass.

The move seeks to counter the ban imposed by the Supreme Court on liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways, said a report in NDTV.

The order will make stretches of highways immune to the Supreme Court order, said the report.

The order will apply on roads passing through limits of cities and towns, said the report.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld its December 2016 order banning liquor outlets within 500 metres of state and national highways.

Supreme Court said the ban extends not just to retail liquor outlets but also to bars, pubs and restaurants located on highways, according to reports. The court said there was no question of exempting these establishments, as this would be a dilution of its objective of preventing drunk driving.

However, it granted partial relief to state liquor associations in its revised. Hearing a batch of petitions seeking modification of its December 2016 order, the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar said that in those areas where population was less than 20,000, the distance would be around 220 meters.

Several states, including Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana and Haryana and 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 explosion coincides with Putin's visit to St. Petersburg.

A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 11 people and injured 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims.

Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, whose door was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station.

Russia has in the past experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russia's North Caucasus region. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russia's military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for Islamic State attacks, security experts say.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

Earlier, Russian media had broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. But Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries.

Russian president Vladimir Putin puts flowers down outside Tekhnologicheskiy Institut metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 3, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Grigory Dukor

People attend a memorial service for victims of a blast in St.Petersburg metro, by the Kremlin walls in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

The news agency, quoting an unnamed law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.

If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad in a fight against Islamist militants.

But some sections of Russian society may see the metro bombing as proof that Putin's decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets.

Two years ago, the Islamic State group said it brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.

Bloody faces

Soon after the blast happened at 2:40 p.m., ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away an injured passenger.

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, St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika, who said he was at the station where the blast happened, told Reuters by phone. "Many were crying."

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 by Reuters/Anton Vaganov

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

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.

Flowers in memory for victims of a blast in St.Petersburg metro, lay outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Igor Russak

Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion amplified 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."

All stations closed

Officials had earlier on Monday put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their injuries in hospital.

General view of emergency services attending the scene outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 3, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Anton Vaganov

General view of emergency services attending the scene outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Anton Vaganov

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 Russian-speaking 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 theater 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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it is unfortunate to term the criminal act on Nigerian nationals in UP's Greater Noida, which was triggered following the untimely death of a young Indian student under suspicious circumstances, as 'xenophobic and racial.'

MEA added that India is committed to ensuring safety and security of all the foreign nationals in the country, including African nationals, who remain our valued partners.

MEA's reaction comes after Dean of African Head of Missions (HOM), in a statement, termed the recent attacks against African students as 'racial and xenophobic.'

"We have seen the statement by the Eritrean Ambassador to India, who is also the Dean of the African Head of Missions, apparently issued on their behalf. 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," MEA said in a statement.

"Investigations on the death of Indian teenager and the subsequent incident by local authorities are ongoing," the statement further read.

The Indian Government had condemned and described the attack on 4 Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida as 'unacceptable.'

MEA said the significance attached to addressing the matter is reflected in the detailed statement by the External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj and the discussion in the Parliament.

Local authorities had expeditiously arrested suspects following Swaraj's conversation with the Chief Minister of the State of Uttar Pradesh immediately after the incident.

Police had registered an FIR and are investigating the matter comprehensively.

Local authorities have also taken measures to strengthen safety and security of the Nigerian nationals.

Ministry of External Affairs has further sensitised the local authorities towards ensuring safety and security of Africans in general and African students in particular.

"It may be noted that a subsequent report of assault on a Kenyan national has been withdrawn and the Government has been informed by Kenyan High Commission that the concerned Kenyan national, whose tourist visa has expired, is returning to Kenya. Nevertheless, the Kenyan High Commission has expressed appreciation for prompt response by local police authorities on her complaint," MEA said.

Earlier, dubbing the recent violence against African students in India as 'Xenophobic,' Heads of African missions in India 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.

However, according to sources, a very small number of African HOMs may have been consulted in the issuance of the press release by the African HOM Dean and also some of the prominent African HoMs denied that they attended the reported meeting or were consulted.
Muzaffarnagar: A man has been arrested for allegedly posting objectionable content on Facebook in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.

The man, in his 20s, was arrested Monday from Sujru village following a complaint that he had posted objectionable content against a particular community on Facebook, SHO of Kotwali police station P P Singh said.

He has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act, the police officer said.
Tamil farmers shout slogans during their protest demanding loan waiver and compensation for crop failure at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai: In a significant order, the Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of all drought-hit farmers and restrained cooperative societies and banks from recovering their dues.

It noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide and suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."

A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and M V Muralidaran gave the order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association.

"We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the Advocate General also reiterated the same. The government is already single handedly shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore."

In this difficult situation, the central government cannot be a silent spectator and should come forward to extend help to the state government to share the burden, the court said.

It directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of 2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres.

"We further direct the department to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench said.

The Association alleged that government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal and to direct authorities to give relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of extent of land owned.

The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement today at the principal seat here.

"In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said.
New Delhi: Veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's counsel in the defamation case filed against him by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Tuesday said that he would work for free if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo cannot pay him his fees.

"Even now if the government doesn't pay or he can't pay, I will appear free. I will then treat him as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani told ANI in an exclusive conversation.

Venting his ire over reports suggesting that Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in clearing the bills, the veteran lawyer said they are all in Jaitley's control.

Jethmalani further said that he charges only the rich clients.

"Everybody knows this in this country that I charge only the rich, but for poor people I do work free and the poor people are about 90 percent of my client," he said.

Jethmalani, who is defending Kejriwal in both a criminal and a civil defamation case filed by Jaitley, has reportedly sent bills for Rs. one crore in retainership and Rs. 22 lakh for each appearance in court to the Delhi Chief Minister.

Jethmalani has made 11 appearances so far, leading to a total of Rs 3.42 crore.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has signed off on the bills and sent them for clearance to the Lieutenant Governor, who has sought the opinion of experts on how to proceed.

Baijal's move comes after the Delhi Government's Law Department, responding to a note by Sisodia, said that Lieutenant Governor's permission for clearing the bills was necessary.
Bengaluru: Law and parliamentary affairs minister, T. B. Jayachandra on Tuesday asserted that the state government was mulling importing sand from other states and countries like Indonesia or Malaysia to bridge the growing demand-supply gap in the state.

Speaking to reporters after chairing the cabinet sub-committee meeting on sand mining policy here, Mr Jayachandra said the state cabinet will discuss issues including sand import and checking the sand mafia in the state in its next meeting.

"We are closely studying the Maharashtra model on sand import as it is probably the first state to start importing sand from other states. We are also discussing whether the

state can incorporate this into our new sand mining policy."

According to him, although the state had also made a beginning by allowing manufacture of M-Sand, but, this has not yielded the desired result in meeting the state's growing demand. "As a result, the cabinet-sub-committee is seriously considering importing sand from other states," he said.

In response to a question, Mr Jayachandra asserted that the sub-committee also plans to come out with an exclusive sand mining policy for the coastal districts. "Coastal districts have different problems compared to other state. There are issues like Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and Non-Coastal regulation zone which are not only unique but also applicable only to these districts, hence, it has become all the more pertinent to come out with an exclusive policy for this region alone," he explained.

The minister added that the state government was neither protecting nor shielding anyone allegedly involved in intimidating officers like the Udupi DC. "We will not spare anyone," he added.

Dakshina Kannada DC faces heat for violating sand mining ban

National Environment Care Federation secretary H. Shashidhar Shetty has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Jagadisha for 'violation of the law and court order' on sand mining. He has also decided to bring this to the notice of the Prime Minister's office. Shetty has been fighting illegal sand mining and the sand mafia in Udupi and DK districts since several years and has also received a life threat. "While we congratulate Udupi DC Priyanka Mary Francis for her daring step to stop illegal sand mining, we are sad to say that Dakshina Kannada DC Jagadisha has failed to take any action to stop illegal sand mining and has violated the National Green Tribunal order on sand mining," Shetty told reporters in Mangaluru. "Based on the case on illegal sand mining in Udupi, the Chennai bench of Green Tribunal has banned illegal sand mining in the CRZ area there. The same yardstick should be followed for sand excavation in Udupi and DK districts, I brought this to the notice of Mr Jagadisha but he has failed to take any action," Shetty said in the complaint filed with the Lokayukta.
Lucknow: Fulfilling the promise made by the BJP in its manifesto, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday, during his first Cabinet meeting, announced a slew of loan waiver schemes for farmers.

All loans of small and medium farmers up to Rs 1 lakh will be waived off and this will entail a burden of Rs 36,359 crore on the state government.

UP minister Siddhartha Nath Singh said this includes a loan amount of Rs 5,630 crore taken by about additional seven lakh farmers.

The minister said that the cutoff date for the loans would be the end of financial year 2016-2017.

The number of farmers who will benefit from this is around 86 lakhs. There are a total of 2.15 crore medium and small farmers in the state.

If the state government had waived off the aggregate loans of farmers without putting the Rs 1 lakh limit, the financial burden would have been around `62,000 crore.

Though the government spokesman did not say so, sources in the finance department said that the Uttar Pradesh government will either take loan from the Centre or other financial institutions to bear the financial burden.

The state government is already bearing an additional burden of Rs 25,000 crore after implementing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commi-ssion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had stated that the loan waiver for UP farmers would be done in the first cabinet meeting if the BJP came to power.
Chennai: The Madras high court ordered the state government to extend the benefit of the crop loan waiver scheme to all farmers irrespective of their land holding. In doing so, the court had struck down the upper ceiling limit in the eligibility criteria, which was five acres.

Directing the Central Government to share the burden, a division bench comprising Justices S. Nagamuthu and MV Muralidharan restrained the authorities from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans outstanding to cooperative societies/banks as on March 31, 2016 The bench passed the order on a writ petition filed by National South Indian River Inter-linking Agricultural Association represented by its state president, P. Ayyakannu, who has been spearheading the farmers agitation in New Delhi for the past 21 days.

The petitioner sought a direction to the State government, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme provided under G.O. M.S. 50 dated May 23, 2016 and G. N.O. 59 of Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection dated June 28, 2016 to all the farmers including those farmers whose landholding was more than five acres. Waiving crop loans to the tune of Rs 1,980.36 crore to other farmers would benefit only 3.01 lakh more farmers, the bench pointed out.

The bench noted that the weather had become erratic, the monsoons had failed and rainfall was very poor. Dams and water bodies had dried up. The Mettur Dam failed completely due to water dispute with Karnataka. Crops withered away and a lot of cattle died between 2011 and 2014. In 2015, floods drowned crops, and farming community suffered irreparable loss. They could not repay crop loans raised from cooperative societies and banks. Unable to bear the loss and pressure from financial institutions, many farmers committed suicide.

As per the G.O. a marginal farmer has been classified as one who has 2.5 acres of land and small farmer has landholding between 2.5 acres and 5 acres of land. While they got the reprieve, those who had more than 5 acres were left out of the scheme. The PIL was filed on the ground of discrimination and arbitrariness.

It is crystal clear that the government evolved a policy to give waiver of crop loans to small and marginal farmers because that was in the election manifesto of the particular political party, the bench said.

The loan waiver costing Rs 5,780 crore benefited 16.94 lakh small and marginal farmers. Waiving crop loans to the tune of Rs 1,980.36 crore to other farmers would benefit only 3.01 lakh more farmers, the bench pointed out. Extending the benefit to all farmers, the bench said, We are aware that the financial situation of the State is grim. It is already single-handedly shouldering the burden to the tune of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear .

We are hopeful that the Centre will share the burden with the State and extend maximum financial help to to tide over the situation, the bench said and directed the government to issue consequential order in three months.

The bench appreciated P Ayyakannu for taking up the cause and advocate-general R. Muthukumaraswamy and S. Muthukrishnan, counsels for the petitioner, for rendering assistance.
New Delhi: Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday said he will defend Arvind Kejriwal in the defamation case slapped on him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley without taking any fee if the Delhi Chief Minister cannot afford to pay him.

Jethmalani also hit out at Jaitley alleging that the row over the Delhi governments move to clear his bills for fighting the case has been instigated by the Union finance minister.

On its part, the AAP alleged that Jaitley was paid large retainership fee for defending a private firm when it was mired in the 2G scam.

The party also sought to defend the governments move to pay Jethmalani from the public exchequer, saying the penniless AAP and Kejriwal cannot afford expensive lawyers.

Jethmalani said it is the governments duty to defend the Chief Minister. I will certainly defend him even if he cant pay, but he said no, I want to pay, send us the bills, so I have sent the bills. Even if the government does not support him, I will. If necessary, I will support him for his livelihood because he is a clean force compared to Arun Jaitley, said Jethmalani. The bills totalled around `3.4 crore. If he is unable to pay I will do it for free. I render free services to 90 per cent of my clients, Jethmalani said.
The party had moved the Commission over reliability of the machines and the results of Punjab polls. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Aam Admi Party is free to file an election petition in the state high court if it wants to verify votes cast in Punjab polls with data of paper trail,

the Election Commission said on Sunday.

In a strongly-worded letter, the EC also said it is for the AAP "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 of your party to the alleged tamperability of EVMS."

The poll watchdog said after declaration of results only alternative available to verify the data of votes cast is to file an Election Petition before the High Court concerned.

The AAP alleged that poll authorities in Punjab had refused to accept its demand to tally results with paper trial audit.

The party had moved the Commission over reliability of the machines and the results of Punjab polls.
Malappuram: Only one outlet of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (BEVCO) escaped the Supreme Court ban on liquor vends within 500 meters of the national and state highways in the district. But the ban caused the closure of the remaining eight others from Monday. Excise authorities closed as many as 77 liqour shops including Bevco outlets in Edakkara, Nilambur, Manjeri, Malappuram, Perinthalmanna, Ponnani and Edappal in the district after the court order. This also includes an outlet of Consumerfed in Malappuram, 25 of the total 27 Beer and Wine parlours and the only bar in the district which was part of a five-star hotel in Azhinhilam.

Besides a Bevco outlet in Tirur which is already crowded on all working days, there are only two Beer and Wine parlours in the district which will continue to serve. The rush at the Tirur outlet is expected to increase. Cane charges by the police to manage the crowd are already a frequent occurrence here. There are 106 toddy shops in various parts of the district. Of these 43 shops were shut due to the ban. The Military Canteen at Malappuram town has also been axed by the excise authorities. The canteen authorities were directed to relocate the outlet out of the highway vicinity.
Cape Verde is a country made up of ten volcanic islands 300 miles off the northwest coast of Africa. It has few natural resources and only about half of the islands are suitable for farming, but it has lovely mountains, warm waters and beautiful beaches that attract tourists. In fact, the travel and tourism industry makes up some 25 percent of the countrys gross domestic product, and, in one way or another, employs more than one-third of the countrys population.

The success of the sector is critical for job creation and the countrys long-term economic growth, writes the Millennium Challenge Corporations Program Officer for Cape Verde, Benjamin Edwards, in a recent blog post.

But Cape Verde has a problemlack of water. Many Cape Verdeans have no access to public water and sanitation. In fact, the water and sanitation infrastructure on some islands is straining to accommodate a rising population and increasing tourist traffic.

That is why the Millennium Challenge Corporation stepped up to help in 2005, and again in 2012. The MCC, as it is known, is a bilateral, independent U.S. foreign aid agency that provides well-performing countries with large-scale grants to fund country-led solutions for reducing poverty through sustainable economic growth. MCC stresses accountability, good governance and transparency, as well as country-led solutions and their implementation.

In 2005, and then again in 2012, the MCC signed five-year compacts with the Government of Cape Verde worth $110 million and $66 million respectively. Much of the funding concerned water management.

The 2012 compact, among other things, helped fund infrastructure and capital improvements in the water and sanitation sector. This year, even as the second compact nears its end, the government of Cape Verde is bringing on-line the Santa Maria Wastewater Treatment Plant on the arid island of Sal. The MCC-funded rehabilitation of the plant expands water and sanitation services to low-income residents.

Building on the impact of its 2005 investment, writes Millennium Challenge Corporations Benjamin Edwards, MCC is supporting the Government of Cape Verde in strengthening its institutions to improve water and sanitation services for its citizens, unleash the tourism industrys full potential, and help people lift themselves out of poverty.
Chennai: V. K. Sasikala faction of the AIADMK is pumping in a whopping `300 crore to win the elections in R K Nagar constituency, rival OPS camp candidate E. Madhusudhanan charged on Monday, while asking the Election Commission to throw out AIADMK ministers from the constituency since they are into threatening people to vote in their favour.

In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Madhusudhanan said leaders and cadre of the AIADMK would return to the OPS camp after the elections and that the fight was only between him and DMK candidate N. Marudhu Ganesh. The political veteran also spoke about his winning chances and the dominance of Sasikala family in the AIADMK. Excerpts:



Q: The R K Nagar byelections have evoked national interest and every political party is keeping a close watch on what would be the result. As a political veteran, what is your assessment?

I am a founding member of the AIADMK and the legendary M.G. Ramachandran drew me to politics. After the death of my leader, all of us in the AIADMK worked under Amma and she was the one who took the party to greater heights. This election is all about Amma and Amma's legacy. Our aim is to chase Sasikala's family not just from the AIADMK, but also from politics. I am at a loss to understand why they are being given so much importance. What is their contribution to the AIADMK? People of R K Nagar will teach a lesson to Sasikala and her family for all their misdeeds.

Q: Your camp criticises Sasikala and her family left, right and centre after the formal split. But you and O. Panneerselvam had openly endorsed V. K. Sasikala for the post of general secretary of the AIADMK. Isn't your current stand a big U-turn?

Everyone knew about the dominance of the (Sasikala) family in the AIADMK and how they tried to control the party at every stage. People from Sasikala's family decided who got MLA seat and after the elections, they decided the Cabinet. When Amma got to know about their dominance, she removed all of them from the party. But those were banished by Amma surrounded her body (at Rajaji Hall) and we in the party were not happy with these developments. We were waiting for the right opportunity to vent our anger. And when OPS was forced to resign and she (Sasikala) decided to become Chief Minister, we decided enough was enough. OPS gave a call for 'dharma yutham' and we joined it to restore AIADMK to its past glory.

Q: But majority of ministers and MLAs are with T. T. V. Dhinakaran. How do you see this?

They are all agents of Sasikala family. Ministers C. Vijayabhaskar, Udumalai Radhakrishnan, O.S. Manian, R.B. Uthayakumar, R. Kamaraj, P. Thangamani and S. P. Velumani are working for one family, not for the AIADMK. This gang (Sasikala) should be chased out of the AIADMK and from politics and people of R K Nagar will script history this time by electing me.

Q: Your party has been levelling allegations against T. T. V. Dhinakaran and you have complained to the EC on several occasions. Do you think the EC's action of appointing more observers would yield results on ground?

Everyday, people around me are being threatened. They get threat calls not from party functionaries and leaders, but also from ministers. My supporters are being asked to ditch me and join them and they are being offered huge financial inducements. Since none of them is ready to jump the ship, they are being threatened. Are we living in a democracy? Are they ministers or thugs? Election Commission should throw all these ministers out of the constituency if it is serious about conducting free and fair polls. What business have all 30 ministers got in one constituency? EC should question presence of ministers and direct them to leave the constituency.

Q: Do you have any evidence to prove the allegations against ministers?

We have recordings of phone calls that ministers made to my people. And my information is that the AIADMK (Amma) camp has pumped in Rs 300 crore to win the R K Nagar byelection. If they are ready to spend Rs 300 crore for one constituency, what is their source of income and how did they earn the money? Even agents are being offered money ranging between `1 and `2

lakh.

Q: Will swing voters be in your favour?

A: I have been living in R K Nagar for the last 50 years and I know this area very well. People believe I am true soldier of Amma and I will always be at their service. North Chennai got its first flyover during 1991-1996 when I was the R K Nagar MLA and I was the one who built drainage in this area. And all through my life, I have been at the beck and call of people of R K Nagar and that will help me.



Q: Will there be any political churning after the election?

A: After election, AIADMK will be one. The entire rank and file of the AIADMK will unite under OPS and we will march ahead. The AIADMK under OPS will continue its opposition to the family rule of the DMK and come back to power. We will all unite under OPS. After the election, Sasikala and her family will fade away from politics.
Srinagar: Moderate Hurriyat Conference on Monday said the people of Kashmir are neither against tourism nor supporters of terrorism but are fighting for an "honourable solution" to the Kashmir issue.

The statement by the separatist group headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq came in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Sunday, asking the misguided youth of Kashmir to choose tourism over terrorism for the state's welfare.

"Kashmiris are neither against tourism nor supporters of terrorism. They are also not against development and progress but are seeking an honourable solution to the longstanding Kashmir issue," said the Hurriyat which had called a strike on Sunday to protest against the Prime Minister's visit to the state.

Modi, while inaugurating a tunnel between Kashmir and Jammu on Sunday, had said that "40 years of bloodshed" had not benefitted anyone.

The separatist amalgam said Kashmiris have always welcomed tourists even in the most trying circumstances. "Any articulation cannot change the basic reality of Kashmir being a political issue that needed a political resolution," the Hurriyat said.

"Besides focusing on tunnels and roads, the Prime Minister should focus on the resolution of the basic issue of Kashmir and start a meaningful dialogue process so as to find a just and agreeable solution of the issue in order to end the human tragedy in Jammu and Kashmir," it added.

Hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani reacted sharply to the Prime Minister's remarks, saying these lacked "reasoning" and were "highly painful".

He said, "Distorting facts will not help or change the basic concept of Kashmir issue."

The Hurriyat leader also took a dig at Modi for invoking 'Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat and Insaniyat' and said the slogan has "lost its sheen as it is nothing but words aimed at misleading the international community".
Jabalpur: Referring to factionalism in his party, the AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh today said that nobody can save Congressmen if they fail to change themselves.

"If Congressmen don't improve now, then nobody can save them," Singh told reporters when asked about overall 'groupism' in the party.

"People who have scant respect for the party and try to dominate others, should go in midst of people and work for them. Everybody should be respected in the party," Singh said.

Responding to a query on the Congress' failure to form government in Goa despite emerging the single largest party in Assembly polls, Singh said, "wallets were opened (in Goa), which, we couldn't do."

Singh, who is in-charge of Goa affairs of Congress, said that he has been "wrongly accused of holidaying in Goa and for the failure of the Congress to form government there."

Eventually, the BJP under Manohar Parrikar formed government in the coastal state though the saffron party had finished second behind the Congress in the polls.

A section of leaders in Congress in Goa had blamed Singh for letting Goa slip out of hands of the party which had won 17 seats in the 40-member House, whereas BJP was restricted to 13.

"Had I gone for tourism in Goa, then my party couldn't have improved its tally to 17 seats from 6 and emerged as the single largest party," he said, adding that the Congress had fought for India's Independence and will continue to struggle for the cause of common people.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday pushed plans for a grand alliance of Opposition parties to stop the BJPs surge, and urged the Congress and the Left parties to start working on it ahead of the 2019 Parliamentary elections.

The BJPs victory in UP was mainly because of lack of a Bihar-like mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) there ... If you add the vote percentage of the SP, the Congress and the BSP, it is 10 per cent more than the votes polled by the BJP, he told mediapersons here.

Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, said, A Bihar-like grand alliance is the solution to check the BJPs surge, 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 Bihars 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, and I wish they take an initiative 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.

The Congress emerged victorious in Punjab and as the single largest party in 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.
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, who is set to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday, said that the Ram Temple issue will be brought up for discussion as both leaders are 'partners in Hindutva'.

"It is an informal visit. He is known to me and his guru was very closely known to me. We both are partners in Hindutva. When he was here he had hardly any time so he told me to come to Lucknow. I will certainly discuss Ram temple but this is an unofficial meeting," Swamy said.

Describing Adityanath as a very determined person, the BJP leader further stated that if the Chief Minister makes a promise he will keep it.

Two weeks after taking oath, Adityanath will hold his first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where it is expected that the issue of farmers' loan waiver will be discussed.

"The cabinet meeting will be held in the evening on April 4 at 5 pm today," state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh told the media.

A proposal to waive off farmers' loans had also been sent to the cabinet.

BJP in it manifesto had promised to waive off farmers' loan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also vowed the same during the elections campaign.
In the heart of India broods a subcontinent of darkness, shaped by centuries of crippling traditions, grotesque superstitions and formulated by the arrogance of ignorance. Occasionally, the darkness erupts in a show of primeval violence. The latest episode in this recurrent dynamic was the murderous mob attack on a group of African students in Greater Noida, a suburb of New Delhi. Scores of local toughs pounced upon unprepared Africans, including girls, at a local shopping mall and beat them mercilessly. The proximate cause of the attack was the death of a local student caused by an overdose of drugs allegedly supplied by an African. The police interceded much later, and arrested four or five youngsters. This did little to prevent locals from continuing to threaten Africans and demand that they leave. The African student community in Greater Noida went into shock, stopped attending classes and many bought a ticket home. The local authorities advised African students to stay indoors as roving mobs were reported moving around the town. The most monstrous part of the shameful episode was the local support for the hooligans behind the attack.

In Greater Noida, rumour had it that Africans were not only drug dealers but cannibals as well who steal and feast on children. This kind of highly offensive views on Africans is shared by a large number of Indians, mostly in north India but also in other parts of the country, though perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent. It is this mindset that is responsible for recurring racial attacks on and the abuse of Africans, who are so bitter about their treatment by the average Indian that they claim cows get better treatment here. The notion of an African as a maneating sub-human species is only conceivable in a worldview so steeped in ignorance and primitive fears that it negates the idea of India as an evolved civilisation. It reflects a massive sullen morbidity in the collective Indian consciousness, one that is far gloomier than the once uncharted interiors of the great African continent. In the nations capital, Africans are routinely abused, beaten and robbed in broad daylight. In May last year, a young Congolese was beaten to death near a prominent south Delhi residential area. At around the same time, 12 Africans in Rajpur Khurd village in south Delhi were thrashed mercilessly by locals because of their alleged loose morals.

A few years ago, CCTV cameras at New Delhis main metro station recorded a most distressing scene involving a mob beating three African students while three policemen witnessing the scene walked away. In 2014, a local legislator led a mob to south Delhis Khirki Extension where his men assaulted four African women  two Nigerians and two Ugandans. The politician claimed the African women were on drugs and indulged in prostitution. None of the charges stuck as the government hospital where the injured women were admitted said they had no traces of any drugs in their blood. The legislator got away scot-free. There is no concerted effort by either the government or civil society to counter egregious racial prejudices inherent in our society. This provides an open field to racist aggressors responsible for the spate of brutal attacks on Africans, people with Mongoloid features (including Indians from the Northeast) and other foreign-looking individuals.

In the worldview of the local brute, the outsider is to be despised, abused and assaulted; the outsider is not just different but evil and threatening as well. This is a mindset reminiscent of the Neanderthal slouching through primordial jungles, and not of a modern civilised individual. The problem is that Indian culture has a shadowy core full of festering toxic beliefs. This often infects the best of us. More than 120 years ago, a young Indian lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrived in South Africa with ingrained racist views about black Africans, whom he referred to as kaffirs. The early racist statements by Gandhi havent been forgotten in parts of Africa even today, although as Nelson Mandela explained in a 1995 article: Gandhi must be forgiven those prejudices and judged in the context of the time and circumstances. We are looking here at the young Gandhi, still to become a Mahatma, when he was without any human prejudice save that in favour of truth and justice. Last year in Ghana, a university was forced to take down a statue of Gandhi after widespread local protests over his alleged racism. But Gandhi did not remain a racist, and quickly evolved away from it. The transformation came at a railway station at Pietermaritzburg where he was evicted from a first-class compartment due to his colour on the night of June 7, 1893.

This marked the beginning of his fight against racial oppression. Hermann Kallenbach, an associate of Gandhi, described in a 1937 interview how the two of them began to express solidarity with black people in South Africa: A black man may not use tramcars, so we walked together for miles. A black man may not use a hotel lift and bathroom, so both of us gladly left the use of both. A black man may not eat in the common dining room (so) I said I would not go there myself and we had our food in our rooms. Gandhi, who went on to establish the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, worked with many prominent black South Africans involved in the establishment of the African National Congress that eventually led to the end of apartheid. Several African leaders, including Nelson Mandela, have acknowledged Gandhis role in the fight against racism. The former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, once declared: Mahatma Gandhi will always be remembered as long as free men and those who love freedom and justice live. The dismal reality is that even a century after Gandhis transformation in South Africa, the majority in India remain hostage to discredited values which continue to be passed on to new generations. The darkness is thus perpetuated and taints the entire subcontinent. Though said in a different context, the famous words of Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement in America, are equally relevant in todays Indian context: Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.
The Naga quest for a separate identity independent of India burst into an armed conflict in January 1956 when A.Z. Phizo assumed full control of the Naga National Council (NNC), which was championing the Naga cause. Immediately, the Naga Hills was declared a disturbed area and put under the control of the Indian Army. At that time eminent Indians like Jayaprakash Narayan chastised Jawaharlal Nehru for sending the Army to pacify the Naga Hills. Nehru assured his critics that the Army would be in the area for just a few months. The Indian Army is still deployed in the region and 3 Corps is permanently headquartered in Dimapur. Sadly, the Armys promise to exterminate terrorism might have succeeded in quelling the insurgency but only exacerbated the alienation. A ceasefire has been in place with the dominant NSCN(I-M) since 1997. The Indian government has been engaged in talks with top NSCN leaders since then through senior interlocutors like K. Padmanabhaiah and R.N. Ravi. From time to time news would filter out that the contours of a settlement were visible, but nothing of consequence emerged. On August 3, 2015, the Modi government announced an agreement had been reached but the details would be kept secret. Why the details of the accord must be kept secret is best known to it, and what exactly it is has been the subject of much speculation? But in recent days certain events suggest that something is afoot.

In August 2016 the NIA suddenly stopped opposing bail for the NSCN(I-M)s Anthony Shimray, who was charged with conspiring to procure large quantities of arms from foreign countries. Judge Amar Nath explicitly said: The special public prosecutor for NIA states that he has received an email (from the agency) directing him not to oppose the bail application of Shimray. It is submitted that the bail of the accused is important in the interest of peace negotiations between the NSCN(I-M) and the Government of India. In an interview with a prominent magazine recently, Shimray, while not quite letting the cat out of the bag, has allowed us a peep into it. He said: Actually, we proposed a different constitution. But it (the special constitutional provisions for the state of Nagaland under Article 371A) is almost the same. The Government of India made its fears known to us and we respect it. They said we have recognised your rights, you are different; but we cant afford a different Constitution because there may be demands from (other) states. Asked about the powers that would be conferred on the new state, Shimray said: All kinds of power  judicial, law and order and administrative. In order to protect the security of India, we need to have a joint defence, the Indian Army and the Naga army will (have a) joint defence. That is all in the framework agreement. Naga and India will go as two separate entities. We will be owners of our land and resources.

In a paper published March 30 in a widely-read website devoted to Indias security affairs and maintained by the highly-regarded Maj. Gen. P.K. Mullick (Retd) (http://strategicstudyindia.blogspot.in), Lt. Gen. J.R. Mukherjee (Retd), a former corps commander with extensive experience, knowledge and connections in Assam and the Northeast wrote: Unauthenticated leaks from reliable sources indicate that the points agreed are: a separate Constitution???, flag for Nagaland, separate currency and passports for Nagas. Nagaland would have a UN representative, foreign affairs and defence would be a joint subject and a pan-Naga government to cover all Naga-inhabited areas. This is why Manipur is agitated as it will reduce the state to just the valley. The unabashed misuse of the office of governor following the recent elections to install a BJP-led government leads credence to a certain urgency to implement the deal. At this stage it will be worthwhile to recall history. The Naga Hills was the very last British annexation in the subcontinent. That annexation began with the establishment in March 1878 of the chief administrative centre for the region in Kohima, then a large Angami village. This was completed in 1949 when the new Government of India extended its authority to the Tuensang region. Before this, the Naga tribes were independent of the powers centred either in Assam, Burma or India. This is thus very unlike Jammu and Kashmir, which historically was always an intrinsic part of Indias politico-cultural milieu.

The Naga tribes are ethnically very distinct and separate from the peoples of the Indo-Gangetic plains and peninsular India. According to Hokishe Sema, a former Nagaland chief minister and later Himachal Pradesh governor, it becomes difficult to categorise the Naga tribes. Mr Sema has written in his book Emergence of Nagaland that while its possible to categorise Garos as a Tibetan race, Khasis as Mongoloids with connections with Thais and Cambodians, and Mizos with the Chins of Burma, Naga tribes defy a common nomenclature. He further writes: This is because there are no composite Naga people, and among them are many distinct tribes having more than 30 dialects, with almost every tribe constituting a separate language group. Moreover, their cultural and social setup varies vastly from tribe to tribe. Even their physique and appearance differ from group to group and place to place. The nomenclature Naga has been given to these tribes by outsiders. The lingua franca, Nagami, is a still-evolving pidgin of Assamese and English, with a good bit of Hindi thrown it. Without it, people wouldnt have been able to communicate with each other. Quite clearly, there is no sound basis to claim a common Naga identity, let alone a nationality, but it is there, thanks to our maladroit ways.

Another, possibly the most important factor in fostering a sense of separateness been the rapid spread of Christianity in the Naga Hills. While it must be acknowledged that the missionaries have played a pioneering role in establishing modern health and educational facilities, we should not remain unaware of the role of the Baptist Church in creating a new awareness and sense of oneness among Naga tribes. While the armed forces may have learnt from their experience, our political and bureaucratic leadership never seemed to have learnt anything or worse, forgotten anything. We have since the formation of Nagaland in December 1963 lurched from one political compromise after another. Consequently, the Naga Hills region  Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal  have had the most uncaring and corrupt state governments, with little to show on the ground despite Indias highest per capita development expenditure. Indias long-term security interests, and the steady expansion of Chinese influence in Burma in the areas adjoining our borders, equally require our military and administrative presence in the Naga Hills as it does a general stability. The answers to these can only be found in new and innovative political and administrative arrangements that factor not just the culture of the Naga tribes but also the geography of the Naga Hills. Article 371A of the Indian Constitution does provide some safeguards, but these may not be enough. But a separate constitution, flag, currency, army and membership of the UN might be going a bit too far. Will this not have consequences in other parts of the country, such as Jammu and Kashmir, where a secessionist war is raging, and in states like Tamil Nadu, where regional nationalism is very strong?
The Chief Justice of India, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, says he would prefer that the Ayodhya dispute be settled outside the court, mutually, between the perpetually unyielding Hindu and Muslim petitioners. The apex court is currently studying the Allahabad high courts decision of 2010, which had insinuated that there was in fact a birthplace of Lord Ram as claimed by Hindu militants at the disputed site where the 16th-century Babri Masjid once stood. World-renowned historians and archaeologists have desisted from supporting such claims for want of basic evidence. A progressive judge was earlier dealing with the dispute for years at the Allahabad high court. He retired with his unalloyed belief that matters of faith were essentially non-justiciable in a secular court such as the one he presided over. A secular court must ideally protect everyones religious beliefs as well as the right to remain aloof from all of them. The Ayodhya dispute, therefore, given Indias secular Constitution put together by 85 per cent Hindus in the Constituent Assembly, boils down to a temporal standoff  the rival claims on the land in question between those who say that the mosque was arbitrarily built on what they believe to be the birthplace of Ram and those that want the courts to prevent their forcible eviction from the land on which the mediaeval mosque stood until December 6, 1992.

Justice Khehar has offered to personally mediate the complex case if accepted by the parties. There could be no doubt that the judge has offered his help with good intentions. A range of thoughts cross the mind nevertheless about why the SC would not prefer to explore a legal route and settle the case one way or another as Indias secular law mandates. A rival fact begs discussion. It is not easy to enforce the law in India, with or without the states patronage of rogue parties. Remember that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was carried out as a brazen snub to the SCs authority. Its standing orders forbade any changing of the status of the disputed monument in Ayodhya. Justice Khehar has described the dispute as a sensitive issue. What happens when he retires though, as early as August this year? Will there be a mechanism backed by the SC and the government for him to continue as a mediator whose imprimatur is honoured by all when he finds a solution? And what will we do if the solution, in which he suggests a little bit of give and take, widens into a full-blown assault on law and justice as it did in 1992?

We have after all chosen to accept the route, willy-nilly, of vigilante squads and Hindutva zealots swarming through Nehrus India. What is happening in India is a third or fourth carbon copy of what we have seen elsewhere. UP, for example, is a smudged copy of the moral policing in Iran. . There is a somewhat similar atmosphere in India in which Justice Khehar has offered to stick out his neck on behalf of reason. A less-discussed highlight of the mandir-masjid controversy is that it has created a dialogue between overtly religious parties, both garnering their constituencies with right-wing agendas that leave out Indias open-minded middle ground to worry for the future helplessly. In these days of right-wing ferment, any demand for justice does seem laughably anachronistic. If Justice Khehar can buck the trend, and prevent Ayodhya from mutating into Mathura and Kashi and a larger national inferno, Indias Muslims, as also the overwhelming majority of secular Hindus, should give him a chance. The future cannot be worse than it looks.

By arrangement with Dawn
Quite understandably, the United Nations reacted to last weeks attacks on Nigerian nationals in UPs Greater Noida, near Delhi, saying it hoped the perpetrators behind the attacks are brought to justice. This is mild enough, yet it conveys the message that India hasnt handled things well on the diplomatic front. While the heads of some African missions in India hit out at the government, saying it took no known, sufficient and visible deterrent action over the attacks they termed as xenophobic and racial in nature, India was seen trying to fend off the issue  in what clearly seemed a refusal to accept there was any racial bias. The MEA spokesman spelt out the official India position  that it was a crime on the street in the aftermath of an Indian student dying of a possible drug overdose.

Official Indias state of denial was also reflected in the MEA revealing some key African heads of missions in India had denied they were neither consulted nor attended the meeting of envoys at which the attack on Africans was taken up in New Delhi. On the contrary, India should have been far more proactive in reassuring foreigners living in India that they were safe, and action would be taken against those who took the law into their own hands. The assault on the Nigerians reflected a grave breakdown of law and order, and India cant seem to be defensive. Mob rule in any case is anathema to social peace, and action must be taken against those who carried out the attacks. India should have chosen a more visible public platform to condemn the attacks. Since Manmohan Singhs time as Prime Minister from 2004, India has built up ties with a wider number of African nations rather only those with which it had enjoyed close ties earlier.

A high authority like the external affairs minister should have been seen tending to this event, that has wider ramifications on not only nation-to-nation ties but also the physical fact of foreigners living in India. There was a clear need to put out a morale-boosting statement than trying to justify the unjustifiable. Just as India reacts swiftly to any attack on an Indian anywhere in the world, it must show sufficient empathy when foreigners are mistreated on our soil. It is simply foolish to pretend that theres no racism in India and among Indians as racial prejudices are a universal phenomenon. The quest for justice in the matter of Nigerians being attacked by a mob must not be given up, and not just because Africa is valuable as a mineral-rich continent. We have just not been humane enough to accept that people have been terrorised in India.
Russia is no stranger to terrorism. Terror-related incidents were often linked to the political climate in Russias Islamic territories that were seeking to gain independence after the collapse of the USSR. But this appears not to have been the case of late. Perhaps this is why there seems to be a degree of ambiguity among Russian investigators on the shade of the extremists responsible for the attack on the metro train service in St. Petersburg on Monday, in which about a dozen people were killed and dozens more injured. The police, however, spoke of an Islamic suicide bomber being involved. No group has claimed responsibility. In light of Russian President Vladimir Putins active international involvement in Syria against ISIS fighters  in which fight the Russians have stolen a march over Western governments  it should be no surprise if the attack is traced to elements linked to Islamic State or Daesh.

At least, this may be a plausible hypothesis that the Russian authorities may be working on. If it is indeed Daesh, Moscows diplomatic engagement with Beijing and Islamabad may be stepped up to obtain the backing of the Taliban to ward off the perceived threat from Islamic State. Tehran may also perk up in that event. That might leave New Delhis field of action, and indeed that of Washington, somewhat uncharted. How big a threat Daesh actually is in the AfPak theatre is not wholly clear, but non-Western powers appear to be taking it seriously. Sooner or later, New Delhi too will have to develop an appropriate response.
U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Erica Barks-Ruggles honored three Rwandan women at her residence to celebrate Womens History Month. The three women, selected from nominations submitted by U.S. Embassy Kigalis 40,085 Facebook fans, were recognized with the Embassys third annual Rwandan Women of Courage awards for their exceptional service and leadership.

Since 2007, the U.S. State Department in Washington has bestowed the International Women of Courage Award to inspiring women from around the world who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for human rights, social justice, and womens equality and advancement. In addition, U.S. Embassies in many places also present their own separate award for courage to women in their host countries. This year, the U.S. Embassy in Kigali recognized for the third year inspiring women of Rwanda.

The three winners of the U.S. Embassys 2017 Women of Courage award are Chantal Munanayire, Kabanyana Ketsia, and Gakire Jeanne Francoise.

Chantal Munanayire is a successful businesswoman, and CEO of QUICK & C LTD, an automobile business that specializes in painting. She is the first woman elected to be the President of Rwanda Garage Association. She is a Co-founder of the Mother and Childhood Development Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the socio-economic lives of low income women and children.

Kabanyana Ketsia is the President and Founder of Dorcas Consolation Family or DCF, a local humanitarian NGO which aims to equip and empower vulnerable children. Through DCF, she has worked with sex workers, teaching them how they can abandon prostitution and join cooperatives and support their families. She has demonstrated innovation, creativity and selfless voluntary service to the community at large.

Gakire Jeanne Francoise is a laboratory agent at Cyakabiri Medical Center for more than twenty years. An example to her community and to everyone that physical disability does not define what it means to be successful. Her leadership, strength, and intellectually rigorous work helps to overturn societal perceptions of people with disability and promote greater tolerance.

By honoring women, Ambassador Barks-Ruggles told representatives from the government, business, and NGO sectors who attended the reception, we show the next generation that they too can reach their dreams and change the world.
India has never been unhappier  at least in the recent past. The World Happiness Report, 2017 initiated by the United Nations has put India down to 122 among the 155 countries. A terrible blow to the Indian ego for sure. And as if to rub salt in the wound, in the global happiness index, we are lower than Pakistan and Bangladesh. We dont know where to look. Where did we lose this happiness bug? How come a nation that has a rich heritage of mantras has forgotten about its happiness mantra! Or is there a happiness mantra at all? Although it is encouraging that the body of UN considers happiness to be the proper measure of social progress and that peoples well-being is at the centre of governments efforts. The top 10 countries that rank highly on the index have all the main factors found to support happiness: caring in the hour of crisis, freedom to choose ones own way, generosity, honesty, health and life expectancy, income and good governance. There is no doubt that there are social causes that support happiness but there are personal causes too, and thats where the concept of happiness gets diffused and complex. This is what happened to the US. Economically they are sound but the mental illness has loomed large among its citizens. While China, in spite of its economic growth, has lost its higher place in happiness index. Incidentally, Richard Easterlin from Israel known for the Easterlin Paradox was in charge of the research team of the Chinese chapter. Mr Easterlin has suggested that a higher level of a countrys per capita income did not correlate with greater self-reported levels of happiness. Mr Easterlin found his own concept being materialised in China.

There cant be any economics of happiness guys. You can do a thousand researches based on different criteria of happiness, you will never arrive at a formula like: Ten reasons that make humans happy. Because there arent any; neither 10 nor 10,000. First it is not easy to define happiness as it is not a tangible commodity. Osho has defined it beautifully. He says, whatever is appealing to you makes you happy, whatever doesnt appeal you makes you unhappy. Simple! It is so subjective because every individual is a world in itself. What goes on within his world, no one can tell. How can you make a questionnaire of happiness and draw a conclusion based on the social circumstances? And there is no right or wrong happiness as well. You cannot say to someone, Your happiness is wrong, my happiness is right. Oshos reason for human unhappiness is quite unique  we are unhappy because we are liars. Lies can give only pretensions of happiness; they cannot give you true happiness. True happiness is part of truth. In India godliness is defined as sat-chit-anand. Anand (bliss) is the final, ultimate core. Be true and you will be blissful, be authentic and you will be happy. And that happiness will be uncaused; it will be just a part of your being. Happiness is a function of truth. Whenever there is truth, happiness functions, whenever there is no truth, happiness stops functioning, unhappiness functions.
The activity which registered on the machine was very similar to that which showed during deep sleep. Of course, the question remains  how do we interpret this EEG activity? (Photo: NaturalNews.com)

The concept of death has always intrigued human beings. The debate on what happens after death has been a source of myths which have fascinated people, altered their religious beliefs and challenged the scientific community. But the answer still eludes us.

The subject of near-death or after-death experiences have been featured even in ancient history in some form in all cultures. Books describing the writers near-death experiences have all been best-sellers. Everyone is eager to know what happens once you go there and to go there and come back makes you somebody special!

The scientific community too is just as fascinated as the rest of the world by this after-death phenomenon.

The first large-scale scientific effort to delve deeper into this was made by the University of Southampton (2014) with a mass experiment on more than 2000 people who had suffered cardiac arrest in 15 hospitals in UK, Australia, US. Nearly 40 per cent of the patients who had survived, recalled some awareness during the period of arrest when their hearts stopped. Medically, it is a well-known fact that the brain cannot function for more than 30 seconds to 60 seconds after the heart stops.

Scientifically speaking, the brain is supposed to be a network of electrical circuits with some chemical messengers added. EEG is a test which shows this electrical activity of the brain. After the patient has passed away, it normally stops showing any activity after one to five minutes. In the latest case study published in a Canadian Journal of Neurosciences, continued EEG activity was noticed in one patient till 30 minutes after cardiac and circulatory arrest!

The activity which registered on the machine was very similar to that which showed during deep sleep. Of course, the question remains  how do we interpret this EEG activity? The only correct answer is, nobody knows as yet. Thats because the EEG is an electrical study which shows myriad waves and patterns which have still not been correlated with any specific brain function, even in a live individual. There are too many artefacts or technical interferences from external as well as internal sources. These sources can be as wide-ranging as pulse, heartbeat, muscle movement to even AC in the room. So it becomes hard to explain a single EEG finding. Even if it is an accurate EEG result, doctors may view it as a residual spurt of activity in dying neurons, just like in the ECG.

The way in which this activity can be interpreted is a topic for future research. Also, a single unusual case should always be treated with caution. A startling finding should stimulate us to look for more scientific answers in this direction, but nothing concrete can be inferred at this point.

In the final analysis, the fact remains that human beings are nothing but a bundle of cells which are connected electrically, mechanically and chemically and thats all we know till now.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
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.

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.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Finding the right partner with which you can spend the rest of your life is important. However, what happens when you are unable to do so? Chinese engineer Zheng Jiajia was facing a similar problem. Fortunately for him  being an AI expert  he was able to built his wife by the end of 2016.

According to South China Morning Post, the 31-year-old AI expert Zheng Jiajia built and married a bot, that he named Yingying. This robot can identify Chinese characters and images and can even say a few words. Jiajia hopes to upgrade her so that she can walk and help with the chores.

Interestingly, the pair got married last Friday in a simple ceremony wherein Yingying was adorned with a traditional red scarf over her head. Jiajias family members also attended the wedding.

Jiajia is currently working at Dream Town in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

While the idea of marrying a robot may come across to you as bizarre, experts have been warning of robot-human relationships becoming common for far too long. London-based author of Love and Sex with Robots Dr David Levy recently said that the first marriage will be before, not after 2050 and thanks to Jiajia, his prediction has become true.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
The log files left behind are obvious that the bank was hacked. However, researchers need samples of the missing malware that were on the machines to analyse how the robbers pulled off the heist.

It was like a complete movie scene where some hackers in Russia managed to drain a Russian bank of around eight ATMs with almost a million dollars of rubles in just a single night. The incident happened last year when the bank went through their surveillance cameras and found out the heist being captured on tape.

The Motherboard reported that the Russian bank was looted by a lone culprit who managed to grab a stack of bills worth $100,000 from each of their machines. The worst part  he did not even touch the machine.

The ATM machines were hacked with a malware, which spewed around 40 bills at a time and in less than 20 minutes, a single ATM machine was left dry before the culprit moved on to the next machine in the city for the same action. The entire incident was captured on camera, which the bank contacted the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab for an investigation. The only evidence was the CCTV recording.

The hackers method was a mystery as the bank found absolutely no trace of any malware on the ATMs or their backend networks. There were no signs of intrusion either. However, the only clue that was left behind was two log files that had a log of everything on the machine before the money disappeared. The logs included one line in English, stating Take my money, bitch.

"Our theory is that during the uninstall [of the malware], something went wrong with the malware and that's why the [log] files were left," says Sergey Golovanov, principal security researcher with Kaspersky in Russia, who investigated the heists, reported Motherboard.

Earlier this year too, Kaspersky reported that invisible fileless attacks were used to target more than 140 banks in Europe.

Fileless malware attacks use the existing legitimate tools on a machine so that no malware gets installed on the system, or they use malware that resides only in the infected machine's random-access-memory, rather than on the hard drive, so that the malware leaves no discernible footprint once it's gone, reported Motherboard. The method was used to target two Russian banks that night.

The heist worked in three stages, with the first two using commands that instructed the ATM to withdraw the bills stored in cassettes and place them in line to be dispensed, and the third stage using a command that opened the mouth of the ATM. It was at this point that the command, "Take the money bitch," appeared in the log file, and possibly on the ATM's screen as well to signal the money mule to grab the bills and go, a security analyst from Kaspersky told Motherboard in an interview.

The log files left behind are obvious that the bank was hacked. However, researchers need samples of the missing malware that were on the machines to analyse how the robbers pulled off the heist.

No arrests have been made in the heist yet. Kaspersky thinks the culprits might be connected to one of two previously known gangs of bank hackers, known as and Carbanak.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Brian Acton, co-founder of the popular messaging app WhatsApp, called on IT minister Ravi Shnakar Prasad in late February, to discuss ways in which the firm could contribute to Indias vision for digital commerce.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is working on launching person-to-person payment through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) on its platform within the next six months in India, reported The Ken.

According to an another report by Mashable India, WhatsApp is in talks with the Indian government to add support for UPI, which allows access to multiple bank accounts into a single mobile app to make digital payments.

The move come after Brian Acton, co-founder of the popular messaging app WhatsApp, called on IT minister Ravi Shnakar Prasad in late February, to discuss ways in which the firm could contribute to Indias vision for digital commerce.

At present, over 200 million people use WhatsApp across the country.

Acton said: "India is a very important country for us, and we're proud to have 200 million people who use WhatsApp to connect with their friends, family and communities.

We build every WhatsApp feature to be simple, reliable, and secure, and this vision is in line with what Digital India promises to achieve.

WhatsApp, which particularly does not own any team in the country, is looking to hire a Digital Transactions Lead to spearhead its digital transaction initiative in the country, according to Kens report.

With the kind of popularity WhatsApp has among the Indian citizens, the move to incorporate UPI mode in the messaging app is believed to push digital transaction to another level, especially after demonitisation.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
A pro-ISIS group on Monday released a kill list with names and addresses of over 8000 Americans on it, including that of US president Donald Trump.

The list which was posted in a viral video by United Cyber Caliphate contains the name and addresses of 8,786 individuals, reported Daily Mail.

The Caliphate in a video message to lone wolf attackers said, 'Kill them wherever you find them.' Similarly, they also threatened the United States and President Trump.

Pointing out the message to the United States and to President Donald Trump, the video said: Know that we continue to wage war against you. Know that your counter attacks only make us stronger. The UCC will start a new step in this war against you. So expect us soon Insha Allah!

However, this isnt the first time that the pro-ISIS group has released a kill list, with this now becoming a common practice for the group.

United Cyber Caliphate was formed in April 2016.

In April last year 43 Americans with ties to government in the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and departments of defense, energy, and commerce were also named by the group.

That list included only phone numbers and zip codes, however, and not specific addresses like the most recent one released over the weekend.

The ISIS group, earlier on social media network Telegram had warned USA stating that You are our primary goal.

It had said in a message, Your system failed to tackle our attacks. Now we will crush you again.

The same month they also released a list of 3,600 New York citizens to target.
Washington: The US has ruled that being a simple computer programmer would no longer qualify as a specialist profession, which is a must for the issue of a H-1B work visa, in a move that could have far reaching implications for thousands of Indians applying for such a visa.

The ruling reverses the US' more than decades and a half old guidelines, that were issued in the context of addressing the new millennium needs.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has ruled that an entry level computer programmer position would not generally qualify as a position in a "specialty occupation".

The clarification on what constitutes a "specialty occupation" superseding and rescinding its previous guidelines of December 22,2000 was issued by the USCIS through a new policy memorandum on March 31.

The move could have far reaching implications on thousands of Indians applying for H-1B work visas for the next fiscal beginning October 1, 2017, the process for which started yesterday.

Issued just one business day before the USCIS started accepting H-1B visa petitions, the policy memorandum titled 'Rescission of the December 22, 2000 Guidance memo on H1B computer related positions,' has sent shocked waves across the companies and immigration attorneys, as their application was based on the 2000 guidelines on what constitutes a specialty occupation.

"The fact that a person may be employed as a computer programmer and may use information technology skills and knowledge to help an enterprise achieve its goals in the course of his or her job is not sufficient to establish the position as a specialty occupation," the USCIS Policy Memorandum ruled.

"Thus, a petitioner may not rely solely on the (current version of the) Handbook (that describes specialty occupation) to meet its burden when seeking to sponsor a beneficiary for a computer programmer position.

Instead, a petitioner must provide other evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation," the memorandum said.

According to the USCIS, the December 22, 2000 memorandum entitled 'Guidance memo on H-1B computer related positions' is not an accurate articulation of current agency policy.

"USCIS is rescinding it to prevent inconsistencies in H-1B and H-1B1 adjudications between the three service centers that currently adjudicate H-1B petitions," it said.

The USCIS argued that the 2000 memorandum was based on 1998-1999 and 2000-01 editions of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is now obsolete.

The 2000 memorandum, it said, did not accurately portray essential information from the Handbook that recognised that some computer programmers qualify for these jobs with only "2-year degrees."

While the memorandum did mention beneficiaries with "2-year" degrees, it incorrectly described them as "strictly involving the entering or review of code for an employer whose business is not computer related."

The Handbook did not support such a statement, it said. As such, "it is improper to conclude based on this information that the USCIS would "generally consider the position of programmer to qualify as a specialty occupation," the memorandum told USCIS personnel involved in adjudication of H-1B applications and petitions.

The Bureau of Labour Statistics in its Occupational Outlook Handbook identifies 10 different kinds of computer and information technology (IT) occupation.

Topping the list is computer and information research scientists with a doctoral or professional degree, who normally invent and design new approaches to computing technology and find innovative uses for existing technology.

They study and solve complex problems in computing for business, medicine, science, and other fields. 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.

In 2015 their median salary was USD 110,000. It is followed by Computer network architects (whose median salary in 2015 was USD 100,000), Computer programmer (USD 79,530), Computer support specialist (USD 51,000).

The median salary for Computer systems analysts was USD 85,500 followed by Database Administrators (USD 81,000), Information Security Analysts (USD 90,000), network and computer systems administrators (USD 77,000), Software developers (USD 100,000) and web developers (USD 65,000).
Tichelman was released after serving about half her sentence, with time off for good behavior. (Representational Image)

Santa Cruz, (California): Federal immigration officials have detained a California prostitute after she completed a jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the accidental heroin overdose of a Google executive she was entertaining aboard his yacht.

Santa Cruz sheriff's officials confirmed Monday that they turned over 30-year-old Alix Tichelman to the custody of Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the morning she completed her sentence and was released from jail on March 29.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel, citing court records, says (https://tinyurl.com/lggnv4w ) Tichelman holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada. An ICE spokesman didn't return a call Monday seeking federal custody information.

A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge in 2015 sentenced Tichelman to five years in prison after she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs. Counting time served before her guilty plea, Tichelman was released after serving about half her sentence, with time off for good behavior.

In November 2013, Tichelman injected Forrest Timothy Hayes with heroin, then left without seeking help when he passed out on the yacht, authorities say. Hayes had hired Tichelman several times before, and they were doing drugs and having sex the night he died, authorities said.

The high-end call girl was arrested eight months after Hayes' death. Santa Cruz police said a surveillance video at the Santa Cruz harbor showed the woman gather her belongings, casually step over Hayes' body, finish a glass of wine and lower a blind before leaving the yacht the night before the body was discovered.

The video also showed Tichelman panicking and attempting to revive Hayes as he slipped into unconsciousness before leaving the yacht, Santa Cruz Deputy District Attorney Rafael Vazquez said.

Santa Cruz Sheriff Sgt. Chris Clark said ICE agents appeared at the Northern California jail to detain Tichelman on her release. Clark said sheriff officials declined to honor an ICE request to hold Tichelman for two days after her release date.

Clark said this is the 5th time immigration enforcement agents have appeared at the Santa Cruz County jail this year to detain an inmate being released.
Washington: A high school student from New Jersey, Ziad Ahmed, got accepted into the prestigious Stanford University after he wrote #BlackLivesMatter 100 times on his application form when asked What matters to you, and why?

The news has drawn appreciation for Ziad, who is a Bangladeshi-American, and also raised quite a few eyebrows, the BBC reported.

Everyone who received your application was inspired by your passion, determination, accomplishments, and heart, the acceptance letter read. You are, quite simply, a fantastic match with Stanford. You will bring something original and extraordinary to our campus.

Mr Ahmed told MIC website he was stunned to be accepted. I didnt think I would get admitted to Stanford ... its quite refreshing to see they view my unapologetic activism as an asset.

In 2016 he interned for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. He was also invited to the White House under Barack Obamas administration and is involved in combating racial stereotypes, as the founder of teen organisation Redey.

We live in a world where we are suffocated by societal expectations, he said, adding he had been labelled more times than a GMO (genetically modified product). He has also been accepted to Yale University and Princeton University.

While there were plenty of congratulations for the teenager, one accused him of virtue signalling. Another said a real (Black Lives Matter) ally wouldve wrote something poignant instead of this ... attempt to look progressive.
For nearly half a century, Zimbabwe has been dealing with the deadliest legacy of war  landmines. Between 1970 and 1980, during Zimbabwes war for independence, hundreds of thousands, by some estimates even over a million of these indiscriminate killers were sown along Zimbabwes border with Mozambique to prevent cross-border raids into Zimbabwe by guerilla fighters.

By the time the war ended in 1980, Zimbabwe was peppered with very dense, unfenced minefields, about 240 linear kilometers of them. Even to this day, Zimbabwe is one of the most highly mine-impacted countries in the world, its danger zone booby-trapped with as many as 5,500 landmines per linear kilometer.

Since 1980, more than 1,500 Zimbabwean people and 120,000 livestock have been killed in landmine accidents. Nonetheless, the need for arable land is so great in this area that farmers and pastorals have attempted to clear fields and pastures of landmines on their own. And still people die in landmine explosions, even as they go about their daily work.

Over the years, the United States, along with numerous NGOs and governments, has sponsored mine-clearance operations in Zimbabwe. Through the State Departments Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, a part of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, the United States government has provided more than $7.6 million for humanitarian demining in Zimbabwe just since 2012.

One of the organizations sponsored by the United States for this work is the HALO Trust, a British - American non-profit, non-governmental organization which removes war materiel in post-conflict areas. Under U.S. sponsorship, the HALO Trust, is demining the minefields in northeastern Zimbabwe. Between 2013 and the end of 2015, the HALO Trust has removed over 10,000 landmines in Zimbabwe.

And as the land is cleared of danger, the people move back to till and plant long-abandoned fields and to graze their cattle. They rebuild homes and cattle corrals. At last, they can collect firewood in the forest or water from a spring, take their produce to the market and send their children to school without fear.

In Zimbabwe, assistance from the United States has made a tangible difference in enabling local communities to successfully make a living on their own land.
Brussels: The regime of Bashar al-Assad bears "primary responsibility" for a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in Syria, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said on Tuesday.

"Today the news is awful," Mogherini said in an interview with media organisations in Brussels on the sidelines of a EU-UN conference that was meant to focus on the post-conflict situation in Syria.

"But this is a dramatic reminder that the situation on the ground continues to be dramatic in many parts of Syria," Mogherini said.

"Obviously there is a primary responsibility there of the regime because it has responsibility of protecting its people not attacking its people."

The EU and the UN are co-chairing a two-day conference to follow up on a London meeting last year which raised USD 11 billion (10 billion euros) for aid programmes to help the devastated country.

It is also looking at "post-agreement assistance" once troubled UN-backed peace talks move forward, the EU said.

Former Italian foreign minister Mogherini admitted it was surreal" to be talking about the post-conflict situation but said the world had to plan ahead.

"I know it can sound surreal to start planning peace when in middle of conflict but... you hear this more than anything else, they want peace and want to get out of this terrible situation," she said.

The conference aimed to keep funding at the level of the London conference for three years and check if London pledges have been delivered on.

"The message is on the human side we do not want to see the human support for Syria and Syrians diminishing," she said.
Hammond later said that May's goal of reducing immigration to below 100,000 people per year would not have an adverse affect on Indian skilled workers and students seeking to go to Britain. (Photo: AP)

London: India and Britain on Tuesday talked up their prospects of developing a new trading relationship, as their finance ministers met to prepare for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

British finance minister Philip Hammond flew in to New Delhi for talks with Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley, days after Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the formal start of the Brexit process.

Hammond played down the risks of a so-called "hard Brexit", in which Britain would lose access to the markets of the bloc's other 27 nations if the two sides cannot reach a consensus deal within a two-year deadline.

"We have made the decision that we will not be part of the structure of the European Union, but we've also made very clear that we want to negotiate the maximum possible open trade relationship with the European Union," Hammond told a news conference after a joint economic and financial dialogue.

"We hope to be able to negotiate a deep and special relationship with the European Union that will allow us to go on trading and investing in each other's economy, but at the same time allow us to rebuild our relationships with our partners and allies around the world."

May received a cool reception on her first visit to India last November+ , with Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressing the importance not only of trade but also of freedom of movement for his country's skilled workers.

Hammond later told UK journalists that May's goal of reducing immigration to below 100,000 people per year would not have an adverse affect on Indian skilled workers and students seeking to go to Britain.

That was a long-term target, he said: "We know that our economy today has a significant dependence on migrant labour and will continue to do so for some time to come."

Sixty percent of work visas were granted by Britain to Indian nationals - more than all other countries combined - while the number of Indians studying in the UK was rising again after a crackdown on bogus courses, he added.

HUGE ASPIRATION

In India, the world's fastest-growing large economy with a population of 1.3 billion, Britain has a massive market opportunity - but also a counterpart not known for favouring free trade.

Still, Jaitley struck a positive note by saying, "The United Kingdom, post-Brexit, is looking at a different level of relationship with India. And there's a huge aspiration in India itself also to add to and improve on this relationship."
Djalilov's 'genetic trace' was also found on a bag with the second bomb found at a different station. (Photo: AP)

Moscow: Russia's Investigative Committee on Tuesday named the attacker behind Saint Petersburg metro blast as 22-year-old Akbarjon Djalilov, adding that he had also planted a second bomb that was defused by the authorities.

"The investigation identified the man who set off the bomb in the carriage of the Saint Petersburg metro. It was Akbarjon Djalilov," a statement by the committee said, adding that Djalilov's "genetic trace" was also found on a bag with the second bomb found at a different station.
President Vladimir Putin placed a bouquet of red flowers at the entrance to the station in the late evening (Photo: AP)

Saint Petersburg: Eleven people were killed and dozens more injured as an explosion rocked the Saint Petersburg metro on Monday, in what Russian authorities described as an "act of terror".

Authorities shut down the metro system in Russia's second city for several hours as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second metro station.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it was probing an "act of terror" but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

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.

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.

As the city prepared to mark three days of mourning, President Vladimir Putin placed a bouquet of red flowers at the entrance to the station in the late evening hours, after chairing a meeting of officials from the FSB intelligence agency, rescuers and the interior ministry.

Anti-terror authorities said in a statement to Russian news agencies that the toll had risen to 11 dead and 45 injured.

"I will be afraid to take the metro now," said Maria Ilyina, 30, standing near the station, where a growing pile of flowers has been left in tribute to the victims.

"Before we thought that this would not come to Saint Petersburg -- now our city is under threat." Pensioner Vyacheslav Veselov told AFP he had seen four bodies at the station.

"A station attendant in tears called on the men to help carry the bodies," he said.

The blast occurred in a train carriage as it was travelling between the Technological Institute and Vosstaniya

Square stations at 2:40 pm (1140 GMT), said anti-terrorist committee (NAK) spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky. The NAK committee later confirmed security services had found another explosive device at the Vosstaniya Square metro

station. This device did not explode and was immediately "neutralised."

The Moscow metro tweeted that it was "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations, while NAK said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that security was being stepped up at transportation hubs and crowded spots across the country.

Putin, who had been in Saint Petersburg holding a meeting at his Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to the wounded and to the loved ones of those killed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the explosion as a "barbaric act," while US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice," the White House said in a statement about the phone call.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that the attack bore all the hallmarks of an attack by the Syrian regime. (Photo: AP)

London: Britain on Tuesday condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria, saying it bore "all the hallmarks" of action by government forces and calling for those responsible to be "held to account".

"Horrific reports of chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria. Incident must be investigated and perpetrators held to account," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In a separate statement, he added: "This bears all the hallmarks of an attack by the regime, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons".

"If this is shown to be the work of the regime, it is further evidence of the atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian people over six years of appalling conflict," he said.

At least 58 people were killed and dozens left with breathing problems after the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun, which also caused symptoms such as vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the incident and the EU has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bears "primary responsibility" for the incident.

A senior Syrian security source, however, said that the attack was "a false accusation". Britain is co-hosting a Syria donors' conference in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Johnson said he hoped it "steps up international assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict".

Syria agreed in a landmark 2013 deal to hand over its previously undeclared stock of chemical weapons for destruction by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in the civil war, which has killed 310,000 people since March 2011.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in the central province of Idlib, had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. (Photo: Representational/AP)

Beirut: At least 58 civilians, including two children, were killed in an air strike early on Tuesday that released "toxic gas" on a town in northwest Syria, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in the central province of Idlib, had died from suffocation and the effects of the gas. It said that the dead include 11 children and says the toll is likely to climb further because of the large number of injured.

The Britain-based monitoring group was unable to confirm the nature of the substance, however.

Syria's opposition National Coalition accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of the attack and demanded a UN investigation.

"The National Coalition demands the Security Council convene an emergency session..., open an immediate investigation and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable," the body said in a statement.

Syrian opposition activists described the attack as among the worst poison gas attacks in the country's six-year civil war. They claimed it was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

There was no immediate comment by Syrian or Russian officials or any international agency on the attack.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honour their ancestors by burning joss sticks and paper money. (Photo: AP)

Beijing: A total of 10 people were killed and several others injured in 3,351 fire accidents during China's traditional festival Tomb-Sweeping Day, the government said on Tuesday.

During the three-day holiday which ended today, police responded to 8,164 fire alarms, rescuing 745 people in danger, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honour their ancestors by burning joss sticks and paper money. Authorities sent more than 14,000 inspection teams and located over 73,000 hidden dangers of fire during the period, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 17,000 vehicles and 92,000 fire-fighters were sent to put out fire. Nearly 14.56 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honour their deceased relatives during the holiday, the ministry said.
Hua Chunying said that China was deeply shocked by the terror attack. (Photo: AP)

Beijing: China on Tuesday strongly condemned the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in Russia that killed 14 people and expressed willingness to work with the country to tackle the threat of terrorism.

"China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the terrorist attack. China extends profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Calling terrorism a common enemy of the mankind, Hua said China is willing to work with Russia and the international community to tackle the threat and challenges of terrorism to maintain world peace and security, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city yesterday, killing 14 people and wounding about 40. The security services in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday said the suicide bomber was from the Central Asian country.
Islamabad: Iran on Tuesday said it has reservations on the appointment of Pakistans former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, warning it may impact the unity among Muslim countries.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted the countrys 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, Dawn newspaper quoted the envoy as saying.

He also said Pakistan had contacted Tehran before issuing the no-objection certificate to the retired general to head the Saudi-led alliance.

He said Tehran had informed Islamabad 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 Pakistans foreign policy, and whether it was fully sanctioned by parliament, the report said.

Pakistan had initially found itself in the crosshairs 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.

Raheels appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists and intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the former army chief to join a foreign military alliance after retirement.

The coalition was envisaged 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 Arabias arch rival 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.
A 23-year-old youth hailing from Bengaluru committed suicide on Monday by jumping from the 19th floor of Taj Lands End Hotel in citys Bandra neighbourhood. He posted the act on Facebook Live.



Initial investigations revealed that the victim, Arjun Bhardwaj, was the son of a Bengaluru-based businessman. The youth was a student at a prominent college in Mumbai.



The incident was reported at 6.20 pm when the hotel staff found him in a pool of blood. He was rushed to Lilavati Hospital but was declared brought dead.



The Mumbai police have recovered a suicide note which indicates that he was disturbed. He apologised for the act before jumping from the window that he had broken earlier.



In a one minute and 43 seconds long video, he is heard describing the suicide plan. Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Deven Bharti is supervising the investigation being conducted by the Bandra police station.



Bharti appealed to the media not to broadcast the video as clips from Facebook Live went viral on WhatsApp. "It's disturbing and can have a huge impact on young minds," he said.



Police managed to block the video after speaking to FB officials. Police have recovered a set of suicide notes from the hotel room. The victims cellphone is being examined.



The police have contacted his family which is arriving in Mumbai to claim the body.




After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings  though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.



Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance




The government, therefore, urges that no "artificial controversy" should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the external affairs ministry said in a press release. Reacting sharply, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju asked China not to interfere in India's internal affairs and asserted that New Delhi respects the "One-China" policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.



He said, "There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. "Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs."



India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate, the minister told reporters. The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the border state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and is a "full-fledged state".



"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said. Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that the issue will be soon resolved. "I appeal to China not to rake up the Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state can't be questioned," he said.



During his visit to the northeastern state, the Dalai Lama will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdila and other areas. Rijiju said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state and will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement. "As a democratic country, India can't interfere in religious affairs of any community," he added.



The Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and is making arrangements for his stay there, Rijiju said, adding the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijiju's) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.



The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009. He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon Line which have been closed since 1962.



"The trading points were beneficial. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China," he said. The external affairs ministry also referred to the Dalai Lama's website which mentions that he has visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions.



India today hit out at China over its objection to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh, saying no "artificial controversy" should be created around the visit and asked Beijing not to interfere in its internal affairs.China has kept a close watch ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit, starting today, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India against the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, saying it will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.However, unfazed by the Chinese warning, India asserted, "No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India." It also reiterated the government's position that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader who is deeply respected by the Indian people.
An Army jawan who had been arrested yesterday after two hand grenades were recovered from his baggage at the International Airport here was today granted interim bail by a local court which handed him to the army authorities.



Bhopal Mukhiya was arrested at the Srinagar International Airport while he was on his way to catch a flight to Delhi yesterday.



Granting interim bail to the accused, the court in Budgam handed over Mukhiya to army authorities, who had moved an application to this effect, officials said.



The army authorities have informed the court that Mukhiya's custody was required by them for investigating the case, they added.



The court has listed the case for next hearing on April 6.



The soldier, who is posted with 17 JAK Rifles at Boniyar in Uri sector of Baramulla district, was arrested yesterday after security officials found two hand grenades in his baggage during screening at the main gate of the airport.



Mukhiya reportedly told the security officials that a superior officer had handed over the grenades to him with the instructions to hand it over to a person at Delhi airport.



The security officials are likely to question the officer named by the accused soldier in connection with the recovery of grenades, the officials said.



Army officials refused to comment on the developments in the case saying the investigation was underway.



Yesterday, a defence spokesman said action as per the due process of law would be taken.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two persons, one of them an engineering graduate, as part of its recent operation against 500 shell companies suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money.



The agency identified the two as G D Reddy and K Liakath Ali. It said they have been arrested from Bengaluru and Chennai respectively under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as part of its follow-up action against shell companies.



It has also frozen bank deposits worth Rs 20 crore in different accounts in the country as part of the operation.



The ED had conducted nation-wide raids on April 1 in 16 states with sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down allegedly dubious and suspicious firms which the agency believes are the "backbone" of black money in the country.



The agency said Reddy is an engineering graduate in industrial production in Bengaluru and "had masterminded floating of more than 20 shell companies, obtained loan by dubious means and defrauded the United Bank of India and other banks to the tune of more than Rs 70 crore by submitting forged/fake documents and also by impersonating".



It said there are three PMLA cases registered against Reddy, a "wilful defaulter" of loans, who had allegedly floated shell firms in India and Dubai.



He has now been sent to two days of ED custody by a special court.



In the second case in Chennai, Ali was arrested for "remitting foreign exchange through shell companies using fake documents".



He was involved in cheating the Indian Bank in Chennai using eight shell companies and remitted USD 11,778,120 (about Rs 78 crore) out of India against forged bill of entries without affecting any actual imports, it said.



"On the basis of the alert triggered by the Indian Bank, the Chennai Customs through their in-house verification confirmed the fabrication of the bills of entry and referred the matter to ED for detailed investigation following which an FIR was also registered by the Chennai City Police and action under PMLA was also initiated," it said.



The ED said Ali had made outward remittances of over Rs 18 crore "without any actual imports into India, causing depletion of precious foreign exchange to the country."



Ali has now been sent to the Central jail in Puzhal in Chennai after he was produced before a special court.



On April 1, ED teams had visited at least 110 locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar and Indore besides some in Haryana.



The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.



Shell companies are firms set up with nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies and no dividend income or high amount of cash-in-hand.



Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.



The agency said further probe in these cases is "in progress".




"Multiple entry tourist and business visas for a period of five years will now be available to nationals of most of the countries. With effect from April 1, e-visa is sub-divided into 3 categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e- medical visa," she said. The e-visa facility has now been extended to nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports.





The facility is also extended to Cochin, Goa and Mangalore sea ports, which will benefit cruise tourism. Soon, Mumbai and Chennai sea ports will be included in the list, she added. "Upon urgent requests, business visa and medical visa will be granted within 48 hours of application," one of the tweets went.





As part of the plan, separate immigration counters and facilitation desks to assist medical tourists in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will be coming up. The move assumes significance as India is taking steps to boost its services trade, which has been estimated at about USD 270 billion.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said India has started implementing the liberalised visa regime with effect from April 1, a move that will help boost tourism and services trade. In a series of tweets, she said the Cabinet on November 30 last year approved various measures for such relaxation of rules which are being implemented from April 1 this year.
Uncertainty on the visa front is the main challenge for India's Information Technology sector in 2017-18 but it's going to be business as usual otherwise, said industry veteran Kris Gopalakrishnan.



"The challenge mainly arises because of uncertainties on the visa front (emanating from US)," the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys told PTI in an interview, discussing prospects of IT industry in the new financial year.



"That's one challenge I see. I don't see anything particularly different this year except for the visa issue. Everything points to a steady growth for the industry," said the former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry.



"If the global GDP grows around 2-3 per cent, (global) IT investment will grow around 3-5 per cent and Indian IT will grow about 4-5 per cent higher than that. So, it (Indian IT industry) will grow around 9-10 per cent (in 2017-18)."



He said the current fiscal is not going to be the most challenging for the IT industry, noting the financial crisis in 2008 had brought the growth rate to almost zero then.



In the era of digitisation, Indian companies are moving in that space, where new firms are also emerging. Clients and the industry are increasing investments into some of the new technologies, he said.



Hiring in the IT sector has come down because of slower growth rate, and increasing automation on some types of services such as infrastructure management and testing, he said.



On salaries of entry-level IT engineers not seeing hike in recent years, Gopalakrishnan said it's a function of supply and demand, and the industry had a large supply and so the salaries are modestly growing.



He said Indian IT engineers also need to move into user industries such as retail manufacturing, healthcare and financial services which require larges-scale IT deployment.



They also need to look at opportunities such as those in product companies and firms providing services on the cloud which require "unique and specialised skills".



He did not agree with perception in some quarters that India is "pleading" with the US on the visa issue.



"This is a trade issue. We have certain strengths which we need to leverage. Services is our strength. Having said that, we need to look at new models, we need to look at how the industry can transform. I see this happening. Lot more US companies are setting up IT operations in India. So, the companies are shifting to India," Gopalakrishnan said.



There have been apprehensions that under the new administration in US, there may be a clamp down on H1B visas which can hurt Indian IT industry. The US is the largest market for Indian IT-ITes firms.



H1-B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies, including those from India, depend on it for hiring tens of thousands of employees each year.
Punjab Police today denied reports that actress Rakhi Sawant, against whom a local court has issued arrest warrant for her alleged objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, has been arrested, saying she was not found at her address in Mumbai.



"Rakhi Sawant has not been arrested. Warrant of arrest has been issued against her by the court... A police team from Ludhiana went to Mumbai to execute the warrant, but she has not been arrested," Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said here.



Ludhiana DCP Dhruman Nimbley said, "A police team from Ludhiana had gone to Mumbai to execute a warrant issued by a court here. However, she was not found at the given address. She has not been arrested yet."



He said police will report the matter to the court.



The warrant was issued by a local court on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of the Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year.



Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing of the case on March 9.

On the court's instruction, a two member team of Ludhiana police had left for Mumbai with arrest warrants on Sunday.



The next hearing of the case was fixed for April 10.
Setting a three-month deadline to complete ongoing development works in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today issued a slew of directions to authorities to spruce up Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.



In his first meeting to review the ongoing projects in Varanasi, the Chief Minister instructed that work should be taken up on a war footing so that they are visible on the ground in three months' time. Aditynath said he will himself visit the temple town in May for an inspection, officials said.



The chief minister asked the officials to take necessary steps for giving a facelift to the area around the renowned Kashi Vishwanath temple.



Cautioning officials against any laxity, Adityanath said the progress of the projects in the city does not match the allocation of the funds by the central government, they said.



He suggested setting up a cow shelter in Varanasi on the lines of Kanha Upvan in Lucknow. The shelter home for cows and stray animals is run by an NGO supported by Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav.

Reviewing the projects in power, urban development, tourism, PWD, housing and urban planning, irrigation, Varanasi Development Authority and NHAI, the Chief Minister instructed senior officials to work out the problems that are delaying their completion.



He said work on bridges must be completed in a fixed time frame and Railways department's help must be sought in case of pending overbridges.



He said Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna will inspect the works soon.

During the recent Assembly election campaign, Modi's rivals had alleged that he had failed to deliver on his 2014 poll promise of developing Varanasi on the pattern of Japanese city of Kyoto. The BJP had alleged that the then Samjwadi Party government was hindering development of the district.



To address the problem of traffic snarls, Aditynath today gave his nod for a multi-level parking and four laning of roads. He expressed his unhappiness over digging of roads for various works and then leaving them unattended.



He sought a detailed project reports for two-lane road on Panchkosi Marg and viability of multi-storey building for people residing around railway tracks, the officials said.



The Chief Minister took serious note of the potable water shortage in the city and ordered an inquiry into the works of Jal Nigam.


Energizer Hard Case, the mobile brand owned by the US-headquartered manufacturer of battery including Eveready brand, has announced the entry into Indian market within 40 days.



In an interaction with DH, Energizer Hard Case South Asia and South East Asia Business Development Director Manish Prasad said the company is here to take on the competition from Chinese and Indian mobile manufacturers.



We have a plan to come up with three variants of Energizer Hard Case products with Android operating system. We will have 5.3-inch Energy E520LTE and 5.5-inch Energizer E550LTE smartphones. Also, there is rugged phone IP68, he said.



The water- and dust-resistant, the Energizer Hard Case mobile phones are equipped with a powerful battery that will provide 20 hours of power backup. Energizer phones are mainly intended for professionals in the building sector, transport, supply chain and outdoor craftsmen.



Apart from phones, Energizer Hard Case is also looking at penetrating Indias growing mobile accessories market. We have lined up 50 product variants in six categories. Since the Indian mobile market is registering exponential growth, we expect more scope for selling accessories in the country, he said.



According to IDC statistics, the Indian mobile market saw 109.1 million units of smartphones being shipped for all of 2016, and this was a modest 5.2% annual growth. Overall, 136.1 million units of feature phones were shipped in 2016.



Prasad said the company will invest $1 million as part of its marketing and brand building initiatives.We have tied up with online channels like Snapdeal and Amazon in the initial phase. Also, leading offline players will also become partners. We will have our product launch in New Delhi and Bengaluru, he said.



DH News Service

Energizer Hard Case has tied up with a national distributor. In the second year, we will go for opening our own stores to display products. On manufacturing, we are right now opting for importing products from China. Once we achieve a certain volume, we will think of being a part of Make in India, he said.



According to recent IDC data, Indian companies lost the top five slot to Chinese companies in the Indian mobile market. Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo are the leading players along with South Korean company Samsung.
Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis said that task force committee meeting would convened immediately to decide on stringent sections against the illegal sand miners.



Speaking to reporters, the deputy commissioner said that there has been no set back. The only determination before the administration is to completely curb the illegal sand mining activities in the district. The overall support received from all sections of the society has enhanced the confidence and boosted the determination, she said. The support has poured in irrespective of party affiliations. The administration is all set to look way forward embarking over the plans to put an end to the illegal activities.



She said the police have promised all cooperation and the culprits will be tackled effectively by the department. She also expressed her ignorance over the medico legal case filed by the Bhaskar Sherigar, who was thrashed by the deputy commissioners gunman. The investigation is underway and everyone involved would be booked under law, she said.



Meanwhile the zilla panchayat strongly condemned the attack and said the culprits should be arrested at the earliest. Zilla panchayat president Dinaker Babu said that sand mafia should be curbed at any cost. The house will extend all support. He said the failure of the government to put forth suitable sand policy has resulted in the dreadful incident. Repeated complaints over the illegal sand mining forced the officers to take the measure, which is laudable, he said.



Member Babu Shetty said the checkposts set up across the border areas adjoining Bhatkal and Hosnagar have failed to curb the transportation of sand illegally.


Adding to the kitty of Rs 40,000 crore, National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF), India and the UK on Tuesday agreed to set up 240 million (approximately Rs 2,000 crore) fund to finance green energy.



The fund will help boost Indias rapidly growing energy sector. Both countries will contribute 120 million each to the fund, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, after the India-UK Financial Dialogue. The fund ultimately aims at raising 500 million.



The Green Growth Equity Fund will be a sub-fund of NIIF. Our first major step in the fund has been taken and there is going to be a sub-fund. With the NIIF participating in it, this is going to be a Green Growth Equity Fund where both are going to make a contribution of 120 million and this will be financing the energy needs in India, Jaitley said.



Progress will be accelerated by starting the process of appointing a fund manager now with early market engagement via the publication of a blueprint with the aim to identify additional and complementary sectors for fund investments, a joint statement, after the meeting between Jaitley and British finance minister Philip Hammond, said.



This was Hammonds first visit to India after British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the start of Brexit process. The two leaders also discussed the trade process after Brexit.



The two finance ministers also discussed efforts to make the Indian rupee more freely tradable in the world market and the proposal of National Highways Authority of India to issue masala bonds in London in next few months.

DH News Service



Investment is a particularly important part of this economic and commercial partnership. The UK and India reaffirmed non-discriminatory treatment of foreign investors and committed to ensure an environment in which investors can continue to invest with confidence. The UK and India agreed to work together swiftly to encourage sustainable bilateral investment that benefits both countries, including through the Joint Working Group, the Joint statement said.



They also welcomed IREDAs plans to issue a green bond in London and list their masala bonds on the London Stock Exchange within six months.
True to its epithet of being an Education Hub, two universities from Mysuru have figured in the list of top 100 institutions in the country.



As per a survey conducted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), a part of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, University of Mysore (UoM) secured the 36th rank in the universities category while Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara University (JSS University) bagged the 45th rank. In the overall institutions category, UoM stands in the 57th position while JSS University is in the 74th place.



In-charge UoM Vice Chancellor Dayananda Mane said that it was a moment of satisfaction as the NIRF declared the 36th rank for the varsity in the university category from among 774 universities in India which had applied in the year after celebrating the centenary.



Mane told reporters that UoM is also ranked 57th in the overall category from among 3,300 institutions.



Lamenting about not being able to participate in the ranking exercise last year due to some technical problems, he said now the target is to secure a place in the top 10 list and later compete with international institutions. In fact, when the ratings of the Karnataka State Universities Rating Framework (KSURF) were released last week, we were disappointed as UoM did not figure in the list, he said.



Lingaraja Gandhi, Director of UoMs Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board (PMEB), who acted as the nodal officer for providing data for the ranking surveys said that the UoM scored well in three of the main five parameters namely, graduation outcome (93.17 marks); outreach and inclusivity (53.51); and teaching and learning resources (41.59). Even though UoM is doing well in the other two parameters of research and professional practices and perception, we were not able to provide supporting documents. Staff shortage, especially of teaching faculty, has affected the ranking negatively. It affects the teacher-student ratio and also research output, he said.



Registrar R Rajanna said that the problem of staff crunch would soon be addressed. The government has permitted recruitment of 205 faculty members including 55 backlog posts. Notification for the recruitment process would begin once the VC is appointed, he said.



To a question regarding the fate of applicants who had applied last year he said, those who have already applied earlier need not apply again and their candidature will be considered.



Mane said that despite all limitations, UoM is a model university and has been recommended as worthy of emulation by the state government in all respects.






Tata Motors, the countrys largest automobile company, is betting big on online bookings and making it convenient for customers to take deliveries at their door step.



In an interaction with DH, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Head (Marketing) Vivek Srivatsa said, We have been taking online booking for HEXA which is about 1-2% of total bookings. However, surprisingly, for Tigor, it is close to 20% coming from our online portal, which is a big difference.



We believe, because it is the younger generation customer from metros who are used to buying stuff from online. Our back-end team is extremely organised, we encourage more customers from Indias IT capital to make use of our online services. Customers can visit online and choose the city or district, make payment by card and then the query is routed through a dealer, Srivatsa added.



Srivatsa was here in Bengaluru for the launch of compact sedan Tata Tigor, which is priced at Rs 4.85 lakh for the Revotron 1.2L (petrol) variant and Rs 5.77 lakh for the Revotorq 1.05L (diesel) variant (ex-showroom Bengaluru). The Tigor creates a segment of its own as it is not a typical three-box sedan with a boot added to the hatch.



The Tigor is based on its successful Tiago hatchback platform which was rolled out last April and has sold close to 55,000 units. Tiago had received 83,000 bookings in 12 months. Tigor is manufactured in Sanand (Gujarat) along with the Tiago. We will be able to deliver volumes required by customers, Srivatsa added.



The Sanand plant has in excess of two lakh production capacity. Today, between Tiago and Nano, the company is selling over 75,000 units per year. With Tigor, the company is confident of looking forward to sell more units.



For Tata Motors, Karnataka is one of the biggest markets for compact sedans and hatchbacks. Our market share in Karnataka is 7% compared with an all-India market share of 5.1%. Relatively, we are in a stronger position in Karnataka. We have a good presence in tier II towns with 37 sales points, he added.



Tata Motors next launch will be Nexon before Diwali, which is going to be a big entry into the compact SUV space.



Currently, we cover 50% of the market in terms of segment footprint with Tiago, Hexa and Tigor. With Nexon, we will take it to 75%, Srivatsa said.
The police resorted to lathi charge of PFI activists who had attempted to lay siege to the police commissioners office on Tuesday, protesting against the alleged police atrocity on a recently arrested youth.



Eleven police personnel, including ACPs Shruthi and Uday Nayak and one inspector, were injured in the stone pelting and manhandling by PFI activists. One PFI activist was injured during lathi charge.



Over 500 activists gathered at 10.30 am in front of the police commissioners office, protesting against the reported police atrocity against Ahmed Qureshi, of Katipalla, who was arrested on March 27, in connection with the murder of Prakash Poojary by Surathkal police. They accused the CCB police of illegally arresting Qureshi in the name of investigation and assaulting him. They demanded an investigation into the entire incident and the suspension of the police officers. They claimed that Qureshi is critical and urged disburse compensation to the victim.



As the activists had not taken permission to protest, the police asked them to vacate. However, when the activists blocked the traffic, tried to lay siege to the police commissioners office and pelted stones at the government buildings, the police resorted to lathi charge, said DCP (Law and Order) K M Shantharaju.



When ACPs, Inspector and other constables were injured, we had to resort to force to disperse the crowd, said Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar.



Disputing the claim of the PFI, DCP (Crime and Traffic) Dr Sanjeev M Patil shared Qureshis statement before the JMFC II Court Judge Santhosh S Kunder that he was not ill-treated by police and the seven injuries on his body were sustained in a road traffic accident on March 25. The arrest of Qureshi was also informed to his brother Nishad over phone. The judge in his order sheet said that the Qureshi was hale and healthy. Even the medical officer at Wenlock Hospital has declared that there was no radiological abnormality detected during the medical examination of the arrested.



The police detained and registered three cases against all the 98 activists under IPC Sections 143 (Unlawful assembly), 147 (Punishment for rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 341 (Wrongful restraint), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object). Seventy-two persons were charged under IPC Section 502 (Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter).



Following the incident, the police have tightened security in the city.


Hit by rising non-performing assets (NPAs), higher risk provisioning and mounting losses in the real estate industry, bank credit to the Indian real estate sector has shrunk from 57% in 2010 to less than 24% in 2016, according to a report by Knight Frank India.



Bank credit, which used to account for anywhere between 50% and 57% of the sectors institutional funding requirement till 2014, has witnessed a sharp reduction in the last two years in the range of 24-26%. Rising NPAs, higher risk provisioning and mounting losses in the real estate industry have led to significant reduction in credit offered by banks, Knight Frank India chief economist and national director- research Samantak Das said.



According to the report, the total funding in the Indian real estate sector increased by 40% from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion in 2016. This takes into account the fund flow on account of private equity, NBFC, bank credit and IPO.



The year 2015 witnessed the highest amount of PE fund flow in real estate since 2010 with more than $3.6 billion investments across over 100 deals. The year 2016 observed a 13% drop in private equity fund flow with less than 60 deals. However, the year 2016 has also recorded the highest amount of the average deal size amounting to $56 million, the report stated.



Mumbai has regained its number one position in terms of attracting PE funds among all cities of India. Bengaluru continues to hold steady in terms of attracting PE investments, although its share has dipped marginally since 2013. NCR, which used to lead in 2013, has dropped sharply from 39% to just 9% in a span of three years. Poor sales volume, huge amount of unsold inventory and stagnant prices in the residential segment of NCR have shifted PE investors interest away from this market, the report added.
African students in India called upon the countries they hail from to withdraw support to New Delhi in all international forums to protest the recent attacks on Nigerians in Greater Noida.



The Association of African Students in India (AASI) also supported the call by the envoys of their countries based in New Delhi for an independent investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Council into the assaults on its members so far.



AASI president Samuel T Jack said the organisation was completely in support of the moves by the dean of the African Group Head of Missions in India.



We are totally in support in calling for an independent investigation, and also to take India to the UN Human Rights Council, Jack said in a statement uploaded on AASIs Facebook page.



In addition, we also call for a complete withdrawal of support for India by all the African countries in all international forums, he said.



The envoys of African nations had on Monday called for a probe by the UNHRC into attacks on people from their countries in India.



A mob had assaulted four Nigerian students of a private university after some local residents in Greater Noida blamed African people studying and living in the city for the death of a local youth, apparently due to narcotics abuse.



Punish attackers, says UN



The United Nations has expressed hope that those behind attacks on African nationals in India would be brought to justice, PTI reports from New Delhi.



We do very much hope that people who are responsible for the attacks are brought to justice, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric told reporters in United Nations on Monday.



Dujarric was asked about the incidents of attacks on African nationals in India and whether there was any UN response or intervention to prevent these attacks.

Dujarric said there was no UN involvement that he was aware of.








Soon after the US signalled its willingness to mediate between India and Pakistan, New Delhi turned down the offer on Tuesday.



The governments position for redressing all India-Pakistan issues bilaterally in an environment free of terror and violence has not changed, said Gopal Baglay, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, making it clear that New Delhi would not accept any mediation by a third party in resolving the disputes with its neighbour.



Baglay made the remark just a few hours after Nikki Haley, the US permanent representative to United Nations, said the new American administration will try and find its place in the efforts to de-escalate the tension between India and Pakistan.



She also told journalists at the UN headquarters in New York that the Trump administration is concerned over tension between India and Pakistan.



India, however, reiterated its call to the international community, to dissuade Islamabad from encouraging the terrorism emanating from its soil, and targeting India and other countries in the region.



We of course expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning the terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond, said Baglay.



Proactive role



He made the remark apparently to nudge Haley to play a more proactive role at the UN  to impose international sanctions on Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders based in Pakistan.



New Delhi also signalled that it expected the US to mount pressure on Pakistan to take stern action against Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed and others, who have already been designated by the UN as terrorists with links to international terror networks.



Haley will preside over the UN Security Council this month as the US envoy to the international organisation.



The fresh move by the US administration has surprised New Delhi, sources told DH.

A similar move from within the erstwhile Obama Administration in its early days in 2009 was thwarted by New Delhi.



New Delhi has been stonewalling all attempts by Islamabad to seek mediation by the US and other western powers to resolve India-Pakistan disputes. India has also been resisting Pakistans moves to raise the issue of Kashmir at the UN forums.



New Delhi maintains that the only path available to India and Pakistan was to resolve the issues through a peaceful bilateral dialogue within the framework and principles of the 1972 Simla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration.




Westinghouse Electric Co, which helped drive the development of nuclear energy and the electric grid itself, filed for bankruptcy protection last week, casting a shadow over the global nuclear industry.



The filing comes as the companys corporate parent, Toshiba of Japan, scrambles to stanch huge losses stemming from Westinghouses troubled nuclear construction projects in the American South. Now, the future of those projects, which once seemed to be on the leading edge of a renaissance for nuclear energy, is in doubt.



This is a fairly big and consequential deal, said Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Youve had some power companies and big utilities run into financial trouble, but this kind of thing hasnt happened.

Westinghouse, a once-proud name that in years past symbolised Americas supremacy in nuclear power, now illustrates its problems.



Many of the companys injuries are self-inflicted, such as a disastrous deal for a construction business that was intended to control costs and instead precipitated the events that led to the filing. Overall, Toshiba has been widely criticised for overpaying for Westinghouse.



But some of what went wrong was beyond either companys control. Slowing demand for electricity and tumbling prices for natural gas have eroded the economic rationale for nuclear power, which is extremely costly and technically challenging to develop. Alternative-energy sources like wind and solar power are rapidly maturing and coming down in price. The 2011 earthquake in Japan that led to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant renewed worries about safety.



Westinghouses problems are already reducing Japans footprint in nuclear power, an industry it has nurtured for decades in the name of energy security. Even before the filing, Toshiba had essentially retired Westinghouse from the business of building nuclear power plants. Executives said they would instead focus on maintaining existing reactors  a more stable and reliably profitable business  and developing reactor designs.



That has made the already small club of companies that take on the giant, expensive and complex task of nuclear-reactor building even smaller. General Electric, a pioneer in the field, has scaled back its nuclear operations, expressing doubt about their economic viability.



Areva, the French builder, is mired in losses and undergoing a large-scale restructuring.

Among the winners could be China, which has ambitions to turn its growing nuclear technical abilities into a major export. That has raised security concerns in some countries.



The shrinking field is a challenge for the future of nuclear power, and for Toshibas revival plans. Its executives have said they would like to sell all or part of Westinghouse to a competitor, but with a dwindling list of potential buyers, combined with Westinghouses history of financial calamity, that is a difficult task.



Toshiba still faces tough questions. The company is also divesting its profitable semiconductor business and plans to sell a stake to an outside investor to raise capital. Most of the companies seen as possible buyers are from outside Japan. Some Japanese business leaders have expressed fears that the sale will further erode Japans place in an industry it once dominated.



After writing down Westinghouses value, Toshiba said it expected to book a net loss of $9.9 billion for its current fiscal year. We have all but completely pulled out of the nuclear business overseas, Toshibas president, Satoshi Tsunakawa, said at a news conference. Of the huge loss, he added, I feel great responsibility.



Bankruptcy will make it harder for Westinghouses business partners to collect money they are owed by the nuclear-plant maker. That mostly affects the American power companies for whom it is building reactors, analysts say. Now, it is unclear whether the company will be able to complete any of its projects, which in the US are about three years late and billions over budget.



No takers

The power companies  SCANA Energy and a consortium in Georgia led by Georgia Power, a unit of Southern Co  would face the possibility of new contract terms, long lawsuits and absorbing losses that Toshiba and Westinghouse could not cover, analysts say. The cost estimates are already running $1 billion to $1.3 billion higher than originally expected, according to a recent report from Morgan Stanley, and could eventually exceed $8 billion overall.



Dennis Pidherny, a managing director at Fitch Ratings who is sector head of the US public power group, said that it was possible that the companys bankruptcy filing could terminate the contracts and that it could be difficult for the utilities to find another builder to take them over. The biggest challenge there is quite simply finding another suitable contractor who can complete the contract and have it completed at a quote-unquote reasonable cost. That is, if they are constructed at all. Stan Wise, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, said the utilities developing the Alvin W. Vogtle generating station in the state would have to evaluate whether it made sense to continue.



Its a serious issue for us and for the companies involved, Wise said. If the company comes back to the commission asking for recertification, and at what cost, the commission evaluates that versus natural gas or renewables.



Toshiba said Westinghouse and affiliated companies wee working cooperatively with the owners to arrange for construction to continue. The affected companies issued statements saying they were exploring their options, as did the Energy Department, which has authorised $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees for the Georgia project.



Toshiba said Westinghouse had total debt of $9.8 billion. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing was made in US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

International New York Times
States planning to downgrade national highways to district or municipal roads to duck the Supreme Courts liquor ban should bear the financial burden of such a move, the road ministry has warned.



An official said converting national highways (NHs) would mean that the onus to develop and maintain them would fall on the state government as the ministry spends considerable resources in looking after the NHs.



The official added that the states had earlier rushed to the Centre with requests to upgrade district roads into national highways since The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) developed such roads and the states also received funds from the ministry for their annual maintenance.



The Supreme Court order to close down liquor shops along national and state highways, however, changed the trend. While the states are authorised to downgrade state highways, they still have to approach the Road Ministry to convert national highways into district or municipal roads, the official pointed out. He also cited instances in the past where the ministry has downgraded national highways on the states request for various reasons.


The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday waived off crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers. The decision, taken at the first Cabinet meeting of the new BJP government, will cost the exchequer over Rs 30,000 crore.



Speaking to reporters after the meeting, government spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said that loans taken by around 7 lakh farmers from different banks, which are now NPAs (non-performing assets), would also be waived off. This would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 5,630 crore.



Singh said around 2.15 crore small and marginal farmers would benefit from the loan waiver. It will be a huge relief to the farmers who suffered because of the floods and droughts, he added.



Singh said the waiver was confined only to loans taken for purchasing seeds, fertilisers, insecticides and other similar purposes. Singh said there were around 2.30 crore farmers in the state. The state government will issue a Kisan Relief Bond to raise money for this purpose. The Centre is not providing any money...We have to arrange it ourselves, he said. Singh said waving off crop loans was part of the BJPs election manifesto.



Varanasi projects to get top priority



Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday set a deadline to complete development projects in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, reports DHNS. Adityanath reviewed the ongoing projects and said he will visit Varanasi next month.


With the hotel industry complaining about huge losses following the Supreme Court ban on sale of liquor close to national and state highways, the top court held that there is no fundamental right to carry on liquor business.



The apex court has said trading in liquor is a privilege conferred by the state, and it must be subordinate to the need to protect road users from the menace of drunken driving.



No individual has a vested right to obtain a licence. There is no fundamental right to carry on business in liquor since as a matter of constitutional doctrine, Article 19(1)(g) does not extend to trade in liquor which is consistently regarded as res extra commercium (inherently pernicious), the three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice J S Khehar said.



Not a breach of norm



Rejecting a plea to review its order, the bench said the directions which have been issued by this court on December 15 do not breach any norm in the nature of a prohibition nor do they operate to lift a prohibition imposed by law.



The effect and purport of the directions is that in the interest of public safety and public health, the distance from the outer edge of national or state highways or a service lane along the highway is to be maintained of 500 metres, the bench added.



After the order, the Union government, which supported the ban before the court, is reported to be keen to find a middle path after representatives of hotel industry complained of hardships.



The court said it may be attractive to the vendor to sell liquor along the highway but that is not the touchstone of a norm which protects public health and seeks to curb fatalities on the highways.



The states are free to realise revenues from liquor licences in the overwhelmingly large swathe of territories that lie outside the national and state highways and the buffer distance of 500 metres. It maintained the bar on liquor sale and serving of liquor by hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants within a 500 metre radius of the national and state highways from April 1.




Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday accused the Centre of misusing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI to destabilise his duly elected government.



Singhs salvo at the Centre came a day after ED officials attached a farmhouse in south Delhi owned by him reportedly using funds from shell companies.



The Centre has been using its full might to harass and destabilise a duly elected government and the ED and the CBI are being misused to probe bogus charges against me, though nothing incriminating has been found so far, the chief minister said in a statement.



Singh is expected to meet Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Ambika Soni on Wednesday. Singh rejected the allegations that the farmhouse in question was purchased through funds raised by shell companies. He said the purchase was made by M/s Maple, a company promoted by his son Vikramaditya.



The chief minister said that the CBI action against him was part of a well-planned conspiracy to tarnish his image ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.



While one expects political opponents to distort facts to derive political mileage, it is a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency is behaving in such a manner and spreading a canard against me, Singh said.



The chief minister claimed that officers with RSS background were used to create false, baseless and fictitious survey reports and dossiers under instructions from the

I-T Department, Chandigarh.



Now, HP to go after ex-CM Dhumal



As the ED tightens its noose around Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, the state government is learnt to have issued directions to expeditiously probe ill-gotten properties of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, reports DHNS from Chandigarh. Politics in the hill state is expected to get bitter ahead of elections later this year. Dhumal is said to have properties across the country, including in Punjab, that are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Liquor vendors in Karnataka are in no mood to shut shop from July 1 to honour the Supreme Court ban on sale of alcohol near highways.



They have begun scouting for ways to circumvent the ban, including pressing the state government to denotify some stretches of the state highways to allow business as usual.

Hundreds of members of the Federation of Wine Merchants Associations of Karnataka met in Bengaluru on Tuesday, their first united effort after the Supreme Court refused to relax its order.



The jam-packed meeting in a city hotel, discussed various options to overcome the Supreme Court ban, which takes effect from July 1, the start of the new excise year in Karnataka.

In some other states, including Kerala and West Bengal, the court order has already come into force as their excise year starts on April 1. The affected vendors first option is to pressure the government to denotify at least a few stretches on the state highways, as done in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.



Upgradation and notification of roads as state highways come under the jurisdiction of the state government, which also maintains them. Denotifying state highways will mean that their upkeep will be the responsibility of jurisdictional district administration.



The meeting also weighed the option of holding massive agitations in various parts of the state to pressure the government.



Another option discussed is filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court.

We have already exhausted the option of filing a review petition with the Supreme Court refusing to relax its order on March 31.



A curative petition can be filed on the ground that the order is emotion-charged, Association General Secretary Govindaraj Hegde said. As many as 2,767 liquor vends and 2,047 bars and restaurants will be affected by the apex court order in Karnataka. Restaurants which fall in this category will have to stop serving liquor.



If all these options fail, the Association is mulling over requesting the government time till December 31 to shift their existing liquor stocks and not to forcefully evict them. Until such time, they will not sell liquor at their shops. Thammana, a liquor shop owner on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, said he will be financially hit by the Supreme Court order. There is an option to relocate. But what is the point in relocating to a place where there is no demand, he said.



Babaiah K, who runs a liquor shop near Gokak, said shifting liquor shops will not stop drunken driving. Those who want liquor will get it anyway, he said. Law Minister T B Jayachandra admitted that the apex court decision will affect the states resource mobilisation. We have sought legal opinion whether existing laws may be amended to provide some relief. We will also watch the other states and take a stand, he said.




Amid the ongoing row over the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday asked China not to interfere in Indias internal affairs.



Rijiju said India never interfered in Beijings affairs and has always respected the One China policy.



There is no political angle behind his holinesss visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs, Rijiju told reporters.



The minister said the religious sentiments of every community must be respected and nobody should have a problem with the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh. He also said China is trying to project him as a political leader while his visit is purely religious.



The people of Arunachal desire to have good neighbourly relations with the people of China, Rijiju said, adding, We never intend to have any problem with our neighbours. The Dalai Lama will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.
Following stiff resistance from farmers, the Bengaluru Rural district administration on Tuesday temporarily halted the work on laying cables for electric towers in Doddaballapur taluk under a power project taken up by Power Grid Corporation of India.



Farmers at Bhuchanahalli village in Doddaballapura taluk staged a protest and stalled the work, seeking proper compensation and land survey.



A team led by tahsildar B A Mohan and SP Amith Singh failed to convince the farmers and decided to halt the work temporarily. The police had cordoned off the entire area near Bhuchanahalli where electric towers have been installed, to prevent farmers from approaching them. However, a large number of farmers managed to reach spot around 11 am and staged a protest. The officers called off the work considering sensitivity of the situation. Security was heightened by deploying a KSRP platoon and the entire police force of Doddaballapura taluk.






Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge has requested the Election Commission of India to hold an ethical hackathon on electronic voting machines (EVMs) to dispel doubts that they can be tampered with.



Kharge has said Karnataka is ready to host the hackathon if the ECI is willing. He has also tweeted his opinion in this regard.



The minister, who is busy in campaigning for the Assembly bypolls, said on Tuesday, I will be writing to Chief Election Commissioner after April 9. As technology minister, I have faith in technology. I am not doubting the technology employed for operating EVMs. But it is the responsibility of the government to dispel apprehensions about the machines. If they are faulty, then the same could be rectified.



The Congress party at Delhi level has asked the ECI to introspect and consider using ballot papers in future elections. The demand came up after a faulty voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine used in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, came to light. The machine dispensed slips with the BJPs poll symbol.



This has made the Congress and Aam Admi Party to demand the ECI to probe the tampering of the EVMs.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday claimed that there is an exodus of agricultural labourers from drought-hit pockets of the state.



Shettar told reporters in Bengaluru that the government has turned a blind eye to their plight and is only focussing on fighting the byelections in Nanjangud and Gundlupet.



He charged that drought relief work has come to a standstill in the state. The Centre has so far released Rs 1,675 crore in two installments but the state government has failed to utilise it, he said.



District incharge ministers who should have been monitoring drought relief work, including ensuring drinking water, fodder for animals and employment for agricultural labourers, were focusing their energies on the byelections, Shettar said. He said the governments decision to constitute task forces to address drinking water shortage will not solve the problem.
The state government will come out with a new sand policy incorporating the demands of the three coastal districts to allow locals to extract sand, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said on Tuesday.



Speaking to journalists in Bengaluru, Jayachandra said the people of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada have been seeking that they should get sand at cheaper rates. Besides, only after meeting the local needs, sand should be transported to other districts.



These demands and other aspects will be taken up at the next state Cabinet meeting before finalising the new policy, he added.



Jayachandra said the government is also contemplating to buy sand from other states in the wake of its severe shortage in the state. Maharashtra has been importing sand from other states, he pointed out.



He said a Cabinet sub-committee on Tuesday discussed the attack on Udupi Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis and Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag by a gang involved in illegal sand mining.



Panel to rein in media

Jayachandra said the state government has nothing to do with Speaker K B Koliwad constituting a joint House committee to rein in the media. It is a decision of the House. The government had no discussion with the Speaker in this regard, he added.
The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse PFI activists who attempted to lay siege to the police commissioners office here on Tuesday, in protest against the police atrocity on a youth arrested recently. The police have detained 98 activists. As many as 11 police officers, including two ACPs, were injured when the activists threw stones. The police have registered three cases against all the 98 activists.



Over 500 activists resorted to protest at around 10.30 am in front of the Police Commissioners office. They were protesting against the reported police atrocity on Ahmed Qureshi, a resident of Katipalla, who was arrested on March 27 in connection with the murder of Prakash Poojary in Suratkal police station jurisdiction.



Eleven police personnel, including two ACPs Shruthi and Uday Nayak and one inspector, were injured in stone pelting and manhandling by PFI activists.



As the activists had not taken permission for holding the protest, the police asked them to leave. However, when they tried to lay siege to the police commissioners office and pelted the government buildings with stones, the police resorted to lathi charge, said DCP (Law and Order) K M Shantharaju.



The protesters were demanding that action be taken against the police for assaulting Qureshi who was arrested on March 27 and investigation conducted into the entire incident.


The 19th convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Health Sciences will be held on Thursday at the Nimhans Convention Centre.



Director of the Genetics Centre, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Dr H G Sharatchandra would deliver the convocation address while Minister for Medical Education Dr Sharan Prakash Patil would participate in the event.



Dr K S Ravindranath, vice chancellor, RGUHS said that in all, 26,698 students would receive their certificates. Of these, 69 students have bagged gold medals. In all, 109 gold medals and nine cash prizes would be given to students this year.



Dr Deepa, a student of JJM Medical College, Davangere has bagged five gold medals and one cash prize. Dr B N Swathimuttu, a student of Hassan Sri Dharmasthala Ayurveda Medical College bagged five gold medals.



Retired professor of medicine Dr Kutupadi Govinda Das and US-based cardiologist of Indian origin Dr Govindaraj Subramani have been conferred 'Doctor of Science' degree.



Dr Ravindranath said authorities would try to shift the university to Ramanagaram by the next academic year. At present, the engineering block of the university has been shifted to Kandaya Bhavana in Ramanagaram.

DH News Service
Youre now going to experience all the good things about school without the horrible things that used to make me cry, like tests and homework and being called on, said Katrina Orsini in her welcome to 300 adult students at One Day University Saturday, March 18.

Rather than sitting at cramped desks, students were gathered in the comfortable seats of the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre in La Jolla, eager to hear from four of the top professors in the country for no other reason than simply to learn.

One Day University offers day-long events in 58 cities, and this was the second year it was being held in San Diego. Many of the students were also back for their second time.

The event curriculum consisted of four eclectic lectures: Four Books Every Book Lover Should Read, The Psychology of Good and Evil, Does Americas Political System Still Work? and The New Middle East: The Rise of ISIS in an Explosive Region.

We take polls to see what courses students are most interested in, explained Steve Schragis, founder of One Day University. And we visit schools around the country to identify the professors who are winning all the teaching awards and who get the highest ratings from the students.

Its easy to see why these professors were chosen. Seth Lerer, Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of California at San Diego, charmed the audience as he moved around the theater, sharing insightful and often hilarious stories about how to find (and lose) yourself in reading, the way literature teaches you how to read life and gives you a vocabulary for expressing the world, and how reading helps you understand truth through the beauty of words.

He explored four classics  David Copperfield, 1984, Invisible Man, Catch 22  and recommended four more recent must-reads: The Sympathizer, The Orphan Masters Son, The Sense of an Ending and anything by Elizabeth Strout.

Lerer talked about the importance of books during this time of great social change, and showed how reading makes you more empathetic.

This talk was new for me, but what it taught me was how deeply engaged many people today still are with the emotional impact of reading and the value of the printed book, said Lerer, who has taught at a dozen of these events. Teaching through One Day University provides me with the chance to share the social challenges of reading with an audience of engaged adults  a group with many different experiences, people who have shared the lives of my generation and who recognize the value of literary culture and language change in our time.

According to Lerer, teaching in this context is different from teaching college students, in large part because my undergraduates today experience literature and language through increasingly digital and virtual means. Both kinds of teaching enhance each other, and Im glad to be able to do both.

Catherine Sanderson, who taught The Psychology of Good and Evil in San Diego and regularly teaches one of One Day Universitys most popular courses, Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness, agreed. I love teaching at One Day U, precisely because the students are not my typical 18-22 year olds, she laughed. The One Day U students attend these talks because they want to learn  they are not required to be there! They are smart, engaged, and intellectually curious. Perhaps most importantly, the questions One Day U students ask are uniformly great ones  because they are based on a much broader world view and experience than my typical undergraduates.

Sandersons talk was riveting and timely as she explained that evil happens gradually, giving clear examples of how obedience to authority resulted in the mass suicides at Jonestown and desensitization led to the Holocaust. She pointed out that narcissism  the opposite of empathy  is way up right now and that nothing is more damaging than standing by when evil is happening.

The common feature for all of my talks is that I like to integrate cutting-edge scientific research with real-world anecdotes and examples so that people can directly apply information from empirical research to their own lives, said Sanderson, who is the James E. Ostendarp Professor at Amherst College and is often cited as the schools most popular professor. I always end my talks with specific strategies that people can use and implement in their own lives. My hope is that people will not just find my talks intellectually engaging, but also practical in terms of learning strategies they can use in some way moving forward.

Students had so many questions for her, she had to offer her email address so lunch could be served. Following a box lunch, during which time students discussed what they had learned in the morning, the afternoon session started  and it was just as engaging.

Schragis relates to the students enthusiasm, which is what gave him the idea to start One Day University back in 2005.

I was bringing my daughter to college in upstate New York, and there were a dozen professors scattered around campus, giving short talks on the subject they taught, he explained. The parents all loved it and thought, This is great! I wish I were the one going to college!

He bought the URL that night and held the first One Day University event in Westchester County, New York, about 40 miles outside of Manhattan.

A decade later, there are more than 100 events a year, and the number continues to grow. More than 66,000 students have attended One Day University, with an impressive 70 percent return rate.

The next San Diego event will be held on Oct. 14. Courses will include The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of Americas Highest Office, Music as a Mirror of History: 300 Years in 60 Minutes and The Science of Stress and the Practice of Mindfulness.

For more information and to register, visit www.onedayu.com.
Bottlecraft Beer Shop and Tasting Room is now pouring in Solana Beach. Inside the craft beer boutique beer-lovers will find everything from sours to stouts and barrel-aged to blondes, available by the taste or by the bottle.

Owner Brian Jensen said Bottlecraft is different than a normal bar and more than just a retail shop  a perfect fusion of the two.

This will be Bottlecrafts fourth San Diego location to go along with Little Italy, North Park and Liberty Station shops; Jensen has had North County on his radar for a long time and when the beachy space opened up nearby to where the South Park resident surfs, he snapped up the opportunity.

Bottlecraft took over the former Beerworks space in the Beach Walk Shopping Center off Highway 101.

While Jensen will look to do some things different and new, he kept the entire Beerworks team for their knowledge and passion of the craft. After a quick switchover, the shop reopened in March and will celebrate its grand opening on April 1.

We have been getting a lot of the regulars coming back and theyre happy to see the familiar faces behind the bar, Jensen said. People are excited about the bottle selection and the different approach to the draft offerings.

There is also a lot of excitement around the kitchen  since taking over, Jensen has completed a kitchen remodel and is bringing in Big Front Door (bfd) a gourmet sandwich shop that will also serve up cheese boards and wings to pair with the brews.

The bfd pairing is similar to the partnership he has with Venissimo Cheese in his North Park shop  he teams up with someone who specializes in food while he handles the beer.

Jensen has worked in nearly every aspect of the food and beverage industry, including cooking, wine sales, brewing and restaurant management. He attended college in San Diego at Point Loma Nazarene before heading to New York City to study at the French Culinary Institute. Although he was studying wine and sharpening his palate, he discovered that there was a lot to learn about craft beer.

Beer I found was just as complex and interesting, if not more so, than wine, Jensen said.

His inspiration for his future ventures came from the wine shop he worked at in Brooklyn  he wanted to offer something similar for beer aficionados. He shopped for unique bottles in city bodegas and never felt it was the same experience as visiting a wine shop, where there was a nice presentation of products and a staff who knew how to talk about it.

Back in San Diego, he kept his idea in mind of the direction he wanted to go; it took him a few years but he eventually opened his first Bottlecraft in Little Italy in 2011. The second location followed in North Park in 2013 and then the third in foodie-emporium Liberty Public Market in March 2016.

In taking over the Beerworks location, Jensen has made some minor tweaks. The retail section has been improved and expanded and he may add on to the 20-taps behind the bar. The brick walls are bare for now but he is working to bring in local artists pieces  he is also working with the Coastal Commission on opening up the front windows.

Were taking it slowly but surely, but obviously the main focus is the beer and making sure that we have the best, thats our goal, Jensen said.

At least 50 percent of the beers are from California, 35 percent domestic and the rest international labels, broken up by easy-to-peruse labels. Jensen said they will always have whats next and whats new.

The retail section fluctuates so that every time you come in theres something new, thats the fun of it, Jensen said.

In addition to pouring beer, they will also serve five wines by the glass and are also working some more wine bottles into the retail mix.

Im trying to offer really interesting wines that are hard to find in San Diego, Jensen said. Were super-geeky about the beer we carry, wouldnt be in line for us to carry just basic wine.

Like all Bottlecraft locations, the Solana Beach shop will do special events and collaborations with local breweries. Bottlecraft is currently in the midst of a collaboration with Pure Project Brewing and Mother Earth Brew Company, set to release on Earth Day on April 22.

The beer, called Three Sisters, is inspired by the waterfall and trail in Descanso and a portion of the proceeds will go to the San Diego River Park Foundation.

Stay updated on upcoming events and weekly staff beer picks at bottlecraftbeer.com. Bottlecraft is located at 437 S. Highway 101, Solana Beach, and is open Monday through Thursday from 3-11 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Del Mar municipal code is silent on whether short-term rentals of houses and condominiums to vacationers is permitted in the citys residential neighborhoods.

Although the practice has gone on for years - some say decades - in Del Mar, the lack of specificity has created a sort of legal vacuum that allows both sides of the issue to claim the law is on their side.

On April 17, the Del Mar City Council will consider the question of whether short-term rentals are currently allowed in residential zones, the first step in what could be a long battle over the issue, one that may very well end up in court no matter which way the council votes.

The issue of short-term rentals has become increasingly controversial in recent years with the rise in popularity of online vacation rental services such as AirBnB. The issue has divided residents of Del Mar, and it became a major issue in the 2016 City Council election.

And Del Mar is not alone - the city of San Diego is also grappling with the issue of short-term rentals, as are communities across the country and internationally.

On one side are residents who say they rely on the income from temporary rentals, and that the rentals also benefit local businesses.

On the other those who contend that short-term rentals are changing the character of their neighborhoods for the worse, and contributing to such nuisance problems as noise, litter and parking woes.

In February, following a contentious hearing, the Del Mar Planning Commission was unable to issue a ruling on whether short-term rentals are allowed in the citys residential zones. That non-decision brought the issue back to the City Council.

Ralph DeMarco, part of a group that supports short-term rentals with reasonable regulations to protect residents from nuisances, said both past practice and city documents show that short-term rentals have long been considered part of the fabric of the community.

Short-term rentals are allowed and have always been allowed, said DeMarco. It would be really foolish for the city to pursue banning them because it wont hold up in a court of law.

According to DeMarcos thinking, if the city wants to prohibit the practice by changing city law it can do so, but that would trigger a review by the California Coastal Commission, which he said would reject the citys action.

But Betty Wheeler, part of a group called Save Our Neighborhood Del Mar, said the citys permissive municipal code is such that, If its not in there, you cant do it.

She and her group want the council to rule that Short-term rentals, meaning under 30 days, are not allowed in residential zones, and begin enforcing that determination.

DeMarco said city documents acknowledge the existence of short-term rentals, and even newspaper ads dating back for decades show the practice was common.

The very nature of a beach town, DeMarco said, is that visitors will bring noise and traffic during the summer months.

You should have known that before you bought the house, DeMarco said. What they (short-term rental opponents) want to do is shut down the town and not let anyone else in I guess. I dont think that makes sense.

Wheeler and others on her side of the issue, however, contend that short-term or vacation rentals should be confined to commercial or visitor-serving zones, and kept out of residential neighborhoods. They argue that in the past, people rented their homes for the entire summer or horse-racing season, but not for a few days at a time as is common now, with frequent turnover in renters.

If this is about gutting our community for the almighty dollar, I guess we ought to do it, said Ed Yuskiewicz, also a member of the Save Our Neighborhood group. But Del Mar has never operated that way.

Group member Robin Crabtree said ads on AirBnb describe properties as having accommodations for as many as 16 people.

Thats a very recent phenomenon. That is what has spurred the interest in enforcing our residential codes. Its a fundamental change to our neighborhoods, Crabtree said.

Its the intensity of usage, said Yuskiewicz.

The group also contends that if the council determines short-term rentals are not allowed under current Del Mar law, no change to the law is needed, and therefore no Coastal Commission review would be triggered.

Del Mar Planning Manager Tracy Elliot Yawn said a firm that provides monitoring and enforcement of short-term rental regulations for government agencies estimated there are about 500 short-term rental listings in Del Mar, a number that can change frequently.

The city has not regularly tracked complaints related to short-term rentals, she said, but a review of city records shows only three public nuisance-type complaints regarding short-term rentals between 2011 and 2016.

Over the past year, since a moratorium on new short-term rentals was enacted in Del Mar, the city has received nine complaints about properties in violation of the moratorium, Yawn said. Of those, six were determined to pre-date the moratorium, one was not being used as a short-term rental, one was found in violation of the moratorium and one is still being investigated, she said.

In September, the city established a hotline to receive complaints about violations of the moratorium on new short-term rentals.

Del Mar has 2,063 total residential units, according to information provided by the city, and as of the 2010 U.S. Census, 54 percent are owner occupied and 46 percent are rentals. The city also has about 354 hotel rooms.
Hrithik Refuses To Recognize Co- Star Angela: Out Of Habit Or Genuine Mistake This Time?
Chinese device manufacturer Xiaomi is lining up a further $500 million investment in India, which the firm has described as its most important overseas market.

India has surpassed the US to become the worlds second largest smartphone market, and Xiaomi co-founder and CEO Lei Jun confirmed that the company expects its Indian sales to double this year, with a total value of $2 billion.

Across 2015 and 2016, Xiaomi invested around $500 million in India, building a second manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh in partnership with its contract manufacturer Foxconn. Xiaomi is aiming to invest the same amount over the ensuing three to five years, establishing a third facility and creating 20,000 jobs.

Xiaomis Indian investment is intended to rekindle the push into overseas markets that it began as a means of reducing its dependency on its home market. Xiaomi began manufacturing devices in India in 2015 and started an offering in Brazil, and it is now lining up a move into Africa and the Middle East.

The manufacturers successes have waned in recent years, with its shipments plummeting in 2016, driving down its global market share. Its overall valuation has also dropped hugely considering it was once deemed the worlds most valuable start-up, valued at $46 billion. In China, it dropped to fifth place from third following a 41% fall in shipments, and its market share halved from 14.8 to 7.4% in Q4 2015.

However, Lei was upbeat for the future, noting that Xiaomis total revenue this year is expected to exceed $15 billion, with its mobile apps and services passing $1 billion in sales revenue. However, its internet services did not meet their $1 billion revenue target.
The partnership between Ericsson and Cisco has secured its first agreement in Brazil, with the two companies working together to supply and install IP routers for Nextel.

The key components in the combined offering include a combination of hardware from Cisco, and services and project management from Ericsson. Nextel's IP network in Brazil will be strengthened to support traffic growth and improve performance on the mobile network.

Eduardo Ricotta, Vice President, Ericsson Latin America and Caribbean, says: "Our teams complemented each other with the right approach, from network analysis and planning to systems integration and customer support from Ericsson, to selecting the right routers from Cisco, and finally implementation with Ericsson services. The partnership has delivered real value to Nextel in terms of delivering end-to-end IP solution to meet the operator's needs."

The deal includes Cisco routers (ASR9010), supply and installation, overall project management, and customer support.

Yvette Kanouff, SVP and GM, Service Provider Business, Cisco, says: "Together, Cisco and Ericsson have the best mix of engagement required to support operators like Nextel address data traffic challenges. Working together on this project, we will support Nextel's mobile broadband offering and help them deliver better network performance for customers."

Ericsson and Cisco formed a global business and technology partnership in November 2015, offering customers routing, data centre, networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, and global services capabilities. The Ericsson/Cisco partnership has been cleared by Brazilian regulatory authorities and will be implemented there under local agreements.
Corporation tax software and services supplier Tax Systems announced on Tuesday that it acquired the entire issued share capital of OSMO Data Technology in return for the issue of 4,701,492 new ordinary shares of one penny each in the capital of the company.

The AIM-traded firm said at the mid-market closing price as on 3 April, it represented a value of 3.2m.

It said OSMO is a provider of automated data extraction software that connects to 295 versions of accounting software packages.

The strategic software acquisition enabled organisations to leverage data and automate parts of the end to end tax process, the board said, which in turn would help them comply with HMRC's Making Tax Digital programme.

It also extended Tax Systems' solutions portfolio to further penetrate the company's existing customer base of over 1,050 clients.

OSMO's technology was sold on a software as a service basis, and for the year ended 31 December it generated revenue of 1.2m, of which over 75% was recurring, and adjusted EBITDA reached 0.1m.

In addition to the acquisition, the company confirmed that Gavin Lyons - formerly executive chairman - had been appointed chief executive officer to focus on the company's development.

Clive Carver, formerly non-executive director, was appointed non-executive chairman.

Kevin Goggin had been appointed chief financial officer, with Grahame Benson, finance director and chief operating officer, stepping down with immediate effect.

Paul Gibson was appointed as non-executive director.

The acquisition of OSMO and the strengthening of the board are key steps in the development of the company, said Gavin Lyons.

With regards to the acquisition, tax departments are under increasing pressure to manage tax risk, leverage tax data and automate as much of the end to end tax reporting and compliance process as possible.

OSMO's software is an excellent solution to help ease the manual workload associated with gathering data from accounting systems; this is a critical task which consumes a substantial amount of time and cost.

Lyons also said he was excited to accept the role of CEO, having been executive chairman since the re-admission to AIM in July 2016.

I am also very pleased to welcome both Kevin and Paul to the board, both of whom have strong backgrounds in the technology sector, and wish Grahame all the best for his future endeavours.
Gold is rebounding on Tuesday afternoon as investors like the safe-haven metal amid a stew of concerns comprising Brexit nerves, European political risk, Trump uncertainties and Opec output pledges.

At about 15:16 GMT, on Comex, gold was up 0.41% to $1259.20 an ounce. Silver rose 0.76% to $18.35 an ounce, and copper rose 0.31% to 261.15 cents a pound.

"This yellow metal has sprung towards $1260 on Tuesday with further inclines expected as bulls exploit the market anxiety to install fresh rounds of buying," said FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga.

"The source behind this wave of risk aversion is the uncertainty gravitating around the pending Trump-Xi summit, which investors will be paying heavy attention towards," he said.

US President Donald Trump was due to meet China's President, Xi Jinping, in the US this week in Florida, with trade and the sensitive issue of North Korea high on the agenda.

Otunuga added that with meeting participants already jittery, potential complications could accelerate the flight to safety ultimately elevating gold's price further.

Risk aversion was a key theme this week, he said, noting a daily close above $1260 could open a path towards $1300.

"The amalgamation of overall geopolitical concerns, political risks in Europe, Brexit woes and Trump uncertainties have boosted the appetite for safe-haven assets with gold in high demand."

Mike van Dulken and Henry Croft, both analysts at Accendo Markets, said the yellow metal had overcome nine-month falling highs resistance as it rallied back above $1255 an ounce.

They, too, highlighted geopolitical concerns being to the fore in investors' minds.

"A weak US Manufacturing PMI print raised fresh concerns that the US Federal Reserve may not stick to its hawkish forecasts for three rate hikes over the course of 2017, seeing the non-yielding safe haven asset subsequently benefit," said van Dulken and Croft.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said gold prices rose as continued uncertainty around the direction of US fiscal policy kept investors cautious.

Three-month industrial metals on London Metals Exchange were down. Zinc continued its decline with a tumble of 2.27%. Copper extended its with a slide of 1.45%. Tin and aluminum were down 0.62% and 0.54%, respectively.

Meanwhile, also at about 15:16 GMT, Nymex-priced WTI crude was up 0.58% to $50.53 a barrel. Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent was 0.85% up to $53.57 a barrel.

"WTI Crude may be in the process of a technical bounce which could test the $51 pivotal level," said Otunuga.

"Bears need to break back below $50 to reclaim control with targets stretching back towards $47," he added.

Oil continued to be caught in a chronic glut, with Opec pledges constantly in focus, alongside US shale production, rising US inventories and rising US rig counts.

"Although there are speculations of Opec extending the supply cut deal by another six months to fight the oversupply woes, optimism is rapidly fading over the cartels ability to elevate oil prices," he said.

Hewson said the rebound in oil came despite higher US rig counts and the return of Libyan production.

"There appears to be an expectation that the next lot of inventory data will support Opec secretary general (Mohammed) Barkindo's assertion that the oil market is slowing coming back to balance and that we will see a fall in US stockpiles when inventory data is released later today and tomorrow."

A Bloomberg survey of analysts ahead of the latest weekly Department of Energy stockpile data revealed expectations for a drop of 700,000 barrels in commercial US crude oil inventories.

The data was scheduled for release on 5 April at 1530 GMT.

Business lobby group The American Petroleum Institute was set to publish its own weekly estimates beforehand, on Tuesday evening.
Shares in Staples surged on Tuesday following a report that the office supplies chain was mulling a possible sale of the company.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources, Staples is in early talks with buyout firms after it failed to merge with peer Office Depot last year.

The WSJ said a small number of private equity bidders were in the frame and it was understood that the deal could value Staples at around $7bn.

Staples and Office Depot called off their proposed $6.3bn merger in May last year after a judge ruled for the Federal Trade Commission, granting a preliminary injunction halting the deal on antitrust grounds.

Staples chairman and chief executive officer Ron Sargent said at the time: "We are extremely disappointed that the FTCs request for preliminary injunction was granted despite the fact that it failed to define the relevant market correctly, and fell woefully short of proving its case.

We believe that it is in the best interest of our shareholders, customers, and associates to forego appealing this decision, terminate the merger agreement, and move on with our strategic plan to drive shareholder value. We are positioning Staples for the future by reshaping our business, while increasing our focus on mid-market customers in North America and categories beyond office supplies.

At 1500 BST, the shares were up 13% to $9.80.
The White House is making moves to revive Donald Trumps healthcare bill after the Republicans were forced to cancel a vote on it last month.

Government officials met with groups in the Republican party to discuss reviving the healthcare bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

Trumps first foray into legislation was met with difficulty in the House of Representatives, despite the Republican party holding a majority in Congress.

Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to cancel a vote on the bill after he became aware that he lacked the votes from moderate Republicans who were against some of the changes and conservative Republicans who think that it is too similar to Obamacare.

Senior members of Trumps administration including Vice President Mike Pence held talks with moderate Republicans at the White House. Pence also went to Capitol Hill to meet with the Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republicans, according to Reuters.

Investors are eyeing activities surrounding the bill as they see it as a measure of Trumps ability to push his ambitious agenda forward in Congress.

He is planning to tackle tax reform next and has promised to spend $1trn on infrastructure and curb financial regulation.

Markus Allenspach, head of fixed income research at Julius Baer, a Swiss bank, said that the markets focus has shifted from fiscal stimulus and reflation to budget conflict and the risk of a government shutdown in four weeks time.

He said that the market was concerned that both the administration and the various factions in Congress are determined to fight for their positions until the very last minute. The next deadline is 28 April, when the current continuing resolution lapses.

A continuing resolution is bill that sets aside money for federal US government department, agencies and programmes.

"Without an ex-tension, the US administration is forced to close down all non-essential bodies in a process known as government shutdown. Any agreement before the very last minute would be a surprise", Allenspach said.

"We cannot rule out that market anxiety will intensify prior to the 28 April deadline. Given the experience of previous shutdowns, however, we would regard any material setback in the market as a buying opportunity."
North Sea-focussed independent upstream oil and gas company Jersey Oil & Gas announced that Statoil - operator of UK Seaward Licence P.2170, blocks 20/5b & 21/1d - awarded a contract to Transocean Drilling UK for the semisubmersible rig Transocean Spitsbergen.

The Transocean Spitsbergen rig would drill the Verbier prospect on the P.2170 licence in the Central North Sea, and the Verbier well would be part of a Statoil operated three-well drilling programme, with the Verbier planned to be drilled in summer 2017.

Jersey said the Verbier prospect, in which it held an 18% interest, was located in Blocks 20/5b & 21/1d.

The recently-announced competent person's report undertaken by ERC Equipoise estimated gross mean prospective resources attributable to the P.2170 Licence to be 162 MMboe for the Verbier prospect.

Statoil will fund all costs up to $25m in respect of the Verbier well, in addition to which Jersey would benefit from an additional carry of 10% from co-venturer CIECO Exploration and Production, in respect of the well programme related costs.

We are very pleased to announce that Statoil has contracted the rig, Transocean Spitsbergen, to drill the Verbier prospect in summer of this year, said Statoil CEO Andrew Benitz.

Confirmation of this contract is the culmination of a great deal of technical work by the Joint Venture partnership and we are grateful for the support received from our shareholders during this time.
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5% to 7,317.51 in afternoon trade as the pound slipped and investors digested UK construction figures.

Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources were the standout gainers as gold prices rallied.

Distribution giant Bunzl was on the front foot after saying it has bought two safety businesses in the US and Italy for an undisclosed sum.

Rat catcher Rentokil was in the black as Exane BNP Paribas initiated coverage of the stock at 'outperform'.

South African focused stocks Mediclinic and Old mutual were under the cosh as the rand slumped overnight after Standard & Poor's cut the nation's sovereign credit rating to 'junk'.

Mediclinic was also dragged lower after Macquarie downgraded the private hospital group to 'neutral' from 'outperform' and reduced the price target to 770p from 860p.

The bank said it expects the business environment in the UAE health space to remain tough and that a recovery to the previous margin levels was highly unlikely in the near term.

RBS was weaker after European regulators launched an in-depth probe into the decision to allow the bank an alternative option rather than offloading its Williams & Glyn business.

Morrisons was trading lower despite the release of data from Kantar Worldpanel, which showed the supermarket was the only one of the 'big four' to grow sales over the past 12 weeks. Rival Sainsburys was also on the back foot after the data showed that its sales fell 0.7% and its market share declined by 0.3 percentage points.

Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,596.00p 2.84%

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,210.00p 2.49%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,347.00p 2.00%

WPP (WPP) 1,766.00p 1.96%

3i Group (III) 750.50p 1.90%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,250.00p 1.79%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,240.00p 1.68%

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 250.40p 1.66%

Pearson (PSON) 687.00p 1.55%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 762.00p 1.53%

Fallers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 257.30p -2.24%

Mediclinic International (MDC) 695.50p -2.11%

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 235.00p -2.04%

Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,552.00p -1.88%

Barclays (BARC) 217.95p -1.58%

Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 234.70p -1.26%

Old Mutual (OML) 196.20p -1.16%

GKN (GKN) 359.40p -0.99%

BT Group (BT.A) 313.90p -0.66%

easyJet (EZJ) 1,011.00p -0.59%
Subscriber content preview

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

Associated Press

WASHINGTON  With prospects in doubt for repealing Obamacare, some Republicans say the Trump administration can rewrite regulations and take other actions to undo much of the health care law on its own.

Some of those moves could disrupt life for millions of people, many in states that the new president carried. And then there's the risk of court challenges. Remember the White House travel ban?





. . .
Sinn Fein Cllr. Gary Doherty is calling on the government to take action to ensure that roaming charges are not reintroduced on the island of Ireland after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Roaming charges are due to be abolished across the EU in June, but the councillor said Brexit could mean the charges would still apply when visiting Northern Ireland.

Thankfully, after a long and arduous battle with the mobile phone providers, roaming charges in the European Union are due to be abolished in June this year. This represents a significant victory for consumers against the exorbitant rates being charged by companies for using our mobile phones while abroad, he said.

However, he said, We are now faced with the very real and likely possibility that roaming charges on the island of Ireland may not now be abolished. I would call on the Irish government to engage with the mobile phone providers to ensure that this retrograde step does not materialise.

The Stranorlar Municipal District councillor said mobile roaming charges within the island of Ireland do not make sense from a practical or economic viewpoint.

Their reintroduction would have a debilitating affect on business while also adversely affecting those of us who live along the border, Cllr. Doherty said, adding, "We cannot sit back and allow the situation to arise where Irish citizens can use their phones free from roaming charges in the far-eastern limits of the European Union yet be subjected to these charges simply by traversing the border between Donegal and Tyrone."
Management at Letterkenny University Hospital has asked the public only to attend its emergency department in the case of real emergencies as the department is extremely busy.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said there were 29 patients waiting for admission to the hospital this morning. The INMO said nine of those were waiting on trolleys and 20 on wards.

In a statement the Saolta University Health Care Group said there are significant numbers of patients awaiting admission to the hospital today.

We apologise to patients and their families for these delays. The Full Capacity Protocol has been implemented and all efforts continue to be made to identify patients who are appropriate for discharge.

The hospital advised people attending the emergency department that they can expect delays.

We would like to remind the public that we encourage them to attend the Emergency Department only in the case of real emergencies and they should contact their GP or GP Out-of-Hours service in the first instance.

The hospital apologised to all patients and their families for any distress caused as a result of the delays.
A Donegal parish council and Irish Water have clashed over the failure to connect a major tourist facility to a sewage scheme for a village.

The Glencolmcille Parish Council has hit out at the utility for omitting the Glencolmcille Folk Village from a 18.4 million wastewater project.

Work has commenced on the Donegal Group B project which includes the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant at Glencolmcille, a new sewer network in the village and two wastewater pumping stations.

The parish council says the scheme was first planned over 40 years ago and that the original area of the schemes coverage has been radically reduced even though the number of dwellings has increased by at least 100 per cent.

The council has also hit out at the 220,000 it has been quoted by Irish Water to have the folk village - which is 270 metres from the nearest connection - connected to the new system

Irish Water says the cost quoted for the connection is in line with what Donegal County Council would have charged prior to 2014. It said Donegal County Council made the decision to de-scope this network extension. This plan was in the tender stage when it was inherited by Irish Water who proceeded with it as it met urgent current need.

Liam O Cuinneagain, cathaoirleach of Glencolmcille Parish Council, said the folk village has been omitted as a beneficiary of the scheme despite visitor numbers of 45,000 a year.

The Glencolmcille valley sewerage scheme was first planned in 1974, seven years after the opening of the folk village in 1967  50 years ago this year, he said.

The community appreciates and welcomes the fact that it is getting a modern sewerage system; it is beyond its comprehension, however, that the development is not serving the main tourism attraction of the area, developed by Fr McDyer.

Irish water said the Commission for Energy Regulation do not mandate Irish Water to service private enterprise free of charge.

The folk village was invited to make a new connections application in line with the practice of any other business around the country who wish to connect to the Irish Water network.
The Ulster Bank has told Donegal TDs that it will not be reversing its decision to close its branches in Ardara and Raphoe.

The decision to close the branches in June has led to protests by hundreds of people in the towns, which will both be left without a branch if the closures go ahead.

Deputies Pearse Doherty, Pat the Cope Gallagher and Thomas Pringle met with senior officials from the Ulster Bank in Dail Eireann this morning.

Head of retail banking at Ulster Bank, Chris Wilson along with Robert Kelly and Rory Meehan, met with the Dail deputies to discuss the future of the Ulster Bank Branches in Ardara and Raphoe.

The TDs said a strong plea and case for retaining the two banks was made.

In a joint statement the TDs said the officials made it clear the decision was not going to be reversed.

The deputies made clear their disappointment at the decision, but urged the bank officials to retain the ATM services at both towns and to commit to putting in place a mobile bank service.

A case was also made for the bank buildings to be made available for the community for disposal at a reduced price.

The banks committed to retaining the ATM Services while the buildings remained in the ownership of the bank only, after that period they would explore placing an ATM in nearby businesses.

The Ulster Bank officials present at the meeting confirmed to the three deputies their willingness to meet representatives of the local communities directly affected by the closures and advise them of the options available to them on transferring customer bank accounts, advice on the services available through ATMs and on all matters relating to the closure of the Ulster Bank in Raphoe and Ardara.

The Donegal TDs said they expressed regret that the officials were not open to discussing or exploring the reversal of the decision to close the banks.

The deputies do not agree with the Ulster Bank that keeping the branches open would affect the bank's profitability," the statement said.

"It is a regrettable decision and one which will impact negatively on the communities of Ardara and Raphoe and is further testament of the removal of services from rural communities.
New Home Baptist Church, 2734 County Road 617, in Enterprise will host a Spiritual Life Event on April 6-8 with services at 7 p.m. Guest speaker will be Kyle Johnson. Saturday, April 8, will be family night, and attendees are invited to bring finger foods for fellowship prior to Saturday's service.

The 2017 Southeast Alabama Conference for the Dothan-Eufaula District of the AME Church will be held April 7-8 at Parks Chapel AME Church, 1053 E. Selma St. in Dothan. Pastors will meet with the presiding elder at 11 a.m. on April 7. The conference will officially open with a worship service at 11:45 a.m. The Hour of Power Noon Day Worship Service guest preacher will be the Rev. Oliver Allen Jr., presiding elder of the South Birmingham-Huntsville-Bessemer and the former pastor of Parks Chapel AME Church. Holy Communion will be served at this worship service. Ministers are asked to wear white robes and ladies are invited to wear white. The general assembly and workshops will begin after the noon day service and will continue until a 6:30 p.m. worship service. Ecumenical and Mens Night Worship Services will begin at 7 p.m. Ministers are asked to wear black robes for the Friday night services. The conference will continue April 8 at 9:30 a.m. with a worship service. Workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. A Rededication and Recommitment Worship Experience will begin at noon. Services and workshops are open to the public. For more information, contact Presiding Elder David E. Reddick at 334-347-8360 or 334-494-0308.

Christ the King Lutheran Church, 208 E. Watts St., Enterprise, will hold Journey to the Cross on April 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The sensory learning event will immerse attendees in the Easter story, covering the last days of Jesus life on earth. Meet witnesses from the Bible; taste, touch, feel, and be a part of the Passion story. Call Christina Hardy at 334-347-6716 to make an appointment.

Oak Grove United Methodist Church on Highway 52 will host a Fun Day and Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 8, from 2-4 p.m. Families welcome. There will be grilled hot dogs, door prizes and games. For information, call Peggy at 334-449-2195 or email grannyp@panhandle.rr.com.

Grimes Gospel Lighthouse, 1512 County Road 25, Grimes, will host: Sandra Hunt of Rehobeth, April 8; Parsons Redeemed of Griffin, Georgia, April 15; local talent on April 22; and Scott Fowler of Luverne, April 29. Music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free; offering will be taken. Call 334-983-4654 or 334-714-4658 for more information.

Klondyke Gospel Music Center, located between Newton and Ozark at 3885 Highway 123 S., will host: Byrd Family Bluegrass of Newville, April 8; Parsons Redeemed of Griffin, Georgia, April 14; Steppin' Out On Faith of Marianna, Florida, April 15; The McMillans of Jackson, Tennessee, April 21; The Hendersons of Milton, Florida, April 22; Heritage Quartet of Huntsville, April 29. Music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, contact Ron Jeffers, president and concert coordinator, at 334-797-9862.

Big Blessin' Trio will be in concert at First Baptist Church of Slocomb on April 9 at 6 p.m.

Patterson Street Free Will Baptist Church, 406 Patterson St., Dothan, will celebrate the sixth anniversary of its pastor, the Rev. Harold McKissic Sr., with a service on Sunday, April 9, at 10 a.m. Guest speaker will be the Rev. Norris Danzey, assistant pastor of Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Cottonwood.

The First Free Will Baptist Church in Enterprise will host Church in the Park on Sunday, April 9, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Donaldson Park on Highway 167 North in Enterprise. Each family is asked to bring a picnic lunch, plus one more meal for a guest. There will be singing, preaching, eating, and games for young and older, alike. For more information, contact Pastor John Taylor at 334-798-9586.

The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville will host the West Florida Evangelism Conference on April 10. The conference will be held in R.G. Lee Chapel from 4:30 to 8 p.m. The theme is Partnering to Reach the Lost and will feature Ted Traylor, senior pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida, and Tommy Green, the executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention. In between the sessions, a free steak dinner will be provided for those who register for the meal. The conference is free and open to pastors, ministers, church leaders, and individuals interested in reaching the lost. Reservations are required for the meal and must be made through Laura Sowell at 800-328-2660, ext. 446, or by email ltsowell@baptistcollege.edu.

Life Chapel Ministries will host Victorious, an Easter night of worship with re-enactment of the Crucifixion, on April 14 at 7 p.m. on the ball field at Emmanuel Christian School, located at 178 Earline Road in Dothan.

Liberty United Methodist Church, 341 Henry County Road 92, Abbeville, in the Screamer Community will hold a Good Friday service on April 14 at 6 p.m. On April 16, there will be an Easter egg hunt at 9 a.m. for children followed by an Easter Cantata Champion of Love led by Libertys new music director, Roger Chancey.

Chalkhead Baptist Church in Ozark will hold an Easter Egg Drop on Saturday, April 15, at 10 a.m. Attendees can watch eggs dropped out of a helicopter and then race to pick them up. Visit www.chalkheadbaptist.com or call 334-774-2814 for more information. The church is at 495 County Road 35 in Ozark.

The Enterprise Aglow Community Lighthouse Meeting will be held Saturday, April 15, starting at 10 a.m. at Po Folks Restaurant in Enterprise. Guest speaker will be Crystal Crosby from Enterprise. For more information, call 334-406-9683.

The First Free Will Baptist Church, 404 E. Park Ave., Enterprise, will hold an Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday, April 16, at 6 a.m. Breakfast will be served by the men of the church at 8 a.m. in the church fellowship hall. Sunday school will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the morning worship service at 10 a.m. Everyone is invited to come. For more information, contact Pastor John Taylor at 334-798-9586.

Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church II at 1547 Lucy Grade Road in Dothan will hold spring revival services April 19-21 at 7 p.m. Guest minister will be Clifton Green of First Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Punta Gorda, Florida.

The Davis/McLeod District Church of God in Christ will host a Purity Workshop on April 22 at 10 a.m. at Living Waters Church of God in Christ at 190 McLeod Drive in Hartford. The event will feature Cynthia LeeAnn Copeland of Greater Peace Baptist Church in Fort Walton, Florida, as guest speaker.

Yom HaShoah, or the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, will be held at Temple Emanu-El in Dothan on Sunday, April 23, at 2 p.m. Yom HaShoah became an official holiday in 1953 when it was enacted into law by the Israeli Knesset. In the United States, Yom HaShoah is commemorated with a solemn service. The community is invited to the Yom HaShoah service at Temple Emanu-El, located at 188 N. Park Ave. Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith will be giving a talk as part of the service.

Liberty United Methodist Church, 341 Henry County Road 92, Abbeville, in the Screamer Community will hold a Homecoming service on April 23 at 10 a.m. with special speaker the Rev. Kevin Kelly. Lunch will be served following the service.

Trinity Missionary Baptist Church will hold an appreciation service on April 23 to celebrate Pastor Floyd Beachams eighth year as pastor and his 84th birthday. An 11 a.m. service will feature Elder Tracey Horn of Hines Chapel and a 3 p.m. service will feature Pastor Rayford Malone of Greater Beulah Baptist Church in Dothan. For more information, call 334-794-8557.

New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 2627 Kinsey Road, Dothan, will hold an annual Womens Day service on April 23 with a service at 11 a.m. featuring guest speaker Sister Trimese Smith of New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Dothan and a service at 2:30 p.m. featuring Sister Carrie Johnson of Greater Beulah Missionary Baptist Church in Dothan. Lunch will be served.

Smithville Missionary Baptist Church, 160 W. Smithville Road, Dothan, will hold a Pastor Appreciation Program on April 23 at 3 p.m. for the Rev. Walter White Jr. Guest pastor will be Dr. Jesse L. Nelson of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida. Everyone is invited.

St. Peter Baptist Church, 120 Girard St., Abbeville, will hold its 2017 Womens Day Celebration on Sunday, April 23, during the 11 a.m. morning worship. The guest speaker will be Apostle Paula Knight White, who grew up attending St. Peter and was active in the choir. White serves with her husband, Bishop Reginald T. White, as pastor of Faith Tabernacle International Church in Mobile and as overseeing apostle for To God be the Glory Ministries in Dothan. Accompanying her will be the Faith Tabernacle International praise team.

Southside Baptist Church, 423 E. Cottonwood Road, Dothan, will host a Night of Worship on April 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. Christians from across the Wiregrass will gather to worship God and to support the Price Family Adoption Fund, helping to unite siblings from India with their forever family. Tickets for this benefit concert are $10 each in advance and $12 at the door. All proceeds will go toward the Price Family Adoption Fund. Visit dothannightofworship.eventbrite.com for more information.

Calvary Baptist Church, 901 Montezuma Ave., Dothan, will host Blended and Blessed on April 29. The all-day event is a free live stream for step-family couples, single parents, dating couples with kids, and those who care about blended families. Experts will offer the keys that are crucial to healthy step-family marriages. Child care provided. Visit calvarydothan.com for information.

A Shriners Gospel Music Gala featuring Linda Senn and Darrell Luster will be held June 23 at 7 p.m. at the Troy Fairgrounds in Troy. The event will benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children. Admission is $5 for adults, with children ages 12 and under admitted free.
Toyota is trying to push its big 4WD to new heights with a new city-friendly special edition.

The new Toyota Prado Altitude is priced from $68,230 before on-road costs, which represents a $5000 premium over the GXL it is based on.

However, the extra costs scores some more gear including 18-inch alloy wheels, moonroof and auto-levelling LED headlights with chrome surrounds.

Inside, the Prado Altitude gains leather appointed upholstery, power adjustable front seats and a new 14-speaker JBL audio system with digital radio. The back seats feature a ceiling mounted 9.1-inch screen coupled with a Blu-ray player, three wireless headphones and a remote.

Toyota has mounted the spare tyre underneath the vehicle not on the rear tailgate, however this positioning requires the removal of the Prado's vaunted second fuel tank reducing fuel capacity from 150 litres to 87 litres.

With the removal of the rear mounted spare, Toyota has now incorporated an independently opening rear hatch on the tailgate.

The Toyota Prado Altitude retains the four-cylinder 2.8-litre turbocharged diesel powerplant from the GXL, the diesel unit produces 130kW and 450Nm while sipping 8.0-litres per 100km.
A car ferry is ready to be rolled out on Carlingford Lough in June this year, according to operating company Scenic Carlingford Ferry.

The company made the announcement via their website:

"The new cross border vehicular ferry service will link Greenore and Greencastle in Co Down across the iconic Carlingford Lough and will commence operations in June. The works are already attracting large numbers of visitors to view the progress.

"This project, which has taken almost 10 years to bring to fruition, will be one of the most strategic infrastructure investments in the region. The 9.75 million (8.5 million) project is entirely privately financed and is being developed by Frazer Ferries Group.

"This will be the first vehicular ferry across Carlingford Lough. The previous two ferries having carried passengers only. The first ferry was recorded in 1185 AD and sailed between the medieval castles at Carlingford and Greencastle, then was followed by the Greenore Greencastle ferry which carried the first tourists, during the 19th Century.

"The 44 car vessel will take just 15 minutes to traverse one of the most scenic stretches of water on the island of Ireland, where you can take time to breath in the salty air, appreciate the mountain and seascapes, wildlife, seals and terns. You cannot fail to miss the historic 13th Century Royal Greencastle Castle, the elegant tapering Mourne granite 112 tall Haulbowline Lighthouse, which stands guard at the entrance to Carlingford Lough along with the Block House and Green Islands, where the seals bask on the south facing shore. Depending on the state of the tide you will see the oyster and mussel farms which grow the tastiest and juiciest seafood on the shores of the Lough and which you can sample in the local restaurants in Carlingford and Kilkeel.

"There will be multi journey ticket deals for those who will use this to commute to Dublin or to Co. Down. Many local people have never sailed on Carlingford Lough, but will now have the opportunity to appreciate the magical Mountains of Mourne and Cooley Mountains as they dramatically sweep into the depths of Carlingford Lough.

"The scenic Carlingford Ferry will operate from 7am to 7.30pm from November to March and 7am to 9.30pm from April to October. It will operate hourly from Greencastle on the hour and hourly from Greenore on the half hour. Road widening works on the Greencastle Pier Road have now been completed and the piles which anchor the piers in place are being inserted at a depth of at least 18m deep. Work continues apace."
ELKO  The Great Basin College Arts and Cultural Enrichment committee will present a live TED Talks style event, Fake News, Real Consequences at 6:30 p.m., April 13 in the Greenhaw Technical Arts building, room 130.

GBC English instructor Kevin Hodur leads the live TED Talk which will discuss todays media environment as well as our responsibility as citizens in the face of the fake news crisis.

Hodur teaches composition and digital literacy, among other areas. He received his Ph.D in rhetoric and technical communication from Michigan Tech in 2012.

In addition to Hodurs presentation, the event includes two other pre-filmed TED Talks How to have Better Political Conversations by Rob Willer and Three Ways to Fix a Broken News Industry by Lara Setrakian.

For more information, contact Angie de Braga at 753-2231.
Most of what is written about an employer brand is baloney! You cant fabricate the perfect job or control how people feel about their workplace day by day. And as for creating a workspace to make people feel happy all the time  well, good luck with that.

In reality everyone has off days, companies change, departments restructure, business pressures come and go. Most of all, peoples needs evolve as they travel through life, whether it is the need for more money, more recognition, the need to travel or the need to experience entirely different things.

What you can do is identify firmly what type of employer you are. When creating a workplace, outline what your employment offer is going to look like and make that brand identity and experience known. This way you will attract more like-minded individuals. It also figures that if you can articulate your core values and your offer with authenticity  and walk the talk  you can better attract authentic people who are well matched.

When I asked my team why they joined my company, they (coming from a wide range of ages and places) said it was about shared core values, transparency, honesty  being able to talk about real things while they deal with real life and do very good work. This covered the need for flexibility and their eagerness to learn. Some reiterated that this was more important to them than being a sexy company (with beanbags or foosball tables) or even what the company does. It was more about being safe and respected and understood.

After 21 years in business Ive pretty much seen it all. Ive made good employment choices and those I regret. Like all employers we evolve, move through different phases in business with different personnel needs. With all those years comes a lot of experience. People stay working with people they like and mostly when core values are aligned. If the core values fall out of whack, people start looking for another employer.

Sometimes life just happens and people leave. It is a practical reality and comes down to the combination of changes with life and work circumstances. As with home life, people make mistakes and often it is whether you can live through those mistakes or you choose to opt out.

The fact remains that we spend most of our time at work, so where you work and who you work with has to make you feel good. When I first created my own business, it meant leaving my young children so I was adamant my workspace would be the best it could be to warrant the heartache of leaving them.

Ultimately, the aim of any employer (in their right mind) is to keep good people for as long as possible and move them on as soon as possible if the fit isnt right or becomes strained. Onboarding and offboarding are equally as important as each other. They must be managed equally well and are often overlooked by SME businesses (if not also the big guys)!

Environments are best if they are open, honest, transparent with no bull, and teams, employees and the employer can safely call it how it is. This is not as easy as it sounds, but it is much easier in SMEs where there is less red tape one can build a culture from the ground up.

Workplaces function more efficiently if you get to know your employees. Individual personalities respond differently to work pressures, responsibilities and experiences Everyone is different, so the one size fits all doesnt work well these days and certainly hasnt since I began in the workplace. Creating a work environment that fits and nurtures a wide range of personalities is a good thing. Not so easy, but a good thing. This means in practice you can build and tailor for each person and provide perhaps flexibility or training or good work life balance on an individual basis.

Note that when circumstances are tailored and vary for the individual, it is important to govern and record it so it is fair and encourages an environment where people are and feel cared for and their personal circumstances are considered in tandem with everyone elses needs.

Other basics such as comfort, light, heat, air temperature, ergonomics, safety, basic food supply and updated IT are often overlooked and are equally important.

As a business owner, you must of course be familiar with the Fair Work Act and understand your legal compliance and employment award responsibilities. Within that however, you can choose your own ways to operate and offer more (but not less) of governance-meeting criteria.

The other thing to bear in mind today is social media. Employees need to know the clear instructions and policies around social media use and their responsibility to their employer brands under legal contract.

You can choose how you hire, how you conduct and time performance reviews, improve the hiring and onboarding process, conduct training, set KPIs, levels of social engagement and the exit process. The key is to put the right person in the right seat. This is your joy as an employer and while it is fun to create, it is an ever-evolving process.

About the author:

Sharon is a pioneer in the Australian marketing and public relations agency industry. She is a CEO, Fellow of the PRIA, international speaker, personal brand expert, entrepreneur, mentor, marketer, media commentator and frequent mainstream editorial contributor. Under Sharons leadership and entrepreneurial flair, Taurus is now recognised as one of Australias highest profile agencies, offering unparalleled levels of service to global corporations including Advance, UTS:INSEARCH, Appster, Napoleon Perdis and Clean Up Australia.
Australias first sharing economy accelerator, The Sharing Hub, had its official launch in Sydney on Monday (3 April). The quartet of start-up founders driving the initiative  Steve Orenstein (Zoom2u), Alexis Soulopoulos (Mad Paws), Will Davies (Car Next Door) and Mike Rosenbaum (Spacer.com.au)  spoke to Dynamic Business (DB) about Australias booming sharing economy and the support theyre providing disruptive ventures.

DB Why is Australias sharing economy ready for an accelerator?

Rosenbaum: The sharing economy is booming. Deloittes new sharing economy report, which was presented at our launch event by Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean, is proof that collaborative consumption is flourishing in Australia  and here to stay. The report shows that in NSW alone, sharing economy revenue grew 68% from $1.6 billion to $2.6 billion in the last 12 months  thats massive.

Davies: The sharing economy has its own set of particular challenges and opportunities, for example the chicken and egg problem: do we build demand first or do we first build supply?. We strongly believe that sharing insights between companies who are facing these same challenges is very beneficial and the very large interest weve received shows that. Were the only Hub in Australia helping start-ups in the sharing economy.

DB: What progress has the Sharing Hub made since it was first announced?

Orenstein: Weve opened our official headquarters in Pyrmont, NSW. Its more than just a physical location  its a place where sharing economy start-ups can exchange insights, access investment opportunities, mentor and be mentored, and attend event such as our quarterly meet-ups. Each of The Sharing Hubs founders have a role in helping start-ups grow at speed. By collaborating with each other we can learn faster, which results in accelerated growth. Currently were supporting 30 sharing economy start-ups, which together have raised $60M+ in funding; however, weve had interest from over 100 since we announced The Sharing Hub in October.

DB: What programs and services are being offered by The Sharing Hub?

Soulopoulos: We have different initiatives for all different size sharing economy companies  ultimately, we welcome and support any business that could be successful. In addition to our meet-ups and our peer-to-peer mentorship program, were doing a series of guest lectures and panel discussions at the University of Sydney, with the aim being to share our insights and get young, aspiring entrepreneurs up to speed on the sharing economy. Were also launching a cross-company graduate programme where graduates will do a rotation in all four companies operated by The Sharing Hubs founders and potentially other businesses participating in the Hub.

Further, were organising the first Sharing Hub Community event for our suppliers (e.g. Zoom2U drivers, Car Next Door owners, Spacer.com.au hosts and Mad Paws pet sitters) plus any consumers who want to know more about how they can make a second income. This is an opportunity for us to give back to the people who are making our businesses successful. They will have an opportunity to meet each other, exchange experiences and become familiar with a variety of other sharing economy businesses they can sign up to earn extra income. 

See also: Spacer takes on worlds largest self-storage market with buy-out of US equivalent, Roost, Australias first sharing economy accelerator launches; head identifies start-up must-haves, New ways for start-ups to thrive in the shareconomy: Ex Deals Direct CEO talks Spacer and Share a ride with Car Next Doors Will and Dave: the duo challenging car ownership.
If thinking was a sport I would cross the finish line towards the back of the pack. Coming around the final turn my view would be of flung mud and wisps of mares tails. This is not to say I dont think. That I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I am just not an exact thinker. A miniscule mesmerizing mystic mind guru, thats me. I find if I over think things it takes all the fun out of swinging from the trees. But I sense you need an example

Having fashion sense is not on my list, well not at the top of my list. So when we moved into our home so many years ago I was both excited and not so excited about buying all the things needed to make a house a home, like curtains.

This house has four huge windows in the front/dining rooms to cover with curtains that would need to match because it is in essence one big living space. Off to catalogs I went. Yes catalogs, those paper booklets that were used to buy curtains and bedding and the like before the internet and because I wasnt flush enough to have some interior decorator do the job. Besides I felt I could do this. I needed to make my decorating bones. No Problem.

Our area is a flat, kind of non-descript farming area. Dont get me wrong. It is wonderful to live here. Beautiful mountains, great people But I felt I needed a splash of color in our new made to order, delivered on wheels but not a trailer, home. So when I saw the curtains I ended up ordering and putting up, I fell for them pretty hard. My other half, not so much.

So sure of myself and my choice I suggested we have my friend over and see what she thought. She has great taste, is a bit older and has more than a few decorating projects under her belt. I knew she would take my side. So I called and after work that afternoon she stopped by.

It was a breezy, warm, early summer afternoon. I had the curtains hanging, the windows open the breeze fluttering the fabric of my choice. Okay here is the thing. They were very bright, with these HUGE flowery designs of wonderful, colorfuloranges! Yes oranges. Marigold, yam, carrot, marmalade tangerine, red rust. Orange. Lots of orange. Very livelyor so I thought Because after the snickering was quelled, the curtains were returned and beige is now my watch word when buying window coverings.

Needless to say; what was I thinking!

Time for one more? Okay.

There was a time in my life that I made decorated cakes for friends and family. Soon I was making cakes for sale. Birthday cakes decorated as characters like Mickey Mouse, Barbie and Ziggy, (Google Ziggy. He was quite cute at one time.) Then it grew into wedding cakes and I even made a cake for Governor Paul Laxalt when he made a Republican whistle stop in Eureka. Anyway.

I set up wedding cakes while the ceremony was taking place. That way all was ready for the cutting and stuffing ceremony at the reception. I finished up with this one cake for a mid-summer wedding then I left the venue to go home and relax. Hey its a lot of pressure to get a cake to a wedding ready for a bride let alone the mother of the bride.

About ten minutes later I get this call, thankfully, from the caterer who tells me the flowers are falling off the cake. She tried to put them back on but they were melting faster than she could fix them.

I lived ten miles away and I drove that ten miles in about 4 minutes. When I walked in there it was, this 5 tiered cake with wonderful roses falling like rain. I can still feel my heart in my throat. See I got this idea that since it was going to be really hot that day I would freeze the cake the night before, finish the decorating the morning of the wedding and put it all together so it would be ready and fresh and thawed by the time the bride smashed cake in the grooms face!

Not the best idea because as the cake underneath began to thaw, the icing got moist and the roses, which were freshly made that morning began to unglue themselves from the sides! Good thing frosting, in baking circles, is also known as edible glue.

Again; what was I thinking!

Well theres the problem--with both stories. I wasnt thinking. I was being myself and in these instances, I was coming around the final turn and all I saw was flinging frosting roses and wisps of orange curtains. Would not change one memory making time.

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Her book ITY BITS is on Kindle. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com
Imagination on Monday announced that Apple would no longer use its intellectual property, and the companys stock sank faster than a bottomless boat on the news.

Apple planned to discontinue its use of the companys IP in new products in 15 months to two years, ending the license and royalty agreement between the companies, Imagination said.

Those royalties currently account for about half the revenue of Imagination, in which Apple has an 8 percent stake.

Imaginations technology and intellectual property is used in the graphics processor units in Apples phones, tablets, iPods, TV products and watches.

Following Imaginations announcement, Reuters reported the UK companys stock price fell 70 percent, to 76 pence, the lowest since 2009.

I cannot see how Imagination would survive this, given Apple is such a large customer, said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.

Difficult to Cut Cord

Imagination cast doubt on Apples assertion that it could build a GPU with only its own intellectual property, however, contending that such an effort would e extremely challenging and might violate Imaginations intellectual property rights.

Imagination wants its investors to believe that Apple wont be able to totally cut it out of the picture, suggested Ben Bajarin, a principal at Creative Strategies.

It is certainly true that building a GPU from the ground up will likely require someones IP in some way for Apple, unless of course they acquired the IP they need via some other acquisition they have made, he noted in an analysis of the announcement.

Another possible scenario is that Apple will customize the Mali graphics solution offered by ARM, which Apple already is licensed to use, Bajarin said.

Heavy Customization

What many people dont realize is that Apple has been doing a great deal of customization of the Imagination GPU IP to fit its own needs, Bajarin explained.

Imagination provided the GPU core, but Apple began adding more and more of its technology and displacing Imaginations technology, observed Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst with Tirias Research.

It may have gotten to the point where Apple wasnt using enough of Imaginations technology to make it worthwhile to continue paying for it, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Imagination should have been prepared for Apples move, Krewell added.

The rumors have been floating around for a lot of years that Apple was developing its own GPU to replace Imagination, he pointed out. Apple has been hiring top GPU architects. There could only be one product they could be working on.

Important Step for Apple

Gaining control of the GPUs in its products is an important step for Apple.

Apple is putting themselves in a position to own their GPU solution and, as a result, not be beholden to the design direction of a third party whom they may not have total influence over, Bajarin wrote in his analysis.

This puts Apple in an incredibly strong position strategically to control their own destiny in hardware, software, and services  even more than they do today, he added.

Apple has been building out its silicon capabilities aggressively, explained Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research.

It allows Apple to optimize chipset designs for its own purposes, he told the E-Commerce Times. It gives it more control, better integration and more potential optimization.

It is not certain that Apples decision will prove to be a wise strategy, though.

Time will tell how good of a move this was for Apple, Moor Insights Moorhead told the E-Commerce Times.

Apple has a good track record in silicon, but graphics are harder than CPUs, and Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD holds most of the IP today, he pointed out.

Under Tim Cooks leadership, Apple has become a far more risk-averse company than it was during Steve Jobs tenure, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

I cant imagination Apple stating such a decision unless they were fully prepared to move forward and execute it successfully, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Few Pacts Last Forever

Apple has had some stormy breakups with providers in the past. GT Advanced Technologies, which made sapphire screens, in 2014 blamed Apple for forcing it into bankruptcy, for example.

In business, few if any partnerships last forever, King observed.

Apple has a long history of leaving behind strategic relationships when they no longer suit its purpose, he said. If any Apple partners were unaware of that issue or unwilling to consider it seriously, todays announcement should inspire some serious soul-searching.

Imagination made a point of noting that it has reserved all its rights to its confidential information and would be protective of its intellectual property rights.

That could signal a court date with Apple.

Still, Apple is not the kind of company you want to go after unless youve got really big bucks, warned Jack E. Gold, principal analyst atJ.Gold Associates.

Based on past history, its hard to win lawsuits against Apple, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Even if you can, its a five-year or more effort. It takes forever because theyll appeal the heck out of it, Gold pointed out. If thats what youre relying on to stay in business, youre in big trouble.
Most people think they know what the term artificial intelligence means, based on the results of a survey Pegasystems released Tuesday. However, their responses suggested that they probably dont fully understand how its being used today, including in the customer service realm.

Researchers polled 6,000 adult consumers in the United States, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Seventy-two percent of the survey participants said they understood what was meant by artificial intelligence.

While 32 percent said they werent sure if they had interacted with AI, 34 percent said they had. Another 34 percent said they had never had an AI interaction.

However, 84 percent actually had come into contact with AI, based on the devices or services they actually used, such as virtual home assistants, intelligent chatbots, or systems that incorporate predictive suggestions, including Google search and spam filters.

Perception vs. Reality

Only 41 percent of respondents knew that AI powered the technology used in Google Home or Amazon Alexa, even though both products have been marketed as bringing intelligent assistants into the home. However, 57 percent recognized that Apples Siri was based on AI.

Researchers polled a roughly equal number of men and women. Eighty percent of the male respondents and 66 percent of the women thought they understood the meaning of AI, but 60 percent of the women correctly identified that Siri was AI-powered compared to 54 percent of the men. Forty-three percent of the women said Alexa used AI, compared to 38 percent of the men.

We didnt provide a definition of AI on purpose, noted Pegasystems CTO Don Schuerman.

We wanted to know what consumers associate with AI without leading them on, he told CRM Buyer.

Respondents weret tested on their AI knowledge, but given how complex AI is, we were surprised that 72 percent said they understand it, Schuerman noted.

Most consumers perception of AI is tied to the image Hollywood has provided  robots and intelligent mainframes, noted Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

They dont see the impact AI is playing in the technologies they use, he told CRM Buyer. If you pick up a smartphone and say, Hello Google, theres no way to determine if the response was programmed or learned.

Thats changing because of increasing press coverage and the growth in the use of digital assistants, McGregor suggested.

What People Think AI Can Do

Asked what AI could do, 57 percent of the respondents said it could learn; 51 percent said it could think logically; and 50 percent said it could solve problems.

Thirty-seven percent said it could interpret speech; 35 percent believed it could replicate human interaction; 31 percent feared it could replace humans in jobs; and 30 percent thought AI could store lots of data. Nineteen percent believed AI could play games.

Exposure to AI can help reduce fear of the technology, the survey results suggest.

Thirty-nine percent of non-AI users expressed neutral attitudes toward the technology; 25 percent said they were comfortable with it; and 36 percent said they were uncomfortable with AI.

However, 55 percent of those who used AI said they were comfortable with the technology; 26 percent were neutral; and 19 percent were uncomfortable.

Opportunities for Business Growth

Nearly 40 percent of the respondents thought that AI would improve customer service.

However, 38 percent did not believe that AI already delivered the same or better service than humans, while 27 percent thought it did.

Typically, AI is used in isolated pockets with limited functionality that doesnt follow the customer from initial contact to final outcome, Pegas Schuerman observed. Theres a lot of hype in the industry about AI in customer experience, but the customers just arent seeing it yet.

The proper use of AI can help businesses maintain or increase growth. For example, Sprint, which deployed Pegasystems AI-based Pega Customer Decision Hub in just three months, saw its retention offers double, slashing post-paid churn by 50 percent, Schuerman said.

The most important thing businesses can do, he suggested, is make sure their AI-powered customer engagements are truly exceptional ones.
Already under the microscope for claims of sexual harassment and questionable labor practices, Uber this week said it would ban the use of a controversial technology to block regulatory authorities from monitoring its operations.

The companys greyballing technology is designed to hide the standard city app view in specific cases  for example, from former riders blocked for being abusive, or to prevent fraud. However, some drivers have used it to circumvent local regulators, a practice that Uber no longer will allow, according to Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan.

Uber has started a review of the different ways the technology has been used up to now, he said, noting that it will take some time before the prohibition can be enforced fully.

A number of organizations have reached out for additional information, Sullivan said, although he did not specify whether they were government regulators or other organizations.

Uber will respond to their inquiries after the review is completed, he added.

I am baffled that it took Uber public scrutiny and a weeks time to come to this conclusion, said European Parliament member Marietje Schaake.

I expect at least full disclosure of every city in which Uber used greyballing for this purpose, so that the relevant authorities can get to the bottom of this and take appropriate actions, she told the E-Commerce Times.

Uber has used its greyballing technology to thwart regulators in various U.S. cities, including Boston and Las Vegas, as well as in a number of overseas markets, including Paris, where it has been under scrutiny, The New York Times reported earlier this month.

Serious Blowback

Uber has faced a heavy backlash in cities where it has faced off against entrenched taxi and private car services that transport tourists, business travelers and local passengers to and from local airports, rail stations and hotels under a completely different set of operating costs and regulatory requirements.

Hundreds of taxi drivers in South Africa blocked traffic to the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to protest Uber operations there.

Following publication of the NYT story, Schaake last week appealed to the European Commission for an investigation of the greyballing tool in connection with local competition rules.

The rule of law should apply to everybody, online and offline. I want to know what the European Commission proposes to do after what we learned about Uber. It should be a no-brainer that if you actively create measures and tools to circumvent local laws, you should be held accountable, she said.

Some cities have very rigid rules against the ride-hailing market, Schaake noted. We need rules to ensure principles are preserved and we have a level playing field. As a liberal, I am not in favor of companies that aim to monopolize transport services under the guise of being collaborative companies.

Sexual Harassment Claims

The greyballling controversy marks the latest disruption for Uber, which has prided itself as the ultimate Silicon Valley disruptor, following a major backlash against the companys coziness with the Trump administration.

Uber drew protesters ire in particular when it attempted to circumvent a work stoppage by local taxi drivers at JFK International Airport in January, which was intended to protest the presidents controversial ban on the admission of refugees and visitors to the U.S. from certain Muslim-dominant countries.

A big scandal erupted just last month, when a former engineer at Uber alleged widespread sexual harassment that the company allegedly tried to bury before forcing her out.

Uber hired former Obama administration AG Eric Holder to investigate the sexual harassment claims, and since has fired Amit Singhal, senior vice president of engineering.

Long Lens

Uber has committed a rash of unforced errors in recent months, according to Michael Harley, executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book. However, its way too early to bet against Uber weathering the storm.

While there will be countless riders who will abandon the app-based company and jump over to rival Lyft, dont discount Uber just yet, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Uber just landed a permit to test autonomous vehicle driving in California, which is another potentially lucrative market for the emerging business of ride sharing with driverless cars, Harley noted.

Pushing the technology envelope, while carefully managing its public image and next steps, should help extinguish much of the negativity, he said.

Uber has certainly been under pressure in recent months, acknowledged Steven Polzin, director of mobility policy research at the University of South Floridas Center for Urban Transportation Research.

Still, its prudent to take a longer view of the ride-sharing industrys potential, he said, cautioning against drawing conclusions about Uber and Lyft based on current events.

The technology is important and will be around, Polzin told the E-Commerce Times. The pricing and delivery structure, regulatory environment, and capacity remain to be validated and are likely to keep changing.
Google on Thursday announced Guetzli, a new contribution to its evolving set of tools for the open source community. Guetzli is an encoder that allows JPEG files to be compressed as much as 35 percent, resulting in much faster Web page loading.

Guetzli, which means cookie in Swiss German, allows users to create smaller JPEG images while maintaining compatibility with existing Web browsers, image processing applications and the existing JPEG standard, noted Robert Obryk and Jyrki Alakuijala, software engineers at Google Research Europe, in an online post.

It produces a result similar to that of Googles Zopfli algorithm, which produces smaller PNG and gzip files without the requirement of a new file format, they explained. The technique is different from RNN-based image compression, RAISR and WebP, all of which need ecosystem and client changes for compression at Internet scale.

Google first introduced the Zopfi compression algorithm in 2013 and two years later unveiled Brotli, which offered faster page loads and up to 26 percent higher compression ratios than Zopfi.

Microsoft late last year announced support for Brotli in Edge, which would make it broadly interoperable across major browsers, as the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox already supported Brotli.

Quality and Compression

JPEG resolution quality is directly correlated to its multi-stage compression process, Obryk and Alakuijala explained.

Guetzli specifically targets the quantization stage in which the more visual quality loss is introduced, the smaller resulting file, they wrote. Guetzli strikes a balance between minimal loss and file size by employing a search algorithm that tries to overcome the difference between psychovisual modeling of JPEGs format and Guetzlis psychovisual model.

The model approximates color perception and visual masking in a more detailed way than what can be achieved through simpler color transforms and discrete cosine transforms, according to the engineers.

1616 pixel synthetic example of a phone line hanging against a blue sky  traditionally a case where JPEG compression algorithms suffer from artifacts. Uncompressed original is on the left. Guetzli (on the right) shows less ringing artefacts than libjpeg (middle) and has a smaller file size.

During experiments with human raters, Obryk and Alakuijala continued, images produced by Guetzli were preferred over images from libjpeg files, even when the latter files were the same size or slightly larger, making the slower compression a worthy tradeoff.

2024 pixel zoomed areas from a picture of a cats eye. Uncompressed original on the left. Guetzli (on the right) shows less ringing artefacts than libjpeg (middle) without requiring a larger file size.

The hope is that the format webmasters and graphic designers will embrace the format for running image-heavy websites, and that mobile users will see reduced load times and bandwidth costs, the engineers said.

Deep Learning

Google likely has developed the deep learning expertise and compute resources to tackle such a feat from a new vantage point, suggested Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Image storage is a top priority for consumer cloud services, retail, advertising and other industries, he noted.

My educated guess is that Google made Guetzli public because Google doesnt control most of the endpoints that capture the images that Google then stores for image searches, Teich told LinuxInsider. It makes Googles business run a little better if everyone uses Guetzli as their native JPEG format  and the same is true for other cloud services that handle images at scale, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

There likely will be a version of Guetzli for motion video compression as well.

RAISR, which Google introduced in November, uses machine learning to turn low-resolution images into high-quality photos. WebP images are 26 percent smaller than PNGs and up to 34 percent smaller than JPEG images

Making the Guetzli technology available as an open source tool will help speed adoption and return significant benefits for Google, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Google makes money off ads, he told LinuxInsider. Slow load times lower ad views, so by speeding up the Web, theyll make a ton more money.

Dropbox engineers were excited to find that Guetzli interoperates with Lepton, the streaming image compression format Dropbox released to the open source community last summer.

In preliminary testing, we are seeing real advantages in combining Guetzli with Lepton, as long as you apply Guetzli first, said Daniel Reiter Horn, staff software engineer at Dropbox.

For example, one test we tried resulted in ~24 percent savings from Guetzli and an additional ~22 percent compression from Lepton, with default settings, he told LinuxInsider.

The result was a total savings of ~41 percent over the default file, Horn said. The math makes sense, because Lepton gives 22 percent savings on the Guetzli file thats 75 percent of the original size so the savings is 24 percent + (22 percent * 76 percent) = ~41 percent.

Googles own team had little to say about the release beyond the revelations in Obryk and Alakuijalas post, company rep Jason Freidenfelds told LinuxInsider.

However, it did release a statement suggesting that it was, shall we say, compressing its wild enthusiasm: Grt to hv all ths intrst  wr vry exctd fr ths brkthrgh!
Private and public sector organizations share a common goal in hosting Internet websites: making sure that connections with customers and citizens are secure. However, complete security is not yet universal in either sector.

Google and Mozilla, for example, are among many entities promoting Internet security via the adoption of Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure technology, or HTTPS, versus the basic and less secure HTTP technology that underpins Internet service.

Within the public sector, the federal chief information officer and the General Services Administration are promoting HTTPS as well. GSA recently notified federal agencies that it had developed a program designed to ensure that all new federal websites would be provided connection security automatically through the use of HTTPS encryption capabilities. The program will be launched sometime this spring, GSA said.

This year, GSA will be taking another significant step forward in making secure communication the default for federal Web services by automatically enforcing HTTPS in modern Web browsers for newly issued executive branch dot-gov (.gov) domains and their subdomains, GSA said in a notice published earlier this year.

GSA has supported HTTPS adoption actively, especially in regard to a 2015 White House directive requiring that all new federal Web services support and enforce HTTPS connections over the public Internet, and that federal agencies migrate existing Web services to HTTPS by the end of last year.

New Federal Website Encryption

In terms of creating new federal websites, as executive branch domains become registered, the dot-gov program will submit them to Web browsers for preloading, GSA said.

After submission, it could take up to three months before preloading takes effect in modern Web browsers. Once preloading is in effect, browsers will enforce HTTPS strictly for the domains and their subdomains. Users will not be able to click through certificate warnings. Any Web services on the domains will need to be accessible over HTTPS in order to be used by modern Web browsers, GSA noted.

For example, if an agency were to register a dot-gov site in May, GSA would communicate to Web browsers that the new site should be enforced as HTTPS-only. Within a few months of that time, any attempt by a user to visit the newly created HTTP site would cause their browser to redirect automatically to an HTTPS designated domain. The agency that registered the new dot-gov site would have to, on its own, configure HTTPS support so that users could navigate to the website successfully.

GSA expects the security adoption process to go fairly smoothly.

HTTPS is a standard protocol used for an increasingly large class of Web services. Certificates can be obtained inexpensively or for free, GSA said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Cat Langel.

Federal Web Contractors Need Not Worry

While some agencies have contracts with private sector providers for Web services, the HTTPS process should not result in a significant burden to contractors or the agencies they support, according to GSA.

It will continue to be the responsibility of an agency to obtain and deploy certificates, and to correctly configure HTTPS support for websites at those domains. If an agency website under a newly issued domain does not support HTTPS, users will be unable to visit the agency website using a modern Web browser.

GSAs program for providing automatic HTTPS technology for new federal websites, as well as the governments comprehensive plan to protect all federal websites eventually, has drawn approval from the e-commerce community.

We are supportive of efforts by the federal government to proactively protect the privacy and security of Internet users when they use government websites. By making what used to be a laborious process into a turnkey one, GSA is doing the right thing, said Nat Meysenburg, staff technologist at New Americas Open Technology Institute.

It is making secure websites a standard practice for departments across government, he said.

This move to blanket HTTPS by the government is yet another affirmation of the importance of encrypted websites, and will hopefully encourage even more companies to implement secure websites. As our recent work on HTTPS adoption shows, encrypted websites are quickly becoming standard operating procedure, Meysenburg told the E-Commerce Times.

Google has long sought to provide secure Web communications with HTTPS, and is committed to offering HTTPS for increasingly more of its services, said Parisa Tabriz, a security expert at Google, in comments submitted to the Office of Management and Budget when OMB launched its program in 2015.

In this vein, Google strongly supports the White Houses proposed HTTPS-Only Standard to provide people throughout the United States and the world  exclusively secure access to U.S. Government services, she continued.

When interacting with the government, whether for taxes, immigration, Social Security, voter registration, healthcare, or any other public service, people have a critical need for the information they send and receive to be confidential and untampered, Tabriz remarked. HTTPS is the minimum requirement for achieving this, and Google is pleased to see the White House recognizes this need.

Federal Effort Tops Private Sector

HTTPS-enabled websites provide two major security elements over non-HTTPS sites, according to the Open Technology Institute. Encryption, the first feature, ensures that the content of a particular Web request or transaction remains, and cannot be accessed by anyone except the user and the relevant website.

Even if the communication is intercepted by a third party, it will appear to be nothing but a jumble of random text, notes OTIs response to the federal HTTPS proposal.

Secondly, HTTPS authentication verifies that a website is actually associated with the person or organization it claims to represent, rather than by an impostor who set up the site to trick users into divulging personal information, known as a phishing attack, OTI points out.

While federal agencies failed to meet the target of complete HTTPS conversion by the end of 2016, GSAs survey of federal compliance revealed significant progress toward that goal. The survey was conducted between mid-2015 and the end of 2016. GSA reached the following conclusions:

The White House policy generated significant HTTPS adoption in the U.S. government, to the point that the government now outpaces the private sector on use of HTTPS.

HTTPS has gone from a clear minority to a clear majority of support across executive branch dot-gov domains since the release of the policy.

Web traffic data suggests that HTTPS is now used for most Web requests to executive branch dot-gov Web services.

The survey targeted main dot-gov sites as well as some subdomains of the parent sites  a total of 27,000 sites. However, the survey excluded Defense Department sites designed under the dot-mil protocol.

The GSA reports list of federal dot-gov sites may not be comprehensive, it cautions. At the end of 2016, 73 percent of executive branch dot-gov sites supported HTTPS versus about 32 percent in mid-2015.

Also, 61 percent of sites enforced HTTPS at year-end 2016 versus 15 percent at the start of the survey period. GSA referenced an October 2016 industry report on 1 million sites in comparing federal HTTPS progress versus the private sector.
South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday indicted Samsung head Lee Jae-yong and four other executives on bribery and embezzlement charges, following a lengthy investigation into Lees ties with impeached president Park Geun-hye and her confidant, Choi Soon-sil.

Samsung Head Lee Jae-yong

Charges against Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Group, include pledging bribes to organizations tied to Choi in an effort to cement his control of the conglomerate.

The Samsung Group has denied paying bribes to Park or seeking improper favorable treatment from her.

Lee could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He, Park and Choi all have denied wrongdoing.

Two senior Samsung Group executives  Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung and President Chang Choong-gi  offered to resign to take responsibility for the conglomerates involvement in the scandal, Korean news agency Yonhap reported last week.

The two have been identified as suspects in the probe into Lee.

Lee shut down Samsungs corporate strategy office last December. With about 200 staff from various Samsung affiliates, the office ran major initiatives, such as investment in new businesses. It reportedly was key to Samsungs questionable lobbying efforts.

Fallout From the Investigation

CEOs and boards of Samsungs various affiliates now will run their organizations independently.

This is going to hit Samsung hard in areas such as the smartphone industry, where the tight connection gave it advantages in both time to market and cost, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

A fight between the units over profits and costs could result in increased inefficiencies, and the lack of a strong central unit to ensure the good of the group suggests the risk of a problem has just gone up significantly, he told the E-Commece Times.

For example, Samsungs partners could get more aggressive when competing for business from affiliates currently sourcing from other affiliates, Enderle suggested.

A change like this crippled IBM in the 1960s and was key to the companys near-collapse in the 1980s, he recalled.

On the other hand, relationships are everything at the top levels of major corporations, observed Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

These people will talk and will continue to collaborate, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Samsungs Corporate Identity

South Koreas largest business conglomerate, or chaebol, Samsung consists of four business groups: Samsung Group, Chinese Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group.

Samsung has numerous affiliates.

Samsung was a major force behind the Miracle on the Han River in the 1950s, as South Koreas rapid economic growth in the Korean War aftermath is known.

Samsung employs more people than any other company in South Korea, noted Andreas Scherer, managing partner at Salto Partners.

The conglomerate accounts for roughly 17 percent of South Koreas GDP, he told the E-Commerce Times, and it is a major force in politics, media and culture.

The Stakes for Samsung

Samsung dominates the smartphone industry. It shipped more than 77 million smartphones in Q4, commanding 77 percent of the global market, according to Strategy Analytics.

However, global smartphone shipments in Q4 were down 5 percent from the 81 million units shipped in Q4 2015. Apple picked up the slack, with global iPhone shipments totaling 78 million, up 5 percent from Q4 2015.

A weakened Samsung would be a boon to other Android manufacturers and Apple, particularly at the high end, where Samsung and Apple largely stood alone up until now, Enderle remarked.

Still, given Samsungs size and importance to both the Korean economy and social structure, noted Salto Partners Scherer, its safe to assume nothing will happen fast.
Apple poked a hornets nest when it removed the standard headphone jack from the iPhone 7. It may do it again by replacing the Lightning port with USB-C in the next iPhone.

The Lightning port, introduced in 2012, is used to charge and connect accessories to the iPhone, but Apple plans to swap it for USB-C, which the company has been introducing into its computer lines, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

It would be a bold step for Apple, because it would mean Apple would be dependent on the advance of the USB-C standard for any innovations they may want to make around physical connectors, said IHS Markit Senior Director Ian Fogg.

In the past, Apple chose to use its own home-brewed connectors for the iPhone  first its dock connector, then Lightning.

Both of them allowed Apple to innovate more quickly than the industry because they werent dependent on standards, Fogg told TechNewsWorld, and it enabled them to have a business model around accessories through third-party companies, where Apple could ensure quality and collect a license fee.

USB-C: Good and Bad

Its not likely that Apple will scrap the Lightning connector, said David McQueen, a research director at ABI Research.

Theyd only put USB-C in if it allows them to make the phone thinner, he told TechNewsWorld.

A standard connector would be better, because you could share the cables for it with the new MacBook and with other devices, noted Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Thats a good thing, he said.

The bad thing is you have to buy another cable, Krewell told TechNewsWorld.

Apple will unveil three new iPhones in September, based on reports corroborated by the WSJ. The expected models are an iPhone 7s, a 7s Plus, and a 10th anniversary edition called iPhone 8 or X, which could have a curved 5.8-inch OLED display.

Switching from a Lightning connector to USB-C is a minor thing. Its not going to make large numbers of people buy an iPhone, said IHS Markits Fogg.

On the other hand, innovating with the display, having a wide-aspect ratio display that fills the face of the phone without increasing the volume of the phone, is good for consumers and good for the experience of using the phone, he observed.

OLED Offers VR Opportunity

Having an OLED in the next iPhone is a definite possibility, TiriasKrewell said.

Its just a matter of getting the right supply chain in place, he pointed out.

Apples wanted to switch to OLED, but getting the supply chain behind it to support their quality and standards and display resolution has been a challenge, added Krewell.

OLED screens not only offer a more vibrant display with richer colors and deeper blacks, but also have lower persistence than other types of displays, which reduces motion blur.

That makes OLEDs much more suited for things like virtual reality,  IHS Markits Fogg said.

Apple has resisted the temptation so far to make any play in that area, he continued, but a shift to an OLED, which we are expecting, would be an enabler for them to make a move to a VR experience if they want to.

A large, end-to-end display also could make the iPhone more competitive in the market, maintained Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.

It would be exceptional and could bring them at parity with Samsung, he told TechNewsWorld.

A $1,000 iPhone?

One of the new iPhone models reportedly will have a stainless steel casing with a glass back. Apple tried glass backs on its iPhone 4 models, but durability was an issue. Now, with improved materials, the company may be ready to try the design again.

Phone makers are moving away from having a metal, unibody design to having a glass back, noted IHS Markits Fogg. Because of the robustness of glass now, its much tougher than when Apple offered it with the iPhone 4 and 4s.

Glass backs enable more varied industrial designs with attractive finishes, easier integration of more antennas needed to support faster wireless speeds, and easier wireless charging, he explained.

Wireless charging also has appeared in reports about the next iPhone. The question is whether it will be wireless charging through the air or by placing the phone on a charging pad.

Another rumored possibility is the inclusion of 3D sensors that enable the phone to recognize gestures.

All this new tech would come at a hefty price  perhaps $1,000 or more.

Pushing the price over $1,000 would be a deal breaker for a lot of people, Tirias Krewell said.

On the other hand, Apple has shown they can be successful at prices some considered outrageous, Moorhead remarked. If they can bring their best, I believe many would buy at that price.
Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)
A Target in the town of Bowen in Queensland, Australia has been accused of price-gouging customers by taking advantage of the areas clean water shortage in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.

A customer named Natalie Maher shared a photo online of a 24-pack of Cool Ridge brand bottled water being sold in the store for AUD $72 (USD $54). She wrote on Facebook that she thought the price was a mistake but an employee said the price was correct.

Talk about price gaugeing [sic] us while we are in need, she stated. I had only just left the disaster recovery people with lifeline there who gave me 12 bottles of water to bring home so we have clean drinking water and Target are [sic] pulling this stunt.

Local media outlets found the same Cool Ridge 24-pack sold at Staples for $36.99. Also, a 12-pack of Mount Franklin water, a similar brand to Cool Ridge, is sold at Coles supermarkets for $6.40, or $12.80, for two 12-packs. Coles is owned by Wesfarmers, the same parent company as Target. And, its important to note that despite the similar logo, name and type of outlets, there is no corporate connection to Target in the United States, nor has there ever been one, according to Wikipedia.

Target has since apologized. A company spokeswoman said that the $72 sign was a misunderstanding. The store did not increase the price of water and has always sold water for $3 a bottle.

It was an unfortunate misunderstanding at store level. A worker thought they were helping the community by selling the water by the slab, she said. But we dont sell water by the slab, only individually.

The spokeswoman added that the price has been reduced to $1 a bottle to help the flood-hit community.
By Lee Fang

If the billionaire Koch brothers turn to the White House for favors, they will see many familiar faces.

Newly disclosed ethics forms reveal that a significant number of senior Trump staffers were previously employed by the sprawling network of hard-right and libertarian advocacy groups financed and controlled by Charles and David Koch, the conservative duo hyper-focused on entrenching Republican power, eliminating taxes and slashing environmental and labor regulations.

Some of the relationships were well-known. Marc Short, for instance, now Trumps chief liaison to Congress, previously led Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the dark money nonprofit used by the Koch brothers and their donor cohort to dispense money to allied groups. Freedom Partners, which maintains an affiliate Super PAC, was at the center of the Kochs $750 million election effort during the campaign last year.

But the ethics forms, made available to the public on Friday evening, reveal a number of previously undisclosed financial ties between the Koch network and Trumps inner circle of political aides.

Donald McGahn, Trumps campaign attorney turned White House counsel, provided legal services to a range of outside Koch groups working to influence the election. McGahn, through the law firm Jones Day, advised Freedom Partners, as well as i360, the Kochs big data firm set up to identify and target voters and Americans for Prosperity, the election advocacy and grassroots lobbying organization run by the Koch brothers. Ann Donaldson, McGahns chief of staff, came to the White House from McGahns law firm. Her financial disclosure shows that she also provided legal services to Freedom Partners and i360.

Kellyanne Conway, Trumps former campaign manager turned close White House advisor, consulted over the last year for Americans for Prosperitys national foundation, as well as for the Michigan and Ohio chapters of the group. Conway served as a board member for the Independent Womens Forum, a Koch-backed group whose goal is increasing the number of women who value free markets and personal liberty.

The fact that Trumps political team worked for the Koch network during the campaign adds a new wrinkle to the relationship between the president and the most well-known pair of Republican billionaires.

The Koch network has long pioneered a strategy of backing GOP campaigns by using seemingly independent nonprofits and outside election groups. Election law prohibits organizations that raise and spend unlimited funds, such as the Freedom Partners Super PAC and Americans for Prosperity, from directly coordinating with candidates.

But those rules are rarely enforced. Moreover, campaigns and Super PACs have danced around the coordination prohibition by employing individuals who split their time between candidates and outside groups, making them a crucial conduit for potential coordination.

Despite the common myth that the Koch network, in the words of Politico, sat out the presidential campaign, Koch groups were active in battleground states that proved critical to Trumps victory. Americans for Prosperity employed 650 staff members during the campaign, with many stationed in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and Missouri. The field staff, using the new data tools from i360, focused on making sure Republican voters made it to the polls.

In the aforementioned states, Americans for Prosperity also aired negative ads attacking Hillary Clinton in the last weeks of the campaign, linking her to Democratic candidates and problems allegedly caused by the Affordable Care Act. The ads, which blanketed swing state television stations, held Clinton responsible for healthcare with higher cost, lost coverage, lost doctors.

The election effort swept the GOP to a level of national power not seen since the 1920s. And the Koch network has been quick to seize upon unified Republican control of Washington to quickly score a range of policy and political victories.

Freedom Partners Vice President Andy Koenig told the Los Angeles Times after the election that his group hoped Trump would walk in with an eraser and wipe out as many Obama reforms as possible. The group formulated a Roadmap to Repeal, a memo calling for the administration to prioritize revoking the Paris climate change treaty, repealing clean water rules and eliminating limits on pollution from coal-fire power plants.

In recent weeks, Trump and congressional leaders have used a little-known procedure called the Congressional Review Act to swiftly roll back the very regulations identified by the Koch memo. And they have been aided by a team that came to the White House policy staff directly from the Koch network.

Koenig, the former Freedom Partners vice president, is now working in the White House as a policy assistant. Koenigs financial disclosure shows that he made $320,000 at the group before moving through the revolving door.

In addition, Andrew Bremberg, now the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and Bethany Scully, an official working in Trumps Office of Legislative Affairs, both worked for Freedom Partners. Brembergs disclosure shows that he consulted for the group through a consulting firm he owns called Right Policy LLC.

The Trump policy team includes Brian Blase, a special assistant to the president working on healthcare issues, who came to the White House from the Mercatus Center, the Koch network think tank at George Mason University.

A number of Vice President Mike Pences staff also came directly from Koch organizations. Andeliz Castillo, named earlier this year as a Pence senior aide, came from the Libre Initiative, the Latino outreach arm of the Koch network. Stephen Ford, Pences director of speechwriting, previously worked as a speechwriter for Kochs Freedom Parters.

To be sure, there is not perfect harmony between the Koch brothers and Trump. The Koch network harshly criticized the American Health Care Act, attacking it for not doing enough to repeal Obamacare. And the groups have lobbied against the so-called border adjustment tax, a proposal favored by some in the Trump White House.

But if the latest member-wide email from Americans for Prosperity is any indication, the Koch brothers have much to celebrate with Trump in the White House.

The email, titled, Thank you, President Trump, hails the president for issuing an executive order to repeal of Obamas Clean Power Plan, the biggest pillar in the previous administrations climate change strategy. The message goes on to boast that Americans for Prosperity is providing the lobbying muscle, along with paid advertisements and mobilizing calls to Congress, to help confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Reposted with permission from our media associate The Intercept.
As is well known, the federal land management agencies have illegally proposed a withdrawal of significant amounts of land in Nevada and the Western United States in response to the Final Environmental Impact Statement regarding the non-listing of the sage grouse as an endangered species. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was released on May 28, 2015 and the newly introduced recommended mineral withdrawal was published on Sept. 24, 2015, two days after the pre-concluded Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

The proposed mineral withdrawal is illegal for the following reasons:

First, the language and conclusions of the Final Environmental Impact Statement regarding the listing of sage grouse is illegal because the basis of the proposed mineral withdrawal in the form of the Sagebrush Focal Areas was never a part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement upon which any public comment was based. The Sagebrush Focal Area concept was introduced after the public comment had closed. The introduction of such a major change without public input is against public laws and renders the Final Environmental Impact Statement null and void. It violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. By law, a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement should have been required.

Second, numerous changes were made to the habitat maps after the Draft Environmental Impact Statement public input period closed. Many private entities were using the draft stage maps as planning tools for investment and economic decisions. This was in good faith that the federal planning process would move forward with consistency and transparency. Numerous private entities were immediately and irreparably harmed by the subsequent illegal federal action embodied in the Final Environmental Impact Statement and proposed plan. Economic investment decisions immediately dried up. These private entities filed suit along with numerous Nevada counties, soon to be joined by additional counties and the Nevada Attorney General. The Dec. 8, 2015 decision by Judge Miranda Du in U.S. District Court failed to acknowledge this immediate and irreparable harm in the filing for relief in these illegal matters. Judge Du is a Harry Reid nominated and Obama appointed judge in the District Court.

Third, with the published proposal of the mineral withdrawal based upon the invalid Final Environmental Impact Statement, the federal agencies failed to conduct any mineral inventory evaluations as required by law under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

Fourth, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement of the proposed mineral withdrawal has been released by the Bureau of Land Management and is currently within the public comment period for which these words are intended. In this Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the Bureau reveals the devastating economic impact the mineral withdrawal will have upon the mining industry and its economic contribution to Nevadas economy. An economic output in Nevada alone of $265.7 million per year will be lost. Jobs will be lost. Revenue to state and local governments on the order of $7.9 million per year will be lost. And for what? As it turns out, within Nevada alone, the current total acreage of proposed disturbance by mining plans of operations is 2,285 acres within the proposed withdrawal area in Nevada of 2,800,000 acres. This amounts to an absurd 0.08% of the total. Much of this acreage includes historic mining districts for which no mineral inventory, potential, or existing disturbances were even addressed. And for some cherry picked projects, the habitat classification was arbitrarily changed from non-habitat to priority habitat after the public comment period had closed. This is on record in the U.S. District Court lawsuit, Western Exploration LLC, ET AL v. U.S. Department of the Interior, ET AL.

Fifth and foremost, the previous four points are in violation of the 1872 Mining Law (as amended). That time honored law is a recognition of the need for essential minerals and substances that are in the national interest. The 1872 Mining Law (as amended) is intended to ensure a supply of critical strategic minerals and substances to the nation. To undermine this law is to undermine national security.

Sixth, the concept of valid existing rights is being recklessly redefined. Within the 1872 Mining Law (before being foolishly amended in 1993) there were provisions for mining claims that have a demonstrable deposit of significant value to go through the patent application process and become private fee land, thus becoming taxable and productive assets to local governments. This fundamental purpose was an incentive to maximize mineral production critical to the nations strategic interest and to create and protect private rights. However, this was only the final and intended outcome of recognizing rights associated with claims. The purpose of the locatable minerals system was to encourage the often extensive and expensive process of discovering mineral value in a claim. Therefore, there have always been rights recognized from the initial locating and recording of a claim. These include the right of access to the claim and the right to explore the claim. To the point of the redefinition of valid existing rights, after 25 years of the patenting moratorium, there is an immense dearth of trained mineral examiners that understand the original meaning and purpose of the mineral examination process. There is a flotilla of new bureaucrats that are currently being trained in a hurry to carry out this mineral withdrawal travesty. They will be indoctrinated in a newly defined purpose to conduct mineral examinations. Instead of validating an important mineral discovery at the behest of the claim owner, the government is intending to invalidate as many claims as possible at the behest of the government.

For certain entities and individuals within the federal land management agencies (such as the three grouseketeers identified in the discovery process in Western Exploration LLC, ET Al. v. U.S. Department of The Interior, ET AL. currently in litigation), to conspire in such obvious and illegal proposals against the Mining Law and other land management policies duly passed by Congress, is essentially tantamount to treason. This must be exposed, rooted out and prosecuted for what it is. The bogus Final Environmental Impact Statement on the listing or not of sage grouse, and its bastard spawnthe proposed Sagebrush Focal Area mineral withdrawalare unconstitutional, null and void. And for those conspiring in its crafting, implementation and defense, it is a matter of the degree of treason which must be measured. Most local level federal employees are ignorant of both these subversive Washington based initiatives emanating from previous administrations, and of the degree of lawlessness of the agencies that they are employed by. The light of sunshine must come forth upon these higher level appointed people that are deliberately enacting and promulgating administrative agendas outside of the meaningful purpose of Congressional and Constitutional Laws. This fourth branch of administrative government, as we know, is out of control and is destructive to the national strategic interest of the United States of America and the republican form of government intended to serve its citizens.

Herein, I submit these comments as one that has been directly economically damaged with immediate and irreparable harm by the absurd Land Use Plan Amendments that are proposed by the sage grouse Final Environmental Impact Statement. The deliberate fabrication of the Sagebrush Focal Areas, and the extreme and unnecessary proposal of a mineral withdrawal in Nevada and other Western States must be immediately eliminated.
A federal judge has reversed last years unanimous jury decision that awarded $4.2 million to two Dimock, Pennsylvania families who claimed that Cabot Oil & Gas Corp contaminated their water supply during fracking operations near their homes.

In a ruling released on Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson said the amount of the jurys award was unjustified and that the evidence presented by the families was spare, sometimes contradictory, frequently rebutted by other scientific expert testimony and relied in some measure upon tenuous inferences.

The Pennsylvania judge declined Cabots request to rule completely in its favor, ordering a new federal trial instead. But he insisted that the parties try to reach a settlement before initiating fresh litigation.

Last years decision was hailed as a landmark victory by fracking opponents. The case dates back to 2009 when 44 plaintiffs brought a lawsuit against the company. Scott Ely and Monica Marta-Ely, and Ray and Victoria Hubert were the only plaintiffs remaining on the case.

The rural communitys fight against the controversial drilling method was featured in the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland.

A state investigation found that Cabot had allowed gas to escape into the regions groundwater supplies, contaminating at least 18 residential water wells. But the company insisted that methane migration in Dimocks water is naturally occurring and the problems in the water wells pre-dated Cabots arrival.

According to State Impact, the judges ruling cited the plaintiffs own admission that their water became contaminated before drilling took place at the affected wells.

Judge Carlson supported Cabots argument that the plaintiffs case crumbles at the very issue of causation because the water problems existed before the company broke ground on the wells in Sept. 2008.

Plaintiffs attorney Leslie L. Lewis described the decision as another dark chapter for the victims of oil and gas contamination.

It is not clear to me why the court required an entire year to essentially rubber-stamp defendants position that they were somehow robbed of a fair trial, she told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lewis said she has not decided whether to appeal the decision.

Cabot spokesman George Stark applauded the judges ruling.

Cabot felt confident that once a thorough review of the overwhelming scientific evidence and a full legal analysis of the conduct of the plaintiffs counsel was conducted, the flaws in the verdict would be understood, he said in a statement.

Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said the judges decision is an attack on Pennsylvania residents who are being harmed by fracking.

This judges decision is one more attack on the health and safety of families of Pennsylvania who have suffered real and substantial harms due to the greed of the fracking corporations operating in their state, Hauter said. These residents, and thousands of others, have been abandoned by state environmental regulators, politicians and a governor who promised to help them. Oil and gas fracking will continue to create additional disasters, in Pennsylvania and anywhere else.
Attorneys representing 21 youth in the Juliana v. United States climate lawsuit have filed opposition briefs to Trump administration and fossil fuel industry defendants motions that sought again to derail the case from trial. In their filings, the youths attorneys argue that any delay in resolving the merits of this case irreversibly prejudices the youth plaintiffs in securing and protecting their fundamental constitutional rights.

The attorneys filed three responses Monday. The first response was to the U.S. governments request that U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken allow the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals the opportunity to review her Nov. 10, 2016 order denying motions to dismiss before the trial even takes place.

From the youths brief:

Federal Defendants argument that no relief could be obtained against the President,  is substantially similar to one flatly rejected by the Ninth Circuit as contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy in Washington v. Trump, in which the current president argued that he had unreviewable authority with respect to immigration policy even if those actions potentially contravene constitutional rights and protections.'

The second filing responded to fossil fuel defendants similar motion for an early appeal, which complained that complex scientific debate  swirls around the issues raised by the plaintiffs lawsuit. The third filing was in response to both the Trump administration and the fossil fuel defendants attempts to put the trial on hold, in the event Judge Aiken grants their requests and the Ninth Circuit agrees to step in.

The fossil fuel defendants, members of trade associations American Petroleum Institute (formerly directed by now Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson), American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and National Association of Manufacturers, are represented by Sidley Austin, a law firm whose diverse client base includes companies that develop, produce, transport, process and market energy. In 2016 alone, Sidley received $1.928 billion in revenue.

Per federal rules of procedure, Judge Aiken, informed by Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffins recommendation, holds the power to decide whether the Ninth Circuit has an opportunity to grant the defendants requests for an interlocutory appeal of her November decision.

The Trump administration and the fossil fuel interests have acknowledged our lawsuit is a threat to their profit-seeking motives, Tia Hatton, 20, youth plaintiff from Eugene, Oregon, said.

Their move to appeal Judge Aikens historic decision to hear our case is nothing more than an extension of their personal interests and preposterous climate denial. These interests render their moronic dismissal of the merit of the constitutional rights that my co-plaintiffs and I, as well as future generations have to a stable climate system.

Jacob Lebel, 20, youth plaintiff from Roseburg, Oregon, agreed. Its laughable and darkly ironic to hear our government argue that it will be irreparably harmed by our request that it produce and preserve documents that deal with climate change, he said.

What about the irreparable harms that President Trumps administration is inflicting upon us youth with its reckless promotion of the fossil fuel industry and attacks on climate science?

On Friday, attorneys representing the youth served legal requests for documents to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. Dept. of Defense and U.S. Dept. of State, just a few of the agency defendants in the case. The requests are a timely part of the discovery process, aimed at getting to trial by fall as Judge Coffin has requested.

Last month, attorneys representing the youth served requests for production of documents to the U.S. government and the American Petroleum Institute asking both defendants to turn over any of Secretary of State Rex Tillersons pseudonym emails in their custody (emails sent from wayne.tracker@exxonmobil.com) by April 16.

The Trump administration appears to labor under the mistaken belief that its decisions are beyond the jurisdiction of constitutional review, Julia Olson, plaintiffs counsel and executive director of Our Childrens Trust, said. As weve already seen, when President Trump puts travel bans in place that violate constitutional rights, courts can and will block those actions. When he takes alarming actions that deny our youth plaintiffs their fundamental rights to a safe climate, courts can and will block those actions as well.

A telephonic case management conference, with Judge Coffin and attorneys representing all the parties, is set for April 7 at 10 a.m. PST.
(Photo: REUTERS / Edgar Su)A toddler plays with bubbles as participants wait to take part in the forming of a giant pink dot at the Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park in Singapore June 28, 2014. The annual Pink Dot Sg event promotes an acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in Singapore, according to organizers.

Singapore's Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim has stopped two controversial children's books with gay themes being pulped following an outcry by a group of concerned citizens.

Yaacob instead has instructed the National Library Board to place the books in the adult section of the library where parents can borrow them, All Singapore Stuff reported.

"The decision on what books children can or cannot read remains with their parents.

"Parents who wish to borrow books to read with their children will have the option to do so," Yaacob said on his Facebook page.

The decision to pulp the books came a group of concerned Christian parents wrote to the National Library Board to get the three children's books banned, patheos.com reported.

The minister stood by NLB's decision to remove the three books from the children's section. He added that the board will ensure that books in the children's section are age-appropriate.

The two books that escaped pulping are the multi-award winning And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express.

And Tango Makes Three is a true story about two male penguins raising a baby chick in the New York's Central Park Zoo.

The White Swan Express features children adopted by straight, gay, mixed-race, and single parents. But a third book, Who's in My Family which discusses types of families, including references to gay couples has already been destroyed.

Some writers had expressed dismay over the proposed pulping.

Gaystar News, a gay website, reports that a group of writers pulled out of writers' events leading to event cancellations.

"We condemn in the strongest terms NLB's decision to remove and destroy these books, given that it is responsible for the dissemination of information rather than its destruction," said the writers in a statement.

Earlier this year, Singapore's Media Development Authority banned a volume of the U.S. comics' series Archie because it said its same sex marriage content contradicts social norms.

Sex between men is illegal in Singapore and is punishable by up to two years in jail.

A study released by the Institute of Policy Studies revealed that 78.2 percent Singaporeans say that same-sex sexual intercourse is wrong, and 79.2 of them are against gay marriage.
(Photo: City Harvest Church / Youtube)Pastor Kong Hee preaches a sermon at City Harvest Church in Singapore on November 17, 2013 in a video still available on the site's YouTube channel.

The imam who was the chief cleric at a mosque in Singapore has been fined and will be repatriated to India for making offensive remarks targeting Christians and Jews that authorities said aimed to "repudiate divisive speech."

During Friday prayers on Jan. 6, the cleric, Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel Abdul Malik, sued the phrase, "Grant us help against the Jews and the Christians," the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs said on its website.

The 46-year-old cleric pleaded guilty to one count of committing an act which he knew was prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious groups and was likely to disturb the public tranquillity, the todayonline newspaper reported.

It was believed to be the first case in multi-ethnic Singapore of a religious leader being prosecuted for delivering an inappropriate sermon.

The cleric known locally as "Nalla," apologized and "recognised that it was unacceptable in Singapore's multi-racial and multi-religious context," the ministry said in a statement, Reuters news agency reported.

After pleading guilty before a Singapore court, the cleric was fined 4,000 Singapore dollars (US$2,862).

The home affairs ministry said, "He will be repatriated...Any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actions."

It said the government has "the responsibility to act quickly and firmly to repudiate divisive speech, even if the course of action is sometimes difficult."

'DILIGENT CHIEF IMAM'

The ministry noted, "Nalla has worked diligently as Chief Imam at the Jamae Chulia Mosque over the past seven years, attending to the needs of his congregation, and reaching out to other faiths. He has not been deliberately malicious."

"Nevertheless, what he did was wrong. And he has admitted it," a ministry spokesperson told Today.

"Given the nature of the breach, action had to be taken. The fair and impartial application of the law protects all communities, including Muslims and other minority religious communities. The Government has taken firm action against persons from other religions as well."

While the imam had since made a public apology and met interfaith leaders to express regret, District Judge Jasbendar Kaur said a deterrent sentence was warranted given strong concerns from the public.

The judge said Singapore cannot allow any person or group to sow discord or promote enmity among different religious or racial groups, the judge said.

Muslims are thought to make up nearly 15 percent of Singapore's nearly six million people while Christians account for 22 percent and Hindus just over 5 percent. Buddhists make up for 34 percent of the population and Taoists 11 percent.
Latest News

GATE 2023 Application window to open today, find details here The entrance exam is scheduled to be held in the month of February

JNU PG second merit list to be released today, more details here The PDF file of the merit list will be uploaded at varsity's portal

GATE 2023 application correction window to open tomorrow The GATE exam will be held in February 2023
But in Kansas this year, lawmakers and school officials are asking deeper questions about not only how much money is spent but also where to invest that money to assure that black, Latino, and low-income students, in particular, are seeing academic results.

An all-out war erupted last month between school officials, the legislature, and the governor over how to boost the achievement level of a quarter of the states students using the states funding system. The flash point: a state supreme court ruling in early March that called the states school spending methods inadequate and unconstitutional.

Kansas school districts hail the decision as a victory in a years-long legal battle with the legislature over the school funding mechanism and predict the ruling will require the state to pour close to $779 million more into an old funding formula to satisfy the court. They say the legislature has for years left schools flailing financially, sparking a statewide teacher shortage and forcing superintendents to choose between giving their teachers raises, raising class sizes, and keeping critical wraparound programs.

Its not how the state doles out money, school officials said, its how much money it doles out.

But Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the states Republican legislators take a far different view. They point to language in the ruling that they say recognized that while the amount of money counts, so does how its spent.

Under their proposal, which is now snaking its way through the House of Representatives, the state would crack down on academically wayward schools, upend its accreditation process to demand faster gains, offer vouchers to students trapped at chronically failing schools, and more strictly target money to intervention programs for the states poor students.

Bottom line: The governor and GOP lawmakers estimate a satisfactory solution would cost the state just $75 million.

The Kansas Supreme Court correctly observes that our education system has failed to provide a suitable education for the lowest-performing 25 percent of students, Brownback said after the ruling. The old funding formula failed our students, particularly those that struggle most. The new funding system must right this wrong.

District officials argue those approaches wont be effective and the court would likely reject the new funding formula.

Like Jerry McGuire, its time for the state to show me the money, said Alan Rupe, the lawyer for the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Kansas City, and Witchita school districts. This is like throwing a glass of water on a prairie fire.

Examining Test Scores

In the past, courts typically have ruled on whether a states school funding level is high enough and is distributed equitably between districts. Experts say theres a new dimension to those cases now that those bringing the lawsuits can cite standardized test data that makes crystal clear the academic disparities between white students and black and Latino students and the effectiveness of state spending habits to close those disparities.

There are some deep, difficult issues lurking in the background of these lawsuits, such as a childs nutrition, the presence of lead paint in the home, violence, [that] clearly have an impact on educational outcomes, said Richard E. Levy, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Kansas who has studied courts rulings on achievement gaps. Adequate funding for poorer districts is an important and necessary step, but its not going to be sufficient because there are larger social issues that have to be addressed in more comprehensive ways to address the achievement.

Those issues have been a factor in school funding debates this year in Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, and Wyoming, where lawmakers are attempting to dismantle decades-old funding formulas in response to state court rulings dating, in some cases, back to the 1980s.

The Kansas ruling caps decades of infighting between the states politicians and its supreme court justices over what constitutes an adequate and equitable education under the state constitution. Both of the issues were at stake in the long-running funding lawsuit, Gannon v. Kansas, which spawned two separate high court rulings.

Last year, the state supreme court deemed the way the state distributed money between its wealthier and poorer districts inequitable and threatened to shut the public schools down unless policymakers assured the system wasnt shortchanging the poorer districts. The state ultimately came up with changes that satisfied the districts complaints.

Funding Adequacy

But the second part of the Gannon lawsuit dealt with adequacy: whether the state was investing enough money in order to get students to meet the states minimal expectations for them.

In its March ruling calling the states funding system inadequate, Kansas supreme court justices considered test-score data and the states own standards to determine that the way the money was being spent failed the test of adequacy. They noted, in particular, that half of the states black students and a third of its Latino students dont meet basic reading and math standards.

The legislature is left to come up with a funding system that meets the courts definition of adequate, and is both politically feasible and affordable. And its doing so amid a severe fiscal crunch.

The current system, adopted in 2015, provides block grants directly to districts based on need and student population. The states educators favor returning to the funding formula the state used prior the block grant, which they say contains appropriate weights for low-income students and students with special needs. They have asked for $779 million in extra supports that include expanding pre-K, giving teachers raises, and adding hundreds of school counselors and social workers.

The states school board association bases its estimation of a satisfactory court ruling on the amount of money the state has cut from the budget since the court most recently ruled the funding formula inadequate.

But under the bill thats making its way through the House, HB 2410 , several wealthier districts would actually lose money, a sure-fire way for the court to reject that funding formula, too, lawyers say.

Conservative legislators cite data that show that despite hundreds of millions of dollars of investment after an earlier ruling, overall achievement levels for the states poor and minority students barely budged. In order for improvement, the state needs to more strategically parse out its dollars and raise its expectations of districts.

Money always matters, but its not the amount, said Dave Trabert, the president of the Kansas Policy Institute, who helped design the funding formula being proposed in the house. He alleges districts misspent millions of dollars in recent years. Its how the money is spent that will make the difference.

Alan Cunningham, the superintendent of Dodge City, one of the districts that originally sued the state, said tighter controls from the state on district spending for low-income students unique needs will prevent the district from boosting test scores.

Administrators at the mostly rural district, located near a beef plant that employs thousands of recent Mexican and Somali immigrants, have spent unrestricted money from the state to provide more transportation for its students, and offer several after-school activities to keep students engaged, all efforts Cunningham says are at risk under the new formula.

What weve found out is these kids are really, really sharp kids but theyve had interruptions in their schooling, Cunningham said, mentioning language barriers and family stability. These are all barriers, but they are not things that cant be overcome if we had the right resources. 
Back in May 2010, hundreds of the nations education foundation, policy, and practice elites were gathered for the NewSchools Venture Fund meeting in Washington to celebrate and learn from the most recent education reform policy victories in my home state of Colorado and across the country.

The opening speeches highlighted the recent passage of Colorado Senate Bill 10-191a dramatic law which required that 50 percent of a teacher evaluation be based upon student academic growth. This offered a bold new vision for how teachers would be evaluated and whether they would gain or lose tenure based on the merits of their impact on student achievement.

Colorado would be one of several ground zeros for reforming teacher evaluation in the country. Many, including myself, thought these new state policies would allow our best teachers to shine. They would finally have useful feedback, be differentiated on an objective scale of effectiveness, and lose tenure if they werent performing. Teachers would be treated like other professionals and less like interchangeable widgets.

Colorados law and similar ones in other states appeared to be sound, research-backed policy formulated by education reforms own whiz kids. We could point to Ivy League research that made a clear case for dramatic changes to the current system. There were large federal incentives, in addition to private philanthropy fueled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, encouraging such changes. And to pass these teacher-evaluation laws, we built a coalition of reform-minded Democrats and Republicans that also included the American Federation of Teachers. Reformers were confident we had a clear mandate.

And yet. Implementation did not live up to the promises.

Colorado Department of Education data released in February show that the distribution of teacher effectiveness in the state looks much as it did before passage of the bill. Eighty-eight percent of Colorado teachers were rated effective or highly effective, 4 percent were partially effective, 7.8 percent of teachers were not rated, and less than 1 percent were deemed ineffective. In other words, we leveraged everything we could and not only didnt advance teacher effectiveness, we created a massive bureaucracy and alienated many in the field.

What happened?

It was wrong to force everyone in a state to have one 'best' evaluation system."

First, the data. We built a policy on growth data that only partially existed. The majority of teachers teach in states untested subject areas. This meant processes for measuring student growth outside of literacy or math were often thoughtlessly slapped together to meet the new evaluation law. For example, some elementary school art-teacher evaluations were linked to student performance on multiple-choice district art tests, while Spanish-teacher evaluations were tied to how the school did on the states math and literacy tests. Even for those who teach the grades and subjects with state tests, some debate remains on how much growth should be weighted for high-stakes decisions on teacher ratings. And we knew that few teachers accepted having their evaluations heavily weighted on student growth.

Second, there has been little embrace of the states new teacher-evaluation system even from administrators frustrated with the former system. There were exceptions, namely the districts of Denver and Harrison, which had far fewer highly effective teachers than elsewhere in the state. Both districts invested time and resources in the development of a system that more accurately reflects a teachers impact on student learning. Yet most Colorado districts were forced to create new evaluation systems in alignment with the new law or adopt the state system, and most did the latter. This meant that these districts focused on compliance (and checking off evaluation boxes), rather than using the law to support teacher improvement.

Third, we continue to have a leadership problem. Research shows that teacher evaluators are still not likely to give direct and honest feedback to teachers. A Brown University study on teacher evaluators in these new systems shows that the evaluators are three times more likely to rate teachers higher than they should be rated. This is a problem of school and district culture, not a fault with the evaluation rubric.

Fourth, all of Colorados 238 charter schools waived out of the system.

See Also For more on teacher-evaluation, please visit: In Defense of Teacher-Evaluation Reform .

We wanted a new system to help professionalize teaching and address the real disparities in teacher quality. Instead, we got an 18-page state rubric and 345-page user guide for teacher evaluation.

We didnt understand how most school systems would respond to these teacher-evaluation laws. We failed to track implementation and didnt check our assumptions along the way.

The new teacher-evaluation laws in Colorado and now 40 other states seem a classic example of putting policy ahead of practice. Great in theory, but unrealistic when it comes to implementation. The laws were constructed around a particular set of assumptions about school district capacity and commitment. We underestimated the propensity of districts to morph innovations into existing practice and treat the new evaluation laws as just one more compliance requirement. We also failed to understand the political and district costs of tying such laws to federal incentives, particularly given a strong ethos of local control in many school districts, like most of those in Colorado.

As a longtime educator and education advocate, I got caught up in the hubris. I helped construct and strongly supported the teacher-evaluation law but didnt anticipate how the state education department and school districts would turn the law into practice. I figured it would be difficult to end up with something any worse than what was practice in 2009.

I believe the intention was right, but it was wrong to force everyone in a state to have one best evaluation system.

Going forward will be a challenge. Most teachers unions have not supported these new evaluation laws and will look for any excuse to gut them and go back to the world where there were no objective measures of teacher effectiveness.

But we need to dig into what has happenedto understand what worked, what did not, and why. Its not too late to acknowledge our mistakes and switch course. Instead of doubling down on ineffective policies, we must confront the quagmire and work toward a better solution. We should work back from the practice in our best schools and districts. Improving education requires that push forward, and it wont happen overnight.
Hyline holds technical seminar in Thailand



Hy-Line International brought together its growing number of Asian distributors in March in Pattaya, Thailand to share strategic management methods for optimal breeder performance.

More than 100 participants took part in the Hy-Line Asian Technical Seminar for two days of intensive training, marking Hy-Line's increased market share in the region.

Hy-Line has achieved increased market share in the region due to the prolific egg numbers, feed efficiency, exceptional livability and superior egg colour and quality of its layers. They lead the way in a part of the world that accounts for more than 63% of the world's egg production by offering layer farmers a greater opportunity to make more profit.

With the Hy-Line Brown, W-36, W-80, Silver Brown and Sonia, Hy-Line delivers a bird for every market - every climate, every housing system, every country.

The participants heard presentations on nutrition, lighting, disease management, breeder management, global markets and trends, and worldwide results of Hy-Line layers. This information was provided by Hy-Line Technical Services team members and industry guest speakers.

"Our distributors are our direct link to the farmers choosing Hy-Line layers. This was a great opportunity to share knowledge to achieve the highest chick quality while optimising their efficiency," said Jonathan Cade, president of Hy-Line International.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Mormon leaders reminded church members Saturday about the importance of performing ceremonial baptisms on dead ancestors who didnt receive the ordinance while alive  a practice unique to the faith that came under fire in the past from Jews when they discovered Holocaust victims were being baptized.

Henry Eyring told a worldwide audience during a twice-yearly Mormon conference in Salt Lake City that God wants all his children home again, in families and in glory. He encouraged listeners to use the religions massive genealogical database to trace their roots.

Ceremonial baptisms occur when a member brings an ancestors name to a temple. Mormons believe the ritual allows deceased people a way to the afterlife if they choose to accept what they see as an offering of love. The belief that families are sealed for eternity is one of the faiths core tenets.

The practice is becoming more common because young church members have embraced it, said Eyring, a member of a top governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

They have learned that this work saves not just the dead; it saves all of us, Eyring said. There are now many people who have accepted baptism in the spirit world. ... This is the work of our generation.

But ceremonial baptisms offend members of other religions, especially Jews, who became upset years ago when they discovered attempts by Mormons to alter the religion of Holocaust victims. They included Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager forced into hiding in Amsterdam during the Holocaust and killed in a concentration camp.

In the 1990s, after negotiations with Jewish leaders, the church agreed to end the ceremonial baptism of Holocaust victims. After it was revealed that they continued, Mormon leaders in 2012 spoke out against the practice and reminded the public that a virtual firewall was put in the database to block anyone who tried to access the names of people who died in the Holocaust.

Some early Christian groups may have engaged in a similar practice, but the Mormons are the only mainstream Christian faith that currently practices baptisms for the deceased, said Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman, an associate professor of history at Henderson State University.

The proxy baptisms also were mentioned Saturday at the conference in a speech by Russell M. Nelson, another member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is next in line to assume the church presidency. Nelson said Mormons who keep their covenants to Jesus Christ are given Godly power.

Gods plan provides for those blessings to be extended to ancestors who died without an opportunity to obtain them during their mortal lives, Nelson said.

Mark Bragg, a member of a secondary governing body, applauded the increase in baptisms for the deceased: We are experiencing great joy and celebration on both sides of the veil.

Their speeches came during the first day of a two-day conference in which leaders implored the faiths 15.8 million members worldwide to be compassionate and devout while avoiding the many temptations of the modern world that can pull them away from their faith.

Nearly 100,000 church members are expected to attend five sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Thousands more around the world will listen to the conference or watch it on television, radio, satellite and internet broadcasts in 90 different languages.

Jeffrey Holland, a long-time member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said in a speech about inclusivity that theres room in the faith for people of different sexual attractions if they love God and honor his commandments.

His remark marked the latest attempt by the faith to foster a climate of empathy for gays and lesbians while the religion still clings to fundamental doctrinal beliefs that homosexuality activity is a sin.

He said theres room in the faith for all types of people, including from different cultures; those from different family structures; and those questioning their faith. Holland also encouraged church members to embrace their uniqueness.

When we disparage our uniqueness or try to conform to fictitious stereotypes  stereotypes driven by an insatiable consumer culture and idealized beyond any possible realization by social media  we lose the richness of tone and timbre that God intended when he created a world of diversity, Holland said.

Dale Renlund, one of the newest members Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told church members to guard against being intolerant of others with different opinions.

We must not be guilty of persecuting anyone inside or outside the church, Renlund said. Church history gives ample evidence of our members being treated with hatred and bigotry. How ironically sad it would be if we were to treat others as we have been treated.
Search All categories Advertising General Aerospace General Agriculture General Airlines General America - Post 9/11 General Apparel General Apple Products General Architectural General Architecture Architecture Art & Entertainments Books Celebrities Country Music Dance Magazines Movies Museums Music Music Downloads News & Talk Shows Performing Arts Photography Television Web Sites Arts/Culture General Auction General Automotive Aftermarket Classic Autos Consumer Publications General Motorcycle & Bike Racing Recreational Vehicle Repair & Service Trade Publications Blogging & Social Media Blogging & Social Media Business Advertising / Marketing Books Consumer Research Direct Marketing e-Commerce Entrepreneurs Finance Franchise Human Resources Insurance Investment Management Markets Network Marketing Online Marketing / SEO Payday Loans Public Relations Publications Real Estate Retail Stocks Supermarkets Women in Business Careers/HR General Chemical General Coaching / Mentoring Coaching / Mentoring Computers Apple Products Databases Games & Entertainment General Hosting Instruction Linux / GNU "Open Source" Macintosh Microsoft Windows PC Operating Systems Programming Security Software Tablet PCs Utilities Construction General Consumer Gifts and Collectibles Hobbies Web sites / Internet Design Graphic Design Industrial Web E-Cigarette General eCommerce General Economy General Education College / University General Home Schooling K-12 Post Graduate Technical Electronics General Email Marketing General EmailWire Press Releases Press Release Tips Employment/Careers General Engineering General Entertainment General Environment General Events / Trade Shows General Finance General Food General Franchise General Fraud / Identity Theft General Gaming General Government General Judicial Law Enforcement Legislative Local National Public Services Security State Transportation Healthcare General Home and Family Banking / Personal Finance Bereavement / Loss Home Furnishings / Interiors Landscaping & Gardening Marriage / Relationships Money Parenting Payday Loans Pets Taxes Wedding / Bridal Home Schooling General Hotels/Resorts General Household General Industry Aerospace / Defense Agriculture Apparel / Textiles Broadcast Construction / Building Electrical Food Funeral Healthcare Leisure / Hospitality Logistics / Shipping Manufacturing / Production Mining / Metals Oil / Energy Paper / Forest Products Plumbing, Heating & AC Print Media Printing Publishing Radio Restaurants Tobacco Toy Insurance General Internet/Online General Legal General Leisure General Lifestyle Beauty Dating / Singles Diet / Weight Loss Fashion Food / Beverage Health & Fitness Hotel / Resorts Pastimes Restaurants Retirement Travel & Tourism Machinery General Maritime General Medical Addiction Allergies Alternative Medicine Asthma Cancer Cardiology Chiropractic Dental Dermatology Diabetes Emergency Family Medicine General General Geriatrics Hospitals Infectious Diseases Internal Medicine Managed Care / HMO Medical Products Mental Health Neurology Nursing Nutrition OB / GYN Pediatrics Pharmaceuticals Physical Therapy Plastic Surgery Psychology Radiology / Imaging Research Sports Medicine Surgery Vision Military General Mining/Metals General Miscellaneous General Nanotechnology Nanotechnology Non-profit General Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Oil/Energy General Opinion / Editorial Opinion / Editorial Paper Products General Paper/Forest General Pharmaceuticals General Podcasting Announce Tools and Services Politics Politics Print Media General Public Utilities Public Utilities Publishing General Radio General Real Estate General Religion Christian General Islam Jewish Other Restaurants General Retail General RSS & Content Syndication RSS & Content Syndication Science and Research Science and Research Self-Help / Personal Growth Self-Help / Personal Growth Shipbuilding General Society African American Interests Asian Interests Childrens Issues Disabled Issues / Disabilities Gay / Lesbian Hispanic Mens Interests Native American Senior Citizens Social Services Teen Issues/Interests Womens Interest Software General Sports Baseball Basketball Bicycling Boating / Maritime Bowling Boxing Fishing Football Golf Hockey Hunting Martial Arts Outdoors Rugby Soccer Tennis Water Winter/Snow Sports/Fitness General Stocks General Supermarkets General Technology Biotechnology Computer Electronics Enterprise Software Games Graphics/Printing/CAD Hardware / Peripherals Industrial Information Internet Multimedia Networking Public Sector/Government Robotics Semiconductor Software Telecommunications Webmasters Telecom General Wireless Television General Tobacco General Trade General Transportation General Travel General Utilities General Volunteer Volunteer Weather Weather
The Swiss architect Gus Wustemann has lived and worked in Zurich, Mumbai, London, Sydney, New York and Barcelona.Work is important, but so is your private life, and Barcelona has the highest quality of life in the entire world, he insists.

A midsummer party on the city's Barceloneta beach. GIANLUCA BATTISTA

Fourteen years ago, Wustemann moved to the Catalan capital with his family. From Monday to Thursday he works at his studio in Zurich, and the rest of the time he spends in Barcelona, where he also has a studio.

His story is similar to that of a growing number of professionals who are choosing this city as their place of residence, regardless of where they work. To better meet their needs, the city is launching a Welcome Center for international professionals wishing to come live there, explains Jaume Collboni, head of the citys economic promotion department.

One of the problems that the international community always brings up is poor English skills

There are even training sessions so these professionals spouses and partners can familiarize themselves with things like going to a job interview in the city, explains Alicia Egea, head of projects at Barcelonas municipal employment agency.

Steve Cahill is another professional who loves living in Barcelona. For seven years he was an executive at Colt, a British multinational with more than 35,000 clients in Europe and a customer center in Catalonia. Cahill used to commute between Barcelona and Sitges, overseeing the center and going on business trips when required. When that relationship ended, Cahill stayed in the region to work as an independent entrepreneur with several international projects.

Perfect combination

The quality of life offered by Barcelona is unbeatable. It is a safe city, there is talent, very good infrastructure and communications, a really diverse cultural scene, the food is fantastic, youve got the sea and the mountains nearby, and the sun is always shining. Its the perfect combination, says Cahill, who also notes that it is easy to make friends here. And the rent, while expensive to Spaniards, still feels affordable to foreigners.

A Vueliing flight taking off from Barcelona airport. Carles Ribas

There is only one drawback: You never find the time to go get some sleep!

Barcelona Global, an association of Barcelona-based professionals created five years ago, has been following the trend. Director General Mateu Hernandez says that foreign members were originally few and far between, but that they now represent 20% of membership. The annual welcome party began with 300 members, and is now up to 1,200.

Poor English skills

Hernandez explains that the pioneers of this trend were the expats from large multinationals. They were followed by the science community, then by international entrepreneurs who offer their services worldwide, in turn attracting more foreign talent.

The last ones to arrive are independent professionals who want to make a living as consultants or board members at multinationals in Switzerland, Britain or France; they live in Barcelona and commute several days a week or for a week out of every month. This pattern will grow, and it is a great opportunity for Barcelona, he says.

You never find the time to go get some sleep!

Steve Cahill, entrepreneur

And there is a whole new trend: multinational execs who are in charge of a global business area with no specific geographical area. There are no hard figures on this trend, because until now we werent on the agenda, notes Hernandez. But informal research has yielded some conclusions.

We have identified that in terms of paperwork, taxes, and education for international families, Barcelona is not up to their expectations, and we run the risk of losing the opportunity of being a global city, says Hernandez. Barcelona is attractive to them, but city agencies are not well prepared, and we Barcelona natives are sometimes not sufficiently welcoming.

One of the problems that the international community always brings up is poor English skills. English is present at research centers, at business schools, at multinationals, but not in everyday life. And there are few international schools around: there is an elite selection that executives can afford, but not professionals, entrepreneurs or researchers.

Hernandez believes that Barcelona should follow Amsterdams example and create English-language schools for the international community.

Jaume Collboni says that the city council is aware that there is a tough battle going on in the world among the main global cities to attract talent. In the face of a world that is closing in on itself, Barcelona wants to be an open city.

English version by Susana Urra.
DEFA seeks feedback on whelk restrictions

The Island's fishing authority is seeking feedback on plans to protest whelk stocks in Manx waters.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture is considering introducing whelk-specific fishing licences and limiting the number of pots that can be used by vessels.

There are already restrictions on catching whelks from the shore to three miles out, but few protections exist in the rest of the Island's territorial waters.

DEFA says whelks are one of five major species caught in Manx waters and must be managed to protect the industry long term.

Full details of the consultation can be found on the Government's website, while responses can be sent to the Department by email or post by May 15th.
More information La historia del toro antitaurino que censuro la dictadura se convierte en pelicula

The Story of Ferdinand is the best-known work by US author Munro Leaf. Published in 1936 with illustrations by Robert Lawson, it tells the story of a Spanish bull that does not like to fight. Ever since he was a youngster, he would much rather smell the flowers. The years pass as he enjoys life in his meadow, under a cork tree  until the day when, against his wishes, he is taken to Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. In short, Ferdinand was an anti-bullfighting bull.

The story, which was made into an Oscar-winning short film by Disney in 1938, has been picked up by 20th Century Fox, which will release Ferdinand on December 22.

Both the book and the Disney short were banned at the time in Spain, which was under the rule of the dictator Francisco Franco. Like this article in Illustration Chronicles explains, the regime considered it pacifist propaganda.

A still shot from Ferdinand showing the bridge in Ronda. Ferdinand

The book sold well and quickly gained global popularity. It was published nine months after the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the fact that the story took place in Spain awarded it a great deal of symbolism.

The ban was not lifted until 1975, the year that Franco died. Yes, it was propaganda, but in favor of laughter, admitted the author.

It was banned in Germany under Hitler, where the story was called democratic and degenerate propaganda. But prominent figures who backed the book included George Wells, Gandhi and Ernest Hemingway.

Cover of the original book.

On March 28, the US distributor published the Spanish-language trailer on its YouTube account. In it, Ferdinand strolls down the streets of Ronda, Malaga, avoiding confrontation and smelling the flowers.

It seems like from the moment youre born, people think theyve got you all figured out, based on how you look, how you talk, where youre from...but its not that simple, begins the trailer, which ends with the slogan You will bullieve.

The message behind the movie, just like the book, is simple enough: better to smell the flowers than to fight. And there is a second message: Dont judge a bull by its horns.

In an article published on The The Huffington Post, psychologist Lori Day describes the story as the first childrens book on gender non-conformity.

The film director is Carlos Saldanha, a Brazilian who also participated in Ice Age (2002) and Rio (2011), two movies in which animals also did not fit into their expected roles.

In the book, the Andalusian town of Ronda is recognizable through its iconic bridge, the Puente Nuevo. In the trailer, it is also prominent. The Malaga municipality has long had a special relationship with the bulls, and its ring, visited each year by thousands of tourists, is one of Spains oldest.

English version by Susana Urra.
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson team-up as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele have taken the world by storm. Playing the iconic roles of the main characters of E.L. James' "Fifty Shades" franchise, many have been speculating that the relationship of the two might be more than professional.

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson dating news might be acceptable and not so controversial if only the former was not married. Unfortunately, the "Fifty Shades" actor is married to Amelia Warner. Dornan and Warner have two kids, Dulcie and Elva.

That said, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson dating news might have fanned out but the speculations for a fourth installment of "Fifty Shades" have been making its round on the internet. Previously, there were reports that Dornan wanted to abandon his role as Christian Grey, with "The Vampire Diaries" actor, Ian Somerhalder, the rumored actor to fill in for the 34-year old actor. However, these reports remained unconfirmed and the fans will have to wait until the final cast of "Fifty Shades Of Freed" is announced.

According to Express UK, a possibly fourth of installment for the "Fifty Shades" franchise is still on the line, but Marcia Gay Harden, who plays the role of Christian Grey's mother, revealed that they are all game for another installment. However, it is still unclear whether Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele will still be played by Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.

Meanwhile, after the hype for "Fifty Shades Darker" is still in the process of quieting down, it seems like Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson dating news are quieting down as well. According to ET Online, Johnson was recently seen vacationing in Miami without her on-screen partner and rumored boyfriend, Dornan. The "Fifty Shades" actress was reportedly seen enjoying the beach in Miami with no boyfriend in tow and has been enjoying the sun with a group of friends.
"The Walking Dead" Season 7 finale live through the fan-made theories and predictions as Sasha (Sonequa Martin), indeed, took her final bow. As the show ended with a hint of war in the coming "The Walking Dead" Season 8, its showrunner Scott Gimple gave a few tidbits of what to come.

While talking at the "Talking Dead" after "The Walking Dead" Season 7 finale, Gimple revealed that "The Walking Dead" Season 8 will be "bigger and more intense." "I say these things and I've meant them every year and I think we've actually accomplished that," he said, per Comic Book.

He also teased that the first four episodes of "The Walking Dead" Season 8 will make people's minds melt and ending up breaking their television sets. In another interview with TVLine, Gimple also revealed that the upcoming chapter will be far more different from its predecessor.

The executive producer narrated that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group doesn't need to meet in Alexandria every week anymore as there twists and turns happening in "The Walking Dead" Season 8. "Definitely some small-scale things and some large-scale things and a whole different momentum to the story," he went on to say.

Now that they all have conflicts and every problem is out in the open, "The Walking Dead" Season 8 narrative will change a lot. Things are going to come more kinetic and in a fast phase.

Hence, Gimple further explained that the beginning of civilization in "The Walking Dead" Season 8 will be at stake. This is simply because everyone wants to build than to live "this strange half-life serving a despot."

Meanwhile, Gimple also talked about the character of Eugene (Josh McDermitt) in coming "The Walking Dead" Season 8. The role of the 38-year-old star often said that he is now on the side of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as, evidently, he hasn't had the courage to fight his fears.


Equus Software security researcher Amihai Neiderman recently uncovered several major security flaws in Samsungs Linux-based Tizen operating system, which the company uses in its Galaxy Gear smartwatches and Z1, Z2 and Z3 phones (as well as some refrigerators and TVs), Motherboard reports.

It may be the worst code Ive ever seen, Neiderman told Motherboard, not pulling any punches. Everything you can do wrong there, they do it. You can see that nobody with any understanding of security looked at this code or wrote it. Its like taking an undergraduate and letting him program your software.

Several vulnerabilities Neiderman found enabled remote code execution, and a heap overflow vulnerability allowed him to hijack Samsungs TizenStore app to deliver malware to his Samsung television. You can update a Tizen system with any malicious code you want, he said.

Neiderman told Motherboard he contacted Samsung months to report the vulnerabilities, but only received automated responses.

Once Motherboard published its article, Samsung stated, We are fully committed to cooperating with Mr. Neiderman to mitigate any potential vulnerabilities. Through our SmartTV Bug Bounty program, Samsung is committed to working with security experts around the world to mitigate any security risks.

Tizen is going to be Samsungs biggest thing, Neiderman said. We might see the new Galaxies running Tizen, it could happen that soon. But right now Tizen is not safe enough for that.

Building Security Into the Development Process

Rubicon Labs vice president Rod Schultz told eSecurity Planet that the vulnerabilities Neiderman uncovered are an example of what happens when security is addressed at the end of product creation. For many years, security was viewed as a cleanup job that was done after a product was built, and for a long time that was okay, he said.

But security flaws are now like weaknesses in bank vaults waiting to be attacked, Schultz said. Security is hard because the tools and languages that exist to build software make it easy to make mistakes, and you must constantly evaluate the design and the implementation of software, he said. We are nowhere close to fixing this pandemic digital problem, but Samsung definitely has the resources, and now the motivation, to contribute to a long-term solution for IoT security.

According to Skycures Mobile Threat Intelligence Report for Q4 2016, more than four times as many Android vulnerabilities were identified in 2016 than were discovered the previous year. Almost half of those vulnerabilities allowed excessive privileges, while others allowed other bad effects like leaked information, corrupted memory, or arbitrary code execution, the report states.

Whats more, according to the report, 71 percent of all Android devices in use on the five major U.S. carriers are running security patches that are more than two months old (despite the fact that Google releases Android security patches monthly), and six percent are running patches that are six or more months old.

Malware, network attacks and advanced exploitation campaigns many times depend on unpatched vulnerabilities to be successful, Skycure co-founder and CTO Yair Amit said in a statement. Its essential that users and companies know the moment that a device is able to remove these risks to reduce the window of vulnerability.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Spains central High Court has launched an operation against relatives of the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad , for alleged crimes of money laundering in criminal association. On Tuesday, Judge Jose de la Mata ordered 15 properties searched in wealthy Andalusian resort towns; he also froze bank accounts held by 16 individuals, and another 76 deposits held in the name of legal entities. The investigating judge suspects that the more than 300 million in funds were siphoned off from the Syrian states public coffers. The investigation is focusing on the presidents uncle, Rifaat al-Assad.

President Bachar al-Assad of Syria. SANA HANDOUT (Efe)

The Spanish inquiry has unearthed 503 properties owned by Rifaat al-Assad and his relatives, including holiday homes, parking spaces, apartments inside a luxury hotel and country estates, among others. The majority of this real estate is located in Puerto Banus and Marbella, on the popular Costa del Sol.

Chief among all the properties is a 60-million estate called La Maquina, which covers more than 33 million square meters and takes up a third of the municipality of Benahavis, adjoining upscale Marbella.

Rifaat El-Assad has amassed properties in Spain, France, Curacao, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg

The familys real estate assets in Spain are worth around 691 million, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Operation Scar, as the raid has been dubbed, is being led by the Team Against Organized Crime at the Civil Guards Malaga command center. The judiciary polices actions, which did not result in any arrests, were triggered by a complaint brought by prosecutors at the High Court in December 2016. For months, investigators have been drawing up an inventory of the familys properties and tracking their movements in Spain.

Rifaat al-Assad was vice-president of Syria under the presidency of his own brother Hafez al-Assad, who was in turn the father of current president Bashar al-Assad. In the 1980s, Rifaat was kicked out of the country by his brother, who was then in power, over fears that he was organizing a coup. There is evidence that Rifaat was given over $300 million from state coffers, money that the exile used to settle down in France, from where he started to buy up property.

French investigation

Puerto Banus, a playground to the rich. Pictured, a yacht owned by King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Garcia Cordero

An investigation by French authorities concluded that his fortune was amassed by embezzling public funds, which were used for his own personal gain in detriment of the Syrian state. Rifaat al-Assad has since accumulated properties in France, Curacao, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. The French investigation estimates that his assets in that country are valued at around 90 million.

Later, French investigators confirmed that Rifaat al-Assad had begun building up his real estate empire in the Spanish resort of Marbella. In 2016, the French judiciary charged him with several crimes, including embezzlement of public funds and money laundering. Thanks to cooperation among EU members states, it was discovered that the Syrian presidents uncle owns property in Spain using companies run by his relatives.

English version by Susana Urra.
Mustafa, joined the ranks of Viv Richards and Paul Collingwood , by making 109 before running through the visitors' line-up with returns of five for 25 to clinch the bilateral series for his side.

Coming off the back of a loss triggered by a middle-order collapse, Mustafa, the UAE captain, anchored the hosts' innings with a well-constructed 125-ball knock - studded with seven fours and one six - while laying a solid platform with an opening-wicket partnership of 101 runs with Mohammed Qasim (33). However, the inability of the other batsmen, barring Qasim and Rameez Shahzad (37), to notch up a score in excess of 20, decelerated UAE's innings.

The combined returns of five for 82 from PNG's Assad Vala and John Reva subsequently accounted for a middle-order collapse - starkly reminiscent of the one in the second ODI - as UAE slumped from 208 for 3 to 226 for 8 in less than five overs, before finishing on 251 for 9.

In reply, the openers Tony Ura (40) and Vani Morea (36) got PNG off to a positive start, adding 76 runs for the first wicket. However, following Ura's dismissal in the 15th over, Mustafa's offbreaks stifled the opposition's run-chase, as only two other PNG batsmen managed to get into double figures. Imran Haider, Mohammed Qasim, Ahmed Raza, picked up four wickets between them, before Mustafa completed his maiden five-wicket haul to bowl PNG out for 148 and seal the series for the hosts.
European Council President Donald Tusk said during his visit to Macedonia that he hoped that the country would focus on advancing towards EU membership instead of fueling ethnic tensions. Macedonia has a Slav majority but is also home to a large ethnic Albanian minority, who make up a third of the population.

The Balkan state has been without a government since December when inconclusive elections led to the skirmishes over the influence of ethnic Albanians in a proposed coalition administration. The elections resulted in 51 seats for the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE and 49 seats for the Social Democrats leaving neither of the sides able to form a government without parties representing ethnic Albanians.

Last month, Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev gained the support of three Albanian parties after he promised them a law on wider use of Albanian language, which triggered protests in Skopje. However, President Ivanov refused to give Mr. Zaev a mandate to form a government. The new government cannot be contested by anyone, he explained following his meeting with Donald Tusk and added that a blackmailed government is an unstable government that will only last a short time and have damaging consequences.

This is the worse political crisis since Macedonia stood at the brink of a civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency in 2001. The 2001 armed conflict began when the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) militant group began attacking the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia at the beginning of February 2001 and it was eventually solved thanks to Western diplomacy and the Ohrid Agreement. Macedonia was subsequently offered a path to membership in the European Union and of NATO.
Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

Google Ad

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
Moving to Thailand



Advice on moving to Thailand



I retired at 62, and relocated to Phuket, from the U.S., in 2009. I sold everything I had in America and came here with 6 suitcases and a large duffel bag. Its cheaper to pay the airline than it is to actually ship it. My biggest error was selling my excellent motorcycle helmets in the U.S.



Visas: Tourist and O

TOURIST VISA

This visa type, as its name states, is issued to foreigners entering Thailand as tourists. It must be obtained abroad before traveling to Thailand. Upon arrival a stay of 60 days will be granted, which may be extended by another 30 days (1900 at local immigration office) for most foreign nationals. This type of visa, often called the Retirement Visa may be extended to long term stays of up to one year if you meet the retirement requirements.



"O" VISA

The "O" visa is good for 90 days. It costs a little more, but, you wont have to make a trip to immigration and pay to extend it, which cannot be done.

In both cases, you'll have to do the visa run a week or two before the visa expires.

You'll see many people say get the standard tourist visa because it's less expensive. This is true, but, it's good for 60 days. It can be extended ONCE for 30 days, but, it costs B1,900, so, it's not really cheaper. The "O" saves you extra trips to your local immigration office.



Visas O and Retirement extension, if applicable.

Thai visa rules by your country of origin.

But, to get a retirement visa you must be 50 and have some sort of provable income, whether it's retirement income, or $800k in a Thai bank.



First, get an "O" visa. This is the only one you can then convert to a Retirement Visa, which is a misnomer. It's not a visa, per se, it's a one year extension on your original Thai "O" visa. You have to renew this extension yearly with the same proof you used the first time.



Visa Runs. If your visa is due to expire, you have to go on a "Visa Run" to a Thai embassy or consulate in another country. You will usually get the same type of Visa you had originally. Visa runs are not required if you have the "O" Visa retirement extension. I did visa runs for many years. The last on was 3 years ago to get an "O" visa that I could use from then on for the extension. Visa runs in a van are scary. The drivers all speed and drive recklessly. They seem to believe it's smart to go even faster and tailgate even closer, when it rains. All Thais seem to do this.



If you're eligible for the Visa Extension, come here on an "O" Visa obtained from the Thai Embassy in your country. After 60 days, you can get the extension by supplying bank/income proof, and residence information i.e. lease, bills in your name with your Thai address, internal and external photos of your address.



If you aren't eligible, still get the "O" visa because it's good for 90 days. You'll have to do the visa run every 90 days. You'll see many people say get the standard tourist visa because it's less expensive. This is true, but, it's good for 30 days. It can be extended twice for 30 days, but, it costs B1,900 each time, so, it's not really cheaper. The "O" saves you extra trips to your local immigration office.



The one year visa extension is 1,900 while the separate multiple re-entry visa costs 3,800. You only need a re-entry visa if you want to travel out of Thailand and return within the validity period of the one year visa. A single re-entry visa is cheaper but of course only good for one out and return trip.



Not having a re-entry visa if you do travel out of Thailand is a major problem as your one year visa gets cancelled at immigration on return to Thailand - you get issued with a 30 day permission to stay stamp and then have to go through the whole one year visa application process again from scratch.



The biggest problem with getting advice about Thai visas is: 1-Different rules for different home countries. As a result, advice provided can be inaccurate if they come from a different place. There's a ton of misinformation passed around by people who heard how someone else did it. Almost always wrong. 2-Inconsistencies between Thai embassies and consulates as to what the law is. If you go to the one in Scotland, you may get conflicting stories with different people.



Thai bank accounts + ATMs

Open an account at a major bank using your current address. I used BoA, but, most are fine. Get an ATM card (and a 2nd if you can). Sign up to do everything electronically. Direct deposits, transfers, communication, bill pay ... everything. If you do this, the bank will have no reason to use a snail mail address.



Most banks will charge a 3% on any ATM withdrawal. The Thai ATM you use will charge $5-10. Usually, the max you can withdraw at a time is 30,000 baht. I use Krunsri and Siam banks. You should open an account at a Thai bank and get their ATM card. This will save some of their fees. It's very easy to open an account at a bank branch in Phuket. Bring passports and B5000. When you have account #, bank will give you all the information you need to transfer the rest.



Writing a check on an American bank for depositing here is a real headache. The charge is more than an ATM withdrawal and it take around two weeks for the check to clear.



International money transfers between banks, while fast, is also more expensive than the ATM 3%.



Riding cycles + Helmets.

You will probably be riding a scooter or motorcycle during your stay.

If you have no experience on one, start practicing now in the U.S. Don't try to learn here. It's a no man's land.



Bring with you a good motorcycle helmet for each in the family. They run around $300 each (Bell, Arai, Shoei). You can't get bigger sizes in Thailand because Thai heads are small so a good helmet that fits is difficult to find. In Thailand, theyll cost 3-4 times as much because of the high import tariff. Most Thai helmets are $15-30. They'll do nothing in a head impact. That's why they're called "Brain Buckets." Pack them in a sizeable duffel bag. You can then pack smaller items in the helmets.



Employment in Thailand.

Not as easy as people think. Thai law says no foreigner can have a job that a Thai can do. Being transferred here by a current employer resolves this one. But, just coming here and getting hired is extremely difficult.

Thats why being an English teacher appeals to so many. And, because there are so many, actual jobs are scarce.



Moving to Thailand

Actually ship as little as absolutely necessary. Very expensive.

Bring as many suitcases you can handle. Much cheaper to pay the airlines.

Set up someone in the states who will ship U.S. purchases you make on the internet, package them (USPS offers a reasonable 20 pound max rate of about $100.), and ship them to you. There will be things that you'll need.



If you need any further help, let me know.



Good luck!
The UK attracts expats from all over the world with the majority choosing to live in big cities, especially London, but new research suggest that if you are looking for the best rural place to live then it is the Orkney Islands.This archipelago off the north coast of Scotland has the best quality of life in Britain according to an annual survey from bank and lender the Halifax which examines key factors including employment, education, environment and social life.  In second place was Wynchavon in Worcestershire, in the Midlands of England, followed by the Derbyshire Dales and then Hambleton in Yorkshire and Purbeck in Dorset on the south coast of England.The Orkney Islands scores strongly in employment rate, average earnings and average spend per pupil on education, as well as low anxiety levels, crime rates, and high scores in factors related to well-being and leisure. However, although there is an abundance of space, Orkneys has some of the smallest houses in Britain with an average of 4.5 habitable rooms per home.The inhabitants of Wychavon in Worcestershire have the second best quality of life, scoring well on a number of measures including life expectancy, number of rooms in a home, central heating and broadband.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, Halifax economist.He explained that overall in Britain there is more and more emphasis being placed on achieving a good work-life balance and in 2017 the survey includes a leisure category for the first time.Rural areas in the South tend to receive higher ratings for weekly earnings, the weather, health, and life expectancy, while in the rural north areas score well on education in terms of grades and smaller class sizes, lower house prices in relation to earnings, and both lower traffic flows and population densities, he added.Last years winner, South Oxfordshire, has dropped to tenth in the 2017 survey, but still scores strongly on earnings, employment rate and a low crime rate. This is mainly due to the inclusion of the two new categories, the number of pubs and the availability of health clubs and leisure centres.In each category top for highest employment is the Shetland Islands, even further north than the Orkney Islands while the highest weekly earnings are in Waverley, Surrey, at 939 per week compared with a national average of 646.The best qualified location is the Chilterns while the biggest homes are in Uttlesford in Essex and all homes in East Ayrshire in Scotland have central heating and the best access to broadband can be found in Harborough in Leicestershire.The Western Isles and Highlands in Scotland share the top spot for the lowest population density, with just nine people per square kilometre, compared to a national average of 276. At the other end of the scale, the most populated rural area per square kilometre is Thanet on the east Kent coast.The lowest traffic levels are found in the Western Isles with just 71 vehicles per square kilometre and the Orkney Islands have the lowest burglary levels and the happiest people adults are in the Western Isles pf Scotland and the Orkney Islands have the least anxious population.The research also shows that the sunniest place is the Isle of Wight while the area with the lowest average rainfall in Maldon in Essex.
Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

Google Ad

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

Google Ad

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
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.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

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 Boeing Co. announced a tentative agreement Tuesday to sell up to 60 737s to an Iranian airline, a transaction valued at $6 billion that angered American critics of Iran and appeared likely to test the Trump administrations avowed hostility toward that country.

Boeing, a leading commercial aerospace company and a top American exporter, said in a statement that the agreement, which requires U.S. government approval, would create about 18,000 American jobs.

The companys agreement with Aseman Airlines, an Iranian carrier described as the nations third-largest, is the first to be announced by any big American business with Iran since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Boeing announced an agreement last December to sell 80 commercial aircraft to Iran Air, the national carrier, a deal valued at $16.6 billion.

Commercial aircraft sales to Iran are permitted under the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 involving Iran and major global powers, including the United States. The agreement relaxed many economic sanctions against Iran in return for the countrys verifiable pledges that its nuclear work would be peaceful in nature.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the nuclear agreement, describing it as a giveaway to a country that he and his aides have called a leading state sponsor of terrorism and a destabilizing force in the Middle East. But Trump also has vowed to protect U.S. industries and workers from foreign competition.

Aerospace analysts said that together, Boeings deals with Iran amount to a test of the Trump administrations priorities. If Boeing is forbidden to sell the aircraft to Iran, plane makers in other countries might fill the gap.

There was always going to be a clash over this issue, said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at the Teal Group, an aviation research consultancy in Fairfax, Virginia.

Trump campaigned on getting tough with Iran, Aboulafia said, but at the end of the day, these are manufacturing jobs. Its really hard to say, Yes, we are giving this work to the Europeans.

The Boeing announcement contrasted with other signs of growing hostility between the Trump administration and Iran. Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on 25 Iranian entities and individuals over what the White House called illegal Iranian missile tests. Trump included Iran on the blacklist of Muslim-majority countries subject to his proposed visa ban, which is currently blocked in the courts.

It was not clear from the Boeing announcement whether the tentative deal with Aseman Airlines had been negotiated under Trump or under President Barack Obama. Boeing officials did not immediately return emailed requests for comment.

The announcement, posted on Boeings website, said Aseman intended to purchase 30 Boeing 737 Max aircraft valued at $3 billion, with rights to purchase an additional 30. Deliveries would be scheduled to start in 2022.

Aseman currently has a fleet of 31 aircraft, a mixture of Boeing, Airbus and Fokker models with an average age of 25 years, according to the website Planespotters.net.

The Boeing deal requires permission from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department, which has regulatory authority over such transactions with Iran.

Not mentioned in the Boeing announcement, but still a significant hurdle for both sides, is how the company would be paid for the aircraft. Under sanctions that are still in place against Iran, the country cannot use the U.S. banking system, so transactions must be conducted overseas in currencies other than the dollar.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Iran has one of the oldest commercial aircraft fleets in the world, a legacy of the prolonged estrangement with the United States that blocked the Iranians from refurbishing or replacing many of their American-built planes.

U.S. critics of Iran in Congress and elsewhere have repeatedly objected to Boeings plans to sell new aircraft to Iran, arguing that at least some of the planes could be diverted for illicit military use.

Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois, an influential Republican who has long opposed Boeings intentions in Iran, called the tentative deal announced on Tuesday outrageous and observed that it had coincided with reports that President Bashar Assad of Syria, Irans Middle East ally, was responsible for a deadly chemical weapons attack in his war-ravaged country.

On the same day Bashar al-Assads air force dropped chemical weapons onto children, an American company announced its intent to sell airplanes to Assads patrons in Tehran, Roskam said in a statement. He expressed hope that the Trump administration would do everything within its power to stop the sale.

Boeing says that there are sufficient safeguards in place to prevent Iranian misuse of the aircraft, and that the tentative deal announced on Tuesday is legal under the nuclear agreement.

This deal presents Trump with the mother of all dilemmas, said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy based in Washington, D.C.

It would create a lot of jobs  hes all about that, Kupchan said. But planes are inherently dual-use, can ferry troops around, and Trump is dug in on curbing Iranian influence in the region. Its a big bet by Boeing, and the firm probably has an uphill fight on its hands.
AUSTIN  Gov. Greg Abbott hasnt said publicly whether hell sign a ban on texting while driving, a practice that may have played a key role in an accident in which 13 people were killed after their church mini-bus was struck by a pickup.

But some backers of the ban, who are optimistic that they can get it to Abbotts desk, said he has indicated that hell support it.

Rep. Tom Craddick, a former House speaker who has long pushed the ban, told the San Antonio Express-News that Abbott said when asked about it at a Midland fundraiser that he would back such legislation.

There were a lot of people there, and he said he definitely will sign it if it got to him, said Craddick, R-Midland, who shepherded the bill through the House last month.

Craddick said he wasnt at the event but was told about it afterward. A supporter of a ban who attended the October 2015 fundraiser, Ferrell Davis of Midland, told the Express-News that he heard the exchange.

My recollection is yes, he said, If they get a bill before me, well get it taken care of, Davis said.

Abbotts office didnt comment when asked about the exchange.

The proposed ban has been in a brighter spotlight after last weeks accident, which occurred as people were returning to New Braunfels from a First Baptist Church retreat in Leakey. The cause of the accident is under investigation, but a witness said the driver repeatedly apologized and told him he had been texting.

The accident came as the proposed ban, House Bill 62, awaits Senate action.

Led by Tom Craddick, the Texas House has passed texting-while-driving bans in four consecutive sessions. We hope for a better outcome this time, said House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

The bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, is hopeful about the bills chances in the fifth session in which she has pushed such legislation.

A ban was approved by lawmakers in 2011, but then-Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it, calling it a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.

Im ... cautiously optimistic. I believe that if we were to vote today, we would pass the bill in the Senate, said Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who has seen the bill die in the Senate before. Im hoping that we can maintain those votes.

Several senators who previously opposed the bill now are supporting it, including Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. Campbell said she changed her mind about the legislation before the accident occurred.

Texting is distracting, and in a moving vehicle, its not the time to have a distraction. Add to that, in my community, we had 13 people that died in that bus accident that happened in Uvalde. ... Its reported that the driver was texting. I dont know that, she said.

I was on board before the accident, Campbell said. It didnt take an accident to tell me we need this.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, voted against a ban when he was a senator. But he has since made comments showing a change of heart.

The lieutenant governor has been clear that over the last several years he has evolved on this issue and he does not believe people should text while driving, Patrick spokesman Alejandro Garcia said.

As for Abbott, Zaffirini said, The governor wants to ensure that we dont have a patchwork. He wants to ensure that we have a texting bill for Texas. And basically, thats what this bill does. It would pre-empt the local ordinances, but only in relation to texting. It would not pre-empt hands-free or cellphone or any other kind of ordinances that any city would pass.

Three senators voted against Senate Bill 31, the companion to the ban that passed the House, when that measure was backed last month by the Senate State Affairs Committee.

While well-intentioned, this legislation has extremely limited enforceability. Im against any kind of distracted driving, not just one certain type, and believe that drivers should be held responsible for any and all unsafe actions taken while operating a motor vehicle via the laws we have in place, Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, said in a statement about his vote against the bill.

Craddick said accidents could have been prevented if the ban had been enacted earlier.

I think theres  a good chance that a lot of these accidents ... could have been prevented if we had just passed the bill and the governor had signed it, Craddick said.

pfikac@express-news.net

Staff Writer Elena Mejia Lutz contributed to this report.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Mayoral hopeful Manuel Medina and a cadre of devoted, fervent supporters gathered Monday on the front steps of the San Antonio Express-News to protest a column published last week that questioned the accuracy of the candidates sworn statement that hes lived in San Antonio continuously for two decades.

Angry Medina surrogates  and the candidate himself  upbraided columnist Brian Chasnoff, the newspaper and its parent company, Hearst Corp., for publishing a column on Thursday titled Medina worked, ran for office in Mexico. They demanded the Express-News fire Chasnoff and threatened a boycott of the newspaper and its advertisers.

Neither Medina nor anyone on his campaign had approached the paper to seek a clarification, correction or retraction, a typical first step for subjects of a story or column who believe it contains inaccurate information.

Medina is attempting to oust incumbent Ivy Taylor in the May 6 mayoral race that also includes District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg and several other candidates.

Express-News Editor Mike Leary said he stands behind the journalism published in the newspaper.

We stand by our columns and stories 100 percent. Theyre completely accurate and thoroughly documented, he said. If voters want to find out whats really going on in the campaign, read the Express-News.

Medina held a brief news conference after the protest in which he refused to answer questions from the Express-News.

Were here today because Brian Chasnoff simply said that Im a Mexican and that I pretend to be an American, Medina told other members of the local press corps.

That is way out of bounds. Putting the campaign aside, putting the politics aside, he is questioning my patriotism.

The column does not question Medinas citizenship, as the candidate appeared to claim, nor does it question his patriotism. Chasnoff did note that Medina has made his Mexican heritage a theme throughout his campaign.

The column included the facts that Medina ran for political office in Mexico, taught at a university there and was divorced and remarried there, during years he swore on his ballot application that he was living in San Antonio.

Mr. Medina does not dispute those facts, said Metro Editor Nora Lopez, who edits Chasnoffs column. Brians column was thoroughly reported and is based on documentation in Mexico showing that among other things, Mr. Medina was drawing a paycheck in Mexico and that he ran for office there.

It is up to our readers and voters to decide if that is relevant to them, Lopez said.

The protest included conservative former City Councilman Carlton Soules, whos working for the Medina campaign, and Rosa Rosales, a one-time president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Political consultant Colin Strother, who isnt working for a mayoral candidate in the race, said Medinas reaction to the column appeared to be an amateurish stunt to seek media coverage to boost his profile.

The problem for him is that the first thing a lot of voters are going to know about him is about this situation, the questions and his reaction to it, Strother said. But look, in politics, a scalded dog yelps.

One of the first rules in crisis communications, he said, is not to repeat the allegation in another medium, to keep new readers and viewers from being exposed to it. Strother said a friend of his posted Mondays coverage on Facebook, for example, and planned to find the original column and read it.

After the protest ended and the crowd of several dozen people had left, LULACs lead attorney, Luis Vera, a close friend and confidant of Medinas, laid out the candidates complaints in an interview. He said Chasnoffs column was an assault on naturalized citizens and their patriotism.

He said the column included innuendo, was racist and didnt tell the whole story, and that people were angry about the first paragraph and that it tainted the rest of the column.

Heres what Chasnoff wrote, in the first three paragraphs.

Applying this year for a place on the May ballot, mayoral contender Manuel Medina declared that he has lived continuously in Texas for more than 24 years and in San Antonio for more than 20.

The 47-year-old native of Mexico has stuck to this story on the campaign trail, portraying himself as a patriotic American who immigrated to the United States at age 3 and has lived in this country ever since.

Public records and media accounts from Mexico suggest an alternative timeline.

Vera said Chasnoff didnt tell the full story about Medinas history, which included a stint living with Veras family.

In the column, Medina forcefully denied having lived in Mexico at any time since he was 3. In his stump speech, he often tells audiences how he came to the U.S.

I was born on the South Side  maybe a little further south than most of you, in a little place called Mexico, he says. Now, at the age of 3, my mom and I crossed the border, maybe swam a little, into McAllen, then came here to San Antonio. We moved to El Paso and then to Los Angeles.

On the ballot application, filed Jan. 17, Medina said he has lived in San Antonio for 20 years and one month, and in Texas for either 20 or 24 years and one month (the hand-written information includes a 0 and a 4, one superimposed on the other).

As the protest grew, so did the anger among Medinas supporters. They hurled insults at the newspaper and its journalists, and chanted USA! USA! and DO YOUR JOB!

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh
UVALDE  Federal investigators said Monday that no pre-existing mechanical defects were identified in preliminary examinations of the pickup and church minibus that crashed head-on last week on U.S. 83, killing 13 members of a New Braunfels church.

Jennifer Morrison, the investigator in charge of the National Transportation Safety Board team that arrived on scene last Thursday, also said Jack D. Young, the Leakey truck driver suspected of causing the deadly wreck, did not appear to have been wearing a seat belt, unlike all or most of the 14 bus passengers.

Young, 20, is still hospitalized and has not yet been interviewed by NTSB officials, Morrison said during a briefing  expected to be the last here by the agency  at the Holiday Inn Express. Youngs family has declined comment.

She said a video taken by people following Youngs truck, showing it swerving out of its lane several times over 14 minutes preceding the collision, has been sent to an NTSB lab for analysis, along with air bag control modules that were retrieved from both vehicles.

The modules may yield information on the vehicles speed, braking and engine RPM, she said, although no such data was initially retrievable due to the power loss and damage experienced by the minibus, a converted 2004 Ford E-350 van, and Youngs 2007 Dodge pickup with dual rear tires.

Morrison also said officials had recovered the cellphones of both drivers and they had been sent to Washington for processing.

Rose Mary Harris, a 64 year-old New Braunfels resident who was the lone survivor on the bus, was seated in the right rear part of the vehicle, said Morrison. Harris also remains hospitalized.

Morrison said investigators plan to analyze blood samples from both Young and Murray Barrett, who was driving the bus of senior congregants from the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels as they headed home from a church retreat at Alto Frio Baptist Camp and Conference Center in Leakey.

Authorities have said Young, headed north on U.S. 83, swerved across the center line and struck the southbound church bus head-on just south of Garner State Park on a curve where the speed limit is 70 mph, according to Morrison, not 65 mph as previously reported by the Department of Public Safety.

The agency has interviewed church members and retreat site employees about Barretts actions leading up to the accident and is seeking similar information from anyone who had contact with Young or witnessed his truck prior to the crash. Agency officials urged anyone with information to contact the agency at witness@ntsb.gov.

Morrison said the NTSB has established as parties to its investigation the DPS, the Texas Department of Transportation and Turtle Top, the Indiana-based firm that installed the bus body on the van chassis.

Establishing parties to pool information allows us to work with experts in general industries to provide technical assistance to our investigation, she said.

The agency also is utilizing 3-D laser scanning technology to examine the wrecked vehicles to glean insights about the accident, she said.

We should be completing the on-scene phase of our investigation later this week, but the investigation will continue, Morrison said. In about a month, well be issuing a preliminary report. It will include a summary of the facts but will not contain any analysis or recommendations.

Conclusions on the cause of the crash and the recommendations to prevent similar events in the future will be part of an agency report due out in about a year, she said.

zeke@express-news.net
HOUSTON  A prominent local law enforcement officer gunned down Monday in an apparent ambush told county officials last week he felt threatened by a man hed once targeted in a corruption investigation.

Clint Greenwood  three months into a new job as an assistant chief deputy constable  shared his concerns with officials in the Harris County attorneys 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 familys safety, Greenwood said in an email sent to the office Thursday.

He 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.

Its a hit, no doubt, said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. He basically got ambushed.

A massive manhunt shut down portions of the surrounding neighborhood. Deputies combed the area while helicopters circled overhead. Authorities said late Monday they were investigating several leads but had not made any arrests.

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.

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 examiners office.

He is survived by his wife, two children and two stepchildren.

Baytown police are leading the investigation with help from state, local and federal law enforcement officials.

A former private attorney, prosecutor and law enforcement officer, Greenwood had 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.

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 constables 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 Constables 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 attorneys office as chief of the Police Integrity Division under DA Pat Lykos, the district attorneys unit responsible for investigating police officers and presenting the cases to grand juries.

In 2013, he joined the Harris County Sheriffs Office as a major, overseeing the departments Internal Affairs Division, General Investigations Division and Office of the Inspector General. He had moved into a leadership position with the Precinct 3 constables office, where he had put together field training and use-of-force manuals.

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, Greenwoods colleagues and relatives greeted each other with hugs, handshakes and tears.

We ask the entire community to please stand by us, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Were going to do everything we can to track down whoever was responsible for this.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

They say theres a first time for everything.

For me, Monday was the first time in more than 11 years of reporting for the San Antonio Express-News that I returned from lunch to find a scrum of people on the front steps loudly calling me racist and chanting for my termination.

These werent just any protesters. These were supporters of Manuel Medina, some of them the same who stood by Medina in December on the steps of City Hall when he announced to the press that he was exploring a run for mayor, then stood by him again a month later in Main Plaza when he announced to the press that he indeed was running.

Medina was at the center of the scrum again on Monday, railing to the television news cameras arrayed before him.

The chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party had summoned the press once again, this time to capture his response to a column  implying that Manuel Medina was a Mexican Native pretending to be a Patriotic American and questioned (sic) the validity of his American citizenship, according to the news release.

We are here today because Brian Chasnoff simply said that Im a Mexican and that I pretend to be an American, Medina told the cameras. That is way out of bounds. Putting the campaign aside, and putting the politics aside, he is questioning my patriotism, and more importantly, he is questioning the patriotism of every single naturalized citizen of the United States.

In fact, my column simply questioned Medinas truthfulness to voters. His manufactured protest only proved my point.

From the column in question: (Medina) became an American citizen in September 2009.

Medina asserting to voters that I accused him of pretending to be an American is a lie.

Also from my column: Whether Medina lived in Mexico as an adult is not a campaign issue in itself. The question with bearing on the race is whether Medina is being honest with voters about his continuous residence here.

When Medina applied for a place on the May 6 ballot, he swore under oath in his notarized ballot application that he has lived continuously in Texas for more than 24 years and in San Antonio for more than 20. On the campaign trail, he has made his immigration story the centerpiece of his biography, recounting how he came here at age 3 with his mother and has lived and prospered in America ever since.

My column noted that public records from Mexico suggest a different timeline.

According to the records, Medina was employed 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 did not attempt to rebut these facts when I interviewed him on the day I wrote the original column.

Instead, he defended himself that day by claiming he had worked at the Mexican university only sporadically; that he ran for public office in Mexico only to get more clients for his political consulting firm; and that he had merely spent time in Mexico while residing in Texas.

At Medinas press conference on Monday, I asked him whether anything in my original column was inaccurate. He did not answer or acknowledge my presence, at one point turning his back on me and San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer Josh Baugh to face the news cameras.

This atmosphere that we saw last year in the presidential election, Medina told the cameras, when the issue of immigration was front and center, has created an atmosphere that some believe was anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, and Brian Chasnoff is simply feeding off that to score political points for his favorite candidates in this race for mayor.

Linking a columnist to the campaign tactics of President Donald Trump is ironic, to say the least, for a local candidate who has done more than anyone else to embrace Trumps needy, abusive relationship with the press.

Later, as Medinas supporters began to disperse, I agreed to be interviewed by some of the media outlets that his campaign had summoned to the newspaper.

Among the reporters, one man with video equipment asked questions that clearly favored Medina.

Will we see similar pieces for both of the other mayoral candidates? he asked. What mindset were you in when you wrote the initial article for Manuel but decided not to necessarily chase down any prospective leads, any articles about the other two candidates?

Later, I learned from Baugh that this man was working for Medina. I tracked down the mans phone number and called to ask if Medinas campaign was paying him.

Give me one second, he told me.

After a pause, he said, Im going to have to call you back.

He did not call me back.

In 11 years of working as a real reporter, that wasnt a first.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
Statement by the Spokesperson on the Parliamentary elections in Armenia Parliamentary elections took place in Armenia on 2 April. According to the preliminary conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission (EOM), the elections were well-administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected. However, the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, which contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections. The election result nevertheless reflects the overall will of the Armenian people. Whilst an unprecedented number of international and domestic observers were provided an enabling environment in which to carry out their work, international non-governmental organisations were not invited to observe, in contradiction to the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document. The International EOM welcomed the introduction of new technologies, which the European Union supported through a project successfully implemented alongside the Armenian authorities, as well as reforms of the legal framework. Despite some minor technical problems, fewer irregularities concerning ballot box stuffing, double voting, counting and tabulation of results were recorded by observers. The European Union is committed to a stable, democratic and prosperous future of Armenia. Once the electoral process has been completed, we look forward to working with the democratically elected new Parliament and Government to strengthen our political dialogue and continue our support to economic and social reform including on the basis of the recently initialled EUArmenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and within the larger framework of revised European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership.
SALEM, Ohio  Two Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill intended to keep more shale money in the communities where it originates.

Reps. Brian Hill, R-Zanesville, and Jack Cera, D-Bellaire, co-sponsored H.B. 105, which is being heard in the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill would limit the amount of tax revenue credited to the Oil and Gas Well Fund, used by the state for oil and gas regulatory and well plugging activities, to no more than $18 million.

Revenue in excess of that amount would go toward: capital improvements in the shale region; township road repair and construction; firefighting and EMT equipment; capital improvements in counties and municipalities where injection wells are located; and local grants to help local government and school districts to convert vehicles to natural gas.

The bill was introduced March 2, and sponsors presented proponent testimony March 22.

New distribution

Rep. Hill, during House testimony, said the bill includes a responsible and responsive distribution of the severance tax that encourages development and returns a larger share of revenue to the shale area.

The bill does not seek to raise the severance tax on the drilling industry. Instead, it would likely redistribute some of the funds currently going to the state.

According to a fiscal analysis of the bill, provided by Ohio Legislative Service Commission, nearly $41 million was credited to the Oil and Gas Well Fund in 2016. About $14.4 million was appropriated for oil and gas regulation and administration, and well plugging activities.

Under the bill, about 70 percent of excess Oil and Gas Well Fund revenue would be distributed to, or otherwise benefit, local governments located in the shale region.

The bill defines shale region as being located in a county where one or more wells are producing oil or gas in the Utica or Marcellus formations.

The shale area of our state has been ignored long enough, said Cera, in a released statement. Its time for Columbus to wake up and do the right thing by investing in the eastern Ohio communities most impacted by oil and natural gas activity.

Local governments

Cera said the bill helps create a positive environment for the industry to grow, while at the same time assists local governments and communities with repairs to roadways and bridges.

He said that eastern Ohio is in dire need of infrastructure repairs, and that the bill would help those communities make infrastructure improvements without imposing new taxes on oil and gas.

The bill would also create a new well plugging program within the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, to catalog and prioritize the plugging of idle and orphaned wells. It would also require the DNR to investigate and determine whether oil and gas wells are idle or orphaned, if production reports are not filed.

Steve Irwin, spokesperson for ODNR, said the state agency is reviewing the bill and will monitor it as it moves through the General Assembly.

Other sponsors include Reps. John Rogers, D-Mentor on The Lake; Michael OBrien, D-Warren; Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood; Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo; Andrew Brenner, R-Powell; Kent Smith, D-Euclid; Michael Sheehy, D-Toledo; Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown; Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus; and Adam Miller, D-Columbus.
"We have seen the horticulture expansion out of Perth and even Gingin is constrained so those growers are looking at other areas of the State, particularly around Moora and Dandaragan, to expand their businesses because of the constraints that are on the underground water supplies around Gingin."
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 60F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable.
When a company doesnt budget for organizational trust, how can it be elevated?

Most public company CEOs, with the support of their Board, operate under the misconception that they and their organization are trustworthy. They believe the trust obligation has been met through the corporate credo emblazoned on the lobby wall, or by meeting shareholder expectations. In their eyes, trust is a soft skill that is taken for granted. Yet Trust Across Americas (TAA) research paints a very different picture.

For eight years, and through its FACTS Framework (an acronym,) TAA has been measuring the holistic trust worthiness or cultural integrity of almost 2,000 U.S. based public companies on five indicators of trust (Financial stability, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate governance, Transparency and Sustainability), and its rare to find even 25 in this sample who score above 80 percent in any given year.

That grade would earn the CEO a B- in trust. Think about what that says about the rest of the class.

If companies are as trustworthy as their CEOs believe, then explain why:

1. Innovation is stalled

2. Decisions come slowly

3. Engagement is low

4. Turnover is high

5. Fires/crises are frequent

6. Profits are declining

7. Glassdoor reviews are poor

Elevating organizational trust is the primary driver for reversing the outcomes listed above. With high trust comes long-term sustainability and profitability, meeting the desired outcome of every CEO and their Board, even though they may choose to ignore the role trust plays.

Where does that leave the trust orphan? My suggestion is for the Chief Ethics (Compliance) Officer to step forward and adopt trust as an intentional business strategy Why? As Michael Volkov explains in this article:

More companies are starting to realize that investing in a companys culture is an important priority for company growth and sustainability. The new focus is on values and ethical behaviors, as opposed to compliance policies, procedures and guidelines. One goes hand-in-hand with the other  ethics means nothing without compliance, and compliance means nothing without an ethical culture.

A Chief Ethics Officer has an important function in every company  they have to ask the question of whether a company should act in a certain way, as opposed to whether the company can act in a certain way.

Trust Across Americas website contains a vast number of resources that wont bust any departmental budget since many of them are free. For those who choose to budget a few cents per day, a Trust Alliance exists for you and your colleagues. This will provide you with several immediate resources and the ability to network with others who share your interest in elevating organizational trust.

Let the CEO continue to ignore the business case for trust while the Chief Ethics Officer steps up to the plate and takes the reign. Finding a small budget for trust may not only be a business game changer but an opportunity for your department to play a significant role in the future direction of the organization.

____

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also runs the worlds largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and a Managing Member at FACTS Asset Management, a New Jersey registered investment advisor. In 2012 she was named one of 25 Women who are Changing the World by Good Business International.
Since leaving the forces, Bob Pitt has published his debut novel, which came out in January of this year and he is currently working on his second book. Today he tells us a little bit about himself to mark the release of Howerton.

Bob Pitt

I was brought up in pubs, in the Midlands. My grandfather was a publican and my father was for a number of years. Dad was often getting called to stand in as a relief publican, when the owners took a holiday or needed time off. I used to help, tapping barrels in the cellar, collecting glasses, it would not be allowed nowadays.

Im an only child. My brother Tim died in infancy. Ive had a best friend for 55 years and I consider him my brother, his name is Chris and he lives in Wales, we keep in touch.

I joined the army in 1973 for idealistic reasons, I did not like what was going on in Northern Ireland. In my service in Cyprus in 1974, I was there when the Turks invaded, and in deployments since then, I learned a lot about my fellow human beings, friends as well as enemies.

I left the army in 1985 to get married, and was subsequently co-opted into the wifes family business. Sally would have made a terrible army wife, she was too free minded. We lived in Frome in Somerset, although Sally was from Bowness on Windermere. We made sterling silver photo frames and gifts. I became workshop manager and went on to self-train as a silversmith.

Sally sadly died too young at the age of 48. I was devastated. Becoming widowed at 52 was so very hard, I dont have the words to describe it.

After being alone for eight years I met a Hungarian woman called Klara. We were working at a hotel here in the Lake District. We got on from our first meeting and we hope to get married soon. Another life lesson learned, NEVER say never.

I love hills and mountains, always have, always will. Fortunately Klara likes them too, so we walk in the hills as often as time and weather permits.

My favourite book is Dune, by Frank Herbert. I took the book on a flight to Canada in 1977 and read it with just a couple of breaks for food and coffee.

I still keep in touch with my old comrades from the regiment. I use social media, I was contacted by someone I had not seen in thirty years and we took up the conversation as if we had left off a day ago!

A writer, me? I wrote this book over several years. When I was instructing cadets, lads and lasses aged 12 years old and up. It came to my attention that a lot of them had never read a book voluntarily, some could not read at all. I used to ask why, and was told they were sick of what was on the market, magic, vampires, girly stuff, they said. Howerton is my tiny contribution to juvenile literacy, I hope it reaches some of these young people, I think reading opens up so many opportunities and stimulates imagination.
YPC Chairman: Law must obligate media outlets to organize at least one debate between candidates (video)

Yerevan Press Club (YPC) has published an interim report entitled Monitoring of Armenian Broadcast Media Coverage of Elections to RA National Assembly in 2017. It covers the period between February 15 and March 4, 2017(before the election campaign which kicked off on March 5 and lasted until March 31). Talking to journalists on Tuesday, YPC Chairman Boris Navasardyan said the international observers who followed the course of the Sunday polls, expressed their satisfaction with the results. He added that the overall picture of the elections and their coverage defers from the previous ones very slightly. Mr Navasardyan particularly emphasized the television interviews of Armenia's first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan who leads the Tsarukyan bloc. "It is noteworthy that this time Gagik Tsarukyan did not give an interview from his house as was the case in the previous campaigns, but in a pavilion, the YPC president stressed. Boris Navasardyan says again TV channels did not held debates between candidates. If debates are not held on a voluntary basis, then it should be done by law. In conclusion, he added that the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Tsarukyan allaince, Congress-HZhK alliance, Yelk (Way Out) alliance and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) were covered most in the media.
Joe Treasure currently lives in South West London with his wife Leni Wildflower. As an English teacher in Wales, he ran an innovative drama programme, before following Leni across the pond to Los Angeles, an experience that inspired his critically acclaimed debut novel The Male Gaze. Upon the release of his third novel The Book of Air he tells us a little bit more about him.

Joe Treasure

I was the sixth child in a family of nine. My older sister Mary often had to supervise us younger ones. She took an inventive if sometimes wayward approach to childcare, making up games like blindfold tasting, when shed line us up in the kitchen and spoon random things onto to our tongues for us to name  honey, salt, mustard. She liked sewing and one year made us personalised beach robes incorporating our own quirky design features.

Our house was ramshackle but spacious. My Irish mother would happily provide food and a bed for half a dozen extra people if they turned up unexpectedly, which they sometimes did. We took holidays in an old bus that my carpenter father had kitted out with bunk beds and a kitchen. We slept in some surprising places, but our favourite destination was the Pembrokeshire coast. We often stopped for hitchhikers and learned to be open to people.

I was an English and drama teacher for years before I thought of writing fiction. I liked working with teenagers because they arent yet sure what they think and havent learnt to hide their feelings. A good school can be a learning environment for everyone. I liked being able to play percussion in the orchestra, take drawing classes with the A-level students, and practise my bad French on the language assistant.

I met my wife, Leni Wildflower, in Los Angeles on a teaching exchange. Getting to know Leni was the biggest adventure of my life. I drew heavily on my LA experience for my first book The Male Gaze. I gave my visiting Englishman a British wife quite unlike Leni, but even her family assumed it was really all about her

My second book, Besotted, was about two brothers who are exploring their Irish roots and fall in love with the same girl. The girl was imaginary but the brothers were modelled on me and my young brother Wilfrid. We were so close as children that when I started school our parents discovered that, though hed been gabbling away for years, they couldnt understand a word he said  Id always been there to translate. His sudden death three years ago, while he was working as a GP in Shetland, was a hard loss for me.

When I dont feel inspired to write, I set myself a minimum time. It might be as little as two hours a day. I sit with one eye on the clock, forcing myself to type. The words come out flat and dull. Then maybe in the last twenty minutes I stumble into something that might have a future. Sometimes its two or three days of frustration for one day of joy. Not a bad average.

I have huge admiration for writers of historical fiction like Sarah Waters and Hilary Mantel. Ive tried it but never feel I know enough. Before I can even can get a character out of bed in the morning Im wondering how the bedsprings creak and what the alarm clock looks like, and whats for breakfast and does the milk come in a bottle, a jug or a pail? It was fun to set The Book of Air in the future because I could make those things up.

I used to be a news hound but Ive started watching the news through half-closed eyes, like a kid watching a scary movie. Reading nineteenth century fiction is a form of escape. Writing The Book of Air allowed me to get reacquainted with Jane Eyre. Right now Im reading War and Peace for the first time and wondering why no one ever told me Tolstoy is funny.

One thing I love about London is how easily you can get about on foot, traveling by tube, jumping on and off buses. Even when youre jammed up against commuters during rush hour, its never as dull as sitting in traffic.

Leni and I have lived at 13 different addresses during our 18 years of marriage, crossing the Atlantic four times. We moved into our second-floor Victorian flat in Balham nearly two years ago. The neighbourhood is youthful and diverse and close to green spaces. Were thinking we might stay awhile.

About the author: Joe Treasure's second novel Besotted (published by Picador) was met with rave reviews. His latest novel, The Book of Air (published 4th April 2017 by Clink Street Publishing RRP 8.99 paperback RRP 3.99 ebook) will be available to purchase from online retailers including amazon.co.uk and to order from all good bookstores. For more information please visit www.joetreasure.com
Only the strong survive.

Pack Rogue

Writing a strong female lead is one of the hardest pieces when piecing together a novel. Kiley Palmer, the female main character, of my latest book is the only exception Ive encountered. Writing Kileys story flowed so easily that it began to worry me.

Working up a character like Kileys background includes a lot of research in how and why she might react a certain way. At one point Id put Kiley through so much I even began to doubt if she would come through.

But in the end Pack Rogue is exactly how Kileys story should go. She meets a strong dominant Alpha wolf shifter. The kind of man shed vowed to stay away from. After one night together she runs off leaving a piece of herself behind. Imagine Kileys surprise when she runs into Austin and finds out hes an Alpha of a pack visiting her home.

Kiley isnt part of the local wolf pack. Shed given up any bond with other shifters after years of torture and abuse at the hands of her old Alpha. She still keeps in touch with a few friends, does odd jobs for the Alpha, but its the Alphas small child that keeps her close. Kiley loves Jesse and will not allow anything like what happened to her ever happen to Jesse.

Circumstances throw Kiley and Austin together. The Rogue and the Alpha.

Now someone is trying to run them over. Shots are fired. There are feline shifters hunting them.

You know just another crazy adventure in the Were Chronicles series!

The Were Chronicles were my first foray into writing a series and Im still surprised by how well received theyve been. Originally there were fifteen novellas released. In 2016 Totally Bound asked me to revamp the books into what we are now releasing.

With over 25,000 words of added content, re-edited, and a new cover the Were Chronicles series are unlike other shifter books Ive written. Each book has a unique look into the world of how a shifter lives to survive.

From a in depth look at pack life and politics, to deciding to become public, and finally the struggle of having the same freedoms of humans the Were Chronicles will keep you on your toes.

Fifteen books in a series written make it hard to have a favorite character or couple. However Kiley is the one that stayed with me throughout the entire time Ive been writing the series. She never gives up. Never backs down. Kiley is an example of a woman who not only comes out on top but takes the time to help others rise as well.

I hope youll give Pack Rogue a try and meet Kiley, Austin, Ginger, Tyler, Gray, Jesse, and the others.

Pack Rogue Blurb-

The Rogue meets the Alphaand their worlds explode.

Kiley Palmer doesnt have a pack, doesnt want a pack and has convinced herself she doesnt need a pack. She has her reasons for being Rogue and staying away from Alpha men. When news gets out that the shifter world is planning to become public, threats and danger pull her back into the territory where her greatest nightmares came true. Theres a new Alpha and his best friend is someone who Kiley thought shed never see again.

Austin Winters is visiting his best friends territory while meeting with representatives of the Alpha Council about plans to announce shifters to the world. When the woman who hed had a one-night stand with several months ago walks in, Austin is shocked and excited. Hed felt the connection between him and Kiley, but after shed disappeared, hed almost given up hope of ever finding her.

With danger around every corner, past traumas and a growing pack, the cards are stacked against the Rogue and the Alpha. But with a connection as deep as theirs, Austin and Kiley might be what the shifters need for the upcoming battle.

Reader Advisory: This book contains references to past sexual abuse/slavery, references to bad parenting.

Author Bio

Bestselling Paranormal Romance and Fantasy author Crissy Smith writes three award winning series along with several standalone novels for Totally Bound Publishing. Each story includes a strong alpha male with a feisty female that keeps him on his toes. Her stories are filled with mystery, intrigue, and a steaming romance that sets the pages on fire. A longtime fan of paranormal romance, Crissy is dedicated to keeping the genre alive.

Crissy lives in Texas with her husband, teenage daughter, and three Labrador retrievers. When not buried under a pile of paperwork for her day job she enjoys reading, writing, and binge watching shows. Shed highly addicted to coffee in any form and can usually be found curled up in her chair with an eighty pound dog, a cup of coffee, and her kindle.
Jesse Eisenberg has become a father for the first time.

Jesse Eisenberg

The 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' star is thought to have welcomed a child with his long term partner Anna Strout after the pair were seen out and about in New York with their baby on Monday (03.04.17), E! News reports.

Jesse has kept quite private about his 14-year relationship with Anna and had previously admitted that he loves surrounding himself with people who "want to help other people".

He said previously: "I find people who want to help other people to be the most interesting. I come from a family of teachers, and my friends are teachers, often times in very difficult school situations. My job is so selfish and focused on my own vanity that I like to surround myself with people who are actually helping people throughout their day."

Jesse and Anna dated from 2002 to 2012 before deciding to take a break whilst Jesse focused on his career. And then the actor spent four months volunteering for a domestic violence shelter in Bloomington, Indiana. It was whilst volunteering that Jesse was put back in touch with Anna, as her mother is the shelter's executive director.

Speaking about his work with the shelter, he remained coy.

He said: "I was there for, like, personal reasons. For reasons I don't want to bring up in an interview."
Kendall Jenner has "never been a yes person".

Kendall Jenner

The 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' beauty isn't worried about constantly having to please people and would much rather put herself first.

She said: "I've had those moments where you kind of need to just take care of yourself and say no to a certain thing. I think that's key ... I've never been a yes person. If I don't want to do something I probably am not going to do it."

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old model previously opened up about suffering with anxiety.

Writing on her website KendallJ.com, she said: "Anxiety was a huge hurdle for me to deal with this past year (and security concerns didn't help), but I think I'm finally learning how to cope ...

"The hardest part about my job is being away from home so often. I miss my sisters, the rest of my family and my friends so much when I'm away. But, it makes the time we have together that much more special."

However, Kendall has a lot to celebrate including her Vogue cover, the Victoria's Secret fashion show and jet-setting across the world.

She wrote: "The fact that I was on the cover of any Vogue was mind-blowing, but the September Issue was beyond anything I could've imagined! I can't wait to see where 2017 takes my career, but I know I have big plans!

"Rome, Paris, Turks & Caicos, Cannes, Vail, Barcelona and more - this year was such a whirlwind of travel it's hard to keep track of it all! I'm so lucky that my job takes me to all the places I want see."
Jenna Lyons has quit J.Crew.

Jenna Lyons

The American fashion designer of the fashion house has announced her departure from the retailer after 26 years at the helm of the brand where she held the title of creative director and president of the business.

And according to the Business of Fashion working with the designer brand for almost three decades since 1990, although she became the brand's front-runner 20 years later, she was "beyond [her] wildest dreams".

Speaking about her decision to leave the company, the brunette beauty said: "It has been beyond my wildest dreams to work with such an amazing team of people at such an incredible brand and alongside [Millard Drexler, J.Crew's chief executive] Mickey -- one of retail's most talented visionaries."

Although the creative mastermind will no longer be linked to J. Crew she is "excited" for their future and to see how the new team, and her replacement, develop the label.

She explained: "I am excited about the next chapter for J.Crew as well as the opportunity for other creative leaders within the organisation to step up and take on new responsibilities.

"Having spent the better part of my life with J.Crew, I feel an immense pride and love for everyone at the company."

Jenna's decision was a mutual agreement between her and Millard as they both believed it was "time for a change"

He said: "Jenna and I got together and we both agreed it was time for a change."

Following Jenna's exit the head of design for the brands women's department, Somsack Sikhounmuong, has been promoted to take the role of chief design officer, which will mean she will oversee the womenswear, menswear and childrenswear sections.

And Millard is "excited" for Somsack's future under the line.

Millard said: "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. 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."

Jenna is set to remain as a creative advisor for the time being until her contact ends at the end of this year in December, however, she has kept details about her next venture close to her chest.
John Travolta is set to star in 'Speed Kills'.

John Travolta

The 63-year-old actor will take on the role of the speedboat racing champion and multimillionaire Don Aronow in the upcoming production, Deadline has reported.

And the movie legend is keen to feature in the production because he finds biopics "fascinating".

Speaking about his upcoming venture, the movie legend, said: "I like biopic films. They are fascinating to me and real-life characters are always interesting to play. This is a great story."

And Travolta has been credited as the "perfect actor" to portray the character.

Speaking about the star, Lussenhop said: "Once I started learning about Don Aronow's life I jumped at the opportunity to bring this story to the big screen.

"John Travolta is the perfect actor to bring Aronow's story to life."

The film will follow the life and death of the businessman, who created the Cigarette as well as other speedboats, which he sold on to presidents and notable figures, including the Shah of Iran and Malcolm Forbes.

However, Don was also part of a drug cartel, which is believed to be the reason behind his murder in 1987 while he sat in his car in Miami.

The script for 'Speed Kills' has been written by 'Friday Night Lights' writer David Aaron Cohen with director John Lussenhop, whilst a close friend of the real-life Aronow family, Paul Castro, is on hand to be consulted about the production.

Travolta will also help with the creative process and will executive produce the film alongside Anson Downes, Linda Favila, Patricia Eberle, Tim Cavanaugh, Cam Cannon, Lindsey Roth, Richard LeChartier, Christophe Verneau, Walter Josten and Grace Collins.

The drama backed by Hannibal Classics will start shooting scenes for the project in May this year, which will see the cast jet off to San Juan in Puerto Rico and Florida's Miami Beach.
Patty Jenkins is "excited" about speculation Joss Whedon will produce a Batgirl film.

Patty Jenkins

The 45-year-old American film director is over the moon the 52-year-old screenwriter is in talks with Warner Bros. Pictures to create a production centred on the female superhero, because she believes Whedon's work will allow him to take on a "fun approach" with the project.

Speaking about the speculation around Whedon taking on the movie to Toronto Sun Online, the brunette beauty said: "But if it is done, then I'm excited about it.

"I think it's super exciting. The tone of Joss' work is great for female superheroes. He takes such a fun approach and I think he'll have fun in the DC universe, which will be excited to have him."

However, Jenkins is still unsure whether Whedon has confirmed he will be helming the creative process of the movie.

She explained: "I don't even know if that deal is done or not - I don't have the inside scoop on that."

And Jenkins has revealed she is keen to see the work of "a lot of directors".

She added: "There are a lot of directors I'm really excited about and the storylines are all vastly different, with different tones and very different approaches to storytelling. I think there's a treasure trove of great characters here. Jason [Momoa] is off to do 'Aquaman' right now - that's such a cool story. It has its own vibe and dynamic completely. I'm excited to see each one of these films."

Meanwhile Jenkins, who is currently behind the forthcoming fantasy film 'Wonder Woman' starring Gal Gadot as the lead character Diana Prince, has praised the 31-year-old actress as being "supernaturally beautiful" and for being a "kind" and intelligent female.

Speaking about the star, Jenkins said: "Gal's supernaturally beautiful and unbelievably kind and thoughtful and intelligent and wise, yet bright and youthful and hopeful in such a sweet way."
The magic of Disney delighted young fans in London over the weekend.

Disney on Ice

'Disney on Ice' is celebrating 100 years of magic and pulled out all the stops to please audience members young and old with spectacular routines set to a selection of songs from some of the Mouse House's most popular productions at The SSE Arena, Wembley.

Hosted by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, over 50 Disney stars featured in the stunning spectacular, with expert skaters showing off shortened versions of classic tales from movies including 'Pinocchio', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Frozen' - which saw snow cascade from the ceiling, much to the delight of the audience - 'Finding Nemo', 'Toy Story' and 'The Lion King'.

While younger members of the audience particularly enjoyed the newer tales, in particular the spectacular 'Frozen' sequence, older members of the crowd relished the dramatic military formation in the 'Mulan' performance, the 20 genies who featured in an 'Aladdin' routine and the romantic 'Beauty and the Beast' dance, which led into a performance from some of Disny's other princesses - including Jasmine, Ariel, and Rapunzel - and their partners.

Producer Kenneth Feld said: "This is a show, more than any other, that is truly for everybody. I sit with the audience, I see those that are grandparents, like I am, enjoying a lot of the classic Disney stories, while young kids and young parents really respond to Frozen and all the latest Disney stories and animation."

Fellow producer Nicole Feld added: "This particular production is by far the largest 'Disney On Ice' show we currently have touring, bringing together everyone's favourite Disney characters from Snow White, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse to Elsa and Anna.

"Our vision is for audiences everywhere to dance and sing along to their favourite Disney songs, so we've included 30 tunes that they know and love."

And with a soundtrack including 'Let It Go', 'You've Got a Friend in Me', and 'Hakuna Matada', the producers got their wish as the audience sang along with every word.
Months after the release of her first single 'Every night and day' featuring Himesh Reshammiya, Iulia Vantur is already gearing up for the release of her second record. This time around, Salman Khan's rumoured lady love is teaming up with actor and television show host Manish Paul. The two will reportedly be collaborating with composer Sachin Gupta for a song and music video.



A behind-the-scenes picture doing the rounds on social media saw Iulia and Manish, presumably on the sets of the music video shoot. According to an online report, the two stars have both done a good job with the composition and have sung the song "beautifully".



Previously, Iulia also lent her voice to sing a reprised version of Salman's song, 'Main hoon hero tera' from the film 'Hero' and an unplugged cover of 'Baby ko bass pasand hai...' from 'Sultan'.


The British Fashion Council (BFC) has launched its British High-End Manufacturer's Database. The national database of UK-based manufacturers intends to make it easier for designers to form supply chain relationships and reach production units. The manufacturers' database is the first milestone of 2017 for BFC's Positive Fashion initiative.

In March 2015, the BFC and a working group comprising of M&S, UKFT, Creative Skillset, The Alliance Project and Centre for Fashion Enterprise worked alongside independent specialists in the sector to launch the High-End and Designer Manufacturing (HEDM) report. The need for a database of audited UK manufacturers is the result of this report, for which research was undertaken by Glasgow Caledonian University and Oxford University.

The database is free to use and is a part of the BFC Designer Fact File, a dynamic designer business learning platform providing insights and training across a wide spectrum of topics. The topics covered are tailored to a range of business stages, from start-ups to established brands, and content is provided by leading industry professionals. In stage 1, the initial manufacturers recommended for the British High-End Manufacturers Database were sourced through designer recommendations and through research done for the HEDM report. For the stage 2, the BFC will conduct a full audit of all manufacturers listed and the database will grow organically as designers and BFC partners recommend further manufacturers, and as suppliers come forward to submit themselves for listing.

Through the Positive Fashion initiative the BFC hopes to encourage designer businesses to prioritise sustainability and ethical practices. The three key focuses for Positive Fashion in 2017 are sustainability, diversity and industry education (including model health) and local manufacturing and craftsmanship. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
United States urges Armenian government, political parties, and civil society to work together to address concerns

The U. S. Embassy congratulates the people of Armenia on their April 2 parliamentary election, following a period of widespread competition among various parties and blocs in an environment that allowed all viewpoints access to the media. Election day was generally calm and orderly across Armenia and voters were able to freely exercise their right to vote. The U.S. Embassy concurs with the preliminary conclusions of the OSCEs Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Mission which assessed elections to have been well administered and fundamental freedoms generally respected, while noting the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying and pressure on voters. We urge the Armenian government, political parties, and civil society to work together to address these concerns through existing or new legal and enforcement mechanisms. For 25 years, the United States has been committed to supporting Armenia as it seeks to develop its democratic processes and institutions. During this election, we were proud to partner with the Armenian government, opposition political parties, and civil society  as well as with the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations Development Program  in implementing new voter identification technology. With the help of this new technology, procedures within polling stations on April 2 were generally administered without major incident and within guidelines set forth by Armenian electoral laws. The United States will continue to monitor and analyze reports from international and domestic election observers, as well as the adjudication of election grievances during the post-election period. Now that the election results are known, we encourage all parties  the government, the opposition, and civil society  to continue engaging in peaceful debate and discussion.
The global wool industry has changed considerably in recent years as more wool is being grown and a lot more wool is now available in the retail market, according to Stuart McCulloughmanaging director of The Woolmark Company. The scenario has changed at both ends of the supply chain.

"In the last decade, the (wool) price has gone up and that has been the biggest change. Farmers are now becoming profitable. This is a big and important change as they are now making money; thats because a decade ago they were not making any. They are keeping the industry alive," McCullough told Fibre2Fashion in an exclusive interview.

Talking about the scope of the Indian wool industry, he said, "India is a bit different because it is a very hot market. It is still very important to us because there are lots of deconstructed wool garments on the market now, and we can capitalise on that. More deconstructed garments are being manufactured now (compared to earlier). It is a good opportunity there. It is a completely different market compared to Europe and North America, and there is good population and affluence as well. The climate is also favourable. There are tailored garments in the market too; so that is also an opportunity."

"In the last decade, the (wool) price has gone up and that has been the biggest change. Farmers are now becoming profitable. This is a big and important change as they are now making money; that's because a decade ago they were not making any. They are keeping the industry alive," Stuart McCullough, managing director, The Woolmark Company told Fibre2Fashion.#

As for the Australian wool industry, McCullough said that its limitations are sales. The Woolmark Company wants to sell more garments and is therefore now marketing around the world.

When asked about the future plans of The Woolmark Company, he said, "We will be working on some different programmes that look into product development. We are actively investing in product development. That is one. Second, we want to become more digitally abreast (of others). Certainly, we have got a digital strategy in place, which gives us digital force. Social media is an important component, and so the other thing is to increase our digital presence in the next 12 months. Over the next year, we want to talk about biodegradability of wool." McCullough added that his organisation is using marketing for promoting Australian merino wool across the globe. The International Woolmark Prize (IWP) is a marketing strategy for it and is used as a platform for profiling its product and the brand. (KD)

Click here to read the complete interview.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the support of Sweden and Denmark is hosting a training programme in Dhaka on improving workplace cooperation and handling grievances. The training is for 30 master trainers comprising officials of the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations Institutes. The five-day programme will conclude on April 7.

The initial training focuses on workplace cooperation, with future sessions set to cover collective bargaining and grievance procedures. Once trained, these master trainers will play a crucial role to support the development of workplace cooperation plans in 34 non-unionised factories out of a group of 54 pilot factories provided by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association. These plans will provide a basis for the work of the participation committees in these factories.

The training programme has been developed with the support of the ILO's International Training Centre (ITC). It is the first of a series to be held by the ILO's Improving Social Dialogue and Harmonious Industrial Relations in the Bangladesh RMG sector project. Launched in December 2016 in collaboration with Government of Bangladesh, the initiative aims to develop dialogue mechanisms between employers and workers as a means of preventing and constructively resolving disputes.

"This training marks an important first step in our efforts to create better social dialogue in Bangladesh. Enhancing the capacity of the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations Institutes will help build a more mature industrial relations environment for Bangladesh that will benefit employers and workers alike," said Gagan Rajbhandari, deputy director, ILO Bangladesh. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Textile manufacturers in Indonesia, especially those from Central Java, are now looking at expanding their market in Middle East, according to the Indonesian Textile Association (API). The US, China and Japan are currently the main export markets for Indonesian textiles. Turkey and Egypt are at present main Middle East markets for Indonesian textiles.

We already have a good demand for our exports from the Middle East countries. However, so far, they are yet to become the main export market for the Central Javanese textile products, API Central Java chairman Agung Wahono said in Semarang, according to an Indonesian news agency report.

We have understood the demand trend in the Middle East countries. We hope that better trade relations with Middle East countries will enhance our export to the region, Wahono said.

Textile manufacturers in Indonesia, especially those from Central Java, are now looking at expanding their market in Middle East, according to the Indonesian Textile Association (API). The US, China and Japan are currently the main export markets for Indonesian textiles. Turkey and Egypt are at present main Middle East markets for Indonesian textiles.#

In February 2017, textiles and clothing exports from Central Java were to the tune of $181.86 million, as per data from the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Last year, total apparel exports from Indonesia stood at $11.9 billion, showing a 3.2 per cent decline year-on-year. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
On His Role In Begum Jaan

"The trailer release has been as good as a film release for me. The kind of response I have got on social accounts and messages, I think it created a shock value. It's a very important character in the film because he changes everything around him. Coming from Aakhri Pasta to something so evil is a huge jump within the year."

On Why He Believes That Prostitutes Are Doing A Favour To The Nation

"I saw the trailer of Rajkahini and I thought Vidya is the only one who can come up to this, what Rituparna (Sengupta) has done. But after seeing the trailer, I feel she has taken it to a different level. There's no vulgarity to it. It's bold and shameless. The film is not about women empowerment, it's about powerful women who are in the oldest profession in the world: Prostitution. Unfortunately, it is looked down upon. They are doing a favour to the nation, it should be legalised. Imagine the sexual frustration in the country if it didn't exist!"

On His Wife's Reaction To His Menacing Transformation For Begum Jaan

"My wife was not at home, she was on holiday in London. When I reached home, my dog nearly attacked me. My maid screamed, and because she did, my dog thought some intruder had come and jumped on me. When I joined my wife in London, she was in the room... I entered the room with my (key) card and she nearly had a heart attack because she thought a robber had entered the room. We were not husband and wife till my hair grew back. We had no relationship!"

On How He Bagged His First Film In The Toilet Of A Five Star Hotel

"I tried to get into video films, TV serials, auditions... I struggled for two years. Suddenly in a five star hotel toilet, I met Pahlaj Nihalani (who currently heads the Censor Board). He told me, 'Remember my number, call me tomorrow and see me'. That's how I got my first film, in the toilet of a hotel.

So I keep telling my kids, everyone has their own success story, don't mimic anyone else's story. It will all happen the way it is meant to happen. I met him the next day and he told me that he was going to America that night. He said he would return in a month and start a film with me. So I said, 'Don't I have to sign something?' He said, 'No, just don't shave. Grow a beard'."

"After a month, he came back and called me -- we had land line phones then -- and told me that the muhurat was the day after tomorrow at Filmistan studio. He asked me to get my parents too."

"I couldn't believe this was happening because when you get rejected so often, you don't believe it when it happens." So Chunky went for the muhurat where met his superstar co-stars Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha and that's how his first film Aag Hi Aag happened.

On How His Superhit Film Tezaab Happened Out Of Rejection

"Tezaab happened out of a rejection. I had gone to the Rajshri office to audition for Pratighat. The director N Chandra told me I didn't suit the role. But he said he was making a film with Anil Kapoor the next year. He had already started working on Tezaab -- and that he will meet me for that later."
Hrithik Roshan is not only a huge superstar in India, he's also a well known celebrity all across the world and women find this Greek God too much to resist. We all know his equation with Mexican model Barbara Mori with whom he starred in 'Kites', and now it turns out that even Angela Krislinzki, a Polish-Spanish supermodel turned actress has a huge crush on Hrithik Roshan after shooting for a commercial with him. She gushed,

People Are Uncomfortable With Women's Sexuality: Swara Bhaskar

"Like every other newcomer, I had a crush on Hrithik when I worked with him for the first time in a commercial. When I told him about my half-Spanish background, he was reminded about the old-world charm of Valencia and Spain. He was supportive and gave me acting tips."



Sunny Leone's Laila Main Laila From Raees Crosses 150 Million Views!

When the duo met again for the shoot of their second commercial, Angela felt the friendly and helping nature of Hrithik and now she has found a new mentor who can guide her in Bollywood. She said, "I was under the impression that he had forgotten me. After all, he is a star who shoots umpteen ads with several young models. But he called out to me and remembered all the conversations we'd had and the fact that my dad was from Valencia. He also asked me jokingly whether the colour of my eyes was real. When I signed a movie in the South. He also inquired about the maker and assured me that this film would definitely take me places."

ollywood Superstars Are Really Insecure People: Vikram Bhatt

Angela Krislinzki and Hrithik Roshan are now good buddies and the actress shares everything with him including her insecurities. "I told him it would be difficult for me to access filmmakers and get the right roles in Bollywood because of my international looks. He assured me that it was all about confidence and asked me to work on my acting skills and Hindi diction. That conversation with him changed my life."

However, Hrithik Roshan took to Twitter and posted a picture of a newspaper clipping and denied that he's a friend of Angela Krislinzki. He captioned the image as, "My dear lady, who are you and why are u lying." So is Angela Krislinzki lying that Hrithik Roshan is her mentor just to gain limelight? Check out the tweet below!

My dear lady, who are you and why are u lying. pic.twitter.com/xydPrKr8nH  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) April 4, 2017

This Is How Anushka Sharma Spends Time After A Hard Day At Work!
Kareena Gets Upset

"Yes, I (Kareena Kapoor Khan) was on my feet a few days after the delivery, but it's upsetting to have people judge you for it. No one has the right to comment on how I conduct myself or what sort of a mother I am," said the Refugee actress.

Kareena: Every Mother's Journey Is Different

Kareena further added, "Everyone seems to have an opinion. Postpartum depression is not a must, right? It's whimsical to generalise that every woman goes through that phase, almost making it sound like a norm. Every pregnancy and every mother's journey with her child during those nine months and afterwards is different."

Kareena: Don't Decide Anything On My Behalf

"You can't draw parallels. No one out there really knows me or what I am feeling at a given time. How can anyone decide on my behalf whether I am supposed to feel depressed or if I can step out before 45 days? If I'm spoken about like that, what would it be like for other women?" said Kareena to the leading daily.

People Take The Liberty Of My Absence On the Social Media

"Just because I'm elusive and my husband and I are not on social media talking about our emotions on an hourly basis, people take the liberty to put out stories about my child and me."

'I Won't Clarify How I Plan To Lose Weight'

"It was annoying to read reports about my fitness regimen and the way I'm losing weight. As a couple, we don't share details of our lives with the world at large. So, I will not clarify what we do, how I plan to lose weight or what I do with my baby."

Kareena: I Won't Scream My Love For Taimur

"I enjoyed my pregnancy and I will enjoy my life on my terms. What kind of a mother I am is something that will unfold with time. I will not scream from rooftops about experiencing motherhood or how much I love Taimur. There's always the pressure of being judged, no matter what you do. It's about how you deal with it."

Kareena On Taimur's Name Controversy

"When we named our son Taimur, everyone in the country suddenly turned into a historian, philosopher and scientist."

"How Is My Baby's Name Anyone's Business?"

"Everyone seemed to know the meaning of the name, and the supposed history behind it. They even suggested alternate names for my baby. How is my baby's name anyone's business?"

'I Wanted To Enjoy Every Moment With Taimur'

"All this erupted when I wanted to enjoy every moment of being a mother. Saif and I kept it all aside and savoured our time with Taimur. We cherish every moment we have with him."
I'm Not Salman Khan

Rakhi Sawant said that she's not Salman Khan and there's no use of filing charges against her as nobody will gain anything from it.

Rakhi Sawant

Rakhi Sawant is very well known for her uncanny and witty statements.

Comparing Mika To Valmiki

Rakhi Sawant compared Mika Singh to Valmiki by saying that he has changed his old way and is now a good man.

Hurting Sentiments

A case has been slapped against Rakhi Sawant for hurting religious sentiments by comparing Mika to Valmiki.

I'm A Simple Girl

"I am not Salman Khan, I am Rakhi Sawant. You won't get anything by putting charges on me. I am a simple girl who does social work and work in movies."

Rakhi Sawant

"I did not receive any notice or summon in regard to the warrant."

I Respect Valmiki

"I respect him and Valmiki community a lot. I don't know why I am being targeted."

It Was Just An Example

"Mika ji also has changed. It was just an example," says Rakhi Sawant.
Celebrated Hollywood actor of Swedish origin Alexander Skarsgard states that it is very tough for him to shoot domestic violence scenes, particularly with actress Nicole Kidman due to her subtle, warm and generous nature.

The 40-year-old Swedish actor, who portrays the role of a violent husband on screen in Big Little Lies, says he has to work really hard to get the domestic violence scene filmed with actress Nicole Kidman.

"It was important every day after shooting a scene like that to check in with each other and make sure that we would reconnect and talk about how we felt about it and what we went through." Said Skarsgard.

"We both knew that jumping in your car and going home after a scene like that is very tough, you need to share that connection with the person you just went through that with. I had the best partner in the world with Nicole in doing that." He added.

"She's not only an extraordinary actress but such a warm and generous person. That made it be even more difficult," Skarsgard explained.

Skarsgard also stated that although domestic violence on TV could actually make for uncomfortable viewing, it is, however, necessary to be shown.

"It's obviously a huge problem in our society. It's stigmatised. Wives are protective of their husbands and in certain cases, they blame themselves and say, 'It takes two to tango. I'm partly responsible for this'." Alexander Skarsgard stated further.
Celebrated actor Vin Diesel who features among the A listed stars in Hollywood said that he had to face a lot of struggle in life to reach the top. The actor said that at the start of his career he had no money to finance his creative ideas.

Vin Diesel, therefore, used his 'student credit card' to finance and invest on his first movie script.

"To write my first script, I went to an early electronics store called the Wiz that was on 14th Street in New York. They had a policy where you could return anything within 30 days, no questions asked," Diesel said in a statement.

"So I went to the Wiz and bought this $600 word processor on my student credit card. I stayed up all night, every night. And at the end of the 30 days, I returned it." He added.

Diesel continued, "Then I went out and rented a 16-mm camera on a Friday, because I didn't have to return it until Monday, so I was able to shoot for three days. Cut to my mom watching me roll an old 16 mm Steenbeck into my little room."

"I was cutting and splicing 'Multi-Facial' old-school style. This was before computers, really, it was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful time. A lot of people say they want to be successful, to be at the top. That's not where the fun is. The fun is the journey." Diesel explained.
Kapil Sharma celebrated his birthday on April 2. As we had reported earlier, Kapil celebrated his special day with girlfriend Ginni Chatrath on the sets of his upcoming film, Firangi in Rajasthan.

Reportedly, Ginni even sang a birthday song for him, while he cut the cake. Professionally, the comedian is going through a rough patch. The Kapil Sharma Show, which once topped the TRP charts is nowhere to be seen amongst the top 10 shows.

Not only that, post Kapil's mid-air scuffle with Sunil, his team members including Ali Asgar, Chandan Prabhakar and Sugandha Mishra have stopped shooting for the show. Amidst all this, Kapil sent posted a 'thank you' message for all his fans for wishing him on his birthday. Read on to know more...

Kapil's Tweet For All His Fans Kapil tweeted, "Thank u all for ur love n best wishes.. shooting in forests of rajasthan .. so couldn't come on line.. love always..stay happy." Kapil Is Shooting For Firangi Kapil is busy shooting for his film, Firangi in Rajasthan. He shuttles between Mumbai and Rajasthan, just to shoot for the next episode of The Kapil Sharma Show. Parineeti & Ayushmann On TKSS For the uninitiated, Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana were on the sets of TKSS recently to promote their upcoming film, Meri Pyari Bindu. While the ardent fans are already missing Sunil on the show, Parineeti went on to say that she didn't miss anyone. Musical Episode Image source: Twitter Parineeti told, "Kapil and we sang around 10-15 songs. I told them initially itself that this will be a musical episode, not a comedy episode. It was a lot of fun." Apparently, the episode will be aired in the coming weekend. When Asked If They Missed Sunil Grover On The Sets "We were enough. No one else was needed. Kapil, Ayushman and I killed it. You all should catch the episode." Parineeti and Ayushmann celebrated Kapil's birthday on the sets of TKSS. Sunil Grover Overwhelmed Sunil Grover, whose live show became a superhit, is thrilled with the response. In an interview to a leading entertainemnt portal, he told, "We got a full house and an enthusiastic crowd. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the love I've received."

He admits the fact that he enjoys performing live more than anything. He told, "I've always been attached to the idea of performing live. Now I am more convinced than ever that there is a lot to be explored in the live medium."

As we had reported earlier, Sunil will not return to TKSS, but is hopeful of returning to television. He told, "I haven't given up television. In fact, I had a lot of fun shooting for the Indian Idol 9 finale this weekend."

We can only hope that Sunil returns to television soon!
Bhabho Is Introduced

The episode starts with Bhabho sitting outside her house and drinking tea. Her shivering hands indicate that she has grown old, as she pours tea for herself. Bhabho becomes teary-eyed, as she recalls Sooraj and Sandhya.

Ved & Vansh

Bhabho, along with her grandchildren is shown to be in Kerala for the last rites of Sooraj and Sandhya. Ved is introduced. He is shown to be a police officer just like his mother, Sandhya. Vansh is revealed to be mischievous and just the opposite of his brother. However, Bhabho dotes on both her grandsons.

Kanak Rathi

The protagonist of the story, Kanak is introduced. She is shown to be a bubbly and free-spirited college student, who is ready to give her exams a miss, to attend her parents' last rites ceremony.

Kanak Meets Umashankar

However, she ends up boarding a wrong bus and reaches elsewhere. She wakes up only to find a little boy beside her, who introduces her to his elder brother, Uma Shankar who is helping the poor couples to get married.

Kanak Annoyed

However, she gets annoyed with him when he tells his views about how an ideal wife should be and walks away.

Kanak Prepares Jalebis

Bhabho along with Ved and Vansh perform Sooraj and Sandhya's last rites at a temple. Kanak reaches the temple and begins to prepare jalebis, just like her father Sooraj.

Bhabho Hates Kanak

Bhabho doesnot acknowledge Kanak's presence and tells the pundit that, Sooraj and Sandhya have only two sons, which upsets Ved and Vansh. Kanak, who overhears Bhabho's words will be left disheartened.
HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - April 03, 2017) - Leading global strategic advisory and consulting firm Berkeley Research Group (BRG) announced today that Rebecca Li Bo-lan has joined the Hong Kong office as a director in the firm's Global Investigations + Strategic Intelligence practice. She was previously the acting Head of Operations for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong.

"As we continue to forge a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region, we are excited to have Rebecca join the firm," said BRG Chairman and Principal Executive Officer David J. Teece, Professor in Global Business and director of the Tusher Center on Intellectual Capital at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. "Rebecca brings world-class anti-corruption and investigative expertise to our already stellar team."

"We are thrilled to welcome Rebecca to our team. Her anti-corruption experience and accomplishments are unparalleled," said Stuart Witchell, Asia-Pacific leader of BRG's Global Investigations + Strategic Intelligence practice. "Rebecca is a tenacious and dedicated investigator who will be a strong asset to our anti-corruption investigations and compliance work in China and globally, especially as the number of corruption cases continues to rise and companies face increased scrutiny. Her skills will complement our significant capabilities to investigate violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and other anti-bribery regulations"

"Rebecca is a trailblazer in the global anti-corruption and investigations world. She is widely regarded as a revered specialist in the field, and has worked on dozens of high-profile cases," said Allen D. Applbaum, the global leader of BRG's Global Investigations + Strategic Intelligence practice. "Her decades of experience conducting anti-bribery and anti-corruption investigations provide our global clients and their advisors a unique resource for responding to regulatory inquiries, whistleblower allegations and other cross-border matters throughout Asia. Rebecca joins our expanding practice, further enhancing BRG's global footprint."

Li will be responsible for conducting corporate investigations regarding internal malfeasance, whistleblower complaints, potential corruption, fraud and money laundering. She will also support clients in the design, implementation and monitoring of in-house anti-bribery and regulatory compliance programs, focusing initially in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Li spent over thirty years at the ICAC, working on anti-corruption enforcement initiatives. She was the first woman to head the ICAC's Operations Department and oversaw a staff of around 1,000 investigators, forensic accountants and computer forensics experts. Li has deep experience spearheading and overseeing both public- and private-sector investigations. As the director of investigation for the government sector, she was in command of two investigation branches: one investigated corruption cases in the government sector/public bodies and those concerning public elections; and one dealt with intelligence gathering, covert and physical surveillance, information handling, undercover operations and witness protection. As the director of investigation for the private sector, she was also in command of two investigation branches: one conducted investigations into corruption facilitated fraud, money laundering -- domestic and cross-border -- in finance and banking industries; and one dealt with management and operational support, including legal research, forensic accounting, policy formulation and international/mainland liaison.

Li earned a master of science in criminal justice from the University of Leicester in the UK. She received the Hong Kong ICAC Medal for Distinguished Service and four Commissioner's Commendations during her time at ICAC.

About Berkeley Research Group

Berkeley Research Group (www.thinkbrg.com) is a leading global strategic advisory and expert consulting firm that provides independent advice, data analytics, authoritative studies, expert testimony, investigations, transaction advisory, restructuring services, regulatory and dispute consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, financial institutions, major law firms and regulatory bodies around the world. BRG experts and consultants combine intellectual rigor with practical, real-world experience and an in-depth understanding of industries and markets. Their expertise spans economics and finance, data analytics and statistics, and public policy in many of the major sectors of our economy, including healthcare, banking, information technology, energy, construction and real estate. BRG is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices across the United States and in Asia, Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East and the United Kingdom.

Contact:

Laura Miller

Email contact




PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will require Danone S.A. (DANOY.PK) to divest Danone's Stonyfield Farms business in order for Danone to proceed with its $12.5 billion acquisition of The WhiteWave Foods Company Inc. (WWAV).



The department said that, without the divestiture, the proposed acquisition likely would reduce competition between the two leading participants and top brands in the markets for raw and fluid organic milk, potentially harming dairy farmers in the northeast and U.S. consumers of fluid organic milk.



The Justice Department's Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction. At the same time, the department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the department's competitive concerns.



According to the department's complaint, as a result of Danone's long-term strategic partnership and supply and licensing agreements with WhiteWave's primary competitor, CROPP Cooperative (CROPP), the proposed acquisition would have provided incentives and opportunities for cooperative behavior between the two leading purchasers of raw organic milk in the northeast. This cooperation likely would have resulted in farmers receiving less favorable contract terms for the purchase of their raw organic milk.



Similarly, the proposed acquisition would have aligned the interests of the producers of Stonyfield, Horizon and Organic Valley, the only three national fluid organic milk brands, and risked higher prices and fewer choices for U.S consumers.



Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Danone must divest its Stonyfield Farms business to an independent buyer approved by the United States. The department said that the divestiture will sever Danone's and CROPP's strategic partnership thereby eliminating the entanglements between CROPP and the merged firm.



As a result, the divestiture will preserve competition for the purchase of raw organic milk from northeast dairy farmers and the sale of fluid organic milk to consumers.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - General Motors Co. (GM) disclosed in a regulatory filing that its Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra received a 2016 total compensation that was about 21 percent lower than the prior year, while her base salary increased 14% in 2016. She received option awards of $11.17 million in 2015. Mary Barra received a total compensation of $22.58 million, including base salary, stock grants and incentives, in 2016 compared to the $28.59 million she received in 2015, and $16.16 million she got in 2014. The total compensation received by Mary Barra in 2016 includes $2.00 million as base salary, $13.00 million as stock grants, no option awards, and Non-equity Incentive Plan Compensation of $6.76 million. She received option awards of $11.17 million in 2015. Mary Barra's base salary was $2.00 million in 2016, compared to $1.75 million in 2015, $1.57 million in 2014. 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.
Sari Tagh residents hope their relatives will soon be at large (video)

Residents of Yerevans Sari Tagh district have been staging a sit-in outside the Office of Prosecutor General since March 28. It is very difficult to come here every day at my age and at every age. We are deeply depressed to come here, said Aghavni Jamkochyan, the grandmother of Hrachya Boyajyan, who was arrested with a group of citizens in the wake of last years clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Sari Tagh neighborhood following the seizure of a police station in Erebuni district. The protesting residents demand that the police set free their relatives detained in the unrest that erupted late on July 29 when demonstrators tried to approach the police station where gunmen from the Sasna Dzrer stayed barricaded for about two weeks after they seized it on July 17. The detainees were immediately charged with using violence against government representatives. They demand that the article be reviewed and charges be mitigated. If the article is changed, we might see all the ten detainees at large again, said Narine Ghazaryan. The relatives state that the clashes were provoked by the police. My son is seen in the video. When the chaotic situation broke out, he took a stone and threw it. The stone fell onto the ground without hurting a car or a person, said Nazik Torosyan, the mother of Harutyun Torosyan. The protesters say they will start a hunger strike if their relatives are not freed.
PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Highlighting its ongoing mission to help customers navigate an ever-changing technology landscape, Avnet (NYSE: AVT) today introduced "Reach Further," its new global branding campaign. Reach Further reflects Avnet's corporate transformation as well as the collaborative relationship with the company's customers in navigating the complex process of bringing new technology to the marketplace. The campaign launches today with a cohesive marketing, digital and media strategy to introduce a new brand and visual identity which underscores Avnet's approach and commitment to helping customers reach further every day.

Today, hundreds of thousands of design engineers from start-ups to leading technology OEMs utilize the company's design and supply chain services and rely on its large volume, broad line distribution capabilities. In two simple words, Reach Further expresses how Avnet helps the smallest start-ups to the largest technology multinational corporations move swiftly and seamlessly from idea to design and from prototype to production.

"Reach Further is our promise that Avnet and each of our employees will do whatever it takes to guide customers and partners toward their most ambitious goals," said Avnet Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Sellers. "A brand is more than a marketing campaign, it is an authentic expression of the character and values of the company. The Reach Further mantra reflects a solemn commitment Avnet is making to makers, inventors, entrepreneurs, design engineers and suppliers."

Sellers added, "In our increasingly connected IoT world, and one where tools and capabilities for invention are becoming more readily accessible, this campaign presents us with an opportunity to distinguish how we uniquely help our customers navigate each stage of the product lifecycle. Avnet helps companies around the world realize technology's potential to transform business, and our new brand symbolizes our promise to help them reach further in pursuit of their highest aspirations."

A new look for a new company

Reach Further is the result of deep research on Avnet's key stakeholder audiences and aligns with the company's business strategy. Avnet's new logo replaces red with green to symbolize growth and possibility. The global campaign reflects the largest investment that Avnet has made in a marketing campaign during its 96-year history. It includes a focused mix of B2B print and digital advertising, paid and organic social media, digital display and video, and search engine marketing, as well as a new website and engagement program for Avnet's 15,000 employees around the world. Supporting activities include trade shows and events and corporate social responsibility programs to extend and build awareness.

The company's newly launched website has been designed to provide quick access to information through improved navigation and increased access to an expansive list of products and services. Users will have a consistent and simple experience across the site, whether they are researching new technology solutions or actively shopping for electronic components.

In addition, Avnet is introducing its "A-Frame," a new graphic element to build brand recognition that represents the company's dedication to progress and collaboration and is used to highlight or frame important moments.

Reach Further embodies the role of the traditional "Sherpa" for Himalayan expeditions who provides the experience and guidance to manage challenging expeditions. The campaign highlights real-world stories of how Avnet has guided entrepreneurs, inventors and makers as they bring their solutions to market, including:

Owlet. Owlet developed a baby sock that tracks heart rate and oxygen levels in infants, designed to notify parents if levels fall outside preset zones. Avnet helped guide their product to market.

(See Owlet video story)





(See Owlet video story) Ubicquia. Avnet works with Ubicquia to make cities smarter by embedding streetlight sensors that detect threats such as gas leaks, radiation and gunshots, and alert response teams. These same sensors alert rural African communities to the approach of dangerous animals.

(See Ubicquia video story)

"In creating an IoT device that can make a huge impact in cities around the world, Avnet's scale and scope was invaluable," said Ubicquia Co-Founder and CTO Tre Zimmerman. "Avnet helped us determine how to not just bring the product to life, but make it better."

The rebranding culminates several strategic business moves, including the recent acquisitions of Premier Farnell and Hackster.io that Avnet has made to reach further into the conception, design and prototyping processes. These are stages where innovators can benefit most from an exposure to the hardware that will help them bring their products to market. In addition, the launch of Avnet's MakerSource.io online resource directory provides individuals and startups with access to a comprehensive ecosystem of the strategic and tactical resources needed to turn a pioneering new product vision into a marketable reality, while the Avnet Innovation Lab at Arizona State University provides business consultation and funding for entrepreneurs developing technology, especially new inventions that advance the Internet of Things (IoT).

To see more of Avnet's Reach Further brand strategy and for more information on Avnet, visit www.avnet.com.

Follow Avnet on Twitter: @Avnet

Connect with Avnet on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/avnet

Connect with Avnet on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AvnetInc

All brands and trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks, and are the properties of their respective owners. Avnet disclaims any proprietary interest in marks other than its own.

About Avnet

From idea to design and from prototype to production, Avnet supports customers at each stage of a product's lifecycle. A comprehensive portfolio of design and supply chain services makes Avnet the go-to guide for innovators who set the pace for technological change. For nearly a century, Avnet has helped its customers and suppliers around the world realize the transformative possibilities of technology. Learn more about Avnet at www.avnet.com.

Media Contacts



Carrie Chen

Avnet Asia Pacific

Email Contact

+65.6580.6000




BRUSSELS and BELLINGHAM, Washington, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A report on research into optical techniques to improve food safety by detecting possible cancer precursors in food brought recognition and a cash award to Vrije Universiteit Brussel PhD student Lien Smeesters this week. Smeesters was awarded the 5,000 2017 Photonics21 Student Innovation Award, sponsored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Hamamatsu, at the Photonics21 annual meeting in Brussels last week.

Smeesters uses optical sensing techniques to noninvasively scan cooked potato fries, corn-based snacks, and other foodstuffs. Several tons of products can be screened per hour, without the use of any chemical additives or dyes.

"During the analytical process, when the food products are in free-fall they are scanned by laser," Smeesters explained at the award presentation during the event welcome session on 28 March.

"After the scanning, the data are processed, and contaminated or unwanted products can be immediately removed by the use of a burst of air. We can successfully classify the healthy and contaminated food kernels with an accuracy that fulfills European food safety standards."

Smeesters is a member of the SPIE VUB Student Chapter, and has authored several papers for SPIE. She is a member of professor Hugo Thienpont's research group.

Recently appointed Photonics21 president Aldo Kamper, CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors, opened the two-day event. He emphasized the findings of the organization's newly published impact report on the Photonics Public-Private Partnership (PPP) established among the European commission, the photonics industry, and the R&D community.

The report shows that in the past few years the PPP has helped stimulate industry growth and create jobs, Kamper said. Photonics21 and the PPP will now "look a bit to the future," he said, to consider the priorities for the next three years through 2020 and beyond to the FP9 framework successor to Horizon 2020.

SPIE Europe Executive Director Eugene Arthurs serves on the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders.

About SPIE

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2016, SPIE provided more than $4 million in support of education and outreach programs. www.spie.org

Contact:

Amy Nelson

Public Relations Manager

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics

amy(at)spie(dot)org

1-360-676-3290

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486033/SPIE_logo_Logo.jpg
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the late Asian session on Tuesday. The Australian dollar fell to more than a 4-month low of 83.64 against the yen, nearly a 3-week low of 0.7577 against the U.S. dollar and a 6-day low of 1.4078 against the euro, from early highs of 84.40, 0.7615 and 1.4009, respectively. Against the Canadian dollar, the aussie dropped to 1.0139 from an early high of 1.0189. The aussie edged down to 1.0843 against the NZ dollar, from an early high of 1.0878. This may be compared to an early 1-week low of 1.0829. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 82.00 against the yen, 0.74 against the greenback, 1.44 against the euro, 0.99 against the loonie and 1.06 against the kiwi. 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.
Regulatory News:

Elior Group (Paris:ELIOR), one of the world's leading operators in the contracted food industry, has signed a definitive agreement through its US subsidiary, culinary management leader Elior North America, to acquire Lancer Hospitality, a foodservice and catering provider based in Minnesota. In operation for more than 30 years, Lancer Hospitality provides professional food management services in a variety of settings from cultural attractions to business centers, schools and healthcare facilities. The company generated sales of approximately $70m in FY 2016. The acquisition strengthens Elior North America's position in three of its priority markets also expanding the company's geographic reach.

"This acquisition is another step in our strategic plan to accelerate development within growing markets," outlines Philippe Salle, Elior Group Chairman and CEO. "In the markets' segments where we see significant opportunities, Lancer Hospitality fits perfectly. We are focused on growth within the United States and will continue to expand both organically and through strategic acquisitions like this one

Lancer Hospitality will continue to operate under its current brand as part of Elior North America's west market segments, and will be led by Glenn Baron, its current President. All of Lancer Hospitality's 1,400 employees will remain part of the team going forward and become an integral part of the Elior Group team.

"The addition of Lancer Hospitality takes us deeper into several markets we currently serve and expands our offerings into new areas," said Brian Poplin, President and CEO of Elior North America. "In the cultural segment, we are adding a roster of new venues and strengthening our position in the education, senior dining and healthcare verticals, where we already have a strong middle-market presence

"We are looking forward to joining the team members at Elior North America, bringing our best practices, and our shared commitment to the clients," said Baron. "For our employees, there is now tremendous opportunity throughout the company we're joining, and for our clients, access to additional resources will allow us to invest in our infrastructure, giving us the ability to enhance our operations with new technology and culinary innovation

In case of discrepancy between the French and the English version of this press release, the French version shall prevail.

About Elior North America

Elior North America enhances the lives of the people we serve through culinary innovation and a commitment to providing exemplary service. The family of companies, with over 13,500 employees, provides food services and catering to more than 1,300 client accounts in five industry segments across the continental US.

For further information: http://elior-na.com/

About Elior Group

Founded in 1991, Elior Group has grown into one of the world's leading operators in the catering and support services industry, and is now a benchmark player in the business industry, education, healthcare, and travel markets.

Now operating in 15 countries, the Group generated 5,896 million in revenue through 23,000 restaurants and points of sale in FY 2015-2016. Our 120,000 employees serve 4.4 million customers on a daily basis, taking genuine care of each and every one by providing personalized catering and service solutions to ensure an innovative customer experience.

We place particular importance on corporate social responsibility and have been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2004. The professional excellence of our teams, as well as their unwavering commitment to quality and innovation and to providing best in-class service is embodied in our corporate motto: "Time savored".

For further information please visit our website: http://www.eliorgroup.com or follow us on Twitter: @Elior_Group

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403006530/en/

Contacts:

For Elior North America

Debbie Albert, 215-283-6006

or

For Elior Group

Press:

Ines Perrier, +33 (0)1 71 06 70 60

ines.perrier@eliorgroup.com

or

Anne-Laure Sanguinetti, +33 (0)1 71 06 70 57

anne-laure.sanguinetti@eliorgroup.com

or

Anna Adlewska Caroline Guilhaume, +33 (0)1 47 03 68 10

anna.adlewska@fticonsulting.com / caroline.guilhaume@fticonsulting.com

or

Investors:

Marie de Scorbiac, +33 (0) 1 71 06 70 13

marie.descorbiac@eliorgroup.com
ASKER, Norway, 2017-04-04 07:50 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TGS announces a further expansion of its NWAAM multi-client library in the MSGBC Basin with plans to acquire more than 11,000 km of long-offset broadband 2D seismic data together with magnetic and gravity data, in Senegal and Gambia. This expansion is being undertaken in cooperation with Petrosen in Senegal and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in Gambia. The investment is being undertaken together with PGS and GeoPartners. Acquisition of this further phase of NWAAM 2017 has commenced and continues seamlessly from Phase 1. The NWAAM 2017 seismic survey has been designed to infill, extend and complement the TGS NWAAM 2012 2D survey which helped with recent commercial discoveries in the MSGBC basin. A 12 km deep-tow streamer will enable the recording of high quality broadband 2D seismic data, which will image the pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift plays evident in this basin.



"This further expansion of our NWAAM data library confirms TGS' continued commitment to the leading frontier basin in Africa. We are excited to be part of the ongoing exploration and upcoming development of this basin," commented Kristian Johansen, CEO for TGS.



This survey is supported by industry funding and is being undertaken with the seismic vessel, BGP Dong Fang Kan Tan 1.



A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8055ea29-20a6-4093-acc6-6d212 f0bac2f



Company Summary



TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) provides multi-client geoscience data to oil and gas Exploration and Production companies worldwide. In addition to extensive global geophysical and geological data libraries that include multi-client seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, digital well logs, production data and directional surveys, TGS also offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products, and data integration solutions.



For more information visit TGS online at www.tgs.com.



Forward-looking statements and contact information



All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, and are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove accurate. These factors include TGS' reliance on a cyclical industry and principle customers, TGS' ability to continue to expand markets for licensing of data, and TGS' ability to acquire and process data products at costs commensurate with profitability. Actual results may differ materially from those expected or projected in the forward-looking statements. TGS undertakes no responsibility or obligation to update or alter forward-looking statements for any reason.



TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSLO:TGS).



TGS sponsored American Depositary Shares trade on the U.S. over-the-counter market under the symbol "TGSGY".



For additional information about this press release please contact:



Sven Brre Larsen Chief Financial Officer Tel: +47 90 94 36 73 Email: sven.larsen@tgs.com



Will Ashby VP HR & Communication Tel: +1 713 860 2184 Email: will.ashby@tgs.com



This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Regulatory News:

NANOBIOTIX (Paris:NANO) (Euronext: NANO ISIN: FR0011341205), a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering new approaches to the treatment of cancer, today announced the expansion and acceleration of its clinical development activities. These include:

Acceleration of the head and neck cancer program. Phase I/II data will be presented at ASCO in June

Expansion of Nanobiotix's Immuno-Oncology program into patients focused on the objective of turning cold tumors into hot tumors. Nanobiotix will present the first clinical data from this program mid year

NBTXR3: New programs and upcoming data

Presentation of the Phase I/II data of Nanobiotix's European head and neck trial with NBTXR3 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June. Nanobiotix is preparing the next clinical trials of the head and neck cancer program. Based on the value of the data to be presented in June, the Company will determine the fastest pathway to the U.S. and European markets.

Presentation of the first clinical data from Nanobiotix's new clinical program in Immuno-Oncology mid year. Based on the preclinical proof of concept presented in November 2016 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Nanobiotix initiated an exploratory clinical biomarkers study in soft tissue sarcoma patients (data from Nanobiotix's phase II/III trial in soft tissues sarcoma). This trial investigates whether NBTXR3 could play a role in Immuno-Oncology by turning cold tumors into hot tumors (compared with radiotherapy alone).

Ongoing activities

Continuation of the Phase II/III trial in soft tissue sarcoma with NBTXR3, recommended by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC), which evaluated the safety and efficacy data of two thirds of the patients in the "Act.in.Sarc" study. As planned and communicated, the completion of the patient recruitment process for this trial is expected by the end of Q2 2017, with data, except for long-term follow-up, expected by the end of 2017.

Nanobiotix will continue to develop NBTXR3 in other indications: These include prostate cancer (Phase I/II), liver cancers (Hepatocellular Phase I/II and liver cancer metastases Phase I/II), rectum cancer (Phase I/II by PharmaEngine) and head and neck cancers in patients receiving chemotherapy (Phase I/II by PharmaEngine). In H2 2017, the prostate cancer indication should deliver preliminary safety and feasibility data. Additionally, before the end of 2017, Nanobiotix aims to complete patient recruitment for the Phase I part in liver cancers, and may proceed to select the patient population for the dose-expansion part of the trial (Phase II).

In parallel, Nanobiotix is accelerating its market preparations for NBTXR3's launch on the European market. The first approval (CE marking) in Europe is expected in H2 2017.

About NANOBIOTIX: www.nanobiotix.com

Nanobiotix (Euronext: NANO ISIN: FR0011341205) is a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer. The Company's first-in-class, proprietary technology, NanoXray, enhances radiotherapy energy with a view to provide a new, more efficient treatment for cancer patients.

NanoXray products are compatible with current radiotherapy treatments and are meant to treat potentially a wide variety of solid tumors including soft tissue sarcoma, head and neck cancers, liver cancers, prostate cancer, breast cancer, glioblastoma, etc., via multiple routes of administration.

NBTXR3 is being evaluated in: soft tissue sarcoma (STS), head and neck cancers, prostate cancer, and liver cancers (primary and metastases). Additionally, head and neck cancer and rectal cancer trials led by Nanobiotix's Taiwanese partner, PharmaEngine, are underway in the Asia Pacific region. The Company has filed in August 2016 for market approval (CE Marking) in Europe for its lead product NBTXR3.

The Company started in 2016 a new preclinical research program in Immuno-oncology with its lead product NBTXR3, which could have the potential to bring a new dimension to cancer immunotherapies.

Nanobiotix is listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (ISIN: FR0011341205, Euronext ticker: NANO, Bloomberg: NANO: FP). The Company Headquarter is based in Paris, France. Affiliate in Cambridge, United States.

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Nanobiotix and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Nanobiotix considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in the update of the reference document of Nanobiotix filed with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers) under number D.16-0732-A01 on December 27, 2016 (a copy of which is available on www.nanobiotix.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Nanobiotix operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Nanobiotix or not currently considered material by Nanobiotix. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Nanobiotix to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Nanobiotix shares in any country. At the moment NBTXR3 does not bear a CE mark and is not permitted to be placed on the market or put into service until NBTXR3 has obtained a CE mark.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403006738/en/

Contacts:

Nanobiotix

Sarah Gaubert, +33 (0)1 40 26 07 55

Director, Communication Public Affairs

sarah.gaubert@nanobiotix.com

contact@nanobiotix.com

or

Noel Kurdi, +1 (646) 241-4400

Director, Investor Relations

noel.kurdi@nanobiotix.com

investors@nanobiotix.com

or

Media relations

France Springbok Consultants

Marina Rosoff, +33 (0)6 71 58 00 34

marina@springbok.fr

or

United States RooneyPartners

Marion Janic, +1 (212) 223-4017

mjanic@rooneyco.com


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Provident Financial plc (PFG.L) hosted a Capital Markets Day. It provided refreshed guidance for the medium-term potential of each of its businesses.



Commenting on the Capital Markets Day, Peter Crook, Chief Executive, said, 'At today's event, our management teams will provide detailed updates on the enhanced growth, efficiency and cross-group synergy opportunities for each of our businesses. These plans support an upgrade to the group's medium-term growth and profit potential which will extend the group's track record of delivering shareholder value.'



The medium-term potential for Vanquis Bank has been increased from a customer base of between 1.5 million and 1.8 million with an average balance of 1,000 to a customer base of between 2.0 million and 2.3 million with an average balance of between 1,000 and 1,100. Customer numbers at the end of 2016 were 1.5 million with an average balance of 922. The business is expected to deliver an ROA in the medium term of between 12% and 13%. This is modestly lower than the ROA1 of 13.8% generated in 2016 due to the incremental growth opportunities available to Vanquis Bank that are expected to deliver an ROA in the range of 10% to 12% which is consistent with the group's minimum ROE threshold of 30%.



The company estimate that Vanquis Bank loans has the medium-term potential to build a receivables book of between 200 million and 250 million at an ROA comparable to its credit cards business.



The home credit business is expected to increase its annual profits in the medium term by at least 30 million to over 150 million, with approximately half of the increase derived from cost savings and half derived from sales and collections performance improvements. In order to secure the medium-term financial benefits, a one-off exceptional cost of between 15 million and 20 million will be incurred in 2017 in respect of redundancy, retention and training costs. In addition, there is expected to be a net short-term trading impact of up to 10 million in 2017, comprising a shortfall in contribution of up to 15m during the first half of the year as the organisation migrates to the improved operating model before the anticipated benefits of cost savings in the second half of approximately 5 million.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Martech Industry Council survey found that 72% of marketers said they were spending more time managing their data than they do marketing

Leadspace's Audience Management Platform is the first platform to use AI to combine Audience Discovery, Data Management and Predictive Modelling to free marketer's time to focus on better engaging their prospects and customers

Customers such as Microsoft generated 1.5x more Marketing Qualified Leads, 1.5x more lead engagement and 2x increase in lead conversion using Leadspace AMP

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leadspace today launched the first Audience Management Platform for B2B marketing -- a concept which, until now, was the sole preserve of B2C marketers. The Leadspace Audience Management Platform empowers marketers with the data, intelligence and analytics they need on a single platform so they can understand their customers and grow their pipeline and sales.

The launch coincides with the results of a survey revealing the difficulties B2B marketers face gathering and leveraging their data to know their customers.

B2B marketers have a huge opportunity to capitalize onwealth of data available.

Available today, a new study commissioned by the Martech Industry Council highlights the surprising dearth of effective data and intelligence accessible to B2B marketers. The study of 275 senior marketing leaders in B2B companies shows that B2B marketers are not taking advantage of data on external channels, such as social media and advertising. And, in contrast to their B2C counterparts, B2B marketers have more data than ever, but cannot harness it to know their customers in a way that will help them market more effectively. According to the survey:

85% of marketers said they were spending more time than ever managing marketing technology, at the expense of spending time better marketing and engaging with customers.

98% of the respondents said they wanted more information about the individuals and companies in their databases.

60% were asking for a more accurate understanding of the buyer persona and person most likely to buy.

More than 75% of those surveyed said they'd prefer to spend more time developing and launching new campaigns, only 11% said they wanted to spend their workdays managing their databases.

"Despite their investment in big data practices and technologies, many firms still paddle in a sea of data without the ability to prioritize results and and insights they can use," according to Brian Hopkins and Ted Schadler, VP Principal Analysts, in a Forrester report.*

While the marketers surveyed said they know managing their data is critical to success, the vast majority acknowledged that they spend as little time as possible dealing with it. Marketers are looking for a way to automate the data and intelligence gathering process and use it to fuel their primary goal -- identified by the survey as supporting sales by generating qualified leads.

The Leadspace Audience Management Platform enables B2B Marketers to find and know their audiences - whether currently in their databases or not.

The new Leadspace Audience Management Platform is built to significantly improve the scale and quality of data available, make recommendations and prioritize the most effective marketing actions, and find net new audiences to engage, at the account, buying center and individual level. Leadspace provides B2B marketers with a clear and comprehensive picture of their audiences along with the capacity to execute campaigns easily across all channels.

"We've built a smart platform that gives marketers a complete picture of the people and companies to whom they're marketing," Leadspace CEO Doug Bewsher says. "It integrates data from a swath of sources that is constantly updated in real time to deliver 'a single source of truth', so marketers have a clear, consistent view across internal and external data."

Featuring audience discovery, audience data management and audience modeling, the new Leadspace platform combines first-party data with third-party data from more than 40 sources, uses advanced predictive modeling and AI to enrich data in real time, and serves it in a simple, easy-to-use dashboard. The dashboard reveals new leads -- industries, companies and people most likely to buy.

"With Leadspace, we have seen significant improvements and engagement, supporting our SiruisDecisions ROI award," says Charles Eichenbaum Director Marketing Technologies and Operations at Microsoft

The full Martech Industry Council Report can be read here.

About Leadspace:

Leadspace's Audience Management Platform enables B2B companies to better engage customers and drive faster growth by allowing marketers to find and know their audiences. As internal and external data multiplies, Leadspace uses AI to provide a single source of truth across all sales and marketing data, identify net new account and individuals, and recommend the best marketing activities. Updated in real time, data and intelligence remains constantly accurate and actionable and can be consistently used across sales, marketing and advertising channels. Based in San Francisco and Israel, Leadspace is trusted by more than 130 B2B brands and 7 of the 10 largest enterprise software companies, including Microsoft, RingCentral and Marketo. For more, visit: www.leadspace.com

About the Martech Industry Council: The Martech Industry Council is comprised of 32 marketing executives from 27 leading B2B companies united by a common goal: to solve the top challenges facing marketers today, through meticulous research and in-depth, expert studies. The central goal of the Council is to deliver recommendations for enterprises on how to get the most from their marketing technology investments.

*Digital Insights Are The New Currency Of Business, Forrester Research, Inc., April 27, 2015

Logo- http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/398198/Leadspace_Blue_Stacked_Logo.jpg
KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- FISSION URANIUM CORP. (TSX: FCU)(OTCQX: FCUUF)(FRANKFURT: 2FU) ("Fission" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that its exploration drilling has expanded the newly discovered R1515W high-grade, near-surface, and land-based zone at its' PLS property, host to the Triple R deposit, in Canada's Athabasca Basin region. Since announcement of the first high-grade mineralization on the R1515W Zone with PLS17-539 (March 20, 2017) two additional holes have been completed on line 1515W. Of particular note, hole PLS17-553, intersected 48.0m of total composite mineralization, including a 32.5m section of continuous mineralization that included total composite of 4.44m of greater than 10,000 cps (with a peak of 43,000 cps). The mineralized section is located approximately 12m to 15m south of the mineralization in PLS17-537 and is so far the strongest mineralization encountered at R1515W. The land-based R1515W zone, which is open in several directions, is located approximately 510m to the west of the high-grade, near-surface R840W zone.

Drilling Highlights Include:

-- Expansion of New R1515W Zone - High-Grade, Shallow and Land-based Zone -- R1515W is open in several directions including along strike to west and east -- R1515W Zone confirmed by 2nd well-mineralized hole with high-grade radioactivity -- PLS17-553 (line 1515W): -- 48.0m total composite mineralization over a 76.5m section (between 140.5m to 217.0m), including -- 32.5m continuous mineralization (184.5m to 217.0m), including: -- 4.44m of total composite greater than 10,000 cps

Ross McElroy, President, COO, and Chief Geologist for Fission, commented:

"We are delighted with this strong follow-up drilling on the R1515W zone. PLS17-553 is the 2nd strongly mineralized hole in the newly discovered zone and confirms the potential for significant widths and high-grade radioactivity. The R1515W is the western-most zone of high-grade mineralization on our Patterson Lake Corridor trend and expands the strike-length of our high-grade mineralized foot-print to 3.14km - the largest in the region. R1515W is shallow and represents our third land-based zone. It is open in multiple directions and we look forward to the next two holes of our follow-up drilling."

Table 1: R1515W Zone Drilling

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole ID Zone Grid Collar (i) Hand-held Scintillometer Results On Line Mineralized Drillcore (greater than 300 cps / greater than 0.5M minimum) ------------------------------------------------------ Az Dip From (m) To (m) Width (m) CPS Peak Range ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLS17- 547 R1515W 1515W 346 -78.1 185.5 186.0 0.5 510 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLS17- 553 R1515W 1515W 343 -81.2 140.5 147.5 7.0 310 - 5400 less than 166.5 170.5 4.0 300 - 1100 less than 173.5 176.0 2.5 300 - 840 179.5 181.5 2.0 850 - 7600 less than 184.5 217.0 32.5 300 - 43000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole ID Lake Sandstone Basement Unconformity Total Drillhole Depth From - To Depth Depth (m) (m) (m) (m) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLS17- 547 NA NA 107.0 317.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLS17- 553 NA NA 104.0 296.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

R1515W Zone

The R1515W zone was discovered during the winter 2017 western extension portion of the regional exploration program. As was previously announced on Mar 20th, 2017, several anomalously radioactive and altered reverse circulation and core holes, particularly those testing on line 1485W culminated in PLS17-539 intersecting a 31.0m wide mineralized interval in a 30m west step-out on line 1515W. Based on the results of PLS17-539 an additional 4 hole follow-up program was initiated. Under the assumption that similar steeply southern dipping local orientations and controls to mineralization that are present on the 4 other high-grade zones (R840W / R00E / R780E and R1620E zones), two holes were designed to test 40m up-dip (PLS17-547) and 40m down-dip (PLS17-553) of the mineralization on section 1515W.

-- PLS17-547 intersected a single, narrow weakly anomalous radioactive interval (185.5m to 186.0m) within a broad chlorite / hematite and clay altered quartz-feldspar -biotite-garnet gneiss cut by abundant dravite veining. -- PLS17-553 intersected multiple anomalously radioactive mineralized intervals amounting to 48.0m of total composite mineralization over a 76.5m interval (140.5m to 217.0m). The main zone of interest is a 32.5m continuously mineralized interval (184.5m to 217.0m) with multiple sections of greater than 10,000 cps radioactivity, with peaks up to 43,000 cps which is best developed at the footwall contact of a mafic quartzofeldspathic gneiss and quartz-feldspar-biotite-garnet gneiss.

The north-south mineralization thus far encountered on line 1515W appears at a similar elevation (approximately 185m vertical depth) and thus at this scale appears flat-lying. This relationship is also seen on other zones and it is expected that mineralization is influenced and will be controlled by steep dipping lithological contacts and parallel structural features. The two additional holes remaining in this early stage phase of drilling the R1515W, will assist in interpreting controls and orientation to the mineralization.

Natural gamma radiation in drill core that is reported in this news release was measured in counts per second (cps) using a hand held RS-121 Scintillometer manufactured by Radiation Solutions, which is capable of discriminating readings to 65,535 cps. Natural gamma radiation in the drill hole survey that is reported in both core and reverse circulation "RC" holes this news release was measured in counts per second (cps) using a Mount Sopris 2GHF-1000 Triple Gamma probe, which allows for more accurate measurements in high grade mineralized zones. The Triple Gamma probe is preferred in zones of high grade mineralization. The reader is cautioned that scintillometer readings are not directly or uniformly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured, and should be used only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive materials. The degree of radioactivity within the mineralized intervals is highly variable and associated with visible pitchblende mineralization. All intersection measurements are down-hole. All depths reported of core interval and down-hole gamma measurements including radioactivity and mineralization intervals widths are not always representative of true thickness and true thicknesses are yet to be determined in zones outside of the Triple R deposit. Within the Triple R deposit, individual zone wireframe models constructed from assay data and used in the resource estimate indicate that both the R780E and R00E zones have a complex geometry controlled by and parallel to steeply south-dipping lithological boundaries as well as a preferential sub-horizontal orientation.

PLS Mineralized Trend & Triple R Deposit Summary

Uranium mineralization at PLS occurs within the Patterson Lake Conductive Corridor and has been traced by core drilling approximately 3.14km of east-west strike length in five separated mineralized "zones". From west to east, these zones are: R1515W, R840W, R00E, R780E and R1620E. Thus far only the R00E and R780E have been included in the Triple R deposit resource estimate, where-as the R840W and R1620E zones and the recent addition of the R1515W zone, fall outside of the current resource estimate window.

The discovery hole of what is now referred to as the Triple R uranium deposit was announced on November 05, 2012 with drill hole PLS12-022, from what is considered part of the R00E zone. Through successful exploration programs completed to date, it has evolved into a large, near surface, basement hosted, structurally controlled high-grade uranium deposit.

The Triple R deposit consists of the R00E zone on the western side and the much larger R780E zone further on strike to the east. Within the deposit, the R00E and R780E zones have an overall combined strike length validated by a resource estimate of approximately 1.05km with the R00E measuring approximately 105m in strike length and the R780E zones measuring approximately 945m in strike length. A 225m gap separates the R00E zone to the west and the R780E zones to the east, though sporadic narrow, weakly mineralized intervals from drill holes within this gap suggest the potential for further significant mineralization in this area. The R780E zone is located beneath Patterson Lake which is approximately six metres deep in the area of the deposit. The entire Triple R deposit is covered by approximately 50m to 60m of overburden.

Mineralization remains open along strike in both the western and eastern directions. Basement rocks within the mineralized trend are identified primarily as mafic volcanic rocks with varying degrees of alteration. Mineralization is both located within and associated with mafic volcanic intrusives with varying degrees of silicification, metasomatic mineral assemblages and hydrothermal graphite. The graphitic sequences are, associated with the PL-3B basement Electro-Magnetic (EM) Conductor. Recent very positive drill results returning wide and strongly mineralized intersections from the R840W zone, has allowed interpretation to merge the previously described R600W zone into the R840W zone. The R840W zone, located 495m west along strike of the Triple R deposit, now has a defined strike length of 465m and is still open. Drill results within the R840W zone have significantly upgraded the prospectivity of these areas for further growth of the PLS resource on land to the west of the Triple R deposit. The recent discovery of high-grade mineralization further to the west on line 1515W (R1515W zone), located 510m to the west along strike of the R840W zone, has significantly upgraded the prospectivity for further growth to the west along the Patterson Lake Corridor. The recently discovered high-grade mineralization in the R1620E zone, located 270m to the east along strike has significantly upgraded the prospectivity for further growth of the PLS resource to the east of the Triple R deposit.

Updated maps and files can be found on the Company's website at http://fissionuranium.com/project/pls/.

Patterson Lake South Property

The 31,039 hectare PLS project is 100% owned and operated by Fission Uranium Corp. PLS is accessible by road with primary access from all-weather Highway 955, which runs north to the former Cluff Lake mine and passes through the nearby UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 50km to the north, currently under active exploration and development.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geol., President and COO for Fission Uranium Corp., a qualified person.

About Fission Uranium Corp.

Fission Uranium Corp. is a Canadian based resource company specializing in the strategic exploration and development of the Patterson Lake South uranium property - host to the class-leading Triple R uranium deposit - and is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. Fission's common shares are listed on the TSX Exchange under the symbol "FCU" and trade on the OTCQX marketplace in the U.S. under the symbol "FCUUF."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Ross McElroy, President and COO

Cautionary Statement:

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of Canadian legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". Forward looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of Fission and Fission Uranium which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and the Company and Fission Uranium disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation.

Contacts:

Fission Uranium Corp.

Investor Relations

Rich Matthews

TF: 877-868-8140

rich@fissionuranium.com

www.fissionuranium.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Corvus Gold Inc. ("Corvus" or the "Company") - (TSX: KOR)(OTCQX: CORVF) announces results from the first of six targets being tested as part of the Company's ongoing "New Discovery" exploration program (Figure 1). Initial follow-up drill holes from the North Jolly Jane target have returned broad zones of low-grade mineralization with several, plus ten-metre-thick zones of +0.5 g/t gold (Table 1). Results to date suggests grades are improving to the north where follow-up drilling is scheduled to begin shortly.

To view Figure 1, Map showing drill holes at new North Jolly Jane target, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090884_Figure-1.jpg

Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus said, "The initial drilling in the North Jolly Jane target has been encouraging and is beginning to outline a large area of thick and deeply oxidized low-grade mineralization with some higher grade zones ranging 0.5-0.8 g/t gold. Results are also suggesting that grades improve as we move north towards a major structural intersection, which is being followed up with additional drilling. These early encouraging results along with the results pending for the other five New Discovery targets will provide additional news flow in the coming months on this expanding new Nevada gold discovery."

Table 1

Phase II Drill Results - North Jolly Jane & Western Zone Results

(Reported drill intercepts are not true widths. At this time, there is insufficient data with respect to the shape of the mineralization to calculate its true orientation in space.)

Western Zone (west stepout)

From (m) To (m) Length (m)(i) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) ------------------------------------------------------------- NB-17-430 129.54 135.64 6.10 0.14 0.58 ------------------------------------------------------------- AZ 085 dip-60 164.59 182.88 18.29 0.17 0.35 -------------------------------------------------------------

North Jolly Jane Target

------------------------------------------------------------- NB-17-431 44.20 265.18 220.98 0.21 0.94 ------------------------------------------------------------- AZ 085 dip-50 272.80 304.80 32.00 0.23 0.39 ------------------------------------------------------------- Hole ended in gold mineralization ------------------------------------------------------------- NB-17-432 53.34 65.53 12.19 0.75 2.20 ------------------------------------------------------------- AZ 085 dip-55 80.77 82.30 1.52 1.32 2.15 ------------------------------------------------------------- 146.30 156.97 10.67 0.36 0.46 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 152.40 155.45 3.05 0.73 0.67 ------------------------------------------------------------- 166.12 198.12 32.00 0.56 1.41 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 167.64 179.83 12.19 0.76 1.50 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 184.40 188.98 4.58 0.77 1.69 ------------------------------------------------------------- 233.17 286.51 53.34 0.27 0.71 ------------------------------------------------------------- Hole ended in gold mineralization ------------------------------------------------------------- NB-17-433 131.06 234.70 103.64 0.33 1.10 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 185.93 199.64 13.71 0.56 1.26 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 213.36 217.93 4.57 0.58 1.23 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 222.50 225.55 3.05 0.53 1.36 ------------------------------------------------------------- 251.46 286.51 35.05 0.35 0.63 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 275.84 280.42 4.58 0.66 0.64 ------------------------------------------------------------- AZ 085 dip-55 Hole ended in gold mineralization

Main Jolly Jane (east structural target)

------------------------------------------------------------- NB-17-434 62.48 65.53 3.05 0.39 1.00 ------------------------------------------------------------- AZ 085 dip-45 70.10 89.92 19.82 0.38 0.97 ------------------------------------------------------------- inc 73.15 79.25 6.10 0.59 1.18 ------------------------------------------------------------- 193.55 220.98 27.43 0.14 0.42 -------------------------------------------------------------

(i) Mineralized thickness calculated @ 0.10 g/t Au cutoff with internal intervals calculated @ 0.5 g/t Au cutoff

North Jolly Jane Target

The higher-grade zones in the North Jolly Jane target area are related to stockwork quartz veining along the West Jolly Jane fault zone and appear to be increasing as the drill program steps out to the north (NB-17-432 with 10.7m @ .0.80 g/t Au and 12.2m @ 0.76 g/t Au). The large District scale, West Jolly Jane Fault intersects another northeast trending District scale structural zone about 100 metres to the north of hole NB-17-432 which is currently being drill tested. In addition to structurally controlled higher grade zones the North Jolly Jane target area has potential to develop a large new deposit of higher grade (twice the current grade) heap leach material that could enhance the project economics and production plan.

Phase I District "New Discovery" Program

The North Jolly Jane target is one of six targets that will be tested this spring in the initial phase of Corvus Gold's New Discovery program (Figure 2). These targets all have prior scout drilling or surface sampling which indicate a gold system may be present. If a significant discovery is made on one of these new targets it would be followed up with a grid drill program to assess the deposit's resource potential.

To view Figure 2, Map of 2017, Phase I, New Discovery drill targets and current deposits, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090884_Figure-2.jpg

About the North Bullfrog Project, Nevada

Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 72 km2 in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 865 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right.

The North Bullfrog project includes numerous prospective gold targets at various stages of exploration with four having NI 43-101 mineral resources (Sierra Blanca, Jolly Jane, Mayflower and YellowJacket). The project contains a measured mineral resource of 3.86 Mt at an average grade of 2.55 g/t gold and 19.70 g/t silver, containing 316.5k ounces of gold and 2,445k ounces of silver, an indicated mineral resource of 1.81 Mt at an average grade of 1.53 g/t gold, and 10.20 g/t silver, containing 89.1k ounces of gold and 593.6k ounces of silver and an inferred resource of 1.48 Mt at an average grade of 0.83 g/t gold and 4.26 g/t silver, containing 39.5k ounces of gold and 202.7k ounces of silver for oxide mill processing. The mineral resource for the mill process was defined by Whittle optimization using all cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of 0.52 g/t gold. In addition, the project contains a measured mineral resource of 0.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.25 g/t gold and 2.76 g/t silver, containing 2.4k ounces of gold and 26.6k ounces of silver, an indicated mineral resource of 22.86 Mt at an average grade of 0.30 g/t gold and 0.43 g/t silver, containing 220.5k ounces of gold and 316.1k ounces of silver and an inferred mineral resource of 176.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.19 g/t gold and 0.67 g/t silver, containing 1,077.4k ounces of gold and 3,799.2k ounces of silver for oxide, heap leach processing. The mineral resource for heap leach processing was defined by Whittle optimization using all cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t.

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance

Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE 008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has coordinated execution of the work outlined in this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

The work program at North Bullfrog was designed and supervised by Mark Reischman, Corvus Gold's Nevada Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada, for preparation and then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada, or Vancouver, B.C., for assaying. ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO compliant third party laboratory for additional quality control.

For additional information on the North Bullfrog project, including information relating to exploration, data verification and the mineral resource estimates, see "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for Combined Mill and Heap Leach Processing at the North Bullfrog Project, Bullfrog Mining District, NYE County, Nevada" dated June 16, 2015 as amended and restated May 18, 2016 which is available under Corvus' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

About Corvus Gold Inc.

Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining project at North Bullfrog, Nevada. In addition, the Company controls a number of royalties on other North American exploration properties representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new discoveries and the expansion of those discoveries to maximize share price leverage in a recovering gold and silver market.

On behalf of

Corvus Gold Inc.

Jeffrey A. Pontius, President & Chief Executive Officer

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the potential for new deposits and expected increases in a system's potential; anticipated content, commencement and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the potential to develop multiple YellowJacket style high-grade zones, the Company's belief that the parameters used in the Whittle pit optimization process are realistic and reasonable, the potential to discover additional high grade veins or additional deposits, the potential to expand the existing estimated resource at the North Bullfrog project, the potential for any mining or production at North Bullfrog, are forward-looking statements.

Information concerning mineral resource estimates may be deemed to be forward-looking statements in that it reflects a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered if a mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, the Company's inability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's 2014 Annual Information Form and latest interim Management Discussion and Analysis filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and the Company's most recent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings in Canada may be accessed via www.sedar.com and filings with the SEC may be accessed via www.sec.gov and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

Cautionary Note Regarding References to Resources and Reserves

NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource estimates contained in or incorporated by reference in this press release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014 (the "CIM Standards") as they may be amended from time to time by the CIM.

United States investors are cautioned that the requirements and terminology of NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards differ significantly from the requirements and terminology of the SEC set forth in the SEC's Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7"). Accordingly, the Company's disclosures regarding mineralization may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by companies subject to SEC Industry Guide 7. Without limiting the foregoing, while the terms "mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "measured mineral resources" are recognized and required by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards, they are not recognized by the SEC and are not permitted to be used in documents filed with the SEC by companies subject to SEC Industry Guide 7. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and US investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a mineral resource will ever be converted into reserves. Further, inferred resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of the inferred resources will ever be upgraded to a higher resource category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of a feasibility study or prefeasibility study, except in rare cases. The SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant "reserves" as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit amounts. The term "contained ounces" is not permitted under the rules of SEC Industry Guide 7. In addition, the NI 43-101 and CIM Standards definition of a "reserve" differs from the definition in SEC Industry Guide 7. In SEC Industry Guide 7, a mineral reserve is defined as a part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time the mineral reserve determination is made, and a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis of designated reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our latest reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. You can review and obtain copies of these filings at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. U.S. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any defined resource will ever be converted into SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant reserves.

This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

Contacts:

Ryan Ko

Investor Relations

1-844-638-3246 (toll free) or (604) 638-3246

info@corvusgold.com




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Menu Del Sol brand frozen bean and cheese burritos have been recalled in California and Nevada for possible Listeria contamination, the Food and Drug Administration announced. Sigma Alimentos Congelados, which produced the burritos, voluntarily recalled 201 cases of frozen beans and cheese burritos that have 11 months of shelf life left. These burritos have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled product is 2-packs of Menu Del Sol frozen burritos that was distributed in and sold through retail outlets in California and Nevada. No illnesses have been reported to date. The potential contamination was found as a result of routine product testing, according to the recall notice. Listeria is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, whereas such infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Consumers are asked to check for the lot code and 'best by' date on the front of the label, which will be C3018 and March 1, 2018, written as 'MAR01 18.', respectively. The company also urged the consumers to fully cook frozen food products according to package instructions. Those who have purchased Menu Del Sol frozen beans and cheese burritos with the specified lot number and best by date are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. 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.
4 April 2017

Doriemus Plc

("Doriemus" or the "Company")

OGA Extends Retention Area Period for Horse Hill Licences, Weald Basin, SE UK

Doriemus (NEX: DOR) is pleased to announce that it has been informed by the operator, Horse Hill Developments Limited ("HHDL"), that the Oil and Gas Authority ("OGA") has consented to extend the current PEDL137 and PEDL246 Retention Areas ("RAs") until 2021. The PEDL137 and PEDL246 RAs, which cover the entirety of the licences, will now expire on 30 September 2021 and 30 June 2021, respectively. The Company owns 10% of HHDL, which owns 65% of the Horse Hill Licences which hosts the HH-1 oil discovery well, or a 6% attributable interest in the licences.

The RAs work programmes, now agreed with the OGA, comprise; the planned Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1") Kimmeridge and Portland production tests, HH-1z Kimmeridge Limestone ("KL") and HH-2 Portland appraisal wells, 50 km of 3D seismic, 25 km of 2D seismic and a PEDL246 exploration step-out well. The RAs for each licence can be further extended or modified subject to an ongoing minimum work programme agreed by the OGA.

David Lenigas, Chairman of the Company commented:

'We are very pleased to have received confirmation of this notification from the OGA, through the operator, HHDL. The matter represents another significant step in the journey from discovery to production. There is no doubt in my mind that the Wealden area is developing into a significant natural resources oil play and we are pleased to be one of the joint venture partners pursuingthe exploitation of one of our Country's significant natural resources'.

HH-1 Oil Discovery

The HH-1 Kimmeridge Limestone and Portland oil discovery well is located within onshore exploration Licence PEDL137, on the northern side of the Weald Basin, 3 km north of Gatwick Airport. As previously reported in February and March 2016, two naturally-fractured limestone members within the Kimmeridge section, known as KL3 and KL4, flowed dry, 40-degree API oil, at an aggregate stabilised natural flow rate of 1,365 barrels per day ("bopd") with no clear indication of depletion. The overlying Portland flowed dry, 35-37 API gravity crude at a stable pumped rate of 323 bopd. The Portland oil was produced at the rod-pump's maximum achievable rate and thus flow was constrained by the pump's mechanical capacity.

As previously reported in October 2016, an application for long term production testing and further appraisal drilling was submitted to Surrey County Council in October 2016, and is now scheduled to be decided at the Council's planning committee meeting in July 2017. The Company therefore envisages that these operations will commence in the second half of 2017 upon grant of the necessary remaining regulatory permissions.

Qualified Person's Statement

Stephen Sanderson stated: "The revised RA expiry dates ensure that the knowledge gained from the forthcoming extensive 2017 Broadford Bridge, Horse Hill and Holmwood drilling and test campaign, can be fully incorporated into future Kimmeridge Limestone step-out wells in PEDL246 and PEDL137. 2017 is set to become a pivotal year for the Company."

The directors of Doriemus accept responsibility for this announcement

For further information, please contact:

Doriemus Plc:

David Lenigas

Hamish Harris

Donald Strang +44 (0)20 7440 0640

Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited Corporate Adviser

Guy Miller / Fungai Ndoro +44 (0)20 7469 0930

Glossary:
Premier talent advisory and leadership firm continues expansion in Northern Europe

Boyden, a premier global talent advisory and leadership solutions firm with more than 65 offices in over 40 countries, today announced a major expansion in Stockholm, further strengthening the organisation in the Nordic Region.

Managing Partners Peter Krenander, Rickard Ericson and Michael Rooslien will join Boyden Sweden Managing Partners Katarina Brixeus, Ulf Bergstrom, Marie Corell and Per Fornander as part of the firm's continued expansion in Northern Europe. In addition an expanded research team will also join the firm.

"The addition of these leading professionals to Boyden Sweden will enhance our ability to provide clients with world-class talent advisory and leadership expertise in both the Nordic Region and across the globe," said Trina Gordon, President and CEO of Boyden World Corporation. "Our new team brings strong expertise in executive search as well as deep sector knowledge that will enable Boyden to continue providing superior client advisory services while expanding our global footprint."

Peter Krenander joins Boyden with more than 15 years' experience in senior management positions with a focus on Industrial and Healthcare & Life Sciences Practices. He has extensive expertise in recruiting C-level management and has actively worked with executive search since 2009. Krenander also brings 15 years' experience in senior management positions, including two CEO roles.

Rickard Ericson has successfully recruited high-level management and specialists as well as led management audits and board assessments for clients over the past 12 years. He joins Boyden with considerable expertise in Financial Services, as well as in the Industrial and Consumer Retail sectors.

Michael Rooslien brings two decades of executive search experience recruiting senior executives and management teams for clients that range from major international corporations to small, high-growth entrepreneurial companies. He specializes in the technology, consumer and retail and industrial sectors.

"We're excited to join Boyden and look forward to working closely with the firm's partners across the globe," said Krenander, on behalf of the Managing Partners. "Boyden's commitment to a global platform that is specifically focused on a client-centric approach was critical in our decision to join Boyden."

About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 65 offices in over 40 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. For further information, visit www.boyden.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005085/en/

Contacts:

Katarina Brixeus, Boyden Sweden

+46 70 211 54 63

kbrixeus@boyden.com

or

Dan Margolis, for Boyden

+1.213.452.6472

Dan.Margolis@fticonsulting.com
In accordance with Article 14 of the Articles of Association, notice is hereby given of an extraordinary general meeting in SimCorp A/S, Wednesday 26 April 2017, at 4:00 pm, Weidekampsgade 16, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.



The agenda will be as follows:



No. 1



At the annual general meeting held on 29 March 2017, the proposal regarding reduction of the share capital was adopted by a majority of more than two thirds of both the votes cast and of the share capital represented at the general meeting. Since, however, less than 50 % of the share capital was represented at the general meeting the proposal was not adopted, and the Board of Directors therefore makes the proposal at the extraordinary general meeting.



The Board of Directors proposes to reduce the share capital of the Company by nominally DKK 1,000,000 from nominally DKK 41,500,000 to nominally DKK 40,500,000, equivalent to a reduction of the share capital by 1,000,000 shares of DKK 1 each by cancellation of own shares. The reduction of the share capital is executed in pursuance of Section 188 (1)(2) of the Danish Companies Act, after which the reduction is effected by reduction of own shares which means that the purpose of the reduction is payment to the shareholders. The own shares in question were purchased by the Company in the period from 23 May 2014 until 23 October 2015 at a total purchase price of DKK 214,675,375.11. The purchase price is entered at DKK 0 in the accounts of the Company since the amount has been written off the equity capital. In consequence hereof, it is proposed to amend Article 3, first sentence, of the Articles of Association as follows:



"The share capital of the Company is DKK 40,500,000, say forty million five hundred thousand 00/100, divided into shares of DKK 1 each or any multiples thereof."



After the reduction there will be full coverage for the share capital and the deposits and capital reserves that are restricted pursuant to the law and the Articles of Association of the Company.



Before the reduction of the share capital is executed, the Company's creditors will be convened via the electronic information system of the Danish Business Authority in pursuance of section 192 of the Danish Companies Act. 4 weeks after the expiry of the notification period of section 192 of the Danish Companies Act the reduction of the share capital shall be finally executed and the following amendment of the Articles of Association if so will be deemed registered.



No. 2



At the annual general meeting held on 29 March 2017, the proposal to authorise the Board of Directors to increase the share capital was adopted by a majority of more than two thirds of both the votes cast and of the share capital represented at the general meeting. Since, however, less than 50 % of the share capital was represented at the general meeting the proposal was not adopted, and the Board of Directors therefore makes the proposal at the extraordinary general meeting.



It is proposed by the Board of Directors to grant authorisation to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital without pre-emption rights for existing shareholders at market price and with expiry on 1 March 2022.



Accordingly, it is proposed to amend article 4 of the Articles of Association to the following:



"Article 4 The share capital may be increased in one or more issues of new shares by a total nominal amount of up to DKK 4,000,000 (4,000,000 shares of DKK 1) without pre-emption rights for the Company's existing shareholders and as directed by the Board of Directors with respect to time and terms. The capital increase may be effected in cash or by contribution of an existing business or specific assets, in all cases at market price. This authority shall be valid for a period of five years, expiring on 1 March 2022, and may be extended by the general meeting for one or more periods of up to five years at a time.



The new shares shall be registered in the name of the holder in the Company's register of shareholders. The new shares shall be negotiable instruments, and no restrictions shall apply to the transferability of the shares. No shares confer any special rights upon their holder and no shareholders shall be under an obligation to have his shares redeemed in full or in part by the Company or any other party."



No. 3



Any other business.



SPECIAL VOTING REQUIREMENTS



The adoption of the resolutions proposed under item 1 and 2 above, see Article 14 of the Articles of Association, requires a majority of at least two thirds of both the votes cast and the share capital represented at the general meeting



SHARE CAPITAL AND VOTING RIGHTS



The Company's share capital is DKK 41,500,000 divided into shares of DKK 1 each and multiples thereof. Each share of DKK 1 nominal value entitles the holder to one vote.



ADMISSION CARD AND PROXY ETC.



Registration Date: A shareholder's right to participate in the general meeting and the number of votes, which the shareholder is entitled to cast, is determined in accordance with the number of shares held by such shareholder on the registration date. The registration date is 19 April 2017, and only persons who are shareholders on this date, and whose shareholding is registered in the shareholder register or has been notified the Company for the purposes of registration herein are entitled to vote and participate in the general meeting.



Admission Card: A shareholder may participate in the general meeting either personally (with or without an advisor) or by proxy. Pursuant to article 9 of the Articles of Association shareholders wishing to attend the general meeting must obtain an admission card, either at the Company's website www.simcorp.com/AGM2017, by contacting VP Investor Services A/S by phone +45 4358 8893 or fax +45 4358 8867 or through VP Investor Services A/S' website www.vp.dk/gf. Registration must take place no later than 21 April 2017.



Proxies and Postal Votes: A shareholder may vote by proxy, either by issuing a proxy to the Board of Directors or to a third party. A shareholder may issue a proxy through the Company's website www.simcorp.com/AGM 2017, by logging on to the Investor Portal no later than 21 April 2017. In addition, a shareholder may vote by postal vote, which can also be done electronically through the Company's website no later than 25 April 2017.



A written proxy or postal vote form can also be obtained at the Company's website or ordered per e-mail to AGM2017@simcorp.com. Further, the Company may be advised about the appointment of a proxy by e-mail. When voting by written proxy, the attorney must provide a written and dated power of attorney. A written proxy must be received by the Company no later than 21 April 2017. A written postal vote must be received by the Company no later than 25 April 2017. Postal votes already received by the Company cannot be recalled by the shareholder.



To ensure identification of any shareholder choosing to exercise his or her right to vote by proxy or by postal vote (unless this is done via the Investor Portal at www.simcorp.com/AGM2017), the proxy or the postal vote must be signed by the shareholder and with capital or printed letters stating such shareholder's full name and address. If the shareholder is a legal person, the relevant central business register (CVR) no. or other corresponding identification must also be clearly stated in the proxy and the postal vote. Proxies and postal votes must be sent to VP Investor Services A/S, Weidekampsgade 14, P.O. box 4040, 2300 Copenhagen S, or by email to vpinvestor@vp.dk.



Miscellaneous: Shareholders may in writing submit questions regarding the agenda or the Company's position in general. Questions can be submitted by way of e-mail to AGM2017@simcorp.com or mail to the address of the Company.



The following information is available for the shareholders at the Company's website www.simcorp.com/AGM2017: (i) this notice, (ii) the agenda with the full text of the proposals, (iii) any documents to be presented at the general meeting, (iv) the aggregate number of shares and votes at the date of notice, and (v) forms to be used by shareholders for voting by proxy or by letter.



Copenhagen, Tuesday 4 April 2017



SimCorp A/S



On behalf of the Board of Directors



The duration of the general meeting is expected to be very short and therefore no refreshments will be served.



Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to: Klaus Holse, Chief Executive Officer, SimCorp A/S (+45 3544 8802, +45 2326 0000) Sren Strm, Chief Financial Officer (Interim), SimCorp A/S (+45 3544 6853, +45 2019 3144)



Company Announcement no. 11/2017

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
REDWOOD CITY, CA and LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Synthego, a leading provider of genome engineering solutions, today announces the University of Oxford has been chosen for its synthetic sgRNA grant as Synthego launches expanded product availability in the UK. The University of Oxford, selected for its novel research applications in bladder cancer, was one of eight institutions chosen for the exclusive grant from Synthego, which totaled $160,000 in synthetic sgRNA to help scientists more effectively conduct CRISPR gene editing research.

Designed to accelerate novel genome engineering research, Synthego products provide researchers with experimental consistency and reproducibility, increasing efficiency and speeding up the process of obtaining high quality gene editing results. The company's synthetic guide RNA enables gene editing and gene knockout of up to 90 percent efficiency in cells, has four times faster turnaround, and is up to 80 percent less expensive than competitors.

Dr. Jia-Ling Ruan, Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, notes, "The ability to use synthetic sgRNA in our research to cure bladder cancer will greatly improve the editing efficiency and consistency of experiments." His research team is specifically using the product to study a molecule that has been identified to improve radiation sensitivity in Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (MIBC). Through exploring the mechanisms of this molecule's function the group intends to work towards improvements in radiation therapy success in MIBC while simultaneously reducing toxic effects of the therapy.

Synthego is focused on delivering products with the highest editing efficiency, fastest turnaround time, and lowest costs for scientists. The company's flagship product line, CRISPRevolution, is the world's leading synthetic RNA portfolio which includes full length 100-mer sgRNA Kits for CRISPR, custom and chemically modified RNA, and screening libraries.

"The research taking place at the University of Oxford showcases the promise that precision genome engineering can lead to major novel advances and discoveries in biology and medicine," said Ted Tisch, COO at Synthego. "Our goal has been to enable researchers with the most consistent and effective method for conducting CRISPR gene editing. With our expansion into the UK, we are one step closer to playing a larger, global role in significant breakthroughs within the scientific community."

Synthego is exhibiting at SynBioBeta London 2017 from April 4-6 and Synthego's Head of Synthetic Biology, Kevin Holden, is presenting at the conference on April 5. For more information on Synthego visit: www.synthego.com.

About Synthego

Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Synthego is a leading provider of genome engineering solutions. The company's flagship product, CRISPRevolution, is a portfolio of synthetic RNA designed for CRISPR genome editing and research. Synthego's vision is to bring precision and automation to genome engineering, enabling rapid and cost-effective research with consistent results for every scientist.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Synthego customers include leading institutions in over 30 countries around the world and 10 of the top 10 global biology and biochemistry universities.

Media Contact

Jessica Garcia

Uproar PR for Synthego

321-236-0102

Email Contact or Email Contact




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/12/17 -- NetworkNewsWire ("NNW"), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, today announces the publication of an editorial featuring Kootenay Zinc Corp. (CSE: ZNK) (OTCQB: KTNNF), an NNW client focused primarily on discovering large-scale sedimentary-exhalative ("SEDEX") zinc deposits.

The publication is entitled, "With Zinc Prices and Global Deficit on the Rise, Savvy Mining Companies are Poised to Profit." It provides an overview on worldwide shortage of zinc, and the various mining companies cashing in on the opportunity to shrink the gap between supply and demand while taking advantage of rising value.

To view the full publication, visit: https://www.networknewswire.com/zinc-prices-global-deficit-rise-savvy-mining-companies-poised-profit/

"Among these frontrunners is Kootenay Zinc Corporation, a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, BC. Kootenay Zinc is engaged in discovering large-scale sedimentary-exhalative (SEDEX) zinc deposits and is currently focused on its Sully Property, which is located just 18 miles from the historic Sullivan Mine. The Sullivan Mine was in operation for approximately 100 years and was one of the world's biggest SEDEX silver, zinc and lead deposits, boasting production that, at today's prices, would be valued at US $49 billion. An exciting factor for Kootenay Zinc is that its Sully Project could be, subject to positive drill data, of similar size to the Legendary Sullivan -- an exciting prospect, indeed.

"Drilling at the Sully Project, to date, has been a near miss -- which means a strike could be close at hand. Initial surveying at Sully indicated a shallow mass was only narrowly missed by drilling in 2004, and work performed since that time indicated the target was deep. Downhole temperature and magnetic field readings in 2014 indicated the target may have been missed by as little as 100 meters. Geochemical data shows anomalous zinc and lead in the soil, which is possible leakage on structures related to the East mass. New gravity data have confirmed and better defined the mass. The next step for Kootenay Zinc is to target this East mass, and the company has commenced a drilling program."

About Kootenay Zinc Corp.

Kootenay Zinc Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia that is presently targeting the Sully Property. The company is focused on discovering large-scale sedimentary-exhalative ("SEDEX") deposits. The Sully Property comprises 1,375 hectares located approximately 30 kilometres east of Kimberley, B.C., and overlies rocks of similar age and origin as those which host the world-class Sullivan deposit, owned by Teck Resources Ltd. Sullivan was discovered in 1892, and is known to be one of the largest SEDEX deposits in the world. Over its 100-year lifetime, Sullivan produced approximately 150 million tonnes of ore, including approximately three hundred million ounces of silver, eight million tonnes of zinc and eight million tonnes of lead. The equivalent level of strata as at Sullivan and that formed on the margin of that same basin are present at the Sully Property. The Company cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Sully Property.

For more information, visit http://www.kootenayzinc.com.

About NetworkNewsWire

NetworkNewsWire (NNW) provides news aggregation and syndication, enhanced press release services and a full array of social communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and distribution company with an extensive team of journalists and contributing writers, NNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies who need to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. NNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NNW is where news, content and information converge.

For more information, visit https://www.NetworkNewsWire.com

Please see full disclaimers on the NetworkNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by NNW, wherever published or re-published: http://nnw.fm/Disclaimer

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.

NNW Contact:

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Email Contact




ST PETE BEACH, Florida, May 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Event hosted by SensoMotoric Instruments focuses on research using virtual reality with eye tracking

The evolution of the eye tracking virtual reality headset as a scientific tool has spawned a new wave of research that will be the focus of a symposium in Florida this week.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/513028/HTC_Vive_Eyetracking.jpg )



The event, hosted by SensoMotoric Instruments, coincides with the annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society at St Pete Beach. Attendees will hear from three speakers with different research experiences using eye tracking VR head mounted displays (HMDs).

Prof. Mary Hayhoe, Professor of Psychology, Center for Perceptual Systems, University of Texas Austin,is a long-term user of VR headsets with eye tracking. She specializes in eye movements and visual cognition and will speak about scene memory and the value of using virtual environments.

Prof. Gabriel Diaz from the Rochester Institute of Technology focuses on the visual guidance of action using VR headsets with eye tracking. He will talk about studying eye movements within the unrestrained viewing of an immersive environment.

From New York's SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Prof. Stephen Macknik will speak about his eye movement research in aviator simulation studies and how this research will evolve with the growth of VR headsets as research tools.

Symposium website: https://www.smivision.com/events/eventssmi-symposium-vss/

Prof. Hayhoe will be awarded the Davida Teller Award by the Vision Sciences Society at the Florida meeting. "What we're seeing with VR is the science emerging with the technology," she said ahead of the event. "VR headsets with eye tracking allow us to study what controls a variety of behaviors, such as attention and locomotion as we move around in realistic environments."

Full story: https://www.smivision.com/news/honored-vision-scientist-prof-mary-hayhoe-looks-future-vr-eye-tracking/

SensoMotoric Instruments is a pioneer in adapting virtual reality headsets for research by adding eye tracking. Headsets to have been modified in this way include the Oculus Rift DK2, the Samsung Gear VR and, most relevant for vision science, an Eye Tracking HTC Vive.

About SMI

SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) has been a world leader in eye tracking technology for 25 years, developing and marketing eye & gaze tracking systems for scientists and professionals, as well as OEM and medical solutions for a wide range of applications. Find out more at www.smivision.com. Follow @SMIeyetracking on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.

Media Contact

SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI)

Tim Stott

+49-(0)-162-271-61-66

tim.stott@smi.de


BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French shares were marginally higher in choppy trade on Tuesday as presidential candidates assemble for another TV debate later in the day. All 11 candidates will take part in the debate, but only the top two candidates will go through to the May 7 run-off, where polls predict centrist presidential contender Emmanuel Macron would easily beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen. The country elects a new president in two rounds of voting on 23 April and 7 May. The benchmark CAC 40 was up 8 points or 0.16 percent at 5,094 in opening deals after losing 0.7 percent the previous day. Accor, Total SA and Vivendi were among the top gainers, while banks and automakers paced decliners. 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.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RPX) ("Red Pine" or "the Company") announces that it has contracted Golder Associates Ltd. ("Golder") to review the exploration target potential at the Wawa Gold Project and update the June 2015 Technical Report(1).

Quentin Yarie, President and CEO of Red Pine, stated, "We are pleased to work in collaboration with Golder to review the exploration target at the Wawa Gold Project. From the beginning, our team determined that there was more gold on the property than previously thought. Our exploration program to date has shown that many mineralized gold zones are not included in the current inferred resource and that high-grade gold zones exist beyond it. As we continue to aggressively advance exploration on the property, Golder's review will provide stakeholders and investors with insight on the possible extent of the gold mineralization at Wawa."

The exploration target will summarize the tonnage and grade ranges for the mineralized corridor that includes the Surluga Deposit at the Wawa Gold Project. The Reader is cautioned that the potential quantity and grade will be conceptual in nature, that there will be insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Golder will then complete an update of the June 2015 Technical Report that will include the exploration target and provide recommendations for future exploration programs.

Wawa Gold Project Highlights

-- The Surluga Deposit hosts a 43-101 Inferred Resource of 1.088 Million oz gold at 1.71 g/t gold (0.5 g/t gold cut-off)(2) -- The deposit remains open in all directions including new gold mineralization discovered in the hanging-wall and footwall of the Surluga Deposit -- Recent exploration results suggests gold mineralization extends 525 metres to the north (2.0 g/t over 8.96 m (SD-16-43)) -- High-grade mineralization (57.31 g/t over 3.14 m (DG-17-56)) exists 3 km south of the Surluga deposit -- The gold mineralization is hosted in closely stacked parallel shear zones (Wawa Gold Corridor) -- Property package hosts 8 past producing mines (total historic production of 120,000 oz gold with an average grade of 9.04 g/t gold) -- Located 2 km southeast of the Municipality of Wawa, Ontario, close to roads, power and other infrastructure

Qualified Person

Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release.

About Red Pine Exploration Inc.

Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold and base-metals exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RPX".

Red Pine has a 60% interest in the Wawa Gold Project with Citabar LLP. holding the remaining 40% interest. Red Pine is the Operating Manager of the Project and is focused on expanding the existing gold resource on the property.

For more information about the Company visit www.redpineexp.com.

(1)Mineral Resource Statement, Surluga-Jubilee Gold Deposit, Wawa Gold Project, Ontario, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (effective May 26, 2015). The report is available on www.SEDAR.com under Red Pine's profile.

(2)NI 43-101 inferred resource of 1,088,000 ounces of gold at 1.71 grams per tonne (g/t) using a 0.40 g/t gold cut-off grade for pit-constrained and 2.50 g/t gold cut-off grade for underground-constrained resources, contained in 19.82 million tonnes open along strike and at depth. The Cut-off grades are based on a gold price of US$1,250 per once and a gold recovery of 95 percent (Mineral Resource Statement, Surluga-Jubilee Gold Deposit, Wawa Gold Project, Ontario, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (effective May 26, 2015)).

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.

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Contacts:

Red Pine Exploration Inc.

Quentin Yarie

President & CEO

(416) 364-7024

qyarie@redpineexp.com



Red Pine Exploration Inc.

Mia Boiridy

Investor Relations

(416) 364-7024

mboiridy@redpineexp.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- SelectCore Ltd. ("SelectCore" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SCG) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing to raise up to $2,000,000 (the "Offering"). The Offering is anticipated to be structured as a best efforts private placement comprised of 13,333,333 units ("Units") of the Company at a price of $0.15 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle its holder to purchase one additional common share at an exercise price of $0.20 for a period of three (3) years from the date of issuance of the Units. In the event that the closing price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is $0.50 or greater per common share during any 10 consecutive trading day period at any time subsequent to four months and one day after the closing date, the warrants will expire, at the sole discretion of the Company, at 4:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on the 30th day after the date on which the Company provides notice of such accelerated expiry to the holders of the warrants.

Completion of the Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. There can be no assurance that the Offering will be completed, whether in whole or in part. All securities issued by the Company in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory four month hold period. Proceeds from the Offering will be used for retirement of debt and ongoing working capital purposes.

Granting of Options

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that the Company has granted 3,380,000 incentive stock options to various Officers, Directors, Employees and Consultants. The options are exercisable at $0.17 per option for a period of 3 years from the date of grant, vesting pursuant to the terms of the Company's Stock Option Plan. The options are being issued under the terms of the Company's Stock Option Plan which was approved by shareholders at the Company's Annual General and Special Meeting held on November 24, 2016.

About SelectCore

Established in 1999, SelectCore is a leading prepaid financial services provider and program manager for under- banked and underserved markets. From prepaid mobile top-up to stored-value cards and remittance solutions, SelectCore services a market of millions of under-banked consumers through its technology platforms and extensive retail distribution network. SelectCore is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SCG" (TSX VENTURE: SCG). SelectCore was ranked by Profit100 as one of Canada's fastest-growing companies in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. SelectCore was also ranked one of North America's fastest growing companies on Deloitte's 2011 Technology Fast 500.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

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.

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimates of future events. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements are detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Ontario Securities Commission and other regulatory authorities. The Company has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

SelectCore Ltd.

Mohammad Abuleil

(866) 825-1267 ext. 246

mabuleil@selectcore.com

www.selectcore.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Precision Drilling Corporation ("Precision" or the "Company") (TSX: PD)(NYSE: PDS) will host an Analyst & Investor Day on Monday, May 15, 2017 at its Technical Service Center in Houston, Texas. In addition to providing a comprehensive business update, Precision's senior management team will demonstrate recent technology advancements as well as outline the Company's plans regarding the commercialization of process control automation and closed loop drilling systems. Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour Precision's facility and a Super Series Triple drilling rig equipped with top tier rig specifications and technology applications.

Those who have not already registered and wish to attend are asked to email InvestorRelations@precisiondrilling.com and RSVP in advance of the event.

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




Adds finance and strategy expertise to strong ophthalmology-focused leadership team

NightstaRx Ltd ("Nightstar"), a biopharmaceutical company specialising in developing gene therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies, today announced that Senthil Sundaram has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Sundaram brings over 17 years of investment banking and strategic operations experience and will lead Nightstar's corporate finance, corporate development and approach to broader strategic business relationships. In his new role, Mr. Sundaram will report directly to Nightstar's Chief Executive Officer, David Fellows, from the company's U.S. headquarters in Lexington, Mass.

"We are delighted to have Senthil join the Nightstar team," said David Fellows. "Senthil comes to us after the recent initiation of the clinical trial for our second gene therapy candidate for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, which has generated significant interest from ophthalmologists and patients. His depth of experience and leadership will be invaluable as we continue to build Nightstar into the leading company maintaining and restoring sight in patients with inherited retinal dystrophies."

"Nightstar is a unique combination of strong science, world-class researchers and stellar management," said Mr. Sundaram. "I have family and friends who have been impacted by debilitating ophthalmic disorders. The opportunity to work at a company that has the potential to significantly alter the course of progressive blindness with a single treatment is highly attractive. I am excited to join this leading gene therapy company and help in the effort to make Nightstar's therapies a reality for patients."

Prior to joining Nightstar, Mr. Sundaram was the Vice President and Head of Business and Corporate Development at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was responsible for a wide range of activities including business development, strategy, financial analysis, investor relations and capital raising. While at Intercept, he was highly ranked on the Institutional Investor Magazine's survey for the Biotechnology All-America Executive Team. Prior to joining Intercept, Mr. Sundaram spent 13 years in the healthcare investment banking groups at Lehman Brothers/Barclays, Citigroup and Lazard. His transaction experience includes mergers acquisitions, initial public offerings and other equity and debt financings in the biopharmaceuticals sector with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $115 billion. Mr. Sundaram is a graduate of Brown University, where he obtained degrees in Computer Engineering and Economics.

About Nightstar

Nightstar is a leading ophthalmology company focused on the development of gene therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies. Nightstar's lead programme, AAV-REP1, is a retinal gene therapy for choroideremia, a rare, inherited cause of progressive blindness that affects around one in 50,000 people. The results from a successful Phase 1/2 trial of AAV-REP1 were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2016, and the programme is advancing toward a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. Nightstar's second programme, AAV-RPGR, is being evaluated in the first Phase 1/2 gene therapy clinical trial to treat patients with X-Linked retinitis pigmentosa. In addition to these two programmes, Nightstar is evaluating several other ocular gene therapy product candidates for entry into clinical trials. The Company was founded in 2014 by leading ophthalmology researchers at the University of Oxford. Nightstar's lead investors are Syncona Ltd, a publicly listed life sciences investment company originally founded as an evergreen venture capital subsidiary of the Wellcome trust, and NEA, a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. For more information about Nightstar or our clinical trials, please visit www.nightstarx.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005151/en/

Contacts:

THRUST IR

Alicia Davis

910-620-3302

alicia@thrustir.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




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (TSX: PTM)(NYSE MKT: PLG) ("Platinum Group" or the "Company") reports that during March 2017 the Maseve Mine produced approximately 2,477 ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold ("4E") in concentrate. Production in March 2017 was the best level achieved since completion of commissioning in 2016 and shows a positive trend. Production ramp-up is following a positive trend but is behind schedule. Further improvement in the ramp-up rate is required. The results for March demonstrate improved stoping and tramming as well as the positive effects of Block 11 production coming online. Planned conveyor and silo completions are on track targeted to be completed at the end of April and are expected to facilitate and continue to improve performance.

Mining and Milling Overview

Improvements in stoping tonnes versus development during production ramp-up from Block 11 are in progress at the time of writing. Production levels in January and into February 2017 were hampered by the process of changing the primary underground mining contractor, senior management changes, equipment operator performance and slowly improving equipment availability. Production during February, 2017 was also hampered by an extraordinary rain event over a period of days around February 20, 2017, which caused regional surface flooding and some underground flooding at the Maseve Mine, resulting in several lost mining and milling days. Production in March was improved, but was below target and did not offset the lower January and February results.

A summary of monthly production for the second fiscal quarter plus the month of March, 2017 follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dry Tonnes Average Grade 4E Ounces in Month Milled gms/tonne Recovery % Concentrate ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- December, 2016 39,297 1.51 79.2 1,509 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- January, 2017 34,661 1.53 79.2 1,351 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- February, 2017 29,146 1.59 80.3 1,193 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- March, 2017(1) 51,663 1.81 82.6 2,477 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Approximately 7,825 dry tonnes of ore mined in February, 2017 were milled in March, 2017.

Several important operational advancements were completed during the last few months:

-- Significant advancement into Block 11 in preparation for increased mining from this important mining block was achieved. Double decline roadway access to Block 11 was competed at the end of December 2016. Five development ends and 17 mining faces or "bords" are now active in Block 11, representing an increase of nine mining faces since December, 2016. The work focus in Block 11 has changed from predominantly development to mechanized bord and pillar mining. -- Redpath Mining South Africa is currently continuing with the construction of a 1.0 km conveyor at their cost. During January, 2017 Redpath entered a letter of intent whereby they would install, operate and maintain a 1.0 km conveyor towards Block 11, linking into underground silos and the existing 1.4 km conveyor to surface and 1.7 km conveyor system into the mill. Approximately 30% of this conveyor steel work is installed and the construction is on track for completion at the end of April. Cost for the conveyor installation to be borne by Redpath was estimated at Rand 25.0 million (approximately US$1.8 million), which Redpath plans to recoup by way of a per tonne charge. -- During the second fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2017, approximately a 20% monthly cost reduction has been completed through a process of rationalizing and consolidating underperforming and redundant contractors. This process was undertaken cooperatively with the involvement of affected contractors, the National Union of Mineworkers, and on occasion, the Department of Minerals Resources. Many mining services previously provided by several contractors are now consolidated under the management of Redpath. As the changeover process is completed, the Company expects to achieve improved production and cost efficiencies because of these changes.

Block 11

The contribution of mined tonnage from Block 11 is a critical factor to achieving positive cash flow at the Maseve Mine. Block 11 is a large, well-drilled and stable mining block estimated to host 545,000 4E Merensky Reef ounces (3,066,512 tonnes at 5.53 gpt 4E Indicated). This block is modelled as flat dipping at an average of nine degrees, with an average seam thickness of 157 cm (as published in the technical report titled "An Independent Technical Report on the Maseve Project (WBJV Project areas 1 and 1A) located on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, South Africa" dated August 28, 2015, with an effective date of July 15, 2015). The flat dip and good quality of Block 11 reef has been confirmed with over 100 meters of strike length exposed in underground development.

During 2017, Block 11 is scheduled to build up to 70-80% of mined ore flow. At full production Block 11 is planned to provide up to 76,000 tonnes a month of mined ore flow. Historical monthly mined tonnes for Block 11 are recorded in the table below:

---------------------------------------------------------------- Block 11 Mined Total Mined Month Tonnes Tonnes Percentage ---------------------------------------------------------------- December, 2016 8,388 27,559 30.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------- January, 2017 16,614 28,733 57.8% ---------------------------------------------------------------- February, 2017 20,759 43,742 47.5% ---------------------------------------------------------------- March, 2017 29,690 49,610 59.8% ----------------------------------------------------------------

The rate of underground development and the increase of stoped tonnes versus development at the Maseve Mine continues to be an important factor with respect to mine ramp-up and production rates.

Labour

Mill operating contractor, Tailing Technology ("TT"), has reported to the Company that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union ("AMCU") was recently recognized by them with approximately a 58% membership (approximately 62 people). AMCU has provided a set of demands and TT is in negotiations with AMCU. TT and AMCU met with the South African Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on March 31, 2017 for mediation, unfortunately no agreement was reached, and as a result the commission is reported to have issued a strike certificate on April 3, 2017. If AMCU wishes to take strike action, they must provide 48 hours written notice. TT advises the Company that they are striving to find a solution and that they remain confident they will be able to run the Maseve mill and limit any potential disruptions if AMCU chooses to go on strike.

Outlook

Delays in underground development, stoping rates and planned tonnages have resulted in ounce production delays. Such delays have had, and will continue to have, a negative impact on working capital requirements until sufficient mined stoped material is produced to allow mine operations to generate positive cash flow.

As a result of the production performance for the first calendar quarter, estimated calendar 2017 annual production guidance, based on the current mine plan, is adjusted from 100,000 ounces 4E to 85,000 ounces 4E.

The Company plans to report on the operational and financial details of its second fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2017 on or before April 14, 2017.

The Company is currently working with BMO Capital Markets and Macquarie Capital to review and assess corporate and asset level strategic alternatives.

About Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Platinum Group, based in Johannesburg, South Africa and Vancouver, Canada, has a successful track record with more than 20 years of experience in exploration, mine discovery, mine construction and mine operations.

Formed in 2002, Platinum Group holds significant mineral rights and large scale reserves of platinum and palladium in the Bushveld Igneous Complex of South Africa, which is host to over 70% of the world's primary platinum production. The Company is currently focused on ramping up the Maseve Mine, its first near-surface platinum mine, to commercial production and on expanding reserves.

Platinum Group has delineated new low cost, near surface reserves on the North Limb of the Bushveld Complex on the Waterberg Project. Waterberg represents a new bulk type of large scale, shallow low cost platinum, palladium and gold deposit. Waterberg is one of the only large scale dominantly palladium deposits in the world.

Qualified Person

R. Michael Jones, P.Eng., the Company's President, Chief Executive Officer and a significant shareholder of the Company, is a non-independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is responsible for preparing the technical information contained in this news release. He has verified the data by reviewing the detailed information of the geological and engineering staff and the Independent Qualified Person reports as well as visiting the site regularly.

On behalf of the Board of Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

"Frank R. Hallam"

CFO and Director

Disclosure

The Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE MKT LLC have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding anticipated or potential developments at the Maseve Mine including development and construction activities, conveyor details, improved stoping and tramming, access to Block 11, mine plans, production trends and estimates, cost estimates, contractor and labour developments, the potential for a strike and the potential results thereof, and production and cost efficiencies; future cash flow and the effects of developments on cash flow; corporate and asset level strategic alternatives; the potential for expanding reserves; the potential economics of the Waterberg Project, if developed; ramp-up and potential achievement of commercial production at the Maseve Mine; the Company's key objectives;

and the Company's plans and estimates regarding exploration, studies, development, construction, production, cash flows and other activities and developments. Statements of mineral resources and mineral reserves also constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they represent estimates of mineralization that will be encountered on a property and/or estimates regarding future costs, revenues and other matters. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including risks related to indebtedness; the Company's capital requirements may exceed its current expectations; the uncertainty of cost, operational and economic projections; the ability of the Company to negotiate and complete future funding transactions; variations in market conditions; the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located; metal prices; other prices and costs; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities; the Company's ability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; risks related to contractor performance and labour disruptions; and other risk factors described in the Company's Form 40-F annual report, annual information form and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively.

Cautionary Note to U.S. and other Investors

Estimates of mineralization and other technical information included or referenced in this press release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The definitions of proven and probable reserves used in NI 43-101 differ from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7. Under SEC Industry Guide 7 standards, a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. As a result, the reserves reported by the Company in accordance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as "reserves" under SEC standards. In addition, the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Additionally, disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian securities laws; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measurements. Accordingly, information contained or referenced in this press release containing descriptions of the Company's mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

Contacts:

R. Michael Jones

President

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Vancouver

(604) 899-5450 / Toll Free: (866) 899-5450



Kris Begic

Corporate Development

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Vancouver

(604) 899-5450 / Toll Free: (866) 899-5450

www.platinumgroupmetals.net




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Dynasty Metals & Mining Inc. ("Dynasty" or the "Company") (TSX: DMM) (OTCQX: DMMIF) is pleased to announce the completion of a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of a secured convertible debenture of the Company in the aggregate principal amount of US$500,000 (the "Debenture") to Credipresto S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.N.R. ("Credipresto").

The Debenture matures two (2) years from the date of issuance, bears interest at a rate of 12% per annum payable quarterly in cash and is fully secured through a pledge of all the issued and outstanding share capital of Elipe S.A., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, ranking behind the outstanding loans from Vertex Managed Value Portfolio and Vertex Enhanced Income Fund. The principal amount of the Debenture is convertible at any time at the option of the holder into common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") at a price of CAD$0.25 per Common Share, based on a Canadian dollar/US dollar exchange rate of 1.3322. An aggregate of up to 2,664,400 Common Shares are issuable by the Company on conversion of the Debenture, representing approximately 3.03% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on completion of the Private Placement.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Private Placement for working capital and general corporate purposes.

In connection with the Private Placement, the Company issued to Credipresto warrants to purchase 750,000 Common Shares (the "Warrants") in lieu of a cash corporate finance fee. Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional Common Share at a price of CAD$0.33 per Common Share for a period of two (2) years from the date of issuance. In connection with the Private Placement, Credipresto has also agreed to forgive debt outstanding by the Company in the aggregate amount of CAD$50,000.

About Dynasty Metals & Mining Inc.

Dynasty Metals & Mining Inc. is a Canadian based mining company involved in the mining, exploration and development of mineral properties in Ecuador. The Company is currently focused on gold production and continued development at its Zaruma Gold Project. The Company also owns the Dynasty Goldfield Project, a permitted property 180km southwest of the Zaruma project, and the Jerusalem Project, an exploration property immediately south of the Fruta del Norte project.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.dynastymining.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains statements which are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking information" which are prospective in nature. Such information in this news release includes statements regarding the intended use of proceeds from the Private Placement. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause Dynasty's actual results, revenues, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Important risks that could cause Dynasty's actual results, revenues, performance or achievements to differ materially from Dynasty's expectations include, among other things, risks found in Dynasty's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Other than in accordance with regulatory obligations, Dynasty is not under any obligation and Dynasty expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Keith Piggott

CEO

Suite 1502 - 1166 Alberni Street

Vancouver, B.C. V6E 3Z3

Email: info@dynastymining.com






BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The euro declined against its key counterparts in the European session on Tuesday, after polls showed centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are closely tied in the first round of voting in French Presidential election, ahead of the second televised debate tonight.



A Cevipof poll for Le Monde newspaper showed that Macron and Le Pen have equal support in the first round of elections on April 23, with both counting on 25 percent of votes.



The poll predicted that Macron would beat Le Pen by 61 percent to 39 percent in the second round of election on May 7.



The Presidential candidates are set to face each other in a second televised debate on Tuesday evening.



Investors also look forward to this week's crucial summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with trade issues and North Korea's nuclear development expected to be high on the agenda.



As the talks loom, China's chief diplomat Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the first summit between the heads of the world's two biggest economies will be of 'great significance' for global peace.



Data from Eurostat showed that Eurozone retail trade volume grew more than expected in February largely reflecting higher clothing and footwear sales.



Retail sales climbed 0.7 percent month-on-month in February, faster than the revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January. The monthly rate was faster than the expected 0.5 percent.



The euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals in the Asian session. While the euro held steady against the greenback and the franc, it fell against the Japanese yen. Against the pound, the currency firmed.



The euro declined to 117.57 against the Japanese yen, a level unseen since November 2016. Continuation of the euro's downtrend may see it challenging support around the 116.00 zone.



Data from the Bank of Japan showed that Japan's monetary base rose 20.3 percent on year in March, coming in at 436.263 trillion yen.



That follows the 21.4 percent spike in February.



Pulling away from an early high of 1.0675 against the greenback, the euro slipped to 1.0644. The euro is poised to challenge support around the 1.04 region.



The single currency edged down to 1.0679 against the Swiss franc, from a high of 1.0690 hit at 10:15 pm ET. The next possible support for the euro-franc pair is seen around the 1.04 level.



The 19-nation currency eased back to 0.8546 against the pound, following a 4-day high of 0.8587 hit at 1:15 am ET. On the downside, 0.835 is likely seen as the next possible support for the euro-pound pair.



Survey results from IHS Markit showed that the UK construction sector growth slowed slightly in March.



The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 52.2 in March from 52.5 in February. The score was expected to remain unchanged at 52.5.



Looking ahead, U.S. trade data, factory orders and durable goods orders for February as well as Canada trade data for the same month are slated for release in the New York session.



At 10:30 am ET, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is expected to speak at the European Central Bank's launching of the new 50 banknote, in Frankfurt.



At 4:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo will deliver a speech titled 'Departing Thoughts' at Princeton University.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Supplemented by the Consolidated Financial Statements for the year 2016 The Board of Panevezio statybos trestas AB proposes the following draft resolutions to be adopted at the Annual General Shareholders' Meeting to be held at 11:00 on Friday, 21 April 2017, at Puzino Str. 1, Panevezys:



1. The conclusions of the audit regarding the Financial Statements and Annual Report of the Company for the year 2016 .



Information heard.



1. The Annual Report of the Company for the year 2016 .



Information heard.



1. Approval of the set of Financial Statements of the Company for the year 2016.



To approve the sets of Consolidated and Individual Financial Statements of Panevezio statybos trestas AB for the year 2016.



1. Appropriation of profit (loss) of the Company for the year 2016 .



To approve the following appropriation of profit (loss) of Panevezio statybos trestas AB:



Unappropriated profit (loss) of the previous financial year at the end of the accounting financial year - 31,609,648 EUR;



Dividends paid - -261,976 EUR;



Net profit (loss) of the accounting financial year - 1,791,365 EUR;



Profit (loss) of the accounting financial year unrecognized in profit (loss) statement - 73,187 EUR;



Transfers from reserves - 0 EUR;



Contributions of shareholders to cover the loss of the Company (in case of the shareholders' decision to cover all or a part of loss) - 0 EUR;



Total profit (loss) available for appropriation - 33,212,224 EUR;



a part of profit to the legal reserve - 0 EUR;



a part of profit to the reserve for the acquisition of own shares - 0 EUR;



a part of profit to other reserves - 0 EUR;



a part of profit for dividend paying - 0 EUR;



a part of profit for bonuses (tantiemes) for the members of the Board and Supervisory Board, premium pays for employees and other purposes - 0 EUR;



Unappropriated profit (loss) at the end of the accounting financial year transferred to the next financial year - 33,212,224 EUR.



1. Election of the members for the audit committee.



To elect the following members to the audit committee:



-- Drasutis Liatukas (as an independent member) -- Irena Kriauciuniene (as an independent member) -- Lina Rageliene --



Dalius Gesevicius



Managing Director



Panevezio statybos trestas AB



Information



Phone: (+370 45) 505 503



Attachment:

https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623869

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
PLEASANTON, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- SlashNext, the leader in advanced protection against socially engineered attacks, malware, exploits and data theft, today announced the closing of $9 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners and Wing Venture Capital. Both Promod Haque of Norwest Venture Partners and Gaurav Garg of Wing Venture Capital will join the board of directors as a part of the new round. This investment brings the company's total funding to date to over $10 million.

"SlashNext is focused on detecting and blocking threats across a broad spectrum, which is the most important characteristic of a cyber security product," said Promod Haque, senior managing partner at Norwest Venture Partners. "With some estimating the worldwide spending on cybersecurity to top $1 trillion in the next five years, the SlashNext team is well-positioned with their deep expertise in the market to build solutions that will combat the dramatic rise in cybercrime."

The company is keenly focused on ease-of-use and a simplified, organized presentation of the most important data. By providing only the critical information necessary to understand the immediacy of a threat and what must be done to mitigate it, the SlashNext Active Cyber Defense System enables IT and security teams to respond to what's really important.

"The SlashNext product has the unique ability to not only stop the most advanced malware, but also socially engineered attacks that spread through social media, email and messaging apps, all without the need for end point agents," said Atif Mushtaq, CEO and founder of SlashNext. "Some of the most significant breaches in modern times have started through hard to detect social engineering attacks. Just think about the latest DNC hack where Russian threat actors compromised John Podesta's email account by simply providing a phishing link to a fake Gmail login page. "

"The threat landscape has evolved to the point where products engineered more than a decade ago are failing," said Gaurav Garg, founding partner of Wing Venture Capital. "SlashNext's powerful and easy-to-deploy software is far more effective than existing solutions, detecting a significant number of intrusions that they miss."

SlashNext's user interface is simple, elegant and easy to use, but behind the scenes, SlashNext implements a cloud-based "Progressive Learning" machine specifically designed to tackle today's broad range of web-based cyber-attacks. Unlike other products that use off-the-shelf machine learning algorithms, or older signature and sandbox based technologies that only focus on files, SlashNext's progressive learning is able to precisely identify not only file-based threats, but also non-file based threats such as data theft and socially engineered attacks as well.

Because of its network-based approach, the SlashNext Active Cyber Defense System protects all network devices including all versions of Window, OSX, Linux, iOS devices, IoT devices, smart TVs, printers, medical devices and SCADA systems. Additionally, since the system does not rely solely on intercepting and examining payloads, it is equally effective when monitoring encrypted traffic -- there is no need to decrypt and then re-encrypt traffic. With no software required on end points and zero policy configuration, system deployment takes about 20 minutes -- even in very large networks.

The system is in full production and has been adopted by a significant list of leading edge customers. It is available for a single cost-effective annual or 3-year subscription that includes all hardware and support costs.

About SlashNext

http://slashnext.com.

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners is a global venture capital and growth equity investment firm that manages more than $6 billion in capital. The firm targets early to late stage venture and growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including: technology, information services, business services, financial services, consumer products/services and healthcare. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Norwest has offices in San Francisco and New York, and subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. The firm has funded more than 600 companies since inception. For more information, please visit http://www.nvp.com.

About Wing Venture Capital

Founded in 2013, Wing Venture Capital is the best-of-breed venture capital firm devoted to early-stage, long-term company building in business technology. Wing emphasizes craftsmanship over volume, and engages deeply with founders to help them create companies that matter. The body of work of Wing's award-winning team spans more than two decades and dozens of successful early-stage companies, 16 of which went on to achieve billion-dollar-plus outcomes following IPOs or acquisitions. For more information, please visit http://www.wing.vc.

Contact:

Kate Dishaw

kdishaw@nvp.com






BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were mixed on Tuesday, as declines in banks and automakers were offset by gains in commodity-related stocks.



Underlying sentiment remained somewhat cautious as investors awaited this week's crucial summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with trade issues and North Korea's nuclear development expected to be high on the agenda.



Markets eye the latest French presidential election debate later in the day, with polls showing centrist presidential contender Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen taking the top two spots in the first round on April 23.



U.K. politics also remained in focus after Prime Minister Theresa May's claim that 'no deal is better than a bad deal' has been criticized as unsubstantiated by a parliamentary committee.



The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was marginally lower at 379.30 in late opening deals after losing half a percent in the previous session.



The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index were little changed with a negative bias while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was moving up 0.4 percent amid persistent pound weakness.



Automakers BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Peugeot and Renault fell 1-2 percent after U.S. auto sales figures for March came in below expectations.



Banks also moved lower, with BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank falling 1-3 percent after U.S. Treasury yields hit a five-week low overnight.



South Africa-exposed Old Mutual and Investec fell over 2 percent as S&P downgraded the country's credit rating to sub-investment grade with a negative outlook, citing heightened political and institutional uncertainties.



Swiss engineering firm ABB rose half a percent after announcing the acquisition of Austria -based machine and factory automation company Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH for an undisclosed amount.



Commodity-related stocks such as BHP Billiton, BP Plc, Glencore, Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto and Total SA rose between 0.3 percent and 1 percent.



Imagination Technologies climbed 7.5 percent on bargain hunting after plunging over 60 percent on Monday following Apple's announcement to ditch the graphics chips designed by the company.



In economic releases, Eurozone retail trade volume grew more than expected in February largely reflecting higher clothing and footwear sales, data from Eurostat revealed.



Retail sales climbed 0.7 percent month-on-month in February, faster than the revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January.



Separately, survey results from IHS Markit showed that the U.K. construction sector growth slowed slightly in March. The headline PMI dropped to 52.2 from 52.5 in February.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Boeing Co. (BA) confirmed Tuesday the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement or MOA with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airline's intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion. The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs. Deliveries would be scheduled to start in 2022. Boeing said it negotiated the MOA under authorizations from the U.S. government following a determination that Iran had met its obligations under the nuclear accord signed in 2015. Boeing will look to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval to perform under this transaction. The company noted that it continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Iran's airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran's airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, an aerospace sale of this magnitude creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States. 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.
As published in announcement no. 14/2017 dated 27 February 2017 the extraordinary general meeting finally adopted the reduction of the company's share capital by cancellation of 290,000 treasury shares. The deadline has now expired for the creditors to prove their claims in the Company, in accordance with the Danish Companies Act  192, art. 1. Thus the Company's Supervisory Board decided to reduce the share capital. The capital reduction is registered in the Danish Business Authority. After the reduction, the share capital amounts to a nominal value of DKK 45,714,190 divided on 9,142,838 shares at DKK 5. Yours sincerely Peter Rpke CEO Questions and further information CEO Peter Rpke, tel: +45 96 32 23 00 Homepage: www.rtx.dk Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623884

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.
SAN DIEGO (dpa-AFX) - Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) said that Qualcomm River Holdings B.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has extended the offering period of its cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding common shares of NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI). The tender offer is now scheduled to expire on September 22, 2017, unless extended or earlier terminated, in either case pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement. American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, the depositary for the tender offer, has advised Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. that as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 23, 2017, the last business day prior to the announcement of the extension of the offer, 23.48 million NXP common shares (excluding 18,439 shares tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures that have not yet been delivered in settlement or satisfaction of such guarantee), representing approximately 6.9% of the outstanding NXP common shares, have been validly tendered pursuant to the tender offer and not properly withdrawn. The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar 2017. 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.
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Generation NEXT Franchise Brands (OTCQB: VEND) reports franchise bookings for its third fiscal quarter ending March 31st, 2017. The franchisor, whose Reis & Irvy's frozen yogurt robots launched in April of 2016, followed up a strong second quarter of bookings, aggregating $5.5 million, showing additional growth throughout fiscal quarter three and continued expansion across their network with the addition of 34 new franchises appointed.

As franchising growth continues the company also focused attention throughout the third quarter on the research and procurement of high-traffic locations for its franchisee units which resulted in agreements with 70 additional new and noteworthy locations including:

Showplace IMAX Cinemas-IN

Seattle Central University-WA

Montgomery Zoo-AL

Fort Gordon-GA

Clayton State University-GA

Piedmont Henry Hospital-GA

Buckley Airforce Base-CO

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center-LA

Fort Sam Houston-TX

Lackland Air Force Base-TX

"Our franchise platform is completely built, we have begun securing premium locations for our franchisees and we are eager to see this technology successfully launched in the coming fiscal quarters with the intention of installing most, if not all of the 650 units sold to date, and recognizing the $23,500,000 of estimated deferred revenue on our books well before fiscal 2018 ends," said Nick Yates, Chairman of Generation NEXT Franchise Brands.

For more information on the revolutionary Froyo Robots or to learn more about how you can own your own Reis & Irvy's Froyo Robot franchise, visit the Reis & Irvy's website at reisandirvys.com. To learn more about Generation NEXT Franchise Brands or their family of brands, including Reis & Irvy's, Fresh Healthy Vending or 19 Degrees, please visit www.gennextbrands.com or call toll free 888-902-7558.

This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. No Reis & Irvy's franchises will be sold to any resident of any state until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such state and the required FDD (if any) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. Currently, the following states in the United States regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you reside in one of these states, or even if you reside elsewhere, you may have certain rights under applicable franchise laws or regulations.

Generation NEXT Franchise Brands

Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, based in San Diego, California, is a publicly traded company on the OTC Markets trading under the symbol: VEND. Generation NEXT Franchise Brands is parent company to Fresh Healthy Vending LLC, the market's leading healthy-choice vending machine franchise, Reis and Irvy's, Inc., the world's first robotic frozen yogurt vending kiosk, 19 Degrees, a corporate-focused frozen yogurt kiosk brand and Generation NEXT Vending Robots, our newly established owner/operator model. The Company hosts over 350 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision.

Cautionary note on forward-looking statements

Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Generation NEXT's actual results are described in Generation NEXT's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-Q's for the quarterly periods ended December 31, 2016 and September 30, 2016, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Generation NEXT's current beliefs and expectations. Generation NEXT undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Contact:

Generation NEXT Franchise Brands

info@gennextbrands.com




REDWOOD CITY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Synthego, a leading provider of genome engineering solutions, today announces the winners of its $100,000 synthetic sgRNA grant giveaway. Based on the overwhelming interest and the quality of applications received, the original goal of awarding five winners was extended to include three additional grant recipients, each receiving $20,000 worth of synthetic sgRNA for CRISPR genome editing.

The eight winners of the grant include:

1. George Washington University 2. John Wayne Cancer Institute 3. Michigan State University 4. University of California San Diego 5. University of Florida 6. University of Freiburg Medical Center 7. University of Oxford 8. VIB (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie)

The grant enables these institutions to more effectively conduct CRISPR genome engineering research in a number of application areas. John Wayne Cancer Institute, for example, is conducting research on translational molecular medicine, and the University of California San Diego is exploring the ability of neurons to grow following spinal cord injuries.

"Our research on translational molecular medicine and molecular oncology requires the highest efficiency and consistency of experiments. With the use of synthetic sgRNA for cancer genome editing, I am convinced that the results will be significantly superior to other methods," said Diego Marzese, PhD, Assistant Professor, John Wayne Cancer Institute.

"The use of IVT kits can produce varying quality of gRNA for our axon growth experiments depending on the target sequence. Our use of synthetic sgRNA would be to greatly reduce or eliminate such inconsistencies to achieve higher editing efficiencies," said Cedric Geoffroy, PhD, Assistant Project Scientist II, Department of Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego.

Areas of research represented by the winners are broad and varied: research in gene therapy for a rare immunodeficiency disorder, AD-HIES; cattle fertility and embryonic development; models for studying Alzheimer's disease; Hyper-immunoglobulin E Syndrome; development of applications to treat invasive bladder cancer; translational molecular medicine for cancer; stem cell development in marine organisms; determining the genome characteristics of butterfly wing patterns.

"We are impressed by the quality and number of applicants," said Ted Tisch, COO at Synthego. "The broad scope of applications shows the variety and nearly limitless applications of CRISPR genome engineering. Synthego is proud to play a role in advancing research worldwide."

Synthego is committed to supporting scientific research around the world, and is actively working with leading institutions as well as key opinion leaders in the field of CRISPR genome engineering.

For more information on Synthego visit: www.synthego.com.

About Synthego

Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Synthego is a leading provider of genome engineering solutions. The company's flagship product, CRISPRevolution, is a portfolio of synthetic RNA designed for CRISPR genome editing and research. Synthego's vision is to bring precision and automation to genome engineering, enabling rapid and cost-effective research with consistent results for every scientist.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Synthego customers include leading institutions in over 30 countries around the world and 10 of the top 10 global biology and biochemistry universities.

Media Contact

Jessica Garcia

Uproar PR for Synthego

321-236-0102

Email Contact or Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Graphite One Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: GPH)(OTCQB: GPHOF) ("Graphite One", "GPH" or the "Company") notes that its Graphite Creek development project located near Nome, Alaska was included among the infrastructure projects introduced into testimony to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, at its March 30, 2017 hearing, entitled "The potential for infrastructure improvements to create jobs and reduce the cost of living through all-of-the-above energy and mineral production in Alaska."

In written testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources oversight hearing, Alaska's State Geologist, Steve Masterman, listed the Graphite Creek Project among the state's "significant potential development and infrastructure projects." Mr. Masterman noted:

"The Graphite Creek Project Located on the Seward Peninsula, approximately 50 miles from Nome, this is the largest graphite deposit in the United States and could supply the nation's graphite needs for decades. Natural graphite is a "Supply Critical Mineral", and currently there is no domestic production. Infrastructure needed for the project is anticipated to include a 16-mile, all-season access road and a power generating facility. In addition, the project is exploring opportunities to locate their graphite reprocessing facility in Alaska, which, with infrastructure and financing support, would be an additional boost for local employment and economics."

Joy Baker, Port of Nome director, testified that her agency includes the Graphite One project among its infrastructure priorities:

"The world-class Graphite Creek prospect near Nome has attracted significant interest and it has been characterized as the largest and highest grade large flake graphite deposit in the U.S. Its development is very close and the Port of Nome will play a key role in both in supporting its development, and exporting the raw material for refining in Alaska or in the Lower 48."

"We are pleased to see Alaska state officials include our project in their infrastructure plans as outlined to the U.S. Senate," said Anthony Huston, CEO of Graphite One. "Graphite Creek has the potential to provide a secure U.S. source of a material critical to high-tech, green-tech and national security applications."

The Senate hearing and written testimony can be found at: https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=0293C1AE-DB44-42B1-8EFB-B14AEFAD57E1

OTCQB Listing

Effective April 3, 2017, the Company will be listed on the OTCQB.

ABOUT GRAPHITE ONE RESOURCES INC.

GRAPHITE ONE RESOURCES INC. (TSX VENTURE: GPH)(OTCQB: GPHOF) continues to develop its Graphite One Project (the "Project"), whereby the Company could potentially become the dominant American producer of high grade Coated Spherical Graphite ("CSG") that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG primarily for the lithium-ion electric vehicle battery market. As set forth in the Company's Preliminary Economic Assessment, potential graphite mineralization mined from the Company's Graphite Creek Property, is expected to be processed into concentrate at a graphite processing plant. The proposed processing plant would be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on the Seward Peninsula about 60 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. CSG and other value-added graphite products, would likely be manufactured from the concentrate at the Company's proposed graphite product manufacturing facility, the location of which is the subject of further study and analysis. The Company intends to make a production decision on the Project once a feasibility study is completed.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ANTHONY HUSTON

For more information on Graphite One Resources Inc. please visit the Company's website, www.GraphiteOneResources.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that are deemed to be forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements that are clearly historical in nature, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "proposes", "expects", or "is expected", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "intends", "assumes", "believes", "indicates" or variations of such words and phrases that state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information in this release includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the stage and progress of development of the Graphite Creek Project including the ability to create jobs and reduce the cost of living in Alaska, to supply graphite needs for decades, the ability to provide a secure source of graphite to certain industries, the anticipated applications of graphite in high-tech, clean tech, energy storage and national security applications, are all forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: (i) volatile stock price, (ii) the results of the product development test work may not be indicative of the advancement of the project as anticipated, or at all, (iii) market prices, (iv) exploitation and exploration successes, (v) continuity of mineralization, (vi) uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, (vii) changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, (viii) competition faced in securing experienced personnel, access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities and continued availability of capital and financing, and (ix) general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Contacts:

Anthony Huston

CEO, President & Director

(604) 697-2862

AnthonyH@GraphiteOneResources.com



Investor Relations Contact

1-604-684-6730

GPH@kincommunications.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Tower One Wireless Corp (CSE: TO)(OTCBB: TOWTF)(FRANKFURT: 1P3N) ("Tower One" or the "Company") announces it has acquired a 90% interest in an established Telecom services and site acquisition company ("Service Company"). The Service Company currently provides site acquisition and licensing to the Telecom Industry in Colombia. Since the Service Company was established in 2005, it has successfully completed the lease/purchase of over 300 Cellular Sites (Real Estate), and has been contracted by all the major Telecom operators in Colombia. This strategic acquisition gives Tower One additional extensive experience in an area essential to its core business.

Alex Ochoa, CEO of Tower One, states: "Tower One will build its international real estate portfolio utilizing the expertise of the Service Company's team. The Service Company has assisted major telecom operators in the acquisition of over 300 sites. Tower One is also happy to add the 5 current Build to Suit opportunities to our pipeline of projects while we await the result of significant tower bids we've made earlier this quarter."

Site Acquisition is a vital component of all Build to Suit ("BTS") cellular tower opportunities. This will allow Tower One to expand its business to physical real estate that is an extension of the tower infrastructure in place at tower construction sites. These contracts are similar to the tower lease contracts in that the real estate under the towers will be subject to long-term leases. The real estate model commands high yields relative to the acquisition cost, allowing Tower One another revenue stream within the industry. Current competitors account for over 10% of revenue coming from this component of the tower business. Real estate is traditionally 15x15 square metres or custom to the tower base size needed to support vertical infrastructure.

The current notable value of the Service Company are as follows:

-- Pipeline of over 500+ potential land acquisitions where existing towers are currently located -- Current Portfolio of Search Rings (5) to enable towers on a BTS Basis

The Services Company carries no liabilities.

About Tower One Wireless Corp

Tower One builds, owns, and leases a portfolio of wireless infrastructure assets to wireless carriers on long term contracts. Tower One is the only publicly traded small cap entry into the tower and wireless infrastructure industry; It is operated by a team of Telecom and finance professionals with a long history of success in the telecom and wireless infrastructure business. Management voluntarily placed 30 million shares into a complete 3 year lock-up with no shares to be released during this period. Tower One Wireless is currently focused on 4G & 5G LTE infrastructure expansion in Latin America.

We seek Safe Harbor.

The CSE has not reviewed, and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

All information in this press release concerning Tower One Wireless Corp has been provided for inclusion herein by Tower One Wireless Corp. Although the Company has no knowledge that would indicate that any information contained herein concerning Tower One is untrue or incomplete, the Company assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any such information.

Contacts:

Tower One Wireless Corp

Robert "Nick" Horsley

Director

(604) 559-8051

nick@toweronewireless.com




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CGP) (FRANKFURT: GWN) (BERLIN: GWN) (OTCBB: CTNXF) announces the following project update for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador.

Figures and photographs referred to in this news release can be seen in PDF format by accessing the version of this release on the Company's website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or by clicking on the link below:

http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR17-07Figures.pdf.

HIGHLIGHTS:

-- Hole 19 final results return: -- 1344m @ 0.44 % copper and 0.28 g/t gold from 268m (0.62% CuEQ at 0.10% CuEq cut-off, true width: 484m), including: -- 980m @ 0.55 % copper and 0.36 g/t gold from 514m (0.78% CuEq at 0.30% CuEq cut-off, true width: 353m), and -- 552m @ 0.68 % copper and 0.45 g/t gold from 822m (0.96% CuEq at 0.5% CuEq cut-off, true width: 199m). -- Hole 20R intersects strongly mineralized porphyry clasts within hydrothermal breccia returning open ended intersection of: -- 498.4m @ 0.20% copper and 0.15 g/t gold from 844m (0.29% CuEq at 0.10% CuEq cut-off, true width: 130m), including: -- 126.0m @ 0.27 % copper and 0.32 g/t gold from 1136m (0.47% CuEq at 0.30% CuEq cut-off, true width: 33m), and -- 44.0m @ 0.27 % copper and 0.58 g/t gold from 1202m (0.64% CuEq at 0.50% CuEq cut-off, true width: 11m). -- Hole 21 intersects copper sulphide mineralization from around 685m to 1610m depth. Assay results for Hole 21 are expected in late April 2017. -- Hole 22 intersects copper sulphide mineralization from 253m to approximately 1150m depth. Assay results for Hole 22 are expected early in April 2017. -- Hole 23R intersects hydrothermal breccia and strong phyllic alteration, with the presence of mineralized porphyry clasts in parts of the breccia. Hole 23R, at a current depth of 277.0m, is planned to intersect deep untested pockets of mineralization up to 1800m below surface and has a planned hole depth of at least 2000m. -- Hole 24 continues drilling at Alpala Southeast, at a current depth of 552.0m testing some 570m to the southeast of Hole 23R. Hole 24 is planned to extend the known mineralized corridor at Alpala to some 1150m from Hole 13 in the northwest. -- Hole 25 continues drilling at Hematite Hill, at a current depth of 377.7m testing some 250m to the southeast of Hole 23R. To date Hole 25 has intersected hydrothermal breccia with strong phyllic alteration and trace chalcopyrite mineralization, and has a planned hole depth of 2000m. -- A 4th man-portable rig will arrive at site early in April 2017. Arrival of Rigs 4, 5, 6 and 7 over the coming two quarters will also see drill testing expanding to Alpala East, Alpala West, Carmen, Trivino and Aguinaga by mid-year.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The Cascabel Project is located within the gold-rich northern section of the Andean Copper belt (Figure 1). The project area hosts mineralization of Eocene age, the same age as numerous Tier 1 deposits along the Andean Copper Belt in Chile and Peru to the south. The project base is located at Rocafuerte, in northwestern Ecuador just west of the City of Ibarra, approximately 3 hours drive north of Quito and close to water, power supply and Pacific Ports (Figure 2).

Fifteen individual targets have been defined at Cascabel. SolGold, the operator of the Project, has successfully drill tested three of the fifteen targets, being Alpala Central, Alpala Northwest, and Hematite Hill. Drill testing of a fourth target, at Alpala Southeast is currently under way (Hole 24) (Figure 3). The deposit at Alpala continues to grow with each new drill hole. Current drilling focusses on defining the geometry of the growing Alpala deposit, which is open in virtually all directions. Over 33,000m of drilling has been completed to date, and the arrival of Rigs 4, 5, 6 and 7 over the coming two quarters will see drill testing expanding to Alpala East, Alpala West, Trivino and Aguinaga by mid-year. The drilling program ramps up towards eight drilling rigs by year end, which will also see drill testing of the Tandayama-America prospect. (Figure 4).

Hole 19 results were previously reported on February 14, 2017 up to a depth of 1400m. Final results received for the remainder of the hole from 1400m to end of hole at 1632.52m returned final updated results of:

-- 1344m @ 0.44 % copper and 0.28 g/t gold from 268m (0.62% CuEq at 0.10% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 484m), including -- 980m @ 0.55 % copper and 0.36 g/t gold from 514m (0.78% CuEq at 0.30% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 353m), and -- 552m @ 0.68 % copper and 0.45 g/t gold from 822m (0.96% CuEq at 0.5% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 199m).

Note: Drill hole intercepts and Copper Equivalent (CuEQ) calculations are defined in the Logging, sampling, assaying and reporting section of this news release.

Very long broad halo intersections of well over a kilometre like this encountered in Hole 19 are very common at Alpala and hold exploration significance, as they confirm the very robust nature of the mineralizing system being defined, and support the strong geochemical and spectral alteration footprint of the growing Alpala deposit. The position of Hole 19 is shown in cross-section B-B' in Figure 8.

Hole 20 (CSD-16-020) was abandoned at 157.0m depth after drilling contractors experienced technical difficulties downhole. This hole was re-drilled as Hole 20R (CSD-16-020R) which reached a depth of 1342.4m before it was suspended on February 28, 2017 for reassessment of the deep directional diamond drilling strategy. Solgold has since appointed an accomplished directional drilling contractor for this task in the coming program. Directional core drilling allows controlled deviation of the borehole path and/or multiple branches from a parent hole, saving the cost, effort and uncertainty involved in multiple single holes. Hole 20R has been preserved with casing remaining in the hole and re-entry is planned to test for the source of strongly mineralized porphyry clasts encountered within hydrothermal breccia. Hole 20R to date has returned an open-ended intersection of:

-- 498.4m @ 0.20% copper and 0.15 g/t gold from 844m (0.29% CuEq at 0.10% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 130m), including -- 110.0m @ 0.28 % copper and 0.34 g/t gold from 1136m (0.47% CuEq at 0.30% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 33m), and -- 44.0m @ 0.27 % copper and 0.58 g/t gold from 1202m (0.64% CuEq at 0.50% CuEq cut-off grade, true width: 11m).

These results encountered in Hole 20R, occur approximately 200m outside of and to the northeast of the previously known limit of mineralization, which may indicate the possibility of significant extensions of the deposit to the east and northeast. The position of Hole 20R is shown in cross-section A-A' in Figure 5. A selected example of mineralized porphyry clasts encountered are shown in Figure 6.

Hole 21 (CSD-17-021), situated approximately 250m along strike to the southeast of Holes 16 (856m @ 0.80% Cu, 1.04g/t Au) and 23R, and was completed to a depth of 1619.2m on 17 March 2017. Assay results for Hole 21 are expected late April 2107. Selected examples of mineralization encountered in Hole 21 are shown in Figure 7.

Hole 22 (CSD-17-022) was completed to a depth of 1311.2m on 5th March 2017 testing approximately 130m above Hole 19 from the same drill site. Hole 22 intersected copper sulphide mineralization from 253m to approximately 1150m depth. Multi-directional quartz - chalcopyrite +/-bornite veining is present in some parts of the hole. Assay results for Hole 22 are expected in early April 2017. The position of Hole 22 is shown in cross-section B-B' in Figure 8. Selected examples of mineralization encountered in this hole are shown in Figure 9.

Hole 23 (CSD-17-023) at Alpala Northeast was abandoned at 159.0m depth after drilling contractors experienced technical difficulties downhole, and was redrilled as Hole 23R (CSD-16-023R) which continues drilling at a current depth of 277.0m testing approximately 125m below and in between Holes 12 and 16. To date Hole 23R has intersected hydrothermal breccia and phyllic alteration, with the presence of mineralized porphyry clasts in parts of the breccia. Hole 23R is being drilled sub-vertical to intersect deep untested pockets of mineralization up to 1800m below surface and has a planned hole depth of some 2000m. Position of Hole 23R is shown in cross-section in Figure 8.

Hole 24 (CSD-17-024) continues drilling at Alpala Southeast, at a current depth of 552.0m testing some 570m to southeast of Hole 23R. To date Hole 24 has intersected pyrite and trace chalcopyrite mineralization. Hole 24 lies around 100m north of the Malte Creek system, where chalcopyrite and bornite mineralization was noted in surface geological mapping. The Alpala Southeast prospect area is characterized by coincident Molybdenum and Copper/Zinc soil geochemical highs, as well as intense and advanced argillic alteration identified from soil auger chip spectral analysis with high dickite and pyrophyllite clay content, marking high temperatures of formation. Hole 24 is planned to extend the mineralized corridor at Alpala to some 1150m from Hole 13 in the northwest. Hole 24 has to date intersected pyrite and trace chalcopyrite mineralization and has a planned hole depth of at least 2000m.

Hole 25 (CSD-17-025) continues drilling at Hematite Hill at a current depth of 377.7m, and is being drilled sub-vertical to test for deep pockets of mineralization some 250m to the southeast of Hole 23R. To date Hole 25 has intersected phyllic alteration with trace chalcopyrite mineralization and has a planned hole depth of some 2000m.

Geophysics

Solgold is currently nearing completion of a ground magnetic survey, to be followed by a detailed Orion-Spartan 3D IP survey, and a Lidar topographic control survey across most of the licence area (Figure 10). Progress to date on the ground magnetics survey has reached 85%, ahead of commencement of the 3D IP survey planned for mid-April 2017. This work will not only augment the existing geophysical targets at Alpala and Aguinaga, but further investigate the promising Tandayama-America anomaly and other satellite targets on the property. Following analysis of these datasets, Solgold will further refine drill targets along the Alpala cluster, as well as those at Moran, Aguinaga, and Tandayama-America.

Outlook

Upgrade and expansion of site facilities are well underway at Cascabel as the project continues ramping up. The geology team have yet to define the extent of the Alpala porphyry system, and the deposit remains open in most directions, continuing to grow with each new drill hole. An aggressive drill program, ramping up to ten core-rigs producing around 90,000m of core per annum from early 2018, to delineate the system limits along the greater Alpala trend prior to a maiden resource statement. An increasing understanding of the deposit is now leading to much larger step-outs in drilling as Solgold vectors towards the copper and gold at the large-rich heart of the Alpala system.

About Cascabel:

Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean company owned by SolGold Plc and Cornerstone, holds 100% of the Cascabel concession. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including SolGold's fully funding the project through to feasibility, SolGold Plc will own 85% of the equity of ENSA and Cornerstone will own the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.

Cascabel is located in northwestern Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Llurimaga copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.

Plans:

To date SolGold has completed geological mapping and soil sampling over 25 km2, along with and an additional 9km2 of Induced Polarisation and 14km2 Magnetotelluric "Orion" surveys over the Alpala cluster and Aguinaga targets. SolGold has completed 33,000m of drilling and expended over USD 4M on the program, corporate costs and investments into Cornerstone. Diamond drilling is planned for the next 12 months with multiple drill rigs.

The Company is currently planning further metallurgical testing and completion of an independant Pre-Feasibility Study at Cascabel (which may or may not be the equivalent of a National Instrument 43-101/CIM definition standards Pre-Feasibility Study). SolGold is investigating both high tonnage open cut and underground block caving operations, as well as a high grade / low tonnage initial underground development towards the economic development of the copper gold deposit/s at Cascabel.

Qualified Person:

Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone's Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.

Logging, sampling, assaying and reporting

Holes referred to in this release were or are being drilled using HTW, NTW, NQ and BQ core sizes (respectively 7.1, 5.6, 4.8 and 3.7 cm diameter). Geotechnical measurements such as core recovery, fracturing, rock quality designations (RQD's), specific density and photographic logging are performed systematically prior to assaying. The core is logged, magnetic susceptibility measured and key alteration minerals identified using an on-site portable spectrometer. Core is then sawed in half at the ENSA core logging facility, and half of the core is delivered by ENSA employees for preparation at at ALS Minerals Laboratories (ALS) sample preparation facility in Quito. Core samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (ALS code CRU-31, SPL21 and PUL-32). Prepared samples are then shipped to ALS in Lima, Peru where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (ALS code ME-MSP61, 1g split, 4-acid digestion, ICP-MS finish). Over limit results for Ag (greater than 100 g/t) and Cu, ( greater than 1%) are systematically re-assayed (ALS code Ag-AA62, 4-acid digestion, AAS finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AA finish (ALS code Au-AA23).

Drill hole intercepts are calculated using a data aggregation method, defined by copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Copper equivalent grades are calculated using a gold conversion factor of 0.63, determined using an updated copper price of USD3.00/pound and an updated gold price of USD1300/ounce. Copper equivalent calculation assumes 100% recoveries of copper and gold.

All reported drill core intervals from the Cascabel Property are core lengths, unless otherwise indicated. At present the true thicknesses of all of the holes has not been calculated by SolGold. True width of down hole intersections are estimated by SolGold to be approximately 25-50% of the core length.

Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)

The ALS Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 15-20 samples). Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each core sample and the remaining half-core are stored for future use and controls.

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit. The company's business model is based on generating exploration projects whose subsequent development is funded primarily through partnerships.

Further information is available on Cornerstone's website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter.

Cautionary Notice:

This news release may contain 'Forward-Looking Statements' that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstone's plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words "potential," "anticipate," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "plan," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify 'Forward-Looking Statements.' Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these 'Forward-Looking Statements' are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views subsequent to the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Brooke Macdonald, President and CEO

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.

Contacts:

For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:

Investor Relations:

Mario Drolet

Email: Mario@mi3.ca

Tel. (514) 904-1333




QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Stelmine Canada Ltd. ("Stelmine") (TSX VENTURE: STH)

To assure a successful outcome of its exploration programs on the eastern part of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin, Stelmine has appointed three geologists, each with distinct areas of expertise to its Exploration Committee. They are Robert Wares (Economic Geology and Exploration Specialist), Normand Goulet (Structure) and Michel Boily (Geochemistry and Metallogeny). The latter will be Chairman of the Exploration Committee.

The mandate of the Committee is to provide scientific support to Stelmine exploration teams through goal setting, exploration targets, development of exploration programs, project supervision" and and selection of exploration tools.

"Stelmine has taken an important step toward its development strategy in associating with a high-quality group of specialists who will support the company project of opening a new gold mining camp located in the eastern portion of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin. This highly-specialized expertise combined with an adequate financing could result in the discovery of an important gold discovery in this unexplored region" said Stelmine President and CEO, Isabelle Proulx.

Robert Wares

Mr. Wares holds a PhD in Geology from McGill University and has more than 35 years' experience in mineral exploration, research and development. He is directly responsible for the discovery of the Canadian Malartic high-tonnage gold deposit, which was subsequently developed by Osisko Mining Corporation into one of Canada's largest gold producers. Mr. Wares is currently Executive Vice President, Exploration and Resource Development with Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) and sits on numerous boards of directors including Beaufield, Komet, Arizona, Bowmore, etc. Through his experience and skills, Mr. Wares has been able to develop Quebec's potential in both mineral exploration and mining. He is currently President of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and a member of various organizations. Over the last decade, Dr. Wares has been the recipient of numerous awards from the industry and was awarded an Honorific Doctorate from McGill University.

Normand Goulet

Dr. Normand Goulet (Bsc, Universite de Montreal; DEA and Doctorate, Universite de Grenoble, France and PhD, Queen's University, Kingston) is a full tenured professor in geologya t the Universite du Quebec, Montreal. Dr. Goulet brings a vast expertise in the domain of structural geology, tectonics, deformation of metalliferrous deposits and petrology. He has over forty years of experience managing teams of geologists working for government or private agencies in Canada or abroad. In particular, Dr. Goulet carried out geological studies on themetasedimenary Opinaca basin and participated to the initial exploration work on the Courcy property. Professor Goulet directed several research projects on gold (Abitibi, Dominican Republic, Maroc, Mali), nickel (New Caledonia, Ivory Coast, Albania, James Bay), uranium (Otish and Torngat Mtns.), and on polymetallic mineralization (Nunavut). He further participated in mapping and the completion of a new ecological and metallogenic map of Mali.

Michel Boily

Dr. Boily is an expert geochemist and metallogenist specializing in the interpretation of precious and rare metal deposits in Precambrian volcano-plutonic terranes for the last 25 years. Prior to consulting for the mining industry and government agencies, Dr. Boily was involved as a research associate at MERI/McGill in the study of several rare metals deposits located in the Quebec province; notably the Strange-Lake deposit in Labrador (Zr, Y, REE), the St-Honore mine in the Saguenay area (Nb, REE) and the Quebec Lithium Mine in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt (Li). Since 1992, Dr. Boily has conducted exploration and technical evaluation of gold, base metals and rare metal properties located in Archean greenstone belts and the Grenville Province of Quebec, in the Anti-Atlas Proterozoic windows of Morocco, Northern Mexico, Argentina and Nicaragua. Dr. Boily graduated from the Universite de Montreal in 1988 with a PhD in geochemistry and carried out post-doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. Since 1984, Dr. Boily has been the author of various publications in international scientific journals and has written numerous technical reports. Dr. Boily is currently a registered Professional Geologist in good standing with l'Ordre des Geologues du Quebec.

About Stelmine

Stelmine is a restructuring junior Quebec mining exploration company operating in Quebec. Stelmine holds 707 claims spanning 368 km2 on the eastern part of the Opinaca metasedimentary basin, which contains zones with a high potential for gold deposit discovery in geological contexts similar to the one leading to discovery of the Eleonore Mine. Its capital stock consists of 18,353,884 issued and outstanding shares for a current market capitalization of $5 million

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements made herein may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or the future economic performance of Stelmine and carry known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may appreciably affect their results, economic performance or accomplishments when considered in light of the content or implications or statements made by Stelmine. Actual events or results could be significantly different. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Isabelle Proulx

President and CEO

581-998-1222

info@stelmine.com

www.stelmine.com



Christian Guilbaud

Director

514-813-7862




Telia Carrier today announced that it has extended the reach of its global backbone by adding a new fiber-route between New York City and Chicago. The new express route, along with extra fiber in the New York metro area, further diversifies the wholesale carrier's network and provides enhanced 100G+ service options to carriers, content and cloud providers in New York, Chicago and the United States as a whole.

With the growth of the Internet of Things, enterprise cloud, on-demand streaming and live online gaming, service providers, cloud providers and content delivery networks are consistently driving traffic requirements up. The diversity of Telia Carrier's offerings enables the wholesale carrier to add routing options and points of presence (PoPs) in the New Jersey/New York region, shortening the network path and improving latency. Additionally, the global wholesale carrier uses the latest in next-generation, coherent 100G-ready equipment and modulation formats to provide fast delivery and service turn-up, optimizing the overall customer experience. The new route also improves the efficiency of existing routes, including New York San Francisco and New York Denver.

"Telia Carrier prides itself on customer centricity and our network is designed to support the needs of our customers, bringing tangible 'Power to the User,'" said Stephen Hartman, head of sales, North Americas Region at Telia Carrier. "By shortening the route from Chicago to New York, we can meet burgeoning market demand for high capacity, lower latency services throughout the region. Moreover, we are able improve transport to the West Coast and stay ahead of ever-increasing backbone traffic requirements"

Telia Carrier's global fiber backbone has grown organically, without acquisitions, and is the first to be 100G-enabled in both Europe and North America. It was also the first network to successfully transmit 1 Tb/s on its US network. According to Dyn Research's global backbone rankings, AS1299, Telia Carrier's global IP backbone, is currently ranked top-two. Telia Carrier's rapid growth and ascension through the rankings was recently highlighted in Dyn's 'Baker's Dozen, 2015 edition' report. The company enables worldwide connectivity by connecting more than 220 Points of Presence (PoPs) across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East including over 70 PoPs in North America alone.

Editorial Note: Telia Carrier will be attending WAN Summit in New York, April 3-6 and HostingCon in Los Angeles, April 3-6.

About Telia Carrier

Telia Carrier owns and operates one of the world's most extensive fiber backbones. Our mission is to provide exceptional network infrastructure and services empowering individuals, businesses and societies to execute their most critical activities. By working close to our customers, we make big ideas happen at the speed of fiber.

Discover more at teliacarrier.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005383/en/

Contacts:

Media Enquiries:

Telia Carrier

Rickard Backlin, +46-72-2368327

VP Brand Marketing

rickard.backlin@teliacompany.com

or

Business Enquiries

Stephen Hartman, +1-214-649-4235

head of sales North America

stephen.hartman@teliacompany.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures rallied Tuesday amid lingering risk aversion ahead of the upcoming March jobs report. April gold rose 7 dollars to $1261 an ounce, nearing its highest since November. Stocks were set to open lower, fueling concerns that a correction may be in order with the major averages recently hitting record highs. The Commerce Department's international trade data for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. The economists are looking for consensus of a deficit of $44.5 billion, an improvement when compared to a deficit of $48.5 billion in the previous month. The Commerce Department's Factory Orders for February will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for a growth of one percent, slightly down from 1.2 percent growth a year ago. Federal Reserve Governor, Daniel Tarullo will address Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., with audience Q&A at 4.30 PM 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.
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Whether you are super messy or a neat freak, 303 Products has you covered at home, outdoors and on the go. To help preserve, protect and clean your home, car and beyond, Gold Eagle Co., makers of 303 Products' leading line of protectants and cleaners, is introducing four new, innovative products to its 5-star, award winning lineup.

"As a company, we are driven by innovation and are dedicated to bringing new products to market that meet our consumers' changing needs and demands," said Marc Blackman, CEO of Gold Eagle Co. "The newest additions to the 303 family definitely deliver on our promise to produce high-quality products that protect and preserve the things you love."

The four newest additions to the 303 Products lineup provide consumers with a variety of options to treat their vehicles, home and outdoor spaces with the care they deserve, including:

AUTOMOTIVE

303 Stain Guard for Auto Fabrics protects fabric seats, carpets and floor mats from stains and repels liquids and more, including hot coffee, soda, food, pet stains and dirt and mud. Unlike other products on the market, it is non-flammable and has no harmful fumes, so it is ok to use in the confined car space.

OUTDOOR

303 All Purpose Grill Cleaner & Degreaser is a fast working degreaser formula that quickly cleans away tough grease and flaky black carbon buildup that accumulates on the inside of a grill over time. It's safe for both gas and charcoal grills and also works great to clean and protect the exterior of the grill.

HOME

303 Stain Guard for Indoor Fabric provides stain repellency to indoor fabrics, including sofa cushions, pillows, chairs, tablecloths, drapes and more. It helps prevent stains caused by the messiest culprits, including food, wine, soda, juice, kids, pets and everyday dirt and mud. It is recommended by leading fabric manufacturer, Sunbrella, to restore lost stain resistance on fabrics. Unlike other products on the market, it is non-flammable and has no harmful fumes, so it is safe to use indoors.

303 Multi-Surface Wipes offer a convenient and portable wipe version of its popular 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner spray. The wipes are versatile and can be used on a variety of hard and soft surfaces, including fabrics! Great for quick clean-ups in the house, car, on a boat, on and around patio furniture and on upholstered indoor furniture. It rinses residue free and contains no alcohol.

In addition to the new products, 303 fans will notice the brand has a whole new look. The refreshed packaging features more vibrant colors, lifestyle imagery, as well as descriptive, easy to understand product information.

The new products join the current 5-star line up of 303 Products' cleaners and protectants and are now currently available for purchase at select retailers nationwide*. Learn more about 303 Products at www.303products.com or join the 303 community at www.Facebook.com/303products.

*Product availability will vary by retailer

About Gold Eagle Co.

For 85 years, Gold Eagle Co. has been an industry pioneer in the production and distribution of aftermarket fluids and additives. We create products that help preserve, protect and enhance the performance of engines everywhere. We are a leader in the product development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of branded engine performance and maintenance chemicals. Privately held and headquartered in Chicago, Gold Eagle Co. is the manufacturer of leading brands, including STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer, HEET Gas-Line Antifreeze, NO LEAK Treatments, 104+ Octane Boost, Start Your Engines!, DieselPower! Diesel Additives, 303 Products and TriNova cleaners and protectants. To view our complete line of Gold Eagle products or learn more about the Company, please visit http://www.goldeagle.com or "like" our STA-BIL, 303 Products, Start Your Engines! or Engine Answerman pages on Facebook. For product questions, please call us at 800-621-1251 or follow us on Twitter @GoldEagleHelp.

All trademarks, service marks and trade names, including STA-BIL, HEET, Start Your Engines! , NO LEAK, ALUMASEAL, Gold Eagle, DieselPower! , Golden Touch, 104+, Cool Rides Online, 303 Products, TriNova used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Gold Eagle Co. The aforesaid families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Gold Eagle Co. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3125813



Media Contact:

Bruce Kaufman

Gold Eagle Co.

O: 773.326.6302

M: 847.989.3705

bkaufman@goldeagle.com




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures were higher Tuesday, holding above the key $50 a barrel mark for the fourth straight session. Crude oil May delivery rose 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $50.46, despite renewed production from Libya. The nation's oilfields are back on line after fighting between militants was quelled. Traders are looking forward to U.S. inventories data over the next two days. The American Petroleum Institute is out with its report later today, followed by the Energy Information Administration's official numbers tomorrow morning. The Commerce Department's international trade data for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. Economists are looking for consensus of a deficit of $44.5 billion, an improvement when compared to a deficit of $48.5 billion in the previous month. Factory Orders for February will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of one percent, slightly down from 1.2 percent growth a year ago. 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.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 8, 2017 / Cloud Nine Education Group Ltd. (CSE: CNI) (the "Company" or "Cloud Nine") is pleased to announce that it has closed the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement. The Company issued 1,257,200 units at $0.14 per unit for gross proceeds of $176,008.

The Company intends to use the proceeds from the private placement to meet customer demand for a young learner version of its ESL curriculum and for general working capital.

Company CEO, Michael Hunter, expanded on the reasons for the financing stating, "This financing will help Cloud Nine to protect our shareholders' investment and position the Company to meet our corporate objective of becoming cash flow positive in 2017."

Closing of subsequent tranches of the private placement are subject to all necessary regulatory and stock exchange approvals. All securities issued in connection with the private placement will be subject to a four-month hold period from the date of issue under applicable Canadian securities laws, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada.

About Cloud Nine

Cloud Nine is a Canadian company specializing in the development and sale of its proprietary, cutting-edge Cloud Nine ESL Program. The curriculum is technologically advanced and meets the needs of today's increasingly mobile student. Tablets replace textbooks and the course content includes instructional videos and internet links which learners use to supplement in-class studies.

The licensing fee model employed by the Company provides a competitive alternative to the costs that students have traditionally been forced to endure for printed materials, which are often outdated by time students purchase them. The Company also owns and operates Cloud Nine College, an accredited ESL school located in Vancouver.

For more information regarding Cloud Nine, please contact:

Michael Hunter

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +1.604.377.5572

mhunter@c9eg.com

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains statements including "forward-looking information" ("Forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements in this news release including statements regarding the possible completion of a private placement and the intended use of proceeds from the private placement. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including that the Company is able to obtain any required government or other regulatory approvals to complete the Company's planned private placement and operations and that the Company is able to complete the private placement. However, the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks may include, among others, that the private placement will not complete, actual results of the Company's operations being different than those expected by management and delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required government or other regulatory approvals or financing. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

SOURCE: Cloud Nine Education Group Ltd.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Donald Trump has kept his election campaign pledge to work for free as US president.



In a mini-presentation ceremony during a White House press conference Monday, his first-quarter salary was donated to the National Park Service.



On behalf of the President, Press Secretary Sean Spicer presented a check for $78,333 to the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, and Superintendent of the Harper's Ferry Park site, Superintendent Brandyburg.



He told reporters that the President made the decision after consulting with his Counsel.



The Park Service has cared for our parks since 1916, and the President is personally proud to contribute the first quarter of his salary to the important mission of the Park Service, which is preserving our country's national security, he added.



Speaking to reporters after receiving the check, Zinke, who oversees the park service, said he is going to dedicate it and put it against the infrastructure on the nation's battlefields. 'We're about $100 [million] or $229 million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone, and that's on our 25 national battlefields. And we're excited about that opportunity.'



Earlier in the day, the White House released the official portrait of the First Lady, Melania Trump.



In addition to benefits that come with the job, the American President is paid an annual salary of $400,000 a year. But Trump, who is far wealthier than any President America has seen in modern times, had vowed during the campaign that he did not need taxpayers to compensate him.



His daughter Ivanka Trump, who was allocated an office at the White House, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a senior White House adviser, are working on presidential staff without drawing any salary.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
SUWANEE, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 --SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (OTCQB: SNWV) reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016 with the SEC on Friday, March 31, 2017 and today provided a business update. The Company will host a conference call today, April 4, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Highlights of 2016 and recent weeks:

Recorded record revenue of $1.4 million for the year that included record sales of 45 devices. This is our highest revenue since becoming public in 2009.





Released the 24 week data from the pivotal trials investigating the use of dermaPACE for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers on March 24, 2016. In July 2016, the Company submitted to the FDA a de novo petition requesting the Agency review the classification of the dermaPACE as a Class II device. The Company presented a summary of data analyses of the supplemental trial and of combined data from both Phase III DFU trials.





Focusing on international market and investigating opportunities to address the needs of each country. We are concentrating on three types of relationships: distributors, joint ventures, and exclusivity agreements.



-- Currently in discussions with companies in North America, South America, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and the Middle East.



-- We have signed non-disclosure agreements with various companies in Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Africa.





-- Currently in discussions with companies in North America, South America, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and the Middle East. -- We have signed non-disclosure agreements with various companies in Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Africa. Completed a public equity offering for $1.8 million in gross proceeds from the sale of the Company's stock and warrants which closed on April 15, 2016.





Completed a private equity offering for $1.7 million in gross proceeds from the sale of the Company's stock and warrants which closed on September 23, 2016.





Received three patents as follows:



-- Canadian Pat. No. 2,909,661 from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office entitled "Apparatuses and Methods for Generating Shock Waves for Use in the Energy Industry" that has a patent life to April 2034. The patent includes twenty claims relating to the use of shock waves, generated with laser systems, for hydraulic fracturing of rock formations, which can be employed in both secondary and tertiary oil recovery.



-- U.S. patent number 9,522,011, titled "Shock Wave Applicator with Movable Electrode" that has an expiration date of July 8, 2030. This patent relates to a new electrohydraulic applicator that has either ellipsoidal, parabolic, or spherical reflectors with their aperture intersecting reflector's long axis at a non-perpendicular angle and which allows the shock wave-generating electrodes to be adjusted up and down relatively to the focal point.



-- U.S. patent number 9,566,209 titled "Shock Wave Electrodes with Fluid Holes" that has an expiration date on June 21, 2033. This patent relates to a new construction of the spark gap electrodes used to generate acoustic pressure shock waves in SANUWAVE's devices, which allows a longer useful life for the applicators.

"We had the most eventful year in SANUWAVE's history in 2016. We grew international revenue by 40%, successfully submitted a de novo petition for the dermaPACE device to the FDA and increased our number of patents received and/or applied for from fifty-three to sixty-six" stated Kevin A. Richardson II, CEO and Chairman of the board of SANUWAVE. "In 2017, we expect to add seven to ten new regions or countries to our international portfolio, launch clinical work domestically in the tangential areas for growth and expand our board of directors and scientific advisory board. We also look forward working with the FDA to get our dermaPACE device approved for use in the United States."

2016 Financial Results

Year Ended December 31, 201 Financial Results

Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2016 were $1,376,063, compared to $965,501 for the same period in 2015, an increase of $410,562, or 43%. Revenue resulted primarily from sales in Europe, Asia and Asia/Pacific of our orthoPACE devices and related applicators. The increase in revenue for 2016 is primarily due to an increase in sales of 17 orthoPACE devices in Asia/Pacific and the European Community, as compared to the prior year, as well as higher sales of new and refurbished applicators due to increased devices in use.

Operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2016 were $4,127,433, compared to $5,118,317 for the prior year, a decrease of $990,884. Research and development expenses decreased by $1,044,179, primarily as a result of lower consultant expenses related to the calculation and analysis of the data that was performed in late 2015 and early 2016. In addition, there were no expenses in 2016 related to the clinical trial as that was completed in 2015. General and administrative expenses decreased by $61,356, primarily due to reduced salary, benefits and travel expenses. This decrease was partially offset by increased consulting expenses related to the potential commercialization of dermaPACE and increased accounting fees in 2016 related to consulting on complex financial transactions and SEC registration filings.

Net loss for 2016 was $6,439,040, or ($0.08) per share, compared with a net loss of $4,810,285, or ($0.08) per share in 2015, which is an increase in the net loss of $1,628,755, or 34%. The increase in the net loss for 2016 was a result of increased non-cash expense for the valuation of outstanding warrants and was partially offset by the reduced operating expenses in 2016 noted above.

On December 31, 2016, the Company has cash and cash equivalents of $133,571 compared to $152,930 as of December 31, 2015, a decrease of $19,359. For the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, net cash used by operating activities was $3,199,453 and $3,473,456, respectively, a decrease of $274,003, or 8%. The decrease was primarily due to the decreased total operating expenses in 2016, as compared to 2015, of $1,105,535, which was partially offset by increase in accounts receivable of $430,583 and a decrease in accrued employee compensation of $415,998. Net cash used by investing activities in 2016 was $8,770 as compared to net cash provided by investing activities in 2015 of $100,000 from the sale of assets held for sale. Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $3,207,771, which primarily consisted of the net proceeds from 2016 Public Offering of $1,596,855, 2016 Private Placement of $1,528,200, and proceeds from warrant exercises of $67,466. There was no net cash provided by financing activities in 2015. Cash and cash equivalents decreased by $19,359 for the year ended December 31, 2016 and cash and cash equivalents decreased by $3,394,141 for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Conference Call

The Company will also host a conference call on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, beginning at 10AM Eastern Time to discuss the 2016 financial results, provide a business update and answer questions. Shareholders and other interested parties can participate in the conference call by dialing 866-682-6100 (U.S.) or 862-255-5401 (international) or via webcast at http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175797.

A replay of the conference call will be available beginning two hours after its completion through April 18, 2017, by dialing 877-481-4010 (U.S.) or 919-882-2331 (international) and entering Conference ID 10303.

About SANUWAVE Health, Inc.

SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (www.sanuwave.com) is a shock wave technology company initially focused on the development and commercialization of patented noninvasive, biological response activating devices for the repair and regeneration of skin, musculoskeletal tissue and vascular structures. SANUWAVE's portfolio of regenerative medicine products and product candidates activate biologic signaling and angiogenic responses, producing new vascularization and microcirculatory improvement, which helps restore the body's normal healing processes and regeneration. SANUWAVE applies its patented PACE technology in wound healing, orthopedic/spine, plastic/cosmetic and cardiac conditions. Its lead product candidate for the global wound care market, dermaPACE, is CE Marked throughout Europe and has device license approval for the treatment of the skin and subcutaneous soft tissue in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the U.S., dermaPACE is currently under the FDA's de novo petition review process for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. SANUWAVE researches, designs, manufactures, markets and services its products worldwide, and believes it has demonstrated that its technology is safe and effective in stimulating healing in chronic conditions of the foot (plantar fasciitis) and the elbow (lateral epicondylitis) through its U.S. Class III PMA approved OssaTron device, as well as stimulating bone and chronic tendonitis regeneration in the musculoskeletal environment through the utilization of its OssaTron, Evotron and orthoPACE devices in Europe, Asia and Asia/Pacific. In addition, there are license/partnership opportunities for SANUWAVE's shock wave technology for non-medical uses, including energy, water, food and industrial markets.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to financial results and plans for future business development activities, and are thus prospective. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Among the key risks, assumptions and factors that may affect operating results, performance and financial condition are risks associated with the regulatory approval and marketing of the Company's product candidates and products, unproven pre-clinical and clinical development activities, regulatory oversight, the Company's ability to manage its capital resource issues, competition, and the other factors discussed in detail in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

For additional information about the Company, visit www.sanuwave.com.

(FINANCIAL TABLES FOLLOW)

SANUWAVE HEALTH, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS December 31, 2016 and 2015 2016 2015 ------------ ------------ ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $ 133,571 $ 152,930 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts 460,799 74,454 Inventory 231,953 284,908 Prepaid expenses 87,823 123,988 ------------ ------------ TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 914,146 636,280 PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, at cost, less accumulated depreciation 76,938 4,228 OTHER ASSETS 13,786 11,097 INTANGIBLE ASSETS, at cost, less accumulated amortization - 306,756 ------------ ------------ TOTAL ASSETS $ 1,004,870 $ 958,361 ============ ============ LIABILITIES CURRENT LIABILITIES Accounts payable $ 712,964 $ 509,266 Accrued expenses 375,088 359,374 Accrued employee compensation 64,860 241,542 Interest payable, related parties 109,426 239,803 Short term loan, net 47,440 - Warrant liability 1,242,120 138,100 Notes payable, related parties, net 5,364,572 - ------------ ------------ TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 7,916,470 1,488,085 NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Notes payable, related parties, net - 5,348,112 ------------ ------------ TOTAL LIABILITIES 7,916,470 6,836,197 ------------ ------------ COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES STOCKHOLDERS' DEFICIT PREFERRED STOCK, SERIES A CONVERTIBLE, par value $0.001, 6,175 authorized; 6,175 shares issued and 0 shares outstanding in 2016 and 2015 - - PREFERRED STOCK, SERIES B CONVERTIBLE, par value $0.001, 293 authorized; 293 shares issued and 0 shares outstandingin 2016 and 2015, respectively - - PREFERRED STOCK - UNDESIGNATED, par value $0.001, 4,993,532 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding - - COMMON STOCK, par value $0.001, 350,000,000 shares authorized; 137,219,968 and 63,056,519 issued and outstanding in 2016 and 2015, respectively 137,220 63,057 ADDITIONAL PAID-IN CAPITAL 92,436,697 87,086,677 ACCUMULATED DEFICIT (99,433,448) (92,994,408) ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (52,069) (33,162) ------------ ------------ TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' DEFICIT (6,911,600) (5,877,836) ------------ ------------ TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' DEFICIT $ 1,004,870 $ 958,361 ============ ============ SANUWAVE HEALTH, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS Years Ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 2016 2015 ------------ ------------ REVENUES $ 1,376,063 $ 965,501 COST OF REVENUES (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) 565,129 284,962 OPERATING EXPENSES Research and development 1,128,640 2,172,819 General and administrative 2,673,773 2,735,129 Depreciation 19,858 3,612 Amortization 306,756 306,757 Gain of sale of assets, property and equipment (1,594) (100,000) ------------ ------------ TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES 4,127,433 5,118,317 ------------ ------------ OPERATING LOSS (3,316,499) (4,437,778) ------------ ------------ OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE) Gain (loss) on warrant valuation adjustment and conversion (2,223,718) 58,515 Interest expense, net (854,980) (399,832) Amortization of debt discount (31,514) (12,358) Loss on foreign currency exchange (12,329) (18,832) ------------ ------------ TOTAL OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET (3,122,541) (372,507) ------------ ------------ NET LOSS (6,439,040) (4,810,285) OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS Foreign currency translation adjustments (18,907) (20,685) ------------ ------------ TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE LOSS $ (6,457,947) $ (4,830,970) ============ ============ LOSS PER SHARE: Net loss - basic and diluted $ (0.06) $ (0.08) ============ ============ Weighted average shares outstanding - basic and diluted 107,619,869 63,025,202 ============ ============ SANUWAVE HEALTH, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS Years Ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 2016 2015 ------------ ------------ CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net loss $ (6,439,040) $ (4,810,285) Adjustments to reconcile loss from continuing operations to net cash used by operating activities Amortization 306,756 306,757 Depreciation 19,858 3,612 Change in allowance for doubtful accounts 26,233 (6,055) Stock-based compensation - employees, directors and advisors 547,842 504,534 Warrants issued for services 186,410 - (Gain) loss on warrant valuation adjustment 2,223,718 (58,515) Amortization of debt issuance costs 225,786 - Loss on conversion option of promissory notes payable 75,422 - Stock issued with convertible debenture 50,100 - Stock issued for consulting services 43,540 - Amortization of debt discount 31,514 12,358 Gain on sale of asset, property and equipment (1,594) (100,000) Changes in assets - (increase)/decrease Accounts receivable - trade (412,578) 18,005 Inventory (29,249) (13,037) Prepaid expenses 36,165 4,562 Other (2,689) 9 Changes in liabilities - increase/(decrease) Accounts payable 203,698 277,426 Accrued expenses 15,714 (10,082) Accrued employee compensation (176,682) 239,316 Interest payable, related parties (130,377) 157,939 ------------ ------------ NET CASH USED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES (3,199,453) (3,473,456) ------------ ------------ CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Proceeds from sale of property and equipment 1,594 100,000 Purchases of property and equipment (10,364) - ------------ ------------ NET CASH PROVIDED (USED) BY INVESTING ACTIVITIES (8,770) 100,000 ------------ ------------ CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Proceeds from 2016 Public Offering, net 1,596,855 - Proceeds from 2016 Private Offering, net 1,528,200 - Proceeds from convertible promissory notes, net 106,000 - Proceeds from convertible debenture, net 175,000 - Proceeds from short term loan 100,000 - Proceeds from warrant exercise 67,466 - Payment of convertible promissory notes (155,750) - Payment of convertible debenture (210,000) - ------------ ------------ NET CASH PROVIDED BY FINANCING ACTIVITIES 3,207,771 - EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATES ON CASH (18,907) (20,685) ------------ ------------ NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (19,359) (3,394,141) CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, BEGINNING OF PERIOD 152,930 3,547,071 ------------ ------------ CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, END OF PERIOD $ 133,571 $ 152,930 ============ ============ SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION Cash paid for interest, related parties $ 630,549 $ 242,904 ============ ============ NONCASH INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES Stock issued with convertible debenture $ 50,100 $ - ============ ============ Stock issued for services $ 43,540 $ - ============ ============ Loss on warrant conversion to stock $ 888,418 $ - ============ ============ Beneficial conversion feature on convertible promissory notes 66,331 - Beneficial conversion feature on convertible debenture 124,900 - ------------ ------------ Beneficial conversion feature on convertible debt $ 191,231 $ - ============ ============ Warrants issued for services $ 186,410 $ - ============ ============ Warrants issued for short tem loan $ 58,400 $ - ============ ============

Contact:



Millennium Park Capital LLC

Christopher Wynne

312-724-7845

cwynne@mparkcm.com



SANUWAVE Health, Inc.

Kevin Richardson II

Chairman of the Board

978-922-2447

investorrelations@sanuwave.com




Coca-Cola European Partners plc (CCEP) (ticker symbol: CCE) will release first-quarter 2017 earnings before trading begins on the NYSE on Thursday, 4 May 2017.

A conference call discussing these results will be webcast live through the company's website, www.ccep.com, at 15:00 BST, 16:00 CEST, and 10:00 a.m. EDT. A replay of the presentation will be available later that day.

A copy of the company's news release will be available through the website on the home page and under the Investors section.

ABOUT CCEP

Coca-Cola European Partners plc (CCEP) is a leading consumer packaged goods company in Europe, producing, distributing and marketing an extensive range of nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages and is the world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottler based on revenue. Coca-Cola European Partners serves a consumer population of over 300 million across Western Europe, including Andorra, Belgium, continental France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The company is listed on Euronext Amsterdam, the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext London, and on the Spanish stock exchanges, and trades under the symbol CCE. For more information about CCEP, please visit www.ccep.com and follow CCEP on Twitter at @CocaColaEP.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005776/en/

Contacts:

Coca-Cola European Partners plc

Investor Relations

Thor Erickson, +1-678-260-3110

or

Media Relations

Ros Hunt, +44-7528-251-022
LONDON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Conotoxia Sp. z o.o., a licensed payment institution and a subsidiary of the largest private company in Poland -Cinkciarz, has joined the European Payments Council (EPC). Conotoxia has been granted with an opportunity to contribute to the design and development of European payment systems.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453681/cinkciarz_logo.jpg )

With Conotoxia recently joining the EPC, the membership now consists of the seventy-four largest payment service providers and their associations in Europe. The Council offers one focal point and voice for the European payment service providers' sector on all European payment issues. It enables its members to be one step ahead regarding the evolution and development of payment schemes. In addition, the EPC is in close dialogue with its members and makes suggestions regarding the payments sector to the European Union's decision-makers.

"We are honored to join this recognized association which supports the development of safe, effective and user-friendly payment instruments in Europe. I am positive that our representatives will enrich the EPC with fresh ideas while the strategic importance of the EPC gives us the opportunity to present our customers' feedback to industry leaders and policymakers," said Piotr Kicinski, vice-chairman of the Board at Cinkciarz, the parent company of Conotoxia Sp. z o.o.

The EPC's mission is to support and promote the integration and development of payments in Europe, notably SEPA. The primary task of the EPC is to manage the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) schemes in close dialogue with all stakeholders. SEPA payment schemes can be regarded as instruction manuals which provide a common understanding of how to move funds between payment accounts within SEPA (34 countries). Transaction services by both Cinkciarz and Conotoxia are consistent with SEPA standards.

Membership in the Council means that Conotoxia representatives will be contributing to drive further harmonization and innovation in the field of payments in Europe.

The Cinkciarz group allows its customers to exchange foreign currencies using leading edge technology alongside extremely attractive conversion rates and transfer fees. The services of Cinkciarz are used by individuals as well as businesses and transactions can be executed at any time with the use of express and free online transfers. Conotoxia will be offering the same transparency, strength and innovation critical to the global money transfer and payment services industry.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: VG) is pleased to report that it has commenced drilling works at its newly-acquired Mandiana Project (the "Project"), Guinea. A program comprising approximately 2000m of reverse-circulation and diamond core drilling has been laid out, the purpose of which will be to gain important information regarding the geological structures that control the mineralization within the current Inferred Mineral Resource. Such information will contribute towards the definition of subsequent drilling activities within the 2017 exploration season. The program will also serve to infill areas of the Inferred Mineral Resource.

Previous work by Sovereign Mines of Africa plc ("Sovereign") led to the definition of an Inferred Mineral Resource at Mandiana of 16.1 Mt @ 1.18 g/t for 612,000 oz Au (SRK, 2016(1)). Sensitivity analysis(2) by SRK suggests an increase in deposit grade with cut-off, for example 5.7 Mt @ 2.27 g/t for 417,000 oz Au at a higher cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t Au. Drilling and surface geochemical data suggest that the Mineral Resource at Mandiana is open to the north, east, south and at depth.

(1) Independent Technical Report for the Mandiana Gold Project, Guinea, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., December 23, 2016.

(2) Not to be misconstrued as a Mineral Resource Statement.

In addition to drilling, Volcanic will perform property-wide prospecting of artisanal workings (or orpaillages), as well as systematic geochemical sampling of the Mandiana South landholding - which has not previously been explored in this fashion. Very importantly, a strong north-south lineation is discernible in the orpaillages throughout the property, and these extend clearly in both directions along strike from the current Inferred Mineral Resource on two trends, as well as on a third parallel trend to the west.

Most notably the present Inferred Mineral Resource was discovered using artisanal working as a targeting guide, and only a relatively small portion of these lineaments has been tested by drilling. The north-south orientation of the orpaillages is of particular significance, as it is concordant with the dominant structural element that gives rise to mineralization both in the Siguiri Basin, and at the Siguiri Mine(1), approximately 80 km to the north of the Project. It is anticipated that the Company's prospecting and sampling program will serve to define a number of other features for near-term drill-testing.

(1) Erwann Lebrun, John Miller, Nicolas Thebaud, Stanislav Ulrich, and T. Campbell McCuaig, Structural Controls on an Orogenic Gold System: The World-Class Siguiri Gold District, Siguiri Basin, Guinea, West Africa, in Economic Geology, v. 112, pp. 73-98.

About the Mandiana Project

In January 2017, Volcanic acquired an indirect 75% interest in the Mandiana Project in Guinea. The remaining 25% interest in the Project is held by SOGUIPAMI, a Guinean government-owned business entity formed to conduct mineral exploration projects.

The Project consists of two contiguous prospecting permits (Mandiana North and Mandiana South), or "Permis de Recherche" which together cover an area of over 300 square kilometres. The Project is not subject to any royalties, back-in rights or encumbrances.

The Mandiana Project is underlain by geology comparable to that of many other Birimian-age volcano-sedimentary sequences in West Africa, in which gold mineralization typically exhibits a strong relationship with major structural and hydrothermal zones. At Mandiana the gold mineralization associates with a network of quartz veins which appear to relate to such zones, and is located at major lithological and structural breaks. In the near vicinity and of very similar geological character is AngloGold Ashanti's Siguiri Gold Mine (Measured and Indicated Resources of 3.37 Moz Au and Inferred Resources of 2.14 Moz Au). Other significant gold deposits and mines in the neighboring area include Hummingbird Resources' Yanfolila project, Avnel's Kalana property, and Avocent's Tri-K project.

Prior to cessation of work activities due to a shortage of market funding in 2013, Sovereign drilled 119 RC and diamond drill holes for a total of 16,624 meters at the property. Drill testing included the four zones (Yegbelen, Foulouni, Damantare and Woyondjan) that now form the basis of the Mineral Resource calculation, as well as at other features, was completed. Results of Sovereign's drilling programs completed between 2011 and 2013 include:

-- RCY07 - 28m @ 1.66 g/t Au from 103m -- RCY36 - 30m @ 3.15 g/t Au from 35m -- RCY37 - 40m @ 4.49 g/t Au from 150m -- RCY88 - 18m @ 1.93 g/t Au from 144m -- RCY89 - 12m @ 2.81 g/t Au from 73m, and 19m @ 2.58 g/t Au from 104m -- RCY114 - 28m @ 6.44 g/t Au from 168m with a top cut of 30 g/t Au

The weathering profile at the Project extends in places to depths in excess of 200m from surface, producing friable, oxide material which beneath the lateritic profile is very easy to dig.

About Volcanic

Volcanic brings together a deeply experienced and successful mining, exploration and capital markets team focused on building a multi-million ounce gold resource in the underexplored West African country of Guinea and its neighbouring countries. Through the strategic acquisition of mineral properties with demonstrated potential for hosting gold resources, and by undertaking effective exploration and drill programs, Volcanic looks to become a leading junior gold resource company.

Qualified Person

Mr. Simon Meadows-Smith is a Qualified Person as defined by "National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the disclosure of the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Meadows-Smith holds a BSc degree in geology from Nottingham University, England, and has been involved in mineral exploration since 1988, including 20 years of experience working in West Africa. He is a Fellow in good standing of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining in London.

For further information, visit our website at www.volgold.com.

Volcanic Gold Mines Inc.

Jeremy Crozier, President

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and include, without limitation, statements about the Company's plans for the Mandiana Project. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, whether the Company's exploration work at the Mandiana Project will be completed as planned; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Company's exploration work at the Mandiana Project will be completed as planned; that the Company's stated goals and planned exploration and development activities will be achieved; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company 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 law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

Volcanic Gold Mines Inc.

Jeremy Crozier

604-801-5432

604-662-8829 (FAX)

www.volgold.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Platterz, a corporate catering platform that uses machine learning technology to automate ordering food for the office, today announced it has closed a $6.7 million seed funding round. The round features prominent investors including AltaIR Capital, Globalive Capital, Kevin Kimsa, Dennis Bennie, Ran Makavy and Oren Zeev.

Since launching in January 2016, Platterz has experienced rapid growth and is now being routinely used by over 1000 Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo businesses, including Apple, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Deloitte, TD and Shopify.

"We're thrilled with the incredible traction we've seen so far in the market, and most importantly with the overwhelming positive feedback we've received from customers over the last year," said Eran Henig, Co-founder & CEO of Platterz. "Our customers appreciate that we've taken the time to truly understand their needs and develop the one-stop catering shop they've been waiting for all these years. We're empowering them in ways that were simply not possible without technology."

Platterz drastically simplifies the food ordering process with proprietary machine learning technology that recommends custom menus for any event or meeting. This unique approach helps office admins and other office heroes save money, reduce time spent ordering by 90%, and discover exciting new meal options from hundreds of top local eateries.

Building on recent momentum, Platterz will use the new funds to deepen its market presence through global expansion, accelerate product and machine learning development, and amplify sales and marketing.

"We're excited to invest in a company with strong, proven leadership that's powering the disruption of a $21bn corporate catering industry. Platterz quickly found product/market fit and the tech path to scale - the perfect formula for any investor," said Igor Ryabenkiy, Managing Partner of AltaIR Capital.

Over the last year, Platterz has grown its team from 5 to 25 and expects to double that number over the next year. "Our team is driven and laser-focused on developing new features to make the lives of those ordering food for an office substantially easier; we have several exciting new features coming soon," said Yishay Waxman, Co-founder and President.

Platterz was founded by Eran Henig and Yishay Waxman, both serial entrepreneurs that have built and sold multiple companies. Waxman was part of the founding team at Jumptap, acquired by Millennial Media for $225 million in 2013. Henig most recently built and sold Tradyo to Torstar's Metroland Media Group in 2014.

ABOUT PLATTERZ

Platterz is on a mission to reinvent corporate catering. The company uses machine learning technology to help office admins and other office heroes save time and money. Launched in 2016, Platterz is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Please visit www.platterz.ca.

ABOUT ALTAIR CAPITAL

AltaIR Capital is a venture capital firm investing in seed and Series A stage internet and technology companies. AltaIR has extensive operational and investment experience in the United States, Israel, Europe and Russia. AltaIR's portfolio contains many fast-growing U.S. companies, including ToutApp, PandaDoc, SimplyInsured, Spot.im and Driveway. Please visit www.altair.vc.

Contacts:

Platterz

Nir Zahavi

Head of Marketing

(647) 993-6182

nir@platterz.ca

www.platterz.ca




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Select Sands Corp. ("Select Sands" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SNS)(OTCQX: SLSDF) is pleased to announce that it has signed a lease to purchase agreement with Newport Rail Loading Facility, LLC (Seller) of Arkansas, whereby Select Sands will acquire the rail loading facility for $2,050,000 (USD) paid over 5 years. The first-year payment of $500,000 has been made to the Seller. The balance will be paid out in equal amounts of $387,500 every year until March, 2021.

The loading facility located in Diaz, Arkansas is connected to the Union Pacific Railroad mainline and is 15 miles from the Company's dry processing plant. The current capacity allows for loading and shipping of one 25 car unit per day. Rail destinations for the company's Northern white 40/70 and 100 mesh products now include the Texas-Permian and Louisiana-Haynesville basins.

Zigurds Vitols, President & CEO, commented, "The Newport Rail Facility is a right-sized investment at this point of the Company's development. It will allow dedicated loading, as required, to meet current supply commitments while management considers expansion of the facility and other transportation infrastructure options."

About Select Sands Corp.

Select Sands Corp. and its fully owned subsidiary Select Sands America Corp. is an industrial silica product company developing its 100% owned, 520-acre Northern White, Tier-1, silica sands project located in Arkansas, U.S.A. Select Sands' Arkansas property has a significant logistical advantage of being approximately 650 rail-miles closer to oil and gas markets located in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Such statements in this press release include statements regarding the future shipments of frac sand to Liberty Oil Field Services, LLC and the anticipated increase in volumes of such shipments as well as statements regarding the expansion of the Company's capacity. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the ability of Liberty Oil Field Services to satisfy its obligations under the supply agreement and the ability of the Company to execute on its plans to expand capacity together with the risk factors set forth in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended September 30, 2016 under the heading "Risks & Uncertainties", a copy of which is filed on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For more information about Select Sands Corp., please visit www.selectsandscorp.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

Contacts:

Zigurds Vitols

President & CEO

(604) 639-4533




ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Note to editors: There are three photos associated with this press release.

Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RDS) ("Radisson") is pleased to announce additional results from the ongoing 20,000 metres drill program at the Company's O'Brien gold project located in the heart of the Cadillac mining camp along the Larder-Lake-Cadillac fault in Quebec, Canada (see figure 1, 2 and 3).

Since the last update, (see March 1st, 2017 press release) results have been received for two drill holes (OB-17-22 to OB-17-23).

Highlights:

-- Drill hole OB-17-23 intersected 11.9 g/t Au over 3.0 m at a depth of 533 metres, 200 m down-dip of previously released hole OB-16-14 that returned 20.2 g/t Au over 2.5 metres (see figure 1). -- Drill hole OB-17-23 also intersected 13.9 g/t Au over 1.4 m at a depth of 614 metres and 3.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m in the Pontiac sediments south of current resources (see figure 2). -- Drill hole OB-17-22 intersected 10.3 g/t Au over 3.0 m within a wider intercept of 4.7 g/t au over 7.5 m at a depth of 304 metres in vertical extension of historical resources halfway between former O'Brien mine and current resources (see figure 3).

Mario Bouchard, President and CEO commented: "We are very excited by today's results as we continue to encounter high-grade gold mineralization both in extension of current and historical resources. Radisson added a second drill-rig at O'Brien this week, this will enable the company to generate results both in extension of ore shoots within current resources and on high-priority exploration targets defined in the Footwall (Pontiac sediments) and in the Hanging wall (Cadillac sediments)."

Addition of a second drill-rig focused on exploration targets

On April 2nd, the company mobilized a second drill-rig at the O'Brien gold project. This addition will enable Radisson to test high-priority drill targets identified through the "Orevision IP" (Induced polarization) survey and geological compilation of the sector. The first phase of work will focus on five high-priority exploration targets defined in the Pontiac sediments on the southeast portion of the O'Brien property for an approximate 2,300 metres of drilling.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From To Length Grade Interpreted Hole (m) (m) (m) Au zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- OB-17-22 PICHE 200.2 201.2 1.0 3.5 VOLCANICS ------------------------------------------------------------- 304.0 311.5 7.5 4.7 ------------------------------------------------------------- Including 304.0 307.0 3.0 10.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- OB-17-23 PONTIAC 238.0 239.5 1.5 3.5 SEDIMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 446.0 449.0 3.0 4.4 QFP #1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PICHE 532.0 535.0 3.0 11.9 CONGLOMERATE ------------------------------------------------------------- Including 533.2 533.7 0.5 69.1(i) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PICHE 614.6 625.5 10.9 2.5 VOLCANICS ------------------------------------------------------------- Including 614.6 616.0 1.4 13.9 ------------------------------------ 624.7 625.5 0.8 6.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Denotes presence of visible gold Note:Results are presented as down hole width; true widths are estimated to be between 55 to 70% of down hole thickness.

All drill cores in this campaign are NQ in size. Analyses were completed on sawn half-cores, with the second half kept for future reference. The samples were analyzed using standard fire assay procedures with Atomic Absorption (AA) finish at Techni-Lab Actlabs in Ste-Germaine-Boule in Abitibi, Quebec. Samples yielding a grade higher than 5 g/t were analyzed a second time by fire assay with gravimetric finish at the same laboratory. Samples containing visible gold were analyzed with metallic sieve procedure. Standard reference materials and blank samples were inserted prior to shipment for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program.

Qualified Person

Tony Brisson, P. Geo, independent consultant, acts as a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

About Radisson Mining Resources Inc.

Radisson is a Quebec-based mineral exploration company. The O'Brien project, cut by the regional Larder-Lake-Cadillac Fault, is Radisson's flagship asset. The project hosts the former O'Brien Mine, considered to have been the Abitibi Greenstone Belt's highest-grade gold producer during its production (1,197,147 metric tons at 15.25 g/t Au for 587,121 ounces of gold from 1926 to 1957; InnovExplo, April 2015).

For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, including the scheduled Closing date, but other than statements of historical fact, is forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking information can be found in Radisson's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/FIGURE_1_PR3.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/FIGURE_2_PR3.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/FIGURE_3_PR3.jpg

Contacts:

Mario Bouchard

President and CEO

819-277-6578

mbouchard@radissonmining.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Teuton Resources Corp. ("Teuton") (TSX VENTURE: TUO)(FRANKFURT: TFE)(OTCBB: TEUTF) is pleased to report the following update on the Treaty Creek Project and plans for 2017 exploration at Treaty Creek as prepared by the majority joint venturer, Tudor Gold Corp. ("Tudor Gold").

Background

The Treaty Creek project is a 60:20:20 joint venture with Tudor Gold as operator (60% owner). Teuton and American Creek Resources each own a 20% carried interest, meaning neither company has to contribute to exploration costs until such time as a production notice is made. Teuton further owns certain NSR rights to the property.

The Treaty Creek claims are located in an area of northwestern British Columbia known as the "Golden Triangle"; an area that has been the focus of exploration and mining for well over a century. The southern boundary of the Treaty Creek property is adjacent to the claims of Seabridge Gold Inc. where the Kerr, Sulphurets, Mitchell, and Iron Cap deposits have proven and probable reserves in excess of 38.8 million ounces of gold, 183 million ounces of silver and 10.155 billion pounds of copper (as reported on the Seabridge Gold website citing its "most recent National Instrument 43-101 compliant estimates"- February 2017). The above metal quantities are contained within 2.198 billion tonnes of rock grading 0.55 g/t gold, 2.6 g/t silver and 0.21% copper. Note that Teuton's Qualified Person has been unable to verify the information on deposits within Seabridge Gold's KSM property and the information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Treaty Creek property.

Treaty Creek Exploration History

Although the first Treaty Creek claims were staked as early as 1928, it was only in the late 1980s that the area was subjected to serious investigation using the scientific practices and methods then available. By the time Tudor Gold became involved in the Treaty Creek project in 2016, six main areas of mineralization had been identified and subjected to varying levels of exploration and scientific analysis. Importantly, none of the areas had yet been subject to a truly exhaustive analysis. The names of these six zones of mineralization are as follows:

1. Eureka, 2. Copper Belle, 3. GR2, 4. Konkin Gold Zone, 5. Goat Trail, and 6. Orpiment.

In 2011, Seabridge Gold carried out a Magnetotelluric (MT) survey over a portion of the Treaty Creek claims. The survey was done as part of an effort to determine the feasibility of a 22-kilometre tunnel as a means of conveying ore from its claims to a proposed mill at a lower, more accessible elevation.

The results of the MT survey revealed, for the first time, that the Treaty Creek claims might host kilometre-scale mineral deposits. In her May 2, 2016 NI 43-101 compliant report geologist Jill Pardoe observed that:

"One significant low (area of low resistivity) is located some 1250 meters below the Orpiment zone extending for over 3 kilometers in length. This low appears to lie in the footwall of the Sulphurets Thrust fault and could mark a porphyry copper-gold deposit at depth."

While the Orpiment zone had attracted some attention in the past, only a single diamond drillhole had ever been used to test the mineralization. That drillhole bottomed at 231.5 metres, obviously well above the potential deposit.

Ms. Pardoe also noted in her 2016 report that the 2011 MT survey suggested: "a second large resistivity low trending to the south in the area of the Konkin Gold zone towards the Iron Cap copper-gold zone on the adjacent claims held by Seabridge". That area of the Treaty-Creek claims has never been subjected to much more than a cursory examination, in part because of the presence of surface ice -- much of which has now receded.

The 2011 MT survey also suggested extensive mineralization in the Copper Belle zone at a depth below that of any holes drilled in previous exploration programs.

As noted in a press release dated December 22, 2016, Tudor Gold's 2016 exploration program on the Treaty Creek claims had two key goals for the field-work portion of the program: The first goal was to carry out an MT survey of a much larger portion of the Treaty Creek claims. The second goal of the 2016 exploration program was to carry out further diamond drilling targeting areas identified by the 2011 MT survey (which were to the north-northeast of the Copper Belle zone) and targeting areas identified by the exploration work carried out by American Creek in 2007 and 2009. As also noted in the press release, those goals were achieved.

The data collection portion of the 2016 MT survey was completed in August 2016 and in the intervening months Simcoe Geoscience Ltd., the contractor responsible for the survey, has been interpreting the results and assimilating them with information gained from current and previous exploration programs.

Again, as noted in the December 22, 2016 press release, the drilling in the Copper Belle zone produced very encouraging results, including: "Hole CB-16-02 encountered 224m of .403 g/t Au from 202m to the bottom of the hole at 426m. The last 18m averaged 0.883 g/t Au. Hole CB-16-03, collared approximately 550m northeast of the historic Copper Belle Zone, returned 338m of 0.700 g/t Au from 88m to 426m."

2016 MT Survey

It is important to understand that while an MT survey provides a sub-surface view of mineral claims, it does not provide report-ready mineral assays of the tested area. Instead, an MT survey generates a predictive model which, when validated through ongoing traditional diamond drilling, allows the user to develop exploration targets with greater confidence about what will be found. The results from each new drill hole are in turn used to refine the results of the MT survey, thereby enhancing its overall predictive value. With that in mind, Tudor Gold is pleased to report that the 2016 MT survey fully achieved the goals set for it. Together with the results of prior exploration work, the 2016 MT survey has provided Tudor Gold with a better understanding of the geology of the Treaty Creek claims, and it has provided Tudor Gold with a solid foundation on which to build its 2017 exploration program.

The current understanding of the model generated by the 2016 MT survey suggests these things:

1. The geology underlying the encouraging assays generated by the 2007, 2009, and 2016 drilling in the Copper Belle zone extends over a larger area than has yet been tested through diamond-drilling. The survey suggests the mineralization in the Copper Belle zone might extend for as much as seven hundred meters in the near-surface zone (less than 600m depth), and it might extend for up to one kilometer at greater depths, 2. The geology underlying the encouraging assays generated by the 2007 and 2009 drilling in the GR2 zone extends over a larger area than has yet been tested through diamond-drilling and might extend for several hundred meters, 3. The geology underlying the encouraging assays generated by the 2007, 2009, and 2016 drilling in the Copper Belle zone extends towards the Seabridge Gold Iron Cap deposit. This echoes the observations of Ms. Pardoe in her 2016 report noted above.

Tudor Gold will continue to disclose any further insights gained about the Treaty Creek claims that might be revealed through the ongoing analysis of the results of the 2016 MT survey.

THE 2017 EXPLORATION PROGRAM

Taking into account the prior exploration work and the predictive models generated by the 2016 MT survey, Tudor Gold has set these main goals for its 2017 exploration program on the Treaty Creek claims:

1. Carry out diamond drilling in the Copper Belle zone to both the south and north of prior drilling with the goal of developing a preliminary resource estimate for a low-grade bulk tonnage deposit along a strike length of approximately 1000 m, 2. Carry out diamond drilling in the GR2 zone with the goal of determining how much further drilling or other exploration is required to develop a preliminary resource estimate for that zone, and 3. Carry out diamond drilling to confirm that the mineralization in the Copper Belle zone extends towards the adjacent Seabridge Gold Inc. Iron Cap deposit,

The precise details of how these drilling programs will be carried out are still being developed. In addition to these drilling programs, Tudor Gold is also considering further exploration work in the Konkin Gold zone where early exploration produced grab samples, chip samples and trenching samples carrying in excess of 28 ounces of gold per tonne (these historical results are taken from a 1987 Assessment Report submitted to the provincial government by Mr. Cremonese, P. Eng., president of Teuton Resources Corp.; these historical results have not been independently verified by Tudor Gold). Tudor Gold is of the view that further exploration work will be beneficial in understanding the geology and mineralization of the Konkin Gold zone.

Walter Storm, President and CEO of Tudor Gold, stated: "The 2016 MT survey has proved to be of tremendous value to the company. It has helped us understand the complex geology of the Treaty Creek claims, and it gives us great confidence that we have set achievable goals for the 2017 exploration program."

The main technical data in this news release was reviewed by James Hutter, P.Geo., Tudor Gold's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Qualified Person for this news release is Dino Cremonese, P.Eng., who as President of Teuton is not independent of the Company. Mr. Cremonese has not verified the accuracy of the technical data but has no reason to believe it is unreliable.

About Teuton

Teuton owns interests in more than thirty properties in the prolific "Golden Triangle" area of northwestern British Columbia and was one of the first companies to adopt what has since become known as the "prospect generator" model. Ten of its properties are currently under option and cash proceeds from these options have exceeded $1 million in the past eighteen months, not including the value of shares received from the optioning companies. Shareholders and other interested parties can access information about Teuton at the Company's website, www.teuton.com.

Respectfully:

Dino Cremonese, P.Eng., President, Teuton Resources Corp.

If you would like to be added to Teuton's news distribution list, please send your email address to dino@teuton.com.

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning the future performance of our business, its operations and its financial performance and condition, as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, competitive risks and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in our recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. Teuton Resources Corp. does have an ongoing obligation to disclose material information, as it becomes available.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the

information contained herein.

Contacts:

Teuton Resources Corp.

Investor Relations

778-430-5680

barry@teuton.com

www.teuton.com




BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department's international trade data for February will be released at 8:30 am ET Tuesday. The economists are looking for consensus of a deficit of $44.5 billion, an improvement when compared to a deficit of $48.5 billion in the previous month. Ahead of the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major rivals. While the greenback held steady against the pound and the euro, it fell against the yen and the franc. The greenback was valued at 1.0655 against the euro, 110.40 against the yen, 1.2442 against the pound and 1.0018 against the Swiss franc at 8:25 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.
VANCOUVER, BC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- ActiveState, the open source languages company and founding sponsor of the Python Software Foundation since 2001, announced today the immediate availability of a vastly expanded ActivePython 2.7.13 and ActivePython 3.5.3. The latest release includes the most popular packages for data science and web application development projects, and provides large companies with a more robust, comprehensive Python distribution that can be used across the organization by different departments. ActivePython has been downloaded over 4 million times.

Already a top 5 language as ranked by TIOBE Index, interest in Python continues to grow. In this year's StackOverflow survey, Python was seen as the language developers wanted to use more than any other, and it has a wide range of uses, from scripting to web application development to data science. To support the numerous applications of Python, ActiveState has included over 200 packages in the latest distribution of ActivePython. In this release, data science packages such as pandas, numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and big data connectivity are pre-bundled. The inclusion of these packages makes it easy for data scientists to prepare, analyze and visualize their data. In addition, ActiveState has also added the most popular web frameworks such as Django, flask and tornado, along with the popular AWS SDK for cloud applications.

"Python has an incredible open source community which is consistently adding new capabilities. Recently the Python package index topped 100,000 packages, and of those amazing contributions we have selected the best packages for application development and data science," commented Jeff Rouse, ActiveState Director of Product Management. "By pre-bundling these packages with our distribution, it will save time and increase productivity for organizations. Less time is being spent on configuration and more time on the task at hand -- whether it's getting insights from your data or web applications to market sooner."

"While ActivePython is used by millions of developers around the world because it's an easy way to install Python for their projects, large organizations also love using our Python distribution because it meets their security and open source compliance policies," said Bart Copeland, ActiveState CEO. "Developers download packages from various repositories in order to get the job done, but they don't always think about licensing or security issues. By using ActivePython organizations don't have to worry about these potential vulnerabilities -- our distribution and its packages have been vetted for security and have been accompanied by a complete license review."

Commercially supported and quality-assured, ActiveState reviews the license terms in each package and offers the latest security in their distribution. ActivePython is also 100% compatible with the open source distribution.

Learn more and download the Community Edition of ActivePython here: http://www.activestate.com/activepython

About ActiveState

ActiveState, the open source languages company, believes that enterprises gain a competitive advantage when they are able to quickly create, deploy and efficiently manage software solutions that immediately create business value, but they face many challenges that prevent them from doing so. The company is uniquely positioned to help address these challenges through our experience with enterprises, developers and open source technology. ActiveState is proven for the enterprise: more than 2 million developers and 97 percent of Fortune 1000 companies use ActiveState's end-to-end solutions to develop, distribute, and manage their software applications written in Perl, Python, Ruby, Go, Node.js, Lua, Tcl and other dynamic languages. Global customers like Cisco, CA, HP, Bank of America, Siemens and Lockheed Martin trust ActiveState to save time, save money, minimize risk, ensure compliance, and reduce time to market. To learn more visit, ActiveState.com.
PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- BeyondTrust, the leading cyber security company dedicated to preventing privilege misuse and stopping unauthorized access, today announced it was named a winner in The Govies Government Security Awards. Demonstrating BeyondTrust's momentum in the government market, this award comes on the heels of two additional government focused awards where BeyondTrust was named a winner in the 2016 GSN Homeland Security Awards as well as a 2016 'ASTORS' Homeland Security Award Winner.

The BeyondTrust PowerBroker solutions help government organizations prevent the theft, abuse and misuse of privileged credentials in advanced cyber attacks while better containing threats and limiting damage.

"The Govies is an amazing product recognition program whereby companies in the security industry can highlight their technology and solutions that work flawlessly within the government vertical," said Ralph C. Jensen, editor in chief of Security Today magazine and securitytoday.com. "We received 28 percent more entries this year, which also corresponds with the need to provide better security options not only at the federal level but also at the state and municipal level of government. I believe these products and solutions only prove that the government relies heavily on the technology advances in the private sector."

1105 Media's Security Today, securitytoday.com and GovSec selected an independent panel of judges from the security industry to select the top entries in the 2017 categories and named them winners. The judges based their product selections on the following criteria: features, innovation, user friendliness, interoperability, quality, design, market opportunity, impact in the security industry, technical advances, and scalability.

"BeyondTrust is proud to be awarded the 2017 Govies Award for its efforts in securing enterprise customers and government entities alike from the rising tide of data breaches," said Tami Gallegos, Federal Manager, BeyondTrust. "The risks of a data breach includes the lasting harm that can damage an agency's reputation and put American security at risk, and we're pleased to provide government organizations with solutions that address this need."

About BeyondTrust

BeyondTrust is a global information security software company that helps organizations prevent cyber attacks and unauthorized data access due to privilege abuse. Our solutions give you the visibility to confidently reduce risks and the control to take proactive, informed action against data breach threats. And because threats can come from anywhere, we built a platform that unifies the most effective technologies for addressing both internal and external risk: Privileged Access Management and Vulnerability Management. Our solutions grow with your needs, making sure you maintain control no matter where your company goes. BeyondTrust's security solutions are trusted by over 4,000 customers worldwide, including half of the Fortune 100. To learn more about BeyondTrust, please visit www.beyondtrust.com.

Follow BeyondTrust

Twitter: http://twitter.com/beyondtrust

Blog: www.beyondtrust.com/blog

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/beyondtrust

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/beyondtrust

For BeyondTrust:

Mike Bradshaw

Connect Marketing for BeyondTrust

P: (801) 373-7888

E: Email Contact




MATAWAN, NJ--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - iCIMS, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based talent acquisition solutions, announces that its Chief Marketing Officer, Susan Vitale, has been honored with a place on the 2017 NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business list. Each year, NJBIZ recognizes the most dynamic business women who have proven to be not only influential in their industries, but leaders in their professional communities.

"To be recognized alongside so many admirable women that have incredible stories is an honor," said Vitale. "My journey with iCIMS has led to phenomenal opportunities to learn and grow with the company, and I've been lucky to be a part of something special right here in New Jersey. If I could offer advice to other working women, especially in the technology industry, I would say: surround yourself with people better than you in their respective areas; leverage data, but trust your gut; and always be your authentic self."

Vitale is the youngest and only female C-level executive at iCIMS. She earned her current title of Chief Marketing Officer at the age of 30, a result of advancing alongside the high-growth company where she began her career in 2005 directly after graduating from Lehigh University. Vitale is primarily responsible for iCIMS' marketing strategy to drive business growth and brand awareness across prospective and existing customers, candidates, the media, and the HR community.

In October of 2016, Vitale led the iCIMS event, Women in Tech: Gaining STEAM,which brought to light the inclusion of arts and innovation to the traditional STEM field. Vitale offers professional guidance to those outside of the company through the social network MicroMentor and participates in volunteer work with the Visiting Nursing Association (VNA) of Central Jersey and the Hoboken Shelter. She also sits on the board of advisors at the technology company Switch and is a member of the board at NY/NJ Baykeeper Association.

As a reflection of her accomplishments over the past year, Vitale was honored with several leadership awards including an induction into the 2016 Marketing Hall of Femme and recognition among the industry's top female executives by the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

To learn more about other awards recently received by iCIMS, visit https://www.icims.com/news/awards.

 Copyright 2016 iCIMS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Media Contact:

Michele McKenna

iCIMS, Inc.

732-520-7526

Michele.McKenna@icims.com
OTTAWA, ON--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - After 25 years of operation, the Micronutrient Initiative has changed its name to Nutrition International to more accurately reflect its expanded scope and role as global development partner and advocate for nutrition.

Based in Ottawa, Nutrition International was created in 1992 as an act of solidarity with malnourished people and has grown from a small Canadian initiative into a global nutrition organization reaching millions of vulnerable people every year, working from its ten country offices in Africa and Asia with programs in more than 60 countries.

Since its inception, Nutrition International has focused on forging powerful partnerships with countries, donors and implementers around the globe to ensure the world's most vulnerable populations get the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive.

While micronutrients are and will always be a critical focus of its work, Nutrition International also conducts research, influences policy, improves delivery and forges creative partnerships to promote a wide range of proven nutrition interventions in response to the SDG-era demand for knowledge and integrated development solutions.

"We are excited to move into this chapter as Nutrition International," said President and CEO Joel Spicer. "Our name is changing, but our commitment to improving nutrition for those who need it most is not. We look forward to continuing to drive for better, faster ways to create the most good for the people we serve -- especially women and girls."

The Government of Canada is a founding donor and has been a key partner of Nutrition International all throughout its 25 year history. Thanks to this important collaboration -- and the support of our other generous donors -- Nutrition International has reached a new level of evolution and is set for achieving greater impact in the world.

About Nutrition International

Founded in 1992, Nutrition International (formerly the Micronutrient Initiative) is a global organization dedicated to delivering proven nutrition interventions to those who need them most. Working in partnership with countries, donors and implementers, our experts conduct cutting-edge nutrition research, support critical policy formulation, and integrate nutrition into broader development programs. In more than 60 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa, Nutrition International nourishes people to nourish life. To learn more, visit www.NutritionIntl.org.

Katia Theriault

Senior Communications Manager, Global External Relations

Telephone: +1 613 690 6853

Email: ktheriault@NutritionIntl.org
GRAND ISLAND, NE -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Sense Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: SNSGF) -- Sense Natural Products, Inc., which operates a unique all-natural soybean processing plant in Scribner, Nebraska has accepted the assignment of up to $17,000,000 in industrial revenue bonds to be issued by Dodge County, Nebraska for further acquisitions, plant expansion and production enhancements. Plant renovations, upgrades and expansion are already underway, and the plant is producing what many consider to be the highest grade of all-natural soybean meal in the market today. This product is still undergoing real world trials and empirical studies, but so far it has achieved significant results for its growers. They have reduced the need for antibiotics, reduced death loss, improved feed efficiency, improved average daily gain, provided higher energy content per delivered pound, and are delivering a concentrated product that has around half of the moisture content (waste) of similar products. Sales supporting these ongoing trials should result in a projected increase in the gross revenue of SNSGF by at least three million dollars per year.

About Sense Technologies, Inc.

Sense Technologies, Inc. http://SenseTech.com develops and markets Doppler radar and optics backing awareness products for vehicle safety and it acquired Scribner Natural Products whose website is now: www.SenseNaturalProducts.com in September of 2016.

About Sense Natural Products

Sense Natural Products is an industrial food and feed products company in Scribner, Nebraska, where it operates an all-natural extruded-and-expeller-pressed soybean processing plant. Learn more about the history of Scribner Natural Products and the current management team of Richard Bell and David Dennis from an interview with Michael Yorba; segment 1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d6GH7RIAU

and segment 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRE_ykvGo4.

See the Public Wire report here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIN34iBG8Vg

"We are on a fast track because it is in our shareholders' best interest to commence the profit potential just as soon as practicable" said Bruce Schreiner, Sense Technologies, Inc.'s President.

Forward Looking-Statement

This press release consists of 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. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and its management. In particular, there is no assurance that the parties will reach a definitive agreement for the proposed transaction or that the transaction will be completed. Additionally, no assurance can be provided that the terms of any transaction will be similar to those contemplated by the Letter of Intent. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact:

Sense Technologies, Inc.

Website: http://www.sensetech.com/

Phone: (903) 663-2979

Email: info@sensetech.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

Enbridge Inc. ("Enbridge") (TSX: ENB)(NYSE: ENB) and NDT Global are taking the next leap in integrity management by partnering in a multi-year research and development project to advance innovation in pipeline inspection technology and ultimately, drive pipeline safety and reliability to a new level.

The multi-year collaboration agreement focuses on the development of a new generation of inspection tool that is targeted to even further improve pipe crack assessment. Enbridge and NDT Global have already been working together for 15 years on pipeline inspections and are at the forefront of the industry in advancing crack assessment with high resolution ultrasonic inspections. This joint investment will bring further innovation and a new technology capability to the existing integrity management programs.

"At Enbridge, we are continually looking for opportunities to enhance existing technologies, and progress new ones, in the areas of design, construction, operation and maintenance, to keep our pipelines safe," said Walter Kresic, Enbridge's Vice President Pipeline Integrity of Enbridge Pipelines Inc. "We believe this next generation project with NDT Global will build on the industry leading tools and technology we already use, and further enhance our ability to inspect, monitor and prioritize cracking threats in pipelines," added Mr. Kresic.

Enbridge works with organizations around the globe that provide best-in-class technologies for keeping pipelines safe, assisting such organizations to develop the technologies, including in-line inspection tools, ever further. In-line inspection tools, known in the industry as "intelligent pigs," are highly complex pieces of equipment that use sophisticated sensor technology and powerful computation to inspect pipes millimeter by millimeter, with a level of detail similar to that provided by MRI and ultrasound technology in the medical industry. They are essential to Enbridge's program of pipeline integrity management.

"NDT Global's long-term goal is to eliminate pipeline failure due to pipe integrity defects," said Mario Lemme, CEO of NDT Global. "Achieving this requires collaboration in long-term research and development projects. We are delighted to collaborate closely with Enbridge on this initiative, which offers a real opportunity to make a breakthrough in crack assessment capability."

The scope of the new project is aimed at evolving existing inline inspection performance. Enbridge and NDT Global have set ambitious goals for improving the ability to accurately and consistently find crack features. An important step in this research and development program will be to prove the equipment capability by conducting test runs within the Enbridge pipelines in Canada and the U.S.

Enbridge invests significantly in the fitness of its systems and in leak detection, and in the past five years spent more than $4.9-billion on programs that help Enbridge maintain the fitness of its systems across operations in Canada and the U.S.

"Investing in research and innovation is an important component of our approach to pipeline safety, benefiting Enbridge and the industry as a whole," concluded Mr. Kresic.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information provided in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. Although Enbridge believes these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. A further discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Enbridge can be found in the Enbridge's filings with Canadian and United States securities regulators. While Enbridge makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Enbridge assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About NDT Global

NDT Global is a leading supplier of ultrasonic pipeline inspection and pipeline integrity management. Its state-of-the art inspection fleet provides the entire inline inspection service spectrum for onshore and offshore pipelines worldwide. The full range of services includes; geometry and deformation inspection, metal loss and crack inspection, defect assessment and fitness-for-purpose investigations.

First run success, best data quality and rapid report delivery are our key benchmarks. A skilled engineering and project management team, complemented by one of the best data analysis teams in the industry, has inspected and analyzed millions of kilometers of pipelines worldwide. The company has offices in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, UAE, UK and USA. For more information, visit www.ndt-global.com.

About Enbridge Inc.

Enbridge Inc. is North America's premier energy infrastructure company with strategic business platforms that include an extensive network of crude oil, liquids and natural gas pipelines, regulated natural gas distribution utilities and renewable power generation. The Company delivers an average of 2.8 million barrels of crude oil each day through its Mainline and Express Pipelines, accounts for nearly 68% of U.S.-bound Canadian crude oil production, and moves approximately 20% of all natural gas consumed in the U.S., serving key supply basins and demand markets. The Company's regulated utilities serve approximately 3.5 million retail customers in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State. Enbridge also has a growing involvement in electricity infrastructure, with interests in more than 2,500 MW of net renewable generating capacity, and an expanding offshore wind portfolio in Europe. The Company has ranked on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations index for the past eight years; its common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol ENB.

Life takes energy and Enbridge exists to fuel people's quality of life. For more information, visit www.enbridge.com.

To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: www.marketwire.com/library/20170403-enbridgendt0404photo800.jpg.

Contacts:

NDT Global Corporate Limited

John Fallon

VP Global Marketing

+353 1 685 20 42

M +49 152 90 02 75 82 or +1 224 765 90 13

john.fallon@ndt-global.com



Enbridge Inc.

Suzanne Wilton

Media Relations

(403) 231-7385 or 1-888-992-0997

Suzanne.wilton@enbridge.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- CANEX Metals Inc. ("CANEX" or the "Company" formerly Northern Abitibi Mining Corp.) (TSX VENTURE: CANX) announces it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire a 100% interest in the Gibson Prospect from Altius Resources Inc. ("Altius"), a wholly held subsidiary of Altius Minerals Corp (TSX: ALS). The Gibson prospect is 887 Ha in size and located in central British Columbia, approximately 95 kilometres northwest of Fort St. James. The area is accessible via a network of all weather logging roads.

The Gibson Prospect

Gibson contains mesothermal gold-silver mineralization hosted in highly altered volcanic rocks adjacent to the Hogem Batholith. Mineralization consists of quartz-carbonate veins, stockworks, and breccias, within strong clay-sericite-quartz alteration zones. The zone was discovered and explored by Noranda Exploration Company from 1989 to 1991. Following soil sampling and induced polarization geophysical surveys Noranda exposed precious metal mineralization in hand trenches with surface samples returning 12.86 g/t gold and 144.7 g/t silver over 1.5 meters and 5.35 g/t gold and 2136 g/t silver over 1.7 meters. Noranda subsequently drilled 9 holes all of which intersected significant clay-sericite-quartz altered and pyrite-galena-sphalerite mineralized volcanic rocks, with 8 of the 9 holes intersecting significant gold and silver mineralization as shown in the table below. The best drill intercept returned 4.26 metres grading 6.77 g/t gold and 1828 g/t silver. No follow up trenching or drilling has been conducted at Gibson since the highly successful Noranda program. Drilling indicates the mineralized zone is about 4.5 metres wide and at least 400 meters long, whereas drilling, soils, and geophysical data suggest the zone could be at least 1400 metres long. Mineralization remains open in all directions.

Historic Drilling Results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole Interval (m) Width (m) Au g/t Ag g/t Pb % Zn % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-01 14.10 to 23.28 9.18 4.34 224.3 0.9 0.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-02 17.20 to 22.50 5.30 2.59 122.9 0.6 1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-03 29.15 to 30.17 1.02 3.63 494.8 1.8 1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-04 25.89 to 26.88 0.99 6.41 252.0 0.8 1.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-05 58.34 to 62.60 4.26 6.77 1828.8 3.3 2.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-15 9.95 to 11.50 1.55 2.19 29.5 0.0 0.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-15 71.55 to 74.40 2.85 0.62 20.6 0.1 0.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-16 16.85 to 26.28 9.43 0.21 8.8 0.0 0.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-17 39.30 to 43.40 4.10 1.78 47.7 0.5 1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EA-91-17 54.50 to 58.30 3.80 1.46 95.5 0.7 1.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill results in the table above are reported in BC Assessment report 21762 for Noranda Exploration Company by Stewart and Walker 1991. This drilling was done prior to NI 43-101 and should be considered historic in nature. The results have not been verified by CANEX and should not be relied upon.

Dr Shane Ebert, President of the company, commented, "Gibson is a well defined exploration target that shows strong grades, good size potential, and remains open in all directions. Good access to the area has recently been established by new logging developments, providing an excellent opportunity for CANEX to evaluate the potential of the target and understand the controls on mineralization through low cost trenching and surface work. We are excited to be partnering with Altius Resources and look forward to having them as a significant shareholder of the Company. Altius will have the right to participate in our future financings, and having access to the technical and potential financial support of such a dynamic and global exploration group will be a significant benefit to the Company."

Terms of the Agreement

CANEX Metals can earn a 100% interest in the Gibson prospect from Altius by issuing common shares, spending $500,000 on exploration within 18 months, and taking over the obligations of an underlying option agreement. CANEX will issue 1,125,000 shares to Altius on signing, a further 1,180,000 after completion of surface exploration work but prior to drill testing, and a final 1,240,000 shares after the $500,000 required work expenditures are complete to earn 100% of the Property. Altius will retain a right to purchase an underlying 1.5% NSR royalty and preferential rights on any future royalties or streams granted on the Property. If CANEX achieves a measured and indicated mineral resource in excess of 1 million gold equivalent ounces, a Milestone Payment of 1,275,000 shares will be issued to Altius. Altius will have a pro rata right to participate in future equity financings of Canex for two years.

CANEX will also assume the obligations of an underlying option agreement with Steven Scott including payments of either cash or equivalent shares of $85,000 spread over 4 years, and Milestone Bonuses of $5000 upon a change of control of the property, $25,000 upon completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study, and $50,000 upon commercial production.

A definitive agreement between CANEX and Altius will be completed shortly and will be subject to exchange approval.

Related Party Transaction Disclosure

Shane Ebert through his private consulting company Vector Resources, is involved in British Columbia project generation activities for Altius. Vector Resources is entitled to 5% of the compensation due to Altius as part of the Gibson Agreement.

About CANEX Metals Inc.

Canex Metals is a Canadian based exploration company focused on acquiring and advancing high grade gold and silver deposits in stable mining jurisdictions. Company Management has a proven track record of exploration success, with key personnel being involved in discoveries in Mexico, Newfoundland, and British Columbia.

Dr. Shane Ebert P.Geo., is the Qualified Person for CANEX Metals and has approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

Shane Ebert, President/Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release, including words such as "expects", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar expressions, are forward-looking information that represents management of CANEX Metals Inc. internal projections, expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future operating results and various components thereof or the economic performance of CANEX. The projections, estimates and beliefs contained in such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause CANEX's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those described in CANEX's filings with the Canadian securities authorities. Accordingly, holders of CANEX shares and potential investors are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted. CANEX disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

CANEX Metals Inc.

Shane Ebert

1.250.964.2699



CANEX Metals Inc.

Jean Pierre Jutras

1.403.233.2636




Utena, Lithuania, 2017-04-04 15:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- By the initiative and decision of the Company Board Nr.17-04, 31.03.2017 an ordinary general meeting of AB "Utenos trikotazas", registered at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, LT-28214 Utena, company number 183709468, shareholders is being convoked at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, Utena, on 26th of April 2017 at 11:00 am. Shareholders' registration starts at 10:00 am.



The meeting accounting day is 19th of April 2017.



Proposed Agenda:



1. Presentation of the Company annual report for the year 2016. 2. Report of the Company's auditor. 3. Approval of the Company and consolidated Group annual financial statements for the year 2016. 4. Allocation of the profit (loss) of the Company of 2016. 5. Election of the Company's Board members.



Shareholders who at the end of the General Meeting of Shareholders' accounting day, i.e. 19th of April 2017, will be shareholders of the Company, have a right to participate and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders personally or by proxy, or to be represented by the person with whom an agreement on the transfer of voting rights is concluded.



A person attending the General Meeting of Shareholders and having a voting right must bring with him/her a person's identification document. A person who is not a shareholder must additionally produce a document confirming his/her right to vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders.



Each shareholder shall have a right, in the manner established by the Law, to authorise another (natural or legal) person on his/her behalf to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders. At the General Meeting of Shareholders, an authorised person shall have the same rights as would be held by the shareholder or shareholders represented by him/her, unless the authorized person's rights are limited by the power of attorney or by the Law. The authorised person must provide a power of attorney certified in the manner established by the Law. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by the Law. The Company does not establish special form of power of attorney.



A shareholder or a person authorised by him/her shall have a right to vote in writing in advance by filling in the General Voting Ballot. Upon a shareholder's request, the Company, not later than 10 days before the General Meeting of Shareholders, shall send the General Voting Ballot by registered mail free of charge. The sample of General Voting Ballot is also provided on the Company's website at http://www.ut.lt. The General Voting Ballot, duly filled in and signed by the shareholder or a person, having a voting right, and the document confirming the voting right (if any) must be submitted to the Company in writing not later than on the last business day before the General Meeting of Shareholders by sending them by registered mail to AB "Utenos trikotazas", registered at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, LT-28214 Utena, Lithuania.



The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders through electronic means of communication.



Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders. Draft decisions on the proposed issues shall be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions do not need to be approved, explanations on each proposed issue of the General Meeting of Shareholders shall be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented in writing by sending it by registered mail to AB "Utenos trikotazas", registered at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, LT-28214 Utena, Lithuania, or by e-mail utenos.trikotazas@ut.lt. The agenda will be supplemented if the proposal is received not later than 14 days before the General Meeting of Shareholders.



Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders. The proposed draft decisions at any time before the General Meeting of Shareholders must be presented in writing by sending them by registered mail to AB "Utenos trikotazas", registered at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, LT-28214 Utena, Lithuania, or by e-mail utenos.trikotazas@ut.lt. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft resolutions on the agenda issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders in writing during the Meeting.



The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the agenda issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders to the Company in advance in writing, by providing the shareholder's (natural or legal person's) personal identification number, the natural person's consent to process personal data - personal identification number, in the letter and by sending it by registered mail. The Company undertakes to respond if the questions are received not later than 3 business days before the General Meeting of Shareholders. Responses of a general character shall be posted on the Company's website http://www.ut.lt. The Company will not respond personally to the shareholder if the respective information is posted on the Company's website.



The shareholders could get familiarised with the documents possessed by the Company related to the agenda of the Meeting, including draft resolutions, and other documents to be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders as well as to get information regarding execution of the shareholders' rights at the headquarters of AB "Utenos trikotazas", registered at J.Basanaviciaus st. 122, LT-28214 Utena, Lithuania, or on the Company's website at http://www.ut.lt.



ENCL.:



Appendix No.1 Draft decisions of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.



Appendix No.2 Consolidated and Companys financial statements, independent auditors report for the year 2016.



Appendix No.3 Consolidated annual report for the year 2016.



Appendix No.4 Draft of Statement of the Company's Profit Allocation for the Year 2016.



For more information please contact Mr. Algirdas Sabunas, Managing Director of AB Utenos trikotazas, tel. No. 370 389 51445.



Managing Director AB "Utenos trikotazas" Algirdas Sabunas



Attachment:

https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623847

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
StarLeaf is the first cloud vendor to enable Skype Meetings to accommodate non-Skype for Business video meeting room systems.

StarLeaf, the leading cloud video conferencing and calling provider, has announced a range of services, that allow traditional video meeting room systems, such as Cisco, Polycom etc., to join a scheduled Skype for Business meeting. StarLeaf is the first to market with a solution that ranges from a free connectivity service StarLeaf Medley through to full integration services.

Available now, Medley can be accessed by any Skype Meeting organizer, who in one simple step can invite any number of internal or external third-party video systems to join their meeting. This is the first time video equipment from Cisco, Lifesize or Polycom, etc., can be invited and connected directly into a Skype Meeting.

Alongside the free Medley service, StarLeaf also offers premium services that incorporate an enterprise's existing video systems into the Skype for Business environment. These premium services make those existing systems integral to the Skype Meeting workflow, giving users a consistent and familiar experience when scheduling meetings in Outlook. Whether organizations choose to use the free option or go for a seamless integration, StarLeaf offers a simple and easy way to continue to leverage existing video meeting room systems without further investment in complex infrastructure or conference bridging services.

"There's no doubt that Skype for Business is fast becoming the enterprise's chosen Unified Communications platform, yet as video collaboration becomes pervasive across desktops, users soon hit the interop brick wall, where there's no connectivity with traditional AV meeting rooms," said Kevin Bernitz, StarLeaf VP, Product Management. "We've introduced StarLeaf Medley and a broad range of premium services that ensure that companies can continue to leverage their existing deployments and even scale them, if need be."

There are no plug-ins or downloads involved. All it takes to use Medley, the free service, is to simply forward your Skype Meeting invite to skype@starleaf.com or add skype@starleaf.com to your invitee list when organizing your meeting. The StarLeaf Medley service then automatically responds with third-party endpoint dial-in instructions.

"When organizations implement unified communications solutions, such as Skype for Business, they expect to both expand their capabilities and eliminate silos of communications that restrict information sharing. Unfortunately, certain UC solutions still create silos," said Robert Arnold, Principal Analyst at Frost and Sullivan. "StarLeaf, with a laser focus on interoperability, is enabling the connectivity that all organizations seek."

Available for both on-premise and online deployments of Skype for Business, users can learn more and try the beta version of Medley today at www.starleaf.com/medley.

About StarLeaf

StarLeaf is a service provider with a global platform that delivers secure, reliable and rich meeting and calling services to Fortune 500 companies all the way down to the smallest organizations around the world. Whether a company chooses StarLeaf meeting room systems or already has their own, StarLeaf removes the complexity and cost of management and enables users to call anyone, including those who use Microsoft Skype for Business as their client.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005399/en/

Contacts:

StarLeaf

Michele Durban, +44 7788446055

Corporate Marketing Director

michele.durban@starleaf.com
DUJIANGYAN, China, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --On April 2nd, 2017, ambassadors from all countries, international representatives from sister cities, world youth representatives and the international media talents gathered in Dujiangyan on the grand opening of Dujiangyan Water-Release Festival, China, 2017 to witness the water-releasing ceremony together.

Internationalization is the highlight of this year's Water-Releasing Festival. A large number of foreign faces can be seen on the ceremony, which made this traditional Chinese event with a long history and cultural background become an international event.

International media groups from Hong Kong, the United States, Germany, Russia and Malaysia recorded the entire event of the grand opening ceremony. They also went to some scenic spots to experience the local tradition of Dujiangyan and will later spread what they'd seen and felt to the rest of the world. Representatives of sister cities from the United States, Italy, France, India, Malaysia, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Brunei, brought water from their native countries to pour them into Dujiangyan and sent their well wishes to Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival and also appealed to protect the environment and to save water. The Asia's pageant queens from successive sessions are all dressed to attend the ceremony, which had been sought after by the media and became a major highlight of the event.

It is reported that the Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival is a traditional festival in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, China. From the year 978 ADifor every Tomb Sweeping Festival, there will be large-scale sacrificial rituals and other traditional cultural display activities to commemorate Li Bing and his son, who were regarded as the leaders of construction of Dujiangyan water conservancy project for the benefit of the Chengdu Plain, and at the same time, to pray for grain bumper harvests and for the country flourishing and the people's life in peace. Then they would dismantle the abatis to let the water from Mingjiang River flow straight into Neijiang to irrigate Chengdu plain that extended for thousands of miles, which expressed the hardworking and courageous working people's love, yearning and pursuit for good life.

Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486060/Dujiangyan_Water_Releasing_Festival.jpg
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Vedanti Licensing Limited (VLL) and Max Sound Corporation (OTC PINK: MAXD) are providing an update on various ongoing litigations concerning its co-owned international Optimized Data Transmission (ODT) patent portfolio.

In the Google v. Vedanti IPR Hearing, which was held on February 14 th , 2017 in Virginia, USA, VLL's counsel, Bob Asher from Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP is optimistic about a favorable ruling overcoming the arguments put forth by Google's attorneys. The Board of Judges is expected to issue its final decision sometime before May 20 th , 2017.

"We believe we are getting ever-closer to monetizing this incredibly valuable patent portfolio," states Steve Hawkins, CEO of Vedanti Systems Limited and Vedanti Licensing Limited. "We will continue to pursue every legal avenue available to litigate, settle and license this technology. I invite all interested parties to carefully read the IPR hearing transcript." Get a copy of the hearing transcript. "Our legal counsel along with the License Committee headed up by myself and John Blaisure, CEO of Max Sound Corporation, are confident that Mr. Asher leaned the needle strongly in our favor, and we believe the '339 patent will be upheld."

Last January, the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the order of the District Court dismissing MAXD's patent infringement lawsuit against Google for lack of standing. This order remains a mute point as it was predicated on the fact that Max Sound Corporation is now the joint co-owner (the "VLL/Max Sound Agreement") granting the Company co-ownership of U.S. Patent No. 7,974,339 (the "'339 Patent"). Therefore, the Court's decision does not have any affect on the merits of the infringement claims against Google. Pending a favorable outcome of the IPR Hearing, VLL and MAXD intend to file a new action as co-owners against Google for willful infringement.

About Vedanti Licensing Limited: VLL, a UK entity, focuses on licensing patent assets in the global market, with the goal of assisting in the development of products that will pave the way for the next generation of mobile users.

About Max Sound Corporation: As creators of MAX-D HD Audio, Max Sound provides a better solution for audio, video and data transmission. Max Sound, MAXD and MAX-D Audio Perfected and HD Audio are registered trademarks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. To learn more about the MAX-D Technology, please visit http://maxd.audio.

About Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP: Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP has an outstanding record of important wins for our technology and life sciences clients through litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, intellectual property portfolio development and business transactions. We emphasize early identification of business goals and strategic planning to achieve them. We have a long track record of success in protecting and enforcing our clients' patent, trademark, copyright and other IP-related assets. For more information, visit https://sunsteinlaw.com/.

Press Contacts:

Vedanti Licensing Limited

info@vedantilicensing.com



Max Sound Corporation

Info@maxsound.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SSV)(OTCQB: SSVFF)(FRANKFURT: SEG1)(SSE: SSVCL) ("Southern Silver") reported that at its annual general meeting held on March 30, 2017 the following directors were re-elected: Lawrence Page, Q.C., D. Roger Scammell, Eugene Spiering, Nigel Bunting, Larry Buchanan, Peter Cheesbrough and Donald Head. In addition, the shareholders re-appointed Smythe LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditor of Southern Silver and approved Southern Silver's rolling incentive stock option plan pursuant to which a maximum of 10% of the issued shares will be reserved for issuance under the plan. The plan is subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.

The following officers were re-appointed subsequent to the annual general meeting: Lawrence Page, Q.C. as President, Graham Thatcher as Chief Financial Officer, and Arie Page as Corporate Secretary. The directors also appointed Robert Macdonald as Vice President, Exploration of the Company.

Mr. Macdonald is the Vice President of Geological Services for the Manex Resource Group of companies and in such capacity has been the Exploration Manager for several publicly listed companies including Homestake Resource Corporation (formerly Bravo Gold Corp.), Southern Silver Exploration Corp., Valterra Resource Corporation, Duncastle Gold Corp. and Fortune River Resource Corp. Mr. Macdonald has overseen the exploration of many projects throughout North America including the discovery and delineation of the high-grade 1.2 million ounce Homestake Ridge Au-Ag deposit in northern British Columbia and is currently advancing Southern Silver's 10 million tonne Cerro Las Minitas Ag-Pb-Zn project, Durango State, Mexico. Mr. Macdonald graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1990 and earned a MSc. from the University of British Columbia in 1999. Over his career in the geosciences Mr. Macdonald's work has focused on vein and intrusion-related gold systems and VMS environments. Prior to joining Manex, Mr. Macdonald worked as a geologist with the British Columbia Geological Survey and Teck Exploration on projects in Alaska, Peru and British Columbia.

About Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

Southern Silver Exploration Corp. is a precious metal exploration and development company with a focus on the discovery of world-class mineral deposits in north-central Mexico and the southern USA. Our specific emphasis is the Cerro Las Minitas silver-lead-zinc project located in the heart of Mexico's Faja de Plata, which hosts multiple world-class mineral deposits such as Penasquito, San Martin, Naica and Pitarrilla. We have assembled a team of highly experienced technical, operational and transactional professionals to support our exploration efforts in developing the Cerro Las Minitas project into a premier, high-grade, silver-lead-zinc mine. The Company engages in the acquisition, exploration and development either directly or through joint-venture relationships in mineral properties in major jurisdictions. Our property portfolio also includes the Oro porphyry copper-gold project located in southern New Mexico, USA.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Lawrence Page, Q.C., President & Director, Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

For further information, please visit Southern Silver's website at www.southernsilverexploration.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Contacts:

Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

604.641.2759

ir@mnxltd.com

www.southernsilverexploration.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Angel Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: ANG)(OTCQX: ANGCF) ("Angel" or the "Company"), is pleased to provide an update on progress of the geophysical survey program on its Abejero Prospect, the third of the three Prospects tested by the current geophysical program at its El Porvenir project in the Segovia Mining District of Antioquia, Colombia.

Objective and Results

A single line of Induced Polarization geophysics was conducted over the down dip extension of the Abejero vein on the Abejero Prospect (Figure 1) in order to better define the two ore shoots previously interpreted from historic drill core and surface anomalies. Two strong chargeability anomalies were detected and corresponded with the down dip direction and extensions of the two known ore shoots, Shoots 1 and Shoot 2 as follows:

-- SHOOT 1, with historic drill intercepts of 5.58m @ 70.35 g/t gold 40.6 g/t silver, and 0.55m @ 14.10 g/t gold 8.90 g/t silver (Foot note(1)) yielded a distinct and discrete chargeability high of around100m in strike length that appears continuous to depth (Figure 2).The indicated 100m strike length of the high-grade shoot and the historic drill- indicated thickness and grades are comparable to results recently reported by Gran Colombia Gold for their Providencia vein (http://www.grancolombiagold.com/news-and-investors/press- releases/press-release-details/2017/Gran-Colombia-Gold-Announces-High- Grade-Drill-Results-From-Its-2016-Infill-Drilling-Campaigns-at-the- Segovia-and-Marmato-Operations/default.aspx). Angel's Abejero vein structure has a similar orientation to Gran Colombia Gold's Providencia Vein, but has a steeper dip. Gran Colombia has traced short strike- length high-grade shoots at their Segovia mining operations down-dip for over 1,300m with these shoots remaining open to depth. -- SHOOT 2, on which the artisanal Abejero Mine is situated and which formerly produced high grade gold (an Angel sample assayed 117 g/t Au and 36.5 g/t Ag (see Angel press releases dated February 5 and February 11, 2015)), was expected to yield a geophysical response over a similar strike length geophysical response to that of Shoot 1, but the anomaly was far larger and stronger than expected. A strong chargeability anomaly extending over a distance of more than 400m was detected and remains open to the southeast (Figure 2). A resistivity anomaly, also open to the southeast, coincides spatially with the chargeability anomaly. Higher chargeability usually reflects the presence of sulfides while higher resistivity typically reflects less conductive rocks such as intrusives or alteration such as silicification. Sulfides are associated with the gold mineralization of the Segovia District. The strength and larger size of the chargeability anomaly is interpreted to represent a potentially large mineralized target where the Abejero vein cuts through a brittle body of diorite intruded into the gneiss. Additional mapping and trenching is needed to better define these drill targets.

(1) The results quoted are for Mineros drill holes RBADDH002 & RBADDH003 respectively. As part of Angel's due diligence program, samples of the assay pulps for both of these drill hole intercepts (the core not being in a suitable state for meaningful re-sampling) were sent to an ISO accredited laboratory along with blanks and standards. There was an excellent comparison between the original and check assays. Angel has no reason to doubt the veracity of the Mineros results.

"We are excited that the geophysical survey at the Abejero Prospect coincides with the known mineralization from historic drilling and presents a much larger and stronger conductivity anomaly at the El Porvenir Project. The Induced Polarity geophysics program conducted on El Porvenir has now support the potential for mineralized targets to exist at depth and along strike of known mineralization at all three prospect areas," said Stella Frias, President and CEO of Angel Gold Corp.

To view Figure 1, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921-F1.jpg

Figure 1: Abejero Prospect showing the IP line semi-parallel to the Y-shaped Abejero structure. The IP line was oriented along the vein with the intent of crossing the two known high-grade gold- and sulfide-bearing quartz vein shoots identified from shallow historic drilling. Also shown are the historic drill hole collars, the better drill intercepts, the interpreted mineralized shoots, and a diorite intersected by drill holes at shallow depth. Note that the drill- indicated subsurface diorite body coincides with the commencement of the large chargeability anomaly. The contact between black sediments to the west and the metamorphic gneisses to the east is the deep-crustal Bagre Fault.

Discussion of Results

-- It is considered likely that the chargeability signature of "SHOOT 2" was actually overprinted and obscured by a stronger signal caused by abundant disseminated, veinlet and breccia-fill sulfide coincident with zones of intense silicification associated with a diorite intrusive body intersected by the shallow historic drilling. In the area, historic drill holes RBA019, 022, 023, and 027 intersected wide zones of intense silica flooding, while drill holes RBA018, 020, 021, 024,025 and 026 intersected more discontinuous patches of intense alteration. Zones of weak disseminated and fracture-fill pyrite to 1%, over intervals of between 5 and 20m of down-hole thickness intersected in drill holes RBA018, 019,020,021,022 and 023 (a strike length of 215m)help to confirm, but not explain, the size and strength of the chargeability anomaly shown in the Induced Polarization geophysical line, which extends more than 400 meters. -- The extremely brittle intensely silicified rocks encountered by historic drilling, once subjected to and fractured by tectonic forces, can become an excellent host for a breccia-hosted style of mineralization. Similar breccia-hosted mineralization occurs in the intensely silicified intrusive at Angel's Guayabales prospect (http://www.angelgoldcorp.com/2017/03/27/angel-gold-geophysical-survey- encounters-multiple-strong-chargeability-anomalies-at-guayabales- prospect-at-the-el-porvenir-project/) and at Angel's Iguanacito prospect (http://www.angelgoldcorp.com/2017/03/20/angel-gold-geophysical-survey- encounters-strong-chargeability-anomalies-at-the-el-porvenir-project- ground-induced-polarization-and-magnetic-geophysical-surveys-in- progress-at-goldsilver-targets-wi/). Both prospects also occur within Angel's El Porvenir Project and are part of the current geophysical exploration.

To view Figure 2, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921-F2.jpg

Figure 2: Section0+00NElooking northeast, showing a shorter and relatively weaker chargeability response over Shoot 1(center) and a much stronger and longer chargeable response associated with Shoot 2 that is also coincident with elevated resistivity.

Historically 2,398.25m of small diameter core (BQ) drilling was completed at Abejero, but averaged only 66.6m depth (depths ranged from 38.65 to 85.10m). Most of these holes intersected only the host gneiss, but 3 holes (RBA019, 020 and 022) intersected diorite intrusive at shallow depth. The more significant mines within the Segovia mining belt are hosted within similar intrusive rocks.

Intrusive rocks are more homogenous and uniformly brittle than gneiss such as that at Abejero, fracture in a wide variety of orientations and the fractures are more continuous, thus more suitable to being more continuously mineralized. The Abejero structure has the potential to have better continuity as a quartz-sulfide zone within the diorite than in the less brittle gneissic rocks.

Interpretation of geophysical responses needs to be placed into context with both geology and topography. The electrical current identifies chargeable and resistive responses directly under the line being surveyed, but also is affected by rocks and mineralization occurring either side of the line. Figure 3 shows a 3D Google Earth image with the approximate trace of the IP line cutting diagonally up a steep slope and along the wall of a gully, such that the IP survey is looking into the hill on the northeast side, and thus may plot shallow subsurface off-section responses as extending to surface on the pseudo section.

Drill Targets

The geophysical anomaly and assay results from historic drilling in the vicinity of Shoot 1 combine to make Shoot 1 a priority, drill ready target. The target, as defined by the chargeability anomaly, has a length of about 100m. The vein to which it corresponds dips 55o to 70o ENE.

At Shoot 2, the down dip extension of the artisanal Abejero mine is also a ready drill target, but drilling will need to be based upon current geological mapping. The larger and stronger geophysical anomaly over Shoot 2 is also a potential drill target for brecciation and gold mineralisation, but prior to drill testing geological mapping, a more detailed geophysical survey and trenching are warranted.

To view Figure 3, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921F3.jpg

Figure 3:Google Earth 3D topographic image of the Abejero Prospect looking NE, showing the approximate position of the IP survey line extending diagonally up a hill slope and subparallel to a gully, the major deep crustal Bagre Fault, historic Abejero drillhole collars, the Abejero mine and the drill-indicated-diorite body.

Qualified Person

Mr. James G. Burns, P. Eng., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 standards and a technical advisor to the Company has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Angel Gold Corp.:

Angel is a Canada-based gold and silver exploration company focused on responsible development of mineral resources in Colombia, host to some of the world's largest gold deposits. Angel's flagship project the El Porvenir is located at less than 2 km from Segovia project of Gran Colombia, the El Pino West Project is adjacent to the Gramalote project of B2Gold and Anglo Gold Ashanti JV and its Heliconia project is located north of the Titiribi district along the Cauca fault system.

Angel has been focused on acquiring and validating strategic mineral exploration opportunities in Colombia's best mining districts with the highest potential for new discoveries.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Angel Gold Corp.

Blanca Stella Frias, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this News Release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this News Release. This news release contains certain "forward- looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The transaction described in this News Release is subject to a variety of conditions and risks which include but are not limited to: regulatory approval, shareholder approval, market conditions, legal due diligence for claim validity, financing, political risk, security risks at the property locations and other risks. As such, the reader is cautioned that there can be no guarantee that this transaction will complete as described in this News Release. We seek safe harbour.

Contacts:

Angel Gold Corp.

Stella Frias

Investor Relations

+1 (360) 650 1440

www.angelgoldcorp.com




BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Youredi, a leading data integration company, announced today that Gartner Inc. has positioned the enterprise as a Niche Player in the 2017 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide (i) report.

"We are honored to be included in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for the third time in a row.

We are immensely aspired to provide first-class data integration to support modernizing the way enterprises operate. Our iPaaS solution has been developed to serve as the backbone of digitalization, providing outstanding value for clients and stakeholders," remarked Jaakko Elovaara, CEO of Youredi, Ltd. "We have identified three key challenges of digitalization modern organizations must tackle. Our solution makes it possible for organizations to overcome the barriers of connectivity, simplify data exchange, and automate process orchestration. Regardless of the nature of our customer's technology or the format of the data their applications consume, we can guarantee that the right information is available in the right format, at the right time for the right stakeholders."

Youredi's integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is a highly horizontal solution that can connect practically to all IT systems to enhance the way information is transferred, transformed, and enriched. Consequently, the solution is seamlessly orchestrating business processes, saving clients' time and resources while simultaneously reducing errors caused by manual labor.

The flexibility of Youredi's iPaaS allowed the company to be remarkably innovative and establish a global logistics data backbone for air & ocean freight. The platform supports the digitalization of bookings, shipping information, freight invoices and other documents rapidly and cost-effectively. Connecting carrier networks, Youredi Analytics -- Youredi's Business Activity Monitoring solution -- allows global shippers to track containers, shipments or transactions across the entire trade lane in real-time.

Nevertheless, recently Youredi has heavily expanded outside the world of supply chain management, exploiting on the robustness and horizontality of the iPaaS platform.

"Customer satisfaction has been always our top priority. To exceed the expectations of our clients, our pioneering approach to integration solutions continues in the future," states Sami Tahtinen, CTO of Youredi, Ltd. "We believe that the market is ready for a truly distributed, worldwide integration network. Based on the feedback we have received over the recent years from our customers and partners across industries, we will be introducing even better technologies and tools to enable cross-organization, cross-continent, easy-to-implement integration solutions in the near future."

About the Magic Quadrant

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Youredi

Youredi provides a cloud-based Integration Platform as a Service for creating interconnectivity across systems and business applications. Youredi iPaaS establishes the seamless flow of information, making the right data available, in the right format, at the right place and time for all relevant stakeholders.

Youredi, Ltd., founded in Finland, is privately held with a North American subsidiary, Youredi, Inc., headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, and offices in Helsinki and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.youredi.com or contact us at talktous@youredi.com.

* Gartner, "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide", by Keith Guttridge, Massimo Pezzini, Elizabeth Golluscio, Eric Thoo, Kimihiko Iijima, Mary Wilcox, 30 March 2017

Youredi

www.youredi.com

talktous@youredi.com
Vilnius, Lithuania, 2017-04-04 15:32 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- By the initiative and the decision of the Board of APB "APRANGA" the annual general meeting (hereinafter referred to as the Meeting) of APB "APRANGA" (legal entity code 121933274, registered at Kirtimu str. 51, Vilnius, hereinafter - the Company) shareholders will be held on 27th April 2017 at 10:00 am. Registration starts at 9:00 am. on 27th April 2017.



Meeting place is the Company's headquarters at Kirtimu str. 51, Vilnius.



The accounting date for the shareholders is 20th April 2017.



The rights accounting day is 12th May 2017. Property rights shall be held by the persons who will be shareholders at the close of the tenth working day after the general shareholders' meeting having adopted the respective decision.



Meeting agenda:



1. Consolidated annual report on the activities of the Company in 2016. 2. Auditor's report on the Company's financial statements and annual report. 3. Approval of the consolidated and Company's financial statements for the year 2016. 4. Company's profit (loss) allocation for the year 2016. 5. Election of firm of auditors and establishment of the terms of remuneration for audit services. 6. Approval of Charter of the Audit Committee and approval of composition of the Audit Committee, withdrawal and election of members of the Audit committee, approval of remuneration of the members of the Audit committee.



The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the Meeting through electronic means of communication.



Draft decisions on each Meeting agenda item, the documents to be submitted to the Meeting and information, which is related to the implementation of the shareholder rights, not later than 21 days prior to the Meeting will be available at the Company's website http://www.apranga.lt under "Investors". This information also will be available for the shareholders at the Company's headquarter at Kirtimu str. 51, Vilnius on working days from 9:00 am. to 16:00 pm. Information shall be provided by telephone: +370 5 2390 843.



Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting. Draft decisions on the proposed issues shall be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions are not needed to be approved, explanations on each proposed issue of the Meeting shall be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented in writing sending it by a registered mail to the Company, address: Kirtimu str. 51, LT-02244 Vilnius. The agenda shall be supplemented if the proposal will be received not later than 14 days before the Meeting.



Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company. The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing sending them by a registered mail to the Company, address: Kirtimu str. 51, LT-02244 Vilnius. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft resolutions on the Meeting agenda issues, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company in writing at any time prior to the Meeting or during the Meeting.



Shareholders have a right to submit in advance in written by registered mail to Company questions related with Meeting agenda by indicating shareholder's personal identification code and consent to process personal data - personal identification code. The Company must respond if the questions will be received not later than 3 working days before the Meeting. The Company shall not respond personally to shareholder's questions if respective information is provided in Company's website http://www.apranga.lt.



The persons who are shareholders of the Company at the close of the accounting day of the Meeting (20th April 2017) shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting in person or their authorized persons or persons with whom an agreement on the disposal of the voting right in concluded.



The person attending the Meeting and having the right to vote must submit the document confirming person's identity. The person who is not a shareholder besides this document must submit document confirming the right to vote in the Meeting.



Each shareholder has a right pursuant to the procedure established by laws to authorize other person to attend and vote on his/her behalf at the Meeting. Authorized person must present a proxy issued pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The proxy issued by private person must be notarized. The proxy issued abroad must be translated to Lithuanian and legalized pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The Company does not establish special form of proxy.



The shareholder or its authorized person has a right to vote in advance in written by filling general ballot paper. Upon the shareholder's written request the Company at least 10 days before the Meeting shall free of charge send the general ballot paper by registered mail or deliver it personally against acknowledgement of receipt. The filled-in general ballot paper and the document confirming the right to vote must be submitted to Company by sending it by registered mail to the address Kirtimu g. 51, LT-02244 Vilnius or by delivering it to the Company personally not later than on last working day before Meeting.



The total number of the Company's shares and the number of shares granting voting rights during the Meeting is the same and amounts to 55 291 960.



Rimantas Perveneckas Apranga Group Director General +370 5 2390801

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
On 3 April 2017 the Board of Telia Lietuva, AB (hereinafter "Telia Lietuva" or "the Company") decided:



- To approve the draft of the audited annual consolidated and separate financial statements of the Company for the year 2016, prepared according to the International Financial Reporting Standards, and to propose to the Company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve the draft of the Company's annual consolidated and separate financial statements for the year 2016.



The audited revenue of Telia Lietuva Group for the year 2016 is the same as the revenue for the twelve months of 2016 that was announced on 27 January 2017 - the audited consolidated Telia Lietuva Group revenue for the year 2016 amounted to EUR 345,906 thousand. EBITDA excluding non-recurring items was EUR 117,041 thousand (EUR 117,118 thousand was announced on 27 January 2017) and free cash flow amounted to EUR 44,176 thousand (EUR 44,176 thousand was announced on 27 January 2017). Due to additional amortisation and depreciation charges, the audited profit for the period of January-December 2016 was a bit lower and amounted to EUR 41,494 thousand, while EUR 41,903 thousand was announced on 27 January 2017.



- To approve the Company's Consolidated Annual Report for the year 2016, prepared by the Company and assessed by the auditors, and to present the Company's Consolidated Annual Report for information to the Company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.



- To approve the draft of the Company's profit allocation for the year 2016 and to propose for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to allocate the profit according to the draft of profit allocation: allocate from the Company's distributable profit of EUR 68,057 thousand EUR 17,478 thousand for the payment of dividends for the year 2016, i.e. EUR 0.03 dividend per share, and carry forward to the next financial year an amount of EUR 50,578 thousand as retained earnings (undistributed profit). For two independent members to the Board - Inga Skisaker and Rolandas Virsilas - as tantiems (annual payment) for the year 2016 to allocate in total an amount of EUR 31,280, or EUR 15,640 each.



Following the conservative approach towards the Company's long-term capital structure and seeking to maintain the Company's net debt to EBITDA ratio not higher than 1.5 and to pay out up to 80 per cent of free cash flow as dividend, the Board proposes to increase the dividend pay-out and to pay EUR 0.03 dividend per share for the year 2016 already for the year 2016, while for the year 2015 the dividend per share amounted to EUR 0.01.



- To convoke the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in Telia Lietuva, AB headquarters, in a room on the 23rd floor, Lvovo str. 25, Vilnius, Lithuania, at 13.00 on 27 April 2017, and to propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders' the following draft agenda: 1. Presentation by the Company's auditor. 2. Approval of the annual consolidated and separate financial statements of the Company for the year 2016 and presentation of the consolidated annual report of the Company for the year 2016. 3. Allocation of the profit of the Company of 2016. 4. Election of the Company's auditor. 5. Election of the Company's Board members. 6. Regarding the implementation of decisions.



ENCL.: - Draft of Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements, Consolidated Annual Report and Independent Auditor's Report for the year ended 31 December 2016. - Presentation of Telia Lietuva AB Group results for the year 2016.



Darius Dziaugys, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +370 5 236 7878



Attachment:

https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623915

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The chances of French-Polish director Roman Polanski's return to the United States dimmed after a Los Angeles County court declined to assure that he will not face prison over a four decades-old case involving sex with a minor. Polanski, now 83, wants an assurance that he's served his time for a 1977 rape of a 13-year-old girl before he comes back to the U.S. for a formal sentencing hearing. A motion filed by Polanski's lawyers asked the court to order the L.A. County District Attorney's Office to state on the record whether it would seek to have him serve additional time if he returned to the U.S. But on Monday, Judge Scott Gordon rejected the motion, and ruled: 'Polanski is not entitled to avail himself of this court's power to hear his demands while he openly stands in contempt of a legal order from this very court.' After learning that he was likely to face imprisonment and deportation after admitting having sex with a girl aged 13, Polanski fled to France in February 1978, hours before he was to be formally sentenced. He hasn't stepped on U.S. soil since then. Polanski has mostly lived in France and has avoided visiting countries likely to extradite him to the United States. Having made films in Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, he is considered one of the few international filmmakers. His most famous works include the horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Pianist (2002), which won three Academy Awards. 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.
VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

According to Future Market Insights, the global Apple accessories market is expected to grow at 4.6% CAGR over the forecast period, 2016-2020. Demand is expected to remain strong in China, where rapid adoption of smartphones, combined with an increasing preference towards the 'Apple' brand is pushing sales. The market in China is expected to grow at 8.5% CAGR through the forecast period. Globally, the demand for Apple accessories is expected to be positively influenced by the growing BYOD trend.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161020/430874LOGO )

Weak distribution channels in emerging markets have remained a longstanding challenge for manufacturers. However, popularity of e-commerce and focus on creating alternative distribution channels have positively impacted Apple accessories sales in emerging markets. The steady growth in these markets is expected to offset weak demand in developed markets of the U.S. and Europe.

Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3374

Apple accessories sales in Asia will be driven by rising popularity of e-commerce websites and apps. As is the case in Asia, steady e-commerce sales are driving Apple accessories sales in Brazil and Russia. These factors will contribute to the overall growth of the global market.

Future Market Insights identifies that undefined standards in terms of components and technology have led to price and product differentiation. Moreover, widespread availability of counterfeit and pirated products offered at a fraction of the original price in various developing countries can significantly inhibit demand for Apple accessories.

Preview Analysis on Global Apple Accessories Market Segmentation By Product Type - Beats Audio, Watch Accessories, Iphone Cases, App-Enabled Accessories, Audio Accessories, Ipad Cases, Power & Cable, Iphone Screen Guard, Ipad Screen Guard and Others: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/apple-accessories-market

The Future Market Insights report reveals that iPhone screen guards will continue to be the most-sought after accessory among consumers. iPad cases and iPad screen guards are expected to remain the other lucrative product types. Collectively, these three product segments accounted for over 50% revenue share of the global market in 2016, and the status quo will remain unchanged throughout the forecast period. Among these product types, iPad cases segment will only witness an increase in its revenue share by 2020.

North America will continue to be the most lucrative market, with the US leading total sales. The North America Apple accessories market was valued at US$ 1.93 Bn in 2016, with the US accounting for US$ 1.38 Bn in revenues. Future Market Insights projects the North America market revenues to increase at a CAGR of 4% CAGR through 2020. The report further reveals that the Apple accessories market in Europe is predicted to register a CAGR of 4.0% in the span of next four years. However, the Apple accessories market in South East Asia is expected to witness relatively sluggish growth by the end of 2020.

Speak with Analyst for Any Report Related Queries: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-3374

3M, Bose Corporation, Western Digital Corporation (SanDisk), Logitech, Otter Products, LLC., Decoded, Adobe, Bang & Olufsen, Incase and ACCO (Kensington Computer Products Group) are the key manufacturers operating in the Apple accessories market globally.

More from FMI's Cutting-edge Intelligence:

CMOS Power Amplifier Market Segmentation By Module - GSM/EDGE, UMTS, LTE, CDMA 2000, TD-SCDMA, FOMA/Others; By Application - Smartphone, Feature Phone, Connected Tablet: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cmos-power-amplifiers-market

Segmentation By Module - GSM/EDGE, UMTS, LTE, CDMA 2000, TD-SCDMA, FOMA/Others; By Application - Smartphone, Feature Phone, Connected Tablet: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cmos-power-amplifiers-market Social Business Intelligence Market Segmentation By Deployment Type - On-Premise, Cloud-Based; By Size Of Enterprise - Small Enterprise, Medium Enterprise and Large Enterprise; By Vertical - BFSI, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Consumer Goods & Retail, Travel & Tourism, IT & Telecommunication, Media & Entertainment, Government and Others: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/social-business-intelligence-market

Segmentation By Deployment Type - On-Premise, Cloud-Based; By Size Of Enterprise - Small Enterprise, Medium Enterprise and Large Enterprise; By Vertical - BFSI, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Consumer Goods & Retail, Travel & Tourism, IT & Telecommunication, Media & Entertainment, Government and Others: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/social-business-intelligence-market Tablet Market Segmentation By Product Type - Detachable, and Slate Tablet; By Operating System - Android, iOS, Windows; By Screen Size - Below 8 inch, 8 inch and above; By End-Use - Consumer, and Commercial: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/tablet-market

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 and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends.

Browse More Electronics, Semiconductors, and ICT Market Insights

Contact Us

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,

Valley Cottage, NY 10989,

United States

T: +1-347-918-3531

F: +1-845-579-5705

T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790

Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com

Press Office: Press@futuremrketinsights.com



Website: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Canada Carbon Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CCB)(FRANKFURT: U7N1) is pleased to report that the Company has been issued active mineral claims for all of the previously pending claims on the Miller Property. The pending claims were in that state because they overlaid, completely or in part, areas which were restricted in 2014 by Regional County Municipalities ("RCM") in order to protect certain lands from mineral exploration. That temporary restriction was to be revised once new guidelines to define such territories were passed into law by the province of Quebec. Those guidelines were released in January 2017, and the Argenteuil RCM sent a proposal for mining incompatible territories within its boundaries to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources ("MERN"). The 2014 restrictions were then replaced with the newly defined incompatible zones. MERN then removed the pending status from the mineral claim applications and active claims were issued to Canada Carbon Inc. because the new mining incompatible territories cannot be retroactively applied to either existing or pending mineral claims.

The newly issued active Miller property claims released by the Ministry of Mines can be seen in this Figure: https://www.canadacarbon.com/images/Miller_Property_Claim_Map_03-April-2017.jpg. Despite the fact that the newly granted claims are restriction free, in a letter to the Municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, dated February 16th 2017, the Company indicated that it intended to perform a review of areas that the Municipality identified as currently incompatible with mining activities to ensure that the Company's activities are in line with the Municipality's development plan to the greatest extent possible. Based on the review completed to-date, the Company has already decided not to perform exploration work on the following areas:

-- The cottage area surrounding McGillivray Lake -- The Calumet urban perimeter -- The Riviere-Rouge Parc project -- The Rouge River corridor -- The historical, cultural and patrimonial areas in the McGillivray Lake area and the northern Scotch Road settlements -- Active agricultural zones

The Company will conduct an evaluation of the remainder of the recommended areas by the Municipality to determine their potential for high purity graphite hosted in marble before performing exploration work over the newly active claims. As usual, the Company will enter into direct contact with any land owner on whose property it may wish to explore.

Canada Carbon Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. R. Bruce Duncan remarked, "Canada Carbon now possesses 180 active mineral claims, with a total area of over 103.76 km2. This claim package secures all of the marble units in the vicinity and ensures that Canada Carbon will be the only high purity graphite explorer active in the Grenville-sur-la-Rouge territory."

Miller Project Update

The Company recognizes that the issue of water quality is critical to the Argenteuil RCM, citizens of Grenville and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge and their respective municipal representatives. An independent third party review of the Miller Project hydrogeology and its impact on Grenville's municipal well is being conducted. The Company welcomes the review and has provided the consulting firm with all of its hydrogeology reports.

Canada Carbon Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. R. Bruce Duncan remarked, "The Miller Project land use application to the CPTAQ was updated in March 2017. The Company will also be providing citizens with follow up information to questions that emerged during the public meetings held in February 2017."

Canada Carbon has established a dedicated page on its website to host final environmental and other assessment reports, which will be updated as new information becomes available. The Miller Project Reports page can be accessed from the website home page, or by opening this link: https://www.canadacarbon.com/miller-project-reports. The Company will provide periodic updates via newspaper ads and flyers delivered to GSLR residents, and will hold further public meetings from time to time as the results of the Project feasibility study are made public and the quarry and mine permit applications are considered.

CANADA CARBON INC.

R. Bruce Duncan, CEO and Director

"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."

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).

Contacts:

Canada Carbon Inc.

(604) 685-6375

(604) 909-1163 (FAX)

info@canadacarbon.com

www.canadacarbon.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Rupert Resources Ltd. ("Rupert" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: RUP)(FRANKFURT: R05) is pleased to announce that James Withall has agreed to join the Company as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Withall was a Managing Partner at Baker Steel Capital Managers where he was a gold sector specialist and the Lead Manager of the top performing and multiple award winning Baker Steel Precious Metals Fund. James started his career as a geologist in Western Australia. He will assume the Chief Executive Officer role effective April 18th, 2017.

Brian Hinchcliffe, who took over as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company on March 24th, 2016, will move into the role of Executive Chairman of Rupert when Mr. Withall's appointment as Chief Executive Officer takes effect.

"Mr. Withall's leadership and experience will build on the dynamic exploration strategy that Mike Sutton, our lead Director, has developed at Pahtavaara. Strategically we continue putting the building blocks in place to lever our permitted production and exploration assets in Finland into a significant production Company," added Brian Hinchcliffe. "We look forward to assisting James as he assumes executive responsibility for the Company and are pleased to confirm that development mining did start this week underground at Pahtavaara as planned."

"I am looking forward to joining the team at Rupert Resources which has positioned itself very strategically with the Pahtavaara mine acquisition last year. The Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in northern Finland remains one of the most significant underexplored greenstone belts globally and Finland has long been ranked amongst the best jurisdictions for mining," said James Withall, the new Chief Executive Officer. "The combination of a permitted 1500 tpd mill, enormous exploration potential and motivated young engineering and geologic staff will provide strong foundations to build an exciting new emerging gold producer over the years ahead."

The Board expresses its immense gratitude to Mr. Hinchcliffe for having taking on the President and Chief Executive Officer role, for his leadership in relaunching the Company and guiding it through its acquisition of the Pahtavaara mine and for his commitment to acting in the best interests of the Company. By acting as Executive Chairman, Mr. Hinchcliffe will continue to play a key role in the Company and its future.

About James Withall

James Withall has over twenty years' experience in mining. He was previously a Managing Partner and Fund Manager at Baker Steel Capital Managers. He was the lead manager of the award winning Baker Steel Global Funds Precious Metals Fund that was voted the top performing Gold and Precious Metals Equities Fund by Thomson Reuter Lipper Fund Awards, over 3 years in 2016 and, 3 and 5 years in 2017, throughout Europe. James was also awarded two gold medals by Sauren Fund Research in 2016 for excellent fund management in the category "Equity Goldmines". James worked for more than seven years as a geologist, working in Western Australia for number of gold mining companies in exploration, project and mine geologist roles, before joining the development team of the Xstrata Windimurra vanadium project. James has a degree in Applied Geology from Leicester University and a Masters in Mineral Project Appraisal from Imperial College, London.

About Rupert Resources

Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RUP". The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (see the Company's November 9, 2016 press release). The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking statements", including approval by the TSX Venture Exchange of James Withall as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, potential for minerals and statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 29, 2016 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.

Contacts:

Rupert Resources Ltd.

Brian Hinchcliffe

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1 (914) 815 2773

info@rupertresources.com

www.rupertresources.com




Regulatory News:

At today's Annual General Shareholders' Meeting (AGM) of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. in Aubagne, France, shareholders approved the Board of Directors' proposals by a large majority.

The AGM thus passed the resolution to pay a dividend of 0.42 net per share for fiscal 2016. The previous year's dividend, adjusted for the stock split that was implemented in June 2016, was 0.33. The total profit distributed will therefore rise by 26.0% from 30.7 million to 38.7 million.

A profile of Sartorius Stedim Biotech

Sartorius Stedim Biotech is a leading international supplier of products and services that enable the biopharmaceutical industry to develop and manufacture drugs safely and efficiently. As a total solutions provider, Sartorius Stedim Biotech offers a portfolio covering nearly all steps of biopharmaceutical manufacture. The company focuses on single-use technologies and value-added services to meet the rapidly changing technology requirements of the industry it serves. Headquartered in Aubagne, France, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is quoted on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris. With its own manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, North America and Asia and an international network of sales companies, Sartorius Stedim Biotech has a global reach. In 2016, the company employed approx. 4,700 people, and earned sales revenue of 1,051.6 million euros.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005967/en/

Contacts:

Sartorius Stedim Biotech

Petra Kirchhoff

Vice President of Corporate Communications

Phone: +49(0)551.308.1686

petra.kirchhoff@sartorius.com


BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Auction house Sotheby's (BID) has sold a giant pink diamond for $71.2 million in Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting a world record for the most expensive diamond or jewel to be sold at an auction.



The Pink Star, weighing 59.60 carats, is the largest polished diamond ever to go on the auction block.



The oval-shaped diamond was bought by Hong Kong-based jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook for HK$553.04 million after a five-minute contest that included three bidders. The sale price includes the buyer's premium, or auction house charge.



The previous record for the most expensive polished diamond was held by the Oppenheimer Blue, which was sold for $58 million at a Christie's auction in Geneva last May.



In 2013, Pink Star was sold for a record $83 million at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva. However, the gem was reclaimed by Sotheby's after the buyer, New York-based diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, defaulted on the deal.



The Pink Star was estimated to be worth more than $60 million. It is the largest internally flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America has ever graded.



The GIA has stated that the diamond is natural. Of all fancy colored pink diamonds, those graded 'Fancy Vivid' are the most precious and desirable.



The Pink Star was mined by De Beers in 1999 in South Africa and weighed 132.5 carat in the rough. It was then meticulously cut by Steinmetz Diamonds over a period of nearly two years.



The diamond was first unveiled to the public in May 2003 as the 'Steinmetz Pink,' and was modeled by Danish model Helena Christensen at a dedicated event thrown to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix.



In the summer of 2003, the gem was part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, alongside the famous 45.52 carat blue Hope Diamond. It was also displayed in 2005 at the Natural History Museum in London.



The stone was first sold in 2007 and was subsequently renamed 'The Pink Star'.



The previous world auction record for a pink diamond is the 24.78 carat Graff Pink, which sold at Sotheby's Geneva in November 2010 for $46.16 million.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called on Senate Democrats to do their jobs by allowing for an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor without delay on Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. 'Judge Gorsuch is an immensely qualified candidate, and it's time for Democrats to stand down on their extreme, partisan obstruction,' said Chairwoman McDaniel in a statement on the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote in support of Gorsuch. She alleged that Democrats' pledge to engage in an unprecedented filibuster shows they are more concerned with peddling a blind partisan agenda instead of doing what's best for the American people. 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.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Addressing current threats such as DDoS attacks and Internet of Things security, the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group has released five new best practices papers and created new special interest groups to develop cybersecurity approaches that will help protect end-users. The organization also announced its 2017 leadership and committee chairs who are responsible for supporting the group's ongoing collaborative efforts and identifying new areas of online vulnerability.

The new best practices papers outline recommended processes to help companies and service providers better safeguard their networks and are based on the experience of anti-abuse experts in computer security, business, public policy and academia. The papers are:

M3AAWG Initial Recommendations: Arming Businesses Against DDoS Attacks - outlines the various types of attacks and explains how to prepare for them, including the steps to take during and after an assault

M3AAWG Multifactor Authentication Recommendations - explains why and when multifactor authentication should be used

M3AAWG Recommendations Around Password Managers - a short overview defining when comprehensive password managers provide value

M3AAWG Password Recommendations for Providers - guidelines on setting password requirements that balance security with complexity and cost

M3AAWG Describes Costs Associated with Using Crypto - a brief guide to help plan for encryption deployments

M3AAWG currently has 42 papers available on its website under the For the Industry tab in its Best Practices section at https://www.m3aawg.org/published-documents. These best practices and tutorials address both emerging and ongoing anti-abuse challenges, such as methods to counter pervasive monitoring, abuse desk processes, anti-phishing and spam techniques, recommended senders best practices and other relevant topics.

Special Interest Groups Focus on Global Issues

M3AAWG also formed a new Internet of Things SIG to coordinate members' efforts in resolving abuse issues from compromised IoT devices. The new special interest group will develop reputation guidelines and processes for the supply chain while promoting consumer security awareness and working with manufacturers to build better security into devices.

The M3AAWG DDoS SIG is focused on helping ISPs, hosting companies and third-party DDoS security service providers understand existing and emerging Distributed Denial of Service attack types. It is developing additional papers that will explain prevention methods, monitoring and mitigation architectures, and business strategies.

2017 Leadership Takes the Helm

Along with finalizing the papers during the M3AAWG 39th General Meeting in San Francisco last month, Severin Walker, senior manager, Comcast Anti-Abuse Engineering, was elected the new Chairman of the M3AAWG Board. He has contributed to the organization over the past five years as a Board member and a chair of the M3AAWG Technical Committee.

Also elected at the February 23 Board meeting were vice chairpersons Janet Jones, senior security program manager in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Security organization; Len Shneyder, SendGrid, Inc. vice president of industry relations; and Matthew Stith, Rackspace anti-abuse specialist. Sam Silberman, Endurance International Group director of standards and industry relations, will serve his fourth term as treasurer and Jerry Upton continues as executive director.

Most of the work and best practices in M3AAWG are generated through dialogue among industry professionals in topical committees. The committees meet on regularly scheduled conference calls and during the three M3AAWG working meetings each year to develop the anti-abuse recommendations and other projects.

"M3AAWG provides a critical space where hundreds of subject matter experts from across the spectrum can collaborate in a trusted and vetted environment and, because of this, our work is important for the long-term security of the internet. M3AAWG committees provide the structure -- they are the super-highways that ensure these discussions are meaningful and address the critical issues. So eventually, the volunteer M3AAWG committee chairs are the ones who keep the energy and our work flowing," Walker said in announcing the 2017 committee chairs:

Abuse Desk Co-Chairs Charles Helstein, PayPal; Tobias Knecht, Abusix, Inc.; and Justin Paine, Cloudfare

Academic Committee Co-Chairs Dr. Manos Antonakakis, Georgia Tech, and Carel, Spamhaus

Anti-Phishing SIG Co-Chairs Carlos Alvarez, ICANN, and Chelsea Maldonado, Mailchimp

Awards Committee Co-Chairs Christine Borgia, Return Path, and Neil Schwartzman, CAUCE

Brand SIG Co-Chairs Ryan Boyd, Groupon, and Mike Hammer, AG Interactive

Collaboration Committee Co-Chairs Stephen Ford, Adobe Systems Inc.; Sven Krohlas, 1 & 1 Internet SE; and Mary Youngblood

DDoS SIG Co-Chairs Mike Glenn, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., and Glen Pirrotta, Comcast

Hosting Committee Co-Chairs Matthew Stith, Rackspace, and Justin Lane, Endurance International Group

Information Sharing SIG Co-Chairs Chris Boyer, AT&T, and Doug Pearson, REN-ISAC

Internet of Things SIG Co-Chairs M3AAWG Senior Technical Advisor Michael O'Reirdan and Chris Roosenraad, NeuStar

M3AAWG Guides Co-Chairs Alyssa Nahatis, Adobe Systems, Inc., and M3AAWG Privacy Advisor William Wilson, Breckenhill Inc.

M3AAWG meeting Open Round Tables Co-Chairs Melinda Plemel, Proofpoint, and Vincent Schonau, Abusix

Pervasive Monitoring SIG Co-Chairs Janet Jones, Microsoft, and Alex Brotman, Comcast

Program Committee Co-Chairs Kurt Andersen, LinkedIn; Dennis Dayman, Return Path; and Len Shneyder, SendGrid, Inc.

Public Policy Committee Co-Chairs Frank Ackerman, M3AAWG Public Policy Advisor; Chris Boyer, AT&T; and Chris Roosenraad, NeuStar

Senders Committee Co-Chairs Andrew Barrett, Adobe Systems, Inc., and Tara Natanson, Endurance International Group

Technical Committee Chair Severin Walker, Comcast. The Technical Committee area co-chairs are:

Messaging - Peter Goldstein, ValiMail, and James Hoddinott, Cloudmark, Inc.

Malware - Jeremy Demar, Vigilant By Deloitte, and Loucif Kharouni, Deloitte

Training Committee Co-Chairs Christine Borgia, Return Path; Kurt Diver, SendGrid, Inc.; Annalivia Ford, IBM; and Udeme Ukutt, Splio

Voice and Telephony Abuse SIG Co-Chairs Alex Bobotek, AT&T, and Dr. Mustaque Ahamad, Georgia Tech

Women in Messaging Abuse/Diversity and Inclusion Chair Janet Jones, Microsoft

Additionally, M3AAWG Senior Technical Advisor John Levine, founder of Taughannock Networks, was appointed M3AAWG liaison to ICANN. Jesse Sowell continues as a special M3AAWG representative to LACNIC, the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Center, and is helping to develop joint anti-abuse work with that organization.

About the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG)

The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) is where the industry comes together to work against bots, malware, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. M3AAWG (www.M3AAWG.org) members represent more than one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators worldwide. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services through technology, collaboration and public policy. It also works to educate global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., M3AAWG is driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

M3AAWG Board of Directors: AT&T; CenturyLink; Cloudmark, Inc.; Comcast; dotmailer; Endurance International Group; Facebook; Google; LinkedIn; Mailchimp; Microsoft Corp.; Orange; Rackspace; Return Path; SendGrid, Inc.; Vade Secure; and Yahoo! Inc.

M3AAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; Adobe Systems Inc.; Agora, Inc.; AOL; Campaign Monitor Pty.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; CloudFlare; Dyn; Exact Target, Inc.; IBM; iContact; Intel Security; Internet Initiative Japan; Liberty Global; Listrak; Litmus; MAPP Digital; Mimecast; Nominum, Inc.; Oracle Marketing Cloud; OVH; PayPal; Proofpoint; Spamhaus; Sparkpost; Sprint; Symantec; and USAA.

A complete member list is available at http://www.m3aawg.org/about/roster.

Media Contact:

Linda Marcus

APR

+1-714-974-6356 (U.S. Pacific)

LMarcus@astra.cc

Astra Communications




Guide born out of discussions with customer prospects about the most common issues they see with Partner Relationship Management choices, causing them to seek a new solution

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Global Partner Relationship Management (PRM) leader Impartner today launched a new eBook, "The Top 13 Signs You've Made the Wrong PRM Decision," to help companies who "realize something is wrong" with their current solution, confirm their concerns and provide guidance on why and how to change course quickly. The guide was developed based on conversations with prospects from leading corporations that have made a PRM technology decision they realize is not the right fit for their company and are seeking new solutions. Visit this link for a complementary download: http://bit.ly/2nxAD8G

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/485997/Impartner_New_eBook.jpg

"Let's face it, as the buying power shifts to the business units from IT, a new population of professionals are making technology purchasing decisions," said Dave R Taylor, Impartner CMO. "There are multiple factors you need to consider, and for a host of reasons, you don't always get it right the first time. If that's the case, sometimes you make the decision to 'live with it' when a technology choice doesn't turn out the way you intended. However, in the case of PRM, which is the single most foundational technology investment companies need to make to optimize the performance of their channel, if you don't have it right, you need to acknowledge it, pull off the bandage and move on to something that works for your business. Otherwise, you will fail to unlock the potential of your channel and fall behind your competitors."

Following are the top 13 signs the PRM solution or path your company has chosen is not working for your organization:

No one owns the roadmap or updates for your custom portal - and it's falling behind. You've realized the resources for a build-it-yourself portal are beyond what was anticipated - and the project is stalling for lack of funding and bandwidth. You realize the demo positioned aspects of the solution as out-of-the-box, but it was over positioned - and it's going to require major customization. Your "good enough" functionality is proving to not be good enough - frustrating partners and/or causing you to lose credibility in the organization because you can't see and report the necessary metrics. When your PRM vendor has a product or a security update, it is taking weeks or months to get it. You can't personalize your partner experience - it's not tailored or unique. Your team finds it too hard to update the content on your Partner Portal and the content is not fresh. Your dot.com site is better than - and doesn't match - your Partner Portal, the front door to your relationship with your partners. You have almost no insights into past success or future projections for your channel partners. Your portal can't support today's end-user journey. You have other solutions in your tech stack that don't integrate with your PRM - and you're losing insight because data is siloed and your partners hate having to sign into multiple sites. You have channel conflict. You only have visibility into a small portion of your channel revenue represented in your sales funnel.

For a complimentary copy of the eBook, click here. If you already see the signs your company has made the wrong PRM decision, take an Impartner demo here, and learn how we help leading companies like Xerox, Conga, Ingersoll Rand, LogRhythm, Ciena and National Instruments generate an average of up to $9 million in additional revenue from their indirect channels per year.

About Impartner

Impartner delivers one of the industry's most advanced SaaS-based Partner Relationship Management solutions, helping companies worldwide manage their partner relationships and accelerate revenue and profitability through indirect sales channels. Impartner PRM is the industry's most award winning PRM technology and one of the industry's only turnkey solutions that can deploy a world-class Partner Portal in as few as 30 days, using the company's highly engineered, three-step Velocity' onboarding process. For more information on Impartner, which is based in Utah's tech hotbed, the Silicon Slopes, visit www.impartner.com, or in the United States call +1 801 501 7000, for EMEA general call +33 1 40 90 31 20, for London call +44 0 20 3283 4465, and for LATAM call +1 954 364 7883.

Follow Impartner on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Contact:

Kerry Desberg

Impartner

425-231-9529

Kerry.desberg@impartner.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/260238/impartner___logo.jpg
SAINT LAURENT, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- IntelGenx Technologies Corp. (TSX VENTURE: IGX)(OTCQX: IGXT)(the "Company" or "IntelGenx") announced today that Dr. Horst Zerbe, its President and Chief Executive Officer, and Prof. Ludwig Aigner, Paracelsus University Salzburg, Austria, discussed the Company's Montelukast VersaFilm project during a poster presentation at the 13th International Conference on Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Diseases held on March 29 - April 2, 2017 in Vienna, Austria.

Entitled "Repurposing Of The Anti-asthmatic Drug Montelukast For The Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease," the poster presentation reviewed the Company's research on Montelukast, a unique drug repurposing opportunity for the treatment of degenerative diseases of the brain. IntelGenx is working to develop a Montelukast oral film product based on its VersaFilm proprietary thin film technology by using the drug Montelukast, which is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of asthma and has also demonstrated potential for the treatment of degenerative diseases of the brain.

"We were very excited to have the opportunity to present at such a renowned and important conference, in front of leading medical and scientific professionals from around the word," said Dr. Zerbe. "IntelGenx' recent research demonstrates the strong potential of our Montelukast VersaFilm as a more effective delivery system for CNS applications, especially degenerative brain diseases, and we believe these compelling results were well-received by conference participants."

As the brain ages, it loses its ability to generate new cells, while existing cells lose functionality and the ability to prevent neuroinflammation. Furthermore, the aged brain tends to produce higher levels of inflammatory agents such as leukotrienes, resulting in neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. There is evidence that leukotriene receptor antagonists, such as Montelukast sodium, have the potential to reduce neuroinflammation and restore brain cell function. Such treatments can be effective for treating various neurodegenerative diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, Huntington's Disease, spinal cord and brain injuries, and stroke.

IntelGenx is working to repurpose Montelukast as a therapeutic to treat these neurodegenerative diseases by re-formulating Montelukast into an oral film-based platform with improved bioavailability. Presently, Montelukast is marketed as Singulair, a once daily tablet for the chronic treatment of asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis, which suffers from poor and inconsistent bioavailability. IntelGenx' proprietary VersaFilm technology offers several advantages over tablets, including the avoidance and minimization of first-pass-effects, improved API bioavailability, lower dosing and toxicity, easier swallowing and better patience compliance.

In a recent Phase I study, IntelGenx demonstrated that an oral film formulation of Montelukast is safe and tolerable in healthy subjects, reduces the first-pass-effect and has a 52% higher bioavailability compared to the regular Montelukast tablet, demonstrating a clear advantage of delivering Montelukast via film. Of importance for any central nervous system ("CNS") active drugs, IntelGenx detected Montelukast in the cerebrospinal fluid of healthy volunteers who were treated with Montelukast VersaFilm, clearly indicating blood brain barrier penetrance. Also, in contrast to many other CNS-penetrating drugs, Montelukast had an excellent safety and tolerability profile. IntelGenx is preparing a Phase II trial to demonstrate efficacy of the Montelukast VersaFilm to improve cognitive function in Alzheimer's Disease.

About IntelGenx:

IntelGenx is a leading oral drug delivery company primarily focused on the development and manufacturing of innovative pharmaceutical oral films based on its proprietary VersaFilm technology platform. Established in 2003, the Montreal-based company is listed on the TSX-V and OTC-QX.

IntelGenx highly skilled team provides comprehensive pharmaceuticals services to pharmaceutical partners, including R&D, analytical method development, clinical monitoring, IP and regulatory services. IntelGenx state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, established for the VersaFilm technology platform, supports lab-scale to pilot and commercial-scale production, offering full service capabilities to our clients. More information is available about the company at: www.intelgenx.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This document may contain forward-looking information about IntelGenx' operating results and business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about IntelGenx' plans, objectives, expectations, strategies, intentions or other characterizations of future events or circumstances and are generally identified by the words "may," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "could," "would," and similar expressions. All forward looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Because these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, IntelGenx' actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in IntelGenx' annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov, and also filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and www.sedar.com. IntelGenx assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Each of the TSX Venture Exchange and OTCQX has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Source: IntelGenx Technologies Corp.

Contacts:

Stephen Kilmer

Investor Relations

(514) 331-7440 ext 232

stephen@intelgenx.com



Andre Godin, CPA, CA

Executive Vice-President and CFO

IntelGenx Corp.

(514) 331-7440 ext 203

andre@intelgenx.com




ADANA, Turkey, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --LJUNGSTROM has been awarded a contract by Iskenderun Enerji Uretim Ve Ticaret A.S. for the supply and delivery of Ljungstrom Air Preheater upgrades for the ISKEN Sugozu Power Plant, South of Adana, Turkey.

This major contract for the upgrade of ISKEN's air preheaters on the existing 2 x 660 MW hard coal boilers will introduce performance improvements and operation flexibility, in conjunction with the Selective Catalytic Reactor (SCR) retrofits being implemented to improve ISKEN Sugozu Power Plant's environmental efficiency.

Project execution will be performed primarily in Heidelberg, Germany, with components being supplied through LJUNGSTROM's European supply chain.

"We look forward to growing our worldwide footprint of air preheater upgrades and support services into Turkey, by providing our innovative services and capabilities within the thermal power plant community," said LJUNGSTROM Heidelberg Unit Managing Director, Dennis Yilmazoez.

About LJUNGSTROM

LJUNGSTROM, a division of ARVOS Group, is a global science and technology solutions leader for the thermal power plant market, with two key applications: air preheaters and gas-gas heaters. Headquartered in Wellsville, New York, LJUNGSTROM has a large global presence, with offices and factories in all major continents.

Globally, LJUNGSTROM products save billions of dollars annually, and provide up to 25% less fuel consumption. In addition, efficiency improvement of LJUNGSTROM technologies has helped to reduce global warming by preventing over 50 billion tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere, contributing to a more sustainable and energy efficient world. LJUNGSTROM continues to be the world leader in bringing ground breaking innovations to market. For more information, visit www.ljungstrom-global.com.

Media Contact: Clint Rankin, 1-423-708-8991, clint.e.rankin@arvos-group.com

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/433824/LJUNGSTROM_Logo.jpg
RADIANT clinical studytoevaluate safety and performance outcomes of HLT's Meridian Valve and Pathfinder II Delivery System for severe aortic stenosis

MINNEAPOLIS, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HLT, Inc., today announced first patient implants in a Feasibility Clinical study to assess the safety and performance outcomes of its Meridian Transcatheter Aortic Valve and Pathfinder II Delivery System in patients with severe aortic stenosis at high risk for surgery.

The implants were completed at Quebec Heart and Lung Institute in Quebec City, Canada, byJosep Rodes-Cabau, M.D., and his team.

"The Meridian Valve allows us to evaluate complete valve function before releasing it from the delivery system," said Dr. Rodes-Cabau, director of Catheterization and Interventional Laboratories at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada). "The valve was easy to implant and the overall procedure was predictable. Hemodynamic stability was maintained throughout the entire procedure, including the time of valve implant." For more information about the Meridian Valve, please visit www.hltmedical.com.

The RADIANT trial is a prospective, non-randomized, single-arm, multicenter study that will enroll up to 20 high-risk patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. The endpoint will evaluate all-cause mortality at 30 days after implant of the Meridian Transcatheter Aortic Valve. Patient follow-up will occur at one, six and 12 months and annually to five years.

"The RADIANT clinical study will provide evidence regarding the safety and performance of a third-generation transcatheter aortic valve replacement therapy," said Kevin Bassett, HLT general manager. "We're delighted to partner in the study with outstanding clinicians at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute as well as the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in Toronto."

An estimated 1.5 million patients in North America and Europe suffer from severe aortic stenosis, according to Osnabrugge. The standard treatment is surgical valve replacement, which involves an open-heart operation. But an estimated 30 percent of patients with severe aortic stenosis are considered too weak or sick to undergo successful open-heart surgery.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) therapy is a less invasive option for these patients. During a TAVR procedure, a compressed replacement valve is delivered via a catheter, or long, hollow tube, placed in a blood vessel in the upper leg and threaded to the beating heart. The physician positions and delivers the replacement valve inside the damaged valve then removes the catheter.

HLT's Meridian Transcatheter Valve is self-expanding. As in surgical valve designs, a flexible wire frame supports the valve's leaflets which is designed to promote good flow characteristics and reduce stress on the leaflet tissue for long-term performance.

Physicians treating patients with transcatheter valve therapy settle for less-than-ideal valve positioning in up to 25 percent of cases. Ideal positioning helps achieve good hemodynamics (blood flow and pressure), reduces leakage around the valve's base and contributes to optimal patient outcomes.

HLT's Pathfinder delivery system is intended to provide physicians confidence in positioning the valve. Specifically, it is designed to allow them to reposition or retrieve the valve if necessary and most importantly fully assess the valve's function prior to its final release in the heart.

About HLT

HLT, Inc., is a clinical phase medical device company focused on transcatheter aortic valve replacement therapy that will provide physicians increased procedure confidence, control during the implant procedure and improved patient outcomes. HLT's Meridian Transcatheter Aortic Valve is designed to conform to the natural structure of the heart, and its Pathfinder II Delivery System provides physicians control over valve placement in a beating heart, as well as flexibility to reposition or fully retrieve the valve before release.

HLT is headquartered in Maple Grove, Minn. Its team of 90 employees works alongside its sister company ACIST Medical Systems, a pioneer and market leader of advanced contrast delivery and imaging systems for interventional cardiology. The privately held companies are part of the Bracco Group, an international leader in diagnostic imaging based in Milan, Italy. For more about HLT, visit www.hltmedical.com.

About Bracco Group

Bracco has headquarters in Milan, Italy, and was founded in 1927. It is active in the healthcare sector through Bracco Imaging (diagnostic imaging), ACIST Medical Systems and HLT (cardiology) and the Centro Diagnostico Italiano diagnostic clinic. It has around 3,400 employees and annual total consolidated revenues of over $1.38 billion USD (1.3 billion Euro). Bracco operates in more than 100 countries worldwide. To learn more about Bracco Group, visit www.bracco.com.

Osnabrugge R., et al Aortic Stenosis in the Elderly. J Am Coll Card 2013; 62:1002-12

For Investigational Use Only. Not Available for Sale in Any Geography.

Contact: Peggy Malikowski

763-416-7511

Peggy.Malikowski@hltmedical.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/485967/HLT_Meridian_Valve___Photo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486014/HLT___Logo.jpg
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Nutritional High International Inc. (the "Company" or "Nutritional High") (CSE: EAT) (CSE: EAT.CN) (OTCQB: SPLIF) (FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce an overview of the milestones that the Company has accomplished during its second quarter ended January 31, 2017, and Q2 financial results.

Jim Frazier, CEO of Nutritional High commented - "This past quarter has been crucial in our Company's development cycle. Achieving commercial production in Colorado demonstrates our proof of concept, which the team is working on replicating in other US states. The Company has also announced developments regarding expansion into other states and progress on the product front. I would like to thank our shareholders for their following and their continuous support."

Q2 Financial Highlights

The Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the Quarter Ended have been filed on www.sedar.com. Outlined below is a summary of key highlights (in CAD unless otherwise noted), however, we encourage shareholders to review the documents in their entirety.

-- The revenue for 6 months ended January 31, 2017 was $331,464, which was comprised of interest income and rent income, payable from Palo Verde. As of January 31, 2017, a total of $1,460,362 was owed to Nutritional High from Palo Verde LLC ("Palo Verde"), of which approximately $480,000 was recognized as impairment on the amount receivable. -- The Company had total assets of approximately $9.7 million, of which, approximately $5.8 million was comprised of cash. The balance was comprised of investment properties, amounts due from Palo Verde, capital assets (mostly comprised of equipment), accounts receivable, licenses, investments and property deposits. -- A key statistic that we would like to highlight is the investments account of $639,826, which contains the investments that the Company has made for its Illinois project, The Clinic Effingham ("TCE"), which had revenue of $368,469 and a net loss of $85,030 as sales commenced on September 17, 2016. The Illinois project is presented on the financial statements using equity method, rather than consolidation.

The Company would also like to note that due to residency requirements in the State of Colorado the Company may not control (or indeed have an ownership interest in) Palo Verde, and as such, it may not consolidate the financial performance of Palo Verde. Since the Company has completed the build-out and equipment installation at its Pueblo facility, Palo Verde has purchased and processed into oil 230 pounds of trim and shake.

Q2 Milestones Highlights

Q2 has been a very busy and exciting for the Company. Below is a summary of key milestones that Nutritional High has achieved since October 31, 2016:

-- Announcement of California Expansion Strategy; -- Closing of Private Placement for gross proceeds of approx. $5.5 million; -- Acquisition of interest in Aura Health and expansion updates thereto; -- Launch of its flagship FLI brand; -- Acquisition of Dabstick product; -- Launch of our new website; -- Addition to The Marijuana Index which is owned and managed by MJIC, Inc.; -- Announced agreement to acquire Nevada Licenses and a Real Estate Property in Henderson, NV; -- Commencement of commercial production by Palo Verde at Pueblo, CO, facility; -- Acquisition of additional equipment for lease to Palo Verde to increase marijuana oil production capacity; -- Announcement of joint venture with Lakeside to build-out grow facilities in Pueblo, CO, and Henderson, NV: and -- Closed acquisition of a real estate property in La Pine, OR and provided an update on licensing.

About Nutritional High International Inc.

Nutritional High is focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing products and nationally recognized brands in the hemp and marijuana-infused products industries, including edibles and oil extracts for nutritional, medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively through licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law.

For updates on the Company's activities and highlights of the Company's press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ or visit www.nutritionalhigh.com.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Such statements include submission of the relevant documentation within the required timeframe and to the satisfaction of the relevant regulators, completing the acquisition of the applicable real estate and raising sufficient financing to complete the Company's business strategy. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration, or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Nutritional High International Inc.

David Posner

Chairman of the Board

647-985-6727

dposner@nutritionalhigh.com



360 Aviation Services Inc.

Greg Shafransky

Investor Relations

604-671-3327

stockshaman@outlook.com




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- DigitalOcean, the cloud for developers, today launched a Monitoring service that provides insight into the resource utilization and operational health of every Droplet (cloud server). Developers can collect and visualize metrics in graphs, monitor Droplet performance and receive alerts in one intuitive interface, with no configuration required.

"Our goal is to simplify the complexities of infrastructure by offering a simple and robust platform for developers to easily launch and scale their applications," said Julia Austin, CTO of DigitalOcean. "A Monitoring service is an important feature for developers, and we're thrilled to be able to offer it for free regardless of the number of Droplets. In the coming year, we'll continue to move our Monitoring service forward and introduce new capabilities for high availability, data storage, security and networking to manage larger production workloads."

The Monitoring service measures each Droplet's CPU, memory, disk utilization, disk reads and writes, network traffic and top processes. Metrics are collected at one-minute intervals and the data is retained to enable users to view both up-to-the-minute and historical data. Developers can create alert policies and receive notifications by email or Slack when usage crosses a specified threshold.

Supporting Quotes

Super Humane Co-founder Josh West, a DigitalOcean customer, said: "DigitalOcean's Monitoring service is easy to use, which was our biggest requirement. Having the ability to monitor my infrastructure and create alerts right in my dashboard saves me a lot of time so I can focus on building better applications that improve the lives of people-which ties directly into our company mission. We've built and run every app for our clients on DigitalOcean and we get stellar service for an amazing price."

Enterprise Strategy Group Analyst Daniel Conde said: "Many people start monitoring too late in the game, and it's important to start the process in pre-production and continue it as workloads scale. Identifying potential trouble spots early on will help sift out performance problems before they become critical, and it's a good move for DigitalOcean to include a monitoring service at no extra cost within its developer-oriented cloud."

Ovum Principal Analyst Roy Illsley said: "As developers move to the cloud and DevOps becomes the normal way of working, the tools that enable the monitoring and management of cloud resources and application performance become a significant requirement. If cloud-based (whether cloud native or just migrated to cloud) applications are going to deliver the correct balance of performance, service quality and efficiency then the monitoring service must be integrated into the architecture."

Additional Resources

Read the blog on What's Shipping Next on DigitalOcean: https://www.digitalocean.com/company/blog/2017-whats-shipping-next-on-digitalocean/

Read the blog on Monitoring: https://www.digitalocean.com/company/blog/introducing-monitoring/

Read the tutorial on how to use Monitoring: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/an-introduction-to-digitalocean-monitoring

About DigitalOcean

Founded in 2011, DigitalOcean is a cloud platform company focused on simplifying the complexities of infrastructure for software developers. DigitalOcean has become the second largest and fastest growing cloud computing platform in the total number of public facing apps and websites, according to Netcraft.com. The company has raised $123 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Access Industries, IA Ventures, CrunchFund and Techstars. The company is headquartered in New York City with data center regions throughout the world. For more information, simply visit https://www.digitalocean.com or follow @digitalocean.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3126060

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3126063



Media and Analyst Contact:

Amber Rowland

press@digitalocean.com

+1-650-814-4560




Smart Factory exhibition showcases Industry 4.0 capabilities of the world's fastest safe robots

Staubli, the innovative mechatronics solutions provider, introduced its new TX2 line of collaborative robots to the North American market at the Automate trade show in Chicago, ushering in a new era of Man-Robot Collaboration (MRC). The line of six-axis machines and corresponding CS9 safety control are just two of several innovations on display from the leading provider of fluid and electrical connectors, robotics and textiles at the industry event.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005393/en/

Staubli, the innovative mechatronics solutions provider, introduced its new TX2 line of collaborative robots to the North American market at the Automate trade show in Chicago, ushering in a new era of Man-Robot Collaboration. (Photo: Business Wire)

The features of the new models comply with the stringent requirements of the highest safety category and excel in every facet of automation, including high-volume manufacturing as well as collaborative scenarios. To ensure maximum safety, sensors monitor every movement of the robot, while the robot's coordinates, speed and acceleration are recorded in real time. At Automate 2017 (booth #1240), Staubli Robotics simulated a realistic Smart Factory to demonstrate the TX2 models' collaborative skills and Industry 4.0 capabilities.

"Because of their incredible versatility, the new line is redefining performance by allowing manufacturers to adjust to changing production needs," said Sebastien Schmitt, Robotics Division Manager, Staubli North America. "The TX2's pioneering safety features and clean, consistent performance improve productivity in every facet of manufacturing."

Staubli's new line offers one robot to cover all five stages of MRC:

Stage 1: Hard guarding separates the operator and robot. The manufacturing process is performed by the robot.

Stage 2: Laser (virtual) guarding separates the operator and robot. The manufacturing process is performed by the robot, and the operator enters the area periodically.

Stage 3: Laser (virtual) guarding separates the operator and robot. The robot and operator are involved in the manufacturing process. The operator enters the zone regularly during production.

Stage 4: There is no separation between the robot and operator. The robot and operator are involved in the manufacturing process. The robot stops when it comes into contact with the operator.

Stage 5: There is no separation between the robot and operator. The robot and operator are involved in the manufacturing process. The robot and the operator move safely in the same space simultaneously.

The company, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, also debuted its new MPS 260 robotic tool changers, the first choice for applications requiring a high number of mating cycles, in addition to showcasing its CombiTac modular connection system and connection solutions for power and data.

"Bringing the world's fastest safe robots to the North American market shines a spotlight on our incredible commitment to innovation," said Roger Varin, CEO, Staubli North America. "The new TX2 line is reshaping manufacturing by allowing humans and robots to safely co-exist while improving productivity."

Learn more about Staubli's latest solutions by visiting booth #1240 at McCormick Place in Chicago through April 6. More information on Staubli is available at www.staubli.com.

About Staubli

Staubli is a mechatronics solutions provider with three dedicated activities: Connectors, Robotics and Textile. With a global workforce of over 4,500, the company generates annual turnover surpassing 1.1 billion Swiss francs. Originally founded in 1892 as a small workshop in Horgen/Zurich, today Staubli is an international group headquartered in Pfaffikon, Switzerland. Worldwide, Staubli operates twelve industrial production sites and 29 subsidiaries, expanded with a network of agents in 50 countries, delivering innovative solutions to all industrial sectors. www.staubli.com/en/profile

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005393/en/

Contacts:

Staubli North America

Jan Abel, Senior Marketing-Communications Manager, 864-486-5430

j.abel@staubli.com
GUERNSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Further to the press releases of Coro Mining Corp. ("Coro") of 4 April 2017 and Greenstone Resources L.P. ("Greenstone") of 24 March 2017, Greenstone announces that it has subscribed for 59,935,464 common shares of Coro, at a price per common share of C$0.15, for aggregate gross proceeds of US$6,678,908 (C$8,990,320) (the "Greenstone First Tranche Subscription"). The Greenstone First Tranche Subscription forms part of a larger proposed non-brokered private placement of up to 107,680,000 common shares of Coro (the "Private Placement"), as disclosed by Coro in its press release of 22 March 2017.

As a result of the completion of the Greenstone First Tranche Subscription, Greenstone currently has ownership of and control over 330,216,988 common shares of Coro, representing approximately 58.9% of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Coro. As disclosed in its press release of 24 March 2017, Greenstone has agreed that it (through an affiliate) will, in certain circumstances, subscribe for additional shares of Coro to be offered in the Private Placement (the "Greenstone Maximum Subscription").

Assuming completion of the Greenstone Maximum Subscription, Greenstone (together with its affiliate) will have ownership of, and control over, approximately 362,369,857 common shares of Coro, representing approximately 61.08% of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Coro.

Greenstone acquired the common shares of Coro for investment purposes. Depending on market conditions and other factors, Greenstone may from time to time acquire and/or dispose of securities of Coro or continue to hold its current position. A copy of the early warning report required to be filed with the applicable securities commission in connection with the transactions will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and can be obtained by contacting Joanna Duquemin Nicolle and Sadie Morrison at +44 1481 810 100. Greenstone's address is set out below.

Contacts:

Greenstone Resources L.P.

1st Floor, Royal Chambers

St Julian's Avenue

St Peter Port, Guernsey



Coro Mining Corp

Suite 1280 - 625 Howe Street

Vancouver, BC

Canada V6C 2TB




Patrick Urban also named Chief Commercial Officer

Merz Pharma, a global leader in aesthetics and neurotoxins, today announced the appointment of Bob Rhatigan as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Merz North America and Patrick Urban as Chief Commercial Officer, effective immediately. Both Mr. Rhatigan and Mr. Urban will be based in Raleigh, NC.

"The global leadership team and I have great confidence that Bob Rhatigan has the strategic vision, extensive industry knowledge and operational experience that is needed to drive growth and lead Merz North America to continued success," said Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz Pharma. "He has a proven track record of accomplishments and unparalleled experience that bring great benefit to our company's aesthetics and neurotoxins portfolio. Bob also brings a personal style that is fully aligned with our values and culture, making him a natural fit for the team."

In his new role, Mr. Rhatigan will assume responsibility for Merz's business in North America, leading strategy and operations across the US and Canada. Mr. Rhatigan will join Merz's global management board and will report directly to Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz Pharma Group.

Prior to joining Merz, Mr. Rhatigan served as Senior Vice President of Allergan's Facial Aesthetics business, overseeing the US launches and commercial success of their key aesthetic injectable brands and growing the division into a $700M business. While at Allergan, he also served as Senior Vice President, General Manager and Chief Executive of SkinMedica, leading all aspects of the global SkinMedica business as well as the integration of SkinMedica into Allergan. Most recently, Bob Rhatigan served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Alphaeon Corporation, a healthcare company focused on the lifestyle medical space.

"I am honored and excited to lead the Merz North America team to an even higher level of achievement and ensure a successful future for the organization. We have a well-rounded and strong portfolio in which I see clear potential," said Mr. Rhatigan. "I am fortunate to work with a deeply experienced senior leadership team as we continue to target innovative approaches and growth opportunities with a strategic focus on our aesthetics and neurotoxins business. We will remain committed to being a trusted partner for our customers to provide long-term value as well as meet the evolving needs of our patients."

In addition, Patrick Urban, who most recently served as interim President and CEO for Merz North America, has accepted the role of Chief Commercial Officer, reporting directly to Bob Rhatigan. In this newly-created position, Mr. Urban will play a critical role in driving the commercial success of the Merz Aesthetics portfolio.

Mr. Urban brings more than 20 years of commercial experience in the U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device industries to his new role as Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, Urban held the role of Vice President, US Aesthetics Sales, where he was responsible for the management of Merz North America's U.S.-based aesthetics sales force. Prior to joining Merz, Patrick Urban served as Vice President, U.S. Sales for Ulthera, Inc., joining Ulthera in October 2009 as the organization's first sales leader, serving as a key conduit between Ulthera's National Accounts team, OUS sales force and Global Marketing function.

As Merz's largest subsidiary, Merz North America is a significant contributor to the company's global business in both aesthetics and neurotoxins. Merz North America is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with additional locations in Mesa, Arizona, Franksville, Wisconsin and Toronto, Canada.

About Merz Pharma Group

With approximately 3,000 employees and 34 subsidiaries worldwide, Merz is a global leader in Aesthetics and Neurotoxins. Privately held for more than 100 years, the company is distinguished by its in-house research and development, solid financial strength and continuous growth. Complementing its unique portfolio of products for minimally invasive and non-invasive skin rejuvenation and tightening, Merz also develops neurotoxin therapy for the treatment of movement disorders. Skincare products and a range of OTC medicines are also included in offerings from the company, which is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. In fiscal year 2015/16, Merz Pharma Group generated revenue of EUR 1,092.9 million. More information is available at www.merz.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404006018/en/

Contacts:

Merz Pharma GmbH Co. KGaA

Global Corporate Communications

Mariana Smith Bourland

Phone: +49 151 4249 1466

Email: Mariana.Smith@merz.com

or

Merz North America

Corporate Communications

Emily Browder

Phone: +1 919.582.8114

Email: Emily.Browder@merz.com
On Tuesday 4 April 2017 at 3 pm, the Annual General Meeting of Copenhagen Airports A/S was held with the following agenda:



1. The report of the Board of Directors on the Company's activities during the past year. 2. Presentation and adoption of the audited annual report. 3. Resolution to discharge the Board of Directors and the Executive Board from liability. 4. Resolution on the appropriation of profit or loss as recorded in the adopted annual report. 5. Election of members of the Board of Directors, including the Chairman and the Deputy Chairmen. 6. Approval of remuneration to the Board of Directors for the current year. 7. Appointment of auditor. 8. Proposals by the shareholders. 9. Authorisation to the Chairman of the General Meeting. 10. Any other business.



Re item 1



The General Meeting acknowledged the report of the Board of Directors.



Re item 2



The General Meeting adopted the 2016 annual report.



Re item 3



The General Meeting discharged the Board of Directors and the Executive Board from liability.



Re item 4



The General Meeting approved the proposed distribution of profit as recorded in the adopted annual report.



Re item 5



Lars Nrby Johansen was re-elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors, and David Mark Stanton and Simon Boyd Geere were re-elected as Deputy Chairmen.



Janis Carol Kong, John Kevin Bruen and Charles Thomazi were re-elected to the Board of Directors.



Re item 6



The General Meeting approved the proposed remuneration of the Board of Directors for the current financial year.



Re item 7



The General Meeting re-elected PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab).



Re item 8



The General Meeting did not approve the submitted shareholder proposal.



Re item 9



The General Meeting authorised the Chairman of the General Meeting to register the resolutions with the Danish Business Authority.



Yours sincerely



KBENHAVNS LUFTHAVNE A/S



P.O. Box 74 Lufthavnsboulevarden 6 DK-2770 Kastrup Contact: Lars Jnstrup Dollerup CFO Telephone: +45 3231 3231 Fax: +45 3231 3132 E-mail: cphweb@cph.dk www.cph.dk CVR no. 14 70 72 04



Attachment:

https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623634

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
BURNLEY, England, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Stephane Cueille, Safran Senior Executive VP R&T and Innovation inaugurated the new non-destructive testing process (NDT) for composite panels of aircraft nacelles. The use of infrared thermography combined with augmented reality projection is a world first.

This process was devised for the A320neo LEAP-1A and A330neo Trent 7000 nacelle programs for which production is expected to boom over the next three years. The results live up to the expectations: 50% less inspection cycle time and increase of availability of the equipment thanks to the separation of the controls and marking activities. Working conditions are also improved thanks to enhanced ergonomic softwares (developed by Safran) and easier controls.

"This is more than a new industrial method - it is an innovative process. The teams were mobilised in record time to find solutions for providing support to our customers," explained Victoria Foy, Managing Director of Safran Nacelles in Burnley. "They put the Group's highest expertise to use, as well as existing technological and digital tools, such as automation and augmented reality. The digital factory is now a reality at Safran Nacelles".

This NDT process is based on a robot named IRIS (Infra Red Inspection System), which uses infrared thermography to read data. After data processing, the information is then analysed by an inspector using special viewing software. Finally, if needed, it is projected on the part via augmented reality.

The use of infrared thermography on such large complex composite parts of varying thickness is unique in the world. The augmented reality system - instantaneously projecting all the areas to be checked directly on to parts measuring between 3m2 to 12m2 - is the first to be deployed by Safran.

"The deployment of IRIS highlights Safran's expertise and capacity to develop singular technology," confirmed Stephane Cueille, Safran Senior Executive VP R&T and Innovation. "It proves that the Group does everything in its power to support their customers by proposing competitive and reliable solutions."

Safranisaleadinginternationalhigh-technologygroupwiththreecore businesses:Aerospace,DefenceandSecurity(ongoingdivestitureof Securitybusiness).Operatingworldwide,theGrouphas66,500employees(Securityincluded)andgeneratedsalesof15.8billioneurosin2016 (excludingSecurity).SafranislistedonEuronextParisandispartof theCAC40index,aswellastheEuroStoxx50Europeanindex.

SafranNacellesisnumbertwointheworldforaircraftnacelles,with over18,400devicesinservice,andover110,000flighthoursperday.The companyisactiveinallsegmentsofthemarket,fromregionaljetsand corporateaircrafttothelargestairliners.



Formoreinformation:http://www.safran-group.com and www.safran-nacelles.com /Follow@Safranand@SafranNacellesonTwitter
First patient enrolled;

The study seeks to unveil the biological mechanism of ABX464 behind the prolonged period before viral rebound occurs, seen in preclinical models;

Initial results are expected in Q3 2017.

Regulatory News:

ABIVAX (Paris:ABVX) (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 ABVX), an innovative biotechnology company targeting the immune system to eliminate viral diseases, announced today that the first patient has been enrolled, effectively launching the study, for which it has obtained regulatory and ethical clearance. This study in 24 HIV patients (ABX464-005) and 12 healthy volunteers (control arm) will examine the pharmacokinetics (PK) of ABX464 in HIV cellular reservoirs. ABIVAX believes ABX464 is a first-in-class drug candidate whose mechanism of action may lead to a functional cure for patients with HIV-infection (AIDS).

Given its goal for ABX464 to pursue a functional cure of patients with HIV-infection, ABIVAX focuses on studying the impact of the drug candidate in the various reservoir locations where the virus is hiding during effective antiretroviral therapy. These reservoirs include the blood, which is being evaluated in the almost completed study ABX464-004, and the gut, which is the main focus of ABX464-005.

The ABX464-005 study, which will be conducted at the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital Badalona (Barcelona, Spain), has enrolled the first patient today. These patients will receive ABX464 for 28 days in addition to their antiretroviral treatment. Rectal biopsies will be collected at certain intervals, allowing quantification of the viral load and the level of inflammation in this reservoir over time. The study may therefore provide a better understanding of the biological mechanism driving the long-term efficacy on the viral load rebound observed in preclinical models with ABX464. Initial results of the ABX464-005 study are expected in Q3 2017.

"Our understanding of this potential functional cure for HIV will benefit from this trial, which can demonstrate the prevention of viral replication originating from the HIV reservoir. Viral rebound is believed to originate in blood and tissue-resident macrophages and T-cells that have not been successfully targeted by existing anti-retroviral therapies" said Dr. Jean-Marc Steens, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of ABIVAX. "The ability of ABX464, in contrast to existing drugs, to act on already infected immune cells, like macrophages residing in the gut, will be further explored through specific ex vivo analyses of these reservoir cells, removed from patients in regular biopsies during the trial."

"By measuring the distribution and antiviral activity of ABX464 in rectal biopsies, this study will generate important data on how ABX464 impacts the HIV reservoir," addedProfessor Ian Mc Gowan, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and co-author of the study protocol. "Based on its unique mechanism of action, ABX464 has the potential to become a cornerstone to achieving a functional cure in patients with HIV."

ABX464, the first drug candidate from ABIVAX's proprietary antiviral platform, is an orally available small molecule therapeutic candidate that is currently in a second Phase IIa clinical trial in HIV-patients (ABX464-004). This ongoing placebo-controlled European trial is testing the effect of ABX464 on the HIV reservoir in monocytes and T-cells with integrated viral DNA in the blood of HIV patients treated with ABX464 in combination with established antiretroviral therapy. The effect on the reservoir may impact the time to viral rebound after treatment cessation.

Top-line results of the ABX464-004 study will be communicated on May 2, 2017.

The first Phase IIa study, the results of which were presented at CROI (the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections) in February 2016, showed a dose-dependent response of the viral load of treatment-naive HIV-patients and a good safety and tolerability profile with no serious and or/severe adverse events.

ABX464 inhibits the HIV replication through a novel mechanism (i.e. the modulation of RNA splicing) that may not lead to the development of resistance by the HIV virus, and which may have a sustained effect in patients as already has been demonstrated in preclinical testing.

About ABIVAX (www.abivax.com)

ABIVAX is an innovative biotechnology company focused on targeting the immune system to eliminate viral disease. To do this ABIVAX leverages three technology platforms for drug discovery: antiviral, immune enhancing and polyclonal antibodies. ABX464, its most advanced compound, is currently in Phase II clinical trials to test its ability to enable a functional cure for patients with HIV/AIDS. It is a first-in-class oral small antiviral molecule which blocks HIV replication through a unique mechanism of action and, separately, also has a strong anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, ABIVAX is advancing a clinical stage immune enhancer as well as multiple preclinical candidates against additional viral targets (i.e. Chikungunya, Ebola, Dengue); several of these compounds are planned to enter clinical development within the next 18 months. ABIVAX is listed on Euronext compartment B (ISIN: FR0012333284 Mnemo: ABVX).

More information on the company is available at www.abivax.com.

Follow us on Twitter @ABIVAX_

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170404005975/en/

Contacts:

ABIVAX

Finance

Didier Blondel, +33 1 53 83 08 41

didier.blondel@abivax.com

or

Communication Agency

ALIZE RP

Caroline Carmagnol/Margaux Pronost

+33 6 64 18 99 59 +33 1 44 54 36 65

abivax@alizerp.com

or

Investors

LifeSci Advisors

Chris Maggos, +41 79 367 6254

chris@lifesciadvisors.com
Copenhagen, 2017-04-04 17:59 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- No. 6/2017



ISS strengthens its integrated facility services credentials with key account customers in North America by acquiring Guckenheimer, a leading food services company.



-- ISS has today agreed to buy the California based catering company Guckenheimer -- Annual revenue of approximately DKK 2,300 million (USD 337 million1) and approximately 3,200 employees in 33 US states -- Organic compound annual growth between FY 2014 and FY 2016 of approximately 14% with EBITA margin improvement -- Guckenheimer's operating model is capital light and strongly cash generative, consistent with ISS -- Purchase price (on a debt and cash free basis) of DKK 1,549 million (USD 225 million) corresponding to a multiple of 15.9x EBITA2 pre-synergies and approximately 9x EBITA3 when expected synergies are fully realised in 2018 -- The acquisition will be financed from ISS' existing credit facilities and is expected to deliver returns in excess of ISS' cost of capital in 2018 -- The acquisition will not impact the previously announced 2017 outlook of ISS -- The acquisition is subject to certain conditions precedent including anti-trust clearance and is expected to close in Q2 2017



ISS (ISS.CO, ISS DC, ISSDY), a global leading facility services provider, today agreed to acquire leading US food services company Guckenheimer, based in California, USA.



Through this acquisition ISS will significantly enhance its integrated facility services offering to key account customers in the strategically important North American market. Guckenheimer will also enhance ISS' competitiveness in winning new business from multinational customers with material activities in North America. Guckenheimer is known as a leading innovator within food service, and it will materially strengthen the global catering excellence of ISS. Moreover, Guckenheimer has a highly attractive list of blue-chip, key account customers which offer potential for growth via increased geographic and service breadth.



Guckenheimer's primary focus is the on-site preparation of appealing and freshly prepared food for employees, typically located at the headquarter buildings of key accounts. Guckenheimer supports their customers' purpose by ensuring that the restaurant experience at these locations is "Food to go to work for"; an experience which supports key accounts in offering a great place to work and in winning the war for talent.



Jeff Gravenhorst, ISS Group CEO, said:



"I am delighted that we have reached an agreement with the owners of Guckenheimer, including chairman and co-founder Jeanie Ritchie. ISS has had a long-stated ambition of acquiring a North American catering business, and this process demonstrates our patience and discipline in selecting the right asset. Both companies have key account focus, serving the same industry segments and sharing culture and values. Together with Guckenheimer, we are now in a stronger position to deliver integrated facility services in North America. Furthermore, the acquisition will improve our competitiveness in international commercial opportunities where North America is in scope."



Dan Ryan, Regional CEO, ISS Americas, said:



"This acquisition will immediately create a strong food services platform with the right size, strategic intersections, capabilities and innovative concepts to effectively complement our integrated facility services position in North America. We grew double digits in 2016 and we have a clear ambition to continue our strong growth in ISS North America. The acquisition will bring important scale to our business, increasing our annual revenue by more than 50%. With this acquisition we also take a huge step forward in strengthening our value proposition."



Randall Boyd, CEO, Guckenheimer, said:



"The Ritchie family created a fantastic company. The combination with ISS today allows the Guckenheimer legacy to continue and have a broader reach than ever before. The clients, employees and shareholders are all winners in this transaction. Our focus on people fits perfectly with the ISS culture. We can now provide global solutions and expanded offerings. We have a very exciting opportunity ahead of us."



The purchase price (on a debt and cash free basis) of DKK 1,549 million (USD 225 million) corresponds to a multiple of 15.9x EBITA and approximately 9x EBITA, when expected synergies are fully realised in 2018. The acquisition will not impact ISS' previously communicated outlook for the financial year 2017. The acquisition will be financed from ISS' existing credit facilities and is expected to lead to a short term increase of debt leverage (net debt / pro forma adjusted EBITDA) of 0.2x. The acquisition is expected to be value enhancing, with return on invested capital estimated to be in excess of ISS' cost of capital in the first full year (2018).



Guckenheimer was founded in 1963 by Stewart and Jeanie Ritchie, two Stanford students looking for a new way to finance their student loans while improving lunch options at the local cafeteria. Since then, Guckenheimer has grown within the corporate dining world to become a leading food service company with an annual revenue of approximately DKK 2,300 million and 3,200 employees in 33 US states.



In 2016, ISS had 14,103 employees in North America (USA & Canada) generating a revenue of DKK 4,680 million equivalent to 6% of the global revenue of ISS.



The acquisition is subject to certain conditions precedent including anti-trust clearance and is expected to close in Q2 2017.



1. Revenue for the twelve months to 31 December 2016 2. Based on Guckenheimer's EBITA for the twelve months to 31 December 2016 3. Implied multiple based on Guckenheimer's projected 2018 EBITA including full impact of estimated synergies



For investor enquiries Nicholas Ward, Head of Group Investor Relations, +45 3817 6251 Martin Kjr Hansen, Senior Investor Relations Manager, +45 3817 6431



For media enquiries Kenth Krhg, Head of Group Communications, +45 3817 6205 Lena Stennicke, Global Media Relations Manager, +45 38 17 65 03



About ISS The ISS Group was founded in Copenhagen in 1901 and has grown to become one of the world's leading Facility Services companies. ISS offers a wide range of services such as: Cleaning, Catering, Security, property and Support Services as well as Facility Management. Global revenue amounted to DKK 79.1 billion in 2016 and ISS has approximately 500,000 employees and activities in 74 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Pacific, serving thousands of both public and private sector customers. For more information, visit www.issworld.com. About Guckenheimer Guckenheimer is a premier on-site corporate restaurant management and food services company. Our clients include many of America's most respected corporations and institutions. For more than fifty years, our talented Guckenheimer chefs have created delicious delicacies for America's greatest companies. Our innovative menus are uniquely designed for each site, promoting creativity in our clients and our chefs alike. We select only the freshest ingredients with the most extraordinary and authentic flavors. For more information, visit www.guckenheimer.com.



ISS A/S, ISIN DK0060542181, ISIN US4651472056 ISS Global A/S, ISIN XS1145526585, ISIN XS1330300341, ISIN XS1145526825



Attachment:

https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623958

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
MUNICH, GERMANY -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Today B2X, the leading provider of end-to-end customer care solutions for mobile and IoT devices, announced a new collaboration with the international smartphone manufacturer Nubia in the US. It was only in February that both companies announced their after-sales partnership for the Indian market. The continuation of the collaboration in North America is now the second step taken by the successful strategic partnership for excellent smartphone service between B2X and Nubia.

In January 2017, Nubia entered the US market with its flagship model Z11 and the smaller Z11 mini. The smartphone models are currently sold through online stores including Amazon.com and Newegg, with plans to open further sales channels later this year. B2X is supporting Nubia in its expansion to international markets. Through its global presence in more than 140 countries and a nationwide network of over 500 trusted service partners, B2X offers a customer care solution for smartphones and consumer IoT devices in nearly every region of the world.

Nubia, headquartered in China, has revolutionized the smartphone industry in recent years. The company was the first manufacturer to implement a rounded design without a bezel and to introduce new technology for mobile photography. Nubia has ambitious growth plans, and its entry into the North American market is an important milestone in the company's goal to become one of the world's leading mobile brands.

Together, Nubia and B2X offer an excellent service experience right from the start. Nubia customers who have a question about their device or need a repair can contact customer care at any time via the support website http://www.nubia.com/us/support.php. Questions regarding the operation of a Nubia device are answered directly. If a hardware defect is found within or outside of the warranty period, Nubia and B2X offer a 48-hour exchange service so that customers can be in possession of a functioning smartphone again as quickly as possible.

"We're excited to continue our young but already very successful collaboration with B2X in the US," says Tony Fang, the Global Aftersales Director for global customer service at Nubia. "With our entry into the North American market, we're writing the next chapter of Nubia's growth story. Our focus is always on our customers. We want to make first-class, unique smartphones and offer our customers a perfect service experience if they ever need help. We're pleased to have an experienced partner like B2X at our side who supports us in fulfilling this promise."

The smartphone service provided for Nubia customers by B2X is based on its SMARTCARE Technology platform. This allows all service processes to be tracked transparently and in real time -- from the time a customer reports a problem with his or her device to the moment a repaired device is returned to the customer.

"After our successful cooperation in India, we're continuing our partnership with Nubia in the US. We're proud of the fact that Nubia has decided to further expand with our support so quickly," says B2X CEO Rainer Koppitz. "As always, we will do our best to provide Nubia customers with an outstanding customer experience in both the US and India. That's what we stand for, and it's the reason why we work with eight of the top ten smartphone brands in the world."

About B2X

B2X is the leading global provider of end-to-end customer care solutions for mobile and IoT devices. Founded in 2007, B2X helps many of the world's leading mobile and consumer IoT companies deliver a superior after-sales service experience. The company's unique positioning is based on its global service partner network and its SMARTCARE Technology platform that connects everything to a digitally integrated customer care ecosystem. With more than 1,000 employees and over 500 trusted partners in 140 countries worldwide, B2X is the premier after-sales service provider for manufacturers, insurance providers, carriers and retailers.

For additional information, visit www.b2x.com, B2X Twitter, B2X LinkedIn

About Nubia

Founded in October 2012, Nubia aims to bring high-end, innovative smartphones to adventurous users who want to pursue new experiences and an enhanced quality of life. Inspiring the world to "Be Yourself", Nubia continues to elevate lifestyles by encouraging users to chase their dreams and pursue new passions. With headquarters in China, Nubia now has operations around the world including North America, South America, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia and India. The brand is well known for its innovative smartphone features and professional mobile photography functions.

For additional information, visit http://www.nubia.com

Contact



Kimberly Meyer

Head of Global Marketing & Communication

B2X Care Solutions

Email Contact

+49 89 452353-259



Olsson Communications

Nick Olsson

Email Contact

Tel. +1 425 637 4865




Regulatory News:

Total Gabon (Paris:EC):

Main Financial Indicators

Q2 17 Q1 17 Q2 17

vs.

Q1 17 H1 17 H1 16 H1 17

vs.

H1 16 Average Brent price $/b 49.6 53.7 -8% 51.7 39.8 +30% Average Total Gabon crude price $/b 45.5 48.7 -7% 46.9 34.2 +37% Crude oil production from fields

operated by Total Gabon kb/d1 52.3 53.7 -3% 53.0 55.3 -4% Crude oil production from Total Gabon

interests2 kb/d 44.2 46.0 -4% 45.1 46.5 -3% Sales volumes Mb3 4.62 3.79 +22% 8.40 9.24 -9% Revenues $M 225 201 +12% 426 355 +20% Funds generated from operations $M 111 95 +17% 206 51 x4 Capital expenditures $M 73 18 x 4 91 73 +25% Net income (loss) $M 1 11 -91% 12 (12) N/A

(1) kb/d: Thousand barrels per day

(2) Including tax oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts.

(3) Mb: Million barrels.

Second-Quarter 2017 Results

Selling Prices

Reflecting the lower Brent price, in second-quarter 2017 the selling price of the Mandji and Rabi Light crude oil grades marketed by Total Gabon averaged 45.5 $/b, down 7% compared to first quarter 2017.

Production

Total Gabon's equity share of operated and non-operated oil production1 declined 4%, due mainly to a lower availability of facilities.

Revenues

Second quarter revenues were 225 Million USD (M$), up 12% compared to first quarter 2017, thanks mainly to higher volumes sold over the period linked to the lifting schedule (+830 kb or +39 M$), partly offset by a lower average selling price (-3,2 $/b or -13 M$) and lower revenues from third parties (-2 M$).

Funds generated from operations

Funds generated from operations were up 16 M$ compared to first quarter 2017, thanks to higher revenues, partly offset by non-recurring operating costs related to the necessary transformation plan implemented by the Company following the transaction to refocus on its principal offshore assets (see Highlights below).

Capital expenditures

Capital expenditures were 73 M$. The 55 M$ increase compared to first quarter 2017 mainly reflects the acquisition of an additional 50% interest in the Baudroie-Merou license held by Mitsubishi Petroleum Development Company (MPDC) GABON Co., Ltd as mentioned below under Highlights, and the start-up of a campaign to improve wells productivity (coiled tubing) on Anguille.

Net Income

Net income is 1 M$, a 10 M$ decrease over first quarter 2017 (11M$) primarily due to lower prices and the transformation plan implemented by the Company following the transaction to refocus on its principal offshore assets.

First-Half 2017 Results

Selling Prices

Reflecting the higher Brent price, the selling price of the Mandji and Rabi Light crude oil grades marketed by Total Gabon averaged 46.9 $/b, up 37% compared to first half 2016.

Production

Total Gabon's equity share of operated and non-operated oil production2 declined 3%, due mainly to an increase of Anguille's produced water content, partly offset by a better availability of facilities.

Revenues

Revenues were 426 M$, up 20% over the first half 2016 thanks mainly to higher selling prices of the crude oil grades marketed (+12.7 $/b or +112 M$), partly offset by lower volumes sold over the period, linked to the lifting schedule (-840 kb or -34 M$), and lower revenues from third parties (-8 M$).

Funds generated from operations

Funds generated from operations were 206 M$, four times higher than in first half 2016 thanks to higher revenues and lower operating costs as a result of the cost-cutting program implemented by the Company.

Capital expenditures

Capital expenditures were 91 M$, up 25% compared to first half 2016. This includes the acquisition of an additional 50% interest in the Baudroie-Merou license held by MPDC GABON Co., Ltd as mentioned below, integrity works Offshore (Anguille, Torpille, Grondin) and Onshore (Cap Lopez terminal), start-up of the coiled tubing campaign on Anguille, and development and geosciences studies.

Net Income

Net income for the first half 2017 was 12 M$, a significant improvement over the first half 2016 (-12M$) thanks primarily to higher revenues in the context of higher crude prices and to the cost-cutting program implemented by the Company.

Highlights since the beginning of 2017

Refocusing of Total Gabon on its principal offshore assets

On February 27, 2017 Total Gabon announced its refocusing on its principal offshore assets via the sale to Perenco of interests in five mature fields and the Rabi-Coucal-Cap Lopez pipeline network. Production from the fields being divested represents about 5,000 b/d, or 10% of Total Gabon's 2016 production. The transaction represents a value of 177 M$ before adjustments and is subject to approval by the authorities, expected in second half 2017.

Corporate Governance

Total Gabon's ordinary Annual Shareholders' Meeting was held on May 19, 2017 in Libreville and approved the 2016 annual accounts and the payment of a net dividend of 4.5 dollars per share related to the financial year 2016, representing 20.25 M$.

This dividend was paid on June 9, 2017 in an equivalent amount of 4.03 per share based on the European Central Bank's rate of 0.8945 per $1 on May 19, 2017.

Pre-emption rights exercised on the Baudroie-Merou license

As announced on April 24, 2017, Total Gabon finalized on June 30, 2017 the exercise of its pre-emption right to acquire the 50% interest in the Baudroie-Merou license held by MPDC GABON Co., Ltd. Total Gabon, operator of the license, is now 100% owner of the license. The value of the transaction is 40 M$. It confirms Total Gabon's decision to refocus on its strategic offshore assets and demonstrates its continued commitment to Gabon.

1 Including tax oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts.

2 Including tax oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts.

Societe anonyme incorporated in Gabon with a Board of Directors and share capital of $76,500,000

Headquarters: Boulevard Hourcq, Port-Gentil, BP 525, Gabonese Republic

www.total.ga

Registered in Port-Gentil: 2000 B 00011

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170727005990/en/

Contacts:

Total Gabon

Media Contact:

Florent CAILLET

florent.caillet@total.com
OVERLAND PARK, KS--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - TSANet (Technical Support Alliance Network), the industry's largest vendor neutral support alliance, has elected Doug Jones, Senior Manager of Solutions and Tools Readiness at NetApp, as the new TSANet Vice Chairperson. The officers, elected by the 11 member TSANet Board of Directors, serve one-year terms.

"One of the things I've always been impressed by is the TSANet team's relentless focus on doing things right by member companies and, by extension, their customers. Being a board member and having the opportunity to partner with the executive team at TSANet to help craft the next gen platform for multi vendor support collaboration is something I'm extremely proud of and very much looking forward to," said Doug Jones.

"I'm very excited about Doug stepping up to the vice chairperson position. As Doug was already participating as an officer, this was excellent news for the organization. Doug has been a great contributor to TSANet. I'm so pleased that we will continue to have his guidance and contribution to the Board and the alliance as a whole," said Dennis Smeltzer, TSANet president.

Doug currently works at NetApp, where he is a senior manager within their Customer Support organization, focusing on solutions support readiness and support offer creation/evolution. Doug's team is responsible for ensuring that the support team at NetApp has everything it needs to fully support multi vendor solutions and that the and the support model/processes selected for those solutions are ready as well. With a degree in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Doug brings an interesting mix of engineering knowledge and business acumen to the table. Doug also actively supports a number of different charities, including Boston Children's Miles for Miracles, Susan G. Komen, Smile Train, USO, and the American Red Cross.

Doug joins TSANet board members; Rene Karel (VMware), Jim West (Citrix Systems), Jim Rubish (IBM), Richard Long (Actian Corporation), Uwe Schaefer (Hewlett-Packard Company), John Bunney (Cisco Systems, Inc.), Kenny Bunnell (Symantec Corporation), Kieran Collins (EMC Corp.), Deepak Chawla (Nutanix) and Sandra Falzarano (Red Hat).

About TSANet

Founded in 1993, TSANet (Technical Support Alliance Network) is a worldwide, multi vendor alliance that offers an industry-wide forum to facilitate servicing multi vendor customers while providing an infrastructure for more efficient multi vendor problem solving. Membership consists of more than five hundred software and hardware companies. TSANet can be reached at (913) 345-9311 or at www.tsanet.org.

Company and product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/4/11G135067/Images/doug_jones-960ee0257879a7e7813e501a81a93985.jpg

Editorial Contact:

Brittany Jimerson

TSANet

(913) 345-9311
NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Late last week, Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin shareholders Gary A. Waldron and Sherry S. Bragg, obtained a $20.4 million dollar jury verdict in favor of client Todd Kurtin. After a decade-long legal battle, including several stops at the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Kurtin prevailed against his former business partner and real estate developer Bruce Elieff. The lawsuit -- Todd Kurtin v. Bruce Elieff et al. Case No. 30-2007-00100307 -- stemmed from a breach of contract arising from a 2005 settlement agreement between the parties.

Under the 2005 settlement agreement, Elieff paid approximately $26 million to Kurtin, but failed to pay the remaining sums owed, of approximately $22 million. After filing suit, Kurtin prevailed at the first jury trial in 2010, receiving a Judgment in excess of $24 million. However, a partial new trial was ordered by now-retired Orange County Judge Nancy W. Stock to address damages, only. The Fourth District Court of Appeal confirmed the liability findings against Elieff, but upheld the trial court's new trial ruling, and the case was sent back to the trial court for a re-determination of damages.

On March 30, after a three-week jury trial presided over by Superior Court Judge Glenda Sanders, jurors awarded $20.4 million to Kurtin for one claim of breach of contract. The verdict was a huge relief to Kurtin according to Weintraub's Bragg:

"Mr. Kurtin is pleased with the verdict. The jury was required to sift through weeks of testimony and detailed financial information in order to calculate the damages owed to Mr. Kurtin. Thankfully, they got it right. It is unfortunate that our client had to endure a decade of litigation to get to this point. We anticipate the pre-judgment interest in this matter will substantially increase the total judgment to more than $40 million."

About Weintraub Tobin

With offices in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco the Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin Law Corporation combines its shared vision and pledges to be an innovative provider of sophisticated legal services to dynamic businesses and business owners, as well as non-profits and individuals with litigation and business needs. The firm continues its long-time and strong support of the communities in which its attorneys live and work.

For more information please contact

Sherry S. Bragg

sbragg@weintraub.com

(949)760-0204




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Valens GroWorks Corp. (CSE: VGW)(CSE: VGW.CN) (the "Company" or "Valens") has entered into a letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of a late stage applicant under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR"). Royal Green Acres Manufacturing Ltd. ("RGAM") is currently in active final review stage with Health Canada for an application submitted in August 2013.

Under the terms of the LOI, entered into on April 3, 2017, the Company will assume 100% of the costs and related expenses to complete the pre-inspection readiness of the RGAM site (the "Buildout") such that RGAM becomes a Licensed Producer of Marijuana for Medical Purposes.

Phase 1 of the proposed Buildout is a 50,000 square foot, indoor, state-of-the-art, medicinal cannabis production and processing facility located on 5 acres just outside Nanaimo, British Columbia. The RGAM business model proposes selling a minimum 7 different consistent strains of organic, high-quality medical Marijuana with industry-leading percentages of active medical THC and CBDs, that address different ailments that prescribe the use of medical marijuana.

Upon completion of the proposed acquisition (the "Close"), current RGAM shareholders ("RGAM Venders") will be issued 1.6 million Company shares at a deemed price of $1.25 per share, subject to the terms of a 36-month escrow agreement, and $500,000 cash, for 100% of RGAM. RGAM will thereby become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valens. The company will pay a 2.5% finders fee through the issue of 50,000 Company shares to an unrelated party, also subject to escrow terms.

Upon the Close, RGAM Vendors are entitled to appoint a founder as RGAM's senior executive under a 2-year Executive Services Agreement, who shall be granted 500,000 share purchase options at the Close.

RGAM will grant a Purchase Option to the Company at a maximum price of $900,000 on the existing Buildout site, and will be granted a Right of First Refusal on two adjacent properties for additional expansion purposes.

Assuming the Company receives regulatory approval under Phase 1 to produce its forecasted capacity of up to 33,250 pounds per year, it will be among the leaders in the industry.

Rob van Santen, CEO, stated: "This acquisition allows us to fast-track our P2P 'Plants to Premium Products' strategy of scalable wholesale and medicinal cannabis production capacity. According to a recent report from the consulting firm Deloitte, the Canadian retail cannabis market is projected to be between $4.9 billion and $8.7 billion annually. Deloitte estimates that satisfying the recreational cannabis market will mean producing 600,000 kilograms of marijuana annually - far more than the existing licensed producers under the ACMPR grow for medicinal purposes. With the acquisition of Supra THC Services, an accredited analytical services and research facility and Health Canada Licensed Dealer, and Valens Agritech, a post-inspection Dealer's Licence-applicant, the Company is well-positioned for commercial-scale specialty-strain extraction and supply, and the servicing of high-margin specialty cannabis and natural health product markets as full legalization draws near."

The acquisition of RGAM is subject to regulatory approval and standard closing conditions, including the approval of a definitive Share Acquisition Agreement by the directors of the respective parties and completion of due diligence investigations to the satisfaction of each of the parties.

There can be no assurance that the proposed acquisition will be completed as proposed or at all. The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Acquisitions and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

About Valens GroWorks Corp.

Valens GroWorks Corp is a Canadian Securities Exchange listed company with an aggressive acquisition strategy in progress, providing management, consulting, testing and support services to domestic and international licensees, as well as financing the buildout of established, fully-licensed operations pursuant to its investment in Arizona. The Company seeks to capture a broad spectrum of medical marijuana users, as well as recreational users once legalized, in pursuit of its ambitious seed to sale and farm to pharma objectives.

The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Valens Agritech Ltd. ("VAL"), is a post-inspection applicant awaiting the granting of a Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealer's Licence for the cultivation and processing of marijuana. Based in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, VAL anticipates participation in selective clinical trial programs researching the efficacy of medical cannabis.

The Company expects to close the previously announced acquisition of Supra THC Services Inc. ("Supra") today, which becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary. Supra holds a Health Canada Dealer's Licence and is providing sector-leading analytical services for Licensed Producers and ACMPR patients.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

VALENS GROWORKS CORP.

Robert van Santen, Chief Executive Officer

Notice regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are 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. The Corporation is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

The CSE or other regulatory authority has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this press release. We seek Safe Harbour.

Contacts:

Valens GroWorks Corp.

Greg Patchell

+1.250.860.8634

www.valensgroworks.ca




DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Cachematrix (www.cachematrix.com), the leading provider of liquidity management platforms for financial institutions and their corporate clients, along with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, announced a partnership to make the Morgan Stanley Ultra-Short Income Portfolio (MULSX) available to their corporate investors.

"We are very excited for this new opportunity to partner with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, one of the preeminent asset management companies in the world," says Dave Agostine, CEO of Cachematrix. "Cachematrix strives to be a leader in the delivery of institutional cash management solutions and the addition of this fund allows us to provide our users with a vehicle they can use to build an effective liquidity investment portfolio."

With the addition of the Morgan Stanley Ultra-Short Income Portfolio, corporate treasury practitioners now have the opportunity to invest in a conservatively managed Ultra-Short bond fund that seeks current income with capital preservation while maintaining liquidity. Some characteristics of this fund include:

Familiar 1940 Act bond fund structure that invests in high quality U.S. dollar-denominated money market vehicles

Short duration - maximum WAM of 90 days and maximum WAL of 180 days

No gates or fees considerations

Next day liquidity given T+1 settlement

Rated AAAf/S1 by Fitch

Cachematrix has fully integrated this fund into our platform, creating a seamless and familiar experience for all of our users with clear separation of Ultra-Short Bond Funds from other vehicle types throughout the platform. The addition of relevant data points throughout the platform, and the integration of Ultra-Short Bond Funds into the suite of analysis tools, allows users to research and analyze the Fund before investing.

"The integration of the Morgan Stanley Ultra Short Income Portfolio onto the Cachematrix platform is a great opportunity for our mutual clients to support an important new liquidity management tool that offers the same administrative ease that they currently enjoy with money market funds," states Fred McMullen, Managing Director and co-head of Global Liquidity at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

About Cachematrix Holdings, LLC

Cachematrix is a global financial technology firm that simplifies cash management for leading banks and their corporate clients. Our Team's expertise in banking, financial technology and asset management drives successful platform integrations, innovative products, and market intelligence for our bank partners. For more information, visit www.cachematrix.com, or follow us at www.linkedin.com/company/cachematrix/

There is no assurance that a portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the portfolio will decline. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in these portfolios. Please be aware that these portfolios may be subject to certain additional risks. Click on link above for more information including complete information about the Portfolio's risks and Fitch ratings.

Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the funds carefully before investing. The prospectuses contain this and other information about the funds. To obtain a prospectus, please download one at morganstanley.com/im or call 1-800-236-0092. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Morgan Stanley Distribution, Inc. serves as the distributor for Morgan Stanley Ultra-Short Income Portfolio.

Jeremy Thomas

303-468-5500 ext.117

Email contact




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., lashed out at the Trump administration's policy towards Syria on Tuesday following news of a suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held Syrian town that killed dozens of people.



In an interview on CNN's 'New Day,' McCain pointed to recent remarks by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicating that the status of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.



'Bashar Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what Americans say,' McCain said. 'I'm sure they took note of what our Secretary of State said just the other day that the Syrian people would be determining their own future themselves -- one of the more incredible statements I've ever heard.'



'I'm sure they are encouraged to know the United States is withdrawing and seeking some kind of new arrangement with the Russians,' he added. 'It is another disgraceful chapter in American history, and it was predictable.'



McCain, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wants President Donald Trump to say he will arm the free Syrian army and dedicate the U.S. to the removal of Assad.



The hawkish senator said he is not calling for U.S. troops on the ground in Syria but noted the U.S. is known to help people who want freedom and democracy.



McCain claimed the Trump administration has not provided a clear foreign policy doctrine but expressed confidence in the president's national security team.



'I hope they will develop a strategy, stand up and give the President the advice and counsel I believe he needs and could get from that team,' McCain said.



McCain accused the Assad regime of committing war crimes on a scale that is almost unmatched since Nazi Germany or Cambodian dictator Pol Pot.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
HALIFAX, NS--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - NTT DATA, a top 10 global business and IT services provider, today announced it will continue to view Halifax as a market of choice to expand their workforce, potentially creating up to 500 new jobs.

NTT DATA Services, which is headquartered in the U.S., together with its affiliates, provides technology services to more than 50 countries around the world. Since opening its doors in Halifax 20 years ago, NTT DATA has grown this location to nearly 800 positions, and has shifted from a pure technology services provider to a true business partner with deep industry insights and technology expertise that deliver tangible results.

"We established a presence in Nova Scotia in 1997 to service one specific technology need, and have since grown our business significantly," said Greg Foran, Vice President, Application Services, NTT DATA Services. "This would not have been possible without strong partnerships with the local universities that continually adapt and provide great people for our teams."

Nova Scotia is an attractive location for technology companies looking to expand their global footprint. Nova Scotia is home to 10 universities, a thriving provincial community college with 13 campuses, and numerous private colleges with specialized degrees related to industry needs.

"Nova Scotia offers several key advantages including competitive operating costs, financial incentives, world-class infrastructure and a mix of established firms that results in a well-connected global cluster," said Laurel Broten, President & CEO, Nova Scotia Business Inc., the leading business development agency for the province. "Our technology sector is globally competitive, which is why we continue to see international leaders like NTT DATA take advantage of the high-value opportunity in our province."

Last November, NTT DATA announced the acquisition of Dell Services, which expands NTT DATA Services' ability to deliver insights, solutions and outcomes for clients and accelerates its global expansion.

"Overall application services and cloud services continue to be a large part of our business in Halifax, and they will continue to evolve as the speed of innovation in technology and business continues to increase," said Foran. "With the recent acquisition of Dell Services, we are seeing a lot of potential to expand our client base being served from Halifax in the coming years."

NTT DATA is eligible to receive payroll rebates through Nova Scotia Business Inc., over a six-year period based on achieving specific hiring targets.

In addition to a vibrant ecosystem, the sector produces innovative products and services in areas including, interactive media, transatlantic telecommunications, enterprise solutions and data analytics.

Nova Scotia Business Inc. is the private-sector-led business development agency of Nova Scotia, Canada. We attract global investment to create new jobs across the province and work with companies in all communities to be more successful exporters. Our clients benefit from our business advisory services, skill development and training, and support as they access global markets and succeed in the global economy.

NTT DATA partners with clients to navigate and simplify the modern complexities of business and technology, delivering the insights, solutions and outcomes that matter most. We deliver tangible business results by combining deep industry expertise with applied innovations in digital, cloud and automation across a comprehensive portfolio of consulting, application, infrastructure and business process outsourcing services. NTT DATA is a top 10 global business and IT services provider with 100,000+ professionals in more than 50 countries, and is part of NTT Group, a partner to 85 percent of the Fortune 100. Visit nttdataservices.com to learn more.

Media contacts:

NSBI: Mel Rusinak

mrusinak@nsbi.ca

902-420-6390



NTT DATA: Corie Pierce

corie.pierce@nttdata.com

972-577-3430
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures edged higher Tuesday, supported by signs that U.S. inventories have finally dwindled from record highs. Analysts expect the Energy Information Administration to report a small weekly drawdown in oil inventories when their numbers are made public tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the American Petroleum Institute will release industry figures this afteroon. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 79 cents, or 1.6%, to close at $51.03 a barrel. That's the highest closing price in 4 weeks. Over the weekend, OPEC's Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said the cartel's supply quota plan was starting to work. 'I remain cautiously optimistic that the market is already rebalancing,' Barkindo said Sunday in Baghdad. 'We have started seeing stock levels coming down.' 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.
WEST KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- COLORADO RESOURCES LTD. (TSX VENTURE: CXO) ("Colorado" or the "Company") announces further to its news release of February 24, 2017 that it has received the assay results from its initial phase of RC drilling at Green Springs and continues to expand, explore and advance the property.

Adam Travis, Colorado's President and CEO states, "Our Green Springs Phase 1 Winter Drill Program was a success encountering intercepts up to 135 feet of 3.23 g/t gold including 25 feet of 9.75 g/t gold in the E Zone, discovering new mineralization with 125 feet of 1.37 g/t gold occurring in Hole 8 in the A Zone and finding mineralization in the first ever drillholes (Holes 11 & 12) completed in the G Zone including 20 feet of 1.12 g/t gold in Hole 12. Based on these results we have completed the staking of additional claims, expanded the collection of soil samples and will be permitting more drilling."

The drill program evaluated the following three targets (see following Table and Figure 1 for results - http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cxo0404fig1.pdf):

1. E Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-01 to GSC17-04 tested the nature of gold mineralization at the lower Chainman Shale - Joana Limestone contact south of the historic mine workings ("E" Zone) and along the trend of a north-south striking mineralized structural corridor. Results include Hole 1 which returned 135 feet of 3.23 g/t gold including 25 feet of 9.75 g/t gold. These results confirm our concept that high grade feeder structures may exist to the south of the old pits and that mineralization can extend into the underlying Joana limestone. 2. A Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-05 to GSC 17-10 tested the nature of gold mineralization associated with the lower Pilot Shale - Guilmette Limestone contact in the "A" Zone. This contact is well exposed to the north and to the east of the mine workings and is associated with well developed, thick jasperoidal bodies which have been shown to be spatially related to gold mineralization in both historic(1) RC boreholes and surface rock samples. Results include Hole 8 which returned 125 feet of 1.37 g/t gold, Hole 6 which returned 80 feet of 1.75 g/t gold and Hole 5, which returned 130feet of 1.07 g/t gold. These results confirm our premise that rocks mapped as the underlying and un- mined Pilot Shale have the potential to host significant gold mineralized zones at relatively shallow depths. 3. G Zone - RC Drillholes GSC17-11 & GSC17-12 were collared in the newly discovered "G" Zone. The G Zone lies at the crest of a regional scale antiform, is associated with a distinctive gold in soil anomaly and has never been drill tested until now. Results include Hole 12 which returned 20 feet of 1.12 g/t gold.

The Colorado RC drill program was designed to be a very preliminary test of these permissive stratigraphic and structural contacts over a combined strike length of approximately 3.0 km and based on these results more drilling is warranted.

To follow up these exciting initial results, Colorado has completed additional claim staking and soil sampling and will be permitting an expanded drill program.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Depth From To Interval Au Hole ID Zone (ft) (ft) (ft) (ft) g/t(1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-1 E Zone 410 250 385 135 3.23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 295 320 25 9.75 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 300 315 15 12.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-2 E Zone 415 240 410 170 0.38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 250 325 75 0.61 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-3 E Zone 390 260 330 70 0.23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-4 E Zone 410 245 380 135 1.85 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 265 300 35 4.16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-5 A Zone 335 90 220 130 1.07 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-6 A Zone 395 90 170 80 1.75 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 125 160 35 2.89 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-7 A Zone 395 80 170 90 0.54 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-8 A Zone 335 55 180 125 1.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 55 120 65 2.36 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-9 A Zone 465 45 270 225 0.82 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-10 A Zone 395 60 130 70 1.14 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-11 G Zone 545 0 30 30 0.68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSC17-12 G Zone 410 5 25 20 1.12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) The intervals reported in this release represent drill intercepts and insufficient data is available at this time to state the true thickness of the mineralized intervals and all values are uncut.

About Green Springs

The Green Springs Property is currently under option from Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ELY)(OTC PINK: ELYGF) ("ELY") whereby Colorado can acquire a 100% interest in 193 unpatented claims (1,416.2 hectares) held or under option by ELY and is located in the eastern Great Basin approximately 50 miles south of Kinross's Bald Mountain/Alligator Ridge Mine(1) and 35 miles west of Ely, Nevada. It is a classic Carlin-style gold system that represents part of a growing number of Carlin-type systems and new discoveries located outside the main Carlin and Cortez Trends in largely underexplored parts of Nevada.

Qualified Person

Dr. Jim Oliver, Ph.D, P. Geo., the Company's Chief Geoscientist, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who reviewed the preparation of the technical data in this news release.

QA/QC Statement on Assay Results

The 2017 samples were analyzed by Actlabs Kamloops, British Columbia. Samples were prepared by the RX1-500g method, which involves crushing the entire sample to 90% passing -2mm, splitting off 500g and pulverizing the split to better than 95% passing 105 microns. Base metal assays were first determined using the total digestion ICP and ICP/MS UT-6 method, which reports results as parts per million (ppm). The gold assays were determined using the 1A2 fire assay method which reports results in ppm and are equivalent to grams per tonne (g/t). Any samples returning greater than 10 ppm gold were analyzed by the 1A3 fire assay method with a gravimetric finish. The analytical results were verified with the application of industry standard Quality Control and Quality Assurance (QA-QC) procedures. The results of GSC 17-5 may be shifted by 5 feet due to a potential footage discrepancy. Additional QAQC studies and analytical studies relevant to the characteristics of the gold mineralized zones are currently being undertaken. In the opinion of the QP, the results of these studies will have a very low probability of constituting a material change in the data contained within this press release.

About Colorado

Colorado Resources Ltd. is currently engaged in the business of mineral exploration for the purpose of acquiring and advancing mineral properties located in British Columbia and Nevada.

Colorado's main BC exploration projects include the KSP property currently under option with Seabridge Gold Inc., the 100% owned Kingpin property and the 100% owned North ROK property. Additionally Colorado holds an option on the Green Springs Property (Nevada) from Ely Gold & Minerals Inc.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF COLORADO RESOURCES LTD.

Adam Travis, President and Chief Executive Officer

Cautionary Notes

(1) This news release contains information about adjacent properties on which Colorado has no right to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company's properties.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including: that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events, that the Company obtains required regulatory approvals, that the Company continues to maintain a good relationship with the local project communities. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, delays in regulatory approval, risks associated with the interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company as set forth in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis reports filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information or statements, other than as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Colorado Resources Ltd.

Alex Blanchard

VP Corporate Development

(250) 768-1511 or TF: (855) 768-1511

(250) 768-0849 (FAX)

www.coloradoresources.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX: YRI)(NYSE: AUY) ("Yamana" or "the Company") will release its first quarter 2017 operational and financial results after market close on May 3, 2017, followed by a conference call and webcast on May 4, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Additionally, the Company will host its annual meeting of shareholders on May 4, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. ET and an Investor Day on the afternoon of May 5, 2017. Details for these events are as follows:

First Quarter 2017 Conference Call Toll Free (North America): 1-866-223-7781 Toronto Local and International: 416-340-2218 Webcast: http://www.yamana.com/ Conference Call Replay Toll Free (North America): 1-800-408-3053 Toronto Local and International: 905-694-9451 Passcode: 1147900

The conference call replay will be available from 12:00 p.m. ET on May 4, 2017, until 11:59 p.m. ET on May 18, 2017.

Annual Meeting of Shareholders

The annual meeting of shareholders will take place on May 4, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. ET at the Design Exchange, Toronto-Dominion Centre, 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

For those unable to attend the meeting in person, a live webcast including slide presentation will be accessible through Yamana's website.

Investor Day

The Company will be hosting an Investor Day on May 5, 2017, and will provide a live webcast of the event from 1:00 p.m. ET to 5:00 p.m. ET. Yamana's senior management will present an update on the Company's strategy, operational outlook, development projects, exploration programs and financial performance.

The live webcast of the Investor Day presentation will be accessible through Yamana's website, and the presentation will be available for download after the event.

For further information on the conference call, annual meeting of shareholders or Investor Day, please contact the Investor Relations Department at investor@yamana.com or visit www.yamana.com.

About Yamana

Yamana is a Canadian-based gold producer with significant gold production, gold development stage properties, exploration properties, and land positions throughout the Americas including Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Yamana plans to continue to build on this base through existing operating mine expansions, throughput increases, development of new mines, the advancement of its exploration properties and, at times, by targeting other gold consolidation opportunities with a primary focus in the Americas.

Contacts:

Investor Relations

416-815-0220

1-888-809-0925

investor@yamana.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- All amounts in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated

Onex Corporation ("Onex") (TSX: ONEX) announced today that Onex Credit Partners, LLC ("Onex Credit") priced its first European collateralized loan obligation ("CLO") for approximately EUR360 million. The transaction will be issued by a special purpose vehicle, backed by a diversified portfolio of broadly syndicated leveraged loans, and is structured with the intent to be compliant with U.S. and European risk retention rules. Onex has committed to purchase and hold a majority of the equity for the life of the transaction.

"Our expansion into the European CLO market leverages the successful platform we have built in the United States and we expect this to be the first of many European CLOs we issue over the coming years," said Michael Gelblat, Onex Credit's Chief Executive Officer.

Onex Credit focuses on non-investment grade credit investing. After giving effect to the closing of this offering, Onex Credit will manage approximately $8 billion.

The securities offered in this CLO have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under that Act. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any such securities.

About Onex

Onex is one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms. Through its Onex Partners and ONCAP private equity funds, Onex acquires and builds high-quality businesses in partnership with talented management teams. At Onex Credit, Onex manages and invests in leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and other credit securities. Onex has approximately $24 billion of assets under management, including $6 billion of Onex proprietary capital, in private equity and credit securities. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex invests alongside its fund investors and is the largest limited partner in each of its private equity funds.

Onex' businesses have assets of $44 billion, generate annual revenues of $29 billion and employ approximately 161,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONEX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. Onex' security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations and are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Onex is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Laura Carrigan

Director, Investor Relations

416.362.7711




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Leucrotta Exploration Inc. ("Leucrotta" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: LXE) is pleased to announce it has completed its infrastructure project to tie-in 4 previously drilled delineation wells and has drilled 3 additional step-out /delineation wells that materially further extend the productive boundaries of the Company's Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil Resource Play (see Company map in Appendix 1).

PRODUCTION

As a result of the tie-in of four wells, Leucrotta has increased production to over 3,000 boepd (25% oil and ngls).This excludes two new Montney wells (8-4 and 12-06) that are tested but not tied-in and one well (13-07) that is temporarily shut-in due to third party restrictions.

Leucrotta completed the main gathering lines to connect 3 Lower Montney Turbidite wells to its plant in Q117. The Lower Montney wells are comprised of 2 wells in the oil window (8-22 and 8-18) and one in the liquids-rich gas window (13-19).

The 8-22 well was drilled and completed in early 2016 as a high GOR light oil well in the Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil Pool and had a previously released test rate of 713 boepd (49% liquids).(1) The well was placed on production in February 2017 and had an IP30 of 671 boepd (244 boepd light oil and condensate, 2.3 mmcf/d gas and 41 boepd of ngls) (42% oil and liquids). Leucrotta's independent reserve evaluator, GLJ Petroleum consultants ("GLJ"), assigned 671 mboe of reserves to this well.(2)

The 8-18 well was drilled and completed in Q4 2014 as a Lower Montney Turbidite well and had a previously released test rate of 371 boepd (25 % oil and liquids).(1) The well was placed on production in February 2017 and had an IP30 of 401 boepd (157 boepd light oil and condensate, 1.3 mmcf/d gas and 24 boepd of ngls) (45% oil and liquids). The material increase in oil production on the IP30 versus the initial test rates is a phenomenon that has been observed in all of Leucrotta's Lower Montney Turbidite oil wells drilled to date. Leucrotta had originally mapped this well in the liquids-rich gas window due to the low ratio of oil /condensate in the original test but the quality of the oil (42 API) and well performance clearly places this well in the light oil window. GLJ assigned 450 mboe of reserves to this well.(2)

The 13-07 Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil well was put on production in 2015 and has now produced over 16 months. This well had a previously released test rate of 472 boepd (49% oil and liquids)(1), had an IP30 of 495 boepd (322 boepd light oil and condensate, 0.96 mmcf/d gas and 13 boepd of ngls), and was still producing 255 boepd (24% oil and liquids) after 16 months of production prior to being shut -in. GLJ assigned an ultimate recovery of 705 mboe to this well.(3)

The A4-19 Upper Montney liquids-rich gas well (1% sour content) was placed on production in February 2017 through a third party facility and since that date had an IP30 of 793 boepd (12% liquids). GLJ assigned 780 mboes ultimate recovery to this well.(3)

DRILLING EXTENSIONS AND DELINEATION OF THE MONTNEY LOWER TURBIDITE LIGHT OIL POOL

Leucrotta has recently drilled three wells that have materially extended and delineated the boundaries of the Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil Resource Play.

The 8-4 well was drilled 5.2 km north and west of the 8-22 well noted above. The well encountered light oil in the Lower Montney turbidite zone. The well was tested over a 7 day period with an average production of 1060 boepd (524 boepd light oil and condensate, 2.9 mmcf/d gas and 52 boepd of ngls) (54% oil and liquids).(4) Given the magnitude of the step-out from the 8-22, this well materially extends the known productive boundary of the light oil field through a significant portion of Leucrotta-owned Montney acreage to the north.

A vertical stratigraphic test was drilled at 4-30 north of the Peace River. Located 7.4 km northwest of the 8-4 well, the well was logged and cored in the Upper, Middle and Lower Montney. Also high resolution logs and mud gas isotopes were collected from the complete Montney section. The well encountered 55 metres of pay in the Lower Montney with core porosities on par with the core porosities in the 13-7 well. All three northern wells (8-04, 13-07, and 4-30 have similar log characteristics with estimated average porosity of 5.5%. The 4-30 vertical well confirms the geological mapping and oil charge of a major northern extension of the Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil Resource Play. Analysis of Upper and Middle Montney in the 4-30 wellbore are more fully described in the following section titled "Stacked Montney Zones Provide Additional Exploration and Development".

The 12-06 well was drilled 11.7 kms south of the 13-07 oil well and 4.4 kms north of the 13-19 liquids-rich gas well. The well encountered oil pay and was tested over a 7 day period with average production of 550 boepd (221 boepd light oil and condensate, 1.8 mmcf/d gas and 32 boepd of ngls, 46% oil and liquids).(4) This well confirms the mapped boundaries of the light oil window to be further south than Leucrotta had originally mapped.

A summary of production data for the Lower Montney Light Oil wells is as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Test Rate IP30 IP90 Lower Montney Oil Average Liquids Average Liquids Average Liquids Wells (boepd) % (boepd) % (boepd) % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8-22 713 49 671 42 n/a n/a 8-18 371 25 401 45 n/a n/a 13-7 472 49 495 67 379 54 8-4 1,060 54 n/a n/a n/a n/a 12-6 550 46 n/a n/a n/a n/a ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The extension of the productive boundaries of the Lower Montney Turbidite Light Oil Resource Play are viewed as materially positive by Leucrotta for various reasons including:

-- Reduced exposure to natural gas egress issues in Canada -- Increased exposure to oil and condensate prices -- Reduced long-term capital expenditures for gas plant processing equipment -- Reduced pipeline and transportation commitments

Leucrotta's Montney wells were completed with an average 28 stages 55 m stage spacing, 60 tonnes per stage slickwater fracs over an average 1,500 metre lateral horizontal well. The current trend has been a push to increase the frac intensity by significantly increasing the number of stages per well. This trend has been more prevalent in oil reservoirs and could add material upside through increased recoveries and/or acceleration of production. See section titled "Completion Technology and Pad Development".

LOWER MONTNEY RESERVES AND NET PRESENT VALUES PER WELL

GLJ recently reviewed all of Leucrotta's Lower Montney Turbidite wells in conjunction with assigning reserves for the 2016 year-end Reserve Report previously released. While there is variation of reserves assigned across the pool, given different well test rates and gas oil ratios, the average economics are compelling.

For Lower Montney light oil wells, GLJ assigned, on average, 669 mboes (32% oil and ngls) of ultimate recovery per well. Using Leucrotta's current estimated drill and complete costs (before pad development) of $3.8 million, GLJ's average production curve, and GLJ's January 2017 Price Forecast, the average Lower Montney Turbidite light oil well will generate a rate of return of 91% and a net present value (NPV10) of $7.1 million.(5)

For Lower Montney liquids-rich gas wells, GLJ assigned, on average, 1055 mboes (21% oil and ngls) of ultimate recovery per well. Using Leucrotta's current estimated drill and complete costs (before pad development) of $3.8 million, GLJ's average production curve, and GLJ's January 2017 Price Forecast, the average Lower Montney Turbidite liquids-rich gas well will generate a rate of return of 223% and a net present value (NPV10) of $8.7 million.(5)

Leucrotta currently owns approximately 105 net sections of land within its mapped boundaries of the Lower Montney Turbidite play. Current data suggests there are approximately 80 net sections in the oil window and 25 net sections in the liquids-rich gas window. Based on up to 8 wells per section in the oil window and 4 wells per section in the liquids-rich window, Leucrotta has a potential drilling inventory of 640 Lower Montney Turbidite oil wells and 100 Lower Montney Turbidite liquids-rich gas wells.(6)

LOWER MONTNEY TURBIDITE ESTIMATED OOIP AND OGIP

Leucrotta has internally estimated each section in the "oil window" of the Lower Montney to contain approximately 31 million barrels of OOIP and 25 bcf of OGIP. In the "liquids-rich gas window", Leucrotta estimates there is approximately 46 bcf of OGIP per section with a liquids yield of approximately 45 bbls/mmcf.

Based on Leucrotta working interest ownership in approximately 80 net sections in the oil window and 25 net sections in the liquids-rich gas window, there is approximately 2.5 billion barrels of OOIP and 3.1 tcf of OGIP on Leucrotta's land base. This excludes condensate and ngls yields.(7)

STACKED MONTNEY ZONES PROVIDE ADDITIONAL EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

While Leucrotta has focused its delineation drilling in the Lower Montney Turbidite, there is incremental exploration and development potential in both the Upper and Middle Montney zones on Leucrotta lands.

Upper Montney

At Doe, Leucrotta had previously drilled the A4-19 Upper Montney well for liquids-rich gas that had a recent IP30 of 793 boepd as noted earlier. Other operators immediately offsetting Leucrotta's Doe acreage have recently drilled and tested liquids-rich gas wells in the Upper Montney with test rates exceeding 2,000 boepd.

In addition to Leucrotta's Doe acreage that is already proved productive in the Upper Montney, Leucrotta has been evaluating both the Upper and Middle Montney zones with cores, logs, and geochemical data being collected while drilling its deeper Lower Montney delineation programs. Although the Upper Montney reservoir is thinner than that found to the southwest at Tower, where it produces light sweet oil, hydrocarbon charged quality reservoir is present across Leucrotta's acreage. This reservoir has been confirmed in the cores from the 16-30 and 4-30 wells with an average core porosity of 5.4%. Logs and mud gas geochemistry collected in the Upper Montney while drilling for the Lower Montney zone, also demonstrates this additional potential for liquids-rich gas and light oil across Leucrotta's acreage.

Leucrotta believes an Upper Montney horizontal multi-frac well on its lands outside of the immediate Doe area may be economic to drill and would be a significant addition to its Lower Montney Play. Leucrotta does not have plans to drill a test well in 2017.

Middle Montney

Leucrotta cored the middle Montney in its 4-30 vertical well. Average core porosity is 6.1% and the core fluid saturations and mud gas geochemistry indicates that it is potentially oil charged. The closest core data or production test on the Middle Montney is at Pouce Coupe, approximately 30 km away. The data is encouraging and Leucrotta's mapping indicates that the zone is present across a large portion of its acreage. A horizontal well would be considered exploratory at this point and Leucrotta has no plans to drill the Middle Montney in 2017.

COMPLETION TECHNOLOGY AND PAD DEVELOPMENT

Leucrotta has, to date, employed a consistent completion program to allow for comparison of reservoir characteristics in wells over a large geographic area. The typical well has been drilled with a horizontal leg of approximately 1,500 metres and completed with a 28-stage, 55m stage spacing, 60 tonne slickwater frac.

Leucrotta has now completed the initial delineation of the Lower Montney Turbidite and will look to optimize future completions to maximize rates and recoveries particularly in the oil window. The industry trend has been to increase the frac intensity and, in particular, increase the number of stages and the amount of sand placed per metre of wellbore to enhance well productivity. Leucrotta is currently drilling an offset to its 8-22 well and will increase to a 41 stage, 37m stage spacing 60 tonne slickwater frac. This well is expected to be completed and on-stream in early May. If successful, Leucrotta will adopt the increased frac intensity on a go-forward basis.

Leucrotta has not yet moved to pad development, but will be in a position to do so in 2017 and 2018. Pad wells have the advantage of significantly reduced capital costs per well (and increased rate of return) and there is some evidence to support a theory that pad wells in general perform better than individual wells. Leucrotta will look to drill a three-well pad in the oil window sometime in 2017 or 2018.

TAKEAWAY AND PLANT PROCESSING CAPACITY

Leucrotta currently owns and operates a 25 mmcf/d sweet gas plant at Doe and a new refrigeration unit that would allow Leucrotta to expand the sweet plant capacity to approximately 85 mmcf/d for an estimated cost of approximately $15 million. Leucrotta anticipates expanding the plant as necessary in conjunction with increased capital activity expected in 2018.

The Leucrotta plant is currently connected to the Alliance Pipeline with current firm capacity of 15 mmcf/d for 2017 and increasing to 23 mmcf/d for 2018 and 33 mmcf/d for 2019-20.

Oil and condensate are currently trucked to area terminals but growing volumes may warrant connection to pipeline in the future.

Leucrotta's gas plant and land base are also located in close proximity to the NGTL and Pembina pipeline systems, providing easier access for both gas and liquids egress.

FINANCIAL

Leucrotta had approximately $14 million of net positive working capital and no debt as at the end of February 2017 (approximately $26 million at December 31, 2016). Based on cash position and estimated cash flow, Leucrotta will be able to carry out its plans to further delineate and develop the Montney in its core area of Doe / Mica in Northeast BC and Northwest Alberta. Leucrotta estimates capital expenditures of approximately $30 million for the remainder of 2017 to continue its development of the Lower Montney. Given current commodity prices, Leucrotta estimates it will exit 2017 with annualized cash flow of approximately $25 million and net debt of approximately $5 million.

SUMMARY

Leucrotta's Lower Montney Turbidite play has several notable characteristics that distinguish it:

-- A large portion of Leucrotta's lands fall within the light oil window exposing the Company significantly to light oil upside -- Large OOIP per section will allow for the application of emerging technologies to continually improve well performance and oil recovery percentages -- Drilling costs are relatively moderate given vertical depth of 1,800 to 2,200 metres -- Egress issues are lessened given higher percentage of oil and condensate in relation to gas -- Oil wells, to date, have produced 100% sweet oil and gas and therefore do not require sour processing or extra expenses to treat. -- 100% owned and operated gas plant provides material cost advantage that enhances half-cycle drilling economics -- Doe area has accessible pipelines for both gas and liquids (Alliance Pipeline, Pembina Pipeline, NGTL Pipeline) -- Surface is predominantly farmland with an established grid of roads providing excellent year-round access.

To view Appendix 1: Leucrotta land base / drilling activity map Doe/Mica, BC, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/lxe0404appendix1.pdf.

Notes:

(1) Test Rates for the 8-22 well were disclosed in a press release on February 29, 2016. Test Rates for the 8-18 and 13-7 wells were disclosed in a press release on April 7, 2015. (2) Proved plus Probable Developed Non-Producing reserves as per the 2016 year-end reserves as independently evaluated by GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd. ("GLJ") effective December 31, 2016, in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101") and Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation (COGE) Handbook. (3) Ultimate Recovery is equivalent to EUR - Estimated Ultimate Recovery which is defined as "those quantities of petroleum which are estimated, on a given date, to be potentially recoverable from an accumulation, plus those quantities already produced therefrom." (4) The 8-4-82-14W6 well was production tested for 7 days after the original cleanup and produced at an average rate of 1060 boepd (50% gas, 50% Oil and Condensate) over that period, excluding load fluid and energizing fluid. At the end of the test, flowing wellhead pressure and production rates were stable. The 12-6-81-13W6 well was production tested for 7 days after the original cleanup and produced at an average rate of 550 boepd (60% gas, 40% Oil and Condensate) over that period, excluding load fluid and energizing fluid. At the end of the test, flowing wellhead pressure and production rates were stable. A pressure transient analysis or well-test interpretation has not been carried out on these wells and thus certain of the test results provided herein should be considered to be preliminary until such analysis or interpretation has been completed. Test results and initial production rates disclosed herein may not necessarily be indicative of long term performance or of ultimate recovery. (5) Type Curves - This Presentation contains references to type well, or "type curve", production and economics, which are derived, at least in part, from available information respecting the well performance of other companies and, as such, may be considered "analogous information" as defined in NI 51-101. Production type curves are based on a methodology of analog, empirical and theoretical assessments and workflow with consideration of the specific asset, and as depicted in this presentation, is representative of The Company's current program, including relative to current performance. Some of this data may not have been prepared by qualified reserves evaluators, may have been prepared based on internal estimates, and the preparation of any estimates may not be in strict accordance with COGEH. Estimates by engineering and geo-technical practitioners may vary and the differences may be significant. The Company believes that the provision of this analogous information is relevant to the Company's oil and gas activities, given its acreage position and operations (either ongoing or planned) in the areas in question, and such information has been updated as of the date hereof unless otherwise specified. The well economics presented in this press release are an internal estimate prepared by a Qualified Reserves Evaluator ("QRE") and are based on an average of the proved plus probable type curves used by GLJ for booked undeveloped horizontal wells in the Lower Montney formation as per the year-end 2016 corporate reserves evaluation effective December 31, 2016. The curves represent an internal "best-estimate" expectation. (6) Potential Drilling Locations - This press release discloses drilling locations in four categories: (i) proved undeveloped locations; (ii) probable undeveloped locations; (iii) unbooked locations; and (iv) an aggregate total of (i), (ii) and (iii). Of the 640 total potential/possible Lower Montney oil locations referenced in this press release, only the following have been assigned reserves at December 31, 2016 as independently evaluated by GLJ, in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101"): - 1 Proved Undeveloped - 2 Probable Undeveloped The remaining 637 potential/possible locations are unbooked. Of the 100 total potential/possible Lower Montney liquids-rich gas locations referenced in this press release, only the following have been assigned reserves at December 31, 2016 as independently evaluated by GLJ, in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101"): - 4 Proved Undeveloped - 6 Probable Undeveloped The remaining 90 potential/possible locations are unbooked. Unbooked locations are based on the Company's prospective acreage and internal estimates as to the number of wells that can be drilled per section. Unbooked locations do not have attributed reserves or resources (including contingent and prospective). Unbooked locations have been identified by management as an estimation of the Company's multi-year drilling activities based on evaluation of applicable geologic, seismic, engineering, production and reserves information. There is no certainty that the Company will drill all unbooked drilling locations and if drilled there is no certainty that such locations will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production. The drilling locations on which the Company will actually drill wells, including the number and timing thereof is ultimately dependent upon the availability of funding, regulatory approvals, seasonal restrictions, oil and natural gas prices, costs, actual drilling results, additional reservoir information that is obtained and other factors. While certain of the unbooked drilling locations have been de- risked by drilling existing wells in relative close proximity to such unbooked drilling locations, the majority of other unbooked drilling locations are farther away from existing wells where management has less information about the characteristics of the reservoir and therefore there is more uncertainty whether wells will be drilled in such locations and if drilled there is more uncertainty that such wells will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production. (7) OGIP (Original Gas in Place) and OOIP (Original Oil in Place) are equivalent to Total Petroleum Initially In Place ("TPIIP"). TPIIP - as defined in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluations Handbook ("COGEH"), is that quantity of petroleum that is estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring accumulations. It includes that quantity of petroleum that is estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations, prior to production, plus those estimated quantities in accumulations yet to be discovered (equivalent to "total resources").There is no certainty that any portion of the resources will be discovered. If discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resources. The OGIP and OOIP estimates quoted in this press release are unaudited internal estimates effective March 31, 2017 prepared by a qualified reserves evaluator in accordance with the COGE Handbook. Product type for the OOIP number is "tight oil" and product type for the OGIP number is "shale gas". The location of the resource is the lands depicted in orange on the map in Appendix 1 with the oil / gas boundary as shown on the map. Of the 80 net sections in the oil window, Leucrotta has an average ownership working interest of 91% (87.5 gross sections). Of the 25 net sections in the liquids-rich gas window, Leucrotta's average ownership working interest is 88% (28.5 gross sections). The key variables relevant to the evaluation are porosity, reservoir thickness, pressure, water saturation and gas composition which have increasing uncertainty, both positive and negative, with distance from existing wells.

Currency

All dollar figures are Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

BOE Conversions

BOEs may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 Bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.

NON-GAAP Measures

Net debt includes current liabilities and any borrowings under a credit facility less current assets. Management uses net debt as a measure to assess the Company's financial position.

Unaudited Financial Information

Certain financial and operating results included in this news release such as working capital are based on unaudited estimated results. These estimated results are subject to change upon completion of the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, and changes could be material. The Company anticipates filing its audited financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2016 on SEDAR on or before April 30, 2017.

Production Rates

Any references to peak rates, test rates, IP30, IP90 or initial production rates or declines are useful for confirming the presence of hydrocarbons, however, such rates and declines are not determinative of the rates at which such wells will commence production and decline thereafter and are not indicative of long term performance or ultimate recovery. IP30 is defined as an average production rate over 30 consecutive days and IP90 is defined as an average production rate over 90 consecutive days. Readers are cautioned not to place reliance on such rates in calculating aggregate production for the Corporation.

Reserves Data

There are numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of light and medium oil, tight oil, shale gas, conventional natural gas and NGL reserves and the future cash flows attributed to such reserves. The reserve and associated cash flow information set forth above are estimates only. In general, estimates of economically recoverable light and medium oil, tight oil, shale gas, conventional natural gas and NGL reserves and the future net cash flows therefrom are based upon a number of variable factors and assumptions, such as historical production from the properties, production rates, ultimate reserve recovery, timing and amount of capital expenditures, marketability of oil and natural gas, royalty rates, the assumed effects of regulation by governmental agencies and future operating costs, all of which may vary materially.

Individual properties may not reflect the same confidence level as estimates of reserves for all properties due to the effects of aggregation.

This press release contains estimates of the net present value of the Company's future net revenue from its reserves. Such amounts do not represent the fair market value of the Company's reserves.

The reserves data contained in this press release has been prepared in accordance with NI 51-101. The reserve data provided in this press release presents only a portion of the disclosure required under National Instrument 51-101. All of the required information will be contained in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Reserves are estimated remaining quantities of oil and natural gas and related substance anticipated to be recoverable from known accumulations, as of a given date, based on the analysis of drilling, geological, geophysical and engineering data; the use of established technology, and specified economic conditions, which are generally accepted as being reasonable. Reserves are classified according to the degree of certainty associated with the estimates as follows:

Proved Reserves are those reserves that can be estimated with a high degree of certainty to be recoverable. It is likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will exceed the estimated proved reserves.

Probable Reserves are those additional reserves that are less certain to be recovered than proved reserves. It is equally likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will be greater or less than the sum of the estimated proved plus probable reserves.

Oil and Gas Metrics

This new release contains metrics commonly used in the oil and gas industry, such as "NPV" and "OGIP". These terms do not have standardized meanings or standardized methods of calculation and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Readers are cautioned that the information provided by these metrics, or that can be derived from the metrics presented in this presentation should not be unduly relied upon. The following oil and gas metrics have the following meanings as used in this press release:

NPV - Net Present Value is defined as "the present value of future cash flows minus the initial capital."

OGIP (Original Gas in Place) and OOIP (Original Oil in Place) are equivalent to Total Petroleum Initially In Place ("TPIIP")

TPIIP - as defined in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluations Handbook ("COGEH"), is that quantity of petroleum that is estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring accumulations. It includes that quantity of petroleum that is estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations, prior to production, plus those estimated quantities in accumulations yet to be discovered (equivalent to "total resources").

Boe - Barrel of Oil Equivalent. All boe conversions in the report are derived by converting gas to oil at the ratio of six thousand cubic feet of natural gas to one barrel of oil equivalent. Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion rate of 1 Boe: 6 Mcf is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. Readers are cautioned that Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "believe", "intends", "forecast", "plans", "guidance" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information.

More particularly and without limitation, this document contains forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company's oil, NGLs and natural gas production and reserves and reserves values, capital programs, and oil, NGLs, and natural gas commodity prices. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including expectations and assumptions relating to prevailing commodity prices and exchange rates, applicable royalty rates and tax laws, future well production rates, the performance of existing wells, the success of drilling new wells, the availability of capital to undertake planned activities and the availability and cost of labour and services.

Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general such as operational risks in development, exploration and production, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures, the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production rates, costs and expenses, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, marketing and transportation, environmental risks, competition, the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources and changes in tax, royalty and environmental legislation. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this document are made as of the date hereof for the purpose of providing the readers with the Company's expectations for the coming year. The forward-looking statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Leucrotta Exploration Inc.

Robert Zakresky

President and Chief Executive Officer

(403) 705-4525

(403) 705-4526 (FAX)



Leucrotta Exploration Inc.

Nolan Chicoine

Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

(403) 705-4525

(403) 705-4526 (FAX)

www.leucrotta.ca




REDWOOD CITY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Lastline Inc., the leader in advanced threat protection, today announced a partnership with Infinigate UK, a leading value-added distributor of IT security solutions in the UK and throughout Europe. Small and medium-sized businesses can now purchase Lastline Enterprise advanced threat protection through over 2,000 preferred security and networking reseller relationships.

"We're bolstering our portfolio of leading security solutions," commented Murray Pearce, Managing Director of Infinigate UK. "Lastline provides an excellent value proposition with a clear channel strategy and strong margins. Being a true cloud and on-premise solution, Lastline meets customers' flexible deployment needs perfectly."

Lastline has a history of developing strong partnerships with companies that are leaders in their respective category and are seeking the best technologies for defeating cyber threats. As Lastline sought to expand its presence in the UK, Infinigate quickly emerged as an ideal fit to help the company achieve this goal.

"We're excited about partnering with Infinigate because of the increased visibility they will immediately give to Lastline Enterprise, especially in the important SMB and mid-market," commented Mark Strutner, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Channel Partnerships at Lastline. "We appreciate that Infinigate chose Lastline for its advanced malware protection solution, joining an impressive list of partner companies that, after extensive vetting, identified Lastline Enterprise as superior to competitive alternatives."

Infinigate's commitment to full service fits well with Lastline's high standards for customer experience. The company provides technical pre-sales consulting, marketing assistance, technical support, and finance and operations services to its retailers, helping them to quickly address their customers' increasingly complex security challenges. With this partnership, Lastline is poised for continued growth in the UK and Infinigate is bolstering their portfolio of leading security solutions, which includes end-point security and other vendors with which Lastline already has proven integrations.

About Lastline

Lastline is innovating the way companies prevent breaches caused by advanced persistent threats, targeted attacks, and evasive malware. Headquartered in Redwood City, California with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia, Lastline's platform is used by global managed security service providers, Global 5000 enterprises, and leading security technology vendors worldwide. www.lastline.com

About Infinigate

Infinigate was founded in 1996 as the first Distributor of Internet technology solutions in Europe. Since 2002 Infinigate's sole focus has been on the distribution of sustainable IT security solutions to protect and defend IT networks, data and applications. As a true Value Added Distributor, Infinigate concentrates on and supports innovative, best of breed security solutions that require a level of expertise and knowledge. Following acquisitions in Scandinavia and the UK, the Infinigate Group today has operations in 8 European countries, covering 70% of the Western European IT Market and establishing itself as a leading European Value Added Distributor for IT Security. www.infinigate.co.uk

Media Contact:

Email Contact

Noe Sacoco for Lastline

(408) 340-8130




TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX: K) (NYSE: KGC) plans to release its financial statements and operating results for the first quarter 2017 on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, after market close. On Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 7:45 a.m. ET Kinross will hold a conference call and audio webcast to discuss the results, followed by a question-and-answer session. The call-in numbers are as follows:

Canada & US toll-free - 1-800-319-4610

Outside of Canada & US - 1-604-638-5340

Replay (available up to 14 days after the call):

Canada & US toll-free - 1-800-319-6413; Passcode - 1297 followed by #.

Outside of Canada & US - 1-604-638-9010; Passcode - 1297 followed by #.

You may also access the conference call on a listen-only basis via webcast at our website www.kinross.com. The audio webcast will be archived on www.kinross.com.

Kinross' Annual Shareholders Meeting will also be held on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. ET at the Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A live audio webcast (listen-only mode) of the Annual Meeting will be available at www.kinross.com and will also be archived for later access.

The 2016 Annual Report, Management Information Circular and Annual Information Form (AIF) are available on www.kinross.com, and along with Form 40-F, have been filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (www.sec.gov). Shareholders may also receive copies of these documents without charge upon request to Kinross Gold's Investor Relations Department, 25 York Street, 17th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 2V5 or to info@kinross.com.

To access Kinross' 2016 Annual Report, click here: http://2016annualreport.kinross.com/

About Kinross Gold Corporation

Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile and Ghana. Our focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of operational excellence, balance sheet strength, disciplined growth and responsible mining. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: K) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: KGC).

Media Contact

Louie Diaz

Director, Corporate Communications

phone: 416-369-6469

louie.diaz@kinross.com



Investor Relations Contact

Tom Elliott

Senior Vice-President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development

phone: 416-365-3390

tom.elliott@kinross.com

www.kinross.com
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/27/17 -- Garda World Security Corporation (the "Company" or "GardaWorld") announced today the pricing of the private offering (the "Offering") of US$500 million aggregate principal amount of 8.75% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Notes") by GW Honos Security Corporation (the "Escrow Issuer"), an affiliate of the Company. The Offering is expected to close into escrow on or about May 8, 2017. The Offering is part of the financing of the previously announced stock purchase agreement entered into on March 23, 2017 by an entity held by affiliates of Rhone Capital L.L.C., Stephan Cretier and an affiliate of Apax Partners LLP pursuant to which the 29.4% equity interest in the GardaWorld business currently owned by an affiliate of Apax Partners LLP will be purchased for cash consideration (the "Stock Purchase"). Upon the consummation of the Stock Purchase, the Escrow Issuer will amalgamate with the Company, the Company will assume the obligations of the Escrow Issuer under the Notes and the related indenture and the Notes will be guaranteed by each of the Company's existing and future subsidiaries that guarantee the Company's new senior secured credit facilities. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Notes offering, together with borrowings under its new senior secured credit facilities, the proceeds from certain equity contributions and, if necessary, the net proceeds from the incurrence of additional unsecured indebtedness, to (i) fund the Stock Purchase, (ii) fund the previously announced cash tender offers (the "tender offers") for any and all of its 7.25% U.S. dollar denominated senior notes due 2021 (the "2021 notes"), (iii) refinance its existing credit facilities and (iv) pay related fees and expenses.

The Offering will be made in a private transaction in reliance upon an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), in the United States only to investors who are "qualified institutional buyers," as that term is defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act, and pursuant to the prospectus exemption of section 12 of the Securities Act (Quebec) for distribution of securities to persons established outside Quebec, or outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act and upon reliance on the accredited investor exemption in Canada.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of any of the Notes in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Notes mentioned herein have not been and will not be qualified for sale to the public under applicable Canadian securities laws and, accordingly, any offer and sale of securities in Canada will be made on a basis which is exempt from the prospectus and dealer registration requirements of such securities laws. The Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold in the United States or Canada without registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements or an applicable exemption from the prospectus requirements of Canadian securities legislation.

About GardaWorld

GardaWorld is one of the world's largest privately owned security services providers, offering a range of highly focused business solutions including cash services, protective services and aviation services. GardaWorld's more than 62,000 highly trained, dedicated professionals serve clients throughout North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. GardaWorld works across a broad range of sectors, including financial services, infrastructure, natural resources and retail, and services Fortune 500 companies, governments and humanitarian relief organizations. For more information, visit www.garda.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward Looking Statements

Information provided and statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the applicable securities laws. Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to GardaWorld's future outlook and anticipated events, business, operations, financial performance, financial condition or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may"; "will"; "should"; "expect"; "plan"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "intend"; "estimate"; "predict"; "potential"; "continue"; "foresee", "ensure" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In particular, statements regarding the company's future operating results and economic performance and its objectives and strategies are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, which GardaWorld believes are reasonable as of the current date. While management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to the company, they may prove to be incorrect. The company cautions the reader that the current economic conditions make forward-looking information and the underlying assumptions subject to greater uncertainty and that, consequently, they may not materialize, or the results may significantly differ from the company's expectations. It is impossible for GardaWorld to predict with certainty the impact that the current economic may have on future results. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what GardaWorld currently expects. These factors include growth management, market competition, cost of financing, key personnel, government regulations, standard customer service contracts, insurance, strikes and other labor protests, information technology systems, operations outside Canada and the United States, currency fluctuations, credit risk, reputational risk, and financial covenants risk. Therefore, future events and results may vary significantly from what management currently foresees. The reader should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. We will not update these statements unless applicable securities laws require us to do so. The reader should also take knowledge of the GardaWorld's Annual MD&A and audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2017.

Contacts:

GardaWorld

Media Relations

media@garda.com




RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia honoured the winners of the King Faisal International Prize 2017 at a glittering ceremony here today in the presence of an elite gathering of princes, ministers, top officials, thought leaders, scholars, and scientists.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486450/King_Faisal_International_Prize_2017.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486424/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Infographic.jpg )

The King Faisal International Prize honours exceptional achievements in a number of key areas, including Arabic Language & Literature, Medicine, and Science. Among the winners in the 39th session of the award this year were four scientists and researchers.

Giving away the award, King Salman commended the efforts of the scientists and researchers in creating a better world. The King also appreciated the King Faisal International Prize for its key role in enriching knowledge and encouraging initiatives for the development of mankind.

King Salman handed over the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine to Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto of Japan for developing a novel biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases. Kishimoto is the Professor of Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University.

King Salman also gave away the King Faisal International Prize for Science; shared this year by Professor Daniel Loss and Professor Laurens Molenkamp, physicists from Switzerland and Germany. Professor Daniel Loss is the Professor of the Department of Physics, University of Basel, while Professor Laurens Molenkamp is Professor and Head, MBE Unit, University of Wurzburg.

Professor Daniel Loss won the award in recognition of his work on the theory of spin dynamics and spin coherence in quantum dots, which has practical applications in spin quantum computers. Professor Laurens Molenkamp was honoured for his work in the experimental field of spintronics.

Professor Ridwan Al-Sayyid of the University of Lebanon was recognized for his specialized publications and research that have enriched the Arabic Library.

Launched by the King Faisal Foundation and granted for the first time in 1979, the King Faisal International Prize recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in a number of key areas. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal International Prize have gone on to receive other prestigious awards in following years; for example 18 King Faisal International Prize laureates went on to receive the Nobel Prize, while 13 won the Gairdner Foundation International Awards, 11 received the American National Medals of Science, and 9 were awarded the Lasker Medical Award; among other distinguished prizes.

Contact: Noura Sankour +971(0)568797444, nora@hadathgroup.com




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Music streaming service Spotify and Universal Music Group Tuesday announced a new, multi-year global license agreement. As part of the deal, Spotify has agreed to allow new albums from Universal artists to be restricted to its premium service for up to two weeks. However, singles from that album would be available to all users. Universal Music Group have hundreds of artists under contract including Drake, U2, the Weeknd and Lady Gaga. 'We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we've worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy. Starting today, Universal artists can choose to release new albums on premium only for two weeks, offering subscribers an earlier chance to explore the complete creative work, while the singles are available across Spotify for all our listeners to enjoy,' said Daniel Ek, Chairman and CEO of Spotify. According to reports, the new deal with UMG will help Spotify to finally go public. The company has been valued at more than $8 billion, as it has a user base of about 50 million paid subscribers and 50 million free users. The agreement with UMG would help Spotify push its ongoing negotiations with Sony and Warner. 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.
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- IGM Financial Inc. (IGM) (TSX: IGM) today reported preliminary total investment fund net new money in March of $372.6 million as shown in Table 1. Total assets under management were $147.1 billion at March 31, 2017, compared with $145.5 billion at February 28, 2017 and $132.9 billion at March 31, 2016. Investment fund assets under management were $141.7 billion at March 31, 2017, compared with $140.3 billion at February 28, 2017 and $127.1 billion at March 31, 2016. Assets under management are shown in Table 2.

Table 1 - Net New Money Month ended March 31, 2017 Investors IGM ($ millions) (unaudited) Group Mackenzie Counsel Financial --------------------------------------------------- Mutual Funds Gross Sales $1,025.7(1) $894.4 $77.0 $1,997.1 Net New Money $319.8(1) $25.6(2) $1.2 $346.6 ETFs Net New Money $31.0 $31.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consolidated Net New Money $319.8 $51.6(3) $1.2 $372.6 (1) Includes Investors Group Azure SMA and Investors Group Mutual Funds. (2) During March 2017, a third party program which includes Mackenzie mutual funds made fund allocation changes which resulted in redemptions of $145.5 million. (3) Excludes $5.0 million in ETF net new money related to Mackenzie Mutual funds.

(i)Mutual Fund Net New Money is defined as Gross Sales less Gross Redemptions and is consistent with the terminology used by The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC). Total Net New Money includes Exchange traded fund ("ETF") net creations.

Table 2 - Assets under Management ($ billions) % Change (unaudited) March February March Last % Change 2017 2017 2016 Month YOY ------------------------------------------------------- Total Assets under Management(4) $147.06 $145.54 $133.35 1.0 10.3 Investment Funds Assets under Management $141.65 $140.27 $127.08 1.0 11.5 Investors Group Mutual Funds(5) $83.90 $83.05 $75.22 1.0 11.5 Sub-advisory, institutional and other $0.54 $0.53 $0.44 1.9 22.7 ------------------------------------------------------- Total IG $84.44 $83.58 $75.66 1.0 11.6 Mackenzie Mutual Funds $52.94 $52.49 $47.63 0.9 11.1 ETFs $0.23 $0.20 15.0 ------------------------------------------------------- Investment Funds(6) $53.10 $52.62 $47.63 0.9 11.5 Sub-advisory, institutional and other $13.21 $12.96 $13.06 1.9 1.1 ------------------------------------------------------- Total Mackenzie $66.31 $65.58 $60.69 1.1 9.3 ------------------------------------------------------- Counsel Mutual Funds $4.65 $4.59 $4.23 1.3 9.9 (4) Excludes assets managed by Mackenzie on behalf of Investors Group and Investment Planning Counsel. These assets had a value of $8.3 billion at March 31, 2017 ($8.2 billion at February 28, 2017 and $7.2 billion at March 31, 2016). (5) Includes Investors Group Azure SMA and Investors Group Mutual Funds. (6) Mackenzie investment funds exclude ETF assets invested in Mackenzie mutual funds of $69.2 million as at March 31, 2017 and $62.4 million as at February 28, 2017.

Preliminary average mutual fund assets under management and average total assets under management for the quarter to date are set out in Table 3.

Table 3 - Average Assets under Management(7) ($ billions) (unaudited) Quarter to Date --------------- Total Average Assets under Management(8) $144.92 Investment Funds Average Assets under Management $139.64 Investors Group Mutual Funds $82.75 Sub-advisory, institutional and other $0.53 --------------- Total Investors Group $83.28 --------------- Mackenzie Mutual Funds $52.20 ETFs $0.20 --------------- Investment Funds(9) $52.33 Sub-advisory, institutional and other $12.86 --------------- Total Mackenzie $65.19 --------------- Counsel Mutual Funds $4.56 (7) Based on daily average mutual fund assets and month-end average institutional, sub-advisory and other assets. (8) Excludes average assets of $8.1 billion managed by Mackenzie on behalf of Investors Group and Investment Planning Counsel. (9) Mackenzie investment funds exclude ETF average assets invested in Mackenzie mutual funds of $63.1 million as at March 31, 2017.

IGM Financial Inc. is one of Canada's premier personal financial services companies, and one of the country's largest managers and distributors of mutual funds and other managed asset products, with approximately $147 billion in total assets under management. Its activities are carried out principally through Investors Group, Mackenzie Investments and Investment Planning Counsel.

A MEMBER OF THE POWER FINANCIAL CORPORATION GROUP OF COMPANIES.

Contacts:

Media Relations:

Ron Arnst

204-956-3364

ron.arnst@igmfinancial.com



Investor Relations:

Paul Hancock

204-956-8103

investor.relations@igmfinancial.com




RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto of the Osaka University received today the King Faisal International Prize 2017 for Medicine from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia at a glittering ceremony here in the presence of an elite gathering of princes, ministers, top officials, thought leaders, scholars, and scientists.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486601/Tadamitsu_Kishimoto.jpg )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486424/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Infographic.jpg )



Kishimoto, who is a Professor at the university's Immunology Frontier Research Center, and Emeritus Professor at Osaka University, Japan, was recognized with the prestigious prize for his prominent role in developing a novel biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases.

On the occasion, Prof. Kishimoto said: "The King Faisal International Prize deserves to be commended for encouraging efforts in the knowledge and research arena around the world. I am proud to be a recipient of this renowned prize, which has this year helped draw attention to the importance of immunology. This award will help further enrich research based initiatives to understand more about the human immune system."

A world-renowned immunologist, Prof. Kishimoto, through his work of more than 30 years, is responsible for discovering interleukin-6 (IL-6), its receptor and signaling pathways. He established the physiological function of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) pathway and its role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Subsequently, he developed an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor-blocking antibody into a biological therapy, leading the clinical development of this therapy towards the first approval for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto is also a recipient of the Order of Culture from the Emperor of Japan in 1998 and Royal Decoration from the Kingdom of Thailand in 2012, apart from several other honours.

Launched by the King Faisal Foundation and granted for the first time in 1979, the King Faisal International Prize recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in a number of key areas. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal International Prize have gone on to receive other prestigious awards in following years; for example 18 King Faisal International Prize laureates went on to receive the Nobel Prize, while 13 won the Gairdner Foundation International Awards, 11 received the American National Medals of Science, and 9 were awarded the Lasker Medical Award; among many other distinguished prizes.

Contact: Noura Sankour +971(0)568797444, nora@hadathgroup.com
SAN MATEO, CA -- April 4, 2017 -- SnapLogic, the leader in self-service integration, today announced that it has been named a Leader in Gartner's "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide."(1) This marks the second consecutive year SnapLogic has been included in the Leaders quadrant of the iPaaS vendor evaluation.

"Since our inception, we have been laser-focused on delivering a modern integration platform that is specifically designed to manage the data and application integration demands of today's hybrid enterprise technology environments," said James Markarian, CTO of SnapLogic. "Our Enterprise Integration Cloud eliminates the complexity of legacy integrations, providing a platform that supports fast and easy self-service integration."

Markarian continued, "We believe that this recognition from Gartner as an iPaaS market leader, together with our ongoing business momentum, is a tribute to our market vision, technology leadership and the tireless work of our employees around the globe. We strive every day to deliver the most innovative product and highest level of service to our customers."

According to the Gartner report, "Leaders in this market have paid client numbers in the thousands for their iPaaS offering, and often many thousands of indirect users via embedded versions of the platform as well as 'freemium' options. They have a solid reputation, with notable market presence and a proven track record in enabling multiple integration use cases -- often supported by the large global networks of their partners. Their platforms are well-proven and functionally rich, with regular releases to rapidly address this fast-evolving market."

The report also states, "Gartner estimates that the enterprise iPaaS market continued to expand notably during 2016, approaching $700 million in revenue and growing around 60% in terms of providers' subscription revenue when compared to 2015."

SnapLogic had a record 2016, adding more than 300 new customers including significant wins with Clorox, Del Monte, Denny's, Groupon, Magellan Health, McKinsey, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Wendy's. The company also secured $40 million in new funding to accelerate its global expansion and further build out sales, marketing and customer service to meet the growing demand for self-service integration.

The SnapLogic Enterprise Integration Cloud accelerates data and process flow across cloud and on-premise applications, data warehouses, big data streams and IoT deployments. Unlike traditional integration software that requires painstaking, hand-crafted coding by teams of developers, SnapLogic makes it fast and easy to create scalable data pipelines that get the right data to the right people at the right time. Codeless integration eliminates "technical debt" while enabling analysts, data scientists and business users to create integrations in hours using visual drag-and-drop software. Under the hood, SnapLogic's powerful data streaming architecture delivers real-time processing with high throughput for faster data movement across the enterprise.

Click here to download the Gartner report.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About SnapLogic

SnapLogic is the global leader in self-service integration. The company's Enterprise Integration Cloud makes it fast and easy to connect applications, data and things. Hundreds of customers across the Global 2000 -- including Adobe, AstraZeneca, Box, Capital One, GameStop, Verizon and Wendy's -- rely on SnapLogic to automate business processes, accelerate analytics and drive digital transformation. SnapLogic was founded by data industry veteran Gaurav Dhillon and is backed by blue-chip investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Capital One, Ignition Partners, Microsoft, Triangle Peak Partners and Vitruvian Partners. Learn more at www.snaplogic.com.

Connect with SnapLogic via our blog, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

(1) Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide" by Keith Guttridge, Massimo Pezzini, Elizabeth Golluscio, Eric Thoo, Kimihiko Iijima, Mary Wilcox, March 30, 2017

Press Contacts:

Scott Behles

SnapLogic

scott.behles@snaplogic.com

+1 415-571-4462



Tim Marklein

Big Valley Marketing (for SnapLogic)

tim@bigvalley.co

+1 415-999-2006




Babilou, a private network of daycare facilities, received a strategic growth investment from TA Associates.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Patrick Sader, a Director at TA Associates will join the companys Board of Directors in conjunction with the deal.

Founded in Paris in 2003 by Rodolphe and Edouard Carle, Babilou is Frances largest private daycare operator.

Serving children under the age of three, Babilou primarily runs company-owned and operated nurseries serving corporate clients and municipalities. It also manages municipally-owned public facilities.

Babilou also operates 1001 Creches, an international booking platform through which individuals and businesses can secure daycare spots at Babilou nurseries or partner nurseries. In addition, the company recently launched Mes Solutions Family, which provides tutoring for students as well as home care and other services for seniors.

Babilou operates more than 400 nurseries that can accommodate close to 20,000 children in France, Germany, Belgium, Dubai and Switzerland. The 1001 Creches network offers access to more than 1,400 daycare centers.

FinSMEs

04/04/2017
New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that 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.

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 31 March 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.
New Delhi: Infosys on Monday vehemently defended the hike in its COO UB Pravin Rao's compensation, saying the revision was arrived at after benchmarking against peers.

It said the revision, as rolled out for several of its senior leadership team, is "focused on making Infosys more competitive and is benchmarked against peers" and is critical to retaining key talent.

Barely two months after a face-off between founders and management on issues such as CEO salary hike and severance package to former employees, a fresh row has erupted between the two sides, this time over Rao's compensation. Co-founder and former chairman N R Narayana Murthy had on Sunday criticised the hike in COO compensation, calling it "grossly unfair" for a majority of Infosys employees who get 6-8 percent annual hike.

Infosys, in a statement issued on Monday, said it views Murthy's statement as "important feedback" and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure long-term interest of the company.

It justified the over 33 percent rise in Rao's compensation, saying Infosys had undertaken a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies.

Infosys said the cash component has decreased by 10.6 percent to Rs 4.6 crore from Rs 5.2 crore and it is only the performance-based portion that has been raised to 63 percent from 45 percent of the total compensation.

"Given the four-year vesting period of stock, the net increase in Pravin Rao's compensation for 2017-18 will be 1.4 percent. This could go up to 33.4 percent in year 4, assuming similar grants are made in subsequent years based on company and individual performance," it explained.

Defending the decision, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said: "Pravin's commitment and contribution to the company have been immense, and his partnership over the past about three years has been critical to the successes and growth of our company."

He added that the decision "aligns the long-term interests of our leadership team with that of our shareholders".

Infosys contended that the proposal was placed before the shareholders and the recommendations have been approved by 67 percent of the company's shareholders in a postal ballot.

Interestingly, only 24 percent of the promoters had voted in favour of the resolution while the rest, including Murthy, abstained.

"The Infosys board would like to state that it acknowledges the sentiment of shareholders who have not voted in favour of the resolution, and has also taken careful note of the statements expressed by the company's promoters," it said.
New Delhi: IT body Nasscom said on Monday that 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 companies use Singapore as a gateway to serve clients in the region. All major Indian tech companies including TCS, HCL, Infosys and Wipro have a presence in Singapore.

"If things don't change, companies 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 US and Europe continue to account for over 80 percent 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.
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.
O Kadhal Kanmani actor Dulquer Salmaan is a happy man these days. The industry grapevine is abuzz with reports that Salmaan is expecting his first child with his wife Amal Sufiya, after a picture of Amal sporting a baby bump surfaced online. The picture was taken at the wedding of Dulquers cousin Maqbool in Kochi.

"Yes, Amal and Dulquer are expecting their first child and the baby is due by the end of May or June first week," a source was quoted as saying in a Times of India report. However, the couple is yet to announce it officially.

Dulquer Salmaan married Sufiya, who is an architect, on 22 December 2011, just before he made his acting debut in the Malayalam film Second Show (2012).

He is the son of Malayalam superstar Mammootty, and studied Business Management at Purdue University in the United States.

Salmaan even posted on their fifth wedding anniversary when he was in the US shooting his upcoming film, Comrade in America aka CIA. He had posted on Facebook saying, "How you married a cartoon like me Ill never know! But thanks baby! Happy Anniversary! 5 years flew by like 5 blinks! Im so sorry Im not home this year. I promise to make it up to you when I get back (sic)."

Salmaan's Comrade in America will release on 5 May 2017.
Global superstar, Scientology follower and Mummy destroyer Tom Cruise is all set to come to India to shoot Mission: Impossible 6, the next film in the franchise.

The fourth film of the franchise, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was shot in 2011 in India too, but Tom Cruise was not a part of the schedule.

Instead a body double shot the portions with him alongside Anil Kapoor in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

For the sixth film, the filming locations will be India, London, Paris and New Zealand, according to a tweet by a film writer. Tom Cruise will reportedly shoot in India for two weeks for the film.

Mission: Impossible 6 filming in London, India, Paris & New Zealand. Will be released in IMAX 3D on July 27, 2018. NO MENTION of Renner!  Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) March 29, 2017

A source also told Mid-day, "The team will shoot in India for a month, later this year. The locations will be chosen depending on the stunts conceived. Of the cities being considered, Mumbai will be a prime location [for filming]. They're also looking at Rajasthan and Kerala, but details are yet to be finalised. From a co-ordination point of view, [shooting in Mumbai] makes work easier for the crew."

The Hollywood unit is going to recruit the same crew associated with the Ghost Protocol and they will arrive for a month-long recce in June.

A DNA report also quoted a source saying "The details of the Indian schedule will be finalised after the first meeting with the [Indian] crew. The [Hollywood] team is also in talks with Mumbai-based casting agents to scout for local talent for the film's supporting cast. With a good portion of outdoor shots, India will make more than a blink-and-miss appearance this time."

Mission Impossible 6 will release on 6 July 2018.
By Allison Lampert and Leah Schnurr

| MONTREAL/OTTAWA

MONTREAL/OTTAWA Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) tried to contain a public relations debacle on Monday after protests and a dressing down by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over hefty executive pay hikes just weeks after its latest government loan.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 Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Abdiqani Hassan

| BOSASSO

BOSASSO Pirates who hijacked an Indian cargo dhow with 11 crew on board have moved the vessel to an undisclosed location within Galmudug waters off the Somali coast until their ransom demands are met, a pirate leader told Reuters on Tuesday.The vessel, Al Kausar, was initially taken to El Hur, near the port of Hobyo in Somalia's semi-autonomous Galmudug state but was then moved to avoid approaching security personnel, pirates said.Pirate leader Aw Kombe said negotiations were ongoing with businessmen in Kismayu over the release of Al Kausar, which was seized on Saturday."The traders want the dhow released without (any) ransom (being paid) but my friends say they (will) not release it without (getting) at least some cash," he added. "They are still discussing."The Al Kausar was commandeered in the vicinity of Socotra Island while en route from Dubai to Puntland's port of Bosasso, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area.

A pirate who only gave his name as Aden told Reuters by phone from Harardhere: "The pirate leader on board heard Galmudug forces advancing to attack it. The dhow has now gone far into the ocean but is still in Galmudug waters."Harardhere was also a major pirate base at the height of the hijackings in 2011.Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a riskier route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs.

An oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board was hijacked last month but was released within a few days after a clash with Puntland's marine force.That was the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012.There was also some confusion about identity and origin of Al Kausar's hijackers.

Burhan Warsame, Galmudug's minister for ports and sea transport, told Reuters the same pirates who seized the oil tanker last month "must have hijacked this dhow".But Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, the former general director of Puntland's anti-piracy agency, said the dhow's location made it more likely that the pirates were from Galmudug.Kombe, who headed the pirate gang that commandeered the oil tanker, told Reuters there were four groups of pirates from Puntland "who are still in ocean hunting for ships to hijack"."The pirates holding it must be our friends from Galmudug state," Kombe said. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Abdiqani Hassan; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Minutes before jumping off the 19-storey room of Hotel Taj Lands End in Bandra on Monday, 24-year-old Arjun Bhardwaj streamed a Facebook Live video saying that is a "tutorial on how to commit suicide." His intentions were clear. According to the Mumbai Police, he had checked into the hotel at 3 pm on Monday and provided proper documents before checking-in. The police reportedly found notes scattered across the room. In the suicide note, Bhardwaj indicated that he was dealing with drug addiction, which took a toll on his life.

After the video went viral on social media, the Mumbai Police released an advisory and urged people not to share the video as a precautionary measure.

Always better to speak up than give up #WeAreListening pic.twitter.com/glSVO3lK9I  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) April 4, 2017

Pandit Thackeray, senior police inspector of the Bandra police station told Firstpost that the initial investigation indicated that Bhardwaj suffered from depression. Without divulging details of the case, he said that the cops will talk to his parents and friends as well.

A student of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Bhardwaj's last few posts on Facebook revealed that he was trying to reach out to people, the posts were a desperate cry for help.

Seema Hingorrany, clinical psychologist and trauma expert, explains that the number of friends hardly matters as people rarely pause and reflect on the posts. Social media users are always in a hurry to like something and they rarely pause, reflect and empathise. Also, the reluctance to interfere in someone else's life also stops many from offering help. "Even one hateful and careless comment can put people on the edge," she says.

Harish Shetty, a social psychiatrist, uses the word "anomie"  a term introduced by French sociologist Emile Durkheim  to explain that the feeling of alienation and disconnection that could lead to suicide. Britannica defines anomie as: "A condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals." The pace of life is such that it depletes compassion, even though some posts are warning signs of depression, it doesn't register with people. Also, the lack of awareness and social stigma delay the process of detection and healing, he explains.

According to the Hindustan Times report, Bhardwaj, who is from Bengaluru and lived alone in a flat in Andheri, had failed in college and there was pressure on him from his family to take up a job. AM Gabhrani, consultant psychotherapist - Masina Hospital, says that the initial signs of depression are manifested in the language. Suicidal thoughts are not an overnight development. He explains that for Bhardwaj, it was probably not a sudden decision and he had been planning the extreme step for a while. He says that these signs should be detected by the family members and friends who are familiar with the personality of the person suffering from depression.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) theme for the 2017 World Health Day is depression. Under the campaign slogan  Depression: Lets talk, the WHO website states:

"At the core of the campaign is the importance of talking about depression as a vital component of recovery. The stigma surrounding mental illness, including depression, remains a barrier to people seeking help throughout the world. Talking about depression, whether with a family member, friend or medical professional; in larger groups, for example in schools, the workplace and social settings; or in the public domain, in the news media, blogs or social media, helps break down this stigma, ultimately leading to more people seeking help."

Shetty, who has reached out to youngsters through social media and helped them with depression, explains that due to the lack of awareness, depression is an invisible problem for many. He says depression and mental healthcare have to become a part of the public narrative. Mental health and depression should have outreach programmes and get the same amount of attention that dengue or malaria gets.

A simple question like "are you alright" goes a long way in offering help, says Hingoranny. She explains this question might seem intrusive, but there have been instances where people have responded and sought help. Often social stigma and statements like "snap out of it" prevent people from seeking expert help. She says that if it is just a hunch, inquiring about someone's mental health makes a lot of difference.
The UN wants those responsible for attacks on Africans in India to be brought to justice, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday. He was answering a reporter's question about the African ambassadors in New Delhi want to take to the UN the "xenophobic" attacks on their citizens.

"There's no UN involvement that I'm aware of," Dujarric said. "We do very much hope that these people who are responsible for these attacks are brought to justice."

Earlier on Monday, the Eritrean ambassador, who is the dean of African diplomats in India, issued a statement on behalf of the envoys decrying the recent spate of attacks on African students in and around Delhi as "xenophobic and racial in nature".

African Heads of Mission 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.

A statement issued after a meeting of the envoys  representing 54 countries of the African continent  following the incident and dated 31 March 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."

Meanwhile, India on Monday termed as "unfortunate" the African Heads of Missions' statement describing last week's attack on Nigerians in Greater Noida as "xenophobic and racial in nature" even as it stressed its commitment to ensuring all foreign nationals remain safe.

In a reaction following the statement by the African Heads of Mission, the External Affairs Ministry said that the government is "committed to ensuring safety and security of all foreign nationals in India, including African nationals, who remain our valued partners".

"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. Investigations into the death of Indian teenager and the subsequent incident by local authorities are ongoing," the MEA statement said. It said that there was no need for international investigations because "strong Indian institutions are adequate to deal with aberrations that represent act of a few criminals."

Noting that the government had condemned and described as "unacceptable" the incident of attack on a few Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida, it said the significance attached to addressing the matter is reflected in the detailed statement by the External Affairs Minister and the discussion in the Parliament.

"Following MEA's conversation immediately after the incident with the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, local authorities expeditiously arrested suspects. They registered an FIR and are investigating the matter comprehensively. Local authorities have also taken measures to strengthen safety and security of Nigerian nationals. Coordination meetings have been held by local police in Delhi as well as Greater Noida, with African nationals," it said.

The ministry has further sensitised local authorities towards ensuring safety and security of Africans in general and African students in particular, it said, adding that three Nigerian nationals treated in hospital for injuries have been discharged.

It may be noted that a subsequent report of the assault on a Kenyan national has been withdrawn and the government has been informed by Kenyan High Commission that the concerned Kenyan national, whose tourist visa has expired, is returning to Kenya, the release said. Nevertheless, the Kenyan High Commission has expressed appreciation for the prompt response by local police authorities on her complaint, it added.

The attack on four Nigerian students took place on 27 March 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 30 March said: "It is clear that such criminal acts are completely unacceptable and have been condemned."

He said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has spoken to Uttar Pradesh chief minister 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.

Meanwhile, official sources said, "It is understood that a very small number of African HoMs may have been consulted in the issuance of the press release by the African HOM Dean. Some of the prominent African HoMs denied that they attended the reported meeting or were consulted."

With inputs from agencies
Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, may have asked Jamaat-e-Islami to help the NC and Congress fight the RSS-backed government, but the socio-political organisation has supported the government in its mouthpiece Momin and asked its cadre to stay away from the elections.

Jamaat, most of whose cadre had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen, noted in Momin that the government has created many health facilities for people in the state, while referring to psychiatric conditions that have affected people. However, it has asked the government to take steps to improve the healthcare at the psychiatric disease hospital, Srinagar. In a dated 17 March, 2017 editorial in its mouthpiece about the rehabilitation of pellet victims, Jamaat has asked the government to provide jobs to the pellet-victims so that they dont remain a burden on their parents.

Although the piece lashed out at the forces for the indiscriminate use of pellet guns, asking the government to take steps in the health sector (and even acknowledging the work done so far) marks a clear departure from the line that is taken by other separatist organisations that have refrained from speaking on developmental issues. Separatist political parties including the Hurriyat (G) led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Hurriyat (M) led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, have asked people to desist from electing the government and have held that the Kashmiris cant be bought by developmental projects like the recently-opened Chenani-Nashir tunnel.

Jamaat spokesperson Advocate Zahid Ali said that there is a proper editorial board that monitors the newspaper policies and any "errors could be rectified". Jamaat has however asked its cadre to refrain from polls, but has desisted from asking people to boycott the upcoming polls for the two parliamentary bypolls of Srinagar and Anantang  that are scheduled to be held on 9 and 12 April respectively. In the Srinagar constituency, Abdullah is facing PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan, while in Anantnag, state Congress president GA Mir is pitted against Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

On Monday, while addressing an election rally at Kangan, Abdullah sought Jamaats support to defeat the PDP in the elections. "PDP has ashamed and embarrassed Muslims in general and Kashmiri Muslims in particular by aligning with the RSS in the state. RSS represents decades of suppression of Muslims across the country and has openly advocated the abrogation of Article 370," he said. Making an appeal to unite against communal forces, Abdullah said that the elections were about the battle against the BJP and RSS.

However Ameer-i-Jamaat, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, said that the organisation has nothing to do with the elections. "We have asked our cadre to stay away from elections," he said. In the 2002 election, there were allegations that some of the Jamaat cadre had voted for PDP, which was however vehemently denied by the group. Jamat has a very strong cadre particularly in Srinagar as well as the South Kashmir areas of Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama, which are part of the Anantnag constituency.

A strong cadre-based organisation, it has been laying emphasis on following Islamic principles that are also believed to be the ideological pull for youths to join the militancy. Most of its cadre had been drawn into militancy and joined the Hizbul Mujahideen, which is seeking the merger of the state with Pakistan. Unlike other separatist organisations, Jamaat is however allowed to organise religious functions and has its offices in most districts of Kashmir. The group has maintained that the resolution of the Kashmir problem can be arrived at through a tripartite dialogue, while keeping in consideration the UN Resolutions on Kashmir.

But given the way the organisation has recognised government efforts, the stand is seen largely as one that is also maintained by the mainstream political parties. PDP has been been advocating the tripartite dialogue on Kashmir, while mainstream politicians like Independent MLA, ER Rashid, have been openly advocating that Kashmir is a dispute and people should be given the right to exercise referendum.

The turnaround in the policies of the Jamaat is largely due to its present chief, Bhat, who was the first to distance himself from militancy. He was elected for a period of three years and his last stint as Jamaat chief was from 1997 to 2003. Jamaat is not the part of the Hurriyat Conference lead by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, even though some sources in the Hurriyat (G) said that it is being invited to participate in party activities. Bhat said, "We are not a part of Hurriyat (G). If Hurriyat (G) says we are part of it, that's wrong. If tomorrow, Narendra Modi says we are part of his party, shall we believe him?"
Srinagar: A live bullet was found on Monday in the baggage of an army jawan at the Srinagar International Airport, after which he was detained, a security official said. The soldier Pandia Raj, who was proceeding to Delhi on leave, was handed over to the army for further investigation, the official said. Prima facie, it seems that the bullet was left behind in the bag "by mistake", the official added.

This is the second incident of an army soldier caught at the airport with live ammunition. On Monday, a jawan was arrested after two hand grenades and other ammunition were found in his baggage during the security screening.

He had claimed that the grenades had been given to him by a "superior official" for transporting these to Delhi.

Meanwhile, though militant activities have increased in Jammu and Kashmir, the security forces will ensure best possible arrangements for the upcoming Lok Sabha by-polls, a top CRPF official said on Tuesday. Special DG, CRPF, S N Srivastava's remark came against the backdrop of three militant attacks in as many days here ahead of the by-polls to Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary constituencies on 9 and 12 April.

"An increase in militant activities was always expected. We already knew that such a thing will happen. "We are always ready for the challenge and will ensure that security arrangements for elections are as good as possible," he told reporters on the sidelines of the wreath laying ceremony held for the CRPF jawan killed in Monday's attack.
After the Supreme Court's decision to work during the 90-day break, the Bombay High Court is also likely to hear cases during the summer break (from 8 May to 4 June) to bring down the number of pending cases, reported The Indian Express.

In a first, at least 15 judges of the Supreme Court comprising three separate Constitution benches will hear petitions on triple talaq, the right to privacy for users of WhatsApp and Facebook and citizenship rights of children born to Bangladeshi migrants.

An official told The Indian Express that the proposal is still being considered and an official circular will be released soon confirming details of the benches and the dates. "Important matters will be taken up. The idea is to reduce pendency. The other benches of the High Court such as Aurangabad and Nagpur are also planning to sit during this period once a common consensus is reached," the official told the daily.

Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on 30 March said that the court is ready to sit on weekends too. Usually four Supreme Court judges work during the 90-day break but this time, 19 of the 28 judges will be hearing cases.

"These are very, very important matters. If we dont do it like this (by hearing them in separate Constitution Benches), they will not be decided for years and years together. Then you (lawyers) dont blame us that it did not happenor that there are so much arrears," Justice Khehar said.

The apex court also fixed 11 May as the date for the commencement of hearing on pleas challenging the validity of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy practices among Muslims.

Bombay High Court advocate Ajay Kumar wrote for Firstpost regarding the apex court working through summer: "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."
New Delhi: Amid a row over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the government on Tuesday asked China not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it respects the 'One China' policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

Making a statement on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said here that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.

"There is no political angle behind His Holiness' visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs," he told reporters.

Rijiju said India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate.

"We respect Beijing's 'One China' policy and we expect China to reciprocate," he said.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the state is "not a disputed territory" and is part of the Union of India and a "full-fledged state".

"There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that soon it would be resolved.

"I appeal to China not to rake up Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as the status of the state can't be questioned," he said.

Religious sentiments of every community must be given freedom,we expect nobody should have problem on visit of the Dalai Lama to AP-K.Rijiju pic.twitter.com/auun1qnf45  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

India never interfere into the internal affairs of China.We expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matter: Kiren Rijiju pic.twitter.com/LXyVfxeoWp  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Ppl of AP desire to have good neighbourly relations with ppl of China. We never intend to have any problem with our neighbours: Kiren Rijiju pic.twitter.com/UNPnmHrlWl  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Visit is purely religious in nature&there should be no political angle given to that: Union Min Kiren Rijiju on Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit pic.twitter.com/0vczonDx3m  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh on 6 April during which he will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.

The minister said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state. "As a democratic country, India can't interfere in religious affairs of any community," he said.

Rijiju said that the Dalai Lama will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want to reopen trading points along the McMahon line which have been closed since 1962.

"The trading points were beneficial. People of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China," he said.

Rijiju said the Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and making arrangements for his stay there. Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijiju's) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.

The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.

With inputs from PTI
The Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh has been put off by two days due to bad weather, according to media reports. The Dalai Lama was to leave for Tawang on Tuesday after visiting Assam. He is now expected to reach Tawang, home to one of the most sacred Buddhist monasteries, on 6 April. 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 was normal and he had no problem if China objected to his visit.

On Tuesday, India said that the Tibetan spiritual leader has visited the state six times earlier and no "additional colour" should be given to his visit. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, holding a press conference, said, "India has never interfered in internal affairs of China. We never questioned their sovereignty. We respected their 'One China' policy. So we expect China to respect our sovereignty. We are a free country, we cannot restrict flow of religious leaders."

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was to arrive at Lumla, near Tawang on Tuesday morning at 9:30 am, but his helicopter couldn't take off because of heavy rain in Guwahati. The 81-year-old is now travelling by road. Bomdila, which is 180 kilometres away from Tawang, will be his first stop, Hindustan Times reported.

"Whenever I come to the North East 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."

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to consecrate a temple and give blessings to his followers during his week-long stay in Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh: Preparations underway in West Kameng district's Bomdila for The Dalai Lama's visit this evening. pic.twitter.com/BExsG5BNd0  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017



The Indian Express reported that members of the Tibetan refugee community and residents of Bomdila were cleaning up the roads in anticipation of his visit. Tawang Monastery, where the Dalai Lama is expected to stay, has been decorated with religious flags and coloured clothes with mantras inscribed on them. 800 monks will welcome their spiritual leader in the 400-year-old monastery, India's largest.

According to a report in the The Financial Express, the Dalai Lama is also slated to visit the Ngingmapa Monastery and the local authorities have been busy making improvements.

Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled into exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule over Tibet. Moreover, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century. The government-in-exile is based at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. It is not recognised by any country.

The Dalai Lama last visited Arunachal Pradesh in 2009. China protested against that trip, but there was no major impact on relations with India. China has, once again, protested his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers a disputed territory.

On Sunday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet after a "failed armed rebellion." China rejected 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 statement said.

In a press conference on 31 March, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang expressed concerns on the Dalai Lama's visit, calling China's position on the issue of the eastern part of China-India border clear-cut and consistent. "India is very clear about the seriousness of issues related to the 14th Dalai Lama and the sensitivity of its border issues with China. Under such circumstances, India still invites the 14th Dalai Lama to visit disputed areas of China-India borders. This will gravely damage the peace and stability of the border regions between China and India and China-India relations," Kang said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Rijiju, in his press conference, also added, "The status of Arunachal Pradesh as a full-fledged state of the Union of India is indisputable. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are upset at others showing that Arunachal Pradesh is a disputed territory. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are looking forward to cooperation from China. When Dalai Lama ji is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement or with any political motive. We appeal to China not to rake up this issue."

Rijiju also stated that the Arunachal Pradesh government accorded the Dalai Lama the status of a guest and all the facilities were being arranged by the government. Striking a more personal tone, Rijiju added, "The Dalai Lama is coming to my village. If someone comes to my home it becomes my duty to welcome him."

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi has welcomed the government's decision to ratify two fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to address concerns related to child labour. He has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the "historic reform". The Cabinet last week approved ratification of ILO convention 138--Minimum Age Convention which concerns minimum age for admission to employment--and Convention 182--Worst Form of Child Labour Convention which concerns prohibition and immediate action for elimination of the worst form of child labour.

"India's decision for ratification of Convention 182 and Convention 138 was long overdue in providing justice to our children. After the total prohibition of child labour, this is yet another important step in protecting all our children from exploitation and abuse. "It now remains a collective responsibility of everyone to do their bit to remove the scourge of child labour from the country," Satyarthi said.

India is a founder member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) which came into existence in 1919. At present, the ILO has 187 members. The principal means of action in the ILO is the setting up of international standards in the form of conventions, recommendations and protocol. India has so far ratified 45 conventions, out of which 42 are in force. Out of these four are fundamental or core conventions.

Satyarthi has been a long time advocate for ratification of these ILO conventions and had been raising awareness on the issue through his campaign 'Global March Against Child Labour' which began in 1998. "This remarkable moment provides an opportunity for the country to make renewed commitment for ending forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. Let this be the last generation that has been exploited in the name of illiteracy, poverty or helplessness," he said in a statement.
Most schools and colleges have dress codes in place for students, however, Rizvi Springfield School in Bandra, Mumbai has cracked the whip on parents too. According to The Times of India, the parents of Rizvi Springfield's students have been given instructions to wear "decent and modest attire."

And it's not just the clothes the school has a problem with; the parents will not be allowed to use mobile phones within the school premises. The report said that the parents will have to deposit their mobile phones at the reception when they came in for meetings or events and to not question inappropriately or abuse/mistreat staff. While the last instruction is reasonable, parents expressed a problem with the dress code and restrictions on mobile phone use.

A mother of a student was quoted as saying, "Why should a school try to tell parents what they can or cannot wear or whether to carry mobile phones? We are responsible people and haven't seen indecent behaviour or dressing by any parents."

While other parents felt that this was a way for the school to silence parents from questioning fees hike, management.

A few years ago, Blossoms School in Bengaluru had prohibited parents from dropping the schools in their nightwear. According to The New Indian Express, the secretary of Sunrise Public School in Bengaluru, Mahesh had said that such rules are not uncommon and that only 60 percent of the parents follow such rules.
A 24-year-old college student committed suicide on Monday evening by jumping from the 19-storey room of Hotel Taj Lands End in Bandra. Minutes before taking his life, the victim identified as Arjun Bharadwaj had streamed a Facebook Live video, which went viral on social media.

Bharadwaj, originally from Bengaluru, was a Narsee Monjee college student. Bharadwaj jumped to his death from a hotel room by breaking the window. Mumbai Police have found a suicide note in his hotel room which indicates that Bharadwaj was suffering from drug addiction and wanted to end his life due to the damage his compulsion was causing him.

According to The Indian Express, a source who reached the spot moments after the incident claimed that the hotel security was alerted by a back office executive who saw the video on Facebook in which the hotel was tagged. According to The Hindu, the Bandra police have registered an accidental death report and are conducting inquiries.

In the Facebook Live video, Bharadwaj wearing a white robe is heard saying that the recording is a tutorial about how to (commit) suicide." He is seen consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes. The Mumbai Police requested the media not to run the video. It is disturbing and can have a huge impact on young minds, Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner of Police told The Indian Express.

The Hindu reported that Bharadwaj was taken to Lilavati Hospital where he died while under treatment. The hotel management had already informed the Bandra police by then. He had checked into the hotel at 3 pm on Monday. He broke the glass of the hotel room window before jumping. We found nine short notes in his room indicating he was disturbed, Sanjay Kadam, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Bandra division) told The Hindu.

Asian Age reported that the police have informed Bharadwajs family and they are on their way to Mumbai. They are also recording the statements of his friends to ascertain if Bharadwaj was under any pressure.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police urged the youngsters to reach out to them in the instance of any such occurrence.

Deeply bereaved with suicide of a young boy in the city. We urge the youngsters to reach out to us #WeAreListening  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) April 3, 2017

The social media profile of the youth is being checked by police to ascertain the motives behind the drastic measure.
The NDA government has proposed a new set of rules for processing Right to Information (RTI) applications, complaints and appeals and has sought suggestions from the public by 15 April. 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.

Among many provisions, one says that the proceedings before the Central Information Commission (CIC) will abate in case of death of the appellant. In the Draft RTI Rules 2017, on which comments have been invited from the public, Clause 2 of Rule 12 titled Withdrawal/Abatement of Appeal says: "The proceedings pending before the commission shall abate on the death of the appellant," PTI reported.

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.

Speaking to The Indian Express, RTI activist Subhash Agrawal said, "There have been past pronouncements by the CIC and other bodies that in case of death of an appellant, the information would be displayed on the website. This new clause effectively puts an end to that. So killing an RTI activist would be a sure way of killing his fight for a particular query."

Speaking to Firstpost, lawyer Ajay Kumar said that instead of a blanket rule on the abatement of proceedings, it would have made sense if the government had created a test or evolved a criterion laying out the circumstances under which certain applications could continue to be prosecuted. "A blanket rule on on the abatement of proceedings is arbitrary and will only serve the interest of the party that seeks to gain from the non-disclosure of information rather than the broader public interest."

Another RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd) told PTI that there have been several deliberations have been held earlier between the government and civil society activists. "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," Batra was quoted as saying by PTI.

The BJP-led NDA government has been criticised severly for the move with the Congress alleging that the Narendra Modi government is subverting the RTI Act. The Congress added that the new draft rules give power to an authority to reject an application if it is beyond 500 words and also force a steep hike in charges on the applicant to get a reply. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters on Monday that the Centre has been displaying an attitude of "active neglect towards RTI" and it finally seems to have decided "to formalise the process of subverting the RTI".

"The entire RTI regimen is sought to be constricted, suffocated and finally subverted," he said.

Citing the abatement of proceedings if the applicant dies, Tewari said: "RTI activists are extremely apprehensive that this will increase the number of attacks which are taking place and which have resulted in the unfortunate death of many RTI activists." He said there is also a provision which allows the public authority of the first appellate to file counter appeals which essentially means that it becomes a judicial proceeding.

According to Delhi-based NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), last year the countrywide death toll of RTI activists on account of murder or other suspicious causes was 56 between 2005, when the transparency law came into effect, and mid 2016. Of the 56 deaths, 51 activists were murdered and five committed suicide.

CHRI Venkatesh Nayak told The Times of India, "By legally permitting withdrawal of appeals vested interests will feel emboldened to pressurise RTI users to withdraw their appeals before the CIC. If this proposed rule becomes law at the Centre, most other states will make similar amendments, thereby unwittingly jeopardising the life and safety of RTI users. These amendments must not be allowed to go through when the Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011 has been put in cold storage."

Speaking to The Economic Times, Anjali Bhardwaj National Campaign for People's Right to Information said, "This is a rule which would be misused. In any case if an RTI user is attacked and killed, the Commission should not stop its work. We have repeatedly said in such cases the sought information should be proactively disclosed. RTI is being used by people who are on the margins. Any requirement by the Commission should keep these people  the poor  in mind. The formats prescribed are very intricate."

With inputs from agencies
The Supreme Court order on 31 March reaffirming its earlier decision (15 December, 2016) to ban liquor vending along the national and state highways has given rise to a whale of protest. The pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants along the highways that serve liquor had sought to make a fine distinction between vending and serving liquor and had sought exemption from the SC order on the ground that such units are part of hospitality industry, and not the liquor industry.

The Government of India agreed with this contention. The Attorney General (AG) of India, the highest law officer of the land, accordingly rendered a legal opinion to the Kerala government  in the aftermath of the 15 December order  that the apex courts ban on liquor supply within 500 metres of the national and state highways would not apply to hotels, restaurants, pubs or bars that serve liquor.

But the Supreme Court bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India, categorically rejected the AGs contention on the ground that exemption to serving of liquor (as against vending of liquor) would defeat the very basis of its 15 December order that sought to prevent drunken driving.

In the aftermath of the 31 March order, the hospitality industry has risen in revolt. It has raised the twin threats that the SC order is likely to pose that have national implications: First, the loss of jobs; it is bandied about that one million jobs will be hit; second, the loss of revenue; it is claimed that Rs 65,000 crore of revenue would be lost on account of this misplaced court order.

The Government of India seems to have concurred with this view. The CEO of Niti Aayog, the highest policy-making body of India, has come out strongly against the SC order saying that it would kill the tourism industry in India. The Union tourism minister has also said that the SC order would adversely affect tourism. The minister has promised that the government would initiate measures to skirt round the problem. One suggestion doing the rounds is that the central government is likely to denotify, for official purposes, the national highways so that the Supreme Court order would be rendered virtually null and void. Most state governments (except Gujarat and Bihar which are dry states) have enthusiastically embraced the idea and have made moves to denotify state highways.

One will have to wait to see how this game is played out and how the apex court reacts to such moves. But there is no denying that the Supreme Court is at the receiving end of a lot of brickbats from opinion-makers who are batting for the cause of the hospitality industry and those who are insisting on their right to drink, irrespective of consequences, in a democratic society. There are others who accuse the Supreme Court of judicial overreach  of making law instead of interpreting it.

There is a lot of substance in the criticism of the SC verdict. It is true that an alarmingly large number of people (1.34 lakh as per the last count) die in road accident every year. The Community Against Drunk Driving (CADD), which deposed before the apex court, gave evidence that more than 70 percent of the road accident deaths are due to drunken driving. Twenty-four hour availability of alcohol along national and state highways results in impulsive buying of alcohol and about 72 percent road accidents on highways, CADD said.

There are many who would dispute the contention that availability of alcohol on the highways is the cause of drunken driving and death. They cite the example of Gujarat, for example, which has been a dry state for years but which witnesses accidents and deaths due to drunk driving on a large scale. These critics would point the finger at the lack of effective monitoring and enforcement mechanism against drunken driving as the prime cause for fatal accidents. And they are perhaps right.

But the accusation of judicial overreach is possibly borne out of ignorance of the critics. The SC was aware of its vulnerability to such a charge and, therefore, mentioned it candidly in its order: We must at the outset notice that this court while exercising its jurisdiction has neither formulated policy nor (as we shall indicate) has it assumed a legislative function.

The court said that it was merely enforcing a model policy of the government which was in the making for more than a decade.

Here are the facts. The first NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had set up a National Road Safety Council which gave its unanimous recommendation on 15 January, 2004 to the effect that no fresh licence should be given or old licence be renewed along highways.

The UPA government that came to power in May 2004 carried forward the NDA governments work in this regard. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued the first advisory on 26 October, 2007 asking all state governments to make the national highways free of liquor shops (the Centre did not mention state highways as it had no jurisdiction over them) and repeated such advisories several times thereafter. Such advisories were largely ignored by the state governments on the ground of loss of revenue on a large scale. The central government could not have enforced the advisory as alcohol came under the state subject.

The Supreme Court, therefore, merely gave effect to the intent of the central government as the latter was not in a position to do so by itself because of the constraints of our federal structure. The Supreme Court found support in the legislative intent in this regard in the Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 that enumerated punishment for drunken driving.

The Supreme Court admitted that it was making an important departure from the model policy of the central government that had stipulated the distance of 100 metres for the liquor vending to go off sale; the SC, in its 15 December order, increased the distance to 500 metres to make the move effective but relaxed it to 220 metres in urban areas in its 31 March order.

Overall, the SC could be criticised for agreeing to a mono-causal, simplistic solution but it cannot be accused of judicial policy-making. It only gave effect to what has long been legislative and executive policy intent.
The mayors of Varanasi and Gorakhpur have announced that the National Song Vande Mataram should be sung at every municipal corporation meeting. The issue had started last Saturday when BJP corporator Ajay Gupta had proposed that the national song should be sung before proceedings of the house begin.

Members of Congress and the Samajwadi Party had protested following Muslim members objection to the song being mandatory at the House. According to The Economic Times, Mayor Ram Gopal Mohale said in a statement on Monday that action would be taken against the SP and Congress members for allegedly insulting the national song by raising derogatory slogans.

On 30 March, NDTV reported that a group of Muslim councillors left the meeting of the House while Vande Mataram was being sung. This tradition of those who do not want to sing along being allowed to leave the hall and return after the song is over has been going on for years but this time the councillors are facing action. While walking out they were taunted and heckled by their colleagues.

The municipal board meeting for held for the first time since the new BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath came to chair around 11 days ago.

Mohley told The Indian Express that the proposal of singing the national song was given to the House but municipal body members of the Samajwadi Party started raising slogans against the RSS. Hence, he has ordered that all meetings which he will attend will start with the National Song.

Gorakhpur mayor Satya Pandey also announced at Saturdays meeting that they would conclude the proceedings with the singing of Vande Mataram. He further justified it by saying that they were not trying to link nationalism with elections and members of the Samajwadi Party should also support the move.
It was a frantic, coffee-spilling-out-of-the-mug kind of Monday with New Yorkers lost in their thoughts, books and phones, preparing for the week ahead. Something seemed amiss but I couldnt figure out what. Rushing through the chaos of the morning, it was only when I sat down for lunch at my desk that my Twitter timeline informed me that Kishori Amonkar was no more.

Id heard her beautiful rendition of Raag Todi just that morning, the divinity of her notes  as always  helping me transcend to another world. And in another co-incidence, just this Sunday (2 April 2017), I had been recounting to a friend my meeting with Kishoritai in Mumbai a few years ago.

I interviewed Kishoritai in 2013, in my capacity as (then) arts and culture correspondent for The Asian Age. As I read the reports of her passing away, the memories of that afternoon came flooding back. I had to take a few minutes to sit still, come to terms with the loss. I wanted to express my shock and grief to someone, but with everyone engrossed with deadlines, I slipped on my headphones, cued Raag Bhimpalasi on my mp3 player and walked to Bryant Park, listening to Kishoritais voice.

The magical quality of her voice was well-known, but what I found surprising  this was something she mentioned  was that it came from isolation of the soul and mind, with years of riyaz spent perfecting each note.

The details of the day I met her are very clear in my mind: Kishoritai had come to felicitate students learning Hindustani classical music at the PL Deshpande Sabhagriha in the Prabhadevi area, close to where she resided. I had heard various stories in classical music circles  not only of her brilliance, but also her erraticism and sternness. She was known to be very strict in terms of discipline and conduct. To my surprise, however, she was quite the opposite in her interaction with me. More of a loving parent, who was stern, yet strangely affectionate. Unlike some other legendary classical musicians Id interviewed, there was no pretense about Kishoritai; she just spoke her thoughts, loud and clear  whether or not that made anyone uncomfortable.

What came across in that meeting was her passion to keep ethics, purity and certain practices alive, in music. And her disregard for labels of any sort. Her extensive vocabulary of the ragas and depth of knowledge of every note, every breath, every move was astounding.

RIP Kishori Amonkar: Raag Bageshri to Bhoop, listen to her best performances available online

Kishoritai spoke about the seven notes as though they were her children: Every note had to be reared, studied, practised, nurtured. It takes years to just get the sa right, she said, explaining how just sa had a world of its own. You could sing it a million times, and still find something better when you revisited it. Perhaps thats why Kishoritai expanded so much on the vilambit in her concerts. Her dialogue with her notes during a concert was intense, and as much as she loved the notes they seemed to love her more. There was something truly brilliant  and unfathomable  about the range and capacity of her breath and voice. Then there was the other side  where she also seemed fairly chill about music. At the end of the day, music is just another language and has to be simple too, she maintained.

Kishoritai believed it was up to musicians to maintain the sanctity of music and render it with seriousness versus making it audience-friendly. It was the audience that needed to be trained to be better listeners of classical music  treating it as meditation.

She must have been 80 at the time I met her, and I still remember her posture  striking, graceful  her frail, delicate frame enveloped in a silk sari, as she spoke about notes, ragas, taal, and what moved her. Wed spent close to three-four hours in her magnetic presence, but I wished shed go on and on. Up until that point, I had never taken photos with the celebrities or artistes I interviewed, but somehow I mustered up the courage to request Kishoritai to pose with me. I was afraid she would refuse  instead, Kishorita hugged me and obliged me with a picture that I have treasured ever since.

Like her music, meeting Kishoritai was the experience of a lifetime.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's brother Tassaduq Mufti is contesting the Anantnag bypoll on 12 April. Ahead of the election, the reluctant politician spoke to News18's Mufti Islah while on the campaign trail and said that the government needs to engage the youth first and give confidence to separatists to move to the mainstream.

Edited excerpts of the interview follow:

In your initial remarks you told your supporters that they should save themselves rather than vote for you. Was it because of the unrest?

That is obvious. They should take care of themselves. They should be safe.

When you said that were you suggesting things are very bad in the Valley. Is there unrest?

What do you think?

I am asking you.

Sometimes, the best answer to a question is a question itself. What do you think? I think, yes, it is.

There is this problem of youths gathering near encounter sites. How are you as a politician going to resolve this?

We are trying to address this as a tactical, emotional problem, as disillusionment and that is the best way to address it. That is not the only way but the best way to address it.

Do you think there should be dialogue with the agitated and angry youth?

I think they should be listened to. I think there should be some amount of counselling and skill development. That would be required. They should be engaged.

But the party with which you are aligned, the BJP, is not endorsing dialogue?

We are having a conversation and listening to the youth. There should be no problem with that. We are having informal conversations.

The BJP is trying to bring radical faces in its polity like Yogi Adityanath as chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. Is that creating a problem?

But he is not in Jammu and Kashmir. Does it bother you?

It doesn't bother me as a journalist.

Then it does not bother me for the time being.

How are you going to be different as a politician?

That's obvious by now. We need to lay better foundations for tomorrow. We need to be systematic, scientific. We need to understand things first before we go for a solution. Data analysis and data collection, we should be ready to do that before we make any intervention. We should understand the problems first.

Is it a problem for you and the Opposition to hold large open air rallies? You are confining yourself to indoor rallies.

We are trying to address the problem in the best way we can and hopefully we will try to get counsellors, some psychologists, some skill development people, some NGOs and hopefully make a positive change.

When you go to the Parliament, what are the issues you are going to raise? Will you advocate dialogue with separatists?

For now, I will focus on dialogue with the youth. Hopefully that will give separatists some amount of confidence to move towards the mainstream.
Water conservationist Rajendra Singhs outfit in eastern Rajasthan, the Tarun Bharat Sangh, held a three-day workshop (1-3 April) at it's headquarters at Bheerampur in Alwar. Inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and social activist, Anna Hazare, the meet had invited water specialists from across the country.

Social activist Anna Hazare, who is turning 80 next month remains in the agitation mode and disclosed to the gathering that he was ready to once again launch an agitation from Ramlila grounds in New Delhi. This time around, he plans to target the Narendra Modi government for it's unwillingness to appoint a Lokpal at the Centre.

Why do you want to start another round of agitation?

This has been on my mind for some time now. I even wrote a letter to prime minister Modi questioning why their government had shown so much apathy in appointing a Lokpal. My fast at Ramlila grounds in 2011 attracted nationwide attention and it was in response to our agitation that we succeeded in getting the Lokpal bill passed in Parliament. When the present government is showing no enthusiasm to appoint a Lokpal, then I have been left with no choice.

Have you fixed any dates for this agitation so far?

We will start it by July latest. When the Modi government came to power, I was hopeful that the demands for the implementation of the Lokpal Act would have been met but in the last three years this has not happened. I receive complaints about corruption from all around the country all the time.

So you will be sitting on fast from July?

That is my intention. I will go on a 'satyagraha'. I have been silent for three years but the promises that were made to me and the people have not been fulfilled. But before that, I hope to go south to express my support to the farmers whose land is being taken over by the Andhra Pradesh government to build the new capital city (Amravati). The government there is planning to take over prime agricultural land on the flood plains of the Krishna river. The government has been told to build the capital on a higher elevation.

I have told the farmers, if they are willing to die to protect their land, I will do a 'satyagraha'. The problem is that the Gram Sabhas have to give their clearance to the project but this is never obtained in advance. The Social Impact Assessment and the Environment Impact Assessments are also never done.

That is correct but what is the way out?

I have been emphasising for many years that land classification needs to be done on a war footing otherwise we are heading for a food, water and environmental crisis. The Modi government must classify land into different categories such as agricultural land, wetlands, forest land, water bodies and so on. Once this land is classified, then the land cannot be permitted to be converted under any circumstances. This law must apply across all parties because the need of the hour is to safeguard our agricultural land, our rivers and their catchment areas which are all connected to these agricultural lands in order to build food security.

The other reform I have been stressing upon is that we need to do away with political parties who are working only for themselves and not for the welfare of the people. The people must send their representatives directly to Parliament so they can work for the people. In 1947, we won our independence, in 1949, we got our Constitution and we held our first general elections in 1952. When the Constitution of India was created, the Election Commission of India should have abolished all the six or seven political parties who were active in pre-independent India. Today, just look at the number of political parties, the plethora of symbols of these parties.

Where have all these symbols come from? Things have to improve on the ground.

I have had five meetings with the Election Commission on the need to do away with political parties completely. I have held 550 sabhas and travelled 6,000 kilometres highlighting this issue.

I think what you are aspiring for, is very idealistic situation?

I am not giving a lecture. I have been doing social work for many decades now. People must develop a sense of sacrifice. Look at the sacrifice done by our rishis (saints) and munis of yore. Over nine lakh people have come to see the development work I have in Ralegaon Siddhi. These political parties are responsible for spreading the poison about caste and creed and such poisons.

Look at the number of scams our country is facing. There is the 'helicopter scam', the 'Vyapam ghotala' and so many others. I believe corruption has increased because of these symbols (of political parties). These parties are bribing voters with Rs 500 and a liquor bottle to get them to vote for them. The voters have been reduced to a state of slumber.

We have to enlighten the voters and make them aware that no lootera will be allowed to win. If we campaign strongly for this I believe by the time of the 2019 elections, people will be convinced and will vote for the best candidates.

That is why implementation of the Lokpal Bill is important for every citizen. I am working for the good of the country. Let this summer get over, then we will assemble at Ramlila grounds. I have no apprehension of death. We will end only when we bring about parivartan (change) and we will end our 'satyagraha' only when we achieve our goals.
Patna: Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday demanded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sack his Environment and Forest Minister Tej Pratap Yadav for his alleged involvement in the "soil purchase scam".

Modi, the former Deputy Chief Minister, also asked the CM to order probe into the alleged "soil purchase scam" of worth Rs 90 lakh. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should order a high level probe into the 'soil purchase scam' in which Tej Pratap Yadav is involved.

CM should sack Yadav from his cabinet without making any delay," Modi said while talking to reporters in Patna on the sidelines of 'Janata Darbar' at his official residence.

Modi charged Lalu Prasad's minister-son Tej Pratap Yadav of giving contract of Rs 90 lakh for earth filling work in Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park located in the state capital.

Yadav's department, under whose jurisdiction the Park falls, gave away the contract of Rs 90 lakh to a company without following the tender process for construction of a pathway and beautification work in the park, Modi alleged.

"The entire episode smacks of misappropriation of public money...Politicians have too started reaping benefits by forming 'shell' companies in Bihar also," Modi said.
With the MCD elections round the corner, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal has found himself mired in a new controversy. On Monday, reports said that Kejriwal, who was embroiled in a high-powered legal battle with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, had sent his legal bill of Rs 3.42 crore to Lieutenant-General Anil Baijal's office for clearance.

As the report started flashing on every TV channel, lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who was among the battery of lawyers that Kejriwal hired for the defamation case, said that he would work for free if the Delhi chief minister cannot pay him his fees. "Even now if the government doesn't pay or he can't pay, I will appear free. I will then treat him as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani told ANI in an exclusive conversation.

'Frustrated' over reports suggesting that Baijal has sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in clearing the bills, Jethmalani said they are all in Jaitley's control. Jethmalani further said that he charges only the rich clients.

I charge only the rich but for poor I work for free. All this is instigated by Mr.Jailtley who's afraid of my cross-examination-Jethmalani pic.twitter.com/GnKjDq0pv4  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Even now if govt (Delhi) doesn't pay or he can't pay will appear for free,will treat him(Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients: Ram Jethmalani pic.twitter.com/YwT9OdwiOI  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

"Everybody knows this in this country that I charge only the rich, but for poor people I do work free and the poor people are about 90 percent of my client," he said. Meanwhile, backing Jethmalani's claim that he takes up cases for the poor on a pro bono basis, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav told ANI that the lawyer had no dearth of money. Dubbing Jethmalani chacha, Lalu said that the lawyer never took a penny from him.

Theek hai unko paisa ki kya kami hai chacha ko,hamara jitna case hai hum logon se toh ek paisa nahi liya-Lalu Prasad Yadav on Ram Jethmalani pic.twitter.com/Z61ST6zC5x  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

According to The Times Of India, the bill raised by Jethmalani on 1 December, 2016, quotes a Rs 1 crore retainer for representing Kejriwal and an additional Rs 22 lakh per appearance. Jethmalani made 11 appearances so far, leading to a total of Rs 3.42 crore, even before the cross examination stage is over.

In December, Sisodia had asked for releasing appearance fee to Jethmalani who has been fighting defamation case slapped against Kejriwal by Jaitley, sources have told PTI. They said that the amount of pending dues to the noted lawyer is more than Rs 3 crore and the law department had said that why the Delhi government should foot the bills when the case is not related to the city administration.

Experts have said that Kejriwal and Jaitley were fighting the case in their personal capacities and if Kejriwal wanted it to be a matter involving as the chief minister he should have invoked Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code. Baijal is learnt to have sought Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's advice in clearing the bills submitted by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who had signed off on the bills.

With inputs from agencies
Geetha Johri, Gujarat's newly appointed Deputy General of Police has scored many firsts to her credit. Gujarat's first female IPS officer, on Tuesday, also became the state's first woman DGP after the outgoing DGP-in-charge PP Pandey decided to step down due to the litigation against him.

Pandey, a 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, had made headlines after he was accused in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan. He is presently out on bail.

However, Johri had her own stint with grabbing headlines, litigation and controversies.

The 1982-batch IPS officer first shot to limelight in 1992 when she raided the premises of Gujarat underworld don Abdul Latif and arresting his key aide Sharif Khan, reportedly defying her seniors' orders, according to a report in The Times of India. Johri was at the time serving as the deputy commissioner of police in Gandhinagar. However, following her several reported clashes with her seniors and prominent politicians, she was shunted into heading the police training academy in Vadodara.

The next cornerstone of her career came through her meticulous investigations into the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and the disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi, in 2006, while she was serving at a 'low profile' rank in CID Crime Branch, according to The Indian Express. It was Johri's investigation that established the fact that not only was Kausar bi missing but that the encounter was fake. Later, the same case created flutters and led to the arrests of 13 police officers including prominent IPS officers such as DGP Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, even as the investigation was taken away from her. In the same case, Johri again found herself at loggerheads with her superiors after she arrested the deputy superintendent of police NK Amin and was subsequently asked to report directly to the apex court, according to The Times of India article quoted earlier.

Later, Johri was implicated in the ensuing litigation for 'destroying crucial evidence' in the same case that she famously got the breakthrough, leading to a CBI probe against her. However, interestingly all charges against her were dropped by a CBI court, just days before her promotion, as the probe agency "failed to obtain the mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for prosecution of an IPS officer," according to The Indian Express.

In 2010, Johri raised serious allegations by claiming that not only her superiors were trying to interfere with her investigation but the CBI was "pressuring her to falsely implicate the former Gujarat Minister, Amit Shah," as reported in The Hindu at the time. She claimed that the CBI had implicated her in the case, only in a bid to pressurise her further to mould her investigation to suit particular political interests.

Before she was promoted as the Gujarat DGP, she was serving as the managing director of the Gujarat Police Housing Board, a position she will continue to hold, according to NDTV India.
One will never know if the Prime Minister did a sly takedown of the Left in India but his recent Mann Ki Baat radio address that focused exclusively on mental depression carried excellent tips to keep electoral blues at bay.

It was timed perfectly for the Leftist political establishment in India whose members, facing a period of unprecedented irrelevance, may be understandably battling bouts of depression.

If votes are a measure of popular opinion, people today are more willing to press the none of the above (NOTA) button rather than vote for a Leftist candidate. A report in Sunday Guardian captures the extent of the Left's political insignificance. Among them, the 140 candidates fielded by the Leftist parties in UP garnered only 0.2 percent of total vote share, which translates to only about 1.3 lakh votes across the state. According to the report, with 1.1 percent, NOTA clocked a bigger vote share.

Not just in UP though. The rejection of Left as a political force has now become a national epidemic and the parties are being rebuffed even in states where it historically enjoyed popular support, for example West Bengal and Manipur.

However, the near-total erosion of political heft has not been matched by a commensurate erosion of intellectual heft. The Left's autocracy in varsities remains strong as ever. Academia and media (chiefly the English language variety) are still packed to the brim with Leftist ideologues.

Consequently, generations of students involved in humanities and social sciences have been indoctrinated into carrying forward the Leftist legacy in a self-fulfilling cycle. With English emerging as the language for pan-national influence and societal power, controlling the narrative through it has been easy.

A decade into the new millennium, social media has thrown a challenge at this Leftist hegemony through greater democratisation of voices but the Left still controls the main valves through media, publishing industry, academia and various public platforms. The ideologues are fiercely protective of their domain and have zero tolerance for dissenting voices.

As Sachida Nand Jha, assistant professor of English at Rajdhani Collage, Delhi University, writes in Daily Pioneer: "The history of Indian academia has to tell us many stories which make it abundantly clear how students, researchers and even teachers  whoever wished to academically engage with Right-wing thinkers such as Savarkar, Deen Dayal Upadhaya and others  were secretively identified and surreptitiously targeted so as de-motivate them to pursue their academic interests. Those who, despite all odds, persisted with their preoccupations with a nationalist point of view, were brutally discouraged. Both covert and overt attempts were deliberately made to deny them teaching assignments. Those who somehow managed to get jobs were ignored and sidelined to the extent that their own colleagues often looked down upon them as communal beings and almost never encouraged them for an open, forget fruitful, dialogue of any kind. Sometimes even a simple conversation was made immensely difficult."

The wheels of history, though, are turning. The Left's selective application of the rules of dissent is facing increasing questions. Narendra Modi's victory in 2014 and BJP's confident performance in electoral politics three years into his tenure is beginning to challenge the Leftist hegemony in its last bastion. The Right is slowly translating its electoral heft into ideological ascendancy and the Left, sensing danger and retreating further into a corner, is becoming shriller and increasingly dropping all pretenses of reason in its discourse.

In Kolkata's Jadavpur University for instance, members of a pro-Maoist student organization on Sunday started protesting near the city's iconic Academy of Fine Arts where a seminar on persecution of minorities in Bangladesh was under way. According to media reports, members of the pro-Maoist United Students Democratic Front (USDF) raised slogans like "Azadi", "Halla Bol" and "RSS door hato (RSS go back)" and held placards which read: 'Yogi is the new Trump...Brahminical version of white supremacy'.

One member told ANI that they are protesting against "RSS' conducting a seminar on the issue of minorities in Bangladesh," because the organisation apparently "has been the reason for the deaths of thousands in Godhra, and in Muzaffarnagar cannot address the minority issue."

The skirmishes, which have become frequent in JNU and DU, have been replicated in JU too. Reports indicate that inflammatory posters calling for Manipur, Nagaland and Kashmir's 'azaadi' from India have made periodic appearances. In the wake of the Ramjas College incident, it has been pointed out  rightly  that universities should be allowed to remain dominions of free thought.

None can disagree. However, this victimhood narrative conveniently ignores the fact that only one kind of dissent is allowed in our universities. This hypocrisy is up for revision.

An interesting reaction has emerged to this latest instance of left-wing protest. Trinamool Congress, which has identified BJP and RSS as its chief opposition in Bengal, has criticized the 'anti-national slogans'.

According to Financial Express, Bengal's education Partha Chatterjee, a senior TMC leader, has said "these kinds of anti-national slogans wont be supported."

Democracy is a strange and powerful beast.
Even as the BJP state governments across the country go on a drive to protect cows from slaughter houses, the partys Lok Sabha by-election candidate in Malappuram in north Kerala has other ideas.

If elected as an MP I will ensure that good quality beef reaches all of you, BJPs Malappuram by-election candidate N Sreeprakash said at a press meet on Sunday.

The words are still to be endorsed officially by the state leadership of the BJP in Kerala but certainly it would ruffle some feathers at the top of the partys command post in Delhi.

On 12 April the Malappuram constituency in north Kerala will go to polls following the untimely demise of its sitting MP and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader E Ahmed a few months ago.

Sreeprakashs words have only made the three way race at an overwhelmingly Muslim dominated Malappuram all the more interesting. The United Democratic Front (UDF) is fielding its usual Muslim League candidate and this time its none other than League strong man PK Kunjalikutty, who in all likelihood is expected to win comfortably. The Left and the BJP are testing the waters in what is otherwise a highly polarised minority stronghold in the state.

Sreeprakash may deny making a purposeful comment but his words echo the sentiment in the BJP camp to re-strategise policies according to the need of the place and the voters one caters to.

I said this in reply to a question and it is not a part of my manifesto. But then in Kerala cow slaughter is not banned by law and one needs to understand that the BJP is not against the eating habits of anyone, Sreepraskah told Firstpost.

Sreepraskash went on to add that if he is elected to the Parliament from the constituency he would ensure that all the facilities at recognised slaughterhouses would be upgraded and even fitted with air conditioners.

If my Muslim brothers prefer to have good halal beef then the BJP is not against it and it is only wrongly interpreted that the party wants to stifle the eating habits of the minorities. We have no such agenda anywhere, added Sreeprakash.

BJPs Malappuram Strategy

Many would say that the change of heart for the BJP is forced by the demographics in Malappuram although such tactics are highly unlikely to get the saffron party anywhere close to winning the elections.

The districts Muslim population stands at a very high 70.2 percent as per the 2011 census while the Hindus are at 28 percent. Hence it is no surprise that Malappuram had always been a stronghold of the IUML.

Before the last delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies almost all the major parts of Malappuram formed the earlier constituency of Manjeri. Since 1962, the IUML always had an MP representing the Manjeri seat at Parliament with the one occasional blemish in 2004 when TK Hamza of the Communist of India (Marxist) walked into the Parliament from the constituency. E Ahamed who passed away recently had been a six time MP from both the constituencies put together.

PK Kunjalikutty an equally powerful leader of the IUML and former Industries minister in the Oommen Chandy cabinet in Kerala is once again the front-runner at Malappuram. The League has also meanwhile scorned at Sreeprakashs promises to Malappurams voters.

Is the BJP trying to mock the voters in Malappuram. Such absolutely baseless and desperate measures are not going to get that party anywhere. The people of Malappuram are not fools to fall for such stupid promises, says KPA Majeed, State General Secretary of the IUML.

Interestingly the state leadership of the BJP has also not responded in the open to its candidates big declaration. The state president Kummanam Rajasekharan when contacted said he was not fully aware of the facts to respond to Firstposts questions.

Perhaps the state leadership does not think it wise to antagonise their central leadership with a pro-beef line and at the same time they realise that an anti-cow slaughter or an anti-beef stand would be a disaster at the Malappuram elections.

Perhaps the soft stand taken by prominent BJP leaders in the state is also reflection of the same.

Since there is no beef ban in Kerala, why should the BJP oppose beef eating in the state? Let the people eat what they want. The issue arises when there is an existing ban on the product, BJPs State General Secretary MT Ramesh told media persons on Sunday evening.

But more significantly, Sreeprakash does not seem to stop with just cow and beef. He told Firstpost that if elected to the Lok Sabha, he would raise the question of triple talaq, an issue that had evoked huge attention among the Muslim population in Kerala.

The issue of marriage of young and often under age women in Malappuram to business men in the Gulf and their subsequent talaqs after a very short period had brought in a lot of media attention over the years. The BJP candidate now hopes he could swing the Muslim women vote bank similar to what the party claims to have done in Uttar Pradesh.

I think its a question of equality for the Muslim women. If they cannot pronounce talaq on the men, then what justice it is when men only can use it for their wishes. So this has to be opposed and we should find a solution through talks and debates on this, added Sreeprakash.

But the CPM rubbishes all such claims of the BJP. AN Shamsheer is the partys MLA from Thalassery and he says this just an attempt to play to the gallery.

BJP knows it very well that they just do not stand a chance here at any cost. It is a fight between the IUML and the CPM. So they just want to make some noise here before the election is over. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no commitment in what they have said, said AN Shamsheer to Firstpost.

The politics of beef in Kerala

While cow slaughter and beef continues to be banned across majority of the country, Kerala, along with the North East states, does not have such a ban. But this is not the first time that beef, one of the most favourite dishes of Malayalees has taken centrestage in political discourse.

At the height of the Dadri lynching incident when a Muslim man was killed for killing a cow and consuming its meat, leftist student organisations conducted beef festivals at many places in the state as a mark of protest.

Violence had even erupted at couple of venues between student organisations owing allegiance to the CPM and BJP and two colleges in Kerala ended up suspending its students for conducting beef festivals without prior permission.

The Kerala House in Delhi though had to take beef off its menu for a few days, it was back in business after a jurisdiction argument proved that the Kerala House was under the direct control of the state government of Kerala and that the Delhi Police had no business raiding the premises.

Beef has always been a dilemma that had hit the state leadership of the BJP over the years. A few months ago, a local BJP leader from north Kerala was allegedly caught on camera eating beef at a local eatery and the video is said to have gone viral over the social media causing huge embarrassment for the party.

The present change of heart for the BJP over beef in Kerala may have little impact on the outcome of the by-election at Malappuram. But certainly the party knows that only such a stand would help it consolidate the already existing gains in the state, especially when the majority of the Hindus in Kerala have no aversion towards beef eating.
Lucknow: Lawyer-politician Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna in relation to the formation of anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Hindu organisations are up in arms against the Swaraj Abhiyan founder after he said that he opposed the anti-Romeo squads as they violated the spirit of love and had questioned if the Uttar Pradesh government would even harass Lord Krishna, whom he termed a "legendary eve teaser".

Bhushan on Tuesday tweeted: "I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads and Krishna was inappropriately phrased and unintentionally hurt sentiments of many people. Apologize and delete it."

I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads&Krishna was inappropriately phrased&unintentionally hurt sentiments of many ppl. Apologize&delete it  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 4, 2017

Bhushan on Sunday tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"

While a demonstration was held outside his residence in Noida, protests also took place in Pratapgarh, Firozabad and Hathras.

Police said they have stepped up vigil and would not allow anybody to take law in their hands.

Security has been beefed up following a threat from a Bajrang Dal functionary in Firozabad who announced a Rs 1 lakh bounty on the head of the eminent social activist and lawyer.

City coordinator of Bajrang Dal in Firozabad Aachman Upadhya said he will give Rs 1 lakh to anyone who brings the head of Bhushan.

Sadhus in Mathura have filed a complaint against Prashant Bhushan in Govardhan and have staged a protest in Vrindavan.

Office bearers of the Hindu Jagran March who met senior police officials in Hathras said they will not tolerate such a comment against Hindu gods.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has threatened to launch a stir in Allahabad against the lawyer and VHP workers burnt an effigy of Bhushan in Pratapgarh.

A case has also been filed against Bhushan in the CJM court in Maharajganj under sections 295 A and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. 20 May has been fixed as the date of hearing.
There is a twinkle in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's eyes these days. The smile on his face is a trifle mischievous, and you can't miss the new angle of his chin that betrays nothing but cocksure confidence.

That's because Siddaramaiah thinks he has hit upon a secret recipe for ensuring a landslide victory for the ruling Congress in the next years Assembly elections. He believes he can disprove the entire lot of doomsayers who are predicting a rout for the Congress and a big victory for the BJP in 2018.

But there is a problem. Siddaramaiah's recipe is the worst-kept secret in Karnatakas politics.

Simply put, his remedy for the crisis-ridden party in the state is this: he wants to release soon the report of a caste census which will show that the states two dominant upper castesLingayats and Vokkaligasaccount for smaller proportions of the population than previous estimates and that the Dalits are, in fact, the single largest group.

Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the backward caste of Kurubas, believes that the revelations of the census will entitle Dalits and backward castes to enhanced reservations, more election tickets and other benefits, all of which will make them so grateful to the Congress that they will vote for the party en bloc. He imagines that minorities too will join the fun and will be attracted to the Congress, like iron filings to a magnet.

The chief minister commissioned a socio-economic caste census in April 2015, the first such exercise after 1931, at a cost of about Rs 150 crore. This involved dispatching some 1.3 lakh enumerators to 1.4 crore homes across Karnataka. But he has not released its report so far, partly because he was under pressure from upper caste Congress leaders and ministers, and partly because he wanted to do it closer to the 2018 election to reap maximum advantage.

The caste census is part of Siddaramaiahs long-cherished dream of metamorphosing himself into the states unmatched ahinda leader. Ahinda is the Kannada acronym for Alpa sankhyatara, Hindulida, Dalit (minorities, backward castes and Dalits). The only ones to call him an ahinda leader so far are himself and the coterie that surrounds him. Last year, he declared he was an ahinda Chief Minister. Not even the ahinda communities were impressed.

Siddaramaiah is not deterred by the utter flop of Mayawatis social engineering, Akhilesh Yadavs caste calculations in Uttar Pradesh and other such ridiculous gimmicks by other leaders elsewhere. Nor is he willing to learn from the recent UP assembly poll that caste-based calculations and machinations alone will ensure electoral victories.

The Chief Ministers appeasement of minorities, backward classes and Dalits with largesse extended through successive budgets hasnt overly impressed them so far. In fact, there are indications that some Dalits and backward classes have been moving away from the Congress and towards the BJP, though its state president BS Yedyurappa is an upper-caste Lingayat.

But Siddaramaiah is made of sterner stuff, and he wont give up. He is bent upon going down in the history as the tallest leader of the downtrodden who ever walked on this planet. If he hasnt yet become an ahinda champion till now, he intends to become one soon with the release of the caste census report.

He seems to believe that one sure way to appease lower castes is to do the opposite to the upper castes. While continuing to bend backwards to please lower castes, he is also hell-bent on annoying upper castes, by telling them that their numbers are smaller than previously thought.

For a long time now, Lingayats have been estimated to be up to 17 percent of the population, and Vokkaligas, about 12 per cent.

Together, they make up less than a quarter of Karnatakas population even according to these figures, but they have been accounting for about half the members of the states assembly and a disproportionate number of ministers.

According to details of Siddaramaiahs census, leaked to media last year, Lingayats constitute only 9.8 per cent of the population and Vokkaligas, 8.2 per cent. The leak raised hackles of the two communities, who fear that the new figures will deny them the share of political power they have already usurped. If officially released and confirmed, these figures are likely to cause nothing short of a rebellion from the two castes against the ruling Congress from within the party and outside.

This doesnt seem to perturb Siddaramaiah, though it should. While upper castes may gang up against the Congress, there is no guarantee that the lower castes will unite to support the party either. Dalits and backward castes include a long list of castes and sub-castes, who compete among themselves for bigger and bigger slice of reservations. The census may come up with a new set of population figures even for these castes, different from the current ones, leading to a demand for reworking of the current reservation levels.

The whole issue can lead to social and political upheavals of the unpredictable kind. In all likelihood, the accuracy of the census itself will be challenged by affected communities. Officials admit that many homes were not visited by enumerators and the survey was not as complete as it should have been.

And yet, Siddaramaiahs clarion call to minorities, backward classes and Dalits to rally behind the Congress is getting louder as the 2018 elections near. Siddaramaiah has a booming baritone that most politicians envy, but a 500-watt surround-sound voice is of little use if it has no convincing message to broadcast. He is smiling, yes. But the smiles of BJP leaders in Karnataka are broader.
The National Conference patron Dr Farooq Abdullah, who went into a political oblivion briefly after his electoral defeat in 2014 Assembly elections, is back and seems to be making all the right noise these days. Farooq Abdullah is reshaping himself along the lines of separatists by making statements and raising issues that he has otherwise ridiculed all his life. A soft-separatist politics has been the plank of the Peoples Democratic Party who has based their political ideology on it.

"They did not pick up guns to become MLAs, MPs or ministers. Our generation was deceived, but the fight for our rights has been on since 1931," Farooq Abdullah said recently while speaking at a workers convention in Srinagar, referring to the Kashmiri youth picking up guns against the Indian state.

The way Farooq Abdullah talks these days in public interactions is seemingly close to the separatist rhetoric in Kashmir Valley. Only time will tell whether it is a change of heart in the National Conference leader that is prompting him to issue pro-separatist statements at the age of 79 or a mere election gimmick. But, Farooq Abdullah is taking NC back to its position which it held during plebiscite years from 1953 to 1971, and his utterances have caught the public imagination and raised eyebrows.

"I will vote for him. Not for his politics but for the sake of old relations," Muhammad Saifullah Qureshi, 62, a resident of Idd-gah area of Srinagar told Firstpost. Qureshi is among the few people in capital Srinagar city, along with his few friends, who have continuously voted for the NC, despite the fact that majority of the residents often choose to boycott the polls.

On Monday, Farooq Abdullah sought the help of pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami to fight and defeat Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which he said, represents "decades of suppression" of Muslims across the country and openly advocated the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status since 1947.

Today we all, including our brothers in Jamaat-e-Islami, have to come together to fight RSS or our identity and honour will be wiped out. I am just one person but I seek your support so that we can collectively fight against the RSS with honour and courage," he said while addressing a public meeting in Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir.

But advocate Zahid Ali, the spokesperson of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir told Firstpost that they have neither supported any mainstream political party nor mobilised its cadre for anyone.

We are not in the fray. He has his own views but we dont support anyone," Ali said. But there have been allegations in the past that the PDP was receiving support from the Jamaat-e-Islami since 2002.

"Whatever I am saying, is it not the truth? Are young boys not getting killed because of the policies of the PDP-BJP government. I have not changed my heart. Whatever I say, I hear it and feel what is happening in my state," Farooq Abdullah told Firstpost.

If we have to ask for the help from an organisation which has been ideologically untouchable what is wrong with that? Did PDP not ally with RSS to spread its divisive agenda here," he added.

Recently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, Farooq Abdullah looked anything but his former self. The portrayal of the tunnel as an alternative to a political initiative, said Farooq Abdullah, is yet another indication of a sustained effort to brush the political issue in Kashmir under the carpet.

He also said that the recent spree of civilian killings and use of lethal force on protestors was an alarming and saddening trend that contradicted the promises and rhetoric of PDP before it came to power.

What happened in Chadoora a few days ago is not an isolated incident but only a continuation of what we have witnessed since so many months. Rather than reaching out to the youth and understanding their angst and resentment, the government has unleashed brute force and repression on them, the NC patron said.

It looks like a change of heart for the former chief minister who is known to be an instant crowd puller. Farooq Abdullah has always enthused people here, young and old. Be it his image or him inheriting the nearly century-old political legacy of his father, the legendary Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah.

A political heavyweight, Farooq Abdullah is the joint candidate of the NC and the Indian National Congress against a comparatively lesser known Nazir Ahmad Khan of the state's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PC consists of 15 Assembly constituencies spanning over three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal.

Farooq Abdullah is a candidate for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency, after the sitting MP of PDP, who later joined the Congress, resigned from the seat. The Congress and NC are fighting the election together on the two seats.

The bypolls in Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies are going to be held on 9 and 12 April, respectively, and a total of 15 candidates are in the fray.
In keeping with its poll promises, the Bharitya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday, announced its much touted farm loan waiver, estimated to benefit over 2.15 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state.

The announcement was made after the first cabinet meeting of the new Uttar Pradesh government, held at Shastri Bhawan in Lucknow, a fortnight after the Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister.

Addressing the press after the meeting, UP Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh made the announcement. He said that the cabinet has unanimously decided to waive off farm loans up to Rs One lakh for small and marginal farmers. The minister also mentioned that of the 2.30 lakh farmers in the state, roughly 92.5 percent farmers will fit the bill for the announced benefits. Moreover, the government has also decided a complete waiver of farm loans that had turned into Non performing Assets (NPA). This, he said would benefit more than seven lakh farmers and would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 5,630 crore. The loan waivers will cause an additional 36,359 crore burden on the state coffers.

In the past, farmers in the state had suffered because of successive drought and hailstorm.

The Yogi Adityanath cabinet decided to float Kisan Rahat Bonds for raising Rs 36,359 crore required for waiving off the loans as the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act mandates that no state can allow its fiscal deficit to grow beyond three per cent of its GDP.

This comes at a time when government sources said that around 2.30 crore farmers in the state have suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about Rs 62,000 crore. It is instructive to note here that the state is already reeling under a debt of Rs 3,27,470 crore, the nation's second most indebted state, according to a RBI's state fiscal report up to 2016. The UP government, if at all plans to fulfill these announcements, it must dedicate a mammoth one-third chunk of the annual state budget to the cause.

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.

The BJP, in its 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.

Nine more key decisions were taken in the first cabinet meeting of the new government, which the minister said coincided with the pious occasion of Ram Navami.

Here are the key decisions that were announced by the UP government on Tuesday:

The UP government announced special measures to extend relief to wheat farmers. The UP cabinet passed the proposal to open 5,000 new direct wheat purchase outlets  with an aim to procure nearly 80.25 tonne of the grain  to rein in the blooming business of middle men, who often don't let the benefit of minimum support price reach the farmers. The ministers said the cabinet also decided to raise by Rs 10 per quintal the minimum support price for wheat procurement as loading and unloading charges. The MSP for wheat it Rs 1,680 per quintal. The formation of a three-member committee was also announced to study how can the interest of potato farmers be accommodate and protected, who face immense hardship in case of bumper crops. The committee will also look at ways to ensure right price for the potato farmers, who the government said are currently forced to sell their produce at a loss. The cabinet also stamped its approval on the anti-romeo squad, while mentioning that concrete steps will be taken to ensure consenting young couples are not harassed for interacting in public spaces. UP Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said that the officers constituting the squad have been strictly warned that any undue harassment to the youth will invite punitive action from the government. The cabinet also approved the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in the state that has been one of the most talked about decisions of the Yogi government. Singh said that unlike the rumours being spread, the government has only shut 26 illegal abattoirs, while adding that they were not averse to granting approvals to new requests for licenses. The cabinet also gave its nod to building a sports complex in Ghazipur. A five member committee will be formed to formulate a new industrial development policy to invite investment into the state. It would also visit other states and study their industrial policies. In order to check illegal mining, the cabinet decided to constitute a group of ministers. The GoM headed by Maurya will give its report in a week. Farm loan waiver.

The decisions come a fortnight after Adityanath took over the reins of the state on March 19 after BJP and its allies stormed to power in the 403-member Assembly capturing 325 seats, an over three-fourth majority.

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 19 March. There have been informal meetings of the state cabinet ministers but they were largely informal in nature.

With inputs from agencies
Lucknow: Over a fortnight after taking the oath, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will hold his first cabinet meeting on 4 April where key issues in the BJP's poll manifesto, especially farm loan waiver, are likely to be taken up.

"The cabinet meeting will be held in the evening on 4 April," state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh told reporters.

Speaking in Varanasi, state Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said a proposal has been prepared for loan waiver of farmers and it will be presented before the cabinet at its first meeting.

BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his election speeches that writing off farmers' loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi had promised during his election campaign that a decision on loan waiver would be taken at the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state.

According to officials, there are around 2.30 crore farmers in Uttar Pradesh of whom, around 2.15 crore fall in the small and marginal category.

They had suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about Rs 62,000 crore.

As the figure is huge, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling various options, including raising loans, to honour the saffron party's commitment to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers.

A state finance department spokesman said Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal has already started deliberations with senior officials of his department in this regard.

The government will have to pay the banks to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and for that, it will have to either seek funds from the Centre or raise loans on its own, the spokesman said.

Sources in the government said it would be difficult to handle the burden of loan waiver in a single financial year.

They added that it was one of the reasons for putting the cabinet meeting on hold till some way was found to honour the prime minister's poll promise.

Some officers were of the opinion that a decision in this regard could be taken and a policy formulated later, but the chief minister insisted that the decision be made once the policy was clear, so that there were no hurdles.
By Noah Browning

| MANAMA

MANAMA Bahrain's foreign minister said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump understood the region and the threats posed by their common adversary Iran better than Barack Obama.Speaking in an interview with Reuters at his office in the capital Manama, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said the staunch U.S. Gulf ally was confident the new administration would soon clarify its stances on foreign policy.The Sunni-ruled kingdom accuses Iran, a Shi'ite theocracy across the Gulf, of radicalising and arming some members of its Shi'ite Muslim majority population, and Gulf monarchies say Obama did not do enough to tackle perceived meddling by Iran in Bahrain and in wars raging throughout the region.Tehran denies any meddling in the island kingdom.Trump has pledged to deal forcefully with the Islamic Republic and criticised a landmark international deal to curb its nuclear programme inked under Obama in 2015 as a concession to a state the United States considers a sponsor of terrorism."We see ... a much clearer understanding from the White House of the threats we are facing here in the region and especially the ones that are coming from the Islamic Republic," Sheikh Khaled said."The last few years, there was a policy that we think it was better for them to correct, and we advised them it should be corrected."Sheikh Khaled last month met U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has spoken by telephone with senior U.S. officials, including Trump after his election in November.

Sitting astride one of the world's key oil shipping lanes, Bahrain is a key ally of Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.Neither country were among the ban Trump is seeking to impose on travellers from Iran and five other Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and Africa.Some critics of the Trump administration fear it is prioritising the fight against militancy and Iran over promoting human rights among American allies, but the foreign minister said the U.S. shift acknowledged the region's harsh realities."CLARITY IS COMING"

Sheikh Khaled said his country welcomed a decision by the White House to pursue a $5 billion sale to Bahrain of 19 Lockheed Martin F-16 aircraft and related equipment which was held up last year by concerns about human rights.He said Trump's style may have distracted some from the merits of his views, but all administrations had growing pains."They'll get in order ... every new administration will always start in a way that will seem unclear, but clarity is coming," he said, speaking in his green and wood-panelled office adorned with pictures of past and present Bahraini monarchs."Maybe when you see the difference in the personality of the president, maybe that's kind of giving an overwhelming picture of the situation. Things are working in America."

Since 2011 Arab Spring protests led by Bahrain's Shi'ites were crushed with the help from some Gulf Arab states, Bahrain says Iran has stepped up a campaign to undermine security there and bring about the downfall of the ruling Al Khalifa family, of which Sheikh Khaled is a member."It's a whole project we are facing and it will not stop until this regime changes its course from the way it is now - hegemonic, theocratic, theo-fascist - to a regime that would answer the aspirations of its own people." "Until that moment we will have to defend ourselves."Human rights organisations have criticised an escalating government crackdown since the main Shi'ite opposition bloc was shuttered last year, several prominent activist were arrested and the top Shi'ite spiritual leader had his citizenship revoked on corruption charges.Bahrain says it has acted to reform its security services and that it genuinely seeks dialogue with the opposition in a way that is rare in the mostly closed and authoritarian region."We feel like we are being pressured and punished for no reason, just for sticking our neck out and addressing issues that every country has," Sheikh Khaled said. (Editing by Sami Aboudi and Alison Williams)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: The US is concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself may get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists, Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN said on Monday.

"This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.

"I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process)."

She added, "And also wouldn't be surprised if the president participates as well."

India has opposed external involvement in bilateral issues with Pakistan. During his campaign in 2016, Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan but was careful to add that it was only if the two nations wanted him to.

In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Trump said that he "would be honoured" to be a moderator. "I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator."

Haley was answering a question from a reporter at her news conference on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April.

The reporter pointed out that India does not want an interlocutor for talks with Pakistan, while Islamabad wanted the US or another country to facilitate talks between them and asked if the US would get the leaders of the two countries to talk.

With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson keeping a low public profile and generally avoiding the media, Haley is emerging as the public face of US diplomacy making her presence felt in the media aided by her cabinet status.

Her statement about India-Pakistan relations, therefore, assume importance and it is the first high-level Trump administration statement on India's relations with Pakistan.

While it is not clear what steps the US could take, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in May when the two could discuss it.

Former President Barack Obama also had said during his 2008 campaign that the US should mediate the Kashmir dispute. The offer met with strong opposition in India and he did not actively follow it up when he became president.

"We don't think we should wait until something happens," Haley said. "We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so want to see if we can be a part of that."

"So, that will be something you will see, that is something that members of the National Security Council participate in," she said.
Washington: The Trump administration has issued a stern warning to companies not to discriminate against American workers by "misusing" the H-1B work visas programme, the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals.

"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.

The warning came as the government began accepting employers' H-1B visa petitions for the next fiscal year beginning 1 October, 2017.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday also announced multiple measures to "deter and detect" what it described as "fraud and abuse" of the H-1B work visas.

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 will further "deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse", the USCIS said the H-1B visa 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 programs is a priority for the USCIS," a statement said.

During his election campaign, President Donald Trump had promised to increase oversight of the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes.

The anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers from discriminating against US workers because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting.

"Employers violate the INA if they have a discriminatory hiring preference that favours H-1B visa holders over US workers," the Justice Department said in a statement.

"US workers should not be placed in a disfavoured status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims," Wheeler warned.

H-1B visa programme allows companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations such as science and information technology.

Indian IT giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas.

The Department of Justice said applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral, should contact Civil Right Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER).

Meanwhile, the USCIS also announced the launch of an 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 release said.

Noting that it will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide, the 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 H-1B visa programme negatively affect US workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers," it said.

The White House also warned against abuse and fraud of H-1B visas by companies.

"The Trump Administration will be enforcing laws protecting American workers from discriminating hiring practices," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference.

Meanwhile, a media report said rush for filing the H-1B visa applications has escalated to an "all out scramble" this year at federal agencies here, as the future of the work visas, the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals, is "still unclear".

The report in the New York Times said the visa programme faces uncertainty as it has been strongly criticised as a scheme to displace the US workers with cheaper foreign labour.

This year the rush for filing H-1B visa applications has escalated to an "all-out scramble" because the future of the H-1B programme is unclear, it said.

The first truck in line at a government processing center in Laguna Niguel in California carried 15,000 packages containing the visa applications, the report said.
By James Pomfret and Venus Wu

| HONG KONG

HONG KONG With China's preferred candidate selected as Hong Kong's next chief executive, another blow to the morale of the city's democracy activists, their young leaders are taking a page from Beijing's playbook and preparing for a long battle.At the leafy campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, there is little sign of the fervour that drove thousands of students to stage the Umbrella Movement street protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill for months in 2014."We still all care about Hong Kong's social issues, democracy, Beijing's interference," said Ceci Chow, a third-year nursing student, as she waited on campus beside a bronze statue of the 'goddess of democracy'. But she concedes there might not be the same "driving force" for action.Student union leaders like Cheryl Chu and Thomas Lee agree that the commitment is still there, but they doubt mass protests are the way to go, for now.The Umbrella Movement ultimately failed to persuade Beijing to grant full democracy in elections for Chief Executive, so Carrie Lam will assume the post in July thanks to the backing last month of an electoral college packed with mostly Beijing loyalists.In the run-up to Lam's victory, student leaders eschewed public protests and opted instead to use social media, leaflets and street booths to present their case that the election was undemocratic."We need to look further in future, and look at how to slowly make the people close to us change a little. Only then will we feel that we can achieve something tangible in future, said Lee.

Many activist leaders have been weighed down by legal battles. One day after Lam's selection, nine were charged with public nuisance offences for their part in the protests, and more arrests could follow.Victories in last September's elections to the city's legislature, when one in five voters backed younger candidates including Umbrella Movement leaders and self-determination advocates, rapidly turned sour when two newly elected legislators were disqualified. Beijing and a local court ruled Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching had not taken their oaths properly after inserting a dig at China.The government has since sought to disqualify four more pro-democracy lawmakers for invalid oaths, while two others charged for inciting the Umbrella protests might be removed if they are jailed for over a month."NEVER REST"

For some young people like Derek Lam, 23, a theology student who has been arrested five times in two years for various protests, there is a financial cost to their activism.Lam has not been convicted, but says his high-profile arrests mean he now struggles to find work and might not be able to graduate if he fails to pay his half-year school fee of HK$24,000 (US$3,090).But the setbacks have not deterred him."The Chinese Communist Party will never rest, so we can't rest as well ... Luckily, we have 30 years, and after 30 years our opponents will not be the people who are in power now, but people our age. So a lot depends on how we influence our peers now."

This July, on the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China from British rule, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the city. But while many activists are appalled by what they see as a gradual ratcheting up of Chinese control during the 50-year period of transitional autonomy agreed with Britain, they are not expecting a protest on the scale of 2014."The fight for democracy doesn't just take place on the streets," said Joshua Wong, the public face of the Umbrella Movement, who was just 17 when the protests began. "And the fight for Hong Kong's autonomy doesn't take place in years. We are talking about a battle of 20, 30 years."The challenge for Beijing is that many of Hong Kong's young people, rather than growing to accept China's growing role in the city's affairs, have become further estranged from the mainland and are increasingly warming to a localism movement that puts the city's autonomy, interests and culture first."The youths in Hong Kong are now more eager to step up and say we're Hong Kongers, we love Hong Kong and distinguish ourselves from the Chinese. There is a very strong Hong Kong identity, and this will not waver," said Wong Ching-tak, 20, the president of the University of Hong Kong's Student Union.Disqualified legislators Leung and Yau hope that identity will mobilise supporters when the next battleground issue crops up. "There will be a last war ... There will be a very large-scale social movement that emerges," Leung said. "And it will determine whether there's still a road ahead for Hong Kong as we know it, or not." (Reporting by James Pomfret and Venus Wu; Additional reporting by Katy Wong; Editing by Will Waterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The H1B visa is a gift that keeps on giving for Trump the politician who may be chewing on the delicious prospect of a 2020 run.

The latest smackdown in a relentless series of tightening measures the last 70 days is hitting H1B workers where it hurts most - computer programmers will not be eligible for H1B visas by default. By default is the operative word here and runs in parallel with every hole thats getting plugged in the way H1B works in Trumps America.

As things stand, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a stern warning Monday afternoon to prevent the fraudulent use of H1B visas -sending shivers through the tech community but still falling short of President Donald Trump's campaign promises to overhaul the programme.

Full text of the USCIS mailer Monday:

"U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced multiple measures to further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse. The H-1B visa program should help U.S. 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 programs is a priority for USCIS.

Beginning today, USCIS will take a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. USCIS will focus on:

Cases where USCIS cannot validate the employers basic business information through commercially available data;

H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute); and

Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organizations location.

Targeted site visits will allow USCIS to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B program 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 U.S. workers. USCIS will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide. These site visits are not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system.

Employers who abuse the H-1B visa program negatively affect U.S. workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers. 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 others 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. Information submitted to the email address will be used for investigations and referrals to law enforcement agencies for potential prosecution.

Existing H-1B Fraud Measures

Since 2009, USCIS has conducted random administrative site visits to ensure that employers and foreign workers are complying with requirements of the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. USCIS refers many cases of suspected fraud or abuse to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for further investigation.

Additionally, individuals can report allegations of employer fraud or abuse by submitting Form WH-4 to the Department of Labors (DOL) Wage and Hour Division or by completing ICEs HSI Tip Form.

Further information

For more information about the new H-1B visa fraud and abuse detection initiative, visit the Combating Fraud and Abuse in the H-1B Visa Program web page.

For information about H-1B petition requirements, visit the USCIS H-1B webpage."

The lottery system stays for now and the edition for fiscal year 2018 opened Monday without changes.

Understandably, there is a camp that sees this status quo as Trumps failure to overhaul of the system but equally there are Trump campers who are celebrating the H1B crackdown as a triumph for the America First war cry, almost the only campaign promise that is barrelling across America with zero legal pushback so far because its gone through the quiet and eerie back alleys of stolid bureaucracy.

Its important to note here that there are three arms of government that have led the all-out assault against H1B fraud - the Justice department, the USCIS and Homeland Security working in tandem at a searing pace over the last two months.

Just for context, Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection, which in turn is a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

For all thats going awfully wrong with Trump-led policy changes that are getting hammered in the US Congress, the torrent of anti-H1B visa changes is a triumph for the white man who voted Trump, its a big hit for a stuck-in-the-campaign President who is getting very little done on his more publicised peeves of Obamacare and tax reform.

Either Trump has consciously not dwelt on temporary worker visa reform because he knows the screws can be tightened better from the backroom or the soul of Americas Border Control was primed for a Trump kind of president. Both may be true in some measure and the onslaught on the H1B is a ticket Trump and Co can ride well into 2020.

Fall of 2016 may be a sepia toned time from long ago story for the ephemeral social media sand timer but is barely a few hundred days ago. Those who trailed behing Trump on the campaign know that the loudest cheers for him came from the chaps on horseback on the USA Mexico border who endorsed him and sang Build the Wall on his rallies, chewing on steak, almost unable to wait for a black man and woman to turn their backs on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington D.C.

Under Trump, the working relationships between anti-immigrant flagbeares and and Border Patrol are stronger and more intricately connected than ever before. Small detail but Trump has rallied strongly and praised in public kingpins of the anti immigrant movement who are now directing law enforcement policy, according to reports and quotes published in the Washington Post.

Read the full policy memo here:

Seen from the view of the Trump voter, the three most important paragraphs in the latest memo cut to the heart of the angst that displaced American workers feel and who are now able to rail against louder than ever before since their man is in the White House. When H1B victims speak, their grouse is that tech workers are gaming the system and the American government has looked the other way which has allowed the 1990 law to be diluted by the way its being used by low level workers ( including but not limited to techies) masquerading as highly skilled.

While the memorandum stated that most programmers had a bachelors degree or higher based on information provided by the Handbook, that information is not particularly relevant to a specialty occupation adjudication if it does not also provide the specific specialties the degrees were in and/or what, if any, relevance those degrees had to the computer programmer occupation. Further, the memorandum failed to mention that only some of those that had a bachelors or higher degree at that time held a degree in computer science . . . or information systems.

"Furthermore, the memorandum also did not accurately portray essential information from the Handbook that recognized that some computer programmers qualify for these jobs with only 2- year degrees. While the memorandum did mention beneficiaries with 2-year degrees, it incorrectly described them as strictly involving the entering or review of code for an employer whose business is not computer related. The Handbook did not support such a statement.

Rather, the 2000-01 edition did not make such a distinction and described all programmers as sharing a fundamental job duty, i.e., writing and testing computer code. According to the current version of the Handbook, this is still the case; and individuals with only an associates degree may still enter these occupations.5 As such, it is improper to conclude based on this information that USCIS would generally consider the position of programmer to qualify as a specialty occupation.

New York based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta has a detailed blog post on the new normal for those filing under the FY 2018 H1B cap and multiple new safety checks.

Yeah, I dont lose. I dont like to lose, Trump said after his ambitious and hurried attempt to repeal Obamacare was set on fire in the Congress. Its possible he wasnt referring to Obamacare in particular at all. The stealth attack on the foreign worker visas is a bling he may choose to showcase in a 3 am tweetstorm. Coming soon.
Ottawa: Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, will on 12 April address Canada's parliament and officially receive the honorary Canadian citizenship bestowed upon her in 2014, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said.

Trudeau, in a statement on Monday, said: "I am pleased to announce Malala Yousafzai's upcoming visit to Canada. Yousafzai's courageous response to those who threatened her life, and her advocacy for girls' education, has inspired many millions of people around the world.

"Her story is one of determination and dignity, and Canada is proud to call her an honorary citizen of this great country. I look forward to attending the upcoming ceremony and witnessing the historic moment when she becomes the youngest person to address the Parliament of Canada."

Trudeau will meet Malala to discuss girls' empowerment through education and how they can actively contribute to the sustainable development of their communities and countries.

Malala was targeted by Taliban militants after she became an outspoken advocate for the right of girls to learn and to attend school.

She has since become an international spokesperson for girls' education and the rights of women and girls.

In recognition of this work, she was named a co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.

"The people of Canada are leading the world in their response to the refugee crisis. I am honoured by the parliament's invitation and look forward to visiting this great nation of heroes," she said.

The House of Commons in October 2014 unanimously supported bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship upon Yousafzai to recognise her bravery in the fight for the rights of women and girls.

Yousafzai is one of just six people to receive honorary Canadian citizenship. The others are Raoul Wallenberg, Nelson Mandela, the 14th Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Aga Khan.
Washington: The National Archives and Records Administration has told the White House to keep each of President Donald Trump's tweets, even those he deletes or corrects, and the White House has agreed. The head of the archives, David S Ferriero, told two Democratic senators in a letter last week that the White House has assured him it's saving all Trump's Twitter blasts. The archives contacted the White House about the matter because the Presidential Records Act requires such correspondence to be preserved for history.

Ferriero did not say when the agency contacted White House officials to remind them about the records requirement, but officials briefed the White House counsel's office about the law on 2 February, according to the archivist's letter to Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tom Carper of Delaware. The archivist's letter, dated 30 March, doesn't describe precisely how the White House is saving Trump's tweets. The Obama administration used an automated system to isolate and preserve copies of President Barack Obama's tweets.

McCaskill and Carper raised the issue of Trump's tweets in early March following a spate of instances in which the president had deleted or altered earlier tweets. The two senators had previously raised concerns about Trump's tweets in a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn. The two senators also pressed the archives for information about reports that some White House staffers had been ordered to avoid emails or use smartphone apps that do not preserve emails because of Trump administration concerns about leaks to the media.

Ferriero told them he was aware of those press reports but said that White House guidance "to all employees expressly forbids the use of such apps." Ferriero also said he was not aware of government officials who have been instructed to avoid using email as a method of work-related communication. Trump's almost-daily use of his official White House Twitter account and his separate private Twitter account has been heavily scrutinised by the media and by political friends and foes since his November election and even more so since his inauguration.

Three minutes before he took the oath of office in January, Trump tweeted from his private account that he was "honoured to serve you, the great American people, as your 45th President of the United States." The misspelt word in the tweet was later altered to "honoured" and then the tweet was deleted entirely. Unlike the archives' clear guidance on saving Trump's tweets, the agency has not provided any guidance to government agencies about preserving communications to and from Trump's smartphones and agencies have not requested guidance, Ferriero said.
LAGOS Nigeria is launching a mass vaccination campaign as part of its emergency response to an outbreak of meningitis in its northwestern states, as the death toll climbed to 336, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on Tuesday.The number of suspected cases has hit 2,997, over 1,000 more than at the beginning of last week, when 269 people had died, the centre said.

If unchecked, the surge in infections could raise the prospect of a repeat of 2009, when more than 2,000 Nigerians died from the disease. Basic healthcare is limited in rural parts of the country, where most people live on less than $2 a day, despite the country's huge oil resources.The emergency response includes vaccination campaigns across the affected states, beginning on Wednesday, the centre said.

"The team will also deploy and coordinate a robust national communication and social mobilisation campaign, focused on (meningitis) prevention and control in rural and urban areas of affected states," the centre said.

The most affected states are Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto, while the worst-hit population group is children aged five to 14, it said.Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. It spreads mainly through kisses, sneezes, coughs and in close living quarters. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Alison Williams)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: US Ambassador Nikki Haley has said she had discussed becoming secretary of state with Donald Trump after his election but that the US president ultimately did not offer her the job.

Haley, a rising star in the Trump administration, told a news conference on Monday that she had no ambition beyond her current post at the United Nations, for the time being.

Asked about reports that she had turned down the post of secretary of state in November, Haley made clear that Trump had not offered her the position.

"The original call that I received to go to Trump Tower was to discuss secretary of state," she said. "No, he did not offer it."

"It was the discussion that we were having at the time. So, when we went in, that was the position that we were discussing."

Politico reported that Haley had turned down president-elect Trump's offer to become secretary of state during a 17 November meeting, telling him that she lacked the foreign policy experience.

A former governor of South Carolina, Haley is seen as a skilled politician whose stint at the United Nations could serve as a springboard to a more powerful role in US politics.

Asked about a possible run at the US presidency, Haley said she was focused on her current job.

"Every position I've ever had, people have assumed that I am looking toward something bigger, when in reality I am the daughter of Indian parents who said to me 'whatever you do, be great at it and make sure people remember you for it.'"

"That's all I'm trying to do," she said. "Just do my job to the best of ability."

Haley has been a leading voice on the US administration's foreign policy, in contrast to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who has held a low profile.

The US ambassador dismissed a suggestion that she was outshining Tillerson, describing the US chief diplomat as a "great partner" and stressing "we work well together."

The United States holds the presidency of the UN Security Council in April, with key meetings planned on peacekeeping reform, human rights and North Korea.

Tillerson will pay his first visit to the United Nations on 28 April to chair the council meeting on nuclear weapons and ballistic missile non-proliferation and North Korea.
Washington: The US House of Representatives has approved a request by the State Department to put North Korea back on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, from which the it was removed in 2008.

The lower house adopted the resolution late Monday with 394 votes in favour and only one against, weeks after Pyongyang tested a rocket engine and following multiple missile and nuclear tests, Efe news reported.

North Korea was delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2008 in an attempt by former US President George W Bush to negotiate its disarmament.

In the past, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have featured in the list drawn up by the state department, and which now includes countries such as Sudan, Syria and Iran.

The House of Representatives also approved 398-3, a resolution condemning North Korea's efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the two resolutions are "concrete actions" to hold North Korea accountable for its actions and called former US president Barack Obama's policies towards Pyongyang a failure.
By Ellen Francis

| BEIRUT

BEIRUT A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons.The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke, and some to foam at the mouth.Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid. "We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time neither in past or in future," the Syrian army command said in a statement.The Russian Defence Ministry said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.Reuters photographs showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets lined up on the ground. Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a man with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost-naked children squirming on the floor. HOSPITALS OVERFLOWING

Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib's health authority, said hospitals in the province were overflowing with victims. "This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine," he told a news conference.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defence workers said.The civil defence, also known as the White Helmets - a rescue service that operates in opposition areas - said jets struck one of its centres in the area and the nearby medical point. The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would be the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for that attack. Damascus blamed rebels.The White House called the attack an "intolerable act" and said President Donald Trump was alarmed by the reports. French President Francois Hollande directly blamed Syrian government forces and said President Bashar al-Assad's allies were emboldening him to act with impunity.Assad has enjoyed staunch military backing from Iran and Russia in the war.Britain said he would be guilty of a war crime if it were proved his regime was responsible. The U.N. envoy for Syria said the "horrific" chemical attack had come from the air.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war had used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.A joint U.N.-OPCW report published in October said government forces used chlorine in a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib province in March 2015. An earlier report by the same team blamed Syrian government troops for chlorine attacks in Talmenes in March 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015. It also said Islamic State had used sulfur mustard gas.The OPCW said it had begun "gathering and analysing information from all available sources" about the suspected Khan Sheikhoun attack.Turkey, which backs the anti-Assad opposition, said the attack could derail Russian-backed diplomatic efforts to shore up a ceasefire.Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said 15 people hurt in the attack, mostly women and children, had been taken to Turkey.Footage from Turkey's Dogan news agency showed at least four people being brought out of ambulances on stretchers in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli by medical staff wearing face masks. One was a young boy.

An official at the Turkish Health Ministry said Turkey's disaster management agency was first "scanning those arriving for chemical weapons, then decontaminating them from chemicals" before they could be taken to hospital.Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by anti-Assad rebels - both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and powerful Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the suspected attack, Turkish presidential sources said. They said the two leaders had also emphasised the importance of maintaining the much-violated Syrian ceasefire.TOXIC ARSENAL

Idlib's population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months as Assad has gained the upper hand in the war.The United States has also launched a spate of air strikes in Idlib this year, targeting jihadist insurgents.Following the 2013 attack, Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal, averting the threat of U.S.-led military intervention. Under the deal, Syria agreed to give up its toxic arsenal and surrendered 1,300 tonnes of toxic weapons and industrial chemicals to the international community for destruction.U.N.-OPCW investigators found, however, that it continued to use chlorine, which is widely available and difficult to trace, in so-called barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters.Although chlorine is not a banned substance, the use of any chemical is banned under 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Syria is a member. Damascus has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and created the world's worst refugee crisis. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Ercan Gurses and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Daren Butler in Istanbul, Robin Emmott in Brussels, John Irish in Paris, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Tom Perry and Andrew Roche)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The intelligence agency in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan says Akbarzhon Jalilov, the man behind Monday's deadly bombing on the St Petersburg subway, is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.

A bomb blast tore through a subway train under Russia's second-largest city on Monday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said in a statement on Tuesday that Jalilov is a Kyrgyz-born Russian national. The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

It is unclear whether the attack was a suicide bombing or whether the bomber got away.

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 initially 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. However, the Interfax news agency later cited unspecified sources as saying police now suspect the blast was the work of a suicide bomber linked to radical Islamists.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said it was looking for the "perpetrators and organizers of the terror attack."

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 traveled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines.

With inputs from agencies
Chants of death to the dictator grow louder as Iran protests intensify The protests in Iran that were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini have now entered the 42nd day. The demonstrations are more powerful than ever and so is the crackdown by Iranian authorities. Thousands of mourners defied heightened security measures as they made their way to Aminis burial site in
AMMAN The Syrian army command denied it had carried out a suspected chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib that killed dozens of people, including children.

"We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future," the army statement said.

The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Alison Williams)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Michelle Nichols

| UNITED NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS The United States does not believe that the Syrian people want President Bashar al-Assad as their leader any longer, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Monday.Haley was asked about U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, in which he said that Assad's status would be decided by the Syrian people.She said it does not mean the United States will accept Assad participating in future elections."It's that we don't think the people want Assad anymore; we don't think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have," Haley told a news conference to mark the U.S. presidency of the U.N. Security Council for April. "We have no love for Assad. We've made that very clear. We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He's a war criminal. What he's done to his people is nothing more than disgusting," she said.

Tillerson and Haley on Thursday drew criticism for playing down a long-standing U.S. goal of pushing Assad to leave power to help end the six-year-long Syrian civil war.Haley told a small group of reporters on Thursday: "You pick and choose your battles and when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out."

She then told ABC News on Sunday that "Assad is always a priority" and the United States wants to bring him to justice. A crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria's 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed.The administration of former President Barack Obama, in its later years, was focussed on reaching a deal with Russia that would eventually see Assad go, though it also shifted its focus to the fight against Islamic State militants.

The White House said on Friday that the U.S. focus is on defeating Islamic State militants."Our goal is to do what we need to defeat ISIS (Islamic State). I don't know that our goal is to talk to Assad in doing that," Haley said on Monday. "Now that could change and the administration could think otherwise, but right now Assad is not our No.1 person to talk to," said Haley, adding that the United States supports U.N.-led peace talks. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres has recommended that governments change national legislations and establish on-site court martial proceedings or allow the proceedings to be live-streamed to counter sex crimes among peacekeepers as the number of allegations involving military personnel hit a record high number in 2016 compared to previous years.

A report released by the Guterres last month, titled Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: A New Approach, to be presented to the UN General Assembly in September, reveals that there were 73 allegations of sexual abuse reported in 2016 involving military personnel, as opposed to 38 allegations in 2015, 24 in 2014 and 37 in 2013.

A total of 103 allegations were recorded last year involving personnel in nine peacekeeping, four special political missions as well as 23 UN staff members, UN Volunteers or contractors, and seven deployed police officers or members of police units.

A total of 280 persons are currently identified as alleged or confirmed victims of the 103 allegations recorded, with a whopping 205 suspected perpetrators.

The UN admits that not all cases of sexual abuse have been reported or have come to the notice of the word body.

Governments have also been requested by the Guterres to assess national legislation to determine applicability to sex crimes committed by nationals in service of UN peace operations.

India has been one of the largest  currently, the third largest  Troop Contributing Country (TCC) to UN peacekeeping missions after Pakistan and Bangladesh and has participated in nearly 50 missions. In 2015, India had 7,798 personnel, including 6,718 troops and 1,011 police serving in UN field missions related to peacekeeping.

Guterres urged governments to conclude a discussion on the adoption of an international criminal convention, which may include amending national legislation to permit extraterritorial jurisdiction for crimes committed by civilian personnel when assigned to the UN or when operating under UN authority. If adopted, it would be an important vehicle to address impunity and create a pathway to criminal accountability, the report says.

Some countries cannot prosecute citizens serving in the jurisdiction of another country where the crime has been committed. Host countries where peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers are stationed, on the other hand, have such broken systems that any meaningful investigation and prosecution is rendered unlikely.

Legal boundaries do constrain the UN if it finds troops misbehaving  the maximum it can do is conduct its own internal investigation and refer the findings to the TCC. There is no realistic basis of ascertaining the extent to which a TCC carries out investigations of serious allegations of criminal conduct, as also reflected in the low rate of feedback from the state.

As such, the voices of victims and witnesses recklessly fall through cracks in legal jurisdictional gaps, get stymied by bureaucratic passing-of-the-buck, or, get subsumed in the overall politics of troop contribution.

If the member-states are serious about this they have to pass this draft convention on criminal accountability [of UN officials and experts in missions] in New Yorkits been stuck there for so many years, Zeid Raad Al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief had said last year when he found his office facing flak for inaction on sexual abuse of children in war-torn countries.

India, as part of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) group of countries, had resisted such a convention insisting that Indian officials, experts in UN mission or peacekeepers are subject to the jurisdiction of national courts and punishable under India law. Therefore, there was no need for such an international convention. The African group also holds the same view as the NAM countries.

Currently, there are paternity claims associated with 22 allegations, with a further 9 allegations awaiting confirmation of the birth of a child.

The UN, in the aftermath of the biggest scandal that wracked the world body last year, has vowed to support individual victims and children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse in navigating paternity and child support proceedings in governments of guilty personnel and has asked governments to appoint focal points to follow up on such claims. It has also recommended that DNA be obtained on a voluntary basis from all deployed personnel for purposes of exoneration or conviction of individuals accused of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The report shows that India has informed the UN that it has appointed a focal point to handle future paternity claims related to sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and has designated the Ministry of Women and Child Development to give assistance in paternity cases.

India had recently said that there is an urgent imperative need for greater consultation between the Security Council and TCCs.

Six peacekeeping missions, including the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), had no allegation of sexual exploitation and abuse to report in 2016.

Of the 165 allegations, most involved children, who have been raped, assaulted or sexually abused in some other way.

Most of the allegations originated from the peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) called MINUSCA while rest were recorded for eight other peacekeeping missions and four special political missions.

French diplomat Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who took charge of the UNs department of peacekeeping operations (DPKO) last month, has the challenging task of managing more than ninety thousand blue helmets deployed across sixteen missions around the world, at a time when the department is scrambling to restore its credibility.

Lacroix who takes over Herve Ladsous is the fifth consecutive Frenchman to head the world bodys peacekeeping department. Ironically, last year, the French Sangari troops operating in CAR were at the forefront of allegations of sexually abusing or exploiting 42 local civilians, most of them underage girls, sometimes for a satchet of cookies and water.

The head of the UN mission in CAR Parfait Onanga-Anyanga had said in an interview to the Washington Post last year that he fears that the cases discovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg and the UN is going to be flooded by paternity claims.

Allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation have been a constant horror story since the 1960s involving many contingents spread across almost all nationalities, including India, despite the remarkable work done by the troops in maintaining peace in some of the violently conflict-ridden places of the world.

In a rare instance, in 2012, an army major and three other personnel were indicted by an Indian court of inquiry for sexual exploitation while on a peacekeeping mission to Congo  an operation for which India had contributed nearly 5,000 troops. Currently, there is one pending case to be taken up by India in a 2013 sexual exploitation case, as shown in the report.

Guterres has also recommended that reimbursement payments be withheld in the event that investigations by governments are not undertaken, reported on and concluded in a timely manner and to transfer the amounts withheld to the trust fund in support of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The report not only covers steps to be taken against military personnel but also UN officials and experts when found indulging in sexual misconduct.

It is suggested that individuals terminated from service in one part of the UN system on the basis of substantiated allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse will not be rehired in any other part of the UN. Also, that leaders and managers are forbidden to engage in sexual relations with their subordinates.

Also, the UN has urged governments to develop a protocol that could include prohibitions on the consumption of alcohol, among other things.
WASHINGTON The White House on Tuesday blamed a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria's Idlib province on the government of President Bashar al-Assad and said the incident was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world.""These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration's weakness and irresolution," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a briefing. "President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing."Spicer declined to say what the U.S. administration would do about the attack but added President Donald Trump had spoken on Tuesday with his national security team about the issue.

A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons.The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died.

Spicer reiterated the view expressed by Trumps top aides in recent days that the U.S. is not now focused on making Assad leave power and the priority instead is on defeating Islamic State militants.That was a departure from the Obama administrations public stance on Assad's fate, and drew criticism for playing down a long-standing U.S. goal to help end the six-year-long Syrian civil war.

Spicer said statements last week by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speak to the political realities of the situation in Syria and that there is no longer a fundamental option of regime change.President Barack Obama set a red line in 2012 warning of military action if Assad's forces used chemical weapons in the civil war. But in 2013 he backed away from carrying out threatened air strikes once a deadly chemical weapons attack was confirmed. That raised concerns among U.S. allies in the Middle East about Obamas commitment to using force in the region.Asked if the Trump administration would draw another red line, Spicer said, Im not ready to talk about our next step, but we will get there soon. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and David Alexander; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Chris Reese)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Tuesday, left for Finland from where he would travel to the US for his first summit with US President Donald Trump during which the two leaders are expected to discuss a range of global issues, including North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Xi will hold talks with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto during his visit to Helsinki and will meet Trump on 6 April at his luxurious home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Ahead of the key summit, Chinese and US officials held talks to ensure that the first summit is a complete success amid tough assertions by Trump that Washington will act alone if Beijing failed to take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

In his telephone talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi said that the upcoming meeting between the Presidents mattered a lot to the development of China-US relations.

The meeting to be held on 6-7 April 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.

"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 will exert all efforts to prepare for the meeting and is willing to work with the Chinese side to make sure that it can produce positive results.

Their talks took place after Trump delivered tough messages ahead of his meeting with Xi over North Korea.

Trump said in an interview with the 'Financial Times' that the US was prepared to act alone if China did 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 tweeted last week that the meeting would be "very difficult" due to trade issues with China.

Xi's entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan and State Councillor Yang Jiechi.

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 that Taiwan is a part of its mainland.
Microsoft had signed a multiyear patent cross-licensing agreement with Casio to use Linux in certain Casio devices, back in 2011. Now it has signed a new deal with the company to share its wearable patents. The patent licensing agreement includes broad coverage for smartwatch technologies,  said Microsoft without giving any other details.

Casio has WSD-F10 and WSD-F20 Android Wear smart outdoor watches. For its future smartwatches Casio could make use of Microsoft patents to help improve its hardware.

Micky Minhas, head of Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC, said:

Casios smartwatches combined with Microsofts technology will help customers all over the world achieve more from their wearables. This is an outstanding partnership that builds on Microsofts heritage of innovation in the technology powering personal wearables to boost Casios best-in-class products in this space.

Hiroshi Okumura, general manager of Intellectual Property & Legal Department of Casio, said:

Casio is committed to creating innovative products for all our customers, and this partnership builds on our longstanding relationship with Microsoft thats covered products and solutions ranging from industrial handheld terminals to business information systems.

Source
More than 190 independent movie theaters across the country on Tuesday are re-screening the 80s movie 1984a film based on George Orwells 1949 novel about a government that manufactures its own facts and demonizes foreign enemies.

The resurgence of the film comes after sales of the book surged on Amazon in January, after President Trumps senior advisor Kellyanne Conway used the term alternative facts on NBCs Meet the Press.

Some argued that Conways comments at the time reminded them of Orwells character, Big Brother, who was a leader that wielded total power over his inhabitants in the fictional thriller.

However James Morone, director of the Taubman Center for the Study of American Politics and Policy at Brown University, says the comeback of 1984 is merely a testament to the level of polarization in the country today, rather than a depiction of the Trump administration.

Some Americans are terrifically cheered to have Trump in the White House. Others are so terrified they've made a resurgent hit of 1984, a dystopia movie about an all-knowing, tyrannical big brother which manipulates every individual citizen, Morone tells FOX Business.

Indeed, others argue the classic is more applicable to President Obamas administration than Trumps.

And contrary to many reports, some theater owners across the country say they are not re-airing the film as a protest against the Trump administration, but rather as a ploy to get the presidents attention.

The Trump administration appears to be taking aim at the arts, in general, and I wanted to screen this film more as a warning/reminder to not be so quick to toss support for the arts out the window in the interest of balancing budgets, said Kelly Aubrey, owner of the FilmBar in Phoenix, Arizona.

Scott Hudson, director of film operations at the Philadelphia Film Society, tells FOX Business that one of his reasons for featuring the film is to celebrate the late, great John Hurt, who passed away in January.

His work in 1984 is one highlight of a career rich with unforgettable performances. Further, as an arts organization we believe in the power of the arts - cinema especially - to stimulate and inform our national discourse on the issues of the day, Hudson says.

Participating theaters say they will be donating a portion of their proceeds to local charities and organizations to help fund community-related programming relating to the arts.
With the median new home price reaching $296,200in February, it's unlikely the majority of Americans can come up with the standard 20% down payment required by many traditional banks. That's why low- and no-down-payment mortgages have become popular, making homeownership affordable for more Americans.

In the video segment below, The Motley Fool analysts Kristine Harjes and Nathan Hamilton discuss a few essentials homebuyers need to know about no-down-payment mortgages, including where to find them and the associated costs.

5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score Over 800!Increasing your credit score above 800 will put you in rare company. So rare that only 1 in 9 Americans can claim they're members of this elite club. But contrary to popular belief, racking up a high credit score is a lot easier than you may have imagined following 5 simple, disciplined strategies. You'll find a full rundown of each inside our FREE credit score guide. It's time to put your financial future first and secure a lifetime of savings by increasing your credit score. Simply click hereto claim a copy 5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score over 800.

Kristine Harjes: One of the biggest struggles in getting a mortgage is deciding how much you want to pay as part of your down payment. There are plenty of people out there that might be tempted to get a zero down payment mortgage, which is an option that is out there, and because of that we want to give you all the information we can about what exactly it means to get a no down payment mortgage and what you need to know before doing so.

Nathan Hamilton: Yeah, we'll go through no down payment mortgage 101 just in a brief video here. Essentially you've got to categorize it in two different ways. You've got military-related and non-military-related, and there are some options for each one. Military specifically, you can go through the VA or Navy Federal Credit Union. If you're going through VA, as with any sort of mortgage deal, any deal you ever find there's always a caveat.

What you're going to see is a somewhat high up-front fee for originating the mortgage, which generally if you look at it, is going to range from 1.25% to 3.3%. If you compare that to Navy Federal Credit Union, it's a standard 1.75% up-front fee. This is one time. It's not ongoing.

Harjes: What about non-military-related?

Hamilton: Yup, so if you are not a military member there are USDA loans, which is US Department of Agriculture, and they do offer mortgage loans with no down payment, zero dollar down payment. There are some certain qualifications and occasional requirements like generally if you live in a big city you're not going to qualify for them, but you can look online at the USDA. They actually have maps of what areas of the country, you can plug in your zip code, put in some of your basic details, and it will tell you if you are indeed eligible.

Now with USDA loans, one thing to point out, there's a 1% up-front fee, which is low, but there's also a 0.35% ongoing fee. That's every year of the mortgage value.

Harjes: That's on top of other interest payments that you might be making?

Hamilton: Yup, absolutely.

Harjes: Okay, so it definitely seems like it would be worth knowing about these fees and in particular knowing the difference between the up-front fee and the ongoing fee.

Hamilton: Yeah, because if you look at it, it's almost like private mortgage insurance, which if you put down less than 20% on a loan through, say, a bank or a traditional lender, they're going to lob a fee at you that you pay each month. It's about half a percent to 1 percentage point. This is very similar. It's not called the same sort of thing, but you pay that every year, and it does amount to pretty significant, maybe hundreds of dollars on top of your regular mortgage payment every month for the entirety of that loan.

Harjes: For anybody looking at a mortgage and considering no down payment, it's very important that you run some numbers and see is this really the best strategy for me to pay a little bit more ongoing for the duration of the mortgage as opposed to holding off for a little bit and trying to build up more of a down payment.

Hamilton: Yeah, absolutely.

Harjes: If you're looking for more helpful tips like these about getting a mortgage or increasing your credit score, check out Fool.com/mortgages, where you can find a bunch of calculators and other helpful tools, and you can also get access to highly rated lenders with low rates, and you can even get our free guide, "5 Tips To Increase Your Credit Score Over 800."

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Diversified chemical company FMC Corp (NYSE: FMC) became just a little less diversified last week. It announced a deal that packaged a $1.2 billion payment and its health and nutrition segment toDuPont (NYSE: DD) in exchange for a significant portion of the latter's crop protection assets. The move will make it easier for DuPont to complete its mega-merger with Dow Chemical and leave FMC Corp with only two segments: agricultural solutions and lithium production. Risky? Perhaps, but the transaction simplifies operations while doubling down on more reliable markets with better growth prospects.

Management has already released preliminary expectations for the performance of the new assets in 2017 -- and investors have plenty to look forward to. In fact, the deal should make investors confident that FMC Corp's best days are still ahead of it.

Image source: Getty Images.

Simplified operations

Operational diversity can be a great thing, but too much of it can create an unwieldy business. Consider that FMC Corp began 2017 selling products spanning crop protection (agriculture), battery and pharmaceutical manufacturing (lithium production), and specialty ingredients harvested from seaweed and wild fish (health and nutrition). There isn't really any overlap between the three -- and it began to show in recent years.

The company's health and nutrition segment reported an 11% decline in revenue from 2014 to 2016. While it was the second largest business unit, it went from contributing 25.6% of total revenue in 2014 to 22.6% last year. Operating margins were strong and gradually improving, but there were external factors negatively affecting operations that management couldn't control. Simply put, health and nutrition was holding the stock back.

Now that the segment has been sold to DuPont (which can probably scale the unit better in the long run), FMC Corp can focus on growing two very promising businesses: agricultural solutions and lithium.

New agtech leader

The agricultural solutions segment was already FMC Corp's largest -- having generated $2.27 billion, or 69%, of total revenue last year -- but it's about to get a lot bigger. Acquiring a significant portion of DuPont's crop protection assets will immediately make the company the world's fifth largest player in agtech based on annual revenue. The segment is expected to achieve EBITDA of $475 million on sales of $3.8 billion in 2017, with the new assets kicking in an additional $1.5 billion in revenue for the year. That includes over $1 billion from three of the top insecticide products on the planet.

To be fair, even $3.8 billion in revenue is still a far cry from the three largest players in the industry (Monsanto generated revenue of $13.5 billion in 2016, and that was a down year). But with the top six companies merging into three, there should be quite a bit more shuffling of assets in the near future to appease global regulators. Therefore, FMC Corp could climb in the rankings without doing anything more -- or it could go all-in and continue to buy assets from peers desperate to win approval for their mergers.

Rising lithium demand

Lithium may be the company's smallest segment, but it has no doubt been the primary driving force for the stock in the last two years. That's because the stock represents one of the few ways to gain exposure to the lithium production market without wading into penny stocks. FMC Corp, Albemarle Corp, and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile represent a staggering 70% of the global lithium market. China's Tianqi Lithium owns another 16% market share, which doesn't leave much room for others.

FMC data by YCharts.

Market shares may change before the end of the decade as the industry consolidates and other reputable companies make serious long-term investments in lithium production, but today's major players don't plan on sitting idly by while newcomers chip away at their leadership positions.

Today, FMC Corp's lithium segment is dwarfed by the agricultural solutions segment. Excluding contributions from health and nutrition, lithium generated only 10% of total revenue and 15% of total operating income in 2016. That will be further diluted by the recent crop protection acquisition, but management is confident in the long-term trajectory of the business.

In May 2016, the company announced plans to triple the annual production capacity of lithium hydroxide (battery-grade material) to 30,000 metric tons by 2019. It also announced a sourcing agreement for 8,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate (raw lithium) that will begin in mid-2018, which shows that the ambitious expansion plans aren't fluff. If all goes according to plan, FMC Corp will ramp up production just as major automakers ramp up the production of electric vehicles. It would be difficult for investors to lose in that scenario.

What does it mean for investors?

FMC Corp made significant changes to its business by stepping in to help DuPont and Dow Chemical meet the demands of European regulators wielding the power to approve their megamerger. Downsizing from three segments to two may seem risky, but I think it was a smart move that offloads a struggling business unit and wisely focuses resources on the two with promising growth prospects. Given that the agtech industry has been caught in a down cycle and that global demand for lithium is expected to grow handsomely in the long term, I think it's easy to imagine that the stock's best days are ahead.

10 stocks we like better than FMCWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now...and FMC wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017.

Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Albemarle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) is injecting life back into Italian luxury cars.

For people who canat afford Ferraris and Lamborghinis, Alfa Romeo and Maserati will offer a far bigger presence in the U.S. this year with new SUVs and premium sedans. The two Fiat Chrysler-owned brands, which are running on an influx of cash from their parent company, are looking to make inroads in a crowded luxury field dominated by German and Japanese rivals.

aYou havenat had a whole lot of new players over the last decade or so. What they bring to the table is something new and different,a said Michael Harley, executive analyst for Kelley Blue Book. aThe pie can only be sliced into so many pieces, but they donat have to expand the market. They just have to take sales away from other automakers.a

Alfa Romeoas recent U.S. launch of the Giulia marks the official return of the sporty Italian brand to America. Until now, Alfa Romeo offered just one model, the two-seat 4C, in small quantities. With the Giulia, Alfa Romeo has a serious competitor to the BMW 3-series and other high-end sedans. The Giulia starts at $38,990 including shipping, while the 3-series goes for at least $34,445.

Fiat Chrysler sold 555 Alfa Romeos in Marcha484 of which were Giulias. The brandas total first-quarter sales were up sharply on the addition of the Giulia, including the top-of-the-line Giulia Quadrifoglio, which packs 505 horsepower.

Maseratias sales are up 46% so far this year amid the rollout of the new Levante, a small, $73,000 SUV that made its public debut at last yearas New York International Auto Show. March sales rose 32% to 1,312 vehicles.

BMW was the best-selling luxury brand last month. The German automaker sold 31,015 vehicles, good for a 3.3% gain year-over-year. Mercedes-Benz matched BMWas growth rate but delivered 29,092 vehicles. Toyotaas (NYSE:TM) Lexus brand reported monthly sales of 27,935 vehicles, down 7.5%.

Fiat Chrysler has more Italian luxury models in the pipeline, as it tries to make up ground in the lucrative market. After delays, Fiat Chrysler expects to have a full lineup of Alfa Romeo vehicles by 2020, although it remains unclear how many cars and SUVs the brand believes it can sell. Fiat Chrysler initially aimed to invest $6 billion on eight new Alfa models, setting an ambitious global sales target of 400,000 by 2018.

This year, Alfa Romeo will get its third model. The Stelvio, a small SUV, is slated to go on sale during the second quarter. The company hasnat released pricing for the U.S. market.

Early reviews of the Stelvio, along with positive reaction to the Giulia, indicate that Alfa Romeo has what it takes to grab buyersa attentionaas long as the new sedans and SUVs stand the test of time.

aLuxury cars are bought and sold emotionally. Youare buying Italian flair. Itas going to help them emotionally because people look at the Ferraris and Lamborghinis, the passion-fueled automobile. But it also hurts them because they will think about the reliability issuesa associated with mainstream Italian cars, Harley said.

Fiat, a separate brand from Alfa Romeo and Maserati, was ranked second-to-worst in initial quality, according to the latest study from J.D. Power. The Fiat brand also finished last in J.D. Poweras Vehicle Dependability Study released in February.
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has made headlines with its commitment to looking into alternatives to traditional cigarettes, and its success so far with its iQOS heated tobacco technology has been stunning. With the iQOS system gaining popularity rapidly in Japan and other test markets, Philip Morris and its U.S. distribution partner Altria Group (NYSE: MO) would love to see the heat-not-burn cigarette alternative take off in the U.S. market as well. To that end, Philip Morris has been moving forward through the regulatory process to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for iQOS, and the latest move from the company could get it further down the road toward full commercialization.

What Philip Morris just did

On March 31, Philip Morris International said that it had submitted a premarket tobacco product application, or PMTA, for its electronically heated tobacco product iQOS to the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. By making the submission, the tobacco giant managed to get in just under the wire in making good on its promise to submit a premarket tobacco product application by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Specifically, the PMTA looks for approval from the FDA to commercialize iQOS within the U.S. market. If granted, then under the licensing agreement that Philip Morris has with its former parent, Altria Group would be responsible for commercializing and marketing iQOS domestically.

It's important to put the PMTA process into the proper context with the other actions that Philip Morris has taken with iQOS. Late last year, Philip Morris filed a modified risk tobacco product application or MRTPA with the FDA, seeking to have iQOS recognized as qualifying for favorable treatment. Philip Morris still wants to have iQOS treated as a modified risk tobacco product, but the company emphasized that if the regulatory agency issues a favorable decision on the PMTA marketing order, it and Altria would be allowed to market iQOS in the U.S. even without a final decision on the modified risk side of the question.

Image source: Philip Morris International.

What Philip Morris hopes to gain

The implications of the PMTA before the Food and Drug Administration are larger than some investors realize. The clearest benefit of a favorable decision would be to open up the U.S. market to iQOS. That would be a huge step forward for Philip Morris and Altria, especially given what Philip Morris has learned about marketing iQOS from its test-market experiences in Japan and elsewhere. With production capacity for iQOS ramping up this year, Philip Morris would likely be able to meet new demand for the product in the U.S. while avoiding the supply constraints that forced it to slow the rollout of iQOS in Japanese markets.

Yet what Philip Morris really wants from the FDA is a precedent that it can use across the globe. If one major national regulatory body approves iQOS for marketing and reduced-risk claims, then the tobacco giant hopes that other countries will be more likely to give iQOS favorable treatment in its own home markets. Moreover, it would be a powerful marketing claim for Philip Morris to be able to make that its heated-tobacco product is the only one to have U.S. regulatory approval, and consumers across the globe would be more likely to take Philip Morris' claims about reduced risk as being credible if the FDA were to sign off on them.

The iQOS system has been a huge win for Philip Morris so far, and the company sees the potential for the product to transform the tobacco industry away from its reliance on traditional cigarettes. If it can convince U.S. regulators to approve iQOS for sale and eventual qualification as a reduced-risk product, then the profit implications for Philip Morris and Altria could escalate quickly.

10 stocks we like better than Altria GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Altria Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
WASHINGTON (AP)  After his press secretary blasted it as an example of rampant government overreach, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Monday that could eventually allow internet providers to sell information about their customers' browsing habits.

The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information. Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.

The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.

With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalized in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.

Internet companies like Google don't have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the president's support for the bill was part of a larger effort "to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth."

"The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others," picking the winners and losers, he said.

Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.

Undoing the regulation leaves people's online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information  but it doesn't spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.

The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.

Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.

Broadband providers don't fall under the trade commission's jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.

Trump signed three other bills Monday, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska. ___ The bills are S.J. Res 34 and H.J. Res 69 ___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking in Washington and Tali Arbel in New York contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump spoke at a North Americaas Building Trades Union conference Tuesday, touting the importance of the manufacturing and construction industries in his promise to aput America first.a

aWe are going to rebuild our nation. Youare the keepers of the great trades and traditions that built our country,a Trump said.

The president talked about protecting U.S. jobs by defending the countryas borders, as well as the administrationas proposed infrastructure package, which he said would be aan enduring symbol of American strength.a

aIam calling on all Americansato come together [to] take part in the great rebuilding of our country,a he said about the $1-trillion+ plan. aWe must again summon that...national greatness to meet the challenges of our time.a

More than 3,000 trade leaders from across the country were in attendance for the speech and the group will be a large part of the construction effort if Trumpas promised infrastructure bill is approved by Congress.

Trumpas meeting with union bosses was one of two economy-focused meetings for the president on Tuesday.

During his speech before the trade union, the president promised to eliminate ajob killing regulationsa and told workers they will no longer have to wait afor approvals that never come.a

Earlier in the day in at a town hall with CEOs from more than 50 companies, Trump told the business leaders he would give Dodd-Frank a ahaircuta as part of an effort to ease their financial afflictions.

aWe are absolutely destroying these regulations that have been placed over your heads,a he said.

Some of the big business leaders at the meeting included Citigroup (NYSE:C) CEO Michael Corbat, JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) CEO Robin Hayes, Modellas CEO Mitchell Modell, NYSE president Thomas Farley and GE (NYSE:GE) vice chair Beth Comstock.
A former child star saved a 4-month-old baby after discovering the infant's parents had passed out from suspected drug use and crashed their car.

According to police reports obtained by Fox News, Matthew Underwood saw a car fail to come to a stop at a stop sign and swerve across six traffic lanes before crashing into a tree in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

A police spokesman told Fox News Underwood was at the scene when "officers were removing the two [parents] that were unconscious due to their drug use." Underwood, 26, "took the 4-month-old baby out and brought [him] next to the officers."

Underwood played Logan on the hit Nickelodeon series "Zoey 101." According to IMDB, Underwood has not acted in a movie or TV series since 2009.

PHOTOS: Real-life celebrity heroes

A press release states Jessica Ruth Hand, 24, was discovered "unconscious behind the wheel of the car with a syringe in her arm" and John Jacob Rodriguez, 34, was found "unconscious in the back seat with a syringe next to him and an infant boy in an unsecured car seat alongside him."

Hand was arrested for child neglect and possession of drug paraphernalia. She later told police she had tried heroin that night, WPTV reports. Rodriguez was arrested for child neglect, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and violation of probation warrant.



Underwood told WPTV, "As far as I was concerned, they looked dead."

He added, "I heard a baby cry and thats when I really stopped caring about anything that was going on there and I immediately ran around the other side of the car and looked for the baby."

The former actor said the responding police officer was the real hero.
Turn off the Top 40.

That's the takeaway from a study by the consulting firm Soundtrack Your Brand concerning background music in dining establishments. It found that certain types of playlists  namely, those comprised of random pop hits  arent as good for business as a curated playlist mixed with lesser-known, yet on-trend songs.

Before arriving at their conclusions, Soundtrack Your Brand experimented with four different types of background music at 16 chain restaurants in Sweden, where both the company and the HUI Research consultancy  who helped with the study  are based.

HUI Research confirmed to Fox News that those four types of background music included: 1) a mix of 100 songs from Spotifys Top 1,000 Sweden playlist that fit with the restaurants image, along with 260 more obscure songs that also fit the restaurants image; 2) a mix of 360 songs from Spotifys Top 1,000 Sweden playlist that fit with the restaurants image; 3) a mix of 360 songs from Spotifys Top 1,000 Sweden playllist, with no thought given to the restaurants image; and 4) silence.

NORTH CAROLINA RESTAURANT FEELING THE HEAT FOR BANNING YOUNG KIDS

After analyzing restaurant sales during certain playlists, as well as the data collected from more than 2,100 consumer surveys, Soundtrack Your Brand and HUI determined that customers are more likely to stick around for dessert if theyre listening to a curated mix consisting of music that isnt too mainstream.

On the other hand, playing music that didnt connect with the restaurants image, regardless of its popularity, was worse for business than silence, per a press release obtained by Fox News.

Our main result is that a brand-fit playlist that included less-well known songs (i.e., music treatment 1) increased sales (by) 9.1 percent compared to the no brand-fit music playlist (i.e., music treatment 3), study author and HUI researcher Sven-Olov Daunfeldt tells Fox News.

However, it should be noted that Soundtrack Your Brand, a company partially owned by Spotify, is itself a consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses create specialized streaming playlists, reports Quartz.

We have two goals," said Sven Grundberg, the VP of corporate communications for Soundtrack Your Brand, in a statement to Fox News. "One, if course, is to kill bad background music. We think a lot of businesses are quite mindless in what they play. To that end, we also want businesses to play good music  music that helps them and has a real impact."

For us, this is of course vindicating, and in line with what we expected," he added of the results.

According to the site, Soundtrack Your Brand co-founder Ola Sars attributed the studys outcome to the subconscious mind, and suggested that overly familiar music is too distracting to be conducive to a relaxing dining experience.

Indeed, Daunfeldt reported in HUI's study that, for the most part, patrons aren't aware of what they're actually listening to.

"The survey responses also show that the customers often are unaware of the in-store music, suggesting that the effect of in-store music on consumer behavior is mostly on an unconscious level," the study states.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Daunfeldt also told Quartz he considers this to be the coolest research hes ever done. But more importantly, Daunfeldt said he thinks more businesses should be paying attention to their playlists.

Its a highly underutilized area, and its very important for businesses to try to tell consumers who they are by the music they play, he told Quartz.
Two weeks after South Carolina newborns Romeo and Juliet took the internet by storm, another Shakespearean-inspired pair made their debut at a hospital in Florida. Juliette Crouch was born just hours before Romeo Kidd at Leesburg Regional Medical Center on Friday.

A nurse who had asked Carolyn Kidd what she planned to name her son told her that Juliette was born earlier that day, but couldnt tell her which room her parents were in due to hospital privacy laws, The Associated Press reported.

VACCINATING PREGNANT MOMS PROTECTS NEWBORNS FROM WHOOPING COUGH

I was completely shocked by it, Marie Crouch, Juliettes mother, who had heard of the Romeo and Juliet pair born in South Carolina, told The Associated Press. I had no clue the same thing was going to happen to us.

Juliettes father, Justin Crouch, was ready to put his own poetic touch on the day and began searching for Romeos parents so the newborns could meet.

I was going to walk down the hallway and say, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo, he told The Associated Press.

TEXAS MOTHER GIVES BIRTH IN HOSPITAL PARKING GARAGE

The families eventually found each other, and hospital personnel dressed the newborns in a tuxedo and dress for an impromptu photoshoot. The families discovered that they live nearby and plan to meet for to celebrate their babies first birthdays next year.

They may end up all going to the same schools one day, Justin told The Associated Press.
A 42-year-old Colorado man attempting to complete a doughnut-eating challenge died Sunday after choking on a giant pastry. Witnesses said Travis Malouff, of Denver, was participating in Voodoo Doughnuts 80-second half-pound doughnut challenge before his death, KUSA-TV reported.

Its tragic, Curtis Malouff, Travis father, told KUSA-TV. Its a loss of life that shouldnt be.

Witnesses told the news outlet that at people in the shop at the time tried to help Malouff when they realized he was choking, but nobody knew how to properly perform the Heimlich maneuver.

FAMILY TO DONATE ORGANS OF SORORITY SISTER WHO DIED AFTER PANCAKE-EATING CONTEST

They tried so hard to do everything, an unidentified witness told KUSA-TV. It was clear that nobody was trained and they were just reacting. You [have to] do something, I think.

Paramedics arrived but were unable to revive Malouff, who died from asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway, the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner announced on Monday.

Malouffs death occurred on the same day that a 20-year-old student in Connecticut died after participating in a pancake-eating contest. Caitlin Nelson, of Clark, New Jersey, had been eating four or five pancakes during a March 30 challenge before collapsing to the floor. She was rushed to a nearby hospital before being transferred to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, where she later died.

UNIVERSAL CELIAC TESTING LACKS EVIDENCE, US PANEL FINDS

Its a tragic event that started out as something fun, Fairfield police Lt. Bob Kalamaras said of Nelsons death. It was just a tragic accident.

Voodoo Doughnuts said in a statement that the company is saddened by Malouffs death and is cooperating with investigators, KUSA-TV reported.

Its too much food for one person, even as the size that he was, Julia Edelstein, a witness, told the news outlet. Thats too much for someone to eat. He was trying to force it down.

Curtis Malouff said his son will be remembered for his smile and laugh, and his willingness to try anything.

If a challenge is there  hed probably take it, he said, according to KUSA-TV.
Researchers are exploring the possibility of potentially treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with an antibiotic after a specially designed trial returned promising results. The study, led by British and Swiss scientists, involved 76 healthy volunteers and a common antibiotic called doxycycline.

During the trial, volunteers were given either the antibiotic or a placebo pill, with those who received doxycycline reporting a 60 percent lower fear response than those who were not. Researchers said the pill works to disrupt the formation of negative thoughts and fears in the brain by blocking certain proteins outside of nerve cells which are needed to form memories.

PLAYING 'TETRIS' AFTER TRAUMA MAY REDUCE BAD FLASHBACKS

We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle for an entirely new treatment strategy for PTSD, Dominik Bach, a professor at University College London and the University of Zurich, and co-leader of the research team, told Reuters.

To reach these conclusions, volunteers were given either the antibiotic or placebo and placed in front of a computer that would flash either blue or red. One of the colors was associated with a 50 percent chance of receiving a painful electric shock. After 160 flashes with color in random order, participants were aware of which color was associated with the shock, Reuters reported. A week later, the experiment was repeated with no medication, and the shocks were replaced by loud sounds.

VETERANS DIVE WITH SHARKS TO TREAT PTSD

Researchers measured fear responses by tracking eye blinks and calculated fear memory by subtracting the baseline startle response from the response to the sound when the bad color appeared, Reuters reported. The fear response was calculated to be 60 percent lower in patients that received doxycycline, but other cognitive measures, like sensory memory and attention, were not affected, according to the report.

When we talk about reducing fear memory, were not talking about deleting the memory of what actually happened, Bach told Reuters. The participants may not forget that they received a shock when the screen was red, but they forget to be instinctively scared when they next see a red screen. Learning to fear threats is an important ability  helping us to avoid dangers. (But) over-prediction of threat can cause tremendous suffering and distress in anxiety disorders such as PTSD.

The researchers plan to explore doxycyclines potential effects further to develop additional ways to treat PTSD.

Reuters contributed to this report.
In an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC Tuesday, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice broke her silence over this weeks stunning reports that she requested the names of Trump campaign and transition officials be demasked from National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts.

It was an awkward interview. Rice confirmed that she requested the demasking of Americans while she was National Security Adviser. While Rice would not deny that she asked that names of Trump officials be demasked, she insisted the Obama administration did not spy on Mr. Trump or his staff for political purposes. She also offered some questionable explanations for the demasking process.

As a former CIA analyst who has handled requests for demasking the names of American citizens for a U.S. policymaker, I thought Rices claims in her interview did not add up.

The names of U.S. citizens incidentally mentioned in NSA reports are masked to preserve their identities because Americas intelligence agencies are barred from spying on American citizens except in extraordinary circumstances with court approval.

Rice correctly said in her interview that policymakers sometimes request to know the identities of Americans from NSA reports to understand these reports in certain circumstances. She also tried to dismiss this controversy by claiming NSA demasking requests are routine.

They actually are not routine and taken very seriously by NSA.

Rice also said there is an Intelligence Community process to review whether to approve demasking requests. This seemed to be an attempt by Rice to make her requests look legitimate because NSA carefully reviewed them.

In fact, this review is pro forma. If a senior official gives what appears to be a national security reason, demasking requests are almost always approved.

Rices interview came amid a growing controversy that the Obama administration abused U.S. intelligence to spy on the Trump campaign and leak intelligence to the press to hurt Trump. This included the illegal leaking of General Michael Flynns name from an NSA report and press reports that the Obama administration in its final weeks lowered the threshold for access to NSA information and spread intelligence about Russian interference in the election and alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign throughout the government.

Also factor in House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nuness disclosure in a March 22 press conference that the names of Trump campaign or transition officials were demasked from NSA reports that had nothing to do with Russia or alleged wrongdoing by the Trump campaign.

Bloomberg reporter Eli Lake confirmed this in a bombshell April 3 report in which he said the demasked reports contained valuable political information on the Trump transition. Lake also broke the story that Rice asked for the demaskings in this report.

An April 3 Daily Caller report that Rice ordered U.S. spy agencies to produce detailed spreadsheets of legal phone calls involving Donald Trump and his aides when he was running for president makes this story more interesting. Rice denied this allegation during her MSNBC interview.

Rices denials dont add up. It is hard to fathom how the demasking of multiple Trump campaign and transition officials was not politically motivated. While it was legal for her to do this, it was highly unethical and would be a huge scandal if a Republican senior official sought the names of Democratic political opponents from U.S. intelligence reports.

My guess is that Rices demasking requests were on behalf of the Obama National Security Council and were part of a broad campaign that began in early 2016 to abuse U.S. intelligence to hurt the Trump candidacy and then his presidency.

It wouldnt surprise me if former Deputy National Security Council Ben Rhodes was deeply involved in this campaign.

Despite determined efforts by the mainstream media to stamp out this story, the smoke of this scandal continues to grow.

Susan Rices interview Tuesday added more smoke.
It is a tired, but apropos, joke: how do you know when a politician is lying? When his/her lips move.

Tuesday, Susan Rice was flapping her lips like a loose sail in a stiff breeze. She should have known better. Whenever she talks, trouble is sure to follow. For her.

Rice chose a benign venue in appearing on "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on MSNBC, but even that didnt help.

The story she peddled was blatantly self-serving and punctuated with a glaring contradiction.

All of which invites the question, did she break the law in the waning days of the Obama administration when she served as National Security Adviser?

Rice denied leaking intelligence information about President Trumps associates, yet she defended her requests to unmask the identities of U.S. citizens caught up in surveillance operations.

Here is how the law applies to Rices conduct. Or at least her version of it.

Unmasking Names

Rice acknowledged in the interview with Mitchell that she requested that names be unmasked, but she insists she did not do it for political purposes. It is an important distinction.

Under the U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive (section 18), Rice was authorized to unmask the names of U.S. citizens, as long as it was essential to national security. Sure enough, Rice claims that national security was her reason.

Here is the rub. It would be difficult for a prosecutor to prove otherwise. Likely, only Rice knows her true intent, and it is doubtful she authored a smoking-gun memo that reads, lets unmask these names so we can use their identities for political gain.

But if such an email exists or if someone were to come forward to allege that Rice verbally confided her motivation was for political reasons, then she would be looking at a serious felony punishable by up to 5 years behind bars.

Rice could face an additional problem. If she requested that a name be unmasked in a document that had nothing whatsoever to do with foreign surveillance involving national security, an argument could be made that she created a false statement in her unmasking request, which is a crime under 18 USC 1001.

Leaking Names

Whoever leaked Michael Flynns name or any other names collected incidentally during surveillance, committed multiple crimes because those names are classified information.

Under 18 USC 798, it is a felony to knowingly and willfully communicate classified material to an unauthorized person.

A similar law, 50 USC 1809, forbids the unauthorized disclosure of national security information. Three other statutes may also have been violated.

The Washington Post reporter who received Flynns name described his source in a January 12, 2017 column as a senior U.S. government official. That would be a description of many people in Washington, Rice included. But she was in a unique position to have had access to what was supposed to be classified material.

Nevertheless, Rice insists she did not leak any names. Absent some proof that she is lying, she cannot be prosecuted. However, there is ample reason for people to suspect Rice is not telling the truth.

Rices Changing Story

In the course of less than 2 weeks, the story Rice has told seems to have changed significantly.

On March 22, she was asked by Judy Woodruff on PBS' "NewsHour if she knew whether Trump transition officials, including the president, may have been swept up in surveillance of foreigners at the end of the Obama administration. In other words, incidental collection.

Rice responded, I know nothing about this.

Yet Tuesday she reversed herself completely, claiming she knew all about it. That is, she knew of the incidental collection and, further, she is the one who requested that names be unmasked. Yes, she spoke in generalities, but is there any doubt she was referring to Trump associates?

It is an understatement to say that Susan Rice lacks credibility. And this would not be the first time she conjured up a false narrative.

She infamously hustled the deception that a videotape triggered the Benghazi attack in September 2012. Later, when incriminating emails surfaced, she admitted the story was untrue.

She further tarnished her reputation when she said that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who faces charges of desertion and consorting with the enemy, served with honor and distinction.

Susan Rice has an abysmal track record of telling the truth. Her remarks Tuesday about the unmasking of surveillance may be another example.

Never Leaked Anything?

Rice seems to have taken her denials one step too far. During her MSNBC interview she declared, I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have. Really?

Thats next to impossible. Is there a person in Washington who hasnt leaked something at some time to someone? If you can find that person, we should throw a parade.

So, when Rice makes a ludicrous statement like that, there is even more reason to doubt her veracity.

When asked if she would testify before Congress, Rice refused to answer. I hope she has good counsel. She would be testifying under oath. It is a serious crime to lie to Congress.

My guess is shell do everything she can to avoid raising her right hand.
This week its all about Gorsuch. Will the Senate confirm him as the Republican replacement of Antonin Scalia?

Like the rest of America, I caught a bit of his confirmation hearing while driving in my car.

It was the normal grilling by some, including Senator Al Franken who reminded me at times of my favorite character he played on "Saturday Night Live," Stuart Smalley.

Im good enough. Im smart enough. And doggone it, people like me!

But things took an unusual turn when Neil Gorsuch was asked by Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse about how Gorsuch will know when he retires whether or not he had been a good judge.

What an amazing question, I thought.

As a pastor, Ive spent my life walking through life with people, and one of the things Im most convinced of is competence is insufficient without character. Questions like the one asked by the Nebraska Senator get to the heart of the matter.

Gorsuchs answer was even more surprising than Sen. Sasses question.

In addition to being an appellate judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Gorsuch also teaches ethics at the University of Colorado Law School, Senator, thats a question I ask my kids every semester.

As part of his course, Judge Gorsuch revealed how he asks his students to take five minutes to write their own obituary. He said that some of the students find this corny, but others actually are willing to read them aloud to the class.

Its within this context that Gorsuch chose to speak about how he himself wanted to be remembered, and at one point he even choked up discussing it.

What I try to point out is  its not how big your bank account balance is -- nobody ever puts that in their draft obituary -- or that they billed the most hours, or that they won the most cases. Its how they treated other people along the way, said Gorsuch to a committee room full of affluent, successful Senators. For me, [I think of the] the words I read [just] yesterday from Increase Sumners tombstone. Id like to be remembered as a good dad, a good husband, kind and mild in private life, dignified and firm in public life...I have no illusions that Ill be remembered for very long.

That answer was the biggest indication to me that Judge Gorsuch isnt just a qualified jurist, but a good man. He has character and competence.

When people speak from their heart, as Judge Gorsuch seemed to do in that moment, we learn about the person behind the position. Its also good advice the Judge gave those Senators, and the rest of us too. We ought to be thinking about our obituary.

How will we be remembered when we are gone?

We must not think only of the here and now for the person who is ready to die is really only ready to live. We always must have the end in mind or we will not know the next step to take.

By the way, Im not speaking in theory either.

My son died unexpectedly at age 33, in a car accident. Here are the words on his tombstone: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits methe crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return (2 Timothy 4:78 NLT).

Ever since he left us, I find myself thinking a lot more of the afterlife. Because he put his faith in Jesus Christ, I know I will see him again . . . in Heaven. His death has also caused me to begin to think more frequently about the question Judge Gorsuch asked his students.

If I were a Senator, Democratic or Republican, Id have to vote for him. Not just because the American Bar Association unanimously rated him as qualified but also because he has his priorities in the right place.

And you know whats unfortunate?

Some people will read politics into my endorsement of Gorsuch. Yet, theres nothing political about it. Im a pastor and evangelist who is focused on people, not politics.

Its a sad fact that our society has digressed to the point that one cant comment on a public figure without being accused of partisanship.

Its another indication of how objective truth lies in ruins on Capitol Hill.

Maybe its because we arent thinking enough about how people will remember us?
Enough with the smokescreens! Democrats, aided and abetted by their friends in the media, have long dismissed President Trumps charges that he was wiretapped by former President Obama, even as evidence mounts that indeed surveillance of the Trump camp took place, and that information collected by so-called incidental monitoring was illegally leaked to the public.

The left would rather focus on speculation that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian agents to undermine Hillary Clintons candidacy, even though to date there has been zero evidence to support any such charge.

On Monday, in a revelation that Senator Rand Paul describes as a smoking gun, numerous sources outed former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice as behind the unmasking of Trump associates picked up through surveillance of foreign nationals.

While Rice had legal access to the electronic eavesdropping, and though her exposure of the identities of the individuals involved might be excused under certain circumstances, it is clear she has lied about her involvement and also about what took place in the Obama White House.

Under the harshest interpretation, it appears that Rice, possibly at the behest of President Obama, collected and distributed classified information about Trump and his associates with the sole purpose of politically damaging the incoming president.

If that is true, President Obama and one of his closest advisers committed a massive breach of trust with the American people; they have also confirmed that their White House was the most politicized in our history.

The story begins with a group within the National Security Council, headed by the senior director of intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, undertaking a review of the governments policy on unmasking. Presumably they were intent on finding out who discovered, and then illegally leaked, the contents of phone calls between former Security Council chief Mike Flynn and the Russian ambassador, which ultimately led to Flynns ouster.

According to journalist Mike Cernovich, who broke the story, The White House Counsels office identified Rice as the person responsible for the unmasking after examining Rices document log requests. The reports Rice requested to see are kept under tightly-controlled conditions. Each person must log her name before being granted access to them.

The logs led National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster to conclude that Rice had been responsible for uncovering the identities of individuals who were picked up in incidental surveillance of foreign nationals. Usually, such persons are reported anonymously to protect their privacy. No one has yet accused Rice of leaking the information that she collected.

McMaster sent an aide, Derek Harvey, to convey that information to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. The Intelligence Committee chief was widely criticized for going alone to the White House to examine computers which contain the logs, and for meeting with the president afterwards.

Now the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, has also seen the data.

It is telling that after visiting the White House himself and reviewing the information, Rep. Schiff refused to discuss the contents of the documents, but rather focused on the process by which they had come to light. He managed that sleight of hand while chiding President Trump for trying to divert attention away from the Russia probe. Neat.

It is noteworthy that in an interview with PBS News Hour anchor Judy Woodruff on March 22, Rice denied Trumps charges of wiretapping, saying nothing of the sort occurred. Rice can argue that Trumps tweet: just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! may not be exactly accurate, but Rices denial is not truthful either.

That wont shock us. Many Americans will remember that Rice was the White House point person on Benghazi, telling Americans on the Sunday morning talk shows that the assault on the U.S. compound was a spontaneous outburst caused by an anti-Muslim video.

She knew better, as did the White House.

They knew the attack, which cost the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, was carefully planned and executed  a horrible jihadi assault that contradicted Obamas narrative of winning the war on terror.

The surveillance that apparently caught up Trump campaign workers and aides, including Michael Flynn, is said to have been legal. Foreign individuals who were wiretapped or otherwise spied on were apparently targeted by U.S. intelligence; some of the information was then handed over to the FBI. Reviewing the reporting on Flynns conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak  which got him fired  it is remarkable how little interest was shown by the New York Times and other news organizations in how the sensitive material was collected and distributed. Now those questions appear more pertinent.

It is possible that the surveillance of Trumps people was not entirely incidental. If someone wanted to track Jared Kushner, for instance, who was known to be in communication with Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., intel groups could decide to surveil the latter, and pick up the desired information about Kushner simultaneously. There is no indication that such methods were used to spy on the Trump team, but remember that Nunes said the information he viewed at the White House had nothing to do with Russia. So the surveillance was presumably not an attempt to unearth collusion between the Trump team and Moscow. Also, the logs indicate intelligence gathering on persons associated with Trump that stretch back a year or more. One wonders about the purpose.

There are reports that Rice shared the unmasked reports with numerous intelligence organizations. Towards the end of the Obama presidency, the White House loosened the rules on who could receive raw intelligence reports. Those changes made it easier to more broadly disseminate materials thought injurious to the incoming president.

These are early days yet in the investigation into the Obama White Houses possible spying on the Trump team. Much remains unknown, including who directed the effort. Was President Obama involved? Did former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lie when he denied that any wiretapping took place against Trump or his associates? Did FBI Director James Comey lie as well?

It is infuriating to see Democrats and the liberal media doing backflips to direct the focus elsewhere  and especially back to possible collusion between members of the Trump camp and Russia.

To those who would allege that Trump was in cahoots with Putin, I offer this: General James Mattis aka Russias worst nightmare. For those not paying attention, President Trump tapped Mattis to be his Secretary of Defense. Does that really jive with a White House eager to cozy up to Putin?

All Americans deserve the truth in both these inquiries. We need to know whether the Trump camp conspired with Russian agents to hack the DNC and John Podestas emails, and we need to know whether the Obama White House gathered and leaked surveillance information on Trump or his aides illegally in order to discredit him. Let us hope that our Congressional Committees are up to the task, because it is clear the liberal media is content to investigate only one of these stories.


The House Oversight and Government Reform Committees chairman said Monday that his committee will determine how much money President Trumps former national security adviser will have to remit to the U.S. over payments from governments.

Politico reported that Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said the determination may come as early as Tuesday and could amount to tens of thousands of dollars. Chaffetz reportedly said there was no criminal referral regarding Gen. Michael Flynn.

We have paperwork thats due from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department today, but we may be doing something later this week related to his payments that he received from not only Russia but Turkey as well, Chaffetz said on MSNBC.

Flynn reportedly did not reveal payments he received from three Russia-connected entities on a financial disclosure form he filed upon joining the Trump administration.

Flynn ultimately filed two financial disclosure forms, one Feb. 11 and one on Friday. On the first form, filed days before Trump asked Flynn to resign as national security adviser for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about a conversation Flynn had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., the retired Army lieutenant general omitted payments he received for three speeches to Russian companies.

One of the companies was RT, a media outlet funded by the Russian government. Documents released by a congressional committee show that Flynn was paid $45,000 for that appearance.

The other two companies were the Volga-Dnepr Group, a Russian air-cargo company; and Kaspersky Government Security Solutions, a U.S. subsidiary of a leading Russian cybersecurity firm.

Flynn's lawyer Robert Kelner told the Associated Press the first filing included the speaking fees in bulk. He also noted that the initial filing was a draft and was not followed by consultations with federal ethics officials because Flynn left the administration just days after turning it in.

In addition to the speeches, Flynn earned more than $1.3 million for work for technology firms, political groups and government contractors as well as lobbying for a firm owned by a Turkish businessman.

Flynn's recent financial history, made available Saturday by the White House, comes amid his effort to win immunity from congressional probers in exchange for his cooperation with official inquiries into contacts between Russia and Trump's campaign in 2016.

Kelner said that Flynn's first filing normally would have been revised through a consultation between the White House counsel's office and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

"Because he resigned, that usual consultation process was suspended. When the White House contacted him this week, and asked him to complete the process, he did so," Kelner said, noting the second filing is the finalized version.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told Fox News' "The First 100 Days" Monday night that Judge Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed to the Supreme Court this week regardless of whether Democrats attempted to filibuster him.

"Let me assure you that Judge Gorsuch is going to be on the Supreme Court by midnight Friday night," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told host Martha MacCallum. "I can assure you that. One way or the other, hes going to get the necessary votes to get there."

GORSUCH WINS SENATE PANEL ENDORSEMENT, SETTING UP FLOOR SHOWDOWN

Gorsuch's nomination cleared the committee earlier Monday on a party-line vote. More than 40 Democrats have said they would be willing to block the nomination, which could force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to use the so-called "nuclear option" and change the rules so that Gorsuch's confirmation would only require a majority vote.

DEMS HAVE ENOUGH VOTES TO FILIBUSTER GORSUCH, INCREASING ODDS OF 'NUCLEAR OPTION'

Grassley said he shared concerns about what the nuclear option meant for the future of the Senate, but pointed that "for 211 years, there werent filibusters of judges" and noted that "there hasn't been a partisan filibuster against a Supreme Court justice ever. This is the first one."

"I hope we get over that, and this is an opportunity to do that with a very qualified person," Grassley added. "If this person wasnt qualified, then I think they could talk politics. But politics isnt going to work for this one."
An advocacy group has filed an official complaint with the Defense Department's Inspector General's Office to investigate a blog, christianfighterpilot.com, and potentially bring corrective action against its alleged owner, Air Force Lt. Col. Jonathan C. Dowty.

Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said his organization -- which believes the blog to be in violation of Air Force standards and the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- is seeking a full investigation after the blog published a piece insinuating incoming Air Force Academy commandant of cadets Brig. Gen. Kristin Goodwin may have lied to join the service.

The exchange over Goodwin, an openly gay airman and current senior military adviser to the secretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C., began after Weinstein told the Colorado Springs Independent that the service should have highlighted Goodwin's sexual orientation when announcing her new appointment.

"Why are they not publicly acknowledging this groundbreaking selection of a gay, female new commandant? This question HAS to be asked. There's just total silence out there about this? Why?" Weinstein told the paper.

Goodwin is relocating to Colorado with her wife and two children.

A week later, in a March 27 post titled, "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," christianfighterpilot.com wrote: "The policy known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was instated in February of 1994. Anyone who entered the military prior to that date answered a question about homosexuality during the enlistment process. Those who answered in the affirmative were refused enlistment."

Goodwin graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1993.

"How did Col Goodwin -- an open homosexual -- enter the Air Force without lying?" the blog asked.

Goodwin led the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, becoming the wing's first female commander, according to Air Force Times. Before that, she was vice commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and has flown the B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress, EC-130, C-130 Hercules, and various trainer aircraft.

Lt. Col. Allen Herritage, chief spokesman for the academy, told Military.com on Monday that Goodwin was "hired solely for her superb record, which began here as a cadet, where she excelled."

"The Air Force Academy is looking forward to having Brigadier General (select) Goodwin join the team," Herritage said. "Her experience as bomber pilot and commander at the squadron, group and wing levels make[s] her an outstanding source of leadership and experience for tomorrow's lieutenants."

The MRFF and its attorney, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr. of Brenna Boyce, PLLC, on Sunday filed a formal complaint against the blog with the DoD IG's office.

"While he has the private and personal right to harbor intolerant, if not bigoted, religious views of LGBTQ servicemembers, he does not have any legal rights as an active duty officer to publicly preach his disrespectful views to an audience directed towards members of the U.S. Armed Forces," says the complaint, provided to Military.com.

Christianfighterpilot.com has a disclaimer on its site, stating, "The opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of any government, military, or religious organization," but MRFF said there is reasonable cause to believe Dowty may be in violation of Article 89, Disrespect Toward a Superior Commissioned Officer; Article 92, Failure to Obey Order or Regulation; Article 133, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman; and Article 134, a general article that speaks to conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline within the UCMJ.

Christianfighterpilot.com responded in a post before MRFF made its formal IG complaint.

The blog said if pursued, it would be MRFF's second attempt to silence the website, but its author(s) believe the IG's office will dismiss the claim because the blog is "protected under free speech."

"Read beyond the sensationalism, hype, and hyperbole, and you'll see little more than desperate activists craving for attention -- and saying anything they can to get it," christianfighterpilot.com wrote.

Dowty does not sign his christianfighterpilot.com posts in an attempt to "hide behind a wall of anonymity," Weinstein said. However, he "has not formally or publicly denied" being the author.

The website is associated with Dowty's 2007 book, "Christian Fighter Pilot Is Not an Oxymoron." Capt. Sonny Hernandez, an Air Force Reserve chaplain assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is also cited on the blog.

The MRFF's complaint questions why the active-duty fighter pilot's chain of command has not reprimanded him already.

"In this regard, MRFF respectfully urges you to consider his history in the context of his blogpost at issue herein," the letter said. "Make no mistake, MRFF recognizes and agrees that Lt. Col. Dowty can believe whatever he believes in the name of his religion, in the Base Chapel, his house, or in the middle of a forest -- but as a commissioned officer he is not free to publicly attack, indeed falsely attack, another commissioned officer and ignore the DoD's and AF's diversity and equal opportunity programs and policies under the guise of his religion."

The DoD IG's office did not respond to Military.com by press time.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
One of the many failures of journalism in 2016 was the utter disconnect with the millions of frustrated Americans who helped put Donald Trump in office.

And the flood of mea culpas that followed, especially from pundits who reside in New York and Washington, made clear that they realized the extent of their cultural and ideological isolation.

So for all the negative coverage of the new president, there are at least occasionally expeditions to what might be called Trump Country.

Now these can take different forms. They can represent a legitimate effort to understand the thinking of those who voted for Trump and how they view him now. Or they can have a condescending quality, hoping to discover how deeply these voters regret what they have done.

But at least journalists are getting out of the Acela corridor and trying to take the pulse in conservative communities.

The New York Times ran such a story yesterday, headlined In Ohio County That Backed Trump, Word of Housing Cuts Stirs Fear.

The Washington Post ran a similar dispatch from Oklahoma yesterday, with the headline Trumps Budget Would Hit Rural Towns Especially HardBut Theyre Willing to Trust Him.

Fear versus trust.

The Times piece opens in Kinsman, Ohio with Joseph Pavlic, who can no longer work because he has multiple sclerosis, and his wife Tammy. Their home is crumbling, but they were able to make some repairs through a federal program called HOME.

The Pavlics ceiling may no longer be cracked, but in the zero-sum game that Mr. Trumps budget seeks to set up, the nation is showing new fissures. Trumps budget would eliminate the HOME program.

Tammy hopes the president changes his mind, but Joseph likes his immigration policy: Keeping the country safe compared to keeping my bathroom safe isnt even a comparison.

The Times also found Amber Barr, who survives with her young daughter on disability, food stamps and housing aid. She cried as she described her regret at voting for Trump: If I didnt have these programs, I wouldnt have any kind of support, I wouldnt have any kind of direction as to what to do, where to go, and I wouldnt have any money to help me find resources.

The Post story, in Durant, Okla., which voted 76 percent for Trump, quotes the city manager as saying it is easy to cut programs derided as wasteful spending without really understanding the true impact.

Betty Harris, a 77-year-old widow, is upset that Trumps budget would dramatically cut funding for the senior center that is her lifeline. She gives presidents 10 strikes, and says I have high hopes for Trump, but if hes going to be cutting these kinds of programs, thats going to be one.

To be sure, its important for Beltway honchos to be reminded that cutting domestic programs affects the lives of real people, some of whom are struggling just to get by.

On the other hand, government is clearly living beyond its means, and no one ever said federal spending cutbacks wouldnt be painful.

This was at the heart of the impasse over replacing ObamaCare: How much pain was the Republican Party willing to accept in exchange for a smaller, less intrusive program?

Americans are always conflicted about federal spending: They hate it in the abstract, love it when they benefit. And that seems to be true in Trump Country as well.
The Justice Department warned U.S. companies that it would investigate and prosecute employers that overlook qualified Americans for jobs.

The stern message came on the same day as employers started to apply for coveted visas known as H-1B, which are used mostly by technology companies to bring in programmers and other specialized workers from other countries.

"U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims," Tom Wheeler, acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a news release.

Mondays warning appeared to be a first-of-its-kind hardline approach to tackling H-1B visas. The Obama administration had previously sued companies for violating the Immigration and Nationality Acts anti-discrimination provisions, including businesses that favored foreigners over U.S. workers.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer added that the administration would crack down on businesses that discriminate against U.S. workers by using the visa program to hire foreigners.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also announced that it would step up its reviews of employers that use H-1B visas, saying "too many American workers who are qualified, willing and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged."

President Trump had sought to end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program. A draft proposal that circulated in January promised to review existing work visa regulations.

Trump has yet to issue that order.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Senate's standoff on Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch showed no signs of softening Tuesday as lawmakers began the final floor debate, with Republicans and Democrats accusing each other of unprecedented tactics in their respective efforts to confirm or block the nominee.

Democrats have enough votes in the GOP-controlled chamber to filibuster President Trumps high court nominee in a bid to block confirmation.

In a sign of their apparent intent, Sen. Jeff Merkeley, D-Ore., took to the Senate floor at 6:46 p.m. ET and planned to speak all night in opposition to Gorsuch's nomination.

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he has the votes to deploy what's known as the nuclear option -- changing voting procedures to override the filibuster and confirm Gorsuch with 51 votes, as opposed to 60.

The Kentucky Republican has vowed to have the 49-year-old Gorsuch confirmed by Friday, and his warning seemed to play down the possibility of Democrats dropping their filibuster threat.

It should be unsettling to everyone that our colleagues across the aisle have brought the Senate to this new low, McConnell said earlier Tuesday. Judge Gorsuch is independent, fair and has one of the most impressive resumes you will ever see.

The Senate voted Tuesday afternoon to formally start debate, leading up to the expected vote later in the week.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley -- chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that voted Monday to send his nomination to the floor -- officially kicked off the debate.

After all of this, my Democrat colleagues unfortunately appear to remain committed to a filibuster, he said. Weve had the opportunity to review the 2,700 cases hes heard.  Even after all of this process, theres no attack against the judge that sticks.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senates No. 2 Democrat, took to the Senate floor earlier in the day to again rail against Republicans for not allowing confirmation hearings last year for Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obamas high court pick.

Merrick Garland -- the only presidential nomination to the Supreme Court, in the history of the United States Senate, to be denied a hearing and a vote, Durbin said.

After four days of Senate confirmation hearings and dozens of one-on-ones between Gorsuch and senators, the partisan divide is clear.

Republicans argue that Gorsuch, a conservative on the federal appeals court in Denver, would render his high court decisions based on the law as it exists, not howd he like it to be, and that his lower court decisions are clearly in line with the mainstream.

Beyond the Garland issue, Democrats argue that Gorsuch is a sendup from conservative groups and their dark money, and that his legal record shows he would side with corporations and special interest groups over the little man.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chambers No. 2 Republican, argued Tuesday that Democrats continue to use the same, old tired arguments against Gorsuch, including many that have nothing to do with him, and that their opposition results from them not getting over the fact they lost the lost the [2016 presidential] election.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, took perhaps the most extreme view Tuesday of what Gorsuch might do on the court.

Theres a strong possibility hed overturn Roe v. Wade, Sanders said. And I do not want to be a party to what happens.

After hours of debate Monday, the Judiciary Committee voted 11-9, along party lines, to send Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate.

If confirmed, Gorsuch, who has spent more than a decade on the Denver federal appeals bench, would take the seat of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016, and maintain conservatives 5-4 majority in the high court.

The long-term consequences of the bipartisan confrontation could be profound, as the procedural change Republicans intend to enact would also apply to future Supreme Court nominees, allowing them to be voted onto the court without any input from the minority party.

The showdown over the "nuclear option," expected on the Senate floor Thursday, is likely to be accompanied by much hand-wringing from senators bemoaning the decay of the chamber's traditions of bipartisanship and comity.

But both parties are to blame. When the Democrats were in the majority, they removed the 60-vote threshold for nominees to federal benches lower in the judicial system than the Supreme Court.

This change came in 2013 as Republicans, who were in the minority at the time, were blocking Obama picks for critical court vacancies. Republicans said at the time that Democrats would come to regret the move.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Susan Rice, in her first public comments on claims she sought to unmask the names of Trump associates caught up in surveillance, acknowledged Tuesday that she asked for the identities of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports  but defended the requests as routine and denied leaking any Trump-related information.

"I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have," the former Obama national security adviser told MSNBC.

She said she never sought to unmask the names of Trump associates in intelligence reports "for any political purposes" or spying purposes.

"This is not anything political as has been alleged," Rice said. "The allegation is that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That is absolutely false."

"I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have."  Susan Rice

Rather, Rice said she sometimes sought the names of people in intelligence reports, as part of her job.

"The intelligence community made the determination whether the identity of that American individual could be provided to me," Rice said.

The Tuesday interview with MSNBC occurred after sources told Fox News that Rice had sought to unmask the names of Trump team members caught up in incidental surveillance of foreign targets. Those names were then widely disseminated.

Rice on Tuesday flatly denied leaking the identity of President Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and also batted down Trump's claim in early March that the Obama administration had "wiretapped" Trump Tower.

Rice spoke in generalities about the unmasking process, emphasizing that intelligence reports were first brought to her and that she did not "solicit reports."

"I receive those reports, as did each of those other officials, and there were occasions when I would receive a report when a U.S. person was referred to. Name not provided, just U.S. person," Rice said. "And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report and understand its significance, it was necessary to find out who that U.S. person was."

Many of Rice's defenders contend that unmasking was a normal and routine task for a national security adviser, but others who have been directly involved in intelligence collection say that's not the case.

"From my direct experience dealing at this level, that is never done," retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Fox News. "The national security adviser is a manager position, not an analyst position. You have analysts in the intelligence community whose job is to sort through who is doing what with what. Susan Rice is a senior manager looking over the entire intelligence community. She should not have time to be unmasking individuals having conversations.

After the Rice interview, Trump's director of social media, Dan Scavino, tweeted from his personal account that "Lyin', leakin' Susan Rice stammered through her soft ball interview with Dem PR person Andrea Mitchell."

As some GOP lawmakers now call on Rice to testify, he added: "Rice won't agree to testify because she won't get away with lying to Congress like she did with Benghazi?"

Rice on Tuesday also said unmasked intelligence reports were not passed around.

"That would come back only to the person who requested it, and it would be brought back to them directly," Rice said.

She never explicitly stated Trump associates were unmasked in the reports, saying to talk about specifics would be to reveal "classified information." Rice did, however, allow that it was "possible" some Trump associates could have been caught up in incidental collection.

She drew a strong distinction between those who had been leaking details from the reports to newspapers -- leaks that largely benefited the outgoing Obama administration or wounded the incoming Trump administration -- and her actions.

"There's no equivalence between so-called 'unmasking' and leaking," Rice said.

While Rice spoke, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff released a statement explaining incidental collection and echoing Rice's words that unmasking is typically done to understand context and value of intelligence.
Paul Joyal had just been on TV railing against Vladimir Putin over the murder of a Kremlin critic. Several days later, he was ambushed in his suburban Washington driveway by two attackers, shot and left bleeding as his wife called for help.

That was 10 years ago. The case is still unsolved.

But with Russia at the center of fresh allegations of silencing critics and waging information warfare in America, Joyal's case  as cold as a Moscow winter  could be due for a thaw.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Joyal was clear that, to this day, he does not consider the attack some run-of-the-mill street crime.

It was not a random act, he said.

Pointing to past cases of Kremlin critics who were rubbed out, he said, Ambushing people when they come home at night is the tradition of most Russian contract killings.

Joyals story has been out of the headlines for years. But the March 1, 2007, attack at his Maryland home was the subject of international speculation at the time. Four days earlier, Joyal had appeared on NBCs Dateline effectively accusing the Putin government of playing a role in the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent fatally poisoned in London.

'Ambushing people when they come home at night is the tradition of most Russian contract killings.'  Paul Joyal

As Joyal returned home that rainy March night, two people were waiting for him in the bushes. He only set eyes on one of them, the man I fought with face to face  Joyal ball-parked his age at between 28 and 32.

The attackers shot him before they fled. His wife, Elizabeth, ran outside and called 911.

Speculation quickly spread that Joyal, a former Senate staffer and frequent commentator on Russian issues, could have been targeted because of his anti-Kremlin statements.

In a 2009 Associated Press article revisiting the case, a Prince Georges County police spokesman said the department, which investigated the attack, had no reason to think it was anything but street crime. A Russian Embassy spokesman quoted in the same report said any suggestion the attack was committed at the direction of Moscow is nonsense. An embassy representative did not return a request for comment for this article.

But Joyal and others have their doubts, noting nothing was stolen during the ambush.

No one requested anything from me at the time, and nothing was taken, he told Fox News.

Asked whether he has learned anything about the suspects, Joyal said he was not at liberty to discuss it, noting only that the case is technically still open.

His case could be newly relevant given escalating, bipartisan warnings in Washington over everything from Russian interference in last years political campaign to what the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called information warfare that continues to this day.

Were all targets of a sophisticated and capable adversary, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said at a hearing last Thursday.

Further, another Kremlin critic, Denis Voronenkov, was fatally shot last month in Kiev. Ukraines president blamed Russia, a claim a Putin spokesman reportedly called absurd.

Follow the trail of dead Russians, former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts testified at Burrs hearing on Thursday, an ominous warning that referred to recent killings.

Asked about the Joyal case, an FBI Baltimore spokesman told Fox News that the bureau provided limited support to Prince Georges County on the matter in 2007. But spokesman Dave Fitz said the bureau could not discuss the investigation, as this wasnt an FBI case, and we were only assisting the PD.

Fox News has asked the Prince Georges County Police Department for information on the status of the case.

Joyal said it took five years and seven operations for him to fully recover from his injuries. But, he said in an email, he is now thriving.

I am a very lucky man, he wrote.

A former director of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee, Joyal now works as managing director for public safety at the National Strategies consulting firm.

He continues to speak out on Russia, publishing a recent paper on, of all things, Russian information warfare.

But the shooting stays with him.

Asked what he still recalls, Joyal said, I remember everything about that night.
A Huntsville man who was charging his iPhone in his bed while he slept was nearly electrocuted in a freak accident.

WAAY 31 reports that Wiley Day was treated for second and third- degree burns on his neck and hands.

MAN, 32, REPORTEDLY DIES WHILE CHARGING IPHONE IN THE BATH

Day told WAAY 31 that, while he was sleeping his dog tag necklace slipped between the iPhones charger and extension cord, which had loosened. My necklace became the conductor, he told WAAY 31, adding that the force of the massive electric shock jolted him to the floor.

The 32-year-old was able to break the chain from his neck, according to the news report. Doctors told WAAY 31 that Day received about 110 volts, noting that 100 volts is enough to kill someone. "He is lucky to be alive," said Dr. Benjamin Fail.

27-YEAR-OLD ELECTROCUTED WHILE USING CELL PHONE

This is not the first accident involving a phone charger. Last year a man in the U.K. reportedly died of electrocution while charging his iPhone in the bath. In other incidents, a man in India was electrocuted while listening to music on his charging phone and a woman in Malaysia was electrocuted while speaking on her charging phone, according to news reports.

In 2013, the family of a woman in China claimed that she died of electrocution while trying answer a call on her iPhone while it was charging. The incident prompted Apple to launch an investigation.

FOR THE LATEST TECH FEATURES FOLLOW FOX NEWS TECH ON FACEBOOK

In 2013 CNN reported that, while smartphone incidents involving electric shocks and electrocution are rare, users should be careful when using substandard, incompatible, and counterfeit chargers.
From the unique viewing location of the International Space Station (ISS), Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured what may be the first ever photographs of strange and rarely-seen features of thunderstorms.

Scientists on the Thor experiment used the astronaut's snapshots to observe elusive electrical activity whose existence researchers had long debated. The astronaut's finds included a shot of a pulsating blue jet that stretched 25 miles, a rare feature that scientists have a hard time studying, said a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA).

"The viewing condition and the resolution of the camera Andreas used surpasses conventional satellite observation," Olivier Chanrion, lead author of a paper about the experiment, told Space.com by email. Chanrion, a researcher at Denmarks National Space Institute, led Thor, which required an astronaut on board the space station to photograph the hard-to-study upper layers of a thunderstorm. Results showed that powerful electrical discharges occurred at the top of the storms much more frequently than previously observed, the researchers said. [Astronaut Scott Kelly's Awesome Storm Photos from Space]

"The profuse activity Andreas Mogensen recorded from the ISS was new. We did not expect so much blue discharge sparking at the top of a cloud turret," Chanrion said.

Lightning striking again and again

Thunderstorms produce dazzling displays of lightning as seen from the ground, but the clouds shield other activity taking place in their uppermost layers. The electrical activity of these storms can affect the chemistry of the atmosphere, as anyone who has smelled ozone during a storm can attest; the strength of the effect depends on the strength, frequency, and types of electrical discharges.

As Mogensen flew over the Bay of Bengal aboard the station, traveling at 17,900 mph, he used the ISS's most sensitive camera to record the thunderstorm. His images were the first to capture pulsating discharges at the tops of storm clouds, the scientists said in a paper describing their research, which was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"They show the astonishing variety of forms that electrical activity can take as we continue to discover new varieties of discharges in and above thunderstorms," the researchers wrote.

The images also revealed blue, blob-like discharges in the surface layer of the clouds, stretching anywhere from 2.5 to 5.5 square miles and occurring about 90 times per minute. This is the first observation of blue surface-discharges with these characteristics, the scientists reported in the paper.

The study also revealed red-colored tendrils created by "sprites" (powerful electric discharges), which last only a few milliseconds. sSprites form from irregularities in Earth's upper atmosphere. Their brief duration makes them difficult to detect, according to study co-author Torsten Neubert, also of Denmark's National Space Institute,.

"The perspective of the ISS means everything, together with a high-resolution, color camera," Neubert told Space.com.

The incredible photographs astounded the scientists, they said, revealing thunderstorm-atmosphere interactions that are not well-understood. The electrical strikes can affect the concentrations of greenhouse gases, playing a significant role in moving gases between the layers of the atmosphere, Neubert said.

"We found the top of the thundercloud much more electrically active than anticipated," Neubert said. "That was a surprise. It means that thunderstorms affect the lower stratosphere more than we thought."

View from above

At any given moment, nearly 1,800 thunderstorms occur somewhere in the world , according to the National Weather Service. While making ground observations of these storms is fairly simple, studying the upper layers can be more challenging. The cloud itself can block activity at the top, absorbing the blue light created by the lightning, Chanrion said.

Thunderstorms "have been observed from aircraft, but usually the aircraft circles around a storm at some distance for safety reasons," Neubert said. "Furthermore, very few aircraft can get to the high altitudes required to look down on storm clouds."

The handful of aircraft that can travel to such high altitudes, whether they are piloted or drones, usually fly in the daylight, when it is harder to spot activity, Neubert said.

Balloons are another option , but they must be launched when the wind is quiet, Neubert said. That usually happens in the early morning, but thunderstorms are more apt to develop over the afternoon, he said.

"One has to be lucky to get the balloon to fly where it is interesting," he said.

Satellites can reach the necessary height, but often lack the necessary resolution to glimpse the details of the cloud structure, he said.

With these challenges in mind, Neubert proposed requesting that the first Danish astronaut on board the space station photograph thunderstorms for the Danish-led experiment. In September 2015, Mogensen captured brief videos of thunderstorms over India that he took in the cupola of the space station , sending them to ground within hours.

But the astronaut didn't rush to the window with his camera when he saw thunderstorms on Earth. The team on the ground had to accurately predict thunderstorms, then coordinate them with Mogensen's schedule at least three days in advance.

"Remember that thunderstorms come and go, and the Thor experiment time has to be when the ISS flies over a thunderstorm," Neubert said. "Most other experiments [the astronauts] do, do not have this complexity."

Thor's incredible images may provide a taste of things to come. The researchers said they still have questions about how common the activity observed in the single storm might be. The experiment was a precursor for ESA's Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) experiment, for which Neubert is the lead scientist. He said he expects that ASIM should be installed on the station at either the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018.

"We hope to convince other astronauts to continue Thor when ASIM is installed on the ISS so we can get supplementary observations," Neubert said.

"It is not every day that you get to capture a new weather phenomena on film, so I am very pleased with the result  but even more so that researchers will be able to investigate these intriguing thunderstorms in more detail soon," Mogensen said in the statement.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd Facebook or Google+ . Follow us at @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com .
Between the new Bixby assistant and sexy Infinity Display, the Galaxy S8 provides some pretty tempting reasons to upgrade your phone. But the most compelling new feature could be under the hood.

Whether you want to surf the web faster, stream Netflix movies with less stuttering or download apps in the blink of an eye, the Galaxy S8's Gigabit LTE support should let you do just that.

Thanks to the Snapdragon 835 processor inside the S8, you'll be able to tap into Gigabit LTE speeds that are starting to be offering by U.S. carriers. According to CNET, we're talking about data rates as high as 300 megabits per second, or 18 times better than the latest OpenSignal results.

A precursor to 5G, CNET also says Gigabit LTE will enable such services as live 360-degree video streaming for virtual reality and provide a smoother Google Instant Apps exerpience, which lets you try a given app in real time before you decide to download it.

T-Mobile should be first out of the gate with Gigabit LTE. In a recent press release, T-Mobile CEO John Legere claimed that "anyone upgrading to the Galaxy S8 can see up to double their current LTE speeds in nearly 300 cities nationwide!"

As an example of what you can do with that kind of throughput, T-Mobile says that you could download a 2-hour movie in just 15 seconds.

AT&T and Sprint are also rolling out support for Gigabit LTE, as is Verizon. We will be testing the network speeds of the Galaxy S8 on every major provider and will let you know just how fast this phone is.
Who says theres no good news? It just so happens that if all of humanity is wiped out in a nuclear holocaust, the people of Earth will leave behind a record of their existence in two doomsday vaults on the frozen island of Svalbard, halfway between Norway and the North Pole.

Svalbards first doomsday vault was built into the side of a mountain in 2008. Known as the Global Seed Vault, it stores duplicates of seed samples from across the globe. Theyre essentially backups, stored at half a degree below zero Fahrenheit. If every kernel of corn in the world is wiped out by the unthinkable, theres a backup in Svalbard waiting to be withdrawn.

The Seed Vault, which currently holds more than 880,000 samples from almost every country in the world, is big enough to store 2.5 billion seeds  an average of 500 seeds from 4.5 million varieties of crops, according to The Crop Trust, an international nonprofit dedicated to preserving global food security.

ARCTIC DOOMSDAY VAULT GROWS A FEW SEEDS BIGGER

And now the vault has a sibling  a second doomsday vault designed to ensure that the worlds most important books, documents and data are preserved much more carefully than the people who wrote them.

Launched last week, the Arctic World Archive is a place where governments, research facilities, companies and private individuals can store their information for 4,000 generations, according to a report in Science Alert.

"We believe that we can save the data using our technology for a whole 1,000 years," Katrine Loen Thomsen of the Norwegian technology company Piql told local broadcaster NRK.

LARGE PARTS OF THE AMAZON WERE ORIGINALLY PLANTED BY NATIVES

The data  basically big QR codes  is being stored in analog form, not digital, which could be vulnerable to cyberattacks and hacking, Piql founder Rune Bjerkestrand told Science Alert. When the data is physically etched into reels of film, its as if it were carved in stone, he said.

The new vault already contains the National Archives of Brazil  different kinds of documents from their national histories, like, for example, the Brazilian Constitution, Bjerkestrand said. It also now holds materials from Mexico  important documents, even from the Inca period.

As for the people responsible for all these crops and data, no third vault for humans is planned, but Svalbard sounds like a nice, safe place to live. As reported in Science Alert, the nations of the world have agreed to keep it free from military installations and occupation, making it close to a demilitarized zone.

FOR THE LATEST TECH FEATURES FOLLOW FOX NEWS TECH ON FACEBOOK

We can be reasonably confident that no military attack will happen, Pal Berg, of the Norwegian coal mining firm SNSK, told NRK.

Youll want to pack an extra sweater, because it gets a bit chilly at night  especially in the winter, which lasts about half a year.

But thats the price you pay for safety. And if the unthinkable happens, youll have more than enough seeds and books to last you a lifetime.
A cargo plane in Papua, Indonesia, was looking a little tipsy after stopping for a delivery at Wamena Airport, and its all because of a little cooking oil.

Okay -- a lot of cooking oil.

The aircraft, which was operated by Tri-M.G. airlines, was flying into the city of Wamena from Timika on Monday afternoon with a shipment of Bimoli oil, among other cargo. During the unloading process, the oil spilled from its container in the center of the plane, coated the floor, and caused all the other cargo to slump toward the back of the cabin, reports The Jakarta Post.

HOW TO AVOID GETTING SICK ON AN AIRPLANE

Due to the shifting weight, the planes nose lifted a few meters in the air, and its tail touched the apron.

The entire unloading process took only 40 minutes, reports The Jakarta Post, during which time the ground crew rushed to correct the off-balance aircraft.

Footage of the incident was also shared on social media, capturing the exact moment when the Tri-M.G. aircraft was safely back on the tarmac.

Rasburhani, the head of Wamena Airport, confirmed that the plane suffered only minor scratches and was returned to its normal condition following the incident.

We are waiting for the results of the investigation from the Transportation Ministrys directorate of operations and airworthiness maintenance, he told The Jakarta Post.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

This isnt the first time in recent months that Wamena Airport has had trouble with its cargo carriers. In September, a plane carrying nearly 15,000 tons of fuel skidded off the runway when the aircrafts back wheels failed to extend.

According to reports, no one suffered any injuries in either incident.
Boaters in Southern California were asked to be on the lookout for a gray whale tangled in an unknown material heading north along the coast.

As of Tuesday morning, there has been no word of the whale being spotted.

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 off Dana Point.

"The whale was being evasive because there were so many boats around it," Brennan told the Orange County Register. 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Federal regulators in January sued Navient, accusing the biggest U.S. student loan company of making it harder for borrowers to repay loans by giving them bad information, processing payments incorrectly and failing to act on complaints.

Navient reportedly said in response the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suit that there is no expectation that the servicer will act in the interest of the consumer.

The CFPB filed the federal lawsuit against Navient Corp. and two subsidiaries seeking restitution for affected borrowers and money penalties.The agency said the company also cheated struggling borrowers out of their rights to lower their payments "through shortcuts and deception."

Bloomberg reported that Navient pointed out that its job is not to help its debt holders, rather it is to get its creditorsin this case the U.S. Departmentof Educationpaid. Navient reportedly explained that the department never agreed to offer the customer service the CFPB wants.

David Bergeron, who worked at the Education Department for more than 30 years, told Bloomberg that the comments from Navient ranks among the most appalling statements I have heard in my career. If thats all theyre doing, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service would do it better.

What this means for the Education Department is that it needs to fire Navient, Bergeron said. Damn the costs.

The company told Bloomberg in a statement that it helps borrowers navigate loan repayment through proven solutions.

Navient has repeatedly disputed the allegations, calling the suit a politically motivated "midnight action" two days before the Trump administration takes office.

"We will vigorously defend against these false allegations," the company said in a statement at the time.

Among the allegations: that Navient failed to correctly apply borrowers' payments to their accounts; steered struggling borrowers into paying more than they had to; and hurt the credit of disabled borrowers, including injured veterans, by misreporting to the credit-reporting agencies the status of their loans.

In May 2015, the Justice Department announced that nearly 78,000 members of the U.S. military would be reimbursed under a $60 million consent decree with Navient, because they had been charged excess interest on student loans.

The CFPB said that since July 2011, when it began operations, tens of thousands of borrowers have filed complaints with Navient, the agency and other government agencies about the obstacles they faced in repaying federal and private student loans serviced by Navient.

Navient, formerly part of Sallie Mae, manages and collects payments on more than $300 billion in federal and private-market student loans, according to the CFPB. The company services loans held by more than 12 million borrowers, including over 6 million loan accounts under its contract with the Education Department.

The New York Times pointed out that Navient does not make the loans.

Republicans have opposed the CFPB, which was created by the financial overhaul law enacted following the 2008 crisis. Some Republican lawmakers want President-elect Donald Trump to fire the agency's director, Richard Cordray, after he assumes office.

The consumer watchdog agency has been enmeshed in partisan politics since its creation in 2010. And in October, a federal appeals court ruled that its structure is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to a single agency director.

The court ruled that the way the CFPB is organized violates the Constitution's separation of powers by limiting the president's ability to remove the director.

Washington state and Illinois filed their own suits against Navient on Wednesday, lodging accusations of unfair and deceptive practices. The company also disputed the state actions.

Student loan debt became a leading issue in the presidential election campaign. Regulators across the government have been scrutinizing Navient and other major companies in the $1.2 trillion student debt market, such as Great Lakes, PHEAA and Nelnet.

Navient, based in Wilmington, Delaware, said the CFPB's suit "improperly seeks to impose penalties on Navient based on new (loan) servicing standards applied retroactively and applied only against one servicer."

Navient said the standards being applied by the CFPB don't track with the Education Department's regulations and that they will harm student loan borrowers and increase defaults.
A New Jersey teen plotted to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to Philadelphia  attempting to hire a sniper to shoot him during his Papal mass, federal prosecutors say.

Santos Colon, 17, pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support to terrorists, according to court documents.

MURDERED STUDENT'S PARENTS ASK POPE TO RAISE CASE IN EGYPT

The Lindenwold resident now faces up to 15 years behind bars after being charged as an adult in Camden federal court.

Prosecutors say he admitted to hatching the ISIS-inspired terror plot  which included setting off bombs across the City of Brotherly Love  between June 30, 2015 to Aug. 14, 2015.

The attack was supposed to take place during Pope Francis visit to Philly that September.

Colon had tried hiring a sniper to kill the Holy Father during his Papal mass, but the supposed hit-man turned out to be an undercover agent for the FBI.

Colon was reportedly inspired by the Islamic State  and had obtained instructions on how to make bombs from the internet before his arrest in 2015.

Click for more from The New York Post.
An Air Force base spokesman says an F-16C fighter jet had to make an emergency landing in Ohio because of a hydraulic leak.

The Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/2nUnYOB) reports the jet landed safely Tuesday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. Base spokesman Bryan Ripple told the newspaper that the jet was one of two from the Toledo-based 180th Fighter Wing that landed at the base shortly after 10 a.m.

Firefighters were standing by near the main runway as a precaution when the jet landed. Ripple said that is the normal procedure for any in-flight emergency declared by a pilot.

The fighter wing is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard.

___

Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
A California mans plane ride veered off course and ended abruptly after he was arrested by police -- on suspicion of flying under the influence.

"A DUI involving an airplane, that doesn't happen very often, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Alex Villanueva.

The Piper Cherokee's left wing clipped a stop sign, but the single-engine plane remained upright after it landed in an empty warehouse parking lot late Monday, Villanueva said.

4 DEAD, 2 INJURED AS PLANE HITS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOMES

As deputies talked to the pilot, they suspected he might be intoxicated and took him into custody, The Associated Press reported.

Darrell Roberts, 58, was alone in the airplane and he was not injured, according to Fox 5.

HARRISON FORD WON'T FACE PUNISHMENT IN AIRPORT RUNWAY INCIDENT

Roberts could face a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It wasn't immediately known if he has an attorney. Roberts was held in lieu of $1,000 bail and ordered to appear in court July 5.

Roberts got lost and was running out of fuel during a planned flight from Temecula, in Riverside County, to San Diego, about 60 miles south, The Associated Press reported.

"He was headed in the wrong direction and somehow ended up here in LA County," said Villanueva.

The plane landed in Whittier, a Los Angeles suburb about 70 miles north of where it took off. It was expected to be retrieved by a crew hired by an insurance company, Villanueva said.

The 1973 Piper PA-28-140 is registered to a Darrell S. Roberts of Winchester, in Riverside County. A phone number for Roberts could not be found.

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating, spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox 5.
The parents of an Idaho boy injured by a government-planted cyanide bomb have filed a petition calling on the White House to ban the controversial devices, used for decades by the Agriculture Department to control predators.

Canyon Mansfield, 14, was knocked to the ground last month when an M-44 predator control device spewed cyanide gas into his face and killed his dog. The family had no knowledge the device -- set by the U.S. government some 350 yards from the Mansfields' doorstep -- was there.

Since the March 16 incident, Canyon has experienced headaches, nausea and numbness and has visited a neurologist for testing, his mother, Theresa Mansfield, told Fox News.

"He's been struggling with some really bad headaches," Mansfield said Tuesday. "We also had to contact a toxicologist in Denver. It's scary because no one really knows what cyanide does -- we just don't deal with this stuff."

Mansfield and her husband, Mark, created an online petition last week calling on the federal government to ban the devices used by Wildlife Services -- a little-known branch of the USDA tasked with destroying animals seen as threats to people, agriculture and the environment.

"The USDA maintains they resolve conflict between wildlife and people 'in the safest and most humane ways possible' but the nature of the cyanide bomb is neither safe nor humane," Mark Mansfield wrote in an online petition.

"Cyanide gas has been used throughout history to murder masses of people," wrote Mansfield, a physician from Pocatello, Idaho.

Click here to read the petition

Canyon stumbled upon the unmarked device while running up a hill behind his parents' home with his 3-year-old golden Labrador, Casey.

When the M-44 detonated, the boy watched as his dog lay dying, suffocating from the orange-colored cyanide sprayed by the device.

"It's an image that haunts him," Theresa Mansfield said. "And there's been no apology from the government."

The M-44s, also known as "coyote-getters," are designed to lure animals with a smelly bait. When an animal tugs on the device, a spring-loaded metal cylinder fires sodium cyanide powder into its mouth.

Over the years, thousands of non-target animals -- wild and domestic -- have been mistakenly killed by the lethal devices.

The Mansfield dog's death follows a string of other recent incidents in which family pets and endangered species were accidentally killed by M-44s. A gray wolf was killed in February when it came upon the device on private land in Oregon's Wallowa County.

Four conservation and animal-welfare groups announced Tuesday they are suing the Trump administration for "failing to protect endangered species from two deadly pesticides used to kill coyotes and other native carnivores."

"Cyanide bombs are indiscriminate killers," said Collette Adkins, an attorney and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"In just the past several weeks theyve injured a child and killed an endangered wolf and several family dogs. These dangerous pesticides need to be banned, but until then, they shouldnt be used where they can hurt people or kill family pets and endangered wildlife," Adkins said.

The government, meanwhile, has called the accidental death of family pets from M-44s a "rare occurrence," and said Wildlife Services posts signs and issues other warnings to alert pet owners when traps are placed near their homes.

Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, recently told Fox News these devices "are only set at the request of and with permission from property owners or managers."

But the Mansfields claimed they had no knowledge the devices were anywhere near their home and said they were not familiar with how they work.

The Bannock County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the incident, also told Fox News it found no warning signs in the area near where the devices were planted.

"The next time it's going to take a life of a child," Theresa Mansfield said. "This is a hidden danger few people know about."
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

Lawyers for a Minnesota police officer charged with fatally shooting a black motorist asked a judge Tuesday to move the trial, saying publicity has made it impossible to seat an unbiased jury in the St. Paul area.

St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the death of Philando Castile. Castile's girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat when Castile was shot in Falcon Heights, livestreamed the bloody aftermath on Facebook.

Defense attorney Earl Gray argued that Yanez, who is Latino, couldn't get a fair trial in Ramsey County, where the shooting occurred in July 2016, because of extensive media coverage of the case. He suggested moving the May 30 trial to Duluth, St. Cloud or Brainerd, outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Gray also noted remarks by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi that were critical of the officer's actions. Dayton has said he did not think the shooting would have happened if Castile had been white; Choi has said no reasonable officer would have acted as Yanez did.

"There's no way you can get him a fair trial (in Ramsey County)," Gray told the judge. "You get outstate, I assure you we will pick a jury very quickly."

Prosecutors said moving the trial wouldn't achieve anything because the case received widespread publicity. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Clayton Robinson Jr. also argued that questionnaires and other steps taken during jury selection would help ensure jurors' impartiality.

Judge William H. Leary III didn't immediately rule on the request, but he took issue with a suggestion Gray made during the hearing about local protesters possibly targeting jurors' homes if Yanez were ultimately acquitted.

"To suggest that individuals' homes (could be) burned ... is simply not true," the judge said.

Castile, 32, was an employee of St. Paul public schools when he was shot. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, has said Castile was reaching for his wallet when he was shot. Another defense attorney, Tom Kelly, has said Yanez was reacting to the presence of a gun.

Leary denied one motion by the defense, to separate the manslaughter count against Yanez from other counts that he intentionally endangered passengers in Castile's car. Reynolds' then-4-year-old daughter was also in the car with Castile when he was shot.
A military veteran in Texas said he was blindsided when the university he attends told him his service dog was no longer allowed on campus.

Disabled veterans service dog kicked off UNT campus https://t.co/kYqnQfzFA0 pic.twitter.com/CiMea5vu2n  CW33 (@CW33) April 2, 2017

Tawan Throngkumpola, who served three tours abroad, told KDAF he received a letter from the University of North Texas on Friday saying he was not allowed to bring his service dog, Cali, to campus anymore.

This is probably the least disabled veteran-friendly school in the nation right now, he said.

MARINE'S AMERICAN FLAG SET ON FIRE IN ACT OF VANDALISM

Throngkumpola said the problems started in November when the campus banned his 7-year-old Rottweiler, claiming there were five incidents of her being aggressive -- even though the dog never harmed other people.

He said appealed the decision and tried to address it by getting more training classes for Cali. He said the dog was a medical necessity.

DISABLED VETERAN TO HIKE APPALACHIAN TRAIL TO RAISE MONEY FOR OTHER VETS

Cali helps ease his PTSD-related anxiety, barks when she senses he is in medical distress, reminds him to take his 20+ pills each day and lies on him at night when she thinks he might be about to sleep walk, Thronkumpola said.

"We made effort to improve, but that's not listed anywhere," explained Throngkumpola. "It's like the University's just made their decision."

A university official wrote in the Friday letter that the school's initial decision would not change.

I kept reading, Were upholding these actions. But no reason why, Throngkumpola said.

Fox News reached out to the university for comment.

Throngkumpola told KDAF he would continue to fight to have Cali on campus with him, even if it means taking the university to court.

I will risk my education, career to make sure this will not happen to another disabled veteran or disabled person, he said.
Authorities in Missouri have been in contact with families of two young missing women from the Kansas City area after the discovery of two sets of human remains this week.

A day after a mushroom hunter found human bones in a remote area of Cass County, officials said Tuesday they found a second human skull in a wooded area near the town of Belton, located south of Kansas City.

While officials would not confirm if the remains were from Kara Koptesky and Jessica Runions, authorities have been in contact with their families, FOX 4 Kansas City reported.

Captain Kevin Tieman told FOX 4 the skull recovered Monday has been sent to the Jackson County Medical Examiner for further examination.

Kopetsky, 17, has been missing since May 2007, and Runions was reported missing in September 2016. Kopetsky was last seen leaving Belton High School and has not been seen since. Runions, 21, was last seen at a party with her boyfriend and one of his friends, Kylr Yust, 28.

Yust was dating Koptesky before her disappearance. He has never been charged in her disappearance, but she and her mother, Rhonda Beckford, filed a restraining order against him shortly before she was reported missing.

Yust was also a friend of Runions, and was charged with "knowingly burning" the 21-year-old's car. He was arrested in September 2016 at his familys home in Edwards, Mo., about two hours from Kansas City, but has not faced additional charges related to her disappearance.

In recent months, Karas mother, and Jessicas mother, Jamie Runions, told FOX 4 they have become friends with the common and devastating bond of missing a child.

I dont think I could get through this without them and my family and friends, Runions said. Its just hard. Its the hardest thing anybody would have to go through.

Beckford said authorities brought them in Tuesday because they "thought there would be some information," but so far "it just hasn't panned out to be that way."

My feeling is Kara is gone, but of course there is always that doubt in the back of your mind when you dont know 100 percent," Beckford said. "You always hold onto that hope thats what you go on. But we need a resolution to this and we need to find out what happened to our girls. Good or bad, we just want them home.

Every hour, every day, every minute, we just hope and pray those answers come in and we find our daughters and we are able to put the dirtbag away for the rest of his life so he cant hurt anyone else again, Beckford added.

In January, groups searching for Runions body found two bodies while searching, but neither of those bodies belonged to either of the two women.

Read more from FOX4KC.com.
Florida's Republican governor on Monday took 21 more first-degree murder cases away from a Democratic prosecutor who has said she will no longer seek the death penalty.

Gov. Rick Scott gave the cases being handled by Orlando-area 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 Markeith Loyd or any other defendant. Loyd is charged with killing an Orlando police lieutenant and his pregnant ex-girlfriend earlier this year. Scott took the Loyd case away from Ayala last month and reassigned it to King.

"If you look at these cases they are horrendous cases," Scott told The Associated Press. "And so I'm going to continue to think about the families and that's how I made my decision today."

In a statement, Scott added that "Ayala's 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."

Ayala's spokeswoman said Scott never notified her office about his order and that the prosecutor instead learned about it through the news media.

"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," said Eryka Washington.

Ayala has said she plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the governor's action stripping her of the Loyd case.

Ayala's decision to no longer seek the death penalty for defendants has stirred strong opinions. Civil rights groups and faith groups have praised her, while many Republicans lawmakers and law enforcement have criticized her.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said regardless of her position on the death penalty, Ayala needs to follow the law.

"Whenever decisions are made regarding the prosecution of individuals, the prosecutor must take into consideration the will and the desire of the victim's survivors," he said.

Democratic state Rep. Sean Shaw of Tampa called Scott's actions a "gross abuse of his power."

"The governor is attempting to set dangerous precedent that would destroy the idea of independence for state attorneys throughout Florida who must now fear political retribution by the state's most powerful politician if they make a decision he disagrees with," Shaw said in a news release.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is looking for a "diplomatic solution" to resolving charges that a Turkish man helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions, the suspect's attorney told a judge on Tuesday.

Giuliani and ex-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey aimed to "structure a resolution" to charges against Reza Zarrab, lawyer Ben Brafman said, adding that they were not trying to work around federal prosecutors. The 33-year-old Zarrab has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

TOP TURKISH BANK EXECUTIVE ARRESTED IN MULTIMILLION DOLLAR PRO-IRAN BANK FRAUD

Zarrab was arrested on March 27 in the U.S. in connection with a scheme to evade trade sanctions on nuclear Iran and conspiracies to commit bank fraud. This arrest triggered a new strain in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Turkey.

Tuesday's hearing discussed whether to hold a future conflict-of-interest hearing for Zarrab, which ended up being scheduled for April 24.

LAWYER: GIULIANI, EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL WORK FOR TURKISH MAN

The hearing will argue conflict of interest between Zarrab and his lawyers, Giuliani and Mukasey, whose law firms have represented banks that allegedly were defrauded by Zarrab.

The defense argued that Zarrab, a 400-day detainee, an international figure, and not a U.S. citizen, undoubtedly has the right to consult with anyone who could help him. Privileged conversations are allowed, unless his discussions were unlawful, which Brafman argued were not.

Brafman called the meetings appropriate and said Giuliani and Mukasey could help organize a resolution.

Giuliani and Mukasey recently met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and prosecutors say they had sought to meet U.S. government officials to try to resolve the case. Few details about this trip have emerged.

The judge is set to issue his written opinion and give the defense time to respond before the hearing on April 24. The official trial is set to start on August 21, a trial Judge Berman says will be about fairness, integrity, and being conflict-free.

Fox News Tamara Gitt, David Lee Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Theres growing friction between the Department of Homeland Security and judges across the country. Its over the recent arrests of illegal immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at courthouses.

Ann Benson, senior directing attorney of the Washington Defender Association, said theres been a sharp increase in immigration arrests since President Trump took office.

Immigrants are throughout all of our communities, said Benson, and theyre terrified right now.

Some judges complain that immigrants are now afraid to show up at courthouses, even when they are there as victims seeking justice.

TRUMP COULD MAKE COURTHOUSE ARRESTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THE NEW NORMAL

The state Supreme Court chief justices in California and Washington State have each written letters to DHS Secretary John Kelly asking that ICE agents stay away from court buildings. In her letter, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote immigration agents appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrestsCourthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our countrys immigration laws.

Washington State Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst also expressed concern.

These developments are deeply troubling because they impede the fundamental mission of our courts, Fairhurst said, which is to ensure due process and access to justice for everyone, regardless of their immigration status.

Fairhurst told Fox News shes been hearing reports of undocumented immigrants not showing up for court hearings or appointments to receive protective orders against abusive partners.

OREGON JUDGE FACES SCRUTINY FOR ALLEGEDLY HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ESCAPE ICE

I have a duty and responsibility to speak up when the administration of justice in Washington State is impacted by policies and activities, Fairhurst said.

But Justices Fairhurst and Cantil-Sakauye are coming under fire from critics who say they are taking a political stand and undermining the credibility of their courts. Retired Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders said judges should refrain from lobbying the federal government.

Its not up to the judiciary to tell ICE where and how and when to detain people, Sanders said, The court is there to adjudicate cases and controversies.

ICE officials defend the courthouse enforcement saying its usually a last resort. They maintain its much safer for the agents to make arrests at courthouses than on the street or at the illegal immigrants home. In a statement, ICE wrote Many of the arrest targets ICE has sought out at or near courthouses are foreign nationals who have prior criminal convictions in the U.S.

Among the convicted criminals targeted for courthouse arrest was Diddier Pacheco. The Mexican national was in Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon last month pleading guilty to DUI when two ICE agents showed up to arrest him. Judge Monica Herranz is now under investigation for allegedly allowing Pacheco to slip out an employee exit to evade the ICE agents.

Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies said judges are overstepping their authority.

I think were coming to a showdown between the federal government and local jurisdictions that, for political reasons, want to interfere with immigration enforcement, Vaughan said.

Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice responded to the California Chief Justice. In a letter signed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS Secretary John Kelly, the federal government admonished Justice Cantil-Sakauye for using the term stalking to describe ICE agents.

Stalking has a specific legal meaning in American law, which describes criminal activity, the letter said. The arrest of persons in a public place based upon probable cause has long been held by the United States Supreme Court as constitutionally permissible.

The letter also encourages Cantil-Sakauye to raise her concerns with politicians in California who support sanctuary city policies. Officials argue the release of criminal aliens from jails that refuse to honor ICE detainer requests force agents to make arrests in places like courthouses.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

A deeply conservative state, Tennessee voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump and his tough stance on immigration.

And yet, some Republican lawmakers are pushing a proposal that would allow public colleges to offer in-state tuition rates to students whose parents brought them into the country illegally.

If the lawmakers succeed, Tennessee would follow the lead of Washington, D.C., the only other local government to pass such an ordinance since Trump took office in January. Twenty other states already allow the in-state tuition, including about a half-dozen that tilt Republican.
Two Florida men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the Department of Justice.

Dayne Antani Christian, also known as Shakur, 32, of Lake Park pleaded guilty on March 29, and Darren Arness Jackson, also known as Daoud, 51, of West Palm Beach pleaded guilty on Tuesday  both of whom expressed a desire to travel to Syria to join ISIS, according to the indictment.

On July 21, 2016, Christian, Jackson and Gregory Hubbard, also known as Jibreel, were arrested after Jackson drove Hubbard and an FBI confidential human source (CHS) to Miami International Airport for a flight to Berlin, Germany. Hubbard had purchased the ticket and planned to later travel to Turkey by train and then cross into Syria to join ISIS.

Christian provided AK-47-style assault rifles to practice shooting with Jackson, Hubbard and the FBI CHS, at a remote area in Palm Beach County to prepare for their travel to Syria, according to the DOJ.

According to the DOJ, Hubbard is scheduled for trial on Oct. 30, Christian and Jackson face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy plea, and Christian faces an additional sentence of 10 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

All three have been detained since their arrests.

State and local authorities assisted federal agencies with the investigation.
Opening statements in the murder trial for a pharmacist accused of fatally shooting a man at his Ocean Beach condo last year began Monday afternoon.

Thomas Burke, 33, is accused of killing his roommate Larae Clarks boyfriend at the door of his Ocean Beach condo.

ICE DETAINS PROSTITUTE WHO GAVE DEADLY DRUG SHOT TO GOOGLE EXECUTIVE

The prosecution said it was a case of jealousy, while the defense team said it was self-defense. Attorneys for both sides talked about forensic evidence, text messages, their timing and what may have happened on June 22, 2016.

Prosecutors said Burke shot 35-year-old Jess Robles in the throat and chest when the victim showed up at Burke's front door in the 4100 block of Voltaire Street around 11 p.m.

Jealousy, rage and murder. Thats why were here today, said Deputy District Attorney Kyle Sutterley. The defendant was jealous of his roommates boyfriend. That jealousy turned to rage and .... Burke shot and killed Jess Robles, his roommate's boyfriend."

Defense attorney Tom Warwick pointed out the content and timing of text messages show the victim Robles, had made several threats against Burke via text messages for among many things including kicking the victims girlfriend out of his Ocean Beach condo.

Click for more from Fox 5.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

A judge will meet with attorneys and prosecutors to discuss pretrial progress for the murder retrial of a white former University of Cincinnati police officer in the death of an unarmed black man.

Hamilton County Judge Leslie Ghiz (gihz) said after a Feb. 27 meeting that the Ray Tensing case was on track for a May 25 trial date.

Tensing testified at his first murder trial that he feared for his life as Sam DuBose tried to drive away from a traffic stop in July 2015. He had stopped DuBose for a missing front license plate. That trial ended in November with a hung jury.

The judge has said her goal is to keep the second trial in Hamilton County. She imposed a gag order on participants.
A husband and wife from Uxbridge were on their way home from Florida this week and everything was going smooth until they pulled into a gas station in Virginia.

Bob says he and his wife Kathy, who asked FOX25 not to use their last name, were attacked by a random woman who shouted slurs at them and assaulted them with a hammer.

I hear this lady, 2 pump islands over yelling something about a message. I'm like I don't know who she's talking to, Bob said.

Thats when the woman approached them and began attacking.

A young black woman gets in my face and starts yelling, you got a message from me you got a message for me with your fancy car, and fancy boat, Bob said. She's punching at me, shes spitting.

Bob has scratches on his face, and he says they believe the attack in Rutherglen, Virginia was racially motivated.

Her hand came up, my glasses go flying, she was starting to scratch the hell out of my face, he said.

Kathy was inside the store getting coffee, but as she came outside and saw what was going on, the woman changed began going after her.

She ran over to me, and started to come towards me. She looked at me and said I'm so sick of you white [expletives], Kathy said.

The suspect took off, but a witness managed to get a picture of her car. Deputies said shes been identified as 26-year-old Angela Jones of Newark, New Jersey. An arrest warrant has been issued, but Jones remains at large.

Read more from FOX 25 Boston.
A South Carolina police officer has been fired after being charged with drunken driving while on the job and driving his patrol car.

Lamar Police Chief Jason Chaney tells news outlets a disciplinary board voted Monday to fire 50-year-old Jerry "Jay" Russell from the force.

Chaney says Darlington County deputies pulled Lamar over on Friday, telling the chief they thought Russell may have been under the influence while responding to a report of a dog bite.

Authorities say he performed poorly on a field sobriety test and refused a breathalyzer test. Russell was charged with driving under the influence and having an open container of alcohol in his car.

Russell was released from jail Saturday on bond. It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.
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, Jacob Redfern and Jakob Woodruff 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 later told The Associated Press.

The spellings of the names and the ages of the teens differ in some public records, but Wagoner County Deputy Nick Mahoney said the latest information is that Cook and Redfern were 18 and Woodruff was 15.

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.

However, an Oklahoma City pharmacist was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2009 fatal shooting of a 16-year-old robber inside the pharmacy. Prosecutors said the teenager was left unconscious by one shot from the pharmacist, who then chased another robber outside the store before returning inside, picking up a second gun and shooting the still unconscious teen several more times.

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.

Elliott said the group had gone to the property earlier the same day and stole liquor and electronic equipment from a garage apartment, then returned to steal more items.

"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.
The anti-government survivalist who's accused of killing a Pennsylvania trooper and injuring a second at their barracks -- sparking a manhunt that lasted more than a month -- will not testify at his own trial, his defense attorney said Tuesday.

Eric Frein stands accused of opening fire outside a state police barracks in the Poconos in 2014. He could face a death sentence if he's convicted in the ambush that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and critically wounded Trooper Alex Douglass.

OHIO AMBER ALERT FOR TWO KIDS APPARENTLY KIDNAPPED BY MOM'S BOYFRIEND

A prosecutor told jurors that Frein assassinated Dickson in an attempt to spark a revolution. Pike County First Assistant District Attorney Bruce DeSarro asked the panel to deliver "full justice" by convicting Frein.

Defense lawyer Michael Weinstein reminded jurors that Frein is presumed innocent and the government must prove its case. Weinstein said Frein, who led police on a 48-day manhunt before his capture, won't take the stand, but that jurors will hear portions of a 4-hour interview that was taped with Frein.

The state trooper who survived the shooting, Cpl Alex Douglas was seated in the back alongside Penn State Police personnel. Tiffany Dickson, the widow of Corporal Dickson, got so emotional during the judge's reading of the charges that she had to leave the courtroom abruptly.

Fox News' Shira Bush in Milford and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two python hunters captured a massive python in the Florida Everglades over the weekend.

The state has licensed python hunters as part of the the South Florida python pilot program, called the Everglades Python Challenge.

On Saturday, hunters Nicholas Banos and Leonardo Sanchez wrangled a 15-foot python, which is the largest one caught this season, so far.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESCUERS ON LOOKOUT FOR TANGLED WHALE

Burmese pythons have been destroying public land and are top of the food chain in the ecosystem, so the South Florida Water Management District approved the program funding, designed to incentivize private parties who help eliminate the snakes.

Snake wranglers have 60 days to catch the snakes. Participants are being paid minimum wage hourly rate, up to eight hours daily, with an additional $50 payment for pythons measuring up to four feet.

Wranglers capturing a bigger snake will earn an extra $25 for each foot measured above four feet.

Click here to read more news from Fox 35.
A small team of hunters captured a massive 15-foot-long python in the Florida Everglades, and told Fox News they got a cash reward of more than $600 and just a few snake bites to show for it.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW

Hunters Leonardo Sanchez and Nicholas Banos are part of the Everglades Python Challenge, a pilot program that aims to help get rid of snakes that have been destroying public land.

When the two wranglers were headed back down a narrow, 18-mile road after an attempt at hunting with a friend, Sanchez saw half of the body of the giant snake leading down the steep levee.

SNAKE LEFT BEHIND ON FLIGHT IN ALASKA

I didnt have time to look for the head, Sanchez said. It was buried by brush so I grabbed it by the tail.

The snake took off, weaving through the trees in hopes of escaping while Sanchez still held on. Banos tried to grab the head of the snake which in turn snapped back right into his face.

REPTILE INTRUDER: POLICE REMOVE HUGE SNAKE FROM FLORIDA WOMANS HOME

I jumped chest-first on the snake, Sanchez said casually. I managed to grab the head and lay on it while it was all zig-zagged through the trees.

This whopping Burmese python weighed 144 pounds, only six pounds less than Sanchez himself, as he kept the pure muscle predator pinned.

People think that snakes like that move slowly and sluggish, he said. But they dont. They run.

Banos said he wanted to shoot the snake on-site so there would be less of a threat, but for Sanchez, that would mean defeat.

If we shoot this snake right here, that means she won, he explained. Eventually we were able to pull it out, and it gave us a fight.

Bigger snakes supposedly get tired quicker, but for these wranglers, that was not the case.

This was the biggest snake Banos and Sanchez have caught before, their previous record being a 14.5-foot python. Sanchez says he wants to capture a world-record-breaking python that will give him the rush hes looking for.

I dont want to tie the record, I want to beat it.
With a cloud of dust, Bertha  Seattles tunnel boring machine  reached the end of her long, troubled journey, a milestone in a multibillion-dollar project to replace an aging highway hugging the citys waterfront.

Bertha, the machine digging a 1.75 mile tunnel under Seattle to replace a waterfront bridge with an underground roadway, had just 30 feet of mining left at the beginning of the day Tuesday.

Social media users posted memes about the time it took to reach this moment, when the giant machine cut through the final pieces of concrete in a 5-foot wall, filling the air with dust.

"Today is a major construction milestone in our plan to reclaim Seattle's waterfront," Mayor Ed Murray said. "We will build a waterfront for pedestrians, transit and sensible car trips without a freeway wall casting a shadow over our vision of a well-connected 21st century city."

The final stretch

Mining started around 8 a.m. Three hours later, Seattle Tunnel Partners said there was less than a foot of mining left. At that point, Bertha was moving at a rate of 5 mm per minute.

Dust obscured the view of Bertha's final stretch, but you could hear pieces of concrete falling as the machine broke through a five-foot concrete wall.

At 11:30 a.m., Bertha tweeted that the cutterhead had broken through and was visible.

What's next?

Crews will break down Bertha as others prepare the inside of the tunnel to handle double-decker lanes of an underground highway that will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was damaged in a 2001 earthquake. The $3.1 billion tunnel is set to open in 2019, four years behind schedule. The original completion date was in 2015.

Proponents say the viaduct will no longer wall off Puget Sound. Some conservative lawmakers slammed the project as an expensive vanity project, and environmentalists objected to building another highway in Seattle.

Read more from Q13Fox.com.
The adoptive parents of a 3-year-old South Carolina girl are taking their case to the state's Supreme Court, after a lower court vacated the adoption of the child they've cared for since she was weeks old.

Tammy and Edward Dalsing, of Rock Hill, S.C., filed papers with the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday in their fight to retain custody of their adopted daughter, Braelynn Puckett.

The couple welcomed the girl into their home in 2013 when she was 3 weeks old, raising the bubbly, brown-eyed girl who loves ballet and swing sets as if she were their own.

The latest legal move comes after an appellate court vacated their adoption and ordered the girl be returned to her biological father, whom she's never met, according to the Dalsings.

"It's a devastating blow," Edward Dalsing told Fox News on Tuesday. "They undid everything that the original judge did."

"This sets a frightening precedent," he said. "A lot of children are not going to get permanency as a result of this ruling."

The Dalsings  registered foster parents who have three biological and four other children  were declared adoptive parents of the girl, according to a 2015 "Final Order of Adoption Notice" obtained by Fox News.

In the ruling, a family court judge "hereby forever terminated" the parental rights of the child's biological parents, Erica Smith and Andrew Jack Myers, who was incarcerated at the time of the order.

"...the Dalsings have demonstrated their ability to provide care, support, stability, and security for Braelynn," the September 2015 court order reads. "They are well-suited to meet her physical, emotional, medical, educational, spiritual and other needs."

But in a move that stunned the family, an appellate court judge ruled to vacate the adoption in December 2016. The girl's fate is now back in the hands of the family court system. Myers is arguing the court never should have terminated his parental rights.

"His rights were terminated because [Myers] failed to meet the minimum requirements under South Carolina state law," said Tammy Dalsing, claiming Myers never called, visited, provided financial support or showed any interest in the child's life.

Myers' attorney, meanwhile, said her client was not present in court when his rights were terminated, though court documents show he was legally represented.

"[Myers] was never in court  he was never allowed to come," his lawyer, Melinda Butler, told Fox News in February. "He was incarcerated in another state and was never transported."

"Mr. Myers has been committed to being a father to his daughter from the womb and he remains absolutely committed and his family supports him 100 percent," Butler said.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services had removed the girl from her biological mother shortly after her birth in May 2013 when a drug test revealed the presence of cocaine in her system. The DSS then placed Braelynn with the Dalsings, who contract with DSS to provide foster care.

The York County couple has eight children, five of whom came to the Dalsings as foster children, including Braelynn and her biological sister, McKenna.

At the time Braelynn was placed in the care of the Dalsings, Myers was incarcerated in Virginia on two contempt of court charges, two fraud, bank notes or coins charges and one probation violation.

Following his release in November, Myers appealed the adoption order and an appellate court judge agreed, citing a previous ruling that said incarceration was not enough reason to terminate a parent's rights.

"We vacate the family court's finding that father's consent was not required for the adoption and the family court's order granting foster parents adoption of child," reads the appellate court opinion. "We find the record does not contain clear and convincing evidence showing father willfully failed to visit child."

But Judge Rochelle Conits, who issued the 2015 adoption order, had disagreed.

"Mr. Myers has willfully failed to support the child," she wrote in the final order. "He never paid any support for the child, despite having the ability and discretion to do so from funds in his commissary account."

The Dalsings also say Myers made no attempt to contact them about the daughter he's never met. He sent one card through his attorney shortly before the girl's first birthday, according to the family.

"Hes never tried to call us," Edward Dalsing said. "He lost his right not because he was in prison, but because he didnt do anything.

The family had requested a re-hearing with the state court of appeals while the girl continues to live with them. When that request was denied, the Dalsings filed papers with the state's Supreme Court.

Neither Myers nor the girl's biological mother, Erica Smith, could be reached for comment.

The Dalsings claim Smith  whom they are in regular contact with  had asked them to adopt her daughter and sides with the family in the dispute.

The DSS has previously declined to comment on the matter, citing confidentiality laws.

The Dalsings have launched an online petition and created a website to bring awareness to their plight.

"Were asking everyone to be a voice for Braelynn because right now the South Carolina judicial system is not her voice," Edward Dalsing said.
The case involving Roman Polanski, who fled the United States after he forced himself on a teenage girl during a photo shoot, has spanned more than 40 years, sparking court battles on both sides of the Atlantic. The Oscar winner remains a fugitive and has repeatedly requested that a court end the case without his presence. Meanwhile, prosecutors have repeatedly sought his extradition so the case can end with his sentencing. A ruling Monday failed to provide Polanski what he has wanted for years  an avenue to end the case from afar.

Here are some key dates in the long-running court saga:

___

March 10, 1977  Roman Polanski conducts a photo shoot with a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house. As she later testifies, Polanski gives the girl champagne and part of a sedative during the shoot, then forced her to have sex. She says she repeatedly told Polanski no during intercourse, but says she did not fight him because she was afraid of him. The girl's mother calls police after finding out what happened.

March 24, 1977  A grand jury indicts Polanski on six felony charges, including rape, furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and sodomy. He later pleads not guilty at arraignment.

August 1977  Polanski pleads guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and a judge orders the director to undergo further proceedings.

September 1977  A judge orders the director to undergo a 90-day diagnostic screening at a California state prison to help determine sentencing.

January 1978  The diagnostic screening  completed after 42 days  recommends Polanski be placed on probation.

Feb. 1, 1978  Polanski flees the United States on eve of sentencing after learning that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband intended to send Polanski back to prison. An arrest warrant is issued, confining Polanski's movements to France, Poland and Switzerland. Polanski alleges Rittenband met with a prosecutor who was not assigned to the case  without Polanski's lawyer present  to discuss sentencing.

September 1997  A new judge meets with prosecutors and Polanski's attorney to discuss the case in chambers. The meeting is not reported, and elements of the discussion remain in dispute. Polanski's attorney contends the judge wanted Polanski's sentencing hearing televised, which the judge denies. Prosecutors contend Polanski sought to be sentenced without reporters present, which the director denies.

November 2002  Lawyers for Conde Nast Publications successfully unseal grand jury testimony presented in Polanski's case.

March 2003  Polanski wins the best director Academy Award for "The Pianist," but is unable to collect his Oscar in person due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

December 2008  Polanski's lawyers seek a dismissal of the charges against him. His motion is supported by his victim.

February 2009  A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejects Polanski's dismissal motion, stating that Polanski must appear in court to resolve his case. The order goes into effect in May 2009.

July 2009  Polanski appeals the February ruling in his case.

September 2009  Polanski is arrested in Switzerland pursuant to a warrant. Extradition proceedings begin.

December 2009  A California court panel rejects Polanski's appeal, ruling that the director must appear in court to resolve his case.

January 2010  Polanski's lawyers request the director be sentenced without being present in Los Angeles.

February 2010  A Los Angeles court takes sealed testimony from Roger Gunson, the original prosecutor who handled Polanski's case, about his recollections of the judge's 1977 promises to the director.

May 2010  A judge rejects a motion by Polanski's lawyers to unseal Gunson's testimony.

July 2010  Switzerland rejects U.S. request to extradite Polanski, citing its inability to obtain the Gunson testimony.

December 2014  Polanski's lawyers seek an evidentiary hearing to explore the director's allegations of judicial misconduct in Los Angeles. A judge rejects the motion without conducting a hearing.

February 2015  Roman Polanski appears in a Polish court for hours of questioning on whether a U.S. request to extradite the director is valid.

October 2015  A Polish court rejects an effort to extradite Polanski.

May 2016  Poland's new justice minister revives extradition proceedings against Polanski.

December 2016  The Polish Supreme Court rules Polanski will not be extradited to the United States.

February 2017  Polanski's attorney seeks an order in Los Angeles to unseal Gunson's testimony. Later motions by Polanski seek an order confirming the director should not serve any additional time behind bars if he returns to Los Angeles. Polanski's lawyer relies on information included in a lengthy Polish court decision.

April 2017  A Los Angeles judge rejects Polanski's requests to be sentenced without returning to court or for a determination he has served his sentence.
A Washington state man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after police said he shot and killed an intruder who was showering inside his house.

LAW OFFICER DEATHS IN THE LINE OF DUTY UP 10 PERCENT IN 2017

Bruce Fanning, 59, of Mason County, discovered a stranger showering in one of the two residencies that he owns Saturday at around 8 a.m., Sheriffs Lt. Travis Adams said. Adams added that Fanning runs a business out of a second property.

Fanning told investigators that he ran from the scene, grabbed a gun and then returned and shot the intruder, court documents showed. Fanning told police he thought the stranger was drunk and claimed he became afraid when the stranger made threats toward him, Q13 Fox reported.

BABY KILLED IN NEVADA SHOOTING, CAR CRASH

Fanning fired four shots through the shower curtain, killing the intruder, the New York Times reported. Fanning called authorities after the shooting.

The victim was identified as Nathaniel Joseph Rosa, 31, of Bothell. Rosa had worked at Woodmor Elementary School in Bothell and was described as a compassionate educator, according to Q13 Fox.

Police said there was no indication that Fanning was threatened by Rosa and that the facts did not support Fannings right to self-defense. According to Washington state law, no person in the state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting by any reasonable means necessary, himself or herself, his or her family, or his or her real or personal property.

Authorities were still trying to determine why Rosa apparently broke in.

Fannings bail was set at $250,000.

Click for more from Q13 Fox.
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice has been named by multiple sources as the Obama administation official who "unmasked" Trump campaign or transition team officials who were caught up in surveillance of other targets.

The development has rocked Washington, as critics say it could be evidence that the outgoing administration used its foreign surveillance powers to spy on the incoming White House team.

The law that allows the federal intelligence community to spy on foreign actors, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, has safeguards in place that are designed to protect Americans who are "incidentally" recorded. One protection is that they must be "masked."

___

WHAT IS "UNMASKING?"

When a U.S. intelligence agency, such as the National Security Agency, conducts surveillance of a foreigner inside the U.S., sometimes that surveillance will include the name of an American that the foreigner is speaking to or about. When this happens, intelligence analysts are obliged to hide or "minimize" the name of the American, unless knowing the American's name is necessary to understanding the foreign intelligence described in the report.

"If, for instance, an intelligence piece were about Russian intelligence assets engaged in an operation to influence political figures, the identity of the political figure would be necessary," said Todd Hinnen, head of the Justice Department's National Security Division during the Obama administration and a National Security Council staff member under George W. Bush. "Unless you know the answer to that question, you can't appreciate the meaning and importance of the intelligence."

WHO CAN UNMASK AN AMERICANS NAME?

The answer varies by U.S. intelligence agency. Last month, National Security Agency director Michael Rogers told lawmakers there are 20 people at the NSA, including himself, who have the authority to reveal the name of an American in a surveillance report.

IS IT ILLEGAL TO UNMASK AN AMERICAN'S NAME?

It is not illegal to unmask the identity of an American incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance, but Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano said the unmasking must have a national security rationale.

Unmasking the name or names of Americans for political purposes would be highly improper, Leaking those names to the media would be a crime, according to legal experts. So far, there is no evidence that Rice leaked the names she ordered unmasked, although the resignation of her successor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, amid reports he was caught on surveillance talking to the Russian ambassador, indicates someone did.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Chinese Christians in a city known as the nations Jerusalem are clashing with the local government after a controversial directive to install surveillance cameras in churches.

Authorities have begun implementing the directive for the city of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, which was issued late last year. As a result, clergy in the city, which has an estimated 1 million Christians, protested, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.

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, an unidentified Christian in Wenzhou said to the paper, without specifying when the conflict occurred. Some people needed to be treated in hospital after fighting the officials.

China Aid, a U.S.-based religious rights group, said churches were told to install cameras at gates, raised platforms, offering boxes and other places, despite strong opposition from churchgoers who claimed the surveillance infringed their privacy.

One churchgoer said officials had installed the cameras one by one, but they had yet to be set up in his place of worship.

I dont support the governments decision and I hope they will not put monitoring equipment inside our church, the churchgoer said.

We Christians do good deeds and we dont do anything to endanger the public. I dont understand why the government wants to monitor us. The governments pressure on us will not deter us from our beliefs and will not affect the proliferation of our religion. The tougher the persecution, the more people will be encouraged to follow the religion.

The new law comes two years after authorities in China ordered churches in the Zhejiang Province to remove neon crosses from churches and other buildings.

The controversial campaign made international headlines at the time and drew sharp criticism from religious rights organizations around the world. Nearly 360 crosses were removed and even one church was demolished, according to China Aid.

The city of Wenzhou, a manufacturing hub of 8 million people, has the highest concentration of Christians in mainland China. Crosses from more than 2,000 churches dotted the citys skyline before a 2014 campaign to bring them down.

Wenzhous surveillance camera drive comes amid tighter controls on religious activities across the country.
The caliphate is crumbling. ISIS is losing territory and the flow of foreign fighters has fallen in recent months. But that doesnt mean the brutal jihadist group has stopped its technology-driven recruitment quest. While the process used to happen more openly on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, experts say the process has gone dark, relying more heavily on end-to-end encryption apps.

ISIS lost a lot of important media heads and lost thousands of important Twitter accounts, Syrian activist Hussam Eesa, founder and public relations manager of online activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, told Fox News. So they have changed from Twitter to Telegram.

Telegram and the similar no-cost, end-to-end encrypted messenger app WhatsApp are widely used in both the Middle East and the West. Last month Khalid Masood, who killed four people in London and wounded 50 on Westminster Bridge, used WhatsApp to send a message to an unknown person shortly before his attack. U.K. Counterterrorism police have said his communications are the main line of inquiry in the investigation, although thus far authorities have been unable to access those messages due to the secretive software.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson for the Facebook-owned app assured Fox News that they are cooperating with law enforcement as they continue their investigations, but defended the importance of protecting users from external eyes.

Every day we see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen. And if nothing is done, more of people's digital information and communication will be vulnerable to attack in the years to come. Fortunately, end-to-end encryption protects us from these vulnerabilities, the spokesperson continued. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse from cybercriminals, hackers, and rogue states.

However, Masood is hardly the only terrorist to have taken his talk to the technological dark side. Elizabeth Bodine-Baron, Director of Applied Network Analysis and System Science for the prominent public policy research firm RAND  concurred that the ISIS strategy has shifted to encrypted apps, although they have not entirely abandoned Twitter.

They are still trying to actively recruit. They are still spreading their propaganda, though a little less openly than before, Khorshied said. The basic recruiting process is the same as before  propaganda spread and initial contacts vis a public platform like Twitter and then, once a potential recruit is identified, movement to a secure platform for more tactical discussions.

Fox News detected numerous ISIS-associated Twitter accounts still in existence, with names written in Arabic that translate to Sniper Caliphate # 9 remain and Abu stubbornness Salafi. The majority claim to be located in Syria, usually only have between a dozen to a few hundred followers and often follow one or more mainstream international news websites.

However, one private intelligence analyst stressed that even though the group is fast losing land in Iraq and Syria and it appears the number of fighters is dwindling, terror plots are still a massive cause for concern, with numerous plots identified in more than a dozen countries between 2014 and 2016. For the most part, planners had some form of contact with a pledged ISIS member. Teens are said to have been specifically targeted on messenger apps, and just as recruiters have reached out to them, teens have reached out to recruiters.

Utilizing encryption and the dark web so users are untraceable, ISIS increasingly practices a kind of jihadi cool appeal, targeting disaffected millennials, suggesting one is never too young to be a warrior for God and tapping into conventional teenage concerns such as peer pressure and trying to impress ones associates. The encrypted groups also target girls, capitalizing on global female empowerment movements and calling them to shame their male counterparts by taking up the call to violence.

Furthermore, the ISIS department of media now utilizes a special drone unit featuring aerial images to create glossy videos of suicide bombings  complete with post-production red laser dots that follow along until the climatic explosion. These productions circulate to the groups fans via messenger as a means of enticement. Virtual training in religious doctrine and military methods are also said be conducted through the secretive software.

Since its explosion into the limelight in 2014, the groups use of social media has been unprecedented. In its first few months alone, the group rapidly disseminated its message and bolstered its solider count, elevating itself to the top of social news feeds with tactics such as twitter bombs, capitalizing on then-trending Twitter topics such as #BLM and #napaquake with regards to Northern California earthquakes.

FEDS FEAR TERROR GROUPS DEVELOPING LAPTOP BOMBS THAT EVADE AIRPORT SECURITY

ISIS FACES HEAVY, BUT NOT CRUSHING BLOW IN MOSUL

IRAQ: AIRSTRIKES KILL OVER 100 ISIS MILITANTS NEAR SYRIA BORDER

Much of its initial campaign success also stemmed from portraying itself as a goodwill organization. For example, one suspected jihadist, who set up numerous Twitter accounts under derivatives of AbuAid, claimed a year ago to Fox News to have traveled to Syria from the U.K. for the "greater good" in helping his people, while also re-tweeting rap lyrics chastising then President Obama and playing into the bad boy/gangster persona.

According to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, ISIS published 892 propaganda pieces across its digital platform in February 2015. In that same month one year on, the output had dropped 36 percent to 570. Thats a consequence of law enforcement working over the past year to ensure that the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Google became savvy in detecting and deleting extremist content and the accounts that the content and recruitment originated from. Between February 2015 and 2016, more than 125,000 accounts were shut down.

All of this, combined with the increased strategic difficulties of traveling to hubs like Iraq and Syria, ignited the more recent shift to encrypted apps and the encouragement to attack in ones home country rather than go abroad.

And even though the U.S.-led coalition has ramped up efforts to squash ISIS in Iraq and Syria, bombing targets daily and destroying their territorial control, the U.S. State Department acknowledged to Fox News that its propaganda and messaging methods have shifted rather than ceased.

ISIS continues to try to use social media platforms to spread its message, but has been increasingly challenged by the proactive measures industry is taking to disrupt its use of these technologies, the spokesperson said. ISIS has shifted the focus of its messaging to its self-proclaimed efficacy in the use of violence against coalition forces, as opposed to their approach to messaging during the peak of its strength in 2014 and 2015, which was specific to governance and their ability to stand up a state.
Like much of Europe, Lithuania  one of three Baltic states -- is on alert over growing concerns about Russia and its increasingly brazen military exercises but also the moves that are not as visible: Cyber steps that can take place via a keyboard or a mobile app.

On Monday, Lithuania's intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Russia now is capable of attacking the Baltic states with little notice, giving NATO allied forces limited opportunity to respond.

LITHUANIA CONFIDENT OF US SECURITY GUARANTEE OVER RUSSIA

Last year, President Dalia Grybauskaite reintroduced the military draft  which the country suspended in 2008  attributing it to the current geopolitical environment. The new policy calls for the recruitment of some 3,500 men annually.

The concerns in the Baltic States intensified in 2014, when under President Vladimir Putin, Russia annexed Crimea.

In a wide-ranging interview recently, Lithuanias U.S. ambassador, Rolandas Krisciunas, spoke to Fox News about his nations concerns about Russia, its new military strategy in response to concerns about Russia, and his thoughts about the Trump administration.

Fox News: Lithuania has taken steps in recent years to beef up its military in response to apparently bolder Russian military exercises. What prompted concerns?

Krisciunas: We have already seen the signs  what Russia did in Ukraine shows its behavior, and whats happening in Georgia. For a number of years, Russia liked to test our readiness. We saw a number of incidents when we were putting in cable for energy independence. There were interferences from military ships on the Russian side, which all of a sudden decided to do military exercises.

We can count cyberattacks through the years, which have been in the thousands, not hundreds.

NATO PRESENCE IN BALTICS SENDS CLEAR SIGNAL, LITHUANIA SAYS

Fox News: Are these cyberattacks from Russia?

Krisciunas: They could come perhaps not from Russia itself, but from other countries from different servers. Looking at the nature and intention of the attacks, they probably came from Russia.

Fox News: What specifically has your country done to protect itself against Russian aggression?

Krisciunas: What we have done since Ukraine is bring back the conscription of the army, inviting young people to join. We have established a reaction force, which can react [to military threats]. We have planned an annual increase in defense expenditure, we have a commitment by our parliament to have 2 percent [of gross national product], and we plan to increase to 2.5 percent by 2020.

We are buying new technology. We also see opportunities to increase our cooperation with the United Sates.

There is the regular military, [threats of] a strike or occupation. But now it is also of a hybrid nature  brainwashing, propaganda. What we have done is go to a hybrid strategy. The military must be able to move fast, to react to Little Green Men, like the ones who were in Crimea.

If something happens in a small city somewhere in Lithuania, it could be people dressed like civilians who could be a foreign military force, they could take over state institutions, they could go to a railway station [under the guise of a demonstration] and disrupt traffic.

It was clear that we needed to adjust [to the new reality].

We changed the laws so that border guards, the military and the

police can now work together to respond to a hybrid situation, and control it.

Fox News: How likely do you think it is that Russia will strike in the old-fashioned military fashion?

Krisciunas: We dont contemplate it will, we dont expect Russia will challenge NATO, it would be very risky for Russia.

Fox News: So why all the changes in military strategy by Lithuania and other European countries?

Krisciunas: Because NATO must be ready. If NATO is ready, we dont expect any kind of attack. See, what Russia has done very well is to test us. Russia takes action then waits for the reaction.

So far, we have done everything right. We have battalions of NATO forces in each of the Baltic States.

If we enable Russia to doubt our readiness, that will provoke Russia. Weakness, not reacting, not being ready, and appeasing  that is what provokes Russia.

Fox News: President Donald Trump has expressed skepticism about NATO, what are your thoughts? Is your country concerned about what that may mean about future role of the U.S. in NATO?

Krisciunas: We met with [House Speaker] Rep. Paul Ryan, with the national security advisor and with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and we came away very optimistic. We agreed very strongly that were in this together, the Baltics and the United States.

We are partners, we are not clients. Lithuania is not a big country, but we were in Afghanistan, in Iraq, we are everywhere. Lithuania said in the meetings that were ready to double our efforts to fight ISIS.
An explosion at a fireworks factory in northern Portugal killed at least four people from the same family Tuesday and at least three other workers were missing, emergency services said.

Officials from the Civil Protection Service and local police told Portuguese media at the scene there was a huge explosion in the early evening at the family-owned factory in Avoes, a village near the town of Lamego, about 200 miles north of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

All of the workers at the factory came from three local families, according to Manuel Coutinho, Lamego Council's emergency services coordinator. He told Radio Renascenca that officials had little hope of finding survivors.

Broadcaster TVI showed the burning remnants of the small factory, which lies on a hillside amid woods far from local homes.

Officials told TVI they were not sure how many workers were in the factory at the time of the blast. The factory was believed to employ 15 people.
Berlin's decision not to illuminate the Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Russian flag to honor the victims of the deadly subway bombing in St. Petersburg is sparking controversy.

Critics have accused Berlin of being indifferent to the deaths of Russians, noting that the city's iconic monument was bathed in the colors of other countries following attacks in London, Paris, Brussels and Istanbul.

ST. PETERSBURG SUBWAY BLAST: SUICIDE BOMBER IDENTIFIED AS AKBARDZHON DZHALILOV, 22

Berlin officials have said those four places are Berlin's official partner cities, but acknowledge that exceptions have been made in the past, The Local reported. The gate was lit up with the relevant colors after attacks in Jerusalem and Orlando, Florida, for example.

This stands in contrast with France, where Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the Eiffel Tower would remain dark overnight to honor the victims of of the subway bombing in St. Petersburg.

Klaus Lederer, Berlin's top cultural official, called Tuesday for an end to the practice to prevent debates about the issue in future. He says that until then, Russia's national colors should be projected on the gate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Dutch Supreme Court has approved the extradition to Canada of a convicted cyberbully who faces charges in the case of a Canadian teen who killed herself after being bullied online.

It was not immediately clear when the suspect, identified by Dutch authorities as Aydin C., could be sent to Canada following Tuesday's ruling. His extradition must be approved by the Dutch security and justice minister.

The 38-year-old was convicted last month by a Dutch court and sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men.

In Canada, he faces a separate trial in the cyberbullying of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old girl whose suicide drew global attention to online abuse.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The European Union's Brexit negotiator is refusing to be drawn into a row over the future of Gibraltar as Britain moves forward with its divorce from the bloc.

Asked whether Brexit negotiations launched last week are off to bad start due to the dispute about the British territory, Michel Barnier said Tuesday "keep calm and negotiate."

Pushed to comment, Barnier said "juridically speaking, Gibraltar will exit the Union at the same time as the United Kingdom."

The rocky enclave at the tip of the Iberian peninsula has been a British territory  and cause of friction between the U.K. and Spain  since 1713.

The latest spat arose from the EU's Brexit negotiating guidelines which leave Britain and Spain to thrash out what agreements will apply to Gibraltar.
The Iraqi province of Kirkuk has voted in favor of a region-wide referendum to determine if it will join Kurdistans government or remain tied to Baghdad.

The vote was held among members of Kirkuks provincial council on Tuesday, according to MiddleEastEye.net, and the move has been considered by some as likely to further tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and those in the Kirkuk region, as the decision for a referendum comes just one week after the council voted in favor of raising the Kurdish flag on municipal buildings in the city of Kirkuk.

The decision raised the ire of the citys Turkmen minorities who protested the flag raisings and with Turkmen and Arab members of the council boycotting the most recent vote on the referendum, tensions in the region are high as it seeks to rebuild post-ISIS.

"If there is a referendum for Kurdistan, that should include Kirkuk as well," Kirkuk's governor Najmaldin Karim told Middle East Eye. "We have a lot of grievances with Baghdad. Its a strong, centralized and inefficient, incompetent administration. Baghdad is very controlling, and the constitution says Iraq should be federal."

Karim believes that a vote on the future of Kirkuk should be included on any referendum vote on the independence of Kurdistan. Observers in Baghdad and elsewhere in the region have been quick to condemn what they see as unilateral moves to annex Kirkuk to the KRG.

Kurds have long claimed Kirkuk and its huge oil reserves. They also see their city as their historical capital.

In what was seen as a symbolic gesture, the Iraqi parliament on Saturday overwhelmingly voted to repeal the decision to hoist the flag over municipal buildings, while both Iraq and Turkey also condemned the raising of the flag.

"As you know, for a time now there has been talk that Iraq will split into three regions of Kurds, Shias and Sunnis," Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi told Kurdish website Rudaw on Saturday.

"But that is totally objectionable. We are serious about Iraqs territorial integrity."

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that his country would not accept any attempt to declare an independent Kurdistan and to incorporate Kirkuk into the KRG despite their relatively close ties with the KRG. He also disputed the Kurdish historical claim to the city, telling Turkish TV on Saturday that Kirkuk was "a Turkmen city.

The Turkish state has long been at war with Kurdish militants on its own borders and, although the KRG is ideologically at odds with Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkish officials still fear the effect an independent Kurdistan could have on Kurdish separatists in their own country.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday also called on Iraqi Kurds to lower the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, warning that failure to do so would damage their relations with Turkey, according to a report from Reuters.

"We don't agree with the claim 'Kirkuk is for the Kurds' at all. Kirkuk is for the Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds, if they are there. Do not enter into a claim it's yours or the price will be heavy. You will harm dialogue with Turkey," Erdogan said.

"Bring that flag down immediately," he also said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has forgone wearing a headscarf during her visit to Saudi Arabia.

May stepped off a plane in the Saudi capital of Riyadh Tuesday morning without the headscarf the kingdom favors for women.

Under the kingdom's dress code, Saudi women are required to wear a headscarf and loose, black robes in public, but covering one's head is not required for foreigners.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama also declined to wear headscarves during visits to the country.

May is getting a mixed reaction on social media to the move. Some users see it as a display of feminism, while others call it disrespectful.

May's Downing Street office had no comment on her wardrobe choice.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan Wednesday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, amid worries that the North might soon conduct banned nuclear or long-range rocket tests.

The U.S. Pacific Command said it detected and tracked what it assessed as North Korean missile launched from land near the eastern coastal city of Sinpo. A U.S. statement said initial assessments indicate the type of missile was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 37 miles.



The launch came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump described North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear arsenal as a "humanity problem" and a senior U.S. official told reporters that the "clock has now run out" on Pyongyang.

A White House official also said Tuesday that "all options are on the table" for the U.S., though the official would not say what steps Trump was willing to take to curb dictator Kim Jong Un's pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

In a statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said North Korea had launched "yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment."

The KN-15 missile reportedly refers to what North Korea calls the solid-fuel "Pukguksong-2." The use of solid-fuel missiles is a worrying development because the fuel already being inside the rocket shortens launch preparation times and make it harder for outsiders to detect what's happening before liftoff.

When North Korea test-fired this missile in February, South Korean officials said it flew about 310 miles before landing in international waters. It wasn't immediately known if the much shorter distance of Wednesday's flight meant a failed launch.

Recent outside satellite imagery show possible preparations for a new nuclear test at the North's main nuclear test site, such as communication cables used to initiate a test and collect data being already laid. North Korea's state media has also said the world will soon witness what it calls "eventful successes" the country achieves in the space development. Washington, Seoul and others call the North's space program a cover for its long-range missile development program.



Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the country lodged a strong protest over the launch.



Wednesday's firing was made as South Korean and U.S. troops were conducting annual military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea often responds to the drills with its own military training and harsh rhetoric. The allies say the drills set to run until the end of this month are defensive in nature.

Two weeks ago, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they had detected a failed North Korean ballistic missile launch. South Korean media speculated at the time that North Korea might have attempted to test a missile that it hasn't deployed. Earlier in March, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles that flew about 620 miles, with three of them landing in waters that Japan claims as its exclusive economic zone.

North Korea is pushing hard to upgrade its weapons systems to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility. Many weapons experts say the North could have a functioning nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. within a few years. North Korea carried out two nuclear tests last year.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will huddle Thursday and Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a venue chosen to give the summit a more informal feel. White House officials said Tuesday that trade and security would be high on the new American president's agenda, including pushing China to exert more economic pressure on North Korea.

China continues to oppose the tough measures demanded of it to address the issue, fearing a collapse of the Pyongyang regime would bring a crush of refugees and possibly U.S. and South Korean troops on its border.

Trump told the Financial Times over the weekend that the U.S. is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program.

"China has great influence over North Korea," Trump said. "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."



Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


A once-contested sale is going ahead in Paris of precious artifacts that were acquired by a private collector from the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia.

Nine wooden objects, including age-worn sculptures and large decorative arrows dating from the 16th century, are to go under the hammer on Tuesday.

A group linked to the Kanak people stopped a 2015 sale of the objects, suspecting they were stolen.

Collector Jean-Louis Roiseux said he later established the provenance of the rare artifacts.

Parisian auction house Aguttes estimates the items will sell for up to 775,000 euros ($825,000).

Auctioneer Claude Aguttes says the sculptures adorned huts and grew in size and intricacy according to a resident's social importance.

He says very few Kanak artifacts remain.

New Caledonia is a French territory in the South Pacific.
Pope Francis has taken another step to bring a breakaway traditionalist society back under his wing by allowing its priests to celebrate marriages that will be recognized by Rome.

The measure announced Tuesday follows the pope's decision in 2015 to allow priests of the schismatic Society of St. Pius X to validly hear confessions.

The permissions come amid continuing negotiations to regularize the status of the Swiss-based society, which split from the Vatican over the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The Vatican letter to bishops' conferences announcing the change says the society remains "irregular," but only "for the time being."

For months, news reports have suggested that a deal is near to give the society the same legal status in the church as another Catholic movement, Opus Dei.
Pope Francis is meeting with four British imams two weeks after the London extremist attack, part of his effort to give prominence and a platform to Muslim leaders who renounce using religion to justify violence.

The Wednesday audience was scheduled before the March 22 attack, in which a man mowed down pedestrians on Westminster bridge, killing three, before fatally stabbing a policeman on the grounds of Parliament.

The head of the British Muslim Forum, Muhammad Shahid Raza, said in an interview Tuesday that the pope's invitation and message of solidarity after the attack "strengthened our position that we, like other communities, condemn all terrorist activities."

Francis will try to further the cause later this month when he visits Al Azhar in Cairo, Sunni Islam's main center of learning.
Portugal's prime minister says the country's finance minister was recently asked whether he would be available to become the eurozone's top official, replacing Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Antonio Costa said in an interview with Lisbon's Radio Renascenca on Tuesday that Portugal rejected the approach because Finance Minister Mario Centeno is still guiding the country out of its recent financial crisis.

Costa did not say who approached Portugal nor when, but he confirmed a report in Portuguese weekly Expresso last weekend that said Centeno was a potential candidate to chair meetings of the 19-country eurozone's finance ministers.

Portugal called last month for Dijsselbloem to quit after he made what some saw as derogatory remarks about southern EU nations.

Dijsselbloem's future is unclear after his Labor Party's weak showing in recent Dutch elections.
George Soros university in his home-country is on the verge of shutdown, after Hungarian Parliament approved a piece of legislation on Tuesday that would tighten regulations on foreign universitiesthis, as the latest move to reduce free expression and liberalism in Hungary.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose party has the commanding majority of parliament, amended the bill on Monday to tighten deadlines for the universities, like Soros Central European University to meet these new regulations. Tuesday, Orban pushed that bill through to the presidents desk.

UNIVERSITY FOUNDED BY SOROS SAYS TARGETED BY NEW HUNGARY LAW

We are committed to use all legal means at our disposal to stop pseudo-civil society spy groups such as the ones funded by George Soros, Hungarys top education official, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltan Balog said before the vote in parliament.

In a weekly state radio interview, Orban said that CEUs status, which operates in Hungary but issues an American degree, gave it an unfair advantage over other Hungarian universities and institutions of higher-education, calling the university a fraud.

But Provost of CEU, Liviu Matei, told Fox News in a phone interview on Tuesday that the university is no threat to Hungarian government, and has received immense support from other Hungarian universities.

We bring students from 100 more countries around the world to Hungary and we train Hungarian young people who otherwise would go study abroad we are playing a positive function by keeping our kids at home instead of going abroad, Matei told Fox News. This legislation is meant to make the operations of CEU in Hungary very difficult if not impossible.

HUNGARY SEEKS STRICTER TERMS FOR SOROS-FOUNDED UNIVERSITY

Matei told Fox News that the leadership of CEU hopes that President Janos Ader will send the bill to the Constitutional Court.

If he sends it to court, which is our hope, there are grounds that they will find this bill discriminatory, Matei said. If he doesnt, then we will turn to the court ourselves.

Soros is a long-time liberal, who fully-backed Hillary Clintons presidency, and who, recently, has been funding anti-Trump activist groups. Last month, the conservative Media Research Center found Mr. Soros and his Open Society Foundations contributed $246 million between 2010 to 2014 to 100 of the 544 groups listed as partners of the Womens March.

The U.S. State Department as well as hundreds of academics and universities have expressed their support for CEU, founded in 1991.

Orban, a former Soros scholarship recipient, has been increasingly critical of the Hungarian-born philanthropist, accusing him of wanting to influence Hungarian politics.

Zoltan Balog, whose ministry oversees education, said Hungary's government was ready to negotiate with the U.S. government on an agreement about the university.

There is no rational justification of any kind, Matei told Fox News. If I want a simple explanationits politics.

In

a statement, former New York Gov. George Pataki, who is of Hungarian descent, said he opposed any effort to clamp down on CEU.

CEU is an asset for Hungary, Pataki said in the statement, and any attack against its institutional autonomy and academic freedom would be a serious setback for Hungarian higher education and impact future of relations between our two countries."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Though she grew up here, Julie Scelfo was always a New Yorker at heart.

The 1992 graduate of Chancellor High School was never one for the small-town nature of Fredericksburg in the 1980s. She visited family in New York City as a child and kept returning to take in the culture, eventually going to college and settling down there.

Scelfo loves the noise, chaos and cacophony of the big city. So when it came time to pen a history of the citys defining women, she was up to the challenge.

Her illustrated work, The Women Who Made New York, is out now through Seal Press. In a little less than 400 pages, she tells the stories of the women who made New York City the cultural epicenter of the world.

She is coming to Fredericksburg on April 10 for a talk sponsored by the University of Mary Washingtons women and gender studies program and the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.

Scelfo will discuss her book at 7 p.m., at the librarys headquarters in downtown Fredericksburg. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow.

From Billie Holiday to Yoko Ono, from Joan Didion to Mae West, Eleanor Roosevelt to Dorothy Parker, her book weaves the legacies of those women into a colorful history of place.

Narrowing down who would be included was the firstand perhaps most dauntingtask, Scelfo said.

There were too many women to include, she said. Every facet of the city has dozens of hidden figures and untold stories. I hope to inspire other women to create their own collections.

Scelfo said she hoped to find a willing audience to listen to the stories of these remarkable women.

Writing a volume about 126 women was no small task. It involved interviewing the 32 who are still alive, talking with relatives and associates for the rest, and pouring over volumes of research. After delving into the lives of those women, she said its hard to pick a favorite. But she has a few.

She has a soft spot for Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, who after joining the citys health department in 1901, was one of the first to fully understand the connection between hygiene and health, and who tirelessly devised public health programs.

Scelfo called her fearless and intrepid at solving problems.

She also loved Shirley Chisholm, the first AfricanAmerican woman elected to the U.S. Congress, who started her fight for equality in BedfordStuyvesant, seeking better representation for black New Yorkers. Scelfo saw Chisholm speak at the University of Mary Washington.

She also has a lot of respect for gender-bending, PolishJewish immigrant Eve Adams, who stood up for sexual freedom in the 1920s. She was arrested and deported for her offenses and killed at Auschwitz in 1943.

What happened in New York City changed the lives of all Americans, Scelfo said. As one of the oldest cities in the union, the women here affected culture and society around the whole country. And so, this book is not just about New Yorkits for anyone interested in the countrys history.

Along with writing book-length works, Scelfo is a contributor to The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times, Scelfo was a correspondent at Newsweek. Her work has also appeared in publications including Salon, O, The Oprah Magazine, Epicurious, and Time Out New York.
Wars, it has been said, are fought by nations, but are experienced by individuals.

The United States entered World War I 100 years ago this week, a war that witnessed 68 million men and women in uniform from as many as 36 countries between 1914 and 1918.

These are the stories of four of those from Fredericksburg and central Virginia who served and how their memory lives on in others who came after them.

A DOCTOR IN THE TRENCHES

Even before the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, Dr. Urbane F. Bass had volunteered his services to his country, writing to the War Department that he was available to join the Army Medical Corps should there be need for a Negro Physician for that branch of Service.

The American military was strictly segregated at the time, so when war came, Bass was assigned to the all-black 93rd Division. Initially, the 93rd and other black units were prohibited from combat duty, but with the high rate of casualties and the constant need for replacements, the war imposed a dubious equality of sorts, at least at the front.

When the 93rd did enter the fight, Bass, despite being a noncombatant as a doctor, went with themright into the trenches. It was a decision that was to cost him his life.

Bass died helping others. An exploding shell severed both his legs at the thighs and he bled to death before he himself could be helped. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nations second highest medal.

I think he would have gotten the Medal of Honor if he was a different color, said Stafford resident Glenn Hyatt, former commander of American Legion Post 55 in Fredericksburg, which was established by veterans immediately after the war.

Bass was buried at Fredericksburg National Cemetery, the first AfricanAmerican officer interred there. In later years, he was also honored with two memorials in Fredericksburg, a stained glass window in Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site) on Princess Anne Street and at the BassEllison Social Services Building, named for him and another Fredericksburg doctor in 1991. Nearly a century after his death, Bass example of service continues as the inspiration for helping others.

He Threw Away His Crutches

Ollie O. Olive grew up on a small farm in White Oak in Stafford County. As a young man, he suffered from what his family described as rheumatism, according to Hyatt, forcing him to use crutches.

However, when war broke out, Olive wanted to be in it so badly that he got rid of his crutches and the rheumatism went away, said Hyatt, who has made it his calling to study the wars impact on the region and its citizens.

It may have been an allergy he had to something in the area, Hyatt ventured.

Whatever it was, Olive passed his physical and joined the Blue and Gray Division, so named because it combined National Guard units from the North and the South. When the division reached France in 1918, Olives unit was assigned to a sector of the front that the Germans had held since early in the war, giving them three years to prepare their defenses.

They made the most of it.

When the Americans attacked, It got so bad, Hyatt said, They were piling bodies up and were getting behind them.

One of those killed was Olive, three weeks before the end of the war. He was 19.

But, his story does not end there. Decades later, Hyatt met Olives sister, then an elderly woman living Woodbridge. She told him that her brothers decision to buy a government life insurance policy during the war made all the difference later on. Otherwise, they never would have survived the Great Depression, she said, without Ollie.

As Close as It Gets

Most of the men from Fredericksburg served in two National Guard units, Company K, 2nd Virginia Infantry and the 3rd Company of the Virginia Coast Artillery Corps, according to retired National Guard Lt. Col. David K. James.

As the current president of the Fredericksburg Guard Association, James has dedicated much of his spare time to collecting Guard memorabilia, which he uses to show soldiers our history and what they are a part of.

The proudest possession in the associations collection, according to James, is the World War I uniform of Sgt. Alexander H. Stone, who commanded Company K.

Like Bass, Stone also received the Distinguished Service Cross, in his case for capturing a German machine gun nest with only a pistol and grenade despite an injury that could have allowed him to be evacuated.

He refused to go to the rear with a sprained ankle, James said.

After the war, Stone returned to Fredericksburg and became a fireman, eventually becoming the fire chief. He died of a heart attack while fighting a fire in 1950s, serving the city and its citizens to the end.

Our Son

Down a lonely backroad in Caroline County stands the country church of Mount Hermon. Grave markers in the church cemetery read like a textbook of Americas past Confederates from the late unpleasantness, doughboys from World War I, GIs from the Greatest Generation, vets from Korea and Vietnam. Tiny American flags flap silently over some.

One of the graves here belongs to Harry Mack Taylor.

He left the farm went off to war and never came back, said Ruth E. Pitts, Taylors 86-year-old niece who now lives in Richmond.

In 1917, a war that began when the heir the AustrianHungarian throne was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist finally caught up to the small farming community of Shumansville where Taylor was born and raised. He joined the Army, trained at Fort Lee in Petersburg, and soon found himself in the final Allied offensive of the war, the MeuseArgonne.

Once a household name, the MeuseArgonne does not inspire the same reverence for most Americans as a Lexington and Concord, Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor. Yet, more than 1.2 million U.S. soldiers fought there, making it by at least that measure the biggest battle in American history.

When the fighting ended after more than a month, 26,000 Americans lay dead and another 93,000 were wounded. For that, they advanced their lines barely ten10 miles, about the distance from Fredericksburg to Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Among those killed at the MeuseArgonne was Taylor. Initially buried at a cemetery in France, his parents, Frank and Annie, wanted him sent back, Pitts said.

The grave marker they chose for him at Mount Hermon is simple, unpretentious. It reads:

Our son

Pvt. Harry M. Taylor

Co. C 126 Infantry

Aug. 24, 1895

Oct. 12, 1918

Asleep in Jesus.

He hath done what he could.

Four lives reflected in the quiet memorials and distant memories of the past, each one bears silent witness to a war in which 20 million other individuals died, too.
Virginias governor made his second visit to the area in as many days Sunday, dedicating two large lodges at Lake Anna State Park, unveiling the naming of one for a local couple whove given their all to Virginias parks.

When Gov. and first lady Terry and Dorothy McAuliffe joined staff and members of a park Friends group for lunch, the dedication and a hike along a park trail, they were crossing one more state park off their list.

They also took in exhibits and met park staffers in the visitor center and talked to park visitors on a pier while their yellow Lab enjoyed a romp on the lakeshore.

By the 17th of this month, McAuliffe expects to be the first Virginia governor in modern history to have visited each of Virginias state parkscurrently 37 in all.

Lake Anna State Park, which rolled out the red carpet for the first family, and for first dog Guinness, was the 34th park visited by the governor that some affectionately call the promoter-in-chief.

If all goes as planned, hell finish them all by April 17 after getting to the final three on the list: Staunton River State Park, Staunton River Battlefield State Park and Occoneechee State Park.

Yes, everything a governor does is political. But to me, being interested enough to visit every one of the state parks that Virginia operates shows a dedication thats worthy of note.

Especially when you consider the fact that the governor and members of his family didnt just breeze in and out of many of the parks on his visits.

Often, the first couple and some or all of their children have spent nights and weekends in the parks, taking advantage of a range of accommodations.

Like all visitors to the state parksthere were 10 million last year, with those from out of state spending almost $98 millionthe McAuliffes try to experience what each park has to offer.

Putting their heads together in a break from lunch at Lake Anna Sunday, the first couple noted that members of the McAuliffe family have so far hiked, canoed, kayaked, ridden horses and mountain bikes, shot arrows, panned for gold, eaten smores, learned to make moonshine and searched for wild ponies.

We spotted a bunch of them, 30 or so, said the governor of the thrill at spotting the wild and beautiful animals on a trip to Grayson Highlands State Park at Mouth of Wilson.

The kids liked the visits to parks where we could do special activities, said Dorothy McAuliffe, whether that was archery, kayaking or a special night of ice cream.

The first couple celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary with a boat ride at Claytor Lake State Park in Dublin, enjoyed an old-fashioned Fourth of July picnic at James River State Park in Gladstone and saw the protective detail with them flinch a bit when guns started going off unexpectedly in a Daniel Boone reenactment at Wilderness Road State Park in Ewing, near the Kentucky border.

The governor and first lady smiled remembering their arrival at Breaks Interstate Park in Breaks, also near the Kentucky border, because a storm knocked out power just as they were arriving.

It was the night of the Vice Presidential Debate, and we thought for a bit that we werent going to be able to watch it, said McAuliffe, But they really hustled and got the power back on so we were able to watch.

Dorothy McAuliffe noted that the uniqueness of each park and the range of locations and time of year for each visit colored the visits as well.

From seeing the programs offered at the parks, we learned a lot more of the states history, she said, and it was interesting and beautiful to see the parks in different seasons.

The governor couldnt help but slide into some promotions for the parks, noting that Virginias state parks are in the most beautiful spots, in the mountains, by the ocean, lakes and rivers, surrounded by forests. And weve got beautiful cabins, many with the latest of amenities.

He noted that it makes him smile when he sees visitors cars sporting license plates from every other state in the country.

We need to do a better job to help tell our fellow Virginians what our state parks offer, he said, noting that the cabins and other amenities are affordable and available.

McAuliffe said that in addition to experiencing the natural renewal the parks offer, he thought visiting each park was a way to connect with staffers and let them know they are appreciated.

Were not paying these folks all that much for their efforts, so when I can, I like to come by and say Thank you, youre important. 

The business portion of McAuliffes visit Sunday was dedicating the two new cabins that will be available for rent May 1, each sleeping 16 with a host of modern amenities in view of the lake.

One of those cabins will be called The Finch Cabin to honor Johnny and Jo Finch, the Spotsylvania husband and wife who have given years of their lives working to create the Friends of Lake Anna State Park and The Virginia Association for Parks, and to lobby for state parks.

McAuliffe helped show the couple the wooden sign that sits out front of the lodge at the park.
STUFF HAPPENS. And when it does, it seems to be at the most inopportune times. In King George County, it was evidence of contamination in the water provided by Oakland Park Waterworks, which supplies a subdivision, a public school and an industrial park, that came to light on a recent Friday evening.

Because a resident complained of mouth irritation after drinking the water, the water was testedtwice on March 20 and 22. The results of both tests indicated not the excess of chlorine officials had expected, but rather bacterial contamination identified as E. coli, which is associated with human or animal waste. To be safe, users were told to avoid drinking tap water unless they boiled it first or used purification tablets.

However, word of the problem didnt reach Sealston Elementary officials until after students were on their buses last Monday morning, a week after the first tests were done. King George School Superintendent Rob Benson decided to keep the school off State Route 3 open that day by providing bottled water to students, teachers and staff. However, Sealston Elementary was closed for two days after that.

Its surprising how inefficiently and ineffectively the King George Service Authority, which oversees the water system, and Health Department officials went about getting the word out.

Water is a big deal, and providing clean water is a major responsibility for the municipality supplying it. As a result, water consumers take it for granted. People count on getting clean water from the faucet even more than they count on getting light when they flip the switch.

We hope King George officials will count this episode among important lessons learned. They should plan to review the series of events and determine how they would do things differently if this or a similar situation requiring a ban on water usage arises again.

In this age of instant electronic communications, the fact that the situation presented itself on a Friday afternoon shouldnt have made any difference in how it was handled. The county has an alert system to notify residents of important news quickly. Whats more, it can be targeted to residents of a general area.

For some reason, the system wasnt used that Friday for its intended purpose. Sure, some people who were not affected would be notified once the blanket was thrown, but thats no excuse for not using the system.

Instead, officials followed a Virginia Department of Health protocol that county officials understood as having to hand-deliver notices to all customers. Posting the notices to front doors would suffice. This process didnt get underway until the notices were approved for distribution at 5:21 p.m. that Friday, and it went on well into the night.

Many people were simply unaware of the notice as Friday became Saturday and then Sunday. Whats worse, no one bothered to inform school officials before buses were rolling Monday morning. School officials made the right call to bring the young students to school that day rather than return them to possibly empty homes. Parents had to adjust schedules until the water ban was lifted in time to resume class on Thursday.

Despite the all-clear after two consecutive days of water testing gave negative results, the source of the contamination remains a mystery. The detective work required in locating the culprit may be the hardest part of the whole ordeal, certainly harder than tapping out a tainted-water alert on a computer keyboard.

Until the source is discovered, the possibility of a recurrence persists. Thats why its concerning that, according to county Service Authority board member Chris Werle, water testing wont be accelerated beyond the once-a-month state requirement.

Wouldnt at least weekly testing be worthwhilea little above-and-beyond attention considering the initial debacle? People should be able to use their tap water with confidence and be assured that their county officials will let them know promptly if theres any reason they cant.
Truth suffers when we just confirm biases

Long ago if we wanted knowledge, we had to seek it. We had to trust the information being given, and sometimes we were wrong because we trusted the wrong person.

There was no internet, just people and books. We went to experts in their fields. A doctor gave you medical advice, or you went to a hardware store to learn how to fix things. We trusted trained media and scientists to give us news and facts, and our spiritual leaders to give advice on morality.

After years of engaging with people, we learned to trust our instincts on who was a reliable source. We had to admit when we didnt know and then engage with people who did.

Today, everyone considers themselves experts at everything because they can just search online to find someone who agrees with them. My facts are better than yours because this website said so, and I believe it. We dont seem to vet the sources of our facts.

We need to stop listening to politicians and corporate officials who financially gain from certain policies and start trusting experts in their fields.

Scientists who have spent decades studying data say climate change is real, that the earth is billions of years old. Doctors tell us that vaccines stop the spread of dangerous diseases. Engineers tell us our infrastructure is crumbling. Career government employees arent consulted on policies, and so on. Our spiritual leaders tell us love thy neighbor, but hate-filled rhetoric haunts our speech as we chant judgmental slogans and make excuses for not giving more.

Most importantly, we need to engage respectfully with those who disagree. We wouldnt ask our mechanics opinion if our cardiologist said we needed heart surgery, nor would we ask our insurance provider. The mechanic doesnt know and our insurance provider has a financial interest.

Kim Wyman Spotsylvania
This funding is a downpayment for us, noted outgoing AACR President Dr. Nancy Davidson when she introduced the former Vice President. This initiative could not have come at a better time  We are at an inflection point in cancer research, said Davidson, who is holder of the Endowed Chair for Breast Cancer Research and the senior vice president and director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which Biden visited on his Moonshot listening tour in March 2016.

Bidens appearance at the associations annual meeting came in the midst of proposals from the White House to drastically decrease funding for medical research. President Donald Trumps federal budget proposal, released on March 16, contained a cut of nearly 20 percent for the National Institutes of Health. On top of that, the president called last week for Congress to immediately slash $1.2 billion from research grants issued by the agency via a reduction in discretionary spending for the current fiscal year.

The budget proposals have come under fire by numerous speakers at the annual meeting, which is ongoing through Wednesday. In his remarks, Biden called the draconian cuts contained in the budget counter to this hope and the progress weve made at a time when researchers are on the cusp of saving and extending lives of Americans.

This is no time to undercut progress. Its time to double down, Biden said.

Bidens support for research funding was echoed by Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS), who participated in a panel moderated by Davidson following Bidens remarks.

Cancer knows no political party, it knows no region  it affects every member of Congress and their constituents, said Yoder, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Im here to reassure you that this continues to be a priority.

The support [for federally funded cancer research] will continue to be there regardless of who occupies the White House, Yoder said.

Fred Hutch President and Director Dr. Gary Gilliland has also come out strongly against the cuts. In a statement and news conference following the release of the budget proposal, Gilliland said the proposed reduction was devastating and unacceptable.

Patient lives are at stake, Gilliland said at the time.

There is hope

Joining Yoder on the panel  whose freewheeling discussion covered research funding, new collaborative efforts, patient experiences in cancer care and other topics  were Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who lost her mother to cancer in 2007; actress and cancer survivor Fran Drescher; Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDAs Oncology Center of Excellence; AACR President Dr. Michael Caligiuri; AACR President-Elect Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee; Dr. Roger Dansey, a senior vice president at Merck; and Dr. Doug Lowy, interim director of the National Cancer Institute.

Yoder advised cancer survivors, patients and their families to tell their legislators personal stories of how research makes a difference in their lives to help protect research funding. He also urged scientists to share the excitement of their most cutting-edge projects  and the obstacles that stand in the way of breakthroughs.

Biden, who served in politics for more than four decades, told his audience that he did not think it was possible for the proposed research cuts to be enacted precisely because of the broad bipartisan support that cancer research enjoys.

However, he said that damage of a different kind has already been done: discouraging young people from pursuing careers in science out of fear that these fields are no longer important to this country, he said. This is tragic. And we cannot let it happen.

He ended his address by exhorting scientists to keep up their efforts to collaborate, to maintain a sense of urgency in their quest to save lives.

The one thing I can tell you, Biden said, is that there is hope. You can feel it.

What does cancer research mean to you? Tell us on Facebook.

Susan Keown, a staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has written about health and research topics for a variety of research institutions, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reach her at skeown@fredhutch.org or on Twitter @sejkeown.
Free Freightnet Membership

List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.
Nhat Linh's relatives preparing to organize a funeral for her in Hung Yen province (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

The NHK news reported that the requiem ceremony for Le Thi Nhat Linh took place at the funeral home in Matsudo city, Chiba Prefecture of Japan. It is estimated that about 500 people, including her schoolmates and the Vietnamese community in Japan, attended the ceremony.

Those who were present at the ceremony reported that Nhat Linh's father was still recovering from the shock of the event.

"This is really a shock that I still cant accept. Nhat Linh will live forever in the hearts of friends and the community," Principal of Nhat Linhs school Makoto Furuzono said at the ceremony.

Those who attended the ceremony honoured the memory of Nhat Linh. It is known that the body of Nhat Linh was returned home to Vietnam on April 2nd.

Le Thi Nhat Linh, nine years old, went missing on March 24th just a few minutes after she left home to go to school. Her body was found two days later and showed signs of murder. Local police are urgently investigating the case, with the judge only noting that the suspect would be someone who thoroughly knew the terrain of the area where Nhat Linh lived./.
The Sub Deb Club of Gaffney commemorates its 30th Annual Presentation Ball The Sub Deb Club of Gaffney, SC, will present nine seniors and fifteen underclassmen at its 30th annual Presentation Ball on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the Cherokee County History...

Contestants vie for Miss Cherokeean titles Saturday More than 40 Gaffney High students will compete for titles in the 2023 Miss Cherokeean Pageant being held this Saturday, Oct. 22. The pageant will begin at 6 p.m. in...
Story Highlights 55% approve, up from 42% right after 2016 election

40% want to keep law but make significant changes

30% want to repeal; 26% want to keep law as it is

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Fifty-five percent of Americans now support the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a major turnaround from five months ago when 42% approved and 53% disapproved. This is the first time a majority of Americans have approved of the healthcare law, also known as Obamacare, since Gallup first asked about it in this format in November 2012.

Since the ACA's passage without a single Republican vote in its favor, the law has been a significant political issue in each of the past four national elections. Republicans' opposition to the ACA helped them win control of the House in 2010, control of the Senate in 2014 and the presidency last year. However, Republicans' plan to repeal and replace the healthcare law foundered last month, as House leaders' replacement bill ran into stiff opposition within the party.

Republicans, Democrats and independents are all more likely to approve of the ACA now than in November, a few days after Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election left Republicans in control of the legislative and executive branches. Independents have led the way in this shift toward approval, increasing by 17 percentage points compared with 10-point changes for both Republicans and Democrats. When including "leaners" (independents who lean toward either the Republican or Democratic Party) in the totals for both major party groups, Democratic approval has increased by 16 points, compared with eight points for Republicans.

Independents Lead Shift Toward Approval of Affordable Care Act % Approve Nov 2016 Mar 2017 Change % % (pct. pts.) U.S. adults 42 55 +13 Democrats 76 86 +10 Independents 40 57 +17 Republicans 7 17 +10 Democrats + leaners 71 87 +16 Republicans + leaners 11 19 +8 Gallup

Although the ACA never garnered majority support in Gallup polling before this month, nearly half of Americans (48%) approved of it the first time the current version of the question was asked in November 2012. In response to a previous version of the question that asked whether Americans thought passing the healthcare law was a good thing or a bad thing, 49% said it was a good thing when the question was first asked in early 2010. However, support was a few percentage points lower each of the next two times it was asked.

Public Split, With Many Favoring Major Changes to ACA

Though a majority of Americans now approve of the ACA, only about one in four (26%) want to keep it largely as it is. Forty percent want to keep the law in place but make significant changes, while 30% want to repeal and replace it.

Democrats Split on Making Changes to ACA; Republicans Favor Repeal Would you rather keep the ACA in place largely as it is, keep the ACA in place but make significant changes to it, or repeal the ACA and replace it with a new healthcare plan? Keep ACA in place as it is Keep ACA in place with significant changes Repeal and replace ACA % % % U.S. adults 26 40 30 Democrats 44 47 5 Independents 23 44 28 Republicans 9 29 60 Gallup

The differences in opinion between Democrats and Republicans on this issue affects their views on what action, if any, to take. Democrats are split on whether to keep the act largely as it is (44%) or keep it but make significant changes to it (47%). In contrast, a majority of Republicans (60%) want to repeal and replace the law.

What Americans want Congress to do next regarding healthcare hinges on their views of the ACA:

Twenty-six percent want to keep the law in place largely as it is.

The 40% who want to keep the law but make significant changes are evenly split: 49% want Congress to continue to work on healthcare in the next few months, while 49% would like to see Congress turn its attention to other issues for the time being.

Among the 30% who want the ACA repealed and replaced, most (64%) say Congress should continue to work on healthcare. Another 32% say Congress should turn to other issues.

Bottom Line

Trump vehemently attacked the Affordable Care Act during his presidential campaign -- and in the days immediately following his election, the public appeared to agree with him. However, in the five months since, as Republicans' efforts to replace the law with one of their own have failed to get off the ground, enough Americans have changed their minds about the ACA to create a majority favoring it for the first time.

If that majority holds, it would be a significant development. Politically, it creates a major obstacle to Trump and Congress' ongoing efforts to change or replace the law. In future elections, it could turn the GOP's opposition to the law from an asset into a liability. More importantly in the daily lives of Americans, it might mean that the most sweeping changes to the nation's healthcare system in decades will remain the law of the land for the foreseeable future.

These data are available in Gallup Analytics.
As frustrating as it was for Nico Hulkenberg to finish just outside the points in Melbourne, the German heads to China convinced a spot in the top ten is in the cards.

While it's still early days at Renault, with the team's upgrade cycle set to begin in earnest in Bahrain, Hulkenberg's RS17 provided a glimpse of its pace and potential, both of which have boosted Hulk's frame of mind.

"Im going to be pushing all the way for points," he said in Renault's China preview.

"Australia was slightly frustrating as we could have done better with the pace we had in the car but traffic was an issue for most of the race. Our tyre strategy didnt help us either.

"It looks like were in the midfield with some of our rivals slightly ahead, but certainly in reach, and Shanghai is a very different track from Albert Park, so lets see what happens."

Hulkenberg has been impressed with the magnitude and scale of Renault's works operation. The German has settled in nicely in an environment in which he hopes to remain for the long term.

"I feel totally at home and I know we can deliver good things together," he added.

"Its clearly a big operation at the start of a long adventure and its great to be part of this. Everyones working hard together and I know we can achieve great things in the future."

GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Jan. 4, 1913  April 1, 2017

Corean Qualman was born Jan. 4, 1913, to William and Lillian Riggin in Galesburg, Illinois. There were three other girls, Ivan, Isabelle and Mary, and one boy, John, in the family to welcome her.

Childhood was spent on a farm near Peoria known as Roxbury Hamlet. She walked the three miles to a country school, but rode her horse to and graduated from high school in Victoria, Illinois.

Her first marriage was to a neighbor boy, Leland Cooper, in 1930.Three girls were born to them, but the middle child, Joan Marie, lived only 13 months. The other girls, Dianne Rose and Elsie Mae, grew up in Magnolia, Illinois, where their father managed farms for the Lawrence Lowry family. Corean hosted quilting bees and bridge parties, but her love of books and classical music and disinterest in religious groups limited her friends to a few close ones. Dianne is now married t Bob Pugh of Albany and Elsie is married to Raymond OS. Kelly of San Francisco.

Cooper volunteered for naval duty in World War II and upon returning home, promptly moved the family to Oakland, California. There Corean worked for the U.S. Government and volunteered as a plane spotter during the cold war years. Their marriage dissolved after 25 years.

In 1961, Corean married a co-worker, Robert Morgan, who came from Texas. Upon retirement, they moved to Sweet Home where they restored the old farmhouse on Oak Street. She described her life there as frosting on the cake with time for her favorite pastime, writing. She wrote columns for the local newspaper and served on the city council. She also helped to found the local senior center and serve as its president. However, after 22 years, that marriage ended.

In 1983, Alfred Qualman, a pioneer in oyster farming in Coos Bay, enticed Corean into a third marriage. His grown children, Larry Qualman (Sandy), Roger Qualman (Katie) and Sandy Miller (Ken), welcomed her into the family. The couple had 10 great years of world travel and entertaining before Alfred died.

Later years were spent at Brookdale (then Alterra) near family, but her enterprise did not stop. The employees there became her friends as she resurrected the greenhouse in the courtyard and provided blooms for every season. She was also a regular bridge player. The new greenhouse was dedicated to her as was the library that she organized for all to enjoy.

Beyond her natural children and the Qualman children, Corean has nine grandchildren and five stepgrandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 12 stepgreat-grandchildren and 17 great-great-grandchildren.

Her favorite quote was the only thing you can count on in life is change and she lived accordingly, adapting to whatever fate brought her way. She did so with grace, enthusiasm and concern for other and their needs. However, she would not suffer fools and did speak her mind. All of the family lives in awe of her sense of person and place in life that was with her until the end. She has expressed her desire to die peacefully in her sleep and that is exactly what she did on April 1, 2017, at the age of 104. She was an amazing woman who lived a full life. Good-bye to the foxy lady. She is so missed.

A celebration of life will be from 4 to 5:30 Saturday, April 15, at Brookdale, 1929 Grand Prairie Road S.E., Albany.

Donations can be made in her name to the Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House whose employees made her last year worth living, or Safe House Animal Shelter in honor of all the cats in her life, through Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321.

Online condolences for the family may be posted www.fisherfuneralhome.com.
The city of Corvallis has hired Ashlee Chavez to be the new director of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.

Chavez replaces Carolyn Rawles, who retired last November after 18 years in the post.

Chavez comes to Corvallis after serving since 2014 with the San Antonio Public Library System. Before her Texas stop, Chavez spent five years, including the last two as director, in the library system in Lompoc, California.

The public library system in Corvallis and Benton County has become more important in recent years than ever before, said Corvallis City Manager Mark Shepard. Im looking forward to Ashlees leadership as we develop new and exciting ways to serve our community.

Chavez, who has a masters degree in library science from Drexel University in Philadelphia, said leading the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is a dream opportunity for me, and I am incredibly optimistic about the future. During my visit I was utterly charmed by the area and by the Corvallis community.

Chavez will start work in Corvallis in mid-May. A public reception is being planned but a date has not been finalized.

Shepard and his hiring team assembled two finalist pools before hiring Chavez. A meet-and-greet session was held Oct. 27 with the first set of finalists. Chavez was hired from a pool of five finalists who met with the public March 13.

Also in the second finalist pool were Ed Gallagher of Albany, Bruce Gay of Milwaukie, Nancy Horner of Eugene and Robin Westphal of Chillicothe, Missouri.

Chavez will supervise all four library branches.

Shepard also praised the work of library deputy directors Felicia Uhden and Andrew Cherbas for their excellent leadership during the recruitment process.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.

Corvallis Police Department

SATURDAY, APRIL 1

PARTY FIGHT: 12:32 a.m., 1047 S.W. 13th St. According to a police report, when a resident was trying to get everyone to leave his house during a loud party, Jesse Emilio Quibrera, 22, of Corvallis, punched the resident in the face and started a large fight. When an officer tried to break it up, Quibrera reportedly inadvertently punched the officer. Quibrera was arrested and charged with two counts of fourth degree assault and a count of first degree criminal trespass.

FRIDAY, MARCH 31

DUII: 10:25 p.m., 5270 S.W. Philomath Blvd. An officer arrested Bret J Dodson, 54, of Corvallis, for a charge of DUII. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent.

IDENTITY THEFT: 12:30 p.m., Northwest Third Street and Northwest Polk Avenue. An officer arrested Travis Bradley Teague, 26, of Albany, after Teague allegedly found a mans checks in a wrecked car at B&R Auto Wrecking and then wrote himself $1,100 in fake checks and deposited them in his bank account. Teague reportedly had an outstanding warrant from Linn County for failing to appear in court, and he was charged with first degree theft, forgery in the second degree and identity theft.
Following the decision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to issue the fourth tranche of the loan under the EFF program in the amount of $1 billion, Ukraine plans to obtain three more tranches by the end of 2017, in particular the next one in May, Minister of Finance Oleksandr Danyliuk has stated.

"Four tranches are planned for this year, and we expect to receive all these four tranches. And the next one might be in May," he said on the air of Channel Five.

The minister specified all the funds of the fourth tranche will go to the reserves of the National Bank.

Danyliuk emphasized Ukraine for the first time in history has achieved the third revision of the program and receives the fourth tranche, which confirms the authorities' ability to fulfill their obligations and characterizes the level of cooperation with the IMF.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has met with President of Korean Corporation Posco Daewoo Kim Young-Sang, during which the parties discussed potential projects for investing in Ukraine.

"We are interested to create added value in the territory of Ukraine and it is clear that for this we need new investments and projects, including those that we can consider in terms of the development of our agroindustrial complex, which have an extremely high potential. The matter concerns production in the territory of the country," Groysman said.

According to the Ukrainian prime minister, the government is taking measures to create favorable conditions for business and is ready "to provide 100% turn-key" support to those business projects that are implemented in Ukraine.

The Posco Daewoo president, in turn, expressed interest in investing in a grain port terminal and opening a full-fledged division of the company in Ukraine.

In addition, the company is interested in cooperation with Ukraine in the direction of production of electric vehicles and is ready to contribute to the creation of a national brand.
Attempted attack on Bonn central train station : Maximum sentence for Bonn bomber

Dusseldorf The main defendant in the terrorism trial in Dusseldorf has been sentenced to life for his part in an attempted bombing of Bonn central station. His accomplices also received long sentences.

Teilen

Teilen Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Tweeten

Tweeten Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Drucken

Islamist Marco G. was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday in the terrorism trial for the failed bomb attack on Bonn central train station and the planned assassination of a politician. The Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court found it had been proved that the now 30-year-old Bonner attempted to kill as many people as possible with the explosive device and that he and three other Salafists had formed a terrorist organisation and had agreed to murder the leader of the right-wing populist party Pro NRW.

As demanded by Federal prosecutors, the court also noted the particular gravity of the crime, meaning he may not be released after 15 years. The sentences handed down by the court for his three accomplices fell short of those called for by the Chief Federal Prosecutor. Enea B., Koray D. and Tayfun S. were sentenced to between nine and a half and twelve years in prison for their part in the murder plot in Leverkusen and for membership of a terrorist organisation. The defence had called for all defendants to be acquitted.

On 10 December 2012 an explosive device was found on platform one of Bonn central station. Police rendered the device harmless. The 20 centimetre long pipe bomb was filled with explosives but as no detonator was found, the defence called into question whether it was an armed weapon.

The court disagreed. The fact that the bomb had not exploded was probably due to its delicate construction or the fact that a witness and a student had kicked the bag it was in. The judge was convinced that Marco G. would use every further opportunity to kill unbelievers.

The defence announced in the evening it would appeal. This decision is wrong. The battle has begun, said the Bonn defence lawyer Peter Krieger. Statistically, there is not much chance of success. In criminal cases, decisions are only examined for errors in law and in the vast majority of cases the appeal is dismissed.
Bonn weather : Warmest March since 1895

Bonn It was the warmest March since 1895 according to Klaus Kosack, former head statistician for Bonn, with temperatures climbing to 24.4 degrees Celsius on the last day of month.

Teilen

Teilen Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Tweeten

Tweeten Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Drucken

It was a month of extremes: the warmest March since 1895 but very damp and lots of sun. These are the conclusions reached by Klaus Kosack, the former head statistician for Bonn using data from the Endenich weather station, the University of Bonn and his own weather recordings.

The average temperature in March was 10.3 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees warmer than in previous years and the highest since 1895. It was warmer than an average April. The mildest March in Bonn before this year was in 1981 with an average temperature of 9.7 degrees. The coldest was in 1962 with an average temperature of 2.5 degrees. The highest temperature this year was 24.4 degrees Celsius on 31 March. This March was also free of frost; the last time this happened was in 1989. The last day of frost this year was on 11 February.

March had 158 hours of sunshine. The record was set in 2011, which had 44 hours more sunshine. On five days the sun shone for more than 10 hours and did not shine at all on only two days.

A total of 80 litres of rain fell per square metre, 21 litres more than the average March in Bonn, making it the tenth wettest March since records began 169 years ago. Two thirds of Marchs precipitation fell in two days of torrential rain.

March 2016 was 4.6 degrees cooler than this March and had nine days of frost. The sun shone for 102 hours, 55 hours less than this year.
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.
Ukraine and Moldova have agreed on the construction of a bypass road near Palanca, which will allow overhauling the bridge on the Odesa-Reni highway in the same locality.

According to the press service of Odesa Regional State Administration, a meeting of a group of deputies from the parliament of the Republic of Moldova and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with the participation of Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Maksym Stepanov, Chairman of Odesa Regional Council Anatoliy Urbansky and Minister of Regional Development and Construction of the Republic of Moldova Vasile Bitca was held in Palanca. The participants in the meeting discussed the construction of a bypass road through the territory of Moldova for the overhaul of the bridge. The total cost of the project is UAH 76 million.

"The availability of this way will make it possible to quickly get to the southern regions of Odesa region and relieve traffic near Zatoka during the vacation season," the press service said.

The Moldovan side promised by the end of the week to approve the project. It is planned that by April 7 all the decisions made will be stipulated in official documents.
Ukraine cuts application for gas imports from Slovakia by 75.6%, to 10 mcm per day

Ukraine as of April 1 has reduced the application for imports of natural gas from Slovakia by 75.6%, from 41.4 million cubic meters (mcm) delivered in the last days of March to 10 million cubic meters.

According to live data from Eustream, the operator of the Slovak gas transportation system, during March 1-31 Ukraine had imported 1.23 billion cubic meters of gas via this route.

As reported, in late February Chief Commercial Director of Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko announced the company's plan in April to significantly reduce the volume of gas imports.

In this regard, Naftogaz invited interested companies in April 2017 to use free gas transportation capacities booked by the company in the Budince point on the Ukrainian-Slovak border.

Naftogaz is ready to offer suppliers a flexible mechanism of interaction, depending on the volume and timing of gas supplies. The request should contain the expected volume of gas transportation capacities, as well as the supplier's shipper code in the system of the operator of the Slovak gas transportation system, Eustream, a.s.
bayonel3 at 4-04-2017 10:23 AM (5 years ago) (m)

The Abubakar Shekaus faction of Boko Haram has released a new video in which it attacked the President Muhammadu Buharis government. A member of the Islamic sect could be seen in the video flogging some villagers for different offences ranging from possession of hard substance to alcohol in the areas probably under their control. In the video released on Monday, a preacher could be heard in Huasa ranting against the Nigerian government. The preacher was surrounded by gunmen and a crowd who were believed to be villagers held hostage. Recall that the terroist group had in a previous video threatened to behead Cameroon President Paul Biya.

The Abubakar Shekaus faction of Boko Haram has released a new video in which it attacked the President Muhammadu Buharis government. A member of the Islamic sect could be seen in the video flogging some villagers for different offences ranging from possession of hard substance to alcohol in the areas probably under their control. In the video released on Monday, a preacher could be heard in Huasa ranting against the Nigerian government. The preacher was surrounded by gunmen and a crowd who were believed to be villagers held hostage. Recall that the terroist group had in a previous video threatened to behead Cameroon President Paul Biya. I would behead you Paul Biya, its me that would behead you with the left hand, be ready, a Boko Haram commander said in French displaying Biyas picture in a news magazine.

The man later drops the magazine and crushes Biyas face with his leg, saying I would behead you, imbecile, sluggard!. He said he would decapitate Biya with the left hand, and called him a bigger Christian. Biya is a catholic who regularly attends church service in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

watch video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNCFzQtxrHM  a Boko Haram commander said in French displaying Biyas picture in a news magazine.The man later drops the magazine and crushes Biyas face with his leg, sayingHe said he would decapitate Biya with the left hand, and called him a bigger Christian. Biya is a catholic who regularly attends church service in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.watch video below:

Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. [email protected] Posted: at 4-04-2017 10:23 AM (5 years ago) | Hero
felicilin at 4-04-2017 10:29 AM (5 years ago) (f)

Mombasa sex workers are currently holding demonstrations protesting mistreatment by clients after their colleague was allegedly murdered by a client last weekend.

Mombasa sex workers are currently holding demonstrations protesting mistreatment by clients after their colleague was allegedly murdered by a client last weekend. The unnamed commercial sex worker was found dead by workers who came to clean the room last Saturday. Her colleagues said they last saw her entering the hotel with a man the previous evening.

Used condoms were recovered from the room as police opened a probe into the incident. Mombasa DCI boss Jacob Kanake said several people including the club's managers, are being questioned over the murder.

Kanake said they are tracing the man said to have been with the lady before her body was found.

Photo credit: Crime Alerts For Kenyans

The unnamed commercial sex worker was found dead by workers who came to clean the room last Saturday. Her colleagues said they last saw her entering the hotel with a man the previous evening.Used condoms were recovered from the room as police opened a probe into the incident. Mombasa DCI boss Jacob Kanake said several people including the club's managers, are being questioned over the murder.Kanake said they are tracing the man said to have been with the lady before her body was found.Photo credit: Crime Alerts For Kenyans

Post Reply Posted: at 4-04-2017 10:29 AM (5 years ago) | Hero
Notification

Just like snoozing alarm, Android O gives the user, ability to snooze the notification, so that you can access it after some time. In addition, it also gives you the permission to make 'Notification channel', where you can group the app under one heading. For example, you can group all the social networking apps notification under 'Social Network' channel.

Picture in Picture

We have seen this in a lot of third party video player apps, with this option, but yet to see a full-fledged feature in the phone. This feature brings the ability to keep a video playing while interacting with another app. Here, it can shrink the size of the video that is currently playing to a floating video, so users can work on other apps in parallel.

If you can't to see, you can choose for Floating tube app on Play Store, that lets you watch youtube videos in floating mode so that can you can play youtube videos as well as youtube playlist outside the app in floating mode.

SEE ALSO: Moto G5 vs Moto G5 Plus: What's the difference?

Shortcuts on Android lock screen

This iteration of Android lets you keep shortcuts of your most used app not only on home screen but also on the lock screen as well. If you want to get it right now on your Android device, you can download 'Start' app from Google Play Store. With this app, you get quick access to your favorite apps, contacts & media right from the Start.

Notification badges on Apps

Just like iOS, you can receive all your app notifications right on the app icon itself. As you read, the notification badge will be disappeared. You can do this with a third-party app called Notifyer, available for free on Google Play Store.

Launch app draw easily

With Android Nougat now, you need to swipe up from the navigation bar to access the launch drawer. But with Android O, you can swipe anywhere on the homescreen to launch app drawer. If you are desperate to use that feature on your phone before the update, we recommend you to install App Swap drawer from Google Play Store.
Apple orders 70million OLED display panels from Samsung for iPhone 8 News oi -Shilpa Some more OLED to be supplied by Samsung

Apple has been under a chain of rumors regarding the OLED display panels which is said to come in it's upcoming iPhone 8. Samsung being the lead in this mobile OLED space, it was known to everyone that the company will be going to order from them.

This is not the first, rumors regarding this started to spill on the internet along with iPhone 8 specs. According to few reports of last year, the company had placed an order for around 100 million 5.5-inch AMOLED panels from it's rival for iPhone 7. Recently, there was another report stating that both the companies made an agreement of $4.3 billion OLED supply for some 60 million OLED panels.

Graphic chips for iPhones to be designed by Apple itself

Now, The Nikkei Asian Review is reporting that the company has placed an order for OLED panels from Samsung for it's 70 million handsets. David Hsieh, senior director of Research company IHS Markit says, "Apple has ordered 70 million units of OLED panels from Samsung this year, while Samsung is preparing to churn out as many as 95 million for Apple in 2017, in case demand exceeds expectations".

He also added, "It is also possible that some of these 70 million handsets will not be shipped to customers this year and be carried over to next year depending on demand". So, nothing is confirmed yet by the company.

Microsoft starts selling Apple iPhones after Samsung Galaxy S8 deal

According to rumors, this OLED panels will be used in iPhone 8 which is said to be unveiled along with the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus. But they also state that unlike iPhone 8, the 7s iPhone's will stick to the previous pattern of LCD panels like its predecessors.

Source

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Nokia 6 gets a Silver paint job; open for pre-registration News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia 6 gets a new silver color variant.

Nokia 6 carries the credit of being the first Nokia-branded Android smartphone to be launched by HMD Global. The smartphone went on sale in China and a few other regions, revealing the huge demand that it has among fans.

Now, the Nokia 6 has got a Silver color paint job done and it looks attractive too. The new silver Nokia 6 is similar to the white color variant of the smartphone spotted in the Philippines, but both are quite different from each other. Notably, the white variant isn't official as yet. Apart from being official, the Nokia 6 is also available for registration on the Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com (Jingdong).

HMD Global gets patent rights for the design of Nokia 6

For the uninitiated, the Nokia 6 silver color variant visited TENAA a few days back, so we expect this variant to be announced soon. The Nokia 6 silver color option will join the black variant to attract buyers. In comparison with the black model, the silver colored model looks sleeker and more premium. It still retains the military grade metal build. Apart from the change in the color, there is no change between the black and silver variants of the Nokia 6. Not to mention, the shiny silver highlighting on the Nokia logo and camera ring at the rear.

Nokia 6 clears durability test; probably one of the solid phones of 2017

On the pricing and availability front, there is no official confirmation regarding the silver variant of the Nokia 6. We can expect the silver model to be priced similar to the Nokia 6 Black variant at 1699 Yuan (approx. Rs. 16,000).

Source

Best Mobiles in India
Reliance Jio 4G download speed fastest in India: TRAI News oi -Priyanka The data comes after when Advertising Standards Council of India has asked India's largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel to " modify or "Withdraw"

According to Telecom Regulator Authority of India's ( TRAI) MySpeed portal, Mukesh Ambani -led Reliance Jio has once again emerged as country's fastest 4G mobile data provider for March.

The data comes after when Advertising Standards Council of India has asked India's largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel to " modify or "Withdraw" the advertisement which claims to be "officially the fastest network".

The advertising industry watchdog said the complaint against Airtel was considered by the Fast Track Complaints Committee (FTCC) at a meeting held on March 29. Adding that, "we have advised the advertiser to modify appropriately or to withdraw the said TVC (television commercial) and the website advertisement by April 11, 2017."

Vodafone launches SuperFan for IPL partnership

The data shows that Jio offers an average download speed of 15.04 Mbps and the company has managed to beat all incumbents players like Idea Cellular (8.33 mbps), Airtel (7.66 mbps) and Vodafone (5.8 mbps).

However when it comes to upload speed Jio lags behind Idea 6.536Mbps followed by Vodafone (5.429Mbps), and Airtel (4.455Mbps). Reliance Jio stands fourth at 3.581Mbps, followed by Reliance Communications (1.490Mbps).

TRAI collects and computes the speed of mobile data from subscribers across the country with the help of MySpeed application on a real-time basis.

To recall Jio has recently announced its new offer 'Summer Surprise' for its JIO PRIME members Every JIO PRIME member, when they make their first paid recharge prior to 15th April using Jio's Rs 303 plan (or any higher value plan), will get services for the initial 3 months on a complimentary basis. The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary," the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the company has also extended its Prime membership services till 15th April.

The company said that "over 72 million (and still counting!) Jio customers have signed up for Jio Prime membership until 31st March, (the earlier deadline for Prime membership)."

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Reliance Jio will continue to give tough competition to telecom operators, says Care Ratings News oi -Priyanka The company has recently announced has announced its new offer 'Summer Surprise' for its JIO PRIME members

According to a report by Care Ratings, with this new offer, (Summer Surprise) Reliance Jio will continue to give a tough competition to the telecom operators that already witnessed hardship due to Reliance Jio's free services in the December 2016 quarter.

"The surprise move by Reliance Jio will continue to add more subscribers to its base. However, after the month of July 2017, some moderation is expected in the number of telecom subscribers," the agency said.

The company has recently announced has announced its new offer 'Summer Surprise' for its JIO PRIME members.

Every JIO PRIME member, when they make their first paid recharge prior to 15th April using Jio's Rs. 303 plan (or any higher value plan), will get services for the initial 3 months on a complimentary basis. The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary," Jio said in a statement.

Reliance Jio 4G download speed fastest in India: TRAI

Meanwhile, the company has also extended its Prime membership services until 15th April.

The agency said, " Reliance Jio which was expected to charge for its services from 1st April 2017 extended the deadline for buying Jio's Rs.303 (and other) plans until 15th April 2017. Those subscribers who buy Rs. 99 prime membership till 15th April 2017 and subscribes to plans of Rs.303 or higher will be eligible for the Summer Surprise offer." Adding that, prior to announcement of Summer Surprise offer, a subscriber could buy prime membership only till 31st March 2017 and could make a recharge of any of the plans (Rs. 149, Rs. 303, etc.) for a month for its chargeable services from 1st April 2017.

"Reliance Jio's free services not only affected the industry's sales but also profits in the December 2016 quarter. The aggregate sales of nine telecom companies that grew in single-digit in each of the quarters during June 2015 quarter to September 2016 quarter declined by 1.1 percent in the December 2016 quarter. Likewise, the industry's performance remained subdued on the profitability front," it added.

The industry's operating margin stood at 28.43 percent and net margin stood at 0.34 percent in the December 2016 quarter. The profitability reported by the industry was weakest compared to each of the past six quarters.

"Nevertheless, going forward, we expect the growth in data usage by subscribers to drive the telecom industry's growth. Also, the new norm of bundled voice and data packages is expected to increase the Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of telecom companies in the coming years. However, any more surprises may put some pressure on the ARPU of telecom companies" the credit rating agency further added.

Best Mobiles in India
Overall, dont let the bhoot mislead you, nothing bhootiya about this story. Had the makers tried to push the envelope, the idea could have been outstanding for a bhootiya comedy.
The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv by its ruling of March 28 has temporarily banned PJSC Ukrtransgaz from limiting or suspending gas transportation for PJSC Odesa port-side chemical plant.

The court also banned the company from rejecting nominations for entry and exit points of the plant, which are submitted under the contract for tolling processing of raw materials from ERU Management Services.

Ukrtransgaz can contest the ruling.

As reported, after two unsuccessful attempts to privatize Odesa port-side chemical plant in 2016, the company due to high prices for natural gas and accumulated debts for its supplies suspended activities for the first two months of 2017.

In March the plant started to operate under a give-and-take scheme with ERU group of companies, which committed to supply up to 60 million cubic meters of gas per month to it for processing and sell received ammonia and carbamide in external and internal markets.

ERU also undertook to issue more than $20 million under loan support agreements to resume the plant's operations by financing gas supplies in March.
Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 3, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 20 strikes consisting of 51 engagements against ISIS targets 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 13 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed two ISIS wellheads, two heavy equipment pieces and two oil storage tanks.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed three ISIS wellheads.

-- In Palmyra, a strike destroyed an ISIS improvised weapons facility and an improvised explosive device.

-- Near Raqqa, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three fighting positions.

-- In Tabqah, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed two tactical vehicles, a fighting position and a tank; and damaged four supply routes.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted 11 strikes consisting of 38 engagements against ISIS targets in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed a fighting position, a mortar system and a rocket-propelled grenade system; damaged three fighting positions, two supply routes and a supply cache; and suppressed eight ISIS mortar teams and four ISIS tactical units.

-- Near Qaim, six strikes destroyed two vehicle-borne-bomb facilities, a vehicle bomb factory, a vehicle bomb, an explosives cache and an ISIS finance office.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






ISIS Bomb Caused Mosul Civilian Casualties, Iraqi Officials Say

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BAGHDAD, April 3, 2017  Iraqi officials believe that the March 17 blast in Mosul that killed 61 civilians -- including many women and children -- was caused by the blast of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria vehicle-borne explosive device.

Saeed al-Jayashi, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, said an examination of the site shows that the building was not hit by a coalition airstrike.

"There was no hole in the building," Jayashi said to reporters traveling with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking through an interpreter, Jayashi said the coalition airstrike hit a building where ISIS fighters were holed up. "The strike was 100-percent accurate and it was correct," Jayashi said.

The Iraqi spokesman said that Iraqi forces were coming under strong fire from a building and they properly identified the source of the fire and called for an airstrike. Next to it was another house and between them was a vehicle.

The strike came in and hit the target, but it also set off the bomb-laden vehicle. The ISIS bomb was packed with explosives and took out the whole block, said Iraqi Air Force Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim, a defense ministry spokesman. He said the size of the weapon the aircraft dropped could not have caused the kind of damage Iraqi troops found at the site.

When Iraqi forces approached the site, the house had pancaked down on the occupants. "Usually when there is an explosion, the explosion will throw everything to the outside," Jayashi said. "This we did not see. There was no explosion from the inside out."

People in the neighborhood told Iraqi forces that ISIS forced people into the house and made them stay, he said.

Nearby, Iraqi forces rescued 26 women and children who had been forced to stay in another house laden with explosives. "We got to them at night, but the house was contaminated with IEDs and we could not get them out," Jayashi said. "We came back in the daytime to defuse the explosives and rescue them."

Jayashi said that while Iraqi investigators have a lot of information, they are still working to uncover the complete truth. But, he said, everybody in Iraq understands what ISIS is doing in Mosul -- the terror group is sowing fear and killing innocent civilians.

The spokesman quoted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who said, "There is no value in victory if we are not saving people's lives."

Fighting in the city increases the danger of civilian casualties, but Iraqi forces are taking casualties themselves rather than cause casualties among their fellow citizens, Jayashi said.

He said the investigators will submit their full report to the prime minister soon.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Dunford, Kushner Examine Counter-ISIS Fight, Discuss Lessons for Strategy

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BAGHDAD, April 3, 2017  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arrived here today on one of his periodic visits to assess the health of the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford brought Jared Kushner, the senior advisor to President Donald J. Trump, and Tom Bossert, the president's homeland security advisor, with him 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, 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 general said, using the acronym the military applies to enemy improvised explosive devices.

Situational Awareness

Dunford said he believes that those who form strategy should have a good situational awareness of what is happening tactically and that they benefit from hearing it from U.S. forces, firsthand and unfiltered. "So I think the more appreciation anyone can have -- to include me -- for what's happening on the ground, the more informed you are to start talking the strategic issues," he added.

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.

"It is not our judgment that the Iraqis will be self-sustaining and self-sufficient in the wake of Mosul," Dunford said. "More important, it is not Prime Minister [Haidar] Abadi's assessment, [either]. He believes he will need continued U.S. support in Iraq post-Mosul."

The enemy is still in Tal Afar to the west of Mosul, as well as in Kirkuk and in the Euphrates River valley near Qaim. These are the three major areas of concern once Mosul is liberated, the chairman said.

Mosul is important, Dunford said, but it is not the end of the campaign against the terror group. ISIS still continues to launch terror attacks in Baghdad and in other cities, he noted, and still controls territory in the country.

Consolidating Gains

Another consideration is maintaining focus on what has been accomplished so far and consolidating those gains, Dunford said. "We need to be very concerned about staying focused on the stabilization efforts in Mosul so the success the Iraqis have had in the past couple of months is solidified," he added.

Raqqa, the so-called capital of the ISIS caliphate in Syria, is under attack, and plans continue to take the terrorist stronghold. Developing that plan will include a plan for stabilization and for law enforcement activity, the chairman told reporters. The real issue, he said, is how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson leverages the facts on the ground in Syria to achieve U.S. political objectives. Tillerson was meeting with officials in Ankara, Turkey.

The whole U.S. national security apparatus is looking at ways to refine the campaign against ISIS and other terror groups, the chairman said. "I do think whether we move forward with a refinement in the current strategy or we move to a different strategy is going to be informed by our assessment of the political conditions in Iraq, the capabilities of Iraqi security forces and the threat," he added.

American officials also will assess the relationship among the Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq. "Understanding those things is not only helpful," Dunford explained, but critical to making the decision about where we are going in Iraq."

Another important factor, he said, is the role of the Shiite militia and the ability to make sure any security forces in Iraq are accountable to the Iraqi government. "In the wake of operations in Mosul, clearly, the Sunnis that live in the region are going to want to ensure the issues are addressed properly, and I don't know if they want to be liberated from ISIS only to then, by their perception,  be oppressed by Shia militia that are influenced by Iran," Dunford said.

In Iraq, all of the major groups are cooperating and focused on defeating ISIS, the chairman told reporters. Keeping that sense of mission once ISIS is defeated in Mosul is key to progress in the country, he said.

More Work Remains

"I suggest there is still a lot of work to be done in Mosul for months to come," Dunford said, noting that the prime minister estimates the country will need at least $2 billion to reconstruct and deliver essential services to the city.

The fight in Mosul has been tough, but Iraqi security forces have made gains. "What we're seeing is a house-by-house, block-by-block, difficult fight," the general said." The Iraqis have increasingly needed help in dealing with IED threat, he added, and they have improved their capability against that threat over the past couple of months, as well as in countering the unmanned aerial system threat, which he said is a growing area of concern.

ISIS has placed IEDs in houses and blocks of buildings, the general said, and the bombs are still killing people, even as ISIS fighters flee.

"We expected a tough fight, and it is. The Iraqi security forces have taken a large number of casualties," Dunford said. "The size of the city, the terrain, the IED threat, the time ISIS had to prepare defensive positions -- all that characterized the nature of the fight inside Mosul."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






U.S. Airstrikes Hit Terrorists in Yemen

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2017  The U.S. military conducted airstrikes over eastern Yemen during the weekend, targeting the sites of extremist group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, director of Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters today.

"We continue to target [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] in Yemen, and this is done in the interest of disrupting a terror organization that presents a very significant threat to the United States," Davis said.

Strikes Target Terrorists

During the weekend in Yemen's Shabwah governorate, the precision airstrikes targeted al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists, as well as the terrorists' infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment, the spokesman said.

The airstrikes follow the late-January U.S. raid in Yemen during which a U.S. service member died. From Feb. 28 through last week, some 50 airstrikes were conducted, Davis noted.

The weekend airstrikes, which were largely unmanned, bring the total to 70, he said.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






CP-17 Finishes Colombia Visit, Concludes Mission

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-32

Release Date: 4/3/2017 1:28:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brittney Cannady, Expeditionary Combat Camera

MAYAPO, Colombia (NNS) -- The humanitarian mission Continuing Promise 2017 (CP-17) concluded March 31 after wrapping up its visit to Mayapo, Colombia.

During the 10-day stop to one of Colombia's more remote regions, the multi-service team of healthcare professionals completed 10,604 patient encounters, far exceeding their mission planning goal of 5,000.

The visit also continued to build on U.S.-Colombian relations and capacities through 65 knowledge exchange and training events (KETs); 529 animal treatments; eight community relations projects and 15 band performances.

Additionally, Maypo presented the unique opportunity for the CP-17 team to interact and learn from the indigenous Wayuu people.

"The Wayuu is a fascinating culture -- very different from ours. It is extremely valuable for Navy medical personnel to practice interacting with new and different cultures as we deploy all over the world," said Lt. Cmdr. Robert Lennon, CP-17's Medical Officer in Charge. "We have found that the Wayuu appear to have no arthritis before the age of 80, and have a very low prevalence of both hypertension and squamous cell carcinoma, a skin cancer commonly found in most other populations."

Lennon added the mission's findings could spur additional medical research.

"There is virtually no published health data on the Wayuu; we hope our observations can lead to further investigation," he said.

Mayapo marked the final stop for the mission's 169 Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps service members.

From January 26 to March 31 they worked with local military, medical professionals and volunteers to provide medical, dental, optical and veterinary services in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, Trujillo, Honduras, and Mayapo, Colombia.

"The work done by everyone involved in this mission far exceeded the goals we set," said Mission Commander Capt. Errin Armstrong. "Our success was only possible through the tremendous support from our partner nations and the teamwork and interoperability we developed during each of our country visits."

Through the mission's ongoing cooperation it accomplished 23,601 patient encounters; 200 KETs; more than 800 animal treatments; and 24 community relations projects. Additionally, members of the U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF) Band performed 51 concerts at local schools and public venues.

Armstrong went on to say the collaboration and partnering with local health care providers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), interpreters, volunteers, and embassy teams was essential to successfully providing quality care to host nation patients.

"I'm positive our personnel have all gained a wealth of knowledge from their experiences with volunteer groups and NGOs," said Armstrong. "The feedback we've received from these interactions will help us to continue developing relationships with our friends and neighbors to the south."

In addition to military medical professionals, U.S. personnel worked alongside various NGOs, including Children's Vision International, Operation Blessing and Trujillo Pet Project, while also teaming with local universities and schools.

Musician 2nd Class Carl Schulte, a trumpet player assigned to the U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF) Band, said CP-17 was unlike anything he has participated in and something he will never forget.

"As a musician you're lucky to be able to travel often, but seeing the faces of kids light up or watching people dance because they enjoy our music is awesome," said Schulte. "Even if we can't always speak the language, this experience has taught me that music is truly a universal language."

The unique team of military and civilian providers working together was also a new experience for Colombian optometrist Dr. Fabio Mora; one he said worked well.

"Everyone was open to learn and share their skills to help give the best care to patients. I'm very happy to have been a part of this mission," said Mora.

For Hospital Corpsman Third Class O'Neal James, assigned to Naval Hospital Jacksonville, the mission has reinvigorated his passion for dentistry.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to help so many people from country to country. Being able to give someone the confidence to smile again because they have healthy teeth was a great feeling," said James.

Construction Electrician Second Class Jan-Rainier San Juan, assigned to Construction Battalion Mobile Unit (CBMU) 202 expressed his excitement to reunite with family and friends when he returns to Jacksonville, Fla.

"I'll be happy to be home and to see my wife and children. My family really supported me, and I'm looking forward to being able to see them soon," said San Juan.

CP-17 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet-conducted deployment to conduct civil-military operations including humanitarian assistance, training engagements, and medical, dental, and veterinary support in an effort to show U.S. support and commitment to Central and South America.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






USS Ross Begins Fifth FDNF Patrol

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-24

Release Date: 4/3/2017 10:56:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert S. Price USS Ross (DDG 71) Public Affairs

NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) departed Naval Station Rota, Spain to begin its fifth scheduled forward-deployed patrol in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe April 3.

Ross's patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations serves to bolster relationships with allies and regional partners, and its participation in theater exercises will contribute toward improving our maritime forces and maintaining security and stability in the region.

Quote:

"I am very excited to go underway for patrol one last time with the officers and crew of the USS Ross. They do amazing work and I look forward to the days ahead and the many things they will accomplish,"

Cmdr. R.J. Caldwell,

commanding officer USS Ross

Quick Facts:

This is Ross's fifth patrol since being forward-deployed to Rota, Spain.

Ross is currently working with allies and regional partners to help develop and improve our maritime forces, maintain regional security and work toward mutual goals in order to advance security and stability in Europe.

Ross, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






VP-16 Participates in Swedish Exercise WASA III

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-23

Release Date: 4/3/2017 10:50:00 AM

By Lt. Brian O'Bannon, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

RONNEBY, Sweden (NNS) -- A P-8A Poseidon, assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, detached to Ronneby, Sweden to participate in the Swedish-led anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise "WASA III" in the littoral waters between the Swedish mainland and Gotland island.

From March 28-30, 2017, the P-8A conducted three ASW sorties against a Swedish Gotland-class submarine in coordination with four Swedish Visby-class corvettes. The scenarios built upon each other with increasing complexity leading up to a scenario including an unspotted submarine and simulated enemy surface force.

"During 'WASA III' we learned a lot working with our Swedish Navy partners by conducting anti-submarine warfare training in the littoral environment," said assistant mission commander Lt. Kenny Lovelady. "We look forward to continuing to develop interoperability between the P-8A and the Swedish Navy's corvette squadrons in the Baltic Sea."

QUICK FACTS

- VP-16 is in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S national security interests in Europe and Africa.

- VP-16 is relieving VP-45, which concluded a seven month deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

- VP-16 is based out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.

- VP-16 is deployed to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Nimitz Strike Group Conducts Strait Transit Training Exercise

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-17

Release Date: 4/3/2017 9:33:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Ian Kinkead

PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) participated in a show of force transit training exercise with Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11 off the coast of Southern California, March 31.

CSG 11 conducted the exercise as part of Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) to prepare for moving through narrow passageways of water during its upcoming 2017 deployment.

According to Lt. Ryan Benko, a native of Bremerton, Washington, and the Destroyer Squadron Nine (DESRON 9) lead planner, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Chafee (DDG 90), USS Howard (DDG 83), USS Pinckney (DDG 91) and USS Kidd (DDG 100), and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59), all ships from DESRON 9, participated in the exercise with Nimitz. Helicopters were also provided from the "Wolf Pack" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75 and the "Eightballers" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8 from Carrier Air Wing 11.

The aim of the exercise is to help all participating Sailors from CSG 11 understand what the environment will be like as they move through straits in foreign territories.

Nimitz is a high value asset within the strike group. When the strike group transits a strait as a whole, it is in a much higher protective posture than normal. The smaller ships in the strike group act as the first level of engagement if anything out of the ordinary were to happen. The helicopters are there to be the eye in the sky and provide support.

"We are worried about the carrier, but everyone plays their part," said Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist Robert Kingston, a native of Geneva, Ohio, and the leading chief petty officer of IFX department. "Between the helicopters, the smaller ships, and the carrier there are a lot of moving pieces, and in a real strait transit there will be even more entities to incorporate."

Kingston explained that the purpose of this training exercise is to make sure that everyone understands their roles. In a real scenario the point is to document and get the first truth to the public in order to fight propaganda and stop misinformation and collect data that can be used and analyzed.

This exercise requires almost every department aboard to play a part including navigation, deck, operations, weapons, combat systems, IFX and media. They all worked together to collect information and keep a strong level of protection as the training transit occurred.

"It was pretty successful," said Kingston. "There are areas we need to work on, but every carrier coming out of the yards with a compressed training cycle is going to face some problems. I am happy with where we are at. Even with a small amount of training and a green crew, we are doing well."

Nimitz is currently underway performing COMPTUEX with the rest of CSG 11 in preparation for a 2017 deployment. COMPTUEX tests the mission readiness of the strike group's assets through simulated real-world scenarios, and their ability to work together as a cohesive unit to complete the mission.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






USS Makin Island Hosts Kuwait Navy Staff, US Ambassador

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-14

Release Date: 4/3/2017 9:32:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Asher Allen, USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Public Affairs

ARABIAN GULF (NNS) -- The U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and members of the Kuwait Naval Force visited the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), March 15.

Ambassador Lawrence Silverman, Kuwaiti Navy Col. Nayef al-Askar, members of the U.S. Embassy-Kuwait, and Kuwaiti Navy staff toured the ship and met with Sailors and Marines. They came to visit to gain a better understanding of the capabilities and missions of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

The guests were transported to the ship via a landing craft air cushion (LCAC) assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5.

"The U.S. military shares a long-standing relationship with Kuwait, and we're privileged to welcome our guests aboard today," said Capt. Mark Melson, Makin Island's commanding officer. "This opportunity strengthens partnerships while allowing our partners to see firsthand the capabilities the ARG-MEU brings to the region."

Distinguished visitor embarks provide an opportunity to show ARG-MEUs are a self-sustained, versatile force capable of conducting a range of military operations to resolve conflict, conduct humanitarian assistance, or combat the enemy in remote, austere environments.

The San Diego-based Makin Island ARG/11th MEU is currently conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts during deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






The funds of the fourth tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the EFF program in the amount of $1 billion will come to Ukraine in the coming days, which will allow increasing the country's international reserves to $16.1 billion, NBU Deputy Head Oleh Churiy has said.

"We expect that the funds will be received in the coming days in various currencies that are included in Special Drawing Rights (SDR): both in U.S. dollars, pounds and euros. Part of the tranche will go directly to NBU accounts in the SDR currency," he said at a briefing in Kyiv.

Churiy noted that since the beginning of cooperation with the fund under the EFF program Ukraine within the four tranches will receive $8.7 billion, which allowed it to treble reserves.
USS Donald Cook Returns to Rota

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170403-11

Release Date: 4/3/2017 9:15:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alyssa Weeks, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) returned to Naval Station Rota, Spain, March 30, 2017, after finishing its fifth forward-deployed patrol.

Donald Cook's forward presence in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean, the ship's participation in Flag Officer Sea Training and its port visits with allies and partners contributed to regional stability and demonstrated the U.S.'s commitment to the collective security of the European region.

Quote:

"As Donald Cook's fifth U.S. 6th Fleet patrol comes to an end, I continue to be amazed at the absolute professionalism and resolve of our Sailors. From the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Northern Atlantic Ocean, I remain honored to lead the Donald Cook Team -- they are true ambassadors to Europe."

- Cmdr. Timothy Moore, USS Donald Cook commanding officer



Quick Facts:

*During this patrol, Donald Cook participated in Flag Officer Sea Training and completed several U.S. training and certification events.

*Donald Cook conducted four port visits, including Gaeta, Italy; Souda Bay, Greece; Plymouth, U.K.; and Cobh, Ireland.

*Donald Cook participated in three community relations events and held one reception.

* U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Bahraini king grants military courts right to try civilians

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 1:59PM

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah has granted the country's military tribunals the right to try civilians, initiating yet another wave of crackdown against the opposition in the island country.

According to Bahrain's official news agency, BNA, King Hamad on Monday approved a constitutional amendment, which drops a clause limiting trials to members of the armed forces and other security branches, granting courts-martial the right to try all civilians accused of "damaging public interest" or carrying out acts of terrorism.

"The amendment becomes effective from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette," BNA further said.

On February 21, Bahrain's lower house of parliament, known as the Council of Representatives (Majlis an-Nuwab), voted in favor of the contentious bill, and on March 5, the upper house of the Bahraini parliament, known as the Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura), also had unanimously passed the controversial amendment.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has severely denounced the amendment, saying, "Bahraini courts  civilian as well as military  have been part of the machinery of repression that makes a mockery of fair trial standards when it comes to political dissent."

The latest move by the Bahraini regime to further suppress political dissent is in clear violation of Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which maintains that "everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal."

In January, a royal decree also restored arrest and investigatory powers to the National Security Agency (NSA), Bahrain's domestic spy service, a move that was strongly lambasted by the HRW.

The new law has also sparked concern for the fate of political activists already behind bars in the country's prisons.

'A disastrous move'

Shortly after the announcement of the king's ratification of the bill on Monday, the Amnesty International, in a strongly-worded statement, also severely criticized the measure.

"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, the head of research at the UK-based rights group's regional office in Beirut.

Amnesty International slammed the "vaguely worded amendment, "saying it could be used by the Bahraini regime as a means to suppress "any critic," including peaceful activists, deemed to be a threat to the country's national security.

"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," Maalouf further said.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on February 14, 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

Manama has spared no effort to clamp down on dissent and rights activists. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime's crackdown on anti-regime activists.

The last time courts-martial operated in the island country was during King Hamad's three-month state of emergency, beginning in March 2011, a month after the popular uprising was first staged.

"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," Maalouf added in the statement.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UK military to train Jordan's air force

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 7:27AM

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is set to announce the deployment of the country's military trainers in Jordan in order to help the Middle Eastern country in attacking alleged Daesh (ISIL) positions in Iraq and Syria.

May would make the announcement during a visit to the Jordanian capital of Amman on Monday, as she begins a highly symbolic trade and security mission to the Middle East amid talks for London to leave the European Union.

Jordan has been actively contributing to the US-led coalition's airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since 2014. The country is also participating in Saudi Arabia's ruthless airstrikes against Yemen.

According to The Independent, the British premier is planning to use the recent Daesh-claimed terror attack that killed four and injured dozens in London to bolster military cooperation with Jordan and other allies in Middle East.

"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 programs to ensure their own stability," May said before leaving London.

"To tackle the threats we face from terrorism and from geopolitical instability, we must meet them at their source. 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," she added.

"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," the PM further argued.

After Jordan, May will head to Saudi Arabia. According to reports, British exports to Saudi Arabia topped 6.6 billion in 2015.

Ignoring international concerns about the human rights records of the Arab monarchies, May has sought to expand ties with them to ensure economic opportunities for the UK in the wake of Brexit.

London has been unconditionally supporting the war on Yemen by providing Saudis with weapons, intelligence and training.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Leftist candidate declared winner in Ecuador's presidential race

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 5:40AM

Ecuador's ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno, a paraplegic, has been declared the winner of the presidential runoff in the Latin American country and is expected to provide continuity to President Rafael Correa's leftist policies.

With more than 94 percent of the votes counted, the National Electoral Council on Sunday announced Moreno the winner with 51 percent.

His rival, conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, was closely behind with 49 percent of the votes.

In the first round of the election on February 19, Lasso had bagged 28.25 percent of the votes and Moreno 39 .31 percent.

Sixty four-year-old Moreno follows the leftist line of the government of President Correa, 53, who has served in that capacity since 2007. During the election campaign, Moreno promised to continue the policies set by Correa.

The outgoing president, a democratic socialist, had focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he was an outspoken critic of the United States. He permitted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, to stay there to avoid potential extradition to the US, where he is sought for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents in 2010.

Right-wing Lasso, 61, had in his presidential election campaign promised to "cordially ask Assange to leave within 30 days of assuming a mandate" if he won.

Meanwhile, as Moreno's supporters celebrated his victory, Lasso's camp claimed there had been electoral fraud and threatened to challenge the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces.

Thousands of Lasso supporters shouted "fraud" as they stormed the National Electoral Council's headquarters in the capital, Quito, before being pushed back by police. A similar scuffle took place outside the electoral offices in Guayaquil.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






EU Congratulates Vucic On 'Convincing' Win, Hopes EU Path Remains

RFE/RL April 03, 2017

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

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-eu-congratulates-vucic- victory-presidential-election/28407383.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Canada, Ukraine Sign Defense Cooperation Agreement

Sputnik News

21:13 03.04.2017(updated 21:39 03.04.2017)

Representatives of Ukraine and Canada signed an agreement to enhance bilateral defense cooperation, according to the statement of the Canadian Ministry of National Defense.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Authorities of Canada and Ukraine have signed an agreement to enhance bilateral defense cooperation, the Canadian Ministry of National Defense said in a release on Monday.

"This bilateral arrangement further exemplifies Canada's commitment to Ukraine by identifying areas of mutual cooperation such as defense policy; defense research, development, and production; and military education," the release stated.

The deal was signed by Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan and his Ukrainian counterpart Minister Stepan Poltorak.

The Canadian authorities have also recently extended through March 2019 the country's training mission in Ukraine, dubbed operation UNIFIER.

"Canada remains fully committed to providing assistance to Ukraine, helping to preserve and protect its sovereignty through Operation UNIFIER, and to supporting the implementation of key reforms," Sajjan said in the release.

During his visit to Canada, Poltorak is also expected to meet members of parliament and senators, and visit Canadian Armed Forces facilities, according to the release.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Vucic Wins Serbian Presidential Election With Over 55% of Votes

Sputnik News

20:24 03.04.2017

Serbia's Prime Minister Alexandar Vucic won the presidential election in Serbia with 55.13 percent of the votes after 91.39 percent of ballots were counted.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Serbia's Prime Minister Alexandar Vucic was victorious in the presidential election, held on Sunday, with 55.13 percent of the votes after 91.39 percent of ballots were counted.

Vucic's win was not surprising, as he was the favorite in the race, according to opinion polls in the country. However, the date of the second round of the election was scheduled for April 16, provided that none of the hopefuls receive 50 percent or higher of all votes.

Apart from Vucic, the electoral commission registered 10 other candidates that participated in the election, including independent candidates Sasa Jankovic, Vuk Jeremic, and Luka Maksimovic (also known as Ljubisa Beli Preletacevic), as well as Serbian Radical Party head Vojislav Seselj.

Jankovic came in second in the race with 16.29 percent of counted votes, while 25-year old student and parodist Maksimovic received 9.43 percent. Meanwhile, Jeremic, who served as Serbia's Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2007 and 2012 and was the President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2012-2013, received 5.64 percent. Seselj took in 4.47 percent of voter's support.

CRYSTAL-CLEAR VICTORY

Addressing supporters, Vucic said that it was significant that the margin was wide, and that the victory was indisputable.

"It was important that the victory had to be crystal-clear. So that nobody could think something. The margin is significant," Vucic said.

He also vowed to continue pro-European policy while also maintaining friendly relations with Russia and China.

GREETINGS

Many top world officials congratulated Vucic Monday on winning the presidential election.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the victory convincing and expressed confidence that the work of Vucic would promote the development of strategic partnership with Russia.

"Such convincing victory in the elections evidences a broad support of your efforts aimed at resolving current economic and social issues which Serbia faces, at leading a constructive balanced foreign policy path," Putin said in a congratulatory telegram to Vucic.

Vucic's victory appeals to Moscow, as he is known to support the developing of ties with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the issue.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini congratulated Vucic, adding that the European Union would keep a close eye on the follow-up to his election.

"Congratulations to Vucic that turns now president and not prime minister anymore. We've seen yesterday a very clear result in the Serbs elections, so I take this opportunity to congratulate him and wish him all the best in his new capacity. And obviously we will follow closely the follow-up of this presidential election in Serbia," Mogherini said.

European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a joint statement that the election results confirmed the strong support Vucic enjoyed among the population of the country.

"We would like to congratulate you on your election as President of Serbia, confirming the strong support you enjoy among the population of your country. This vote of confidence shows that the people of Serbia fully endorse the European path you have chosen and which will lead to EU membership," the statement read.

In 2007, Serbia started accession to the European Union, applying for membership to the bloc in 2009. Negotiations commenced in 2014 and are ongoing.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Afghanistan Forces Kill Over 20 Daesh Militants in Eastern Nangrahar Province

Sputnik News

18:49 03.04.2017

27 militants form the Daesh terrorist group were killed, while 32 others were injured by the Afghanistan's security forces in the eastern Nangrahar province, according to official statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Afghanistan's security forces eliminated over 20 and wounded more than 30 militants of the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh, terrorist group banned in Russia) in the eastern Nangrahar province, a local police official said Monday.

"So far, our sources confirmed the killing of 27 terrorists while 32 others were injured," police spokesman Hazrat Husain told the Anadolu news agency.

Clashes between Afghan forces and Daesh terrorists took place in Achin district of Nangrahar province, near the border with Pakistan.

Husain added that the US forces, based in Afghanistan, also conducted airstrikes in the district, hitting Daesh targets.

"At least 16 militants including their local (Daesh) leader Farooq, were killed in U.S. airstrikes," Husain said.

Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations, including the Taliban, also outlawed in Russia, and Daesh continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets. NATO's Resolute Support mission has been deployed in Afghanistan since 2015.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Al-Shabab Militants Seize Ceelbuur Town in Central Somalia

Sputnik News

18:35 03.04.2017

Militants of the al-Shabab terrorist group occupied the town of Ceelbuur located in the central part of Somalia soon after pullout of the Ethiopian troops of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) from the town, according to local media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Militants of the al-Shabab terrorist group have captured the town of Ceelbuur located in the central part of Somalia after the Ethiopian troops of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) left the settlement, local media reported Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Ethiopian troops left the city, however no explanation of the pullout had been given.

According to the Somalian Mareeg news website, the town in the Galguduud region was occupied by the militants from the group affiliated with al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia. soon after the pullout.

The news outlet added that the town located some 110 miles to the north of Mogadishu was a base of Ethiopian troops since 2013.

The eastern African country has been experiencing violence since Somalia devolved into civil war in the early 1990s. The state's collapse provided a breeding ground for warlords, pirates and al-Shabab.

AMISOM was deployed in the country in 2007. According to the mission's website, its military component included troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Moscow Considers Irresponsible to Create Kosovo Armed Forces

Sputnik News

17:13 03.04.2017

Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Kosovar authorities were trying to create a "fake juridical" ground for creation of Kosovo armed forces.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Moscow considers irresponsible the initiative to create Kosovo armed forces, as it goes against the already existing agreements, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"[We] paid attention to the words of US Ambassador in Pristina [Greg] Delawie regarding Washington's support of an initiative on creation of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed 'Republic of Kosovo,' provided that this would happen through adoption of amendments to the Kosovo 'constitution.' The idea of the transformation of Kosovo security forces into a full-fledged armed forces is nurtured by Prishtina authorities during the past years," ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

She pointed out that the Kosovar authorities were trying to create a "fake juridical" ground for this.

"The fact of the key importance is that this action is a violation of the international law, as it contradicts to the 1244 UN Security Council resolution, envisaging military forces presence in the region solely on the basis of the Security Council mandate, namely the Kosovo Force [KFOR], consisting mainly of units from NATO member states," Zakharova added.

According to Zakharova, "such a step would be extremely irresponsible from the point of view of security in the region and on the European continent as a whole."

"The emergence of a new force component in the form of 'Kosovo armed forces' in the Balkans would have contradicted the Florence agreement, which is aimed at maintaining regional stability with the assistance of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]," she added.

The spokeswoman pointed out that in case of creation of Kosovo armed forces it would have turned out that at the territory of one of the countries-members of the Florence agreement  Serbia  an armed force not controlled by the government would have appeared.

The Florence Agreement or Article IV of the Dayton Peace Accords was concluded on June 14, 1996 and provided the framework for negotiations of a sub-regional arms control agreement. It engaged the three parties within Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.

In 1999, the Kosovo War between the ethnically Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Yugoslavia, by then consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, started. The conflict led to NATO bombing of Serb forces. The conflict ended after a UN-backed international intervention. Following NATO's 78-day air campaign the Kosovo Force (KFOR) was established to support peace in the area, demilitarize the Kosovo Liberation Army, support the international humanitarian effort and coordinate with the international civil presence.

Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence in 2008 and is recognized by over 100 UN member states. Serbia, as well as Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Spain, Greece and some other countries do not recognize Kosovo's independence.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has discussed the establishment of production in Ukraine with Skoda Auto Board Chairman Bernhard Maier.

The press service of the Ukrainian government reported on Tuesday that Skoda Auto in cooperation with its local partner  Eurocar  has been manufacturing a wide range of Skoda cars since 2002.

"Now top managers of Skoda Auto are eyeing Ukraine as a platform for establishing production facilities," the press service said.

Groysman said at the meeting with Maier that Ukraine is interested in supporting cooperation with Skoda and permitting the company to establish production in Ukraine.

"I understand that the company has a global choice where to place production facilities, but if you chose Ukraine this will be the right choice. I am ready to accompany everything so you have all the conditions for launching production," the press service said, citing the prime minister.

He said that the government could help to develop the territory where the production facilities will be located, introduce some preferences for local taxes, help to select the form of organization and even train specialists.

Maier, in turn, said that he respects the interest of Ukrainian authorities in the implementation of the production project.

"I am thankful for support. I think that in coming three months we will discuss all the details and options to design a positive business case and making the right decision," he said.
US Embassy Helps Dozens of South Sudanese in POC Camp Get Out of Juba

By Ayen Bior April 03, 2017

The U.S. embassy in South Sudan says it helped more than 40 South Sudanese, half of whom hold American dual citizenships, fly out of South Sudan over the weekend.

All 42 have lived in a United Nations-run Protection of Civilians Camp in Juba since July, when fighting broke out in the capital. They were too afraid to leave because they were affiliated with ousted former First Vice President Riek Machar. The men, women and children boarded a chartered flight to Cyprus on Saturday, officials said.

U.S. Ambassador Molly Phee said the embassy began providing support when it learned that its citizens were in the IDP camp, but that the process of facilitating their departure proved complicated.

"They didn't have their paperwork so we needed to get passports and visas when necessary," said Phee, adding that they were working with five different government bureaucracies.

Some of the men had been in the country for years, while others came to Juba after the August 2015 peace deal was signed as part of Machar's advance team. When violence broke out in the capital, some of them told VOA they were left with no choice but to flee to the camp.

With help from Canada, Phee said all 42 were able to fly to Cyprus, where they took commercial flights to their home countries.

However, some men could not wait for the help of diplomatic channels to find their way out of South Sudan.

Butros Chany Teny, a dual Australian national, was smuggled out of South Sudan in January with the help of a friend in South Sudan's national security service. Chany eventually made it to Kampala, Uganda, where he spoke to VOA.

Chany said he felt trapped in the camp because he supported Machar.

"You cannot be a supporter and sympathizer of Machar and then walk in Juba freely. This is impossible. Unless you do that underground," Chany said.

Chol Lam, a spokesperson for First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, who was appointed by President Salva Kiir after Machar fled the country, said they were in the camp for "political motivations."

"If we had any issues with any of the members, they would have been questioned," said Lam. "But none of that happened. They came out of the POC into one bus and straight to the airport and got their passports stamped."

Lam said the government helped the 42 South Sudanese board the bus that drove them to Juba International Airport.

At least six of the 42 did not hold dual citizenship, according to Lam.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Al-Shabab Seizes Key Somali Town After Ethiopians Pull Out

By Mohamed Olad Hassan April 03, 2017

Ethiopian troops fighting militant Islamist group al-Shabab have withdrawn from a key military base in central Somalia's Galgudud region, according to residents.

Heavily armed al-Shabab fighters took control of El Bur following the pullout of Ethiopian troops and a small number of Somali National Army soldiers early Monday.

The fall of El Bur was confirmed by Nur Hassan Gutale, the town's district commissioner, who said Ethiopians did not tell them the reason of their withdrawal.

"The Ethiopians and our troops withdrew from the town and now it is under the control of the militants. The Ethiopians did not inform us about their withdrawal plan and once we saw them abandoning, our troops also abandoned," Gutale said.

Residents of El Bur say al-Shabab militants traveling in pickup trucks moved into the town early Monday without a fight.

"The militants traveling in more than six pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft machine guns moved into town this morning. They took up the strategic positions, raised their black flags on the top of some buildings," one of the residents told VOA on the condition of anonymity.

Gutale has accused both the al-Shabab militants and the Ethiopian troops of mistreating the civilians.

"Al-Shabab forced most of the residents to leave the town when the Ethiopians came three years ago. And the Ethiopians mistreated with some who remained in the town," Gutale said. "The civilians had only two choices: to stay in the town and face the Ethiopian mistreatment or live as hostages under Al-Shabab."

The reason for the Ethiopian troops' withdrawal was not clear, and their military officials were not immediately available for comment.

El Bur was once the commercial hub and main stronghold of al-Shabab in central Somalia, but the group lost the town to Ethiopian troops serving under African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM three years ago.

Analysts have warned the town was vulnerable to reoccupation by the militants because al-Shabab blocked all roads leading in and out, forcing almost all of the residents of the town to leave.

Some Ethiopian soldiers are in Somalia as part of AMISOM while others are there as a result of a bilateral deal with Somalia's federal government.

The Ethiopians serving the AU mission are responsible for securing Bay, Bakool, and Gedo regions in South Western Somalia, but they are also present in Hiran and Galgudud regions, where they have been moving into towns and withdrawing from others at will.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Reverses US Policy Toward Egypt, Welcoming Sissi

By Peter Heinlein April 03, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump reversed years of chilled relations with the world's largest Arab nation Monday, warmly welcoming Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to the White House and pledging collaboration with Egypt in the fight against radical Islamist terrorism.

It was the first White House visit by an Egyptian leader since former President Barack Obama hosted Hosni Mubarak in 2009, before the upheaval that ousted Mubarak and touched off years of political turmoil that brought the authoritarian former general Sissi to power.

"We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt," Trump said as the two leaders sat down together in the Oval Office. "We are rejuvenating our military to the highest level. 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."

Sissi, in turn, expressed deep admiration for Trump's strong stand on countering radical Islamist terrorism, which Sissi has emphasized since he came to power in 2013.

"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 innocent people," Sissi said. He told Trump the United States would find Egypt at its side in "bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism effort."

Regional experts say balancing the relationship with the Egyptian leader will remain a difficult foreign policy challenge for Trump, just as it was for Obama.

"Obama's administration went through the arc from Mubarak, through revolution, through the Muslim Brotherhood, through another revolution, to a military-led regime," said Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East policy. "It was quite a tempestuous period in Egypt-U.S. relations."

Obama never invited Sissi to the White House, and froze aid to Cairo after Egypt's military, led by then-General Sissi, overthrew the country's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi. Sissi was elected to the presidency a year later, in 2014.

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.

Briefing reporters after Monday's White House talks, spokesman Sean Spicer gave no hint of what their collaboration on counterterrorism strategy would look like. He described the private meetings between the two leaders as candid. "The president made clear that this is a new day in the relationship between the United States and Egypt," Spicer said.

Human rights issues

Neither Spicer nor either leader made any mention of human rights, one of the chief stumbling blocks to warmer ties during Obama's presidency.

Days before Sissi's White House visit, a senior White House official briefing reporters said 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.

Human rights campaigners have been urging Trump to press Sissi to ease a harsh crackdown on political dissent. Thousands of activists have been jailed since Sissi took power, including American citizen Aya Hijazi, who was in Egypt working with a charitable organization to help homeless children when she was detained almost three years ago, according to rights groups.

In an interview with VOA's French to Africa service, Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka declined to comment on efforts to free Hijazi and nearly 20 other Americans charged with political crimes in Egypt.

"We don't give our strategies out before we deploy them, so it wouldn't be right to comment," he said. "However, I will stress that the fate of American citizens outside the United States is of great concern to us."

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.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Afghan Lawmakers Call for Stoning of Fellow Parliamentarian

By Ayaz Gul April 03, 2017

Lawmakers in Afghanistan have called for stoning to death of a fellow parliament member for stating the country's long border with Pakistan is an international boundary.

Afghan commentators and newspaper editorials have also slammed the parliament member for speaking against "the national interest," with some demanding Abdul Latif Pedram's ouster from Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, for committing treason.

"You chant 'God is Great' through this microphone and I will stone him to death right here on the floor of this representative house," a member urged the house speaker while taking part in an evidently furious debate Monday.

The parliamentary proceedings were being televised live, as usual.

"For God's sake Mr. Speaker, if you don't take this action you will solely be held responsible," the angry lawmaker went on to warn Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi.

The punishment to the "spy," he said, will send a strong message to the people in Pakistan that any "agent" on Afghan soil will meet the same fate for even discussing the status of the Durand Line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pedram, head of his Afghanistan National Congress party, told a news conference in Kabul during the weekend that his party recognizes the Durand Line as the official border with Pakistan. He went on to say that most of the problems plaguing bilateral relations stem from Afghanistan's failure to publicly acknowledge it.

Pedram is an ethnic Tajik, who hails from the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, and was a candidate in the October 2004 presidential election. He was present in the house during Monday's proceedings.

Taking part in the debate, another lawmaker condemned Pedram as ignorant of Afghan "sensitivities."

"I swear to God that, from today onward, if any will dare indulge in such illegal statements and debates about the Durand Line, the nation would break his jaw," he said.

Controversial Durand Line

Speaker Ibrahimi, while responding to the demands, reiterated the Durand Line is a national issue and "no individual, certain tribe or a specific group" can decide on its status. He emphasized that the authority to make any decision with regard to the frontier rests only with Afghanistan's traditional assembly of elders, called the Loya Jirga.

Afghan leaders, mainly ethnic Pashtuns, have from the outset disputed parts of the nearly 2,600-kilometer, largely porous border demarcated in 1893 during the British rule of the Indian subcontinent and named after the then-Foreign Secretary Mortimer Durand.

Pakistani officials dismiss Afghan objections and maintain their country inherited the international border after gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Islamabad has lately stepped up efforts to fence off the Durand Line and has built new security outposts as well as forts along the border in addition to fortifying five regular crossings, despite protests from Kabul.

Officials in Pakistan defend the border management measures, saying they will help deter terrorist infiltrations in both direction.

Mutual allegations of sponsoring terrorist attacks against each other are at the center of recent tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Pedram should be questioned inside the parliament as well as in the court of public opinion, because this is a vital matter for the Afghan territory and nation," wrote the Afghanistan Times newspaper in an editorial. "Statements in favor of recognition to the Durand Line as a permanent border with Pakistan would be an insult to our martyrs. Territorial history and integrity cannot be compromised at any cost," it added.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Armenia's Ruling Party Wins Parliamentary Vote Amid Claims of Violations

By Shake Avoyan April 03, 2017

Amenia's ruling party won slightly less than 50 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election, officials said on Monday.

Sunday's vote, which was the nation's first since the former Soviet republic changed its constitution to expand power of parliament and the prime minister's office, allowed President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to claim a majority of seats.

HHK claimed 49 percent of the vote, with businessman Gagik Tsarukian's opposition coalition trailing with 27 percent, and two other parties getting 5 percent  just enough to get seats in parliament  according to data released by the Central Election Commission. Official results are expected to be released later this week.

Critics have said the recent constitutional amendments are 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.

Sargsyan and his supporters have vigorously disputed that claim.

The observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called Sunday's vote "well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected.'' OSCE officials, however, did acknowledge allegations of vote-buying and intimidation around the country.

Sona Ayvazyan, executive director of Transparency International Armenian, told VOA's Armenian Service, "Our observers recorded many violations related to the failures of technical equipment" such as electronic fingerprint scanners.

"These failures were not intentional, I assume," she added. "However, in terms of frequency, these failures were most frequent. ... We [also] saw the increase of pressure on and bribery of the voters."

Armenian Helsinki Committee Director Avet Ishkhanyan told VOA about widespread bribery.

"Prior to the voting, everything was already predetermined," he said. "People were already registered as 'units,' and each of them was supposed to be bribed or threatened to vote for ruling candidates.

"What distinguishes this voting from previous elections is that, prior to this ... many people's votes had been already bought by bribes, so there was no need for widespread violations during the ballot-counting process," Ishkhanyan added. "But is that a step forward? I would rather say these are the saddest elections, which illustrate final failure of civil and political institutes in Armenia."

An RFE/RL reporter who was investigating allegations of vote-buying was attacked a few hours after polls opened.

The incident occurred after Sisak Gabrielian, a reporter with RFE/RL's Armenian Service, saw citizens leaving an HHK office in Yerevan's Kond neighborhood with money in their hands.

People inside the campaign office, who refused to identify themselves, said it was salary money and that citizens were not receiving "election bribes."

Gabrielian said he was then roughed up by ruling party loyalists, receiving minor injuries.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Armenian Service Some information is from AP.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






America Successfully Completes Survivability Test

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170404-04

Release Date: 4/4/2017 9:47:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kristina Young, USS America (LHA 6) Public Affairs

PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- The amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) successfully completed the Navy's Total Ship Survivability Trial (TSST) off the coast of California during a four-day evolution spanning from March 30 to April 2.

TSST is performed only for new classes of ships, and its purpose is to evaluate the ship's systems and procedures following a simulated conventional weapon hit. The primary areas that are evaluated include the ship's ability to contain and control damage, restore and continue mission capability, and care for personnel casualties. The test is also designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the survivability features inherent in a ship's design.

"It is essential that we are challenged with different scenarios," said Lt. j.g. Daniel Espinoza, repair locker 5M locker officer. "We need to be challenged to think outside the box and flex our capabilities in the most chaotic situations. I believe changing drill scenarios keeps us out of our comfort zones and trains us to recover from chaotic situations."

During this testing process, Sailors participated in various simulated damage control scenarios to ensure the crew could handle fire, smoke, electrical failure, flooding, ruptured piping, and structural failure.

"For the past four days we've been at general quarters where we fought simulated fires in multiple spaces, in addition to restoring power during various electrical failures and combatting the ship's fire main pressure being down," said Electrician's Mate 1st Class William Isom, who served as a member of the TSST team. "Overall it was great training for the crew and I believe that our Sailors are more prepared and better trained to save the ship."

The four-day TSST evolution required Sailors to man their assigned repair lockers for a unique General Quarters experience.

"This was not a normal general quarters," explained Damage Controlman 2nd Class Thomas Harrison, repair locker 4 scene leader. "There were blocked passage ways due to simulated structural damage; electrical systems were out. We had to navigate in pitch black working environment to combat simulated fires, and we weren't able to access certain vital firefighting equipment and fire bottles due to the simulated damage. Despite all these obstacles, I believe everyone rose to the challenge and accomplished our objectives with a higher knowledge than we started this underway with."

Throughout the ship, Sailors and Marines worked hand-in-hand to tackle various damage control tasks during the four-day evolution, including medical triage of personnel casualties.

"During TSST, the medical team was provided the opportunity to showcase Navy medicine and really highlight all the skillsets that we bring to the table," said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Tonya Jury, assigned to Commander, Amphibious Readiness Squadron 3. "We are medically ready and have the capabilities to do [casualty evacuation] all the way down to basic stretcher bearer training."

TSST was also the first time the crew of the America fully integrated with various Marine units, with more than 1,600 Marines standing ready to assist in any situation throughout the evolution.

"So far, this integration has been a very positive experience," said Maj. Michael Chan, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) action officer. "We learn from every activity that we do, but TSST adds a different element on top of our schedule. The scenarios were interesting and definitely had quite a bit of people discussing the possibility of what the Marine Corps' role would be. We are learning to work with the Navy and TSST allows us to socialize those scenarios. As always, we welcome the challenge. It wouldn't be any fun without it."

The benefits of having the America experience the trials that TSST brought will stand the test of time as America prepares for its maiden deployment later this year, and into the future.

"It was a breath of fresh air watching the crew come together as a cohesive unit to overcome some of the most difficult situations," said Espinoza. "The realistic implementations -- multiple jammed fittings, debris blocking passage ways, and firefighting systems offline -- did not make it easy to 'fight the ship,' but we collectively planned around those obstacles and successfully completed all tasks at hand."

America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tarawa class of amphibious assault ships and is homeported in San Diego. As an aviation centric amphibious assault ship, this platform supports Marine aviation requirements, from small-scale contingency operations of an expeditionary strike group, to forcible entry missions in major theaters of war.

The ship is currently underway with more than 1,000 Sailors and 1,600 embarked Marines conducting Amphibious Squadron / Marine Expeditionary Unit Integration operations.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Freedom House Warns Of Effects Of 'False Promise Of Populism' On Postcommunist World

RFE/RL April 04, 2017

Populists' recent successes at the polls in the West have increased fears of instability in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia against a backdrop of setbacks for democratic governance, democracy monitor Freedom House has warned.

It says that over the past year, the United Kingdom's "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union, Dutch voters' opposition to an EU Association Agreement with Ukraine, and political outsider Donald Trump's election as U.S. president "all raised fresh doubts about the fragile post-Cold War order."

The findings are published in the New York-based group's latest annual Nations In Transit report, subtitled The False Promise Of Populism.

"Brexit and the new administration in the United States have emboldened antidemocratic populists in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans," Nate Schenkkan, project director of Nations in Transit for Freedom House, told RFE/RL.

"Now, a critical mass of leaders in this region are openly rejecting the idea of liberal democracy and this populism is increasingly combining with crude ethnic nationalism in a way that threatens peace in Europe," Schenkken told RFE/RL.

The report asserts that a populist "revival" has been under way in Europe since Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010 and "eviscerated" checks and balances in that EU member state, and continued with attacks on civil society and the press in the Balkans and "nativist fear-mongering over migration across Europe."

Schenkkan says that "leaders and ordinary citizens need to respond to the direct challenge to democracy by speaking up for its principles: diversity of opinion and identity, constraints on the will of the majority, and checks on executive power."

Freedom House calls 2016 a triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who for the past decade "has backed populists in Europe and the United States as part of a covert effort to destabilize the transatlantic order."

The report says that despite Russia's continuing economic stagnation, Putin "seems tantalizingly close to his goal of a new division of Europe into Western and Russian spheres of influence."

The Nations in Transition report covers 29 postcommunist countries of the former Soviet Union and in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The report says 18 of them suffered declines this year in their so-called democracy scores, leaving more "consolidated authoritarian regimes" in the region than "consolidated democracies."

Freedom House compares the slippage to a drop in 2008, when the global financial crisis stalled political reforms.

In Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, "years of populism and corruption have eroded once-promising democratic institutions," while in Eurasia, "personalist authoritarianism has gone from a burgeoning trend to an entrenched norm," Freedom House says.

This year, Kyrgyzstan, which ousted a Soviet-era president in pro-democracy unrest in 2005, fell back into the Consolidated Authoritarian Regimes category.

Kyrgyzstan's backsliding leaves only four former Soviet states outside the Baltics -- Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine -- ranked above the category of Consolidated Authoritarian Regime.

Freedom House says constitutional referendums in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in the past two years each helped "entrench the presidents' parties and an oligarchic elite even further."

The group called Ukraine, Kosovo, and Romania "bright spots" in the Nations in Transition 2017 report.

In Ukraine, corruption is still widespread and the ongoing military conflict in its eastern regions undermines the country's economy. But despite the setbacks, it says, there have been "significant changes" as civil society in Ukraine -- with the backing of the United States, European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- has kept pressure on the government.

As part of Ukraine's reforms, the parliament approved wide-ranging judicial reforms, including items that required constitutional changes, and put in place a comprehensive anticorruption framework modeled on EU best practices, the report says.

"In our survey, we saw Ukraine continuing to make progress in 2016, but at the same time there are seriously troubling signs that an old guard resistant to building an accountable state could still defeat reforms," Schenkkan said. "What is needed is that Ukraine's international supporters continue the 'tough love' approach of the last three years supporting local civil society."

In the Balkans, Kosovo moved up from a Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime to a Transitional/Hybrid Regime this year.

"Kosovo started at the lowest starting point in the Balkans in our survey and, over the past decade, it has made progress towards consolidating statehood and building its own institutions," Schenkkan said.

"But it only gets harder from here," Schenkkan warned, adding that "the country's government and political parties need to enforce accountability for corruption and they have to make difficult policy decisions on issues like minority representation and European integration."

Elsewhere in the Balkans, Serbia's score for democracy reached its lowest point since 2003, despite its progress in EU accession negotiations.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/freedom-house- nations-in-transition-report-false- promise-of-populism/28409286.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Suggests Former Obama Adviser Spied on His Aides' Conversations

By Ken Bredemeier April 04, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump is suggesting that Susan Rice, the national security adviser for his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, spied on conversations Trump aides had with foreign nationals last year and sought to unmask their identities for political gain, an allegation Rice said Tuesday was "absolutely false."

Rice, in an interview with MSNBC, said there is no truth to Trump's claim a month ago that Obama wiretapped him, an allegation also widely debunked by U.S. lawmakers and intelligence officials. But Trump, in a string of Twitter comments the last two days, has approvingly cited news accounts alleging that Rice "ordered spy docs on Trump."

Rice said that in her key White House posting she reviewed U.S. intelligence reports on a daily basis. She added it was "not uncommon" for her to ask intelligence gatherers to reveal the name of a U.S. individual captured as talking with foreign agents during routine surveillance.

She said the same information was then provided to country's secretary of state, defense secretary and director of national intelligence as part of their jobs to protect U.S. national security.

Rice said none of the information was used in any political context against the Trump campaign in his run for the White House last year. She denied one U.S. media account that she had compiled "a spreadsheet" of the names of Trump officials purportedly captured by the eavesdropping. Rice said "nothing of the sort" existed, but that it was "possible" that some Trump aides were picked up as part of the "incidental collection" of the eavesdropping.

Some lawmakers have called for Rice to testify before congressional panels investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. election in an effort to help Trump win, but Rice, in the interview, declined to commit to her testifying.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he would not weigh in on who should testify. But he said of Rice, "I do think there is a sharp contrast between a few weeks when she was very public in saying she quote 'had nothing, didn't have any clue" about surveillance reports... And yet now we're finding out that you know, she is trying to figure out how she can go through some kind of friendly way of-of discussing this."

In one tweet Monday, Trump said, "There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented."

Trump has not produced any evidence to support his wiretapping claim, and recently has said that his allegation was meant to refer more broadly to Obama-era surveillance of him and his aides during the long presidential campaign that culminated in his unexpected victory in last November's election.

Officials familiar with U.S. national security operations say that as the country's national security adviser, Rice had the legal authority to monitor routine U.S. eavesdropping of foreign officials' calls with Americans. But the names of Americans involved in the calls cannot be legally disclosed and none have been, other than that of another former national security adviser, retired U.S. Army General Michael Flynn.

Trump ousted Flynn in February after just 24 days on the job when eavesdropping showed that Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington in the weeks before Trump assumed power.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded earlier this year that Russia meddled in the U.S. election in an effort to help Trump defeat his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now, the country's top law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is probing whether Trump aides criminally colluded with Russian agents to boost Trump's chances of winning.

In addition, the intelligence committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are conducting investigations about the Russian interference in the election and contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian agents.



NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Egyptian, Arab Media Play Up Sissi-Trump Meeting

By Edward Yeranian April 04, 2017

Arab and Egyptian media reacted mostly favorably to the reception given to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by U.S. President Donald Trump. Sissi's Islamist opponents either condemned the visit or ignored it completely.

Most Arab and Egyptian news channels broke into their newscasts to carry Sissi's meeting with Trump at the White House live, describing the talks between the two men as cordial and positive.

Arab media underscored the theme of combating terrorism, and Sissi's emphasis of the subject while meeting Trump received kudos.

The Egyptian president stressed he was impressed by Trump's personality and his eagerness to tackle the issue of terrorism, which he termed a devilish and devious ideology that kills innocents and destroys peoples and security.

University of Paris political science Professor Khattar Abou Diab says Sissi's visit to Washington represents a sea-change in U.S. foreign policy toward the Arab world.

He says the new Trump foreign policy marks the end of the "regime change" era and that a pragmatic interpretation of national interests has taken hold. Egypt, he argues, is at the forefront of those friendly nations fighting terrorism, so the United States has decided to support it.

The popular Cairo daily, Youm 7, carried a photo showing the two presidents shaking hands, while quoting Trump saying military cooperation between Egypt and the U.S. "will be greater than at any time in the past." The United States gave Egypt $1.3 billion in aid last year.

Egyptian TV underscored an offer Sissi made at the Arab summit last week to fight terrorism on an ideological level.

Sissi says terrorism must be tackled on all levels, starting with a military response, then followed by efforts to improve the economic situation, along with an ideological battle, using educational and religious institutions, including Egypt's venerable Al Azhar University.

Qatari-owned al Jazeera TV broadcast video of a small anti-Sissi demonstration in front of the White House.

Egyptian state TV, however, highlighted a pro-Sissi demonstration in elsewhere in Washington, with supporters chanting slogans in favor of Sissi and Trump.

Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood organization did not mention the Sissi visit on its official English website, although Arab media quoted former Brotherhood official Amr Darraj as denouncing the visit. Many top leaders of the Brotherhood, which was ousted from power by Sissi-led military in July 2013, are serving jail sentences.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






South Carolina National Guard participates in Vigilant Guard 17

By Sgt. Tashera Pravato April 3, 2017

GEORGIA -- U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers from South Carolina, Georgia and a multitude of other states came together throughout the state of Georgia March 27-31, 2017 to participate in Vigilant Guard 17.

Vigilant Guard 17 is a Joint Regional Training Exercise providing the South Carolina National Guard an opportunity to improve cooperation and relationships with local, state regional civilian, military and federal partners in preparation for emergencies and catastrophic events.

The 2017 scenario focused on responding to a category 3 hurricane that made landfall and moved through Georgia into Tennessee. Many organizations participated in the scenario to provide support capabilities to hypothetically affected areas in Georgia.

Early in the exercise, the South Carolina National Guard, 43rd Civil Support Team collaborated with Georgia National Guard Soldiers to react to a collapsed building scenario.

"In a natural disaster, the National Guard supports the state, so our team often partners with different civilian agencies for training purposes," said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Walker, 43rd CST survey team leader. "However, it is nice to be able to work with another Guard unit."

Another mission the two states partnered together on was water purification. Soldiers gathered at the Amerson Water Treatment Plant in Macon, Georgia to test both their equipment and knowledge.

"Our mission in this scenario is to partner with the South Carolina National Guard and the City of Macon to provide the area with clean drinking water," said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Janae Law, Alpha Co., 348th Brigade Support Battalion, Georgia National Guard. "It mirrors what we would be called upon to do in the case of a real natural disaster."

During a natural disaster, protecting citizens is the National Guard's highest priority so one of the most important missions is the evacuation of stranded individuals. To refine those skills needed to perform that mission, South Carolina National Guard Soldiers from Detachment 1, Charlie Co., 2-238th General Support Aviation Battalion partnered with Georgia and Louisiana aviators to participate in an aerial evacuation exercise in the Savannah area.

"We don't often get to work with other states so this is a great opportunity to do so," said U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marty Moore, 2-238th GSAB maintenance test pilot. "Different states have their own way of doing things and during an emergency is not the time to try to figure things out."

Additionally, the South Carolina National Guard's 51st Military Police Battalion conducted training during Vigilant Guard, wrapping up with their culminating training event March 29 at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The skills and experience military police Soldiers bring to the table during an emergency often prove to be invaluable.

"I've been activated twice for emergency situations and with that we come into contact with random civilians who have been displaced so it is our job to keep calm so they and my team members remain safe," said U.S. Army Spc. Kyle Betterly, 132nd MP Company.

"During an emergency where we are supporting local law enforcement, the biggest thing for us is we're able to do the same things that local law enforcement does," said U.S. Army Maj. Erika Perry, 51st MP Battalion commander. "The police operation is a huge part of it and what they [civilian authorities] are looking for are units who have been through the training and through actual disasters themselves. We can absolutely say 'yes.'"

Vigilant Guard is conducted annually throughout the 54 states and territories so National Guard members get to coordinate with other Guard units and state agencies during training at least once a year. Connections created and skills sharpened during previous Vigilant Guard exercises were put into practice during South Carolina's historic flooding in 2015 as well as during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Germany's KfW bank will provide UAH 300 million to Ukraine to support financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the country.

According to a press release of the German-Ukrainian fund (GUF), the agreement will be signed by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Finance Ministry of Ukraine and KfW in Kyiv on April 4.

Deputy Head of GUF Valeriy Maiboroda said at the presentation of the program that the program is intended to promote growth of capital investment in the Ukrainian economy, boosting capitalization of the economy and expanding imported goods replacement.

The top priority sectors are light industry, processing industry, cattle breeding and sustainable energy.

He said that GUF will be a second tier bank in the program. The bank will work with businessmen via partner banks.

At present the partner banks are ProCredit Bank, Ukrgasbank, Oschadbank, CreditWest Bank (all based in Kyiv) and Megabank (Kharkiv). The partnership agreement with Credobank (Kyiv) was planned to sign.

Under the partnership scheme a businessman files an application for a loan to the partner bank, which discusses it and transfers to GUF for approval. The approved application is returned to the bank and then the bank signs the loan agreement with the businessman. The loan is provided by GUF.

When the loan is returned, partner banks return the funds to GUF.

Under the program SME with the number of hired workers up to 250 will be funded. The funds will be provided in hryvnias at 17% per annum.

The credit rate will be floating. The largest sum of the loan is EUR 250,000.

Investment loans will be provided for the period of up to six years. The loans to finance working capital will be provided for the period of up to two years.

The fee for the provision of the loan is 0.5% for investment loans and 1% for working capital.

The German-Ukrainian fund was created in 1999. Its founders are the NBU, Finance Ministry and KfW.

  
Russian Subway Blast Kills At Least 10; Terrorism Suspected

RFE/RL April 03, 2017

A bomb blast ripped through a subway car in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on April 3, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens of others in what officials suspect was a terrorist attack.

Health inister Veronika Skvortsova said on Russian television that seven died at the scene of the explosion, which occurred around 2:40 p.m. local time, on a train traveling between two of the city's central Metro stations.

Another died in an ambulance en route to the hospital, she said, and two others died at the hospital.

St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko told reporters that 10 people were killed and "around 20" injured.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee later put the death toll at 11, but there was no additional confirmation of that figure.

A spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, Aleksandr Kurennoi, first called the explosion a terrorist act but later said it was too early to make any definitive statement about the cause.

About two hours after the blast, a homemade explosive device was discovered in another subway station, and defused by bomb experts without incident, Anti-Terrorism Committee spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky told state television.

Suspect

Russian news media said police were searching for a man recorded on surveillance cameras. The Interfax news agency, citing an unnamed law-enforcement official, said a suicide bomber was responsible for the explosion, though that report could be immediately corroborated.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which 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 last 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 have been no major attacks in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city.

Many of those injured suffered shrapnel wounds, according to news reports. An unidentified source was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying the blast was caused by a bomb packed with shrapnel.

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.

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 that's 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 weren't 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."

'Terrorism Link'

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting his hometown of St. Petersburg and held a news conference there earlier in the day, said he had been briefed by security officials on the incident and that authorities were examining a possible terrorism link.

Putin said that there were dead and injured but did not say how many.

Speaking alongside Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in a public portion of their meeting, Putin offered his "most sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims and the wounded."

Putin said that he had spoken to the heads of Russia's main security agencies.

"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.

Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense and security committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, said the explosion was "more than likely" a terrorist act.

"All indications suggest this, especially the presence of shrapnel wounds from an explosive device," Ozerov was quoted by the state-run RIA news agency as saying.

The Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that 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 Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that law-enforcement authorities had opened a probe into a blast inside a train at the Tekhnologichesky Insitut station. It said that there were deaths and casualties as a result of the explosion but gave no figures.

The St. Petersburg Metro closed all stations in its network, but opened some lines several hours later.

The most recent major terrorist attack in Russia came in two suicide bombings on successive days in December 2013 that killed more than 30 people in the southern city of Volgograd.

In 2009, a bomb killed 27 people on an intercity train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

International Condolences

Western governments expressed condolences and solidarity in the aftermath of the attack.

"We don't know the cause, but in any case we are with all those who have suffered, and this why I now would like to express all the solidarity in the name of France," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said following the meeting that while it remained unclear "exactly what is behind this or who is responsible for this outrage...our thoughts are very much today with the families of the victims and with the people of St. Petersburg."

The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia said in a statement that its "thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families as authorities work to aid those affected and determine the cause of this incident."

In Washington, U.S. President Donald 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.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time TV, TASS, RIA, Interfax, Dozhd, Meduza, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-st-petersburg-subwat- explosion/28407712.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Death Toll in St. Petersburg Metro Attack Rises to 11, 45 Injured

Sputnik News

22:23 03.04.2017(updated 23:46 03.04.2017)

Officials have revised the previous fatality count from 10 to 11 after an explosion in a St. Petersburg subway car on Monday. Eight individuals have been added to the list of people with injuries from the attack, the investigating commission said.

On Monday, a deadly blast in St. Petersburg occurred on the city's subway system, between the Sennaya Square and Teknologichesky Insititue stations.

An investigation was launched under Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code, which is specifically for investigations into terrorist attacks.

"The investigators will probe other potential causes of the attack," Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Sveltana Petrenko said in comments after the scene had been secured.

The city of St. Petersburg immediately declared a three day period of mourning in wake of the attack. The perpetrators have not been identified and their intentions are not known.

"The authorities of the city, and the federal ones if needed, will take all necessary steps to provide help to the relatives of the killed" President Vladimir Putin said, according to the Kremlin's information service.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered condolences to the Russian people following the "babaric act."

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Russian Investigators Name Subway Bomb Suspect

RFE/RL April 04, 2017

Russian investigators say they have determined who set off a deadly bomb on a St. Petersburg subway train, identifying the suspected attacker as Akbarjon Jalilov, 22.

The federal Investigative Committee made the announcement on April 4, a day after the blast that killed 14 people and injured about 50 others in Russia's second-biggest city during a visit by President Vladimir Putin.

The statement came hours after Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said that Jalilov, a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, was the main suspect in the Russian bombing.

UKMK spokesman Rakhat Sulaimanov said Jalilov was born in the southern Kyrgyz region of Osh in 1995, and that his parents were being questioned by Kyrgyz security officers there.

The Russian statement also said that investigators found "genetic traces" of Jalilov on a backpack that contained an unexploded bomb and was discovered later on April 3 at another subway station in St. Petersburg, Ploshchad Vosstania.

"Genetic testing and recordings from monitoring cameras give investigators reason to believe that the person who carried out the terrorist act in the [subway] car left the bag with the bomb at the Ploshchad Vosstania metro station," it said.

The Investigative Committee said earlier on April 4 that the bomber's remains were found in the third car of the train that was hit by the blast while traveling between two stations in the city center.

It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was being counted in the official death toll, which reached 14 on April 4.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said that 49 other people remained hospitalized with injuries suffered in the blast.

Three foreigners -- from Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Tajikistan -- were among the injured, according to St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.

No group has claimed responsibility for the deadliest bombing in Russia since suicide attacks on two consecutive days in December 2013 killed 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd.

St. Petersburg authorities have declared three days of mourning.

The blast badly damaged at least one subway car, and images from the scene showed dead or injured people lying on the platform after the driver brought the train into a station, while others sat stunned or tried to help the victims.

The first major bombing in Russia in more than three years, it occurred while Putin was in his home city of St. Petersburg hosting the president of Belarus.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 4 that the bombing was a "challenge to every Russian," including Putin.

World leaders expressed condolences and solidarity, with the UN Security Council strongly condemned the "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack."

The Kremlin said that in a telephone call on April 4, Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande agreed to step up communications between their intelligence services in order to combat terrorism.

A Kremlin statement said the leaders "noted the importance of building up cooperation with the aim of countering the terrorist threat that is common to all countries."

There was no immediate comment from Germany or France about the call.

Russia has repeated called for closer cooperation against terrorism and accused Western governments of double standards, a charge the United States and others reject.

At an April 4 meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Erlan Abdyldaev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for increased international cooperation against terrorism.

"I would like to once again express gratitude to our Kyrgyz friends and allies for again showing the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil," Lavrov said. "I'm convinced that this once again shows the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil," he said.

Lavrov said any speculation that the bombing was revenge for Moscow's military action in Syria would be "cynical and mean."

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) has called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria, where Moscow has given President Bashar-al Assad's government crucial backing throughout the six-year war and stepped up involvement by launching a campaign of air strikes in 2015.

Late on April 3, the White House said President Donald Trump telephoned Putin and offered "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.

Trump strongly suggested during his campaign in 2016 that he would seek to mend badly strained relations with Moscow, and expressed hope that the two countries could cooperate more closely against Islamic State and other extremist groups.

Fighting terrorism was a chief topic of a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin in late January, but there have been few signs of tangible steps toward increased cooperation.

Peskov said Trump had "extended deep condolences" to the families affected by the blast.

Many of those injured suffered shrapnel wounds, according to news reports, and law enforcement agencies said the explosive device contained up to 1 kilogram of explosives.

The blast revived grim memories of previous bomb attacks on the subway in Moscow and on trains and buses elsewhere in Russia.

Speaking to Current Time TV, St. Petersburg resident Natalya Kirillova said she was seated near the end of a subway car adjacent to the one where the explosion occurred took place.

After a "deafening explosion" that knocked seated passengers on their sides, the subway continued on to the next station and she and other passengers climbed out through the windows because the doors were broken, she said.

She saw a "huge number of people lying" on he platform.

"Bodies. It was awful," she said. "When we got out, they were pushing and pulling several people out covered in blood," she told Current TIme, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

Bombers have struck repeatedly in Russian cities in the past two decades, with insurgents based in Chechnya -- the site of two post-Soviet separatist wars -- or other parts of the mostly Muslim 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.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time TV, Reuters, KyrTAG, TASS, Interfax, and RIA Novosti

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-st- petersburg-subway-bombing-kyrgyzstan- suspect-putin/28409490.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Russia Blames Suicide Bomber for Deadly Subway Attack

By Daniel Schearf April 04, 2017

Russian investigators have identified Kyrgyz-born Akbarzhon Dzhalilov as the suicide bomber who carried out Monday's deadly attack on a crowded subway train in St. Petersburg.

The country's Investigative Committee says it discovered the burned remains of the man who they believe is behind the attack that killed 14 people and left nearly 50 others injured. The Committee also said investigators found Dzhalilov's DNA on an unexploded bomb planted in another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday.

Dzhalilov was identified as the bomber earlier in the day by intelligence authorities in Kyrgyzstan, who said he had obtained Russian citizenship, according to "preliminary data."

The explosion Monday was so powerful it blew a hole through the thick metal doors of a subway car.

Moscow took what it called "additional security measures" on its metro.

St. Petersburg authorities shutdown a Metro station at the city's Sennaya Square for several hours Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat. VOA correspondent Daniel Schearf retweeted photos of emergency personnel responding to the threat.

Three days of mourning

Officials in St. Petersburg have declared three days of mourning.

President Putin was in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Putin brought flowers to the subway station, where a memorial of flowers and candles grows.

The White House says U.S. President Donald Trump called Putin after the attacks and to express his condolences and offer support to the Russian people. The White House said the two presidents agreed terrorism must meet a swift end.

A terrorist attack would be quite serious, says the director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, Andrei Kortunov.

"Because we have not experienced anything like that for a long period of time in Russia. And, definitely we are back to where we were some 10 or 12 years ago when these explosions unfortunately took place on a more or less regular basis," he said.

The last subway attack was in Moscow in 2010 when female suicide bombers connected to an Islamist insurgency in Chechnya were blamed for killing at least 33 people. Earlier bombings on the Moscow metro in 2004, also linked to Chechen terrorists, killed nearly 50 people.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Beijing Set to Commission First Made-in-China Aircraft Carrier

Sputnik News

22:01 03.04.2017(updated 23:35 03.04.2017)

China's first domestically constructed aircraft carrier is slated to take on the high seas for the first time within the next three weeks. The Shandong will be the second aircraft carrier to join the People's Liberation Army Navy's rapidly growing fleet.

The PLAN's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was built abroad in 1985, so the Shandong offers commanders a significantly modernized carrier. The natively built ship promises to be a major source of national pride. The vessel's construction has taken place in Dalian, a city approximately nine hours drive from Beijing.

"We won't keep the public waiting for too long," Sr. Col. Wu Qian told reporters on March 30 in Beijing.

Expect to see the Type 001A Shandong officially commissioned on April 23  a date marking the 68th anniversary of PLAN.

A report from the Diplomat suggests that while Shandong is 32 years newer, it won't be much bigger. It will displace 65,000 tons of water, compared with Liaoning's 60,000.

When China increases military investment, a significant portion of new spending tends to be allocated toward expanding China's maritime presence. The PLAN has "really been the beneficiary of a lot of this new spending in the past 15 years," according to expert Richard Bitzinger, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

The Liaoning's new sea voyaging partner could be a small sign of things to come. "It is hard to recall growth at a similar pace in any navy across history  Beijing is slowly pulling ahead," according to Peter Roberts of the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Sees 'Interesting,' 'Difficult' Talks With China's Xi

By Steve Herman April 04, 2017

President Donald Trump is to host Chinese President Xi Jinping beginning Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the southern United States. But the atmosphere may not turn out to be as warm as the Florida weather.

Trump telegraphed on Twitter his prognosis for his first encounter with China's president, saying it will be a "very difficult" discussion, since the U.S. can "no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses."

At a White House meeting last week, Trump told U.S.-based manufacturers they will find it "interesting" to watch his meeting with Xi.

"I look very much forward to meeting him and the delegation. And we'll see what happens," Trump said.

The Chinese leader likely won't arrive empty-handed.

"I foresee that the Chinese will send Xi here with a pretty large and generous gift package, in terms of domestic infrastructure investment here in the United States, and help President Trump to create jobs that he had promised to the voters," Stimson Center Senior Associate Yun Sun told VOA.

'Something crazy could happen ...'

Some China watchers caution that not everything may go according to script, as this early in the Trump administration much is still unwritten.

"Something crazy could happen unexpected, certainly. You know one tweet could change the trajectory of the meeting to some extent," says Scott Kennedy, deputy director of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "But I expect it's going to be a lot of complaining without a lot of negotiation, specifically, and then the Chinese will leave nervous, anxious. And eventually the other shoe will drop."

There is a significant chance "Trump makes a comment which Xi could read as a shift in U.S. policy," predicts Cato Institute policy analyst Eric Gomez. "However, given Trump's struggle with facts I suspect that Xi will also place greater value on U.S. actions rather than words."

Gomez tells VOA considering the new administration's demonstration that "its word is not always its bond, Xi would be foolish to take every statement at face value."

There is also a perception, both in Washington and Beijing, of an ideological split in the Trump White House between a nationalistic-driven, anti-China faction and a more pragmatic group, especially in terms of trade policy.

Meeting a test for Trump

Some analysts see Xi's primary goal during the visit is to get a sense of the man in the White House with whom he'll be presumably negotiating for years to come.

"This is really to test Donald Trump's mettle," says Harry Kazianis, who directs defense studies at The Center for the National Interest.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has noted several "big problems" between the United States and China.

"Everything from the South China Sea to trade to North Korea. There are big issues of national and economic security that need to get addressed," he told reporters. "And I think there's going to be a lot on the table when it comes to that over the two days that they will talk."

The president, before getting to the White House last year, talked tough about China. He vowed punitive trade measures. But there has been no such action, so far.

"The 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the United States  that has not happened. The currency-manipulator label that he promised has not happened," notes Yun.

One China policy

China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, sent White House senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who is the president's son-in-law, drafts of a joint statement the two countries could issue at the conclusion of the summit, according to The New York Times.

Close attention will be paid to any final wording on the One China policy  a highly volatile issue for Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.

The United States switched it diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. But the policy was recently thrown into disarray when Trump accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president.

Xi reportedly would not get on the phone with Trump until the U.S. president reaffirmed the policy.

Trump's America-first agenda and desire to reduce Washington's global leadership comes as China is extending its reach around the world, noted the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language daily in Hong Kong, in an article headlined "Trump vs Xi: prepare for a clash of views on big global issues."

Some Trump stances favor China

The Trump administration is actually viewed as taking some stances helpful to China's goals, such as withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and, so far, it has not authorized any "freedom of navigation" exercises in the disputed South China Sea waters and airspace Beijing claims as its own. It has kept in place, however, some Obama administration polices Beijing does not like, such as reaffirming Washington's defense treaty with Tokyo that covers the Senkaku islands, held by Japan and claimed by China.

On the navigation patrols by the U.S. military, which China deems provocative, "I wouldn't be surprised if the new administration would look to take more robust measures than the Obama administration," says Andrew Small, senior Transatlantic fellow with the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

But on territorial issues during the meeting in Florida this week, Small on VOA's Encounters program, predicted "there won't be a consensus reached on this."

'Trade is the wild card'

It is a region, however, where the United States retains tremendous leverage due to its vast alliance relationships "that have withstood the test of time," compared to China only being able to point to North Korea as a significant ally, said Kazianis on the same VOA program.

But America's reputation in the Asia-Pacific region has been somewhat tarnished with the Trump Administration's rejection of the TPP.

"I'm afraid China is the winner out of this new trade policy," laments Small.

"Trade is the wild card. If the administration takes the very hardline positions that Trump promised during the campaign, then America's China policy would be much more confrontational than it was under the Obama administration," says Gomez at the Cato Institute.

The senior advisor on China at CSIS, Christopher Johnson, expresses concern that top Chinese government officials regard the U.S. president akin to an Asian businessman or a potentate, "with whom they can sort of have a very transactional relationship."

That "caricature-like assessment" could lead to disappointment for Xi, cautions Johnson, who expects President Trump to stand firm when it comes to his belief on the trade imbalance.

Kazianis agrees, predicting that when it comes to trade "President Trump in private is going to take a very hard line."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US will tackle North Korea alone if necessary: Trump

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 6:1AM

The United States has threatened to take a unilateral action to restrain North Korea's nuclear program unless China increases pressure on Pyongyang.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he will discuss North Korea's nuclear issue with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their meeting in Florida later this week.

Trump said he had "great respect" for President Xi and "great respect for China", adding, "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 warned that if China doesn't use its influence on Pyongyang, it won't be good.

"China has great influence over North Korea. China will either decide to help us with North Korea or they won't," he said. "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," he continued.

But the US president stopped short of talking about the possible measures Washington could take.

"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," he stated.

Reacting to Pyongyang's recent missile and nuclear tests, the US earlier warned that its previous policy of "strategic patience" had ended.

"Let me be very clear: The policy of strategic patience has ended. We are exploring a new range of security and diplomatic measures. All options are on the table," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a news conference last month in Seoul.

Last week, two high-ranking US intelligence officials claimed that North Korea is capable of killing millions of Americans by launching a nuclear attack.

Last month, Pyongyang warned Washington that a preemptive strike was always a possibility, after the US and South Korean military forces simulated attacks on North Korean targets during joint military drills that involve 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

Washington has been sending sophisticated weapons to the South in order to protect Seoul against what it calls the North's "aggression."

Meanwhile, the US military has begun deploying an advanced missile system in South Korea known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), raising the ire of North Korea, China, and Russia.

Washington and Seoul claim that the missile system is for defense against North Korea, which has conducted numerous ballistic missile tests in the past, including most recently on March 6.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump's North Korea Comments Raise Speculation About Chinese President's Visit

By Brian Padden April 03, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump's tough but vague talk on North Korea, in advance of this week's visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, is fueling a wide range of speculation that he may pursue a major policy shift that could either lead to a grand bargain with Beijing or start a preemptive war.

In an interview with London's Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said that if China is not going to solve the problem of North Korea, "we will." He also noted China's "great influence over North Korea" and warned that if Beijing did not help resolve the issue of Pyongyang's rapidly advancing nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, that "it won't be good for anyone."

Halting North Korea's nuclear program and preventing the Kim Jong Un government from developing a nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could strike the U.S. mainland, is expected to be a key issue Trump and Xi will discuss when the two leaders meet at the American president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday.

Tillerson and Mattis

The recent visits to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have helped reassure leaders in Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul that Washington will continue to prioritize increasing economic sanctions to pressure Pyongyang to change its behavior and concede to give up its nuclear ambitions for economic aid and security guarantees.

Also, a recent U.S. national security review of North Korea policy reportedly emphasized sanctions and increasing pressure on Beijing by targeting more Chinese banks and firms that do business with North Korea.

Few expect Trump and Xi to reach a significant breakthrough on North Korea during their initial meeting. Beijing has long been unwilling to do anything that may destabilize the North and send millions of refugees across the border.

And there will be other issues on the table as well, like reducing China's aggressive military moves in the South China Sea over disputed territorial claims, and trying to narrow the U.S. trade deficit with China, which was a major campaign issue for Trump.

Grand bargain

But given the Trump administration's emphasis that all options are on the table to deal with the North Korean threat, there is speculation he may seek a multi-layered deal with Xi that would include trade and regional security issues.

"The question is whether Washington is willing to, and able to, make concessions giving Beijing enough incentives so that the Chinese government will make a fundamental shift in its dealings with the leadership in Pyongyang," said Bong Young-shik with the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Bong said Washington would likely need to offer some degree of support for Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, for Taiwan and to back off from criticizing China's human rights record, to motivate China to take stronger actions against North Korea.

In the Financial Time interview Trump, the former real estate developer who wrote the book The Art of The Deal said, "Trade is the incentive," the U.S. will use in negotiations with China.

When asked about a "grand bargain" in which China would pressure Pyongyang in return for a U.S. promise to 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."

Military option

The president's uncompromising tone and comments by officials in his administration have also added to speculation that Trump may support the use of force to resolve the North Korean threat.

When Tillerson was in Seoul recently he said if North Korea elevates "the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action,that option is on the table."

James Nolt, an international political economy analyst with the World Policy Institute, is concerned hawks in the Trump administration may likely consider launching preemptive military strikes against a possible North Korean ICBM launch to be an acceptable risk to maintain U.S. security.

"I think that is a very plausible action because it doesn't look necessarily warlike. It looks like a relatively reasonable response to a threat, and yet undoubtedly from North Korea it's going to look like it's very provocative," said Nolt.

Many in South Korea and Japan argue that preemptive military action against North Korea would fail to end the nuclear threat, as many of the country's nuclear and missile facilities are hidden in fortified underground bunkers. And worse, analysts say, a U.S. attack could draw China and the entire region into a full-scale nuclear war that would kill millions.

Youmi Kim contributed to this report

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Tillerson to Chair UN Meeting on North Korea Nuclear Tests

By Margaret Besheer April 03, 2017

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the North Korea nuclear issue later this month.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters Monday that Tillerson's briefing to member states will take place April 28  well after this week's summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida.

"I think a lot is going to depend on what happens between now and the end of the month," Haley said at a news conference marking the U.S. assumption of the U.N. Security Council presidency for April. "Because with the conversations we are having and the decisions China makes, that will really spell out where at least the U.S. wants to go."

Haley said the two leaders' summit "will be very, very important" on a number of levels, but particularly on the issue of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The rogue nation has stepped up its ballistic missile tests and conducted five nuclear tests in the past decade. Experts say a sixth nuclear test could happen soon.

"I think 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 are concerned about North Korea," Haley said. "I think this administration wants to see them act, and I think they are going to pressure them to do that."

She said China hopefully will respond favorably. "That's the goal of this weekend, is to make sure that China shows that they are willing to act on North Korea because we know at the end of the day, the only one that North Korea is really going to respond to is China," Haley said.

In an interview with London's Financial Times, Trump said that if China is not going to solve the problem of North Korea, "we will."

"China has a great influence over North Korea," he told the newspaper. "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."

Haley said the discussions between presidents Trump and Xi also will cover economic issues, but that "the way that the weekend will go will very much depend on how that conversation with North Korea is."

"The president has made it very clear that he needs to see actions from China," she said.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US commander comments denounced

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 3, IRNA -- Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei has slammed recent comments by the head of the US Central Command calling Iran a "destabilizing" country in the Middle East.

"Tell this American military official that what Iran is doing in the Persian Gulf and in region is aimed at protecting security and peace," Rezaei wrote in a recent Instagram post.

Mr. Votel by repeating some allegations against Iran has called for taking military action to stop the Islamic Republic, he said.

"In reaction to what the head of the US Central Command alleges, we should say that Iran's activities in the Persian Gulf and region are aimed at protecting peace and security," Rezaei said.

The secretary of Iran's Expediency Council also urged the US commander to do something about the illegitimate interventions of the American allies in the region and stop killing of civilians by them.

Be careful not to become another [former US president George W] Bush, Rezaei said.

"Remember that Iran is neither Afghanistan nor Iraq and embarking on any kind of adventurism will end in regrets," he said.

Votel had recently said that Washington should consider using "military means" against Iran.

2044**1771

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Kyiv City Administration will partially compensate spending of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on the rates paid under credits taken in banks partners of the German Ukrainian Fund (GUF).

The agreement on partnership and cooperation between Kyiv City Administration and GUF on partial compensation of the rates paid under credits provided to MSMEs via GUF partner banks was signed by First Deputy Head of Kyiv City Administration Hennadiy Plis and GUF Executive Director Oleh Strynzha on Tuesday.

"The scheme we would work out says that if a businessman takes a credit in a bank, if this results in the creation of jobs and the jobs pay taxes to the budget in the past six month we are ready to compensate the credit rate. We are actually buying the creation of jobs," Plis said.

GUF Head Andriy Fetsun said that if at the national level GUF partner banks offer credits to MSMEs at 17% per annum, for MSMEs in Kyiv their cost would fall to 10-12%.

Plis said that the funds to partially compensate expenses of MSMEs on credit rates are foreseen in the Kyiv city's budget for 2017.

"The sum in the budget is only the starting sum to work out the scheme. If it starts working we could increase it," he said.

Plis said that the similar program supporting MSMEs was in effect in Kyiv in 2001-2002. Over the period over UAH 200 million was sent to pay the credit rates.

"As far as I know, this helped to attract over UAH 1 billion to the economy. I think that the closure of the program in 2012 is linked to the fact that the city budget had some limits," he said.
Iran commander: US will regret any adventurism

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 9:14AM

The former head of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned the United States against any military "adventurism" after a top US military commander threatened Tehran with military action.

Army General Joseph Votel, who heads the US Central Command, on Wednesday called Iran "the greatest long-term threat to stability" in the Middle East, saying the US should consider using "military means" against the country.

"You should know that Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan and any adventurism will bring about regret for you," Mohsen Rezaei said on Monday in remarks addressed at Votel.

Rezaei commanded the IRGC for less than two decades and is currently the secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, which advises Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Votel, speaking before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, accused Iran of "destabilizing" the region through "lethal aid facilitation," using "surrogate forces" and cyber operations.

"We need to look at opportunities where we can disrupt through military means or other means their activities," he said.

Rezaei called the accusations "repetitive", saying "Iran's activities in the Persian Gulf and the region are aimed at maintaining security and peace."

"You had better stop the illegitimate interventions of your allies in the region and prevent massacre of the people," the official added, apparently referring to Saudi Arabia which is waging a destructive war on Yemen.

Rezaei further cautioned US leaders against being tripped into a new confrontation in the Middle East.

"Nor should you forget about Mr. Bush's warmongering adventure," he said, referring to former US President George W. Bush who waged two destructive wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US and UK invaded Iraq in 2003 after the British Secret Intelligence Service alleged it had verified claims that the Arab country was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, which later proved to be a "misguided assumption."

The war, meanwhile, developed into a quagmire that overall killed more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and brought about a chaotic situation which has been exploited by extremist outfits such as Daesh to date.

The IRGC's Navy has on several occasions forced US Navy vessels to change course before wandering into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly warned that any act of transgression into its territorial waters would be met with an immediate and befitting response.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Qasemi: Hoisting any flag in Kirkuk except Iraq's national flag mounts tension

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 3, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday that hoisting any flag except Iraq's national flag in Kirkuk in Northern Iraq, runs counter to the country's constitution and will mount tension.

'Iran's principled stance is to support the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty,' he said.

Qasemi added that all sides should be committed to the Constitution and help resolve their disputes through dialogue and legal means.

Consequently, hoisting any flag except Iraq's national flag in Kirkuk which is under governing rules and regulations of federal government, runs counter to the country's constitution and creates tension, Qasemi said.

Fight against terrorism and cleaning of the remaining lands from Daesh Takfiri terrorists are among most concerns of the Iraqi government and people winning supports of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said.

The recent measures by some Iraqi groups could deviate parts of energy of the Iraqi government and nation from the path of fight against terrorism and focused them on interior political issues which are source of concern, Qasemi said.

1430**2050

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Iraqi alliance: Kurdish flags in Kirkuk threaten national unity

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 10:42AM

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), headed by senior cleric Ammar al-Hakim, says the hoisting of Kurdish flags over government buildings in Kirkuk is threatening national unity.

INA issued a statement on Monday after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi presided over a meeting to examine the fallout from a provincial council decision to raise Kurdish flags in the oil-rich city.

The INA statement said the decision, irrespective of other ethnic minorities in Kirkuk, was a wrong move and contradicted the requirement to maintain Iraq's national unity.

INA also called for peaceful coexistence among all ethnic groups in the Kirkuk province.

On Saturday, the Iraqi parliament voted to ban Kurdish flags in Kirkuk, prompting Kurdish members of the chamber to leave the session.

The controversial move has been met with ire in Baghdad as Kirkuk is not part of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned against Iraq's disintegration, saying a potential separation of the country's Kurds would harm them.

"That is totally objectionable. We are serious about Iraq's territorial integrity," Abadi said in an interview with the Iraqi Kurdistan region's Rudaw media outlet.



NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Iraqi Forces Slow Old Mosul Offensive to Avoid Civilian Casualties

Sputnik News

11:53 03.04.2017(updated 12:02 03.04.2017)

According to reports, Iraqi armed forces have slowed down the pace of their offensive near Old Mosul to avoid civilian casualties.

MOSUL (Sputnik)  Iraqi armed forces have slowed down the pace of their offensive near Old Mosul to avoid civilian casualties, a government forces source told Sputnik on Monday, noting that the troops are preparing to surround terrorists there.

"We changed tactics, slowing down the pace of the offensive as we entered the area of the Old City with its dense buildings," the source said.

The source said, "we are mainly working with snipers, small arms, and if we direct artillery or rockets, then only after confirmation from our informants inside the city that there are no civilians in this or that house."

The source in the Iraqi armed forces said their plan to encircle entrenched terrorist fighters near Old City was meeting fierce resistance "in order not to let themselves be outflanked."

"However, when the ring begins to close, they will inevitably leave these areas, moving to neighboring ones. This is their invariable tactic and we are counting on it, it will help avoid many victims," the source said.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Iraqi army, allies launch operation to recapture Anbar districts

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 4, 2017 3:27PM

Iraqi army forces, backed by pro-government tribal fighters, have mounted an operation to drive Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of two districts in the country's troubled western province of Anbar, and establish full control over them.

The commander of the Army's 7th Division, Major General Numan Abd al-Zawbaei, said on Tuesday that Iraqi troopers and allied tribal fighters started an offensive to liberate al-Madham and Khabrat Umm al-Waz districts southwest of the town of Anah near the Euphrates River, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

Zawbaei added that the operation aimed to eliminate the last pockets of Daesh militants in both regions, noting that Iraqi army soldiers and their allies had so far managed to destroy an explosive-laden car and a rocket launcher with 12 projectiles.

Iraqi forces find mass grave in west Mosul

Meanwhile, members of the Iraqi Federal Police have found a mass grave in the northern city of Mosul, which contained the bodies of dozens of people killed by Daesh terrorists.

Captain Yunis Dhanon of Nineveh Provincial Police said security forces found the grave inside al-Zahra Mosque in western Mosul, noting that the burial place "contained the corpses of 24 civilian, mostly women," who were executed by Daesh terrorists.

Dhanon added that the dead bodies, which bore signs of torture and decomposition, were transferred to al-Badil Medical Center in southern Mosul. No identity cards were found to identify the victims.

Daesh executes over 100 civilians in Mosul

Separately, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) said in a statement on Tuesday that Daesh Takfiris had massacred more than 100 people in western Mosul last Friday.

The statement, citing unnamed local sources from Mosul's Old City, said the extremists killed members of 22 families from the al-Mekkawi area after 22 young men from those families tried to escape the district with the help of a Syrian smuggler.

The smuggler had reached a deal with the young men two months earlier, but the plan was dropped when Iraqi security forces started an operation to liberate the region. Daesh members, having found out about the scheme, executed the young men, their families as well as the smuggler's family.

The IOHR statement said the executions were carried out inside public baths in Mekkawi, and 106 corpses were left there for 14 hours before civilian-owned vehicles came and took them away for burial.

300,000 Iraqis displaced amid Mosul battle: UN

Furthermore, the United Nations says around 300,000 people have been displaced since the onset of the military campaign to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists last October.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday that a total of 392,000 people had fled their homes, while 94,500 had returned since then.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) puts the number of people displaced by the Mosul operation at 302,400.

The report comes as the UN is expanding camps around Mosul to accommodate more refugees.

Several Daesh commanders killed in airstrike on western Mosul

Additionally, Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) announced in a statement that a number of Daesh commanders were killed in an aerial attack on a militant position in al-Tanak neighborhood in western Mosul.

The statement pointed out that among those killed was the commander in charge of Arab bombers and child recruitment, without identifying him by name.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Iraqi Security Forces Kill Senior Daesh Leader in Mosul

Sputnik News

17:25 04.04.2017

The Iraqi security forces have eliminated a senior Daesh leader in the city of Mosul, Iraqi federal police told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSUL (Iraq), (Sputnik)  The leader, known as Abu Muhajir al-Rusi, and possibly of the Russian origin, was killed in an artillery strike on a command post located in the so-called Old City district of Mosul, according to the police.

"A precision artillery strike guided by aerial drones killed two Daesh leaders, including field commander nicknamed Abu Muhajir al-Rusi, as well as six of his aides," Abdurrahman al-Abidin, advisor to the head of the Iraqi federal police said.

The city of Mosul has been occupied by Daesh, outlawed in many countries, including Russia, since 2014. The operation to retake it began on October 17, 2016 and resulted in the liberation of Mosul's eastern part this January, but fighting continues in the city's western areas. The operation to liberate it started on February 19.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Pakistan resumes repatriating Afghan refugees despite criticism

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 4:42PM

Pakistan has resumed its mass repatriation of Afghan refugees under a UN program weeks after an international human rights watchdog criticized Islamabad for deporting thousands to a war-torn nation.

Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, made the announcement on Monday. The operation was halted in December for a routine winter break.

"The UNHCR voluntary repatriation program for registered Afghan refugees resumed today," Khan said, adding, "UNHCR advocates for all refugee returns from Pakistan to be voluntary, gradual and take place in conditions of safety and dignity."

Elsewhere in her remarks, the spokeswoman confirmed that the UN had cut its cash grant for returnees from $400 to $200, citing "financial constraints facing humanitarian operations worldwide".

The UN has said that 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 program saw 380,000 of the 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees sent back from Pakistan in 2016. Pakistani authorities want to see similar numbers return to their home country in 2017.

Some half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in Pakistan.

Pakistan has extended a deadline for the refugees to leave its territory from March 2017 to December.

Aid workers worry that the returnees are going back to a country in conflict and economic crisis, led by a government already struggling to maintain basic living standards.

The New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a scathing report in February accused Pakistan of coercion, threats and abuse in the mass repatriation, and the UN refugee agency of complicity.

The report said a combination of insecure legal status, the threat of deportation during winter and police abuses had left Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave.

The rights group is also critical of the UN agency for what its investigators regard as a failure to ensure that Afghan refugees are truly returning voluntarily, as called for under international law.

It accused UNHCR of effectively encouraging the exodus by doubling the cash grant. The report said the UN body should end the "fiction" that the returns are voluntary.

The UN body has rejected the criticism.

Some Afghan refugees have been sheltering in Pakistan for decades. They first fled across the border after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

The returnees will compete for resources with a record half a million people who were internally displaced by fighting across Afghanistan in 2016.

Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation program since 2002.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Pakistan Resumes Repatriation Of Afghan Refugees Under Controversial UN Program

RFE/RL, Frud Bezhan April 03, 2017

Pakistan has resumed its repatriation of Afghan refugees under a controversial program by the United Nations, a UN official said.

The UN's 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 Pakistan's 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 HRW's Refugee Rights Program, told RFE/RL in February. "It's 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.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-resumes-repatriation- of-afghan-refugees/28408136.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Saudi fighter pilots get 60% pay boost as Yemen bombing rages

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 8:55PM

Saudi Arabia has increased its air force pilots' salary by up to 60 percent shortly after its bombing campaign against Yemen enters its third year.

According to the Saudi Press Agency on Monday, the kingdom's cabinet amended regulations pertaining to a 35-percent increase in basic salaries of all air force pilots and weapons operators. It added that officers who fly fighter jets or operate their weapons systems will be receiving a 60-percent pay increase.

No explanation was given for the move by the Saudi cabinet, which has over the last few months been implementing austerity measures.

Riyadh is currently dealing with economic struggles brought on by a budget deficit of nearly $100 billion caused by a sharp slump in oil prices as well as Riyadh's rising army expenditure, a large amount of which is being funneled into its military campaign against Yemen.

Saudi Arabia -- backed by a number of African and Persian Gulf Arab state -- launched a massive aerial aggression against neighboring Yemen on March 26, 2015, in an attempt to reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a close ally of the despotic kingdom, and to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. The offensive has so far left over 12,000 Yemeni civilians dead, according to the latest tallies.

EU: Yemen becoming a forgotten war

While addressing an EU ministerial meeting on Monday, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned that the situation in Yemen is on the brink of becoming a "forgotten conflict."

"This is definitely not the case for the European Union so we will focus on that not only from the humanitarian perspective but also from the political perspective," she added. "This can have very serious humanitarian consequences but also security consequences that are very serious for the entire region."

Mogherini made the remarks just one day after Yemen wrote a letter to the European Union, calling on the 28-nation bloc to pressure Saudi Arabia into ending its deadly military intervention and inhumane blockade of the impoverished nation.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






'We Consider Them Occupants': Damascus Comments on Remaining Turkish Troops

Sputnik News

20:20 03.04.2017(updated 20:32 03.04.2017)

Turkey continues to occupy the Syrian territory despite announcing the end of its operation there, the Syrian Ambassador to Russia said. He urged sides fighting terrorism to coordinate their actions.

MOSCOW(Sputnik)  Damascus considers the Turkish troops, remaining in Syria after the completion of the Euphrates Shield campaign was announced, as occupants, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said Monday.

"Turkey has not withdrawn its troops and we consider them occupants. [Turkey] announced that the operation was complete, but Turkey has still not withdrawn its troops, it is the occupation of our territory," the ambassador said st a meeting in Russia.

On March 29, the Turkish National Security Council said that the Turkish military successfully completed Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria.

"As for other forces regarding the United States, as we have already said, the [Syrian] government agrees to unite its efforts with those, who are fighting against terrorism. But those who really want to fight against terror must coordinate their actions with the Syrian government," the ambassador said.

The civil war in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front and Daesh, outlawed in Russia.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Public joint-stock company State Food-Grain Corporation seeks to buy first 500 out of 3,000 grain wagons planned for purchase by the end of 2017 from Ukrainian manufacturers, Deputy Board Chairman of State Food-Grain Corporation Andriy Zadiraka said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"During six months we had held difficult talks with our Chinese partner and today we have reached agreement to buy a first batch of grain wagons. Now several Ukrainian manufacturers are being discussed. I think that after completing the national approval procedure soon we will buy first 500 wagons by the end of this year," he said.

Zadiraka said that the company is mulling the purchase of wagons from large suppliers  Kriukiv Car Building Works, Dniprovahonmash and Karpaty plant.

"We have proposed to the Chinese corporation to consider the provision of around 420 million from the funds of the credit line, taking into account a shortage of wagons on the market. The only problem that we started the talks six months ago, and the price of wagons is gradually growing," he said.

The government in August 2010 decided to create the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine. The corporation has a chain of branches, comprised of grain storage facilities, flourmills, fodder factories and a cereals factory. The 53 subdivisions of the corporation can store a total of 3.75 million tonnes of grain, which includes the grain handling capacities of Odesa and Mykolaiv ports of some 2.5 million tonnes of grain cargo per year.
Kurdish Militia Say Gain Control of All Roads Around Syrian City of Tabqa

Sputnik News

17:43 03.04.2017

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) took under control all roads leading to the northern Syrian city of Tabqa, according to the YPG monthly bulletin obtained by Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have gained control of all the roads leading to the northern Syrian city of Tabqa, the YPG monthly bulletin obtained by Sputnik said on Monday.

"All roads leading to Tabqa were taken under control," the document says.

Tabqa, which is believed to be the last stronghold of the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) is located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Daesh. Taking the city is part of the Wrath of Euphrates operation, with the offensive against Tabqa having started on March 21.

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

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Who Will Retake Raqqa?

By Jamie Dettmer April 03, 2017

Thousands of civilians have been fleeing Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State terror group in Syria, in the past few days as airstrikes on the city intensify  a foretaste of when the battle to oust the militants from the besieged city starts in earnest.

But the composition of the force to mount the final assault on the Sunni Arab city appears to be undecided, as does how the city will be governed after IS militants have been expelled.

Will it be the U.S.-backed Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, or some of their aligned Sunni Arab and Turkmen militiamen who will retake Raqqa? Will the Turks play a role with their allied Syrian Arab rebel militias?

Will U.S. combat troops participate in significant numbers because of the tactical difficulties encountered by an indigenous, proxy ground force, much as they have in taking a more forward-leaning role in Mosul than planned?

Last month, several hundred U.S. Marines were deployed with artillery to northern Syria, to be ready to assist local forces to retake the city, according to U.S. officials, who confirmed another 1,000 troops will be sent to Kuwait to be ready if needed.

At some point during the final assault, U.S. and Kurd forces might stand aside and allow forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to make the final push and seize the city. Some analysts suspect that's being considered by war planners in the Pentagon and President Donald Trump's advisers.

Might Trump "judge Assad the best of a sorry lot of choices, and take the plunge to join forces with Damascus?" queried analyst Thanassis Cambanis during a roundtable discussion organized last month on the future of the conflict on Syria by The Century Foundation, a U.S. policy research institute.

Tillerson in Turkey

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Ankara, the first senior administration official to visit Turkey, to try to seal a deal about the battle for Raqqa and to overcome President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strong objections to Washington's backing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) militias.

Turkish forces have attacked SDF forces in the past around Manbij, west of Raqqa, forcing the United States to deploy dozens of soldiers on the outskirts of the town in a mission to prevent a repeat of clashes, which risk derailing an assault on Raqqa.

Tillerson appeared to indicate no agreement had been reached in Ankara about how Raqqa should be seized and by whom.

"They are difficult decisions, to be very frank," he said. "They are not easy, they are very difficult choices that have to be made."

On Monday, Erdogan increased pressure on Washington, saying his government is planning new offensives this spring against groups deemed terrorist organizations by Ankara, including IS, the outlawed Kurdish PKK, and the PYD's militia.

There are no signs that Washington intends to end its alliance with the PYD's militia. U.S. officials say they envisage the Raqqa battle will be similar to the fight in neighboring Iraq, where local indigenous forces have been waging the struggle to retake the northern city of Mosul, the last IS major urban stronghold in that country.

The Pentagon doubts the Turks and their Syrian rebel militias have sufficient capability or skill to wage the urban warfare they will encounter inside Raqqa, or that they will be able to minimize their own casualties or keep the civilian death toll to a minimum.

"The Kurds have been effective partners for us," a senior Pentagon official told VOA. "Why would we change horses in midstream?"

But the Kurds and their allied Arab militias will also be hard-pressed to limit a bloodbath in a city Islamic State has had plenty of time to prepare to defend. The terror group's defense tactics have been on vivid and gruesome display for months in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Post-IS Raqqa

Analysts and former U.S. diplomats also worry not enough thought is being given to what happens after the militants are expelled from the city, and how and who will administer Raqqa. If those questions are not answered before the assault takes place, the United States could be drawn deeper into Syrian conflict than the Trump administration wants, warn some former diplomats.

They worry Washington could be on the verge of repeating the Iraq War mistakes of 2003, when the Bush administration didn't plan sufficiently for a post-invasion political order.

"Iraq 2003 and Libya 2011 teach a valuable lesson: Plan carefully for post-combat governance," said former U.S. diplomat Fred Hof.

Kurdish officials have repeatedly said in recent months they have no interest in administering Raqqa after IS militants are ousted. A local Arab council could be formed to run the city, but it would be beholden to whoever wields post-IS military power in Raqqa.

"If ISIS is going to stay down, it needs to be replaced in these areas by a sufficiently inclusive, consensual political order to short-circuit the cycle of resentment and hate that ISIS feeds off," analyst Sam Heller said at last month's roundtable discussion, using an acronym for Islamic State.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian army, Foreign Ministry deny role in Idlib 'chemical' attack

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 4, 2017 5:13PM

The Syrian military has categorically denied the accusations leveled against it about being involved in a suspected chemical attack in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province that killed dozens of people.

"The army command categorically denies using any chemical or toxic substance in Khan Shaykhun today," the Syrian army said a statement carried by the official SANA news agency on Tuesday.

The Syrian military also stressed that "it has never used them (chemical weapons), anytime, anywhere, and will not do so in the future."

The Syrian military further blamed any use of chemical weapons on Syria's opposition and those who support them, noting that militants fabricate accusations of toxic gas attacks to divert attention from their failures on the ground.

Meanwhile, Syria's Foreign Ministry also issued a separate statement on Tuesday, strongly denying the use of poisonous gas in Khan Shaykhun or any other Syrian city or village by the country's military and emphasizing that the Syrian Arab army did not possess any form of chemical weapons.

The statement took to task Syria's terrorist groups and their foreign supporters for circulating false news about Syrian army's chemical attack on in Idlib Province, noting that such claims were fabricated after terrorists lost considerable ground to Syrian forces in the battlefield.

The statement said false accusations were leveled against Syrian army following "considerable achievements by the Syrian Arab army and the allied forces in the war against terrorism during the previous days and weeks," and on the eve of the European Union meeting on the situation in Syria.

"The Syrian Arab Republic stresses that these fabricated allegations will not prevent it from continuing its war on terrorists as well as their supporters and sponsors in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and some of the EU countries," the statement said.

The suspected chemical attack targeted the Idlib town of Khan Shaykhun earlier on Tuesday followed by alleged airstrikes, which hit a hospital where victims of the assault were being treated.

There have been conflicting reports on the number of fatalities. While, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the incident has left at least 58 people dead and over 60 others injured, the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations says at least 100 people have been killed and 400 more suffered from respiratory problems.

UNSC to meet on Idlib attack

In another development on Tuesday, the US ambassador to the United Nations said the UN Security Council (UNSC) would hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the fatal assault in Idlib.

Nikki Haley made the announcement in response to a request from Britain and France for an emergency council session.

UN commission launches probe into deadly Syria attack

Meanwhile, a commission affiliated to the UN Human Rights Council, whose mission is to investigate rights violations in the Arab country, said it had launched a probe into the suspected chemical attack in Idlib Province.

"Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning. The commission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this attack including the alleged use of chemical weapons," the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic made the announcement in a statement.

It further noted that the use of chemical weapons as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities "would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law."

"It is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable," it added.

Syria's opposition claimed that Tuesday's attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

Russia's Defense Ministry has categorically rejected the claim, saying, "Russian air force planes haven't dealt any strikes on Khan Shaykhun in  Idlib."

Idlib attack 'came from the air'

Separately on Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura denounced the chemical attack as "horrific," adding that it was launched from the air.

"What we have understood, it was a chemical attack and it came from the air," De Mistura said in a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, on the sidelines of an international conference on Syria in Belgian capital, Brussels.

There should be a "clear identification of responsibilities and accountability," the UN envoy pointed out, emphasizing that every time there was a sign of progress in Syria peace talks, someone always tried to sabotage it.

"Every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together, there is someone, somehow that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage," he said.

Mogherini, for her part, said the Idlib attack was a reminder that the situation on the ground in Syria "continues to be dramatic."

Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. Russia has been assisting the Syrian army in its counter-terrorism operations.

Washington has been leading a bombing campaign in Syria against what are said to be Daesh terrorists inside the country since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The strikes have led to a high number of civilian deaths.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UN To Probe Suspected Syria Chemical Attack As Global Outrage Mounts

RFE/RL April 04, 2017

United Nations war crimes investigators have opened a probe of a suspected chemical attack in Syria's Idlib Province that left at least 58 people dead.

The UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria said on April 4 that it had opened the probe in a statement condemning the attack.

The statement also condemned the alleged targeting of a medical facility where victims of the attack were being treated, saying both actions "would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law."

UN Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura told journalists in Brussels that all indications were that "it was a chemical attack and it came from the air."

The United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency session on April 5 to discuss the incident.

International outrage at the apparent attack continued to mount throughout the day.

The spokesman for U.S. President Donald Trump, Sean Spicer, said the attack was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored." He said the United States was "confident" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the attack.

French President Francois Hollande also said Assad bore responsibility for the "massacre" and called on "those who support this regime[to] once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic, and moral responsibility."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that if it was proven the Syrian government carried out a chemical attack, it would be "unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack as an "inhuman" strike that could endanger peace talks. Turkish presidential sources said Erdogan made the comments in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The Syrian government has denied that it carried out a chemical attack, saying that it destroyed a "terrorists' chemical-weapons depot" in the town of Khan Shekhun. The government statement said the attack was carried out using Russian-made Sukhoi Su-22 fighter bombers, which are not capable of deploying chemical weapons.

The Syrian military also denied using chemical weapons.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Union of Medical Care Organizations said the death toll in the attack could be as high as 100, with up to 400 injured. Many of the injured are reportedly suffering respiratory problems.

Earlier, the observatory said symptoms among those affected by the attack included fainting, vomiting, and foam coming out of their mouths. It was unknown what chemical was used in the attack, but local medics were quoted as saying they suspected it was the nerve agent sarin.

The reported chemical attack came ahead of an April 5 international conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

At least 300,000 people have been killed and millions displaced by Syria's 6-year-old civil war. A UN-led investigation has concluded that the Syrian government used chlorine as a weapon at least three times in 2014 and 2015.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria-suspected-chemical- attack-idlib-deaths/28409626.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian Army Rejects Claims of Chemical Weapons Use in Idlib, Blames Militants

Sputnik News

19:59 04.04.2017(updated 20:50 04.04.2017)

The responsibility for the chemical attack in Idlib lies with militants and their patrons, the Syrian Army said.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The command of the Syrian Armed Forces decisively rejected accusations of using chemical weapons in Idlib province and placed responsibility for that on militants and their patrons.

"The army command and the Armed Forces categorically deny the use of any chemical weapons in the town of Khan Shaykhun in the suburb of Idlib today," according to a Syrian Armed Forces command statement copy obtained by Sputnik.

The document also said the responsibility for the chemical attack in Idlib lies with militants and their patrons.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces claimed that nearly 80 people were killed and some 200 injured in an attack by the use of chemical weapons in Idlib, placing the blame for the reported attack on the Syrian army. However, a source in the Syrian army told Sputnik that the army did not have chemical weapons and the allegations could be part of anti-Damascus propaganda.

"The armed terrorist groups regularly blame the Syrian Army of using chemical weapons against members of this group, as well as against civilians, every time they fail to reach their objectives. And they do everything to justify their defeats on the ground to their financial patrons," the statement added.

A UN Security Council meeting has been called by the United States to discuss the issue, while the United Nations said it could not verify if the attack took place. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has set up a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to gather information about the alleged incident.

In 2013, Damascus agreed to place its chemical weapons under international control for its destruction. The move was made in order to prevent the weapons from being captured by militants in the course of the civil war in the Middle Eastern state.

So far, there has been a number of reports on use of chemical weapons in Syria, putting responsibility for attacks both on Syrian authorities and Daesh terrorist group.

In October 2016, the UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) on the chemical weapons use in Syria said that the Syrian authorities used chemical weapons at least three times throughout 2014-2015, while an earlier report said the IS was also responsible for several attacks.

Despite lack of conclusive evidence, a number of countries, in particular the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, blamed the Syrian government for the chemical attacks. Syrian President Bashar Assad though denied all accusations, claiming the reports failed to provide conclusive evidence of its culpability and putting blame on the terrorist groups. The Russian authorities have repeatedly called on necessity to double-check such kind of reports, stressing that conclusions cannot be simply made on interviews of several local residents.

In late October-early November 2016, a number of chemical attacks were conducted in Syria's city of Aleppo by militants, killing dozens of Syrian servicemen and civilians. The Syrian government urged the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct the investigation, while the Russian Defense Ministry handed the results of the chemical use probe to Syria's national regulator in charge of implementing the OPCW convention.

Earlier on February, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it expected more effective work from the OPCW, adding that the organization's act-finding mission in Syria had conducted its activity over the past years remotely by interviewing witnesses, which raised questions over information's credibility.

Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including al-Nusra Front and Daesh, banned in a range of countries, including Russia.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Dozens Dead in Apparent Toxic Gas Attack in Syria

By Jamie Dettmer April 04, 2017

Monitors and civil defense workers alleged Tuesday that Syrian government or Russian warplanes carried out a toxic gas attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds more.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, a coalition of Western humanitarian and medical organizations, put the death toll at 100 with more than 350 injured.

Syrian opposition activists described the attack as among the worst in the country's brutal six-year civil war and the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, dubbed it a "horrifying massacre.

Russia has "categorically denied" any role in the attack. Syria's government denied using chemical weapons against civilians.

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting discuss the incident on Wednesday morning.

The Idlib Media Center of pro-opposition activists and rescue workers known as the White Helmets posted video footage and still photographs of the aftermath of the airstrike on the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

The footage appeared to show a young girl hooked up to a ventilator and the bodies of several children being covered with a blanket.

In other videos, medics can be be seen trying to resuscitate a small girl and assisting adults struggling with breathing difficulties. One picture showed rescue workers placing the body of a man into the back of a truck.

Locals say they expect the death toll to rise.

People choked, vomited or fainted minutes after the attack, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group that gathers information from activists on the ground. The group said it had received initial reports of the attack from medics in the town.

The Observatory said at least 11 children are among the dead.

The French news agency (AFP) later reported from one of its journalists in Khan Sheikhoun that a missile slammed into a hospital where some of the victims were being treated, bringing rubble down on medics as they struggled to treat victims.

US reacts

In Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer condemned the "intolerable attack" and said the U.S. holds the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible. He also said the "heinous actions" of the regime were the result of "weakness" by the previous administration of Barack Obama.

The attack, which caught many of the town's residents sleeping in their beds, came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria hosted by the European Union's chief foreign affairs official, Federica Mogherini.

The Assad government has repeatedly denied that its warplanes carry out raids with chemical weapons. Last week, officials in the Syrian capital dismissed all such allegations as "devoid of truth.

Government-owned media outlets suggested Tuesday that the airstrike may have hit a rebel chemical weapons factory or stockpile.

The Syrian National Coalition called Tuesday for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, blaming the airstrikes on the "regime of the criminal Bashar. In a statement, it said government warplanes fired missiles carrying poisonous gas.

The coalition urged U.N. officials to "open an immediate investigation" and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable.

The reported attack on Khan Sheikhoun to the west of Aleppo and south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, is the third claimed chemical weapons attack in just over a week in Syria. Another two blamed on the Syrian government were reported in Hama province, not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Chemicals used

What chemical agent was used is not clear, but some opposition websites said highly toxic sarin gas may have been employed. Some medics working on the victims also pointed to sarin as the agent most likely used.

"We have no doubt that this is a sarin attack, said Dr. Shajul Islam, a British medic working in a clinic, which received three of the victims. He posted a video on Twitter showing the victims with pinpoint pupils, which were unresponsive when light was shone on their eyes.

Omer Idlibi, a member of the opposition group Syria Revolutionaries, told VOA's Kurdish service "all the symptoms from the victims point to sarin gas. "The medical situation is very bad, due to the lack of hospitals and because the regime targeted all the field hospitals used for treating victims," he added.

A U.N. investigation found credible evidence that sarin was used in August 2013 attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians. In most alleged chemical weapons attacks since then, the agent thought to be used most often has been chlorine.

Rebel groups have also been accused in the past of using chlorine in rocket attacks, and the Islamic State terror group has been blamed for a mustard gas attack in Syria.

British medical expert David Nott told Britain's Sky News he was unsure whether the agent used was chlorine or sarin but said if the latter, he would expect the death toll to climb rapidly.

New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian government of mounting eight chlorine gas attacks on insurgent-controlled areas during the final weeks of the battle for Aleppo last year.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog blamed the Syrian government for at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas.

Rebel groups walked out of Russian-brokered peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan earlier this month in protest at what they said were ongoing violations of a cease-fire.

Idlib province is one of the last redoubts of anti-Assad rebels and the United Nations estimates there are nearly a million displaced Syrians in the province, many from Aleppo.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UN: Lack of Funds Threatens Life-saving Aid for Millions of Displaced Syrians

By Lisa Schlein April 04, 2017

The U.N. refugee agency warns a lack of funding is threatening life-saving assistance for millions of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them. In advance of a ministerial pledging conference in Brussels, the UNHCR is appealing to the international community to support the United Nations' multi-billion-dollar appeal.

The appeal coincides with a tragic milestone - Syria's war having entered its seventh year. The U.N. refugee agency reports the number of Syrians who have fled to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey now tops 5 million.

These refugees and many others who have made the perilous journey to Europe and beyond are in desperate need of aid; but, the UNHCR warns all face drastic cuts in life-saving assistance because there is no money to support them.

Agency spokesman Babar Baloch says the United Nations has received just 9 percent of the $4.6 billion it needs to help refugees and host communities in the five neighboring countries as well as more than 13 million Syrians living inside Syria. Of this appeal, he says the UNHCR requires $1.4 billion for operations this year.

"Things are getting quite desperate. If the funding support is not there, children may not be going to the schools. Services, basic services like shelter, water, sanitation, health may also suffer, he says.

Baloch says U.N. agencies are pinning their hopes on the ministerial conference that opens in Brussels Wednesday. He tells VOA he hopes the world will realize that much is at stake for the Syrian refugees and will respond to their needs.

"Let us not forget that the host communities have been stepping forward shouldering this burden. We cannot leave the region alone to take care of these refugees. Turkey has around 3 million, one million in a small country like Lebanon as well. A majority of these refugees are women and children, Baloch says.

U.N. agencies say all areas of assistance will be curtailed this year without adequate funding. They warn food and cash assistance to the refugees will be reduced or cut by mid-year, threatening the stability and security of the region.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Turkey plans new 'anti-terror' offensives in Syria, says Turkish president

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 6:2PM

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey is planning new offensives this spring inside war-torn Syria after Ankara officially announced the completion of a months-long military campaign on the Arab country's soil.

Erdogan said in a speech in the Trabzon region near the Black Sea on Monday that Turkey will soon launch a new operation against groups deemed terrorist organisations by Ankara. He, however, did not specify where the new operations would take place.

"The first stage, the Euphrates Shield operation... is over. But more will follow," Erdogan said, adding, "There is no stopping, the road continues. We are making preparations for new operations in other regions for getting to the terrorists on their hills. We will give new names to the new operations."

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Turkish president stressed, "The next months with God's permission will be spring for the Turkish nation and a black winter for the terrorists."

On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the end of the country's seven-month long military campaign in northern Syria.

The Turkish premier, however, refrained from elaborating on whether Turkish forces would be withdrawn from northern Syria.

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes across the border. Ankara claimed that its military campaign was aimed at pushing the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces, who were themselves fighting Daesh, but Damascus denounced the operation as a breach of its sovereignty.

Senior Turkish officials had not ruled out the possibility of yet another act of military intervention inside Syria, which has has been gripped by deadly foreign-sponsored militancy since 2011.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Turkey coup staged with government knowledge: Opposition leader

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 4:55PM

The main Turkish opposition party has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of having prior knowledge of the failed July 15, 2016 putsch, saying Ankara carried out a "controlled" coup in an attempt to exploit its outcomes.

The head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, made the remarks on Monday, during a breakfast meeting with the editors of several Turkish television stations, adding that up to 180 people within the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been employing an encrypted messaging application, called ByLock, for plotting the coup, and that the country's secret service had a list of these people.

"These ByLock users should be revealed. If this list is going to be kept secret, then it indicates that July 15 was a controlled coup. [Meaning that] they (the authorities) had information about the coup in advance," Kilicdaroglu further said, adding that the testimonies given by the arrested members of the outlawed movement led by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen "also strengthen the view that it was a controlled coup."

The coup began when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Following the failed coup, Ankara launched a heavy-handed crackdown on those deemed to have played a role in the attempt, which was blamed on the Gulen movement. The Pennsylvania-based cleric has, however, categorically denied the allegation. The government has outlawed his large organization, the Gulen movement, in the country and has branded it as Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Kilicdaroglu also said that Ankara had detained thousands of people allegedly linked to FETO, but failed to take any action against its political wing. His comments are an apparent response to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who, a day earlier, had denied allegations that FETO had a "political affiliation" within the AKP.

The CHP leader also stated that he had "compiled a special dossier" on the issue, but declined to elaborate on its contents.

Kilicdaroglu's remarks, however, infuriated Erdogan, who responded at a televised rally in the Black Sea region of Rize shortly afterward.

"If you have a dossier then out with it!" retorted the Turkish leader, adding, "But it's a big lie."

Yildirim, who was also angered by Kilicdaroglu's skepticism of the official narrative of events, described his comments as an "insult" to the memory of the 249 people who lost their lives in the attempted putsch.

"What do you mean by a 'controlled coup'? Is this not an insult to the martyrs and the heroes? He must put the evidence on the table for such claims," the Turkish premier said, adding "No one can insult this nation."

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






262 Turkish diplomats, soldiers seeking asylum in Germany

Iran Press TV

Mon Apr 3, 2017 3:2PM

At least 262 Turkish diplomats and military personnel have filed for political asylum in Germany since a last year failed coup blamed on supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

A spokeswoman for the German Interior Ministry made the announcement on Monday, saying that 151 of the asylum applications came from Turkish nationals holding diplomatic passports while the other 111 were from people with no-fee passports, which are issued to government employees, including military personnel, civil servants and their dependents.

"Those figures are not actually statistically sound because they are based on the voluntary statements of the asylum applicants," said Annegret Korff, suggesting that the real number could be higher.

"The asylum applications will be treated on a case-by-case basis ... and decided according to the law," she added.

The spokeswoman also noted that the number of Turkish citizens seeking asylum in Germany had dramatically risen after the botched putsch despite Ankara pressuring Berlin to reject applications from soldiers and army personnel suspected of having links to Gulen.

Turkey witnessed a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Following the failed coup, Ankara launched a heavy-handed crackdown on those deemed to have played a role in the attempt, which was blamed on a movement led by Gulen. The Pennsylvania-based cleric has categorically denied the allegation.

Over 240 people were killed during the failed coup.

Meanwhile, more than 40,000 have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

Tensions have escalated between Berlin and Ankara after Germany canceled several campaign rallies by Turkish ministers on its soil ahead of an April 16 referendum on extending Erdogan's powers.

Turkey has accused Germany of "Nazi" practices for banning pro-Erdogan campaign events.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






There are no Ukrainian citizens among the victims of the explosions in the metro of St. Petersburg, the consular service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

"The consul visited the medical facilities where the victims of the explosion in St. Petersburg are being treated. There are no Ukrainians there," a report says.

As earlier reported, an unknown explosive device went off inside a train car in the tunnel between the Tekhnologichesky Institut and Sennaya Ploshchad metro stations in St. Petersburg at about 2.40 p.m. on Monday. The Russian National Antiterrorism Committee put the death toll from the explosion at 11 people, and another 45 were hospitalized with injuries.
Turkish President Courts Kurdish Vote

By Dorian Jones April 03, 2017

With Turkey's referendum on whether to extend the country's presidential powers less than two weeks away, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned his campaign toward the Kurdish minority.

The move is widely seen as involving a difficult political balancing act for the president, but if successful could bring victory in the hard-fought campaign.

Saturday, Erdogan took his referendum campaign to Diyarbakir, the center of Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Last year, fighting between Turkish security forces and the Kurdish PKK that wants greater minority rights destroyed much of the city's historical quarter.

Erdogan has presided over an unprecedented military crackdown since the collapse of PKK peace talks in 2015, along with mass arrests of members of the country's main legal pro-Kurdish HDP party.

But Erdogan's message to the people of Diyarbakir was one of peace.

"These PKK supporters are saying peace all the time. Can peace be established with weapons? We are the guardians of peace and democracy. We openly loved you, not in a hidden way," he said.

During Erdogan's early years in power, he introduced groundbreaking Kurdish reforms and initiated a peace process to end decades of fighting. He was rewarded with around half the Kurdish vote, which makes up about 20 percent of the electorate.

Approach changes

But the Turkish president, in a bid to secure Turkish nationalists' support, has increasingly taken a hardline stance toward the Kurdish rights campaign, in what he calls his war on terrorism.

That stance has hardened further during the referendum campaign, with the message, "One nation, One flag, One State."

While Erdogan and his ruling AK Party are believed to retain considerable support among pious Kurds, observers question how receptive many nationalist Kurds will be to Erdogan's conciliatory language.

"There is a problem of credibility that Erdogan would need to overcome, given that his present alliance with the nationalists with MHP will in itself preclude any opening regarding the Kurdish question," said Carnegie Institute visiting scholar Sinan Ulgen. "So it will be interesting to see how Erdogan will be able to maneuver."

In a sign of the scale of Erdogan's problem, the turnout in Diyarbakir appeared much smaller than the usual crowds he draws.

In contrast, Kurdish New Year, Nowruz Celebrations in Diyarbakir  organized last month by the HDP party  drew more than 100,000 people and turned into a "No" vote rally.

But Erdogan's Diyarbakir speech suggested a possible return to the peace process.

"We're ready to talk to anyone if they have no gun in their hands," Erdogan said, hinting at a new peace process if he wins the referendum.

Critics point out the language was typically ambiguous. After the president repeatedly ruled out any such move, it will be difficult to square even with his some of his own supporters.

"It will be very, very difficult," predicted Soli Ozel, International Relations expert of Istanbul's Kadir Has University, "but Mr. Erdogan has pulled a lot of rabbits out of his hat before."

Too close to call

With less than two weeks to go to the referendum, no one is expecting any dramatic shift in policy toward the Kurdish issue.

But a day before Erdogan's Diyarbakir visit, Sirri Sureyya Onder, a leading member of the pro-Kurdish HDP, was granted rare access to mainstream media, with a long one-on-one interview. Until now, the party described by the president and his government as a terrorist party has been frozen out of the media.

The jailed leader of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, also called off his hunger strike Saturday after he claimed demands about the treatment of imprisoned party members had been granted. Thirteen parliamentary deputies of the party, along with thousands of officials, languish in jail on anti-terrorism charges in an ongoing crackdown.

Observers suggest the moves are no coincidence, coinciding with Erdogan's Diyarbakir visit.

The Turkish president's bid to broaden his Kurdish vote is being viewed as a sign that his strategy of securing Turkish nationalist votes could be in trouble.

While nationalist MHP party leader Devlet Bahceli is backing Erdogan, polls indicate the nationalist vote remains divided.

"It [the referendum] is head to head, 50 percent, 50 percent," said political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source partners, who warns that Erdogan faces an almost impossible balancing act. But "one thing is fairly certain, Kurds will not vote for anything supported by MHP, and visa versa. And MHP is split into different groups, so AKP is left alone."

With opinion polls indicating the referendum too close to call, observers say Erdogan's success in reaching the Kurdish vote, while not alienating Turkish nationalist voters, could ultimately determine the outcome of the April 16 referendum.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Royal Fleet Auxiliary's new tanker arrives in UK for customisation work sustaining 300 jobs

3 April 2017

The first of the newest support ships for the Royal Navy, RFA Tidespring, has arrived in Cornwall for customisation, helping to sustain 300 UK jobs.

The 39,000-tonne tanker, which can carry up to 19,000 cubic metres of fuel and 1,300 cubic metres of fresh water, will join the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, a civilian-manned fleet which provides support for warships, helping the Royal Navy to maintain its operations 24/7, 365 days a year, around the world.

Tidespring is the first of a fleet of four Tide Class tankers which will all be taken through customisation in Falmouth. She will now undergo an intense programme of work at the A&P shipyard, and 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 carriers when they come into service, alongside the wider fleet.

The arrival is a significant milestone in the 'Year of the Navy' which will also see the debut in Portsmouth of the first of the Queen Elizabeth-Class aircraft carriers, the start of construction for the fleet of new Type 26 Frigates and the opening of the first permanent Royal Navy base east of Suez in more than half a century.

Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin said:

"RFA Tidespring's UK arrival is a key milestone in 2017, the Year of the Royal Navy, which will also see the MOD develop world-class ships and submarines in support of Britain's role as a leading naval power."

"Backed by a rising Defence budget, the delivery of the Tide Class tankers is a crucial element of the Government's 178 billion plan to ensure our armed forces have the equipment they need."

The customisation work is helping to support around 300 jobs at A&P Falmouth. The UK work content in the wider Tide Class programme is worth around 150 million, sustaining further jobs at 27 UK-based companies. The project is being delivered well within budget by the MOD.

Systems to be installed in Falmouth include the communications equipment, self-defence weapons and armour needed to allow the ship to operate in the most challenging environments.

Vice Admiral Simon Lister, who led procurement of the Tide Class at Defence Equipment and Support, said:

"RFA Tidespring will be a familiar and reassuring presence for Royal Navy ships as they undertake missions in defence of the UK's interest."

"The continued successful delivery of the Tide Class programme, meeting all requirements and under budget stands as a testament to the excellent working relationships which DE&S has built with suppliers in the UK and around the world."

The Tide Class has a flight deck able to accommodate the large Chinook helicopter and offer significant improvements over previous RFA tankers such as double hulls and greater environmental protection measures.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






British troops continue support to UN South Sudan mission

3 April 2017

British troops in South Sudan are continuing to support the UN's efforts to increase stability in the East African nation.

Armed Forces Minister Mike Penning yesterday visited Bentiu and Malakal, where UK military personnel are deployed, and met those carrying out engineering tasks in support of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

With around 100 already in country, Royal Engineers are carrying out building tasks in preparation for the main deployment of nearly 400 troops over the coming months  making this one of the UK's largest operational deployments across the globe.

UK personnel are carrying out engineering tasks at the UN's camps in both Malakal and Bentiu to enhance UNMISS's efforts, and as more British troops arrive in South Sudan, focus will move to Bentiu where a temporary field hospital will be set up, followed by a permanent hospital.

Minister of State for the Armed Forces Mike Penning said:

"The UN is working hard to protect civilians and promote stability in South Sudan, and the UK continues to support this important effort."

"This will be the UK's single largest deployment to a UN mission with almost 400 of our troops carrying out vital engineering tasks on the ground and a number of key roles within the UN headquarters."

This permanent field hospital will support over 1,000 UN peacekeepers and staff, enabling them to continue working to improve conditions in South Sudan.

Engineering tasks carried out by UK personnel could include a helicopter landing site in Malakal, facilities to improve water supply, drainage to prevent flooding. In addition to engineering and medical support, the UK also has a small number of staff officers in UNMISS's headquarters in Juba.

Lt Col Jason Ainley, Commanding Officer Royal Engineers said:

"We are very proud to be part of UNMISS. We look forward to continued work with our military and civilian colleagues to support the mission, which aims to improve conditions for the people of South Sudan."

"My engineers are working in a tough operating environment to ensure our mission will be a success."

As part of his visit the Armed Forces Minister also met Lt Col Ainley in Juba, as well as Defence Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, and UN Special Representative David Shearer.

British military support in South Sudan follows a commitment made in 2015 by the then Prime Minister to double the UK's commitment to global peacekeeping initiatives, including by deploying troops to South Sudan and Somalia.

Alongside the UK-hosted Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in London in September, these contributions underline the UK's leading role in support to peacekeeping operations.

More widely, the UK Government has committed life-saving support to tackle the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, including matching pound for pound public donations up to 10 million to the Disaster Emergency Committee's East Africa Crisis Appeal.

The Government also recently announcement that 100m will be spent on life-saving support in South Sudan in 2017/18, including:

-Food for over 500,000 people;

-Life-saving nutritional support to more than 27,500 children;

-Safe drinking water for over 300,000 people;

-Emergency health services for over 100,000 people;

-Livelihood support for over 650,000 people;

-Vaccinations for over 200,000 livestock.



NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Calls Mount in Britain to Defend Gibraltar as Brexit Heats Up Sovereignty Dispute

By Henry Ridgwell April 03, 2017

Britain's exit process from the European Union only formally began last week, but already London is engaged in a heated dispute with Brussels and Spain over the future sovereignty of its overseas territory of Gibraltar.

The mountainous outcrop on the southern tip of Spain known as "The Rock" was ceded to Britain by Madrid 300 years ago and has been an occasional source of tension ever since.

In its negotiating guidelines published last week, the European Union said any deal struck between the bloc and Britain won't apply to Gibraltar, unless Spain agrees to it. The EU inclusion of Gibraltar angered many British lawmakers, but there's little they can do, says Professor Andrew Canessa, a Gibraltar expert at the University of Essex.

"Now that the UK is not in the EU, then the EU will now defend its members' interests," he said. "And in this case, the members' interests are Spain. And so Britain really doesn't have much of a way in to that discussion."

Events were held during the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of the Falklands War, when Britain under then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fought off an Argentine invasion of the disputed archipelago in the South Atlantic.

Invoking that war, former leader of the ruling Conservative party Michael Howard said current PM Theresa May is prepared for a fight.

"Thirty-five years ago this week, 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 I'm absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar," he said.

But speaking Monday, May played down those comments, telling reporters, "What we are doing, with all EU countries in the EU, is sitting down and talking to them." But, she added, the British policy on Gibraltar would not change.

Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis expressed surprise at the tone of comments from Britain, saying Monday that "bringing into the debate events from the past like the Malvinas [Falklands] Islands is completely out of context. Someone in the United Kingdom is losing their calm, and there is no reason for doing that."

Gibraltar's residents face an uncertain future. Ninety-six percent voted to remain in the European Union in last June's Brexit referendum; the economy, primarily financial services and gambling, is reliant on membership in the Single Market.

"It's not so much that Spain will take Gibraltar over, or have a much more serious threat on British sovereignty in Gibraltar, but rather that the economic basis of Gibraltar is threatened," said analyst Andrew Canessa.

Spain dealt Britain another setback Monday by suggesting it would not veto any effort by an independent Scotland to join the European Union, raising the possibility Britain could split after Brexit.

Previously Madrid had been opposed to Scottish EU membership, as it feared emboldening Catalonian separatists in the north of Spain who want to hold an independence referendum by October.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Ukraine should do everything possible to quickly join NATO  Parubiy

Ukraine should do its utmost to become a full-fledged member of NATO as soon as possible, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy has said.

"Our task is to make every effort to join the free peoples united in the North Atlantic Alliance as quickly as possible," he said opening the morning session of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on Tuesday.

He recalled that on April 4, 1949 in Washington (U.S.) the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) was established and congratulated the NATO countries on this date.

"I believe that we will celebrate this day together as a full-fledged member of NATO," he said.
Although each client is unique, their challenges may be similar  few or no financial resources, little or no family support, no job or job opportunities, and no transportation.

We work with each client to determine their resources, strengths and personal objectives so we can help them realize what goals they want to set, said Lisa Caviness, the executive director. Our goal is not to direct, but to facilitate and help them realize what they want to gain.

The program is a 30- to 45-day temporary shelter for victims of domestic or sexual assault.

During this time, we work with the victims to assist them to reach their personal goals. Each victim who comes to the shelter has very individual and unique circumstances, Caviness said.

The shelter is staffed by five people during the day, with a relief staff providing security and operating the emergency hotlines at nights and on the weekends, among other responsibilities.

Christina Carley, resident/relief administrative coordinator, arranges schedules and training. Lisa Cowan is the case manager who engages daily with the residents and their children.

Caviness said it takes unique individuals to work at the shelter.

You cant help but get emotionally invested because the clients are coming from a vulnerable place. You have to have a nurturing personality, she said. The clients are sharing their innermost fears. Christinas first client had broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a concussion. We had to assist her with changing clothes and in the bathroom, so sometimes its a very intimate role we have.

The shelter

Danville Regional Medical Center donated the building and maintains the grounds, and Gods Pit Crew remodeled it from an office into living quarters. A host of community foundations, organizations and individuals maintained operations until the shelter became eligible for state and federal funding, Caviness said.

The home has four bedrooms with bunkbeds; each room can accommodate a crib. There is only one bathroom, which Caviness said can be challenging at times, as can the combined kitchen, dining room and living room. An additional refrigerator has been added since the shelter opened.

We had four kids 10 and under not long ago with adults, so the space can be challenging, Caviness said. Theres no place for solitude because of space constraints.

The Boys and Girls Club donated old playground equipment when the club got new equipment.

During the first year the shelter accommodated 1,480 overnight stays, serving 35 women and 22 children. Sixteen requests went unfulfilled because of a lack of space.

The apartment-sized washer and dryer in a narrow hallway were inadequate for the workload, so a regular size washer has been put in a storage room.

I have the Pinocchio Syndrome, Caviness said. I want a real house.

She cites the need of a fence around the play area so mothers will feel safe when their children go out to play.

Since clients are adults, they are free to come and go as they please, but Caviness said there are rules about hours to be in and communication about where they are going.

The first step is to create safety and then autonomy through good decision making, she said.

The bulk of the shelters funding is provided by the Virginia Department of Social Services and Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services/Victsims of Crime Act. Ongoing contributions come from Danville Regional Medical Center and the Daly Family Trust, as well as individual families and community civic and church groups.

The clients

The shelter serves victims of sexual and/or domestic violence, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation or age, Caviness said.

Thus far, we have served victims who are employed full time, another who just retired, several with very young children, others with no children. We have served several victims who had a mental health disability, one who was HIV positive and one was deaf, she said.

Some are employed, while most are underemployed and are seeking/desiring full-time employment in order that they can be financially independent, thus not feeling forced to depend upon their abuser. Several of our clients were enrolled in college courses.

Caviness remembered one of their recently retired clients who said she had spent her whole life living with her husbands physical abuse, but now that her babies had their own babies, she realized, I just dont have to take this no more.

Her good church family lifted her up and her son helped her, Caviness said. She got a good vehicle and a job.

Carley and Caviness agreed she was one of the success stories that make their work worthwhile.

Weve had a number of them, Carley said. Theyre happy and free and able to transition out of what was holding them down.

Although Haven focuses on Danville and Pittsylvania County, clients also come from Caswell County, North Carolina, which does not have its own shelter, other areas, or even other states.

Due to the nature of abuse and depending on the circumstance, you have to sometimes move out of the primary residential area. We had a resident from New Mexico in a high-profile case who had to be moved out, so she came here and stayed, Caviness said.

Referrals to the shelter come from a variety of sources, including the Danville Police Department, Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office, Danville Regional Medical Center, other shelters, Danville Social Services and the Victim Witness Assistance Program.

The hotline also took 246 calls in the past year  151 of them concerning domestic violence and 63 for sexual assault, among other calls.

Other services

Services are available to victims who do not stay at the shelter  individual and/or group support, court advocacy, safety planning, sexual and/or domestic violence education, as well as assistance with employment, education, applying for services through the Department of Social Services and assistance with the Danville and/or Pittsylvania Victim Witness Assistance Program.

Two victim advocates, Cheryl Hogg and Monica Davis, have their offices at Haven.

Im a court advocate, explained Davis, who mainly works with domestic violence victims. I support victims in court and offer them services, such as helping them fill out protective orders and referring them to any services, such as legal aid. I speak up for the needs of the needy.

She said about 40 percent of the women and men she contacts let her help, but only about 10 percent need the accommodations of the shelter.

Cheryl Hogg works primarily with victims of sexual assault.

I am trained to support the victims of the crime of sexual assault. I offer information, emotional support and assistance in finding needed resources, such as counseling and filling out paperwork as well as providing information on their legal rights and protection, Cowan explained. I often go to court with victims and meet with them on a one-on-one basis; I facilitate support groups; can accompany victims to obtain protective orders; offer information about options available; and support their decision making.

Ninety-three women, eight men and 13 children were served through advocacy services during the past year.

The frustrations

Although there are many successes, Caviness and Carley admit the frustration of putting into place the necessary resources for clients to move out and find a means of supporting themselves after such a short time at the shelter.

A client walks through our door with one bag, no savings and no job and then we are supposed to set them up for success. Its rather daunting, Caviness said. We cant even get our Christmas shopping done in that period of time every year.

The re-victimization rate is high because of their lack of resources as they leave the facility, she said.

The biggest challenge is locating affordable housing for victims who work for minimum wage or just a bit more, or locating affordable, safe housing for victims who are also disabled, specifically those that have a mental health diagnosis, she said.

April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Rejuvenation Salon & Spa, 145 Holt Garrison Parkway, is offering discounts on teal-colored hair extensions or dying a strand of hair the color teal to promote an awareness of sexual assault in a Hairs What You Can Do Campaign.

The Haven staff will be delivering gratitude goodies in April to local first responders, who are typically the first ones to be in contact with a victim of sexual assault. These include the Danville Police Department, Danville and Pittsylvania Countys Sheriffs Department and Danville Regional Medical Center.

The Haven staff will be present at several fairs and events throughout the area with information on sexual assault.
Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak in Ottawa has signed with his Canadian counterpart Harjit Sajjan an agreement on defense cooperation, which will improve the provision of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern military equipment and weapons.

"A landmark event has taken place: we have signed an "Agreement on Defense Cooperation between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense of Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces" with the Minister of National Defense of Canada Harjit Sajjan. The signing of the agreement is the foundation of friendship, and I want the deadline for the document not to end, I want us to be friends forever," Poltorak wrote on his Facebook page.

The minister of defense of Ukraine noted that this document would facilitate the establishment of practical contacts with representatives of the Canadian defense industry.

"This will improve the provision of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern military equipment and weapons. I express gratitude to the minister of national defense of Canada for supporting Ukraine's efforts to restore peace and territorial integrity," Poltorak said.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2017 / Discovery Harbour Resources Corp. (TSX-V: DHR) ("Discovery Harbour" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a second amendment agreement with Genesis Gold Corporation to acquire the Caldera Project, an epithermal gold property in Nevada, located approximately 30 kilometers west of Kinross Gold's Round Mountain epithermal deposit, which produced 378,000 ounces of gold in 2016.

The parties have agreed to amend further several terms of the original exploration license and option-to-purchase agreement ("Original Agreement") announced in a press release dated Nov. 23, 2016, which were first amended in February, as set out in a news release dated Feb. 27, 2017. Both releases may be viewed on SEDAR.

The second amendment achieves the following:

the due date for the second advance royalty payment of $15,000 USD has been extended to June 30, 2017;

the net smelter return royalty ("NSR") has been reduced from a sliding scale between 3% and 2%, down to 2%, and fixed at a 2% NSR; and

the $3,000,000 purchase price contemplated has been eliminated. Instead, the payments will consist solely of the annual advance royalty payments, and such NSR as would be due. The Company will receive title to the property when the sum of the advance royalty payments reaches USD$400,000.

The Company shall issue to Genesis Gold 500,000 share purchase warrants exercisable within three years of the date of grant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company for CAD$0.05

Except as amended, the Original Agreement remains unchanged. The Original Agreement, as amended, remains subject to TSX-V and regulatory approvals.

Additionally, Discovery Harbour has elected not to proceed with the option to acquire the Jersey Valley Property so that it can focus all its resources on the Caldera Project.

Mark Fields, Interim President and CEO, stated, "We appreciate the constructive co-operation of Genesis Gold. I believe the amended terms and the focus on the Caldera Project significantly enhance Discovery Harbour's ability to secure the necessary financing to test the promising epithermal gold targets on the Caldera Property."

Michael J. Senn, a licensed professional geologist, is the qualified person for Discovery Harbour as described in National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this release.

For further information, contact Mark Fields by telephone at (604) 562-7555.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF Discovery Harbour Resources Corp.,

Mark Fields, P.Geo.,

Interim President, CEO and Director

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of Discovery Harbour, such as statements that Discovery Harbour intends to undertake a private placement financing and the anticipated use of proceeds. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and Discovery Harbour's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) the inability of Discovery Harbour to complete a financing at all or on the terms announced; or (iii) the TSX Venture Exchange not approving the financing. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, Discovery Harbour does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

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.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

SOURCE: Discovery Harbour Resources Corp.
Vancouver, April 4, 2017 - Dajin Resources Corp. ("Dajin") (TSX-V: DJI) (OTC: DJIFF) (Germany: C2U1) is pleased to announce that it is releasing a National Instrument 43-101 report for its 100% owned Teels Marsh property in Mineral County, Nevada.

Dajin's President, Brian Findlay remarked, "This report pulls together, interprets and verifies the results of the exploration work that Dajin has been undertaking at Teels Marsh since staking the property in 2014". The report was prepared by Dajin Directors Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG (the lead author) and Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo, the Qualified Persons. Dajin's exploration work has included auger sampling to a depth of 10 feet (3 meters), direct push drilling up to 200 feet (60 meters), completion of gravity and seismic surveys, and a structural analysis of basin development.

The significance of Dajin's Teels Marsh project include identified near-surface Lithium brines, granted water rights, and minimal land fragmentation due to other stakeholders in the project area. The basin beneath the playa is up to 8,200 feet (2,500 metres) deep and has a catchment area of 313 miles2 (811 km2). Additionally, groundwater from the nearby Huntoon Valley catchment area (116 miles2 / 300 km2 in size) may flow into Teels Marsh. Teels Marsh basin also most likely contains significant quantities of ash from the Long Valley Caldera (Bishop Tuff). The Bishop Tuff deposit in Clayton Valley (50 miles / 80 km) to the south-east of Teels Marsh) is the Silver Peak Lithium mine's (owned by Albemarle Holdings) most prolific brine producing aquifer.

In March, the Bureau of Land Management accepted Dajin's Notice to proceed with civil works and drilling as recommended in the report. Dajin is now contracting these aspects in order to advance the exploration to test the deep potential for Lithium. Copies of the NI 43-101 report can be obtained by clicking here.

The technical information in this press release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements of National Instrument 43-101 and has been reviewed and approved on behalf of Dajin Resources Corp. by Dajin Directors, Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo and Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG, the Qualified Persons.

About Dajin: (www.dajin.ca)

Dajin is an early stage Lithium exploration company holding a 100% interest in 403 placer claims covering 7,914 acres (3,202 hectares) in the Teels Marsh region of Mineral County, Nevada. These claims are known to contain Lithium and Boron values and are adjacent to the birth place of US Borax Corp's first borax mine. Dajin also holds a 100% interest in 191 placer claims covering 3,851 acres (1,558 hectares) in the Alkali Lake region of Esmeralda County, Nevada, located 7 miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Albemarle Holding's Silver Peak Lithium brine operation in Clayton Valley.

Dajin, through Dajin Resources S.A. ("Dajin S.A."), holds concessions or concession applications in Jujuy Province, Argentina that were acquired in regions known to contain brines with Lithium, Potassium, and Boron values. These concessions exceed 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and are primarily located in the Salinas Grandes/Guayatayoc salt lakes basin. Dajin S.A. is partnered with LSC Lithium Corp. who has agreed to spend $2,000,000 to earn a 51% interest in Dajin S.A.'s Lithium properties while building a significant presence in Argentina. (click here for information on LSC Lithium Corp.)

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS For further information please contact:

Brian Findlay Julie Hajduk at 604-609-6151or julie@dajin.ca

President & CEO Head of Corporate Development

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Copyright (c) 2017 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Apr 4, 2017) - Angel Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ANG)(OTCQX:ANGCF) ("Angel" or the "Company"), is pleased to provide an update on progress of the geophysical survey program on its Abejero Prospect, the third of the three Prospects tested by the current geophysical program at its El Porvenir project in the Segovia Mining District of Antioquia, Colombia.

Objective and Results

A single line of Induced Polarization geophysics was conducted over the down dip extension of the Abejero vein on the Abejero Prospect (Figure 1) in order to better define the two ore shoots previously interpreted from historic drill core and surface anomalies. Two strong chargeability anomalies were detected and corresponded with the down dip direction and extensions of the two known ore shoots, Shoots 1 and Shoot 2 as follows:

SHOOT 1, with historic drill intercepts of 5.58m @ 70.35 g/t gold 40.6 g/t silver, and 0.55m @ 14.10 g/t gold 8.90 g/t silver [Foot note(1)] yielded a distinct and discrete chargeability high of around100m in strike length that appears continuous to depth (Figure 2).The indicated 100m strike length of the high-grade shoot and the historic drill-indicated thickness and grades are comparable to results recently reported by Gran Colombia Gold for their Providencia vein (http://www.grancolombiagold.com/news-and-investors/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Gran-Colombia-Gold-Announces-High-Grade-Drill-Results-From-Its-2016-Infill-Drilling-Campaigns-at-the-Segovia-and-Marmato-Operations/default.aspx). Angel's Abejero vein structure has a similar orientation to Gran Colombia Gold's Providencia Vein, but has a steeper dip. Gran Colombia has traced short strike-length high-grade shoots at their Segovia mining operations down-dip for over 1,300m with these shoots remaining open to depth.





SHOOT 2, on which the artisanal Abejero Mine is situated and which formerly produced high grade gold (an Angel sample assayed 117 g/t Au and 36.5 g/t Ag [see Angel press releases dated February 5 and February 11, 2015]), was expected to yield a geophysical response over a similar strike length geophysical response to that of Shoot 1, but the anomaly was far larger and stronger than expected. A strong chargeability anomaly extending over a distance of more than 400m was detected and remains open to the southeast (Figure 2). A resistivity anomaly, also open to the southeast, coincides spatially with the chargeability anomaly. Higher chargeability usually reflects the presence of sulfides while higher resistivity typically reflects less conductive rocks such as intrusives or alteration such as silicification. Sulfides are associated with the gold mineralization of the Segovia District. The strength and larger size of the chargeability anomaly is interpreted to represent a potentially large mineralized target where the Abejero vein cuts through a brittle body of diorite intruded into the gneiss. Additional mapping and trenching is needed to better define these drill targets.





1 The results quoted are for Mineros drill holes RBADDH002 & RBADDH003 respectively. As part of Angel's due diligence program, samples of the assay pulps for both of these drill hole intercepts (the core not being in a suitable state for meaningful re-sampling) were sent to an ISO accredited laboratory along with blanks and standards. There was an excellent comparison between the original and check assays. Angel has no reason to doubt the veracity of the Mineros results.

"We are excited that the geophysical survey at the Abejero Prospect coincides with the known mineralization from historic drilling and presents a much larger and stronger conductivity anomaly at the El Porvenir Project. The Induced Polarity geophysics program conducted on El Porvenir has now support the potential for mineralized targets to exist at depth and along strike of known mineralization at all three prospect areas," said Stella Frias, President and CEO of Angel Gold Corp.

To view Figure 1, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921-F1.jpg

Figure 1: Abejero Prospect showing the IP line semi-parallel to the Y-shaped Abejero structure. The IP line was oriented along the vein with the intent of crossing the two known high-grade gold- and sulfide-bearing quartz vein shoots identified from shallow historic drilling. Also shown are the historic drill hole collars, the better drill intercepts, the interpreted mineralized shoots, and a diorite intersected by drill holes at shallow depth. Note that the drill- indicated subsurface diorite body coincides with the commencement of the large chargeability anomaly. The contact between black sediments to the west and the metamorphic gneisses to the east is the deep-crustal Bagre Fault.

Discussion of Results

It is considered likely that the chargeability signature of "SHOOT 2" was actually overprinted and obscured by a stronger signal caused by abundant disseminated, veinlet and breccia-fill sulfide coincident with zones of intense silicification associated with a diorite intrusive body intersected by the shallow historic drilling. In the area, historic drill holes RBA019, 022, 023, and 027 intersected wide zones of intense silica flooding, while drill holes RBA018, 020, 021, 024,025 and 026 intersected more discontinuous patches of intense alteration. Zones of weak disseminated and fracture-fill pyrite to 1%, over intervals of between 5 and 20m of down-hole thickness intersected in drill holes RBA018, 019,020,021,022 and 023 (a strike length of 215m)help to confirm, but not explain, the size and strength of the chargeability anomaly shown in the Induced Polarization geophysical line, which extends more than 400 meters.





The extremely brittle intensely silicified rocks encountered by historic drilling, once subjected to and fractured by tectonic forces, can become an excellent host for a breccia-hosted style of mineralization. Similar breccia-hosted mineralization occurs in the intensely silicified intrusive at Angel's Guayabales prospect (http://www.angelgoldcorp.com/2017/03/27/angel-gold-geophysical-survey-encounters-multiple-strong-chargeability-anomalies-at-guayabales-prospect-at-the-el-porvenir-project/) and at Angel's Iguanacito prospect (http://www.angelgoldcorp.com/2017/03/20/angel-gold-geophysical-survey-encounters-strong-chargeability-anomalies-at-the-el-porvenir-project-ground-induced-polarization-and-magnetic-geophysical-surveys-in-progress-at-goldsilver-targets-wi/). Both prospects also occur within Angel's El Porvenir Project and are part of the current geophysical exploration.





To view Figure 2, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921-F2.jpg

Figure 2: Section0+00NElooking northeast, showing a shorter and relatively weaker chargeability response over Shoot 1(center) and a much stronger and longer chargeable response associated with Shoot 2 that is also coincident with elevated resistivity.

Historically 2,398.25m of small diameter core (BQ) drilling was completed at Abejero, but averaged only 66.6m depth (depths ranged from 38.65 to 85.10m). Most of these holes intersected only the host gneiss, but 3 holes (RBA019, 020 and 022) intersected diorite intrusive at shallow depth. The more significant mines within the Segovia mining belt are hosted within similar intrusive rocks.

Intrusive rocks are more homogenous and uniformly brittle than gneiss such as that at Abejero, fracture in a wide variety of orientations and the fractures are more continuous, thus more suitable to being more continuously mineralized. The Abejero structure has the potential to have better continuity as a quartz-sulfide zone within the diorite than in the less brittle gneissic rocks.

Interpretation of geophysical responses needs to be placed into context with both geology and topography. The electrical current identifies chargeable and resistive responses directly under the line being surveyed, but also is affected by rocks and mineralization occurring either side of the line. Figure 3 shows a 3D Google Earth image with the approximate trace of the IP line cutting diagonally up a steep slope and along the wall of a gully, such that the IP survey is looking into the hill on the northeast side, and thus may plot shallow subsurface off-section responses as extending to surface on the pseudo section.

Drill Targets

The geophysical anomaly and assay results from historic drilling in the vicinity of Shoot 1 combine to make Shoot 1 a priority, drill ready target. The target, as defined by the chargeability anomaly, has a length of about 100m. The vein to which it corresponds dips 55o to 70o ENE.

At Shoot 2, the down dip extension of the artisanal Abejero mine is also a ready drill target, but drilling will need to be based upon current geological mapping. The larger and stronger geophysical anomaly over Shoot 2 is also a potential drill target for brecciation and gold mineralisation, but prior to drill testing geological mapping, a more detailed geophysical survey and trenching are warranted.

To view Figure 3, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090921F3.jpg

Figure 3:Google Earth 3D topographic image of the Abejero Prospect looking NE, showing the approximate position of the IP survey line extending diagonally up a hill slope and subparallel to a gully, the major deep crustal Bagre Fault, historic Abejero drillhole collars, the Abejero mine and the drill-indicated-diorite body.

Qualified Person

Mr. James G. Burns, P. Eng., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 standards and a technical advisor to the Company has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Angel Gold Corp.:

Angel is a Canada-based gold and silver exploration company focused on responsible development of mineral resources in Colombia, host to some of the world's largest gold deposits. Angel's flagship project the El Porvenir is located at less than 2 km from Segovia project of Gran Colombia, the El Pino West Project is adjacent to the Gramalote project of B2Gold and Anglo Gold Ashanti JV and its Heliconia project is located north of the Titiribi district along the Cauca fault system.

Angel has been focused on acquiring and validating strategic mineral exploration opportunities in Colombia's best mining districts with the highest potential for new discoveries.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Angel Gold Corp.

Blanca Stella Frias, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this News Release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this News Release. This news release contains certain "forward- looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The transaction described in this News Release is subject to a variety of conditions and risks which include but are not limited to: regulatory approval, shareholder approval, market conditions, legal due diligence for claim validity, financing, political risk, security risks at the property locations and other risks. As such, the reader is cautioned that there can be no guarantee that this transaction will complete as described in this News Release. We seek safe harbour.
Members of the Supervisory Board of PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine have made a public statement in response to the letter of the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Ingrid Deltenre to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman.

"Having visited Crimea without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities, Yulia Samoilova violated the sovereignty and laws of Ukraine. Except for the Russian Federation, no other country, which public broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union, has any grounds to dispute such qualification of the actions committed by Yulia Samoilova, since no European country recognizes the belonging of Crimea to the Russian Federation," a statement of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine, published on the website of the UA: Pershy TV channel, says.

Members of the Supervisory Board of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine emphasize that they share the fundamental values of a democratic Europe, but they can not alienate the interests of Ukrainian society when the country defends its territorial integrity. "We consider the threats to punish PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company for the actions of the Ukrainian state related to the reaction in response of the violation of its laws, contradictory to the basic democratic values, as well as the position of the European Union and the world community in assessing the current Ukrainian-Russian confrontation," the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine says.

"We call on Ms. Ingrid Deltenre, and in her person the European Broadcasting Union to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, not to turn the European Broadcasting Union into an instrument of strengthening foreign political manipulation and not to prevent such statements from normal and full-fledged holding of the competition this year and in the future," the members of the Supervisory Board said.

As earlier reported, the Oikotimes media reported about a letter of EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre. In her letter, she said that if the situation with participation of Russian contestant Samoilova is not resolved, it will jeopardize Ukraine's further involvement in the contest. In her letter to Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deltenre calls on him to interfere with the situation surrounding Samoilova's entry ban and make it possible for her to come to Kyiv in May.
Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has declared about the EU's intention to assist Ukraine in implementing educational reform.

"We would like to make sure that the Ministry of Education and Science will receive the necessary resources: financial and human ones, and we need to intensify many programs on public administration reform for this purpose," Mingarelli said during the conference titled "Vocational Education and Training of Labor Force: Support for Social and Economic and Regional Development of Ukraine" in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"The prime minister, the minister of education, you can rely upon us. You can tell us what is necessary to be done and be sure that if there is political will both on your part and on our part, we will be able to mobilize all our resources to help you in the implementation of this ambitious goal," the EU mission head said.

He said that it is difficult to talk about progress in implementing other reforms, creating new jobs without the reform of education.

Mingarelli said that he supports the inclusion of such goals as the reform of the vocational education and training system in Ukraine in the government action plan.
A federal judge has prohibited Indiana from forcing women to undergo an ultrasound at least 18 hours prior to an abortion procedure  a decision hailed as a "major victory" for abortion rights advocates.The requirement, included in a state law passed last year, was struck down by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt in her 53-page opinion issued late Friday after a hearing last November.Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said he is considering whether to appeal the decision.
Harris County, Texas, was the nations execution capital. Throughout the 19th century, the county executed its own prisoners, hanging them from oak trees before finally constructing a gallows at the jailhouse. The state took over the job of executions nearly a century ago, but Harris County, which includes Houston, has remained its most demanding client. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, 116 Harris County prisoners have been put to death. Thats more than twice the number recorded by any other county in Texas. Harris County alone has put more prisoners to death than any state (aside from Texas) that allows capital punishment.Thats starting to change. The option to give defendants life sentences without parole has diminished support for the death penalty among juries and the public, even in Texas. There hasnt been a new death sentence in Harris County for the past 18 months. And there may not be another one anytime soon.Kim Ogg, the countys new district attorney, has implemented a review system that seeks consensus among her colleagues before levying capital charges. Ogg grows visibly sober and circumspect when she discusses the ultimate penalty. A longtime advocate of victims rights, she doesnt rule out the death penalty, but she clearly isnt interested in keeping Harris County at its forefront. I dont think evidence supports a showing that death penalty verdicts deter killers, Ogg says.For too long, Ogg argues, criminal justice in her county has been run as a volume business, with Harris not only leading the nation in executions, but also acting as one of the epicenters of mass incarceration. By targeting and prosecuting more and more people for smaller and smaller crimes, she says, the county has sacrificed quality for quantity. The jail is filled with people locked up on minor drug charges, while burglaries go largely uninvestigated. Harris County has become in some sense a haven for robbers and burglars, Ogg told a local group in February, because they know were not doing a good job of catching them.In order to prosecute crimes against people and property, Ogg wants her office, along with law enforcement in general, to pay less attention to minor drug offenses. In February, she announced she would no longer seek jail time in most cases for the crime of possessing up to four ounces of marijuana. Offenders will be diverted toward treatment instead. Two-thirds of the people in jail are minorities and nonviolent offenders, based on minor drug offenses, says Dwight Boykins, a member of the Houston City Council. Kims program touched me because I saw real change in the system, rather than just talk about it.Its unusual to think of a prosecutor as a progressive, especially in Texas. But Oggs election last November reflected an altered political culture, both locally and nationally, that made her new approach possible. Locally, demographic changes have converted Harris County -- just a few years ago the most politically competitive large county in the country -- into solidly blue territory. Ogg was part of a 2016 Democratic sweep in Harris County that extended from the presidential level on down to the sheriff and a slate of judges. No Democrat had been elected as district attorney for nearly 40 years, but Ogg defeated incumbent Devon Anderson by 8 percentage points.Ogg is part of a wave of reform-minded prosecutors elected nationwide in 2016 in major jurisdictions including Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and St. Louis. Many, including Ogg, had significant financial backing from liberal donor George Soros. They didnt run on identical platforms, but each promised some form of change, whether it was skepticism about the death penalty and nonviolent drug cases, or greater scrutiny when police shoot unarmed suspects. Mark Gonzalez, who was elected last year in Nueces County, Texas, which includes Corpus Christi, has the words not guilty tattooed across his chest. Even prosecutors, he says, should believe that suspects are innocent until proven guilty. This idea that in the past prosecutors have counted cases and wins like scalps on our belt is outdated, Ogg says, and its just not supported by data that shows this isnt making people safer. The new breed of prosecutors, especially from large urban areas, are looking at being more effective in reality at protecting people.All of this represents a seismic shift away from the usual campaign message of prosecutors, which has been to brag about nothing so much as the number of rapists and murderers theyve put away. In more and more places, talking tough is no longer the default mode. Ogg and her cohort argue that cracking down on crime means reducing the overall crime rate, rather than throwing individual offenders into prison for long periods of time. Its a departure from what for many years everyone thought was the inevitable playbook in these elections, says David Sklansky, a Stanford law professor. Its possible to win an election as DA, running against an incumbent, and not just arguing that youre going to be tougher but reform-oriented.is one of a small number of issues on which conservatives and liberals have begun to adopt overlapping policy positions, if for different reasons. Conservatives worry about the expense of mass imprisonment; liberals talk about the social costs of hollowing out communities through incarceration. But they are coming together. Following a period in which longer and longer sentences were meted out for increasing numbers of crimes, resulting in huge increases in corrections spending, most states have been rethinking their approach. More than 30 have approved laws that seek to reduce prison populations, while increasing funds for treatment or re-entry programs that can cut down on recidivism. The results have been encouraging, with crime rates remaining low in most jurisdictions even as the number of prisoners drops.But prosecutors have been a piece missing from this puzzle. They not only have lobbied against softer sentencing, but also can sometimes sabotage it if they dont like it. Prosecutors enjoy enormous authority and discretion. The way they frame charges determines whether an offender will face a long mandatory sentence or be diverted into treatment. The prosecutors really are key because we make the decisions about who to prosecute and what to charge them with, says Beth McCann, the new district attorney in Denver, who recently announced that her office will not seek death penalty charges. We really need to get prosecutors involved in this new way of thinking about the criminal justice system.Prosecutors typically run for office countywide. In practice, that means they have often tailored their appeals to suburban white voters who are fearful of crime and like to hear tough-on-crime messages. Suburbanites turn out in higher rates than urban voters, particularly for local elections. Prosecutors are responding to the incentives that our political system creates, says Vikrant Reddy, a senior fellow at the conservative Charles Koch Institute. Youre going to be rewarded electorally for locking up more and more people.Indeed, no prosecutor wants to be accused of coddling criminals. If, when and where crime rates climb back up, the public will certainly be leery of relaxing the rules. Theres already a mismatch between the actual drop in crime and the publics sense, expressed in polls, that it has increased. And the Trump administration has made clear that a tough stance on crime will be among its priorities. Nevertheless, given the nations enormous incarceration rate, the amount that it is costing and the negative effect it has had on many communities, the idea of trying something different was bound to attract attention. Now its reaching the district attorney level.Over the past decade, there have been scattered examples of prosecutors taking a different tack. After winning election as Dallas County DA in 2006, Craig Watkins created an in-house innocence project, using DNA to review old cases and exonerating some convicts. That approach seemed risky for a prosecutor at the time, but conviction integrity units have since become fairly common. In Seattle, King County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Satterberg has a unit identifying prisoners who were rightfully convicted but may be ready for early release. Its such a turnabout, says Marc Levin, policy director for Right on Crime, a conservative group promoting reform. Normally, all the DA would do is intervene against people.The first swell of the current reform wave may have hit shore in Brooklyn in 2013, when Kenneth Thompson unseated a longtime incumbent by campaigning against prosecutorial misconduct and racial discrimination by police. The prosecutors elected since then on reform platforms, including those in the class of 2016, represent a small fraction of their profession -- fewer than 20, out of more than 2,500 prosecutors nationwide. Still, many of them oversee significant jurisdictions. Harris County, with 4.4 million inhabitants, is more populous than half the states. The nations 35 largest counties prosecute a third of all crimes nationwide.If a new approach can take root in Harris County, it might be possible to try anywhere. And theres safety in numbers. Its easier to explain to the media and the public that youre diverting suspects from the criminal justice system because thats already been shown to make people safer in other places. Prosecutors are the most resistant-to-change individuals of anybody youll meet, says Murray Newman, a criminal attorney in Houston and former prosecutor who writes a blog about the Harris County courthouse. But if this new policy works, in two years you wont have prosecutors talking about the good old days when they could do low-level offenses.has always wanted to be district attorney. She grew up around politics, with her father serving as a state senator. But her mother may have had more influence over her ultimate career path. When Ogg was a child, her mother was abducted by a serial rapist who threatened to kill her. She managed to escape by jumping from his moving car. I didnt realize until I was 45 what an effect that had on my life and career, Ogg says.She joined the DAs office right out of law school, handling dozens of murder cases and eventually becoming Harris Countys chief felony prosecutor. She subsequently ran an anti-gang task force for the city of Houston and directed Crime Stoppers, a private group that links civilian tipsters with police.Ogg recognizes that she could not have been elected unless attitudes about crime were changing. Back in 2010, Pat Lykos, then the Harris County district attorney, announced that her office would no longer prosecute cases involving trace amounts of cocaine and other Schedule 1 drugs, arguing that they were clogging the jails and distracting police. Two years later, facing opposition from cops over the policy change, she was unseated in the GOP primary by Mike Anderson, who did the usual tough-on-crime shtick during his race, as theput it. Anderson died shortly after taking office. His wife, Devon Anderson, was appointed to take his place. In 2014, she defeated Ogg to win election for the remainder of the term.Anderson proved to be an unpopular incumbent. She was criticized from the left when she blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for the murder of a sheriffs deputy. She took heat from the right after she brought charges against anti-abortion activists, later dropped, for falsifying government documents as part of a sting operation against Planned Parenthood. She was criticized from all sides for failing to report her knowledge that thousands of pieces of evidence had been destroyed at one precinct, leading to the dismissal of more than 100 felony cases.But most damaging of all may have been her offices decision to put a rape victim who had broken down on the stand in jail for nearly a month to compel her testimony. If you talked to regular folks about that race, they said, Im not voting for Devon Anderson, she locked up that rape victim, says Gary Polland, a criminal defense attorney in Houston and a former chair of the Harris County GOP.There are people in Houston who will tell you that Ogg won simply because of the unpopularity of Anderson and of Trump, or that she was swept in with other Democrats on a blue wave born of demographic change, notably the rapid growth of the Hispanic population. But Oggs message was amplified by a half-million dollar ad buy late in the campaign from Soros. And she did as much as she could to convince voters that shifting the priorities of the DAs office would enhance public safety. Its no secret that I ran against the culture that was present in this office when it came to prosecutorial ethics and a quantity-driven approach to crime fighting, Ogg says.Problems with law enforcement became a top-of-mind issue for many of the areas voters after the death of Sandra Bland in 2015. Bland was stopped by a state trooper in Waller County, just northwest of Houston, for failing to signal a lane change. The two got into an increasingly heated argument that drew national attention after dash cam and cellphone videos were released. Three days later, Bland was dead, found hanging in her cell. The incident crystallized concerns about the criminal justice system, says Tarsha Jackson, Harris County director of the Texas Organizing Project, a liberal advocacy group. Her group targeted 300,000 voters last fall and helped get more than half of them to vote early, including 56,000 who had never voted before. Criminal justice was our platform, Jackson says. The people we targeted voted based on that platform.Along with Ogg, Harris County voters elected Ed Gonzalez as sheriff. Gonzalez promised to address overcrowding at the county jail by changing the bail system and creating diversion programs meant to keep drug offenders out of prison, either by offering them treatment or imposing fines instead of jail time. When Ogg announced her marijuana policy, Gonzalez was standing next to her, along with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; the new city police chief, Art Acevedo; and several other local officials. We have a lot of things on our plate and not enough people to deal with it, Acevedo says. This is about being smart, focused and dealing with the stuff people care about most, which is violent crimes and people breaking into homes.Getting law enforcement on board with her new approach to pot was smart politics. Ogg isnt out on a limb all by herself and faces less risk of being castigated the way Lykos was, although a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the policy amounts to creating a sanctuary city for drug users. Brett Ligon, the district attorney in neighboring Montgomery County, held a preemptive news conference the day before Oggs announcement to blast it. Im not anti-Kim Ogg, Ligon says. The point Ive consistently made is, Hey, were the DAs. We enforce laws, we dont change the laws. Today its marijuana, tomorrow its the death penalty. Its just not our call.Ogg says that her decision not to prosecute most marijuana cases -- which amount to about 10,000 charges annually in Harris County -- will save her cash-strapped department $26 million a year. Some of that money will be put toward prosecuting more rape cases fully, rather than pleading them down, as was done in the past. The countys crime lab will save an estimated $1.7 million by not having to process so much marijuana. Ogg wants half that money to be devoted to examining a backlog of touch DNA -- physical evidence picked up by police or sheriffs deputies at crime scenes.Concentrating on the most serious crimes will go a long way toward silencing critics who warn against any hug-a-thug approach. Ogg says its been a mistake to judge prosecutors by the number of murderers and rapists theyve convicted. She argues that like cops, they should live and die politically by the bigger bottom line: the overall crime rate. We are making public policy decisions based on evidence, she says, and not emotion.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday took away 21 more first-degree murder cases from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala because she refuses to seek the death penalty.All of them will be handled by State Attorney Brad King, who serves Lake, Marion and three other counties.The move comes three weeks after Scott removed Ayala from the case of accused cop killer Markeith Loyd, following a dramatic public announcement.On March 16 Ayala had stepped to a podium in front of the Orange County Courthouse and said she would not seek the death penalty against Loyd or anyone else.Scott was outraged.A few hours later, he phoned her, asking her to step back from that case, but she refused. Later that day, he signed an executive order, naming King special prosecutor.That decision made Ayala a darling of death penalty opponents but set off both pro- and anti-Ayala demonstrations in Orlando and Tallahassee.Monday's action by the governor _ 21 separate orders _ was an extension of his earlier decision.Six of the cases involve murder defendants who have not yet come to trial. The others have already been sentenced to death and have cases on appeal.In a prepared statement, Scott said he made Monday's decision, "in the interest of justice.""Each of these cases I am reassigning represents a horrific loss of life. 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," he said.Ayala was in Tallahassee on Monday, meeting with legislators _ not the governor _ according to her spokeswoman, Eryka Washington."Ms. Ayala remains steadfast in her position that the governor is abusing his authority and has compromised the independence and integrity of the criminal justice system," Washington said in a prepared statement.Ayala was in court last week with a Tampa lawyer she had hired to challenge the governor's decision to remove her from the Loyd case.King and his top assistant, Ric Ridgway, were in Orlando on Monday morning for a hearing in the Loyd case. Ridgway said they found out about the new cases shortly after noon."You didn't have to be a psychic to see that this was a possibility," he said. "It was kind of obvious that something like this might happen."His office has not determined yet how to handle the new workload. It has five attorneys qualified to handle death penalty cases, he said.Attorney General Pam Bondi has offered to loan some of her lawyers, he said.Democratic state Sen. Randolph Bracy condemned Scott's decision."I think he's overstepping his authority,." he said. "She's been independently elected. ... He's taking away the authority that she was given by the people."Democratic state Rep. Sean Shaw, a member of the Legislature's black caucus, also criticized Scott's decision, writing in a statement: "The governor is attempting to set a dangerous precedent that would destroy the idea of independence for state attorneys throughout Florida who must now fear political retribution ... if they make a decision he disagrees with."Six of the newly reassigned cases involve defendants who are awaiting trial. They including Larry Perry, accused of beating his infant son to death in St. Cloud; and Juan Rosario, charged with beating his 83-year-old neighbor to death then setting her house on fire.When Ayala's predecessor, Jeff Ashton, was in office, prosecutors had announced plans to pursue the death penalty in all six.Monday's other reassignments involve killers who have already been convicted. Eight from that group are likely to win appeals because jurors did not vote unanimously for the death penalty.They included death row inmate John Huggins, convicted of murdering Carla Larson, an engineer who disappeared from a Publix near Walt Disney World in 1997, and was strangled; Jermaine "Bugsy" Lebron, convicted of murdering a 22-year-old Belle Isle man in Osceola County in 1995 so he could steal the man's red pickup; and David Sylvester Frances, accused of killing a woman and her teenage niece.Notably absent from the list of 21 were the two defendants most recently sent to death row from Orange County.They are Bessman Okafor, convicted of killing Alex Zaldivar, a 19-year-old who was set to testify against him in a home invasion trial; and Dane Abdool, who was convicted of burning his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend to death in 2006.Loyd, 41, is accused of murdering Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton in a Wal-Mart parking lot Jan. 9 as she tried to chase him down and arrest him on a murder warrant.That warrant was for the shooting death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, who was killed Dec. 13.An Orange County grand jury indicted him on murder charges in both cases.King has not said what penalty he will seek in either case.GOP state Rep. Scott Plakon has urged members of the Florida House to slash Ayala's budget because of her position on the death penalty.
Description

GIS - 04 April, 2017: A workshop on the theme Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) in Mauritius: What Skills do we need?, aiming to raise awareness on the rationale of IGE, was held yesterday at Le Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Port Louis. A workshop on the themeaiming to raise awareness on the rationale of IGE, was held yesterday at Le Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Port Louis.

The workshop was organised at the initiative of the Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, the Civil Service College, Mauritius (CSCM) and the Partnership Action on Green Economy (PAGE). The Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, Mr. Eddy Boissezon, was present for the occasion.

PAGE is providing support to the Government of Mauritius through advisory and effective capacity building services for IGE to civil servants. It is composed of five United Nations (UN) agencies namely: UN Environment; International Labour Organisation; UN Development Programme (UNDP); UN Industrial Development Organisation, and UN Institute for Training and Research who are combining their respective expertise and networks to support countries seeking to advance inclusive green economy.

The objectives of the workshop were to increase the understanding of public officers and stakeholders regarding the knowledge and capacities needed to develop and implement measures that advance IGE; highlight the linkages between IGE and the development priorities of the country; identify skills needed for IGE and capacity building possibilities offered by CSCM.

In a statement at the opening ceremony, Minister Boissezon underscored how Mauritius has transformed from a low-income agriculture dependent economy to an upper middle-income diversified economy. The rapid economic development of Mauritius as a Small Island Developing State has come at the cost of the countrys coastal ecosystems and the terrestrial biodiversity which has been highly impacted by intensive agriculture and deforestation, he said.

Protecting the countrys resources is a must as well as a challenge and in line with Economic Vision 2030, Governments efforts are to educate civil servants at all levels of the civil administration on IGE to ensure inclusive and sustainable development, stated the Minister. On this score, he pointed out that E-Learning presents itself as an efficient way to up-scale foundational learning across institutions. An E-Learning platform for civil servants was built with the support of UNDP in 2016, he recalled.
Description

GIS  04 April 2017 : The necessity for the active participation of citizens in civic actions geared towards a cleaner, safer and more hygienic environment was highlighted at the Multisectoral Committee on the Clean Up Mauritius and Embellishment Campaign, chaired by Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Lands, Mr Showkutally Soodhun, yesterday in Port Louis.

In a statement after the meeting, the Minister of Social Security, Reform Institutions, and Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Etienne Sinatambou, pointed out that the success of the Clean Up Mauritius and Embellishment Campaign depends upon the active participation of citizens.

Recalling the Clean Up Mauritius and Embellishment Campaign which was launched on 5 March 2017, the Minister welcomed the positive responses from stakeholders namely relevant Ministries, local authorities, corporates, hotels and private entities such as Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs. Mr Sinatambou deplored the passiveness of some citizens who stand by and watch as spectators instead of lending a hand in the project.

The Minister appealed to non-government organisations and the civil society to join in the efforts being made by the public and private sectors to clean the environment and keep the country beautiful and healthy. He said that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport will be working together with the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security to clean, maintain and embellish motorway sides, roundabouts, and highway strips.

Clean Up Mauritius and Embellishment Campaign

The Multisectoral committee on the Clean Up Mauritius and Embellishment Campaign has been set up to initiate actions and to ensure an effective coordination between the public and private agencies responsible for cleaning and maintenance, and take action for the prompt cleanliness of various regions of the country. The Campaign is based on a multi-sectoral approach and community participation.
Description

GIS - 04 April, 2017: Mauritius and France share excellent bilateral relations since many years and in the context of our defense cooperation, a defense agreement has been finalised between the two countries. : Mauritius and France share excellent bilateral relations since many years and in the context of our defense cooperation, a defense agreement has been finalised between the two countries.

This statement was made yesterday by General Franck Reignier, Commander in Chief of the French Armed Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean (FAZSOI), after a courtesy call on the Minister Mentor, Minister of Defence and Minister for Rodrigues, Sir Anerood Jugnauth at the Treasury Building in Port Louis.

General Franck Reignier recalled that the cooperation between FAZSOI and Mauritius in the field of defense and maritime security goes a long way back. He pointed out that every year around 150 to 250 Mauritian police officers are trained in Reunion Island and France. The FAZSOI provide a most valuable contribution to this cooperation through expertise and training sessions, he said.

He underscored the need to work together since both countries have a common destiny as regards illegal fishing, terrorism, and illicit drug, amongst others.

The French Armed Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean

The armed forces in the southern Indian Ocean zone guarantee the protection of the national territory and facilitate regional cooperation from Reunion Island and Mayotte.

The FAZSOI are part of the forces of French sovereignty based on overseas territories. The defense base of the FAZSOI, created in January 2011, provides joint support missions to directorates and operational units of the Ministry of Defense stationed in Reunion Island and Mayotte.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong protest to the Russian Federation in connection with its intention to conduct a military conscript in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

"In this context it was demanded to cancel the conscription of citizens who live in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as ensure strict observance of international obligations by the Russian side," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said in its comment posted by its press service on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine drew attention to the fact that the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/71/205 dated December 19, 2016 "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" established the fact of illegal occupation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and called on Moscow to ensure the fulfillment of its obligations in accordance with international humanitarian law, international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, and other legal instruments to which it is a party.

As reported, on March 31, Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu said that in 2017, the inhabitants of Crimea will do military service for the first time in the spring conscription in all regions of the country.

"I want to start by saying that another conscription campaign begins tomorrow, which will last until July 15. In accordance with the decree of the Russian president, it is planned to call up 142,000 people, including citizens of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, who will perform military service since the spring of this year in all corners of our country," Shoigu said.
(TNS) -- How to make Bangor a better, more exciting place to live, work, create and play is a question for which city Councilor Sean Faircloth does not have answers. So starting Tuesday, hes pitting neighborhoods against each other to try and figure it out.The premise of the Innovative Neighborhoods competition is simple: teams of residents from five neighborhoods around Bangor will get together over the next five to six months and come up with two ideas  one about improving the city as a whole and one about improving their own neighborhood.The neighborhood teams with the best ideas in each of the two categories, as deemed by residents via online vote, win.Ideas could involve creating a new nonprofit theater, developing a new downtown mid-sized music venue, finding ways for the city to weatherize more homes or connecting businesses with the higher education community to assist workers with their latest innovation, Faircloth said.Can we spot-revitalize a key street in our neighborhood that will create momentum for further gentrification? What is the biggest problem area in our particular section of the city and how could the entire neighborhood team plan a revitalization? Faircloth asked. Or teams could completely ignore these ideas. Come up with something on your own that helps make Bangor the best small city in the United States.The competition kicks-off at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at Nocturnem Draft Haus, where all attending residents will split up into teams that are divided by the citys five elementary school districts . There, they will learn about the initiative, participate in a presentation by Bangor Savings Bank executives and start gaining insights as well as brainstorming ideas.The citizen drivenness of this is a big part of it. Its a grassroots effort, not a top-down initiative, said Bangor Savings Bank Senior Vice President Scott Blake. We are trying to tap into the friendly existing neighborhood competition that Bangor has.Faircloth came up with the idea after reading the books Inventology: How We Dream Up Things That Change The World and  Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity , as well as a series in the magazine the Atlantic , in which reporter James Fallows and his wife fly around the country looking at why local communities are successful or not. He also garnered input from a steering committee consisting of city officials, residents and employees of several local organizations and businesses, including Bangor Daily News reporter Matthew Stone.Federal and state government is not functioning well, but cities are doing dynamic things these days, Faircloth said. Bangor could take a lead.As of about noon Monday, 45 people had signed up for the kickoff party on the Innovative Neighborhoods Facebook page During the competition, each team will create its own schedule and determine its own way of coming up with and pursuing ideas, Faircloth said. Teams would identify possible funding sources such as grants, possible private investors or public funds for their ideas if there are costs involved.Each team will roll out the ideas sometime in the fall and will be judged by residents through an online vote on the BDN website. The victor wins bragging rights and possibly a quirky small award, Faircloth said.Faircloth hopes residents will approach the competition with the same fun and competitive spirit they approach recreational dodgeball or trivia night at a bar. And even if an idea doesnt win the competition in the end, theres nothing stopping it from being put into action.Hopefully this will be an idea generation machine, he said. Big visions need oxygen sometimes and Innovative Communities could help provide that oxygen.
(TNS) -- San Diego is beginning to embrace a technology revolution thats making it easier to find parking spots in major cities across the nation.The city recently installed sensors in 200 Hillcrest parking meters to see how often they are occupied, which could be the first step toward using data to vary meter rates and free up more spots like Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston have done.San Diego has also begun allowing people to pay for parking with their cell phone at 2,100 of the citys 5,700 metered spots. The service, called Parkmobile, includes an option alerting drivers with a text message when their meter has only 15 minutes left.The city, however, has no immediate plans to follow the lead of other cities that allow people to see a map of nearby available parking spaces on their phone and then reserve a spot by paying ahead of time.Instead of real-time information, San Diego officials say they plan to post historical data on the web that helps predict the likelihood of an open space in a certain area.In addition, some neighborhoods wont benefit from the new technology because the city plans to install occupancy sensors only inside parking meters, unlike some other cities that have also installed them in the ground.So neighborhoods without meters, such as La Jolla, could be left behind when it comes to advances in parking efficiency the city is hoping to make.San Diego has often been criticized as behind the times regarding parking enforcement technology. It was one of the last major cities in the nation to replace its old-fashioned parking meters with modern devices that accept credit and debit cards in 2014.But the city appears to be focused on catching up.And that is likely happening just in time, with San Diego officials embracing more dense development in the citys urbanized areas where parking spaces are already scarce.The sensors installed in Hillcrest are a pilot project that could spread across the city and allow San Diego to generate the kind of healthy churn of parking spots that has always been the goal of parking meters.Merchants and shoppers dont love that parking costs money, but its better than allowing cars to monopolize prime parking spots and force others to park farther away or avoid an area completely.The sensors will help the city better understand demand for parking spaces, patterns of usage and how to meet the typical industry-wide goal of 85 to 90 percent space utilization.That level of utilization means you will almost always have one available space per block, so someone looking to make a quick stop can do so.The data collected will allow the city to determine the actual utilization of each meter equipped with the sensor, said Jonathan Carey, the citys parking program manager. Occupancy data will assist the city and community parking districts in making decisions on rates, length of stay limits and hours of operation, with the goal of achieving 85 percent utilization.Whether San Diego follows the lead of other major cities in varying parking rates will depend on an analysis of the data once the pilot project is complete in roughly six months, Carey said.Los Angeles has had so much success with the approach since it was launched in 2012 that the city continues to expand it into additional neighborhoods."They went from $2 an hour everywhere to as cheap as 50 cents and as expensive as $6," said Kurt Buecheler, senior vice president of business development of Streetline, the company that installed many of the sensors in Los Angeles.Seattle launched a similar program in 2015 and Boston followed suit a few months ago.The reason sensors are needed to gauge occupancy rates, instead of simply using each meters transaction record, is that meters dont operate around the clock, some people park but choose not to pay, and cars with handicapped placards park for free in metered spots.The sensors in Hillcrest were installed a couple months ago. But the company handling the program, IPS Group in Sorrento Valley, recently added cameras to make sure the sensors are accurately tracking the occupancy data and otherwise working properly.Benjamin Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association, said hes excited to see the city embracing new technology and innovative solutions."I'm encouraged and I'm looking forward to these proactive change," he said.Nicholls said the local parking district has recently begun experimenting with lower parking rates in certain areas, such as Normal Street. And meters in Hillcrest will soon begin operating from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., a shift from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.Nicholls said hes open to the idea of varied pricing, but would prefer strategically lowering prices only, not increasing them."I don't think we want a computer determining that the right price at a certain meter is $8," he said.Nicholls said varied pricing would probably work better in downtown than Hillcrest, where free parking in residential areas is one block away from each of the main commercial districts."Raising rates would force people to park deeper into the residential areas, which isn't helpful," he said.Nicholls said he hopes the city decides eventually to have real-time data available on smart phones about where parking spots are available."That would be a huge step," he said. "You could analyze that data and come up with policies that could take advantage of it, but you could also put signs on exit ramps saying this many parking spots are available on this street."Nicholls said such information would also debunk the common misperception that parking is scarce in Hillcrest."Managing parking is our biggest challenge, so if we could have a sign or app telling people where the parking is I think that would solve a lot of problems," he said. "There is parking, you just need to know where to look."Carey, the city official, said there are no plans to make such real-time information available and declined to say why. Instead, the city will post models based on data.The city is working to provide potential parking availability data via the web, he said, suggesting it might be available this summer. The availability will be derived from historical transactional data to predict the likelihood of an open space based on trends in usage.Another potential use of the sensors would be automatically resetting a meter when a car leaves the parking space, which prevents another driver from pulling into the spot and taking advantage of time left on the meter.Carey said the city hasnt made any decisions on how to handle such situations after the pilot is complete. But during the pilot, meters will not be reset when a car pulls out.
(TNS)  Gov. Rick Snyder announced a pilot program April 3 to start mapping the states infrastructure assets  including, roads, bridges, sewer lines, gas lines, electric lines, storm water pipes  in a digital system that would show them in 3-D."Modern infrastructure is critical in ensuring Michigan is on a solid path toward our future," Snyder said. "This collaborative regional pilot is key to improving our statewide infrastructure and will help make Michigan a national leader in infrastructure asset management and planning."Two announcements on the same plan  one in Coppersville, and the other in Detroit  offered a grand vision of how this plan could work, but few specifics, such as how much the pilot would cost and exactly who would have access to the valuable, yet sensitive, information once it was in the system."We need to invest more in infrastructure," Snyder said, after taking a quick tour of the Michigan Department of Transportation offices in downtown Detroit, which showed how the state already is mapping stretches of Woodward and Van Dyke in metro Detroit. "But, we need to do it more efficiently."In Coopersville, on the state's west side, the governor visited Continental Dairy and also talked about his plans.Part of the challenge is that much of the state's infrastructure is aging and in the ground, so it's not visible."That sounds really simple," Snyder said. "But it's more complicated in practice."During the tour, presenters talked about the challenges of mapping records that are old  or have little detail.To illustrate his point, one of them told the governor that one of the plans that the department reviewed was so old that it had a note that mentioned feeding the horses. Moreover, in many cases, as the infrastructure was being built, the technology to digitally map it in 3-D did not exist.The concept behind the digital mapping was one of the recommendations that emerged from the governor's 21st Century Infrastructure Commission.The purpose of the pilot, Snyder  along with MDOT director Kirk Steudle and others  said is to begin mapping and develop recommendations on how much money should be spent to map infrastructure throughout the state. In the long run, he said, it is expected to save taxpayers money on unnecessary repairs to streets and maintenance that can prevent disasters.Other situations from such a system that the state could have benefited from: flooding in Detroit in 2014, contaminated water in Flint  and a recent windstorm that knocked out power to many residents for days.The governor said he hopes that in the long term some of the cost may be covered by private, and nonprofit money."I think we're seeing all people coming together  the various agencies and organizations," Snyder said. "I can't think of an infrastructure player that has come to the table that doesn't see a benefit in this."
Permitting Pokemon:

Nokia for a New Age:

Facial recognition technology has the potential to help safeguard our society. Adapting it to help save endangered species is one of its most inspiring uses.

 Anil Jain, professor, Michigan State University

$8.7 million:

After the popularity of Pokemon Go brought big crowds (and overflowing trash cans) to a Milwaukee County park, officials signed a permitting process Feb. 10 for game makers that include virtual monsters and other augmented reality features on public property. The ordinance requires game developers to obtain a park permit, which will range from $100 to $1,000 depending on factors like how many people are expected to participate. The Wisconsin government is the first to regulate the emerging industry in this manner; however, other lawmakers are also looking at how to legislate in the space. For example, a bill pending in the Illinois Legislature would require companies to remove locations from a game once they are requested to do so.As phones get smarter and replace other devices, some users are longing for the simpler handsets of the past. The Nokia 3310, arguably one of the most iconic dumbphones, has been brought back by Finnish manufacturer HMD Global Oy, which made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in February. While the phone isnt yet available in the U.S.  Barcelona and Europe are getting first access  its price tag will be around $60. Following its original release in 2000, more than 100 million 3310s were sold. While its too early to call it a comeback, recent headlines about the announcement included the phrases the greatest phone of all time and the most reliable phone ever made.Michigan State University researchers have repurposed facial recognition software used to find criminals to help animal conservation efforts. Habitat loss is threatening extinction of lemurs, which are found only in Madagascar and have unique facial characteristics. The team created LemurFaceID, which correctly identified more than 100 individual lemurs with a nearly 99 percent accuracy rate, proving that it could provide a noninvasive way of tracking the mammals and providing data over long periods of time for insight into population growth and decline. The software may also be used to identify other animals that have variable facial hair and skin patterns, like bears and red pandas.The amount that Austin, Texas-based startup Data.world , which is billed as a social network for data people, raised in a funding round. The sites framework is built on the Semantic Web, the same technology used by tech giants like Facebook and Google, and users can sign up for free and import data from any source. However, storing data privately requires a monthly fee. Users sift through the information, creating visualizations and sharing it on their Data.world profiles.See more features from the April/May 2017 issue
(TNS)  Gov. Greg Abbott hasnt said publicly whether hell sign a ban on texting while driving, a practice that may have played a key role in an accident in which 13 people were killed after their church mini-bus was struck by a pickup.But some backers of the ban, who are optimistic that they can get it to Abbotts desk, said he has indicated that hell support it.Rep. Tom Craddick, a former House speaker who has long pushed the ban, told thethat Abbott said when asked about it at a Midland fundraiser that he would back such legislation.There were a lot of people there, and he said he definitely will sign it if it got to him, said Craddick, R-Midland, who shepherded the bill through the House last month.Craddick said he wasnt at the event but was told about it afterward. A supporter of a ban who attended the October 2015 fundraiser, Ferrell Davis of Midland, told thethat he heard the exchange.My recollection is yes, he said, If they get a bill before me, well get it taken care of, Davis said.Abbotts office didnt comment when asked about the exchange.The proposed ban has been in a brighter spotlight after last weeks accident, which occurred as people were returning to New Braunfels from a First Baptist Church retreat in Leakey. The cause of the accident is under investigation, but a witness said the driver repeatedly apologized and told him he had been texting.The accident came as the proposed ban, House Bill 62, awaits Senate action.Led by Tom Craddick, the Texas House has passed texting-while-driving bans in four consecutive sessions. We hope for a better outcome this time, said House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.The bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, is hopeful about the bills chances in the fifth session in which she has pushed such legislation.A ban was approved by lawmakers in 2011, but then-Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it, calling it a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.Im ... cautiously optimistic. I believe that if we were to vote today, we would pass the bill in the Senate, said Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who has seen the bill die in the Senate before. Im hoping that we can maintain those votes.Several senators who previously opposed the bill now are supporting it, including Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. Campbell said she changed her mind about the legislation before the accident occurred.Texting is distracting, and in a moving vehicle, its not the time to have a distraction. Add to that, in my community, we had 13 people that died in that bus accident that happened in Uvalde. ... Its reported that the driver was texting. I dont know that, she said.I was on board before the accident, Campbell said. It didnt take an accident to tell me we need this.Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, voted against a ban when he was a senator. But he has since made comments showing a change of heart.The lieutenant governor has been clear that over the last several years he has evolved on this issue and he does not believe people should text while driving, Patrick spokesman Alejandro Garcia said.As for Abbott, Zaffirini said, The governor wants to ensure that we dont have a patchwork. He wants to ensure that we have a texting bill for Texas. And basically, thats what this bill does. It would pre-empt the local ordinances, but only in relation to texting. It would not pre-empt hands-free or cellphone or any other kind of ordinances that any city would pass.Three senators voted against Senate Bill 31, the companion to the ban that passed the House, when that measure was backed last month by the Senate State Affairs Committee.While well-intentioned, this legislation has extremely limited enforceability. Im against any kind of distracted driving, not just one certain type, and believe that drivers should be held responsible for any and all unsafe actions taken while operating a motor vehicle via the laws we have in place, Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, said in a statement about his vote against the bill.Craddick said accidents could have been prevented if the ban had been enacted earlier.I think theres  a good chance that a lot of these accidents ... could have been prevented if we had just passed the bill and the governor had signed it, Craddick said.
Law applies to all, she broke rules by travelling to Crimea - Poroshenko about entry ban for Russia's singer Samoilova

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko advocates the Ukrainian decision to bar Russia's 2017 Eurovision contestant Yulia Samoilova from entering Ukraine because she violated the rules of entry to occupied Crimea.

"Ukraine allows trips to Crimea solely across the administrative border of Kherson region. Any other way violates the Ukrainian laws and entails sanctions. The Russian side is fully aware of that; these requirements are the same for everyone," Poroshenko told a press conference after negotiations with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis in Riga on Tuesday.

According to the Ukrainian president, the Russian side knows about such rules and took this decision deliberately, counting on provocation.

"The Ukrainian government did not succumb to this provocation: it acts consistently towards all those who violated Ukrainian legislation. And therefore the relevant authorities did not give her the permission to cross the Ukrainian border," Poroshenko said.

According to the president, Kyiv offered several options for settling this matter, starting with Samoilova's participation of in the contest via a video linkup and up to her replacement.

In his words, Russia's aim was not the participation in Eurovision per se, but a provocation. "I am glad that thanks to effective actions of the Ukrainian authorities this provocation was prevented," the president summed up.
Exclusive interview with NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges Jamie SheaI am here because NATO and Ukraine are revitalizing an important joint working group on economic security. We want to develop more cooperation between NATO and Ukraine in the area of defense procurement. Which is to say how can NATO countries help Ukraine to better handle the issues of competition in the defense sector, how to have more efficient state procurement, how to have better contracting, how to understand better the process of handling defense requirement from a conceptual stage to delivery, how to have more effective partnerships between the private and public sector. These may strike you as somewhat technical expert issues, but they do offer something extremely important for Ukrainian citizens: value for money. In other words, the notion that the government is able to give your military forces the best possible equipment at the best possible price at the quickest speed. If you think about what your soldiers are currently experiencing, the confidence of the soldiers that their government is giving them the best equipment rapidly and does the job to protect them that's a fundamental social responsibility. It is extremely important.We had last year in 2016 a watershed year in cyber. That year we had the interference by Russia in the U.S. election campaign, in other words cyber being used not just for espionage, not only to disrupt system, but used for information operations to interfere in democratic processes. Many NATO allies are very conscious of this threat now in 2017. Also in 2016, we had the first big issue of the Internet of Things, when machines are connected to machines and people to machines, machines to people. All kinds of devices are connected, such as your phone to your electricity at home, to your heating system. We had the first big cyber attack in the U.S. in the area of the Internet of Things. We had a revelation of the biggest cyber hack in history  Yahoo  where one billion Yahoo customers had their credentials, their information hacked. We had a dam in the U.S. whose control system was disrupted. So, last year showed that cyber has gone from the level of a kind of local inconvenience to become a really strategic issue of the functioning of societies. Against that background in 2017 NATO is raising its game. I can give you just two quick examples. Number one: we have declared that cyber for us today is now an operational domain. That means we need to be able to operate in cyberspace with the same effectiveness as on land, sea, air or in space. We are working on the implications of all that at the moment. And the second thing is that we have a cyber defense pledge, which we agreed at the NATO summit in Warsaw last July, whereby all of the allies have agreed - number one - to increase their spending and investments in cyber defense and number two - to be more transparent to us at NATO about their level of protection in a number of key areas. This is allowing us to see where we can be better positioned to help them and so that all the allies come up to certain minimum standards. Let me also add that we are doing a lot with Ukraine on cyber defense. In my division we have a trust fund which is headed by Romania but with other Allies participating. We have spend over EUR 300,000 to help the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and also to help the Ukrainian intelligence services with training and equipment to better detect cyber attacks and with forensics, in other words to get the details of cyber attacks, which will allow better responses and better attributions. We are very active not just among Allies, but we are active with Ukraine, as well.No, it's on the point of being delivered, but we have procured the equipment. And we simply need to clear some of the usual import/export administrative formalities, but we hope to be able to do it very quickly. Our objective is to have everything installed, tested, and up and running by this summer. I have been talking about what we can do to get this as quickly as possible with Ukrainian authorities while am here in Kyiv.Let me give you an example of a car. If you are a good driver, but don't have a car, you can do nothing. But if you have a great car and don't know how to drive. It's a facile example, but it is obvious that in cyber you need both. You need individual skills, but you can rapidly augment them to improve individual skills with the equipment in terms of detecting a cyber attack, providing early warning, recording information. It's not just equipment. You need good skills, good processes, the right type of doctrine and organization. But you need the equipment as well. And we are providing the training as well. I am hoping we can get that all done. Once we do this project we can than start looking at possible future projects, for example with other government ministries.I personally believe that you cannot "dis-invent" information technology. Once it's invented it's there. I used to work for a secretary general who used to say 'you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube.' So, it's about the responsible use of social media. 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. And so the key thing is good training and good information, rather than the idea that you can take these things away from people. 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.I think Ukraine has had a lot of experience with this, even before 2014 and throughout the conflict. We in NATO have learned a great deal from your experiences. For example, German NATO soldiers were deployed in Lithuania a couple of weeks ago and we immediately had these fake stories in the Lithuanian media about a German soldier having raped a Lithuanian girl. This was clearly designed to stir up opposition to the NATO soldiers. Fortunately, we were able to act very quickly and killed that story. So, to some degree, we have learned from your experience in terms of expecting this now and understanding how it's done, use of social media, which is amplified by Russian media and so on. We can react more quickly. We have established a center of excellence to deal with strategic communications in Latvia. It provides instant analysis and early warning and looks at the techniques being used. We are now more alert and we react faster, which is important. What we want to do is improve our cooperation. We have established under the new comprehensive assistance package between Ukraine and NATO a hybrid platform to share information and experiences. We need to put more life into this. This is one of the issues I am discussing while I am here. We have also created a new NATO intelligence division, which will produce a hybrid fusion center. Once this is fully up and running, it will also help NATO with its situation in this area, as well. We know Russia has invested very heavily in this. Russia Today has a budget of EUR 400 million a year, thousands of employees. Sputnik is now operating in 33 different languages. This is a very major effort. What we have to make sure is that Russian speakers in Ukraine, Latvia, the Baltic States and elsewhere have access to information in their language. For example, the Balts are seeking to establish a joint Russian-language station. Ukraine's experience of reaching out to Russian speakers is helping us with this issue. We cannot always assure that if we do nothing the truth will magically emerge. We have to actively counter myths and propaganda.There is legitimate business, but it has to be transparent. They have to obey national laws and national legislation, in particular regarding transparency and honest information. And secondly we have to look at our critical dependencies. Ukraine is a good example. A few years ago it had this big dependency on Gazprom. And than the EU and Ukraine worked together to link the grids to send the gas from Europe to Ukraine. This has greatly reduced the Gazprom monopoly. This led Gazprom to have to lower its prices, to bring them in compliance with market competition. This is a simple example, but it means there is no fatalism in this area. With good will you can reduce your dependency, which means that blackmail becomes less possible. NATO at the moment is reducing dependency of some Allies on Russian military technology, which still exists in some NATO countries. For example, in the Baltic States now they are looking to change from the Russian energy grid to the European energy grid. There are, of course, sanctions, because of the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea. But the key thing is to reduce your dependency so that commercial transactions cannot be exploited for political pressure.I would argue no. Every day you see American troops arriving in Poland, exercising with other NATO troops in Poland. Just last week there was a big U.S. exercise in Romania. So if you look at the reality, the U.S. commitment to the European security is there. There are American tanks, troops and vehicles in Europe defending the allies. That started under President Obama, that's true. But it is continuing totally on schedule without any delay under President Trump. Secondly, we have got today Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, at NATO. Look at what he is saying about the U.S. commitment to NATO. What president Trump is saying is important, but not new. He is saying that he expects the Allies to meet their defense spending commitments and that the United States is paying too much. But I can assure you that every U.S. president that I've known in my time in NATO has said the same thing. And the 2% commitment was made under President Obama at the summit in Wales [the Allies' commitment to spend 2% of their GDP on common defense]. It's true that President Trump because of his personality may say this in a way that is more dramatic than maybe what his predecessor would have said, but it essentially the same message that all of the Allies have agreed to this 2% commitment. This is because the 2% commitment is what you need for your defense, if you want to deal with all these problems in Europe In all sincerity, I see much more continuity than change.What about the prospects of Ukraine getting a NATO membership? Does NATO need Ukraine as a member, and do we need to get the membership as soon as possible?The key principle is that every country in Europe has the right to choose where it wants to be. That's fundamental. Otherwise, you don't have sovereignty. That's also a right, which is in the documents of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which Russia has signed as well. If we don't stick to that principle we go back to the spheres of influence where big powers dominate the interest of the small. But we don't want that. We tried that model in Europe for 1,000 years and you saw the results - war, war, war, constant upheaval and border changes all the time. So we are going to stick to the principle that NATO membership is open in terms of Ukraine, like for any other country in the Euro-Atlantic Area. We have shown that we mean that by inviting Montenegro to join NATO... Of course, it's impossible for me to predict when and under what circumstances Ukraine will join the Alliance. Because Ukraine must meet the requirements and we are doing everything we can to help you in all different area to meet NATO standards. When people ask this question, I say don't just ask NATO, ask yourselves. Because the answer is in Kyiv as much as it is in Brussels. What Ukraine does also affects the outcome, not just what Brussels does. The key thing while we stick to that principle is also to be practical and pragmatic.
On Thursday, April 6, at 12.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Results of a Year of Groysman's Government Work: What's Happening in Economy  Growth or Fall?" The participants will include an economist, economic observer at Radio Vesti, Andriy Blinov; an expert at the Public Security Fund, Yuriy Havrylechko; a director general at the Ukrainian Association of Trade Network Suppliers, Oleksiy Doroshenko; professor, writer and publicist, head of the Dosvid project, Pd.D. (Economics) Natalia Semenchenko (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation.
Enhanced cooperation expected in such areas as entrepreneurship, innovation

China and Finland will have more cooperation in areas including innovation, entrepreneurship, clean energy, bio-economy and arctic research, President Xi Jinping said in a signed newspaper article on Monday, ahead of his state visit to the Nordic country.

In the article published by the Helsinki Times, Xi said China and Finland have complementary economies and both sides have benefitted from cooperation.

"China's 13th Five-Year Plan dovetails with Vision: Finland 2025, promising exciting cooperation in such areas as innovation, entrepreneurship, clean energy, bio-economy and arctic research, to name just a few," Xi wrote.

The president will make a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday at the invitation of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. It will be Xi's first visit to Northern Europe as China's head of state.

China welcomes Finland to take an active part in the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said. The Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, aims to revive the ancient land and maritime trade routes of the Silk Road.

Xi pointed out that China and Finland are working to build a future-oriented, new-type cooperative partnership, which he said provides tremendous opportunities for expanding bilateral ties.

"China has all along approached our ties from a strategic and long-term perspective and pursued common development on the basis of win-win cooperation, equality and mutual respect," he said.

Noting that this year marks the centenary of Finland's independence, Xi said that due to similar experiences in the two countries' modern history, the Finnish sense of national pride has strong resonance among the Chinese people.

The China-Finland relationship has been able to grow on a solid foundation, setting an example for peaceful coexistence and friendly exchanges between the two countries that are different in size, culture and development level, he added.

Finland was among the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China after 1949 and the first Western nation to sign an intergovernmental trade agreement with China. China has remained Finland's largest trading partner in Asia for the past 14 years.

Noting that it will be his first visit to the Nordic region as Chinese president, Xi said the exchanges and cooperation between China and Nordic countries in various fields are blossoming, which "will be a contributing factor to European prosperity and China-Europe relations".

"China is of the view that European integration is consistent with the trend of history, and a prosperous and stable Europe is conducive to world peace and development," he said.

After the state visit to Finland, Xi will travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday and Friday.

On Sunday, State Councilor Yang Jiechi said in a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the meeting between Xi and Trump will be the most important event in current Sino-US relations.
There appears to be no end in sight for Chinese conglomerate HNA Group's global shopping spree, counting assets in oil storage, real estate, banking and media involving millions of dollars as its latest potential and actual deals.

On Monday, media reports said the group, which also owns Hainan Airlines, has submitted a bid to acquire German bank HSH Nordbank AG. HNA is competing with at least four other bidders for the bank, domestic news portal ifeng.com reported, citing sources familiar with the deals.

HNA is working with Austrian asset manager C-Quadrat on a bid for the troubled German bank that focuses on financing for shipping, transportation, real estate and renewable energy, according to the report.

Hit by the 2009 financial crisis, HSH Nordbank was taken over by two states in Germany, and according to a deal with the EU, the two states have until February 2018 to sell the bank or shut it down, according to media reports.

Though the details of HNA's bid for the bank remain sketchy, the news highlighted the Chinese conglomerate's vast appetite for overseas assets.

Also on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Glencore, one of the largest oil traders in the world, has agreed to sell a majority stake in its oil storage and logistics business for $775 million.

On March 26, HNA agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in UK's Old Mutual Plc's asset management unit in the US for $446 million, Bloomberg reported, adding HNA has spend $30 billion in overseas deals in 2016.

On March 23, HNA raised its stake in Germany's flagship lender Deutsche Bank from 3.04 percent to 4.76 percent, according to Reuters. The group is Deutsche's third largest shareholder just after the government of Qatar and BlackRock, which owns 10 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, Reuters said.

HNA is also reportedly in talks with Forbes Media to buy a controlling stake in the company.
Gov. Roy Cooper's approval rating has crept up to 49 percent in the latest High Point University Poll, from 44 percent a month ago.

Only 24 percent of North Carolina residents surveyed say they disapprove of the first-term Democrat's performance so far. That's slightly up from 22 percent last month.

The poll was taken while Cooper was negotiating with legislative leaders to repeal HB 2.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's score is a low 36 percent, with 54 percent disapproval.

Considering that Trump won North Carolina with nearly 50 percent of the vote in November, it appears that a lot of voters are disappointed in him. Or I would say wised up. Or, in some cases, voters chose Trump even though they might not have liked him because they thought Hillary Clinton was worse.

Trump might think twice about continuing to bash North Carolina Republican Congressman Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus. Meadows has nothing to fear from the increasingly unpopular and erratic president.
The executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party had a quick zinger for the opposition party on news Tuesday that White House adviser Kellyanne Conway will be speaking at this year's N,C. GOP convention.

Democrat Party exec Kimberly Reynolds reacted with tongue embedded in cheek after Republican state Chairman Robin Hayes announced that President Trump's combative counselor would be a keynote speaker at the state GOP's June convention in Wilmington.

"I commend the NCGOP for having successfully landed President Trump's fourth-most influential Senior Adviser as a speaker for their convention," Reynolds said.

Then Reynolds moved on to take a jab at one of Conway's more famed contortions of the English language, as well as the recent controversy over a member of state Senate Pro Tem Phil Berger's staff who had a penchant for changing newspaper headlines in Facebook posts to make them more favorable to the Republican viewpoint.

"This will be an unparalleled opportunity," Reynolds quipped, "for Conway and NCGOP leadership to swap 'alternative facts' and discuss Sen. Berger's pioneering use of fake headlines."
I normally like to scribble in this space three or four times a week. But yesterdays excitement at the News & Record, some upcoming assignments and time off next week means that Ill be doing a lot less typing here than usual.

Honestly, my hearts not in it this week, even though Im still here to tell you about it. Ive lost track of the number of rounds of layoffs Ive survived. Three? Five? More? They always stink, but theyre all followed by another deadline, another story and another round of lets-try-something-different-and-maybe-this-will-work. The sun sets; the sun rises again.

The social media response has been about the usual  lots of sympathy for both the departed and the survivors, some relief from former colleagues that they got out when they did and a little gloating about the demise of the lie-brul media. I appreciate the first sentiment, and I understand the second.

As for the third, the stunning lack of empathy in these comments is surpassed only by the lack of intelligence of the people typing them. The demise of local newspapers has nothing to do with whether the Local Daily Herald-Times-Tribune endorsed a Clinton or a Bush or a Reagan or an Obama and everything to do with the fact that people no longer shop in department stores. Meyers, Ellis-Stone, Thalhimers, Montgomery Ward and Woolworths no longer exist, and Amazon doesnt advertise in the N&R or any other local newspaper. Thats the real story. If anyone tells you differently, cross the street to avoid them and shun them in polite society.

So Im going to ask for your indulgence for a couple of weeks until I find something to write about in this blog space and rediscover the mojo to type it all out.

You can check out my story from todays paper on N.C. A&Ts newest employee. (Ray Trapps office is up on the fourth floor of the Dowdy Building; if you're visiting the chancellor, stop by and say hi.) Or you can wait for Wednesdays paper for my story on the pharmacy school at High Point University. I didnt know a daggone thing about pharmacy schools when I started the assignment, and I got to learn a lot about them.

There are plenty of good speakers coming to town  Alan Alda on Thursday, Allan Gurganis and former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison next week, and one of the Shark Tank guys at the end of the month.

Tonight, theres an interesting film on historically black colleges ("Tell Them We Are Rising") playing at the Red Cinemas in Greensboro.

If you look to the side of this blog post, you can catch up on your Syllabus reading.

I filed this story under S for I am shockedshockedto find that gambling is going on in here! I'm not surprised  taking care of your best customers is good for business  but it's still impressive to see the Post lay out UVa's business like that. It's also a good reminder that colleges really aren't liberal  they're corporate. Higher ed makes more sense when you keep that thought close.

A request: If you know someone whos going out of state for college  either in the fall or in the last year or two  please email me at john.newsom@greensboro.com. Im especially interested to talk to students heading to University of South Carolina, University of Alabama and Liberty University. (I have my reasons!)

Next week, my daughter and I will be heading north to the College of Knowledge, aka William & Mary, aka my alma mater, aka the Best College in All of Recorded Human History. I dont think shes interested in going there (lord knows I cant afford out-of-state tuition there), but I want to see what theyve done to the place, and Ive had a weird and persistent craving a Hot Holly from Pauls Deli.

So indulge me. Click the links. Find some college students for me to interview. And have a great week. Ill catch you all in a bit.

Update, 5 p.m.: I corrected a dumb typo above.

Want to make sure you see these blog posts? Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.

Have something to say? Email me at john.newsom@greensboro.com.
According to a police news release, at 12:19 a.m., officers responded to the White House Arcade at 3817 W. Gate City Blvd., Suite G, in reference to a robbery of a business.

Three armed suspects entered the arcade brandishing handguns and took an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspects fled the arcade and were last seen on foot heading south. No injuries were reported.
An attorney for Mickey Snow, a prominent Eden businessman charged in a teen prostitution ring, filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to dissolve the states guardianship of the two alleged victims.

Snow, the last defendant to face charges in a teen prostitution ring uncovered in 2015 in Eden, is asking a court to dissolve the states guardianship for teenaged sisters with whom he was alleged to have had sex.

In his motion, attorney Mark Bibbs, also revealed that Snow, who was being held on house arrest, had been released from electronic monitoring on three occasions and that the sisters may have endured further trauma while preparing for a now-delayed criminal trial.

Snow faces 26 charges, including promoting prostitution of a minor, statutory rape, patronizing a prostitute who is mentally disabled, patronizing a prostitute and second-degree forcible sex act in a case in which Teresa Vanover admitted she provided her mentally disabled daughters, beginning at the age of 12, to have sex with Snow and three other men.

Snow made headlines that year when, after Eden Police officers began arresting his co-defendants, he led police on an international manhunt, crisscrossing the globe. Snow ultimately was arrested by Thai Royal Police in Bangkok and sent back to Eden to face his charges.

Vanover and those three other defendants, Donnie Ray Carter, Thomas Tommy Woodall and Everette James Ferris Jr., have pleaded guilty to various sex-related and child-abuse charges.

Vanover, 48, is serving 39 years at the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. Carter, 57, is serving more than 11 years at the Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury. Woodall, 67, is serving more than 24 years in Central Prison in Raleigh. Ferris, 68, is serving 13 years in Mountain View Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine.

Snow, who was given a bond of $25 million and was placed on house-arrest when he was returned from Thailand, has continued to fight his charges.

All four men charged in the case also have been sued by the victims in a civil suit for at least $25,000 in damages.

The News & Record does not name the victims of sexual abuse.

Snow, who owns businesses in several states and property in Rockingham County and Florida, has a team of attorneys, including Seth Woodall of Eden, Bruce Lee of Greensboro and Morgan Davis of Raleigh handling his criminal case.

Joining that group on Thursday was Bibbs of Raleigh, who entered his name as Snows attorney and filed the motion to gain emancipation for Vanovers daughters, who now are older than 18.

Bibbs filed several motions that seek a judges approval to force the girls to undergo medical evaluations by a doctor of Snows choice, release the girls from the custody of the Rockingham County Department of Social Services and to move the civil trial more than two hours away from Rockingham County.

Bibbs motions did not disclose any personal or legal motives for Snows requests.

The girls have been in the states care since the arrest of their mother.

I dont support what hes doing, said Angela Mills, the victims aunt. Theyre fine where they are, and theyre getting the medical help they need.

In one of his motions, Bibbs accused social workers of benefitting from the victims because the girls are receiving disability income. He also accused social workers of fraudulently declaring the girls as incompetent as a means of keeping them in the states control past their 18th birthdays.

Bibbs did not include any specific evidence to back up his beliefs. He could not be reached immediately for comment on Tuesday.

Because of this alleged fraud, Bibbs is requesting a judge to order another physical and mental evaluation of the victims by a doctor of Snows choosing. Bibbs said in the motion that social workers petitioned Mark Pegram, the Rockingham County clerk of courts, to declare at least one of the daughters as incompetent.

Bibbs asked that if a doctor were to find the girl competent, the judge should dissolve the order that made Social Services her legal guardian.

As evidence to why social workers should not have custody of the girls, Bibbs attached to his motion a letter dated March 5 from Felissa Ferrell, director of the Rockingham County Department of Health and Human Services, to former Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer.

The letter details Ferrells frustration about Blitzers decisions to cancel a trial scheduled for Feb. 7, for which social workers had spent eight weeks preparing the girls, and to release Snow temporarily from electronic monitoring.

Ferrell said in the letter that Blitzer had agreed to release Snow from house arrest three times during the previous four months and did not notify the victims of Snows release.

This is extremely concerning to the agency, as this particular defendant attempted to make his way to Costa Rica, which does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S., Ferrell wrote to Blitzer.

Ferrell further chastised Blitzer for telling Social Services staff and their attorney that they had no right to voice concerns or ask questions of the district attorneys office.

The greatest negative impact has been on the victims, who feel defeated by the court system, Ferrell wrote. The victims themselves described feeling imprisoned and not having a voice. Our office now has to manage the ramifications caused by the trial preparations, which have reopened the pain and experiences the victims have worked so hard to address in the processional services provided to them over the past 17 months.

Madison-based attorney Elliott Cardwell, who is represented the Department of Social Services for this specific case, on Tuesday discussed Ferrells letter with the News & Record.

The department is responsible for the well-being of these victims, Cardwell said. At the time the letter was written, the department was not pleased with how certain aspects of the criminal case were being handled. We felt that voicing our opinion was in the victims best interest.

Seth Woodall said in February that the criminal trial was delayed after a judge ordered in January that new evidence be released to both prosecutors and the defense.

Snows trial has not been rescheduled.

On March 10, Blitzer resigned as district attorney amid an ongoing State Bureau of Investigation probe that targeted both his office and his wife, Cindy Blitzer, for the alleged theft of state funds.

On March 11, Gov. Roy Cooper appointed former Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith as interim district attorney.

Cardwell said Keiths appointment rectified any concerns social workers had with the district attorneys office.

Keith said that his staff meets daily with investigators, social workers and other necessary parties to prepare the case for trial.

For the civil trial, Bibbs is requesting that a judge move the proceedings more than two hours from the Rockingham County Courthouse.

The pretrial publicity that has already taken place in this case has poisoned the potential jury pool in an adverse and negative manner against the Defendant Mickey Snow, Bibbs wrote.

Bibbs also is requesting that Snows civil trial be held apart from the trials for Carter, Tommy Woodall and Ferris, despite their having been sued collectively.

It is highly prejudicial, extremely unfair and inappropriate to try defendant Mickey Snow with the other three defendants, who have admitted by their guilty pleas in open court to being in fact guilty of the criminal offenses involving the plaintiffs, Bibbs wrote.

Lastly, Bibbs requested that court documents no longer name the girls as Minor 1 and Minor 2 because both girls have reached the age of 18.

He requested a hearing on his motions be held at 10 a.m. April 17.
GREENSBORO  Police are investigating a shooting that left a person hospitalized Tuesday morning.

Police received a report Monday around 2:30 a.m. of a person shot at the Exxon gas station located at 801 E. Market St.

Police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said when officers arrived at the station it was evident a shooting had taken place but a victim was not found.

Danielsen said witnesses told officers that the victim was taken to a hospital, but did not arrive at any of the Greensboro facilities.

At 2:55 a.m., officers learned doctors were treating the victim at High Point Regional Hospital.

Doctors stabilized the victim and transported him to Moses Cone Hospital.

Danielsen said that police have not developed a motive or a suspect in the shooting.

GREENSBORO  Police are investigating a shooting that injured a person this morning.

According to a police news release, at 2:29 a.m., officers responded to the 800 block of East Market Street in reference to a victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

When officers arrived on scene, the victim had already been transported by personal vehicle to a local hospital. The victim is being treated for life-threatening injuries.

The investigation is ongoing.
TOKYO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Japan's embattled education ministry may risk warping young minds for generations to come, if it continues to yield to the far right forces that hold sway in and around the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In doing so, it may wittingly push Japan towards a "precipice" from which it may not return.

The very foundation of the education ministry is at best shaky and perhaps more accurately is rapidly disintegrating.

Despite international condemnation, it continues to push the nationwide teaching of a whitewashed version of history; it has mandated the introduction of militaristic bayonet classes to its physical education programs, while currently embroiled in one of the biggest corruption scandals to have rocked the government in recent times.

The ministry's new issuance of curriculum guidelines along with factually inaccurate textbooks are an attempt not just to whitewash history, but, to essentially, brainwash the minds of children in their formative years.

The acts come amid Japan's ever-increasing propensity to revise or whitewash its acts of wartime barbarity, particularly regarding the Imperial Japanese Army's heinous treatment of its neighboring countrymen.

The ongoing attempts by Abe's administration to blatantly teach a distorted or highly-diluted version of historical events to children and bolster their sense of nationalistic pride have not been lost on experts informed on the matter.

Education specialists like Hidenori Fujita have stated unequivocally that historical and geographical education in Japan is rapidly going awry.

The Kyoei University professor previously said that textbooks here lack balance and fail to represent the feelings of unjustness from countries like China and South Korea, and are lacking in detail about the specific claims from non-Japanese parties regarding issues of territory and history.

In one such example, the Manchurian Incident was barely mentioned on one page in a textbook, and the Nanjing Massacre, "comfort women" issue and even the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are barely footnotes in the textbooks.

The education ministry also states in its legally binding guidelines that China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and the Takeshima islands in the Sea of Japan, known in South Korea as Dokdo, are "inherent" parts of Japanese territory.

These statements alone threaten to severely warp children's understanding of historical facts and hence the minds of future generations here, including those that will go on to be leaders in politics, industry and, ironically, education in Japan.

The controversial guidelines will be fully implemented for elementary schools from fiscal 2020 and for junior high schools in fiscal 2021, with one of the most prominent revisions being that Japan's official position on the Diaoyu Islands is that there is "no dispute" over their sovereignty.

Ties between Japan and its closest neighbors have been particularly strained of late, regarding Japan's unrelenting efforts to whitewash its history, not just in terms of its diplomatic and political stance on issues of history and territory, but also owing to its ardent push to institutionalize its wrongful agenda.

Abe has, on a number of occasions, stated that Japanese young people do not have to keep apologizing in the future for Japan's atrocities committed before and during World War II, exposing his absolute reluctance to face up to history, and his dedication to delivering misguided and unsound messages to the younger generations here.

Some experts speaking with authority on the matter have accused Abe and his administration of flaunting his revisionist, militaristic and imperialistic stance and in doing so mocking his detractors.

They also maintain the textbooks and the education ministry in particular are also forcing nationalism onto children by way of requiring them to "get familiar with the national anthem and flag..." both of which have overt militaristic connotations.

And while at first the public here could have dismissed such moves as merely boosting national pride rather than instilling militaristic ideologies, the education ministry's recent approval of guidelines, which includes for the first time jukendo, or the "way of the bayonet" in physical education curricula, incontrovertibly confirms the direction the wayward ministry is heading in.

Critics have been quick to point out that as jukendo is in essence "a killing art," with practitioners thrusting blunted wooden bayonets at their opponents, targeting often vital parts of the human body such as the chest and throat, it is wholly inappropriate and immoral to institutionalize such a barbaric, war-derived discipline.

Experts have also pointed out that bayonets were a tool for the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II, and, as such, it is no great leap to see how the ministry's decision to reintroduce the technique as structured lessons in schools is one aimed at stoking nostalgia for Japan's past militarism.

"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 recent tweet.

He added that as jukendo needs special equipment and is not suitable for compulsory education, the adoption of jukendo, pushed by some lawmakers from Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, could only "remind people of nostalgia for Japan's past militarism."

While the education ministry here is seemingly kowtowing to far-right wing forces and crowbarring a revisionist and militaristic agenda into its curricula with one hand, the other has been lining the pockets of a number of its senior officials by way of illegal "plum" job placements by ministry "insiders."

A probe was launched two months ago by the education ministry and Cabinet Office into the illegal job placement racket known locally here as "amakudari" (descent from heaven).

The practice involves current or former bureaucrats using their career-made connections through the ministry to find highly desirable jobs for retired or soon-to-be-retired bureaucrats.

Following the latest investigation, it was found that on top of 27 cases that initially shocked the nation involving ministry officials deliberately dodging laws to quash the illegal practice, 35 more ministry-linked officials have also been involved in "amakudari" offenses.

Altogether 62 cases, thus far, have been unearthed by the recent probe which covered all education ministry employees as well as retired officials.

The practice of "amakudari" was effectively banned in 2007 when legislation was changed regarding the re-employment of civil servants, largely due to the potential for corruption.

But those found guilty recently almost certainly side-stepped the law by using retired civil servants to deal with the illegal job placements, informed sources have said.

The education ministry itself has been forced to publicly acknowledge that its officials have been involved in making "systematic efforts" in arranging such lobbying for jobs.

The most recent round of "amakudari" scandals came to light in January this year when it was discovered that a former bureau chief who was in charge of overseeing colleges and universities "landed" a cushy professor post at a private university soon after retirement.

With the practice of "amakudari" seemingly ingrained into the cultural fabric of the education ministry, it was not a great leap for investigators to assume that the practice was likely occurring in other public sectors, with the foreign ministry here confirming that this was indeed the case.

A report based on the probe revealed that high-ranking officials knew the practice of "amakudari" was endemic in the education ministry and that ministry bigwigs had shockingly been involved in the scheme's creation and implementation for a long time.

History has taught Japan that the path to militarism leads to a "precipice" that this ostensibly pacifist nation does not want to be standing on. It is only through the correct education of the nation's youth by way of a morally virtuous education ministry that Japan will be able to take the step back it needs to face itself squarely.
GREENSBORO  A 14-year-old boy was seriously injured Monday after being struck by a vehicle and police want to know who was driving.

The teenager suffered from both internal and external injuries after being struck by a red Dodge pickup at the intersection of West Florida and South Elm-Eugene streets, according to a news release from Greensboro police.

Police said the boy was riding his bicycle across West Florida Street about 5:20 p.m. when he entered the road without yielding to oncoming traffic. He was struck by a utility trailer being hauled by the pickup.

Officers described the driver as a man in his 20s or 30s with facial hair at the end of his chin.
GREENSBORO  When voters in Greensboro consider City Council candidates this fall, they will do so with the same district makeup they used in 2015.

U.S. Middle District Judge Catherine Eagles ruled Monday that the N.C. General Assembly unconstitutionally redistricted the council in 2015 and that all future elections would be held with the same district map  unless theres a public referendum to change it.

Lawmakers in a bill introduced by state Sen. Trudy Wade (R-Greensboro) had changed the council from five districts and three at-large seats to eight newly drawn districts and limited the mayor to a vote only in the event of a tie.

But Eagles ruled that lawmakers had redrawn those districts to dilute the Democratic vote and give Republican candidates an advantage.

The appropriate remedy for a law that violates the one-person, one-vote principle is an injunction against elections conducted under the Acts unconstitutional redistricting, Eagles wrote in her order.

Eagles ruled that the Guilford County Board of Elections, which was the only defendant in the lawsuit, cannot hold any election using the General Assemblys bill unless the boundaries of each district are drawn fairly.

Even before the bill was passed, council members and Greensboro residents had taken issue with the restructuring, believing that the law increased the weight of Republican-leaning voters and decreased the weight of Democratic-leaning voters. There were numerous public meetings to protest the law because it wouldnt allow voters to have any input.

After the initial bill was passed, lawmakers passed a technical corrections bill that returned the makeup of the districts to voters, but only after the 2020 census.

After lawmakers passed the bill on July 2, 2015, city leaders and six residents immediately filed a lawsuit against the Guilford County Board of Elections in the U.S. Middle District Court asking a judge to stop the board from carrying out an election using the new districts. Eagles issued an injunction in July 2015 so that the 2015 election could go forward under the existing districts.

In October 2015, nine residents had joined the lawsuit as defendants, stating that their interests werent being represented adequately. In November, just two months before the case went to trial, those defendants asked to be removed from the lawsuit.

Neither the General Assembly nor lawmakers were named as defendants in the lawsuit. Mark Payne, attorney for the Guilford County Board of Elections, told Eagles he could not defend his clients in the lawsuit because the board carries out fair and impartial elections but has no control over district lines or the bill.

Paynes stance left plaintiffs attorneys, led by Allison Riggs, senior attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice Riggs, and several of her colleagues arguing in court without a defendant in opposition.

But Eagles ruled that the General Assembly had singled out Greensboros residents because the bill prevented them from voting on future referendums that would allow the council or voters to change the makeup of the City Council.

We are pleased that the court recognized the wrong that would have been done to the city of Greensboro and its residents if this redistricting scheme were allowed to go into effect, Riggs said. We can debate policies and practices, but there are certain rights that should never be denied to anyone in America. One of those is the right to have everyones vote have the same weight.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan posted a message about the judgment on her Facebook feed, quoting Tom Carruthers, the city attorney.

Judge Eagles has entered summary judgment in favor of the city of Greensboro redistricting case this morning, Carruthers wrote. She found the limitation of the right of voter initiative and referendum violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. and N.C. Constitutions.

Many of Vaughans Facebook followers responded, saying it was great news and thanking the mayor for fighting against racial gerrymandering.

Eagles wrote in her ruling that this case compared to a lawsuit in Raleigh, including that lawmakers refused to come to court to defend that case.

Eagles said in both cases the redistricting happened without input from appropriate parties and that voters had been packed into specific districts to give Republicans an advantage.

She also pointed out that, in both the Raleigh and Greensboro cases, computer models revealed that districts were drawn outside the range of a nonpartisan redrawn district process.

Eagles wrote that the plaintiffs could prove an equal-protection violation because it was more probable than not that the General Assembly used illegitimate reapportionment factors.

Eagles wrote that a preliminary ruling she made to continue the 2017 election under the current district plan would continue until she files a permanent injunction, which would ban the new districts forever.

When the legislature overreached into local politics, it did so with no regard for respecting the peoples right to have their voice heard, Riggs stated in a news release. Today, the court correctly provided a check for a gross legislative overreach.
GREENSBORO  He stood there at first, just sobbing with his arms wrapped around his mothers waist, one of the several hundred people gathered at FaithAction International House.

But then he had something to say.

In a tiny voice that grew stronger as he was passed a microphone, the boy looked out in the pouring rain to those who gathered  clergy, advocates and just people drawn to the plight of immigrants.

He might not know what the letters meant, but he knew that ICE  the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency  had picked up his dad after he left for work on an early morning last month.

And he hasnt seen him since.

Others on Monday night shared similar stories, tears and pain.

I miss my dad, the boy said, fighting back tears. Nothing is ever the same without him. I just want to see his face.

Those in the crowd standing behind him, which snaked out into the yard, spoke of not wanting other children to feel that way. They are trying to rally communities to push those in Congress and the president to come up with a comprehensive policy with a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

They want a meeting between faith leaders and ICE to bring some humanity to the process.

They asked ordinary citizens to call elected officials to make sure their voices are heard.

And they spoke of the recent ICE raids in Greensboro, which some immigration activists say ensnared even those without criminal records. FaithAction estimates there are about 10,000 families with a parent that might be undocumented or working on their status.

The Rev. Diane Givens Moffett of St. James Presbyterian Church, a co-leader of the Greensboro Faith Leaders Council, reminded those who gathered that there was a time when her ancestors were treated with indifference.

We know what it means for families to be split up like they were playing cards, Moffett said.

And it was families, especially children, whose voices made the most impact in rallying the crowd.

A young daughter also spoke of missing her dad.

I started crying at school, she said. I didnt know what to do.
GREENSBORO  Crews for the N.C. Department of Transportation plan to close the ramps accessing Holden Road at Interstate 85 Business north and south Tuesday night.

The closure allows crews to repair and replace pavement markings and lines along the ramp.

Weather permitting the ramp will be closed from 8:30 p.m. until midnight.

Crews ask motorists to pay attention to road signs and obey the Move Over Law, which requires drivers to move over one lane if possible and reduce speed for construction works with flashing lights on the shoulder of a highway.
I was shocked when I read a recent letter in the News & Record by an optometrist who claimed that she has to refer (patients) out for simple office procedures, requiring them to drive into Greensboro or Winston-Salem.

A simple Google search shows that there is a full-time ophthalmology office less than 1.5 miles from her office. And Healthgrades.com shows eight ophthalmologists accepting new patients within 10 miles of Kernersville.

Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who have spent four years in medical school and another four years in residency to learn the intricacies of eye surgery with scalpels and lasers. Optometrists provide excellent eye care but do not attend medical school and are not trained in surgery.

There is no substitute for the years of education that eye surgery requires or for the patient safety it promotes. North Carolinians deserve the very best surgical care, even if they have to drive a whole mile and a half to get it.

With two misguided bills pending in the General Assembly that would let non-surgeons perform eye surgery, every North Carolina patient should demand that our states laws protect their safety first and foremost.

For more information, go to safesurgerync.com.

Chad Brasington, M.D.

Burlington
SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday grilled former President Park Geun-hye, who has been taken into custody over corruption allegations.

Park has been held in detention at a detention center outside Seoul since March 31 when a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for the former leader.

She was removed from office in a ruling on March 10 by the constitutional court to uphold the impeachment bill.

The special investigation headquarters of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, tasked with the probe into the corruption scandal embroiling Park, said via text message that the grilling of Park kicked off at about 10 a.m..

Prosecutors visited the detention center, not summoning Park, for guard reasons. Park was summoned on March 21 for questioning over multiple charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion.

Park is accused of conspiring with her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, who is also in custody and on trial, to receive tens of millions of U.S. dollars in bribes from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent of the country's biggest family-controlled conglomerate.

The bribes were given in exchange for providing assistance in Lee's inheritance of Samsung's management control from his ailing father Chairman Lee Kun-hee who has been hospitalized for almost three years.

Prosecutors already identified Park and Choi as criminal accomplices. A total of 13 charges were levied at Park.

Choi is charged with extorting tens of millions of dollars from scores of business conglomerates to establish two nonprofit foundations she used for personal gains.

One of Park's former secretaries was accused of leaking confidential government documents to Choi on a regular basis to let Choi meddle in state affairs behind the scenes.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Its tough to look at art the same way after seeing Brooklyn-based artist Ariel Adkins trendy take on sculptures and paintings from around the world.

Every week, the blogger and founder of Artfully Awear transforms an art installation into a wearable masterpiece with simple tools like paints and a jumpsuit. My main art is art inspired by other art, Adkins said.

The young artist and entrepreneur has turned a Claude Monet painting into a party dress and modeled thrifty outfits inspired by Pablo Picasso works. Her favorite innovation is a shift dress covered in vibrant blue, pink and orange fringe that mimics a Nigerian architects multicolored, floor-to-ceiling ropes exhibit shown in Philadelphia last fall. The artist, Francis Kere, was so impressed he ordered a matching jacket from her.

As the brand suggests, Artfully Awear aims to fuse art and fashion as well as push people to engage with art from an alternative perspective.

I like giving an example of how two plus two equals five, Adkins said before hosting a workshop for young girls in Greenwich last week. I think about what I do as artwork inspired by another piece where the product equals more than the sum of the parts because of the emotional experience of the process.

Last week, she joined forces with fellow young female business owner Molly Wills in Greenwich to host a workshop. The two met in college and celebrated an anniversary of sorts Friday at Wills Waverly studio as they first collaborated several years ago when both were working to lift their businesses off the ground.

I love her concept; I think its so brilliant, said Wills, whose Waverly Project exposes girls to experiences and mentors through weekly events. It pairs especially well with the Waverly mission, which is about enjoying the creative process and the girls realizing it can be inspired by anything that interests them. (Adkins) lets art inspire her creative process and it could be anything for them.

Adkins has been diligently producing her weekly projects and pursuing marketing for Artfully Awear for a few years, Adkins said, but she formed the concept 10 years ago.

As an active thrift shopper, Adkins found a secondhand skirt that instantly reminded her of Monets impressionistic paintings Haystacks. The skirt wasnt that attractive, Adkins recalls, it just turned a knob in my head because of its similarities to the famous work.

It was actually kind of ugly, Adkins said of the full skirt that portrayed images of haystacks and farming equipment. I didnt really like the pattern.

But her philosophy is that she doesnt have to like every piece she works with. Theres an endless amount of inspiration out there, and I dont have to like all of it, she said.

Adkins, who pairs her Artfully Awear work with a position as an arts and cultural liaison for a social media platform, said she doesnt get paid for all of her projects, but the number of museums and artists reaching out to her for collaborations is growing.

I want to go everywhere, she said.

MBennett@greenwichtime.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_
MC2 Sean Castellano

An Orange company that had filed notice with the state of Connecticut on pending layoffs has a potential buyer lined up that would keep the large majority of those jobs intact, according to an executive overseeing a bankruptcy restructuring.

Valley Tool & Manufacturing had filed a notice with the Connecticut Department of Labor warning of 65 job cuts for early June, following a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by its California parent company GroupAero.
2017 is poised to be a promising year for venture capital activity. Startup companies -- and the venture capital funds that invest in them -- enjoyed a blistering 2015 in which investors deployed $60 billion in venture funding, the second highest total since 1995.

2016 included the minor correction that many industry leaders had called for, as funding hit a low during the first quarter of the year. The market for technology IPOs was nearly non-existent. At one point in 2016, only 17 percent of startup companies voiced an ambition to IPO. The obsession with unicorns (companies worth more than $1 billion) has somewhat waned.

Related: How to Start a Business With (Almost) No Money

As we look ahead, the commercial climate is cause for cautious optimism. Venture funds are largely flush with cash, tech M&A activity is surging (see Microsofts $26-billion acquisition of LinkedIn or Symantecs nearly $5-billion acquisition of Blue Coat Systems as examples) and Snaps successful public offering has redirected the worlds searchlights onto Silicon Valley.

I caught up with Craig Jacoby, partner in Cooley LLPs Emerging Companies Group, to discuss the latest strategies involved in financing your companys growth. Jacoby has a sterling client list (including Yelp and New Relic) that he advises from Cooleys San Francisco office -- and has led hundreds of successful startup financings.

Traditional VC structures: the tried and true

Priced equity rounds

A priced round is defined as a sale of stock in your company at an agreed-upon price per share. Upon the consummation of the transaction, investors become owners in your business. Priced equity rounds are often the best solution for entrepreneurs, explains Jacoby. The terms are set today, and the necessary documents and infrastructure are put in place to ensure that the company can continue to scale effectively in future rounds.

The upfront cost often pushes founders away from priced equity rounds. However, for companies and investors that are generally agreeable, a deal can be closed for as little as $10,000-$15,000 on the investor side and not necessarily a whole lot more than that on the company side. When you account for the incremental cost of a note deal, and then also account for the benefits of having clean documents in place, it means that priced equity rounds can actually save significant costs in the long run, Jacoby says.

Related: VC 100: The Top Investors in Early-Stage Startups

Convertible debt

Convertible debt consists of short-term notes, and is commonly used for financing rounds for early-stage companies before or between priced equity rounds," Jacoby says. "The notes convert to equity when the startup completes its next equity funding round, typically within 12 to 24 months. A crucial distinction between convertible debt and priced equity rounds is that convertible debt allows the company to defer valuation until that next funding round.

Convertible debt can include traps for both entrepreneurs and investors, Jacoby adds. One widespread change in convertible notes over the last 10 years has been the increasing prevalence of valuation caps on convertible notes, meaning that the investor will convert into equity but at a capped valuation.

Caps arent necessarily better for founders. Especially if the cap is set at or around the valuation the company could command in a priced round, it can lead to more dilution and more investor protections than a priced round. In that situation, a capped note is like an equity round with redemption rights, accruing dividends and full ratchet anti-dilution protection, all of which would be pretty rare in early stage equity financings.

Related: You Want to Start a Business -- How Should You Finance It?

Newer structures for raising cash

Silicon Valley has a distinct engineering culture, Jacoby emphasizes. Which means that there is constant innovation in search of 1 percent improvements. In the instances of SAFEs and KISSes, Im not sure that the benefits outweigh the accompanying complications.

SAFEs

Y Combinator is credited with creation of SAFEs, or a Simple Agreement for Future Equity. While the SAFE has appeared in a number of forms, the basic concept is that the investor provides funding to the company in exchange for the right to receive equity upon a future event. The standard SAFE contains no term or repayment date, and no interest accrues. The investor gets the right to receive the companys equity upon a future equity financing, typically at a discount.

Jacoby emphasizes that many investors have little interest in engaging in SAFE transactions. For some investors, these instruments suggest a lack of commitment to treating the investors fairly, since they never offer the investors an opportunity to say in the future: This is not going well, what are we going to do about it?

Related: The 3 Big Things VCs Look For When Funding Startups

KISSes

500 Startups is largely credited with the creation of the KISS, or Keep it Simple Security. Again, KISSes often lack interest payments or a maturity date. Jacoby is similarly reluctant towards embracing any hype around KISSes. We are often asked by founders what will happen if they are unsuccessful in reaching an equity round by the maturity date of a convertible note -- whether the investors will come after the intellectual property or the office chairs as collateral. The reality is that seasoned professional investors arent motivated by failed company assets, and will almost never pursue an action against a failing company. However, the KISS essentially grants the investor absolutely no rights until a future financing occurs -- even symbolic rights. Many pretty well-known investors shy away from engaging in KISS transactions.

Most professional investors dont simply want their money back, they want to convert equity into a fantastically successfully company. They will typically extend the terms of their notes and do whatever it takes to maximize a startups runway. "Many of these new structures are designed more to allay founders anxieties than to fix problems actually occurring in financings . . . . Theyre sort of solutions in search of their own problems.

Adopting the right mindset when it comes to raising venture capital

Entrepreneurs who have been through the fundraising process multiple times realize that venture funding is more of a marriage than a transaction.

The founder is bound to a lead investor, especially those who join your board of directors. They are your new business partners working on your baby. You want to do your own diligence on how they approach different business problems and the kind of advice that they give. Founders should start to develop relationships months before they plan to ask for money. Investors love proprietary deal flow and will respect your foresight as a founder.

Related: 5 Types of Startup Investors to Avoid

There is an old adage in Silicon Valley: If you want money, ask for advice -- if you want advice, ask for money. When you ask a venture capitalist for funding, they are almost searching for reasons why they shouldnt invest.

Instead, when you solicit their advice and update them with your progress every month, they start to gain insight into your willingness to learn and adapt, a vital observation for an investor, Jacoby emphasizes. This gives you a whole new way to impress them with your abilities -- until at one point you receive a note in your inbox asking, This is a preemptive term sheet, what would you say about us leading a round?

Proper fundraising efforts and strategy can make or break an early-stage venture. Make sure youre as informed as your lawyer and the venture capitalist on the other side of the table as you approach the process  to ensure the best possible outcome for the long-term future of your company.

Related:

Raising Capital? The Latest (and Greatest) Ways to Fund Your Startup

Facebook Now Allows You to Create Fundraisers

What This Investor Looks for When Funding a Company



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
I met many interesting and brilliant entrepreneurs at the World Government Summit in Dubai this year, but one of the most enlightening and surprising was Israeli native and Silicon Valley veteran, Jonathan Matus, CEO and founder of Zendrive. Aside from being a former Google and Facebook employee -- who also graduated from Harvard -- Matus was a requested Israeli speaker in the UAE. Why is this surprising? For those who dont know, Israelites are more often than not denied visas to enter the UAE. But the technology that Matus and his team at Zendrive have created has sparked the interest of people everywhere, including the UAE.

His groundbreaking technology could reduce automotive crashes drastically, but what does this mean for the future of jobs involving drivers of these automobiles? Autonomous vehicles were one of the main topics of discussion at the Summit this year, so perhaps artificial intelligence, in relation to our own vehicles, is closer than we think.

Related: 5 Major Artificial Intelligence Hurdles We're on Track to Overcome by 2020

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Matus, and you can read it below.

Q: There is a lot of amazing tech coming out of Israel. What brought you to create Zendrive?

I came to the states for college, I went to Harvard and studied A.I.. Following that, I joined Google very early on. I was the 25th employee on the Android team. Using that as a segway, I spent the last 11 or 12 years in Silicon Valley working on some pretty cool tech stuff including launching Androids, picture recognition in Google, Facebook mobile and now Zendrive.

Q: How did you end up speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai? As an Israeli, that is quite astonishing, isnt it?

Got it (laughs), yes, it is pretty surreal. At Zendrive, we are very much involved with both artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. We were invited by one of the main editors of Wired, who is a world expert of artificial intelligence, to come and share a little bit of the next decade or two decades of artificial intelligence and the impact of technology and the social makeup, and to help governments and policy makers plan for it. It was a really interesting panel.

Q: I listened to your panel about autonomous cars. What do you foresee the next job opportunities are for people who drive cars for a living and wont be able to in the future?

Thats the billion-dollar question. I think job displacement is a major problem and one that should be addressed primarily through education. People who consider themselves drivers need to be retrained and will need to find new occupations. There are a lot of opportunities, a lot of them mainly in technology, of course, but technical skills are considered to be relatively difficult to acquire. If there is a strategic investment in making coding accessible to everyone, everywhere, these people will be assimilated into the economy very quickly. But because this doesnt fit everyone, you need to come up with other service jobs and other opportunities, and I dont think anyone has a really good answer for immediate employment opportunities.

Related: Good, Bad & Ugly! Artificial Intelligence for Humans is All of This & More

Q: I have read that the mission of the company is to make roads safer. It seems that this company cares a lot about people. What was the primary reason for creating Zendrive?

Absolutely. When I quit Facebook, after working about 7 years with Google and Facebook, I was hugely frustrated with the amount of talent and caliber of people that focus all their attention on the advertising space. Why do you need too many PhDs and smart folks optimizing click through rates? This is to essentially make people buy stuff they dont need. I felt that there is a need, opportunity and a requirement for folks to focus their attention on mission-driven and socially beneficial projects.

So, with Zendrive, our mission is to make roads safe using data analytics, and we put together the worlds best team to solve this. When we measure progress, its not just in terms of dollars or in term of miles that weve tracked. Its in terms of lives that weve saved and the impact that we have on roads globally.

Q: How did you build such a strong team?

My co-founder and I have known each other for about 11 years now, he was my first tech lead at Google. He built and scaled the artificial intelligence engine behind speech recognition at Google. He is literally one of the smartest people on the planet. When I met him, we had a geek bro-mance. We really liked talking tech and talking shop, and we knew that we were going to work together in the future. When I was ready to start my new chapter, he happened to be in Silicon Valley, and we went out for dinner. We knew we had to do this together.

Q: For people who want to work with you, what are three things you look for in a new hire or partner?

The first one is curiosity. I believe that in order to be successful in whatever it is you do, you need to learn every day, have a passion for meeting new people and want to solving problems. The second thing is passion for making positive social impact. We call it focusing on the mission. The people who come to Zendrive are not here because of the paycheck. They work at Zendrive because they want to look back and say, "I really made an important change in the world." The third thing is what we call true grit. Startups are difficult. Going after a huge problem like road safety is something that has its ups and downs. Sometimes things go amazingly well, and youre speaking at a panel in Dubai. Sometimes things can be really difficult, and youre banging your head against the wall because you cant solve a technical problem. Being able to stay focused and determined, even in the toughest times, is a very important property for entrepreneurs and startup people.

Related: How Artificial Intelligence Startups Strike Gold

Q: How do your parents feel about all your success?

I dont consider myself very successful; I am very lucky. My parents are very proud, and they are also very supportive. My mother has this saying -- "Take things gradually, dont go all in, and you are too determined and driven!" She reminds me every now and then to take a breather, go to a beautiful forest or meditate. I owe her that, and I miss them a lot actually.

I find that many strong entrepreneurs also have a strong mother, of course. This new technology is exciting, groundbreaking and could change the world in so many ways. Like all changes, mostly involving technology, there are pros and cons. With artificial intelligence rising at a rapid speed, Matus hints that we may need to re-vamp our education system and teach the world how to flow with new technologies and companies like Zendrive. This new technology clearly does not simply address road safety, and it raises the bar for artificial intelligence and job opportunities across the globe.

Related:

The Future of Driving as Seen From the World Government Summit

How to Embrace AI for Enacting Humanitarian Change

How India's Growth Curve Can Reach A New High Riding On Artificial Intelligence



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
UPMs logging camp. Photo by Guan Kejiang from Peoples Daily

Chinas supply-side structural reform, priority in innovation and other efforts in economic transformation have provided foreign companies more business opportunities. UPM, a Finnish frontrunner of the new forest industry, is one of those companies betting on the promising Chinese market.

In the past two decades, the company has invested a total of 2 billion dollars in Chinese market.

Bernd Eikens, Executive Vice President of UPM Specialty Papers told the Peoples Daily that since the company accessed to Chinese market in 1998, it has designed a long-term strategy forChinese business.

With an emphasis on cyclic economy, resource efficiency and innovative development models, the firm will seek industrial transformation by applying high-tech into traditional industries, he added.

UPM hosted Xi Jinping, then the vice president of China, to see a forest harvest demonstration in Rovaniemi,administrative capital of Laplandprovince, during his Finnish trip seven years ago.

UPM staff in logging camp. Photo by Guan Kejiang from Peoples Daily

Xis tour in 2010 not only shows Chinese leaders emphasis on sustainable development, but also cements the companys confidence in Chinese market, Eikens pointed out.

Expecting the upcoming state visit paid by Xi, now Chinese President, to Finland, Eikens believed that the economic cooperation between the two countries will embrace new chances.

As a key pillar of Finnish economy, forestry contributed 18 percent to the countrys industrial output as well as 15 percent to its job positions.

MikkoValikangas, manager of the biofore companys forest department, told the Peoples Daily during a visit to one of companys logging camps, that Finland plants more trees while felling them, in order to maximize their use.

The companys logging camp, located in a flourish forest north to Helsinki, the capital and largest city of Finland, takes about one-hour drive to arrive from the capital city.

Data showed the country cut down 56 millioncubic metres of trees in 2014, but it planted over 100 million cubic metres each year. Valikangas explained that the plants can grow better with intermediate cuttings.

Eikens added that the Chinese government is now accelerating its efforts to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, divert foreign capital into emerging sectors, and seek technology cooperation through foreign investment.

The country, in both supply-side structural reform and its Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, required stricter rules on environmental protection, he said, believing it means promising business prospect for large-sized environment-friendly paper mills.

The UPMs business strategy in also in line with Chinas goals for green development, he said, pledging that the firm will keep its commitment and provide China with renewable products in an efficient fashion.
Those who live in Connecticut may find the idea of traveling to vacation in our state a little strange when compared to places like Seychelles and Tuscany. But travel site Expedia puts Greenwich on the same level as those destinations.

The site recently named the top 26 most extravagant vacations around the world (in no particular order) and Greenwich made the cut.
Photo taken shows the equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim in centre of Helsinki, capital of Finland. (Photo: Finnish Tourist Board)

Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming state visit to Finland is of global significance as it has already gone beyond bilateral range, a Chinese expert said before Xi kicks off his three-day trip on Tuesday.

The forthcoming trip will be Xis first visit to a Northern European country as a head of state, as well as his first tour to an EU member this year.

Enjoying a traditional friendship with China, Finland was among the earliest Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China, and also the first Western nation that inked an inter-governmental trade agreement with China.

Thanks to the sound momentum of bilateral relations in recent years, it is expected that a number of new highlights will be generated from this visit, also the first one by a Chinese president to Finland in 22 years.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for EU Studies at Renmin University of China, said that as the only eurozone member in Northern Europe, Finland was the biggest victim of European debt crisis in the region.

In light of the current rising tide of de-globalization as well as bottlenecks laying ahead European integration, Finland hopes to propel free trade and economic globalization together with China, he added.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. Europe needs more support from China and gives it more weight when the European integration process is hampered by headwinds, the expert pointed out.

Chinas supports to European integration and devotion to economic globalization together with Europe, which have transcended bilateral scope, serve as a model for global governance and international multilateralism, Wang said.

He believed that Xis upcoming visit will definitely elevate China-Finland relationship, deepen cooperation between China and Northern Europe and contribute to four major China-EU partnerships featuring peace, growth, reform and civilization.

Finland, located along Baltic Sea and Arctic region, also works as a belt linking the Belt and Road routes with the Eurasian continent. The 16+1 cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European countries can stretch to this nation as well.

Some Finnish scholars regarded the adventure of Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, a Finnish statesman and explorer also known as Marshal of Finland", in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as a preface to concerted efforts of both nations in Belt and Road construction, Wang pointed, adding that his equestrian statue in Helsinki depicts Finlands bond with the route.
These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.
The hopes of seeing a foldable Samsung smartphone this year were killed today. The Samsung Display Principal Engineer Kim Tae-woong said the bezel-less display sells well and there is no need to rush a technology that will only be ready for commercial launch in 2019. The statement puts a halt to all the speculations that the alleged Galaxy X could debut at IFA in September.

Korean analysts confirmed that the bezel-less displays are profitable for Samsung and the company doesnt need to rush products that aren't ready. According to Chung Won-seok, Samsung Display has 20% operating profit just from the edgeless OLED screens. He says:

When the demand for bezel-free handsets slows down, Samsung will unveil the foldable display as the next card.

Kim also told Korean media that the display is not entirely ready and there are some technical challenges to be improved. In two years we might see the first foldable Samsung but only bent once. A multi-foldable (both sides) phone would need even more time before being introduced.

Source
MattiVanhanen, former Finnish Prime Minister, former Chairman of the Centre Party and current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament, and his delegation visit ZhongguancunSoftware Park on February 21, 2017. (Photo: website of ZhongguancunSoftware Park)

The time-honored friendship and frequent high-level visits between China and Finland have given a boost to their in-depth collaboration. Zhongguancun, a technology hub in Beijing, also contributed to this process by working as a bridge of innovation cooperation between enterprises of the two countries.

Remarkable accomplishments have been yielded from the hubs endeavor in propelling exchanges of Chinese and Finnish institutions, mergers and market access of respective companies, personnel training and communication, project collaboration as well as technology transfer.

Its representative software park, for instance, has organized several delegations to visit Finland starting from 2004, and at the same time hosted Finnish prime minister, mayors, heads of industrial zones as well as other governmental and business delegations.

The software park has also organized forums themed on bilateral innovation cooperation and business dialogues, while registeringa host of projects on inter-governmental cooperation.

Whats more, aninnovationcooperationcenter on technology between China and Finland has been set up in Helsinki by administrative committee of the hub, the Zhongguancun Development Group, the government of Haidian District where the park is located, together with Finnish governmental institutions.

With concerted efforts from governmental departments, operation platforms and industrial parks, the center works as both nationsstagefor innovation cooperation.

Thanks to the platforms communication and mediation, China-funded companies have concluded the deals to acquire Finnish air cleaning expert AAVI Technologies, software house Progman and Mobile operating system maker Jolla.

It also managed to introduce SLUSH, a big event for Finnish startup, to China. As a platform and bridge connecting startups, tech talent with top-tier international investors, executives and media, SLUSH has grown into one of the leading startup and technology events in Europe.

SLUSH China was organized in the software park for the first time in 2015, during which 80 dialogue events were hosted for 1,200 guests, including 340 startups and 250 investors from 13 countries.

After the SLUSH event came to China, the center also played a propelling part in a cooperation agreement on innovation fund among Finpro, a public organization consisting of Export Finland, Visit Finland and Invest in Finland, administrative committee of Zhongguancun, and Haidian government, laying a foundation for further China-Finland cooperation in high-tech fields.

In a visit to the software park this February, MattiVanhanen, former Finnish Prime Minister and current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament, praised the parks achievements in recent years.

Vanhanen, also former Chairman of the Centre Party, promised to expanda complementary and win-win technology cooperation between the two nations to more fields.
By Vasia Orion | Published on 2017/04/03

Yeong-joo continues to dig deeper and Dong-joo continues to become more and more disgusting in episode three of "Whisper". Soo-yeon has picked up on the fact that Dong-joon is being blackmailed and she tries to weasel the culprit's name out of him. Meanwhile Jeong-il has his own revelations and things become clearer regarding the different alliances and conflicting interests within Taebaek.

Advertisement

Before getting to the current villain tally and their good and bad, I want to express a suspicion. It is the suspicion that "Whisper" will become trapped in the same cycle that "Punch - Drama" suffered from. Escalating the stakes and switching up how the push and pull of protagonists and antagonists happens is good, but when everyone backstabs one another in the same exact way for an entire series, things gets boring quite fast. We know neither side will win until the end, so there is no suspense.

Returning to the aforementioned villains, Park Kyeong-soo loves his flawed characters, but I think he may have reached a tipping point with Dong-joon (Lee Sang-yoon). Ruthless villains are easy to enjoy, but nobody likes a self-serving coward. Dong-joon is the worst possible type to expect viewer acceptance for. All is well so far, the story clearly wants viewers to hate him with the fire of a thousand suns as a villain protagonist, but if the romance element still stands, then we have a problem.

By now there is no conceivable way to turn Dong-joon into a romantic lead. If it happens, it will be unconvincing and derogatory towards those wronged by his actions. If you go through such a thorough cementing of someone as selfishly wicked and then ask viewers to swoon over the person you painted as the worst leech of society, you are asking for too much. Perhaps Dong-joon is supposed to be more nuanced, but Lee Sang-yoon is just not hitting those notes for me.

Speaking of romance, "love" is in the air and although Soo-yeon (Park Se-young) and Jeong-il's (Kwon Yul) relationship is not surprising, it forms a formidable duo with individual ambitions directly opposed to our leads. At the moment I am enjoying their characters due to how they torture Dong-joon; seeing villains suffer is one of the best parts in Park Kyeong-soo's writing after all. That being said, our heroine will have to face them as well.

"Whisper" still leaves a lot to be desired and the only cause for emotional investment is Yeong-joo's (Lee Bo-young) plight. We keep seeing Dong-joon sinking deeper, but our leading woman is not getting the same focus and attention. She just acts based on the story's needs for plot progression and very little about her matters outside of those actions. I hope to see her developed more.

"Whisper" is directed by Lee Myeong-woo, written by Park Kyeong-soo and features Lee Bo-young, Lee Sang-yoon, Kwon Yul and Park Se-young.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Watch on Viki

Note: Due to licensing, videos may not be available in your country
The China-US ties have grown into the most important and complicated bilateral relationship in todays world. Given the current complexinternational arena and rising challenges, it is more necessary and urgent for both nations to beef up collaboration.

Since Donald Trump took office as US President, both countries have maintained close contacts on issues of common concern.

In a phone conversation with Trump on February 10, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed that China is ready to, together with the US, seek healthy, stable development of and fruitful outcomes from bilateral relations by intensifying communication and cooperation, in a bid to benefit the people of both countries and the whole world.

Stressing US governments adherence to the one-China policy, Trump agreed that the US and China, as cooperation partners, could push bilateral ties to a historic new high with concerted efforts.

The interactions and reassuranceof Chinese and US top leaders released a positive signal for progress of bilateral relationship.

The architecture of todays world is going through the most complicated adjustment since the end of the Cold War. The rapid development of emerging economies and developing nations has endowed them with increasing global influence.

As a result of such power shift in world stage, the less confident and anxious Western countries have brought more uncertainties to international relations.

China, thanks to its growing national strength and all-dimensional diplomacy, has exhibited more confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It also played an increasing weight in shaping its ties with the US.

The whereabouts of China-US ties not only has a bearing on the two countries, but the world at large. Their cooperation and common development will not only benefit their own peoples, but facilitate stability, peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and the whole globe.

It is objective to say that there are divergences between China and the US, but it has to be pointed out that they are now facing increasingly more common interest.

Both sides should launch dialogues, show their hand and make cooperation in a frank fashion, so that their ties could move ahead along a path without hidden obstacles.

There are indeed some grounds China and the US are competing and gaming, but neither of them wants conflicts and confrontation. Looking into the future, both sides need to, first of all, expand their interest and focus on collaboration.

Both as permanent members of the UN Security Council, the two countries shoulder significant and unique responsibilities for regional and world peace, security and prosperity.

When coming to the Asia-Pacific region, they should makeconstructivecontribution to regional peace, stability and prosperity.

The vast Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate both China and the US. Both countries share extensive common interest, and their economic and trade ties serve as the ballast stone of the overall relationship.

China and the US need to make a larger cake of common interests and reinforce pragmatic cooperation in employment, investment and infrastructure.

With different national conditions, the two powers should also seek common grounds while shelving differences based on mutual respect.

A key precondition for sound and stable bilateral relationship is their respect to each others sovereignty and territorial integrity, chosen political system and development path as well as core interests and major concerns, while another foundation is that each country should never impose its own willingness or model onto the other side.

China, who has been pursuing peaceful development, will by no means pose threats to the US. It is hoped that the US could seek cooperation opportunities with China by viewing Chinas changes in a right way, abandoning the zero-sum games and Cold War mindset and bracing for Chinas progress and success with an inclusive attitude.

Wise people will seek common interests, while the unwise will focus only on differences.

In light of their difference in development stages, social systems, cultures and economic interest, there must be some misunderstanding and disagreements between China and the US. But it is more important for the two nations to bear a far-sighted and long-term vision in mind and never shake the foundation for a stable relationship because of individual incidents.

They should deal with disagreements and sensitive issues in a constructive and appropriate manner without damaging each others core interest. China and the US, in essence, can secure mutual benefit and win-win outcomes from their relations.

As Xi once said, The facts prove that cooperation is the only correct choice for China and the US, their cooperation will play an irreplaceable part in addressing all world challenges.

The principle China upholds in developing its ties with the US, namely non-confrontation, no conflict, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation, not only confirms to the fundamental interest of both countries, but keeps abreast with the epochal trend themed with peace, development and progress.
Honolulu first in the nation for solar per capita

News Release from Environment America, April 4, 2017

Honolulu - Honolulu ranks first for installed solar capacity per capita in the United States, according to new analysis released today by Environment America Research & Policy Center.

The report comes amid Trump administration rollbacks of Obama-era policies aimed at reducing climate emissions and encouraging renewable energy.

Solar on thousands of homes and government buildings is helping Honolulu reach our sustainable energy goals. Sending money overseas to ship oil and coal to our island that is bathed in sun all year round just doesnt make sense anymore, said Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell. We are on the front lines of sea level rise and other climate change effects and we must continue reducing our use of fossil fuels. Solar will continue being a big part of the solution along with waste-to-energy, wind, and other renewable sources.

The report, Shining Cities: How Smart Local Policies Are Expanding Solar Power in America, ranks Honolulu ahead of cities like Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles.

By using solar power in Honolulu, we can reduce pollution and improve public health for everyday citizens, said Bret Fanshaw with Environment America Research & Policy Center, report co-author. To realize these benefits, city leaders should continue to embrace a big vision for solar on rooftops throughout the community.

The figures in the report reflect the recent growth of solar across the country. The top 20 cities listed in the report have nearly as much solar today as the entire country had installed in 2010. In 2016, solar was the number one new source of energy installed in America.

The Solar Foundation just released new data showing there are 1,939 people employed in solar in Honolulu County.

Despite that growth, challenges remain for the solar industry in Hawaii. In 2015, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission eliminated Hawaiis net metering policy, a key driver of rooftop solar.

Hawaii is a success story because of the high price of electricity, state tax credits, continued drop in price of technology, and sunny location, said Colin Yost, Chief Operating Officer of Revolusun. All of the success Hawaii has had is because of cheaper technology and constant consumer demand. The speed of solar integration in Hawaii will continue to increase because of that technology pricing and demand, despite policy setbacks."

Cities can push solar forward in a number of ways, according to the report. Among the recommendations, cities can set a goal for solar usage, help residents finance solar power and put solar on government buildings.

Cities are big energy users with lots of unutilized roof space suitable for solar panels, said Fanshaw. Honolulu can continue to lead the way and protect our environment by using as much of its solar potential as possible.

###

Link: Shining Cities 2017

LOL: No Blackout: RevoluSun Exposed

Environment America Research & Policy Center is a national environmental organization dedicated to protecting our air, water and open spaces.

www.EnvironmentAmericaCenter.org
ebrity chef George Calombaris has been forced to pay out up to $2.6 million for underpayments to 403 of his restaurants employees. This includes staff at his Melbourne restaurants The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic.MAdE Establishment Group were first alerted to the problems by the Fair Work Ombudsman more than 18 months ago.The hospitality business used professional services firm KPMG to conduct a comprehensive analysis after a new chief executive and human resources manager started in late 2016 at the MAdE Establishment operations.The findings included instances of unintentional underpayment - where the salaries and overtime paid to some staff were below what they should have been. The company blamed "historically poor processes".The Masterchef judge is MAdE Establishment Group's director and founder, and said the company had not properly managed its huge growth over the past six years."Regrettably our attention to detail at that time wasn't at a level it should have been, but we now have a CEO and Human Resources Manager in place, supported by good processes and systems to properly support the business, said Calombaris.He added that he was "devastated" by the situation, which led to staff members being repaid an average of more than $16,000. The company said it had calculated the reimbursements using the highest overtime rate of 200%.Calombaris said the staff affected had been reimbursed yesterday."Our amazing team members are the key to our success. I am sorry we have messed up and let you down on a fundamental issue, which is to ensure our people are paid their full entitlements," he said in a statement."I am devastated by what has happened and we have been working extremely hard to fix this.Moreover, analysis commissioned by the group found that a mix-up in how overtime was calculated also led to a number of staff being overpaid their base salary. However, those who had been overpaid would not be required to repay any money.The Fair Work Ombudsman has been advised about the payment of the $2.6 million and the directors said they would work "collaboratively" with Fair Work through the process.Calombaris, 38, began building his restaurant empire in 2006, with the opening of The Press Club on Flinders Street in Melbourne.Calombaris is currently overseas.
What is your current role and what brought you into it?



I am currently the General Manager of People and Culture at Southern Cross Care (NSW & ACT). I feel like I have done a full circle in my career having started out studying a Bachelor of Science with an ambition to working a clinical environment. Instead of post-graduation, I worked in politics and various listed companies in the services sector and now I find myself in aged care.



I came into aged care because I am a specialist in transformation and performance. The sector is under enormous structural change requiring a commercially astute approach to people and culture.



What are some of your current HR challenges?



Leading and communicating a large volume of change across 32 locations and 2100, 24 x 7 shift workers is challenging.



What is the favourite part of your job?



I really enjoying the opportunities I get to be in the business working on building effective working relationships to enable high performance. I also enjoy finding creative ways to solve problems.



What attracted you to a career in HR?



I came into HR through working in mergers and acquisitions. I found that if you get the people part right you can bring the most value to an acquisition.



Whats one piece of HR related advice you would offer?



When implementing any change, be collaborative and start with it 80% there and be agile, tweaking and gaining feedback to make it perfect as you go. Be willing to change tack as new information comes to hand.



What hobbies and interests do you have outside of HR? Do you have any quirky ones?



I love to travel and use every day of my leave every year. My next trip is taking my identical twin 14-year-old daughter to Tokyo for some girl time.



Please complete this sentence: If you werent working in HR, you would be



Probably in any role which involves influencing people and results.




BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg subway that killed at least 11 people, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

At least 11 people were killed and 45 were injured in the explosion, which occurred on the St. Petersburg subway between Sennaya Ploschad and Technologichesky Institute stations on Monday, Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova told reporters.

"China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the terrorist attack. China extends profound condolences to the victims and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured," Hua said.

Calling terrorism a common enemy of mankind, Hua said China is willing to work with Russia and the international community to tackle the threat and challenges of terrorism to maintain world peace and security.
Xi Jinping, President of the Peoples Republic of China, begins his state visit of Finland today. Joined by a delegation that includes his wife and First Lady of China Peng Liyuan, President Xi will remain in Finland until Thursday, 6 April. He will then fly out to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where he will meet US President Donald Trump.

Xis stay in Finland is only the second such visit by a Chinese President and the first for over 20 years. It also represents President Xis first visit to a North European country as head of state, as well as his first tour to an EU member this year.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and First Lady of Finland Jenni Haukio will receive President Xi and his wife at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on Wednesday, 5 April. They are scheduled to hold talks concerning political and economic relations between the two countries. International affairs will also be discussed, such as the partnership between China and the EU.

The visit is also seen as a way of commemorating the longstanding relationship between Finland and China, as well as Finlands centenary year. As President Xi mentioned in his exclusive letter to the Helsinki Times, Finland was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China. Theres a belief that this relationship will only be strengthened in the next few days.

Dan Anderson  HT

Photo: Lehtikuva / AFP / POOL
80 pairs of ceramic shoes representing victims of the Nanjing Massacre are on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Jiangsu province, on April 3, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Eighty pairs of ceramic shoes, representing the victims of the Nanjing Massacre have gone on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

Over 37,000 people came to visit the site to pay tribute to the victims and lay flowers on Sunday, the first day of the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, according to official figures.

Some of the shoes have been placed on top of the soil, some are half buried, and some completely covered by the soil in the display to symbolize the distressing pain and stifling oppression suffered by the victims during the massacre.

Thirteen meters long and 1.2 meters wide, the display represents the day that Nanjing was invaded by Japanese invaders on December 13, 1937. Over 300,000 people were killed in the following massacre. The 80 pairs of ceramic shoes represent the 80 anniversary of the massacre.

Wang Cheng, who made the ceramic shoes and a primary school teacher in Nanjing, said that the idea of making the ceramic shoes was inspired by his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland.

"Shoes reveal people's ages, identity and family lives," said Wang. "Every pair of shoes represents a group of people who lost lives in the massacre, including teenagers, adults, the elderly, babies, both male and female."

In a moving gesture, representatives of the massacre survivors took clay from the victims' cemetery and placed it on the ceramic shoes.
The proposed measures include exploring the possibility of revoking the residence permit or protected status of individuals who have travelled abroad to participate in armed conflicts or terrorist activities and are, as a result, deemed to pose a threat to national security or public order.

The ministerial working group on migration has tabled an action plan with a total of 25 recommendations for measures for combating illegal immigration in Finland in 20172020.

The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) estimated in its yearbook at the end of last month that almost 80 adults travelled from Finland to conflict-ridden regions in Iraq and Syria in 2016.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior should according to the action plan assess the need for and draw up additional legislative measures to enhance the efficiency of investigating violations of the Aliens Act. The current legislation stipulates, for example, that the maximum punishment for such violations is a fine and prohibits the investigating authorities from employing a number of forcible measures.

Finland, the working group underscores, must succeed in removing aliens facing removal orders if it is to prevent the emergence of communities of illegal aliens.

Illegal aliens, it adds, not only place a growing burden on social and health care services but also face a relatively high risk of social exclusion, resorting to crime or being exploited by criminal organisations, and contributing towards the growth of the shadow economy.

The other measures set forth in the action plan include raising awareness of unlawful ethnic profiling, establishing sufficient detention facilities for illegal aliens who are likely to attempt to disappear before their removal from the country, and enhancing co-operation with Frontex and Interpol.

International studies indicate that ethnic profiling has a negative impact on the subjects willingness to trust the police and authorities in general, the working group highlights.

The ministerial working group also reminds that although its action plan refers repeatedly to asylum seekers and the criminal activities possibly associated with them, the majority of asylum seekers in the country have conducted themselves above reproach and have sought to establish themselves as natural members of the society.

Illegal residence is, neither in practice nor as a phenomenon, related only to immigrants who have arrived in the country as asylum seekers, it states.

The measures detailed in the four-year action plan will be implemented by a variety of authorities, including the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

The number of people residing in the country without a residence permit is projected to increase as administrative courts work through the backlog of appeals against negative asylum decisions issued by Migri in 2016. Finnish authorities have detected annually slightly over 3,000 illegal residents in recent years.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Seppo Samuli  Lehtikuva
Finland is about to forcibly return asylum seekers to Kabul, despite the fact Afghanistan is not safe according to information provided by the UN. In Germany, for example, five states suspended removals to Afghanistan after the security situation deteriorated, said Eva Biaudet (SFP), an ex-Ombudsman for Minorities.

Human rights activists and opposition members have expressed their dismay at reports that Finland commenced the forced removals of unsuccessful asylum seekers to Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.

Her demands for suspending the forced removals were echoed by the Green League, which revealed that the information at its disposal indicates that the passengers on the flight also included people living alone and families with children.

The removals must be suspended immediately, stated Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League.

Over two hundred people took part in an impromptu demonstration against the forced removals at Helsinki Airport late on Monday.

The Helsinki Police Department, which is responsible for organising removal flights out of Finland, refrained from confirming the reports of the removal flight, which began to emerge yesterday afternoon, until after the flight had taken off  shortly after midnight.

We cant provide information about the schedules. We can never tell about them in advance, nor give any detailed information afterwards, Hannu Pietila, a senior inspector at the Helsinki Police Department, said to Helsingin Sanomat on Monday.

The newspaper also revealed that the flight is believed to be already the third removal flight organised after Finland and Afghanistan signed an agreement on forced removals last October.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Roni Rekomaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
False information has been circulating about the removals carried out yesterday, states Hannu Pietila, a chief inspector at the Helsinki Police Department.

The Helsinki Police Department has issued a press release to repudiate rumours suggesting that children and a pregnant woman were part of the group of asylum seekers deported from Finland to Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.

All of the individuals returned were grown-ups. None of those who were returned were pregnant, as far as the police are aware. Nor did anyone of them want to meet with a counsel, he underlines.

Pietila also revealed that representatives from both the Finnish Embassy in Kabul and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) met the asylum seekers upon their arrival in Afghanistan.

The rumours that circulated on social media prompted an outcry from many human rights activists and opposition members, who urged citizens to participate in protests at Helsinki Airport and at the Helsinki Police Station in Pasila on Monday.

Jere Roimu, a chief inspector at the Helsinki Police Department, says the latter protest was not a peaceful demonstration but an active attempt to prevent law enforcement officials from carrying their duties. Police had to resort to physical force to de-escalate the situation and to employ pepper spray against an individual, he tells in the press release.

Another protest against the forced removals is scheduled to take place at noon today at Kansalaistori Square in Helsinki. Almost 1,500 people have already announced their intention to participate in the protest.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Seppo Samuli  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
A NEW gift, homeware and clothing store has opened in Henley.

Sandie Russell and her daughter-in-law Lise Harrow officially opened Stock at the former Chilton Watson opticians premises in Bell Street, Henley, on Friday.

The shop sells a range of goods including glassware, cushions, greetings cards, picture frames and candles by Charles Farris, which are one of the Queens favourite brands, as well as womens tops and cashmere sweaters for men and women.

Mrs Russell, who lives in Bell Street with her husband Christopher, used to run similar shops in Cambridge but has been working as an interior designer since 2004. The couple moved to the town about seven years ago.

Mrs Harrow, who is originally from Denmark but now lives in Blewbury, is married to Mrs Russells son Rupert Harrow and recently returned to the UK after spending 16 years in Hong Kong, where she ran a number of businesses.

Mrs Russell said independent stores were important to Henley. Marlow has really developed itself with a series of independent boutiques and we should be doing the same thing here, she said.

I feel passionately about independent shops in town centres. They are the lifeblood of a town and provide a greater degree of individuality and choice than the chains.

We will strive hard to help in any way we can for the betterment and success in Henley.

Independent retailers undoubtedly face challenges in Henley but I think theyre still viable.

The town always looks lovely with all its floral displays though it could do with a few more trees. We want to be actively involved in the Henley community and Im particularly keen to play a part in cleaning the pavements as theyre often in quite a poor state and they should be improved to attract visitors.

Stock opened with a soft launch two weeks ago and Mrs Russell said trade had been good.

She said: Its great to be back in retail. I think the shop looks amazing and weve had lovely comments and really good sales, which hopefully will continue.

This unit is in a very good position to get a healthy amount of footfall and the unit is exactly the right size, so we thought it was perfect for what we had envisioned. Henley town manager Helen Barnett, who attended the official launch by Mayor Julian Brookes, said: Im delighted to have such a wonderful, experienced retailer in Henley and I hope that people will support it.

Councillor Brookes added: Its good to see a new shop open but just as importantly its an independent boutique, which is the right kind of shop for the town.

Chilton Watson closed in the autumn, blaming the decision on the threat of a rent increase of more than 30 per cent.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Implementation of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route project opens great prospects for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, Vladimir Telnov, deputy director of the Institute of Public Policy for the Kazakh ruling Nur Otan Party, said.

He made the remarks Apr. 4 during the Baku-Astana video conference following the official visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Azerbaijan.

Telnov recalled that the implementation of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route project and transport cooperation between the two countries were among the main topics of the Apr. 3 talks between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

He noted that currently, the transport infrastructure is actively developing in both countries, new railways and roads are being built and the old ones, as well as the maritime infrastructure, are being modernized.

In this context, Telnov mentioned that in late March 2017, the first cargo from the new Kazakh port of Kuryk arrived in Azerbaijan.

He recalled that the development of transport networks at the time gave impetus to the progress in many Western countries.

At the same time, for the success of the Trans-Caspian route project, it is necessary to create the 21st century transport system on a modern technological basis, having eliminated customs and bureaucratic obstacles for transporters, he said.

He also noted that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan should strive to become not only transit countries for the goods coming from China to Europe and back, but also to become production sites themselves and participate in a single production process in the Eurasian space.

All this will contribute to the growth of the peoples welfare, the expert said.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe.

In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
The businessman who sold coffee from a well-known kiosk in Ballsbridge has said an emotional goodbye to the popular booth.

Brian Kenny had been renting the kiosk on Pembroke Road for nearly five years but his lease on the premises ran out last Friday.

He had been paying rent of 15,600 a year to sell coffee from the landmark building in leafy Dublin 4.

"The lease ran up and we got a marching order for March 31," Mr Kenny told RTE's Liveline yesterday.

"We were there for four years and 11 months, just one month short of being able to have a permanent tenancy lease."

Mr Kenny served his loyal customers for the last time on Friday, saying yesterday was the first Monday he did not open the kiosk in five years.

"Everybody knows it as the wardrobe at the end of the street. It was very emotional on Friday," he said.

Mr Kenny told host Joe Duffy that he knew everybody's orders off by heart.

"You'd nothing else to do but remember people and their orders. It will be sorely missed in the area. It's a really busy spot for a takeaway coffee," he added.

"As far as I know a large multinational is taking over, which doesn't make sense to me.

"I don't know if it will ever be a shop in the way it was. It will never be the same again.

Unique

"I'd say it's more for advertising because I can't see an employee for a large multinational selling coffee there to be honest."

Mr Kenny says he will now focus on his coffee bean roasting company.

"At least I can concentrate on that. It is sad. I don't know if an independent coffee shop will open in the area again because they'll probably need a concession store," he said.

"It was a unique time and a unique business."
A trainee dental nurse who was called "a f**king skankhole" by a Dublin Bus driver has lost a 75,000 damages claim for defamation.

Roxana Pach, of Hansted Road, Lucan, Co Dublin, claimed the remark meant she was a woman of low morals, promiscuous, dishonest, socially undesirable and a prostitute.

Ms Pach told the Circuit Civil Court that, on the evening of November 11, 2015, she boarded a city-bound bus at Adamstown and was told by the driver to leave the bus and pick up some litter he said she had dropped.

She was embarrassed and had refused to do so. Ms Pach said she asked for a ticket and he just stared at her. She had to repeat her request and he had then processed the transaction.

Criticism

After doing so, he called her "a f**king skank", which greatly upset her. When eventually leaving the bus at her stop, he said: "A f**king skankhole."

The driver told barrister Jeri Ward, for Dublin Bus, that there had been an exchange between them regarding the dropping of litter but he denied having used the words she claimed.

Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said the court was satisfied the driver had made the remarks.

"In day-to-day situations, people use throwaway comments of criticism which are not meant in any defamatory manner," said Ms Ward.

"The bus driver got annoyed when the plaintiff refused to pick up the litter, but no reasonable person would pick up the meaning of the plaintiff being a woman of low moral standing, promiscuous or a prostitute by the remarks."

Judge Groarke said Ms Pach had thrown litter on to the ground and he complimented the driver for having taken her to task for that conduct.

"I have found that he uttered the words complained of and there is no question that the words used have the potential to be grievously defamatory of a woman in particular," Judge Groarke said.

He said the question before the court was, would it be reasonable for anyone hearing those words spoken in the particular context of refusing to pick up the litter, determine Ms Pach was a person of low moral character?

Judge Groarke said he did not think so, adding the words spoken by the driver had been used as a reprimand.

Judge Groarke, stating that the words should not have been spoken, made no order for costs against Ms Pach.
A shoplifter who had a pair of clippers to protect herself against "bullies" when searched by gardai has avoided jail.

Cher Quinn (40) had the clippers hidden in her underwear because she was being "picked on" at the time, a court heard.

She was put on a one-year probation bond when she appeared at Dublin District Court.

Quinn, from a hostel on Morning Star Avenue, pleaded guilty to theft and possession of a weapon.

The court was told Quinn went to Lidl on Moore Street on September 21 last year and stole 19.99 worth of clothing.

She passed all points of payment and was stopped by security. Gardai were called to the shop where they arrested her.

The property was recovered intact and returned to the shop.

Quinn was searched when arrested and found to have a pair of sharply-pointed clippers concealed in her underwear.

"She said it was in case anybody comes at me, and that they were bullying her in Ballymun," a garda told the court.

Harm

"I asked her if she had it for her own protection and she said yes."

Quinn signed the garda's notebook and made full admissions.

The case was adjourned and Judge Bryan Smyth initially said he was considering a community service order instead of a prison sentence.

However, when the case came back before the court he put Quinn on a probation bond and her solicitor Tony Collier said she understood the conditions as set out.

Quinn did not address the court during the brief hearing.

Previously, the court heard Quinn was a "vulnerable type of lady" who had been a victim of bullying over the years.

She was originally from the Ballymun area and had been homeless for some time.

Her life became "quite unmanageable".

"She is being picked on and feels the need to protect herself. I'm not sure what harm (the implement) could have done in any event," Mr Collier had said.

Quinn apologised for the offences and asked the judge to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances, Mr Collier added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishment of Russia-Azerbaijan diplomatic relations.

Please accept my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries, said Putin in his letter.

Over the past 25 years, we have been able to maintain and develop  based on a new intergovernmental foundation  relations of friendship and mutual respect that traditionally link the people of Russia and Azerbaijan. We have built a comprehensive political dialogue, an active inter-parliamentary and interregional cooperation, he noted.

The Russian president added that trade, economic, investment, scientific, technical and humanitarian ties, and contacts between civil society institutions are expanding.

Moscow and Baku coordinate efforts to address topical issues on the regional and global agenda, and enjoy fruitful mutual activity within various international organizations, he said.

I am sure that through our joint efforts we will continue to actively develop strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan. This serves the fundamental interests of citizens of our states as well as the strengthening of peace, security and stability in the South Caucasus and beyond, noted Putin.

Dear Ilham Heydarovich, I cordially wish you good health and success, and all your fellow countrymen prosperity and tranquility, added the Russian president.
A Garda RIB arrives back at Blacksod Pier with the Ocean Challenger tug in backround which helped to raise the wreckage of Rescue 116 to the surface

Orla Smith, sister of missing winch operator Ciaran, with her mother Teresa and father Michael

The family of an Irish Coast Guard member who has been missing for almost three weeks have described the tragedy as a "living nightmare".

Orla Smith, sister of missing winch operator Ciaran Smith, yesterday made an emotional appeal to local fishermen for help in bringing him home.

Rescue 116 crewmen Ciaran (38) and Paul Ormsby (53) have not been located since their helicopter collided with Blackrock Island off the Co Mayo coast in the early hours of March 14.

It was hoped the coast guard members would be found in or near the wreckage of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, but efforts to locate the two missing men have so far proved unsuccessful.

Ms Smith said the kindness and generosity shown by locals and people across the country has helped her family through the terrible tragedy.

She also praised the efforts of rescue workers and investigators, while appealing for local fishermen to help bring her brother and his colleague home.

"It is a living nightmare for all of us," she said.

"We're doing our best to keep going, to stay as strong as possible and to stay as positive as we can.

"But it is tough - it is really, really tough. We need those boys home now. We really do.

"My parents need them home, my sister-in-law needs him home, my nieces need him home. They have to come home now.

"We're asking all fishing vessels, big and small, from Achill Island to Aran Mor.

"We are appealing to them to please come to help us now. We need them, we need their knowledge and we need them in the ongoing efforts to find Ciaran and Paul.

"We need them and we need their help. We want them to go out and look in a coordinated fashion.

Knowledge

"The RNLI have agreed to coordinate this. We want them to do it in a safe fashion and we want to try and find Paul and Ciaran.

"If they're in the sea and they're there to be found, we need to use the fishermen's knowledge to try and find them."

As the search operation entered its 21st day yesterday, surface and shoreline searches were continuing, but weather conditions again hampered extensive searches for the two missing crewmen.

Ms Smith also said that safety was paramount in further search operations following the loss of four lives.

Her brother was due to celebrate his 39th birthday this Sunday, with his family including his wife Martina and his three young girls aged 12, 10 and seven.

"We do not want anyone to be harmed, injured or God forbid killed in this process," said Ms Smith.

"It is absolutely essential that everyone remains safe and we want it done in a coordinated and safe fashion.

"We want everyone to be kept going and to be kept safe through all of this. We've lost four lives. We don't want anyone else becoming harmed in this. We've had enough now.

"Both families need their men home. The Ormsbys need Paul home and the Smiths need Ciaran home.

"Huge work and huge effort has gone into this search and rescue operation so far," she added.

"Again, we are eternally grateful to those people for putting their lives on hold for everyone who has been lost here.

"We didn't get the result we were hoping for here yesterday.

Amazing

"We were hopeful that the two guys would be with the wreckage, but they're not. So we need to broaden the scope.

"We need to keep moving forward, keep focused and devise a new plan.

"The guys who have been involved in the rescue operation so far, and are still involved, have been amazing. They've worked nonstop. You can see it in their faces, they're exhausted. They've continued to push to try and find Ciaran and Paul.

"They've had a win already; they found Mark Duffy and brought Dara Fitzpatrick home to her family as well."

Ms Smith was speaking to reporters at the community centre in Eachleim, near Blacksod Lighthouse, which has seen dozens of volunteers feed rescue workers and grieving families with the help of donations from across the country.

Preliminary inspections carried out by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) indicate that there were no mechanical anomalies with the Irish Coast Guard helicopter before the fatal collision.

Chief Inspector with the AAIU, Jurgen Whyte, said that the focus will now shift to the operational aspects of the aircraft and journey, adding that the investigation was "a long way" from concluding.

Last week, prayers were said at the funeral of Captain Mark Duffy for the return of the bodies of the two missing coast guard members.

In a tribute at his funeral, read out on her behalf, Capt Duffy's wife Hermione told how he loved his job.

"When Mark came home, he would come in and say, 'Oh Hermione, I love getting home to you and the kids, but I love flying that helicopter'," she said.

"Our charming, handsome, and bashful daddy hero. Guess how much I love you? I love you to the moon and back."
An elite task force has been set up in Mauritius in a bid to catch those responsible for the brutal 2011 murder of Michaela McAreavey.

Prosecutor Satyajit Boolell said the investigation is ongoing and that those who killed her will "face justice".

Ms McAreavey (27) was strangled to death just 12 days after marrying John.

Nobody has ever been convicted of killing the popular teacher, who was the daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte.

Mr McAreavey has now travelled to Mauritius with his sister Claire and Mark Harte, Michaela's eldest brother, to make a renewed appeal for information. They will hold a press conference at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in the capital Port Louis this morning.

The newlyweds were honeymooning on the Indian Ocean island when she was discovered dead at their luxury hotel.

Determined

"We can't say this case is closed," Mr Boolell told the BBC. "We want to find out who the culprits are.

"Those who have taken the life of this young woman will face justice.

"We are as determined, we are as concerned, as he [John] is. Any crime on our territory is a blot on our peaceful reputation."

Mr McAreavey met senior police officers yesterday and afterwards said the meeting was "short but positive".

"We've been updated on developments, on how progress is being made," he said.

"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 family also met the country's prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth.
Details added (first version posted on 10:55)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia Nebojsa Rodic.

Rodic presented Serbias highest state order to President Ilham Aliyev for his contribution to the development and strengthening of the Azerbaijan-Serbia friendly relations and cooperation, which was conferred upon him in 2013.

On behalf of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, the ambassador congratulated the head of state on his being awarded Serbia's highest state order.

President Ilham Aliyev said he highly appreciates the fact that he was awarded the highest state order of Serbia, and asked the ambassador to extend his gratitude to the Serbian President for the congratulations.

The head of state recalled with pleasure the visit of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to Azerbaijan and their meeting in Baku.

President Ilham Aliyev also asked the ambassador to extend his congratulations to Aleksandar Vucic on the occasion of his victory in recent presidential elections. President Ilham Aliyev invited Aleksandar Vucic to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Nebojsa Rodic said that his country is looking forward to President Ilham Aliyevs visit to Serbia.

The Serbian ambassador noted that during his tenure in Azerbaijan he was deeply impressed by the development processes in all parts of the country.

They hailed the successful development of bilateral relations between the two countries. Azerbaijans work to modernize road infrastructure in Serbia was praised at the meeting.
Voting in Maryland? Here's what you need to know

Need help looking up candidates? Here's a breakdown of the critical seats across the state.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has extended congratulations to president-elect of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

I extend my sincere congratulations to you on your election as President of the Republic of Serbia, President Aliyev told Vucic in his letter.

Azerbaijan-Serbia ties are successfully developing, the president added. The relations between our two countries in political, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other fields have expanded over the past years and reached the level of strategic partnership.

I believe that we will make joint efforts to further deepen friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Serbia, Ilham Aliyev said.

I have pleasant recollections of our meetings and exchange of views with you, the president said. Taking into account the importance of high-level visits in terms of the development of our bilateral relations, I invite you to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan at your convenience.

I wish you robust health, happiness, and success in your responsible activity for the prosperity of the friendly people of Serbia, Ilham Aliyev said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

Please accept my most sincere congratulations on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, President Aliyev told Putin in his letter.

This jubilee is a good occasion to look back at the path made by our countries, sum up the outcomes and define future plans, the president said. In a historically short space of time we have managed to both preserve and multiply positive outcomes of our common past and reach a qualitatively new level of cooperation.

Relations between our states today reached the level of strategic partnership, which is based on mutual respect for each others interests, equal rights, centuries-long traditions of friendship and good neighborliness between the peoples of our two countries, he said.

It is with great satisfaction that I emphasize the development of confiding relationship and intensification of political, inter-parliamentary and inter-department contacts at all levels, consistent deepening of cooperation in a variety of areas, Ilham Aliyev said.

Humanitarian ties play a special role in strengthening friendly and good-neighborhood relations, President Aliyev said. We in Azerbaijan care about the Russian language and Russian culture, preserve common historic and cultural legacy.

We highly appreciate the Russian Federations efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the president said.

I am confident that inter-governmental relations, multifaceted Azerbaijan-Russia collaboration will continue to serve the best interests of our peoples, peace, stability and progress in the region, the president added.

I wish you robust health, happiness, and the friendly people of Russia peace and well-being, Ilham Aliyev said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

On April 4, YARAT's FilmCLub will host the screening of Seagulls, the first feature film by a young director Ella Manzheeva.



Elza, a fishermans wife, lives in a small town by the sea in Kalmykia. She wants to break up with her husband, but fears the unknown. Her husbands sudden death makes her reconsider her set of values, her attitude towards life, happiness and freedom.



April 4, 2017 / 19:00

Admission is free.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

Trend:

Baku hosted the International Judges Courses in Rhythmic Gymnastics of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) on Jan. 25-31.

Representatives of 17 countries participated in the courses, said a message posted on the website of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation.

Nineteen out of 20 participants from Azerbaijan successfully passed the judging exams. Below is the list of those participants:

Name, Surname FIG Judging Brevet Individual program Group exercise program Natalya Bulanova 2 3 Yevgeniya Zhidkova 3 2 Anastasiya Prasolova 3 3 Vafa Bakarova 3 3 Nigar Abdusalimova 3 3 Zhala Garatova 3 4 Fatima Shafizada 4 3 Mansura Bagiyeva 4 3 Telana Aliyeva 4 3 Sabina Abbasova 4 4 Aysel Allahverdiyeva 4 4 Elnara Huseynova 4 4 Lala Maharramova 4 4 Nigar Mirzayeva 4 4 Aleksandra Reysh 4 4 Aynur Mustafayeva 4 4 Leyli Huseynli 4 - Madina Hasanova 4 - Irada Ahadzade 4 -

Thus, for the first time, Azerbaijans representatives obtained maximum number of the FIG Brevet within one Olympic cycle.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The international rating agency StandaS&P Global Ratings had affirmed its 'D/D' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on Kazakhstan-based Delta Bank, the rating agency said in a message. At the same time, the agency affirmed the 'D' Kazakhstan national scale rating. S&P also affirmed its 'D' issue-level ratings on its senior unsecured bonds.

The affirmation of the ratings reflects Delta Bank's failure to repay some term deposits that were due in February and March 2017, S&P said.

The rating agency noted that although Delta Bank fully repaid (on Feb. 22, 2017) 9.9 billion tenges (about $30 million) domestic senior unsecured bond it had defaulted on Feb. 14, 2017, and also prepaid some other obligations, its liquidity position remains under pressure. These repayments were possible due to a 45.6 billion tenges loan the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) provided to the bank for one month, which was then rolled over for another month. However, Delta Bank failed to pay approximately 10 billion tenges in corporate deposits due in February and March.

According to S&P, Delta Bank's current liquid assets of about 6 billion tenges (about 1.5 percent of total assets) as of March 30, 2017, are not sufficient to enable the bank to meet upcoming debt payments due. In April 2017, the bank needs to repay the loan from the NBK and liabilities under repurchase agreement transactions.

S&P will reassess Delta Bank's creditworthiness and, if the bank fully repays all its overdue obligations and the agency has evidence that the bank has sufficient liquidity to meet its short and medium term payments, it will raise the ratings from 'D'.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Family members of a 14-year-old West Iredell Middle School student are facing drug charges after the teen allegedly gave candy containing marijuana to other students last week.

At least three students took the candy Thursday before school officials discovered it, according to a press release from the Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Sgt. D. Hicks, a school resource officer, began investigating how the candy appeared at the school and spoke with the students involved. The parents were notified, the release said.

Lt. C.L. Stone later went to the home of the 14-year-old on Jordan Crest Lane in Stony Point, where he found more marijuana, according to the statement.

In the bedroom of the teens mom, Samantha Lynn Braaksma, 36, and her boyfriend, Joshua Dale White, 31, deputies found nearly two pounds of marijuana and marijuana candy. The drugs were packaged in numerous bags.

Deputies also found another 14 grams of marijuana with another of Braaksmas children, 16-year-old Ethan Aldridge, the release said.

Braaksma and White were each charged with possession with felony intent to sell or deliver marijuana, felony possession of marijuana, felony maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance, felony manufacturing marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

White was given a $30,000 secured bond. Braaksmas bond was $20,000.

White is currently out on bond for felony possession of marijuana, the release said.

Aldridge was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Officials contacted juvenile services, and the 14-year-old may face charges as well.
After the collapse of the Republican health-care bill, President Trump said he wanted to work with Democrats on a bipartisan deal to improve the Affordable Care Act. A historic deal is possible, one that would lower premiums and expand coverage - simply by extracting and passing just two parts of the GOP's measure.

But first, Trump will have to build trust with Democrats and provide assurances that he will do everything in his power to make the markets work. Every time he tweets that "Obamacare will explode," he's rooting for the law's failure and causing a self-fulfilling prophecy. Who wants to buy a product when the salesman says it's about to break?

It's also not true. As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently affirmed, the markets will be stable in most areas. Independent analysts for S&P Global Ratings, analyzing data for Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, found that the financial performance of insurers bottomed out in 2015 and improved last year.

Republicans are also sending mixed signals about whether their discarded partisan repeal bill is still on the table. Before Trump can engage with Democrats, he must renounce repeal once and for all - Democrats will not negotiate with a gun to the head.

To make sure the administration bolsters the existing policy before Congress can improve it, Trump should convene insurers at the White House as soon as possible. He should reassure them that he will not weaken the individual mandate or stop funding subsidies for consumers' deductibles and other cost-sharing. House Republicans had sued to stop this funding; they must drop their lawsuit or appropriate the money to provide certainty.

Insurers are in the business of assessing and evaluating risk - and a cloud of uncertainty will cause them to flee the markets or increase premiums to compensate for an unknowable amount of increased risk. The mere threat of repeal, or of actions or indifference that would sabotage the markets, is causing great uncertainty. There's no time to lose to remove this cloud: In some states, insurers must file their plans for next year as early as this month.

Last, but not least, before any negotiations begin, Republicans must agree not to hold the Children's Health Insurance Program hostage. Funding for the program is set to expire in September. If Republicans try to use this cliff as leverage, Democrats will walk away - and Republicans will be to blame for millions of children losing their coverage.

With agreement on all these preconditions, a bipartisan deal is possible. The solution is simple, at our fingertips and proven to work - in just two easy steps.

First, the House bill included a "Stability Fund" that provided $100 billion to states to reimburse insurers for high-cost enrollees. In Alaska, which is governed by Republicans, this type of stabilization lowered premium increases from 40 percent to under 10 percent for 2017.

We propose moving forward with a similar fund that provides $10 billion per year for 2018 and 2019. Subtracting these amounts from aggregate premiums, we calculate that this fund would lower premiums by 9 percent.

Second, the House bill included flat tax credits that were unrelated to income or the cost of a plan. On average, enrollees would have been worse off than under the ACA; lower-income people and older people would have been hit particularly hard. But some younger people with middle incomes would have fared better.

For young adults up to age 30, we propose that they be eligible for the ACA's tax credit or the House bill's $2,000 tax credit - whichever would give them more money. This would help younger middle-income adults without hurting anyone else and entice them to come into the pool - which would lower premiums across the board.

This would cost $40 billion over 10 years for current enrollees ages 19 to 30 with income below 400 percent of the poverty rate (which would amount to $98,400 for a family of four). If the policy enticed half a million additional young adults to buy plans, it would cost an additional $10 billion over 10 years.

So these two simple reforms would cost $70 billion over 10 years. How could Congress pay for that?

Trump has repeatedly promised to address the cost of prescription drugs. Here's his chance.

When there's a generic version of a drug, Medicare should eliminate beneficiary costs for the generic drug and increase costs for the brand drug. Congress should also speed up discounts for brand drugs for beneficiaries in the doughnut hole. These two policies alone would save $32 billion over 10 years, according to the CBO.

Next, let's reform payment for health care to pay for value and quality. For instance, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, when he was a member of Congress, sponsored legislation to reform Medicare payments for care after discharge from the hospital.

Under Price's bill, Medicare would pay a fixed rate for a bundle of services over a period of time, allowing providers to share any savings. CBO estimates that such bundled payments for post-hospital care would save about $10 billion over 10 years.

In a deal that stabilizes insurance companies, they should pay their fair share. Insurers such as Aetna and Humana reap enormous, uncompetitive profits from the Medicare program - ripping off taxpayers. Trump should make a deal with them to rejoin the ACA markets.

Instead of being paid a government rate, insurers that serve Medicare should compete with one another to offer the best prices. CBO estimates that such competitive bidding would save $26 billion over 10 years.

If Republicans were serious about fixing the ACA's problems, this deal would do it - but the politics on their side present a real barrier to moving forward. Overall, though, this package of reforms would be a big win for the American people. CBO would almost certainly find that it would lower premiums, expand coverage, reduce health-care costs and enhance market stability. What's not to like?

Spiro is the vice president for health policy at the Center for American Progress and a former staffer to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts. Gee is a health economist at the Center for American Progress.
HICKORY  Hickory Motor Speedway played host to the Sixth Annual Finish Line Heating & Air Spring Classic on Saturday night, according to a press release.

Catawba Realty & Insurance Classic Sportsmen Racing Association

Eddie Gilbert (95) led the field to the green flag after pole setter Bill Lett (4) started in the rear as the feature winner in the last event, according to the release.

Gilbert jumped out early with Daniel Werner (19) close behind. Gilbert held on for the win by a car length over Werner, who finished second.

Bill Webb (16) finished third, William Powell (71) finished fourth and Robert Webb (6) finished fifth.

One Design Super Trucks

Tyler Dayton (36) paced the field with Joey Shuryan (30) to his outside, according to the release.

Shuryan used the outside groove to move to the point and lead the first 10 laps with the top five all running nose to tail. Dayton moved under Shuryan at lap 10 and brought Sheflon Clay (15) with him for second.

Contact in the top five sent Charlie Neill (26) spinning, and the caution flew at lap 12.

On the restart, Dayton moved around Shuryan and pulled out to the lead. Another caution flew on lap 18 when Shuryan was sent spinning after contact in Turn 2. On the restart, Dayton resumed the lead and pulled around Clay.

Dayton took the victory, and Clay finished second. Neill finished third, Shuryan finished fourth and Allen Huffman (51) finished fifth.

Cosmo Motors Street Stocks

Kevin Eby (03) earned the pole position and led the majority of the race, but Cody DeMarmels (18) stayed in his tire tracks and made a move late in the race, according to the release.

The pair battled for several laps until DeMarmels finally worked his way around and to the point. DeMarmels secured the win, and Eby finished second.

Mark Whitten (77) finished third, Eric Evans (07) finished fourth and Chris Werner (22) finished fifth.

Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Models

The third round of the Paramount Kia Big 10 Challenge roared to life with an additional $500 added to the purse for the winner of the Hickory Motor Speedway Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Models, according to the release.

During the Sixth Annual Finish Line Heating & Air Spring Classic, Dexter Canipe Jr. (23) grabbed the pole position, Jeremy Pelfrey (51) started in second, and Shane Lee (00) and Ryan Vasconcellos (10) sat in the second row.

Canipe and Pelfrey battled for the top spot, and Canipe used the inside line to move to the point after several laps. The top 10 cars were nose to tail and inches apart for about 40 laps.

Charlie Watson (9) methodically worked his way through the pack, and just before the halfway point, he took the point by making his way around Canipe.

A caution on lap 53 reset the field. After the caution, Watson moved back to the top spot with Canipe hugging his rear bumper.

Watson proved too strong and held on for the win. Canipe finished second, Monty Cox (21) finished third, Ryan Vasconcellos (10), in his first appearance this season, finished fourth, and Lee finished fifth.

4-Cylinders

Curtis Pardue (17) grabbed the pole and snagged the win, according to the release. Brian Mundy (6) finished second, Robbie Lewis (98) finished third and Robert Trivette (11) finished fourth.

Covington Dental Smash and Crash

Fans were fired up for the sedan slugfest, and saw spinning limos bump drafting on a 3/8-mile bull ring, according to the release.

A field of damaged cars kept the crowd cheering for more, and Matt Fox (3) earned the victory.

Coming up

Next week, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will return to action with Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races with twin 40-lap features for Bojangles Late Models, according to the release.

The Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Models, Cosmo Motors Street Stocks, One Design Super Trucks and the Renegades will run Saturday.

Gates will open at 5 p.m., qualifying begins at 5:30 p.m., an autograph session starts at 6:30 p.m., and racing begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12.50 for adults, $10.50 for seniors/youth (11-19), and children 10 and under are free.
Many universities and colleges seem unable to stop ideological conflicts from degenerating into violence. Violence against oneself is also no longer uncommon, indicating despair among youth. Indifference towards opposing viewpoints is not new in our campuses, but it seems to have mutated into a general feeling that it is pointless to debate on certain matters with certain kinds of people. An atmosphere permeated by the futility of discussion does not augur well for the future of higher education. If this is a sign of crisis, it is surely neither new nor incidental.

Not many people recognise the magnitude of the damage that the system of higher education has suffered during the recent decades at the hands of successive governments. In official circles, there is no consensus whether it was damage at all. The general public also seems unaware of the damage although many older citizens can recognise  and they sometimes complain about  a decline in standards.

In any case, only a small proportion of the population is directly concerned with higher education. For most parents, higher education has importance because it gives eligibility for higher status jobs. They dont know that most colleges and universities are silently coping with a crisis caused by financial starvation, neglect and decay. As for the young themselves, their discontent does occasionally turn into protest, but their highly-politicised organisations turn every protest into an ideological conflict, thereby neutralising its potential for inspiring reform. The same can be said about teachers organisations.

Higher education is called higher because it has an intellectual role to play in social life. It provides and manages the space where common curiosity can lead to specialised inquiry and ideas can be debated imaginatively and freely. Accommodating divergent positions and permitting dissent from the dominant view are important functions that institutions of higher education are supposed to play. But many universities and colleges have little capacity left in them to perform this role today. They are unable to provide and nurture an intellectually stimulating environment, even inside the classroom. Young people who feel frustrated or bewildered by this situation need to learn about the past few decades during which the intellectual functions of higher education gradually diminished.

Comparison with the past is seldom valid, but it is useful because it gives us a perspective. By todays standards, Indias higher education system in the 1960s was rather small and socially quite narrow. Teaching was the focus of university life; research was perceived as a professional achievement, not a requirement for academic employment or promotion. Nurturing an open, reflective mind was not a conscious agenda. Many teachers promoted it, struggling with the constant pressure of an entrenched exam culture. Administrators knew that they were in charge of an oasis, and some of them actively protected its privileges as a liberal space.

By comparison, universities today serve a socially-diverse clientele even though their ethos is not exactly inclusive. Few administrators perceive their institution as a liberal space. Change in the social and political milieu has eroded the universitys confidence in its role and relevance. The States perception of its financial responsibility towards higher education has radically changed. Government grants now constitute a small proportion of the budget in a vast number of state universities. Most of them are clueless about ways and means to fulfil their basic needs with dignity.

Explaining the loss of institutional autonomy and teachers intellectual dignity is not difficult. Forced reforms have played a crucial role, and a new financial regime has facilitated them. Imposition of the semester system was resisted across the country, but State authorities interpreted the resistance as an assertion of inertia. Undoubtedly, international pressure to follow the global trend was strong enough to drown any reference to local conditions and essential needs.

Nowhere in the world does the semester system work with centralised exams, but this contradiction was ignored. The stick of diminishing budgets forced one university after another to capitulate. Combined with brutal cuts in library resources, semester-wise exams pushed both teachers and students to forget about engagement with knowledge. The policy of withholding regular recruitment further injured the dignity of teaching and institutional efficiency. As if all this was not enough, Delhi University pioneered the enforcement of a four-year undergraduate course under widespread criticism and demand for caution, but no one listened. The experiment ultimately collapsed when it faced the loss of political patronage.

This brief history might help college youth to form a realistic estimate of what they must expect to cope with. The atmosphere surrounding them is charged with artificial polarities and a culture of fast reaction. No debate can proceed far without falling victim to personalised accusations and acrimony. Tools of communication are indiscriminately honing the edge of every conceivable argument. Depletion of memory and patience make reflection virtually impossible.

Both society and State have adopted a cynical attitude towards liberal ideals like institutional autonomy and freedom to think. Colleges and universities are no longer perceived as communities based on knowledge and learning. No one seems to believe that such a community has relevance or a role to play. In this situation, we are tempted to isolate the violence that erupted in a college in Delhi or the gagging of opinion that occurred in another. These incidents should remind us that institutional recovery is not a matter of fixing a few wrongs.

Krishna Kumar is former director NCERT, and professor of education, Delhi University

The views expressed are personal
In a democracy there is no such thing as permanence. It is, therefore, surprising that the media reads the emergence of the BJP across India as a reassertion, the return of legitimacy and the rejection of pretenders.

Attempts to draw validation of that thesis from the election of Donald Trump as United States president, the Brexit result, and the sweep of the Right in most parts of Europe are misplaced, because though defeated in the polls, the Liberals are far from vanquished. The street protests in the US and Scotlands rebuttal to London are examples of limits to the march of the Right.

Admittedly we have yet to see a similar response from Liberal India. It is shocking to read some people who were regular and prominent faces at Liberal feasts today seeking a chance for Yogi Adityanath on the development plank!

Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav lost the election and we lost India despite impressive records of development. Ours was obfuscated by foisting a shadow of corruption and Yadav was burdened with an exaggerated allegation of messy law and order. Yet no voter seems to have cared to question the unwarranted misery of demonetisation and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan continued to be mocked by mounds of garbage all around us.

The visionary manifesto of the Congress was of no interest to anyone. Our past record of citizen-centric schemes such as the RTE, RTI, MGNREGA, farm loan waiver, to name but a few, was not even mentioned. Truthfully the talk of development was a smokescreen for two frightening dimensions of public policy: To rewrite our past; and to redesign our future. The war that has been waged is not for growth and development as ingredients of justice, but as instruments of dominance of social choice. Ironically, the social justice movement, that only a few years ago, under the banner of Mandal looked invincible, has crumbled in the face of sab ka saath, sab ka vikas.

If the EVM issue is not to be taken seriously as seems the case now, the support for the BJP across castes and classes is unprecedented, upsetting the cosy caste havens of the SP and Bahujan Samaj Party. But this could this be a blessing in disguise and the beginning of serious maturing of democratic attitudes in UP? Or will there be a similar backlash a few years on that will bring back the forces of social justice with a vengeance?

Anything is possible. Carefully crafted class conflict obscured by a cynically chosen common enemy cannot last indefinitely; nor can the impact of doling out everything to everyone. Beware the wrath of the citizen who feels betrayed, particularly when alibis of failure run out.

All this does not mean that the Congress and other centrist-to-Left parties need to do nothing but wait. This is the phoenix moment to work not just for political revival but a renaissance in our society. Generations that did not participate in the Independence movement and, therefore, have taken freedom for granted will discover its value. Freedom of the mind and soul, the most cherished of freedoms, is what we have to collectively preserve and protect.

Those who foolishly believe that the India we know has no concern for this freedom, do not know India, no matter they call it Bharat or Hindustan. There will indeed be a new India but the narrative will be authored by the inheritors of freedom and freedom fighters of tomorrow. Let the gauntlet be picked up and the battle joined in right earnest.

Salman Khurshid is a Congress leader and former Union minister

The views expressed are personal
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The International Rating Agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded Alfa Bank Kazakhstan's (ABK) Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'BB-' from 'B+', the rating agency said in a message. The Outlook is Stable.

The upgrade of ABK's IDRs reflects the extended record of good financial performance supported by relatively low funding costs and reasonable asset quality, considerable capital buffer and ample liquidity, Fitch said.

At the same time, ABK's ratings factor in its currently small franchise.

According to Fitch, ABK's loan book is relatively small (35 percent of total assets at end-2016), reflecting deleveraging (by 25 percent in 2016) in favor of investments into National Bank of Kazakhstan low risk notes (36 percent of total assets). Loan quality is adequate, with non-performing loans (NPLs, 90 days overdue) comprising a moderate 7 percent of the end-2016 book. NPLs were comfortably (94 percent) covered by reserves. About 13 percent of loans were restructured but reportedly performing.

Loan concentrations are high, with the 25 largest exposures making 69 percent of corporate loans at end-2016. However, more than half of these are composed of low to moderate risk working-capital loans to cash-generative clients. Also positively, ABK's foreign currency lending was moderate, at 18 percent of gross loans at end-2016, which limits asset-quality risks.

Capitalization is strong, reflected by a high Fitch Core Capital (FCC) ratio of 18 percent at end-2016, up from 14 percent at end-2015.

According to Fitch, the FCC ratio could potentially reduce to a still reasonable 13-15 percent over the next three years as ABK plans to rebuild its loan book subject to it being able to attract good quality borrowers.

Liquidity is ample, with liquid assets, including cash, short-term bank placements and liquid securities covering a high 66 percent of customer deposits at end-2M17. However, the depositor concentration level is high (the top 20 made up 32 percent of customer funding at end-2016), making the bank somewhat vulnerable to sudden outflows of the largest accounts.

The Support Rating of '4' reflects Fitch's view of the limited probability of support that might be forthcoming from Alfa Bank Russia (ABR, BB+/Stable) or other group entities, if needed. In Fitch's view, support may be forthcoming in light of the common branding, potential reputational risk of any default at ABK and the small cost of any support that may be required. At the same time, Fitch views ABR's propensity to provide support as limited.

Support from other Alfa Group entities, in Fitch's view, also cannot be relied on in all circumstances, especially in a systemic financial crisis in Kazakhstan.

ABK's senior unsecured local debt ratings are aligned with the Long-Term Local-Currency IDR and National Long-Term rating, and reflect Fitch's assessment that recoveries are likely to be average in the event of any default.

Further upside potential for ABK is limited given the difficult operating environment and the bank's narrow franchise. A downgrade could result from a substantial deterioration of asset quality or capitalization if this was not offset by sufficient and timely equity support from the bank's shareholders. The debt ratings would likely change in line with the bank's IDRs.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh government said it doesnt take seriously the human rights report prepared by US in which there are five references about Madhya Pradesh, including the alleged encounter of eight suspected SIMI operatives and the famous Vyapam scam in the state.

Jayant Malaiya, state finance minister told HT that India has its own National Human Rights Commission and MP its State human rights commission. We will take seriously what our human rights commissions have to say, not some foreign country like US or any other country. We know best how to deal with the ground reality here and we are doing that, he said.

The US State department report on human right has made five references about 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.

Social activist Ajay Dubey in a press conference said on one side the state government was luring investors from US to invest in the state and on the other hand, the US had straightway has questioned the MP government on SIMI encounter and Vyapam case in the report. It is an embarrassment for the state government that so many references have been made about the incidents in the state in the US human rights report. Such references should make the MP to introspect about its governance and the way it dealt with such issues, he said

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. The report 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.
Suspecting his lover of infidelity a man mercilessly beat her up, and then shot her dead, at an institute for deaf and mute children in Indore on Tuesday.

Additional superintendent of police Rupesh Dwivedi said the murder took place at around 10:30 am the Ashray Social Welfare, an NGO. The victim, Tina Rathore (35), was killed in the presence of two other women.

Tina who worked as a teacher in the institute, was in a room with institute director Shalini Jain and maid Geeta Bai when the accused Sonu alias Rayees, an autorickshaw driver, came to meet her.

Dwivedi said Sonu was in a foul mood and came in waving a pistol and locked the door of the room. He started abusing Tina asking her repeatedly who she was marrying. As they were having a heated argument, the other two women tried to leave the room, but Sonu threatened to kill them if they attempted to leave. The two frightened women stood silently and watched as he first beat her and then shot her in the chest.

But Tina did not die immediately. He kept beating her till she died. Sonu then tied up Tinas body and forced the two other women to drag it up the stairs to the bathroom in the first floor. Shalini somehow managed to escape and inform the neighbours and police about the incident.

Police said Tina who hailed from Dewas was earlier married and has two children, but she had left her husband and was having an affair with Sonu. But Sonu suspected that Tina was getting married to someone else, which infuriated him.

Sources said police have arrested Sonu, but there was no official confirmation of the arrest.
A few days back, when Deepika Padukone was spotted at the Mumbai airport carrying books on the history of Rajasthan, not many could have deciphered what could be the reason behind it. Apparently, she has been reading a number of historical books to gain some valuable insights about the history of the place.

Now, HT has learnt that the actor also made a secret visit to Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, a couple of months back in order to soak in the feel of the place. Yes, Deepika had made the trip but she had planned this visit in an extremely hush-hush manner so that no one gets to know about it, says an insider.

 @anaitashroffadajania  A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on Mar 1, 2017 at 12:48pm PST

Without any of her team members, Deepika travelled to Chittorgarh on her own and, in fact, walked around a lot of local places and historical sites to get familiar with all the age-old structures and also gather as much information about them as possible.

Deepika Padukone was last seen in the Hollywood film, XXX: Return of Xander Cage.

Deepika has been doing all of it as she is fully committed to her part as Rani Padmini in her next film, Padmavati, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The actors take-away from the visit has been her first-hand experiences that she had while being there, says the insider.

Happy Holi! A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on Mar 13, 2017 at 6:57am PDT

As history has it, Rani Padmini was brought to Chittorgarh or Chittor by the Rajput ruler Raja Rawal Ratan Singh after marrying her. Hence, the place is of utmost importance to Deepika with regard to her role.

Deepika Padukone was last seen in Bollywood, in Bajirao Mastani.

When contacted, Deepika  without mentioning her secret visit  says, I shot for Padmavati in November and December. There was something extremely magical about it and I hope that the magic continues when I start shooting for the film again.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Shahid Kapoors wife Mira Rajput may just be getting ready for her debut in Bollywood. The Delhi girl, who accompanies her husband on most public gatherings, has always been evading questions about entering the industry. Now, there are reports that shes actually reconsidering her decision.

Deccan Chronicle quotes an anonymous filmmaker saying, Its as if some eager-to-please producers believe that the way to Shahids dates is through his heart; get the wife, and you have the husband on board too.

Another source close to the family says in the same report, From what one hears, shes now not so averse to the idea of sharing screen space with her husband. I believe she may finally give in once her baby is a little older. And why not? The money is great, and she gets to spend time with her husband, while working with him.
He has been on the top of his game for 25 years now, during which he has successfully taken up different kinds of films. Even now, as Shah Rukh Khan seems to be mixing up his roles successfully, especially with his last three releases, the superstar says it wasnt a concerted decision. In a recent interview with HT, Shah Rukh talks about films, cooking and more.

You have mixed and matched your film choices throughout your career. Of late too, you seem to be picking up different kind of films such as Fan (2016), Dear Zindagi (2016) and Raees.

You know, I had finished Chennai Express (2013), when suddenly, Farah (Khan; director) came up with Happy New Year (HNY; 2014), and I needed to work with her because I hadnt for so long. So, I started doing that film. After doing two back-to-back happy-go-lucky, commercial films  regardless of whether they become blockbusters or not  I wanted to do a different film because I have always tried to maintain that in my career. And the same was the case with films like Om Shanti Om (2007) and Chak De! India (2007). So, more often than not, I try to do that (mix up films) unless there is no offer (smiles). If you arent offered a film such as Swades (2004), you cant do it, so the offer has to come.

Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in Rahul Dholakia's Raees.

Youve also worked almost without a break through your career.

Yes, and thats because I cant wait, as I like to keep working. I cant sit at home waiting for six months because then I change my state of mind (laughs). After wrapping up HNY and Chennai Express, I really wanted to do something different. [The shoot for] Raees started but it got delayed by nine months due to my injury. Then, Fan was supposed to release in August (in 2015) but VFX took one-and-a-half year. We didnt realise that it (VFX work) would take that long.

Shah Rukh Khans Chennai Express, alongside Deepika Padukone, was a big hit.

So, the plan was to have different kind of films coming out at regular intervals?

Yes, thats why it [due to change in plans of all the films] seems like I did Fan and Raees back-to-back. Now, thank God for Imtiazs (Ali) film (yet untitled venture co-starring Anushka Sharma). Its a love story. Else, people will think Im doing just offbeat movies (smiles). Its just about trying to maintain a mix. Some days, Im really happy to do a HNY, or a Chennai Express. I enjoy them. They are great fun, and I like them because its not that I am a serious actor and I wont do those films.

There are miles to travel, this way or that. And from where I am, it doesnt really matteronly the journey does. A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Mar 27, 2017 at 1:35pm PDT

You told HT earlier that you like the process of cooking food and that you have some nice pans and pots?

I know it sounds very girlish (smiles). But then, Im all for empowerment of women. I want to be equal to women. I want to go higher up to their level, instead of thinking that they have to go higher. But I genuinely want to cook. Imagine, if I open a chain of restaurants and stores, kitna business karunga main (smiles). Having said that, Juhi (Chawla) once asked me, Why have you named your company, Red Chillies? And I was like, just in case film-making fails, Ill open a restaurant by the same name. Red Chillies Restaurant toh chalega hi (laughs).

Shah Rukh Khans career went into an overdrive with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

People have enjoyed seeing you in different avatars in films like Chak De! India, Om Shanti Om and Chennai Express...

I love taking up different roles, and thats why I love mad, comic capers too. I know they are unrealistic. Its not like I am considering them to be anything else, but I like the entire idea of this big film experience. So, I find films such as Now You See Me (2013) with all the magicians very interesting, because its over-the-top, weird and erratic. I also love [the] Die Hard [films], for instance. So, I like to be in that space, and then also do a little offish film, which makes me happy as an actor. Both kinds of films require hard work.

Hold her hand so that she can lead you. Happy Womens Day A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Mar 7, 2017 at 10:52pm PST

Your last three back-to-back releases, Raees, Fan and Dear Zindagi, seem to have reinforced the fact that you want to experiment with your roles.

No, it [doing different kinds of films] is not like it was a planned decision. The actual line-up was supposed to be Happy New Year, Raees, Dilwale (2015) and Fan, before Imtiazs (Ali) film and Aanand L Rais next. So my plan was good, but as they say, God spoils all plans. I might suddenly seem like an intellectual, but Im actually not (smiles).

Shah Rukh Khan got critical acclaim for his performance in Darr.

You recently said that you work on your characters in secret and also keep your enactments a secret. Do you implement your ideas directly in your performances or do you share them with your directors?

I would definitely share something like what I did in My Name Is Khan (2010) or Suris voice (from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi; 2008) with my directors after I practice it innumerable times myself. For instance, I even prepared how I would mouth Taaniji (in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi). When Adi (Aditya Chopra) thought about it, I gave him three or four options. I can act it out for my directors too  the way I did for Imtiaz. He is the kind of a director, who would like me to enact a scene. So Anushka (Sharma; co-star in Imtiazs film) and I rehearsed our scenes sometimes even till four or five in the morning, because Imtiaz likes it [that way]. I am ready to do whatever the director wants. A lot depends on the film as well. Farah (Khan) and Karan (Johar) have known me for many years, so they write it [the scripts] in a way that is easier [for me].

Shah Rukh Khan started his film career with Deewana opposite Divya Bharti.

People were surprised when you told HT that youve started learning to cook Italian food, and want to open a restaurant.

I have been telling my friends and colleagues that once I learn cooking, Id love to call them over and serve them, because I love doing that. I think of acting too as serving. As an actor, when you serve and present your acting, you hope people like and enjoy it as much as you enjoyed making it [the film]. Sometimes they do and sometimes they dont. Plus, you dont impose yourself on people and be like accha laga ya nahi? (did you like it or not?). You just serve. I like to serve people in the house.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Looks like Hrithik Roshan cant stay away from controversies. On Tuesday, the Kaabil star took to Twitter to call out another actor who claimed, in an interview to a newspaper, that she found a mentor and friend in him. The model and actor, Angela Krislinski, of Polish-Spanish descent, had claimed that her friend Hrithik even helped her with acting tips. The star, however, posted a clipping of the interview on his Twitter feed on Tuesday and wrote: My dear lady, who are you and why are u lying.

In the article published in DNA, Angela said shed done two commercials with Hrithik and added that they were also supposed to do a music video which didnt happen. That was soon after Hrithiks Aashiqui video was released. We had even rehearsed together for a day, but Hrithik suffered an injury soon after and it was called off. I was looking forward to it, she says.

While Hrithik may not know who she is, Angela has given a detailed account of the conversations they have had and how she guided her on making it into the industry. Like every other newcomer, I had a crush on Hrithik when I worked with him for the first time in a commercial. When I told him about my half-Spanish background, he was reminded about the old-world charm of Valencia and Spain. He was supportive and gave me acting tips, she said.

oppo camera phone my second tvc with hritik roshan... im blessed to have shot 3 tvcs with him...  #oppo #angelakrislinzki #hrithikroshan #oppof1plus #opposelfieexpert A post shared by Angela Krislinzki (@angelakrislinzki) on Jan 7, 2017 at 12:13am PST

She added that the next time they met, Hrithik still remembered her and also recollected that her father was from Valencia. He also asked me jokingly whether the colour of my eyes was real. When I signed a movie in the South. He also inquired about the maker and assured me that this film would definitely take me places, she said.

#throwbacktuesday2016blissfriends A post shared by Angela Krislinzki (@angelakrislinzki) on Jan 16, 2017 at 2:38pm PST

Angela, who is currently working in the Tamil film industry, says that she keeps Hrithik updated with her work. I consider Hrithik a mentor and keep him informed. I showed him a song from my last south release, Size Zero and he liked it immensely. Later, I I even sent him the first look and trailer of my upcoming film Rogue and he was impressed, she said.

In 2016, Hrithik was caught in a similar but far bigger controversy with actor Kangana Ranaut. She insinuated in an interview last year that they were in a relationship but Hrithik outrightly denied her claims. They slapped defamation lawsuits on each other and a year-long legal war ensued. It is still not clear if the matters between them have finally been resolved.

Hrithik will next work on Krrish 4 with his father Rakesh Roshan.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Nearly three weeks after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted cash-withdrawal limits imposed in the wake of demonetisation, ATMs continue to run dry in several locations.

Even though cash supply has improved, the availability of lower-denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 100 is insufficient. According to the latest RBI data, currency in circulation had risen to Rs 13.12 trillion as of 24 March from Rs 17.97 trillion on 4 November. But the pace of remonetisation has slowed down.

There has been a steep fall in currency production. Earlier, if the presses were printing 150 million pieces of all denominations a day, it has now fallen to 110 million pieces, a senior bank official said, declining to be named. Workers have gone back to their earlier schedule. They are no longer working on 12-hour shifts.

ATM operators were expecting the situation to normalise after the recent assembly elections, but that has not happened. According to CMS Info Systems Pvt. Ltd, the largest ATM operator, customers continue to withdraw a little more than what they actually need because of scarcity of currency notes.

Within the CMS network, we are seeing that approximately 85% of ATMs are being replenished on a daily basis. However, we are also loading around 30% less than what we used to per ATM, and seeing around 9-10% of ATMs remaining dry (over 10-day periods), said CMS spokesperson Sandhya Menon.

ATM operators point out that the paucity of Rs 500 and Rs100 notes in ATMs have led to a drop in cash withdrawals. Lower-denomination notes are still not available and therefore people are hesitant to withdraw higher-denomination notes, said Ramaswamy Venkatachalam, managing director, India and South Asia, FIS, an ATM manufacturer.

A State Bank of India report released on Monday also highlighted this trend. According to this report, cash withdrawals have been declining rapidly from a peak of Rs 52,800 crore for the week ended 13 January to Rs 32,500 crore for the week ended 24 March. The decline in cash withdrawals is intriguing even as limits on withdrawals have been removed completely from 13 March. Historically, average withdrawals are generally higher in the first fortnight of a month because people tend to spend more in the first fortnight, the report added.

However, if cash withdrawals are indeed falling, then the recent RBI data should point to a surge in digital transactions. But data as of 26 March shows that transactions have fallen to 497.2 million from 684.66 million in February.

It is, however, clear that the process of remonetisation is expected to take more time. The printing of new notes is expected to fall further in the coming days as the army deployed to help with printing is set to be withdrawn from the process, said the bank official cited earlier. Six to seven billion new notes of Rs 500 have been replaced so far. Around 10 billion new notes need to be printed to reach the pre-demonetisation levels. This is likely to take another 10 months, the person added.

In arrangement with www.livemint.com
The government is considering a new and potentially more attractive equity savings scheme to replace one that was scrapped this year following a tepid investor response.

The new scheme will offer more flexibility and greater limits than the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), said two people with direct knowledge of the development.

For one, the government is looking to enhance the investment limit eligible for tax benefits under this scheme to Rs 2 lakh, four times the RGESS limit. Secondly, the stringent entry norms prescribed by RGESS may be done away with, these people said on condition of anonymity

The RGESS was open to new investors who either didnt have a demat account or hadnt done any transactions even if they had one. This, plus a lot of other conditions, meant that the scheme had just around 57,000 accounts with an investment corpus of Rs 154 crore, data with depositories showed. In comparison, the mutual funds industry, which manages Rs 18 trillion, has 13.1 million systematic investment plan accounts.

RGESS was too complicated and restrictive for the amount of tax benefits allowed. The government has taken recommendations from various market participants, regulators and depositories, said the first person.

He added that the government had not specified a time frame for launching the new scheme. Despite previous efforts, retail investors have not really taken to equities, especially since being singed by the 2008-09 market crash in the aftermath of the North Atlantic financial crisis. While there are around 27 million demat accounts in the country, around half do not have any balance and three-fourths of the rest do not trade, according to a depository official, who didnt wish to be identified.

Under the new scheme, even the existing demat account holders in the retail space, with average annual transactions up to a certain limit, may be allowed to invest and avail tax benefits up to a limit, said the second person.

One thing which will remain the same, however, is the maximum gross annual income for tax benefits, which will remain at Rs 12 lakh. However, other conditions such as the lock-in period for availing tax benefits may be relaxed, these people said.

Under RGESS, an investor had to invest for three straight years and hold these for at least three years to get tax breaks.

The whole scheme (RGESS) was badly planned, said Prithvi Haldea, chairman and managing director of Prime Database, a New-Delhi based primary market analytics firm, citing the definition of new investors and the limited universe for investment-only BSE 100 stocks were allowed initially and later, some mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

First of all, tax incentives should not be given to draw people into equities and that too for trading and not capital formation. However, it is a fact that we need a huge number of investors to come to the market. So, instead of drawing people to trade in limited number of listed stocks, the government should have focused on bringing in investors for initial public offers.

(Published in arrangement with Livemint)
As Britain works out its divorce from the European Union (EU), chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond said on Tuesday that steps are being taken to address the fears of Indian firms which use the UK to access the European market.

We will negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU, that will mean that goods originating in the UK will enter European markets freely and vice versa. I dont believe that any of the Indian investments that we have till date will be put to risk, Hammond told Hindustan Times.

Hammond is in New Delhi for the UK-India economic and financial dialogue aimed at promoting trade and investments between the two sides.

India is the third largest investor in the UK. If the trade deals with the EU do not materialise, it would mean goods originating from Britain would face entry tariffs, making them at least 10% costlier in Europe.

But given that the EU earns 100 billion more through goods sold in the UK than what Britain earns from sales into Europe, Hammond said he was confident of the trade deals going through.

He also brushed aside suggestions of new British visa restrictions affecting Indians. The truth is that we issue more visas to Indians that all other nationalities put together. Sixty per cent of work visas issued by the UK go to Indians, he said.

As India and the UK look at an FTA, Hammond assured there would be detailed discussions on visa issues. Our migration approach has to move towards high-skilled professionals and that is what Indian companies also want, he said.

The UK is among Indias major trading partners. In 2014-15, it ranked 18th in the list of Indias top 25 trading partners.

According to data from the commerce department, two-way merchandise trade during 2014-15 was worth $14.33 billion, marking a decrease of 9.39% when compared to 2013-14.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijan submitted the daily oil production data for March 2017 to the OPEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC) as part of implementation of the Vienna agreement to cut oil output, Azerbaijans Energy Ministry told Trend.

In March, the daily oil production in Azerbaijan amounted to 733,300 barrels, 40,000 barrels of which accounted for condensate.

The Energy Ministry also said 596,000 barrels of oil, 40,000 barrels of condensate and 23,000 barrels of petroleum products were exported daily.

Azerbaijan completely fulfils its obligations to reduce oil production by 35,000 barrels per day, the ministry said, adding the country was producing 793,900 barrels of oil per day in January and 776,400 barrels per day in February 2017.

The Joint Technical Committee was created January 22 under the OPEC Monitoring Committee, designed to monitor the implementation of countries obligations to cut oil production.

In December 2016 in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to curtail oil output jointly by 558,000 barrels per day. The agreement was signed for the first half of 2017, with the possibility of extension.
As the European Parliament on Tuesday endorsed tougher rules to prevent a rerun of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, Europes industry chief said she saw diesel engines disappearing from markets much faster than expected.

In response to the German car makers admission in September 2015 that it used software to cheat US diesel pollution controls - a scandal that spotlighted the EUs lax vehicle regulations - the European Commission proposed an overhaul of rules on how vehicles are licensed and tested across the bloc.

EU lawmakers voted 585 to 77 in favour of the draft bill, which would bolster EU oversight and allow Brussels to fine car makers up to 30,000 euros ($31,923.00) per vehicle.

The new measures will eventually take diesel cars off the roads, European commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said.

Diesel will not disappear from one day to another, Bienkowska told EU lawmakers on Tuesday. But after this year of work ... I am quite sure they will disappear much faster than we can imagine.

Under the draft law, car makers would no longer directly pay testing agency - in a bid to break their cosy relationships. EU nations now have to fund car exhaust testing centres - although they may levy fees from car makers to do so.

Brussels would get powers to carry out vehicle spot-checks and levy fines, while national authorities would be able to peer-review each others decisions.

The bill calls for fines levied by EU regulators to be used to compensate car owners and boost environmental protection or market surveillance measures.

The law still needs to be finalised in negotiations between EU lawmakers, the Commission and member states.

The proposed rules, however, stopped short of creating an independent market surveillance agency in the Style of the US Environment Protection Agency - one of the key recommendations of a parliamentary report into the Dieselgate scandal.

Environment groups called it a missed opportunity, saying the scandal had clearly shown the need for stronger oversight.

The non-binding report adopted in a plenary on Tuesday also accused EU legislators and governments of caving in to lobbying efforts and being too slow to adopt reforms.

Following the VW scandal, national investigations revealed on-road nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions as high as 15 times the regulatory limits, as well as the use of devices to reduce exhaust treatment.

The use of such devices is illegal under EU law, but car manufacturers have invoked an EU legal loophole that allows them to use software to scale back emissions controls when necessary to protect car engines. All deny breaking the law.
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley on Tuesday to promote trade and investments between the two countries.

Hammond is visiting India to participate in the UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue.

According to the British High Commission, the ninth UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) is hosted by the Indian Finance Minister.

The high-level talks are aimed at deepening the UKs economic and trading relationship with India and showcasing Britain as one of the best places in the world to do business, it said.

It added that the EFD will involve a series of events over the two-day period, including discussions on trade, financial services, and infrastructure.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, will also take part in the dialogue with Jaitley.

Hammond will also visit Mumbai where he would meet Indian FinTech start-ups at Barclays RISE, as well as the Chairman of Mahindra group.

As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India, he said.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said the India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue will enable both the sides to explore the immense shared economic opportunities lying ahead.

I look forward to discussing how the UK Governments industrial strategy will increase the prospects for shared trade, investment and energy innovation between our two great countries, Clark said.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade, Mark Garnier said that there are huge opportunities for UK businesses as it has the skills, expertise and technology to meet Indias demands.
Seeking to calm employees rattled by reports of a cash crunch, the founders of Indian online retailer Snapdeal have gone directly to them with a string of townhall meetings in past weeks, according to sources, promising profit and brushing off takeover talk.

The sources, familiar with the group, declined to be named as the meetings were not public.

Like most e-commerce players in India, Snapdeal is burning cash to sustain discounts - and keep customers - in a cut-throat online market. But as the number three player, it also is under growing pressure from investors and its own employees to consider its bottom line, as well as market share.

One of the sources said there had been at least five townhalls in recent weeks, with founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal delivering motivational speeches.

It was only profitability and profitability, one source said, describing answers to questions from employees whether the company was a takeover target.

Indias booming online retail sector is led by homegrown player Flipkart - now followed by Amazon, after the U.S. giant overtook Snapdeals sales volumes a year ago.

Thanks to its deep pockets, Amazon has been an increasingly prominent investor in India, compensating for its mistakes in China, where it has been all but squeezed out by aggressive local rivals with a better grasp of demand.

Snapdeal sought funding support in China, from Chinese funds and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, already an investor, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

It has so far come back empty handed.

Snapdeal expects to turn profitable in two years and is eyeing a market listing around the same time.

But the China setback, and a valuation that has dropped from a peak of $6.5 billion last year, has unsettled some staff.

Two employees and three people familiar with Snapdeals internal discussions said there were concerns over the groups direction, as well as over contradictory messages from investors - some seeking profit, others growth - and, increasingly, over potential senior-level departures or cuts.

Headhunters like Sinosh Panicker, a partner at Hunt Partners, said some of his clients had witnessed a jump in applications from Snapdeal employees.

Some employees cite concerns after the departure of 600 staff in February, laid off from Snapdeal, its logistics arm Vulcan Express and payments unit FreeCharge.

Snapdeal declined to comment on staff exits or sentiment, but said its annual appraisals were currently underway, and staff would be offered incentives.

In a letter to employees late last month, co-founder and chief executive Bahl said that Snapdeal, in which Japans SoftBank is also an investor, was on the right path, despite differing views from some investors.

Investors in our industry need to understand that driving indiscriminate growth at any cost doesnt create long-term value, Bahl wrote in the letter.

A spokeswoman for SoftBank in India declined comment while other Snapdeal investors - Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital - did not respond to Reuters queries. Alibaba has not commented on Snapdeal.

Snapdeal clocked up losses of 29.6 billion rupees ($456.5 million) in the fiscal year to March 31, 2016. Flipkarts wholesale unit and its online marketplace made a combined loss of 28.5 billion rupees in the same period.
Four children including two toddlers were killed Monday night when a truck ran over them while they were sleeping on a heap of stone chips near a stone crushing unit at Balra village in Jharkhands Palamu district.

Police said that the children, whose parents work in the crusher plants, were sleeping on heaps of stone chips by the road.

The Hyva truck coming from a crusher plant lost control and rammed into the heap mowing down all four children. They died on the spot, said Hariharganj police station in-charge, Rakesh Nandan Minz.

The deceased were identified as Puja Kumari (one-year old), Shivani Kumari (two-year old), both from Bihar. Two others, Bablu Kumar (12) and Chotu Kumar (11) were from Khadagpur village in Palamu district.

Angry local residents did not allow police to lift bodies for postmortem for an hour and demanded compensation for the parents from the government.

Minz said that the vehicle was seized but driver managed to escape. The police are in search of the driver and also checking the legality of the stone crushing unit which had stored stone chips at roadside, he said.

Thousands of labourers from Jharkhand and Bihar work in stone crushing units in the region. The workers generally come with their families to the site and both husband and wife prefer to work together while their children grow up without education and basic amenities.

Palmau has been reeling under a heat wave for the past one week. Children and their parents, who work in stone crushing units, generally sleep in the open at night during the summer.

Accidental death and road accident fatalities are on rise in Jharkhand. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)-2015, accidental death accounted for 5,737 deaths while road accidents claimed 2,893 lives.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Uttarakhand government will urge the Centre to make its forest laws less stringent so that it becomes easier for the locals to earn their forest-based livelihood, which would also prompt them to voluntarily conserve the green cover.

We will soon put up a proposal before the central government to phase out, or, make less stringent all its harsh forest laws so that the forest-dependent people in this state face no difficulty in earning their livelihood, state forest and wildlife minister Harak Singh Rawat told HT on Tuesday.

He said the stringent forest rules enacted by the Centre, such as the Forest (Conservation) Act, had proved to be a bane for the locals. Such harsh laws have literally robbed people of their traditional rights over forests, which has driven them to desperation Rawat said. As a result, they have turned apathetic towards forests which they once willingly conserved.

Rawat hoped that the Centre would pay heed to the state governments request. I am confident about that because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly spoken about the need to phase out all obsolete laws.

The minister said the state government has also plans to replace obsolete forest laws with people-friendly rules.

Rawat said that the state government would urge the Centre to restore the traditional legal rights the panchayats had over forests decades ago. We will urge them (Centre) to introduce such a provision like this in the panchayat laws so that the rights and concessions over forests the communities had once enjoyed are restored.

Such rights and concessions had developed a sense of ownership for forests. There was a time when all families in rural areas were allowed to fell at least three trees each so that they could use the timber to build their houses, Rawat said. No wonder the people would zealously guard the forests. They would rush to douse fires once they broke out in forests.

The people have now turned indifferent to forest fires, he said. This sense of alienation set in after 1980 when the Centre enforced a stringent forest law like the Forest (Conservation) Act.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Twenty people may lose their vision partially after they were injected with a contaminated medicine in their eyes at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital on Saturday.

Of the 20, eight were surgically treated to save their vision at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday.

Some had mild reaction and were just kept under observation, but eight of them needed a vitrectomy, a surgery to remove the infectious part of the vitreous humor. We hope that all of them get most of their vision back, said Dr Atul Kumar, head of the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS.

One of the vials of the medicine  Avastin  used by GTB doctors was contaminated. Twenty doses can be prepared from a single vial of the drug and because of one contaminated bottle, the people who received the drug developed an acute reaction, said Dr Kumar.

Avastin is a standard treatment for blindness prevention due to ageing, diabetes, hypertension and rupturing blood vessels. The medicine is imported from Switzerland and USA.

My brother received the injection in his eye on Saturday. He was called for a routine check-up the next morning. He had pain and red eyes. The doctors were concerned and immediately called their seniors. My brother was sent to AIIMs for a surgery, said Jaswinder Singh, whose brother had been receiving treatment at the ophthalmology department of GTB hospital for more than a month.

He had ruptured vessels in his retina.

After Satish Kumars father received the injection, he started losing his vision and developed a pain in his eyes. He had been receiving treatment at GTB for diabetic retinopathy, damage to the retina due to diabetes.

He had a surgery at AIIMS yesterday (on Monday). The doctors have said that his vision will come back to normal in about a month, said Kumar.

Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals medical director, Dr Sunil Kumar, said the samples have been sent for testing.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 26-year-old government engineer has been arrested for allegedly stalking, sexually assaulting, and threatening to kill a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, police said on Tuesday.

Police took action after the student filed a complaint on Sunday against the assistant executive engineer with the road transport and highways department.

The woman alleged that the Indian Engineering Services (IES) officer had sexually assaulted her for four years since 2012, when she was still a minor.

Also, she accused him of stalking her on social media, blackmailing her with morphed pornographic photos, and verbally abusing her in public places.

He was also threatened to kill her if she refuses to do his bidding, she said in her complaint.

She alleged that he used to visit the JNU campus in an inebriated condition with two-three persons and harass her. He tried to hurt her using a wire and a knife. She said the man was not letting her concentrate on her studies since 2012 because of a family rivalry, a police officer said.

The woman apparently tried to confide her ordeal to her friends and brother, but could not because she was afraid of the social stigma attached to a sexual assault.

She said she avoided stepping out of her hostel and even going to a hospital when she was sick because he had been stalking her constantly.

However, she gathered courage to go to police as the assaults and harassment became unbearable.

We registered a case on Monday and asked the accused to join the probe. He said he had known the woman for more than six years, said Chinmoy Biswal, the additional deputy commissioner of police (south district).

The engineer was arrested because of the serious charges against him, and produced him before a city court that remanded him in jail.

The woman broke their friendship but he kept harassing her. She is in trauma and her statement before the magistrate could not be recorded on Tuesday. She is being counseled, an officer said.
Lt Governor Anil Baijal is learnt to have sought solicitor general Ranjit Kumars advice in clearing bills of a top lawyer who has been fighting for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation case in a city court.

The move by Baijal comes after the law department of Delhi government, responding to a note by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, said that LGs permission for clearing the bills was necessary.

In December, Sisodia had asked for releasing appearance fee to noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani who has been fighting defamation case slapped against Kejriwal by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, sources said.

They said that the amount of pending dues to the noted lawyer is around Rs 3 crore and the law department had opinioned that why Delhi government should foot the bills when the case is not related to the city administration.

Sources said that the Lt Governor is learnt to have written to Kumar seeking his advice on whether the payment should be cleared or not.
Delhi airport has emerged as favourite for passengers travelling to Europe, Asia and North America while Mumbai is preferred by those travelling to Middle East and Africa. An air traffic report prepared by Delhi airport revealed that foreign tourists prefer arriving at Delhi.

The annual traffic report also revealed that Delhi is the most connected airport as it served to 129 destinations while second was Mumbai with 90 destinations. As per the Bureau of Immigration figure, 29.60% of the tourists arrived in Delhi, 18.20% in Mumbai and 8. 4% in Chennai. Delhi airports growth is largely due to increased in international traffic, which has grown from 14.15M in 2015-16 to 15.20M in 2016-17.

The Delhi airport has a major market share of air traffic volume to the Middle East, European, Asian and American regions. It has an annual passenger capacity of over 62 million, including Terminal-3 that can handle 34 million passengers. The airport handles over one lakh passengers every day and aircraft movements have also increased. Almost 1,185 arrivals/departures took place from here every day.

The addition of new routes in domestic and international sectors by major airlines has helped Delhi airport emerge as a leading hub airport. Airlines are attracted to Delhi airport as we have a large catchment area and unlike other Indian airports, we have virtually no constraints as far as accommodating future growth is concerned. Execution of the expansion works as per the proposed Master Plan will further enhance the facilities enabling air traffic to grow at a faster pace, said I Prabhakara Rao, CEO-DIAL.

As domestic airlines, especially budget carriers, are growing at a faster rate, DIAL has decided to double the capacity of Terminal 1, which now caters to only low-cost carriers. We will expand it and in the next three years, the capacity of T-1 will increase from 15 million per annum to 30 million per annum, Rao had said.

With traffic growth at almost 20%, airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) is changing the master plan to increase the capacity of the terminal and the airside. The new ATC tower and fourth runway will help reduce congestion in the air and handle more flights.

The Delhi airport, which already has three runways, will become the first airport in the country to have a fourth runway, with construction likely to start this year. Airport officials are expecting to commission the fourth runway by 2018, which will take the per hour capacity of Delhi airport from 75 flights to 105.

Last year, Delhi airport broke its own record of highest flight movements in one hour when it handled 82 flights in 60 minutes on November 16. The Air Traffic Controller (ATC) handled 40 landings and 42 take-offs between 11 am and noon on that day, and broke its previous record of 77 flight movements in an hour, officials said.

Also, for the first time, the airport crossed the 50-million passenger mark in a year, with 55.65 million passengers, almost 10 million more than the previous year.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 54-year-old businessman allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at the AIIMS Metro station in south Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

The man who dealt with CCTV cameras was allegedly depressed because he was debt-ridden and his business was running into losses, police said.

Delhi Metro police officials said that before jumping, the businessman, Harjeet Singh, sent a text message to his son and daughter on their mobile phones. The text message read, Hello my dear Beta many... God give u lot of happiness.... Always be happy (Sic).

The police said Singh left behind a suicide note in which he said nobody should be blamed or harassed for his death.

In the note, Singh wished that his organs should be donated, said a senior Delhi Metro police official.



Singh ran his businessman from a rented shop in south Delhis Nehru Place but he had suffered huge losses.

At 2.08 pm, a caller informed the police control room that a man had committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at platform number 2 of AIIMS Metro station. The train was heading towards Samaipur Badli.

The mans head was amputated from the neck. CCTV footage of the platform was examined. Singh was seen entering the station around 1.50 pm.

After strolling on the platform for almost five minutes, Singh jumped in front of a train approaching the platform, the officer said.

Singhs family members were informed about incident. An inquest proceeding was initiated into the incident, added the officer.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Oil and gas services group EnerMech based in Abderdeen (UK) has won new contracts in the Caspian Sea region worth around 40 million (around $50 million) in total.

It has secured a three-year contract with BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Ltd to manage all of its crane operation, maintenance and inspection requirements in Azerbaijan. The contract covers assets on seven platforms and includes 12 offshore pedestal cranes.

EnerMech said it has also been commissioned by the ATA consortium in Azerbaijan to provide a full range of hydro-testing, flange management, camera inspection and enhanced water blasting services on two platforms in the Shah Deniz 2 gas condensate field.

A separate project will also see EnerMech provide ultra-high pressure tubing installation, pressure testing and flushing of tubing for the first time.

EnerMech has also been awarded its first direct contract with BP at the ATA site, to provide nitrogen/helium leak detection, with pre-engineering work currently ongoing in London.

The company has also been commissioned by Azerbaijan-based BOS Shelf to provide all jacket riser testing, subsea safety isolation valves and subsea spool testing at its Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory and will also carry out hydro testing, riser pigging and bolt tensioning work.

EnerMech said it has also invested more than 1.5 million in new equipment to service a first award at the Sangachal Terminal south of Baku, where Turkish contractor Tekfen has commissioned it to provide enhanced high-pressure water jetting and flange management over a two-year period.

This has by far been our most successful period in the Caspian region and the groundwork put in over the last five years is now paying dividends, John Guy, EnerMechs regional director for the Middle East, Asia and Caspian, said.

The extension of the BP cranes and lifting contract is an important development and our commitment to Azerbaijan has been underlined by our move towards a 100 percent Azerbaijani project team, he said. We will continue to invest in facilities, equipment and training to ensure we can offer flexible, responsive services backed up with the most modern equipment fleet and best trained personnel.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani has said that he is ready to represent Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in court for free after Delhi government sought lieutenant governor Anil Baijals approval to foot the bill that reportedly ran into crores.

In December, Sisodia had asked for the release of appearance fee to Jethmalani who is fighting a defamation case slapped against Kejriwal by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, sources said

However, the Delhi governments law department said the bills could not be cleared without L-Gs nod. PTI reported that Baijal has sought solicitor general Ranjit Kumars advice in the matter.

Jethmalani told ANI on Tuesday that he charges only the rich and would now treat Kejriwal as one of his poor clients and appear for him free.

Even now if govt (Delhi) doesn't pay or he can't pay will appear for free,will treat him(Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients: Ram Jethmalani pic.twitter.com/YwT9OdwiOI  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Sources said the law department had raised concerns over paying Jethmalanis fee as Kejriwals defamation case has nothing to do with the citys administration.
A major fire at a tent house in South Delhis Sunlight Colony on Tuesday afternoon killed an 80-year-old man.

Ratan Singh worked as a tailor at the four-storey tent house, said Romil Baaniya, DCP (south-east).

The tent house, named New Variety Decorators Ltd, is located in A Block of Jeewan Nagar in Sunlight Colony.

Initial probe suggested that the fire started on the first floor and rapidly spread to the other floors. Though the cause of the fire remains to be probed, police suspect short-circuit may have triggered it.

There were over 20 employees in the building. They rushed out safely even as the fire department sent out over a dozen fire tenders to control the blaze.

The firefighters managed to gain entry to the first floor, only to find Singh lying dead on the staircase. He was trapped inside, but no one could hear his cries for help.

He was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre, but was declared brought dead. Police said his death was possibly due to asphyxiation.

The fatal blaze follows another fire in the Jeevan Prakash Building near Connaught Place on Tuesday morning that triggered panic among office goers.

Five fire tenders were rushed to the building to control the situation after the fire control room received a call around 11 am.

Atul Garg, chief fire officer, Delhi Fire Services, said the fire started from a pile of garbage dumped on the stairs on the fifth floor of the building located on the Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

The building was immediately evacuated. Firefighters reached the fifth floor using stairs to douse the flames.

However, the flames had not spread beyond the area occupied by the garbage because of which the blaze was controlled within minutes. Garg said the building was soon declared safe to enter.
Housing the official residence of Delhis lieutenant-governor and chief minister along with a number of plush bungalows, North Delhis Civil Lines looks like another Lutyens zone. But, take a step further and you will realise that it isnt.

As one explores the locality, its mighty facade begins to blur. Potholes dot most of the streets making it difficult for people to walk to nearby locations. These broken streets force residents to take their cars out, even if the destination is just minutes away. Those actually seen taking a stroll are security guards with pet dogs and domestic helps.

Nobody would want to walk if the roads arent repaired. Besides, what can we complain about, when the road leading to the CMs house itself is in a bad shape, said Satish Singhal a resident of Ram Kishore Road (RSR) in Civil Lines. The road in front of his house and the Shankaracharya Road also faces the same problem.

Naveen Mittal, president of RSR RWA, Civil Lines, said the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, responsible for the upkeep of the zone, did a shoddy job de-concretising trees as per the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). MCD ruined the aesthetic value of the area. They just de-concretised tree spaces without any design or symmetry, he said.

Barely a few kilometres away from the posh colony in the same ward (83) are areas like Majnu Ka Tila Tibetan settlement and Transport Nagar that are mired by blocked storm water drains and garbage strewn across streets.

Garbage collection

In 2009, the erstwhile unified MCD announced with much fanfare that Civil Lines and Rohini will be the first wards in Delhi to get door-to-door garbage collection service. Seven years later, residents claim all of that has been forgotten.

Residents of Rohini, one of the first sub-cities of Delhi, which is packed with Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS), feel the MCD gives the area a step motherly treatment. Since all societies have RWAs or working committees which employ their own security guards and waste collectors, the MCD does not feel the need to send its sanitation workers. The tippers just do one round in the whole day, that too from the main roads, said Vaibhav Piggal, president of Pocket 5 RWA, Rohini Sector 35.

Clogged drains

Proximity to Delhi Universitys North campus, has made GTB Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar the most populous wards of the North zone. In the last five years, the two areas have seen major modifications in the houses which are now mostly four-storey buildings run as hostels and PG accommodation.

Kitchens in most of these buildings are big as they function like a mess. Most drains here are choked as large quantities of food and other household items are thrown. It does not only result in stinking streets, but also builds up a huge garbage problem, said Attar Singh Pal, president of Hudson Lane RWA in GTB Nagar.

MCD sanitation workers are not regular because of which mini dhalaos have emerged on every other lane of the two areas.

Fogging

Another common concern, besides garbage, among North Delhi residents is fogging. Residents in all the wards that HT visited said that they wanted mosquito fogging to be a regular practice.

Last year, the MCD woke up only when the media highlighted the rising cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria. Take todays example. The temperature is rising now and in the evening mosquitoes are all over the place. Is it not the MCDs duty to begin regular fogging from here on? said Syed Murtaza Ali, a resident of K Block in Model Town.

Encroachment

Locals of these North Delhi wards feel the open spaces in front of their houses are increasingly being blocked by encroachments. A number of shops are being opened not only on main colony roads but also on the ground floor houses in several residential areas.

The width of streets has reduced because of encroachments and the MCD does not demolish them. Visit any park and all along its boundary wall, you will find vendors with their permanent settlements. It is a safety hazard too. Parking is an issue for which residents are also responsible, said Laxmi Narayan Garg who has been living in C Block of Model Town III for more than 50 years.

Unkempt Parks

Residents of wards such as GTB Nagar, Model Town, Mukherjee Nagar and Rohini, take their parks quite seriously. While no one seems to be happy with the work of the North MCD, many RWAs have taken matters in their own hands and are maintaining the greens with collective funds.

Tree pruning does not happen in years. Sweeping is not a daily affair and dogs are all over the place. The park in front of my house (next to Chandrashekhar Park) has a broken shed, said Ranjana Devi, a resident of GTB Nagar.

Residents whom HT interviewed in these areas, said they did not want any new development and instead demanded proper maintenance of the existing infrastructure.

Neglected wards

While the upper middle class and affluent wards of North Delhi have problems either with parks, garbage or streets, issues in Sangam Park (ward 76) and Wazirpur (72) are a combination of all of these and even more.

Basic facilities like public toilets are in a deplorable state here with broken sanitary ware and uncovered walls. During monsoons, lanes in slums and unauthorised colonies like Lal bagh are submerged with knee-deep water.

On the one hand, mounds of garbage are seen in every nook and corner, on the other, dispensaries bear a forlorn look with dogs taking shelter even inside the main building.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A famous Japanese proverb, darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse, aptly sums up the deteriorating civic services resulting in a mess in the neighbourhood of the swanky 112 metre tall headquarters of North Delhi Municipal corporation.

One would expect at the least the areas in the vicinity to be in a better state but the reality is entirely different. Over the years nothing has changed here. It is easy to spot illegal constructions and commercial activities, crumbling drainage, lack of parking space and parks, hazardous trades, polluting units and absence of public conveniences.

For years, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi  the predecessor of north, south, and east corporations  controlled the civic affairs from Town Hall in Chandni Chowk. In 2011, its headquarters was shifted to the civic centre, however, that could not inspire it to revive the crumbling civic infrastructure of the Walled City.

The civic administration was aware of the issues causing chaos in the Walled City but it just did nothing. Given the prevailing mess in and around Chandni Chowk, the municipal commissioners stopped coming to its headquarters. They would sit at a camp office in Ambedkar Stadium complex, said a former councillor, who also lives in old Delhi.

After delimitation, the walled city has been divided into seven wards  Daryaganj, Ballimaran, Jama Masjid, Ajmeri Gate, Bazaar Sita Ram, Delhi Gate and Chandni Chowk.

Daryaganj was created after the abolition of Nizamuddin ward and it is part of South Delhi Municipal Corporation. A sizeable area of Daryaganj locality of old Delhi area comes under its jurisdiction.

Sanitation

Residents complain that the condition here has remained the same for 10 years and no sincere effort has been made to address the issues of sanitation and illegal construction.

If a sanitation worker skips work even for a day, the lanes get heaped with garbage, said Nadeem Qazi, a resident of Gali Qasim Jaan in Ballimaran, where the historic Ghalib Haveli is situated.

He added that the drainage network now lies buried under layers of concrete. They kept relaying roads and damaged the drainage system. Any spill over or rain water with non-biodegradable garbage, like polythene, goes into sewer lines. Even a short spell of rain causes water logging here, Qazi said.

Mohammad Burhanuddin, a resident of Farash Khana, complained that though the civic body installs dustbins in other localities none have been placed here. The area requires effective door-to-door garbage collection. Municipal sanitation workers collect garbage only from the roads or garbage stations. People have engaged private garbage collectors, but some cant pay for this and throw trash bags on the streets, he said.

The municipal corporation was directed by the court to prepare a comprehensive solid waste management plan for the area, but this has not been done so far. The Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SDRC) also suggested measures like technology-based dustbins and underground dhalaos but the corporation is yet to respond.

Chandni Chowk councillor Surekha Gupta said the cleaning of streets is done on a daily basis. When markets are closed in the evening, there are piles of garbage in the lanes and bylanes. But, all of them are cleaned every morning, she said.

Illegal construction

Over the years, several illegal buildings have come up in the area adding to the pressure on civic resources. Old structures in narrow lanes are being converted into multi-storied dwelling units and commercial complexes. People claim that no safety measures are kept in mind while raising construction and several new structures have been built on old weak foundations.

There is no action against builders. They operate like mafia in connivance with police, municipal officials and politicians. The unauthorised structures are built without following the safety norms or rules, said Pawan Gupta, who lives in Nai Sarak.

Parking woes

Hundreds of shoppers and tourists visit the Old Delhi area every day and lack of parking space leads to clogging of roads. Besides surface parking lots, there are three multi-level underground facilities at Asaf Ali Marg, Church Mission Road, and Gandhi Maidan, but these are not enough to meet the demand. The new parking lot at Parade Ground remains under utilised due to poor lighting arrangement on two floors.

The corporation had, six years ago, announced the plan to build a parking lot at Sadar Bazaar, but nothing moved after that. The Gandhi Maidan parking is also to be reconstructed but the project has been delayed, said Sushil Goel, a trader in Chandni Chowk market.

Poor community services

In the last five years, the municipal corporation has not constructed any community hall, school, parking or any other facility in the area. The Parade Ground parking project was approved by the unified Municipal Corporation in 2011.

Whenever a demand is made for a new community hall or green area, their reply is that there is no space. I wonder then where they spend their funds, Zubair Anwar, a resident said.

Between 2012 and 2017, each elected member to North Corporation was given approximately Rs 3.5 crore. Khurram Iqbal, councillor from Jama Masjid ward, said he had exhausted the funds allocated to him on several projects, including redevelopment of two schools and relocation of dhalaos. There were two municipal schools in Kucha Chelaan and Phool Mandi, which were lying abandoned. I got them redeveloped. Following complaints, I also got dhalaos relocated, said Iqbal.

Saima Riaz, a councillor from Idgah Road ward said she spent the entire amount on creating facilities for women. A women-only park was developed in Sarai Khaleel area. Besides, toilet blocks were made in other localities. I also spent on repair of polyclinic in Sadar Bazaar, she said. Her ward has been abolished after delimitation and has been merged with Ballimaran and Quresh Nagar ward.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
African ambassadors to India have issued an unprecedented formal complaint criticising the weakness of New Delhis response to the recent attacks on Africans in Greater Noida. While there is evidence the complaint did not represent the views of many African governments, there is nonetheless a message for Indians as a whole. The ambassadors complaint spoke of how, despite repeated cases of Africans being assaulted by Indians, there was no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures being taken by New Delhi. They argued that the recent attacks in Greater Noida were not sufficiently condemned and that these repeated attacks were xenophobic and racial in nature.

The Indian government has been quick to insist that arrests have been made and, generally, the police have been active in most such cases  though this is often because of official prodding. It is also a fact that the Indian foreign minister normally speaks out against such incidents. What is questionable is Indian officialdoms insistence such attacks are not racist. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, after a series of such incidents last year, had told the Rajya Sabha, these were not any kind of racial attacks but spontaneous and criminal. New Delhi makes a specious argument that if such assaults are not pre-meditated and specifically motivated by an Africans physical appearance, then such incidents are not racial.

A minority of the Africans  as is the case with almost every class of foreigner in India  face violence because they are involved in criminal activities. But it is also clear that Indians use this is an excuse to go after anyone of African appearance, irrespective of whether they are involved in any crime. More importantly, racism is ultimately defined by the perception of the victim. Any person of black origin who lives in India faces a steady stream of petty racism whether in the form of verbal abuse, social ostracisation, and discrimination in such issues as housing. Inevitably, if they are attacked by a mob they will assume their skin colour is part of the reason. The Aam Aadmi Party all but made African-bashing an electoral selling point. It is hypocritical that New Delhi is quick to declare attacks on people of Indian origin in the West as racist while steadfastly refusing to admit what happens on the home front.
For the last three weeks, Jantar Mantar in central Delhi has been home to a demonstration that has been using innovative methods --- in desperation, one may add --- to grab the attention of the central government. Around 80 farmers from Tamil Nadu posed with skulls, rats and dead snakes to impress upon the Centre their plight due to the severe drought in their state.. They managed to grab media attraction but behind the spectacle is a warning, which resonates beyond the state: The deepening water crisis in south India. The farmers were demanding that their loans from nationalised banks be waived, fair and just prices be set for their produce and to come up with realistic solutions to the water scarcity in the state. The farmers claimed that their loans from cooperative banks were written off, under Jayalalithaas directives. However, loans from nationalised banks require the Central governments go-ahead.

The farmers have been reeling under the influence of what has been reportedly called the worst drought faced by the state in 140 years and the cyclone Vardah that hit the state in December last year. All the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu have been declared drought-affected. Former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on January 3 gave an insight into the gravity of the situation. If the average rainfall that the State receives from the north-east monsoon from October to December is around 440 millimetres (44 centimetres), it received only 16.83 cm in 2016. Karnataka is in the same boat as Tamil Nadu. Karnataka is facing its second consecutive drought year as it has had over 50% deficient rainfall this year. The state has also been directed to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite an acute drinking water shortage that is expected to only get worse in the coming months. With both the southwest and northeast monsoons not making an appearance except for a few showers, Kerala too is facing its worst drought in 115 years. Throughout the state, the groundwater situation is also getting dire.

Last week, the Centre released Rs 1,712.10 crore and Rs1,235.52 crore for drought-hit Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, respectively, from the National Disaster Response Fund. While emergency funds can ease the situation a bit, they are at best cosmetic. Only a long-term water-management policy can end the woes of farmers once and for all.
Six Delhi University colleges are among the top 10 colleges, according to a countrywide government ranking of educational institutions. Interestingly, many popular colleges such as St Stephens, Hindu, Sri Venkateswara and Ramjas did not apply to be considered for the rankings.

Some college principals said they missed the deadline while some said they were busy with other inspections but most of them agreed on one thing that they will apply for the survey next year.

Some of the popular colleges that did not apply for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) are Hansraj, Kirori Mal, Jesus and Mary, Kamala Nehru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa, Daulat Ram College and Gargi.

We were busy with our National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection when we had to apply for the ranking. Next year we will surely apply as we already have a good NAAC score, said Dinesh Khattar, Kirori Mal College officiating principal.

PC Tulsiyan, officiating principal of Ramjas College, said, I was not in college during that time, but next year we will definitely apply.

Acting principal of Hansraj College, Rama Sharma, said they missed the deadline this year but she will ensure the college applies next year. We were not aware of it. When we got to know about it, we tried to open the website but it said the last date has expired. We will apply next year, she said.

P Hemalatha Reddy, principal of Sri Venkateswara College, said, We missed the deadline as we were busy with some other inspections happening in college but we will surely apply for next years ranking list.

Principal of SGTB Khalsa Jaswinder Singh too said the college will apply next year.

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.

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.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Around 500 workers affiliated to the Maruti workers union held a protest at Kamla Nehru Park near the deputy commissioners office on Monday. They demanded the release of 13 workers who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and four others ordered to serve a five-year prison term in the case of violence in the companys Manesar plant in 2012 that left a manager dead.

Members of the Maruti Suzuki Mazdoor Sangh (MSMS) handed over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon seeking action against the companys management and demanding a reversal of the judgment by a local court on March 10 that convicting 31 Maruti workers.

Read more: Maruti factory violence verdict: A brief history of the case

Kuldip Janghu, general secretary of the union, said the court passed the judgment without proper evidence. We will fight till justice is delivered. We are going to stage an all-India protest on Wednesday, he said.

The union also demanded that workers found not guilty by the court be allowed to rejoin work at Maruti.

The workers who have been convicted are being framed. The management fabricated the evidence. We will fight against this injustice and will take this battle to different parts of the world as well, said Rajesh Karl, a union member.

The protesters even alleged that companies such as Maruti take pride in exploiting workers.

We have called all worker unions to unite for the cause. Big firms cannot take decisions against poor workers. We will hand over the memorandum to the President of India as well, he said.

In the violence that had taken place in the Manesar plant on July 18, 2012, Awanish Kumar Dev, general manager (human resources) of Maruti Suzuki, was burned to death and several executives injured. The violence ensued after a tussle between workers and the management over various demands, including registration of a trade union at the Manesar plant.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Haryana government has asked Japanese company Mitsubishi to conduct studies on two routes for the purpose of constructing a metro line in the city. The move came after a meeting of officials in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The company gave a presentation to the government officials claiming that it could construct a network at a much lower rate as compared to other entities.

According to the presentation, an automated guideway transit system operates without drivers, making such a system cheaper to build and operate than the conventional railway systems. The trains on such a system have a maximum speed of 120kmph and can be viewed as a cheaper option to link urban centres with far off areas.

The two routes proposed by the company are from Iffco Chowk to Gurgaon railway station and Iffco Chowk to Sector 21 Dwarka in Delhi. Mitsubishi will conduct studies along these routes and submit a feasibility report to the Haryana government.

Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi said, The project is at a very preliminary stage and until the company submits the feasibility report, nothing concrete can be said. We have seen their presentation now.

The Haryana government is keen on developing a mass transit system in the state for faster industrial growth.

Read more: Gurgaon metro commuters have bagful of demands

Kazunori Konishi, managing director, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries India Private Limited, said, Today, we basically explained about our project to the Haryana government. We will study and submit a report on this to the government.

The government told the Japanese delegation to submit report on all economic aspects and costing of the proposed project.

One thing that the delegation claimed is that their construction cost will be comparatively lower. But that is still not the only criteria to arrive at decision in this regard, said D Suresh, divisional commissioner, Gurgaon.

The areas north of the NH-8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway) have been neglected in terms of metro connectivity. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)s proposal to link Iffco Chowk with Sector 21 Dwarka has still not worked out. The DMRC in February 2012 had submitted its first detailed project report on the Delhi airport to Iffco Chowk link, which the Haryana government rejected. Since then, that project has been delayed indefinitely.

Narbir Singh, MLA Badshahpur, who was present in the meeting, said, The Japanese delegation of Mitsubishi said they can construct and maintain metro lines at a much affordable rate compared to the DMRC. The company gave its presentation to the Haryana government in New Delhi. It will conduct a route study between Iffco Chowk and Gurgaon railway station and Iffco Chowk and Sector 21 Dwarka.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Two women, who manage the SBI Eco deposit counter in Gurgaon, managed to stave off a robbery attempt by two armed assailants on Tuesday. The women can be seen in CCTV footage fending off the robbers, who tried to hold them at gunpoint.

Vimla Devi and Poonam, both residents of Badhshahpur village, were working at their counter in the market, when the duo suddenly entered the shop posing as customers. One of them was wearing a face mask and the other came forward to fill the deposit slip. Suddenly, one of them tried to hit Poonam, who fended the attack with her hand, said Vimla Devi.

The attack by the assailants led to commotion at the site. During the scuffle, the women snatched the weapons of the duo, who were identified as Deepak and Mohit from Bhiwani.

The two men were thrashed by the locals and were detained in the kiosk till Badshahpur police reached the spot and arrested them, after confiscating their illegal firearms. A case of dacoity and possession of illegal firearms was registered by the police.

Brave woman Vimla Devi and Poonam caught robbers in SBI money transfer in Badshahpur, Gurgaon @HTGurgaon @htTweets pic.twitter.com/ynNWlVgEYC  Parveen Kumar (@parveenkumar_ht) April 4, 2017

Later on Wednesday, the Gurgaon police said it is going to reward the women for their bravery.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said that the bravery and presence of mind shown by two women was commendable and the department will reward them for preventing a major crime.

Police said the incident happened around afternoon on Monday when the two men tried to force their way into the bank. The men flashed their weapons and attacked the two women. The two women, however, challenged them and a scuffle broke out, following which locals from outside the bank premises entered the kiosk and caught the two persons.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The International Rating Agency S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'BB' long-term corporate credit ratings on Kazakhstan-government-controlled vertically integrated oil company KazMunaiGas (KMG) and its core subsidiary KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP), the rating agency said in a message. The outlook remains negative.

The rating agency also affirmed its 'kzA' Kazakhstan national scale rating on KMG.

The affirmation reflects our view of very high likelihood of extraordinary and ongoing state support to KMG, despite relatively weak stand-alone financial metrics, S&P said.

The rating agency expects weak and relatively volatile financial metrics, including debt to EBITDA of 4x-5x, funds from operations (FFO) to debt of about 12-15 percent, and negative free operating cash flow (FOCF) in 2017.S&P has therefore revised its assessment of the financial risk profile to highly leveraged.

At the same time, the rating agency now takes a view that, even if KMG decided to exercise its option to buy the Kashagan oilfield stake back from the government-controlled holding Samruk-Kazyna, the impact on the rating would be driven more by liquidity than by any further increase in leverage, which is already high. S&P therefore continues to assess KMG's stand-alone credit profile at 'b'.

The negative outlook mirrors that on the sovereign, indicating that a downgrade of Kazakhstan would translate into a similar rating action on KMG, all other factors remaining unchanged. The rating agency could also lower the rating on KMG if it reassessed the likelihood of government support KMG could receive. This currently appears unlikely, however, given the Kazakh government's recent support.

Downside scenarios beyond factors related to the sovereign appear unlikely. S&P could lower the rating if KMG's SACP declines to 'ccc+' or below, which could happen in case of materially deteriorating liquidity, debt-financed investments well above current assumptions (including a debt-financed acquisition of the Kashagan stake), or if significantly lower oil prices undermine the company's sustainable EBITDA generation. Also, downside for the rating could materialize if the likelihood of extraordinary state support diminishes, due to changes in the government's policy, or if the company's role and standing vis-a-vis the government weakens. These are not S&Ps base-case scenarios for the rating, however.

The rating agency could revise the outlook on KMG to stable in the event of a similar action on the sovereign. In the long term, ratings upside will likely hinge on materially higher oil prices than S&P currently assumes in its base case and a material reduction in consolidated adjusted leverage, with FFO to debt sustainably above 20 percent, consistently positive FOCF, and no risk of a debt-financed buyback of Kashagan. S&P sees this scenario as unlikely in the next 12-18 months.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
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 Womens 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.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more
Nearly 200 independent movie theatres across the United States on Tuesday will screen the film of George Orwells 1984 novel about a dystopian future in what organisers say is a stand against US President Donald Trumps administration.

The 1949 book, which returned to the US best-seller list in January, features a Big Brother government that spies on its citizens and forces them into doublethink, or simultaneously accepting contradictory versions of the truth.

Organisers the United State of Cinema said the screenings were arranged to take a stand for our most basic values: freedom of speech, respect for our fellow human beings, and the simple truth that there are no such things as alternative facts.

The British novel was reprinted in January, decades after it was written, following the Trump administrations defense of alternative facts, a term White House official Kellyanne Conway used during a dispute over the size of the crowd at Trumps inauguration.

Laura Wood of Skoob Books poses for a photograph with a copy of George Orwell's 1984.

Adam Birnbaum, director of Film Programming for the Avon Theatre Film Center in Stamford, Connecticut, and co-organizer of the event, said Orwells themes were just as relevant today as they were nearly 70 years ago.

Our concern is the idea that the only answer is the one coming from the mouthpiece running the (Trump) administration and that theres this effort to sort of snuff out anything but that, Birnbaum said.

The movie, made in 1984 and starring John Hurt and Richard Burton, will be screened in 44 states. It will also be shown at five locations in Canada, one in England, one in Sweden and one in Croatia.

A copy of George Orwell's 1984 sits on the shelf of a bookstore in New York.

Birnbaum, who will screen the film at the Avon Theatre Film Center on Tuesday, said a number of the theaters have scheduled post-film audience discussions.

If nothing else, we hope that people will continue to be voices of opposition to some of the practices that are currently being employed by government, he said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Actor Vin Diesel has revealed he used a student credit card to finance his first films script. The 49-year-old, who is now among the A-list stars of Hollywood, says at the beginning of his career, he desperately needed finance to give shape to his ideas.

To write my first script, I went to an early electronics store called the Wiz that was on 14th Street (in New York). They had a policy where you could return anything within 30 days, no questions asked, Diesel told nytimes.com.

Diesel revealed that he bought a $600 word processor on his student credit card. He finished his script on it and returned it at the end of 30 days. (REUTERS)

So I went to the Wiz and bought this $600 word processor on my student credit card. I stayed up all night, every night. And at the end of the 30 days, I returned it. Then I went out and rented a 16-mm camera on a Friday, because I didnt have to return it until Monday, so I was able to shoot for three days. Cut to my mom watching me roll an old 16 mm Steenbeck into my little room. I was cutting and splicing Multi-Facial old-school style. This was before computers, really, he added.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
A US judge has 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 Nicholsons 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.

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.

Gordon ruled however that there was no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues. Moreover, counsel for defendant has not presented sufficient credible, admissible evidence or legal arguments to warrant the relief requested, Gordon wrote in a 13-page ruling.

The district attorneys office had objected to what they say amounted to an advance preview of Polanskis potential sentence. 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.

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.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott will direct and produce the upcoming World War II film Battle of Britain.

The Battle of Britain began on July 10, 1940, as Adolf Hitlers Nazi air force, the Luftwaffe, bombarded the British Isles through October, reports variety.com.

British seaports and shipping lanes were the first targets, followed by the Royal Air Force airfields and nightly attacks on London. But the Nazis were unable to overcome British resistance in what was the first major defeat for Germany in the war and the plans for the invasion, dubbed Operation Sea Lion, were scrapped.

Scott has completed production on Alien: Covenant, which is slated to release on May 19.

He is also in talks to direct two other projects -- All the Money in the World, centering on the 1973 kidnapping of industrialist J Paul Getty, and The Cartel.

A 1960s film was also titled Battle of Britain, which was directed by Guy Hamilton.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
A day after Jammu and Kashmir police apprehended an Indian Army soldier with grenades and live ammunition at Srinagar airport, another personnel was caught with a cartridge on Tuesday.

Sources said Raj Pandiya, who was carrying a live cartridge of INSAS rifle in his luggage, has been handed over to army authorities.

Pandiya said he had forgotten the bullet, which was detected during an X-ray scanning at the airport, in his baggage by mistake. He was scheduled to board an Indigo flight to Mumbai.

The soldier was posted at 319 FD Hospital AMC Pattan in north Kashmir.

On Monday, Bhopal Mukhia of 17 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles was arrested with two grenades and four rounds of live ammunition at Srinagar airport. He has been granted bail by a local court in Kashmir on Tuesday.

Budgam court handed over Mukhia to the army after the defence authorities moved an application seeking his custody for investigation. The army told the court that they will conduct their own investigation.

Mukhia, a native of Darjeeling in West Bengal, told airport security that Major Vivek Seth had asked him to carry the grenades and ammunition and hand them to someone in Delhi.

Sources said Seth, who is currently out of the state, has been asked to return to the valley for investigation.
The Indian Army soldier, who was arrested with two grenades and four rounds of live ammunition at Srinagar airport by an anti-hijacking squad on Monday, was granted bail by a local court in Kashmir on Tuesday.

Budgam court handed over Bhopal Mukhia of 17 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles to the army after the defence authorities moved an application seeking his custody for investigation. The army told the court that they will conduct their own investigation.

According to officials, the application seeking his custody was moved under the Army Act. The case has been listed for a hearing on April 6.

Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid confirmed the bail order and said that police might hand over the case to the army if they start their own (armys) court of inquiry.

Mukhia, a native of Darjeeling in West Bengal, told airport security that Major Vivek Seth had asked him to carry two grenades and four rounds of live ammunition and hand them to someone in Delhi.

Sources said Seth, who is currently out of the state, has been asked to return to the valley for investigation.

An army spokesperson confirmed that the soldier was caught carrying the grenades in a packet as reported by the airport authorities. The matter is under investigation. As per due process of law, the army will take action against the individual, the spokesperson had said.

The spokesperson, however, ruled out any hijacking angle.

The explosives were found in the baggage as Mukhia, who was posted near the Line of Control in Uri, was to board a chartered Air India flight for security personnel. As security personnel dont have to undergo the multiple tyre security, Mukhia managed to sneak in the grenades to the last checking point.

Srinagar is one of the most guarded airports in the country and has an elaborate security drill in place.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Assam Riffles on Tuesday felicitated its veteran, Naren Chandra Das, who escorted the Dalai Lama during his escape from Tibet nearly 60 years ago at the forces headquarter here.

Assam Riffles DG Lieutenant General Shokin Chauhan felicitated Das in the presence of the rank and file of the force during the commanders conference.

Assam Riffles chief reaffirmed the forces pledge to look after its veterans and how a special cell was started wherein all veterans can register and interact directly for their grievances, Assam Riffles spokesman Lt Col Rahul Josan told PTI.

He said a befitting tribute was paid to 76 year-old Das, the only surviving jawan among the eight Assam Riffles men who escorted the Tibetan spiritual leader in 1959.

Das, who was dressed in the forces uniforms, carried a broad smiled boasting of how he happily carried the duty entrusted to him when he was posted at Lungla near the China border.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama had an emotional reunion with Das at Guwahati recently during the Namami Brahmaputra festival.

Das will leave for his hometown in Balipara in Assams Sonitpur district, the spokesman said.
Barachatti police station SHO Chetna Nand Jha is a worried man.

The premises of the police station he heads in Gaya district, about 100km from Patna, is crammed with vehicles seized while smuggling liquor to the dry state from neighbouring Jharkhand and the record rooms are overflowing with bottles of the banned beverage recovered from bootleggers.

We are running short of space in the police station. Seven rooms, meant to keep records and designed to serve as rest and detention rooms, have already been occupied by bottles of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL). Heaps of country liquor sachets are rotting in the open, spreading unbearable stench around, rues Jha.

The space in and around the police station now looks more like a junkyard of SUVs, autorickshaws, cars, jeeps, trucks and motorcycles seized during anti-liquor drive. We are looking for another premises, even on rent, to handle the unending flow of seized vehicles. I have written to the Gaya SP for disposal of liquor-related seizures, he adds.

His counterpart at Rajauli in Nawada district, adjoining Koderma of Jharkhand, talks of the unique problem the police stations of bordering districts have been exposed to, post prohibition in Bihar.

The continued crackdown on liquor, however, seems have done little to dissuade addicts and fun-loving youths from consuming alcohol. They often traverse the border to Jharkhand in groups and assemble at line hotels on the national highway (NH)-2- better known as Grand Trunk road- in the evening to get their favourite brands served with snacks of their choice.

No wonder, roadside eateries in Jharkhand are leaving no stone unturned to make the best of the ban, even as line hotels in Bihar, barely half a kilometre away, wear a deserted look.

Dhabas on Dobhi-Chouparan stretch of NH in Jharkhand deck up with colourful lights and wake to life with vehicles from Bihar coming to halt early evening, each day, says Subhesh Singh, owner of one such eateries.

The recent Supreme Court order restricting operation of liquor vends within 500 metres from highways has come as a setback, but not for those having tact and contact with shop owners.

These days, liquor is available at a premium at line hotels, as it is carried to dhabas by youths on call in nearby villages, says Manik Saw of Chordaha village in Jharkhand, adjacent to Bihar border on NH2.

The line hotels could be deceiving. At a glance, they appear to be simple dhabas, serving meals and soft-drinks. But, once you strike a deal, you will be taken to a secluded place and served liquor, said Suresh Chaurasia, owner of a betel shop besides a roadside eatery.

The under-construction Chatra-Gaya stretch of the road that merges with NH2 at Dobhi, is posing the most serious challenge to the total prohibition regime in Bihar.

Tucked away in difficult terrain and covered with forest and hills, Maoist-affected villages of Gaya have turned big destinations for liquor mafiosi to produce Mahua-based brew, which is carried by bootleggers to different cities of Bihar through village roads.

Severe shortage of staff and resources often come as a stumbling block for police stations of bordering districts to conduct regular raids in remote villages, a fact, which has triggered illegal liqour trade ona huge scale where a Rs 1000 pack sells at over Rs 3500. The wrong people-businessmen with political contacts- are the only gainers, besides corrupt policemen who let pass five trucks with bottles, but detain just one for record. That happens for a fee, said a wayside eatery owner.

We generally carry out only intelligence based raids. However, we have to be contented with dismantling makeshift breweries, as those involved in it usually manage to get away with the areas being inaccessible for vehicles, says a senior police officer.

Apparently, ignoring Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars appeal to restrict supply of liquor to Bihar districts, the Jharkhand government has increased quota of liquor being sold through authorised vends in Koderma, Chatra, Hazaribagh and Garhwa districts-all bordering Bihar.

The quota has been enhanced by about 2% to 3% in view of increase in demand. But, they are for sale in Jharkhand only. Any attempt at illegal trade is dealt with sternly. Liquor of various brands and country liquor worth over Rs 1 crore, being sent to Bihar, were seized in Chatra alone last year, a senior officer of Jharkhands excise department said, adding that they always cooperate with their Bihar counterpart to smash the illegal trade.

Notwithstanding issues of contentions between the two states, hospitality sector of Bihar has had to bear the brunt of total prohibition. Corporate engagements for hotels in Bodh Gaya have reached its nadir. There has been about 60% decline in occupancy post liquor ban, even as Ranchi has turned out to be the most preferred destination for those in Bihar for marriage purposes, says president of Bodh Gaya hotels association Sanjay Kumar Singh.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
BJP president Amit Shah will be in Tripura on a two-day visit in May to address a brainstorming session of party workers on the political roadmap aimed at ousting the Left Front from power in the northeastern state.

Elections for the 60-member Tripura legislative assembly are likely to be held in February 2018.

To give a boost and to finalise the political strategy ahead of the 2018 assembly elections in Tripura, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah would be arriving here on May 6, the BJPs Tripura Pradesh prabhari (observer) Sunil Deodhar told the media.

Tripura is the main target for the BJP to capture power We are of the view that the party could win Tripura riding on the organisational strength. Thats why Amit jis visit holds significance for the state party unit, he said.

Deodhar said the BJP performed fairly well in the just concluded assembly elections in five states. So, we are attaching utmost importance to the visit of Amit Shah.

BJP state president Bipal Deb said ahead of Shahs visit, the party would intensify its movement demanding resignation of chief minister Manik Sarkar over the termination of jobs of 10,223 teachers following a Supreme Court order.

The apex court on March 29 upheld a Tripura high court order dismissing the teachers and asked the government to initiate a fresh recruitment process by May 31.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) considers the use of the word "mafia" in the headline of LEspressos weekly news magazine arbitrary, unfounded and unacceptable, Ulrike Andres, TAP Commercial and External Affairs Director, told Trend April 4.

TAP reserves the right to file a lawsuit against the authors and the editor of the magazine, and to seek compensation for reputational damage, she added.

TAP has consistently operated in accordance with Italian and European laws and regulations regarding the award of contracts and subcontracts, said Andres.

She recalled that previously, TAP submitted to the prefecture of Lecce the document that guarantees maximum transparency of all works and activities.

TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union.



TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.



The pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.



TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albanias mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
The Union commerce and industries minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced that her ministry would allow fireworks display at the Thrissur Pooram festival in Kerala under the prevailing set of rules.

For this, the ministry has asked manufacturers of locally-made fireworksamittu, kuzhiminnal, palm leaf crackers, multishots, gundus and othersto obtain authorisation from Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), Nagpur.

The minister affirmed that the fireworks, branded or traditional, containing dangerous and prohibited potassium chlorate or any other chlorate will not be allowed for display during the festival.

We will not allow display of unauthorised fireworks without licence. Unlike branded fireworks, traditional fireworks do not carry information on the content and composition of chemicals, and manufacturers of these fireworks do not carry licence to store and display such items. For this, we have offered the manufacturers of traditional fireworks a definite timeline for applying and issuance for licence, the commerce minister said.

We will be writing to the chief secretary of Kerala to authorise the district magistrate to follow the rule to ensure important and valuable tradition continues, but with all the safety mechanisms in place, she said.

The commerce minister highlighted the tragic fire that had broken out during fireworks display at the 500-year-old Puttingal temple at Paravoor (in Kollam district) last year, killing 108 people and injuring over a hundred.

A recent accident during display of fireworks at Paravoor, Kerala has brought out several discrepancies such as lack of effective enforcement of the explosive safety rules on the part of the district administration, use of unauthorised fireworks and chemicals, unauthorised storage of fireworks at public display site and non-adherence of prescribed safety distances between display site and spectators, Sitharaman said.

To prevent such incidents in the future, there is an urgent need to enforce the Explosives Rules 2008 by district authorities, she said.

For this, we have developed an effective mechanism and procedures have been simplified. We have created a single window at the DM office. Therefore, there is no need to go to SEPO office in Nagpur. The applicants will have to apply about two months prior to the display date. The permission for the same will be granted within 30 days, a month prior to the event, the minister said.

PESO will approve the fireworks drawing within 10 days and after submission of fireworks samples, authorisation will be accorded within 30 days.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
An assessment by the Union home ministry has said that of the 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living illegally in India, about 10,000 are in Jammu and Kashmir and may create a problem in the volatile state.

Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on Monday discussed the threat with Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid, Border Security Force (BSF) chief KK Sharma and other senior officials of the Intelligence Bureau.

The government has decided to give a push to the identification process of Rohingya Muslims and if possible, deport them. If deportation is not possible, at least we should know where they are so that their activities can be checked. Given their vulnerability to radicalisation, they are being considered a potential security threat, said a senior home ministry official.

The official said so far, the ministry has not received any report with regard to the involvement of Rohingya Muslims in terror-related activities. However, there are intelligence reports to suggest that Pakistan-based terror outfits may try to exploit them, he added.
The Jammu and Kashmir police have started a crackdown on youth in Kashmir who use social media to allegedly threaten police and other government officials or run a smear campaign against them.

The police officials said they have identified seven persons coming under police stations like Pantha Chowk, Zakoora and Chanapora in Srinagar who threatened police and government functionaries through their posts and uploads.

They added these miscreants allegedly uploaded and shared videos and posted them to harm the repute of the officers.

Most of them have been arrested and we are ascertaining their motives, said SSP Srinagar Imtiyaz Parray.

He said the police officials are mostly targeted by these people. Since cops are most visible, these people upload photos of police officers. It is kind of a smear campaign, trying to provoke people by saying that these are the officers who arrest stonepelters, or by levelling other allegations, Parray said.

He said most of these youth have a background of pelting stones on security forces. They have been involved in law and order issues and are trying to create different forums against officers, he said.

The police will now examine their phones, logs and social media accounts to ascertain who else they were in touch with. The alleged social media campaign comes amid increasing number of incidents of militants storming houses of police officers and threatening their families. The SSP said such attacks may have emboldened these miscreants.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police, across Kashmir, has now alerted its technical cells to monitor activities of these miscreants on the social media.
Heavy rain has forced Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to put off by two days his arrival in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, a visit China has been warning against.

The Dalai Lama was to arrive at Lumla near Tawang at 9.30am on Tuesday but because of heavy rain in Guwahati in neighbouring Assam his helicopter couldnt take off.

The 81-year-old Dalai Lama is travelling by road, his first stop will be Bomdila, 180km short of Tawang, where he is expected on April 6.

Tawang is an important Buddhist centre with a 400-year-old hilltop monastery but also holds a special place for the Tibetan leader who spent a few days in the Himalayan village after escaping the Chinese army in 1959.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet and calls Dharamsala-based Dalai Lama a separatist who wants to carve out an independent Tibet within the Chinese mainland.

As reported by HT on Monday, some Chinese experts have said Beijing should use all means, including military, to show its displeasure. China could suspend bilateral mechanisms as a response  at least temporarily.

The Chinese foreign ministry has already issued strong statements, saying the visit would damage ties.

India has rubbished China claims, saying the visit is religious.

The Dalai Lama is going to visit Arunachal Pradesh as a religious leader and there is no reason to stop him as his followers are demanding he should come, Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju had said.

The year 2016 was rocky for the bilateral relationship.

China thwarted Indias efforts to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar listed on a UN list of terrorists. It also blocked New Delhis entry into the nuclear suppliers group and went ahead with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor overlooking Indias concerns.

The Dalai Lama was to stay in Arunachal Pradesh till April 12 to attend religious engagements. It is not known if he would extend his stay.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley appeared to be signalling a shift in American position when she said the Donald Trump administration would like to find its place in efforts to de-escalate India-Pakistan tensions but the suggestion was rejected by New Delhi, which insisted on the bilateral resolution of issues.

In remarks at a news conference on Monday, Haley, who has taken over as the UN Security Council chair, said the US was concerned about the India-Pakistan dispute and would like to find its place in moves to reduce tensions.

Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward, the Indian American envoy said in response to a question.

So I would expect that the administration is in going to be in talks and try and find its place to be a part of that and we dont think we should wait till something happens. We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that.

But the day after, no one in the Trump administration was in a hurry to back her up publicly or privately. The White House referred questions about her remarks to the state department, which had not responded to multiple requests for response till the writing of this report.

In New Delhi, external affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay responded to Haleys remarks by saying Indias position on bilaterally resolving all issues with Pakistan hasnt changed.

Governments position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasnt changed, Baglay said.

The external affairs ministry was cold to Haleys remarks indicating that President Donald Trump could play a role in efforts to reduce tensions. Instead, Baglay said, the focus should be on terror originating from Pakistan.

We of course expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond, he said.

Pakistan has often favoured a mediatory role for the US on the Kashmir issue but New Delhi has consistently ruled out third party mediation to solve its problems with Islamabad.

Also read: As China continues to block UN ban on Azhar, US says veto wont stop it from acting against terrorists

India, normally super-sensitive to any talk of third party intervention, seemed not too worried, opting to continue believing in an earlier assurance from the Trump administration that the president was not interested.

The Trump administration has let India know, according to officials in New Delhi who spoke on condition of anonymity, that the president has no intention of insinuating himself or the US into the conflict as a mediator or a peacemaker.

India first raised this issue with the administration in January after Trump, then president-elect, was seen to be signalling a desire to play a role in resolving India-Pakistan issues during a phone call with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems, Trump had said, according to a transcript released by Islamabad. It will be an honor and I will personally do it.

New Delhi, which had been engaging the new administration in a series of meetings, was alarmed and checked. We were told by those close to the administration the president was not interested, said an official on background.

Indians have since then let the Trump administration know at other levels and in other meetings about their position on third party mediation. And they have had no reason to re-visit the issue until now.
Amid Chinese objections to the Dalai Lamas trip to Arunachal Pradesh, India said on Tuesday no artificial controversy should be created around the Tibetan spiritual leaders visit.

The external affairs ministry also asserted that the government has clearly stated on several occasions that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected by the Indian people.

No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India, the ministry said in a release.

The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, it said.

A wary China has kept a close watch ahead of the Dalai Lamas visit, starting today.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause serious damage to bilateral ties.
The Election Commission will soon throw an open challenge following allegations of manipulation and tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs) during elections to put all doubts to rest, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

We will soon fix a date for this open challenge. In 2009, too, the ECI had thrown an open challenge for anyone to demonstrate how EVMs owned by the ECI can be tampered with. No one could prove it, the Express quoted an unnamed source as saying.

Since such apprehensions have been raised once again, we have decided to repeat the exercise to put all doubts to rest, the source told the newspaper.

The Express reported that representatives from political parties, people who know the technology, organisations, and individuals who have raised doubts about the integrity of the EVMs will be invited to participate in the challenge.

Several political parties have raised doubts over the reliability of the EVMs after the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJPs) unexpectedly massive victory in Uttar Pradesh elections last month.

Following the Aam Aadmi Partys underwhelming performance in the Punjab assembly polls, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the EVMs could be manipulated.

On Monday, Kejriwal asked the poll panel to release the EVMs for an investigation into allegations of tampering and rigging and said his experts can show in 72 hours how the machines could be tampered to suit a political party.

The commission rejected the allegations made by Kejriwal as completely baseless and said that they were made without verifying the facts.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had also blamed faulty EVMs for her partys rout in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Kejriwal, the Samajwadi Party as well as the Congress had echoed those allegations. At the time, the poll watchdog had rejected the charge.

These parties have demanded that EVMs should not be used for elections unless equipped with a Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) facility.

The issue of faulty EVMs was raised again after reports that a VVPAT machine used during a trial in Madhya Pradeshs Bhind only dispensed slips with the ruling BJPs poll symbol.
Geetha Johri, a police officer who courted controversy for her role in investigating the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, was on Tuesday appointed Gujarats director general of police (DGP), the first woman to head the force.

She was charge-sheeted by the CBI but a court later discharged her as the agency failed to the get mandatory prosecution sanction from the state government.

Johri replaced PP Pandey, who resigned as the DGP after his appointment was challenged by former top cop Julio Riberio in the Supreme Court. While the state government termed it as an example of woman empowerment, the appointment received flak from a section of activists.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted:

Geeta Johri was ordered by SC to be removed from Guj genocide SIT, because of serious charges. Seems Guj doesn't want upright officer as DGP https://t.co/a12pkYKReq  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 4, 2017

Chief minister Vijay Rupanis office, tweeted:

Govt sets glaring example of women empowerment by appointing Smt.Geetha Johri as new DGP of Gujarat, the first woman to head police force  Vijay Rupani Office (@CMO_Gujarat) April 4, 2017

Johri, a 1982 batch IPS officer, is slated to retire on November 30 this year, giving her a short tenure of less than eight months unless the government decides on an extension.

I will assume office immediately. Being the first woman DGP of the state, my priority will be to address the problems of women. They can come to me anytime and I will try my best to solve their problems, Johri was quoted as saying by PTI.

Johri first shot into the limelight in the 90s when she raided the den of slain underworld don Abdul Latif in the highly sensitive Dariyapur area of Ahmedabad and managed to arrest one his key aides.

However, she came under a cloud her during stints with the special investigation team (SIT) that probed the post-Godhra riots and as investigating officer in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases.

The top court in 2010 asked Johri to dissociate herself from the SIT following allegations against her.

Johri was also rapped by the top court when she was heading the probe into the encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his close aide Tulsiram Prajapati.

Johri had filed the first investigation report in the apex court on the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and sudden disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi which eventually led to the arrest of three then serving IPS officers, including DG Vanzara. But later the top court expressed unhappiness over the manner of the probe conducted under Johri.

The probes were later handed over the CBI and agency alleged that Johri delayed investigations into the Prajapati case and destroyed some case records. But charges against her court not be put to trial as the Gujarat government didnt give sanction to prosecute her.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The government has finally started scouting for a location for the new Parliament complex and the Centres public works body has suggested three places, not too far from the British-era structure built in 1927.

The move comes over a year after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan wrote to Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, requesting him to look for an alternative location as the existing building was showing signs of distress and over-utilisation.

In her December 2015 letter to Naidu, the Speaker had said there was an imperative need for a new building.

Mahajan said that over the years, the complex has run out of space to meet the requirement of staff and security personnel.

Naidu will be meeting the Speaker soon to discuss the feasibility of the locations shortlisted by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

All the three sites that have been identified are six acre plots, similar to the existing one where Parliament stands.

While one of the plots is in the vicinity of the existing Parliament, the other two are located between South Block and Sena Bhawan, said a government official privy to the development.

However, urban development ministry officials admit that finalising a location to build the new Parliament will take time.

It will require deliberations with all stakeholders. We have to have a consensus, Naidu told HT.

Naidu was to meet the Speaker to discuss the matter last week but the meeting got rescheduled.

Apart from space crunch, the 90-year-old building has not got the mandatory safety clearance from the Delhi fire department for at least a decade because of encroachment and illegal construction.

Following two minor fire incidents in 2015, the fire department refused to issue a safety certificate to the heritage structure on the grounds that there were several prohibited structures blocking the emergency exits.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which runs and regulates the H-1B visa programme for high-skilled foreign workers, has changed the guidelines for defining speciality occupation that its officers will be required to determine when clearing petitions.

1) Computer programmer not enough

A computer programmer, an entry level position in software industry shorn of additional high-tech specialisations, will no longer be considered a speciality occupation, says a new policy memorandum issued March 31.

2) What more is needed

The petitioner, which is the employer, must provide other evidence to establish that the position is a specialty occupation as defined by rules.

For instance, the note says, though a general-purpose bachelors degree such as a business administration may be a legitimate prerequisite for a particular position, requiring such a degree, without more, will not justify H-1B specialty occupation visa.

3) Lottery system hit

Immigration lawyers say the new guidelines will impact entry-level positions and heighten scrutiny of petitions all around.

A lawyer said the new guidelines could allow the USCIS to reject petitions selected through the lottery system, which is used by the agency to pick the 65,000 visa grated every year from hundred of thousands applications.

4) Who will be affected

The companies that hire programme-level workers because they are less expensive compared to local Americans. It helps client companies keep costs down, which is at the root of outsourcing.

5) Indian companies

Generally speaking, a lot of Indian firms using this business model could be hit. More qualified workers will command better and higher salaries, which will deny companies the benefits of wage arbitrage, eating into their profits.

6) Legal challenges

The new order could be challenged in court by lawyers who will argue their clients were not given enough time to prepare. The order came on March 31, just days before the opening of 2018 petitions.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Israel, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have signed a joint declaration to promote the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project which envisages gas supply from the eastern Mediterranean region for Europe, said the message on the website of Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

The document was signed April 3 in Tel Aviv by energy ministers of four countries with participation of European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete.

In this declaration, the parties support the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean as another corridor for gas supplies to Europe.

The document states that the EastMed pipeline project, while complementing other export options under evaluation, is a strategic priority for exporting part of the current gas reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean region to Europe.

Israels Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said the concerned parties have set a target of 2025 for completion of the project.

For his part, Elio Ruggeri, CEO of the IGI Poseidon joint venture promoting the EastMed option, said a final investment decision for the project is expected by 2020.

Ruggeri noted that the segment of the pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Greek shores is estimated to cost some 5 billion euros, plus another 6 billion euros for the segment linking Greece to Italy.

The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project relates to an offshore/onshore natural gas pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete.

The project is designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the off-shore gas reserves in the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and Israel) as well as from the potential gas reserves in Greece.

Earlier, senior officials from Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel agreed to advance talks on a pipeline from Israel to Europe after an EU-sponsored study showed the project would be very feasible.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana is anxious about the adverse impact of the Supreme Courts booze-banning order on the lifestyle of Gurugram-based global manpower.

Also, another worry of the first-ever saffron party government in the state is that the restrictions on spirit consumption will hit hard the so far thriving hospitality sector and impact beyond repair the buoyancy in the direct and indirect tax targets.

The top courts ruling bans liquor shopsin high end hotels, pubs, and other watering holeswithin 500 metres of the state and national highways.

As a result, 106 of the total 292 bars of the cyber hub Gurugram fall in the danger zone and face the risk of being sealed, according to official records.

Haryana has 478 licensed bars and 194 bars, including Gurugram, have been affected by the apex court orders. Six districtsFatehabad, Jind, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Palwal, and Sirsaare the worst hit as all the sanctioned bars come within the ambit of court ruling and stand closed.

Not this, Sonepat and Rewari districts are left with two bars each, while Panipat and Rohtak with four bars each and Ambala district with three bars. In Faridabad district of the total 44 bars, 14 are in the danger zone.

I am concerned about the adverse impact on the lifestyle in the state, especially on the 6% of the global manpower in Gurugram who will be adversely affected by the apex court (booze ban) order which we are implementing in letter and spirit, Captain Abhimanyu, finance, excise and taxation minister told Hindustan Times.

Tourism will be hit hard. People from over 50 countries live and visit Haryana. I am worried about the overall impact.

Haryana garners about 30% of its excise collections from Gurugram and Faridabad.

According to Sameer Pal Srow, managing director, Haryana tourism corporation, at least 50% of the total 42 government-run tourist complexes are along the national highways. Huge revenue loss is my concern. We are calculating the financial lossThe hospitality sector that includes the private hoteliers are a worried lot, Srow, who is also a Faridabad deputy commissioner (DC), said.

There are 21 tourism hubs also created by Haryana tourism across the state and along the state highways for the tourists.

Revenue reverse

The state has set the target of generating Rs 5,600 crore from excise duty for this fiscal after achieving the target of Rs 4,800 crore it had set for the previous fiscal.

By March 29, over 90% liquor vends had been auctioned across the state under a smartly crafted policy and in line with the December 15, 2016, apex court ruling, government sources say.

In a departure from allotting vends on the basis of groups, the new liquor policy gives flexibility to vendors to decide location on the basis of zones that comprises six retail vends. The government has given freedom to the allottees to locate or relocate their vends within the zone. And to plug the bootlegging, two sub-vends per zone were also allotted to open where bootlegging is rampant.

Government sources say despite the court ruling the state will somehow achieve its target of revenue from the excise duty.

According to Captain Abhimanyu, his department is yet to ascertain the total number of bars that will be closed across the state. Once that is ascertained, only then we will be able to arrive at a conclusion about the impact on revenue, the minister said.

Apart from the direct loss to revenue, the indirect revenue loss is equally huge. The VAT collection will be affected adversely.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
You might want to reconsider your party plans in Goa as the countrys prime destination for revellers has been badly hit by the Supreme Court ban on liquor sale within 500 metres of highways.

Around 3,200 outlets, including bars, hotels, resorts, casinos, and even super markets which sold alcohol, have been forced to take drinks off their menu.

It is going to severely affect the business which Goa, as a party destination, used to get, as people will have to hunt places where they can enjoy a drink, said Duttaprasad Naik, president of Goa Liquor Traders Association.

A restaurant owner in Margao, on condition of anonymity, said this season has been disastrous. First demonetisation, and then they imposed the election code of conduct. And now, to make it worse, we have this decision.

He said owners had already incurred 40-50% losses due to the earlier two decisions, and the SC ruling was set to add to the pile-up.

Explaining the numbers, Naik said 789 retail wine shops have been affected as they fall within the 500-metre limit. Also, 2,289 bars and restaurants, which includes iconic O Coqueiro, will have to withdraw their liquor menus as will the largest and most popular mall in Goa, Mall de Goa in Porvorim.

The worst-hit are those which are spread on a huge property as relocation is definitely going to cost them a lot, Naik said.

Excise commissioner Menino D Souza said while in most areas, 3040% shops and restaurants have been affected, in Vasco, the biggest area in South Goa, 90% outlets have been hit.

Vasco has been badly hit as it has one state highway and a national highway cutting through it from both the sides. Once the order is fully implemented, only a handful of alcohol shops will remain, the commissioner said.

The Goa Liquor Traders Association has been opposing the decision and trying hard to get an exemption like Sikkim and Meghalaya. Members even met chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday, asking him to intervene in the matter.

Criticising the way in which action is being taken, Naik said, The excise department has measured the distance as the crow flies, and called for measurement of the motorable distance to the outlet. We can probably save 1,000 units if that is done.

As a casino manager in Porvorim put it: people come to party and relax in Goa, and so, would not prefer places which refuse alcohol.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 22-year-old woman allegedly drowned her new born child in a bucket of water minutes after the delivery at a private hospital here, police said on Tuesday.

A preliminary inquiry by police has revealed that the woman, who belongs to Khammam district in Telangana, is unmarried.

She joined the private hospital as a lab technician last week and was around six months pregnant, they said.

The hospital was not aware that she was pregnant, said Raidurgam police station inspector D Durga Prasad.

On Sunday, she was on evening shift. Around 1.30 am on Monday, some hospital workers heard the cries of a baby from a washroom in the premises.

A senior manager of the hospital and two other nurses reached the spot and through a gap in the washrooms door they saw the woman allegedly drowning the baby in the bucket of water, a police officer said.

They immediately open the door by force and found the baby dead in the bucket, he said.

The woman also had heavy bleeding following the delivery and was admitted in the same hospital for treatment, he said.

A case under IPC section 302 (murder) has been registered against the woman, he said adding that she will be questioned.

Police said they suspect that the woman did not want to have the baby as she is unmarried
A college student has shaved off his beard. A techie with a work visa is afraid hell never get another job. A young woman says she will never see Republicans the same way.

Its a confusing time for Indians in America. And while there is support within their neighbourhoods, and often outrage against the tell them to go home attitudes surfacing in pockets of the country, the sense of being different, of standing out from the crowd, has become heightened since the start of the Trump administration.

Take Sushovan Sircar, a student at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He used to sport a luxuriant beard that completed his hipster look. Last month, the 28-year-old student of cybersecurity policy decided to shave.

I have become acutely aware of my skin colour in the last few months, after the rise of alleged hate crimes against Indians and Indians mistaken for Arabs, he says. The last two months have seen three violent attacks against people of Indian origin in Kansas city, Kent and South Carolina, which resulted in two deaths. I didnt want to stand out any more than I already do, and my family back home has been worried too. So I shaved off my beard, and the absurdity of this fear is saddening, he adds.

Development professional Apala Guhathakurta, 24, describes New York as a safe bubble.

The most notable change for me is that, anyone new I meet or make eye contact with, at parties, in the street, on the subway, I wonder who they voted for. I wonder if they think I dont belong, that I should go back to where I came from, says Guhathakurta, who moved to the US with her family at the age of 6.

At work, she says she and her colleagues watched in distress as Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump, who had run a campaign built largely on anti-immigrant, anti-outsourcing rhetoric.

The most notable change for me is that, anyone new I meet or make eye contact with, at parties, in the street, on the subway, I wonder who they voted for.

After the results, our entire organisation mourned, says Guhathakurta, who works in the field of public health, with a special focus on women and girls. We already had indications of how our work would be affected. We also mourned for the pure misogynistic, nationalistic, and manipulative way he won the election.

Not on campus

A recent survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) has indicated that 40% of US colleges are seeing a decline in applications from international students. The largest drop reported was from India and China, who together made up 47% of the international students in the country in 2016.

Among the students already there, many say they feel its time to take a stand. Some are participating in protest marches for the first time ever, others are taking every opportunity to confront extreme views on issues like immigration.

Most people I come across at the university are very liberal. There are Republicans in the university space but their politics of conservatism is more economic than social, says Shourjya Deb, 27, a student of public policy and administration at Rutgers University in New Jersey. In the university space, the way of life is such that people are kind of afraid of being called out as racists or fascists. But even here, when I ask Republicans if they want me to leave the country, they are embarrassed and dont know how to handle the question.

IN TRUMPS AMERICA Since February, three Indians have been killed in racially motivated attacks in the US. February 22: Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed and friend Alok Madasani injured when a man opened fire at them in a Kansas bar. The alleged shooter, a US Navy veteran named Adam Purinton, apparently thought the two were from the Middle East and was heard calling them "terrorists" before telling them to "get out of my country".Incidentally, Ian Grillot, a 24-year-old Caucasian American construction worker was injured while trying to stop the assailant.

Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed and friend Alok Madasani injured when a man opened fire at them in a Kansas bar. The alleged shooter, a US Navy veteran named Adam Purinton, apparently thought the two were from the Middle East and was heard calling them "terrorists" before telling them to "get out of my country".Incidentally, Ian Grillot, a 24-year-old Caucasian American construction worker was injured while trying to stop the assailant. March 2: Harnish Patel, a 43-year-old store owner in South Carolina, was shot dead outside his home. It is not yet clear if this was a hate crime.

Harnish Patel, a 43-year-old store owner in South Carolina, was shot dead outside his home. It is not yet clear if this was a hate crime. March 4: Deep Rai, a 39-year-old Sikh, was shot outside his home in Kent, Washington, by a masked gunman who allegedly shouted to him to "go back to your own country". There are concerns that US President Donald Trumps anti-immigrant, anti-outsourcing rhetoric is giving free reign to extremist elements. Trump took office on January 20, winning the Oval Office on the back of an 18-month-long campaign that hinged on the idea that he would Make America Great Again by wresting it back from outsiders, and by demanding that American jobs be given to American people.

Entire communities have marched against his exclusionist ideas in cities across the US, declaring that all Americans are immigrants, and that its melting-pot culture is among its greatest strengths.

In universities too, there have been efforts to stress that the culture of inclusion is important to the academic community.

Speaking up

Both Guhathakurta and the now-clean-shaven Sircar have been on their first political rallies ever, since the election results.

I joined the womens march in January and it was electric, Guhathakurta says.

Sircar walked in three separate protest marches on January 20, the day of Trumps inauguration.

I felt it was my moral duty to do so, he says, adding with a laugh that even growing up in Kolkata he never protested, but he does now.

Perhaps most troubled are the job-seekers with H1B visas  the employment-based visa category for temporary workers.

Job-hunting has become much more difficult for us, says Susmit Sen, 35, an IT engineer from Nebraska who has been in the US for three years. Indians who have already got a green card are in a safe spot, at least professionally, but there is a sense that those without one are now in for trouble. People like me, without a green card, have openly been told, No H1B candidates, please.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday began a week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Indias easternmost state that is at the heart of a decades-old dispute with China.

But, while China has been predictable in its warnings against the Dalai Lamas visit, the weather was not  both in Aruanachal and Assam.

But neither could prevent the 14th Dalai Lama from travelling to the frontier state on Tuesday, albeit with a last-minute change of plan, as a guest of the BJP-ruled state government.

The 81-year-old spiritual leader was scheduled to fly to Tawang, a Buddhist pilgrimage at 10,000 feet, along with chief minister Pema Khandu. But the state-run helicopter could not take off from the airport in Guwahati due to torrential rain.

People stand in the rain as they wait to welcome Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh. (REUTERS)

The weather forced us to take the road. Our tour of Arunachal Pradesh is on course but with a change in schedule, Tenzin Takhla, the private secretary to the Dalai Lama, told HT.

The Dalai Lamas itinerary, a government spokesperson said, has been reversed.

He will now be reaching Tawang, about 180km from Bomdila, on April 8 for a three-day stay.

The spiritual leader was earlier scheduled to depart from Tawang on April 9 and visit other places, some of which, including state capital Itanagar are likely to be struck off the itinerary.

The rain, however, followed the Dalai Lama when he arrived at Bomdilas Lower Gompa after an almost nine-hour drive. Almost everyone who matters in Arunachal Pradesh  from ministers and local MLAs to the chief secretary and director general of police  had queued up in the rain to greet him.

Devotees greet the Dalai Lama as he arrives at the Thubchok Gatsel Ling Monastery in Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh. (AP)

This is a great day for us, and we are fortunate His Holiness accepted our invitation, Khandu said. He had gone to Dharamshala last year to invite the Dalai Lama.

One of his aides said the Dalai Lamas visit was purely spiritual without any geo-political message for anyone.

But with the Red Dragon breathing fire from across the India-Tibet border not far away, the Tibetan spiritual leaders visit did try to drive home New Delhis message.

This is our internal affair. China should not interfere just as we do not interfere in their internal matters, Kiren Rijiju, Union minister of state for home affairs who hails from West Kameng district, had said in Itanagar on Sunday.

The external affairs ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that no additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India.

The Indian government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his current visit to Arunachal Pradesh, it added.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrives at the Thubchog Gatsel Ling Monastery in Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh. (REUTERS)

The Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, particularly the Tawang region, is his second in eight years.

His last visit was in 2009, exactly 50 years after he reached India after fleeing from Lhasa,Tibet. His visit then had also evoked strong reactions from China.

China claims claims about 90,000 square kilometres in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing often refers to as Southern Tibet.

Several rounds of talks have failed to make substantial progress on the dispute, although there have been relatively few confrontations in recent years.

Last month, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that 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.

(with agency inputs)

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
India on Tuesday said its position on resolving all issues with Pakistan bilaterally in an atmosphere free of terror hasnt changed while responding to suggestions that US President Donald Trump could mediate in solving the problems between the two neighbours.

Governments position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasnt changed, MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

He was responding to US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haleys remarks that her country would find its place in efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions and not wait till something happens. Haleys statement was an indication that President Trump could play a role in such endeavours.

Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward, Haley told reporters.

But India has been cold to the suggestion.

We of course expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond, Baglay said.

In the past, too, Pakistan favoured a mediatory role by the US in the Kashmir dispute which India opposed.

India has consistently ruled out third party mediation to solve its problems with Pakistan.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The chief executive officer (CEO) and four mediapersons of a private television channel were arrested on Tuesday night in connection with the telecast of a purported sleaze audio clip which led to the resignation of Kerala minister AK Saseendran.

CEO of Mangalam TV channel R Ajit Kumar and media persons SV Pradeep, MB Santhosh, Feroz Muhammed and Jayachandran were arrested by the special investigation team after questioning them for hours.

They would be produced before a court on Wednesday, police said. Four other persons, named in the FIR, were also questioned but were let off, police said.

On Monday, Kerala high court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the nine accused.

Woman journalists protest against Mangalam TV in Thiruvanathapuram over the telecast of the audio clip. (PTI)

Last week, police had registered an FIR, under section 120B (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and 67A of the Information technology Act, against nine persons, including Mangalams CEO and managing director Ajit Kumar on a complaint by the youth wing of Nationalist Congress Party for airing obscene conversation.

The channel on its opening day on March 26 aired an audio clip of the purported talk of transport minister Saseendran, the NCP representative in the LDF cabinet, with a woman, following which he had resigned the same day.

The TV channel had tendered an apology for airing the contents and admitted that it was a sting operation involving one of their women journalists and not a housewife, as it had claimed earlier.
Bhagwatia Devi, 52, in Saidpur village of Gaya district, 110 kms south of Patna, had lost it all. First, her husband to liquor and then she almost lost her son, who survived a road mishap with amputated upper limbs, after being in an inebriated condition.

With the bread earner gone and her two sons addicted to liquor and contributing little to the household, she was struggling to make her ends meet. With little choice, an illiterate Devi tried doing something she was familiar with  selling country made liquor. But, then came the government verdict  banning all forms of liquor from April 5, 2016. Devi was now staring at an uncertain future.

Exactly a year since prohibition was imposed in Bihar, Devis fortunes have changed. For, despite odds, she did not lose hope.

Devi joined the Jeevika, a poverty alleviation initiative of the government of Bihar, which helped her get a bank loan and she initiated poultry farming, rearing chickens for a living. With her initial success, she helped her younger son Sanjay Chaudhari buy an auto-rickshaw on loan. Having shunned the vice of binging on liquor, her two sons and the resilient woman today lead a life of dignity.

Devi is not the only woman who shed her misfortune. Prohibition has also helped Manohar Devi, 29, unite with her husband, Ramjas Das. A daily wager in Sarottar village of East Champaran district in Bihar, Das had disowned his spouse after a drunken brawl with her three years back. Devi was forced to leave her husbands house and reside with her father.

After prohibition, good sense prevailed upon Das, and he recalled his wife.

He is a changed man now. I, too, work with him in the fields now and we return home a happy couple. My husband now spends more time with me in the evening than he used to do earlier. He even gets vegetables and helps in household chores, said Devi.

The government prohibition has stirred a revolution of sorts in Bihar. People have become aware that drinking liquor is not just harmful, but also a crime. Such is the awareness that there have been instances when women and young girls have directly called up the police to get their drunken husbands or father arrested.

Cops accepted that women have been their best informers in curbing the illegal liquor trade. Purnia superintendent of police (SP) Nishant Tiwary said, Women give us valuable tip-off on liquor smuggling. Jeevika women have helped us nab many engaged in the illicit trade.

A deserted de-addiction centre in Muzaffarpur. (HT photo)

Last month, Lallan Tiwary of Ora village in Kaimur set an example when he got his 30-year-old son Mantu arrested for abusing his family in an inebriated condition. Tiwary, a diabetic, said, I was fed up with the every day tamasha (drama) when my son would stumble into the house drunk and begin abusing his wife. On Holi (March 13), I informed the station house officer of the Belaon police station who came and immediately arrested my son, recollected Tiwary.

We left him to rot in jail for a fortnight before initiating the bail process. After his release, Mantu has changed and helps in the family business and is much closer to the family, added Tiwary.

Tiwarys candid admission about his son also brings forth the fact that despite the ban, liquor is still available in Bihar. A cursory look at the number of liquor seizure and arrests would only buttress the point of a clandestine racket flourishing in the state.

Liquor peddlers have evolved new ways of smuggling. The police in Purnia district detained at the Dalkhola checkpost Raju Roy, 35, and Rajesh Kumar, 32, with liquor strapped to their bodies.

In Bhagalpur, the government railway police (GRP) recently unearthed 13 bottles of liquor stashed in the false ceiling of the toilet in a bogie of the Sahebganj-Jamalpur passenger train. We now make it a point to check the false ceiling of toilets in train bogies as much as possible, said GRP station house officer (SHO) Sudhir Kumar Singh.

Unscrupulous elements, posing as vegetable vendors, also try to smuggle liquor bottles, camouflaging them under vegetables in wicker baskets, said Singh. Of late, we have seized an average 500-600 litres of liquor every month, he added.

In Vaishali district, hardly a day passes without recovery of liquor. The liquor mafiosi try to outwit the police. Trucks and ambulances with hidden storage space are passe. Even vegetable and husk carriers have been utilised to ferry liquor.

Vaishali superintendent of police (SP) Rakesh Kumar said, We seized a truck in Mahua area, earmarked for carrying postal items from Noida to Kolkata, after we found in it 320 cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) on March 29.

Such is the fear of being caught while boozing that people are more than willing to accept invites of marriages being solemnised outside the state. In fact, a renowned social activist accepted that he was pleasantly surprised to find more than expected friends and relatives joining his sons baraat (marriage party) in neighbouring Varanasi on February 24.

However, there is a flip side to the story as well. There are also allegations of officials and politicians being hand-in-glove with smugglers, leading to the liquor trade being rampant.

In Mushari village of Muzaffarpur, Anita Kumari, who had launched a spirited campaign against liquor, is critical of the government officials.

Officials are not serious in stopping liquor sale. If they were, its smuggling should have ceased completely. One year has elapsed since prohibition but all kinds of liquor are still available everywhere, she said.

The purpose of opening de-addiction centres across districts has been defeated too. Some 275 people came to us, most in the first three months of prohibition between April and June last year. Hardly 30 of them were admitted to the centre. Now, only a few drug addicts come here, said Dr Rajesh, nodal officer of the de-addiction centre at Muzaffarpur.

READ: Will ban liquor if I retain power in Bihar, says Nitish Kumar

He argued that the reason for low footfall at de-addiction centres was easy availability of liquor and people switching to marijuana, cannabis and even cough syrups with high alcohol content.

The criminal-official-politician unholy nexus may be keeping the illicit liquor trade still alive over, but women are by and large happy with prohibition.

Sangeeta, who goes by one name, an activist of Paridhi, a socio-cultural group in Bhagalpur, summed it up, when she said, Lack of easy availability of liquor has reduced domestic violence against women and reduced incidence of drunken brawls, besides ushering in peace and prosperity in most rural households.

(With inputs from Anil Kumar Ojha in Gaya, Avijit Biswas in Bhagalpur, Prasun K Mishra in Bhabua, Sagar Suraj in Motihari, Aditya Nath Jha in Purnea, Ajay Kumar in Muzaffarpur, Rajesh Kumar Thakur in Hajipur and Prashant Ranjan in Ara)
String of militant attacks in Srinagar is likely to cast a shadow on the upcoming bypolls. Director general of police (DGP) SP Vaid says the escalation in attacks is aimed at derailing the elections process as militant presence has increased in Srinagar.

More attacks in Srinagar means that there is militant presence in the area. It seems the increased attacks are to cast a shadow on upcoming elections, said Vaid.

This is the first time in may years security forces are worried about presence of militants in Srinagar, which was considered militancy free zone now. Police says there is no active militant from Srinagar, however Srinagar is not out of bounds for militants in other areas. The security establishment is also looking at increased presence of over ground workers in Srinagar.

Although no Srinagar youth seems to be an active militant but militants from South Kashmir or other areas can always attack and go back, said Vaid.

There has been an escalation in militant attacks as Kashmir is preparing for the polling for the bypolls for the two parliamentary constituencies of Srinagar and Anantnag is to be held on April 9 and 12.

Two security men lost their lives, while 20 others were injured in attacks since Sunday.

Srinagar constituency is going for polls as PDP MP Tariq Karra resigned over difference with his party after 2016 street protests in which at least 90 youth lost their lives. Anantnag constituency felt vacant after chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was an MP from the constituency, resigned last year after her election to the legislative assembly.

Seven CRPF personnel were injured and one jawan succumbed to injuries on Monday after suspected militants opened fire on a CRPF convoy in Sempora area on the outskirts of Srinagar bordering south Kashmirs Pulwama district.

CRPF officials said that the security men travelling in the convoy were coming for the upcoming election duties.

The attack third in two days comes less than 24 hours after a constable lost his life on Sunday evening. At least a dozen personnel from Jammu and Kashmir police and CRPF were injured in the attack.

Earlier, militants had attacked an army convoy in which three soldiers were injured.

While security officials are saying they are geared up to face the challenge, politicians are exercising caution.

Former chief minister and National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah had also asked government to ensure security for all candidates during the run up to elections.

Parties are however hopeful that the attacks will not dampen the spirits of people.

Its an attempt to derail the election process but is nothing new. It has been tried in the past but failed. Its sad that innocent lives are lost and families destroyed in the process, said PDP spokesperson and senior cabinet minister Nayeem Akhtar.

National Conference has however blamed the ruling alliance for letting the situation deteriorate. The security scenario is a challenge for sure and its evident that the ruling alliance is invested in allowing it to deteriorate further. They dont want high turnout, that is clear. We are reaching out to people and are satisfied with our efforts so far, said NC spokesperson Junaid Mattoo.

Security establishment is however saying they are geared up to face the challenge.

The escalation of militant activities was already expected, we had known that such a think will happen. We are always up to the challenge and will ensure that security for the elections is done as best as possible, said S N Srivastava , special DG CRPF Kashmir Zone. He was speaking during the wreath laying ceremony for the CRPF jawan killed in Mondays attack. A 10-year-old school girl was also injured during the attack.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
GAYA A minor girl was strangulated to death allegedly by her parents and other relatives in a suspected case of honour killing in Bihars Gaya district, about 100km south of Patna, on Tuesday.

Police said the Class 9 girl was trying to elope with her boyfriend, a year senior to her in a school at Chahal village in Atari police station area, when her family members foiled their bid. They were on way to Gaya railway station, 35km from the village, to board a Delhi-bound train when the family members caught them, tied the boy to a tree and beat him up mercilessly, the police added.

Later, they took the girl to the riverside outside the village and strangulated her to death, the police said, adding that they were informed of the incident by some woodpickers, who heard the girls cry for help. The family members, who were planning to set the body on fire, fled when we reached there. We have recovered the body and sent it to Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital at Gaya for post-mortem examination, the police said.

The boy has been rescued and he is undergoing treatment at a Gaya hospital, they added.

Atari police station SHO Krishna Kumar Yadav said a case of murder had been registered against seven persons, including parents and brothers of the girl. The incident appeared to be a case of honour killing, Yadav said, adding that a manhunt had been launched to arrest the absconding accused.

TRAGIC The couple was on way to Gaya station to board a Delhi-bound train when family members caught them

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Mobile Eye Clinic of Azercell Telecom LLC continued its activity successfully in the first quarter of 2017. The clinic served people with various eye diseases in January, February and March. In January the doctors of mobile clinic examined 136 people, including refugees and the materially deprived people in Baku settlements of Hovsan, Amirjan and Sabunchu, as well as Kurdamir district. In February, the clinic examined further 108 people. First, they visited the boarding school No. 11 located in Bilgah settlement. Later, they provided free services in Red Crescent Society and boarding house for disabled in Shaghan settlement. The doctors also examined over 100 people in Narimanov district in Baku, SOS childrens village in Gandja and Lokbatan settlement. In total, 344 people, including 108 children and 236 adults were provided services by the clinic. As a result, 203 patients received various treatment and 147 were assigned eyeglass prescriptions.

All examination and treatment are conducted by Caspian Compassion Project public union with the support of Azercell. During its four-year operation, the clinic visited several boarding schools and orphanages in Baku. The doctors of the clinics visited Baku and other regions of the country and supported people in need for treatment.

The leader of the mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, 24/7 Customer Care, online customer services, GPRS/EDGE, M2M, MobilBank, one-stop- shop service offices Azercell Express, mobile e-service ASAN signature, etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan.
A series of new visa restrictions that will affect Indian and other non-EU countries come into effect from April 6, including an immigration skills charge of 1000 per year, higher salary thresholds and a health surcharge.

The skills charge has been put in place with a view to incentivising employers to invest in training British staff, official sources said. The funds collected are meant to be put into programmes to provide skills to British nationals. It is levied per non-EU employee recruited, per year.

The measures will substantially increase the cost of application for Tier 2 visas by employers and is intended to reduce Britains perceived dependence on non-EU workers. After Brexit, the same curbs may be applied for EU citizens seeking to work in the United Kingdom.

The restrictions come at a time when the Theresa May government is keen to project a more open role for the United Kingdom after leaving the EU. India is among the key countries it intends to forge a free trade agreement, while Indian representatives have often mentioned mobility (visa) of professionals as an important aspect of negotiations.

New curbs will also apply to the Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) visa, which is mostly issued to Indian IT and other companies to transfer employees to their offices in the UK. From April 6, dependents of ICT visa holders and dependents will be required to pay health surcharge of 200 per year.

The closure of the Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term Staff category means that all ICT professionals, except graduate trainees, must qualify under a single route with a salary threshold of 41,500. The salary threshold for ICT Long Term Staff category has been reduced from 155,300 to 120,000; these high earners can stay in the route for up to nine years, rather than the usual five years.

From April 6, non-EU nationals coming to take up jobs in the UK in the health, education and social sectors will be required to furnish a police clearance certificate as part of their visa applications, adding another dimension to the visa process.

There are some exemptions to the skills charge and other categories, but industry and business organisations had represented to the government to reconsider the changes in view of difficulties in hiring professionals with the required skills.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Referring to factionalism in his party, the AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh said on Tuesday that nobody can save Congressmen if they fail to change themselves.

If Congressmen dont improve now, then nobody can save them, Singh told reporters when asked about overall groupism in the party.

People who have scant respect for the party and try to dominate others, should go to the people and work for them. Everybody should be respected in the party, Singh said.

Responding to a query on the Congress failure to form government in Goa despite emerging the single largest party in Assembly polls, Singh said, wallets were opened (in Goa), which, we couldnt do.

Singh, who is in-charge of Goa affairs of Congress, said that he has been wrongly accused of holidaying in Goa and for the failure of the Congress to form government there.

Eventually, the BJP under Manohar Parrikar formed government in the coastal state though the saffron party had finished second behind the Congress in the polls.

A section of leaders in Congress in Goa had blamed Singh for letting Goa slip out of hands of the party which had won 17 seats in the 40-member House, whereas BJP was restricted to 13.

Had I gone for tourism in Goa, then my party couldnt have improved its tally to 17 seats from 6 and emerged as the single largest party, he said, adding that the Congress had fought for Indias Independence and will continue to struggle for the cause of common people.
Presence of terror safe havens in Pakistan, aggressive Chinese behaviour and the Afghanistan situation dominated last months meeting between US Defence Secretary Gen (retd) James Mattis and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, according to an American defence official.

They talked a lot about China...the concern about China sometimes bullying some of its neighbours in the region. There was concern about that, a US defence official told PTI about the Mattis-Doval meeting at the Pentagon on March 24.

This was the highest-level interaction of Mattis with a top Indian official after becoming the Defence Secretary.

China is also very important to the US with regard to the North Korea situation, said the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan and Afghanistan were the two major topics of discussion between the two leaders, the official said.

They talked about Pakistan, the official said, adding that Doval talked more on the issue than Mattis.

There was not a whole lot specifics. We have a number of concerns with respect to Pakistan...counter-terrorism, nuclear weapons. They talked a little bit about that. It is obviously a concern of Indias and it is an important player in the region and the world, the defence official said.

The US would like to see Pakistan in a situation with it where they can have a productive relationship, the official said.

They talked a lot about Afghanistan...and the need to try to get it...just finish it (the war). It has been going on (for) too long, the defence official said.

The official explained that this meant finish the operations and leave (Afghanistan) in a stable state.

While successive US administrations have praised Indias developmental assistance in Afghanistan, some recent media reports both in India and the US have referred to Trump Administrations desire of enhanced military role of India in the war-torn country.

The official said he did not recall any such conversation during the Pentagon meeting.

Reflecting on the meeting, the official said the Defence Secretary is very keen on India.

Mattis recognises the important role that it plays in the region and the world and Its unique position vis-a-vis Pakistan, vis-a-vis China, said the defence official.

Secretary Mattis wants to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said.

The Secretary was interested in listening from the NSA what Indias perspective was on most of these issues, both regional and global.

I think, the NSA probably did most of the talking. It bodes well for the future. I think, he (Mattis) wants to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said in response to a question.

Doval made a quite visit to the United States for a few days around March 20, during which he also met the Homeland Security Secretary Gen (retd) John Kelly and US National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the blast in St. Petersburg is a reminder that terrorism must be dealt with urgently and comprehensively.

Mukherjee also conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that people of India stand by Russia in this difficult hour.

In a message to Putin, the President conveyed his condolences on the loss of lives in the blast in a metro carriage in St. Petersburg yesterday.

This is yet another reminder that the menace of terrorism must be addressed urgently and comprehensively by the world community, he said.

Mukherjee said the people of India stand with the Russian people in this difficult hour and offer their sincere sympathies to the families of the victims.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences for the loss of innocent lives in the blast that occurred in the metro system of St. Petersburg.

We pray for the early recovery of all those injured in the attacks, he said.

A suicide bomber was behind the attack that killed 14 people and left dozens wounded.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has apologised for hurting Hindu sentiments by referring to Lord Krishna as an eve-teaser in his criticism of the newly instituted anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh.

Bhushan, who is also the co-founder of political party Swaraj Abhiyan, admitted on Tuesday that his tweet on the Hindu god was inappropriately phrased. His apology came two days after Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga filed a complaint at the Tilak Marg police station.

I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads and Krishna was inappropriately phrased... I unintentionally hurt the sentiments of many people. I apologise and delete it, Bhushans retraction read.

Bhushan, a prolific tweeter, had taken to the micro-blogging site on Sunday to flay the anti- Romeo squads that have been running riot in Uttar Pradesh ever since hardline Hindutva leader Yogi Adityanath was appointed as its chief minister. 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 asked.

The comparison did not go down well with many, and several Twitter users termed it as an attack on Hinduism. Bhushan was trolled ever since, and miscreants even threw ink at his house in Noida Sector 14 on Monday afternoon.

An hour after the incident, members of the BJP Youth Morcha (BJYM) held protests outside the house.
Pirates who seized an Indian cargo dhow with 11 crew members in waters off the Somali coast have taken the vessel to El Hur, near the port of Hobyo in Somalias semi-autonomous Galmudug state, a pirate leader told Reuters on Tuesday.

Aw Kombe also said the pirates were in touch with businessmen in Kismayu over releasing the vessel, Al Kausar.

The traders want the dhow be released without ransom but my friends say they may not release without at least some cash, he added. They are still discussing.

The identity and origin of the hijackers was disputed. A Galmudug state official said the pirates came from northern Somalias semi-autonomous state of Puntland while Kombe, a Puntland pirate leader, put the blame on our friends from Galmudug state.

An Indian government official said the 11 crew were all Indian and that officials were in touch with the Somali government.

The Al Kausar was commandeered in the vicinity of Socotra Island while en route from Dubai to Puntlands port of Bosasso, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area.

Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a riskier route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs.

The pirates who hijacked the dhow are from Puntland, said a government official in Galmudug state, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the incident.

No doubt, the Puntland pirates who recently hijacked the oil tanker are now holding the dhow, he told Reuters, referring to the hijacking last month of an oil tanker.

That was the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012 and the pirates released it within a few days after a clash with Puntlands marine force.

Burhan Warsame, Galmudugs minister for ports and sea transport, also told Reuters the same pirates who seized the oil tanker last month must have hijacked this dhow.

But Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, the former general director of Puntlands anti-piracy agency, said the dhows location made it more likely that the pirates were from Galmudug.

Kombe, who headed the pirate gang that commandeered the oil tanker, told Reuters there were four groups of pirates from Puntland who are still in ocean hunting for ships to hijack.

But the dhow is in El Hur near Hobyo and the pirates holding it must be our friends from Galmudug state.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday asked Pakistan to stop backing militancy in the state and enable restoration of peace so that a dialogue process could begin.

It is my appeal to those across (the border) that they should renew the policy of not supporting militancy or the gun that they had adopted during (Prime Minister A B) Vajpayees time, she said addressing an election meeting in Dooru in Anantnag constituency.

Help us restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir and then talks will take place here and across (PoK) as well, she added.

The Chief Minister was campaining for Mufti Tassaduq Hussain, her brother and ruling PDP candidate for by-poll to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat vacated by her last year.

Mehbooba said Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Pakistan in December 2015 had rekindled hopes of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Narendra Modi went on his own to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new hope was attached to it but unfortunately Pathankot (terror attack) happened, the Chief Minister said.

These (tense) times will not last forever. Vajpayeeji used to say that you can change friends but not the neighbours. We have to live with each other cordially, she added.
Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, has said speculations that she might join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which were triggered after her back to back meetings with Uttar Pradeshs new chief minister Yogi Adityanath, are totally baseless.

Aparna and her husband Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Mulayam, first met Adityanath two days after he became the chief minister. And, then the couple was seen with the CM during his cow shelter visit in Lucknow.

People just talk. All the more when a woman tries to do something worthwhile. Before I met Yogiji, Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and Bhaiya (Akhilesh Yadav) attended his swearing in and met him. I had met Yogiji even before. Theres nothing new about me meeting him, Aparna told Hindustan Times on Thursday .

The 26-year-old was the Samajwadi Partys candidate from the Lucknow Cantonment constituency and lost the election to Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Aparna said she was caught in the crossfire during the Yadav family feud or else, she would have won.

I often say my boat sank when the shore was in sight ... The wounds inflicted by our own are far deeper. But I fought well. I contested the seat from where Samajwadi Party had never won an election, she said.

Aparna was the first member of the Yadav family who was not fielded from the familys pocket borough and also the first one who was given a seat the party never won.

Before her, all others - Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, Akshay Yadav and Shivpal Yadav - began their political career generally through a bypoll from familys pocket borough seats.

Aparna on Sunday held a thanksgiving meeting in Lucknow Cantonment.

I told the people that I was not the one who would blame EVMs (electronic voting machines) for my defeat. I lost because I got hardly any support from the party. Only one leader, Ashok Bajpai, was with me frequently. At booth level, there was no party support, she said.

Shortly after the BJPs unexpectedly massive victory in Uttar Pradesh elections last month, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had alleged that the EVMs used in the state were fudged. The SP along with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party echoed those allegations.

Aparna, however, said that the EVM matter should be investigated.

If it is proven, then fresh polls should be held. Next polls should be held through ballot papers, she said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A woman burnt her two minor children to death and then set herself ablaze following a quarrel with her husband at Ilanji near Tenkasi in this district on Tuesday morning, police said.

Maheswari killed her son Viswa (8) and Dhana Sree (4) by setting themselves ablaze at their house before committing suicide in the same manner, police said.
Two professors of Gwaliors Jiwaji University have been booked under the provisions of SC/ST Act following a controversy over holding a programme to mark the birth anniversaries of Dr BR Ambedkar and social reformer Jyotirao Phule.

A complaint against the professors was lodged by a girl student of the university, who alleged that she was pushed and manhandled by them, said police.

On Monday, police had arrested some Dalit students, who were protesting against the alleged denial of permission to hold a quiz competition in the Law department of the University.

We had arrested 167 students yesterday and later released them. Besides, a case against two professors including Ganesh Dubey (Head, Law Department) and RS Sharma (Proctor) was also registered under relevant section of SC/ST Act on the complaint of a girl, City Superintendent of Police (University), Gwalior, Shailendra Singh Jadon told PTI.

No arrest has been made so far. Earlier, a case against some students was registered on the complaint of professor Sharma, he said.

The dispute started on Friday last week when some law students approached the Dubey seeking permission to hold quiz competition on April 11 to mark the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar (April 14) and Jyotirao Phule (April 11).

After getting no response from Dubey, the students reportedly met the Vice Chancellor, who deputed Proctor RS Sharma to talk to them.

The students, however, allegedly insisted that they would talk only to the Vice Chancellor. This reportedly led to heated arguments between professor Sharma and the students.

Later, professor Sharma registered a complaint with the police against the students for allegedly manhandling him.

The students also alleged that professor Sharma manhandled them.

Universitys Registrar Anand Mishra told PTI that all the issues have been sorted out now.

We were always ready to issue permission for holding the quiz competition in the auditorium. But, the situation deteriorated as students misbehaved with professor Sharma. Both the sides have registered police complaints against each-other, Mishra added.

He said that Dubey had only pleaded before the students that he would have to take the permission from the university administration.

Meanwhile, the Dalit teachers and students today formed an organisation - Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bahujan Samajik Parivartan Sangh (MP) to continue their fight in support of their demands including termination of these two professors.

The Sangh submitted the memorandum today to the Vice-Chancellor and the Governor.

We have submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor and to the Governor through the SP. We have demanded that the cases filed against the Dalit students be withdrawn and HOD, Law Department should be terminated, Convener of Sangh Vinod Sevaria told PTI.

He demanded that Sharma and Dubey should be arrested immediately and the Universitys Law Department should be named after B R Ambedkar.

Sevaria claimed that the students were forced to resort to hunger strike after repeated denial by Law Department for holding the quiz competition.

The auditorium hall was allotted to the ABVP. On the other hand, the professors used casteist remarks against the Dalit students. Some students were also threatened over phone, he alleged.

Sevaria said that a small issue has snowballed into a controversy due to negligence by the University administration.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Azerbaijan welcomes electing of Kazakhstan as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2017-2018, Azerbaijani political analyst, professor of the Western University Fikret Sadikhov said.

Sadikhov made remarks during the Baku-Astana video-conference in Baku Apr. 4 following Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayevs official visit to Azerbaijan.

He expressed confidence that as part of its participation in the UN Security Council, Kazakhstan will make its contribution to solving regional problems and defend the interests of close and friendly countries of Kazakhstan along with its own interests.

Sadikhov added that Kazakhstans authority in the world arena is growing every year and today the country has an important place not only in the region but also in the world.

In his turn, deputy director of the Institute of Public Policy for the Kazakh ruling Nur Otan party, Vladimir Telnov, said that Azerbaijan was one of the first countries which supported the candidacy of Kazakhstan for non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The UN observer group in India and Pakistan is investigating alleged ceasefire violations in the PoK, a UN official has said, describing the security situation across the Line of Control as tense.

Weve seen the alleged ceasefire violations over the Line of Control, which are currently being investigated by the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), in the Pakistani-administered side of the Line of Control at Domel, Kotli and Bhimber, where the security situation has, indeed, been tense, UN Secretary Generals spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the United Nations on Monday.

He was responding to a question on whether the Secretary-General will talk to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan on the situation in Kashmir.

Dujarric said the UN continues to underline the need for the parties to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.

He was also asked about whether UNMOGIP had presented a report on the situation in the area that can be made public.

When we have things to report what theyve seen, we will share, he added.

When pressed that India puts pressure on UNMOGIP not to make the report, Dujarric replied, I understand.

Earlier, the UN had rejected claims that India was not allowing the its observer group monitoring the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan to present its periodic reports on the ground situation.

According to the Security Council mandate of 1971, UNMOGIP observes and reports on ceasefire violations along and across the Line of Control and the working boundary between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as reports developments that could lead to ceasefire violations.

India has maintained that UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control (LoC).

The observer group is headed by Major General Per Lodin of Sweden. It currently has 38 military observers and 73 civilian personnel.
Selfie is the calling card of this age. The self-portrait sometimes criticised as narcissistic has found a novel use  as a disciplinary tool in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Teachers at 140 government-run primary and upper primary schools in Naugarh area of Chandauli have been reporting for work on time after the district administration launched attendance-with-selfie drive in the first week of February.

As soon as they get to school, teachers take a selfie with students and days newspaper and share it on a WhatsApp group called attendance with selfie.

Attendance with a selfie has resulted in tremendous improvement in attendance at primary and junior schools across Naugarh block, district magistrate Kumar Prashant told HT on Monday.

Faced with complaints of teachers playing truant in remote areas, Prashant roped in social activist Navin Krishna Rai to conduct a survey of primary schools in the Naugarh block.

Many teachers were causal about attending schools in remote areas. Some teachers posted in far-flung parts did not bother to take classes. The survey brought forth the stark reality of teachers attendance, Rai told HT.

Rai, who is now a volunteer-cum-coordinator of the project, advised Kumar to turn to technology to improve the scenario.

An attendance with a selfie group was set up on WhatsApp, with all teachers in the block as its members.

A basic shiksha adhikari (district education officer), Santosh Kumar Singh, was named the group superviser while the Naugarh education officer and a nyaya panchayat resource centre (NPRC) official were asked to monitor the attendance.

A part of the nation-wide Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan (education for all), an NPRC is responsible for conducting cultural and academic activities and also helps teachers improve learning levels of students.

There has been a lot of improvement in the attendance of teachers after the drive, Singh said.

Buoyed by the success, Kumar plans to extend the campaign to all 1,470 primary and upper primary schools in the district by month-end and held a meeting on Monday to discuss the modalities with education officers.

Teachers, too, are happy clicking themselves.

This is a very good initiative. We take selfie with students and the newspaper and post it on the group. Children, too, rush to be part of the selfie, said Bhola Pal, a teacher at Dumariya primary school.

Who says striking a pose is always narcissistic?

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Departing from his earlier hardline stance on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has lent his support to the Supreme Courts suggestion of out-of-court settlement of the dispute. He also asserted that the Constitution gives people the freedom to choose what they eat and he wont impose any food choices.

In an interview to RSS mouth piece, Panchajanya, the newly appointed UP CM has said he welcomes the SCs advice of an amicable settlement between the two sides and agrees that the issue should be resolved through dialogue.

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, he said.

On March 21, the SC advised the parties concerned to settle the Ayodhya dispute amicably, as it is a sensitive and sentimental issue.

This statement is in contrast to his earlier declarations on the non-negotiability on the issue. In June last year, at a rally, he was quoted to have said that the temple will come up at the disputed site as it was the heartfelt desire of all.

The chief minister also defended his governments decision to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses. He said those who take action against the legal ones will be punished, but the illegal ones will not be permitted to wreak havoc with health and environment.

He also attributed the decision to the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal and the Allahabad High Courts directives.

On the issue of meat consumption, he said that while he wont comment on peoples choices and does not have the right to (impose his own), the government is bound to ensure what is deemed unlawful by the court is not violated. He said the government will decide how to enforce the courts ruling.

The Yogi attributed his partys victory to the good governance at the Centre and said like Prime Minister Narendra Modui he too would strive to bring in people-friendly policies.

He also said the massive support for BJP also indicates an end of caste-based politics.

On the negative press his elevation as CM received, Yogi said there are a section of people in the country who have an aversion to saffron and it is only natural that they would have concerns.
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who returned from New Delhi on Tuesday, hit out at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging that it had concocted the value of the farmhouse it had attached in a money laundering case.

He said that farmland in question was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore by M/s Mapple, the company promoted by his son Vikrmaditya, but the ED stated its value to be Rs 27 crore.

Virbhadra Singh said that he gave Rs 90 lakh to his son from his personal account through proper banking channels and the remaining amount was paid from his personal accrued money. He said his family took friendly loans amounting to Rs 5.90 crore from V Chandersekhar and the amount had been paid back in full with interest long time ago and accounted for tax appropriately.

It is on record that the said property was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore but the ED gave its value at Rs 27 crore. It turns out that an officer Ajay Singh, whose wife is a BJP MLA from UP, was assigned the duty of assessing Maple as assistant commissioner of income tax, New Delhi, who instead of assessing the revenue made mala fide conclusions that the property was worth Rs 27 crore, said Virbhadra Singh.

Now, the ED is using the baseless revenue assessment figure of Rs 27 crore to sensationalise the matter to malign and defame me, he alleged.

In a statement issued here Virbhadra said, While one expected political opponents to distort facts to drive political mileage, it is a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency is behaving in such a manner and spreading a canard, he said.

Virbhadra Singh further alleged, An officer with RSS background, Vinod Sharma (deputy director of income tax, Faridabad), was used without jurisdiction to create false, baseless and fictitious survey reports and dossiers under instructions from the IT Department, Chandigarh, with malafide intent to help create false cases using ED and CBI, he said.
Farmers across Tamil Nadu heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday after the Madras high court took cognizance of their 23-day protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and ordered the government to waive of all agricultural loans, benefitting close to 20 lakh farmers in the state.

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court, comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and MV Muralidharan, ordered the Tamil Nadu government to waive of farm loans taken by farmers from cooperative societies and stop recovery proceedings against defaulters.

Initially, the state government had waived the cooperative bank loans of small farmers, who owned less than 5 acres of land. The HC order extends benefits to all farmers in the state, who may own more than 5 acres of land.

The farmers erupted in cheers and even tried carrying their leader, P Ayyakannu, on their shoulders.

Tamil Nadu farmers during their strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

There are around 20 lakh farmers who had loans from such banks. 16 lakh had already benefitted under the scheme by the state government. The new order will benefit the other 4 lakh farmers too, who had also lost their crops in the drought, said P Ayyakannu, the state president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association.

However, the farmers feel this is a small victory. Our loans from nationalised banks still remain. We will continue to fight and protest, until our demands are met, said Ayyakannu.

They have vowed to continue the protest, until the Centre waived their loans from nationalised banks, revises drought relief packages, provides solutions to water scarcity, and helps fix produce prices. They have also asked that a Cauvery Management Board be instituted, and national rivers interlinked to help with the alleged drying up of the Tamil Nadu leg of the Cauvery river.
Anti-alcohol groups spearheaded by women have found a new resolve to press for the removal of bottle shops in residential areas, after the Supreme Court banned liquor sale within 500 meters of national and state highways.

Protesters have poured on to streets to stop the highway booze dens from relocating to residential neighbourhoods, a crafty ploy to beat the distance ceiling set by the top court.

Besides slogans, petitions and the occasional muscle-flexing, the residents are seeking divine intervention to ward off the evil  installing deities of gods and goddesses outside relocated shops.

Drinking is considered a social evil in traditional India, and women have been at the forefront of the fight against alcohol abuse as many marriages and families have been blighted by drunkards.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who kept his 2015 poll promise of banning the sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar, suggested that prohibition is the best way out.

The shops will shift to towns and villages (from near highways). The states should think of prohibition, he said.

Like Bihar, several states in India are dry or dont allow people to sale, buy and drink alcohol. But the majority are reluctant to go for total prohibition, as the liquor tax called excise duty is the second biggest revenue-grosser for most states.

The revenue volume can be gauged from the fact that India boasts of the worlds largest whiskey market.

Several states are unhappy with the Supreme Courts ban, and have asked the Centre to file a review petition. Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said the government is looking at a middle path.

But women are on a warpath already, encouraged by the court order.

Tamil Nadu

Residents of Tiruvallur, a village 50km west of Chennai, assaulted a policeman on Tuesday during a hot-tempered protest over the shifting of a liquor shop from near the main road to close to their homes.

That was one of many protests happening across the state, where a public sector undertaking runs all liquor vends that, conversely, giving a livelihood to around 12,000 people.

Madhya Pradesh

The central state has been recording mounting protests against liquor shops of late. People ransacked a shop in Sagar when the contractor refused to shift the outlet to another location.

In a Raisen village, a makeshift shop was set on fire. The residents have been demanding its closure.

Protests have been reported from the Bundelkhand region, Satna, Indore and Vidisha, the parliamentary constituency of foreign minister Sushma Swaraj.

Rajasthan

More than 20 women, some carrying infants, have been guarding the small town of Kanwat in Sikar to prevent the opening of a liquor shop. Similar protests by women have been reported in Barmer, Kota and Bharatpur.

Uttar Pradesh

People in Bareilly held protests against liquor shops being moved to their localities on Monday. In Shahjahanpur district, protesters blocked traffic on national highway 24 over plans to shift a shop to their village. In Meerut, women put deities outside a liquor vend as a mark of protest.

Uttarakhand

Protests stonewalled the excise departments plan to shift 103 shops to new locations. In Champawat, women marched with axes, sticks and stones, and refused to move from a proposed site of a shop. In Rudraprayag, protesters vandalised a shop and emptied liquor bottles in the Mandakini river.

Haryana

Women from Thapli village in Panchkula poured liquor from a newly-opened shop and set the liquid on fire. In Kedarpur near Pinjore, a shop was razed.
The US said on Tuesday that it would try and find its place in efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions and not wait till something happens, indicating that President Donald Trump could play a role in such endeavours.

Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters here, signalling an apparent change in the US stance of not engaging in Indo-Pak disputes.

Haley, a senior Indian-American member of the Trump Cabinet, said she expects that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be a part of that (de-escalating tensions).

Read more | Would love to see Pakistan and India get along: Donald Trump

We dont think, we should wait till something happens, she said while addressing a press conference after assuming the role of President of the Security Council for the month of April.

She made the remarks when asked if the US can make any efforts to get India and Pakistan together for peace talks as tensions between the two South Asian neighbours over Kashmir have risen.

Read more| US President Trump being urged to get tough with Pakistan

We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that, Haley said.

So I think that will be something that you will see members of the National Security Council participate in but also wouldnt be surprised if the President participates in that as well, she said.

The remarks are the first time that Haley, as a member of the Trump Cabinet, has addressed tensions between India and Pakistan.

The previous administration under President Barack Obama had maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue between the two South Asian neighbours.

Former state department spokesman John Kirby had said that the issue of Kashmir was for the two nations to work out and the US had no role to play in it.

The US had also said it was for India and Pakistan to determine the pace, scope and character of talks on the Kashmir issue.

India has strongly maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue with Pakistan and has ruled out any third party mediation, including either by the UN or the US.

Pakistan, on the other hand, constantly raises the Kashmir issue at various UN fora and was ready to have interlocutors from both the world body as well as from Washington to resolve the issue.
The BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh decided on Tuesday to waive off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers in the state, a relief the party promised before the February-March assembly elections.

About 21 million farmers will benefit from this decision of chief minister Yogi Adityanaths cabinet during its first sitting. About 92.5% of the states farmers fall in the small and marginal categories.

Besides, the cabinet also decided to write off Rs 5,630 crore in non-performing assets (NPAs) of 700,000 farmers.

The twin waivers  among nine decisions the cabinet took  would together cost the government Rs 36,359 crore.

The cash-strapped government would float farmer relief bonds, called Kisan Rahat Bond, to generated funds to implement the loan waiver.

The BJP had promised loan waiver to marginal farmers in its poll manifesto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Adityanath had said the decision would be taken at the first meeting of the state cabinet.

State minister Siddharth Nath Singh told reporters the decision was in accordance with Prime Minister Modis announcement to provide relief to farmers.

Its a coincidence that the cabinet took nine decisions on the occasion of Ram Navami, which marks the end of the nine-day Navratra festival, he said.

Bundelkhand Kisan Union national president FK Dharma welcomed the loan weaver and said this was the first step towards easing out a major crisis faced by farmers.

But Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was not impressed.

A promise of complete loan waiver was made to the farmers, he said. Millions of farmers were feeling cheated with the ceiling of Rs 1 lakh.

     ,    .             .       .  Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 4, 2017

Earlier in the day, the Congress hoped the BJP government will waive off loans of farmers to the tune of Rs 92,000 crore.

Party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said: The BJP has waived off loans of Rs 140,000 crore of big industrial houses and industrialists. Will it waive off loans of Rs 92,000 crore of UP farmers?

Other than the loan relief, the government will buy 80 lakh metric tonnes of wheat from the farmers with the minimum sale price (MSP) of Rs 1,625 a quintal. It will give an additional Rs 10 a quintal to farmers cover transport and loading expenses.

A three-member committee of ministers will find ways to ensure potato growers got remunerative prices for their produce.

The government also decided to go ahead with its crackdown on the states illegal slaughterhouses, another poll promise of the BJP that won a landslide victory in the assembly elections. The Yogi government took charge a fortnight ago.

The action against unauthorised abattoirs would strictly follow Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal directives and guidelines.

The cabinet blamed rival political parties of spreading canard against the governments move to set up anti-Romeo police squads to check growing instances of harassment of women in public places.

Allegations mounted that Uttar Pradesh has been turned into a nanny state by the BJP government, as reports emerged that these anti-Romeo teams were harassing men arbitrarily  even brothers dropping sisters at exam halls or men giving a lift to their woman colleagues.

The cabinet decided that policemen wouldnt be spared if complaints of harassment were received.

The government will form two groups of ministers (GoM)  each headed by deputy chief ministers Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The Sharma-led group will visit Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and other states to study and recommend a new industrial policy for Uttar Pradesh.

The second GoM under Maurya would submit a report in a week on measures to check illegal mining in the state.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Acharya Tulsi Cancer Treatment and Research Institute here charges patients for its maintenance, not for care.

The charges range from 500 to 5,000 for a patient being treated at the cancer centre under state-run Prince Bijay Singh Memorial Hospital.

According to a state government circular, patients, who are natives of Rajasthan, can be charged only for indoor patient department (IPD) care if they are not covered under the Bhamashah Health Insurance Scheme.

The scheme offers IPD patients access to cashless treatment.

The circular, issued by the health department principal secretary on January 6 last year, was a guideline for charges on examination, treatment and facilities provided.

If a disease is not covered under the insurance scheme, the circular said, the patient could be charged by the Rajasthan Medical Relief Society, the body that ensures upkeep of hospitals.

But Bikaners cancer institute, which also attracts patients from neighbouring Punjab, charges them for maintenance cost. Patients are charged 500 for minor onco surgery, 3,000 for general surgery, 5,000 for major onco surgery and 500 for endoscopy.

The charges are based on an office order issued on July 12, 2014.

Hetram, a relative of a cancer patient and resident of Hanumangarh district, told HT that he came to the centre for his uncles treatment. I was told to deposit 5,000 for his surgery. When I objected, they explained that it was for the maintenance of the institute, not for treatment, he said.

Principal of Sardar Patel Medical College and administrator of associated group of hospitals, Dr RP Agarwal, defended the charges, saying maintenance of the institute was a costly affair. We serve hundreds of cancer patients every day, therefore it is necessary to keep the centre equipped and updated, he said.

There must be some provision for charges, Agarwal said.
A senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service has lodged a complaint of cyber theft against unknown persons for allegedly duping him of 2.73 lakh after getting to know his ATM card details.

According to the Ashok Nagar police, the FIR was lodged under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act on the complaint of JC Mohanty, additional chief secretary, public health engineering and groundwater department, Rajasthan.

Mohanty lodged the FIR on Monday and has alleged that a fraudster, who introduced himself as an employee of the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), debited 2.73 lakh after asking his ATM card details, said a police official from the Ashok Nagar police station.

The police said that the money was deducted from his account in instalments.

The accused called Mohanty several times starting from March 22. The complaint was registered after Mohanty noticed that an amount of 30,000 was deducted from his account. After checking his account he found that 2.73 lakh had been siphoned off, said the official.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Manish Agarwal said that a probe is on to track the accused.

The accused managed to debit the money after getting ATM details and OTP number from Mohanty. Further investigation is on in the case, said Agarwal.

Cases of cyber crime have been steadily increasing in the city with callers asking for bank details. These calls are mostly made from other states such as Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

Last week, the Jaipur police arrested fraudsters Yusuf, Mukhtiyar and Akhtar from Maharashtra. The three belonged to Jamtara district in Jharkhand. Two mobile recharge shop owners  Sanjay Singhey and Shailesh  were also arrested along with another fraudster Dilip Mandal from Mumbai.

The racket had made approximately 50,000 calls in Rajasthan and introduced themselves as bank employees and asked for the account and ATM card details of potential victims.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 4

Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry organized the fifth meeting of the Regional Infrastructure Confidence-Building Measures (RI-CBM) technical groups in Ashgabat as part of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan, the OSCE Ashgabat office said in a message.



The meeting was organized with the support of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.



The Istanbul Process offers a common platform for discussing the participating States efforts for regional co-operation and economic integration, said Ambassador Natalya Drozd, head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.



Ten years ago, at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Madrid, the OSCE participating States acknowledged the importance of Afghanistans long-term peace and stability for the security of the OSCE region, said Drozd. The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat is committed to contributing to the efforts to engage with Afghanistan and support the regional dialogue for peace and prosperity within the Istanbul Process.



The agenda of the meeting included discussions on current regional energy and transport projects. Participants exchanged views on issues such as the role of transit corridors for regional integration and regional energy co-operation as a factor of sustainable economic development and stability.



The event brought together representatives of the participating States of the Istanbul Process, regional and international organizations and international stakeholders.



The Istanbul Process was created as a platform for regional dialogue and co-operation for encouraging security, political, and economic stability between Afghanistan and its neighbors.



The regional technical groups for the RI-CBM within the Istanbul Process are currently co-chaired by Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. The project also includes a number of large-scale regional initiatives, including the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, the Asian International Railway Corridor and the Lapis Lazuli Trade and Transportation Corridor.



Assistance in the organization of the regional technical groups meeting is provided within the framework of an extra budgetary project of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday expressed concern over the poor infrastructure and services in state hospitals and ordered the government to fill up vacant posts of doctors and paramedics at the earliest.

The next hearing on the matter has been slated for July 4.

The division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Dr PS Bhati, while hearing a PIL filed by former MLA Sanyam Lodha, observed that it is the duty of the state government to maintain health infrastructure in state. The common man is deprived of proper health services when the posts of doctor and paramedical staff lie vacant in hospitals.

The counsel for the petitioner, Sandeep Shah, told the court that a report on the number of vacant in hospitals, as produced by the state government, aptly reflects that the no sincere efforts are being taken to fill up he posts. A total of 1033 posts of junior specialist doctors against the sanctioned posts of 3062 are lying vacant in the state, Shah told the court.

Similarly, 317 posts of senior medical officers, 1465 of medical officers and 103 of dental officers lie vacant. The status of paramedical staff in these hospitals is equally gloomy, Shah said. Currently, 1025 posts of assistant radiographer, 1394 of lab technicians, 42 of dental technicians, 178 of eye assistants and 15 of lab assistants remain unoccupied in state hospitals.

Additional advocate general SS Ladrecha, on behalf of the state government, said the government is constantly making efforts to fill up vacancies. New posts have also been created to improve services. Recently, 15 posts of nurse grade II and 73 of pharmacists have been sanctione, Ladrecha explained.

The recruitment process for the posts of assistant radiographers, lab technicians, dental technicians and lab assistants has been initiated, Ladrecha said, adding that the authprities will take some time to complete the recruitment process.
Aadhaar cards will be mandatory for getting ration in Madhya Pradesh after June 30, the state government has declared.

State food and civil supplies commissioner Vivek Porwal on Monday said no ration will be provided to people in the state without Aadhaar card.

District officials have been directed to ensure beneficiaries get Aadhaar card by June, he said.

As a step aimed at better targeting of subsidies and checking leakages, Central government had made it mandatory to have an Aadhaar number for availing benefits under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The Centre issued a notification in February under the Aaadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, which requires over 800 million beneficiaries to furnish their Aadhaar numbers to avail subsidised food. So far, about 72% of beneficiary households have linked their ration cards with the Aadhaar number.
A Muslim man who was assaulted by vigilantes over suspicion of cow smuggling in Rajasthan died at a hospital in Alwar, police said on Tuesday.

The incident came amid several steps taken by BJP-ruled states to protect cows, considered sacred by many Hindus. BJP and other right-wing Hindu leaders have also been quoted making provocative statements over the issue.

Police said Pehlu Khan (35) died at a hospital on Monday night, two days after 15-odd people were assaulted by vigilantes on the Alwar highway.

#WATCH: 5 men beaten up & their vehicle vandalised by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan's Alwar; later 1 man succumbed to injuries (01.04.2017) pic.twitter.com/almfW9W954  ANI (@ANI_news) April 5, 2017

Alwar collector Muktanand Agrawal said Khan was among the people transporting cows in six vehicles.

Some of those attacked are undergoing treatment for injuries while the remaining are in judicial custody, said Virendra Singh, a constable at the Bahror police station.

The transporters are said to be Muslims from Haryanas Nuh district.

The Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act, 1995 prohibits the export of cows for slaughter and treats the transporter as an abettor. Transportation for agricultural or dairy farming is allowed with permission from the district administration.

The police denied knowledge whether the transporters had permit for transporting the cows.

Family-members of the deceased met the sub-divisional officer who assured them of fair investigation in the case.

We have registered a case of murder against six persons and 200 unknown people, said Ramesh Sinsinwar, the station house officer of Bahror. No one has been arrested so far.

Sources said the cow protection vigilantes intercepted several trucks and pick-up vans carrying cows on the highway in the Jaguvas Bahror area of Alwar on Saturday evening.

The vigilantes then assaulted the transporters, some of whom needed hospitalisation.

The incident came days after the Gujarat assembly passed a bill making cow slaughter punishable with life imprisonment. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh led by Yogi Adityanath has also launched what it describes as a crackdown on cow smuggling and illegal slaughter houses.

Last week, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh said that anyone found killing cows will be hanged, a comment which drew criticism from the political opposition.

Opposition parties often criticise the BJP government at the Centre and states of not doing anything to reign in self-styled vigilante groups targeting people they suspect of cow slaughter or smuggling.

Rajasthan too has seen such attacks earlier. In September last year, members of Hindu right-wing groups vandalised over 40 Muslim houses in Raghunathgarh village of Alwar.

The vandalism came after police raided the area and claimed to have recovered three dozen cow carcasses and rescued six cows. The police had also arrested 12 persons.
Hundreds of watering holes, clubs and pubs went dry and others were sealed as authorities went full steam to implement the Supreme Court order banning liquor sale along highways.

Enforcing the order, the state excise department has sealed 225 bars in hotels, restaurants and clubs in Rajasthan since April 1. In Jaipur city and rural, around 39 bars have been close, which include luxury hotels such as Le Meridian, Shiv Vilas and Fair Mont.

The excise department has also closed bars at Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporations 11 hotels.

A senior excise official, the condition of anonymity, said, After the Supreme Courts order, we had asked our district excise officers not to renew bar licences of hotels, restaurants and clubs on highways. Thereafter, from April 1, action against bars had been started  we are sealing bars, canceling their licence and seizing liquor.

The maximum numbers of bars were closed in Sikar17 bars were closed here. It was followed by 15 in Kota, 16 in Alwar, 13 in Bikaner, 13 in Ajmer, 13 in Jhunjhunu and 10 in Sirohi.

Hotel and Restaurant Association of Rajasthan president Kuldeep Singh said, The decision will lead to huge losses not just for the hotels but also the government. The government should appeal in court. Beside revenue loss, thousands will also be unemployed. This decision will affect around 25% of the hotel revenue.

The excise department in Rajasthan has provided a total of 790 bar licenses including bar trains (70); heritage hotel (67); other hotel (506); club (22) and restaurant (125).

In December 2016, the apex court decided that the presence of shops and restaurants selling alcohol near highways was leading to drunken driving and also fatal road accidents. So it banned them.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has once again added her voice to the growing demand for an investigation into the alleged tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recently-concluded assembly elections.

You cant win elections every time by hijacking EVMs. I didnt contest but had I done so, I would have counted from 1 to 10. Those who had contested the elections should have demanded a probe, she said at a public rally in Kharagpur in West Midnapore district on Monday.

I think there should be a probe. Even the ones that were used in the polls, they should be subjected to a sample survey, she added.

Her comments came close on the heels of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress allegations about faulty EVMs. They have even said that the tampered EVMs affected their performance in the assembly elections.

On Monday, Kejriwal asked the Election Commission to release the EVMs for an investigation into allegations of tampering and rigging and said his experts can show in 72 hours how the machines could be tampered to suit a political party.

The poll panel rejected Kejriwal allegations as completely baseless and said that they were made without verifying the facts.

In March, Banerjee had said the Election Commission should convene an all-party meet amid allegations of tampering of EVMs in the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Several political parties have raised doubts over the reliability of the EVMs after the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJPs) unexpectedly massive victory in Uttar Pradesh elections last month.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had also blamed faulty EVMs for her partys rout in the UP assembly elections. Kejriwal, the Samajwadi Party as well as the Congress had echoed those allegations. At the time, the poll watchdog had rejected the charge.

These parties have demanded that EVMs should not be used for elections unless equipped with a Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) facility.

The issue of faulty EVMs in back in the news after reports that a VVPAT machine used during a trial in Madhya Pradeshs Bhind only dispensed slips with the ruling BJPs poll symbol.
Having asked officers to be ready to work for 18 to 20 hours daily, chief minister Yogi Adityanath sat till Monday midnight hearing bureaucrats of the education department make presentations before him.

Sources said the CM was especially interested in knowing how the officials planned to roll out BJP governments promise to provide free books, uniform, shoes and school bags to all poor students up to class XII.

Principal secretary basic education Ajay Singh, who made presentation on his department, later said, If the CM stayed back so late to hear about things in the education sector, it certainly augurs well for the students.

Sources said in his meeting with officials, the CM laid special focus on curbing use of unfair means in the ongoing UP Board examinations and checking fleecing by private schools. While principal secretary secondary education Jitendra Kumar didnt comment on what all was discussed at the meeting, sources said the CM emphasised on making the examination system free from the menace of copying mafia.

Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, who is also the education minister, has visited examination centres. Along with primary, secondary, higher education departments, the CM also sat through presentations made by technical education department. Restoring credibility of UPs examination system is high on CMs agenda, a government official said.

The departmental presentations would continue for two weeks with officials of Industrial Development (April 6), Agriculture (April 7), PWD (April 8), Social Welfare (April 9), Secretariat Administration (April 12), Panchayati Raj (April 13), Health (April 15), Excise and Mining (April 18), Home (April 19) and Culture (April 20) likely to make presentations.

Read More| Not allowed to cheat: Is that why over 2.7 lakh students have skipped UP Board exams?
An FIR was lodged against the security staff of Gabhana toll plaza on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with BJP MLA from Charthawal, Vijay Kashyap, who was returning to Muzaffarnagar from Lucknow on Saturday morning.

The toll plaza staff allegedly threw the MLAs identity card and assaulted his supporters, besides threatening to kill him.

Reports said when Kashyap reached the Gabhana toll plaza with his supporters Yogesh Baliyan, Balram and Jitendra Singh in his SUV, there was a long queue. So he told his driver to move the vehicle to an empty lane as he was getting late. But a security guard stopped the driver, telling him the car could not go in that lane. When the driver told him that the Charthawal MLA was inside the car, the guard said Kashyap was an impersonator since there was no gunner and the SUV did not have any flag, beacon or hooter.

When Kashyap presented his identity card, the guard allegedly threw it and abused him. In the mean time, four or five other toll plaza employees also appeared at the scene and allegedly started assaulting the MLAs supporters.

When Kashyap tried to intervene, the toll plaza employees allegedly misbehaved with him and spoke rudely to him. One of Kashyaps supporters then informed the SSP and police control room and the cops arrested the guard Nand Kishore. When the other toll plaza staff saw police, they escaped.

Baliyan, who was accompanying Kashyap, has lodged the FIR against Nand Kishore and some other employees.

The toll plaza staff misbehaved with me and assaulted my supporters. My gunner was not with me as he was sick. I shall lodge a complaint with the chief minister, Kashyap told HT.

SP (city) Atul Kumar Shrivastva said all the accused would be arrested soon. The toll plaza staff should behave properly with commuters. Nobody will be permitted to take law into his hands, he said.

However, the toll plaza manager Pawan Chaudhry refuted the allegations, saying, The MLA was not accompanied by any gunner. The car had no flag or assembly sticker and he did not show any identity card.
Residents of Madhavpuram locality in Meerut have adopted a unique mode of protest against liquor shops in their area. They have installed statues and portraits of deities in front of the outlets and are reciting mantras and bhajans.

This has come amidst protests in several districts of Uttar Pradesh against relocation of liquor shops, especially in and around residential areas, with angry women raiding liquor shops, smashing bottles and scaring away tipplers and owners.

The protests erupted after liquor vendors relocated their shops away from the highways, as Supreme Court banned liquor sale within 500 metres of state and national highways, near residential areas.

In Meerut, women are keeping a 24x7 vigil outside these highway liquor vends that have relocated to their vicinity. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been briefed about growing unrest following relocation of liquor shops. Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has assured women worried at liquor shop relocation that their concerns would be looked into.

In Madhavapuram, one contractor Manmmet had shifted his liquor shops near the police post on the night of March 31 as his old outlet would have come under the 500-metre ban.

However, a liquor shop selling desi (country) alcohol was already present at the police post.

The presence of two liquor shops irked residents who came out on the streets and raised slogans. Police tried to calm the protesters and disperse them, but failed and the agitators sat on dharna.

The localitys women also came out of their homes to show their solidarity to protesters and also sat on dharna. A tent was put up outside the shops and women began reciting bhajans (religious hymns).

They also installed a statue of Hanuman and put up portraits of other deities outside the shops and said their protest would go on till the shops were shifted.

Local shopkeepers also have extended their support to the agitation as they feel that liquor shops have vitiated the atmosphere of the locality as tipplers consume liquor in open.

Women place a portrait of Hanuman outside a liquor shop to force its closure in Madhavapuram locality of Meerut. (HT PHOTO)

Vishal Mittal, who runs a cement shop close to the liquor shop at the police post, said such shops should close for the good of the society.

He and other shopkeepers are hopeful that the unique way of agitation would compel authorities to pay heed to peoples demand.

Few years back, Lucknow residents had resorted to Gandhigiri to force closure of a liquor shop that was located in front of a temple.
It has been seven years since India made free and compulsory primary education a basic right of children. The Right to Education Act, enforced in 2010, was hailed as revolutionary as it promised free access to education for children from all classes. Today, however, it has more misses than hits to its name, education activists say.

Quota focus

Under the RTE Act, non-minority, unaided schools must set aside 25% of their seats for students from economically weak backgrounds. The schools must offer free education from Class 1 to Class 8, for which the government reimburses them.

One major issue with the implementation so far has been that all government efforts are concentrated solely on the quota, while other areas of the Act are largely neglected, educators said.

A major area of failure is the quality of education, despite several efforts by the Maharashtra government, such as the Pragat Shaikshanik programme.

Two years ago, for instance, competency tests were started for students in Class 1 to Class 8, to assess skills in math and first language, but these have been conducted in a slipshod manner. The act says the tests should be conducted every three or four months to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of students and the data would be used to train teachers to adapt lessons or teaching styles accordingly.

But, the education department frequently changes the test timetables, making it difficult for schools to plan for them. Further, the responsibility of conducting the tests was thrust on schools without giving them proper instructions. There is no external supervision, which means schools take the whole process lightly, each one doing it their own way. Some schools have even asked students to take the tests home. This is a complete mess. Schools cheat on the tests or skip them altogether, said Uday Nare, a teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri.

Whats worse? The test results are not made public, defeating its purpose  the idea of the tests was for schools to know where they stand compared to other schools. There is no feedback from the government either.

We feel the tests are held in a vacuum, said Chandrakanta Pathak, principal, HVB Global Academy, Marine Lines. There is no point of holding the competency tests.

Failure of the no-fail

Schools said another area where the acts not been implemented properly was the no-detention policy  no student is detained till Class 8, even if she has not got passing grades. The policy was supplemented by the Continuous Compulsory Evaluation (CCE), a scheme that looked at all-round development of students.

Recently, CCE was rolled back for CBSE schools, with the government saying it brought down learning levels. The states were asked to modify it as per their needs. Withdrawing the no-fail policy dealt a big blow to the RTE, said Rohan Bhat, chairperson, Childrens Academy Group of Schools, Kandivli and Malad. Bhat added the policy was not implemented properly. Schools misinterpreted no-fail to mean no-exams, but this was because of the lack of awareness about how to execute the policy, said Bhat.

Few under RTE

Minority schools and government-aided schools need not set aside the 25% quota under the RTE Act, leaving just 334 schools in Mumbai where children from weak backgrounds can get free education. The move to exempt minority schools, following a Supreme Court ruling, means several reputed schools in the city (most of them are religious or linguistic minorities) are exempted from the ambit of the RTE Act. And, many more are vying for the minority tag.

Schools are now making a beeline to get the minority tag. The number of schools claiming minority status has shot up, said Sudhir Paranjape, a member of the NGO Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti.

Of the 334 schools that do offer admissions, several do so only from Class 1, even though they have classes from kindergarten. This is because the government reimbursement begins from Class 1. This year, schools had the choice to pick their own entry-level, and most chose Class 1.

Education officials, however, said fewer seats was not the problem, as all parents want to apply to the most sought-after schools.

RTE frauds

Another issue is of parents trying to get children admitted under the quota, even when they do not qualify. Last week, a Sion school discovered six students allotted to them had fake birth certificates

Last year, schools in Goregaon  Yashodham and Lakshadham  found 30 to 40 parents had submitted fake income certificates to claim an annual income lower than Rs1 lakh. There is a big racket in the RTE admissions. Last year, we found out about it because our staff checked documents. Before that, only the government would verify. Many more cases might have gone undetected, said a school spokesperson.

No drop-out checks

A drive mandated by the Act to identify students who never enrolled, or have dropped out  to ensure no child is deprived of education  has also failed. These initiatives are superficial, said Herambh Kulkarni, an activist from Pune. It isnt enough to register children in school. Monitoring to check if they actually attend is needed.

I thought my son was lucky to go to a pvt school, not anymore

Seven-year old Bilaal, from Dharavi, is the first in his family to go to a private, English medium school, thanks to the Right to Education Act that sets aside a 25% quota for children from economically and socially weaker sections. But, the prestigious Matunga school he studies in did not allow him to write exams this year, as his family could not paid them Rs2,000 for books and uniform.

The school demands Rs2,000 every year, even though, under the RTE Act, books and uniform should be given for free. The school says they charge us because the government doesnt reimburse them for the books and uniform, said Abdul. They keep pressurising us.

Last year, Bilaal got admission in the school through the quota. His father, Abdul, is a daily wage labourer and applied for admissions under the quota after local social workers told him about RTE. Our financial condition is very poor, and I could never have afforded quality education for my kids, said Abdul. His two other children were enrolled in municipal schools, but Abdul wasnt happy with the kind of education they got there. I thought my younger son was lucky to get admission in a private school.

That was until Saturday, when Bilaal could not write the exam. My wife had started doing some tailoring work to raise money and pay the school, but we couldnt collect enough, said Abdul. He has complained to the education department, but no action has been taken so far. This is not what I hoped for when I applied for the quota.

INTERVIEW: Madhav Chavan, CEO, PRATHAM

Madhav Chavan, a social activist and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pratham, an education non-profit, talks about the successes and failures of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Prathams Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER) have been examining the implementation of the Act by checking infrastructure and quality of education in rural schools across India.

What has RTE achieved in the last seven years?

Nothing. The RTE is of no real consequence to the state government. It has achieved nothing in the last seven years. No one has taken it seriously. ASER reports show learning levels of students are slowly improving in Maharashtra, but we dont know what has caused it.

Why has the RTE proven ineffective?

The act is framed in such a manner that it doesnt compel the government to take any action towards improving the quality of education.

The act doesnt provide any scope for government accountability. It hasnt set any deadlines for meeting targets. You cant approach the court if anything in the act is not implemented.

Has the enrolment of students in schools increased after the Act?

It is interesting that the Act is focused on improving enrolment of students. But ironically, the Act came after we achieved 96% enrolment. So enrolling children in schools is not a problem. The real issue is once children are in school, the government is not compelled to see whether they are studying or not.

While enrolment is high, there are still many who drop-out. Why has the RTE failed to bring down drop-out rate?

The problem is in the definition of drop-outs. On paper, we have high enrolment, but there is chronic absenteeism. Instead of looking for children who havent enrolled, RTE needs to find these absent students. There is no improvement in attendance in 10 years in most states .

ASER reports show learning outcomes in rural areas have improved in the last two years. If its not the RTE, what has led to this?

There is a general consciousness to improve quality of education. But, this is independent of the RTE Act. The education department in the state is functioning like they always did. There has not been any change driven by RTE.

Read

SC: States should include HIV+ students under Right to Education

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
While Mumbai is struggling to cope with the Supreme Court (SC) directive of banning liquor sale within 500 metres of state and national highways, the business of serving alcohol by establishments in four other cities of Maharashtra remains uninterrupted.

The civic bodies of Latur, Jalgaon, Jalna and Yavatmal have already denotified stretches of highways passing through their jurisdiction. The decision as taken after the state government decided that the liquor ban will not apply to those parts of highways that are being denotified and were handed over to municipal corporations for maintenance.

The state government has already decided to study the apex court order, which has also affected luxury hotels in the city operating along the highways. The state excise department officials said they are currently busy with implementing the apex court decision.

The SC had ordered a ban on all establishments serving liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways . On Friday, the court said the order also applied to restaurants, hotels and bars, and not just liquor shops.

Around 500 establishments, including restaurants, bars and liquor shops are affected in Mumbai and had to shut their operations completely. However, the state government has allowed restaurants to continue their operations on the condition that they don not serve liquor.

We are currently busy implementing the apex court order. In the next stage, we will see what can be done to minimize the effect of the ban, said a senior official from excise department.

Sources said four cities and three tehsils of Nagpur district did not face consequences as the municipal bodies denotified highways passing through their limits for maintenance. This has brought relief for 566 establishments operating along the highways in these areas.

Besides, the excise department will also issue a notification to provide relief to the establishments serving liquor that falls within 220 metres in areas where the population is less than 20,000. It will be based on the apex court March 31 directive, in which it had reduced the limit for liquor ban for highways passing through small villages.

Not more than thousand establishments will get relief, as there are few such villages in the state. We have to start the survey for such establishments. Once it is completed, notification for the same will be issued, said a senior official requesting anonymity.

The SCs latest order become as a major embarrassment for the state government, which had on March 24 decided to allow restaurants and bars to operate in the prohibited area citing the opinion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.

Taking precautions this time, the state government will seek opinion from the state law and judiciary department over its decision of allowing denotified highways free from liquor ban.

Also read: Liquor ban: States move to skirt none-for-the-road order as pubs, bars bleed

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Apr. 4

By Demir Azizov  Trend:

Russias Gazprombank and Uzbekistans Asaka Bank signed an $88 million agreement to finance the construction of a metallurgical plant, with a total project cost of 280 million euros, in Tashkent, the Uzbek bank told Trend.

The agreement was signed in anticipation of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs visit to Russia.

Construction of the metallurgical plant, with a design capacity of 500,000 tons of cold rolled sheet products, including 200,000 tons of coated cold rolled sheet products, is scheduled to begin in 2017. The construction of the plant is planned to end in 2019.

The project is planned to be financed through a $100 million loan from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and other resources in addition to the funds from Gazprombank.
The Bombay high court rejected the bail plea of a Navghar resident, who was arrested for allegedly raping his minor stepdaughter, on Tuesday. Justice Sadhana Jadhav rejected his plea primarily in view of the heinous nature of the alleged crime.

The incident came to light after the survivor narrated her plight to a friend, who helped her lodge a police complaint and get in touch with a helpline. Based on her complaint, the Navghar police, on August 20, 2016, booked the alleged rapist and the survivors mother.

According to the complaint, the mother had divorced the survivors biological father in 2004 and married the Navghar resident in 2005. The survivor said that ever since she and her mother joined the accused, he had been sexually exploiting her and though she complained to her mother, the latter ignored her complaints and also tried to persuade her not to lodge a police complaint.

Navghar police arrested both her stepfather and mother on the same day, immediately after the registration of the FIR. But, her mother was later released on bail, after which the survivors statement was recorded by a magistrate.

In her statement before the magistrate, the survivor gave a completely different story and said that she had lodged a false report against him, as he was a strict disciplinarian who would allow her remain outdoor after 7pm and would not allow her to roam around with her male friends. She further informed the magistrate that she regretted lodging a false complaint against her stepfather and did not wish to pursue the complaint.

In view of such contradictory statements by the survivor, justice Jadhav felt it necessary to interview the survivor and after interviewing her, noticed the statement  given after her mother was released on bail  to the magistrate was given by her under coercion.

After interviewing the victim and taking her into confidence, this court is convinced that the statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was given under pressure and coercion and that she had retracted from her earlier statement only to save the family, said the judge.

No HC relief to abusive teacher

The Bombay high court has refused to grant relief to Nandkumar Shinde, a teacher at the Shivaji Technical School at Pantnagar in Ghatkopar and who has been booked for misbehaving with girl students. Justice Sadhana Jadhav rejected Shindes anticipatory bail plea primarily in view of the fact that he was earlier removed from service owing to a similar charge in another school. The judge also expressed utter displeasure over the conduct of Shivaji Technical School for ignoring the complaints of the parents of girl students. The conduct of the principal of the said school reflects a lack of sensitivity, said Justice Jadhav, and added, She had no intention to take any coercive action against the applicant. The judge said that the principal should have approached the police immediately after receiving complaints from parents.

Read

Bombay high court exonerates woman who tried to kill her baby
Last weeks Supreme Court ban on the production and sale of vehicles with (Bharat Stage) BS-III emission standards from April 1 has led to a windfall for the Navi Mumbai regional transport office (RTO).

The RTO earned Rs3.5 crore in five days, with 497 vehicles registered at the deputy RTO office, including 202 two-wheelers, 63 trucks, 21 tempos, 72 taxis and other goods carriers.

As per the SC order, the companies were to clear their stock by end of March, which resulted in them offering heavy discounts. Residents took advantage of the discounts and purchased new vehicles.

According to an RTO official, There was a surge in registrations around March 31. The registrations do increase at the end of the financial year as people can claim depreciation for their vehicles. However, this time the registrations were on a much higher scale.

According to Mahesh Patil, who bought a two-wheeler, The dealer was offering a discount of around Rs15,000 , hence I bought the two-wheeler for my wife. It was a good bargain.

Earlier, transport authorities said that BS-III vehicles could be registered only if vehicle owners produce proof of sale letter, insurance certificate or temporary registration done before the end of March.

Read

BS III ban to cost automakers nearly Rs 3,000 cr
With the new UP governments decision to waive farm loans and the Madras high court asking the Tamil Nadu government to do the same, pressure is mounting on the BJP-led Maharashtra government to consider the move for Maharastras farmers. Opposition parties have taken an aggressive stance on the issue with senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar giving the Fadnavis government a three-day ultimatum to make a decision. Its ruling partner  the Shiv Sena  also wants the loans waived.

Farmers in the state are in distress for many reasons  falling prices of their produce, unseasonal rains, hailstorm and acute water crisis.

The loan waiver demand gained momentum when Opposition parties took up the issue seriously. They, along with the Sena, disrupted budget session proceedings in the state legislature. Taking an aggressive stand, the Congress and the NCP then tried to disrupt presentation of the state budget for the next fiscal year.

Following the suspension of their 19 legislators in the state Assembly, six opposition parties collaborated for the first time to organise a Sangharsh Yatra (struggle march) demanding a loan waiver and covered sensitive districts of the state where farmer suicides are comparatively higher.

At the concluding event of the movement at Panvel on Tuesday, Ajit gave an ultimatum to the government to take a decision in the next three days or call a special session of the state legislature to discuss issues the farmers are facing. If UP government can waive Rs30,000 crore farm loans why not the state government, he questioned.

While addressing a rally, NCP president Sharad Pawar said he would intensify the movement by organising more rallies and accused the Fadnavis government of not keeping its waiver promise made in the run up to the state Assembly polls in 2014.

He said the Centre is writing off loans of industrialists as NPA (non-performance asset), but doesn't want to do the same for farmers. Around 20 public sector banks haven't recovered bad debt of Rs2,80,494 crore from industrialists then why cant loans of Rs30,000-40,000 crore be waived off, he asked.

While Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the state government should follow the footsteps of the UP government and waive off loans of the farmers. Farmers in the state are committing suicides thus farm loan waiver is the need of the hour. We want their 7/11 extract free from debt, Thackeray said.

Chief minister has repeatedly said the move is financially unviable for the government as it will bring a burden of Rs 30,500 crore on the state exchequer. The state government has also requested the Centre to provide financial help to get this done.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The per capita income in Maharashtra rose to Rs1,47,399 in 2015-16 from Rs1,32,341 the previous year, according to figures quoted in the economic survey of Maharashtra released two weeks ago. This puts the state in the eight position across the country. But a comparison of per capita income among Maharashtras districts reveals a widening gap between the poor and the rich in rural and urban Maharashtra with every passing year. While the top four districts, including Mumbai and Thane, have witnesses a 47% rise in per capital income in four years, the growth in the districts with the lowest income is 32%

According to the survey, the per capita income in Mumbai is Rs2.58 lakh and in Thane it is Rs2.17 lakh against Rs66,110 in Nandurbar and Rs66,462 in Washim in 2015-16. This means the citizens in the district with the lowest income earn merely 25% of the people in the districts with the highest income. In some of the low-income districts such as Hingoli and Parbhani, the income has actually decreased in 2015-16 against the previous year.

The tribal districts such as Gadchiroli and Nadurbar, according to the studies by the NGOs, have the lowest income in the state. The Human Development Index (HDI), too, in the districts with the poor income is among the lowest  Nandurbar (0.604) and Gadchiroli (0.608) against the state HDI of 0.752. In Mumbai and Pune, the HDI is 0.841 and 0.814 respectively.

While the countrys growth rate in per capita income in one year (from 2014-15 to 2015-16) was recorded at 11.37%, it was 6.54% in Gadchiroli and 9.89% in Mumbai.

According to experts, rising economic inequality has to be attributed to government policies that are city-centric and deprive the poor of their fundamental rights. It has been happening over the years. The new Union government is not an exception to this. The Modi government has launched schemes like Smart city, satellite cities and Amrut for the development of tier I and II cities in the states. The central government massively funds the schemes for the development of these cities. Even in Maharashtra, big-ticket projects such as Metro and Railways are being implemented in cities like Mumbai, Thane and Pune. The backward districts have hardly seen any new industries that can generate employment, said Rupesh Keer, coordinator of Samarthan, an NGO that studies the state budget and its socio-political impact.

In his reply to a debate in the legislative assembly last week, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said 65% revenue come from the urban sector and the development of the cities was imperative. He also said at the uneven equation of the dependency of 45% of the population on agriculture against the sectors 10% contribution to the GSDP.

The gap between the cities and the rural parts is widening significantly because of the failure of achieving the potential growth in the manufacturing and agricultural sector. Despite attempts to create a more skilled workforce, we have failed to generate job opportunities for the lower middle class. The service sector has driven growth in cities leading to the impressive rise in income in the cities. I think economic inequality will pose a major problem in the future in the country and the recent outcry in the Maratha community was an example of the it, said Milind Murugkar, a expert on rural development.

Read
Two engineering students were found bludgeoned to death on an isolated hill near INS Shivaji in Lonavala on Monday.

Police said unidentified people had stripped the 22-year-old man and his female friend  one year his junior  and tied their hands before smashing their heads with a blunt object.

The man, a student of mechanical engineering at the Sinhgad Engineering College on the Lonavala campus, was a resident of Rahuri in Ahmednagar. His friend, hailing from Otur in Pune, was pursuing a course in computer engineering at the same institution. They were both final-year students.

College officials said the woman had already secured a job, and was planning to take it up after completing her course.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code at the Lonavala police station. The woman had told others at her hostel that she was going out with a friend, and would return home late, an officer said.

Police were able to identify the deceased from Aadhaar cards and driving licences found at the spot. They also recovered a motorcycle belonging to the male victim.

Assistant police inspector AM Sable said the bodies have been sent for an autopsy. More details of the crime will be known after we receive the post-mortem report by noon, he added.
The first indigenous aircraft manufacturing unit in the country is likely to come up in Maharashtra.

The state on Monday gave its go-ahead to set up the firm in a joint venture with Thrust Aircraft Private Limited, founded by Captain Amol Yadav, a pilot currently associated with Jet Airways. The government will provide 157 acres of land parcel in Palghar to the firm for free as its stake in the firm. The decision was taken at a meeting headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The value of the states stake is yet to be decided.

The firm will manufacture a 19+2 seater aircraft. The project is ready to take off as the CM has agreed to allot plot for the firm. As the government cant give plot to a private firm for free, we will get into a joint venture with Thrust Aircraft. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Industrial Corporation (MIDC), a states subsidiary, will enter into an agreement with the firm, said a senior official privy to the development.

Speaking to HT, Yadav said, We only need to get a type certificate  a clearance from the DGCA. Manufacturing process will start as soon as we get the certificate. The CM has agreed to request the PM to issue directives to the DGCA for the certificate.

Yadav, who earlier built a six-seater aircraft at his Kandivli home, said he is confident the first prototype aircraft will be ready within 15 months from the date of allotment of land. Yadavs six-seater aircraft was exhibited at the Make in India week at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) last year.

Senior officials claimed once the manufacturing starts, the government can allow the manufacturer to buy back the project.

While officials claimed the state was giving land for free only to help start the first indigenous firm, critics have panned the move.

READ MORE

1st fully Indian-made suburban train to run in Mumbai on Saturday

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Even as speculations are rife over former state minister Ganesh Naik quitting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and joining either the Shiv Sena or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his arch rival, Belapur MLA Manda Mhatre, said he would be welcomed with open arms into the BJP fold.

Known for targeting Naik at every possible opportunity, Mhatre said, If he decides to join the BJP, I will welcome him with an arti plate.

She, however, did take potshots at Naik.

Mhatre said, Earlier, I was the one who brought him to the NCP after he quit Shiv Sena. It was the biggest mistake of my life, as he later betrayed me. He can again follow me into the BJP. I have no worries now, as people have seen my work for the past 15 years. When someones existence is at stake, he takes someones support and seeks TRP to be in the limelight. Some leaders cannot stay away from power, just like the fish cant survive without water. We do have capable leadership here and so I dont think the party will take him. If it does, I will welcome him with an arti plate as we want to strengthen our party.

She added that Naik tried to join the BJP two years ago, but his efforts were stalled by his own party leaders.

With Mhatre welcoming her arch rival into the party fold, political observers said it was clear that either the BJP leaders have given a green signal for Naiks entry or the talks are in advanced stage.

The descend

Naik, who had a stranglehold over Navi Mumbai politics for years, suffered a shocking defeat in the last assembly elections. It was Mhatre, who quit the NCP and joined the BJP just before the elections, who had defeated him. Earlier, Naiks son former MP Sanjeev Naik too lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Thane.

During the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) poll in April 2015, Naik failed to get a majority for his party and had to rely on the Independents and the Congress  with whom he had been at loggerheads  to stake claim to the civic body.

There were reports prior to the NMMC election that Naik was all set to join the BJP. However, alleged opposition from Shiv Sena and intervention by NCP chief Sharad Pawar stalled his plan.

Keeping options open

Reports have emerged that Naik has met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray a few times in the last two months . Naik had quit Sena after differences with late Bal Thackeray in the late 90s. Sources, however, claimed that there is a strong opposition to him joining the party from Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde.

Meanwhile, news about Naiks possible entry in the BJP gained momentum after NMMC commissioner Tukaram Mundhe was transferred abruptly last month. The two had been at loggerheads during Mundhes tenure.

While Naik was unavailable for comment, he has earlier denied plans to quit the NCP, stating he will not abandon the ship in troubled times.

Also read: Navi Mumbai polls: In NMMC, Ganesh Naik rises from the ashes

Ganesh Naik supporters ask him to join BJP
The Dindoshi sessions court on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to actor Kamya Punjabi and producer Neerusha Nikhat after they allegedly released a short film starring late TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee. It also asked them why contempt proceedings should not be started against them for releasing the film despite a stay on it. It directed them to be present before the court on Friday.

The matter was being heard after Banerjees boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh filed a defamation suit against Punjabi, Nikhat, Google and YouTube. Objecting to the film for spawning prejudices, Singh has sought damages worth Rs1 crore.

Singhs advocate Shreyans Mithare informed the court that the film Hum Kuch Keh Naa Sakey was released by Punjabi.

The court has issued a notice against them after their advocate confirmed that the release. The court also warned to issue a non-bailable warrant against them if they fail to appear before the court, Mithare told HT.

Banerjee was in a live-in relationship with Singh and they stayed at a Goregaon (West) apartment. On April 1, she was found hanging in a flat. A case of abetment to suicide was registered against Singh. He is currently out on anticipatory bail. The police have filed a charge sheet. According to Singh, one of the characters in the video is named Rahul. He further said that the film showed him in a bad light and was defamatory.

READ

Pratyusha Banerjee was not in live-in relationship with Rahul, says her mom

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra could soon see an influx of top flight leaders from the opposition. Sharad Pawars Nationalist Congress Party may be the most hit __ at least four of its key leaders from various parts of the state are reportedly in talks with the BJP. They are Ganesh Naik, the Navi Mumbai strongman, former ministers Jaydutt Kshirsagar and Suresh Dhas from Beed, and former state NCP president Bhaskar Jadhav from Ratnagiri. And there are the persistent rumours about the Congress strongman from Sindhudurg, Narayan Rane, too joining the BJP.

Winning over these leaders, who have a strong support base in their areas, could help the BJP win a few more assembly seats in 2019 when the party is likely to face a Congress-NCP alliance as well as the Shiv Sena as opponents.

Though all these leaders have been denying any such possibility, their differences with the state leadership of their parties and uncertain prospects in the 2019 Assembly elections seem to be reasons behind their plans to hop on to the BJP bandwagon.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik rubbished the reports, saying, The rumours about these leaders quitting the party have been there for quite some time, but there is no substance in them.

However, it is no secret that Ganesh Naik has been restive, reportedly reaching out to both the Sena and the BJP in turn. Naiks fortunes have been on the wane since his son, Sanjeev Naiks defeat in the 2014-Lok Sabha election to the Shiv Senas Rajan Vichare in Thane, followed by his own unexpected loss in the assembly election later that year. Things came to a head after the recent civic polls in Thane when Pawar chose Jitendra Awhad loyalist Milind Patil as leader of the opposition, sidelining Naiks relatives and three-time corporator Mukund Keni. So the Naiks are now eyeing the BJP since that party and the Sena are likely to contest the 2019 elections separately.

It would be difficult for Sanjeev Naik again to get elected from Thane Lok Sabha seat and Ganesh Naik from Belapur assembly seat in the current circumstances. Similar is the case in Mira-Bhayander where the Naik family has had political clout for years. The NCPs district chief Mohan Naiks recent defection to the BJP is apparently a sign if things to come. Naiks arch rival Manda Mhatres recent statement saying Naik was welcome in the BJP, strengthens the possibility of him switching sides, said an NCP leader speaking on condition of anonymity. Mhatre, contesting on a BJP ticket, had defeated Naik in Belapur.

Another leader of the NCP in Thane, Vasant Davkhare, too, was not happy in the party and his supporters had crossed over to the BJP in the recent corporation elections.

Similarly, in Beed, two key NCP leaders, Kshirsagar and Dhas too, are apparently keen to join the BJP. Dhas had recently helped the BJP to install its president in the district council by making his supporters vote in favour of the saffron candidate. Kshirsagar, Beed MLA who belongs to the Teli community, has close ties with many BJP leaders including power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and the BJPs Wardha MP Ramdas Tadas as they belong to the same community.

Party sources said that Bhaskar Jadhav, the NCPs Guhagar MLA who shares a strained relations with the partys state unit chief Sunil Tatkare, is also in talks with the BJP leadership.

Meanwhile, speculation that Congress leader Narayan Rane may join BJP surfaced again on Sunday after tourism minster Jaykumar Rawal met him in Sindhudurg. Party sources, however, claimed the meeting was related to a tourism project in Sindhudurg, which Rane has been strongly opposing, and that he was unlikely to cross over immediately.

Read

Shift in loyalties? Congress Narayan Rane to meet BJP leaders in Delhi

MLA takes potshots at Ganesh Naik over rumours of him joining BJP
After a series of victories, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis suddenly finds himself in an unenviable situation.

He is caught between a rock and a very hard place with regard to suicides of farmers that show no signs of abating. Now the opposition parties have caught his government in a bind by demanding a loan waiver for them that is likely to cost more than Rs 30,000 crore.

Fadnavis began by acting tough on the loan waivers as it was not the party policy. But then he was tripped up by his own leaders  first Narendra Modi and Amit Shah during their campaign in Uttar Pradesh promised a loan write-off for farmers in that state. That came as a big shock, particularly as Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was quick to step into that breach of his defences and taunt the BJP, You already have a government in Maharashtra. Why dont you do it here first to show us how sincere you are.

But the second shocker was when Union finance minister Arun Jaitley sternly made it clear that the state governments would have to undertake loan waivers on their own and cannot expect any help from the Centre.

Even if Fadnavis could have bought some time to work out the arithmetic for the state, the newly-appointed chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath is on the threshold of announcing a Rs 40,000 crore waiver for farmers in his state. The question now being raised is; if one BJP chief minister can have the political will to do so, why cant another, particularly in a state like Maharashtra that is really not down in the dumps in terms of finances as UP is generally believed to be.

But apart from the issue of loan waivers, the recent Kisan Sangharsh Yatra undertaken by the combined opposition is more cause for worry. Opposition parties in Maharashtra are extremely fractious  barely a year ago, during the controversy over the chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai, the Congress, which wears its secularism on its sleeve, did not even come to the aid of the two members of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad e-Musimeen (AIMIM) but now those very members, who may not even be affected by the farmers votes, were making common cause with the Congress and the NCP. So was the Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties. The fact that they could all come together in a jiffy and undertake a yatra in the scorching heat of Vidarbha and Marathwada says much about what really is driving them into each others arms  the Bharatiya Janata Party.

People were tickled pink to see former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and his ex-deputy Ajit Pawar cheek by jowl with each other throughout the yatra. They have not yet forgotten that Ajit had labelled Chavan as the worst chief minister Maharashtra has had weeks before the 2014 assembly polls and Chavan too was no fan of the Pawars. Yet they seemed to have forgotten their animosity towards each other and , if differences still exist, have been able to put them on hold.

But that has not been all  it was Uddhav who first raised the issue of loan waivers and the Shiv Sena could not be seen as indifferent to the yatra. While it could not have been officially part of the campaign, the party evolved its own strategy by having individual MLAs meet the yatra in their constituencies and be seen by farmers as sympathetic to their cause. That has left only the BJP looking heartless.

It is an existentialist crisis for all the parties, including the Shiv Sena, but there are some issues, particularly for the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, who cannot be seen making common cause with the Sena. So the manner in which they handled their yatra is a precursor to what may evolve in the future  all other parties could come together openly but the Shiv Sena will be covertly supported from behind the scenes.

Even if they become friends again, the Shiv Sena and the BJP would prefer to go their separate ways as fighting singly gets them more seats indvidually than they can win in an alliance. The reverse is true of the Congress and the NCP and the other parties simply do not stand a chance if they do not come to an accommodation with the bigger parties.

Fadnavis, then, has his task cut out for him.

Read

Necessity makes for strange bedfellows

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:



Iran's Aseman Airlines and the Boeing Company have inked a deal on Irans purchase of 60 Boeing aircraft.



The sides have reached the agreement on Irans acquiring of the Boeing 737 MAX airplane, IRNA news agency reported.



The deal was concluded on Tuesday in Tehran, the report said.

Under the deal, Iran will gradually receive the delivery of the planes as of 2019.



According to the report, Iran will receive at least five aircraft out of the total 60 in 2019.



Earlier in January Iran received its first brand-new aircraft, an A321 Airbus, after years of embargo.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday congratulated Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for approving waiver on farm loans up to Rs1 lakh in his state. Thackeray, in the same breath, demanded that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should follow in the UP chief ministers footsteps and announce a loan waiver for farmers across Maharashtra.

The ongoing budget session of the Maharashtra legislature has been dominated by the demands for farm loan waiver. Maharashtra is witnessing a state-wide protests by the Opposition parties and the Shiv Sena, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally in the state government, who are demanding a loan waiver. However, the BJP-led state government till date has refrained from doing so citing paucity of funds.

Yogi Adityanath fulfilled promises, that were made in the election manifesto, in his first cabinet meeting after becoming the chief minister. This is a matter of pride. He has showed that these announcements are not merely an election jumla (empty promises). If Indias biggest state can waive off loans of its farmers, then why is agriculture-dominated Maharashtras chief minister shying away from making the decision? Thackeray said.

Six Opposition parties, including Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had conducted a week-long 1,500-km Sangharsh Yatra raising farm loan waiver issue across the state from dry Vidarbha and Marathwada, where farmer suicides are the highest. The Yatra ended on Tuesday at Panvel. Shiv Sena, who did not participate in the Yatra has been demanding waiver of farm loans from the BJP-led government.

Also read: Join Sangharsh Yatra if you support farmers: Opposition in Maharashtra to Shiv Sena

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The 23-year-old student who jumped off the 19th floor of a posh hotel at Bandstand, Bandra, on Monday evening, had written about suicide in a few posts on his Facebook page, indicating he may have had reached out for help, according to the Bandra police.

Arjun Bharadwaj, who hailed from Bangalore and was a student of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies here, had jumped allegedly under the influence of alcohol. He left a note in which he wrote depression and drug use had taken a toll on his life, the police had said on Monday. He also recorded a video tutorial on how to commit suicide, which has since gone viral on social media.

Senior police inspector Pandit Thakare of Bandra police station said, We will talk to his friends, family members on Tuesday and we will ascertain why he took the step.

When asked if the police will investigate the drug abuse angle as mentioned in his note, Thakare said,We will try, but I dont know if his friends will help us.

According to the police, Arjuns father had come to Mumbai from Bengaluru three days ago after his friends told his father about his Facebook posts on suicide. On Saturday, Arjuns father met him and tried to speak him out of it. Arjun lived alone in his Andheri flat, the police said.

Arjun, police said, had failed in college and could not clear his TY BCom. His father had retired and so there was pressure on him to complete his studies and get a job to support their family of four. He has a younger brother studying in Class 10.

According to the police, he was depressed and took to drugs. He also consumed alcohol, a common step by most people who had committed suicide, said a doctor at one of the citys post-mortem centres.

Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, who has conducted several hundreds of workshops on suicide prevention in Mumbai colleges, told HT, There are four main issues here. Why dont top-notch educational institutes have a full fledged counselling centre, knowing well that many students leave their home for studies. Suicide is an epidemic that kills more people than TB, malaria and dengue, then why not have a senior officer in the government to deal with this problem as there is for other diseases. Also, all students should be mental health soldiers and must identify such students who need help. Psychological vigilance in educational institutions is required. The boy was talking about suicides and hence he should have been screened by a mental health professional.

The Mumbai police too took to their Twitter handle and appealed to youngsters to contact them on 100, promising to listen to their problems.

Read

Man posts video on how to commit suicide, jumps from 19th floor of Mumbai hotel

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Bombay high court on Tuesday asked the state government to explain what the change in circumstance was that led the Maharashtra governors office to sanction prosecuting former chief minister Ashok Chavan in the multi-crore Adarsh housing society scam, even though the sanction was refused initially.

A division bench headed by Justice Ranjit More was hearing a petition filed by Chavan challenging governor Ch Vidyasagar Raos decision to sanction the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute him in the scam.

In February last year, Rao had allowed the CBI to prosecute Chavan for offences of criminal conspiracy, and cheating under the Indian Penal Code, and the Prevention of Corruption Act. However, in December 2013, Raos predecessor, the then governor K Sankaranarayanan had refused to permit the CBI to initiate proceedings against Chavan.

On Tuesday, the former chief ministers counsel Amit Desai told the court that Rao granted the sanction after CBI approached the governors office again claiming it had fresh material against the former minister. The counsel argued that there was, however, no such fresh material with the CBI.

The only change was the findings of the judicial commission set up to probe the Adarsh scam and certain observations made by a single bench of the high court while dismissing a petition filed by Chavan seeking removal of his name from the list of those accused in the case, Desai said.

Chavan claimed that the Raos sanction was arbitrary, illegal and unjust and passed with malafide intentions.

The court has now directed the advocate general to appear in the matter on the next date and scheduled the next date of hearing for April 17.

The CBI had accused Chavan of having approved additional floor space index for Adarsh society in return for two flats for his relatives and named him as an accused in its FIR filed in December 2013.

Also read: Adarsh scam: Bombay HC seeks CBIs reply on de-freezing societys two bank accounts
Four people were killed and 10 others injured when a speeding truck rammed a stationary van near Jewar on the Yamuna expressway late on Monday night.

The victims, all from a family, were heading from Khurja in Bulandshahr to Faridabad in Haryana. A total of 18 people, all men and women, were travelling in the Tata Magic van to Faridabad.

The accident occurred at 2.30 am when a tyre of the van was punctured and the driver was repairing it, police said.

We were on our night patrol duty on the expressway when we heard a loud noise. On reaching the spot, we saw that a truck had hit a stationary van. We rescued the injured but four people were declared dead on the spot, said Ajay Kumar Sharma, station house officer, Jewar police station.

The police rushed the injured to Kailash Hospital in Jewar. At 3.30 am, we received four dead persons and 10 injured victims of a road accident. The injured were bleeding but no one was in a serious condition. We administered first aid and discharged them, said Ravi Solanki, administrator, Kailash Hospital, Jewar.

The deceased are Harnarayan (37), Jaiprakash (40), Roopvati (45) and Mahendri (30). All the victims are from a traders family in Khurja, Bulandshahr.

Two men and two women died in the accident. Of the 18 people, at least seven were women, said Sharma.

The police arrested the driver of the speeding truck, Ramesh Kumar, and lodged a case of negligent driving (Indian Penal Code 279).

He was produced before the magistrate and then sent to jail. We are probing the matter, said Sharma.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly smuggling pistols from Munger in Bihar to districts of western Uttar Pradesh. A consignment of 12 pistols of .32 calibre, along with 11 magazines, was also recovered from his possession.

During questioning, the accused, Tahir Hasan, is alleged to have told the police that he used to work in a mosque in Muzaffarnagar district and smuggled pistols from Bihar using his cover. Officials said that he procured pistols from Munger, which is an infamous weapons hub, and supplied people with weapons for a price between Rs30,000 and Rs60,000.

Tahir Hasan was previously tracked by the Muzaffarnagar crime branch as well. In 2016, he escaped a police raid, in which five members of his gang were arrested from Sherpur village. Nine pistols were recovered in the raid from those arrested. After his arrest in Ghaziabad, we also got calls from Delhi Police as they also wanted to know about him, Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ghaziabad, said.

The SSP said that he also received inputs about Hasan from intelligence agencies in 2016 when he was posted in Muzaffarnagar. The officials said that the accused had supplied nearly 500 pistols so far and always refused to sell single pieces.

He would provide customers only in bulk, at least four to five, at a time. The members of his gang shipped the pistols through the use of public transport such as buses and trains from Bihar. He was arrested from NH-24 near Vijay Nagar when he was about to board a bus to Pari Chowk in Greater Noida. We deployed a decoy customer and lured him, the SSP said.

Hasan said that Shamim, one of the members of his gang, usually brought pistols from Bihar and supplied it to sellers in western UP districts.

A pistol earned me Rs3,000-4,000 per piece. The profit margin goes up according to the customer. Since I worked in a mosque, people never suspected that I could be doing such work, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The counsel for 22-year-old Rahat Khan questioned how the police could arrest his client for promoting enmity among different groups when Khan was a big supporter of Modi, as can be ascertained through his posts on social media.

Khan was jailed last month for allegedly posting an objectionable photograph of chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Facebook.

The counsel reasoned that it is illogical for the police to have arrested Khan for allegedly causing enmity between Hindus and Muslims as he had wished his countrymen on Republic Day, Janmashtami and Diwali. Singh questioned how the police could arrest him under Section 153A of the IPC when there was no atmosphere of violence in Dankaur, where Khan resides, and nearby villages.

These arguments were put forth by Khans counsel Rajendra Singh before the additional district & sessions judge (ADJ) Ram Naresh Maurya, who was hearing his bail plea on Tuesday.

Singh said on March 24, the police initially slapped Section 66A of the IT Act against Khan and took him into custody, even though the provision has been held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

When the police realised that, they included one more section  Section 153a of the IPC (promoting enmity among different groups)  in the FIR the next day, the counsel told Hindustan Times.

Singh contended in the court that the man had shared several posts that propagated peace between Hindus and Muslims. The counsel said Khan is a peace loving person and a fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The case was lodged by members of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth organisation founded by Yogi Adityanath.

Singh said, The perpetrators in this case are land grabbers who want to frame him through any means. Through such cheap tricks, the conspirators are trying to gain publicity and enter the power circle since Yogi Adityanath is heading the government now.

Khan is all praise for PM Modis policies of bringing in a law against triple talaq. Khan is an ardent nationalist. The police also acted arbitrarily to make headlines and improve their standing. However, they did not act as per the law, Singh said.

The alleged post that the complainant was talking about contains some screenshots of a pornographic video that originated in Bengaluru. The screenshots were blurred to make a man in the image look like Yogi Adityanath. A case regarding this has already been registered in Bengaluru, Singh told the court.

The bench ordered the investigating officer to be present in the court on April 7, the next date of hearing .
The wife and father of Anubhav Mittal, accused of running a Ponzi scheme through his firm Ablaze Info Solution, have been named as accused in the case.

Officials of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case said that the two have been officially declared as accused in the case and non-bailable warrants against them will be obtained soon.

Anubhav Mittal, 26, is now behind bars, accused of swindling Rs 3,700 crores from 7 lakh-odd people through one of the biggest internet scams in recent times.

On February 2, the Uttar Pradesh special task force (UP-STF) had arrested Anubhav Mittal, companys chief executive officer, Shreedhar Prasad, and technical head, Mahesh Kumar.

Later, the STF also arrested Atul Mishra, a relationship manager with Yes Bank, for allegedly providing Mittal prior information about any possible raid or investigation based on reports of suspicious transactions.

In the ongoing investigation, Mittals wife, Ayushi, who is companys current director, and his father, Sunil, who was a former director, have been officially declared as accused in the case documents. Teams are searching for them. If they are arrested, their names may figure in the first chargesheet, else we will file supplementary chargesheets. Search for them was conducted in Ghaziabad, Hapur and Noida, Rajiv Narayan Mishra, additional superintendent of police, UP-STF, said.

Read | Noida scam: If he got rich, would we be running shops, asks Anubhavs granddad

Mittals father owns a small electrical goods shop in Kishanganj Mohalla of Pilkhuwa town, while his grandfather, Ved Prakash, runs a grocery store. Mittal married Ayushi in December 2015 and shifted out of Pilkhuwa.

The Enforcement Directorate last week had attached Anubhav Mittals assets worth around Rs 600 crore.

The attached assets include balances in 14 bank accounts totalling Rs 543.81 crore, a fixed deposit of about Rs 52 crore with a Hyderabad-based mobile Payment Gateway company named Paynear Solutions, and a villa at Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida, whose estimated worth is put at Rs 3.6 crore.

The multilevel marketing and Ponzi schemes that were allegedly run through firms such as Ablaze Info Solutions private Ltd, Social Trade India Pvt Ltd, 3W Digital Pvt Ltd and Intmaart India Pvt Ltd were the initiatives of Anubhav, Ayushi and others, the police said.

Supplementary chargesheets in the case are expected to be filed for nearly 15 persons from the core group that pocketed large amounts through the companies by setting up a chain of customers. These are suspected to be part of the think tank behind the business.

The think-tank propagated the business and formed a major chain (of customers). People were motivated through presentations and events and the think tank became major beneficiaries. Such activities are banned. The names of these people will figure in the supplementary chargesheets, Mishra said.

Read | Who is Anubhav Mittal, the prime accused in Rs 3,700-cr online trading scam

Mittal had claimed that the company  Ablaze Info Solution Pvt Ltd  was used to promote specific social media pages and increase internet traffic to specific pages.

The police said that he lured investors with weekly returns and promise of bonus on bringing in more investors. The investigators said that the accused promoted four systematic investment plans that offered various incentives upon investment.

However, the SIT has, so far, found no other source of revenue besides the subscription charges paid by members. The membership fee was circulated for paying commissions and meeting out the establishment expenses.

A probe by Enforcement Directorate is also on in the case after it registered a case of money laundering on the basis of the FIR registered by the UP-STF.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Ghaziabad police arrested a daily wager in connection with the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl on Tuesday. The police said that the minor was allegedly gang-raped by the prime accused and the daily wager.

The girl went missing from outside her house on the afternoon of March 31 and the girls body was found in the loft of a room on the first floor of an under-construction house in the vicinity.

The 19-year-old prime accused, Afroz, has been absconding since the incident and the police are yet to nab him, but claim that three teams are searching for him in Kahgariya, Patna and Begusarai in Bihar.

The police said that Ramashish Yadav, the daily wager who was detained on Monday, had told them that he and the prime accused had allegedly smoked cannabis before the incident.

Yadav was seen with Afroz on the day of the incident and he accepted his involvement in the crime. We also found blood on his undergarment and have sent it for testing. The girls family had also seen them together. Yadav told us that he was present with the prime accused at the scene of the crime. He accepted his involvement during questioning. He will now be charged with section 376D (gang-rape) of IPC, Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad, said.

The co-accused said that he saw Afroz and the girl going to the under-construction building after the latter had lured the girl into accompanying him.

Inside the building, he threatened me with a knife and asked me to rape the girl. I attempted but could not. She tried to scream but he held her mouth tightly after which she became unconscious. He then raped her and I left them to resume my work. After some time, he came to me and asked me to help him shift the body to the loft, Yadav said.

The co-accused said that the girl was raped on a room on the first floor, which also had a loft about 10 feet above the floor. The two accused used a ladder to move the body, the police said.

He hid the body in the loft and also placed some bricks on the front side of the loft so that nobody could see it. Then, we both went back to the place where I was working, adjacent to the girls house, he said.

Investigators said that they got suspicious as Yadav failed to turn up for work on Monday. He was called for questioning at Indirapuram police station. Yadav is from Madhubani in Bihar and had come to Ghaziabad for work.

Afroz is a former tenant of the girls family and was seen sitting outside her house around 5pm while a search was going on for the missing girl. When the girls mother asked him if he knew the whereabouts of her daughter, he laughed and went away. According to the family, he had asked the girl to fetch water and had lured her to the building on the pretext of giving her a cold drink.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Peace returned to Greater Noida after a week-long turmoil caused due to clashes between locals and Africans, following the death of 17-year-old Manish Khari due to a drug overdose. Amid relaxed security measures, African students resumed their classes and were seen commuting through public transport in Greater Noida.

The situation has, more or less, turned normal. I travelled to Karol Bagh in New Delhi on Monday. My friends have also started moving freely in Greater Noida. We no longer feel threatened, Anees, a Nigerian student pursuing B Tech from Noida International University, said.

Following the death of Manish Khari on March 27, residents had accused the Nigerians residing in their society of drugging the boy. Things took an ugly turn when a group of locals, carrying out a candlelight march, attacked Africans at Ansal Plaza Mall in Greater Noida. At least six Africans were injured in the attack.

Following the attack, the police had issued an advisory, asking Africans to refrain from travelling in Greater Noida. They had also deployed heavy security outside residential societies where Africans are residing. Africans were escorted by the police for their safety.

However, security measures were relaxed from Monday after the situation normalised. The police also organised confidence building meets between Africans and locals across the city to ensure that they feel safe in Greater Noida.

Till Sunday, Africans were escorted by police personnel for their safety. We had also issued an advisory asking them to avoid travelling alone. However, as the situation is totally under control, we have relaxed the security measures. However, PCR vans will continue to be stationed outside residential societies for safety, Sujata Singh, superintendent of Police, (rural), said.

The Association of African Students in India (AASI) on Sunday also advised Africans living in Greater Noida to resume their studies and daily occupation.

We call upon all Africans residing in Greater Noida to resume their studies and daily occupation. The police have assured us of a safe atmosphere and officers have been deployed to a satisfactory level. The situation in the city is under control. We appreciate the work of the police in providing assistance and support, Samuel Jack, president of AASI, said.

Residents of Alstonia residential society, where more than 80 Africans reside, said that normalcy has been restored after a week-long of an apprehensive environment.

We are feeling completely safe and now, we can travel on our own. We are planning to resume attending classes soon, said David, a student pursuing BCA from Noida International University.

Ravi Kumar, a security guard at Alstonia, said, Africans have resumed their daily routine and also other activities, such as partying. However, entry into the society is not allowed after 11pm. A PCR van is also stationed in the vicinity.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Newly-appointed principal secretary, finance, Anirudh Tiwari led a team of officials from the department to New Delhi to meet officials of Union finance ministry to smoothen the process of procurement of wheat crop in the state.

The move comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised a query, pointing out a gap between the cash credit limit (CCL) given to the state for paddy procurement in the previous Kharif season and the grain handed over to the Food Corporation of India for public distribution.

Procurement of wheat crop is major challenge for the state government which took over a fortnight ago.

The Congress had promised smooth procurement in campaign.

No, theres no gap, said a senior officer of the state food and civil supplies department, who is accompanying Tiwari.

In a presentation to the Union finance ministry, state government officials pointed out that 95% of the CCL received in the Kharif season had been cleared by handing over the paddy of the same amount to the FCI.

The Centre had approved a CCL of Rs 26,000 crore for paddy procurement in the last kharif season.

For wheat procurement in the current Rabi season, the state has sought Rs 20,680 crore.

Money transaction from one account to another is not so simple. It takes times for it to debit into one account and credit into another. If theres a negligible gap, it doesnt mean the Punjab government has defaulted, said another officer.

He added that the delivery of shelled rice from paddy was still on and the accounts reflected a gap of Rs 250 crore, which was less than 1% of the total CCL received in the previous Kharif season.

Wheat arrival, in small quantity, has started arriving in the states grain mandis, but Central funds for procurement, as sources said might take few more days to reach the state coffers.

The centres reprimand came as a shock to the state government. Till recently, the norm fixed by the former to seek CCL was to settle the accounts of the last CCL received for the same crop.

A sudden change in system has led to the delay in arrival of funds for the current crop season in which the arrivals have started. We had sent details of settling the account of CCL received in the Rabi season of 2015-16. Now they want details of the previous (Kharif) crop. We are in the process of compiling this, another official from the food department said.

FUNDS FOR PROCUREMENT TO BE RELEASED SOON: MANPREET

Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal told HT that the release of the CCL was likely by Monday late night or Tuesday morning.

He added that this has been delayed as April 1 and 2 were holidays in the Reserve Bank of India.

On restrictions by the Centre, he said, Punjab is buying wheat not for self consumption, but on behalf of the Centre for the Public Distribution System (PDS), fulfilling 40% of the total need. If they need it they (the centre) should give us money, or tell us in advance we will convey this to our farmers.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Fear of losing jobs is giving a tough time to the people employed in hospitality sector these days.

The Supreme Court decision of booze ban near the state and national highways has almost closed citys many well-known hotels and bars, impacting livelihoods of thousands in one go.

We are not jobless yet, but if things dont improve, we will be on road soon, said 35-year-old Atul Rana, a bartender at Metro 35.

For past 15 years, he has been into hospitality industry and is a well-known name among bartenders. He has seen the industry grooming and night life becoming more happening in Chandigarh.

Earlier, only families used to visit hotels but now, its all youth. Ten years ago, there were limited drinks and not much competition. But there are variety of drinks in todays scenario and it is challenging to cater to random demands of young customers, said Rana, who hails from Palampur in Himachal Pradesh and is a sole breadwinner in a family of five.

Ankush Pathania and (right) Kesar Singh. (HT Photo)

Never did the thought of shifting my profession come to my mind before this. I am worried. How will I look after my family? he said.

Also read | Highway liquor ban: Chandigarh hoteliers claim Rs 3 crore loss in first weekend

The government should have given us some time, at least to look for other jobs. Where will we all go?questioned Kesar Singh from Nepal, who is working as a captain at Metro 35.

27-year-old Ankush Pathania had moved to Chandigarh around five years ago from Kangra. A bartender working with F-Bar Chandigarh, Ankush shares, I am afraid how will I pay this months rent and send money back home? My parents and younger brother are solely dependent on me, he said.

Not only me but many are worried and on the verge of losing their source of income, Ankush said. We are running into losses. We will have to remove some staff members eventually and bartenders, bouncers and stewards will be the most-effected ones, said a Sector-35 based bar and restaurants manager.

According to Arvinder Pal Singh, president of hotel and restaurant association, more than 5,000 people employed with nearly 88 bars, restaurants and hotels will become jobless if nothing is done by the administration soon. He confirmed that lay-offs have not started yet, but will begin soon.

Anu Sharma, 23, who works as a bouncer at F-Bar, is facing tough time as ban on liquor has impacted her only source of income. I look after six family members including my grandparents and children. This one decision has left me jobless, said Anu Sharma.

She said that she is into this profession for last five years and earns Rs 700 per shift. But for last three-four days, I havent earned even a penny, Anu added.

Those who want to drink can consume alcohol inside cars as well, but where will we go? Not only me but my entire family has to bear the brunt of this decision, she rued. Anu said there are many more girls in the profession who work during night hours to support their education.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
In a family dispute that boiled over into violence, a retired head constable from Chandigarh police fired four shots at Punjabi Dhaba in Sohana at his brother-in-law and his nephew on Tuesday around 9.30am.

Police said the accused, Kartar Singh, 65, of Phase XI, had a strained relationship with his wife and her family over alleged misbehavior. The couple has been married for 30 years, but had not been living together for the past year

Sources said an enraged Kartar walked into the dhaba, owned by his brother-in-law, Tirlok Singh of Sector 44 in Chandigarh, and fired at him from his licensed revolver .32 bore revolver. Tirloks nephew, Honey, was also injured in the firing with Kartar pumping out four bullets.

In the scuffle that followed, Kartar, who has been booked for attempt to murder, was injured in the arm. Tirlok received two bullets in the stomach and was operated upon.

Shop owners in the vicinity gathered and rushed the injured to the Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Charitable Hospital in Sohana.

SP (city) Parminder Singh Bhandal and SHO Rajan Parwinder reached the spot after the firing. The CCTV footage of the shop has been procured.

A family dispute between Kartar Singh and Tirlok Singh triggered the firing. Kartar has been booked on a complaint from Harpreet Singh alias Honey, said Sohana SHO Rajan Parwinder.

SP (city) Parminder Singh Bhandal said, Kartar Singhs wife told us that he was not staying with her for last one year and had been staying at his Gurdaspur village. He had strained relations with his wife and in-laws and we are trying to know the immediate provocation for the firing.

A case has been registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Hinting at power tariff hike, irrigation and power minister Rana Gurjit Singh on Monday said the state government has to follow the recommendations of Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC).

The minister, however, said the state government would ensure that the tariff hike was nominal and within the reach of consumers.

Addressing the press conference here, Rana Gurjit said: We cannot go against the recommendation of the commission. But we are examining the source of expenditure and income to ensure that the hike is minimum.

PREVIOUS GOVT IS TO BLAME

He also blamed the previous SAD-BJP government for financial mismanagement in Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), which prompted the PSERC to revise the power tariff. We will take steps to provide power at affordable rates to domestic as well as commercial consumers, as promised in the Congress manifesto, the minister said.

He said chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had already initiated the process to streamline the power supply and make it affordable.

Also read | PSPCL top official bends rules to favour Amritsar based private solar power plant

The government has decided to re-examine the purchase agreements regarding power, inventory and coal, which was made by the previous government, he said, adding: The government has already decided for a third-party audit of the power corporation during the previous regime. Action will be initiated against former PSPCL officials if they are found on the wrong foot in the audit report, the minister said.

On the present billing system, the minister said he has received many complaints regarding inflated bills and overcharging.

Accusing the previous government of harassing the common man by not releasing power connections, the minister said he has asked PSPCL officials to issue all pending connections within three days days.

He also said the demand of the industry to provide power at 5 per unit was under governments consideration.
Allu Arjun, who has been shooting non-stop over the last couple of months for DJ, took some time off to spend with his family on the occasion of his sons birthday. Arjuns son Ayaan turned 3 on Monday, and the actor along with his wife and his daughter, rang in the occasion in Goa, chilling in a resort and beating the summer heat.

Last year, they celebrated Ayaans birthday in Dubai, and this time due to lack of time, Arjun couldnt plan a trip abroad. However, the family had a lovely time together and Arjun plans to return to the sets over the weekend.

On the career front, Arjun is busy wrapping up DJ, in which he plays an undercover cop and has teamed up with Gabbar Singh director Harish Shankar for the first time. He will team up with writer-director Vakkantham Vamsi next for an action-based script.

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop
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 farmers issue and curb piracy which has plagued the industry, said Vishal.

Not long ago, Vishal along with actors Prakash Raj and filmmaker Pandiraj participated in the farmers 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.

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop
For those who love and appreciate art, an art trail across the world is nothing less than a pilgrimage. If the thought of walking through sprawling art galleries and museums with rare sculptures and paintings from different eras gets you excited, this list is for you.

Ratna Chadha, chief executive, TIRUN, India representative for Celebrity Cruises, and Gursahib Singh Sethi, co-founder of the travel app Travkart.com, recommend the following cities famous for their art heritage:

London, England

The Cast Courts in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. (Shutterstock)

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.

16th century marble sculptures of Apollo and Zephyr by Francavilla at the Victoria & Albert Museum. (Shutterstock)

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 dellAccademia houses the renowned David by Michelangelo, besides other sculptures by the artist and a collection of breathtaking 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 worlds most fascinating collection of Italian Renaissance art.

Statues of David and Hercules near Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. (Shutterstock)

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

National Gallery Singapore is an art gallery located in the Downtown Core of Singapore. It overseas the worlds largest public collection of Southeast Asian art. (Shutterstock)

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

Visitors look at the hyper-realistic sculpture of Ron Mueck titled Boy at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Aarhus, Denmark. (Shutterstock)

Aarhus is Denmarks second-largest city and a buzzing cultural hub. A walk down the citys 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 museums 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 Dantes The Divine Comedy.

Paris, France

Louvre is the biggest museum in Paris. (Shutterstock)

History and art are present at every corner of the city, and vacationers can begin with a visit to the Musee Carnavalet, which is a tribute to the history of Paris. The Musee Picasso, as the name suggests, allows one to browse through the works of Pablo Picasso while the Maison Europeenne 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 Musee dOrsay, showcases works by remarkable artists including Van Gogh, Manet, Cezanne and Renoir.

Collection of Egyptian art at Le Louvre. (Shutterstock)

Within India

The block printing art and fresco paintings on havelis of Mandawa, Fatehpur and Nawal garh are sure to mesmerise those exploring Rajasthan.

Those travelling to south India, will get a chance to experience the awe-inspiring paintings with subtle colours, detailed refinement and gesso work depicting scenes from Hindu mythology. The brilliant art skills carried out on clothes in Mysore will surely mesmerise art enthusiasts.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
While Punjab Police may have denied reports of TV actor Rakhi Sawants arrest, Twitter seems to have taken it for a fact that she is going behind bars.

An arrest warrant against Sawant was issued by a Ludhiana court on March 9 after she failed to appear before it in a case filed against her for making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki and hurting religious sentiments.

Her spokesperson said she had surrendered on Tuesday. Rakhi is with the police. She has surrendered, spokesperson Parul Chawla told IANS on telephone from Mumbai, claiming she had a WhatsApp conversation with the actor.

However, Ludhiana deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Dharuman Nimbale said Sawant was not arrested.

But this hasnt stopped Twitter from being itself and cracking jokes at her expense. While some are supporting her, many are being just plain nasty. Heres a list of tweets:

#RakhiSawant arrested 4 calling Valmiki a murderer? Hmm So Hindu right wings r in competition wd Muslim fanatics.



Sahi hai ! Lage Raho B.C  Fahad (@rjfahad) April 4, 2017

#RakhiSawant may be a really dumb person ..

But she too should have her "Freedom of Speech"  Shuvankar Mukherjee (@shuvankr) April 4, 2017

One of these days #RakhiSawant has to tell the world why she speaks what she does.Also I don't know why people go to her for opinions?   Soumya Ranjan Dash (@dsoumyaspeaks) April 4, 2017

Finally again after so many years #RakhiSawant made it to controversy.  KAPIL(dark) (@dollythedadi) April 4, 2017

Once again #RakhiSawant a top trend  Aparna sinha (@aparna326) April 4, 2017

Rakhi Sawant's comment to the valmiki community got her in trouble ! As if the acting career wasn't enough  #RakhiSawant  Tejas Patil (@tjspatil22) April 4, 2017

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Comedy Central has announced a new weekly late-night series The President Show starring Anthony Atamanuik as Donald Trump. Atamanuik, a noted Trump impersonator, will play the President, who will host his desk segments, comedy bits and guest interviews from the Oval Office, reported The New York Times.

Starting on April 27, it is scheduled to air on Thursday nights after The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Laughing at the President is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department. Id just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if were lucky, end up in prison, Atamanuik said.

While, the network added, In the world of The President Show, Trump is bypassing the crooked media by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office. No unfair questions from reporters, no awkward photo ops with German ladies, and no bedtimes. Just a fun show where he can put his unique Trumpian spin on such late-night staples as desk segments, field pieces and guest interviews.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Actor-Comedian Vir Das, whose comedy special is all set to air on Netflix, is looking forward to share the release of the show on April 25.

Das is following the likes of Kevin Hart, Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, Chris Rock, Bo Burnham, Bill Burr and Russel Peters in having an hour-long stand-up special featured on the streaming service.

The comedy special, titled Abroad Understanding, was filmed in New York and New Delhi last year in November and will be streamed on the Netflix across the globe in over 100 countries.

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!, Das said in a statement.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Two air strikes hit a hospital in northwestern Syria on Tuesday as doctors inside treated victims of a suspected chemical attack, an AFP correspondent said.

The strikes hit the building in Khan Sheikhun, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to deal with victims of an attack that reportedly killed dozens of people.

Warplanes first bombed near the hospital then could be heard circling back before hitting the facility twice, AFPs correspondent reported.

A Syrian child receives treatment following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on April 4. (AFP Photo)

A centre next door belonging to the White Helmets rescue organisation was also hit in the strikes, AFPs correspondent said.

White Helmets member Khaled al-Khatib on his Twitter account said the centre had been hit with five strikes.

About 10 medics who had been treating victims for suffocation and other symptoms were able to flee.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Center, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian doctor treating a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria. (AP Photo)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said military aircraft hit near the hospital but could not confirm whether anyone was hurt or killed.

Medics there had been treating victims of a suspected chemical attack that killed 58 people, including 11 children, the monitor said.

Syrian children receive treatment following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on April. (AFP Photo)

Another 160 people were wounded, suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Observatory said.

The monitor said warplanes hit a residential part of Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwest province of Idlib, and released toxic gas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) signed a cooperation document with two Japanese logistic and port service companies.

The IRISL signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japans Suzue Corporation and Kamigumi in Singapore, Iran's Maritime News Agency reported Apr. 4.

Under the deal, the sides will survey grounds for cooperation in construction of dry ports and investment in Irans port terminals.

Once the preliminary studies are completed, the sides will sign an operational contract.
Chinese authorities ordered an abrupt freeze on property sales less than 150 km from Beijing after the government announced a plan over the weekend to build a massive new urban settlement in the area to decongest the capital.

Xiongan New Area will be bigger than Beijing when the project is completed. It will initially cover 100 sq km and be expanded to 200 sq km in the mid-term and about 2,000 sq km in the long-term, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The announcement was made by the State Council, Chinas cabinet. The counties of Anxin, Rongcheng and Xiong would be home to a new district to rival special economic zones like Shenzhen, a media report said

The move is a major historic and strategic choice made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, an official circular announced, describing the decision as a strategy crucial for a millennium to come.

The move will help phase out some non-capital functions from Beijing, explore a new model of optimised development in densely-populated areas, and restructure the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the circular said.

This photo taken on April 3, 2017 shows the office of the Party and Government Affairs of Xiong County in Baoding, north China's Hebei province. China will create a new special economic zone outside Beijing similar to those established in Shenzhen and Shanghai to boost flagging growth and reduce the strain on the capital. (AFP)

Besides a flood of online reactions, the announcement triggered a race among real estate developers from neighbouring urban areas such as Tianjin and Beijing, according to the National Business Daily. Property prices shot up overnight.

The newspaper reported authorities in Xiongxian held an urgent meeting and ordered real estate agents and developers to stop selling homes in the area.

The report quoted officials as saying that the local government has worked overnight to close all outlets that sell homes in Xiongxian and also sent staff members to supervise developers.

The new area, which is not directly connected with the capital, Tianjin nor Shijiazhuang, and instead sits at the centre of the triangle formed by the three cities, marks a strategic shift in China's urban construction, Cao Heping, professor of economics at Peking University, told the Global Times.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday condemned a suspected chemical attack in northwestern Syria as an inhuman strike that could endanger peace talks based in the Kazakh capital.

President Erdogan said that this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable and warned it risked wasting all the efforts within the framework of the Astana process to bring peace to Syria, presidential sources said.

The sources did not indicate who was to blame for the attack, describing it as a chemical weapons attack directed at civilians.

Read | Air strikes hit hospital treating victims of Syria gas attack that killed dozens

Turkey has been a major foe of President Bashar al-Assads regime in Syria throughout the Syrian civil war, repeatedly accusing Damascus of war crimes.

But in the last months Ankara has deepened ties with Assads ally Russia, co-brokering a ceasefire that until now had drastically reduced the levels of violence.

The presidential sources said both Putin and Erdogan vowed to keep up joint efforts to preserve the ceasefire.

Erdogan had called Putin to pass on his condolences for the suicide bombing on the Saint Petersburg metro that killed 14 people and both leaders vowed to keep up the fight against terror, the sources said.
China upped the ante as Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama began a visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, with an expert telling the state media that Beijing hopes Tawang in the northeastern Indian state will be returned to it.

The unnamed expert from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who was quoted by the nationalistic Global Times tabloid, also trotted out Beijings standard line that the Dalai Lamas visit to the state claimed by China would hurt bilateral ties.

The Chinese government should take steps against Indias moves to explain Beijings position to the world community, the expert said. The expert also indicated India wasnt honouring its commitment not to allow its territory to be used for anti-China, separatist activities.

The state media article said this wasnt the first time India was using the Tibetan leader to express displeasure over bilateral squabbles  indicating that New Delhi plays the so-called Tibet card when ties are turbulent.

The Dalai's visit to the controversial area, especially Tawang, which China hopes will be returned, will affect relations between China and India, the unnamed expert was quoted as saying by the tabloid affiliated to the Communist party mouthpiece, Peoples Daily.

Uncharacteristically by state media standards, the expert from CASS, a premier government think tank, remained anonymous.

China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet, has voiced strong concerns about the Dalai Lamas visit to the state. It claims about 90,000 sq km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh, including Tawang, one of the most important seats of Tibetan Buddhism.

China also occupies around 38,000 sq km in Jammu and Kashmir that India claims as its territory.

The Global Times noted in its report that the Dalai Lama had said that Tawang is also the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, which gives the place religious meaning to Tibetans. The report quoted minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju as saying that the Dalai Lama's visit was purely religious, and that there was no political angle behind it.

The Indian government issued a statement on Tuesday morning that said the Dalai Lamas visit was for religious and spiritual activities and no additional colour should ascribed to it.

The anonymous expert dismissed these assertions and was quoted as saying that this wasnt the first time India had used the Dalai Lama to express its displeasure to China, especially when bilateral talks fail to include their demands or to pander to domestic anti-China issues.

This was a nod to issues that have plagued bilateral ties since last year: China blocking the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist by the UN, stalling Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group and going ahead with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor despite New Delhis sensitivity over a few projects under it being built in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

India should deliver its political commitments to China on Tibet-related issues, including opposition to separatists, the expert told the tabloid.

The expert also noted China would take steps against any government which invites the Dalai Lama to express its position to the international community.
The Indian Ocean is a new strategic and diplomatic priority for Germany, which is for the first time holding a meeting of its ambassadors in Sri Lanka this week.

According to senior German diplomatic sources, a global competition is shaping up over this region and Berlin, as a major trading power, has an interest in ensuring a stable, rules-based Indian Ocean.

We believe the Indian Ocean is underrated in geopolitics, said a German diplomatic source.

Underlining this focus, Germanys foreign ministry is for the first time holding a meeting of its envoys in Sri Lanka from Wednesday, mostly those drawn from the region but also from Moscow and Beijing.

Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar will be among outside speakers invited to address the German diplomats on the Indian Ocean, the sources said.

A diplomat noted Germany had arrived at its Indian Ocean focus through its own geopolitical calculations. We need to bring attention to this body of water.

On Tuesday, German state secretary Markus Ederer met Jaishankar, his Indian counterpart, in New Delhi ahead of the ambassadors conclave. The two also consulted about the agenda for Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Germany next month.

The two also spoke of Indo-German collaboration in New Delhis goals in renewable energy, smart cities and cleaning the Ganga.

Germany has developed a package for the Indian Ocean rim states, said a source. This maritime agenda includes collaboration in the blue economy and connectivity projects. Berlin has already begun a pilot project in Indonesia.

Ederer and Jaishankar also spoke of what countries such as India and Germany can do in a recalibrated world, where the interests of Washington and Beijing are changing. At a time when the global free trade regime is under pressure and the US is retrenching, said a source, both governments feel they need to take greater responsibility for our respective regions.

India is one of Germanys most important strategic partners globally in this regard, said the source.

Non-China NSG objectors favour India

Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that had opposed India joining on procedural grounds are now on board, a senior German diplomatic source said. There is greater buy-in from these countries about having India within the NSG, the source added.

The NSG consultative committee discussing Indian membership is currently holding proceedings. Germany supports its proceedings, the source said.

Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Turkey and New Zealand are known to have objected to Indias candidature on the ground that there is no agreed upon procedure for it to become a member. Some reports indicated Brazil too had objected, though this was denied by Indian officials.

This would indicate China is isolated in the NSG. Beijing is believed to be opposing Indias membership as a favour to Islamabad, which fears that once India joins, there will be no possibility of Pakistan becoming a member.
Iran on Tuesday said it has reservations on the appointment of Pakistans former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, warning it may impact the unity among Muslim countries.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted the countrys 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, Dawn newspaper quoted the envoy as saying.

He also said Pakistan had contacted Tehran before issuing the no-objection certificate to the retired general to head the Saudi-led alliance.

He said Tehran had informed Islamabad 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 Pakistans foreign policy, and whether it was fully sanctioned by parliament, the report said.

Pakistan had initially found itself in the crosshairs 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.

Raheels appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists and intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the former army chief to join a foreign military alliance after retirement.

The coalition was envisaged 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 Arabias arch rival 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.
US plane maker Boeing said Tuesday that Irans Aseman Airlines had agreed to buy 30 737 MAX jets for $3.0 billion in its second major deal since sanctions were eased last year.

Boeing confirms the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airlines intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion, the US group said in a statement.

The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs, it added.

If finalised, delivery is expected to start in 2022, Boeing said, adding that a contract of this magnitude creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States.

Iran has been desperate to renew its ageing fleet of planes, but was largely blocked from dealing with major aircraft manufacturers until a 2015 accord with world powers that eased global sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme.

The US has maintained its own sanctions, which block almost all trade with Iran, but plane manufacturers were given a specific exemption under the nuclear deal.

In September, Washington approved the sale of 80 Boeing and 100 Airbus planes to Iran Air. The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran.

The new deal with Aseman will also need approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Boeing continues to follow the lead of the US government with regards to working with Irans airlines, and any and all contracts with Irans airlines are contingent upon US government approval, the company said.

Many US lawmakers have opposed the sales, saying that Iranian airlines have been used to ship weapons and troops to Syria and other conflict zones.

Iranian conservatives have also criticised the purchases, saying new planes will do little to improve Irans stagnant economy.

Supporters on both sides have therefore tried to emphasise the employment opportunities.

Even before the latest Boeing announcement, Irans Civil Aviation Organisation said plane purchases would create 20,000 direct jobs, and thousands more indirectly.

Currently, 500-700 co-pilots are unemployed in Iran, CAO official Mohammad Reza Kazemimpour told the Iran Daily newspaper on Monday, adding that the new fleets would bring tens of billions of dollars in revenues for Iran.

Meanwhile, companies across the world are waiting to see whether US President Donald Trump makes good on his campaign threat to tear up the nuclear deal.

The first test will come in June when he will decide on whether to renew the sanctions waivers that keep the deal in effect.

Aseman currently has a fleet of 36 planes -- half of them the 105-seat Dutch Fokker 100s.

Its three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the Islamic revolution, having made their first flight in 1980.
Iran has expressed reservations about the appointment of former Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as head of the Islamic Military Alliance created by Saudi Arabia, prompting Islamabad to step up efforts to assuage Tehran.

We are concerned about this issue...that it may impact the unity of Islamic countries, Mehdi Honardoost, Irans envoy to Pakistan, told the media. This was the first time Iran publicly expressed its displeasure on the issue.

Pakistan contacted Iranian officials before issuing a no-objection certificate to Sharif to take up the position of head of the 39-nation military alliance, but this did not indicate that Iran was satisfied with this decision or it had accepted the same, Honardoost was quoted as saying by state-run IRNA news agency.

Defence minister Khawaja Asif said earlier this month the Pakistan government had cleared Sharif to take up the job following a formal request from Saudi Arabia.

Islamabads decision is set to further complicate fraught Pakistan-Iran relations, especially at a time when Saudi Arabia and Iran are jockeying for influence in hot spots across the Middle East.

Foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua said on Tuesday that the Islamic Military Alliance wasnt against any country and that Sharif will not act against Iran. She told a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs: The Islamic alliance is against terrorism, not any country.

She added Pakistan is making efforts to reduce tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Irans interests, she said.

Pakistani officials confirmed they intend to reach out to the Iranian government to address Tehrans concerns. Officials told the media that Pakistan has clearly informed Saudi Arabia that it would not become part of any campaign against any country, including Iran.

Gen Qamar Bajwa, the current Pakistan Army chief, took the Iranian leadership into confidence and Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs, travelled to Tehran in late February to address Irans concerns. Bajwa might also visit Iran to assuage the fears of the Iranian leadership over the controversial alliance.

Raheel Sharif reportedly accepted the offer to head the alliance on the condition that countries such as Iran would be invited to join it in order to make it a broad-based initiative and dispel impressions about its sectarian outlook.

But Iranian envoy Honardoost said Tehran had informed Islamabad that Iran would not become part of such a military alliance. Iran had not been extended an offer to join a coalition of this sort, he added.

He proposed that all important Islamic countries come together to form a coalition of peace to resolve issues rather (than) forming a controversial military alliance.

Iran is known to have opposed the Saudi initiative because of its serious differences over the current unrest in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Yemen.

Just days before Pakistan issued the no-objection certificate to Raheel Sharif, the Iranian envoy visited the General Headquarters, where Gen Qamar Bajwa gave him a categorical assurance that Islamabads decision would not hurt Tehrans interests.

Bajwa also informed Honardoost that Pakistan values its bilateral ties with Iran, The Express Tribune reported. Bajwa also said Pakistan had never objected to Irans close ties with India and, therefore, Islamabad expected Tehran to respect the decision over the Saudi alliance.

Pakistan has found itself in the crosshairs of Middle Eastern politics as Saudi Arabia named it part of the military alliance without first getting Islamabads consent. After initial ambiguity, Islamabad confirmed its participation in the alliance.

Sharifs appointment had been criticised by some politicians, retired army officers and intellectuals, who questioned the former army chiefs decision. Opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, too are skeptical of Sharifs role in the alliance.

Both parties consider the decision a violation of a parliamentary resolution passed in April 2015 that called for Pakistan to maintain a policy of neutrality, particularly in the conflict in Yemen.
Nigerian and international health officials say a meningitis epidemic has killed 336 children amid fears it could spread across the border to Niger.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and UN agencies say 2,997 cases have been reported in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto in northwest and north-central Nigeria since the disease surfaced in December.

A statement today says most victims are between 5 and 14.

Some 500,000 doses of vaccine have arrived in Zamfara, where the disease surfaced. But officials say 2 million doses are needed and theres a worldwide shortage for the strain, which inflames the spinal cord and brain.

The statement notes the risk of international border transmission.

Meningitis killed 1,100 people and infected more than 10,000 in Nigeria and Niger in 2015.
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 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.

Polands 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 defence 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 Polands 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.
A blast in a St Petersburg train carriage on Monday that killed 14 people and wounded 45 was carried out by a suspected suicide bomber with ties to radical Islamists, Russias Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement source as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast struck, visited the scene of the explosion late on Monday night and laid a bunch of red flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims.

Witnesses said they saw passengers who were bloodied and burned spilling out of the train, the door of which was buckled by the force of the explosion, and lying on a platform while smoke filled the station.

Russia has experienced bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from Russias North Caucasus region in the past. The rebellion there has been largely crushed, but Russias military intervention in Syria has now made it a potential target for attacks by the Islamic State group, security experts say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin places flowers in memory of victims of the blast in the Saint Petersburg metro outside Technological Institute station on April 3, 2017. (AFP)

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

Earlier, Russian media broadcast closed circuit television footage of a bearded man they said was being sought by police as a suspect. However, Interfax reported that the man had come forward and been eliminated from inquiries.

The news agency, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source, said that human remains examined at the scene suggested that the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber. It said the police had identified a suspect with links to radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.

If it is confirmed that the bomb was carried out by radical Islamists, the Kremlin is likely to argue the attack underlines the importance of its campaign in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad in a fight against Islamist militants.

However, some sections of Russian society could see the metro bombing as proof that Putins decision to intervene in Syria has again made Russian civilians into targets.

Two years ago, Islamic State said it had brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to Putin in a phone call late on Monday, the White House said in a statement, offering the support of the US government. The two leaders agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated, the statement said.

China also condemned the attack, with foreign minister Wang Yi offering condolences and support in a statement that said China resolutely opposed all types of terrorism.

Bloody faces

An injured man is helped by medics outside Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017 (AFP)

Soon after the blast happened at 2:40 pm (1140 GMT), ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad station. One helicopter hovered overhead and then landed on a broad avenue to take away a wounded passenger.

I saw a lot of smoke, a crowd making its way to the escalators, people with blood and other peoples insides on their clothes, bloody faces, St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika told Reuters by phone.

Many were crying, said Chaika, who was at the station where the blast happened.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

Video from the scene showed wounded 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 amplified by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.

Anna Sventik, a St Petersburg resident, said she was travelling 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.

All stations closed

Police officers guard the entrance to Sennaya Square metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. Russia's Investigative Committee said Monday it was probing a suspected "act of terror" after a blast in the Saint Petersburg metro killed 11 people and injured dozens. (AFP)

Earlier on Monday, officials had put the death toll from the explosion at 10 people, but the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a state agency, later said 11 people were killed and 45 were being treated for their wounds in hospital.

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 Russian-speaking rebels returning from Syria, where they have fought alongside Islamic State, and is 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.

More than 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 has continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
Tehran, Iran, April 4



By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:



Over the past year Iran exported handmade carpets to China worth $3 million, according to President of Iran National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar.



While China is Irans rival in the carpet market, it has turned into one of the top 10 importers of Iranian handmade carpets, he said, IRIB news agency reported April 4.



He noted that China is a newly emerging market for the Iranian carpet because of the rise of the wealthy class in that country in recent years.



Irans carpet export to international markets surpassed $230 million during the past year.
Russias Investigative Committee said Tuesday that they suspected a suicide bomber was behind the attack in the Saint Petersburg metro Monday that killed 14 people and injured dozens.

Investigators said in a statement that it has been established that the explosive device could have been activated by a man whose fragmented remains were discovered in the third carriage of the train. It was not immediately clear whether he counted among the dead.

President Vladimir Putins presence in St. Petersburg at the time of a bomb attack is noteworthy, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters that such attacks in Russia were a challenge for every Russian citizen, including the president.
Spanish police investigating a money laundering case on Tuesday raided properties and blocked dozens of bank accounts, including some belonging or linked to relatives of former Syrian vice president Rifaat Assad -- the exiled uncle of Syrias current leader, President Bashar al-Assad.

Civil Guard police said the searches were carried out in the southern coastal towns of Marbella and Puerto Banus with the aid of French police. They followed a request by National Court judge Jose de la Mata who is probing money-laundering crimes carried out by a gang in the two towns, a court statement said.

Two of Rifaat Assads wives and six of his sons are among the 15 people investigated.

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by Rifaat Assad and his relatives, a court statement said.

Most of them are located in Puerto Banus, a luxury marina in Costa del Sol. The property stock, valued at 691 million euros ($735 million), includes a 33-square km estate valued at 60 million euros.

The accounts of 76 legal entities -- which include companies, trusts and funds -- that were owned, administered or linked to Rifaat Assad and his relatives were also blocked, a court statement said.

The court said that no arrests were made.

Rifaat Assad is the exiled uncle of Bashar al-Assad. He was the vice president of Syria when the country was ruled by the current leaders father.

He fled into exile after a failed 1984 coup attempt against his brother, then President Hafez Assad, and lives mostly in France. He tried to take power again in Syria in 2000, when his brother died, but the ruling party closed ranks around Bashar.

Rifaat was critical of Bashar after the countrys crisis began in March 2011, vowing to work to topple the Syrian president and give the power to the people.

Spain opened the money laundering investigation last December following one started by France in 2013. Last June, Frances financial prosecutors office filed preliminary charges against Rifaat Assad for embezzlement and other counts.

Anti-corruption group Sherpa, which filed the original French suit, suspects Rifaat Assad of using ill-gotten gains from corruption in Syria to build a real estate fortune in France. French authorities found that much of his real estate was in southern Spain.

In a 2011 interview, Rifaat Assad told The Associated Press that he had lost all his money in the stock market and lived off the largesse of his 16 children. His son Siwar said at the time that the holdings mostly included real estate, TV networks, hotels and a restaurant in Syria.

Siwar told the AP in 2013 that his father wasnt worried about the allegations because he was too busy with his work organizing one faction of Syrias opposition.

Rifaat is widely reviled back home. As leader of an elite military corps under his brother Hafez -- Syrias longtime dictator -- he allegedly had a role in the 1982 massacre of thousands in the central city of Hama, one of the darkest moments in the modern Middle East.

Rifaat denied any role in the massacre, saying it was ordered by Hafez.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley says Syrian President Bashar Assad is a war criminal who has been an obstacle to peace for years  but she says the United States isnt ruling out cooperating with him to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.

Haley told a news conference on Friday that what Assad has done to the Syrian people disgusting.

She echoed the Trump administrations declaration on Friday making clear that the US focus is on defeating IS. She said last week it wasnt pursuing a strategy to push Assad out of power.

Haley said on Friday the US focus is on negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the more than six-year Syrian conflict, though that could change.

Right now Assad is not our number one person to talk to, she said.
A suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitoring group, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said.

The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons.

The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke, and some to foam at the mouth.

Syrian children receive treatment at a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syrias northwestern Idlib province, on April 4, 2017. (AFP Photo)

Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid.

We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time neither in past or in future, the Syrian army command said in a statement.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.

Reuters photographs showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets lined up on the ground.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a man with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost-naked children squirming on the floor.

HOSPITALS OVERFLOWING

Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlibs health authority, said hospitals in the province were overflowing with victims.

This morning, at 6:30 am., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine, he told a news conference.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defence workers said.

The civil defence, also known as the White Helmets - a rescue service that operates in opposition areas - said jets struck one of its centres in the area and the nearby medical point.

The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would be the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for that attack. Damascus blamed rebels.

The White House called the attack an intolerable act and said President Donald Trump was alarmed by the reports. French President Francois Hollande directly blamed Syrian government forces and said President Bashar al-Assads allies were emboldening him to act with impunity.

Assad has enjoyed staunch military backing from Iran and Russia in the war.

Britain said he would be guilty of a war crime if it were proved his regime was responsible. The U.N. envoy for Syria said the horrific chemical attack had come from the air.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war had used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

A joint U.N.-OPCW report published in October said government forces used chlorine in a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib province in March 2015. An earlier report by the same team blamed Syrian government troops for chlorine attacks in Talmenes in March 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015. It also said Islamic State had used sulfur mustard gas.

A man breathes through an oxygen mask as another one receives treatments, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

The OPCW said it had begun gathering and analysing information from all available sources about the suspected Khan Sheikhoun attack.

Turkey, which backs the anti-Assad opposition, said the attack could derail Russian-backed diplomatic efforts to shore up a ceasefire.

Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency said 15 people hurt in the attack, mostly women and children, had been taken to Turkey.

Footage from Turkeys Dogan news agency showed at least four people being brought out of ambulances on stretchers in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli by medical staff wearing face masks. One was a young boy.

An official at the Turkish Health Ministry said Turkeys disaster management agency was first scanning those arriving for chemical weapons, then decontaminating them from chemicals before they could be taken to hospital.

Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by anti-Assad rebels - both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and powerful Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the suspected attack, Turkish presidential sources said. They said the two leaders had also emphasised the importance of maintaining the much-violated Syrian ceasefire.

TOXIC ARSENAL

Idlibs population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months as Assad has gained the upper hand in the war.

The United States has also launched a spate of air strikes in Idlib this year, targeting jihadist insurgents.

Following the 2013 attack, Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal, averting the threat of U.S.-led military intervention.

A man carries the body of a dead child, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

Under the deal, Syria agreed to give up its toxic arsenal and surrendered 1,300 tonnes of toxic weapons and industrial chemicals to the international community for destruction.

UN-OPCW investigators found, however, that it continued to use chlorine, which is widely available and difficult to trace, in so-called barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters.

Although chlorine is not a banned substance, the use of any chemical is banned under 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Syria is a member.

Damascus has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and created the worlds worst refugee crisis.
Radical Islamists killed two traffic police officers in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, the regional governor said on Tuesday, the day after a suspected suicide bomber hit the Saint Petersburg metro.

Last night, a group of radical Islamists... carried out a brazen attack on employees of the traffic police, Alexander Zhilkin said in a statement.

The culprits opened fire on them with firearms and fled. Unfortunately, two traffic police officers died on the spot.

Russias interior ministry later said the two suspected attackers were apprehended.

Astrakhan regional police said the incident occurred at about 1:00 am local time (2200 GMT) after traffic police were dispatched to the scene of an accident.

The attackers were in one of the cars involved in the accident.

The police statement made no mention of the attackers motives or identity.

The Astrakhan region lies on the Caspian Sea and also borders the restive Caucasus region of Dagestan.

While attacks against police regularly occur in Russias Caucasus, they are much rarer in other regions.
Two Indian-origin men who were part of a multi-million pound fraud that allowed thousands of people in the East Midlands to watch subscription television for free have been jailed for nearly two years each.

The men  Manish Javahar and Bobby Bhairon  were part of an eight-member group that previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud Virgin Media, a leading digital services provider. The mastermind of the fraud was Mahesh Tailor, who was jailed for six years in 2016.

Javahar, 35, and Bhairon, 39, were sentenced to jail at the Leicester Crown Court last week, while Tailor and others  including Jagdish Vegad and Jitech Racicchandra  were sentenced in August last year, closing an investigation by Leicestershire Police.

Police said Tailor, 51, the owner of Tailor Made Circuits, a printed circuit board manufacturer, found a way to get around the encryption for cable TV channels supplied by Virgin Media.

Tailor imported thousands of set-top boxes from the Far East and sold them for up to 180 each. He reached customers by contacting them on internet forums and had his own website linked to the sale of boxes. He also sold the boxes in bulk to other businesses across the UK, police said.

The court was told how Tailor organised people around the country to assist in setting up the network so that the service was available nationwide. It communicated with servers overseas which allowed owners in England to receive channels via the internet, without paying a subscription to Virgin Media.

Detective constable Amrat Bhagwan, who investigated the case, said: This was a lengthy and complex investigation which saw officers being deployed at various locations across the country to take the network down and render the boxes useless.

When we raided Tailors home, we found 250,000 in cash in various rooms. There were similar amounts held in his business bank accounts.

Bhagwan said the set-top boxes were imported from the Far East and documentation showed Tailor claimed they were satellite receivers and even paid importation tax on them. He did everything in his power to stop himself appearing on the radar, he added.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: Virgin Media has a zero tolerance approach to piracy and we thank Leicestershire Police for continuing to crack down on this criminal activity. Set-top box piracy is not a victimless crime.

Piracy represents a threat to Britains world-beating creative industries and harms the vast majority of honest, bill-paying customers. Furthermore, by installing an illegitimate box to any Virgin Media connection a customer is breaking the terms of their contract.

Others convicted and sentenced were Nicholas Beck, Mark Weighill and Andrew Wren.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
US President Donald Trump spoke om Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and pledged Washingtons full support for Moscows response to the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro, the White House said.

Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. Russian authorities said they were probing an act of terror.

President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice, the White House said in a statement about the phone call.

Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion in Saint Petersburg, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists.

View gallery | Blasts rock metro in Russias St Petersburg

Earlier Monday at a White House event, Trump described the attack as a terrible thing.

Trumps phone call with Putin comes as the US Congress investigates Russian interference in last years presidential election.

American intelligence alleges that Putin directed a campaign to tip the US election in Trumps favour.

UN condemns attack

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack and called for the perpetrators of the attack to face justice, in a unanimous statement adopted on Monday as the United States held the monthly presidency of the UNs top decision-making body.

Read| A timeline of major attacks in Russia in recent years

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.
The United States was determined to continue the press the case for sanctioning and designating terrorists at the United Nations, Nikki Haley told reporters on Monday.

Though she did not take names, The US envoy to the UN was clearly referring to the move to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar, which the US tried with other UK and France in January, but was blocked by China.

The administration very much is looking at all of these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list and how we have managed that, she said in response to a question.

Indias proposal to the UN to designate Azhar, which would prevent member nations from harbouring and funding him  including by Pakistan, where he lives  has been repeatedly blocked by China, working on behalf of close ally Pakistan.

On January 19, the Obama administration moved a proposal co-sponsored by the United Kingdom and France, as a fresh counter-terrorism effort, as apart of a global move according to a US official, to designate the JeM founder.

China blocked it on February 2, as it has several times before.

But the US was not giving up, Haley indicated.

Are we going to have people that veto certain issues? Yes. But that doesnt preclude the US from acting and it certainly does not preclude us from trying to see if we can change that as well, she said, adding, Our goal is to get more done together than we do separately. If we cannot get it done separately then we just move in another direction to still get the same things done.

I think you are obviously seeing a very aggressive administration because we feel that in order to lead, we need to act, and in order to act, we need to make sure we have those conversations with the National Security Council; and we are having those conversations with the National Security Council, she said.
A New Jersey teen pleaded guilty on Monday to an allegedly Islamic State-inspired plot to kill Pope Francis during his US visit in 2015.

The US Justice Department said Santos Colon, 17, sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the pope as well as set off explosives as he performed mass in Philadelphia on September 27, 2015 at the end of the World Meeting of Families.

But Colon unwittingly recruited an undercover FBI agent for the job, and was arrested quietly 12 days before the event.

Colon pleaded guilty as an adult to one count of attempting to provide material support to terror.

Court documents said that Colon sought to carry out the act in support of the Islamic State group and said he had also used the adopted name Ahmad Shakoor.

But there were no other details on how he had become interested in the group and how he communicated with them.

The charge carries a maximum 15 years in prison.
Communication Failures Cost Forrest and the Rebels Dearly at Tupelo

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he summer of 1864 was in many ways the Confederacys last gasp for survival. Ulysses S. Grant had gone east to take overall command of the Union Army, but he left his trusted subordinate, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, to manage affairs west of the Allegheny Mountains. Sherman had his eyes set primarily on the Southern heartland, Atlanta in particular, but had a thorn in his side more troubling than General Joseph E. Johnstons still formidable Army of Tennessee. Somewhere in Shermans rear roamed a dangerous and unpredictable foe: Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a tactical genius whose unrelenting combativeness and intuitive understanding of men under fire made him more feared than the numbers he commanded.

Forrest was known as the Wizard of the Saddle for his repeated successes in the face of much larger Union forces. It was his task to raise havoc along the supply lines and railroads so critical to Federal armies operating in the Western Theater. Most of the food, fodder, and ammunition needed for Shermans Atlanta Campaign rode rails stretching from Louisville, through Chattanooga, to his hungry troops and their hard-working horses. That overextended and thinly defended supply line was of course an enticing target for Forrests cavalry, which Sherman desperately needed to defeat or keep occupied in Mississippi and Alabama, away from the vital Union rail lines. For that critical assignment, Cump hand-picked Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith and Brig. Gen. Joseph Anthony Mower.

Forrest, therefore, faced two experienced Union generals and 14,000 veteran soldiers with whatever units he could cobble together. On July 5, the Union juggernaut began moving south from La Grange, Tenn., in two columns. The brutally hot weather and clouds of dust made the going slow, and it didnt help either that Forrests troopers immediately began nipping at the Federal flanks as they marched. When the Federals reached Pontotoc, Miss., on July 11, Forrest believed their objective was Okolonaa common target of earlier Union invasions as well as the site of a minor engagement back in February. Forrest would soon find out he was mistaken. The enemy objective was nearby Tupelo.

On July 12, Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Griersons 9th Illinois Cavalry tried to ambush Confederate forces just outside the Union lines, and though it cost him 30 casualties, it further persuaded Forrest that the Federals were headed for Okolona. That assured Smith he could steal a march on his indomitable foe. Feigning an advance toward Okolona on July 13, Smith put his columns in motion toward Tupelo, 18 miles east. If he could get to Tupelo first, Smith could destroy the Mobile & Ohio Railroad tracks there and determine the ground upon which he could best fight Forrests troopers.

At daybreak July 13, Forrest advanced to scout the Union position and found Pontotoc deserted. That gave Smith a critical tactical advantage, as Forrest had been forced into the unfamiliar role of reacting to, rather than influencing, Union moves. Confederate district commander Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, with 2,000 reinforcements, arrived from Jackson, Miss., during the night, and the two generals decided the best option was to attack Smith from the rear and flanks, hoping to delay him or entice an outright fight. At least three attacks on Smiths disciplined columns that day failed to slow down the Union push toward Tupelo.

Smith and Mower brimmed with confidence. They had outmaneuvered Forrest, allowing Griersons cavalry to destroy the railroad track north and south of Tupelo. When the Union column arrived at the hamlet of Harrisburg, two miles to the west of town, Smith deployed his men in a strong semicircular defensive line on a high ridge. That night, they strengthened their lines with fence posts, wood from local houses, and cotton bales. Smith anchored his lines in woods and Griersons cavalry screened the flanks and guarded the supply wagons in the rear. The ground in front of Smiths men sloped down toward a meandering creek. If the Confederates attacked from the woodland beyond it, they would be exposed to artillery and rifle fire for 3001,000 yards before they could even reach Union lines. By 3 a.m., July 14, Smiths men were ready for an attack.

Forrest and Lee consolidated their forces about a mile from the Union lines. Whether the two were in agreement about giving battle on July 14 remains a topic of controversy. Major Charles Anderson, Forrests assistant adjutant, believed they were not, noting Forrests declaration that [t]he enemy have a strong positionhave thrown up defensive works and are vastly superior in numbers and it will not do for us to attack them under such conditions. But Lee, writing postwar, remembered otherwise: Whatever others might say, [I] and Gen. Forrest were in perfect accord as to delivering battle.On this occasion not to fight would have been to have given up the great corn region of Mississippi, the main support of other armies facing the enemy on more important fields.

Historians also disagree about the soundness of Lees battle plan, his first as an independent commander: Three brigades would assault the Union right and

center while Brig. Gen. Philip Roddeys Alabama regiments would swing around and envelop the Federal left. Brig. Gen. James Chalmers cavalry and 700 infantrymen would be held in reserve. Captain Charles Morton, Forrests young artillery chief, suggested that all 20 Confederate guns be concentrated on the point of attack. Lee, a trained artillery officer, may have made a tactical blunder, however, by dispersing one artillery battery to each brigade. Moreover, the armys two wings were separated by more than a mile, yet were supposed to attack simultaneously. Forrest and Lee synchronized their watches and agreed on a specific time to move their respective units forward.

As senior officer, Lee held tactical command. He gave Forrest his choice of soldiers, and Forrest selected Roddeys troopersmen he had not yet commanded. Although they were veteran soldiers, most were cavalrymen or mounted infantry. Now they were being asked to attack a strongly fortified position, on foot and under fire across hundreds of yards of open ground. Since the Union defenses formed a semicircle, a simultaneous attack required Lees regiments to advance at slightly different paces, an unlikely achievement for even the most disciplined infantry regiments. Less than 6,500 Confederates would end up attacking Smiths 12,000 well-entrenched veterans.

July 14 dawned hot and humid, with no trace of wind. Lee had hoped to lure the Federals away from their strong defenses, but when that failed, he ordered battle about 7 a.m., allowing that timing would be critical to any success. Colonel Edward Crosslands Kentucky Brigade jumped the gun, however. As Captain J.T. Cochran of the 7th Kentucky later wrote: After passing through several fields and skirts of woods the enemy was discovered in position behind breastworks.Upon seeing the ardor of the men was such that they could not be restrained; they raised a yell and charged them. Marching at the double quick across more than 500 yards of open ground, the Kentuckians finally were halted by withering fire 50 yards from the Union line.

Decimated though they were, the Bluegrass boys refused to leave the field. Three times the brigade advanced only to be driven back each time, at a cost of 45 percent casualties. As Crossland concluded: The failure of Roddeys division to advance, and thus draw the fire of the enemy on my right flank, was fatal to my men. But on the right where Roddeys Brigade under Forrest was supposed to be enveloping the Federal left, there was only silence.

Regiments from Colonel Hinchly Mabrys Brigade were then fed into the fray, only to be chewed up by relentless and accurate enemy gunfire. Lee then ordered Tyree Bells dismounted troopers to advance across about 300 yards of open field. He assured Bell that the reserves would relieve him at the proper time. Bells men fired a volley, moved out, and stopped several times to fire before the Union defenders replied. They managed to get within 75 yards of the 12th Iowa Infantry, but a withering volley from the Iowans stopped the Confederates cold. The remnants of Bells Brigade fled back to the woods, leaving about 400 dead and wounded in the sunbaked field below the Union lines.

Chalmers had not gone far before Lee arrived and ordered him to send Ruckers Brigade more than 2,000 yards in full view of the Union gunners to assist Crosslands men. Even before these fresh troops could move into position, many of the men, Chalmers reported, fainted from exhaustion and the remainder were unable to drive the enemy from his position. As the general bitterly concluded: They were unable to accomplish anything.

The failure of Roddey to attack was apparently Forrests call. The enemy were supported by overwhelming numbers in an impregnable position, he reported, and wishing to save my troops from the unprofitable slaughter I knew would follow any attempt to charge his works, I did not push forward General Roddeys command when it arrived.

FIGHT FACTS Tupelo, Miss.

July 14, 1864 CAMPAIGN Confederate Defense of Mississippi COMMANDERS Confederate:

Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee

Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest

Union:

Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith

Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower ESTIMATED CASUALTIES Confederate: 1,362

(215 killed; 1,116 wounded; 51 missing/captured)

Union: 602

(69 killed; 501 wounded, 32 missing) FORCES ENGAGED Confederate: Dept. of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana

Union: 16th Corps, 1st and 3rd Infantry, Cavalry Division; 1st USCT OUTCOME Union Victory



Writing in 1902, Lee said he confronted Forrest about why the attack had not been carried out. Forrest replied: [Abraham] Bufords right had been rashly thrown forward and repulsed. In the exercise of my discretion I did not move Roddey forward, but I have moved him to the left and formed a new line. Replying that it was now too late, Lee ordered a general withdrawal.

Lee never filed an official report after Tupelo, the only action for which he failed to do so. He never publicly accused Forrest of insubordination nor did he besmirch the generals reputation. Forrest, in turn, never criticized Lees battle strategy or intimated that he would have done things differently if in overall command. One historian does claim, however, that an angry Forrest fumed at Lee: If I knew as much about West Point tactics as you, the Yankees would whip hell out of me every day. By noon, the engagement was essentially over, though Forrest would order Colonel William L. Duckworth to make what proved to be an inconsequential attack later that evening. The Confederates ultimately incurred more than twice the Federals casualties.

Lee and Forrest expected Smith to attack on July 15, but discovered about noon that the Federals had decamped and were moving north up the Ellistown Road. It struck the Rebel commanders as incredible that Smith would abandon the field and retreat. What they didnt know was that Smith had significant supply problemsspoiled rations and artillery ammunition shortages. The Confederates clashed with Mowers rear guard at Old Town Creek that day, but the Federals made it back to Memphis essentially unimpeded by July 23.

Smith and Mower declared the expedition a success, but Forrest had been allowed to continue threatening Union supply lines throughout Middle Tennessee. Within two weeks, an angry Sherman ordered Smith back into Mississippi to continue pursuing the ever-elusive Forrest.

Gordon Berg, a retired civil servant, is a regular contributor to Americas Civil War.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4



By Fatih Karimov  Trend:



Irans Foreign Ministry condemned the metro terror attack in Russias St. Petersburg, which occurred on April 3.



Creating insecurity and massacre of innocent people for political goals is the most inferior act, Bahram Qasemi, spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry said, the state-run IRINN TV reported Apr. 4.



He further expressed his sympathy and condolences to the families of the terror act victims as well as people and government of Russia.



Qasemi also said that uprooting these barbaric crimes requires international consensus and strong will of all governments and international organizations.








Several Hope College projects have received grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC).

A total of 13 projects from Hope received funding from the consortium through its 2016-17 grant period. The awards to Hope projects, which total $67,500, include seven fellowships for students conducting collaborative research with members of the faculty, three seed grants for faculty research, two program awards for Hope initiatives focused on pre-college and teacher training, and an affiliate-representative grant. The awards to the college were out of the total of 22 undergraduate fellowships, 10 research seed grants and 13 program awards made to all recipients.

Hope will provide additional support for each of the projects, including stipends for the students as they conduct research during the summer, and matching funds for the faculty, institutional and affiliate-representative projects.

The students receiving fellowships were: sophomore Josiah Brouwer of Byron Center, who will work on Parallelizing Markov Chain Monte Carlo Simulation Code Using GPUs with Dr. Peter Gonthier, professor of physics; freshman Michael Dennis of Williamston, who will work on Compton scattering in the strong magnetic fields of magnetars with Gonthier; sophomore Brandon Derstine of Midland, who will work on BF2-azo dye vinyl free radical monomers for red-shifted polymeric photomechanical materials with Dr. Jason Gillmore, professor of chemistry; junior Sean Gitter of Shelby Township, who will work on Dihalo-substituted BF2-azo dye monomers for longer wavelength photomechanical polymers with Gillmore; sophomore Noah Kochanski of Royal Oak, who will work on Predicting Disease Incidence with Dr. Yew-Meng Koh, assistant professor of mathematics; junior Anne ODonnell of Royal Oak, who will work on Bio-Inspired Control of Civil Infrastructure using Wireless Sensing Nodes with Dr. Courtney Peckens, assistant professor of engineering; and junior Anne Washburn of Hamilton, who will work on Leaching of Synthesized Strontium-Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles with Dr. Amanda Eckermann, assistant professor of chemistry. Brouwer and Derstine also received awards from MSGC last year.

The three faculty who received seed grants are: Eckermann, for Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles for Osteoporosis Treatment and Imaging; Dr. Paul Pearson, assistant professor of mathematics, for Remote Sensing of Lake Michigan Sand Dunes to Study Dune Evolution and Vegetation Dynamics; and Dr. Katherine Polasek, associate professor of engineering, for Electroencephalography (EEG) to Compare Actual and Electrically Activated Touch.

The program-award support for pre-college science and engineering experiences was awarded to Susan Ipri Brown, instructor of engineering, and Dr. Eric Mann, assistant professor of mathematics. ExploreHope, Hope's outreach center, will coordinate both programs.

Ipri Brown is the faculty lead for STEM Academies and Workshops on Air Quality Monitoring, which is engaging middle and high science classes in collecting and analyzing data related to air quality in the area using sensors at locations such as their homes and schools. The grant will expand the technical capabilities of the monitors, allow longer-term projects with area teachers and establish continual monitoring sites to provide additional data for student learning. The Holland/Hope College Sustainability Institute is partnering to support community events related to the project.

Ipri Brown and Mann will both be working with initiatives through the Engineering the Future Summer Academies, continuing a program established two years ago to provide access to high-quality summer academic programs to area students regardless of socioeconomic status. Through the awards, Hope will partner with Holland Public Schools new middle school STEM initiative to provide teacher professional development and a week-long summer program for all district seventh graders. Hope engineering, science and education majors will serve as staff for the programs, through which they practice valuable pre-professional skills.

Gonthiers award through the affiliate representative program will support his research on Magnetic field decay and unification of young and millisecond pulsar populations.

The Michigan Space Grant Consortium, which is part of the National Space Grant Consortium, seeks to foster awareness of, education in, and research on space-related science and technology in Michigan, and is part of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. Hope and Calvin College are the only undergraduate colleges that are members of the consortium, which also includes Eastern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Oakland University, Saginaw Valley State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.
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.

View source
It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore).

Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net.

Go back to home
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

An Iranian plane flying from the country's capital city of Tehran to southeastern city of Zahedan was forced to make an emergency landing after experiencing technical problems.

The plane returned to Tehrans International Mehrabad Airport and landed there only 20 minutes after takeoff today morning, Irans Fars news agency reported Apr. 4.

Reportedly, the airplane, Airbus A320, had a failure in one of its engines. The plane belongs to the Islamic Republics Aseman Airlines.

Iran has recently suffered a series of airplane crashes, blamed on its ageing aircraft and poor maintenance.
The Irish Ambassador to Great Britain, Dan Mulhall will give a lecture to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the major Irish literary figure, who wrote under the pseudonym 'AE' ,on Monday, at 7pm on 10 April at the National Library of Ireland.

Ambassador Dan Mulhall will give a public lecture entitled George Russell (AE): Literary Witness to Irish History.

Ambassador Mulhall, who has maintained a long-term interest in AEs life and work, will explore the career of the poet, painter, mystic and prominent public figure.

As part of the lecture, he will also assess AEs contribution to the shaping of modern Ireland, as a cultural nationalist, an advocate of agricultural co-operation and an editor of two influential journals.

The lecture is free to attend and all are welcome. For more information visit www.nli.ie. Advertisement
Jason Williamson of cult UK act Sleaford Mods is explaining why the abrasive musical duo decided to title their new album English Tapas.

It was Andrew [Fearn], he says in his strong Nottingham accent. He saw it on a menu board in a pub and we just thought it was funny. My experience of tapas is a small plate with quite high-quality stuff. And this English version was just Scotch eggs and chips. It made us laugh so we thought it was kind of a perfect title, really.

Having toiled away for more than a decade, releasing nine albums on various indie labels and gigging in dives the length and breadth of the UK, things are finally looking up for Williamson and Fearne. Iggy Pop has described them as undoubtedly, absolutely, definitely the worlds greatest rock n roll band. Even so, recently signed to Rough Trade, the pair could only afford to finally quit their day jobs two years ago.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner traveled with the top U.S. general to an Iraqi base 10 miles (16 km) from Mosul on Tuesday, and voiced hope the city's eventual recapture from Islamic State would be "a victory for the world", Reuters reported.

Kushner was on the second day of a trip to Iraq as the guest of Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The visit to the Hammam al-Alil base allowed them to get an operational briefing from Iraqi and U.S. commanders.

The trip has demonstrated the far-reaching portfolio of Kushner, 36, who is part of Trump's innermost circle and who has been given a wide range of domestic and foreign policy responsibilities, including working on a Middle East peace deal. His views on Iraq could shape Trump's own opinions.

It comes as Trump is examining ways to accelerate a U.S.-led coalition campaign that U.S. and Iraqi officials say has so far been largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Mosul is by far the biggest city ever to have been held by Islamic State, and winning it back would largely destroy the Iraqi part of the group's "caliphate", proclaimed from a Mosul mosque in 2014.

Although Trump campaigned on defeating Islamic State, he has not yet announced any major changes to war strategy. The Mosul battle, the biggest in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, has been under way since October, with 100,000 Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi'ite militiamen seeking to drive out the militants with the support of U.S.-led air strikes.

Speaking after lengthy battlefield reports from two Iraqi generals, Kushner sounded upbeat about the campaign and said the partnership between U.S. and Iraqi troops was "very impressive". He also expressed hope that partnership would be enduring, signaling White House interest in longer-term U.S. military assistance.

"I hope the victory that you have in Mosul in the near future will not just be a victory for the American and Iraqi troops but it will be a victory for the world," Kushner said.
The lads will be playing at Smithfield Square this Easter Monday as part of the public festival Cruinniu na Casca.

Following their nomination for Album of the Year at the Choice Music Awards, We Cut Corners have now been confirmed for the RTE 2fm lineup for Cruinniu na Casca, the upcoming public festival taking place on Easter Monday in Dublin City Centre. Other acts performing include Soule, Jack ORourke, Booka Brass Band and The Academic, with more acts to be announced. The concerts will be broadcast live through RTE Radio 1, RTE 2fm and RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta, along with televised and online updates from the event.

The festival hosts a wide range of attractions, with everything from film screenings to panel talks to art and music workshops. All music events are free, though its recommended that you plan ahead to secure a spot. For a full schedule and event locations, go to www.rte.ie/cruinniu.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Organizers of West Texas pipeline protests said they are closing down the largest of the camps set up for environmental activists now that the Trans-Pecos Pipeline is complete.

"Yeah, we're in transition mode," said Frankie Orona, executive director of the San Antonio-based Society of Native Nations and a camp leader. "The pipeline is pretty much in the ground."

The Trans-Pecos received federal approval Thursday to pipe gas across the Mexican border. The 148-mile line, which runs from Fort Stockton to the border, is "operationally ready for service," a spokeswoman said.

The West Texas camp, about 40 miles south of Marfa and 25 miles north of the border, grew out of similar larger protests against U.S. pipelines. Thousands of activists traveled last year to ad-hoc camps set up in North Dakota, north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, and blocked a last link of the 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline developed by Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas.

Late last year, the Obama administration announced it would not approve an easement under the Missouri River, and directed the Army Corps of Engineers to look at alternate routes. President Donald Trump, however, reversed that order and allowed the project to go forward. The pipeline is now complete.

Some of the Dakota Access protesters headed south to demonstrate against the Trans-Pecos, also built by Energy Transfer.

Activists completed 13 "direct actions" - civil disobedience aimed at slowing construction in West Texas. Many involved protesters chaining or locking themselves to heavy machinery in the early morning, forcing the company to wait for police before starting work.

Grinder had to be used

The West Texas camp, called Two Rivers, hasn't run a protest in weeks. The most recent arrest was almost three weeks ago, the Presidio County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies found 21-year-old Greeley, Colo., resident Anna Joy Kruger, her arms wrapped around an excavator and then affixed together with a homemade cast of PVC pipe, chicken wire, concrete, tar and duct tape - far harder and more time-consuming to remove than the chains protesters used earlier in the year. Deputies had to get a grinder to cut through the concrete and metal. They arrested her on suspicion of trespassing, a misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a felony.

Less than 10 protesters are now left at Two Rivers, a mix of tents, teepees and at least one yurt on private land near Big Bend Ranch State Park. Orona said he'll close it in the next few weeks and begin looking for a new target.

Other activists have gathered near West Texas's Balmorhea State Park, home to the famous spring-fed swimming pool, to protest hydraulic fracturing operations conducted by Houston-based Apache Corp. Apache declined to comment.

In addition, Orona said, environmental activists are setting their sights on Calgary-based Enbridge's Valley Crossing Pipeline, set to run from near Corpus Christi to the southern tip of Texas. That pipeline is still setting its course, and activists would have a much better ability to affect the outcome, Orona said.

Movement dying down?

But Orona said he is worried about the future of such activism after Trump's approval not only of Dakota Access, but also TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL, which the Obama administration had also blocked.

"I think the movement's dying down a lot throughout the country," Orona said. "I think people are discouraged."

In the meantime, campers at Two Rivers are looking for some help. They need gas money to cover their coming move.
The NCAA ended its boycott of North Carolina Tuesday after the state curbed a 2016 law that restricted bathroom use for transgender men and women  a move that drew cheers from proponents of a similar Texas bill but did little to assuage fears that the group wont pull its 2018 Final Four championship from San Antonio.

The NCAAs board of governors voted to reluctantly back off the organizations North Carolina boycott after lawmakers in the Tar Heel State pushed through a compromise that would partially eliminate some of the provisions in the previous law, the organization announced Tuesday.

This new law has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment, NCAA said in a statement. If we find that our expectations of a discrimination-free environment are not met, we will not hesitate to take necessary action at any time.

The NCAA relocated seven championship games scheduled for 2017 from North Carolina to other states and adopted standards requiring host cities to provide an environment  free of discrimination after then-Gov. Pat McCrory signed the original bill into law 13 months ago.

San Antonio officials and other opponents of similar legislation in Texas have often cited the NCAA move as a cautionary tale. They worry the organization will move its 2018 Final Four championship games out of San Antonio if the proposal is signed into law, taking with it an estimated $135 million in local spending on restaurants, hotels and attractions.

Michael Sawaya, San Antonios director of Convention & Sports Facilities, said city officials continue to fight the bill, which will create the perception that Texas is not an open and hospitable place to all residents, visitors and those who do business here.

The NCAA did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday regarding whether it would move the Final Four from San Antonio if the Texas bill is adopted.

So far, the NCAA hasnt said publicly whether it would pull the San Antonio championship  which is expected to draw about 70,000 ticket-holding attendees  if the Texas bill passes.

The local Final Four organizing committee is working full steam ahead to secure thousands of volunteers and staff coordinating committees that will make decisions regarding security, transportation and marketing among other areas surrounding the event within the next 12 months, said Jenny Carnes, San Antonio Sports associate executive director.

There have been no signs or indications of the NCAA backing off of what would be our normal timeline, Carnes said.

NCAAs North Carolina decision is a positive development but not a guarantee the organization wont pull the Final Four championship from the city, said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit San Antonio, the former city Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But, Visit San Antonio is currently booking fewer conventions and meetings because groups are waiting to see whether Texas Senate Bill 6 passes before they finalize plans, Matej said.

Two organizations have told Visit San Antonio they will not consider the Alamo City to host future conventions because of the bill, according to the organization. Nine other organizations are waiting to see whether the bill will pass before deciding whether to return to San Antonio, she said.

RELATED: See letters from some organizations threatening to cancel conventions here

San Antonio would lose an estimated $40 million in convention and tourism spending if all 11 organizations decide to move their events.

In total, tourism officials in the states four largest cities  San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston  say they stand to lose a combined $407 million within the next few years just on the conventions and events that have already threatened to take their business elsewhere if Senate Bill 6 passes.

Am I completely relieved and think we dont still have to be communicating to our lawmakers? Matej said. No, I think we need to continue to explain and really impress upon our lawmakers it could have a negative economic impact for our community and around the state.

Several businesses and groups scaled back operations in North Carolina and canceled major events after lawmakers there enacted that states original bathroom bill last year. Some estimates peg the cost to North Carolina at $500 million so far and at least 1,400 in lost jobs. An Associated Press study estimated that the law would cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over 12 years.

The NBA pulled its All-Star Game from Charlotte in July, and the Atlantic Coast Conference withdrew its college football championship and womans college basketball tournament from the state.

The Atlantic Coast Conference said Friday it would reconsider North Carolina for future championship events after Gov. Roy Cooper signed the compromise bill last week.

North Carolinas new bill eliminated a requirement that transgender people use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings. The new law says only state legislators  not local governments or school officials  can make rules for public restrooms.

The original bill invalidated any local ordinances protecting gay or transgender people from discrimination in the workplace or in public accommodations. The compromise prohibits local governments from enacting any new such protections until December 2020.

Backers of the Texas bill  which would prevent transgender Texans from using the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity in government buildings and override local nondiscrimination ordinances with transgender protections  said the NCAAs decision indicated support for the proposal in Texas.

We have always said that the Texas Privacy Act was not in conflict with the anti-discrimination goals of the NCAA and the statement they released this morning makes that abundantly clear, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement. The NCAA statement details the principles embodied in the Texas Privacy Act which are mirrored in North Carolina's new law.

The bills author  State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham  said in a separate statement, I applaud the state of North Carolina for adopting a policy that is similar to SB 6, the Texas Privacy Act, and I also applaud the NCAA for now agreeing that there is nothing discriminatory about the Texas Privacy Act or our honest efforts to address the serious issue of privacy and safety in our public facilities and school showers, locker rooms, and restrooms.

The NCAA hasnt issued any public comments on the Texas proposal.

Senate Bill 6 hasnt made much progress in the Texas House of Representatives since passing the Texas Senate by a 21-10 vote last month. The bills not currently scheduled for a House committee vote. Last week, House Speaker Joe Straus prevented three amendments relating to the issue from being attached to a bill renewing the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates oil and gas, and coming to the full House floor for a vote.

I doubt anyone would recommend that we jump through the same hoops that North Carolina is now trying to move past, Straus, a San Antonio Republican, said in a statement Tuesday about the NCAAs decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
One of President Donald Trump's few specific criticisms of U.S. trade agreements is they involve too many countries. He pulled out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership during his first week in office, and later reiterated his commitment to pursuing one-on-one deals rather than including whole regions, on the grounds that doing so gives the U.S. more leverage over its trading partners.

The administration, which has focused on trade with Mexico, has not yet said whether it plans to include Canada in its plan to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico, however, says any revisions should involve all three signatories.

"We're very keen on everybody looking at this agreement as a trilateral agreement," said Kenneth Smith Ramos, who heads the Trade and NAFTA office of Mexico's Ministry of Commerce. Global supply chains, he says, don't just cross the Rio Grande; they include the entire continent  and cutting out Canada would make the deal less valuable for everyone. (Experts agree.)

Although Mexico is eager to update the 23-year-old agreement to address new industries  which it would have effectively accomplished in the Trans-Pacific Partnership  the country is cautiously reviewing the priorities that the Trump administration laid out in a draft notice to Congress last week that will trigger a 90-day countdown to negotiations once it's officially issued.

Mexican diplomats have not yet sat down with their U.S. counterparts to discuss potential revisions. Trump's trade representative hasn't even been confirmed yet, and Mexico is going through the same notice-and-comment period with its own legislature.

One one fundamental issue, however, Mexico remains firm: New trade barriers, especially higher tariffs on specific industries, won't be welcome.

"We want to make sue that we don't have any backtracking on the trade liberalization that Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. have achieved," Ramos says. "You would be opening a Pandora's box that would be dangerous."

Although the draft notice doesn't include the kind of draconian tariffs that Trump has threatened, it does foreshadow some demands that Mexico would find objectionable.

For example, it says that government procurement provisions should be "consistent with the U.S. law and the administration's policy on domestic procurement preferences," which Trump has made clear involves buying American goods and hiring American workers. At the same time, it continues, the U.S. will "seek to expand market access opportunities for U.S. goods, services, and suppliers of goods and services in the government procurement markets of the NAFTA countries."

Translation: The U.S. government won't buy from Mexico, but the Mexican government had better buy from U.S. companies.

Another sticking point could be tax policy. The draft notice says U.S. negotiators will "seek to level the playing field on tax treatment," which some have interpreted as a reference to the "border adjustment tax"  a levy on imports to the U.S.  that congressional Republicans are pushing. Ramos says such tax may, depending on the details, qualify as an illegal export subsidy under World Trade Organization rules.

Mexico still hopes to resuscitate the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with Asian and South American countries in some form. Cobbling together some Pacific Rim trade deal without the U.S. is expected to be the subject of a meeting of regional trade ministers in May. Meanwhile, another agreement spearheaded by China and involving India, Malaysia, and other Asian countries is proceeding apace.

"Mexico wants to be on the front lines when those markets open up for us, regardless of the process the U.S. chose to take in terms of leaving TPP for now," Ramos says.
A Houston doctor and a pharmacist were part of a "pill mill" ring that illegally dispensed more than 30,000 oxycondone pills to the streets, federal prosecutors said Monday.

On Monday, Dr. Richard Williams, 77, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his role in what authorities said was an oxycodone dispensation and distribution conspiracy. Agnes Osire, 51, a pharmacist in the Houston area since 2008, was sentenced to just under five years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The piece: A 19th-century ikat robe from Bukhara

The artist: An unknown team of artisans

Where: In "Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through June 4

Why: You can get buried in the design, dyeing and weaving business of ikat even before you contemplate the person who wore this garment in the 19th century and the culture that made it de rigeur, when Bukhara was the Paris of Central Asia.

The cover fabric of this woman's robe took a village to create, starting with the raising of silk worms. The yarns were woven after they were painstakingly designed and dyed, with areas blocked to resist colors. The slender applied trim has a tiny diamond pattern created with purple, white, red, yellow and green yarns. The lining is equally eye-popping, with a red and white circular pattern in the center and a wide interior trim of red, yellow and white (yet another design), both made of imported Russian cotton.

In the 19th century, the Silk Road region was making a comeback after decades of political upheavals, instable currency and trade decline, as powerful khans consolidated feudal lands into three oasis kingdoms. Society turned inward, in a kind of make Central Asia great again moment.

Bukhara, a stronghold of the Mangit dynasty, became the most vital center for the production of a unique new style of precious silk ikats for the domestic market. The designs offer clues to social rank, tribal affiliation, gender, age and occupation. (Not that they turned their backs on the rest of the world: The motifs also attest to centuries of global influences.)

I could pick a different favorite from this show every day for weeks, but I appreciate the boldness of this particular coat, its floral/tree of life/fountain design and its overall symmetry.

Such robes were designed for people who rode horses a lot. Imagine the colors flying in the wind. And the twirling dancing that might have ensued when the wearer's dusty boots touched the ground. Though she could also have just stood around, looking elegant. The pattern itself supplies a sense of movement.

Little or nothing is known about her. All the 50 or so objects of this show have that sense of mystery. But, from this distance, glamorous Uzbeks look like happy people. Good luck maintaining a dire mood once you donned one of these knockout garments.

As Sayera Makhkomova suggests in the excellent show catalog: "This is the palette of the Central Asian sun, of Uzbek landscapes where the colors of the igniferous sands of Kyzyl Kum and the Tien Shan foothills, of fertile valleys, stormy rivers, blossoming fruit trees and colorful poppies on clay rooftops, are all so loud and strikingly vibrant."

Bookmark Gray Matters. Good luck maintaining a dire mood.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

I am in fifth grade and I cannot read and can barely write," my student Ricardo said tearfully. "Ive never passed a reading test, and I am not going to pass this year either. There is nothing you can do for me.

I told him that I believed in him and refused to give up. If he worked hard, I would do everything in my power to make sure he was able to read, write and pass the state test by the end of the school year.

Are you serious, Ms. Walker? he asked hesitantly, as if he had heard this promise many times before.

Most likely, he had. Ricardo is an immigrant from Mexico, and like many black and brown young men, his academic journey so far had been an almost consistent failure. As he passed through the educational system, he'd fallen through one crack after another.

I knew that I couldn't just teach Ricardo. I had to teach him through a social-justice lens.

Black and brown young men are not expected to succeed, and in most cases, are not set up for success. According to a recent policy report by seven research institutions, by fourth grade, only 14 percent of black males and 18 percent of Hispanic males are performing at proficient or above grade level in reading. By eighth grade, this number shrinks to 12 percent of black males and 17 percent of Hispanic males.

Given those odds, how can a teacher equip them to excel in school? This is what I've learned.

1) Choose the right books, the right lessons.

We can start by choosing texts and lessons that relate to their lives and cultures. For instance, for Ricardo, I might recommend The Jumping Tree by Rene Saldana , an age-appropriate novel that not only has a Hispanic male main character, but also addresses family and identity crisis, immigration status, and discrimination.

A book like that can make a difference not only in his academics, but in his life.

2) Believe in them.

No child will succeed without someone to believe in him or her.

Like Ricardo, many of my boys entered eighth grade reading significantly below grade level. They continually said things like, Ms. Walker, they already expect us to fail, so why not?

I let them know that's not what I expect. I give positive affirmations to my students daily. Simple words like You will do an amazing job today can change a childs narrative.

I let them know that they are in this classroom, on this day, to make a difference in the world tomorrow, and that nothing should stop them. In my classroom may be sitting the next congressman, engineer, scientist, business owner, author, or even the next president. I expect great things.

3) Tell them their voices matter.

Today kids learn "My life matters." But what is life without a voice? The students in my class learn that they should have something to stand for and someone to stand with.

In purposeful, engaging, student-led discussions, they express themselves. Then I try to build a bridge that connects their conversation to academics.

Ricardo is in high school now. He has passed each core subject on the eighth-grade state STAAR exam. He has shown significant growth in reading, science, history and math, and is an avid reader of the Percy Jackson series, the fantasy novels I bought for my classroom library. He tutors other English-as-a-second-language students whose academic journeys have, like his, been rocky.

Through every hug he gives me when he visits my classroom, I get to experience that little piece of hope I gave him.

Recently, he said, Ms. Walker, you gave me something I didnt know I had. Thank you.

That thank you  and the hope of more like it  is what keeps me coming back to my classroom.

There's a sweet balance to our relationship now. He's grateful that I made him a better student. And I'm grateful to him for making me a better teacher.

Shontoria Walker is an eighth-grade English Language Arts teacher and grade-level chair at KIPP Polaris Academy for Boys in Houston, and a member of the Teach Plus Texas Teacher Advisory Board.

Bookmark Gray Matters? We ask hesitantly, as if we've heard this promise many times before.
AUSTIN  Legislation requiring state mental health officials to take custody of mentally incompetent violent sex offenders now housed in a state treatment program was approved Tuesday by the Texas Senate.

The issue of keeping Texans ruled mentally incompetent in the intensive treatment program in which they cannot participate, let alone understand why they are there, has been a growing issue since the Texas Civil Commitment Office program was restructured two years ago to address concerns about whether it was being operated in a legal manner.
AUSTIN -- Texas lawmakers have pushed for years for a statewide ban on texting while driving, but the latest push is coming in the wake of a tragic crash that killed 13 people riding home in a church bus.

Even before the crash, a measure had been approved by the House and advocates had felt comfortable about its chances in the Senate, but say the accident underscores that the time has come to pass a ban Texas has been reluctant to adopt.

"Unfortunately, I think it's going to be very positive" for banning texting while driving, Rep. Tom Craddick, a former House Speaker and Midland Republican said about the crash. "It's a very tragic situation but I've had a lot of people today talking about it.  I've never been for more laws, but sometimes the government has to step in."

A 20-year-old man driving about 90 miles west of San Antonio reportedly told a witness he was texting when he drove his truck head-on into a church van. All but one person inside was killed.

On Monday, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator said cellphones of both drivers in the deadly crash had been sent to Washington for processing.

Under House Bill 62, texting while driving would be penalized. The measure, which passed the House 114-32 last month, would impose a $25 to $99 fine for first offenders, which climbs to as much as $200 for repeat offenses.

Craddick and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Laredo Democrat, have pitched similar proposals every legislative session since at least 2011. Craddick's bill awaits a hearing in the Senate, where a similar measure fell one vote short in 2015.

That year wasn't the first time a texting ban had failed at the hands of a single person. In 2011, then Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a similar bill, saying he was concerned with "a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults."

Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not respond to requests for comment. While campaigning in 2014 for governor, he echoed Perry's concern about "micromanaging" drivers, but has since told reporters he would give such a bill "serious consideration."

Most states have bans

Forty-six states have instituted texting while driving bans and 17 states ban the use of all handheld devices, according to Craddick. Although Texas is a holdout, dozens of cities here have instituted rules making texting while driving illegal.

In 2015, the last year for which confirmed statewide data is available, 476 people were killed in accidents in Texas in which investigators said distracted driving was involved.

Sen. Donna Campbell, an emergency room doctor and Republican, was one of the senators who in 2015 refused to vote for the bill. She said she didn't know whether she regretted that vote, but said now it's time Texas ban texting while driving.

"Is it going to be a unanimous vote? No," said Campbell who represents New Braunfels and acknowledges some Republicans are hesitant to vote for a ban.

She said she supports the bill and has told her colleagues she'll vote for it this year. But Campbell said she has not tried to corral votes among fellow Republicans hesitant to support it.

"People didn't like it when we put seat belts in," she said. "It's saved many lives."

Last Wednesday, Jack D. Young, 20, was seen weaving his white Dodge in and out of his lane for miles before he rounded a curve and hit a small bus carrying 14 members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels who were on their way home from a retreat in Leakey.

Jody Kuchler, a welder from Leakey, repeatedly called police as he drove for miles behind Young watching the car swerve across the road. When he approached the wreckage, he found Young trapped in his truck, and reportedly heard him say: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting on my phone."

Education falls short

A texting while driving ban enjoys support from groups like the Allstate Texas Regional Counsel and Dallas-based AT&T.

"This is likely the session where it can actually become law," said Tracy King, vice president of public affairs for AT&T. "Sometimes it takes a while to get a bill passed into law, but I think there is enough evidence that public education is not sufficient to stop this dangerous practice."

The 25-year-old son of Shelli Ralls, an early supporter of the bill, died in 2008 when a woman lost control of her vehicle while she was texting and crashed into him.

"It's a daily thing," Ralls said. "A lot of people are being killed because of this and in a lot of counties there's no way to have any recourse because there are no laws."

She wants stiffer penalties for offenders but is willing to accept what she called a "bare bones" plan.

"This becomes news because it's 13 people, but this happens every day, not in that volume and that same accident, but it happens every day," she said. "If we don't start somewhere, we're going to see this all the time."

Dug Begley contributed to this report.
Ukraines National Bank has said that the country expects another $4.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of 2017, a day after the fund granted one billion dollars to the country, Press TV reported.

"According to our forecasts we expect the receipt of approximately $4.5 billion - these are three tranches from the IMF - by the end of this year," the bank's deputy head, Oleg Churiy, told reporters on Tuesday.

The remarks came a day after the IMF announced the release of a $1 billion loan payment to Ukraine.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Four Harris County sheriff deputies responding to a call about a stolen vehicle Tuesday afternoon shot at two suspects, killing one.

Houston police arrested the other suspect.

The incident unfolded just after 2 p.m. near the 9500 block of Airline Drive. Around 2:17 p.m, a call came into the Precinct 1 constable's office about a stolen vehicle in the Garden Oaks area, according to Sgt. C. Collier with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

A constable began following the car near Airline Drive, where support from the sheriff's office was called in.

Officials chased the car into a parking lot off Airline Drive. The stolen car tried to ram into the deputies' vehicle.

Four deputies inside the vehicle began firing at the stolen car, which had two people inside. The suspected driver of the vehicle died on scene.

Houston Police are also responding to a possibly related case, where a white vehicle was trailing the stolen vehicle involved in the shooting.

The white four door sedan may have been involved in several robberies in the city earlier this morning.

The deputy was not hurt, said Ryan Sullivan, a sheriff's office spokesman.

"We have very little information right now," he said.

.

This is a developing story, check back soon for more details.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

AUSTIN - Lawmakers, who have been pressing to fix Texas' troubled child-protection system, blasted agency officials on Monday for continuing to house foster care youths in state offices, saying they thought the practice had been stopped months ago.

The legislators' anger was stoked by the news that a 15-year-old girl was struck and killed along a north Houston road early Sunday after slipping away from a CPS regional office where she and another teenage girl were in CPS custody. The teens were being housed in the CPS office at 3 Northpoint Drive because the state lacked places to house them in foster care.

"You can put me down as upset and outraged, especially since I thought the Senate Finance Committee was told by the agency that they were no longer housing foster care children in state offices," said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston. "This kind of thing should not happen, especially when we're putting a lot of money into improvements."

The girl's death - state officials have not released her identity - was the first related to the agency's controversial practice of temporarily housing CPS youths at state offices because of a chronic shortage of available foster care placements, officials said. Both girls were without permanent placements, they said.

Amid an ongoing investigation, legislative leaders said they want answers about why children in foster care still are being housed in state offices - a practice officials had pledged to end in court filings in an ongoing federal lawsuit over chronic problems with Texas' foster care system.

"I thought we had stopped that," said Sen. John Whimire, D-Houston, in whose district the fatal accident occurred. "The more things change with this system, the more they seem to stay the same.  I want to know how many more children are staying in an office today."

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the state Department of Family and Protective Services, CPS' parent agency, said 54 youths spent at least two nights in CPS offices last August, but just 24 did in January, the latest month for which statistics are available.

He confirmed that both girls in question had been staying at the CPS office for "several days" while they were between placements. He said both had been in CPS care for some time.

Were workers on duty?

Authorities said the girls had left the CPS office and joined up with a group of other teens that 10 hours later ended up in the 11200 block of Veterans Memorial Drive, roughly three miles away. Just before 3 a.m., as the group of youths walked down the road, a southbound minivan struck the two girls, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

The 15-year-old died in a nearby parking lot, deputies said. The second girl suffered an arm injury, and was treated at a nearby hospital and released. Officials said she was returned to CPS custody.

Houston authorities said they were told by state officials that the 16-year-old had run away twice in recent days from the local CPS office.

Crimmins said an internal review regarding the teen's death was underway, including whether the required two CPS workers - a caseworker or supervisor and an administrative technician - were on duty at the state office when the girls ran off.

Houston officials said runaways from foster care are not uncommon, since the youths are not in custody and cannot be restrained to keep them from leaving.

"This is a terrible tragedy," Crimmins said. "Nothing is more important than the safety of our children in care."

'Accident is a travesty'

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and the Senate's chief budget writer, said the incident makes increasing the capacity of the state foster care system even more urgent, "given the additional resources and focus that have come to bear."

In December, amid a growing controversy over a lack of placement beds and a staffing crisis that left hundreds of CPS children unchecked for months in cases with abuse and neglect allegations, House and Senate leaders voted to approve more than $150 million in emergency funding to hire at least 800 new employees and provide $12,000-a-year pay hikes in an effort to reduce staff turnover.

In the draft state budget for the next two years, both legislative chambers are proposing to add more than $400 million more to hire more caseworkers and staff, to increase payments to foster care organizations and families and to beef up available placements with extensive reforms and additional privatization.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi continues to closely monitor the changes after determining more than a year ago that the state's foster care system was unconstitutional because of chronic operational flaws that she said results in continued abuse to children brought into state custody. More than 12,000 children are in the system, officials said earlier.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who made CPS reform a top priority last year, said the Houston deaths highlight why major reforms are needed.

"This accident is a travesty and underscores the need to fix our broken child care system," said John Wittman, his press secretary. "That is why Gov. Abbott made reforming Child Protective Services an emergency item and is actively engaged with the Legislature to achieve his goal of no more child deaths in the State of Texas."
Last month, military forces led by the United States reportedly killed as many as 200 civilians during an airstrike on the Iraqi city of Mosul. That harrowing number of dead may well be one of the single largest civilian casualties at the hands of U.S. military since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, if not since Vietnam.

The Vietnam War is on our minds today of all days - the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his famous anti-war speech at Riverside Church in New York City. A year later he would be assassinated on this date.

In that speech, which came to be known as "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence," King not only called for an end to the Vietnam War, but for a transformation of national priorities.

"We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values," King said before the "Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam" group. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

He spoke from the first-person perspective of witnessing anti-poverty and civil-rights programs defunded for a budget focused on war.

"I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube."

Half a century has passed, and little has changed. Our military spends more money than ever, often without check or oversight. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is, according to the Project On Government Oversight, a $1.4 trillion failure that cannot meet its basic mission goals for the Air Force, Navy or Marines.

How many senior citizens in Beaumont go without necessary healthcare? How many school kids in Pasadena go without adequate education? How many drug addicts in Galveston go without treatment? And we've budgeted $1.4 trillion for a plane that doesn't work.

Meanwhile, after 15 years in Iraq with little end in sight, the White House is expanding our military footprint into Syria and Yemen. Like Vietnam, we have to wonder what, exactly, we're fighting for and what our nation is sacrificing to gain it.

As King said a half-century ago, these individual wars are "but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit."

At what point do people start to wonder if something is wrong with a system that starves the poor to feed the dogs of war?
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

TULSA, Okla. - Rhonda McCracken is a kindergarten teacher and a Republican who voted for President Donald Trump. Now she's wrestling with the consequences.

McCracken's deep-rooted conservatism is matched by a passion to support Tulsa Domestic Violence Intervention Services, a nonprofit that helped her flee an ex- who she says beat and choked her, once until unconsciousness. She became teary as she described how staff members at the organization helped her and her son escape that relationship.

"They saved my life, and my son's," she said, her eyes liquid. So she is aghast that one of Trump's first proposals is to cut federal funds that sustain the organization.

Here in Oklahoma, I've been interviewing many people like McCracken - fervent Trump supporters who now find that the White House is trying to ax programs they have depended on, to pay for Trump's border wall and for increases in military spending. And they're upset.

"Why is building a wall more important than educating people?" asked Billy Hinkle, a Trump voter who is enrolled in a program called Tulsa WorkAdvance that trains mostly unemployed workers to fill well-paying manufacturing jobs. Trump has proposed eliminating a budget pot that pays for the program.

I came to Trump country to see how voters react as Trump moves from glorious campaign promises to the messier task of governing. While conservatives often decry government spending in general, red states generally receive more in federal government benefits than blue states do - and thus are often at greater risk from someone like Trump.

Ezekiel Moreno, 35, a Navy veteran, was stocking groceries in a supermarket at night - "a dead-end job," as he describes it - when he was accepted in WorkAdvance two years ago. That training led him to a job at M&M Manufacturing, which makes aerospace parts, and to steady pay increases.

"We've moved out of an apartment and into a house," Moreno told me, explaining how his new job has changed his family's life. "My daughter is taking violin lessons, and my other daughter has a math tutor."

Moreno was sitting at a table with his boss, Rocky Payton, the factory's general manager, and Amy Saum, the human resources manager. All said they had voted for Trump, and all were bewildered that he wanted to cut funds that channel people into good manufacturing jobs.

"There's a lot of wasteful spending, so cut other places," Moreno said.

Payton suggested that if the government wants to cut budgets, it should target "Obama phones" provided to low-income Americans. (In fact, the program predates President Barack Obama and is financed by telecom companies rather than by taxpayers.)

Yet Democrats gleeful at the prospect of winning penitent voters back should take a deep breath. These voters may be irritated, but I was struck by how loyal they remain to Trump.

I talked to many Trump voters about the impact if Trump's budget cuts go through, and none regretted their votes in November. They all said that they might vote for Trump for re-election.

Judy Banks, a 70-year-old struggling to get by, said she voted for Trump because "he was talking about getting rid of those illegals." But Banks now finds herself shocked that he also has his sights on funds for the Labor Department's Senior Community Service Employment Program, which is her lifeline. It pays senior citizens a minimum wage to hold public service jobs.

"This program makes sense," said Banks, who was placed by the program into a job as a receptionist for a senior nutrition program. Banks said she depends on the job to make ends meet, and for an excuse to get out of the house.

"If I lose this job," she said, "I'll sit home and die."

Yet she said she might still vote for Trump in 2020. And that's a refrain I heard over and over. One recent survey found that only 3 percent of Trump voters would vote differently if the election were today.

Elizabeth Hays, 27, said her life changed during her freshman year in high school, when four upperclassmen raped her. Domestic Violence Intervention Services rescued her, she said, by helping her understand that the rape wasn't her fault.

She's profoundly grateful to the organization - yet she stands by Trump even as she is dismayed that he wants to slash support for a group that helped her when she needed it most. "We have to look at what we spend money on," she said, adding, "I will stand behind my president."

Kristof is a New York Times columnist.
Texas lawmakers in the current legislative session have filed at least 25 bills that promote or even require discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This is wrong.

These divisive, mean-spirited bills betray a teaching common to many faiths, which we find first in the book of Leviticus 19:18 and repeated in Mark 12:31: "Love your neighbor as yourself." The first century Jewish Sage Rabbi Hillel expanded this idea when he taught: "That which is hateful unto you do not do to your neighbor." This aspiration, commonly known as the Golden Rule, is simple: we should treat others as we want to be treated.

But of all the hateful legislation that has been filed, the most disturbing bills are 17 that - taken in total - would allow government officials, private individuals and businesses to use religion as justification to discriminate against LGBT people in virtually every aspect of their lives.

These bills authorize unequal treatment under the law, whether it's a gay student seeking counseling services or a job, a same-sex couple seeking to marry or to provide a loving home to a foster child, or a transgender person needing basic medical care or trying to rent an apartment.

Religious freedom is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans. But we as faith leaders are troubled when we see politicians trying to redefine that freedom to mean the right to hurt people who are different.

Religious liberty has never meant the right to impose our beliefs on others. Nor does it give us the right to refuse to obey laws on so called "religious principle." And it certainly does not mean the right to hurt people because we dislike them or are offended by who they are or whom they love. That is discrimination, not religious freedom.

We know all too well how some have used religion to justify discrimination against Jews, African Americans and others in our country's history.

When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched, he did not march alone. Clergy and laity from Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities joined him. They came to stand as one against discrimination, marching forward together. Now some in the Legislature would drag us backward by declaring that yet another class of people should be singled out for discrimination. Have we not yet learned that when one group's liberties are constrained, we all suffer the consequences?

What is to stop government officials or businesses from using religious objections to subject others to their personal moral agenda? If any of these bills become law, people would have license to wield their religious beliefs as a weapon and impose their own form of moral punishment on anyone who doesn't share their beliefs and practices.

This is fundamentally wrong and antithetical to our values as Americans and as people of faith. Those in government who profess a deep religious faith would be wise to go back to their Bible and internalize the truths that have been the core of our beliefs for thousands of years. We are obligated to protect the weak and vulnerable in our midst, and we are called upon to treat each person we meet with the recognition that they too are created in the image of God.

The great African-American poet and writer Audre Lorde has written, "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own." Perhaps it is time for those who would shackle LGBT folks to remember that the God they claim to serve privileges love above all things, and sets captives free.

Nathan, senior rabbi at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, and Combs, who has served as a pastor and chaplain in Waco, Fort Worth and Dallas, are part of Texas Believes, a coalition of faith leaders who support equality for LGBT Texans.
Grace G. Bandy, 81, passed away Saturday, April 1, 2017.

She was born July 21, 1935, in Flatrock, daughter of John W. and Nora Bates Bandy.

She attended schools in Flatrock and Summersville. She graduated in 1953.

She attended nursing school in Washington, D.C., then enlisted in the Air Force in 1958.

In 1979, she adopted a little girl abandoned at the military hospital where she was the director of nursing at the time. She served her country for many years, including being a flight nurse on the medic helicopters during the Vietnam War. The majority of her nursing career involved caring and treating returning combat veterans experiencing psychological trauma due to the Vietnam Conflict.

She retired from the Air Force in 1983 with the rank of Lt. Colonel.

She was a member of Summersville Church of Christ.

She loved reading, eating good food, collecting antiques, listening to music, watching television and serving and helping others. What brought her the greatest joy was being with her family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; five sisters, Mildred Pearl, Cecile Jewel, Mable Irene, Muriel Norene and Bessie Mae; and five brothers James Floyd, Rado Clarence, Orville Gene, William Anthony and John Junior.

Survivors include a daughter, Carmelita Weddle of Santa Clara, Calif.; two grandchildren; two sisters, Alene Fleener and Mary Lou Beasley of Summersville; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Services are 1 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Bradford Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation is 11 a.m. until service time at the funeral home. Burial with military honors will be in Summersville City Cemetery.

Online condolences maybe left atbradfordfuneralhome.net.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4

By Orkhan Quluzade  Trend:

In March 2017, 24,134 Russian citizens visited the Turkish city of Antalya, which is 816 percent more than in March 2016, Turkish media outlets reported.

However, the total number of foreign tourists who came to Antalya in March 2017 decreased by 35.6 percent compared to March 2016, to amount to 165,741 people.

In January-March 2017, 337,663 foreigners visited Antalya, which is 27 percent less compared to the same period of 2016.

At the same time, the number of Russian tourists coming to Antalya in January-March 2017 increased by 672 percent as compared to the same period of 2016.
Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.

If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.
As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.
Ill start this post with what should be obvious. Twitters not the real world, and neither is todays version of the news. There are extremes on both sides of the news industry and what you read is likely to be more Op/Ed than true reporting. It takes real work to find true reporting these days.

A related issue is the unwillingness of normal people to share their thoughts and beliefs on any news topic of relevance in the world for fear of one sidegenerally the left these dayslooking to shame the source for any thought not believed to be progressive enough.

It starts with dialog on race (hard topic coming off of 2020) but has spread like wildfire to other areas.

Simply put, the world needs all of us to be vocal when we can add value.

Which brings me to the topic of this post.

For months now, weve heard about organized labor (known as unions to the layperson) bringing justice and representation to Amazon workers at an Amazon Distribution Facility in Bessemer (Birmingham), AL. (In the case of the Amazon vote, the union in question was the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which Ill simply refer to as the union from this point forward.)

Last week, employees at that Amazon Distribution Facility voted no to that union representing them.

But they didnt just say no. Based on the numbers and the circumstances, the employees actually said, HELL NO (all caps to express the sentiment).

Whats been represented by the mainstream media over the past 4-5 months related to this union campaign is very different than the outcome. Due to that, I wanted to share some things that I want my HR, Recruiting, Talent and Business leader friends, who havent had much experience with organized labor, to know about the Amazon union drive in Bessemer/Birmingham and about organizing activity in general.

Before we get it into it, let me say this: every employee deserves an opportunity to earn a great living based on their performance. They deserve a safe environment that respects all people and provides maximum opportunity to all, regardless of race, gender, orientation and any other identifier.

If a union is the best option for a group of employees (because the company has failed), so be it.

But a union wasnt the best option for workers at the Amazon DC in Bessemer, AL, regardless of the pounding on the topic that happened from politicians and the media.

Lets dig in and understand why something we were told was great (employees saying yes to a union at Amazon) was met with such strong opposition by an incredibly diverse set of Amazon employees in the Birmingham area.

Buckle up, friendsthis is a long one but an important one.

HERE ARE THE 10 THINGS I WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNION ORGANIZING PROCESS AT AMAZON (BESSEMER DISTIRUBTION CENTER):

1Lets start with the basic of how union organizing works, shall we?

The process of organizing generally works like this: a limited number of employees at any company are dissatisfied and reach out to a union organization wondering about representation. A process is followed, and if theres enough interest, an election is held asking employees at the location/unit inside the company if they want the union to represent them.

If employees vote no, things remain as is. If the employees vote yes (simple majority is all that is needed), collective bargaining (negotiation) starts between the company and the union to create an agreement on all employment stipulations. There are 100 more things experts could tell you about this process, but lets keep this high-level to make sure youve got the base.

Got it? Great.

2The Union Organizing process at the Amazon DC had a lot of friends on the left, including POTUS, most mainstream media, Hollywood and more.

Most of the people listed above assumed what they wanted to happen (employees vote yes to bring in the union) would happen based on the narrative they were building. It didnt.

Article after article has covered the Amazon union vote as a watershed moment for workers, the left, and for organized labor. Most coverage cited hard working conditions in an Amazon DC as being unfair to workers. Is that true? Youll have to dig in to the results to understand what the workers thought. But the media coverage was unrelenting over the past couple of months and was easily a 90/10 split90% of articles talking in glowing terms about the union movement, etc. and only 10% actually doing reporting.

To increase the pressure, the POTUS was active, making the following statement.

"Today and over the next few days and weeks workers in Alabama - and all across America - are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. This is vitally important - a vitally important choice," he said.

"There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda. No supervisor should confront employees about their preferences."

More to come on that statement, because, as it turns out, unions and the employees who are pro-union have all the opportunity in the world to do exactly what Biden is talking aboutpressure and coerce employeesas part of the process. We never hear about that.

And, of course, others weighed in. Bernie Sanders came to Birmingham (Bessemer is in the Birmingham, AL metro) to show solidarity with the workers and apply pressure. Entertainment stars piped in with their support, and some even came to Birmingham to support the union.

3Its probably warranted to talk a bit more about the organizing process that a union follows to get to an employee vote to give you more context.

I told you earlier that a union organizing process starts with a limited number of employees at any company being dissatisfied and reaching out to a union organization to ask about representation. Lets keep adding to those notes.

My experienceand I hold it to be trueis that its never the high performers in any company who initiate inquiries about unions. High performers are almost always comfortable with a meritocracy and arent open to paying a % of their compensation in union dues. To be fair though, inquiries about unions can begin from departments inside companies with horrific managers. In addition, companies with high performance quotas like Amazon can sometimes incite some normal to high performers to consider union representation as well.

Once the call comes into the union, meetings are held away from work between that small group of employees and union organizers to discuss the issues. If the union sees opportunity, they will seek to invite more people to meetings to continue the evaluation process.

Once the union decides the opportunity is strong enough to warrant the additional effort, something called authorization cards are introduced, which ask employees to sign saying that they are interested in the union representing them. In order for a union to have enough cards to present to the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) and get a union election inside the company, they have to have at least 30% of employees within the unit in question sign the card.

4Most unions want 50-70% of employees to sign authorization cards before presenting to the NLRB, because they understand many of the cards will be signed under duress and employees will flip back to the company side.

Heres how asking for a card works in many circumstances. A pro-union employee will approach their colleagues and friends, give a little elevator speech about the unfairness on the company side and ask the person in front of them to sign the card as a signal that youre with us/me.

At that point, the person being solicited has a choice: they can sign the card or not. As you might expect, many sign the card to avoid conflict with the pro-union person in front of them. Sounds awesome, right? When Joe Biden said workers should be able to make their decision about union representation without interference from the company, he fails to mention this form of coercion on the union side. Thats really weak.

5The reason most organizing campaigns never get to a vote is because employees who dont care for union representation get wind of the secret card signings going on and report it to the company in question.

Names for these employees reporting the presence of cards in the workplace range from fink to hero depending on your side of this. But once its reported that there are authorization cards in the workplace, most companies ramp up their training on what unions are and begin other union avoidance activities. More to follow on this in a bit.

6Lets talk about the result at this point. The union got absolutely crushed in this thing. CRUSHED.

A union needs a simple majority of voting employees in order to win an election and earn the right to represent the employees unit. 50% plus one vote.

If you believed the media reports in the two months leading up to the Amazon DC union election, you either thought it was going to be a close election or it was a foregone conclusion the union would win.

The union got absolutely CRUSHED in this election by Amazon employees in the Bessemer DC.

Here are the results:

Total eligible voters  5,876

Voided ballots  76

Number of votes cast for the Union (RWDSU)  738

Number of votes cast against Union  1798

Number of challenged ballots  505 (roughly 300 challenged by Amazon, 200 by the union)

Number of employees not casting a ballot  2,759

Amazons statement on the vote pointed out that only 16% of employees at the Bessemer DC voted yes to the union. Amazon also correctly positioned the result: it wasnt a win for Amazon (although it was); it was an overwhelming decision made by real employees with real jobsand probably very few active Twitter accounts.

It should be noted that almost half of the employees in the defined unit (in this case, thats the entire distribution center) did not vote in the election. Not voting in this election is in all practical purposes a No vote.

The union and organized labor got crushed by this outcome.

7Amazon was helped by expanding the number of voters in the election. This is called defining and expanding the unit in any union election.

Heres another thing to know about the Amazon outcome. When unions get the initial call from a disgruntled employee, they only want work units that maximize their chances of winning an election. This reality means that unions want to keep scope small. Better to keep the group small and win an election than expand the size and lose is the practical thinking.

A common employer strategy is to expand the size of the group voting on whether to be represented by the union. Its counterintuitive to think employers would want to put more people at risk of being organized, but the bigger the group, the harder it is for pro-union pockets to have influence.

The NLRB hears arguments on this topic and provides rulings on the appropriate scope of a unit for any organizing process/election. For the most part, common locations or work units are the most frequent rationale in expanding the size of the unit that will vote yes/no on whether they want to be represented by the union in question.

One of the things Ive read in the media was that when the union presented the authorization cards to the NLRB, they assumed the size of the workforce was 1,500 workers. Amazon responded that it was 5,000+, which meant the union had to go out and get more cards to get to 30%. Its never a good sign when the union in question isnt aware of the employee count at a facility.

A lot of workers are going to sign the cards under the youre with us, right? peer pressure. Lets assume the union needed 1,800 cards (30% of 5,876) to get to 30% (after they incorrectly assumed the facility size was 1,500 employees). They ended up with 738 votes in the election. Ponder that. Then add the fact that this whole union vote was conducted over a two- month period via mail-in ballot.

That means that 1,800 employees signed a card when someone rolled up on them and asked them to, but only 58% of them (I added the 300 votes Amazon challenged to the 738 for this math) followed through and mailed in their ballot.

Let all that that sink in. Then think about the pressure the union side puts on an employee to get an authorization card signed based on those numbers. But sure, employers are the only problem in this equation. LOL.

8Its obvious that the employees at the Amazon DC voted in a way that suggests for many that working for Amazon is one of the best jobs theyve had related to pay, benefits, etc.

Only 16% of employees at the Amazon Distribution Center in Bessemer voted yes to union representation. The other 84% voted No or couldnt be bothered to vote in such an election.

Why did 84% vote No or abstain in supporting a union? There are multiple reasons for this. First up, employees voting No or abstaining from voting indicates that they didnt believe union representation to be in their best interest. They voted for a direct relationship with their supervision and Amazon over union representation.

Another reason for the blowout win is that the jobs in question are pretty good jobs. Consider the following rundown from Yellowhammer:

On top of Amazons $15 minimum wage, the company offers industry-leading benefits to full-time employees, which include comprehensive health care from day one, 401(k) with 50% match, up to 20 weeks paid parental leave and Amazons innovative Career Choice program, which pre-pays 95% of tuition for courses in high-demand fields. Since the programs launch four years ago, more than 25,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, just to name a few.

Add base wages, OT, benefits and more, and youre suddenly looking at a job worth 45-50K+ that grows over time. Amazon is already one of the best-paying jobs a non-skilled laborer can get in Alabama.

A diverse employee base at the Amazon Distribution Center trusted that more than they trusted the union in question.

9After this result, the Biden administration and the media will push the narrative that employees were influenced in an unethical way by Amazon and will use that as a narrative to push through new laws and NLRB rules. Dont believe it, remember FOE

Scan the news and you already see this: complaints about interference from Amazon in the union election process are widespread. For the uninitiated, the law and NLRB rules and regulations protect the employers right to be proactive in telling their side of the story to employees during a time period known as the campaign period.

During this period, employers can hold mandatory/captive meetings where they can share their thoughts on why voting Yes for union representation is a bad thing. Simply put, employers can provide FOE (Facts, Opinions and Experiences) but cannot engage in TIPS activity (Threaten, Interrogate, Pressure or Surveil).

The Biden administration will use the Amazon outcome as a proxy for why employers should be limited in telling their FOE-based perspectives and will attempt to change the law and NLRB rules and regulations as a result.

Dont believe it? Remember that unions conduct their initial activities in secret and routinely use pro-union employees to pressure peers to sign authorization cards (no secret ballot in that!) that lead to elections.

Amazon said in a statement that the union will say that Amazon won this election because we intimidated employees, but thats not true.

Our employees heard far more anti-Amazon messages from the union, policymakers, and media outlets than they heard from us, the company said. And Amazon didnt win  our employees made the choice to vote against joining a union.

The union got blown out in this one. Companies should be able to tell their story on such an important topic before the employee base votes.

10To really blow your mind, consider the fact that this election was held 100% by mail-in voting due to COVID. Lets dig in on what opportunity that provides for a union attempting to organize.

My friends, consider this. NLRB-sanctioned union votes are generally held in similar fashion to pre-COVID federal and state elections. Employees go to a polling place run by the NLRB and vote in secret-ballot fashion. Its on lockdown.

The union vote for the Amazon Distribution Center in Bessemer was held over a two-month period via mail-in voting. Let that sink ina distribution center where the work is 100% on site (no remote employees) was allowed to do 100% mail-in voting for a union vote. Amazon protested this (rightfully so) and lost its challenge.

What does mail-in voting mean? It means the union in question had the opportunity (if they opted to or asked pro-union employees to act as proxies) to approach employees, ask them to complete their mail in votes (pro-union of course) and offer to drop the ballots in the mail for the employee. It basically offered the same opportunity for influence, pressure and more in the voting process that I described earlier when pro-union employees approach their peers for a signed authorization card in the stage before a vote.

Still, only 16% of employees voted for the union. Crazy.

THE BIG FINISH

I know about 100 people who know more than I do about unions, organizing efforts by unions and strategies to remain union-free on the company side.

But none of those people feel like they can share their expertise publicly. Why?

Because all of them fear being attacked by the digital mob.

Thats where were at in America in 2021. Good people with great knowledge and a perspective the world needs to hear wont share their expertise on a variety of topics for fear of being cancelled, shamed orGod forbidbeing called a Republican.

The Amazon union vote is a great reminder that the vast majority of America isnt aligned with the extremeson either the right or the left. Theyre simply looking for opportunity that they didnt have last year, and when someone treats them fairlyeven if the work is really hardmost Americans are going to be very skeptical of someone telling them its a bad thing.

As for me, Im going to try to be less fearful of the digital mob moving forward. Im going to try and write and have conversations that respect how the vast majority of America thinks.

To the Amazon employees in the Bessemer Distribution Center: congratulations on the outcome that left no doubt on what the vast majority of you value, and thanks for the reminder that at the end of the day, we all need to be less afraid of speaking the truth on a day-to-day basis.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has described a deadly chemical attack in northern Syria as a crime against humanity, Anadolu reported.

Speaking in Turkey's western province of Isparta on Tuesday, Cavusoglu said women and children were among the dead in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.

The use of chlorine gas has been blamed on the Syrian regime.

"This is a crime against humanity and there should be a punishment for this. But I am sure that the Western world which tries to teach human rights but showed impassivity when the red line was crossed before will try to cover this up again too," Cavusoglu said.

He said it was not the first such chemical attack by the Syrian regime.

"Chemical weapons were a red line for the whole world, but it became routine... After the truce, violations were occasionally occurring, but this is obviously a very serious violation," he added.

A cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia came into effect in Syria late last year.

Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons had been used by regime forces and opposition fighters in 2014 and 2015. However, no actionable steps were taken.
With the Syrian refugee crisis ongoing and images of people crossing the U.S.-Canada border into Canada making the news, now is the perfect time to teach your kids about the plight of refugees from different points in history.

Although many of us think of adults when we think of refugees, children caught up in war-torn Syria have fared the worst, according to World Vision. These kids lose family members and friends to violence, suffer physical and psychological trauma and lose their homes and even their home towns.

Advertisement

The following books will teach kids as young as two and as old as 12 about the power of compassion, empathy, kindness and friendship.

Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey by Doug Kuntz and Amy Shrodes

The story of an Iraqi family's lost cat teaches readers about the difficulties of being a refugee, from losing their home, to being displaced, to the reasons behind having to flee in the first place. The harrowing tale also teaches children about compassion, kindness and community.

Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Richard Simon and Tanya Simon

Advertisement

A refugee seeking a safe haven from the horrors of Kristallnacht walks through New York City to find his new home. Along the way, Oskar encounters small acts of kindness from the city's residents, teaching readers the value in not judging people for where they come from, and to have compassion for all.

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed

Two girls in a refugee camp form a friendship after realizing they can share the sandals they both want. As we follow their story, we learn about life in a refugee camp: the long lines for water, the wait for food from relief workers and the ache the girls feel when the boys go to school while they stay behind.

Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha

This book is based on the author's real-life story of her time spent in a refugee camp in Thailand after her father was killed in the war in Laos in the mid-20th century, and then as an immigrant in the United States. The story is told through the traditional Hmong story cloth, stitched by Cha's aunt and uncle, and is an invaluable tool for parents and teachers who want to teach kids about Hmong history, as well as the ability to have compassion for immigrants.

Advertisement

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Covering two stories in two different times, A Long Walk to Water tells the tales of Nya, an 11-year-old girl living in Sudan in 2008 and Salva, a "lost boy" of Sudan in 1985. Nya is forced to take two long trips to the pond for water every day while Silva leads a group of over 100 boys in search of a refugee camp in Kenya, facing danger at every turn.

Playing War by Kathy Beckwith

This beautifully illustrated story (drawn by Lea Lyon), tells the tale of a group of young boys playing a typical game of war. But one new kid in town tells them about the real war back in his home country and the kids learn about what their "game" really means.

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey by Margriet Ruurs and artwork by Nizar Ali Badr

Advertisement

This picture book, inspired by the stone artwork of Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr, tells the story about the Syrian refugee crisis. Rama and her family are forced to flee their village to escape the civil war. With all their posessions on their backs, the family attempt to walk to freedom in Europe.

Passage To Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Mochizuki

Based on a true story, five-year-old Hiroki recounts how his father, the Japanese ambassador to Lithuania during the First World War, risks his life to issue thousands of exit visas to Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. It's a powerful story with a simple message: one person can make a huge difference.

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys in Sudan by Mary Williams

Eight-year-old Garang's village in Sudan is destroyed by soldiers, forcing him and other orphan boys to walk for 1,000 miles to safety. After finishing their perilous journey, they are eventually accepted as refugees in the United States, but we learn in the afterword that the boys' struggles don't end once they land in their new home.

Advertisement

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

When Janjaweed attackers destroy Amira's Sudanese village, making her lose everything, she begins her long journey to a refugee camp. And just when she's about to give up and succumb to the earth, a red pencil promises new beginnings and endless possibilities.

From Far Away by Robert Munsch and Saoussan Askar

Based on the real letters Saoussan wrote to Munsch, we learn about life as a young refugee from her family's escape from war-ridden Lebanon to her first Halloween in Canada.

The Sky Is Falling by Kit Pearson

Advertisement

The children in this book aren't your typical refugees but the theme of being forced to leave your home for the unknown due to war runs through this wonderful children's book.
We often hear about instances of sexual harassment, but how often do we see it? Thats the question a new campaign is asking its viewers.

#ThatsHarassment is a new video series launched by David Schwimmer to raise awareness of the sexual harassment of women. The campaign not only shines a light on how frequently it occurs, but also on how subtle it can be.

Advertisement

Actor David Schwimmer at the 2017 Golden Globe Awards.

In the course of these stories and this process, I was repeatedly putting myself in the mind-set of what it must be like to be a woman in the world today, Schwimmer told Cosmopolitan. When you've been objectified your entire life and become accustomed to being a second-class citizen in many, many ways  constantly told that you aren't worth the same as men, basically, and that your body comes first, or what you look like comes first  it makes a lot more sense to me that a lot of women don't even recognize when theyre being harassed. Because you spend your whole life not being treated with the kind of respect that men are automatically given.

The campaign includes six videos depicting different types of sexual harassment in everyday life. Each video is based on a true story and portrays instances involving a coworker, a boss, a doctor, a photographer, a politician and an actor.

The first video in the series, simply titled The Coworker, is a powerful depiction of how misinformed people are about what sexual harassment is and how quickly it can be brushed off.

Advertisement

The nearly four-minute clip shows a woman (played by Grace Gummer) prepping for her first bartending shift. While her male coworker attempts to prep her for any misguided behaviour she might experience from male customers (a.k.a. sexual harassment), he ends up sexually harassing her himself.

The clip is cringe-worthy and uncomfortable, but it makes a powerful statement: harassment is harassment no matter what.

The other videos are just as powerful and include well-known stars such as Cynthia Nixon, Emmy Rossum, Bobby Cannavale and Schwimmer himself.

Advertisement

Schwimmers friend, Israeli-American director Sigal Avin, originally launched a campaign against sexual harassment in Israel in December by releasing five short films based on true stories. She then approached the Friends star to help launch the series in the U.S.

I realized that I really wanted to see what sexual harassment was instead of hearing about it and reading about it all the time, she told Cosmopolitan, adding that there was nothing that showed the gray area of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment has recently become a hot topic in the media. Not only has U.S. President Donald Trump been accused of sexually harassing a number of women, but Oscar-winner Casey Affleck has also faced two lawsuits (which were settled out of court) over accusations that he allegedly sexually harassed two women while on the job.

Clearly the new campaign to combat sexual harassment couldnt come at a better time. Avin told Cosmopolitan that as a result of the series, more men are questioning their actions and are becoming more aware of what is and isnt acceptable behaviour.

What a lot of men and good friends have said is that in watching these, you see how easy it is to cross the line, the director said. A lot of men in Israel were saying they went to sleep that night going through their history, asking themselves, 'When exactly did I do this and when exactly did I do that?

Advertisement

Also on HuffPost
A Toronto radio host hit a raw, emotional chord with listeners Monday after he began talking about the anxieties that come with reuniting with an ex who has moved on with their life.

Jim Richards, a Newstalk 1010 host, shared a tearful story about seeing his ex-girlfriend in an Ottawa restaurant after declining an invitation to attend her wedding.

Advertisement

She hugged me for about two or three seconds. And I hugged her back a little bit. Because I thought it was going to be a friendly, like, Hi how are you hug. And she didnt let go.

The two embraced in front a table of mutual friends, all aware of the pairs history, for what felt like ten minutes, Richards said. Then he heard a sound that really began to churn his emotions.

But while we were hugging, I could hear her crying in my ear, he said. It broke my heart because she was hugging me tighter and tighter  and crying in my ear. Because I pushed her away.

Listen to the full segment below:

Advertisement

Bound by a radio schedule, Richards collected himself before throwing to a traffic report.

The segment made a deep impression with Richards audience, some who were caught off guard listening to a show format often characterized by sound effects rather than tender moment of human connectedness.

This was pretty heartbreaking to listen to, wrote one listener.

I listen 1010 all the time and I never expected this from Jim, it took a lot of courage to reveal this on air... I was choking up by the end also, I felt how deep your pain is, wrote another, leaving a piece of advice behind to offer a some words of optimism to the host.
Mike Hutchings / Reuters Malawian subsistence farmer tend their fields near the capital Lilongwe, Malawi February 1, 2016. Late rains in Malawi threaten the staple maize crop and have pushed prices to record highs. About 14 million people face hunger in Southern Africa because of a drought that has been exacerbated by an El Nino weather pattern, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Picture taken with fish eye lens. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

By Jemimah Njuki

What does investing in women have to do with reducing post-harvest losses? Everything!

A report released in 2015 shows that out of every 100 tonnes of maize produced, up to 25 are lost before they reach the consumer's plate. For fresh produce, this loss can double: up to 43 per cent of fruit and 56 per cent of vegetables produced are lost.

About 80 per cent of this food loss happens during harvesting and storage. And studies across most African countries show that women provide the majority of the labour for harvesting and storage. This is where investing in women can make a difference.

Advertisement

Take the case of fish drying -- a method to help preserve the fish for the markets by removing water from the food. Most of the people who do this in Malawi and other places across Africa are women, and they rely on the sun to dry fish. But in Malawi, the main fishing season coincides with the rainy season, so women have to constantly keep a watch on the fish, removing it from the beds when it rains and returning it when the rain stops. As a result, they cannot engage in other economic activities. A lot of the fish rots in drying beds.

Another case is threshing of beans. Due to a lack of mechanization, the task of removing the beans from their pods is a tedious one, often carried out by women and children. Dry harvested beans are laid on the ground and 'beaten' with sticks. A lot of the beans get mixed up in the soil and can only be recovered through a tedious process of separating the beans from the soil, one grain at a time. Again, this is done by women and children.

But as the first Africa post-harvest congress was held last week in Nairobi, the good news is that we can invest in innovations to reduce food loss while at the same time reducing women's drudgery in harvesting, storage and processing. Here are some ways we can invest in supporting women to reduce post-harvest loss:

Develop new solutions that free up women to do other work, while also reducing losses. For example, in Malawi, researchers have developed an improved solar tent drier that reduces the time needed to dry fish, while at the same time protecting the fish from contaminants such as flies and dust. Working with women cooperatives, women can either own these solar tent driers, or use them on a 'rent to dry basis' from other entrepreneurs in their villages.

Advertisement

Invest in women's businesses and give them access to finance so they can add value and preserve what they produce. Although women sometimes provide up to 100 per cent of the labour for the production and harvesting of food, their businesses often remain small and in the margins -- and they often don't have the tools or means to preserve the food for sale. Investing in women owned businesses can reduce post-harvest loss, enable them earn income and create employment opportunities for other women. In a study in Malawi, women fish processors that had accessed credit to invest in better fish processing controlled 80 per cent of fish trading in five of the sites where the study was carried out.

Improve market linkages to ensure women have a buyer to whom to sell their produce. For example, in Kenya and Uganda, researchers and a private sector company are adding value to beans by developing precooked bean products that cook in 10-15 minutes, providing women smallholder bean producers with a ready market for their beans.

Remove trade barriers. Women are also heavily engaged in cross border trade and removing barriers can enable them access markets more readily. In Southern Africa for example, 70 per cent of informal cross border traders are women.

The Africa post-harvest conference has brought together organizations and individuals that have been working to reduce post-harvest food losses in the region at a time when more than 20 million people in Africa are facing food insecurity -- and some, outright starvation.

Investing in women as food producers, processors and traders can reduce food loss, ensuring access to much needed food for those in need while also giving women the economic means to support themselves, their families and communities.

Advertisement

Jemimah Njuki manages a portfolio of agriculture and food security, and women's empowerment projects at Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CCIC or its members.
Summer has finally arrived and Canada's housing market is warming up. The average home in Vancouver last year sold for $1.5 million and the average home in Toronto for $782,051. This despite the fact that the average yearly income in Vancouver was $71,660 and the median income in Toronto was $76,219.

The Canadian real-estate market being hot as the air in a Sean Spicer press conference isn't new for Canadians -- countless volumes of editorial artillery have been unleashed on the subject for years -- with one blog I recently wrote discussing the prospect that foreign money laundering plays a role in both markets. What's intriguing about our new reality (however impermanent it may prove to be) is how Canadians have adapted to these increased prices.

Advertisement

Whatever the convoluted talk about the myriad causes behind recent price escalations, the reality can be summarized quite easily -- the demand for housing in Toronto and Vancouver is higher than the supply. The surplus supply therefore must find a place to go -- people must live somewhere, and housing is not an optional foodstuff like chocolate or marshmallows. Those considering the purchase of their first home are often currently renting one, and so typically decide to remain where they are. This has resulted in many Canadians who would ordinarily have departed the rental market remaining there, decreasing the number of residential vacancies and increasing average rents.

The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom condo in Toronto is around $1,800 a month and $2,400 for a two-bedroom. Vancouver is even worse, with an average rent of $1,900 a month for a one-bedroom condo and $3,130 for a two-bedroom. These prices are largely a result of people remaining in the market who shouldn't be there -- people who, in a more ordinary market cycle, would be homeowners but are instead trapped as tenants.

Consider how this affects the general order.

The only rule about government interference is that it always creates an unintended result.

Students and the young decide to remain at home for longer, as they cannot afford to move out. How does this affect their parents? Young professionals must now compete with older, more established mature tenants in order to find a place to live. This added competition increases their average rents and decreases their savings, forcing them to delay their first home purchase as they need time to save the down payment.

Meanwhile, the tenants who wanted to purchase a home but were outbid by $100,000 on each of the three homes they liked (I have clients for whom this has occurred) are stuck with rents as high as mortgage payments. A rent of $1,900 a month is equivalent to the average mortgage payment on a three-year, $400,000 mortgage with a fixed rate of 2.59 per cent. In other words, they are paying record-high rents for no return in value.

Advertisement

There has been talk of how to solve this latest crisis and it of course revolves around government interference. The only rule I've thus far been able to deduce as ubiquitous about government interference is that it always creates an unintended result.

"Rent control" is the meme of the hour, with advocacy groups insisting that unless rents in all buildings are controlled, people will be priced out of their homes. For a brief background, the current regime prohibits the increase of rent above a provincially determined guideline (usually one to three per cent per year) for any unit first occupied prior to Nov. 1, 1991. Lobby groups such as ACORN would like to remove this restriction, so all units regardless of when they were occupied are rent controlled.

The unintended consequence of any such action would be that fewer investors and builders would create new housing. Further decreasing the supply of rental units in an environment where demand is increasing. This would be a recipe for a shortage in overall supply and an explosion in the number of low-quality units and landlords willing to create new housing (but only if they cut every corner possible in its construction and management). An ubiquitous price freeze on rents (and that is what a one to three per cent increase per year is tantamount to) would paradoxically lead to less housing and decreased housing quality.

Both the housing dilemma and the rental dilemma -- two problems connected at the hip -- have the same solution: an increase in supply. And in time, so long as there is no government interference designed to spare the market from bubbles that grow too large and pop on their own, the system will re-balance and recover. Purchasers will realize that not all homes are worth $100,000 above asking price (how much capital is currently tied up in real estate that could be going to investments in small business or innovation?).

Advertisement

Those of you who find yourselves in one camp or the other, tenant or landlord, purchaser or seller, remember that all things go in circles. When the centre cannot hold, it will all fall apart.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
"Look at all the young girls, this is a felony waiting to happen."

That was the "joke" that Russell Peters used to open up the 2017 Junos on Sunday, an award show that had already been marred by a second consecutive year of the #JunosSoMale debate over gender-imbalanced nominees. Peters then proceeded to reduce Canada's heritage minister, the Honourable Melanie Joly, to being "hot."

The show went on, but anger over Peters has continued to build as have the usual defenders crying about how it was just a joke.

Advertisement

So let's unpack that.

What Peters was "joking" about was that these "young girls" -- these female fans who were just excited to be close to the stage for this celebration of Canadian music -- might get raped by an adult later that night.

That is what he meant by felony.

In Canada, it's illegal for adults to have sex with children under 16, though there is "close-in-age exception" if 14 and 15-year-olds have sex with someone less than five years older. So for it to be a felony, as Peters "joked," this would be statutory rape between a young girl and a much older man.

And he said it to their faces.

While things have improved over the years, the music industry's statutory rape problem has not gone away.

Think about how it made those girls, and others watching from home, to hear a famous comedian joke about their rape on a national TV award show.

I was in the Ottawa arena at this point and the silence was deafening. Not so much on Twitter, where 140-character battles were waged between those who don't think raping teenagers is funny and those who like typing the acronym SJW and arguing that we should all just lighten up and take a joke.

Now, why did Peters think the Junos was the appropriate venue for his rape joke? Well, that's the other layer of the bit -- male music stars are known for statutory rape of young girls.

Chuck Berry, for instance, recently passed away. While the obits honoured him as the "architect of rock 'n' roll," many also mentioned the fact in 1961 he was sent to prison for illegally transporting Native American teen Janice Escalante across state lines for "immoral purposes."

Advertisement

She was 14 years old and Berry was in his mid-30s.

In 1958, Berry had a big hit with "Sweet Little Sixteen" in which he sings:

"She's got the grown-up blues / Tight dresses and lipstick / She's sportin' high-heel shoes / Oh but tomorrow morning / She'll have to change her trend / And be sweet sixteen / And back in class again."

That was the same year that Jerry Lee Lewis went to jail for marrying his 13-year-old cousin, 10 years his junior. The next year, 24-year-old Elvis Presley met his future wife Priscilla. She was 14.

Things would get even worse in the years to come, as this Thrillist article about the "baby groupie" scene points out:

"In the early 1970s, the Sunset Strip was a magnet for rock stars: Bowie, Zeppelin, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople, The Who. They all hung out in the VIP rooms of louche L.A. nightclubs... And with them, of course, came groupies. Scantily clad 14- and 15-year-olds... sipped cherry cola, dropped pills and evolved into pubescent dream girls for the platform-shoed rockers who could get anything and anyone they desired."

One of those girls, Lori Maddox (sometimes spelled Mattix), says she lost her virginity to David Bowie when she was 14 or 15 and was soon after kidnapped by Led Zeppelin's 29-year-old guitarist Jimmy Page. In the book Hammer of the Gods, she says Led Zep roadie Richard Cole was sent over with the message, "Jimmy told me that he's going to have you whether you like it or not."

Advertisement

She stayed with Page, largely kept behind closed doors so he could avoid imprisonment, for three years.

One of Maddox's friends, Sable Starr, moved in with the New York Dolls' Johnny Thunders at 16, inspiring the Iggy Pop song "Look Away":

"I slept with Sable when she was 13 / Her parents were too rich to do anything / She rocked her way around L.A. / 'Til a New York Doll carried her away."

Don Henley was arrested in 1980 after he called paramedics to his house to save a naked 16-year-old girl who was overdosing. Henley was 33.

Advertisement

When Ted Nugent was 30, the guy who sang "Jailbait" became the legal guardian of his 17-year-old girlfriend Pele Massa to avoid charges. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler did the same at age 27 so he could take 14-year-old "girlfriend" Julia Holcomb across state lines on tour.

Ex-Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman began "dating" Mandy Smith when she was 13 and he was 47.

Prince moved 17-year-old Anna Garcia into Paisely Park when he was 12 years older, while Marvin Gaye had a relationship with Janis Hunter, also 17, when he was twice her age, inspiring his song "Let's Get It On."

While things have improved over the years, the music industry's statutory rape problem has not gone away, as anyone who has followed R. Kelly's career is well aware. Here are just some of the rape allegations, and let's not forget he "married" Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27.

Advertisement

So this is the real background to Russell Peters' "felony waiting to happen" remark. This is why he thought it would be funny.

Maybe it could have been, perhaps at a comedy club and not an award show, if he had been punching up and mocking the predators rather than the prey.

But as delivered, the fact that male musicians have been using their fame to statutorily rape young girls for decades is not a joke by any definition.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
ADS ADS

To create these delicate intersecting curves, Corum chose to draw inspiration from a major current in contemporary architecture: streamlining. Spanning the 1930s to the 1960s, it originated in the United States at the same time as objects began to be mass-produced. The style is distinguished by its flowing, extremely dynamic curves.

The Golden Bridge Stream draws on this parallel today. After it was first presented in 1980, the Golden Bridge also dictated a new style. The watchmaking world was gripped by an aesthetic shift very similar to the spirit of streamlining: the ultimate fusion of shape and substance, where every last component becomes a determining part of the pieces overall style.





Combining cutting-edge micromechanics and monumental architecture, its automatic baguette- shaped movement forms a symbolic bridge featuring decoration inspired by San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge. The clear sapphire crystal reveals meticulous craftsmanship: a perfect miniaturisation of the structure of the Californian suspension bridge. Two gold models  one of which showcases a red lacquered microstructure  are available as very exclusive editions of 88 pieces.



Made entirely from gold, the piece is powered by an automatic movement that is wound by two parallel linear weights. Spanning 42 mm, it presents carefully considered and balanced lines, be they straight or curved, long or broken, to create a unique architecture. The case of the Golden Bridge Stream highlights this balance by playing with the tensions between clean-cut edges, sharp horns and a curved sapphire crystal.







See all Baselworld news >>
Alex_Schmidt via Getty Images A close-up photo of police lights by night

I am 19 years old. I am a black male. And I am tired of being harassed by authority figures in my life, from police, to security guards, to adults in general. I doubt I am the only one. I'm sharing my story with hopes that others will do so as well.

My parents raised mewith a good head on my shoulders and taught me the rights and the wrongs of the world: Follow your morals, get an education, and live life to the fullest. They have also taught me that I will have to work twice as hard as others, because the system has set me up for failure.

Advertisement

Growing up, I've heard stories of my brother getting harassed by police, but I could not believe something like that would happen to him. He's not a criminal; in my eyes, he's a brother, a son, and a nephew. I couldn't truly understand his feelings during those moments until I experienced it firsthand.

As of this moment, I have been contacted by police on five different occasions for various reasons ranging from driving infractions, flying my drone, or just walking in a park. There is an implicit accusation here: I must be up to no good. This has led to me making safety precautions like installing a dashcam in every car that I drive. People tend to lie and exaggerate the truth; video doesn't.

I thought I was being paranoid, until I got accused of impaired driving at a drive thru by a manager. Maybe I showed common signs of being impaired, but I had just come from studying at home. When I told others about my experience they downplayed it, and assumed I probably had been drinking.

Until I showed them the dashcam footage.

It is easy to deny the existence of a force you will never feel.

Only then could they side with me. This taught me my words mean nothing, unless I am able to prove my own innocence with evidence. I am never given the benefit of the doubt.

Advertisement

My experience at the restaurant is what sparked me to take a stand, and voice my experiences on Reddit. The community response was overwhelmingly supportive, but others still had their doubts. "This was not race related, it's because you are a teenager. Racism is extremely rare and basically never happens." by Reddit user. For those who believe race has not been a factor, I turn to an investigation by Ivan Zinger, J.D., PhD on "The Changing Face of Canada's Prisons."

This investigation finds that a disproportionate amount of visible minorities are incarcerated significant rate compared to Caucasians. In 2013 minority incarceration rates increased by almost 75%, while during the same period Caucasians rate dropped by 3%.

While people may feel racism is long gone and we have moved past it as a society, they may not have to deal with the constant pressure of validating your innocence. It is easy to deny the existence of a force you will never feel.

The change I am seeking is cultural. These changes to society do not happen overnight, which is why we have to start today. For the time being, I ask everyone to walk in someone else's shoes. Empathy for one another will overpower these needless accusations, and will bridge us closer together with one another. We can go so far if we just give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Toronto is a city which is progressive and can adapt to new idea's and cultural changes. It starts in our homes first, we need to grow and overcome together.

Advertisement

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
Jeremy Woodhouse via Getty Images

Mexico, my darling. Oh how you sway us in your turquoise ocean and hold our hands as we walk your white coral beaches. For the past ten days we ran freely through your dirt roads and danced wildly in your streets as you pulsed our heart to your beat.

Our minutes were endless but our days were short and so we speak gratitude and stow bags filled with artisanal weaves and mezcal in our rental. The dawn hasn't dawned yet and the neighbourhood cock still chants his kee-kee-ree-kee to joyous squeals of our twenty month old senorita. I pick a jasmine blossom and pin it behind my ear to breath your scent a little while longer, blissfully unaware you're about to take our breath away.

Advertisement

The night is thick with warmth and darkness, the streets deserted as we turn onto the main road chuckling that the police driving along side us doesn't care that the truck in front of us has five people squeezed into the front seat with two more snoring in a hammock in the rear. I buenos dias and smile as we pass and they turn off the path that will ride us through Quintana Roo back to Cancun International Airport.

We drive and reflect, sad to leave, when my rear-view flashes. My heart drops, I check my speed and think they'll pass, but they don't. I halt to the jungle side of the highway lit by the stars and the moon. The officer walks up and asks for my licencia. I get out, search the trunk, and hand it over. He accuses me of speeding and asks when my flight leaves. 10:30 y lo siento muchisimo, senor. He pauses. I swallow as the jasmine petals wilt and its scent rots. My options aren't options and I can choose to pick up my licencia at 12pm for 2800 pesos at the station OR just this once he could be nice and give me a 50% discount if I pay ahorita. Pero senor. Tenemos un bebe y solo doscientos pesos en efectivo y nada mas.

He glances toward his much kinder looking partner who nods with a slow close of the eye lids implying let's take it, but the officer I'm talking to fanes sympathy and keeps repeating el problemo is that no es para mi. This ain't his first rodeo and after a short negotiation and an explanation on my end that the Canadian dollar banks a miserable exchange rate, we agree on 1000 pesos and a drive to the ATM. At its best the cash will buy his son's school supplies, though it will more likely translate into joyrides celebrating another successful transaction in the life of two small time crooks protected by uniforms of the Policia municipal Tulum.

The flashing lights guide the way but instead of turning back towards el pueblo they take a right turn onto a gravel road into the jungle. My heart beats in my mouth and we halt in front of a deserted parking lot that holds the eeriness of places meant to be crowded with both bodies and noise. Unfortunately for us this pre dawn AM, there's not a soul in sight. Just dust, a flickering lamppost reserved for psycho thrillers and the dense jungle emitting noises of creatures whose presence you sense but can't see.

Advertisement

The police officers step out and so does my husband. We don't see an ATM but the officer points toward a string of shacks about 200 meters across the empty lot. Nicolas walks over while I guard our car and our baby. I see Nicolas popping his shoulders into his ears in search of said ATM and then I witness the exchange that makes my veins crunch ice. The officer hands his partner a baton and the little, chunky, silent officer rolls his knuckles around the weapon and crosses the field. My tears taste of boiled ocean and my sobs are now audible. Our Ella screams and while I want to pull her out of her seat to console her, I continue blinking into the darkness that swallowed her father. My thoughts begin racing with images of gushing wounds and single motherhood, but since I can't right this wrong I clench my darling's hand in an attempt to regain control of my fear.

And then just like that I observe the silhouettes of a swap and my heartbeat recovers from flatlining. Nic is back safe and the transaction is complete. No one got touched, no harm done and other than our bank account and the belief in humanity no one was violated.

I roll down my window to toss a jasmine blossom into your winds and we race toward the sunrise to climb aboard an airplane that will fly us the hell out of hell. 80 km later we return our car and I feel all the feels recounting the episode to the budget folks, who innocently worked their script to ask if the rental experience was to our liking.

And then I hear her sob. Her eyes well up and her tears fall hot and heavy. She, the budget supervisor, cannot tame her sadness, her fear and her apologies. Here she sits: A beautiful Mexican Mama whose heart is broken by my account of corruption in the land she calls home. I hug her and hold her and she cries snot, salt and water into the spot on my neck that surly gifts her the gentle perfume of jasmine.

Advertisement

My darling Mexico, I hurt for you. I hurt that you're being abused by those meant to protect you. I hurt that all your beauty and your kindness and your art and your people exist overshadowed by corruption and I promise you that we will visit again.

I will have to think twice whether I'll let my daughter play wildly in your winds again, but locking ourselves into one of your all inclusives is not the answer to our continued romance. It is our great privilege to fly home to a country where the police are friends and helpers, but it's also our privilege to live in a system that doesn't drive them into a dawn of corruption. The two officers will wake tomorrow morning and go about their schemes further numbing to the injustice of their existence, one scam and crooked exploitation at a time. My heart breaks for them.

Mexico, querida I'll love you in spite of the abuse you suffer and I will think of you fondly, hoping to return into your light while dreaming you'll one day free yourself from the vicious darkness that chokes you.
Commercial sealing has received a lot of buzz this year, but little of it includes the perspectives of groups who work to stop it. The romanticizing of commercial sealing continues virtually unfettered. Canadian parliamentarians trip over each other to defend Newfoundland commercial sealers. Vancouver-based chefs sell Atlantic Canadian seal meat, eagerly parroting industry propaganda.

But behind the spin lines, and deplorable aboriginal cultural appropriation aimed at marketing an activity that entails an industrial-scale slaughter taking place in Atlantic Canada, lies an irrefutable truth that will ultimately be the undoing of the commercial sealing industry: For this bloody industry, cash always trumps common decency.

Advertisement

Today, the commercial sealing industry and Canadian government self-righteously tell the world that newborn seals are protected in Canada, as if the move was voluntary. But it wasn't. Millions of people campaigned for a prohibition on trade in newborn harp seals (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks) and in 1987 they won. The public record is clear: the Canadian government and commercial sealing industry fought every step of the way to prevent the world from protecting newborn seals, until they had no choice but to concede.

A decade later, 101 sealers -- including the president and two directors of the Canadian Sealers Association -- were charged with illegally selling 2,200 whitecoats and 22,800 bluebacks. Two years after that, Canadian government documents revealed how commercial sealers deliberately slaughtered hundreds of pregnant and nursing hooded seals that year, cutting the living fetuses out of the dying mothers and throwing them into the ocean to drown. Ten years later, sealers were still arguing in court that it was their right to kill bluebacks. Veterinary recommendations to prohibit cruel hunting methods, such as shooting at seals in the water, have been rejected consistently because they would restrict the viability of the industry.

This year has served as a stark reminder of that lack of moral compass.

Because of the hard work of animal protection groups, seals have a short reprieve from slaughter in Canada: the hunt is closed for just three weeks while seals birth and nurse their pups. But even that temporary respite -- in a full year when seals can be targeted by commercial hunters -- is too much for commercial sealers.

Three days after the March 15th temporary closure, a major seal processor was already pressuring the federal government to reopen the killing. And, without missing a beat, the Trudeau administration agreed to reopen the slaughter on March 28th to April 7th.

Advertisement

Sealing boats crashing through the ice, gunfire and the cries of dying seals will shatter the peace of the nursery.

Thirteen days: that is all the time the Canadian government afforded seals to give birth to and nurse their pups. Thirteen days of peace that is now to be followed by gunshots and blows from clubs.

The sealers claim they will target adult seals in this section of the hunt. But for mother seals and their very young pups, it spells disaster. Sealing boats crashing through the ice, gunfire and the cries of dying seals will shatter the peace of the nursery. Mother seals are also away from their pups sporadically so, whether they intend to or not, sealers could easily kill nursing mothers, leaving pups to starve.

Just days from now, the hunt for the babies -- just a few weeks old by that point -- will begin.

I've observed the commercial seal hunt for 18 years. In that time, I've consistently documented baby seals suffering cruelty most adults cannot stand to watch on video. Three-week-old pups shot in the face, back or neck, left crawling through their own blood, crying in agony. Conscious seals impaled on gaffs, hoisted onto bloody decks and beaten to death. Babies too young for slaughter left to crawl through bloody remains.

For my efforts, I've had sealers physically attack me on the ice. I've been surrounded by mobs. I've been called every name in the book for trying to stop what any responsible nation would have outlawed 100 years ago. All because sealers know our campaign is working.

Advertisement

But today, I'm left with the knowledge that there is no greater enemy to commercial sealing than the industry itself. The kind of unethical cash grab we are witnessing this week exposes -- better than anything I could ever say -- exactly what this industry is about...and what is at stake.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog stated that the hunt for Harp seals re-opened on March 28, 2017, but did not mention that it was a limited hunt of adult Harp seals that would end on April 7th, 2017. The headline has been updated to reflect this change.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
PeopleImages via Getty Images Cropped shot of two businesspeople shaking handshttp://195.154.178.81/DATA/i_collage/pi/shoots/805355.jpg

Not every legal dispute needs to be resolved in a courtroom, and not every solution is best reached by applying the rigidity of statutory remedies. Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) has been on the rise as one of the primary ways to bring a dispute to resolution. Rather than spending significant time and money to litigate a case, the recent trend sees the increased use of ADR processes, such as mediation or arbitration, in the negotiation of a settlement outside of the courtroom. For estate litigation, and other disputes involving family dynamics, ADR is a valuable asset that can help preserve relationships and money involved. The rigidity of courtroom procedure is often not so well-equipped to facilitate mutually-agreeable outcomes for such emotionally charged disagreements.

Aside from the potential benefits related to saving costs and time, there are many factors that should be noted as benefits when considering the option of ADR. Due to the fact that ADR is collaborative, parties generally feel as if they have been directly involved in negotiating the settlement or resolution. Allowing the parties to the dispute to be involved in the process provides the parties with more control over the process and its outcome

Advertisement

Secondly, ADR can assist parties in negotiating in ways that are not available through traditional litigation. For example, a negotiated settlement may be more flexible and address legal and non-legal issues alike, rather than being confined to those that can be dealt with through the process of litigation and restricted by the court forms and processes that are required by the court process. The ADR process may also allow additional flexibility in creating a solution or settlement. For instance, a settlement may include elements of tax planning that might not be considered in a trial decision.

Thirdly, ADR is able to provide privacy and confidentiality to the parties involved. Generally, when a matter is litigated, it becomes a matter of public record. As such, personal information may become available for the public to refer to in the future, and other lawyers may rely upon it if your case establishes an important principle. Through the use of ADR, parties can be guaranteed both privacy and confidentiality. Agreements are usually signed at the outset of the ADR process, stipulating that the issues and settlement terms discussed will not leave the ADR location, and that no information will be released in regard to the conclusion reached. Confidentiality clauses can typically be incorporated as a term of negotiated settlement.

While ADR is a helpful resolution method, there are certainly some limitations. For example, within the family law context, it may not be advisable in cases where there may have been spousal abuse, or there is a power imbalance between the parties. Furthermore, in the estate law or other civil law disputes, there may be extreme hostility due to the pre-existing relationships, and a lengthy court battle may be preferred to working together to come to a resolution. Due to the collaborative nature of ADR, the process may not be beneficial for everyone. To have success in ADR, the parties need to be willing and able to participate and work toward a solution that would benefit all the parties involved.

When deciding whether or not to attempt ADR, the lawyers involved need to consider the different personalities and players involved in the dispute. It is important to have a proper understanding of the parties and their history in order to ensure that a resolution can be reached, and that there is no risk of physical or emotional harm that could arise out of having the parties together in a room. For example, if you know that a client is stubborn, has a short temper, and feels negatively toward the other party, ADR may not be suitable.

Advertisement

Furthermore, if, as a lawyer, your client decides to attempt ADR, it is important to make it clear from the outset that ADR may not result in as high a monetary reward as litigation. Damages awarded through traditional litigation may prove to be greater, although the legal fees related to pursuing litigation may be disproportionate to the difference between the outcome of a negotiated settlement versus that decided at trial. It is important to manage your clients expectations and ensure that they understand that, while ADR has its potential benefits, if they are solely looking for a large monetary reward (although not guaranteed) and are unwilling to compromise, litigation may be a better path for them.

When dealing with someone who is willing to negotiate with the other party and craft a flexible and mutually agreeable settlement, mediation may be desirable. When assisting parties who may prove to be less compromising and may be require a decision to be imposed upon them by a third party, arbitration could be a better option. An ADR mechanism that is increasingly common is known as "med-arb," which is a combination of both mediation and arbitration, where the parties begin in mediation and, if no further negotiation appears to be worthwhile, the process can transition to arbitration.

In order to encourage the use of ADR, some jurisdictions have introduced the concept of mandatory mediation. Pursuant to Rule 24.1 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, mandatory mediation was introduced in Toronto, Ottawa and Essex County for certain types of actions, in order to reduce costs and delay in litigation, and to facilitate the early and fair resolution of disputes. Furthermore, Rule 75.1 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure requires mandatory mediation for estates, trusts and substitute decision-making for proceedings in the same regions. The more recent introduction of Rule 75.2 of the Rules of Civil Procedure provides Ontario judges in jurisdictions where mediation is not already mandated to nevertheless order parties to estates or estate-related matters to attend mediation.

In conclusion, ADR provides a meaningful (and sometimes mandatory) opportunity for parties that wish to come to a cost-effective and timely resolution of all outstanding issues in a way that may not be possible through traditional litigation. The introduction of mandatory mediation in certain jurisdictions makes it clear that the legal profession and law-makers alike are seeking the benefits of ADR.

Advertisement

Ian Hull and Suzana Popovic-Montag are partners at Hull & Hull LLP, an innovative law firm that practices exclusively in estate, trust and capacity litigation. To watch more Hull & Hull TV episodes, please visit our Hull & Hull TV page.
As a firefighter/paramedic I have been on the front lines of public safety for over two decades. A couple of years ago I testified as an expert witness (fire officer) in the Allard vs. Canada case where a number of licensed cannabis growers brought a constitutional challenge against the government of Canada who had shut down the program that allowed them to legally grow their own medical cannabis. Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis was brought in by the Crown to testify as an expert witness who had concluded that legal home grow ops represent a public safety hazard and ought to be abolished. I looked at Garis's data and drew entirely different conclusions.

His data showed that legal grow ops had a high rate of non-compliance with safety codes when initially inspected by fire prevention officers. This wasn't surprising to me, when we go out and do inspections of any occupancy our job is to find problems, and most of the time we do. Finding problems is half the job however, the other half is educating the owners and occupants about how to improve the safety of their occupancies. Garis's data showed that on re-inspection those occupancies that were originally found to have deficiencies were now compliant with code. This is evidence of success. These occupancies are now safer than they were prior to interface with public safety experts.

Advertisement

There is no doubt that grow ops can cause fires, but kitchens are the leading cause of structure fires. The prohibitionist approach to public safety would be to ban kitchens. Does this mean people would stop cooking at home? Of course not. It means they would take all sorts of risks to cook their meals and avoid getting caught. I would expect to see the amount of fires caused by cooking to skyrocket if kitchens were prohibited. Home cooks would reroute power and gas lines and take terrible risks, there would be no interface with building inspectors ensuring that kitchens are properly engineered and built, I would never get the chance to educate a homeowner about how to make their kitchen safe and prevent fires.

If we are concerned about public safety we need to make it more attractive for people to grow, distribute and consume cannabis legally than illegally so that there is engagement with public safety mechanisms. Right now it is far more attractive for people to grow and consume illegally. Cannabis is easy to produce, you just need seeds and dirt, and there is a high demand for it. A regime that restricts legal supply through onerous licensing and prohibitions will drive up illegal supply to meet the demand.

We were seeing a trend towards improved public safety. Storefronts offered customers a safe place to buy cannabis from businesses that had a vested interest in developing a reputation for quality and safety. Small- to medium-sized growers have been operating in the sunlight where public safety officials like me could inspect and educate. Cannabis was emerging from the shadows and the problems associated with illicit activity were fading away.

All the Trudeau government had to do was notice what was going on and end the rules that made it difficult for public safety to emerge. Instead, over the past month we have seen a hard crackdown on storefront cannabis dispensaries. Coordinated raids have occurred across the country and some business owners are facing financial ruination and life in prison at the same time the Trudeau government has announced legalization by the summer of 2018. The message to the cannabis industry is loud and clear, "Fall in line with the regime, or else."

Advertisement

The federal government is poised to adopt the report of The Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation as the way forward and this is cause for serious concern from a public safety perspective. The Task Force recommends a requirement for a federal license to grow cannabis commercially. If you're one of the hundreds of small- to medium-sized dispensaries currently operating in the sunlight your days are numbered. If you are a customer of one of these dispensaries you will be faced with a choice of big government-approved corporation or local black market dealer.

It's not clear why customers would choose the low quality, limited access, unreliable cannabis that a few big government-approved corporations would provide over locally grown craft cannabis. Imagine if growing tomatoes required a federal license and there was a coordinated effort to raid local growers and sellers who did not have a federal license. Would people stop putting tomato seeds in dirt? Would people drive past an unlicensed farmer selling big, fresh, juicy tomatoes from a roadside stand on their way to a licensed grocery store which may have some small, pale, nearly-spoiled tomatoes in stock? It is naive to imagine people are going to follow stupid rules that they can easily avoid following, yet this naivety has permeated cannabis prohibitionism and continues to permeate the thinking of cannabis legislators.

It is easy to see why black market dealers, the opiate industry and politically connected corporations might prefer the Trudeau regime. For them it is a license to print money. If you are looking for public funds you stand to profit as well. Police departments are going to have to crack down hard on black market competitors, fire departments are going to have to battle more blazes, and paramedics are going to have to treat more opiate overdoses as drug users turn to more dangerous alternatives.

Advertisement

Unfortunately onerous federal licensing means that most of the mechanisms that improve public safety will be hamstrung because most of the growing and distributing will be done in the shadows instead of the sunlight. If you care about public safety, a civil society, a lower tax burden, emergency responder safety and freedom from oppression then you ought to be wary of what is coming.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
A few months ago, Theresa May was given a nickname I doubt is used within 100 feet of her: 'Theresa the appeaser'. The moniker came about due to May's refusal to condemn President Trump's refugee ban. It's an interesting one too, because for all her apparent appeasing, there are many instances where she prefers to do things her own way.

Which brings me to Gibraltar. British-owned since 1713, many Brits would rather the days of rationing were brought back than see Spain get their hands on the territory. Does Theresa agree with them? I'm not so sure, especially if it gets in the way of her proposals for a hard Brexit. When she realised there were growing concerns that Gibraltar could be used as leverage in Brexit negotiations, she apparently called the territory's chief minister to state that the UK remained as "steadfastly committed" to Gibraltar as ever. In public, she will no doubt have to claim this. But in private, I'm not so sure she means it as much as others in her cabinet.

Both Michael Fallon and Boris Johnson have piped up to say that under no circumstances is Spain getting Gibraltar back. But Theresa May is far more secretive than these two, and she's not afraid of angering a few people to get what she wants. She's already used EU citizens currently living in Britain as bargaining chips, creating uncertainty for millions of people who've come over here legally to study and work . She's now using British cooperation in the fight against terrorism as a bargaining chip, a move that could have been borrowed straight from the mind of her old mate Trump. It's fair to say she will use just about anything she can as a bargaining chip, so why not a little strip of land, five kilometres long and 1,000 miles from Westminster?

Advertisement

After all, she may have no choice. Due to some crazy smallprint, it appears Spain now has the power to shatter any hopes Britain has of getting a good deal with the EU and keeping Gibraltar. It wouldn't be unlike May to slyly give up Gibraltar in order to keep the rest of Britain happy post-Brexit. From what we've seen of her as PM so far, she appears to be the sort of astute, bigger-picture politician that will already be thinking about these things.

She's hardly going to be worried about what the good people of Gibraltar think of her. The territory is home to around 32,000 people, less than the number of students enrolled at the University of Manchester (but, funnily enough, more than the number of people who voted for her in the last election). The population of Scotland on the other hand is close to five and a half million, and even though they overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, May isn't all that fussed about dragging them out. Yes, even if it causes another independence referendum. Current polling suggests that there's been no significant change in Scottish voting intentions in the past three years ago, but it'd still be a hell of a gamble on her part. Certainly more so than, say, annoying a few thousand Gibraltarians and getting some bad coverage from the media.

Advertisement
Rebecca Cook / Reuters

News of the horrific attack on an asylum seeker in Croydon deeply shocked me. I thought of the perilous journey that this vulnerable teenager had undoubtedly taken. I pictured the trauma of him having to leave his home, saying goodbye to family and friends and taking a terrifying journey in search of sanctuary. He - like many other young asylum seekers - most likely faced threats from traffickers, terrifying crossings of sea and borders, and the daily hunger and fear sleeping rough on cold streets. Finally he made it to the UK and must have thought he had at last reached a place of safety.

The reality was far from that, he's had to endure the on-going trauma and uncertainty of his asylum claim, and then was brutally attacked by a large crowd of people, that were so consumed by hate they nearly kicked him to death.

Advertisement

I thought, what if this was my brother, my child? What if this was me when I was 17? Would we have had the same resilience as this young man? Would people have stepped up to help?

I decided I had to try to do something to show him he was loved, supported and welcomed here in the United Kingdom.

I have personally experienced the power of crowd-funding. I caught Lyme Disease and babesiosis from a tick bite and I quickly went from being a busy producer to bed and wheelchair bound. My only chance at recovery was to travel for specialist treatment abroad. A crowd-funding page enabled me to pay for the treatment that I needed. The support from this appeal didn't just help me physically, the show of love and kindness gave me a huge amount of strength - I didn't feel alone. Thanks to generosity of many I'm now walking and well enough to rebuild my life again. Small acts of kindness can be truly powerful stuff.

My good friend Robin Adlem was similarly affected by reading of the attack. He has spent 10 years working in youth services, often with young refugees and asylum seekers. He wanted to use his knowledge and skills to help the teenager.

Advertisement

We could see the outpouring of love and shock across the United Kingdom and wanted to facilitate a way for people to channel this love into something that could physically help the boy and show him that he is not alone. So we teamed up and set up the crowd-funding page.

Then it just took off. It's been astounding. People left hundreds of heartfelt messages, by Tuesday afternoon we had received over 1400 individual donations, totalling over 28,000. The UK got behind him; we stood up for our values of decency and acceptance. We all got together and showed what matters here, that love and kindness outweighs discrimination, hate and thuggery.

Now we wait, hoping, praying that he will make it through this horrendous attack. That he will be able to see the welcome he has, that the thugs he had the misfortune of meeting do not represent this country.

It will be a long journey for him to recover both physically and mentally. We do not yet know the long-term implications of this attack. The funds raised are of the upmost importance to guide him through this dark time and help him rebuild the life he deserves.

We pass on big heartfelt thank you to each everyone that has donated and shared this appeal.

Lets keep it up and show him that we are with him every step of the way.
adventtr via Getty Images

It was a pivotal moment in my life and now, 20 years later, I can see how it has helped shape who I am and give me courage.

Advertisement

It's not something I expected to happen of course - to open my hotel door, have a gun stuck in the centre of my chest and be pushed to the floor as a stranger forced his way into my hotel room. But it happened.

Once the door closed I was trapped. Once the gun was held over me I was trapped. Whether I lived or died was entirely in someone else's hands.

It was particularly unexpected because, at the time, I was a successful financial analyst living in Hong Kong with a work-hard-party-hard outlook and a fine set of high heels.

To be on my knees, begging to live in a swish hotel on a business trip was hard to take in. The physical vulnerability I felt was enormous. The fear made me cold. I knew I was scared of dying and I felt a kind of frustration that what I had truly wanted from my life had not happened yet. I was 31, I had never really loved someone, I hadn't had a child or said sorry for the mistakes I had made. Now, it seemed, I would never get the chance.

Advertisement

Two decades later and I am an ordained Buddhist nun. I have taken life vows and founded a charity to help children in Bhutan. I never married but I did have a child before I became a nun. The practices of prayer, meditation and compassion may appear to be far away from that moment in the hotel room. Yet they really are not.

The fear of dying gave me a deep sense of how precious my life is and of how much I did not want to waste it. This feeling began to slowly seep into my life and led to my decision to leave the City and begin a long quest to feel clearer about the meaning and potential of my own human life.

The part that surprised me most was the deep sorrow I felt after being held hostage. My assailant had been looking for money; something I had at that point. He must have been desperate for it. In the end I escaped and he was put in an Indonesian jail. To feel such sorrow afterwards, no anger just sorrow, was a great surprise to me and is something I have tried to understand in greater depth since then.

In the short term following the event, I went on to develop severe post traumatic stress disorder. Within this, there is no separation between the experience of past and present and the body and mind are trapped in constant reactive impulses of the fight and flight response. Racing heartbeat, sounds, smells, sweats; physical responses which confuse the mind and make the present run over and over like my feet on a gym treadmill. Thud, thud, thud.

Advertisement

It took time to recover from the PTSD; far longer than I had been held in the room for. This also gave me some insight into this condition and the suffering which it creates.

In Buddhist texts it is argued that we are all trapped; trapped by our repeating mental habits of desire and anxiety. The metaphor often used to describe this condition is of a honey bee circling continually in a glass jar. In fact, the lid of the jar is open but all the delicious honey in the jar keeps us circling, looking and wanting and, so, we never look up and see the path to freedom is already there. Waiting for us.

All we have to do is have the courage to jump and find it.

Emma Slade is an ordained Buddhist nun, yoga and meditation teacher, and author of Set Free: A Life Changing Journey from Banking to Buddhism in Bhutan out on 10 April 2017.
When I was pregnant, I said to myself that I would never let myself go. That I would live a life relatively similar to the life I had pre kid. That I would always look after myself. I vowed not to fall into the frumpy mum cliche. I didn't want to be a frumpy mum, I wanted to be a yummy mummy. I wanted to continue to be young and fun despite having kids. I wanted to embrace my sexuality and be confident in my body. The body that gave me my beautiful baby.

The thing that I failed to realise at that point was that no one ever wants to be a frumpy mum. No one wakes up thinking I want to look like a sewer rat. I want to look like I haven't slept in years. I want to have a wardrobe that makes a potato sack look fashionable. But despite my intentions, I found myself turning into said frumpy mum and it happened gradually without me even realising it.

Being a parent is so fricking tiring. It really is, and all the things that were so important to you before or no longer as important. Those of you who do not have kids will read this, smile and nod and think that you understand. But you really do not. It is impossible to understand how tiring and self-sacrificing raising a small child is when you do not have a child constantly stuck to one body part or another. I thought that I understood before, now I realise I knew nothing.

Advertisement

As you get used to your new role as a parent, you slowly get accustomed to putting yourself last. The baby's needs always come before your own and then little by little all these other things creep in and take precedent in your list of priorities. The laundry, groceries, planning and cooking the family meals, trying to earn a living. Until when you actually get down the list to yourself, you just don't have the strength or the motivation to do anything.

That hair appointment that is long overdue, gets pushed back again. That monthly eyebrow wax, turns into a quick tweeze or nothing at all. My once much loved passion for shopping, turned into shopping for my baby and me telling myself I would go back for myself when 1. Lost some weight 2. Had more time 3. Could be bothered. Until one day you pass yourself in the mirror and you no longer recognise who is looking back at you.

Today I had that moment. That realisation that after a year of pushing back schedules, I had become what I had vowed not to. My overgrown hair was now flat to my head with no shape or body. I hardly styled it and it was either in a quick ponytail or mum bun. My eyebrows resembled caterpillars on my face, I don't even want to talk about other parts that needed grooming. My clothes were the same crap clothes I had bought when I was pregnant. When I told myself these will do for just a few months until I get myself back together.

As I stared at the person I didn't want to be I glanced over at my future husband. There he was freshly shaved, wearing his new smart jumper and blazer, freshly cut and styled hair ready to hit the town with the lads. And I suddenly felt ashamed. I looked at myself and hated myself for what I had become. I was disgusting. That fashionable, adventurous woman he had met in Paris was now a dull plain mother in yoga pants. How did this happen? Why the hell does he still want to marry me? But my disgust quickly turned to anger. When was the last time I got to go out with the girls? When was the last time I even had the opportunity to dress up?

Advertisement

I look back over the last few months trying to pinpoint the time I gave up on myself. I couldn't. It really was gradual. At the start I would always style my hair after washing, then one day I didn't have the time. I was in a hurry. We had a baby class that we had to get ready for, Gabriel was being difficult and I was stressed and panicked about being there on time and I didn't style my hair. I just left it. And then the habit begun. It was easier. Jump into the shower quickly and jump out, then start doing all the other things on my to do list.

Slowly my neglected hair turned into comfy easy clothes, then weekly beauty rituals being ignored and then my makeup. I usually never left the house without my tinted moisturiser, mascara and a bit of liner and gloss. Now I would rush out the house with nothing on. It become convenient. It wasn't that big of a deal. I did it once because I was in a hurry and stressed, then a second time until eventually it became the norm.

So I picked up the phone and scheduled a hair cut. I sat there staring at myself in the mirror. Who are you? And then walks in this beautiful, immaculate woman. She is in her 40s and she is stunning. Hair on fleek, make up on fleek, everything on fricking fleek!!! As she styles my hair she proceeds to tell me she is a mother of three, and after that I don't know what she said. I zoned out. I wanted to shoot my self in the foot. A mother of three!! She has three fricking children at home but looks like a goddess. She nurtures herself. Takes time for herself. Something that I haven't done, and I realise this is all my fault.

As mothers it is our instinct to nurture our babies and those around us. But one thing we are guilty of, and I know it is not just me, we forget to nurture ourselves. It may feel like it is not that important to skip these little times for yourself because you have so many things to do. But in the long run, it is important. How can others respect you when you don't respect yourself?? When you look good you feel good, and when you feel good, well everything is good.
'Age is just a number' - a phrase which stands strong in saying that anything can be achieved at any point of your life. It is also used to console the 'fear' of another year passing or reaching a particular milestone, it could be that of 21, 60, 18 or 40.

Just as the ages above vary, so do the reactions of individuals in how they deal with the inevitable. Almost unbelievably as I prepared this blog throughout the day between work and meetings I overheard and saw true, raw insights into how people were dealing and viewing their age. I will share with you throughout the body of this blog.

I'm sure we all have that one friend or relative who puts a ban on any mention of said age or celebrations. Society can be all too quick to deem this as denial, even vanity, but how do we know this doesn't stem deeper to perhaps an embarrassing or bad previous experience?

Advertisement

There are those who feel liberated by the turning of age- an approach which I feel I fall into as I wait to turn 30. Phrases such as '30's are the new 20's' have become as well known as 'blondes have more fun'.

Then there are those who face another turning of year indifferently. A guy beside me in a meeting room casually said to his friend "That's me 31 now... It really was just like any other day" Part of me feels sad that people don't want to celebrate but what says they should?

I'm curious as to how much influence society, lifestyle and media have on people's floundering opinions. Is it something they have control over or are controlled by?

I think it's fair to say that birthdays create a surge of expectation from the get go- as a child hoping your birthday party will reach the approval of other children and will be deemed fun. As I mentioned above a traumatising experience could put anyone off the notion of birthday celebrations for a lifetime.

Advertisement

So who or what is setting the bar for the above noted expectations? Is the media to blame for marketing birthdays like it's Christmas?

Or does society have a leading role in dedicating what the 'idealistic' celebrations are? Social media is at the forefront of this suggestion - be honest with yourself have you ever drawn comparisons to yourself and your life achievements to an online profile?

The chances are yes you have but remember social media rarely perceives true authentic reality.

I couldn't help but overhear a girl opposite me on the tube tell her friend "For someone who is so organised I really do feel like I am just drifting in life, I always imagined at 31 I would be settled and living in Australia." I could see sincere worry and feelings of failure in her eyes.

This lady's thoughts echo how from our first steps and first words there is an unsaid expectation to what should follow next in life.

As children we grow up watching Disney and reading fairy tales- the happy ever afters we become so accustomed to are those of falling in love, marriage and children all whilst being beautiful and youthful.

Advertisement

Rarely do they conclude of someone stepping outside this strategic way and embracing a new sense of life at an older age.

Therefore, we are almost guided into believing that essentially a 2.4 set up is the route to having succeeded in life.

I hear it all too often from friends who are in relationships, married or/and have kids that they are continually asked when they are getting engaged, moving in, having next baby. Why can society just not allow things to progress naturally?

Another girl, who was in a shop queue behind me was having a telephone conversation and said

"I'm not ready to be grown up, in my head I am no older than 21"

Of course, only naturally, responsibility comes with age, however it seems to me rather than focusing on the areas which she will love she instead feels overwhelmed by those she doesn't.

I do appreciate this is when lifestyle becomes a massive factor and not everyone is able to reject what they may wish to and still find themselves having full support.

Advertisement

Age IS just a number, society and the media do try to dedicate but I believe lifestyle is what has the biggest impact on creating not just our limitations but also fuelling our success and happiness.

Lucy Ellen :)
President Xi Jinping extends his deep condolences to the families affected by the landslides that hit Mocoa, Colombia. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese President Xi Jinping offered his message of condolences to Colombia after the Latin American country was hit by devastating floods and landslides on Saturday, killing over 200 people, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.



Advertisement

The Chinese leader "extended his deep condolences to the victims, and sincere sympathy to the afflicted and the families of the victims," the article wrote.



On behalf of the government and the Chinese people, Xi remarked that the country will be providing aid in disaster relief as well as in post-disaster reconstruction.



Xi is optimistic that the Colombians can overcome the disaster and rebuild their country under the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos.



According to news reports, the flooding and landslides took the lives of at least 254 people and injured over 200 others in Colombia's southwestern city of Mocoa.



The disaster came as torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks in the early hours of Saturday. Mud, water and debris then crashed down the city streets and residential areas.



Meanwhile, President Santos believes that the disaster was brought about by climate change. He revealed that last Saturday, Mocoa received a third of its average amount of monthly rain.



Santos, who visited the city on Sunday, called on Colombians to take the necessary precautionary measures whenever there are flooding and heavy downpour.



The Colombian leader also expressed his gratitude toward China and the Inter-American Development Bank for their immediate support. The two have donated $1 million and $200,000 respectively.



The Colombian government is offering $6,400 worth of aid to the families of the dead. It will also shoulder hospital and funeral expenses.



In 2015, the city of Mocoa, which serves as the capital of the Putumayo department, was also hit by a landslide, killing around 100 people. Colombia's deadliest landslide was recorded in 1985 when about 20,000 of the 29,000 inhabitants of the town of Armero were killed.


News of Amazon's upcoming checkout-free high street stores was hailed by some as a step forward for retail tech. Due to open in the US imminently, with UK locations following shortly, Amazon Go stores (as they are called) will be entirely unmanned by checkout staff, instead relying on a complex technological approach combining lasers, sensors, cameras, tags, apps and scanners to ensure shoppers are billed for everything they carry out of the store.

But Amazon's latest foray into real world retail has not been greeted fondly by all. Activists and campaigners have raised concerns about the privacy implications of Amazon Go's security systems.

Facial recognition security

As reported in The Guardian, the Hyperface project has identified facial recognition software in Amazon Go's security cameras as a possibly illegal, or at least immoral, breach of the Right to Private Life.

Advertisement

Many retailers now use facial recognition software in their cameras to identify potential shoplifters and record customer visits. It is understandable for shopkeepers to protect their wares, but does this latest development in retail security technology go too far?

What are the key forms of retail security technology in use?

The most common and highly visible form of retail security technology that shoppers will encounter is radio-frequency identification (RFID). As explained by OCS Retail Support, RFID tags and scanners work by having individual items give off unique frequencies embedded with information, and having scanners (often in the doorway) pick up this information.

If an item leaves the store without being paid for, an alarm will sound, alerting shop staff to the shoplifter (or accidental shoplifter). Amazon Go have already announced that they will be using a variant of this technology to facilitate their checkout-less payments, with purchases being registered when customers leave the store. Other retailers may follow suit.

Though perhaps a little intrusive by nature, this form of technology has not caused indignation amongst privacy campaigners. Instead, those concerned with freedom from surveillance have highlighted CCTV cameras as a key target.

Advertisement

It has been estimated that there is one CCTV camera for every 11 people in the UK. While professional security companies like ADT and Banham provide monitored CCTV systems, enabling them to "work with local authorities or existing onsite security", many surveillance cameras are often left unwatched. If cameras like these, are already bordering on human rights violation, it is no wonder newer cameras, equipped with facial recognition software, are causing outcry.

Are facial recognition databases immoral?

Facial recognition software in CCTV is not unique to Amazon. It has been in use in the UK for at least a year. In December 2015 the BBC announced that the popular Facewatch scheme was now offering retailers CCTV 'thief recognition'. Facewatch had been in operation for a long time simply sending out CCTV images of known thieves to shopkeepers around the country, with the idea being that shopkeepers would bar individuals they recognised from those images from entering the stores.

With the wider availability of facial recognition software, Facewatch decided to create a database of criminals' faces that would flag up the presence of a known or convicted shoplifter to participating shopkeepers.

At this time, Renata Samson of privacy group Big Brother Watch expressed concerns, likening this to Tom Cruise's 'pre-crime' unit in the movie Minority Report. Shoppers, after all, are innocent until proven guilty. And a previous offence should not bar an individual from shopping for life.

What can we do about it?

Initially, there needs to be a wider debate about whether mass CCTV surveillance with facial recognition is a breach of privacy or even a violation of human rights. The aforementioned group Hyperface is helping raise awareness of this issue through creating clothing that confuses facial recognition cameras in protest of their use.

Advertisement

A switch back to security handled by human guards would allay many of the fears of privacy watchdogs and those who prize their anonymity. Though even if retailers do begin to treat individuals with more rights, our days of public anonymity may be numbered. A new popular app in Russia allows users to find the social media accounts of strangers by simply taking a picture of them.
Every Christmas, when people start banging on about there being a "War on Christmas", I find myself rolling my eyes so hard I practically give myself a migraine. But now it's started with Easter too.

The latest row is over some Easter egg hunts put on by Cadbury and the National Trust. But SHOCK HORROR, they were simply called "egg hunts".

Advertisement

This led to the Archbishop of York saying it was akin to "spitting on the grave" of the Christian founder of Cadbury and even the prime minister herself weighed in, claiming it was "absolutely ridiculous" to omit the word.

Guys. Priorities.

Firstly, let's be clear that while the name of the event itself does not contain the word "Easter", the word appears countless times in the associated literature, on their websites and social media accounts.

But I know it's the name of the event - "Egg Hunt" - that's bothering the majority of critics.

Yes, Easter is a Christian celebration. But I don't think that the word "Easter" being in the name of an event makes it any more or less Christian. The tradition of hiding chocolate eggs for children to find is not itself religious. This particular series of events is run by a confectionary company and a conservation organisation. To be fair, it might be a weird if a church event omitted the word. But to be honest, I don't think even Christians go to an egg hunt and spend their time praying their way through it.

Just like I don't buy the idea that there's some sort of war on Christmas, I'm really not convinced that this was a decision to try to secularise Easter.

Advertisement

Although this is nominally a Christian country, many, many people do not identify as Christian. Yes, that's a little sad to people who *do* practise Christianity but to keep on and on about this doesn't do anyone any good, including the Church.

If you're a Christian yourself reading this, then perhaps you disagree with me or think I'm doing our faith down. But I just don't think harping on about how "we're a Christian country" is going to attract anyone to Christianity - in fact it's going to do the opposite. The Church weighing in on this makes it look churlish and frankly a bit like the fun police.

There are plenty of other issues the Church of England should be dealing with, rather than whether Cadbury uses the word "Easter" in an event. Christians are facing very real persecution around the world. According to Open Doors, which tracks persecution trends, Christians are being attacked and even killed for their faith in countries including India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mexico, Somalia and Nigeria.

(British Christians face nowhere near that level of risk, but I've previously also written about how it can sometimes be scary to talk about faith in public, which you can read here.)

Yes, it's nice to see the Church, which is sometimes considered rather spineless and ineffectual, standing up for its followers. But I'd prefer to see that backbone used to make a difference on issues that really matter.

Advertisement

And there are CERTAINLY more pressing things Theresa May should be focussing on. Yes, she says her faith is important to her and that's fine but she represents all of the people of this country. In the same way as I mentioned above with the Church, it's fine to stand up for what you believe in, but I really feel that Mrs May should be prioritising far more carefully. Among the issues highlighted by people on social media were: funding from the "tampon tax" being given to an anti-abortion charity, benefits changes leaving tens of thousands of children in poverty, the PM refusing to condemn Donald Trump's refugee ban, the possibility of a war with Spain over Gibraltar...the list goes on. She'll speak up on chocolate eggs, but not on these issues?
Like so many others, all of us at Refugee Action have been truly appalled by the vicious attack in Croydon. A young person who came to Britain to find safety has instead been left fighting for his life in hospital.

Everyone who comes to Britain seeking protection from persecution and violence deserves our support and respect.

Advertisement

This appalling incident contrasts with much of our experience at Refugee Action. Every day we see the generosity of people in Britain. Individuals, schools and companies contact us to ask how they can volunteer, donate and campaign to improve the lives of refugees living here.

When we advertised recently for two volunteers to support Syrian refugees rebuilding their lives in London - 179 people applied. Every week thousands of people campaign, volunteer and donate to support refugees and people seeking asylum in Britain, through charities and community groups in hundreds of towns and cities across the country from Bradford to Birmingham, from Shrewsbury to Glasgow.

But that's no consolation to Reker Ahmed, the 17-year-old who was the victim of this terrible attack. Our thoughts are with him and with anyone who has been the victim of hate crime.

Britain is better than this. Hate crime has no place in our country. It's been heartening to hear the universal condemnation of the attack. It's come from local leaders such as the Bishop of Croydon and the local Conservative MP Gavin Barwell who tweeted a picture of graffiti saying "refugees welcome", admitting: "I don't generally approve of graffiti but..." It's come from national politicians and newspapers too, with the Daily Mail leading their front page with a condemnation of this terrible crime.

Advertisement

This all sends a powerful message to the few in our society who perpetrate hate crime. It's vital that such incidents are reported and that the police act promptly as they clearly have on this occasion.

Figures show that there was a rise in hate crime in the second half of 2016. The strength of the response over the past few days is a powerful riposte to this.

A brutal attack of this kind is fortunately extremely rare. But even one such attack is too many. It makes it more important than ever for all those who want to see our country welcome and support those fleeing war and persecution to make their voice heard, and to shape Britain's response through their actions.
Trump Unable to Stop Hacking of US Businesses and Protect Americas Cybersecurity

Westinghouse Electric is one of the companies that were attacked by Chinese hackers. (Photo : Getty Images)

There are speculations that U.S. President Donald Trump will not be able to stop China's cyberattacks on U.S. businesses due to his difficult relationship with China.



The speculation among cybersecurity experts is that China will backfire and resume attacks on cyberspace once President Trump pushes China too far.



Advertisement

Cyberattacks on American companies and the Pentagon have been going on for years. However, the attacks have dropped to 90 percent in the past year, according to Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.



Another cybersecurity company, Mandiant, released a report stating that companies like U.S. Steel, Alcoa Inc., and Westinghouse Electric have seen a great decline in cyberattacks.



The great reduction of digital theft had led to a smoother relationship between China and the U.S., but the conflict between the two superpowers remain due to differences in trade policy implementation and global security issues.



Experts believe that this dispute might spur tensions related to cybersecurity and resume hacking from the Chinese.



Adam Segal, an expert on China at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, said, "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."



He added, "It seems to have gone through a lot of swings in a very short time period."



Cybersecurity experts fear that Trump's attacks on China and his accusations of currency manipulation and violations of importation policies might trigger another upsurge of theft online.



Analysts also predict that the upcoming meeting in Florida on April 7 might cause a falling out, especially in terms of trade and cybersecurity.



Robert Silvers, a former top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, said, "If China feels cornered in other aspects, they may decide to revisit their calculation about reducing hacking."


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.
Beverage manufacturer Baiju was saved by Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. (Photo : Getty Images)

The anti-corruption drive of President Xi Jinping has helped many Chinese companies rise from losses in revenue.



Baiju, and its premium label, Maotai, are alcoholic beverages mostly consumed by government officials. Maotai is the wine of choice and is asked to host social events for politicians.



Advertisement

As the Chinese economy revived, so did the beverage manufacturer. The company stopped hosting banquets and no longer gave under-the-table bribes.



The company no longer had to provide massive capital outlay to please the government.



According to Wei Zhang, the Shanghai-based founder of investment firm Yuanhao Capital, "Think of it as a tax cut for many Chinese companies. A tax cut off maybe 10 percent which flows right to the bottom line."



Zhang explained the government's anti-corruption drive helps Chinese businesses lessen operational costs the are used for bribes. Productivity is increased because companies no longer hired incompetent relatives of government officials.



Companies in the construction sector reaped a huge benefit from the anti-corruption campaign. Construction firms have to fight fiercely when it comes to winning contracts and face many layers of corrupt officials to acquire land.



Pharmaceutical companies also spend millions of dollars in bribes so that a particular brand of medicine will be used in government hospitals. These companies do not have to spend on procurement costs and paying off hospital administrators.



As for Baiju, the company is experiencing a resurgence in profits from retail than spending on banquets that were thrown for government officials before Xi came to power.



"We expect the re-rating of Chinese liquor stocks to continue, fuelled by sustainable and visible earnings growth," said analysts at Morgan Stanley.



They added, "Against a macro backdrop of rising private consumption as China transitions to a high-income economy our survey shows good acceptance of Chinese spirits by a younger demographic and an increasing tendency toward retail consumption and premium liquor has been taking share."


New Leaked Documents Expose Waste, Incompetence At U.S. Copyright Office

Access to new leaked documentation has revealed that Congress may be moving towards disaster for content creators as it progresses with altering how the head of the Copyright Office is appointed.

_______________________

By Mike Masnick of Techdirt

Previously unreleased documents acquired by Techdirt show, fairly conclusively, that Congress will be making a huge and dangerous mistake if it moves forward with changing how the head of the Copyright Office is appointed. And despite the fact that the RIAA & MPAA are eagerly supporting this change, the people it will hurt the most are content creators. Because the Copyright Office is basically incompetent when it comes to modernizing its technology. That's what was found by a thorough (but not publicly released) Inspector General's report, detailing how the Copyright Office not only threw away $11.6 million on a new computer system that it said would cost $1.1 million, but also lied to both Congress and the Library of Congress about it, pretending everything was going great.

In reality the project was a complete and utter disaster. It was put together by people who seemed to have no clue how to manage a large IT project, and there was basically zero effort to fix that along the way. After literally wasting $11.6 million on nothing, the entire project was scrapped in October of last year.

The timing here is important. October is when Carla Hayden reassigned Maria Pallante, effectively firing her. Pallante had led the Copyright Office since 2011 (soon after the big project began), so she was in charge through the vast majority of this disastrous project. While legacy copyright folks tried to spread evidence-free conspiracy theories about why Hayden fired Pallante, it seems a lot more likely that it was because Pallante had overseen a project that flat out wasted $11.6 million, and during the course of the project the Copyright Office repeatedly lied to the Library of Congress about its status.

But here's the astounding thing. Congress is trying to reward the Copyright Office for this scandal, and give it more power and autonomy despite this absolute disaster. Perhaps because, until now, the Copyright Office has been successful in keeping this whole thing hidden.

As we've mentioned, Congress is effectively trying to move the Copyright Office out of the Library of Congress by having the new Register of Copyright (who heads the Office) be appointed by the President and approved by the Senate (i.e., making it a political appointee), rather than be appointed by the Librarian of Congress as has been the case since the creation of the Copyright Office. One of the key arguments in favor of this is that the Copyright Office is woefully behind on technology, and needs to be modernized. Almost exactly two years ago, a fairly scathing report from the GAO came out about the lack of leadership on IT issues from then-Librarian of Congress James Billington. Thankfully, Billington is gone and Carla Hayden is in charge now  and she actually has a history of modernizing a library. Reports from folks at the Library say that Hayden has moved quickly to establish a real modernization plan for the entire Library, including the Copyright Office, and that those efforts are already starting to move forward.

And that's got to be better than giving the Copyright Office autonomy to modernize itself. As we're releasing here for the very first time publicly, an Inspector's General report looking at various IT projects related to the Library of Congress is absolutely devastating in revealing how incompetent the Copyright Office is at modernizing itself. Specifically, in 2010, the Copyright Office asked for $1.1 million it said it would need to build its Electronic Licensing System (eLi). Just about everything turned out to be a complete disaster and a waste of money. From the executive summary of the report:

[The Copyright Office] did not follow sound [Systems Development Life Cycle  SDLC] methodologies which resulted in it scrapping the eLi project development after six years and $11.6M in project expenditures. The eLi project began in 2010 with a budget approval of $1.1M, and increased to approximately $2M for full implementation in 2012. Ultimately Copyright spent over $11.6M through 2016 when it decided to terminate the contracts and abandon development activities. During that six-year period, Copyright continued to report in eLCplans (the Library's performance management system) that eLi development was occurring near or on schedule.

Again, this is horrifying. Not only did it waste more than 5x what it had been given budget approval for, and not only did it end up with nothing to show for all this money, it also lied about how the project was going so those in the Library of Congress had no idea that the Copyright Office was basically lighting money on fire. It also appears that because of this, the Copryight Office misrepresented what was happening to Congress in its annual budget requests. From the report:

Copyright executives at that time did not disclose in the Library's performance management system (eLCplans) and annual Congressional Budget Justifications the magnitude of issues and cost overruns related to the project. As a result, Congress and Library executives did not have adequate information to timely act on and address the issues.

Again, forget those conspiracy theories about Pallante getting fired. Lying to your bosses in your annual budget requests about the status of a massive technology project that was way behind and way over budget certainly seems like a fireable offense.

A big part of the problem? What appears to be near-total incompetence by the Copyright Office in putting together and managing the project.

The USCO project management team did not demonstrate effective, proactive project cost management practices. Over the six-year development period, USCO project management expended $11.6 million in vendor costs. The USCo project management team received specific funding for approximately $1.9 million in the first two years of the project. USCO project management did not update project budgets for the subsequent six years of development activity, nor perform an analysis of estimated cost overruns. Subsequent development funding activites ocurred, inconsistent with initial funding requests. As discussed below, the USCO had no management body to evaluate and approve additional funding requests in conjunction with experienced development delays, analyses, and recommended courses of actions. Additionally, the USCO did not have an oversight body with authority to halt project activites based on cost overruns, delviery delays, and/or lack of functionality until appropriate remediation plans or project management structure was in place.

Basically, the ship was almost entirely rudderless when Pallante was in charge. Ask for $1.9 million, spend $11.6 million  without getting a working system  and no one seemed to check on any of it.

According to the report, the most basic project management concepts were completely lacking at the Copyright Office. Pages 26 through 28 of the document embedded below should elicit gasps from anyone who's done any kind of project management.I won't detail all of it, but here are just a few highlights:

No monitoring of the project schedule

No project budget approval process at all

No periodic reviews to see if things were on schedule and within budget

No project management framework at all

No comprehensive project management plan for the executiion and monitoring of the project.

No official tracking of scope and schedule changes

No documentation of departures from planned schedule

No plan for what staffing was needed for the project

No analysis of alternatives

No system requirements baseline

No system development plan

No requirements for best practices, customer oversight or acceptance of the vendor

No technical requirements to ensure user functionality given to the vendor

No details on deliverables given to the vendor (seriously  no requirements to hand over the code or any documentation)

No review criteria

No defined technical framework

No security testing

And, again, that's just some of the problems listed in the document. There are more.

Rather than admit any of that, the Copyright Office under Pallante pretended each year that everything was moving ahead without a problem. The report includes the comments that the Copyright Office gave to the Library of Congress each year for its Congressional Budget Justification regarding the system:

If you can't see that, basically every year all the Copyright Office said was "licensing will continue implementing and refining the reengineered processes and system" (or, in the past two years, that "licensing will continue to work toward a fully automated system for receiving and examining Statements of Account"). This despite the fact that the project was way over budget and apparently totally non-functional.

The report also includes the Copyright Office's internal reporting to the Library, in which it needed to give a status report in one of three color codings: green if the project was on-track, amber if it was behind target but adjustments could result in accomplishing the plan on time, and red if it would not meet the annual target. Given what we know now, these should have been red every year. Instead in 2011, 2013, and 2015 the Copyright Office reported "green." In 2012 it reported "amber." In 2010, 2014, and 2016 the Copyright Office didn't even bother to report on this project status at all.

The most amazing thing here is that Pallante wasn't fired years ago for this complete disaster of a project.

But the more important question right now is why would Congress be looking to give the Copyright Office more autonomy when it's quite clear that the Office has absolutely no competency when it comes to modernizing its system, and there has been a six-year pattern of throwing away money without a properly managed plan and a longstanding practice of lying about it to Congress itself?

Last week, despite all of this, nearly the entire House Judiciary Committee voted to let this happen, and all I can ask is what were they thinking? Why is Congress  and Reps. Bob Goodlatte and John Conyers in particular  rewarding this behavior?

Share on:
The command and control hall of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (Photo : Getty Images)

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Chinas homegrown GPS-like global positioning system, attempts to go global. The BeiDou expansion will start in Sri Lanka, Thailand and will soon be covering the whole Southeast Asia region, according to the systems operator.



Advertisement

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co. Du Li said that the company will persist in discovering models for international scientific and technical cooperation on BDS. The collaborative works will include joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges.



In Dec. 2013, Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou created the first batch of three overseas Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and its networking for BDS in Chonburi Province, east of Thailand.



A China-ASEAN science and technology city is to be built in Thailand to promote BDS applications. Among the 10 countries forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.



This year, Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou will work together with Lankan-related authorities to build at least 10 CORS in Sri Lanka. Du said the CORS will be used in land surveying and mapping, ocean fishery and disaster warning.



According to Du, the BDS coverage can increase to at least 3,000 km toward Southeast Asia and South Asia with the setting up of CORS in Thailand and Sri Lanka.



Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou is located in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province. The company is responsible for the operations and services of BDS. The system already has a constellation of 32 satellites by the end of the previous year.



Li Deren, a professor at a state key laboratory at Wuhan University, said that the Belt and Road Initiative gives Chinas space and technology a big break.



"Our priority is to expand BDS from China to the frontline of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Optics Valley BeiDou is a pioneer," Li said.



Li added that China-made smartphones which carry Chinese chips, such as Huawei smartphones, will be good means for BDS to go abroad.



The BeiDou expansion in Southeast Asia will be a good start for achieving the companys aim to go global.


Ads of Cherry Coke cans featuring Warren Buffett's likeness have begun to circulate in China. (Photo : Twitter)

Billionaire Warren Buffett's face now graces the cans of Cherry Coke in China, as Coca-Cola Co. aims to capitalize on its biggest and most famous investor.



Coca-Cola, which introduced Cherry Coke in the country on March 10, will offer the cans featuring Buffett's likeness for a limited time while supplies last, according to its website. The soft drink giant cited Buffett's legendary reputation amongst Chinese investors who have sought to copy his tactics.



Advertisement

"As we thought of the most creative ways to bring the great taste of Cherry Coke to China, we thought who better to celebrate the launch of this special drink than its best-known fan," said Shelly Lin, Coca-Cola China's Marketing Director for Trademark.



Buffet, who owns a 9.3 percent stake in Coca-Cola through his holding firm Berkshire Hathaway, previously said he drinks around five cans of Cherry Coke daily and has been seen sipping the beverage at public events.



The investment tycoon also has a huge following in China, with Chinese businessmen flocking to Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.



According to the Omaha World Herald, more than 3,000 Chinese visitors have attended the meeting in 2016.



"Warren Buffett is the financial god in China," a founder of the Nebraska Chinese Association in Omaha, told the paper. He is being praised in China as the one who can never be beaten in the stock market. Many Chinese investors are crazy about him."



Buffett has also ardently defended Coke amidst concerns about the effects of sugary drinks. At his company's annual meeting last year, he said his happiness from drinking Coke outweighs the health benefits from eating vegetables.



"I have not seen evidence that convinces me that it'll be more likely I reach 100 if I suddenly switched to water and broccoli," Buffett said.



In addition to Buffett's love for Cherry Coke, his company and Coca-Cola have shared a long history together.



Since the late 1980's, Berkshire has been Coca-Cola's largest single shareowner with 400 million shares, according to the Coca-Cola's website.



In its latest annual report, Berkshire disclosed a gain on its investment in Coca-Cola of more than $15 billion, not including the ongoing benefits of quarterly dividends.


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.



Search Keywords:

Short link:


Trump praised El-Sisi for doing 'a fantastic job in a very difficult situation' since taking office

US President Donald Trump has vowed to provide Egypt with firm backing and cooperation in the fight against terrorism, making the pledge to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who is visiting Washington for the first meeting between presidents of the two countries in eight years.

Trump gave El-Sisi a warm welcome at the Oval Office, lavishing him with praise and moving to mend relations strained under the administration of his predecessor Barack Obama.

"I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President El-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 president.

The trip is El-Sisi's first official visit since he became president 2014. The last time an Egyptian leader visited the White House was in August 2009 when Hosni Mubarak met with Obama in the Oval Office.

"You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me," Trump told El-Sisi, as quoted in a joint statement published by the White House.

Obama suspended military aid for almost two years following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, citing US concerns over the country's progress toward democracy. The freeze, which was ended in mid-2015, with new conditions imposed, has strained ties between the two long-time allies.

Trump and El-Sisi, meanwhile, have found common ground with their hard line on extremism.

During the Monday meeting, El-Sisi expressed his appreciation for Trump in standing strong in the counterterrorism field to counter this evil ideology."

"You will find Egypt and myself always beside you in this, in bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism," El-Sisi told Trump.

Egypt, which has long been one of Washington's closest allies, has been receiving $1.3 billion in US military aid yearly since signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, with the 2016 aid package including an additional $150 million in economic assistance.

Trump and El-Sisi already demonstrated a certain rapport before the visit. The leaders have exchanged phone calls in recent months, with El-Sisi being the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump on his election victory.

Trump said there was "good chemistry" when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September during Trump's campaign.

On Tuesday, El-Sisi is due to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Jordan's King Abdullah II in Washington in the fourth day of his visit.

The Egyptian leader will also hold talks with a number of US officials, representatives and senators, including General Herbert Raymond McMaster, Trump's national security adviser and US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.

He will also sit with: Devin Nunes, the head of the House of Representatives intelligence committee; Ed Royce, the Republican head of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee; and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

When we speak of bestsellers, were often referring to books that have sold fewer copies than one might think. By the estimation of award-winning author Donal Ryan, there are times when 300 sales might be enough to make a chart topper  the bestseller mantle tends to have more promotional than monetary value. Of course there are the literary blockbusters  titles like Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code  books that ship hundreds of millions of copies. But combine the sales of JK Rowling and Dan Brown, even throw in John Grisham, and youre still lagging behind the sales figures of the worlds true bestselling author  James Patterson.

According to his publisher, Patterson has written no fewer than 114 New York Times bestsellers. His total bibliography is upwards of 150. He is, without doubt, one of the most prodigious literary figures that the world has ever seen.

Pattersons success is unusual, in that he isnt quite a household name; rather, he is a master of the airport novel, an author whose success has largely been achieved as a writer of commuter fiction. Patterson divides opinion: Stephen King describes his work as terrible, reviewers have deemed it subliterate; yet in 2015 he received the National Book Foundations Literarian Award for his philanthropic efforts in encouraging Americans to read.

The Duchess of Cornwall and James Patterson read to children (Kirsty Wiggleworth/PA) (Kirsty Wiggleworth/ PA Archive/PA Images)

Pattersons prodigious output is accomplished through the use of collaborators: co-authors offered a chance to make their name under the tutelage of the worlds most commercially successful author. He is engagingly transparent about his process: co-authors work from a narrative framework provided by Patterson, who either then rewrites what they come up with or provides notes on bi-weekly drafts. The narrative frameworks he provides emerge from his understanding of the literary market, informed by his years of experience as an advertising executive. He has been described as a co-publisher, more of a brand than a writer. This is a distinction worth exploring, because it is Pattersons name that looms largest on his covers.

Using digital methods, if sufficient samples are available, the extent to which someone actively contributes to the actual words of a text can be tested. The field is called stylometry, and it has been used in author attribution studies involving popular figures like Harper Lee and Rowling.

A colleague and I applied stylometric methods to the work of Patterson in order to form an impression of how much he contributes to the writing of his books in terms of the actual words used. The results of the study show that, in each of the collaborative novels (we checked all where there was a relevant sample to test against  where the co-author had written individual texts), the dominant style is that of Pattersons co-authors. This is quantitative evidence that, when collaborating with a junior party, Pattersons contributions to the literary process are more concerned with plot than style. This isnt a gotcha! moment: Patterson has always given the impression that hes more about the plot. But it is confirmation that the worlds bestselling author may not principally be a writer.

At a superficial level, this tells us something about Pattersons practices, how it is that he has managed to sustain such prolific output. But it also challenges notions of authorship  what is the significance of Pattersons name on a dust-jacket? Is it mainly an endorsement, a valuable moniker which generates sales? Or is he properly seen as an author, just one who is attracted to the possibilities of narrative structure over those of language?

Patterson is open about using co-authors to help write his bestselling books

Pattersons work might contain little to provoke the consideration of literary critics, but his restoration of the novels popular traditions  his approach to literary capitalism as both author and corporation, creator and trademark  gives us cause to query our own hierarchies relating to story and expression. After all, the novels 18th century beginnings are embedded in commercialism. Critics tend to value style over structure, yet the public are clearly drawn towards the latter. Is plot what makes an author, and style an artist?

The intention here is not to revive the tired debate between high and low art. Structure is rich in creative potential, and plot was essential to the novel long before movements like high modernism sought to subvert the popular by privileging style. At the same time, the role of the critic, and indeed, the reader, is to appreciate, interpret, and communicate that which is hidden in the nuances of artistic expression. One is unlikely to find an abundance of such nuances in a text that is all plot.

One could point to the film and music industries, where collaboration is the norm, in defence of Pattersons approach. Most creative practices, certainly those that have been commodified, involve interaction with some form of producer or director. In the literary world, publishers and editors guide a manuscript before turning it into something tangible for dissemination. Patterson might be seen as a literary director, or even a producer, emulating the practices of contemporary ghostwriters or predecessors like Dumas, though this is something of an unfair comparison, considering Pattersons 19th-century French counterpart was widely suspected of outright plagiarism, described as only a myth.

Patterson is all about story. He has turned the instruments of late capitalism to the task of commodifying storytelling. He is far from the first author to attempt such a commodification: King, Rowling, Stephenie Meyer and many other popular writers have privileged story over style. But Patterson is a curious figure among his peers, and our research suggests that author in its widely accepted sense isnt always the most appropriate term for his role within the writing process.

James O'Sullivan is digital humanities research associate at University of Sheffield. This article was originally published in The Conversation
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Director Roman Polanski has lost his bid to secure an assurance he would not serve more jail time if he ever returned to the United States.

Polanski, now 83, had originally fled the country ahead of his sentencing in 1978, after pleading guilty to the charge of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, on the terms that five, even more severe, initial charges would be dropped.

In a statement filed on Monday (via CNN), Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon rejected a motion by Polanski's lawyers to resolve the 40-year-old case, stating there was insufficient reason for reconsideration.

Harlan Braun, Polanski's lawyer, argued that the 42 days Polanski spent in a California jail and the 300 days spent in custody while going through extradition proceedings in Switzerland should count as time already served. Braun posited Polanski would have faced a maximum of 12 months for his crime based on standards in the 1970s, and that, therefore, his client has already served most of that time.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee accused Polanski's attorneys of "seeking special treatment" for the filmmaker due to his celebrity status, best known for his films Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and The Pianist. Authorities in the US have attempted for years to extradite Polanski, who now lives in France and has French and Polish citizenship.

A hearing will now be held on 26 April to consider a piece of testimony the filmmaker is seeking to unseal.
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Melting glaciers, from Greenland to Antarctica, have become symbols of global warming  and monitoring their retreat is one major way scientists are keeping tabs on the progress of climate change.

Now, scientists are trying to bring the issue a little closer to home by using time-lapse photos to show the effects of climate change are already occurring.

A paper published last week by the Geological Society of America presents dramatic before-and-after photographs of glaciers around the world over the last decade. Most of the photos were taken by photographer James Balog as part of a project called the Extreme Ice Survey, which began documenting changing glaciers around the world in 2007. The project was featured in the 2012 documentary Chasing Ice.

Below is a time-lapse video, using images captured by Balog and the Extreme Ice Survey team, documenting changes at Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska. Between 2007 and 2015, the glacier retreated by 550 metres, or more than 1,800 feet.

On-the-ground expeditions are key to informing broad audiences of non-specialists, note the papers authors, who include Balog and multiple other glacier and climate experts. Science is grounded in observation, so science education will benefit from displaying the recently exposed landscapes.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Balog suggested that ground-level photographs provide an immediacy thats missing from other scientific tools, such as satellite images.

I do think that our most dominant sensory apparatus is our vision, he added. So when you can deliver an understanding of the reality of whats going on through vision, rather than numbers or maps, that also has the unique ability to touch and influence people.

Below are before-and-after images of Switzerlands Stein Glacier, which also retreated by 550 metres between 2006 and 2015.

Stein Glacier, in part of the Swiss Alps, on September 17 2011 (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey/GSA Today/Geological Society of America)

Stein Glacier on August 20 2015 (ames Balog/Extreme Ice Survey/GSA Today/Geological Society of America)

For Balog, the location thats had the greatest personal impact is Solheimajokull Glacier in Iceland, which he described as his first love.

Its where I kind of first realised how quickly the ice is changing, he said. And its because of what the local scientists were able to show me by way of the change in the glacier in a shockingly short period of time.

Reports suggest that the glacier has shrunk by more than 2,000 feet since 2007. Below is a time-lapse of its retreat between 2007 and 2015.

While the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets often receive the most press  and not without reason, thanks to the sheer amount of ice they contain  Balogs photos include smaller mountain glaciers from places like Alaska and Europe. In many places around the world, these smaller glaciers are responding even more rapidly to their changing environments than their polar counterparts.

And while the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets may have the greatest long-term potential to raise global sea levels, melting mountain glaciers come with their own set of consequences as well. Nearby communities often rely on runoff from these glaciers for sources of fresh water. But as the glaciers shrink away, less water becomes available. Some experts have also raised the possibility that melting mountain glaciers could result in huge floods capable of destroying nearby homes and infrastructure.

People who live in proximity to these things are really are quite acutely aware of how much things are changing and think about it, and the researchers in their areas study it, Balog said. These are important and immediate impacts.

Below is Trift Glacier, which retreated by more than 3,700 feet between 2006 and 2016.

Trift Glacier in the Swiss Alps in 2006 (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey/GSA Today/Geological Society of America)

Trift Glacier on August 20 2015 (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey/GSA Today/Geological Society of America)

Satellite measurements still provide some of the most precise information on glacial retreat all over the world, revealing the vulnerability of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. Scientists have used satellite data to estimate how much ice these sheets contain in total. (If the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melted away entirely, for instance, they could raise sea levels by more than 200 feet. But it would take tens of thousands of years for that to happen, even at current warming rates.)

On-the-ground imagery provides a different kind of service, presenting compelling visual evidence of the climate effects that are already occurring. And the photos have an added visceral effect because they come from places where human communities exist  its not just ice on deserted Antarctica thats disappearing, but also glaciers from Europe and the Americas to Asia and Africa. And once theyre gone, they may never exist again.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

It is likely that these recently deglaciated landscapes will not be re-occupied by ice during foreseeable human time frames, the papers authors warn. In other places, forests or other vegetation may rapidly colonise such landscapes. Photographic records, such as those included here, provide an outstanding avenue for education, because they display a record of ice that may never be seen again.

The Washington Post
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Supermodel Bella Hadid has opened up about her fathers experience as a refugee and her Islamic faith in a candid interview.

And, while she might be one of the biggest fashion stars in the world it seems theres still much for us to understand about the 20-year-old model, who has never publicly confirmed her religion until now.

The model, her older sister Gigi and brother Anwar are half Dutch, half Palestinian born to Yolanda  a reality TV star - and Mohamed Hadid  a real estate mogul estimated to be worth $200m.

Recommended Gigi Hadid makes history as first cover star of Middle East Vogue

Their father was born in Nazareth and lived in both Syria and Lebanon before immigrating to the U.S. at just 14-years-old.

A subject close to Bellas heart, she openly discusses her fathers heritage and how this factored into her upbringing in the summer issue of the magazine.

He was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim, Bella told Porter magazine.

Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Show all 12 1 /12 Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel transforms supermodels into superheroes Adriana as She-Hulk Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel transforms supermodels into superheroes Karlie as Black Widow Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel transforms supermodels into superheroes Lexi as Captain Marvel Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel transforms supermodels into superheroes Candice as Spider-Gwen Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Marvel transforms supermodels into superheroes Cuba as Thor Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Cuba as Thor Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Adriana as She-Hulk Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Lexi as Captain Marvel Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Adriana as She-Hulk Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Candice as Spider-Gwen Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Karlie as Black Widow Garage/Patrick Demarcheli Marvel turns supermodels into superheroes Lexi as Captain Marvel Garage/Patrick Demarcheli

When President Trump first announced his immigration ban in January, Bella and sister Gigi were among those to join the No Ban No Wall march in downtown New York, along with their mother and friends, toting signs that read, We are all humans, for Bella, this was personal.

My dad was a refugee when he first came to America, so its actually very close to home for my sister and brother and me, she added.

The supermodel has previously opened up about her decision to participate in the protest, explaining to Elle that her diverse background has taught her that all people deserve respect and kindness.

She says, We shouldnt treat people as if they dont deserve kindness just because of their ethnicities. Its just not right. And that message  to be compassionate whenever possible  thats so important to me.
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

In a nation as fraught with political tensions as Israel, something as basic as a thread tied to a needle can make a difference to a person's life. At least that is theory of Adeem Amro and Segal Kirsch: the co-founders of the Two Neighbors fashion initiative.

Two Neighbors specialises in modern, minimalist clothing embellished with embroidery. The womenswear pieces are stitched by Israeli seamstresses who learned their trade in the former Soviet Union and have been sewing since the age of 13. And each garment features embroidery by the members of a Palestinian womens collective in the south Hebron Hills. Almost 50 women are currently working with the brand.

Recommended Meet the Syrian family who fled civil war and make cheese in Yorkshire

Two Neighbors is the brainchild of a suitably eclectic pair. Amro, the Palestinian Manager lives in East Jerusalem and grew up in Jordan and Hebron, while the Israeli Manager, Kirsch, lives in Modiin, was born in Jerusalem and spent her childhood in southern Israel.

We believe creativity and fashion are an international language," says Kirch. "They can be a bridge between cultures and a means to spread a vision of common human values and peace."

The women in Two Neighbors have grown to respect and love each other she adds. We feel that we have more in common than things that differ. We hope, with selling our products, we can widen the circle of people involved.

Two Neighbors was established at the Global Village Square. These weekend meetings held by the Centre for Emerging Futures non-profit aim to bring Palestinians and Israelis together and encourage both communities to establish partnerships and joint projects. Two Neighbors was just a kernel of an idea eight years ago, and was established as a fashion brand in 2013 when the two women launched their first Kickstarter-funded collection.

Two Neighbors - In pictures Show all 5 1 /5 Two Neighbors - In pictures Two Neighbors - In pictures Two Neighbors - In pictures Two Neighbors - In pictures Two Neighbors - In pictures Two Neighbors - In pictures

Their tagline - peace through the eye of a needle - is more hard-hitting than your average clothing brand's, and a reflection of the rawness of the conflict.

Yet, the biggest hurdle for the women isnt animosity between seamstresses and embroiderers, but rather the logistical issues presented by the complex living situation. Meeting in a mutual place where everyone feels comfortable and deciding on patterns that fit each garment - whether a matt blue jacket or a cream clutch bag - are the toughest aspects of the design process. Kirsch and Amro meet fortnightly, while the group of seamstresses and embroiderers meet bi-annually. Those meeting can be harder to set up, as the Palestinian women must secure permits and Israeli women face road closures and delays at checkpoints.

"Commuting between Jerusalem and the west bank is very difficult," says Amro. "Both technically at times with the checkpoints, and closed roads. And emotional. Many times you feel as a second rated human," she says.

However, the women stress that Two Neighbors is not a political movement.

We might not all share the same solution, and not all know what the solution should be. But we all share the hope for a just agreement that will achieve peace and equality to both sides, says Kirsch.

Our main concern, practically is marketing to sell enough dresses. This is crucial in order to provide income to the women working at Two Neighbors and bettering the next generations future.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

WhatsApp is going to start testing a peer-to-peer payment system this year, according to a new report.

The messaging app is expected to roll the feature out to users in India in the next six months, as thats its biggest market.

WhatsApp hasnt confirmed or denied the reports, which come shortly after co-founder Brian Acton hinted that such functionality was in development.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

India is an important country for WhatsApp, and were understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India, WhatsApp told TechCrunch in a statement.

Were exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users.

However, a new job listing for a Digital Transactions Lead in India on WhatsApps website suggests that the company has already set the wheels in motion.

It calls for an individual who can understand and explain [Indias Unified Payments Interface, Bharat Interface for Money and] Aadhar number and collaborate with banks to resolve WhatsApp user issues.

Whether the company plans to expand the payments system beyond India remains to be seen.

Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, introduced similar functionality to its Messenger app last year.
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

If you are on the plane taking off from Danang airport in Vietnam, look through the window on your right  between the departure building and the yellow wall separating the airport from densely populated neighbourhoods  and you will see an ugly scar on the already not very pretty face of the Vietnam War.

This is where barrels of Agent Orange were kept in the airport by the US military. Now, more than 40 years later, the spot is finally being decontaminated. When covering an anniversary, its easy to fall into the trap of a before and after cliche or, even worse, to try to do something different but irrelevant. Even so, I wanted to do a story on the legacy of Agent Orange. There were several raised eyebrows around me, as colleagues asked: couldn't I find something new instead of retelling a story told over and over already?

I cant say where and when I heard it but I remember the advice well: no matter how many times the story has been done and how many people have done it, do it as if you are the first and only one to witness it. I listened to this advice so many times in the past and I listened to it now.

Such assignments have rules, among the most important being the longer you spend in the unknown, the more chance you have of getting strong pictures.

So a Vietnamese colleague and I set off to travel around Vietnam, a country stretching more than 1,500 kilometres from north to south, with a great many people still affected by Agent Orange.

The cleaning operation of the area that was used for storing Agent Orange is seen from a plane taking off from Danang international airport (Reuters)

The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) told Reuters that more than 4.8 million people in Vietnam have been exposed to the herbicide and over 3 million of them have been suffering from deadly diseases.

But soon after I started taking pictures and talking to victims and their relatives, I realised I would need to think again about how to do this story. My immediate and natural reaction was to get closer, almost into the face of a victim, to show what has happened to human bodies.

A forensic photography approach, almost. In a hospice outside Hanoi, after a few strong portraits of a kid born with no eyes and other victims whose bodies are horribly twisted, my original plan felt wrong. The faces and eyes in the pictures hurt; the focus is there but I may be missing things around, possibly even the story itself.

I wanted to put it all in the context of todays Vietnam, 42 years on. To see victims of the second and third generations, where and how they live. To learn why children and grandchildren of people affected are still being born with disabilities, to find out if people know about the dangers, and if so when did they found out.

And to take pictures of all that.

As we got closer to the former front lines travelling from the north, the number of cases increased. We kept in touch with VAVA, the main association helping victims, and they gave us much needed information, including the number of victims and where they live.

Throughout the assignment, VAVA and other local officials together with family members confirmed that the health conditions of people we met and photographed are linked to Agent Orange as their parents or grandparents were exposed to it.

In yet another village, Le Van Dan, an ex South Vietnamese soldier, wearing a worn-out military jacket of the communists, his former enemy force, told me how he was sprayed directly from the U.S. planes not far from his home today.

As the tough man spoke through broken teeth, two of his grandsons in a room behind the kitchen were given milk provided by a government aid agency. Both kids were born severely disabled, doctors say because of Agent Orange.

In a small village in Thai Binh province, in a cold room empty of any furniture, Doan Thi Hong Gam shrank under a light blue blanket. The rooms dirty walls suggest anger and some sort of struggle. Shes been kept in isolation since the age of sixteen because of her aggressiveness and severe mental problems. She is 38 now.

I took pictures of the poor woman for about 15 minutes. They were possibly the strongest frames I have taken in a long time. Her father, a former soldier lying in the bed in a room next to hers, also very sick, was exposed to Agent Orange during the war.

The legacy of Agent Orange Show all 12 1 /12 The legacy of Agent Orange The legacy of Agent Orange Danang, Vietnam Le Van Dan looks at his disabled grandson Le Van Tam as his daughter feeds another sick grandson in their family house in Phuoc Thai village, outside Danang. Le Van Dan, a former artillery soldier with the South Vietnamese army, said he was exposed to Agent Orange more than once, including being directly sprayed by U.S. planes near his village before he joined the military. Health officials confirmed two of his grandsonsa disabilities are due to his exposure to the defoliant, Le Van Dan said Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Danang, Vietnam 7-year-old Nguyen Van Tuan Tu, who suffers from serious health problems, is looked after by a family member under a mosquito net in their house near the airport in Danang, in central Vietnam. When Nguyen Van Tuan Tu's father started working at Danang International Airport in 1997, he was not aware of the health risks associated with Agent Orange and he collected fish and snails from a contaminated lake nearby for the family to eat. His first child to be born after he started working at the airport, was born in 2000 and died in 2007. Nguyen Van Tuan Tu was born in 2008 with same symptoms as his late sister and doctors and parents believe their health problems are linked to effects of Agent Orange. The couple have one healthy daughter who was born in 1995, before they started working at the airport, and she is now a university student. Danang airport was a U.S. airbase during Vietnam war and since 2012 both the U.S. and Vietnam are conducting a clean-up operation at the site Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 12-year-old Tran Huynh Thuong Sinh is fed by a hospital staff member at the Peace Village in Tu Du hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Tran Huynh Thuong Sinh, whose parents and grandfather were all exposed to Agent Orange, was born without eyes and with other serious health conditions. Officials at the hospital link his health problems with exposure to the defoliant. According to the head of the Peace Village, more than two-thirds of its over 60 patients are from areas that were heavily sprayed by Agent Orange and their health conditions are linked to the use of the defoliant. The legacy of Agent Orange Lai Van Manh smiles as he lies under a mosquito net in the family home in Tuong An village, in Thai Binh province in northern Vietnam. His father Lai Van Bien, a former intelligence officer in the North Vietnamese army, said that during the Vietnam war he served in an area that was heavily contaminated by Agent Orange. Lai Van Bien and his wife now care for their two physically and mentally disabled sons whose health condition the family and local officials link to the effects of Agent Orange. Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Pham Thi Phuong Khanh is fed by a hospital staff member at the Peace Village in Tu Du hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Both of Pham Thi Phuong Khanh's parents were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. According to the head of the Peace Village, more than two-thirds of its over 60 patients are from areas that were heavily sprayed by Agent Orange and their health conditions are linked to the use of the defoliant. Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Dang Thi Quang and her son Nguyen Van Binh are reflected in an aquarium in their home in Vietnam's Quang Binh province April 11, 2015. Nguyen Van Binhas father, a soldier who served in the North Vietnamese army's transportation unit, travelled and spent time in areas known as hotspots for Agent Orange contamination Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Phan Van Lam falls out of a hammock in his family home in Quang Binh Province in central Vietnam April 11, 2015. Phan Van Lam's father, a former fighter with the North Vietnamese army, said he was not directly sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam war but lived in areas that were heavily affected by the defoliant. Local doctors told him that his son's health condition, which includes severe brain damage, is linked to Agent Orange Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Doan Tue holds his granddaughter, as a picture of him in military uniform hangs on the wall, at their family house in Truc Ly, in Vietnam's Quang Binh province April 11, 2015. Doan Tue, a soldier who served on 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns during the Vietnam war, said he lived in several areas that were contaminated by Agent Orange. Two of his sons were born with serious health problems and the family and local health officials link their illnesses to their father's exposure to Agent Orange. His older son died two years ago Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Tang Thi Thang baths her disabled son Doan Van Quy outside their family home in Truc Ly, in Vietnam's Quang Binh Province April 11, 2015. Doan Van Quy's father, a soldier who served on 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns during the Vietnam war, said he lived in several areas that were contaminated by Agent Orange. Two of his sons were born with serious health problems and the family and local health officials link their illnesses to their father's exposure to Agent Orange Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange A former soldier Do Duc Diu is kissed by his disabled daughter Do Thi Nga as his wife sits at the doorway of their house in Quang Binh Province in central Vietnam April 11, 2015. Twelve of his fifteen children died from illnesses that the family and their doctors link to Do Duc Diu's exposure to Agent Orange. Do Duc Diu served as a North Vietnamese soldier in the early 70s, in areas that were heavily contaminated by Agent Orange. He only found out about the possible dangers of Agent Orange before his last child was born in 1994. He said that if he had known about the possible effects of Agent Orange he would not have had children. Before he found out about the effects of Agent Orange, Do Duc Diu said that he and his wife visited many spiritual leaders and prayed at different shrines as they attributed their children's sickness to their ill-fated destiny Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange Former soldier Do Duc Diu prays at the cemetery where twelve of his children are buried, after showing the graves to reporters, near his house in Quang Binh Province in central Vietnam April 11, 2015. Twelve of his fifteen children died from illnesses that the family and their doctors link to Do Duc Diu's exposure to Agent Orange. Do Duc Diu served as a North Vietnamese soldier in the early 70s in areas that were heavily contaminated by Agent Orange. He only found out about the possible dangers of Agent Orange before his last child was born in 1994. He said that if he had known about the possible effects of Agent Orange he would not have had children. Before he found out about the effects of Agent Orange, Do Duc Diu said that he and his wife visited many spiritual leaders and prayed at different shrines as they attributed their children's sickness to their ill-fated destiny Reuters The legacy of Agent Orange 63-year-old former soldier, Nguyen Hong Phuc, sits on the bed with his son Nguyen Dinh Loc, 20, who is recovering from tumour surgery at Friendship village, a hospice for Agent Orange victims, outside Hanoi. Nguyen Dinh Loc has serious mental and physical problems that his family and doctors link to his father's exposure to Agent Orange. His father joined the military after the U.S. army stopped using Agent Orange in 1971, but lived in areas heavily contaminated by it, including near Danang airport, where the chemical defoliant was stored.

Then another village and another picture. On a hill above his home, former soldier Do Duc Diu showed me the cemetery he built for his twelve children, who all died soon after being born disabled. There are a few extra plots next to the existing graves for where his daughters, who are still alive but very sick, will be buried.

The man was also a North Vietnamese soldier exposed to the toxic defoliant. For more than twenty years he and his wife were trying to have a healthy child. One by one their babies were dying and they thought it was a curse or bad luck, so they prayed and visited spiritual leaders but that didnt help.

They found out about Agent Orange only after their fifteenth child was born, also sick. I took a picture of the youngest daughter. It was not an easy thing to do.

Village after village, strong pictures and even stronger stories emerge. My camera stayed at a distance. I shot through mosquito nets and against the light, I shot details and reflections. We took many notes trying not to miss any important details needed to build an accurate picture. Then we drove further south.

Back in Danang, next to its international airport, we visited a young couple who have lived and worked there since late 1990s. When they first moved there the man used to go fishing, collecting snails and vegetables to bring home to eat.

Nguyen Thi Van Long (R) and her best friend Dinh Thi Huong, who is deaf and mute, spend time together at Friendship village, a hospice for Agent Orange victims outside Hanoi (Reuters)

The family was poor and all food was welcomed. What he didn't know was that Agent Orange, which used to be stored nearby, had contaminated the waters and everything around the lake situated next to the airstrip.

His daughter was born sick in 2000 and died aged seven. Their son was born in 2008, also sick with the same symptoms as his late sister. I took pictures and then we drove the family to the hospital for the boys blood transfusion. The blind and very sick boy held my finger and later blew a kiss into the emptiness. I saw it from afar as I walked away.

The United States stopped spraying Agent Orange in 1971 and the war ended in 1975. Twenty years later, some people from villages and cities didnt know all about it. More than 40 years later, today, children and their parents still suffer and a large part of the story remains untold. Agent Orange is one big tragedy made of many small tragedies, all man made.

There is not much I can do about it with my pictures except to retell the story, despite all the raised eyebrows. The pictures I took are not about the before and after, they are all about now. As for how poorly we read history and stories from the past, Im afraid that is about our future, too.

Reuters
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

When a baby is born stillborn, parents can sometimes only have a few hours to spend time with their child and say goodbye.

The amount of time parents can spend with a stillborn is usually restricted because the body of the infant can deteriorate in warm rooms, especially if it has been dead for a few days.

Flexmort developed the CuddleCot  a cot which cools the baby and therefore prolongs the amount of time parents can spend with their stillborn infant - in 2011.

Simon Rothwell, a founder of CuddleCot and former policeman, started the company after previously working on cooling devices for deceased obese people and then visiting childrens hospices where bodies tended to be kept in cold rooms along with the parents who would stay for days with a deceased child, while being extremely cold themselves.

In hospitals, the Cuddlecot might allow the parents to spend a night with the baby. However, if the mother has had a traumatic labour and has been unable to see their baby for a few days this might be longer. Mr Rothwell says how long the baby can be kept in the Cuddlecot depends on a number of variables including when the baby died and how often it has been taken out of the cot. He is aware of a family who kept their baby for a few weeks over Christmas because they did not want to be apart from it at that time of year.

A Cuddlecot with a Moses basket (Flexmort)

They have carried a baby for nine months generally and the only time and memories they will get will be for that day or two," Mr Rothwell told The Independent. "So, its absolutely so important for families and it really does help them. The feedback we get has been phenomenally positive.

The frequent use of Cuddlecots has mainly happened through word-of-mouth, which Mr Rothwell says is good considering the horrific nature of the topic the product caters to. They are used in 92 per cent of hospitals in the UK as well as hospitals and childrens hospices in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. The hospitals tend to buy them from Flexmort who then provide them for free to the families.

Most hospitals will offer families the choice. The difficult part is that stillborns are quite common and there might be two people at the hospital that need one yet only one can get it.

Mel gave birth to her stillborn baby, Finley, in 2009 after undergoing an emergency caesarian when his heart rate dropped. At the time,a Cuddlecot was not available but being as though Finley died minutes before birth, he did not deteriorate quickly so Mel and her partner were able to spend three days with him in a bereavement suite.

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

Though we didnt know what was possible, what we could do, the staff were fantastic making suggestions and supporting us, Mel told The Independent. We have photographs and videos from this time. We changed him, he stayed with us the whole three days. We have footprints, and casts, gave him gifts and dressed him in different outfits.

"The bereavement midwife helped me to prepare to say goodbye. She asked me what I wanted my last memory to be, and took photographs of us on our last night, suggested I kiss my son and didnt bat an eyelid when I broke down and explained that I wanted to change his nappy All these things have helped us so much. The memories have made Finley real, tangible to other people, and our time with him was so precious.

Mel later raised money to provide a CuddleCot for the Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton who helped her so much through her own trauma. She has also set up a charity, Towards Tomorrow Together which supports grieving parents of stillborn babies in the West Midlands and Somerset, saying she always recommends CuddleCots.

I have known parents who have been able to see their baby after being seriously unwell and unconscious for a number of days. The cuddle cot is particularly helpful for babies born at an earlier gestation, or who have been dead for a number of number days. These families ordinarily may only be able to spend a few hours before the baby deteriorates too much, meaning that things have to happen so quickly It is a key piece of equipment in supporting families after the loss of a baby, allowing extra time, slowing down the necessity to make decisions quickly which they may regret, and allowing more families the chance to take their baby home to grieve in their own way.

Recently, a couple used a Cuddlecot for 16 days to grieve for their baby. Charlotte Szakacs, 21, told The Telegraph: I know it might not be the best option for everyone but for us it was so important to be able to have that family time I think having the time with her made such a difference. Being able to do so many of the things you imagine like taking her out in her pram, it really helped emotionally.

Mr Rothwell said despite the incredibly personal nature of using a Cuddlecot, sometimes the company and parents become victims of trolling.

The trolling that goes on sometimes is just horrible, Mr Rothwell says. Our experience is generally positive because people who have been through it or work in these areas realise how important it is for the family you just see it online sometimes with people trolling it saying it is disgusting. You dont know, youve never walked in their shoes.

Erica Stewart, bereavement support and awareness specialist at Sands stillbirth and neonatal death charity, told The Independent the Cuddlecot is an option chosen by many parents.

"When a baby dies it's a huge shock and there is only a small window of time for bereaved parents to create memories. One of the things they may be offered is the use of a Cuddlecot. Many parents choose this option as it allows them to spend longer, precious extra time with their baby."
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

For most of us, the idea of giving up our jobs to travel the world is nothing more than a pipe dream, but one couple has managed to make it a reality.

What's more, theyre getting paid six-figure salaries to do it.

After meeting in 2016 while travelling in Fiji, Jack Morris, 26, and his girlfriend Lauren Bullen, 24, forged a life for themselves which involves travelling the world full-time together.

Recommended Instagram is officially the most narcissistic social media platform

Since then, the couple have become top Instagram influencers with nearly three million followers between them and an impressive 45 countries under their belt.

Having mastered the art of curating a breathtaking Instagram feed, the couple have admitted to earning thousands from a single photo.

Previously speaking to Cosmopolitan, Jack revealed that they wont do a sponsored post for anything less than 2,500.

Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Esra in Persepolis Iran Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Nasir AlMulk -Pink Mosque- Shiraz, Iran Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Esra in Chefchaouen, Morocco Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Esra Inside the Stavropoleos Church in Bucharest Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Stavropoleos Church in Bucharest Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Sebilj in Sarajevo, Bosnia Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Old Bridge in Mostar in Herzegovina. Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Esra in front of the Kravica waterfall in the karstic heartland of Herzegovina. Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Vrelo Bune is the natural and architectural ensemble at the Buna river spring near Blagaj Travel blogger Esra Al Hamal's adventures - In pictures Esra on the beach on Wiligama Beach in Sri Lanka

The most he has ever earned for just one snap is 7,000 while Lauren has been known to take home 6,000.

But, it turns out they could be charging more if they wanted to.

I did a job for a phone company where I flew out for three days; there were two days filming and then I had to do five photos on Instagram, and that was $35,000, he told the magazine.

We've even turned up to jobs before that we've charged thousands for, and we've got there and they've been like, your rates are so low.

Taking to his blog, Do You Travel, Jack recently shared the secrets behind his awe-inspiring photos and said that they key to taking the perfect pic is all about timing.

Most of the time we like to shoot around one hour after sunrise. Busy locations don't tend to be as busy at this time of day,' he wrote.

Jack also said that its important to make sure the images on his feed match and as such, he tends to avoid using Instagram filters.

I edit all my photos in the same kind of style with my own Lightroom presets. I also look at the grid and try to plan the next image to make sure it works well with the rest of my recent feed,' he said.

I don't use any mobile apps or filters.

Currently living in Bali, the couple continue to post inspirational photos to their Instagram accounts with the aim of visiting one new non-work related country each month.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Amazon's quest for market domination is becoming harder to ignore.

The sprawling Seattle-headquartered group on Tuesday said that it is launching a service in the UK aimed at doing for businesses what it already does for individual customers, by offering a marketplace where companies can buy everything from industrial machinery to paper clips and janitorial equipment - even in bulk.

Amazon Business will aim to cater to the procurement needs of businesses of all sizes, as well as institutional buyers including universities, hospitals and non-profits.

Whether you are a sole trader, a buyer in a mid-size company or a chief procurement officer in a large multi-national organisation, Amazon Business has the products and capabilities to serve your needs, Bill Burkland, who heads up Amazon Business in the UK, said in a statement.

More than a hundred million products will be available to companies that sign up to the service, including laptops, office supplies, furniture and commercial-grade printers.

Businesses will also be able to buy highly specialised equipment like power tools and thermal imaging cameras and lab supplies like microscopes, test tubes and high-speed centrifuges.

Amazon Business already launched in the US in April 2015 and now serves more than 400,000 businesses there. It generated more than $1bn (800m) in sales in its first year, according to the company. Last December it rolled out in Germany, where it is now used by more than 50,000 business customers.

The latest launch in the UK could help bolster Amazons already meteoric stock price rise and it also underscores the companys commitment to diversifying both its customer base and the services it provides.

Last year, Amazon started a food delivery service across Londondirectly rivalling players like Deliveroo and UberEatsand more recently the company has launched a drive-through style of bricks-and-mortar supermarket in the US.

Customers order their food online then collect from a warehouse, with bags pre-packed and loaded into the boot by Amazon employees.

And the companys proven ability to shake up the markets in which it operates seems to be paying off.

Amazons share price has surged by close to 50 per cent over the last year to a record high, valuing the company at well over $400bn. Profits last year increased nearly three-fold to $2.4bn on sales of about $136bn, partly thanks to the launch of its Amazon Echo home assistant and the popularity of its media streaming services for Amazon Prime members.

Founder Jeff Bezos recently overtook Warren Buffett in a Bloomberg ranking of the worlds richest people, to nab second spot after Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Mr Bezos, who is also Amazon's chairman and chief executive, is now worth $75.6bn  which marks a massive $10.2bn increase so far in 2017.

The worlds most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The worlds most valuable brands The worlds most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the worlds most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The worlds most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apples brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The worlds most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The worlds most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The worlds most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The worlds most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The worlds most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The worlds most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The worlds most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The worlds most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo

The UK is a major market for Amazon and in February the company announced that it intends to expand its workforce in the country by 5,000, despite the uncertainty unleashed by Brexit.

It said at the time that as a result of the expansion, it would be filing roles across a slew of departments, hiring software developers, engineers and technicians, as well as more junior staff.

Those currently in seasonal roles would be encouraged to take permanent ones, the company said, taking its total UK workforce to more than 24,000.
Members of parliamentary energy committee will meet with Rosatom officials to pave way for signing of El-Dabaa deal in May or June

A delegation of 15 Egyptian MPs flew to Moscow on Monday for talks with Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, which is due to construct Egypt's first nuclear power station at El-Dabaa, 130 northwest of Cairo.

The delegation from parliament's industry and energy committee, headed by committee chair Talaat El-Sewedy, will spend four days in Russia at the invitation of Rosatom, paving the way for the final signing of El-Dabaa contract in early summer.

According to Alaa Salem, the committee's secretary-general, "The visit is very necessary because it comes ahead of the expected signing of final contracts on the construction of El-Dabaa in May or June," said Salem.

Salem said the MPs will pay field visits to a number of nuclear power stations in Russia, some of them under construction and others already built by Rosatom.

"We will review these stations and see how all requirements of safety benchmarks were observed to guarantee the highest level of hazard-free operation at these stations," said Salem.

Salem said Egypt chose Russia's Rosatom energy giant due to the company's great experience in implementing a large number of international nuclear power projects in various countries.

"We also chose Rosatom because of the good financial terms of the contracts with this company," said Salem.

Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Energy Mohamed Shaker announced in February that Russia will provide Egypt with a state loan worth $25 billion for the financing of the construction and operation of the El-Dabaa project, with a repayment period of 13 years.

El-Sayed Hegazi El-Baz, another member of the Egyptian parliamentary delegation to Russia, told the Russian news agency Sputnik that he expects the Dabaa project contract to be signed in May.

"So far, it seems like the signing of the contracts on the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant will take place in May," El-Baz said, adding that "the visit to Russia is necessary to ensure that the implementation of the project begins as soon as possible." 

According to El-Baz, Egypt's switch to nuclear energy was motivated by the country's need for non-traditional sources of energy.

"It is necessary to switch to nuclear power and other renewable sources of energy to both protect the environment and overcome any future electricity shortage," El-Baz said.

According to Baz, the delegation will also meet Russian parliamentarians to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation.

Russia and Egypt signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the El-Dabaa plant in November 2015. It will consist of four nuclear power units, 1,200 megawatts (MW) each. Rosatom is scheduled to build El-Dabaa plant within 12 years.

In March, Egyptian media reports cited an official as saying that the signing of the contract could take place in June.

An official with the electricity ministry said, "The final stage of discussion on the final contracts with Rosatom are still being revised by the State Council to resolve issues related to El-Dabaa's commissioning and subsequent servicing."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Russia's energy giant Gazprom is reportedly considering moving its operations out of the UK in light of potential trading difficulties associated with Britains departure from the European Union.

Citing sources, the Financial Times reported that Gazprom, the worlds largest natural gas producer, is concerned that Brexit could hinder trade with the EU or make it more costly.

Running our European trading operations out of London is not advantageous any longer []We have to look at the impact and our options, one of the people with knowledge of the matter was quoted by the FT as saying.

The company opened its trading operations in London in 1999, which now acts as the its EU headquarters, according to the FT.

Gazprom was not immediately available for comment when approached by the Independent.

Several companies have warned they might retreat from London or move some of their operations out of the UK following the Brexit vote.

For months, there has been widespread speculation that thousands of financial jobs, currently based in London, could be migrated to cities like Dublin, Paris or Frankfurt, so that the banks affected can continue to offer their services to EU clients.

Lloyd's of London, which is both the worlds biggest and the world's oldest insurance market, last week confirmed that it will be setting up a new insurance company in Brussels, to secure a European foothold.

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

Earlier this month, Richard Gnodde, the Europe chief executive of banking giant Goldman Sachs, confirmed the bank will relocate hundreds of staff out of London before any Brexit deal is struck.

Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, warned earlier this year that Brexit poses a risk to the global financial system and could cost the City of London up to 230,000 jobs.
Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Health Check email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Researchers are developing a revolutionary contact lens that could change the lives of millions of people suffering from type 1 diabetes.

Living with the disease can be stressful as doctors recommend diagnosed patients test their blood four to eight times a day.

The lens would use peoples tears to monitor their blood glucose levels, saving them time and potentially improving their health.

I have a friend who has diabetes, and saw the issues he faces managing his sugar levels, Gregory Herman, leader of the Oregon State University research team, told The Independent.

Diabetes is a long-lasting health condition that causes the amount of sugar in the blood to become too high. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2, both serious and without cure.

The pancreas produces a hormone called insulin that controls the level of glucose in the bloodstream. Patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes dont produce this hormone and need regular insulin treatment to avoid complications.

My group started getting serious on glucose sensors for the development of an artificial pancreas a few years ago in collaboration with Pacific Diabetes Technologies," said Dr Herman.

We decided to take a different direction than the company which led us to the transparent sensor that can be integrated into a contact lens."

Google was also developing a smart contact lens for diabetics (Associated Press)

The technology consists of a transparent biosensor that can go anywhere on the contact lens. This sensor detects changes to pH, or acidity levels, and measures the amount of glucose in tears.

The lens will let people know when to give themselves injections and for patients wearing insulin pumps the signal can provide information for self-regulation, he said.

In 2014, Google began testing a prototype of its own smart lens built to measure glucose concentrations in tears, using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturised glucose sensor.

But the project has been delayed, as its giant pharmaceutical partner Novartis announced last year that they were backing off from the trial due to technical difficulties.

It is estimated that there are around 415 million people living with diabetes worldwide and 4.5 million in the UK alone, according to Diabetes UK.

At the moment, the prototype tested in lab can only detect the level of glucose in the blood. The team hopes it could also identify other medical conditions, such as cancer, eye diseases and multiple sclerosis, a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.

The worst jobs for your health Show all 10 1 /10 The worst jobs for your health The worst jobs for your health 10. Surgical and medical assistants, technologists, and technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 57.3 What they do: Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel and perform medical laboratory tests. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69 The worst jobs for your health 9. Stationary engineers and boiler operators Overall unhealthiness score: 57.7 What they do: Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 99 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 89 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 84 The worst jobs for your health 8. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators Overall unhealthiness score: 58.2 What they do: Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 97 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 80 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 74 The worst jobs for your health 7. Histotechnologists and histologic technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 59.0 What they do: Prepare histologic slides from tissue sections for microscopic examination and diagnosis by pathologists. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 76 3. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 The worst jobs for your health 6. Immigration and customs inspectors Overall unhealthiness score: 59.3 What they do: Investigate and inspect people, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the US or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 78 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 63 3. Exposure to radiation: 62 The worst jobs for your health 5. Podiatrists Overall unhealthiness score: 60.2 What they do: Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 87 2. Exposure to radiation: 69 3. Exposure to contaminants: 67 The worst jobs for your health 4. Veterinarians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers and veterinary technologists and technicians What they do: Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals and perform medical tests in a laboratory environment for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in animals. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 81 2. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 75 3. Exposure to contaminants: 74 The worst jobs for your health 3. Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 62.3 What they do: Administer anesthetics or sedatives during medical procedures, and help patients in recovering from anesthesia. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 94 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to radiation: 74 The worst jobs for your health 2. Flight attendants What they do: Provide personal services to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of airline passengers during flight. Greet passengers, verify tickets, explain use of safety equipment, and serve food or beverages. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 88 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 77 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 69 The worst jobs for your health 1. Dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 65.4 What they do: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 84 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 3. Time spent sitting: 67

Since we can include more sensors we can check for other biomarkers well beyond just glucose. For example, we have shown that the technology works for uric acid as well, which is an indicator for renal disease.

Our goal is to incorporate hundreds of sensors into a single contact lens, said Dr Herman.

The findings were published last year in the science journal Nanoscale and Applied Materials & Interfaces and are presented today at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco, California.
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

An Egyptian excavation team has discovered the remains of a new pyramid that dates back to the 13th Dynasty some 3,700 years ago, a top antiquities official said.

The remains were located north of King Sneferu's bent pyramid in the Dahshur royal necropolis south of Cairo, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, Mahmoud Afifi, said in a statement.

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.

The necropolis was the burial site for courtiers and high-ranking officials.

Adel Okasha, the head of Dahshur necropolis, said the remains belong to the inner structure of the pyramid, including a corridor.

The remains of the 13th dynasty pyramid, north of King Senefru's bent pyramids in Dahshur necropolis (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/AFP/Getty)

Other remains included blocks showing the interior design of the pyramid.

Associated Press
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Almost 20,000 has been raised for a Kurdish-Iranian student brutally attacked while waiting at a bus stop in Croydon, south London.

An initial target of 3,500 was quickly reached with donations totaling around 18,000 having been received by Monday evening  just two days after the JustGiving page was created.

Close to 1,000 people had pledged donations to 17-year-old Reker Ahmed, who was attacked with two friends at around 11.40pm on Friday.

The woman who set up the fundraising page, whose name was listed on the site as B Watson, appealed for members of the public to donate in small acts of kindness that will make a big difference to his life at this critical time.

The money will be held in trust for either goods to be purchased as to his needs or total funds to be given to him once his claim is complete and he turns 18, dependent on status, she said.

Feeling valued and loved is a very basic need that we can all be part of, all of us have an opportunity to make a difference for this young man.

This will go a long way to ensuring he sees the best after witnessing the very worst.

Commenting on the case, 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."
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Six more people have been charged after a teenage asylum seeker was attacked in Croydon, South London, bringing the total number of accused to 13.

Five people, including two sets of siblings, have already appeared in court in relation to what police described as a "brutal attack".

Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was left with a blood clot on his brain and a fractured skull after a group beat him up at a bus stop.

All six were charged with violent disorder, including a fifteen-year-old boy.

A 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm. The 20-year-old was also charged with dangerous driving.

According to Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said Mr Ahmed was "starting to make a recovery", but "obviously he is going to be scarred for life as a result of the beating he sustained."

The six will appear in custody on Tuesday, 4 April at Croydon Magistrates' Court. They are:

Liam Neylen, 19, of Ferris Avenue, Croydon was charged with violent disorder

Ben Harman, 20 of Akabosi Close, Croydon, charged with violent disorder, racially aggravated grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving

A 15-year-old boy from the Croydon area, charged with violent disorder

A 17-year-old boy from the Croydon area, charged with violent disorder and racially aggravated grievous bodily harm

Ellie Leite, 19, of Shrublands Avenue, Croydon, charged with violent disorder

James Neves, 22, of no fixed address, charged with violent disorder

They will appear in court alongside a 17-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man who were charged with violent disorder on Monday.

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

To date 16 people have been arrested in connection with the incident, three of whom have been released and will face no further action.
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A British peer been charged with a racially aggravated offence after he sent an allegedly menacing Facebook post about the woman who took the Government to court over Brexit.

Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, the 50-year-old polo-playing 4th Viscount St Davids, was due to attend court on 4 April after he posted the social media message about Gina Miller last November.

The case has been delayed until 5 May for administrative reasons, but the full charge was released by Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Recommended Gina Miller warns of new court case if MPs not given final Brexit vote

Mr Philipps allegedly threatened Ms Miller last year after she won her case against the Government, which forced UK Prime Minister Theresa May to consult both Houses of Parliament before triggering Article 50.

 Gina Miller reveals shocking abuse since launching Article 50 Brexit legal challenge

Mr Phillips of Knightsbridge, who has several titles including Lord Hungerford, Lord de Moleyns, and Lord Strange of Knockin, will remain on bail ahead of his first court appearance.

He has reportedly been bankrupt twice and his 3.6 million mansion in Sussex was repossessed by Barclays Bank in 2011.

Ms Miller has hired her own security team to monitor abuse since she won her battle against the government at the Supreme Court.

The police have handed out eight cease and desist notices over the last six months and told Ms Miller they had seen threats such as that she should be the next Jo Cox, the Yorkshire MP who was murdered last June.

Ms Miller said her whole life had changed after the Brexit battle, and that she no longer goes on public transport or leaves the house at the weekend.
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Asylum seekers in the UK are attempting to conceal their status to avoid being discriminated against  or even attacked  charities and experts have warned.

Following the brutal attack of a teenage asylum seeker in Croydon last Friday, it has emerged that people seeking asylum in the UK are becoming increasingly fearful of disclosing their true identity in public places, due to the deep racism and scapegoating that it is argued has been fuelled by political discourse over recent years.

Many asylum seekers are subsequently adopting the strategy of self-censorship to avoid being targeted and discriminated against, sometimes with violence, which experts have warned is driving them underground at a time when they are most in need of support and legal representation.

Reker Ahmed, a 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian, is currently recovering in hospital after he was left with a blood clot on his brain and a fractured skull when a group attacked him at a bus stop, reportedly after he told his attackers he was an asylum seeker.

Charities have since told The Independent discrimination is a frequent and growing concern among the asylum seeking community. Tell MAMA, which works to measure anti-Muslim attacks, said increased targeting of people seeking refuge since the Brexit vote has had the effect of "dehumanising" victims, while a Kent refugee charity said there is an "undercurrent" of discrimination faced by young asylum seekers.

The National Police Chief's Council has meanwhile informed The Independent that "more people are reporting hate crime than ever before", with a significant number still going unreported.

According to Dr Rhetta Moran, a researcher who works with displaced people with charity RAPAR, this increased targeting of people seeking refuge in the UK has brought the country to a critical juncture, whereby asylum seekers are choosing not to "self-disclose" and are thus unable to engage with the process of finding protection.

Dr Moran, who has been working with the Manchester charity for almost 20 years, told The Independent: The legitimacy that is being given to identifying people seeking asylum as part of the problem in our society means that people are feeling able to express racist ideas and in some instances launching physical attacks who might have previously self-controlled.

People seeking asylum have disclosed to us that sometimes they self-censor. Theyre not exposing their status to the people they know socially, even if they might have known them for two or three years. Theyre trying to be themselves, but miss out that dimension of who they are.

Theres a very profound self-censorship going on. The racism is now so deep that the scapegoating of the person seeking asylum is being very clearly understood and people are taking defensive measures where they can. They dont self-disclose.

Dr Moran explained that this process of self-censorship is difficult for people to fully achieve due to the many ways in which they are forced to disclose their status in everyday life, comparing the situation to a Jewish person who is forced to wear the Star of David.

Its difficult to hide. If youre in a supermarket queue you have to get out your Azure card and its clear, she said.

"There are all kinds of ways in which you are made to expose yourself, and yet at the same time you are being made to expose yourself in an environment where the state is giving out so many racist messages that claim you are the problem.

Its a bit like forcing Jewish people to wear stars on their clothes and then denying responsibility for what happens when the Jew goes outside wearing that star.

Dr Moran asserted that when asylum seekers do not share their experiences for fear of being punished if they do, they are driven underground and are not protected by important services, leaving them more susceptible to be left without support and legal representation.

In order for somebody who has fled death or famine or persecution to secure their safety, people around them have to be able to engage with their process of finding protection, which they cannot do if they dont know that they need protecting," Dr Moran added.

But the Government policy is driving people seeking asylum underground, which means the problem festers and grows. Its leaving people to fend for themselves and cutting them off from the wider population, so that they end up unable to do anything other than wait for a judge and hope that judge makes the right decision.

Were at a very critical juncture  and its a two-way street  in which people speaking asylum have the right to be able to speak out about what is happening to them, and people who are from here have the right to know about that, and together they can make some informed choices about in whose interest this is for these people to be able to become safe.

The levels of discrimination are so high at the moment, that the expectation is  even if its not the case - that if I say I am an asylum seeker I will be vilified.

These are people who have seen horror and violence. If you hide your identity youre isolated with your trauma. Youre isolated with a situation where the government is on occasion acting illegally. We need people seeking asylum to feel able to come out, so that everyone who wants to can say they stand shoulder to shoulder with them, because we have to confront the racism otherwise it will take over."

Iman Abou Atta, director of Tell MAMA, told The Independent there has been an increase over the past two years in the number of people seeking refuge in the UK being attacked and targeted  including abuse at street level and people being targeted in their homes  a rise he said can have the effect of dehumanising asylum seekers.

Sadly, the targeting of people who are asylum seekers and seeking refuge in the UK is nothing new, but we have seen cases coming into us over the last two years and particularly when the Brexit campaign started and when the mass migration of people took place into Europe from war-torn Syria and Iraq," Ms Atta said.

We have had cases where people have been abused at a street level and targeting in their places of residence. These are vulnerable people and the toxic debates around asylum seekers certainly does not help in dehumanising some of the most vulnerable in our society and communities.

Razia Shariff, CEO at Kent Refugee Action Network, said: "There has always been a concern in Kent regarding attitudes towards refugee's and asylum seekers, however this has also fuelled a very positive proactive response from the public offering support.

"Unfortunately the the political and media discourses can sometimes misinform those who already have a lack of understanding and awareness regarding refugees and asylum seekers and lead to discrimination and hate crime.

"We regularly try and support our young people to understand that although there may be individuals who have prejudicial attitudes against them, especially younger people, the majority are sympathetic. There has been no noticeable increase in incidents in recent weeks, but there is always an undercurrent prevalent that our young people have to tolerate."

Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features

A spokesperson from the National Police Chiefs' Council told The Independent: "More people are reporting hate crime than ever before but it is still significantly underreported. Violence and hatred directed at people who are in this country to escape danger is unacceptable and has no place in our society.

"Police forces work closely with the communities they serve to reassure people that we will respond to any incidents of violence driven by hate or intolerance. We want to reassure all members of the community: police will take your reports of hate crime seriously, protect you, and make sure you have all the support you need.

If you are a witness or a victim of hate crime or feel vulnerable please contact someone to report it. Dont suffer in silence; there are people who can help you. Call the police on 101, or visit the True Vision website (www.report-it.org.uk) for information, advice and to report online. In an emergency, always dial 999.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A disturbing image has exposed what campaigners have described as the "horrific reality" of domestic abuse affecting victims in the UK.

The photograph, posted by a Metropolitan Police officer who said it was the scene of a domestic assault, shows a wooden staircase with sharp knives impaled on either side of each step.

Several mysterious coloured note cards lay strewn across the stairs, along with what appears to be a bullet.

Inspector Rowlands said, who posted the photo on Twitter, said it was taken by a colleague and that the alleged male perpetrator had been arrested and charged.

A few weeks back a colleague of mine went to a domestic assault and found this when he entered. Male arrested and charged. Life saved, he wrote.

The officer later described it as "an image that raises the awareness of domestic violence and how much more is needed to be done."

Scores of people on Twitter responded to the image expressing their shock, with one writing: "That is completely terrifying. Poor poor woman", while another simply said: "That is utterly sinister".

Polly Neate, chief cxecutive of Womens Aid said: What this chilling picture shows is the real threat to life that domestic abuse is. The knives represent that threat. They say, very clearly: 'If you try to leave, I will hurt you'. This is why many women are unable to leave  for fear for their life or their childrens lives.

"The Femicide Census proved that women are at significant risk at the point of separation from an abusive partner. Seventy-six per cent of women killed by their ex-partner or ex-spouse between 2009 and 2015 were killed within the first year that followed their separation.

"This picture is a snapshot of the horrific reality of domestic abuse. We hope it raises awareness of the barriers facing survivors who want to flee. If people ask Why doesnt she just leave?  show them this picture.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A Spanish ship has illegally entered Gibraltar's territorial waters, the government has said.

The news comes amid increasing tensions between the UK and Spain over the sovereignty of the British Overseas Territory.

Those tensions came to a head over the weekend when the former minister Michael Howard suggested that Theresa May could go to war to protect the strategic enclave, a threat the Prime Minister did not immediately deny. Her spokesperson has since played down those comments.

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

Spain told Britain to calm down over threats, suggesting the government had lost its composure.

A spokeswoman for the government of Gibraltar told the Press Association: "The ship entered British/Gibraltarian territorial waters. It was met by the Gibraltar Squadron and invited to leave." The spokeswoman couldn't say whether Gibraltar would make a formal protest over the incident.

The status of the waters around Gibraltar continue to be debated. Spain has previously suggested that the UK can claim only the rock and not the water that surrounds it, while Gibraltar itself believes it owns the surrounding sea.

Occasionally that disputed status has led to flare-ups, when Spanish military and tourist vessels have entered into water that is claimed by Gibraltar.

The future of Gibraltar is the first major dispute of the negotiations over Britain's exit from the EU, which began when Article 50 was triggered last week. Tensions flared when Gibraltar featured in a document outlining the plans for those negotiations, which suggested that Spain would be given a veto over any agreements that cover the British territory.
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A millionaire landlord who sparked outrage after banning coloured tenants due to the curry smell and the apparent damage it does to carpets, has complained to police after people called him racist online.

Fergus Wilson, who is worth 100m and who owns hundreds of properties in Kent, hit headlines after one of his requirements for new tenants was leaked over email. It stated: No coloured people because of the curry smell at the end of the tenancy.

The 69-year-old landlord has since been sent online images and Facebook posts that show doctored images of himself and his wife Judith holding up property boards that read: I am a racist c***, 12% of people disagree with this statement, and 2%, the percentage of people that dont think Im a twunt.

He claimed there is also a YouTube video in which he is called a racist d***wad. A spokesperson for Kent police said it is aware of this issue and will be working to establish if any offences have taken place, Metro reported.

The property tycoon has previously banned battered wives, single parents, children under the age of 18, tenants on housing benefit and plumbers from renting his properties.

He claimed he had once lost more than 12,000 in rent and re-carpeting costs over a six month period after tenants left the property smelling of curry, Sky News reports.

 Property tycoon Fergus Wilson banned 'coloured' tenants due to curry smell

Speaking to Kent Online, Mr Wilson claimed he is not racist and said his policy against coloured people was an economic decision, comparing it to his ban on smokers and dog owners.

There has been much support for the stance I have taken. I do not apologise for it. Faced with the same circumstances I would do it again, he said.

I am not racist and my beef is with curry not with the colour of someones skin. I have merely taken an economic decision, he added.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has promised to investigate Mr Wilsons rules and take legal action. Anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate compared Mr Wilson to Alf Garnett from BBC sitcom Till Death Do Us Part, and called him the unacceptable face of the housing crisis.

A spokesperson said: There is something broken in the system when such a powerful figure can get away with such an appalling policy.

Roy Fever, the manager of Evolution Properties, which manages hundreds of the by-to-let tycoons homes, condemned Mr Wilsons actions and said: We dont condone this at all.

We would never implement a policy like that. We put through anyone to the landlord and it is up to the landlord who they take on.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told King Abdullah II of Jordan during a meeting in Washington on Tuesday that Egypt is keen on coordinating and consulting with Jordan periodically on different issues.

Egyptian presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef said that during the meeting, the El-Sisi congratulated King Abdullah II over the success of the latest Arab Summit, which was held late last month in Jordan.

Both leaders are on official visits to the US to meet American President Donald Trump and other US officials.

El-Sisi expressed his keenness to follow up on the implementation of decisions related to joint Arab cooperation that were adopted at the summit.

El-Sisi attended the Arab Summits 28th session in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort of Sweimeh, delivering an opening address on several regional conflicts and means of bringing Arabs together.

King Abdullah II praised El-Sisis participation in the summit, expressing Jordans wish for continued consultations with Egypt on all regional issues in order to reach political resolutions for ongoing crises in the region.

The meeting also witnessed an exchange of viewpoints over different regional developments, as well as promoting the peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli parties.

Cairo and Amman have been coordinating to resolve several conflicts in the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

British people who oppose further immigration to the UK are less happy than those who welcome it, and politicians are part of the reason for this, research shows.

Those who say they would allow many immigrants to enter are around eight per cent happier than those who want none to enter, according to a study, prompting researchers to conclude that anti-immigrant discourse in politics is contributing to undermining the subjective well-being of the natives themselves.

Dr David Bartram, lecturer at the University of Leicester who carried out the research, drew on an analysis of data from the European Social Survey on 5,995 people in the UK to correlate their opinion on immigration with how happy they described themselves on a scale of 0-10.

People who wanted no more immigrants to enter scored an average of 7.16, and those who would allow many scored 7.91, signalling an eight per cent difference, the findings showed.

The survey found that six per cent would allow many immigrants to enter the UK, 34 per cent would allow some, 35 per cent would allow a few and 25 per cent would allow none.

The effect was strongest among those who were out of work because of sickness or disability, and those who had been unemployed in the past for three months or more. In these groups, those who would allow many immigrants to enter scored 7.07, and those who wanted none to enter scored 6.19.

When people considered immigration from people of the same ethnic group, these percentages changed, with 10 per cent saying they would allow many immigrants to enter the UK, while 48 per cent would allow some, 30 per cent would allow a few and 12 per cent would allow none.

Speaking at the British Sociological Associations annual conference in Manchester, Dr Bartram said: For the most part, immigration is not a threat to the employment or wages of natives. Economic research on that topic finds that for the economy as a whole, immigration enhances the economic situation of natives  it expands job opportunities and doesnt undermine wages.

Instead its the beliefs themselves that people have about immigrants, the way people think about immigrants  theyre not part of us  that makes them unhappy about immigrants, and indeed perhaps less happy in general.

The fall of eight per cent in happiness is significant  equivalent to the gap between the average level of happiness of people earning 50,000 and those earning 20,000 a year, for instance.

Dr Bartram added that political messages play a key role in promoting such discourse among the population, and that it was damaging those who were influenced by it.

Anti-immigrant discourses, political messages that highlight and bemoan how different immigrants are, contribute to undermining the subjective well-being of the natives themselves, he added.

We would likely see a significant benefit if politicians stopped talking about immigration and immigrants in the way many of them currently do. The current discourse is damaging to natives, and recognition of this idea could amount to reason for reflection.

Perhaps this research could persuade politicians to reconsider the way they think and speak about immigrants, but Im not going to hold my breath.

It might seem that Im telling a very pessimistic story about human nature  the notion that theres a deeply rooted tendency to be suspicious of something that seems unfamiliar and thus a corresponding tendency to distrust and dislike foreigners.

But in fact we have plenty of evidence indicating that this way of engaging with foreigners can be unlearned  or at least that a new way of thinking about foreigners can be taught to the next generation. People in the youngest age group are twice as likely as those in the oldest group to say they want to allow this sort of immigration.

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

Responding to the findings, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told The Independent: This research reaffirms what we already know in our heart of hearts  that we all have a responsibility for what we say and how we say it.

More than others perhaps, politicians and the press have a duty to behave responsibly and choose our words and tone carefully. The recent attack on an asylum seeker in Croydon cannot be seen in a vacuum, the toxic rhetoric about migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers coming from some of our most-read papers and politicians (elected or otherwise) must be seen as a contributing factor.

I hope that this research acts as a wake-up call and reminds those who deliberately stoke and provoke the sort of impact their words can have not only on our happiness but on our communities safety and well-being too.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

One of the most senior figures in the European Parliament has said it will be a key Brexit goal to strip London of all euro-related business and shift it to continental rivals.

Leader of the biggest political grouping Manfred Weber warned that London will lose out from Brexit to rivals like Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin.

Speaking as the parliament is set to formalise its Brexit position in a vote on Wednesday, Mr Weber also said the UK should not be surprised that Brussels takes Spains side when it comes to Gibraltar.

Recommended May forced to defend claim she can seal Brexit deal in two years

He also underlined that Britains divorce bill  up to 50bn by some estimates  should be the first item on the Brexit agenda and that the UK must give guarantees not to turn itself into a Singapore-style tax haven.

London is the world's leading financial centre for the lucrative clearing of derivatives denominated in euros, but Mr Weber said: Its not thinkable that, at the end, the whole euro-business is still managed in London.

This is an external place, this is not an EU place anymore. The euro-business should be managed on EU soil.

He explained that a natural outcome of Brexit would be that when it came to euro-related business, cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and Frankfurt will win and others will lose.

He added: It will not be an advantage. It will not be a positive thing for the City of London at the end.

 Brexit: Theresa May on trade, security and the single market

In a bullish display, Mr Weber also referenced the furore over Gibraltar that erupted after European Council President Donald Tusk published guidelines for the EU negotiating mandate, giving Spain a veto over any deal involving the territory.

He said: Sorry  I can send the message again to the British friends  from now on, we will have the interests of the EU 27 in mind and not anymore of the British in mind.

So we have the interests of Spain in mind. And not any more, of Britain in mind.

He added: So you should not complain that we take only the Spanish interests in mind from now. That is the outcome when you leave this family.

Despite Ms Mays calls for both withdrawal talks and trade talks to take place in tandem Mr Tusk and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been clear that the former must come first.

 Brexit: Gibraltar furious Spain has veto over its future

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told The Independent that certainty over the UKs financial liabilities on leaving the EU would be necessary before moving on to trade talks.

Mr Weber backed the position, stating that EU citizens will not pay the bill for the British.

Following suggestions from London, in particular from Chancellor Philip Hammond, that the UK would not be afraid of transforming itself into a Singapore-style low tax economy, Mr Weber said: EU citizens remain the masters of their own house, that means for us that we dont accept any kind of Singapore model, which Hammond and others already put as one of the options on the table.

Any kind of dumping next to the European Union in the future, as an external country like Great Britain, any kind of dumping will be not acceptable for us.

So that must be guaranteed in any kind of negotiations, that we dont allow this dumping approach on taxation and on social standards.

The parliament will become the first EU institution to formalise its position when it votes on guidelines that were published in the wake of the triggering of Article 50.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

British MEPs are reportedly being mocked at the European Parliament over the controversy sparked by claims Britain might go to war with Spain over Gibraltar.

Labour's Seb Dance said he arrived in Strasbourg on Monday and was asked whether he had "brought your navy along".

Former Conservative leader Michael Howard caused uproar on Sunday 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's foreign minister reacted by telling the UK to calm down.

Mr Dance, an MEP for London, has said the mockery is spreading. He tweeted: "Greeted in Strasbourg with a 'oh, you not brought your navy along?' Tories out of control & make Brits look ridiculous. We deserve better. People are a little amazed this is a conversation that's even happening."

Number 10 played down Lord Howard's suggestion the UK might send a taskforce to The Rock"it isn't going to happen", said a spokesmanbut refused to condemn him.

The spokesman added: "All that Lord Howard was trying to establish was the resolve that we have to protect the rights of Gibraltar and its sovereignty.

"We've been very clear that we will support fully Gibraltar's right to its sovereignty."

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said on Monday the territory's sovereignty "cannot conceivably change" unless consent is given by both Gibraltar and Britain.

Lord Howard had said: "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."

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The comments were branded "hilarious" and "not very helpful" by the editor of Jane's Defence Weekly.

He told The Independent: "We are talking about two Nato allies. There are occasional differences between allies, but this would never be allowed to blow up into anything that would constitute open conflict.

"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."
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A campaign to persuade the Government to abandon its target to reduce net migration below 100,000 a year is launched today by The Independent and the Open Britain group.

Drop the Target has already won the backing of MPs across the political spectrum who believe the goal will never be achieved  even after Britain leaves the EU  and that doing so would damage the UK economy and leave the vulnerable worse off. Latest figures show net migration running at 273,000 a year.

The promise to cut migration to tens of thousands was made by David Cameron at the 2010 general election and repeated in the 2015 Conservative manifesto. Although Theresa May described it as an ambition rather than a firm target when she was Home Secretary, she has stuck to it since becoming Prime Minister.

In an open letter, MPs warn that the target is economically damaging because the UK needs migrant labour and could be socially divisive because it is based on the false premise that migrants are a negative for the country.

Open Britain, the successor to the Remain campaign in last years referendum which now urges a soft Brexit, and The Independent, are launching a petition to rally public support for ditching the target and to highlight the positive contribution made by immigrants, often vilified in populist politics. The campaign has been endorsed by the Royal College of Midwives, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Migration Matters Trust.

In the letter, three former ministers warn the Government that the target is at odds with recent statements by Cabinet ministers suggesting that workers from EU countries will still be needed after Brexit in sectors such as hospitality, financial services, farming, and construction.

There are also fears that frontline workers in social care and the NHS  looking after some of the most vulnerable members of our society  will be hit by the cap.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry, Labours Pat McFadden and Norman Lamb from the Liberal Democrats argue that EU workers are indispensable to the UK workforce and that it would be difficult and damaging to make huge reductions to EU migration after Brexit. They warn that such cuts would fall on migrants in non-protected areas such as manufacturing, energy, science, communications, education and defence. Such a reductionwould deny businesses the skills and they need and exposes the target as unachievable, they say.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 1.3 million EU nationals are employed in these non-protected sectors, compared to 699,000 in the areas ministers suggest would be protected.

The three MPs argue that the Governments goal is incompatible with its recent White Paper on Brexit, which said the country must recognise the valuable contribution of migrants to society and welcome those with the skills and expertise to make our nation better still.

Recommended The Government has questions to answer about its immigration target

Challenging ministers to justify the target, the three MPs pose 10 key questions  including whether the Government will aim for about 50,000 EU and 50,000 non-EU migrants in order to achieve its goal and asking what estimates of skills shortages in specific sectors have been made.

The Government is under pressure to allow the NHS and social care, which employ 140,000 EU workers, to continue to be able to recruit them after Brexit amid signs that EU nationals are leaving the NHS. EU workers make up nearly a quarter of the three million jobs in restaurants, hotels and tourism. The British Hospitality Association has warned of a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year and that it could take 10 years to train enough British workers.

Ms May is expected to retain the target when the Government draws up new rules to replace free movement for EU citizens. Her allies say she regards it as unfinished business from her six years at the Home Office. They say dropping the goal would ignore a key lesson from the EU referendum  that the public wants the Government to regain control of migration. However, some ministers admit privately that the target is highly unlikely to be achieved and is being kept mainly for symbolic reasons. Several Cabinet ministers are urging Mrs May to exclude foreign students from the target, which would make it easier to hit. But she believes the move would be seen as fiddling the figures.

Responding to the campaigns launch, the Home Office said: We want to see net migration fall to sustainable levels  the tens of thousands. The UK needs a fair and controlled immigration policy and that is exactly what this Government will deliver.

But Ben Wilmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, warned that the idea of an optimal level of net migration is a total myth. He said: Instead of worrying about setting an arbitrary target for net migration, the focus for policy makers should be on designing a flexible immigration system that provides the labour and skills the UK economy will need to grow and compete in the future post-Brexit.

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said the NHS had to be open to professionals from across Europe and the world to offer the best care. An arbitrary net migration cap would limit our ability to do that and inevitably result in a health service with fewer of the best specialists, less able to care for the people of this country. That is surely not what anyone wants. Its time to drop the target, she said.

Barbara Roche, a former Labour immigration minister who chairs the Migration Matters Trust, said: Our immigration system needs to address the skills shortages in the economy and provide us with talent for the future. The target will exacerbate shortages and cut us off from the skilled and experienced people we need to grow our economy. Coupled with the decision to leave the single market, which threatens British jobs and livelihoods, the Governments approach brings the worst of all worlds.

Charlotte Holloway, policy director at techUK, which represents 900 technology companies employing about 700,000 people, said: Nearly 20 per cent of the digital sectors three million workers were foreign-born, and one third of those from EU countries. Tech companies need solid details to help them plan for the future, which includes knowing that they can continue to attract the international talent they need to grow.

The ten questions the Government must answer on its plan to cut net migration to the tens of thousands:

1. When will the target be reached and will any changes to current freedom of movement rules be subject to a transitional period?

2. What is the economic rationale for the target and what evidence can be provided to demonstrate it will stimulate economic growth?

3. Given net migration is at present almost evenly split between EU and non-EU migration, will this continue with an aim for approximately 50,000 EU migrants and 50,000 non-EU migrants?

4. In which of the now non-protected sectors of the economy will there be a significant reduction of EU migrants, and what assessment has been made of the impact?

5. What assessment has been made of the impact of the target on the public sector?

6. What assessment has been made of the impact on skills shortages in specific trades and sectors?

7. Will the Government publish all submissions businesses and trade bodies have made regarding the impact of pursuing this target?

8. What skills training measures will be put in place to directly replace lost EU labour?

9. In which regions will the impact of the reduction of EU migrants be felt most acutely, and at what cost?

10. What assessment has been made of the numbers that will be lost due to UK employment growth slowing, versus the numbers that will be lost as a direct consequence of changes in government migration policy?

If you agree, please sign our petition to call on the Government to Drop The Target:

If you're viewing this on Facebook, please click here for the petition.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Ken Livingstone has been suspended from holding office in the Labour Party for one year after being found to have brought the party into disrepute over a series of incendiary comments relating to Adolf Hitler supporting Zionism.

However, the former London mayor will be re-instated as a member of the party, having initially been suspended pending a hearing. He will be free to vote in Labour elections and attend some party meetings.

Following an 11-month suspension, Labours disciplinary panel  the National Constitutional Committee  reached its decision to ban Mr Livingstone for an extra year from standing for election office within Labour and attending constituency party meetings. The ruling followed a three-day hearing into his remarks.

The party found that he had breached Labours rules, adding: The NCC consequently determined that the sanction for the breach of Labour Party rules will be suspension from holding office and representation within the Labour Party for two years.

Taking account of the period of administrative suspension already served the period of suspension will end on 27 April 2018.

Mr Livingstone said after the hearing: Todays Labour Party panel extended my suspension for another year because of my political views, not because I have done anything to harm the Labour Party.

The Labour Partys disciplinary process was not in accord with natural justice in a number of ways. For example the panel hearing was not held in public, despite the fact that it could have been under Labours rules. I was suspended for more than 11 months before the hearing was held.

Scheduling the final day of this disciplinary hearing, on the day the Labour Party launched its campaign for the 4 May elections, was a supreme misjudgment by whoever planned this in the Labour Party headquarters.

It was clearly not in Labours interests as the hearing will inevitably generate unfavourable headlines at a time when Labour should be focused on campaigning.

I will be launching a campaign to overturn my suspension of party membership.

 Ken Livingstone on Hitler and MP Keith Vaz

It was widely expected that Mr Livingstone would be expelled from the party and some Labour MPs will likely see his punishment as lenient.

Mr Livingstone, a supporter and old friend of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has been a member of the party since 1969 but was previously exiled for four years after his decision to stand as an independent candidate for London mayor in 2000. He returned to the party four years later.

His latest suspension follows remarks he made in April last year during a radio interview that the Nazi leader had supported Zionism in the 1930s before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.

Commenting on the decision to suspend but not expel Mr Livingstone, Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said he was deeply disappointed at the decision.

A temporary suspension is no more than a slap on the wrist, he said. Mr Livingstones inaccurate and antagonistic comments including over the past 40 years have had a huge impact on the Jewish community.

We feel that the Labour Party should have had the courage to address this deeply offensive behaviour with a firmer penalty.

The 71-year-old, who was represented by the human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield, had previously conceded he expected to be expelled from the party. In a recent interview with The Independent, however, Mr Livingstone remained defiant, insisting he would challenge the decision via a judicial review.

Comparing the secretive practices of the NCC to the North Korean regime, Mr Livingstone added that the partys compliance unit likely suspended him because he was supporting Mr Corbyn, rather than being anti-Semitic.

It was because I was defending Jeremy, which they consider a worse crime, he added.

The former London Mayor caused further controversy on the first day of his disciplinary hearing after telling reporters that the Nazis infamous SS set up training camps so that German Jews who were going there [Palestine] could be trained to cope with a very different sort of country.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Government has produced no evidence to support Theresa Mays assertion that no deal is better than a bad deal in the Brexit negotiations, a new Commons report has concluded.

Given the admission by the Brexit Secretary David Davis last month that the Government has carried out no economic assessment of crashing out of the EU without a deal, MPs on the Exiting the European Committee said the Prime Ministers threat is unsubstantiated.

The 155-page report adds that officials should set out what contingency planning is taking place and urges the Government to undertake an economic and legal assessment of leaving the EU without a deal.

It says that in these circumstances, Parliament must be given a vote on whether to accept Ms Mays decision to leave without a deal at the end of negotiations. It comes just days after the Prime Minister served notice of Article 50 to EU leaders, triggering the two-year countdown of Britains exit from the union.

But the report risked being undermined after several Brexit-backing MPs on the 21-member cross-party committee were reported to have walked out of a meeting last week, protesting the reports conclusions as too gloomy.

Five Conservatives  including former ministers John Whittingdale and Dominic Raab  and Democratic Unionist Sammy Wilson voted against the report, but were outnumbered by 10 Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat, SNP and SDLP committee members, all of whom backed Remain in last years referendum.

Mr Raab told the Press Association: The report was rushed, skewed and partisan. After two reports that had strong support, it's regrettable that this one split the committee. That undermines its credibility and influence, but I hope and expect the committee will learn the right lessons as we move forward.

Commenting on the report, the committees chair Hilary Benn, Labour MP and former Shadow Foreign Secretary, said Britain was about to enter into enormously important and complex negotiations covering trade, customs rules, access to the single market, security and foreign policy cooperation and the rights of UK and EU citizens at home and abroad.

Mr Benn continued: Without an economic impact assessment of no deal and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate the damaging effect of such an outcome, the Governments assertion that no deal is better than a bad deal is unsubstantiated. Parliament must be in an informed position to decide whether a proposed deal is, in fact, better or worse than no deal.

Leaving the EU without a future trade deal and in doing so defaulting to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules is no less an important decision for the UKs economic future than the terms of any future Free Trade Agreement between the UK and the EU. It is therefore essential that such a step is not taken without Parliament having a vote on the matter."

Giving evidence to MPs last month, Mr Davis insisted it was not possible to calculate the impact of the negotiations failing, adding: I may be able to do so in about a years time.

But, when asked by the chairman of the Brexit select committee if a new assessment had been carried out, Mr Davis replied: Under my time, no.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has waded into a row over the decision to drop the word Easter from a Cadbury and National Trust egg hunt.

The Prime Minister, who suggested she felt the slight particularly keenly because she is a vicars daughter, condemned the decision as absolutely ridiculous.

But her intervention, which followed one from the Archbishop of York, appeared premature after it emerged that posters for the event were still emblazoned with the word Easter.

The row began after the chocolate giants seasonal campaign run in conjunction with the Trust was called the Cadbury's Great British Egg Hunt  some 300 egg hunts will take place this year at National Trust properties.

Ms May told ITV News: I'm not just a vicar's daughter  I'm a member of the National Trust as well.

I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know what they are thinking about frankly.

Easter's very important. It's important to me. It's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world. So I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous.

The Church of England sparked the row, with Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu accusing Cadbury of spitting on the grave of its religious founder, Quaker John Cadbury, by removing references to Christianity's most sacred festival from the spring event.

Dr Sentamu told the Daily Telegraph: If people visited Birmingham today in the Cadbury World they will discover how Cadbury's Christian faith influenced his industrial output. He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools.

 Jesus's 'tomb' in Jerusalem reopens for Easter crowds after nine-month restoration project

"It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin.

But the National Trust said that suggestions it was downplaying the significance of Easter were "nonsense" while the chocolatier dismissed the archbishop's claim as simply not true.

A spokesman said: We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year.

A casual glance at our website will see dozens of references to Easter throughout.

Our Easter events include our partnership with Cadbury, which has been running Easter Egg Hunts with us for 10 years. Theyve proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadbury will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns.

A spokesperson for Cadbury said it is simply not true to claim that Easter does not feature in the company's marketing communications.

It is clear to see that within our communications we visibly state the word Easter. It is included a number of times across promotional materials ... Our Easter partnership with the National Trust is also synonymous with Easter, and we make it clear throughout materials that it is an egg hunt, for families, at Easter.

We want to reassure consumers of our commitment to Easter, which is very prominent within our activity. We will continue to use Easter prominently in our commercial campaigns as we do now and in the future.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Nick Clegg has accused Theresa May of being held hostage over Brexit by a curious cabal of old men.

The former Deputy Prime Minister described Britains exit from the European Union as an ideological coup carried out by powerful right-wing media figures such as The Suns Rupert Murdoch and Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail.

The 50-year-old insisted it was not conspiracy stuff in an interview with The Guardian. What lurks behind Brexit is an ideological coup, in many ways a domestic one. Brexit is a means by which a low-state, low-protection, low-welfare, libertarian approach to governance is seeking to take over the commanding heights of British politics, he said.

Mr Clegg accused Brexiteers of taking intellectual inspiration from the Tea Party movement  an American conservative movement within the Republican party that aims to lower taxes and reduce government spending.

The former Liberal Democrat leader said media owners in favour of Brexit wanted to turn Britain into an offshore haven, and the Conservative Partys most fervent pro-Leavers had plans for mass deregulation once Britain was outside the EU.

To combat the effects of a hard Brexit, Mr Clegg called on centrist MPs to join together to take on pro-Brexit Tories in Parliament.

No one can beat the Conservatives on their own so its not that complicated - were condemned to work together, he said.

 Brexit: Gibraltar furious Spain has veto over its future

I would welcome and embrace more thinking and writing and talking and speaking amongst liberal Conservatives, one-nation Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, centre-ground Labour folk who want to mount a proper ideological response to that.

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

Mr Clegg, speculating as to why the Conservative Party continued to be successful, told the newspaper the Tories had a remorseless nose for power, and that for them the act of ruling was more important than any political ideology.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has eschewed the strict Saudi Arabian dress code for women, instead descended the steps from her plane with her hair showing.

The Prime Minister touched down in capital Riyadh to meet the Crown Prince and other dignitaries without a headscarf, having earlier said she would be a role model for oppressed women in Saudi.

She follows in the footsteps of other political figures including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, in refusing to adhere to the dress code for women.

Recommended May says she will be a role model for oppressed women in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia enforces a conservative dress code in public places which requires women to wear a full-length robe and cover for their hair, in keeping with other restrictive laws that include a guardianship system limiting women's movement and a ban on driving, but foreign visitors do not always follow protocol.

Ms May has said she hopes to be an inspiration to oppressed women in Saudi Arabia by showing people there "what women can achieve".

Defending a visit to the kingdom on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said she hoped to embody the fact that women can hold "significant positions".

She said: "It's important for me as a woman leader and as leader of the government of the United Kingdom to maintain the relationships that are important to us as a country, for our security, and our trade for the future.

"But I hope also that people see me as a woman leader, will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions."
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has said she hopes to be an inspiration to oppressed women in Saudi Arabia by showing people there "what women can achieve".

Defending a visit to the kingdom on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said she hoped to embody the fact that women can hold "significant positions".

The country has faced international criticism over its system of male guardianship, which prevents women from carrying out some activities their counterparts in the West would take for granted.

Speaking in Jordan, Ms May said: "It's important for me as a woman leader and as leader of the government of the United Kingdom to maintain the relationships that are important to us as a country, for our security, and our trade for the future.

"But I hope also that people see me as a woman leader, will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions."

The Prime Minister added that there had already been some changes as a result of her raising such issues, and highlighted that during her trip she would be meeting a female minister who she would talk to about the role she and other Saudi women play in society.

I've talked to the Saudis on a number of occasions now and I raise issues of this sort. I think we have already seen some changes, Ms May said.

One of the meetings I'm going to be having when I'm in Saudi will be with a female, they have a minister who is a female minister. I'll be meeting with her and talking to her about the role that she plays, and generally we do encourage people to look at a woman's role in society.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

The Prime Minister, whose trips to Jordan and then Saudi Arabia this week mark her first international visits since triggering Article 50, said she hoped to herald a further intensification in relations between the UK and those two countries.

But the visit has been deemed controversial as it falls on the second anniversary of the Saudi-led bombardment campaign in Yemen. The UK remains a key player in the conflict, with over 3 billion worth of military equipment having been licensed to the Saudi regime since the bombing began.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and 17 million left food-insecure and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen since the current period of fighting began in 22 March 2015. Research by Unicef shows that the conflict has created a situation in which a child is dying of preventable causes every 10 minutes.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told an advisor of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he looks forwad to a "fresh start" of Egyptian-US ties following "fruitful" talks in Washington with the US president a day earlier.

During talks on Tuesday with US General Herbert Raymond McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, El-Sisi said that security and military cooperation between Cairo and Washington is an "important pillar of relations between the two countries," a statement by El-Sisi's office said.

The two leaders said they are eager to boost strategic ties and security and military cooperation, mainly in the fight against terrorism.

The statement quoted General McMaster as saying that he looks for "intensified coordination with Egypt in combating challenges in the Middle East and means to reach solutions that help restore stability in the region."

Tuesday's meeting is part of El-Sisi's multi-day visit to the US capital, the first such visit by an Egyptian president in eight years.

The last time an Egyptian leader visited the White House was in August 2009, when then-president Hosni Mubarak met with Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

During his meeting with El-Sisi on Monday, Trump vowed to provide Egypt with firm backing and cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Trump gave El-Sisi a warm welcome at the Oval Office, lavishing him with praise and moving to mend relations strained under the administration of his predecessor Barack Obama.

He said El-Sisi is doing a "fantastic job" in Egypt.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Pro-Brexit Tory MPs have rejected the findings of their own parliamentary committee, which concluded that Theresa May made unsubstantiated claims about Britain's relationship with the European Union.

The Commons Brexit Select Committee deduced the Prime Ministers statement that no deal on post-Brexit trade with the bloc was better than a bad deal was not supported by evidence.

The cross-party panel in turn called for Parliament to be given a vote on whether to accept Ms Mays decision to exit the EU without trade agreements in place at the end of the two-year negotiation process. It also requested the Government conduct a thorough public report of the consequences of crashing out of the EU without agreements in place on future trade relations.

Yet Conservative MP Dominic Raab condemned the report as rushed, skewed and partisan.

He and five others pro-Brexit MPs sitting on the committee voted against the inquiry's conclusion. It followed reports that a number of Eurosceptic MPs walked out of a private committee meeting chaired by Labours Hilary Benn a week before the paper's publication, saying it was "too gloomy

Five Conservatives in total, including Mr Raab, the former culture minister John Whittingdale and Democratic Unionist Sammy Wilson voted against the report, but were outnumbered by 10 Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat, SNP and SDLP committee members, all of whom backed Remain in last year's referendum.

Mr Whittingdale said the report was unduly negative and had very much concentrated on the problems without really recognising the opportunities of Brexit.

The report was rushed, skewed and partisan. After two reports that had strong support, it's regrettable that this one split the committee.

That undermines its credibility and influence, but I hope and expect the committee will learn the right lessons as we move forward.

The committee  which was appointed by the House of Commons to scrutinise the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Exiting the European Union  last month heard Brexit Secretary David Davis admit no assessment had been made of the cost of leaving the EU without a trade deal and falling back on World Trade Organisation tariffs.

Without an economic assessment of 'no deal' having been done and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate what would be the damaging effect of such an outcome, the Government's assertion that 'no deal is better than a bad deal', is unsubstantiated, the report warned.

It backed the finding of a previous report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that a no deal scenario represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK.

Parliament and the public have a right to the maximum possible information about the impact of failing to secure a deal, and the Government should conduct a thorough assessment of the economic, legal and other implications of all options under consideration, the report said.

The committee challenged Mrs May's insistence that she will offer only a take it or leave it vote to Parliament on any deal she achieves, stating it was essential MPs also get a vote in the event that there is no deal.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn said: Leaving the EU without a future trade deal and in doing so defaulting to World Trade Organisation rules is no less an important decision for the UK's economic future than the terms of any future Free Trade Agreement between the UK and the EU.

It is therefore essential that such a step is not taken without Parliament having a vote on the matter.

 Brexit Secretary David Davis admits deal with 'exact same benefits' is not a promise

The committee called on the UK Government and EU to reach a stand-alone and separate deal on the rights of expatriate citizens as soon as negotiations start, warning it would be unconscionable to make three million EU nationals in the UK and one million Britons living on the continent wait until the end of the Article 50 process for certainty about their status.

It urged ministers to seek a passporting-style agreement to allow cross-border financial services following Brexit, and said the Government should agree the phased implementation of new arrangements for the sector.

The committee said legislation implementing the UK's withdrawal from the EU is likely to require the legislative consent of devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which should be given enough time to conduct appropriate scrutiny.

Following complaints from devolved administrations of insufficient consultation, the committee urged the UK Government to establish a more effective process for engaging with them and to respond formally to the options papers they have produced.

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

Lib Dem committee member Alistair Carmichael said the the report was a devastating critique of the shambles that is the Conservative Brexit strategy.

He said: On point after point, the committee makes clear that the Government is wrong, such as on their insistence that a trade deal can be secured in time to avoid a cliff-edge Brexit, and on the Government's singular inability to explain even in general terms how it would replace the customs union.

But Mr Davis said a responsible government should prepare for all potential outcomes, adding: We are clear that no deal is not what we want or expect, but that it would be better than a deal which sought to punish the UK.

Additional reporting by Press Association
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The former head of the Royal Navy has told how British marines once accidentally invaded Spain while trying to land at Gibraltar.

Lord West was First Sea Lord in 2002 when Royal Marines got lost during a landing exercise and stormed a beach in southern Spain by accident.

He recounted the tale on the BBC's Today programme, after Downing Street was forced to play down the suggestion it might send a naval task force to The Rock in any dispute over sovereignty post-Brexit.

Former Conservative leader Michael Howard caused uproar on Sunday when he suggested the UK could go to war with Spain, as it had done with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, if it used the Brexit negotiations to assert sovereignty over the British territory.

Lord West said: "It wasn't one of the best days in my time. I had a phone call from the military commander saying, 'Sir, I'm afraid something awful's happened.' I thought, 'Goodness me, what?' And he said, 'I'm afraid we've invaded Spain, but we don't think they've noticed.'

"I said, 'People always notice, tell me exactly what happened.' They had been doing a little landing exercise which was meant to take place on a beach in Gibraltar, and they had got lost, and gone up on the wrong beach.

"They charged up the beach in the normal way, being Royal Marinesthey're frightfully good soldiers of course, and jolly good at this sort of thingand confronted a Spanish fisherman who sort of pointed out, 'I think you're on the wrong beach.'

"And they all scrambled back in their boats and went away again. So I immediately had to get on to the Foreign Office and the governor of Gibraltar."

The marines had in fact landed in La Linea, a Spanish town adjacent to Gibraltar. Juan Carlos Juarez, the town's mayor, said at the time: "They landed on our coast to confront a supposed enemy with typical commando tactics. But we managed to hold them on the beach."

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

Lord West added: "To be fair to them it is tricky at the northern point there, there are groynes, you know, sort of piers and jetties.

"I would've hoped they would have known exactly which the right beach was. I was teased mercilessly. I had a postcard from the head of the Army and Air Force which was a postcard of Gibraltar with an arrow pointing 'ours' and another arrow pointing 'theirs'.

"We have very good links, actually, with the Spanish military, and I talked to them and they understand, because people make cock-ups, don't they. Luckily the Spanish government people didn't make some thing out of it.

"Because I'm afraid, historically, they have occasionally stirred things up and made trouble over Gibraltar, and I'm glad to say that didn't happen."

The incident has not been brought up since, he said. "It was only 30 of them as well. If I'd put 2,000 ashore it might've been a bit more tricky."
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Barack Obama's former Russian adviser has said he met with "zero Russians" during the 2008 transition, as more reports emerged of contact between the Trump campaign team and Vladimir Putin.

It was reported on Monday that a secret meeting had been arranged between major Trump campaign donor Erik Prince and a Russian close to Mr Putin in January.

The rendezvous was part of an apparent attempt to establish a back channel of communication between Moscow and then-President-elect Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported.

Responding to the report on Twitter, former US Ambassador to Moscow Michael Mc Faul said: "This story just gets weirder and weirder. During Obama transition in 2008 (I was his Russia advisor back then) we met with zero Russians. Zero."

The FBI in March disclosed that the Trump administration was under investigation for its potential ties to Russia. Separate investigations have been launched by the House of Representatives and the Senate into the influence of Russian hacking on the US presidential election.

It was reported on Monday that a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trumps presidential campaign met with a Russian intelligence operative in 2013 and provided him documents about the energy industry.

Mr Trump has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election and over the weekend lambasted the media for its continued focus on the Russia story.

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

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.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Massachusetts city of Cambridge has passed a resolution calling for an impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump.

The Cambridge City Council passed the resolution on Monday evening by a 7-1 vote. One council member abstained from voting.

The resolution calls on the US House of Representatives to review whether Trump's many business interests violate the foreign emoluments clause or the domestic emoluments clause of the US Constitution. The clauses prohibit the President from profiting from foreign governments, the federal governor or state governments, other than his salary.

Cambridge voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

The city is across the Charles River from Boston, and is home to Harvard University.

Associated Press
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

After Donald Trump stepped into the White House, the novel 1984 flew off the shelves and became the number one bestseller on Amazon.

Now almost 200 cinemas around the US and other parts of the world are planning a simultaneous screening of George Orwells dystopian classic in protest at the new President.

In the US, the UK, Canada, Croatia and Sweden, the National Screening Day has been organised for 4 April by Dylan Skolnick, co-director of the Cinema Arts Centre in New York, and Adam Birnbaum, director of film programming at the Avon Theatre Film Centre in Connecticut.

In particular, this undermining of the concept of facts and the demonisation of foreign enemies [by the Trump administration] really resonate in 1984," Mr Skolnick told Al Jazeera.

No one is suggesting that were living in Orwells world. But the road to that world is people just becoming disengaged and allowing their government to do whatever it wants.

The novel is centred on protagonist Winston Smith, who resists the establishment in an authoritarian world, which is controlled by one political party amid war and Big Brother surveillance.

Critics of the Republican government say the story has echoes in todays world, with officials fight against the mainstream media, their claims that unfavourable coverage is fake news and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conways defence of Press Secretary Sean Spicers alternative facts.

Most of the cinemas participating in the protest will donate a portion of the proceeds to civil rights and community organisations.

The film version of 1984 was released the same year and stars John Hurt.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The State Department has said it is ending US funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the international body's agency focused on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries.

In a letter to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, the State Department said it was dropping the funding because the UN Population Fund supports, or participates in the management of, a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation.

The cut marks US President Donald Trump's first move to curtail funding for the United Nations and is likely to raise further questions about how deep those cuts will eventually go throughout the organisation, where the United States is the top donor.

It comes after Trump in January reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy that withholds US funding for international organisations that perform abortions or provide information about abortion.

Known by critics as the global gag rule, Trump broadened its scope to include all global health assistance in his January 23 executive order that withholds at least half a billion dollars in US funds. A lack of clarity around the rule, however, has left aid groups scrambling and both Republican and Democratic US lawmakers seeking clarity.

In a statement on its website, UNFPA said it regrets the US decision to end funding, which it said is based on an erroneous claim that the agency supports coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation in China.

UNFPA said its mission is to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises, the statement said.

The cut follows Trump's proposed 28 percent budget reduction for diplomacy and foreign aid, including an unspecified reduction in financial support for the United Nations and its agencies, announced last month.

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

UN agencies such as the UNFPA are funded by governments voluntarily. The United States was the fourth-largest voluntary donor to UNFPA in 2015, giving $75 million in core budget and earmarked contributions.

UN officials have warned that abrupt funding cuts could trigger more global instability and argued that dollars for diplomacy are more effective than military spending in combating terrorism.

Reuters
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

President Donald Trump will donate his first quarterly salary to the National Park Service, which will not cover the billion-dollar cut he imposed on the same department.

In a move announced by Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Mr Trump will give a cheque for $78,333 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who looks after national parks and monuments.

Mr Trump has also already announced cuts of $1.5 billion to the Interior Service, a 12 per cent funding loss.

Recommended Trump called National Park Service director about Inauguration photos

"The Park Service has cared for our parks since 1916, and the President is personally proud to contribute the first quarter of his salary to the important mission of the Park Service, which is preserving our country's national security," said Mr Spicer.

Mr Zinke said he was thrilled to receive the money, adding that it would be used to maintain battlefields.

"We're about $100 [million] or $229 million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone, and that's on our 25 national battlefields," he said. "And we're excited about that opportunity."

As he outlined in his speech to reporters, he has extended a leasing programme for coal-powered plants and has increased access to "traditional hunting".

The President said previously he would give up his entire salary of $400,000. Mr Spicer told reporters Mr Trump would do this at the end of the year.

Social media users were less than impressed with Mr Trumps donation, which, they argued, would not even cover several hours of security costs at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate.

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

His weekend trips on the private jet to Florida every weekend are estimated to cost the taxpayer around $3 million each.

Environmental group Sierra Club claimed the cheque was a distraction that falls far short of the $12 billion needed to address the current backlog of park maintenance.

The Presidents relationship with the National Park Service has been contentious.

Shortly after he stepped into office he imposed a social media black-out on the agency after it posted pictures comparing crowd sizes of Mr Trumps Inauguration versus former President Barack Obamas in 2009.

In retaliation, "alternative" National Park Service Twitter accounts sprang up online, tweeting facts about climate change and gaining hundreds of thousands of followers.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The 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 Donald Trump, according to US, European and Arab officials.

The meeting took place around 11 January  nine days before Trumps inauguration  in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE 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 be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on US sanctions.

Though Mr Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Mr 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.

Mr Prince was an avid supporter of Mr Trump. After the Republican convention, he contributed $250,000 to Mr Trumps campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC led by GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, records show. He has ties to people in Mr Trumps circle, including Stephen K. Bannon, now serving as the Presidents chief strategist and senior counsellor. Mr Princes sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. And Mr Prince was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December.

US officials said the FBI has been scrutinising the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 US election and alleged contacts between associates of Mr Putin and Mr 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 Mr Trump  contacts that the White House has been reluctant to acknowledge or explain until they have been exposed by news organisations.

We are not aware of any meetings, and Erik Prince had no role in the transition, said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.

A Prince spokesman said in a statement: 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?

Mr Prince is best known as the founder of Blackwater, a security firm that became a symbol of US 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 square in Iraq. Mr Prince sold the firm, which was subsequently re-branded, but has continued building a private paramilitary empire with contracts across the Middle East and Asia. He now heads a Hong Kong-based company known as the Frontier Services Group.

Mr Prince would probably have been seen as too controversial to serve in any official capacity in the Trump transition or administration. But his ties to Mr 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 separate private discussions in New York involving high-ranking representatives of Mr Trump with both Moscow and the Emirates.

The White House has acknowledged that Michael T. Flynn, Mr 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.

Mr Flynn and Mr Kushner were joined by Mr 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 US, European and Arab officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an unusual breach of protocol, the UAE did not notify the Obama administration in advance of the visit, though officials found out because Mr Zayeds name appeared on a flight manifest.

Officials said Mr Zayed and his brother, the UAEs national security adviser, coordinated the Seychelles meeting with Russian government officials with the goal of establishing an unofficial back channel between Mr Trump and Mr Putin.

Officials said Mr 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 UAE, 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.

Mr Zayed met twice with Mr Putin in 2016, according to Western officials, and urged the Russian leader to work more closely with the Emirates and Saudi Arabia  an effort to isolate Iran.

At the time of the Seychelles meeting and for weeks afterwards, the UAE believed that Mr Prince had the blessing of the new administration to act as its unofficial representative. The Russian participant was a person whom Mr Zayed knew was close to Mr Putin from his interactions with both men, the officials said.

When the Seychelles meeting took place, official contacts between members of the incoming Trump administration and the Russian government were under intense scrutiny, both from federal investigators and the press.

Less than a week before the Seychelles meeting, US intelligence agencies released a report accusing Russia of intervening clandestinely during the 2016 election to help Mr Trump win the White House.

The FBI was already investigating communications between Mr Flynn and Mr Kislyak. The Washington Posts David Ignatius first disclosed those communications on 12 January, around the time of the Seychelles meeting. Mr Flynn was subsequently fired by Mr Trump for misleading Vice President Pence and others about his discussions with Mr Kislyak.

Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAEs ambassador in Washington, declined to comment.

Government officials in the Seychelles said they were not aware of any meetings between Trump and Putin associates in the country around 11 January. But they said luxury resorts on the island are ideal for clandestine gatherings like the one described by the US, European and Arab officials.

I wouldnt be surprised at all, said Barry Faure, the Seychelles secretary of state for foreign affairs. The Seychelles is the kind of place where you can have a good time away from the eyes of the media. Thats even printed in our tourism marketing. But I guess this time you smelled something.

Mr Trump has dismissed the investigations of Russias role in the election as fake news and a witch hunt.

The level of discretion surrounding the Seychelles meeting seems extraordinary given the frequency with which senior Trump advisers, including Mr Flynn and Mr Kushner, had interacted with Russian officials in the United States, including at the high-profile Trump Tower in New York.

Steven Simon, a National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa in the Obama White House, said: The idea of using business cutouts, or individuals perceived to be close to political leaders, as a tool of diplomacy is as old as the hills. These unofficial channels are desirable precisely because they are deniable; ideas can be tested without the risk of failure.

Current and former US officials said that while Mr Prince refrained from playing a direct role in the Trump transition, his name surfaced so frequently in internal discussions that he seemed to function as an outside adviser whose opinions were valued on a range of issues, including plans for overhauling the US intelligence community.

He appears to have particularly close ties to Mr Bannon, appearing multiple times as a guest on Mr Bannons satellite radio program over the past year as well as in articles on the Breitbart website that Mr Bannon ran before joining the Trump campaign.

In a July interview with Mr Bannon, Mr Prince said those seeking forceful US leadership should wait till January and hope Mr Trump is elected. And he lashed out at President Barack Obama, saying that because of his policies the terrorists, the fascists, are winning.

Days before the November election, Mr Prince appeared on Mr Bannons programme again, saying that he had well-placed sources in the New York City Police Department telling him they were preparing to make arrests in the investigation of former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) over allegations he exchanged sexually explicit texts with a minor. Mr Flynn tweeted a link to the Breitbart report on the claim. No arrests occurred.

Mr Prince went on to make unfounded assertions that damaging material recovered from Mr Weiners computers would implicate Hillary Clinton and her close adviser, Huma Abedin, who was married to Mr Weiner. He also called Ms Abedin an agent of influence very sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr Prince and his family were major GOP donors in 2016. The Centre for Responsive Politics reported that the family gave more than $10 million to GOP candidates and super PACs, including about $2.7 million from his sister, Ms DeVos, and her husband.

Mr Princes father, Edgar Prince, built his fortune through an auto-parts company. Betsy married Richard DeVos Jr., heir to the Amway fortune.

Erik Prince has had lucrative contracts with the UAE government, which at one point paid his firm a reported $529 million to help bring in foreign fighters to help assemble an internal paramilitary force capable of carrying out secret operations and protecting Emirati installations from terrorist attacks.

The Trump administration and the UAE appear to share a similar preoccupation with Iran. Current and former officials said that Trump advisers were focused throughout the transition period on exploring ways to get Moscow to break ranks with Tehran.

Separating Russia from Iran was a common theme, said a former intelligence official in the Obama administration who met with Trump transition officials. It didnt seem very well thought out. It seemed a little premature. They clearly had a very specific policy position, which I found odd given that they hadnt even taken the reins and explored with experts in the US government the pros and cons of that approach.

Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, said he also had discussions with people close to the Trump administration about the prospects of drawing Russia away from Iran. When I would hear this, I would think, Yeah thats great for you guys, but why would Putin ever do that? Mr McFaul said. There is no interest in Russia ever doing that. They have a long relationship with Iran. Theyre allied with Iran in fighting in Syria. They sell weapons to Iran. Iran is an important strategic partner for Russia in the Middle East.

Following the New York meeting between the Emiratis and Trump aides, Mr Zayed was approached by Prince, who said he was authorised to act as an unofficial surrogate for the President-elect, according to the officials. He wanted Mr Zayed to set up a meeting with a Putin associate. Mr Zayed agreed and proposed the Seychelles as the meeting place because of the privacy it would afford both sides. He wanted to be helpful, one official said of Mr Zayed.

Wealthy Russians and Emirati royalty have a particularly large footprint on the islands. Signs advertising deep-sea fishing trips are posted in Cyrillic. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov owns North Island, where Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, went on their honeymoon in 2011. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, President of the UAE, built a hilltop palace for himself with views across the chain of islands.

The Emiratis have given hundreds of millions of dollars to the Seychelles in recent years for causes including public health and affordable housing. But when the Emirati royal family visits, they are rarely seen.

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

The jeep comes to their private jet on the tarmac and they disappear, said one Seychellois official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen as criticising the Emiratis.

Mr Zayed, the crown prince, owns a share of the Seychelles Four Seasons, a collection of private villas scattered on a lush hillside on the main islands southern shore, overlooking the Indian Ocean, according to officials in the Seychelles. The hotel is tucked away on a private beach, far from the nearest public road.

Current and former US officials who have worked closely with Mr Zayed, who is often referred to as MBZ, say it would be out of character for him to arrange the 11 January meeting without getting a green light in advance from top aides to Mr Trump and Mr Putin, if not the leaders themselves. MBZ is very cautious, said an American businessman who knows Mr Zayed and spoke on condition of anonymity. There had to be a nod.

The Seychelles meeting was deemed productive by the UAE and Russia, but the idea of arranging additional meetings between Mr Prince and Mr Putins associates was dropped, officials said. Even unofficial contacts between Trump and Putin associates had become too politically risky, officials said.

The Washington Post
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Jordan's King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Middle East peace when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after a recent summit hosted by the monarch renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood.

Could the revived Arab plan, coupled with Trump's stated eagerness to strike a deal, signal an opening for restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks?

Here's a look ahead.

What's on the table?

At their annual summit last week, Arab leaders renewed an offer they first made to Israel in 2002  recognition by dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in exchange for allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Israel has baulked, among other things, at the envisioned scope of withdrawal from the lands it captured in 1967 and unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the initial proposal.

With the summit declaration to back his case, Jordan's king will be able to tell Trump that Arab leaders are serious about achieving what Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, described as the historic reconciliation between Israel and the whole Arab world.

But the king will couple the enticing prospect of regional peace with a warning. Jordan argues that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the root of regional turmoil and that, if allowed to fester, it will undercut the Trump administration's Middle East goals of containing Iran and defeating Isis extremists.

Will Trump engage?

Trump's international envoy, Jason Greenblatt, told Arab leaders on the sidelines of last week's summit in Jordan that the US President has a personal interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian deal and that he believes it is doable.

Trump hasn't said what kind of agreement he seeks, but appears to have backed away from initial suggestions that he could envision alternatives to the globally backed two-state solution that has been supported by previous US Presidents.

For now, Trump envoys are trying to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction on war-won lands and ease economic restrictions on Palestinians  a traditional US move when trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Greenblatt also won praise from Palestinian officials, who say he was surprisingly open to their concerns during his recent listening tour in the region.

A rare opening?

Early on, Trump positioned himself as a staunch Israel supporter, eliciting alarm in parts of the Arab world and cheers among Israeli hard-liners.

The administration has since tried to adjust the balance on some issues, seeking a settlement slowdown and holding off on a promise to move the US. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem. US ally Jordan, custodian of a major Muslim-run shrine in Jerusalem, has warned such a move would fuel extremism.

Recommended Donald Trump shakes hands with authoritarian Egyptian President Sisi

Some argue that recent events could create an opening for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations  despite perceptions that the Trump White House hasn't formulated a clear Middle East strategy.

Trump's personal interest in a deal contrasts with his predecessor Barack Obama's more hands-off approach, and the current president's amicable relationship with Netanyahu could give him greater leverage with Israel, said Jordanian analyst Musa Shteiwi.

Another key ingredient  broad Arab support for negotiations  will be delivered by Jordan's king on Wednesday.

There is an opening, said Shteiwi, head of the Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank at Jordan University. We should be cautiously optimistic.

What does Jordan want?

The White House meeting will affirm the king's traditional role as Middle East mediator and raise his profile as an arbiter of Arab consensus.

Jordan seeks a solid US promise that Washington will try to revive peace efforts, most importantly by persuading Israel to engage in credible talks on Palestinian statehood, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters about diplomatic efforts.

There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian talks since gaps widened with Netanyahu's 2009 election. Netanyahu hasn't formally reneged on the principle of a two-state solution, but has stopped short of mentioning it in recent weeks, and most of his Cabinet members oppose the idea.

What about Israel?

Netanyahu reportedly told Cabinet ministers last week that it's important for Israel to show goodwill and not be seen by Trump as an obstacle to any US initiative. Still, talks with the US on slowing settlement construction haven't led to results and Israel last week approved a new settlement  the first in 20 years  billed by Netanyahu as keeping a previous promise to settlers. At the same time, Netanyahu reportedly proposed unilateral Israeli construction limits.

Netanyahu envoy Michael Oren, who recently met with Greenblatt, said on Monday that Israel wants Arab states to take concrete steps to show that they are not just talking about peace, but actually mean it.

This would include aspects of normalisation, Oren said, but did not elaborate. He described a process of mutual goodwill gestures that could gradually lead to a peace agreement.

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 else will come up?

Another important issue for Jordan will be the fight against the Isis group, which controls territory in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. The militants have shown with a series of recent attacks that they pose an internal and external threat to pro-Western Jordan.

Jordan has been part of a US-led military coalition against Isis for the past two years, hosting Western military trainers and carrying out airstrikes against Isis targets. A senior White House official last week portrayed Jordan as a critical US partner in the fight against the extremists.

Jordanian and US. interests appear to converge, with both seeking to step up the anti-IS campaign.

Associated Press
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The White House has released the official portrait of Melania Trump, a step to present a more positive and apparently airbrushed image of the First Lady.

In the portrait, the First Lady radiates glamour and couture, a nod to her background as a former model and owner of a jewellery line.

Like her husbands official shot, Ms Trump stands, Apprentice-style, unsmiling. She is clothed in black, with a high collar and her arms are crossed. Her diamond wedding ring is in full shot.

Ms Trump was recently criticised for advertising her jewellery company on her official White House bio page, and the detail was quickly removed.

This look is so unrealistic to the average woman, tweeted one user about the portrait, while others claimed that bashing the First Lady was only contributing to a culture of sexism.

The portrait, taken on the second floor of the White House private residence, provides a stark contrast to the official portraits of former First Ladies, including Michelle Obama, Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush, who posed with open arms and smiles.

She has yet to announce her exact plans or charitable goals whilst her husband is in office.

Ms Trump said during the campaign that her goal as First Lady was to help children and raise awareness of the dangers of social media, which her husband uses regularly.

As her husband and her step daughter Ivanka Trump decamped to the capital in January, she decided to stay in New York while her son finished the school year. Thousands of people have signed a petition, demanding she move to Washington DC to spare taxpayers from mounting secret service costs.

 Melania Trump: 'The time for empowering women is now'

The portrait also provides an important visual for Americans who have caught rare glimpses of her at private events over the last two months.

Last week, she attended the White House Womens Empowerment Panel with her husband, and stood beside Mr Trump as he signed an executive order to close the gender gap in STEM subjects.

Despite the positive photo opportunities, Mr Trump has cancelled all funding for the UN family planning agency, the United Nations Population Fund, and has reinstated a ban on federal funding for overseas organisations that even talk about abortion to their patients.

Ms Trump's brief public appearances also attracted controversy. She was accused of plagiarising Michelle Obamas 2008 speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

The Trump team released an apology, signed by staffer Meredith McIver, who took responsibility for the error.
A suspected gas attack, believed to be by Syrian government jets, killed at least 58 people including 11 children under the age of eight in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a war monitor and medical workers in the rebel-held area said.

A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming out of their mouths, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical sources who described it as a sign of a gas attack.

The air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the south of rebel-held Idlib, also wounded more than 60 people, said the Observatory, a British-based war monitoring group.

"This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine," said Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib's health authority, adding that the attack had killed more than 50 people and wounded 300.

"Most of the hospitals in Idlib province are now overflowing with wounded people," he told a news conference in Idlib.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were being treated, the Observatory said and civil defence workers said.

The civil defence, also known as the White Helmets - a rescue service that operates in opposition areas of Syria - said jets struck one of its centres in the area and the nearby medical point.

It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013. Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for that attack. Damascus blamed it on rebels.

Military Denies

The Syrian military source on Tuesday denied allegations that government forces had used chemical weapons, dismissing the accounts as rebel propaganda.

The army "has not and does not use them, not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place", the source said.

A joint inquiry for the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog has previously accused government forces of toxic gas attacks. France called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting about Tuesday's suspected attack.

Reuters photographs showed people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets were lined up on the ground.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a purported victim with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost naked children squirming on the floor.

Most of the town's streets had become empty, a witness said.

The conflict pits President Bashar al-Assad's government, helped by Russia and Iranian-backed militias, against a wide array of rebel groups, including some that have been supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that Russian planes had not carried out air strikes on Idlib.

Syrian and Russian air strikes have battered parts of Idlib despite a ceasefire that Turkey and Russia brokered in December, according to the Observatory.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the suspected attack, Turkish presidential sources said. They said the two leaders had also emphasised the importance of maintaining the ceasefire.

Population Ballooned

Idlib province contains the largest populated area controlled by the anti-Assad rebels - both nationalist Free Syrian Army groups and Islamist factions including the former al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Idlib's population has ballooned, with thousands of fighters and civilians shuttled out of Aleppo city and areas around Damascus that the government has retaken in recent months.

U.S. air strikes since January have also hit several areas in the rural province where jihadists have a powerful presence.

The United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been investigating whether Damascus is adhering to its commitments under the 2013 agreement, which averted the threat of U.S.-led military intervention.

In a report in October last year, the inquiry said that government forces used chemical weapons at least three times in 2014-2015 and that Islamic State used mustard gas in 2015.

Following the 2013 Ghouta attack, the Syrian government joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal.

The government, which denied its forces were behind the Ghouta attack, also agreed to hand over its declared stockpile of 1,300 tonnes of toxic weaponry and dismantle its chemical weapons program under international supervision.

Damascus has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and created the world's worst refugee crisis.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Michelle Obama might have been keeping a relatively low profile since leaving the White House but her devoted legions of fans are still closely following her every move.

As such, the former First Lady has been photographed sporting her natural, curly hair. The image, which has quickly gone viral, has been widely praised across various social media platforms.

Despite the fact Ms Obama, who married Barack Obama in 1992, opted to blow dry or straighten her hair while living in the White House, fans often superimposed images of Ms Obama with curly hair and articles speculated about what she would look like with her natural do.

Ms Obama, who has held consistently high approval ratings with the US public, has been lauded for the image which has been liked 84,000 times and retweeted over 30,000 times since it was shared by a fan.

It is not clear where or when the photo was taken but the outgoing First Lady is currently in French Polynesia with her husband. The former president is writing his White House memoir at a resort in Tetiaroa  the South Pacific island once owned by Marlon Brando.

People have heaped praise upon Ms Obama on Twitter and called the Chicago native a role model. One fan said: Seeing Michelle Obama's natural hair is life changing".

Some said they had long been waiting for this moment and questioned why she had not worn her hair naturally in the White House.

Seeing Michelle Obama wear her hair natural while serving as First Lady... would've made my whole life, said one.

Ms Obama was undoubtedly one of the most enduringly popular figures of the 2016 election. Bolstered by consistently high popularity ratings, the First Lady was applauded for her barnstorming speech against Mr Trump last Autumn and her impassioned efforts on the campaign trail.

After Donald Trumps seismic victory, discussion about whether Ms Obama would run for president went into overdrive. Nevertheless, the Chicago-born lawyer has ruled out running for office when pressed about it.

Michelle Obama as the First Lady Show all 11 1 /11 Michelle Obama as the First Lady Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty Michelle Obama as the First Lady Getty

During her time in Washington, Ms Obama carved out a massive online presence, garnering 7.6m followers on Twitter and 11.9m on Instagram. She even has Snapchat and has appeared on James Cordens wildly popular Carpool Karaoke.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

When Ziad Ahmed was asked on his Stanford University application What matters to you, and why?, his answer was clear.

He wrote: #BlackLivesMatter, repeating the hashtag exactly 100 times to highlight the excessive use of police force which disproportionately kills black men and women.

The practising Muslim senior high school student in New Jersey has since been accepted to the prestigious University.

Everyone who received your application was inspired by your passion, determination, accomplishments, and heart, the acceptance letter read.

It added: You are, quite simply, a fantastic match with Stanford. You will bring something original and extraordinary to our campus  a place where you can learn, grow, and thrive.

Mr Ahmed told MIC that he was stunned to be accepted.

I didn't think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it's quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability, he said.

The student posted a screen shot of his application and the acceptance letter on Twitter over the weekend.

The post has since been shared and liked thousands of times, including by police reform group Campaign Zero and its founders.

The Bangladeshi-American has already attended the White House Iftar dinner, a religious observance of Ramadan, and in 2016 he interned for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

"To me, to be Muslim is to be a BLM ally, and I honestly can't imagine it being any other way for me," Mr Ahmed said.

"Furthermore, it's critical to realise that one-fourth to one-third of the Muslim community in America are black... and to separate justice for Muslims from justices for the black community is to erase the realities of the plurality of our community."

Mr Ahmed is also involved in combating racial stereotypes, as the founder of teen organisation Redefy and the co-founder of the youth-focused consultancy firm JUV Consulting.

In 2015 the 18-year-old gave a TedxTalk in Panama about what it was like to be a Muslim teenager in the US.

"We live in a world where we are suffocated by societal expectations," he said, adding he had been "labelled more times than a GMO [genetically modified product]".

He has also been accepted to Yale University and Princeton University, and must decide which school to attend by 1 May.

Mr Ahmed has also to decide what his undergraduate degree will be, and is interested in international relations, science, economics and ethnicity studies.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Any expectation that Scott Pruitt, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), would be able to cruise through an appearance on Fox News Sunday over the weekend was dashed within about 10 seconds of the interview.

Good morning, Chris, how are you? Pruitt asked host Chris Wallace.

That would be the softest question raised in the entire segment.

Good, Wallace replied quickly. And then, in the same breath, Wallace began grilling Pruitt about an executive order President Trump signed last week to dismantle President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which had required states to cut down on overall emissions and sought to limit carbon emissions from power plants.

Wallace noted that the EPA, under Obama's administration, had set a number of health milestones attainable by 2030  if the Clean Power Plan were implemented. Those included 90,000 fewer asthma attacks, 300,000 fewer missed work and school days, and 3,600 fewer premature deaths per year.

Without the Clear Power Plan, how are you going to prevent those terrible things? Wallace asked Pruitt.

Pruitt argued that Trump was keeping a promise to the American people to roll back regulatory overreach. He also noted that the Clean Power Plan was subject to a stay by the Supreme Court; he did not mention that he, as former Oklahoma Attorney General, was one of several Republicans who had originally filed the lawsuit against Obama's regulations.

The President's keeping his promise to deal with that overreach, Chris, Pruitt said. It doesn't mean that clean air and clear water is not going to be the focus in the future. We're just going to do it right within the consistency of the framework that Congress has passed.

Wallace was not having it.

But sir, you're giving me a regulatory answer, a political answer, Wallace said. You're not giving a health answer.

The Fox News Sunday host repeated the statistics he had cited earlier, adding that half of all Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to the American Lung Association.

You're talking about regulatory overreach, Wallace pressed. But the question is, there are 166 million people living in unclean air, and you're going to remove some of the pollution restrictions, which would make the air even worse.

Pruitt did not address that question directly, instead asserting that the country's air quality was not as bad as it had been in the past, and that the United States was now actually pre-1994 levels with respect to our CO2 footprint.

The back and forth continued. Pruitt's performance on the Sunday show earned the rare distinction of being panned by both climate change advocates and sceptics alike.

New EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt embarrassed himself repeatedly on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, who kept Pruitt on the hot seat for 14 minutes as he pressed to get past Pruitts paper-thin talking points, Jeremy Symons of the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund wrote for the Huffington Post.

Symons went on to fact-check Pruitt's statistics, noting that while the CO2 reductions he cited were accurate, they mostly occurred during the Obama administration as a result of the former President's clean-energy plans.

It's one thing to dodge the question, but it's especially weak to hide behind the success of Obama's initiative to justify erasing it all, Symons wrote. Pruitts attempting a complicated trick here  not only trying to sell a bottle of snake oil, but breaking the bottle during the pitch.

Pruitt received an equally dismal review on Breitbart, which called Trump's new EPA chief out for having sweated, stuttered, and floundered through what ultimately was an entirely needless concession to the enemy.

I just watched Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, get eaten alive by Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, columnist James Delingpole penned on the right-wing site. Not only was it an ugly and painful sight but it was also a very dispiriting one.

Delingpole's argument, however, was that Pruitt did a disservice by not being more assured in defending climate-change sceptics.

Not only should he have known the most effective answers to give; but he should have been so confident in the rightness and truth of his cause that he should have been able to seize the moment and make the points that really need to be made about President Trumps environmental policy, Delingpole wrote. He added that the policy is being enacted for the good of science, for the good of the economy and the core mission of Making America Great Again.

At one point, Wallace replayed a March 9 clip of an interview Pruitt gave on CNBC, in which Pruitt denied carbon dioxide was a primary contributor to global warming.

Wallace then pulled up on the Fox News screen a number of reports that contradicted Pruitt, including one from the United Nations panel on climate change that said it is 95 percent likely that more than half the temperature increase since the mid-20th century is due to human activities. Another from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there is more carbon dioxide now than in the last 400,000 years, and that 2015 and 2016 are the two hottest years in record.

Mr. Pruitt, are we supposed to believe that that's all a coincidence? Wallace asked.

Pruitt acknowledged that there's a warming trend, that climate is changing and human activity contributes to that change in some measure, before pivoting to another regulatory response.

But sir, you're kind of sugarcoating what you said, Wallace said. The question I have is: What if you're wrong? What if in fact the earth is warming? Simple question. What if you're wrong?

Pruitt has been a controversial choice to head the EPA since he was nominated by Trump last December. The two share a view that Obama's restrictions on the fossil-fuel industry were an unnecessary burden on business growth.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Hundreds of former and current EPA employees protested Pruitt's nomination, urging the Senate to reject his confirmation in February.

Our perspective is not partisan, the group wrote in a letter signed by 447 people. However, every EPA administrator has a fundamental obligation to act in the publics interest based on current law and the best available science. Mr. Pruitts record raises serious questions about whose interests he has served to date and whether he agrees with the long-standing tenets of US environmental law.

The Washington Post
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump has called a suspected chemical attack in Syria the result of the "weakness" of the Obama administration.

The White House blamed the strike on Idlib province - which killed dozens and injured hundreds - directly on the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement Mr Trump said the incident was reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilised world".

However, he also made clear that his administration believed the attack occurred thanks to the actions of the President's predecessor, Barack Obama

These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution, Mr Trump said.

President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer earlier declined to say what the Trump administration would do about the attack but added that the President had spoken on Tuesday with his national security team about the issue.

The head of the health authority in rebel-held Idlib said more than 50 people had been killed and 300 wounded. The Union of Medical Care Organisations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria, said at least 100 people had died.

 'Dozens killed' in suspected chemical attack in Syrian province

Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlib's health authority, said hospitals in the province were overflowing with victims. This morning, at 6.30am, warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine, he told a news conference.

War planes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, according to activists in the area.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke, and some to foam at the mouth.

Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The Syrian army command has denied it had carried out the attack that killed up to 100 people, including children.

We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future, the army statement said.

The incident reported at Khan Sheikhoun would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its aircraft had not carried out the attack. The UN Security Council is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.

Britain said he would be guilty of a war crime if it were proved his regime was responsible. The UN envoy for Syria said the horrific chemical attack had come from the air.

Photographs appeared to show people breathing through oxygen masks and wearing protection suits, while others carried the bodies of dead children, and corpses wrapped in blankets lined up on the ground.

Activists in northern Syria circulated pictures on social media showing a man with foam around his mouth, and rescue workers hosing down almost-naked children squirming on the floor.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that various parties in the Syrian war had used chlorine, sulfur mustard gas and sarin.

A joint UN-OPCW report published in October said government forces used chlorine in a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib province in March 2015. An earlier report by the same team blamed Syrian government troops for chlorine attacks in Talmenes in March 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015. It also said Islamic State had used sulfur mustard gas.

The OPCW said it had begun gathering and analysing information from all available sources about the suspected Khan Sheikhoun attack.

France's Jean-Marc Ayrault called the attacks a "test" for the Trump administration and that President Trump and his team should clarify the US position towards Mr Assad.

It's a test. That's why France repeats the messages, notably to the Americans to clarify their position, Mr Ayrault told RTL radio, adding that it could do so when the UN Security Council meets.

I told them that we need clarity. What's your position? The question is to know, yes or no, whether the Americans support a political transition in Syria, which means organising this transition, elections and that at the end of the process the question of Assad's departure is asked.

Reuters
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Women all over the world will suffer the consequences of President Donald Trump's decision to cut US funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a leading women's health advocate has said.

The UN body receives approximately $75m (60m) from the US, making it the fourth largest contributor. The US State Department has said it will cut $32.5m from the 2017 budget, with the potential to lose out on the millions more provided through "non-core funds".

Shannon Kowalski, Director of Advocacy and Policy of the International Womens Health Coalition said that with US assistance, UNFPA in 2016 was able to save the lives of 2,340 women from dying during pregnancy and childbirth, prevent 947,000 unintended pregnancies, prevent 295,000 unsafe abortions, and help 3 million couples prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Recommended Trump to order billions of funding cuts to UN agencies

"This administration is putting politics over evidence, and women around the world will suffer the consequences," she said.

The Trump administration is cutting the funding on the basis that UNFPA supports coercive abortion in China according to a letter sent to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

By halting assistance, the Trump administration is following through on promises to let socially conservative policies that Mr Trump embraced in his campaign determine the way the US government operates and conducts itself in the world. Though focused on forced abortion  a concept opposed by liberals and conservatives alike  the move was sure to be perceived as a gesture to anti-abortion advocates and other conservative interests.

UNFPA covers much more than abortions. The agency is the largest global provider of contraception and related education, works to reduce maternal deaths, female genital mutilation, gender based violence, and child marriage.

Jonathan Rucks, Director of Advocacy for global family planning advocacy organisation PAI, told The Independent that women in areas of humanitarian crisis - like Jordans large refugee camps where 7,000 babies have been delivered without a maternal death - are particularly at risk because of the large cut.

The agency also works with women in Latin America affected by the Zika virus and those displaced and/or raped by members of Isis in Iraq.

Mr Rucks said that the administrations decision to cut US funding is devoid of fact. He said the US contribution goes to core financing and mostly covers humanitarian assistance.

UNFPA does not fund or perform abortions or forced sterilisations, it is against their policy according to a statement by the agency. In the past, the agency has also been vocal about not supporting Chinas one child policy.

Mr Rucks explained that no one in the administration seemed to travel to China to conduct an investigation on the matter and Mr Trump is incorrectly tying the Chinese government to UNFPA.

Ms Kowalski said the attempt to mischaracterise the work UNFPA does in China - promoting voluntary family planning education for women and girls in impoverished areas - is a matter of putting politics over evidence.

London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Show all 26 1 /26 London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-1---Meet-mother-of-tw.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-2---Chnaging-women's-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-3---Future-families.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-4---What-women-want.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-5---A-matter-of-life-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-6---Hope-for-the-futu.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-7---The-power-to-deci.jpg Lindsay Mgbor London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-8---Females-first.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-9---Transformational-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-10---Choices-for-wome.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-11---Keeping-mums-hea.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-12---The-next-generat.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-1---Make-mums-matter-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-2---Leading-the-way--.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-3---Malawi---Grace---.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-4---From-experience--.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-5---A-matter-of-life-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-6---Born-too-soon-and.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-7---The-ideal-family-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-8---What-women-want--.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-10---A-brighter-futur.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-11---Young-mum---Gumu.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-12---A-reality-for-gi.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-13---The-next-generat.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-14---Hope-for-the-fut.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID London Summit on Family Planning to halve number of women without access to contraceptives Image-15---The-time-is-now-.jpg Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

Mr Trump has not only threatened to cut all US contributions to the UN, calling the world body a good time club, but also reinstated the Mexico City Policy.

Also known as the global gag rule, the policy allows the administration to withhold US funding to any agencies or organisations that offer abortion services, or even speak about them to women.

Mr Trump has expanded on the version of the policy that was in place during the George W. Bush administration - US funding can now be cut to any global health assistance offered by organisations that offer or discuss abortion services, even medical services that have nothing to do with family planning or abortions.

Mr Bush actually amended the earlier version of global gag to exclude his largely successful State Department programme combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa known as the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

De-funding abortion services actually increased the number of unsafe abortions during the Bush administration however, according to a report by the World Health Organisation.

Sherry Colb, a professor at Cornell Law School who has focused on womens reproductive rights, told The Independent that people who want to cut off family planning services to women imagine that there is some set number of pregnancies that will happen and that therefore, the women will either have the babies or have an abortion.

She said this could not be further from the truth, adding many of these women will have abortions that they never would have had if they had had earlier access to contraception.

Ms Colb explained the risk increases dramatically in areas of conflict where medical services and equipment may not be up to high standards due to funding cuts.

Different actions same results...this administration simply does not want to own that, Mr Rucks said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the decision by the United States to withdraw all funding could have devastating effects on vulnerable women and girls around the world, a spokesman has said.

The Secretary-General deeply regrets the decision by the United States to cut financial support for the UN Population Fund, which could have devastating effects on the health of vulnerable women and girls and their families around the world, Stephane Dujarric said.

He added that Mr Guterres has appealed to donors to increase their support. Britain, the top donor to UNFPA, continues to support the agency, British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said.

The cut to UNFPA funding also comes on the heels of Mr Trumps proposed 28 per cent cut to the State Department budget. The US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has not yet responded to the funding cut.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump has been accused of damaging the prospects of female workers by signing an executive order rolling back Obama-era protections for women in the workplace.

The US President last week revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order, which President Barack Obama put in place to ensure companies given federal contracts complied with a raft of labour and civil rights laws.

These included two rules that helped protect female employees: wage transparency and a ban on forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, known as cover-up clauses by critics.

The wage transparency requirement forced companies with federal contracts to provide each employee with a wage statement, making clear the rate of pay, the number of hours worked, the total amount of pay and any specific additions or deductions.

It was one of the few ways to help ensure women were being paid as much as their male colleagues.

Noreen Farrell, director of anti-sex discrimination law firm Equal Rights Advocates, told NBC: We have an executive order that essentially forces women to pay to keep companies in business that discriminate against them, with their own tax dollars. Its an outrage.

Women in America currently earn on average 83 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the latest analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

Mr Obamas ban on cover-up clauses stopped companies with government contracts from using the forced arbitration clause to keep sex discrimination claims out of the courts and off the public record.

 Donald Trump jokes that he has 'sex' in common with his daughter Ivanka

Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality the National Womens Law Center, told the news channel: Arbitrations are private proceedings with secret filings and private attorneys, and they often help hide sexual harassment claims.

"It can silence victims. They may feel afraid of coming forward because they might think they are the only one, or fear retaliation."

The forced arbitration clause became the subject of public debate last year when Fox News presenter Gretchen Carlson dodged an arbitration clause in her own contract by directly suing the companys former chief Roger Ailes over claims of sexual harassment.

By repealing the Fair Pay order, Mr Trump has again made it possible for companies previously subject to it to continue to force sexual harassment cases into secret proceedings that are never seen by the public or other employees.

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

Campaigners also say the order discriminates against LGBT people. Several of the civil rights laws that companies will no longer have to prove they abide by prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

This administration has made it extremely difficult to enforce these federal laws, Camilla Taylor, a lawyer at a law firm that fights for the rights of LGBT people, told Keen News.

Its sending a message to these companies that the federal government simply doesnt care whether or not they violate the law."
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A Democratic Congressman whose committee is investigating alleged links between Donald Trumps campaign and Russia has predicted that someone will end up in jail once the probe is completed.

Joaquin Castro, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, which is looking into Moscows alleged cyber-meddling in the 2016 election, declined to say which individuals may have been guilty of crimes.

However, speaking on CNN, he predicted that when all is said and done some people will end up in jail.

Mr Castro, whose seat centres on the Texas city of San Antonio, is among those who have been questioning investigators and intelligence officials as part of the ongoing inquiry. Last month, FBI Director James Comey testified that there was no evidence to support Mr Trumps claim that Barack Obama had wiretapped him.

Of the investigation into alleged links between Mr Trump and Russia, he said: The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence effort, is investigating the Russian governments efforts to interfere in the 2016 president election.

He added: That includes investigating the nature of any links between associates of the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and the Russian effort. I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining.

 Trump impeachment may be 'looming' says senator

As a member of the committee, Mr Castro would not have access to the same amount of classified information as either its Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, or the ranking Democratic member, Adam Schiff.

However, Mr Castro appeared confident when he spoke on Tuesday evening, and suggested that based on what he had heard or seen, criminal charges would likely be brought against some people associated with the Trump campaign.

He did not provide any details, and Republicans and supporters of Mr Trump will likely claim that Mr Castro was simply seeking to take political advantage of the situation.

Mr Castro was asked whether he had seen any hard evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

I guess, I would say this - that my impression is that I would not be surprised that when all is said and done, that some people end up in jail, he said.

Asked how high in the Trump campaign he was referring to, he said it was yet to be determined. He said he could not comment on whether those who might face criminal charges were serving as part of the administration now, or had simply worked for the New York tycoon during the campaign.

Asked to confirm that he was talking about more than one person, Mr Castro said: Thats my impression, yes.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trumps style of politics is an attack on the core institutions of American society, according to a former US Labour Secretary.

Robert Reich, who served in Bill Clinton's government between 1993 and 1997 said the US President posed the biggest danger to American democracy.

Trumps and Bannons anti-establishment politics isan attack on the core institutions of American society: an independent and free press, the courts, science, freedom of religion, and free and fair elections untainted by foreign influence he wrote in a post on Twitter. This is upside-down populism.

Mr Reich, who now works as an academic and political commentator, added: Its crucial that we preserve and protect these core institutions  which since the founding of the republic have been our only real hope of constraining oligarchic control of America.

The biggest danger to these democratic institutions is the big money, financial conflicts of interest, corruption, and ethical carelessness Trump is blatantly encouraging.

Mr Reich also criticised the role of Mr Trumps daughter, Ivanka, who has become a close adviser to her father and was the subject of controversy earlier this month when it emerged she had been given a White House office, despite having no formal governmental position.

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

Ms Trumps husband, Jared Kushner, is another senior aide to the president and has been tasked by Mr Trump with bringing peace to the Middle East.

The Trump-Bannon brand of anti-establishment politics isnt an attack on the people who inhabit the American establishment, Mr Reich wrote. Quite the contrary: Trump has filled his administration with billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls. And hes thrown ethics out the window. Theres no longer any clear line between family business and national business.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner  owners of a vast real estate and investment empire worth as much as $740 million and now among the most senior federal government officials  have in recent weeks hosted, alongside Trump, chief executives of the worlds largest automobile, airline, chemical, pharmaceutical and tech companies, Mr Reich wrote.

The Independent has contacted the White House for a response.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley appeared to defend Donald Trump's use of Twitter, saying the President's social media outbursts were not interfering with her job.

Ms Haley told CBS News Face the Nation programme that international leaders at the UN are calling her on the phone to discuss pressing global issues, but said of Mr Trump's tweets: I dont talk about them. I dont have them interfere in everything that Im doing."

The President's latest social media missive focused on the upcoming meeting he has with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the discussion would be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits with the US largest trading partner.

Mr Trump has said that he does not regret any of his nearly 35,000 tweets and told the Financial Times that his popularity depends on his ability to communicate through the platform, adding without the tweets, I wouldnt be here".

Ms Haley may not pay attention to what she called chatter of Mr Trumps tweets but the effects are clear, especially after his tweets accusing former president Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 election.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate are investigating Russias influence on the election and possible collusion between Russia and Mr Trumps campaign team.

FBI Director James Comey testified in front of Congress that there was no evidence to support Mr Trumps wild accusations on Twitter.

Mr Trump has also been a vocal critic of the UN, calling it a "good time club" and threatening to cut crucial US funding to peacekeeping and aid programmes. The administrations stance is also that the world body is biased against ally Israel.

[H]e wants to see value in the United Nations. And he wants to make sure that no other countries are just taking us for granted, Ms Haley told Face the Nation.

Separately, she held a press conference to mark the beginning of her month-long rotation at the helm of the UN Security Council, saying: I dont think the [Trump] administration is backing away from human rights because they support me talking about human rights.

Mr Trump recently eased restrictions on counter-terror air strikes in Somalia, proposed a budget of 28 per cent to the State Department, and is meeting with alleged human rights violator Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the White House.

She also noted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is one of the few in the Trump administration without a Twitter account, is set to visit the UN on 28 April to discuss North Korea.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The US military under the command of Donald Trump has carried out 70 airstrikes on Yemen in the last month - more than twice the number for all of 2016.

Underscoring what appears to be a major build up of the USs involvement in the fight against Al-Qaeda militants in the country, the Pentagon said this week it had carried out roughly 20 strikes in the past week. That brought the monthly total to 70. More than 30 Yemeni civilians were reportedly killed in a raid by US special forces earlier this year, the first operation with Mr Trump as commander-in-chief.

We continue to target Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and this is done in the interest of disrupting this terror organisation that presents a very significant threat to the United States, said Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis.

He said the strikes were targeting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni branch that is said to be militant groups most lethal branch.

Since February 28, weve conducted more than 70 precision airstrikes against AQAP militants infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment.

 The child victims of Yemens civil war

Experts said the number of strikes in the last month represented double the total for all of 2016. The strikes were largely carried out by drones and targeted fighters, infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment, Mr Davis said.

The organisation rose to prominence in 2009 and has taken advantage of the 2-year-old civil war between Yemens Saudi-backed government forces which also the support of Washington, and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to carve out territory to train its fighters.

Stars and Stripes said the group claimed responsibility for the 2009 Christmas Day attempted underwear bombing of a commercial airliner in Detroit and later for the 2015 attack on French satirist newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 in Paris.

It boasts some 4,000 militants in Abyan, Bayda and Shabwah governances in the center of southern Yemen, according to defence officials.


Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Isis has mocked Donald Trump, saying in a new recording that the US is being run by an idiot.

In the audio statement, the group's new spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajer, said America had drowned and was ruled by someone who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.

It is Isis' first official comment on Mr Trump since the Republican's inauguration in January.

America you have drowned and there is no saviour, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye,' al-Muhajer said

There is no more evidence than (that) you being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.

Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated.

The comments were made during a 37-minute recording released on the messaging website Telegram.

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

During the address, al-Muhajer also praised recent terrorist attacks in Europe and called for Isis followers to carry out further attacks in the US, Russia and EU states in order to relieve pressure on the group in Iraq and Syria.

He said the current situation, in which Isis is engaged in heavy fighting with Iraqi troops in Mosul, the groups last stronghold in Iraq, marked the greatest period in our jihadand the most dangerous turning point in our jihad.

The spokesman also claimed Isis would never be driven from the Middle East and would continue to maintain strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

During last years presidential election campaign, the group released a document calling Mr Trump impulsive and unpredictable.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Dalai Lama has been reunited with an Indian solider who escorted him to safety as he fled from Tibet to China almost 60 years ago.

Tibets exiled spiritual leader embraced Naren Chandra Das in an emotional meeting in Guwahati in northeast India on Tuesday.

The pair first crossed paths after the Dalai Lama was forced to leave for India via a clandestine mission during the midst of the failed Tibetan uprising against the Chinese authorities in 1959.

The Dalai Lama, now 81, and Mr Das, now 79, undertook an exhausting trek that lasted for two weeks across the mountains from Lhasa. With the Dalai Lama disguised as a Chinese soldier alongside members of his cabinet, they eventually reached the Indian border but troops were prohibited from talking to the spiritual leader as they journeyed.

Our duty was only to guard and escort him during his journey, Mr Das, a retired member of the Assam Rifles, said.

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 (Getty Images)

"Guards of the Assam Rifles Platoon No 9 had brought the Dalai Lama from Zuthangbo and handed him over to five of us at Shakti [in Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China and Bhutan].

"We brought him to Lungla from where he was escorted on his onward journey to Tawang by another group of guards.

Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Show all 6 1 /6 Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "Common sense tells us well be happy even if were poor if were warm-hearted, whereas if were wealthy but self-centred well be miserable." Getty Images Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "With the realization of ones own potential and self-confidence in ones ability, one can build a better world." Ashwini Bhatia Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others" EPA Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered." Dylan Martinez /REUTERS Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." 2004 Getty Images Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "No-one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction." Getty Images

"Looking at your face, I now realise I must be very old too," the Dalai Lama told Das as they met again.

His trip to Arunachal Pradesh and northeast India as a whole has raised diplomatic tensions between China and India. China maintains Arunachal Pradesh is part of South Tibet and thus belongs to its territory.

Prior to the visit, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman urged India to "avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue, [and to] not provide a platform for the 14th Dalai clique's separatist activities".

China considers the 14th Dalai Lama, whose name is Tenzin Gyatso, a separatist and he continues to live in exile after leaving for India during the Tibetan uprising of 1959. The Dalai Lama, who denies seeking Tibetan independence, is in favour of meaningful autonomy for Tibet in the context of the People's Republic of China and proposes a 'middle-way' between autonomy and independence to peacefully resolve the issue.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Liam Fox has been criticised for saying the UK has "shared values" with the Philippines as he met the country's president, Rodrigo Duterte, who has boasted of personally killing criminals.

Mr Duterte has also previously said he "doesn't give a s*** about human rights" and his war on drugs has left thousands of people dead since his election last year. He has urged the public to kill drug addicts, who he said he would be "happy to slaughter" in their millions.

Dr Fox, the International Trade Secretary, launched his campaign for post-Brexit trade by publishing an article in local media saying the UK would emerge from its EU divorce "as a stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking nation."

He added: "The UK and the Philippines have a well-established and strong relationship built on a foundation of shared values and shared interests and we want this partnership to continue to flourish.

"I hope this will lead to stronger relationships between the UK and our trading partners in South East Asia creating an era of even greater opportunity."

Mr Duterte, 72, won last year's election by a wide margin on a promise to fight crime, particularly illegal drugs, corruption and terrorism.

 Rodrigo Duterte says he 'doesn't give a s*** about human rights' as 3,500 killed in war on drugs

Since taking office in June, his anti-drug crackdown has left more than 7,000 peoples dead, alarming Western governments led by the United States and the European Union and UN rights officials.

He has vowed to confront, and if necessary kill, any local officials involved in the country's illegal drugs trade and said he personally gunned down at least three people when he was a city mayor.

Mr Duterte recently called the EU "sons of bitches" after it issued a resolution calling for restraint and a rethink of his bloody war on drugs, and he has called former US President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch".

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner said Dr Fox's comments were "frankly shocking".

"I'm sorry, but we do not have these shared common values with president Duterte who wants to bring back the death penalty and lower the age of criminal responsibility to nine," he said.

The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me  AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA

Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesman Tom Brake said: "Duterte is one of the 21st centurys most sinister leaders and Liam Fox has flown halfway around the world to grovel to him.

"The fact that the first visit made by Fox since triggering Article 50 is to the Philippines shows just how low this government is willing to stoop in order to secure even a minimal trade deal in the future.

He added: "According to UK trade statistics, the value of our exports to the Philippines are just 500n a year- to put this into context our total international trade is currently over 28bn a month.

"So not only is Fox blind to the horrific human rights abuses and endemic corruption in the Philippines, hes also clearly oblivious to the actual realities of doing trade with them."

Additional reporting by agencies
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

North Korea's leader is "desperate" to maintain his rule by developing nuclear weapons and would be willing to use them at any sign of "imminent threat," a defector has warned.

"If Kim Jong-un has nuclear weapons and ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles], he can do anything," said Thae Yong Ho, the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect.

He told NBC News the dictator is "desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM."

"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 added.

 US defence secretary Jim Mattis condemns 'reckless' North Korea

Mr Thae was serving as North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN when he defected due to his discontent with the regime last year.

While he was not directly involved in North Korea's weapons program himself, he said he believed his country "has reached a very significant level of nuclear development."

He also said "the final and the real solution to the North Korean nuclear issue is to eliminate Kim Jong-un from the post."

North Korea Prison Camps Show all 7 1 /7 North Korea Prison Camps North Korea Prison Camps An overview of Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The administration area of Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A water treatment system in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps Crop fields and, inset, prisoners in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The reported crematorium in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A possible mine Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A walled compound in Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe

His comments came as President Donald Trump said the US is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stance against North Korea's nuclear program.

Yes, we will talk about North Korea, Mr Trump told 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.

When asked how he would tackle North Korea, Mr 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.

He added: Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Brexit could work to the advantage of the Italian mafia and other organised crime groups, one of Italy's most respected anti-mafia prosecutors has warned.

Nicola Gratteri said the UK, and in particular London, is already seen by gangsters as a safe place to invest illicit funds  a situation that risks becoming truly dangerous when the country leaves the EU.

Britains corporate and financial system makes it a place where there are efficient services to create complex corporate structures for the sole purpose of processing dirty money, he told Il Sole 24 Ore.

The relative lack of regulation and bureaucracy in the UK has made it attractive to foreign investors, said Mr Gratteri, chief prosecutor in the Cantanzaro region of Calabria in southern Italy.

However, the country has also attracted tax evaders and those who wish to set up shell companies as a facade for criminal activity, he warned, saying this could become worse after the country leaves the EU.

If the process of the UK leaving the EU brings with it a weakening of co-operation regarding police and legal matters, and of the channels used to exchange information on financial and tax matters, a situation that is already favourable to the mafia could be transformed into a truly dangerous scenario, he said.

The mafia, terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering are international threats, and as such requires a coordinated response.

Recommended UK to crack down on money laundering after reports of Russian scam

Brexit could definitely make a range of tools and judicial agreements useless, which now are the base of co-operation which, while not easy, has led to a good number of successes.

Amber Rudd has vowed to end Londons reputation as a haven for criminals and corrupt kleptocrats after the National Crime Agency estimated 90bn is laundered through London each year.

Negotiations between Britain and the EU must not risk the European Arrest Warrant or UK access to organisations like Europol or Eurojust, said Mr Gratteri.

The 59-year-old, who has written books about the mafia, gave a number of examples of UK activity of the 'Ndrangheta, the organised crime group centred in Calabria.

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

These included reports of a Milanese accountant who was arrested in 2012 in London, where he had set up a company used by a Ndrangheta clan to launder millions of Euros, and similar arrests the following year in which one suspect lived half an hour from Buckingham Palace.

A Brazilian woman who lived near London was also found to be involved in processing money for Italian cocaine smugglers, he said.

Government proposals to stem the flow of criminal money through the British capital could be being held up by Russian authorities, reported The Guardian.

The crackdown includes a new anti-money laundering watchdog, which will sit within the existing Financial Conduct Authority, it was announced last month.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Marine Le Pen could still win the first round of the French presidential election but will then be crushed by her likely opponent, according to the latest poll.

The far-right leader is tied on 25 per cent for the initial ballot on 23 April, but looks set to lose heavily to the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron in the second, decisive vote.

More than 14,300 people were surveyed for the opinion poll by LeMonde/Cevipof, which showed a sharp rise in voter certainty as choices solidify ahead of the rapidly approaching election.

 French Presidential Debate: Le Pen and Macron clash over immigration and burkini policy

The research predicted that Mr Macron would beat the Front National leader Ms Le Pen in the second round of the election on 7 May by 61 per cent to 39 per cent.

Francois Hollandes former finance minister defected from the French socialists to run for president last year, founding his own centre-left En Marche! party.

Recommended Marine Le Pen meets with Vladimir Putin on visit to Moscow

He has enjoyed growing support from voters and gained high-profile backers, including the ex-Prime Minister Manuel Valls, after former favourite Francois Fillon was engulfed by a fake jobs scandal.

Mr Fillon, the candidate for the centre-right Les Republicains, is under formal investigation over payments made to his wife for work she is alleged not to have carried out.

He has resisted calls to step down and hit out a conspiracy against him but shows no sign of recovering in the polls as the scandal over thousands of euros of public money paid to his wife, son and daughter continues.

Former favourite Francois Fillon is expected to be eliminated in the first round of voting (AP)

Mr Fillon is predicted to be eliminated from the first round with the remaining candidates, with just 17.5 per cent of support according to the poll.

The far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, polled at 15 per cent, up 3.5 points and ahead of Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon on 10 per cent.

Voter certainty rose sharply compared with the previous survey, with 64 per ent of those surveyed sure of their decision  an increase of five points.

Ms Le Pens supporters voters were the most certain, with 82 per cent sure of their choice, while Mr Fillons certainty score was up seven points at 75 per cent and Mr Macron's up nine points to 61 per cent.

All 11 candidates are due to face each other in a televised debate on Tuesday evening.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Kyrgyzstan has released details of the man it believes carried out an attack on the St Petersburg metro.

The country's State Committee for National Security released a statement saying it believed a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen it identified as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, or Jalilov, was behind the bombing.

Interfax news agency said authorities believed the 22-year-old suspect was linked to radical Islamist groups.

Russia's state investigative committee said the bomb may have been detonated by a man whose body parts were found in one of the train carriages. It was not immediately clear if its statement related to the man named by Kyrgyz authorities.

"It has been ascertained that an explosive device could have been detonated by a man, fragments of whose body were found in the third carriage of the train," the committee, which has sweeping powers, said in a statement.

It also said it believed Jalilov was responsible for the attack.

His pages on the Russian equivalent of Facebook show Jalilov's interest in Wahabbism, a conservative and hardline branch of Islam.

But they give no indication that he might resort to violence, presenting a picture of a typical young man leading a largely secular life.

An ethnic Uzbek from the southern Kyrgyzstan city of Osh, he moved with his father to St Petersburg for work several years ago, according to neighbours in Osh.

In Russia, he worked with his father as a panel beater in a car repair shop, they said. An acquaintance from St Petersburg said Jalilov had worked for about a year in a chain of sushi restaurants. A second acquaintance said he was a fan of sambo, a form of martial arts popular in Russia.

He owned a Daewoo car, according to a source in the Russian authorities, and was registered at an apartment in a quiet, upscale neighbourhood of suburban St Petersburg.

 10 killed, 50 hurt in St Petersburg subway blast

A person who said he was a representative of the apartment's owner said Jalilov had never lived there, but that he had granted him with a temporary registration at the flat as a favour to some mutual acquaintances.

Jalilov's page on VKontake, a Russian social media website, has photographs showing him wearing stylish Western dress, in a restaurant with friends and smoking a hookah pipe. His listed interests included a pop music radio station and mixed-martial arts. His page had a link to the home page of boxer Mike Tyson.

But he also had an interest in religion: the page had links to a website in Russian called "I love Islam" which features quotations from the Koran, and another called IslamHouse.com, which said it aimed to help people get to know Islam.

Another VKontakte page which belonged to Jalilov included links to a site featuring the sayings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century preacher on whose teaching Wahabbism is based.

On Tuesday Russia's health minister revised the death toll from the bombing to 14. Forty-nine people are in hospital. And four metro stations were cordoned off on Tuesday morning following a new bomb threat, but have since re-opened.

Additional reporting Reuters
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Russian authorities say the blast on a St Petersburg metro train that killed 14 people on Monday afternoon was a suicide bombing, carried out by a 22-year-old Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen.

The death toll from the attack rose to 14 on Tuesday, according to Russian health minister Veronika Skvortsova, including Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, identified as the bomber first by Kyrqyz and then Russian officials.

The nations top investigative agency said 10 of the dead have been identified and that genetic tests would be required to identify the rest. Of those 10, seven were born after 1990.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russias second biggest and Mr Putins hometown.

But Russian media carried photos of Dzhalilov on station TV shortly before the bombing, and the Interfax news agency reported that authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamist groups.

Another 49 victims were in hospital, some of them in life-threatening condition.

Russias Investigative Committee, the top investigative agency in the country, said forensic experts had also found Dzhalilovs DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the mans identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

And in a sign of an ongoing heightened security situation, emergency officials closed four metro stations following reports of a new bomb threat.

Recommended First photo released of St Petersburg metro bomber

The Sennaya Square station in the city centre was cordoned off, and commuters were told via a PA announcement that three more stations had also been closed down. The stations were later re-opened.

Mondays explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the citys north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

I had no time to think about fear at that moment, he said.

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities, who said it helped evacuation efforts and reduced the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

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.

The Eiffel Tower will remain dark overnight to honour the victims of the St Petersburg bombing, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a tweet.

But officials in Berlin were criticised for not bathing the Brandenburg Gate in the colours of the Russian flag, even though the city in the past has lit the gate with colours of various countries that have suffered terror attacks.

Additional reporting by agencies
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The man suspected of killing 11 people in the St Petersburg metro is thought to be from Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said in a statement that one suspect behind the bombing is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen it identified as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov.

The Kyrgyz intelligence agency said Russian authorities informed them about the man, aged between 21 and 22, but they were not aware of his specific role in the bombing. The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

Interfax news agency said authorities believed the 23-year-old suspect was linked to radical Islamist groups.

An unidentified explosive device went off at 2.20pm on Monday, on a train leaving the Technology Institute station and heading to the Sennaya Ploshchad station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.

"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."

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said in a statement on Tuesday it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

The blast came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. He said investigators are looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack.

Interfax cited a source saying the blast was caused by a bomb filled with shrapnel.

A second bomb was found and defused by police.

Kyrgyzstan is a former Soviet republic which gained independence in 1991.

Additional reporting by agencies
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Children are among dozens of civilians killed in what is feared to be the worst chemical weapons attack in Syria in almost four years.

Hospitals treating victims of a suspected toxic gas were themselves targeted in a series of air strikes following the atrocity in a rebel-held town in Idlib province, where activists claimed up to 100 people died.

United Nations war crimes investigators have launched a probe into both rounds of bombing, saying the use of chemical weapons or deliberate targeting of medical facilities would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law.

At least 58 people including 11 children were reported dead after the initial attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which came during a Brussels conference on ending the Syrian conflict.

Theresa May said she was appalled by the attack and called for an investigation.

Doctors said victims started to choke, vomit and faint with foam coming out of their mouths, showing symptoms of possible sarin gas exposure.

Pin-point pupils and a lack of the odour associated with more commonly used chlorine gas were among the evidence cited for the nerve agent, which is banned as a weapon of mass destruction under international law.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said women and children were among dozens killed, with reports of suffocation following the bombings.

Syrian children receive treatment following a suspected gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on Tuesday (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

It put the death toll at 58 but warned the number could rise as several victims remained in a serious condition, and estimates by local medical groups ranged up to 100 killed.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin, said Khan Sheikhouns hospital was unable to cope with the number of casualties, seeing them distributed around Idlib province.

There are 18 critical cases here, he said. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth.

Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the pro-opposition Idlib Media Centre, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6.30am local time (4.30am BST).

When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he added, finding entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor with their eyes wide open but unable to move.

Mr Kayal said he wore a mask to take the victims to hospital, removing their clothes and washing them in water, but was treated for a burning sensation in his fingers.

A White Helmets rescuer breathes through an oxygen mask after the suspected gas attack (Reuters)

Turkey opened its border crossing at Reyhanli to allow victims through for treatment, with graphic footage showing convulsing and choking patients being doused with water and loaded into ambulances.

The bodies of around a dozen young children were seen being laid out on blankets in a flat-bed truck, with toddlers among those being given oxygen in clinics overflowing with patients.

Rescue workers from the White Helmets group wore gas masks to protect themselves while treating people lying amid rubble on the ground, with some having to receive treatment for chemical exposure themselves.

Activists posted video online claiming to show the moment the bombs struck, alleging they were dropped by Syrian air force aircraft as clouds of smoke rose into the air.

Hours afterwards, clinics treating the victims were themselves hit by suspected rocket attacks from fighter jets.

A journalist from the AFP news agency said a strike brought rubble down on medical staff treating patients at Khan Sheikhouns main hospital.

Footage showed a reporter speaking to a camera as doctors worked, before an explosion threw him to the floor and the screen blacked out.

The Syrian Civil Defence rescue group said two of its centres were targeted by air strikes  one in Khan Sheikhoun and one in nearby Habit.

The group said none of its volunteers were injured but the damage put the facilities temporarily out of service.

It came little over a week after another alleged chemical attack hit a hospital in the town of Latamneh, just 14 miles away.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which supports the facility, said a bomb dropped by a helicopter struck the entrance on 25 March.

Immediately after the impact, patients and staff reported suffering severe respiratory symptoms and burning of mucous membranes  symptoms consistent with an attack using chemicals, a spokesperson said.

Over the past year, the charity has received reports of at least 71 attacks on 32 different health facilities it runs or supports in Syria.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, said a UN Security Council meeting would be held on the latest attack as agencies are activated to discover precisely what occurred in Khan Sheikhoun.

We understand it was a chemical attack and it came from the air, he told a press conference in Brussels.

What happened this morning is horrific. The UN is going to ask for the clear identification of responsibility and accountability.

Mr de Mistura noted the timing of the attack amid the Brussels conference and peace talks in Astana and Geneva, where he said incremental improvements had been achieved.

A Syrian child receives treatment following the suspected gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun (AFP/Getty)

Every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together, there is someone, somehow, that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage, he added.

We are not going to give up.

Ms May said the attack, "if proven, will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime.

"I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad, she said.

"We cannot allow this suffering to continue."

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the attack bore all the hallmarks of Bashar al-Assads government, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons.

If this were proved to have been committed by the Assad regime, then it would be another reason to think they are an absolutely heinous outfit, it is a war crime, he said.

Bombing your own civilians with chemical weapons is unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account.

The Syrian military denied deploying chemical weapons at Khan Sheikhoun or in any other incident, despite a series of international investigations concluding it was responsible for a series of such attacks, while Isis has also used mustard gas.

There was no immediate comment from Donald Trump but the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, condemned heinous actions by the Assad regime.

He claimed the atrocity was a consequence of the last administrations weakness and irresolution, without outlining what action the new administration would take.

French President Francois Hollande denounced the incident, comparing it to the regimes sarin attack on Ghouta that left hundreds dead in 2013, which almost sparked military intervention by the UK.

A Syrian man receives treatment following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on Tuesday (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Once again, the Syrian regime will deny evidence of its responsibility for this massacre, he said.

As in 2013, Bashar al-Assad counts on the complicity of his allies to benefit from intolerable impunity.

Those who support the regime should consider the extent of their political, strategic and moral responsibility.

France called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting over the massacre, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Russian leader Vladimir Putin such inhumane attacks are unacceptable during a phone call.

Russian forces are backing the Syrian government with air strikes against Isis and rebel groups but the defence ministry denied any involvement in Tuesday's attacks.

Assad's forces have been accused of repeatedly using chemical weapons including sarin during the six-year civil war.

In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Children play underground in Syria In pictures: Children play underground in Syria A child plays in the ball pit at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Abdulaziz, 10, plays in the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Boys look through a show window inside the tunnel that provides a safe passage for children between the two basements that form the 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children play at the underground 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Two girls play at the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children on the ride on a ferris wheel at the 'Land of Childhood', an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Seven-year-old Massa at the "Land of Childhood" underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children wait in line to buy sweets at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef

A report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released last year concluded that Syrian government forces were responsible for three examined chemical attacks but China and Russia have vetoed sanctions.

Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the UN, urged Mr Assads allies not to use their vetoes to defend the indefensible and let those responsible for the latest atrocity be held to account.

The OPCW said it was seriously concerned about reports emerging from Khan Sheikhoun and was gathering and analysing evidence, following persistent allegations of illegal chemical weapons use in Syria.

Idlib province, in north-western Syria, is a key battleground between regime forces and rebels including an alliance of Islamist factions linked to al-Qaeda.

It was the destination for rebel fighters evacuated from eastern Aleppo earlier this year, and is widely expected to be Assad's next major target.

Khan Sheikhoun sits near the frontline between regime and opposition-held territory, on a strategic motorway linking the city of Hama with rebel strongholds to the north.

The apparent chemical attack came as world leaders gathered in Brussels for a conference co-hosted by the UK on supporting the future of Syria.

Successive rounds of peace talks in Geneva and Astana have so far failed to produce a lasting ceasefire in the Syrian conflict, which shows no sign of ending in its seventh year of bloodshed.

Extremist groups including Isis are not part of the talks, with Isiss new spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir calling for a global war against enemies including the US, Europe and Russia in a new speech.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

At least 58 people have been reported killed in what witnesses claim was a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria, as world leaders discuss ending the conflict in Brussels.

Doctors in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, said victims started to choke, vomit and faint with foam coming out of their mouths.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 11 children and several women were among dozens killed, with reports of "suffocation" following the bombings.

It put the death toll at 58 but warned the number could rise as several victims remained in a serious condition.

Dr Shajul Islam said the hospital where he worked was filling up with patients, posting footage online of victims he said showed symptoms of exposure to sarin.

"We have samples," he wrote. "Will anyone care? Who will stop it?"

Syrian children receive treatment following a suspected gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on 4 April (AFP/Getty Images)

Rescue workers from the White Helmets group were seen wearing gas masks to protect themselves while treating people lying amid rubble on the ground.

Recommended Assad may have used sarin gas on civilians near Palmyra

They reported at least 20 civilians among those affected, saying chlorine gas may have been responsible.

Activists posted video online claiming to show the moment the bombs struck, alleging they were dropped by Syrian air force helicopters as clouds of smoke rose into the air.

It came little over a week after another alleged chemical attack hit a hospital in the town of Latamneh, just 14 miles away.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which supports the facility, said a bomb dropped by a helicopter struck the entrance on 25 March.

 Syrian government blamed for Aleppo chemical attack

Immediately after the impact, patients and staff reported suffering severe respiratory symptoms and burning of mucous membranes  symptoms consistent with an attack using chemicals, a spokesperson said.

The hospitals orthopaedic surgeon was among two people killed in the attack, leaving just two orthopaedic surgeons for a population of around 120,000 people, and the clinic was put out of service for three days.

Recommended Russia and China veto UN sanctions on Syria for chemical weapons use

Bashar al-Assad's forces have been accused of repeatedly using the nerve agent during the six-year civil war, including in a massacre in Eastern Ghouta that almost sparked military intervention by the UK in 2013.

Damascus has denied the allegations, while Isis is also alleged to have used chemical weapons including chlorine and mustard gas.

Idlib province, in north-western Syria, is a key battleground between regime forces and rebels including Islamist factions linked to al-Qaeda.

It was the destination for rebel fighters evacuated from eastern Aleppo earlier this year, and is widely expected to be Assad's next major target.

In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Children play underground in Syria In pictures: Children play underground in Syria A child plays in the ball pit at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Abdulaziz, 10, plays in the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Boys look through a show window inside the tunnel that provides a safe passage for children between the two basements that form the 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children play at the underground 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Two girls play at the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children on the ride on a ferris wheel at the 'Land of Childhood', an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Seven-year-old Massa at the "Land of Childhood" underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children wait in line to buy sweets at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef

Khan Sheikhoun sits near the frontline between regime and opposition held territory, on a key motorway linking the city of Hama with rebel strongholds to the north.

The alleged chemical attack came as world leaders gathered in Brussels for a conference organised by the EU and UN on "supporting the future of Syria".

Successive rounds of peace talks in Geneva have so far failed to produce a lasting ceasefire in the Syrian conflict, which shows no sign of ending in its seventh year of bloodshed.

Calls for Assads removal  once the stated priority for the US, UK, Turkey and other Nato members  has waned in priority since the rise of Isis and other extremist groups.

Donald Trumps ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, claimed the US had not ruled out cooperating with Assad to defeat Isis but insisted he was not our number one person to talk to.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

After months of trying, South Africas President Jacob Zuma finally fired his finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. The move was met with huge disquiet within the ANC, and a predictably sharp drop in the value of the rand. Gordhan and his deputy were replaced by two Zuma loyalists, both from the presidents home province of KwaZulu Natal, and both without any deep financial experience. Other ministers were also replaced, none of them by people of exceptional merit.

All were sacked and replaced without the consultation of either Zumas deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, or the ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe. Ramaphosa, along with many other senior figures, decried this bloodbath reshuffle as totally unacceptable. Opposition figures such as Julius Malema also warned against the firing of Gordhan, saying that it would be the end of Zuma.

They may yet be proven right  and the incident might also spell disaster for the country. While Zuma moves the deckchairs, the good ship South Africa is sinking. There is no strategy for its rescue, or even salvage.

Recommended Zuma reshuffle sees South Africa in worst political crisis since 1994

Gordhan was at least trying to make sure it sank as slowly as possible. Zuma, conversely, was determined to fire Gordhan without taking cabinet advice or ANC senior-party advice. He made no effort to dispel the odour of self-interest, or to rework his image as a venal ruler who doesnt really care for his country, but only for himself and his cronies.

That image was reinforced yet again after the recent death of the veteran freedom fighter Ahmed Kathadra, who was incarcerated for 25 years on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela. Kathadra had himself publicly implored Zuma to resign, and his family made it clear it did not want Zuma at his funeral.

The president duly stayed away  but then Kathadras state memorial ceremony was postponed without explanation, and with no alternative date forthcoming. Despite the efforts of Zumas spokespeople, petty, disrespectful pique was directed at a towering figure who had dared to speak out against Zumas rule.

Learning nothing

When he joined the fight against apartheid, Zuma was a shepherd boy without much in the way of education. Arrested before he achieved much by way of rebellion, his education was largely at the hands of his prison colleagues. On his release, Zuma was smuggled by the underground ANC to Swaziland, where Thabo Mbeki  the future president he later betrayed  taught him how to use a machine gun.

But nothing prepared him for high office, and his political roles were the first salaried positions he ever held. His main role in exile was as commandante of the ANC prison camps for dissidents in Angola; tales of torture in the camps were rife, and were a stain on the ANCs reputation.

(Reuters/Mike Hutchings - RTX33IDP) (Reuters)

Zuma never learned what was rightfully his and what was the states, and has duly been dogged by scandal after scandal. He owes his Teflon-like endurance entirely to the protection of his ANC allies; if powerful figures like Ramaphosa and former ANC treasurer, Mathews Phosa, make serious moves against him, his time may soon be up.

As has become the way in the ANC, the knives will be out behind closed doors, and whether Zuma stays or goes, there will be nothing transparent about what happens. He may be counting on staying until the next scheduled election in 2019, betting that the party will not dare remove him. Ramaphosa, meanwhile, might simply be waiting until the ANC conference later this year, where he stands a chance of being elected president of the party. Should he take the helm, it would be much easier for him to force Zuma to a recall vote, just as Zuma did to Mbeki in 2008.

But also vying for the ANC presidency is Zumas ally and former wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, latterly head of the African Union. If her ex-husband is ousted or steps down, she might well be his best hope for impunity in retirement. Her performance in her continental role was lacklustre, and, like Zuma, she has little to promise South Africa in the way of stability or prosperity.

Earlier this year, the former treasurer Phosa penned an op-ed for the Daily Maverick website in which he lamented the ANCs moral decline under Zuma: "I have come to a point where I refuse to be part of the intellectual funeral of the ANC, that I refuse to be associated with so-called leaders who trample on the people who voted them into office, who disrespect the constitution, whose only predictable response to all challenges is racism and who are willing to sacrifice the future of our children before the throne of a man who knows no shame and shows no character."

Zumas latest moves fit Phosas diagnosis perfectly. And if his ex-wife is elevated to power and lets him off the hook for a disastrous and haphazard presidency, the ANC will have only itself to blame.

Professor Steven Chan is a professor of world politics at SOAS, The University of London

This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com)
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The British travel industry has presented its demands for the UKs departure from the European Union  with a warning that a failure to negotiate swiftly could prove hugely damaging for airline passengers.

Abta, the association representing travel agents and tour operators, is calling for arrangements for reciprocal medical treatment for tourists and free mobile roaming to continue for British travellers to Europe. It has also demanded that the UK gets an exemption from the EU's plans for tougher red tape.

The organisation campaigned strongly for a Remain vote in last Junes referendum. Its new report, Making a success of Brexit for travel and tourism: Priorities for the Brexit negotiations, stresses a post-EU settlement is a matter of extreme urgency for the travel industry.

Recommended This man will save you thousands of pounds on flights

Many Abta members have holidays on sale up to 18 months in advance, says the report. With negotiations taking two years, it is vital that the Government agrees effective transitional arrangements with the EU whilst the finer details of the UKs exit are worked out.

EU negotiators say discussions on future arrangements will begin only when the terms of Britains exit, including a financial settlement, are agreed. The earliest this could happen is autumn 2017  by which time some trips for spring 2019 will be on sale.

Top of Abta's agenda is a deal on flights. Britain is the leading aviation power in Europe, with direct flights to more international destinations than any other EU country  nearly 400. Most of these are from London, which handles far more airline passengers than any other city on earth. The city is well ahead of New York, Tokyo, Paris and Dubai.

Britain and Ireland were at the forefront of liberalising aviation, enabling easyJet and Ryanair to flourish across the EU.

Most flights to and from the UK are governed by the European open-skies agreement, which allows any EU airline to fly anywhere in Europe, and a second treaty governing travel between the EU and the US; 10 years ago, the UKs bilateral agreement with Washington on transatlantic flights expired when the pan-European agreement was signed.

It is critical to retain or replace these agreements so that UK airlines can continue to operate established air routes, warns Abta.

There is no international fall-back option, such as World Trade Organisation rules, that exists for the aviation sector.

The Government issued a joint statement with Airlines UK in November saying: We want to make sure we have liberal access to European aviation markets.

Mark Tanzer, Abtas chief executive, told The Independent: The history of aviation has been protectionist, with access to airports and slots easily skewed towards national carriers.

It would be ridiculous to say there is no possibility of a return to that.

Leading airline bosses have expressed concern that Europe will seek to deplete the UK lead in aviation.

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

Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG, which owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and the Spanish airline Iberia, has said: I fear Europe will see this as an opportunity to damage the UK.

The idea we're just going to go in and say 'here's what we want, now give it to us' is naive.

His counterpart at Ryanair, Michael OLeary, has speculated that aviation from the UK to the EU could be temporarily grounded from March 2019. He called the letter triggering Article 50 the longest suicide note in economic history.

US carriers, angry about the Irish subsidiary of the low-cost Norwegian airline launching routes from Scotland to the US this summer, have been lobbying President Trump to stifle competition.

Norway and Iceland are allowed to participate in European aviation on the same terms as EU nations, but in return for accepting the EUs rules.

Olivier Jankovec, director-general for the airports' association, ACI Europe, said: While similar arrangements could certainly be replicated with the UK, they seem incompatible with the UK Government's agenda of taking back control of our laws.

Abta is also concerned about the EUs planned European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias), which is aimed at nationalities outside the EU. The intention is largely to emulate the Esta scheme that the US set up in the wake of 9/11 to evaluate prospective visitors.

With Etias as currently envisaged, people intending to visit will have to go online to enter personal data, and answer questions about their health and any criminal convictions, even for a brief booze cruise from Dover to Calais. Duty-free allowances are expected to be reintroduced.

A parallel exercise could see life at frontiers much more complicated for all non-EU nations at borders of the Schengen common travel area. The European Commission is putting together an "Entry-Exit System" (EES) that will apply to non-EU nationals, both those that require a visa and those that are exempted, travelling to the Schengen area. Travellers will be fingerprinted and have a photograph taken.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said: We need to know who is crossing our borders. This way we will know who is travelling to Europe before they even get here.

Abta is seeking an exemption for British travellers from these schemes. Mr Tanzer said: A new relationship would be a good signal going forward. Even if its unprecedented, why not ask for it?

Reciprocal health care is another area of uncertainty. In 2015, a British citizen used the European Health Insurance Card every two seconds on average. The EHIC currently provides medical treatment for UK residents in public hospitals in Europe on the same basis as local people.

The Brexit Secretary, David Davis, implied at a recent select committee hearing that the scheme would end.

When asked to confirm that UK citizens would no longer have access to the EHIC, Mr Davis responded: I think thats probably right.

Britain and Ireland were at the forefront of liberalising aviation, enabling easyJet and Ryanair to flourish across the EU (Simon Calder)

In that event, travel insurance premiums for trips to Europe are likely to rise steeply. Older travellers, particularly those with pre-existing medical conditions, would be disproportionately affected.

Mr Tanzer said: Its a benefit to the UK as well as a financial cost, a benefit thats worth preserving. I don't see why we should forgo that.

Millions of British holidaymakers this summer will benefit from the ending of roaming charges on mobile phones anywhere in the EU. From 15 June, phone calls, texts and internet use on mobile phones within Europe will cost the same as in Britain.

The Abta report demands that the Government replicate this EU-level agreement to ensure that British and EU customers continue to benefit from the abolition of these additional charges.

Mr Tanzer said: We would hope there is agreement from EU receiving markets that this is a good thing to preserve.

Money saved on exaggerated roaming changes can be spent on food and drink in Spain.

Nothing will change before the day Britain leaves the EU, but even the triggering of Article 50 has caused confusion among travellers. A number of people have contacted The Independent to enquire if the rules on passports have already become more stringent.

Europes chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned in the Financial Times that the negative consequences of failing to reach a deal include severe disruption to air transport and long queues at the Channel port of Dover.

But Mark Tanzer of Abta said the freedom to travel that the British currently enjoy was indispensable.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Orkney, the small collection of islands off the north east coast of Scotland with a population of just over 20,000, might not seem the likeliest candidate for a best place to live accolade. But the archipelago has just been named the best rural place to have a home in the UK.

Little crime, low levels of anxiety and high rates of employment, good earnings and impressive education spend per pupil  of which there are only 3,000  all contributed to Orkneys desirability in the survey from Halifax. Falling house prices also added to the mix.

All this is well and good on paper, but whats it really like to live there?

Orkney Islands: Low crime rates and a good education system make it the top rural place to live (Shutterstock)

Malcolm Stout, proprietor of the Lynnfield Hotel in Kirkwall, the largest town in the Orkney Islands, says its a mixed bag  but emphasises the advantages that come with being cut off.

Because were apart from anywhere else, we dont have all the evils you find in cities, he told the Independent. Theres still a strong sense of community here. Youll always find rural places more peaceful and civilised than urban areas where nobody knows anybody. Things often take a lot longer to reach Orkney  were a long way behind cities in terms of drugs and abuse and things like that.

However, Malcolm presents a picture that may confound visitors expectations of the islands being tranquil and isolated.

Orkneys weather puts many off permanent residence (Rex)

Rural communities are prone to gossiping, he said. If you want a quiet, nomadic life, this isnt it. Everyone wants to know your business  who you are, where you came from, what part youre going to play in the community. Youre going to get drawn into it, and not everyone likes that.

The weather is also something to be aware of, whether youre planning a move or a holiday.

If we had the sunshine, wed be worse than the Costa del Sol, says Stout. But you cant be coming here for the weather. Not everyones built for our climate; its a bit windy to say the least. We usually give people 18 months to see if theyll stick.

Orkneys remoteness leads to a strong community spirit (Geoff Wong/Creative Commons)

The Orkney Tourism Group says community is what sets the islands apart as a rural destination.

What makes it different is its very much self-contained, with everything you need here for a great quality of life, said a spokesperson. Theres good food and drink, craft, culture, history. But what sets it apart is this really strong community spirit.

Not everyone wants to embrace the rural life though, even for a week. But if youre after a holiday in another top-rated location, here are the places to have won plaudits for livability.

Bristol: best UK city

Recommended Why Bristol is the best weekend break in the UK right now

Orkney may lead when it comes to rural living, but it doesnt necessarily make the cut when up against towns and cities. Bristol was named the best place to live in the UK last month, and with its focus on independent shops, a burgeoning restaurant scene and beautiful surroundings, it has huge citybreak potential.

Vienna: best quality of life

Judged on a range of issues, from public transport and housing to the economic and political environment, Mercers annual Quality of Living index ranked the Austrian capital top for the eighth year in a row, thanks to its cafe culture, thriving arts scene and relatively cheap public transport and rents. All this amid a historical backdrop of Habsburg-era architecture and gothic churches sitting side by side with contemporary design. In case youre wondering, London placed a lowly 40th on the index.

Almaty: most affordable city

Achieving an urban lifestyle doesnt normally come cheap. But its possible to combine the excitement of city living with a Scrooge-like attitude in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which came top for affordability in the 2017 Economist Intelligence Units Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. The countrys capital until 1997, it remains Kazakhstans cultural heart. With the average rent of a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre costing just 270 a month (though five-star hotel rooms arent given away), a one way ticket on public transport costing from 20p and a domestic beer costing 63p for half a litre, city living doesnt have to break the bank.

New York: sexiest city

Recommended The 11 sexiest cities in the world

Looking for some va-va-voom on your city break? Forget Paris, Venice and Rome  NYC is the place to be. Named the worlds sexiest city by Playboy, the city that never sleeps famously featured a bar, now thankfully closed, with beds instead of tables so guests could get their date in the sack without breaking a sweat. Manhattan remains one of the hottest destinations however, throwing together 24-hour nightlife, impeccably groomed native New Yorkers and a plethora of ready-made perfect first date locations, from world-class galleries to the High Line.

Mexico: best for doing nothing

According to International Livings annual list of the best countries to retire to, Mexico is this years top bet. But you dont have to be an OAP to reap its retiree benefits of affordability, good quality of life and a high proportion of English speakers  those ingredients also make for a pretty good holiday, too.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The CEO of a leading American travel media brand has told The Independent that he has not brought his phone and laptop for a trip to London, because of concerns about searches when he returns to the US.

Rafat Ali, founder and CEO of the travel intelligence provider, Skift, said he had instead bought burner devices  which do not carry his contacts and data.

Mr Ali is an American Muslim. He was born in Salford, Greater Manchester but now lives and works in New York City. He is in London for his firms conference, Skift Forum Europe.

Recommended Confusion reigns between US and UK laptop bans

Mr Ali told The Independent that, since the start of President Trumps administration, Muslim travellers had faced difficulties with US Customs and Border Protection  with officials sometimes detaining new arrivals for hours while they trawl through phone and laptop data.

Im an American Muslim guy, said Mr Ali. Citizens are being stopped on their way back. For this trip I bought a burner phone and a burner laptop.

"I left my laptop, I left my phone, and bought a new phone line, a new iTunes account, a new laptop.

Anxiousness has just risen 10x in the last two months, three months.

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.

One of the new presidents first acts was to issue a ban on travel from mainly Muslim countries, leading to many travellers being denied boarding flights to the US. The ban has faced repeated legal challenges.

Last month the US brought in a ban on electronic devices in the cabin of flights from eight mainly Muslim countries to American airports.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The boss of one of Europes biggest budget airlines has attacked vested interests that have tried to suppress low-cost competition.

Bjorn Kjos, founder and CEO of Norwegian, said: They hate competition, they hate low fares. Politicians shouldnt listen to them, they should listen to consumers.

Norwegian currently operates transatlantic flights from Gatwick. But it has faced stiff opposition for its plans to launch low-cost links from Scotland and Ireland to the US, from both airlines and unions. They have questioned the legitimacy of its Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International, claiming it is a "flag of convenience" model.

When President Trump took office, the US Air Line Pilots Association issued a statement demanding he should overturn a Department of Transportation approval for the network: The new administration should immediately move to reverse the DOTs decision regarding Norwegian Air International and revoke or suspend the foreign air carrier permit.

The union said Norwegian had set up an Irish subsidiary to use flight crews employed under contracts governed by the laws of various Asian countries, including Singapore and Thailand.

Speaking at the Skift Forum Europe in London, Mr Kjos said: The consumer is always right. They want to travel for low fares and spend their money in the US or Europe. Dont listen to groups who are trying to preserve an old-fashioned regime.

Norwegian will fly from Edinburgh, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Dublin to Providence in Rhode Island, close to Boston; Hartford, Connecticut; and Stewart International, about 90 minutes by road from New York City. The airline is the European launch customer for the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, a long-haul variant of the worlds most successful plane.

Mr Kjos said: It has incredibly low operating costs. We fly it into very low-cost airports. Then you are not paying heavy charges, so we can offer the tickets for much, much less.

He also cast doubt on legacy airlines plans for long-haul, low-cost subsidiaries. British Airways parent, IAG, recently launched Level, flying transatlantic from Barcelona using Iberia flight crew, while the Lufthansa Group plans a long-haul network for its Eurowings subsidiary.

The Norwegian boss said: You dont get a low-cost airline by painting the aircraft. A lot of carriers have tried that in the past. It doesnt work.

Recommended Everything you need to know about travelling post Brexit

At the time of the launch of level, IAG's chief executive Willie Walsh, said it would " bring a stylish and modern approach to flying at prices that are even more affordable". He said: "It will complement our existing airline portfolio and further diversify our current customer base."

Rafat Ali, the founder and CEO of Skift, told The Independent: Low-cost long-haul is a game changer.

I think its changing the world, just as low-cost changed the short-haul world, when lots of people starting flying for the first time in history.

The travel association, Abta, has today called for a swift agreement on flying rights ahead of Brexit.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Flying across the UK in a private plane is officially cheaper than taking the train. Professional deal hunter, Tom Church, published the discovery to his website, latestdeals.co.uk, after catching a flight from London to Newcastle.

Church, 26, booked a plane as the solo passenger for 67  the equivalent train ticket cost 146, more than double the price. Finding train travel prices exorbitant, he turned to a service called Wingly, which puts hobbyist pilots in touch with members of the public for mutual benefit.

Customers such as Church can get to where they want to go for the fraction of the cost of a train ticket or commercial flight, and hobbyists are able to try out new routes and indulge in their love of flying. The term hobbyist shouldnt put passengers off too much  all pilots are fully-qualified and licensed.

Flying by private plane can save time and money (Tom Church)

Time is also a benefit of flying; had Church taken the train, he would have departed Newcastle at 5pm and arrived in London at 7.50pm. Departing at the same time but travelling via plane, the journey took nearly half the time and he arrived in London at 6.30pm.

People should definitely give this a go, Church told The Independent. If you go onto the website and can't see anything that works for you, you can write a message asking pilots to take you somewhere. The pilots love it because they get to try new routes they don't often choose to do.

Recommended Man chartered private jet to fly from one side of London to the other

Church received several offers once hed posted his request on Wingly. Having selected pilot Andrew Hyatt, who runs an interior design firm by day, he then arranged the booking directly and received a message saying the plane was fuelled and ready to go on the day.

Hyatt said: I think this is a great idea. I was flying from London to Newcastle anyway, so it makes sense to take someone with me. It's cheaper and faster for you, plus it gets more people interested in flying.

However, this method of transport may not be for the faint-hearted. The aircraft tend to be on the small side  Churchs ride was a Mooney 301 with just four seats, including the pilots.

The take-off and landing was more wobbly than normal commercial jets, said Church. But the pilot takes you above the clouds so there's little disturbance. Andrew navigated away from bad weather.

Wingly puts travellers in touch with hobbyist pilots (Wingly)

For those who can stomach the take-off, this method of travel also eliminates check-in, security and waiting around at the airport. Passengers simply turn up and go. Though keen to share the benefits of using this travel hack, Church also stressed the need to address Britains train prices.

Members of my bargain hunting community had long been complaining about the price of train tickets. It's one of Britain's worst problems.

Church added: This is a wake up call to Transport Minister Chris Grayling. When flying between UK cities is cheaper than the train, you know something's gone wrong.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

I am pleading, said Hillary Clinton a few days ago, that our government will continue its leadership role on behalf of peace in the world, because the world must continue this work with or without US involvement.

The United States is not exceptional in considering itself exceptional. Our nation does seem, however, to be unique in the loudness with which it proclaims what we perceive to be our uniquely positive qualities. Thats why Clintons words should sting any student of US rhetoric.

Her words caused me to rack my brains for an example of a single mainstream US leader who even conceived of, let alone articulated, a world in which the United States was excluded from global influence and decision-making. And it should register as a wake-up call. Because when we talk about turning our backs on globalisation, we should realise that this is not only impractical but also actively dangerous for the withdrawing nations.

The choice is ours to make, continued Clinton, echoing a sentiment I put forward at the Aspen Institute in the summer of 2016. In this complicated, interconnected, interdependent world of ours, its not as though you can pick one or two, three things that you say, Well, thats all Im going to work on. Events move too quickly. Borders dissolve in the face of pressures. The great connectivity of the internet can spawn both opportunity and despair. So we have to ask, will we be left behind or will we continue to lead the way?

Lets start with the disastrously incoherent way that this situation has been represented over the past few months. With the recent triggering of Article 50 in the UK and since the election of Donald Trump in the US, the media has obsessed over how these events must be nothing more than the great cry of the forgotten man. Many even blame themselves for this surge in populism.

Now, goes the story, their ears are to the ground and theyve finally heard the call of angry mobs emanating from the coal mines of West Virginia to the farms of the Midlands. I guess it makes them feel folksy and in touch, and it makes a nice narrative  for a while. But the inconvenient truth is that we never ignored these forgotten folk in the first place.

 Former CIA boss: Donald Trump's tweets can be dangerous

We need to resist such reductive analyses as the forgotten man theory. While a (very slim) majority did vote for the referendum in the UK, there is no point in pretending that Donald Trump, who lost the US popular vote by an enormous margin (3 million votes) and assumed office with a record low (32 per cent) approval rating, somehow rode a wave of humanity into the White House.

This is important to remember because of what reactionary movements around the world do share in common: protectionist/isolationist attitudes to global movement; hostility to free trade; suspicion of automation and the industries of the future; a desire to romanticise the mythology of a return to agrarian or manufacturing industries; streaks of xenophobia; and an anti-intellectualism (now positioned as a stance against global elites).

All these traits are incompatible with the state of our world. The trend over the last several centuries has been towards greater interconnectivity in trade, transport, values and communication. Forming political or economic policy that turns its back on globalisation is as delusional as crafting climate policy on the assumption that global warming is a Chinese hoax.

Back in January, at the World Economic Forum, Foreign Policy Magazine posited the unendurable argument of the demise of Davos Man. The World Economic Forums annual celebration of global capitalism once represented the inevitable arc of human progress. No longer, it stated, quoting Prime Minister Theresa Mays infamous declaration that: If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.

Writers who speak of the extinction of globalist gatherings like Davos have one thing in common with many Trump supporters: a sort of oblivious xenophobia. The fact that Xi Jinping attended for the first time should be news enough to run a cycle. Just because the Davos class no longer looks like you does not mean that their type are dying out. Perhaps the demographic of this gathering, and the focus of world power, is shifting.

These arguments also muddy the important definition of globalism: it is not often a unified ideology espoused by an organised group of people. It is a means to define the process of solving the problems of an interconnected world as well as taking advantage of its opportunities. Its not a preference; we didnt choose it. We inherited this world and have to deal with it in the next generation. Perhaps older voters should consider the dilemma of their younger compatriots when voting in reactionary and nostalgic ways.

And lets not rewrite history: the backlash against President Obama wasnt anything to do with globalisation or international elites. If his foreign policy legacy is any indication, the junior Senator from Illinois did not enter the Oval Office as a paragon of internationalism, nor did he ever develop a serious and impassioned interest in global affairs. Barack Obama is all Chicago, wrote Foad Ajami in a 2013 Bloomberg article which referred to the President as a parochial leader for a parochial nation. The spouse he chose had nothing to do with the foreign world, he continued. Her journey was all-American.

Many in Trumps administration, on the other hand, including those who would most passionately position themselves as champions of anti-globalisation, are prime examples of the sorts of people who have profited greatly from it. This includes Stephen Bannon, who struck big on globalist bets from his (very coastal and very elite) Rodeo Drive office in Beverly Hills. And, of course, it also includes Trump himself, wielding some 200 global operations in over 20 nations.

 Brexit: Theresa May on trade, security and the single market

But this is not the globalism of a Hillary Clinton, the dogged Secretary of State tirelessly advancing the interests of her nation across the world. The globalism of Trump and his colleagues is transactional. It creates a system where borders remain inconsequential to a wealthy elite, just as they become more formidable to those fleeing violence or seeking opportunity.

The tragedy of this cut-throat approach is that the halting of humanitarian stability on the one hand and creative sharing of discourse on the other results in the decline of those nations that choose to withdraw into isolationist retreat.

Xi Jinping summed up the challenge of globalism: One should not just retreat to the harbour when encountering a storm, for this will never get us to the other shore of the ocean. We must redouble efforts to develop global connectivity [in order] to enable all countries to achieve interconnected growth and share prosperity.

The likes of Bannon often prey on the ugliest reactions of people who feel that their heritage is at risk of extinction. To this end they wield false parallels with ignorant abandon. And so the United Nations, the European Union and other multinational entities are all lumped into the same boat.

The great irony here is that organisations like the UN, which provide forums for the peaceful discussion and resolution of ideas, prevent the erasure of individuality through an expression of counterpoint. The United Nations, as opposed to sprawling business empires such as those stewarded by the likes of Donald Trump, may be the best hope for our huge variety of global cultures to coexist in a tightly interwoven world. Globalism at its best does not seek to unite the world into one politic at the expense of individuality (taking our country back).

After all, the single most important way in which the Preamble of the UN Charter differs from nationalistic founding documents is in the expression of the plural: We the peoples
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

I must say, this Brexit business is going much better than expected. Not long ago, some of us fretted that Britains foreign relations were about to become even more confusing. But, hurrah! Not a bit of it. The negotiations havent even begun and while a former Conservative leader, Michael Howard, is tumescent with glee about the prospect of war with Spain, the incumbent nips to Saudi Arabia to celebrate our shared values with those of the desert kingdom.

Heres hoping Theresa May got some sleep on her Middle East jaunt, because shes starting to look exhausted. You could use the bags under her eyes as makeshift silos for the medium-range missiles shell have been trying to flog to the Saudis.

Small wonder. Any Cabinet post robs its holder of sleep at the best of times. Now that the top jobs come with the added duties of commercial traveller (Liam Fox has been in Malaysia, and Philip Hammond in India), the workload is even more crushing.

This in mind, you might expect May to conserve energy by not sweating the small stuff. But, no: she found time on her travels to contribute to one of those deliciously archaic domestic furores that make us proud to be Her Britannic Majestys subjects. Gordon Brown appears to be the May role model for more than capacious under-eye bags. He lit up a foreign trip with his thoughts on a Celebrity Big Brother race row. Now she does the same by opining passionately on the Easter-less egg imbroglio.

 Theresa May arrives in Saudi Arabia without a headscarf

The PM is disappointed  as both a vicars daughter and a National Trust member, that the word Easter  a very important festival for the Christian faith, as she helpfully reveals  is absent from a marketing campaign for the annual chocolate egg hunt held by Cadbury and the Trust. I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous, she harrumphed in that now-familiar schoolmarmish tone. I don't know what they are thinking about frankly.

Frankly, I think I do know. Not content to be a magnet for comfortably-off Anglican leisure pursuitists such as May, the National Trust wouldnt mind increasing its revenues by also appealing to those of other classes and hues, and even of religions such as Islam. That makes such solid sense that May might easily have turned the other cheek, and focused exclusively on the godly task of sucking up to the ever enchanting House of Saud.

Recommended Boris Johnson deserves our admiration for calling out Saudi Arabia

On reflection, however, you see why she is outraged. Her Christian beliefs are incredibly strong, as she underlined recently by denying sanctuary to child refugees from the Middle East to gratify the barbaric right-wing press. So the last thing she would countenance is silencing the language of those beliefs out of respect for followers of other religions.

Imagine, for example, that May went to Saudi Arabia. In that event, its unthinkable that she would indulge her Muslim hosts delicate sensibilities by censoring her vocabulary of such words as: When are you going to stop funding terrorists?; Do you think youll ever get bored with this beheading lark?; and Its lovely you keep buying our arms, but any chance you might stop using them to kill, maim and displace civilians in your proxy war in Yemen?

As for the Saudi treatment of women, May would never bite her tongue about that when one primary purposes of any such trip is to celebrate what we have in common. Here, we have a lively debate when a female judge concludes a rape trial by advising women that, while they have every right to drink themself into a stupor, and can never be blamed to the minutest degree for anything done to them if they do, it might be sensible to be careful all the same. There, they give rape victims the lash and send them to prison.

Shared values, eh? Wherever would we be without them?

To her credit, the PM, who arrived in the country without a headscarf, did say something about the status of Saudi women. Throwing caution to the desert wind, she expressed the hope that people see me as a woman leader  will see what women can achieve and how women can be in significant positions.

10 best Easter eggs Show all 10 1 /10 10 best Easter eggs 10 best Easter eggs Rococo Hazelnut Praline Hens Egg in Egg Cup This brand, known for its out-of-the-ordinary flavours and quirky presentation, has come up with another unusual offering  a real hens egg filled with hazelnut praline.It can be peeled and eaten like a hard-boiled egg or you can melt it to use as a dip. 11.99, selfridges.com 10 best Easter eggs Montezumas Milk and Sweet Orange Eco-Egg With its biodegradable outer shell, this egg is a reminder that many Easter offerings come with excessive packaging. Apart from being eco-friendly, the chocolate inside is a delicious balance of chocolate and orange. 7.99, ocado.com 10 best Easter eggs Bettys White Rabbit Egg Bettys eggs never fail to impress and this creamy white chocolate egg is no exception. The delicate bunny and flowers are done by hand and it all comes beautifully presented. Theres a milk chocolate version, too. 14.50, bettys.co.uk 10 best Easter eggs Chococo Heavenly Honeycombe Egg This delicious milk chocolate egg is studded with generous chunks of honeycomb made from locally sourced honey, while the outside has hand-piped chocolate swirls and a dusting of edible gold. 9.99, lakeland.co.uk 10 best Easter eggs Harrods Lattice Egg Made up of intricate swirls of milk chocolate, this unusual and elegant hand-made egg is a showstopper. The Belgian milk chocolate tastes as good as youd expect from this top-drawer retailer. 24.95, harrods.com (only available in store) 10 best Easter eggs Green & Blacks Butterscotch Egg For an ethical Easter, Green & Blacks organic and Fairtrade eggs are a good bet. Varieties include milk and dark chocolate and mint. This flavour is particularly scrummy, with crisp, crunchy pieces of butterscotch and creamy milk chocolate. 6.59, greenandblacksdirect.com 10 best Easter eggs Tesco Finest Medley of Eggs This beautifully presented mix of white, milk and dark chocolate and pieces of butterscotch, raspberry, hazelnut and coconut has won accolades this year. Its expensive, especially for Tesco, but well worth it. 25, tesco.com 10 best Easter eggs Hotel Chocolat Serious Dark Fix Extra Thick Dark chocolate lovers will think all their Easters have come at once if theyre the lucky recipient of one of these thick 70 per cent cocoa eggs. Inside there are 12 chocolates including dark pralines and chilli- and rum-flavoured treats. 28, hotelchocolat.com 10 best Easter eggs M&S Assorted Chocolate Egg Nest For something a bit different, we like this selection of deliciously smooth milk, dark and white chocolate eggs, nestling on an edible hay and a feather. The whole ensemble is then presented in an attractive box. 10, marksandspencer.com 10 best Easter eggs Fortnum & Mason Rose & Violet Creams Egg Youll need to like someone a lot to spend this much on them at Easter, but if you can stretch the purse strings, this dark chocolate egg, filled with seven of Fortnums bestselling rose and violet creams makes a luxury Easter pressie. 37, fortnumandmason.com

Thatll do it. We know this because, before Margaret Thatchers visits in 1981 and 1985, life for Saudi women was a shade medieval. Thatcher was such an effective role model that these days, you cant spend two minutes by a Riyadh hotel pool without hearing bikini-clad women telling saucy tales about their days at medical school, and chatting about their plans to leave the old man on the prayer mat on Friday and drive the Audi TT to the UAE for a hen party.

Anyway, touch wood that May set up another decade of selling instruments of death to the House of Saud, and returns refreshed to honour the death and rebirth of the supreme pacifist she worships.

Ordinarily, Id wish any PM who upholds our values so courageously only luck in finding oodles of Cadburys finest as she traipses from one National Trust property to another the weekend after next. But being a type 1 diabetic, perhaps she might think about going on an Easter hunt for her Christian principles instead?
There are "specific challenges" in allowing goods to move freely across the Irish border after Brexit, the British Ambassador to Ireland has admitted

There are "specific challenges" in allowing goods to move freely across the Irish border after Brexit, the British Ambassador to Ireland has admitted.

Robin Barnett suggested the current crossing between Northern Ireland and Ireland could only be maintained by a "bold and ambitious" free trade deal between London and Brussels.

Before a parliamentary committee in Dublin, the senior diplomat also said arrangements for any border poll on the reunification of the island are already provided for by the Good Friday Agreement.

"This is an international agreement to which we remain 100% committed," he said.

Mr Barnett told the European Union Affairs committee there are "specific challenges" to keeping the 310-mile Irish border as seamless and frictionless as possible.

"I think it is clear that the common travel area that pre-dates our membership of the EU and yours is the way forward in terms of ensuring free movement of people," he told TDs and senators on the committee.

"In terms of free movement of goods and related issues, there are challenges.

"We firmly believe the basis for an effective way forward is a bold and ambitious free trade agreement between the UK and the EU."

Mr Barnett took issue with any suggestion such an agreement could not be forged during the allotted time for Brexit negotiations.

"For those who say that may be hard to achieve in the given timescale, I would respectfully observe that this is not about how to identify convergence, how to identify commons standards," he said.

"We are already starting from a shared place.

"Therefore, many of the complications people adduce about concluding a free trade agreement are not appropriate in a situation where we start from a position of equivalence."

Mr Barnett said the UK wanted a free trade agreement "greater in scope than anything before" as part of a future deal on security and economic co-operation that should be worked out at the same time as withdrawal conditions.

The ambassador told the committee there are British officials who are specifically focused on problems and issues in the relationship between the UK and Ireland as a result of its pull-out from the EU.

"I firmly believe that we will be able to achieve the deep and strong and special partnership with the EU that my Prime Minister has set out in the Article 50 letter," he said.

"In this process, we are very mindful of the importance of our bilateral relationship with Ireland.

"We are actively engaged in looking at creative solutions to problems and challenges, although may I say that I think some of these creative solutions will not just come from governments but also from the talent that exists in our private sectors in Ireland and the UK."

He added: "I would like to stress we are not just focused on the Article 50 negotiations - there is very strong partnership between our two countries.

"That continues today and we are actively looking for opportunities to strengthen that partnership in a range of areas."
EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday the regime of Bashar al-Assad bears "primary responsibility" for a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in Syria.

"Today the news is awful," Mogherini said in an interview with media organisations in Brussels on the sidelines of a EU-UN conference that was meant to focus on the post-conflict situation in Syria.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


There is no fall-back option for airlines if the UK is unable to secure an aviation agreement during Brexit negotiations, travel trade organisation Abta has warned. Stock photo

There is no "fall-back option" for airlines if the UK is unable to secure an aviation agreement during Brexit negotiations, travel trade organisation Abta has warned.

It claimed it is "critical" that existing deals are replaced or retained otherwise there could be a "hugely damaging" reduction in flights.

All of the UK's airline routes to the EU and the US are secured through EU agreements.

The UK could be forced to trade under World Trade Organisation tariffs if no divorce deal can be reached, but Abta has published a report warning that this would not apply to the aviation sector.

"There is no international fall-back option, such as World Trade Organisation rules, that exists for the aviation sector," it said.

"A reduction in the number of routes would be hugely damaging for holidaymakers, business travellers and visitors to the UK."

Before last year's referendum, Abta warned that foreign trips are "likely to become more expensive" if the UK withdraws from the EU.
Corkman James Healy has been elected the 36th President of Macra na Feirme.

Corkman James Healy has been elected the 36th national president of Macra na Feirme in a substantial victory at the Irish Farm Centre yesterday.

Mr Healy, 31, from Kilmartin, Donoughmore, claimed 91 votes out of a total poll of 151, while challenger, Odile Evans, from Wicklow, garnered 60 votes.

After weeks of tough campaigning, Mr Healy, who is an associate member on Macras national council, former Cork county chairman and founding member of Donoughmore club, said he is elated and relieved.

Its been a hard fought campaign, coming into the last week you just want it to be over but Im overjoyed and honoured to have been elected.

I firmly believe my overall rounded experiences provide me with the key skills and attributes to serve as Macra President and to help ensure our team works to the best of its abilities for the betterment of the organisation.

I look forward to serving members and moving the organisation forward for what is sure to be a challenging couple of years, particularly with the impact of Brexit, said Mr Healy offering commiserations to Ms Evans who he described as a quality candidate.

Boosting membership will be crucial to his two year term as national president of the voluntary rural youth organisation.

It all boils down to participation. If you have strong rural youth participation that spreads through the whole organisation and through farming to bring about changes on the ground, he said.

Speaking after the results, current national president, Sean Finan, who presided over the election said: I would like to congratulate all the candidates on their energetic campaigns. This was a great election, highlighting the best of Macra in terms of leadership, debate and enthusiasm.

Expand Close James Healy, President elect of Macra na Feirme, pictured following yesterday's count at the Irish Farm Centre in Dublin. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp James Healy, President elect of Macra na Feirme, pictured following yesterday's count at the Irish Farm Centre in Dublin.

Results were also announced in the vice-presidential elections for Macras three regions, Munster, Leinster and the North West.

Sharon Corcoran from Three Lakes Macra in Mayo claimed the North-West race, Cara OMahony of Naas Macra in Kildare was elected as Leinster Vice-President and Tom ODonoghue of Cappoquin, Co Waterford is the new Munster Vice-President.

The three new vice-presidents will take up their positions alongside president-elect, James Healy, at Macra's AGM in Leitrim on May 6, 2017.
A doubling of calf exports to the Netherlands has helped drive demand for Friesian bull calves this spring.

Exports of calves to the Netherlands grew from 11,150 last year to 21,508 this year. The reopening of the Belgian market also resulted in 3,315 additional sales.

Department of Agriculture figures, for calves born after December 1 and shipped before March 20, show that overall exports increased from 25,854 in 2016 to 40,263 this spring. This is an increase of 45pc.

Spain continues to be a key outlet for calves, with exports up from 11,150 last year to 14,343 this year.

In contrast, calf exports to France have declined significantly.

While 2,284 were shipped prior to March 20 last year, the figure for 2017 was just 304.

Exports to Italy were also back, falling from 812hd to 654hd. There is a small trade in calves to the North and Britain.

So far this year Northern and British buyers have taken 139 calves.

The calf trade in the marts has been surprisingly strong all spring, defying predictions of a serious price collapse.

Jim Bushe of New Ross Mart said shipping-type Friesian bulls generally sold from 50/hd to 110/hd on Saturday.

Squarer Friesians were making 120-180/hd, with up to 240 paid for top quality calves of four or five weeks old.

There was great demand for Hereford heifers, with farmers paying from 250 to 350/hd for quality lots. Angus heifers sold for 150 to 300/hd.

Hereford bulls made from 180 to 400, and Angus bulls from 180 to 370.

"Crazy" demand for Continental bulls saw prices range from 200/hd to 500/hd.
Dairy farmers and AI companies are "furious" after Economic Breeding Index (EBI) figures for some leading dairy bulls have collapsed by as much as 120.

The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) revealed last week that EBI values were over- stated because of "software issues" that impacted on bull ratings since 2016.

The EBI figures are compiled to help farmers identify the most profitable breeding bulls and cows.

While an overall downward EBI adjustment averaging 39 was applied to all sires in last Tuesday's ICBF release for 2017, the EBI of a small number of sires dropped by between 100 and 120.

This was described by sources as a significant blow to dairy farmers who used these sires to achieve herd improvement.

Some of the AI centres are understood to be considering withdrawing their participation with ICBF as a result.

More than 100,000 breeding guides circulated by the leading AI centres to farmers in 2016 included some EBIs which were significantly over-stated.

Some breeding guides for 2017, which were printed in January and February, are also incorrect for a small number of sires.

A number of AI centres purchased sires on the basis of the original EBI rankings, and are now understood to be concerned about the impact the adjustment may have on demand for the semen.

System software

ICBF's Kevin Downing told the Farming Independent that the problem had been compounded for "a lot of farmers who weighed in very heavily on one, two or three genomically selected bulls, and that is where some of them are really getting hit".

He said that the problem had been caused by a "system software issue whereby a small number of bulls were given more inflated figures than they deserved, and they are the ones where over 100 is coming off" against an overall average reduction of 39.

Mr Downing said it was "understandable" that farmers would be angry, particularly those who bred a lot of cows to a sire with an EBI that had dropped significantly as a result of the error.

He said measures had now been put in place to ensure there is no repeat occurrence of the software problems.

An ICBF survey on 367,000 births from AI in 10,338 herds during 2016 found that only one bull was used for up to 80pc of the calves born on 11pc of the farms - and on 48pc of farms, up to 40pc of the calves were by one bull, a practice which is not recommended by ICBF.

Irish Holstein Friesian Association (INFA) CEO Charles Gallagher described the situation as "deeply disappointing" and said "there are implications (for our association) in ensuring the accuracy of the herd book entries."

He said that the IHFA, which has two representatives on the ICBF board, has been "looking for changes to the way that the EBI evaluations are carried out for some time and we will now be pressing that they are made".

A spokesperson for ICMSA said the priority for both ICBF and the AI companies must be an immediate clarification of the situation around the semen sold to many farmers and its subsequent downgrading.

"Farmers bought and paid for this in good faith and it is of the first importance that clarity is brought to their situation and that they know exactly and in good time what the next steps are in this process of repairing this situation."

Sires

In a letter issued over the weekend to more than 10,000 farmers who use AI for breeding, Sean Coughlan, CEO ICBF, urged farmers to use a team of at least five high EBI sires, and preferably up to seven sires spread evenly over their herds.

"A single AI bull should never be used on more than 20pc of your herd.

"Overuse of a single bull leaves your herd more vulnerable to EBI fluctuations.

"Now that all dairy AI proofs have been updated, we would encourage HerdPlus members to (re)run 'Dairy Sire Advice' for their herds," the letter added.
ACCOUNTANT Patrick Burke has strongly disputed claims by publican Frank Gleeson related to a dispute over the merger of the Mercantile/Capital chains of well-known Dublin pubs, hotels and restaurants.

Mr Burke was responding after Mr Gleeson claimed that he had behaved unethically and unprofessionally.

In reply, Mr Burke said Mr Gleeson made the claim because the legal process provides him with protection "to say what may likely be subsequently leaked to the media."

Meanwhile, in a separate affidavit Mark O'Meara, a shareholder in the merged pub chain, said Frank Gleeson was himself being investigated by the business. He claimed Mr Gleeson "appeared to have been operating an undisclosed practice of taking cash from tills" and charging food and drink bills to the group, in his time as chief executive.

Mr Burke is chief financial officer of EMI-MR Investment which has brought proceedings seeking a 4.6m judgment against Mr Gleeson over loans to him in 2016. Mr O'Meara is one of the principals of Danu Partners, a shareholder in the pub group that includes pubs like Cafe en Seine, Whelans and the George. Mr Gleeson has brought his own proceedings alleging shareholder oppression. The other shareholders strongly deny his claims.

In an affidavit last month, Mr Gleeson said Mr Burke had a "palpable and unashamed conflict of interest" because he acted for both sides during the merger of Mr Gleeson's Mercantile Group and Capital Bars. Both the EMI-MR and Gleeson cases were back before the Commercial Court for mention on Monday when Mr Justice Brian Cregan adjourned them to May.

In his replying affidavit, Mr Burke said he took serious objection to what was a personal and, at times, hysterical attack on his integrity and bona fides without any basis.

Not only were Mr Gleeson's claims untrue but they were carefully designed to draw the court's attention away from the simple issues in the case - namely whether 4.6m is due and owing and whether Mr Gleeson has a genuine defence to that claim.

Mr Burke says he had acted for him in the past but did not advise Mr Gleeson in relation to the EMI-MR loan as he had alleged.
The European arm of US investment giant Starwood Capital has emerged as a backer of entrepreneur Barry O'Callaghan's plan for an exclusive south Dublin international school.

The school, which is aimed at children of multinational executives, will be based in a former Microsoft building. The tech giant is building a new 134m campus beside Leopardstown racecourse for 1,200 of its staff.

Starwood has confirmed that last week it advanced an 18.9m loan to support the acquisition and redevelopment of the building for new international school, which will be run by Hong Kong-based Nord Anglia Education. It will accommodate about 800 students and will open next year.

Starwood European Real Estate said that it advanced a three-year floating rate loan to the Mr O'Callaghan-fronted venture.

"The building will be converted for educational use with a new lease to a premium global education company," noted Starwood. "The transaction represents a continuation of the company's lending strategy in Ireland, and adds to the diversity of its portfolio with its first loan backed by an educational use."

Mr O'Callaghan has been plotting the development of the new school for some time. He enlisted former education minister Ruairi Quinn to support the bid to establish the new school, which will be the most expensive in the country.

Nord Anglia operates about 43 other international schools around the world, in countries including China, the United States, Mexico, France and Poland.

Fees for day pupils attending secondary education are typically about 20,000 a year.
The Government is considering roping in a handful of blue-chip investors to anchor AIB's shareholder base when it sells 3bn of shares in the bank this summer.

But any move to restrict smaller hedge funds and opportunist investors from piling into the deal could mean a lower price for the State when it sells the shares.

Selling a bigger slice of the bank to a handful of large investors would help dampen volatility and could boost long-term demand for the shares following the planned initial public offering of the nationalised lender later this year.

While the timing of AIB's return to the stock exchange has yet to be confirmed, the Irish Independent has established that the nine-strong banking syndicate and Department of Finance is assessing the merits of a so-called anchor investor process.

Allocating shares to marquee investors can reduce share-price fluctuations after a market listing. But bigger investors also wield greater influence on price, potentially leaving the Government open to the politically toxic charge of under-pricing the deal.

One source within the syndicate stressed "no plan" had been set and described the mooted 3bn IPO - representing 25pc of the Government's stake - as a "fluid process".

Over the past two months AIB's management, headed by CEO Bernard Byrne and chief financial officer Mark Bourke, along with its advisers, have met with numerous potential investors.

Sources said the reception from institutional fund managers has been enthusiastic.

It opens the potential for a small group of fund managers to commit to purchasing a large portion of shares ahead of the deal launch.

That would de-risk the sale for the State, and allow the Government to lock in what are regarded as top tier, long-term investors. It would also reduce the risk of shares being flipped in the wake of a deal.

Yet while confidence within the ranks of advisers and officials managing the flotation is riding high, prospective investors remain concerned about a frothy valuation, given the lacklustre performance of Permanent TSB since its partial privatisation.

Those close to the AIB deal are keen to downplay comparisons with its smaller rival, pointing out that the bigger lender, which recently paid a dividend for the first time since its 20bn-plus bailout by the taxpayer, is a diversified bank with a lower volume of non-performing loans.

It is understood the Department of Finance and its advisers are confident of securing a premium to AIB's book value when they sell shares.

But Noel O'Halloran, chief investment officer at KBI Global Investors said most European banks now trade at a discount.

"There is no shortage of bank paper in Europe," he said and emphasised that Ireland is not "commanding a premium at the moment".

He argued investors are likely to compare AIB to its European peers, rather than apply a narrow focus against Bank of Ireland and PTSB.

A key selling point of the recently completed non-deal roadshow, was AIB's status as a national champion, given its growing dominance in the mortgage market.

AIB's market share of new mortgage lending is 35pc versus around 25pc for nearest rival Bank of Ireland.

The reinstalment of the dividend, something Bank of Ireland is also behind on, has also been characterised as a major draw for AIB investors.

But Mr O'Hallorhan cautioned the market will focus on the lender's ability to "grow that dividend". He also stressed "AIB's ability to consistently deliver returns higher than the cost of the capital" - meaning its return on equity - "has yet to be proved".
Housing Minister Simon Coveney with Stephen McCarthy (left) of Astra Construction Services and Mayor of the County of Cork Seamus McGrath (right) as he turned the sod at the Janeville development of 800 homes in Carrigaline, Co Cork, yesterday. Photo: Cathal Noonan

One-in-five first-time buyers getting State help to purchase a home is buying property worth more than 375,000, new figures show.

The Government's 'Help-to-Buy' scheme is set to cost far more than the 50m suggested by Finance Minister Michael Noonan when it was introduced in Budget 2017.

Based on current applications and amounts paid, the bill for the first three months of the year could be as high as 72m.

The figures come after two separate reports on house prices from property websites Myhome.ie and Daft.ie suggested that prices would continue to rise sharply throughout 2017.

A combination of factors were cited including the Help-to-Buy scheme, a lack of supply, and changes to mortgage lending rules. It led to calls for the scheme to be scrapped.

Data from Revenue Commissioners suggests that the vast bulk of successful applicants are seeking help buying a home in Dublin, the Dublin commuter belt of Meath, Wicklow and Kildare, and Cork, where prices are highest.

In 13 of the 26 counties, the number claiming the tax break is so low that Revenue cannot provide data for fear of identifying the homebuyer.

The Help-to-Buy incentive statistics, published by Revenue and which cover three months to March 30, also show that of the 1,006 claims made to date, 203 - or just over 20pc - are for properties costing 375,000 or more.

Meanwhile, 77 claims relate to new homes costing more than 450,000.

Revenue data also shows that just over 18pc of successful applicants had saved a deposit of at least 20pc towards the cost of their home.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney defended the scheme, saying it was turning "notional demand" for new homes into "actual demand" on the ground.

"There is no quick fix for supply but all the indicators show that it is responding well to increased demand," he said.

Prices

"Our most recent activity report indicates that commencement notices in the 12 months to January 2017 are up 44pc year on year, completions to January 2017 year on year are up 18pc and planning permissions to the end of 2016 are up by around 20pc.

"The truth is that people who are saying the Help-to-Buy scheme for first-time buyers is driving up house prices, I think maybe they haven't looked at the numbers involved.

"About 2.5pc of house purchases at the moment are first-time buyers buying new homes. That is all. So it is hardly driving up house prices throughout the country."

The incentive is designed to help first-time buyers secure the necessary deposit to allow them to secure a mortgage.

It allows for a refund of income tax and DIRT paid over the previous four years, and up to 5pc of the purchase price of the home can be claimed, with the relief capped at 20,000.

Applicants who purchased a home between July 19 and December 31 last can purchase a home valued up to 600,000, with a maximum relief of 20,000.

For homes purchased from January 1, 2017 the maximum value is 500,000.

Fianna Fail's environment spokesman Barry Cowen said the Government should have focused on reducing building costs by slashing VAT and levies on new builds, as well as securing affordable finance for developers.

"Unfortunately this is as we predicted. This was the fear everybody had about the scheme," he said.

"It might have worked if it was done alongside supply initiatives but they chose to focus on demand. It was merely seeking to create demand which leads to greater prices and profits."

Experts believe at least 25,000 units are needed each year for the foreseeable future just to keep pace with demand and to stabilise prices, but fewer than 13,000 were delivered in 2016.

An analysis of the Property Price Register shows that the number of property transactions taking place in the first quarter of this year is down 14pc to 8,061 compared with the same period of 2016.

However, while the number of transactions is dropping, house prices nationally increased by some 16,500 over the past 12 months, up 6.9pc.
A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria's rebel-held northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country's six-year civil war.

Eyewitnesses said the attack was carried out by jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments, but both Moscow and Damascus denied responsibility.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, show limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe; others appear foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll from the gas attack at 58, saying there were 11 children among the dead. Meanwhile, the Idlib Media Center said dozens of people had been killed.

The media center published footage of medical workers appearing to intubate an unresponsive man stripped down to his underwear and hooking up a little girl foaming at the mouth to a ventilator. It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes occurring in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, the site of Tuesday's alleged attack.

Tuesday's reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini.

France's foreign minister condemned the "atrocious act" and both France and Britain called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting over the suspected attack. The Security Council will meet Wednesday morning

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump is "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack and said it was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world."

Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said this was the worst incident since the 2013 toxic gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians. That attack, which a U.N. report said used sarin gas, was the worst in Syria's civil war.

In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons amid international outrage.

Those weapons have been destroyed, but member states of the OPCW have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything in 2013. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

A statement by the Syrian government said it "categorically rejects" using any chemical or poisonous agents in Khan Sheikhoun today and says it did not and will not use them in any place or any time in the past or future.

It held rebels responsible, saying they attacked their own territory in order to distract from their losses across the country. The Russian Defense Ministry also denied any involvement

Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of patients in the Tuesday attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors are struggling to deal with the victims, amid a shortage of facilities and medical supplies, and the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem, is in short supply.

Most of the fatalities, died before they reached hospitals. "If they got the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

Mohammed Tennari, AbdulHaj's brother and a radiologist, said Tuesday's attack was more severe than previous chemical attacks his province has witnessed, most of them using chlorine cylinders.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe. There were no deaths, not in those numbers," he said, adding the final number is unclear given the chaos that has prevailed. The doctor, who testified before the U.N. in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell but it was mixed with other things, "toxic gas which causes poison and death."

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency is contacting health providers from Idlib to get more information about Tuesday's incident.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

The Syrian activists claimed the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by Syrian government or Russian warplanes. Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating, they said.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin  also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred  said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.

"There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth," he told The Associated Press by phone.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. "Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions," he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.

He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.

He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

A Turkey-based Syrian man whose niece, her husband and one-year-old daughter were among those killed, said the warplanes struck early, as residents were still in their beds. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for the safety of family members back in Syria.

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. It is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months in the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and that the Islamic State (IS) militants was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The government is to reduce the number of homes to be covered in the state-subsidised National Broadband Plan rollout. Stock photo

The Government is to reduce the number of homes to be covered in the State-subsidised National Broadband Plan rollout.

The Irish Independent understands that the Government is to accept a promise by Eir to build new broadband connections to 300,000 rural homes. This would mean the Government will not include the 300,000 in its own subsidised rollout of more than 800,000 homes.

The move could delay again the rollout of fibre broadband to rural areas beyond 2021, the date previously identified by the Government as its completion period for the project.

A spokesman for Eir said the company told the Government it has pledged to build the new broadband connections by the end of 2018. He said that this would see some rural homes get connected in advance of the State-subsidised rollout, which has not yet begun and looks unlikely to start before 2018. He said that Eir has signed up to a 'commitment contract' with unspecified completion conditions.

However, the Government's move could cause rival bidders for the National Broadband Plan to reconsider bidding for the remaining rural homes, potentially putting the project in doubt.

Two of the three shortlisted bidders - Siro and eNet - have previously made it clear that chopping off the 300,000 most connectable homes from the Government's map would make the remaining 550,000 far more difficult and expensive to link up.

To keep bidders interested, the Government may have to increase the rollout subsidy per home.

The National Broadband Plan, a Government promise to connect every rural home and business to fibre-grade broadband by 2021, has been beset with delays and complications since it was announced in 2012.

The plan now looks likely to start a rollout sometime in 2018, after a series of delays related to mapping and contractual considerations. The Government has pledged the full network will be rolled out and operational between three and five years from when its rollout begins. Last year, Communications Minister Denis Naughten upgraded the broadband standard to fibre grade, capable of speeds of 1,000Mbs.

The 300,000 homes to be connected by Eir will be based on fibre-to-the-home, according to the Eir spokesman.

Research by Amarach shows one in four rural dwellers say they "would be forced" to move to a city or large town without proper broadband. It also suggests that in rural homes that have some form of broadband, almost one in four people use the internet at home for work. And nearly 150,000 of those say they choose to avoid commuting some or all of the time because they can connect to work through the internet.
The world's gas industry is descending on Tokyo this week as a trio of Asian LNG buyers test their collective muscle in a push for more flexible long-term contracts for the fuel.

Korea Gas, Japan's JERA and China National Offshore Oil Corp - whose joint liquefied natural gas volumes account for a third of global LNG trade - are attempting to cement a shift in power from producers to importers amid a supply glut that is expected to persist into the early-2020s.

Developing responses from LNG producers to the group's alliance may also soon start to give clues as to who will win advantage as the fuel surplus puts pressure on suppliers to give buyers greater contractual freedom than they have had since the industry first began to ramp up in the 1970s.

"Destination clauses will probably die soon under the pressure of buyers and the growing needs for flexibility," said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a research fellow at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre.

No meetings between the three and major producers such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Qatargas have been confirmed at the Gastech biannual gathering, but representatives of all are certain to be in attendance.

North Asian LNG buyers - including those agreeing last month to explore joint purchases of supplies - have for decades relied on rigid long-term contracts that prevent cargo resales because the main priority was security of supply as energy demand soared amid double-digit economic growth.

But a slowdown in Asian growth over the past few years, especially in top two buyers Japan and South Korea, and impending liberalization of gas and power markets mean dominant utilities are now often stuck with surplus cargoes they cannot resell amid stagnant or shrinking demand at home.

Last year, for instance, global installed LNG capacity was over 300 million tonnes a year, while only about 268 million tonnes of LNG were traded, according to Thomson Reuters data.

JERA and Kogas have both indicated they aim to sign only future contracts that have more flexible terms, but it remains unclear if they or other Asian buyers plan to force existing contracts into arbitration.

Many LNG producers have declined to comment on the threat from more aggressive buyers, although Australia's Woodside Petroleum suggested last week that flexibility in long-term contracts would eventually lead to a more liquid market.

Another disrupting force in the LNG market could be the emergence of importers like Pakistan that utilise floating storage and regasification units, who would also be small-scale buyers seeking shorter-term contracts.

Asia, which accounts for about 70pc of the world's LNG demand, is poised as well to benefit from rising US exports that are on track to make the United States the third-largest exporter of LNG next year.

US LNG is attractive to Asian buyers as cargoes have no destination restrictions that prevent them from being resold when domestic power demand is weak.

The emergence of price-sensitive buyers in India and China is also driving the market towards more spot trade, Howson said.

India has not ruled out joining the China, Japan and Korea grouping to jointly buy LNG to extract better deals, the country's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said last month, adding that the market was gradually becoming more consumer-centric. (Reuters)
The classic Guns N Roses line-up including Slash and Axl Rose (second and third from left)

Guns N' Roses have announced the support acts for their Slane Castle gig.

The legendary band, featuring Axl Rose start their Not in This Lifetime Tour for 2017 on Saturday 27 May 2017 at Meath's Slane Castle.

It's almost a quarter of a century since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees last played Ireland and tickets for the Slane Castle gig sold out within minutes of going on sale last December.

The Live Nation produced tour will visit 18 more cities across the UK and Europe including shows scheduled in London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Copenhagen and more.

Expand Close Guns N' Roses are on their global tour, Not In This Lifetime / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Guns N' Roses are on their global tour, Not In This Lifetime

Speaking this morning, Lord Henry Mountcharles stated I am delighted with this line up. Royal Blood is a really exciting act and I am thrilled they are on the bill. The local connection with Otherkin is special.

Brighton based drum n bass duo Royal Blood released their self-titled debut album in 2014, which went to Number 1 in Ireland. They played Dublin's Olympia Theatre to a sold-out crowd last Thursday.

Expand Close Royal Blood / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Royal Blood

American grunge star Mark Lanegans new album Gargoyle, set for release on April 28, has been garnering stellar reviews.

Otherkin are a grunge-pop band from Dublin, fronted by Slane local Luke Reilly. Their debut album is due out later this year.
The Radio 4 presenter said the BBC must be allowed to scrutinise the effects of Brexit.

The BBCs Nick Robinson has told Remainers and Leavers to lay off the broadcaster as it asks tough questions during Britains exit from the EU.

The presenter of Radio 4s Today programme said critics should leave it out and remain calm because the corporation is no longer obliged to balance the two sides of the argument now that the referendum has taken place.

Robinson, who was the BBCs political editor for more than a decade, said the broadcaster instead has a duty to its viewers to explain, analyse and scrutinise the most significant policy decisions to be taken in decades.

Writing in the Radio Times, he said: The BBCs job is not to look over its shoulder wondering whether a report, interview or discussion will provoke letters of complaint or a tide of tweets from Remainers or Leavers  who, like fighters who emerge after months of hiding in a bush, seem not to accept that the war is over.

Our job, instead, is to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the audience as a whole  the people we serve  who, in the main, are not members of political parties or campaigns or, indeed, people who would dream of defining themselves by how they voted in the referendum.

Members of both camps have complained in tweets, letters and emails about supposed bias in the BBCs coverage.

Some criticised a lack of Brexit supporters voices in the week that Article 50 was triggered, despite prominent campaigners such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove being remarkably reluctant to be interviewed on the subject, the journalist said.

Pro-EU marchers also complained that a rally in support of the union failed to be widely reported even though it appeared on all BBC news outlets, he added.

:: Read the full article in this weeks Radio Times.
Comedian Al Porter will be ditching his smart ensembles this week in favour of some wellies and overalls as he takes part in RTE's Big Week On The Farm.

The Today FM star will appear as a guest presenter on Thursday as he joins Ella McSweeney and Aine Lawlor for a trip around the Shalvey family's farm in Cavan on the popular programme.

"I don't know if I'll be able to calf anything but I'll be milking cows, which I'm looking forward to," he said.

"I'm going to get wellies but I'm still going to wear a quintessential suit and bring a bit of showbiz to the whole occasion. There will be people on hand to give me their farming tips. I was told by a guy on the radio - sheep farmer Martin Gallagher - that for milking, what I've really got to do is that I've got to squeeze and pump."

Expand Close Aoibhin Garrihy / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Aoibhin Garrihy

Having grown up in south west Dublin, he admits his level of exposure to farming life has been limited.

"The thing is that Tallaght used to be all farmland when my parents moved out from Ballyfermot. They thought they were going to the countryside," he said.

Curious

"All I've ever gotten to see growing up though is the odd fox racing across the road or the deer that has to live on IT Tallaght's ground.

"To be honest, my interest in agriculture and farming comes from not having been exposed to it.

"I've always been curious because it's something I haven't seen growing up.

"I think if you grew up down the country, you might be going, 'Ah, feck off. It's normal'. But it's not for me, it's rare."

Al is just one of a number of well-known faces who will be pottering about on the farm this week.

Video of the Day

Other guests will include champion jockey Ruby Walsh, comedian Pat Shortt and TV presenter and model Vogue Williams.

Last night it was the turn of Dancing With The Stars finalist Aoibhin Garrihy.

In a far cry from her usual glamorous appearances on the Sunday night dancing show, viewers watched as she got a little bit more than she bargained for during the Pull The Udder One milking challenge.

It was back to nature for the actress as her cream jumper unfortunately ended up covered in cow muck during the task.

But she's apparently no stranger to the outdoor life and actually spent a lot of time on a farm as a child, as she revealed to RTE Radio 1's Ray D'Arcy.

knowledge

"I was on my grandad's farm last week when we were filming the VT for the final of Dancing With The Stars and Vitali was lifting the little lambs," she said.

"My grandad is a farmer and my uncle has now taken over. I certainly remember summers spent on the farm with grandad.

"But it's been a while, though, I kind of need to brush up on my knowledge of all things farming."
The brother of murdered Michaela McAreavey has appealed to the Mauritian public to "be brave" and bring forward information which may help to solve the case.

Speaking alongside her husband John, her brother Mark Harte appealed to people to help make their community safe again.

"The reality is that there are killers walking around in your communities, your villages and your towns." he said.

"Are your families safe? This could be your wife, your daughter, your sister, your grandaughter.

Expand Close John McAreavey, right, and Mark Harte, brother of murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavey, during a press conference at the Labourdonnais Hotel in Port Louis, Mauritius / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp John McAreavey, right, and Mark Harte, brother of murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavey, during a press conference at the Labourdonnais Hotel in Port Louis, Mauritius

"So when you go home to your houses tonight I want you to look at these young girls in your lives and I want you to reach into your heart and I want you to make Mauritius a safer place for everyone.

"You do that by bringing forward information that we require. Please be brave, please come forward with the truth."

Michaela's family are offering a 50,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution and conviction of her killers.

Accompanied by his sister Claire McAreavey and Mark Harte, brother of the late Michaela, he announced that the cash would be given for any fresh information which may lead to a successful prosecution and conviction of whomever is responsible for her murder.

Ms McAreavey (27) was killed just 12 days after marrying her husband John. 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.

Read More

Speaking at the same press conference Mr McAreavey said:

Over the past six and half years our resolve to win justice for Michaela remains undiminished. We believe we have given the Mauritian authorities every chance to deliver on their very public promise that justice would be done.

However, until this visit the reality falls far short of that and as the years have passed it appears that the unofficial policy has become one of out of sight - out of mind. But we have no intention of just slipping out of mind or sight. Michaela deserves justice and we intend to get it. We should not have needed to make this very painful return journey."

Mr McAreavey hit out at the Mauritian authorities saying they feel that they have been "let down time and time again".

He said the family "feel betrayed by a process that has failed us and Michaela".

"Today we take some comfort from the assurances given by the Prime Minister yesterday that Michaela will get justice, but to achieve that we need the help of those who may know something, but have not yet come forward for whatever reason."

The widower, who has since remarried, made a direct appeal to the people of Mauritius to come forward "with any piece of information, no matter how small" which may be relevant in bringing the day of justice closer for the killers of Michaela.

It is our sincere hope that the substantial reward which we are offering will send out a powerful message about our determination to keep on seeking justice.

We make a heartfelt appeal for information which hopefully will lead to a retrial. Mauritians can contact the Police anonymously on a confidential hotline: Tel. 148 and all information will be treated with sensitivity and complete confidentiality.

As time marches on this could be our final chance to obtain justice for Michaela, but we cant do it alone. We need the help of the people of Mauritius. Please help us as our fight goes on.
A bus driver involuntarily retired because it was alleged she might pass out at the wheel due to a health condition told the High Court she did not get stressed from driving in Dublin.

Claire McKevitt (38), who has a child with special needs, said it was at home where she was stressed. "Going to work was getting away from it, I never felt the job was stressful".

Ms McKevitt says she was unfairly dismissed by Dublin Bus and should be reinstated or compensated. Dublin Bus says it retired her on health grounds after a long absence for illness.

The court heard Ms McKevitt, who was attached to the Phibsboro Garage, has a condition called Vasovagal Syncope which can make a person prone to fainting, especially in stressful situations.

Dublin Bus says driving a bus in the city is a stressful occupation and it has to be sure there is no risk to its driver, passengers or the public.

Ms McKevitt, Walkinstown Drive, Dublin, says she was cleared to return to commercial driving work in 2014 in a report from the falls and blackout unit of St James Hospital in Dublin.

An Employment Appeals Tribunal had found she was unfairly dismissed and awarded her 17,000.

Dublin Bus appealed that decision and the Circuit Court also found unfair dismissal but reduced the award to 10,000. That court found she should have been heard and independently examined before the decision to retire her was taken.

She joined Dublin Bus in 2007 and in 2009 began to experience health difficulties. She had over 200 days of sick leave between July 2009 and February 2012 and then went on permanent sick leave until April 2014 when she was retired.

She had a blackout in November 2011 and was referred to St James where she told doctors she had a history of blackouts over the previous ten years.

The hospital's falls and blackout unit ultimately recommended she could return to work but the Dublin Bus chief medical officer (CMO) recommended she should not be allowed return to driving duties from April 2014.

The bus company asked the High Court to overturn the Circuit Court decision of unfair dismissal. It claims retirement on health grounds is no one's fault and not a disciplinary process.

It says there is no right of appeal because the decision on whether someone is fit to drive a bus, with all the risks that entails, is not a function of anyone other than the company's CMO.

Ms McKevitt claims she was not given an opportunity to challenge the decision before it was taken.

At a resumed hearing on Tuesday, Ms McKevitt told her counsel, Oisin Quinn, when she attended the company's occupational physician in January 2014, she thought it was just a normal review of her situation.

She was out of work because of Syncope condition but the doctor brought up a number of other matters including her small stature to be a bus driver, she said.

After she was told she would be retired on ill health, she obtained a letter from St James saying she was fit for return to duty.

She said she needed to return to work for her family and for herself as she was not a type of person to just "sit around".

Asked by Frank Callanan SC, for the Dublin Bus, how she could be surprised at the decision to retire her when she had been out sick from February 2012 until she was retired in April 2014, she said it did come like a bolt out of the blue. This was particularly so after she got the all clear from St James to return to driving.

She told Mr Callanan she did not accept the suggestion by the company that bus driving was a difficult and stressful job.

Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh reserved her decision.
John McAreavey on his wedding day with his wife Michaela. She was murdered just 12 days after they wed. Photo: PA

John McAreavey will make a "significant announcement" at a press conference in Mauritius this morning, a BBC journalist has revealed.

This morning it was revealed that a elite task force has been set up in Mauritius to bring the killers 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. 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.

Her husband John has travelled to Mauritius with his sister, Claire, and Mark Harte, Michaela's eldest brother.

He is expected to host a press conference this morning.

Journalist Mark Simpson, who has travelled to Mauritius, told RTE Morning Ireland: "John McAreavey is going to make a number of announcements including a very significant announcement, we don't know what that is going to be.

"We know some of what he is going to say. he 's going to confirm the setting up of a confidential telephone line for people here who don't trust the police.

"He is going to star down the barrel of the Mauritian TV cameras and say 'please help me if you know who the people are that killed my wife'.

"The last thing he is going to say is that 'by the way this wasn't a one off, I'm going to come back for 20 years if necessary to get the justice that I so need'."

"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 er.

Yesterday a meeting was held with prosecutor Mr Boolell and speaking afterwards Mr McAreavey said 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."

A confidential telephone line is being set up by his lawyer on the island.
CONSULTANT gynaecologist Dr Andrea Hermann (53) has been struck off the medical register by the High Court.

It follows findings by an Irish Medical Council fitness to practice committee (FtPC) that she was guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance.

The misconduct included her failure to inform Sligo General Hospital of conditions on her registration from previous misconduct findings against her.

Last December, the FtPC found her guilty of poor professional performance on a number of counts relating to the treatment of new mothers at the hospital where she worked as an obstetric and gynaecology registrar.

Those related to the care provided to six mothers who attended the hospital between August 2013 and February 2014.

The professional misconduct related to her failure to disclose to Sligo General conditions imposed on her by the Medical Council as a result of a previous disciplinary hearing. These conditions included a requirement to undergo retraining and supervision.

In 2010, she lost a High Court appeal over a Medical Council decision suspending her for a year and imposing conditions on her return to work.

That had followed another inquiry in which she was found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to her treatment of three patients while working at the Galway Clinic.

Those patients included the late Saundra O'Connor (39) from Claregalway, Co Galway, who developed septic shock after a procedure carried out by Dr Hermann in 2005. Ms OConnor subsequently spent almost three years in a vegetative state before she died in February 2008.

Dr Hermann was not in court and was not represented.

She was represented briefly at the beginning of last year's FtPC inquiry by a solilcitor who ceased to represent her after reading a statement on her behalf.

She said in it: It feels to me you are disappointed that Im still alive.

Dr Hermann admitted to the clinical allegations against her but did not admit to the allegations in relation to not disclosing the conditions attached to her registration to Sligo General.

Among the findings of last year's inquiry were that she failed to perform an elective caesarean section with due skill, making an abnormal wound incision on one mother in December 2013.

She failed to obtain informed consent from another patient prior to carry out a membrane sweep during an ante-natal visit.

The inquiry also found she failed to display adequate surgical skill while closing up the uterus after a C-section on another patient.

Following the FtPC findings, the Medical Council decided her name should be cancelled on the specialist division of the Irish Medical Register.

The matter came before High Court president, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who said that having regard to the gravity of the findings, he was satisfied the Medical Council's decision to have her name erased was correct in the interest of protecting of the public.
The High Court has removed a legal notice which it was claimed was holding up the sale of a Dublin city hotel which had been used to accommodate homeless families.

On Tuesday, Nama-appointed receiver Aiden Murhpy asked the court to remove the registered notice, called as a lis pendens, indicating that there was a legal action pending over Lynam's Hotel, Upper O'Connell Street.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan agreed to remove the lis pendens.

However, he granted a stay on his decision until lunchtime Wednesday to allow lawyers for the former hotel operator to seek a further stay before the Court of Appeal pending a full hearing of the appeal.

The lis pendens was registered last September by Theresa Andreucetti who operated the hotel for many years under a lease she entered into with the former owners in 2008.

Eamon Marry Bl, for the receiver, said that a contract for sale had been agreed with an unnamed party.

Last year Ms Andreucetti, of Fawn, Castleknock Road, Dublin, brought injunction proceedings preventing the receiver taking possession after she claimed she was put out of the hotel.

The injunction proceedings were settled on various terms including that she would vacate the premises by August 1 last year.

Mr Marry said that despite agreeing to vacate the premises, she had registered the lis pendens.

This "was an attempt to get back in via the back door" and was attempting to frustrate to proposed sale, counsel said.

Robert Beatty SC, for Ms Andreucetti, urged the court not to remove the lis pendens pending the outcome of the full dispute between the parties.

That full action relates to applications for various orders against the receivers including that the termination of her lease is invalid and unlawful.

She also claims the receiver's actions caused her reputational damage.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan was satisfied to vacate the lis pendens on grounds including that Ms Andreucetti had not progressed her claim against the receiver with expedition.

He said Ms Andreucetti knew that the receiver had intended to sell the hotel once vacant possession was handed over.

He also said the full dispute should be heard as soon as possible.

To facilitate that, the court put a timetable in place for the exchange of documents between the parties..

It was a matter for the potential buyers of the hotel to decide if they wished to proceed with the purchase or if they wanted to await the outcome of the full hearing of the action, he said.

That comes back before the court next month.
The White House on Tuesday confirmed a "reprehensible" and "intolerable" chemical attack had taken place in Syria and pinned the blame squarely on Bashar al-Assad's regime.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump had been briefed extensively on the attack, and suggested it was in the "best interest" of the Syrians for Assad not to lead the country.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible," Spicer said, saying the administration was "confident" in its assessment that Assad was to blame.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


A light fitting in the home of Keith and Caroline Baker who have been sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison after they sexually abused a mentally-disordered woman and held her prisoner for six years. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

Handle missing on a door in the home of Keith and Caroline Baker. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

The house was well-stocked with food, but the woman was starved. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

The Master bedroom of the Baker house in Craigavon.

Keith Baker and his wife kept a young woman a prisoner in this room for over a decade.

A couple who sexually abused a mentally-disordered woman held prisoner in their home for eight years have been sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison.

Keith and Caroline Baker raped and sexually abused their traumatised and emaciated victim, who had no way of escaping them.

Expand Close A room in the home of Keith and Caroline Baker who have been sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison after they sexually abused a mentally-disordered woman and held her prisoner for six years. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A room in the home of Keith and Caroline Baker who have been sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison after they sexually abused a mentally-disordered woman and held her prisoner for six years. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

Neighbours in Craigavon in Co Armagh in Northern Ireland did not know she was there.

She was so badly malnourished most of her teeth had to be removed once she was rescued by police in 2012.

Judge Patrick Lynch QC said: "It is not easy to understand how these individuals have so lost their moral compass that they could subject an individual who clearly exhibited serious mental defects to mistreatment, in sexual terms depriving her of any dignity and even the most basic of living standards."

He added: "Mr Baker presented as a Svengali figure, exercising control on three women based on his dominance, willingness to resort to violence and total immorality."

Baker was also living with a third woman, who eventually alerted police.

Keith Baker slumped in a wheelchair outside the dock at Craigavon Crown Court. His wife Caroline stood inside, with her head bowed.

Expand Close Keith Baker Photo: PSNI/PA Wire / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Keith Baker Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and she was jailed for three years with 18 months' early release under licence.

Their victim was reported missing in England in 2004. She was taken to Northern Ireland by Mr Baker, the judge said.

The woman was kept in a filthy room at their Craigavon home, with no heat, light bulb or carpet. The door handle had been removed on the inside, meaning she was unable to escape.

The bathroom floor was covered in human waste and her mattress was badly stained.

The perpetrators filmed themselves attacking their naked and helpless victim.

The judge said: "She lacked the capacity to make decisions and was regarded as a mentally disordered person and did not have capacity to consent to sex."

Expand Close Cameras were used to film the abusePhoto credit should read: PSNI/PA Wire / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Cameras were used to film the abusePhoto credit should read: PSNI/PA Wire

Keith Baker (61) whose address was given as prison, and Caroline Baker (54) pleaded guilty to sexual activity involving penetration and causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity.

Keith Baker was also charged with rape and indecent assault. Caroline Baker was charged with aiding and abetting rape and other sexual offences including indecent assault.

A total of eight children also lived in the house, along with another lady who was another partner to Keith Baker.

The judge said the household was "highly unorthodox" and the victim was totally isolated from the rest of society.

Her words when she was released from captivity were: "Yes, freedom."

She did not appear on the electoral register, was not with a GP or dentist and never claimed benefits.

Her abusers took material showing Baker having sex with his partner and the victim, almost every time naked, the judge said.

At one stage she was told she had "learned quite a bit" over the last few years.

She went from being well-nourished to becoming emaciated, extremely thin with a distended abdomen.

The judge commented: "She did not even know the name of the perpetrator."

When she was released she did not want to be left alone in the room.

Judge Lynch added: "This is clearly indicative to me of the isolated existence she had led."

She ate everything in a hurry and was dehydrated.

In January 2013 Keith Baker was arrested and claimed he had rescued the victim from an abusive relationship.

He was raised in Guernsey and lived most of his life in Kent. He met his wife when they both worked for the Salvation Army.

He was assessed as displaying sexual deviancy and posing a high risk of re-offending.

Caroline Baker played a "secondary" role, the judge said, influenced by her husband's domineering personality.

"Caroline Baker was in a virtual state of marital captivity."

He said she was a pawn under the influence of a very powerful and dominating Mr Baker and also a victim of exploitation and emotional control by her husband.

When questioned she claimed the woman was the "most sensible person I know" and claimed the sexual activity was initiated by her.

Addressing Mrs Baker, the judge said: "I still find it hard to understand how you could have so little empathy for your victim.

"You connived in treatment of your victim that reduced her to a state of emaciation, no medical treatment or dental treatment.

"Her living conditions were a disgrace. She was under-fed.

"None of this was necessary."

Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's public protection branch, said it was an appalling litany of crimes carried out against an extremely vulnerable woman.

"This was an inhumane way to treat anyone.

"Her basic human rights were stolen from her by people who can only be described as evil.

"What she went through is unimaginable and any right-minded person will be horrified to hear about the suffering this victim endured at the hands of these cruel people.

"It doesn't bear thinking about what this victim endured over the thousands of days she was kept prisoner."
An Egyptian man who had been living in Ireland illegally has been sentenced to one year in prison for sexually assaulting a young woman in her Dublin home.

Mohamed Ahmed (31) of South Circular Road, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attacking the women on September 19, 2016 by pining her to the ground and sexually assaulting her.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said in her victim impact statement that she had been receiving counselling since the incident and had not been able to walk home alone at night.

He had been invited back to the woman's house for a drink following a day out at the All-Ireland finals last year. She admitted that she did not remember much of the night because of the amount of alcohol consumed, but that there had been some consensual kissing before she asked him to leave.

Garda Lorna O'Connor took a statement from the victim the day after the attack. She said said that the woman became uncomfortable and asked Ahmed to leave before going to the toilet in her home.

Gda O'Connor told he court that when the woman returned Ahmed had removed his trousers, and tried to take off the woman's clothes. The woman said that she had only remembered this because she found pictures of Ahmed without his clothes on her phone the following day.

"He eventually put his trousers back on and she pleaded with him to leave, which he refused to do," Gda O'Connor said.

"She agreed to give him a hug if he promised to leave afterwards, and when she did he tried to kiss her again," she added.

The court heard that a struggle then ensued, which resulted in Ahmed being on top of the woman. He then sexually assaulted her.

"He tried to remove his trousers again and she said she completely lost it and managed to throw him off," Gda O'Connor said. "She ran to her housemate's room for help and remained there."

The woman said that Ahmed then fled the house.

Judge Melanie Greally said that since the incident occurred at the woman's home it must have caused her a huge amount of distress.

"The injured party is hyper conscious of other people's behaviour since the incident, and she has received counselling on a regular basis," Judge Greally noted.

She acknowledged that Ahmed, who has been in custody since his arrest, has no previous convictions and that his landlord described him in a positive way.

He came to Ireland in 2010 on a student visa that expired in 2014, and he has been living here illegally since then.

She sentenced him to 18 months with the final six suspended, and required him to register as a sex offender.
The prosecution has finished giving evidence in the trial of a Kosovan man accused of murdering his former partner.

Vesel Jahiri (35), 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.

Patrick Marrinan SC, for the prosecution, told the jury of six men and four women this afternoon that they have heard all the State's evidence.

Justice Paul Coffey told the jury that the trial has now entered a new phase whereby the accused man can give or call evidence. Mr Jahiri has been representing himself at the Central Criminal Court but Justice Coffey told the jury he is now being represented by solicitor Tony Collier.

Justice Coffey adjourned the court until 2pm to allow Mr Collier consult with his client. The court also heard that one of the jurors had been discharged due to a family bereavement, leaving ten jurors remaining.
A member of the Defence Forces who was allegedly assaulted by a fellow soldier was disorientated and had memory issues the morning of the incident, a military court heard today.

Sgt Martin Dougan is accused of assaulting Corporal Niall McShane on March 9 2014. The alleged incident took place while both men were serving with the Irish Defence Forces in Lebanon.

It is also alleged that Sgt Dougan was under the influence of an intoxicant on the day in question, the court martial sitting, at the Military Justice Centre in McKee Barracks, Dublin 7, heard.

Sgt Dougan, represented by Gerard Humphreys, BL, and Patricia McKenna, BL, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The alleged incident took place while Cpl McShane and four other colleagues were on an overnight recreational visit to the city of Naqoura, in southern Lebanon.

Cpl Mairead Berrill, told the military court today that herself, Cpl McShane and three other colleagues went to a bar for members of the Defence Forces on the evening of March 8 2014. There they met Sgt Dougan and three or four other members of the Defence Forces.

She said they all chatted and enjoyed themselves, each consuming about five drinks. She and two of her colleagues left the bar at about midnight, while Cpl McShane and another colleague remained in the bar, as did Sgt Dougan.

Cpl McShane said during his evidence on Monday that later in the evening, Sgt Dougan challenged him to an arm wrestling contest outside the bar, which Cpl McShane won.

Cpl McShane said that as he walked back into the pub, he saw Sgt Dougan in front of him.

I was struck in the left eye  and thats the last memory I have of that night, Cpl McShane said. The next memory I have is in the ambulance.

Commandant Syed Shah, a senior medical officer stationed in Lebanon, said today he examined Cpl McShane on March 12 2014, after he had returned from hospital in Beirut.

Commandant Shah said he met with Cpl McShane four times primarily in relationship to a wound on the back of his head that needed to be looked at and monitored.

Mr Humphreys said medical notes from the hospital in Beirut read that when Cpl McShane presented to them with a head trauma on the morning of 9 March 2014, he was disorientated. He does not remember how was the trauma, the medical notes read.

The military court heard Monday that Cpl McShane was found on the morning of 9 March 2014 by a civilian. But Mr Humphreys argued today that the court had heard no factual evidence about this.

There has been no evidence in respect of how he was found, Mr Humphreys said. There has been no evidence in respect of where he was found.

The case continues today when Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis is expected to give evidence in relation to Cpl McShanes injuries.
A trainee dental nurse who was called "a f*****g skankhole" by a Dublin Bus driver has lost a 75,000 damages claim for defamation of character.

Roxana Pach, of Hansted Road, Lucan, Co Dublin, claimed the remark meant she was a woman of low morals, promiscuous, dishonest, and a prostitute.

Ms Pach told the Circuit Civil Court that on the evening of November 11, 2015, she boarded a city-bound bus at Adamstown, Dublin, and was told by the driver to leave the bus and pick up some litter he said she had dropped.

She refused to do so and asked for her ticket.

After the driver processed the transaction he called her "a f*****g skank". When leaving the bus at her stop he called her "a f*****g skankhole".

The driver told barrister Jeri Ward, counsel for Dublin Bus, that there had been an exchange between them regarding the dropping of litter but he denied having used the words she claimed he had.

Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke, said the court was satisfied the driver had made the remarks complained of.

Ms Ward said: In day to day situations people use throwaway comments of criticism which are not meant in any defamatory manner. The bus driver got annoyed when the plaintiff refused to pick up the litter but no reasonable person would pick up the meaning of the plaintiff being a woman of low moral standing, promiscuous or a prostitute by the remarks that had been made by the driver.

Judge Groarke said Ms Pach had thrown litter onto the ground and he had complimented the driver for having taken her to task for that conduct. He had directed her to pick up the litter and put it in a bin at the door of the bus and she had said she would not.

I have found that he uttered the words complained of and there is no question that the words used have the potential to be grievously defamatory of a woman in particular, Judge Groarke said.

The question before the court was, would it be reasonable for anyone hearing those words spoken in the particular context of refusing to pick up the litter, determine Ms Pach was a person of low moral character.

Judge Groarke said he did not think so. In the real world words were used for purposes of insult and causing offence and the words spoken by the driver had been used as a reprimand.

Dissmissing Pachs claim he said it seemed no half intelligent person in the city of Dublin, hearing the discourse about not having picked up the litter, would conclude from it that she was an easy woman of low morals and low character.

Judge Groarke, stating that the words should not have been spoken, made no order as to costs against Ms Pach.
A YOUTH has been sent forward for trial accused of unlawfully having sex with an underage girl in the grounds of a college in Dublin.

The 19-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at the Dublin Children's Court on Tuesday.

He had been charged earlier with unlawfully having oral sex and sexual intercourse with a child under the age 15 on a date in March 2015.

He has not yet indicated how he will plead and despite being an adult he appeared at the Children's Court because he was a minor at the time of the alleged offence.

The DPP had directed trial on indictment and he was served with a book of evidence as Judge John OConnor ordered that he was being returned for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he will face his next hearing on April 28.

The teenager confirmed he understood that he could not have any contact with the girl and that he must abide by his bail terms. He must notify the prosecution if he intends to use an an alibi in his defence.

Earlier, Garda Niamh Coates told Judge O'Connor that the youth's reply to the charge was no comment.

The defence has also said at his previous hearing that arguments will be made as regards to the delay in bringing the case. Judge O'Connor has said that issue could be dealt with later by the trial judge.

There was no objection to bail subject to the youth obeying a number of conditions.

The unemployed teen was ordered to reside at an address in north Dublin, to have a mobile phone full charged and in credit at all times to maintain contact with gardai, to sign on once a week at his local garda station and to have no contact directly or indirectly with the complainant.

Legal aid was granted to include representation of senior counsel.
Cracks are showing within the Fianna Fail leadership over the partys position in relation to the future if Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan.

Several prominent TDs voiced concerns at a meeting of the partys frontbench in a move that has put serious pressure on party leader Micheal Martin.

Independent.ie understands that Fianna Fail will now put forward its own motion on garda management next week - but will stop short of moving on Commissioner OSullivan.

Mr Martin is expected to hold talks with Labour party leader Brendan Howlin about a joint motion calling for an urgent overhaul of garda management as the fallout from the breath tests scandal continues.

Expand Close Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin. Photo: Gerry Mooney

At today's frontbench meeting, Mr Martin was warned that he would be in a seriously difficult position if he became Taoiseach while Ms OSullivan was Commissioner.

Deputies Eamon O Cuiv, Timmy Dooley and Billy Kelleher are understood to have voiced concerns about the partys stance.

Mr Martin will meet Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald tomorrow about the Governments root-and-branch review into the garda force.

Read More

The Fianna Fail position is that it cannot express confidence in the garda chief.

But TDs have come under major pressure at grassroots level to harden its stance and force her removal.

At least one frontbench member called on Mr Martin to support a no-confidence motion, during the meeting in Leinster House.

But other deputies, including Thomas Byrne and Niall Collins, said such motions could set a dangerous precedent.

A senior source told Independent.ie:

There was divided opinion. But we will now proceed with our motion, possibly with the support of Labour.

Mr Martin told the meeting that Fianna Fail proposed the Patten-style commission and this is being accepted.
Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group has taken control of El Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa's semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government official has said.

Al Shabaab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peace keeping force, AMISOM, out of Somalia and topple the country's Western-backed central government.

The Islamist militants also want to rule the country according to a harsh version of sharia, or Islamic law.

"Ethiopian troops left the town ... thus al Shabaab captured it today," Burhaan Warsame, Galmudugs minister for ports and sea transport, told Reuters late on Monday.

Ethiopian forces, who are part of AMISOM alongside troops from Uganda, Kenya and other countries, had captured the town from al Shabaab in 2014, officials from the area said.

Most residents fled into nearby bushland with the arrival of Ethiopian forces in El Bur, and Warsame said the town was deserted when al Shabaab fighters entered.

Al Shabaab has been driven out of its strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives, although the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and frequent bomb attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, al Shabaabs governor for Galmudug's Galgadud region, where El Bur is located, confirmed the group had retaken the town.

"We captured it, there were no residents for over the three years Ethiopian troops controlled the town," he said.

"We are sure residents will come back to the town."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The Tulip Inn hotel in Moncalieri where an Irish girl was allegedly raped

A young Irish woman was allegedly raped in Italy while her boyfriend and friends slept in the same hotel room.

The 18-year-old woman was in the Turin region for an Irish festival on March 25 and 26.

She is reported to have been enjoying the celebrations with friends on the Sunday when they met a group of Mongolian students.

The group are then said to have returned to the Hotel Tulip Inn Hotel in Moncalieri.

According to La Stampa Torino the woman was sleeping beside her boyfriend and there were several others in the room when she allegedly woke up to find one of the Mongolian men sexually assaulting her.

The woman went to the Holy Cross hospital for medical treatment and was discharged later that day.

A 22-year-old engineering student was arrested in connection with the alleged incident and he told police that he was sleepwalking.

The man has since been released on bail and investigations are ongoing.

It is understood that the woman has since returned home to Ireland.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy in Italy have both been contacted for comment.
Officers from CAB are probing a mob that is suspected of laundering its profits from drug trafficking and armed robberies by buying racehorses. Stock photo: Getty Images

A leading member of a criminal gang raided by the Criminal Assets Bureau part-owns a racehorse that recently won a prestigious Grade One race.

Officers from CAB are probing a mob that is suspected of laundering its profits from drug trafficking and armed robberies by buying racehorses.

One of the horses involved recently won a major prize in a Grade One national hunt race.

The horse was purchased for a six-figure sum as a yearling but after an unspectacular start to its career, the horse was sold last summer to its current owners for a fraction of the original cost and switched to a different stable.

After a quiet start to its new career, the horse rewarded the owners' confidence by landing the spoils in the prestigious race. The gamble brought off by the win of the racehorse at the centre of the current investigation is understood to have badly hit bookies in three counties, in particular.

Members of the bureau believe that some of those involved in the purchase, training and ownership of the horse were not aware of the alleged money-laundering operation and had innocently taken part in the enterprise.

But the main target of the bureau investigation is well-known to gardai and is a key figure on the radar of the garda drugs and organised bureau.

He is suspected of being a leading player in a west Dublin based organised crime gang, which has had links in the past to the Hutch faction.

Originally from Lucan, west Dublin he is currently living on the Kildare-Dublin border.

He had been linked in the past to a high-profile cash heist but was not convicted in relation to that robbery.

In his early '30s, the target is part of a new breed of emerging criminals, who have been using their profits from drugs and robberies to fund their lavish lifestyles and have purchased high-end cars and expensive jewellery as well as racehorses.

Last February, the Irish Independent revealed how the Criminal Assets Bureau was focusing on the new generation of up and coming gangsters.

The bureau's aim is to hit the group, who are already very active, and seize their assets before they graduate from the second to the top tier of the crime league.

Senior bureau officers believe now is the time to tackle the thugs financially before they can become role models for other aspiring criminals in their neighbourhoods.

"We are targeting these lads before they get the opportunities to become very big players and be part of the new breed of major criminals", one officer said.

During their inquiries, bureau members, backed up by several garda units, searched a dozen houses and business premises and seized large amounts of financial documentation and computers. Also seized were a luxury e-class Mercedes 250 diesel, a small quantity of drugs and drugs equipment. Gardai also visited a horse racing stables and the home of a horse dealer.

No arrests were made following the searches and seizures but officers said the investigation would continue in the coming weeks.
About half of students receive a grant, but it may not stretch to cover all costs. (Stock image)

A Universal Social Charge-style (USC) levy would be a better way to meet the funding needs of higher education than the proposed student loan system, according to new analysis.

The loan scheme, suggested in the Cassells Report on future funding for third-level, would not work in Ireland and would cost the Exchequer 10bn over 12 years before it stabilised, said economist Dr Charles Larkin.

Dr Larkin, of Trinity College Dublin, said it would take 15 years for such a scheme to become self-financing.

He told a conference the Irish higher education system was neither small enough nor large enough to make an income contingent loan system work.

While there is no plan at the moment to introduce such a scheme, last year's Cassells Report put it forward as an option to address the challenge of funding third-level to deliver a high quality education to growing numbers of students.

The loan scheme would mean college was free at point of entry, but graduates would pay back once their salaries hit a certain threshold.

Education Minister Richard Bruton passed the Cassells Report on to the Oireachtas Education Committee for further exploration and to test the political waters. The committee's report is awaited.

Dr Larkin, along with Dr Shaen Corbet, a finance lecturer in Dublin City University (DCU), carried out a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the proposed scheme.

Speaking at a conference yesterday, Dr Larkin said the analysis showed that it would cost the State 10bn over 12 years before it became self-financing.

This would be in addition to the cost of the State financing all grant recipients, he said.

He accepted the Cassells Report conclusion that the funding situation for higher education was unsustainable, and suggested that a tax similar to a second USC was what would be required do generate the required revenue.

He said an education levy, modelled on the USC, could allow for free education for undergraduate students.

Dr Larkin was speaking at the launch of The Technological Higher Education Association (THEA), the newly titled, representative body for the 14 institutes of technology.

THEA's chief executive, Dr Joseph Ryan, told the conference the third-level technological sector was in the midst of a funding crisis that must be addressed, but warned solutions should not limit student access.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has personally pleaded with the Egyptian President for the immediate release of jailed Dubliner Ibrahim Halawa on humanitarian grounds.

As more than one hundred supporters of the 21-year-old student from Firhouse, south Dublin held a candle-lit vigil outside Leinster House this evening, it emerged that the Taoiseach has written to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pleading for Mr Halawas release.

We are very concerned about it and it is receiving the most urgent attention of any Irish citizen abroad, Mr Kenny revealed in the Dail.

Mr Halawa, the son of Muslim cleric Sheikh Hussein Halawa, has been incarcerated without trial for almost four years after being detained during Muslim Brotherhood protests in Cairo in 2013.

He is due to appear in court in Egypt tomorrow along with hundreds of others who have been detained as they await a mass trial, which has been postponed more than 20 times.

In the meantime, Mr Halawas family is growing increasingly concerned for his well-being after he embarked on a hunger strike several weeks ago and is dangerously emaciated.

Despite this, his sister Fatima, (26), said officials at Wadi al Natrum prison wont even allow him to sit in a wheelchair.

He deserves to be back home amongst his friends and his family, she said at the vigil where Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone presented a petition with 5,000 signatures urging the young mans release.

In the meantime, an Irish GP who sat in on a medical exam of Mr Halawa by a prison doctor during a meeting with Irish ambassador to Egypt Damien Cole last week, has also urged he be released on humanitarian grounds and returned home immediately to undergo medical tests.

Mr Halawas sister Somaia revealed he collapsed on Sunday and was rushed to the prison clinic after his blood sugar level plummeted but he refused glucose treatment after regaining consciousness. He was also said to be suffering dehydration and vomiting.

Despite their brothers deteriorating condition, the Halawa family is still hopeful he will be released.

We definitely have hope. You can tell the level of support that there is today and this petition has been signed, Fatima said.
A mother fighting cancer has launched an online appeal to raise 100,000 for a revolutionary new "wonder drug" she hopes will save her life.

Claire Graham (38), who lives in Crumlin, was left devastated after being diagnosed last year with triple negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease.

In a double blow for her and husband Declan, just three months later their baby son Harley (2) was discovered to have an extremely rare cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma.

Claire said that it is thanks to Harley that she has found the strength to keep fighting and campaigning for an expensive drug that could save her life.

Expand Close Claire Graham with son Harley / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Claire Graham with son Harley

"Getting down about it isn't going to get me anywhere," she said.

"I have a two-year-old and he keeps me busy. I never think, 'why me?' because there's thousands of women who undergo treatment for cancer every year.

"I actually feel really blessed because I have had so much support from people who don't even know me.

"You just learn to get on with it. Today, I'm alive so I'm going to live it. You're just wasting days of your life doing otherwise," she added.

SURGERY

Claire was in the middle of her own chemotherapy last August, after having a lumpectomy, when she spotted that her little son had a light-coloured mass behind his pupil.

Just one week after taking him into Crumlin Children's Hospital on the advice of her GP, he was booked in for emergency surgery to remove his eye.

"The doctor saw me, that I had lost my hair and said, 'You're probably going through treatment, are you?'," she said.

"Then after the MRI, she came out and said that she was pretty sure that it was retinoblastoma.

"With me having cancer at the same time, you're just thinking, 'how can this be?'."

Harley's surgery went well but he then had to undergo a series of tests to check whether the cancer was contained or if it had spread.

They had a week-long wait before hearing the good news that he now appeared to be cancer-free.

But while they were over the moon that his cancer had been stopped in its tracks, Claire was not so fortunate.

At the end of 2016, she was due to start radiotherapy when she received some more bad news.

She had been getting severe headaches and was referred for an MRI scan, which confirmed her worst fears.

She was told that the cancer had spread to her brain and she had a malignant tumor.

A short time later, she discovered that the cancer had also returned in her breast and she had lesions on her back.

Now she has started an online JustGiving campaign to raise 100,000 to pay for two years' treatment of a revolutionary drug called pembrolizumab.

It is currently being trialled in Belfast and has recorded positive results with cancer patients in the UK - but is not yet licensed for use in the Republic.

Her case was take up by a UK charity called Team Verrico, who sent her to see a leading London-based medic, Professor Justin Stebbing.

He told her that her best chance of beating the cancer was going on a course of pembrolizumab.

It was only upon returning home to Dublin that she learnt that it was not yet available here and she does not qualify as a candidate for a drugs trial.

According to the HSE, the drug has an estimated five-year cost to the State of 64m, given the high price being sought by the pharmaceutical companies.

"To be told that there was this great drug that will help save your life but that it's not available here was terrible," she said.

BATTLE

"We would move to Belfast if we could or sell our house to fund this but like so many other people, it's in negative equity so there's no point.

"So we came up with the idea of crowd-funding and the amount of support we've got is unbelievable."

Claire, who is currently a patient of leading oncologist Professor John Kennedy, said that Harley is doing "brilliant" now and has been fitted with a prosthetic eye that he is gradually getting used to.

She wants to stay positive for his sake as she embarks on another gruelling round of chemotherapy, in this case GemCarbo, in the hope that her latest treatment stalls the cancer long enough to fund-raise for the drug.

Claire set up the page with the help of her friend Michele Trapiche, who she met via an online support group for breast cancer patients.

Last night, her page had already raised more than 15,000 but she still has some way to go to reach her target.

She said that she wants to live to see Harley grow up because if she is not successful in her cancer battle he will not be left with any memories of her.

To donate, visit here
The Bus Eireann strike would have been resolved a long time ago if it was impacting more directly on Dublin, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said.

Mr Martin has told the Dail there is a general sense in regional towns across the country that the Government is standing back because its not a Dublin issue.

He said people are annoyed and angry at the lack of activity.

Around 110,000 people a day use Bus Eireanns services but the workers have been on strike from the past 12 days amid claims the company wants to cut their salaries by up to 30pc.

When you look at the Dublin-Rural thing again and how Dublin Bus is funded versus Bus Eireann.

Bus Eireann gets a lower subsidy per passenger than Dublin Bus does.

Rural and regional Ireland is not getting its fair share, Mr Martin said.

However, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said it is not the place of Transport Minister Shane Ross to intervene.

He said the minister has been more than encouraging towards the sides in a bid to restart talks that might end the industrial action.

Mr Kenny condemned the wildcat action which saw Dublin Bus and Irish Rail services brought to a standstill last Friday.

No amount of taxpayers money can solve the inefficiencies that both sides agree exists in the company, he said.

They both agree that the company needs to reform. The place to settle those issues is not on the airwaves, its around the table with the WRC. 

Mr Kenny denied that rural Ireland was being short-changed, arguing the Government is making funds available to expand rural transport services.
A documentary on Ireland's property crisis has sparked outrage among viewers, with many describing it as a "depressing" watch.

The first installment of 'Ireland's Property Crisis' aired on RTE One on Monday night and offered a snapshot of those at the front-line of the housing crisis.

The show revealed that there are currently 77,000 houses in mortgage arrears and 91,000 people on social housing waiting lists.

Many people described the show as "upsetting and depressing" viewing, with others lashing out at the Government.

Inhumane to force people to search for an emergency bed every single night, not knowing if they'll get one. #IrelandsPropertyCrisis  Colette Browne (@colettebrowne) April 3, 2017

This programme was first broadcast in 2007.#IrelandsPropertyCrisis  Dustin The Turkey (@DustinOfficial) April 3, 2017

I'll get into my own bed tonight and never will have felt so grateful for it! #IrelandsPropertyCrisis  Anthony Hayes (@Ant_Hayes) April 3, 2017

When people on really good salaries can't afford to live in their home city anymore.. who can??? #IrelandsPropertyCrisis  Barbara McCarthy (@BarbsMcCarthy) April 3, 2017

Is this the Ireland we want our children to live in. ! Heart goes out to those who have lost their home. #IrelandsPropertyCrisis  Adrian Cummins (@adriancummins) April 3, 2017

Some of the people who featured in the documentary included IT worker and Trinity College graduate Colin McSweeney (45), who is now homeless.

He revealed how he works in a library but each day he also has to find a bed for the night after the firm he worked for folded and he could no longer afford rent.

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.

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 paying 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 Minister 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.
All three men, thought to be in their 20s, died on Monday morning.

One man died in the Utility Street area of south Belfast. Another died at Riverdale Park North in Andersonstown. A third passed away in the Upper Springfield Road area of west Belfast.

Names of the deceased have not been released.

Officers said they are not investigating a link between the deaths and are not treating them as suspicious at this time.

A PSNI spokesman said: "Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden deaths of three men in Belfast this morning, Monday 03 April.

"Police received a report of the deaths of two males in West Belfast and one male in South Belfast.

"Police are not investigating a link between these deaths. Postmortem examinations will take place to determine the cause, however they are not being treated as suspicious at this time.
RAF mountain rescue service vehicles on a road near Trawsfynydd in the Snowdonia mountain range in north Wales where the wreckage was discovered. Photo: PA

A couple killed in a Welsh helicopter crash alongside three relatives were "selfless and genuine to everyone they met", their daughter has said.

Donald and Sharon Burke, aged 55 and 48, died when the aircraft came down in the Rhinog mountains near Trawsfynydd in Wales.

In a statement released through North Wales Police, Olivia Burke 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.

"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."

Kevin and Ruth Burke - directors of Staske Construction which owned the Twin Squirrel helicopter - and Barry Burke were also killed in the crash.

The three brothers were from an Irish family, and were travelling here to celebrate a Confirmation.
A new multi-agency Passenger Information Unit aimed at spotting terrorist threats is expected to be approved by the Cabinet today. Stock picture

A new multi-agency Passenger Information Unit aimed at spotting terrorist threats is expected to be approved by the Cabinet today.

Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald will bring proposals for the body that will use passenger name records (PNR) for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime.

The move comes on foot of an EU directive and is likely to establish the unit, involving An Garda Siochana, Customs and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, by May 2018.

Sources told the Irish Independent the use of PNR data is "a proven tool in the fight against international crimes such as human trafficking, drug trafficking and international sex tourism and has also served as an invaluable support in combating international terrorism".

Air carriers will be obliged to provide member states' authorities with the PNR data for flights entering or departing from the EU.

The directive also provides an option, but not an obligation, for member states to collect PNR data concerning selected intra-EU flights.

Data exchanged between countries under the plan will initially be stored for six months after which personal identification data will be masked out and stored for another period of four-and-a-half years.
Dubliners are the worst drivers in Ireland according to a new report, but not everyone agrees.

An AA Ireland survey of more than 7,000 people found that over half of respondents rated Dubs as the dodgiest drivers in the country.

Nearly 20% of people said motorists from Donegal are the worst behind the wheel, while Cork rounded up the top three, with just over 5% of the votes.

When we spoke to members of the public this morning some said that the title of Ireland's worst drivers was undeserved for Dubliners.

One woman explained: "As a Dublin driver I'd have to disagree, I'm sure my boyfriend wouldn't.

"I think there's bad driving and then there's bad roads."

Read More

While another man we spoke to said that he thinks Galweigans are the poorest drivers in Ireland.

He said: "I tend to disagree, I've originally from the country and I've seen worse drivers, considering how busy the roads are you have to be alert but I don't think Dublin drivers are that bad.

"I would probably say that Galway drivers are the worst I've seen."

One Dublin woman we chatted to admitted she thinks they are the worst at driving but only because the roads in the capital are busier.

She said: "I am from Dublin and I drive and I'd probably have to agree, I've been places where I've seen terrible driving outside of Dublin so it's hard to say it's just Dublin people but I guess there's a lot of cars, a lot of traffic in Dublin so maybe by statistics we're not good drivers."
The husband of murdered Michaela McAreavey has announced that they are offering a 50,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution and conviction of her killers.

John McAreavey is in Mauritius this week where he today launched a fresh attempt to achieve justice for his late wife.

Accompanied by his sister Claire McAreavey and Mark Harte, brother of the late Michaela, he announced that the cash would be given for any fresh information which may lead to a successful prosecution and conviction of whomever is responsible for her murder.

Ms McAreavey (27) was killed just 12 days after marrying her husband John. The newly-weds were honeymooning in Mauritius when she was discovered dead at their luxury hotel.

Expand Close John McAreavey Photo: David Conachy / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp John McAreavey Photo: David Conachy

The young woman, who is the daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte, was strangled. Nobody has ever been prosecuted for the murder.

Read More

Speaking at a press conference in Mauritius, Mr McAreavey said:

Over the past six and half years our resolve to win justice for Michaela remains undiminished. We believe we have given the Mauritian authorities every chance to deliver on their very public promise that justice would be done.

However, until this visit the reality falls far short of that and as the years have passed it appears that the unofficial policy has become one of out of sight - out of mind. But we have no intention of just slipping out of mind or sight. Michaela deserves justice and we intend to get it. We should not have needed to make this very painful return journey."

Mr McAreavey hit out at the Mauritian authorities saying they feel that they have been "let down time and time again".

He said the family "feel betrayed by a process that has failed us and Michaela".

"Today we take some comfort from the assurances given by the Prime Minister yesterday that Michaela will get justice, but to achieve that we need the help of those who may know something, but have not yet come forward for whatever reason."

The widower, who has since remarried, made a direct appeal to the people of Mauritius to come forward "with any piece of information, no matter how small" which may be relevant in bringing the day of justice closer for the killers of Michaela.

It is our sincere hope that the substantial reward which we are offering will send out a powerful message about our determination to keep on seeking justice.

We make a heartfelt appeal for information which hopefully will lead to a retrial. Mauritians can contact the Police anonymously on a confidential hotline: Tel. 148 and all information will be treated with sensitivity and complete confidentiality.

As time marches on this could be our final chance to obtain justice for Michaela, but we cant do it alone. We need the help of the people of Mauritius. Please help us as our fight goes on.
The commuter town of Athboy in Co Meath has been cut off. Photo: Tony Gavin

Airports and towns serving populations of almost 10,000 people have been marooned without a public transport service for more than a week.

While the capital endured transport chaos late last week as Dublin Bus and Irish Rail services were cancelled, the town of Shannon, Co Clare, with a population of 9,673, has seen people forced to make do without services for 11 days.

Neither Bus Eireann nor private companies are offering transport to Shannon and five other towns with populations above 3,000, the National Transport Authority has confirmed.

They are Kinsale (4,893), Macroom (3,879) and Passage West (5,790) in Cork, Kill in Kildare (3,095) and Ballybofey-Stranorlar (4,852) in Donegal.

In addition, Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock are not served, while hundreds of smaller communities are also cut off, with residents forced to rely on the private car and limited local services to conduct their daily business.

Bus Eireann said it was the sole provider of rural bus services in many locations, and provided details of hundreds of areas with no public transport, of which more than 90 are in the west of Ireland.

In Kerry, some 15 communities including Kenmare, Dingle, Ballybunion and Listowel are cut off. In Limerick, almost 20 areas including Castleconnell and Askeaton are suffering, while in Clare, Killaloe, Scariff and the tourist towns of Doolin and Liscannor are marooned.

Other locations include Birr in Offaly, Tipperary town, and Fermoy, Killeagh, and Castlemartyr in Cork.

In Meath, the commuter towns of Trim and Athboy are cut-off. There are few alternative services in Cavan, Monaghan and parts of Donegal. To compound matters, there are no bus services in Cork and Limerick cities, nor in Sligo town.

Some 23 public service obligation routes, which are expensive to serve and not supported by the private sector, are also hit.

They cover large parts of the north-west, with most of Connemara without a service including Clifden, Carraroe and Roundstone.

While some areas may have access to a private bus company, making relatively short journeys can be tortuous. To travel from Kells in Meath to Dublin yesterday afternoon, a distance of just under 70km, would have involved a six-hour trip, according to the National Transport Authority's journey planner.

It would have involved a bus trip from Kells to Cavan town, followed by a second from Cavan to Longford, and then a train from Longford to Dublin.
The majority of our TDs are set to enjoy a pay boost of 2,700 this week.

Despite Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe asking our TDs to voluntarily return the money to the State, over 90 are due to accept the increase.

TDs are among the thousands of civil servants whose pay was cut during the recession and under the Lansdowne Road Agreement are now entitled to start having those cuts reversed.

While they may be entitled to the money, when Independent.ie asked people in Dublin whether they think TDs should take the money, some said they think now isn't the right time.

One person said: "I suppose a lot of people would feel it's very unfair when they haven't been restored, perhaps the TDs should wait until other sectors are restored and should lead by example.

"I would think there are other people who earn less who should earn that restoration first."

Another man said: "It's too much money and the time is completely off, if they want to help they should be giving it to areas that need it."

Others said they think it's fair that TDs accept the money.

One explained: "I wouldn't like to be a TD and not get paid for the work I do, if you look at the amount of work they do and the cr*p they put up with you have to pay good money.

"If you pay peanuts you get monkeys."

Read More

When contacted by Independent.ie about whether they would accept the increase, this is what they replied:

- All 23 Sinn Fein TDs were instructed to sign a waiver allowing the State to keep the money

- The two Social Democrats TDs Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall said that they don't think now is the right time to accept a pay increase

- Solidarity's Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry said they are going to use the money to help with campaigns like Repeal the Eight

- People Before Profit's Richard Boyd Barrett, Gino Kenny and Brid Smith said they plan to donate the first month's installment to support the striking Bus Eireann workers

- All Labour Party and Green Party TDs are going to accept the money on the basis that it's linked to the pay of civil servant

- Fine Gael TDs Noel Rock and Hildegarde Naughton have confirmed they won't take the increase

- Deputy Thomas Byrne was the only Fianna Fail representative to confirm he wont' take the pay restoration

- Six independent TDs have already signed the waiver forms and Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Catherine Connolly, Michael Fitzmaurice and Seamus Healy confirmed they are planning to do so

- Independents4Change TD Joan Collins said taking the money would be "immoral", while Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Tommy Broughan did not reply to the survey.
The recession is over for the vast majority of TDs who will accept a 2,700 boost to their pay packets this week.

Despite calls for politicians to forego wage restoration, a survey by the Irish Independent has found that upward of 90 will be accepting the increase.

The deputies are among thousands of civil servants who, under the Lansdowne Road Agreement, are entitled to start clawing back pay cuts inflicted during the recession.

While Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe asked ministers to voluntarily gift the money back to the State following huge controversy last October, most political parties opted to allow TDs to decide for themselves.

The Irish Independent contacted every TD in recent days to ask about the pay rise. Of the main parties, just two Fine Gael backbenchers and one Fianna Fail TD confirmed they would not take the increase.

Sinn Fein has instructed all 23 of its TDs to sign waiver forms allowing the State to recoup the money.

Expand Close Richard Boyd Barrett. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Richard Boyd Barrett. Photo: Tom Burke

The Social Democrats' two TDs have said they do not believe now is the time for TDs to get pay restoration.

But Solidarity, the party made up of Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry, will take the money because they do not want "to return the increase to Finance Minister Michael Noonan to further facilitate more tax breaks for landlords, developers and big business or to pay back bondholders to meet their private gambling debts".

Instead the funds will be diverted to assist campaigns such as Repeal the Eighth.

People Before Profit's Richard Boyd Barrett, Gino Kenny and Brid Smith intend to do likewise with their first monthly instalment going to support the striking Bus Eireann workers.

Expand Close Roisin Shortall. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Roisin Shortall. Photo: Tom Burke

The Labour Party and Green Party have said all of their TDs would accept the increase on the basis that it was tied to that of a principle officer in the civil service - a development that brought an end to the Dail deciding TD pay levels.

TDs suffered a 5,414 drop in wages, from 92,672 to 87,258, during the recession. As a result, a restoration worth 2,707 kicks in this week, with a similar increase next year.

Ministers would be entitled to even larger amounts but it was agreed that they "should not avail on a personal basis of the pay restoration".

This followed huge controversy in the build-up to the Budget as Fine Gael and Fianna Fail fought a bitter row over the affordability of a 5 increase in social welfare payments.

Read More

Sinn Fein subsequently placed a Dail motion calling on all TDs to forego their restoration - but this was defeated by 89 votes to 38.

However, a mechanism is in place for TDs to voluntarily gift portions of their salary back to the State.

Two Fine Gael TDs, Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West) and Noel Rock, confirmed they have signed waiver forms.

Mr Rock (Dublin North West) suffered a backlash from some colleagues when he publicly announced he would forego the money, but said he still believed it was the right thing to do.

"Under no circumstances can I credibly accept a pay increase while simultaneously explaining to many others why they have yet to materially feel the recovery in their own lives," he said.

Fine Gael colleague Jim Daly (Cork South West) replied to the survey, saying: "I respectfully suggest that what I do with my salary or how I spend it is a matter for myself and does not warrant reporting in a national newspaper."

Meath East TD Thomas Byrne was the only Fianna Fail deputy to confirm he is gifting the money back to the State. However, six of his party colleagues said they would either donate the money to charity or use it for constituency purposes.

Unfair

Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher (Donegal), Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway), Mary Butler (Waterford) and Pat Casey (Wicklow-East Carlow) intend to give their net increase to local charities.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South) and Declan Breathnach (Louth) said they would use it to enhance representation of their constituencies.

However, Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim) said asking TDs to forego income that is linked to civil service grades "would be unfair in the extreme".

He said: "In the interest of that age-old concept balance it is important to acknowledge that politicians work in most instances up to seven days per week and up to 16 hours per day with few taking any more than three weeks' summer holidays."

The Independent Alliance's four ministers will not receive the hike and Kevin 'Boxer' Moran told the Irish Independent he would turn it down on the basis that "the country is only getting back on its feet".

Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath said: "Ministers should lead by example and the money should be used for the most needy in our country."

Four other Independent TDs have also signed waiver forms.

Dublin South Central TD Joan Collins said: "I believe it is immoral of public servants in a privileged position to accept it while workers on low to middle incomes and workers who have started work post 2009 are not receiving pay restoration."

Catherine Connolly (Galway West), Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway) and Seamus Healy (Tipperary) also said they would not accept the money.

Where the parties stand on wage rise

Sinn Fein

All 23 TDs have or are finalising the process with the Oireachtas to give the money back to the State.

Labour Party

All seven TDs will accept the pay restoration on the basis that it is linked to that of a principal officer in the civil service.

Independents4Change

Joan Collins said taking the money would be "immoral". Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Tommy Broughan did not reply to the survey.

Solidarity

Three TDs say they only take home the average industrial wage. They will accept the money but say that they intend to donate it to "campaigns such as Repealing the Eighth Amendment, workers on strike, the right to decent housing, the battle against water charges and many more".

People Before Profit

Richard Boyd Barrett said TDs "won't take a cent personally but won't give it back to Michael Noonan to give to his friends in tax breaks". PBP will donate the money to specific causes starting with striking bus workers.

Social Democrats

Both Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall have gifted the money to the State.

Green Party

A party spokesman said: "Rates of pay should be set in accordance with the independent assessment as recommended, and tied to the civil service rates."

Independents

Six Independent ministers have signed waiver forms. Others to confirm they have or will do so are Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Catherine Connolly, Michael Fitzmaurice and Seamus Healy.
The recession is over for the vast majority of TDs, who will accept a 2,700 boost to their pay packets this week.

Despite calls for politicians to forego wage restoration, a survey by the Irish Independent has found that upward of 90 will be accepting the increase.

The deputies are among thousands of civil servants who, under the Lansdowne Road Agreement, are entitled to start clawing back pay cuts inflicted during the recession.

While Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe asked ministers to voluntarily gift the money back to the State following huge controversy last October, most political parties opted to allow TDs decide for themselves.

The Irish Independent contacted every TD in recent days to ask about the pay rise.

Of the main parties, just two Fine Gael backbenchers and one Fianna Fail TD confirmed they will not take the increase.

Sinn Fein has instructed all 23 of its TDs to sign waiver forms allowing the State to recoup the money.

The Social Democrats' two TDs have said they do not believe now is the time for TDs to get pay restoration.

But Solidarity, the party made up of Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry, will take the money because they do not want "to return the increase to Finance Minister Michael Noonan to further facilitate more tax breaks for landlords, developers and big business or to pay back bondholders to meet their private gambling debts".

Instead the funds will be diverted to campaigns such as Repeal the Eighth.

TDs suffered a 5,414 drop in wages, from 92,672 to 87,258, during the recession.

However, a restoration of pay worth 2,707 kicks in this week, with a similar increase also coming next year.
Increased passenger numbers mean passengers are facing longer waiting times at passport control at Dublin Airport, it has emerged.

Passengers have taken to social media to vent their anger at being greeted with lengthy queues when they touch down in the capital before they get to Passport Control, particularly in the evening.

Due to a spate of terrorist attacks last year security measures have been heightened at the airport, although this has caused waiting times to increase.

Everyone's passports and travel documents are scanned by immigration officers on an international database.

Previously checks with Interpol were only carried out infrequently, generally when suspicions were already raised about a passenger.

Coupled with the fact that the airport is bustling, this is not good news for anyone hoping to make a speedy exit.

The insider said: "There have been several new routes added in the last couple of years, you might have more than 20 flights arriving within an hour of each other and each one of those is carrying up to 180 people each, that means you could have 4,000 people coming through arrivals at the same time.

"Now that each passport has to be scanned that might only takes 20 seconds to process but multiply that by the thousands of people arriving and there's little wonder people can be waiting for a while."

Expand Close A general view of passport control at Dublin Airport / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A general view of passport control at Dublin Airport

There is some good news though because the airport source said they're planning to install more self-service kiosks and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service - who carry out the checks - are recruiting extra staff.

A Dublin Airport spokesman said that they are working with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) to tackle the problem.

Read More

He told Independent.ie: "Delays to a number of inbound flights on Sunday night meant that a particularly large volume of passengers arrived at the same time at T1 immigration  which is operated by INIS  and this had an impact on processing times.

Dublin airport has to be the worst EVER for queues at security!!!!   Regina Curran  (@Reg_the_ledge) December 18, 2016

Long queues in Dublin airport passport control. If only they had some way of knowing how many people to expect.  Liza Riley (@LizaRiley) March 21, 2017

Over 2000 people at Dublin airport waiting to go through passport control and one immigration officer on duty.  Chris Coppola (@Emerald007007) March 25, 2017

"We are working closely with our colleagues in INIS to help improve the overall immigration product in Terminal 1 and a number of upgrades, including the installation of new e-gates, are due to take place in the coming months."

The Department of Justice, who operate INIS, dismissed claims there are delays in security at the airport.

A spokesman said: "Information supplied by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) in relation to queue times for arriving passengers at Dublin Airport shows that over 90 per cent of all travellers are processed through immigration control in a matter of minutes with the figures even higher for passengers of EU nationalities.

"On the rare occasions that passengers may experience delays this can be for a variety of reasons including congestion arising in the terminal building due to the number of passengers disembarking from flights at peak daily periods, delayed flights due to weather conditions, or other factors including the conducting of enhanced checks on passengers or current building works in one of the immigration areas which has reduced the space available.

"The allocation of immigration personnel at Dublin Airport is designed to have the maximum number of staff on duty during peak periods.

"Every effort is made by immigration officers to exercise their function as speedily as possible consistent with the requirement to protect our borders and facilitate legitimate travellers.

Expand Close Immigration officials have been given access to Interpols I24 database, which contains details of all stolen or lost passportsin / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Immigration officials have been given access to Interpols I24 database, which contains details of all stolen or lost passportsin

Read More

"Nonetheless, a very high number of flights within a contracted arrivals time period (which happens frequently at Dublin airport) and the consequent increased passenger numbers within these peak times, can impact on queuing times over these periods.

"Although, the immigration authorities at Dublin airport have no control over the number of flights or their arrival times, they have an excellent relationship with the Dublin Airport Authority and air carriers and work closely together to address queue management issues where they arise so as to ensure that waiting times are kept to a minimum.

"Since November 2016 an automated connection to INTERPOLs Lost and Stolen Travel Documents database was rolled out to all international airports and seaports and passengers are systematically checked against this database. This has not had any significant impact on immigration processing times. "
Premium

Ian ODoherty Opinion Toxic Tory leadership debate reminds us they couldnt give a damn about Ireland

And then there were... How many is it again? Oh, yes, and then there were three. After an initial 11 hopeful (and, some might say if they were feeling less than charitable, hopeless) Tory leadership candidates, its now down to the final three as we reach a sort of X-Factor-style finale.
An old Korean proverb - 'When whales fight the shrimp's back is broken' - has been rolled out more than once in Seoul over the past 48 hours.

The two whales meet later this week when Donald Trump's US administration hosts a Chinese delegation led by President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Meanwhile, the 'shrimp' increasingly feeling the squeeze is South Korea itself, and its 50 million inhabitants.

"No nation can be at peace under the fear of nuclear attack," Ahn Chong-ghee, the country's foreign affairs vice minister, told the World Journalists Conference yesterday.

"For a densely populated country like Korea, the potential havoc is unspeakable.

"We stand at the tipping point, as North Korea is nearing the final stage of nuclear weaponisation of its nuclear material," Mr Ahn added, amid intelligence-led speculation that Kim Jong-un is in the final stages of preparation for a sixth nuclear test.

Expand Close US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP

"It is imperative that we muster the will of the international community to deter North Korea's single-minded pursuit of weapons of mass destruction."

Read More

Mr Trump's approach to foreign policy has been more scattergun than single-minded to date, but his focus landed on North Korea on Sunday when he suggested the US might deal with Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions on its own if necessary.

"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 it will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone," the US president told the 'Financial Times'.

And why might China help the US? Mr Trump answered: "Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade."

Expand Close Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters

But the self-proclaimed lover of "doing deals" likely knows that China will want more than that.

As many as 260,000 indigenous and 28,000 US personnel are involved in military drills in South Korea this month with tensions high in the region and the country prepares for a range of military scenarios threatened by the North.

There has been a strong US military presence here since the Korean War ended in 1953 without a peace treaty - and already-nervous South Korean policy makers were unsettled by a suggestion from Mr Trump last year that he might withdraw that presence if elected.

Asked on Sunday if a "grand bargain" was an option - that is, China leans on Kim Jong-un in return for a guarantee the US will later remove troops from the Korean Peninsula - Mr Trump said: "Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you."

What might that mean?

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and a series of missile launches in recent years, ignoring United Nations' sanctions, and Mr Trump's national security adviser KT McFarland claimed at the weekend that it could be capable of hitting the US with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Mr Trump's four-year term.

That suggestion likely focused the Trump mind.

But his three predecessors were also confronted with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons plans, and each was offered a range of military options to tackle them. None of them was willing to strike - aware that retaliation by North Korea risked devastation for the peninsula, and the surrounding region.

For example, some analysts suggest North Korea has the capacity to land half-a-million shells in Seoul within an hour, and launch missile strikes against Japan if it thought its arsenal was under threat.

Others are more sceptical of its capabilities, but can Mr Trump afford to do nothing? It's not an enviable position. Barack Obama did nothing in Syria, for example, and look how that is playing out.

But a US-led military attack could provoke nuclear disaster and remains a distant option behind increased economic sanctions, and engaging with those who have influence over North Korea.

Which brings us back to China.

North Korea's neighbour and only ally has long been unwilling to do much to sanction Kim Jung-un's administration, largely because it fears millions of refugees might flood across the border if the country becomes destabilised.

And it is naive to think that Chinese President Xi would be pressurised into anything significant ahead of their Florida gathering on Thursday simply by Mr Trump's interview.

But Mr Trump - the much-lauded deal-maker who has failed entirely to seal anything significant in his first three months in office - does have stronger cards to play.

The US recently deployed an advanced missile-defence system (THADD) here, in spite of strong objections from China, and it has resulted in significant difficulties for South Korea.

Yong Zhang, a senior executive with the 'People's Daily', the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, explicitly warned South Korea yesterday that the two countries' good relations over the past "will be crippled" if the missile system remains.

He insisted to journalists in Seoul that China is more concerned with the missile system than any imminent nuclear test by North Korea, saying China's national security would be undermined and "China is bound to take countermeasures".

Indeed, it already has - economic ones at least. For example, the South Korean company Lotte has seen 87 of its 99 stores in China closed and work on a theme park in the country suspended since it agreed to hand over a golf course to the government to house the controversial system.

And South Korean airlines and tourism operators have also experienced discriminatory tactics from China, while large numbers of package holidays have been cancelled.

"Economically punishing one of your top trade and investment partners, your number one source of tourists, for completely unrelated reasons, is extremely irrational," Mr Ahn, South Korea's foreign affairs vice minister, insisted yesterday.

When the whales fight, the shrimp's back is broken, as they say.

The whales talk on Thursday and Friday of this week in their bilateral summit.

With satellite imagery last week from North Korea's main underground nuclear test site at Punggye-ri showing prolonged and heightened activity - and given Mr Kim's love of timing provocative acts with key dates - it would be no surprise if the country's sixth nuclear test took place during that period.

South Korea's 'Sunshine Policy' failed to halt the ballistic weapons development in the North. UN sanctions have failed to halt nuclear testing in the North. The US policy of "strategic patience" with the North has failed miserably, and been ended. So what exactly has Mr Trump got to offer? What is China willing to accept? And will South Korea ultimately be left to pay the price? (Additional reporting by Reuters)
Dee Devlin (L) and Host/VIP Conor McGregor attend the David Yurman with Conor McGregor Hosts an In-Store Event on July 6, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for David Yurman)

Dee Devlin celebrated her baby shower in typical fashion.

The 27-year-old is expecting her first child with long-term boyfriend Conor McGregor and she marked the occasion with a girls day out in Howth, north Dublin.

Dee was joined by a dozen close friends and family members for the occasion, enjoying the picturesque views at Aqua restaurant overlooking the harbour.

In contrast to the couple's normally over the top bashes, this was relatively low-key, choosing a spot away from Dublin city centre, presumably in order to maintain more privacy.

Expand Close Dee Devlin's baby shower. Picture: Instagram / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Dee Devlin's baby shower. Picture: Instagram

The expectant mother shared a sweet picture of her cradling her baby bump, wearing a white ribbed dress and pastel pink cardigan, thanking her other half for his support.

"I had the best day at my baby shower yesterday! Huge thank you to my sisters, my/Conor's sisters and Lynn Hunter for all their organising!! And of course biggest thank you to Conor who was behind it all! Thank you to everyone who came to spend the day with us and for all the presents! It was a day to remember! #makingmemories"

McGregor announced late last year he and Dee would be welcoming their first child and in February, he expressed fears for his baby's safety in public and warned fans not to mob him on the street.

"Im not trying to bring a kid into that. If someone comes near me when I have my kid in my hands, like the way they come near me now, looking for pictures, someones gonna be badly hurt," he told GQ Magazine.

Expand Close Dee Devlin's baby shower. Picture: Instagram / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Dee Devlin's baby shower. Picture: Instagram

Similarly, the MMA superstar said he would be taking some time off after welcoming the new arrival to spend with his family and doesn't want their lives to become a celebrity circus.

"I don't want to be bringing a child into anything like this. I don't want any celebrity-type s***, I hate all that. I don't want my family to be like that. So that's a thing in the back of my head so I'm just going to have this baby, take a little bit of time and see what way I feel after that."

Video of the Day

He fuelled speculation that the pair could be welcoming a son when he referred to the baby as "him" during an interview at An Experience With Conor McGregor event.
Theresa May has insisted shell negotiate Britains new trade deal with the EU within two years, and heres what you need to know about it.

A parliamentary report has called on Theresa May to provide evidence to back up her claim that leaving the European Union without a trade deal would be better than a bad deal.

Here are some of the questions being asked about the no deal option.

What kind of a trade deal do we have at the moment?

Single market arrangements allow businesses to trade goods freely across Europe without tariffs and under a single regulatory system.

The market in services is not yet complete but there are important agreements, such as passporting for financial firms to operate throughout Europe.

Are these arrangements only for EU members?

A few non-EU members are part of the single market, including members of the European Economic Area like Norway and Iceland, as well as Switzerland, which has a series of bilateral agreements.

But May has said she wants the UK to leave the single market, mainly to stop free movement of people.

So whats the deal for countries outside the single market?

They can face taxes and duties  known as tariffs  on goods and services exported to the EU. And they can also face non-tariff barriers, such as quotas for imports of certain products.

They are also likely to be required to comply with EU regulations on product quality, safety, environmental protection and workers rights.

Is there any way round this?

Yes. More than 50 countries have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the EU, allowing them varying degrees of access to the single market.

But most relate mainly to goods, rather than the services which make up the bulk of the UKs exports. The EUs recently-agreed CETA deal with Canada will eliminate 98% of tariffs if implemented.

So what is May looking for?

The Government is aiming for a comprehensive FTA, tailor-made for Britain, which offers the freest and most frictionless trade possible in goods and services between the UK and the EU.

Critics argue that this will take as long as a decade to negotiate, but ministers insist that it can be done within the two-year Brexit deadline because UK and EU legal and regulatory systems are already aligned thanks to the single market.

Why might we end up without a deal?

May insists she wants agreement, but has also warned that no deal is better than a bad deal. Many observers view this as a tactic to increase pressure on the EU to offer good terms. But ministers insist that they are preparing for the possibility that she could walk away from the negotiating table.

Many things could make a deal bad  perhaps because it limits UK-based banks access to continental markets, demands punitive multibillion-pound payments from Britain or insists on continued freedom of movement of workers in return for trade access.

What happens if we dont get a deal?

Britain would fall back on the tariffs agreed at the World Trade Organisation. These are complex and vary from product to product  in 2013, the EU imposed average 2.3% tariffs on non-agricultural imports, but 10% on cars  but have the effect of making goods and services more expensive in EU markets and therefore less attractive to consumers, potentially hitting exports.

Quotas could be imposed on imports from the UK. And Britain would also lose access to all the FTAs negotiated by the EU with other countries and may be forced to renegotiate them in order to keep trade flowing.

And is that a bad thing?

Opinions are widely divided. Pro-EU Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said that crashing out on WTO rules would be economically disastrous for the UK. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was perfectly okay.

Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee that the Government has made no assessment of the possible cost. That is what the cross-party committee is now demanding from the Government.
Reker Ahmed was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and a bleed on his brain.

A crowdfunder hoping to raise money for Reker Ahmed, a 17-year-old asylum seeker left with a bleed on his brain and other serious injuries after being attacked by around 20 people, has raised over 500% of its target in just a few days.

Kurdish Iranian Ahmed was chased and attacked while waiting at a bus stop after people discovered he was an asylum seeker in a suspected hate crime that has left the teenager fighting for his life.

Over 20,000 had been raised at the time of writing, from a total of 1,138 backers.

The crowdfunder reads: We want to help him overcome this horrible ordeal and show that he is loved and welcome here in the United Kingdom. Your small act of kindness will undoubtably (sic) make a big difference to his life at this critical time. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Feeling valued and loved is a very basic need that we can all be part of, all of us have an opportunity to make a difference for this young man. This will go along way to ensuring he sees the best after witnessing the very worst.

Comments left by supporters echoed those sentiments, condemning the attack that also left two of Ahmeds friends with minor injuries.

Detective Superintendent Jane 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.

Police said 16 people had been arrested in connection with the attack  with five people charged with violent disorder having faced the magistrates on Monday and a 17-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man also set to appear in court on Tuesday.

Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses during the short hearing.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and siblings Danyelle and Daryl Davis were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.
Whats in a name? Quite a lot apparently.

Easter is synonymous with chocolate, Christianity and egg hunts  but this year representatives of these three elements have rather fallen out.

The Church of England has been angered by chocolate giant Cadbury and the National Trust dropping the word Easter from their annual egg hunt.

Cadbury was founded by John Cadbury, a Quaker, in 1824  and 300 egg hunts will be held at National Trust properties this year.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has accused Cadbury of spitting on the grave of its religious founder by renaming the Easter tradition the Great British Egg Hunt.

The chocolate company replied to the Archbishop by saying: We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats. It added that its simply not true that the word Easter has been removed from marketing and communication material  its mentioned on the companys website and in its advert for the campaign.

Meanwhile, the National Trust branded claims that it is playing down the significance of Easter nonsense.

Nothing could be further from the truth, said a National Trust spokesman. A casual glance at our website will see dozens of references to Easter throughout.

Even Prime Minister Theresa May got involved  and very much on the side of the Church.

Im not just a vicars daughter  Im a member of the National Trust as well, May told ITV News. Easters very important. Its a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world. So I think what the National Trust is doing is, frankly, just ridiculous.

So, what does the public think?

Well, some are certainly on the side of the Church  with some even threatening to cancel their National Trust membership.

However, a lot pointed out that Easter has not been omitted from the promotion entirely  just its name.

Which made one or two feel a bit sorry for Cadbury and the National Trust  specifically their social media teams.

Another gently reminded us what the Christian holiday is about  while also proposing something rather shocking.

Think of the children, sir.

Another, we think, was being sarcastic. Maybe.

And some just reckon the whole row is a bit too much like watching the poshest of sports

It might be some time before tensions over this issue are fully resolved  so just sit back and watch Jeremy.
Some of the Chibok schoolgirls freed from captivity (Sunday Aghaeze/Nigeria State House via AP)

Nigeria's government and military are not doing enough to ensure the release of 195 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls held by Boko Haram Islamic extremists for nearly three years, the Bring Back Our Girls group said.

It called for speedy negotiations to bring them home before next week's third anniversary of the mass abduction that outraged the world.

The group also asked why two dozen of the Chibok girls freed last year have been held for months of alleged rehabilitation instead of being reunited with their families.

"It remains a puzzle to us that even their parents are not very informed on what the programme of rehabilitation that the federal government is allegedly implementing seeks to achieve," it said.

The group published a letter sent to the government in January, saying it has never been answered. "We are not satisfied with the conduct of the federal government and the military establishment," the letter said.

Boko Haram's mass abduction of 276 girls from a boarding school in April 2014 brought promises to help free them from around the world.

Dozens quickly escaped, and 21 were freed in October through negotiations with Boko Haram mediated by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The government denied a ransom was paid and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.

At that time, officials said they were pressing on with negotiations and expected the release of a second group of 83 girls "very soon". No more have been freed.

AP
Police have charged five people over an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker by a mob of up to 30 people in London. Stock image

Police have charged five people over an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker by a mob of up to 30 people in London.

The five, who included two pairs of siblings, were charged with violent disorder. One was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm following the attack in Croydon. Three others remain in custody.

Police said a group of youths approached the teen at a bus stop and questioned him. On learning he was an asylum-seeker, they chased him through the streets and beat him. The attack stopped only after police sirens could be heard and bystanders intervened.

The teen has been hospitalised with a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain but police say he is starting to make a recovery and may be moved out of intensive care soon.

Detectives are trying to find the victim's family, who live in Iran.

"I think this was probably confidence by numbers," Det-Supt Jane Corrigan said. "It started off with this smaller group of people, who were joined by between 20 to 30, and they just viciously attacked this individual because they were an asylum-seeker."

The attack has prompted strong condemnation from London's mayor and police officials.
Victims of the blast lie on the ground near a destroyed carriage at the Technology Institute subway station in St Petersburg. Photo: AP Photo/DTP&ChP St. Peterburg via AP

Russian authorities were hunting for two suspected terrorists last night after a bomb blast on the St Petersburg subway system killed 11 people and wounded dozens.

The explosion, which struck a crowded metro train near the historic city centre at 2.20pm local time, came as Vladimir Putin was visiting the city.

Shortly afterwards police discovered a larger, unexploded device at one of the city's busiest metro stations, prompting authorities to close the entire underground transport system.

Witnesses on board the crowded train said it was shaken by a "thundering clap" that filled the carriages with smoke shortly after it left the station.

"We all moved to the opposite end of the wagon, people jammed together and two women passed out. This all was happening while the train was still moving. It didn't stop," Polina, a student who was in the neighbouring carriage, said.

"A blast occurred at Sennaya Ploshchad metro station," was the stark police message to Russian news agency Tass. "Several people have been injured."

The driver of the train won praise for deciding to continue to the next station, Technology Institute, rather than stopping in the tunnel - a move that investigators said probably saved lives and made it easier for rescuers to reach the injured.

Videos posted on social media showed a carriage wreathed in smoke and dazed and frightened passengers trying to exit the subway tunnels, while others knelt over the bodies of the wounded and the dead.

"People were bleeding, their hair burnt. We were told to move to the exit, because the movement stopped," a witness told Russia's Life News.

"People just fled. My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded. She said that it began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated."

The Russian president, who was meeting his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in a suburb of St Petersburg at the time, expressed his condolences after the "possible terror attack".

"The city authorities, and if needed, the federal authorities, will take the necessary measures to help the families of those affected by the blast," he said.

"The reasons behind it are not clear yet, and so it would be premature to speak about them," he cautioned. He later visited the site of the bomb to lay a wreath in memory of the victims.

Later, security sources told the Interfax news agency that the device was "homemade" with a blast equivalent to 200g of TNT. It appeared to have been packed full of shrapnel including metal nuts and bolts to cause maximum damage and had been left in the carriage in a backpack by the attacker, investigators said.

A second bomb, disguised as a fire extinguisher, was later found at the Ploshchad Vosstanaya metro station, which serves the mainline railway station that connects St Petersburg with Moscow.

The device, which apparently failed to explode, was reported to contain about 1kg of TNT equivalent, prompting speculation that it was intended as the main attack.

The Investigative Committee, Russia's senior security agency, opened a terrorism investigation and issued search warrants for two people in connection with the attack.

The suspects, who have not been named, were believed to have each planted one of the devices, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russian media published CCTV images of a bearded man they claimed was one alleged attacker.

However, it was later reported the man came forward to maintain his innocence.

No group had so far claimed responsibility for the blast.

St Petersburg authorities suspended metro services following the blasts and stepped up security at the city's international airport.

Russia's transport infrastructure has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist terror groups based in the North Caucasus. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Latest in a long line of atrocities in Russia

October 2015: Militants from local affiliate of Isil down a Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg over Egypt, killing all 224 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.

December 2013: Back-to-back suicide bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kill 34.

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 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.

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.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Europe has become the global hotbed for hosting child abuse images amid fears predators are exploiting new website addresses to hide indecent material, according to research. Stock image

Europe has become the global hotbed for hosting child abuse images amid fears predators are exploiting new website addresses to hide indecent material, according to research.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found the continent now houses the majority (60pc) of the paedophilic web pages it detected online, leapfrogging North America in the last year.

The safety watchdog also found a sharp rise in the number of new website domains - using suffixes such as .ninja as opposed to .com - being tackled for posting abuse images, up 258pc (to 272 websites) since 2015.

Its findings come as campaigners warned websites on child-themed domains such as .kids face being sold without security preventing known paedophiles from hosting indecent content on them.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has created more than 1,000 domains since 2012, websites on which are now being sold off without in-built vetting procedures, a charity coalition said.

The Russian equivalent of .kids is already in use without child-protection safeguards, while Google and Amazon are among parties interested in the English domain, John Carr, secretary to the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS), said.

There has been no indication .kids has yet been exploited by paedophiles, but IWF chief executive Susie Hargreaves said: "Criminals will attempt to abuse new technologies for their own gain - in this case it's using new domain names."

Its annual report found a total of 34,212 child abuse images were hosted in Europe in 2016, a rise of 19pc on the year before, overtaking North America, where 21,295 were hosted.

It also reported a rise in the number of domains used to host the 57,335 web addresses detected with abuse material - up 21pc to 2,416.

This included 92pc of such addresses found being focused in five countries: the Netherlands (37pc), US (22pc), Canada (15pc), France (11pc) and Russia (7pc).
Yesterday's blast on the St Petersburg metro system was the worst terrorist attack outside the North Caucasus since two suicide bombers killed 32 people in Volgograd in 2013.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, and Russian investigators have not announced a motive.

But the immediate suspicion will fall on the same groups that hit Volgograd, Moscow, and other cities over the past two decades - Islamists radicalised by the insurgency that emerged from the brutal Chechen wars of the 1990s and 2000s.

If so, it will be viewed as a worrying sign that a scourge that had all but been eliminated is back.

For the past few years, that insurgency has been on the back foot - largely owing to a massive crackdown Russia's security services launched in the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

That campaign, it later emerged, included a covert plan to help problematic insurgents travel to the Middle East in exchange for a promise never to return.

It was remarkably effective. The Volgograd attacks did not herald a new wave of attacks, but seemed to be a last throw of the dice.

But it also contributed to the emergence of a powerful 'Russian' - actually former Soviet - jihadi movement in Syria.

Russian and other former Soviet citizens make up a large (by some estimates the biggest) proportion of the foreign fighters with Isil.

With a reputation for ferocity and discipline, the 'Russian' brigades established themselves in Mosul and reached senior positions within Isil.

Vladimir Putin justified his war in Syria partly as a way of killing those groups before they came home to wage jihad in Russia.

"We have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here," was the basic message to the Russian public.

As the West has learnt from bitter experience, bombing countries thousands of miles away doesn't stop domestic terror.

But that doesn't mean yesterday's attack will be viewed as a defeat for Mr Putin's Syrian strategy.

Like many Western governments, the Kremlin will likely point to it as another reason why its own war on terror is justified. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Tuesday to continue calling European countries "Nazi remnants and fascists" if they maintain their "current attitude against Turkey", despite repeated condemnation from European capitals.

"They don't let my ministers make speeches in Europe...

"Once the referendum on April 16 is over, we will consider, everything has a price," Erdogan told a referendum rally in the western city of Zonguldak.

Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at European countries including Germany in campaigning for the referendum, accusing them of "Nazi-like" tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters abroad.

Expand Close Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters

Read More

This comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned President Erdogan accusing her of "commiting Nazi practices."

Mrs Merkel said last monthr: "My comment that the Nazi comparisons on Turkey's part must end is valid without ifs or buts.

"Unfortunately, we see that these comparisons have not ceased, and we are not going to allow ... every taboo to be broken with no regard to the suffering of those who were persecuted and murdered under Nazism."
A man removes rubble at a damaged site after airstrikes in the rebel held besieged Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

People inspect the damage at a mosque after airstrikes in the rebel held besieged Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

People walk on the rubble of damaged buildings after airstrikes in the rebel held besieged Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

A man walks on the rubble of a damaged mosque after airstrikes in the rebel held besieged Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

A man breathes through an oxygen mask as another one receives treatments, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria Photo: Reuters/Ammar Abdullah

A suspected government chemical attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria has killed dozens of people.

If confirmed, it would be the deadliest chemical attack in four years.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which operates through a network of activists on the ground, said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Doctors struggled to cope and videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies.

Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year civil war.

After the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad's government agreed to destroy its chemical arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons convention.

Today's incident drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including the White House, which called it a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilised world".

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's high representative, Federica Mogherini.

The Syrian government "categorically rejected" claims that it was responsible, saying it does not possess chemical weapons, has not used them in the past and will not use them in the future.

It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government.

The Russian Defence Ministry also denied any involvement

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults.

Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pick-up trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack, which he called "reprehensible".

Mr Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Mr Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

Speaking later President Trump blamed the Assad regime for chemical attack in Syria and says it was consequence of the Obama administration's "weakness and irresolution".

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a UN investigation said used sarin gas.

Faced with international outrage over that attack, President Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal.

His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Mr Assad declared everything.

The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.
The White House has published this official portrait of Melania Trump, which comes after several weeks in which she had hardly been seen in public

Democrats amassed enough support yesterday to block a US Senate confirmation vote on US President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Republicans vowed immediately to simply change the Senate rules to ensure the conservative judge gets the lifetime job.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to send Mr Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate, setting up a political showdown between Mr Trump's fellow Republicans and the opposition Democrats that appears likely to trigger a change in long-standing Senate rules to allow his confirmation.

Before the vote, Senator Christopher Coons, a member of the panel, became the 41st Democrat to announce support for a procedural hurdle called a filibuster requiring a super-majority of 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to allow a confirmation vote.

The Senate's Republican leaders insist Mr Gorsuch will be confirmed on the Senate floor on Friday regardless of what the Democrats do. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate.

In the face of the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be expected to force a confirmation vote by having the Senate change its rules and allow for a simple majority vote for confirmation of Supreme Court justices, a move sometimes called the "nuclear option" that Mr Trump has urged.

Judiciary Committee Republicans blasted Democrats for pursuing what they called the first "partisan filibuster" of a Supreme Court nominee - there was a successful bipartisan filibuster five decades ago against a Democratic president's nominee - and said it would come to naught because of the threatened rule change.

But it was Senate Republicans who last year refused to even consider former president Barack Obama's nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to fill the same high court vacancy that Mr Trump has selected Mr Gorsuch to fill.

"Democrats, including me, are still furious at the way Judge Merrick Garland was treated last year. But the traditions and principles that have defined the Senate are crumbling and we are poised to hasten that destruction this week," Mr Coons said.

He left room for a compromise, in which Democrats would allow the vote to go ahead in return for Republicans agreeing to a 60-vote threshold for the next Supreme Court vacancy.

"I hope and pray that we can yet find a way together to find a solution," Mr Coons said.

Senate confirmation of Mr Gorsuch (49) would restore the nine-seat high court's conservative majority, fulfilling one of Mr Trump's top campaign promises.
Fox News is the "Bill Cosby of corporate America" because the cable network has paid out millions of dollars to combat sexual harassment lawsuits launched against its most powerful male staff, according to a top lawyer.

Lisa Bloom, the lawyer representing a woman accusing Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment, as well as representing four women who accused US President Donald Trump of similar crimes, said 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 said.

"In my view, Fox News is the Bill Cosby of corporate America. Women over and over again are driven out."

Comedian Bill Cosby was himself accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault which he denied.

O'Reilly, the man with arguably the top job in US television, was exposed by the 'New York Times' as having been accused multiple times over the past decade of sexual harassment, which he denied, and Fox News paid $13m (12m) to settle the cases. In a statement, O'Reilly said he settled the cases to spare his children from negative publicity. Fox News also backed him, saying the claims had no merit.

One of O'Reilly's accusers, psychology professor and radio host Wendy Walsh, yesterday encouraged 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.
His blood alcohol level was said to be three times the legal limit

A pilot who drank a bottle of vodka before passing out in the cockpit of the airplane has been jailed for eight months.

Miroslav Gronych (37) was more than three times the legal limit when he reported for duty on New Year's Eve.

He pleaded guilty in a Canadian court to being under the influence of alcohol while being in the care and control of an aircraft.

Mr Gronych was escorted off the Sunwing Airlines plane he was due to fly from Calgary in Canada to Cancun in Mexico.

His defence lawyer said the father-of-two had taken "a couple of shots of vodka and a Tylenol" before going to sleep the night before the flight, as he "felt like he was coming down with a cold".

Reports say he was slurring his words and staggering when he boarded the plane.

The man, who is originally from Slovakia, has since lost his job and has been banned from flying for one year after his release.

Prosecutor Rosalind Greenwood said: "It is a clear message to pilots that if you drink alcohol and you fly a plane, you're going to be met with a period of incarceration."

She added: "Don't fly drunk. It's pretty simple."

Sunwing Airlines said it has a zero-tolerance policy on crew members consuming alcohol within 12 hours of going on duty.
Donald Trump's decision to send his son-in-law to Iraq raised eyebrows in the US yesterday, with questions asked as to why Jared Kushner was touring the region even before the Secretary of State.

Mr Kushner, the 36-year-old husband of Ivanka Trump, arrived in Iraq on Sunday on a surprise visit to review the ongoing fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Mr Kushner, accompanying General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, met with US, coalition and Iraqi officials in Baghdad.

General Dunford said he invited Mr Kushner to hear "first-hand and unfiltered" about the situation on the ground, and to interact with US forces. The visit, without Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State, raised concern that Mr Tillerson was being sidelined by the "monarchical" White House.
US President Donald Trump says that the US is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear programme.

Mr 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," Mr Trump told the newspaper. "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 the US. Still, he said the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.

Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Mr 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 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 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 Mr Trump will follow through with either threat.

He told the newspaper that he doesn't "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 regarding 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.
Dozens of people are reported to have died in a northern Syrian town

A chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria has killed dozens of people, including children.

The Trump administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syria's patrons, Russia and Iran, bore "great moral responsibility" for the deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year civil war.

Tuesday's attack drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including President Donald Trump, who denounced it as a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilised world."

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

In a statement, Mr Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for "weakness" in failing to respond aggressively after the 2013 attack.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Mr Trump said.

"President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack."

Mr Trump left it to his top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to assign at least some blame to Russia and Iran, Assad's most powerful allies.

M r Tillerson called on both countries to use their influence over Assad to prevent future chemical weapons attacks, and noted Russia's and Iran's roles in helping broker a ceasefire through diplomatic talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

"As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths," Mr Tillerson said.

In a statement, the Syrian government "categorically rejected" claims that it was responsible, asserting that it does not possess chemical weapons, has not used them in the past and will not use them in the future.

It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government. The Russian Defence Ministry also denied any involvement.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a UN investigation said used sarin gas.

Faced with international outrage over that attack, Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

Dr AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesday's attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors were struggling amid extreme shortages, including of the antidote used to save patients.

Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals, Dr Tennari said. "If they got to the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

His brother Dr Mohammed Tennari, a radiologist, said the attack was more severe than previous ones in the province.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe," he said.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in the nearby town of Sarmin, where some of the critical cases were transferred, said doctors there also believed it was likely more than one gas. "

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organisation in Geneva, said the agency was gathering more information about Tuesday's incident. The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, also said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was under way.

The province of Idlib, which is almost entirely controlled by the opposition, is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations.

AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko arrive for a news conference following their talks at Konstantin palace in St.Petersburg, Russia REUTERS/Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool

Russian president Vladimir Putin lays flowers near the Technological Institute station in St Petersburg (AP)

Tributes have been laid outside stations in St Petersburg after the bomb blast (AP)

A subway train hit by a explosion stays at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. Image: AP

Emergency officials said they have closed a St Petersburg subway station following a bomb threat.

It follows the bombing of a St Petersburg train which killed 14 people on Monday.

Police today confirmed that the suspect is a native of Kyrgyzstan who obtained Russian citizenship, the Central Asian country's security service says.

Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim Central Asian nation of six million, is Russia's close political ally and hosts a Russian military airbase.

Expand Close A police officer, left, and people walk past the damaged train at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St Petersburg (AP video via AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A police officer, left, and people walk past the damaged train at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St Petersburg (AP video via AP)

A spokesman for the Kyrgyz security service identified the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995. He provided no other details.

This morning, Russian health minister Veronika Skvortsova confirmed the death toll had risen to 14.

Russian authorities said they were investigating a suspected suicide bombing on Monday after the blast, which struck a crowded metro train near the historic city centre at 2:20 local time, and came as Vladimir Putin was visiting the city.

Shortly afterwards a larger, unexploded device was reported to have been found at one of the citys busiest metro stations, prompting authorities to close the entire underground transport system. Search warrants were issued for two people.

"A blast occurred at Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, a police source told the Russian news agency Tass, several people have been injured."

Witnesses on board the crowded train said it was shaken by a thundering clap that filled the carriages with smoke shortly after it left the station.

We all moved to the opposite end of the wagon, people jammed together and two women passed out. This all was happening while the train was still moving, it didn't stop, Polina, a student who was in the neighbouring carriage, told Gazeta.ru.

The driver of the train won praise for deciding to continue to the next station, Technologichesky Institute, rather than stopping in the tunnel, a move that investigators said probably saved lives and made it easier for rescuers to reach the injured.

Photographs from the station platform showed a blue train carriage with its door reduced mangled and twisted by the force of the blast.

US president Donald Trump has called Vladimir Putin to offer condolences over the St Petersburg tube bombing.

The Kremlin said Mr Trump offered sympathy to the families of the victims of Monday's blast and asked President Putin to convey his support for the Russian people.

Mr Putin thanked Mr Trump for the expression of solidarity, the Kremlin said, adding that the two leaders voiced a shared view that "terrorism is an evil that must be fought jointly".
Tributes have been laid outside stations in St Petersburg after the bomb blast (AP)

A 22-year old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St Petersburg subway that killed 13 people, Russian investigators have said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia's second biggest and Mr Putin's hometown.

Russia's health minister said the death toll as of Tuesday stood at 14, including the bomber. The nation's top investigative agency said 10 of the dead have been identified and that genetic tests would be required to identify the rest.

Another 49 victims were in hospital, some of them in a grave condition.

St Petersburg city hall said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens had been killed in the attack.

Although police originally were seeking two people as possible suspects in the hours after the attack, Russian investigators said on Tuesday that it was the work of a suicide bomber. They identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the man's DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the man's identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova who did take the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

Monday's explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Alexander Kavernin, 50, who has worked on the subway for 14 years, said he heard the sound of a blast while his train was running, called security and carried on to the next station as the emergency instructions prescribe.

"I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

The decision to keep moving was praised by authorities, who said it helped evacuation efforts and reduced the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

Oleg Alexeyev, 53, who trains sniffer dogs for the police, went to the Technological Institute station on Tuesday morning to lay flowers in memory of those who died nearby.

"I travelled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

Four stations on the subway were closed again on Tuesday due to a bomb threat, but later reopened.

People from Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian former Soviet republics are common sights in St Petersburg, home to a large number of migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia.

While most Central Asian migrants in Russia hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.

Patriach Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a service at Moscow's main cathedral on Tuesday for those killed in the blast.

"This terrorist act is a threat to all of us, all our nation," he said.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

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.

Separately, in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, two police officers were killed in the early hours on Tuesday in a suspected Islamic militant attack. Alexander Zhilkin, governor of the region, said the attackers are on the run.

The Eiffel Tower will remain dark overnight to honour the victims of the St Petersburg bombing, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, officials in Berlin were being criticised for not bathing the Brandenburg Gate in the colours of the Russian flag, even though the city in the past has lit the gate with colours of various countries that have suffered terror attacks.

AP
Britain's exit process from the European Union only formally began last week, but already London is engaged in a heated dispute with Brussels and Spain over the future sovereignty of its overseas territory of Gibraltar.

The mountainous outcrop on the southern tip of Spain known as "The Rock" was ceded to Britain by Madrid 300 years ago and has been an occasional source of tension ever since.

In its negotiating guidelines published last week, the European Union said any deal struck between the bloc and Britain won't apply to Gibraltar, unless Spain agrees to it. The EU inclusion of Gibraltar angered many British lawmakers, but there's little they can do, says Professor Andrew Canessa, a Gibraltar expert at the University of Essex.

"Now that the UK is not in the EU, then the EU will now defend its members' interests," he said. "And in this case, the members' interests are Spain. And so Britain really doesn't have much of a way in to that discussion."

Events were held during the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of the Falklands War, when Britain under then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fought off an Argentine invasion of the disputed archipelago in the South Atlantic.

Invoking that war, former leader of the ruling Conservative party Michael Howard said current PM Theresa May is prepared for a fight.

"Thirty-five years ago this week, 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 I'm absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar," he said.
Donald Trump has signalled a new era in US-Egypt relations, pledging years of tepid relations will now give way to a "great bond" between the two nations.

The US president reunited with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for talks ranging from collaboration against the Islamic State terror group to bolstering Egypt's flailing economy.

In Mr Trump, Mr el-Sissi sees new opportunity after years of lukewarm relations with 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," Mr el-Sissi said.

Mr Obama never invited the Egyptian leader to the White House and Egypt's government was repeatedly admonished over its human rights record. Mr Obama even briefly suspended some US military aid.

It is the second meeting for Mr Trump and Mr el-Sissi. Reflecting on their first encounter in New York shortly before the general election, Mr Trump said Mr el-Sissi was someone "very close to me".

Mr el-Sissi praised Mr 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, US and Egyptian officials have sought to stress commonalities.

Like Mr Trump, Mr 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," Mr Trump said, citing a "great bond with the people of Egypt".

Mr el-Sissi vowed to work with the US "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, Mr el-Sissi has cracked down on political Islamists.

He has also has taken a heavy hand on Egyptians who deemed his presidency illegitimate, often relegating human rights concerns to national security.

But Mr el-Sissi's government believes its success in fighting radicalism depends critically on US aid.

Egypt is among the top recipients of US 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.

Mr Trump has vowed to work closely with Arab allies in the fight against IS.

As a neighbour 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 US receives little in return and Mr Trump has said he will not tolerate imbalances in other partnerships, as with China and many European allies.

AP
CONCORD  A group representing Autism Speaks won the Carolina Malls Color for a Cause event Thursday.

Autism Speaks battled at center court with groups representing Cabarrus Shrine Club, The Salvation Army, The Boys & Girls Club and the Ronald McDonald House.

Color for a Cause was a live mural coloring contest and shopping event. Participating organizations were provided a mural with inspirational graphics to color during the event. Murals are judged at the end of the event and the winning mural will be displayed in the Mall.

During the event, customers are encouraged to shop on behalf of a cause. For every receipt shown, a point will be allocated to a participating organization as dictated by the shopper. The organization with the most points receives a prize donation.

Autism Speaks also won the points portion of the competition despite a spirited challenge from the Cabarrus Shrine Club.

Our goal is to use the Mall common areas for events that inspire shoppers, families and the community and Color for a Cause does just that. We want to invite everyone to come out for this fun night out to learn more about organizations that are doing great work right here in Concord, said Coles Doyle, Marketing Director for Hull Property Group, owner of the Carolina Mall.

Color for a Cause is part of the Malls new Community Connection program, an initiative aimed at engaging shoppers and bringing the community together through unique experiences and events at the Mall. The event is run by the Carolina Mall at no cost to participating organizations.
The Kannapolis Education Foundation hosted its sixth annual TECH breakfast on Friday, March 31. The event was a success and is expected to raise more than $25,000 for the Kannapolis Education Foundation.

TECH stands for Teach Every Child How. The theme of the 2017 TECH Breakfast was Navigating to Success. The event highlighted work being done in robotics, computer coding and engineering in Kannapolis City Schools through the support of the Kannapolis Education Foundation.

During the event, students from Fred L. Wilson Elementary showcased the work they are doing with robotics and other engineering education. Their work has been supported by a partnership with the Discovery Place Science Museum in Charlotte.

Members of A.L. Brown High Schools Robotics Team also shared the work they are doing. The A.L. Brown Robotics Team is the top robotics team in North Carolina and will represent the state at the National BETA Club competition in Orlando, Fla., in June.

Money raised from the 2017 TECH Breakfast will be used to help launch a new engineering program at Kannapolis Middle School in August 2017. KCS teacher, Ute Lentz, will teach the new program. During the TECH Breakfast, she talked about her background as an engineer before she became a teacher, and she outlined her vision for the new middle school engineering program.

Research shows that automation and robotics help spur economic development, raise the standard of living and create high-paying jobs. However, not enough students are being trained to enter these valuable fields. The Kannapolis Education Foundation is working with Kannapolis City Schools to make sure more students are prepared to succeed in todays digitally connected world.

Also during the TECH Breakfast, the Kannapolis Education Foundation honored Carolinas Healthcare System-NorthEast by presenting it with the organizations Friend of Education Award. CHS-NorthEast was recognized for its partnerships with Kannapolis City Schools, its ongoing support of KCS students and teachers, and its commitment to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

Tri Tang of CHS-NorthEast accepted the award. He also demonstrated how robotics are used in medicine and how valuable STEM skills are for success in the workplace.

The Kannapolis Education Foundation was established in 1994 as an independent nonprofit organization. Since it was founded, it has donated nearly three quarters of a million dollars to Kannapolis City Schools. The KEF has provided advanced science equipment, computers, books, software and other classroom materials to teachers and students in Kannapolis City Schools. Its contributions include biotechnology equipment for the A.L. Brown STEM Academy as well as computers, software and library materials to all Kannapolis City Schools.
Too many North Carolinians lack confidence in our courts, according to a recently concluded 15-month study initiated by Mark Martin, Chief Justice of our state Supreme Court. 53 percent of the public believe court outcomes are fair only some of the time or not at all. 63 percent say court cases are handled in a timely manner, but only 42 percent believe our courts are sensitive to the needs of the average person. Court reform is needed in North Carolina.

Said Martin, The work of this blue-ribbon commission will help ensure that North Carolinas Judicial Branch meets the needs and expectations that the people of North Carolina have for fair, modern and impartial courts.

A number of recommendations resulted from the study, the most notable being that North Carolina needs to change how judges and justices are selected and retained. Unfortunately, the commission failed to recommend how to improve our current system of electing judges, a system fraught with problems.

Judicial elections usually fall at the bottom of a lengthy ballot and many voters are fatigued by the time they get to these elections. The larger problem is that even well informed voters admit they dont know the candidates or their qualifications. The conundrum is further complicated because voters overwhelmingly say they dont want to lose the right to vote on judges.

There are three primary systems across the country for judicial selection and retention. Many states hold judicial elections, some designating the party affiliation of the candidates, others using non-partisan elections. A straightforward gubernatorial selection of judges is employed by some states, but in recent years there has been a growing movement toward what is termed merit selection or assisted appointments, also known as the Missouri Plan. This process employs a nominating commission to review the qualifications of judicial candidates, submitting a short list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from that list. After serving the initial term that judge must stand for a yes-no retention vote to continue on the bench.

The website Ballotpedia reports that partisan judicial elections are favored most often by Southern states, non-partisan elections by Northwestern states. Northeastern states tend to favor gubernatorial appointments, while Central states prefer assisted appointments

Over the years our General Assembly has attempted to resolve the perceived problems. When Democrats controlled the legislature they made all judicial elections non-partisan. Recently, the Republican-controlled legislature attempted to insert a retention process for Justices on our Supreme Court, a law ruled in violation of Article IV, Section 16 of our Constitution, which clearly calls for judges at all levels to be elected. The latest change, coming just weeks ago, requires partisan elections for all judges. Our lawmakers have identified the right problem but come up with the wrong solutions.

I dont want Republican judges. I dont want Democratic judges. I also dont want to go to the ballot box forced to choose from a list of people I dont know. I want jurists qualified to read our Constitution and our laws and judge impartially.

Despite what voters say, judicial elections arent serving us well and reform is needed. Lets amend our Constitution with some system of merit selection and retention of judges. It is time this long-standing debate was decided. Call the next case.

Tom Campbell is former assistant North Carolina State Treasurer and is creator/host of NC SPIN, a weekly statewide television discussion of NC issues. Show airs in Charlotte on WCCB Sundays at 6:30 a.m.
Foreign companies entering the Indian market cannot fail to note the potential of the countrys large and diversified labor pool.

India is currently coming into a unique demographic dividend and has a high working age population, while accelerated economic growth has increased the demand for skilled manpower.

It, therefore, becomes essential for foreign companies to conduct thorough due diligence when navigating Indias human resource (HR) environment, which is filled with a myriad of considerations that do not exist in other emerging economies.

Typically considered a soft concern under pre-investment diligence checks, HR due diligence has an expanded scope in India.

It constitutes understanding the countrys system of employment contracts, labor laws, labor relations, regulatory policies, work culture, and industry standards.

Identity markers such as class, caste, gender, ideology, religion, and tribe, among others, greatly influence labor relations in any of Indias distinct regions and must be fully understood prior to market entry.

Securing against all possible risks

Paying attention to HR due diligence actually safeguards a venture from both operational and financial risks.

Operational risks

Such risks include a high employee turnover rate, problematic labor relations, and differences over work culture.

Firms entering India must safeguard against risks while hiring employees, particularly in senior positions.

Conducting HR due diligence may reveal prospective candidates to have committed fraud in terms of inflating their resumes, educational qualifications, previous salary structure, and omission of recorded instances of previous misconduct.

Comprehensive due diligence checks can flag other HR-related concerns such as reputational risks (criminal and/or litigation records of prospective employees), and should also include credit checks and feedback on the prospective candidates personality and suitability to the hiring companys work culture.

Financial risks

This area of due diligence involves investigating specific costs, such as the human resource related run-rate costs of the target company, financial obligations of starting fresh operations or the prospective transaction, and lack of funds for benefit plans.

Employment contracts and labor laws

Labor laws in India provide for a minimum of guarantees and benefits to all employees that can supersede the provisions of labor contracts.

For example, a termination policy outlined within the contract should be verified against the current law prior to it being carried out.

In India, companies that employ more than 100 workers need the governments permission to conduct layoffs.

There are three types of employment contracts in India  permanent (direct) contracts, fixed contracts, and temporary contracts.

Besides company rules and regulations, employers are advised to incorporate the following clauses into contracts  non-disclosure, employee poaching, unfair competition, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.

Labor laws in India apply according to the category into which an employee falls. Employees may be divided into two broad categories.

Managerial personnel

These are employees who perform managerial, administrative, and supervisory functions.

They are governed by the terms and conditions of their contracts of employment, service rules, and agreements as negotiated with their employer, and enjoy less protection from existing labor laws as compared to the workmen category.

Workmen

These are employees who perform non-supervisory duties, which include manual, unskilled, technical operations, and clerical work.

Workmen are specifically provided with various protections, social security measures, and benefits and amenities through the countrys labor laws.

Trade unions

Indias trade union movement is rooted in the countrys early acceptance of a mixed economy  incorporating both socialist and capitalist systems.

According to the law, where the number of blue-collar workers at a location exceeds seven, they are entitled to form a union to improve their ability to negotiate remuneration and other terms of employment.

All unions in India are tracked by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and are regulated by the Trade Union Act (1926).

The latest data, released for 2012, showed an estimated 16,154 trade unions in India, with a combined membership of 9.18 million.

Trade unions at the firm or industry level are often affiliated to larger federations.

The largest federations are at the national level and are called the Central Trade Union Organizations (CTUO).

Companies should also note the significance of the particular political and ideological affiliations of the trade union(s) to which their employees belong.

Work culture

In India, the workplace set up is often hierarchical with clear boundaries between management levels.

The countrys business etiquette is a combination of Western and Eastern practices, but local customs do permeate relationships.

These need to be acknowledged for successful business interactions.

For instance, when giving feedback, an understanding of honor-shame becomes important in the Indian context, which can otherwise be inadvertently interpreted as unconstructive criticism.

Due diligence checks for business integration

Aside from country-specific considerations, there are several critical HR due diligence checks that need to be performed if a foreign company is looking to establish a joint venture, a business alliance, or secure a merger and acquisition.

Such checks help discover hidden liabilities while integrating business operations.

HR policies and governance, talent management, and employment demographics

These inform the HR organizational design, identify the top levels of management, assessment of critical players, deployment of appropriate resources, retention of key people, and communications strategy development.

It is also necessary to examine any trade union associations and collective bargaining mechanisms of the employment personnel.

Compensation structure of the target company

This is one of the biggest costs incurred while conducting business.

It typically comprises a base salary, an annual incentive and/or a long-term incentive.

The change in ownership may result in the acceleration of payment of severance packages, and establishing their timing and who will bear the financial responsibility are key functions of the due diligence process.

Firms will have to agree on the expatriate cost sharing arrangement, if applicable.

Benefit plans of the target company

To avoid differences on funding requirements, it is important to agree on the companys respective benefit policies such as retirement benefits/pension funds (minimum contributions versus stable yearly amount), leave encashment, and medical insurance, among others.

This article is amended from the issue of India Briefing Magazine titled Pre-Investment Due Diligence in India where we highlight the different regulatory, tax, and socioeconomic issues that a company should consider before entering the Indian market.
Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine and Consul General in Busan Yasuhiro Morimoto return to their posts in Seoul and Busan on Tuesday.

The Japanese government recalled them on Jan. 9 in protest over a statue honoring Korean victims of sexual enslavement by the Japanese Army in World War II that had been set up in front of the consulate general in Busan. Nagamine has been absent for 85 days.

In 2012, the Japanese government recalled then ambassador Masatoshi Muto in protest over President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Dokdo, to which Japan maintains a flimsy colonial claim. But Muto came back after just 12 days.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Monday afternoon, "As Korea is in a political transition, we need to make thorough preparations for the new leadership and increase efforts to collect relevant information."

He also stressed the need for close cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo over Pyongyang.


Kabul, Apr 4 (IBNS): The Afghanistan police on Tuesday claimed to prevent a car bomb attack in Kabul.

The police have reportedly detained a would-be suicide bomber.

Abdul Basir Mujahid, 101 Asmai Zone police spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the alleged bomber was detained in the fifth police district of Kabul on Tuesday.

The detained person reportedly wanted to detonate the explosives-laden Townace car in Kabul.
Set to be launched in June, the Kona is Hyundai's first compact SUV for the domestic market.

Hyundai's forthcoming SUV will be named the "Kona," the carmaker said Monday.

Hyundai has released similar compact SUVs including the Creta, also known as the ix25, in overseas markets such as Brazil, India and Russia, but was reluctant to release such models here, believing demand was insufficient.

With the release of the Kona, Hyundai will offer a varied lineup of SUVs including small, midsize and large models.
PDS board approves interim dividend of Rs2.50 per share PDS Limited has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company on Monday has approved an Interim Dividend of Rd2.50 per share. The Company adopted a dividend distribution policy... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 3:10 pm

Rajesh Exports incorporates 100% subsidiary ACC Energy Storage; Stock climbs 2% Rajesh Exports Ltd. has announced that it is foraying into Advanced Technology Solutions with a focus on Energy Storage Solutions. REL has been selected by the Government Of India as one ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:42 pm

Markets under selling pressure with Nifty around 18,100-levels Domestic benchmark indices trading mixed after a gap-up opening on Monday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are marginally lower in the afternoon market session. On the sectoral front... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:00 pm

Rupee rises 23 paise to 82.12/ $ Early on Monday, the rupee strengthened versus the US dollar by 23 paise to 82.12 amid rising local stocks and falling oil prices. The native currency rose 23 paise from its previous close to t... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 1:20 pm

Cineline India opens 5-Screen multiplex, MovieMAX in Mumbai; Stock jumps 3% Cineline India Limited stocks in the fast lane after announcement of opening of 5-Screen multiplex at Sarvodaya Mall Kalyan, Mumbai. In a regulatory filing, the company informed the ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 12:47 pm
North Korean hackers seem to have managed to access a secret war masterplan by South Korea and the U.S. in a cyberattack last September, sources here said Monday.

One government source said Defense Ministry investigators questioned around 40 people over the hacking attack and it appears that part of the masterplan, dubbed OPLAN 5027, "leaked." A Defense Ministry source said the hackers accessed reports containing portions of the plan, not the entire document.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo and other military officials last year downplayed the seriousness of the hacking attack, saying that only a small number of sensitive military secrets leaked out.

OPLAN 5027 was first drawn up in 1978, when the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command was established, and updated every two years since 1994. It includes troop deployment plans, key North Korean targets, strategies and military control of facilities in the North.

A military official said "discussions are still taking place" whether the plan has to be overhauled now the North has seen chunks of it.
Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor was recently blessed with a baby boy. But during her pregnancy and post pregnancy, she was seen very active professionally.

Bebo is unstoppable and excited to getting back to work. However, she does get a lot of criticism about handling her child Taimur.

Twitter/Kareena Kapoor

Speaking to a leading daily, Kareena said, "Yes, I was on my feet a few days after the delivery, but it's upsetting to have people judge you for it. No one has the right to comment on how I conduct myself or what sort of a mother I am. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Postpartum depression is not a must, right? It's whimsical to generalise that every woman goes through that phase, almost making it sound like a norm. Every pregnancy and every mother's journey with her child during those nine months and afterwards is different."

Kareena also spoke about how there's no right age for marriage or having babies.

Kareena was seen partying with Malaika and Amu at Seema Khans birthday bash in Mumbai last night. A post shared by Kareena Kapoor Khan (@kareenakapoorkhanbegum) on Mar 9, 2017 at 8:24am PST

She said, "I agree that very often, pregnant women are seen as ticking time bombs, but that perception never bothered me. I generally do things that I want to do and enjoy. Being pregnant and still being out there was something I chose to do. Everyone has an opinion in India, especially when it concerns women. 'Hey, you're old enough to be married.' 'Oh, you must have a baby now. It's the right age.' These statements don't resonate with me because as someone exposed to global cultures, I know that people in the West reproduce even when they're well past their 40s. When you want to have a baby should be your choice."
It's a fact that the British Indian Army fought with the Germans in both first as well as the Second World War, but it remains largely unknown that India also became home to nearly 5000 Jews who fled Germany when Hitler unleashed horror of the holocaust.

AP

According to Dr Margit Franz, a historian at the University of Graz in Austria, nearly 5000 German speaking Jews found refuge in India from 1933-45.She presented her findings at a recent conference on India and the Jews held in New Delhi recently.

Jews were not new to India

Before the arrival of Jews during the WW-II, the members of this community had been living in India for over millennia. Unlike most of the other places where Jews have been being persecuted, India has always welcomed for them. Here, they have had good relations with all the communities.

Cochin Jews, Wikipedia

The first traces of Jewish arrival in India go back to the 8th century when they landed on the shores of South India along with Syrian merchants.

Indians embraced the Jews and city like Cochin and Mumbai are known to have the special concentration of Jews. In fact Jew Town, Cochin is home to Indias oldest functioning synagogue, Paradesi.

But the British suspicious of them

According to Dr Franz, the British were initially were sceptical about their arrival in India and werent willing to give visas to them as they suspected that many of them are spies of Nazis whom they thought are responsible for burgeoning tension in Europe.

Shockingly, German Jewish refugees in India were often interned with German Nazis  and there were many of them in Bombay and Calcutta  in the same locations.

Therefore, it was quite plausible for the British to look at these refugees with suspicion. The British, at the beginning of the war in 1939 considered all of them, German Jews and non-Jews enemy aliens. But after one month of the start of war, the British set up a committee to distinguish between true refugees and Nazi spies, and by the end of the year, most refugees were released.

Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to help them

While leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose objected to the arrival of Jews in the country, Indias first PM, Nehru advocated the arrival of Jews and persuaded the British government to grant visas to the needy Jews.

AFP

Nehru sponsored a resolution in Congress to welcome Jewish refugees who could contribute to Indias progress, but it was prevented by Bose from passing.

Most Jews were skilled and thats what made them successful

Dr Franz writes that since most of the Indians were unskilled labours, Jews helped them with skills that they learnt in Europe. Most of the Jews were educated, skilled and had participated as a labour force in industrially developed Germany. Therefore, Indian industry became an opportunity for them, and they got employed in major industrial cities like Bombay and Calcutta.

Death and Taxes

Female Jewish refugees too had an advantage as they had the peculiar set of skills which got them jobs as housekeepers, tailors and teachers in countries like Britain, but there were few such jobs available in India, except in pockets of Bombay and Calcutta. But despite the dearth of opportunities, many women did make successful careers.

One woman, Lotte Eisenstaedt, worked for the Maharaja of Bikaner as a specialist on childrens welfare. Another set up a factory to manufacture bras, where she employed many people.

But when the war started, the British had shut down German businesses including large German companies like Siemens, Kores, IG Farben and other who mainly employed the Nazis. The British after 1940, allowed legitimate refugees to restart their businesses.

Some of those refugees were...

Otta Konigsberger, the nephew of the famous physicist Max Born was appointed as chief architect and planned Mysore state in 1939. The Town Hall in Bangalore was one of his creations along with laying out the plan for the city of Bhubaneswar.

After Indias independence, he became director of housing for the Indian Ministry of Health and served from 1948 to 1951.

Another famous refugee was Ernst Cohn Wiener, who taught art history in Berlin until he was thrown out by Nazis in 1933. First he went to England and then to India where Maharaja of Baroda appointed him as the Director of Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery. He was also the personal art consultant of the Maharaja from 1934-1939.

MOD Institute

There were several hundred German and Austrian Jews in India, many of whom had come some time earlier to fill senior medical, commercial or technical posts. Some of the established residents were quite prosperous and tried to help the more hard-pressed recent arrivals by forming the Jewish Relief Association, Walter Bergwerk, a Viennese Jew who was brought to Bombay on August 24, 1939, by his parents, nine days before war broke out had written in an article in May 2011 Journal of the Association of Jewish Refugees while recounting a seder (Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover) that was organized in Bombay for the Jewish refugees.

Karnataka.org

The seder was organised by Bergwerks father, but the local Baghdadi Jewish community seemed to have helped out a lot, with the seder being held in a Baghdadi school and the bill for the entire seder, including the wine being paid for by Sir Victor Sassoon, a prominent Baghdadi Jew.

Chinchpokli Jewish cemetery in Mumbai

Alfred Rosenfeld, another German Jew is commemorated with a memorial stone in the Chinchpokli Jewish cemetery in Mumbai. He worked tirelessly to help the new Jewish refugees. Alfred had migrated to India from Germany before the war , but was a British citizen when it broke out. Dr Franz quotes Peter Roland, his son who remembers that his father would ask Jewish refugees to be circumspect and recommend that they not speak any German, saying: "It would be better to speak only English, since many British persons in India were not too happy at the arrival of Jewish refugees. He is now a software engineer in Canada, where he lives with his wife and children."

And there was a love story too...

This is a story of Hermine Speck (later known as Mady Martyn after her second marriage) who was born to a Jewish mother and Catholic father and Sardar Bahadur Uttam Singh, young engineer. Speck lived with her mother in Salzburg, a small Austrian town on German border. Singh went to Salzburg and met Speck there in 1935. Both fell in love and despite the slight objection from the family of Speck, the couple married and settled in Indias Himalayas in 1935.

Speck always wanted to return to Austria but war and the demolition of her town in it never allowed her.

Hermine Speck, Second from left, with her mother, Helene Speck, far left; and her first husband, Sardar Bahadur Uttam Singh (standing), during an afternoon tea with Princess Sita of Kapurthala (third from left) Forward.com.

Although Hermine wasn't a staunch Jewish who neither had practised her Jewish faith nor the Catholic, but after marrying Singh, she had no aversion going to a Hindu temple or Sikh gurdwara. The couple had a son Dilsher Singh who now lives in Canada.

(This article has been rewritten with inputs taken from article published by Forward.com)
Triple Talaq has been around for the longest time, and from what we know of it, it's been one of the most cryptic fear in the life of a Muslim woman.

Initially, what used to be done face-to-face has now found multiple platforms, all thanks to the advancing technology. Muslim men, these days are 'divorcing' their wives over phones, WhatsApp and email-- the new age style.

And yet, for decades, the polarising debate on triple talaq has been shuttling from one agenda to another for a very long time.

gendermatters

Recently, inspired by his Hyderabadi brother, Mohammed Haneef, 38 sent a postcard with the triple talaq message to his wife of eight days.

Hyderabad: Husband arrested for sending triple talaq message through postcard after wife lodged complaint. pic.twitter.com/ylEIVysfR5  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

He was later arrested on Friday after his wife filed a complaint against him. Haneef, who works for a textile showroom married a 26-year-old woman from Talabkatta on March 9.

The very next day, on March 10, he left the house and informed his wife that he was undergoing some treatment in a private hospital and won't be home for the next few days.

On March 16, he sent a postcard to his wife with 'talaq' written three times on it. He further claimed that he wrote it in the presence of 2 witnesses. He then called his wife and informed her about the letter.

Shocked and saddened by the act, the woman filed a complaint against him. Another woman from Uttar Pradesh expressed her grievance to Yogi Adityanath over Triple Talaq.

After harassing me since marriage,my husband gave me talaq on phone. I hope CM gives me justice: Sabreen #TripleTalaq @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/hqOfXAzMyg    (@AjayKushwaha_) April 3, 2017

Mother to an 11-month-old daughter, Shabreen was given triple talaq over the phone on March 23. Yogi assured her for justice, asked her not to worry and promised help to her.

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

But the real question it, when will the government take a stringent action over this?
Ambassadors from African countries have said that India has failed to deter xenophobic and racial attacks against Africans in the country. In their first official reaction since the recent incidents of attacks on Africans in Noida, the Heads of African Mission Accredited to India in a joint statement said India failed to condemn the attacks.

AFP

Their statement said,

"The meeting unanimously agreed that these accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature."

The African Heads of Mission "...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."

PTI

They also said that they plan to call for an independent investigation into the attacks by the Human Rights Council and other Rights bodies.

Reacting to the development, India's External Affairs Ministry said the statement was unfortunate and unwarranted.

"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," the MEA said.

PTI

MEA also said that the country has taken steps to ensure safety to Africans living in the country.

"Local authorities have also taken measures to strengthen safety and security of Nigerian nationals. Coordination meetings have been held by local police in Delhi as well as Greater Noida, with African nationals."

PTI

The attack on five African students in greater Noida by a mob had once again sparked fears among the community who say that they are being targeted because they look different.
Uniforms in schools are there to teach students about discipline and making the everyday 'dress-selection' a no brainer. But this school in Mumbai went a step ahead and did the unexpected.

Rizvi Springfield School in Bandra put every parent in sheer bewilderment when it gave instructions to wear "decent and modest attire" . The school restricted the use of mobile phones inside the premises.

Reuters

When parents of Std IX students from Rizvi Springfield School went to collect their children's report cards on March 30, they were handed out instructions they must abide by.

The undertaking, which the parents were expected to sign, said, "I will always come to school in decent and modest attire. If failed to do so, I will be responsible for the consequences."

Among other things, parents are expected to deposit mobile phones at the reception when they come for meetings or events, not question inappropriately or abuse/mistreat staff "verbally or non-verbally".

The move has not gone well with some parents. "Why should a school try to tell parents what they can or cannot wear or whether to carry mobile phones? We are responsible people and haven't seen indecent behaviour or dressing by any parents," said a mother.

Reuters

The parents are also upset about the school telling them not to object to disciplinary action against students.

Some parents alleged the school was using the undertaking to silence them. "There is a lot of trouble in the school related to staff, fee hikes and management, which some of us are trying to protest. This is not something the school is happy about," said a parent who withdrew her child's admission last December.

But the school said it was necessary to issue the instructions to maintain the school's sanctity. "Some parents come to meetings in very casual wear, which is unacceptable. Sometimes, mobile phones start ringing. Similarly, we have had instances of parents talking rudely to staff.

Reuters

As a school, we follow rules set by the government but we can make our own rules to create a good atmosphere for students," said school director Rubina Rizvi.

Principals in the city feel there has been an increased need to communicate with parents about what is acceptable inside institutions. "Sometimes, parents use mobile phones to record a conversation in school and could misuse it. It is, however, important that schools and parents communicate.

Instead of telling parents not to do something, they must tell parents why it must not be done. This has always worked for us. Schools cannot be authoritative," said Chandrakanta Pathak, principal, HVB Global Academy, Marine Drive.

gyanganga

At Swami Vivekananda International Group of Schools, director, Yogesh Patel writes an advisory to parents at the end of every year. "A school has to care about the overall development of the child.

This is influenced by the behaviour of the parents as well, hence we send out a letter giving them tips on parenting and it is always welcomed," he said.
In a bid to promote tourism in the country, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to visit India, said that his government will wave all visa fee for Indians travelling to the country.

AFP

History binds us together. Indian languages, culture and food are popular in Malaysia. I'm a fan of Indian films, especially after visiting Chennai, Razak told reporters at a joint press conference here with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM @NajibRazak announces decisions for no visa fees for Indian applicants, online applcn processing in 48 hrs and multi entries pic.twitter.com/ANzQUYXwxA  Gopal Baglay (@MEAIndia) April 1, 2017

He also added that his government will ensure that the online visa application process does not take over 48 hours.

Malaysia is a hot tourism spot for Indians. Last year, the country received 540,530 Indian arrivals, between January-October, 2016. And the latest development is certain to boost arrivals further to ASEAN and to Malaysia in particular.
Ambassadors from African countries have said that India has failed to deter xenophobic and racial attacks against Africans in the country. In their first official reaction since the recent incidents of attacks on Africans in Noida, the Heads of African Mission Accredited to India in a joint statement said India failed to condemn the attacks. Read more

1) Amul's Brilliant Suggestion Is To Convert Closed Liquor Shops Into Milk Bars For A Healthy Nation

Twitter

Keeping up the humour quotient, the Indian dairy cooperative Amul, has a brilliant suggestion  Convert 16,000 liquor outlets on highways in to Amul milk bars. Read more

2) Now Indians Need 'Schengen' Type One Visa To Visit Malaysia, Indonesia And Singapore

BCCL

You will now be able to visit Malaysia and its neighbouring countries by using just one visa. Malaysia has launched a multiple-entry e-visa for Indian tourists. The multiple entry visa will

be valid for 15 days and can be used by Indian tourists to fly to Malaysia, South Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia on their way back. Read more

3) Mumbai Student Live Streams Suicide on Facebook As He Jumps To Death From Taj Lands End

BCCL

A youth committed suicide by jumping off the Mumbai's Taj Hotel on Monday. Minutes before committing suicide, the deceased, identified as Arjun Bharadwaj had streamed a Facebook Live video which went viral on social media. Read more

4) Stalker-Classmate Attacks Maharashtra MLA's Daughter, Chops Off Her Finger And Breaks Her Teeth

Asianage

MBA student Ashwini Bodkurwar (22), the daughter of BJP MLA Sanjivreddi Bodkurwar, was attacked on Monday morning by one of her classmates with a sharp weapon barely a few meters away from the main gate of her college at Tathawade. Read more

5) IES Officer Arrested For Sexually Abusing JNU Student For The Last Four Years

BCCL

An IES officer has been arrested by the Delhi Police under the POSCO Act. This comes after a JNU student alleged that she had been subjected to sexual abuse by him since 2012. Read more
India's big budget films have a lot of 'foreign' in them  foreign locales, foreign technical personnel, foreign visual effects (VFX) technology.

bccl

Rajinikanth's 'Robot 2.0', sequel to the blockbuster 'Robot,' is a big-budget film with a difference  it's shot entirely in India, all technical crew are Indians as is all VFX technology.

Slated to be the most expensive Indian film ever made and poised for an October release in seven languages (including Japanese, Korean and Mandarin), the Tamil superstar's Rs 350-crore film will be a truly "Make in India" themed movie, its makers told ET.

Make in India is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's key policy initiatives that seeks to encourage manufacturing in India. BJP insiders who spoke off record said the PM had had a word with Rajinikanth a few months back when work on Robot had just begun and had suggested that the much-anticipated film can promote the Make in India theme.

bccl

Raju Mahalingam, COO, Lyca Productions, makers of 'Robot 2.0,' told ET the film has been entirely shot in Delhi and Chennai. "As a group, we are UK-based. But we decided to shoot everything in India this time. This movie will be India's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', the internationally acclaimed Chinese movie," he said.

"The climax was shot in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and the rest in EVP film city in Chennai. The attempt to give a futuristic feel to the movie has resulted in high production costs, but the quality of filming will make many Indian cinemas shift to 3D screens. Generally, movies are shot in 2D and then converted to 3D. This movie is shot using 3D techniques. This is being done for the first time in India," he said.

Animatronics technology and use of helicams to show action scenes between Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar will be among the visual high points of the movie, Mahalingam added.

Composer AR Rahman, cinematographer Nirav Shah, VFX designer Srinivas Mohan, who had earlier worked in 'Baahubali', and sound designer Resul Pookutty, who won an Oscar for 'Slumdog Millionaire', are working on Robot 2.0.

bccl

Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who plays the villain in Robot 2.0, also has a movie slated for release this year which is inspired by another high-profile scheme announced by the Prime Minister.

Kumar's 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' will hit theatres in August and is inspired by the Swachh Bharat project, its makers said.

The government has been keen to popularise India as a film shooting destination, and since 2014, the information and broadcasting ministry has been setting up film facilitation offices as a single window for all clearances and approvals.
Without an iota of doubt, Sholay continues to be the magnum opus on celluloid. And you if you are an ardent fan, here's some good news.

The Karnataka Tourism department is working to set up a 'Sholay-the 3-D Virtual Reality Village' at Ramadevara Betta in Ramanagaram district, the place where the film was shot nearly 42 years ago.

According to a Hindu report, the actors will come alive for visitors and give them a chance to do role-play and deliver dialogues.

The state is planning to build a village stretching over an area of 42,184 sq with 3D technology at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore.

When Thakur says Yeh haath nahi, phaansi ka phanda hai, the visitors can immediately mimic the dialogue that follows, and chorus Yeh Haath Humka De De Thakur, a senior officer at the Department of Tourism told the Hindu.

The report states that Ramanagaram district administration is planning to rope in Sippy Productions to turn this project into a success.

The government plans to implement the project by September and will invite Amitabh, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri and others who either acted in the movie for the inauguration.

The water tank atop, which Veeru threatened suicide, the den where Thakur was handcuffed and Basanti's carriage, are all set to become permanent exhibits. This certainly is a dream come true for any Sholay fan!

via GIPHY
U.S. President Donald Trump in a typically boastful interview with the Financial Times said the U.S. could go it alone in acting against North Korea if China refuses to put pressure on Pyongyang.

"If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will," Trump said ahead of a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

He told the daily that North Korea would rank high on the list of priorities at the summit and uttered dark warnings unless Beijing cooperates. "China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," he said. "If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone."

Trump was pointing to China's control over crude oil supply to the North. If China shuts the spigot, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will have to fundamentally revise his nuclear strategy.

Asked if he was willing to consider pulling U.S. troops out of South Korea if China agrees to intensify pressure on North Korea, Trump declined to answer. "Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," Trump said.

Until now, the standard U.S. response to such a question has been that the withdrawal of U.S. troops is not up for negotiations. But Trump seems willing to leave his options open, which alone is a worrying development.

It would not be wise to pin high hopes on the U.S.-China summit. Some here hope that it will somehow stop the unofficial Chinese boycott of South Korea over the stationing of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here, but that seems unlikely. Others suspect that Trumps main concern is America's trade with China rather than the North Korean nuclear menace.

There are no signs of Beijing's stance on North Korea changing any time soon, but the summit will perhaps give a clearer picture of the direction of North Korea policy during Trump's presidency.

What matters for Seoul is to watch these developments very closely. As far as South Korea's national security goes, the meeting is perhaps more important than the presidential election here.


Supreme Courts order to ban liquor vends operational on National and State highways have invited mixed responses. For some, the SC order would help in saving hundreds of lives whereas most feel that SCs order would not only affect the government revenues but also result in massive job cuts.

AFP

Its being feared that if the ban is implemented properly, it would literally wipe out the hotel industry operational on banks of highways. But beyond the hue and cry and the legitimate argument lies a truth that India witnessed maximum deaths in accidents and if not most, a sizeable chunk of these fatalities can be attributed to the drunken driving.

In 2015, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, some 6,777 individuals in India lost their lives as a direct consequence of drunken driving. But can be done about it as India already has fairly strict laws in place, though their implementation always remains questionable.

What are the allowed Blood Alcohol Limits (BAC) in other countries

Reuters

BAC varies from country to country. In India, its 0.03 % where in other countries, BAC is slightly higher. For example in Australia, BAC is 0.05 % whereas in Singapore, France and Australia, BAC is 0.035%, 0.05% and 0.05% respectively. But since these countries have better law enforcement system in place, the offenders dont get away with ease if caught drunk while driving. Brazil is perhaps the strictest country when it comes to drunken driving as the BAC in Brazil is staggering 0% which means you are bound to get punished even if you had a sip of liquor.

But India needs to keep BAC low because its pathetic in enforcement

In 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its Global Report on Road Safety gave India 4 out of 10 because according to WHO, India suffers from poor law enforcement for road safety norms in general, and drink driving in particular. Additionally, existing laws in the country do not meet the international public health organisations standards of best legislative practice because they do not differentiate between alcohol limits for the general population and novice drivers.

Here are the punishments for drunken driving in other countries

China

In China, drunken driving is an offence. As far as punishment is concerned if BAC limits remain between 0.02% to 0.08%, the offender gets 6 months licence suspension with a fine of Yuan 1,000 to Yuan 2,000 (Rs 9,500 to Rs 19,000 approximately),and if its over 0.08%, then the offender gets 3 years imprisonment and 5 years of licence suspension.

Reuters

The Chinese have been trying to save lives of its citizens by making strict law since 2008 and in 2011 law was added with more teeth with a new legislation which criminalised driving with more than 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Brazil

Brazil is highly strict with laws and doesnt give a leeway of even 0.01%. BAC limit in Brazil is 0.01%. A punishment, Brazilian agencies suspend the license of the offender for 12 months if BAC limit remains within 0% to 0.06%. along with fin of $957 (Rs 20,000 approx), But it goes over 0.06%, the offender will be put on trial and there is a provision for 6 months to 3 years of jail.

Thanks to the strict laws, Rio de Janeiro reported a 32% decline in road accident-related deaths in the first 3 years of the laws implementation, according to the countrys Ministry of Health. The WHO gives Brazil a 7 out of 10 rating for its enforcement of laws regulating drink driving.

Singapore

Singapore also has very strict laws with BAC of 0.035% to 0.09% calls for $2000 to $4000 (9,500 to 19,000) fine and 1 to 3-year licence suspension and if the quotient goes over 0.09%  $5000 (23,000) fine and 6 months to 3 years. Singapore is one of the countries where offenders dont go unpunished.

Reuters

And if the offender repeats the offence, a punishment of a whopping fine of $30,000 (Rs 14.3 lakh) and jail for 3 years. In terms of enforcement, Singapore gets an 8 out of 10 rating from the WHO which also estimates that 11% of road fatalities in the country are related to drinking driving.

Australia

In Australia, the BAC limit varies as per age and experience of driving. In contrast, India has one overarching blood alcohol limit for all drivers which is the reason that it does not meet best legislative practice standards set by the WHO. BAC limit down under for general population is 0.05% but for learners, its 0%.  punishment as prescribed by states law.

Reuters

Australia also gets a high rating of 8 out of 10 scores for the enforcement of drink driving laws from the WHO. The most significant thing about the drink driving laws in the country is its differentiation between novice and experienced drivers. In contrast, India has one overarching blood alcohol limit for all drivers which is the reason that it does not meet best legislative practice standards set by the WHO. Australian law does not allow learners and people holding provisional licences (a licence given after a learners licence which requires further testing to meet set proficiency levels) to drive after drinking any alcohol.

If its higher than 0.08%, the offender gets arrested elsewhere

Though different countries have different BAC, but globally 0.08% is the limit accepted for drunken driving. Beyond this offender gets arrested in most of the cases.

But one standard peg in an hour can keep one within limit

BAC can be measured just 15 minutes after one consumes his or her first drink.

Reuters

According to conventional wisdom, your BAC level will remain within safe limits if you consume only one standard drink per hour. As defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a standard drink is half an ounce of alcohol. That means one 12-ounce beer, one five-ounce glass of wine, and one 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits each count as one standard drink.
The crown prince of Dubai has proved that he is as humble as he is royal.

In a viral video Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, or Fazza as he is known on Instagram, is seen towing a loaded truck out of the Dubai sand with his Mercedes-AMG G63.

  @faz3  A post shared by Saeed Hilal (@saeed.hilal) on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:53pm PDT

After a series of sand skids while pulling and tugging, the prince's shiny vehicle worth $180,000, rescues the mammoth truck stuck in the sand.

"Fazza" is the second son of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Emir (ruler) of Dubai.

The video posted by a user named, Saeed Hilal has garnered a whopping 50,000 views.

The 34-year-old Prince, who is a hardcore animal lover, is also the prince of Instagram, with 5.1 million followers.

Take a look at some the pictures below

 the weekend is here!   A post shared by Fazza (@faz3) on Mar 9, 2017 at 5:17am PST

#goodmorning  20.3.2017 #_ A post shared by Fazza (@faz3) on Mar 20, 2017 at 12:15am PDT
This is Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, as you can tell, he is the coolest PM ever.

Getty

For as far as our memory goes, Trudeau is majorly known for his liberal nature, humility, modesty, astuteness and good looks.

From the past couple of months, the world is reeling over all the bad things - the civil war, Muslim ban, attacks, bomb blasts etc. But surprisingly, for all the problems that this world is creating, the Canadian PM is making up.

I mean, just look at him?

huffingtonpost

Owing to his reputation and popularity, the question-answer website Quora held an exclusive AMA with PM Trudeau and it was absolutely adorable.

And the fact that the Canadian PM took out time to answer these questions for us, mere mortals, is more than overwhelming in ways more than one.

During the session, Trudeau answered 10 questions, ranging from an array of topics, but the cutest of all was him proving to a fan that it was him who was answering them and not his PR team.

He wrote, SEE, ITS ME!!!

Quora/ Justin Trudeau

Apart from that, someone asked him "What should world leaders be doing to support feminism in their countries and around the world?", to which he said:

As many of you probably know, I appointed a cabinet that was gender-balanced. But before I could blithely point out because its 2015, it took a lot of work in 2014, 2013, and 2012. To get great women in Cabinet, we needed to reach out to get great women to want to run for politics. Which was no easy task, given how nasty and divisive politics had become in Canada in those years. And much more to do still, given that our parliament still has only 26% women today.

And in the policy choices we make, leaders around the world should ensure that they encourage the full participation of women in society by enacting laws and regulations that facilitate this, or at the very least that do not pose an obstacle to this. (ex: there are still 18 Nations where women cannot get a job without their husbands permission)

And theres much more to do on combating gender-based violence and harassment around the world, which is why men have an important role to play in the fight for womens equality. Which is why I encourage men to sign up as HeforShe champions online, to demonstrate their support for an equal world.

Another question was about him having any regrets about his leadership, to which he replied:





feminist current

My focus needs to be on doing the best job I can every day in the best possible way for Canadians. Are there things I might have done differently, in hindsight?

Perhaps. But I know Im making the best possible effort on every given decision, alongside a great team representing millions of different voices from across the country, with the best long-term interests of Canadians in mind.

Even though he couldn't answer all the question, the session went extremely well. You can follow the entire AMA here.
In a bid to increase the visibility of women in public spaces, an organisation called Girls at Dhabas held bike rallies across Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. Conservatism and narrow-minded views have stifled women for years, but now women are not ready to sit and wallow in their misery.

Girls At Dhabas/Tumblr

And so, the bike rally titled Girls on Bikes aims at promoting female participation in public events, fight restrictions in public places and increase awareness.

Meher Bano of 'Girls at Dhabas', a feminist group member told Reuters, "Our strategy is simply to be visible in public spaces."

Reuters

Over 60 percent of Pakistan's nearly 200 million people are under the age of 30 but young women in the Muslim country continue to face barriers to employment and are often made to feel uncomfortable going to male-dominated public areas, said Bano.

One of the main triggers for this year's bike rally was when a woman from Lahore was pushed off her bicycle by a group of men last year for not responding to catcalls, reports Reuters.

Girls At Dhabas/Tumblr The Girls At Dhaba group shot to fame back in 2015 after they posted pictures of Pakistani women hanging out at roadside eateries that are traditionally male dominated spaces. "I drive on these roads all the time but this was maybe the first time I got to experience them while biking," said Humay Waseem, one of the riders on the 5-kilometre race around Pakistan's leafy capital Islamabad.

Reuters

"I loved the feeling of freedom with the breeze in my hair." Though there is a small but vocal liberal movement in Pakistan, most noticeable in sections of the media, women who push feminist ideals often face a barrage of abuse and are portrayed as being infected with Western or un-Islamic ideas.

Source: Reuters
Top Obama Adviser Sought Names of Trump Associates in Intel





By Eli Lake

April 04, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Bloomberg " - 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 Rice's requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government's 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 Council's 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 Rice's 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 Counsel's office, who reviewed more of Rice's requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.

The intelligence reports 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. One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they 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.

Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment on Monday morning. Her role in requesting the identities of Trump transition officials adds an important element to the dueling investigations surrounding the Trump White House since the president's inauguration.

Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are probing any ties between Trump associates and a Russian influence operation against Hillary Clinton during the election. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Representative Devin Nunes, is also investigating how the Obama White House kept tabs on the Trump transition after the election through unmasking the names of Trump associates incidentally collected in government eavesdropping of foreign officials.

Rice herself has not spoken directly on the issue of unmasking. Last month when she was asked on the "PBS NewsHour" about reports that Trump transition officials, including Trump himself, were swept up in incidental intelligence collection, Rice said : "I know nothing about this," adding, "I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that account today."

Rice's requests to unmask the names of Trump transition officials do not vindicate Trump's own tweets from March 4 in which he accused Obama of illegally tapping Trump Tower. There remains no evidence to support that claim.

But Rice's multiple requests to learn the identities of Trump officials discussed in intelligence reports during the transition period does highlight a longstanding concern for civil liberties advocates about U.S. surveillance programs. 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 Rice's unmasking requests were likely within the law.

No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter

The news about Rice also sheds light on the strange behavior of Nunes in the last two weeks. It emerged last week that he traveled to the White House last month, the night before he made an explosive allegation about Trump transition officials caught up in incidental surveillance. At the time he said he needed to go to the White House because the reports were only on a database for the executive branch. It now appears that he needed to view computer systems within the National Security Council that would include the logs of Rice's requests to unmask U.S. persons.

The ranking Democrat on the committee Nunes chairs, Representative Adam Schiff, viewed these reports on Friday. In comments to the press over the weekend he declined to discuss the contents of these reports, but also said it was highly unusual for the reports to be shown only to Nunes and not himself and other members of the committee.

Indeed, much about this is highly unusual: if not how the surveillance was collected, then certainly how and why it was disseminated.

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.net

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

Susan Rice Ordered Spy Agencies To Produce Detailed Spreadsheets Involving Trump : Obamas national security adviser Susan Rice ordered U.S. spy agencies to produce detailed spreadsheets of legal phone calls involving Donald Trump and his aides when he was running for president
Something is Not Adding Up In Idlib Chemical Weapons Attack By Paul Antonopoulos April 04, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - At least 58 people were killed in an alleged horrific gas attack in the Idlib Governorate this morning. However, even before investigations could be conducted and for evidence to emerge, Federica Mogherini, the Italian politician High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, condemned the Syrian government stating that the Assad regime bears responsibility for awful Syria chemical attack. The immediate accusation from a high ranking EU official serves as a dangerous precedent where public outcry can be made even before the truth surrounding the tragedy can emerge Israeli President, Benjamin Netanyahu, joined in on the condemnation , as did Amnesty International . Merely hours after the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun, supposedly by the Syrian government, holes are beginning to emerge from opposition sources, discrediting the Al-Qaeda affiliated White Helmets claims. For one, seen in the above picture, the White Helmets are handling the corpses of people without sufficient safety gear, most particularly with the masks mostly used , as well as no gloves. Although this may seem insignificant, understanding the nature of sarin gas that the opposition claim was used, only opens questions. Within seconds of exposure to sarin, the affects of the gas begins to target the muscle and nervous system. There is an almost immediate release of the bowels and the bladder, and vomiting is induced. When sarin is used in a concentrated area, it has the likelihood of killing thousands of people. Yet, such a dangerous gas, and the White Helmets are treating bodies with little concern to their exposed skin. This has to raise questions. It also raises the question why a doctor in a hospital full of victims of sarin gas has the time to tweet and make video calls. This will probably be dismissed and forgotten however. @maytham956 Hmm...'Patients are flooding in' YET this 'doctor' (seems the main source of 'gas attack') has time to film, tweet and videocalls... #Syria pic.twitter.com/SfLOfjE2pG  Malinka (@Malinka1102) April 4, 2017 It is also worth mentioning that Dr Shajul Islam has been struck off the medical register in the UK. It is known that about 250 people from Majdal and Khattab were kidnapped by Al-Qaeda terrorists last week. Local sources have claimed that many of those dead from the chemical weapons were those from Majdal and Khattab. This would suggest that on the eve of upcoming peace negotiations, terrorist forces have once again created a false flag scenario. This bears resemblance to the Ghouta chemical weapons attack in August 2013 where the Syrian Army was accused of using the weapons of mass destruction on the day that United Nations Weapons Inspectors arrived in Damascus. Later, Carla del Ponte, a UN weapons inspector said that there was no evidence that the government had committed the atrocity. This had however not stopped the calls for intervention against the Syrian government, a hope that the militant forces wished to eventuate from their use of chemical weapons against civilians in Ghouta. Therefore, it is completely unsurprising that Orient TV has already prepared a media campaign to cover the Russian and Syrian airstrikes in neighbouring Hama countryside against terrorist forces, with the allegations that the airforces have been using chemical weapons. And most telling, their announcement of covering the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, hours before this allegation even emerged.. Seems like someone forgot to tell him that it would not occur for a few more hours before his tweet. Orient TV reporter :

"tomorrow we are launching a media campaign to cover the airstrikes on Hama country side including the usage of CW" pic.twitter.com/tZ5SWdnHp7  Within Syria (@WithinSyriaBlog) April 4, 2017 Meanwhile, pick up trucks have been photographed around bodies of those killed. Again, it must be questioned why there are people around sarin gas without any protective gear, and not affected at all when it can begin attacking the body within seconds? Also, the pick up trucks remain consistent to what local sources have said were used to transport many of the victims identified as kidnapped by Al-Qaeda terrorists from pro-government towns in rural Hama. Also, what is brought into question is where the location of the hose is coming from in the below picture, a dugout carved into the rock. This also suggests that the location is at a White Helmets base where there are dug out hiding spots carved into the mountainside and where they have easy access to equipment, as highlighted by Twitter user Ian Grant . In response to the allegations, the Syrian Arab Army soldiers in neighbouring northern Hama denied the use of any chemicals weapons today . This is consistent with the Russian Ministry of Defense who denied any involvement in the attack. The army has not and does not use them, not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place, a military source said . No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter And this of course begs the question. With the Syrian Army and its allies in a comfortable position in Syria, making advances across the country, and recovering lost points in rural Hama, why would they now resort to using chemical weapons in Nusra Front occupied Idlib? It is a very simple question with no clear answer. It defies any logic that on the eve of a Syria conference in Brussels and a week before peace negotiations are to resume, that the Syrian government would blatantly use the non-existent stock of chemical weapons. All evidence suggests this is another false chemical attack allegation made against the government as seen in the Ghouta 2013 attack where the terrorist groups hoped that former President Obamas red-line would be crossed leading to US-intervention in Syria against the government. Most telling however, is that most recent report shows that the government does not deny striking Khan Sheikhun. Al-Masdars Yusha Yuseef was informed by the Syrian Army that the air force targeted a missile factory in Khan Sheikoun, using a Russian-manufactured Su-22 fighter jet to carry out the attack. Most importantly, the Su-22s bombs are unique and cannot be filled with any chemical substances, which is different to the bombs dropped from attack helicopters. Yuseef was then told that the Syrian Air Force did not know if there were any chemical substances being stored inside the missile factory in Khan Sheikhoun. It remains to be known whether there actually were chemicals in the missile factory targeted by the airstrikes, or whether the terrorist forces used gas on the kidnapped civilians from the pro-government towns and brought them in the lorry trucks to the site of the airstrikes. Whether they were gassed by the militant forces, or the airstrikes caused a terrorist controlled chemical weapon factory to explode, the gruesome deaths of children, seen foaming in the mouth because of the gas, lays in the hands of the terrorists. Therefore, it becomes evident that the area targeted was definitely a terrorist location, where it is known that the White Helmets share operation rooms with terrorist forces like Al-Qaeda as seen after the liberation of eastern Aleppo. Civilians and fighting forces, including Kurdish militias, have all claimed that militant groups that operate in Idlib, Hama and Aleppo countrysides, have used chemical weapons in the past. Therefore, before the war cries begin and the denouncement of the government from high officials in power positions begin, time must be given so that all evidence can emerge. However, this is an important factor that has never existed in the Syrian War, and the terrorist forces continue to hope that Western-intervention against the government will occur, at the cost of the lives of innocent civilians. This article was first published at Al Masdar News - 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 Dozens killed in suspected gas attack on Syrian rebel area : An alleged Syrian government chemical attack killed at least 58 people, including 11 children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a pro-rebel monitor, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said. Lest we forget: Seymour M. Hersh: Whose sarin? The U.S. intelligence agencies produced evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity.
The Nigerian Senate has finally reviewed the electoral laws of Nigeria correcting the errors that has been a problem in the past.

The Senate has passed the Electoral Act No 6 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2017 after much consideration to correct some of the errors observed in the Act. The amended bill which the Senate passed on March 30, when signed into law will abolish arbitrary fees for nomination forms fixed by political parties.

The parties had been in control of the nomination fees, hiking it as they please. But, all that has now been corrected.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in the past claimed that he borrowed money to pay for his nomination form which cost N25 Million, in the build up to the 2015 general elections. The Senate has put an end to the abuse by political parties by putting a N10 Million limit on the forms.

HERE ARE 17 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL AS COMPILED BY DAILYPOST.

 It stipulates that there shall now be full biometric accreditation of voters with smart card readers and/or other technological devices, as INEC may introduce for elections from time to time.

 It provides that presiding officers must now instantly transmit accreditation data and results from polling units to various collation centres. Presiding officer who contravene this shall be imprisoned for at least five years (no option of fine).

 It states that all presiding officer must now first record accreditation data and polling results on INECs prescribed forms before transmitting them. The data/result recorded must be the same with what they transmitted.

 INEC now has unfettered powers to conduct elections by electronic voting. Besides manual registers, INEC is now mandated to keep electronic registers of voters.

 INEC is now mandated to publish voters registers on its official website(s) for public scrutiny at least 30 days before a general election and any INEC staff that is responsible for this but fails to act as prescribed shall be liable on conviction to six months imprisonment.

 INEC is now mandated to keep a national electronic register of election results as a distinct database or repository of polling unit by polling unit results for all elections conducted by INEC.

Collation of election result is now mainly electronic, as transmitted unit results will help to determine final results on real time basis.

 INEC is now mandated to record details of electoral materials  quantities, serial numbers used to conduct elections (for proper tracking).

 A political party whose candidate dies after commencement of an election and before the declaration of the result of that election now has a 14-day window to conduct a fresh primary in order for INEC to conduct a fresh election within 21 days of the death of the partys candidate.

 Political parties polling agents are now entitled to inspect originals of electoral materials before commencement of election and any presiding officer who violates this provision of the law shall be imprisoned for at least one year.

 No political party can impose qualification/disqualification criteria, measures or conditions on any Nigerian for the purpose of nomination for elective offices, except as provided in the 1999 constitution.

 The election of a winner of an election can no longer be challenged on grounds of qualification, if he, the (winner) satisfied the applicable requirements of sections 65, 106, 131 or 177 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and he is not, as may be applicable, in breach of sections 66, 107, 137 or 182 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. (For example, a persons election cannot be challenged on the grounds that he did not pay tax, as this is not a qualifying condition under the constitution.)

 All members of political parties are now eligible to determine the ad-hoc delegates to elect candidates of parties in indirect primaries. The capacity of party executives to unduly influence or rig party primaries has been reasonably curtailed, if not totally removed.

Parties can no longer impose arbitrary nomination fees on political aspirants. The bill passed prescribes limits for each elective office as follows:

(a) N150, 000 for a ward councillorship aspirant in the FCT;

(b) N250, 000 for an area council chairmanship aspirant in the FCT;

(c) N500, 000 for a house of assembly aspirant;

(d) N1, 000, 000 for a house of representatives aspirant;

(e) N2, 000, 000 for a senatorial aspirant;

(f) N5, 000, 000) for a governorship aspirant; and

(g) N10, 000, 000) for a presidential aspirant.

 Relying on the powers of the national assembly in Paragraph 11 of Part II (Concurrent Legislative List) of the Second Schedule (Legislative Powers) to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the senate also passed measures reforming procedures regulating local government elections. State independent electoral commissions can no longer conduct elections that do not meet minimum standards of credibility.

Also, any INEC official who disobeys a tribunal order for inspection of electoral materials shall be imprisoned for two years, without an option of a fine.
Kpaduwa was a former Principal Manager, Finance and Accounts, at the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

Reports have it that the victim was abducted around 9am on the premises of his firm, Mekcyn Investment.

Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that the armed men were in a Hummer bus.

They reportedly trailed Kpaduwa to the premises of the firm and dragged him out of his Toyota Corolla after shooting repeatedly into the air to scare away his workers and passersby.

The victim, our correspondent gathered, had just returned home from Lagos when the incident happened.

A source in the village, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kpaduwa was kidnapped in the presence of his workers, who scampered to safety.

The source said the villagers had reported the incident at the Anara Police Division at Idem, adding that the businessman was kidnapped close to his home.

The gunmen shot repeatedly into the air. They went straight to their target and dragged him from his Toyota Corolla into their Hummer bus. They ordered a pastor of a nearby church, who came out on hearing gunshots, to lie down, he said.

Another resident, who did not want to be identified, said he heard the sound of gunshots and ran to safety, only to be told afterwards that the 55-year-old businessman had been abducted.

A source in the village told our correspondent that the kidnappers had yet to contact the victims family.

Text messages sent to the mobile phone of the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, had yet to be replied to as of the time of filing this report.
A traditional ruler, the Onibeju of Ibeju-Lekki, Oba Rafiu Olusegun Salami, yesterday, told a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere that he was chosen as king in 2000 by Ifa Oracle and not by an election.

Salami, who was testifying under a subpoena, said this during cross-examination before Justice K. O. Dawodu in a suit filed by Prince Taofeek Adegboyega Odukoya, challenging his ascension to the throne.

Joined alongside Salami as co-defendants in the suit are Lagos State Governor, Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Council, Prince Samilu Ogundana and Mr. Babatunde Odunaiya as first to fifth and seventh defendants.

The claimant is asking for a declaration that the governments approval of Salami as Onibeju in 2007 contravened the Customary Law of Ibejuland and the Obas and Chiefs Law of Lagos State and was therefore void.

Odukoya asked for a declaration that he was regularly nominated by the Ladeso Ruling House and recommended for installation as Onibeju by the kingmakers.

He is also seeking, among others, an order that the fifth, sixth and seventh defendants are ineligible to be installed as Onibeju and should be perpetually restrained from interfering with Customary and Statutory Law relating to the Onibejus installation.

Salami, under cross-examination from fifth defendants counsel, Chief Babatunde Oshilaja, said he was chosen by the Odimoro Fraternity from a pool of eight candidates for the throne.

He said he was a member of Ladeso ruling house on his mothers side, but that he does not know whether the ruling house was patrilineal or matrilineal.

Salami added that Ladeso, a female, was married to only one man, but I dont know the name of her husband.

Justice Dawodu adjourned the case till May 26 for ruling and for continuation of trial.

Source: Vanguard
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday arraigned the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Illoh Clement, for allegedly failing to make full disclosure of his assets.

Clement was arraigned on a three-count charge before Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The EFCC, in the charge marked, FHC/L/105c/17, alleged that Clement failed to declare the sums of N97,300,613.44, $139,575.50 and 10,121.52, which were found in his name in three bank accounts.

According to the EFCC, the defendant warehoused the monies into his three accounts domiciled in First Bank.

He was said to have committed the offence on April 19, 2016.

The EFCC Prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that Clement acted contrary to Section 27 (3) (c) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004.

But when the charges were read to him, Clement pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer, Mr. T.S. Awhana, urged Justice Kuewumi to admit him to bail on self-recognition or if conditions were to be attached, the court should be lenient as, according to him, the defendant was diabetic and hypertensive.

Awhana said he had attached a medical report to the bail application for the judge to see.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Oyedepo, had said he had no intention of opposing the bail application as he was more interested in the expeditious trial of the case.

Oyedepo said he was ready to open his case immediately as, according to him, the case was straight forward and he had brought his two witnesses to court to prove the case.

As the EFCC did not oppose the bail application, Justice Kuewumi admitted Clement to bail in the sum of N50m with one surety in like sum.

The judge said the surety, who must be resident in Lagos, must depose to an affidavit of means and must show evidence of tax clearance for three years.

Clement was ordered to deposit his passport in the custody of the court pending the determination of the case.

The judge, however, declined Oyedepos prayer that trial should commence immediately. He subsequently adjourned till May 8, 2017 for commencement of trial while he ordered that Clement should be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending when he would perfect his bail.

Source: BreakingTimes
The police in Osun State has shot a young man dead after allegedly taking a part of a large N8million booty.

A policeman has allegedly killed one Bashiru Ayedun for protesting against the arrest of his colleague who successfully duped an unsuspecting client of N8million in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State.

During the weekend, Ayedun was said to have joined other friends to celebrate with the alleged scammer who raked in the N8million before policemen stormed the scene to arrest him.

However, the deceased met his death while leading others in a protest against the arrest.

An eyewitness, who gave the account of the mayhem under anonymity, said that the youths protested because the police took part of the loots and still went ahead to arrest the internet fraudster.

According to him, the police were offered N100, 000 but they rejected it, saying that the boy should give more than that since he got N8 million.

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 bigger protest in Ile-Ife.

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, Punch reports.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Osun state Afolabi Babawale confirmed that one Basiru Ayedun was shot dead and this resulted into a bigger protest on the streets of Ile-Ife.
The India government has rejected charges made by a group of African envoys who termed recent attacks on African students in the country as racial and xenophobic.

The envoys also slammed New Delhi for inaction on the issue.

African missions in India on Monday condemned the racial, xenophobic attacks on their students near New Delhi and called for an international inquiry.

Mobs in Delhis suburbs of Noida had last week thrashed several Nigerians after a local teenager died of a suspected drug overdose.

Residents blamed some African students for plying the youth with drugs.

A statement issued by Eritrean ambassador and dean of the African group of mission heads, Alem Woldemariam, had said that India had taken no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures to prevent the violence.

The envoys called for a probe by UNs Human Rights Council into the attack.

However, Indian Foreign Ministry officials rejected the claim that African nations had spoken with one voice as a very small number of envoys were consulted for the statement issued by Woldemariam.

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, the ministry said.

It said that the local authorities had expeditiously arrested suspects, and the Indian government had also condemned and described the attack as unacceptable.

Authorities had also taken measures for the safety and security of African students and were holding meetings with local residents and students.

In New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN was not involved in the case, but it wanted the perpetrators of the attack to be brought to justice.

(dpa/NAN)
The Niger State Government has ordered the re-arraignment of a man sentenced to one-month imprisonment for abduction and rape of a nine-year-old boy, who eventually died.

The convict, Nuhu Musa, 37, was sentenced to one-month imprisonment with an option of N30, 000 fine by a Kontagora Magistrates Court for kidnap and rape of a minor.

The incident occurred in Kontagora Local Government Area of Niger.

Mr. Musas jail term ended on Tuesday.

The public relations officer of the Niger Police Command, Bala Elkana, said on Tuesday in Minna that further investigations would be carried out on the case, and that Mr. Musa would be charged with murder, rape and kidnap.

Mr. Elkana said Mr. Musas sentence was not commensurate with his offences, adding that the child eventually died from injuries sustained from the rape.

Meanwhile, Mariam Kolo, Director-General of the Niger State Child Rights Protection Agency, said the child was abducted alongside four other boys.

She said Mr. Musa had sex with the deceased and injured him severely.

Mrs. Kolo said the child was consequently taken to a hospital and operated upon but died the following day.

She said Mr. Musa was arrested, charged to court and given a sentence of one-month imprisonment on a two-count charge.

She said Mr. Musa was sentenced to one month imprisonment on each of the counts of rape and abduction with an option of fine of N30,000.

The director-general said the agency had recommended Mr. Musas re-arrest and re-arraignment.

She said the state government had given the mother of the child a grinding machine and some money to start a business to comfort her.

(NAN)
Biometrics like fingerprint readers, iris scanners, and facial recognition are either the solution to passwords unmanageability or a fools-gold technology that will compromise us all. Both and neither are true.

The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 introduces facial recognition to unlock the smartphone, becoming the fourth unlock option for Samsungs flagship device, in addition to fingerprint reading, iris scanning, and good ol manually entered passwords. And mere days after its introduction, someone has already fooled the Galaxy S8s facial recognition by showing the device a picture of the person. That would be an easy way to unlock someone elses phone without their permission. (An earlier Google facial-recognition technology in 2011s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich had the same flaw, by the way.)

Samsungs lax implementation doesnt mean that facial recognition is a bad idea. As in all security matters, the question is how deep to make the security mechanism for its intended use.

Samsung knows its facial recognition is not very secure, despite marketers hope that you think it is. In fact, Samsung doesnt allow use of its facial-recognition technology for its Samsung Pay service or to access online banking. But it does let you use its smartphones fingerprint reader or iris scanner for those; those scanners are much harder to fool because they rely on greater biometric detail than the its facial-recognition implementation does.

Making passwords easier is a noble achievement

Facial recognition on the Galaxy S8 is really a user convenience (for faster password entry), not a true identity validation. Thats not a bad thing, as long as you understand thats all it is.

The truth is most people fumble with passwords, so they dont apply them to their phones unless forced to (such as when their employer requires a password to access corporate data over smartphones). Thats why Apple introduced its fingerprint scanner in 2013s iPhone 5s: to ease password usage, as well as to make credit-card charges safer than using a plastic card (through Apple Pay). The fingerprint and iris scanners in subsequent Android devices have the same purposes. None is meant to provide spy-grade identity validation.

When Apple brought fingerprint reading to the iPhone 5s in 2013, people were able to fool it as well via techniques that a spy agency might use but not your routine hacker.

The issue is how much security is appropriate for the access provided. Unlocking a smartphone is a less sensitive activity than transferring money or boarding a plane. Could Samsung make S8s facial recognition good enough to be as secure as its fingerprint scanning and iris scanning? Yes. Should it? Thats less clear.

How to amp up facial recognitions identity accuracy

Facial recognition can be secure: British Airways is testing facial recognition at Londons Heathrow airport, for example, to replace boarding passes at the gate. That system requires travelers be scanned during security check-in with devices more capable than a smartphone camera, then does a facial scan at the gate to evaluate the match. That approach also time-limits the facial data; if you dont go through security you wont have a picture to be matched at the gate. And good luck using a photo to fool the cameras at the security check-in.

At a less extreme level, Microsoft uses depth perception in Windows 10s Hello facial recognition technology for PCs, providing more assured identification than the Galaxy S8 doesfor the few PCs with cameras up to the job, that is.

If Samsungs Galaxy S8 camera added depth perception and perhaps forced a user to move his or her head, its facial recognition might be as secure as its fingerprint and iris scanning. But again the question is whether its worth the effort, given the other methods available on the Galaxy S8and whether users and developers understand the difference in identity assurance across the smartphones biometric tools and thus dont trust facial recognition for more than it is safe for.

It might be smarter to combine biometric methods

You hear a lot of talk about the importance of second-factor authentication, though most deployments rely on unsecure, SMS-transmitted codes. Well, the biometrics in mobile devices could bring effective second-factor authentication, even when by themselves they are not sufficiently verifiable. In other words, dont assume that each individual security mechanism has to work at the highest levels; combining multiple methods might be a better approach.

For example, a device that supports multiple biometric methods as the Galaxy S8 does could use several readings to confirm identity. Combining facial recognition with a fingerprint scan, or iris scan with a fingerprint scanor even all threecould provide much greater assured security for where that matters, like access to sensitive areas in a building.

Biometrics big risk is off-device

The storage of biometric data on servers and cloud services scares my colleague Roger Grimes, a security consultant and InfoWorld contributor, because if those repositories are hacked, were screwed. In an all-digital workflow, a hacker only has to access a system and inject the biometric data directly; no system could tell the biometric data came from you or a digital record.

Thats why the fingerprint reader in the iPhone, as well as the fingerprint readers and iris scanners in later Android devices, does not transmit your biometric data. Instead, it stores and verifies it in a secured chip on the device before sending your normal password to the service youre trying to use, whether the phone-unlock feature or your banking login. That way, no one can intercept the digital bits that make up your biometric identification, and if they intercept the transmitted password, you can change that password to limit further damage. You of course cant change your fingerprint or iris if its digital representation got compromised.

Biometrics arent the silver bullet to identify validation, and they could undermine our security if used improperly. The key, as in all security strategies, is to figure out the right balance for what youre trying to secure and not rely on any one method.
President Donald Trumps 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.

[ Further reading: Frustration, anger over new H-1B rule finds voice on U.S. site ]

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 groups president, said in court papers last month that if the H-4 employment authorization is invalidated, many of the groups 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.

This story, "Trump actively considering new H-1B spouse work rule " was originally published by Computerworld .
By Bharath Vasudevan, Director of Product Management, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software-defined and Cloud Group.

It's an exciting time to work in tech. With all of the advancements in areas like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, the world we live in is progressively becoming smarter. Even the things that seemed impossible and taken straight out of a science fiction movie (self-driving cars!) are now beginning to become a new normal.

With all these fantastic technology advancements, though, the management of new products and features can often become... a little complex. And this fact is no different in the IT infrastructure space. If you don't believe me, scroll through your Twitter feed and it wont be too long before you find one or two IT aficionado that you follow rallying around the cry of "Automate everything!"

Automation works to simplify typical tasks, so it's easy to imagine why IT teams seek out automation tools and products. After all, why spend three hours completing a mundane task when automation can save you the time and effort? Automation tools become especially important when used in a management capacity. There, they enable IT to drive more business value to the entire organization, meaning more services are delivered faster and without the strain on the administrators or the end users.

Just as the emergence of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things has come with new products to manage devices leveraging these technologies, so too has the trend toward hybrid IT. Hybrid IT has resulted in new management and automation tools to further simplify and streamline the process across multiple technologies you are using both within and outside of your data center.

Perhaps there are no better examples of hybrid IT than hyperconverged and composable infrastructure. These solutions have transformed data centers and the IT teams who manage them from complexity connoisseurs into masters of simplicity. But even simple solutions can (and should) benefit from automation tools.

Take HPE OneView for example. HPE OneView is an infrastructure automation engine and an essential part of HPE's existing hyperconverged and composable infrastructure solutions. HPE OneView drives business value (the ultimate goal of any good IT solution, automation-related or otherwise) by allowing IT to deploy infrastructure faster, simplify operations, and increase productivity.

Template-based automation enables IT generalists to rapidly and reliably provision resources in response to applications requirements. This allows IT to deploy infrastructure faster with less human error. Agent-less monitoring, online firmware updates, and a new Global Dashboard deliver streamlined lifecycle operations at scale and simplify operations overall. And the unified API gives developers and ISVs the power to unify infrastructure automation with application and IT service delivery which increases their productivity.

While the world continues to get smarter and become more automated, the tools we use to manage new, innovative technologies have to evolve as well. By driving simplicity and decreasing time spent on management, automation tools are the key to the success of the future of IT.

To find out how you can take the next step in automating data center operations, watch this webinar detailing why and how to migrate to HPE OneView with ease.
Asian markets mixed ahead of US elections, inflation data AP - Tue Nov 8, 12:11AM CST Asian stocks are mixed ahead of the U.S. midterm elections with trading likely to stay bumpy in a week that brings new inflation data and other events that could shake markets $SPX : 3,806.80 (+0.96%) $DOWI : 32,827.00 (+1.31%) $IUXX : 10,977.00 (+1.10%)

S&P500 (ES) Weekly MACD Positively Crossing Tradable Patterns - Tue Nov 8, 12:02AM CST 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 : 86.84 (-0.74%) CTH23 : 85.12 (-0.83%) CTK23 : 84.48 (-0.69%)

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 : 1450-6 (unch) ZSH23 : 1459-4 (+0.10%)
Self-storage real estate investment trust Life Storage Inc. played an April Fools Day prank last week when it promoted the launch of a fictional product line called She Sheds. Aimed at female customers, the sheds were said to be decked-out units for a discreet and luxurious escape from the perils of motherhood, according to a bogus press release published on PRWeb. The company claimed it would be testing the new product in select markets this summer.

According to the release, the specialized 10-by-20-foot units would be outfitted with decorative lighting, a couch, carpeting, a flat-screen TV and hardwood floors. It would also be protected with an impenetrable security system and designed to be untraceable, keeping unwanted distractions out while providing a calm, serene atmosphere within. It was said to be priced at $99 per month, with upgrades like high-speed Internet access, a Netflix membership and masseuse visits available for an additional fee.

Life Storage encouraged women to share their personal wish list on the companys Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts using the hashtag #ThatsWhatSheShed. The company said it would consider the suggestions for future product enhancements.

A link at the end of the release opened to Web page containing a video in which a harried mom talked about man caves and the search for a space of her own, after which she showed off her very own She Shed and all of its amenities. Further down the page, readers saw the message, April Fools! Life Storage did, however, invite its customers to get in on the prank by sharing the page with a friend.

Based in Buffalo, N.Y., Life Storage operates 650 self-storage facilities in 29 states, under the Life Storage and Uncle Bob's Self Storage brand names. Its portfolio of owned and managed facilities comprises about 45 million square feet.
Pressure to cut costs by replacing humans with robots may end up hurting firms if theyre not careful, PwC says.

Growing pressure for investment firms to cut costs by automating jobs may leave them open to expensive compliance problems.

Thats the warning that PwC and McKinsey delivered in two separate research notes last month on robotic process automation, or using robots to replace work done by humans. Without proper governance, the benefits of digital labor can quickly vanish, PwC said in its report entitled, Who minds the robots?

In a big shift in the last six months, firms are spending more on automation software as a cost-cutting measure reminiscent of their decision to move jobs to cheaper locations abroad, according to Kevin Kroen, partner and lead of PwCs financial services digital labor practice. He sees workforces becoming smaller and more highly analytical as a result.

Robots do break [and] there are going to be areas where judgments need to be made, Kroen said in an interview. You need to make sure you have the right people minding what is happening in the actual operational environment. It is a different skill set.

McKinsey agreed in its report, saying firms should embed critical business-analysis and digital skills into their next-generation operating models.

Firms that have humans checking the work of the robots may become overwhelmed as automation soars, making it important for control points to be established early, according to PwC, which says retrofitting may be expensive while executive credibility may be lost if dealt with too late.

Glitches in technology, such as high-speed automated trading, can be expensive to investors, too. For example, in the flash crash in May 2010, about $1 trillion vanished from the market in 15 minutes as securities prices plummeted, the consulting firm said.

Regulators, meanwhile, have expressed concerned about the automation trend. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority warned in a Business Plan 2016/2017 report that firms reliance on complex infrastructures increases potential for problems and outages of key systems.

And while theres increasing appetite to replace humans in some functions in financial services, many chief executive officers acknowledge the technology still needs work.

Like other firms, we are looking at artificial intelligence and machine learning as the next step forward, Alasdair Haynes, CEO of pan-European trading group Aquis Exchange, said in an interview. But we are still a long way from replacing humans in the chain.
A trade body representing Michigan automotive service providers has asked Senator Joe Hune to push through another bill limiting insurers prerogatives in direct repair program shops.Hune has filed Senate Bill 291, which is similar to a 2015 version, Senate Bill 430, save for one proviso: An insurer shall not require, directly or indirectly, through a contract, program, or policy, a person that operates an automobile repair facility to use a specific vendor or process for the procurement of parts or other materials.Repairer Driven News reported that, if signed by Governor Rick Snyder, the law would take effect after 90 days.The Automotive Service Association of Michigan (ASAM) has requested legislation to curb the practice of some insurers of compelling repair shops to adopt specific procurement systems - as in the case of State Farm , which favours PartsTrader; and American Family, which leans towards Soleras APU.However, ASAM executive director Ray Fisher said that their sentiment is not a reflection of a bias against these systems, but rather a response to insurers overstepping their jurisdiction.Furthermore, Fisher told the Repairer: We feel that it should be a free marketplace.Hune chairs the Senate Insurance Committee, which received the proposed law last week.
Another one bites the dust.Iowas dominant health insurer has announced it will stop selling individual policies for 2018 to recover from tens of millions of losses from its participation in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shields decision will affect more than 21,000 Iowans who bought health insurance policies from 2014 and means they will need to find another carrier.The Des Moines Register reported that Wellmark president John Forsyth said the company has lost $90 million in the past three years to provide coverage for policyholders and that its decision was painful but necessary.Forsyth explained that much of the problem comes from the fact that too few healthy young people are in the pool, with older Iowans who suffer from chronic and costly problems comprising the bulk of the market.Youve got to get those healthy people in the pool to make this work, he pointed out.However, the announcement will not affect most of the 1.6 million Iowa residents who have bought Wellmark insurance, which includes policies acquired through their employers, the publication said. There are also 77,000 policyholders who are safe because they bought insurance prior to 2014.While Forsyth said his company is still open to the possibility of getting back into the Iowa health insurance pool in the future, it is firm about taking a breather in 2018.Wellmarks exit leaves Iowans with options limited to national carrier Aetna and Minnesota-based Medica. Wellmark dominates the states health insurance market, accounting for roughly 75% of policyholders.Iowa insurance commissioner Doug Ommen said in the same report: We are very concerned about this development.Meanwhile, Cynthia Cox, a national health care analyst, observed that such a trend is emerging across the country. She said that the circus surrounding the national health care system, which recently concluded in a Republican pull out of a bill proposing an overhaul to the ACA, is spooking the industry.That uncertainty makes insurers very nervous, Cox pointed out.In addition, Forsyth suggested that the government needs to undertake reforms to fix the healthcare system to achieve its goal of providing universal coverage. Among his recommendations are the setting of a cap to coverage and putting up a system for expenses that exceed $100,000 a year for sick policyholders, which he said would greatly help in stabilizing the ACA exchanges.
Cook Maran & Associates (Cook Maran), one of New York and New Jerseys largest insurance brokers, will acquire Gundermann & Gundermann (Gundermann), a third-generation, family-owned company thats 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 dealer clients.

This is Cook Marans second recent partnership with an area agency, having acquired New Jersey-based Mintz, Girgan & Brightly (MGB) in January. Similar to 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 agencys Huntington, New York, office, with the added expertise of the combined agencies professionals at six offices across the tri-state area.

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, said Cook Maran Chairman and CEO Len Scioscia in a press release announcing the deal.

In merging with Cook Maran, Gundermann also joins the national platform of Prime Risk Partners (PRP).

By joining Cook Maran and Prime Risks New York metropolitan area platform, weve 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, said Gundermann President and CEO Joseph Gundermann in the release.

Prime Risk Partners Chairman and CEO Bret Quigley added in the release that PRP is aiming for strong and sustainable growth nationally through a thoughtful expansion strategy of finding the right partners, working with leading brokers and embracing a national platform.

Source: Cook Maran & Associates

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Carriers New York
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 years $81 million cyber heist of the Bangladesh central banks 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 Sonys 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 worlds biggestcyber security firms.

The North Korean government has denied allegations of hacking made by officials in Washington and South Korea as well as 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 thats true, then that says to me that the North Koreans are robbing banks, Ledgett said. Thats 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 PLC, said Kasperskys 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)

Related:

Topics Cyber
Brokerslink announced the launch of an expanded Global Construction Practice with the appointments of Brian Schofield and Edouard Marron as co-practice leaders. They take up these roles with immediate effect.

The new Global Construction Practice will provide risk management, technical, construction industry knowledge and marketing resources to all Brokerslink firms globally. This will further develop the offering to clients around the world and will create increased synergy between Brokerslinks construction insurance and reinsurance sectors, said Brokerslink in a statement.

Schofield and Marron together bring over 65 years of experience in construction insurance broking. Schofield, who is based in New York, is a senior managing director Crystal & Co., while Marron, who is based in London, is managing director of construction at Ed Broking.

Paul Bitner, managing director of Brokerslink, commented: Brokerslink is very pleased to welcome Brian and Edouard into their new roles. Their standing in the industry and sector knowledge make them ideal candidates to spearhead this new phase in the development of our global construction business. I look forward to working closely with them and our clients to further build out Brokerslinks construction capability.

About Brokerslink

Created in 2004 as a global network of independent brokers, Brokerslink was incorporated in Switzerland in 2015, becoming an integrated global broking company, owned by 55 shareholders from 40 countries.

Topics Agencies Construction Human Resources
Legislation capping recoveries in medical malpractice awards and a bill that would limit public access to 911 call information are still alive the Iowa Legislature.

Medical Malpractice Caps

The legislation would limit financial recoveries for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000. Similar measures have been declared unconstitutional in 11 other states, but some courts have upheld the efforts. Medical malpractice victims have criticized the bill, calling it an unconstitutional abuse of power by the Legislature, while supporters say lower medical liability premiums would make Iowa appealing for physicians.

Access to 911 Calls

This measure would eliminate the publics right to access 911 calls involving emergencies in which people are injured, sealing key information about public safety. The bill declares that 911 calls involving injured victims are medical records and exempt from Iowas open records law. That means authorities initial response to shootings, stabbings and many other incidents would face less scrutiny. Calls involving minors would automatically be confidential, a point that lawmakers have focused on in their support for the bill.

The bill declares that 911 calls involving injured victims are medical records and exempt from Iowas open records law. That means authorities initial response to shootings, stabbings and many other incidents would face less scrutiny.

Calls involving juveniles would all be confidential.

GOP Rep. Dean Fisher says the legislation comes in response to the release of 911 calls to The Associated Press last year that exposed a string of gun accidents in Tama County that killed two teens and injured a third.

Fisher says medical privacy outweighs the publics right-to-know.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Iowa Medical Professional Liability
With Republicans in control of state government, Iowa union leaders approached this legislative session with apprehension, but say they never envisioned 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 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 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.

Iowa voters sent us here to change the way we do business, Dix said. They didnt want us to continue on the same path.

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.

The changes in Iowa have drawn attention around the country, especially since the state had a reputation of taking a middle-of-the-road stand on public policy, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Bronfenbrenner said the changes to Iowas workers compensation system have been especially significant. Although 36 states have changed workers compensation laws since 2014, Iowas reduced coverage places limits on the most job-inhibiting injuries, she said, such as shoulder injuries and permanent injuries impacting the whole body.

When combined with other laws approved by the Legislature, Bronfenbrenner said she thinks more Iowa residents would have to rely on Social Security disability and Medicaid.

This is basically going to be putting people into poverty, she said. I have not heard of anybody doing these kinds of cuts, but now theyre going to get ideas from Iowa, that used to be such a progressive state.

Claudia Pettit, an officer with the local Teamsters union, said many workers feel bewildered.

Some of are battling terminal diseases and they are worried, severely worried, about whats going to happen to not only their jobs, but their insurance and how theyre going to take care of their family, she said. I think that is shameful for us to put a worker in that situation. I think Iowa failed them.

Democratic Sen. Rob Hogg, of Cedar Rapids, called the session the worst assault on workers by the Iowa Legislature, certainly in my 15-year career and probably longer.

Homan said its hard for him to believe how much has changed and how quickly.

They are going to everything in one time, get it all done, wipe everybody out, and well see whats left, he said. This has been a nightmare scenario.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Workers' Compensation Iowa
A federal appeals court on Friday said Home Depot Inc. must face a lawsuit claiming that the retailers negligence led to a supervisors murdering a pregnant employee by strangulation and raping her corpse.

Reversing a lower court ruling, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said Alisha Bromfields mother may pursue claims that Home Depot should not have employed the supervisor, given his known history of sexually harassing, verbally abusing and physically intimidating female subordinates.

Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes said the Atlanta-based company is reviewing the decision. Our deepest sympathies remain with the family, first and foremost, he said.

We are very pleased with the reversal, Kristin Barnette, the lawyer for Bromfields mother, Sherry Anicich, said in an interview.

Bromfield, 21, was seven months pregnant in August 2012 when she was killed by Brian Cooper, for whom she had worked in Home Depot stores in Illinois since 2006, court papers show.

Her unborn baby did not survive. Cooper was later convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole.

The complaint said Bromfield had repeatedly complained to management about how Cooper treated women, including calling her a slut and whore in front of customers.

Cooper eventually forced Bromfield to attend his sisters wedding in Wisconsin or risk being fired, and killed her after she refused to enter a relationship, the complaint said.

Last March, a lower court judge said Bromfields mother failed to plausibly allege that Home Depot had a duty to protect her from Coopers criminal conduct, justifying damages.

But the appeals court said a reasonable jury could find that Home Depot and Grand Flower Growers, which the mother said jointly employed Cooper, should have foreseen he might take the small further step to violence.

Alishas story is an old story that has been told too many times, Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote. Its ending is both shocking and predictable. Alishas family is entitled to try to prove its truth.

Grand Flowers lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Hamilton also criticized Home Depots argument that it would be illogical and unworkable to fire or demote workers because of their usage of inappropriate language, or sexual misconduct, to prevent a future (hypothetical) murder.

Home Depot asserts in its brief that it employs thousands of such people, Hamilton wrote in a footnote. We hope this insult to the character of Home Depots employees and to the judgment of its managers was just an ill-advised exaggeration.

The case is Anicich v. Home Depot USA Inc. et al, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 16-1693.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

Topics Lawsuits
QBE North America, an operating division of global insurer QBE Insurance Group Limited, has formed a strategic program alliance with High Point Underwriters and Midwestern Insurance Alliance to offer a national workers compensation and occupational accident insurance program for the transportation market.

The program allows for employee drivers to be included on a workers compensation policy, and the owner-operators on an occupational accident and contingent liability policy with the same insurance company. This program will offer coverage nationally through QBE insurance companies on an admitted and non-admitted basis.

Glenn Skrynecki, senior vice president, P&C Programs, said the partnership with High Point and Midwestern is part of its strategy to work with industry specialists in the management of workers compensation and occupational accident programs.

Marc Risen, president, Midwestern Insurance Alliance, said working with QBE will help to fill a gap in the the trucking market by providing insurance coverage to the motor truck carrier for all drivers that they use to run their businesses.

Louisville, Ky.-based Midwestern Insurance Alliance is a national workers compensation program administrator focused on the trucking market for over 30 years, while Morris Plains, New Jersey-based High Point Underwriters is an occupational accident program administrator.

Topics Workers' Compensation
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider reviving litigation seeking to hold Arab Bank Plc financially liable for militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories that accused the Jordan-based bank of being the paymaster to militant groups.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal by roughly 6,000 plaintiffs, who included relatives of non-U.S. citizens killed in such attacks and survivors of the incidents, of a lower court ruling throwing out the litigation.

The plaintiffs accused Arab Bank under a U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute of deliberately financing terrorism, including suicide bombings and other attacks. They are hoping to overturn a 2015 New York federal appeals court ruling that the bank could not be sued under the statute because it is a corporation.

The Alien Tort Statute, a law dating back to 1789, lets non-U.S. citizens seek damages in U.S. courts for human rights violations abroad. The lead plaintiff in the case is Joseph Jesner, whose British citizen son was killed at age 19 in a 2002 suicide bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv.

The plaintiffs filed several lawsuits under the law in Brooklyn federal court, claiming Arab Bank used its New York branch to transfer money and serve as a paymaster for international terrorists.

The transfers helped Hamas and other groups fund attacks and reward families of the perpetrators between 1995 and 2005, the suits alleged.

The bank said in court papers that the U.S. government has called it a constructive partner in the fight against terrorism financing. The bank said only four transactions out of 500,000 involved designated terrorists by the U.S. government, and they were the result of machine or human error.

The bank also cited a separate 2010 case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, in which the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corporations cannot be sued under the Alien Tort Statute.

After reviewing that case, the Supreme Court in 2013 narrowed the laws reach, saying claims must sufficiently touch and concern the United States to overcome the presumption that the Alien Tort Statute does not cover foreign conduct.

But the high court declined to explicitly decide whether the 2nd Circuit ruling on corporate liability was correct.

Based on the Kiobel ruling, the 2nd Circuit threw out the litigation against Arab Bank.

The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, urging it to decide once and for all whether corporations are shielded over foreign conduct.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

Topics Lawsuits Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA New York
QBE North America announced two executive appointments in the Property & Casualty business.

Jamie Luce will lead the Commercial Insurance business as senior vice president. He will oversee all of the QBE North America commercial business.

Luce built middle market business over the past 14 years with Liberty Mutual. In his most recent chief underwriting officer role, he was responsible for overseeing Liberty Mutuals Business Insurance segment. He spent his early career in various positions with Wausau Insurance Co., the Westfield Group and American International Group.

Based in New York, Luce will report to Kathleen O. Zortman, president, Property & Casualty.

Reporting to Luce will be Julie Hespe, who also recently joined QBE as a product leader for the companys commercial portfolio. She is expected to help bolster the overall performance of commercial lines through enhanced performance analysis, while ensuring alignment with customer needs.

Hespe comes to QBE with program development and underwriting experience. She led program development and strategy as an executive vice president for the MGA and brokerage group, BlueSkyRisk. She has also held various leadership positions at AIG, AIG Environmental, Swiss Re and AIU International Environmental.

Russ Johnston, chief executive officer, QBE North America, called Luce and Hespe world-class talent whose leadership will drive profitable growth in this important segment.

Topics Commercial Lines
Powerful storms that killed two in Louisiana took aim at Alabama and other parts of the Southeast on April 3, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to the region.

A tornado flipped a mobile home on April 2 in Bruex Bridge, Louisiana, killing a mother and her 3-year-old daughter. The storm also brought hurricane-force winds, large hail and sparked flash flooding. Up to 6 inches of rain fell in some areas.

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 they could get severe weather alerts through Monday.

It is an extremely dangerous weather event, he said.

A tornado with peak winds of 110 mph traveled for nearly 1 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 Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Maj. Ginny Higgins told The Associated Press that the 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 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.

Relatives described those killed as a fun-loving pair who smiled frequently.

Nevaeh was the sweetest little girl, said Sheryle Rubin, whos engaged to the girls uncle. She was only 3 years old but was the smartest girl in the world. She wouldve 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 80 mph winds. Hurricanes have at least 74 mph winds.

This is a statewide weather event, the governor said. Its likely to be an all-night event. We dont expect the weather system to leave the state of Louisiana until sometime tomorrow morning.

Another hard-hit area in Louisiana was the city of Alexandria, where winds blew off the roof of a gas station and knocked out power to thousands, KALB reported. Customers and storm employees sought shelter in a beer cooler.

In Texas, fire officials in the 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.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Texas Louisiana Windstorm
A miner killed by falling rock at a Kentucky coal mine early Thursday is the states second mining fatality this year, matching the total from all of 2016, authorities said.

Joseph W. Partin died when a 15-foot-tall section of exposed rock fell on him at Green Hill Minings No. 51 surface mine in the southeast part of the state, according to state officials. The 33-year-old miner was performing maintenance work on an auger when the rock fell.

Kentucky recorded its first mining death of 2017 in late January. Kentuckys two mining deaths last year also occurred in January and March.

Last year the mining industry set a record low for mining deaths with nine fatalities nationwide. Partins death was the fourth nationally this year. The other two were in West Virginia.

A release from Kentuckys Energy and Environment Cabinet said mining operations were shut down at the Green Hill site and officials remained on the scene Thursday morning.

Gov. Matt Bevin offered condolences to the family after the death at the Whitley County mine.

During times of great sorrow, communities must come together and find strength in one another, Bevin said in a statement.

A miner for eight years, Partin was working at a so-called highwall mining site, where an auger is used to bore holes into the side of exposed earth and rock.

His death occurred a little more than a week after Bevin signed a law giving the state Department of Resources commissioner leeway to reduce the number of state inspections at underground coal mines. The new law does not affect inspections at surface mines.

The Green Hill Mine surface mine, about 20 miles from the Tennessee line, has a good safety record and an inspection was last performed there in December. A review of federal inspection records showed no serious violations at the site operated by Green Hill since 2005.

Nationally, Partins death was the first at a surface coal mine since May 2015, when a miner was pinned between two vehicles in Pike County, Kentucky.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Kentucky Mining
The California State Compensation Insurance Funds 2016 annual report shows a net income of $192 million in 2016.

Other important highlights from the newly released report include:

128,000 policies written in 2016.

Earned net premiums of $1.5 billion.

Policyholders surplus grew by $156 million since Dec. 31, 2015.

Net investment income of $627 million.

Last year marked another year of healthy competition in the California workers compensation market, Vern Steiner, State Funds president and CEO, said in a statement. We were pleased to introduce a rate filing that included an overall decrease in collectable premium of 9.5 percent as well as an expanded pricing model, which further enhances pricing accuracy and makes our rates more stable year over year.

Other accomplishments include transitioning to an outcomes-based medical provider network, the State Fund MPN by Harbor Health. The network is designed to improve physicians ability to manage injured workers treatment and improve patient outcomes.

The annual report is available online.

State Fund is Californias largest provider of workers compensation insurance.

Topics California Trends Workers' Compensation
Top News - Investor Idea

Cleantech and Climate Change Podcast  Interview with Founder and CEO of Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN) Discussing Recent Acquisitions, Rollout and Manufacturing of EV Line of Products

Vancouver, Kelowna, Delta, BC - November 7, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a global news source and leading investor resource covering cleantech and renewable energy stocks issues a new edition of the Cleantech and Climate Change Podcast, featuring an interview with Mr. David Michery, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Electric Vehicle Company, Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN).

Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea

Breaking AI Stock News: GBT's (OTCPK: GTCH) AI Driven Financial Technology Patent Application Received a Notice of Publication

San Diego, CA - November 3, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) received a notice of publication for its financial software patent application.

Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea

Breaking AI Stock News: Intellagents, a FatBrain AI (OTCQB: LZGI) Company, Announces Hiring of Insurtech Industry Veteran as Chief Revenue Officer

NEW YORK, NY - November 2, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, announces the hiring of Euan King, an experienced and respected Insurtech industry leader as Chief Revenue Officer for insurance technology-focused subsidiary Intellagents.

Top Health and Wellness News - Investor Idea

Health and Wellness Stock News - Endexx (OTCBB: EDXC) Secures $3.8M Order for Non-Nicotine Vape Product HYLA from Italy

CAVE CREEK, Az. - November 2, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-based, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces it has secured a new $3.8 million USD order for its newly acquired, non-nicotine based vape product, HYLA from customers in Italy.

Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas:

Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by

Investorideas.com Newswire:

Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire
Press Release

MPs respond to looming famine in Africa and Yemen

Dhaka, 4 April 2017

The global parliamentary community has called for urgent international action to save millions of people from famine and drought in parts of Africa and Yemen. Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP

The global parliamentary community has called for urgent international action to save millions of people from famine and drought in parts of Africa and Yemen.

In an emergency item adopted today at the 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Organizations Members committed to pressuring their governments to fund humanitarian relief operations to avert this crisis.

People are facing the third consecutive year of drought in many of the countries covered by the emergency item. The impact is devastating, causing thirst and hunger, decimating livestock, destroying livelihoods, spreading disease and triggering large-scale population movements.

Ethiopia and Kenya are among the worlds top 10 refugee host countries. These refugees are especially vulnerable in the current crisis.

IPU Members called upon the international community to take immediate action to prevent this potentially unprecedented famine and looming humanitarian catastrophe. They urged relevant governments to end hostilities and take every step to ensure unhindered humanitarian access.

The IPU resolution urged the United Nations to commit the resources necessary to provide humanitarian support and nutritional relief. It stressed that particular attention needs to be focused on the most vulnerable groups, especially women, children and the aged.

The IPU resolution declared that famine must never be used as a weapon of war and those who use it in this way should be brought to justice.

IPU Members also want to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again. They urged governments to assist the affected countries in developing drought resilience mechanisms, including by eliminating the root causes of famine and drought. Parliamentarians also called for more investment in mitigation activities that support vulnerable countries in adapting to climate change.

For further information:

Watch the 136th Assembly live at http://www.ipu136bangladesh.org/ from 1-5 April.

Follow or take part in discussions on Twitter using #IPU136.

Photos of the event will be made available on Flickr.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.
Heshmat Alavi, political and rights activist, focusing on Iran, ranging from human rights violations, social crackdown, the regimes support for terrorism and meddling in foreign countries, and the controversial nuclear program wrote an article for Al Arabiya, giving a more in-depth perspective. He says this places us before this important conclusion that most speakers strongly criticized Irans meddling and highlighted the necessity of solidarity and alliance amongst Arab states to confront this phenomenon. Leaders of Saudi Arabia and Jordan specifically expressed their grave concerns over Irans interference across the region, especially Syria, sectarian warmongering and Tehrans state sponsorship of terrorism, he writes. Tehran provokes sectarianism and hinders efforts to resolve regional crises, said Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

The Arab Summit had initially prepared a draft resolution with a soft tone in relation to Iran. The final resolution prepared and published by Arab League Foreign Ministers, instead, reflected the majority members position, which was overwhelmingly against Irans policies of meddling and supporting terrorism. However, a few Arab countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, and Algeria, were not on board with this resolution, leaving the remaining member states two options, according to Alavi, refusing to sign, forgoing the possibility of a consensus and accepting resulting rifts; or financing on their common grounds, being the subjects of Palestine and opposing any meddling in others internal affairs (without specifically mentioning Iran). According to Reuters, Although the terms used in the Arab Summit resolution falls of short of directly pinpointing the regime in Iran, it is quite obvious who the crosshairs were placed on.

Of grave significance for the main member states in this conference was to have Iraqs signature, and that of its Prime Minister, on this initiative. Considering the new international state of affairs, and Washingtons new policies, the gradual distancing of Iraq from Iran is important, and further advances in this regard is seen in the forecast, Alavi writes.

This policy toward Iran has changed, and its been made clear by American policymakers that they will not permit Iran take on any of their desired measures.

In a recent hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee, US CENTCOM commander General Joseph Votel emphasized the necessity to confront Iran as the main long-term threat to the stability of the Middle East. Votel also called for the consideration of military assets and other capabilities to stop this regime.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recently visited Washington and its believed that he was briefed and received instructions about Americas policy changes in regards to Iraq and the Middle East. It became important to Arab leaders to have Iraq sign this new initiative. This allowed the summit to maintain its unity over two main subjects of Palestine and condemning meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.

Former NATO commander, and US national security advisor, General James Jones, has called on the Gulf States to establish an alliance similar to NATO, against the threat that Iran poses for regional states. He said that such an Arab NATO will have Americas support.

At a recent hearing held at the British Parliament, discussing Irans meddling in the region, condemnations concerning human rights violations, were heard, as well as calls to establish an Arab alliance aimed at the eviction of this regime from regional countries. Alavi writes, For such a cause, designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization would be a prelude measure and act as a necessary springboard. He adds, This goes in line with further measures to enforce the flawed deal aimed at curbing Irans nuclear program. Rest assured if the Arab World adopts a firm stance and demands Irans eviction from their soil, the US will most definitely be encouraged to blacklist the IRGC and defang Irans meddling.

The presence of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Youssef bin al-Ottaimeen, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and envoys of the US And France at this conference were a strong indication that the decisions made have international support, further isolating Tehran from the rest of the world.

The Arab Summit in Jordan delivered heavy damages to Tehrans interests. As we close in to Irans presidential elections in May, their international isolation will have a major effect on Irans domestic politics, and Iranian society is watching closely.
ARE YOU A TOP COMPANY?

What it Really Means to be a Top Company!

To be a Top Company in Irish Construction Industry Magazines Top Companies listing means far more than just a rank and position in an ordered catalogue of names. To us, it means that your efforts to be the best you can be and to excel in your industry and sector have been effective and have paid dividends. To us, it means that your determination and commitment to develop and instil a positive work culture and environment have brought your business due success plus satisfaction. We see it as you being a supportive and inclusive place in which to work that strives to bring the best out of everyone across every level of the organisation.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
This story has been subject to the following clarification

Clarification: Carly Collins

In an article on September 15, when reporting on the eulogy given at the funeral service of the late Nicola Collins by her sister, Carly Collins, it was stated that she said: She probably even blames herself now.

What Ms Collins actually said in her eulogy was : She was so very hard on herself. Im sure if she could speak about how things have unfolded she would blame herself. But Nic, this is no way your fault. For a life so full of highs and lows to end in this tragic way at such a young age, it seems, there is almost no explanation.

We are happy to clarify this matter and regret any distress caused to the Collins family by the original report

***

Nicola was more than a statistic marking the increase in violence in our society, she was a person whose loss is felt keenly by her family and friends, writes Anne Lucey.

Those were the words of Fr Padraig Walsh, the parish priest of St Brendans in Tralee, as he spoke at the funeral of mother of three Nicola Collins, who was found dead in an apartment in Farranree in Cork City in the early hours of Monday morning last.

At the end of a simple but moving ceremony, the congregation at the Church of Our Lady and St Brendan heard from Nicolas younger sister Carly, of Nicolas struggle with life, of her unfair share of suffering, of her beauty and of her prowess at the piano at a young age, her tendency to be very hard on herself and her honesty and humour.

Fr Walsh said the congregation of around 200 - which included Nicolas mother Kay Drew, her father Michael Collins and her three sons, Nick, Adam and Michael - had gathered with a great sense of shock, a great sense of loss and a great sense of sadness. The priest also extended his sympathy to the late Ms Collins former husband Elaije.

Since the news broke, people lived with a sense of disbelief, Fr Walsh said.

Nobody deserves to die as Nicola did and we struggle to come to terms with her death and the way she was taken from us, the priest said.

From a distance, people, will look at her death and look at the increased levels of violence in Irish society. And from a distance, Nicolas death will be seen as another statistic in this dreadful reality of increased violence. But for her family, for her friends this is no statistic; it is the tragic loss of a daughter, a sister, a mother and a friend, Fr Walsh said.

The manner in which she was taken meant she had no time to say goodbye; but even in her last visit to her former home in St Brendans Park, Tralee some weeks ago she called to see a former neighbour who was ill.

Yes Nicola gave so much, and Nicola had so much to give, Fr Walsh said.

Prayers of the Faithful included prayers for people suffering from addiction, and for the emergency services, the gardai and the community in Farranree, in Cork.

Nicolas mother, Kay, who is in a wheelchair, brought up the offertory gifts.

The hauntingly beautiful hymns at the mass included Be not afraid and Amazing Grace. At the end of the ceremony Carly, who is studying for a doctorate degree in Barcelona, said her sister always spoke with honesty and spoke her mind, but underneath people could sense her vulnerability and her softness.

My sister did not know how beautiful she was both inside and out, Carly said.

She described Nicola as intelligent and gifted, who had a brilliant sense of humour, loved music and in her younger years had been a dab hand at the piano. Nicola, who had lived in the Togher area of Cork, also loved cats and kittens.

Nicola Collins was laid to rest at Rath cemetery, Tralee.

Appeal for information ...

Gardai are currently still investigating Nicolas death and are calling for anyone who might have any information to come forward.

The authorities questioned a man about the murder last week, but later released him without charge.

The next day another man was arrested and questioned, but he too was later released without charge.

Anyone who might have any information is asked to contact Gardai at Mayfield Garda Station on 021 455 8510 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Update 6.50pm: Trade union Unite, which represents craft workers in Bus Eireann, will also attend the talks tomorrow, but their pickets will remain in place.

Unite's Willie Quigley cautioned against "kicking the can down the road", and reiterated their call for Minister Shane Ross to bring together all sides to work out a "sustainable way forward" for Irelands public transport system.

Mr Quigley said: "Our members are as anxious to find a resolution to this dispute as the travelling public.

I would, however, caution that a resolution of this immediate dispute - if it can be found - will not solve the problems facing Irelands public transport system, which have their roots in public policy choices and will ultimately require a political solution.

"The time has come to stop kicking the can down the road, and for the Minister to convene a forum of all stakeholders to chart a sustainable way forward for public transport  in the interests of those who use the service, and the workers who deliver it."

Update 5.50pm: The Minister for Transport has welcomed the talks.

Shane Ross said: "I welcome this afternoon's announcement that both parties have accepted an invitation from the WRC to recommence discussions. I hope that all involved can use this opportunity to agree upon an acceptable and fair deal.

"The travelling public will expect that the parties can come to an agreement that allows for an end to this recent period of disruption to transport services."

Earlier: Unions and Bus Eireann management have agreed to talks at the Workplace Relations Commission to resolve the dispute at the company.

The National Bus & Rail Union and SIPTU both said they will attend the talks tomorrow morning, but their members will stay on strike.

An all-out strike by workers at the company over proposed cost-cutting measures is well into its second week.

The company says its financial situation continues to deteriorate and achieving savings to remain solvent and sustain the business is now vital.

About 2,600 Bus Eireann workers walked out on Friday, March 23.

Dermot O'Leary of the NBRU said they will be looking for a review of the management at the transport provider.

He said: "One of the first items on our agenda will be a complete review of the managerial structure at Bus Eireann, inclusive of the salary levels associated with the roles of those who are leading the demand for our members to become more productive.

"We remain committed to the NBRU 4-point SOBS Plan, our view being that an overarching and sustainable solution can only be achieved if all stakeholders, in particular the Department of Transport and the NTA, being part of a process, which will commit to working towards the establishment of a Sectoral Employment Order, designed to protect all workers in the commercial bus industry.

"We remain opposed to closure of Routes. We require building blocks such as a review of the commerciality of some Bus Eireann Expressway routes, the licensing regime and the covering legislation."

Mr O'Leary also said his members are "extremely frustrated" with the lack of urgency at resolving this dispute.

He said: "We have always indicated our willingness to engage on an efficiency based agenda, geared towards resolving the industrial relations issues, which of itself will contribute to an overall solution to the Bus Eireann Expressway crisis, however it should be noted that we have been here before, management walking away on the previous two occasions.

"Staff have been suffering cuts to pay and conditions since the 16th January, some of our members having been threatened with dismissal, an issue which will require to be addressed as a component of these discussions, in the meantime our members have resolved to remain on picket lines during the WRC talks process."

The NBRU said some workers have been threatened with dismissal since the strike started and others have had their pay cut since January 16.

SIPTU's Willie Noone said: Over the last 12 days of strike action our members have remained resolute in their position. They will not accept unilateral changes to their terms and conditions of employment. They will also not start down a road that would see their terms and conditions of employment forced into line with those of the lowest paid workers in the transport sector.

The strike by workers and the picketing of Bus Eireann depots will continue. This is due to fact that some of our members have been dismissed from their jobs in recent days. To expect our members to return to work without resolving this situation or reversing the cuts that the company has already imposed on other workers is not reasonable or acceptable.

Noone added: Furthermore, it may also focus the minds of the management of Bus Eireann and stop it from walking away from talks for the third time. SIPTU is committed to achieving an outcome to this dispute which will underpin the survival of Bus Eireann as an employer which treats its workers fairly and with dignity.

Bus Eireann says it lost up to 9m last year and losses are continuing to accelerate, and exacerbated by strike action to date, threaten to collapse the company this year - its 30th anniversary.

A voluntary redundancy scheme for 300 workers was also being tabled.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has claimed the strike would have been resolved by now if it was directly affecting Dublin on a daily basis

Speaking during the latest Dail leaders questions debate which also saw him claim Dublin Bus is receiving 11 times as much State subvention support as Bus Eireann, Mr Martin said Government is failing to help rural Ireland.

"We are now in the 12th day of the nationwide Bus Eireann dispute. The simple refrain across Ireland is that if this dispute was in Dublin, it would have been resolved a long time ago.

"That is the general sense in regional cities, rural towns and across the countryside and one which we encounter all the time," he said.

Mr Martin said the situation is putting the work and private life of 110,000 daily Bus Eireann passengers at risk, and again urged direct Government intervention in the dispute, saying the reality is Dublin Bus is receiving 11 times the financial aid of Bus Eireann.

However, rejecting the claim, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Government is doing all it can to help rural communities directly affected by the situation and defended Transport Minister Shane Ross's decision not to intervene in the dispute.

"If unions and workers agree there are issues to be sorted out and dealt with then the place to do that is at the Workplace Relations Commission.

"The Minister, Deputy Ross, has publicly stated that he expects ministerial level discussions will resolve that particular issue very satisfactorily.

"The Minister has been very active on encouraging the WRC to invite both sides back to the talks again," he said.
LATEST: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has denounced a chemical weapons attack in Syria - which it is reported has claimed the lives of 58 people - as a "war crime" and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

What we know so far:

58 people are reported to have died in a suspected gas attack in northern Syria

11 children are thought to be included in the death toll;

Opposition monitoring groups claim the attack was carried out by Syrian government of Russian warplanes;

Idlib is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians.

Warning: You may find some of the images below distressing.

Update 5pm: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has denounced a chemical weapons attack in Syria - which it is reported has claimed the lives of 58 people - as a "war crime" and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

It would be "unbelievable" to think that president Bashar Assad could play a role in the post-war government of the country if his regime is found to be to blame, Mr Johnson said.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has put the death toll at 58, including 11 children.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. There was no immediate comment from the government in Damascus on the alleged incident, which comes a day before a conference on the future of Syria co-hosted by Britain in Brussels.

Speaking in London, Mr Johnson - who will represent the UK at tomorrows summit - said: "If this were proved to have been committed by the Assad regime, it would be another reason to think they are an absolutely heinous outfit.

"Bombing your own civilians with chemical weapons is unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account.

"It is unbelievable to think that in the long term, Bashar Assad can play a part in the future of Syria, given what he has done to his people."

Frances foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the "atrocious act".

And EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini described the reported attack as "awful", adding that Mr Assads government "has the primary responsibility of protecting its people and not attacking its people".

The Syrian activists had no information on what agent could have been used in the assault on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which they blamed on an air strike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

Idlib province is largely opposition-controlled and is home to around 900,000 Syrians displaced from their homes elsewhere in the country.

Labours shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said: "This was a shocking and barbaric attack, and our thoughts are with all the victims and their loved ones.

"The use of chemical weapons by anyone cannot be tolerated, as the Syrian government itself accepted when it joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, and there must be no impunity for those found responsible."

Update 2.40pm: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at 58, including 11 children.

A Turkey-based Syrian woman whose niece, husband and one-year-old daughter were among those killed said the warplanes struck early, as residents were still in their beds.

Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun showed limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe while others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

A doctor said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light.

Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure.

Update 2.20pm: The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months in the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

Also, a joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one involving mustard gas.

The European Unions top diplomat said Assads government must assume its responsibilities following reports of the attack in northern Syria.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that "the news is awful" and that Assads government "has the primary responsibility of protecting its people and not attacking its people".

She said the attack "is a dramatic reminder of the fact that the first priority is, as in any conflict, stopping the fighting".

Update 11.20am: 58 people are thought to have died in a suspected gas attack in northern Syria.

An opposition monitoring group claims an airstrike was carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

It says 11 children are among the dead.

Earlier: Reports suggest up to 35 people, many of them children, have been killed in a suspected chemical attack in a town in Syrias northern Idlib province.

The Idlib Media Centre said dozens of people died of suffocation, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at 35.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, show children and adults limping and suffering from breathing difficulties. Some appear to be foaming at the mouth.

The oppositions Civil Defence search-and-rescue group, which released photos showing paramedics washing down victims, has not published a casualty list.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pick-up truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

Al Jazeera reports that Syrian government or Russian jets attacked the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idib in the morning.

A member of the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue group also known as the White Helmets, said: "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."

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. It is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations.

Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

There was no comment from the government in Damascus or any international agency on the attack.

The Syrian Coalition, an opposition group based outside the country, said the planes fired missiles carrying poisonous gases, killing dozens of people, many of them women and children. The coalition described the attack as a "horrifying massacre".

A doctor said his hospital in Idlib province received three victims, all with narrow, pinpoint pupils that did not respond to light.

Pinpoint pupils, breathing difficulties and foaming at the mouth are symptoms commonly associated with toxic gas exposure.

PA and Al Jazeera
The commission may be moving ahead with a decision in the McDonalds case before the EUs summer break in August. That means the ruling could arrive before another pending decision on Amazons tax deals with Luxembourg, the sources said.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has been cracking down on tax loopholes, ordering Apple in August to pay as much as 13bn plus interest in back taxes over an illegal accord with the Government here. Shortly after, she warned that Amazon and McDonalds were next in the pipeline. At stake are billions that multinational companies have squirrelled away in tax havens, out of the reach of authorities in the countries where they make most of their sales.
Up to 120 people met at VMware In Ballincollig, Co Cork, to learn about the Department of Education-backed KickStart programme, which aims to bridge the gap from full-time education to getting a first job, or reskilling for a new role.

KickStart is run by Software Skillnet and provides 12 weeks of training, three internationally recognised qualifications, and work experience in partner companies such as VMware, the US cloud company which employs 900 people in Cork City.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland bought the 50-year-old business for an undisclosed sum and takes over a fleet of more than 1,400 vehicles and international customers and contracts from the Limerick-based Dan Dooley Group.

Other divisions within the Dan Dooley Group, including Ford dealerships in Tipperary and Limerick, are not affected by the acquisition.
Cobh, which has already capitalised on cruise ship tourism, has turned its attention to the Far East and has just been awarded a Chinese Tourist Welcome Certification.

The town already attracts Chinese visitors but wanted to bring its offering to the next level to entice even more.

In order to do this, Cobh Tourism recognised the need to create a uniquely tailored and focused tourism proposition for the Chinese visitor.

Its members undertook a Welcome training programme with the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), the worlds leading independent research institute for Chinese outbound tourism, and the Centre for Competitiveness, aimed at attracting and appropriately welcoming Chinese visitors to Cobh.

Certificates for the completion of this training were presented at a special ceremony in the Commodore Hotel yesterday, attended by James Kenny, China country manager for Tourism Ireland.

The potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market is enormous with an expected 200m overseas trips by Chinese travellers by 2020.

"Currently 4m Chinese travel to Europe annually and Tourism Ireland is working hard to increase the numbers of visitors to Ireland, which were last reported at 45,000-55,000 in 2015, Mr Kenny said.

Visitors from China tend to stay longer and spend more than some other markets.

"We are also continuing to work closely with the relative agencies and airlines to secure improved access to Ireland, in particular, to coincide with Irelands off-peak tourist season, so there are huge opportunities for innovative regions like Cobh.

Hendrick Verwey, chairman of Cobh Tourism, said they are delighted to be the first in the country to undertake this training, which was recommended by the European Travel Commission.

We recognise the Chinese visitor is very different to the recreational holidaymaker from Europe or the USA and their reasons for travel are very complex.

"The training has given us insights into what they expect and how to go the extra mile to welcome them and ensure they have a wonderful time during their visit in Cobh, he said.

We now hope that Cobh will develop a reputation as being accessible to the Chinese market, and therefore a must visit destination for Chinese visitors to Ireland and Britain.
At Killaloe District Court, sitting at Brian Boru on the Hill licensed premises in Ballina, the 56-year-old Limerick woman is today due to appear in relation to her civil claim against William Butler of Ballyhea, Charleville, Cork arising from a road collision involving Ms McNamaras 152 L white Mercedes Benz and Mr Butlers white commercial Ford vehicle in October 2015.

The shutters will be pulled down on the bar counter and the disco lights located over Judge Patrick Durcans desk will be switched off in the function room where mother of six, Ms McNamara, is expected to press her civil claim.

No evidence has yet been heard in the case that relates to the mid-morning collision at Ogonnelloe in east Clare.

It is understood that no report of any party sustaining physical injuries was reported at the time to gardai.

It is not known the level of damages that Ms McNamara is seeking as a result of her civil action.

If it goes to trial, she will be expected to give a sworn witness account of the accident.

However, the maximum amount of damages that can be claimed in the district court is 15,000.

It is expected that when the case is called today Judge Durcan  as is his practice with civil claims  will strongly urge both parties to engage in talks to avoid the case going to hearing if they havent already resolved the dispute prior to court.

In January 2014, the staging of Killaloe District Court in the Ballina pub made headlines around the world when the niece of designer Ralph Lauren, Jenny Lauren, appeared at the pub in relation to an air rage incident.

The choice of venue for Ms Laurens court appearance after her drink-fuelled and foul-mouthed breach of the peace on board a New York-bound flight was subject to comment in the New York Post, The Daily Telegraph, ABC news, CNN and the Sydney Morning Herald.

In the aftermath of the Lauren case three years ago, the Courts Service confirmed that the staging of the court at the pub would form part of a strategic review of court venues and Ms McNamaras scheduled appearance there today will bring the focus once more on the use of the pub as a court venue.

Ms McNamara has kept a low profile since moving to east Clare following her historic 2005 115m Euromillions win.

Ms McNamaras solicitor did not return a call for comment yesterday.
A panel of international experts to be appointed will be sought after Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald consults with the opposition later this week.

However, the Irish Examiner understands the review, in the wake of the Garda fake alcohol breath tests and wrongful convictions scandal, will focus on the structure and functions of the force rather than faults of individuals.

Cabinet will today discuss the scope of the review, which comes amid continued calls for Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan to resign over the breath tests and driving convictions fiasco.

Government sources said last night that a review of four key areas would help underpin any new legislation.

These areas include structure and management arrangements, the recruitment and training of members, the culture and ethos of the Garda as well as the crucial issues of oversight and accountability.

An examination of these areas could be used to beef up existing legislation that covers the powers of supervising authorities such as the Garda Ombudsman, the Garda Inspectorate and the Policing Authority.

Opposition parties and TDs will be asked later this week to meet Ms Fitzgerald to hammer out terms for the review.

The review panel will not be led by a judge, sources said, but will include international experts.

Government figures expect the review will be similar in some respects to the Patten Commission in the North, which transformed policing there, and could have a year to do its work.

It will look at the entire function of the force and whether it functions correctly rather than finding fault with individuals, said a Government figure.

The review or commission is separate to two other inquiries into the 1m exaggerated alcohol breath tests and 15,000 wrongful road traffic convictions scandal involving fixed penalty notices.

These are being carried out by the Policing Authority and by gardai themselves.

The Policing Authority yesterday confirmed it received a letter from the Tanaiste last Friday in relation to an examination of the breath tests and traffic convictions.

Options open to the authority include requesting the Garda Inspectorate to conduct the investigation or contract it out to an external agency. The authority might be involved itself.

Ms OSullivan told the Oireachtas Justice Committee last Thursday that an internal investigation she had ordered would co-operate with the independent investigation.

According to the Tanaiste, the commissioner said the internal probe  being conducted by Assistant Commissioner Michael OSullivan  should be in a position to report to the authority within three months.

The Policing Authority also received a large package of documents from Garda HQ at 6.30pm last Friday.

It issued a request to the gardai last Monday week for copies of all reports, audits and examinations of the breath test and wrongful conviction scandals by Friday.

The authority is holding a public meeting with the commissioner and her team at the end of April, at a session devoted to roads policing.

Meanwhile, some Fianna Fail TDs have openly called for Ms OSullivan to go. Finance committee chairman John McGuinness yesterday told RTE that trust in gardai had been shattered all over the country and Ms OSullivan needed to be replaced.

They [the Government] cannot ignore what needs to be done in the interest of the country.

Foreign affairs spokesman Darragh OBrien agreed and said: We need a new approach and I dont believe she is in a position to lead it.

The Fianna Fail frontbench will meet today and discuss the ongoing crisis.
Judge Olann Kelleher sentenced David McCoy, aged 35, of 13, Innishmore Square, Ballincollig, Co Cork, to five months in prison for the unprovoked assault and other offences including smashing the window of the All Dolled Up salon costing 1,000 to repair.

The assault was very frightening for this lady at the time, Judge Kelleher said.
A heartbroken mother broke down in tears in the witness box at an inquest after claiming a doctor had told her she was over-reacting over the welfare of her 19-year-old daughter.

The teenager died two days after the GP visit at her Ennis apartment.

At the inquest in Ennis, the mother claimed that Magdy Sayed told her she was over-reacting when she brought her daughter to Shannondoc on February 24 last year.

Through tears, the mother said: Over-reacting? Over-reacting and she is dead. Nineteen.

The mother said she was very concerned for her daughters welfare.

The family has retained Gerald ODonnell, the Galway solicitor who represented Praveen Halappanavar against the HSE for the death of his wife Savita.

In this latest inquest, the HSE was also legally represented.

Coroner Isobel ODea said to Mr ODonnell at the inquest that the mothers over-reacting comment claim was not put to Dr Sayed when he was being cross-examined earlier at the inquest by Mr ODonnell and Mr ODonnell accepted this.

The inquest was told the 19-year-old teenager  who worked as a nurse  made her first suicide attempt when she aged 13.

In his deposition, Dr Sayed said he first saw the young woman at 5.10am at Ennis Garda Station on February 24.

He said: Her vitals were fine, she had capacity and I convinced her to be assessed at the acute psychiatric unit and she agreed.

Dr Sayed said later that evening he met the womans mother at Shannondoc reception. He prescribed Valium for the girl as the mother sought an anti-depressant and night sedation.

Dr Sayed said that he saw the woman at reception and I noticed she was down.

Under cross-examination from Mr ODonnell, Dr Sayed said it was not unusual for him not to see the young woman on the night, as her mother was looking for tablets only.

She was assessed at the acute psychiatric unit earlier that day at 8am.

In his deposition, senior house officer Mark Kennedy said the woman repeatedly denied suicidal ideation/thoughts of self-harm or suicidal intent and felt that a minor disturbance at home was blown out of all proportion.

Dr Kennedy said the young woman denied any significant depressive symptoms: appetite, interest and energy were all reported as okay and she was forward thinking with no evidence of hopelessness.

He said: My conclusion is that the girl did not present with any overt symptoms suggestive of any acute mental illness. She was not in any distress apart from being unhappy with being brought to the unit.

Clinical director and consultant psychiatris Tom Reynolds told the inquest: I dont think anything else could have been done in the circumstances apart from alerting the GP and the GP was clearly involved.

The womans GP, Denise Crowley, said she had a long consultation with her on February 25 and recalled that she had been looking forward to being admitted to St Patricks Hospital, Dublin.

The young womans ex-boyfriends father told the inquest she was outside their home at 9pm on February 25 and was upset and crying.

Her mother discovered her body shortly after 5.15pm the next day.

Ms ODea said there was insufficient evidence for a suicide verdict and the appropriate verdict was a narrative one and the cause of death was asphyxia.
Parents of children with autism and special needs who held a protest march in Cork yesterday over the lack of services.

Trina was among the more than 100 people who took part in the Cork element of a string of marches around the country, calling for better state services for children with a disability under the banner Enough is Enough.

Marches took place in locations around the country, from Letterkenny to Waterford.

There was a large turnout in Sligo and parents spoke directly to Health Minister Simon Harris, about waiting lists for services for children with special needs in Co Wicklow.

The Cork version began in the city centre and involved the handing in of a national petition of 9,000 signatures to government Junior Minister Dara Murphy, then to the North Lee ASD Service on Penrose Wharf, and then on through the heavy drizzle to the HSEs disability services building in the suburb of Blackpool.

Trina Murphy hands in a petition with 9,000 signatures to staff at the HSEs disability services office in Blackpool, Cork.

There the marchers again handed in the petition calling for better services for children who need them. A meeting with some senior local HSE managers ended with a commitment to further meetings.

However for Trina Murphy, who is from the northside of the city and who has direct experience of service shortcomings though her own young son, yesterdays march in the rain may just be the start of the campaign.

A brainchild of the Our Voice Their Future Facebook group, the nationwide campaign features many members of another online group, the DCA Warriors.

Trina Murphy, alongside Elaine Healy and Suzanne OFlynn, led the demonstration in Cork and Trina said: This is just the start.

She said the situation in Cork/Kerry was particularly acute when it came to accessing services.

Many parents are waiting to see whether their child is on the autistic spectrum, but Trina said even when the initial diagnosis is made, those families can then face an agonising wait for other services, such as occupational therapy or speech and language assistance.

We are just so sick of it, she said.

Suzanne OFlynn, (above right), from Togher in Cork, recalled how she began the process of assessment for her own son, Luke, who is now four, when he was just nine months old. It took a year-and-a-half.

Trina Murphy said: All we want for our children is the best future they can have.

A local HSE spokesperson said waiting times for assessment and treatment regarding speech and language therapy had been significantly reduced, but that there had been a significant increase in applications for assessment of needs in the Cork region, meaning timelines set down in the Disability Act are not being met.

While we are making some progress, it must be noted that because of the high number of referrals, it will be a considerable amount of time before waiting times reduce to where they should be, the spokesperson said.

Across Cork and Kerry there is now 1,595 assessment of need applications overdue, which the spokesperson said was unacceptably high, adding work was continuing to reduce it.
IN THE 1970s, the University of Caracas formed a choral ensemble to tour the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member states, performing a selection of folk music from each country.

A double vinyl album of the Opec choirs music still exists. The countries listed on the sleeve are a chilling reminder of the trials and violent tribulations that oil is a harbinger of: Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Venezuela... countries whose mineral wealth has brought political instability, social inequity and all-out war. The voices of the very indigenous peoples the recording hoped to celebrate have been dimmed, by the unslakeable global thirst for petrochemicals, in the decades since the album was pressed.

This irony isnt lost on Liverpudlian artist David Jacques as he unpicks the complex strands of thought behind his latest exhibition, Oil is the Devils Excrement, which explores mankinds fraught relationship with oil. Anthropology, weird fiction, medieval daemonology: Jacques has drawn on filaments that span centuries and traverse continents to weave a body of work as rich in narrative as it is steeped in crude.

The extent of his research is so broad that its difficult to know where to begin, but the Opec album, extracts of which have made their way in to the sound design for a 10-minute animated film which forms a part of his exhibition, is as good a place to start as any, as it lies next to Jacques laptop.

The songs emanated from those countries that were going to get it the worst, he says. These were the people that wouldnt escape; peasant people who were being inducted into waged labour.

I was aware that I was gravitating towards making a work that was about the omnipotence of petrochemicals, Jacques says.

He began painting a series in 2014, a chorus of daemons clad in hazchem suits cavorting with 3d renditions of sections of the human genome, rendered in oil-derived gloss paint and enamels. Their silhouettes were borrowed from 16th century prints produced for a Lenten festival in Nuremberg.

This impartial delving into history has become a hallmark of Jacques work, into which he weaves what he calls temporal registers. In his essay film The Dionysians of West Lancs, the painter and video artist juxtaposed footage of 1990s Lancashire raves with passages from an 18th century act of parliament and gramophone recordings from 1920s Casablanca to explore notions of freedom of assembly.

For Oil is the Devils Excrement, his paintings are accompanied by a series of collages, but it is a film installation that forms the focal point of the exhibition, and where the story of the exhibitions title unfolds.

Searching for a protagonist for the animation, Jacques happened upon one of Opecs founders, a Venezuelan energy minister named Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo. In 1976, Alfonzo had uttered a prophetic warning: Ten years from now, 20 years from now, you will see; oil will bring us ruin. Oil is the Devils excrement.

Alfonso was invoking a pre- Columbian proverb in his memorable phrase. He gives us the warning, but hes invoked something from centuries ago, Jacques says. He taps into the past and looks towards the future with this warning.

Its a parable; theres untold wealth if your nation-state is minerally rich, but in tapping into that, youre tapping into a stuff that has potentially really big problems for your ecology. In the rush to get the oil out of the ground and sell it quickly, untold wealth floods into the country and economically destabilises it.

Jacques animation, with Alfonso as the unfortunate protagonist, is a devilishly picaresque morality play; we join Alfonso on his deathbed, as he returns to what Carl Jung termed the nigredo.

In psycho-analysis, Jung describes the nigredo; the boiling down of matter into this black goo, which is pretty much as close a reference to oil as you can get, Jacques says. He equates that with the shadow, and the dark night of the soul. But theres another aspect to it, which is this trope within weird fiction of objects being sentient: oil itself turns up and starts berating Alfonso on his deathbed; he realises that everythings a mess, and hes been a contributing factor to it.
THERE have been complaints for years that, due to widespread understaffing in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), children and teenagers had to be suicidal before they could secure timely access to mental health treatment.

If your teenager was in thrall to an eating disorder or refusing to leave their bedroom because they felt so low, he or she would most likely be added to a waiting list to see a CAMHS team and they could be on that waiting list for anything from three months to over a year.

However, staffing has reached such a low point in Cork City that potentially suicidal children attending Corks biggest hospitals cant be guaranteed that they will be able to access an emergency CAMHS team.

And in the community, some of the CAMHS multidisciplinary teams in Cork are operating with less than half the staff members they ought to. Staffing ranges from full teams in some parts of Cork to just 42% of staff in others.

In Kerry, none of the teams are fully staffed with the HSE stating that staffing ranges from 55% to 73% of recommended levels under the Vision For Change blueprint for mental health services.

Last Monday week, there was no CAMHS psychiatrist at either Cork University Hospital or the Mercy University Hospital. These hospitals look after patients from the South Lee and North Lee catchment areas.

This meant any potentially suicidal children or teenagers could not get emergency specialist care.

There was literally nobody [from CAMHS] to see these kids other than during office hours in a scheduled clinic. Imagine, a 15 or 16-year-old suicidal teenager turns up at one of these EDs, and there is no psychiatrist to see them, a source said.

According to the HSE, in Cork and Kerry, staffing shortages in CAMHS are so acute that there are:

Three consultant psychiatrist vacancies;

Two registrar posts are vacant;

There are 4.5 psychologists posts unfilled (one full time and one part-time staff on statutory leave);

Three occupational therapist vacancies (two staff members on leave);

One nursing vacancy;

13 social work vacancies, with eight of these positions vacant due to staff leave.

These chronic gaps have not only let down distressed children and their parents who find themselves at emergency departments. They have also led to inertia in community clinics that are supposed to provide a lifeline to vulnerable young people. There are 568 children and adolescents on waiting lists for help in Cork and Kerry

In the North Cork catchment, there are 93 waiting for treatment with 51 of these waiting three to nine months for help;

In CAMHS South Lee, there are 248 on waiting lists with 42 waiting six-nine months to be seen by one of the three teams. Another 33 are waiting nine to 12 months;

In North Lee, east, west and north there are 89 on waiting lists most waiting 0-3 months;

In CAMHS West Cork, there are 80 children on the waiting list for treatment with half of them waiting three to 12 months to be seen;

In CAMHS in North Kerry, there are 14 on the waiting list, while in South Kerry that stands at 44  with 22 waiting three to 12 months.

The HSE has said it is doing all it can to remedy the shortages but that the impact of the staffing shortages has been more acute since the beginning of the year.

To be clear, the lack of staff has deteriorated to the point that, never mind not being able to hire consultant psychiatrists, it wasnt able to fill gaps in its non-hospital consultant doctor (NCHD) on-call rota last week due to vacancies and staff leave.

Since March 25, it said it has not been possible to guarantee as responsive a service to the EDs as it would like.

Despite ongoing and strenuous recruitment efforts, we do face difficulties in filling posts, particularly for consultants and psychologists. Theres a Europe-wide shortage of consultants, a spokeswoman said.

Recruitment efforts have included repeated advertising of positions and the use of agencies in Ireland and the UK who have contacts in Europe and beyond.

Derek Chambers, chief executive of ReachOut Ireland, which provides mental health support to young people, said that his organisation would like to see more resources put into online community supports so less young people would need to go to CAMHS.

And the advocacy group, Mental Health Reform said seven-days-a-week direct-access mental health clinics, supported by around the clock telephone support, would make a huge difference to care in the community.

This is an efficient and effective way of responding to someone with a mental health need in the local community, and could be rolled out within two years, said Shari McDaid, director.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had embarrassed the Pinarayi Vijayan Government by rejecting its nominee for the post of the interim Vice Chancellor and appointing a person of his choice.
Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 (8:09 am) - Score 2,251

Fans of accurate definitions may be pleased to note that the Advertising Standards Authority has finally agreed to review the often confusing way in which ISPs promote fibre broadband packages. This can be applied to both slower hybrid fibre (FTTC) and ultrafast full fibre optic (FTTH/P) services.

Last month Matt Warman MP described broadband providers as being complicit in fraud for the way in which they advertise broadband speeds and fibre connections, which often arent truly fibre optic (here). Since then the Governments Digital Minister, Matthew Hancock, has also joined the fun and said, Adverts should be clear, and if its fibre, it should say fibre. If its not, it should not. Finally!

Matt Warman, Government MP, said: An advertised fibre connection should be entirely fibre  that is to say the fibre to the cabinet options favoured for much of the UK roll-out should not count. The aim of this is twofold: consumers who pay for fibre broadband shouldnt actually be paying for copper broadband, and providers who do offer fibre to the premise should not be equated with those who dont.

The ASA has somewhat controversially allowed hybrid-fibre broadband products to be promoted as fibre optic or fibre broadband since all the way back in 2008, which is despite the fact that the dominant Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) and most EuroDOCSIS based Virgin Media cable connections require a mix of both copper (some lines also use aluminium) and optical fibre cable. Its a similar story for the new G.fast service too.

The copper element can easily suffer from electrical interference and signal degradation, which tends to get worse over distance. This is a significant performance limitation on such connections, which is why some FTTC lines struggle to deliver even ADSL speeds and yet others can push near to the top rate of 80Mbps. We covered all of this in more detail via our article  Will the Real Fibre Optic Broadband Service Please Stand Up.

In fairness, this is far less of a problem on Virgin Medias short runs of thick copper coaxial cables than the long thin twisted pair copper lines in Openreachs (BT) FTTC setup. However a pure fibre optic line (FTTH/P) suffers no such interference and is more limited by capacity supply than the cable itself, hence why FTTH/P connections are able to deliver symmetrical multi-Gigabit speeds over long distances.

The ASAs original 2008 ruling stems from a similar complaint against Virgin Media. At the time the ASA took the view that the coax element of Virgins network was only a small part of their fibre optic backhaul and thus the ISP was deemed to have been justified in describing their service as fibre optic, even though this sort of promotional flexibility could in theory also be applied to everything from ADSL to Wireless networks and indeed it often has (Fibre over Wireless and Air Fibre etc.).

Mind you the market of 2008 was also a very different one from today and rival FTTP/H services, particularly in the domestic connectivity space, simply didnt exist to any noticeable degree. Today around 1 million premises are already covered by pure fibre technology and this will rise to 4-6 million within the next 3 years. As FTTP/H coverage expands then the desire to clean-up these definitions has returned.

ASA Statement Following our research on broadband speed, our sister body CAP is currently considering how best to tighten standards on speed claims in ads with an announcement expected in the next few weeks. We are also aware of evolving concerns about the advertising of fibre broadband services. The term fibre is currently used in advertising to describe both part-fibre and full-fibre broadband services. The UK Governments recently published Digital Strategy made clear its commitment to invest in full-fibre broadband infrastructure, which is likely to make those services available to significantly more people, and also made clear its view that the term fibre should only be used to describe full-fibre broadband services. A recent debate in Parliament saw those MPs who participated also expressing their concerns about the use of the term fibre to describe part-fibre broadband services. In response to that context and those concerns, we are now scoping a review of how we interpret the Advertising Codes when judging the use of the term fibre to describe broadband services. In particular, we will be considering whether the use of that term is likely to cause people to be materially misled. Our work has already begun and we will provide an update with more information by the summer.

The situation is interesting, particularly given the ASAs seemingly unwavering stance on this subject, which many of us have repeatedly tried and failed to get overturned. However the ASAs historic and steadfast refusal to adjust their approach also creates another problem.

Even if the definitions were to be changed tomorrow then it would come after years of injecting fibre into the consumer subconscious, which many have long since associated with slower broadband connections than intended. As a result changing it now may not have the full impact because the damage has arguably already been done.

We should point out that the ASA has continued to resist any change to their original stance on fibre advertising. In fact as recently as July 2016 they were still flatly rejecting calls for a review (here).

ASA Statement from July 2016: In light of the lack of any significant change in the availability and uptake of FTTP in the UK since the ASA Councils previous ruling, we consider that there is little merit in continuing with a formal investigation to review the issue again, when it is very likely that Council will reach the same conclusion. In essence, we consider that the use of fibre-optic to refer to a FTTC service is unlikely to mislead, as consumers are likely to expect a fibre-optic service to deliver faster speeds than an a standard ADSL service.

Any change now could be a touch embarrassing for the national advertising watchdog but it would stave off some angry Government politicians with a bandwagon of MPs in tow. Mind you they wouldnt be alone as some countries, such as France, have also had to adopt similar changes (here).

The situation in France does however raise a complicated question for the ASA since some Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) networks, such as those supplied by Hyperoptic, are also able to deliver Gigabit speeds and thats despite often needing a few final metres of copper network cable inside the building itself. Similarly Virgin Medias future DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade may also be able to deliver Gigabit speeds over their existing network.
IDC today released research that predicts that cognitive and artificial intelligence will generate $12.5 billion in revenue this year, an increase of 59.3 percent over 2016. Indeed, the growth shows no sign of slowing. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be 54.4 percent through 2020, with revenue exceeding $46 billion.

A particularly interesting conclusion is that 51.1 percent of investment, based on this years market share, will made in the other category. All the identified use cases are clustered between 9 percent (fraud analysis and investigation) and 10.3 percent (quality management investigation). This seems promising. IDC is willing to say that growth will be strong despite the fact that it cant definitively say from where more than half of that growth will come.

The other interesting element is the use of the word cognitive alongside artificial:

From a technology perspective, the largest area of spending in 2017 ($4.5 billion) will be cognitive applications, which includes cognitively-enabled process and industry applications that automatically learn, discover, and make recommendations or predictions. Cognitive/AI software platforms, which provide the tools and technologies to analyze, organize, access, and provide advisory services based on a range of structured and unstructured information, will see investments of nearly $2.5 billion this year.

That paragraph begs the question of what the difference is between AI and cognitive intelligence. It also implies that the broad category of using machines to think is comprised of many smaller technologies. It is important for those who will potentially use AI and related techniques to understand the differences. The terms include machine learning, deep learning, text mining, speech recognition, neural networks, cognitive technology and others, according to Analytics India.

The difference between AI and cognitive intelligence is a bit hard to understand. AI is the umbrella term for all technologies used to enable machines to do things that normally require human intelligence, the story says. Cognitive technologies provide the information, but allow the human to make the ultimate decision. The differentiation seems more in how technology is leveraged than a difference in the tools themselves:

[C]ognitive computing helps us make smarter decisions on our own leveraging the machines, while AI is rooted in the idea that machines can take better decisions on our behalf.

The Harvard Business Review takes a different approach. The writers suggest that cognitive the field comprises a range of approaches in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning. In other words, the higher level classification is cognitive computing, with AI, machine learning and all the rest fitting underneath.

It is obviously complicated material. It is also in its infancy, with much work to be done in order to enable the IDC predictions to be fulfilled. Last week, IBM announced that it is opening its third IoT & AI Insiders Lab. A facility in Munich will join labs in Shenzhen, China and Redmond, Washington. The new facility will be a workshop and conduit between Internet of Things (IoT) and AI developers, entrepreneurs and companies in Europe and the Middle East, according to eWeek.

Its not necessary for planners to deeply follow how the various pieces of the AI puzzle fit together. It is, however, important for them to understand that the field is not monolithic. A great deal of research and study is necessary before seriously talking to vendors, consultants, and others in the ecosystem.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.
The rise of telecommuting has been one of the more important IT trends of the past decade. More companies are open to it, and mobile technology that has grown by orders of magnitude and concepts such as the cloud has made the idea of decentralized employment far more accepted.

Telecommuting was in the news last week, albeit in a minor way. In Atlanta, arsonists set a fire that caused a section of I-85 to collapse. AJC reported that Georgia Power and Coca-Cola messaged workers that telecommuting was an option. Many other companies no doubt sent their workers the same message.

Its interesting that the progress of telecommuting is not all in one direction, however. Indeed, one of the early champions of the form of work, IBM, is backtracking on telecommuting. Quartz reported that Big Blue is calling telecommuting marketing employees in the U.S. back to the office. Those who cant (or wont) comply will be fired. The story reports that the 2,600 employees affected will now be housed at offices in New York City; Boston; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta; Austin and San Francisco.

This would be a big change for any company. It is even higher profile because of IBMs telecommuting history. The story says that in 2009, 40 percent of its workers telecommuted. Employees of acquired companies were allowed to telecommute. An added irony is that the stated reason is one that has long been used as an argument against telecommuting:

Michelle Peluso, IBMs chief marketing officer, tells Kessler that the benefits of employees working together in the same offices include speed, agility, creativity and true learning experiences within your team. When youre playing phone tag with someone is quite different than when youre sitting next to someone and can pop up behind them and ask them a question, she said.

InformationWeek columnist Andrew Froehlich suggested that the decision by IBM to call people back to the office, as well as a similar decision by Yahoo in 2013, may have been due to the very fact that the companies are old school. Froehlich didnt claim inside knowledge, but he reasoned that the companies may have been relying on old technology and thereby setting themselves up for lackluster results. Even if new equipment is provided, big companies are less likely to have tight controls. This could lead to a higher percentage of employees sticking with older and less efficient gear with which they are comfortable.

The move by IBM is high profile, but Froehlich suggests that it not be taken as a sign of the downfall of telecommuting. Rather, the news can be a teachable moment:

Most organizations are likely to continue their telecommuting ambitions despite whats in the news. But its important to look at cases such as Yahoo and IBM to see where they possibly failed to avoid the costly and damaging effects of a full-blown telecommuting reboot. Being vigilant in vetting and replacing aging telecommuting tools  as well as properly training staff on new tools  is an excellent place to start.

The main takeaway is that telecommuting today is not the same as telecommuting even a few years ago. Thats good: The technology is improving. Companies must keep pace with those changes, however.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.
Without debate, the current capabilities of artificial intelligence are still so ridiculously limited right now as cited by well-known minds of our century. Mayo Clinic's Chief Information Officer Cris Ross and best-selling author and psychology professor at NYU Gary Marcus both agree that the AI still has a long way to go before it can actually make incredible tech achievements. For both of these seasoned experts, the AI current capabilities can be likened to a thoughtless toddler.

A couple of months ago, Mr. Ross gave an eye-opening endorsement of the technology at the annual HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida. Despite giving the highest commendation of IBM Watson Healths AI engine, describing its tangible benefits to healthcare, he also cautioned that the technology still needs time to advance. Furthermore, he cited that the technology is currently "still pretty dumb" and has the capabilities of a "two-year-old".

Although dubbed as the best artificial intelligence today, IBM Watson Healths AI engine is still driven entirely by semantic models that work only by plowing through data, Mr. Ross explained. According to the MedCity News, it is not yet capable of fully making meaning out of all the data that it is given. In this way, it is similar to a toddler who sees fire and proceeds to touch it.

Similarly, Mr. Marcus remains skeptical of the emerging technology. He believes that it learns the same way how children learn, which means that throwing more data at it wont necessarily lead to progress in areas such as understanding language. However, he also thinks that there is a very effective way to increase the speed this kind of technology is growing.

According to TechCrunch, the only way to get rid of the limits of artificial intelligence is to approach its development the same way CERN was built: through a vast pool of diverse solutions. Current AI is being worked on by individual and small companies that use small strategies for marketing. If the interdisciplinary, multi-country approaches are utilized, like in CERN, real progress could be made to remove the limits of AI.
In the wake of Samsung's Galaxy 8 impressive performance on sales this season, Apple is also about to pull an incredibly powerful comeback with its extreme iPhone X concept. Scheduled to be released in celebration of the tech giant's 10th anniversary of making the popular iPhones, the latest design might just be able to take the crown back from Samsung. With Behance designer Gabor Balogh in its helm, the newest design is peppered with interesting modified features and secret performances that could very well make its mark this year.

After the successful launching of Galaxy 8, observers have now turned their eyes to one of its biggest rivals, Steve Job's beloved tech company. Add the fact that the company is about to celebrate its decade anniversary, people are now more excited than ever on what kind of phone the brand will be releasing. Put together by a talented gadget designer, Gabor Balogh promises to wow buyers with its cutting edge design and performance.

Apple's iPhone X is rumored to have an OLED-based display with state-of-the-art wrap-around technology. This means that key components such as earpiece, FaceTime camera, and Touch ID fingerprint sensor will be integrated right into the display panel. According to the International Business Times, the end result is an increase in the screen-to-body ratio, offering a true edge-to-edge display for an immersive viewing experience.

Balogh additionally believes that Apples next big move will be a 3D augmented reality with Siri integration. He shares his vision of how Siri would work on the iPhone X, making it sound like a mix of Samsungs new Bixby and Google Assistant. According to Tech Aeris, aside from a mix of augmented reality and voice assistants, the new iPhone is also expected to incorporate facial and gesture recognizable laser sensor and other features that buyers could look forward to.
In an ironic turn of events, Samsung has lent a hand to its most bitter rival and it is spending $9 billion to do that. The Korean conglomerate is investing the huge amount on its OLED production which will benefit Apple particularly its upcoming iPhones.

The news came all the way from South Korea where a local news site reported that Samsung Display will be spending a total of 10 trillion Won which translates to roughly 8.9 billion U.S. Dollars. "The Investor" said that the money will go to the expansion of the company's OLED production.

The investment is seen as a result of Apple's shift to OLED technology after years of going with LCD. With Samsung controlling over 95 percent of the market for OLED, Apple had no other recourse than to get its rival as a supplier. Apple is not the only company looking to shift to OLED. A number of Chinese companies are also considering the use of OLED screen for their high-end devices giving Samsung more reasons to pursue its $9 billion investment in OLED technology.

According to BGR, the two tech giants have agreed on at least a couple of contracts for Samsung to supply OLED displays to Apple. In fact, Samsung is scheduled to receive $4.3 billion as payment for the 60 million or so OLED displays that Apple has ordered.

News of Apple getting Samsung to produce OLED displays for its iPhones has been around since last year. It was previously rumored that the 5.8-inch iPhone will sport an AMOLED screen also courtesy of Samsung. More recent rumors, however, say that OLED will be the screen of choice for the next flagship iPhone. Whatever the case, Samsung will surely benefit from the 10th year anniversary iPhone and possibly other Apple smartphones down the road due to its dominance n global display shipments.

Cult of Mac reported that Samsung Display owns 23 percent of the displays smaller than 9 inches shipped around the globe in 2015. Japan Display followed with 16 percent while LG cornered 14 percent of the market. Samsung figures to continue its dominance of the field especially with its $9 billion investment in OLED production which includes building a facility for the sole purpose of manufacturing OLED and AMOLED screens.
Samsung is well on its way to bury last year's embarrassment with the release of the Galaxy S8 which has been welcomed with open arms by the tech world for its game-changing design and specifications. The Korean tech giant is not done, though. A leak recently surfaced indicating that Samsung's Galaxy X and Galaxy Note 8 will come this year, specifically in that order.

A Chinese leaker who goes by mmddj_china posted a couple of tweets on March 29 hinting on the possible release dates of the two Samsung devices. First, the leaker tweeted that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will come in Q4. Another tweet followed a couple of minutes later which indicated that the Galaxy X will come in Q3. Though the tweets did not specify the year when the two Samsung handsets will be released, the consensus is that they will arrive this year. Trusted Reviews noted that previous rumors about the galaxy X signified a possible 2017 release for the foldable handset.

Rumors of the Samsung Galaxy X, also known as "Project Valley", have been around for quite some time now. The Korean conglomerate first introduced the concept of a foldable or flexible screen in 2011. The Galaxy X gained traction late last year after a patent for a device that "can be folded or unfolded semi-automatically" surfaced. The Galaxy X name was also officially trademarked last month, a development seen by some as an indication that the foldable device is on its way.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Know Your Mobile reported that it is 100 percent sure that it will come in 2017. Samsung's efforts to prevent another Galaxy Note 7 debacle are the main reasons why the successor will be released within the year. The move is seen as risky as the company has fallen hard with regards to consumer trust even in its homeland. Despite his, Samsung is hoping the Galaxy Note 8, supposedly codenamed either "Baikal" or "Great", will have the same success that the Galaxy S8 is currently having.
After its acquisition of Yahoo wraps up, Verizon plans to place AOL and Yahoo under the umbrella of a new company, called Oath.

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong on Monday announced the move on Twitter, writing, "Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017."

AOL, which owns the Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch, will pool all of the properties with Yahoo under the Oath umbrella, according to Armstrong, in an interview with CNBC.

"This is a sad thing for everyone who remembers when Yahoo and AOL were riding high," said Dan Olds, an analyst for OrionX. "For many people, AOL was their first experience with the Internet and was probably their first email address. A lot of people's first experience with Internet search, and other services, was probably with Yahoo. Unfortunately, the companies couldn't keep up with the ever-changing competition and fell into the backwaters of the Internet."

"I think it is too early to know what this will mean," said Judith Hurwitz, an analyst with Hurwitz and Associates. "There are multiple technologies that each company has. Do they intend to provide services for customers? Do they want to create underlying technology that helps make the overall company better able to respond to change?"

Yahoo has been struggling financially and in maintaining its footing in the market for several years. The company also has had to contend with two huge data breaches.

After failing to solidify its position, the company announced last July that it's selling its core internet assets to Verizon for $4.8 billion. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Verizon bought AOL, another ailing company that had once been an internet powerhouse, in 2015 for $4.4 billion.

While neither Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer nor Yahoo have said what Mayer will be doing after the acquisition, ReCode reported that she will not be part of Oath.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said creating Oath is a way to save money after the merger.

"They try to hold on to the combined revenue but cut costs by removing redundant staff and overhead," Enderle said. "It doesn't make them more innovative or powerful but the result is cheaper to run I expect Oath, which abandons both known brands in a textbook bad practice, to be starved into obscurity."

However, with both Yahoo and AOL, Verizon has purchased an entrance into the online media business. Both companies come with experienced people and valuable technology.

Olds said he isn't optimistic about the likelihood of success for Oath since the new company will be based on two struggling, old-school ventures.

"My first take on this is that it's like tying two rocks together in order to get one of them to float," he said. "That's maybe a bit uncharitable. The companies do still have quite a few users, at least on their email services. But there aren't a lot of growth assets at either company, despite how management tries to spin it. If these were successful companies today, they would still be independent and not owned by Verizon."

There isn't much to get excited about over this new company, Olds added.

"One of the problems for Yahoo and AOL, when they were trying to pull themselves out of the bottom-feeder muck, was that the expectations were pretty high for them  probably impossibly high," he said. "They were never going to reach their prior prominence. I don't think there are a lot expectations for Oath, which gives them a low bar to hurdle."
Intel's finally washing its hands of McAfee after seven up and down years, which included a lawsuit last year from John McAfee, after whom the company is named.

The chip maker has divested its majority holdings in McAfee to investment firm TPG for US$3.1 billion.

McAfee will now again become a standalone security company, but Intel will retain a minority 49 percent stake. The chip maker will focus internal operations on hardware-level security.

For Intel, dumping majority ownership in McAfee amounts to a loss. It spent $7.68 billion to acquire McAfee in 2010, which was a head-scratcher at the time. Intel's McAfee acquisition will stand as one of the company's worst acquisitions.

The chip maker had the right idea when it acquired McAfee -- to add layers of security to hardware and components. Intel embedded McAfee technology in firmware at the PC and server chip level, and developed security management tools.

McAfee technology was also used in hardware using real-time operating systems. However, McAfee had little ties to Intel's core hardware strategy.

Intel was running a parallel hardware security strategy that had little to no ties to McAfee, which was renamed Intel Security. The chip maker was developing trusted boot systems and partnering with other companies on server security and secure payments.

The McAfee acquisition gave Intel deep insight into the security arena, said Doug Fisher, senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group at Intel.

Separating the companies will put McAfee in a better position to grow in the software area, which is its core competency, Fisher said. It also leaves Intel in a better position to grow in hardware-level security at the chip and firmware levels, he added.

Intel's focus will be on putting instructions and hooks on its silicon to protect users. It is already providing secure areas in its chips where user authentication data can be stored. For example, it's SGX (Software Guard Extensions) feature can authenticate users so content providers can stream 4K video to authorized PCs. It wants to use similar features to ensure secure payments from PCs.

Security is also a big concern in IoT devices, but Intel will rely on partnerships. Intel is a member of Open Connectivity Foundation, and will work with industry partners to develop IoTivity protocols, which aim for secure connectivity between devices with multiple OSes and wireless technologies.

Intel also is expanding into self-driving cars, where security is a big consideration. Hacking into the software controls of a self-driving car could be disastrous, and Intel is putting supercomputers in vehicles that will need to be secured.

Another area of focus is the ability to securely deliver over-the-air updates to self driving cars, Fisher said.

Intel will deliver a reference architecture to harden edge devices and gateways for automobile security. There will also be automobile security standards that could protect self-driving cars from hacks, Fisher said.

VR is still in its infancy, and so are the security considerations. In virtual worlds, security could be much like it is in the real world, where certain virtual areas are cordoned off from unauthorized users. Also, Intel wants to cut the cord from VR headsets with secure wireless connections to PCs, Fisher said.

The fate of some products like True Key -- which allows users to log into Windows PCs via biometric authentication -- are not yet known. True Key is a competitor to Microsoft's Windows Hello. Intel will also work with Microsoft to promote Windows Hello.
Google is working to accelerate the performance of its applications over the internet by building out a software-defined network at broad scale. On Tuesday, the company announced Espresso, a system that provides increased network performance to users of the companys applications.

It works by applying software-defined networking to the edge of the tech titans network, where Google connects to the peer networks of other internet service providers. Rather than rely on individual routers to figure out the best way to direct internet traffic, Espresso hands that responsibility off to servers running in the data centers Google operates at the edge of its network.

Espresso aggregates all the data about network performance from across its peering points and uses that to dynamically direct traffic to users. That allows Google to offer major performance improvements, instead of sending users information from a static point based on their IP addresses or the addresses of their DNS resolvers.

And weve actually pulled the brains of the routing protocol out of individual routers, Google Fellow Amin Vahdat said. So we no longer have all of the functionality residing on high-end routers, we actually can leverage more commodity devices, more commodity network elements, and push all of the functionality out of the router boxes onto our server banks.

Espresso is the fourth major software-defined network project Google has announced publicly. It builds on the companys Jupiter data center interconnect project, Andromeda network function virtualization stack, and B4, a globally deployed software-defined wide area network.

The system has been running in production at Google for longer than two years, and it currently handles about 20 percent of the companys traffic. The companys legacy networking infrastructure handles the other 80 percent, but all new capacity uses Espresso. Vahdat didnt provide an exact timetable for when Espresso would handle all of the companys traffic, but said the transition is moving quickly.

Google is touting the performance benefits of Espresso not just for its consumer customers, but for the companies that choose it to provide cloud services. Companies transferring information between their on-premises data centers and Google Cloud Platform will see improved performance as a result of Espresso, Vahdat said.

In addition, they will benefit from Googles networking investments when serving information from the companys cloud over the public internet, he said. Google handles roughly a quarter of the worlds internet traffic and has touted that expertise as a key part of its value to customers, compared to companies like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Today

Sunshine and some clouds. High 79F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 62F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Tomorrow

A few clouds early, otherwise mostly sunny. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 69F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
The top executive of Gildan Activewear Inc., Glenn Chamandy, received a mixed compensation package during fiscal 2016, the Montreal apparel manufacturer reported Monday.

Chamandy received a 17.3 percent decrease in salary to $1.06 million, a 144.7 percent jump in incentive pay to $1.58 million, and an overall 23.5 percent decline in total compensation to $7.09 million.

The biggest factor influencing Chamandys compensation was a 91.4 percent decline, to $3.72 million, in the value of stock and stock option awards on the date they were awarded.

He also received $133,163 in all other compensation, details of which were not disclosed.

Gildan executive compensation is listed in Canadian dollars. Exchange rates can vary daily, but on Monday, the U.S. dollar was worth $1.34 in Canadian dollars.

For the full year, net income was up 0.1 percent to $346.6 million. Net sales increased 0.6 percent to $2.58 billion.

Gildan is a major competitor of Hanesbrands Inc. of Winston-Salem.

The Montreal apparel manufacturer has production operations in Mocksville, Eden and Salisbury.

Gildan has created more than 200 jobs toward a pledge of 295 for its yarn production plant in Mocksville as part of expanding domestic yarn-spinning production capacity for new and existing products for its Gildan Yarns division.

Rhodri Harries, chief financial and accounting officers, was paid $717,769 in salary, $466,550 in incentive pay and $3.63 million in total compensation. Harries took over as chief financial officer in August 2015.

Three Gildan executives received the same salary ($709,044, down 19.8 percent) and incentive pay ($460,878, up 137.3 percent). They were Benito Masi, executive vice president of manufacturing, Michael Hoffman, president of the printwear division, and Eric Lehman, president of the branded apparel division. The salaries of Hoffman, Lehman and Masi are paid in U.S. dollars.

Gildan will hold its annual shareholder meeting May 4 in Montreal.

There are no shareholder proposals on the upcoming agenda.
A bill has been introduced in the state Senate that would raise the minimum number of unemployment benefit weeks from 12 to 16.

Senate Bill 580, filed by Ben Clark, D-Hoke, and Joel Ford, D-Mecklenburg, would retain the sliding benefit scale that moves up and down with the unemployment rate.

Benefits are drawn mostly by workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

The minimum number of weeks would be 16 when the jobless rate is at or below 7.5 percent. It would rise to a maximum of 20 weeks  up one from the current maximum  when the rate is above 9 percent.

The bill, if signed into law, would go into effect July 1.

North Carolina has more than $2.3 billion in its trust fund to pay unemployment benefits, a level close to what federal guidelines suggest for reserves.

Clark acknowledges the odds are long that the bill advances far in the current legislative session, but felt the time was right to increase the benefit weeks.

We submitted what we thought was realistic, to see what is possible, Clark said. We didnt want to press it too much with other colleagues, even though this may be too much for many legislators to go from 12 to 16.

But, were back in good position with the fund now.

North Carolina currently pays 13 weeks, tied for second lowest in the nation with Missouri, and trailing only Florida with 12 weeks,

By comparison, 41 states pay at least 26 weeks.

The average UI claimant duration in N.C. was 17.5 weeks when the law was put into place, according to the state Division of Employment Security. Rep. Julia Howard said Tuesday that the average is now 9.9 weeks.

The bill does not address the weekly UI benefit, which is at a maximum of $350, down from $535 before July 1, 2013.

Clark said the lawmakers chose not to address that element, in part because Clark voted in 2013 to reduce the benefits to be more in line with neighboring states.

If the state economy continues to improve, and were on more sure footing, I would revisit raising the weekly benefit, Clark said.

This cant be viewed as some big giveaway or allowing some individuals to sit around not wanting to work. It is a good compromise.

Rather than being set by the statewide unemployment rate, the bill would let the number of benefit weeks be determined by metropolitan statistical area, such as the five-county Winston-Salem MSA and three-county Greensboro-High Point MSA.

That way, jobless individuals in rural parts of the state can receive more benefit weeks if their MSA jobless rate is higher than urban MSAs.

The bill would require that when the employer surtax contribution to the unemployment insurance fund is applied, the amount must be identified quarterly to the state treasurer, and that 10 percent go straight to the unemployment insurance fund.

Clark said the lawmakers chose the MSA jobless rate recognizing that rural counties and a cluster of counties can have a higher jobless rate than urban counties, so this would bridge the gap because we cant do this at the county level.

It adds more fairness to the process, as people in those areas have a more challenging job finding work than in urban areas, Clark said.

Ted Brinn, an assistant secretary for N.C. Commerce Department, said that between what the division currently pays in benefits and takes in from employer UI taxes, the state has access to about $3 billion.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, said that while the bill has a worthwhile goal, reality is we may need a few more years to stabilize the fund and revisit the benefit side then.

We have made tremendous improvements, but now is not the time to start changing the direction, so I doubt this bill will move very far in the committee reviews.

A major priority of the administration of former Gov. Pat McCrory was building up the trust fund after completing the retirement of about $2.8 billion in debt to the U.S. Labor and Treasury departments in May 2015.

The state borrowed the money so it could pay extra UI benefits during the 2008-10 recession.

McCrory touted the debt retiring in his re-election campaign as one example of giving employers certainty about the cost of doing business in North Carolina.

However, several advocate groups and economists have criticized legislators for not increasing the UI benefits with the debt paid and the trust fund near suggested levels.

The left-leaning N.C. Justice Center said employers have borne about 22 percent of the repayment burden, while beneficiaries have contributed 73 percent through reduced benefits. The center said in 2016 that just 1 in every 10 unemployed workers in North Carolina, or about 22,100, received UI benefits  the lowest level in the nation.

By comparison, the percentage of unemployed North Carolinians receiving benefits was at 39 percent in second quarter 2013.

Those who do receive benefits average about $234 a week, about $116 below the current maximum and 56 percent below the $535 maximum that was paid before July 2013.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has entered the Food and Drug Administration regulatory gauntlet to have six styles of its Camel Snus products reviewed as a potential modified-risk product.

Snus are teabag-like pouches or loose tobacco that users stick between their cheek and gum, but that dont require spitting. They are marketed in part for use in places where smoking is prohibited.

Camel Snus has been the dominant snus product in the U.S. since its 2006 debut.

Reynolds said its application covers four main areas:

*Chemistry, pre-clinical and clinical toxicology, as well as epidemiology;

*Consumer perception and understanding studies of the proposed modified risk tobacco product (MRTP);

* Likelihoods of use studies based on the proposed MRTP claims;

* Population-level modeling under a scenario in which the MRTP claims are authorized for dissemination to adult smokers.

Reynolds spokesman David Howard said this is a significant first step in what is a lengthy process. We cant speculate on when or if the agency will determine the applications are accepted for substantive review.

The pathway was established as part of the FDA gaining regulatory authority through the 2009 federal Tobacco Control Act. That standard requires the FDA to consider products risks and benefits to the population as a whole, including users and non-users.

Reynolds becomes the second manufacturer to attempt the FDA regulatory pipeline for a snus product.

Swedish Match received in November 2015 FDA approval of eight General Snus styles to be marketed as a new tobacco product after reviewing its application for nearly 1 years.

That allows the products to be sold domestically, but without any claims related to lower risk compared with cigarettes.

In December, the FDA ruled that a group of eight General Snus styles would not be allowed to remove a consumer warning that the products can cause gum disease and tooth loss.

The lessons learned through these first applications provide key insights moving forward, Mitch Zeller, director of the FDAs Center for Tobacco Product, has said.

For example, companies should carefully consider how they plan to present and substantiate a modified risk claim.

Scott Ballin, past chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said the Camel Snus application is welcome news for MRTP innovations.

It has long been accepted that snus is more than 90 percent less harmful than the deadly cigarette, Ballin said.

I remain concerned, however, that the FDA approval process is excessively complex, bureaucratic, time consuming and costly. It once again remains us that the TCA needs to be modernized, and that product standards for various categories of products be developed rather than doing regulation on a product-by-product basis.

Analysts have projected that the cost of a FDA regulatory review would be several million dollars for each pre-market tobacco application, or PMTA. An application is expected to be required for each flavoring and nicotine content level.

By comparison, the FDA estimates the average cost of an PTMA application at $466,563 each.

Reynolds said it has submitted more than 450,000 pages of documentation with its application.

By comparison, Swedish Match said its General Snus application contained more than 100,000 pages.

Complicating the MRTP review process has been the pending transition from the Obama administration, which supported tighter regulations on tobacco products, to the Trump administration, which is likely to favor reducing regulations overall, as does a Republican-controlled Congress.

On Dec. 6, Philip Morris International applied to have its electronically heated cigarette, known as its iQOS technology, reviewed as a potential MRTP.

The technology is in use with the Marlboro HeatStick device in Italy, Japan and Switzerland.

One motivation behind heat-not-burn is that the heating of tobacco leaves may be less harmful since the burning of tobacco tends to create the largest amount of carcinogens.

Smokers light a carbon tip that heats air that, as it is inhaled, passes over tobacco in a cylinder identical to a standard cigarette. The flavors of tobacco and nicotine are inhaled and then exhaled by smokers.

Ballin said the application for the iQOS technology was estimated at more than 2 million pages.

Philip Morris International has expressed optimism for debuting the heat sticks in the U.S. by late 2017 or early 2018.

Bonnie Herzog, a Wells Fargo Securities analyst, said in October that U.S. retailer interest was growing for a heat-not-burn product even though the only one in the market, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.s Eclipse, is in limited distribution.

Philip Morris International said the application for iQOS represents the next step in building a reduced-risk product portfolio that meets a broad spectrum of adult smoker preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. It has invested more than $2 billion in MRTP development.

The premarket application would allow PMI to market and sell the heat sticks in the U.S. without making a health claim  similar to how it is sold in a test market in Japan.

We continue to believe iQOS is a positive catalyst for both manufacturers, providing a unique competitive advantage, Herzog said.

Based on our analysis, we think 25 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. combustible cig market could be converted to iQOS by 2025, resulting in incremental volume for Philip Morris USA as it could take up to 9 share points and reach 60 market share by 2025.

The potential U.S. entrance of Marlboro HeatStick comes after Reynolds acknowledged in August 2015 that it was discontinuing its second attempt in 12 years at marketing a heated cigarette, Revo.

In May, Reynolds said it was testing another heat-not-burn product, Core, in Japan. It has not discussed results of the test.
Scott Custer, former top executive at four sold North Carolina banks, has chosen to join a Wilmington bank rather than serve as a consultant and board member for a Pittsburgh bank.

Live Oak Bancshares Inc. said Monday it has hired Custer as president of its Live Oak Banking Co. subsidiary, effective immediately.

Custer, the former chief executive of Yadkin Financial Corp., worked just 11 days with F.N.B. Corp., the buyer of the Raleigh bank, before departing March 24. F.N.B. said Custer also resigned from its board of directors in order to pursue other business opportunities.

Custer also has been the chief executive of RBC Bank, Piedmont Community Bank Holdings Inc., and VantageSouth Bancshares Inc.

The hiring of Custer is part of a management change in which Neil Underwood remains as president of the parent company, but shifts its focus to the Live Oak Ventures technology development unit.

Chip Mahan the banks chairman and CEO, is age 65, according to Fridays shareholder proxy filing.

Mahan said in a statement that Custers hiring comes as Live Oak expands into new industries, products and solutions to support its growing small-business customer base.

Scott brings world-class experience scaling complex banking organizations, Mahan said.

At a time where our rapid growth is taking us into new and exciting opportunities, we want to ensure that our core business remains rooted, and he will help us do that.

Live Oak did not disclose Custers compensation. It has not submitted a regulatory filing on Custers hiring as on Monday morning.

Custer cited Live Oaks growth potential and management team performance in his reasoning for joining the bank.

Live Oak had a 33.2 percent decline in net income, to $13.8 million, for fiscal 2016, caused primarily by a 48.8 percent in noninterest expenses to $106.4 million.

It had $1.75 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31, up 66.7 percent over the year.

F.N.B., based in Pittsburgh, completed its $1.4 billion purchase of Yadkin on March 13.

Custer was Yadkins lone representative on the F.N.B. board.

Custer would have been paid an annual board retainer fee of $55,000 and an annual stock award worth $40,000. He could have received $3,500 annually for serving on the nominating and governance committee, and $7,500 each for serving on the executive, audit, compensation and risk committees annually.

Custer also terminated the three-year consultant contract he received as part of the purchase. The bank said Custer was given a limited waiver to a noncompete clause in the contract.

The bank said Custers departure was not as a result of any disagreement with F.N.B. on any matter relating to F.N.B.s operations, accounting matters, policies or practices.

Custer served as the chief executive and president of Yadkin since its $299 million purchase of VantageSouth Bancshares Inc. of Raleigh in July 2014, as well as serving on its board. He came to Yadkin from his role as chief executive of VantageSouth.

According to an Oct. 17 filing by Yadkin, Custer was scheduled to receive a golden parachute of $6.55 million: $2.8 million in cash, of which at least $600,000 is consulting pay, along with restricted stock valued at $1.52 million on Sept. 16, $2.11 million from the Yadkin pension and other retirement compensation, $22,275 in perks, and $106,019 in other compensation.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools have started planning their budget for the 2017-18 school year. The Board of Educations finance committee met Thursday for its first look at its local budget  the plan for spending the more than $130 million it receives from Forsyth County taxpayers.

While the lions share of public school budgets are funded by the state of North Carolina, local tax dollars supplement important parts of the budget  paying for everything from additional teachers to activity buses.

Kerry Crutchfield, budget director for the district, said the county revenue picture looks good and he expects the district to receive around $2.5 million more for the 2017-18 school year than it did for the current year. The county and school district agreed on a funding formula that automatically calculates its annual funding level. When county revenue is up, so is funding for the schools.

The district is not expecting any large changes in its locally funded budget for next year. Its likely that state salaries will increase, so some local dollars will go toward keeping pace for locally paid employees  those extra positions the district hires on top of what the state allots.

Local dollars also pay for salary supplements  money the district pays teachers on top of the state salary schedule to make teaching in Forsyth County more attractive than other counties. Local supplements have fallen behind other large urban districts, prompting the board to look for ways to increase supplements going forward. The board made a small increase in supplements for the current school year and could add to them for next year, if the countys rosy outlook holds.

In addition to increasing the salary supplement for teachers, the money could go toward upgrading the transportation departments communication center and buying badly needed activity buses.

Board chairwoman Dana Jones said shed like to see the district commit to buying more activity buses, which cost about $88,000 each. Jones had led a charge by the board to move the district away from using its fund balance  essentially the districts savings  on recurring expenses and balance a budget with annual allotments.

Jones said shes appreciative of district leaders efforts to do so and wants to look at ways to reinvest savings into needed one-time expenditures like activity buses and the transportation center upgrade.

We dont just want this whole big pot of money, she said. Its about what we can do with the savings.

Decisions about how to spend any new dollars will likely be put on hold, though, until the N.C. General Assembly makes a decision on class size requirements for kindergarten through third grades.

A provision in last years budget bill would take away class size flexibility, effectively lowering class sizes in the early grades from 21 to 18 in kindergarten, 16 in first grade and 17 in second and third grades starting in the fall. A bill to keep some flexibility was passed by the House but has not been taken up by the Senate Rules and Operations Committee, where it has stayed for more than a month.

That flexibility had been used to hire specialty teachers, like those who teach art, music and physical education. District officials have said they are committed to keeping those programs, but are still looking for strategies to help cover the expense of as many as 200 additional K-3 teachers.

The district will wait to see what the legislature decides before making final budgetary decisions.

The bottom line on this is that we have not budgeted all of the county appropriation increase were expecting for this year, Crutchfield said. Were holding on to that, waiting to see what this class size issue does to us.
A line of strong thunderstorms rolled through Forsyth and Guilford counties Monday, causing scattered power outages and a few traffic crashes in the area.

The storm system will be over Eastern North Carolina today, said Mike Sporer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va.

Todays forecast calls for high temperatures ranging near 80 degrees in Winston-Salem, 78 degrees in Mount Airy and 67 degrees in Boone amid mostly sunny skies in Winston-Salem. Tonights low temperatures will range from around 53 in Forsyth County, 50 in Surry County and 47 in Watauga County.

The National Weather Service reported that its Doppler radar tracked storms Monday along a line extending from near King to near Clemmons, moving east at 45 mph, the weather service said. Wind gusted up to 50 mph.

The storm with its steady rain left the Triad about 7:30 p.m. Monday, the weather service said. Winston-Salem received 1.07 inches of rain, and Greensboro got 0.7 inches.

Duke Energy Corp. reported that 114 customers lost power Monday in Forsyth, Wilkes and Davidson counties. The Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. indicated that the storms knocked out power to 37 of its customers in Watauga County.

Most of the power was restored by 6 p.m. Monday.

The N.C. Highway Patrol in Salisbury reported that 10 traffic crashes happened in its coverage area during the storms. That area includes Forsyth, Stokes, Yadkin, Surry, Davie and Davidson counties, but the highway patrol dispatcher in Salisbury didnt immediately have the locations of the crashes. No serious injuries were reported.

A second round of rain, including severe thunderstorms, should arrive Wednesday in the Triad and the mountains, the weather service said. Damaging winds and a few tornadoes could accompany the storms.

Wednesdays forecast calls for high temperatures ranging from near 78 in Winston-Salem, 65 in Boone and 74 in Mount Airy with a 30-60 percent chance of rain in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. Wednesday nights low temperatures will range from the 40s to the 50s in the regions with a 60 percent chance of rain.

An early spring snowstorm could hit the northwestern mountains by Friday morning, said Frank Strait, a meteorologist with Accuweather in State College, Pa.

Areas in the lower elevations likely will receive little to no accumulation of snow, but areas in the higher elevations are expected to receive 1 to 3 inches of snow through Friday morning, he said.
RALEIGH  The state commission charged with fostering an industrial hemp industry in North Carolina is considering joining a lawsuit against a government agency that it agrees is making things difficult: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

The N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission, which was created by the General Assembly in 2015, gave its verbal support to the lawsuit last week and plans to announce Thursday whether it will become a party to it.

The lawsuit would be filed by Founders Hemp of Asheboro  the first company to register in North Carolina as an industrial hemp producer. The company says it intends to sue the DEA over its ruling that products made with CBD or cannabidiol hemp, which are in the same cannabis family as marijuana, are illegal and cannot be transported across state lines.

We cannot let this stand as an industry, Bob Crumley, president of Founders Hemp, said during a meeting of the Industrial Hemp Commission last week. If we let what the DEA is currently doing stand, we need to fold our tents and give everybody their money back.

The federal government outlawed the growing of hemp in 1937. But with the 2014 Farm Bill, Congress allowed universities and state departments of agriculture to grow industrial hemp for research, and more than 30 states, including North Carolina, have passed laws allowing hemp research and pilot programs.

But the DEA has maintained that the transportation of hemp seeds across state lines is illegal, and that it is illegal for farmers to sell their finished hemp products in other states within the U.S.

Crumley said the DEAs position is based on the antiquated idea that all cannabis is bad. He noted that hemp contains negligible amounts of THC, the psychoactive chemical that provides the high associated with marijuana use; industrial hemp has less than 0.3 percent of THC, compared to 3 to 15 percent or higher in marijuana.

Crumley said that the DEAs position is an example of bureaucracy that clearly thwarts the will of Congress and disadvantages American farmers.

To say that a Canadian farmer has more rights in this market than a farmer from North Carolina or Kentucky does  its ridiculous, Crumley said. Its abhorrent.

The DEA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Talk of the lawsuit comes as farmers are lining up to grow and sell hemp under North Carolinas test program. Last week, the Industrial Hemp Commission approved applications from 16 growers who said they would import hemp seeds from outside of the U.S., which the DEA has ruled is legal. The commission delayed the approval of the six applicants that listed their seed source as within the U.S. and said it will decide what to do with those applications at its meeting Thursday.

Hemp is a versatile plant used in the manufacture of fabrics, fuels, plastics and construction materials, among others products. CBD hemp oil is a nutritional supplement with anti-inflammatory properties that has the potential to soothe chronic pain.

Vernon Cox, director of the plant industry division at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said interest from growers in the product has been high. The agriculture department, which is charged with serving as staff for the Industrial Hemp Commission, has reviewed 40 to 50 applications from farmers hoping to grow the product.

Cox said the safest option for growers at this point is to import seed from Europe or Canada.

Meanwhile, Tom Melton, the chairman of the commission, said it would need to consult its lawyers to determine whether it could join the Founders Hemp suit as a complainant, as Crumley requested.

Were just not quite sure where we fall in being able to support them in litigation, so we had a motion and voted to support them verbally  to let everyone know that we support where they stand, said Melton, deputy director of N.C. Cooperative Extension at N.C. State University. But whether or not we can actually be part of litigation, we have to find out from our state attorneys really how that falls out.
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated in Memphis, Martin Luther King embarked on his most courageous and controversial odyssey. King addressed the crowd at the famed Riverside Church in New York City to publicly state his opposition to the war in Vietnam.

I come to this great magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice, King said 50 years ago today.

Adding, The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

By 1967, the greatness of King that America honors annually rested largely in his rearview mirror. The King that stood at Riverside was standing on the isolated but prophetic island, taking the long view ultimately vindicated posthumously by time. But Kings words were met with vociferous backlash, largely from those who supported his mission of civil rights.

How could King undermine the foreign policy efforts of President Lyndon Johnson, who had done more for the cause of civil rights than any of his 20th century predecessors? One would think that alone should have bought Kings silence.

Many saw King as moving beyond his sphere of influence in order to irresponsibly engage in global affairs. King was aware of this perspective and addressed it forthrightly during his remarks at Riverside:

Over the past two years as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. Arent you hurting the cause of your people? they ask. And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

The Washington Post declared King had diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people. Time magazine, which named King its Man of the Year in 1963, called the speech demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi.

The irony was not lost on King, who roughly a week later, preaching at his home church in Atlanta, stated:

Oh, the press was so noble in its applause, and so noble in its praise when I was saying, be nonviolent toward Bull Connor; when I was saying, Be nonviolent toward Selma, Alabama segregationist sheriff  Jim Clark. Theres something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that will praise you when you say, be nonviolent toward Jim Clark, but will curse and damn you when you say, Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children. Theres something wrong with that press!

While many were content to keep King in the narrow straightjacket of civil rights, the gains in civil rights revealed to King the need to also address poverty.

Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism, King said at Riverside.

This latter statement left King no alternative than to oppose the war in Vietnam. It did not matter how much legislation Johnson signed into law, the war had become an impediment to cause of civil rights, which by 1967 was emphasizing poverty.

In order to sustain a protracted war, sacrifices must be made elsewhere. King saw resources for the war on poverty programs taking a backseat to the war in Vietnam. Are we not seeing similar with the war in Afghanistan?

America is once again shirking its commitment to those on the underside to bolster an enterprise that is void direction or purpose.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly see King appealing to America to reach for the better angels of its nature. In 1967, the nation wasnt ready for Kings lamentations about Vietnam. The tragic irony is that prophets are usually appreciated more ex post facto.

Though 50 years later we can hear Kings words in their proper context, they must remain in the caldrons of yesteryear, lest we would be required to take action about our present state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Though not usually part of his greatest hits, the Riverside speech was King at his most prophetic and courageous.
STROKEFIT: 1-2 p.m. and 3-4 p.m. today and Thursday at Medical Plaza Miller, 131 Miller St. An exercise class designed for anyone who has had a stroke led by Julie Bradwell, LRT. Cost per class: $10. For an application, call Julie at (336) 716-8007 or email jbradwel@wakehealth.edu.

FORSYTH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: 6:30 p.m. today at Reynolda Manor Branch Library, 2839 Fairlawn Dr. Tina Smith, museum educator at the WFU Museum of Anthropology, will discuss How to Identify Native Americans in Your Family History. Free and open to the public. For more information, email forsythgenealogy@gmail.com.

JAZZ VESPERS SERVICE: 7-8:30 p.m. today at Wait Chapel, Wake Forest University. Music will range from Duke Ellington to hymns of the black church. From the vespers tradition, individual and collective prayers will be heard, as well as readings, scripture and poetry. Free. For more information, visit www.wfu.edu.

CONTRA DANCE: 8-10:30 p.m. today at Salem College Bryant Hall, 601 S. Church St. No partner needed. Lesson for beginners at 7:30 p.m. Bring bottled water and soft-soled shoes. Admission: $5-$8. For more information, visit www.feetretreat.com.

CIVIL AIR PATROL OPEN HOUSE: 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday in the blue hangar, 3820 N. Liberty St. Free. For information, email patricia.moody@nc082.ncwgcap.org or visit www.nc082.org.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions [official profile] issued a memorandum [text, PDF] on Monday, ordering the Department of Justice [DOJ, official website] to undertake a comprehensive review of all police reform activities issued during the Obama administration. During the Obama administration and in light of societal issues with police brutality, the DOJ required many state and local law enforcement agencies to reform their police conduct policies. The stated goal of such orders was to prevent misuse of force and unwarranted incidents of brutality. Sessionss memo orders the DOJ to review these orders and assist the agencies in promoting, a peaceful and lawful society, where the civil rights of all persons are protected. Agencies are to adhere to several principles listed to promote these goals, including public safety, officer safety, officer morale, and collaboration among the federal, state, local agencies. Sessions said the principle backing the memo is that the misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform in keeping American communities safe. This principle reflects Sessionss disagreement with the orders imposed on agencies under the Obama administration. The memo concludes with a statement to ensure that any Department activity resulting from the order does not, delay or impede any pending criminal or national security investigation.

This memo follows Sessionss March statement [JURIST report] supporting local law enforcement agencies against government lawsuits. The lawsuits were arising from police conduct similar to that criticized under the Obama administration during this past year. In January Baltimore reached an agreement with the DOJ on police reform after a finding [JURIST reports] in August by the DOJ that the police force had violated First and Fourth Amendment rights. In November Cleveland submitted [JURIST report] a revised use-of-force policy to a federal judge after a DOJ investigation found [JURIST report] the department was using excessive force. In May Louisianas governor signed into law [JURIST report] an amended hate crimes bill including police, EMS and firefighters in the protected class after instances where police were terrorized and attacked in response to numerous police shootings.
The European Court of Justice [court website] (ECJ) on Tuesday upheld [text] a visa ban on an Iranian student seeking to study in Germany. Sahar Fahimian applied to study sensitive security topics at a University in Germany, but was subsequently denied the visa by the German government, citing various security issues that could be used once the degree was obtained. The court decided that it was up to national authorities to decide if the visa ban was justified by security concerns. The decision allows countries to refuse visas, but requires them to state the reason for the denial. The ECJ added that, the German court will have to ascertain whether the decision to refuse the student a visa is based on duly justified grounds and a sufficiently solid factual basis. The German court will now have to decide if the state had valid reason to deny Fahimian the visa. Fahimian has already obtained a masters degree from an EU institution and was attempting to pursue a Doctoral degree focusing on security of mobile systems.

Issuing visas for foreign nationals is not something new to international diplomacy, yet in recent times deciding stricter means for issuing visas has become a more common trend. In the United States, President Donald Trump [official profile] has continually attempted to implement a temporary ban on nations in which the government believes impose a risk to the security of the country. JURIST Guest Columnist Jonathan Hafetz examines the latest travel ban [JURIST Op-ed] issued by the government, focusing on the underlying issue of being based around religion. In March the EU top court ordered that members do not have to issue [JURIST report] humanitarian visas, which challenged the belief in Europe that protection should be given to those fleeing war zones. Also in March, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation [JURIST report] limiting entry visas to anyone from countries who call for boycotts against the country.
The Hungarian National Assembly [official website] on Tuesday passed a law [Budapest Beacon report] in a fast-track process which would require foreign universities to have campuses in Hungary and their home countries.This bill threatens to push out [NPR report] Central European University (CEU) [official website], which is a private institution in Hungary funded by George Soros [personal website] and is the only foreign university in Hungary that does not also have a campus in its home country. Under this legislation, CEU will have to open a campus in the United States by February 15, 2018 if it wishes to remain open. Proponents of the passed law insist that it was not made to target CEU and claim that it was designed generally to address the administrative shortcomings of foreign universities. This bill has been met with significant protest both within Hungary and internationally.

There have been concerns in the past over Prime Minister Orbans government attacking democracy and human rights. Most recently, on March 7, Hungarian lawmakers passed [JURIST report] legislation which prevented those seeking asylum from moving about the country or leaving until their claims have been investigated. In November 2016, the Hungarian Parliament rejected an amendment [JURIST report] proposed by Prime Minister Orban which sought to block the settlement of refugees in Hungary. Earlier in November, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) urged [JURIST report] the EU to better address Hungarys sustained attack on human rights and democracy since Prime Minister Viktor Orban took office in 2010. At the beginning of Orbans term, Hungary adopted a new constitution called the Fundamental Law [text, pdf], which has been criticized for neglecting international human rights standards and fast-tracking political procedures in a manner that jeopardizes the countrys separation of powers.The FIDHs accusations echo similar statements [JURIST report] made by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2015 against the EU for refusing to take action to address Hungarys laws and practices regarding human rights. In 2013 the Hungarian government enacted constitutional amendments [JURIST report] after receiving criticism over its 2012 amendments. HRW and other human rights groups criticized [JURIST report] the changes as largely cosmetic, specifying a lack of resolve over issues surrounding human rights protections in the country.
The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Monday voted to endorse [nomination record] Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court 11-9, setting up a confirmation vote before the full Senate later this week. Committee Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley stated [text, PDF] that 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. However, Judge Gorsuch did not receive a single vote from a Democrat on the committee. Democratic Senators are expected to fillibuster Judge Gorsuchs appointment [Reuters report] by preventing a super majority. It is unclear whether majority Republicans will attempt to push Judge Gorsuchs nomination through with the nuclear option where they would change the policy to only require a simple majority for a Supreme Court nomination. Many Democrats have appeared to protest Gorsuchs nomination after former President Obamas later-term appointment of Chief Judge Marrick Garland was prevented by the Republican majority. A vote on Gorsuchs nomination is expected to occur this Friday.

Supreme Court appointments have been a highly politicized issue [JURIST op-ed] over the past year, since the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump nominated Gorsuch [JURIST report] in January to fill the late Justice Scalias Supreme Court seat. Some have argued that Gorsuchs nomination should be contested and blocked after the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland by former president Barack Obama expired in January without a vote [JURIST reports]. Others argue that judicial appointments deserve to be treated in a non-partisan manner [JURIST op-ed]. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in November attempted to force a vote on former nominee Garland.
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in two cases on Monday. Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC [docket; cert. petition, PDF] focuses on a corporate liability issue. The plaintiffs in the case are victims of terrorist attacks in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. They allege that the bank and its offices in New York should be held liable for knowingly financing terrorism. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled that the bank cannot be held liable.

In Ayestas v. Davis [docket; cert. peition, PDF] the Court has limited the grant of certiorari to consider the conditions under which a defendant has a right to federal funding for an appeal. The case focuses on Ayestas appeal to the court that his appeals were wrongfully denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website]. The lower court ruled that under 18 U.S.C.  3599(f) [text] the defendant must prove that the funds requested by defendant are reasonably necessary and that he has a substantial need. Ayestas claims that the substantial need standard is too high for a defendant to prove and creates a logical circularity as they must prove they could prevail without the full knowledge of the facts.
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday unanimously decided in Dean v. United States [opinion, PDF] that trial courts could consider mandatory minimums when imposing sentences for other underlying offenses. In Dean , the appellant had been convicted of several robbery and firearm charges and two additional charges of  possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U. S. C. 924, which carried mandatory minimums totalling 30 years. At sentencing, Dean asked that the judge consider those mandatory minimums when calculating an appropriate sentence. This was because punishment for the other charges was to be imposed in addition to the punishment provided for [the predicate] crime, the judge, however, interpreted the statute to mean that additional sentences would have to be calculated independent of any mandatory minimums and Dean appealed.

The debate over the constitutionality of mandatory minimums has been on-going. Last year the Maryland Senate unanimously approved a landmark criminal justice bill [JURIST report], known as the Justice Reinvestment Act, which would significantly change how non-violent drug offenders are sentenced, shifting focus from prison to treatment. The changes in the sentencing structure would allow the state to save money on prison costs and allow those serving mandatory minimums to appeal their sentences. In 2015 the US Senate voted to move forward on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 [JURIST report] , which would cut back on mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders. Several police chiefs were concerned about reducing sentences, including Chief Will Johnson of Arlington, Texas, who noted that the government has been hesitant to assist with drug and mental health treatments as alternatives to incarceration. Following the introduction of the bill, US President Barack Obama argued for overhauling the nations sentencing laws in front of top law enforcement officials at the 122nd Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Exposition. The president argued that placing large numbers of nonviolent drug offenders in prison was neither fair nor an effective way of combating crime, stating that it is possible for us to come up with strategies that effectively reduce the damage of the drug trade without relying solely on incarceration.
The Japanese auto industry maintained its strong grip on the vehicle markets of southeast Asia last year, according to exclusive data provided to just-auto.

The Japanese carmakers combined sales in the regions five main markets rose by an estimated 3.3% to 2.62 million units in 2016, for a market share of 84%, according to data supplied by AsiaMotorbusiness.com.

The highest Japanese dominance is in Indonesia, the regions largest market, where their combined share of sales rose to a staggering 98.5% by last year. In Thailand, the Japanese accounted for 88% of sales, while in Malaysia it was 78%, including sales of Perodua  a domestic brand which depends entirely on Daihatsu for its products.

Competitors from elsewhere have tried and failed to gain a significant foothold in this region and in key markets the Japanese have only strengthened their grip in recent years.

European manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and to a much smaller extent Jaguar Land Rover, dominate the premium segments and this is set to continue. But this success does not extend to other segments of the market.

Ford withdrew from Indonesia at the end of last year, choosing instead to focus on markets where it has a better chance of competing. It has had better luck in some of the smaller emerging markets such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

GMs efforts to break into the high-volume compact MPV segment in the region were short-lived. It closed its SpinMPV plant in Indonesia last year and is downsizing its product range in the region to include just pickup trucks and SUVs.

Toyota dominates the Asean region, with sales in the five main markets estimated at 910,263 units in 2016  for a market share of 29%. If combined with Daihatsu, upon which it relies heavily, and with its Hino subsidiary, Toyota groups sales in the region rose to 1.355m units last year (including Perodua)  to account for more than 43% of sales.

Toyota has been extremely successful in maximising synergies with Daihatsu in Indonesia, which is by far its largest market in the region and where it is responsible for 56% of total sales.

Toyota has by far the largest range of vehicles in this market and has been at the forefront of the development of new market segments across the region, including low-cost green cars and small and medium MPVs and SUVs. It enjoys the best economies of scale and strongest pricing power.

Honda has emerged as the second-best selling brand in the region in recent years, despite the companys lack of a presence in the commercial vehicle segment. Its share of regional sales has risen from just over 8% in 2012 to almost 14% in 2016.

Hondas recent growth has been underpinned by its strong and successful product range expansion, particularly in the compact MPV and SUV segments. New models such as the Mobilio, H-RV and B-RV have proved to be extremely popular in markets such as Indonesia, where its sales and market share have almost tripled in since 2012.

Not all Japanese automakers have enjoyed growing sales in the region. Nissan and Suzuki in particular have struggled to keep pace with their more successful rivals, while Mitsubishi/Fuso has also been impacted by weak commercial vehicle demand in key markets.

In ASEANs smaller markets the Japanese dominance is not so overwhelming. Japanese brands accounted for 69% of total vehicles sales in the Philippines last year, while in Vietnam their combined share was below 50%.

South Korean brands such as Hyundai and KIA have been more successful in penetrating these markets, as have Ford and GM. Chinese brands have also targeted in the commercial vehicle segments here with a degree of success.

But one wonders whether its just a matter before the Japanese tighten their grip on these markets too.

NB The top five ASEAN markets are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam
UK-based burger, meatballs and roasting joints supplier Bawnbua Foods is looking to further build its business on the Continent after securing more contracts in western and northern Europe.

Free Report How is technology having an impact on Consumer buying behavior? A breakdown of the trends prominence across sectors

Insights into consumer online penetration, preferred electronic devices and engagement

The key drivers and challenges impacting the digital lifestyles trend

A spotlight on key innovations set to reshape the consumer landscape

Analysis of whats next for digital innovations and how brands can leverage the trend Download this report to keep in touch with the more digital consumer. As the world rapidly becomes more connected, it is important for brands to understand the impact that improved technology is having on consumer purchasing behaviors. To react effectively, brands must know how to engage with increasingly digitally savvy consumers. GlobalDatas latest Trend Tracker report provides an analysis of Digital Lifestyles  one of GlobalData's top consumer trends for 2022. The report includes an overview of how digital lifestyles are evolving, including the significant impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on accelerating digitalization, and how this trend is emerging across different Consumer sectors. Key features included in the report:Download this report to keep in touch with the more digital consumer. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. Please enter a work/business email address Country United Kingdom United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D"ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People"s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People"s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Download free Report By clicking the Download Free Report button, you accept the terms and conditions and acknowledge that your data will be used as described in the GlobalData privacy policy By downloading this Report, you acknowledge that we may share your information with our white paper partners/sponsors who may contact you directly with information on their products and services.



Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report.

The company, which changed its name last month from Eurostock Foods, does business with retailers in the UK and Europe and recently started supplying customers in Austria, Finland, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

We plan to further expand our reach across Europe in the year ahead, Bawnbua told just-food.

The company, which has plants in County Armagh in Northern Ireland and in the English town of Wigan, is investing GBP1m (US$1.2m) in its production this year. The spending will create 25 jobs. Bawnbua employs around 250 staff at the two sites.

Bawnbua claimed the investment would mean it could launch distinctive and differentiated products to its customers. It said: Looking at company sales over the last 12 months  66% of our total sales have derived from products which have been launched or relaunched in the last three years. New ideas and product offerings are core to the growth of our business. In the last 12 months, we have launched exciting new chilled ready-to-cook products, bbq ranges, party food and burger ranges  all of which are helping to drive business growth.

Bawnbua is a name derived from an anglicised version of the Irish for white boys. The company, set up by the now operations director Martin White in 1985, is run by three brothers  Martin, managing director Gary and David, the managing director of the companys site in Bleary, County Armagh.

The business supplies retailers including Tesco, Sainsburys, Aldi and Lidl and said it would actively target the foodservice channel in the year ahead.

Related Companies
Dallas, Texas, United States, 04/04/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

The Law Office of Michael E. Young PLLC is pleased to announce that Herbert Joe, Esq., an experienced intellectual property lawyer with more than 23 years experience, has joined the Internet law firm as Of Counsel.

Description of Attorney Joes Intellectual Property Practice

A Registered Patent Attorney with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), Herbs practice focuses on protecting the intellectual property (IP) rights of businesses. This legal representation includes copyrights, patents, service marks, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Firm Managing Member Mike Young said, Ive known Herb since we started attending the same law school together as 1Ls (first year law students) back in 1990. This is a rare opportunity to have a true and trusted friend of over a quarter century provide new and existing law firm business clients with excellent IP legal representation based on decades of experience.

Im excited to be Of Counsel for the Internet Law Firm of Michael E. Young, adding my expertise in Intellectual Property, said Attorney Joe. As a Registered Patent Attorney with the USPTO, I can assist you with patents, trademarks and copyrights.

Herb will serve clients from the firms office in Plano, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas).

Credentials

Herb is also a Board Certified Forensic Audio/Video Examiner with 5 degrees, including 3 science (B.S., M.A., M.S.) degrees and 2 law (J.D., LL.M.) degrees, and is Adjunct Graduate Faculty for law classes. He has been licensed to practice law in Texas for 23 years and has been registered with the USPTO (passed the Patent Bar) since 2002.

Herb can assist in practically all areas of domestic and foreign intellectual property matters, including, for example, patent and trademark searches, opinions, drafting and prosecuting of applications, appeals and infringement litigation. He has also testified as an expert witness in patent law in patent infringement cases.

Herb is also a Board Certified Forensic Examiner and has been involved in the areas of forensic audio, acoustic, voice and video evidence for the past 29 years, and has testified in state and federal courts in civil and criminal cases throughout the U.S., as well as overseas.

Representative forensic clients include local, state and federal governmental agencies throughout the U.S., public defenders across the U.S., Forbes 100 companies, and law firms across the U.S. as well.

Herb gives national and international presentations, and has consulted for ABC, BBC, FOX-TV, CSI:Miami, The Wall Street Journal, TMZ, People Magazine, and Dr. Phil.

To learn more, go to http://mikeyounglaw.com/dallas-intellectual-property-lawyer-herbert-joe/

source: http://mikeyounglaw.com/dallas-intellectual-property-lawyer-herbert-joe/

Social Media Tags:patent lawyer, copyright lawyer, trademark lawyer, intellectual property lawyer

Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution  SubmitMyPressRelease.com

Like Us on Facebook

It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print
Dallas, TX, USA, 04/04/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Could you be convicted of a felony in Texas if you create a website called DumpDonaldTrump.com, use an unflattering photo of President Trump, and post unfavorable, but true, articles about President Trump, asks John Helms, Dallas criminal defense attorney? What if, as a prank, you create a Facebook page about someone named Bob Smith, called Bob Smith Is An [email protected]#hole, you include a photo of Bob Smith, and you make off-color jokes about him? There is a Texas felony that literally covers these situations. Unless prosecutors use common sense and good judgment, that law could be abused and applied to situations it was clearly not meant to cover.

Back in 2011, the Texas Legislature passed a law in response to a growing number of incidents in which people used social media to pretend to be someone else in order to harass, stalk, or defraud other people. For example, a man might create a fake social media site in his ex-wifes name in order to make it appear that she is a prostitute and is seeking business.

That law is section 33.07 of the Texas Penal Code. Its title is Online Impersonation. It says a person commits an offense if the person, without obtaining the other persons consent and with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten any person, uses the name or persona of another person to:

(1) create a web page on a commercial social networking site or other Internet website; or

(2) post or send one or more messages on or through a commercial social networking site or other Internet website, other than on or through an electronic mail program or message board program.

The Texas Online Impersonation statute makes the crime a third-degree felony. That is the same degree as a third DWI or theft of over $30,000. So, it is very serious.

At the time this law was passed, Texas already had a law against online harassment, which was a much less serious Class B misdemeanor. That law is still on the books. Presumably, therefore, the Texas Legislature had something in mind other than just harassing someone.

To see how this law can be abused, lets go back to our examples. The Dump Donald Trump website literally uses President Trumps name and a photo of him without his consent. Since it collects and publishes unfavorable articles about President Trump, its intent is arguably to harm him, such as by reducing his re-election chances or reducing his ability to raise campaign funds.

What about the prank? It also uses Bob Smiths name, has a photo of him, and has off-color jokes that he might consider offensive or harassing, thus constituting intended harm.

The Trump website is core protected speech under the First Amendment. Presumably, a judge would hold that trying to criminalize it violates the First Amendment. But to get that point, an accused person may have to spend a lot of money on lawyers, would be subject to the stigma of being accused of a crime, would probably get a lot of hate mail, and might be pressured to take a plea deal for a lower charge.

The prank is less clearly protected by the First Amendment. But should a prosecutor be able to charge that this prank is a felony? A Class B misdemeanor for online harassment would be more appropriate than a felony charge, but even that seems pretty harsh.

In both of these examples, though, the accused did not try to trick viewers of the website or Facebook page into believing that he or she was really Donald Trump or Bob Smith. In other words, the accused did not impersonate them. The content of the pages would make that very obvious. Donald Trump would not create a website that advocates dumping him, and Bob Smith presumably would not create a Facebook page saying that he is an a#@hole. Since the law is called Online Impersonation, doesnt that mean that you do not violate the law unless you actually try to impersonate someone?

I have had a prosecutor look me in the face and tell me that the title of the law does not limit how it applies. And in general, it is legally correct to say that the title of a law does not limit the law. Instead, most of the time, the law itself defines what the title means. According to this law, for example, online impersonation occurs if a person uses the name or persona of another person, whether they are impersonating the other person or not. So, was that prosecutor right?

Not according to the Dallas Court of Appeals and the legislative history of the online impersonation law. In a recent case called Ex Parte Michael Dwain Bradshaw, the Dallas Court of Appeals limited the online impersonation law to situations involving taking or assuming anothers identity. The court did so in order to avoid making the crime so broad that it covers activities protected by the First Amendment. The court relied on the legislative history of the law to conclude that this is what the Texas Legislature meant by the phrase uses the name or persona of another person.

Notably, the legislative history of the law recognizes the argument that it could, literally, apply to a juvenile prank, but says that prosecutors should use common sense and discretion to apply it only to situations that go beyond causing annoyance.

The Dallas Court of Appeals decision is only binding on the counties around Dallas that the court serves. For other parts of Texas, it has persuasive value, but it is not legally binding.

Similarly, the call in the legislative history to use common sense and discretion is not something that can be used to prevent a stubborn prosecutor from defying common sense and charging the online impersonation crime when it is overkill.

An online impersonation case requires a criminal defense lawyer to understand the ins and outs of the online impersonation law and the cases and legislative history interpreting it, as well as the online harassment law. Then, the lawyer must do a thorough investigation of the facts of the case in order to argue that the conduct in the case does not match the crime.

Online impersonation is a serious crime in Texas. Some lawyers may list online impersonation on their website as a crime they handle, and they may even have a blurb about the crime that a legal marketing person could write. That does not mean they specialize in online impersonation cases or even that they know what they are doing. If you or a loved one have been charged with online impersonation or any other crime in the Dallas area, you should strongly consider hiring someone who really knows the ins and outs of the law. Contact Dallas criminal defense attorney John Helms at (214) 666-8010 or fill out the online contact form. You can discuss your case, how the law may apply and your best legal options to protect your rights and freedom.

source: http://johnhelms.attorney/texas-online-impersonation-law-explained-dallas-criminal-defense-attorney/

Social Media Tags:Attorney John Helms Criminal Defense Lawyer for Collin Countyx, Dallas criminal defense attorney, criminal lawyer

Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution  SubmitMyPressRelease.com

Like Us on Facebook

It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print
Dallas, 04/04/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

As reported in the Washington Post, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe recently pardoned four men who were wrongfully convicted of the 1997 sexual assault and murder of an 18-year-old woman.

The police detective in charge of the original investigation is now serving time in prison for police misconduct in an unrelated case. He was convicted in 2010 of accepting payments from defendants in exchange for negotiating reduced sentences on their behalf.

False Confessions Led to Murder Convictions

According to the report, the case attracted a massive amount of media coverage at the time, and the alleged attackers  all sailors in the Navy  were dubbed the Norfolk Four. Three of the men were convicted of rape and murder, and a fourth man was convicted of rape. The men were serving life sentences when an inmate serving time for an unconnected crime wrote a letter confessing that he committed the crime and had acted alone.

Although the men had been conditionally pardoned in 2009, they were still required to register as sex offenders. The full pardon is the final step in clearing their names.

At the time of the mens arrest, police interrogators threatened them with the death penalty. Two of the accused pleaded guilty and then testified against the other two. Shockingly, the inmate who confessed to the crime wrote his confession in 1999  while the prosecutions against the innocent men were still ongoing. Despite knowledge of this confession  and the fact that the mens DNA did not match any of the evidence collected at the crime scene  prosecutors pressed for life sentences.

The Innocence Project filed clemency petitions on behalf of the men in 2005. They discovered that the police in charge of the investigation had evidence at the time of the actual killer committing another rape in the exact same apartment complex within two weeks of the crime.

In 2016, a federal judge stated in an evidentiary hearing in the clemency case, By any measure, the evidence shows the defendants innocence  no sane human being could find them guilty. In October 2016, the Virginia attorney generals office admitted it had made mistakes in the case.

Why Do Innocent People Confess?

Although its hard for many people to believe, false confessions happen with alarming frequency. Stats from the Innocence Project show that one in four people wrongfully convicted but later exonerated by DNA evidence confessed to a crime they didnt commit.

In many cases, police interrogators use intense psychological duress to pressure an individual to confess to a crime. They might threaten violence or a harsh sentence. In other situations, the accused doesnt truly understand what theyre confessing to. However they happen, false confessions have been responsible for putting innocent people in jail  truly a miscarriage of justice.

Sources:

Dallas Sexual Assault Attorneys

http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/

Broden & Mickelsen, LLP Dallas Sexual Offense Attorneys 2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204

Main Phone: (214) 720-9552

source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/virginia-governor-pardons-four-men-wrongfully-convicted-sexual-assault/

Social Media Tags:Dallas Sexual Assault Attorneys, False Confessions, Virginia Governor, Wrongfully Convicted of Sexual Assault, Wrongfully Convicted of Sexual Assault Pardon

Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution  SubmitMyPressRelease.com

Like Us on Facebook

It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print
FRANKLIN  The city of Franklin is now short a police chief and one police officer.

Nebraska State Patrol Lt. Andrew Ecklund said the State Patrol was told Franklin Chief of Police Edward Brickman was suspended Friday. The Hub left messages for Franklin Mayor JD Bonham and Franklin City Attorney Bryan McQuay regarding the matter, but neither returned the phone calls.

In a statement on the city of Franklin Facebook page, Bonham wrote that Brickman had resigned as chief of police. Bonham did not make mention of a suspension.

We both spoke several times about the future of the department. We could not come to agreement on this manner, Bonham wrote. We have thanked him for his hard work and dedication. We wish Ed and his family the best in the future.

Franklin Police Department Officer Gregory Reddington left the department on March 20, according to Franklin City Council minutes. Franklin City Clerk Carmen Dunn confirmed full-time Officer Sean Cadwell and part-time Officer Brad Frey remain with the department. Cadwell told the Hub Monday that FPD had no comment about the police chief.

When asked who would police the city in Reddington and Brickmans absences, Dunn said there are four Franklin County deputy sheriffs and the State Patrol working in the area.

Franklin County Sheriff Jerry Archer said the city hasnt officially approached him yet about working more within the city limits. However, he said deputies have always patrolled the city a couple times before going off duty.

People arent gonna go without service, Archer said.

The department will help Cadwell with calls if needed, Archer added.

Well deal with what comes along like we always have, he said.

Ecklund said the State Patrol is not allocating extra resources to patrol the Franklin area, but it does have troopers already working there.

The troopers are aware of the situation and know they are short on law enforcement in the area, and they will most likely be in the area more often, Ecklund said.

He added that Nebraska State Patrols Troop C covers 17 counties, all of which need its resources.

The city will continue to search for a new police chief and will share more information as the process develops, Bonham wrote in the Facebook press release.

The council and myself feel that Franklins Police Department is very important to the city, Bonham wrote.
KEARNEY  A group of seniors at CountryHouse Residence for Memory Care proved one is never too old to a cut a rug.

Youth Leadership Kearney teens had a senior prom Saturday for the residents at 5605 K Ave. to give them a chance to celebrate one of their glory days.

Ralston Ripp, a Kearney High junior, said she and her youth leadership class wanted to use their year-end project as a way to honor the older generation. The Youth Leadership Class is an organization created to nurture potential youth leaders in Kearney.

When we were thinking about our class project, we wanted to give back to the older generation. Today I hope they can see that we care about what they have done for the younger generation. Were here today to interact with them  have fun with them.

Laila Saadi, a Kearney Catholic High School student, said the prom was a natural fit because it is already prom season in Kearney. She then connected with CountryHouse Director Susie Peterson to go over details and make preparations for the big day.

We thought prom would be the most beneficial for seniors and would also be the most fun. It was something we could do to give back to our community. Every time I visited CountryHouse about the plans, the residents grew more excited about the idea, Saadi said.

Purple and blue streamers hung from the ceiling, champagne-colored decor covered tables surrounding the CountryHouse dining-area-turned dance floor. As the song Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love played, the youths took the residents by the hand and asked for a chance to swing around the dance floor. With the residents who declined, the youths made small talk or played cards.

Ive never been so impressed with young adults, Peterson said. They knew how to talk to individuals with dementia. They just knew what to do.

Program Coordinator Karen Harmon at CountryHouse attended with the event with her husband, Joel, who whisked some of the residents about the dance floor.

The prom was a great venue for the youth leadership of Kearney to touch lives of our senior citizens and create a moment of joy that will touch lives of all ages, Harmon said.

To ensure residents were dressed to the nines and for supplies for the dance, the youths contacted local businesses to donate everything such as dresses, tuxes, food and table decorations.

Peterson is thankful for the Kearney Youth Leadership class for its efforts.

We love being able to create moments of joy for our residents each day at CountryHouse. We hope our prom will bring back happy memories for many of our residents. Their families will also be able to share in the joy of this wonderful event. It was a day for everyone to enjoy, Peterson said.

Youth Leadership Kearney Co-Chairs Jeremy Sedleck of NebraskaLand National Bank and Kane Ramsey, an attorney with Jacobsen Orr Lindstrom & Holbrook, said they were impressed with the heart behind the class project.

We didnt have anything to do this event. The class came up with it on their own, Sedleck said.

Ramsey added, Pulling off the senior prom helped the class implement many of the skills gained throughout the year in the program.

KHS junior Paige Pearson agreed.

For me, I was such a shy leader. Youth Leadership has really helped me to grow as a leader. Ive also gained so many new skills, she said.

@HeatherRig
While the issues in Whiteclay stemming from the sale of alcohol have persisted for decades, real progress and new opportunities for change are now possible, thanks to the bipartisan efforts of state senators, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission for renewing efforts to take a serious look at fixing Whiteclay.

It is evident that the predatory sale of alcohol from these four liquor stores has led to public endangerment, severe levels of addiction, the erosion of families and the destruction of the general welfare of Whiteclay and the neighboring Pine Ridge Reservation. While a recent report from a local newspaper detailed how the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually, the true cost is far greater than any dollar amount.

Every day, families and children are hurt by the sale of alcohol from these stores, including the most innocent of all  children still in the womb. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the known national average for fetal alcohol syndrome is less than two per 1,000 live births, yet just two hundred yards north of Whiteclay this entirely preventable birth defect is diagnosed in at least one out of every four children born on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

While the stores sell a legal product, a liquor license is a privilege, not a vested right. In addition to the severe economic and social ills these four liquor stores have caused, there is not adequate law enforcement in the area for proper policing and no medical care nearby. Whiteclay will continue to be a hub for violence, public drunkenness and bootlegging.

It is our hope that the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission will consider the lack of law enforcement and violation of liquor laws in Whiteclay, and also consider the innocent families and children suffering from the sale of alcohol.

Nate Grasz, Lincoln

EDITORS NOTE: The author is the policy director of the Nebraska Family Alliance.
HOLDREGE  As preparations continue for Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Districts 2017 irrigation season, the Central board authorized staff Monday to order supplies for an E-65 Canal pipeline project to be done next fall.

Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford said there are agreements with two landowners to install about 1.25 miles of pipeline five miles north of Bertrand that will fill a gap between existing pipelines.

The 18-inch pipe and other supplies needed will be ordered, and CNPPIDs share of the cost is about $72,000, Ford said.

He also reported that preparations are being made to open the irrigation headgates in about two weeks to begin filling the canals. Customer Service Supervisor Van Fastenau said a big issue is removing cornstalks and other debris blown into the canals by winter windstorms.

Ford said pumps used to put water into Elwood Reservoir for irrigation season were shut off on March 31 and will be turned on again on May 1 to fill the reservoir.

In other operations reports, Civil Engineer Cory Steinke said Lake McConaughy is holding steady with about 1.4 million acre-feet of water, which is just more than 81 percent of capacity.

Right now, we can hold a spill from Wyoming, Steinke said, referring to possible excess North Platte River water releases from upstream federal reservoirs.

He added that the snowpack in the Rocky Mountain headwaters for the Platte, which had been above 100 percent for most of the winter, now is at 98 percent and 95 percent in the upper and lower parts of the North Platte Basin and at 104 percent in the South Platte Basin.

Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain told the board that a modification is planned for CNPPIDs permitting process with tenants.

Currently, no new permits are issued to anyone with a pending permit infraction. Drain said the change is to allow a new permit to be considered for tenants who dont have histories of violations or not fixing past issues.

New permits and/or compliance time extensions may be considered case-by-case by CNPPID officials, he added.

In a Nebraska Legislature update, Public Relations Coordinator Jeff Buettner said the current legislative session is two-thirds done, but there still are 180 bills on general file. He said that means even some priority bills may be pushed to the 2018 session.

Meanwhile, Buettner said, there seems to be a stalemate on major tax and budget issues.

A bill to extend the authority of natural resources districts in fully appropriated and overappropriated basins for an additional levy of up to 3 cents per $100 valuation also has hit a roadblock. The original authorization, which expires at the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year, specifies use of the funds for groundwater and integrated water management.

The original bill  a priority bill for Speaker Jim Scheer of Norfolk  would extend the levy authority to FY 2025-26.

Buettner said a proposed amendment to ban use of levy money for interstate compact compliance failed. Two other amendments are pending, but Scheer has indicated he wont bring the bill to a floor vote unless he is sure he has the 33 votes required to override a filibuster.

In other CNPPID business Monday, the board approved:

- The annual Johnson Lake Airport lease for $3,182.

- Spending $3,561, plus tax and shipping, from the Lake Improvement Fund to purchase ice rescue equipment for the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department.

- A bid of $48,253 from Firefly Landscaping of Loomis to mow Johnson Lake and Plum Creek Lake areas in 2017.

- Work orders for a 2017 John Deere backhoe loader for $115,720 and 2017 John Deere motor grader for $283,239.

- Final payment and closure of a $44,800 contract with Nebraska Machinery Company for a used 2007 backhoe loader.
FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, model Kendall Jenner attends the world premiere of "Zoolander 2" in New York. Jenner says she just a `big kidAo at heart and misses childhood times with her little sister Kylie, when they would head outdoors and play in the dirt. Taking me time for the busy Jenner can mean going poolside or hopping on a motorbike, but it usually involves putting down her phone and trying to live in the moment. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form
Rev. Yasuhiro Miyakawa of the Kelowna Buddhist Temple chants for peace, surrounded by folded paper cranes symbolizing peace. The temple has been included in a list of 56 sites around B.C. deemed by the provincial government to have historic significance to people of Japanese descent
FILE - In this Friday, March 31, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump's upcoming summit with China's leader will be closely watched for signs of how relations between the world's top two economies will proceed as they tackle weighty questions over trade, North Korea and the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
15 Shares Share

There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.

 Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History

It is 1940, and the Nazi horror is bearing down on Europe. France has fallen, and refugees are streaming out, fleeing to safety through neutral states and America. Walter Benjamin, a Jew, and a German philosopher, joins a small group being guided through southern Spain with the hope of making it to Portugal and safety. He has just completed his manuscript that would reverberate through modernity with its insight into how rationality brought us civilization and Nazism at the same time.

Enlightenment was supposed to involve the use of reason to help humans free themselves from myth and superstition. Scientific thought abolished foolish superstition, yet somehow the over-reliance on measurement and mechanization also had a downside. The Enlightenment project, dominant in Western thought since the Medieval Age, created a new scientific future where mechanization and measurement improved innumerable lives. Yet, the elimination of magical thinking also created a sterility of thought that enabled Nazism in Europe.

Benjamins colleague Theodor Adorno, a German Jew who succeeded in escaping to America, later expanded the ideas on the duality of development in The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Here he details how the enlightenment project has always aimed at liberating men from fear and establishing their sovereignty  the dissolution of myths and the substitution of knowledge for fancy. But the other side of the dialectic also ends up with men paying for their increase in power with alienation from that over which they exercise their power. For example, as we control the natural environment by building cities, we become alienated from authentic communion with our natural world. As we harness social media to stay connected with people, we may become alienated from authentic human interaction. So goes the dialectic of enlightenment and progress.

Western scientific medicine epitomizes the enlightenment process as it replaces superstition with rational diagnosis and treatment. As modern medicine measured more and more with the goal of improving health, we also created the quality metric. Rather than being subject to the vagaries of non-standard care, rather than individual doctors perpetuating treatment myths, we created the temple of evidence-based medicine, and measured the dimensions of the temple with quality metrics. The electronic record then burst open the dam of myth in medicine and allowed us to measure, well  everything. We now know what being a good doctor means because we measure blood pressures, and we know if patients have less than 140/90. We know if you are talking to your patients about flu shots because it is in the electronic chart.

And yet  Benjamins eerily prescient warning about progress has also come to pass. For the Enlightenment, whatever does not conform to the rule of computation and utility is suspect. The art of medicine, whatever that might mean, is not measurable, and teeters on the verge of extinction. Increased control over the body ended up bringing about domination over bodies: paternalism, futile end-of-life care, polypharmacy  and pay-for-performance. Pay-for-performance promises the quantification of the entire patient-physician relationship and then its optimization as providers become rational profit-maximizers. Rather than the comforting hand of the healer, the invisible hand of the market will guide improved patient care. So goes progress.

Adorno famously died before writing his views on the possibility of synthesis between progress and domination. Perhaps he never meant to write such an essay, not believing it was possible to become civilized without also losing the humanistic values of civilization. The ability to measure quality practically defines what it means to be scientific; science is that branch of human knowledge which measures things. I fear that pay-for-performance represents the enlightenment run amok, scientism rather than science, with the loss of the realization that medicine is ultimately a humanistic profession, and not scientific.

My medical school each year granted a Humanism in Medicine award to some deserving students. The rich irony of the need for this award has only now, years later, begun to sink in for me. The criteria for winning must have been more than simply being human, or even being a human. I would forlornly hope that we would all have won this award, or even better, that there would be no need for such an award at all. I recall that I won the award, by what criteria I know not, or have long forgotten, but I write this as a humanist, as a recognition of the potential barbarism of pay-for-performance everywhere.

I have not heard a better apology for the real problems that preoccupy doctors than what the economist Keynes describes, and we might do well to heed his warning about economics taking the back seat. Is not medicine by definition humanist? Will we succeed in merging the scientific and the relational, or will medicine end up separating patients and their healers?

Kjell Benson is a hospitalist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
(Corrects reference to Pona as head of Mali's Chamber of Mines in paragraph 5)

By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO, April 4 (Reuters) - Bauxite reserves in Mali's Falea project are now estimated at 1.63 billion tonnes, which is equivalent to 572 tonnes of refined aluminium following several new discoveries, the Chamber of Mines said on Tuesday.

The landlocked West African country is trying to diversify its mining sector away from gold and is pinning its hopes on Chinese-built rail projects to get base metals such as iron ore and aluminium out to the Atlantic coast.

Mali is Africa's third largest gold producer, but a spate of investment deals signed with China totalling about $11 billion aims to unlock the potential of other minerals -- chiefly, by building a railway to Guinea's port of Conakry and renovating a rail link to Senegal's capital Dakar, Mali's main gateway port.

One of the main beneficiaries of this move will be the Falea mine, the rights to which are currently held by privately-owned Eurasian Resources Group (ERG).

Abdoulaye Pona, the president of Mali's chamber of mines, told Reuters the initial estimate of 439 million tonnes at Falea of ore had been increased by two further discoveries: Bouala, with 720 million tonnes of bauxite equal to 252 million tonnes of aluminium and Torolo, with 480 million tonnes of ore yielding 168 million tonnes of refined metal.

"The (project) is just waiting for the start of the construction of the rails to start the construction of the ramps connecting the production sites to the main track," he said.

Dialla Konate, ERG country manager, told Reuters they were "studying the possibility of (using) ... the port of Conakry."

"Moreover, we are considering ... supplying the local market by truck. We are in talks with local cement manufacturers (who use bauxite), which means that production could start at any time," he added.

(Writing by Tim Cocks, editing by David Evans)
Novagold Resources Inc.(TSX, NYSE MKT: NG) reports that progress was made on the environmental impact statement for its 50%-owned Donlin Gold Project in southwest Alaska during the first quarter. With $98 million in its treasury as of Feb. 28, the company says it has ample funds to complete permitting. Novagold says it anticipates that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lead federal permitting agency, will file the final EIS in early 2018. As Novagold and its partner, Barrick Gold, continue to make tangible progress in permitting their jointly owned Donlin Gold Project, they find themselves in an enviable position of advancing one of the industrys most valuable assets up the value chain at a time when availability of major long-life, high-grade projects with significant exploration potential located in one of the worlds premier mining jurisdictions, such as Alaska, is virtually non-existent, says Gregory A. Lang, president and chief executive officer. He adds that measured and indicated reserves contain 39 million ounces of gold and the projected production profile is for an average of 1.1 million ounces per year over a 27-year life, with 1.5 million during each of the first five years.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Timmins Gold: First-Quarter Output Tops Guidance





Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX: TMM; NYSE MKT: TGD) reports first-quarter gold production of 26,048 ounces at its San Francisco Mine in Mexico exceeded production guidance of 20,000. It was also up from 25,120 in the same quarter of 2016. "The San Francisco Mine had a very strong first quarter of the year with gold production ahead of guidance due to operational improvements made in the crushing and leaching circuit, resulting in better gold recovery and the initiation of a project to recover gold from a previously closed leach pad, says Greg McCunn, chief executive officer. While these improvements are expected to allow us to achieve the upper end of our annual guidance of 70,000 to 75,000 ounces for 2017, we are continuing to re-engineer our life-of-mine plan for San Francisco and expect to publish the updated plan this quarter. We are excited about the potential to improve upon the existing plan for 2018 to 2022.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Harmony Wins Court Ruling Over Industrial Action





Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY; JSE: HAR) reports that the company has secured a Labor Court of South Africa ruling that declares that an ongoing industrial action at Kusasalethu to be unprotected and requiring employees to return to work. An industrial action had occurred despite various labor agreements reached with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Harmony says. Despite the ruling on Friday, no employees reported for work over the weekend or on Monday, the company says. An ultimatum was issued to Kusasalethu employees to return to work Tuesday night, with failure to subject them to disciplinary action. The company says approximately seven to 10 days of gold production have been lost since March 21.
DUBAI, April 4 (Reuters) - Fractional moves in crude oil prices and skittish international bourses will give investors no fresh impetus to move funds into Gulf equity markets on Tuesday, leaving them vulnerable to short-term day traders.

Brent crude was trading at the previous session's close of $53.12 a barrel at 0445 GMT after the commodity fell slightly overnight. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 percent.

Most stock markets in the Gulf have been trapped in a narrow trading band over the last several weeks with many institutional funds keeping away until there is more clarity from first-quarter results.

Dubai's index , which is more exposed to international funds compared to its regional peers, was the top performer on Monday, jumping 1.4 percent to close at 3,539 points.

"The trend is turning technically positive but a close over the 50-day moving average is required for it to gain further strength and target the 3,670 barrier," said analysts at NBAD Securities.

In Abu Dhabi, shares of Invest Bank go ex-dividend on Tuesday, as do those of Doha's Qatar International Islamic Bank .

(Reporting by Celine Aswad; Editing by Sunil Nair)
HANOI, April 4 (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 0413 GMT.

April 4 USD/VND mid-point 22,288 USD/VND interbank 22,690/22,700 USD/VND unofficial 22,720/22,750 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.37/36.59

Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.6-5.2

1 week 4.7-5.2

1 month 5.0-5.3

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)
JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Reuters) - South Africa's largest trade union and ally to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) Cosatu said on Tuesday that President Jacob Zuma must step down after his change of finance ministers triggered a credit rating downgrade to "junk".

The trade union said it no longer believed in Zuma's ability to lead the party and the country, and that it would call for the alliance with the ANC to restructured.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Joe Brock; Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia)
By Sujata Rao

MOSCOW, April 4 (Reuters) - Franklin Templeton's high-profile bond fund manager Michael Hasenstab has taken a "substantial" position in Ghana's cedi-denominated government bonds via this week's jumbo debt auction, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The investment by Hasenstab, whose flagship $41 billion Templeton Global Bond fund seeks to pick up out-of-favour credits and made successful contrarian punts on Ireland and Hungary in recent years, is a boon for Ghana as the new government tries to stabilise the economy and review terms of an International Monetary Fund loan .

Ghana's Monday sale of $2.2 billion worth of bonds was the single-biggest daily transaction in sub-Saharan Africa. It included a debut 15-year bond that raised 3.42 billion cedis ($790 million) at a 19.75 percent yield. The Finance Ministry statement had reported "a very substantial investment in the 15-year bond by a very well respected global financial investor".

The ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. But a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Franklin Templeton had participated in the sale.

The first source declined to say why Hasenstab had made the investment. But the move is in keeping with the fund manager's strategy of buying unloved assets and betting on eventual turnaround and full payout over the maturity of the debt.

Hasenstab, who oversees portfolios worth over $120 billion in total from his office in San Mateo, California, was not available for comment. It is not clear which of Hasenstab's funds was behind this week's Ghana investment.

He has held Ghanaian debt before, however, in 2013 purchasing 10-year dollar bonds for his emerging markets fund.

In recent months, Hasenstab moved to his biggest position in Latin American, buying up Mexican bonds which had been battered by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade and immigration threats .

His Global Bond Fund ranks No. 1 in terms of performance over a 10-year period in its category, according to fund research house Morningstar.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg in Accra; Editing by Alison Williams)
(Adds quote from finance minister, background)

BUENOS AIRES, April 4 (Reuters) - Argentina's government said on Tuesday $116.8 billion in assets were declared, mostly from abroad, in a record tax amnesty it hopes will help spur domestic investment and economic growth.

The government collected 148.6 billion pesos ($9.652 billion) in taxes and fees from the amnesty, revenue that will help the government meet its target for a fiscal deficit of 4.2 percent gross domestic product this year.

"We believe that the size and volume of assets that have been declared is a vote of confidence not only in this government but in the country," Finance Minister Nicolas Dujovne said.

While some Argentines were encouraged to normalize their assets or bring their money back home by President Mauricio Macri's business friendly reforms, others were pressured by banks facing stricter regulations. According to the AFIP tax agency, 80 percent of assets declared were from abroad, mostly from the United States and Switzerland.

Analysts estimated that some $400 billion in undeclared funds were being held outside Argentina before the amnesty.

Other Latin American countries including Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia have held amnesties in recent years or are starting soon.

(1 = 15.395 Argentine pesos on March 31)

(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin and Maximiliano Rizzi; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; editing by Diane Craft)
The Herald reports:

Labour leader Andrew Little upped his offer from $26,000 to $100,000 in a last-minute bid to settle the defamation claim against him by hoteliers Earl and Lani Hagaman but Mrs Hagaman rejected it as too little and too late. Littles offer was revealed in Mrs Hagamans evidence at the High Court in Wellington, during which she read out letters between lawyers for the two. The Hagamans are now seeking more than $2 million in damages from Little over comments he made last year about a $100,000 donation from the Hagamans to the National Party in 2014 and a contract later awarded to their hotel chain  Scenic Hotel  to manage the Matavai resort in Niue. At the time, the Hagamans gave Little a deadline to apologise and retract his comments, but he refused. Mrs Hagaman said at that point, all the Hagamans wanted was an apology and minimal costs: just a couple of legal letters.

Why on Earth didnt he just apologise at the time? Who was advising him?

Mrs Hagaman said in February this year, Little offered the wording of an apology and $26,000. In response the Hagamans said although they have no wish to destroy Mr Little by rendering him insolvent, a more realistic offer was needed. His return offer of $100,000 was also rejected  Mrs Hagaman said her costs by then were already $215,000 and the wording of the apology was inadequate because it did not state there was no link between the donation and the hotels business interest in Niue.

If your offer a year later doesnt even come close to the costs of the other party, it is possibly not a big surprise they say no.

Mr Hagaman was now very ill and had been given only weeks to live and Mrs Hagaman said she decided to go ahead with the defamation suit to clear his name before he died. We are very proud of what we do. We are very proud people. His name is very important to him and its incredibly important that he does die with dignity  and for our children. She said it was offensive and distasteful to suggest the Hagamans would expect something in return for the donation  they were regular donors to various charities and community groups, including $1 million for the Christchurch Cathedral from Mr Hagaman: a true atheist.

Very generous.

The Hagamans are suing over six separate statements Little made, one in a press release and the rest in media interviews after that. In those, Little had questioned whether there was a link between the donation and the Matavai contract which was awarded to Scenic Hotel soon afterwards, as well as a $7.5 million Government aid fund to upgrade the resort at a later date. The comments the Hagamans claim amount to defamation include phrases such as: it looks murky from the outside, it looks shady, stink to high heaven, theres just something about this whole deal that really stinks and reference to National Partys dodgy deals such as SkyCity and the agrihub in Saudi Arabia. Mrs Hagaman said the overall insinuation was that the Hagamans had done something corrupt and she felt they were being targeted.

The court will decide if the statements were defamatory or fair game. But as I have said before, Little would have been fine if he had merely called for an investigation. It is his angry language of stinking to high heaven etc which has made him vulnerable.

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Reddit

WhatsApp

More

Pinterest

Print



Tumblr


You can now donate to Kiwiblog
We are working to learn more about a child sex sting operation, which involved several law enforcement agencies.

Five men have been arrested in Montrose County for several crimes, including suspicion of using the Internet to lure a child, solicitation of child prostitution and attempted sexual assault on a child.

Authorities arrested Cody Wright, Dale A. Morales, Lawrence Durham, Nicholas Love and Daniel Leonardi, the Montrose Daily Press reported.

According to the Montrose Daily Press, the police chief said officers posed as a 13-year-old during the operation.

All of the suspects were in court on Monday afternoon.
Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

Your notification has been saved.

There was a problem saving your notification.

{{description}}

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Letter to the Editor: Holding our Judicial System Accountable

APRIL 4, 2017 at 5:14 p.m.





My name is Richard Anthony. I am sending this letter and the included paperwork hoping that you will print my story, helping me to get word outside of the extreme prejudice and injustice of our current criminal justice system. It is a shame how reports mislead the public into believing that the courts are working to straighten the injustice bestowed upon innocent people. Our courts should demand accountability for lawyers and public defenders as well as our prosecutors. Too many times are people railroaded by this system due to backdoor dealings, politics, or simply a lack of incentive to perform their duties ethically and professionally.



My story begins in 1989 when I received a charge for aggravated robbery in Cleveland, Tennessee. Two years later I discovered the truth behind this alleged robbery. In prison, word gets around and people come in from the streets that knew the story better than myself.



I will describe my story and the included paperwork can be used to validate my claims. My story will prove that I was screwed by the justice system twenty years ago. I will also prove that I am still being wrongfully held liable by that same system today.



I am 51 years old and have been in and out of prison for most of my adult life. The biggest barrier I face is the enhancements which significantly increase each of my sentences due to the 1989 aggravated robbery charge. My main concern is the governments basis and claims involving this original charge and how they have circumvented justice by denying my relief.



I lived in a trailer park in Cleveland, TN and was working a steady job at Magic Chief on the second shift. Tony Hunt and his wife Susan lived across from me in another trailer. Tonys dad owned the park we lived in.



I met Tony and Susan while using dope together. I cant remember the exact night that this alleged robbery was to happen, but I know it was before my son was born.



One night I got with Tony and Susan. We partied and did some dope together. Tony and Susan told me that they did not know what they were going to do about money because Tonys dad was getting tired of him not working. The next night I saw Tony and Susan leaving the park, and Tony stopped and asked me if I would come and party with them a little while at the Holiday Inn beside the interstate. I went along because Jamie who was about to have our son at any moment let me get out of the house for a while.



I got to the Holiday Inn pretty late. I was not planning on staying long because of Jamies condition with being so far along in her pregnancy. When I got to the room and went in, Tony had a guy named Dustin Hayes and a few other I dont remember around. Something did not feel right, but I could not really put a finger on what felt wrong. I stayed for about an hour before leaving the going back home. My wife was asleep, and I feel asleep while watching TV.



My wife went into labor a few days later, and she had Mark on December 20, 1989. Mark, after we brought him home, developed pneumonia. My dad came and picked up my son and wife to take them to Manchester, TN. I stayed back to pack our things and to sell the old trailer that we lived in. I am originally from Manchester, TN. I met Jamie when I was at a halfway house in Cleveland after I had gone to a drug treatment center.



I got everything packed and loaded into a U-Haul and was going back to Manchester. I had not sold the trailer yet and had to wait before laving until my mom had a guy come move the trailer before I left. I think that the guy purchased the trailer. Once it was moved, I was off to Manchester.



Two months later, in February 1990, the Sheriffs Department from Manchester arrested me at my mom and dads home on an indictment from Cleveland for aggravated robbery. I was in the Manchester jail for almost a month before being extradited to Cleveland. When I arrived at the jail in Cleveland, I met a local named Jack Kemsey. Jack explained what had happened the night at the Holiday Inn. Jack was good friends with Hayes and Hunt. Jack also knew that I had no part in the robbery at the Holiday Inn. Jack told me that it was all a set up for the guy that worked at the Holiday Inn named Ed Johnson. He told me that Johnson was to get what money and jewelry was there and then give it to Hunt. Hunt would then give it to Hayes to hold until they could all split it up. Johnson would call the police and claim a robbery. Tony and Susan would stay back and claim they were involved as innocent bystanders in the lobby when the robbery occurred.



When I was taken to my arraignment hearing in court, I was sitting net to and talking to this Johnson guy. I was wearing an orange jumpsuit sitting next to this guy on the bench. Suddenly, the Assistant District Attorney jumped from his chair and pulled Johnson up. He told him, You cant sit there, thats the guy that robbed you! Johnsons first statement was that a big fat black guy robbed him. At this point, I had never met or seen Johnson prior to the current moment all of this was taking place. He had never seen me either until that day. I had never been placed in a lineup to be picked as the suspect who had done the robbery. The entire process seemed surreal to me because I had mp idea what was going on or what had really happened that night. The entire justice procedure seemed rigged. I mean, how can you accuse and try an innocent man?



In August of 1991, I proceeded to trial with an attorney named Kenneth Miller. I knew I was innocent. He also knew I was innocent. My father paid him an extra $500.00 on top of what he made for being appointed to me. He did great work, and the result of the first trial was a hung jury.



In September 1991, I was tried again by a different jury, and my father paid him an extra amount again. He again, performed a fantastic job and I did not think at the time that any lawyer was better than Mr. Miller. The jury returned hung again. Judge Steven Bebb told the D.A. that he would not try this case again. If it were to be retried then it would have to be heard by a different judge.



In October 1991, I was tried a third time with a new judge and jury. My dad did not pay Mr. Miller any extra money this time because he had heard it enough. Two trials ending in hung juries, and it was basically the same trial. After each trial, the witnesses had been sequestered but had already heard two trials and were sitting in the courtroom. My attorney asked that they be removed, and Judge Washburn denied it. He told the jury to leave and after they had left he proceeded to tell my lawyer that nothing about the first two trials could be told to the jury, yet left the witnesses for the state in the courtroom. Following that trial, the jury returned hung yet again. Judge Mayo Washburn instructed the jury that there was going to be no hung jury today and told them that he needed a verdict. He sent them back to the Jury room to continue deliberating. I can only guess how tired and exhausted they must have been after this and being told they must determine a verdict probably upset some of them, and they returned with a verdict of guilty.



My attorney, after that trial, changed. He never came to see me, and several times I tried to find out about the appeal process. He did file a Notice of Appeal on my behalf along with a quick direct appeal. When it came time for the second tier appeal, I never heard anymore from him. I contacted the Board of Professional Responsibility and filed a report claiming ineffective assistance. I still received no answer from him. I waited until almost the deadline, hoping to hear from my attorney before filing a post-conviction motion with the court putting them on notice that my attorney was not doing his job. I filed to the Criminal Court of Appeals. At that time Judge Penny White sent out an order remanding my case back to have a rehearing. I never heard back from the lawyer or the court, and this has been over 14 years now.



In August 2011 I was indicted by the Feds for Methamphetamine and a gun charge. They did the very same thing to me and the lawyer I was given, James Clements, from Chattanooga. He told me that they were enhancing me to be a career criminal and offered me 180-188 months in federal custody. I had also received another robbery charge after the Cleveland incident and was enhanced to 30 years on that charge based on the 1989 conviction. I was told by Mr. Clements that if I did not take the plea deal the government was offering that I would be given a LIFE sentence. I told him that the Cleveland, TN charge was still under appeal, but he told me that it would not matter. The government was not going to wait around for the outcome of that. I thought to myself 15 years! I was charged with conspiracy to manufacture Meth and could have proven the gun was planted. Jess Stockwell out of Tullahoma, TN was my attorney in the state and told me that he could beat the charge, but if it went Federal there was nothing that he could do. He tried to send me the states Discovery Motion we filed, but I could not receive it where I was in the Cleveland jail. I had proof that cleared me of this charge also but did not receive the proof until after January 2013, after I had pled guilty and went to Federal Prison.



My attorney, James Clements, had this information and never revealed it to me - how the gun was found after I was locked up by the girl that lied about me and told that I had killed a man with the gun in my own house. She was, and coulee have been, omitted from testifying, but they herded me through court like a bull. After I pled guilty and accepted the 180-188 months, the prosecutor then changed course and moved my criminal history to a category 6, career criminal, level 37. I received a three point reduction for acceptance of responsibility. I was ultimately sentenced to 262 months (21.8 years). The courts will not answer my motions. I have been waiting over three years on my 2255 motion. My current sentencing issues are all based on the erroneous conviction in 1989.



In 2015, the Bradley court in Cleveland, TN finally admitted after more than 14 years that Mr. Miller had provided ineffective assistance of counsel. They also admitted that years ago they had found Miller ineffective but had never informed me. My attorney for that case, Mr. Miller, had never informed me of the courts finding either. I never got a 2nd tier appeal. My due process rights were violated, but the court refuses to take action. All of this is still taking place. I have filed for habeas relief of the 1989 case into the Federal system in the Western District of Oklahoma. This court has denied me three times saying that they dont have jurisdiction. They keep thinking that I am trying to file for relief on my federal case. I have showed them that I only, at this time, wish to correct the 1989 state case which, if it is overturned, will have a significant effect on my federal sentence. I keep fighting through this mess of jurisdiction and do not have the money needed to hire a lawyer. Everything I file pro-se is looked at like a virus by the court.



I am hoping that by publicizing my case and proving my innocence that the truth will be shown, allowing me to receive the help I need to fight this big government machine that eats taxpayer dollars, all while displacing the ends of justice. My hope is that the ones responsible for my injustice and others in similar situations as mine will be given justice by holding the government accountable for their actions. I have learned one thing about the word justice. It means Just-Us!





Published April 4, 2017
Trump donates first-quarter presidential salary to NPS

APRIL 4, 2017 at 11:38 a.m.





Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place. NPS photo.



WASHINGTON  President Donald J. Trump is donating his first quarter salary to the National Parks Service (NPS). The donation of $78,333 will go to help fund the maintenance backlog in Americas historic battlefields. The donation was accepted by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg at a daily White House Press briefing.



President Trump is dedicated to our veterans, our public lands, and keeping his promises, and by donating his salary to the National Park Service to repair our historic battlefields proves his commitment, Secretary Zinke said. These historic places tell the story of conflicts that helped shape our countrys history, and they also honor the many men and women who have given their lives in service of this great nation. Im honored to help the president carry out his love and appreciation for our warriors and land.



There are 25 sites across the National Park Service that are classified as National Battlefields, National Battlefield Parks, National Military Parks and National Battlefield Sites. Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, which commemorates the battle that led to President Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, saw over 350,000 visits last year. Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place, saw over 1 million visits in 2016.



The National Park Service is proud and deeply honored by President Trumps donation to support the preservation of battlefields in the National Park System, said Acting National Park Service Director Michael T. Reynolds. Philanthropy has been essential to the National Park Services mission since its establishment, and this notable contribution will enable the National Park Service to share these remarkable places with more visitors for generations to come.



Since being confirmed, Secretary Zinke has made it clear that addressing the $12 billion in deferred maintenance across the National Park Service, which includes $229 million for battlefield sites, is one of the top priorities at the Department. Published April 4, 2017
By Yun Suh-young





Soul quartet Vintage Trouble which met with Korean fans last year at the Seoul Jazz Festival will be returning to perform on April 18 at the SJ Kunsthalle in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul.

The concert is arranged by Blue Note Records, Universal Music Group's jazz label, in collaboration with Audi Korea as part of a lifestyle marketing project called Audi Lounge.

Jazz artists, such as Jacky Terrasson, Jose James, Robert Glasper, Kandace Springs and Gregory Porter, have played for Korean audiences through this collaboration.

The sixth invited artist is Vintage Trouble, a four-member rhythm and blues band started in 2010 in Los Angeles. The group joined hands with legendary manager Doc McGhee who has worked with famous artists such as Kiss and Bon Jovi.

The group began its musical career in England and topped the British Amazon ballad chart and was listed second on the rock chart in the past. It has also performed as the opening act for Bon Jovi, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Lenny Kravitz.

Following its debut, Vintage Trouble signed with Blue Note Records after being picked up by its CEO, Don Was. The group is active globally and is often called "the resurrection of James Brown" who was known as the "godfather of soul."

The collaborative culture project Audi Lounge by Blue Note Records will work with long-time partner DJ Soulscape again this year.
An employee of Allianz Life Korea, right, explains the firm's new variable insurance policy to a customer. The policy guarantees the principal without charging extra management fees. / Courtesy of Allianz Life Korea

Allianz Life Korea has launched a new type of variable insurance that guarantees policyholders' principal invested in the product without extra management fees.



Customers, who sign up for its variable insurance as part of their retirement preparation, will be able to get back 100 to 130 percent of the money they have invested in the long-term policy after the subscription period ends.



The foreign-invested life insurer said that they will guarantee it without charging policyholders extra fees, whether the market goes up or down.



Subscribers will be able to safely and stably receive their pension after investing in its variable annuity.



Also, if customers want to reinvest their monthly pension, they can choose to sign up for another investment product, which works like a mutual fund.



This product will also not have extra management fees. It will offer customers an annual return of 2 percent until they turn 100.



"This is possible as Allianz has a system enabling it to allocate the portion of customers' investment differently everyday in accordance with market conditions to achieve such a return," an Allianz spokesman said.



Other life insurers, generally, manage investment with a fixed strategy, for instance, allocating 70 percent of the money to investing in stable assets and 30 percent in risky assets during the subscription period.



Allianz changes its investment allocation every day.



This is what makes its variable insurance and investment product different from others, in addition to charging no extra fees, it added.



Also, policyholders of the investment product can choose to have their returns paid to their spouse when they pass away.



Customers can sign up for other options in the variable insurance and receive proceeds when they need to be treated for diseases such as cancer or Parkinson's.



They can invest in the variable insurance monthly via installments over periods of five, seven, 10 or more than 11 years. Or, they can put at least 15 million won in at once.



Allianz will be renamed ABL Life in the third quarter of this year, it said.



Anbang Insurance, the Chinese insurance giant, acquired Allianz Life Korea from Germany-based Allianz Group last year. (Advertorial)
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed legislation calling for relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and a resolution condemning North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile development.

The swift passage of the bipartisan measures, which came just five days after they passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was seen as a message to China in the run-up to the first summit talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act (H.R.479), which was introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) in January, was approved in a 398-3 vote, while the resolution on the North's missile development passed in a 394-1 vote.

The terrorism bill requires the State Department to submit a report within 90 days after the bill's enactment on whether Pyongyang meets the criteria for a terror sponsor. In the event the department determines the North doesn't merit the designation, it should also offer a detailed justification for the decision.

Calls for adding Pyongyang back to the State Department's list of terrorism-sponsoring nations have gained significant traction in the wake of the Feb. 13 killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.












By Yi Whan-woo





Yasumasa Nagamine

Japanese Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine is becoming a laughing stock on online communities after he returned to Korea "empty-handed," Tuesday, in a tug-of-war between the two countries over a "comfort woman" statue.

His return promoted mockery online as it came despite no concrete action taken by Korea in line with Japan's demand to remove a statue of a girl set up outside the Japanese Consulate in Busan.

The Japanese government had kept Nagamine at home for nearly three months after recalling him on Jan. 9 in retaliation for the installment of the statue, which symbolizes Korean wartime sex slaves.

In February, Japan said Nagamine would not be sent back unless the Korean government took satisfactory measures to remove the statue. Tokyo claimed it was against an agreement reached between the two countries in December 2015 to end the dispute over "comfort women."

Despite this, the statue still remains in its place.

"Why bother to return?" a Daum user named gangjwa wrote just hours before Nagamine's arrival, Tuesday.

Another user, Maleunsem, commented, "You can go back to Japan again."

A Naver user, lgo2****, called the Japanese ambassador an "idiot" for "sneaking back after leaving Korea voluntarily."












Chinese retaliation over the anti-missile battery deployment in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, on Mar. 5 has drastically cut visitors to the popular Chinese tourist spot of Myeongdong in Seoul. / Korea Times file



By Eom Da-sol

Chinese travelers' interest in Korea has plummeted, according to a Chinese website's survey.

Korea has dropped in most-preferred travel destination rankings from third last year to 16th this year, according Ctrip, China's biggest online travel booking site.

The survey asked respondents which country is their favorite destination. Only 1.4 percent said they wanted to visit Korea.

The most-preferred destinations included Japan, Thailand and the U.S.

As Chinese interest in Europe for long-term travel increased, the survey showed several European countries in the top 10 destinations, including the U.K., France and Italy. New Zealand also was among the top 10.

"Chinese travelers have lost interest in South Korea as a destination," the China Trade Association said on Tuesday. "This could be seen as part of China's retaliation measures against South Korea that recently deployed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery on its soil."

Chinese tourists have shunned Korea since the Chinese government banned group tours on Mar. 15 in retaliation over the battery.

China's spending on foreign and domestic tourism has increased as the nation's economy developed. It is expected that more Chinese will spend their money on tourism this year. Half the people surveyed said they will spend 10 percent of their income on travel.
Networking events have seen a spike as an increasing number of foreign students are choosing Korea as a practical option for graduate studies.



International group, Koreaners, will host a weekly meet-up at Mountain Haus in Itaewon, Seoul, tomorrow night.



The Busan English Party will host an international gathering at Sharky's in Busan, Saturday.



"We meet two Saturdays every month from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The whole bar is booked for us to use. Everybody is welcome. Come alone or bring your friends," states the invitation.



Sharky's is a popular Western-style bar and grill in the heart of the Gwangan Beach area.



About 100 people attend each Busan party.



The purpose of the Koreaners meet-up is to bring Koreans and non-Koreans together to exchange ideas, culture, social issues, discuss national cohesion and network for a lifetime.



"So this is a group for anyone from all over the world who is interested in making new friends, partying with new friends, studying languages and exploring Korea together. There will be periodic activities to engage all Koreaners members as well," the group says on its website.



The entrance fee to the Busan English Party night is 5,000 won. Entry to the Koreaners networking is free.



Both nights are from 7:30 to 11 p.m.



To get to Sharky's, leave Geumnyeonsan station at exit 3, make a U-turn as you exit, and go straight 20 meters. Turn right at the intersection and go straight about 300 meters. Sharky's will be on your right, toward the Samik Beach Apartments on the 2nd floor.



To get to Mountain Haus leave Itaewon Station from exit 3 and turn right. Walk straight for 20 meters. Turn left when you see the traffic light and walk until you reach Taco Bell. Mountain Haus is in the building next to Taco Bell on the right on the 2nd floor.



For more information on Busan English Party, visit the events page on Facebook. To learn more about Koreaners, visit www.koreaners.com.




By Jun Ji-hye

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Scott Swift, said Tuesday that deploying an advanced USS Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer to South Korea was a possible option in the future to counter threats from North Korea.





Adm. Scott Swift

However, he cautiously noted there remain some important questions to resolve before the U.S. Navy makes a decision on this, saying the latest stealth destroyer has not been deployed yet.

Adm. Swift said defense officials still need to develop tactics in operating the destroyer and procedures of how the ship would operate independently or collectively, and with either expeditionary strike or carrier strike groups.

"These are all questions we don't have any answers to yet," he said in an interview with a group of reporters in Seoul.

The comments came amid growing speculation here over the possible deployment of the stealth destroyer to South Korea's Jeju Island. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, mentioned this during a meeting with South Korean lawmakers in Hawaii last January, according to Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae, who was present.

At the time, the Ministry of National Defense said there has been no official offer in regard to the deployment, but it would give it serious consideration if the U.S. officially makes such a suggestion.

Adm. Swift said the ship still needs to go through the outfitting process including the placement and testing of weapon systems, stressing that it was premature to discuss future plans.

But when asked whether it can be an option, he said, "Anything is possible."












By Lee Han-soo

A Korean man in his 30s, surnamed Kim, has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a Japanese tourist he met at a nightclub in Gangnam, Seoul, according to Gangnam police station on Monday.

The tourist in her 20s reportedly visited the club with a friend and met Kim. Kim allegedly sexually assaulted her after taking her to an emergency stairway. He was stopped when security guards came to rescue the woman after hearing her scream.

"We heard a woman screaming and crying, so we sent our security personnel outside to check," a club employee said. "We intervened and subdued the man until the police arrived."

Kim denied the sexual assault charges, saying his interaction with the woman was with consent, police said. Police will summons club officials for the investigation.
By Lee Kyung-min



The prosecution questioned former President Park Geun-hye at the Seoul Detention Center, Tuesday, the first such interrogation after she was taken into custody.



Han Woong-jae, a senior prosecutor from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, who is investigating the corruption scandal involving Park, visited the center in Euiwang, Gyeonggi Province. At least one assistant prosecutor and a female investigator accompanied him. Park's two defense lawyers Yoo Young-ha and Chae Myung-sung were also present.



Most of the former president's accomplices are also detained at the facility, including Choi Soon-sil, Park's confidant and the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal that led to her impeachment and removal from office. It also led to the jailing of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun.



The prosecutors' visit came at the request of Park who asked that she be questioned at the center, wary of public exposure if she appeared at the prosecutors' office in Seocho, southern Seoul.



The change of venue, according to the prosecution, was due to Park's lawyers pointing to her psychological condition and the need to observe security protocols. Also two other disgraced former presidents  Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan  were questioned inside the detention facility.



The questioning focused on the allegation that she was given a 29.8 billion won ($26.5 million) bribe out of 43.3 billion won promised by business groups. Park was also asked about the allegation she took part in the creation of a culture blacklist, through which artists deemed opposed to her were refused state subsidies.



Han and his team were initially expected to question Choi before or after interrogating Park to compare their statements, but were unable to do so as the former was attending her own criminal trial on charges of bribery at the Seoul Central District Court.



Most of Park's former or incumbent aides have been indicted over their suspected roles in the scandal. They include officials from Cheong Wa Dae and government ministries, and former presidential secretaries An Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong.



Han's team left around 6 p.m. It team will hold a couple of more sessions to end questioning before April 17, when the presidential election campaign officially starts. The prosecution has until April 19 to indict Park, or she will be released.



Meanwhile, Park did not add lawyer Seo Hyang-hee, the wife of her younger brother Park Ji-man, to her nine-member defense team.



Earlier rumors indicated that the younger Park, who is thought to harbor doubts about the team for its "subpar" representation throughout the Constitutional Court proceedings, sought to create a new team to help his sister with the criminal trial. Seo visited Park at 11:30 a.m., Monday, but left 30 minutes later after Park refused to see her.




There are many reasons for Ahn's surging popularity



By Kim Rahn



Public support for Ahn Cheol-soo, presidential candidate of the minor liberal People's Party, is rapidly growing as he has emerged as a serious rival to frontrunner Moon Jae-in from the largest Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).



The popularity of the former People's Party leader has increased throughout the weeks-long primary race in opinion polls: about two weeks ago, his approval rating remained some 10 percent, but it now hovers between 18 and 22 percent.



In one poll released Monday, Ahn garnered 43.6 percent against Moon's 36.4 percent in a hypothetical two-way race  the first time he overtook Moon  although Moon's camp later raised questions about the credibility of the survey.



Political pundits say Ahn's rise is in line with the fall of South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung, who was defeated by Moon in the DPK primary.



An, who once emerged as a challenger to Moon, showed a wider range of the political spectrum, trying to embrace conservatives by promising to form a coalition government even with largest conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP). Such promise deprived him of support from DPK loyalists, but he gained support from young and centrist voters. And Ahn, who also took a centrist stance, has absorbed An supporters.



Strong anti-Moon sentiment among conservative voters is another reason for soaring support for Ahn.



Moon, who was a chief aide to former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, has been unpopular among conservatives. Some of them even call Moon a North Korean sympathizer.



But now the conservatives have lost a pivotal figure following the corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye, with no big-name conservative presidential contenders emerging. LKP's candidate Hong Joon-pyo and the minor Bareun Party's Yoo Seong-min are not gaining much support from them.



"Except for some ultra-right hardliners, many conservatives see Hong and Yoo are unlikely to win, and they are choosing Ahn as an alternative," political analyst Hwang Tae-soon said. "Those who do not like Moon paid attention to An, and as An was losing the primaries, it seems they are moving to Ahn."



Myongji University professor Shin Yul also said that "shy conservatives," centrists and anti-Moon voters are heading toward Ahn. "Anti-Moon voters began to express their opinions. We suspect about 15 percent of all the voters are shy conservatives who have refused to participate in opinion polls, and Ahn is taking their support. His support rating can reach 30 percent next week."



Ahn has a relatively clean image compared to many longtime politicians who have often been involved in bribery or influence-peddling allegations.



Last June, only four months after he and some dissenters from the DPK started the People's Party with Ahn becoming the co-leader, allegations arose that two party members received illicit political funds from two local firms in the run-up to the general election in April. That scandal dealt a blow to Ahn's "new politics" initiative, and he resigned from the head position to take "political" responsibility.



But in January, a local court acquitted the two lawmakers of the charges, citing a lack of evidence. This again highlighted Ahn's clean image and helped him get out of a possible attack from his rivals about the corruption allegations.




This is the second in a series of interviews with presidential candidates.  ED.

Liberty Party's candidate stresses need for US tactical nuclear weapons



By Choi Ha-young





Hong Joon-pyo

Hong Joon-pyo, the presidential candidate of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), called for an end to factional infighting so the party can prevail over liberals in the May 9 election.

He dismissed the idea of "purging" loyalists to former President Park Geun-hye, saying they were an integral part of the conservative party.

"They earned parliamentary seats through elections. They were chosen by the people," Hong said during a recent interview with The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo.

"How can I push for their resignations? How can I drive them away? That's beyond my authority. Let me know if you know how I can do that."

The South Gyeongsang Province governor used to be a vocal critic of the pro-Park faction. However, he appears to have opted to reconcile with them after winning the party's nomination over three of her loyalists, including Rep. Kim Jin-tae.

This is because the former ruling party had until recently been controlled by the pro-Park faction for years, and their influence is still palpable even after the corruption-ridden former president was removed from power in early March and later arrested and jailed.

Analysts say Hong, a prosecutor-turned-politician, has made a strategic choice to join with the Park loyalists as the election is only a month away.

After being nominated as the LKP candidate, Friday, he asked Rep. Kim to join his camp and help him campaign in Gangwon Province.

Hong's move to embrace the loyalist faction has been a source of contention with the Bareun Party, which was formed by lawmakers who broke away from the LKP over factional differences.

The Bareun Party's presidential nominee, Rep. Yoo Seong-min, said he was willing to discuss a unified candidacy with the LKP on the condition that the latter expels pro-Park lawmakers.

Even if the party is in a shambles, hit by the wide-ranging corruption scandal involving the ex-president and her associates, Hong is confident about winning the election.

"In the face of a crisis, party members chose me not backed by a faction but backed by political ability and power to make a breakthrough," he said.

He defined the Bareun Party as a "younger brother" who ran away from the "older brother's home."

"They defected from us due to friction caused by the impeachment. Now, the root cause of the conflict has been removed, so they should return right away," Hong said.

Emphasizing that the LKP is "home" to conservatives, the outspoken governor said he will appeal to voters in its stronghold  Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.

"In the nation's electoral landscape, rightists account for 35 percent, while the liberals and leftists account for 25 percent. The remaining 40 percent are politically neutral. I think we will have 35 percent only after a month of fierce campaigning. Because of the liberals' division, Jeolla voters won't cast ballots overwhelmingly for one party," he said.

Hong calls himself a "strongman" who can stand against the tough-talking leaders of the United States, China, Japan, North Korea and Russia.

Regarding security issues, he said he prefers the U.S. plan to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea over deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to counter North Korea's missile threats.

Asked about possible regional tension the redeployment of such weapons may trigger, Hong said such concerns are overblown.

"There should be a balancing tool to counter a nuclear North Korea. Without this, we would be living under the North Korean nuclear threat forever, and offering cash to the Kim Jong-un regime for survival," he said. "In the old days, U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were against China and Russia, but this time, they'd be against North Korea."

Hong expects the May 9 election will be a duel between the left and right. In his view, the candlelit rallies that led to Park's ouster should be recognized as a leftist "coup" rather than a popular uprising.

"However, I think our democracy is now more mature than ever," he said. "Under a democratic system, there are always conflicts between the majority and minorities."

Hong said his goal is to prevent the left from seizing power.

"Leftists should not be allowed to govern the nation. I am really concerned about how leftist rule will change this country."
By Eom Da-sol





Park Seong-joong

A Bareun Party lawmaker, who allegedly rebuked a policeman who caught his driver allegedly breaking traffic law, has proposed a revision bill to strengthen Korea's multicultural family welfare service.

Rep. Park Seong-joong's bill is aimed at the Multicultural Families Support Act, enacted in December 2014, according to the Kyunghyang Daily Tuesday.

The original act does not define foreign workers' children as part of multicultural families, stopping them from receiving government support.

"According to the current law, the multicultural family welfare service is limited to the children of marriage migrants or Koreans," Park told the newspaper. "Children of migrant workers staying for the long term are excluded.

"The politicians are there for the most vulnerable people in society."

Twelve lawmakers from other parties joined Park in backing the proposal.

Meanwhile, Park has been criticized for allegedly bullying a policeman last week for not recognizing him.

The incident happened when Park's driver allegedly turned right illegally at a three-way intersection in Songpa-gu, eastern Seoul, on Mar. 28, according to Seoul Songpa-gu police.

When the officer requested the driver's license, Park, in the back seat, asked the policeman's name and took a photo of him.

Park complained later that day to the public information director of the Korea National Police Agency  who attended the Bareun Party's primary election  that "this must be a part of the plot to frame me in a disgraceful accident."

"The policeman was just doing his duty, not knowing that there was a lawmaker in the car," an agency official said.
DPK candidate visits gravesite of Park Chung-hee

By Kim Hyo-jin

Moon Jae-in, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate, visited the gravesites of former presidents including Park Chung-hee, the father of ousted leader Park Geun-hye, Tuesday.

This was his first official function since being elected as the party's candidate for the May 9 presidential election, Monday.

The visit was widely viewed as the liberal candidate's symbolic move to appeal to elderly conservative voters.

Moon, along with party leader Choo Mi-ae, paid their respects at the gravesites of Korea's inaugural President Syngman Rhee and Park at the National Cemetery in Seoul.

This was followed by visits to the graves of Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam, leaders in the post-democratization era. He also paid tribute at a monument for students who participated in the Korean War.

"For a fair and just Korea," he wrote in the visitors' book at the cemetery.

"It was time for me to refresh myself now that I am running in the presidential election as the DPK's candidate," Moon told reporters after the visit.












By Kim Se-jeong



The number of oil leaks on a U.S. military base in central Seoul reached 90 between 1990 and 2015, much higher than previously reported, said Green Korea, a Seoul-based NGO, Tuesday.



The NGO said it obtained a U.S. military internal document under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. It alleged the total number should include six additional cases not mentioned in the document.



The Ministry of Environment said only five cases had been reported to it so far.



According to the group, out of the 90, 31 leaks involved more than 400 liters of oil. In seven cases, at least 3.7 tons of oil were leaked each time, and "the military document described them as worst incidents," according to Shin Soo-yun, activist from Green Korea.



Land contamination from oil leaks at the 8th U.S. Army headquarters on Yongsan Garrison has been reported before, but the revelation came as a big surprise due to the high number. The base is in the process of being returned to Korea, and negotiations for the land cleanup are yet to start.



The NGO criticized the Korean government for doing little.



"This is simple basic research, and shows the ministry has done nothing," Shin said. "The ministry is responsible for cleanup negotiations with the U.S. Army."



Shin also criticized the U.S. military for alleged "cover ups."



A ministry official surnamed Hong explained the government's inaction was due to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). "Under SOFA, unless the U.S. military notifies us, it's difficult to request any information first, even if it involves an incident posing a threat to the environment or public health."








By Choi Yearn-hong





Mr. Moon Jae-in, a prominent opposition politician and next president expressed his intent to visit North Korea, once he is elected. My question to him: "What for?" I don't mind his intent. But I want to know what he wants to talk about, or what he wants to do in Pyongyang? He should remember that enough has been done already. Kim Dae-jung's so-called "Sunshine Policy" and Roh Moo-hyun's "spokesman" role to defend North Korea to the world all failed or did not achieve what I want to see. Moon may not be the same person as Kim and Roh, but his policy may be the same as before. Therefore, he should make it clear that what he wants to talk about to the North Korean leader in person before his departure to Pyongyang. No one will welcome a useless trip to Pyongyang. I don't like the waste of his precious time and energy. All public policies should be based on a cost-benefit analysis  and benefits should be equal to or bigger than costs.

In his controversial interview with The New York Times, he said that he would be a South Korean president who could say "No!" to the U.S. President. I admire his statement. Yes, he and any Korean president should be able to speak out against the U.S. and its policies toward Korea, East Asia and the world, if they are violating South Korean sovereignty and hurt its national interest. But he should speak out about what his discontent is at the present time. He should be rational and intelligent when he points out the area(s) of discontent. If he wants to say "No" to the US deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea which has begun for the purpose of defending South Korea from North Korean missile attacks, then he should be able to explain why he is against it. If not, his courage to say "No" is meaningless.

China is retaliating against South Korea and Lotte after Seoul started to deploy THADD. Is it fair to South Korea? China should take responsibility for the wasteful six-party talks it hosted. In the meantime, North Korea just developed long range intercontinental missiles. It fooled the five nations that participated in the parley. Enough is enough. All five nations should not tolerate any more wasteful time in negotiations with North Korea. There is no reason to open nice diplomacy toward the North that is consistently violating UN Security Council resolutions. Moon should declare that he will visit Beijing first as the new president-elect. And, he should be able to speak "No" toward China on this matter.

Park Geun-hye was disgracefully ousted by a Constitutional Court ruling. However, her conservative policy was not the reason for her removal from office. The cause of her fall was a corruption scandal, not her conservative policy  a policy reaction toward hard-line union practices and unfair manipulating by the teachers union in politics. Without amending union power, the Korean economy cannot survive. Justice-as-fairness is what all parties must seek. Liberal or progressive politicians are blindly sympathetic to the North Korean regime and union power; and critical of the present Samsung, Hyundai Group and other big corporations' management. Economic revitalization cannot be achieved without curtailing union power. Defending the current unions' power cannot make true sense for economic reform. Rather it may lead to the collapse of the nation.












Front-runner must prove he is prepared



Moon Jae-in won the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party of Korea with overwhelming support Monday. He swept all of the four primary races, each by a large margin, and avoided a run-off election.

His election as the largest party's candidate for the May 9 presidential election is hardly surprising. He has been taking a commanding lead in opinion polls since last fall when a high-profile corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil erupted. Supporters of Moon, the former human rights lawyer, are also in full control of the liberal party. Now Moon, who lost the 2012 election to Park, stands a good chance of winning the top elected office at his second attempt.

In his acceptance speech, he declared that "we must bring an end to an era of conflict and division" and vowed to "open an era of righteous unity." Given that the nation has been struggling with the aftermath of the unprecedented corruption scandal that led to Park's removal from office, Moon's pledges are welcomed. One can hope that he will lead the country toward national unity, if elected.

But things are not necessarily bright for him. First of all, he has to cope with widespread anti-Moon sentiment. While candlelit vigils were in full swing, Moon voiced the need to liquidate "accumulated evils." This slogan sparked enthusiastic cheers among his supporters but had some people, especially centrists and conservatives, worrying about his possible dichotomous thinking.












By Yoon Sung-won



Calls are surfacing for the introduction of a bill to stop foreign limited liability companies from exploiting loopholes in the law to sidestep taxes. The government and the legislature have been urged to expedite their efforts to plug the legal loopholes they have made.



Limited liability companies are not legally obliged to release financial information such as sales, operating profit, dividends, royalties and donations, and do not face external audits so they can easily dodge scrutiny by the authorities.



For this reason, many foreign companies in Korea have registered their names as limited liability companies.



Before 2010, Korea's commercial laws stipulated that a business must have less than 50 employees and over 10 million won in capital to become a limited liability company.



But a revision in 2010 lifted such regulations while keeping limited liability companies out of the obligations such as external audits and information releases, further encouraging foreign companies to register themselves as such for more benefits.



The number of limited liability companies here reached 26,858 at the end of 2015, up 9,304 from 17,554 in 2010 before the revision of commercial law, according to data from the National Tax Service (NTS).



Taxation experts say multifold loopholes in our legal system have allowed many foreign companies, which would naturally try to pay the smallest amount of taxes possible, become limited liability companies.



In the network equipment market, Cisco Korea has always involved a smaller third-party local distribution partner to sell expensive network equipment. Cisco Korea forces its clients and its headquarters to deal directly with each other so that it can avoid taxes as it does not hold an official stake in the transaction.



"One may claim that Cisco Korea should pay the taxes but it is difficult to prove its involvement in the deal unless the clients testify to it. Worse, it does not have to disclose its balance sheet and income statements because it is a limited liability firm," a taxation expert said.



The expert also pointed out that Cisco's dominance in Korea has established a supplier-centric market here, giving Cisco Korea power to control distributors and buyers. He said Korean companies have blindly purchased Cisco's expensive products, giving it dominant status in the market in Korea.



Consequently, Cisco Korea has continued to dodge taxes and shifted the burden to its local distribution partners.



Because Cisco does not open its financial reporting, we can only guess at its business operations through past figures unveiled before it became a limited liability company in 2013.



In 2012, Cisco Korea posted only 82.8 billion won in sales. Considering that Cisco's network equipment has been adopted by multiple conglomerates such as SK Telecom, KT and Samsung Electronics, its actual performance would have been far greater than that.



The practices of Cisco are not illegal and sources said that years ago Cisco Korea had examined various lawful ways through legal reviews how it could avoid paying all but the least amount of taxes  called tax planning  with the help of a domestic accounting firm.



But people do not accept that as a proper way of doing business here. They think that if a company makes money here, it should pay taxes here, not burden third-party distributors.



The country needs to do something about this by introducing a "Cisco Act," which will deal with two things _ one is about transparency of limited liability firms, particularly foreign firms, and the other is about the controversial practices of Cisco.



In fact, the government has put forth efforts to grapple with the former as in January it proposed an amendment about external audits of companies which can strengthen the auditing of the accounting practices of many foreign businesses here and make them release essential business information.



But the National Assembly has been unable to act on the revision bill. The ruling and opposition parties failed to close the gap on the bill in March. It is also likely that the bill's progress will be further delayed with the parties preoccupied with the campaign for the upcoming presidential election in May.



The latter would be very tricky because rash moves to change the current rules on taxing foreign companies and their forms of business may trigger a trade dispute with governments overseas.



It will need long-term cooperation with not just foreign companies but also foreign governments where their headquarters are. This is why many governments have taken so many years to discuss the regulations on base erosion and profit sharing, which is more commonly referred to as the "Google tax" in Korea.



But one thing seems to be sure: the country should do something with the status quo so that companies like Cisco Korea cannot use the loopholes to its advantage so they avoid the taxes they would otherwise have to pay.




By Lee Min-hyung



Apple has ordered 70 million bendable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels from Samsung Electronics for the next iPhone, overseas media said Tuesday.



According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the OLED panels will be used in Apple's new flagship smartphone, tentatively named the iPhone 8, which will come out on the 10th anniversary of the Apple handset line in the latter half of this year.



The Seoul-based smartphone and parts maker is preparing to supply up to 95 million panels because demand for the new iPhone may outstrip Apple's expectations, according to the report.



Samsung declined to comment, citing contract terms.



"We cannot reveal any information about ongoing contracts with our clients," a Samsung official said.



There have been rumors the iPhone will be equipped with OLED screens, which can also be foldable.



Chances are some of the 70 million handsets will not be delivered to customers this year and shipped next year, depending on demand, the Japanese media quoted IHS senior director David Hsieh as saying.



While Samsung has equipped its smartphones with OLED panels, Apple has stuck with LCDs for its iPhone and iPad tablet lineups.



But as the OLED panels offer many design options for device manufacturers, observers say Apple may have no choice but to jump on the OLED bandwagon. Samsung has in recent years promoted OLED displays as the future design standard in the smartphone industry, thanks largely to their excellent color reproduction and low power consumption.



Samsung is the only firm holding high-end technologies to mass-produce small OLED panels, used mainly for smart portable devices such as smartphones. Samsung Display dominates the small and medium OLED panel industry with a market share of more than 90 percent, while rival LG Display focuses on large OLED panels as its next growth area.



According to market researcher IHS Markit, the global flexible OLED industry is expected to post 150 percent sales growth this year, compared with a year ago, driven mainly by more high-end smartphones adopting flexible panels.



Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have equipped some of their flagship smartphones with flexible panels, but the display has yet to enter the mainstream due to short supply.



However, more panel makers are focusing on increasing production over the rosy demand outlook, the IHS said in a recent report.




By Jhoo Dong-chan



The Chinese government's economic retaliation against Korea over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here more than halved Hyundai Motor's sales in China last month.



Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors sold 72,032 cars in China last month, down 52.2 percent from a year ago, officials said. Hyundai Motor sold 56,026, down 44.3 percent, and Kia Motors 16,006, down 68 percent.



This was the first time that the two carmakers' monthly sales in the world's most populous country have fallen below 100,000 since February 2016.



Beijing-Hyundai, the Korean carmaker's joint venture in China, introduced the all-new Elantra Yuedong sedan last month but it failed to offset the firm's poor performance there with sales of 8,018 so far.



Hyundai's lackluster performance is attributable to the Chinese government's trade retaliation and anti-Korean sentiment among consumers after the deployment of THAAD here, they said.



Protesting the Korean government's decision to deploy the U.S. anti-missile system, Chinese consumers have boycotted Korean products while some of its competitors have provoked nationalism among the Chinese people to rack up their own sales.



Some Volkswagen dealerships in China are reportedly carrying out a special promotion with discounts of up to 16,000 yuan ($2,323) for customers who sell their Korean cars to buy their models.



Another Chinese carmaker is also offering a special gift for customers who cancel their orders for Korean cars.



Due to its poor performance, Hyundai Motor temporarily shut down its production facilities in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, for four days from March 24. The factory's annual production capacity is around 300,000 vehicles.



Hyundai Motor's Beijing factory, which has operated 24 hours a day, also decided to cut its production by halting the night shift.



"It is very unusual to see a 50 percent drop in sales in overseas markets. It is inevitable for us to reduce production under the present circumstances in China," a Hyundai Motor official said. "I hope it won't last long."



However, prospects seem unfavorable for Hyundai.



The Global Times, an English newspaper under the auspices of China's largest newspaper People's Daily, said it will publicly stage a boycott campaign against Korean products.



Also, the Chinese government recently excluded consumer subsidies for electric vehicle models equipped with LG Chem batteries for no reason.



Due to the Chinese government's decision, Beijing-Hyundai changed its battery supplier for the all-new Sonata plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to China's CATL, and delayed its introduction to next February.



"It is impossible to control the situation, but we will do what we can in the market," the official said. "We will enhance our corporate social responsibility activities, and continuously introduce new high-quality vehicles."



Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors jointly sold nearly 1.8 million cars in China last year, accounting for some 22 percent of their total global sales.








By Jhoo Dong-chan

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has inked a 280 billion won ($250 million) contract with a Greek shipping company to build three very large crude oil carriers (VLCCs), a deal providing financial relief to Korea's debt-ridden shipbuilder.

DSME announced in a press release Tuesday it had clinched the order to build three 318,000-ton VLCCs with Maran Tankers Management, an affiliate of Greece's largest shipping company Angelicoussis Shipping Group.

The 336-meter-long and 60-meter-wide VLCCs are expected to include DSME's latest eco-friendly technologies that satisfy the International Maritime Organization's environmental standards. The three carriers will be delivered in 2018.

Angelicoussis Shipping Group has been DSME's "white knight" by continuously placing orders with the company.

Despite DSME's financial crisis, the shipping group ordered two liquefied natural gas carriers and two VLCCs last June. It also placed an order with DSME to build a 173,400-cubic-meter liquefied natural gas floating storage and regasification unit (LNG FSRU) in December.

"I would like to express my gratitude to Angelicoussis Shipping Group for choosing DSME in such a critical moment. Angelicoussis Shipping Group has continuously showed its trust in DSME," DSME CEO Chung Sung-lip said.

"Our clients, creditors and government want DSME to stay afloat. The company executives and employees will do their best to thank them for their faith."

DSME union head Hong Seong-tae also sent a letter to the group, saying "DSME workers will answer the group's trust with excellence in quality and delivery by the deadline."

Angelicoussis Shipping Group has ordered 92 ships from DSME since 1994. Currently, 18 ships are being built at DSME's shipyards in Okpo and Romania.

This year, DSME has so far sealed seven shipbuilding contracts worth $770 million, giving hope that it will be able to rebound from last year's disappointing performance.

Last year, the shipyard won 12 shipbuilding contracts worth $1.55 billion.
Golden Blue CEO Kim Dong-wook poses at the company office in southern Seoul, March 31, before an interview with The Korea Times. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Lee Hyo-sik

Golden Blue has been defying the market norm over the past few years, posting double-digit sales growth in Korea's rapidly-shrinking whisky market.

The domestic whisky distributor has been able to outperform its larger foreign rivals as it has introduced lower-alcohol products tailored to the taste of local consumers amid a wellbeing trend, according to the company CEO, who also said it wants to improve the public perception toward drinking whisky.

In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Golden Blue CEO Kim Dong-wook said the company will become the nation's largest whisky provider in Korea by 2020 through nudging past Diageo and Pernod Ricard, which have been dominating the local market for decades.

"We have been recording strong sales growth year after year since 2009 when we first launched the 36.5-percent alcohol whisky Golden Blue," Kim said. "Thanks to our loyal customers, we have been able to emerge as a market leader and be on a par with foreign firms. As a home-grown whisky company, we will continue to serve local consumers the best way we can by offering innovative, high-quality products that best suits their needs."

The CEO said Golden Blue is using 100 percent Scotch whisky from distilleries in Scotland, which are not associated with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

"We are buying premium Scotch whisky from non-SWA distilleries. The product is as good as those from SWA members," Kim said. "We do not add any additives to our whisky with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of lower than 40 percent. But our foreign rivals cannot do so because of SWA rules. When they make lower-alcohol whisky, named spirit drinks, they use additives. This is why their products do not taste as good as our 100-percent whisky product."

Last May, the company unveiled the nation's first white whisky, Phantom the White, with an ABV of 36.5 percent. It also introduced Phantom the Original with an ABV of 35 percent, which has been well-received by consumers in their 20s and 30s.

Kim said he will transform Golden Blue into an exporter. "After becoming Korea's largest whisky company by 2020, we will embark on a campaign to become a globally-recognized brand. To do so, we need to ship our products to foreign markets. We currently export some of our products to China and Vietnam but we need to do more."

The CEO projected Korea's whisky market will shrink by 5 percent in 2017, adding that changing the public image about drinking whisky is as important as boosting sales.

"What Golden Blue would like to do is to improve people's perception toward drinking whisky," he said. "I have to say it has largely been viewed negatively. But this ought to change. Whisky is high-quality alcohol, superior to others. It also can play a positive role at a party or other types of gatherings. In particular, we would like to let people in their 20s and 30s learn more about whisky and its unique drinking culture."

Kim also said Golden Blue will expand its social volunteer programs to become a more socially responsible corporate citizen.

"One of my top priorities is to make Golden Blue more employee-friendly. When our workers are happy and are compensated in accordance with their performance, they are more motivated to exert their full potential. I want Golden Blue to be one of the most employee-friendly companies in Korea," he said.
Park Sung-su,

E-Land Group chairman

By Lee Hyo-sik

E-Land Group has decided to push back its plan to take a retail unit public, as the local bourse operator remains reluctant to let the financially strapped company raise money on the capital market.

In addition to the dire financial health of the mid-tier fashion-and-retail business group, its controversial mistreatment of part-time workers has made the Korea Exchange (KRX) less willing to give the initial public offering (IPO) of E-Land Retail the green light.

"We had initially planned to list E-Land Retail on the local bourse in the first half of this year. But given unfavorable market conditions, we decided to delay the IPO plan by one year," an E-Land Group official said. "E-Land Park, an affiliate of E-Land Retail, has become a liability ever since it came under criticism for not paying part-time workers. So we opted to first separate E-Land Park from E-Land Retail and start the IPO process over again."

Last December, E-Land Park caused a public outcry for withholding about 8.4 billion won ($7.5 million) in wages from 44,400 part-timers working at its 20 restaurant chains, including Ashley and Pizza Mall. Since then, the KRX has been refusing to start the IPO review process for E-Land Retail.

E-Land Retail, which currently holds an 85.3 percent stake in E-Land Park, plans to sell the stake to E-Land World, the group's holding firm, which has the remaining 14.7 percent stake.

"Once E-Land Park is separated from E-Land Retail, it will be a lot easier for us to receive approval from the KRX for taking E-Land Retail public," the official said. "We will make all the necessary preparations so that company shares are traded on the local stock market early next year."

Over the past year, E-Land has been trying to raise fresh funds to improve its deteriorating financial soundness.

It sold Teenie Weenie to Chinese fashion brand, V-GRASS, for 1 trillion won, and disposed of real estate. But to put an end to investors' lingering concerns about its financial health, E-Land needs to list its shares of E-Land Retail and raise trillions of won in fresh capital.

The group has had its conflicts with Korea Investors Service, Korea Ratings and other credit ratings agencies, which either downgraded its credit ratings or threaten to do so, citing its shaky financial state.
EXO fans are getting ready to celebrate EXO's fifth anniversary in a big way. EXO Baidu Bar is expected to break out the most expensive gift any fandom has ever gifted a K-pop group by renting the Times Square billboard on April 8.

According to All Kpop, EXO Baidu Bar has announced on its site the plans to mark the boys' milestone fifth anniversary with a message to the world. According to the post of the China-based fan group, they will be renting the Reuters Billboard in the corner of 42nd and 7th Avenue on April 8.

"On this meaningful anniversary, we hope that we can share this happiness with more EXO-Ls and let the world know our greatest and beloved EXO," their message read. "In the next five years, ten years or more, we will be with EXO always."

According to a post by Soompi, a total of 11 billboards will feature "EXO 5th Anniversary" as well as photos of EXO members. The billboards will feature congratulatory messages in different languages including English, Chinese and Korean to show the love from EXO-Ls from all over the world.

The initiative coming from Chinese fans speaks volumes about the fans' love for EXO, especially at a time that Korean content is currently being banned in China because of a defense policy that Korea has entered into with the United States. Still, this is not the first time that fans chose to show their love for EXO members using the Times Square Billboard as it previously featured birthday greetings for Chanyeol and Lay and even global fashion icon Sehun.

EXO is currently busy preparing for the encore performance of the "EXO PLANET - The EXO'rDIUM" concert tour. The encore will be a two-night event on May 27 and 28 at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.
Due to China's clear retaliation over the partnership between the U.S. and South Korea's THAAD missile system installation, South Korea was forced to raise the concern over the WTO committee. During the Geneva committee meeting held last April 28 to 30, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has raised the concern in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) committee of the WTO.

South Korea specifically states that there are serious trade concerns that are happening due to the Chinese ban on everything that is related to Korean or even K-pop culture. During last year's October, China had put up a limit on the number of milk brands that are operating in the country, along with other industrial limits on other companies' function within the country.

This dealt a serious blow to the economic status of South Korea as the country is restricted from entering a large portion of the global market. The interesting thing about the Chinese limit on various industrial processes, as well as the ban on K-pop music, TV programs and movie, was very likely to be due to the THAAD partnership between the U.S. and South Korea.

The THAAD is a missile defense system that is made to deter any missile attacks from North Korea. According to KBS, China has strictly reinforced its measures against everything South Korean, such as industrial and business processes, K-pop culture, as well as its tourism.

South Korea says that China violates two important principles in its measures against their country. These principles are all about the most favored nation and its national treatment.

The main issue that South Korea is trying to imply against China is that the latter doesn't give them the equal and same treatment as what WTO members are obliged to do and to have.
They have a good life in France, but it is difficult to forget the particular specialities of their home country. England. The French might be offended by this, but for numerous British living in France nothing is better than a good bacon sandwich! Alan Bassam and his wife Chris are the first to admit French food is incredible, but sometimes, a little taste of England is missing'.

They sell what English cooking can do best  and worst

Living between Jarnages and Parsac they have just launched their small business British Market Stall: They sell what English cooking can do best  and worst  and return once a month over the Channel to buy products that their clients have ordered and to refurbish their stock.

A large number of English live in the Creuse and they cant find the products that they are used to eating explains Alan. In his house the shelves are filled with oh so British victuals : tinned foods, condiments, cakes, sweet things, the famous Marmite, this spread made from yeast extract, tins of beans -haricot beans in a tomato sauce, the must have mint sauce or malt vinegar, which is sprinkled on a plate of good fish and chips. For sure there is the inimitable custard.

We can translate this as 'creme anglaise', but it isnt really the same thing!, specifies Chris. Tea also, of course, that is something that the English have such an affection for. We are sometimes surprised by what people ask us to bring from England. The most surprising is to see how much the bacon is so different from that in France, also English sausages are greatly missed by the British! Alan and Chris bought their house in 2005 but have only permanently lived in it since 2015. Previously working in the paper business they have given it all up to live in the Creuse. They own a gite which they rent out and also organize holidays to discover the department by bike. It was their clients, mainly English, who gave them the idea of creating the British Market Stall.

[French version] Ce petit gout dAngleterre qui leur manque tant en Creuse

Recevez par mail notre newsletter loisirs et retrouvez les idees de sorties et d'activites dans votre region. Je m'inscris NL {"path":"mini-thematique-inscription","thematique":"MT_Loisirs","accessCode":"12350838","allowGCS":"true","bodyClass":"ripo_generic","contextLevel":"KEEP_ALL","filterMotsCles":"1|12|87|162","gabarit":"generic","hasEssentiel":"true","idArticle":"2350838","idArticlesList":"2350838","idDepartement":"242","idZone":"12865","motsCles":"1|12|87|162","premium":"false","pubs":"banniere_haute|article|article2|article3","site":"MT","sousDomaine":"www","urlTitle":"missing-a-little-taste-of-england"}

Alan and Chris would also like to present English food to the French. Soon they will be on several markets, such as Jarnages on Sundays and Boussac on Thursdays. And for those who have doubts, no, all is not bad in England, contrary to what some believe! Crumpets, delicious small cakes, digestives, biscuits which are dunked in a good cup of tea, marmalade, pudding . all worth seeing and trying. Will the Creusois dare to taste them? It is the bet that the couple are making, hoping to remove the prejudices and above all generate some curiosity.



Translation by Julia Dunbar

Facebook page link : https://www.facebook.com/britishmarketstall/?fref=ts
#taxi Seoul to increase late-night taxi service amid shortage The Seoul city government said Tuesday it will expand the operation of late-night taxis to cope with the growing demand for taxi service during late hours. Currently, an average...

#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...
April 3, 2017 (EIRNS)Deutsche Welles correspondent Matthias von Hein, who has covered the Yemen war before, this past weekend had an unprecedentedly hard-hitting denunciation of the reality that

"the richest country in the Arab world is bombing the poorest country back into the Stone Agea situation thats been ongoing for two years now. And Western countries are willing assistants. The United States is helping to refuel fighter jets midair for the Saudi-led coalition. They would otherwise not be able to reach their targets in Yemen. Britain and the U.S. are selling weapons, including internationally outlawed cluster bombs. Since the beginning of the attacks, theyve delivered some $5 billion (4.7 billion) worth of weapons to the Saudis.

"The fact that the bombs far too often claim civilian lives appears to be of no concern to the military partners. Just the opposite: The U.S. has now announced plans to strengthen its cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the Yemen conflict. The supposed goal is the suppression of Irans influence in Yemen. But Tehrans influence on the Houthi rebels is not nearly as big as Saudi Arabian propaganda would have us believe. The Houthis in Yemen cannot be compared with Hezbollah in Lebanon; they are not there to carry out Tehrans bidding. If that were true, they would have respected Tehrans warning to stay out of the capital, Sanaa, instead of going in and taking over the city.

"The Houthi rebels are getting little more than rhetorical support from Iran. And even if everything else is in short supply in Yemen, there appears to be no shortage of weapons. The Houthis were able to help themselves to supplies at the armys depots, based on their alliance with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. He ruled the country for two decades, remains well-connected, and has a lot of friends in the military that have joined the Houthi-Saleh rebellion. The Houthis are not in need of weapons deliveries from Iran. Nor are they even possible: The ports are blocked by the Saudi coalition. And thats also one of the reasons why, according to UN information, there are some 7 million Yemenis who dont know where their next meal is coming from. Half a million children are suffering from severe malnutrition. More than two-thirds of the population is dependent on food aid. These people are deliberately being starved to death.

"The current military escalation will not lead to a turnaround in the war, much less bring peace. The experience of the last two years has shown that, aside from the weapons industry, the only groups profiting from the chaos in the country are al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State. Once again, Western politics seem to be breeding terrorists rather than eliminating them.

"What the country needs is a national reconciliation conferencewith no prerequisites, and no outside interference. And what the region needs is a security structure that meets the needs of both Saudi Arabia and Iran. That might go some way to alleviating Saudi Arabian politicians paranoiabordering on obsessionregarding Irans supposed growing influence in the region."
Boeing Co. says it has signed a new, $3 billion deal with Irans Aseman Airlines for 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

Chicago-based Boeing made the announcement on Tuesday, saying the deal includes purchase rights for an additional 30 737 MAX aircraft.

It comes on top of a December deal by Iran Air, the countrys flag carrier, for $16.6 billion with Boeing for 80 passenger planes.

Advertisement

The deal comes as part of the landmark nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers.

In September, Washington granted permission to Boeing and its European competitor Airbus to sell billions of dollars worth of aircraft to Iran.
When she started her career, Andee Harris was happy just to have a job. She took the first salary offered, no questions asked.

Years later, Harris knows better, but she wishes she had known it then.

Women always underestimate their skill set and what theyre worth, said Harris, chief engagement officer at HighGround, an employee engagement software developer based in Chicago. We take what were given and dont think about this as a process, and that starts us off from a point of disadvantage.

Advertisement

Failure to negotiate salary  and the cascading effect that has as a career progresses  is one of several factors cited when trying to explain why women earn less than men across many industries.

Women, on average, earned 80 cents for every dollar men earned in 2015, a penny improvement over 2014, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. Thats based on Census data on median annual salary for full-time year-round workers.

Tuesday is Equal Pay Day, which symbolizes how far into the new year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year alone.

Some of the pay gap stems from the concentration of women in low-paying industries and occupations, and their rarity in executive ranks. The disparity shrinks considerably in analyses that control for factors such as years of experience, education, skills and management responsibilities. Taking those factors into consideration, women in California earned 2.3% less than men in 2015, according to data released in December by PayScale.

Heres some advice from four women on how to negotiate for more money effectively.

Start early

Young women who start their careers at low pay often find it haunts them as they move up the ladder, as raises and new offers tend to be based on prior salary.

Harris encourages young women to be savvy from job No. 1.

They should go into a negotiation with an understanding of their skill level, confidence that they can do the job and data on what that job should pay. Companies such as PayScale and Glassdoor have lots of market pay data. To further aid negotiations, last year Glassdoor launched a tool called Know Your Worth that calculates your market worth based on your employer, location, education, years of experience and other details.

At higher levels, Harris recommends having an attorney review a contract, especially when compensation packages involve stock options. She has noticed men are more willing than women to bring in an attorney, which she thinks is because women are afraid of being perceived as threatening.

Harris said it also has been helpful for her to confer with a group of close friends in the same profession who cheer her on: just someone who can say, You can do this. .

Its not about you, its about them

Negotiating is much more effective when you focus on the needs and interests of the other side rather than your own, said Victoria Medvec, co-founder and executive director of the Kellogg Center for Executive Women at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management.

Research your boss goals for the coming year and explain how you would help achieve them. Keep the conversation on the boss interests and avoid veering into whats fair and not fair, because that can make the other side defensive and reduces the likelihood that you get what you want, Medvec said.

In addition, pay should be only one part of a broader package youre negotiating, which could include flexibility, vacation days and responsibilities, Medvec said. Aim high to leave room for your employer to concede. Women often fear a bold request will be rejected, but no often means youre doing it right.

No is the first step in negotiation, Medvec said. You have to see no not as a wall, but as a window you crawl through.

Know what you want

Since she was a child, Perry Yeatman has had the clarity to know what she wants and the confidence to ask for it  traits that can be lucrative.

Long-term satisfaction is dependent on our ability to put on the table what you really want, said Yeatman, founder of Your Career, Your Terms, a resource to help women move up in their careers. The company wont guess, so they will solve for a different problem.

The ask should be backed by data that your performance merits giving you what you want, she said. Thats easy when you have a revenue-generating job with clear performance metrics, but many women are in support or operational roles and its incumbent on them to agree to clear, quantifiable measures to track performance from the outset.

Its not just about pay

Go in with multiple levers you can pull as you negotiate  that can be salary, bonuses, perks, assignments or sabbaticals, said Renetta McCann, chief talent officer at Leo Burnett.

If you go in with just one element it will be an up or down yes or no, she said.

Remember that it is a continuing, two-way conversation. Set up a meeting with your manager to talk about pay and consider your responses to the possible reactions. Be prepared for multiple conversations.

Collect information as you go. Ask your boss how the salary youre being offered was calculated, or what the boundaries are. Ask human resources to tell you what it can about the compensation structure.

Make a multipronged argument that merges proof of your contributions to the company with what you want to be paid.

In my experience, men at the senior level seem more naturally inclined to merge the conversation about what their contributions are and marry that to what they think they should be paid, McCann said.

aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com

ALSO

Weak business investment report pulls down stocks

Trump has signed repeal of FCCs Internet privacy rule. Heres what happens next

When you buy a plane ticket, youre agreeing to these things
President Trump signed legislation Monday night that repeals the Federal Communications Commissions privacy protections for Internet users, rolling back a landmark policy from the Obama era and enabling Internet providers to compete with Google and Facebook in the online ad market.

The Obama-backed rules  which would have taken effect later this year  would have banned Internet providers from collecting, storing, sharing and selling certain types of customer information without those customers consent. Data such as a persons Web browsing history, app usage history and location details would have required a customers explicit permission before companies such as Verizon and Comcast could mine the information for advertising purposes.

Evan Greer, campaign director for the Internet activism group Fight for the Future, condemned the move, saying it was deeply ironic for Trump to sign the legislation while complaining about the privacy of his own communications in connection with the FBIs investigation into his campaigns possible links with Russia.

Advertisement

The only people in the United States who want less Internet privacy are CEOs and lobbyists for giant telecom companies, who want to rake in money by spying on all of us and selling the private details of our lives to marketing companies, Greer said.

Trump signed the legislation with little fanfare Monday evening, in contrast to other major executive actions he has taken in the Oval Office. The move prohibits the FCC from passing similar privacy regulations in the future. And it paves the way for Internet providers to compete in the $83-billion market for digital advertising.

By watching where their customers go online, providers may understand more about their users Internet habits and present those findings to third parties. While companies such as Comcast have pledged not to sell the data of individual customers, those commitments are voluntary and, as a result of Trumps signature, not backed by federal regulation.

Trumps FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, said the Federal Trade Commission, not the FCC, should regulate Internet providers data-mining practices.

American consumers privacy deserves to be protected regardless of who handles their personal information, he said in a statement Monday evening.

The FTC has guidelines for how companies such as Google and Facebook may use customers information. Those companies are among the worlds biggest online advertisers, and Internet providers are eager to gain a slice of their market share. But critics of the FCC privacy rules argued that the regulations placed stricter requirements on broadband companies than on tech firms, creating an imbalance that could be resolved only by rolling back the FCC rules and designing something new.

The FTC is empowered to bring lawsuits against companies that violate its privacy guidelines, but it has no authority to create new rules for industry. It also cannot enforce its own guidelines against Internet providers because of a government rule that places those types of companies squarely within the jurisdiction of the FCC and out of the reach of the FTC.

As a result, Internet providers exist in a policy gap in which the only privacy regulators for the industry operate at the state, not federal, level, analysts say. They add that policymakers are likely to focus next on how to resolve that contradiction as well as look for ways to undo net neutrality, another Obama-era initiative that bans Internet providers from discriminating against websites.

Fung writes for the Washington Post.

ALSO

At Trumps EPA, going to work can be an act of defiance

As he gets ready to meet Trump in Florida, Chinas Xi Jinping has a lot to worry about

White House officials offer change to failed healthcare bill -- but is it enough?
Saying she was alarmed by a new superbug outbreak, a U.S. senator on Tuesday asked Olympus for data showing its redesigned medical scope was safe.

In a letter, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked the Japanese device manufacturer for more information about a recent outbreak that sickened five patients in Europe.

The patients infections, all caused by the same drug-resistant bacteria, were linked to a scope that Olympus recalled last year to replace a small mechanism. Three independent investigations found that the mechanical part could spread deadly bacteria between patients.

Advertisement

This tragic incident is particularly alarming because your company recalled and reportedly fixed the device in question, wrote Murray. She asked the company for data proving that the repaired scope could be disinfected before being used on the next patient.

Murray had previously led an investigation into the safety of the device, known as a duodenoscope.

The $40,000 device is a long snake-like tube with a tiny camera on its tip that is inserted into a patients throat and upper gastrointestinal tract. It is used to treat cancer, gallstones and other problems in the bile or pancreatic ducts.

The senators January 2016 investigation tied the duodenoscope  which is also made by Fuji and Pentax  to at least 25 outbreaks that sickened 250 patients worldwide. Nineteen of those outbreaks were traced to the device manufactured by Olympus, including one two years ago at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, where three patients died.

Experts say the number of outbreaks is likely far greater because of the difficulty in tracking patient infections to their source.

Hospitals also have been reluctant to report the outbreaks. Murrays probe found that not one of the 16 or more American hospitals experiencing an outbreak linked to the scopes had properly filed the federal report required when a medical device kills or injures a patient.

Mark Miller, an Olympus spokesman, said the company told Murrays office on Tuesday that it would cooperate and answer her questions.

It is premature to reach a conclusion regarding the cause or causes of the outbreak, Miller said. Patient safety remains our highest priority.

The name and location of the foreign hospital where the outbreak occurred in December was not disclosed in the report filed by a foreign health professional to the Food and Drug Administration. One of the five patients died, but the report blamed the death on the persons preexisting condition.

American hospitals are using about 4,400 of the devices that Olympus voluntarily recalled last year to replace the mechanism. They are identified as model TJF-Q180V.

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Twitter: @melodypetersen
Wells Fargo & Co. has been ordered to rehire a former Los Angeles-area bank manager who federal officials say was fired because he reported potential fraud to his superiors and to a bank ethics hotline  a claim the bank denies even as it has acknowledged problems with its hotline.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday that the San Francisco bank must not only rehire the whistle-blower, who was fired in 2010, but pay him $5.4 million in back pay, damages and legal fees.

The employee has been unable to find a banking job since, and his award includes earnings lost during his time out of the industry, the agency said in its statement.

Advertisement

An OSHA investigation found that the worker told his superiors and the banks ethics hotline that he believed two employees under his supervision were involved in fraud. Soon afterward, despite a record of good performance reviews, the worker was fired, OSHA said. The agency does not release the names of workers involved in whistle-blower cases.

He verbally told his managers, and he also called the hotline, said Barbara Goto, regional administrator for OSHA. Because of that, he was retaliated against by Wells Fargo.

Federal whistle-blower laws prohibit companies from retaliating against workers for reporting legal violations, either internally or to government officials.

Vince Scanlon, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said the bank will appeal the finding.

We disagree with the findings and will be requesting a full hearing of the matter, he said in an email.

Scanlon noted that the worker in this case worked in the banks wealth management practice, not in the retail banking division thats been at the heart of the banks accounts scandal.

Still, OSHAs finding that the worker was retaliated against  at least in part for reporting violations to the companys ethics hotline  mirrors claims made by numerous bank employees. They say they were fired or disciplined after calling the hotline to report that other workers were creating accounts for customers without authorization.

The bank last year acknowledged that from 2011 to 2015, workers created as many as 2.1 million accounts without authorization and the bank fired 5,300 workers over the practice.

In a speech to Wells Fargo employees in January, Chief Executive Timothy Sloan said the bank hired an outside firm to review cases of employees who were fired within a year of calling the ethics hotline.

A few cases of the hundreds reviewed raised questions, and we are following up on them, he said.

He said the bank would also expand that review to include cases in which workers were disciplined within a year of calling.

In September, soon after Wells Fargo reached a $185-million settlement with regulators, then-Labor Secretary Thomas Perez promised a top-to-bottom review of labor complaints against Wells Fargo.

That could include claims of whistle-blower retaliation as well as unpaid wages. Some Wells Fargo employees have complained that they were forced to work without pay to try to meet onerous sales goals, which regulators say contributed to workers opening unauthorized accounts.

A Labor Department spokesman said Monday that the review of the banks practices is ongoing, though a department website set up to provide information to, and collect complaints from, Wells Fargo workers was taken down in January.

james.koren@latimes.com

Follow me: @jrkoren

ALSO

No surprise: Wells Fargo is leveraging its arbitration clause to win an advantageous scandal settlement

Want a piece of the $110-million Wells Fargo settlement? Heres what you need to know

Wells Fargos $110-million settlement is still not enough, lawyers say
A laid-off Snap Inc. employee isnt backing down from a legal fight over the reason he was let go by the Snapchat-maker.

Anthony Pomplianos attorney asked a judge Tuesday to unseal court filings that purportedly show how Snap misrepresented usage of its app to investors and the public. The specific details remain redacted until a ruling on whether they constitute trade secrets protected from disclosure.

Pompliano, a member of Snaps user growth team for three weeks in 2015, has accused Snap of luring him with allegedly dodgy data and firing him for speaking out about them internally. Hes seeking a court order to bar Snap from distorting the reasons for his firing when the company is called on by any of his prospective employers.

Advertisement

Snap described the allegations as preposterous in a Los Angeles County Superior Court filing in January, weeks before the Venice company held one of the largest initial public offerings of stock in U.S. history. The company pointed out that Pompliano filed a similar lawsuit against Brighten Labs. That Los Angeles start-up fired Pompliano months after Snap.

His move to go public with a dispute contractually bound to take place secretly in arbitration is a publicity stunt designed to pressure Snap, the companys attorneys said in January.

Pompliano retained a new law firm and attorney, John Pierce, for the latest filing. Pierce said he took on the case at the recommendation of Pomplianos former attorney, David Michaels, who couldnt be reached for comment. Snap didnt have immediate comment Tuesday.

A hearing on the redaction issue is scheduled for April 17.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

DOCUMENT: Read the full complaint in Pompliano v. Snap 

DOCUMENT: Read Snaps reply in the case 

DOCUMENT: Read Pomplianos lawsuit against Brighten Labs 

DOCUMENT: Read Pomplianos motion to unseal court documents 

paresh.dave@latimes.com / PGP

Twitter: @peard33

ALSO

Snapchat enables searching through public posts for first time

Is Snapchat a media company? Even Hollywood cant decide

What Snapchat makers IPO means for the Los Angeles tech scene
Caitlyn Jenner memoirs version of life with Kris Jenner creates a new rift in the family

(Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images)

As Caitlyn Jenners just-published memoir The Secrets of My Life pulls back the curtain on her gender transition and her life among the Kardashians, not everybody is taking it well.

Especially not Kris Jenner.

Details about the Olympian-turned-reality-stars decision to transition in 2015 from Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner and confirmation that she had her final gender reassignment surgery are all in the book, but some dishy material about the Kardashian matriarch is reverberating with fans and upsetting the reigning first family of reality TV.

The memoir, co-written by Buzz Bissinger, who penned the Vanity Fair article that introduced Caitlyn Jenner to the masses, has some kind words for the momager, including admiration for Kris connections, her business acumen and her ability to perfectly apply lip liner without a mirror.

However, Caitlyn also said in the book that she told Kris about her gender issues before they got married and said Kris knew that for 4 years before they met, Caitlyn had been on hormones. Additionally, Caitlyn wrote that she told Kris about her gender problems before they would make love.

I told her there had been a woman inside me all my life, she wrote.

The couple announced their split in 2013 and finalized their divorce in 2014. During their decades-long union, Caitlyn cross-dressed in front of her ex but was asked by Kris to do it only while traveling, so that their children wouldnt get wind of it. It was something Caitlyn grew to resent, she said, and she would steal her wifes gowns and purses to wear while traveling. (Their differing takes on their marital woes have been a topic of discussion for years.)

In a recent episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kris fumed with anger about passages in The Secrets of My Life that claimed she knew Caitlyn was transgender before they wed.

None of it makes sense,Kris said to daughters Khloe and Kim Kardashian. I read it and basically the only nice thing she had to say was that I was great socially at a party one time. ... Everything she says is all made up. Why does everything have to be that Kris is such a bitch?

She added: Ive never been so angry and disappointed in somebody in my whole life.

In response, the Olympic gold medalist said on Good Morning America that the book is extraordinarily honest.

It is my perspective, and obviously when you do a book like that, there are different opinions. I have a lot of friends that know the truth and know what Ive been through and know the whole situation, Caitlyn said.

She told Andy Cohen that in the wake of publishing, Kris said she didnt want to talk to Caitlyn ever again. (Caitlyn also elaborated on her claims that she was a punching bag on the show and a revelation that Kris had been in charge of her finances.)

Honestly, I never had a low point [while doing the show], actually, until the other day when Kris said some of that stuff. It was the first time I was really upset, she said. I had some of the best conversations with my children on that show. ... It forces you to deal with issues. ... It forces you to sit down with your kids and deal with a lot of things.

Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenners second-born child with the late Robert Kardashian, shared her thoughts on the feud on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in an episode that aired Thursday.

My heart breaks for my mom, you know, because I feel like shes been through so much and [Caitlyn is] promoting this book and shes saying all these things, Kardashian said. I just dont think its necessary and I just feel like its unfair. Things arent truthful.

Kardashian said Caitlyn was dishonest with certain things about Kris in the book.

I feel like its taken [Caitlyn] a really long time to be honest with herself, so I dont expect her to be honest about my mom now. But its just so hurtful, she said. I wish her all the success in the world, but not at our expense.

Kardashian said she and husband Kanye West have been avid supporters of Caitlyn Jenners transition and wanted to remain respectful of her, but thought there was no need to bash the family. She said she was hurt by her stepfather, whos dad to her half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and hasnt spoken to Caitlyn in a few weeks.

Kendall and Kylie, thats their dad and I think my moms been so respectful for so long and always wanting Caitlyn around and always wanting to have a great relationship with Caitlyn, Kardashian said. But that doesnt appear to be the case for the rest of the Kardashian brood.

Ill always love her. That was my stepdad for so many years. She taught me about character and so much growing up and I just feel like I dont respect the character that shes showing now.

Kim Kardashians younger sister, Khloe Kardashian, is also taking it a little tough, Caitlyn said at a book signing, according to RadarOnline. Everyone on the Jenner side is fine. All this stuff tends to work itself out!

Someone call Ryan Murphy, because this needs to be turned into a Feud series, stat.

------------

FOR THE RECORD

April 27, 3:31 p.m.: An earlier version of this article said Bruce Jenner and Kris Jenner finalized their divorce in 2013. They divorced in 2014.

------------
It had been just over five years since actors Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell last saw each other when they reunited in 2015 on the set of The Flash as a duo of sinister villains.

Before reconnecting on the CW superhero drama as Captain Cold (Miller) and Heat Wave (Purcell), the actors had viewers hooked with their turn as incarcerated brothers  Michael Scofield (Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (Purcell)  on Foxs Prison Break from 2005 to 2009.

It was like not a day had passed, Miller, now 44, recalled of their reunion on a recent weekday on the Fox lot in Century City.

Advertisement

Until I looked in the mirror, he added.

Yeah, we had texted and emailed and what have you, all these years, Purcell, 47, chimed in, but then when we were on set and looked at each other, it was like, Wow, were bleepin old.

Time had definitely passed, Miller said. But we were discussing old times, what we remembered and loved about Prison Break, and things evolved from there.

Now, eight years since the Fox prison drama went off the air, Prison Break is back Tuesday for a special nine-episode run. Its the latest series to join the reboot mania sweeping the small screen, which has also ushered in the returns of such series as Gilmore Girls, Full House, One Day at a Time, and, soon, Will & Grace.

Last we saw them, Michael was presumed dead after breaking his brother, his wife, Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies), and himself out of prison. The revival picks up seven years after the series finale. Michael is alive but, hes back in prison  in Yemen.

Callies returns as Sara, who has since remarried. Other law-breaking favorites are also on hand including T-Bag Bagwell (Robert Knepper), C-Note Franklin (Rockmond Dunbar) and Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco).

We spoke to Miller and Purcell about their homecoming, the shows Middle East setting and the chance for more episodes beyond these nine.

What has this ride been like  returning to Prison Break after all these years? Did you approach your characters any differently?

Purcell: A lot of water has passed under the bridge. Weve all grown up. We all have different views on things. I think one of the great things about doing this show was watching how weve all evolved as human beings and as actors. Finding Lincoln wasnt hard, but I felt different playing him. I was a boy, basically, the first time around.

Miller: For me, it was like riding a bicycle. Michael Scofield lives in me, somewhere. How could he not? So it wasnt difficult finding him. But it was different playing him at 43  we shot the show last year. When we shot the original, I was like 33. Its a very physical show. Very intense. Michael is always scaling the wall or climbing through a drain pipe. That felt different this time around  I was a lot more sore. But I just put that into the scene, into the work of the character. Were meant to believe hes been through it, that he has some wear and tear about him. I think thats what makes him compelling and a mystery: Where has Michael been all this time? What has been up to? We can see something in his face. Hes changed. Hes not the man we remember. What is the story? Thats where the show, for me, lives and breathes.

It wasnt difficult finding [Michael again]. But it was different playing him at 43.  Wentworth Miller, who plays Michael Scofield in Prison Break

When we left off, Michael had died, Lincoln lived, Sara was living her life with her son. It seemed like there was enough closure. But had you felt otherwise then?

Miller: When we shot the finale, that felt complete to me. I know that some fans were hoping for a different ending, but it made sense to me that Michael, having caused all of this mayhem so his brother could be saved  it made sense to me, story-wise, that he would pay the ultimate price. Death was the only way for him to achieve redemption. (Laughs)

But Dominic and I were reunited on the set of The Flash, playing completely different characters. We enjoy spending time in each others company, yes, but we also started reminiscing and talking about whether there was more story to tell. Not only that, but Im constantly running into fans. And theyre new fans. Theyre coming to the show for the first time. They just started watching last week. So the appetite for the show has never really diminished and we thought, well, what if theres a way to honor that fan base that we know is there and is present tense, by giving them a new chapter to stand alongside what came before?

Purcell: Yeah, the fact that we garnered another audience through Netflix, that gave us the impetus to see what we could come up with.

Because Prison Break is a drama and Michael has gotten himself out of gnarly situations before, did it seem all the more feasible that a return was possible with Michael alive?

Miller: We take it very seriously. These are human characters. But, yeah, there is a graphic novel element as well, so theres room to play. If we could bring Sara back from the dead, we could potentially bring Michael back from the dead. To get to go back and revisit these characters and reinvent them, from a certain perspective, was a gift.

As an actor, what is it like being in the middle of this era where a series finale isnt really the end, where revisiting a character is a possibility?

Purcell: I think its rare. It only happens for shows that have been very successful and that have the potential to have a reboot.

Miller: Its certainly to our advantage story-wise and character-wise because for most of the people tuning in to watch the show next week, they know who Michael Scofield is. I dont have to paint that picture, we can just get down to business.

And for those that didnt watch the original, can they come in seamlessly?

Miller: I think they can and I think theyll be inspired to go back and watch the original.

What did you think of what creator Paul Scheuring cooked up for this special run  the prison is in Yemen and the show will deal with ISIS?

Purcell: It was intriguing. Were dealing with a hotbed issue that has infected the world and so we had to be very sensitive about it. Certainly, speaking to the media, we have to be sensitive to how we talk about it. There is a relevance to it. Putting these two heroes  superheroes, if you like, thats essentially what these guys are; they keep coming back from all kinds of stuff  putting them in that kind of universe, its compelling storytelling.

When it launched, people wondered how long the premise could really stretch. Four seasons and a reboot later  how do you feel about the lifespan this show has had?

Miller: The prison is the set piece and the tattoos are a great hook, story-wise. But underneath all of that, you have some timeless themes of family, brotherhood, loyalty and sacrificing. That is what resonates internationally. Its Shakespearean from a certain angle.

Purcell: At the heart its about: How far would you go for a loved one?

You come back with nine episodes. But is this really the end or could there be more?

Purcell: Yes, Id be open to more. Again, the concept has to be unique. We dont want to do the show a disservice either. Its much like my friend Hugh Jackman and his character Wolverine. I remember talking to him a few years ago and he said, I want to do my character, which Ive played with for the last 20 years, I want to do him justice. I dont want him to keep going and petering out. I want him to go out like a champion. Hugh brought an end to it. We feel the same for the show. It has to have a shelf life. If it were to go another season, my feeling would be that that would definitely be the end of it. We would make sure that both our heads are blown off so theres no question that theyre ever coming back.

Miller: Wow. I feel like youve thought about this. (Laughs)

If it were to go another season, my feeling would be that that would definitely be the end of it.  Dominic Purcell, who plays Lincoln Burrows in Prison Break

Do you feel the same, Wentworth?

Miller: I think the door is open for me, if the story is worth telling. I have such a fondness for these characters. If we can continue to hit the same high standard, then that is something Id be open to.

The most-read Entertainment stories this hour 

yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com

Twitter: @villarrealy
USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Civil jury vindicates fired Montebello school executives in whistleblower case By Howard Blume The Montebello school district is in dire straits  at risk of insolvency and under apparent criminal investigation. An outside audit in July found some teachers earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as improper raises, excess paid vacation time and inappropriate overtime, sick leave and car allowances. Fixing the district and pinpointing blame could take time. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought  after a meeting with federal officials in Washington  that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again,  said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style,  she said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent  the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that  we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained  and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident  which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Global California 2030 aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically  and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment  a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student  an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease  was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups  unrestricted by contribution limits  a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best  not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding  which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million  is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education.  What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary  at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions  longtime stalwarts of the party  and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans  saying repeatedly, stay tuned  but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers  members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees  marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner  whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist  who has agreed to modify the artwork  to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event  his first speech and news conference  with a photogenic background of students. His message  that he would put those students first  seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp  months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military  retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator  largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman  who also was black  that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American  the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged  and pressured  the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members  enough to control the outcome  were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it  because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people  12 students and one teacher  killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests  written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut  the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students  at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet  plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends  a 16-year-old boy  made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus  which the president said is less than 55% white  that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces  an arch and a garden  after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract  the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling  approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies  better known as CAVA  had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years  a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation  not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading  and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results  out Monday night  were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired  some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Kentucky teachers rally at Capitol over state budget By Associated Press Thousands of Kentucky teachers filled the streets near the state Capitol in Frankfort on a cold, overcast Monday to rally for education funding. Teachers and other school employees gathered outside the Kentucky Education Assn. a couple of blocks from the Capitol chanting, Stop the war on public education and holding or posting signs that say, Weve Had Enough. Were madder than hornets, and the hornets are swarming today, said Claudette Green, a retired teacher and principal. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy L
The Los Angeles City Council took a step Tuesday toward borrowing up to $60 million to pay for legal payouts and court judgments despite a warning by City Controller Ron Galperin that the borrowing proposal is costly and unnecessary.

The council voted 13 to 1 to proceed with the borrowing plan. A separate vote on the bond contract is expected later this year.

City budget officials sought the judgment obligation bond to help offset the cost of several recent legal settlements, including one for more than $200 million to resolve a lawsuit by disability-rights groups over the lack of accessible publicly funded housing.

Advertisement

The city normally budgets about $60 million annually for its legal liability fund. But budget officials say theyve already spent $135 million on legal settlements and court judgments this fiscal year, forcing the city to dip into its reserve fund, which pays for emergencies.

Borrowing the $60 million will cost the city $20 million in interest, budget officials said.

Councilman Mitch Englander, a persistent critic of the borrowing plan, voted against it Tuesday.

Councilman Paul Krekorian also voiced opposition, but said he supports the plan as an option to ensure the city doesnt have to dip further into its reserve fund.

The last time L.A. issued such a bond was 2010 after the city was forced to pay millions of dollars to settle lawsuits over excessive force by police at a May Day demonstration at MacArthur Park in 2007.

That 2010 bond also helped pay for other court cases.

Galperin warned city leaders against proceeding with the bond in a letter this month. His office maintains the citys finances will improve by the end of the fiscal year, when $38 million in unspent city money will be returned by departments.

I continue to believe that it is unwise for a city to use bonds as a way to bridge a budget gap, Galperin said in a statement after the vote.

With a final vote still pending on the bond contract, the City Council could still back out of the plan.

Putting together the bond proposal costs about $100,000, budget officials said.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
Firefighters battled a massive gas-fed inferno Monday night at a commercial food processing plant in South Los Angeles, and officials said explosions were heard from inside the burning building.

The fire was reported about 8:10 p.m. at South Compton Avenue and East 41st Street, said Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The building is the plant for Proportion Foods, which marinates, cooks and processes a variety of meats at the 75,000-square-foot facility.

Just after 11 p.m., the fire was knocked down, but firefighters were planning to remain overnight and monitor for any hot spots, Stewart said.

Advertisement

Earlier in the evening, officials said the blaze was limited to a kitchen along one side of the one-story commercial building, authorities said. Once inside, firefighters saw that the flames were in the duct work.

The flames quickly spread into the ceiling and attic before bursting through the roof, and about 8:45 p.m., Stewart said that firefighters were shifting to defensive operations. The LAFD also ordered firefighters outside the building.

A gas line in the ceiling helped to drive the blaze and complicate the efforts of the more than 170 firefighters at the scene. Small explosions were also audible, which officials attributed to the propane tanks on forklifts inside.

Footage on KCAL-TV Channel 9 showed flames tearing through the roof, sending a huge plume of smoke into the night sky.

No injuries were reported, and all staffers inside were evacuated before the fire spread. LAFD arson investigators arrived at the scene and were looking at what sparked the blaze. Officials did not provide any preliminary indication of what caused the fire.

With the roof destroyed, Stewart said the building would likely be declared a total loss.

Two hazardous materials teams were also working to identify chemicals and other substances around the building, Stewart said.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno

UPDATES:

11:20 p.m.: This article was updated with the fire being knocked down.

10:15 p.m.: This article was updated with information on explosions being heard from inside the burning building.

9:50 p.m.: This article was updated with details on the number of firefighters at the scene and the hazardous materials response team.

9:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on the fires size and growth.

This story was originally published at 9:10 p.m.
The crowd that filled the chambers inside City Hall was quiet as one of L.A.s police commissioners spoke, explaining her personal connection to one of the most pressing issues facing Los Angeles.

Shane Murphy Goldsmith said her younger brother had experienced homelessness throughout his life. She thought of him, she added, during a ride-along with some of the police officers assigned to the L.A. Police Departments homeless outreach efforts.

As we visited encampments lining the sidewalks, I saw my baby brother behind the eyes of each person we encountered, she said. I owe it to him and to everyone like him to do my part to ensure that we treat each person experiencing homelessness with dignity and respect.

Advertisement

 L.A. Police Commission homeless hearing (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Goldsmiths remarks opened a special hearing held Tuesday by the Police Commission, one focused on better understanding what people experience while living on the streets as well as the challenges that the LAPD and other agencies face trying to help them.

The four-hour meeting underscored the complexity of homelessness and how to reduce it. But gradually, a common theme emerged: Policing alone isnt the answer.

For decades, many peoples impulse response to an unwanted homeless person in their neighborhood has been to call the police, said Greg Spiegel, who rejoined the Inner City Law Center last year after working as Mayor Eric Garcettis top homelessness policy advisor. This hasnt worked.

Its a sentiment often expressed by police officers, who feel unfairly tasked with addressing such a complicated topic, and advocates for homeless Angelenos, many of whom accuse police of using heavy-handed tactics in those communities. People who are homeless often need permanent housing or treatment for substance abuse or mental health  solutions that stretch beyond the scope of policing, they agree.

Critics accuse officers of unfairly sweeping through homeless encampments to tear down tents, seize belongings and ticket or arrest those who dont comply with city rules. The sweeps have resulted in a series of lawsuits against the city, with courts frequently siding with homeless residents and rejecting the citys actions to clean up sidewalks.

That criticism has flared after deadly encounters between police and homeless people, including the fatal 2015 shootings of a man living on skid row and another who was staying near the Venice boardwalk. Homeless advocates also frequently cite a mentally ill homeless man who fell to his death from a downtown rooftop in 2014 after an officer used a Taser on him.

Still, others credit police tactics with reducing crime and blight in some parts of downtown L.A.  the epicenter of the citys homeless population  over the last decade. Some residents and businesses say the police need to step in to make sidewalks passable and deal with drug dealing and other crimes within the homeless community.

Theres some groups that think we do too much  they think we do too much enforcement, Cmdr. Todd Chamberlain, who leads the LAPDs homeless outreach efforts, said at Tuesdays meeting. And then on the other side, theres other community groups, theres businesses who think we do too little.

For law enforcement to try to handle this social problem in an effective and a constitutional and ethical way, he continued, thats a very difficult place to be.

As homelessness spread across the region, with tents popping up on new stretches of sidewalk and in more vegetation along the freeways, elected officials intensified their efforts to provide more housing and services. The LAPD followed suit.

The department assigned a high-ranking officer  Chamberlain  to oversee its response and expanded its Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement initiative, or HOPE, which pairs officers with outreach workers and sanitation employees to identify encampments and help people find permanent housing. Last summer, the Police Commission approved a new policy directing officers to treat people who are homeless with compassion and empathy.

The LAPD is trying to train more officers in how to best interact with people who may be homeless or mentally ill, Chamberlain said. To understand crime affecting the homeless community, he said, the department took steps to better document those offenses and look for trends.

Since the HOPE teams were formed last year, Chamberlain said, they have contacted more than 7,500 people who are homeless, finding housing for about 390. Some arrests were made, he said  101 for felonies and 163 for misdemeanor crimes.

Given the number of contacts, Chamberlain said he considered the numbers a really good balance. The HOPE teams are designed to focus on services, he said, not enforcement.

But for some at Tuesdays meeting, police still act too aggressively when interacting with people who are homeless.

Spiegel said his law center, which is based on skid row, was reluctant to call the police about clients.

He pointed to one 2014 encounter, when a man named David came to the law clinic and told staff members he was afraid he might hurt himself. David called a crisis hotline, Spiegel said. Soon, two police officers showed up at the office.

When David saw the officers, Spiegel said, he grew agitated. As the staff tried to get the officers to call a mental health unit or an ambulance that would take him to a hospital, more police arrived. After a tense back-and-forth, Spiegel said, one officer reached for a Taser before a staff member intervened and an ambulance arrived.

It was a very close call, Spiegel said. Things were very close to becoming a use of force.

General Dogon, an organizer with the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a skid row advocacy group, was one of dozens of people who attended Tuesdays meeting  another save the homeless meeting, he quipped. Dogon said he thought the LAPD downplayed how much of an impact enforcement has on the citys homeless residents.

Youve got all these other service providers, youve got all these other organizations, but LAPD is the main wheel in this thing, he said. If they dont stop the enforcement and stop the criminalization, then nothing is going to work.

Goldsmith, the police commissioner, said she was impressed by the LAPDs approach to homelessness  the policy, the training, the effort to understand what people are experiencing. But she acknowledged the difficult moments that still exist between police and homeless Angelenos, and agreed that the LAPD couldnt solve the problem alone.

The key, she said, is using additional resources to further the work of the LAPD and other agencies. Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax increase, and Measure HHH, a $1.2-billion bond measure  both recently passed by voters to fund housing and other support  are crucial, she added. So is investment from the community.

It gives me hope to see a room packed full of people who want to help, she said. We know things arent perfect, but people are working so hard.

kate.mather@latimes.com

@katemather

UPDATES:

6:45 p.m.: This story was updated with additional comments and information from Tuesdays meeting.

10:50 a.m.: This story was updated with comments made at the meeting by Shane Murphy Goldsmith, a police commissioner, and LAPD Cmdr. Todd Chamberlain.

This story was originally published at 4 a.m.
A mother was arrested Monday on suspicion of child endangerment after leaving her three sons and daughter alone inside a South L.A. home before a fire erupted earlier this year, police said.

Detectives allege that Chiquita Jordan, 27, caused great bodily harm to her four children, according to Det. Moses Castillo of the Los Angeles Police Department. She was jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The two oldest children remain hospitalized at a burn center, where they are recovering from burns to 40% of their bodies, he said.

Advertisement

Its terrible to see kids suffer like this, he said.

The investigation into Jordan started after the Jan. 16 blaze, which swept through a Vermont Knolls home in the 800 block of West Manchester Avenue.

Jordans children  ages 2 to 8  were inside the 432-square-foot bungalow and alone. Neighbors saw smoke and flames at the home and called firefighters.

Emergency responders worked quickly to rescue the trapped children.

A sheriffs deputy managed to break a window without any security bars. A firefighter climbed in and pulled out the four children from the back bedroom.

Moments later, the bedroom was consumed by flames.

Authorities later discovered the fire was started by a burning candle. The small bungalow did not have electricity, so the family used candles to light their rooms, Castillo said.

Jordan was close by and left the children unsupervised with the lighted candles when the fire erupted in the home, he said.

According to Castillo, the childrens mother has been cooperating with investigators and has been by their side.

Detectives are asking for the publics help with piecing together a timeline of the familys travels to determine if the children were abused before the fire, he said. Jordan often traveled to Las Vegas, he said.

At one point during the investigation, authorities believed the children would not survive their injuries, the detective said.

Its going to be a lifelong journey and recovery for them, he said.

Anyone with details about the case is urged to call Castillo at (213) 486-0586 or Officer Kristine Caldwell at (213) 486-0884.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
An escort who injected a former Google executive with a fatal dose of heroin aboard his yacht in Santa Cruz four years ago is facing possible deportation, federal officials said Tuesday.

Alix Tichelman, 29, made national headlines in 2013 when she was arrested by police after her client, Forrest Hayes, 51, was found dead on his 50-foot yacht.

She pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, destroying evidence and multiple drug and prostitution charges in 2015 and was sentenced to six years in prison for her role in the death. She was given credit for time served.

Advertisement

Jail records show she was recently released. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, shes now in federal custody.

Ms. Tichelman was taken into custody by deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) March 29. Department of Homeland Security databases indicate Ms. Tichelman has multiple prior criminal convictions, including convictions for involuntary manslaughter and a felony drug charge. She will remain in DHS/ICE custody pending removal proceedings, the agency said in a statement.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that Tichelman has Canadian citizenship.

According to police, Hayes had met Tichelman through Seekingarrangments.com. Security video from the yacht showed that Tichelman gave Hayes the lethal injection of heroin then picked up her things and left. Hayes was a former Apple, Google and Sun Microsystems engineer.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

ALSO

South L.A. mother accused of child endangerment after fire injures unattended children

Federal authorities raid Bicycle Hotel and Casino in Bell Gardens

Motorcyclist who became an Internet sensation with freeway jump is critically injured in another stunt
FT. BRAGG, North Carolina  Within the tight circle of Army spouses, Kris Johnson and Rebecca Sinclair became close friends as their ambitious husbands advanced rapidly in the officer corps.

Both women were ultimately betrayed by their philandering spouses. Both endured public humiliation as their high-ranking husbands were hauled before courts-martial amid salacious testimony about adultery and other sex-related military crimes.

And both women, along with their children, risked losing a lifetime of military benefits if their husbands were dismissed from the Army.

Advertisement

Youre advised to keep your mouth shut and let him retire because you could lose everything, said Johnson, whose now ex-husband, an Army colonel, pleaded guilty in 2012 to adultery, bigamy and other charges.

Rebecca Sinclair begged a military judge here March 16 not to strip her and her two young sons of military benefits after her husband, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, pleaded guilty to a long-running, coercive affair with a junior officer. The general was allowed to retire at a reduced rank, preserving up to $830,000 in benefits he and his family had earned for his 27 years of service.

Fear of losing benefits keeps many military wives from exposing sexual misconduct or other offenses committed by their husbands, say many of those familiar with the military criminal justice system. Johnson kept quiet about her husband, Col. James H. Johnson III, while he carried on an affair with an Iraqi woman while deployed to that country.

But when Col. Johnson moved his mistress into his military quarters in Italy, his wife turned him in  painfully aware that she and her two children might be cut off from benefits as a result. A military jury in 2012 allowed the colonel to retire at reduced rank, keeping the benefits intact.

In both the Johnson and Sinclair cases, court concerns that dismissing the officers would also punish their families helps explain the relatively light sentences. Kris Johnson and others have campaigned for changes that would provide benefits to spouses of service members kicked out of the military for crimes even if the offender is sentenced harshly.

Congress responded in January with a provision that requires the Pentagon to study the feasibility of providing transitional benefits to families in these cases. The study, to be completed in May, will consider such questions as how long benefits might last and who would be eligible for them.

The changes would strengthen the military justice system, advocates contend. They would encourage spouses to report criminal behavior and clear the way for military judges or jury panels to impose heavier sentences. At the same time, they say, the proposed protections would support spouses who are otherwise cut loose after sacrificing for years to support a philandering spouses career.

Since 2000, at least 19,000 service members have been dismissed from the military for misconduct, according to the Pentagon. In the last five years, 116 senior service members who have otherwise earned full military pensions with more than 20 years of service have been ejected from the military after a court-martial. For families suddenly stripped of health and dental care, military IDs and base housing after many years of service, the impact can be devastating.

Among those affected was Kari Bales, wife of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, convicted of killing 16 Afghan civilians and sentenced to life in prison. She stands to lose her benefits if and when Bales life sentence is made final by the Army command in a review set for this summer, officials said.

Family members have called us with heart-rending stories of suddenly being cut off through no fault of their own, said Joyce Wessel Raezer, director of the National Military Family Assn.

Kris Johnson spurred the family group to petition Congress for the changes. Senior officers like her ex-husband and Brig. Gen. Sinclair can feel invincible and entitled after years of command authority and time spent away from their families, she said.

When they had their zippers unzipped, they werent thinking of their families, she said of the two officers.

Transitional benefits are already available to spouses of service members convicted of domestic violence. Families get up to three years of healthcare, commissary and PX privileges and other benefits, including travel expenses to escape an abusive spouse.

Jeffrey Sinclairs sentencing March 20 drew widespread outrage. The 51-year-old general was allowed to retire at a lower rank, with benefits, after pleading guilty to adultery, mistreating his mistress, misusing his government charge card, impeding an investigation and other charges. He was fined $20,000 and ordered to repay $4,156 in charge card bills.

He had faced life in prison if convicted on original charges of sexual assault and making death threats, which were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Col. Johnson was fined $300,000 in 2012, but allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel. He pleaded guilty to adultery, bigamy, fraud, misuse of government funds and other charges that could have resulted in up to 54 years in prison.

Kris Johnson said prosecutors told her that the five Army officers on the jury panel kept him in the Army because they wanted to protect benefits for her and her children. Justice was not served, she said.

Johnson said she supported her husbands career for 25 years, constantly moving and enduring multiple deployments while caring for two children. Like many military spouses, she was unable to build her own career; she relied instead on military benefits, including a generous pension earned after 20 years of service.

I served too, said Kimberly Henne, who was married for 21 years to an Army master sergeant who was reduced in rank and sentenced to four years in prison for inappropriate contact with a minor. She kept her benefits when a judge allowed her ex-husband to remain in the Army.

Those benefits are their meal ticket, their means of support, Henne said of spouses. Theyre too important to risk.

Henne said she wrote the judge, citing her benefits and asking him not to dismiss her ex-husband. She said he imposed the prison sentence and reduction in rank to specialist in order to compensate for not discharging the master sergeant.

Johnson said she finally turned her ex-husband in because his behavior had become so audacious; he lived with his mistress and appeared with her at gatherings with fellow officers.

I knew no one else was going to stop him, so I had to, she said.

In Rebecca Sinclairs letter to the judge, she said dismissing her husband from the Army would punish her and her sons, 12 and 10, the only truly innocent victims of the scandal. A fair sentence, she added, is one that doesnt punish us any further.

david.zucchino@latimes.com
Floridas Republican governor on Monday took 21 more first-degree murder cases away from a Democratic prosecutor who has said she will no longer seek the death penalty.

Gov. Rick Scott gave the cases being handled by Orlando-area State Atty. Aramis Ayala to neighboring State Atty. Brad King.

Ayala has come under fire recently after announcing she wouldnt seek the death penalty against Markeith Loyd or any other defendant. Loyd is charged with killing an Orlando police lieutenant and his pregnant former girlfriend this year. Scott took the Loyd case away from Ayala last month and reassigned it to King.

Advertisement

If you look at these cases, they are horrendous cases, Scott told the Associated Press. And so Im going to continue to think about the families, and thats how I made my decision today.

In a statement, Scott added that 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.

Ayalas spokeswoman said Scott never notified her office about his order and that the prosecutor learned about it through the news media.

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, Eryka Washington said.

Ayala has said she plans to ask the Florida Supreme Court to overturn the governors action stripping her of the Loyd case.

Ayalas decision to no longer seek the death penalty for defendants has stirred strong opinions. Civil rights groups and faith groups have praised her, while many Republicans lawmakers and law enforcement have criticized her.
We are not yet 100 days into the Trump presidency, but already the president has clocked one unenviable milestone after another. Its all too easy to take for granted the broken norms that characterize this administration. So its important to pause and consider just how unprecedented the craziness has been. Herewith, a partial list of the myriad ways in which Donald Trump has already gone where no president has gone before.

He is the first president to:

 Be elected with the help of a hostile foreign power. The U.S. intelligence community released a unanimous assessment on Jan. 6 that concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election, and that Putin aspired to help President-elect Trumps election chances.

 Be investigated by the FBI for possible collusion with that same hostile foreign power. FBI Director James B. Comey has confirmed that his agents are looking into the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Advertisement

 So fulsomely express admiration for a Russian dictator  Trump has praised Putin for being very smart, strong and a real leader, while dismissing any concerns about Putins numerous human rights violations by saying, You think our country is so innocent?

Of 553 key positions in the executive branch, Trump has failed to fill 488 of them  88%.

 Lie so regularly and brazenly, and often about matters, such as the size of his inauguration crowds, that are of little consequence. PolitiFact reports that only 17% of Trumps statements are true or mainly true, with the rest ranging from half true to pants on fire.

 Accuse his predecessor of Watergate/Nixon crimes by supposedly putting a tapp on his phones, and to then be publicly called out on his lies by his own FBI and National Security Agency directors, who testified that they know of no evidence that President Obama tapped Trump.

 Rely so prominently on his family in government. After John F. Kennedy made his brother attorney general, Congress passed an anti-nepotism law in 1967. Based on a questionable legal interpretation, however, the administration claims the statute doesnt apply to White House staff. Trump is giving his daughter Ivanka a security clearance and a West Wing office without forcing her to give up ownership of her clothing company, while making her husband, Jared Kushner, lead adviser on relations with China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East, all subjects on which he has no background.

 Have so many blatant conflicts of interest. Since winning the presidency, Trump has doubled membership fees at his Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, to $200,000 and won valuable trademark protections from China. He has not placed his ownership of the Trump Organization into a blind trust. His sons, who are running his real estate empire, continue to pursue lucrative deals with dubious, politically connected tycoons from Turkey, Dubai, Malaysia and other countries. Its hard to track all of the conflicts of interest, because of course Trump is also the first president in decades to not release his taxes.

 Appoint his former campaign chairman to the National Security Councils Principals Committee in spite of his lack of national security credentials. True, President Reagan made campaign manager William J. Casey his CIA director, but Casey had previously served in the OSS  the agencys predecessor  and in senior government positions. By contrast, Stephen K. Bannon formerly ran Breitbart News, a white-nationalist website, before being granted rank comparable to Defense secretary or secretary of State.

 Fire his first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, after only 24 days in office, because Flynn lied about making contact with the Russian ambassador. The shortest previous tenure on record was Richard Allen, who lasted nearly a year at the beginning of the Reagan administration.

 Alienate so many allies so quickly. Since taking office, Trump has offended the heads of state in Mexico, Australia, Germany, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom.

 Leave so many executive branch jobs vacant. Of 553 key positions, Trump has failed to fill 488 of them  88%. At the departments of State and Defense, the only confirmed appointees are the Cabinet members.

 So vitriolically attack the judiciary. Trump attacked a federal judge who put a hold on his executive order on immigration as a so-called judge who issued a terrible decision that will result in many very bad and dangerous people  pouring into our country. Even Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Neil M. Gorsuch, called the presidents attacks demoralizing and disheartening.

 Publicly denounce the media as the enemy of the American people. He regularly castigates the fake news media for reporting truthfully on his administration, with special venom for the failing New York Times, whose stock has risen 30% since the election.

 Be so ignorant of public policy. According to New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, citing a senior European diplomat, at his recent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump knew nothing of the proposed European-American deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, little about Russian aggression in Ukraine or the Minsk agreements, and was so scatterbrained that German officials concluded that the presidents daughter Ivanka, who had no formal reason to be there, was the more prepared and helpful.

 See two of his signature initiatives  an attempt to limit Muslim immigration and to repeal Obamacare  defeated so early in his first term.

It should be no surprise that as a result of all of these firsts, Trump has chalked up another dubious achievement: He is the first president to have such low approval ratings so soon after taking office. According to Gallup, just 38% of those surveyed approve of Trumps job performance. The lowest previous tally for any president about two months after taking office was 53%; that was Bill Clintons mark in 1993. As Trump would say, we live in unpresidented times.

Max Boot is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing editor to Opinion.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook

MORE FROM OPINION:

Kevin de Leon personifies the Trump resistance. He should run for governor

Trumps ineptness is unparalleled, but Americans  and the L.A. Times  should have seen this coming

Your way of life would not be remotely possible without Wall Street
The conservative commentariat is full of suggestions these days for how Donald Trump can salvage his first 100 days.

F.H. Buckley, the organizer of Scholars and Writers for Trump, writes in the New York Post that the president should split the GOP, align himself with Democrats and embrace Canadian-style single-payer healthcare.

Ross Douthat of the New York Times says Trump should get a brain-trust that can guide him on the right policies, since he seems not to have many of his own.

Advertisement

Similarly, my National Review colleague (well, boss), Rich Lowry penned a widely discussed piece for Politico, The Crisis of Trumpism, in which he argued that Trumps basic problem is that he has no idea what he wants to do or how to get it done. No officeholder in Washington, Lowry writes, seems to understand President Donald Trumps populism or have a cogent theory of how to effect it in practice, including the president himself.

These and other constructive criticisms all strike me as reasonable (except for that Canadian healthcare thing, which is bonkers). But theyre misdiagnosing the problem at the core of the Trump presidency.

The president is this presidencys worst enemy, and theres no sign of improvement ahead.

In the months after he secured the nomination, Trump and his surrogates promised skeptics that he would not be a hands-on policy guy. Instead, hed rely on congressional leadership and, later, Mike Pence to do the major lifting, while the president would go around giving speeches to Make America Great Again.

Douthats right that Trump could use a brain trust. But some of us were told that Pence, or Priebus or Ryan would serve that role. Certainly theyve tried. There are countless policy agendas sitting on the shelf for Trump to choose among.

Why so much chaos, then? A common answer you hear from all corners is the tweeting  the horrible, horrible tweeting. But when you talk to people with more hands-on experience in, or with, the Trump White House, the better answer is that the tweeting is just a symptom.

Trump brings the same glandular, impulsive style to meetings and interviews as he does to social media. He blurts out ideas or claims that send staff scrambling to see them implemented or defended. His management style is Hobbesian. Rivalries are encouraged. Senior aides panic at the thought of not being part of his movable entourage. He cares more about saving face and counterpunching his critics than he does about getting policy victories.

In short, the problem is Trumps personality. His presidency doesnt suffer from a failure of ideas, but a failure of character.

For the last two years, when asked how I thought the Trump administration would go, Ive replied, character is destiny. This wasnt necessarily a prediction of a divorce or sexual scandal, but rather an acknowledgment of the fact that, under normal circumstances, people dont change. And septuagenarian billionaires whove won so many spins of the roulette wheel of life are even less likely to change.

Its true that Trump has racked up some wins  a few relatively easy executive orders and the Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch, wholl wind up taking the late Anthony Scalias seat one way or another.

Good news is not defining his term, though. Trumps off-the-cuff claim that President Obama wiretapped him ate up a third of his first 100 days and hurt his standing with allies and voters alike. If you believe that this was some brilliant 4-D chess gambit hatched at Mar-a-Lago, you must believe that plummeting to 35% approval was part of the plan, too.

The president is this presidencys worst enemy, and theres no sign of improvement ahead.

Trump detests apologizing or expressing regrets for his actions. Hed rather just change the subject or attack. He likes demanding that other people apologize for the same reason he wont: He sees admitting error as a personal defeat.

But in politics, apologizing is a way to ask for a fresh start, not just from others, but from yourself. If he apologized for his rocky start and asked for a do-over, Trump could replenish some of his squandered political capital. I hope he does, but I wont bet that way because, again, character is destiny.

jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

MORE FROM OPINION:

Kevin de Leon personifies the Trump resistance. He should run for governor

Trumps ineptness is unparalleled, but Americans  and the L.A. Times  should have seen this coming

Your way of life would not be remotely possible without Wall Street
To the editor: George Skelton, a writer with whom I usually agree, seems to have missed the biggest problem with deporting immigrants who are in the United States illegally: They come back. The question should be, how can we make deportation effective? (California Democrats want a sanctuary state for immigrants here illegally. But those who are felons should be sent packing, March 30)

It seems that the best solution would be to send convicted felons back to their native countries to serve jail terms. Of course, that would require negotiating many treaties with countries around the world, which would not be practical.

The border wall is one of President Trumps solutions, but that is extremely pricey and not likely to be effective. How many felons will the wall keep out?

Advertisement

Those who favor deportation need to find ways to make sure deportees stay deported.

Gary Barton, Santa Ana

..

To the editor: Skeltons column confirmed what I have said all along: The Democrats in Sacramento are far more concerned with the rights of illegal immigrant felons than with the rights of law-abiding citizens.

What thinking person could possibly object to deporting convicted felons who are here illegally to begin with?

Sandra Stubban, Stanton

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Your report on corn exports from the United States to Mexico misses a very important issue. You state, For now, U.S. farmers have a clear advantage over South American sellers, thanks to proximity and a logistics system built up over decades, plus duty-free access that gives the U.S. an additional edge on prices. (Mexicos bargaining chips with Trump? How about a corn boycott, March 29)

American corn exports to Mexico are government subsidized, and when the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented, the Mexican maize farmer could no longer compete against government-subsidized U.S. corn exports and left the land.

Where did they go? A lot came north to feed their families.

Roy Fassel, Los Angeles

Advertisement

..

To the editor: This article mentions that Mexico has been growing corn for 10,000 years and in modern times Mexican farmers were doing well selling corn to the world. That changed in the 1980s, when the United States came into the picture with subsidies to American farmers, making American corn cheaper.

In addition, NAFTA devastated Mexican farmers. Small farms could not compete with U.S. agribusiness.

Now comes President Trump, who has criticized free-trade deals and will hopefully restore the balance and give world farmers a chance to feed their own people. These trade agreements may help the U.S., but they harm other countries. Remember the saying, Give a person a fish and he eats today; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime?

Mexico should increase corn production and save the ancient varieties. This will grow their economy and keep Mexicans working in their country.

Mary Wiser, Van Nuys

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.
Civil rights groups and experts on police reform expressed alarm Tuesday at Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions order for a review of more than a dozen federal agreements with police forces that address problems of racial profiling, discrimination and use of excessive force.

The broad review reflects the Trump administrations emphasis on bolstering law and order over investigating allegations of police misconduct, and it could lead to changing or scaling back consent agreements or negotiations underway in several cities, including Baltimore and Chicago.

Proposed consent decrees could be scrapped or overhauled in both cities, officials said, despite Justice Department investigations that uncovered systemic problems in their police departments.

Advertisement

The review also could affect an ongoing investigation by the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California into police patterns and practices in the Orange County Sheriffs Department.

The administration cant unilaterally unwind consent decrees without court approval, so its unclear whether Sessions directive could affect the negotiated settlement that led to federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department, which was the result of a 2003 lawsuit.

The Justice Department has recommended 272 changes to help improve the scandal-ridden San Francisco Police Department, but the six-month investigation last year did not lead to a consent decree or a federal takeover.

The Justice Department is signaling it no longer intends to fully support police reform even in consent decrees they are already active in, said Christy Lopez, who led the Justice Departments police investigation efforts under the Obama administration and now is a Georgetown University law professor. I think its incredibly cynical.

Lopez said Sessions is signaling that the Justice Department has intruded too far into oversight of local policing, even as the administration threatens to withhold federal grants from cities and other jurisdictions that do not help federal agencies locate and arrest immigrants in the country illegally.

Sessions, a critic of federal investigations of local police, wrote in a two-page memo released Monday that the misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform.

Sessions said he had ordered his two top deputies to review collaborative investigations and prosecutions, grant making, technical assistance and training, compliance reviews, existing or contemplated consent decrees and task force participation.

The Justice Department has 14 such agreements with local police departments, including a high-profile accord reached with the city of Ferguson, Mo. It was hammered out in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed young black man in 2014, which was followed by weeks of street protests.

Such decrees are reached in court, overseen by a federal judge and stipulate changes that local law enforcement agencies must make in response to a Justice Department investigation.

During the Obama administration, the Justice Department launched more than two dozen investigations into local law enforcement agencies accused of misconduct. The goal was to improve both policing and their community relations.

Justice Department officials sought to downplay the review Sessions has ordered, saying it was normal for a new administration to examine policies and procedures inherited from a previous president.

Sessions and his team are actively developing strategies to support the thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country that seek to prevent crime and protect the public, Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement.

The department is working to ensure that those initiatives effectively dovetail with robust enforcement of federal laws designed to preserve and protect civil rights, Prior said. While this memo includes the review of any pending consent decrees, the attorney general also recognizes the departments important role helping communities and police departments achieve these goals.

Samuel Walker, who has written extensively about police accountability, said police chiefs across the country have moved toward stricter controls on use of force, including de-escalation tactics and greater transparency and review.

He said the shift by Sessions probably wont derail that momentum.

The attorney general and the president can set the tone, and I think theyre setting the wrong tone, but the local police chief has the ability to nullify that, said Walker, a retired professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

On Monday, the Justice Department took its first step under Sessions order by asking a federal judge to pause court proceedings for 90 days involving a proposed consent decree affecting Baltimores police force.

Baltimore officials and the Justice Department reached the wide-ranging agreement in the waning days of the Obama administration to address a pattern of discrimination and unconstitutional policing. That investigation was sparked by the 2015 death of another black man, 25-year-old Freddie Gray, from injuries suffered while he was in police custody.

In its court filing, the Justice Department asked for the three-month pause so its new leadership could review the proposed agreement to assess whether the court-ordered initiatives will help ensure that the best result is achieved for Baltimores residents.

A hearing is set for Thursday to allow U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar, who is overseeing the negotiations, to gather public comments on the proposed agreement.

Baltimores leaders, including its mayor and police commissioner, announced opposition to the proposed pause.

Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect of eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said.

The Justice Department is also certain to review its determination that the Chicago police force was systematically abusive, following a series of police shootings of minorities.

In January, the department issued a scathing report that found that Chicago officers were poorly trained and quick to use excessive force. The report also found the Police Department tolerated racial discrimination.

Negotiations on a potential agreement between Chicago and the Justice Department have been in the works. In a joint statement Monday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Sessions review would not alter their plans to reform police practices.

Sessions said last month that he had read a summary of the Justice Department report on Chicago and that he worried police officers on the streets were pulling back because they feared getting in trouble if they made a mistake.

We need to help police departments get better, not diminish their effectiveness, and Im afraid we have done some of that, Sessions told a gathering of state attorneys general. So were going to pull back on federal investigations of police departments.

A Virginia-based nonprofit group called Americans for Limited Government praised Sessions decision.

At a time when cities like Chicago and Baltimore face horrifying homicide rates that disproportionately impact their least fortunate citizens, it would be irresponsible to blindly continue Obamas war on the police, it said.

Civil rights advocates said they are concerned about how the Trump administration will respond to police abuses.

This directive makes clear that the attorney general sees little to no role for the federal government to play in promoting policing reform, even in those communities where the problems are greatest, said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit group that has sought greater federal oversight of troubled police departments.

Michael Gennaco, former chief attorney for Los Angeles Countys Office of Independent Review, which was created to monitor the county Sheriffs Department, noted that the Los Angeles Police Department operated under a federal consent decree for years after the Rampart police scandal in the 1990s and that it helped push the department toward stronger accountability measures.

One way I describe it is a nuclear option, Gennaco said. Certainly the specter of having a [Justice Department] pattern-and-practice investigation serves as a deterrent, or at least as an incentive for jurisdictions to move forward on progressive policing measures.

Times staff writer Wilber reported from Washington and Baltimore Sun reporter Rector reported from Baltimore. Times staff writer Joseph Tanfani contributed from Washington.

del.wilber@latimes.com | Follow @delwilber on Twitter

ALSO

Justice Department watchdog finds DEA cash seizure program may pose risk to civil liberties

Jeff Sessions asks 46 Obama-appointed U.S. attorneys to resign

Sessions says he is open to naming special counsel to investigate decisions by Obama-era Justice Department
As Californias top energy regulator, Michael Picker has an absurdly busy job. So it was a little surprising to find him recently near a Washington, D.C., metro stop, randomly handing out help-wanted fliers in the middle of a workday.

But with morale plummeting at the Environmental Protection Agency since President Trump took office, Picker saw in that patch of sidewalk near its headquarters an opportunity  and perhaps a publicity stunt  to lure top-shelf talent that never before would have considered bolting from the agency.

The dim outlook at the EPA is weighing heavily on its 15,000 scientists, engineers, investigators and other employees, many of whom perceive their lifes work to be under assault from within. The Trump administration is moving as quickly as it can to diminish the place, with plans to cripple the EPA science office, stop the agencys climate change work, cut its Superfund program in half and outright eliminate 50 programs, down to the voluntary Energy Star stickers that help consumers locate efficient appliances.

Advertisement

It all has Jared Blumenfelds phone ringing off the hook. The number one call I get everyday is, Jared, can you help us find work somewhere else, said Blumenfeld, who ran the regional office of the EPA encompassing California, Nevada and Arizona until last May.

His advice? Dont quit, fight. I try to tell people that staying and doing your job at this point in history is an act of resistance, that if they leave, we will wind up with gaps in the system.

That message is not always well received from employees now working for an administration that has openly accused the agency of producing junk science, pursuing a political agenda and abusing its authority.

It is very hard to be here right now, said a senior EPA official who has been with the agency for 30 years. The Trump administration is battling with basic scientific facts. There might have been slow progress on things like climate change under Bush-Cheney, but this is outright turning things over completely on their head. I have never seen anything like it.

Agency scientists watched in dismay last week as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt rejected their finding that a pesticide called chlorpyrifos must be removed from the market because exposure to high doses could inhibit the brain development of children. The day before, Trump was at agency headquarters to pillory its years-long work on climate change and sign an order killing the signature global warming programs that agency employees had invested tens of thousands of hours developing.

On Capitol Hill, the House was passing a law that doctors and public health officials warn would cut EPA scientists off from medical data they need to protect the public from toxic pollutants. Climate skeptics from far outside the scientific mainstream dominated the witness panel at a House committee hearing the same day, during which they encouraged lawmakers to assemble teams of researchers within the federal government whose job would be to raise doubts about the scientific consensus on global warming.

Even Bill Ruckelshaus, who was appointed by Richard Nixon to be the first EPA chief and then recruited by Ronald Reagan to restore it when the public grew angry that clean air and water were slipping away on Reagans watch, said he had never seen anything like the tumult the agency faced now.

It is going to set us back in ways we cant even predict, he said. Ruckelshaus is among those beseeching longtime employees to ride out the chaos.

My advice is easy to give and hard to take, said Ruckelshaus, who worries the important government work of those experts decamping to the less stressful environs of academia, nonprofits or even state government will just stop. Hang in there.

The concerns of old-timers extend far beyond the climate work under attack. Even in the best of times, Blumenfeld said, staffing the teams that do specialized work like detect radioactive fallout or respond to oil refinery explosions can be exceedingly tough. Now people in key positions, he said, are packing up at the same time the administration is looking to shrink its workforce by 3,000, and there is no guarantee any job will be filled.

Under Trumps budget blueprint, the EPA took the biggest hit, losing nearly a third of its funding.

Among those who quit the agency recently was Mustafa Ali, who launched the EPAs Office of Environmental Justice in 1992 and has served under Democratic and Republican administrations. Trump is proposing to eliminate that office altogether. Some of the actions going on now are mind-boggling, Ali said.

Legions of data wizards and archivists have joined an independent effort to preserve what they can of the work produced by the agency in recent years. They worry it will be erased. The nonprofit Environmental Data and Governance Initiative is holding events across the country where coders are working to save every byte of scientific data they can. The group is also tracking changes on the EPAs website, where it was among the first to discover the word science had been removed from the mission statement of the agencys Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Workers at EPA headquarters in Washington, in an act of defiance, fished out of storage a 1980s T-shirt memorializing how they helped force out Reagans first EPA chief, Anne Gorsuch, who was at war with her workforce for her entire short tenure. Now her son, Neil M. Gorsuch, is Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court.

EPA employees have been heartened by the cookies some well-wishers have sent, including individual notes written by scores of Americans appreciative of their work and unhappy to see them under siege.

But there is little optimism that Trump is going to reconsider his approach, as Reagan did.

I am really concerned that because of all the rhetoric and because of the tone of the politics now, that we dont have the public support we had in the 1980s, said Tom Burke, who headed the EPAs Office of Research and Development until inauguration day this year. I dont think in 1982 the polluters were quite as well organized and quite as influential as they are now.

Employees still at the agency hold onto what hope they can. Some have taken note of the endurance of the EPA climate change page, which has remained online long after the one on the White House website disappeared.

We have people constantly checking to see if it is still up, said a mid-level EPA employee in California, whose department head has not yet been replaced by a Pruitt hire. People will know when things here are changing based on the information on that website.

But while the climate page was still up, the employee said a group of workers in California focused on climate change adaptation decided not to wait for the next shoe to drop. Soon after the election, they changed the name of their program. It no longer mentions climate change.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper

ALSO

Senators work quietly on long-shot bid for compromise as Democrats secure votes to filibuster Gorsuch

Washington may be shaking its head, but Devin Nunes is still a hometown hero

How do you think Trump did this week? Let us know
Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez will advance to a runoff for the 34th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. Fellow Democrat and former L.A. city planning commissioner Robert Lee Ahn was in second place and claimed victory early Wednesday morning, as thousands of votes separated him from the rest of the huge field.

The two top finishers among the 24 in the race will meet in a June 6 runoff.

It appeared to be a surprising victory for the relatively unknown Ahn and was a predictable one for Gomez, who had locked up dozens of endorsements from elected officials, including Becerra, who gave up his seat to become Californias attorney general earlier this year.

Advertisement

1 / 4 California Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, a candidate for the 34th Congressional District seat, greets a supporter at election night headquarters in Highland Park in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 4 Robert Lee Ahn, a candidate for the 34th Congressional District seat, speaks to supporters at a gathering on election night in Koreatown. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 4 A voter casts his ballot at All Saints Episcopal Church in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in the election to replace Xavier Becerra in Californias Congressional District 34. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 4 Three-year-old Paloma Betts observes and helps her mom, Sandy Betts, cast her ballot at All Saints Episcopal Church in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in the election to replace Xavier Becerra in Californias Congressional District 34. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Complete results may not be available until Friday, when county officials are expected to release the latest tally, but with 100% of precincts reporting, Gomez was leading with 28% of the vote and Ahn with 19%. Provisional and late-arriving mail-in ballots are still to be counted.

Both Ahn and Gomez began positioning themselves Wednesday morning for what could be a costly general election.

Parke Skelton, a campaign consultant for Gomez, said the assemblymans lead in such a crowded field was astonishing.

Its a testament to the strong base of support in the district and a powerful grass-roots campaign, Skelton said.

Darby Levin, a consultant for the Ahn campaign, said it was clear his candidate was moving on to the runoff.

This is a mandate that politics as usual isnt going to work anymore, Levin said. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a victory for Jimmy.

It was a disappointing result for those who wanted to see one of the many female candidates in the race break through, and for those who hoped one of the several Bernie Sanders-associated progressive candidates would grab a spot.

See full results from L.A.'s congressional primary 

The 42-year-old Gomez, who was accused of being entrenched in the Democratic Party establishment at a time when such a label seemed toxic, pitched himself as a true-blue progressive with a track record to prove it. A former union organizer, Gomez frequently touted his work to help expand Californias paid family leave law, and his support of a $15 minimum wage and single-payer healthcare.

The 41-year-old Ahn, who would be the only Korean American in Congress if elected, spent major resources registering new voters in the Korean American community and turning them out at the polls. Korean Americans cast more than 4,000 early ballots by mail, according to an analysis by the data firm Political Data. He also tried to appeal to a wider audience on the campaign trail, saying he would bring a business sensibility to the office.

With 20 Democrats and a Green Party member competing for votes in this district in the heart of Los Angeles, many hoped the outcome might indicate where the Democratic Party is headed next.

The spectrum of candidates running in the primary shifted the debate decidedly left: Support for a single-payer healthcare system, shows of solidarity with so-called sanctuary cities and speaking out against the Democratic Party establishment were par for the course during the campaign.

In one of the few districts in California that favored Sanders over Hillary Clinton in last years primary, three candidates ran as self-styled Berniecrats, hoping to continue the Vermont senators revolution in Los Angeles. But as of late Tuesday, it appeared all three, Arturo Carmona, Kenneth Mejia and Wendy Carrillo, were trailing Ahn and Gomez by thousands of votes.

Sanders and Our Revolution, the political group he helped start, declined to endorse a candidate, leaving the trio to fight for votes on the left. An eleventh-hour controversy over allegations of sexism leveled at Carmona by former Sanders campaign staffers further split the field.

Ahn came from behind to out-fundraise Gomez in the most recent campaign finance figures and injected an additional $300,000 of his own money into his campaign coffers. Ahn has raised at least $330,303, not counting his own money, while Gomez amassed $540,360, much of it from powerful political committees and wealthy donors.

Gomezs base of support is expected to be wide in the 34th District, where half of the voters are already represented by him in the Assembly. Ahn faces an uphill battle. Korean Americans make up just 6% of registered voters at last count, and it remains to be seen whether Ahns message as a business-friendly candidate would play well in the exceedingly progressive district, where just 9% of voters are registered Republicans.

Some had hoped that one of the newer faces running in the 34th District might break through. Of the 24 candidates, half were women, more than a third were millennials and more than half were immigrants or children of immigrants, like Ahn and Gomez. Almost all of them vowed to fight President Trump if elected.

At a polling place at Eagle Rock City Hall, video editor Amanda Taylor said she had been pretty upset with more moderate Democrats who have supported the presidents appointees, particularly Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. I kind of dont even understand why they are calling themselves Democrats, said Taylor, 50, who voted for Sara Hernandez, a Democrat and former aide to L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar. With the current political climate, there are no deals to make.

The first congressional primary since Trumps election spotlighted some of the biggest points of contention in the lefts campaign of resistance: the Affordable Care Act, immigrants rights and the privatization of education.

The district, which stretches from downtown Los Angeles to Boyle Heights and incorporates Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Koreatown, is majority Latino and made up of several immigrant enclaves.

In a place where the median household income of residents lingers at about $35,000, outside money flooded into the race. More than 80% of campaign dollars going to the candidates came from outside the district, according to a Times analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

At a party at his campaign headquarters late Tuesday, Gomez said he was ready for a fierce fight with Ahn. I suspect he is going to be able to raise a lot of money, but I believe his message and his credentials will probably fall flat, Gomez said of Ahn. Im going to make a play for every community, every neighborhood, every single vote.

Ahn, in a phone interview from his election night party, said he felt blessed to beat expectations.

When we first announced our candidacy, not many people gave me a chance, Ahn said. Of Gomez he added, Hes a professional politician and I think that politics as usual is not working for this country. Well let the people decide.

Times staff writer Javier Panzar contributed to this report.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.

ALSO

Live updates on L.A.s congressional race

Here are all 24 candidates running to succeed Xavier Becerra in Congress

What 23 candidates in L.A.s congressional race say on the top issues

Theres a congressional election in L.A. Heres all you need to know and why it matters

UPDATES:

April 5, 1:03 a.m.: Updated with AP call in race and other details.

11:20 p.m.: This article was updated with interviews from Ahn and Gomez, as well as additional background on the race.

9:50 p.m.: Updated with more information on early returns.

8:40 p.m.: This article was updated with information on early returns.

8:05 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the polls closing.

5:15 p.m.: This article was updated with interviews with voters.

1:05 p.m.: This article was updated with reports of low turnout at polls.

This article was originally published on April 4 at 3 a.m.
Trump promotes sons Justice with Judge Jeanine interview President Trump promoted via Twitter an interview with his son Eric Trump just before it aired Saturday night on Fox News Justice with Judge Jeanine. Eric Trump on @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews now!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 Eric Trump called into the show to defend his father from criticism prompted by the first government shutdown in more than four years, as well as a series of Womens March events that saw protesters in dozens of cities take to the streets to oppose the presidents policies. .@EricTrump joined me over the phone from Mar-a-Lago ! pic.twitter.com/Hro3TzUW52  Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) January 21, 2018 Speaking to host Jeannine Piro  who is reportedly an old friend of the presidents  Eric Trump offered effusive praise for his father, ticking off glowing statistics to illustrate the strength of the U.S. economy and gains against Islamic State fighters overseas. My fathers working like no ones ever worked before to bring back this country and to fulfill his promise to make America great again, said the executive vice president of the Trump Organization. He also repeated a sentiment recently expressed on Twitter by his father: That Democratic lawmakers forced a government shutdown on the anniversary of the presidents inauguration in a bid to distract from his achievements. You look at this whole government shutdown, and the only reason they want to shut down government is to distract and to stop his momentum, Eric Trump said. I mean, my father has had incredible momentum. Hes gotten more done in one year than arguably any president in history. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump tweets: a perfect day for all Women to March President Trump hailed the nationwide Womens March gatherings Saturday. On Twitter, the president called it a perfect day for all Women to March, seeming to imply that those taking part were celebrating his administrations accomplishments: Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Participants in the marches across the United States were actually seeking to deliver a powerful rebuke to Trumps policies and mount a crucial mobilization for this years midterm elections. But Trump continued to tout his administrations unprecedented success in tweets sent later in the day: Unprecedented success for our Country, in so many ways, since the Election. Record Stock Market, Strong on Military, Crime, Borders, & ISIS, Judicial Strength & Numbers, Lowest Unemployment for Women & ALL, Massive Tax Cuts, end of Individual Mandate - and so much more. Big 2018!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The Trump Administration has terminated more UNNECESSARY Regulation, in just twelve months, than any other Administration has terminated during their full term in office, no matter what the length. The good news is, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO COME!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 In addition to the roll call of major American cities where womens marches took place  including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta  protesters also raised their voices in suburbs and small towns, reflecting the aim of coalescing a broad-based movement on the anniversary of Trumps inauguration to oppose the presidents stance on immigration, healthcare, racial divides and an array of other issues. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump calls shutdown a present from Democrats By Associated Press President Trump is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown  tweeting that they wanted to give him a nice present to mark the one-year anniversary of his inauguration: This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 That comes after Senate Democrats late Friday killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept agencies functioning for four weeks. Democrats were seeking a stopgap bill of just a few days in hopes that would build pressure on Republicans, and they were opposing a three-week alternative offered by GOP leaders. Democrats have insisted they would back legislation reopening the government once theres a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting about 700,000 immigrants  known as Dreamers  who arrived in the United States illegally as children. Trump on Saturday accused Democrats of holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration: Democrats are holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration. Cant let that happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Democrats are laying fault for the shutdown on Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. In a series of tweets hours after the shutdown began, the president tried to make the case for Americans to elect more Republicans to Congress in November in order to power through this mess: Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 He noted that there are 51 Republicans in the 100-member Senate, and it often takes 60 votes to advance legislation: For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60. That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election! We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 #AMERICA FIRST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The stopgap spending measure won 50 votes in the Senate, including five from Democrats. Although the House and Senate were in session Saturday, it was unclear whether lawmakers would take any votes of consequence. Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon for a fundraiser at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where he intended to mark the inauguration anniversary. But he remained in Washington and ended up scrapping his plans to attend the Saturday fundraiser. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump tweet casts doubt on likelihood of averting shutdown President Trump appeared to cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching a deal to avert a government shutdown Friday night in a tweet. Trump also sought to blame Democrats for what would be the first shutdown since 2013. His message came just hours before the midnight deadline by which lawmakers must pass a measure to fund government agencies, or some operations will cease. Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Despite last-minute negotiations Friday between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Congress remained deadlocked over a spending bill and the federal government was headed toward a shutdown at midnight. Senate Democrats  joined by some GOP deficit hawks and immigration allies  were set to filibuster a stopgap funding bill approved by the House on Thursday. A Senate vote was planned for 10 p.m. Eastern, and even White House officials predicted it would fail. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump signs surveillance law after confusing tweets By Associated Press President Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program: Just signed 702 Bill to reauthorize foreign intelligence collection. This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2018 Trumps tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia. That caused people to wonder if he didnt support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad. Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened. Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face. This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land, he tweeted. We need it! Get smart! In his tweet announcing that he had just signed the bill, Trump wrote: This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first! There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trumps oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

In tweet, Trump suggests that Pennsylvania trip is a political one The White House press office was once again forced to walk back a tweet from President Trump on Thursday morning after he described a trip to Pennsylvania later in the day as a political one  a statement that would force the Republican Party, not taxpayers, to pay for the journey. The White House had said Trump was going to an industrial equipment company outside of Pittsburgh to highlight the good economy and new tax cuts, making it an official, policy-oriented event. It was widely assumed that the trip had a political cast  the area is holding a special election to fill a congressional seat vacated by a Republican who resigned. Trump, by his tweet, seemed to confirm that politics was the whole purpose: Will be going to Pennsylvania today in order to give my total support to RICK SACCONE, running for Congress in a Special Election (March 13). Rick is a great guy. We need more Republicans to continue our already successful agenda!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 Trump later shared via Twitter a pair of video clips of his speech at H&K Equipment, in which he touted the tax cuts he signed into law just before Christmas and tried to turn the conversation back to his accomplishments after weeks dominated by distractions, including questions about his mental health and comments about immigration that some considered racist: Departing Pittsburgh now, where it was my great honor to stand with our incredible workers, and to show the world that AMERICA is back - and we are coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before! pic.twitter.com/kWPgylqFzj  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 AMERICA will once again be a NATION that thinks big, dreams bigger, and always reaches for the stars. YOU are the ones who will shape Americas destiny. YOU are the ones who will restore our prosperity. And YOU are the ones who are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! #MAGA pic.twitter.com/f2abNK47II  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 The Republican National Committee, rather than the White House, is supposed to pay for political travel so that taxpayers are not financing party activities; for trips that combine policy and politics, parties have split the cost under past presidents. Neither the RNC nor the White House responded to emails sent Thursday asking who would pay. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement later Thursday suggesting that taxpayers would foot the bill. She insisted that Trump would be conducting government business while in Pennsylvania. Read More This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump tweets praise of Bob Dole after awarding him Congressional Gold Medal By Associated Press Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole knew the art of the deal before President Trump published the 1987 book of the same name. The two shared a stage under the Capitol dome Wednesday as Dole, 94, accepted Congress highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, for his World War II service and decades of work in the House and Senate. Trump later praised Dole in a tweet, attaching to his message a video composed of clips from the ceremony: Today, we witnessed an incredible moment in history  the presentation of Congress highest civilian honor to our friend, and true AMERICAN HERO, Bob Dole. #CongressionalGoldMedal pic.twitter.com/qNQqDLRmCk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2018 At the ceremony, the president saluted Dole as a patriot and gave tribute to Doles struggle as a veteran who worked his way back from a grievous shoulder wound he suffered in Italy. He knows about grit, said Trump. But it was Doles penchant for working across the aisle that earned him his latest award, according to the legislation. Bob Dole was known for his ability to work across the aisle and embrace practical bipartisanship, reads the legislation Trump signed in September. Some of the awards 300 recipients include George Washington and Mother Teresa, according to the Congressional Research Service. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump touts report that seeks to link terrorism cases with immigration By Joseph Tanfani The Trump administration on Tuesday released a report attempting to link terrorism with migration, arguing that it was evidence of the need to dramatically reshape the nations immigration system. New report from DOJ & DHS shows that nearly 3 in 4 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges are foreign-born. We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 ....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The report, ordered by President Trump in an executive order last year, said that 75% of the 549 people convicted of terrorism charges since 9/11 were born outside the U.S. Administration officials called that a sign that the U.S. needs to scrap its policy of family preferences for visas, which they call chain migration, and a diversity visa lottery program. But the report did not specify how many  if any  of the convicted terrorists entered the country through those means. It also did not detail how many of the convictions were related to attacks or plans in the U.S. versus overseas and how many involved people who went to fight overseas for the Islamic State or another terrorist group. Those details were not available, officials said. The report, due last year, is being released in a highly charged moment in the immigration debate, as Trump and some Republicans in Congress seek tough new border and immigration measures in return for a deal protecting the 690,000 people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump also fired off a pair of tweets on the topic earlier Tuesday: We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The focus of our immigration system should be assimilation, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition that his name not be used. He said the nation should give priority to potential immigrants who speak English, who have an education and those who are committed to supporting our values  not family members of people already here. The official said the timing of the report was coincidental. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump tweets welcome to president of Kazakhstan By Associated Press President Trump said Tuesday that he and the president of Kazakhstan are united in a shared determination to prevent North Korea from threatening the world with nuclear devastation. Trump and President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed North Korea along with other issues during meetings at the White House. Today, it was my honor to welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to the @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/TerYFZViax  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 Trump said Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union, is a valued partner in our efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Together we are determined to prevent the North Korean regime from threatening the world with nuclear devastation, he said, as both presidents addressed journalists between meetings. Nazarbayev noted that his country once had one of the worlds largest nuclear arsenals but voluntarily gave it up after the Soviet Union collapsed. He said his country is in talks with Iran, which was the focus of a global deal that lifted some economic sanctions in exchange for Irans curbing its nuclear program. Trump has sharply criticized the Iran nuclear deal and threatened last week to pull out soon unless other countries fix what he says are terrible flaws. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump falsely claims his approval rating among black Americans has doubled By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump lashed out at the news media Tuesday morning in a tweet denouncing the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion among members of his campaign team. Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the presidents tweet, but it appeared as though he was watching Fox & Friends. A short time later, Trump tweeted a headline from a report that aired during that mornings episode: 90% of Trump 2017 news coverage was negative -and much of it contrived!@foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The segment focused on the latest survey results from conservative watchdog Media Research Center, which purportedly analyzed the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 and found that 90% of the statements made about Trump were negative. Study: 90% of Trump media coverage in 2017 was negative pic.twitter.com/vbrwup4Drg  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 16, 2018 But believe it or not, through all this negative coverage, they did a survey of 600,000 people about how black America views this president, co-host Brian Kilmeade said. His numbers have actually doubled in approval. Trump highlighted the statement in another tweet: Unemployment for Black Americans is the lowest ever recorded. Trump approval ratings with Black Americans has doubled. Thank you, and it will get even (much) better! @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 But its not true. The claim appears to have originated from a misreading of data from the online polling firm SurveyMonkey, according to factcheck.org. The firm polled 600,000 Americans in 2017 and found that Trumps approval rating among blacks actually dropped from 23% early in his presidency to about 17%, as of the week ending Jan. 3. Some conservative outlets, including Breitbart, produced an average from those and other SurveyMonkey figures and compared them to the scores Trump received from black voters in the 2016 exit polls. That methodology is not sound. And since the statistics measure different things, the comparison is misleading. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump goes after senator who surfaced his immigration remark By Associated Press President Trump turned his Twitter torment Monday on the Democrat in the room where immigration talks with lawmakers took a famously coarse turn, saying Sen. Richard J. Durbin misrepresented what he had said about African nations and Haiti and, in the process, undermined the trust needed to make a deal. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting, Trump tweeted, using a nickname to needle the Illinois senator. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 Trump was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young people who came to the United States illegally as children. Members of Congress from both parties are trying to strike a deal that Trump would support to extend that protection. Trump also cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching an agreement in tweets sent earlier Monday: Statement by me last night in Florida: Honestly, I dont think the Democrats want to make a deal. They talk about DACA, but they dont want to help..We are ready, willing and able to make a deal but they dont want to. They dont want security at the border, they dont want.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 ...to stop drugs, they want to take money away from our military which we cannot do. My standard is very simple, AMERICA FIRST & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 On a day of remembrance for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Trump spent time at his golf course with no public events, bypassing the acts of service that his predecessors staged in honor of the civil rights leader. Instead, Trump dedicated his weekly address to Kings memory, saying Kings dream and Americas are the same: A world where people are judged by who they are, not how they look or where they come from. That message was a distinct counterpoint to words attributed to Trump by Durbin and others at a meeting last week, when the question of where immigrants come from seemed at the forefront of Trumps concerns. Some participants and others familiar with the conversation said Trump challenged immigration from shithole countries of Africa and disparaged Haiti as well. Without explicitly denying using that word, Trump lashed out at the Democratic senator, who said Trump uttered it on several occasions. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump thanks pundit for laudatory Fox & Friends spot By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump thanked Fox News personality Stuart Varney after Varney praised Trump during an appearance on Fox & Friends. In a pair of tweets early Sunday, Trump quoted from Varneys commentary, in which he argued that Trump deserves more credit for the booming economy. The pundit, who also hosts a show on Fox Business Network, cited moves by some corporations to raise workers minimum wage or pay out one-time bonuses in response to the GOP tax cuts. President Trump is not getting the credit he deserves for the economy. Tax Cut bonuses to more than 2,000,000 workers. Most explosive Stock Market rally that weve seen in modern times. 18,000 to 26,000 from Election, and grounded in profitability and growth. All Trump, not 0...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 ...big unnecessary regulation cuts made it all possible (among many other things). President Trump reversed the policies of President Obama, and reversed our economic decline. Thank you Stuart Varney. @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 Varney was reacting to a quote from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who on Thursday called the bonuses handed down to workers pathetic in comparison to the gains corporations are expected to see from the tax cuts. In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on is so pathetic, Pelosi told reporters. Its pathetic. Varney shot back Sunday that the bonuses, along with explosive stock market growth, are enriching all Americans. This is a huge shot in the arm, its the result of this tax cut deal and I think President Trump should get the credit for it, he said. .@Varneyco Sets the economic record straight after Nancy Pelosi calls U.S. mass bonuses crumbs pic.twitter.com/BvjIHGm3HE  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 14, 2018 The sweeping tax plan passed last month lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and cuts personal income taxes. Analysts say the benefits will largely flow to corporations and the wealthy, as theyre more likely to be in positions to share in corporate profits. For instance, Wells Fargo & Co., which responded to news of the tax overhaul by announcing it will raise workers pay to at least $15 an hour, also reported that it expects to pay an effective tax rate of 19% this year, down from about 31% in previous years. That should amount to tax savings of more than $3 billion annually. On average, middle-class Americans are expected to see a very small tax cut in the near term and a tax increase after 2025, when all of the tax cuts for individuals expire. The tax cuts for corporations, however, are permanent.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer James Rufus Koren. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump touts MLK proclamation in tweet, but ceremony is overshadowed by reports of racist remarks By Associated Press President Trump signed a proclamation Friday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, noting the contributions of a great American hero. Today, it was my great honor to proclaim January 15, 2018, as Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service activities in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy. pic.twitter.com/samlJsz1Nt  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 Overshadowing the event was mounting backlash from Trumps comments during a private meeting with lawmakers the day before. A short time after the meeting, which was called to discuss a possible immigration deal, reports emerged that Trump had asked participants why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the Senates second-ranking Democrat, appeared to confirm those reports on Friday. Trump did not respond Friday to several questions about the incident, including whether he actually used vulgar language to describe African nations, or if he is racist. The president said at the White House that love was central to the slain civil rights leader. Trump said the nation celebrates King for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or place of our birth, we are all created equal by God.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump criticizes Democrats in tweet calling for stricter immigration rules President Trump hit out at Democrats on Thursday night in a tweet calling for stricter immigration rules. Trump wrote that members of the party seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the border with Mexico: The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process. It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the tweet. Earlier Thursday, Trump rejected a bipartisan compromise to resolve the standoff over so-called Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children but have temporary permits to work, attend school or serve in the military. The president drew widespread condemnation after reports emerged that he had asked participants in an Oval Office meeting about the proposal why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump touts bill aimed at improving border screening for fentanyl By Associated Press President Trump signed legislation Wednesday aimed at giving Customs and Border Protection agents additional screening devices and other tools to stop the flow of illicit drugs. Speaking at a surprise bill-signing ceremony while flanked by members of Congress from both parties in the Oval Office, Trump described the bill as a significant step forward in the fight against powerful opioids such as fentanyl, which he called our new big scourge. He echoed that language Thursday in a tweet: Yesterday, I signed the #INTERDICTAct (H.R. 2142) with bipartisan members of Congress to help end the flow of drugs into our country. Together, we are committed to doing everything we can to combat the deadly scourge of drug addiction and overdose in the United States! pic.twitter.com/ELZvFol5Lo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 The legislation will pay for new portable and fixed chemical screening devices to detect and intercept fentanyl at ports of entry and in the mail, along with other laboratory equipment and personnel, including scientists. Trump has made fighting the opioid epidemic a centerpiece of his administration, though critics say he hasnt dedicated nearly enough money or resources to make a difference. Trump suggested during his remarks on Wednesday that hed like to take a more aggressive approach to the drug crisis  but the countrys not ready for what he has in mind. So were going to sign this. And its a step. And it feels like a very giant step, but unfortunately, its not going to be a giant step, because no matter what you do, this is something that keeps pouring in, he said. And were going to find the answer. There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but Im not sure the countrys ready for it yet, he added. Does anybody know what I mean? I think so. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump applauds news that Toyota-Mazda plant is slated for Alabama By Associated Press Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda on Wednesday announced plans to build a mammoth, $1.6-billion joint-venture plant in Alabama that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. President Trump lauded the news in a tweet: Cutting taxes and simplifying regulations makes America the place to invest! Great news as Toyota and Mazda announce they are bringing 4,000 JOBS and investing $1.6 BILLION in Alabama, helping to further grow our economy! pic.twitter.com/Kcg8IVH6iA  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Good news: Toyota and Mazda announce giant new Huntsville, Alabama, plant which will produce over 300,000 cars and SUVs a year and employ 4000 people. Companies are coming back to the U.S. in a very big way. Congratulations Alabama!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 Several states had competed for the project, which will be able to turn out 300,000 vehicles per year and produce the Toyota Corolla compact car for North America and a new small SUV from Mazda. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and company executives held a news conference to announce that the facility is coming to the Huntsville area not far from the Tennessee line. Production is expected to begin by 2021. The decision to pick Alabama is another example of foreign-based automakers building U.S. factories in the South. To entice manufacturers, Southern states have used a combination of lucrative incentive packages, low-cost labor and a pro-business labor environment, because the United Auto Workers union is stronger in Northern states. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump highlights call for border wall in tweets on visit with Norways prime minister By Associated Press President Trump praised Norways prime minister in a tweet on Wednesday after Erna Solberg became the first foreign leader to visit with the president in 2018. Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway to the @WhiteHouse - a great friend and ally of the United States! Joint press conference: https://t.co/qWR1BhfQZI pic.twitter.com/PJvwznjRCO  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Trump also shared via Twitter a video clip of a joint news conference he held with Solberg on Wednesday afternoon. In the clip, Trump responds to a question from a reporter by saying there can be no bipartisan immigration deal absent funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been seeking a solution for hundreds of thousands of so-called Dreamers, young people who were brought to the United States as children and are living here illegally. The United States needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval. The safety and security of our country is #1! pic.twitter.com/4CFzQXb5aS  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 We need the wall for security, we need the wall for safety, we need the wall for stopping the drugs from pouring in, Trump said Wednesday.  Any solution has to include the wall because without the wall, it all doesnt work. On Tuesday, Trump drew widespread attention when he said during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers that he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. That contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill in subsequent tweets and public comments. Read More This post contains reporting from Los Angeles Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump praises Cabinet in tweet touting meeting By Associated Press President Trump promoted a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday, sharing via Twitter a link to a video of the session posted on the White House YouTube account. In his tweet, Trump thanked his Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country and wrote that the last year has been one of monumental achievement. I want to thank my @Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country. 2017 was a year of monumental achievement and we look forward to the year ahead. Together, we are delivering results and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/ptXa1hAPwW pic.twitter.com/yv6RALkQf3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The former reality television star continued to dispense accolades at the meeting Wednesday, greeting reporters in the Cabinet Room by saying: Welcome back to the studio. Then he proceeded to relive a Cabinet Room session from the prior day, when he had allowed reporters and TV cameras to stick around for much of his meeting with a bipartisan group of legislators on the thorny issue of immigration. It was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good. And my performance  you know, some of them called it a performance  I consider it work, Trump said. Trump went on to say he had received letters from news anchors calling it one of the greatest meetings theyve ever witnessed. He added that the media will ultimately support Trump in the end, because theyre going to say, if Trump doesnt win in three years, theyre all out of business. Asked for examples of letters received from news anchors, the White House said it had received private communications. It also offered a series of positive on-air comments and tweets from journalists about the unusual access to the meeting. During his remarks, Trump swung from praising his own meeting coverage to telling journalists that they were dependent on his presidency for ratings to threatening a strong look at libel laws. Still, Trump thanked the journalists in front of him, joking: Youve gotten very familiar with this room. I appreciate your nice comments yesterday. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump blasts DACA ruling in tweet calling courts broken and unfair By Lisa Mascaro President Trump denounced the federal courts Wednesday as broken and unfair after a district judge in San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction keeping protections in place for so-called Dreamers. Trump tweeted: It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 On Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administrations decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which has protected from deportation some 700,000 people who came to the country illegally as children. Alsup granted a request by the state of California, the University of California and other plaintiffs to stop Trump from ending DACA on March 5. The administrations decision to end DACA, which was announced in September, was based on a flawed legal analysis, Alsup wrote in his decision. Dreamers would be irreparably harmed if their DACA protections, which allow them to live and work legally in the U.S., were stripped away before the courts had a chance to fully consider their claims, he ruled. The action is the mirror image of a ruling in 2015 by a federal judge in Texas who ruled in favor of that state when it sought to block President Obama from expanding DACA to include the parents of Dreamers. Trump administration officials praised that judicial ruling. By contrast, they sharply criticized Alsups decision. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump thanks lawmakers for productive immigration meeting, says deal must include border wall President Trump thanked a bipartisan group of lawmakers for participating in a meeting on immigration legislation on Tuesday. Much of the discussion involved so-called Dreamers, an estimated 700,000 young people who were brought to the country illegally as children and are now facing deportation. In a tweet, Trump wrote that there was strong agreement to negotiate a bill to protect Dreamers, as well as put into place some of the reforms favored by Republicans. Thanks to all of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers for todays very productive meeting on immigration reform. There was strong agreement to negotiate a bill that deals with border security, chain migration, lottery and DACA. https://t.co/SdqAQ3aL3z pic.twitter.com/8DYHZHspAy  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 The most notable exchange of the meeting came when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat, asked Trump whether he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. Yeah, I would like to do it, Trump responded. The statement drew widespread attention because it contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump later backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill, tweeting that a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico must be part of any deal: As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Pressure has been mounting for Congress to broker an immigration deal by Jan. 19 as part of a must-pass budget package to fund the government. This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump thanks officers and veterans in tweets President Trump doled out a slew of accolades Tuesday via Twitter. He thanked the nations law enforcement officers, including in his message a hashtag denoting a day of appreciation organized by a national support group for law enforcement families. On behalf of the American people, THANK YOU to our incredible law enforcement officers. As President of the United States - I will fight for you, and I will never, ever let you down. Now, more than ever, we must support the men and women in blue! #LawEnforcementAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/Qb4uxB4JRm  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trump later expressed gratitude for federal immigration agents, in particular: .@ICEgov HSI agents and ERO officers, on behalf of an entire Nation, THANK YOU for what you are doing 24/7/365 to keep fellow Americans SAFE. Everyone is so grateful!#LawEnforcementAppreciationDay

President @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/HXCpTlruVo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The president thanked veterans as he cited his administrations efforts to curb the number of veteran suicides by improving mental health treatment for the high-risk group: Today, it was my great honor to sign a new Executive Order to ensure Veterans have the resources they need as they transition back to civilian life. We must ensure that our HEROES are given the care and support they so richly deserve! https://t.co/0MdP9DDIAS pic.twitter.com/LP2a8KCBAp  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trumps tweet included photos of the president signing an executive order Tuesday directing the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to provide seamless access to mental health and suicide prevention resources for 12 months for members leaving the armed forces. Also on Tuesday, Trump touted a law he signed the day before designating the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a national historic park: It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act, which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. https://t.co/Qe0b6HBFTY pic.twitter.com/QTgaqTawPT  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 And he thanked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for sharing a video compilation comprised of clips of politicians and commentators praising the GOPs tax cut bill: Thank you @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy! Couldnt agree w/you more. TOGETHER, we are #MAGA https://t.co/QaxtqpyXTR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018  This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump hails tax bill in tweets recapping speech to farmers By Associated Press Connecting with rural Americans, President Trump on Monday hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers. Farm country is Gods country, Trump told the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Trump became the first president in a quarter-century to address the federations convention. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game. Cant wait to be back in the amazing state of Tennessee to address the 99th American @FarmBureau Federations Annual Convention in Nashville! #AFBF18



On my way now - join me LIVE at 4:00pmE: https://t.co/QaljAqekdD. pic.twitter.com/Wm7Io0hYT8  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Joined by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and a group of Tennessee lawmakers, Trump said most of the benefits of the tax legislation are going to working families, small businesses, and who  the family farmer. The package Trump signed into law last month provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families. In every decision we make, we are honoring Americas PROUD FARMING LEGACY. Years of crushing taxes, crippling regs, & corrupt politics left our communities hurting, our economy stagnant, & millions of hardworking Americans COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. But they are not forgotten ANYMORE! pic.twitter.com/MdYS7xnukQ  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The president vastly inflated the value of the package in his speech, citing a total of $5.5 trillion in tax cuts, with most of those benefits going to working families, small businesses and who? The family farmer. The estimated value of the tax cuts is actually $1.5 trillion for families and businesses because of cuts in deductions and the use of other steps to generate offsetting tax revenue. We have been working every day to DELIVER for Americas Farmers just as they work every day to deliver FOR US. #AFBF18 pic.twitter.com/QDH7fvFkZ7  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 From Nashville, Trump traveled to Atlanta to watch Alabamas Crimson Tide and Georgias Bulldogs face off Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship. We are fighting for our farmers, for our country, and for our GREAT AMERICAN FLAG. We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also! pic.twitter.com/16eOLXg6Fi  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Before departing for the game, Trump referenced his ongoing defense of the American flag and the national anthem, saying there was enough space for people to express their views. We love our flag and we love our anthem, and we want to keep it that way, he said. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump tweet hails drop in unemployment rate for African Americans By Associated Press President Trump touted a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans on Monday in a tweet. African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote! #NeverForget @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The rate fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Trump also hailed the development via Twitter on Saturday. His latest tweet on the topic came about an hour after it was discussed during an episode of Fox & Friends, according to Mediaite. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump talks up the economy and dresses down the media in Sunday tweets With President Trump cheering from the sidelines, the White House on Sunday pressed its defense of the presidents fitness to govern, as fired former aide Stephen K. Bannon reversed course and apologized for his role in a new books explosive portrait of Trump. The presidents critics, meanwhile, said Trumps stream of taunts and insults in response to the book  Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, released last week  served only to underscore the authors unsettling portrayal of Trumps year-old presidency, depicting a leader whose own aides consider him childish, ignorant and dangerously erratic. Trump provided more ammunition Sunday morning, as he continued to attack the book via Twitter while preparing to depart Camp David for the White House: Leaving Camp David for the White House. Great meetings with the Cabinet and Military on many very important subjects including Border Security & the desperately needed Wall, the ever increasing Drug and Opioid Problem, Infrastructure, Military, Budget, Trade and DACA.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Ive had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 The most vehement defense of Trump on Sunday came from senior advisor Stephen Miller, a onetime Bannon acolyte who distanced himself from his former mentor. In a combative appearance Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, Miller called the book grotesque and writer Michael Wolff the garbage author of a garbage book. Trump is known to closely monitor aides televised performances in putting forth his case, and he gleefully weighed in within moments of Millers televised clash with host Jake Tapper. CNN has long been a particular target of Trumps ire. Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trumps reaction, however, seemed to bolster Tappers on-air depiction of Miller as using his appearance on the show to play to the president rather than addressing questions put to him. I get it  theres one viewer that you care about, the host said exasperatedly after Miller turned the discussion repeatedly to negative news coverage of the president while deflecting specific queries. Later on Twitter, Trump took up two themes that have been prevalent on his social media feeds recently. The president again went after the news media, tweeting that the recipients of his self-proclaimed most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year, which he promised earlier in the week to announce on Monday, would actually be revealed the following Wednesday: The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trump later lauded a New York Post opinion piece that compared him favorably with his predecessor, President Obama, as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In quoting the op-ed, Trump initally misspelled consequential as consensual, but he deleted those tweets and re-sent the messages. His is turning out to be an enormously consequential presidency. So much so that, despite my own frustration over his missteps, there has never been a day when I wished Hillary Clinton were president. Not one. Indeed, as Trumps accomplishments accumulate, the mere thought of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 ...Clinton in the WH, doubling down on Barack Obamas failed policies, washes away any doubts that America made the right choice. This was truly a change election  and the changes Trump is bringing are far-reaching & necessary. Thank you Michael Goodwin! https://t.co/4fHNcx2Ydg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Trump also continued talking up the economy, which has been enjoying a period of strong gains. The Stock Market has been creating tremendous benefits for our country in the form of not only Record Setting Stock Prices, but present and future Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Seven TRILLION dollars of value created since our big election win!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 In addition to Miller, other senior administration officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to decry the claims made in Wolffs book. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Wolffs characterization of Trump as averse to digesting classified briefing material was ludicrous, and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, insisted that that those around Trump love their country and respect their president. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Responding to book that mocks his intelligence, Trump tweets hes like, really smart By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump declared himself a very stable genius on Twitter on Saturday and later in a televised news conference called the author of a book that questioned his mental fitness a fraud. His comments came on a bone-cold day at Camp David during a weekend retreat with top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders strategizing on the years legislative agenda, including matters such as infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and national security. Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Still, Trumps explosive rebuttal to author Michael Wolffs claims not only opened the day, but it also ensured the presidents capability to fill the highest office in the land was a topic that would not go away. In his early-morning tweets, Trump said two of his greatest assets have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart. He noted that his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, played these cards [about competence] very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

In morning tweets, Trump touts job numbers and takes digs at news media By Associated Press President Trump used Twitter on Saturday morning to tout a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans. He also used the tweets as an opportunity to take digs at media outlets whose past coverage he has found to be critical. The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, Trumps first year jobs numbers were very, very good.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Still, the rate for black workers remains well above those for whites and some other groups, something experts attribute in large part to decades of discrimination and disadvantages. Robust job creation has lowered unemployment for all Americans. U.S. employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017  the seventh straight year that hiring has topped 2 million. In his tweet, Trump praised a report that noted the numbers, touting the fact that it appeared in the Washington Post (of all places). Minutes later, Trump renewed his attack on an ABC News reporter who was suspended last month after filing an erroneous report on Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security advisor. Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The reporter, Brian Ross, was reportedly reassigned within ABC News upon returning from his unpaid suspension. But on Saturday, Trump wrote that he should have been fired. Trumps tweets came hours before he was set to host congressional Republicans and administration officials at Camp David. The meeting scheduled to begin at midmorning Saturday was expected to touch on the budget, infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and the shape of the midterm election this fall. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump commends Sen. Rand Paul after he proposes eliminating all U.S. aid to Pakistan President Trump commended Sen. Rand Paul after the Kentucky Republican announced plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate all U.S. aid to Pakistan. Trump tweeted Friday night: Good idea Rand! https://t.co/55sqUDiC0s  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending security assistance to Islamabad until the country moves aggressively against local militants who have attacked U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration at the apparent inability of Pakistani authorities to rein in militants who cross out of the countrys rugged tribal areas to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump continues to lash out at Sloppy Steve Bannon in tweets on tell-all book By Associated Press President Trump is praising a major Republican donor family for distancing themselves from his former advisor Steve Bannon. Trump tweeted Friday: The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trump has continued to lash out at Bannon over an explosive new book that quoted his former aide as questioning Trumps competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower among Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as treasonous and unpatriotic. On Thursday, billionaire GOP donor Rebekah Mercer issued a statement distancing her family from Bannon. Mercer is a co-owner of Breitbart, the populist website Bannon helps run. I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected, Mercer said. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements. The book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, quickly shot atop Amazons best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday. Trump took up the topic again on Twitter on Friday night, denouncing both Bannon and the books author, Michael Wolff, in starkly personal terms: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Trumps message linked to a meme depicting a parody book cover titled, Liar and Phony, that featured a photo of Wolff and disparaging quotes about the author. In a tweet sent earlier Friday morning, Trump suggested the book was intended to serve as a distraction from the FBIs investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Trump wrote is proving to be a total hoax. Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 That came amid reports that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Departments Russia investigation. Trumps effort to keep Sessions, a vocal and loyal supporter of his election bid, in charge of an investigation into his campaign offers special counsel Robert Mueller yet another avenue to explore as his prosecutors work to untangle potential evidence of obstruction. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump praises the economy ahead of meetings at Camp David By Associated Press President Trump is praising the strength of the U.S. economy ahead of meetings at Camp David with congressional Republicans. Trump tweeted early Friday: Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The president also told reporters on the South Lawn that the tax cuts are really kicking in after Congress passed a package of tax cuts at the end of 2017. And the president praised the December jobs report, which found U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000. The modest but steady pace of hiring is a reassuring sign for investors who have been buoyed by the just-passed Republican tax plan and have been sending stock market indexes roaring to uncharted heights. The president is meeting with Republican congressional leaders and members of his Cabinet on Friday and Saturday to discuss the 2018 agenda. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump tweets as Dow crashes through 25,000 By Associated Press President Trump dispatched a congratulatory tweet as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above the 25,000-point mark Thursday, just five weeks after its first close above 24,000. Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 After the Dow closed above 25,000, Trump shared a graphic depicting the stock indexs record-setting rise. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/iONbr1DkVk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Later in the day, the president was back on Twitter, complaining that news outlets had barely covered the stock market milestone. He suggested that the strength of the economy would be the biggest story on earth, had it unfolded during the presidency of his predecessor. The Fake News Media barely mentions the fact that the Stock Market just hit another New Record and that business in the U.S. is booming...but the people know! Can you imagine if O was president and had these numbers - would be biggest story on earth! Dow now over 25,000.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The Dow broke past 1,000-point barriers in 2017 on its way to a 25% gain for the year, as an eight-year rally since the Great Recession continued to confound skeptics. Strong global economic growth and good prospects for higher company earnings have analysts predicting more gains, although the market may not stay as calm as it has been recently. The Dow has made a rapid trip since it reached 24,000 points Nov. 30, partly on enthusiasm over passage of the Republican-backed tax package, which could boost company profits this year with across-the-board cuts to corporate taxes. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump reacts to Fire and Fury book in tweet lashing out at author and Sloppy Steve President Trump lashed out at the author of a soon-to-be-released book about the chaotic first year of his presidency Thursday night. In a tweet, Trump called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a phony book and claimed that hed never spoken to its author, Michael Wolff. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve! Trump wrote. He appeared to be referring to former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, whose stunning criticisms of Trump and his circle figure prominently in the title. I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trumps tweet came hours after he had his lawyer demand that Henry Holt & Co. and Wolff stop publication the book. Instead, the publisher expedited the books release to Friday, four days before it was slated to hit bookstore shelves, in response to unprecedented demand. Published excerpts on Wednesday and Thursday whetted that appetite and roiled Washington. Bannons comments, including that it was treasonous and unpatriotic for Trumps son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort to have met in 2016 with Russians said to have dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, prompted Trump on Wednesday to rebuke his former advisor, saying Bannon had lost his mind. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump thanks senators who attended meeting on immigration President Trump tweeted thanks to Republican senators who attended a meeting about possible immigration legislation on Thursday. In his message, Trump also listed his top priorities when it comes to any type of overhaul of the nations immigration system. Thank you to the great Republican Senators who showed up to our mtg on immigration reform. We must BUILD THE WALL, stop illegal immigration, end chain migration & cancel the visa lottery. The current system is unsafe & unfair to the great people of our country - time for change!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Trumps tweet echoed his remarks at the beginning of Thursdays meeting, when he insisted again that constructing a border wall and overhauling two legal immigration programs must be part of any deal with Democrats to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation. Two-year deportation protections and work permits given under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begin to expire March 6 under an executive order. Trump announced in September that he was ending the Obama-era program, but told Congress to draft a law to continue protections for people brought to the country illegally as children  a group that has widespread public support. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Brian Bennett. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump resumes Twitter war against kneeling NFL players President Trump has resumed his Twitter war against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustice and racial inequality. In a tweet early Thursday, Trump replied to a supporter who shared a meme that appears to depict family members lying on the grave of a fallen soldier with the caption: This is why we stand. Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! Trump wrote. So beautiful....Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! https://t.co/tJLM1tvbvb  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The president has denounced players who kneel during the anthem in previous tweets. Hes also called for the firing of players who do so. His latest message came amid news that the NFL finished the regular season with TV ratings that fell nearly 10% below the previous season. Analysts attribute the drop to controversies facing the league, as well as changing viewing habits and a possible saturation point in the number of games available. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Stephen Battaglio and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump credits himself with facilitating talks between North and South Korea By Associated Press President Trump says his tough stance on nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula is helping push North Korea and South Korea to talk. Trump tweeted early Thursday: With all of the failed experts weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North. Fools, but talks are a good thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 That assertion is in conflict with some of the presidents own statements. Last year, he ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for talking about negotiations with the North. This week, Trump seemed open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare overture toward South Korea in a New Years Day address. But Trumps ambassador to the United Nations insisted that talks wont be meaningful unless the North is getting rid of its nuclear weapons. The overture about talks came after Trump and Kim traded more bellicose claims about their nuclear weapons. In his New Years Day address, Kim repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a nuclear button on his office desk and warned that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike. Trump mocked that assertion Tuesday evening in a tweet. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

After disbanding his vote fraud panel, Trump still says voting system is rigged By Brian Bennett One day after disbanding his troubled voter fraud commission without any findings of fraud, President Trump continued to call the U.S. voting system rigged and said states should require that Americans have voter-identification cards. In two tweets on Thursday morning, Trump blamed the commissions failure on the lack of cooperation from mostly Democrat States that refused to hand over voter rolls because they know that many people are voting illegally. However, voting supervisors in Republican-led states refused as well, objecting on privacy and other grounds. Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 As Americans, you need identification, sometimes in a very strong and accurate form, for almost everything you do.....except when it comes to the most important thing, VOTING for the people that run your country. Push hard for Voter Identification!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Despite Trumps assertions, analysts have not found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after alleging, without proof, that millions of illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Trump was elected after winning a majority in the electoral college, but the nationwide count showed Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes. The commission sought personal data on voters across the country and faced mounting lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump touts another good day for stocks, credits tax cut By Associated Press President Trump touted another good day for the stock market Wednesday in a tweet. Stock Market had another good day but, now that the Tax Cut Bill has passed, we have tremendous upward potential. Dow just short of 25,000, a number that few thought would be possible this soon into my administration. Also, unemployment went down to 4.1%. Only getting better!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Big gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped U.S. indexes set records again Wednesday. Some analysts attributed the surge to investor enthusiasm for Trumps $1.5-trillion tax cut. All told, Wall Street analysts estimate the tax package should boost earnings for companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index by roughly 8% this year. Thats much more generous than the average tax cut of 1.6% that middle-class families will receive, according to the Tax Policy Center. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The public has been less enthusiastic about the tax law. A Monmouth University poll last month found that nearly half of Americans disapproved of it, with only 26% in support. Still, as Trump also noted on Twitter, some workers have seen a benefit: So far, dozens of companies have announced bonuses and higher minimum wages as a result of the tax cut. AT&T, Comcast, Bank of America, and American Airlines have all pledged to pay $1,000 bonuses to their employees. Some 40 U.S. companies have responded to President Trumps tax cut and reform victory in Congress last year by handing out bonuses up to $2,000, increases in 401k matches and spending on charity, a much higher number than previously known. https://t.co/bmWrwWzxMR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Investors also appear less concerned than many politicians about how the additional profits will be used. The Trump administration says it expects companies will plow much of the extra profit back into their businesses, purchasing more software, machinery, and other equipment. Those investments will make workers more productive and provide a key boost to the economys long-run growth. They should also boost wages and salaries for employees. Opponents of the tax law respond that companies are more likely to pass the windfall on to shareholders in the form of higher dividend payments and share buybacks, which raise the price of those shares still in investors hands. Previous cuts in corporate tax rates, in the United States and overseas, havent always led to higher wages. For Wall Street, its all good, at least in the short run. Most analysts take the view that either way, companies and the economy will benefit. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump reacts to death of Mormon Church president By Associated Press President Trump mourned the death of Mormon Church leader Thomas S. Monson on Wednesday evening. Trump tweeted a link to a statement in which he said that Monson demonstrated wisdom, inspired leadership, and great compassion and delivered a message of optimism, forgiveness, and faith. Melania and I are deeply saddened by the death of Thomas S. Monson, a beloved President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...https://t.co/ETD3fWtfU3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 A church bishop at the age of 22, Monson became the youngest church apostle ever in 1963 at the age of 36. He served as a counselor for three church presidents before assuming the role of the top leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February 2008. After a life of church service, Monson died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. He was 90. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump tweets that Iranian protesters will see great U.S. support at the appropriate time By Associated Press President Trump continued to express support for Irans anti-government protesters on Wednesday. In a tweet, Trump commended the protesters and pledged that the United States will support them at the appropriate time. Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Trumps tweet Wednesday morning came as Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo sent a letter to United Nations officials complaining that Washington was intervening in a grotesque way in Irans internal affairs. The President and Vice-President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts, the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.S. didnt immediately respond to the letter, which maintains that Washington has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilized conduct of international relations. At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran during a week of anti-government protests and unrest over economic woes and official corruption. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took part in counter-demonstrations Wednesday backing the clerically overseen government, which has said enemies of Iran are fomenting the protests. Trump has unleashed a series of tweets in recent days backing the protesters, saying Iran is failing at every level and declaring that it is time for change in the Islamic Republic. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump congratulates Sen. Orrin Hatch upon news of his retirement By Associated Press President Trump congratulated Sen. Orrin Hatch for an absolutely incredible career upon news of Hatchs impending retirement. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump called Hatch a tremendous supporter and wrote that he will be greatly missed in the Senate. Congratulations to Senator Orrin Hatch on an absolutely incredible career. He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate! pic.twitter.com/0VjzLEeHTl  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Hatchs decision to retire from the Senate after four decades lets the Utah Republican walk away at the height of his power after helping to push through an overhaul of the tax code and persuading Trump to downsize two national monuments. Retirement also preserves the 83-year-olds legacy by allowing him to avoid a bruising reelection battle that would have broken his promise not to seek an eighth term. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump tweet exaggerates progress in improving veterans care By Associated Press President Trump played up tremendous progress in improving care for veterans in his first year on Tuesday in a tweet. His message linked to an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is fighting for our veterans. But it overstates the impact of these steps. We will not rest until all of Americas GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://t.co/ir25vW15hx pic.twitter.com/OtuzIgxMn6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The departments poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard. A fifth claim involves telehealth, a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasnt been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House. A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited effect so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims. The last two initiatives make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trumps watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the effect on veterans care is not fully known. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump unleashes his first tweetstorm of 2018 By Noah Bierman President Trump clearly didnt resolve to change his Twitter habits this year. With nine disparate tweets over three hours on Tuesday morning, the first working day of 2018, Trump continued to exploit social media to be the most aggressive commentator in chief in American history. For any other president, his posts would have made for a monumental day of (mis-)statements. Yet for Trump, the series  attacks on political foes and media, provocations of foreign leaders and self-praise for events he had nothing to do with  was all but unremarkable. His Twitter barrage  sent between 7:09 a.m. and 10:16 a.m.  reflected a familiar gamut after nearly a year in office: Attacks on political foes: Nearly 14 months after his election, Trump called for the jailing of Huma Abedin, Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid (his misspelling, another occasional feature of Trump tweets). Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 In the same tweet, he disparaged the Deep State Justice Dept, headed of course by his appointees, calling on it to act against James B. Comey, the FBI director he fired for investigating the Russia thing. Diplomatic provocations: Trump again called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Rocket man, ridiculed the volatile nuclear-armed foe for recent military defections and openly speculated about potential talks between North and South Korea. Sanctions and other pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not  we will see! Trump wrote. Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Also later Tuesday, Trump tweeted an attack on Pakistan, his second in as many days, and added a new one against Palestinians: It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ...peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Undermining media: Trump offered Congratulations! to A.G. Sulzberger, who took over as publisher of the New York Times this week. The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved. Get...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ....impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent sources, and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you wont have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the two-part post was really yet another slam against a perceived media foe: Trump said the paper had a last chance to fulfill its journalistic mission, and accused it of relying on phony sources and substandard reporters  just days after he granted another exclusive interview to the paper. As a bonus, the tweet contained a recycled falsehood, that the paper apologized after the election for reporting on him unfairly. It didnt. Trump later said on Twitter that he would soon announce the most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year. Stay tuned! I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 oclock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 The president also tweeted a quote from Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs Tonight, which aired a segment praising Trumps first-year accomplishments. Dobbs reportedly joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday for a gala to celebrate New Years Eve. President Trump has something now he didnt have a year ago, that is a set of accomplishments that nobody can deny. The accomplishments are there, look at his record, he has had a very significant first year. @LouDobbs Show,David Asman & Ed Rollins  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Taking credit: Trump congratulated himself for policing the border with Mexico, an area where his policies and anti-immigration rhetoric are believed to have had some effect on reducing illegal crossings. Thank you to Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council for your kind words on how well we are doing at the Border. We will be bringing in more & more of your great folks and will build the desperately needed WALL! @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 He took credit for employee bonuses by companies after he signed Republican tax cuts into law last month. Companies are giving big bonuses to their workers because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the jaw-dropper was Trump congratulating himself for planes not crashing. Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 It was the safest year on record worldwide, but the American streak without commercial jet passenger deaths goes back to 2009. Trump, who has promoted deregulation as one of his top accomplishments, has not signed off on any new airline safety regulations. The White House pointed to new security screening of passengers, to electronic devices to prevent terrorist attacks and to Trumps support for privatizing air traffic control  a proposal that has gotten nowhere in Congress. Falsehoods: Trump said President Obama, in brokering the 2015 nuclear arms limitation deal with Iran, foolishly gave money to the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. He didnt. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 The nuclear deal, which included major U.S. allies as signators, released Irans own funds that had long been frozen. Trumps art of the deal: When Trump sees a big deal looming, he often blasts the other side  to gain leverage, as hes written. This week he resumes a showdown with Democratic lawmakers over funding the government and immigration protections for so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Trump, who in September ordered a gradual end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sought to shift blame for the resulting controversy, saying Democrats are doing nothing for DACA and are just interested in politics. Trump has insisted that any help for Dreamers be paired with funding for a border wall and a crackdown on legal immigration. Democrats, and some Republicans, are opposed. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

In tweet, Trump suggests U.S. will withdraw financial assistance to Pakistan By Shashank Bengali Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies & deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018 U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest and asked for clarification about Trumps comments, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump continues to tweet in support of Iranian protesters By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday  and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size  were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Trump has tweeted about the protests for three days straight as Iranians took to the streets despite a heavy police presence, tear gas and scores of arrests. The defiance gained urgency after two people were reported shot to death in the city of Dorud, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran. As the conflict escalated, Iranian authorities on Sunday slapped a temporary ban on Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which were widely used to fan protest fervor. Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Irans leaders already are casting Trumps increasingly effusive expressions of support for the demonstrators as opportunistic meddling and are painting the demonstrators as foreign pawns, adopting a strategy that some analysts say could jeopardize the legitimacy of the nascent antigovernment protests. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump tweets condolences after Colorado deputies are shot in ambush, one fatally By Associated Press A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriffs deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. President Trump expressed sorrow, writing on Twitter: My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @DCSheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all! #LESM  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost
Records show ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manaforts firm received payout from Ukraine ledger under investgation

Last August, a handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine with dollar amounts and dates next to the name of Paul Manafort, who was then chairman of Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party  and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the countrys former president. Manafort, who worked for the party as an international political consultant, has publicly questioned the ledgers authenticity.

Now, financial records newly obtained by the Associated Press confirm that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the ledger next to Manaforts name were actually received by his consulting firm in the United States. They include payments in 2007 and 2009, providing the first evidence that Manaforts firm received at least some money listed in the so-called Black Ledger.

The two payments came years before Manafort became involved in Trumps campaign, but for the first time bolster the credibility of the ledger. They also put the ledger in a new light, as federal prosecutors in the U.S. have been investigating Manaforts work in Eastern Europe as part of a larger anti-corruption probe.

Separately, Manafort is also under scrutiny as part of congressional and FBI investigations into possible contacts between Trump associates and Russias government under President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The payments detailed in the ledger and confirmed by the documents obtained by the AP are unrelated to the 2016 presidential campaign and came years before Manafort worked as Trumps unpaid campaign chairman.

In a statement to the AP, Manafort did not deny that his firm received the money but said any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided. I invoiced my clients and they paid via wire transfer, which I received through a U.S. bank.

Manafort noted that he agreed to be paid according to his clients preferred financial institutions and instructions.

Previously, Manafort and his spokesman, Jason Maloni, have maintained that the ledger was fabricated and said no public evidence existed that Manafort or others received payments recorded in it.

The AP, however, identified in the records two payments received by Manafort that aligned with the ledger: one for $750,000 that a Ukrainian lawmaker said last month was part of a money-laundering effort that should be investigated by U.S. authorities. The other was $455,249 and also matched a ledger entry.

The newly obtained records also expand the global scope of Manaforts financial activities related to his Ukrainian political consulting, because both payments came from companies once registered in the Central American country of Belize. Last month, the AP reported that the U.S. government has examined Manaforts financial transactions in the Mediterranean country of Cyprus as part of its probe.

Federal prosecutors have been looking into Manaforts work for years as part of an effort to recover Ukrainian assets stolen after the 2014 ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who fled to Russia. No charges have been filed as part of the investigation.

Manafort, a longtime Republican political operative, led the presidential campaign from March until August last year when Trump asked him to resign. The resignation came after a tumultuous week in which the New York Times revealed that Manaforts name appeared in the Ukraine ledger  although the newspaper said at the time that officials were unsure whether Manafort actually received the money  and after the AP separately reported that he had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraines pro-Russian Party of Regions.

Officials with the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is investigating corruption under Yanukovich, have said they believe the ledger is genuine. But they have previously noted that they have no way of knowing whether Manafort received the money listed next to his name. The bureau said it is not investigating Manafort because he is not a Ukrainian citizen.

Still, Manaforts work continues to draw attention in Ukrainian politics.

Last month, Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko revealed an invoice bearing the letterhead of Manaforts namesake company, Davis Manafort, that Leshchenko said was crafted to conceal a payment to Manafort as a purchase of 501 computers.

The AP provided to Manafort the amounts of the payments, dates and number of the bank account where they were received. Manafort told the AP that he was unable to review his own banking records showing receipt of the payments because his bank destroyed the records after a standard seven-year retention period. He said Tuesday the computer sales contract is a fraud.

The signature is not mine, and I didnt sell computers, he said in a statement. What is clear, however, is individuals with political motivations are taking disparate pieces of information and distorting their significance through a campaign of smear and innuendo.

Leshchenko said last month the 2009 invoice was one of about 50 pages of documents, including private paperwork and copies of employee-issued debit cards, that were found in Manaforts former Kiev office by a new tenant.

The amount of the invoice  $750,000 and the payment date of Oct. 14, 2009, matches one entry on the ledger indicating payments to Manafort from the Party of Regions. The invoice was addressed to Neocom Systems Ltd., a company formerly registered in Belize, and included the account and routing numbers and postal address for Manaforts account at a branch of Wachovia National Bank in Alexandria, Va.

The AP had previously been unable to independently verify the $750,000 payment went to a Manafort company, but the newly obtained financial records reflect Manaforts receipt of that payment. The records show that Davis Manafort received the amount from Neocom Systems the day after the date of the invoice.

Leshchenko contended to AP that Yanukovich, as Ukraines leader, paid Manafort money that came from his governments budget and was stolen from Ukrainian citizens. He said: Money received by Manafort has to be returned to the Ukrainian people.

Leshchenko said U.S. authorities should investigate what he described as corrupt deals between Manafort and Yanukovich. Its about a U.S. citizen and money was transferred to a U.S. bank account, he said.

A $455,249 payment in November 2007 also matches the amount in the ledger. It came from Graten Alliance Ltd., a company that had also been registered in Belize. It is now inactive.

The AP reported last month that federal prosecutors are looking into Manaforts financial transactions in Cyprus, an island nation once known as a favored locale for money laundering.

Among those transactions was a $1-million payment in October 2009 routed through the Bank of Cyprus. The money was deposited into an account controlled by a Manafort-linked company, then left the account on the same day, broken into two disbursements of $500,000, according to documents obtained by the AP.

The records of Manaforts Cypriot transactions were requested by the U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which works internationally with agencies to track money laundering and the movement of illicit funds around the globe.

Dozens of Ukrainian political figures mentioned in the Black Ledger are under investigation in Ukraine. The anti-corruption bureau, which has been looking into the Black Ledger, publicly confirmed the authenticity of the signature of one top official mentioned there. In December, the bureau accused Mykhaylo Okhendovsky of receiving more than $160,000 from Party of Regions officials in 2012, when he was Ukraines main election official.

The bureau said it would identify more suspects in the coming months.
When it comes to buying books online, Americans appear to stand united in our wide-ranging passions, including for science. But on closer inspection, our book-buying habits suggest that, when it comes to choosing science titles, we remain a country divided by politics.

Sorting through a database of millions of online book purchases, the authors of a new study have found that when purchasers of a political book also ordered a book on a scientific subject, some pretty clear partisan divisions emerged.

Customers who bought a political book aligned with a liberal viewpoint tended to prefer basic science, such as physics, astronomy or zoology, when also ordering a science book. Customers who bought a political book aligned with a conservative political viewpoint were more likely to choose a science book in an applied science field such as criminology, organic chemistry, medicine or geophysics.

Advertisement

The authors, a team of social scientists from University of Chicago, Yale and Cornell University, reported their findings Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. While their research is a first cut at the subject, it suggests that Americans, who long saw science as a force that transcended politics, now often see it through partisan eyes.

Just as social media platforms such as Facebook have been charged with helping Americans build their own political echo chambers, the authors suggest that booksellers online marketing gambits may have drawn scientific books into the Big Sort of American politics  the tendency to cluster in like-minded communities.

To glean these political patterns in science reading, they scoured Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites in the spring of 2013, using the automated algorithms designed to sell more books to discern patterns of co-purchasing.

They were able to tease out some revealing patterns.

To distinguish between basic and applied sciences and subfields, the researchers largely relied on distinctions made by librarians in categorizing scientific books. That judgment largely turns on the degree to which works in a given scientific field are cited in patents. For instance, organic chemistry research is routinely cited in these commercial documents, making this an applied science.

Basic sciences, for the current studys purposes, are those which are largely driven by curiosity and basic scientific concerns. Included among the basic sciences label are such disciplines as zoology and anthropology.

Disciplines such as medicine and law (which lie at the most applied ends of the life sciences and social sciences, respectively) attracted readers at the conservative end of the spectrum. At the liberal end of the spectrum, basic science texts in fields like anthropology and astronomy tended to attract more readers.

A possible interpretation is that scientific puzzles appeal more to the left, while problem- solving appeals more to the right, wrote the authors.

Even after excluding textbooks and books written primarily for academic audiences from their analysis, the authors findings held. And when buyers of political books also bought books in the categories of art, sports, literature or religion, the researchers did not discern patterns as clearly partisan as they did with science books.

There were, of course, science fields to which partisans from both sides gravitated: books on paleontology, for instance, attracted buyers who also bought political books ranging across the political divide.

But even in these scientific neutral zones, buyers of left-leaning political books chose different titles than did buyers of right-leaning books. The researchers found that buyers of politically conservative books tend to purchase the same scientific books that other conservative book-buyers buy, but not a wide range of other books in the scientific discipline that they seem to be interested in.

Buyers of liberal books tend to buy a more diverse set of science books. The science books they buy are more likely to include books that are frequently co-purchased with other books in the same scientific discipline.

Within disciplines, red books tend to be co-purchased with a narrower subset of science books on the periphery of the discipline, the authors wrote. We conclude that the political left and right share an interest in science in general, but not science in particular.

So how did the researchers glean all this?

They cleverly exploited the booksellers automated algorithms designed to sell customers more books (essentially the line of products advertised under the heading, Customers who bought this item also bought...). First, they found 3,714 books that were either by prominent politicians (including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney) or that were pitched under headings such as Liberalism and Conservatism.

The researchers assigned each title a place on the right or left of the political spectrum, or ideologically indeterminate. Then, they searched for each of those books to see whether the buy-more-books algorithm offered up any books in the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences or humanities.

Yale social scientist Dan Kahan, who studies science interest and skepticism, and how American politics and science collide, called the new study very enlightening.

Kahan, who was not involved with the current research, said the new study cant explain whether an individuals personal interests in scientific subjects shape his or her views on current science controversies. But the patterns the study revealed can now motivate research that ties individual interest in different types of science books to opinions on contested science issues.

And understanding that relationship would be a big advance in knowledge, he said.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

@LATMelissaHealy
Huntington Beachs Finance Commission has found no evidence that the Downtown Business Improvement district mishandled its funds or hid assets.

But that assessment hasnt satisfied everyone.

After the commission presented its findings to the City Council during a study session Monday, several council members said they supported the commissions review.

Councilwoman Lyn Semeta said she was pleased to see that the commission found no evidence of wrongdoing, and Mayor Barbara Delgleize said she felt it was a thorough investigation.

But Councilman Mike Posey said the Downtown BID should undergo a financial review by an outside agency.

This does require a deeper dive, Posey said.

City Manager Fred Wilson said the city is considering hiring the International Downtown Assn., a Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes livable urban centers by providing support to business improvement districts, according to the company website.

A Business Improvement District is a public-private partnership that aims to revitalize a commercial neighborhood. Huntington Beach has three, including the Auto Dealers BID and the Hotel/Motel BID. The Downtown BID puts on popular events like the Miracle on Main Street holiday celebration, Halloween Fest and Surf City Nights, a free street fair held Tuesdays.

Wilson said the International Downtown Assn. could perform an assessment of the BID by comparing its practices to standards within the industry. He said such a study would cost about $15,000.

Councilman Erik Peterson said he was in favor of bringing in a consultant, which he called standard procedure, but doesnt want the council to start micromanaging the downtown group. He said BIDs are made up of business owners who know best what their area needs.

We dont bring anything to the car dealer to try to tell them how to sell more cars, Peterson said, referencing the citys auto BID. They know their industry.

Posey said he supported Petersons assessment, saying that once the consultants review is finished, then council liaisons could probably stop attending BID board meetings.

BID president Steve Daniel said after the meeting that he was receptive to an outside review and would like it launched as soon as possible so that the BID can start to improve its practices based on the feedback.

Daniel said he would bring the subject to the BID board during its meeting April 13.

A finance subcommittee formed by Finance Commission Chairwoman Carol Woodworth and commissioners Ken Small and Ron Sterud reached the conclusion that the BIDs practices were aboveboard after reviewing six years worth of its financial records.

The BID review was authorized in late February by the council after Peterson called for an investigation.

A petition signed by business downtown owners alleged that the BID has had two sets of books since 2011 and that one of the accounts, totaling $271,000 as of September, was kept secret from the council. The viability of that petition was called into question in early March after a few signatories said they were misled by the organizers and didnt support it.

Daniel also has maintained throughout that there is no secret account and that the one referred to by the petitioners contains revenue from Surf City Nights. He said the money would eventually be spent on a large project like improved lighting downtown.

In addition, city officials have said that they were well aware of the fund. Peterson said Friday that subcommittee members who conducted the review told him the Surf City Nights account was never intentionally concealed.

The council also considered a series of recommendations provided by the subcommittee, which concluded that the BID had reached a level of sophistication that requires new business practices.

These include more detailed financial statements from all bank accounts and hiring a BID director who would serve as a permanent board member and act as a cohesive link to the BID, the document says.

The subcommittee also recommends periodic auditing of all the citys BIDs.

Posey said he agreed with the subcommittees assessment that the bid had outgrown its current structure and called the list of recommendations comprehensive.

However, Peterson took umbrage at the notion of hiring a BID director, preferring that the group contract the position and that of BID manager to reduce employee costs.

Daniel said Friday that he supports the recommendations of the subcommittee.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
A Laguna Beach doctor who pleaded guilty in 2015 to failing to report overseas financial accounts containing millions of dollars surrendered his medical license last week.

Baruch Fogel, an obstetrician and gynecologist, gave up his license March 27 in a settlement with the California Medical Board, which in 2016 accused him of dishonesty and unprofessional conduct related to the allegations that led to his conviction, according to medical board filings.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Fogel failed to file a financial disclosure form in 2009 to report about $8 million he had in a Luxembourg branch of an Israeli bank. He pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors, according to court filings.

He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $196,382 in tax restitution and a $40,000 fine.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
North American Rockwell built the shuttle mockup in 1972. Originally, it was used to win approval of the space shuttle program. In later years, it was used for hardware and software development.

In a Feb. 6, 1975, Los Angeles Times article, aerospace writer Marvin Miles reported:

New, compartmented spacecraft, designed to be repaired in orbit, promise important economic savings in Americas Space Shuttle program during the 1980s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Wednesday.

Advertisement

In a press briefing at the Downey plant where Rockwell International is developing the stub-winged shuttle that will launch like a rocket and land like a plane, NASA demonstrated the new concept, characterized as roadside maintenance.

A simulated earth observation satellite, nestled in the payload bay of a full-sized shuttle mockup, was raised into position, rotated and repaired remotely from the ships cabin with the exchange of one module, or compartment, for another. 

The space shuttle program ended in 2011 after 135 flights. The remaining three shuttles were retired and moved to museums. The shuttle Endeavour is on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The Downey mockup was used until 1999. Its now in storage. The owner, the Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center in Downey, hopes to put the mockup on display. In 2012, the mockup was named Inspiration.

The above photo by Ben Olender appeared in the Feb. 6, 1975, Los Angeles Times. I took the image below during a November 1978 tour of the Downey facility.
Several people lay flowers near where a bomb blast tore through a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press)

A timeline of deadly attacks in Russia

Nearly a dozen people were killed Monday in a subway train explosion in St. Petersburg, Russias second-largest city and most popular tourist destination. Although officials said it was too early to draw definitive conclusions about who was behind the attack, the country has endured numerous attacks by militant groups in recent years. Many were carried out by Chechen separatists, who have sought to create an independent Islamist republic in the southern Russian region. Heres a look at some of the deadliest incidents.

Tourist jet crash

A charter jet taking Russian vacationers home to St. Petersburg from an Egyptian beach resort town crashed in a remote part of Egypts Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 passengers and crew members on board. Russian authorities concluded that a homemade bomb smuggled onto the jet detonated 23 minutes after it took off from Sharm el Sheik, the popular Red Sea resort town. A group with ties to the militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Several airlines diverted flights away from the Sinai Peninsula as a safety precaution.

Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed en route from Sharm el Sheik to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. (Maxim Grigoriev / European Pressphoto Agency)

Volgograd bombings

A pair of back-to-back bombings killed 34 people in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, just two months before the country was scheduled to host the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The first attack, a bombing at the citys main train station, killed 18 people. The following day, 16 people were killed in a suicide attack on a crowded trolley bus.

The wreckage from a suicide attack on a trolley bus in Volgograd. (AFP/Getty Images)

Suicide bomber at officers funeral

A suicide bomber attacked the funeral of a police officer fatally shot a day earlier in Russias North Caucasus region, killing seven people and injuring 10 in mourning. The attack occurred on the first day of an Islamic holiday as hundreds of thousands of Muslims visited mosques all over Russia.

Airport bombing

A suicide bomber crept into a crowd waiting for international passengers arriving at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow and set off a massive blast that left 35 people dead and 130 others injured.

A victim of a bomb explosion is wheeled out by medics at Moscows Domodedovo Airport. (Denis Sinyakov / Reuters)

Twin attacks on subway system

During rush hour on a Monday morning, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on packed subway cars in Moscows bustling downtown in back-to-back attacks that killed about 40 people and wounded at least 100.

A Ukrainian student looks at candles at Kiev University left in memory of the victims of the twin suicide bombings in Moscow. (Sergei Supinsky / AFP/Getty Images)

Nevsky Express bombing

A high-speed train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg with more than 650 passengers derailed when it passed over a homemade bomb  equivalent to about 15 pounds of TNT  planted on the tracks. The attack on the Nevsky Express, which caused at least two train cars to go off their tracks, killed 26 people and injured dozens more. A second explosion was set off as investigators were searching the wreckage.

Attacks on police

Islamic militants staged a series of attacks on police and government buildings in Russias North Caucasus region, launching two days of fighting that left at least 139 people dead, including more than 90 attackers.

Beslan school siege

About 30 militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the separatist republic of Chechnya seized a middle school in the town of Beslan, taking more than 1,100 students, teachers and parents as hostages. They were held for three days with no food or water in a stuffy gymnasium wired with bombs. The standoff ended with a storm of explosions and gunfire, setting off a blaze that ripped through the gym and killed many hostages. More than 300 people, half of them children, died.

Relatives grieve for those killed during the siege in Beslan. (Oleg Nikishin / Getty Images)

Twin airplane bombings

Two planes that took off within an hour of each other from Moscows Domodedovo Airport exploded nine seconds apart, killing all 90 passengers aboard. The suicide bombers, two young women, were able to buy tickets illegally from airport personnel.

Stadium bombing

A bomb ripped through a stadium in the Chechen capital, Grozny, during a military parade, killing Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and several others. More than 60 people were injured in the blast.

Police officers lift Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov after a blast during Victory Day celebrations at the Dynamo stadium. (Musa Sadulayev / Associated Press)

Train bombing

Two days before Russian parliamentary elections, 44 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia.

Truck bomb

A suicide truck bomb destroyed the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government in Grozny. The attack left 72 people dead.

Theater hostage crisis

Chechen militants took more than 750 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Special forces stormed the building three days later with narcotic gas they used to knock out the attackers and their captives. More than 100 hostages, as well as 41 Chechen fighters, were killed.

Hostages were evacuated by bus from a theater in Moscow where Chechen rebels held theatergoers. (Alexander Nemenov / Agence France-Presse)

Apartment bombings

A series of bomb blasts blamed by Russian officials on Chechen terrorists destroyed four apartment buildings in Moscow and two other Russian cities and left more than 300 people dead.

Authorities search the ruins of an eight-story apartment building destroyed by a bomb explosion in Moscow. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / Associated Press)

Hospital attack

About 1,500 people were held hostage during an attack on a hospital in Budennovsk, about 90 miles north of the Chechen border, that left about 100 dead. Dozens more died when troops unsuccessfully stormed the hospital three days later.
In the West, they are largely viewed as being oppressed  second-class citizens who are forbidden to drive, must cover themselves in public from head to toe and need permission from a male guardian to travel abroad or get married.

But Saudi Arabias Princess Lamia bint Majed al Saud insists that the status of her countrys women is misunderstood and that although challenges remain, women are making significant social strides and slowly breaking down barriers.

It is really important to stress just how much progress has been made to empower women all over the kingdom, said the princess, who serves as secretary-general of Alwaleed Philanthropies, a charitable organization that provides women with legal training, educates them about their rights and teaches them how to face challenges independently.

Advertisement

Last month, the group gathered women from all over the world in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for a womens empowerment conference, the first of its kind in the ultraconservative Arab state.

The princess shared some views on how far Saudi women have come and the lengths they have to go.

The interview, conducted by phone from Riyadh, has been edited for length and clarity.

Why was it necessary to host a womens empowerment conference?

It was the perfect timing for us in Saudi Arabia. We have a lot that we [want] to highlight from a perspective of the achievement and development of the importance of the role of Saudi women inside the Saudi society and  how this role is very effective in our community.

It was the first conference that was really dedicated to women and the achievement of women and how we can collaborate with each other to help women and girls achieve their dreams inside their country. They do not have to depend on opportunities related to a scholarship [or] traveling abroad. Im not saying that studying abroad ... is something bad, no. We are [just] trying to highlight the opportunities inside [our] country.

We wanted to create role models  [for] the new generation. It was important for us to have had a big number of very successful women [at the conference] to tell girls in Saudi Arabia that  whenever you want to look up to someone, there are Muslim women in Saudi Arabia whom you should know about.

It was also important for us, because we think that we as Saudi women are misjudged by the world. People keep speaking on our behalf, but [they] dont know us. We have knowledge. We are well-rounded.

Do Saudi women want Western values? Do they want traditional gender roles to change?

This may be the cause of the misperception [about Saudi women]. If you understand our culture, our tribal traditions and our tribal mentality, which were very, very proud of, [you will understand that] our gender roles are part of our tradition. Its our heritage. Western values are not related to us. Maybe we might like to explore, just as a Western person might like to explore  to understand more about the Arabian heritage.

At the end of the day, Im not saying [one way] is wrong, or [one way] is right. But I want to highlight one thing. Ladies in Saudi Arabia do succeed and they do achieve, and they do reach very high-ranking positions in government, and even in the private sector.

On Dec. 12, 2015, women went to the polls for the first time in Saudi Arabia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

How are you countering the perception in the West that Saudi women are oppressed and dont have rights?

This is really annoying. Just do a Google search, you will find that we had our first municipal council elections for women [in 2015]. Second, almost 30% of active members of the Shura Council, which is the equivalent of Congress, are women. Third, in our country whenever we have a job opportunity and there is a lady and a gentleman applying for the same job, the woman will not take [a lesser salary]. By law, a man is the provider for the family, and if he does not provide [his wife] can take him to court.

So yes, we do have some obstacles. But we do have a lot of rights.

You have to keep in mind that we are a very young country. Were only 85 years old. And  the tribal mentality is very hard to [break]. Its not that easy to have all of these changes in 85 years.

How do you respond to reports that the guardianship system is forcing some Saudi women to secretly desert their country?

There is no doubt that some women have faced challenges with the male guardianship law. I cannot sit here and tell you that everything is perfect. But it is important to understand that laws such as these are rooted in strong tribal traditions, a strict interpretation of religion, and our history of collective decision-making. It will take time for us to achieve a balance between respecting these traditions, and ensuring that women have the freedom and autonomy they deserve.

But its not like before. Before it was more of a very strict tradition. Now its more flexible. The government waived the need for women to have their guardians approval for certain types of work in 2012.

What are some specific achievements with regard to Saudi womens rights in recent years?

They are doing amazing in the banking sector. [In February], women were appointed to head up two banks in Saudi Arabia, and the kingdoms stock exchange.

We have a lot of [female] doctors in the health sector. We now have more women attending our universities than men. In 2015 alone, over 51% of university graduates were women.

There are signs of progress all around us. We just need to keep working.

Are there still areas of employment where progress needs to be made?

Of course, there is much that we still have to achieve. There is a lot of room for progress. But before making these opportunities available, you have to train those women to understand the importance of their collaboration.

There is a huge number of women, who are educated, but they still dont understand the importance of their collaboration in developing the community. They believe that being a mother and raising their kids is more important than [getting] a job, which I also totally respect and really support.

ann.simmons@latimes.com

For more on global development news, see our Global Development Watch page, and follow me @AMSimmons1 on Twitter

ALSO

Take Ahmed and let me die: Victims of U.S. airstrike in Mosul recount a day of horror

United Arab Emirates 23-year-old minister of youth affairs has high aspirations for her peers

UAEs minister of happiness insists her job is no laughing matter
The U.S. and its allies accused the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad of a poison gas attack Tuesday that killed dozens of people and injured scores more in a northwestern province controlled by rebels  an action which, if confirmed, would mark a startling atrocity even in the blood-soaked history of that countrys civil war.

The attack appeared to involve the use of sarin, a powerful nerve gas, said a U.S. official who was not authorized to be quoted by name discussing the issue.

Some activists and monitoring groups placed the death toll at 70 to 100. Several reported that airstrikes had targeted clinics treating the wounded.

Advertisement

President Trump in a statement called the attack reprehensible and said it cannot be ignored by the civilized world.

But he immediately focused blame on his predecessor, saying the heinous actions of the Assad government were a consequence of President Obamas weakness and irresolution when he failed to enforce his own red line against chemical attacks in 2013.

At the same time, administration officials made clear that the president and his advisors were not reconsidering their decision, revealed just days ago, to accept Assads continued hold on power.

Its a political reality, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters when asked about the administrations willingness to accept Assads continued rule.

White House says reprehensible gas attack in Syria resulted from President Obamas red line 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group with a network of activists in Syria, said medical crews had treated victims of suffocation whose symptoms, including shrunken irises, paleness and spasms, indicated poison gas. The group said medical crews reported that at least 58 people were killed.

Syria officially denied using a chemical weapon, as it did in the 2013 attacks.

In a statement, the Syrians said that armed terrorist groups, as the government labels opposition organizations, had falsely accused the military of using chemical weapons.

The General Command of the Syrian army and armed forces absolutely denies the use of any chemical or poisonous materials  today, just as it has not and will not use them any place or anywhere, neither in the past nor in the future, the statement said.

A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry pinned the blame early Wednesday on the rebels.

The Syrian aviation carried out an airstrike on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun, targeting a major ammunition storage facility of terrorists and a cluster of military hardware, said Maj. Gen Igor Konashenkov, according to a report by Russian state news operator TASS. The territory of this storage facility housed workshops to produce projectiles stuffed with toxic agents.

The attack came just days after the Trump administration had walked away from previous U.S. policy that had called for Assad to leave office. That change in U.S. policy, along with the presidents warm comments on Monday to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi, had appeared to signal the new administrations willingness to work with  or at least tolerate  Middle Eastern dictators in its pursuit of other objectives.

The attack underscored the risks inherent in any such policy.

1 / 6 Hassan Youssef, a victim of the April 4, 2017, attack in Khan Sheikhun is treated at a hospital in the nearby city of Idlib. (Omar Haj Kadour / AFP/Getty Images) 2 / 6 A Syrian man collects samples of possible remnants of toxic chemicals from the site of the attack in Khan Sheikhun. (Omar Haj Kadour / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 6 Syrians bury victims of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun. (Fadi al-Halabi / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 6 Masks help children injured in the attack breathe at a hospital in Maaret al-Noman. (Mohamed al-Bakour / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 6 An unconscious Syrian child is carried in a hospital in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun following a suspected toxic gas attack on Tuesday. (Omar Haj Kadour / AFP/Getty Images) 6 / 6 A Syrian child receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun. (Omar Haj Kadour / AFP/Getty Images)

It was not immediately clear how, or whether, the U.S. would respond to the incident. Trump is extremely alarmed at these revelations of a chemical attack, Spicer said, adding that the president was consulting with his national security advisors about a response.

But, he added, there is not a fundamental option of regime change in Syria.

On that point, at least, the U.S. appeared to be out of step with some allied governments. British Prime Minister Theresa May, in condemning the attack, said Im very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people.

The attack and the responses underscored that devising a policy toward Syria is likely to prove no easier for the new administration than it was for the last one.

Obama tried to balance two objectives  pushing Assad from power while simultaneously fighting Islamic State militants, who control parts of Syria and Iraq. He and his aides argued that Assads effort to suppress any opposition to his government was driving Syrians, especially those from Sunni Muslim communities, toward alliance with the militants.

But Obamas efforts were notably unsuccessful. In 2012, he declared that use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would cross a red line. A little more than a year later, he declined to order airstrikes against Assads forces despite clear evidence that they had launched a chemical attack on civilians. The incident was one of the most heavily criticized chapters of Obamas presidency.

Trump, during his presidential campaign and since, has said that the U.S. should focus on the fight against Islamic State and not try to pursue two objectives at once. He has also sought better relations with Russia, which views Assads government as a necessary bulwark against escalating instability in the region.

If Tuesdays attack was a deliberate use of chemical weapons by Assads forces, it would undermine Trumps hopes that a hands-off policy toward Assad might mute the regions turmoil.

In a statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the attack makes clear that this is how Bashar al Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism.

Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions. Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable, the statement said.

It is clear there is no hope for real peace in Syria until Assad is held accountable.  Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton)

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday to discuss what she called the terrible chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Notably, however, the condemnations from both Trump and Tillerson came only in written form. Administration officials avoided on-camera condemnations. Earlier in the day, during a photo session with the visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan, reporters asked Tillerson about the Syrian attack. He walked away without responding.

Some Republicans who opposed Obama for not doing enough militarily to drive Assad out of power have also criticized Trump for appearing to acquiesce to Assads hold on power.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has repeatedly called for a stronger U.S. military effort to oust Assad, said in a statement that with President Obamas red line far in the rearview mirror, Assad believes he can commit war crimes with impunity.

The question that confronts the United States now is whether we will take any action to disabuse him of this murderous notion, McCain said.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the evidence of a poison gas attack sickening.

With more than 480,000 people killed by the regime, and 14 million driven from their homes, it is clear there is no hope for real peace in Syria until Assad is held accountable, he said.

In Syria, doctors said the attack came as a result of an airstrike by warplanes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said in a phone interview that his group had spoken to doctors treating casualties in a medical facility, but had not dispatched its own observers to the site of the airstrikes.

Idlib is the primary bastion of Syrias embattled opposition, and has been the target of frequent attacks by Syrian and Russian warplanes.

Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said in an interview with the Russia Today news channel that Russian warplanes had not conducted any strikes in the area.

Tuesdays strikes, if confirmed to have been conducted with chemical weapons, would be the deadliest chemical weapons attack since the ones in August 2013 that almost brought on a U.S. airstrike. At that time, the U.S. and Syrian opposition groups accused forces loyal to Assad of lobbing sarin-filled shells at rebel-held enclaves near Damascus. More than 1,000 people were killed, according to U.S. estimates.

In the aftermath, a deal pushed through by Russia saw the government surrender its stockpiles of chemical weapons  including sarin and VX  to the United Nations.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says more than 95% of the governments arsenal was eliminated (including more than 600 tons of sarin and mustard agents, which were destroyed in 2014) as a result of the agreement. But the group has confirmed instances of chemical attacks since then, primarily with chlorine gas, by government as well as rebel forces.

Ahmet Uzumcu, the director general of the organization, the U.N.-appointed body responsible for eliminating the governments chemical weapons, said it had started a fact-finding mission that was in the process of gathering and analyzing information from all available sources.

The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition umbrella group, demanded in a statement that the U.N. Security Council take measures to hold the Assad regime accountable for the horrific crime.

Failure to do so, it said, would be understood as a message blessing the regime for its actions.

Social media were inundated with horrific videos and images of the victims of the attack.

One of the images depicts what appear to be the bodies of a dozen children tucked under a purple blanket. One girls face is a rictus of sadness, her eyes gazing lifelessly into the distance.

May God have vengeance against the unjust  first of them the Arab rulers, says a voice on a video as one man moves the head of a baby to face a camera. The baby too is dead.

Another image shows a man foaming at the mouth as he lies in the bed of a pickup truck.

Through more than six years of a relentless civil war, Assad, with help from Russia and Iran, has clung to power long enough to see his opposition enemies lose vital rebel capitals such as Homs. Last year his forces took back all of Aleppo, which was Syrias second-largest city before the war.

More recently, the government has pushed reconciliation agreements with some rebel forces, including Islamist hard-liners allied with Al Qaeda, and it is close to completing an exchange that would allow about 8,000 people to leave two government-controlled towns that have been surrounded by rebel forces.

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Beirut and Times staff writers Hennigan and Lauter from Washington. Times staff writers Noah Bierman and Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.

ALSO

Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria

U.S. military denies airstrike hit mosque in Syria, following reports of dozens killed

Tillerson and Turks fail to agree on next moves in fight against Islamic State in Syria

UPDATES:

9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with additional Times reporting on Russias reaction.

April 5, 3:33 a.m.: Updated with Russian statement that a Syrian airstrike on a rebel arsenal released the toxic agents.

3:25 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional analysis.

1:15 p.m.: This article has been updated with a statement from President Trump and a statement by the Syrian military.

10:45 a.m.: This article has been updated with a State Department comment on the attack.

10:15 a.m.: This article has been updated with comments from the White House spokesman.

9:40 a.m.: This article has been updated throughout with Times reporting.

This article was originally published at 4:35 a.m. April 4.
A Mexican newspaper is shutting down because the country has become too dangerous for journalists, according to its owner.

In an editorial published Sunday on the front page of the Norte newspaper in the border city of Juarez, owner Oscar Cantu Murguia said a string of deadly assaults on journalists is preventing us from continuing freely with our work.

Dear reader, I am writing to inform you that I have taken the decision to close because, among other things, there are no guarantees nor the security to exercise critical, counterweight journalism, he wrote.

Advertisement

The newspaper had apparently been suffering financially, but Cantu said it was the March 23 killing of Miroslava Breach, one of at least five Mexican journalists targeted by violence last month, that prompted him to close it.

Breach, who covered drug cartels and corruption stories for Norte, along with the much bigger La Jornada newspaper, was gunned down outside her home in the city of Chihuahua. A sign left at the crime scene said tattletale.

On March 19, columnist Ricardo Monlui, who worked for El Sol de Cordoba, was shot twice as he left a restaurant with his wife and son in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. On March 2, Cecilio Pineda Birto, a freelancer and the founder of La Voz de Tierra Caliente, was shot and killed at a car wash in Guerrero state.

Two other journalists were wounded last month in attacks believed to have been carried out in retaliation for their work.

Those incidents are a part of a recent rise of killings and other crime across Mexico. Chihuahua, the state where Breach was killed, has been especially hard hit. The 121 homicides there in January were nearly twice what the state saw the previous January.

In his final note to readers, Cantu complained about a culture of impunity in Mexico. There have been no arrests in the killing of Breach.

Cantu titled his article Adios.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicum
Central American sovereign issuer will raise $1.25bn in the cross-border market and also seek funding to build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, finance minister says
Nokia has been rumored to be working on a flagship handset for a quite some time, and now a new leak revealed more info about specifications a premium Nokia device might bring to the table in the near future. Industry insiders have been referring to Nokia's upcoming top-tier phone as the Nokia C9, Nokia P1, and the Nokia 9, and while its official name has yet to be confirmed, the most recent leaks seemingly suggest the device will be called the Nokia 9.

According to Nokia Power User, Nokia 9 will feature a 5.5-inch QHD OLED display, with no mention of two variants like Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The tipster also claimed that the smartphone will have a 22-megapixel dual-lens rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss lens and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.

Nokia 9 is also said to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 with 6 GB of RAM, with internal storage options of 64 GB and 128 GB. The smartphone is tipped to be coming with a 3,800 mAh battery, an iris scanner, a fingerprint scanner, and an IP68 certification. The Nokia 9 is also said to be powered by Android 7.1.2 Nougat right out of the box, Forbes has learned.

One of the features that the anonymous tip claimed the Nokia 9 will have is support for Nokia OZO Audio technology. This will make the smartphone the first model to include the said feature.

Nokia OZO Audio technology offers users with a 3D audio experience that is optimized for headphones and spatial audio playback devices. Basically, the technology will allow users to record and play back audio just as it was heard in real life, including the direction where the sound came from.

The technology allows for low latency playback of 3D audio when paired with virtual reality devices that support head tracking features, in addition to high-quality stereo playback when paired with devices that do not support Nokia OZO Audio.

Nokia OZO Audio technology will also allow 3D audio capture using four or more microphones for compatible smartphones. Devices that only have three microphones, on the other hand, can capture spatial 360 audio, while those with only two microphones can capture spatial audio.

The mention of the utilization of the feature in connection with virtual reality comes to no surprise, as Nokia has been using the OZO branding for its virtual reality endeavors such as its 360-degree camera that it unveiled in 2015.

The first Nokia-branded smartphones by HMD have not yet been launched globally. The Nokia 6 is currently only available to be purchased in China, and the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 will be released later this year. The Nokia 3310, meanwhile, while already having raked in preorders in the United Kingdom, is still being tweaked to be compatible with United States carriers.

However, as of now, there is no word on when Nokia will officially unveil the smartphone.
Columbia mudslides due to heavy rainfall last Friday evening has buried 17 villages and killed more than 260 people including dozens of children. Now, after three days, mud has slowly hardened making it more complicated to search for missing people. The overpowering smell of decomposing bodies has also made it harder for the living to search for their dead in a tragedy that has been attributed to worsening El Nino in the region.

Bodies of the dead due to terrible Columbia mudslides continue to pile in a local morgue. The stench was so strong inside the morgue but it was actually no different outside. A local said that the bodies are decomposing faster because these are in the open air, The New York Times reported. But there are more missing people that are yet to be found as rescue workers continue for the third day. Locals brave the heavy smell as they try to identify the bodies of their missing family members from the dead.

Meanwhile, President Juan Manuel Santos said that 170 victims have been identified with 43 children included. The Columbia mudslides were due to increased rainfall and the river breaking its banks. A source told CNN that at some point, a large portion of the city was covered with water. There was no power but water was in every street.

More than 1,000 national police officers and soldiers are now situated in the Columbia mudslides area. They are involved in searching for bodies, distributing relief and rescue of people that need help. Roads have been completely covered with thick mud making it hard for trucks bearing relief goods to reach Mocoa and nearby towns.

President Santos announced Sunday that water tanks are headed to Mocoa along with water purification systems. He promised that stronger and safer homes will be built for the displaced victims of Columbia mudslides along with a monthly rent stipend of 87 dollars. Santos further announced that he has instructed his housing minister to start the project immediately.
Introduction

Sources of family law

Family law in Norway is codified in the Marriage Act of 4 July 1991, No 47 (MA 1991). Relevant provisions are also to be found in the Administration of Estates Act of 21 February 1930, and in the Inheritance act of 3 March 1972, No 5 (IA 1972). The law of parents and children is based upon the Act on Children and Parents of 8 April 1981, No 7. These Acts have been subject to subsequent changes since they were initially passed.

As per the legal tradition of Norway, court practice has an important role in the interpretation of Acts of the Storting (the Parliament of Norway). To obtain a full understanding of law, study of the practice of the courts is required. The practice from the 1991 Act is relevant in future, even though, many of the provisions are based on the older legislation.

The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs provides the English translation of these Acts.

Courts

Family cases may be dealt either administratively or judicially. The representative of the state in the 19 counties in Norway is fylkesmann (County Governor). Decrees of separation and divorce can be granted by him. If both the spouses agree to let the County Governor decide the matter, the County Governor can deal with the issues of maintenance.

The Probate Court (skifteretten) might be asked by the spouses to take over the estate and administer the division when community (or joint) property is divided after a separation or divorce or the spouses may divide the estate privately with or without the lawyers assistance. In practice, the assistance of the Probate Court is today only sought in fewer than 3% of cases. When the estate is not administered by the Probate Court, disputes between the spouses are dealt by the ordinary court with Supreme Court as the highest court. The case might be appealed to the High Court and starts in the city court. Two to four family law cases are heard annually by the Supreme Court.

The adjudication of disputes

According to the normal rules of procedure, disputes are dealt in ordinary civil courts when the estate is divided, as a result of agreement between the spouses. System is adversarial not inquisitorial, although, the procedure is simplified in the Probate Court.

Spouses reach to an agreement with the help of conciliation. The service of out-of-court conciliation has been expanded over a few years. Conciliation service is staffed with specialists, trained in conciliation procedure and technique.

Lawyers

There is no division between solicitors and barristers as the profession is unified in Norway. Majority of ancillary issue petitions are assisted by the lawyers, these are dealt separately from the issue of divorce or separation.

Legal aid

Spouses can obtain legal aid, under the legal aid system, provided they fall within the financial limits. The basic rules are found in the Legal Aid Act of 13 June 1980, No 35. According to a Decree of the Ministry of Justice No 865 1991, there is an annual income limit of NOK 170,000 (approximately EUR 22,280) and a net asset limit of NOK 210,000 (approximately EUR 27,520) for entitlement to legal aid. The eligibility is considered by the local court and County Governor after the submission of application. If the proceedings are instituted in Norway, legal aid will be available to Norwegian nationals, non-resident and non-nationals.

The claimants may appeal to the Department of Justice if the legal aid is refused by the County Governor.

Applications in Norwegian language are preferable, though, the applications might be in any language.

Domicile

A person is regarded as domiciled if he or she has spent a certain period of time in Norway. Domicile and Habitual residence can be used interchangeably. A practical approach is taken: If there is no proof to contrary, a person is regarded as domiciled or habitually resident in Norway.

A Norwegian citizen will not be treated as domiciled or habitually resident of Norway if he or she lives outside Norway. That person will, once more, be regarded as domiciled or habitually resident in Norway if that citizen returns with an intention to remain there. There cannot be more than one domicile per person.

Marriage

THE CREATION OF A VALID MARRIAGE

Introduction

The parties must comply with the provisions of the Marriage Act 1991, in order to contract a valid marriage. The marriage will be declared void if it fails to satisfy certain rules relating to capacity or formalities.

Parties to the marriage must be a male and female as a marriage is regarded as the union of one man and one woman. This is followed under legal tradition but not expressly stated in the Act.

Capacity to marry

In order to contract a valid marriage the parties must:

(i) be over the age of 18. If a person under 18 wishes to marry, he or she must have permission from both his or her parents and the County Governor. Such permission will only be granted if specific circumstances exist. In practice, permission is only given if the woman is pregnant and her intended spouse is the father of the child.

(ii) not be within the prohibited degrees of relationship. Marriages between lineal ascendants and descendants, and between brother and sister, are forbidden.

(iii) not be already married. If there is doubt as to whether a former spouse is dead, a decree of presumption of death must be obtained, according to the provisions of the Missing Persons Act 1961.

In addition:

(iv) a person suffering from a contagious disease which is transmissible by sexual contact, cannot enter into a marriage unless the parties have received counseling from a medical practitioner with regard to the risks connected to the disease;

(v) a foreign national who is not permanently resident in Norway can only be married in Norway when he or she fulfils the conditions of marriage required by his or her relevant national law, as well as by Norwegian law;

(vi) to be married in Norway, a foreign national must legally be in the country;

(vii) although, it is not expressly stated in the Marriage Act 1991, parties to a marriage must be of the opposite sex. However, parties of the same sex can enter into a registered partnership.

Formalities

Formalities are complied with a marriage, whether a marriage is solemnized by a civil ceremony or religious rites.

It is the choice of the parties whether they want to solemnise their marriage in a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony. The official state church or a religious community which has Kings approval, solemnize the marriage religiously and gives recognition to it.

There must be a clear consent of the parties to the marriage and the parties must be declared to be lawfully married by the celebrant. The marriage will be considered void, if these formalities are not complied. The King may, however, ex tunc approve of the marriage where there are special reasons for doing so. As per the added provision of 1994, a marriage is void if he or she has been forced into it.

Recognition of foreign marriages

A marriage will be regarded as a valid marriage if it has been validly contracted according to the law of country in which it was solemnised (lex loci celebrationis), provided that it has not offended public policy. Polygamy is the most obvious conflict of marriage in Norway and an informal or a marriage by proxy.

The legal consequences of marriages

The civil status of individuals is affected by a marriage in various ways.

Citizenship

The Norwegian Nationality Act of 8 December 1950, No 3 gives a child Norwegian citizenship if the mother is Norwegian or if the father is Norwegian and married to the mother. Marrying a Norwegian citizen does not confer citizenship. In such a case, spouse may apply for Norwegian citizenship when they are living together. It is not required for the spouses to be a resident of Norway in order to get the citizenship. Thus, while living in England, a British woman can apply for citizenship in Norway whose husband is a Norwegian.

Citizenship will not be acquired by a child born in Norway whose parents are non-Norwegians, unless he or she has a seven years residence in Norway. Citizenship will not be granted until the child is at least 18 years old.

A child will automatically receive Norwegian citizenship, if one or both of married couple has Norwegian citizenship.

Property rights on marriage

Spouses are regarded as independent persons in law with equal rights. So, no change in the relationship between the owner and his or her property occurs. It is applied whether the property was acquired before the marriage or during the marriage. Each spouse has a right to dispose of his or her property as stated under The Marriage Act 1991. This rule is applied to both assets which form part of the community property (felleseie) and separate property (saereie). Without the consent of a spouse, other spouse cannot contract a debt. Thus, there is a little difference between community property and separate property during the marriage. Assets which have been community property will as a general rule be divided equally, and the separate property kept by the owner where a marriage breaks down or ends in death.

Generally the joint residence of the parties is their matrimonial home. Marriage does not convert an individually owned home, which is owned by one spouse to be a jointly owned property of the spouses, after marriage. Spouses will be regarded as the co-owners of the property, only if they both contributed to the cost of property. Without the expressed consent of the other spouse, neither the house nor household goods can be sold by one of the spouses.

The property is treated as community property, unless there has been a prior agreement in the marriage settlement that it will be treated as separate property, or the donor or testator has expressly provided that the gift or legacy to be treated as separate property. The property which is regarded as community or joint property will not be available for division in the end. By the means of marriage agreement, the property regarded as separate property during the marriage, might be treated as community property on divorce or death of a spouse.

Financial obligations

There is a joint obligation of mutual support by the spouses, in relation to the expenses of the matrimonial home and upbringing of the children. The obligation may be fulfilled, either by provision of money or by working in the home. Each is obliged to keep the other informed of financial matters which affect the family income and assets.

Children and parental responsibility

Until a child reaches the age of 18, it is the joint responsibility of the married parents for their child. Joint responsibility is retained by the parents when they are divorced, unless they agree or the court decides the responsibility of the child to be vested under whom. The financial duty of the child continues even after the divorce, irrespective of which spouse has parental responsibility.

FINANCIAL PROVISION DURING MARRIAGE

Introduction

Disputes concerning property and finance arise on the separation or on divorce. A spouse might apply for maintenance for him or herself and/or the children during a marriage.

Financial provision from the court

During the marriage a spouse may ask the court to order that the other spouse place necessary funds at the disposal of the applicant, because the obligation of support under section 36 of the Marriage Act 1991 is to being met. An order of child support can also be passed in some circumstances.

State benefits

The state supports families with children under the age of 16 through family allowances payable monthly (under Children Support Act, 1946). In 2000, NOK 9,948 (approximately GBP 800 or EUR 1,300) was paid for each of the first and second child, and NOK 10,944 (approximately GBP 883 or EUR 1,435) for the third child and subsequent child. The support is paid to the mother if the parents live together. Extra child allowance is received by the single parents if they are not cohabiting; equal to the amount that would be payable if the parent had one more child.

Pension rights

There are certain rights of the non-contributing spouse towards the contributing spouse, whether it is a public, private or social security system pension. According to a particular scheme, rights accruing to the non-contributing spouse differ.

Pension rights are not affected by the separation. The right to benefit from the other spouses pension is retained after divorce, under a pension scheme (other than the national security scheme), provided that the marriage has lasted at least 10 years and the divorced person was at least 45 years old at the time of the divorce.

PROPERTY DURING MARRIAGE

Introduction

In law, husband and wife are treated as separate legal personalities. The right of a spouse to dispose of his or her property is not affected by the marriage. This basic principle is applied whether the property sought to be disposed of is community property (felleseie) or separate property (saereie). The difference between community property and separate property is only of relevance when the marriage is terminated as the result of divorce or death. Therefore, the community property system is referred to as a deferred community property system. The joint property is divided between the spouses at the time of termination of marriage.

When the spouses become bankrupt, conflicts of ownership of property arise. The spouse (or the spouses together) claim that the non-debtor spouse is the sole owner and the creditors may claim that a debtor owns a certain asset. So, it might be presumed that the matrimonial home is owned by both spouses.

Ownership

The spouse will be regarded as the owner of the asset, who acquired it either by way of gift, inheritance or as a result of work or payment from his or her own money. Under the general principles of property law, co-ownership in both community property assets and separate property assets may arise. In order to be able to contribute, both spouses may pay for their own assets or borrow money.

Co-ownership in assets used personally by both spouses may also arise from the fact that the acquisition of an asset has been made possible from the work that one of the spouses has undertaken in the matrimonial home. When one spouse works in the home and looks after the children, it is regarded as making a contribution in kind rather than in moneys worth and will be regarded as a co-owner. The rule of co-ownership was made by the courts under the old legislation, and the majority of homes today are co-owned by the spouses. Mostly couples buy matrimonial home rather than renting, in Norway.

The direct contribution of both the parties to the acquisition of assets leads to co-ownership. By the payment of daily expenses of the household and working in the household, a spouse may make an indirect contribution. Where the acquisition of an asset is considered by the spouses to be a joint acquisition, for example the acquisition of the common home, a car etc, and co-ownership may be the result, even if one spouse paid substantially more than the other.

Contracts and tortuous liability

The spouses may enter into binding contracts as unmarried people, during the marriage. Spouses can buy and sell property to each other and have liability in tort.

Creditors

Proceedings against the property of the debtor spouse can be made by a creditor. A property in co-ownership can only be relevant to the creditors as regards the debtors part of that property.

Gifts between spouses

Spouses are free to give each other gifts. The transfer of ownership is made from the giver to the receiver when a gift is exchanged. Certain formalities are complied with a valid gift. However, traditional gifts (such as anniversary gifts or Christmas gifts etc) that are not disproportionate to the donors financial circumstances are exempted. When the donor signs the document for the gift, it must be made in writing and in front of two witnesses. Gift must be registered in the national register of marriage contracts (ektepaktregisteret), if it to be valid against the donors creditors. Gift must be registered in the land property if it is one real property.

Occupation of the matrimonial home

There are no provisions that deal expressly with the right of the non-owning spouse to the matrimonial home. Only on separation or divorce, such disputes arise. It is decided by the court that which spouse will occupy the matrimonial home, court decides that on a provisional basis.

A spouse may not sell, mortgage, give away or lease the matrimonial home without the consent of the other spouse.

Domestic violence

A spouse may obtain an order, to force other spouse to leave the home on being violent. Section 92(2) of the Marriage Act 1991 provides that when specific reasons exist, the court can, by order prohibit the other spouse from entering the common home. Violence is generally the specific reason.



Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"





Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group

"Loved reading this piece by Navin Kumar Jaggi Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Tags : Family Law
A Bethlehem high school student is accused of lewd behavior toward two other students outside of school.

Armani Blount, of the 300 block of East Laurel Street in Bethlehem, is charged with indecent exposure, open lewdness and harassment.

The 20-year-old Blount was arraigned Thursday in his case, and is free on $10,000 unsecured bail.

An attorney has not yet entered an appearance for Blount, and a phone number for him or his address could not be located.

Superintendent Joseph Roy said he was aware of the allegations, and that Blount was not currently a student at Liberty High School.

Although the reported events occurred before school and off school property, Roy noted in some cases school districts can still legally commence disciplinary proceedings against students involved.

Police said Blount was speaking to a fellow student walking to school the morning of March 20, when Blount asked her if she had a boyfriend and then said he wanted a sex act. The girl walked away after the comments, police said.

The following morning, a different girl reported she was walking to school when she saw Blount walking in the opposite direction. Police said Blount asked the girl why she was so quiet in school, and she saw he was holding his genitals.

When Blount allegedly told the girl to touch him, she walked away and went to school, police said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Bethlehem's leaders strongly believe that a city is only as strong as its neighborhoods.

That's why the north Bethlehem neighborhoods bordering the historic Downtown will be getting extra attention in the next few years as Mayor Bob Donchez and Council President J. William Reynolds push initiatives aimed at reversing the downward slide in some of those areas.

They announced Monday that they plan to create a north Bethlehem neighborhood community investment program. Dubbed North Side 2027, Moravian College and the Bethlehem Area School District are key partners in the initiative.

"There are some very good neighborhoods and there are some neighborhoods that are on the tipping point," Donchez said.

The announcement comes as city council is poised Tuesday night to take another shot at expanding a new tax incentive district in the same area.

During the fall, Reynolds urged council and Donchez to think beyond enacting a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance -- or LERTA -- zone and replicate the Southside Vision 2014 model around William Penn and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools, where the free and reduced lunch rates now hover at 77 percent. That is a large jump since 2010.

Southside Vision's gotten corporate partners to invest millions since 2001 and brought about the Yosko Park splash park, ball fields in Saucon Park, improvements to the skateplaza and an upgraded city eastern gateway.

Strong neighborhoods and schools lead to investments in the community, Donchez said.

"We really are at the genesis stage," Donchez said.

The mayor and Reynolds see LERTA as just one tool available for comprehensive neighborhood revitalization. The city hopes LERTA will encourage owners to make major upgrades to their homes and convert multi-unit homes back to single-family homes in exchange for phasing in new taxes over 10 years.

A North Side 2027 fund could tackle neighborhood blight remediation, beautification, infrastructure, parking and recreation.

"It is a long-term strategy," Reynolds said.

Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Roy said LERTA typically spurs commercial investment, so the district wanted to see something going further that improves the city's housing stock.

When children live in safe and stable homes, they come to school ready to learn, Roy said.

The city is in the process of forming a steering committee to hammer out priorities for the program and how money raised will be allocated. The mayor said he expects the city to start budgeting some money towards the North Side 2027 fund next year, but the city is looking for grants, donations and corporate partners.

Donchez expects it to be an incremental build up since the fund won't be a Neighborhood Partnership Program like Southside Vision and able to offer tax credits.

Council approved a north side LERTA zone last year but a bid to expand it to includes properties around Moravian College failed.

This led the Bethlehem Area School Board, which supported the larger district, to hold off on approving the LERTA district until the city settled on the boundaries.

Roy hopes LERTA and North Side 2027 promote the sort of investments that make the neighborhoods more stable and attractive to buyers.

Steering committee members

Officials expect the committee to have dozens of members.

Mayor Bob Donchez

City Council President J. William Reynolds

State Rep. Steve Samuelson and state Sen. Lisa Boscola

Moravian College President Bryon Grigsby

Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Roy

Bethlehem Housing Authority Executive Director Gene Gonzalez

Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley Executive Director Alan Jennings

Neighborhood residents and parents

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A judge will allow prosecutors to use the videotaped confession of a man charged in the 2014 ambush slaying of a Pennsylvania trooper.

Pike County Judge Gregory Chelak on Monday denied a defense request to suppress a police interview with Eric Frein on the night of his capture.

The defense had asked Chelak to throw out the confession, saying troopers got Frein to implicate himself even after he told them he didn't want to talk to them.

Frein, 33, a Monroe County resident, could face a death sentence if he's convicted in the attack that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and injured Trooper Alex Douglass. He led police on a 48-day manhunt in the Pocono Mountains before his capture by U.S. marshals.

Frein clearly invoked his right to remain silent before going on to incriminate himself "dozens of times" in a police interview after his arrest, a defense attorney argued Monday on the eve of trial.

William Ruzzo argued troopers quickly developed a rapport with the anti-government survivalist and got him to implicate himself even after he told them he didn't want to "answer questions about crimes."

Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin said Frein was ambiguous about asserting his right to remain silent.

Opening statements in the trial are scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Pike County erected this barrier today to shield Eric #Frein from media, public view during barracks ambush trial. pic.twitter.com/OxmGGjfo6O  Michael Rubinkam (@michaelrubinkam) April 3, 2017

The video of the police interview -- which was conducted at the same barracks where Frein is accused of opening fire -- showed Cpl. Michael Clark reading Frein his rights. Frein told police he didn't want to talk about crimes but would provide information about the location of a rifle he'd buried in in the woods.

Clark and Trooper Michael Mulvey struck up a friendly conversation with the former fugitive, offering him a cigarette, which Frein accepted, and praising Frein's parents.

"You know that you're famous? You're a national figure," Clark told him.

The troopers urged him to tell his story because, as Mulvey said, "the world wants to know."

Frein went on to call Dickson's slaying an assassination and said he did it to "wake people up" and make a change in government, according to court documents.

"They violated his rights, they did it very skillfully and they got what they came in to get," Ruzzo said.

The defense also said police blocked an attorney hired by Frein's parents from seeing him.

Tonkin said "there is a balancing interest at stake" between a police officer's obligation to collect evidence and a defendant's obligation to be clear about whether he wants to answer questions. He said Frein opened the door to further questioning by engaging in a discussion about Dickson's children.

Authorities have said they have a wealth of physical evidence tying Frein to the crime, including spent shell casings in his SUV that matched those found at the crime scene.

Police also recovered a journal allegedly written by Frein in which the gunman describes how he opened fire on two state troopers -- watching one of his victims fall "still and quiet" -- and then made his escape.

Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
Annual spending on prisons in Portlaoise and other Irish prisons is nearly 60 million less than it was in the year before the economic crash.

In 2006 the Irish Prison Service had an annual budget of 389.5 million but by last year some 332 million was allocated by the Government to run the prisons.

Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald also told the Deputy Tommy Broughan in the Dail late last month that the Service had 40 million less to spend in 2011 at height of the cuts than before the recession.

However, spending has continued to fall in the past five years, albeit at a slower rate.

Last years budget was 17 less than allocated in 2011.

While spending plunged, committals to jails have gone in the other direction, according to Irish Prison Services figures.

In 2006 there were 12,157 committals to Irish prisons. This rose to 17,318 at the height of the spending cuts in 2011. The total committed last year was 15,131.

The number of people in custody at the end of last year was 3,595.

Twenty years ago in 1996 the total annual spending on prisons was nearly 151m (118.920m).

Portlaoise Prison has a capacity for 291 inmates while the Midlands Prison can accomodate 850 offenders.

Individual prisons do not have specific budgets.

Meanwhile, in a sign that spending restrictions are easing, the Irish Prison Service has invited bids for a contract worth nearly 4million to supply a new fleet of custody vans to bring prisoners to and from Irish jails, courts and other destinations.

In the past week prison management has invited tenders to supply a number of new fully fitted out vehicles.

The primary objective of the goods contract is to supply vehicles for transporting prisoners.

Vehicles are to be supplied with 2-, 6-, 10-, 12-cell fitouts as per Irish Prison Service specification," states the tender invite.

The estimated total value excluding VAT is 3,960,000.

The contracting authority will facilitate tenderers by permitting an inspection of a sample of the existing fleet of prison custodial vehicles.

Tenders from interested suppliers will be open in May.

It is not clear from the tender how many vans in total are being purchased or where they will be based.
Households and business in towns, villages and rural areas are to benefit from a new broadband deal but Laois TD Brian Stanley has raised concerns about when all parts of Laois and the rest of the country will be linked in.

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten TD announced today that an additional 300,000 premises across Ireland will be able to access high speed broadband within 90 weeks. These premises were previously part of the State Intervention Area but will now be provided by Eir under an agreement with the Minister.

However, the Minister also updated broadband map map to add 84,500 premises to the State Intervention Area. This is as a result of commercial investment which has not materialized.

Today is a good day for rural Ireland," said Minister Naughton.

He said the finalisation of the Broadband map one of the key uncertainties in the procurement process has now been removed and progress towards access to high speed broadband.

With this latest development he said three quarters of premises will have high speed access by the end of 2018 and the majority of the remaining premises will have access by the end of 2020.

Laois TD Brian Stanley has welcomed the extension of broad band to more than 300,000 homes around Ireland but also raise reservations.

While we welcome the expansion of broadband services in Ireland, a number of concerns have been raised about the future of the 540,000 premises remaining in the intervention area," he said

He claimed one of bidders for procurement on the National Broadband Plan has cherrypicked locations in the intervention area to deliver broadband only where it is commercially profitable.

The revised National Broadband Plan intervention map will be available on the Departments website. People in Laois can check their premises here

AMBER areas - which are the target areas for the State Intervention of the National Broadband Plan. The Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce has identified measures in the short term to improve broadband connectivity including in the Amber areas and work is underway to implement these measures.



BLUE areas - where commercial operators are delivering or have indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. Operators are continuing to enhance their services in these areas to improve access to high speed broadband and to increase speeds to meet consumer demand and customer requirements. Please contact us at Broadband@DCCAE.gov.ie to let us know if you cannot get High Speed Broadband from the providers in your area.



LIGHT BLUE areas - new areas where commercial operators have committed to concrete plans to deliver high speed broadband in rural areas. The commercial rollout to these areas is primarily Fibre to the Home (FTTH). By 2018, all homes and businesses in these Light Blue areas can expect significant improvement to their broadband services.
ONE of the perks of living and working in Limerick city is the fact that getting around is so simple. Despite being one of Irelands major cities our core city centre is relatively small.

I dont drive. I never have had to. Most of my life has been spent living in urban centres or, for a period, living at sea.

When living in London one of the things that gave me the most pleasure, oddly enough, was travelling on the London transport system. There is something immensely satisfying about standing on a train platform or under a bus shelter and knowing that the service will be on time.

An Oyster Card  the London equivalent of a Leap card- is not cheap. At present the average price of a monthly card is 160. The fact is you cannot live without an Oyster Card in a city like London. You factor the cost into your monthly budget.

When I moved back to Limerick I was initially based near Annacotty. Having grown up in the area I was blown away upon my return to see how the place had exploded in terms of population and development.

When I was a kid my house was surrounded by fields - the next housing development one would come across was Monaleen Heights.

Look at this part of the city today  Castletroy College, Castletroy Shopping Centre, a Gaelscoil, Glenside, Bloomfield, Thornfields, Carrigeen and the development of Annacotty village.

The landscape of where I grew up as a child has fundamentally changed. What hasnt changed a jot is what is offered in terms of public transport from Bus Eireann.

Living in the Newtown part of Castletroy demands a 20-minute walk to catch a Bus Eireann service.

Try that on a wet winter morning.

A few weeks ago I found myself in a rare situation where I was required to attend a meeting outside the city in Dooradoyle.

My appointment was for 10am. I arrived at the bus stop outside Debenhams at 9.10am and was delighted to see those neon signs telling me the next three buses to Dooradoyle were due at 9.20am, 9.35am and 9.45am.

9.20am came and went. So did the little red neon time telling me that bus was due. 9.35am came and went. So did the little red neon time telling me that bus was also due.

I was now late. I wandered around the corner, jumped in a cab and spent eight times the price of a bus to get to my meeting on time.

When I visit home in Castletroy on occasions one thing always strikes me. Every home has at least two cars sitting outside the front door.

Most mornings the majority of these cars are occupied by one person. These cars clog up our roads resulting in frustrating tailbacks. Then comes the cost of parking.

Surely it would make more sense to use public transport, particularly during the working week? Ah, but therein lies the rub.

Our public transport service doesnt properly service the parts of our city that have become major residential hubs over the past 20 years.

There is a certain demographic who look at me as if I am mad when I tell them I use public transport. They have been reared to see such a service as below their status. They dont fathom sharing their journey with another member of the Limerick public.

This isnt just a Limerick thing. Outside of Dublin there is a real snobbery when it comes to how we perceive public transport. This needs to be nipped in the bud and fast.

I have heard the argument that Bus Eireann is a necessary service and one that should not necessarily be profit making.

All well and good but when a public service is making losses of 9m per year and not providing an acceptable service then it needs to be addressed.

The strike by Bus Eireann workers is highlighting just how important such a service is to so many of our population.

It is highlighting also how backward our country is in terms of providing a service that is both reliable and one that services those areas where most of us live.

Lets look at the Castletroy/Annacotty example once again. I havent the population stats for that part of the city but imagine these three changes:

Bus Eireann reassesses their service to provide a dedicated University route.

It adds a separate Castletroy/Annacotty route that gives most residents of this area access to a regular bus no more than a five minute walk from their home.

Finally, a dedicated bus lane is provided right into the heart of the city centre.

Could this radical reassessment of just one of our citys bus route result in greater customer demand? Could it make getting around our city more enjoyable?

Could it help remove the perception that buses are for the lesser beings of society? Could it result in time in the creation of an urban centre where public transport flows in a way comparable to that akin to London (albeit on a smaller scale)?

I think its worth considering.
THE CRAFT workers trade union, Unite has called on Fine Gael and Fianna Fail TDs in the city and county to step in to protect Limerick public transport.

Entering a twelfth day of industrial action, Unite regional officer Willie Quigley has called on Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, Minister of State Patrick ODonovan, and Fianna Fail opposition to exert pressure on Transport Minister Shane Ross.

Whether commuting from Newcastle West to Limerick or using the Limerick city bus service, the people of Limerick depend on Bus Eireann to provide a vital public service  a quality service delivered by workers deserving of decent terms and conditions of employment.

The crisis facing Bus Eireann has its roots in political choices made by successive governments: falling subventions, the failure to fully reimburse Bus Eireann for Free Travel, and the refusal to allow Expressway  as a commercial entity  to operate on a level playing field.

He said that, in the medium term, TDs need to call on the Government to develop a public transport policy that serves the interests of the travelling public and the workers delivering the service.

This is not just a national issue: It is an issue that politicians in Limerick and every other county should be up in arms over. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail TDs need to start treating it as such, Mr Quigley added.

Siptu representative Willie ODonoghue told the Limerick Leader this Monday afternoon that they were expecting an invite to re-enter talks with the WRC, but they have received nothing yet.

Local NBRU representative, Dermot Healy said that anger and frustration is building on a daily basis and we are all anxious for a breakthrough.
ENZO Rocca and his son Raffaele sit sideways by the window, watching those who pass through their restaurant on William Street.

The large number of famished and full-bellied customers walking through is not the only thing that 66-year-old Enzo is admiring on this sunny Friday afternoon.

The fish n chip stalwart was celebrating the reopening of his 32-year-old restaurant, following an intensive three-week renovation.

A strong ray of light beams in from the street, contrasting the bright themes that Raffaele, 38, had initially imagined with the designers.

The facade has seen a complete face-lift. From the old white sign with bold red type, cream-painted walls and brown window frame  it has transformed into a sapphire shop front, with meticulously-crafted gold leaf signage.

We didnt want to be too modern about our sign. We wanted to go back a generation with it. We wanted to get new customers, without alienating the old ones, and that is down to the designer, Raffaele explains.

The hour of celebration also marks a moment of reflection for Enzo, who emigrated from the small Italian region of Casalvieri to Limerick in 1972, to live the Irish dream.

Growing up, just a few miles southeast of Rome, Enzo was inspired by the young men who had travelled to Ireland and returned home driving really nice cars and showing off notable wealth.

Enzo followed his brother Ginos footsteps, and travelled to Limerick with his cousin Ernie Rocca. His younger brother Franco came to Limerick a number of years later.

The common practice for Italians moving to Ireland was to work for already-established Italians. And that is what Enzo did, aged 22, when he started working at Capri chipper on OConnell Street.

It was a special place for the young Italiano to learn the trade, his son says. The food choices in Limerick city in the early 70s were few, and not many restaurants stayed open until 4.30am. This was to accommodate those attending the showbands in Dromkeen and Shanagolden.

After meeting his Ballyhahill wife Joanne in 1974, he moved to Newcastle West, where he established Golden Grill, his first chipper, with his brother Franco.

I learned as much as I could, but you learn much more as you get older. And in 1977, I got married, and my brother got married in 1978, so we decided that we needed another chipper. So I set up another one in Tralee, also called Golden Grill, Enzo says.

The chipper in Tralee proved to be the catalyst for setting up his current restaurant in the city centre.

And in 84, I thought that Tralee wasnt doing really well. I didnt see much of a future in it, and I thought it was going to go down. And in 1984, I purchased this place. And I am here ever since. It was very busy back then. It was a great spot, and still is.

Enzos Fish and Chip Shop was originally an Italian seafood restaurant, serving an array of niche dishes that were considered too premature for its time.

We didnt have the money to support that kind of restaurant, Raffaele says, adding that to stock the vast amount of ingredients for this type of cuisine proved to be costly.

There was one dish, in particular  oysters and champagne sauce. And we were saying: What in the name of God were we thinking? Because, to make that, you had to open a bottle of champagne. And the only happy person was the chef, because if he didnt use the champagne for more than two portions of sauce, he was bringing it home with him!

It was 20 years too early, Enzo remarks, to which his son laughs: But sometimes you can be too far ahead of your time.

And so Enzo reverted back to what he knew best  mastering the fish and chip dish. And ever since, that has been his restaurants unique selling point. Passion in preparing the potato is also key to making great food, he adds.

For a start, you have to pick good potatoes, then you have to clean them well and season them well. And then cook them well. And if you miss any of them, you will miss out down the line.

But in the summer of 2001, Enzos midnight fry-up became the subject of international publicity, when Financial Times journalist Nicholas Woodsworth described the food as excellent and commended Enzos for its impeccable service.

And customers kept coming up to me and saying: You done it again, you are in the paper again! And I was, like, what? And I picked up the paper and saw it, he says, adding that it was a proud moment to see such international recognition.

As they discuss the restaurants new facelift, a number of locals walk by, saluting Enzo to congratulate him on the artistic renovation.

Sign-maker Tom Collins, interior designer Cora Collins, graphic designer George Fitzgerald, and Shannon Wholesale Electrical were charged with the delivery of the makeover.

And while they wanted to get rid of old panelling to modernise the unit, interior designer Cora was adamant to keep it.

Its a testament that if you keep something for long enough, it will eventually come back into fashion, Raffaele explains.

We used to have two round tables but they have been replaced by a minute of chairs and bench seating, as well as having installed three booths in the midsection. The higher tables out the front section and the bench across the front window are all new additions. We basically kept the same layout as before just with new floor and wall tiles.

And the results of the new look have been hugely positive, Enzos right-hand man remarks.

There is a different profile of customers, too. People who we seeing less frequently, we are now seeing more frequently. And it is a bit more accessible to the younger generation, now.

Raffaele says that they are looking forward to a busy summer when tourist numbers start to increase.

Enzo thanks their loyal customers for their patience throughout the three-week renovations.
AROUND 150 submissions have been received in relation to the proposed variation of the county development plan to incorporate phase 2 of the Northern Distributor Road (NDR).

Members of Limerick City and County Councils Travel and Transportation SPC were briefed during a meeting at County Hall this Monday ahead of a vote by members of the full council at the end of May.

Vincent Murray, senior executive engineer, told councillors the proposed road, which will extend from Annacotty to Knockalisheen Road will reduce travel times, congestion and will connect UL and LIT.

Work on phase one of the NDR, between Coonagh and Knockalisheen Road, is due to begin in the coming weeks.

Mr Murray said it is hoped the first section of the dual-carriage way will be completed and open to traffic by 2020.

Noting some of the concerns that have been raised in relation to the proposed route, he told councillors that a number of alternative options were examined but that none were deemed suitable.

Mr Murray said a very, very detailed analysis was carried out as part of a strategic flood risk assessment as there is an onus on the council to ensure that whatever is built will not worsen the flood risk in areas along the route.

A number of councillors, including Mayor Kieran OHanlon, said they are fully supportive of the proposed route.

If we are serious about jobs for our children and our grandchildren, we have a big decision to make and we have to get a message out, in my opinion, that we are open for businesses, said Cllr OHanlon.

Cllr Michael Sheahan said not everyone was supportive of the proposed route and he has called for their views to be taken into account.
A YOUNG Limerick man who shot at another man from the back of a car is now constantly on the phone to the victim, his father has revealed.

Adam ODwyer senior made his comments as he gave evidence in support of his 20-year-old son during a sentencing hearing.

The defendant, who lives at Abbey View, Island Road has pleaded guilty to possession of a double-barrelled shotgun with intent to endanger life at Dalgish Park, Moyross on April 15, 2015.

Previously, Limerick Circuit Court heard that four young men were forced to flee after a number of shots were fired at them.

Detective Garda Enda Haugh said gardai were alerted at around 11.30pm and that when they arrived they encountered one youth who had obvious pellet marks on his face and body.

While the man was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick, he discharged himself before he received any medical attention.

The car, which was later found burned out in Clonlara, can be seen on CCTV reversing to the alley where the four youths were drinking.

The rear-seat passenger, he said, opened the window and discharged two shots from a shotgun in the direction of the youth.

While ODywer made admissions following his arrest, the driver of the car  Mr X  did not and has not been prosecuted in relation to what happened.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told gardai believe the youth who was injured was the intended target and that the incident was in retaliation to a machete attack which took place a number of months earlier.

Detective Garda Haugh agreed with Andrew Sexton SC that ODwyer is an impressionable sort of young man and that he is someone who is easily manipulated.

He also agreed that the offence was very much out of character for him.

In his evidence, Mr ODwyer snr said his son, who has an interest in pigeons and horses, is now back on the straight and narrow and that there is no animosity between him and the victim.

Judge ODonnell adjourned sentencing to June to give him time to examine several medical and psychiatric reports which were submitted to the court.
The getaway driver in the murder of businessman Roy Collins almost eight years ago has opened an appeal against his conviction following on from his co-accused  Wayne Dundon.

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, 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 on 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 in the trial included witness testimony, with a number of former associates of Dundon and Killeen testifying against them. These were siblings Gareth Collins aka Keogh, Lisa Collins and April Collins - who were not related to the deceased - along with Dundons cousins, Christopher McCarthy and Anthony 'Noddy' McCarthy.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Michael O'Higgins SC, submitted to the Court of Appeal this Tuesday that the trial court's judgment did not have the magic sentence 'in so far as there is a conflict here, I'm resolving it in favour of the prosecution for the following reasons'.

But it did set set out in considerable detail the parameters of the case including the points for and against, Mr O'Higgins said.

He said the court did not go to the trouble of recording all that detail for no reason.

It stated that the court had considered the evidence of Noddy McCarthy very carefully. It repeated the warning that it was dangerous to convict on uncorroborated evidence but nonetheless accepted the truth of Noddy McCarthy.

It found his evidence to be coherent, plausible and not marred by any material inconsistencies, he said.

Mr O'Higgins submitted that a finding of a court could not be set aside by a higher court unless it was found to be irrational.

Mr O'Higgins said there had been four tranches of trials based on evidence from people who were at the core of the inner circle of those involved

Those were five trials surrounding the death of journalist Veronica Guerin, four for a gangland killing in Dublin city centre. There was a case regarding the disappearance of a young Romanian girl from the streets of Dublin and this case.

Some of those cases involved minute investigations into how an accused had turned state witness and the benefits being accrued - new lives, relocation etc.

But the Collins girls haven't even left Limerick. It was not as if they were jockeying to avoid responsibility for alleged offences and there was ample opportunity to challenge the credibility of the witnesses, Mr O'Higgins said.

Opening his appeal, Nathan Killeen's barrister, Giollaiosa O Lideadhda SC, said he would be focusing primarily on the total absence of reasons in the trial court's judgment, forensic evidence and the gang associate evidence primarily of Lisa Collins.

Mr O Lideadha said the prosecution acknowledged that the Special Criminal Court's judgment was obliged to have dealt with all the main points in the case.

But the DPP had just submitted, Mr O Lideadha said, that it would be "fantastic to assume" the Special Criminal Court had not dealt with the collusion issue.

That was another way of saying the court had not dealt with the collusion issue, Mr O Lideadha said.

He said the rationalisation of the trial court's judgment had been left to Mr O'Higgins because the trial court had not done it. Without rationalisation it was not a trial in accordance with law, Mr O Lideadha submitted.

He said the trial court's judgment did not actually come to a conclusion or assessment on the collusion issue.

There was Supreme Court authority to say decisions must be based on reasons. It was not about reciting the facts, it's about analysis.

Mr O Lideadha said the trial court was obliged to address a number of issues including: Did Lisa Collins lie?; Was she a participant in gangland activities and if so, did she have immunity as a result of her statement?; Did she collude with others?; And was her evidence as to movements on the ground reliable in circumstances where she described Nathan Killeen jumping over the wrong wall - subsequently confirmed by a Garda.

He further submitted that the defence could not engage in a proper assessment of the reliability of prosecution witnesses in circumstances where there had been a demonstrated failure to make disclosure.

It was clear from the evidence of the phone calls that Gardai were communicating with these witnesses and there was an expectation on their part that that they were going to get certain benefits.

Furthermore, in the aftermath of the shooting, he said the gardai locked down the Lenihan Avenue area and made a decision to get warrants issued for an entire neighbourhood.

It was a general warrant for the whole block and was not acceptable in the heat of the battle.

The court heard that items of interest found on foot of the warrant were hoodies, a hat and glove as well as Nathan Killeen who was arrested in an attic.

Mr O Lideadha will continue his submissions before Mr Justice George Birmingham, Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards this Wednesday.
THE returning Body&Soul festival has unveiled another layer of summer solstice delights, with more acts announced for an already stellar line-up.

The Ballinlough Castle-based event, taking place from June 23-25 for the eighth year, has this Tuesday revealed a host of high energy acts, soulful funk outfits and groundbreaking performers bound to enchant at one of the most enchanting festivals on Irelands summer music scene.

Genderqueer performer, activist and poet Mykki Blanco, Canadian synth pop band Austra, disco, glam and psych-rock fusion outfit The Moonlandingz, London-born Sudanese artist Sinkane and Irelands own  Mak are added to a bill that already includes British electro-pop outfit Metronomy, American alt-country collective Lambchop, Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods and Malian sensation Songhoy Blues  among many others.

Also announced today are Mario Batkovic, BARQ, Shookrah, Le Boom, Katie Laffan and Sing Along Social.

Some of the stages nestled among the stunning surrounds of Ballinlough will include Reckless in Love, famed for its late-night divilment, Food on Board  which returns to Body&Soul in a new location, nestled within the woods by the lake  plus new venue The Library of Progress and festival favourite Wonderlust.

For those seeking a quiet moment in the midst of the festivities, the Sanctuary and Immerse Spa Experience will offer mindful meditations, sound healing sessions, relaxing massages, wood fired hot tubs, and revitalising seaweed baths.

Therell be a world of discovery for inquisitive young minds with Body&Souls best-ever Family and SoulKids Programme, ambitious art installations that will stop you in your tracks, acrobatic antics, pop-up performances, cosy conversations at Arbutus Yarns, haunting vocals at the Pagoda Stage and more than 50 acts still to announce.

Festival Director Avril Stanley said recently: Were taking Body&Soul back to its original ethos - being an incubator of great ideas and being ahead of the curve, presenting people, acts and ideas that we love and want to showcase.

Line up: Metronomy / Vitalic / Lambchop / Sleaford Mods / Mykki Blanco / Austra / Optimo20 / La Femme / Sinkane / Birdy Nam Nam / Hundred Waters / The Moonlandingz / Songhoy Blues / Tiggs Da Author / Anna Meredith / Formation / A Tribe Called Red / Idiotape / Mammut / King Kong Company / Parcels / Mario Batkovic / Elaine Mai / DBFC / TooFools / Weval / Avalon Emerson / Mr TC /  Mak / Miss Red & The Bug / Loah / Kelly-Anne Byrne / Shookrah / Sing Along Social / Ollie Bell / Le Boom / Jinx Lennon / Barq / Katie Laffan / Joni / John Conneely Inc

Tickets are on sale. See www.bodyandsoul.ie for more.
May 2, 2021, 3 AM

In 1930, a pair of Russia airmail stamps exhorted workers to fulfill the goals of the current five-year economic plan in just four years. Cherrystone offered a set of imperforate blocks of four in its sale. Said to be unique, the set brought a whopping $5

Cherrystone Auctions Feb. 28-March 1 sale in New York showcased superb Russian-area material, including this imperforate 50-kopeck stamp honoring a historic 1938 flight over the North Pole that realized an impressive $23,000.

Auction Roundup  By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

Cherrystone Auctions held a sale in New York Feb. 28-March 1 featuring worldwide stamps and covers and showcasing the firms traditional strength in Russian-area material.

The Soviet Union was an eager pursuer of early aviation records, particularly those relating to distance and endurance.

One of the more impressive feats was the traversing of the North Pole by air, which happened twice in rapid succession in the summer of 1937: the first transpolar flight from Moscow to Vancouver June 18-20 and the second, from Moscow to San Jacinto, Calif., July 12-14, a distance of 7,100 miles.

Connect with Linns Stamp News:

Sign up for our newsletter

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Both were nonstop flights that brought their Russian pilots fame and glory, not to mention philatelic commemoration.

On April 10, 1938, a set of four stamps honored the first flight (Scott 636-639) and three days later, another trio honored the second (640-642).

Like most early Soviet commemoratives, they are known imperforate, with varying degrees of scarcity. The 10- and 20-kopeck stamps (Scott 640a-641a) sold together for $920, including the 15 percent buyers premium added by Cherrystone to all lots.

The imperforate, never-hinged 50k stamp (642a), which is much harder to find, sold for an impressive $23,000.

A printed menu from a dinner June 30, 1937, at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, honoring the first crew of Soviet transpolar fliers, sold for $322.

In 1930, a pair of airmail stamps exhorted workers to fulfill the goals of the current five-year economic plan in just four years.

Somewhat incongruously, a German Zeppelin floats over the striving workers, a nod to the dirigibles flight from Friedrichshafen to Moscow Sept. 9-10, 1930.

The stamps (Scott C12-13), exist with two kinds of perforation and imperforate. Specialists recognize more than one printing.

On the earliest printing, the photogravure impression is crisp, and the fine white line inside the frame is clear. On later printings, the image is blurrier and the white line indistinct.

A set of imperforate blocks of four (C12b-C13b) from the first printing, said to be the only ones in existence, brought a whopping $51,750.
Apr 3, 2017, 3 PM

The Feb. 21-24 Christoph Gaertner auction near Stuttgart, Germany, served up some splendid postal history, including this 1849 folded letter from Mauritius to France franked with a rare earliest-impression example of the 2-penny blue Post Paid stamp. It

This scarce, unused example of the so-called 1d brick-red woodblock, the local printing of Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps of 1861, fetched $23,800 at the Gaertner sale.

Germany stamps and postal history were abundantly represented at the Gaertner auction. One of the stamp highlights, which realized $13,400, was this variety of the 1902 5-mark stamp depicting Kaiser Wilhelm II. The arrow points out a key feature of this v

The overprint on this German Southwest Africa 1897 50-pfennig stamp spells the name of the colony with two hyphens (Deutsch-Sudwest-Afrika). Gaertner, who described it as a great colonial rarity, sold it for $21,800.

Auction Roundup  By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

The firm of Christoph Gaertner held another big sale Feb. 21-24 at their headquarters in Bietigheim-Bissingen, just north of Stuttgart, Germany.

The auction of worldwide stamps and postal history was previewed in a Linns article posted online Jan. 20.

The 31,000 lots from 1,400 consignors yielded a grand total of 7.4 million, or about $8 million, after adding in the 22 percent buyers premium levied by Gaertner on all lots.

Connect with Linns Stamp News:

Sign up for our newsletter

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Among the leading items was an early cover from the Indian Ocean colony of Mauritius to Bordeaux, France.

The letter, mailed in Port Louis April 4, 1849, was carried by the Royal Navy battleship HMS Collingwood to Greenock, Scotland, then down to England and across to France, arriving July 21.

What makes this cover special is its stamp: an earliest impression, and therefore deeply colored and most sharply detailed, example of the 2-penny blue Post Paid (Scott 4), with huge, even margins and a crisp barred-circle postmark.

Only four covers are reported with this desirable stamp from one of the most sought-after of the classic stamp-issuing countries. Not surprisingly, it sold for the equivalent of $99,100.

A scarce, unused example of the so-called 1d brick-red woodblock, the local printing of Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps of 1861 (Scott 7b), fetched $23,800.

Among German issues of interest to specialized collectors was a mixed-type example of the 5-mark Wilhelm II Speaking at Empires 25th Anniversary Celebration stamp of 1902 (Scott 78), which is pictured below.

This top denomination of the definitive (regular-issue) series was printed in two colors: deep carmine and greenish black.

The Germania definitive series and its pictorial high values, including the 5m stamp, was first issued in 1900, inscribed Reichspost. The series was reissued in 1902 inscribed Deutsches Reich, fulfilling the Universal Postal Union requirement that all nations (except Great Britain) show their countrys name on their stamps.

The vignette was also modified slightly. On the first version of the 5m stamp, the ear of the mustachioed man standing at far right (said to be a fellow named Boetticher) is clearly visible, but in the second his ear is cut off.

On a small quantity, apparently, the old 1900 vignette was mismatched with the new 1902 frame. The Michel catalog, published in Germany, lists this combination type as No. 81Z. The well centered, mint example offered by Gaertner sold for $13,400.

A stamp from German Southwest Africa, remarkable for bearing an authentic cancel applied in the colony despite not having been officially issued in the colony, was chased by several bidders.

The overprint on the 1897 50-pfennig stamp (Scott 6) spells the name of the colony with two hyphens (Deutsch-Sudwest-Afrika); a subsequent issue in 1899 eliminates the second hyphen.

Presumably, a few examples of the earlier version were presented to officials in the colony or taken there privately from Berlin, and then postally used.

Several certificates attest to the authenticity of the 1901 Swakopmund postmark. The well-centered stamp, described by Gaertner as a grosse Kolonial-Raritat (great colonial rarity), sold for $21,800.

(Other items featured in the Linns preview of the Gaertner sale did not find buyers.)
Apr 4, 2017, 10 AM

Bolivar, a state of Colombia, issued 10-centavo stamps in 1863 that are less than a half inch long in either dimension. Sometimes they were bisected for use as 5c stamps.

Shown here enlarged is a tiny stamp from Colombias Antioquia state, issued in 1903, depicts statesman Francisco Antonio Zea.

Colombia recognized the governments large communications building on a very small 5-centavo stamp issued in 1952.

Italy issued tiny but cleverly designed parcel post stamps in 1914. One of the se-tenant stamps remained affixed to the waybill, and the other was on the senders receipt.

Stamps picturing Queen Victoria and measuring only  inch by  inch were issued by the Australian colony of Victoria in 1874.

To help economically destitute West Berlin in 1948, Germany issued postal tax stamps, which were required on most mail as a fundraiser. The very small stamps are nicknamed blue fleas.

Small stamps of South Africa, issued in 1942, helped to conserve paper during wartime shortages. They are nicknamed bantam.

A tiny Great Britain 1870 -penny stamp pictures Queen Victoria. Despite their size, the stamps have the corner letters that are standard on their larger counterparts.

In 2013, the United Arab Emirates issued a world-record-size stamp, larger than 4 feet high and 3 feet wide, repeating the design of this stamp for International Mothers Day.

Stamp Collecting Basics  By Janet Klug

Have you ever heard the phrase, about the size of a postage stamp? In reality, postage stamps can be very little or startlingly big. Lets have a look.

There have been many larger-than-normal stamps.

On March 21, 2013, the United Arab Emirates issued a hexagonal stamp for International Mothers Day. The 3-dirham stamp (Scott 1075) was issued in panes of 12.

Connect with Linns Stamp News:

Sign up for our newsletter

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

A variety of this stamp was created that is 4.46 feet high and 3.83 feet wide. This stamp is recognized by Guinness World Records as the worlds largest postage stamp, according to Emirates National Records.

You can see the big stamp and read about it online here. Click the link for World Records and then for The largest postage.

That stamp is far too big for our stamp albums, so lets move along to the little stamps.

How about starting a new collection of tiny stamps? It is a specialty you might not have considered.

For the most part, tiny stamps are readily available, and many of them are not terribly expensive.

A few of them are pricey but, nevertheless, chasing the little stamps is a fun way to collect.

Colombia has issued several small stamps. Many of these are postal tax stamps, while others are regular stamps of the various United States of Colombia.

A postal tax stamp indicates payment of a mandatory tax on mailed letters, as required by some governments.

There are several tiny vertical stamps from the Colombian state of Antioquia depicting diplomat and statesman Francisco Antonio Zea in the vignette (central image of the stamp). These are Scott 152-157, issued in 1903-04, which measure only 1 inch high and  inch wide.

Colombias state of Bolivar issued a really tiny 10-centavo stamp, Scott 2, in 1863. Its measurements are 0.35 inch by 0.37 inch.

This ministamp has an additional Scott minor number of 2a, for a diagonal half used as a 5c franking on cover. Imagine bisecting this tiny stamp and affixing it to an envelope.

And, yes, there are some tiny stamps from Colombia that are regular postage stamps; for example, Scott 601, a little 5c stamp issued in 1952 and picturing the government communications building. You could call this a bigger little stamp, at  inch wide and  inch high.

In 1948, Germany issued postal tax stamps to raise funds to subsidize West Berlin, which was destitute. The Notopfer Berlin (Berlin emergency levy) required the use of a 2-pfennig postal tax stamp on virtually all types of internal mail in West Germany between Dec. 1, 1948, and March 31, 1956.

The tiny dark blue stamps, approximately  inch by  inch, have been nicknamed the blue flea issue because of their size.

Queen Victoria was shown on a tiny stamp in 1870: a -penny stamp (Scott 58) issued Oct. 1. Despite their small size ( inch by  inch), these stamps have the corner letters standard to early British stamps, which identify a stamps position on the printing plate.

A sheet of these small stamps consists of 480 stamps arranged in 20 rows of 24 stamps.

This is the smallest stamp issued by Great Britain and has been given the nickname bantam, a term originally used to describe small-breed chickens.

For those who like plate numbers, they are found on these British Bantam stamps between the vignette and the numeral 1 on the right and left sides. The plate numbers are difficult to see but add to the challenge and interest of your collection.

Little stamps issued by South Africa in 1942-43 (Scott 90-97) also received the moniker bantam. These little stamps are 1 inch by  inch and were issued in strips of three. Several of the set have bilingual inscriptions, in English and in Afrikaans. Collecting the stamps in pairs or strips of three is the best way to keep them.

Like so many nations that issued small stamps, South Africa printed its Bantam stamps to save paper during World War II.

In 1874, the Australian colony of Victoria issued a tiny red -penny stamp, Scott 130. The stamp measures  inch by  inch. A similar stamp was issued in 1901 in blue green (193).

Italy issued tiny se-tenant parcel post stamps (Scott Q7-Q19) from 1914-22. The conjoined stamps were cleverly designed so that one of the stamps remained on the parcels waybill and the other was affixed to the senders receipt. Each stamp measures slightly less than 1 inch by  inch.

They may be small, but intriguingly tiny stamps can be of large collectible interest.
We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.
Artist's illustration of a SpaceX colony ship arriving at Mars. The company aims to help establish a million-person city on the Red Planet.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is willing to fly to Mars with SpaceX, as long as company founder and CEO Elon Musk meets a few key conditions.

"I really like Earth. So any space trip I take, I'm double-checking that there's sufficient funds for me to return," Tyson wrote during a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session on Sunday (April 2)."Also, I'm not taking that trip until Elon Musk send[s] his mother and brings her back alive. Then I'm good for it."

Tyson was responding to a question about SpaceX's historic launch last week, during which a used Falcon 9 rocket first stage helped send the SES-10 communications satellite to orbit. The questioner also asked if Tyson would ever consider going on a one-way Mars trip. [In Photos: SpaceX Launches, Lands 1st Reused Falcon 9 Rocket]

SpaceX aims to help colonize Mars, and the company regards the development of fully and rapidly reusable rockets as central to that goal. Such technology could spur a spaceflight revolution by slashing launch costs, Musk has said.

Tyson said he's a fan of the company's focus on reusable boosters.

"Any demonstration of rocket reusability is a good thing," the astrophysicist and science communicator wrote in the AMA. "When we fly on a Boeing 747 across great distances, we don't throw it away and roll out a new one. Reusability is arguably the most fundamental feature of affordable expensive things."

But Tyson also pumped the brakes a bit on the SpaceX enthusiasm percolating through the AMA session.

"I'm simultaneously one of SpaceX's biggest critics and supporters," he said in response to a question about how advances such as SpaceX's reusable rockets will affect humanity's efforts to get to Mars in the near future.

Projects "that are hugely expensive and dangerous, with uncertain returns on investments, make poor activities of profit-driven companies," Tyson added. "Governments do these things first, allowing private enterprise to learn what to do and what not to do, then come next with a plan that involves us all. So my read of history is that private companies will not be the first to send humans to Mars unless government actually pays for it."

SpaceX was just one of many topics that Tyson addressed during the wide-ranging AMA. For example, Tyson wrote that being vaporized by a supernova explosion would probably be the second-most interesting way to die. (The most interesting would be death by black hole, he has stated previously).

And Tyson predicted humanity would not make contact with an intelligent alien civilization in the next 50 years: "I think they (we) might all be too far away from one another in space and possibly time."

He also described President Trump's proposed 2018 NASA budget, which would cancel four agency Earth-science missions, as a "wolf in sheep's clothes."

"My read of the (entire) plan is to remove Earth monitoring from NASA's mission statement, leaving NASA to think only about the rest of the universe and not Earth as a part of that same universe," Tyson wrote. "Unless this task is picked up by some other agency, the disconnect will be disastrous to our understanding of our own planet, preventing us from knowing and predicting our own impact on our own environment."

But he predicted that the leaders of tomorrow will have a different perspective: "My sense is that the next generation (30 and younger) does not think this way. They just don't happen to be old enough to be head of agency, corporations, or government yet. So I look forward to when they are all in charge. Especially anyone born since 1995  the year we discovered our first exoplanet. For that reason, I dub that demographic 'Generation Exoplanet.'"

You can read the full AMA here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/631eem/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_your_personal/

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Three of the specimens from the Oregon cave belonged to <em>Cimex latipennis</em>.

Researchers investigating a cave in southern Oregon have found the oldest relatives of the common bedbug, suggesting that some 11,000 years ago humans may have been in contact with the parasites.

The fossilized remains, which belong to the cimicid family (a group that includes today's common bedbugs), were found during archaeological investigations of the Paisley Five Mile Point Cave site, researchers said in a new study detailing the findings. In particular, Cave 2, of the eight rock shelters on the site, has yielded thousands of insect remains as well as some the oldest preserved evidence of human activity in North America.

"In total, I recovered the remains of 14 individual cimicids, but they were not the bedbug we all know and love from hotel rooms," said study researcher Martin Adams, a zooarchaeologist who founded the consultancy Paleoinsect Research. [Up Close & Personal: See Cool Images of Bedbugs]

Human parasites

Today, there are three species of bedbug that have adapted to a lifestyle of living off humans: Cimex lectularius, the common and cosmopolitan bedbug; Cimex hemipterus, with a worldwide distribution, but much more tropical; and Leptocimex boueti, an African species.

Of the 14 individuals recovered in Oregon, five were identified as C. pilosellus, three as C. latipennis, and one as C. antennatus, Adams and co-author Dennis Jenkins, of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, wrote in the Journal of Medical Entomology. An additional five were identified as belonging to the genus Cimex, but were too fragmented for their species to be identified.

Here, the abdomen of a female Cimex pilosellus found in the Oregon cave. (Image credit: Martin E. Adams/Paleoinsect Research)

Three of the 14 were of indeterminate gender; the other 11 were all female. The C. antennatus specimen is approximately 5,100 years old, while the others range in age from 9,400 to nearly 11,000 years old. [Bedbugs: The Life of a Mini-Monster (Infographic)]

"All three species, and presumably the unidentified ones as well, are native species, and all are parasites of bats, which were also present in Cave 2," Adams told Live Science.

If the opportunity arose

However, cimicids may not be as rigid in their host preferences as had been assumed, Adams said. "I believe the bat-parasitic cimicids would have fed on humans if the opportunity presented itself," he said.

The Cimex antennatus specimen dated back 5,100 years, while others ranged from 9,400 to nearly 11,000 years old. (Image credit: Martin E. Adams/Paleoinsect Research)

Adams suspects that opportunity indeed occurred at Paisley Cave, which was occupied seasonally by hunter-gatherers. He described a scenario in which a bug latching onto a bat just fell to the floor of the cave as the bat flew off.

"Since the bugs themselves don't fly, they would soon have to feed on whatever is closest, and that would've been the humans living there," Adams said.

Not surprisingly, both C. lectularius and C. hemipterus became human parasites thousands of years ago in Old World caves, when people shared caves with bats, other research has shown.

"When humans left the cave environment, the bugs went with them and adapted to become the cosmopolitan human pests with which we now are familiar," Adams said.

But while there seems to have been a similar scenario at Paisley Caves, those local species didn't follow humans out of the cave environment.

"Why not? Were the cimicid populations too small to establish themselves outside the caves or were the host populations too small?" Adam said. "Given that Paisley Caves was only a seasonal-occupation area for human hunter-gatherers, did the humans move around too much, or were the bugs not able to withstand the environment outside the caves for very long? Or were there other constraints involved?" he asked.

Even if no intersection between man and bug occurred, the finding is important because it provides the earliest record of the genus Cimex, the researchers said.

Previously, the oldest remains of cimicids dated back to 3,550 years ago. Found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt in 1999, they belonged to C. lectularius, thus representing the oldest known association between humans and bedbugs.

"Our findings help to underscore that there are more cimicids out there and that we know little about them," Adams said.

"While I won't deny that human[-parasitizing] bedbugs can be intolerable and that it is important for us to be able to control them, the Paisley Caves research can help shine the light on some of the other cimicids and their non-human hosts," he added.

Original article on Live Science.
A 3,800-year-old pyramid found with an alabaster block bearing the name of pharaoh Ameny Qemau has been discovered at the site of Dahshur in Egypt.

Another pyramid containing artifacts bearing the name of Ameny Qemau (also spelled Qemaw) was discovered in 1957 in Dahshur, a royal necropolis in the desert on the Nile River's west bank. The finding has left Egyptologists with a mystery as to why the same pharaoh seemingly has two pyramids to his name.

The remains of the pyramid's inner structure were discovered by a team of Egyptian archaeologists and announced today (April 4) by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

"The uncovered remains of the pyramid represents a part of its inner structure, which is composed of a corridor leading to the inner side of the pyramid and a hall, which leads to a southern ramp and a room to the western end," Adel Okasha, the director general of the Dahshur necropolis, said in a statement from the ministry. [In Photos: See Another Egyptian Pyramid That Predates Giza]

This block was found within the 13th dynasty pyramid in Egypt and bears the name of pharaoh Ameny Qemau, who ruled about 3,800 years ago. (Image credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

Within the inner structure, the team discovered an alabaster block containing 10 lines of hieroglyphic writing. The ministry said it had not yet deciphered the writing on the block.

Live Science showed pictures of the pyramid's block, released by the ministry, to several Egyptologists. Both James Allen, a professor of Egyptology at Brown University, and Aidan Dodson, a research fellow at the University of Bristol, said that inscribed on the block is a type of religious text used to line the walls of pyramids, and that it bears the name of the pharaoh Ameny Qemau.

"He was the fifth king of Dynasty XIII and ruled for about two years, [around] 1790 B.C.," Allen said.

Thomas Schneider, a professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern studies at the University of British Columbia, also agreed that the name of the pharaoh on the hieroglyphic inscription is Ameny Qemau. "The resolution of the photo is not very good; however, I believe I can read the name of Ameny Qemau," he said.

Within the remains of the pyramid, archaeologists found a corridor with steps. (Image credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

Dodson, who co-authored a 1998 paper on the artifacts from the Qemau pyramid discovered in 1957, noted the peculiarity of two pyramids holding the pharaoh's name.

Why both pyramids would have artifacts bearing the name of the same pharaoh is a mystery, Dodson said. Perhaps, the newly found pyramid doesn't actually belong to Ameny Qemau, but rather to one of his predecessors, he said. Along that line of thinking, perhaps upon rising to power, Qemau chiseled out the name of his predecessor on the block and inserted his own name instead, Dodson said. The hieroglyphic symbols representing the name of Ameny Qemau are of poor quality, indicating that the carver had to inscribe them over a chiseled-out area, Dodson added.

"Why Ameny Qemau would have added his name is unclear, as Ameny Qemau's actual pyramid was found in 1957," Dodson said.

The antiquities ministry said in a statement that excavations of the pyramid are not yet complete and that "further excavation is to take place to reveal more parts."

Original article on Live Science.
About 5 to 10 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. who contracted the Zika virus in 2016  typically after traveling abroad  had babies with birth defects related to the virus, according to a new report. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the largest study to look at outcomes among pregnant women with Zika infections.

The report also found that the risk of birth defects was slightly higher for women who contracted a Zika infection during their first trimester. Among these women, 15 percent had babies with birth defects tied to the virus, the report said.

What's more, the percentage of infants with certain birth defects born to women who had contracted Zika was 30 times higher than the overall percentage of infants who had similar birth defects seen in the years before Zika, the researchers said.

"Zika continues to be a threat to pregnant women in the United States," Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the CDC, said at a news conference today (April 4). "We do know this devastating outbreak is far from over, and the consequences of this outbreak are heartbreaking. With warm weather and a new mosquito season approaching, prevention is crucial to protect the health of mothers and babies." [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species]

For the report, the researchers analyzed information from about 1,300 U.S. pregnant women in 44 states who had a possible Zika virus infection in 2016. These women had tested positive for either the Zika virus or an "unspecified flavivirus," which could include Zika or another virus in that family, such as the dengue virus.

Of these women, 972 (about 75 percent) had completed their pregnancies by the time of the analysis. Most had a live birth, but about 8 percent had a pregnancy loss.

Overall, 51 of the 972 women, or about 5 percent, had a baby with birth defects related to the virus. Among the 250 women with a confirmed Zika virus infection, about 10 percent had a baby with Zika-related birth defects, the report said.

These birth defects included brain abnormalities or microcephaly (a condition in which the baby's head is abnormally small), eye abnormalities or other conditions that result from problems with the central nervous system.

However, the report "might significantly underestimate the impact of Zika," said Margaret Honein, a co-author of the report and chief of the CDC's Birth Defects Branch.

One reason for the possible underestimation is that although the CDC recommends that all infants born to mothers who may have been infected with Zika undergo brain imaging, just 25 percent of the babies in the study underwent such brain imaging. Imaging such as a CT scan or an MRI can detect brain abnormalities that can otherwise go unnoticed, the researchers said.

In addition, the researchers did not follow up with the babies after birth, and some Zika-related anomalies may show up months later, Schuchat said.

"These findings underscore the serious risk for birth defects posed by Zika virus infection during pregnancy and highlight why pregnant women should avoid Zika virus exposure," the report said.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women avoid traveling to areas where the local mosquitoes may carry Zika. Men and women who do travel to areas with Zika, or who live in those areas, can also lower their risk of infection by using mosquito repellent to prevent mosquito bites (the primary way Zika is transmitted) and by using condoms during sex (because the virus can also be transmitted sexually). Doctors should also screen all pregnant women for exposure to the Zika virus.

The report is published today (April 4) in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Original article on Live Science.
Albany

Furthering a push to offer more home-based palliative services to Capital Region patients with serious illness, the Community Hospice and Eddy Visiting Nurse Association are expanding a program that integrates their services.

The organizations, both part of St. Peter's Health Partners, launched a $1.5 million fundraising effort over the weekend to support the hoped-for growth of Palliative Care Partners. The program extends the services of Community Hospice, which provides services at the end of life, usually in the hospital, and the Eddy VNA, which provides short-term services in people's homes after a hospital visit, said Michelle Mazzacco, vice president at the Eddy VNA.

Palliative care is focused on relieving patients of pain, stress and other symptoms, to enhance their quality of life while they struggle with illness. Hospice, which offers comfort to patients during the last six months of life, is one type of palliative care, but the services also can be provided at earlier stages of an advancing disease. Unlike hospice, Palliative Care Partners sends nurses, social workers and clergy when desired to the homes of patients who may be ill for years with diseases that will not improve, like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, congestive heart failure, amyotrophic laterals sclerosis or some types of cancer.

"Our teams often find that they're dealing with patients and families at a time of crisis," Mazzacco said of Community Hospice and Eddy VNA. "We are really saying, they need us so much earlier than this."

Palliative Care Partners will strive to integrate the services of the other organizations, she said. That should enable better continuity of care when patients are transferred from their home to the hospital and back again.

The goal is to triple the 1,900 patients receiving palliative care through the Community Hospice and Eddy VNA, Mazzacco said.

Palliative care got a boost several years ago, after a 2014 National Academy of Medicine report linked the services to higher quality of life, better access to emotional and spiritual support, and overall well-being at death.

The Visiting Nurse Service of Northeastern New York, based in Schenectady, started a palliative care service several years ago called Care Choices targeted at the same kind of patients that Palliative Care Partners hopes to reach.

Care Choices got its start on donations, but is now billing private and government insurers for services, said Vernon Pertelle, senior director of the Visiting Nurse Service. The program provides care to about 70 patients at any time.

Mazzacco said about 25 percent of Palliative Care Partners' services are covered by patients' insurance.

chughes@timesunion.com  518-454-5417  @hughesclaire
Spa City man faces second DWI charge

SARATOGA SPRINGS  A city man was arrested and charged for a second time with driving while intoxicated early Sunday morning, police said.

Lakey McNeil, 35, was pulled over by police at 5:24 a.m. Sunday on Phila Street after he allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign and did not signal a turn. Officers administered a sobriety test that found he had a blood alcohol level of above the legal limit, and he was also cited for being in possession of marijuana, police said.

The DWI charge was elevated to a felony because McNeil has a prior DWI from 2008.

 Wendy Liberatore

Albany man admits burglarizing store

ALBANY  A city man pleaded guilty Monday to burglarizing a Central Avenue business, the District Attorney's office announced.

Bryant Yarbrough, 56, pleaded guilty to felony burglary before acting Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough.

On Jan. 23, 2016, Yarbrough threw a brick through the front window of One Stop Clothing, went inside and stole clothing and personal care products, prosecutors said.

Yarbrough pleaded guilty before jury selection began in his trial in Albany County Court. He faces up to 4 years in state prison when he is sentenced May 19.

 Staff report
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Student attendances rates at Laredo Independent School District have shown a slight improvement thus far this school year.

During the LISD school boards Student Services/Facility Committee meeting Monday, trustees received the attendance rates for the fourth six-week period for the 2016-17 school year.

LISD reported a 95.89 percent attendance rate districtwide, an improvement of .13 percentage points from last school year.

RELATED: Laredo City Council to discuss street musicians, snack trucks

Close to half of the districts elementary schools had a slight increase in attendance. The exceptions were Daiches, Heights, Tarver, Leyendecker, Macdonell, Milton, Alma Pierce and Santo Nino elementary schools.

All of LISDs middle schools had an increase in attendance rates.

Martin and Cigarroa were the two high schools to have a dip in attendance.

Perfect attendance

LISD said it had about 10,450 students, or 43.5 percent of its student population, achieve perfect attendance during the fourth-six week period.

Of those, about 7,770 were elementary school students, 1,460 were middle school students and 1,230 were high school students.

LISD had 5,250 students, or 22 percent, achieve cumulative perfect attendance, or perfect attendance from the beginning of the school year. Of those, 4,293 were elementary school students, 543 were middle school students and 414 were high school students.

Maggie Martinez, LISD executive director of student services, said the increased monitoring in attendance led to an improvement in the districts attendance rates. The increased monitoring entails more home visits and conversations with parents on the importance of children attending school.

Click through the gallery above to see the best school districts in Texas for 2017.
A man known by the nickname of Obama landed behind bars recently for attacking a person with a hammer, according to Laredo police.

LPD identified Obama as Luis Enrique Saldivar, 19. On Friday, he was charged with aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Laredo police are warning the community of an ongoing scam that uses LPDs name to get money out of people, authorities said.

The scams unfolded Monday morning.

Weve been inundated with phone calls from people saying they received a call from Laredo police, said Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman.

Scammers tell people they have a warrant out for their arrest and that they need to take care of it, according to police.

One couple was told to buy $6,000 in Target gift cards. The couple then gave the gift card numbers over the phone to the assailants, Baeza said.

RELATED: Laredo police searching for man who allegedly ran out of store with $200 tablet in pants

There has been several citizens reporting of receiving phone calls from an existing LPD phone number  non-emergency, front desk, watch commanders office numbers  and being extorted of monies in lieu of a bogus arrest warrant, LPD posted on its Facebook.

The term is spoofing a phone number, generally untraceable. It is important that the public knows that the Laredo Police Department DOES NOT call people to avoid being arrested by requesting to pay a fine in gift cards over the phone.

Scammers are also giving people fake promises of lotto winnings.

One person reported he was told to give a woman $5,000 in advance to pay for taxes for millions of dollars he had supposedly won. It was fake, Baeza said.

The man consulted with police before making any transactions.

Click through the gallery above to see the 10 worst cities for phone scams.

Its hard to believe that people are being taken advantage of, but theres a market for this, Baeza said.

LPD reminds the community to not give out credit card numbers or go and buy pay as you go credit cards or gift cards. Furthermore, people should not transfer payments over the phone to people claiming to be with police, IRS or suspects threatening people with jail time if they dont pay a bogus fine.

Please share this with your family, and friends. Especially, if you have senior aged family members, tell them to never send out money or they will fall prey to these scammers. These are large scale organizations that most times are from overseas, LPD said via Facebook.
WASHINGTON - Carter Page, who served briefly as a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, made an appearance in a federal espionage case several years ago because he communicated with a Russian intelligence agent under surveillance by the FBI.

In a statement released Tuesday, Page confirmed his role in the 2015 Justice Department spy case, adding another twist to the still unfolding story of Donald Trump's peculiar and expanding ties to people connected to Russia.

Page said he assisted U.S. prosecutors in their case against Evgeny Buryakov, an undercover Kremlin agent posing then as a bank executive in New York. Buryakov was convicted of espionage and released from federal prison just last week, a few months short of completing a 30-month sentence. Buryakov agreed to be immediately deported to Russia.

Page's involvement was first disclosed Monday by Buzzfeed, which said Page was identified as "Male 1" in the Justice Department's complaint against Russian spy network based in New York.

In a written exchange with The Washington Post, Page confirmed playing a role in the case but declined to discuss details.

"Given the very light masking in the original document from January 2015, you can draw your own conclusions," Page wrote.

According to the court records, the FBI interviewed Page as part of the case against three Russian men identified as agents of the Russian overseas intelligence agency, the SVR. One of them, Buryakov, was operating undercover as an executive in the New York office of a Russian development bank, VneshEconomBank.

The case resurfaced in news accounts last week when President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, acknowledged he had met with the head of the same bank in December.

The complaint includes transcripts from 2013 of wiretapped conversations among the Russians discussing their efforts to recruit Male 1, identified as a New York energy trader whom the Russians described as willing to talk.

In his statement, Page compared the revelation of his role to "the politically-motivated unmasking standards seen in the Obama Administration which have recently been exposed."

He said the information was released as "retribution for my public positions of dissent" against Obama administration policy toward Russia. The information about his role in the case "amplified the reputational damage against me" that has occurred through 2016, Page said. After he was named by Trump, news stories discussed his travel to Russia and his frequent of criticism of U.S.policy towards Russia under Obama.

According to the 2015 complaint filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, Page met with a Russian agent, Victor Podobnyy, in January 2013 at an energy conference in New York. It says that from January to June of that year, Page as Male 1 "provided documents to [Podobnyy] about the energy business." At the time the Russians were seeking information on U.S. sanction and on energy development.

Although Page communicated with the Russian agents in 2013, he said the information he provided was innocuous.

"As I explained to federal authorities prior to the January 2015 filing of this case, I shared basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents" with the spy who was serving then as a junior attache at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.

"In doing so, I provided him nothing more than a few samples from the far more detailed lectures I was preparing at the time for the students in my Spring 2013 semester "Energy and the World: Politics, Markets and Technology" course which I taught on Saturdays at New York University.

During an interview with the Washington Post editorial page in March 2016, Trump identified Page, once a Merrill Lynch investment banker in Moscow, as a foreign policy adviser to his campaign.

But in January, after Page's name came up in news stories about Trump administration ties to Russia, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer declared that "Carter Page is an individual the president-elect does not know."

Page, a longtime energy executive, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who rose through the ranks at Merrill Lynch before founding his current firm, Global Energy Capital. He previously was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he focused on the Caspian Sea region and the economic development in former Soviet states. He is also a fellow at the Center for National Policy in Washington and has a PhD from the University of London.

He made a speech in Moscow in July 2016 that included some criticism of U.S. policy.

The White House has energetically rejected the idea that Trump or his allies coordinated with Russia during the election. The president has said investigators and the public should focus instead on leaking of information and reports that he and his advisers were improperly surveilled by the Obama administration.

"The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers," Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Page has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he would like to tell his story to congressional investigators looking at Russian government efforts to influence the course of the 2016 election and the leak of information about that effort.

"I very much look forward to providing further evidence regarding last year's historic crimes committed against me and all Americans," Page said.
Rice University has named James Tate, chief of police at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, as its new chief of police and director of public safety, effective May 1.

"During his nearly 30 years in law enforcement, James has served as a city, military and university police officer," Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby said. "He also built the University of St. Thomas Police Department from scratch, which reflects his leadership and collaborative skills. That breadth of experience and skill set made him the ideal candidate to oversee the Rice University Police Department and build upon the success that Chief Johnny Whitehead had in strengthening the department before his retirement."

Tate said Whitehead befriended him three years ago and served as a mentor after learning that Tate was tasked with building the University of St. Thomas' campus security service into a full-fledged police department. "When I talked to people at Johnny's retirement reception, I saw how much they respected Johnny and the police department, and I realized at that point that Rice was someplace where I could thrive," Tate said.

He began his career in law enforcement in 1988 as a police officer for the city of Jonesboro, Ark., which is about 80 miles from his hometown of Marianna. "I've always had a sense of service to the community," Tate said, "and law enforcement is a very noble profession. At heart, I care for my community. If I can help make a community safe and be there for folks who need help or are not able to fend for themselves, I think that's a great thing to do."

In 1993 Tate joined the U.S. Army National Guard as a first lieutenant and worked his way up to lieutenant colonel, a position in which he oversaw the deployment and redeployment operations for 2,500 soldiers. During a major power outage in St. Louis, he supervised National Guard relief efforts and provided 700 military police officers to the city. While a member of the National Guard, Tate earned a bachelor of science in liberal studies from Regents College in Albany, N.Y., and attended U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He retired as lieutenant colonel in 2010.

Before becoming chief of police at the University of St. Thomas in 2014, Tate served as a police officer for the University of Arkansas Police Department in Fayetteville and then as a patrol captain and assistant chief of police for the Lamar University Police Department in Beaumont, Texas.

"University police departments really lend themselves to the concept of community policing," Tate said. "They're not like working for the city or county, where you go from call to call to call. You have an opportunity to have a genuine partnership with students, staff and faculty. Community policing builds trust and credibility between the police department and the community we serve. You learn so much more about whom you're serving and working with, and they learn more about us and appreciate that sometimes our officers are in difficult situations and have to make decisions very quickly. When the community can sort of put themselves in your shoes, it's a win-win for the police department and the community."

At St. Thomas, a private Catholic university with an enrollment of 3,700 students, 14 percent of whom live in campus residential facilities, Tate had to write job descriptions and policies for a university that never had a police department. He also had to educate the community about how they could benefit from having campus police. While one of his newly hired officers was in training, Tate helped patrol campus and captured two armed-robbery suspects after a student reported seeing them in response to an emergency alert that Tate issued.

A 90-minute training session on surviving an active shooter that Tate developed for the university president and cabinet was so successful that the president mandated that all full-time employees receive the training. "It's very effective," Tate said. "People understand what they have to do if they're in an active-shooter situation."

In addition to building the department to its current staff of nine officers plus administrative support, Tate established relationships with local, state, federal and international agencies. He's a member of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, the Houston Area Police Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and a board member of the Houston chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

He will maintain that network at RUPD, which he considers to be "a professional police department that is well-staffed and well-equipped." He hopes to expand its community outreach program by adding a "coffee with the chief" program that will give students, staff and faculty an opportunity to meet with him in an informal setting to talk about various issues and provide ideas on how RUPD might better serve the community.

Kirby noted that Tate is inheriting a "very high-functioning" police department that is fully staffed and has received kudos for arresting suspects while they were still on or nearby campus in a couple of recent cases. The department just received national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.

"I'd like to thank Capt. Clemente Rodriguez for serving admirably as interim chief of police since February while we conducted the national job search for Chief Whitehead's successor and commend RUPD for their hard work and recent successes with arrests," Kirby said.

RUPD currently has a team of one chief of police, two captains, seven sergeants, 21 officers and nine dispatchers, along with staff for security, parking enforcement and administrative support. Rice Emergency Medical Services is also part of RUPD.
A road trip can create an opportunity to see things you have not seen before.

That's what happened to my friend Paula Whitaker in 2007. Still wrestling with the grief over the death of her only son Ryan in January of that year, Paula and her husband Ken set out on a road trip for a change of scenery.

She got more than she expected. As they near the Chattanooga airport a large cross appeared on the horizon. The sight overwhelmed her with emotion and she asked her husband to take an exit so they could go near the cross.

Once there, she and Ken stayed for more than an hour as they found inspiration and comfort at the foot of the cross where she could feel the presence of God in her life. She felt better than she had in months.

The trip itinerary took them next through Pigeon Forge. You may think of Dollywood when you think of Pigeon Forge. But now Paul thinks of a cross. Because as they neared their destination they saw another large cross overlooking that city. Once again she was overwhelmed by the sight and found herself amazed that they would encounter two crosses on this trip.

The amazement would not end there. They moved north to Asheville, N.C. Want to guess what they saw? That's right, another cross. By now Paula sensed that God was giving her a sign pointing to something she could do in memory of her son. Three crosses in three days had inspired her. No doubt a cross could inspire others too.

Paula returned to her hometown of Tomball, Texas, and began working on a plan. She set up the Ryan Paul Whitaker Memorial Foundation with the purpose of giving glory to God. She says, "I always thought Ryan would be in the work of Ministry for the Lord, but little did I know that it would be after his death."

By December of 2007 Paula had contacted the builder of the crosses she had seen on her road trip. James Potter of Tennessee had constructed 31 crosses around America at that time. (The count is now at 50.) They began to discuss the possibility of building a cross in Tomball.

Then, in the fall of 2015, Paula sensed God telling her that 2016 would be the right time to move forward in the building of the Tomball cross. She had often envisioned the cross somewhere along Hwy. 249 where people could see it when either entering or exiting the city.

That vision has now become a reality. On March 22, 2017 the cross was erected on the campus of River of Praise church, although the cross is independent of the church. Near the Grand Parkway and Highway 249, thousands of motorists will pass by the cross on a daily basis.

And you can too. The cross will be dedicated on April 9 - Palm Sunday - at 6:30 p.m. on the campus of River of Praise Church (13215 Boudreaux Estates Drive, Tomball, TX 77377) in an event open to the public.

That means you are invited. Who knows? An early evening road trip on Palm Sunday might create an opportunity for you to see things you have not seen before.

Read more from Rick Brown at www.rickbrown1Life2Love.com.
Deogratias Nizigiyimana, or Deo, as many refer to him, is an African immigrant happy to call Fort Bend County and Texas State Technical College home.

He is a Precision Machining Technology instructor at Texas State Technical College and brings to the table a vast background of experience in his field.

Nizigiyimana is a graduate from North Central Texas College. He earned an associate degree in machining in 2005 and immediately landed his first job, an achievement that he once thought was out of reach.

Nizigiyimana finished high school in his hometown of Burundi in East Africa and traveled to Congo for college, but when the war started his education was put on hold.

"We couldn't stay in the country and my only other choice was the United States," he said. "I was scared, I didn't want to come to the U.S. because I didn't know any English."

With help from the United Nations, Nizigiyimana made the journey to the U.S. in 2000 and struggled to get an education while working odd jobs. "I had to pay for college by myself, I had no help," said Nizigiyimana. "I was an international student and I didn't get any financial aid or scholarships. It was hard, but I wanted an education more than anything."

Fast forward to the present and Nizigiyimana is a college graduate hoping to inspire those he now teaches.

He gained his experience working at several machines shops, including National Oilwell Varco, but he finally found his passion at General Electric.

"I started as a trainee at GE," he said. "But because I had so much field experience I was always helping others. Many suggested I should become a teacher. I thought they were crazy."

After giving it some thought Nizigiyimana said he actually began considering the career change, and when he got laid off in 2014 he pursued higher education and became a machining instructor at a local Houston college.

"I told myself I would only teach until I found another machine shop to work at," he said. "That's obviously not the case. It turns out I love to teach."

When Nizigiyimana heard about the new campus TSTC was building in Rosenberg he knew it was sign.

"I was looking for a full-time instructor job and there was TSTC with open doors," said Nizigiyimana. "I saw the opportunity and I took it."

Nizigiyimana said he hopes to use his experiences, good and bad, as teachable moments for his students. He added that he will train each student so that they are ready for the workforce and give them a solid foundation.

"I hope to teach my classes everything I have learned," he said. "They will learn how to be great, professional machinists and be able to jump into the workforce and be an asset to their company."

Nizigiyimana said he eventually wants to go back to school to pursue a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering. In the meantime, he is enjoying watching his two children grow, spending time with his wife, visiting family and friends and exploring Houston.

For more information on Precision Machining Technology call 346-239-3444 or visit tstc.edu.
Art students from two local schools were invited to construct large-scale art projects for the 12th annual Woodlands Waterway Festival on April 7-9.

Their unconventional canvases? Two 8-foot tall steel storage containers.

The roughly 1,800-pound PODS, donated by PODS Houston, have been given to the Waterway Festival for the last few years, but this is the first year that two schools have been given this opportunity. Students from the John Cooper School in The Woodlands and Gerald D. Irons, Sr. Junior High School in Conroe were chosen to participate in this year's PODS Art Project.

The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival events director Kaylene Barton said the goal is to further incorporate local schools from Montgomery County and the surrounding areas in the arts.

"It gives the students a large collaborative project and gives them the opportunity to create that project from the very start and see it all the way through," Barton said. "It becomes a project that every student puts their heart and soul into."

Irons Junior High School art teacher Roberta Willeford said the students who worked on the PODS Art Project, titled "Celebrate the Arts - Live Outside the Lines," were the Irons Artists at Work club, which includes Kylie Weeks, Kimberly McGhee, Jennifer Berg, Abigail Daley, Mereiedi Dunn, Jillian Duong and Hope Regester.

The artists chose to incorporate an interactive coloring book theme to their project, where the storage container acts as the coloring book, showing a celebration of all arts, including visual, theater, dance and music. During the festival, attendees will be encouraged to color in and help complete the coloring book painted on the side of the container.

"This project allows students of other schools to see what other schools are working on and what community involvement looks like," Willeford said. "I really hope people take it as an opportunity to see that students from all across the board have a lot to offer artistically-not just high school students but junior high students. It's something to tie everybody together in the community."

At John Cooper School, students from the Cooper Art Society and National Arts Honor Society worked on the PODS Art Project. Students involved in the project include Madison Scott, Jessie Brown, Olivia Swanbeck, Andrea Perez Florez, Magnus Haarseth, Teresa Lyons, Kaitlyn Harris, Obie Amudo, Colleen Skinner, Jessie Brown, Nina Rivela, Gina Valderrama, Divya Wagh, Neil Bogenrieder and Issac Drickhamer.

Sophomore Olivia Swanbeck is a member of both societies and was a big part of the PODS Art Project. Swanbeck typically works with sculptures as her preferred medium and often incorporates spray paint into her work. Her experience with spray paint, plus the hours she spent working after school on the project, made her an essential part of the John Cooper School team.

"Spray paint is its own layer, it's not acrylic or anything, it doesn't attach itself to the black paint (base), it's a new layer," Swanbeck said. "I think spray paint can get a bit more vibrant colors  whereas if you got a regular paint you'd have to work a bit harder for the vibrancy."

The art students chose an abstract design for the storage containers, titled "Compositionally Embellished," using a plethora of vibrant and warm hues and geometric shapes. John Cooper School art teacher Jamila Musa Carr said teachers and students created large stencils for much of the project and wanted to work with bright colors to represent spring.

"The kids are really excited to have their work displayed," Carr said. "This is a huge growing and learning process for them, to have their design shown on at a large-scale event."

PODS from both schools will be featured during the three-day Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival on April 7-9, at The Woodlands Town Center on 2099 Lake Robbins Drive. The PODS can be found in the Artopoly West and Watercolor Terrace areas of the festival. To purchase tickets for the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival, go online to woodlandsartscouncil.org/shop.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SACRAMENTO  California took another step Monday toward a showdown with the Trump administration over sanctuary policies when the state Senate approved a bill that would prohibit local police officers and sheriffs deputies throughout the state from enforcing federal immigration laws.

The bill essentially would force all city and county law enforcement departments to follow the type of sanctuary policies that many of the more liberal cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, embrace. The legislation passed the Senate with a 27-12 vote and now heads to the Assembly.

This is about making our communities safer, not less safe, said Senate President Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, author of SB54. De Leon said Trumps policies have caused fear in immigrant communities to such a degree that some people are afraid to report crimes.

De Leon said the bill requires the state to protect its immigrant communities and would ensure that people living in the country without documentation know they can call police to report a crime or take their children to school without fear of being deported.

SB54 would bar police agencies from enforcing immigration laws, including arresting or detaining people in the country without documentation for immigration violations unless a judge issues a warrant. The agencies would be prohibited from asking about someones immigration status or providing information to federal immigration officers.

The bill also would prohibit local law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on task forces, such as on drug and human trafficking cases, if the primary focus is immigration enforcement.

Lawmakers made several amendments to make the bill more palatable to police agencies, including a provision allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE before a felon convicted of a serious or violent crime is released from prison or jail so the person can be deported.

The action comes as the Trump administration hardens the countrys policies on illegal immigration, which includes beefing up border security and immigration enforcement. Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said states and cities with sanctuary policies will lose federal Department of Justice funding.

The tough talk is all rhetoric coming out of Washington, de Leon said. We are going to be punished or they will strike back at us? We are the great state of California. We dont grovel or put our hand out so we can get a little budget money so we can buy a police car.

But state Republican lawmakers lashed out at Democrats over SB54, saying the majority party is putting California at risk of losing billions in federal funding by antagonizing the president and that the bill will put residents in danger by allowing criminals to remain in the state.

Dont get caught up with I hate Trump fever, said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-San Diego, as he urged lawmakers to oppose the bill. SB54 is the wrong direction.

Democrats, who have a supermajority control of both houses of the Legislature, pointed out that studies have shown that immigrants, including those living in the country without documentation, commit crimes at lower rates than people born in the country.

Last week, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye criticized federal immigration officials for conducting raids at courthouses, saying it would have a chilling effect in communities as people worry they cant seek protection because they will see the court as a bad place. And I worry that crimes will go unreported and communities will live in fear.

De Leon said the Senate met with its outside legal counsel, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and is confident that the state has a strong legal basis to move forward with the statewide policy.

The gun-to-the-head method to force resistant cities and counties to participate in Trumps inhumane and counterproductive mass deportations is unconstitutional and will fail, he said.

Before the vote, lawmakers introduced the family of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, who was taken into custody by U.S. immigration agents in February while driving his daughter to school in Los Angeles. Avelica-Gonzalezs arrest made national headlines after his 13-year-old daughter recorded it on her cell phone between sobs.

This bill is about people who are just trying to live their lives; people who are living in fear because of the political atmosphere, said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. People who need to be able to trust their government.

Republicans gave their own examples, including the 2015 shooting death of Kathryn Steinle along San Franciscos Pier 14. Steinles alleged assailant was a man who was not authorized to be in the country and had been released despite immigration officials requesting the city hold him.

Im not saying an illegal alien is more likely to commit a crime, said Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula (Riverside County). What I am saying is that an illegal alien who commits serious and violent crimes should not be protected the way this law would protect them.

The Senate also approved SB6 by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, which would create a $12 million state-funded program where the state would pay for lawyers at nonprofit organizations to represent people facing deportation. People who have been convicted of a violent felony would not be eligible for the free legal services. SB6 passed 27-10 and now heads to the Assembly.

Supporters of the bill say immigrants who have an attorney representing them in deportation cases are three times more likely to win the right to remain in the country.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
How often have you tried to ignore an ache or pain by telling yourself, Maybe if I do nothing, itll go away. Sometimes, that works. But wishful thinking isnt the best way to take care of yourself.

Medicare has put a new emphasis on preventive health care.

A few years ago, Medicare mostly concerned itself with paying for your treatment after you got sick. Now, its also focused on helping you stay healthy and avoid diseases and illnesses in the first place.

People with Medicare are entitled to a broad range of exams, lab tests and screenings to detect health problems early, when theyre most treatable or curable. Many now come at no out-of-pocket cost.

Many immunizations are also free.

To make sure you get started on the right foot, Medicare covers a welcome to Medicare visit with your physician during the first 12 months youre enrolled in the Part B medical insurance program.

Your doctor will evaluate your health, discuss any preventive services you may need, like shots or screenings, and make referrals for more care if required. Theres no out-of-pocket cost.

You can make the most of your visit by coming prepared. That means bringing a complete list of your prescriptions, your family health history and your medical records, including immunizations.

Medicare also pays for an annual wellness visit with your primary care doctor. This isnt the same as an annual physical, since it isnt a head-to-toe examination. But it does provide the same opportunity to discuss your health.

Your doctor will develop a personalized prevention plan to keep you healthy. The visit also includes a review of your medications and routine measurements, like your height, weight, blood pressure and body mass index.

More than 40 million older Americans with Medicare - including 2.6 million Texans -- received at least one preventive service at no cost to them last year.

Heres a rundown of some of these services:

-- Cardiovascular screenings check cholesterol and other blood fat levels. Medicare pays for the test once every five years.

-- Blood sugar screenings can determine whether you have diabetes. Based on your health, you may be eligible for up to two screenings each year.

-- Mammograms check for breast cancer. Medicare covers a screening every 12 months for women 40 and older and one baseline mammogram for women 35 to 39.

-- Medicare typically pays for a flu shot once every flu season, a pneumonia vaccination and, if youre at medium to high risk, a hepatitis B shot.

-- Colonoscopies can find precancerous growths early. Medicare covers the screenings once every 10 years or, if youre at high risk, once every two years. You pay nothing for the test itself. If your physician removes a polyp, you may need to pay 20 percent of the Medicare-approved amount for the doctors services and a copayment for the outpatient setting.

-- Prostate cancer screenings include a yearly PSA test and digital rectal exam for men 50 and older. The PSA test is free. You pay 20 percent of the cost for the rectal exam, after meeting your deductible.

-- Medicare pays for one depression screening per year. The screening must be done in a primary-care setting, like a doctors office, that can provide follow-up treatment and referrals.

-- If youre a smoker, you qualify for eight free counseling sessions each year to help you quit.

-- Likewise, if youre obese with a body mass index of 30 or higher, you may be eligible for free counseling sessions to help you lose weight.

-- Medicare pays for HIV screening for people at increased risk for the virus, people who ask for the test, or pregnant women. Medicare covers the test once every year or up to three times during a pregnancy.

Keeping up-to-date with screenings and immunizations is important, so Medicare encourages you to visit mymedicare.gov and register. There, you can see a description of your covered preventive services, the last date you had a particular test and the next date you qualify for it again.

By eliminating the out-of-pocket costs for many screenings and tests, Medicares new emphasis on prevention not only can save you money, it can help you take control of your health.

It may even help save your life.

---

Bob Moos is Southwest public affairs officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
One day after a veteran lawman was fatally gunned down, former Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has been placed under armed protection as new details emerged about the brazen daytime attack.

Police have not yet identified any suspects and wouldn't offer specifics about why Anderson or other friends and former colleagues of slain peace officer Clint Greenwood have been offered security.

"It's horrifying," Anderson said Tuesday, of Monday's shooting of the former prosecutor who previously headed the DA's public integrity unit, which investigated police misconduct.

Less than a week before Greenwood was killed, he told county officials he felt threatened by a man he'd once targeted in a corruption investigation while he worked at the district attorney's office.

Funeral arrangements for Clint Greenwood Funeral arrangements have been set for slain lawman Clint Greenwood, assistant chief deputy in the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office. A public funeral will be held Thursday at Second Baptist Church Houston, 6400 Woodway Dr. Visitation for Greenwood's family will begin at 9 a.m. Public visitation will begin at 10 a.m., with the service scheduled for 11 a.m. There will not be any public burial, according to the constable's office. See More Collapse

"If somebody's brazen enough to take an officer's life, there obviously would be a little concern for the family [and friends] as well," said Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris, referring to the extra protection as "precautionary."

The killer remained at large late Tuesday despite an intense investigation by state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. Sources said investigators were looking at several possible suspects who may have dealings with and grievances against Greenwood in the past.

Baytown police - who are leading the investigation - released a video Tuesday afternoon showing a suspect walking in the area of the shooting. Authorities described him as a white or Hispanic man, about 6-foot to 6-foot-3, with short hair and a medium to stocky build.

A public funeral service for the lawman will be held Thursday at Second Baptist Church Houston, 6400 Woodway Dr. Public visitation is set for 10 a.m., followed by the service at 11 a.m.

THE VICTIM: Things to know about Clint Greenwood, the officer shot and killed in Baytown

Dozens of people gathered Tuesday evening for a candlelight vigil at the Baytown courthouse annex in the 700 block of Baker Road, where Greenwood was shot. Earlier, a Back the Blue convoy drove to the courthouse to support Greenwood and other law enforcement officers.

A law enforcement task force working to solve Monday's murder is hoping the combination of a $65,000 reward for information about those responsible for the shooting and surveillance footage will help them identify the shooter.

"It's a hit, no doubt," said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. "He basically got ambushed."

When responding officers arrived at the scene, Greenwood was still standing by his vehicle, holding the wound on his neck and pointing in the direction the gunman fled. He was taken by LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

A law enforcement task force working to solve Monday's murder are hoping the combination of a $65,000 reward of Greenwood and surveillance will help them identify the shooter.

Greenwood, 57, a former law enforcement officer and prosecutor who started work in January as an assistant chief deputy constable in Precinct 3.

"It's a hit, no doubt," said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. "He basically got ambushed."

REMEMBERED: Slain constable remembered as "cop's cop"

Greenwood, 57, a former lawyer, law enforcement officer and prosecutor, started work in January as an assistant chief deputy constable in Precinct 3.

Greenwood spent much of his professional life working with law enforcement misconduct - as a defense attorney representing officers, as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office or heading internal affairs investigations for the sheriff's office.

At the Precinct 3 constable's office, he had put together field training and use-of-force manuals.

MOURNING: Houston PD changes its profile picture in wake of officer's death

On Tuesday morning, police said they were pursuing leads and following up on the few tips that had come in.

"We're getting a few here and there," Dorris said.

Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and charge of the gunman. Gov. Greg Abbott's office offered an additional $15,000 reward. Anyone with information is asked to call 713-222-TIPS.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Jack D. Young, the 20-year-old truck driver involved in last week's bus crash in Uvalde County that resulted in 13 deaths, was released from University Hospital Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed.

DPS Sgt. Johnny Hernandez told mySA.com Young was released Tuesday and whether the 20-year-old will face charges for the crash remains "under investigation," he said. Hernandez did not know if Young was released conditionally or what the scope of his injuries were.

Elizabeth Allen, University Health System spokeswoman, confirmed Young was released but could not provide additional information on his injuries.

RELATED: Video: Erratic driver swerves on Texas highway moments before striking church bus, killing 13

Young, a Leakey resident, was identified as the driver of the truck involved in a bus crash on U.S. 83 near Garner State Park on March 29 by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Jody Kuchler, who was one of the first people on the scene, said Young told him just after the crash: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting on my phone."

"I told him. 'Son, do you know what you just did?' He just kept saying, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry,'" recalled Kuchler, 55.

RELATED: Officials release names of victims in fatal bus crash near Garner State Park

Federal investigators have collected cellphone records, air bag deployment data and video in their investigation.

National Transportation Safety Board Investigator Jennifer Morrison said Monday the investigation could take up to a year to complete. Morrison says a preliminary report that will not include a cause or safety recommendation could be issued within a month.

A message left at University Hospital was not immediately returned. Employees at the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office were at lunch and unavailable to comment.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A former San Antonio police chief hired by the defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Marquise Jones told a jury Tuesday that there was absolutely no cover-up in the internal San Antonio Police Department investigation of the officer-involved shooting.

There was no-cover up, in my opinion," said Albert Ortiz, who was hired by the city of San Antonio as an expert witness and owns a consulting business. I feel very confident that the district attorney's office would have caught any of those attempts.

Additionally, Ortiz said, if officers were trying to cover up wrongdoing on behalf of San Antonio police officer Robert Encina, they would not have placed the gun police claim Jones was carrying 25 feet from his body.

That would be a horrible cover-up, Ortiz said on the seventh day of the trial. It would seem to me that the best place to place (the gun) would be next to the body.

Ortiz said he was not concerned about missing information and inconsistencies in the police departments narrative of events, namely that witnesses have different versions of how the officer-involved shooting unfolded on Feb. 28, 2014, and that a DNA and fingerprinting test was ordered two years after the incident.

That information wasn't the only aspect of the investigation that I relied on, Ortiz said. "Witnesses change statements  It's confounding to investigators but it happens all the time."

Later in the morning, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus took the stand for the second time, backtracking on a statement he made in his 2016 deposition.

Then, McManus said Encina would not be justified in using deadly force if Jones was not carrying a gun.

I dont know what I (was) thinking when I said that, but thats not correct, McManus said Tuesday.

The lawyers for Encina and the city completed their defense Tuesday. Closing arguments will begin Wednesday, then the jury will deliberate.

Jones was shot in the back by Encina on Feb. 28, 2014, after he exited a car in the drive-thru lane of Chachos and Chaluccis restaurant on the Northeast Side.

Jones family filed the lawsuit, which asks for an unspecified amount of money, claiming 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, and that that failure led to Jones death. Jones was African-American.

They also claim there were a number of inconsistencies in the case that detectives failed to properly investigate.

On Monday, Ortiz testified that the shooting was justified.

An officer is not required to wait until someone raises a weapon at you to use deadly force, said Ortiz, who created SAPDs team that investigates officer-involved shootings. We dont create those situations. We react to the situations that are presented to us.

Ortiz also said its not uncommon for witnesses to have different accounts of a traumatic event.

To this day, I dont think anyone knows exactly what happened, Ortiz said. Thats common. If someone came in here right now and shot someone, there would be 30 different stories.

eeaton@express-news.net

Twitter: @emilieeaton
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Seguin school trustees are launching their search for a successor to Stetson Roane, who resigned as superintendent in February in the wake of a sexual harassment complaint by a fellow employee, district records released Monday show.

Roane denied the allegations Tuesday though his lawyer, Tony Conners, who said his client had passed a polygraph exam administered as part of an investigation by the Seguin Independent School District.

Its a classic he-said, she-said that ended up being resolved by him moving on, said Conners, noting information about the complaint was to be kept secret under the terms of the districts separation agreement with Roane.

The end of Roanes tumultuous tenure at Seguin ISD came after four new members were elected to its board in November, backed by a political action committee aligned against him.

The filing of the complaint against him by an unnamed coworker on Jan. 26 appears have to sealed his fate.

Trustees put Roane on paid administrative leave Jan. 30 and, less than a month later, approved a separation agreement that pays him $99,500. The district also agreed to pay about $40,000 to his wife, Denise Roane. Shes on leave from her administrative post with the district through the end of the school year.

At the end of the day it was a contested case and the district didnt move forward on the allegations of sexual harassment and did not make any reports of misconduct, Conners said. They dont hand out money if they have an airtight case.

He and TIger Hanner, the attorney for the complainant, both expressed disappointment that her allegations have garnered headlines.

This situation has been extremely emotional for my client, said Hanner on Tuesday. We were hoping the district and everybody could move on with minimal publicity.

Conners said, Mr Roane was hoping that everything would move on, but now its unraveling because all of the information we agreed to keep confidential has been disclosed.

Interviews with superintendent search firms are on the agenda of todays 6:30 p.m. meeting of the school board, which last week named as interim superintendent Bill Lewis.

I am honored to have been selected interim and I do not take this responsibility lightly, Lewis, a district employee since 2007 who became assistant superintendent in 2014, said in a prepared statement.

District trustees and its spokesman, Sean Hoffmann, have declined to discuss the allegations against Roane, who was hired in July 2015. The harassment complaint came to light as a result of a local media outlets request for the internal investigative report on it.

Chris Schulz, the districts lawyer, in a March 22 letter seeking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons permission to withhold the report from release, cited the nature of the complaint  sexual harassment  as a recognized public disclosure exception under the law.

Names and other possible identifiers of the complainant and witnesses were redacted from Schulzs letter, which was released to the Express-News on Monday, but it revealed the complaint stemmed from events at a conference the complainant and Roane attended.

The separation pact made public last month shows Roane agreed to release trustees and district employees from all claims, including for breach of contract. The district likewise agreed not to include negative remarks in his file or report the allegations it investigated to the Texas Education Agency or any state or local agency.

The pact also limits disclosures the district can make concerning the complaint, and bars either side from making disparaging remarks about the other.

zeke@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For four years, San Antonio City Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales has presided over District 5, an exclusively urban area that is densely populated and has long been challenged by high poverty rates, aging infrastructure and crime.

Gonzales said shes acutely aware of those needs and hopes voters will elect her to a third term in the May 6 municipal election so she can continue tackling those issues. She has steadily urged the city to invest more in urban streets and sidewalks. She continues to push for more public safety resources.

While Gonzales reports making some significant strides in her first two terms, some of her challengers say District 5 hasnt shown enough progress.

Gonzales, 44, the owner of longtime West Side business Bills Pawn & Jewelry, faces five opponents in next months election. They are Cynthia T. Cavazos, 45, a hotel housekeeper and a social services coordinator for A Mission of Gods Love; immigration attorney David C. Yanez, 50; Richard Montez, 30, a recruiter at FlexTech; Daniel Lopez Jr., 20, the owner of a newly established construction company, and Dolores Sotomayor, 58, who was until recently the interim president of Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association.

More Information District 5 City Council candidates Shirley Gonzales Age: 44 Occupation: Elected official, District 5 incumbent since 2013; owner of Bill's Pawn & Jewelry Education: MBA from St. Mary's University, 2000; bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in international business, St. Mary's University, 1995. Family: Married, two children Offices held: District 5 city councilwoman, 2013-present; previously held appointed positions on the city's Small Business Advisory Committee and the San Antonio Development Agency Cynthia T. Cavazos Age: 45 Occupation: Hotel housekeeper, social services coordinator at A Mission of God's Love Education: Some college Family: Single, five children Offices held: None David C. Yanez Age: 50 Occupation: Immigration attorney Education: Law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law, 2001; master's degree in city planning from University of Pennsylvania, 1996; bachelor's degree in political science and criminal justice from St. Mary's University, 1993. Family: Single, no children Offices held: None Richard Montez Age: 30 Occupation: Recruiter in human resources at tech company FlexTech Education: Bachelor's degree in political science from St. Mary's University, 2012 Family: Married, two children Offices held: None Daniel Lopez Jr. Age: 20 Occupation: Owner of Dan's Construction, a business started last year with his father Education: Some college; still pursuing a bachelor's degree in government from Liberty University Family: Single, no children Offices held: None Dolores Sotomayor Age: 58 Occupation: Volunteer; until recently, served as interim president of Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association Education: Some college Family: Divorced, six children Offices held: None See More Collapse

Yanez, Montez, Lopez and Sotomayor are first-time candidates. Cavazos has run for various public offices without success, including Texas governor in 2014 and San Antonio mayor in 2015.

All of District 5s turf sits inside of Loop 410, making it the citys most compact territory. Its boundaries extend northward to Culebra Road, southward toward West Southcross Boulevard and Quintana Road, westward to 39th Street and eastward to Interstate 35.

Gonzales knows her constituents demographics well and lists them quickly  93 percent of the district is low income, while 97 percent of its residents are Latinos, mostly Mexican-American.

She said a larger share or perhaps a majority of the citys infrastructure funds should go toward making improvements in urban areas like District 5 instead of dividing that money equally among all 10 council districts.

Our streets, because theyre some of the oldest in the city, dont get the attention that they deserve, Gonzales said recently. We still have many parts of our district that dont have sidewalks, that havent seen street improvements in 50 years. We seem to just not be able to get enough money to fund that.

Because of these concerns, Gonzales has opposed some of the citys annexation efforts.

We keep annexing and going further and further out, and so theres less attention paid to the urban areas, she said.

The citys proposed $850 million bond issue going before voters in the May 6 election includes funding for what Gonzales describes as some significant projects for District 5  a bridge over West Commerce Street, an overpass at Frio City Road and South Zarzamora Street to help drivers avoid railroad traffic.

Gonzales, who was first elected to City Council in 2013, launched the Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities after eight pedestrians were killed or seriously injured by vehicles in District 5 during her first eight months in office. That program was later adopted citywide.

She also secured an additional $3 million to put more street lights in dark neighborhoods. Her district was the first to get an Animal Care Services officer assigned solely to its jurisdiction to respond to reports of stray dogs.

While most of the other candidates did not criticize Gonzales specifically, several of them said District 5 needs to take bigger steps forward.

I think the conversation in our community has been stagnate for a long time, said Montez, a lifelong resident of the district. Weve talked a lot about streets and sidewalks and lighting for many, many years ... We need a broader, more comprehensive approach to solving some of the more pressing issues we face there  particularly poverty, hunger, homelessness.

I think its going to take the willpower of a council person to create collaborations between nonprofit organizations, between community advocates, between other council people, between the mayor, between the city manager, to find the political will to finally start to address some of the issues facing the district.

Montez believes the city hasnt worked closely enough with school districts to address young peoples needs. If elected, he plans to create a youth advisory board so the districts young residents have a voice.

He is also dissatisfied with the deteriorated conditions of some parks in District 5, which he said are not adequately funded. When he kicked off his campaign at Vidaurri Park on the West Side, he recalled, there was only one portable toilet and no working water fountains.

Montez serves as board chairman for the Inner City Development nonprofit on the West Side.

Yanez said District 5 continues to fall further behind while the rest of the city thrives. Both Yanez and Montez said the city needs to do a better job informing residents of its plans and step up efforts to get the publics input.

It seems some areas never got their curbs after 50 years, Yanez said. So I think we owe them something. Theyve paid their taxes ... It shouldnt be that way after this long.

You must have a cooperative nature with all the council people and (City Manager) Sheryl Sculley and say, Hey, lets make some plans, even if its a five- or 10-year plan. Put it on the list, let people know, Hey, youre going to get your sidewalks in 10 years. If it doesnt come through, then they have a way to complain.

Yanez also lamented the low number of banks on the commercial thoroughfares of West Commerce and Zarzamora streets. There is a BBVA Compass branch on South Zarzamora, but he said more banks are needed to stimulate interest and investment.

He called for pushing the corporate community to make bigger investments in the neighborhood.

Yanez has operated his own law practice for five years. He previously worked at Catholic Charities. Before that, he worked for former state senator Leticia Van de Putte.

Cavazos called Gonzales a good councilwoman, but argues the city spends too much money in other areas of town.

I think they need to start spending a little bit more money on District 5, Cavazos said. Not just District 5, but (Councilman Alan) Warricks district, as well as (Councilwoman Rebecca) Viagrans district. Those are the districts that have a lot more people at levels of poverty.

If adequate funding isnt allocated from the city budget to address District 5s infrastructure needs, Cavazos suggested the community could hold fundraisers.

Public records show Cavazos was convicted in Comal County in 2003 for driving while her license was invalid. An unrelated charge of misdemeanor assault filed against her in Bexar County in 1999 was quickly dismissed because of insufficient evidence, public records show. Cavazos said the latter charge was filed when she tried to protect herself from someone who was intoxicated.

She also tried to become a write-in candidate for U.S. President last year, but didnt get enough signatures or pay the fees to become certified as a properly filed write-in candidate.

Lopez, the youngest candidate, wants to improve the West Sides image. His main goals are to expand the districts economic system by bringing back local businesses; boosting education, such as creating pilot programs to help curb school dropout rates and teen pregnancies; and stabilizing the districts roads and drainage systems.

He also wants to ensure that VIA Metropolitan Transits bus stops remain free of cigarette smoke, although a city ordinance already prohibits smoking within 20 feet of bus stops.

Lopez argued that Gonzales focused too much on infrastructure and streets while other needs in District 5 went unaddressed.

Shes a good woman, a smart businesswoman, Lopez said. But I feel as if she hasnt really done much.

Both Lopez and Gonzales agree that the city needs to provide more support to VIA. Gonzales sided with District 4 City Councilman Rey Saldana last year in a failed bid to provide more supplemental funding to VIA that would have ultimately reached up to $10 million annually.

The city can do better when it comes to public transportation, Lopez said. Sometimes when Im driving down Commerce or Old Highway 90 ... I would see a lot of people at bus stops waiting, he said.

Lopez is the owner of Dans Construction, a business he started late last year with his father. He is also pursuing a bachelors degree.

Sotomayor said she is running because she is concerned about the poor conditions of some sidewalks, the lack of street lights and the prevalent crime in District 5.

She also wants to see a larger police presence throughout the district and the city.

If the city manager didnt get paid as much as she got paid, that money could go to someone who in reality does put their life on the line, Sotomayor said, referring to Sheryl Sculleys compensation, which amounts to $450,000 in base pay and could reach up to $100,000 in potential bonuses this year.

The first-time candidate also criticized Gonzales, the incumbent councilwoman. If she was doing a good job, I dont think five people would be running against her, Sotomayor said.

Sotomayor said she was arrested on two separate occasions years ago when she was going by the name Dolores Fragozo  once in the 1980s on what she described as a warrant for bad checks issued in Atascosa County and another time in Bexar County in 1991 for welfare fraud. She said she was not convicted in either case, but was placed on deferred adjudication and completed probation successfully. She denied being at fault in either case.

Sotomayor said she does volunteer work, but is not currently employed. My family helps me, she said.

While Sotomayor was critical of the city manager, the other candidates expressed differing views of Sculley.

Gonzales said she is satisfied with Sculleys job performance, but didnt support Sculleys most recent pay raise and wouldnt support any future raises.

Sheryls a very hard-working woman. Shes really good at her job. And she is paid handsomely to do that, the councilwoman said.

Montez said he values Sculleys expertise and thinks she has done a good job. But he also said City Council has been very weak and has lacked the backbone to stand up to Sculley.

Yanez believes Sculley is trying to apply a Phoenix model style of governing that he said may not work here, referring to the Arizona city where Sculley previously worked as an assistant city manager. She has not really connected to what San Antonio is, he said.

Lopez said Sculley is overpaid and argued the city manager hasnt been supportive of public safety, citing her stance during collective bargaining negotiations with the citys police and fire personnel.

Cavazos said she probably wouldnt remove Sculley from the city managers job if elected.

pohare@express-news.net
1

"Pido perdon, no me lo quito de la cabeza", dice el joven que bebido y drogado atropello y mato a un peaton en Aviles
If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option.
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said during an exclusive interview with China Daily that his country and the European Union will join President Xi Jinping in defending free trade. Xi will visit Finland from Tuesday to Thursday. Fu Jing / China Daily

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila has pledged that his country will join with China in advocating free trade and globalization, even as the concepts come under attack in some parts of the world.

"First of all, free trade is very important," Sipila said ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to Finland.

Sipila said from his office in downtown Helsinki that he has been preparing for the visit for some time and looking forward to it "very eagerly". He noted that both sides have "a lot of issues" to discuss.

Against the backdrop of the rising threats of isolationism and protectionism, he recalled that, at a recent European Council meeting, European leaders discussed the speech that Xi delivered in January at the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Xi will visit Finland from Tuesday to Thursday before meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Sipila said Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will focus on political and foreign affairs with Xi, while Sipila will focus on economic issues.

The prime minister said Xi's speech in Davos was encouraging because it supported free trade at a time when there was discussion in the United States about imposing trade barriers in an effort to protect US manufacturers.

"My understanding is that the president is flying to the US after his visit in Finland," he said. "For Europe and for Finland, it's also very important that China and the US have a very good relationship, and that free trade continues, because that affects us as well.

"I think it's in our common interests to continue free trade," Sipila said.

China's investment in Finland is increasing. Currently, according to the prime minister, Chinese companies are expected to invest about 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in each of two projects in the north of the country, and there are plans for investment in two biofactories. Sipila said that China and Finland were expected to sign investment agreements during Xi's trip, but details had not been finalized.

Tourism has also been increasing. The number of tourists from China has doubled in recent years because many Chinese people have developed an interest in seeing one of the fictional homelands of Santa Claus.

Sipila said Finland has a strong record of innovation at its universities and among its business start-ups, which could complement China's manufacturing capabilities, although he noted that China had also made major improvements in its indigenous innovation. Other areas of cooperation could be in biofuels, clean technology, green energy, metals and forestry, he added.

Some interests in Europe have viewed Chinese investment with suspicion, he noted, but Finland and the European Union have put no barriers in place to block Chinese investment.

"I am a friend of free trade, and without limitations. So, Finland is a supporter of free trade and investment flow," said Sipila.

Zheng Jinqiang in Brussels contributed to this story.
The US military has continued its increased targeting of al Qaedas network in Yemen, launching more that 20 airstrikes against the terrorist group over the weekend. The US has now launched more than 75 airstrikes in Yemen since the beginning of the year, already nearly double the yearly total since the drone program against al Qaeda in Yemen began in 2009.

According to data compiled by FDDs Long War Journal, the previous record number of airstrikes conducted by the US in Yemen in any one year was 41 in 2009.

The large number of strikes over a short period of time indicates the US has, under the Trump administration, changed its tactics in fighting AQAP in Yemen. The US military previously described AQAP as one of the most dangerous terrorist networks determined to strike US interests, yet it had been overly cautious in targeting the group. Over the previous five years, the US military averaged just two to three strikes against AQAP a month.

The precision airstrikes targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists, as well as the terrorists infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment, according to a news summary of an April 3 press conference held by Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.

The strikes, which were largely unmanned, according to Davis, took place in Shabwa province, a known hotbed for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

We continue to target AQAP in Yemen, and this is done in the interest of disrupting a terror organization that presents a very significant threat to the United States, Davis said.

According to the Pentagon, the US military has launched some 50 airstrikes between Feb. 28 and the end of last week, and an additional 20 strikes over the weekend.

The uptick in airstrikes in Yemen follows a controversial raid by US special operations forces against AQAP in Al Baydah province in January that was reported to have netted significant intelligence. One US Navy Seal, two senior AQAP leaders, and at least 13 civilians, including the eight year old daughter of slain radical AQAP cleric Anwar al Awlaki, were among those killed during the raid, which quickly evolved into a heavy firefight that also resulted in the loss of an Osprey aircraft.

Despite years of targeting AQAP, the group retained significant capacity. Early last month, Davis estimated AQAP maintains a strength in the low thousands, and that the group can skillfully exploit the disorder in Yemen to build its strength and reinvigorate its membership and training.

AQAP still controls rural areas of central and southern Yemen despite both attacks from the US and a United Arab Emirates-led ground offensive, which ejected the group from major cities and towns it held in mid-2016. AQAP claims to still operate training camps in Yemen to this day. In mid-July, AQAP touted its Hamza al Zinjibari Camp, where the group trains its special forces. Zinjibari was an AQAP military field commander who was killed in a US drone strike in Feb. 2016.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
 Longwood looks to bounce back from a three-game setback at Winthrop in Tuesday's NCAA Regional rematch against North Carolina. It will mark the third straight season that Longwood has squared off against the Tar Heels on the softball diamond, as the two teams met in Chapel Hill in 2015. Longwood and the Tar Heels met in Farmville during the 2016 regular season before playing twice in the NCAA Regional. Senior southpawbecame Longwood's all-time career strikeout leader and moved into the top 10 in Big South history in career punchouts, as Longwood dropped a pair of one run games in its Saturday doubleheader against Winthrop at Terry Field. Winthrop scored three runs in the seventh inning and erased a pair of Longwood two-run leads to earn the series win with a 5-4 victory, before taking the series sweep with a 3-2 win in the second game of the afternoon. Entering the day one strikeout shy of matching Briana Wells' 572 career strikeouts, McCarthy tied and passed her with a pair of strikeouts in the second inning. With the same strikeout the Dunnsville, Va., product passed Wells, McCarthy moved into the top 10 in career K's in the Big South record book. The win gives Winthrop its fourth straight win to help the Eagles move into second-place in the conference standings. With the three-game sweep, Winthrop becomes the first current Big South school to sweep the Lancers. North Carolina has won all four of its ACC conference series and enters Tuesday's game in second-place in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels enter Tuesday winning five of their last seven games and are currently hosting a nine-game homestand. Kendra Lynch leads North Carolina with a .415 batting average and 25 extra base hits, including 14 home runs. The Tar Heels are led in the circle by Brittany Pickett with a 2.28 ERA and a 14-1 mark in the circle.
President Xi's trip.

China and Finland will have more cooperation in areas including innovation, entrepreneurship, clean energy, bio-economy and arctic research, President Xi Jinping said in a signed newspaper article on Monday, ahead of his state visit to the Nordic country.

In the article published by the Helsinki Times, Xi said China and Finland have complementary economies and both sides have benefitted from cooperation.

"China's 13th Five-Year Plan dovetails with Vision: Finland 2025, promising exciting cooperation in such areas as innovation, entrepreneurship, clean energy, bio-economy and arctic research, to name just a few," Xi wrote.

The president will make a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday at the invitation of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. It will be Xi's first visit to Northern Europe as China's head of state.

China welcomes Finland to take an active part in the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said. The Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, aims to revive the ancient land and maritime trade routes of the Silk Road.

Xi pointed out that China and Finland are working to build a future-oriented, new-type cooperative partnership, which he said provides tremendous opportunities for expanding bilateral ties.

"China has all along approached our ties from a strategic and long-term perspective and pursued common development on the basis of win-win cooperation, equality and mutual respect," he said.

Noting that this year marks the centenary of Finland's independence, Xi said that due to similar experiences in the two countries' modern history, the Finnish sense of national pride has strong resonance among the Chinese people.

The China-Finland relationship has been able to grow on a solid foundation, setting an example for peaceful coexistence and friendly exchanges between the two countries that are different in size, culture and development level, he added.

Finland was among the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China after 1949 and the first Western nation to sign an intergovernmental trade agreement with China. China has remained Finland's largest trading partner in Asia for the past 14 years.

Noting that it will be his first visit to the Nordic region as Chinese president, Xi said the exchanges and cooperation between China and Nordic countries in various fields are blossoming, which "will be a contributing factor to European prosperity and China-Europe relations".

"China is of the view that European integration is consistent with the trend of history, and a prosperous and stable Europe is conducive to world peace and development," he said.

After the state visit to Finland, Xi will travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday and Friday.

On Sunday, State Councilor Yang Jiechi said in a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the meeting between Xi and Trump will be the most important event in current Sino-US relations.






A 15th-century blue-and-white jar fetched HK$158 million ($20 million) at a Hong Kong auction last year. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Auctioneers must improve integrity to move up to the next level. Lin Qi reports.

Last year, China took the largest share of the market in global sales of art and antiques at open auctions. However, if one adds up transactions at auctions and through dealers and galleries, China ranked third by value, after the United States and the United Kingdom, according to a recent report.

The first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report said Chinese auction sales accounted for 34 percent of the world total by value, exceeding the US, which recorded 32 percent, and Britain, which had 18 percent.

However, China falls behind those countries when the bigger art industry picture is taken into consideration, because deals are also made by dealers and galleries at sales exhibitions and art fairs, as well as via expanding online sales.

The report said the US maintains the premier position. It accounts for 40 percent of global share by value, followed by the UK with 21 percent and China with 20 percent.

It also said the global art market generated $56.6 billion in total sales, and the top three marketsthe US, UK and Chinacemented a combined dominant position that has endured for a decade.

The report was published by Art Basel, an international art fair, and UBS during the fifth Art Basel Hong Kong event, held from March 23 to 25. It navigates the current trends in the global art and antiques trade, and analyzes the performances of auction houses, dealers and online sales.

The report was written by Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a researcher and consultancy in Dublin. McAndrew based her analysis on market statistics provided by several institutions, including Collectrium, an international art collection management platform that provided the bulk of data, and the Art Market Monitor of Artron, of Artron Art Group, which provided Chinese auction data.

McAndrew said China's leading auction sales is the result of a decline in US auction sales and a "relatively stable performance at the high end" (objects sold for more than $1 million) in domestic salerooms.
The National Housing Corporation (NHC) of Tanzania has embarked on another ambitious mega-project focusing on the countrys capital, Dodoma. As part of the move complementing the shift of the countrys capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, the aim is to transform the city by creating residential housing that would suit the thousands of government workers who will soon be calling the city their new home.

The mega-project known as Iyumbu Satellite Centre will be the first of its kind in Dodoma that will see the construction of 300 houses over 234 acres of land located at Iyumbu ward in Dodoma Municipality. This is line with the Corporation strategy plan of constructing over 30,000 houses in the next ten years from 2015/16  2024/25. Out of the above-targeted houses, 12,000 units target low to middle-income earners and people with sustainable income.

This initiative came following the announcement by His Excellency, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. John P. Magufuli on 23rd July 2016, to relocate government administrative functions to Dodoma. It was observed that one of the challenges of relocating to Dodoma would be to accommodate the influx of thousands of civil servants and others whose activities are either directly or indirectly related to government operations.

A few months later, the capital city experienced a massive flurry of activity by various investors, stakeholders and developers to ensure that Dodoma was well equipped with facilities and infrastructure to accommodate the influx of people.

NHC was among the stakeholders who responded towards providing quality housing and other buildings for use by the general public. The Corporation started construction of the mega-project of residential units on its land located at Iyumbu area, in Dodoma Municipality.

Street view of the Iyumbu Satellite Centre mega-project by NHC.

The project sits at the northern side of the University of Dodoma (UDOM), closer to other important areas like the airport, the Parliament, transport terminals and the city centre. With more than 20,000 students at UDOM, the city is poised to becoming a bustling metropolis when final construction of the project is completed in 2025. The aim of the project is to redesign the aesthetic appeal of the city and meet the demand for growth. Iyumbu Satellite Center will be constructed in three phases.

The construction of phase one has already started and is progressing well, with the construction of 300 housing units over 40 acres of land. Currently, more than 150 units are in the finishing stage, with the project completion under this phase expected to be in June 2017. The project has three different types of housing units and other associated facilities. There will be 45 units measuring 79 square meters, 210 units measuring 85 square meters and 45 units measuring 115 square meters.

The project has also been designed to suit urban living and ensure more Tanzanians are able to own houses by targeting low, middle and upper-income groups, with essential services like clean and safe water, electricity, parking spaces, schools and well-designed access roads.

In ensuring more people are able to purchase houses, the NHC has given buyers the opportunity to acquire units either by equal monthly installments known as progressive payment plan or the option of buying the houses through mortgage finance which is provided by NHC financial partners. Already, NHC has partnered with 16 banks that provide mortgage finance to facilitate the buying process.

The successful completion of Iyumbu project is expected to ease issues of decent accommodation to civil servants, public and private institutions who have already started moving to Dodoma. On the other hand, the project will also provide opportunities to stakeholders and investors to invest in these houses under the project, through sustaining peoples needs with different income levels.

The project has managed to create over 1,000 jobs involving various businesses such as timber, building materials, construction equipment and small business around Dodoma Municipality. According to the 2012 national census, the population of Dodoma was 2,083,588. Dodomas major industry is agriculture and wine processing.

Commenting on the project, NHC Director General, Nehemia Mchechu called upon all stakeholders to participate and be a part of the project: "Iyumbu Satellite Center offers unmatched opportunities to investors and other stakeholders hence I urge all to participate from this early stages of development", said Mr. Mchechu.

Playing in on President Magufulis quest to shift the capital to Dodoma stands as a developers dream given the number of residential units necessary. Today NHC is among the first to take this bold step forward in engaging the government to move ahead with its plan and to service the needs of the incoming government workers.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

License for publishing multimedia online 0108263



Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349
STUART-An assembly line was never such fun.

It was the second annual Feed the Funnel event at the Rotary building in Stuart. Bopping about cheerfully to music, about 125 volunteers Saturday packed 28,000 meals for Patrick County residents in a project that felt more like a celebration than a task.

The event, the second annual, was sponsored by the Stuart United Methodist Churchs youth group, which is made up of several different churches, along with the Patrick County Shooting Education Team and the Disaster Relief Fund. The youth groups leaders, Carol Beasley and Jane Cardwell, coordinated it.

Feeding the Funnel

Saturday morning, a truck from The Pack Shack in Arkansas pulled up and unloaded sacks of dehydrated food and packaging equipment. At 10 a.m., local volunteers set up the equipment to form stations along tables.

At 11 a.m., assembly-line workers started their jobs of putting together meals. Each wore gloves and a hairnet  and, as necessary, little hairnets over beards.

They worked in teams of five or six in the part called Feeding the Funnel. Each team captain would pick up a bag, put a flavor packet into it, then set the bag under a funnel.

A small scoop of cheese powder with vitamins and minerals was the first ingredient to go into the funnel, which dropped it into the bag, Next, a small scoop of dehydrated vegetables went in; then a large cup of textured vegetable protein, topped by a large cup of rice.

Then the bag was removed from under the funnel and placed into a shoebox-sized plastic bin. When it was full, with five or six packets of ingredients, someone would holler out, Runner!

A runner, usually a kid, would come up, take the full bin and leave an empty bin. The runner would run the filled packets over to the sealing station.

Wade and Carol Nelson were among the workers at the weighing and sealing stations. They explained that one person weighs each packet of food on a scale. If it comes up sort, hell add to it a little more rice, which is nearby in a bowl. Then he hands it to the person who will seal the plastic bag with a heat sealer. The bag is then placed in a box.

Meanwhile, other volunteers manned the supplies of ingredients, going around restocking stations as needed.

With energetic music playing loudly, the atmosphere was upbeat. There were occasional stops for fun: During The Village Peoples YMCA, Jerod Ring, a co-founder of The Pack Shack, had the volunteers stop working for a moment and do the YMCA arm shapes. During another song, he told them to take a break to jump.

At different milestones  4,000 meals, 12,000 meals and the like, Ring or a volunteer rang a gong to announce the progress.

Everything finished a little after noon, and lunch was waiting at a grill for the volunteers. Brenda Burgess was one of the people tending the lunch area, where a range of lunch foods was for sale, as well as homemade dessert for a Girl Scout project.

The meals were given to local organizations which provide food to the needy, and the biggest recipient is Disaster Relief Food Ministry, Cardwell said. Theyll pack either ham or chicken to go along with it. That actually makes it like a big meal.

People have a lot of fun working at the event, Beasley said.

So good about giving

Each meal costs the sponsoring organization about 25 cents. The goal Saturday was to pack 28,000 meals, based on the amount of money the organizers had raised.

Its just amazing to me how easy it was to raise the money, Beasley said. The people are so good about giving.

The idea came about three years ago, when Cardwells daughter, Shae Cardwell, now 17, a member of the Patrick County Shooting Education Team, was in Arkansas for a competition. While there, her group joined a Feed the Funnel session.

It was so much fun for the kids, it blew our mind what happened, Jane Cardwell said. When it was over nobody wanted to stop.

All of the food packed during that session was sent to a third world country, she said, but she and her daughter thought the same thing could be done for Patrick County.

Well lo and behold, Shae was so passionate about it she came back and explained it to my youth group, Cardwell said. They all liked the idea, so they started fundraising.

During the first year, they raised $5,000 by selling dinner plates, calendars, Christmas trees, Christmas cards and T-shirts and asking for donations. They were able to pack 22,000 meals.

For this years event, the team did a massive shoe drive for Patrick County, begging for old, used shoes, Cardwell said. The organization to which they sent the shoes paid for them. The youth group split the proceeds with the Disaster Relief Ministry because they pack food on a monthly basis for over 300 families in Patrick County.

They also planned a pancake fundraiser in the winter, but they ran into a glitch.

The first day of a planned pancake supper went well, Beasley said, but the second day was snowed out. However, Nickelston Fence stepped up and they gave us a check for $1,500, she said.

All told, $7,000 was raised this year, which paid for 28,080 meals on Saturday, Cardwell said. Theyll all stay in Patrick County. Each meal feeds a family of four.

About The Pack Shack

The Pack Shack is a 501(c)3 charitable organization formed in 2013, according to its website, thepackshack.org. Its mission is stated as to increase awareness about hunger issues affecting communities, to provide food and other items to nonprofit organizations and to encourage people to get involved with local nonprofit organizations.

The Pack Shack offers different meal options. Cheesy Rice & Vegetables was what was packaged Saturday in Stuart. The meal is prepared by adding boiling water and cooking for 20 minutes.

Other meal options The Pack Shack offers are Pasta Parmesan with Spinach and Tomatoes, Cheesy Rice & Vegetables and Rice Veggie Casserole. The meals are developed by Tyson Foods, according to the website.

Looking for the next sponsor

Now the women are looking for another group to coordinate the event next year. Our goal was for it to be a community event, not us, Cardwell said. Its all about the churches. Its about whoever in Patrick County will come together and do this to help their neighbors.

The women think they might have next years sponsor lined up. There is a church that is very, very excited, and I do think theyre going to take it off mine and Carols hands, she said.

It will require a lot of fundraising, she pointed out, but we already have $1,000 raised toward next years Feed the Funnel.

Its a very fun event, and its a good way to help your neighbor, she said. It will always be the first Saturday in April at Rotary Field, with set up from 10-11 a.m., and start packing the meals at 11.

To help or for more information, call Stuart UMC at 694-3322, Cardwell at 692-7506 or Beasley at 694-5139.
A Los Angeles County judge would not promise Roman Polanski that he will not serve jail time for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 if he returns to the United States.

The 83-year-old filmmaker asked the court to order the L.A. County District Attorney's Office to state on the record whether or not it would seek to have him serve additional time if he returned, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"The District Attorney is acting well within her discretion to decline to state a position to a defendant absent from court and in warrant status," Judge Scott Gordon ruled on Monday. "Additionally, Polanski is not entitled to avail himself of this court's power to hear his demands while he openly stands in contempt of a legal order from this very court."

Polanski fled the United States nearly 40 years ago, after he heard late judge Laurence Rittenband was going to change his sentence from 90 days of psychiatric evaluation to 50 years in prison. As part of a plea deal, Polanski admitted guilt to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
Agawam High School senior David LeCours received a Kardashian lovers dream gift box Tuesday.

Besides the gifts being from Khloe Kardashian herself, it included a wide variety of Kardashian/Jenner items, including the limited edition KoKo Kollection, Good American jeans from the Kardashian's new clothing line, Kendall and Kylie Jenner's keychains and cookies with photos from Khloe Kardashian and her social media accounts on top of them.

LeCours had asked Kardashian to prom over Twitter in January. After seeing the video, she responded, "I am seeing if I can go!" Unfortunately, she told LeCours last week that she couldn't make it.

David!!! Why are you the cutest?!?!?! I am seeing if I can go! I won't know for a few weeks though. You are so bomb for this video!!  https://t.co/F7iJ1evfBP  Khloe (@khloekardashian) January 7, 2017

Although, he wasn't too upset, considering she FaceTimed him to tell him and promised to send the gifts and a party bus for prom.

"Right now I'm feeling like I'm on cloud nine," LeCours said. "I can't express how much it means to have not only been able to speak to someone I idolize and love, but also receive these amazing and generous gifts."

You can get a sneak peak of what it's like to be friends with a Kardashian when LeCours takes over MassLive's Snapchat on the day of his prom, April 28.
Police car lights.jpg

Michael Donlin, 35, of Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston, was killed in a crash in Brookline Monday morning. Shortly before 8 a.m., Donlin was riding a motorcycle when he collided with a car at South Street on the VFW Parkway.

Donlin was pronounced dead on the scene, according to Massachusetts State Police.

In a statement, officials say their preliminary investigation revealed the car, a 2012 Mazda 5, turned left onto South Street when it crashed into Donlin's motorcycle, a Yamaha FZ6S. The Mazda driver, a 53-year-old woman from West Roxbury, was taken to a nearby hospital.

Police say no charges have been filed, and the crash remains under investigation by multiple offices.
walnut street extenion after work.jpg

Agawam's mayor has asked the City Council to table a resolution that seeks to borrow $5.3 million to transform the rundown Walnut Street Extension business corridor into a vibrant commercial district with landscaping, traffic and other improvements. The matter will be the subject of a future public meeting, Cohen said.

(CITY OF AGAWAM)

AGAWAM -- Mayor Richard A. Cohen has asked the City Council to table a resolution to appropriate and authorize borrowing almost $5.3 million for the proposed Walnut Street Extension project, an initiative the mayor strongly supports.

"I am asking that you please table TR2017-17 until your April 18, 2017, meeting," Cohen, citing the resolution number, said in an email message to the City Council on Monday afternoon.

The mayor was the sponsor of the resolution, which the council was expected to consider at tonight's meeting at 7.

Cohen said Councilor George Bitzas, the chairman of the Community Relations Committee, is going to call for an "open meeting" on the Walnut Street Extension Streetscape Improvement Project, as the effort is formally known.

The community meeting will give Cohen and Michelle Chase, the town engineer, an opportunity to update residents on cost reductions and other changes to the plan. It's also a chance to get feedback from the "public and stakeholders on this infrastructure project," Cohen said.

"I appreciate your consideration, as this project is an investment in our infrastructure to invite and entice economic development," he said in his email to the council.



The project calls for transforming the rundown Walnut Street Extension area into a vibrant downtown district with an outdoor pedestrian plaza, new landscaping, traffic-calming measures, and more.

If the city project is greenlighted, it would overlap with a state project to rebuild the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge linking Agawam to West Springfield. That plan calls for traffic improvements on both sides of the bridge.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch has little time for conventional wisdom on medical testing.

Mammograms can be harmful, he says; prostate cancer screenings can lead to unnecessary surgeries, risking complications for no medical benefit.

Welch, at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, has devoted years of research to proving that a modern fixation on finding cancer early - more screenings, more testing, more biopsies and thyroidectomies - has actually harmed patients.

His ideas have sparked pushback among doctors who support more frequent screening and patients worried by changing guidelines, said Dr. James Stewart, Chief of Hematology and Oncology at Baystate Medical Center.

But in an interview Stewart credited Welch with starting a necessary conversation about evidence-based screening that has led to reforms in how patients are tested.

"He has created controversy, but I think in a good way," Stewart said. "He has tried to get people to look at screening tests not just for cancer but for all different kinds of things, in a more contemporary and scientific manner."

Welch will present those ideas Friday evening in a Springfield Public Forum talk at the UMass Center in Springfield at 5:30 p.m., which is open to the public with free registration. Space is limited to 150 attendees, and registration is available by contacting jess@springfieldpublicforum.org.

The talk is part of the Springfield Public Forum's efforts to hold more small-venue discussions around Springfield, in addition to its large events at Symphony Hall, which typically take place in the fall.

"We are actively expanding our program to help spark debate and get more people in the community involved with the Forum on a year-round basis," said Ed Kubosiak Jr., President of the Springfield Public Forum. "Our mission is to educate and healthcare is at the center of our national dialogue. We're excited to have Dr. Welch here to challenge some widely accepted beliefs when it comes to cancer and proper treatment."

As cancer became a more frequent cause of death for Americans through the 20th century, efforts to detect the disease early intensified.

American Cancer Society recommendations for mammograms expanded to include yearly exams for women 40 and older, until those recommendations loosened in 2015. In 1992, the ACS began recommending yearly prostate cancer blood tests for all men older than 50, before later walking back that schedule.

Welch's research found that the screenings were effective in diagnosing early cancers - but not in saving lives. More breast cancer screenings did not reduce the rate of late-stage cancers; a South Korean national screening program led to a flood of thyroid cancer diagnoses, but did not improve death rates.

"If you haven't gotten this message already, you should heed it now: The benefits of screening for breast cancer are limited," Welch wrote in an op/ed for the Los Angeles Times. "We should be doing fewer screening mammograms, not more."

The reason, Welch argues, is over diagnosis. Women diagnosed with small cancers that may never become dangerous have surgeries that can have their own complications. Men who will die of other causes long before their prostate cancers threaten their health have unnecessary procedures.

Stewart said that screening practices had grown out of a well-intentioned but unproven impulse -- that early detection was always in the best interests of cancer patients.

"It seemed like a good idea to look for early cancer, and we created large systems - industries if you will - to do so," Stewart said. "A lot of what we had done had been done by tradition, more than science."

Baystate itself changed its mammogram guidelines several years ago, away from a recommendation that all 40-year-old women start receiving screens. Stewart said.

(Disclosure: MassLive Editor-in-Chief Ed Kubosiak Jr. is the President of the Springfield Public Forum.)
chicopee teachers.jpg

Chicopee teachers fill the School Committee meeting room at the Helen O'Connell building three years ago to protest an impasse in contract negotiations.

(Jeanette DeForge/The Republican)

CHICOPEE - City teachers and Jobs for Justice are planning a rally on Wednesday to protest an impasse in contract negotiations.

The rally, planned for 6:30 p.m., will be outside the Edward J. Bellamy Middle School. It will be held during the superintendent's briefing with the School Committee, which precedes the 7 p.m. School Committee meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.

Teachers also plan to air concerns about negotiations and other issues during a public input time held at the start of every School Committee meeting.

The meeting has been moved to the middle school because of the large crowd expected. Three years ago when teachers were also protesting during negotiations, the School Committee did not allow a number of people to attend the meeting because the crowd exceeded capacity at the Helen A. O'Connell School Administration, which can fit 75 people safely.

Banning people from a public meeting violates the state Open Meeting Law. If a city board knows there may be a large crowd it is obligated to move the meeting to a larger location.

"The Chicopee public school teachers have been trying for years to negotiate with the school committee about cuts to funding, health and safety issues, and bullying from hostile principals. Unfortunately, the School Committee has been completely unresponsive," Eric Bauer, organizer for Massachusetts Jobs with Justice wrote in the announcement of the rally.

The city's about 700 teachers are currently in the last year of their contract, which expires in July. In February the School Committee and administrators called for mediators to arbitrate the talks to break what they feel is an impasse in negotiations with the teachers' union.

The union and the School Committee developed a schedule of 10 meetings in the early summer and started talks in October. During the seventh meeting the School Committee and School Department officials called for mediation, Charles Clark, association president, said.
Heres how to stop people from rolling their eyes when they hear about your company.

By Jason Fried

Co-founder of Basecamp

Full Story: http://www.inc.com/magazine/301704/jason-fried/ditch-the-elevator-pitch.html
Your boss probably isnt paying you what youre worth  instead, theyre paying you what they think youre worth. Take the time to learn how to shape their thinking. Pricing consultant Casey Brown shares helpful stories and learnings that can help you better communicate your value and get paid for your excellence.

Watch Now: http://www.ted.com/talks/casey_brown_know_your_worth_and_then_ask_for_it?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2017-04-03

***

FVCC Hosts Salary Negotiation Workshop, 4/18, Kalispell, Montana http://www.matr.net/article-76288.html
Silicon Valley is starting to realize that the huge talent pool of nontraditional candidates may be the answer to its pipeline problem.

By Cale Guthrie Weissman

Full Story: https://www.fastcompany.com/3069259/why-more-tech-companies-are-hiring-people-without-degrees?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fcdaily-top&position=4&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=04032017
The search to fill the second most powerful job at Montana State University entered a serious stage Monday with a public campus interview for the first of five finalists.

Bob Mokwa, 54, who has served as MSUs interim provost since last June, met with about 50 faculty and staff members at the Strand Union Building to answer questions and provide his views on MSUs present and future.

"Higher education has the power to change lives," Mokwa said. MSU can be "the gold standard," he said, for land-grant universities where the mission is to improve peoples lives.

"Were a well-run organization," Mokwa said. "Students are coming here because were doing things right."

By Gail Schontzler Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/montana_state_university/five-finalists-seek-msu-s-second-most-powerful-job/article_f00d6e10-4a1f-53b6-820c-bbc6452ef4e5.html
Amazon.coms latest experiment is a clear indication of where its seeking a big chunk of its future bread and butter: the massive world of grocery retail.

On Tuesday the e-commerce giant unveiled two grocery pickup spots in Seattles Sodo and Ballard neighborhoods, under the AmazonFresh brand.

By Angel Gonzalez

Full Story: http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazoncom-unveils-two-grocery-pickup-locations-in-seattle/
The Wyoming Office of Tourism is seeking an adventurer eager to spend six weeks exploring the state in front of a camera this summer.

The footage will become part of "Call of the WY," a promotional effort seeking to highlight Wyoming and its landscapes, people and recreational opportunities, according to a news release from the tourism office.

Full Story: http://trib.com/lifestyles/recreation/wyoming-tourism-office-seeks-adventurer-to-explore-state-on-camera/article_84364e68-4d70-52f5-ab31-47c470a6a1f7.html
University of Montana President Sheila Stearns asked members of the campus community Monday to tell positive stories about the flagship  and stop repeating negative ones.

"We are the sum of the stories that we tell each other over and over," Stearns said.

That advice comes as the Legislature is debating the future of higher education funding.

KEILA SZPALLER [email protected]

Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/education/university-of-montana-president-asks-campus-community-to-tell-positive/article_b599ec0c-c91e-5224-9207-7488d0ab3900.html
Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.
Moment de memoire de laction de tribun qua ete SAJ pendant plus de 60 ans de carriere dans le monde parlementaire depuis la fin des annees 1950 jusqua sa retraite en 2019.

Il est question que son fils, Pravind Jugnauth, actuel Premier Ministre et Leader of the House, prenne la parole, suivi du Leader de lOpposition Xavier-Luc Duval, puis Paul Berenger, Leader du MMM, qui la cotoye pendant des annees comme partenaire ou adversaire, Ivan Collendaveloo, Steven Obeegadoo et Alan Ganoo.

Une seance speciale qui naura que cet hommage selon lagenda, la prochaine aura lieu le 11 juin 2021 et va concerner le budget 2021-2022

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
Merck Foundation (Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany announced the Winners of Merck Foundation Film Awards More Than a Mother 2021 in partnership with African First Ladies who are also the Ambassadors of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother.

The theme of the awards was: to create a film or docudrama to deliver strong and influential messages about breaking Infertility stigma, Empowering Girls and Women through Education at all levels.

Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, President of More than a Mother campaign emphasized, I am extremely happy to announce today the winners of Merck Foundation Film Awards More Than a Mother 2021 in partnership with African First Ladies. Big congratulations to all the winners. I appreciate the efforts put in by the young talents across Africa in their films through which they have beautifully conveyed important messages in line with the theme of the awards. I strongly believe that all forms of art including filmmaking can play a significant role in bringing about a culture shift in society, in the world. Our aim was to utilize this medium to encourage promising filmmakers and new talents across the continent to create short or long films either drama documentary or docudrama conveying messages to break the stigma of infertility or empower Girl Education at all levels.

This year, Merck Foundation had two categories: English and French.

Here is the list of Award Winners:

FIRST POSITION (English):

Sharon Kavhu and Hatite Hoabeb, NAMIBIA

Film Name: Matumaini

Link: https://bit.ly/3McVCtM

Emulo Kgomotso, BOTSWANA

Film Name: 3 in 5

Link: https://bit.ly/3Mkc7o0

SECOND POSITION (English):

Nanmet Anthony, NIGERIA

Film Name: Future Present

Link: https://bit.ly/3sE69Xc

FIRST POSITION (French):

Doux-mignon MALOBA, DRC

Film Name: Le defi de Mariana

Link: https://bit.ly/34eZ0Du

Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Film Awards were launched in 2017.

Winner of 2017 edition:

Ms. Molatelo Mainetje, SOUTH AFRICA

Film Name: Womb Man

Link: https://bit.ly/3ttAMhl

Winners of 2019 Edition:

Ms. Cecilia Oppong-Badu, GHANA

Film Name: Her She Woman

Link: https://bit.ly/3sB14yX

Mr. Godfred Dela Duvi, GHANA

Film Name: Exhale

Link: https://bit.ly/3HE3eC0

Ms. Jane Labous, SENEGAL

Film Name: Angels

Link: https://bit.ly/3HAkdFn

Ms. Fatou Fadiga, GUINEA

Film Name: Infertile

Link: https://bit.ly/3hGtpNP

Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej further added, I would also like to announce the Call for Applications for the new edition of the Merck Foundation Film Awards More Than a Mother 2022. I am looking forward to the entries from our African Filmmakers and students of film making institutions this year too.

However this year, Id like to emphasize that the theme in 2022 aims to address wider range of topics such as: Breaking Infertility Stigma, Support Girls Education, End Child Marriage, End FGM, Stopping GBV and Women Empowerment at all levels.

Filmmakers and Young talents of Africa, its time to showcase your talent and contribute towards making a difference in society with your unique films with strong and relevant messages about app critical ca and sensitive issues we face in our continent. Be the voice of the voiceless, break the silence and lets all join hands to create a cultural shift.

Who can apply?

All African Filmmakers, Students of Film Making Training Institutions or Young Talents of Africa are invited to create and share a long or short FILMS, either drama, documentary or docudrama to deliver strong and influential messages to address any of the following social issues such as: Breaking Infertility Stigma, Support Girls Education, End Child Marriage, End FGM, Stopping GBV and Women Empowerment at all levels.

Last Date of Submission

30th July 2022

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
Le Premier Ministre a explique a la Chambre lors de la seance parlementaire du 17 Juin 2019 sur lutilisation du Special Reserve Fund de la Banque de Maurice comme lentends le chef de gouvernement et Grand Argemntier dans lexercice financier 2019-2020.

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
Error 404 Not Found

You may have mis-typed the URL. Or the page has been removed. Actually, there is nothing to see here...

Click on the links below to do something, Thanks!

Take Me our of here
A study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, describes a new treatment pathway for antibiotic resistant bacteria and infectious diseases with benefits for patients and health care providers.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University found that the unusual approach of removing antibodies from the blood stream reduced the effects of chronic infections, the requirement for days spent in hospital and the use of antibiotics.

In this study, the team identified two patients with bronchiectasis who suffered with chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections that were resistant to many antibiotics; a 64-year-old male, diagnosed with bronchiectasis aged fifteen, and a 69-year-old female who had bronchiectasis from childhood.

Bronchiectasis is a disease that leads to permanent enlargement of the airways in the lung and affects over 300,000 patients in the UK. Symptoms are debilitating for patients, and typically include a chronic cough, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, and chest pain. Bronchiectasis often affects patients beyond the age at which lung transplantation is possible.

Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections commonly occur in patients suffering from bronchiectasis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common bacterium that can cause disease and is known as a multidrug resistant pathogen, recognised for its advanced antibiotic resistance mechanisms and association with serious illnesses.

The patients volunteered to be part of an explorative treatment that built on previous findings from the research group in 2014.

Professor Ian Henderson, Director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham, explained:

"These patients had an excess of a particular antibody in the bloodstream. In contrast to the protective effect normally associated with antibody, in these patients the antibody stopped the immune system killing the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium and this worsened the patients' lung disease. Perhaps counter-intuitively, we decided to remove this antibody from the bloodstream and the outcomes were wholly positive."

Dr Tony De Soyza, Bronchiectasis service lead, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Trust and Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, explained:

"We needed a brand new way of tackling this problem. Working with kidney and immunology experts, we used a process known as plasmapheresis that is somewhat like kidney dialysis. The plasmapheresis involved the removal, treatment, and return of blood plasma from circulation, and was done 5 times in a week in order to remove antibody from the patients. We then replaced antibodies with those from blood donations. This treatment restored the ability for the patients' blood to kill their infecting Pseudomonas."

Both patients reported a rapid improvement in health and wellbeing, greater independence and improved mobility compared to any point in the previous two years.

Professor Henderson added: "This shows that we can improve patient wellbeing significantly, by reducing the need for treatment and the numbers of days spent in hospital, which will also help to reduce the reliance on antibiotics. The next step is to do longer term studies to investigate whether an earlier intervention, with slightly less aggressive therapies, could help prevent disease progression in patients."

This is the first description of antibody-dependent enhancement of bacterial disease. It may be widely applicable to other bacterial infections and offers hope for the treatment of some antibiotic resistant infections.

Article: The Use of Plasmapheresis in Patients with Bronchiectasis with Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection and Inhibitory Antibodies, Timothy J. Wells , John Davison , Emma Sheehan , Suren Kanagasundaram , Gavin Spickett , Calman A. MacLennan , Robert A. Stockley , Adam F. Cunningham , Ian R. Henderson , and Anthony De Soyza, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, doi: 10.1164/rccm.201603-0599LE, published 1 April 2017.
The healthy development of an embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) depends on whether most, if not all, of the cells have the proper number of chromosomes. With pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) technology, doctors can, in principle, spot-check chromosome count before choosing which embryo to implant in the mother. In a new article, however, scholars at Brown University and the University of Washington report that PGS has serious limitations that can only be overcome with more human embryo research, even as they acknowledge the controversy surrounding that research.

What doctors and hopeful parents want to see in PGS is 46 chromosomes - two pairs of 23 - a normal state of affairs called "euploidy." An abnormal number, or "aneuploidy," could signal a fatal flaw in early development. In 2013 in the United States, more than 15 percent of IVF pregnancies ended in miscarriage, often because of aneuploidy, wrote Dr. Eli Adashi, professor of medical science and former dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown, and Rajiv McCoy, a genome sciences postdoctoral fellow at Washington. The miscarriage rate rises quickly with maternal age, as does the rate of aneuploidy.

Hoping to prevent a bitter loss, a growing percentage of infertility patients using IVF have turned to PGS. But as Adashi and McCoy wrote in the journal EMBO Reports, PGS has yielded mixed results. Sometimes it has predicted the doom of embryos that became healthy children, and in the small studies conducted so far, there has been mixed evidence that its use leads to a greater likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

"The impact of PGS on the outcome of assisted reproduction remains uncertain," they wrote.

Tricky biology and ideology

The problem with PGS, Adashi and McCoy wrote, stems from how little doctors and scientists really know about early embryo development, which is a complex process. There are two main sources of aneuploidy - the original cell division that creates an egg cell, called meiosis, and the division of cells in the growing embryo, called mitosis. The first cause, because it occurs in one of the two sex cells that form an embryo, is especially serious and is known to increase with maternal age. Errors in mitosis will affect some but rarely all the cells in an embryo.

In most applications of PGS, doctors sample genetic material from several cells on the outer edge of a five-day old embryo, called a blastocyst. If that yields evidence of aneuploidy, the test usually still can't discern whether it's meiotic, in which case all cells could be affected, or mitotic, in which only a few might be (creating a "mosaic" of ploidy).

Among the many things doctors don't know is what ploidy status they would find if they could safely look elsewhere in the embryo, including its inner cells. Finally, they don't understand yet why some mosaic embryos will succeed and others will not.

"Such insights may improve the diagnosis and selection of healthy embryos through PGS and hopefully will lead to the development of new technologies," Adashi and McCoy wrote.

But human embryo research remains controversial in many places around the world, including the U.S., they acknowledge. Public funding, and sometimes the research itself, is often prohibited.

They conclude with a call to accelerate research.

"This state of affairs hampers the acquisition of new insights into the intricate process of early human development," they wrote. "More importantly, translational breakthroughs intent on improving infertility care are being delayed. Patients afflicted with infertility deserve better."

Article: Technology versus biology: the limits of preimplantation genetic screening, Eli Y Adashi, Rajiv C McCoy, EMBO Reports, doi: 10.15252/embr.201743941, published 29 March 2017.
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 were 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.
BOTHELL, Wash.

April 3, 2017

Saudi Arabia

Middle East

Dubai

Dave Schultz

Middle East

Hesham Al-Falah

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Middle East

Riyadh

Maher Siblini

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Dave Schultz

/PRNewswire/ -- Vioguard, Inc. and Channels Business Group-Channels Medical Solutions (CMS) announced today an agreement for CMS to act as an Authorized Representative in. 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 theThe two companies signed the deal at this year's Arab Health Convention in"We have been looking for ideal overseas partners to get our technology to the rest of the world," said, Chief Executive Officer and President of Vioguard. "Channels Business Group-Channels Medical Solutions will help us make strong inroads in the."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., Chief Executive Officer of Channels Business Group of, 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 inin 2012 and has since spread to several other countries in thethe 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 inthroughout the negotiations."We were extremely pleased to be involved in the process of assisting Vioguard and Channels Business Group to reach this agreement," said, senior commercial specialist of the U.S. Commercial Service group in the U.S. Embassy in. "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."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.425-318-7900 153082@email4pr.com Facebook: facebook.com/vioguard Twitter: @Vioguard

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vioguard-inc-signs-agreement-with-channels-business-group-of-saudi-arabia-to-represent-vioguard-in-the-middle-east-300432955.html



SOURCE Vioguard, Inc.




Advertisement

Effect of Maple Extract

How Does Maple Extract Enhance the Potency of Antibiotics?

Other Benefits of Maple Syrup

"Native populations in Canada have long used maple syrup to fight infections," said Tufenkji. We conducted the research to find out the science behind maple syrup.Tufenkji had previously conducted a study on the antimicrobial effects of cranberry extract and learned of the anti-cancer properties of a phenolic maple syrup extract."That gave me the idea to check its antimicrobial activity," says Tufenkji.The research team used an extraction approach to separate the sugar and water from the syrup's phenolic compounds, which contribute to maple syrup's golden hue.The research team conducted two tests to find the effect of maple syrup extract on antibiotics. In the first test, the team exposed several disease-causing bacterial strains to the maple extract, but there was no effect.The team conducted the experiment on a variety of bacterial strains including E. coli, which causes gastrointestinal problems; Proteus mirabilis, which causes urinary tract infections andwhich is responsible for infections often acquired by patients in hospitals.The research team also tested the effect of the maple extract in fruit flies and moth larvae. The team dosed fly food with pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic with maple extract and also tested the fly food without the extract.The flies fed with phenolic extract lived longer than flies fed without phenolic extract. A similar outcome was observed with the moth larvae.The research team conducted experiments to figure out how the maple syrup extract makes antibiotics work better. They found that the extract increased the permeability of the bacteria, which helps antibiotics gain access to the interior of bacterial cells and destroy them. Another experiment showed that the maple extract might disable the bacterial pump that removes antibiotics from these cells.Currently, the effect of maple extract on antibiotics is tested in mice. "It is likely to be years before maple extract would be available to patients as a prescribed medical protocol, and it needs to be purified further to avoid any potential allergic reactions," said Tufenkji."There are other products out there that boost antibiotic strength, but maple extract may be the only one that comes from nature," added Tufenkji.The research team presented their study at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).A study conducted by a research team at the University of Rhode Island, revealed that maple syrup contains inulin, a complex carbohydrate that acts as a prebiotic and encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut Antibiotic treatment can alter the gut flora. Maple syrup can increase healthy gut flora, which helps boost the immune system. "A healthy gut, with a balance of beneficial bacteria, helps to stimulate and support a healthy immune system. A healthy immune system, then, can help protect the body against chronic inflammation," said Dr. Navindra Seeram, Chairman of the Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry of the American Chemical Society."Chronic inflammation has been shown to have a potential link to brain conditions such as Alzheimer's disease . As such, this research provides additional information linking pure maple syrup, a unique natural sweetener, to brain health. However, additional animal studies, along with eventual human studies, would be required to confirm these initial findings."A phenolic molecule found in maple syrup called Quebecol significantly decreases the production of inflammation mediators.Source: Medindia
You would recall how sometime back, Mathew Perry had confessed to having beaten up Canadian PM Justin Trudeau back in school.

Talking on the Jimmy Kimmel live show, he had said how he and another boy had beaten up a young Trudeau who was a couple years younger to them. And the reason: they were jealous of the bright young student! "We both beat him up. I think he was excelling in a sport that we weren't, so it was pure jealousy."

 Twitter

Well, now Mr Trudeau, who is the the prime minister of Canada and fit as a fiddle, has challenged his bully. He tweeted to Mathew Perry challenging him to a fight! Trust the Canadian PM to teach bullies a lesson they'd never forget!

I've been giving it some thought, and you know what, who hasn't wanted to punch Chandler? How about a rematch @MatthewPerry?  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 1, 2017

Trudeau is a fitness and yoga enthusiast, and is certainly in a better position to beat up 'Chandler'!

Mathew Perry responded in true Chandler style and refused to accept the challenge. After all, if you aren't brave at least

@JustinTrudeau I think I will pass at your request for a rematch kind sir (given that you currently have an army at your disposal)  matthew perry (@MatthewPerry) April 2, 2017

Well, if you arent brave enough, thank heavens you have your wits by your side. In reel life, Chandler would have crumbled like a piece of paper!
There have been plenty of images leaked online that are considered to be the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus and these pictures have a story to tell. This new leak depicts the front and the back panel of the upcoming smartphone and it looks like it will have a glossy black finish where there wont be any bezels on the side similar to the Galaxy S8 and very thin front bezels on the top and bottom of the smartphone.

 Twitter

One can also notice that the front side of the phone has a home button which has the fingerprint sensor embedded in it since there is no fingerprint reader on the back panel of the phone. Interestingly, on the backside of the phone, there seems to be a dual lens setup with a dual LED flash. Reports suggest that the dual camera setup will consist of two 12-MP Sony IMX 362 sensors; however, it is not confirmed yet.

 YouTube

Previous reports have also suggested that the Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus will also sport a Full HD 5.7-inch display, which has a 1920X1080 resolution. It is also rumoured that the smartphone will feature Qualcomms Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 4 GB of RAM. There are also plans for the Chinese company to release models with 6GB of RAM and 8GB of RAM. The three models are also expected to have three different types of internal storage i.e. 64GB, 128 GB, and the 256GB. The phone is expected to have a 4,500 mAh non-removable battery and will come with Android Nougat, out of the box.

 Twitter

The Mi 6 Plus is expected to start at INR 25,000 while the highest priced variant is expected to be sold at INR 33,000. Xiaomi will be officially launching the phone by sometime mid-April 2017.
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias will meet with the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson, at 17:00 on Thursday, 6 April, at the Foreign Ministry.



Following their one-on-one meeting, at about 18:30 the two Ministers will make joint statements to the news media.



Mr. Kotzias will then host a working dinner for his British counterpart.


The website was developed using the open source software Elxis CMS by the Web Development Team

of Foreign Ministry's ST2 Directorate for Telecommunications and Information Technologies
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished Guests,

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome you, on behalf of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the opening ceremony of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the European Network of National Commissions for UNESCO.

Allow me to begin by thanking UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for External Relations, Eric Falt, and all of the Presidents, Secretaries-General and officials of the National Commissions of the European Network of National Commissions for UNESCO, who are honouring our country today with their presence, and of course the President of the Hellenic National Commission, Ekaterini Tzitzikosta, and all of the members of the National Commission for their many years of service, as well as our volunteers, for their invaluable assistance.

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was founded after the Second World War to assert the importance of peace, intercultural dialogue, cultural pluralism and substantial communication amongst peoples, with respect for the values of each culture.

Acting within a mosaic of international changes, shifts and challenges, UNESCO's values are timely as well as vital to harmonious coexistence in today's world.

In an era when difference is often invoked as an excuse for extremism and intolerance, UNESCO and the National Commissions are here to remind us of universal human values like mutual respect and mutual understanding.

In this effort, the Network of UNESCO National Commissions is an integral and unique part of the International Organization, as no other UN organization has this vital system.

Vital, because it is these National Commissions that implement the priorities, spread the values and carry out the multifaceted mission of UNESCO.

It would be no exaggeration to say that, without the National Commission, the International Organization's programmes would not have an impact, as it would be very difficult for them to reach a local level and, thereby, mobilize and raise the awareness of societies and citizens  or of each of us, individually  while respecting our cultural past.

It is thus necessary to support the National Commissions, which are official representatives of the international organization in the member states, and especially to support their role as the competent organs for their operation within the national states. The national governments and UNESCO need to support the National Commissions by every means, so that they, in turn, can shape the framework for their actions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

UNESCO initiatives with a longstanding Greek presence, like the promotion of educational programmes in Africa, protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, intercultural dialogue and support of the sciences, mobilise us all.

In this direction, the protection of World Heritage properties in conflict zones, like Syria, and the preservation of the unaltered identity of World cultural heritage monuments, without changes to their historical nature and use, are priorities not just for the organization, but also for the countries participating in the organization. Alteration of the character of the monuments is not consistent with the principles of UNESCO and cannot be tolerated.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I believe that the 3rd Meeting of the European Network of the National Commissions of UNESCO will strengthen cooperation among the members of the Network, their partners and civil society, and will promote the shaping of new synergies, so that the Organization's mission can be carried out more effectively, more substantially and with the greatest possible visibility.

Moreover, it will contribute to further deepening the relations between the peoples of Europe, which is our goal.

By bolstering the National Commissions' initiatives, we enable the peoples of Europe to promote their cultural identities while acting in a geographical and multicultural community.

Europe gets stronger when it complies with its peoples desires with regard to combating bureaucracy and faceless procedures, and the UNESCO National Commissions are an example of substantial and productive mediation between peoples and international organizations; an example that we need to learn from.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Your presence here today puts Thessaloniki at the centre of European developments, but our city's relationship with UNESCO is profound and substantial.

And this is because, with your support, Thessaloniki:

- Is home to the UNESCO Center for Women and Peace in the Balkan Countries,

- Has succeeded in having its paleochristian and Byzantine monuments added to the UNESCO World Heritage list,

- Recently acquired the UNESCO Center for Integrated and Multidisciplinary Water Resources Management, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Additionally, with your support:

- The Derveni Papyrus was included in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" register, and

- The Archaeological Site of Philippi was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me, at this point, to refer briefly to the Rotunda of Saint George, the Imperial and Ancient Metropolitan Church, the Church of the Holy Angels, which is undeniable evidence of the city's cultural identity; the monument that links three periods of our history  Roman, Byzantine and post-Byzantine  and whose historical course continues to our day, reviving all of the places of Orthodox spirituality, on the one hand, and the spirit and uniqueness of the artworks of Hellenism.

The depiction of the spirituality of the figures, the physiognomies of the Saints  their serene, triumphant expression  conveys the message of the unity of Christianity and peoples.

From here, let us address a message of love and unity to peoples and communities, and in particular of cooperation and a spirit of utilising our cultural heritage, in which UNESCO has shown great interest with the aim of preserving and promoting their unique historicity.

So we are here this evening in realisation of the historical timelessness of the space, but also expressing our respect and reverence.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are aware that you embrace us with your love and trust, and we look forward to your further assistance in upraising our cultural wealth and, in parallel, passing on the principles and values that govern us.

Thank you.
UPPER THUMB  Michigan State Police are reminding the public this month about the seriousness of taking your eyes off the road when behind the wheel.

The reminder is in correlation with National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which began Saturday. For the first time, the states Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) is supporting distracted driving enforcement activity for law enforcement agencies.

Anne Readett, communications section chief with the OHSP, said each year her office receives federal traffic safety funds and a large portion of it goes toward traffic enforcement.

Typically, the bulk of it (funds) has been seat belt and drunk driving enforcement, Readett told the Tribune. This year, weve allowed them to use the funding, in addition to seat belts and drunk driving, for a number of other areas including distracted driving.

Nationally, officers will be stepping up enforcement from April 6-10.

Some of the agencies that have done distracted driving enforcement  have done it in different ways, Readett said. Some of them have done it with a spotter or with two cars so that they can do a better job at spotting the infraction and then making the stop.

To help encourage drivers to remain attentive, the OHSP has distributed banners to all law enforcement agencies and high schools across the state.

Hopefully, we can remind people that its a myth if they say theyre able to multitask, Readett said. Everybody is really only able to do one thing at a time.

Whatever it might be youre doing in addition to driving, its taking your concentration off a very important task, she added. Certainly we want people to look at all distractions and do their very best not to be distracted when theyre behind the wheel.

Michigan law prohibits a driver from reading, manually typing or sending text messages while driving. Teen drivers are especially vulnerable to distractions.

We know from surveys that it tends to be more frequent with younger people, but that doesnt mean that people across all age groups arent guilty of driving distracted, Readett said. People are (texting) while their vehicle is traveling forward and its potentially a very dangerous thing  because youre not paying attention.

There were 7,516 crashes in Michigan during 2015 involving distracted driving, according to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Center. Of those crashes, 28 resulted in fatalities and 3,472 resulted in injuries. Cell phones were involved in 753 crashes.
HURON COUNTY  Its hard to find someone in Huron County without an opinion on wind energy.

Its hard to sit on the fence on this issue sometimes, said Sami Khoury, chair of the Huron County Board of Commissioners.

County residents on all sides of the wind energy development debate are gearing up for a fierce battle that will culminate in less than five weeks with various wind-related referenda.

It depends on every individual that lives with a wind turbine, Khoury said.

How comfortable are they with them? Its gonna be part of our permanent landscape because you cant take them out anytime soon. You just have to live with them, I guess.

Voters in county-zoned municipalities will vote on two proposals, while voters in Lincoln and Sand Beach townships will have their own issues to vote on May 2.

Advertisements, flyers and billboards about wind development are appearing throughout the county, and that can be expected to increase in coming weeks.

As of Monday, the following ballot question committees had been registered with the Huron County Clerks Office: Huron County Wind Resistance, Say YES to Hurons Future, Huron Wind Energy Coalition and Green Michigan Ballot Question Committee.

Known as the Filion Layover, voters will decide whether a DTE Energy wind development will proceed in parts of Lincoln, Dwight, Sigel and Bloomfield townships.

Registered voters in all county-zoned municipalities are eligible to vote on the Filion Layover, as well as a proposed development by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC in county-zoned Sherman and Sigel townships.

A yes vote on either overlay district would be in support of the development.

County-zoned municipalities are: Bingham, Bloomfield, Brookfield, Dwight, Fairhaven, Gore, Grant, Hume, Lincoln, McKinley, Rubicon, Sebewaing, Sheridan, Sherman, Sigel and Winsor townships.

Lincoln Township voters will find an additional question: approval of the formation of a township planning commission, which would make Lincoln self-zoned. A yes vote supports self zoning.

Those in favor of self-zoning are typically anti-wind.

And, self-zoned Sand Beach Township has been designated for a portion of the NextEra development as well.

Voters there will decide whether to approve amendments to the township wind ordinance, which restrict sound.

NextEra officials have said that this would make it impossible to build turbines in the township.

In August, Sherman Township voters will decide on whether to allow that township to become self zoned.

Huron County Clerk Lori Neal-Wonsowicz said failure to meet deadlines pushed that issue into the next election.

Denise Rice is the treasurer of Huron County Wind Resistance, which is raising money for awareness of its core issue:

Enough is enough, Rice said of the 473 turbines throughout the county. You can argue all kinds of points, but that sums it up.

Her feeling from going door-to-door on the east side of the county gathering signatures to force the referenda on developments is that the majority of the people are saying what were saying.

Rice said the mood of the west side of the county is harder to gauge.

Huron County Wind Resistance is using advertising, letters to the editor, Facebook and word of mouth to spread its message.

The group is comprised of a good number of farmers, Rice said.

She said there is a misconception that farmers support more turbines. There are a lot of farmers that are not of that thinking, Rice added.

Among farmers that do think that adding turbines would benefit the county is Les Booms of Lincoln Township.

My main driving motivation for wind is for what I believe will be the long-term economic benefits to the county, Booms said.

I believe that the amount of money that the wind companies are investing, it will just drive economic development.

This includes an increase in small businesses, he added.

Booms has been active in the Huron Wind Energy Coalition, and also gathered signatures to protest the formation of a planning commission in Lincoln Township.

He said that people both for and against wind energy support the move against self-zoning.

Local zoning is being considered for one purpose only, Booms said.

That is, To try to reduce or limit the possibility of wind turbines, instead of what zoning is supposed to do.

Booms is a part-time farmer, and a former engineer, who now works in the heating a cooling industry. He has a wind contract with DTE.

In the last 40 years, Booms said that he has seen an economic downturn in the area, and has watched a lot of manufacturers leave.

With that, went a lot of opportunity for hard-working young people, he said,

He expects the May 2 vote to be very close.

I hope people realize what this really truly can mean to our communities if we go forward with it.
ELKTON  A 45-year-old Elkton woman recently was arrested following break-ins at businesses in Elkton late last month.

According to the Elkton Police Department, on March 21, police investigated two early morning break-ins at Elkton Family Medicine and The Hitching Post Inn. Both businesses were broken into through broken windows and doors.

Surveillance videos were viewed at both locations. An undisclosed amount of money was taken from Elkton Family Medicine and cash, Visa money cards and some food was taken from the Hitching Post. Minor damage was reported inside both businesses.

On March 24, Elkton Police, assisted by the Huron County Sheriff's Office, executed a search warrant at an apartment at 124 Maude St. in the Village of Elkton. Several pieces of evidence were recovered from the residence.

After the search warrant, a person of interest was arrested on a separate warrant and lodged in Huron County jail. While being booked, officers found several Visa cards in her purse that were believed to be stolen from the Hitching Post.

On March 27 an additional search warrant was executed for the woman's cell phone and purse. During the search, more evidence was collected, including crack cocaine.

Elkton Police signed two warrants for felony breaking and entering charges.
A Comprehensive Website for Binary Options Traders

Trading in binary options without developing your own trading strategy can lead you to incur unprecedented losses, especially if you rely on luck alone to see you through. That way, you risk losing all your invested assets. At http://www.binaryoptionstrategy.eu/binary-option-strategy/, you can learn about the variety of strategies that can be used while trading. Each strategy is designed to suit certain market conditions. So you will need to choose the right binary options strategy for various conditions of the market. The Binary Options Boundary Out strategy  or the BOBO, for short, is a strategy invented by the trader known as OB60. It does not take into account which direction the market is moving in. Through this strategy, you basically have to decide whether to trade within a price range, or outside it. There are a variety of different strategies which you can adapt to suit your trading needs and style of trading.

This website also provides an exhaustive list brokers for your comparison. Choosing the right binary options broker is essential for binary options trading. Your choice of broker will determine your binary options trading to a great extent. The right broker can build up your entire career as an options trader, whether you are a newbie or have ample experience in trading. If you place your trust in the wrong broker, however, such as one who is not regulated, does not provide security of your investment, does not provide 24/7 customer service, but just keeps you making frequent and most likely illogical trades, you are sure to encounter major losses and ruin you trading career. You need to be careful, therefore, about which broker you choose. The association with your broker is a crucial relationship for you in the binary options market.

Besides, the binary options strategy website offers tools such as symbols, daily charts, patterns, indicators, long and short time frames, pitchforks as well as an economic calendar to both new and experienced traders in the binary options market. Here, you will also find binary options robots available to you. A binary option robot is one which is programmed to carry out trades for you during that period of time when you cannot attend to your trade. You might be busy at a conference, sleeping, or just away for some hours and cannot pay attention to the binary options market trends and events. This is the time for you to turn your robot on, and leave instructions for it to act upon, in your absence. All of this has really simplified binary options trading, especially for those who want to learn.
GRANT, MI - RC Investors, a firm owned by Dick DeVos, the husband of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and their children, has acquired a majority interest in Ridge Cider Company, a craft hard cider maker.

Matt DeLong, founder of Ridge, will become the head cidermaker, and business operations will transition to Grand Rapids-based Windquest, which also owns a distillery and wine boutique in downtown Grand Rapids.

Launched in 2015, Ridge Cider produces more than 30 dry, artisanal ciders made from apples grown on the "Ridge," a fruit-growing region located west and north of Grand Rapids.

"This investment positions Ridge to begin bottling their hard cider for regional distribution," according to a news release by RC Investors on Friday, April 7.

"Ridge employs traditional farmhouse production methods that include native and secondary fermentation and use of wild yeasts, native to the region," said DeLong, who has been making cider since he was a teenager and experimented with letting fresh cider ferment in his basement.

DeLong created his company when he joined forces with Bruce Rasch, a fifth-generation apple farmer and owner of Apple Quest, one of the largest orchards in Michigan.

"Artisanal cider is made like a fine wine. It starts with locally grown apples from estate orchards, which are then fermented with their own sugars and yeasts. The result is a refreshing alternative to traditional white wine or a session IPA."

Ridge's distribution network has been limited to taprooms and restaurants along the Lake Michigan shore. The company will immediately pursue distribution into retail and wholesale suppliers, according to the announcement.

"Our goal from the beginning was to start with the best products, make real cider, and build from there," DeLong said. "With the RC investment, we can accelerate our bottling operations and immediately expand our distribution network."

Ridge will bottle Hop'd, "a dry-hopped cider with using three varieties of hops to create a combination of citrus tones, sharp hoppy flavors and a creamy or buttery mouth feel on the finish, and Porch Sittin', a vanilla cinnamon blend made with whole vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks," according to the announcement.

"Ridge's founders are passionate about their craft and upholding the traditions of the cider house," said Dick DeVos, "The quality and range of the ciders that Matt is producing is unmatched, and we were particularly taken with his creative approach to product innovation.

"Cider is a growing part of our region's craft beverage market, and it has been experiencing rising popularity among consumers."

RC Investors includes Dick DeVos, sons Rick DeVos and Ryan DeVos; and son-in-law Nathan Lowery. Betsy DeVos is not an investor in the group.

Dick and Betsy DeVos' Windquest Group has made strategic investments in the craft beverage market, purchasing Holland-based Coppercraft Distillery in 2016. Windquest also owns Reserve Wine & Food, a restaurant and bar, The Stow Company, Neurocore, and Boxed Water is Better.

Windquest co-founder Betsy DeVos resigned as the company's chairperson earlier this year when she was appointed U.S. Education Secretary. But she continues to hold a financial interest in the company.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with ticket prices.

DETROIT -- Dave Chappelle is coming back to Detroit.

Fresh off of the debut of two new comedy specials shown on Netflix, the comedian is returning to Detroit for a trip of shows on May 23-25 at the Fillmore in Detroit.

Tickets for the shows don't go on sale until Thursday morning, April 6 at 10 a.m. Ticket prices range from $69.60-$89.50 on the Ticketmaster website and there is a limit of four tickets per purchase.

Chappelle made headlines the last time he visited Detroit because of a notably bad performance.

In one of his latest Netflix specials, Chappelle addressed the performance by admitting he smoked marijuana with a rapper backstage before the show and was high on stage.

"If you saw it, I wasn't drunk. I had smoked some reefer with some rappers," Chappelle said of the performance on April 23, 2015. "I don't know if you know anything about hanging out with rappers, but their weed is very strong. Stronger than I was accustomed to."

During his specials, he also touched on skipping a benefit show in Flint that featured Stevie Wonder.

As has become expected with Chappelle's performances, there will be a strict no cell phone policy at each show.
ANN ARBOR, MI - The controversial sale of the city-owned Library Lot for a 17-story development wasn't on the Ann Arbor City Council's agenda, but council members debated it anyway Monday night, April 3.

Some expressed concerns that Chicago-based developer Core Spaces is asking to lease 361 downtown public parking spaces at a time when there is a backlog of requests for more than 2,500 monthly permits right now.

The Downtown Development Authority released new information on Monday showing the following wait lists for permits at various parking facilities:

First and Washington garage -- 147

Maynard garage -- 521

Forest garage -- 199

Fourth and William garage -- 6

Liberty Square garage -- 604

Ann and Ashley -- 491

Library Lane garage -- 300

First and William garage -- 113

415 W. Washington lot -- 156

Core Spaces wants 24/7 use of 196 spaces in the Library Lane underground garage and 85 spaces in the Fourth and William garage, plus 80 off-peak permits in the Fourth and William garage for use by overnight hotel guests.

The developer is proposing a 17-story high-rise with 360 apartments, 131 hotel rooms, more than 20,000 square feet of office space, 3,375 square feet of ground-floor retail, and a 12,000-square-foot plaza on the Library Lot, which is the parking lot atop the Library Lane underground garage on Fifth Avenue.

Ann Arbor council weighing pros and cons of 17-story development

An overview of the 17-story development planned in downtown Ann Arbor

"I'm against this project for the reasons that the downtown merchants have expressed," said Council Member Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward. "This is just too much parking to dedicate to one project and it's going to come at too great of a cost for us, so I think we need to stop and listen to our constituents."

DDA Executive Director Susan Pollay told council members via email the wait-list figures should not be interpreted as commitments to take permits when they become available, nor do they necessarily represent unmet demand.

Pollay said it's not uncommon for businesses to request large quantities of permits in excess of what is needed, just as a placeholder for the future in case staffing might increase. Also, she told council members, some permit holders are on the list only so they can move to a different facility, and many ask to be on multiple wait lists to increase their chances of getting permits more quickly.

Some council members still see the wait lists as further indication of a parking shortage in the downtown and agree with business associations that argue it will hurt existing businesses if the council approves the Core Spaces deal.

"All the businesses seem to be against it. It's just too big. The parking is going to be a severe issue," said Council Member Sumi Kailasapathy, D-1st Ward.

"It's like the goose that laid the golden egg, right? You think you can go as high as possible, build it as dense as possible, and then we are going to ruin it for everybody. It's going to be choking. It's going to be traffic."

Kailasapathy, Eaton and Council Member Jane Lumm said they want the council to hold a formal public hearing before the council votes on the Core Spaces deal, which is expected to be on the agenda on April 17.

"I believe for us to dispose of a piece of public property that the sale of which is so contentious, we really need to listen closely to our constituents," Eaton said.

At this time, a public hearing is not planned. Other council members note residents already had a chance to speak out at a recent council work session where the Core Spaces proposal was discussed in detail.

Library Lot deal 'detrimental' for downtown, business groups argue

Citizens speak out about 17-story development proposed in Ann Arbor

Council Member Julie Grand, D-3rd Ward, argued there has been an ongoing public debate for years about building on the site, which some residents want to see transformed into a downtown park and civic center common.

"My colleagues, I'm just astounded, seem to have forgotten that this process has taken at least 10 years," she said. "So, in that time, we've heard many of the same arguments. I also just want to point out the irony that many of those that are so enamored with the parking right now and feel that it is such a need were vehemently opposed to this parking structure going in in the first place."

Grand said if someone can send her three new arguments or questions she hasn't heard before, she'll support a public hearing.

"But until then, I think we, for the last 10 years, know what the arguments are on both sides," she said. "We certainly will continue to ask staff questions. We certainly will get things clarified. But I'm pretty sure that, at this point, it would just be an exercise in futility (to hold a public hearing)."

Grand challenged anyone with new arguments or questions to send them to her at jgrand@a2gov.org or via Twitter at @votegrand.

According to the city's chief financial officer, Core Spaces would pay premium rates -- set 20 percent higher than the standard monthly permit rates -- to lease the 361 parking spaces, in addition to giving the city $10 million for the development rights to the property and paying an estimated $2 million per year in property taxes, $200,000 per year in hotel accommodation taxes and $130,000 per year in sales taxes. The city plans to put at least half the sale proceeds, about $5 million, toward affordable housing efforts.

Kailasapathy noted the IRS is currently conducting an audit to ensure the requirements of federal Build America Bonds used to build the Library Lane garage are not violated by allowing Core Spaces use of 196 spaces.

She said she wants to wait for the results of the audit before the council approves any agreement with Core Spaces.

Suggesting the process feels rushed, she said many residents still are concerned about selling a valuable piece of public land in the center of downtown.

"It is their land. We have to listen to them before we dispose of it," she said.

Citing rough cost estimates provided by the DDA, Kailasapathy said if the city had to build new parking at a cost of $40,000 per spot to replace the spaces taken by Core Spaces, it could cost the city more than $12 million. If the city really wants money for affordable housing, she suggested just issuing bonds.

Council Member Zachary Ackerman, D-3rd Ward, said he supports having a public hearing, but he also thinks there has been extensive public input.

He said the $5 million that could go toward affordable housing if the property is sold could leverage millions of additional state and federal dollars.

"In the last 15 years, our affordable housing fund has been able to leverage every $1 spent for an additional $10 to $15, which means that $5 million could look like $50 million of actual impact in the community," he said.

At a time when the housing supply is limited, Ackerman said, the Core Spaces development adds another 360 apartments, somewhere around 50 of which could be workforce housing for people making up to $64,000 per year. He also thinks having new hotel rooms downtown would be a benefit.

"When you stack up the benefit of all of these things and then think about what the actual cost is to just a parking system, a parking system that can expand, we're talking about a lot of public benefit at a fairly low cost," he said.

"And a cost, I'll point out, that can pay for itself, considering that this will bring in $2 million per year in property taxes."

Council Member Kirk Westphal, D-2nd Ward, spoke to the concerns people have about the 180-foot height of the proposed building. If people are concerned about the size or appearance of a development, he said, their time might be better spent looking at the city's planning documents and planning process.

"This building fits what the community asked for and is what is reflected in our planning documents," he said of the proposed 17-story high-rise.

"To spend a whole lot of time on this one parcel, I might suggest might be misplaced given how much land will be redeveloped in the next 20 years and what role this plays in it."

Eaton said although the city would get a $5 million influx of funds for affordable housing from the sale of the Library Lot, it's only one-time money.

"It will cost us $12 million or more, plus interest, to replace the parking spaces that we're going to forgo for this project. That doesn't seem like a reasonable equation to me," he said.

Rather than seek a one-time source of funding, Eaton said the city needs to start looking at mechanisms to provide consistent funding for affordable housing. He echoed former Council Member Stephen Kunselman in suggesting dedicating a percentage of annual parking revenues for affordable housing.

"That kind of funding would also be leveraged through federal and state programs and would have all of the benefits of this one-time influx of money, and it wouldn't cost us $12 million in construction costs to compensate for," he said.

Responding to Eaton, Westphal said the increased property taxes from the Core Spaces development would provide consistent funding for the city.

Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Ward, said she definitely thinks the city has a downtown parking shortage to address.

"We know there's a substantial wait list. The demand exceeds what we have to offer," she said. "And this is a significant commitment, a 50-year commitment, to give 361 spaces, which is unprecedented, to a single developer."

Lumm agreed there have been discussions about the Library Lot for a long time, and she said she supports development on the site, but she thinks the Core Spaces development is too big.

The deal with Core Spaces requires support from eight of 11 council members to pass. If a fourth council member joins Eaton, Kailasapathy and Lumm in coming out against the project, it will be defeated, but that has yet to happen.

According to information provided by the DDA, there currently are 143 fewer people with standard or premium monthly parking permits than there were in February 2016, though there are more people with off-peak permits.

The following breakdown was provided by the DDA.

April 2017 monthly permit holders

Off-peak/overnight permits: 331

Standard permits: 3,740

Premium/reserved permits: 131

Total: 4,202



February 2016 monthly permit holders

Off-peak/overnight permits: 212

Standard permits: 3,878

Premium/reserved permits: 136

Total: 4,226
[April 04, 2017] Trucom, an Arizona CLEC, and AT&T sign National Strategic Partnership Contract

SAN DIEGO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TPT Global Tech (OTC-PINK: TPTW) announces its wholly owned subsidiary Trucom, a Phoenix Arizona CLEC, has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with AT&T USA to utilize AT&T's fixed, mobile, wireless and fiber nationwide backbone to expand Trucom's product offerings nationwide. Trucom owns and operates over 100 miles of fiber optics and a terrestrial wireless network servicing the greater Phoenix valley. By entering into this agreement Trucom is now positioned to offer fixed, mobile, wireless, voice, data, and television services in all 50 states. Our plan is to first offer these products and services through our Subsidiary K-Tel, taking advantage of TPT Global Tech's existing cell phone, hardware and accessory distribution channel in the upper Northwest. K-Tel currently distributes cell phone service and hardware for T-Mobile, Red Pocket, Lyca Tel, Simple Mobile in over 70 Brick and Molar retail stores covering Seattle, Vancouver and Portland Oregon. "Our AT&T contract creates a national opportunity for TPT Global Tech/Trucom to continue to execute its corporate objective to expand our Telecom, Media, Cloud Services and Mobile Banking products. Creating this strategic partnership with AT&T positions the company to launch our National Media and Telecom services throughout the United States," said CEO Stephen J. Thomas III About TPT Global Tech TPT Global Tech Inc. www.tptglobaltech.com (OTC:TPTW) based in San Diego, California, is a Technology/Telecommunications Media Content Hu for domestic and International syndication and also provides Technology solutions to businesses domestically and worldwide. TPT Global offers Software as a Service (SaaS), Technology Platform as a Service (PAAS), Cloud-based Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) and carrier-grade performance and support for businesses over its private IP MPLS fiber and wireless network in the United States. TPT's cloud-based UCaaS services allow businesses of any size to enjoy all the latest voice, data, media and collaboration features in today's global technology markets. TPT's also operates as a Master Distributor for Nationwide Mobile Virtual network Operators (MVNO) and Independent Sales Organization (ISO) as a Master Distributor for Pre-Paid Cellphone services, Mobile phones, Cellphone Accessories and Global Roaming Cellphones.



About Trucom TruCom (www.trucom.com) is a Facilities Based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. Founded in 2006 (Copperhead Digital Holdings, Inc. and Citynet Arizona, LLC) for the purpose of operating a state-of-the-art Fiber Optic Network constructed by and acquired from Adelphia Communications, they now operate their own carrier class Fiber Optic Network, state-of-the-art Wireless Point-to-Point network, and Patent Pending proprietary "Bulletproof" technology seamlessly integrating the two.

TruCom offers Phone, Internet, Fiber Optic, Wireless, Hosted PBX, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Engineering, Cabling, Wiring and Cloud services. With a penchant for pushing the envelope, TruCom has pioneered innovative, hosted firewall and managed MPLS service technologies (SuperCore MPLS) and was the Industry first to engineer patent-pending failover services utilizing our own fiber optic and wireless networks to guarantee business continuity and service uptime. Co-located in multiple Local Serving Offices and Points of Presence (POP's) in the primary Data Centers in the market, TruCom's extensive Fiber Optic Network runs through the heart of the most densely populated corridors of the Greater Phoenix Metro Area.Their Wireless Point to Point and Point to Multipoint Network is fed by the infinitely scalable capacity of the Fiber Optic Network and consists of more than 16 Major Access Points. This footprint not only provides coverage throughout the metro area, but also spans into outlying Cities, often providing the only carrier grade solution available in the region. TruCom's substantial Network Assets, Innovative Service Offerings, and Dedicated Customer Service have driven a substantial increase in revenue each year over the past several years. With Clients like Arizona's largest Hospitals, Multiple Universities, Government Municipalities, and Business leaders, TruCom has established itself as one of a handful of major Telecommunications Network Operators and the most respected Service Providers in the State of Arizona. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trucom-an-arizona-clec-and-att-sign-national-strategic-partnership-contract-300433985.html SOURCE TPT Global Tech

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

The Trump administration has tightened controls over new H-1B visa applicants. It is expected to hike fees, limited rights to work for H4 visa holders, and hiked salaries, thus making it difficult for employers to hire cheap foreign labor instead of hiring locally.

The new rules will impact businesses and careers of many IT professionals who were relying on the current H-1B season which opened Monday.

Indian IT stocks are expected to fall further even as US President Donald Trump is expected to legislate further on skilled immigration control, which will impact the tech industry.

This comes even as a Democrat Senator Zoe Lofgren has tabled a bill - called The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 which will raise minimum the salary of an H-1B worker to USD 130,000 from the USD 60,000 prescribed earlier.

All actions are likely to impact stocks of Indian IT and BPO companies which have till now thrived upon exporting IT workers from India on work visas for offshoring projects. Lawsuits by US corporations over USCIS are expected on grounds of business disruption.

Here are ten things to know about H-1B visa and how the new rules could strangulate work related immigration to the US.

: H-1B is a non-immigrant visa granted by the US government that allows employers based in the US to employ foreign workers. The initial duration of stay is three years. It can be extended upto six years. For such a visa, an employer must offer a job and apply for employees H-1Bvisa petition with the US Immigration Department. An approved petition becomes a work permit. It allows the employee to obtain a visa stamp and work in the US for that company alone.Each year on April 1, a fresh cap for H-1B visa applications is opened by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment authorisations are granted on October 1. Applicant can legally apply for the allotment of H-1B visa earliest on the first weekday in April.

USCIS publishes a memo when enough cap-subject applications have been received, indicating the closure of application season. The applications are randomly selected. Thus it is often referred to as the H-1B lottery.

A:

The filing fee for H-1B petition is paid by the employer/H1 Sponsor. The fee ranges from USD 1570 to USD 3075.

All petitioners have to pay a base filing fee of USD 325 plus a USD 750 for employers with 1 to 25 full-time employees and USD 1,500 for employers with 26 or more employees. A USD 500 fee is also to be submitted if the request is to change an employer.

A:

The H-1B quota has a statutory cap of 65,000 visas for each year. There is special master degree quota of 20,000 known as master cap reserved just for masters degree holders from US universities.

In 2016, there were 236,000 applications for just 65,000 available visas.

A: There is no quota for any country but out of the above, a total of 6,800 is usually set aside for Singapore and Chile citizens as part of the free trade agreement between them.

A: Mumbai based TCS and Bangalore based Wipro, and Infosys are among the major users of H-1B visas. In the year 2015, out of eight biggest H-1B employers all were Indian firms that include Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Accenture. HCL, MindTree and Wipro.

Indian IT companies with roots in India took about 21,750 visas of the total 65,000 cap in 2014.

Big US employers of H-1B include Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, Accenture, Syntel, Apple etc.

A: In 2014, about 86% of H-1B visas were issued to hire IT professionals from India. Indian IT industry earns about USD 160 billion in sales each year. Exports count about USD 108 billion and about 65 percent of the revenues comes from US based clients. For offshoring projects, IT companies send cheap Indian labour overseas and migration of a project is done which can take about 6-18 months. For such migration of work, long term work visas become essential.

A: Spouses of H-1B holders can live in the US on an H4 visa. However an H4 holder wasn't allowed to work in US until 2015. For this reason, an H4 visa was often referred to as a Prisoner Visa. Because the work permit is based on the spouses H-1B visa, the H-4 spouse can work as long as the H-1B visa is valid. The new H-1B bill is likely to restrict H4 work rights.

A:

If you're educated outside the US in a degree which is unrelated to computer science or programming, entry on an H-1B visa becomes difficult. The new rules also prefer that the applicant should be educated in the US on an associated bachelor's degree in computer sciences. The new rules also imply that diploma level software programmers are likely to be barred from entry on an H-1B visa from this season onward.

A: The new legislation will force IT companies such as Infosys, TCS, MindTree, Infosys to hire more in the US and not renew existing visas of employees. Some are likely to setup bases in nearby Canada and Mexico.

While the new rules are likely to stay till Trump administration lasts, it will significantly alter the path of globalization and outsourcing businesses.

While India is likely to gain a lot of offshore talent back in the country, it is likely to erode some profit margins for such companies.

With lesser globalisation, IT companies would be forced to execute projects from US shores till the laws becomes relaxed again in new regimen. Expect more automation as a result. It could also slow the growth of innovation in the US if American companies cannot find enough skilled local talent to fill those jobs. Expect more offshoring of R&D centres of American companies to India or its nearby destinations such as Canada, as a result.

(Data Source: USCIS, Immihelp, Govtrack)
Adi, chairman of The Godrej Group, smiles during the India Economic Summit 2014 at the World Economic Forum in New Delhi

By Aveek Datta

Forbes India

An increasing number of family businesses in India will transition into institutionally-owned and professionally-managed enterprises, believes industrialist Adi Godrej. The 74-year-old chairman of the Godrej Group is a third-generation member and patriarch of one of Indias most well-known business families.

In an interview with Forbes India, Godrej speaks of the emerging trends visible across Indian family businessesthe influx of professionals from outside co-working with their counterparts from promoter families, an increasing number of women from these families joining the business and the startup culture pervading into business families wherein members of subsequent generations are charting their own course. Edited excerpts:

Q: How do you see family businesses and business families transitioning in recent times?

A: Globally, entrepreneurship begins with family businesses. But typically, these businesses dont last through generations. In many cases, they collapse by the second or third generation. However, if they continue to grow well, they end up becoming public companies with diverse ownership since they need to raise capital to fund this growth. This has happened all over the world, including in the US, Europe, and even Japan, where some family businesses date back to the fifth century. This happened in other countries before it happened in India since those economies have grown bigger and their companies had to raise capital earlier. This will happen in India as well. Already, you can see the promoter familys stake in many businesses coming down to around 20-25 percent.

So I think there will be fewer and fewer family businesses in the long term. Family businesses will go to fewer generations and many will become widely owned and professionally managed as the economy grows. A lot of value will be created in the process and it will be good for the country.

Read more stories from Forbes India here

Q: A lot of professionals from outside promoter families are joining their businesses and even leading some of them. At the same time, there are a number of well-qualified professionals from the next generation of business families joining the ranks. Can these two sets co-exist?

A: One shouldnt distinguish by compartmentalising people as being either family members or professionals. I like to distinguish by saying that there are family professionals and non-family professionals. It is becoming common in India for many family members to not join the business and pursue other interests. Also, as certain businesses grow in size, a situation may arise where there arent enough family members to fill executive positions. So automatically such businesses will have to get professionals from outside to fill these positions.

The best way to divide responsibilities is to select the best person for the jobwhether he or she is from the family or not. But in my view, when family businesses become very diverse and certain executives have to be appointed to coordinate between different group companies in a conglomerate or business units in a company, family members tend to do a better job than non-family professionals.

Q: While many families still jointly administer a business, others have separated their business interests. Does separation of business interests lead to value creation or destruction?

A: It depends on the way in which these splits are done, as well as the expertise and capabilities of individual family members. Today, it is much easier for members of business families to sell their stake in the enterprise to each other from a taxation point of view. So, there is much more diversity and flexibility.

Q: Do you see a lot of hidden unemployment in business families, where new businesses are started or acquired just to keep some family members gainfully employed?

A: It used to happen earlier, but it doesnt work these days. Businesses have to be competitive today. At present, a lot of family members are getting into businesses that are very different from those owned by the family, since they feel their calling is somewhere else. These businesses are self-funded with the help of the value of the equity that these promoters hold in the legacy business, which can also be leveraged to raise debt.

Q: Do you see a lot more participation in business from the female members of business families?

Q: What are the processes a family enterprise can institutionalise to ensure the business is run professionally across generations?

Yes. More and more women from entrepreneurial families are getting involved in the business. Earlier, if a woman got married (and they often got married at a young age), she had nothing to do with her own family. So they were never included in the family business. But thats changing. Even after marriage, women are playing an active role in business. I have always felt that women managers tend to have a different perspective on things, which can add value to the business.

A: A lot of families rely on advice from external experts on this subject. One way is to have a family council, which meets regularly to discuss various issues related to business. They also set down rules of engagement between family members and the business, such as who is allowed to join the business based on merit and capability. There are also those that have a family constitution to govern such things.

Q: At what stage should one generation of a business family start thinking about succession planning?

A: Succession planning is something every organisationwhether it is a family business or notshould focus on. It isnt something that is required only at the top. It is required at every level. Typically, good companies plan for more than one successor and when the time comes, one of them is selected to lead.
The Emami family

By N Madhavan

Forbes India

A meeting takes place on alternate Fridays at Advaita, the residence of Emami group founder Radhe Shyam Agarwal, on the upscale Ballygunge Circular Road in south Kolkata. Attendance is mandatory for all family members who are involved in the business and are, consequently, part of the family councilabsentees have to inform in advance. Attendees have the right to speak freely and voice their opinion on the issues discussed. Outsidersmostly advisors and senior company officialscan attend only on invitation.

The secretary to the council prepares an agenda and circulates it; members who are responsible for various businesses are expected to come prepared with their presentations. We review everything. Performance of the businesses, new ideas and budgets, says Agarwal, 72. The minutes of the previous meeting form the starting point for the next.

The discussion, which begins at 10 am and lasts for about three hours on the second-floor meeting room, can, at times, get heated. If there is no consensus on a particular issue, a deep-dive is ordered. This may involve reaching out to external experts. When a decision is finally taken, it is unanimous. Family members bury their differences and support the proposal wholeheartedly. Differences of opinion can happen in the mind, but not in the heart, says Radhe Shyam Goenka, 71, founder, Emami group.

Read more stories from Forbes India here

The closeness of this family is unique for many reasons, not the least of which is that its two statesmenAgarwal and Goenkaare not related. They are, in fact, school friends who gave up comfortable jobs (Agarwal was with Aditya Vikram Birla while Goenka worked for KK Birla) to start Emami (as Kemco Chemicals) in 1974 as an upstart cosmetics manufacturer.

Their 62-year-old friendship has thrived even though they are poles apart in terms of their personalities. Agarwal is an extrovert while Goenka is reserved. Agarwal is often driven by emotion and intuition while Goenkas decision-making is rooted in logic and reason. In his interaction with Forbes India, Goenka restricted his views to Emami and the family behind it while Agarwal also spoke about philosophy, the Vedas and the values needed to lead a peaceful life.

We complement each other, says Goenka. Dont they say opposites attract?

However, that is a simplistic way to describe the relationship, say long-time associates. What they have is great respect for each other, says RK Agrawal, who retired as senior director at Ernst & Young and has been advising the family for 25 years. This ensures there is no room for ego.

Agarwal gives a philosophical spin to their friendship. Jo deta hai woh devta, jo rakhta hai woh rakshas (one who gives is God and one who keeps is a demon), he says. Both of us have chosen to be givers and that is the foundation of our friendship.

This bond has carried forward to the second generation which comprises six members who are fully involved in the business. They have grown up observing how their fathers work and have developed similar love and respect for each other, says RK Agrawal. They arent two different families but one.

This has positively impacted the business as well. In a field dominated by multinational companies, Emami has not only held its ground but also dominated the niche segments it has created in the market. Our five power bandsFair and Handsome (market share 65 percent), Navratna Oil (61 percent), Zandu Balm/Mentho Plus (55 percent), Boroplus (77 percent) and Kesh King (35 percent)are clear category leaders, says Aditya V Agarwal, 42, non-executive director, Emami. He is Agarwals eldest son and manages the groups non-FMCG businesses.

Emami Ltdthe FMCG companyhad revenues of Rs 2,624 crore with a profit of Rs 359 crore in 2015-16. Its operating profit margin is an enviable 26 percent while return on equity topped 43 percent.

Emami, whose products are available in over 4 million outlets across the country, is well-known for its innovative brand strategy. We pioneered the use of Bollywood stars and in-film branding as early as 1980s to promote our products, says Mohan Goenka, 44, whole-time director at Emami and Goenkas elder son. He points to the army of stars such as Shah Rukh Khan (Fair and Handsome) and Amitabh Bachchan (Boroplus), to name a few, endorsing Emamis various products.

Its global play has also increased over the years with a presence in over 70 countries (international revenue for FY16 was Rs 365 crore). We are in the process of implementing the international business strategy that McKinsey has drawn up for us and in the next five years, we expect revenues from outside India to be 25 percent of overall sales, says Prashant Goenka, 44, Mohans cousin, who is also a whole-time director at Emami and looks after its international business.

The company generates strong cash flows of close to Rs 800 crore a year. Despite paying out Rs 1,700 crore for the Kesh King acquisition in 2015 and spending another Rs 300 crore towards setting up an FMCG manufacturing unit earlier this fiscal, our debt is just Rs 300 crore, says NH Bhansali, group CFO and an Emami lifer who joined the company 25 years ago when its revenue was just Rs 12 crore.

It follows that shareholders have been handsomely rewarded. To illustrate this, the early mover who had invested Rs 1,000 for 100 shares of Emami in 1979-80 has seen his investment grow 22,050 times in 36 years to over Rs 8.8 crore today.

Emamis success is rooted in the mutual respect and bond within the family. But it is also a function of strong processes and clear rules, says RK Agrawal.

There are two sets of rules that govern the family membersfamily governance rules and business governance rules. The rules, framed 15 years ago in consultation with family members, are recommendatory in nature. Each individual has the freedom to do things in his or her own way. These rules indicate what is expected of them, says Agarwal.

Family governance rules lay down a set of dos and donts. They stipulate that members should not be ostentatious: Women should not splurge on jewellery or sarees, and there are clear guidelines on the type of cars the men can buy (this is linked to the years they have put in business). Members cannot act in a manner that brings disrepute to the family. Illicit or live-in relationships are frowned upon as they come in the way of a good family atmosphere. While members are free to pursue interests outside the family business (no one has done that so far), rules specify the extent of support they will geta funding of up to Rs 5 crore, but no financial guarantee from the group.

Equality is a byword in the family and this is enshrined in the rules. The shareholding in Emami and other ventures is equally split among the Agarwal and Goenka families, and both are equally represented in the board, with four members each. The non-FMCG business is managed by one member from each family. Money that family members draw is fixed and equal. In case a member has a special request, it is approved, but the same is then made available to all the other members. I have never seen an instance where one person got something that other members were deprived of, says Prashant. That has eliminated any scope for ill feelings. Equality is the bedrock of unity, Goenka says.

The rules also lay a lot of emphasis on communication between members. Apart from the fortnightly Friday meetings, members of the second generation meet informally over lunch on a daily basis. Even holidays are predetermined. While the second and third generations have an annual summer vacation overseas, the entire family of about 50 members spends their Durga puja break together at any location in India. The latter practice has continued for over two decades. Two weeks together is good enough time to strengthen our bond. It has helped the women in the family come close to each other and also the kids, says Richa Agarwal, Adityas wife. Richa manages Emami Chisel Art, the familys art organisation which includes two large gallery spaces, and seeks to promote art and artists, especially contemporary.

The business governance rules specify the businesses the family will not get intoalcohol, tobacco and non-vegetarian food. They also broadly lay down the business philosophy that Agarwal and Goenka have been practicing from the beginning. Deliver good products in contemporary packaging at affordable prices, says Bhansali. This is the cardinal rule. There are other norms, including embracing a conservative financial management, maintaining a high level of transparency with stakeholders and ensuring all commitments to them are met. Goodwill of the family and brand value of the company are non-negotiable, says Agarwal.

While the family members are hands-on in running the company, they do not hesitate to reach out to outside talent or seek advice available in the market. Most non-FMCG businesses are headed by professionals. Even in Emami, various verticals are independently headed by professionals. The family members just oversee the operations and give enough space for the professionals to work, says RK Agrawal. By doing so, they have been able to marry the long-term vision that family-run businesses bring and the professional expertise that independent companies possess. They also consult firms such as McKinsey on important issues such as improving the effectiveness of the sales force, reducing cost and improving margins, and growing the international business.

With a dividend payout of 40 percent at the flagship Emami, the family which owns over 70 percent of the business, generates substantial cash every year which it deploys in attractive non-FMCG businesses. It is a good de-risking strategy for the family. We are protected against changes in government policies and other global factors, says Harsha Vardhan, 41, Agarwals younger son and whole-time director, Emami. There are other reasons as well. We are a bunch of people with robust ambition. Varied businesses challenge us and whet our appetite to accomplish challenging things, says Priti A Sureka, 45, Agarwals daughter and whole-time director, Emami.

Here too, there is a golden rule. We have to be a meaningful player in the sector or we will not hesitate to exit, says Manish, 43, Goenkas younger son.

For instance, over the years, it has shut down businesses that have not worked. This includes the mono filament yarn business, ready-to-eat food business, furnace operations, photo paper manufacturing and, more recently, the sanitary napkin business.

By the same token, the group does not hesitate to expand and grow where they see profit. Its newsprint business is the largest in the country. The Emami group is also becoming a large player in the cardboard manufacturing business. Its foray into cement was a recent move and its current capacity of 5 million tonnes will rise to 20 million tonnes in three years as it has secured mining leases in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. It is already the second largest player in edible oil (after Adani) and its 5,000-tonne refining plant at Haldia is the largest single location facility in the country. Their ball-point tip business is the fourth largest in the world. In bio-diesel, it is the only large player in the country. The family is also present in solar, retail, realty, ecommerce, hospital and art.

This long list of businesses underscores a deep desire to diversify. Reason: They want to create enough opportunities for the third generation to participate in the business. There are as many as nine members who could join the business over the years. And how they will work together is occupying the minds of the elders. They bond very well. We see that. I am confident they will maintain the same spirit as their fathers and uncles, says Goenka. Agarwal, as is his wont, turns philosophical. In life there are three thingsthings you see, those that are unforeseen and the unforeseeable, he says. This falls under the unforeseeable category. We have offered the best possible environment for them to bond. We leave the rest to God.
N. R. Narayana Murthy, founder and chairman of Infosys, listens to a question during an interview with Reuters at the company's office in Bangalore February 28, 2012. Picture taken on February 28, 2012. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (REUTERS - Tags: BUSINESS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY PROFILE HEADSHOT) - RTR30CV2

Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy's letter to the media questioning the salary hike given to Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pravin Rao has once again raised concerns over corporate governance standards at the Bangalore-based company.

While the Indian IT sector is struggling with the rise of automation and various geopolitical issues like Brexit and H1-B visa row, wage hikes have been tepid in the industry.

Murthy in his letter has anguished over the fact that the phenomenal compensation hike for Rao doesn't reflect a fair and just system which rewards others employees with a meager 6-8 percent salary hike.

Reacting to this new debacle between the founders and Infosys' board, corporate governance and proxy advisory firms Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) and Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IIAS) do not agree with Narayana Murthy's views.

JN Gupta, MD, SES asked what the former CEO meant by the current poor governance standards at Infosys.

He wants Murthy could spell out the issues for the benefit of the investors.

"Does the fact that he and current board of Infosys are not on same page about poor governance? Is Mr Murthys view or opinion or desire amounting to gold standard of governance? Unless Murthy spells out his parameters of poor governance, I am not ready to take it on face value," Gupta said.

On the issue of corporate governance Amit Tandon, Founder and MD of proxy advisory firm IiAS said, "I can't recall any governance issues at Infosys, unless Murthy spells it out that he has received some information; to the extent that he has not articulated it, it is very difficult for me to figure out what's going on."

Gupta further points out that five of the present directors were there during Narayana Murthys regime as well.

He questions whether these directors have lost their independence immediately after Murthy's departure and become stooges.

"I strongly feel that these independent directors should question Murthy in turn," he said.

When asked whether the pay hike was excessive, Amit Tandon said that there is this whole issue of excessive compensation, but this particular one does not qualify for that case.

He said that Pravin Rao is at a CxO position and the hike is in line with what other CxOs have been getting.

"He [Narayana Murthy] should not be second-guessing the management. They decided on a number, they took it to the shareholders and the shareholders approved at this stage," he added.

On Narayana Murthy's call for compassionate capitalism, Gupta said, "Expecting the same sacrifice that promoters made at the foundation stage from professionals at this stage of company is neither practical nor rational. Promoters were building a business for themselves, they were sacrificing the present cash earning for future potential capital gains. The current management is not in the same position."

"When he [Narayana Murthy] says he generously compensated his other co-founders by way of huge equity, does it not amount to disparity? If he was a votary of compassionate capitalism, then Infosys equity would have been dispersed with thousands of employees and not concentrated with a handful chosen few. Where was equality then? And today when Rao is given variable equity based compensation it amounts to poor governance?" he added.

SES fails to understand the motive of intervention on the part of Narayana Murthy, Gupta says.

"However, one thing for sure is that either Murthy or the current Board is hell-bent on destroying value that has been created. Further, whether the image of Infosys as Gold Standard of Corporate Governance was nothing but a halo created by Murthy and company, else how come with the same set of people with minor changes at board level the entire governance structure has crumbled?" he added.
Q11. Madras Motors first imported the Royal Enfields to India in 1953 when it received a big order. Who placed the order?

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Twitter has been abuzz with strong disapproval of bike-maker Royal Enfields business relations with a Pakistan-based riding apparel maker which is a supplier for the automaker's biker jackets and gloves.

Comments have ranged from benign condemnation to outright nastiness with one tweeple even going as far as to use a four-letter word, calling the tie-up a 'heartbreak'.

For over four years now, Eicher Motors-owned Royal Enfield, which is the oldest motorcycle brand from India in continuous production, has been importing and selling riding gear from a manufacturer based in Sialkot Pakistan.

Pakistan-based Pilot Sewing Corporation makes fashion jackets, racer gloves, bike pants and leather vests among several other products for many bike-making companies, one of which is Delhi-based Royal Enfield.

While Eicher has been importing leather jackets and leather gloves from this Pakistani company since the past few years it seems buyers became aware of it only recently.

Many people posted pictures of the manufacturing tags and labels of these imported products on the micro-blogging site Twitter expressing their displeasure.



@royalenfield U couldnt find any other country to import ur gear? So pakistan have been killing India soldiers n ur giving dem business pic.twitter.com/KfPWjyiOwO

 Mrityunjay Singh (@indomitablesoul) April 3, 2017

Twitter user Mrityunjay Singh had this to say in his tweet:

Another twitter user Vikrant Kumar who attached a picture said, Dear @royalenfield, I am shocked to know that you are sourcing your gears from Pakistan. Of all countries why Pakistan?.



Dear @royalenfield, I am shocked to know that, you are sourcing your gears from Pakistan. Of all countries why Pakstan? pic.twitter.com/bJNTe3uEkl  Vikrant (@vikrantkumar) April 2, 2017

Royal Enfield started opening its biking apparel range in 2013 after the launch of the Continental GT bike. The company opened several stand-alone stores that primarily focused on selling apparels not bikes. These apparels are also presently sold on Flipkart, too.

Eicher Motors did not respond to a mail seeking comments on their association with the Pakistan-based company. A mail sent to Pilot Sewing remained unanswered, too.

Riding gears, especially genuine leather jackets and leather gloves which are sold for Rs 8,500 and Rs 2,500 respectively in India, are cheaper to make in Pakistan than in India, which is primarily the reason why bike makers elsewhere prefer to buy from there.

Sialkot, which also allegedly houses terror camps of banned terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, is located in the north-east of Punjab, the second largest province in Pakistan.

The uproar comes at a time when Royal Enfields competitor Bajaj Auto has taken pride in associating itself with war veterans who had served on Indian Navys iconic carrier INS Vikrant. The association started with the launch of the V series of bikes which uses the metal cannibalised from INS Vikrant -- the hero of the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Royal Enfield sells five main motorcycles brands in India, which have 13 variants priced between Rs 1-2 lakh. The company clocked sales of 666,490 units last financial year to grow by 31 percent as against 508,154 units sold in 2015-16.

In March, the growth had slowed to 17 percent at 60,113 units as compared to 51,320 units sold in the same month last year. During the same month sales of models having engines bigger than 350cc slumped 71 percent to 1,667 units. New models Himalayan and Continental GT are a part of this pack.
From left to right: RAMESH KALYANARAMAN, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers with T. S. KALYANARAMAN, Chairman & Managing Director and RAJESH KALYANARAMAN, Executive Director

By Varsha Meghnani

Forbes India

In a large, well-lit Kalyan Jewellers store in suburban Mumbai, a salesperson assists a couple pick out designs for their soon-to-be-married daughter. Elsewhere, a lady preens into a mirror, holding up glittering hoops against her ears. A red necktie-wearing salesman looks on intently. Amid the neatly arranged rows of necklaces, bangles, rings and earrings, what Kalyan Jewellers is really selling is trust. Integrity is everything in the jewellery business, says TS Kalyanaraman, 70, the founder and CMD of the company. That was the most important lesson I learnt from my elders.

Trust isnt something new to the businessman. Over two decades ago, its this reputation that helped Kalyanaraman segue from his family business of textile manufacturing and retailing (set up in 1903) to his current calling. He recalls the overwhelming number of customers who would come to the family storemostly to shop for weddingsand ask him to sell jewellery that would go with their clothes. If he sold ornaments, they would certainly buy from him, they would tell him. Their confidence inspired Kalyanaraman to open his first store in Thrissur, Kerala, in 1993. Today, Kalyan Jewellers has 82 showrooms in India, and 23 in the Middle East. Revenues stood at Rs 9,834 crore in FY16, up by 15 percent from the previous fiscal and well ahead of the Rs 8,700 crore notched by the countrys biggest listed jeweller, Titan, a Tata group company.

Right from the beginning, Kalyanaraman changed the play in a sector riven by malpractices. He stocked ready-to-wear ornaments at a time when made-to-order was the norm, introduced detailed rate tags and educated customers on how to verify the purity of gold. Even his first store, at 4,000 sq ft, was more than ten times the size of a regular jewellery store at that time. It is this customer-centric model that defines Kalyan Jewellers leadership position, says Vishal Mahadevia, managing director and co-head, Warburg Pincus India, which picked up an undisclosed minority stake in the jewellery chain for Rs 1,200 crore in 2014, representing the largest such investment in the jewellery industry in India. They have successfully challenged conventional beliefs and created a strategy that has brought a noticeable shift in industry standards while expanding their geographical footprint, says Mahadevia.

Read more stories from Forbes India here

Kalyanaraman made sure the expansion didnt come at the cost of quality. He opened his second showroom, also in Kerala, seven years after the first. My father wanted to be steady with the first showroom before expanding, says older son Rajesh, 41, who entered the business in 1993 and looks into procurement and finance. Younger son Ramesh, 39, got involved with the business in 1998 and oversees marketing. Kalyan Jewellers went on to open showrooms across South India, and, in 2012, expanded into the western and northern regions of the country, roping in superstar Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador.

Over the next three years, the trio is targeting revenues of around Rs 15,000 crore as well as about 170 stores across India and abroad. The figures may sound ambitious, but with trust and professionalism continuing to be their bedrock, the future, clearly, glitters for Kalyan Jewellers.

(This article was first published in Forbes India
Data collated by the government show that 73 percent of all illegal Ponzi schemes or multi-level marketing (MLM) and finance schemes for which authorities have received complaints over the last four years are run out of West Bengal.

The Serious Frauds Investigations Office (SFIO), the governments corporate fraud investigation wing, is currently probing 185 companies who are suspected to have been running illicit deposit schemes that raised thousands of crores of rupees from gullible investors.

Of these, 135 schemes operated out of West Bengal.

SFIO and government data show that West Bengal has consistently remained the hub of alleged illicit financial schemes, luring unsuspecting people with returns averaging 25 percent a year.

A multi-agency probe is currently on against the Kolkata-headquartered Saradha group of companies for an alleged deposit collection scandal involving around Rs 20,000 crore. The companys promoters and top executives were accused by angry investors of creating a web of companies across several states in eastern India to dupe small depositors.

As many as 58 out of the 63 (92 percent) of such Ponzi cases ordered for SFIO probe were from West Bengal, 29 out of 51 (56 percent) in 2014-15. The following year (2015-16), 26 of the 47 (56 percent) of such alleged financial swindling cases referred to SFIO were running out of West Bengal and in 2016-17 (upto January), 19 of the 24 cases were from the east Indian state.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has also informed that it has registered 30 cases relating to chit fund and Ponzi schemes in the State of West Bengal. These cases are under investigation, a government source told Moneycontrol.

The government is currently finalising a central legislation to crack down on illicit deposit schemes.

Unlike Chinas anti-pyramid statutes and Singapore's Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act, India does not have any such central legislation, although 24 states have passed special Acts to deal with MLM companies.

India currently has a State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) systema joint forum for sharing information among regulators and enforcement agencies of the states to clamp down on unauthorised deposit collection schemes.

RBI has indicated that out of 486 cases considered in SLCC meetings, 116 cases (23 percent) related to West Bengal.

The draft Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors Interests Bill", which was put in the public domain for comments, has proposed stringent laws to clamp down on Ponzi schemes, including up to 10 years imprisonment for offenders and seizure of assets of firms found to have accepted unregulated deposits.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the draft bill will be introduced shortly after its finalisation.

There is an urgent need to protect the poor and gullible investors from another set of dubious schemes, operated by unscrupulous entities who exploit the regulatory gaps in the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002," Jaitley said in the budget speech for 2017-18. "We will amend this Act in consultation with various stakeholders, as part of our Clean India agenda.

The interests of participants in chit funds are protected under the Chit Funds Act 1982, under which chit funds have to be registered with and regulated by the respective State Registrars of Chits.

On the other hand, prize-chits, money circulation schemes, ponzi schemes are banned under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act-1978, which empowers state police to carry out probe such schemes.

So far, 24 States and three Union Territories (UTs) have enacted special laws called the Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Acts, where by state governments and UT authorities are empowered to take action.
Dr.Reddys on Tuesday said it was issued a Form 483 with 2 observations by US FDA for its active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing plant in Srikakulam.

The company said was addressing the observations raised by US FDA without specifying the nature of those observations.

Srikakulam API plant also called CTO-6 was undergoing a US FDA re-audit that began on 27 March. The audit ended Tuesday.

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 in March received repeat observations from the US FDA on its Duvvada oncology formulation facility in Visakhapatnam.
The Nifty closed at a record high on Monday at 9,237 and it looks like the market could have made an intermediate top as suggested by the formation of hanging man type of pattern on charts in the previous trading session.

The index may trade sideways on Wednesday ahead of the Reserve Bank of Indias policy review which will be out on Thursday. Market participants are expecting a status-quo stance this time from RBI but the commentary on rate cuts will give direction to markets.

This rally may get a further fillip if RBI succeeds in meeting the expectations of market participants. In such a scenario, we can expect Nifty to target 9,350 kind of levels, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told moneycontrol.

We have collated top ten data points on how to help you in spotting profitable trade.

Key Support & Resistance Level for Nifty

The Nifty closed above its crucial 5-DEMA and 10-DEMA placed at 9,174 and 9,137 respectively. According to Pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 9,205, followed by 9,172 and 9,152. If the index starts to move higher then key resistance levels to watch out are 9,258, followed by 9,278, and 9,310.

Nifty Bank

Nifty Bank closed 103 points higher or 0.48 per cent at 21,547. Important Pivot level which will act as crucial support for the index is placed at 21,449, followed by 21,350, and 21,292. On the upside, the key resistance level is 21,605, followed by 21,664 and 22,762.

Bank Nifty formed a bullish dragon fly doji on the daily charts and has been holding the gains with sustain buying interest. It has shifted its support at 21,250 while having the potential to move towards 21,700 and 22,000 zones, Chandan Taparia, Derivatives and Technical Analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities told moneycontrol.

Call Options Data

On the options front, maximum Call open interest (OI) of 38 lakh contracts stands at strike price 9,500 which will act as a crucial resistance level for the index, followed by 9,400 which now holds 31 lakh contracts in open interest and 9,200 which has accumulated 28 lakh contracts in OI.

Call Writing was seen at strike prices 9,300 (3.8 lakh contracts added), followed by 9,400 (8.1 lakh contracts added), and 9,500 (7.5 lakh contracts added). Call unwinding was seen at strike prices 9,200 (5.1 lakh contracts were shed).

A shift in highest Call congestion from strike prices 9,200 to 9,500 and 9,400 have given fresh hope to the market participants to ride the rally, said Taparia.

Put Options Data

Maximum Put OI of 49 lakh contracts was seen at strike price 9,000 which will act as a crucial base for the index in April series followed by 9,100 which has accumulated 33 lakh contracts in open interest, and 9,200 which now holds 31 lakh contracts in open interest.

Put writing was seen at strike prices 8,900 (2.6 lakh contracts added), followed by 9,000 (12 lakh contracts added), 9,100 (10 lakh contracts added), and 9,200 (9.4 lakh contracts added).

FII & DII Data

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 534 crore compared to domestic institutional investors who bought Rs 33 crore in Indian equity market.

Stocks with high Delivery percentage

High delivery percentage suggests that investors are accepting the delivery of the stock which means that investors are bullish on the stock.

97 stocks saw Long Buildup

32 stocks saw short covering

A decrease in open interest along with an increase in price mostly indicates short covering.

14 stocks saw Long Unwinding:

Long Unwinding happens when there is a decrease in OI as well as in price.

47 stocks saw Short Buildup:

An increase in open interest along with a decrease in price mostly indicates short positions being built up.
The Dalai Lama is all set to visit Arunachal Pradeshs Tawang on April 7 for a religious tour amidst noise from China over the visit. The visit, which was earlier slated for Tuesday, has been rescheduled due to bad weather conditions.

He will be staying in Arunachal Pradesh till April 12 and will attend various religious engagements, as per the official reports.

China has always considered any visit by Dalai Lama controversial as in 1959, Dalai Lama and 20 of his guards had escaped from China to India. China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of south Tibet.

On the visit, the Chinese foreign ministry on Monday said: "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.

It further said that the Chinese government is opposed to any countrys support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai Lamas anti-China separatist activities.

China had also said earlier that Dalai Lamas impending visit to Tawang could cause serious damage to bilateral ties between the countries and that New Delhi will have to make a choice.

Dalai Lama, on his escape, from China in 1959 said that he had no option but to escape due to Chinese military actions.



Visit is purely religious in nature&there should be no political angle given to that: Union Min Kiren Rijiju on Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit pic.twitter.com/0vczonDx3m

 ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

However, the Arunachal Pradesh government has said that Dalai Lamas visit is religious and no political agenda should be attached to it.

This is not the first time that he will visiting Arunachal Pradesh. Dalai Lama previously visited the state in 1983, 1997, 2003 and 2009.

Right before his visit, China has sought to highlight the disputed state of Tawang, located about 25 kms close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China, on April 1, had asked India to maintain caution in its reported plan to connect Tawang to Arunachal Pradesh with rail network. The country further said that India should refrain from unilateral actions that might complicate border issues between the two countries.

(With inputs from PTI)
The International Monetary Fund has decided to release the next USD 1-billion loan payment to Ukraine, which had been postponed following the blockade imposed on the separatist east of the country, the Ukrainian president said.

"The IMF board took the decision to grant Ukraine one billion dollars," wrote Petro Porochenko on his Facebook page, seeing it as "another sign of the reforms under way in Ukraine."

Cash-starved Ukraine has been desperately waiting for the next instalment of a USD 17.5-billion rescue programme that has been held up repeatedly since it was agreed in 2015 over delays by Kiev to carry out reforms.

Ukraine has thus far seen only USD 7.3 billion of that money.

The IMF had delayed its decision on the next loan instalment, originally scheduled for March 20, saying it needed to reassess the "implications of recent developments for the programme".

The postponement came after Kiev's pro-Western leadership in March imposed a trade blockade on Russian-backed rebel-held eastern regions.

The head of Ukraine's Independent Association of Banks in Ukraine Roman Shpek has said that nearly all the money would go into refinancing the former Soviet republic's outstanding debt to the IMF.
Two weeks after taking oath, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will hold the first meeting of his cabinet on April 4. Key issues in the BJP's poll manifesto, especially farmers' loan waiver, could be taken up at the meeting.

"The cabinet meeting will be held in the evening on April 4," state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh told reporters here.

He, however, did not elaborate on the issues to be taken up during the meeting.

"The agenda has not been finalised so far," he said.

BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his election speeches that writing off farmers' loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi had promised during his election campaign that a decision on loan waiver would be taken at the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state.

According to officials, there are around 2.30 crore farmers in Uttar Pradesh of whom, around 2.15 crore fall in the 'small and marginal' category.

They had suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about Rs 62,000 crore.

As the figure is huge, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling various options, including raising loans, to honour the saffron party's commitment to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers.

A state finance department spokesman said Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal has already started deliberations with senior officials of his department in this regard.

The government will have to pay the banks to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and for that, it will have to either seek funds from the Centre or raise loans on its own, the spokesman said.

"Such decisions are not taken in haste. I can assure (you) that the decision would be taken soon and a large number of farmers would be benefited," state Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said.

"The state government is seriously working on this front and a concrete decision would be taken soon. We are working to evolve the best possible solution," the minister had told PTI last week.

Sources in the government said it would be difficult to handle the burden of loan waiver in a single financial year.

They added that it was one of the reasons for putting the cabinet meeting on hold till some way was found to honour the prime minister's poll promise that the BJP government would take a decision on farmers' loan waiver at its first cabinet meeting.

Some officers were of the opinion that a decision in this regard could be taken and a policy formulated later, but the chief minister insisted that the decision be made once the policy was clear, so that there were no hurdles.
The logo of Toshiba Corp is seen as window cleaners work on the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTSYJK2

Toshiba Corp will meet creditor banks on Tuesday to ask them to accept as collateral shares in its memory chip unit being split off and other businesses and not call in their loans, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

A Toshiba spokeswoman confirmed the company will hold the meeting, but declined to disclose the agenda.

Toshiba management has so far failed to gain creditors' support for the request, which it also made last month.

The collateral offer also includes shares in group companies such as Toshiba Tec Corp, sources told Reuters in March. Some smaller creditors have balked at the offer, as bigger lenders are seen receiving the most valuable chip unit shares as collateral, the sources have said.

Shares in Toshiba plunged for the second consecutive day after Reuters reported the troubled Japanese conglomerate would likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results.

The shares dived more than 10 percent in Tuesday morning trade, following a 5.5 percent drop the previous day.

A third postponement of the October-December earnings, currently due on April 11, looks necessary because Toshiba's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC, has questions about results for the business year through March 2016, sources have told Reuters.

Asked about Toshiba's potential delay, Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters that it's important for listed companies to have sufficient information disclosure and to ensure effective corporate governance.
Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogi Adityanath takes the oath as the new Chief Minister of Indias most populous state of Uttar Pradesh during a swearing-in ceremony in Lucknow, India, March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar - RTX31PLH

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 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 feeling 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 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 politics 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.
Managing Director of Telenor's India partner Unitech, Sanjay Chandra (C) leaves a court in New Delhi April 13, 2011. An Indian court on Wednesday put on trial the first set of officials and businessmen indicted in the country's biggest corruption case, a multi-billion dollar telecoms scandal that has weakened the government and put off some foreign investors. (REUTERS)

Since the last one year, as many as three developers of listed real estate firms have been arrested for allegedly siphoning off funds collected for residential projects or for duping both homebuyers and investors who booked flats with them.

The most recent among them is the case of Unitech Ltds promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, who were arrested last week by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police for allegedly duping over 500 customers over the proposed Wildflower Country housing project located in Gurgaon.

These are not isolated cases. There are score of other homebuyers who find themselves in similar circumstances. As many as 36 percent of the existing real estate projects launched in the last six to seven years have been running behind schedule by over 12 months. The delay has primarily been on account of slow sales and delay in approvals, leading to late deliveries.

If you are one of those who have been duped by a builder or are waiting indefinitely for your flat to be handed over, what should you do?

For thousands of homebuyers caught in a Unitech-like situation, it is important that they stay united and put pressure on the developer to get the project completed on time, say legal experts.

The focus of homebuyers should be to get the project completed. They can approach the court to put in place an administrator or a commissioner who can work in conjunction with the association of homebuyers and get the project completed in a transparent and a time bound manner, says Vaibhav Gaggar, partner, Gaggar and partners.

He had represented homebuyer associations in the famous DLF case before the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The commission has imposed Rs 630 crore penalty on the builder.

It is important for homebuyer association members to take the lead and act as a bridge to raise funds, in case the builder claims he is bankrupt. This can be done either by forcing the developer to sell the additional floor area ratio allotted to him or additional land to get the project through or by collecting remaining installments from buyers, he says.

Homebuyers must understand that cases for recovery of money or a consumer case for that matter is against the company and not against the individual promoter of the company, unless of course if the promoter is himself a party to the agreement in individual capacity. This is because under the law, a company is considered as a separate legal entity.

In a situation where the promoter of the developer company is sent to jail, the buyer should immediately approach the civil courts against the company seeking recovery of the money. If the details of other legal cases either before the consumer forum or the civil court against the developer company initiated by other buyers is available with the consumer, the consumer may try to get his/her case filed and listed before the same court which is hearing the other cases, so that his/her case is also tagged and heard by the same court hearing other cases, says Sumit Roy, associate partner (Dispute Resolution), Alpha Partners.

Homebuyers say that had the real estate regulatory authority been in place, such a situation would not have arisen. RERA or Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 (RERA), which will be enforced by states by May 1 this year, is expected to ensure that builders complete projects on time or pay heavy penalty to homebuyers. It also calls for creating an escrow account for every project such that amounts collected from homebuyers is not diverted to acquire other land banks.

The first step is to form a group, hold protests and send out representations to political parties and their ministers both at the state and the central level. Homebuyers should first approach the authority responsible and then political leaders. Legal recourse should be the last step. All these efforts will send out a message that buyers are united and the developer will be forced to fall in line, says Abhay Upadhyay, national convenor, Fight For RERA, adding those fighting cases against developers should continue to do so as infrastructure relating to RERA may take a year or so to be put in place.

Earlier, the perception among developers was that any irregularity can be set right at whatever cost. With exuberance in the real estate market almost dead and sales being slow, not only is the homebuyer cautious about parking funds in real estate, the developer too has become careful.

Everybody has paid their tuition fees. Developers have more or less been forced to fall in line. They can no longer take things for granted. Investors and buyers are wary of investing with a developer who may not have received approvals, defaulted in payment to authorities or not delivered projects on time, says Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases Foras, a real estate rating and research agency.
By CNBCTV18.COM

Embattled engineer Anthony Levandowski collected USD 120 million from Google, despite involvement with at least one start-up that would ultimately compete with the company, according to new legal filings.

Embattled engineer Anthony Levandowski collected USD 120 million from Google, despite involvement with at least one start-up that would ultimately compete with the company, according to new legal filings.

Levandowski was already trying to staff up his competing start-up, Otto, while he worked at Google  but he waited until he got his payout to make the details of Otto public, a lawsuit said.

Levandowski is at the nexus of a battle between what is now Alphabet's self-driving car company, Waymo, and ride-hailing start-up Uber. Waymo alleges that Levandowski stole thousands of documents and trade secrets for Otto, which went on to be rapidly acquired by Uber.

New court documents allege that Levandowski's conflicts of interest may have been much deeper. Not only did Levandowski try to poach Google employees, the lawsuit said, but he may have been involved in competing side businesses called Odin Wave and Tyto Lidar.

Levandowski denied having ownership interested in Odin Wave when questioned in mid-2013, the lawsuit said, and also helped Google do due diligence for a potential acquisition of Tyto  a company that Otto later acquired.

"Throughout this process, Levandowski never disclosed a relationship with Tyto and its employees," the lawsuit said. "Google now believes that Levandowski in fact had a relationship with Tyto and its employees that conflicted with Levandowski's duties to Google."

Levandowski hasn't been the only engineer to get hefty sums from Waymo. In the suit, Google said it has had to provide incentives" to convince numerous other employees not to follow Levandowski to Uber. Uber and Waymo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg has previously reported that high paychecks prompted attrition at Google's car project. Bloomberg also reported that Levandowski had a long history of side projects during his time at Google, many sanctioned by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

"Anthony is a rogue force of nature," former Google self-driving car executive told Bloomberg. "Each phase of his Google career he had a separate company doing exactly the same work."

Levandowski has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in the lawsuit, according to a transcript obtained by The New York Times. Lawyers for Levandowski could no immediately be reached.
By CNBCTV18.COM

South Africa's rand fell more than 2 percent on Monday to its weakest in almost three months after S&P Global Ratings cut the country's credit score to sub-investment grade with a negative outlook after last week's dismissal of the South African finance minister.

South Africa's rand fell more than 2 percent on Monday to its weakest in almost three months after S&P Global Ratings cut the country's credit score to sub-investment grade with a negative outlook after last week's dismissal of the South African finance minister.

Stocks were higher on the day, led by gold shares, as demand for the safe-haven asset rose globally in response to worries U.S. President Donald Trump will use trade to pressure China in security talks.

At 1640 GMT, the rand traded at 13.6800 per dollar, 1.92 percent weaker from its New York close on Friday but up from the day's low of 13.7500, a level last reached on Jan. 16.

The increased likelihood of further credit downgrades by Moody's and Fitch is set to put pressure on the rand this week, analysts said.

"Any chance of avoiding this result evaporated last week when President Jacob Zuma sacked his respected finance minister," John Ashbourne, an analyst at Capital Economics, said in a note.

"Officials from several agencies had stressed the need to maintain the current team at the treasury."

S&P cut the credit rating to BB+ from BBB- and assigned a negative outlook, citing fiscal policy risk following Pravin Gordhan's sacking as finance minister.

Before President Zuma's last Thursday to fire Gordhan, the rand was the best-performing emerging market currency year-to-date. It has now shed 11.5 percent since last Monday's best of 12.3125 per dollar.

Bonds weakened in response to the downgrade, with the yield on the benchmark bond due in 2026 adding 14.5 basis points to 9.125 percent. Yields on South Africa's sovereign dollar bonds rose across the curve..

Some traders, however, are betting the rand will recoup losses if Zuma is pushed out of office as anger grows over the controversial sacking inside the ruling African National Congress.

"The narrative is just so overwhelmingly negative against Zuma. The pushback has been so strong that it actually gives one a sense of confidence, and I think a lot of people are trading on this," said ETM Analytics director and economist George Glynos.

Gold stocks benefited from the weaker rand, lifting the broader All-share index 0.77 percent to 52,457 points. The Top-40 index gained 0.87 percent to 45,561 points, while leading the gainers, Sibanye Gold surged 7.07 percent to 30.73 rand. AngloGold Ashanti rose 4.16 percent to 149.21 rand and Harmony Gold strengthened 3.53 percent to 34.01 rand.
Ex-choir director in Bucks County pleads no contest to molesting two students, secretly filming another
April 04, 2017

Various Issues

1. The anti-Russian mania and the Putin derangement syndrome in the U.S. and other "western" countries has left the realm of reasonability. It is of no use to argue over it. What is the endgame of the people who plant and propagate this nonsense?

2. Al-Qaeda in Syria and its subordinate "moderate rebels" are being defeated in their last big attack on Hama governate. The Russian defense ministry said that more than 2,000 Jihadis had been killed during the failed attack. Another attack on Latakia was stopped cold by massive Russian air strikes on the staging areas. Al-Qaeda's back yard in Idleb is under constant air interdiction.

The usual response when under such pressure are incidents of "chemical attacks" "on civilians". Such is claimed today in Khan Sheikhoun. The video footage, taken (when?) in a White Helmets base, shows "rescuers" spraying water on people who are claimed to have been effected by Sarin. If this were a real chemical incident involving Sarin or similar stuff these unprotected, unprofessional "rescuers" would be heavily effected if not dead.

Conveniently this incident also happens just two days before another international conference on Syria. The heavy media attention is likely the starting shot of a new campaign of CIA support for al-Qaeda in Idleb and a second leg of Turkey's invasion of Syria.

3. Trump had promised to change or eliminate "Obamacare". He let the Republican party under Ryan come up with a plan. That plan was crazy, disliked by the people and Trump rejected to take responsibility for it. Ryan was left hanging when the plan died in Congress.

Trump also promised to eliminate ISIS. He let the U.S. military come up with a plan. That plan is to bomb Mosul and Raqqa to smithereens and to kill everyone ISIS. The Pentagon has no viable plan for the time thereafter. Who will rule (and pay for) the destroyed Raqqa when the campaign is over? Who will have responsibility for the larger consequences? If the Kurds get it, the Arabs will rebel. If the Turks get it, the Kurds will fight them. If some (former ISIS) Arabs get it, Syria, Russia, Iran and Iraq and the Kurds will fight them and the U.S. military will have to protect them. The Pentagon has no answer to that problem. Trump will let the generals hang just as he let Ryan hang. They will have to take the responsibility. Don't they smell the trap?

Posted by b on April 4, 2017 at 11:33 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page 
The only one that couldn't make it had a pretty good reason not to be there...

2 hours ago
One city neighborhood has a new speed limit after a vote by the Morganton City Council at its regularly scheduled Monday meeting.

The area encompassing Crayton Street, Murphy Court, Poteat Street and Bickett Street has a new speed posting, effective immediately. The city council voted Monday to implement a neighborhood-wide limit of 25 mph for the area off South Sterling Street.

The city said a traffic engineering study determined that the roads in question are all narrow residential streets. Their primary purpose is to provide access to adjoining residences, many of which are original cottages built for Broughton Hospital employees nearly a century ago, the city said. That means that the neighborhoods layout reflects functionality from the turn of the 20th century, according to the citys information.

Cut-through traffic is expected for these roads because they act as a shortcut between South Sterling Street, which has a limited of 45 mph, and Bethel Road, which has a limit of 35 mph, the city said. The streets in the neighborhood have no sidewalks, meaning that the roadways themselves will be used for pedestrian traffic and other activities, the city said.

The city determined that while automobile traffic mobility is important for these streets, it needed to be reduced via speed for the area since its streets are residential and not arterial roads or expressways. Also, the city said there should be some speed distinction and hierarchy between the arterial street of Sterling and the collector road of Bethel and the roads in the neighborhood.

The move to change the speed limit came after a concerned citizen, Sue Ford, of Crayton Street, sent two letters to the Morganton Department of Public Safety, according to documents from the city. Ford told MDPS that speeding cars and the width of the roadway created a safety concern. Fords concerns led to a speed study by Public Safety Officer K. Davis.

At the time of the study, no speed limit was posted on Crayton Street, meaning its limit was the citywide 35 mph limit. A speed tolerance of 5 mph was set for the study, meaning that any speed more than 41 mph was above tolerance, according to information from the city.

A total of 807 vehicles were measured during the study, which lasted 120 hours. Of those, 2 percent, or 16 vehicles, were above the tolerance level. Eight of those showed speed which was inaccurate or an anomaly, usually a result of two cars meeting and combining speeds on the radar, the city said.

The study report showed that 599 of the 807 vehicles were traveling between 16 and 30 mph. The department used the information it collected to determine that a low speed enforcement was needed for the neighborhood and selected the umbrella 25 mph limit. The city said the new limit would be posted in the area as soon as possible.

Small business loan agreement

After agreeing to enter into an agreement with Overmountain Cycles in March, the Morganton City Council continued to show its support for small business in the city at Mondays regularly scheduled meeting.

The council unanimously voted to enter into a CDBG small business loan agreement with startup womens and childrens clothing store Alexander Brooke Boutique, owned by Seth and Brittanee Garrison. The loan agreement is worth $15,000 for the new store, located on North Sterling Street.

According to information from the city, the store will provide clothing for women and children in a boutique setting at an affordable price. Additionally, the store will provide embroidery services, the city said.

Other business

City Manager Sally Sandy announced at Mondays meeting that a public hearing to consider an economic development incentive for Project Stop has been scheduled for the councils next regular meeting on May 1. Project Stop is an application to the North Carolina Department of Commerce for a $1 million building reuse grant. If awarded, the grant would require a 5 percent ($50,000) local government match, which would be a 2.5 percent split between the city and the county, according to information from the city.

The project is in conjunction with a yet-to-be named existing company that plans to invest $6 million in expansion by adding a new production line and 100 new full-time jobs, according to Morganton.

Additionally, after approving several land transfers relating to the Mountain View Elementary School construction project in March, the city approved a temporary easement with Burke County and Burke County Public Schools for the project. That will allow construction work to encroach onto adjoining city property in limited fashion, city attorney Louis Vinay said.

Justin Epley can be reached at jepley@morganton.com or 828-432-8943.
A Burke County man reported missing on March 27 was found dead near his home on Sunday evening.

Tyler Isiah McCormick, 26, of Morganton, was located deceased in a wooded area behind his residence at approximately 5:46 p.m. on Sunday, said Burke County Sheriff Steve Whisenant.

Burke County Criminal Investigations Department investigated the scene but did not find any evidence of foul play, he said.

A Silver Alert was issued out for McCormick on March 27 by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. McCormick was believed to be suffering from dementia or some other cognitive impairment, said a press release from NCDPS.

There was no information on the last time he was seen or any possible destinations, the release said.

Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907.
Mr. Ciruli is the Director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denvers Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is an adjunct professor teaching public opinion and foreign policy. The Crossley Center conducts research and presents live and virtual programs on foreign policy, politics, public policy and public opinion.





Mr. Ciruli holds a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelors degree cum laude in political science from UCLA. He is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and is the past-president of the Pacific Chapter of AAPOR (PAPOR). Mr. Ciruli is a board member of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies and past-president of the Georgetown Law Alumni Board and the Denver Athletic Club.




New Ratings

Ashis Dash

The Kames Absolute Return Bond Fund has been managed by two experienced managers, Stephen Snowden and Colin Finlayson, since its inception in September 2011. The managers dynamically allocate across three modules  carry, credit and rates  with the aim of delivering 3-month GBP LIBOR + 2-3% net of fees over rolling three-year periods while minimising volatility and correlation to broader fixed income markets.

The fund has done a good job at limiting drawdowns and volatility while also exhibiting lower correlations with major fixed income markets. However, it has struggled to beat cash + 2%, the lower end of its outperformance target and a more realistic aim in the current low yield environment, over most rolling three-year periods since inception. Moreover, its clean share class fee of 0.68%, which is almost a third of the alpha target, is an additional hurdle. These limit our conviction in the fund despite the experienced team and structured process.

Mathieu Caquineau

Richard Halle has long experience in European equities and has spent most of his 18-year career at M&G. He designed this value-oriented strategy and has been managing it since its launch in 2008 with convincing results. Halles approach combines a strict quantitative screening process to identify the cheapest stocks in each sector, while thorough bottom-up fundamental analysis is used to avoid value traps. The resulting portfolio is diversified across sectors and countries, with stock selection being the main performance driver. Overall, we believe the manager has the required experience and proven skills to keep serving investors well in the long-run.

Downgrades

Simon Dorricott

Investec UK Special Situations has many positive attributes, but a re-assessment of the approach has caused us to reduce the rating from the highest level. The strict process and its implementation have combined to cause medium term returns to be lacklustre versus other value orientated funds. The lack of ideas passing the screening process and the managers valuation criteria, have been the cause of this together with some stock selection issues. Although the process has not been as resilient as hoped in recent times, the long term record remains good and we continue to have high regard for the manager and the approach. We have, however, reduced the rating from Gold to a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver which is a better reflection of our current views.

Ashis Dash

The fund is run by an experienced team of four managers led by Kames' head of fixed income, David Roberts. They aim to outperform the IA Sterling Strategic Bond sector average over rolling three year periods. To that end, they invest across global fixed income markets, though the execution of the investment process has been less convincing in recent years. The fund beats its IA peer group in less than 10% of the rolling three year periods since 2010, while its three-, five-, and ten-year returns through February 2017, both absolute and risk-adjusted, have dropped to the bottom half within its Morningstar Category.

The funds underweight duration versus peers held since 2011 has broadly detracted over the years. Meanwhile, contributions from other return drivers such as asset allocation, sector and credit selection, havent been able to totally offset this. Thats disappointing given the multiple performance drivers available to the managers, and somewhat reduces our conviction on the quality of execution of the investment process. Thus, we no longer consider this fund as one of the best in its peer group, although its experienced team still plays in its favour.

Temple Bar (TMPL)  Silver

Simon Dorricott

Temple Bar has many positive attributes, including low costs, but a re-assessment of the approach has caused us to reduce the rating from the highest level. The strict process and its implementation have combined to cause medium term returns to be lacklustre versus other value orientated funds. The lack of ideas passing the screening process and the managers valuation criteria, have been the cause of this together with some stock selection issues. Although the process has not been as resilient as hoped in recent times, the long term record remains good and we continue to have high regard for the manager and the approach. We have, however, reduced the rating from Gold to a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver which is a better reflection of our current views.

Samuel Meakin

We have assigned JOHCM UK Opportunities a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Neutral. The fund had recently been placed under review following the announcement that lead manager John Wood would be retiring from the investment management industry at the end of September 2017. The fund was previously rated Silver. While we believe that existing co-managers Michael Ulrich and Rachel Reutter, who will jointly take the helm after Woods departure, are of a high pedigree, we also think that Wood added value in a number of key areas, and we would like to see more evidence that the new management pairing can match his discipline in executing the investment process.

Ratings moved to Under Review

Peter Brunt

BlackRock has restructured the team running this fund. It will be run by Kevin Franklin and Raffaele Savi of the groups San Francisco-based Scientific Active Equity (SAE) team. The fund will follow the current investment approach until 28 April 2017, during which time the former managers, John Coyle and Murali Balaraman, will assist in the transition to the SAE team. While the portfolio will be managed to the same investment guidelines, the change in management marks a significant change in investment approach  the SAE team follows a heavily data-driven, quantitative strategy. We are therefore placing the fund's rating Under Review until we have spoken with the new managers to better understand exactly how the fund will be managed.

Fatima Khizou

BGF US Basic Value's Morningstar Analyst Rating is Under Review because BlackRock is replacing its lead manager and combining its investment team with that of another fund as part of a broad and dramatic restructuring of its active equity lineup.

Bart Geer, who has run this fund since defecting to BlackRock from Putnam Investments in late 2012, will leave the fund and firm later this year. His current comanager, Carrie King, a holdover from previous manager Kevin Rendinos team and a listed manager on this fund since 2009, will take over the portfolio with Joe Wolfe, a BlackRock employee since 2012 and former head of active quantitative research at Northern Trust. Wolfe helped Geer rebuild the quantitative screens he used at Putnam when he came to BlackRock.

King will continue to employ that process, which relied on both quant and fundamental techniques to pick stocks. But she will do it as part of a larger "Income and Value" team constructed around the crew running BlackRock Equity Dividend, rather than as a separate Basic Value team. As part of that integration, Basic Value analysts Bill Rubin, who had been with the team since 2011, and Eugene Rogovoy, who Geer hired in 2013, will leave the firm. Andrew Wright, who had been a member of the Basic Value team since 2013 and a BlackRock employee since 2009, will join King and Wolfe on the Income and Value team.

Geer's approach produced mixed results here but had a longer successful track record at Putnam Equity Income. Combining quantitative screens and fundamental research is not an unusual strategy, but Geer exerted an unusual amount of control over the process here, and it is not clear how it will fare without his judgment and experience. King is seasoned but accumulated most of her experience with Rendino's purely fundamental, contrarian approach.
This week marks the end of one tax year, and the beginning of the new 2017/18 tax year. For investment ideas, back to basics education and advice from the experts read Morningstars Guide to Planning for Retirement.

Want to boost your earnings in one simple step? Millions of workers are paying just the minimum contribution into a workplace pension scheme  meaning their employers are too. Maximise your pension contributions and your employer will up their ante too.

Auto-enrolment was introduced five years ago, initially rolled out across the largest businesses in the UK, filtering down by size so that now  in its final stages  the smallest businesses are setting up pension schemes for their employees. Auto-enrolment opts workers into a workplace pension scheme by default, replacing the previous system where workers had to personally request to partake in a retirement savings scheme.

Newly opted in workers are signed up to contribute the bare minimum of 0.8% of their salary, while employers must contribute an amount equal to 1% of their employee's salary every time the employee is paid. The Government then tops this up with a further 0.2% of salary  meaning youre getting free cash from the state as well as your employer. After April next year, the employee contribution rises to 2.4% of salary, the employer contribution rises to 2% and the Government must put in 0.6%  bringing the total contribution to 5% of annual salary. This rises again in April 2019 to 4% contribution for the employee, 3% contribution from the employer and 1% from the Government, bringing the total contribution to 8% of salary. You Have to Be In It, to Win It Unlike the workplace pension system in Australia, scheme membership is not compulsory in the UK. If you do not wish to contribute to your workplace pension, you can opt out. But you would be foolish do to so, especially if you are under the age of 40. Some doubt has been cast over the future of the State Pension for those in Generation X  currently aged 30 to 40, and the Millennials  aged under 30. There is a shift taking place in the UK, following the US model, whereby responsibility for retirement provision is moving from the state to the individual. Simply put, if you dont save now, you may be left with nothing at all in retirement. While there are other tax-efficient structures that allow individuals to save for the future  such as ISAs and SIPPs  these are not as generous as the workplace pension. Contributions to the Lifetime ISA and Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) are topped up by the Government, but only the workplace pension combines cash from the individual, the employer and the State  more than doubling your purchasing power. Maximise Your Contributions You do not have to wait for the April next year to raise your contributions. Many employers promise to match employee contributions up to a threshold  usually around 4 or 5%, although some businesses contribute as much as 10% to an employees scheme. Studies have shown that if you start saving for retirement at age 22, youll increase your retirement income by around 20% compared to waiting just three years until you are 25. The earlier you maximise your contributions, the better.
This week marks the end of one tax year, and the beginning of the new 2017/18 tax year. For investment ideas, back to basics education and advice from the experts read Morningstars Guide to Planning for Retirement.

Where are investors allocating their ISA and SIPP allowances? There is just one day to go until the end of the 2016/17 tax year and, according to data compiled by Morningstar.co.uk and fund platforms, investors are favouring UK equity and targeted return funds.

In March, the Silver Rated CF Woodford Equity Income fund and the Gold Rated CF Lindsell Train UK Equity fund both topped the most hits list on Morningstar.co.uk. These two funds were also featured in the 10 most purchased funds by ISA and SIPP investors in March through fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown.
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
A document drafted by Canadas money-laundering overseer initially warned the real estate industry to watch out for specific ethnic communities, but feedback from the Canadian Real Estate Association led to the provisions eventual removal from the manuscript.FINTRAC stated that it created the document to guide real estate companies in fulfilling their mandate to detect and pinpoint money laundering, which might be used to finance terrorist groups, among other illegal ventures.The initial version of the documentwhich was supplied to the industry back in 2014outlined various risk factors that would endanger the company through involvement in financial crimes, such as a specific ethnic community that is currently dealing with specific events (e.g. prevalence of terrorism or money laundering, war etc.) in the home country.In its letter to FINTRAC, CREA maintained that this reference is anathema to the Human Rights Act.Canadians are rightly proud of the Human Rights Act, and especially in this day and age when we see whats happening south of the border, CREA spokesman Randall McCauley said, as quoted by The Canadian Press.Our lawyers would have rightly pointed out or reminded FINTRAC that no Canadian can discriminate against another, or deny access to a service based on where theyre from.FINTRAC assured that the reference was never meant to provoke discrimination of any ethnic group, but acknowledged the possible confusions that might arise from the warning.FINTRAC chose to remove the terminology as it recognized the potential for misinterpretation and misrepresentation, FINTRAC spokesperson Renee Bercier wrote in an e-mail.The intent of the guidance was to highlight, broadly, that regulated businesses may deal with clients that have a material connection to high-risk jurisdictions or other jurisdictions that are currently dealing with specific events, including terrorism or money laundering, war, a high level of corruption, or organized crime, Bercier explained.
Homebuyers can now view their potential brokers regulatory record in a now online portal.Developed by the Mortgage Brokers Regulators Council of Canada (MBRCC), the online database allows consumers to search broker and company names to view disciplinary actions; including license suspensions, administrative penalties, and cease and desist orders."Mortgages are often the biggest financial commitment Canadians make. Mortgage brokers are regulated professionals who can help you find the right mortgage to finance your home, MBRCC Chair Cory Peters said. This new, easy-to-use database gives consumers a way to help check a broker's background before entrusting them with such an important financial transaction."MBRCC said at launch: The database  integrates disciplinary records from most provincial regulators into a single, convenient place. It helps consumers save time and provides additional peace of mind when choosing a mortgage broker.The regulator claims brokerages and broker networks can also benefit from the database.In addition, mortgage brokerages and regulators across Canada now have easier access to disciplinary information. Brokerages can use the new tool to look up potential brokers, and provincial regulators can use it to assess the suitability of brokers who want to be licensed in other provinces, it said. Developing the database supports the MBRCC's mandate to improve and promote harmonization of mortgage broker regulatory practices across Canada.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

More engineering programs and a creative and entrepreneurial space at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin are one step closer to reality after the Midland Development Corp. board voted to partner with the university.

The board approved 5-0 a measure to give UTPB $5 million, to be paid in equal installments over five years, to build the third floor of the schools new engineering building, which will make room for chemical and electrical engineering programs.

Also part of the terms is the creation of a business incubator and makerspace. UTPB will vacate up to 10,000 square feet at the Center for Energy and Economic Diversification building for the project, and the school will operate the program.

The partnership satisfies the visions of MDC and UTPB. About 1 in 10 students at UTPB are pursuing engineering degrees, UTPB President David Watts said at the meeting, and the school wants to grow to meet demand. He estimated that about 1 in 7 students will study engineering after the new building and programs are ready.

More for you Entrepreneurship wheels are in motion

MDC three years ago had budgeted $5 million for the creation of a business incubator and makerspace to allow residents  both students and non-students  to develop their ideas and get business help along the way, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram report.

The new engineering building is being constructed near the CEED. MDC Chairman Brent Hilliard told the Reporter-Telegram that the partnership will create a unique system of entrepreneurship and economic development. Students can get their education at UTPB, take their ideas to the makerspace, learn how to start a business at the incubator and get further help and funding through UTPBs Small Business Development Center.

(The partnership) represents a great opportunity for the area, Watts said. It will be a major step forward.

Board member Keith Stretcher said whole program will help with the oil and gas industry with recruitment obstacles. City Councilman Jeff Sparks, an oil and gas man himself, said, It will do wonders for the workforce. Its going to be a big boost for my industry.

The MDC boards approval isnt the final say. The measure must be approved by City Council, and Watts said the chemical and electrical engineering programs will go in front of the University of Texas System board of regents May 9 and 10.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

 Doctor recruitment: The board approved payment of $361,660.58 to the Midland County Hospital District for the continuation of its reimbursable physician recruitment agreement. Midland Memorial Hospital staff indicated during a board presentation that the program, now in its second year, has been very successful. They noted 100 percent doctor retention and that the hospitalist program is close to being fully staffed. The vote was 3-0; MDC board member Gary Douglas opted to abstain because he is on the hospital board and Stretcher abstained because his son-in-law is among the doctors being actively recruited.

 Spaceport update: Parkhill Smith & Cooper staff said during a presentation that construction work at Spaceport Business Park is moving along. They said utilities work is expected to be completed in the beginning of May and paving should be finished a few months afterward. An item for site improvements is expected at the next meeting.

 Pipeline proposal: The board voted 5-0 to license right-of-way to EnLink North Texas Gathering for the companys pipeline project.

 Reaching out: The MDC is putting stronger focus on social media outreach to inform the community about its activities and potential businesses about opportunities in Midland. You can follow the MDC on Twitter at @midlandtxedc, on Facebook at MidlandTXEDC and on LinkedIn.

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes.






This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

West Texas pipeline protests have faded over the past month, and now, with the Trans-Pecos Pipeline complete, organizers say theyre closing down the largest of the camps.

Yeah, were in transition mode, said Frankie Orona, executive director of the San Antonio-based Society of Native Nations and a camp leader. The pipeline is pretty much in the ground.

Activists completed 13 direct actions  civil disobedience aimed at slowing the progress of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the pipelines main builder. Many involved protesters chaining or locking themselves to heavy machinery in the early morning, forcing the company to wait for police before starting work.

But the most recent arrest was almost three weeks ago, the Presidio County Sheriffs Office said. Deputies found 21-year-old Greeley, Colo., resident Anna Joy Kruger, her arms wrapped around an excavator and then affixed together with a homemade cast of PVC pipe, chicken wire, concrete, tar and duct tape  far harder and more time-consuming to remove than the chains protesters used earlier in the year. Deputies had to get a grinder to cut through the concrete and metal. They arrested her on suspicion of trespassing, a misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a felony.

The Trans-Pecos pipeline received federal approval Thursday to run gas across the border. The pipeline, a spokeswoman said, is operationally ready for service.

Less than 10 are now left at the camp, called Two Rivers, a mix of tents, teepees and at least one yurt on private land near Big Bend Ranch State Park, 40 miles south of Marfa and 25 miles north of the Mexican border. Orona said hell close it in the next few weeks and begin looking for a new target.

Other activists have gathered near West Texass Balmorhea State Park, home to the famous spring-fed swimming pool, to protest fracking operations conducted by Houston-based Apache Corp. Orona said camp leaders are equally interested in targeting Calgary-based Enbridges Valley Crossing Pipeline, set to run from near Corpus Christi to the southern tip of Texas.

That pipeline is still setting its course, and activists would have a much better ability to affect the outcome.

But Orona worries he wont get much traction. Activists blocked the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline, and now the Trump Administration has greenlighted both.

I think the movements dying down a lot throughout the country, he said. I think people are discouraged.

In the meantime, however, campers at Two Rivers could use a hand. They need gas money to cover their coming move.
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.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

After pushing the issue for nearly a decade, key lawmakers in the Texas Legislature are optimistic that a statewide texting-while-driving ban is within reach.

Texas is one of four states that do not have a statewide ban on texting and driving. That distinction has drawn renewed attention in recent days following an accident around 75 west of San Antonio in which a truck driver who was texting and driving crashed into a church bus and killed 13 senior citizens.

State Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, author of the texting ban bill that recently passed the House, said about the accident: Its a tragic situation. Its a wasted situation.

Craddick, who has pushed for the ban for four sessions in a row, offered condolences to the victims, their families and the church in a statement last week.

No message or e-mail is important enough to risk injury or death while driving on our Texas roadways," Craddick said.

If Texas had passed a texting-while-driving ban when Craddick first filed a bill creating one in 2011, Texas would have been the ninth state to pass such a law, he said. If House Bill 62 passes this session, it will be the 47th.

In 2015 and 2013, Craddick's proposal passed the House but died in the Senate. In 2011, it traveled through both chambers only to be vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry, who said it would micromanage the behavior of adults.

In the 2015 session, a group of conservative senators helped kill the proposal, arguing that it could lead to unreasonable searches by police, among other concerns.

This year, both Craddick and the measure's most vocal advocate in the Senate, Judith Zaffirini, are hopeful the measure will draw enough support in the upper chamber and Gov. Greg Abbott will sign it.

There are some members in the Senate who have voted against a statewide ban in the past that are now saying they are going to vote for it, Craddick noted.

One of them is state Sen. Craig Estes, who said in March, according to KUT, When we first started working on this, I was a no, and then I almost had a terrible wreck.

Other senators have changed their minds over the years as they have grown more sensitive to the prevalence of the issue and the consequences of inaction, Zaffirini said.

The first time I carried it in 2009, nobody was interested in it but I kept on. Now more people understand it, Zaffirini said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has also changed course on the legislation. In 2011, he said to pass a law on texting and driving is one more nanny state intrusion on our lives.

This session, he said in a radio interview on KRLD, that he is uncertain whether there is enough support in the Texas Senate for the ban, but suggests he backs it. "Personally, I don't think people should be taking their eye off the road," Patrick said. "I have evolved on the issue personally over the past several years. It's clear now it's a serious issue."

Under his proposal, offenders would be charged with a misdemeanor and be fined $25 to $99. Repeat offenders would have to pay between $100 and $200 in fines.

Craddick pointed to research from Alva Ferdinand, an associate professor in health policy and management at Texas A&M, who has said a statewide ban could prevent 90 deaths a year. The most effective way to curb deaths related to people texting-and-driving is to make it illegal, he said, comparing the move to the law that people in cars wear seat belts.

No one ever thought seat belts would go into effect and now its just standard use to buckle up. Only once it became law did most people start to buckle up, Craddick said.

About three dozen Texas cities already have a texting-and-driving ban in place. Cities would still be allowed to implement ordinances that are stricter than the proposed state law under the current version of the legislation.

---

texastribune.com
We are collating signatures to petition ...
Blog Archive November 2022 (27) October 2022 (114) September 2022 (102) August 2022 (124) July 2022 (92) June 2022 (119) May 2022 (100) April 2022 (91) March 2022 (130) February 2022 (103) January 2022 (88) December 2021 (89) November 2021 (110) October 2021 (127) September 2021 (104) August 2021 (119) July 2021 (83) June 2021 (122) May 2021 (85) April 2021 (134) March 2021 (140) February 2021 (114) January 2021 (109) December 2020 (106) November 2020 (112) October 2020 (160) September 2020 (141) August 2020 (136) July 2020 (109) June 2020 (128) May 2020 (97) April 2020 (109) March 2020 (129) February 2020 (137) January 2020 (128) December 2019 (116) November 2019 (129) October 2019 (186) September 2019 (136) August 2019 (138) July 2019 (131) June 2019 (133) May 2019 (175) April 2019 (164) March 2019 (148) February 2019 (175) January 2019 (188) December 2018 (109) November 2018 (130) October 2018 (173) September 2018 (124) August 2018 (135) July 2018 (125) June 2018 (124) May 2018 (173) April 2018 (154) March 2018 (142) February 2018 (138) January 2018 (146) December 2017 (108) November 2017 (141) October 2017 (172) September 2017 (152) August 2017 (121) July 2017 (138) June 2017 (140) May 2017 (169) April 2017 (136) March 2017 (172) February 2017 (149) January 2017 (164) December 2016 (127) November 2016 (142) October 2016 (164) September 2016 (129) August 2016 (173) July 2016 (139) June 2016 (163) May 2016 (182) April 2016 (162) March 2016 (176) February 2016 (184) January 2016 (186) December 2015 (158) November 2015 (176) October 2015 (201) September 2015 (189) August 2015 (157) July 2015 (102) June 2015 (199) May 2015 (203) April 2015 (192) March 2015 (189) February 2015 (186) January 2015 (200) December 2014 (170) November 2014 (178) October 2014 (220) September 2014 (206) August 2014 (121) July 2014 (190) June 2014 (222) May 2014 (153) April 2014 (154) March 2014 (163) February 2014 (173) January 2014 (194) December 2013 (117) November 2013 (150) October 2013 (218) September 2013 (163) August 2013 (201) July 2013 (169) June 2013 (160) May 2013 (207) April 2013 (206) March 2013 (211) February 2013 (174) January 2013 (185) December 2012 (132) November 2012 (202) October 2012 (163) September 2012 (181) August 2012 (183) July 2012 (189) June 2012 (191) May 2012 (172) April 2012 (184) March 2012 (240) February 2012 (186) January 2012 (196) December 2011 (135) November 2011 (216) October 2011 (190) September 2011 (178) August 2011 (175) July 2011 (202) June 2011 (201) May 2011 (122) April 2011 (205) March 2011 (214) February 2011 (200) January 2011 (204) December 2010 (129) November 2010 (178) October 2010 (197) September 2010 (174) August 2010 (173) July 2010 (131) June 2010 (193) May 2010 (115) April 2010 (215) March 2010 (205) February 2010 (189) January 2010 (152) December 2009 (157) November 2009 (183) October 2009 (215) September 2009 (199) August 2009 (162) July 2009 (135) June 2009 (214) May 2009 (198) April 2009 (242) March 2009 (262) February 2009 (191) January 2009 (164) December 2008 (124) November 2008 (124) October 2008 (252) September 2008 (139) August 2008 (120) July 2008 (147) June 2008 (115) May 2008 (121) April 2008 (127) March 2008 (121) February 2008 (112) January 2008 (116) December 2007 (93) November 2007 (108) October 2007 (129) September 2007 (131) August 2007 (124) July 2007 (128) June 2007 (109) May 2007 (175) April 2007 (134) March 2007 (112) February 2007 (106) January 2007 (137) December 2006 (72) November 2006 (101) October 2006 (128) September 2006 (108) August 2006 (120) July 2006 (143) June 2006 (133) May 2006 (122) April 2006 (84) March 2006 (97) February 2006 (85) January 2006 (73) December 2005 (47) November 2005 (66) October 2005 (69) September 2005 (92) August 2005 (108) July 2005 (55) June 2005 (88) December 2001 (1) December 2000 (1)
A Florida bill to provide workers' compensation to first responders struggling with post traumatic stress disorders is in jeopardy.

It breaks my heart to think that this might happen," said Jessica Realin, who has been fighting for the bill. Its really sad to see how things play out in Tallahassee, how agendas get pushed around.

Realins husband, Gerry, is an Orlando Police officer who suffers from PTSD after the Pulse attack last year.

While she was shocked to learn that first responders in Florida aren't covered by workers' compensation if they suffer from PTSD alone, she gained hope in February: Sen. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, introduced SB 1088, the bill seeking to amend the state's comp laws for PTSD-suffering first responders.

For once, they feel like the state is taking notice of their pain and suffering and trying to make something happen," Realin said of her meetings with other first responders. "They said that for the first time they feel like they have hope, because before nobody would listen.

Rep. Mike Miller, R-Orlando, sponsored the companion bill in the Florida House. But neither bills have moved past their first committees, with the legislative session ending in a month.

Im hoping that our bill will get a chance to be heard because it is the right thing to do," said Realin. She has been calling and emailing senators and representatives across the state, seeking support.

SB 1088 needs to move through four committees and subcommittees in the Senate in four weeks, which an aide for Torres said Monday is nearly impossible. Budget negotiations are also taking precedence.

FL Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, is in charge of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, where the bill is currently waiting.

An aide for Flores says she supports the bill and would help shepherd it through the committees, but it has not been heard in the Florida House yet, and wants to see what happens there.

The bill needs to go through three committees and subcommittees in the Florida House.

If the bill dies this session, Torres plans to reintroduce it in the fall, resuming the same procedure next year.
The Flagler County Sheriff's Office is investigating an early morning shooting into an occupied dwelling.

People reported shots fired at about 5:30 a.m. in Palm Coast

Flagler deputies said no injuries have been reported

OUR NEW APP: Watch News 13 or Bay News 9 on the go or wherever you are with the new Spectrum TV app

No injuries have been reported.

Deputies responded at about 5:30 a.m. after a Palm Coast resident heard gunshots on the 100 block of Plain View Drive.

Deputies were able to determine that several vehicles and one home were damaged as a result of the shooting.

"We are actively working the scene, and Sheriff (Rick) Staly responded to assess the necessary resources," Chief Mark Strobridge said in a statement. "The investigators are looking for a possible motive. We do not believe this was just a random act."



Added Staly: "This is a cowardly criminal act and it will not be tolerated in Flagler County. We are going to use all available resources to solve this horrible act."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Flagler County Sheriff's Office's nonemergency line at 386-313-4911 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-277-8477.
CHESHIRE  Housing authority officials are hoping to win a state grant to repave driveways, widen sidewalks and renovate apartment units at the Beachport affordable housing complex on Rumberg Road.



The Town Council recently approved an application to the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program.



Ann Belcher, Cheshire Housing Authority manager, said the housing authority is hoping for the maximum grant  $800,000. The town expects to hear back on the grant by late summer or fall, Belcher said.



Driveways at the 48-unit senior citizen complex havent been repaved since 1992, Belcher said. The grant would also fund replacement of sidewalks and widening of walking paths.



The authority also wants to renovate five apartments to make them more accommodating for tenants with disabilities and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.



They should be brought up to code, Belcher said.



Jane Lint, a Beachport resident and member of the housing authority board, said sidewalks are especially in need of repair. Shes lived in the complex for 22 years.



That blacktop, it doesnt hold up, she said.



Rebuilding the sidewalks will help people in wheelchairs get around, Lint said.



It would make a tremendous difference, she said. And (make it) safer too.



jbuchanan@recordjournal.com 203-317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJ






SOUTHINGTON  A man was arrested after a foot chase Tuesday afternoon in the Darling Street/North Main Street area.



Just before 2 p.m. police responded and chased a suspect accused of stealing Red Bull from Stop & Shop, said Sgt. Jeffrey Dobratz, police spokesman. Officers chased the suspect in the area of Darling Street, near North Main Street, before he was apprehended in a wooded area.



The suspects name and charges were not available.






A road-rage shooting in Morgan Hill unexpectedly led to the arrest of a fugitive wanted on a $4.9 million warrant in connection with an attempted murder in Monterey County, police said Monday.

Alexander Monzon, 19, of Soledad was on the run after being charged with four counts of attempted murder stemming from a gang-related shooting in Soledad, according to Soledad Deputy Police Chief Damon Wasson.

The conflict began when two cars were involved in a road rage incident just after midnight Friday on Monterey Road in Morgan Hill.

As the two cars drove north, one of the drivers brandished a handgun at two men in the other car and followed them in the direction of Vineyard Boulevard, according to the Morgan Hill Police Department.

At the intersection of Vineyard Boulevard and La Crosse Drive, the gunman reportedly stopped, got out of the car, and fired one round at the passenger side of the car containing the men he had a dispute with. The victims car made a U-turn to flee, but the gunman fired additional rounds into the drivers side as the car turned, striking the driver in the lower left leg, police said.

The wounded driver called 911 from the parking lot of a nearby Safeway store and was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police set up a perimeter and learned the shooting may have been committed by Monzon, officials said.

Monzon was later determined to have been the sole occupant of the vehicle, officials said.

With help from a K-9 unit from the Gilroy Police Department and a Star-1 helicopter from the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department, officers located Monzon hiding in a house on John Wilson Way.

The shooting in Morgan Hill appears unconnected to the gang-related shooting in Soledad, according to Wasson.

He is being held in the Santa Clara County Jail without bail.

Filipa Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi
QUANG TRI, Vietnam (Reuters) - "The big fish are all dead," complained 50 year-old Mai Xuan Hoa, picking small fish from a net as he tried to rebuild his livelihood a year after Vietnam's worst environmental disaster. Sea life began washing up on April 6, 2016 near a steel plant being developed by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp <1301.TW>. Within weeks, more than 200 km (125 miles) of coast had been sullied by the accidental release of chemicals including cyanide, phenols and iron hydroxide. Along the coast, the recovery is slow and anger endures. "Where we caught 10 fish in the past, now we will only catch one or two," Hoa said. Locals says thousands of fishermen have simply given up and gone to look for work elsewhere. Tourists are wary of beaches that have lost their pristine reputation and businesses are struggling. But the wider impact could be even greater after protests over the spill encouraged a wave of activism that has pushed environmental issues up the agenda for a communist government that now promises greater scrutiny of investments. "First, people were angry with Formosa for polluting Vietnam's environment," said priest and activist Dang Huu Nam. "Now, they are angry with the unclear responses and solutions of some provincial authorities over fixing the disaster." More than 40,000 jobs were directly affected in four provinces dependent on fishing and tourism. Across the country, a quarter of a million workers felt the impact, according to the labour ministry. After months of rallies and an outpouring of anger not seen in four decades of Communist Party rule, Formosa agreed to pay $500 million in compensation. The Hanoi government and the provinces have now declared the sea clean and the seafood safe. But while no official figures are available, fishermen say fish stocks have yet to recover. CATCHES DOWN On a beach in Ha Tinh province, Hoa and two other fishermen's catch for the day was barely enough to fill a bucket. Compensation payments of 17.4 million dong ($765) would not last them long, they said. Despite the reduced supply, merchants say fish prices are now a quarter of what they were because of fears of continued contamination. Many fishermen have simply abandoned their boats. Some 3,000 boats were affected in Quang Tri province alone, said Nguyen Truong Khoa, deputy director of the local environment department in the province, south of Ha Tinh. "It will take a long time to recover completely," he said. Tourists are also still wary of this stretch of coast. Once bustling, the Ky Hoa seafood restaurant on the central beach of Cua Viet is empty. Dust settles on chairs and tables. "It's like the place is dying," said owner Mai Ngoc Ky. The central government says half the compensation money has been paid out, but many complain about the wait. "If things continue like this we will soon be bankrupt," said seafood trader Nguyen Viet Long. Vietnam's environment ministry did not respond to a written request for comment on the aftermath of the disaster and on when Formosa would be allowed to start operations. Neither Ha Tinh province nor Formosa gave Reuters permission to visit the $11 billion plant. PLANS TO RESTART Eleven officials have been named and shamed over the spill. The government says the steel plant has now addressed 51 out of 53 violations identified in an investigation into the accident, but it will only restart when it can do so safely. Formosa hopes to get approval for trial runs soon, with the aim of starting commercial steel production by the end of the year, nearly a year behind schedule. "We remember the lessons we've learned, and we're moving forward," said Chang Fu-ning, an executive vice president of the company. Formosa has promised to invest another $350 million at the mill, including in a more modern 'dry' coking system which does not use water as a coolant but is more expensive. Formosa's use of the 'wet' coking system, which generates more waste, was highlighted as one of the failures in the government report. The company said it was still using the dirtier process, but that it had until 2019 to switch. Formosa wants to make steel mill the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, exactly the sort of investment the government seeks so as to maintain annual growth rates of over 6 percent. But the activist movement roused by the spill has made Vietnamese - and the government - more attuned to environmental risks. In February, the government said it would not grant licenses to any projects with a high pollution risk. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung asked the environment ministry to revise rules and to intensify inspection and supervision of projects at the investment and construction stage. When people in southern Vietnam reported a bad smell and dust from a new mill being started by Hong Kong-listed Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd <2314.HK> last month, the Hau Giang province was quick to investigate. The company has since promised measures to reduce pollution. "People are worried about not only their future but also their children's future. They will continue to fight until their rights are satisfied and protected," said activist Nam. (The story has been refiled to fix typo in second paragraph) (Reporting by Hanoi bureau; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
The hedge fund owned by San Antonio businessman Sardar Biglari received $31.6 million in performance fees last year from the publicly traded company he controls and that bears his name.

Since 2012, the publicly traded Biglari Holdings has paid the hedge fund Biglari Capital Corp. almost $81 million in performance fees  money essentially going to Sardar Biglari himself as the sole owner of the hedge fund. Biglari Capital received just $23,000 from Biglari Holdings Inc. in 2015.

Biglari, the 39-year old chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings, has weaved a complex web of interconnected companies that he owns or controls  or both. Biglari Capital, of which he is chairman and CEO, manages two investment partnerships called the Lion Funds. The hedge fund, the Lion Funds and Biglari himself own more than 1 million shares of Biglari Holdings combined, giving him control over the publicly traded company.

Biglari Holdings, which owns restaurant chain Steak n Shake and Maxim magazine, also has an ownership stake in the Lion Funds. A call to Biglari was not immediately returned, but he generally does not speak to the media.

Biglari Capital justified its $31.6 million fee on $281 million in pretax profits from its investments last year.

But $11.5 million of the 2016 payout received from Biglari Holdings, disclosed in a proxy statement filed Tuesday, was based on the 45 percent increase in the value of Biglari Holdings shares, which climbed by about $147 a share to end the year at $473.20.

Richard Clayton, research director for shareholder advocate CtW Investment Group, called the compensation arrangement at Biglari Holdings peculiar.

Its extremely problematic for a CEO to be compensated through a very opaque mechanism like this, Clayton said. In contrast to almost literally every other publicly traded company out there, this is an enormously opaque and difficult-to-understand set of compensation mechanisms.

Washington, D.C.-based CtW works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a federation of unions, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership.

The Humane Society of the United States, an investor thats pushing to separate the CEO and chairman positions at Biglari Holdings, said theres a potential conflict of interest and a lack of checks and balances when a CEO is his or her own overseer while simultaneously managing the business. A similar shareholder proposal last year received strong support from independent investors  more than 47 percent of the vote.

None of the objectionable or questionable things going on at that company are going to change while the CEO is his own boss, said Matthew Prescott, senior director of food policy at the Humane Society.

The animal rights group, which owns about $2,000 of Biglari Holdings shares, is also pushing Biglari Holdings to improve its animal-welfare practices. Theres no way to mitigate damage to the brand as long as the CEO is his own boss, Prescott said in an interview.

Steak n Shake is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to animal welfare in their supply chain, he said. Theyre basically the only major restaurant company that continues using eggs from caged chickens with no plan to get them out. Theyre basically the only major restaurant company that allows their pork suppliers to lock pigs in crates.

They have done virtually nothing to address animal-welfare issues that all of their competitors  McDonalds, Wendys, Cracker Barrel, Burger King, everybody else  have addressed, Prescott said.

Since Biglari controls about 51 percent of Biglari Holdings shares, shareholder proposals cant pass without his support. The company doesnt try to hide Biglaris involvement, and the board is recommending shareholders vote against the Humane Societys proposal.

All major operating, investment and capital allocation decisions are made for the Company and its subsidiaries by Mr. Biglari, the proxy reads.

Because of the Companys corporate structure, along with the centralization of significant managerial and capital allocation decisions to Mr. Biglari, the most effective model for the Corporation is to designate Mr. Biglari as holding both positions as Chairman and Chief Executive, the proxy states. It is Mr. Biglaris position that a controlling shareholder who is also CEO, as is currently the case, should hold both roles.

The holding company earned $99.5 million, or $81.28 a share, last year compared with a loss of $15.8 million, or $10.18 a share, in 2015. Revenue dipped 1.3 percent to $850.1 million last year, Biglari Holdings first-ever decline in annual revenue.

Biglari Holdings doesnt regard the so-called mark-to-market gains and losses in investments as meaningful. Nor does it play up its bottom-line results.

Our view on earnings is that they are not real until they end up as cash, Biglari wrote in his annual missive to shareholders. One cannot spend net income. Besides, companies do not go broke because they run out of earnings but because they run out of cash.

Biglari earned a $900,000 annual salary from Biglari Holdings, unchanged from 2015. He did not receive an incentive payment last year. For Biglari to receive any incentive, Biglari Holdings operating business must achieve an annual increase in shareholders equity in excess of 6 percent above the previous highest level. Biglari would receive 25 percent of any incremental book value created above the 6 percent shareholders equity threshold.

The last time Biglari received an incentive payment was 2013, when he pocketed $10 million. Biglari Holdings shares closed at $421.98 Tuesday.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD
Former shareholders who say they lost out on millions from the sale of a San Antonio-based smart meter company are bringing their fight to the Alamo City.

A lawsuit filed in Bexar County district court says insider deals and unrealistic payout agreements meant many former shareholders in San Antonio-based Consert Inc. did not receive a penny while board members and executives walked away with millions when the company was sold to Toshiba in February 2013.

The plaintiffs allege board members and executives schemed to siphon money from the $30 million sale by using preferential payments and bridge loans made in the last months of the companys existence to redirect a substantial amount of Toshibas payment away from shareholders.

In addition, the plaintiffs say board members and executives created impractical terms for handling payouts of up to $70 million in funds tied to a contract with CPS Energy and an expected legal settlement. According to the plaintiffs, the terms meant that Toshiba ultimately controlled those payouts and their triggers, which the company didnt achieve.

The case comes to San Antonio after North Carolina Judge Gregory P. McGuire dismissed a similar lawsuit filed in that state for lack of jurisdiction. Consert was founded and based in North Carolina until 2011, when it moved to San Antonio. Judge McGuire said his court did not have jurisdiction over the events leading up to Conserts sale, which occurred in San Antonio.

The lawsuit filed March 29 in Bexar County district court includes nine of the defendants, including Consert executives and board members, from the North Carolina case, which was originally filed in November 2015 by over a dozen former shareholders and investment firms. The same plaintiffs are involved in the Bexar County lawsuit.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to comment on the record, and a message left with the defendants North Carolina lawyers was not returned. The Bexar County lawsuit did not list the defendants lawyers. CPS did not return a request to comment.

The plaintiffs, including company founder Joseph Forbes, are suing former Consert board members and executives and their legal counsel in connection with the $30 million cash sale of Consert to Toshiba that was signed in February 2013.

After the sale went through, Toshiba absorbed Consert into one of its subsidiaries, Landis+Gyr, which develops smart meters for utilities. In November 2013, the Switzerland-based Landis+Gyr, along with smart meter company Silver Springs Network, landed a $200 million contract with San Antonios CPS Energy. The contract terms of the Consert sale called for shareholders to share in the benefits of that contract, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say the sale contract also called for Consert shareholders to get a portion of the proceeds in the settlement of a lawsuit that had been filed by Consert against Itron Inc.

But, the plaintiffs allege, board members and executives devised schemes in the period leading up to the sale to create what the lawsuit calls preferential payments to certain executives, including board Chairman and CEO Pierce Jackson Jack Roberts Jr. and Roy Moore, who was the companys chief development officer and board member. Moore also became acting CEO on Jan. 23, 2013, after Roberts fell ill. Both Roberts and Moore are among the defendants. The lawsuit says the board substantially increased the salaries of the two men despite cash flow problems at the company. It also alleges that the board set conditions that unpaid amounts to the two and also to other executives would take precedence over payouts to shareholders in the event that the company was sold.

In addition to the preferential payments, the plaintiffs allege the terms of the sale called for money to be diverted from the shareholders to the defendants.

Of the $30 million sale price, $2.2 million was paid in bonuses to Moore, Roberts and others, while $2 million was paid to Conserts advisers, according to the lawsuit. Defendant Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice  a law firm that was Conserts legal counsel for the sale  is alleged to have received an estimated $25,000-a-month contract with no end date.

Another $14 million was used to repay the companys obligations and loans, including usurious insider loans described as bridge loans, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs say $8 million in bridge loans were approved by board members on Jan. 15, 2013. The lawsuit says those loans were made by board members and executives, including Roberts and Moore, to Consert. After the company was sold to Toshiba less than a month later, Consert spent $12.5 million to pay off those loans, the plaintiffs allege.

The lawsuit says the remaining $9.8 million was distributed to holders of the companys Series A and Series B preferred stock, but with substantial amounts going to the defendants, who were also stockholders.

The terms of the sale also called for setting up a Shareholders Fund that would allow shareholders to potentially reap tens of millions of dollars after the sale, the plaintiffs say.

One payout was tied to the conclusion of a lawsuit against Itron that was valued up to $80 million, according to the lawsuit. It says the second payout was related to the deal between Toshiba and CPS to provide meter and/or monitoring software to the utility through its subsidiary Landis+Gyr. Each payout could have been worth up to a maximum of $25 million in a five-year period, according to the lawsuit.

Both payouts were contingent on Toshiba or one of its affiliates entering into a contract with CPS worth at least $100 million over a period of five years within one year of the merger closing. The lawsuit alleges that Toshiba structured the contract between Landis+Gyr and CPS in such a way that it was worth less than $100 million.

A separate lawsuit filed by former Consert shareholder Mark Feidler against CPS alleges that, based on his calculations, the deal between Toshibas Landis+Gyr and CPS was worth more than $128 million, well above the $100 million threshold. Feidler is attempting to receive documents from CPS that would determine whether Toshiba was in violation of the payout agreement.

Moore presented the terms of the merger to the board on Jan. 23, 2013, only two days before it was presented at the annual shareholders meeting on Jan. 25. The merger was closed on Feb. 5, 2013.

rdruzin@express-news.net

@druz_journo
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

San Antonios Branchline Brewing Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection after about four years of operation.

The small brewer reported assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities ranging from $100,001 to $500,000 in a bare bones bankruptcy petition filed on Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio.

Chapter 11 offers a financially troubled company protection from creditors while it seeks to reorganize its debts.

The filing comes a little more than a month after Branchline posted a notice on Facebook that it was going through a restructure period and closing its tap room on March 4.

We dont believe this is a good bye but rather a see you soon, the Facebook post stated. We need some time to regroup and hopefully come back stronger, with that original fire that we once had.

Branchline sought bankruptcy protection to restructure its existing business production model to reduce operating costs so that its pre-bankruptcy creditors may be paid from the proceeds of its streamlined operations, Michael OConnor, the brewers bankruptcy lawyer, said in an email.

Branchline will continue operating and producing its high quality and popular line of fine beers and ales, OConnor said. Same product, same great beer.

Branchlines bankruptcy petition lists the largest unsecured creditors and the amounts theyre owed as: San Antonios Accion Texas Inc., which is now known as LiftFund, $139,000; Pinnacle Capital Partners of Tacoma, Washington, $96,000; and the IRS, $50,000 in unpaid payroll taxes.

Branchline faced a number of challenges during its startup years, the San Antonio Express-News reported last year. Formerly known as Old Boxcar Brewing Co., it received a warning from Boxcar Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania over claims of consumer confusion in the two names.

Before it shipped its first beer, the San Antonio brewer changed its name to Branchline. However, the bankruptcy petition lists Old Box Brewing Co., doing business as Branchline Brewing Co., as the debtor.

Branchlines beers have included the Silver & Black IPA, a homage to the Spurs, its flagship Evil Owl Amber and its Shady Oak Blonde Ale.

According to a posting by SA Beer Week on Twitter about two months ago, Branchline was the second production brewery in San Antonio and the first brewery in the city to can craft beer.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD

This article has been updated to add comments from Michael OConnor, Branchlines bankruptcy lawyer.
It is 1922, summer in Moscow, and Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov has just escaped being put against the wall by the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs for the Soviet Union.

His crime? Succumbing irrevocably to the corruptions of his class.

His sentence? House arrest  for life  in one of Europes finest hotels.

Welcome to the Metropol and to a world gone by, which is seamlessly re-created by author Amor Towles in his 2016 best-selling novel A Gentleman in Moscow.

In Count Rostov, Towles has created not only the engine that propels one of the years most charming and critically acclaimed books  more high tea than high adventure, claimed the Washington Post, not unkindly  but also a singular man of breeding, manners, education, wealth and taste.

If that sounds stuffy, then yes, Rostov is undeniably a snob  he is, after all, a Russian count, a member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt  but over the course of Towles 30-year narrative, he reveals himself to be gentle and generous, merciful and open-minded  in a word, humane.

Towles will discuss the Count, A Gentleman in Moscow and his writing process as a headliner of the San Antonio Book Festival Saturday. He will be speaking at 4:15 p.m. on the west terrace of the Central Library on the third floor.

Early on in the writing, there is often a sentence that pins down a character for me, Towles said in a telephone interview from his home in New York. With the Count, that occurs in the first couple of pages, when he is being escorted across the lobby of the hotel by two Red Guards, and he asks them if they would prefer to take the lift or the stairs.

More Information San Antonio Book Festival What:The 5th annual festival features more than 100 authors, including Ann Patchett, Amor Towles, Ali Noorani and Alexandra Zapruder. Plus activities for teens and kids, cooking demonstrations, live music and food and refreshments. Free. When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday Where: Central Library, 600 Soledad, and the Southwest School of Art, 300 Augusta. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. saplf.org/festival. See More Collapse

They cant decide, and he wonders how a soldier could prevail in battle if he cant make such a simple choice. So, he decides, and takes the stairs two at a time. I remember writing that sentence and thinking thats the guy. Thats a window on how he thinks and talks.

Gentleman actually got its start in another fine hotel, the Hotel Le Richemond in Geneva, several years before in 2009.

For more than 20 years before his debut novel Rules of Civility  set in the Big Apple in the 1930s  was published in 2011, Towles was in the investment business in New York City, and he was in Switzerland on business.

I arrived at the hotel and recognized people who worked there from past visits, he said, and I wondered what it would be like to be stranded in a hotel. That night I began sketching out Gentleman in Moscow, and over the next four days I had the whole story.

In the novel, Count Rostov, saved from the firing squad by the fact of his own pre-revolutionary heroism, is moved from the opulent Metropol suite where he has been living to a cramped servants quarters in the attic. He takes it in stride. He meets a young girl, the daughter of a Soviet official, who will play an important role in his life.

Towles populates the Metropol with engagingly real characters, and eventually Rostov, who has never worked a day in his life (It is not the business of a gentleman to have occupations, he cheekily tells the Commissariat), is named head waiter. Its the perfect job for a man of his talent, erudition and knowledge of food and wine. Rostov makes the Metropol his home as historic events  World War II, the Cold War  proceed turbulently outside his door.

One of the talents Amor has is to make a reader feel so effortlessly as if he or she is living right alongside characters in a famous hotel in Moscow in the Bolshevik era, said Clay Smith, literary director of the book festival. Everything about that latter setting would seem to be wrong for readers right now, when theres a great deal of American antipathy toward Russia. But Amor is able to overcome that with his intense focus on fascinating characters.

I think making generosity and kindness dramatic and intriguing can be hard for a novelist, but Amor really pulls it off in A Gentleman in Moscow. I think hes expanded American readers tastes and opened new worlds to us.

Published in September, Gentleman rose and fell on the best seller lists, as any popular novel will, but has pushed into the top 10 again in the last few weeks. Towles doesnt see a Trump-Putin connection with the sales increase, but he does believe that people are hungry for a bit of civility. Put another way, they need a little Count Rostov.

Its sort of a reverse zeitgeist in this moment when our political and personal discourse, our TV narratives, are increasingly unrestrained, said Towles. I think people are getting lost in the context of a book that is exploring themes from a 19th-century sensibility that they are not finding on their front pages.

The verisimilitude of Towles books is sort of off the cuff. In both of his novels, Towles  a 53-year-old Yale and Stanford grad whose web site lists some his favorite things as early 20th century painting, 1950s jazz, 1970s cop shows, Tuscany, Provence, Disneyland, Hollywood, the cast of Casablanca, 007, Capt. Kirk and Bob Dylan  writes knowledgeably about periods and settings that he loves and knows a lot about.

I dont research in advance, he said. For my first book, I love New York City in the 30s, and its the same thing here. I love 19th-century Russian literature, the avant garde, the Soviet period. I have the foundation to write, and then I go back and do research, and some of that might influence the recrafting of certain scenes.

Towles said he spent a week at the Metropol  but only after he was three-quarters of the way through the first draft of the novel. He also went back and read firsthand accounts of the hotel by famous people.

The Metropol was the best hotel in Russia, actually the only good hotel, so almost everybody at that time  people like E.E. Cummings and John Steinbeck  ate there, drank there or slept there, he said.

The Metropol was the new social center for the bourgeois colony, wrote Eugene Lyons, the United Presss Moscow correspondent in the early 1930s. During those initial decades of the Soviet Union, which were characterized for the citizenry by all manner of hardship, the Metropol earned a mystique of extravagance equal to that of the Plaza or the Ritz  despite being around the corner from the Kremlin and a few blocks from the Lubyanka (the dreaded headquarters of the secret police).

One of the memoirs Towles read was that of Harrison Salisbury, who was the New York Times bureau chief from 1949 to 1954.

When I was 10 years old, I threw a bottle with a note in it in the ocean in Massachusetts, and Harrison Salisbury found it, and contacted me, Towles said. We began a correspondence that lasted for years, and I eventually met him when I was 18.

Late in the book, Towles writes a scene of Stalins body being brought into Red Square for his massive funeral.

Salisbury recounts that in his memoir, he said. The only place you could see it from was the windows of the Metropol, because they werent letting people go down there. That scene in his book had an effect on my own similar scene in my book.

sbennett@express-news.net
A criminal is a criminal

I was initially surprised to see the recent ICE article on page A12 of tthe paper, instead of on page 1, due to the liberal bias of the Connecticut Post, with the sub headline of Feds adopting a more aggressive posture.

The first seven paragraphs displayed the liberal slant, with phrases like ...sending shockwaves through an already anxious immigrant community, ...fear began to set in and questions about whether Danbury police were working with ICE agents.... Angelica Idrovo, a community organizer for CT Students for a Dream, who is undocumented, raised the question regarding the extent of Danburys cooperation with ICE.

If youre still reading the second section under criminal records, then you learn the facts that both men arrested had extensive criminal records, and Mayor Boughton said you wouldnt want them in your community. Im sure if these men were known in the community, many people could verify that as well. Why didnt your article headline say ICE agents take two criminals into custody?

The article ended with a comment from the ACLU of course that there is no legal requirement for local law enforcement to participate in deporting community members. Really?

Community members instead of illegal criminals, one of which among other crimes pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child.

If a federal law enforcement agency has warrants for two criminals in your community, why would you not expect or even demand that local law enforcement be involved in removing them? Because the criminals are illegal immigrants?

Theres no drawing a clear line between immigration and local law enforcement as suggested in the article by the ACLU. Theyre both agencies required to uphold and enforce the law.

The feds more aggressive posture is to remove illegal criminals who have had almost free rein due to the previous administrations lack of enforcing immigration laws and by placing unlawful restrictions on law enforcement. If you are an illegal criminal, then you should be fearful.

One illegal criminal arrested in San Francisco recently stated he actually chose to hide out in San Francisco only because it is a sanctuary city. So-called sanctuary cities are welcoming and protecting illegal criminals. How does that make their cities and their citizens safer?

Karen Gagne

Seymour
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

BRIDGEPORT  It is rare that Mayor Joe Ganim does not call on someone to deliver an opening prayer before each City Council meeting.

His honor took it upon himself Monday to appeal to a higher power.

God bless everyone thats here, everyone in the city, and keep us safe from harm, Ganim, a Democrat, said.

He should have also prayed for the passage of Gov. Dannel Malloys state budget, particularly the education dollars, since the city is not giving any more.

Ganims second municipal budget since the once ex-mayors successful 2015 political comeback will be published Tuesday. The mayor in brief remarks to the all-Democrat council said it is in many ways predicated on what the state does in a variety of areas.

A proposed hospital tax, if passed by the legislature, would reap Bridgeport $15 million. And the citys schools would get several million dollars more in state aid than the current year under Malloys plan  though the governor also wants to bill municipalities for teachers pensions.

Ganim flat-funded the schools in the 2016/17 fiscal year and gave no indication Monday that his 2017/18 budget contained any extra city money for the district. New Superintendent Aresta Johnson wants $11.4 million more total to maintain current services.

In fact, Ganim said, his overall budget proposal is $10 million less  $542 million versus the $552 million plan he and the council passed last spring.

What that means, as reported over the weekend, is no tax increase. Ganim pledged two years ago during his campaign to hold the line on taxes, but the 2016/17 budget raised the tax or mill rate from 42 mills to 54 mills. Some property owners were saved from a related increase in their tax bills by a drop in real estate values. But not everyone was held harmless, particularly the Black Rock waterfront neighborhood.

This is what I would call a no frills budget, a challenging budget, Ganim told the council. He offered no specific cuts, but teased that the administration had found ways to maintain and in some cases increase the level of city services where we can.

There is money to complete the hiring of the third class of police officers necessary to fulfill another of Ganims campaign promises to hire 100 cops. And the mayor said he is investing in new fire department recruits as well.

Circling back to his comments about being closely tied to the fate of the state budget, Ganim urged council members to take their time reviewing his plan. In the coming days the councils budget committee will schedule meetings and public hearings. By charter the council has to submit its revised budget to Ganim by the second Tuesday in May.

Go slowly through this process with regard to time, Ganim said. Were running a parallel path with the state and their process. The General Assembly needs to pass a state budget by adjournment midnight June 7 or return to the capitol in Hartford for a special session.

Howard Gardner, a school board member, said historically Bridgeport has not lived up to its fair share of funding our district.

He added, :Im even surprised theyre (City Hall) putting out a budget at this point. The whole formula the governor proposed is not firmed up. He also wondered whether Ganim would absorb the teachers pension costs if the governor successfully transfers them to cities and towns, or require the Board of Education to foot the bill.

In 2013 the Finch administration, faced with major uncertainties in state aid, released three proposed budget scenarios for the council to consider.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Two of the New York Army National Guard's top enlisted personnel serve with the 109th Airlift Wing at the Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia.

First Sgt. Lynette Tangredi of Glenville earned the New York Air National Guard First Sergeant of the Year award.

Airman 1st Class Jason Malm of Johnsonville earned the Outstanding Airman of the Year honor.

Their selections were based on their leadership, job performance, community involvement and personal achievements. They will represent the state in national competition later this year.

Tangredi, a 20-year Air Force veteran, joined the 109th Airlift Wing in 2004. She works full time with the National Guard's Counterdrug Task Force in Scotia.

"Not only does she support security forces but she has deployed as a first sergeant to Greenland and to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze," 1st Lt. Gregory Durrant, 109th Security Force Squadron operations officer, said. "She is always looking for new ways to incorporate volunteerism and self-improvement for all squadron members and has become irreplaceable in her support for family members whose loved ones are currently deployed."

Malm joined the 109th Airlift Wing's Medical Group as a dental technician in 2014. As a civilian, he is a dental hygienist with Fuschino Family Dentistry in Mechanicville and a firefighter with the Johnsonville Fire Department.

Malm "sets high standards for himself as he has exceeded every expectation to date in his career," Master Sgt. Sean Carty, 109th Medical Group superintendent of administration, said. "From job proficiency to dress and appearance, physical fitness and continuing education both on and off duty, he is an excellent role model for all airmen to emulate."

Guard soldiers advance

Joshua Krug of Gansevoort was promoted to lieutenant colonel while serving with the New York Army National Guard's Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division.

Brendan Jones of Latham, assigned to Company E, 427th Brigade Support Battalion, and Robert Volk of Albany, on duty with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 369TH Sustainment Brigade, advanced to captain.

Tiffany Campbell of Troy advanced to first lieutenant while serving with Headquarters and Services Company, 204th Engineer Battalion.

Joseph Jordan of Troy advanced to second lieutenant while on duty with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

New specialists include Teicarria Anderson, Wilton, Company C, 101st Signal Battalion; Jonah Biss, Wilton, 1427th Transportation Company; Chanel Kung, Slingerlands, Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division; Jordaine Llewellyn, Watervliet, 466th Area Support Medical Company; Kiara Perez, Schenectady, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 501st Ordnance Battalion; and Morgan Villegasalber, Troy, 206th Military Police Company.

New airman

Air Force Airman Andrew Glenn Reiss of Loudonville graduated from basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio. The 2016 graduate of Shaker High School, Latham, is the son of Cynthia Reiss of Voorheesville and Timothy Reiss of Allentown, Pa.

Legal adviser

Retired Army Col. Richard Pregent, a national security legal adviser and a 1979 graduate of Albany Law School, was selected as this semester's Alumnus in Residence.

Pregent will give a public lecture on "Reflexive Service: Life and Times of a Career in the Military" at 4 p.m. Thursday in the 1928 Building, Room 200 at Albany Law School, 80 New Scotland Ave. He also will meet with students.

Pregent served as a judge advocate for nearly 30 years. His deployments included Central America, Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. He served as general counsel for the Coalition Provisional Authority during the occupation of Iraq and during a second tour in Iraq as the director of the Law and Order Task Force as well as the Interagency Rule of Law Coordinating Center.

He is in a defense senior intelligence leader post as the national security legal adviser at the Army's Office of the Judge Advocate General.

News of your troops and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Red, white and blue decorations lined the apron of the stage, which was flanked by two large monitors projecting images of the American flag, as the Kingwood Park High School Orchestra performed an America-themed concert in the high school's Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 30.

This was the second annual Kingwood Park Orchestra Benefit Concert and, as the name suggests, the concert serves as a fundraiser to benefit a charity. This year's concert benefited the Wounded Warrior Project - a nonprofit organization that provides wounded veterans with support through programs and services.

This event differed from the inaugural benefit concert in several ways, not the least of which was that it was completely student-led.

"I let my student officers plan everything," said Kingwood Park High School orchestra director Joshua Taylor. "They selected the charity. They picked the theme for the concert. They picked the pieces each orchestra and small group would play. They wrote the script for everything said between groups. I truly put it in their hands, and they did not disappoint."

With more than $1,400 raised from the benefit concert, and donations still coming in, his choice to put more decision-making power in the hands of his students continues to be reaffirmed.

"This year, I had officers that I could trust and knew they could handle planning a concert," Taylor said. "I have given my student officers more responsibilities this year, and it has worked out well. Students make the concert programs, plan parties, decorate the room and run afterschool ensembles."

More than 200 people attended the concert this year, with roughly 80 students, grades ninth through twelfth, performing pieces such as "America the Beautiful," "Hawaii Five-O," "Survivor" by Destiny's Child, "Hallelujah" from "Shrek," and "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin.

From picking the music, theme and genres for each orchestra, to generating the concert line-up, ensembles, programs, decorations and rehearsal schedule; the 19 student officers managed to bring together the elements of a successful benefit concert in a matter of weeks.

"It went very well," Taylor said. "We only had two weeks following spring break to put this concert together."

For Kingwood Park Orchestra student officer Caroline Pagano, the experience was a lesson in the full scope of planning an event like this.

"(I learned) how much it takes to actually put a concert together, especially one that involves tickets, ensembles, etcetera. Everything matters, including the little things that people don't realize are a part of the concert," Pagano said.

Student officer Avery Alvarez explained what went into deciding the event's charity and theme.

"There are a lot of students who have family members in the military," Alvarez said. "It's an American thing - we're all connected to the dedication of soldiers and what they've done for us in some way."

Alvarez said, originally, the student officers were considering a "Music-through-Time" theme before they decided upon the theme of "America," with different groups focusing on a certain aspect or historical period.

"With the tense atmosphere in America right now, I think it was good for us to narrow that idea down and use it to bring the community together, support a great cause and listen to great music," Alvarez said.

Student officer Emily Ausburn felt student-led initiatives, like this year's benefit concert, provided an opportunity for students to develop leadership and planning skills.

"It capitalizes on an aspect of fine arts programs that non-members do not realize," Ausburn said. "One of the biggest parts of fine arts programs is the relationship-building in the process, whether between students and their directors or students and their peers. You learn how to work with people. It's another way of practicing what you're learning every day. What we do is so much more than music."
QUANG TRI, Vietnam (Reuters) - "The big fish are all dead," complained 50 year-old Mai Xuan Hoa, picking small fish from a net as he tried to rebuild his livelihood a year after Vietnam's worst environmental disaster. Sea life began washing up on April 6, 2016 near a steel plant being developed by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp. Within weeks, more than 200 km (125 miles) of coast had been sullied by the accidental release of chemicals including cyanide, phenols and iron hydroxide. Along the coast, the recovery is slow and anger endures. "Where we caught 10 fish in the past, now we will only catch one or two," Hoa said. Locals says thousands of fishermen have simply given up and gone to look for work elsewhere. Tourists are wary of beaches that have lost their pristine reputation and businesses are struggling. But the wider impact could be even greater after protests over the spill encouraged a wave of activism that has pushed environmental issues up the agenda for a communist government that now promises greater scrutiny of investments. "First, people were angry with Formosa for polluting Vietnam's environment," said priest and activist Dang Huu Nam. "Now, they are angry with the unclear responses and solutions of some provincial authorities over fixing the disaster." More than 40,000 jobs were directly affected in four provinces dependent on fishing and tourism. Across the country, a quarter of a million workers felt the impact, according to the labour ministry. After months of rallies and an outpouring of anger not seen in four decades of Communist Party rule, Formosa agreed to pay $500 million in compensation. The Hanoi government and the provinces have now declared the sea clean and the seafood safe. But while no official figures are available, fishermen say fish stocks have yet to recover. CATCHES DOWN On a beach in Ha Tinh province, Hoa and two other fishermen's catch for the day was barely enough to fill a bucket. Compensation payments of 17.4 million dong ($765) would not last them long, they said. Despite the reduced supply, merchants say fish prices are now a quarter of what they were because of fears of continued contamination. Many fishermen have simply abandoned their boats. Some 3,000 boats were affected in Quang Tri province alone, said Nguyen Truong Khoa, deputy director of the local environment department in the province, south of Ha Tinh. "It will take a long time to recover completely," he said. Tourists are also still wary of this stretch of coast. Once bustling, the Ky Hoa seafood restaurant on the central beach of Cua Viet is empty. Dust settles on chairs and tables. "It's like the place is dying," said owner Mai Ngoc Ky. The central government says half the compensation money has been paid out, but many complain about the wait. "If things continue like this we will soon be bankrupt," said seafood trader Nguyen Viet Long. Vietnam's environment ministry did not respond to a written request for comment on the aftermath of the disaster and on when Formosa would be allowed to start operations. Neither Ha Tinh province nor Formosa gave Reuters permission to visit the $11 billion plant. PLANS TO RESTART Eleven officials have been named and shamed over the spill. The government says the steel plant has now addressed 51 out of 53 violations identified in an investigation into the accident, but it will only restart when it can do so safely. Formosa hopes to get approval for trial runs soon, with the aim of starting commercial steel production by the end of the year, nearly a year behind schedule. "We remember the lessons we've learned, and we're moving forward," said Chang Fu-ning, an executive vice president of the company. Formosa has promised to invest another $350 million at the mill, including in a more modern 'dry' coking system which does not use water as a coolant but is more expensive. Formosa's use of the 'wet' coking system, which generates more waste, was highlighted as one of the failures in the government report. The company said it was still using the dirtier process, but that it had until 2019 to switch. Formosa wants to make steel mill the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, exactly the sort of investment the government seeks so as to maintain annual growth rates of over 6 percent. But the activist movement roused by the spill has made Vietnamese - and the government - more attuned to environmental risks. In February, the government said it would not grant licenses to any projects with a high pollution risk. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung asked the environment ministry to revise rules and to intensify inspection and supervision of projects at the investment and construction stage. When people in southern Vietnam reported a bad smell and dust from a new mill being started by Hong Kong-listed Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd last month, the Hau Giang province was quick to investigate. The company has since promised measures to reduce pollution. "People are worried about not only their future but also their children's future. They will continue to fight until their rights are satisfied and protected," said activist Nam. ($1=22,770 dong) (Reporting by Hanoi bureau; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A 30-bedroom home near Pearland that was started 2001 and never completed or occupied could be on its way to a new life as a facility for veterans, the property owner said Monday.

According to a Facebook post for The Bailey House Veteran Facility, finances to finish out the building and complete the project are still up in the air, and community donations are being sought.

Facebook posts by other people incorrectly stated the property has been sold, but real estate investor Jim Youngblood said he is planning to lease space in the building to The Bailey House.

Youngblood said he also plans to house his own real estate office in the building.

Before any move to open a veteran's facility can proceed, the City of Manvel, which has annexed the property, must agree to rezone it from residential to light commercial.

TEXAS TIES: Million-dollar celebrity homes

The Bailey House is named after the character George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life," Bailey House founder Christa Mode said on Facebook. "You know the scene where they come to the old house and throw rocks at it to break a window and make a wish? That's exactly what this building reminds me of!"

Mode, who says in the post that she is a disabled Navy veteran, hopes the facility will provide shelter, government aid programs, transportation to VA medical appointments, counseling programs, therapeutic classes and more.

GRIM: Heights home where bones were found is renting for $1,600 a month

"Finances still continue to be a huge road block for the completion of this facility," Mode said.

"If finances are made available, the completion date for The Bailey House will be made available."

Youngblood said he is eager to have someone in the building, because vandalism has become a serious problem of late, and repeated attempts to board up the windows have been unsuccessful.

He said vandals have broken windows, painted on the walls and put holes in sheetrock, among other things. "They've done hundreds of thousands in damage."

According to Facebook, a meet and greet event for The Bailey House is planned for Saturday, April 8 at 10 a.m. at the property, located at 2354 County Road 59.
Former BISD superintendent Carrol Thomas, who was comprehensively criticized for mismanagement and for deceiving the community in a blistering forensic audit of BISD's 2007 bond issue, was hired late last year by another Texas school district to consult on school rezoning and communication.

According to documents obtained through a public information request, Lancaster ISD paid almost $1,000 to "Carrol A. Thomas, LLC" for consulting work on rezoning, closing and merging schools.

Lancaster, a district south of Dallas with about 7,000 students, hired Thomas in November as an "independent contractor" for insight on its plans to rebuild two elementary schools and replace a third with a ninth-grade campus.

Among the questions Lancaster superintendent Michael McFarland asked Thomas, who led BISD from 1996 to 2012, was "what worked and what didn't work" in several areas, including communication and naming campuses.

"He certainly knows what doesn't work," District Attorney Bob Wortham said last week.

The 2015 audit of the $389 million BISD bond issue, released in January, took Thomas to task for approving payment for work that was not done, arranging budget changes that allocated more money to projects than approved and hired contractors at his own discretion without following district policies during the construction projects funded by the 2007 bond issue. It also accused him of misleading the public on several high-profile elements related to the bond.

Thomas did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2015 he declined to speak with the forensic auditors through legal counsel, "in light of what counsel believed to be an ongoing criminal investigation" into the matters addressed in the audit, according to the report.

In a February interview, Wortham said "the school board gave away their power and authority to the superintendent," emboldening Thomas to carry on free of any checks and balances.

What you'd do differently

In an email regarding hiring Thomas as a consultant, Lancaster ISD's Mc-Farland listed several questions he wanted addressed, referencing Thomas' experience in rezoning, principal selection, teaching assignments and leadership team direction.

Other questions included "What would you do differently?," "What were your priorities?," and "How did you deal with issues related to seniority?," as well as questions about policy issues and the rezoning appeal process.

Lancaster ISD did not respond to requests for comment.

According to records, Lancaster paid Thomas $500 for one day, as well as $111.87 for a hotel on Nov. 6, a $48 meal allowance, and $302.02 for mileage, for a total of $961.89.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the district consulted with Thomas and former Lancaster ISD superintendent Larry Lewis about the rezoning decision.

McFarland said Thomas and Lewis "told us not to do anything without getting information from parents first," the article said.

Thomas's communication with BISD parents and voters was called into question in the forensic audit, in which auditors said he and other administrators deliberately withheld information about spending and demolition plans from the community.

"The efforts to stifle public communication were abhorrent," said Mike Getz, Ward 2 city councilman and vocal critic of Thomas and the previous administration.

"I'd say they need to review the legislative budget report that the state compiled on BISD and the history of BISD for the last seven to eight years, because it was nothing but turmoil under Thomas's reign and his successor, Timothy Chargois," Getz said.

Getz and trustees Mike Neil and Tom Neild were among the proponents of the 2014 state takeover, which other board members fought.

"He wrecked BISD and so did his hiring practices," Neil said. "He did well communicating, the problem is the story he was telling was a lie."

Thomas' record

Thomas' role in BISD remains so contentious that candidates for the new board of trustees, who will take office at least 5 years after Thomas retired, were asked at a forum Tuesday whether they would support removing his name from the district's stadium complex on Interstate 10. A petition to remove his name circulated in 2015.

Regarding Lancaster's use of the controversial former superintendent as a consultant, Ann Skeet, director of leadership ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said "the onus is on the employer here, as far as doing due diligence" before hiring anyone as a consultant.

"In general, people are usually the most well served by disclosing as much as possible and speaking professionally about past missteps," she said, but omitting information about past employment is "a fairly common practice," so the responsibility is on the person making the hiring decision.

Former U.S. District Attorney Malcolm Bales, who oversaw the convictions of several BISD administrators, said "there's two sides to every coin, and one side of the Carrol Thomas coin is a lot of experience and leadership positions, and he's an African-American professional who reached significant professional heights.

"That being said, I think the record of decision-making and business practices while he was the superintendent in Beaumont, in my opinion, left a lot to be desired," Bales said.

No role for TEA

The Texas Education Agency cannot intervene in a former educator's work as a private contractor, spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

According to the agency's online database of State Board for Educator Certification statuses, Thomas' lifetime certificates to work as a superintendent and mid-management administrator, which he has had since 1976 and 1975 are valid, as are his provisional certificates to teach secondary history and government in grades 6 through 12.

Before he left the district in 2012, Thomas told the Enterprise he was leaving "when things were going well," though there were some things he wished "we could have explained better," including the stadium and project bids.

Bales said "people are hopefully always learning from mistakes," which could be the case for Thomas' consulting, he said. "If they can benefit from it, then good for Lancaster."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
County Judge Craig Doyal, Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley and political consultant Marc Davenport celebrated a victory Tuesday with a judge's ruling to dismiss their case regarding an alleged violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

However, they may be in for a long legal battle, as the prosecution plans to appeal Visiting Judge Randy Clapp's ruling that a section of TOMA is unconstitutional. The Wharton County state district judge did not release any grounds for dismissing the case.

Special prosecutor Chris Downey confirmed he will appeal the decision, which most likely would go to the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont. The grounds for the dismissal were not available before press time.

However, Houston attorney Rusty Hardin said he hopes Downey will reconsider his appeal.

"Obviously we are gratified by the decision," Hardin said. "I would hope they wouldn't appeal. Really from the standpoint of those who want to continue to support this statute, I think they would be better off not appealing.

"The ruling doesn't bind other jurisdictions in the state. The best thing to do is let sleeping dogs lie."

Downey said he is prepared to pursue the case.

"We are appointed to this case through any appellate issues," Downey said. "It's our obligation to evaluate this case at each step of the proceedings."

Clapp's decision came after four days of testimony regarding the constitutionality of Section 551.143 of the act before the attorneys on each side were able to file briefs regarding the hearing he requested.

The hearing was prompted by 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, Riley and Davenport faced 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.

"We have been saying all along that our clients did nothing wrong," said Conroe attorney Steve Jackson, who represented Davenport. "You have to know that the actions you are taking would be prohibited. Experts and politicians couldn't agree on what this statute said or meant, so how can someone of the public be expected to understand what something this confusing meant."

In statement provided to The Courier, Doug Atkinson, who represented Riley, said the ruling affirms the rights of all Texans to their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and association.

"This ruling ensures that no person, citizen or elected official, can be prosecuted under an obscure law that seeks to criminalize speech protected by the First Amendment and that is so vague and uncertain that reasonable people cannot tell what is prohibited."

The Act

Hardin was adamant that his motion was solely focused on Section 551.143.

"One thing I want to make clear is the Open Meetings Act is alive and well," Hardin said. "This dealt with one single criminal statute ... that the judge found was too unconstitutionally vague to serve as a vehicle for criminal prosecution. It doesn't change the Open Meetings Act.

"His ruling deals with that one single statute and nothing more."

Section 551.143 states, "a member or group of members of a governmental body commits an offense if the member or group of members knowingly conspires to circumvent this chapter by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for the purpose of secret deliberations in violation of this chapter."

Hardin maintains the statute criminalizes lawful behavior protected under First Amendment rights to free speech. He added that the definitions used in the statute contradict the definition provided for the rest of the act.

Austin-based attorney Alan Bojorquez, called first to the stand by Hardin, agrees that the definitions make the statute unclear, noting that if the "Texas Legislature is criminalizing an act, it should use its words" more carefully.

However, Downey argued the statute is clear and addresses communication that is done by elected officials to deliberately circumvent the act.

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 commissioners getting together, per se," White said. "What it criminalizes is three of them getting together to conspire to violate the act."

The background

A Montgomery County grand jury issued the indictments after a six-month investigation into communications in August 2015 that led to commissioners approving the placement of the bond package on the ballot.

Emails obtained by The Courier from Aug. 11-21, 2015, through a Freedom of Information Act request to the County Attorney's Office revealed a string of emails between Texas Patriots PAC treasurer Bill O'Sullivan and Davenport with certain county commissioners and the county judge being kept apprised of ongoing negotiations to place the November 2015 road bond referendum on the ballot.

August 11 was the date Commissioners Court neither took action nor discussed placing a referendum on the ballot and was the last scheduled meeting before the Aug. 24 deadline to place a referendum on the November ballot. August 21 was the date a special meeting was posted for Aug. 24, when commissioners unanimously voted to place the road bond on the ballot.

The Courier received no emails supplied by Clark or Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador. However, one email to Clark was included in information supplied under the request for Riley's emails.

On Aug. 12, O'Sullivan sent Davenport and two other people whose emails were redacted an outline of what the PAC terms, including the amount of the bond, future bonds and ensuring the Woodlands Parkway extension from FM 2978 to Texas 249 was not included on Riley's list. It also states that the PAC would formalize the understanding and publicly endorse the plan.

From Aug. 12-20, dozens of emails were exchanged between O'Sullivan and Davenport and forwarded to Doyal, Riley and Noack indicating the two working out the MOU "for all parties," including O'Sullivan providing Davenport with Noack's "tentative" November bond project list and Davenport requesting a project list from Clark.

Commissioners voted 4-1 July 14 not to place a road bond on the November 2015 ballot, with Noack the only one voting for it, then took no action Aug. 11.

Commissioners held no public meetings between Aug. 11 and Aug. 21.
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.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Erin Kayata / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Erin Kayata / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





NEW CANAAN  New Canaan police welcomed Owen Ochs, 27, a nine-year U.S. Army veteran, into their ranks on March 31 during a swearing in ceremony at the Lapham Community Center.

New Canaans newest officer was chosen from a large pool of candidates, some coming from as far away as Texas. Ochs himself was serving in Oklahoma at the time he applied and flew himself to and from New Canaan to be part of the application process.
DailyFX.com -

Talking Points:

The AUD/USD strengthened as trade balance data reported a 4th straight month of surplus

Imports fell 5% as exports rose 1%, marking the largest decrease in imports since Dec. 2012

AUD/USD rose roughly 0.2% following the data, RBA rate decision scheduled for later today

Join Sr. Currency Strategist Ilya Spivak as he covers the RBA rate decision live as it crosses the wires today, and see what other live coverage is scheduled on the DailyFX Webinar Calendar.

AUD/USD rose nearly a quarter of a percent following the release of better than expected trade balance figures, which reported a 5 percent decrease in imports and a 1 percent increase in exports from January. Australias trade surplus increased to A$3.57b from Januarys A$1.5b, marking the fourth straight month in which exports have outperformed imports. This release was also the strongest one-month decrease in imports since December 2012.

Exports of agricultural goods decreased slightly in February by A$195m, services and goods increased by A$76m and A$1,572m respectively. Commodities such as iron ore, coal and copper saw little change from the month prior. Merchandise exports to China increased by roughly A$100m, and fell A$3m with Japan.

The trade balance data comes just 3 hours before the Reserve Bank of Australia convenes for their monthly rate decision meeting, where they are expected to maintain the cash rate at 1.50 percent.

Australian Dollar Jumps on Trade Balance Data Ahead of RBA



original source

DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.

Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from IG.
See MC/Si MC is Saturday

The fifth annual See MC/Si MC at Midland College is Saturday. The event is an opportunity for prospective students and their families to visit the campus and talk with academic program personnel, financial aid advisors and college admissions staff.

There will be music, childrens activities, college presentations, campus tours and prizes, including a laptop computer.

There will be a free hamburger lunch for the first 2,000 people.

See MC/Si MC begins at 8:30 a.m. with a robotics competition, followed by a presentation on careers at 10 a.m. at the Marie Hall Academic Building. The main event is 11 a.m. -2 p.m. near Beal Plaza outside the Scharbauer Student Center.

For more information, call 686-4910.

---

MC to host Bark in the Park

The Lady Chaps softball team, Phi Theta Kappa and Lone Star Sanctuaty for Animals are hosting Bark in the Park Saturday. A free tailgate party with hamburgers is set for 11:30 a.m. at the softball field behind Fox Sc9ience Building. A game between the Lady Chaps ad the Odessa College Lady Wranglers will begin at 1 p.m.

People attending may bring their dogs, which must be on leashes. Lone Star also will bring animals.

---

Camp Fire to host summer camp

Registration will begin April 24 for Camp Fire West Texas summer day camp, which will be at St. Marks United Methodist Church.

The camp begins June 5 and continues through Aug.18. Hours are 7:45 a.m. -5:30 p.m. weekdays. Activities include games, field trips and sports.

Fee is $75 per week and included lunch and snacks. Financial assistance is available based on family size and income level.

For more information call 570-4144.

* * *

Contact your representative

Midland ISD

Address: 615 W. Missouri Ave., Midland, TX, 79701

Phone: 432-240-1000

Website: midlandisd.net

Facebook: facebook.com/midlandisd/

Interim superintendent: Rod Schroder 240-1001

District 1: James Fuller, District 2: Robert Marquez, District 3: Tommy Bishop, District 4: John Kennedy, District 5: Karen Nicholson, District 6: Rick Davis, District 7: Bryan Murry

Midland College

3600 N. Garfield, Midland, TX 79705

Phone: 685-4500; Fax: 685-4522

Website: midland.edu

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MidlandCollege

Twitter: twitter.com/MidlandCollege

President Steve Thomas 685-4520

Trustees -- Linda Cowden, Will Green, Steve Kiser, Charlene McBride, Steve Castle, Ken Peeler, Ralph Way, Larry Lawrence, Paul Morris
A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for the identity or whereabouts of the person who fatally shot a 60-year-old man last month on the East Side.

Ernesto Neto Varelas friends found him dead in his home with multiple gunshot wounds at about 2:15 p.m. March 25 in the 1000 block of Piedmont Avenue, according to the San Antonio Police Department.
The Leakey man whose truck collided head-on with a small bus last week in Uvalde County, killing 13 congregants of a New Braunfels church, has been released from University Hospital.

Hospital spokesman Don Finley said Jack D. Young, 20, was discharged Tuesday, six days after the collision on U.S. 83 that law enforcement authorities have said was his fault.
The city of San Antonio and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association have reached an impasse in court-ordered mediation, according to an internal memo obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

The memo, sent by City Attorney Andrew Segovia to City Manager Sheryl Sculley, copied to Mayor Ivy Taylor and the City Council, said the court-appointed mediator has filed her update to the Fourth Court of Appeals, noting that the two sides have reached an impasse in court-ordered mediation.

Remember the union refused to initiate discussions with the city until ordered to mediation, Segovia wrote. Accordingly, we expect the Fourth Court of Appeals panel ... to proceed considering the briefing and arguments and provide a written opinion on the Evergreen lawsuit in which the city is challenging the constitutionality of the provision that keeps the current contract that expired in 2014 in place until 2024.

The impasse comes several months after the two sides failed to reach agreement even on a mediator. Deborah Hankinson was appointed by the Fourth Court. At issue is a lawsuit filed by the city, alleging that the evergreen clause that had been a staple in police- and fire-union contracts for decades violated the Texas Constitution and public policy. The city also sued the San Antonio Police Officers Association in a similar case. The judge who ruled over both cases sided with the public-safety unions  decisions appealed by the city.

Last year, city officials and SAPOA representatives quietly struck a deal in similar court-ordered mediation sessions, and officers at the San Antonio Police Department are now working under the new contract. But firefighters remain in evergreen status, meaning that while they havent gotten salary increases since the contract expired in 2014, theyre still getting full health care coverage for themselves, their spouses and children.

Sources close to the fire union had intimated in the last several months that the union leaders planned to delay any action on a new contract until after the May 6 mayoral election. The fire union has endorsed Manuel Medina, whos currently serving as chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party.

Chris Steele, the union president, did not return a call seeking comment Monday. Through a spokesman, Taylor declined to comment.

Thats at least in part because of the Segovia memo, which contained the subject line: Evergreen Lawsuit  Update and Public Comment Instruction.

The last line of the memo warned against speaking publicly about the matter.

The mediator also reminded all parties to continue to keep mediation discussions confidential, Segovia wrote, and instructed that the only public comment made is that the arbitrator declared an impasse.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

San Antonio pastor John Hagee visited the White House last week, and dropped in on President Donald Trump during his stay.

The Cornerstone Church pastor was visiting the nation's capital for a number of meetings, said spokesman Ari Morgenstern. After meeting with Vice President Mike Pence Friday afternoon, Hagee stopped by the Oval Office to discuss Israel with the president.

RELATED: The White House released Melania Trump's first official portrait and people are noticing something

Hagee, who founded Christians United For Israel, is passionate about the issue and Trump is as well, saying he "stands in solidarity" with the country.

During the campaign, Hagee implied he would vote for Trump, saying, "I'm not going to vote for the party that has betrayed Israel for the past seven years." In 2014, Hagee said former President Barack Obama was one of the most anti-Israel presidents in the country's history.

READ ALSO: Hagee whips crowd into frenzy during Israel rally at Cornerstone Church

"No candidate is perfect but I want you to go vote and may God give us a leader who has the courage to put America first and stand up for 'we the people,'" Hagee said in May 2016.

On Instagram Monday, Hagee said his meeting with the president was successful.

"He was very gracious, very kind and very appreciative of your prayers and support," Hagee said of Trump.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office arrested two people in a child sex sting last week, marking five arrests in the county last month.

Jacob Leon Baumgartner, 20, of Waco, was arrested Thursday for a second-degree felony charge of online solicitation of a minor.

RELATED: Two arrested in Montgomery County child sex assault sting

Baumgartner allegedly communicated with a female he believed to be under 17 years old in a sexually explicit manner, the sheriffs office said on Facebook.

The suspect allegedly traveled to Hico, Texas, attempting to meet with an underage female with intent to engage in sexual intercourse, according to the sheriffs office.

Investigators on the case arrested Baumgartner during his travels. During the arrest, deputies found an alarming amount of weapons in his possession, a Facebook post from the sheriff's office said.

He posted a $22,500 bond and was released from the Hamilton County Jail.

RELATED: 36 arrested in Crimes Against Children online sex sting

That same day, investigators made contact with a Gatesville man, 23-year-old John Albert Wilson.

Wilson allegedly engaged in a sexually explicit conversation with someone he believed to be an underage female. He also allegedly sent sexually explicit photos to a child who identified as being under the age of 17, according to the sheriffs office Facebook page.

Hamilton County investigators obtained two felony arrest warrants for the man, who requested on Friday to meet with a child and engage in sexual intercourse at a park in Gatesville. Deputies met him at the park and he was arrested and charged with two counts of online solicitation of a minor, one second-degree felony and the other a third-degree felony, said Hamilton County Sheriff Justin Caraway.

Wilson remains in custody on a $100,000 bond.

Its a relief that were getting child predators off the streets, Caraway said.

RELATED: Affidavit: Borrowed computer leads Texas boy to discover nude images of underage sister

The sheriff's office said the county has made 15-20 arrests in child sex stings since late December or early January.

In March, the sheriffs office also arrested Felipe Cruz, 20, of Killeen; Gary C. Pedriana, 57, of Waco; and Daniel Lee York, 41, of Wichita Falls for charges of online solicitation of a minor.

A second-degree felony charge poses a penalty of up to 20 years in prison if a suspect is convicted.

A third-degree felony charge poses a penalty of up to 10 years in prison if a suspect is convicted.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON -- Beto ORourke, a third-term congressman from El Paso, is trying to accomplish something Democrats havent done since 1994: win statewide office in Texas.

ORourke officially announced his bid to take on Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday, a lofty goal considering Cruz has a national fundraising network and gobs of name recognition from his 2016 presidential run. The 44-year-old ORourke insists that crisscrossing the state and relying on small donations is the way to unseat Cruz, who won in 2012 after besting Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a primary upset.

But first ORourke will need to win the Democratic nomination, and another Democratic rising star may upset his plans: Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio. Castro will make a decision about joining the race in the next month.

A primary showdown between two well-liked and well-funded Democrats would add an extra layer of time and money for ORourke and potentially Castro -- and could make it easier for Cruz to brand the winner as an out-of-touch liberal if ORourke and Castro need to spend time winning over the states liberal base.

A competitive primary will split the party, leave hard feelings and limit the ability to raise the money needed to compete in the general election, said University of Houston professor Brandon Rottinghaus, author of a recent book on Texas politics. Two competitive Democrats in the primary who have run in the past has fractured the party and created new fault lines that Dem voters werent able to cross.

Rottinghaus brought up the 2002 election, in which former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk won a four-way Democratic primary to challenge Sen. John Cornyn for an open seat at the time. While Republicans were united behind Cornyns ultimately successful bid, Democrats were divided by geographical and ideological interests that made it harder to win the general election.

In recent years, big-name Democrats have largely stayed out of one anothers way in statewide races. State Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth faced nominal opposition in her 2014 gubernatorial bid against Greg Abbott, which she lost. Democrats did not contest primaries in races for lieutenant governor or attorney general.

Democratic strategists say it would take at least $40 million to mount a credible challenge against Cruz, who likely would draw millions in outside money at the first hint of trouble. Theres also the chance that major national Democratic organizations might shift their time and attention to defending a slew of vulnerable incumbents in states President Donald Trump won, as Texas would be an expensive and potentially daunting target.

Texas Democrats have to save themselves, said Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic political research group. If youre counting on winning by outside progressive dollars, its almost always cheaper to invest in a smaller state than in a giant state like Texas.

Angle emphasized that ORourke or anyone else who jumps into the race must run a Texas-focused campaign that aggressively targets Cruz as an out-of-touch hard-liner who cares more about being president than representing Texas.

While ORourkes timing pre-emptively puts the onus on Castro to make a decision that could make it harder for either to unseat Cruz, Rottinghaus argues it was smart for ORourke to enter when he did.

ORourke has had a couple of weeks of really good national press, Rottinghaus said, referring to the lawmakers recent bipartisan road trip from El Paso to Washington with Republican Rep. Will Hurd, which was streamed over Facebook.

In terms of monetary payoff it may not be very much, but the imagery and messaging it provided was worth its weight, Rottinghaus said. The biggest problem for ORourke is that hes always going to be a liberal Democrat from liberal El Paso. Wendy Davis was labeled as a liberal, and ORourke has the same problem. The road trip gave him a way to introduce himself as a moderate.

Rottinghaus and Angle argued that a lack of attention and cash from national Democrats could play to ORourkes advantage in the messaging war. Republicans successfully tied Davis to her stance on abortion rights and painted her as an unabashed liberal even though her legislative voting record in Austin was relatively moderate. If ORourke is able to define himself before Cruz and other Republicans do it for him, he may have a better shot at winning over independents and some moderate Republicans.

Cruz enters the race with $4.2 million in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission records. ORourke has raised $217,000 online since he announced his bid Friday, according to the Texas Tribune.

---

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.






By Maria Carolina Marcello and Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's top electoral court on Tuesday decided to hear new witnesses in an illegal campaign financing case that could remove President Michel Temer from office, delaying any verdict in the trial until at least May. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) voted to reopen the landmark case to allow former Finance Minister Guido Mantega to respond to allegations he solicited an illegal donation of 50 million reais (12.85 million pounds) from engineering conglomerate Odebrecht [ODBES.UL] in return for favourable tax legislation. The delay plays into what Temer's aides have outlined as a defence strategy that centres on dragging the case out through 2018. If successful, that would allow Temer to complete the term of impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff and spare Brazil the turmoil of having two presidents ousted in a year. The center-right president served as Rousseff's vice president, before he replaced her in 2016. If the seven-justice tribunal decides that Rousseff and Temer, her running mate, used illegal money to fund their 2014 campaign, it could annul the election result and force Temer from office. Congress would then have 30 days to elect a successor, plunging Latin America's largest nation deeper into the political turbulence that has prolonged its worst recession on record. The court on Tuesday also granted a prosecutor's request to call Rousseff campaign strategist Joao Santana as a witness, following allegations that 20 million reais of his fees were paid offshore by Odebrecht [ODBES.UL]. The three political parties involved - Rousseff's Workers Party, Temer's PMDB and the PSDB that lost the 2014 election - were also given another five days to present their arguments. "With the new proceedings, there is no way of knowing when this trial will be over," said Temer lawyer Gustavo Guedes. 'AN ENDLESS TRIAL' The TSE judge given the task of studying the case, Herman Benjamin, criticized the calling of new witnesses in a case that opened 2-1/2 years ago. "We can't turn this into an endless trial. We can't hear everybody. We can't hear Adam and Eve and the serpent," Benjamin told the court. Brazil's currency and stock market were among the best performing in the world after Temer assumed office in May and pledged to cut a gaping deficit and overhaul pension laws. Investors welcomed the shift towards a more business-friendly agenda after 13 years of Workers Party government. But the prospect of removing a second president in the space of a year could be devastating. "It would create more confusion," former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso warned in a radio interview on Monday, urging the court not to make a decision that would scare off investors. Cardoso's PSDB party filed the complaint about illegal campaign funding in 2014 after narrowly losing the elections. However, since Rousseff's impeachment, it is an ally in Temer's coalition and its lawyers are arguing that he was not responsible for the illegal money. Among possible outcomes, the court could decide to close the case because Rousseff is no longer president or declare her election victory void, but not punish Temer with a ban from politics. Temer is currently serving the third year of Rousseff's second four-year term. If a president is removed in the last two years of a four-year term, Congress would get to pick the successor rather than via a popular vote. Since Temer's coalition holds a majority in Congress, that could potentially enable him to stay in office. ($1 = 3.0980 reais) (Additional reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Jeffrey Benkoe)
CINCINNATI  Take pride in your potties! Nominate your c-store bathroom for Cintas Corporations 16th annual Americas Best Restroom Contest. The contest shines a spotlight on deserving public restrooms and awards the winner with $2,500 in facility services or restroom cleaning.

Quoting Joe Bona, founder of Bona Design Lab, C-stores fuel Americas motoring publicand because of that, theyre also Americas restroom, he said in the July 2016 NACS Magazine feature, Sales by Design. And as more convenience stores strive to create a destination for customers, restrooms are a major consideration.

Public restrooms dont often receive a lot of praise, so we want to recognize the most talked about toilets that are known for their super clean stalls and innovative design, said Jillian Bauer, marketing spokesperson, Cintas. The Americas Best Restroom Contest creates nationwide awareness about your business, and serves as an effective tool that shows customers that you care about providing a well-maintained and memorable restroom, which keeps them coming back.

Last year, the Minneapolis St. Paul (MSP) International Airport won for its original mosaic wall art and touch-free elements, including a sink and hand drying area and automatic doors. In 2015, the town of Minturn public restrooms in Minturn, Colo., won the top title for its restrooms which resemble a horizontal passage way into a Rocky Mountain mine.

Winning the contest last year was a huge deal for us, said Alan Howell, senior airport architect, MSP Airport. We spent a ton of time carefully designing our restrooms to be functional for travelers, so we were humbled to be honored with the prestigious award. The contest also generated a lot of buzz about our restrooms during the holiday season, which is when we see airport traffic at its peak.

The deadline for nominations is July 28, 2017. Ten finalists will be announced in the fall of 2017, based on cleanliness, visual appeal, innovation, functionality and unique design elements. The winner will receive the royal restroom treatment from Cintas with $2,500 in facility services or restroom cleaning to help maintain their award-winning restroom.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Readers, I was running errands yesterday so I can travel today. Since Im leaving early, Im going to do a pantry clear-out of links I had to blow past, because of the tyranny of the urgent. Adding, worse, owing to schedule slippage, I didnt get to as much of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade contemporary politics as Id hope. My apologies, and talk amongst yourselves. lambert

Politics

New Cold War

Diplomats warn of Russia hysteria [The Hill]. Former U.S. ambassadors to Russia and Foreign Service diplomats are angered by what they view as a witch-hunt pursuing Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, warning that hysteria over Russia in Congress and the media will undermine U.S. interests abroad. Ya think?

Realignment and Legitimacy

Chelsea Clinton praises Sanders for Zika op-ed [The Hill]. Clinton III: Thank you Sen. Sanders  we need to ensure equitable access to the Zika vaccine & all vaccines. So what about #MedicareForAll?

Stats Watch

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 46 Neutral (previous close: 47, Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 29 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 3 at 5:30pm. Note the odd time. When I said I was leaving early, I meant it

Health Care

We seem not to have heard much about this:

People lined up to demand single payer at Nancy Pelosi's town hall today. (video via @reedm livestream) pic.twitter.com/ZZctRcR8BH  Lee Fang (@lhfang) March 26, 2017

What kind of State manages to decrease the life expectancy of its citizens?

This cannot be repeated enough.      https://t.co/jeA5r7Lp4v  Stephanie Kelton (@StephanieKelton) March 13, 2017

Medical students rally in Philly for single-payer option [Philadelphia Inquirer]. Were willing to take this to the halls of our medical schools, our nursing schools, the halls of Congress, and the streets of our cities to say were not going to stand for corporate America taking over our health-care system and holding patients hostage, said Dr. Richard Bruno, 37, a founding member of [Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP)] who specializes in primary care and public health in Baltimore.

Bernie Sanders, Top Progressives Announce New Medicare For All Push [HuffPo]. Good overview. During the debate over repeal, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) used some of his time during a Budget Committee hearing to note that if Trump wanted to follow through on his campaign promise to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something terrific, he could fall back on an idea Trump himself endorsed in a 2000 book: single-payer.

From The Department of Good, But Not Nearly Enough

States now exploring Medicaid expansion this year:

Kansas

Virginia

Georgia

Mainehttps://t.co/OPsrUNxEBV  Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) March 27, 2017

What politicians, those hardy folk, dont understand about health care is how anxious it makes their constituents. Not suspicious, not obstinate, but anxious. Because unlike such policy questions as tax reform, health care can be an immediate life-or-death issue for you. It has to do with whether, when, and where you can get the chemo if youre sick, and how long theyll let you stay in the hospital when you have nobody, or nobody reliable and nearby, to care for you. To make it worse, the issue is all hopelessly complicated and complex and pits you as an individual against huge institutionsthe insurance company that doesnt answer the phone, the hospital that says Im afraid thats not coveredand you have to make the right decisions [Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal]. Politicians dont understand all this, in part because they and their families are well-covered on a government insurance policy, and they have staff to put in the claim and argue with the insurance company, which, when its a congressman calling, answers the phone in one quick hurry. They dont know its not easy for everyone else. Or rather they know on some abstract level but forget in the day-to-day, as one does with abstractions. The amazing thing, here, is that Nooners has no policy advice to give. She concludes: A proper White House reaction? Not anger, bluff and bluster, not finger-pointing or defensiveness but modesty and calm. And this: Offer to work with Democrats and moderate Republicans to create legislation that will help and can pass. #MedicareForAll?

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Beyond the Hashtags (PDF) [CMS Impact]. Black Lives Matter (BLM)ignited an urgent national conversation about police killings of unarmed Black citizens. Online tools have been anecdotally credited as critical in this effort, but researchers are only beginning to evaluate this claim. This research report examines the movements uses of online media in 2014 and 2015. To do so, we analyze three types of data: 40.8 million tweets, over 100,000 web links, and 40 interviews of BLM activists and allies. Despite the horrid catchphrase national conversation, this is an interesting report.

Police State Watch

Scores of NYPD cops have installed illegal flash-reflecting plastic covers on their personal-vehicle license plates that can thwart toll and traffic cameras  and officials said a crackdown is under way [New York Post]. A reporter also confronted the driver of an SUV displaying a placard for federal officers, and asked why he was hiding his license plate. That officer slammed his door and refused to answer questions. So its the Feds, too. The assumption of impunity is sickening.

Water

The headwater source areas of rivers are a huge component of overall water infrastructure systems, but historically, this natural infrastructure has gone unrecognized, to the detriment of rivers and water users downstream [American Rivers]. If Since rivers are persons, I wonder how we (re-)conceptualize headwaters, catchment areas, etc.?

Gaia

The massive crack in the Antarctic ice shelf is hanging on by a 12-mile thread' [USA Today]. [Scientists] also arent sure when the now 110-mile crack will finally break open the rest of the way, creating a massive iceberg larger than Rhode Island. It is particularly hard to predict when it will occur, said Adrian Luckman of Project MIDAS, a British Antarctic research project thats keeping watch on the ever-growing crack.

Just one word: Plastics.

A study attempts to estimate the amount of plastic that is being dumped in the ocean. Free to read: https://t.co/SzogZvVy53 pic.twitter.com/McDjHhf4w7  The Economist (@TheEconomist) February 16, 2017

Class Warfare

More than 750,000 people die prematurely from dirty air every year that is generated by making goods in one location that will be sold elsewhere, about one-fifth of the 3.45 million premature deaths from air pollution. The study says 12 percent of those deaths, about 411,000 people, are a result of air pollution that has blown across national borders [AP]. So we might ask what it is, exactly, that the global supply chain is supplying.

The dark side of cities [The Week]. This is an important post, and I speak as one who loves the crackle and sparkle of a world city.

Cities dominate American society like never before because of what they did right, these promoters say. But actually, cities succeeded because of what the country did wrong. A small number of liberal urban clusters certainly do dominate Americas economic output. Rates of productivity growth are higher in cities. And over the last few decades, rates of business and job creation during recoveries fell off a cliff in less-dense areas  but held stable in the most dense areas. Yet the productivity growth rate and the GDP growth rate across the entire national economy slowed to near record lows as cities rose in prominence. Certainly, agglomeration effects and dense innovative cultural milieus have real economic value. But how much value compared to other forces is the question. More to the point, rates of job and business creation in dense areas held stable as rural areas died. They didnt increase to compensate. Economic vibrancy and opportunity didnt move to the cities. They just drowned everywhere else, while cities became the economys only remaining life rafts.

Again, I think its useful to think of the flyover states as colonies (e.g., India), and the (blue) cities as the metropolitan center (e.g., London), make the politics of Blue Secession all the more inane.

Jerks and the Start-Ups They Ruin [New York Times]. Because capital allocation is never a problem, societally or systemically.

News of the Wired

A Retiree Discovers an Elusive Math ProofAnd Nobody Notices [Wired]. Supports my pet theory that our current systems for organizing labor are immensely wasteful of human talent. Notice even the clickbaity headline: The point is not that the mathematician a retiree, i.e. no longer in the labor force; the point is that they are not seeking fame or leveraging professional networks to get heard.

You Can Now Beg for Money on Facebook [LifeHacker]. Yeah, who needs Medicare for All and free college when you can grovel to your friends for money on Mark Zuckerbergs advertising platform?

The Real Peril Of Crowdfunding Health Care [Buzzfeed]. Like millions of Americans, McFarland struggles in the margin between being insured and actually being able to cover her health care costs. And while her story is tragic, when she first posted it, it wasnt dramatic enough to go viral on crowdfunding sites filled with similar pleas for help. Shes young, but shes not an adorable child; shes extremely sick, but not with a disease that most people understand. Which isnt to suggest that her story, or her life, isnt worthy. But her situation highlights many of the underlying issues with a new-found reliance on crowdfunding as a social safety net. Another way of saying this is that the so-called safety net  what are we all, trapeze artists? Wait, dont answer that  is no subsitute for programs that provision universal benefits, as for example health care.

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (PM):

PM: First trillium this spring.

Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help.
By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. GP article archive here. Originally published at DownWithTyranny

The largest political bloc in the United States, radical independents (discussion here; click to enlarge).<

Update: Various news outlets are reporting that because Chris Coons now says hell support the filibuster, the Democrats have 41 votes and can block the nomination, at least until filibuster rules are changed. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) announced on Monday that he will oppose President Trumps pick on a procedural vote where he will need the support of eight Democrats to cross a 60-vote threshold to end debate on Gorsuch. Coons is the 41st Democrat to back the filibuster. Throughout this process, I have kept an open mind.  I have decided that I will not support Judge Grouchs nomination in the Judiciary Committee meeting today, Coons said. I am not ready to end debate on this issue. So I will be voting against cloture, Coons said, absent a deal to avoid the nuclear option. [emphasis added] Various news outlets are reporting that because Chris Coons now says hell support the filibuster, the Democrats have 41 votes and can block the nomination, at least until filibuster rules are changed. The Hill The Hill adds, Unless one of the 41 Democrats changes their vote, the filibuster of Gorsuch will be sustained in a vote later this week. Note the qualification (bolded) next to the Coons quote. Thats the writers voice, but it reads like a paraphrase from Coons. From this, it seems likely theyre still negotiating to preserve the filibuster, as the Democrats might put it. We wont know until the votes are cast how things actually do or did play out.

Bottom line first  Democrats are in luck. They now have a fourth opportunity to make a new first impression on voters  especially those in Rust Belt and economically suffering states  yet another opportunity to bring disaffected voters back into the fold in 2018 and 2020.

The first attempt was the nomination of Hillary Clinton in an obvious, 2008-style change election year, despite the fact that an actual change candidate, Bernie Sanders, was an option they could have chosen. Clinton ran as Obamas third term; she won where Democrats and the economy were strongest  the coastal states of California and New York, for example  and she lost where Democrats used to be strong but the economy was terrible  Michigan and Wisconsin, for example, which she also lost in the primary to Bernie Sanders, a telling sign.

The second attempt was, in the aggregate, the numerous, terrible votes on the numerous, terrible Trump nominees  like torture-loving Mike Pompeo as director of the CIA, who passed the Senate 66-32-2; utterly unqualified Nikki Haley for UN Ambassador, who passed 96-4; anti-public school evangelist Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary, who passed her cloture vote 52-48 before being confirmed on a 50-50 vote; or perhaps most significantly, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, who passed the Senate 56-43-1. Mark Warner and Angus King were among the Democrats voted for Tillerson; Chris Coons didnt vote.

The third attempt was was the proxy battle between the Obama forces, who wanted their man, Tom Perez, to be named DNC chair ahead of Sanders-supporter Keith Ellison. Perez won, with Obama, among others, actively whipping for him (our write-up of that battle is here).

Now comes the highly pro-corporate, pro-religious-rights nominee Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant Supreme Court justice seat. As you will read below, according to Mitch McConnell, hes going to be nominated one way or the other  with the filibuster in place or with it removed.

The only real question is about the Democrats. What will they do  permit enough of their members to preserve the filibuster (until the next time Republicans threaten it) by voting the interests of their donors and passing Gorsuch with Democratic support, or show some Party spine in defeat?

And the only real issues at stake are the 2018 and 2020 elections. Will the Democratic Party, in the aggregate, begin to look like a party the largest voting bloc in the country  radical (pro-change) independents  can support? Or will they continue to look like the party of only the comfortably well off?

Were about to find out.

The Gorsuch Nomination  All You Need to Know

As of the latest reports, on Friday, April 7, just prior to a two-week recess, the full Senate will take up the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for justice of the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy left by the death, more than a year ago, of Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016. (As anyone following this story knows, then-President Barack Obama had shortly thereafter nominated Merrick Garland for the seat, but in an unprecedented move, the Senate under Mitch McConnell refused even to hold hearings, in a apparent  or obvious  attempt to hold the nomination for a potential Republican president after the November 2016 election.)

Because of the makeup of the current Senate  52 Republicans, 46 Democrats, 2 Independents (Bernie Sanders and the centrist Angus King)  Republican have enough votes to confirm Gorsuch (51 votes needed), but not enough to break a filibuster on the vote to close debate and proceed to a vote to confirm (60 votes needed).

This means that the Republicans, if they vote as a bloc, need eight Democrats/Independents to vote with them to close debate (the so-called cloture vote).

What to watch for  The cloture vote will determine whether Gorsuch will be confirmed (unless, as noted below, the Republicans vote later to kill the filibuster rule for SC nominees). Thus, any Democrat who votes Yes on cloture but No on Gorsuch is a hypocrite  is merely pretending to be opposed after helping to settle the matter the other way.

Thats true of almost all Democrats when it comes to cloture votes, by the way. A vote to close debate, when a bill or nomination could be stopped, followed by a principled vote against a bill or nomination means the vote to oppose is a show vote only.

The Democratic Deal and the Democratic Filibuster

In response to the possibility of a Democratic filibuster of Gorsuch, McConnell has threatened a so-called nuclear option  that the Senate would change the rules if a filibuster succeeds in a way that would remove the 60-vote threshold for cloture votes on Supreme Court nomination.

Most recently, we find this:

President Donald Trumps Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, will be confirmed this week one way or the other, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday, suggesting hell trigger the so-called nuclear option if Democrats attempt to filibuster Gorsuch. Judge Gorsuch is going to be confirmed, McConnell said on Fox News Sunday. The way in which that occurs is in the hands of the Democratic minority. McConnell did not say directly that he would trigger the nuclear option, in which the chambers rules would be changed to allow the Senate to cut off filibusters on Supreme Court nominations with a simple majority, instead of the current 60-vote threshold. But he said the week will end with [Gorsuchs] confirmation whether or not Democrats attempt to filibuster him. Democrats say that if the filibuster remains in place, they have the votes to torpedo Gorsuchs nomination. Its highly, highly unlikely that hell get to 60, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on NBCs Meet the Press. As the Gorsuch nomination moved through the Republican-controlled Senate, news leaked that some Democratic senators were considering offering a deal to Republicans  well vote for Gorsuch if you dont eliminate the filibuster for the next Supreme Court nominee.

Since first hearing about the threat to the filibuster, some Democrats were said to be considering a deal that would preserve the filibuster (until it was next threatened, it must be said) in exchange for Democratic votes for Gorsuch. The uproar among the public against that was immediate.

In apparent response, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer promised a filibuster  meaning, he announced his own intention to vote no on Gorsuch, and he asked other Democrats to do the same. (Those details are here: Senate Democrats Will Filibuster GorsuchMaybe.)

The Decision for Democrats: Well-Paid Minority or Party of the People?

Keep in mind these things:

The Democrats need millionaire, billionaire and corporate money to stay in business, since theyve rejected Bernie Sanders fundraising model.

Big money and pro-corporate forces really really want a strong pro-corporate majority back on the Roberts Supreme Court.

want a strong pro-corporate majority back on the Roberts Supreme Court. Gorsuch will likely be confirmed regardless of what the Democrats do.

If Democrats help break the filibuster, Republicans will claim the confirmation was bipartisan, and corporate Democrats like Schumer can go into private donor meetings and claim his party helped deliver.

So what the Democratic Party vote on Gorsuch comes down to is a public show of support for one of two constituencies  either the public and their interests, or corporate and big money donors and their interests. The public is watching  which puts Democratic Party prospects at risk; and the donors are watching  which puts Democratic Party funding at risk.

Which leads straight into the Gorsuch vote on April 7. What will the Democrats do?

The Gorsuch Whip List

According to The Hill, heres where we stand with Gorsuch.

 Three votes to break the filibuster and approve the nomination Joe Donnelly (IN), Joe Manchin (WV), Heidi Heitkamp (ND). (Update: Michael Bennet will vote to end the filibuster.)

 38 votes to block the nomination, including the surprising Claire McCaskill (MO), but perhaps not including Richard Blumenthal (see below). Most of these say they will also support the filibuster, but not all.

 Five votes undecided in the vote to approve the nomination  Michael Bennet (CO), Chris Coons (DE), Angus King (Maine), Jon Tester (VT), Mark Warner (VA). Tester was in Senate Democratic leadership; hes the outgoing chair of the DSCC. Mark Warner is in leadership now and a Schumer ally. This may indicate how strongly (or weakly) Schumer is whipping against Gorsuch. Watch Bennet, Coons and King, for example.

CNNs count adds Richard Blumenthal (CT) as undecided in approving Gorsuch and includes Ben Cardin (MD) and Patrick Leahy (VT) as undecided in supporting the filibuster. (Yes, Leahy, who was accommodating to so many Bush II lower court appointees.)

 Two votes unclear  Dianne Feinstein (CA), Bob Menendez(NJ). Unclear may mean negotiating for favors if the vote is close and one of the two sides can give them something they want. (CNN has Feinstein supporting the filibuster and also opposed to the nomination.)

If youre counting, the three firm yes votes and the five, six or seven undecides alone could break the filibuster.

The Hill, of course, is maintaining the pretense that Democrats in red states cant win without acting like Republicans. Note that Trump didwin in red states by not acting like a Republican. Trump won, if youve forgotten, by acting like  Bernie Sanders.

A New First Impression, or a Permanent, Well-Paid Minority?

Remember, if the Democrats dont manage one of the days to make a new first impression on voters, theyll be a permanent electoral minority, albeit very well paid for their efforts. Permanent means that their minority will last until one of these nearly inevitable events occur

An economic revolt against the ruling elite far angrier than we saw in 2008 and 20016, or

A widespread, panicky recognition that were really really screwed on climate

both of which will make the country nearly ungovernable and elections, frankly, moot.

And from an independent voters perspective, if Democrats dont care if they are always in the minority, regardless of their words, why vote for them? Its a vicious cycle, downwardly spiraling.

Will a successful cloture vote slow the flow of big-donor money to the Democratic Party? If not, they can filibuster freely, knowing nomination is secure in any case.

Or will a failure to block the nomination be enough to show both the donors and the public that Democratic Party hearts are in the right place after all  even if those two right places are simultaneously opposite to each other?

What will Democrats do? I cant wait to find out.
Yves here. It is looking questionable as to whether Eurocrats will be able to keep the Italian banking crisis under wraps through the German federal election this September.

By Silvia Merler, an Affiliate Fellow at Bruegel and formerly an Economic Analyst in DG Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. Originally published at Bruegel

Italian banks are back in the spotlight. After MPS failed to raise enough capital from private investors earlier this year, Banco Popolare di Vicenza (BPVI) and Veneto Banca take centre stage. The story of these two banks epitomises the strategy of delayed reform that has been so characteristic of the Italian banking crisis.

Italian banks are back in the spotlight. After MPS [Monte dei Paschi] failed to raise enough capital from private investors earlier this year, the centre stage has moved from Tuscany to the region of Veneto, in the Italian north-east. We have met the main characters previously: Banco Popolare di Vicenza (BPVI) and Veneto Banca were among the Italian banks that failed the ECBs comprehensive assessment in 2014. They were also in the spotlight last year, when the bank-funded Atlante fund was created, mostly to become the underwriter of last resort in their (otherwise unlikely) capital raise.

If we look at the data, things are definitely not looking good. BPVI published its 2016 accounts this week, closing with a  1.9 billion loss. Veneto Banca postponed the publication of its account, but it is expectedto report a loss of about  1 billion. Earlier this month, both banks asked access to precautionary recapitalisation, like the one currently discussed for Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Gross NPLs for BPVI were  9.8 billion in 2016, up 9.3% from last year.  5.1 billion of these NPLs are classified as bad debts, up 17% year-on-year. BPVI says in its press release that it has received a draft communication from the ECB, following up on a previous inspection and requiring actions to address identified shortcomings. BPVI says this will entail a conservative revision of its credit risk policy, which will presumably determine further negative impact on its 2017 financial position. The current CET1 ratio stands at 8.21%  above the minimum requirement but below the SREP target of 10.25%.

What is more worrying is the banks liquidity position. The banks direct funding was down 14.4% with respect to last year, with BPVI attributing the drop to reputational issues and fear of bail-in. The bank resorted to ECB liquidity  for a total that currently stands at  6.4 billion  and to the emission of government-guaranteed securities worth  3 billion. The liquidity outflow has been hemorrhagic: BPVIs liquidity coverage ratio at the end of December 2016 was 37.9%, down from 113% in June. Without the emission of the government-guaranteed securities mentioned above, the liquidity ratio would have been below the 90% minimum requirement for 2017.

This precarious liquidity situation could complicate the discussion on precautionary recap  which first needs to be authorised by the European Commission. If the precautionary recap were to be granted, it would most likely entail the bail-in of junior debt, which reportedly amounts to  547 million for BPVI and  750 million for Veneto. If the experience of MPS is of any guidance, we should expect this issue to become very controversial soon. Meanwhile, the two banks are also under pressure from legal actions of the shareholders that have been diluted, and they have been trying to limit the damage by offering to reimburse part of the share value in exchange for the beneficiaries to renounce legal actions.

To know more about the future of the two Veneto banks, we will have to wait for the decision by the European Commission, but some things can be said already. The story of these two banks epitomises the strategy of delayed reform that has been so characteristic of the Italian banking crisis, where actions that should have been taken earlier are now becoming unavoidable, in a regulatory context that has grown more demanding in the meantime, especially when it comes to using public money.

It also shows how delusional the great expectations placed on the Atlante fund were. When the fund was launched last year, it was largely depicted as a private backstop mechanism intended to shore up confidence in the Italian banking system. As I discussed at the time, the initiative stemmed from fears of systemic implications if BPVI and Veneto failed to raise enough capital, and it was expected to reduce systemic risk by avoiding fears of a domino effect due to difficulties of individual banks. However, the structure of the fund suggested otherwise. The fund was mostly financed by Italian banks: by acting as an underwriter of last resort for the two banks that were too weak to raise capital on the market, the fund effectively prevented bank resolution in the short run, but it did so by spreading the risk onto the balance sheets of the rest of the banking system.

After it became the majority shareholder (with a share of around 90%) of two regional banks, which now see precautionary recapitalisation with public funds as the most realistic recap option, this expectation seems overly optimistic. Giuseppe Guzzetti, one of the minds behind Atlante, said at the end of last year that he regretted participating in the venture. Perhaps more importantly, the fact that participating banks have been making significant write-down to the values of their investment in Atlante signals a lack of trust in the success of the operation.
Civil Rights Lawyer William Coleman Dead at 96 C-SPAN (Kevin C)

This Photographer Photographs Farm Animal Like No One Else Bored Panda

The decade-long, $6M effort to put a 74-year-old WWII boat back to water ars technica (Chuck L)

A new nerd resource, courtesy guurst: Lexicty: The first and only comprehensive index for ancient language resources on the internet.

Ridding the oceans of plastics by turning the waste into valuable fuel PhysOrg (Chuck L)

International scientific teams find potential approach against parasites PhysOrg (Chuck L)

Sniffing urine to detect prostate cancer could prevent unnecessary biopsies MedicalXpress (Chuck L)

Behold the New Vantablack 2.0, the Art Material So Black It Eats Lasers and Flattens Reality ArtNet (Robert H). This is totally cool. But I am waiting for this to be outlawed. Makeup in Vantablack, strategically applied, would defeat face recognition software. Of course there are more elaborate options out now I dont see used much/at all.

China?

Soon youll be able to make payments using WhatsApp in India Mashable. Help me. Jerri-Lynn has discussed long-form how the hype is ahead of reality, given low cell phone penetration, as well as to poor connectivity even in major cities like Calcutta, plus erratic electricity outside big cities.

Bloombergs Hit Job on Venezuela  and Me Counterpunch. Eek. But Hudson unfortunately got the journalistic rules wrong. A conversation is on the record unless you say no. You dont get to see the context in which a quote is used in the piece before it runs. The most you might be able to negotiate is to get them to agree to approve any quotes they use for you for accuracy or to say the discussion is on background but youll consider letting them put certain quotes on the record if they run them by you in writing for approval. It is sadly common for reporters to cherry pick what a source tells them to advance a story line. For instance, Neil Barofsky was particularly unhappy with how the New York Times reported an interview with him.

Brexit

On The EU & Brexit Cassandra. Vlade found this post from Cassandra, who was an insightful regular during the crisis but has gone quiet since then. Even though its from February, it has some great observations. My fave, in response to a reader saying Worse, it has become clear that the power driving the new EU Nation would be centred on Berlin and Frankfurt with its Admin Centres in Brussels and Strasbourg so as to save face for the French.:

I appreciate there some British suspicion and jealousy exists. But to me as a detached American observer, living in Britain with a European Passport, it appears that the neutral Belgians got the Senior Admin, the French got the Parliament (some spillover bens to Germany), the Dutch got the judiciary, the Danes got the Environment, the Germans took the ECB, & the Brits got The City as the central Financial & Insurance capital, AS WELL AS the Euro equiv of the FDA. Chicken Shop murder: Man cleared of bike lock killing BBC. More detail on the killing here. Vlade: This is already causing political waves in CZ, where most of the comments on the news sites are along the lines so we see, a different justice for EU immigrants and for the UK bullies + a strong wish to get the UK punished. This comes from population which up till now was rather positively skewed towards the UK. So unless a VERY good explanation would be coming from the UK shortly (which I doubt), UK just made an enemy from a former friend. Given that the Visegrad 4 (CZ, Slovakia, Poland + Hungary) now with UK out of the EU have blocking minority, and that Poles and Slovaks are already upset with the UK, this doesnt bode well for any Brexit deal. The truth about Brexit Absolute Return Partners (Scott). Got this just before I turned in so I havent had time to read it with care. On the whole, puts together a lot of very useful data, although I quibble with one inference: the chart on UK nationals upskilling during the period when more immigrants were entering. Theres no evidence that the natives that got higher skill jobs would not have gotten them whether or not there was immigration, as in you would have instead seen tighter labor markets and/or more entry/reentry of marginally attached or flex laborers (older and young men, more women who could do part time work) in the low skilled jobs that the immigrants took up. Tensions rise as EU says Spain has its full support for Brexit power grab over Gibraltar Daily Express Downing Street defends ex-Tory leader Michael Howards claim UK would go to war with Spain over Gibraltar Independent Why Gibraltar is British  in 60 secs BBC. Nice inclusion of Larry in the closing shot. The intensity of the coverage is not a good sign. I assume this was a combo of a poke in the eye plus a trading chip, but if both sides dig in, this will get stupid.

The Labour party is set to lose hundreds of council seats across the UK in May Business Insider

Syraqistan

US Military Should Get Out of the Middle East Jeffrey Sachs, Boston Globe (Sid S)

New Cold War

Putin Derangement Syndrome Arrives Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone. A great piece despite the arrives in the headline, which is presumably not Taibbis doing. Key paragraph: One way we recognize a mass hysteria movement is that everyone who doesnt believe is accused of being in on the plot. This has been going on virtually unrestrained in both political and media circles in recent weeks. Demonizing Russia  The psychology and consequences of Neo-McCarthyism Storm Clouds Gathering (Sid S) Searching for Russia Vineyard of the Saker. Chuck L: Broad brush on deep Russian history plus observations on how its present day government functions and its echos from the past

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

AIG taps into consumer fears with new cybersecurity product Reuters (Chuck L). You cannot make this up. The answer to deficient products (in this case hackable software and devices) isnt to make the manufacturer liable or have the Feds all over them to get them fix the problem. Its another level of grifting called insurance (although in some cases the insurer will seek to recover from the tech co).

Trump Transition

Obamacare

Dems reach magic number to block Supreme Court nominee The Hill (furzy)

Democrats Choose Path on Gorsuch That Could Change Washington Bloomberg. Misleading headline. It is the Republicans that would be choosing to use the nuclear option, not the Dems.

Former Obama staffers run for office to protect the progressive policies they built Guardian. Martha r: Is this something we should be worried about? /s

How Bill Clinton Remade the Democratic Party by Abandoning Unions: An Arkansas Story Labor and Working Class History Association. Max J: An old piece from November 23 2016, but havent seen it posted before.

Seattle mayor to Democrats: Anger has to be attached to a strategy Politico. Note the purity test framing.

Tech Founders Want IPO Riches Without Those Pesky Shareholders Wall Street Journal. Translation: common stock is to be even more trading sardine like than ever before.

Finally a real reason for markets to fear Donald Trump MacroBusiness. A tad melodramatic, but the general thrust makes sense.

Markit PMI vs. ISM Fantasyland GDP Projection: Stagflation Lite? Michael Shedlock

Guillotine Watch

StanChart to double minimum wealth for private bank clients Financial Times

Class Warfare

Monopolization and Labour Exploitation The Bullet (Sid S) In Anaconda, Montana, History Repeats Itself Counterpunch (Chuck L). The anodyne headline does a big disservice to the piece.

How French Intellectuals Ruined the West: Postmodernism and Its Impact, Explained Areo (Mike R). Todays must read.

Antidote du jour (Carole):

And a bonus, hat tip Scott. Be sure to watch to the end:

This is the best video on the Internet currently. pic.twitter.com/KPNZddth5S  Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 1, 2017

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
April 4 (Reuters) - Mudajaya Group Bhd:

* Unit accepted award of contract on 3 April from Prasarana Malaysia

* The contract sum is 58.3 million rgt

* The project is expected to contribute positively to the earnings of the group for the financial year ending 2017 onwards

* Contract to undertake construction and completion of light rail transit line 3 from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia Source text(http://bit.ly/2oDrE7o) Further company coverage:
When asked what makes a place worth staying in, most people dont immediately think of a pharmacy. But if theres nowhere nearby to get a prescription filled, inconvenience can lead to relocation. In a state like Kansas, where nearly a third of the population is rural, a local establishment like a pharmacy or dentists office can be a stronghold of community life.

Take the city of Concordia, Kansas, with a population just over 5,000. Doug Funk set up shop here after finishing pharmacy school at the University of Kansas. I always wanted to do something where you could be your own boss, he says. In 1985, after working for several years in a hospital pharmacy and in other jobs, he bought Funk Pharmacy and brought his life to Concordia.

For 30 years, business was good, and the pharmacy employed as many as 12 people at a time. He had really, really loyal customers, Funk recalls, your average, everyday Joes. Over the years, Funk became a well-known and respected pharmacist.

Eventually, when he was getting into his 50s, Funk started to consider retirement. He spoke to a few folks he thought could take over the business, but none of them offered a fair deal.

They basically wanted to steal it from me, says Funk. They wanted to pay a lot less than what it was worth.

Funk would have had a hard time trying to use a traditional business brokera professional specialized in the buying and selling of companies. Firms in small towns are less attractive to brokers, who typically only work in more densely populated areas, and for a high price.

Thankfully, Funk had heard of a program for people in his situation, and turned to them for help. The program, called RedTire, was similar to a business broker, but it was free of charge and happy to make deals in rural areas.

RedTire has nothing to do with tires; instead, the name is short for the phrase Redefine Your Retirement. The staff do everything from appraising the business to vetting the buyer, and even offer counsel after the deal is done. While traditional business brokers work to maximize the advantage of the party that hired them, RedTire focuses on making the fairest deal possible for both sides. As of December, it has brokered the sale of 27 businesses, which together employ more than 200 people, in sales that total $22.6 million. The program has grown steadily in the five years since it launched, and now gets more work requests than it has the capacity to take on.

Some of the businesses RedTire transitions would probably have disappeared if the service wasnt there. Steve Kelly, the vice president of economic development at the Chamber of Commerce in Lawrence, Kansas, says that hes seen many small businesses close when the owner couldnt find a new person to take over. Not only do you have a business owner thats in a bad spot, you potentially put the whole community in a position of loss, he said.

And when small towns lose businesses, people leave with them, explains Wayne Bell, the district director of the Wichita, Kansas, branch of the federal governments Small Business Administration. It is vital to the life of a small town to have those businesses that may have been there for some time. Its important that theyre able to hand off the business to another owner thats interested in retaining the services right there in the town.

And thats exactly what happened for Doug Funk, when an acquaintance named Robb Rosenbaum expressed interest in buying his pharmacy. RedTire made sure the deal went smoothly.

In 2015, the Rosenbaums made the move from Kansas City, Missouri, to Concordia to take on Funk Pharmacy. Robb was a bit nervous to relocate his two small children to such a tiny city. But that has been excellent, actually, he says. They have done better than ever could have been expected, both of them.

Robb now owns the pharmacy jointly with his wife, Meredith. Because Funk was running a tight ship, Rosenbaum says its been an easy transition. Besides filling prescriptions for individuals, the pharmacy also serves hospice patients and even the county jail.

Out in a rural community like [Concordia], we kind of do a little bit of everything, says Robb.

In addition to their work at the pharmacy, both Rosenbaums serve on local boards: Robb at a local foundation and Meredith at the Concordia Chamber of Commerce.

Both Funk and Rosenbaum are alumni of the University of Kansas, which hosts RedTire. The university is key to the programs success, and students benefit from every part of it. Business students help staff the program and get a paid learning opportunity, while alumni get free help with the buying and selling of their firms.

After five years in business, the folks at RedTire are looking into how to share their model with other institutions.

Theres been plenty of interest in emulating the idea, says Denton Zeeman, program manager. But when it becomes clear that RedTire doesnt charge its clients, many institutions tend to abandon their plans to replicate the project. There has to be some social corporate responsibility, and therefore support from the university, Zeeman says. He is confident that, with some personal support from RedTire, other universities could get something similar up and running.

This need exists probably in every country, and I do believe it exists in every state in the U.S., says Zeeman.
'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.
Clonmel is set for a massive housing boost with two hundred new homes earmarked for a prime site overlooking the town.

New government funding has already been approved for the develoment at Lower Ardgeeha on the Cashel Road.

And Tipperary County Council officals are hopeful that funding may become available at a later date for an even bigger development nearby of over three hundred homes.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney visited the Ardgeeha site on Friday and said the new development represented a significant boost to the Clonmel economy.

The construction of over five hundred houses would represent a massive vote of confidence in Clonmel, he stated.

It is expected that the first development - including public, private and social housing - could be completed within three years. It will be the first new housing development in the county in the past seven years.

The government has commited up to 750,000 to the development under a new scheme - the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund - to develop new housing across the country.

Much of the focus is on the larger cities and Clonmel is one of just a number of sites outside the big population centres where an application for funding has been successful. Funding of 226m for 34 projects across fifteen sites has been approved.

The money will go towards infrastructural development, such as distributor roads, cycle lanes and in Clonmel's case,a new roundabout at the top of Heywood Road.

The site comprises 9.46 ha and is located about 1.7 km to the north of the town centre and immediately to the east of the R688 Clonmel  Cashel regional road in close proximity to Boston Scientific and Abbot Ireland  Vascular Division.

A second application for the larger three hundred house scheme was unsuccessful but Minister Coveney told council officials on Friday that if other areas don't avail of all their funding under phase one, that money may return to Clonmel for the second scheme.

County CEO Joe MacGrath and chairperson Siobhan Ambrose, along with planning officials and councillors, met Minister Coveney on the site and welcomed his commitment to the project.
(Natural News) When the very first Whole Foods store was launched in Austin, Texas, in 1980, there were fewer than half a dozen natural food stores in the whole of the U.S., and the concept was an immediate success. Over the years, however, more and more supermarkets have recognized the growing demand for organic produce and have expanded their businesses to include more such offerings. This more competitive marketplace, combined with several scandals which have damaged the image of the group, has led to a sharp decline in sales for Whole Foods stores nationwide.

Earlier this year, after six continuous quarters with declining sales, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey announced the closure of nine of its 435 stores, including outlets in Georgia, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Chicago, California and Colorado. This represents the largest number of Whole Foods stores ever to be closed at one time, and is the supermarket giants first downsizing initiative since 2008.

Stocks have fallen by 11 percent in the past year, and new figures released by analysts from Barclays report that the group has suffered a 3 percent loss of foot traffic. While 3 percent might not seem like much, it represents a loss of about 14 million customers. Since each of these customers could be expected to spend between $30 and $50, this relates to losses of between $420 million and $700 million. It is understandable, then, that the analysts called this loss staggering.

In hard economic times, high prices chase customers away

One of the greatest reasons for this decline would seem to be the high prices charged by Whole Foods. In spite of launching its low cost 365 chain, consumers still seem to have the perception that it is simply cheaper to buy elsewhere. Indeed, allegations of price-gouging have haunted the company for years. Other big supermarket chains like Kroger and Aldi have been quick to pick up on the trend, and have both increased their selections of organic produce at more budget-friendly prices. Kroger, for example, has launched its own organic house brand called Simple Truth, and has added entire aisles of natural foods to its stores. Aldi has also announced that it will be spending $1.6 billion to improve the organic offerings at 1,300 of its stores.

These statistics will no doubt be the cause of grave concern for the management of Whole Foods. As noted by one of the Barclays analysts, Most retailers know [that] once traffic has been lost, those patterns rarely reverse.

The integrity of Whole Foods products is another issue which many in the natural health community have been calling into question for some time. Back in 2013, in an interview with an organization called Organic Spies, a former employee of Whole Foods claimed that she and other employees had been trained by Whole Foods management to lie to customers about whether or not certain products contained genetically modified ingredients. The employee, who by all reports was legitimately vetted, claimed that for the five-year period from 2007 to 2011, all employees of Whole Foods were told that the company did not carry any genetically modified products. The employee explained that during their training sessions they were taught exactly what a GMO (genetically modified organism) was, and were specifically informed that Whole Foods did not carry any GMOs.

So if a customer would have came up to me [sic] and said, do you guys have anything with GMOs? Does this product contain GMOs? [I would have said] absolutely not. Does not contain GMOs. Because we were taught that we dont carry anything with GMOs, only natural, nothing artificial, she explained in her interview with Organic Spies. [Emphasis added]

In truth, Whole Foods carried many foods that contained GMOs, as was later proved.

Whole Foods also sold its customers down the river by choosing to back the Monsanto-friendly GMO-labeling bill signed into law by President Obama last year. That bill was roundly denounced as toothless and confusing by all those serious about labeling GMOs in a simple, straightforward manner, but Whole Foods threw its considerable weight behind the bill, anyway.

It would seem that for multiple reasons, Whole Foods has an uphill battle in its fight to win back both the American peoples trust and patronage.

Sources:

GrubStreet.com

GrubStreet.com

NaturalNews.com

Blogs.Barrons.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Fracking is an extremely controversial practice, and several states have begun taking action against the destructive method for gas and oil extraction. Vermont became the first state to ban fracking in 2012, though experts say it was more of a statement than anything else, as natural oil and gas are virtually nonexistent within the states borders. In 2014, New York became the second state to place a ban on the drilling method  after some 200 communities in the state had instituted their own fracking prohibitions.

Now, it appears that a third state will be joining the anti-fracking ranks. The Maryland General Assembly recently gave final passage to a bill that would ban fracking within state lines, and the bill will now go before Governor Larry Hogan for a hopeful signature.

Hogan is a Republican and reportedly has been showing strong support for the fracking ban, and has even promised to sign the bill, according to The Hill. In the past, Hogan seemed to be supportive of the fracking industry, and is quoted as having said that fracking was an economic goldmine. However, the governor appears to have changed his stance. We must take the next step to move from virtually banning fracking to actually banning fracking. The possible environmental risks of fracking simply outweigh any potential benefits, Hogan stated at a press conference earlier this month.

It certainly seems like Marylands fracking ban is nothing short of a sure thing. The state Senate approved the bill on a 35-10 vote in mid-March, and the bill had also already passed the House of Delegates with a 97-40 vote. According to Eco Watch, Maryland will become the first state with gas reserves to pass legislation prohibiting fracking once the bill is signed into law.

More than 140 businesses and public interest, community, food and environmental groups joined forces to form Dont Frack Maryland. The coalition campaigned fervently to garner support for their cause, and they hosted rallies, marches and petition signings, and made many phone calls to local legislators.

Mitch Jones, Food & Water Watchs senior policy advocate, commented on the vote and said, Todays vote is a result of the work of thousands of Marylanders who came out to town halls, hearings and rallies across the state. The grassroots movement to ban fracking overcame the high-powered lobbyists and deep pockets of the oil and gas industry.

Why ban fracking?

Members of the energy industry such as Drew Cobbs, the executive director of the Maryland Petroleum Council, are clearly unhappy with the ban. Denying Maryland consumers, businesses and job-seekers the benefits that come with in-state energy production through hydraulic fracturing shuts the door on an important share of the American energy renaissance and western Marylands future economic growth, Cobbs commented after the vote. Fracking supporters say that it creates jobs and provides energy security, but as fracking opponents are quick to point out  the potential environmental and health costs of fracking are simply just too high.

As FoodandWaterWatch.org explains, there are many concerns about fracking and its impact on the environment, the water supply and the communities nearby. The polluted air and water that is created by the fracking industry have been known to make some people sick. Many of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process  which is called fracking for short  are suspected carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting agents. Thanks to government loopholes, the industry is not required to disclose the exact compounds and chemicals they use in the fracking process, but research has identified many that are known to be harmful to humans. And, the practice produces millions of gallons of toxic wastewater.

In addition to the physical damage that fracking can cause, the industrys presence is known for harming communities in other ways. While fracking enthusiasts claim that fracking brings in new jobs, when the industry sets up shop, property values go down. Communities with fracking nearby have seen the value of their homes drop, crime rates skyrocket and also tend to experience a loss of local tourism and agriculture. Fracking has been known to harm farmland and livestock, which adds to the issue. The pipelines, oil trains and other industrial needs required to support a fracking site bring more insult to the injury felt by communities with fracking.

There are many reasons why a state or municipality would want to keep fracking out of their borders. Hopefully, more communities will continue to take action against this damaging industrial practice.

Sources:

EcoWatch.com

BostonGlobe.com

BaltimoreSun.com

TheHill.com

FoodAndWaterWatch.org
(Natural News) Though Starbucks may be known to most Americans for its lattes and friendly staff, one thing that the international coffee giant tends to have trouble with is conservative outreach. As a matter of fact, in the past Starbucks has done things that have really gotten under the skin of those on the right, from their support for gender-neutral bathrooms to the hiring of 10,000 refugees. But after all of the outrage and tension Starbucks has stirred up between themselves and right-leaning Americans, the coffee chain now appears to be taking a more, shall we say, civil and tolerant approach to business.

Last week, Starbucks launched a new initiative aimed at bringing conservatives and liberals closer together. The app, created with the help of the Harvard Business School start-up Hi From The Other Side, encourages people from both sides of the political spectrum to engage in rational, civil discussions without any of the name calling or bitterness that is commonly heard in mainstream politics.

The app allows users to connect via the Internet to others nearby who hold political views that differ from their own. In other words, a conservative would be automatically connected with someone who is more liberal in his or her beliefs, and a liberal would be connected with someone who is more conservative. Once the two users are connected, each of them receives half of the information, although as of right now it unclear what that means.

The only way both of the users will be able to obtain all of the information is if they meet up and talk to each other one on one. Once they solve this puzzle together, they will each be able to get a free cup of coffee.

Of course, while the intentions of this app are good, the reality of having two people of differing political ideologies sit down and talk could go either way. Either the program will work as intended and Republicans and Democrats will learn how to speak to each other with civility, or tension between the two users could build up to the point where the conversation turns into a screaming match.

Regardless of the potential consequences, you have to give Starbucks credit for trying to accomplish the impossible. Rational and civil debate is simply not something that people seem to be capable of engaging in today, and any individual or company that tries to change that is deserving of some praise and respect.

Sources:

GrubStreet.com

HiFromTheOtherSide.com
(Natural News) As the month of March came to an end, a majority of European Union members voted against a proposal that would bring in two new types of genetically modified maize. Sixteen members of the EU took a stand against the introduction of new GMO crops, but will that be enough to keep them out of Europe?

The two new varieties of maize include DuPont Pioneers 1507 and Syngentas Bt11. Both varieties kill insects by producing their own pesticides, and are resistant to Bayers glufosinate herbicide. If they are approved, Eco Watch reports that they will be the first new GMO crops approved for cultivation since 1998  nearly twenty years ago.

Even though a majority of the EU voted against the approval of these new GMO varieties, it appears that simply is not enough to keep them out. As Reuters explains, the votes were not considered decisive because the opposition did not include a qualified majority, which is defined as including countries that make up at least 65 percent of the EU.

Monsantos GM corn variety, MON810 was also up for debate, as the EU voted on whether or not the GM crops license should be renewed. MOn810 is currently the only genetically modified crop that is cultivated in the EU, and it is primarily grown in Spain and Portugal. Less than 1 percent of the farmland in the EU is dedicated to cultivating Monsantos GM corn, however, and in total, 19 nations of the EU have banned MON810 entirely. Overall, most of the EU has traditionally expressed opposition towards GM crops, and all EU nations require labeling of GM foods.

As Friends of the Earth Europe reportedly explains, the fates of these three GM crops now reside in the hands of the European Commison. Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the organization, is no doubt feeling the pressure as the call to reject the GMO corn varieties continues to grow louder.

In a recent statement, Mute Schimpf, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, boldly declared, Whether he likes it or not, the buck now stops at Jean-Claude Juncker.

He can put himself on the side of the majority of countries, citizens and farmers who do not want genetically-modified crops, or he can back the mega-corporations behind the industrialization of our countryside, she said.

According to Greenpeace EU, even if the three crops gain approval, they will not be commonly grown. The approval would only be valid in nine of the 28 EU countries, along with three regions: Flanders and the Brussels regions of Belgium, and England. The remaining 19 countries and regions of the EU have chosen to opt-out and prevent GMO crops from being grown within their borders.

Even a small amount of GMO crop cultivation can be of great concern, however. Friends of the Earth Europe is calling upon Juncker to take a stand against corporate interests and do what is right for the people of Europe and the regions environment by denying approval to these test-tube concoctions that the biotech industry tries to pass off as crops.

There is no political or public support for genetically-modified crops; farmers dont even want them. Its time for President Juncker to pull the plug on this failed technology once and for all, and to focus on how we make farming resilient to climate change, save family farms and stop the destruction of nature. Its time to close our countryside to genetically-modified crops and move on, Schimpf proclaimed in her recent statement. [RELATED: Read more stories about GMO crops at GMO.news.]

Sources:

EcoWatch.com

Reuters.com

FOEEurope.org
A video of a chimp throwing poop at an old lady is going viral on the Internet. The clip, entitled "It Got Grandma," has racked up hundreds of thousands of views just hours after it was uploaded on YouTube.

According to Mirror, the grandma on wheelchair was just watching the chimps at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when the nasty situation started to reek.



The chimp was making its way down on the steps inside its enclosure when it suddenly scooped the poop and threw it on the grandma's direction. The gross pie landed exactly on the nose of the poor woman.

This is not the first time an animal in a zoo has done this mischievous act. Last year, a girl enjoying a family's day out at Tiger World in Rockwell, North Carolina was caught by surprise when a baboon's poop landed on her face.

Mashable reported that the baboon seemed annoyed as it banged on its cage a few times before picking and throwing his poop. The zoo responded to the issue by reminding the visitors not to get too close to the animals enclosure and to refrain from doing anything that might upset or irritate them.



Zoologists previously claimed that for monkeys, throwing feces is a defense mechanism. However, there are also claims that they also exhibit this kind of behavior when they are bored.

Meanwhile, Bill Hopkins of Emory University and his colleagues conducted a study about the deeper meaning of their throwing behavior and its relationship with cognition and lateralization. The findings were published in 2011 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

They have found out that while it seems barbaric, this poop-throwing behavior of monkeys and apes are signs of intelligence, citing that aside from humans, they are the only species which can "aim" with a clear mind.
Vigilant April the giraffe viewers have witnessed interesting things happening on Sunday night.

The comments section of the giraffe live stream was filled with excited spectators who claimed they saw April the giraffe pushing contractions. Animal Adventure Park confirmed the contractions and said the vet took note of it.

"Many of you may have witnessed what appeared as "pushing" contractions last night. The team and vet were in communication regarding these and were documented throughout the night," the zoo's post read.

Despite contractions however, April still has not gone into full labor.

A few days ago, Dr. Tim, April's vet at Animal Adventure Park, clarified that there is nothing to worry about the pregnant giraffe. He explained that April the giraffe is not delayed in giving birth and she is safe. The calf is just taking its time, and so is April.

In response to people asking the doctor if he can induce labor, Dr. Tim said no as inducing labor is not safe for big animals like giraffes. He added that it will only endanger the life of both the mother and the calf, so instead of rushing, all of us just have to wait for the right time when they are both perfectly ready.

April the giraffe is between her 15th and 16th month. Labor will be officially declared once the hooves of the calf are visible.

Over the weekend, Animal Adventure Park has already started their text alert system, which, as NBC New York reported, costs $4.99, exclusive of messaging fees. The text alert system will notify the followers if April is already in labor and will give access to exclusive photos and videos of April.

To make the subscription even more exciting, Animal Adventure Park announced that they will reveal the gender of April's baby in advance to all the subscribers.

"Thank you to the many that have signed on for text alerts for Labor & Baby Announcements. After much discussion, we have decided the initial Gender Reveal will be made via our text alert system as soon as gender is observed post birth. This will be hours in advance of the media press releases," the zoo said.

Watch April give birth via the Animal Adventure Park Giraffe cam below:
A few days ago, Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, along with Panthera and Freeland Foundation, announced that they have found critically endangered Indochinese tiger cubs (Panthera tigris ssp. Corbetti), citing that they have photographs to prove it.

The conservationists said the Indochinese tiger cubs were spotted by camera traps in a Thai jungle at the Dong Phaya Yen-Khao Yai World Natural Heritage Site -- the second known breeding site of the Indochinese tigers. The largest breeding site is at Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, where 35 to 38 Indochinese tigers reside.

The Nation Multimedia reported that between June and February last year, 18 Indochinese tigers have been sighted, five of which are male and seven are female with six cubs. The discovery is an indication of the subspecies' resiliency despite present-day challenges.



Previously, IUCN estimated that of the 3,900 tigers left in the wild globally, only 391 of those are Indochinese tigers. The recent findings by the conservationists revealed 221 Indochinese tigers are estimated to remain in two Asian countries: Thailand and Myanmar.

Read Also: China to Build a Massive National Park Bigger Than Yellowstone to House Endangered Big Cats



Jonathan Head, BBC South-East Asia correspondent, noted that the population of the subspecies has started to decline because of massive illegal logging in the forests of their origin countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. As trees are cut, the tigers' natural habitat is destroyed, leaving them without any breeding sites.



At present, the Indochinese tiger population is further declining because of illegal poaching.

"The stepping up of anti-poaching patrols and law enforcement efforts in this area have played a pivotal role in conserving the tiger population by ensuring a safe environment for them to breed," Songtam Suksawang, director of Thailand's national parks, said in a statement.

Suksawang further said that they will remain vigilant and will continue conservation efforts as poaching is still a major threat to these animals.

Indochinese tigers, as described by World Wildlife Organization, can grow up to nine feet long and weigh from 396 to 550 pounds. They have a dark orange or golden base coat with stripes like the Bengal tiger.

Female Indochinese tigers have a gestation period of about 3.5 months. The average number of cubs born at one time is around three, although they can give birth to seven cubs at most, Tigers.org.za cited.

Read Also: Australia's Long-Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Might Still Be Out There
A hobby cave diver exploring the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach underground water system in South Germany discovered the first confirmed cave fish in Europe. The fish, described in a paper published in the journal Current Biology, appears to be a loach in the genus Barbatula.

"The cave fish was found surprisingly far in the north in Southern Germany," said lead author Jasminca Behrmann-Godel from the University of Konstanz in Germany through a press release. "This is spectacular as it was believed before that the Pleistocene glaciations had prevented fish from colonizing subterranean habitats so far north."

Hobby diver Joachim Kreiselmaier first spotted the "strange looking" fish in August 2015 while exploring the hard-to-reach part of the Danube-Aach system, which can only be explored under particularly dry conditions in summer and fall. Kreiselmaier took a photo of the fish and showed it to hobby geologist Roland Berka.

Kreiselmaier successfully captured a live specimen of the loach in November 2015. About a year later, he caught more of the same fish. Genetic and morphological comparison to surface fish that are caught in the upstream and downstream areas of the cave revealed that the cave loaches are indeed an isolated population and the fist cave fish found in Europe.

The researchers noted that the underground water system first became a suitable habitat for the fish when glaciers retreated. Based on the geological history of the region and genetic studies of the fish, the researchers estimated that the fish came to existence within the last 20,000 years.

However, the researchers observed that the fish already shows adaptation characteristics of "real" cave fish despite having a relatively short period of evolutionary time.

Their eyes are much smaller and appear to almost curve inward. The fish also have elongated whisker-like barbels on their heads and larger nostrils than other fish living closer to the surface. Additionally, their color has all but disappeared.

With the discovery of the cave fish, the researchers noted that animals living in subterranean habitats can adapt to their environment faster than previously thought, requiring only a few thousand years.
World-class astrophysicist and science figurehead Neil deGrasse Tyson will not go to Mars aboard SpaceX's spacecraft until the mother of the company's founder, Elon Musk, tries the trip herself and return to Earth safely.

During Reddit's "Ask Me Anything" Sunday, a user that goes by the name patopc1999 asked Tyson if he would ever consider joining a one-way ticket to Mars.

"I really like Earth, so any space trip I take, I'm double checking that there's sufficient funds for me to return," Tyson responded. "Also, I'm not taking that trip until Elon Musk sends his mother and brings her back alive. Then I'm good for it."

When asked about his thoughts on the success of SpaceX's Falcon 9 relaunch and landing. Tyson answered "Any demonstration of rocket reusability is a good thing. When we fly on a Boeing 747 across great distances, we don't throw it away and roll out a new one. Reusability is arguably the most fundamental feature of affordable expensive things."

According to a report from USA Today, Musk is planning to send about 100 to 200 people at a time to Mars using reusable rockets. The plan is to send the very first human flight to the Red Planet within the decade.

The travel to Mars will not come cheap. The company estimates that the interested individuals need to pay about $100,000 to $200,000 per person if they want to join the trip. Musk envisions that they could make 10,000 of such trips over the next century.

At present, SpaceX's reusable dragon capsules are being used to send supplies to the International Space Station. The company is considered to be the pioneer of rocket boosters that are capable of returning to Earth and landing upright, making it reusable.

By late next year, Musk plans to send two paying passengers in a private space mission that will travel around the moon using SpaceX rockets.
There are many ancient Roman cities that didn't survive the ravages of time, and it's not often that one actually gets discovered. Ucetia, a settlement that used to be known only from an inscription, was recently found in southern France with stunning mosaics and structures that paint a picture of an innovative and advanced society.

According to a report from International Business Times UK, the archaeologists began digging in October 2016 to ensure that a construction for a boarding school and canteen in the city of Uzes wouldn't destroy any valuable artefacts. It was an expedition that was requested by the French state and led by Philippe Cayn of the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP).

Read Also: Honduran Jungle Hides a 'Lost City' With Pyramids, Stone Sculptures and a Vanished Civilization

Found in Gallia Norbonensis in the north of Nimes, Ucetia used to be only known from some Roman remains on the site and a stone found with the inscription VCETIAE or Ucetia.

"Prior to our work, we knew that there had been a Roman city called Ucetia only because its name was mentioned on stela in Nimes, alongside 11 other names of Roman towns in the area," Cayn said.

"It was probably a secondary town, under the authority of Nimes. No artefacts had been recovered except for a few isolated fragments of mosaic," he added.

The researchers found that people lived in Ucetia from the 1st century B.C. to about 7th century A.D. However, there was a break in occupation from the 3rd and 4th centuries, a strange interruption that is still a mystery to the team.

A large wall and a number of structures were part of the discoveries, which are amazingly dated before the Roman conquest of France.

Undoubtedly, the most remarkable find of the excavation were a series of beautiful mosaics featuring geometric shapes and animals like an owl, duck, eagle and fawn. Cayn explained that such elaborate designs were common in the 1st and 2nd centuries in the Roman world, but not during the period of Ucetia, which is roughly 200 years before.

Read Also: Legendary Orichalcum Metal From Atlantis Discovered in 2,600-Year-Old Shipwreck
A man was rescued off a coast in Australia after a shark bit his kayak. The man was left sinking in when a police boat came to his aid.

Quick thinking saved the man's life who was able to make an emergency phone call after his kayak was heavily damaged by a deadly shark. The incident happened last Sunday, April 2, at Moreton Bay off the coast of Brisbane.

The 39-year-old man was attacked from only eight meters (five miles) away from the shore. He was paddling with eight of his friends when the shark attack occurred. Despite the attack, the man was fortunate to have escaped the deadly shark.

After the distress call, Brisbane Water Police responded rapidly to rescue the man. The team swiftly tracked the man's location by seeking the help of airplanes passing above the water and landing at the nearby Brisbane Airport.

Due to the fast response, the man was successfully rescued on Sunday afternoon as well as his damaged 5.6-meter, 21-foot kayak. The shark bite was able to dislodge its stern.

"The man was uninjured, although quite shaken and glad to be out of the water," Police Sgt. Gordon Thiry said in a statement. The police lauded the man's decision-making skills that his quick response on the situation resulted in a favorable outcome.

Because of the incident, the police deemed it necessary to issue warnings and instructions for tourists heading out to the sea. It is advised to wear a life jacket and a special device called the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), which would help for easier location tracking during emergency cases.

In 2016, there were 26 shark attacks recorded in Australia according to the Australia Shark Attack File Annual Report Summary 2016 conducted by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia.

Based on the report, there were two fatal attacks, 16 persons were injured while eight people were unharmed in all shark attacks in Australia in 2016.
Billionaire Warren Buffett is helping Coca-Cola (KO) launch Cherry Coke in China, and even allowing the soft drink company to use his likeness on cans to promote the launch.

Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) owns a 9.3 percent stake in Coca-Cola, has previously indicated he drinks Cherry Coke daily.

"I can't think of a better way to launch Cherry Coke than with its best-known fan on the package," Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said in a release. "It is an honor for us to be able to feature Warren on his favorite drink as it rolls out in one of the world's most exciting and dynamic consumer markets."

Cherry Coke was launched in the Chinese mainland on March 10 and Buffett's likeness will appear on special edition cans during a promotional period and while supplies last, the company said.

Cherry Coke has been available in the U.S. since 1985.

Buffett has a huge following in China, where he is lauded for his success as an investor. Each year, more and more Chinese investors are flocking to Omaha for Berkshire's annual meeting.

Last year the Omaha World Herald reported more than 3,000 Chinese investors traveled to the meeting.

"Warren Buffett is the financial god in China," said Linda Steele (nee Lin Chongning), a founder of the Nebraska Chinese Association in Omaha, told the paper. "He is being praised in China as the one who can never be beaten in the stock market. Many Chinese investors are crazy about him."
Landlords who wrongfully evict rent-controlled tenants in San Francisco could soon face criminal penalties and hefty fines.

Two separate pieces of legislation, scheduled to be introduced during Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting, call for major changes to the citys housing laws that would impact renters and landlords citywide. The push comes as a direct result of a six-month NBC Bay Area investigation that exposed what appears to be widespread abuse by landlords kicking out rent-controlled tenants in order to charge new tenants higher rent.

Two separate pieces of legislation, scheduled to be introduced during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, call for major changes to the city's housing laws that would impact renters and landlords citywide. The push comes as a direct result of a six-month NBC Bay Area investigation that exposed what appears to be widespread abuse by landlords kicking out rent-controlled tenants in order to charge new tenants higher rent. Bigad Shaban reports on a story that first aired on Monday, April 4.

Im not going to sit here and standby idly, said Supervisor Mark Farrell, who authored one of the proposed ordinances.

It was the great work of NBC that really turned up the volume  to really talk about and identify and expose the amount of fraudulent practices that are happening in this area and really spur us into action.

His legislation, which takes aim at landlords who try to wrongfully evict tenants, would provide city officials with additional tools to go after landlords who fraudulently use what is known as an owner move-in eviction.

In San Francisco, landlords can legally evict their tenants if they  or in some cases, their relatives  want to move into the home. However, NBC Bay Area found a lack of oversight may be allowing some landlords to wrongfully kick out rent-controlled tenants in exchange for new tenants willing to pay substantially more in rent. Despite current laws prohibiting the practice, the investigation found they are rarely, if ever, enforced.

If you own a piece of property and want to move back in, I think everyone should have the right to do so, Farrell said. But Im not going to sit here and stand by idly when you see and hear of cases where people are blatantly breaking the law.

After knocking on hundreds of doors across San Francisco last year, NBC Bay Area was able to survey residents at more than 100 addresses where an owner move-in eviction took place. In 24 cases, nearly one in every four, neither the landlord nor their family member was living in the unit. In some instances, new tenants had moved into the home, paying significantly more rent than the previous tenants.

Its Emotionally Exhausting

When owners kick out tenants through an owner move-in eviction, current housing laws require landlords or their relatives to move into the unit within three months and live there for at least three years. A series of Investigative Unit reports, however, revealed city officials do not check to see whether owners actually move into those units, which has forced tenants to play detective if they suspect they were wrongfully evicted.

Its exhausting. Its emotionally exhausting, said Nicole Delisi, a 4th grade teacher who had a hunch she was being fraudulently forced out of her San Francisco apartment when she came home to a 60-day eviction notice taped to her door in 2015.

There were a lot of tears, there was a lot of anger, Delisi said. I didnt know what direction to go. I felt lost.

NBC Bay Area

She was paying about $1,450 a month for her apartment, but believed her landlord, Collin Lam, could get at least double that if it was placed on the open rental market. The only option for Delisi to find out if she was being wrongfully evicted was to sue her landlord, which would allow her attorney to question Lam and his brother-in-law, Jordon Wong, who claimed to be moving into the home.

Caught on Camera: New Tenant Didnt Know Number of Bedrooms

In a videotaped deposition, however, Wong could not answer basic questions about the apartment he was supposed to be moving into, including the number of bedrooms. Neither Lam nor Wong responded to NBC Bay Area's requests for comment.

It falls to individuals to find attorneys to help defend them, said Mark Hooshmand, Nicole Delisis attorney. Ultimately, the tenants have to go out of pocket, most cases, to pay an attorney to defend them even if its a completely bogus eviction.

Hooshmand said he gets at least one phone call a week, and many more emails, from tenants who believe theyre being fraudulently evicted. While there are tenants rights groups that can help to a certain extent, those groups have limited resources.

There needs to be a lot more done to protect tenants, to protect the policies in place and to protect peoples belief in the system, Hooshmand said. There needs to be a lot more checks and balances so that landlords cant get away with it.

Hooshmand eventually won Delisis case, however, she did not want to comment on how much a jury awarded her.

It was one of the worst experiences of my life, she said. Its still hard.

Delisi's landlord is appealing be case, so she has not received any of the money she was awarded. She said no amount of money, however, can make up for being forced out of the apartment and city she loves.

That was just my sanctuary, my sanity, Delisi said. I saw whales migrating in the evening, I walked my dog. For me, that was more than money could ever offer.

Delisi she said she couldnt afford another San Francisco apartment on her teachers salary, so she was forced to move to Alameda.

We have a housing crisis in our city, Farrell said. Tenants who are evicted, and especially those who are fraudulently evicted, often this is their last chance in the city of San Francisco. So, we need to be on their side and protect them at all costs through the legal system here in San Francisco.

People are Blatantly Breaking the Law

Farrells proposal, which aims to keep residents like Delisi from being forced out of San Francisco, would require landlords or their family members to present evidence they actually moved into the unit, such as a utility bill or new voter registration. Such documentation would need to be provided annually for up to three years following the eviction.

The ordinance would also beef up the citys enforcement mechanisms, which housing advocates and tenants attorneys have long criticized as ineffective. The legislation would require landlords to sign a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that they or their relatives intend to move into the unit for at least three years.

NBC Bay Area

A second proposal, being introduced by supervisors Jane Kim and Aaron Peskin, would make it easier for the city to hit landlords with fines and jail time if they wrongfully kick out tenants in order to charge new tenants higher rent. Although it's already illegal for landlords to raise the rent on a unit for three years after performing an owner move-in eviction, city officials say the current laws are tough to enforce.

Current law requires the Rent Board to submit a random sampling of 10 percent of all owner move-in eviction notice to the San Francisco District Attorneys Office each month for possible investigation. Yet, over the past decade, not a single landlord has been prosecuted for a fraudulent owner move-in eviction, despite the apparent abuse.

A spokesperson for the District Attorneys office said proving a landlord intended to commit fraud is challenging. Additionally, a 2007 California Supreme Court ruling limited a prosecutors ability to use eviction notices as evidence. Farrell, however, believes his legislation would make criminal prosecutions more likely.

This type of behavior is outrageous and we dont want to see it continue, Farrell said. People are blatantly breaking the law.

Supervisor Mark Farrell is proposing a new law that aims to make easier for renters to prove their landlords are wrongfully trying to evict them.

Here's How to Potentially Save Thousands on Your Rent

The Investigative Unit mapped out every owner move-in eviction in San Francisco over the past three years. You can use the interactive map below to find evictions in your neighborhood. While many of these evictions are legal, if your address is listed and you are not the landlord or a relative of the property owner, someone may have been wrongfully evicted from that unit, which might entitle you to lock in the previous tenants cheaper rent.

If your address is listed, let us know about it by emailing us here. You may also submit an official request to the city to have your rent reduced.

______________________________________

Watch the entire series in this NBC Bay Area investigation:

 Part 1: SF Landlords May Have Wrongfully Evicted Hundreds of Tenants

 Part 2: SF Fails to Prosecute Landlords for Certain Wrongful Evictions

 Part 3: San Francisco Considers New Eviction Laws Following I-Unit Series

 Part 4: NBC Bay Area Investigation Leads to Government Hearing

 Part 5: SF Eviction Crackdown Passes After Investigative Unit Series

 Part 6: SF Mayor To Sign Law After NBC Bay Area Investigation

 Part 7: SF Mayor Inks New Law to Combat Wrongful Evictions

 Part 8: Lake of Oversight Puts Oakland Tenants at Risk of Eviction

 Part 9: Oakland Voters May Get Say on When Landlords Can Evict Renters

 Part 10: Expansion of Eviction Protections Heads to Ballot in Oakland

 Part 11: Oakland Couple Uses Hidden Camera to Fight Eviction

 Part 12: Landlords Frequently Ignore Oakland Eviction Laws

 Part 13: Oakland Housing Director Defends Department

 Part 14: Oakland Housing Chief "Fired," Says Source
Contra Costa Countys primary resource center for families grappling with domestic violence and child abuse is up for a $150,000 national award, a prize that staffers say would help the nonprofit with outreach and other core services.

The award, known as the Collaboration Prize, honors nonprofits that have worked together to make it easier for clients to receive care. Contra Costas STAND! For Families Free of Violence is one of eight honorees across the country to be considered. More than 350 organizations vied for a chance at the award, which is funded by the philanthropic Lodestar Foundation.

When it was established in the 1970s, STAND! For Families Free of Violence was solely designed to provide aid to victims of domestic violence, but it merged in 2010 with nonprofit The Family Stress Center, thus becoming the only center in the county that is qualified to counsel both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, as well as children.

Letty Quizon, the director of development at the nonprofit, said the prize would help expand crucial services, including counseling. The merger, she said, allowed for a more holistic approach to treating domestic violence. Families were no longer forced to shuttle around to different organizations and could instead receive all services in one place.

It increased our capacity to provide our services, because now were able to provide service to not only victims and abusers of domestic violence, but the entire intergenerational family, Quizon told NBC Bay Area. Often times, when you deal with domestic violence, theres child abuse happening. The two are very much correlated. Now, we have a whole new perspective and a whole new approach toward the whole family.

In Contra Costa County, there were 1,095 child abuse reports filed in 2014, including sexual and physical abuse, emotional abuse, general neglect, and abuse at the hands of a sibling, according to a UC Berkeley child welfare report. There were 3,410 reports of domestic violence that same year, according to statistics from the California Department of Justice.

A report from the countys health department showed that some cities in the county, including Antioch, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg, Richmond and San Pablo, had higher rates of domestic violence calls compared to the county overall.

The incidents of family violence are really alarming  it affects the whole family for years to come," Quizon said.

The prize will be announced in the coming weeks. Other honorees include Multi-Agency Alliance for Children in Georgia and P.S. Arts, a Southern California organization that aims to improve the lives of children through arts education. Organizations that do not win the $150,000 prize will receive $10,000 for being an honoree.

A representative from the Collaboration Prize said that the The Lodestar Foundation  which gets its name from the guiding light used to direct ships started the prize three years ago in order to help nonprofits find ways to collaborate successfully.

"The goal is to build a database of wonderful models and reward and highlight exemplary collaborations in the nonprofit sector," said Lois Savage, the president of The Lodestar Foundation."
Firefighters knocked down a two-alarm structure fire Monday evening in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, fire officials said on Twitter.

The fire was reported on the San Francisco Fire Department's official Twitter account at 5:36 p.m. at 1810 Page St. Fire officials said the blaze was under control about 6:20 p.m.

The fire caused damage to three floors of a three-story condominium building, but firefighters kept it from spreading to other buildings, fire spokesman Lt. Jonathan Baxter said.

No injuries were reported.

The cause and origin of the fire is under investigation, Baxter said.
A California law granting driver's licenses to hundreds of thousands of people in the country illegally might have reduced the likelihood of hit-and-run collisions, according to a new study released Monday.

Researchers at Stanford University's Immigration Policy Lab estimated that granting driver-only licenses appears to have reduced hit-and-run crashes and saved insured drivers about $17 million that they would have absorbed from at-fault drivers fleeing collisions to avoid possible arrest.

Jens Hainmueller, faculty director of the policy lab, said the study was conducted because of a lack of data when California debated its law that went into effect on 2015.

"We thought we should provide some evidence," Hainmueller said.

However, Andrew Gelman, director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University, said he would want more evidence to determine that the law decreased hit-and-run collisions.

"It would seem to me that lots of things can be driving the rate of collisions and the rate of hit and runs," said Gelman, who reviewed the study at the request of The Associated Press. "There are too many alternative explanations."

He agreed that the data does make it clear that granting the licenses did not decrease safety.

Supporters of the law have said people in the U.S. illegally would be less likely to leave the scene of an accident if they had a license and would not face the possibility of arrest.

The study of short-term effects found that issuing more than 600,000 driver-only licenses in 2015 had no discernable impact on the overall rate of traffic accidents.

Hainmueller said the report could aid other states considering similar policies.

"Our findings show that providing unauthorized immigrants with access to driver's licenses can create significant positive externalities for the communities in which they live," the report said in its conclusion.

Driver's licenses have long been a thorny topic in the U.S., where an estimated 11 million immigrants live without documentation, many in California. As of November, a dozen states offered such licenses, including Colorado, Delaware and New Mexico.

Proponents say legal driver's licenses boost public safety. Opponents say licenses grant a toehold to people who shouldn't be in the country.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports tighter controls on immigration, dismissed the study as limited and premature.

"The point of giving driver's licenses to illegals is to document them, to give them partial amnesty," Krikorian said. "With these documents, they can more effectively embed themselves in society."

California has granted about 850,000 immigrant licenses under the law. The licenses are for driving only and the law prohibits safety officers from reporting drivers to federal immigration authorities.

There were more than 25.9 million licensed drivers in California in 2015.

The study found that the number of new driver's licenses issued in 2015 far outpaced the number of vehicles registered that year, suggesting that unlicensed immigrants had already been driving in registered vehicles.

The authors said follow-up studies are required to determine longer-term effects.

The study was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A high school and an elementary school were placed on lockdown after police found a gun while chasing a suspect in Cupertino Monday.

Homestead High School in Cupertino was temporarily placed on lockdown Monday afternoon while police searched nearby for a suspect wanted in an alleged domestic violence attack.

The campus lockdown was lifted just after 2 p.m. and one suspect was taken into custody, officials said.

The police activity took place in the area of Homestead and Noranda.

Police said they first responded to a report of a domestic violence incident behind a 7-11 store near the school. When officers arrived, a male suspect fled and started jumping fences.

Police recovered a gun at the scene of the initial incident, triggering Homestead High and a nearby elementary school to be placed on lockdown.

The search for the suspect continued through area yards and over fences. [[418019503, C]]

The suspect ultimately was confronted and fought with officer before he taken into custody, police said. The suspect suffered injuries from the scuffle and received medical treatment.

No shots were fired during the incident.

Homestead is a four-year public high school on the border of Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Students who attend the school said it was placed on a code red lockdown Monday afternoon. "School under code red lockdown no idea what's going on alarm going off," tweeted student @graypemountain. "Ambulance sirens in distance, no idea if related."

She tweeted at 2:09 p.m. that "All clear from police has been given."

No other information was immediately available.
After weeks on the defensive, President Donald Trump has stepped up his efforts to dispute, downplay and distract from revelations stemming from the investigations into the Kremlin's interference in last year's election and possible Russian ties to his campaign associates.

The White House says the real story is not about Russia  it's about how Obama administration officials allegedly leaked and mishandled classified material about Americans. Trump and his aides have accused former officials of inappropriately disclosing  or "unmasking"  the names of Trump associates whose conversations were picked up by U.S. intelligences agencies.

"Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends," Trump tweeted Monday. 'Spied on before nomination.' The real story."

The White House has not pointed to any hard evidence to support such allegations, and instead has relied on media reports from some of the same publications Trump derides as "fake news."

The truth is buried somewhere in classified material that is illegal to disclose. Here's a look at what the White House believes is the real story.

THE FLYNN AFFAIR

Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn following news reports that Flynn misled the White House about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. But the White House says the problem is that Flynn's conversations were in the news at all.

"The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?" Trump tweeted after firing Flynn in February.

The White House has called for investigations into the disclosure of multiple intercepted conversations that Flynn had with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the inauguration. The government routinely monitors the communications of foreign officials in the U.S. It's illegal to publicly disclose such classified information.

Officially, the White House said Flynn was forced to resign because he had given inaccurate descriptions of the discussions to Vice President Mike Pence and others in the White House. But Trump has continued to defend Flynn, suggesting he was only fired because information about his contacts came out in the media.

"Michael Flynn, Gen. Flynn is a wonderful man," Trump said. "I think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media."

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

White House officials say some Obama holdovers are part of a so-called deep state out to tear Trump down.

Last week, the White House latched onto a month-old television interview from an Obama administration official who said she encouraged congressional aides to gather as much information on Russia as possible before the inauguration.

Evelyn Farkas, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense, said she feared that information "would disappear" after President Barack Obama left office. She was no longer in government at the time, having left the Pentagon about a year before the election.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer called Farkas' comments "devastating" and said they "raised serious concerns on whether or not there was an organized and widespread effort by the Obama administration to use and leak highly sensitive intelligence information for political purposes."

On Monday, Spicer suggested there should be more interest in a Bloomberg report in which anonymous U.S. officials said that Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, asked for the identities of people related to Trump's campaign and transition dozens of times.

Spicer remarked that he was "somewhat intrigued by the lack of interest" in the Rice revelations. But he added: "I do think that it's interesting, the level, or lack thereof, of interest in this subject."

As national security adviser, Rice would have regularly received intelligence reports and been able to request the identities of Americans whose communications were intercepted.

THE HILL WEIGHS IN

The White House has embraced a top Republican's assertion that information about Trump associates were improperly spread around the government in the final days of the Obama administration. It appears the White House played a role in helping House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., acquire some of that information.

Nunes announced last week that he had seen intelligence reports showing that Trump aides' communications were picked up through routine surveillance. But he said their identities may have been improperly revealed. The California congressman later said he viewed the reports at the White House.

The White House contends that Nunes' information  which has not been made public  validates Trump's explosive claim that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper. Nunes has disputed that but still says he found the reports "troubling."

The White House's apparent involvement in helping Nunes access the information has overshadowed what Trump officials contend are real concerns about how much information about Americans is disseminated in intelligence reports. Trump has asked the House and Senate intelligence committees to include the matter in their Russia investigations.

CAMPAIGN MODE

Trump won the election, but thinks it's his vanquished opponent whose ties to Russia should be investigated.

Some of the White House's allegations against Clinton stem from her four years as secretary of state, a role that gave her ample reasons to have frequent contacts with Russia.

To deflect questions about Trump's friendly rhetoric toward Russia, the White House points to the fact that Clinton was a central figure in the Obama administration's attempt to "reset" relations with Moscow  an effort that crumbled after Vladimir Putin took back the presidency.

"When you compare the two sides in terms of who's actually engaging with Russia, trying to strengthen them, trying to act with them, trying to interact with them, it is night and day between our actions and her actions," Spicer said.

Rex Tillerson, Trump's secretary of state, has deep ties to Russia from his time running ExxonMobil and cutting oil deals with Moscow.

The White House has also tried to link Clinton to Russia's purchase of a controlling stake in a mining company with operations in the U.S., arguing that she was responsible for "selling off one-fifth of our country's uranium."

The Clinton-led State Department was among nine U.S. government agencies that had to approve the purchase of Uranium One. According to Politifact, some investors in the company had relationships with former President Bill Clinton and donated to the Clinton Foundation. However, the fact checking site says most of those donations occurred well before Clinton became secretary of state and was in position to have a say in the agreement.
A Chicago man facing drug charges who was on the run for more than 10 years has been captured in Mexico.

Jaime Rios, 33, was arrested March 23 by the FBI and Mexican law enforcement in Durango, Mexico, according to FBI spokesman Garrett Croon. The next day, he was deported to the U.S. and landed in Chicago, where he was turned over to local law enforcement.

On April 4, 2006, Rios was arrested by Chicago Police for selling cocaine and cannabis, according to a federal criminal complaint. He was released on bond from the Cook County Jail, but failed to appear for any of his scheduled court proceedings.

On June 16, 2006, a felony warrant was issued for his arrest, according to the complaint. The FBI and CPD were unable to locate Rios, but on July 4, 2006, he rammed his vehicle into the back of another vehicle, causing it to crash into a tree.

Two 16-year-old boys in the vehicle Rios struck were ejected and were killed, according to the complaint. Several people witnessed the crash.

Rios has not been charged in the crash, but is wanted for questioning, according to the complaint.

On Aug. 15, 2006, a confidential informant close to the Rios family told authorities that he was living in New Orleans with his brother, according to the complaint.

Rios remains held without bond at the Cook County Jail, according to the Cook County sheriffs office. He is next scheduled to appear in court April 10.
Business owners and leaders in Chicagos Hispanic communities say the fear of deportation has undocumented immigrants afraid to venture far from their homes  and the local economy is taking a hit.

President Donald Trumps crackdown on immigration has sparked concern for some in Chicago, particularly in neighborhoods like Little Village.

People are staying home, said Jaime DiPaulo, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. People have fear to come out.

DiPaulo said there havent been any major roundups, but that hasnt quelled the fear  which has kept residents in their homes, and left businesses feeling the strain.

You can see right now, we used to get a lot of people here for lunch - now its like people dont want to go out. They are scared, said Ezequiel Fuentes, who owns the Mi Tierra restaurant in Little Village.

Fuentes said after investing more than $2.5 million into his business nine months ago, his lunch trade is down by as much as 25 to 40 percent.

Ever since the election, we have seen a small decline in business because we have seen people having a little bit of fear or animosity to come out and spend more money, DiPaulo added. [[418022223, C]]

Bringing in over $900 million a year, 26th Street in Little Village is one of the most important retail corridors in Chicago, second only to Michigan Avenue.

Thats why Fuentes, DiPaulo and other business owners sat down with Congressman Luis Gutierrez on Monday to find solutions.

The city of Chicago is being hurt, Gutierrez said. Businesses across this country are being hurt.

While there have been some highly-publicized raids, Gutierrez said they have been targeted and do not impact the vast majority of undocumented immigrants.

We have come to say to the community: Listen. You need to continue to live your life, Gutierrez said Monday. You need to continue to shop, to live and to enjoy your life.

That message couldnt have come quickly enough for Fuentes and his 100 employees.

When we started, all were full time. Now some are part time and we have to stay open, Fuentes said. We are a part of the community.

Gutierrez also encouraged community members to pursue citizenship, so they can vote and help change the policies that are impacting them, adding that green cards are no longer enough.
A parolee who was being arrested Monday afternoon fled in a car that crashed into an Illinois Department of Corrections parole agents vehicle, an IDOC spokeswoman said.



Harron Raggs, 24, arrived at the parole office at 1100 S. Oakley Blvd. in Chicago's Tri-Taylor neighborhood when an agent told him there was a warrant for his arrest, the spokeswoman said.

While the parole agent started to arrest Raggs, he fled and got into a car that hit the IDOC vehicle and kept going.



No IDOC staff were injured in the escape or crash.



The IDOC Apprehension Unit and US Marshalls continue searching for Raggs who is described as being 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds with brown eyes.

Authorities ask anyone with information on Raggs' whereabouts to contact police.
Chicago police have issued a warning after two carjacking attempts occurred in the citys South Loop neighborhood in less than 24 hours last week.

The first incident occurred in the 900 block of S. Michigan Ave. early Thursday, police said in a community alert.

Around 3 a.m., two men in a black vehicle approached the driver of a car stopped in a traffic.

The offenders displayed guns and ordered the driver to get out of the car. In that instance, authorities said the driver was able to escape. [[418021843, C]]

That night, around 10:47 p.m., another attempted robbery occurred  this one successful.

Two armed men approached a car in the 2100 block of S. Wabash Ave., officials said, and forced the driver out of the car. The offenders stole the vehicle, as well as the victims cell phone, according to police.

The men were believed to be in their 20s, according to police, who released a photo of a black Chrysler Sebring that they believe is similar to the one the suspects were driving. [[418028373, C]]

News of the robbery attempts left the South Loop community on edge Monday, as police warned residents to be more aware of their surroundings.

It's surprising for it to be downtownI never heard of carjackings down here near downtown, said Lantanya Becton, who works as a security guard at a condo building in the area.

I know about people's cars getting broken into, from working down here, but carjackings  never heard of it, she added.

No one is in custody in connection with either incident, according to police, who continue to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at (312) 747-8384.
CMS Energy Corp.s CMS primary subsidiary, Consumers Energy has filed a request for proposal (RFP) to obtain a natural gas-fired generating plant, with a capacity of up to 800 megawatts (MW) in Michigan. This RFP is in line with the company's plans to fulfill long-term energy needs consistently in the same place.



Notably, CMS energy intends to acquire an existing plant to compensate the electric capacity and energy that is provided by the Palisades nuclear plant, which it plans to exterminate.



Details of Palisades Nuclear Plant



Located on Lake Michigan, in Van Buren County's Covert Township, MI, the plant is owned and operated by Entergy Corporation ETR. Entergy and Consumers Energy had a power purchase agreement (PPA) under which the latter is entitled to purchase almost all of the power that Palisades plant generates through Apr 2022.



Now both of them have agreed to an early termination of the PPA for the Palisades Power Plant in 2018. The agreement is subject to the Michigan Public Service Commissions (MPSC) consent on an alteration request for early termination of the PPA. If the MPSC gives a green light to the amendment request, the PPA termination date will move to May 31, 2018.



Notably, this termination of the PPA will reduce costs of the customers of Consumers Energy by as much as $172 million over four years. Also, it is likely to benefit customers and communities by lowering costs without diminishing electric reliability.



The transaction is projected to bring about $344 million in total savings. While, about $172 million of the savings is expected to reduce costs of Consumers Energy customers over the early termination period from 2018 to 2022, $172 million will be paid to Entergy in 2018 when the PPA terminates.



Consumers Energys Take on the Deal



According to Tim Sparks, Consumers Energy's Vice President of energy supply operations, the company is undertaking a balanced approach to provide its customers with affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity required to meet their daily energy needs.



He added that their approach will employ a varied set of resources that covers more energy efficiency and demand response programs to facilitate energy waste reduction, purchase of capacity and energy from resources converting from coal as a fuel to natural gas. Notably, the current RFP will enable Consumers Energy to buy of one or more existing natural gas assets. At present, the company is concerned about acquiring a simple-cycle or combined-cycle generating plant that is operating in Michigan's Lower Peninsula.



About CMS Energy



CMS Energys regulated electric power operations in Michigan generate a relatively stable and growing earnings stream. It is currently focusing on several issues such as capacity maximization, reliability improvement, clean power generation and infrastructure upgrade.



Moreover, the companys capital investments have helped it to reduce operation and maintenance costs by 3% over the 20142016 period. Moving forward, CMS Energy expects to reduce these costs by another 2% between 2017 and 2019.



The company also has a large natural gas system in place and plans to expand it over the next decade. Additionally, it is looking forward to deploy around $8.0 billion for its projects under gas operations between 2017 and 2026. In the meantime, the company also plans to invest around $3.8 billion, through 2021. This ambitious growth plan includes $1.8 billion for the replacement of aging infrastructure and improvement of service reliability over the next five years.



Price Movement



CMS Energys share price has gained 5% in the last one year, outperforming the Zacks categorized Utility - Electric Power industrys loss of 1.9%. The gain might have been driven by its plans to spend $18 billion between 2017 and 2026, the majority of which will be directed toward infrastructure development projects that include investment of $9 billion allocated for 2021. These initiatives will enable the company to provide reliable services to its customers and achieve its long-term EPS growth target in the range of 68% in 2017. Furthermore, the company poses strong competition to its peers DTE Energy Company DTE and Ameren Corporation AEE.

Story continues





Zacks Rank



CMS Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas



In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?



Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Ameren Corporation (AEE): Free Stock Analysis Report



CMS Energy Corporation (CMS): Free Stock Analysis Report



Entergy Corporation (ETR): Free Stock Analysis Report



DTE Energy Company (DTE): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Townspeople desperately searched their ruined homes and the local hospital for loved ones Sunday after a torrent of water, mud and debris swept through a city in southern Colombia, causing more than 250 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.

At least 43 children were among the confirmed dead from the devastating flood, according to President Juan Manuel Santos. Santos later wrote on his Twitter account that he had been informed the overall death toll had increased to 254.

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 child's shoe as he helped clear debris.

"You have no idea how many kids there are around here," Solarte said.

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 it's 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 area's fresh 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 danger has grown worse in recent years because of deforestation, which eliminates some protection from runoff, and because many people built their homes close to the water. But the triggering event was rainfall of more than 5 inches (130 millimeters) that began late Friday.

A 1989 hydrology report for the Agricultural Ministry warned that just 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. It was not immediately clear why those steps had not been taken.

Juan Chanchi de Ruiz, 74, said the noise of the surging flood woke her up and gave her enough time to get to higher ground. Her house wasn't damaged, but several neighbors' homes were heavily damaged and many people fled with some of their belongings.

"Around here, there's nobody. Everybody left," she said.

Colombian officials pledged aid to rebuild homes, and the attorney general launched an investigation into whether local and national authorities responded adequately to the disaster.
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.
The state tells the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters some employees at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown have been taken off the job following allegations of patient abuse.

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services confirmed that employees have been removed from their duties pending an investigation. The department said the 11 employees involved were taken off the job, with pay, as the investigation proceeds.

Whiting handles patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges including murder, rape and other crimes.

The state would not say who reported the abuse, or when or where at Whiting it happened.

The state did say if the allegations are substantiated the employees may be subject to discipline up to and including dismissal.

Read the full statement from DMHAS here:

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services is currently investigating allegations of patient abuse by staff at Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital. The staff who are the subjects of the investigation have been removed from their duties pending the results of the investigation. The Department takes allegations of abuse very seriously and is committed to conducting a complete and thorough investigation. If the allegations are substantiated, the employees will go through the appropriate disciplinary process, and may be subject to discipline up to and including dismissal from State Service.
A New Haven man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a scheme to distribute oxycodone obtained through fraudulent prescriptions.

The U.S. attorney's office says 37-year-old Julian Cintron was sentenced Monday in Hartford.

The Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating a drug trafficking organization in 2012 suspected of manufacturing fraudulent prescriptions and distributing oxycodone in the New Haven area.

Prosecutors said the organization stole the personal identifying information of more than 50 medical professionals, obtained more than 80,000 oxycodone pills between February 2013 and September 2015 and sold them for $20 to $30 per pill.

Eleven people were charged.

Prosecutors said Cintron recruited and transported people to fill fraudulent prescriptions. Prescriptions were filled throughout Connecticut.

Cintron pleaded guilty on July 22 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone.
What to Know What: First Alert for heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms that could lead to minor flooding issues.

Where: Statewide

When: Heavy rain and thunderstorms continue through the afternoon. Most of the rain wraps up by 8 p.m.

A band of heavy rain, lightning, and small hail moved through the state earlier resulting in isolated flooding and hail up to the size of nickels in Higganum.

While the rain is over for tonight flooding is still expected on some rivers over the next couple days. We're forecasting the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers to be near or even exceed flood stage by the end of the week and into this weekend.

A flood warning is in effect for the Connecticut River until further notice. The Connecticut River is expected to crest by Sunday morning. The forecasted crest level is 18.1 feet which will lead to minor flooding issues along the low lying river areas.

Parts of southeastern Connecticut are already experiencing some minor river flooding. A flood warning is in effect for the Pawcatuck River at Westerly until further notice. Some minor lowland flooding is occurring in parts of Stonington and North Stonington.

Looking further down the road we're expecting some warm weather to enter the state early next week. Inland high temperatures are forecasted to reach 70 degrees on Monday and into the middle to upper 70s by Tuesday.

Temperatures along the shoreline will run around 10 degrees cooler as a result of the cold Long Island Sound water temperature.
Dallas city leaders confronted police and fire employees and retirees Monday at a Texas House Pension Committee hearing on proposed solutions to their failing pension fund.

The Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund is around $6 billion short on future obligations and could be insolvent in less than 10 years.

Police and Fire retirees rallied in the Texas Capital Rotunda Monday before lining up for the afternoon hearing in a packed meeting room.

You can argue the whys all day. What we need to do is fix the problem and thats what were here to ask the legislators to do, said retired Dallas Fire Marshal Debra Carlin.

For now House Bill 3158 preserves retiree benefits but eliminates future cost of living increases until the fund is more secure.

The guys working today, were taking a cut. We know that. Im willingly taking a cut to my pension to save the overall fund, said Dallas Firefighters Association President Jim McDade.

The bill also switches Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) accounts to annuities paid over time, eliminating the option of large lump sum withdrawals that put the fund in even worse shape last year. Interest on DROP accounts is also eliminated. In the past, DROP participants were promised interest as high as 10% when the funds investments could not produce such returns.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Former Mayor Tom Leppert opposed the bill, saying it is too hard on taxpayers.

The citizens, the taxpayers, had nothing to do with the failure of this fund, Mayor Rawlings said.

HB 3158 would increase the taxpayer contribution from the current 27.5% of employee pay to at least 34.5%. The current annual sum of $124 million would rise to $134 million with an additional $11 million added on top of that.

The City of Dallas throughout the last decade fully funded its obligation to the pension, Former Mayor Leppert said.

The city leaders also complained that HB 3158 reduces city membership on the pension board to just 5 of 10 with the other 5 coming from employees and retirees. An 11th member would be selected by both groups.

That seems pretty fair from my perspective, Carlin said.

But the 50/50 split is lower than a previous version of HB 3158 that gave the city a clear majority of pension board appointees to boost city oversight.

House Pension Committee Chairman, Representative Dan Flynn, accused the Mayors of failing to address pension problems earlier.

It was your responsibility to be sure you did have competent people serving in it, Flynn said.

Both Mayors said they were told that current state law left them powerless and that they were provided false information about the health of the fund by prior managers.

The FBI, the SEC and the Texas Rangers are looking at that fraudulent conveyance of information, Rawlings said.

Employee leaders said Rawlings opposition to the current bill is unjustified.

Were going to push this bill with or without him and were going to use our friends down here and the citizens of Dallas that want public safety, said Dallas Police Association Vice President Frederick Frazier.

The legislature created the pension system and it must fix it.

This is all our concern. We all want to make sure that we fix it, said Dallas Democratic State Representative Roberto Alonzo, Vice-Chairman of the House Pension Committee.

All sides said they would continue to negotiate, but Dallas Republican Representative Jason Villalba, a co-author of HB 3158 said it is difficult to make everyone happy.

Its a process that has been disturbed, Villalba said. It puts us back in a confrontational situation rather than in a collaborative situation, which makes this a much more difficult process.

A controversial "clawback" on retiree benefits already paid by reducing future payments is still included in the bill but only as an option to be imposed by future pension boards.

The bill also still includes a possible shortfall of around $600 million on future obligations.

"There still is a hole left," said McDade. "We still need to work on filling that." hole.
Activists are calling on high school students in Irving to boycott classes Thursday and Friday after district leaders refused to pass a symbolic measure making the district a safe and welcoming space for undocumented students and their parents.

Similar measures have been adopted recently by the Dallas Independent School District board and other districts in Texas.

However, it is a call that directly goes against what organizers of the Dallas Mega March on Sunday are pleading for.

Organizers of the march for immigration reform have repeatedly told students not to walk out of class and to instead march peacefully on Sunday.

But activists in Irving said this latest decision by the school board has backed them into a corner.

Gustavo Cruz is an AP junior at Irving High School and is considering skipping school on Friday.

This is really to send a message out that this was a final straw, he said.

Cruz wants to stand in solidarity with undocumented students, many he calls friends, at Irving High.

Theyre scared that they dont feel protected, that theyre going to get picked up, said Cruz.

The 16-year-old said many undocumented students were devastated after the Irving ISD board of trustees voted down a symbolic measure ensuring these students and their parents know Irving is a safe and welcoming school district.

It sends a message that I care. I mean its just as simple as that, said community activist Anthony Bond, about the measures goal.

Bond is now behind the call for high school students at all four schools in Irving to boycott school on Thursday and Friday.

This is a drastic step. I will agree with that, said Bond. But its necessary.

Asked how he can justify asking students to miss out on their education, Bond responded: A couple days does not make an education. Nor will it destroy one.

Board trustee Nell Anne Hunt brought the initial symbolic measure forward after ensuring its legality.

She had not heard of the planned boycott.

Its totally opposed to what I had in mind, she said. A protest like this has no place in taking children out of school [Students] needs to be in school every single second and that was the whole point of my resolution. They need to be in school and they should take advantage of that opportunity.

However, Dawn Cano said she supports the boycott even if it means her gifted son ditches classes.

If my son is on board with it and he wants to miss those two days, I would allow it, said Cano. We have to at some point decide that were going to take a stand against this anti-immigrant sentiment.

Cano and Bond said Irving should do as Dallas, El Paso and other multicultural school districts have done and pass this measure in good faith.

We love our students and were going to make sure you feel safe at school and if a boycott is what it is, then so be it, said Cano.

Cruz says he understands the importance of being in class.

Its important to go to school but at the same time you also want to show support, he said.

Activists want the school board to take up the measure again.

However, Hunt said she has no plans on bringing it forward again because they simply dont have the votes.

Irving ISD released a statement saying: In Irving ISD, we value each of our 34,860 students and their families. We continue our commitment to maintain a safe and nurturing learning environment, which is clearly outlined in our board policies and administrative procedures. We have seen social media postings and flyers that call for boycotts on April 6 and 7 at Irving ISD schools. It is our hope that students will attend school on those days and allow us to do what we love to do: educate the young people in our community.
Citing financial constraints, the Texas School for the Deaf recently announced that it has canceled its state-funded summer school programs for summer 2017.

This was a very difficult decision that was based on financial constraints that the school is experiencing as we approach the end of this two-year biennial budget cycle, Superintendent Claire Burgen said in a statement posted on the schools website. We simply do not have sufficient funds to offer summer programs.

The camp, which has been in operation for 25 years, would have run for two weeks in June at the TSD campus in Austin.

The approximate amount of the budget shortfall, according to the school, is $500,000.

No one is more saddened by this decision than we are, Burgen noted.

In an email to NBC DFW, Burgen emphasized that increased enrollment and costs of operating the school, which is a residential facility, have far exceeded state funding levels for years.

Sadly, the insufficient revenues caught up with us this school year and summer programs was the only remaining non-federally mandated expense that the school has between now and the end of the fiscal year, Burgen said, indicating that the belief and the intention is to secure enough funding to operate the summer camp in 2018 and beyond.

A Dallas mother is among many parents of deaf children who have voiced their concern about the camp closing.

Youre going to have these kids who are going to be home and, lets face it, most of them go home to parents who dont sign, said TaNeShea Howell of her frustration for the students who will not attend camp this summer. So theyre going to spend two-and-a-half months in the stress of trying to understand whats happening in a hearing world.

Howells son, Zaccheus Walker, 21, is a student at the Texas School for the Deaf and has attended the summer camp every year since he was entering the seventh grade.

By [my son] attending the Texas School for the Deaf not only did it acclimate me and my family into a culture, a deaf culture, as well as learning the language but also now it gave him a sense of confidence, a sense of pride a sense of depth and awareness and a sense of who he is as a person, Howell said.

A Lake Dallas father has started a GoFundMe account in an attempt to raise the estimated $500,000 needed to keep the camp in operation. As of Monday night the fund had tallied nearly $2,400.
States are offering creative solutions to expand protections for women and close federal loopholes in the fight to end the gender wage gap, NBC News reported.

It's not just progressive states like California taking the wage gap seriously, either  North Dakota passed a bill in 2015 strengthening employer salary reporting requirements. In fact, state lawmakers have introduced at least 180 bills across the country aimed at shrinking the pay gap, with seven enacted and dozens more pending.

"I'm glad that states are really focusing on equal pay and exploring new policy solutions to ensure women are paid equally to men, in part because federal policy-making is at best stalled on this issue, and at worst, we might be seeing rollbacks in coming years," said Emily Martin, a legal expert on equal pay with the National Women's Law Center.

NBC News took a look at how much women in each state earn compared to men, and how much the state protects equal pay.
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, 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.

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.
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.
Newly released body cam footage shows the harrowing rescue of a 9-year-old girl after she slipped and an arrow plunged into her neck in Arizona.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office released the footage of the rescue in February, according to NBC affiliate KPNX.

Crews responded to Usary Mountain Regional Park after the girl slipped and fell on the tip of the arrow.

She was rushed to the hospital and survived.

The local fire department called it a "one-in-a-million type of injury."

Read more at KPNX.
California deputies responding to the emergency landing of a small plane in a warehouse parking lot arrested the pilot on suspicion of being drunk, authorities said Tuesday.

The Piper Cherokee's left wing clipped a stop sign, but the single-engine plane remained upright after it landed in the empty lot late Monday, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Alex Villanueva.

As deputies talked to the pilot, they suspected he might be intoxicated and took him into custody, Villanueva said.

Darrell Roberts, the only person on board, was arrested on suspicion of operating an aircraft under the influence around 12:41 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Pico Rivera Station. He remained in custody, held on $1,000 bail as of Tuesday morning.

Roberts, 58, got lost and was running out of fuel during a planned flight from Temecula, in Riverside County, to San Diego, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) south.

"He was headed in the wrong direction and somehow ended up here in LA County," said Villanueva.

The plane landed in the parking lot of the Michael Kors Distribution Center in Whittier, a Los Angeles suburb about 70 miles (112.65 kilometers) north of where it took off, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

"A DUI involving an airplane, that doesn't happen very often," Villanueva said.

The 1973 Piper PA-28-140 is registered to a Darrell S. Roberts of Winchester, in Riverside County. A phone number for Roberts could not be found.

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating, Gregor said.

The fixed-wing plane sustained minor wing damage and remained in the parking lot early Tuesday. It was expected to be retrieved by a crew hired by an insurance company, Villanueva said.
A Los Angeles judge Monday rejected a request by Roman Polanski's attorney for a determination that the Oscar-winning filmmaker has already served more than enough time behind bars in connection with his 1977 guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Defense attorney Harland Braun filed court papers March 10, saying Polanski will return to the United States for sentencing if a judge determines that he has "already done his time."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon, however, ruled there is "no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues."

"Moreover, counsel for defendant has not presented sufficient credible, admissible evidence or legal arguments to warrant the relief requested," Gordon wrote in a 13-page ruling.

In a hearing earlier this month, Braun described Polanski as "an 83- year-old man with a 40-year-old case," and said the filmmaker "has already done his time" and wants to resolve the case with a finding that he has already completed his sentence.

However, Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee countered that what Braun is asking for is special treatment for his client.

"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," she said.

The director, writer and producer -- who won an Oscar in 2002 for "The Pianist" -- pleaded guilty in 1977, but fled to France in 1978 before his sentencing and has been living in Europe.

Southern California authorities have tried for years to bring Polanski back to America. Braun asked in his court papers that Gordon order the District Attorney's Office to give some indication of how much time -- if any -- they want Polanski to serve if the director were to arrive in Los Angeles from his home in Paris.

Braun also asked that the judge order that a warrant for Polanski's arrest be lifted to avoid "some kind of untoward arrest."
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.
Hunters have killed 10 Burmese pythons during the first 10 days of the South Florida Water Management Districts Python Elimination Program.

The SFWMD dished out nearly $2,000 to hunters for removing nearly 100 feet worth of the invasive reptiles.

"For hunters to have already eliminated 10 snakes is tremendous, given the fact that simply locating the elusive python is literally like finding a moving, camouflaged needle in a haystack," said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Dan OKeefe.

Hunter Patrick Campbell killed the largest snake, a 15-foot-10 inch, 135-pound python. Campbell was paid $350 for his kill.

Nicolas Banos and Leo Sanchez together hunted a 15-foot-2 inch snake, awarding the hunters $325 for the second largest kill during the time span.

South Florida Water Management District

"We found the snake stretched out down the levee, so we approached it," said Sanchez.

The python immediately slithered away from the two hunters toward the water and tangled itself around thick trees, Sanchez recalled.

"We were in there down the bush there at the edge of the canal for twenty minutes with it, until we were able to pull it out," Sanchez said.

Hunters are paid $8.10 per hour up to eight hours a day, with an additional on-the-spot payment of $50 for pythons measuring up to 4 feet and an extra $25 for each foot measured after.

Twenty-five hunters are participating in the program and will continue hunting the invasive creatures until June.
Authorities are asking for the public's help in finding two people who left a woman at a South Florida hospital where she died after what's believed to have been a heroin overdose.

Boynton Beach Police said the pair brought the 22-year-old woman to Bethesda Hospital in the early hours of March 28. She later died at the hospital.

The two people left the hospital without giving any contact information, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 561-732-8116.
A transgender South Florida woman is facing a murder charge in what she says was self-defense, and claims she she wouldn't be facing charges if not for her gender.

The woman, who goes by Ms. Campbell, says she never should have been charged in the first place in the killing of Jackson Marcelin last year.

"I do feel like that it may have been different if it was a woman in my situation," Campbell told NBC 6 in an exclusive interview.

Campbell is facing a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Marcelin, who she says she stabbed in self-defense.

"I literally did feel I was defending myself. I actually got struck by the board," she said.

Campbell said Marcelin repeatedly stalked her and had approached her for sex, something she rejected.

"He approached me and he asked me to do something for him and I told him 'I don't think that I want to deal with you,'" Campbell said.

Campbell said she was victimized by others before, and claims she's been raped three times. That fear Campbell said she carried with her last year in northwest Miami-Dade when Marcelin and Campbell had their deadly encounter.

Court documents show one witness told police "she noticed the subject with a sharp object in his right hand...the subject was taunting the victim...the victim had a wooden stick...and was walking towards the subject."

Another witness said "Prior to the incident I observed the victim, Marcelin Jackson...harassing my roommate Lloyd for at least 2-3 months. During the harassment, Marcelin would approach Lloyd with comments such as 'I want to have sex' and 'I want you to (expletive) my (expletive).'"

"I think it's without question that if he were a biological female this case would be handled differently," attorney Herbert Erving Walker III said. "One of the potential jurors, he didn't think that a transgender woman, which is what Ms. Campbell is, could get a fair shake in the criminal justice system."

"I have seen things happen to other transgenders who could not defend themselves," Campbell said.

Marcelin's family wants Campbell prosecuted.

"He attacked my brother first and my brother was defending himself," sister Mirlande Marcelin said.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney said they are always gathering information before deciding what their position will be in court. A hearing is scheduled for later this week.

Meanwhile, Campbell said she's now a witness for the state attorney on battery charges filed against inmates who attacked her before she got out of jail on bond.
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2017 / Homelessness, a global challenge the humanity is fighting everywhere around the globe, is not a problem unique to the United States. However, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, only in January 2015 564,708 people in America had no place to go and had to spend the night outside or were taken to either an emergency safe house or transitional housing. The modern form of social crisis did not steer clear of one of America's most populous cities Baltimore, with an estimated 3,000 people homeless on the streets of the city, many of whom are families with children. Feeling particularly passionate about the cause, acclaimed inspirational speaker and hospitality leader, Des Hague has made it his mission to support charities in a variety of cities across the country, and in Baltimore these efforts focus on reintegrating the homeless with society.





Hague is credited with founding a program known as the "Centerplate Promise," during his tenure as CEO and President of Centerplate, the fastest-growing hospitality group in North America. He established the program to support communities in which his employees work and live. Within the larger umbrella, individual programs were designed and tailored according to the specific needs of the community in question. As a result, Hague and Centerplate Promise became principal sponsors of the Journey Home initiative in Baltimore.

Under the leadership of Des Hague, Centerplate staged numerous remarkable fundraising events in Baltimore, for example "an Evening of Unexpected Delights," a gala held at the city's Convention Center that raised almost $500,000 for the Journey Home. The glamorous event was only a small part of Hague's contribution to Baltimore's 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness in the city: "Centerplate works to enhance the communities in which we live and work. We're extremely pleased to have helped raise over $1.3 million for the Journey Home Campaign over the past three years," observed Hague following the gala. A number of individual projects were funded as part of the overall goal of helping the homeless, including an employment program and a children's coordination plan to support the social and academic needs of the almost 1,000 homeless youth accommodated in the city's shelters.

Story continues

Countless other charities around the country are regularly supported as part of the Centerplate Promise program. Especially mention-worthy examples are Denver, where a number of scholarships have been awarded for the underprivileged, as well as Seattle, New Orleans, and San Francisco, where valuable funding has been provided to help at risk youth through support of the Juma Ventures program. In addition, larger not-for-profit organizations such as the St Jude's Children's Hospital and United Way have benefited from the philosophical initiatives and the direction of Hague.

Des Hague served as President and CEO at Centerplate Inc. between 2009 and 2014, during which time the company grew to become the largest hospitality business in North America, operating with more than 40,000 staff. Hague is renowned for focusing on delivering value for the client and restructured the company to deliver strongly along these lines, even in the face of the global recession. He has extraordinary knowledge within the food industry and has served on the board of the National Restaurant Association. Before joining Centerplate he gained experience as President of IHOP, the world's biggest casual dining restaurant chain. Hague is widely known as a leading force in the global retail food industry and a recognized philanthropist.

Des Hague News: http://deshaguenews.com

Des Hague - Books and News - Des Hague's latest reads and news: http://deshaguereviews.com

Des Hague - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DesHagueCEO/

Contact Information:

Des Hague

Hague Enterprises

www.HagueEnterprises.com

deshague@aegisenterprisesllc.com

SOURCE: Hague Enterprises
About 1 out of 10 women in the United States who tested positive for the Zika infection had a fetus or baby with Zika-related birth defects, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's Vital Signs report is the first to provide an analysis of a subgroup of 250 pregnant women in the U.S. with confirmed test results of Zika virus infection. Zika testing remains complex because there is a narrow timeframe for obtaining a positive laboratory result, and many infected people do not show symptoms, the CDC said.

The lack of motivation for testing led the CDC to monitor all pregnant women with any evidence of recent Zika infection. In 2016, nearly 1,000 pregnant women from the 44 states who completed their pregnancies had some evidence of a recent Zika infection and were at risk of having a fetus or baby with Zika-related birth defects.

Most of the women acquired Zika during travel to an area where the virus was known to be present.

Zika virus can be scary and potentially devastating to families. Zika continues to be a threat to pregnant women across the U.S., CDC acting director Anne Schuchat said in a statement. With warm weather and a new mosquito season approaching, prevention is crucial to protect the health of mothers and babies. Healthcare providers can play a key role in prevention efforts.

Zika infection during pregnancy can cause serious damage to the brain and microcephaly in developing fetuses. It also can lead to congenital Zika syndrome in babies, a pattern of birth defects that includes brain abnormalities, vision problems, hearing loss, and problems moving limbs. Babies may also appear healthy at birth but have underlying brain defects or other Zika-related health problems, the CDC said.

The report found Zika still poses a serious risk during pregnancy and it's important for pregnant women to continue taking steps to prevent exposure to the virus through mosquito bites and sexual transmission.

Nearly 1,300 pregnant women with evidence of possible Zika infection were reported to the U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry from Jan. 15 to Dec. 27, 2016. Of the 1,000 pregancies completed by the end of the year, more than 50 had Zika-related birth defects.

Confirmed infections in the first trimester posed the higest risk with 15 percent of those fetuses or babies having Zika-related birth defects, the report found.

The CDC's registry data included all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and territories except Puerto Rico. The Zika Active Pregnancy Surveillance System is a separate system to monitor pregnancies in Puerto Rico.

In Puerto Rico, over 39,000 cases were confirmed last year and over 3,000 women confirmed with Zika infection were pregnant. Almost 400 pregnant women were hospitalized and the Zika infection led to 5 recorded deaths, according to the Puerto Ricos health department.

Last week, the Puerto Rico Department of Health, who has worked with the CDC to combat Zika infections in Puerto Rico, showed in recent results a dramatic, continuing decline of the Zika virus. Currently, there are no pregnant women who are infected with the Zika virus and the number of infected women and men, combined is under 3000.

Peggy Honein with the CDC's Zika Response team said that many babies born to mothers with possible Zika infection "are not receiving brain imaging after birth to help diagnose serious brain defects. She called for healthcare providers to ask about possible Zika exposure when caring for pregnant women and their babies.

The CDC recommended healthcare providers also educate families on Zika prevention, provide all needed tests and follow-up care and support babies and families.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for free Ben & Jerry's ice cream!

The Vermont-based ice cream chain will celebrate its annual Free Cone Day event on Tuesday, April 4.

Customers can get a free scoop of their favorite flavor from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at participating locations. And if after enjoying a Cherry Garcia cone your taste buds yearn for some Phish Food, just get back in line for another free cone. "Over and over again. We're not counting. Really, go for it," the company said on its website.

The first Free Cone Day was in 1979  one year after co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield launched the company in a renovated gas station in Burlington. The tradition has since expanded globally, and Ben & Jerry's says it will hand out more than 1 million free scoops this Tuesday.

Click here to find a participating Ben & Jerry's location near you.
What to Know Monday's derailment at NY Penn largely crippled the Manhattan hub, and service changes continued through Tuesday

Flooding from powerful overnight storms made matters worse

Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit are all operating on modified schedules; there's no estimated timetable for full service restoration

Lingering service changes stemming from Monday's NJ Transit derailment at New York's Penn Station are posing more headaches for commuters Tuesday, and a wind-driven powerful rain storm has only made matters worse.

With more thunderstorms in the forecast for Tuesday afternoon and full restoration of rail service in and out of Penn still days away, here's what you need to know (for real-time updates, click here):

NJ TRANSIT





New Jersey Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro said Tuesday that eight tracks in the station are either unusable or partially usable. It's not clear when full service in and out of New York Penn will be back. Service on the busy Northeast Corridor (NEC) and North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) are operating on a holiday schedule; this means trains will not operate to or from the Jersey Avenue and Avenel stations.

In addition to the holiday schedule, NJ Transit is operating three more trains on the NEC: a 4:38 p.m. and 5:28 p.m. to Jersey Avenue and a 6:31 p.m. local to Trenton, which will also stop at Jersey Avenue. Two trains will be added to the NJCL: a 5:38 p.m. and a 6:38 p.m. to Bay Head.

Midtown Direct trains will continue to operate in and out of Hoboken Terminal, where customers can access PATH and NJ Transit bus service. PATH will also be increasing service.

Raritan Valley Line service will operate on a regular weekday schedule and originate/terminate at Newark Penn Station.

Main/Bergen, Pascack Valley and Port Jervis Lines will operate on regular weekday schedules.

Atlantic City Rail line rail service will operate on a regular weekday schedule.

Customers are encouraged to check njtransit.com for complete details.

Cross-honoring remains in effect with NJ Transit bus, private carrier bus, NY Waterway ferry, and PATH at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd Street.

Hoboken services will also be impacted due to the additional trains in the terminal. If the Tuesday morning commute was any indication, congestion during the evening rush would contribute to major delays.





NJ Transit and private bus carriers are increasing bus service as much as possible on routes along the affected rail lines. Academy will enhance its PNC park-and-ride service to accommodate North Jersey Coast Line customers. Suburban Transit will also add service to accommodate Northeast Corridor customers.

In Photos: Commuter Chaos After Derailment, Flooding

LIRR





Ten morning rush hour trains to Penn Station will be canceled Wednesday. Three others will terminate at Jamaica and one wil ldivert to Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens. The remaining LIRR trains to Penn Station could experience delays and crowding. New York City Transit will corss-honor LIRR tickets for continuing service to Midtown Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens. Click here for a complete detailed list.

The LIRR planned to cancel 18 peak trains from Penn between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday and divert eight others. Extensive delays and overcrowding were expected. New York City Transit will cross-honor LIRR tickets at 34th Street-Penn Station on the 1, 2, 3 and A, C, E. Eastbound cancellations affect the Babylon, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Long Beach, Port Jefferson and Port Washington branches. Click here for a complete detailed list of the scheduled cancellations.

The LIRR will operate on near normal schedules out of Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn, and Hunterspoint Avenue, Queens.

LIRR will primarily operate out of Tracks 17 through 21 as a result of the post-derailment track work. In some instances, LIRR customers may be advised of trains departing from Tracks 10, 11 or 12, which are accessible from the Exit Corridor closer to Eighth Avenue, or via NJ TRANSITs concourse.

There will be no westbound service between Jamaica and Penn Station from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Customers will be able to transfer to the E subway for continuing service to Penn Station. New York City Transit will cross-honor LIRR tickets at Woodside and Jamaica.

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., westbound Port Washington Branch trains will terminate at Woodside, where customers will be able to transfer to the 7 subway for continued service to Manhattan.

Chris Cimino has your stormy forecast for Tuesday, April 4.

PATH





Cross-honoring remains in effect and increased service was expected, though PATH wasn't proving to be a reliable alternative.

PATH is increasing the number of trains on its Hoboken-33rd Street and Journal Square-33rd Street lines for Tuesday's evening rush to accomodate higher ridership demand.

All PATH services have resumed normal service following equipment repairs on the Hoboken-33rd Street line near Hoboken Terminal. A track condition was causing delays on the line earlier in the afternoon.

AMTRAK





A top Amtrak official said Tuesday a switch machine was badly damaged in Monday's derailment. Echoing Santoro's earlier comments, the official would not even speculate on when service might return to normal.

Amtrak will operate a modified schedule on the Northeast Corridor through Thursday. Customers on trains arriving/departing New York Penn Station may experience delays up to 50 minutes during rush hours and up to 25 minutes during non-rush hours.

Due to reduced track capacity, the Northeast Regional service will operate a modified schedule with reduced frequencies between Washington, D.C. and New York. To accommodate passengers during the modified schedule, Amtrak is providing some additional stops in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Tuesday.

The Empire Service and Keystone Service will also run on a modified schedule with some reduced frequencies.

All long distance trains that normally travel to and from the Northeast Corridor will maintain normally scheduled service.

[NATL] Extreme Weather Photos: Record Heat Threatens Europe

NYC TRANSIT





Signal problems and overcrowding caused delays and service changes on multiple lines throughout the morning, including the B, D, F, A, C, R, W, 6 and J. Later in the afternoon, switch problems affected service, and more delays were expected for the evening rush between expected bad weather and throngs of people seeking commute alternatives following Monday's derailment.

Top Tri-State News Photos

FERRY





Staten Island Ferry was operating on a modified schedule earlier in the morning, with service about every 20 minutes, because of low visibility.

NY Waterway is on schedule and will accept all NJ Transit tickets on all routes Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, NY Waterway will operate a special ferry route for NJ Transit ticketh-holders only that runs from Hoboken Terminal to Midtown West 39th Street. Free NY Waterway buses meet the ferries and take passengers on several crosstown routes.

East River Ferry is on schedule.

There is no direct service to and from Hoboken and Jersey City on the Seastreak.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More
An alleged drug smuggler was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport last week while pretending to be a pilot for Delta Airlines, authorities said.

The man, identified as Mario Hudson, was arriving from Kingston, Jamaica, and dressed in a pilot uniform when he told border officers at JFK that he was a dead-heading crewmember, according to authorities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers became suspicious when Hudson allegedly showed them two fake Delta Airlines ID badges and passed a piece of luggage through security that had unusually thick and heavy sides, authorities said.

Top Tri-State News Photos

Hudson was taken to a private search room, where a white substance that later tested positive for cocaine was found hidden in his baggage, according to authorities, who said the 5 pounds of cocaine discovered have a street value of $85,000.

Hudson faces federal narcotics smuggling charges and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York. It wasnt immediately clear if he had an attorney.

A man returning to New York from the Dominican Republic was arrested after customs authorities found about 10 pounds of cocaine in his pants, officials say.
What to Know Amtrak says there's no estimate as to when the tracks affected by the NJ Transit derailment Monday will be operating again

Sources told News 4 that Amtrak hopes to have service back to normal by Friday; crews have been working around the clock to repair damages

With eight of the 21 tracks at Penn Station out of commission, NJ Transit, Amtrak and LIRR riders have been dealing with rough commutes

A switch machine was so badly damaged in Monday's derailment in Penn Station that eight of the 21 train tracks at the station will be out of commission for a couple more days at least  unwelcome news for commuters who have crammed crowded trains and platforms during ongoing rail delays and cancellations.

The New Jersey Transit train derailment has left eight of 21 tracks inoperable at the station, according to Amtrak COO Scot Naparstek. Naparstek wouldn't estimate Tuesday when service might return to normal, but transit sources told News 4 New York the agency is aiming to have service back by Friday morning.

In a press release, Amtrak said modified service would stay in place through Thursday. Delayed and canceled trains have already wreaked havoc for hundreds of thousands of travelers and commuters in the tri-state and beyond since the derailment Monday morning.

Crowds of frustrated commuters are expected to gather at NJ Transit stations as switch issues continue to plague nearly half of Penn Station tracks. Ida Siegal reports.

Earlier on Tuesday, NJ Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro said it's unclear when full service on the commuter rail will resume. Crews are working around the clock to repair the damage from the derailment, officials say. Here's your guide to navigating Tuesday's commute.

"Clearly we have sympathy for the riders that are enduring this," said Santoro, who told News 4 he rides the North Jersey Coast Line and understands the frustration. "This is not something we are enjoying in any way, shape or form."

Naparstek said, "We apologize for any inconvenience we have caused anyone. It sincerely is not our desire."

The MTA's Long Island Rail Road, which also runs on the Amtrak-owned tracks at Penn Station, has also been suffering from the derailment. The railroad had already canceled 10 trains going into Manhattan Wednesday morning and said it was terminating others in Queens. Spokeswoman Beth DeFalco says the agency is trying to prepare customers for "days of delays."

Asked what the best case scenario would look like, DeFalco said, "You'd have to ask Amtrak because they're doing the timing, but they've told us days."

In Photos: Commuter Chaos After Derailment, Flooding

Not all eight tracks are damaged but the tunnels can only be accessed by certain tracks, and there are power collection differences between LIRR, Amtrak and NJ Transit that limit the tracks that each train can use, according to an Amtrak spokesman.

Investigators are still looking into why the NJ Transit train derailed just outside the station Monday morning. It was the second derailment at the busy Manhattan hub in 11 days: the first involved an Amtrak Acela. Naparstek says he believes the two derailments aren't related.

Neither Amtrak nor NJ Transit have offered any explanation for Monday's derailment. Three cars in the middle of an inbound NJ Transit train dislodged from a track as it approached a platform at Penn Station.

A NJ Transit train derailed in Penn Station, causing a big mess for commuters at Penn Station. The accident injured five people and now an investigation is underway into what went wrong. Erica Byfield reports.

No serious injuries were reported in either derailment, but the track shutdowns caused havoc on NJ Transit and the Long Island Rail Road, and all up and down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Combined with flooding problems Tuesday, the morning commute turned into an abject nightmare.

The Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines on NJ Transit were still operating on a holiday schedule, mucking up the commute for the estimated 100,000 people who ride into New York each weekday. More details here.

Throngs of commuters desperate for alternatives faced challenges finding them, with the PATH experiencing a brief suspension on the Hoboken-33rd Street line, delays on other lines and the crush of people causing crowding-related problems throughout the New York City subway system.

Police controlling the number of people going in and out of #Hoboken #PathTrains. Expect to never leave NJ. @NJtransit pic.twitter.com/GcZXQhW4QH  Jennifer Rosenthal (@jenn_rosenthal) April 4, 2017

Confused crowds trying to figure out service changes packed the Hoboken PATH station, according to one commuter named Carlos. There were no announcements or updates, he said. NJ Transit trains were bypassing Secaucus and dumping passengers into the Hoboken terminal as crowding worsened. Bus and ferry lines surged as people sought alternative means of getting into Manhattan.

"I don't know how everybody does it every day," passenger Dina Lundy said. "I could never. It would not be an option to have a job in New York."

PATH says the Hoboken-to-33rd Street line was running with delays Tuesday evening, and the 33rd Street-to-Hoboken line was running via the World Trade Center line, with delays.

Long Island Rail Road riders dealt with their own nightmare of a morning commute Tuesday, and not just because of delays from the derailment. There was an additional broken rail near Queens Village, a disabled NJ Transit train in one of the East River tunnels and signal trouble near Central Islip. Also, there was a passenger in need of medical assistance at Mineola.

LIRR said Tuesday afternoon it was back on schedule, but there were still evening rush-hour cancellations and delays because of the shortage of tracks: 18 trains would be canceled and eight would be diverted, LIRR said. Here's your guide to navigating Tuesday's commute.

Mass transit riders, including thousands of Mets fans who flocked to Citi Field for opening day, are dealing with a nightmarish evening commute after the second derailment at New Yorks Penn Station in 11 days. Ida Siegal reports.

"It's fair to say that the conditions at Penn affects everybody," said MTA acting chair Fernando Ferrer, addressing LIRR riders. "Even though Amtrak owns it, we all dwell in that same place and travel into the same tracks. When something bad happens like this, it affects everybody."

The two derailments at Penn Station renewed calls for accelerating progress on an ambitious, $20 billion-plus project, known as Gateway, to add a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and expand Penn Station. The current tunnel is more than 100 years old and operates at capacity during peak commuting hours.

The cost of the tunnel, estimated at roughly $10 billion, is to be split between New York, New Jersey and the federal government, but supporters fear President Donald Trump's budget released last month could jeopardize the federal slice of the project by proposing to pay only for projects that have advanced to the final contract stage.

John Porcari, a former deputy U.S. secretary of transportation who is the interim head of the development corporation overseeing Gateway, said Tuesday that a new tunnel wouldn't have stopped the two recent derailments from happening. It would, he said, lessen the aftershock to commuters because the eight tracks currently out of service would have been able to connect to the new tunnel.

"It would have been a minor blip instead of a major nightmare for commuters," he said.
Authorities say a teenager from Kentucky fought off a shark by punching it as it attacked her in the waters off Florida's Panhandle.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said Caitlyn Taylor suffered a bite wound to her leg Sunday while swimming the in the Gulf of Mexico behind a condominium at 1040 East Highway 98 in Destin. The girl from Louisville, Kentucky, was visiting Destin with her high school softball team.

According to the sheriff's office, Taylor said she initially thought it was a dolphin in the water. It was in a wave headed towards her. She says it took her by the legs, tugged on her, and immediately turned her loose.

Witnesses told police a 5-foot shark bit the girl while she was in waist deep water around 3:39 p.m. Sunday.

Sgt. Jason Fulghum of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said Taylor suffered puncture bite wounds to her right leg and scrapes on her left leg. Authorities said she required 80 stitches.

A tourist told the newspaper he saw blood running from the teen's thigh as two friends helped her out of the water. Authorities said it wasn't clear what kind of shark bit her.

The Florida Museum of Natural History, which documents shark attacks worldwide, says it's the fourth documented attack off Okaloosa County beaches since 1882. None were fatal.
A White House offensive to resurrect the moribund House Republican health care bill got an uneven reception Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives, leaving prospects shaky for the party to salvage one of its leading priorities.

Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials were offering to let states request federal exemptions from insurance coverage requirements imposed by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Top House conservatives and moderates met with Pence into the evening Tuesday in hopes of finding common ground, but the odds for success seemed long.

At the White House, Pence said he and President Donald Trump "remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare," while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wanted an agreement, if possible.

"I'm not going to raise expectations, but I think that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote," Spicer said.

But there was no evidence that the proposal won over any GOP opponents who'd forced Trump and party leaders to beat an unceremonious retreat on their bill on March 24, when they canceled a House vote that was doomed to failure.

"We want to make sure that when we go, we have the votes to pass this bill," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. He said talks were in "the conceptual stage" and declined to predict a vote before Congress leaves town shortly for a two-week recess  when lawmakers could face antagonistic grilling from voters at town hall meetings.

Later in the day, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., his party's chief vote counter, said talks were not at "a place where there is consensus" on health care and indicated a vote this week was unlikely.

Under the White House proposal, states could apply for a federal waiver from a provision in Obama's statute obliging insurers to cover "essential health benefits," including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but let states reimpose it themselves, language that is opposed by many moderates.

In addition, the White House would let states seek an exemption to the law's provision banning insurers from charging higher premiums for seriously ill people. Conservatives have argued that such restrictions inflate consumers' costs.

Reaction from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers was mixed. Moderate Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., each said they remained "no" votes, with Brooks saying states should be allowed to opt out of Obama's insurance requirements without seeking federal permission.

"It is wrong to require the states to come to Washington, D.C., on bended knee," Brooks said.

Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, was among several moderates warning that a quick vote would be counter-productive.

"If leadership hasn't learned the lessons of the failures of two weeks ago, then they'll bring something forward where nobody knows about it and try and get it passed," Renacci said.

Even so, some members of the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-right group whose opposition helped sink the Republican bill last month, were showing signs of accepting less than many originally wanted. The group's leader, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said talks were boiling down to curbing several of Obama's coverage requirements  a far cry from the full repeal of the statute that many initially preferred.

"It perhaps is as much of a repeal as we can get done," Meadows told reporters. He added, "That's the calculation we have to make."

Similarly, some moderates whose opposition was also instrumental in the legislation's failure expressed cautious optimism that the White House offer would produce results.

"We have to do things that will win people from both sides of the spectrum. Of course it's hard," said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., a leader of the Tuesday Group of House GOP moderates.

A poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation flashed a warning for the White House, showing that 3 in 4 Americans want the Trump administration to make Obama's law work.

About 2 in 3 were glad the House GOP bill didn't pass last month. But people split evenly between wanting to keep or repeal Obama's statute.

The underlying House Republican bill would repeal much of Obama's 2010 law. It would erase its tax fines for consumers who don't buy policies, federal aid to help many afford coverage and Medicaid expansion for additional poor people.

Instead, substitute GOP tax subsidies would be less generous than Obama's for many lower earners and people in their 50s and 60s, the overall Medicaid program would be cut, tax boosts on higher earners would be ended and consumers who let coverage lapse would face 30 percent premium hikes.

AP reporters Erica Werner, Richard Lardner, Kevin Freking, Ken Thomas and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
A teenager from Camden County pleaded guilty to trying to hire a sniper to kill Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia in 2015, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The would-be sniper turned out to be an FBI agent.

Santos Colon, now 17, of Lindenwold, admitted that from June 30, 2015, to Aug. 14, 2015, he "devised a plan to conduct an attack during the Sept. 2015 papal visit in Philadelphia," according to federal officials.

In addition to trying to hire a sniper, Colon also wanted to set off explosives, officials said.

Throughout his scheming, Colon dealt with FBI agents and informants. At one point Colon and an undercover FBI agent scaled buildings and climbed on roofs in Philadelphia to look for the best locations to set up sniper fire, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. After he allegedly "engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source," Colon was arrested in 2015.

He faces up to 15 years in prison. No sentencing hearing has been set.

Hundreds of thousands attended three days of events involving the pope, including between 80,000 and 140,000 who attended his Mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway. No violence occurred throughout the weekend that city officials hailed as a success in hosting a major, international event.

His stay in Philadelphia was the centerpiece of the pope's first visit to the United States as head of the Catholic Church. He also made stops in Washington D.C. and New York City.
Police in Delaware called the dive team and medical examiner after a grisly discovery in a drainage ditch near a shopping center.

Middletown, Delaware officers responded to Middletown-Warwick Road Tuesday morning to find a body in the water, investigators said. The New Castle County Dive Team plucked the body from the water and searched the rest of the pond.

The drainage ditch is not far from U.S. Route 301 and a Walmart on the other side of Merrimac Avenue. As SkyFocre10 hovered over the scene you could see police searching for clues.

Police continued to investigate how the unidentified person wound up in the water. They said there was no indication that any vehicle was involved.
Investigators searched for possible accomplices of a 22-year-old native of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan identified as the suicide bomber in the St. Petersburg subway, as residents came to grips Tuesday with the first major terrorist attack in Russia's second-largest city since the Soviet collapse.

The bomber, Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, had lived in St. Petersburg for several years, working as a car repairman and later at a sushi bar. Pages on his social media networks reflected his interest in radical Islam and boxing, but those who met Dzhalilov described him as a calm and friendly man.

Russia's health minister raised the death toll to 14, including the bomber. About 50 others remained hospitalized, some in grave condition. Many were students heading home Monday after classes on one of the city's busy north-south lines.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came as President Vladimir Putin was visiting his hometown, raising speculation it could have been timed for his trip. The attack follows a long string of bombings of Russian planes, trains and transportation facilities. Many of the attacks were linked to radical Islamists.

Before Dzhalilov traveled to St. Petersburg where he eventually got Russian citizenship, his ethnic Uzbek family lived in Osh, the city in southern Kyrgyzstan that saw more than 400 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in 2010.

St. Petersburg has a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other mostly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia. They have fled ethnic tension, poverty and unemployment for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands have received Russian citizenship in recent decades.

Russian media said Dzhalilov worked with his father in a car repair shop and then became a cook at one of the city's many sushi bars. He stayed in St. Petersburg when his parents moved back to Kyrgyzstan.

One former colleague at the sushi chain described Dzhalilov, who turned 22 on Saturday, as "a very kind person."

"He was a non-conflict person. We didn't expect to hear such news today," said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared for her personal safety.

Neighbors in Osh also described him as a nice and friendly man.

Dzhalilov visited his home country about a month ago, and unlike past trips when he traveled directly back to St. Petersburg, he returned via Moscow. Investigators are looking into whether he met possible accomplices in Moscow, according to Russian media reports.

Security cameras caught the bespectacled Dzhalilov as he entered the subway, appearing calm and clad in a red parka with a fur collar and blue wool hat. He wore a backpack believed to hold the bomb that was loaded with metal balls and screws for maximum damage.

The Investigative Committee, Russia's top investigative agency, said it also found Dzhalilov's DNA on a bag with a similar bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station shortly after the blast.

Security experts have described people from Central Asia as fertile recruits for radical Islamist preachers, who have become increasingly active on social networks. Dzhalilov followed some radical Islamist pages on Russian social network, and media reports quoted investigators alleging he was linked to the Islamic State group.

Putin has said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet republics were fighting alongside ISIS and other militants in Syria. He has named the ISIS threat as one of the reasons behind Russia's military campaign in Syria.

Chinara Esengul, an expert on radical Islam based in Kyrgyzstan, said on Dozhd TV that about 850 people from Kyrgyzstan have joined the ISIS in Syria and Iraq, according to official figures.

Russian security agencies have been checking Dzhalilov's contacts in St. Petersburg, while Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies have been talking to his parents in the impoverished nation.

The Russian business daily Kommersant said that security agencies had learned of a terror plot in St. Petersburg from a Russian man affiliated with ISIS who had come from Syria. However, the man knew little and they tried to learn more by tapping phones of his contacts, the newspaper said.

When Dzhalilov blew himself up, 10 other passengers were killed instantly. Three others died shortly after.

Train driver Alexander Kaverin continued to the next station after hearing the blast, a decision that aided evacuation efforts and helped save many lives. "I had no time to think about fear at that moment," he said.

Viktor Khasiyev said he got a call from his father who was in the car hit by the explosion: "I heard screams, and then he said: 'Son, we got blown up. Please come.'"

Khasiyev rushed across St. Petersburg to find his father covered in blood and soot. "When he saw me, he cried," the son recalled, adding that his father is being treated for a concussion and burns, but that his life isn't in danger.

"I still can't believe that it happened in our city," the younger Khasiyev said.

While Moscow and many other Russian cities have seen numerous attacks linked to Islamic militants, the city of imperial palaces and world-famous art museums largely had escaped such violence until Monday.

The entire subway was shut down and evacuated, paralyzing traffic in the city of 5 million before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

"First, I was really scared," said Viktoria Prishchepova, who did ride the subway. "I didn't want to go anywhere on the Metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home."

On Tuesday morning, 53-year-old Oleg Alexeyev, who trains bomb-detecting police dogs, went to the station where the stricken train pulled in and victims were taken off. He laid flowers there in memory of those who died.

"I traveled on the same route this morning just to see how it felt and think about life. You begin to feel the thin line about life and death," he said.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Also contributing were Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Iuliia Subbotovska in St. Petersburg and Leila Saralayeva in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
As plans to build a new wall along the U.S.-Mexico border go ahead as planned, one local company is taking a different approach to building a wall.

Concrete Contractors Interstate (CCI), a Poway-based company, hopes to enhance the current wall and the urban areas around it.

"One of the things that we're really interested in doing is enhancing the current wall," said Russel Baumgartner, president and owner of CCI.

The company has worked on projects for the Hotel Del and for the San Diego Zoo.

Now, they are planning to submit a request for information, or RFI, in hopes of learning more and moving along in the process of submitting a bidding proposal.

"Part of the RFI process has to do with building a new wall but also replacing some old walls. This is a great opportunity for some urban areas," said Baumgartner.

But the company says their design proposal differs in one significant way: they want their design to be aesthetically pleasing on both sides of the border.

For that to happen, Baumgartner said, they want to work with Mexican artists for the south facing parts of the wall.

"If the wall is going to be built, it may as well be beautiful," said Baumgartner. "We will work with any culture that wants to be involved in the wall and they can help us build a beautiful wall in terms of design and how they want to enhance it."

Approximately 20 local companies in San Diego are planning to submit bids in hopes of winning the multi-billion dollar project to build a new U.S.-Mexico border wall. Proposals - including design and construction plans - must be submitted by Tuesday for the first bidding deadline.

The Department of Homeland Security has several conditions for its border wall prototype designs. One requirement is that the wall must be at least 30 feet high, must be unscalable and must prevent attempts at underground tunneling.

Baumgartner says what sets their company apart from the others is their so-called "flat work design."

Their design would use concrete to connect the tilt-up panel to the footing, instead of using a mechanical connection like anchors or bolts.

"It's a safer method because you don't have to get up on a scaffold," Baumgartner said. "Its really affordable when the walls get tall, so when the Border Patrol came out with 30 foot walls, we said, 'hey you know what, we're right there.'"

Building a border wall is one of President Donald J. Trumps campaign promises, and the proposal has been controversial from the start. The border wall will cost an estimated $20 billion, and funding for the massive construction project will require approval from Congress.

Some lawmakers have asked for a boycott of companies that take part in designing or building the wall.

"We talked at length about it. We're builders, we're not politicians," said Baumgartner. "If the federal government wants to build something, controversy or not, it's what we do."

ICC employs approximately 55 employees in San Diego County. The company was established in 1958.
One worker was crushed to death after a six-foot concrete wall toppled onto him as he worked with another crew member digging a trench in El Cajon, authorities said. The second worker escaped with injuries.

The incident happened shortly before 12:20 p.m. Monday when Heartland Fire officials responded to a call for a confined space trench rescue near Wagner and Marshall in El Cajon, according to spokesman Sonny Saghara.

At the time, crews were on site working on construction of a new car dealership, digging footing for a masonry wall adjacent to an existing masonry wall. Workers were digging a trench along the back side of several residences when the six-foot concrete wall toppled onto two workers in the trench.

One worker in his 20s managed to escape after the wall collapsed and was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

A second worker -- now identified by the San Diego County Medical Examiner (ME) as Escondido resident Fernando Martinez, 51 -- was trapped under the wall, estimated to weigh between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds, for several hours.

"Crews are working diligently to remove the concrete from on top of him and try to rescue him and determine what his injuries are," Saghara said.

Got moved to a breaker today. First responders trying to free someone trapped here in #ElCajon. More at 4 on #NBC7 #SanDiego pic.twitter.com/CLxsccEOFN  Alex Presha (@Alex_Presha) April 3, 2017

For a long time, crews did not have any sort of communication with Martinez, who was completely covered by concrete.

After several hours of rescue efforts, authorities on scene told NBC 7 the rescue effort had turned into a recovery effort. Fernandez was declared dead.

The ME's report on Fernandez's death states that he was taking his lunch break and had gone into the trench for lunch when the wall collapsed on him.

Cal/Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)has opened an investigation into the fatal accident. The department has up to six months to complete its investigation, but most are usually done in three to four months, the department told NBC 7.

At the end of the investigation, they will determine if there were any violations of Californias workplace safety and health regulations.

No other information was available.
As tension grows regarding North Koreas missile testing and weapons programs, San Diego-based U.S. Navy ships are participating in exercises in the Western Pacific.

Obviously, there's been a lot of tension on the North Korean Peninsula over the last six months, two years actually, since Kim Jong-Un came to power, said Stephan Haggard, Ph.D. Haggard is a professor at the Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego.

Those San Diego-based ships from the 3rd Fleet and those in the 7th Fleet serve as a deterrent.

To signal the capacity of the United States to respond to provocations, Haggard added.

USS Carl Vinson Strike Group conducted exercises with allies the Republic of Korea Navy and, for the first time since World War II, met up with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The March exercises got the attention of North Korea which released a propaganda video showing a graphic simulation the U.S. Navy ship and aircraft being hit by a missile.

Haggard said North Korea is known for these type of videos.

They're designed primarily for the domestic audience within North Korea to show the strength of the leadership and the fact that it's a world power, Haggard said.

President Donald Trump meets with Chinas President at the Presidents Mar-a-Lago home this week. The meeting, experts say, is an opportunity to gain some movement in negotiations with North Korea to slow their nuclear program.

It has been eight years since talks broke down.

President Trump has made it clear he wants increased sanctions.

He signaled that the trade issue is likely to be the point of leverage with China and trying to get North Korea to move that means trying to get China to lessen up on it support for North Korea through the extensive trade it does with Pyongyang, Haggard said.

One looming question is: What are North Koreas capabilities?

Haggard believes that they do not have the capability of striking the U.S. but could strike South Korea or Japan.

The upcoming presidential election in South Korea is another factor to consider. The fear is that they may lean more toward North Korean policies verses the vision of the U.S.

Meantime Haggard believes the 30,000 troops in South Korea and U.S. Naval exercises help keep North Korea in check and Navy ships are not in danger.

Now the Vinson Strike Group has completed the exercises, other San Diego based ships continue to ready to play a role.

The Sterett-Dewey Surface Action Group left San Diego Friday for the Western Pacific to support maritime stability and security if needed, in a region where growing tensions are the new reality in the Pacific.
A student from a northeast Washington high school was arrested after he allegedly posted a threat against the school and students.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 16-year-old ninth-grade student from Eastern High School and said he would be charged as a juvenile after police found guns at his residence. They checked on the student after he posted a picture of himself on Instagram with the words school shooter and two gun emojis.

Detectives said there were several media posts by the student but did not detail their contents. No charges have been filed.

District of Columbia Public Schools issued a statement, saying they handled the threat quickly, and safety of the students is paramount.

The safety of our students and staff is our number one priority. Following security and emergency protocols, DCPS immediately notified the Metropolitan Police Department. This threat was taken very seriously, was quickly resolved with minimal disruption, and is being treated as an isolated incident. We continue to work with proper authorities in monitoring these types of social media postings, and we will remain vigilant in maintaining student and staff safety.

Some parents were not pleased with how the situation was handling and wanted to be alerted early in the day when the threat was discovered. One parent said she was pulling her child out of the school as a result of the lack of information.
A man found dead in a Hyattsville, Maryland, neighborhood was murdered, Prince George's County police say.

Officers were called to the 7100 block of East Lombard Street at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday after someone saw the victim lying unresponsive in the driveway of a home.

The victim, who has not been identified, suffered trauma to the upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene, police say.

"For something like this to happen, it hurts all of us," said neighbor Theresa Mitchell. "That's somebody's son, that's somebody's nephew, that's somebody's grandson who was laying on the ground on a rainy, wet Tuesday morning."

No arrests have been made.
Activists claiming an imbalance in economic and social equality prayed, rallied and marched in Memphis on Tuesday, the 49th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Hundreds of supporters of the Black Lives Matter and Fight for $15 movements demanded higher wages and equal rights as they walked more than a mile (1.6 kilometers), from Memphis City Hall to the National Civil Rights Museum.

The museum is at the site of the former Lorraine Motel. King was standing on the motel's balcony when he was shot down by a sniper's bullet on April 4, 1968. He was in the midst of his "Poor People's Campaign" when he came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers seeking better pay, safer working conditions and union rights.

Led by a 220-piece band from Talladega College in Alabama, marchers chanted "This is what democracy looks like" and held signs saying "I Am A Man." Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Show Me $15. Real Change. No Pennies."

The Fight for $15 group wants a higher hourly minimum wage for low-pay workers, including fast food employees and home and child care workers. The Black Lives Matter movement developed after the deaths of unarmed black men during confrontations with white police officers and has waged protests throughout the country.

Marchers also came from Arkansas and Missouri to join their Tennessee colleagues. Police did not immediately have an estimate of the number of marchers who participated.

Renita Moore, a 54-year-old nursing assistant from St. Louis, said raising the minimum wage is important because her cost of living keeps going up.

"We've all come together as one," Moore said. "It's very important that we stick together, stand together and fight together."

The march was one of many King-related events in Memphis.

Earlier Tuesday, more than 200 people gathered at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church to hear the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. William Barber talk about how King's fight for economic and racial equality and social justice is far from over.

A vocalist belted out a religious hymn and another song, "The Impossible Dream," and attendees held hands in prayer.

Barber, known for his firebrand public speaking style, called for those seeking progress on social and economic issues affecting poor people to help register more blacks voters and engage in "civil disobedience."

The pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, was critical of President Donald Trump, including his effort to suspend new visas for people in six Muslim-majority countries. He called Trump a "narcissistic tweeter."

"We are not those who believe the terrible lies that the best way to better America is to attack public education and attack Muslims and attack immigrants and attack living wages," said Barber, progressively raising his voice. "How in the world can America attack refugees when we sing 'God bless America, shed his grace on us,' but we don't have grace for immigrants? That's contradictory to everything we say we believe."

Then, he added: "We are the crowd that believes in justice and love and mercy and goodness and hope, the common good, the general welfare. We believe 'liberal' is a good word, and 'conservative' is a good word."

Outside the church, Sharon Johnson, 60, said she came to the rally to honor King's memory.

"He came from the right place in his heart, believing that all people are equal, that everyone should be treated with respect, that people deserve equal pay for their work," said Johnson, a pharmacy technician. "He sacrificed his life to make that happen."

Rallies also were scheduled in Florida, California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan. In Boston, dozens of people marched through the Boston Common to call for less racism and a higher minimum wage. Marchers held a moment of silence at 6:01 p.m. Central Time to mark when King was shot.
A suspected government chemical attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest chemical attack in four years.

A nonprofit coalition of groups treating victims of the war in Syria told NBC News that at least 83 people died  including 25 children  and at least 350 others were injured in the incident in northern Idlib province, southwest of Aleppo. The early morning attack was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments, witnesses said.

Doctors struggled to cope and videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year civil war.

After the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad's government agreed to destroy its chemical arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons convention.

Tuesday's incident drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including the White House, which called it a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilized world."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday his government condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack. He said in a statement that the use of chemical weapons is "illegal and abhorrent."

"While the full facts are still to be determined, if the Assad regime is responsible for this attack those who approved and deployed these weapons must be held accountable," Turnbull said.

Officials from Russia, which is a key supporter of Assad, said Wednesday that the incident was caused when "Syrian aviation made a strike on a large terrorist ammunition depot" that housed the production of "chemical warfare munitions." The officials did not provide any evidence for that claim.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's high representative, Federica Mogherini.

The Syrian government "categorically rejected" claims that it was responsible, saying it does not possess chemical weapons, has not used them in the past and will not use them in the future. It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government. The Russian Defense Ministry also denied any involvement

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pickup trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump was "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack, which he called "reprehensible."

Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

Four years ago, after warning Assad that a chemical attack would cross a red line and trigger U.S. action, Obama failed to follow through. Rather than authorizing military action against Assad in response to a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds outside Damascus, Obama opted instead for a Russian-backed agreement to remove Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.

The chapter was seen internationally as a major blow to U.S. credibility and, for Obama's critics, a prime example of weak leadership. Syrian chemical weapons attacks continued after the deal.

Yet at the time, Trump was squarely in agreement with Obama's ultimate decision. Among his tweets on the matter, he urged Obama in all caps, "DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA  IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN."

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said the latest attack was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a U.N. investigation said used sarin gas. Faced with international outrage over that attack, Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesday's attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors were struggling amid extreme shortages, including of the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem.

Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals, Tennari said. "If they got to the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

Dr. Mohammed Tennari, a radiologist and AbdulHaj Tennari's brother, said Tuesday's attack was more severe than previous ones in the province, most of which used chlorine cylinders.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe," he said. The doctor, who testified before the United Nations in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell after Tuesday's attack, but it was mixed with another unknown "toxic gas which causes poison and death."

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in the nearby town of Sarmin, where some of the critical cases were transferred, said doctors there also believed it was likely more than one gas. "Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions," he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

"There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth," he told The Associated Press.

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency was gathering more information about Tuesday's incident. The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, also said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awakened by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m., and when he arrived at the scene he found entire families inside their homes unable to move, with their eyes wide open and their pupils constricted. He put on a mask, and he and others took victims to an emergency room. He said he later felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

The province of Idlib, which is almost entirely controlled by the opposition, is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months of the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200. A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three additional attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas, and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.

Late Tuesday, Abu Hamdu, a rescue worker in Khan Sheikhoun, said people were still searching for their family members, nearly 12 hours after the attack.

"People are still very lost," he said.

Associated Press writers Philip Issa in Beirut, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Vivian Salama and Josh Lederman in Washington, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Monday that could eventually allow internet providers to sell information about their customers' browsing habits.

The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information. Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.

The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.

With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalized in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.

Internet companies like Google don't have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the president's support for the bill was part of a larger effort "to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth."

"The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others," picking the winners and losers, he said.

Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.

Undoing the regulation leaves people's online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information  but it doesn't spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.

The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.

Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.

Broadband providers don't fall under the trade commission's jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.

Trump signed three other bills Monday, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.
(Updates prices) By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, April 4 (Reuters) - The Mexican peso pared losses on Tuesday after the country's central bank announced it would intervene in the foreign exchange market in an effort to ease pressure on the currency.

Mexico's central bank said it would sell up to $200 million worth of currency hedging instruments to roll over paper set to expire on Wednesday, just ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The bank had originally issued the instruments as a way to stem the peso's slide following the election of Trump, who threatened to scrap trade agreements with Mexico.

The peso has since made up some lost ground as those concerns eased, with investors betting that he would not impose big tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States.

Still, the peso fell the most among Latin American currencies, weakening more than 0.8 percent.

Most Latin American currencies fell ahead of the Xi meeting, which Trump has said "will be a very difficult one." He has held out the possibility of using trade as a lever to secure China's cooperation against North Korea.

Stock markets in the region were largely buoyant.

Argentina's benchmark stock index rose about 0.9 percent, touching a record high for the sixth straight trading day, after agency S&P raised the country's sovereign rating by a notch to B from B-.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2020 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily YTD pct pct change change MSCI Emerging Markets 965.17 0.02 11.93 MSCI LatAm 2,669.06 0.44 14.03 Brazil Bovespa 65,768.91 0.85 9.20 Mexico IPC 49,342.77 1.07 8.11 Chile IPSA 4,825.76 0.71 16.24 Chile IGPA 24,158.32 0.6 16.51 Argentina MerVal 20,744.08 0.88 22.62 Colombia IGBC 10,180.99 0.07 0.52 Venezuela IBC 45,739.70 3.99 44.27 Currencies Latest Daily YTD pct pct change change Brazil real 3.0978 0.55 4.89 Mexico peso 18.8305 -0.85 10.16 Chile peso 660.4 -0.33 1.56 Colombia peso 2,865.2 0.00 4.76 Peru sol 3.25 0.00 5.05 Argentina peso (interbank) 15.3550 0.31 3.42 Argentina peso (parallel) 15.83 1.01 6.25 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Editing by Diane Craft and Dan Grebler)
For many, smartphones have turned into nighttime snuggle buddies, placed beside pillows as they charge throughout the night.

But perhaps we should heed the tale of Wiley Day, who went to bed last month and as usual, plugged his smartphone in to charge via an extension cord.

When he rolled over the next morning, Day's metal dog-tag necklace reportedly caught exposed prongs on the charger, turning it into a conductor for electricity that delivered Day a powerful jolt, NBC News reported.

The Alabama man called it "the eeriest, darkest, most demonic thing you could ever experience," telling The Washington Post, "I don't have enough adjectives to describe it."

Nearly half of smartphone owners  44 percent  sleep with a phone next to their bed, according to findings from the 2012 Pew Internet Project.
A massive fire following an explosion destroyed a New Hampshire house Monday evening after authorities went to the condemned property to investigate a report.

The fire at 20 Irving St. in Salem was so intense that at least eight neighboring homes had to be evacuated as a precaution.

Salem police say they first arrived at the scene just after 5 p.m. for reports of a dispute between neighbors and activity inside the home. The home on the property had been previously condemned by city officials, according to authorities.

A vehicle was seen in the driveway of the home and when officers attempted to make contact, no one inside answered, police said.

Officers then heard a hissing noise and smelled the odor of gas. While backing away, they heard a loud explosion and the windows blew out of the house. Police said the house then began to smoke and eventually was engulfed by flames.

Firefighters then arrived on the sene to douse the flames, which could be seen shooting from the home.

Salem Fire Chief Paul Parisi said following the explosion, multiple rounds of ammunition could be heard going off inside the home, to which neighbors attested.

"You could hear that ding, that sound of bullets going," said neighbor Suzanne Redfern. "And you could hear a lot of it them. And then they made us leave."

Officials say it's unclear if anyone was inside the home at the time of the explosion and subsequent fire, and the name of the owner of the condemned home has not been released. Investigators plan on entering the remains of the home on Tuesday morning after hot spots are put out through the night.

"We just don't know what we're going to find when we get inside that home," Parisi said.

No first responders were injured in the incident.

Onlookers nearby said the smoke was also intense.

"It was black when we looked up in the sky, but it just covered," described one nearby resident. "Like when people have bonfires and it spreads. That's how it was."
A man found dead of an apparent suicide in a New Hampshire home destroyed by an explosion and fire on Monday had multiple guns and dozens of rounds of ammunition and might have been preparing for a confrontation with police.

"We don't know if our officers walked in on something he was preparing for," Salem police Capt. Joel Dolan said Tuesday. He said the town was prepared to seize the home for unpaid taxes on Monday.

Salem police initially went to the condemned property at 20 Irving St. on Monday night for a neighbor dispute over property lines. A vehicle was seen in the driveway of the home but when officers attempted to make contact, no one inside answered, police said.

Officers then heard a hissing noise and smelled the odor of gas. While backing away, they heard a loud explosion and the windows blew out of the house. Police said the house then began to smoke and eventually was engulfed by flames. Following the initial explosion, officials said multiple rounds of ammunition could be heard going off inside the home.

Firefighters soon arrived at the scene to douse the flames, which could be seen shooting from the home. Nearby homes were evacuated.

"It definitely looks like this was something that was planned, or at least preparing for police or fire to get close to the residence," Dolan said. "I don't know what the ultimate plan was. The investigation may turn out to prove otherwise, but it does not look like an accident."

No first responders were injured in Monday's incident, and neighbors have since been allowed to return to their homes.

Salem fire Chief Paul Parisi said the cause and origin of the massive fire remain under investigation, but some consumer grade fireworks were found in the rubble.

Investigators weren't able to access the charred remains of the home until Tuesday afternoon after the bomb squad determined it was safe. Boards with nails sticking out of them had been set up along the accessway to the home, so there was some concern that the property might be booby trapped.

When they did enter, police found the body of a white male in the basement, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A long rifle, a handgun and numerous rounds of ammunition were found around him.

Police said the home belongs to Charles Hill, and his car was in the driveway, but it's unclear at this point if he is the person whose body was found inside the home. Dolan said Hill was estranged from his family, but police have spoken with some of his relatives.

According to court documents, the town filed suit against Hill last summer, saying he was in violation of local zoning ordinances and housing standards because of the accumulating trash and debris on his property and that the home was "unfit for human habitation."

Water and electricity had been shut off at the property since 2013, and police responding to the home in 2015 observed "rotting food, insects, garbage, unsanitary dishes, and a strong odor of feces and urine throughout the dwelling."

By Tuesday evening, the house had been torn down while neighbors looked on.

Next door neighbor Betinho Moniz said he recalled the last conversation he had with Hill.

"Well, that he was going to put a bullet in my head, ya know," Moniz recalled. "I was in fear for my family all the time."

Other neighbors said Hill was not evil, rather misunderstood.

"They are making him sound like he was such a menace, he wasn't, he wasn't, he minded his own business," said neighbor Dail Skogstrom.
There's more snow falling in parts of northern New England.

A storm that arrived overnight could drop close to a foot of snow Tuesday in northwestern Maine. Northern New Hampshire could get hit as well. A combination of snow and rain fell in the morning.

It will mostly rain along the coast. But it will be cold enough for snow at inland locations.

The lower elevations through central and northern New Hampshire into the lower elevations of western and northern Maine will see a widespread 3 to 6 inches. Parts of far northeastern Vermont will see more like 1 to 3 inches.

And that may not be the end of it. Weather officials are keeping an eye on another system that's forming later in the week.
Police are asking for the public's help to find a 29-year-old woman who went missing Saturday in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Krystal Boswell is described as a white woman who's 4'11 with brown hair, brown eyes and a medium build.

While authorities did not reveal much information about her disappearance, they are asking anyone with information to call Fall River Police at (508) 676-8511, or to call an anonymous tip line at (508) 672-TIPS.
The man suspected in a violent gas station carjacking in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, last weekend has been arrested.

Tewksbury police said William Tighe, 32, of Starbird Avenue in Tewksbury, was taken into custody in Lowell on Tuesday with assistance from Lowell police and Massachusetts State Police. No additional details were immediately available.

The incident happened on Saturday night at the Circle K gas station on Andover Street in Tewksbury. Police released surveillance footage that captured the entire exchange. The video shows the man walking around the woman as she pumps her gas. He circles around both her and the car. When the woman turns away, the man gets into the driver's seat.

The woman fights back, taking the gasoline pump and completely dousing the man and the car. She then opens the door, continuing to fight, but he drives away, dragging her and nearly running her over in the process.

The car was later recovered in Lowell.

Tewksbury police quickly identified Tighe as the suspect, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

The victim, who was visiting the area from New Jersey, was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and released.
A new trade deal between Canada and the European Union has New England fishermen reeling, worried that their live lobster exports wont be able to compete.

The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CETA) eliminates tariffs on live Canadian lobster, monkfish and scallops shipped to nations in the European Union.

The treaty could go into effect as soon as May.

This impacts the entire lobster business, said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers Association. It puts U.S. shippers at a real disadvantage.

Currently, the European market makes up about 15 to 20 percent of all American lobster exports, according to Tselikis. It is a $200 million industry.

Tselikis said CETA saves European customers about one Euro per pound when buying Canadian lobster. When youre shipping millions of pounds, that adds up very fast, she said.

While the U.S. cant stop CETA from being enacted, the industry hopes lawmakers could try to negotiate a better trade deal for American lobster exports.

The industry is appealing to the congressional delegation in Maine and Massachusetts, as well as the Trump administration, asking for the same reduction in tariffs that the Canadian lobstermen received.

They need to level the playing field for us, said Steve Train, a lobsterman in Portland.

All four members of the Maine Congressional Delegation are pushing for a solution, and Governor LePage appealed to the Department of Commerce for help in a letter on March 28.

With the CETA implementation fast approaching, I am respectfully requesting your assistance to avoid placing Maine at a serious economic trade disadvantage, which could potentially devastate our seafood industry and the many families who rely on it to earn a living, Gov. LePage wrote to Secretary Wilbur Ross.
As Seen On


Steve tells of journey from drugs and despair to hope Steve tells of journey from drugs and despair to hope

Builder Steve Renwick recently shared with a Norwich audience about his journey from drugs and despair to joy. Mike Wiltshire reports.

From school days, Steve was constantly looking to be loved  Id misbehave in funny ways just to get attention, and was often in trouble. By the 1970s, Steve was into drugs which fuelled my nights of debauchery and partying.



At the age of 40, with by then a comfortable home after earning good money in the building sector, and touring the world with his wife, Michelle, the love of my life, Steve nevertheless felt a deep inner emptiness which he simply could not explain. Despite outward success, I was still hunting for love, he recalls.



Steve and Michelle had been married as teenage sweethearts, but after 22 years and success in business, Steves life "started to unravel" as he slid into depression for eight years.



In the midst of growing anger and depression, he even considered suicide, but could not bear the thought of his wife finding him dead in a field.



Steves troubles were compounded by the death of his dad at 67, plus the loss of his two best mates in a business dispute, and anger issues. They and their families just walked out of my life  and 35 years of my life were wiped out, gone! My work was suffering and I had a couple of building jobs that also went wrong.



At 48, he was about to throw his marriage away, having lost hope to the point of utter destruction. At times, Steves depression was so bad he wanted to smash the home up. Michelle asked me why I was so evil? I said I didnt know.



Although Steve had a hang-up over religion, he once sat in an empty church and simply cried in despair over his depression.



Among his clients was Henry, a successful businessman who was also a Christian, who suggested Steve join Alpha, a Christian discovery course on the meaning of life. He told Steve: You need Jesus in your life.



Six months later, Nora, another of Steves Christian clients, invited Steve and Michelle to lunch along with an invitation that they visit her local church, Holy Trinity, in Cambridge.



Steve reluctantly went along, expecting to see half a dozen people and a boring vicar, but was amazed to find 300 young people and a band in the church.



He was very moved to see how several students quietly prayed for another young person. It was beautiful - I saw genuine friendship there.



Steve realised that he, too, could be prayed for  and might also join an Alpha Course. On the final weekend of the course, six years ago, he joined others in a life-changing prayer  and physically felt he was being squeezed in a strong hug as though Jesus showed me that he loved me. All of a sudden I had found the love Id always wanted.



Friends on the course told him: Youre glowing, youre shining  youre a new person!



His wife Michelle, who is a mobile hairdresser, said later: The lovely husband I once knew has come back!



Steve and Michelle began attending church together  God is at the centre of our lives now, says Steve, they have seen reconciliation in their family and others touched by God as they have shared their story.



I have never been more alive, adds Steve, who is now involved in the mens ministry at his church.



When I look back on my life, I realise how many times Gods love had rescued me in very tough times without me ever seeing it - or perhaps more truthfully wanting to see it. He adds: "It's a love story, really - God's extraordinary love for an ordinary man."



In Norwich, Steve was sharing his story at a monthly dinner evening of the Full Gospel Businessmen.



Pictured above is Steve Renwick.






Sewell pupils tackle loan sharks with Norwich YFC Sewell pupils tackle loan sharks with Norwich YFC

Students from Sewell Park Academy in Norwich have been learning about the dangers of loan sharks with Norwich Youth for Christ by creating a video to highlight the issue.

Over the last 3 months, Norwich Youth For Christ (YFC), in partnership with Norfolk County Councils Trading Standards Service and the England Illegal Money Lending Team have been working with students from Sewell Park Academy in North Norwich to teach them about the dangers of getting involved with a loan shark.



The preventative project was designed by Norwich YFC in conjunction with their mobile recording studio Tracks. Youthworkers Sarah Ballard, Ben Lawrence and Sarah Rensburg have delivered interactive sessions in the school timetable to raise awareness of the issue and have worked with the students to create a piece of media that informs other people in the community.



The end product is a short film, The Day a Shark Came to School based around the storyline of a local person who lends money to young people but then makes unreasonable demands. The project is funded by the England Illegal Money Lending Team, using proceeds of crime money, confiscated from convicted loan sharks.



Sarah Ballard, Youthworker for Norwich YFC said: The issue of loan sharking can have a detrimental impact on the lives of victims. It has been a great opportunity to work with the young people of Sewell Park Academy to empower them with knowledge to share in their local community.



Nick Blanch, Director of Norwich YFC said: Illegal money lending is a crime that often goes unreported, but YFC and partners are determined to raise awareness of this unlawful activity and signpost residents of the local community to the advice and support available to victims through the IMLT.



The 3 minute film was shown to a select group of family and friends in Catton where representatives from Oak Grove Community Church were invited to talk about its support work with debt advice offered to anyone in need.



The video, which can be viewed below, was also shown to all pupils of Sewell Park Academy during a school assembly. It is hoped that it will be shared widely to raise further awareness.


FILE PHOTO -- Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeff Lacker looks on during his interview with Reuters reporters in Washington January 12, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

By Jason Lange and Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker abruptly left the U.S. central bank on Tuesday after admitting that a conversation he had with a Wall Street analyst in 2012 may have disclosed confidential information about Fed policy options.

The 2012 leak had triggered a criminal investigation after research firm Medley Global Advisors told its clients the details of a key Fed meeting a day before the Fed released its own record of the discussion.

At the Fed's September 2012 policy meeting, officials laid the groundwork for the massive bond-buying stimulus they were to roll out later that year. Early knowledge of that discussion could have given some traders an unfair edge.

Lacker who had previously announced he would retire in October, on Tuesday said he decided to make his departure effective immediately because of his role in the leak.

It was not clear if Lacker was pushed out of his post. The Richmond Fed said in a statement that it took "appropriate actions" after learning the outcome of government investigations into the leak.

Lacker's lawyer said he would not be facing charges. The Fed's inspector general, Mark Bialek, said in a separate statement that he was closing an investigation into the leak.

"I crossed the line," Lacker said in a statement, saying he never intended "to reveal confidential information" and that he may have broken rules against giving people an edge in business.

Lacker admitted to talking to an analyst from Medley in October 2012, but did not say he provided her with details about the Fed's policy options, which aimed to boost the economy following the 2007-09 financial crisis.

Lacker said it was the Medley analyst who brought up confidential Fed information.

"I should have declined to comment and perhaps have ended the phone call. Instead, I did not refuse or express my inability to comment and the interview continued," Lacker said.

In addition, Lacker said he had not fully disclosed details about his discussion with the Medley analyst when he was interviewed by a Fed lawyer later in 2012. But he said he did disclose further details in a 2015 interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Story continues

Lacker gave no reason for the time gap between the 2015 interview and his statement on Tuesday.

The Medley report triggered furor in the U.S. Congress and became a source of friction between the Fed and lawmakers, leading to a criminal investigation.

"This development could hurt the Fed politically," said Roberto Perli, an economist at Cornerstone Macro.

In May 2015, the chair of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who has called for stricter Congressional oversight of the central bank, subpoenaed Fed documents and communications related to the leak.

CRIMINAL INQUIRY

Lacker, one of the U.S. central bank's most reliable proponents of interest rate increases, had led the Richmond Fed since 2004.

During his tenure, he became known for his dissenting votes on policy. He voted against several Fed policy decisions in 2006 because he favored interest rate increases, while in 2009 he opposed Fed purchases of mortgage-backed securities, which were part of its bond-buying stimulus program.

Days before his conversation with the Medley analyst, Lacker voted against increasing asset purchases at the Fed's September 2012 meeting.

Lacker said his interview in 2015 with the FBI also involved the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Richmond Fed is one of 12 regional reserve banks that are part of the U.S. central bank. They process payments and help regulate banks, while their presidents take turns as members of the Fed committee that sets interest rates.

(Reporting by Jason Lange and Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler)
Kaspersky Lab found a direct link between the Lazarus group banking heist hackers and North Korea.

While Lazarus is a notorious cyber-espionage and sabotage group, a subgroup of Lazarus, called Bluenoroff by Kaspersky researchers, focuses only on financial attacks with the goal of invisible theft without leaving a trace.

The group has four main types of targets: financial institutions, casinos, companies involved in the development of financial trade software and crypto-currency businesses.

Although Lazarus has attacked manufacturing companies, media and financial institutions in at least 18 countries since 2009, Lazarus/Bluenoroff regrouped at the end of 2016, and Kaspersky Lab said the group rushed into new countries, selecting mostly poorer and less developed locations, hitting smaller banks because they are, apparently, easy prey.

Kaspersky has identified Bluenoroff watering hole attacks in Poland, Uruguay, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Mexico, India, Peru, Norway and Australia.

Kaspersky Lab

The group seems to favor the strategy of silently integrating into running processes without breaking them. Kaspersky Lab says Bluenoroffs malware might be secretly deployed now in many other places, and it isnt triggering any serious alarms because its much more quiet.

The group starts by using a simple backdoor that doesnt have much impact on the group if it is burned. If, however, the first stage backdoor reports an interesting infection, then the group deploys more advanced code and persistent backdoor, which is carefully protected from accidental detection.

But a hacker in the group did mess. Forensic analysis on a hacked server in Europe revealed that the attacker used multiple IPs: from France to Korea, connecting via proxies and VPN servers. However, one short connection was made from a very unusual IP range, which originates in North Korea.

The logs were likely not wiped because the hacker installed Monero cryptocurrency mining software, which locked up the system.

The software so intensely consumed system resources that the system became unresponsive and froze, Kaspersky Lab said. This could be the reason why it was not properly cleaned, and the server logs were preserved.

Kaspersky Lab said, Lazarus is not just another APT actor, but it didnt go as far as to name the North Korean government. The security firm did say, however, the level of sophistication is something that is not generally found in the cybercriminal world. Its something that requires strict organization and control at all stages of operation. Thats why we think that Lazarus is not just another APT actor.

This is not the first time researchers have suggested Lazarus is linked to North Korea. Some of the banking heists had similar coding techniques as those used in the 2014 Sony hack. Kaspersky didnt rule out the possibility that the North Korean IP could be a false flag such as when the group inserted Russian commands into its malware, using words that were inaccurately translated via online tools, in an attempt to make attribution more difficult and to send researchers sniffing a false lead.

Nevertheless, Kaspersky researchers said, This is the first time we have seen a direct link between Bluenoroff and North Korea. But is it North Korea behind all the Bluenoroff attacks after all? As researchers, we prefer to provide facts rather than speculations. Still, seeing IP in the C2 log, does make North Korea a key part of the Lazarus Bluenoroff equation.

Kaspersky Lab detected Bluenoroff malware samples in March 2017, showing that attackers have no intention of stopping.

Were sure theyll come back soon, said Vitaly Kamluk, head of the Global Research and Analysis Team APAC at Kaspersky Lab. In all, attacks like the ones conducted by Lazarus group show that a minor misconfiguration may result in a major security breach, which can potentially cost a targeted business hundreds of millions of dollars in loss. We hope that chief executives from banks, casinos and investment companies around the world will become wary of the name Lazarus.

Kaspersky researchers discussed the groups infiltration methods and relation to attacks on SWIFT software used in banks for transactions. Additionally, the security firm released crucial Indicators of Compromise (IOC) and other data to help organizations search for traces of these attack groups in their corporate networks.

Researchers urged all organizations to carefully scan their networks for the presence of Lazarus malware samples, and if detected, to disinfect their systems and report the intrusion to law enforcement and incident response teams.
'He was a thoroughly decent bloke and we will all miss him'

THATCHAM town councillors have paid tribute to hard working, energetic and thoroughly decent colleague Roger Croft.

Mr Croft died on Friday from injuries sustained in a car crash in February which also claimed the life of his wife Zelda.

Mr Croft was elected to represent Thatcham South and Crookham ward at West Berkshire Council and Thatcham Town Council in 2011; rising to become leader of the district council in 2015.

A minutes silence was also held for Mr Croft at the full town council meeting last Monday, while the Union flag flew at half mast at the town councils offices as a mark of respect.

The mayor of Thatcham, Ellen Crumly (Con, Thatcham Central), said: This is a double tragedy for the Croft family and my thoughts and prayers are with them all.

I was lucky enough to know Roger and Zelda as friends and I was privileged to have worked with Roger at Thatcham Town Council.

He was a talented man and an inspirational leader.

He was well-respected within the town and was very hard-working, both as a district and a town councillor.

Thatcham was his home and he always did what he felt was best for the town.

He will be sadly missed by us all.

Mr and Mrs Croft had lived in Thatcham for nearly 30 years.

Mr Croft had been involved with several local groups, as president of Newbury and District Swimming Club, a trustee of the Thatcham Pre-School charity and a member of the Thatcham Flood Forum.

Dominic Boeck (Con, Thatcham South and Crookham) said that Mr Croft had been a family friend and that their children had grown up together.

Mr Boeck said: He will be sorely missed for his hard work and energy, his innovative, clear-eyed strategic thinking and his friendship will be sorely missed.

Town council leader Jason Collis (Con, Thatcham North) said: Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this difficult time and we wish them the best in this difficult situation.

Before becoming the leader of the district council, Mr Croft sat on the town councils finance and Priory committee.

He was critical of the Liberal Democrat project to convert the Priory into a community hub, labelling the scheme a waste of Thatcham taxpayers money, often leading to clashes in the council chamber with the Lib Dems.

Paying tribute to Mr Croft on Monday, the town councils Lib Dem opposition leader Mike Cole (Thatcham North) said: We are all saddened and we are all shocked by Rogers death.

He was a man of considerable energy and our community was fortunate that he was willing to apply this energy to Thatcham and West Berkshire.

He was a straightforward guy. He was straight-talking and the best thing I can say about him was he was a thoroughly decent bloke and we will all miss him.

Council staff also paid tribute, saying Roger will be greatly missed by all the officers at Thatcham Town Council.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: IT industry body Nasscom today said the latest memo by the US on H-1B visas would have "little impact" on Indian IT firms as they have already started applying for visas for higher-level specialised professionals this year.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently come out with a policy memorandum saying companies applying for visas must provide "evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation". The new H-1B guideline rescinds a memorandum issued in December, 2000.

Seeking to play down the impact on outsourcing companies, Nasscom said the memorandum "reinforces existing practice by adjudicators and clarifies requirements for certain computer professionals". "The clarifying guidance should have little impact on Nasscom members as this has been the adjudicatory practice for years and also as several of our member executives have noted recently, they are applying for visas for higher level professionals this year," Nasscom said in a statement.

Nasscom counts IT outsourcing firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro as well as international firms like Cognizant, Microsoft, IBM and Accenture as members. It added that the demand for additional evidence showing that the said job is complex/specialised and requires professional degrees mentioned in the memo has been the de facto requirement for years. India accounts for a significant portion of the H-1B visas, which are non-immigrant visas used by American firms to employ foreign workers that require specific expertise.

USCIS -- a government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the US -- has emphasised that the H-1B visa programme should help US companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country. USCIS issues about 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.

Nasscom said the H-1B visa system exists specifically because of the "persistent shortage" of highly-skilled domestic IT talent in the US. The US accounts for over 60 per cent of the export revenues of the Indian IT industry. "Nasscom member companies have and will continue to provide skilled talent and solutions to fill that gap and keep US companies competitive globally," it added.

However, industry watchers believe that coupled with immigration pushbacks being seen in other geographies like the UK and Singapore, the overall impact would make movement of labour difficult and operation costlier in the short term.

During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump had promised stricter immigration laws and protection of local jobs. A US legislation (Lofgren Bill) was introduced that proposed doubling of the minimum wages of H1-B visa holders to USD 130,000. Indian firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro -- on their part -- have been reducing their dependence on H-1B visas, ramping up local hiring to meet requirement.

NEW DELHI: IT industry body Nasscom today said the latest memo by the US on H-1B visas would have "little impact" on Indian IT firms as they have already started applying for visas for higher-level specialised professionals this year. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently come out with a policy memorandum saying companies applying for visas must provide "evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation". The new H-1B guideline rescinds a memorandum issued in December, 2000. Seeking to play down the impact on outsourcing companies, Nasscom said the memorandum "reinforces existing practice by adjudicators and clarifies requirements for certain computer professionals". "The clarifying guidance should have little impact on Nasscom members as this has been the adjudicatory practice for years and also as several of our member executives have noted recently, they are applying for visas for higher level professionals this year," Nasscom said in a statement. Nasscom counts IT outsourcing firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro as well as international firms like Cognizant, Microsoft, IBM and Accenture as members. It added that the demand for additional evidence showing that the said job is complex/specialised and requires professional degrees mentioned in the memo has been the de facto requirement for years. India accounts for a significant portion of the H-1B visas, which are non-immigrant visas used by American firms to employ foreign workers that require specific expertise. USCIS -- a government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the US -- has emphasised that the H-1B visa programme should help US companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country. USCIS issues about 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. Nasscom said the H-1B visa system exists specifically because of the "persistent shortage" of highly-skilled domestic IT talent in the US. The US accounts for over 60 per cent of the export revenues of the Indian IT industry. "Nasscom member companies have and will continue to provide skilled talent and solutions to fill that gap and keep US companies competitive globally," it added. However, industry watchers believe that coupled with immigration pushbacks being seen in other geographies like the UK and Singapore, the overall impact would make movement of labour difficult and operation costlier in the short term. During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump had promised stricter immigration laws and protection of local jobs. A US legislation (Lofgren Bill) was introduced that proposed doubling of the minimum wages of H1-B visa holders to USD 130,000. Indian firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro -- on their part -- have been reducing their dependence on H-1B visas, ramping up local hiring to meet requirement.
By AFP

NEW YORK: US plane maker Boeing said on Tuesday that Iran's Aseman Airlines had agreed to buy 30 737 MAX jets for $3.0 billion in its second major deal since sanctions were eased last year.

"Boeing confirms the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airline's intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion," the US group said in a statement.

"The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs," it added.

If finalised, delivery is expected to start in 2022, Boeing said, adding that a contract of this magnitude "creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States."

Iran has been desperate to renew its ageing fleet of planes, but was largely blocked from dealing with major aircraft manufacturers until a 2015 accord with world powers that eased global sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme.

The US has maintained its own sanctions, which block almost all trade with Iran, but plane manufacturers were given a specific exemption under the nuclear deal.

In September, Washington approved the sale of 80 Boeing and 100 Airbus planes to Iran Air. The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran.

The new deal with Aseman will also need approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"Boeing continues to follow the lead of the US government with regards to working with Iran's airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran's airlines are contingent upon US government approval," the company said.

Many US lawmakers have opposed the sales, saying that Iranian airlines have been used to ship weapons and troops to Syria and other conflict zones.

Iranian conservatives have also criticised the purchases, saying new planes will do little to improve Iran's stagnant economy.

Supporters on both sides have therefore tried to emphasise the employment opportunities.

Even before the latest Boeing announcement, Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation said plane purchases would create 20,000 direct jobs, and thousands more indirectly.

"Currently, 500-700 co-pilots are unemployed in Iran," CAO official Mohammad Reza Kazemimpour told the Iran Daily newspaper on Monday, adding that the new fleets would bring "tens of billions of dollars in revenues for Iran".

Meanwhile, companies across the world are waiting to see whether US President Donald Trump makes good on his campaign threat to tear up the nuclear deal.

The first test will come in June when he will decide on whether to renew the sanctions waivers that keep the deal in effect.

Aseman currently has a fleet of 36 planes -- half of them the 105-seat Dutch Fokker 100s.

Its three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the Islamic revolution, having made their first flight in 1980.

NEW YORK: US plane maker Boeing said on Tuesday that Iran's Aseman Airlines had agreed to buy 30 737 MAX jets for $3.0 billion in its second major deal since sanctions were eased last year. "Boeing confirms the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airline's intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion," the US group said in a statement. "The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs," it added. If finalised, delivery is expected to start in 2022, Boeing said, adding that a contract of this magnitude "creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States." Iran has been desperate to renew its ageing fleet of planes, but was largely blocked from dealing with major aircraft manufacturers until a 2015 accord with world powers that eased global sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme. The US has maintained its own sanctions, which block almost all trade with Iran, but plane manufacturers were given a specific exemption under the nuclear deal. In September, Washington approved the sale of 80 Boeing and 100 Airbus planes to Iran Air. The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran. The new deal with Aseman will also need approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. "Boeing continues to follow the lead of the US government with regards to working with Iran's airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran's airlines are contingent upon US government approval," the company said. Many US lawmakers have opposed the sales, saying that Iranian airlines have been used to ship weapons and troops to Syria and other conflict zones. Iranian conservatives have also criticised the purchases, saying new planes will do little to improve Iran's stagnant economy. Supporters on both sides have therefore tried to emphasise the employment opportunities. Even before the latest Boeing announcement, Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation said plane purchases would create 20,000 direct jobs, and thousands more indirectly. "Currently, 500-700 co-pilots are unemployed in Iran," CAO official Mohammad Reza Kazemimpour told the Iran Daily newspaper on Monday, adding that the new fleets would bring "tens of billions of dollars in revenues for Iran". Meanwhile, companies across the world are waiting to see whether US President Donald Trump makes good on his campaign threat to tear up the nuclear deal. The first test will come in June when he will decide on whether to renew the sanctions waivers that keep the deal in effect. Aseman currently has a fleet of 36 planes -- half of them the 105-seat Dutch Fokker 100s. Its three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the Islamic revolution, having made their first flight in 1980.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: The US State Departments India 2016 Human Rights Report featuring the killing of eight men of outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on October 31, 2016, in Bhopal and the multi-crore Vyapam scam has triggered a war of words between the BJP and the Congress here.

MP Congress spokesperson K K Mishra said the report has dented the image of the nation globally. Now will the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister file a defamation case against the US president and the state department too, questioned Mishra referring to a defamation suit filed by CM against him.

He added that the reference of Vyapam scam particularly has proved beyond doubt that the multi-crore scam being probed presently by the CBI is of international significance.

Its time that the MP government introspects its style of governance and makes amends before its too late, said RTI activist Ajay Dube, who claimed that the report was sent to him by the US Embassy on March 16 and his feedback too was sought over the report.

Meanwhile, reacting strongly to the Congress spokespersons comments on the US report, MP minister for cooperatives Vishwas Sarang said, No government in our country needs a certificate from the US president or his government on internal matters. President Trump should not forget that terror had struck his own country once.

KK Mishra, who has not even won a panchayath election, should not compare self with US president by issuing such statements, added Sarang.

State BJP vice-president and legislator Rameshwar Sharma said, The police had killed terrorists, who murdered several cops, looted common people, committed multiple jailbreaks. In the case of Vyapam scam, the probe is completed and the guilty officials are convicted. The probe by CBI is also underway on Supreme Courts directive. We believe in our judiciary and not in US wisdom.

The US State Departments India 2016 Human Rights Report released on Sunday mentions about the MP police having reportedly killed 8 suspected members of the outlawed SIMI after they allegedly murdered a prison guard and escaped from high-security Bhopal Central Jail. The report adds that the NHRC issued a formal complaint against the State government, police and prison authorities, expressing concern about the deaths. The MP police appointed a special investigation team to probe the killings.

About the Vyapam scam, it says: In July 2015, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI probe to take over MP State government investigation of fraud within the professional examination board (Vyapam). Arrests in the case since the investigations began in 2013 included more than 2000 individuals.

In August, the CBI registered a complaint against 60 individuals and filed charges against student candidates and impersonators. The MP High Court granted bail to some of the accused. The CBI was also investigating deaths of 48 individuals over the span of five years, including a journalist, who reported on the fraud.

BHOPAL: The US State Departments India 2016 Human Rights Report featuring the killing of eight men of outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on October 31, 2016, in Bhopal and the multi-crore Vyapam scam has triggered a war of words between the BJP and the Congress here. MP Congress spokesperson K K Mishra said the report has dented the image of the nation globally. Now will the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister file a defamation case against the US president and the state department too, questioned Mishra referring to a defamation suit filed by CM against him. He added that the reference of Vyapam scam particularly has proved beyond doubt that the multi-crore scam being probed presently by the CBI is of international significance. Its time that the MP government introspects its style of governance and makes amends before its too late, said RTI activist Ajay Dube, who claimed that the report was sent to him by the US Embassy on March 16 and his feedback too was sought over the report. Meanwhile, reacting strongly to the Congress spokespersons comments on the US report, MP minister for cooperatives Vishwas Sarang said, No government in our country needs a certificate from the US president or his government on internal matters. President Trump should not forget that terror had struck his own country once. KK Mishra, who has not even won a panchayath election, should not compare self with US president by issuing such statements, added Sarang. State BJP vice-president and legislator Rameshwar Sharma said, The police had killed terrorists, who murdered several cops, looted common people, committed multiple jailbreaks. In the case of Vyapam scam, the probe is completed and the guilty officials are convicted. The probe by CBI is also underway on Supreme Courts directive. We believe in our judiciary and not in US wisdom. The US State Departments India 2016 Human Rights Report released on Sunday mentions about the MP police having reportedly killed 8 suspected members of the outlawed SIMI after they allegedly murdered a prison guard and escaped from high-security Bhopal Central Jail. The report adds that the NHRC issued a formal complaint against the State government, police and prison authorities, expressing concern about the deaths. The MP police appointed a special investigation team to probe the killings. About the Vyapam scam, it says: In July 2015, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI probe to take over MP State government investigation of fraud within the professional examination board (Vyapam). Arrests in the case since the investigations began in 2013 included more than 2000 individuals. In August, the CBI registered a complaint against 60 individuals and filed charges against student candidates and impersonators. The MP High Court granted bail to some of the accused. The CBI was also investigating deaths of 48 individuals over the span of five years, including a journalist, who reported on the fraud.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said "communal reservation" would divide the country, which is why the BJP has "every right" to oppose Telangana government's proposal to hike quota for Muslims in the state.

"We have got every right to oppose. We are opposed to any communal reservation. It is not because of TRS now (in Telangana) ... when Rajasekhara Reddy (former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) brought it, we opposed it; when Chandrababu Naidu proposed it we had opposed it and when TRS brings it, we will oppose it because communal reservation will divide the country," he told reporters here.

The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said BJP will lend support to the ruling TRS government in Telangana if it gives reservation on the basis of social, educational or economic backwardness. "There are poor people among the Muslims. If they are socially, educationally and economically backward, there should be reservation, but not as a religion. BJP is against religious reservation," he said.

Naidu said B R Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had said we cannot give reservation on the basis of religion, so that is why our founding fathers have refused to do it. "Telangana government is free and they can bring a law, but I am sure this law will not stand scrutiny of the legal system," he added.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had recently said his government would soon convene a special session of the Legislature for passage of the bill that seeks to increase quota for tribals and Muslims. BJP has been organising protests against the TRS government's proposal to increase the quota for Muslims, calling it an unconstitutional move.

However, the state government had clarified that the reservation is proposed not on the basis of religion, but for the uplift of backward sections among Muslims. To a query on the Hyderabad High Court acquitting Pidatala Satyam Babu in the sensational murder case of a pharmacy student, Naidu said the Andhra Pradesh government should re-investigate the matter.

"A person who is supposed to be innocent I don't know... has been imprisoned and suffered a lot. Based on the observation of the judiciary, the state government must order re-inquiry into the entire thing. It should be seen that the real culprits are identified," he added. The high court had last week acquitted Babu, 30, who was jailed for eight years in connection with the murder of a female student on December 26, 2007 in a hostel near Vijayawada.

HYDERABAD: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said "communal reservation" would divide the country, which is why the BJP has "every right" to oppose Telangana government's proposal to hike quota for Muslims in the state. "We have got every right to oppose. We are opposed to any communal reservation. It is not because of TRS now (in Telangana) ... when Rajasekhara Reddy (former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) brought it, we opposed it; when Chandrababu Naidu proposed it we had opposed it and when TRS brings it, we will oppose it because communal reservation will divide the country," he told reporters here. The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said BJP will lend support to the ruling TRS government in Telangana if it gives reservation on the basis of social, educational or economic backwardness. "There are poor people among the Muslims. If they are socially, educationally and economically backward, there should be reservation, but not as a religion. BJP is against religious reservation," he said. Naidu said B R Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had said we cannot give reservation on the basis of religion, so that is why our founding fathers have refused to do it. "Telangana government is free and they can bring a law, but I am sure this law will not stand scrutiny of the legal system," he added. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had recently said his government would soon convene a special session of the Legislature for passage of the bill that seeks to increase quota for tribals and Muslims. BJP has been organising protests against the TRS government's proposal to increase the quota for Muslims, calling it an unconstitutional move. However, the state government had clarified that the reservation is proposed not on the basis of religion, but for the uplift of backward sections among Muslims. To a query on the Hyderabad High Court acquitting Pidatala Satyam Babu in the sensational murder case of a pharmacy student, Naidu said the Andhra Pradesh government should re-investigate the matter. "A person who is supposed to be innocent I don't know... has been imprisoned and suffered a lot. Based on the observation of the judiciary, the state government must order re-inquiry into the entire thing. It should be seen that the real culprits are identified," he added. The high court had last week acquitted Babu, 30, who was jailed for eight years in connection with the murder of a female student on December 26, 2007 in a hostel near Vijayawada.
Anuraag Singh By

Express News Service

BHOPAL: Prompted by women protesting against liquor vends in residential localities across the State, Abhishek Bhargava, son of powerful Madhya Pradesh panchayat and rural development minister Gopal Bhargava has sought total prohibition of liquor in the State.

The 33-year-old MBA from Dr HS Gaur University, Sagar, has also announced constituting an anti-sharab dal (anti-liquor squad) comprising of women and youth who would launch a movement against liquor vends in residential areas.

He will carry a padyatra across his fathers assembly constituency Rehli (Sagar), in support of total alcohol prohibition after the ongoing Navratra ends.

If the movement is successful in Rehli, it would spread all across Sagar district, said Abhishek.

Over the last few days, violent protests by people, particularly women have been reported from different districts, including Sagar, Chhattarpur, Satna, Betul and Indore. The violent protest by women in Rond village in my native town of Garhakota in Sagar district has prompted me to urge our popular CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to go for a total prohibition of liquor in the State, Abhishek told The New Indian Express.

Abhishek Bhargava, who is also the State Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJPs youth wing) vice president, made a detailed post on his Facebook page on Monday, where he appealed to the CM for a total liquor ban. He also wrote that liquor was being illegally sold in Madhya Pradesh in collusion with government machinery.

There is no politics in it, as every politician should understand the popular mood in society and work accordingly as a social activist first. The public mood is for a liquor ban in the State, Abhishek said

While Abhisheks father, Madhya Pradesh minister for Panchayat and Rural development Gopal Bhargava couldnt be contacted to comment on his sons call , despite repeated attempts, State BJP spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said BJP is in favour of a peaceful society and also wants the end of liquor culture. But there are certain practical issues involved with total liquor prohibition which have surfaced already in other States where total liquor prohibition has been put in place.

Though the ruling BJP adopted a guarded response over Abhisheks call, the opposition Congress welcomed it.

We appreciate and welcome Abhisheks social media post and call for a total liquor ban in MP. But how will it be possible when there have been instances where vehicles sell liquor in areas close to Bhopal in the wake of closure of liquor vends near National highways post the Supreme Court order, said State Congress spokesperson KK Mishra.

There are currently around 3,600 licensed liquor vends in the State through which the Excise department earned a revenue of Rs 5,750 crores in 2016-17. The State Excise Department, which is likely to lose Rs 118 crore due to closure of shops in the vicinity of the river Narmada, announced by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, hopes to earn Rs 6,300 crores through licensed liquor vends in 2017-18.

The Congress is planning to launch a State-wide movement for liquor prohibition, pre-empting that Shivraj Singh Chouhan might announce it in the next State budget. Abhisheks call for for prohibition is being seen by political watchers as a calculated move by his father Gopal Bhargava to tackle the rising political clout of home minister Bhupendra Singh in Sagar district.

In September 2016, a court in Raisen district had issued an arrest warrant against Abhishek Bhargav in a chit fund fraud case, but later granted him bail.

In 2008, Abhishek was arrested along with supporters for taking out a jail bharo padyatra over allegations that he had beaten up Congress leader Bhagvan Singh.

In April 2015, Abhishek had again hogged headlines, when he and his sister Avantika tied the knot with their respective partners at a mass wedding of 1,350 couples of different castes in their hometown of Garhakota, in Sagar district.

BHOPAL: Prompted by women protesting against liquor vends in residential localities across the State, Abhishek Bhargava, son of powerful Madhya Pradesh panchayat and rural development minister Gopal Bhargava has sought total prohibition of liquor in the State. The 33-year-old MBA from Dr HS Gaur University, Sagar, has also announced constituting an anti-sharab dal (anti-liquor squad) comprising of women and youth who would launch a movement against liquor vends in residential areas. He will carry a padyatra across his fathers assembly constituency Rehli (Sagar), in support of total alcohol prohibition after the ongoing Navratra ends. If the movement is successful in Rehli, it would spread all across Sagar district, said Abhishek. Over the last few days, violent protests by people, particularly women have been reported from different districts, including Sagar, Chhattarpur, Satna, Betul and Indore. The violent protest by women in Rond village in my native town of Garhakota in Sagar district has prompted me to urge our popular CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to go for a total prohibition of liquor in the State, Abhishek told The New Indian Express. Abhishek Bhargava, who is also the State Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJPs youth wing) vice president, made a detailed post on his Facebook page on Monday, where he appealed to the CM for a total liquor ban. He also wrote that liquor was being illegally sold in Madhya Pradesh in collusion with government machinery. There is no politics in it, as every politician should understand the popular mood in society and work accordingly as a social activist first. The public mood is for a liquor ban in the State, Abhishek said While Abhisheks father, Madhya Pradesh minister for Panchayat and Rural development Gopal Bhargava couldnt be contacted to comment on his sons call , despite repeated attempts, State BJP spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said BJP is in favour of a peaceful society and also wants the end of liquor culture. But there are certain practical issues involved with total liquor prohibition which have surfaced already in other States where total liquor prohibition has been put in place. Though the ruling BJP adopted a guarded response over Abhisheks call, the opposition Congress welcomed it. We appreciate and welcome Abhisheks social media post and call for a total liquor ban in MP. But how will it be possible when there have been instances where vehicles sell liquor in areas close to Bhopal in the wake of closure of liquor vends near National highways post the Supreme Court order, said State Congress spokesperson KK Mishra. There are currently around 3,600 licensed liquor vends in the State through which the Excise department earned a revenue of Rs 5,750 crores in 2016-17. The State Excise Department, which is likely to lose Rs 118 crore due to closure of shops in the vicinity of the river Narmada, announced by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, hopes to earn Rs 6,300 crores through licensed liquor vends in 2017-18. The Congress is planning to launch a State-wide movement for liquor prohibition, pre-empting that Shivraj Singh Chouhan might announce it in the next State budget. Abhisheks call for for prohibition is being seen by political watchers as a calculated move by his father Gopal Bhargava to tackle the rising political clout of home minister Bhupendra Singh in Sagar district. In September 2016, a court in Raisen district had issued an arrest warrant against Abhishek Bhargav in a chit fund fraud case, but later granted him bail. In 2008, Abhishek was arrested along with supporters for taking out a jail bharo padyatra over allegations that he had beaten up Congress leader Bhagvan Singh. In April 2015, Abhishek had again hogged headlines, when he and his sister Avantika tied the knot with their respective partners at a mass wedding of 1,350 couples of different castes in their hometown of Garhakota, in Sagar district.
Ritu Sharma By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday turned down the US offer to broker peace with its neighbor Pakistan saying that it is still for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues. However, it exhorted the international community to ensure that terror emanating from Pakistan is abated.

The question cropped up after the US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley hinted that President Donald Trump has been concerned about the tensions between the two South Asian countries and may get involved in a peace process to de-escalate the conflict.

This administration (Trump government) is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, told reporters at the United Nations. This is departure from the earlier US position of non-interference in India-Pakistan conflict.

Also read: It will be premature to draw conclusion over Haley's remarks: Meera Shankar

Contending that the US would be exploring option to be part of the de-escalation process, Haley said: So I think that will be something that you will see members of the National Security Council participate in but also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates in that as well."

Reacting to it the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay reminded the US that the Indian Governments position has been to have bilateral resolution of the conflict with Pakistan and has categorically ruled out any third party mediation. Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed, Baglay said.

We of course expect international community and organizations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," Baglay added.

This is another instance of the shaky wicket on which India finds itself post Trumps victory in the US. Former US President Barak Obama has also articulated this during his campaign but did not actively pursued to mediate between the South Asian antagonists. However, Haley said: "We don't think we should wait until something happens. We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so want to see if we can be a part of that."

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday turned down the US offer to broker peace with its neighbor Pakistan saying that it is still for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues. However, it exhorted the international community to ensure that terror emanating from Pakistan is abated. The question cropped up after the US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley hinted that President Donald Trump has been concerned about the tensions between the two South Asian countries and may get involved in a peace process to de-escalate the conflict. This administration (Trump government) is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, told reporters at the United Nations. This is departure from the earlier US position of non-interference in India-Pakistan conflict. Also read: It will be premature to draw conclusion over Haley's remarks: Meera Shankar Contending that the US would be exploring option to be part of the de-escalation process, Haley said: So I think that will be something that you will see members of the National Security Council participate in but also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates in that as well." Reacting to it the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay reminded the US that the Indian Governments position has been to have bilateral resolution of the conflict with Pakistan and has categorically ruled out any third party mediation. Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed, Baglay said. We of course expect international community and organizations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," Baglay added. This is another instance of the shaky wicket on which India finds itself post Trumps victory in the US. Former US President Barak Obama has also articulated this during his campaign but did not actively pursued to mediate between the South Asian antagonists. However, Haley said: "We don't think we should wait until something happens. We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so want to see if we can be a part of that."
Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Amid rising tensions between their two parties in Bihars grand alliance government, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar on Monday night and discussed a wide range of issues for 90 minutes.



We discussed several issues. I made it clear that I will not let anything destabilise the grand alliance government in Bihar, said Yadav to journalists on Tuesday. The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere, and we had an agreement on all issues. There is no crisis in the three-party grand alliance government in the State, added Yadav.



Prominent among the issues the two top leaders and former rivals discussed, was the tough task of forming a national alliance of anti-BJP parties to take on BJP and its allies. A day after Lalu Prasad Yadav had voiced the need for forming such an alliance, terming it the need of the hour, Nitish Kumar had on Monday stressed on the necessity of forging this alliance.



We discussed all aspects of the task before us formation of an alliance of anti-BJP parties in the country. He (Kumar) also agreed with me. We will take these efforts forward, said Yadav. He (Kumar) agreed that we have to form a national alliance of anti-BJP parties in all circumstances in order to stop BJPs rise. Congress, being the largest of these parties, should take the first step and lead the efforts to bring the diverse parties on a single platform, he added.



Sources said Lalu Prasad Yadav was prompted to meet Kumar after learning that the JD(U) stalwart was full of indignation due to RJDs decision to contest in the upcoming municipal corporation polls in Delhi. JD(U) has already gone ahead in selecting candidates for the MCD polls. RJD, though it had no plans to contest those polls till a few days ago, had made the announcement on Monday.



Bihars main Opposition BJP ridiculed the talk of Yadav and Kumar joining hands to form an anti-BJP national alliance and said the meeting between the two leaders was to iron out the thorny issues between RJD and JD(U).



Sources also said Lalu Prasad Yadav met Nitish Kumar to discuss the soil scam issue senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi raised on Tuesday. Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that soil worth Rs 90 lakh was sold and transported to Patna zoo from the site of an under-construction shopping mall, owned by Yadavs elder son and minister Tej Pratap Yadav in violation of the rules. RJD has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

PATNA: Amid rising tensions between their two parties in Bihars grand alliance government, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar on Monday night and discussed a wide range of issues for 90 minutes. We discussed several issues. I made it clear that I will not let anything destabilise the grand alliance government in Bihar, said Yadav to journalists on Tuesday. The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere, and we had an agreement on all issues. There is no crisis in the three-party grand alliance government in the State, added Yadav. Prominent among the issues the two top leaders and former rivals discussed, was the tough task of forming a national alliance of anti-BJP parties to take on BJP and its allies. A day after Lalu Prasad Yadav had voiced the need for forming such an alliance, terming it the need of the hour, Nitish Kumar had on Monday stressed on the necessity of forging this alliance. We discussed all aspects of the task before us formation of an alliance of anti-BJP parties in the country. He (Kumar) also agreed with me. We will take these efforts forward, said Yadav. He (Kumar) agreed that we have to form a national alliance of anti-BJP parties in all circumstances in order to stop BJPs rise. Congress, being the largest of these parties, should take the first step and lead the efforts to bring the diverse parties on a single platform, he added. Sources said Lalu Prasad Yadav was prompted to meet Kumar after learning that the JD(U) stalwart was full of indignation due to RJDs decision to contest in the upcoming municipal corporation polls in Delhi. JD(U) has already gone ahead in selecting candidates for the MCD polls. RJD, though it had no plans to contest those polls till a few days ago, had made the announcement on Monday. Bihars main Opposition BJP ridiculed the talk of Yadav and Kumar joining hands to form an anti-BJP national alliance and said the meeting between the two leaders was to iron out the thorny issues between RJD and JD(U). Sources also said Lalu Prasad Yadav met Nitish Kumar to discuss the soil scam issue senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi raised on Tuesday. Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that soil worth Rs 90 lakh was sold and transported to Patna zoo from the site of an under-construction shopping mall, owned by Yadavs elder son and minister Tej Pratap Yadav in violation of the rules. RJD has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: After three militant strikes in Srinagar in three days, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday asked Pakistan to stop supporting and abetting militancy in the State and pave for dialogue.

During the Vajpayee era, Pakistan had adopted the policy of not allowing its soil to be used for anti-India activities. I appeal the present Pakistan government to renew their policy and stop supporting and backing militancy in the State, Mehbooba said while addressing party workers in Dooru area of South Kashmirs Anantnag district today and seeking votes for her brother, Tassaduq Mufti.

Mehboobas cinematographer brother Tassaduq Mufti is contesting bypolls from the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat against State Congress chief G A Mir, who is joint candidate of National Conference and Congress.

The bypolls for Anantnag seat in South Kashmir will be held on April 12.

I appeal Pakistan to revisit their policy and make atmosphere conducive for restoration of peace in the region as well as the dialogue process, Mehbooba said.

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December last year had rekindled hopes of improving relations between the two neighbouring countries.

"PM Modi went on to Lahore to meet Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. It rekindled the new hope but unfortunately Pathankot militant attack took place and tension again gripped relations between the two countries, said Mehbooba, who completed one year in office as first woman Chief Minister of the State today.

She had taken over as CM of PDP-BJP coalition government on April 4 last year after death of his father on January 7, 2016.

Mehboobas statement comes after three militant attacks in Srinagar in three days in which two security men were killed and 23 others injured.

Meanwhile, State Congress chief G A Mir, who is contesting against Mehboobas brother in bypolls for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, said Kashmir is a long pending issue, which has to be resolved to maintain peace in this sub-continent.

If the issue remains unresolved, it will cost generations ahead. Besides there will be a complete uncertainty in this sub-continent, which is fraught with dangerous consequences, he said while addressing party workers in South Kashmir

Asking the central government to come forward with a roadmap to settle this long pending issue, Mir said PM Narendra Modi has a clear mandate and he should not waste time and take some concrete measures to address the Kashmir issue.

The electioneering for bypolls to Anantnag-Pulwama and Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seats has remained a low key affair.

SRINAGAR: After three militant strikes in Srinagar in three days, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday asked Pakistan to stop supporting and abetting militancy in the State and pave for dialogue. During the Vajpayee era, Pakistan had adopted the policy of not allowing its soil to be used for anti-India activities. I appeal the present Pakistan government to renew their policy and stop supporting and backing militancy in the State, Mehbooba said while addressing party workers in Dooru area of South Kashmirs Anantnag district today and seeking votes for her brother, Tassaduq Mufti. Mehboobas cinematographer brother Tassaduq Mufti is contesting bypolls from the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat against State Congress chief G A Mir, who is joint candidate of National Conference and Congress. The bypolls for Anantnag seat in South Kashmir will be held on April 12. I appeal Pakistan to revisit their policy and make atmosphere conducive for restoration of peace in the region as well as the dialogue process, Mehbooba said. She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan in December last year had rekindled hopes of improving relations between the two neighbouring countries. "PM Modi went on to Lahore to meet Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. It rekindled the new hope but unfortunately Pathankot militant attack took place and tension again gripped relations between the two countries, said Mehbooba, who completed one year in office as first woman Chief Minister of the State today. She had taken over as CM of PDP-BJP coalition government on April 4 last year after death of his father on January 7, 2016. Mehboobas statement comes after three militant attacks in Srinagar in three days in which two security men were killed and 23 others injured. Meanwhile, State Congress chief G A Mir, who is contesting against Mehboobas brother in bypolls for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, said Kashmir is a long pending issue, which has to be resolved to maintain peace in this sub-continent. If the issue remains unresolved, it will cost generations ahead. Besides there will be a complete uncertainty in this sub-continent, which is fraught with dangerous consequences, he said while addressing party workers in South Kashmir Asking the central government to come forward with a roadmap to settle this long pending issue, Mir said PM Narendra Modi has a clear mandate and he should not waste time and take some concrete measures to address the Kashmir issue. The electioneering for bypolls to Anantnag-Pulwama and Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seats has remained a low key affair.
By Express News Service

KANNUR: Kannur police on Tuesday arrested a 46-year-old member of a CPM branch committee for sexually assaulting a 70-year-old woman, who was found hanging in her ancestral house at Muzhakkunu, here on March 30.



The accused, C M Rajeevan is a resident of Aralam, while the deceased woman, Sarjoini,a widow, was from Pazhanchery in Irrity. She came to her ancestral house at Muzhakkunu and was alone in the house as her sister had gone out. Rajeevan, an electrician-plumber had come to a house adjoining the victims ancestral house.



The neighbours found her body at around 6 pm and informed the police. The post-mortem report confirmed that Sarojini was sexually abused right before her death.



As soon as the post-mortem report was out, the police took Rajeevan into custody for interrogation as two children had seen him visiting the house at about 11 am.



Later, during the medical examination of the accused by the doctor, nine nail marks of the victim were found on his body, which confirmed his role in the incident.



The accused has two children, studying in class seventh and 11, while the victim is survived by three children, two of whom are government servants.

Police said that there were a few criminal cases against Rajeevan, who will be produced before the court by Tuesday evening.

KANNUR: Kannur police on Tuesday arrested a 46-year-old member of a CPM branch committee for sexually assaulting a 70-year-old woman, who was found hanging in her ancestral house at Muzhakkunu, here on March 30. The accused, C M Rajeevan is a resident of Aralam, while the deceased woman, Sarjoini,a widow, was from Pazhanchery in Irrity. She came to her ancestral house at Muzhakkunu and was alone in the house as her sister had gone out. Rajeevan, an electrician-plumber had come to a house adjoining the victims ancestral house. The neighbours found her body at around 6 pm and informed the police. The post-mortem report confirmed that Sarojini was sexually abused right before her death. As soon as the post-mortem report was out, the police took Rajeevan into custody for interrogation as two children had seen him visiting the house at about 11 am. Later, during the medical examination of the accused by the doctor, nine nail marks of the victim were found on his body, which confirmed his role in the incident. The accused has two children, studying in class seventh and 11, while the victim is survived by three children, two of whom are government servants. Police said that there were a few criminal cases against Rajeevan, who will be produced before the court by Tuesday evening.
By Express News Service

MANGALURU: Several activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) were injured after police resorted to lathi charge when they tried to barge into the police commissioner's office demanding the release of one of their activists on Tuesday morning .



The PFI activists pelted stones at buses and clashed with the police in which a few policemen also sustained injuries.



According to PFI activists, the City Crime Branch (CCB) police had arrested Ahmed Khureshi, a resident of Katipalla, Kaikamba in connection with an attempt to murder case recently.



They alleged that Khureshi was subjected to torture during interrogation and was shifted to Wenlock Hospital for treatment.





On hearing this, PFI activists staged a protest demanding justice and immediate release of Ahmed Khureshi.



According to the police, the PFI activists did not secure permission for the protest. Despite being warned not to enter, activists surrounded the officials and shouted slogans, while attempting to enter the commissioners chamber.



As many as 70 protesters were arrested for allegedly manhandling and attacking police and damaging public property. They were later taken to Urwa police station.

Meanwhile, social media was abuzz with both the reports and the rumours related to the clash.



While PFI activists claim that police physically and mentally tortured Mohammed Khureshi on the pretext of interrogation, the police department denied the allegations and called it baseless.

Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar told reporters that Quereshi had some kidney related problems for which he was getting treatment.



"Quereshi was arrested on charges of attempt to murder and there is no truth in the allegations of police atrocity on the PFI activist," Chandra Sekhar said.

MANGALURU: Several activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) were injured after police resorted to lathi charge when they tried to barge into the police commissioner's office demanding the release of one of their activists on Tuesday morning . The PFI activists pelted stones at buses and clashed with the police in which a few policemen also sustained injuries. According to PFI activists, the City Crime Branch (CCB) police had arrested Ahmed Khureshi, a resident of Katipalla, Kaikamba in connection with an attempt to murder case recently. They alleged that Khureshi was subjected to torture during interrogation and was shifted to Wenlock Hospital for treatment. On hearing this, PFI activists staged a protest demanding justice and immediate release of Ahmed Khureshi. According to the police, the PFI activists did not secure permission for the protest. Despite being warned not to enter, activists surrounded the officials and shouted slogans, while attempting to enter the commissioners chamber. As many as 70 protesters were arrested for allegedly manhandling and attacking police and damaging public property. They were later taken to Urwa police station. Meanwhile, social media was abuzz with both the reports and the rumours related to the clash. While PFI activists claim that police physically and mentally tortured Mohammed Khureshi on the pretext of interrogation, the police department denied the allegations and called it baseless. Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar told reporters that Quereshi had some kidney related problems for which he was getting treatment. "Quereshi was arrested on charges of attempt to murder and there is no truth in the allegations of police atrocity on the PFI activist," Chandra Sekhar said.
Karal Marx L By

Express News Service

VILLUPURAM: A lengthy chargesheet (about 500 pages) including the testimonials of 348 eyewitnesses was filed by the Villupuram CB-CID officials in connection with the mysterious death of three girl students of SVS college more than a year ago, on Monday.

The chargesheet accuses three entities and five persons including college chairman Vasuki Subramanian, correspondent Subramanian, Swakar Varma, son of Vasuki and college mate of the deceased, Principal Kalanithi and Peru Venkatesan, an accomplice of Vasuki. It is alleged that Venakatesan was used by Vasuki to threaten students and collect exorbitant fees from them. The CB-CID also booked SVS BNYS College, SVS Educational Trust and its homeopathy research institution in the case.

The CB-CID sleuths claim that the eight accused extorted D1.6 crore from parents of students by flouting university guidelines. Chief Judicial Magistrate Subha Anbumani who received the chargesheet ordered the court officials to prepare a summons list for further procedures.

SVS College, a private naturopathy and yoga science institution attached to the Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University was inaugurated at Bangaram village near Chinna Salem in 2008.

While the fee set by the government was stipulated to D25,000 a semester, the college allegedly collected an exorbitant fees of up to D1.2 lakh per student apart from a heavy admission fee.

Despite charging an exorbitant fee, the college had a poor infrastructure, for instance the laboratories of the college were serving as the hostel for both boys and girls eight years since its inauguration.

It also lacked basic facilities and never had doors for its toilets, drinking water for students, required books at the libraries and qualified faculties. And during inspections, senior students performed the role of faculty members after being threatened by the college administration.

In the absence of cooks, security men and other workers, students were forced to do their work and some students were even forced to do construction work and draw water from wells. Unable to put up with the torture, students filed an RTI request and obtained copies of many representations the college had made to the District Collector since 2013.

As no action was taken, six students who were suspended from the college for protesting, staged a suicide attempt within the premises of the collectorate by consuming pesticide.

But the most shocking incident occurred on January 1, 2016 as the bodies of three girls  T Monisha (19) from Ernavur, Chennai, V Priyanka (19) from Thiruvarur and E Saranya (19) from Cheyyar, all second-year bachelors in naturopathy and yoga students, were found dead in a farm well near to the college. The suicide note said they took the extreme step owing to the enormous fees charged by the college apart from repeated harassment and torture.

VILLUPURAM: A lengthy chargesheet (about 500 pages) including the testimonials of 348 eyewitnesses was filed by the Villupuram CB-CID officials in connection with the mysterious death of three girl students of SVS college more than a year ago, on Monday. The chargesheet accuses three entities and five persons including college chairman Vasuki Subramanian, correspondent Subramanian, Swakar Varma, son of Vasuki and college mate of the deceased, Principal Kalanithi and Peru Venkatesan, an accomplice of Vasuki. It is alleged that Venakatesan was used by Vasuki to threaten students and collect exorbitant fees from them. The CB-CID also booked SVS BNYS College, SVS Educational Trust and its homeopathy research institution in the case. The CB-CID sleuths claim that the eight accused extorted D1.6 crore from parents of students by flouting university guidelines. Chief Judicial Magistrate Subha Anbumani who received the chargesheet ordered the court officials to prepare a summons list for further procedures. SVS College, a private naturopathy and yoga science institution attached to the Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University was inaugurated at Bangaram village near Chinna Salem in 2008. While the fee set by the government was stipulated to D25,000 a semester, the college allegedly collected an exorbitant fees of up to D1.2 lakh per student apart from a heavy admission fee. Despite charging an exorbitant fee, the college had a poor infrastructure, for instance the laboratories of the college were serving as the hostel for both boys and girls eight years since its inauguration. It also lacked basic facilities and never had doors for its toilets, drinking water for students, required books at the libraries and qualified faculties. And during inspections, senior students performed the role of faculty members after being threatened by the college administration. In the absence of cooks, security men and other workers, students were forced to do their work and some students were even forced to do construction work and draw water from wells. Unable to put up with the torture, students filed an RTI request and obtained copies of many representations the college had made to the District Collector since 2013. As no action was taken, six students who were suspended from the college for protesting, staged a suicide attempt within the premises of the collectorate by consuming pesticide. But the most shocking incident occurred on January 1, 2016 as the bodies of three girls  T Monisha (19) from Ernavur, Chennai, V Priyanka (19) from Thiruvarur and E Saranya (19) from Cheyyar, all second-year bachelors in naturopathy and yoga students, were found dead in a farm well near to the college. The suicide note said they took the extreme step owing to the enormous fees charged by the college apart from repeated harassment and torture.
By Online Desk

The Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of all farmers in cooperative banks. Earlier, Tamil Nadu government had waived cooperative bank loans of farmers owning upto 5 acres land

The High court direction comes as a slight relief for the farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for more than two weeks demanding a state drought package of Rs 40,000 crore, waiver of farmer loans and formation of Cauvery management board.

The court noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single-handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide.

A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and M V Muralidaran, while giving the order, also has suggested that the Centre should come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."

The court today gave the above order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association.

"We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the Advocate

General also reiterated the same. The government is already single-handedly shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore," said the bench.

The court also directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of 2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres.

"We further direct the department to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench added.

The National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association also alleged that the government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal.

The association also urged the court to direct authorities for providing relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of extent of land owned.

The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement today at the principal seat here.

"In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said.

(with inputs from agencies)

The Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of all farmers in cooperative banks. Earlier, Tamil Nadu government had waived cooperative bank loans of farmers owning upto 5 acres land The High court direction comes as a slight relief for the farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for more than two weeks demanding a state drought package of Rs 40,000 crore, waiver of farmer loans and formation of Cauvery management board. The court noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single-handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide. A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and M V Muralidaran, while giving the order, also has suggested that the Centre should come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation." The court today gave the above order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association. "We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the Advocate General also reiterated the same. The government is already single-handedly shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore," said the bench. The court also directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of 2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres. "We further direct the department to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench added. The National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association also alleged that the government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal. The association also urged the court to direct authorities for providing relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of extent of land owned. The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement today at the principal seat here. "In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. "Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said. (with inputs from agencies)
By Express News Service

Loss of livelihood and revenue dominated the debate on the Supreme Court ban on sale of alcohol along highways. The Centre on Monday said it would try to find a middle path on the issue. While Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma stressed the impact the move could have on the tourism industry and said the government was trying to find a solution, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant expressed concern over lakhs of people who could be rendered jobless with the closure of alcohol outlets, bars and restaurants along highways. Supreme Courts highway liquor ban may hit 1 million jobs, Kant tweeted.

In the states, governments weighed the impact of the ban and totted up the revenue loss due to closure of outlets. With liquor revenues amounting to as much as 10 per cent of some State budgets, the impact is going to be significant but it seemed to be overstated by interest groups.

Among states, Punjab was the one making most of the noise, with the States Hotel and Restaurant Association making the direst predictions. Tourism will vanish from the State and there will be job losses. There are 2,800 hotels and restaurants along the highways in the State, all of them with bars or pubs. This order will kill 80 per cent of them, said Satish Arora, the lobbys president.

Estimates of revenue losses ranged from Rs 15,000 crore per year in Punjab (excise duties plus service tax losses), to Rs 7,000 crore in Maharashtra, Rs 6,000 in Tamil Nadu, to Rs 720 crore in Assam. Reflecting Amitabh Kant, states put out claims on job losses. N Periyasamy, Tamil Nadu president for the TASMAC Employees Union said the impact would be on 12,000 workers in the State, while reports from Bengal spoke of 10,000 people being thrown off their jobs.

However, almost every State government summoned its lawyers to explore ways round the ban. First off the blocks, Maharashtra floated the idea that 10,000 outlets in the State can be saved if the State highways could be denotified and devolved to municipalities. The catch is that this would mean that the roads would have to be maintained by the local municipalities, which some districts were not unwilling to do.

What came out clearly is that every State is going to do its utmost to protect their liquor rupees. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana were luckier than the rest, having been given time till the end of June  or even longer  to comply with the Supreme Court fiat. Thats when their new booze year begins, and they have the luxury of awarding licences only to those beyond the 500m zone. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh awarded its new licences in the full knowledge of the ruling, and therefore needs to close no vend.

Loss of livelihood and revenue dominated the debate on the Supreme Court ban on sale of alcohol along highways. The Centre on Monday said it would try to find a middle path on the issue. While Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma stressed the impact the move could have on the tourism industry and said the government was trying to find a solution, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant expressed concern over lakhs of people who could be rendered jobless with the closure of alcohol outlets, bars and restaurants along highways. Supreme Courts highway liquor ban may hit 1 million jobs, Kant tweeted. In the states, governments weighed the impact of the ban and totted up the revenue loss due to closure of outlets. With liquor revenues amounting to as much as 10 per cent of some State budgets, the impact is going to be significant but it seemed to be overstated by interest groups. Among states, Punjab was the one making most of the noise, with the States Hotel and Restaurant Association making the direst predictions. Tourism will vanish from the State and there will be job losses. There are 2,800 hotels and restaurants along the highways in the State, all of them with bars or pubs. This order will kill 80 per cent of them, said Satish Arora, the lobbys president. Estimates of revenue losses ranged from Rs 15,000 crore per year in Punjab (excise duties plus service tax losses), to Rs 7,000 crore in Maharashtra, Rs 6,000 in Tamil Nadu, to Rs 720 crore in Assam. Reflecting Amitabh Kant, states put out claims on job losses. N Periyasamy, Tamil Nadu president for the TASMAC Employees Union said the impact would be on 12,000 workers in the State, while reports from Bengal spoke of 10,000 people being thrown off their jobs. However, almost every State government summoned its lawyers to explore ways round the ban. First off the blocks, Maharashtra floated the idea that 10,000 outlets in the State can be saved if the State highways could be denotified and devolved to municipalities. The catch is that this would mean that the roads would have to be maintained by the local municipalities, which some districts were not unwilling to do. What came out clearly is that every State is going to do its utmost to protect their liquor rupees. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana were luckier than the rest, having been given time till the end of June  or even longer  to comply with the Supreme Court fiat. Thats when their new booze year begins, and they have the luxury of awarding licences only to those beyond the 500m zone. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh awarded its new licences in the full knowledge of the ruling, and therefore needs to close no vend.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: After putting the Telangana State on its ambitious agenda for making the party expand its wings to Southern States by 2019 polls, BJP leadership has decided to send five Union ministers along with party national president Amit Shah to the state one after another, from April 7 to April 14, as part of its efforts to strengthen the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.



At first, Amit Shah will visit the state on April 7 to give a direction to his party rank and file in Telangana. Shah will address a meeting of BJP leaders belonging to Hyderabad Parliamentary segment at LB Stadium here on that day, besides kickstarting partys Parliamentary constituency-wise meetings across the state, to be held from April 7 to April 14.

According to a party sources, during his visit, Shah will take part in a programme to be organised at a Dalit wada in Hyderabad in order to win over the community.



We have begun taking steps to strengthen our party at booth level in every Assembly segment in order to gain power in the state by 2019 polls. So far, we have appointed 13,000 committees at polling booth level across the state, BJP state unit chief K Laxman said here on Monday.



According to him, the BJP will celebrate the party foundation day on April 6 in a big way across the state. The party will hold parliamentary constituency-wise meetings from April 7 to April 14, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, in every Lok Sabha segment in the state.

Besides five Union ministers, party representatives from Delhi will tour each constituency during the week-long programme to strengthen the party from booth level.

HYDERABAD: After putting the Telangana State on its ambitious agenda for making the party expand its wings to Southern States by 2019 polls, BJP leadership has decided to send five Union ministers along with party national president Amit Shah to the state one after another, from April 7 to April 14, as part of its efforts to strengthen the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. At first, Amit Shah will visit the state on April 7 to give a direction to his party rank and file in Telangana. Shah will address a meeting of BJP leaders belonging to Hyderabad Parliamentary segment at LB Stadium here on that day, besides kickstarting partys Parliamentary constituency-wise meetings across the state, to be held from April 7 to April 14. According to a party sources, during his visit, Shah will take part in a programme to be organised at a Dalit wada in Hyderabad in order to win over the community. We have begun taking steps to strengthen our party at booth level in every Assembly segment in order to gain power in the state by 2019 polls. So far, we have appointed 13,000 committees at polling booth level across the state, BJP state unit chief K Laxman said here on Monday. According to him, the BJP will celebrate the party foundation day on April 6 in a big way across the state. The party will hold parliamentary constituency-wise meetings from April 7 to April 14, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, in every Lok Sabha segment in the state. Besides five Union ministers, party representatives from Delhi will tour each constituency during the week-long programme to strengthen the party from booth level.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump set human rights scandals aside to welcome Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House 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.

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 -

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."

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump set human rights scandals aside to welcome Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House 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. 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 - 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." window.__ventunoplayer = window.__ventunoplayer||[]; window.__ventunoplayer.push({video_key: 'OTE1NzMzfHw4fHw2fHwxLDIsMQ==', holder_id: 'vt-video-player', player_type: 'vp', width:'100%', ratio:'4:3'}); 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."
By AFP

WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies would have "no defense" against large numbers of ground-launched cruise missiles of the type recently deployed by Russia, a top US general warned Tuesday.

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile system in contravention of a 1987 US-Russia arms control deal, known as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF.)

General John Hyten, who heads the US military's Strategic Command, told lawmakers that a single ground-launched cruise missile is not a significant threat, but the calculus changes if multiple missiles are launched.

"We have no defence for it, especially in defence of our European allies," Hyten told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed. ... It is a concern and we're going to have to figure out how to deal with it as a nation."

US officials have not described the missile deployed by the Russians, but experts say it could be easily tipped with a nuclear warhead.

The 1987 INF treaty put an end to a mini-arms race triggered by the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western European capitals.

Russia says it has not violated the INF treaty but has accused Washington of doing so itself.

Russia is modernising its entire nuclear force, and Hyten said the breaching of the INF treaty was a "concern" that "we're going to have to consider as we look forward to how we deal with Russia."

The general also warned about the growing threat to America's satellites, an essential component of its global security apparatus.

China and Russia are developing technologies to target the satellites in the event of a conflict, he said.

WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies would have "no defense" against large numbers of ground-launched cruise missiles of the type recently deployed by Russia, a top US general warned Tuesday. The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile system in contravention of a 1987 US-Russia arms control deal, known as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF.) General John Hyten, who heads the US military's Strategic Command, told lawmakers that a single ground-launched cruise missile is not a significant threat, but the calculus changes if multiple missiles are launched. "We have no defence for it, especially in defence of our European allies," Hyten told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed. ... It is a concern and we're going to have to figure out how to deal with it as a nation." US officials have not described the missile deployed by the Russians, but experts say it could be easily tipped with a nuclear warhead. The 1987 INF treaty put an end to a mini-arms race triggered by the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western European capitals. Russia says it has not violated the INF treaty but has accused Washington of doing so itself. Russia is modernising its entire nuclear force, and Hyten said the breaching of the INF treaty was a "concern" that "we're going to have to consider as we look forward to how we deal with Russia." The general also warned about the growing threat to America's satellites, an essential component of its global security apparatus. China and Russia are developing technologies to target the satellites in the event of a conflict, he said.
By AFP

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC, on Tuesday called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle.

Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit rating downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet.

"We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing.

"The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot".

Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994.

It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down.

"Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying Tuesday that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same".

"(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria.

"We are proud of having added many young ministers."

Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that Monday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy.

"We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference.

"What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines."

S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers.

The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing.

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 three percent against the US dollar following Monday night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT on Tuesday.

Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".

South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country".

"It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article.

Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence.

"The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's powerful trade union federation Cosatu, a key coalition partner of the ruling ANC, on Tuesday called for embattled President Jacob Zuma to resign following a deeply unpopular cabinet reshuffle. Union general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it was time for Zuma to "step down" after his purge last week of cabinet critics, which included the removal of the respected former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. Gordhan's sacking contributed to a credit rating downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor's as pressure on Zuma grew over the president's move to oust opponents within the cabinet. "We no longer believe in his leadership abilities," Ntshalintshali said at a media briefing. "The president was careless and reckless," he said, adding that the downgrade would "cost the country a lot". Cosatu, along with the South African Communist Party and the ANC, was at the forefront of the effort to dislodge white-minority rule in South Africa that led to non-racial elections in 1994. It has openly backed Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who led Cosatu during the anti-apartheid struggle, to succeed him in 2019 when the president must stand down. "Even if it means marching into the street we will do that to make our point. We believe in this alliance led by the ANC, but we want a reconfiguration of this alliance," said Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini. Zuma defended his change at the Treasury, saying Tuesday that "while the political leadership has changed, government's overall policy orientation remains the same". "(New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba) will also be reaching out to the international investor community urgently to assure them," he said as he unveiled a South African-made railway locomotive in Pretoria. "We are proud of having added many young ministers." Cosatu's intervention came as Gigaba admitted that Monday's downgrade to junk status was a blow to the economy. "We acknowledge yesterday's announcement was a setback... but now is not a time for despondency," he told a media conference. "What these reviews highlight is that we need to reignite our nation's growth engines." S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflected "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers. The downgrade could mean that the government and state-run industries are forced to pay for their borrowing. 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 three percent against the US dollar following Monday night's downgrade. The rand was trading at 13.64 against the greenback at 1345 GMT on Tuesday. Moody's ratings agency too said it was placing its South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, due to "the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions". South Africa's leading financial paper Business Day called the downgrade "a black day for the country". "It also specifically raised the possibility that the trust established between business leaders and labour representatives could be eroded," it wrote in its leading article. Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and officials from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party are hoping to recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president if there is a vote of no confidence. "The fact is that the minister is just not up to the job," the DA said in a statement. "There is now a strong impression that Malusi Gigaba is just Des Van Rooyen in a designer suit," it said, referring to a little-known MP who was named finance minister in 2015 and lasted just four days in the post.
By AFP

MOSCOW: Russian investigators on Tuesday named the bomber behind the Saint Petersburg metro blast as Akbarjon Djalilov, adding that he had also planted a second bomb that was defused by the authorities.

"The investigation identified the man who set off the bomb in the carriage of the Saint Petersburg metro. It was Akbarjon Djalilov," a statement by the Investigative Committee said.

The investigators' statement added that traces of DNA from Djalilov, 22, were also found on a bag with a second explosive device that was discovered at another metro station shortly before the blast in the tunnel that killed 14 people.

"The conclusion of genetic evaluation and footage from surveillance cameras enable the investigation to conclude that the man who carried out the act of terror on the carriage was the one who left the bag with the explosive device in the Vosstaniya Square station," it said.

Investigators gave no further details on Djalilov but his name and year of birth coincided with a statement from the Kyrgyz security services which said earlier Tuesday that he was a naturalised Russian citizen originally from Kyrgyzstan.

Investigators said earlier that remains of the carriage bomber were found at the scene of the blast, but it was not clear if he is included in the official toll of the attack.

MOSCOW: Russian investigators on Tuesday named the bomber behind the Saint Petersburg metro blast as Akbarjon Djalilov, adding that he had also planted a second bomb that was defused by the authorities. "The investigation identified the man who set off the bomb in the carriage of the Saint Petersburg metro. It was Akbarjon Djalilov," a statement by the Investigative Committee said. The investigators' statement added that traces of DNA from Djalilov, 22, were also found on a bag with a second explosive device that was discovered at another metro station shortly before the blast in the tunnel that killed 14 people. "The conclusion of genetic evaluation and footage from surveillance cameras enable the investigation to conclude that the man who carried out the act of terror on the carriage was the one who left the bag with the explosive device in the Vosstaniya Square station," it said. Investigators gave no further details on Djalilov but his name and year of birth coincided with a statement from the Kyrgyz security services which said earlier Tuesday that he was a naturalised Russian citizen originally from Kyrgyzstan. Investigators said earlier that remains of the carriage bomber were found at the scene of the blast, but it was not clear if he is included in the official toll of the attack.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today defended the appointment of its former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of a Saudi-led multi-national military coalition against terrorism, saying the alliance is not against any country, a day after Iran raised its concern on the issue.

"The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country," Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today said during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here. The meeting discussed the issue of clearance given to former army chief to lead the Saudi-led 41-nation military alliance and Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Referring to ex-army chief's appointment, Janjua said, "any retired military officer is free to accept any job." Her remarks came a day after Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic republic'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.

Gen Sharif, who retired as Pakistan's army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim NATO', this month. Janjua said Pakistan remains committed to its policy of non-interference in the conflicts of Muslim countries and ruled out any change in the policy regarding Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

She said Pakistan and Iran enjoy cordial and brotherly relations and have no border dispute between them. Pakistan is trying to reduce tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, she said, but acknowledged that her country was finding it hard to maintain balance in ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the wake of appointment of Gen Sharif.

"It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Iran's interests," she said.

Gen Sharif will not act against Iran as the head of the military alliance, she asserted. The former army chief's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the retired general to join a foreign military alliance.

Pakistan government is under pressure from opposition as it was asked by parliament in 2015 through a resolution to stay neutral in the conflict in Yemen. It is feared that the alliance may be forced to intervene in Yemen in the name of tackling terrorism.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that statements by the Pakistan government and foreign office were contradictory. He warned against any tilt towards Iran or Saudi Arabia in the conflict.

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.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today defended the appointment of its former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of a Saudi-led multi-national military coalition against terrorism, saying the alliance is not against any country, a day after Iran raised its concern on the issue. "The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country," Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today said during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here. The meeting discussed the issue of clearance given to former army chief to lead the Saudi-led 41-nation military alliance and Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran. Referring to ex-army chief's appointment, Janjua said, "any retired military officer is free to accept any job." Her remarks came a day after Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic republic'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. Gen Sharif, who retired as Pakistan's army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim NATO', this month. Janjua said Pakistan remains committed to its policy of non-interference in the conflicts of Muslim countries and ruled out any change in the policy regarding Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. She said Pakistan and Iran enjoy cordial and brotherly relations and have no border dispute between them. Pakistan is trying to reduce tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, she said, but acknowledged that her country was finding it hard to maintain balance in ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the wake of appointment of Gen Sharif. "It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Iran's interests," she said. Gen Sharif will not act against Iran as the head of the military alliance, she asserted. The former army chief's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the retired general to join a foreign military alliance. Pakistan government is under pressure from opposition as it was asked by parliament in 2015 through a resolution to stay neutral in the conflict in Yemen. It is feared that the alliance may be forced to intervene in Yemen in the name of tackling terrorism. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that statements by the Pakistan government and foreign office were contradictory. He warned against any tilt towards Iran or Saudi Arabia in the conflict. 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.
Gift City Singapore specializes in providing corporate gifts for businesses, and has instituted a loyalty reward scheme which benefits businesses when they spend more

ANG MO KIO, SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2017 / Corporate gifts are a great way to increase brand visibility and give people a memento of their relationship to a given company, be it from a conference, event or for an end of year celebration. Sourcing these gifts however can be a challenge, as many offer low quality items at high prices. Gift City Singapore has flipped this, offering the broadest range of high quality corporate gifts available at affordable prices. They are now redoubling their efforts to reward loyalty from their existing customers with a loyalty scheme.





The new corporate gift loyalty scheme categorizes clients according to their spend, with six categorizations from bronze through to gold and even diamond, followed by VIP and the vaunted V.VIP. By continuing to purchase corporate gifts from the website, clients can now entitle themselves to bigger returns on single orders, which on large volumes can amount to huge sums.

The gifts sold by the online store include every kind of lanyard, pen, USB stick and stationery item, as well as a wide range of more premium gifts, including mugs, bags, umbrellas and even travel pillows. With such a broad range of gifts to choose from, customers can come back time and time again without repeating the same gift idea, and save more on each order in the process.

A spokesperson for Gift City Singapore explained, "We are thrilled to be able to introduce our new loyalty scheme, which has been designed to give back to the many existing customers that keep coming back time and time again. We hope it will also encourage new customers to return to us, to receive amazing discounts on their bulk orders of corporate gifts. The website features only a small sample of our full range of gifts, so we recommend customers challenge us with their ideas to get the best possible results."

Story continues

About Gift City Singapore: Gift City Singapore is a Singapore Corporate Gifts wholesaler, providing customizable corporate gifts suitable for business use, to commemorate events, and more. They offer a huge range of different practical, high quality corporate gifts with a wide range of customization options, to ensure they have the perfect gift for every event.

Contact Info:

Name: David Chen

Email: hello@giftcity.sg

Organization: GIFT CITY PTE. LTD.

Address: 302, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 #01-1840, Singapore 560302

Phone: 82883810

For more information, please visit https://www.giftcity.sg/

SOURCE: Gift City Singapore
By PTI

BEIJING: A total of 10 people were killed and several others injured in 3,351 fire accidents during China's traditional festival Tomb-Sweeping Day, the government said today.

During the three-day holiday which ended today, police responded to 8,164 fire alarms, rescuing 745 people in danger, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honour their ancestors by burning joss sticks and paper money. Authorities sent more than 14,000 inspection teams and located over 73,000 hidden dangers of fire during the period, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 17,000 vehicles and 92,000 firefighters were sent to put out fire.

Nearly 14.56 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honour their deceased relatives during the holiday, the ministry said.

BEIJING: A total of 10 people were killed and several others injured in 3,351 fire accidents during China's traditional festival Tomb-Sweeping Day, the government said today. During the three-day holiday which ended today, police responded to 8,164 fire alarms, rescuing 745 people in danger, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honour their ancestors by burning joss sticks and paper money. Authorities sent more than 14,000 inspection teams and located over 73,000 hidden dangers of fire during the period, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. A total of 17,000 vehicles and 92,000 firefighters were sent to put out fire. Nearly 14.56 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honour their deceased relatives during the holiday, the ministry said.
By PTI

BAGHDAD: 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.

BAGHDAD: 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.
By AFP

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to remove the Kurdish flag hoisted in the disputed oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, warning that its strong relations with Ankara were at risk.

Provincial councillors in Kirkuk province voted last month to fly the Kurdish regional flag, a move that angered Turkey which warily eyes Kurdish ambitions due to its own large Kurdish minority.

"I certainly find it wrong to fly a second flag in Kirkuk other than the national (Iraqi) flag," Erdogan told a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

"I am calling on the Iraqi Kurdish regional administration -- go back from this mistake as soon as possible," the president said.

Turkey enjoys burgeoning trade and energy ties with Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, with its leader Massud Barzani a frequent visitor to Ankara.

Barzani and his faction are seen as opponents of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey since 1984 and still keeps its rear bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.

But Ankara says it opposed flying the flag because it does not want any change to the demographic make-up of Kirkuk, which is also home to Turkmens and Arabs as well as a very small number of Christians.

"You would break your relations with Turkey," Erdogan warned.

"We enjoy good relations right now. Do not break them. Take those flags as soon as possible."

"Otherwise, pardon me but you will have to take a step back from the point we have reached now."

Iraqi Kurds have mooted holding a referendum on Kirkuk's status, a move that would risk a full-blown crisis in relations with Turkey.

The United Nations has also warned that the decision to fly the Kurdish flag over the citadel in Kirkuk could inflame tensions.

Erdogan and other Turkish leaders regard Kirkuk as part of Turkey's regional sphere of influence, noting that it was for centuries part of the Ottoman Empire before its defeat in World War I.

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to remove the Kurdish flag hoisted in the disputed oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, warning that its strong relations with Ankara were at risk. Provincial councillors in Kirkuk province voted last month to fly the Kurdish regional flag, a move that angered Turkey which warily eyes Kurdish ambitions due to its own large Kurdish minority. "I certainly find it wrong to fly a second flag in Kirkuk other than the national (Iraqi) flag," Erdogan told a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak. "I am calling on the Iraqi Kurdish regional administration -- go back from this mistake as soon as possible," the president said. Turkey enjoys burgeoning trade and energy ties with Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, with its leader Massud Barzani a frequent visitor to Ankara. Barzani and his faction are seen as opponents of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey since 1984 and still keeps its rear bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. But Ankara says it opposed flying the flag because it does not want any change to the demographic make-up of Kirkuk, which is also home to Turkmens and Arabs as well as a very small number of Christians. "You would break your relations with Turkey," Erdogan warned. "We enjoy good relations right now. Do not break them. Take those flags as soon as possible." "Otherwise, pardon me but you will have to take a step back from the point we have reached now." Iraqi Kurds have mooted holding a referendum on Kirkuk's status, a move that would risk a full-blown crisis in relations with Turkey. The United Nations has also warned that the decision to fly the Kurdish flag over the citadel in Kirkuk could inflame tensions. Erdogan and other Turkish leaders regard Kirkuk as part of Turkey's regional sphere of influence, noting that it was for centuries part of the Ottoman Empire before its defeat in World War I.
By AFP

MOSCOW: Two traffic police were killed in an attack by radical Islamists in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, the regional governor said on Tuesday, the day after a suicide bomber allegedly hit the Saint Petersburg metro.

"Last night, a group of radical Islamists... carried out a brazen attack on employees of the traffic police," Alexander Zhilkin said in a statement.

"The culprits opened fire on them with firearms and fled. Unfortunately, two traffic police officers died on the spot."

Astrakhan regional police said the incident occurred at about 1:00 am local time (2200 GMT) after traffic police were dispatched to the scene of an accident.

The attackers were in one of the cars involved in the accident.

The police statement made no mention of the attackers' motives or identity.

The Astrakhan region lies on the Caspian Sea and also borders the restive Caucasus region of Dagestan.

While attacks against police regularly occur in Russia's Caucasus, they are much rarer in other regions.

MOSCOW: Two traffic police were killed in an attack by radical Islamists in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, the regional governor said on Tuesday, the day after a suicide bomber allegedly hit the Saint Petersburg metro. "Last night, a group of radical Islamists... carried out a brazen attack on employees of the traffic police," Alexander Zhilkin said in a statement. "The culprits opened fire on them with firearms and fled. Unfortunately, two traffic police officers died on the spot." Astrakhan regional police said the incident occurred at about 1:00 am local time (2200 GMT) after traffic police were dispatched to the scene of an accident. The attackers were in one of the cars involved in the accident. The police statement made no mention of the attackers' motives or identity. The Astrakhan region lies on the Caspian Sea and also borders the restive Caucasus region of Dagestan. While attacks against police regularly occur in Russia's Caucasus, they are much rarer in other regions.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: The US government plans to stop funding the United Nations Population Fund because of the organisation's "coercive" family planning practices, including providing abortions, officials in Washington said late Monday.

According to a State Department official, President Donald Trump has instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that US taxpayer dollars do not fund organisations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation."

The funding cut would go into effect during the 2017 fiscal year, the official said in a statement.

The decision to terminate US donations to the UN agency was "based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," the statement said.

"The determination will result in withholding $32.5 million of fiscal year 2017 funding, provided for UNFPA," it said, adding that the funds instead will be directed to other global health programs.

The UN Population Fund in 2015 received contributions totaling $979 million, according to its website.

The organisation, which provides reproductive health and birth control services in more than 150 countries and territories, said early Tuesday that it "regrets" the decision by Washington "to deny any future funding for its life-saving work the world over."

UNFPA said in a statement in which it also vigorously pushed back against "erroneous" US charges that it plays a role in forced abortions and sterilizations in China.

"UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination," it said.

"Indeed, United Nations Member States have long described UNFPA's work in China as a force for good."

The organisation lamented the loss of funding by Washington, a "founding member" of the UNFPA.

The group said it has saved "tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, in addition to "combatting gender-based violence and reducing the scourge of maternal deaths in the world's most fragile settings."

And in the controversial area of reproductive choice, the organization said that Washington until now had "partnered with UNFPA to protect and promoted the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, thereby fostering healthier women and girls and their families."

WASHINGTON: The US government plans to stop funding the United Nations Population Fund because of the organisation's "coercive" family planning practices, including providing abortions, officials in Washington said late Monday. According to a State Department official, President Donald Trump has instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that US taxpayer dollars do not fund organisations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation." The funding cut would go into effect during the 2017 fiscal year, the official said in a statement. The decision to terminate US donations to the UN agency was "based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," the statement said. "The determination will result in withholding $32.5 million of fiscal year 2017 funding, provided for UNFPA," it said, adding that the funds instead will be directed to other global health programs. The UN Population Fund in 2015 received contributions totaling $979 million, according to its website. The organisation, which provides reproductive health and birth control services in more than 150 countries and territories, said early Tuesday that it "regrets" the decision by Washington "to deny any future funding for its life-saving work the world over." UNFPA said in a statement in which it also vigorously pushed back against "erroneous" US charges that it plays a role in forced abortions and sterilizations in China. "UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination," it said. "Indeed, United Nations Member States have long described UNFPA's work in China as a force for good." The organisation lamented the loss of funding by Washington, a "founding member" of the UNFPA. The group said it has saved "tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, in addition to "combatting gender-based violence and reducing the scourge of maternal deaths in the world's most fragile settings." And in the controversial area of reproductive choice, the organization said that Washington until now had "partnered with UNFPA to protect and promoted the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, thereby fostering healthier women and girls and their families."
I am a messenger of Indian culture: Dalai Lama

Guwahati (Arunachal Pradesh) , Apr. 2 : Asserting that he was the longest guest of the Government of India, Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel laureate the Dalai Lama on Sunday said now he is paying back for the gesture by becoming the messenger of Indian culture.





(Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667897121 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php  (Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667897121 173O212O198O32)

"Physically, for the last over 50 years, my body is surviving on Indian 'dal' and 'chapati'. So, physically and mentally I am an Indian. I am the longest guest of government of India for the last 58 years and am now paying back for that gesture by becoming the messenger of Indian culture," he said while delivering a lecture on 'Ancient Indian Knowledge in Modern Times' here.He said, "For the last few years, I have started describing myself as the son of India. A few years ago, some Chinese media came and asked why I say so. I told them that each part of my brain is filled with Nalanda thoughts."The Nobel Peace prize winner said that women should take more pro-active role in social life."Women should take more active role for human compassion. My first teacher was my mother, not anyone else. Females are biologically stronger," he added.
Sorry, that page not found!



Please visit our Home Page for latest updates
NIRF 2017: HRD Ministry to announce national ranking today

New Delhi , Apr. 3 : Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will release the India Rankings 2017 of National Institutional Ranking Framework- NIRF in New Delhi today.





(Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897122 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php  (Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897122 173O212O198O32)

This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across India. The first edition of India Rankings, based on this framework was released on last year. NIRF was approved by the MHRD and launched on 2015.The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by Ministry of Human Resources Development, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.The parameters broadly cover Teaching, Learning and Resources, Research and Professional Practices, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach and Inclusivity, and Perception.The project has over 800 new participants and will be introduced under some new categories added from this year. New categories include institutions from medical and law backgrounds. In the last year's ranking,Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Hyderabad University topped the list of central varsities, while IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore led among technological and management institutions.
Arunachal ready to welcome Dalai Lama, Tserteng Gompa could turn into tourist hub

By Pradeep Kumar





(Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897125 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php  (Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897125 173O212O198O32)

Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) [India],Apr. 3 | 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 national 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 National 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.
'Half Girlfriend' trailer to release 'very very soon': Shraddha's DU connect during shooting

New Delhi , April 03 : 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.'





(Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897126 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php  (Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897126 173O212O198O32)

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.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull likely to visit India next week

Melbourne [Australia], Apr.3 : Bilateral talks in areas such as education, trade and defence are likely to be in focus during the forthcoming visit of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to India next week.





(Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897128 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php  (Posted on 03 April 2017, 1667897128 173O212O198O32)

Prime Minister Turnbull will be accompanied by his Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham once the visit is finalised.An official announcement of the proposed visit, however, is yet to be made.The Australia India Business Council (AIBC) is reportedly attaching importance to the visit, as both nations see each other as strategic partners and would like to look for ways to strengthen and broaden existing linkages.The bilateral business engagement between the two governments has grown in recent years.Meanwhile, in a separate development, Prime Minister Turnbull is expected to announce measures on Tuesday to boost development assistance and scientific co-operation with Afghanistan.A reporet in the Canberra Times and Fairfax Media, said, Prime MInister Turnbull and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani will sign agreements in Canberra on a development aid program that will extend existing funding to 2020 and co-operation on scientific and technical information that will help with economic infrastructure, including for mining and dryland farming.Dr.Ghani is also expected to seek assurance that Australia remains committed militarily to Afghanistan.The Australian Defence Force still has about 270 troops there, mostly training Afghan officers in the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar.Australia has committed to keeping troops there until 2018.
FILE PHOTO: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at a Remain in the EU campaign event attended by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (not shown) at JP Morgan's corporate centre in Bournemouth, southern Britain, June 3, 2016. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo

By David Henry and Dan Burns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon devoted one-third of his annual shareholder letter to arguments for changing regulations, particularly those on bank capital and liquidity, as well as home mortgage loan financing.

Current regulations are inconsistent and have left banks with "too much capital," some of which could be used to "finance the economy without sacrificing safety," Dimon said in the 17,349-word letter released on Tuesday.

He also warned that anti-trade policies could be disruptive and geopolitical risks are in a "heightened state."

Dimon, 61, has entered his twelfth year as CEO. He considers the annual letter to be among his most important public statements about JPMorgan, as well as public policy. It is widely read because the bank is one of the most profitable and came out of the financial crisis stronger than competitors.

This year, Dimon argued that the idea of banks being "too big to fail" and therefore requiring bailouts during times of stress, is a problem that "has been solved." He said "taxpayers will not pay if a bank fails" because of measures enacted since the crisis nearly a decade ago.

Dimon's comments on bank regulation come at a time of possible flux in rules and laws under a new White House and Congress.

In addition, the U.S. Federal Reserve governor who has been overseeing regulation, including bank capital stress tests, is leaving his post on Wednesday and a replacement has yet to be proposed by President Donald Trump.

The way the Fed conducts stress tests should be clearer and more consistent, Dimon said. He also said home mortgage rules imposed since the crisis have raised costs for consumers and made it less likely that those with weak credit histories will get loans.

"While some of the rules are beneficial, many were hastily developed," he wrote.

Dimon said the geopolitical risk environment is in a "heightened state" with the United Kingdom's pending withdrawal from the European Union and a growing anti-globalization sentiment.

Story continues

He said he hopes Britain's exit will prompt the EU to fix issues it has with immigration, bureaucracy and restrictive labor laws. "Our fear, however, is that it could instead result in political unrest that would force the EU to split apart," which, he wrote, "could have devastating economic and political effects."

Dimon also warned that "poorly conceived" trade policies could be very disruptive, especially with regard to two key trading partners, Mexico and China.

(Reporting by David Henry and Dan Burns in New York; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Dan Grebler)
No fine for Harrison Ford post airport landing blunder

Washington D.C. [USA], Apr. 4 : Looks like Harrison Ford may not be done piloting his planes just yet as he has got Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ok to keep flying sans restrictions.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897132 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/hollywood-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897132 173O212O198O32)

The FAA confirmed in a statement that the 'Star Wars' actor neither will be fined, nor will he lose his pilot's license after he mistakenly flew over a jetliner before landing his plane on an airport taxiway on February 13, E! Online reported."The FAA has completed its investigation of the incident in which a pilot landed on a taxiway at John Wayne Airport on Feb. 13, 2017. The FAA does not comment on cases involving individual airmen," the statement read. "Any letters the FAA issued in connection with this case can be requested through the Freedom of Information Act."The 74-year-old star's law firm Aerlex Law Group said in a statement, "The FAA conducted a full investigation into the matter, including an interview with Mr. Ford, and determined that no administrative or enforcement action was warranted. Mr. Ford retains his pilot's certificate without restriction."It further read,"In closing the matter, the agency acknowledged Mr. Ford's long history of compliance with the Federal Aviation Regulations and his cooperative attitude during the investigation."The statement concluded, "Mr. Ford has held a pilot's certificate for more than 20 years, has logged more than 5,000 hours in the air, and has never been the subject of an FAA administrative or enforcement action."In February, Ford inadvertently landed on an active taxiway instead of the parallel runway he was cleared for at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. During his landing, he came extremely close to an American Airlines flight with 116 people on board awaiting takeoff.
JK Rowling's 'words of wisdom' to budding writers

New Delhi , Apr. 4 : She knows what it's like to be a struggling writer and so, J.K. Rowling took to her Twitter page to dish out some encouraging advice about never giving up.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897133 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/hollywood-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897133 173O212O198O32)

It all started after the 51-year-old novelist re-tweeted an advice from a fellow writer, encouraging the scribes not to worry about writing to an audience."There were so many times in the early 90s when I needed somebody to say this to me. It's great advice for many reasons," Rowling wrote.In a series of tweets, the 'Harry Potter' writer said, "Even if it isn't the piece of work that finds an audience, it will teach you things you could have learned no other way.""And by the way, just because it didn't find an audience, that doesn't mean it's bad work," she continued, adding, "The discipline involved in finishing a piece of creative work is something on which you can truly pride yourself. You'll have turned yourself from somebody who's 'thinking of', who 'might', who's 'trying', to someone who DID.""And once you've done it," Rowling went on, "you'll know you can do it again. That is an extraordinarily empowering piece of knowledge. So do not ever quit out of fear of rejection."The "Harry Potter" scribe reminded her more than 10 million followers that "maybe your third, fourth, fiftieth song/novel/painting will be the one that 'makes it,' that wins the plaudits ... but you'd never have got there without finishing the others (all of which will now be of more interest to your audience.)"Rowling concluded her thread of advice tweets by remarking, "Here endeth today's sermon" and thanking the fellow writer for "her original words of wisdom."
French director Roman Polanski at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 (AFP Photo/VALERY HACHE)

Los Angeles (AFP) - 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.

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.

Hanisee wrote in a filing to the court that Polanski "wants answers -- but will only show up if he likes the answers."

Story continues

"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 -

"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."
Trump praises Egyptian President for doing a "fantastic job"

Washington D.C. [United States], Apr. 4 : President Donald Trump praised his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for doing a fantastic job as he hosted the latter in his Oval Office and pledged unstinting support for the authoritarian ruler.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897134 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/middle-east-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897134 173O212O198O32)

"We agree on so many things. 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. The United States has, believe me, backing, and we have strong backing," New York Times quoted Trump as saying.President Sisi had been barred from the White House ever since he seized power in a military takeover nearly four years ago.Trump's predecessors considered authoritarians like Sisi to be distasteful and at times shied away from them.However, Trump meeting Sisi is being seen as a shift in American foreign policy.Sisi's visit is the first visit by an Egyptian president to United States since 2009, when former president Hosni Mubarak had visited the country."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 told Sisi.Responding to Trump's Statement, Sisi informed Trump that he and Egypt will always stand with him in bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism effortHe called Trump's effort to negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians as an effort to find a solution to the problem of the century in the deal of the century and also pledged his support for this.
JobsForHer launches Returnee Drive programs, extends support to women restarters

New Delhi , Apr. 4 : JobsForHer (JFH), a connecting portal that enables women on a professional break to restart their careers, announced its Returnee Drive with some large women-friendly organisations.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897138 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897138 173O212O198O32)

These organisations, namely Sapient, Intuit and PayPal, extended support to help progress the gender agenda by making a strong commitment to increasing female participation in the workforce.As business leaders, they recognise the industry's need to have a balanced workforce and enable career advancement for women. They know that gender-balanced companies with more engaged workforces achieve greater economic results.The aforementioned companies are striving to increase the number of women leaders through mentoring, engagement, and recruitment initiatives. By helping women rebuild their confidence, the Returnee Drives are meticulously curated to help women re-starters develop their roadmaps for successful careers and fulfilling lives."Corporates participating in the Returnee Drives have specifically tailor-made returnee-programmes to re-skill and rehire women on a sabbatical, for jobs ranging from software engineers, technology managers to digital marketers. Industry experts hosted webinars and live chats which aimed to inspire women, educating them and bringing them up to speed with current industry trends," said Neha Bagaria, Founder and CEO, JobsForHer.The following is a gist of the initiatives launched by the participating corporate:Sapient: SpringSpring is Sapient's flagship Women Employee Returnee Program. Through the program, Sapient enables women professionals who have taken a hiatus to return to the workforce, giving them flexibility and opportunity to recreate their niche in the professional world. The program aims at creating a diversity balance within the organization by offering a springboard to working women to re-start their career in technology.The company will create an enabling environment through this robust integration program and will assign each woman returnee a 'workplace sponsor' for a period of six months to help them integrate and re-skill in the domain of their choice.Intuit: Again#IntuitAgain is an initiative to inspire and provide an opportunity to women technologists who have taken a break in their career and aspire to come back to work. This platform not only gives the candidates a chance to work at one of ' India's Top Ten Great Places and Fortune magazine's 'Top 100 Companies' to work for but also provides technical and other training to sharpen their professional skills.PayPal: RechargeThrough the Recharge program, PayPal equips women technologists who have taken a career break to return to the workforce. The program includes a boot camp that incorporates technical and soft-skills learning. At the end of the program, ten participants will have the opportunity to work at PayPal's technology centers across Bangalore and Chennai to build next-generation payments as full-time employees or interns.
U.S. to be part of efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, says Nikki Haley

New York [United States], Apr.4 : United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said that the Trump Administration will try to be part of efforts to deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897139 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/us-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897139 173O212O198O32)

"It's absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we deescalate any sort of conflict going forward," she told media here on Monday after the United States assumed the presidentship of the United Nations Security Council for the month of April.Ambassador Haley, who is of Indian ancestry, was asked whether Washington would make any effort to get India and Pakistan to engage in peace talks.It was the first comment by a member of the Trump Administration on escalating tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.
Social capital: 1 secret to your kid's successful school

Washington D.C. [USA], Apr. 4 : A recent study has revealed a secret that can play an important role in helping students succeed at even the most disadvantaged school, i.e. social capital.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897141 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/special-features.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897141 173O212O198O32)

Most factors that help make schools successful cost lots of money - think teachers, technology and textbooks.But a new study suggests one factor that doesn't need any cash to implement.That factor is what scientists call social capital: The network of relationships between school officials, teachers, parents and the community that builds trust and norms that promote academic achievement.In a study of 96 public high schools in Ohio, researchers found that schools with higher levels of social capital also had students who performed better on state-mandated math and reading tests.The results held true as much for urban schools in high-poverty areas as they did for wealthy suburban schools.In schools with high social capital, teachers reported more contact with parents, high levels of trust with students and an orderly and serious learning environment."The results provide some good news," said Roger Goddard, co-author of the study and Novice G. Fawcett Chair and professor of educational administration at The Ohio State University."Social capital is available to all schools, regardless of wealth, and can provide real benefits for student achievement."Goddard conducted the study with Serena Salloum of Ball State University and Ross Larsen of Brigham Young University.The results are significant because while scientists generally agree on the benefits of social capital, some have thought it wasn't really available to those from disadvantaged areas."One argument has been that social capital is just a proxy for community wealth - that you can't have one without the other," Goddard said. "But that's not what we found."That's not to say there's no relationship between community wealth and social capital. The study found that schools in wealthier areas did tend to have higher levels of social capital than those in more disadvantaged neighborhoods.However, the majority of the difference in levels of social capital between schools could not be explained by their socioeconomic status, the study found."Wealthy schools do have an advantage in terms of social capital, but it is not overwhelming. All kinds of schools can develop high levels of social capital that will help their students," Goddard said.The researchers surveyed teachers in the 96 participating Ohio high schools.Teachers were asked to rate how much they agreed with statements that measured the amount of social capital in their schools. For example, they were asked to rate whether teachers in their school had frequent contact with parents, whether teachers trusted their students, and whether parental involvement supported learning.Each school was then given a total score on social capital based on the teacher evaluations.The researchers then examined whether social capital scores were linked to the proportion of each high school's students that passed math and reading tests - after taking into account whether the schools were in urban areas, the socioeconomic status of families in the school area, the size of the school and the percent of student cohort that passed the most recent previous tests.Even after controlling for all of these factors, levels of social capital still predicted how well a school's students did on the state tests."This suggests that a student's success isn't just based on the wealth of his or her neighborhood," Goddard said. "That's an important and hopeful message. The involvement of parents and community members in support of student and school success matters to children's learning."But he emphasized that even if schools in wealthy areas didn't have all the social capital, they still did have an overall advantage."We still need to find ways to help all schools fully develop the social capital they have available to them," he said.Much of that is determined by school leaders, Goddard explained - which suggests principals have to be open to involvement by parents and community members, and should encourage teachers and parents to talk to each other."School leaders drive a lot of this. They can have open houses, meet with parents, and invite them into their schools. They need to organize and engage people across the community and not only parents. School leaders are the key to setting the tone."
Pak HC in UK hosts reception for army chief

London [United Kingdom], Apr.4 : The Pakistan High Commission hosted a reception here in the honour of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is on official visit to U.K.





(Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897143 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php  (Posted on 04 April 2017, 1667897143 173O212O198O32)

Gen. Bajwa interacted with UK-based Pakistani community, apprising them about the environment in Pakistan, achievements in efforts against terrorism and militancy and projected its results through whole of nation approach.According to an ISPR release, Gen. Bajwa hailed the role of oversees Pakistanis towards the progress of Pakistan and assured them that the Pakistan Army shall perform its due role towards security of Pakistan.All Pakistanis expressed their pride in role and contributions of Pakistan Army towards well being of Pakistan.Earlier, on arrival, Gen. Bajwa was received by Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, Syed Ibne Abbas.According to The Nation, General Bajwa used his visit to London to inform his British counterpart that Pakistan's eastern and western borders were currently vulnerable and that its relations with both India and Afghanistan were a matter of concern for Islamabad.He also informed Pakistani diaspora that he was optimistic about relations with India being normalised.According to the daily, General Bajwa met YK Chief of General Staff General Sir Nick Carter, reviewed a guard of honour at Horse Guards Square, had separate meetings with UK Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan Mr. Owen Jenkins and also US Resolute Support Mission (RSM) Commander General John Nicholson.Matters of mutual interest including regional geo-political environment with special reference to Afghanistan came under discussion. The UK leadership and RSM Commander appreciated and acknowledged positive role played by Pakistan and Pakistan Army towards peace and stability.Gen. Bajwa also highlighted that CPEC should be viewed as an economic manoeuvre since it aims at fostering inclusive development in best interest of the region and beyond. He thanked UK leadership for their assistance during war on terror.
FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center, speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles. More than a million Facebook users like the idea of hosting the 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Mayors from Paris and LA have just flown in to Denmark for an Olympics conference starting Tuesday, April 4, 2017, the first of only three set-piece events between now and September, when the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to pick one city over the other. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

PARIS (AP)  More than a million Facebook users like the idea of hosting the 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Many of them, oddly enough, from Pakistan.

A report prepared for The Associated Press says most of LA's likes have come in the past six weeks from far away from Southern California.

"The fan growth evolution for the LA2024 Facebook page does seem suspicious," said analyst Michaela Branova, whose Prague, Czech Republic-based firm, Socialbakers, drew up the report. "Countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan suddenly spike from almost zero to tens of thousands of fans within a few days in February."

LA campaign spokesman Jeff Millman said there was nothing suspicious about the figures. He said LA kicked off a series of Facebook advertisements starting Feb. 3. The scale and the mechanics of the advertising campaign weren't made clear - Millman declined to divulge how much LA 2024 had spent on promotion - but he noted that Facebook ads were "more efficient in countries where there are fewer competing brands."

He argued that it made sense to seek fans internationally.

"We are a global campaign, as the Olympic movement is global," he said.

Socialbakers' figures, which were commissioned by the AP, give some insight into the dynamics of both the Paris and Los Angeles' social media campaigns.

By the end of 2016, Los Angeles had 209,000 or so likes, nearly all of which came from the United States, according to Socialbakers. Paris had 62,000 or so fans, 80 percent of which came from France.

By last week both sides' figures had grown. Paris' Facebook page tripled its following, but four out of five endorsements came from France, with many of the others originating in Algeria and Tunisia, former French colonies.

Los Angeles saw an explosion in support from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Egypt, India, Afghanistan and other low-income countries, according to Socialbakers' research. In Bangladesh alone, the number of supporters of the U.S. Olympic bid rose from a few dozen to 113,335 in a month-and-a-half. In Pakistan, the number of supporters leapt from 55 to 99,336 over the same period.

Story continues

Socialbakers' report said that more than 700,000 of the 1 million accounts that liked LA 2024's Facebook page had done so within the past six weeks. The surge helped LA blow past Paris (about 235,000 likes) and hit the million mark at an opportune moment. An Olympics conference started Tuesday in Denmark, the first of three events between now and September, when the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to pick one city over the other.

Socialbakers said it wasn't working for the LA or Paris bid, and that its work was transparent.

"It's all publicly available, taken directly from the Facebook API," said spokeswoman Claire Wilson, referring to Facebook's data interface.

Branova and outside experts said it was possible that a large chunk of LA's social media support was drummed up by advertisements or other paid methods.

"It's consistent with what you'd expect to see from paid endorsements," said Daniel Mochon, who teaches social media marketing at Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business. "They tend to come from developing countries ... You're going to see sudden spikes that are not necessarily tied to anything external."

Social media support has been invoked as a selling point by the LA bid, which is locked in competition with Paris for the chance to host the Summer Games. On Monday, LA 2024 released a statement crowing about how its campaign had passed the 1 million follower mark.

That was endorsed by Nathan Cowan of Seattle-based digital marketing analytics firm Rival IQ, which wasn't involved in the report. Cowan said that while hadn't seen the raw data, Socialbakers' work "appears to be entirely accurate."

Cowan echoed Socialbakers' suspicions about LA's numbers, noting the "extreme spike in followers" and their unusual geographic breakdown.

Paris 2024 officials declined to comment. Facebook declined comment, saying in an email that it was up to advertisers to disclose how they promoted their pages. The IOC did not offer any comment, but the group's rules of conduct note that promotion of a city's bid must take place "with dignity and moderation."

___

Satter contributed from London. Graham Dunbar in Aarhus, Denmark contributed to this report.

___

Online:

The Socialbakers report: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3534556-FB-Overview-Compare-2017-04-03.html

___

Contact Raphael Satter at: http://raphaelsatter.com

Contact Samuel Petrequin at: https://twitter.com/sampetrequin
Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mostly sunny skies. High 63F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low around 45F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.
The gut microbiota has gained renewed importance in the light of its functions and complex contributions to bodily health and metabolic order, stemming from both local and distant actions.

Disrupted gut microbiota can thus be held responsible for a number of chronic inflammatory gut disorders as well as other metabolic conditions including obesity, diabetes, and some neuropsychiatric illnesses.

In this setting, fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) has emerged as a highly promising new alternative intervention to restore normal gut microbiota and treat associated diseases. Available evidence shows undoubted efficacy in treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (RCDI) without recurrence.

Questions that remain to be answered are concerning its safety, best practices, and extent of approved applications. As interest in the procedure grows, especially in the light of its extra-intestinal uses, the need for regulation is also being brought into the spotlight.

Understanding Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) Play

Worldwide variation in FMT regulation

The regulation of FMT is quite diverse depending on the region it is being performed in. The Australian government does not yet consider it a drug, and it is not regulated as of now either there or in China as well as the EU. In Canada, it is regulated as a new biologic which must be used only as part of a clinical trial.

The USFDA has decided that FMT is a biological product and a drug. It is, therefore, subject to regulatory approval as an investigational new drug (IND) for which an application must be filed before each use. This process was designed for pharmaceutical products, and is therefore a cumbersome and time-consuming one. The follow-up is also a serious commitment in terms of time and administration. For this reason, FMT use under an IND would limit it to large firms with the commercial resources to go through this process and to fund clinical trials of sufficient power.

Is enforcement discretion the best route?

For this obvious limitation, concerned stakeholders under the umbrella of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) argued for a more general availability of FMT including its use in critically ill patients, following which the FDA put it under the enforcement discretion category for the single purpose of treating RCDI not amenable to standard treatment.

Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Patients who receive an FMT must give informed consent, understand that it is investigational, and be informed of the risks. All other uses still require an IND permit, as do clinical trials which use FMT for RCDI. This guideline continues to evolve, and is understood to be a temporary measure.

Advantages and disadvantages of regulation

The positive aspects of FDA regulation are the standardization of stool used in FMT, and the acquisition of safety and efficacy data. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to standardize a natural substance which is highly variable in composition, and that can hardly be defined by strict scientific norms. Also, it can be administered by the patients themselves, which means that the normal period of exclusivity guaranteed following FDA approval of orphan drugs is unlikely to be enforceable.

Another area of concern is the way in which stool banks have emerged to take advantage of the growing demand. To regulate them, the FDA proposed that donors must be known to either the patient or the physician, and must conform to screening and testing norms under the supervision of the latter, with the intention of being used to treat the former.

This may severely limit the availability of stool to patients from unrelated volunteer donors, and make stool banks unviable. The cost savings associated with using stool banks include those that come by having many treatments using a single well-screened and prepared stool sample. This latter option would, however, be abolished in case a single stool provider is licensed, and would drive up prices.

It seems likely to some observers that the final model of regulatory oversight will be one which allows deserving candidates to benefit from the therapy while ensuring that screening standards are upheld. This may be by obtaining all FMT from a single provider who has a license, which may, however, drive up the costs significantly.

Secondly, the ease with which FMT can be performed at home may discourage patients from paying for it outside or going through a complicated process. This remedy may expose them to hidden safety risks from inadequate donor screening, patient follow-up, and transmission of undetected pathogens.

Yet another risk is that the usefulness of fecal therapy for other conditions which are probably linked to gut microbiota may not be discovered due to the cost factor, unless physicians can prescribe them off-label in these situations. On the other hand, such off-label use does not contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the efficacy of FMT for these indications, and may discourage the setting up of properly designed clinical trials to test it in such situations.

Future directions

The best approach might be to issue strict and binding guidelines for stool collection and preparation, which includes donor selection by a narrowly defined set of criteria, establishment of rigorously enforced quality manufacturing facilities, and national registries that will help track patient and donor information over time. The aim of regulation is to achieve optimum access to FMT, maintain strict quality and safety norms, and acquire further data to establish and expand its use.

References

Further Reading
A new study suggests that middle-age and elderly men are less likely to develop worsening frailty if they have high levels of certain anabolic hormones, which are muscle- and bone-building hormones. The study results will be presented Sunday at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Frailty is the gradual loss of energy, strength and physical capability that can come with aging and often leads to dependency, disability and death. Decline in muscle mass and strength are thought to be the key factors in the development of frailty; however, what predisposes some elderly people to become frail and not others is unclear.

"With the aging population, frailty-related problems present an increasing challenge to healthcare systems worldwide," said the study's lead author, Agnieszka Swiecicka, M.D., a clinical research fellow at the University of Manchester in Manchester, U.K. "Better understanding of the causes of frailty could enable early identification of at-risk individuals and the development of new treatments and prevention strategies."

The investigators studied whether there is a relationship between anabolic hormone levels and a change in frailty status over four years among older men, who took part in the European Male Ageing Study (EMAS). The 3,369 participants, ages 40 to 79 years, lived in the community and joined the study between 2003 and 2005 at eight European centers. At enrollment and four-year follow-up, the participants had their hormone levels measured and the degree of frailty assessed. One assessment, the Fried frailty phenotype, explored physical aspects of frailty such as low muscle mass and function, exhaustion, weakness, slow walking and low physical activity. Men with three to five criteria were considered frail. The other frailty assessment, a frailty index, allowed for evaluation of not only physical but also psychological and cognitive aspects of health.

Overall, 2,114 men had their frailty assessed by phenotype and 2,444 by frailty index at both study visits. After four years, the frailty status worsened in 459 men and improved in 206.

The researchers found that having higher baseline levels of vitamin D, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and its binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) was associated with a lower risk of worse frailty status four years later. "Vitamin D, besides maintaining bone health, regulates muscle function, and low vitamin D levels are linked to lower muscle mass and strength. IGF-1 affects muscle growth and repair, and its action and levels are modified by its carrier protein IGFBP3," Swiecicka said.

Also linked to a lower likelihood of frailty status worsening were higher baseline levels of the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), but only in the oldest men. Several potential pathways could link DHEA-S with frailty. Swiecicka said, "DHEA-S may have direct anabolic effect on muscle, and, more recently, its neuroprotective and immune system-modulating effects have been described."

"We showed novel associations between anabolic hormone levels and changes in frailty levels in aging men," she said. "This does not establish cause, and clinical trials will be required to find out if giving these hormones to middle-age and elderly men could prevent the development of frailty."

Source: http://www.endocrine.org/news-room/current-press-releases/higher-anabolic-hormone-levels-predict-lower-risk-of-worsening-frailty-in-men
Nitin Jain, M.D., MSPH, associate professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Orthopaedics, has been awarded a $7.5 million contract to determine whether surgery or non-operative therapy works better for a common age-related injury that costs the health care systems billions of dollars -- rotator cuff tears.

"More likely than not, each one of us knows someone who has either had a rotator cuff tear, causing shoulder pain, or has actually had surgery," Jain said. "That's what led us to this work. This is a question patients were asking, that doctors were asking. 'If a patient comes into my clinic with a rotator cuff tear, what should I do for that? Should I offer them surgery or should I offer them physical therapy?' This is one of the most common reasons patients go to see their doctors -- not just specialists, but any doctor. It's an important public health issue."

About 275,000 rotator cuff surgeries are performed each year in the United States. The randomized clinical trial will involve a dozen sites across the nation and will enroll 700 patients. Patients who agree to participate will be randomized for either surgery or non-operative therapy.

The study will compare outcomes, according to age and the size of the rotator cuff tear. It will involve physicians with an established record of recommending either treatment option. Physical therapists involved in the study will follow standardized treatment protocols for patients in both arms of the study.

"It's a difficult study to do," Jain said. "It is very, very difficult to recruit patients and randomize them to surgery versus non-operative treatment. First of all, you have to have equipoise among the recruiting physicians. That's not easy to find. Secondly, you have to have enough volume of patients who have rotator cuff issues. We know that for every four patients who are eligible, one of them agrees to participate. That's why someone hasn't done such a large scale trial on rotator cuff tears previously."

Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

The funding from the Pragmatic Clinical Studies initiative, which was launched by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in 2014, supports large-scale comparative trials to address high priority inquiries. The rotator cuff study is one of 24 Pragmatic Clinical Studies contracts awarded thus far by PCORI and is the first such contract for VUMC.

"This project was selected for PCORI funding not only for its scientific merit and commitment to engaging patients and other health care stakeholders in a major study conducted in real-world settings, but also for its potential to answer an important question about treatment options for patients with rotator cuff tears and fill a crucial evidence gap," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, M.D., MPH. "We look forward to following the study's progress and working with VUMC to share its results."

The genesis for the VUMC study began in 2013 when Jain met with rotator cuff tear patients in an effort to better understand their perspectives. Patients, who are not actually being treated as part of this clinical trial, will be involved as team members -- particularly as it relates to results dissemination and offering feedback on recruitment and questionnaires, Jain said.

This study involves patients 50 and older, many of whom may think their rotator cuff tears are related to one specific injury when the shoulder problems are actually caused from degenerative wear-and-tear actions, Jain said. The tears are equally common in men and women, he said.

The study will compare whether surgery versus rehabilitation works better in patients with increasing age and size of tear based on MRI findings.

"This challenging randomized trial has the ability to directly inform patient care," Jain said.

Source: https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/03/30/clinical-trial-to-assess-shoulder-pain-treatments/
Customer presents clinically relevant results at AACR 2017 with Parsortix where alternative approaches have failed

University of Athens, Attikon University Hospital, Greece first to demonstrate use of the Parsortix system in head and neck cancer

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), the specialist medtech company, is delighted to announce that the University of Athens and Attikon University Hospital, Greece are today presenting highly encouraging results from their work with ANGLEs Parsortix system in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas at the American Association for Cancer Research conference (AACR) 2017, in Washington DC.

The results show that in a study of 40 cancer patients, the Parsortix system demonstrated higher sensitivity and greater purity in harvesting CTCs for analysis than leading alternative approaches. Information regarding the expression of key genes (including PD-L1 and CK-19) could be determined from simple blood samples taken from each patient. In parallel, identical samples from each patient were assessed using antibody-based (EpCAM-dependent) approaches. These approaches failed to detect PD-L1 or CK-19 in any of the 40 samples.

The University of Athens work suggest that, for the first time, it might be possible to assess gene expression of head and neck cancers using a Parsortix non-invasive liquid biopsy. Gene expression of biomarkers such as PD-L1 provides key information regarding likely patient response to immunotherapies and has the potential to be of significant clinical importance for the therapy selection and follow-up of patients.

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide with over 600,000 new patients diagnosed annually resulting in more than 350,000 deaths every year. More than 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) which account for 5-10% of all new cancer cases in Europe and North America.

Head and neck cancer represents a new market opportunity for Parsortix as other liquid biopsy approaches have been unsuccessful in this indication: gene expression analysis cannot be achieved with antibody-based CTC systems due to low expression of EpCAM and cannot be achieved using alternative ctDNA approaches as it is based on RNA.

Prof Evi Lianidou, Head of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory focused on Liquid Biopsy, University of Athens, commented:

The low EpCAM expression in head and neck cancer has previously prevented us from liquid biopsy analysis. The Parsortix systems epitope independence, high sensitivity and purity now makes this possible. Our results show excellent RNA quality and the potential to analyse a simple blood test to provide key gene expression information.

ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:

The advantages of the Parsortix system, in head and neck cancer, over the existing antibody-based approaches increases the market opportunity available to ANGLE. The University of Athens is a leader in CTC research and the successful completion of this work by a customer validates a key element of our roll-out strategy of using research-use sales to drive the development of clinical applications for the Parsortix system.

Source: http://www.angleplc.com/
Mayo Clinic researchers used electrical stimulation on the spinal cord and intense physical therapy to help a man intentionally move his paralyzed legs, stand and make steplike motions for the first time in three years.

The case, the result of collaboration with UCLA researchers, appears today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers say these results offer further evidence that a combination of this technology and rehabilitation may help patients with spinal cord injuries regain control over previously paralyzed movements, such as steplike actions, balance control and standing.

"We're really excited, because our results went beyond our expectations," says neurosurgeon Kendall Lee, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator and director of Mayo Clinic's Neural Engineering Laboratory. "These are initial findings, but the patient is continuing to make progress."

The 26-year-old patient injured his spinal cord at the sixth thoracic vertebrae in the middle of his back three years earlier. He was diagnosed with a motor complete spinal cord injury, meaning he could not move or feel anything below the middle of his torso.

The study started with the patient going through 22 weeks of physical therapy. He had three training sessions a week to prepare his muscles for attempting tasks during spinal cord stimulation. He was tested for changes regularly. Some results led researchers to characterize his injury further as discomplete, suggesting dormant connections across his injury may remain.

Following physical therapy, he underwent surgery to implant an electrode in the epidural space near the spinal cord below the injured area. The electrode is connected to a computer-controlled device under the skin in the patient's abdomen. This device, for which Mayo Clinic received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for off-label use, sends electrical current to the spinal cord, enabling the patient to create movement.

After a three-week recovery period from surgery, the patient resumed physical therapy with stimulation settings adjusted to enable movements. In the first two weeks, he intentionally was able to:

Control his muscles while lying on his side, resulting in leg movements

Make steplike motions while lying on his side and standing with partial support

Stand independently using his arms on support bars for balance

Intentional, or volitional, movement means the patient's brain is sending a signal to motor neurons in his spinal cord to move his legs purposefully.

"This has really set the tone for our post-surgical rehabilitation - trying to use that function the patient recovered to drive even more return of abilities," says Kristin Zhao, Ph.D., co-principal investigator and director of Mayo Clinic's Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory.

The Mayo researchers worked closely with the team of V. Reggie Edgerton, Ph.D., at UCLA on this study, which replicates earlier research done at the University of Louisville. The Mayo study marks the first time a patient intentionally controlled previously paralyzed functions within the first two weeks of stimulation.

The data suggest that people with discomplete spinal cord injuries may be candidates for epidural stimulation therapy. However, more research is needed into how a discomplete injury contributes to recovering function.

Teams from Mayo Clinic's departments of Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Division of Engineering collaborated on this project.

"While these are early results, it speaks to how Mayo Clinic researchers relentlessly pursue discoveries and innovative solutions that address the unmet needs of patients," says Gregory Gores, M.D., executive dean of research, Mayo Clinic. "These teams highlight Mayo Clinic's unique culture of collaboration, which brings together scientists and physician experts who work side by side to accelerate scientific discoveries into critical advances for patient care."
Twelve percent of childhood cancer survivors carry germline mutations that put them or their children at increased risk of developing cancer, according to a landmark study presented today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The findings from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are expected to have an immediate and potentially life-saving impact on the growing population of childhood cancer survivors.

The study of more than 3,000 long-term St. Jude childhood cancer survivors is apparently the first time whole genome sequencing has been used in a large group of cancer survivors to study the impact of genetic factors on the lifetime cancer risk.

"These results suggest that many more childhood cancer survivors would likely benefit from genetic screening and counseling," said Leslie Robison, Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control. "For cancer survivors, this research marks the beginning of a new era in cancer surveillance and prevention." He and Jinghui Zhang, Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Computational Biology, are co-senior authors.

Researchers recommended expanding genetic screening and counseling to include childhood cancer survivors who have been diagnosed with second cancers and whose pediatric cancer treatment did not include radiation therapy. Referrals are also now recommended for survivors whose initial treatment included radiation therapy and who have developed secondary breast cancer, thyroid cancer or sarcomas at the radiation treatment sites. Currently genetic screening for germline, typically inherited, mutations is reserved for survivors with family histories of cancer.

Along with enhanced screening for survivors, the findings should aid in designing personalized therapeutic approaches based on the genetic profiles of children who are newly diagnosed with cancer.

"While there is extensive scientific literature on the late effects of cancer therapy, including the risk that survivors will develop subsequent malignancies, until now little was known about the genetic contribution," Zhang said. "Based on these findings, we estimate that more than 32,000 of the more than 400,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S. are at risk for second or even third cancers because they carry mutations in known cancer predisposition genes."

The research focused on pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline mutations in 156 genes that are associated with an elevated cancer risk. The list included 60 genescancer predisposition genes inherited in an autosomal dominant mannerthat leave carriers at risk for cancer when even one of the two copies of the gene is altered. Twelve percent of the 3,007 study participants had cancer-related mutations in one of the 156 cancer-risk genes, and about 6 percent had such mutations in one of the 60 cancer-predisposition genes.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Previously, St. Jude researchers reported that 8.5 percent of newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients carry mutations in one of the 60 cancer-predisposition genes. "We anticipated that we would find the mutations in a similar or slightly lower proportion of long-term childhood cancer survivors," Zhang said.

A total of 26 survivors had mutations in either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes that are associated with breast cancer, not pediatric cancer, making them among the most commonly mutated genes in this study. Breast cancer was also one of the most frequently diagnosed second cancers. There were 60 cases of breast cancer in 53 study participants. Other frequently mutated genes were RB1, NF1 and TP53.

The genetic contribution to cancer risk varied across the 448 survivors with one or more subsequent cancers. Among survivors whose pediatric cancer treatment did not include radiation and who developed second cancers, 19 percent carried mutations in one of the 156 cancer-risk genes. In contrast, genetics was not associated with the increase in non-melanoma skin cancers or meningioma experienced by survivors whose pediatric cancer treatment included radiation. However, survivors who carried high-risk mutations and had received radiation therapy for pediatric cancer were at an 11-fold increased risk for developing secondary breast cancer and sarcomas.

The researchers noted that mutations in cancer predisposition genes do not always lead to cancer. "While these mutations put survivors or their children at higher risk for cancer in the future, they do not mean cancer is inevitable," said Zhaoming Wang, Ph.D., of St. Jude Computational Biology. He presented the findings and is co-first author of the study with Carmen Wilson, Ph.D., a St. Jude Epidemiology and Cancer Control research associate. He added: "As we identify and understand more about germline mutations in cancer-predisposition genes, we expect to find that genetics plays an even more substantial role in the life-long cancer risk of some survivors."

This study involved St. Jude cancer survivors enrolled in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort study (St. Jude LIFE). They underwent whole genome and whole exome sequencing during 2015-16. St. Jude LIFE has enrolled more than 4,200 long-term survivors and aims to improve life for childhood cancer survivors now and in the future. Participants return to St. Jude periodically for several days of clinical and functional assessments.
Rabies and yellow fever claim ten thousands of lives each year. Vaccines already exist but various drawbacks that hinder their efficient distribution. One of them is the need to transport and store these vaccines at cool temperatures. The RABYD-VAX consortium, led by KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium), has now started developing a cheap, temperature-stable, and easy-to-produce vaccine against both diseases at once.

Rabies is usually transmitted through dog bites. With a near 100% fatality rate it is one of the deadliest diseases on earth, claiming an estimated 59,000 lives each year. "Most of these patients live in rural areas in Africa and Asia," explains RABYD-VAX coordinator Johan Neyts from the KU Leuven Laboratory of Virology. "More than half of the victims are children. Many people are still not vaccinated because the vaccines are very expensive and they need to be transported and stored at cool temperatures."

Vaccination for yellow fever is equally problematic, with an estimated 30,000 people dying each year. The mosquito-borne virus can cause a life-threatening infection with jaundice, systemic bleeding, shock, and organ failure. "The archaic production technique does not yield enough doses. There is a real danger that major outbreaks of yellow fever could become uncontrollable. Last year's epidemic in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a dramatic case in point. The WHO had to use its entire strategic emergency stock just to vaccinate the 6 million people living in the Angolan capital Luanda." This is all the more worrying as the Brazilian Ministry of Health recently reported an outbreak of yellow fever.

The RABYD-VAX consortium has now set out to develop a vaccine that protects against both rabies and yellow fever. "The new vaccine could be included in routine childhood vaccinations," says Neyts. "It will also be highly efficient, safe, temperature-stable, easy to produce and cheap. The vaccine can even be administered without a needle." To accomplish all this, the researchers will use a novel vaccine technology called PLLAV, which was developed at KU Leuven.




bill o'reilly

Mercedes-Benz has reportedly pulled its ads from The O'Reilly Factor's time slot following allegations of sexual harassment against Fox News' ratings king.

"We had advertising running on The O'Reilly Factor (we run on most major cable news shows) and it has been reassigned in the midst of this controversy," a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson told CNN's Tom Kludt.

The automaker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

A Hyundai spokesperson said the automaker is "reallocating" its advertising due to the allegations against O'Reilly.

"As a company we seek to partner with companies and programming that share our values of inclusion and diversity. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation as we plan future advertising decisions," the statement read.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Fox News and O'Reilly paid out $13 million to women who accused him of harassment, ranging from "verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances, and phone calls 'in which it sounded as if Mr. OReilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews.'"

Related:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

In addition to five women who reportedly received settlements totaling $13 million, two others have also accused the conservative commentator of unwanted advances. When Wendy Walsh, a regular guest on The O'Reilly Factor, refused an invitation to go to O'Reilly's hotel suite in 2013, he did not follow through on securing her a job at Fox News, according to The Times.

Former Fox News personality Andrea Tantaros also accused O'Reilly of sexual harassment in a lawsuit she filed last summer against the network and its former chairman Roger Ailes.

Ailes was ousted from the network last summer  with a $40 million exit package  in a sexual harassment scandal.

O'Reilly has denied that there is any merit to the allegations against him, and hired crisis communications expert Mark Fabiani last week, who released a statement to The Times on behalf of O'Reilly.

Story continues

"Just like other prominent and controversial people, Im vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity," the statement said. "In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline.

"But most importantly, Im a father who cares deeply for my children and who would do anything to avoid hurting them in any way. And so I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children," it continued.

In a statement to CNN's Kludt, the Mercedes spokesperson called the allegations against O'Reilly "disturbing" and added that "given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now."









BREAKING: Mercedes spokesperson tells me it's pulled ads from the O'Reilly Factor pic.twitter.com/CezYfuUnK6

 Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) April 3, 2017

NOW WATCH: A hacker explains why Trump using his old Android phone for Twitter could be a huge security threat





More From Business Insider
The Medicines Agency of Sweden, MPA, has authorised Herantis Pharma Plc and Renishaw plcs randomised, placebo-controlled Phase 1-2 clinical study, for the investigation of Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor (CDNF) and Renishaws chronic drug delivery system, in Parkinsons patients.

The first study site to start patient recruitment will be the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Two other university hospitals are planned to join the study later. The clinical study intends to recruit a total of 18 patients with Parkinsons disease.

Neuroscience eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Paul Skinner, General Manager for Renishaws Neurological Products Division, said, This is an important step forward in the use of the Renishaw drug delivery system, and in gathering clinical data for the delivery of therapeutics across the blood-brain-barrier.

Parkinsons is a neurodegenerative disease, caused by the break-down of dopamine producing neurons in the brain. Symptoms include involuntary shaking, stiffness of muscles and slowing down of movement, which can be extremely debilitating. In addition, patients can suffer associated non-motor symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, memory loss, anxiety and depression. Whilst these symptoms can initially be managed with medication, there is currently no treatment available that effectively prevents disease progression, or that treats the motor and non-motor symptoms together.

CDNF aims to relieve the symptoms of Parkinsons by protecting dopaminergic neurons and restoring their functionality. However, due to the size of the molecule it will not cross the blood brain barrier and therefore needs to be delivered directly into the brain. The clinical study has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement number 732386.

Source: Renishaw
On the list of dreaded medical tests, a prostate biopsy probably ranks fairly high. The common procedure requires sticking a needle into the prostate gland to remove tissue for assessment. Thousands of men who undergo the uncomfortable procedure, prompted by a positive PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test, ultimately don't require cancer treatment. Today, scientists report progress toward minimizing unnecessary biopsies: They have identified the molecules likely responsible for the scent of prostate cancer, which could be detected by chemically "sniffing" urine.

The researchers will present their results today at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 14,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

"The idea for this project started with a study published in 2014 showing that trained canines could detect prostate cancer with greater than 97 percent accuracy," says Mangilal Agarwal, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator. His team had already been working on a sensor to sniff hypoglycemia on a person's breath as dogs have also been shown to do. 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," says Amanda Siegel, Ph.D., who is presenting the work at the meeting. Both Agarwal and Siegel are at the Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center.

Prostate cancer is the third most common type of cancer in the United States. In 2016, more than 180,000 new cases were diagnosed, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute. Early detection has been critical to saving the lives of many men with prostate cancer. But diagnosing the disease can be fraught with challenges.

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 recognized as flawed and often leads to unnecessary biopsies.

"Currently, about 60 percent of men who get a biopsy to test for prostate cancer don't need to get one," Siegel says. "We hope our research will help doctors and patients make better-informed decisions about whether to have a biopsy, and to avoid unwarranted procedures."

To determine which molecules wafting from urine could indicate prostate cancer in a patient, the IUPUI and VA team 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  adding sodium chloride and neutralizing the pH  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 percent of the samples from patients with prostate cancer but not in samples from those who did not have the disease.

Next, the team plans to conduct large-scale tests at multiple health centers to validate their findings. They have also submitted a proposal for funding to confirm the molecular signature they identified by collaborating with a local dog trainer and comparing their technique's results to those obtained with a canine nose. Depending on the outcome of these projects, Siegel and Agarwal say their test could become available to patients and doctors within the next few years. In the short-term, urine samples would have to be sent to a lab for analysis, but the researchers say their ultimate goal is to design a sensor that can yield results in a doctor's office.
SCIENTISTS in Salford, UK, have identified a gene which is 'revving the engine of cancer' against the world's most common breast cancer drug.

For reasons unknown, 50% of patients with breast cancer treated with the estrogen receptor-blocking drug tamoxifen eventually become resistant to the treatment.

In a paper published this week in the journal Oncotarget, biochemists tested a hypothesis that the mechanism of tamoxifen resistance is related to energy-generating mitochondria in cancer cells.

In doing so, they identified the protein NQ01 as the 'trigger' which determines whether cells would survive tamoxifen or not.

Michael P Lisanti, Professor of Translational Medicine in the Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Salford said: "In simple terms, the process of poisoning the cell (with tamoxifen) actually has the opposite effect, stimulating the cancer cells to respond by revving their engines in order to survive."

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Lisanti and collaborators Dr Federica Sotgia and Dr Marco Fiorillo tested their idea that cancer cells were fighting against tamoxifen by using their mitochondria - the 'powerhouse of the cell' - that produces all their energy.

In the laboratory they directly compared sensitive cells with tamoxifen-resistant cancer cells, and demonstrated that higher mitochondrial power is what distinguishes a drug-sensitive cell from a resistant cell.

Then they used a combination of protein profiling, genetics and metabolism to identify which genes were necessary to confer tamoxifen-resistance. They observed that by adding just a single gene, NQ01, the cells would survive.

Finally, they used a chemical inhibitor of NQ01 (dicoumarol), which is a relative of warfarin, to successfully sensitise tamoxifen-resistant cells.

Professor Lisanti concludes: "This is the first evidence that tamoxifen resistance is related to a specific metabolic behaviour, ie. increased mitochondrial power, which is important because this is not related to tamoxifen's effect on the estrogen receptor.

"It also confirms that tamoxifen resistance is not a mechanism related to estrogen."

Dr Marco Fiorillo suggests: "Now that we have identified the target, this will allow us and others to design new drugs to overcome tamoxifen resistance. There are already existing experimental drugs for targeting NQO1 and GCLC, for other reasons, so making inhibitors to target these enzymes is a practical reality."

Source: http://www.salford.ac.uk/
Kolkata: With the declining bank credit to Indian real estate industry, private equity (PE) investors emerge as the major contributors to the sector by meeting around 75 percent of the funding requirement in the last couple of years, a report said on Tuesday.



"Analysis of Institutional Funding in Real Estate", released by Knight Frank India, said bank credit shrank drastically in the last few years from 57 per cent in 2010 to less than 24 percent in 2016.



"Around three-fourth of the real estate sector's funding requirement is met by PE players in the past couple of years; as against one fourth in 2010," it said.



The current environment for real estate is both challenging and opportunistic at the same time. Rising non-performing assets (NPAs), higher risk provisioning and mounting losses in the real estate industry have led to significant reduction in credit offered by banks. PE players have replaced banks and are currently the biggest source of institutional finance for the real estate industry," said the research firm's Chief Economist and National Director, Research Samantak Das.



According to the report, total funding in the Indian real estate sector increased by 40 per cent from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion in 2016.



The industry witnessed the highest amount of PE fund flow in 2015 with more than $3.6 billion investments across 100 plus deals, since 2010.



The report said the year 2016 observed a 13 per cent drop in PE fund flow with less than 60 deals. "However the year 2016 has also recorded the highest amount of the average deal size amounting to $56 million," it noted.



"Currently, PE funding is not just restricted to equity but has largely moved towards a quasi-equity type of structure," Das added.
New Delhi: Congress leader P. Chidambaram has denied wrong doing in the Aircel-Maxis case, after reports emerged on Monday that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had told the Supreme Court that the CBI was probing all angles in the case including Chidambarams role in granting investment clearance to the deal.



In a statement released on Tuesday the former finance minister said: CBI has recorded statements from every official who dealt with the case. Everyone including the then secretary and the additional secretary has affirmed that the case was rightly submitted to the Finance Minister who is the competent authority to grant approval, which was granted in the normal course of business.



The Supreme Court on Monday asked the CBI to file a report on the status of its investigation on the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also filed a status report of its ongoing investigation in the money laundering case aspects of the case.



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.



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.



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.
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 depression regardless of the quality of their sleep than those who sleep early and are early risers.



"These findings are important because depression 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 depression and circadian functioning might help us figure out strategies to improve physical and mental health 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.




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.
Mumbai: Flyers bearing Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad's name have been suffering due to the curbs imposed by domestic airlines on the parliamentarian, his close aide said.



He also said that the Shiv Sena MP won't book a flight ticket till the matter was resolved by the Parliament and his party.



"Gaikwad won't ever book a flight ticket till the issue is resolved by the Parliament, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Shiv Sena party," the Sena MP's aide told PTI over phone from Gaikwad's hometown Omerga in Osmanabad district.



"After the infamous Pune-Delhi flight, Ravi Sir (Gaikwad) booked flight tickets only three times and all were cancelled owing to the unjust curbs imposed by the airlines.



"The fourth and last ticket he booked was for an 8 AM flight from Mumbai to Delhi and that was also cancelled. He did not book any ticket after that. All this talk of his being on a flight ticket booking spree is a ploy to malign him and we condemn such tactics," the aide said.



The tickets were booked by the Sena MP's namesake who is bearing the brunt of the mistaken identity, he said.



"The airline companies do not have any mechanism to distinguish between the namesakes and as a result, innocent flyers are being inconvenienced," he said.



A grave injustice has been heaped on Gaikwad, who now has the "dubious distinction of being the first person to be ever grounded by scheduled Indian air carriers," the aide added.



The clarification comes after recent reports that Gaikwad made at least four vain attempts to fly to Delhi using several permutations and combinations of the titles and initials of his names.



It was also reported that Air India detected this by either cancelling the bookings or not allowing them to be made.



Gaikwad has been barred from flying by domestic airlines for assaulting an Air India staffer recently.
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh police are not only "shocked" by High Court's order to acquit Satyambabu in Ayesha Meera murder case, its presumptive observations have also left them "disturbed". While letting Satyambabu walk free as innocent, the High court ordered departmental action against erring investigating officers for their failure.



The police are waiting for a complete judgment copy to officially reach them. After studying the entire judgement, the decision about further action will be taken. However, top sources in Andhra Pradesh police have confirmed that they will go for an appeal against the verdict in Supreme Court.



Defending their case, top sources in Andhra Pradesh police say their case was not based merely on a theory but was strongly corroborated by scientific and material evidence. All evidence like vaginal swabs, fingerprints, footprint, etc. were collected by the crime team and tallied with that of accused.



Over 100 people were investigated. One officer, who investigate the case, said even the role of a top politician's grandson was probed after his name was propped up by the victim's family in the case. The grandson and his friends' samples were taken, which included DNA, fingerprint and handwriting, but none of that matched with those from the crime scene. Therefore, their role was ruled out in the case.



Satyambabu was jailed for 6 months in early 2008 for a theft case. He was again picked up from his home in Nandigama in August 2008. Nandigama police officers who arrested him told, he was detained in a criminal case, where he allegedly entered a girls' hostel and hit the warden on her head, when he was caught. It was during this investigation, he confessed to his earlier crime, the murder of Ayesha Meera. To confirm his DNA, fingerprint, and handwriting sample were taken and the reports matched.



In the confession video that has emerged, Satyambabu is seen explaining in detail how he committed the crime. He narrated how he reached inside, after killing Ayesha, abused her body and how he created the crime scene inspired from a movie.



In his confession video, he says, "I had gone for a movie. While returning, I saw a girl standing out reading a book in girls hostel. She went inside. I did not know why. So I climbed up, using small walls. I saw her in a room sleeping, others were also nearby her. I did not know what to do, so I came down. There was a dhaba, I picked up a big stone from there. I climbed again and hit her hard. I, then, dragged her by her feet till outside, and tied her. I raped her after that. She was dead by then. I was getting scared. Then I remembered how, in movies, they covered up such a crime. I wrote a love letter and scribbled my name on her chest to show murder was a result of love failure."



Sources in police department say tampering of evidence, as claimed by the defence in High Court, in this case, was impossible. Satyambabu was in judicial custody, and all his samples were collected inside the jail by the concerned authorities and that too, by court orders. All reports from forensic labs were directly submitted to the court.



On the observation of the Court that "was he a superman to climb the building", the police say that the building is not difficult to climb. The building has many small steps like wall making it easy for any person to climb.



The sessions court convicted Satyambabu on the basis of same evidence, but High court reversed the order and came down strongly on investigative agencies for framing an innocent. As Andhra Pradesh police are gearing up to file an appeal, they say, factually, they are confident of countering the verdict in a higher Court.


We in the state of Arunachal have grown up on stories of his holiness's 1959 trek to India from Tibet. It is part of the folklore. Every grown up person told us stories from back then, but I never really believed that I would get a chance to see him in flesh and blood till 1983. In 1983 His Holiness The Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh for the first time after 1959. I remember accompanying my father and rest of the family to get his darshan. I was 14 years old then, we had travelled from Bomdila  my home town - to neighbouring Dirang where he was preaching.His aura, his mere presence left a mark. It was like seeing a living God. There was no one-to-one interaction, yet the feeling of seeing him is something which cannot be described in words.Then in 1996 I travelled back from Delhi, where I was studying, to attend his second visit. Even at that point the meeting with His Holiness was not one-to-one.My first direct interaction with him had to wait till I became an MP. I lead a parliamentary delegation to Edinburgh for the World Parliamentarian Conference on Tibet in 2005.In 2007-2008 I again lead an MP delegation to Dharamshala and then in 2007 I was also part of his meeting with Indian parliamentarians on the occasion of his birthday. And then last year, I got my most valuable possession till date from His Holiness. I had lost both my brothers in a span of three months and His Holiness gave me this note which I treasure more than anything else.For a devotee there is no bigger blessing than to get something personal from His Holiness.I am going to Arunachal to welcome him, not because I am a Minister of the Government of India but because I am an Arunachali. It is my duty as a son of that state. If I don't go, people will be upset with me for not doing what is expected of me. I am aware that China has objected to His Holiness' visit but this visit should be seen only as a religious visit and nothing else.His Holiness is the spiritual and religious head of all Buddhists. The eagerness to see him in person is so much in Arunachal that state government from time to time has been requesting him to grant an audience to people of Arunachal. He has found the time only now. That the 6th Dalai Lama was from Tawang makes His Holiness' visit that much more significant. He lived in Tawang Monastery after his escape from Tibet. The place holds a special place in his heart. And he is very special to the people of Arunachal. His Holiness is ageing now. For most people this might be the last chance to see him, to seek his blessings, to soak in his teachings. Why should we deny them that opportunity?Arunachal is an integral part of India; it is not disputed as some people are calling it. Yes, some border demarcation related issues regarding Mc Mohan line remains but the state is as Indian as UP, Bihar or Bengal. How can government stop movement of a religious leader in an Indian state? Dalai Lamas visit is always religious. China is trying to project him as a political person. They call him an extremist but for us he is our religious leader.In 2009 also when His Holiness visited Arunachal Pradesh, China raised a lot of issues but I had said back then also that this visit is totally religious and no political angle should be given to this. I was not part of the government in 2009, I was not even a sitting MP but my position remains the same. Do not politicise this visit. You have to see the crowd for yourself to realise how much affection and respect people have for His Holiness. Because of bad weather his schedule has been altered. Now, he will take the road to travel from Bomdila to Dirang to Itanagar.People would throng the road; his carcade may have to stop. He is scheduled to consecrate my village Gompa in Nafra. But even that may not happen if there is paucity of time. The point is Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal because of the love and affection of the people. People for whom he is God. Treat it like a religious visit and do not play politics over the emotions of Arunachalis is my request.
But India was quick to brush aside the Chinese objection with MoS Home Kiren Rijiju, who is known for his hard-line stand against China, telling the media: We are not interfering in the internal matters of China and that country should not interfere in ours.

On March 30, 1959, the Dalai Lama and 20 of his guards escaped China and entered India through Kinzmane. He was then brought to Tawang where he was accorded a grand welcome before being finally taken to Dharamshala, the capital of Tibet's government-in-exile.Three years later, the Chinese decided to attack India through the same area. China claims Arunachal Pradesh to be part of south Tibet. This week, the Dalai Lama is back at Tawang on a religious tour. He was to have started the visit on Tuesday but overcast conditions forced him to abandon the chopper and travel by road. He is now scheduled to reach Tawang on April 7.Any visit to Arunachal by Dalai Lama has always been controversial and has led to stiffening of relations between India and China. Though he visited the state in 1983, 1997, 2003 and 2009, never has the visit been so political and bold. Even during his weeklong visit in 2009, the then chief minister of Arunachal went on record to say that the Dalai Lama would stop at discourse, his was a purely religious visit and had nothing to do with politics. This time, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju would be escorting him in Tawang.The Dalai Lama walks in disguise during his escape from Tibet in 1959. (Pic Courtesy: Prasar Bharati)The government, too, it seems, has decided to make a subtle push towards asserting itself. While the programmes in Arunachal are strictly religious, in Assam he was made the guest of honour at the Namami Brahmaputra event where he spoke about the spiritual link with the river, which originates in his homeland Tibet.Brahmaputra, like certain parts of Arunachal, has been a sore spot in India-China relations. India has raised objection to the fact that China has blocked a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Tibet as part of the construction of a hydro-power project and has said that it may impact the water flow into the country, especially in states like Assam.At the festival, India chose to flaunt how the spiritual head of Tibet was escorted to India from Zuthangbo on the Sino-India border by the guards of Assam Rifles in 1959. At an interactive session of Namami Brahmaputra, the last surviving member of the Assam Rifles who escorted him to India was invited. A visibly moved Dalai Lama embraced the retired jawan, Naren Chandra Das, after saluting him.Dalai Lama meets Havildar of Assam Rifles, Naren Chandra Das, who escorted him to India from Tibet 58 years ago. (Pic Courtesy: Prasar Bharati)This even as China has issued three warnings in the wake of this visit, the last being on Friday when it said that the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties. Lu Kang, the foreign ministry spokesperson of China, asked India to make a 'choice'. China and India are two major developing countries and we are close neighbours. It is very important for the two peoples to maintain sound and steady China-India relations.... But such a relationship has to be built on certain foundations. Such visits will have deep damage on China-India relations. We have asked India to stick to its political pledges and not to hurt China-India relations. It will come down to India to make a choice (sic).Dr Alka Acharya, former director of the Institute of Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University and currently professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies in JNU, agrees that India is more assertive now than it was in the past. Acharya, however, says that it is also the current ambience adding to it. The context is far more volatile this time with the India-China relations going through a rough patch because of Pakistan, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Masood Azhar.She maintains that India's decision might sour the relation between the two countries further. There is always that certain level of tension and turbulence between China and Tibet. The Chinese leadership always wants to be seen in control. While India is not raising the issue of Chinese conduct within Tibet, we are not averse to bringing in the spotlight something that detracts from China's stature internationally. These occasions bring the Chinese to the point where they oppose or condemn his activities and this once again enhances their authoritarian and intolerant position.As MoS Home Kiren Rijiju escorts Dalai Lama across Arunachal, it is important to note this visit in the context of what has been happening in this sector. Whether the very public inauguration of IAF Advanced Landing Ground at Tuting, in Upper Siang, Arunachal in December or sanctioning of an estimated Rs 50,000 to 70,000 crore for construction of railway lines between Tawang (Arunachal), Silapathar (Assam) and Bame (Arunachal), and Murkongselek (Assam) and Pasighat (Arunachal), India is seen to be shoring up the defences on the eastern front . While it has not gone for a direct confrontation with China, India is seen to be making a quiet assertion by making it clear that Chinese overtures in Arunachal are definitely not welcome.
@SushmaSwaraj mam i'm Indian i got marry with Pakistani girl we both are Christians i want to bring my wife to India  Daniel Henry Devanur (@DDevanur) August 12, 2016

A cross-border marriage has left a man from Karnataka in a lurch.Daniel Henry Devanur is from Hubli in north Karnataka while his wife lives in Lahore, Pakistan.All efforts get her a visa to travel to India have failed and he is now knocking on the doors of External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.The 22-year-old married his distant relative, 21-year-old Silvia Noorin, at a Lahore Church on June 25, 2016 and then returned to India on July 11.Noorin approached Pakistani authorities to get a sponsorship certificate which is a must to apply for an Indian visa. This certificate has to be signed by an A grade official of the Pakistan government. But no Pakistani official is ready to sign it.Speaking to CNN-News18, Devanur said, My wife has approached every Pakistani official in Lahore. Unfortunately, no one is ready to sign the documents. They are not giving any reasons. Without that Indian High Commission will not give her a Visa to be with me. It has been nine months since we met for the last time. We are so much worried about our future.He has met Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi, seeking help. According to Devanur, Joshi has promised to take it up with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Devanur has also tweeted all relevant documents to Swaraj, asking her for help.
Hours after spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah said slaughter of bovine animals and sale of beef should be banned across the country to promote communal harmony, several clerics have supported his idea but with skepticism.Dargah Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Monday had said he and his family members will stop eating beef and appealed all Muslims to stay away from slaughter of bovine animals.Speaking to News18, the Naib Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri Masjid Maulana Mohammed Moazzam Ahmed said, We are Indians and we need to make this change in our life for our Hindu brothers and sisters.However, Ahmed was quick to point out that a few politicians were raking up the beef issue for votes.Recently, in Kerala, a BJP candidate promised quality beef to the voters if he is elected... at the expense of Muslims, they are cashing in on votes.The chairman of the Imam Council of India, Maulana Masood Ul Hassan Qasmi said while he supports the Ajmer Dargah chiefs views, its not just Muslims who consume beef.We stopped eating beef almost 30 years ago when Darul-Uloom-Deoband had issued a fatwa stating that Muslims should not eat beef to respect the sentiments of the Hindus, said Qasmi.Qasmi was critical of the Ajmer Dargah Chief for portraying that only Muslims consume beef. Who will speak about the Dalits and many others who consume beef? Look at the BJP leaders of Nagaland and other places who have promised that beef ban will never be implemented in those parts, he said.Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said barring a few states cow slaughter was already banned across India. But its bizarre to ban slaughter of all bovine species, including buffalo. For us alcohol is prohibited should we demand alcohol ban across India? Umri asked.Mehmood Madani, general secretary, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, said beef was not the only issue causing communal tension. To achieve the target that the Sufi saint wishes to achieve, there has to be reform in the way people think. However, its true that the issue of beef is used by some people to instigate violence. If slaughter of bovine species is banned, it could be resolved to certain extent, said Madani.
The Supreme Court had earlier imposed a ban on sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant in India from April 1 when the new emission norms came into force.



The direction came while hearing a batch of petitions filed by various contractors seeking registration of new BS-IV compliant diesel vehicles purchased for transport of petrol from company depots to identified petrol pumps in Delhi-NCR.

: Days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles, the National Green Tribunal has directed public sector oil companies to submit a roadmap to phase out all such diesel tankers which are not Bharat Stage-IV compliant.A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum to hold a meeting along with representatives of their contractors and devise a mechanism to remove BS-III oil tankers."As far as the BS-III compliant vehicles run by the contractors under the tenders are concerned, within two weeks the Managing Directors of all the three companies along with representatives of the contractors shall hold a meeting and submit to the Tribunal a complete programme in regard to phasing out of all the diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old and are BS-III compliant," the bench said.The apex environment watchdog, however, directed the authorities not to renew registration of these vehicles in Delhi-NCR in the meanwhile.The NGT had earlier directed oil companies to immediately stop plying Bharat Stage-I and Bharat Stage-II vehicles in the National Capital Region for transporting petrol or petroleum products.The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted by the government to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.These norms were introduced in India in 2000, when the Bharat Stage norms were adopted by the then government, based on the European emission norms.Each stage specifies a certain limit on the pollutants released, which is controlled by the type of fuel made by the oil companies and the upgradations and modifications made by the auto firms to their vehicles to control the pollutants released from the vehicle.
New Delhi: Amid a row over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Monday asked China not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it respects the "One-China" policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.



Making a statement on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.



"There is no political angle behind His Holiness's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in India's internal affairs," he told reporters.



Rijiju said India has never interfered in China's internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate.



"We respect Beijing's 'One-China' policy and we expect China to reciprocate," he said.



External Affairs Ministry also asserted that the government has clearly stated on several occasions that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected by the Indian people.



"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," the Ministry said in a release.



The government, therefore, urges that no "artificial controversy" should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, it said.



The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh on Monday during which he will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.



A wary China has kept a close watch ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit, starting on Monday.



Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties.
New Delhi: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has landed in a controversy following reports that soil from land owned by his family was sold to the Forest Department of the Bihar government, that too circumventing the tender process.



Furthermore, Lalus eldest son, Tej Pratap Yadav, is the state environment and forest minister under whom the forest department falls.



Lalus family holds a big piece of land on the outskirt of Patna where a mall is being constructed by a private builder who also happens to be a RJD MLA.



Tej Pratap and his younger brother Tejaswi Yadav, who is also the deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, are directors of company which holds the land.



As the work began on the plot to build the mall, a lot of soil was dug out of the plot which was deemed surplus. This was allegedly sold to Patna Zoo where some construction work was under way for Rs 90 lakh, that too without tender.



Patna Zoo falls under the Bihar Forest Department.



The state opposition has already latched onto this issue. Sushil Modi, state BJP leader, said, How can soil of ones private land be sold to a department where a family member is a minister? A Rs 90 lakh deal was made, that too without floating any tender.
Mukhia was arrested minutes before he could board a Delhi-bound flight on Monday morning when police found two live grenades and four rounds of ammunition during screening of his luggage.

: A soldier caught on Monday with two live grenades at the Srinagar airport reportedly named an Army Major who has been called for questioning by the Jammu and Kashmir police.The jawan, Bhupal Mukhia, who spent Monday in the lock-up, was granted interim bail by a local court on Tuesday.The court has listed the case for next hearing on April 6.On questioning, the jawan told the police that Major Vivek Seth of 17-JAK Rifles had directed him to carry the grenades to Delhi where, on his arrival, someone would pick up the consignment.The army had initially said that the jawan was carrying drill items, but later said action would be taken against the guilty.Police sources said the Major is outside the state and the commanding officer of the unit has assured that the Major would cooperate in the investigation. He was likely to reach by Tuesday evening.Meanwhile, another soldier was stopped from boarding a flight after he was detected of carrying a sone live bullet. Panday Raj of Army Medical Corps was detained for sometime by the anti-hijacking unit of Srinagar airport after his baggage was scanned at the first security counter. He was later handed over to army.
: The CEO and four employees of a private Malayalam TV channel, which had aired the alleged sleaze talk involving a minister leading to his resignation, were on Tuesday arrested by the Kerala Police on charges of airing sexually explicit content.The five employees of Mangalam TV were arrested under charges of criminal conspiracy and Section 67 and 67 (a) of IT Act.The channel had initially claimed that the then transport minsiter A K Saseendran had lewd telephone conversation with a woman who had approached him regarding certain favours. Later, it was alleged that it was a honey trap.On May 30th, channel CEO R Ajith Kumar tendered an apology for airing the purported audio clip and admitted it was a "sting operation" involving one of their woman journalists and not a housewife, as it had claimed earlier.On Monday, the Kerala High Court had rejected their interim prayer when their anticipatory bail petitions came up for hearing.Police had last week registered an FIR against them, including Ajith Kumar, on a complaint by the youth wing of the Nationalist Congress Party, for airing "obscene conversation".The channel on its opening day on March 26 had aired an audio clip of the purported talk of transport Minister A K Saseendran, NCP representative in the LDF cabinet, with a woman, following which he had resigned the same day.The state government had on March 30 ordered a probe by a special investigation team into the incident.The government had earlier announced a judicial inquiry by a former district judge.Meanwhile, the woman journalist has filed a complaint with the DGP, alleging sexual harassment.
New Delhi: The Election Commission is set to invite technocrats, scientists and representatives of political parties and give them a shot at tampering with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in a bid to prove they are fool-proof.



"We invite technocrats, scientists and political parties to demonstrate (tampering EVMs). We had thrown open challenge to all naysayers in August 2009 as well. But none could prove or demonstrate -ECI EVMs tamperablilty," a source told CNN-News18.



The move comes in response to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwals challenge to the poll panel wherein he asked for 72 hours to prove that EVM machines can be tampered with.



"Give us 72 hours... I will reveal the software, and tell you how it can be tempered with," Kejriwal said in a press conference on Monday. He also demanded that the upcoming MCD voting in New Delhi be conducted on paper ballots.



Kejriwal also claimed that in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind bypolls, the EC is deploying the same EVMs that were used in Uttar Pradesh polls, which several non-BJP parties say were tampered with.



"A particular machine showed BJP winning and now even the EC has accepted that the machine had come from UP," the AAP leader said, adding that as per law these machines cannot be used before April 26.



AAP has also 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.







Refuting the allegations, the Election Commission has told the AAP that instead of blaming EVMs, the party should introspect on the reasons for its defeat in Punjab. The Commission said the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are kept in a strong room after results are announced till the 45-day period of filing of election petition by any of the candidates is over.
Yogi Adityanath will preside over the first state cabinet meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday. Party supporters, opposition and the public at large will follow the meeting to find out whether BJP will fulfill its poll promises.Observations made by state cabinet ministers and decisions taken by them in Tuesdays cabinet meeting will also give a glimpse of how Yogi governments policies will shape up in the coming days.According to information obtained from sources in the party, big farm loan waivers can be expected in the meeting that starts from 5 pm on Tuesday. Some decisions could also reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modis policies, sources said.Farm loan waiver was the highlight in BJPs manifesto released on January 28.Some other promises were 24*7 power supply, 70 lakh jobs, 90% reservation for state domiciles, free education of girls till graduation, anti-romeo squads, ban on mechanised abattoirs and constitution of anti-exodus squads.Sources in the party suggest that following big ticket decisions could be made in Adityanath governments first cabinet meeting which is to be held on Tuesday.This could be the most important decision to come out of state cabinet meeting in the evening.UP government is likely to go ahead and give a partial farmer loan waver to around 1.5 crore farmers in the state. According to estimates, the combined outstanding farm loan in the states is around 62,000 crore.Now the government does not have the capacity to waive off the complete amount, so, sources say, the state government is likely to introduce a policy whereby loans of a certain period on Kisan credit card(KCC) can be waived off.Cooperative bank loans up to Rs 50000 may also be waived off.This is another poll promise made by BJP. Around Rs 6000 crore is the amount which sugarcane farmers are to be paid for their previous sale of crop. A major portion of it is likely to be cleared by the govt.Another promise made in BJPs Sankalp Patr, its manifesto, was constitution of squads to check exodus of communities within the state. The idea was inspired from initial news reports and claims made by the MP in Kairana that several Hindu families had fled Kairana due to threats from violent elements in Muslim community.Not only were these charges proved to be false, the MP  Hukum Singh - himself later denied ever having made such statements. However, BJP is likely to go ahead and constitute the anti-exodus squads anyways.Also on the agenda is a move to modify job criteria in state government vacancies in such a way that allows 90% vacancies to be reserved for youths who are domiciles of UP.Bearing Narendra Modis signature, this policy decision likely to be announced on Tuesday will ensure that thousands of applicants applying for grade 3 and 4 jobs wont have to appear for interviews.In 2012 Akhilesh Yadav government introduced a free ambulance service named after his party. According to sources, there is a proposal to change the name of this scheme.The scheme was being funded jointly by the state and the centre, by owing to the name that the previous government had given to this service, the centre had reportedly stopped giving its share.
Mumbai: Anupam Kher has thanked filmmaker-producer Mahesh Bhatt for giving him a break in films with Saaransh.



The 62-year-old veteran actor took to Twitter where he congratulated the director on the 30th anniversary of his production house Vishesh Films. "Wonderful to be part of celebrations of #30YearsOfVisheshFilms. Will always be full of gratitude for @MaheshNBhatt Saab for #Saaransh," tweeted Kher, alongside the pictures from the party.



Bhatt also thanked the actor for being a part of his journey through Vishesh Films.



"Anupam when one looks at life through eyes of gratitude, the world becomes a magical place. I thank you for your part in my journey. Thank you!" wrote Bhatt.



The director credited veteran scriptwriter Salim Khan for being a guiding force throughout his career.



"Thank you Salim Saab for giving us the opportunity to be grateful!"






.@arunjaitley was receiving regular retainership fee from Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Grp Pvt Ltd till 2009. On 03.01.08 he received 36 lakh.

 Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) April 4, 2017

.@arunjaitley On 08.01.09 again @arunjaitley received Rs 36 lakh from Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Grp. The money was paid thrgh ICICI A/C no 000405031592  Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) April 4, 2017

.@arunjaitley @narendramodi @ArvindKejriwal Jaitley has filed the case not agnst Kejriwal the individual. The case is agnst the idea he embodies, it's agnst the people he represents.  Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) April 4, 2017

Hours after senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani agreed to fight the defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for free, the Aam Aadmi Party doubled down on the allegations of corruption against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.Senior AAP leader and vice-chairman of Delhi Development and Dialogue Commission Ashish Khetan, in a series of tweets, hit out at both the FM and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. .@arunjaitley (Arun Jaitely) was receiving regular retainership fee from Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Grp Pvt Ltd till 2009. On 03.01.08 he received 36 lakh, Khetan tweeted.He then followed it up with a series of tweets, elaborating further on the AAPs allegations against the FM On 08.01.09 again @arunjaitley received Rs 36 lakh from Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Grp. The money was paid thrgh ICICI A/C no 000405031592. Dear @narendramodi (Narendra Modi) sir, shd @arunjaitley be dealing with matters related to Anil Ambani at all? Shd he be meeting Anil almost every week? I will wait for your reply @narendramodi Sir &The BJP had recently lashed out at Kejriwal for allegedly using public funds to fight a private case after it hired Jethmalani. Sanjay Kumar, Jethmalanis private secretary, in a letter to the CMs secretary had written, Sir, This is with reference to the above subject matter (Arun Jaitley vs Arvind Kejriwal & Ors.). Mr. Ram Jethmalani, Sr. Advocates retainer is Rs. 1,00,00,000 (Rupees One Crore Only) and appearance Fee per Court visit is Rs 22,00,000 (Rupees Twenty-Two Lakh Only).Jethmalani had then exclusively told CNN-News18, Everyone knows that I charge only the rich. If the government cant pay, I will not charge. I will treat them as my poor client. This matter is instigated by Arun Jaitley. If he (Kejriwal) wins the suit, the cost will go back to the government. I will defend him till my last breath. If he cant pay, I will appear for free.Khetan, in his series of tweets, also launched a passionate defence of Kejriwal. Dear @narendramodi Sir, @ArvindKejriwal (Arvind Kejriwal) & @AamAadmiParty (Aam Aadmi Party) are pennyless. Your FM is a rich man, he can afford expensive advocates. We can't. .@narendramodi ji, your FM has made his money defending big ppl involved in big scams. @ArvindKejriwal all his life has defended the poor. Jaitley has filed the case not agnst Kejriwal the individual. The case is agnst the idea he embodies, it's agnst the people he represents, he tweeted.
Bhopal: Joining the anti-EVM chorus, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are not at all credible and example of their faulty functioning has come to the fore in Madhya Pradesh already.



Talking to media in Jabalpur, Singh said that even developed countries prefer ballot paper over EVMs, why India is not doing the same.

Recently, during a demonstration in MP's Bhind, the VVPAT machines attached to the EVMs were offering voting slip in favour of BJPs poll symbol lotus, irrespective of the buttons pressed on the EVMs.



Election Commission of India had ordered a probe into the alleged EVM malfunctioning, removing 19 officers including the collector, SP, and others for the goof up.



Taking a swipe at BJP over demonetisation, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said that the Centre had failed miserably to achieve demonetisation goals, and it was a huge scam.



Singh, who was in charge of Goa during recent assembly polls, on being asked about missing the chance to form the government in the state, asked Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar to apologise to the public for forming the government without having the public support.



Replying to queries on the adverse comment by CM Shivraj on Scindias, Singh said that it (comments) exposes his thinking and character.



The senior Congress leader also accused CM Chouhan and kin of being involved in illegal mining.



On the state of affairs in Congress party, the AICC general secretary said that the only challenge the party faces these days is to improve itself.


Kolkata: Far away from the Ram Mandir issue in Uttar Pradesh, mega Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal by the RSS and the VHP seem to be marking an emergence of a new political equation in the state with many Trinamool Congress leaders, too, deciding to celebrate the festival in a grand way on Wednesday.



Fearing the RSS and BJPs allegedly aggressive Hindutva politics, the TMC has reportedly decided to block the Hindu vote space being wooed by right-wing organisations hoping for a foothold in Bengal politics.



Speaking to News18, Bidyut Mukherjee, the organisational secretary of the RSS, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said, This time vishesh (special) arrangement is being made to celebrate Ram Navami across the state. It will be organised under the banner of Ram Navami Utjapan Samity (Organisation for celebration of Rama Navami).



We have information that many Trinamool Congress leaders have also decided to celebrate Ram Navami in some parts of Asansol and Midnapore in Bengal. The move seems to be an effort to corner us, he said.



There will be more than 300 camps, several processions and public meetings across Bengal, Mukherjee said.



Rubbishing the RSS claim, TMC leader and state transport minister Subhendu Adhikari said, We dont want to politicise Ram Navami celebrations. Every year, we celebrate all major festivals irrespective of caste and religion.



Those (RSS) who are claiming that we are celebrating the festival because of vote-bank politics should get their facts right, he said.



When asked whether he will be present during the Ram Navami celebration in Contai (East Midnapore) on Wednesday, Adhikari said, Yes, I will be present there.



Like Adhikari, another TMC leader and mayor of Asansol Municipal Corporation, Jitendra Tiwary, is also celebrating the festival. This is not for the first time we are celebrating this festival. But this time, the issue took political overtones because of media attention and Ram Temple issue in UP.



When asked why this time he has decided to celebrate the festival in a big way, he said, Time has changed and so has the festival. The BJP, RSS and VHP leaders are politicising the issue, but we dont want to indulge in dirty politics.



He said, Tomorrow (Wednesday), there will be a grand celebration around 3pm in Pandabeswar in Bardhaman, on April 6 in Burnpur and on April 7 in Asansol. I will personally monitor the celebration and welcome all to participate.



BJP state President Dilip Ghosh said, TMC leaders are worried over BJPs rise in the state and, therefore, many of them have decided to celebrate Ram Navami across Bengal. Its a do-or-die situation for them.



For first time, TMC leaders are concentrating on Ram Navami festivals and the reason behind it is known to all of us. In next few years, West Bengal will see a new political colour because most of the ruling leaders will be busy with cases related to Narada and Saradha scams, he said, adding that the TMC should clarify why suddenly Ram Navami has become important for them.



The RSS had recently passed a resolution at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Coimbatore expressing concerns over rise in jihadi activities and the declining Hindu population in West Bengal.




Bhopal: The Election Commission on Monday 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 on Monday 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 Digvijaya 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.
Lenovo today announced the launch of its new Lenovo Data Centre Partner Programme for Asia-Pacific. Conceptualised entirely from ground-up in consultation with channel partners, the partner programme is aimed at helping Lenovo channel partners bring data centre solutions to the enterprise market.The programme provides Lenovo business partners with exclusive access to support and incentives  designed to help them grow their businesses and to reward their commitment to Lenovos solutions. Channel partners are rewarded with economic incentives, training, and dedicated resources regardless of their partner tiers.Partners can also look forward to clear and simple pathways through the programme, with various tiers awarded through the meeting of revenue thresholds, and by maintaining certified expertise on Lenovos solutions. Partner tiers include Silver, Gold, and the exclusive Platinum tier, which extends additional privileges such as certification vouchers, invitations to advisory councils and direct access to Lenovos knowledge base.The partner programme underscores Lenovos commitment to Asia Pacific channel partners through enhanced engagement, following the soft launch of Lenovos Asia-Pacific Channel Portal in October last year. As of launch, Lenovo Data Centre Partner Programme has seen more than 800 partners enrolled across Asia Pacific.
The new budget Moto G5 has been launched today at an event in New Delhi. The Moto G5 Plus was recently launched in the country for a starting price of Rs 14,999 in March. The company had purposely kept quiet about the more affordable Moto G5 handset back then and barely just 15 days of the launch of the Plus variant, the Moto G5 launch date in India was announced.

Last year, both the Moto G4 and G4 Plus was launched together in the country in May for a starting price of Rs 13,499.

There is very negligible difference between the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. Coming to the price, the Moto G5 is priced at Rs 11,999. Now, for those who have already purchased the costlier Moto G5 Plus recently, the cheaper Moto G5 might be a disappointment.

While the Moto G5 offers a 5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, the Moto G5 Plus is slightly bigger at 5.2-inch with same display features. Both the smartphones were first unveiled globally at MWC 2017 in February.

MOTO G5 FIRST LOOK

Here is all you need to know updates.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.
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.The North Korean government has denied allegations of hacking made by officials in Washington and South Korea as well as 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 PLC , 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.
"I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process)." She added, "And also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates as well."

With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson keeping a low profile and generally avoiding the media, Haley is emerging as the public face of US diplomacy making her presence felt in the media aided by her Cabinet status.

"We don't think we should wait until something happens" Haley said. "We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so want to see if we can be a part of that."

The US is concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Donald Trump himself may get involved in a peace process between the two neighbours, Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN said on Monday."This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a Cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.India has opposed external involvement in bilateral issues with Pakistan.During his campaign in 2016, Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, but was careful to add that it was only if the two nations wanted him to.In an interview to The Hindustan Times he said that he "would be honoured" to be a moderator. "I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator."Haley was answering a question from a reporter at her news conference on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April.The reporter pointed out that India does not want an interlocutor for talks with Pakistan, while Islamabad wanted the US or another country to facilitate talks between them and asked if the US would get the leaders of the two countries to talk.Her statement about India-Pakistan relations, therefore, assumes importance and it is the first high-level Trump administration statement on India's relations with Pakistan.While it is not clear what steps the US could take, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in May when the two could discuss it.Former President Barack Obama also had said during his 2008 campaign that the US should mediate the Kashmir dispute. The offer met with strong opposition in India and he did not actively follow it up when he became President."So, that will be something you will see, that is something that members of the National Security Council participate in," she said.
Mogadishu: Pirates who seized an Indian cargo dhow with 11 crew members in waters off the Somali coast have taken the vessel to El Hur, near the port of Hobyo in Somalia's semi-autonomous Galmudug state, a pirate leader told Reuters on Tuesday.



Aw Kombe also said the pirates were in touch with businessmen in Kismayu over releasing the vessel, Al Kausar.



"The traders want the dhow be released without ransom but my friends say they may not release without at least some cash," he added. "They are still discussing."



The identity and origin of the hijackers was disputed, however. A Galmudug state official said the pirates came from northern Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland while Kombe, a Puntland pirate leader, put the blame on "our friends from Galmudug state".



The Al Kausar was commandeered in the vicinity of Socotra Island while en route from Dubai to Puntland's port of Bosasso, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area.



Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a riskier route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs.



"The pirates who hijacked the dhow are from Puntland," said a government official in Galmudug state, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the incident.



"No doubt, the Puntland pirates who recently hijacked the oil tanker are now holding the dhow," he told Reuters, referring to the hijacking last month of an oil tanker.



That was the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012 and the pirates released it within a few days after a clash with Puntland's marine force.



Burhan Warsame, Galmudug's minister for ports and sea transport, also told Reuters the same pirates who seized the oil tanker last month "must have hijacked this dhow".



But Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, the former general director of Puntland's anti-piracy agency, said the dhow's location made it more likely that the pirates were from Galmudug.



Kombe, who headed the pirate gang that commandeered the oil tanker, told Reuters there were four groups of pirates from Puntland "who are still in ocean hunting for ships to hijack".

"But the dhow is in El Hur near Hobyo and the pirates holding it must be our friends from Galmudug state."
It was a week where oil prices reclaimed the $50-a-barrel level, while natural gas futures climbed to a 2-month high.

On the news front, one of the world's largest independent oil producer ConocoPhillips COP agreed to sell most of its Canadian assets to Calgary-based Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE in a $13.3 billion deal, while supermajor ExxonMobil Corp. XOM confirmed its third oil discovery off the coast of Guyana.

Overall, the sector ended the first quarter on a positive note. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures added 5.5% to close at $50.60 per barrel, while natural gas prices rose 1.2% to $3.19 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: TransCanada's Keystone Approval, Chevron's Asset Sale and More.)

Scoring its second gain in 3 weeks, oil prices rallied to their highest level since early March. The commodity was supported by U.S. government data that showed larger-then-anticipated declines in petroleum-product inventories and an uptick in refinery activity  a proxy for stronger crude demand. Prices were further supported by increasing prospects of the OPEC-led cartel extending its production cut agreement by six months.

Oils-Energy Sector 5YR % Return

Oils-Energy Sector 5YR % Return

Meanwhile, natural gas also turned higher following an in-line decrease in weekly supplies and predictions of strong demand on the back of a late-winter cold blast.

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. Upstream energy company ConocoPhillips recently announced its decision to divest a huge chunk of its Canadian properties to Calgary, Alberta-based Cenovus Energy Inc.for around $13.3 billion. The transaction is anticipated to close by second-quarter 2017.

Under the accord, the company would divest its 50% non-operated stake in the Foster Creek Christina Lake oil sands partnership and also the bulk of its western Canada Deep Basin gas properties. The company primarily aims to lower exposure to those assets as the cost of operation in these properties is high.

Story continues

This apart, ConocoPhillips plans use the sale proceeds to reduce its debt burden to $20 billion. Also, it intends to return money to investors by repurchasing shares. It is to be noted that ConocoPhillips is likely to buy back $3 billion shares in 2017. Another $3 billion stock repurchase would be executed through 2018 and 2019. (Read more: Here's Why ConocoPhillips Will Sell $13.3B Canadian Assets.)

2. Worlds largest publicly listed energy producer ExxonMobil Corp. announced a promising deepwater oil find on the prolific Stabroek Block at Snoek well, located offshore Guyana. This marks the companys third such discovery on the Stabroek Block, after Liza and Payara discoveries.

The 82 feet, high quality oil bearing sandstone reservoir  Snoek well  was drilled by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd using Stena Carron drillship. Post the completion of the drilling of Snoek well, Stena Carron drillship has resumed boring the Liza-4 well.

Esso Exploration and Production is responsible for all ExxonMobils drilling projects in the Guyanese waters, including its previous discoveries at Liza and Payara. Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is the chief operator of the Stabroek Block owning 45% of the stake. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Ltd. hold 30% and 25% interests respectively. (Read more: ExxonMobil Announces Major Oil Discovery Offshore Guyana.)

3. Global exploration & production company Hess Corp. HES recently made its Houston pipeline unit, Hess Midstream Partners L.P., public by launching an initial public offering (IPO) of 12,500,000 units. Hess plans to raise $250 million in the IPO through the sale of 12.5 million units at a price of $19 to $21.

Hess Midstream is a master limited partnership formed in 2014 by Hess and private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners to own pipeline and storage assets in the Bakken Shale. The partnership would be listed in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HESM.

About 22.5% of the ownership stake is being sold in the IPO and the figure would reach 25.8% if the underwriters purchase the extra 1.87 million units. The rest of the pipeline and storage business will be managed by Hess Infrastructure Partners, which is a joint venture between Hess and Global Infrastructure investment funds. (Read more: Hess Pipeline Unit Goes Public by IPO Worth $250M.)

4. Cyprus-based offshore drilling contractor Ocean Rig UDW LLCs ORIG stock plunged more than 68% to 23 cents on Mar 28 after the company filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court. Chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code will protect the companys restructuring deal from distressed debt investors and enable it to pursue its debt-for-equity swap with the lenders. Ocean Rig currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Ocean Rig has reached a financial restructuring agreement with a group of lenders which would convert $3.7 billion of debt of the company to new equity, along with $288 million in cash payment and $450 million in new secured debt. The company stated that existing shareholders will be diluted to an insignificant amount of post-restructuring equity of the company.

The company had been contemplating restructuring under bankruptcy since 2016 owing to the oil and gas industrys downturn. Due to the decline in oil prices since 2014, many energy firms have slashed rig hires which in turn have left vessels unutilized. Notably, even though more than half of the drilling units of Ocean Rig are inactive, the company needs to repay its debts. (Read more: Ocean Rig Files for Bankruptcy Protection, Stock Plunges.)

5. 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.

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.

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. (Read more: PetroChina Wraps Up 2016 with Record Low Earnings.)

Price Performance

The following table shows the price movement of some the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months.

Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM -0.11% -4.85% CVX -0.74% +6.45% COP +9.32% +15.35% OXY +1.47% -12.26% SLB -0.64% -1.07% RIG +1.47% +30.88% VLO -4.46% +23.45% TSO -0.86% +0.32%

Over the course of last week, The Energy Select Sector SPDR rose by 0.94%. Consequently, investors witnessed buying in most market heavyweights. The best performer was Houston, TX-based energy explorer ConocoPhillips whose stock price jumped 9.32%.

Longer-term, over the last 6 months, the sector tracker is down 0.09%. Houston-based energy explorer Occidental Petroleum Corp. OXY was one of the major laggards during this period, experiencing a 12.26% price decline.

Whats Next in the Energy World?

In this week, market participants will be closely tracking the regular releases i.e. the U.S. government data on oil and natural gas. Energy traders will also be focusing on the Baker Hughes data on rig count.

Now See Our Private Investment Ideas

While the above ideas are being shared with the public, other trades are hidden from everyone but selected members. Would you like to peek behind the curtain and view them? Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for Zacks' secret trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE): Free Stock Analysis Report



Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report



Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (ORIG): Free Stock Analysis Report



Hess Corporation (HES): Free Stock Analysis Report



ConocoPhillips (COP): Free Stock Analysis Report



Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY): Free Stock Analysis Report



PetroChina Company Limited (PTR): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Seoul: North Korea has warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.



The warning comes as President Donald Trump threatened the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.



The isolated state has quickened its missile programme in recent months, with a volley of tests it says are putting it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.



US-based analysts have said North Korea appears to be preparing a new atomic test. It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.



North Korea's foreign ministry yesterday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.



The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.



The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its "nuclear deterrent" through sanctions is "the wildest dream".



"Now that the US fails to face up to the trend of times but incites confrontation to strangle the DPRK (North Korea), the DPRK is left with no option but to take necessary counteraction against it.



"The world will soon witness what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hideous and reckless sanctions racket", he said without elaborating.



North Korea frequently makes unspecific threats in its state media.



The statement comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.



The comment by the North's foreign ministry spokesman came hours before the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill relisting the North as a state sponsor of terror, along with a resolution denouncing the North's nuclear and missile development.



The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanctions last week, seeking to further isolate the country's economy.



Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after the Trump-Xi meeting.



"It is most likely to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of its army on April 25 with either a sixth nuclear test, or the launch of a satellite or an ICBM test", Yang told AFP.
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 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.



"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 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.

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.



"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 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.
London: A poor standard of English among foreign pilots operating in the skies above the UK is increasing the risk of an air disaster, a report commissioned by the country's civil aviation regulator has found.



The investigation carried out on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found there were hundreds of incidents of miscommunication involving commercial aircraft in the UK airspace over an 18-month period, Sky News reported.



In one incident, a pilot taxied on to a runway at a Midlands airport without permission. Another mid-air event involved confusion over left and right on an approach to Manchester Airport. The authority commissioned the independent review to assess whether there were any dangers from these incidents.



It identified that there was a risk of "serious" accidents at home and abroad. A total of 267 incidents that required reporting, called mandatory occurrence reports (MOR), were based on language problems during the period under examination.



The report said that cheating in exams, corruption and inadequate testing was partly to blame. Rather than being examined, the report found some foreign language speakers had been granted certificates of English proficiency on "sweetheart" deals, through "handshakes" or "via friends".



The research, by academic Dr Barbara Clark, found "alleged evidence of cheating", whereby a candidate had passed the tests after just 10 days of studying -- a "nearly impossible" achievement.



Some pilots flying in UK airspace "appear to lack the minimum proficiency in English", the report said, while air traffic controllers outside Britain do not always have sufficient English to communicate with pilots even though they have been obliged to meet an industry standard since 2008. For the safety of the UK travelling public, it is imperative that all pilots and controllers working in international aviation have the proficiency to communicate clearly and succinctly in all situations, routine and non-routine, the report said.



"Language-related miscommunication, including lack of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) proficiency standards, certainly has the potential to be the cause of serious incidents or even accidents," it said.



To work in international civil aviation, pilots and controllers are required to gain a Level 4 qualification in English from the ICAO.



But the report said it found there were enough non-UKpilots and controllers with below-standard English skills to give "grounds to suspect cheating on aviation English exams". A CAA spokesman said it was discussing the findings with the UK's Department for Transport.



"We will be studying this research and will work with ICAO, other international regulators and the wider aviation industry on any actions that can help (to) enhance safety," he said.
Do you see what I could do to you?

Look at me while you are dying.

The only way you are leaving me is in a body bag.

They sound like chilling lines from a horror film, but for victims of strangulation by an intimate partner, these words are all too real, an expert said at a recent conference on domestic violence in Lynchburg.

Domestic abusers at their most violent often turn to choking their spouses and partners to the point of unconsciousness and death.

Almost always, authorities can blame the perpetrators quest for the ultimate life-or-death power and control they exert over a victim, said Kelsey McKay, a Texas prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence.

Sometimes the fatal damage is done, but the victim doesnt even know it, she said. A person can drop dead of a stroke caused by a torn carotid artery more than four months after an apparently nonlethal choking takes place.

These realities about the deadly danger of strangulation came to the forefront at the conference, which took place Friday at the Kirkley Conference Center.

Its not just some other form of abuse, McKay told the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 24th Judicial District, sponsor of the annual meeting. Theres a reason its elevated to a felony in most states.

The offense is a felony in Virginia.

Prosecutors, police and others in law enforcement learned more about strangulation and the legal intricacies surrounding the issue. The conference was designed for judicial and law enforcement officials.

McKay, the keynote speaker, has expertise in strangulation and domestic violence, traveling the country to speak about the problem.

Since local authorities started tracking the offense about four years ago, data show strangulation has emerged as a concern in Lynchburg.

From 2013 to 2016, according to data from the Lynchburg Office of Commonwealths Attorney, local prosecutors opened an average of 46.75 strangulation cases per year.

Last year there were 40 such cases in the city. From the start of this year until the end of March, 10 new ones have been opened.

While some cases may not be linked to domestic violence, predominantly the cases counted in those numbers are dating- and family-related, the prosecutors office said.

Strangling is viewed by experts as a prelude to even more violent behavior. Studies have shown first-time victims of domestic partner strangulation to be seven to nine times more likely to be eventually killed, McKay said.

Serial killers use strangulation in many cases, and people who kill police often have a history of domestic incidents, including choking  all of which shows the violent tendencies associated with choking, she said. Serial killer Ted Bundy, for example, liked to strangle his victims repeatedly, she said.

McKay, who prosecuted cases in Travis County, Texas, for 12 years  half that time focused on strangulation cases from sexual assault to capital murder  said most state laws against choking acts only have been on the books for a few years.

One reason the offense has been recognized as so serious is that the neck is anatomically different, and strangling poses a greater medical risk than other types of injuries often caused by domestic violence, McKay said.

Its a very specific tool of violence and manipulation that abusers use, she said.

McKay said she favors prosecutors in dealing with strangling cases moving toward evidence-based cases against abusers, meaning they can prove the offense in court without the victims cooperation. Thats because she said victims usually recant their accusations; in many cases, they are even grateful to the abusers for letting them live, she said.

This tendency of the victim is part of the control aspect of the crime and also feeds the abusers ongoing behavior, McKay noted.

As a result, prosecuting cases faces numerous obstacles.

Michael Doucette, Lynchburg commonwealths attorney, said Friday afternoon his office takes the prosecution of strangulation quite seriously.

Doucette pointed to the statistics McKay cited regarding first-time victims of domestic strangulation and violence against police.

Strangulation often causes internal injuries that dont manifest themselves until days or months later, he said. These cases are different and more difficult to investigate and prosecute and so that is why we get all the training we can on the topic.

Rarely does a victim end up cooperating fully with authorities, McKay said, which is one of the top challenges in dealing with strangling crimes. In 99 percent of cases, the strangler is a man, but men sometimes are victims, and McKay said she had encountered the crime in all types of partner relationships.

Since strangling can be a precursor to homicide, McKay noted it has been put in the checklist for the Lethality Assessment Program, used by trained responders across the United States to determine the risk of a situation growing deadly.

McKay urged prosecutors and police to develop protocols, train personnel and to require officers to fill out a special form detailing the alleged strangulation.

A participant in the domestic violence meeting  held just before National Crime Victims Rights Week, April 2 through 8  said McKay had provided valuable insight into the long-term effects of strangulation.

Brittany McGeoch, Childrens Services Act coordinator for Campbell County, said she looked forward to learning more about emotional impacts.

In our area, I think our criminal justice system does a great job recognizing the issue, she said. But McGeoch said she hopes the problem gets a higher profile in the fight against domestic violence. I dont know that our allied community partners put as much weight into it as they should [in] understanding that trauma and how it affects a persons mental health. I think we need to do a little more training on that.
A Lynchburg grand jury on Monday handed down several felony indictments, among them charges against defendants in shooting and robbery cases.

Seandre Bradley, 20, was indicted on three charges: malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and shooting from a vehicle.

Bradley was arrested Jan. 14 in connection with a shooting just after midnight New Years Day at the Super 8 motel at 3736 Candlers Mountain Road. Lynchburg police found Adrian Caron Ligon, 18, with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said at the time.

If convicted, Bradley faces a maximum sentence of 33 years incarceration based on the three charges, Chief Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Chuck Felmlee said by email Monday.

Bradleys trial has been set for May 23.

Joseph Sanzone, defense lawyer for Bradley, said Monday he had no comment on the case.

Also Monday, the grand jury indicted Oscar Orlando Floyd Jr., 21, on four charges: robbery (business with gun), abduction, and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, first and second offenses.

Floyd was arrested Jan. 25 and charged with the alleged offenses in connection with an incident the day before at the Sunshine Market #2 off Campbell Avenue.

At Floyds preliminary hearing in March, two women described a man coming into the store at about 11 p.m. wearing a mask and dark clothing and making threats while carrying a large gun.

The suspect took about $500 during the robbery, in which the man also grabbed one woman and held her with one arm while pointing the gun at the stores clerk, witnesses said.

Floyds trial is set for July 19.

His defense attorney, Steven McFadgen, said Monday afternoon after the indictment there is no direct evidence tying Floyd to the robbery.

Its a bunch of circumstantial evidence, and were going to fight the case, he said.

News & Advance staff contributed.
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
GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us.
NO MONEY, NO LOVE

He made the comments while delivering remarks at the opening of a two-day Career Re- Boot programme at the credit unions head office at the La Joya complex in St Joseph. The programme is intended to help people who may have been retrenched assess their options; move on into other careers; or assist those who were switching careers; starting a business or interested in networking and engaging with other professionals.

Presenters at the programme are Francis Lewis, senior consultant and director, RES Consulting; Franklyn Dolly, director, Dolly & Associates and Dr Jennifer Holder-Dolly, clinical director at Dolly & Associates.

Psychologist Steve Bailey of Behavioural Consultancy in Gasparillo, said that sometimes during hardship, whether financial or otherwise, couple can be pushed apart.

Bailey said, A relationship in jeopardy for other reasons, for example, where there was incompatibility or substance abuse and now you have a recession to bring in financial hardship into the mix, it is most likely that you will find it pushing the couple apart. Bailey, who said he oversees many couples therapy, said that some weeks ago he visited a company which retrenched about 25 percent of its staff.

And what happens in such cases is if there are no opportunities on the job market and someone in their late forties or early fifties loses a job, they really dont have the kind of energy to compete with young people in the job market or may not have had the skills to go into any kind of private enterprise.

So you find there is a lot of stress in such a situation and stresses like that is what can bring families down for sure. However, Bailey said he could not say this is already happening, But I take Mr Enills point that it can in fact happen and is probably very close to happening, where you begin to see the recession as a factor in the divorce rates. Psychologist Marissa Morgan agreed with Baileys assertion, saying that in the current economic environment, once there is any additional stress such as financial burdens placed on a relationship, it will obviously have a negative impact. So there would probably be a correlation with divorce levels and an economic downturn. She said that in general, any additional stress or would increase the likelihood of divorce and financial stress is one factor that can contribute to divorce because it adds more strain on the family relationship.

Enill, a former Energy and Finance Minister, said that during a recession, overall economic activity is expected to slow down and, This is never pleasant. But it is a relatively routine part of the economic cycle. A recession also impacts family life. You have the notion, I love you, but..., coming into play. Enill said a recession seems to be having a definite impact on family life as studies have shown that in some instances birth rates will drop as people delay having children in the face of economic troubles.
Bloodshed in the city

In one incident, a 19-yearold Diego Martin man was shot dead on Duncan Street in Portof- Spain in the morning. Then, yesterday evening, two unidentified men were found shot dead inside a car in Laventille.

The teen has been identified as Kadeem Richardson of Factory Road, Diego Martin. According to police, gunshots were heard on Duncan Street just before 9 am. Residents made a report to the Duncan Street police post and when police responded, they found Richardsons bullet- riddled body in a track off Duncan Street.

When officers realised the teen was still alive, they rushed him to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

No family member answered Newsdays call at Richardsons home in Diego Martin but residents described him as a friendly young man. Police sources said no motive has been established for Richardsons murder.

Then at 5.30 pm, police were called to the scene of a double murder in Laventille. Residents of St Rose Street off Belgrade Street, were jolted by rapid gunfire.

When they checked, minutes later, they found the bodies of two men leaning on each other inside a blue Mazda 323 bearing the licence plate numbers, PBO 8660.

A report was made and police visited the scene and cordoned off the area. Police said that no forms of identification were found in the car and in the victims.

They added that they would try to make a positive ID via their fingerprint database.

While police were processing the scene, residents lamented on the state of crime.

Is only a set of stupid young boys killing out each other, a resident said. Others said that the area where the double murder occurred is usually quiet and that the victims were not known by anyone living in the area. Up to press time, police were still at the scene in Laventille continuing their investigations.
Watch Late Night With Seth Meyers on Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

Seth Meyers focused on yet another twist the in the investigation into ties between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign on Monday's "Late Night."

"As of right now, there is still no conclusive evidence connecting the dots that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to help them win the election," the host said. "But there are so many dots. We are covered in dots. The Trump presidency is basically a 6-year-old with chicken pox. And the rest of us are so f---ing itchy."

One dot Meyers explored was the request for immunity from prosecution from Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in exchange for his testimony to congressional intelligence committees and the FBI.

Flynn stepped down in February, after 24 days in his post, amid reports that he had misled administration officials about his discussions with the Russian ambassador before Trump was inaugurated. Flynn also famously led "lock her up" chants about Hillary Clinton during the Republican National Convention.

"These days, Flynn is apparently trying to make sure he doesn't get locked up," Meyers said. "There's been a lot of speculation and uncertainty about what exactly a request for immunity means. Does it mean Flynn is worried about criminal prosecution? Or is he just afraid he can't get a fair hearing?"

To help answer those questions, Meyers looked to statements Flynn and Trump had made in which they referred to immunity requests as signs that a crime was committed.

But it seems Trump has changed his mind. He tweeted his approval of Flynn's request, calling the investigation a "witch hunt."





Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!

 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017

"OK, but I don't know if I would take legal advice from Donald Trump," Meyers said. "Remember, he's been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits. And just to give you a sense of what 3,500 looks like, here's a photo of 3,500 people," Meyers said as a photo of the crowd at Trump's inauguration popped on the screen.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Michael Flynn's comments about immunity last year are coming back to bite him



More From Business Insider
Al-Rawi tells Krysis: Turn old talk into evidence

On Friday last, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Wayne Dick toured Enterprise, Chaguanas after a bloody week of near daily murders flared up in the community. There they met Wakeel who, prior to the meeting, published a video on Facebook in which he named several police officers who he claimed were corrupt and contributing to crime in the area.

In their presence, Wakeel began speaking about the underlying causes of crime in Enterprise before Dillon stopped him to ask if he would be willing to provide said information to the police.

Wakeel agreed to do so but has not yet spoken with the police.

In an interview with Newsday, Al-Rawi sent one message to Wakeel.

Step forward and speak, he said. Convert ole talk into evidence. It cant just be that the ministers alone or the TTPS (Police Service) alone can do this job by themselves. It is time for the old talk to finish. The armchair mentality in our country of just bad-talking is enjoyable for many, but if we are really serious about it, everybody has to step forward because those who are in crime in this country are a minority.

KRYSIS NOT NEEDED FOR INVESTIGATIONS

Meanwhile, Umar Abdullah, head of the Islamic Front and the man leading the charge to bring peace to Enterprise, told Newsday yesterday that independent bodies like the Police Complaints Authority, the investigative arm of the TTPS and the Professional Standards Bureau do not need someone to come forward to launch an investigation into Wakeels allegations.

(They) owe the country that responsibility whether or not people come to them personally or willingly as the case may be, Abdullah said.

I mean it is all over the newspapers, all over Facebook, anywhere you go you are reading about it.

So these powers that be and these independent institutions, if it is they want to put their head in the sand like ostriches and pretend that they do not know what is happening and do not launch an investigation, I will officially make that call on Friday. Al-Rawi said Abdullah was right to say these bodies could conduct investigations on their own, but Any investigation, obviously, is materially assisted by having a witness who can speak to information. Abdullah said Wakeel has not spoken with the police because he is concerned about whether he would be treated fairly especially after his interaction with Dillon and Dick.

I was very disappointed in the way the minister of National Security and ACP Wayne Dick addressed the young man, said Abdullah.

I think it is indicative of us as a people when we have sensitive matters like these, we forget that there is an approach called social intervention and we continue to believe that military might is going to solve our problems. The TTPS in this particular instance and instances like these throughout the country do not need military might, what we need is social might.
Tom Brady Just Became

First NFL Player to Do This
A second teenager suspected in the sexual assault of a Chicago teenager that was streamed live on Facebook turned himself in to police on Monday afternoon, the AP reports. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the mother of a 15-year-old boy who was being sought on an arrest warrant issued Sunday brought him to a police station. Guglielmi said the boy would be later brought to a juvenile detention center where a 14-year-old boy who was arrested in the case over the weekend is being held. Each teen faces felony counts of criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography, and dissemination of child pornography, Guglielmi said.

Police have not provided details about what exactly happened on March 19 when they said five or six males participated in sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl after she was lured inside a residence by one of the suspects. But they have said that besides the cellphone camera that recorded the incident and streamed it live on Facebook, others at the scene also recorded the sexual assault. Police say they expect other juveniles and an adult to be charged. Police haven't released the names of any suspects. Police have said the assault was watched live by about 40 viewers, none of whom called authorities to report what was happening. (Read more gang rape stories.)
President Trump has followed through on a campaign promise: to donate his presidential salary. Trump, who will receive $400,000 a year as president, donated the $78,333 he received for the first quarter to the National Park Service, Reuters reports. Sean Spicer handed over the check at Monday's daily briefing, at which Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he was "thrilled" at the move. (Read more President Trump stories.)
A Los Angeles judge on Monday rejected Roman Polanski's bid to end his long-running underage sex abuse case without the fugitive director appearing in court or being sentenced to more prison time. Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon refused to address how Polanski would be sentenced if he returned to the US after 40 years abroad. He noted that other courts have ruled that the 83-year-old Oscar winner is a fugitive and must return to Los Angeles for sentencing, the AP reports. "There is no sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues," Gordon wrote. Deputy DA Michele Hanisee said Polanski was asking Gordon to give a "wealthy celebrity different treatment than any other fugitive."

Polanski was charged with six felonies in 1977 after he was accused of plying a 13-year-old girl with champagne and part of a sedative pill, then raping her at Jack Nicholson's house. Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, but he fled Los Angeles on the eve of sentencing in 1978 and his travel has since been confined to three countries: France, Switzerland, and his native Poland. Polanski lawyer Harland Braun says Polanski cut a deal to serve just 48 days and fled after the now-deceased judge suggested he might renege on the deal and send him to prison for 50 years. Braun said judicial misconduct is the main issue in the case and called Gordon's ruling "just another cover-up." (Polanski's alleged victim recently spoke out.)
Is Blackwater founder Erik Prince secretly doing outreach for the Trump administration? According to a Washington Post report that an administration official calls "ridiculous," Prince met a Russian official close to Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles days before Trump took office in an effort to set up a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and Washington. The Post's sources say officials in the United Arab Emirates, where Prince has been based since 2010, set up the meeting in an effort to persuade Russia to stop supporting Iran, a goal that the Trump administration also supports. A Prince spokesman says the "meeting had nothing to do with President Trump."

Prince, who now heads a private equity firm, never had an official role in the Trump transition team, though he was a major campaign donor, has ties to Steve Bannon, and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. A US intelligence official tells NBC News that according to intelligence reports filed after the Jan. 11 meeting, there's no sign Trump aides were directly involved. The Post's sources say the meeting, which is looked at by the FBI as part of its investigation of alleged Trump links to Russia, was set up after Emirati officials met with Trump aides in New York. Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, was approached by Prince, who said he was an authorized surrogate for Trump, the sources say. (Read more Erik Prince stories.)
A 23-year-old matador was severely injured after a nasty turn with a bull in one of Spain's most famous bullfighting venues. More than 10,000 people in Madrid's Las Ventas bullring watched in horror Sunday as a bull started tossing Daniel Garcia Navarrete around "like a rag doll," as one witness described the bloody scene to Reuters. The Sun has graphic images of the incident, both during and after the goring, which led to Navarrete being impaled about 6 inches into his throat by the 1,000-pound-plus animal; he reportedly sustained injuries to his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

Reuters says he was also pierced about 4 inches in the leg before fellow matadors, as seen in the video shown here, rushed in to get the bull away from him. Unilad, which reports this was Navarrete's debut appearance, says many in the audience thought they were going to watch the bull maul Navarrete to death right in front of them. Navarrete is also said to be contending with a broken collarbone and sliced sciatic nerves; the Las Ventas ring said Monday in a statement he was recuperating after surgery the day before. The hospital where he's being treated describes his condition as "severe." (A 29-year-old bullfighter met a worse fate on live TV last summer.)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered the Justice Department to review reform agreements reached with troubled police departments across the country, such as those in Ferguson and Baltimore, noting "it is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies." The court-enforced consent decrees reached with 14 departments following evidence of unconstitutional policing are a hallmark of the Obama administration but may not be in line with policies of the Trump administration, including that "the misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn" the work of police officers, Sessions said in a March 31 memo, per the Guardian. Sessions has previously said the decrees "diminish [officer] effectiveness" and may lead to a rise in violence.

But an official who oversaw investigations into 23 police departments tells the Washington Post that Sessions' move is "terrifying" and suggests the DOJ might not care if officers violate the Constitution. The DOJ has since asked a judge to delay a hearing on a decree in Baltimore so it can check that it matches the "directives of the President and the Attorney General." But a negotiator says the agreementwhich followed the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and ordered new training for officerswas backed by the Baltimore police commissioner. A rep for a citizen advocacy group adds that Sessions is "telling us what's best for our citizens and our community when he has no experience, no knowledge," per the New York Times. (Read more Justice Department stories.)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is celebrating the results of Ecuador's presidential runoff with a blast at the losing candidate who had pledged to evict him from Ecuador's embassy in London. Before the election, conservative banker Guillermo Lasso had said he would evict Assange within 30 days of taking office. Ruling-party candidate Lenin Moreno, the apparent winner in Sunday's tight race, said he would allow him to stay. Shortly after the results became known, Assange took a jab at Lasso's pledge. "I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he tweeted, alluding to allegations the banker had stashed money abroad.

Assange has been holed up at the diplomatic mission since 2012, when President Rafael Correa granted him asylum. His relationship with Correa's government has been rocky and he appears to want to make nice with his new host. On Monday, he posted two secret US diplomatic cables on Moreno that describe the politician in flattering terms. In one from 2007, former US Ambassador Linda Jewell describes Moreno as a bridge builder with "a mature, serene demeanor and a genuine commitment to making a positive difference for his country." Lasso and his supporters have challenged the narrow election result. Thousands of protesters shouting "fraud" gathered in Quito for a second night Monday. (Read more Julian Assange stories.)
A Florida prosecutor has been removed from 21 additional murder cases over her refusal to pursue the death penalty. Gov. Rick Scott removed Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the "horrendous cases" Monday after she criticized capital punishment as costly and inhumane, reports CNN and NBC Miami. The cases have been transferred to State Attorney Brad King. King also took over the high-profile case of Markeith Loyd last month after Ayala said she would not consider capital punishment. Her refusal to do so for the remainder of her four-year term, which began in January, "sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice," Scott says.

Scott, who says the thought of victims' families helped him make his decision, adds that he has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor given his "solemn constitutional duty to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed.'" However, a rep for Ayalawho claims she only learned of Scott's decision through the mediasays she "remains steadfast in her position the Governor is abusing his authority and has compromised the independence and integrity of the criminal justice system." Others have echoed her sentiments, including Democratic state Rep. Sean Shaw, who says Scott's decision represents a "gross abuse of his power." Ayala plans to fight the move and has hired a civil rights lawyer formerly with the Justice Department, reports NPR. (Read more Florida stories.)
Amazon's Jeff Bezos may have knocked Warren Buffett into third place on the world's richest people list, but only one of them has been deemed worthy of gracing Cherry Coke cans in Chinaand it's not Bezos. For a limited time, Coca-Cola is splashing Buffett's mug across cans of its fruity-flavored soda in China, which just welcomed the beverage for the first time in early March, Reuters reports. CNNMoney notes Buffett's likeness will come in the form of a "cartoon rendering," which Buffett tells Yahoo Finance he's letting the company use for free. But why did Coca-Cola choose an 86-year-old billionaire and not, say, Lady Gaga to adorn its soda cans?

First, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company is Coke's biggest shareholder (it claims a stake just over 9%, said to be worth close to $17 billion). Second, Buffett is a brand ambassador of sorts for the soft drink, telling Fortune in 2015 that he sucks down at least five 12-ounce servings daily and is "one quarter Coca-Cola." Finally, the Chinese actually kind of dig Buffett: Reuters notes the country sends a "large contingent" to the States to attend Berkshire's yearly get-togethers in Nebraska, and Carter Chow, the CEO of the Chinese arm of the J. Walter Thompson agency, tells CNN the Chinese are sick of celebs putting their names behind any and all products. Buffett, meanwhile, enjoys "cult status" because of his success in the business arena, Chow adds. (Read more Warren Buffett stories.)
Competitive eating has taken another awful turn, this time in Colorado. Last week a Connecticut college student whose dad died on 9/11 apparently choked to death during a pancake-eating contest, and early Sunday, a 42-year-old man suffered the same fate while scarfing down a giant doughnut, KUSA reports. Witnesses say Travis Malouff was taking part in an eating challenge at Voodoo Doughnut when he started choking; two bystanders reportedly tried to help Malouff but didn't know how to perform the Heimlich. Cops and paramedics got the call about Malouff around 1:30am, but it was too late: The city's medical examiner says he died of "asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway."

Q13 reports that Malouff was taking part in Voodoo's "Tex-Ass Challenge," which involves gorging on a massive doughnut with a 7-inch diameter (about the size of six normal-sized doughnuts) in less than 80 seconds. The supposed prize: a button and free meal. A witness tells KUSA that Voodoo's mega-sweet is "too much food for one person" and that Malouff "was trying to force it down." One of the shop's managers confirmed to KUSA a man had died in the eatery's lobby; Voodoo put out a statement saying it was working with police to get to the bottom of what happened. Meanwhile, Malouff's dad says his son would "probably take" any challenge placed before him and calls his death "tragic." (This has happened with hot dogs, too.)
A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria's northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, Syrian opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country's six-year civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at 58, saying there were 11 children among the dead, per the AP. Meanwhile, the Idlib Media Center said dozens of people had been killed. The media center published footage of medical workers appearing to intubate an unresponsive man stripped down to his underwear and hooking up a little girl foaming at the mouth to a ventilator. There was no comment from the government in Damascus or any international agency in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, the site of Tuesday's alleged attack. The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun to investigate. The Syrian activists had no information on what agent could have been used, but they say the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes. The province of Idlib, home to an estimated 900,000 displaced Syrians, is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province. (Read more Syria stories.)
Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone thinks there should be an independent investigation into President Trump's ties to Russia. But until that inquiry or any other turns up actual evidence of collusion into the 2016 election, he also thinks people need to calm down. Because what's unfolding right now, he writes, is nothing short of "conspiratorial mass hysteria." Reporters seem "paralyzed" by the story, afraid of challenging it in case it ends up being true. "Nobody wants to be the one claiming the emperor has no clothes the day His Highness walks out naked." Taibbi, for instance, says he has written some "very tame" stories on the matter, suggesting that the media wait for the aforementioned evidence before going crazyonly to be accused of being on Putin's payroll.

"One way we recognize a mass hysteria movement is that everyone who doesn't believe is accused of being in on the plot," writes Taibbi. "This has been going on virtually unrestrained in both political and media circles in recent weeks." He finds it remarkable that British conspiracist Louise Mensch is a "suddenly legitimate" source in the eyes of the New York Times and others, this the same woman who insists that Putin murdered Andrew Breitbart. He also calls out politicians such as Democratic Sen. Mark Warner for being fixated on the idea of Russian infiltration to nearly comic extremes. (Warner was brushing up on his Tolstoy and Nabokov.) The evidence of Russian collusion may be thin, "but on the mass hysteria front, we already have evidence enough to fill a dozen books," writes Taibbi. "And if it doesn't freak you out, it probably should." Click for the full piece. (Read more Matt Taibbi stories.)
The prostitute who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs in the 2013 death of a Google executive aboard his yacht has been released from custody early due to good behaviorbut she might not be hanging around the US for long. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office says Alix Tichelman was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials immediately upon her release from Santa Cruz jail on March 29, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Agents had filed a 24-hour hold request a month after she was sentenced in 2015 and again days before her release, reports the New York Daily News.

However, jail officials refused to hold Tichelman since the law prohibits them from detaining a person for immigration reasons. Instead, ICE agents arrived to take Tichelman into custody at her release around 5am. ICE officials haven't commenteda rep tells the Sentinel that a press release is in the worksbut the director of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project says "anyone with a felony is put in a very special category, and there's virtually no way of preventing their deportation." Tichelman was born in Canada but spent much of her childhood in Georgia, reports KSBW. She was living in California at the time of her arrest. (Read more Alix Tichelman stories.)
Intel has finalized a deal to spin of its security unit, which will once again be called McAfee (Reuters)

McAfee is going solo again. After existing as a sub-brand of Intel (INTC) for the past seven years and being rebranded as Intel Security, the company best know for that little shield logo in your computers toolbar has finalized its split from the chipmaker and will now be run as an independent organization.

Intel purchased the antivirus organization for $7.68 billion in 2010. At the time, the chipmaker hoped to fold McAfees security capabilities into Intels chips to better protect consumers devices.

In the first half of 2016, the security companys revenue grew 11% to $1.1 billion. But with Intels decision to restructure in April 2016, eliminating 12,000 jobs to turn its focus toward cloud computing, keeping the security brand didnt seem to make sense.

As a standalone company with a clear purpose, McAfee gains the agility to unite people, technology and organizations against our common adversaries and ensure our technology-driven future is safe, said McAfee CEO Chris Young.

McAfee founder John McAfee is now chairman and CEO of MGT Capital Investments. (image: MGT Capital Investments)

The spinoff finalizes Intels deal announced in 2016 to sell 51% of its stake in the McAfee security unit to the asset manager TPG in a deal worth $4.2 billion. Intel will still have a 49% stake in the standalone McAfee company.

Whats most interesting about the move is the decision to bring back the McAfee name. Intel purchased the security company as McAfee in 2010, but rebranded as a result of founder John McAfees various run-ins with the law including being named as a person of interest in the death of his neighbor in Belize and a DUI arrest during which he was found in possession of a handgun.

But the McAfee brand name is already incredibly popular, despite what its namesake might be up to.

Adding to the mess is the fact that John McAfee himself is suing Intel for the use of his name. McAfee wants to rename MGT Capital Investments, Inc., where he currently serves chairman and CEO, John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc. The suit is still pending.

Story continues

More from Dan:

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
Sorry!

This content is not available in your region
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Variable clouds with snow showers. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 80%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected..

Tonight

Variable clouds with snow showers. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 80%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected.
kellyanne conway

People who care about truth and facts are up against a lot of challenges these days, from fake news to filter bubbles. But theres another big problem we cant ignore: The rise of the pseudo-experts who dominate our airwaves and social networks, offering opinions on subjects they know little to nothing about.

To understand the issue, consider the old toothpaste slogan: Four out of five dentists recommend Colgate. If you take this claim at face value, it makes sense. Why not survey dentists about toothpaste? They are, after all, in charge of dental care and your overall oral health.

But pause and think about your own experiences in the dentists office. Ive never had a dentist ask me what toothpaste I use. And there are usually other patients in the adjacent rooms, and Ive never heard him ask any of them what toothpaste they use. Thats because dentists arent the right experts to consult on toothpaste. They dont spend their time comparing different brands. The right person would be a medical researcher who has done a clinical trial randomly assigning different toothpaste brands to different people, then tracks their oral health over the next few years to see which toothpaste leads to better outcomes.

And so the dentists in this case are pseudo-experts, who nonetheless answered Colgates survey, allowing the toothpaste company to circulate misinformation. And its not just dentists who are guilty of making this mistake: people from climate-change deniers to expert witnesses in criminal cases are distorting the publics understanding of science and policy.

The problem of pseudo-experts is not new. Consider William Shockley, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1956 for co-inventing the transistor. Shockley also held deeply offensive and racist views about the mental inferiority of blacks. He had no training in genetics or in intelligence assessment. But his background in physics gave his views the aura of authority. Gee, hes got a Nobel prize in physics, people said to themselves. Physics is really hard. He must be really smart! The same issue arose with Charles Murray, the political scientist and sociologistemphatically not a geneticistwho famously promoted offensive views on racial intelligence in his 1994 book The Bell Curve and elsewhere.

Story continues

Expertise in a given field is narrow, and is not interchangeable with expertise in another realm. Yet because we tend to respect people who are experts in their field, we can be all too willing to believe them when they step outside their area of knowledge. Youve probably heard of the Mozart effect, for example, the claim that listening to the music of Mozart for just 20 minutes a day will make you smarter. This report even led the governor of Georgia to allocate state funds to buy a Mozart CD for every newborn in the state.

But this claim has been thoroughly debunked. The original experiment that identified the effect was poorly designed, and the results have never been replicated, in spite of dozens of attempts. The lead author on the original Mozart paper? Gordon Shaw, a physicist, stepping outside his domain of expertise.

In this case, there was little harm done. But the consequences of allowing pseudo-experts to hold forth and pontificate about things outside their domain can be devastating. Take Sally Clark, a British woman who was accused of murdering her own infant. Unfortunately, her previous infant had also died at home. Prosecutors brought as an expert witness a pediatrician, who testified that the probability of two infants dying of natural or medical causes at home was extremely unlikely (just one in 73 million). Logic suggested that Clark must have murdered her children.

But Clarks attorney never should have allowed the pediatrician to stand in as an expert. Why not? Infant mortality is, thankfully, relatively rare. A typical pediatrician may never see an infant death in the course of his or her lifetime. If youre looking for an expert on infant mortality, you want someone who has seen lots of them: a medical examiner, coroner, or epidemiologist who specializes in infant deaths. Clark was eventually exonerated based on microbiological evidence that proved her innocence. But she had already served three years in prison.

Scientists like myself are partly to blame here. When one of our own goes on TV or in front of the press and starts making false claims, we dont stand up and denounce them. We figure its not our personal problem. But it is. In this age of overwhelming untruth, pseudo-expertise is a problem that has to become every individuals responsibility.

Nowhere is this more clear than among the climate-change deniersalmost entirely pseudo-expertswho contradict ample scientific evidence and lend support to devastating public policies. The list of leading climate-change deniers includes Denis Rancourt, who holds a PhD in physics and is an expert in magnetic field theory; Freeman Dyson, another physicist; Harrison Schmitt, a geologist; and Myron Ebell, who has a masters in political theory and no advanced research degree. What about the people who hold PhDs inyou knowclimate science? Among this group, according to a number of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, 97% agree or more that climate change is real and man-made.

It has been said that we are living in the post-truth era. But we dont have to give up on the truth. Just as we wouldnt let an optometrist perform open-heart surgery on us, we shouldnt be influenced by pseudo-experts who weigh in on issues when they have no business doing so. Its time to raise the bar on who we are willing to listen to.

Daniel J. Levitin is the author of Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era. Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:
New Delhi :

Showing interest expanding investments in Punjab, a top Adani Group official on met Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday.

President and chairman of several key companies of the Gujarat-based group, Pranav V Adani, met Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh 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 states 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 partys 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 Punjabs largest solar power plant of 100 MW in Bhatinda with an investment of Rs 640 crore.

Another area of the Groups business is coal mining and trading, which has made it the largest coal trader in India.

Adani is also building the worlds 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 Punjabs 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 Groups businesses, which also include real estate and city gas distribution (CNG and pipeline network), have a huge potential to scale up the states progress.

The Groups emerging businesses, such as water purification, defence & aerospace, drone manufacture etc, also find synergies with the states 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. PTI
New Delhi :

The Lenovo-owned mobile company, Motorola is all set to pull off curtains from its latest smartphone, Moto G5 on Tuesday at 12:30 AM at a launch event in New Delhi. The event will be live streamed on internet and users can watch the launch.

The predecessor to Moto G5 Plus, all new Moto G is expected to be priced lower in comparison to the former one. The Moto G5 Plus price starts from Rs 14,999.

Unlike Moto G5 Plus, which is exclusively on Flipkart, the Moto G will be sold exclusively on Amazon Indias website. Amazons website has already mentioned on its website about Moto Gs sale on April 5.

Also Read: Sony Xperia XZs launched in India, priced at Rs 49,990 to be available from April 11

The launch event will be live broadcasted on Motorolas official YouTube account which will begin on 12:30 PM.

Watch the live launch event here:

Earlier, both Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus were first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. The latest Moto G5 series is better in terms of features and specifications in comparison to its predecessor. The new series comes handy with latest features like Moto Display and shake gestures.

Read More: BSNL introduces new internet plan to lure users, offers 10 GB data at Rs 249

The new Moto G5 smartphone is likely to be priced around 13,000 and is expected to give tough competition to the likes of Coolpad Note 5, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and the Honor 6X.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
In a move sure to rile US allies abroad and the travel industry at home, the Trump administration is considering a plan to set up a much more adversarial system for deciding which non-citizens should be allowed into the United States. Even if they are only coming into the country for a short stay, like a vacation, foreign nationals could be forced to disclose financial records and asked to hand over things like their social media account passwords and the contact records in their mobile phones. Travelers could also face interviews in which they are quizzed about their ideology and their attitude toward the United States

The program, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday morning, would keep President Trumps campaign promise to impose extreme vetting on travelers entering the country as a means of keeping terrorists out of the US.

Related: How the New Trump Travel Ban Could Hurt the US Economy

The stepped-up scrutiny of travelers would, reportedly, extend even to those coming from countries that are currently part of the visa waiver program, which allows residents of certain countries to travel to the US for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa.

Trump administration officials characterized the intrusive examinations as necessary to keep the country safe in a dangerous world. Gene Hamilton, senior counselor to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told the Journal, If there is any doubt about a persons intentions coming to the United States, they should have to overcomereally and truly prove to our satisfactionthat they are coming for legitimate reasons.

But industry professionals described the move as potentially catastrophic for the travel and tourism business, a sector already suffering because the high value of the US dollar is deterring visitors from traveling to the country.

It would obviously have a negative effect, said Dr. Charles Goeldner, Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Tourism at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder. People would go elsewhere. You go where youre welcome, and this casts an image of not being welcoming.

Story continues

It would be particularly hard on the tourism industry to apply the proposed requirements to countries that are currently part of the visa waiver program, said Goeldner, who also sits on the board of the Travel and Tourism Research Association. One of the goals of the visa waiver program was to make it easy for these people to come into our country and boost our tourism industry, and its been a very successful program.

Related: After Three Years of Extreme Vetting, I Nearly Gave Up on My American Dream

Others warned of the possibility of tit-for-tat retaliation against US travelers by the immigration enforcement services in other countries, making international travel less convenient for Americans. In the past, the US faced a diplomatic row with Brazil when that country temporarily imposed tougher entry requirements on Americans in response to similar action taken by the US against Brazilians.

However, some cautioned, it is also possible that other countries, particularly those with economies that rely on tourism dollars to a greater extent than the United States does, might be initially reluctant to do anything to deter Americans from visiting.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
New Delhi:

Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp could soon venture into digital payment space services starting with India. The social media platform is also looking to hire a digital transactions head for the country.



In February, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton had met IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss ways in which the company could contribute to India's vision for digital commerce.



India is the biggest market for WhatsApp. Of its over one billion users, about 200 million are here. According to a job advertisement on WhatsApp's website, the company is looking for a candidate with technical and financial background, who also has an understanding of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), BHIM payments app and Aadhaar number.

Read | WhatsApp rolls out new feature; profile status to dazzle like snapchats stories



The job responsibilities would include collaboration with banks to resolve WhatsApp user issues and being "an advocate for the users of our digital transactions service to the rest of the company", it added.



When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson said the company is keen to understand how it can contribute more to the vision of Digital India.



"We're exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users," the spokesperson added.

Read | Whatsapp to let users edit sent messages, track recipient's location



Following the government's move to ban old notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 in November last year, there has been a massive growth in digital transaction volumes in India, including credit/debit cards, mobile banking/m-wallets and UPI.



WhatsApp has almost become the default messaging app for people in countries like India and Brazil. In India, it competes with the likes of Hike, Snapchat and Viber.



The company had said it would focus on rolling out commercial messaging this year for businesses as it looks to tap into enterprises for monetising its platform. Last year, the app had stopped charging 1 dollar per year subscription fee to go completely free for users across the world.



While WhatsApp does not intend to introduce any third-party ads for monetisation, it has said the company will test tools that allow users to communicate with businesses and organisations like banks and airlines through its platform.

Read | WhatsApp rolls back 'Text Status' feature on Android; Video Status feature to stay intact

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Have sympathies with a banned organisation or any terror outfit? Be ready for more troubles with Delhi government as it is denying admission to those students in the city schools who are found to have any such association.

The move comes amid a raging debate on nationalism at campuses of varsities and higher educational institutions across the country.

As per the recent Model Code of Conduct issued by the Directorate of Education, association with any banned organisation has been described as a forbidden practice and may lead to either denial of admission to a new student or expulsion of an existing student if such a fact is discovered.

Some of the organisations banned by the Indian government include the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Babbar Khalsa International, Communist Part of India (Maoists) and even several insurgent groups of the North East.

There are a host of guidelines under the model code of conduct for students which are handed over to them at the time of admission or commencement of new academic session. These also include association with any banned outfit or organisation, a senior DoE official said on the condition of anonymity.

The guideline is majorly for students from Class 6 to 12, especially those coming from disturbed areas where such groups operate, the official added.

Other pointers mentioned in the model code include absence from classes without permission, bullying, rowdyism and rude behavior, eve-teasing, smoking, chewing gutkha, use of drugs, gambling and bringing electronic gadgets including mobile phones to schools.

The penalty prescribed for violation of the guidelines range from written warning to student and parents, suspension for a specified period to expulsion or rustication from school.

The model code, which is applicable for students from nursery to class 12, has attracted the ire of civil rights groups which have demanded that the clause be withdrawn.

Ever heard a 3-year-old associated with a terror group? Even if some grown up children are found to have any such association they need to be counseled and not be denied admission. Such an absurd clause it is, said Ashok Agarwal, founder of a civil rights group, Social Jurist.

Principal of a school in East Delhi, who did not wish to be named said, We have received these guidelines but many parents have approached us seeking clarification on the clause. This is the first time when such an obnoxious point has been included by the DoE in its module of the code of conduct.
Ghaziabad:

A Muslim cleric was on Tuesday arrested from Vijay Nagar area in Ghaziabad for allegedly smuggling firearms into the national capital region (NCR) from Bihars Munger district.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team intercepted Tahir Hassan (55) at Tigri roundabout. They searched his baggage and found a dozen .32 bore pistols and 11 magazines in it, following which he was arrested, Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said.

Hassan, a resident of Sherpur area in UPs Muzaffarnagar district and a cleric of a mosque at Jansath, told police that the arms he was carrying from Munger in Bihar were to be supplied to criminal groups in Noida, Ghaziabad and other regions of NCR, he said.

The SSP said the man had been jailed in the past by the Muzaffarnagar Polices Crime Branch for allegedly supplying at least 500 illegal arms in the communally-sensitive district.
New Delhi:

Alert security officials at Delhi Metro's AIIMS station caught a 22-year-oldboy for allegedly trying to sneak in a knife, hidden in a book.

Officials said the incident was reported from the AIIMS station here when a CISF jawan noticed the man, identified as Vishal Negi, trying to hand over a book to a person from the partition that separates the general area of the station from the security hold area of the station.

The CISF jawan intercepted the man and checked the book in which a small knife was allegedly found concealed.

Read More: Delhi Metro yellow line affected after man commits suicide at Azadpur station

They said Negi told security personnel that he was trying to sneak in the knife in the book as it would not have been possible had he gone through the normal security check system.

"Negi was handed over to local police which arrested him under the Arms Act. Weapons, arms and ammunition are not allowed to be carried inside the Metro system," a senior official said.

The Delhi Metro security is already on a high alert following the subway blasts in St Petersburg in Russia on Monday that killed 14 people.
Muzaffarnagar:

Uttar Pradesh on Monday arrested a man for posting alleged objectionable content on Facebook in Muzaffarnagar.

The man, in his 20s, was arrested on Monday from Sujru village following a complaint that he had posted objectionable content against a particular community on Facebook, SHO of Kotwali police station P P Singh said.

He has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act, the police officer said.
Mumbai:

A high alert has been sounded in Mumbai and its suburban areas following a tip-off from the Coast Guard that three suspected Islamic State militants are likely to sneak into the city through sea route.

The Mumbai Police had received intelligence message that terrorists may use train to infilterate after the security has been stepped up in the state capital.

The police are also checking lodges and low-end hotels, where owners generally dont ask for an identity proof.

Read | PM Modi on ISIS radar? NIA reveals about terrorist organisations failed bid at his life

The city has been on the target of terrorist groups like the ISIS, another name of the group and LeT and has witnessed several bomb blasts and brazen terrorist attacks including the 26/11 carnage.

(More details awaited)

Read | Govt informs Parliament of 19 ISIS related cases registered by NIA
Pune:

Two engineering students were found dead at a forest area in Lonavla hill station of Pune district, police said on Tuesday. The deceased, a 22-year-old boy and a girl aged 21, were allegedly stripped and hit on the back of their heads with a blunt object. There were injuries on their other body parts also, they said. The girl's hands were tied at the back and she wasgagged, an officer at Lonavla city police station said.

"A local resident, who spotted the bodies yesterday in the forest area located near INS Shivaji Naval station here, alerted the police," he said. The police rushed to the spot and sent the bodies for postmortem, he said.

"Both the deceased were students of a third year engineering course at a college in Lonavla. The girl hailed from Otur in Pune district. The boy hailed from Rahuri in Ahmednagar," the officer said.

The girl used to stay in the college hostel, while the boy lived at a private accommodation in Lonavla, which is located about 100 km from the Pune district headquarters.

Both of them were friends and had gone out together on Sunday, the police officer said. A murder case has been registered, he said. "We are investigating the case from all angles and waiting for the post mortem report," the officer said. A probe is on into the case, he said adding that the police would talk to the family members of both the deceased.
New Delhi:

At least four children were killed when a truck crushed them in Palamuas Hariharganj in a tragic incident. The incident occurred at Palamuas Hariharganj area on Monday night when four children of labourers were allegedly sleeping near the construction site. A truck driver, unaware of the sleeping children, crushed them in their sleep.

The driver reportedly fled with the truck after crashing the sleeping children in Jharkhandas Palamu. It is unclear whether the driver was intoxicated or not. The driver fled away with his truck after the incident.

Jharkhand: Four sleeping labourers' children crushed to death by truck in Palamu's Hariharganj, last night, driver fled with truck. pic.twitter.com/SbeUKyGJP3 a ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Further details are awaited
Mumbai:

Veteran Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna has been hospitalised after he complained of "severe dehydration" on Friday. Khanna was hospitalised in HN Reliance Foundation and Research Centre in Girgaum.



Khanna's son, Rahul said the doctors are looking to discharge him soon.



"Dad was hospitalised on Friday for severe dehydration. The situation was quickly brought under control, he's doing much better and the doctors are looking to discharge him soon," Rahul told PTI.



"Our family is most grateful for the extraordinary care he's been receiving at the hospital and we are touched by all the good wishes pouring in," he adds. Hospital sources also confirmed that the actor is recovering well and is much better.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A Punjab Police team has left for Mumbai to execute an arrest warrant that was issued by a local court against Bollywood actress and dancer Rakhi Sawant, police said on Monday.

An arrest warrant has been issued against Rakhi Sawant in case of making unacceptable remarks against sage Valmiki, writer of mythological Hindu epic Ramayana.

Warrant was issued against her on March 9 as the Valmiki community complained that their religious sentiments were hurt with her comments on a programme telecasted on a private channel in 2016, according to police.

Also Read: Arrest warrant issued against Rakhi Sawant as she makes unacceptable comments on Valmiki

"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.

Also Read: Ram Gopal Varma's tweet over Sunny Leone: Item girl Rakhi Sawant extends support to producer

On March 9 hearing, Rakhi Sawant failed to appear before the court even when court had issued her repeated summons.

Well the next hearing of the case has been scheduled for April 10.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Trump navy uss gerald r ford military

President Donald Trump, who prides himself on being a good dealmaker, laid out a herculean task for himself in a recent interview, saying he would get China to address the North Korean threat.

And his best shot is to convince China that he's crazy.

"China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont," Trump told the Financial Times, adding that "if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will."

But according to Joel Wit, the cofounder of 38 North and a State Department employee during one of the US's few diplomatic successes with North Korea in 1993, "China is not going to help enough," though it would likely take some small steps to avoid looking like they've stiffed Trump.

Perhaps the best shot Trump has at getting China to significantly budge on their policy is to convince them he's a madman, capable of making the extremely dangerous and deadly action of striking North Korea with military force.

The US wants China to sever all economic ties with North Korea and thereby put enormous pressure on the Kim regime to scale back its nuclear ambitions. But according to Wit, "China's not gonna do that," and meanwhile Trump and his top representatives openly mull military action against the Kim regime like never before.

"They have their own interests. They want to maintain stability in North Korea and keep North Korea as a buffer against the US and South Korea," Wit said.

"China and the US share the goal of removing nuclear weapons of from North Korea, but thats the extent to which the US's and China's interests overlap," Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project, told Business Insider.

Glaser pointed out that China has taken the US's side in theory, backing every single UN resolution against North Korea since 2006, "but it has of course watered down most if not all of those security council resolutions because it has not wanted to agree to sanctions that might create instability in North Korea."

Story continues

"And if it wont cause instability, its probably not likely to be tough enough to cause Kim Jong-un to rethink his strategy and priorities," said Glaser, who said that 85% of North Korea's external trade is with China.

And even if Trump managed to sway China to break with decades of its own policy with its neighbor, "the North Koreans are not gonna buckle under pressure from China," Wit said. "That's not their mentality."

North Korea

Kim Jong Un regularly purges North Korea's elite of those with ties to China or loyalties anywhere outside of the hermit kingdom, which has left Xi with limited influence on the peninsula.

Wit likened the idea that China could unilaterally fix the West's North Korea problem to a "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" in that it "really doesnt exist."

But the Trump administration is not like other administrations.

For decades, US presidents have urged NATO countries to pay their share. Arguably, Trump has been more effective in conveying the urgency of that message, frequently slamming the alliance on the campaign trail and calling it "obsolete."

Trump has stuck to US orthodoxy on NATO essentially, with his secretary of state recently pushing the Senate to ratify Montenegro  a small country that could at best make a tiny contribution to NATO spending  as the 29th member of the alliance.

While some in the media question Trump's credibility after largely unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud and wire tapping, he certainly rattled China by breaking with decades of US policy by taking a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen in December.

phone call Donald Trump

"I don't disagree that the Chinese see the Trump factor as unpredictable," said Glaser. "I think that they are quite worried about what Trump might do in the area of trade and economics  thats really credible."

"If people think youre crazy enough to do something, it may make them more willing to be more flexible and give them what they want," Wit said of Trump's posturing. Wit also recalled the "madman doctrine," for which Nixon was known for operating under.

For example, Nixon flew nuclear bombers near the Russian border for days to project an unhinged image to Soviet leadership, knowing all the while that nuclear war between the US and Soviets would be a worldwide disaster.

For Trump, war with North Korea, a rising nuclear state, could easily prove disastrous too.

"I think it's almost a universal that with military strikes the downsides are just so great that it's hard to see them taking place," said Wit. Even if North Korea didn't fire a single nuclear missile, which the US has every reason to believe they would, they have such a massive artillery installment that they could likely level parts of South Korea's capital, Seoul, within hours.

In a best-case scenario, thousands of civilians would likely die in a strike on North Korea. In worse scenarios, civilian dead would number in the millions.

Foal Eagle 2015

But the US has flown nuclear-armed bombers around the Korean Peninsula for years, and the old "madman" tricks haven't yielded any tangible results.

"The Chinese are smart enough to think about the various military options, so they probably have concluded that theres a very low likelihood" the US would strike North Korea, said Glaser. "I dont think that that has been a serious military option for the US for the last 15 to 20 years."

But the question when Trump meets Xi will not be if the US can or will take out the Kim regime, but if he can convince China's leader that he's willing to act a bit crazy and go further than any administration before him in terms of military or economic pressure to get his way.

NOW WATCH: 7 things the CIA looks for when recruiting people





More From Business Insider


Mumbai:

Actor-Comedian Vir Das is looking forward to share the release of the episode of a special show on April 25, for which he teamed up with Netflix.

Das is following the likes of Kevin Hart, Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, Chris Rock, Bo Burnham, Bill Burr and Russel Peters.

The comedy special, titled "Abroad Understanding", was filmed in New York and New Delhi last year in November and will be streamed on the Netflix across the globe in over 100 countries.

Read more: Irrfan Khan in Netflix miniseries 'Tokyo Trial': Story of forgotten Indian judge

"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!", Das said in a statement.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Jaipur:

The government should put a ban on slaughter of all bovine animals as well as the sale of beef to promote communal harmony in the country, the spiritual head of Ajmer dargah has said.

Dargah Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan said on Monday that Muslims should take initiative to stay away from slaughter of bovine animals and not consume beef so that a good and positive message could be communicated in the country.



He announced that he and his family members will not eat beef now onwards and said that the government should declare cow as the national animal.



Releasing his message in the presence of religious heads of various shrines from different parts of the country during 805th annual Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer, Khan also said that saying triple talaq at one time for seeking divorce is not as per the Shariah law and Muslims should refrain from disobeying the Sharia law.



The government should widely impose ban on slaughtering of all bovine animals and sale of beef, which is one of the prominent reasons for communal hatred. Muslims should become an example by taking resolution to not consume beef in the interest of communal harmony in the country, he said.



Welcoming the Gujarat governments move to enact a law with the provision of life sentence for those found guilty of cow slaughter, the Deewan said that the central government should declare cow as the national animal if the government wants to protect it.



Cow is the symbol of religious belief. Not only the government, but it is also the duty of every follower of the religion to protect them, he said.



On the practice of triple talaq, he said that it is not only irrelevant today but against the sentiments of the Quran.



He said that while practising justified divorce, the side of the woman should be considered equally and detailed dialogue with her should also take place.

ALSO READ | Govt should bring law to ban cow slaughter in country, says Ajmer Sharif spiritual head



The Deewan said that there are several provisions in the Quran to ensure self-respect and dignity to women in the society.



He said that saying talaq three times in one sitting is not a religiously valid practice and there should be a period of time between repeating talaq thrice for divorce.

ALSO READ | 'Like cows, farmers too have the right to live': Shiv Sena MP lashes out at BJP



The religious heads of various sufi shrines from various parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar among others were present on the occasion.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

In a joint operation of Bihar police, SSB and CRPF, a naxal was apprehended from Manikkhtan village of Jamui district on Tuesday.

The police recovered heavy arms and ammunition including 1 AK-56 rifle, 5 AK-56 magazines, 108 rounds of AK ammunition, 1 pistol, 2 grenades and three detonator.

In a separate incident on Monday, a former 'Salwa Judum' member was allegedly killed by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district , police had informed.

Modiam Somlu (50), an ex-member of the erstwhile anti-Naxalite movement Salwa Judum, was fatally attacked by the ultras at Loharpara village in Bijapur early this morning, a district police official told.

Bihar: Naxal apprehended from Jamui's Manikthan village in a joint operation by CRPF, Bihar police & SSB; arms and ammunition recovered pic.twitter.com/gup0IQP25F  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Somlu, a native of Pundri village, had gone toLoharpara, 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 stabbedhim with sharp-edged weapons, he had said.

Also Read | Number of Naxals killed in 2016 records 150 per cent jump as against previous year: Ahir

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :

Taking tough stance over Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the government on Tuesday asked China not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it respects the One-China policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

Making a statement on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leaders visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.

There is no political angle behind His Holinesss visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious. Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs, he told reporters here.

Rijiju said India has never interfered in Chinas internal affairs and it expect China to reciprocate. We respect Beijings One-China policy and we expect China to reciprocate, he said.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the state is not a disputed territory and is part of the Union of India and a full-fledged state.

There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that soon it would be resolved. I appeal to China not to rake up Arunachal Pradesh issue nnecessarily as status of the state cant be questioned, he said.

Also Read | Dalai Lama: I am the longest guest and a messenger of Indian culture

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh today during which he will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdial and other areas.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause serious damage to bilateral ties.

The minister said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state. As a democratic country, India cant interfere in religious affairs of any community, he said.

Rijiju said that the Dalai Lama will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement. He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon line which have been closed since

1962. The trading points were beneficial. People of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China, he said.

Rijiju said the Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and making arrangements for his stay there.

Also Read: China rejects Dalai Lamas remarks of rise in military action coerced him to escape

Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijijus) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monaster. The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Panaji:

Ex-Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane will be formally inducted in the BJP and the Manohar Parrikar-led cabinet in Goa. The BJP's Goa Legislature wing met on Tuesday under the leadership of Parrikar, where it was decided to induct Rane, son of Congress veteran and former chief minister Pratapsinh Rane.

The development is viewed as another jolt to the Congress,whereas for the BJP, Rane's entry into the party fold is expected to strengthen the saffron footprint.

"The BJP legislature wing has decided to welcome Vishwajit Rane into the party. It has also been decided that he would be inducted in the state cabinet," the Goa BJP legislature wing spokesman Michael Lobo told reporters after emerging from the meeting.

Lobo said the exact date of Rane's entry into the saffron camp and his induction as a minister, is yet to be decided. "During the meeting, Parrikar took into confidence allthe legislators and it was unanimously decided to have Rane in the party," he said.

The former Valpoi legislator had resigned from theCongress as well as an MLA on March 16, the day Parrikar won acrucial trust vote on the floor of the House. Rane was upset with the AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh for "failing" to form the government in Goa despite the party having a majority.

When contacted, Rane said he is looking forward to starting his inning in the BJP. "I will contribute for the growth of BJP in the State.I would contest Assembly bypoll in Valpoi constituency on BJP ticket," he said.

During the trust vote held in the 40-member House, Parrikar proved his majority with 12 legislators from the BJP, three from the Goa Forward Party (GFP), three from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), three Independents and one from the NCP voting in favour of the trust motion. The opposition benches included 16 MLAs from Congress, as Vishwajit Rane had remained absent during the voting.

The Congress, despite emerging as the single largest party in the elections, could not form the government while the BJP made deft moves by securing support from regional outfits and independents.

Days after losing the trust vote, the Goa Congress hadsaid it would seek disqualification of Rane from contesting elections for defying its whip to vote against the motion. Parrikar had last month allocated portfolios to nine ministers, including the allies, while keeping the crucial departments such as Home, Finance and Education with himself.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The states which have or have not sought a relook at the Supreme Court's verdict banning liquor shops within 500 metres of national and state highways, seem to be divided on political lines, even as the Centre has "unequivocally" supported the order.

The apex court order passed last week also recorded that eight states, which are ruled by parties other than the BJP, had rushed to it for modification of the December 15, 2016 verdict.

The states which had approached the apex court for modification of its verdict were Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Sikkim, Telangana, Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh.



Besides, the union territory of Puducherry has also sought changes in the judgement. Later, Andhra Pradesh withdrew its application saying the state government has accepted the last year's judgement.



Eighteen states have preferred not to file any application against the verdict.

Read | BJP MP questions highway liquor ban: How logical is it that a 5-star can't serve liquor



While the Centre through senior advocates Ajit Kumar Sinha and AK Panda had "unequivocally asserted that the union government stands by the judgment rendered by this court on December 15, 2016", attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Tamil Nadu government, had assailed the directives for doing away with vends along 500 metre radius of national and state highways.



"The judgment rendered by this court has transgressed the limitations on the constitutional power conferred by Article 142," Rohatgi had said.



Various contentions for modification of the order raised by the attorney general were not agreed to by a bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar which said that "the error, in the submission of the attorney general, lies in comparing national and state highways".

Read | Liquor ban: Hospitality industry to meet govt officials to seek way out of ban



"Moreover, it is urged that even if the prohibition were to apply to both national and state highways, an exemption ought to be provided for the location of liquor shops in municipal areas through which the state highways traverse. "Alternately, it was urged that a smaller prohibition in terms of distance would be appropriate in relation to state highways.



The attorney general has confined his submission to the state highways only," the bench noted.



While expressing disagreement with the state governments' contentions, the bench said, "The state excise rules contain enabling provisions. They provide for a discretion for the grant of liquor licences. No individual has a vested right to obtain a licence". "There is no fundamental right to carry on business in liquor since as a matter of constitutional doctrine, Article 19(1)(g) does not extend to trade in liquor....," the bench said.

Read | SC ban on liquor along national highways: Over 100 bars shut in Delhi



The apex court on March 31 had partially modified its December 15, 2016 verdict by exempting hill states of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh and areas having a population of up to 20,000.



During the arguments before the apex court, the Madhya Pradesh government had filed an affidavit saying the verdict "has been accepted by the state government, following a resolution by the council of ministers on January 16, 2017".



Similarly, Delhi Tourism Development Corporation (DTDC) had told the court that out of 547 liquor vends, 14 were in breach of the 500 metre norm and a committee was constituted for shifting of these vends.

Read | Liquor ban on highways: SC order to affect 200 bars in Haryana, mostly in Gurugram

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Ahmedabad:

A day after the resignation of PP Pandey, Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri on Tuesday was appointed the Director General of Police. Geetha who also probed Sohrabuddin fake encounter case is a 1982 batch IPS officer and is the first women police chief.

A 1982-batch IPS officer, Johri had a controversial stint in the Supreme Court-appointed SIT appointed to probe the post-Godhra riots and was discharged as an accused in an alleged fake encounter case.

The apex court had Monday asked the Gujarat government to accept Pandey's to relinquish the posts of director general and inspector general of police forthwith.

A 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, Pandey was extension till April 30 this year and had made the offer to resign from the post after his removal was sought by former top cop Julio Francis Ribeiro in a plea to the apex court.

Ribeiro had sought his removal on the ground that the CBIhad filed charge sheet against him and others in the case of alleged fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan.

"Smt Geetha Johri, Managing Director Gujarat Police Housing Corporation (GPHC), Gandhinagar, will hold the additional charge as director general and inspector general of police, Gujarat state, Gandhinagar, in addition to her duty as managing director, GPHC," the official order said.

It also stated the government is "pleased to superannuated revoke the extension of P P Pandey, Anti-Corruption Bureau director, Ahmedabad, and Director General and InspectorGeneral-in-charge of Gujarat state, Gandhinagar from April 4, 2017 (after office hours)."

Also Read: SC allows Gujarat govt to accept DGP PP Pandey's resignation offer

While making the announcement, Minister of State for HomePradeepsinh Jadeja said the government has accepted Pandey'sresignation.

"We have accepted the resignation of P P Pandey. Our ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani today appointed Geetha Johri, the senior-most IPS officer at present, as the new DGP-in-charge of Gujarat," said Jadeja.

As per the government records, Johri was born on November 28, 1957.

In her career spanning almost 35 years, Johri has seen many ups and downs. In the beginning of her career, she came into the limelight while serving as Ahmedabad DCP in mid 1990s.

At that time, she had raided the den of slain underworld don Abdul Latif in highly sensitive Dariyapur area and had caught his key aide Sharif Khan.

Recently, she was in news for her role in the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots and as the investigation officer in theSohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases.

In 2010, the Supreme Court had asked Johri to dissociate herself from the SIT probing the post-Godhra riots after the victims alleged her of bias.

In 2015, a special CBI court in Mumbai had dropped charges against Johri in alleged fake encounter cases of Sohrabuddinand Prajapati of 2005 and 2006 respectively for want mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for her prosecution.

The CBI had alleged that Johri delayed investigations into the Prajapati case and destroyed some case records.

The government had promoted Johri from the rank ofAdditional DGP to DGP the same year.

Must Read: Gujarat Police foils bid to lock down Tata Nano plant; detains 700 people

She had filed am FIR on the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and the sudden disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi, which had eventually led to the arrest of the three erstwhileIPS officers, including D G Vanzara.

Addressing the media in Gandhinagar, Johri said her priority would be addressing the problems faced by the women and maintaining law and order in the state.

"I will assume the office immediately. Being the first woman DGP of the state, my priority will be to address the women's problems. They can come to me anytime and I will try my best to solve their problems," she said.

She said though Gujarat has a peaceful atmosphere, it will be her duty to maintain law and order.

"Since this is an election year, I will have to ensure peace during the polls," the officer said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Jammu:

Challenging Indian troops along Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan violated the ceasefire and shelled forward posts and civilian areas (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, the third such violation in 24 hours.

"Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of smallarms, automatic and mortar shells from 1100 hours today onIndian Army posts along the LoC in Bhimbher Gali (BG) sectorof Rajouri district," a defence spokesman said.

Army troops deployed on forward posts retaliated strongly and effectively, the spokesman said, adding the exchange offering continued till last reports came in. Today's ceasefire violation is the third such incident in less than 24 hours along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts.

Yesterday, Pakistani troops had resorted to firing and shelling of mortar bombs on forward posts in Balakote sector of Rajouri district from 1100 hours and it continued for some hours.

The Pakistani army had also initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatic and mortar shells from 0930hours yesterday on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Digwararea in Poonch sector. Heavy mortar shelling in Digwar area created fear psychosis among the residents. In the same area, a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), Naib Subedar S Sanayaima Som, was killed in an improvise dexplosive device (IED) blast on April 1.

There had been four ceasefire violations along the LoC inPoonch in March. On March 19, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire byresorting to shelling and firing along the LoC in BhimbherGali area of Poonch district.

Also Read | J&K: Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in Poonch, India retaliates

On March 13, Pakistani troops resorted to mortar shelling and firing by automatic weapons along the Line of Control(LoC) in Poonch sector. On March 12, Pakistani troops had violated the ceasefire by resorting to firing and mortar shelling in Krishnagati andChakan Da Bagh sectors along the LoC in Poonch district.

Pakistani shelling caused damage to the LoC TradeFacilitation centre and LOC travel and trade was suspended for a few days. On March 9, army jawan Deepak Jagannath Ghadge was killed when Pakistani soldiers initiated indiscriminate and unprovoked firing along the LoC in Poonch.

In 2016, 228 instances of ceasefire violations along theLoC were reported while there were 221 instances of ceasefireviolations along International Border (IB).

Also Read | Cross-border terrorism by Pak affecting India's vision of peaceful neighbourhood: Sushma Swaraj

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A non bailable warrant was issued by Ludhiana court against Rakhi Sawant over case filed against her for making derogatory remarks on Valmiki on Monday. Ludhiana police had gone to Mumbai to arrest the actor. But, she was not found at the given address and police team is on way back to Punjab after meaning necessary formalities in the local police station of Mumbai.

There were reports that Bollywood actor Rakhi Sawant on Tuesday arrested by Punjab Police. However, Ludhiana commissioner of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said that there is no confirmation on Rakhi Sawant's arrest.

Earlier on Monday, a Punjab Police team left for Mumbai to execute an arrest warrant that was issued by a local court against Bollywood actress and dancer Rakhi Sawant.

An arrest warrant has been issued against Rakhi Sawant in case of making unacceptable remarks against sage Valmiki, writer of mythological Hindu epic Ramayana.

Warrant was issued against her on March 9 as the Valmiki community complained that their religious sentiments were hurt with her comments on a programme telecasted on a private channel in 2016, according to police.

"By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers," the complaint said.

(With inputs from ANI)

Also read: Rakhi Sawant comment on 'Valmiki' row: Punjab police team sent to Mumbai

Also read: Arrest warrant issued against Rakhi Sawant as she makes unacceptable comments on Valmiki



For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Monday took presentations of six departments related to the education sector. The senior officials of Education Department gave their presentations which had included higher education, secondary education, primary education and professional education. The meeting lasted nearly eight hours. All senior officials of concerned departments were present.

During the meeting, it was decided to focus on regularisation of sessions, to conduct examinations within time, to fill all vacant posts and to stop cheating in the state. The teachers were asked to present on time in schools.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma informed that the government has put the five-year plan for education sector. He said it was decided to stop cheating in the examination and to regularize education calendar.

Also Read: Yogi Adityanath govt approves Rs 47-crore package for Bundelkhand drinking water project

We had discussed to create job and to fill all vacate positions except Basic Sihiksha Adhikaari. We are aiming to fulfil our promised made in the BJPs manifesto. We will make the state an Uttam Pradesh, the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Also Read | Yogi Adityanath has saved Uttar Pradesh from becoming another Pakistan: Sadhvi Prachi

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Terming the extradition of embattled industrialist Vijay Mallya as sub-judice, British finance minister Philip Hammond refused to comment on the issue during his visit to New Delhi.



The British chancellor of the exchequer, who is in the Capital for the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, said the extradition request by India is before a court and so he would not like to comment on the issue.



"I believe in one of the cases concerned, an extradition request has been made, and that is sub-judice... I am afraid I would not be able to discuss and it would not be proper for ministers to discuss. It is a matter before a court," he said in a reply to a question regarding the extradition of Mallya and former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

Read | Vijay Mallya's extradition request certified by UK government; Court approached for warrant



He was addressing a press briefing alongside finance minister Arun Jaitley after the talks.



Last month, the British government sent India's extradition request to a district judge, the first step towards a judicial decision that could bring Mallya back to India to face a court.



Facing heat over Rs 9,000 crore loan default by his now defunct Kingfisher airlines, Mallya had fled to the UK on March 2 last year.



He left the country just as the Supreme Court ordered him to appear before it in person with his passport on March 30, 2016.



India had on February 8 this year handed over a formal extradition request to the British government to bring back Mallya under the India-UK extradition treaty. In January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against the absconding businessman in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case.



In November last year, an Indian court had also allowed the Enforcement Directorate to send a request for extradition of former IPL chief Modi.

Read | Magisterial court issues non-bailable warrant, extradition order against Vijay Mallya

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Chennai:

Giving relief to the food providers, Madras High Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to waive loans of farmers who were hit by drought. The HC also ordered to prevent cooperative societies and banks from recovering their dues.



It noted that the state's financial situation was grim and it was single-handedly shouldering the debt burden in a drought year in which farmers were committing suicide and suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu "during this difficult situation."



A division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and MV Muralidaran gave the order of waiving the loans while allowing a petition by National South Indian RiverInterlinking Agriculturists Association.



"We are aware that the state's financial situation is grim. The Chief Secretary in her letter to the AdvocateGeneral also reiterated the same. The government is already single handily shouldering the burden of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore."



In this difficult situation, the central government can not be a silent spectator and should come forward to extend help to the state government to share the burden, the court said.



It directed the cooperation, food and consumer protection department and registrar of cooperative societies to extend the crop loan waiver scheme under two Government Orders of2016, to all farmers, including those whose landholding was more than five acres.



"We further direct the department to issue the necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all farmers. The order shall be issued within three months from today," the bench said.

Suggested Read: 'Like cows, farmers too have the right to live': Shiv Sena MP lashes out at BJP



The Association alleged that government has shown discrimination in classifying farmers as small and medium and sought a direction to quash the GOs as illegal and to direct authorities to give relief to all farmers for loans taken from cooperative societies, irrespective of the extent of land owned.



The court, which had heard the petition in Madurai Bench, delivered its judgement today at the principal seat here.



"In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions arrived therein, we are of the view that the denial of benefit of crop loan to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding five acres is a clear discrimination, violative of Article 14of the Constitution.



"Consequently, we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of crop loans and outstanding dues to cooperative societies/banks, as on March 31, 2016," it said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Did you know that active male hormones are called androgens? Androgens are responsible for the normal functioning of the ovarian follicle. Also, androgens help to release an egg that can be fertilized.

Researchers from Britain and US have given a new insight into the role of male hormones in supporting and disrupting the production of eggs by ovarian follicles.

According to a new that has been 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.

The 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. The scientists also found that androgens are needed for normal function of the follicle, including the successful release of an egg that can be fertilized.

"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.

"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 blocker
Washington:

US space agency NASA comes up with a new plan every other day. Now, it has announced it plans to build a spaceport near the Moon. Purpose is clear  the spaceport will serve as a gateway to the surface of the Moon and to several deep space destinations including Mars.

NASA said that the space near the Moon provides a deep space environment which is good enough to gain experience for human missions that push farther into the solar system, access the surface of the Moon for robotic missions but with the ability to return to Earth if needed in days rather than weeks or months.

According to NASA, the period of exploration near the Moon will kick off with the first integrated mission of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

NASA is planning to establish a deep space gateway in the orbit of the Moon within the first few missions. The spaceport will be a gateway to deep space and lunar surface.

The spaceport will be home to a power bus, a small habitat to extend crew time, docking capability, an airlock and serviced by logistics modules to enable research.

The deep space gateways propulsion system will mainly use high power electric propulsion that would help in station keeping and for the ability to transfer among a family of orbits in the lunar vicinity.



The three primary elements of the gateway are  the power and propulsion bus and habitat module, and a small logistics module(s). These elements 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 agencys 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.

A reusable vehicle, this spacecraft will use electric and chemical propulsion and would be specifically designed for crewed missions to destinations such as Mars.

ALSO READ | An elevator from Earth to Moon for human settlement: Chennai student wins NASA 'Moon' Prize for this unique idea

The transport would take crew out to their destination, return them back to the gateway, where it can be serviced and sent out again.

(With inputs from PTI)

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
United Nations:

Amid continued Chinese opposition to efforts to get Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN, the US said on Tuesday that countries using veto to scuttle sanctioning of terrorists will not preclude it from taking actions.



The administration very much is looking at all of these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list and how we have managed that, US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said.



And that is part of what we are going to try and find our place with is that we do want to make sure that we are calling out those that we need to call out, she said.



Haley made the remarks while addressing a press conference after assuming role of President of the Security Council for the month of April.



She was asked about efforts to get terrorists, particularly those in the South Asian region, sanctioned under UNSCs sanctions list and how another permanent member scuttles these efforts by using its veto power, a veiled reference to China blocking moves to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar.

Are we going to have people that veto certain issues? Yes. But that doesnt preclude the US from acting and it certainly does not preclude us from trying to see if we can change that as well, Haley said.

ALSO READ | US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley hails her traditional upbringing by Sikh parents



Our goal is to get more done together than we do separately. If we cannot get it done separately then we just move in another direction to still get the same things done, she said.



The US wants to make sure that it is leading towards a result and not sitting back and allowing things to happen.



I think you are obviously seeing a very aggressive administration because we feel like in order to lead we need to act and in order to act we need to make sure we have those conversations with the National Security Council and we are having those conversations with the National Security Council, she said.Haley noted that a lot has happened in the last two months of her assuming the UN ambassadors role under the Trump administration and a lot will continue to happen but it is all about how we can make sure we are moving the ball.

ALSO READ | China says dialogue with India positive for ties, ignores issues like NSG, Azhar



Haley also brought up her Indian heritage when she asked about her qualities of being able to speak freely and openly and whether she was offered the role of Secretary of State by Donald Trump.



Every position that I have ever had, people have assumed that Im looking towards something bigger when in reality Im the daughter of Indian parents who said to me whatever you do be great at it and make sure people remember you for it. That is all I am trying to do, Haley said.

ALSO READ | India lashes out on China's evidence demand, says Masood Azhar's actions were well-documented



That is all I have ever known how to be is to try and just do my job to the best of my ability and if that comes out blunt and if that comes out strongIm one of two brothers and a sistermy parents raised us all to be strong, she said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
United Nations:

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has hailed her traditional upbringing and said that she was raised by her Sikh parents to be "strong". Haley, 45, brought up her Indian heritage while addressing a press conference after assuming the role of president of the Security Council for the month of April.



Asked about her qualities of being able to speak freely and openly, Haley said, "Every position that I have ever had, people have assumed that I'm looking towards something bigger when in reality I'm the daughter of Indian parents who said to me 'whatever you do be great at it and make sure people remember you for it'.

That is all I am trying to do," Haley said. "That is all I have ever known how to be is to try and just do my job to the best of my ability and if that comes out blunt and if that comes out strong -- I'm one of two brothers and a sister -- my parents raised us all to be strong," she said.

Read | UN conference: Nikki Haley says can't allow 'bad actors' to have nuclear weapons

Haley was born Nimrata Randhawa to Ajit Singh Randhawa and mother Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s.

Her father had been a professor at the Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother had received her law degree from the University of Delhi.

Haley, earlier this year, scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration.

Taliking about her joining the administration, Haley said the original call she received to go to Trump Tower following Trump's election win last November was to discuss the position of Secretary of State but she was not offered the post.

"No he (Trump) did not offer it (post of Secretary of State). It was the discussion that we were having at the time. So when we went in, that was the position that we were discussing," she said. Haley, know for her tough-talking, has described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a "war criminal" and called the UN Human Rights Council "corrupt".

Read | Nikki Haley: Trump's travel ban aims about keeping terrorist out

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Islamabad:

A Pakistani man has been sentenced to 68 Months in jail with a hefty fine of USD 250,000 by a US court for laundering money for terrorists and criminal groups. He is also known to links with terrorist groups like LeT, JeM and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.



Altaf Khanani was one of the principal directors of Khanani and Kalia International (KKI), a leading money exchange and transfer company, which had been involved in money laundering for over a decade.

He was convicted on March 29 by a United States DistrictCourt in Florida after spending more than a year in a Miami jail, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Khanani was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit laundering. The remaining 13 counts of actually committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution, which cited Khanani's cooperation in the investigation after he agreed to plead guilty and "to make a full, accurate and complete disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.

The agreement says the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing because Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.

For over a decade, KKI was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars"around the world for a clientele that the US Treasury department says included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian organised crime groups and designated terrorist organisations, the report said.

"Altaf Khanani is known to have had relationships withLashkar-e-Tayyiba, Dawood Ibrahim, al-Qaida, andJaish-e-Mohammed," the treasury department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.

Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings. In June 2015, Khanani was indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a USD250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the DrugEnforcement Administration (DEA).

The investigation spanned across the US, Australia and the UAE and was carried out by multiple law enforcement bodies, including the DEA, FBI, US Customs and BorderProtection, Australian Federal Police, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the UAE Police and Central Bank. He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.

Initially, he pleaded not guilty to all charges and demanded a jury trial. But on November 1 last year, changed his plea to guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and the US Attorney's Office agreed to drop the other 13 counts and seek leniency in sentencing in return for his cooperation in the investigation.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

US Department of Homeland Security announced steps on Monday to detect the fraudulent use of H1B work visas, which appeared to fall short of President Donald Trump's campaign promises to overhaul the programme.

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 fiscal 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 abovefrom US universities in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Also Read: Trump administration declares Paris agreement as bad deal for US

Asserting that its multiple measures announced will further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse, the USCIS said the H-1B visa 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 programs is a priority for the USCIS, a statement said.

The USCIS also announced the launch of 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.

Also Read: H1B visa system requires 'common sense' reforms, says Congressman Ro Khanna

The USCIS will focus on cases where it cannot validate the employer 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 organisations 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 H-1B visa 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 others 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.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

US President Donald Trump on Monday signed a bill which could allow internet providers to sell information about their customers browsing habits.

The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information.

Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.

The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.

Also Read: Trump administration announces measures to detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse

With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalised in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obamas presidency.

Internet companies like Google dont have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the presidents support for the bill was part of a larger effort to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth.

The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others, picking the winners and losers, he said.

Also Read: Trump administration declares Paris agreement as bad deal for US

Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.

Undoing the regulation leaves peoples online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information but it doesnt spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.

The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.

Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.

Also Read | US prepared to act alone if China doesn't tightens noose on North Korea: Trump

Broadband providers dont fall under the trade commissions jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.

Trump signed three other bills, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
/ H. John Voorhees III

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty and two colleagues from New Jersey urged leaders in the House of Representatives to maintain funding for veterans suicide prevention, according to a release.

Some 120 fellow members of Congress signed a letter co-authored by Esty and Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Frank Lobiando, calling on House leaders to fully fund suicide prevention programs for veterans in the next budget year, at a cost of $173 million.
NEWTOWN - Police have identified a man who was killed Sunday while working on his sport-utility vehicle in his driveway.

Police said Ryan Fetchick, 19, was working on his Ford Excursion at his house on Indian Well Road about 10:30 a.m. Sunday when a heavy-duty jack gave way, sending the car rolling over him and into a neighbors home. Paramedics performed CPR on Fetchick, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Friends reached out through social media Monday to express their grief.

To think that a buddy you use to be with all the time in middle school and freshman/sophomore year has died at such a young age is so surreal, one man posted on Fetchicks Facebook page. I wish I could spend one more day in middle school with you man. Life is so precious and can be taken away so easily.

According to a GoFundMe account that has been set up in Fetchicks name, the young man had a huge heart.

He was taken too soon, will be missed dearly and never forgotten, the post reads. He had his whole life ahead of him.

Fetchick was a mechanic who had worked at Route 25 Powersports since he was 16. He was also involved in motocross with Team Dunlap.

Rick Erickson, the owner of the powersports company, said Fetchick was more like a son than an employee. Fetchick would often practice racing on the weekends with Ericksons son, Hank.

Ryan could be a really shy kid, but when you put him on a motorcycle he was ferocious, Erickson said. He was a great competitor who consistently finished in the top five.

Erickson said Fetchick bought the Excursion from him about six months ago and was working on the rear end of the truck when the accident occurred.

If he wasnt working, he was working on his truck, Erickson said. He was just a hard-working kid who would go almost every weekend to the races with his father.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
Not every entrepreneur has the luxury of living in Silicon Valley. From the high cost of living to talent wars, the epicenter of the startup world doesnt make sense for every founder. And thats OK.

As more communities across the country embrace the entrepreneur lifestyle and remote teams become more common, startups are flourishing outside Silicon Valley, including Dallas. During Dallas Startup Week, a conference taking place from April 3 to 7, we asked local entrepreneurs what advice they have for people not in a big startup hub on how to make it.

Related: 4 Strategies for Building Your Community Instead of Just a Network

This is what they had to say:

See how everything relates.

"Meet the people in the city. Make the cultural and business zeitgeist your focus when getting involved. Understand the entrepreneurs, the infrastructure, the investors and the companies you can work with and understand what motivates these various groups and how you fit within them."

Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Conversable, a conversation platform

Related: The 4 C's Needed to Build a Strong Startup Community

Find the advantage.

"Cities, like businesses, have competitive advantages that entrepreneurs should identify and leverage. In your market, what are the top programs at local universities? What sorts of businesses get funded? Who are the strongest companies in the city and what type of professional skills drive the place? How supportive are policies, community groups and the public towards entrepreneurs? Your market will send signals about what works best locally, so make sure you're on fertile ground for growing the business you're envisioning."

Nathan Hanks, CEO and co-founder of Music Audience Exchange, a platform for artist and brand partnerships

Stay connected to the major startup hubs.

"Stay loosely connected to Silicon Valley and New York City. Whether it be through investors, advisors or flying in to attend events or press interviews, it's important to know what's happening in terms of innovation trends, company valuations, resources and recruiting in these geographies that are leading the way. We make sure to carve out a few trips every year to San Francisco and New York to ensure we're keeping the pulse of what's going on there.

"Outside of these hubs, make the most of the better price of real estate and create a competitive office space to recruit top talent. This lower cost of running our business in Dallas allows us to invest more in culture by providing weekly breakfasts, various company outings and health and wellness stipends for employees. It would be difficult to make all these perks work with the cost or real estate and talent in San Francisco and New York, so do what you need to do to recruit the best of the best in your geography."

Carly Nance, co-founder of The Citizenry, a marketplace featuring goods from around the globe

Related: 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Endear Themselves to the Community

Partner up.

"Partner up with your local visitor and conventions bureau as they have remarkable relationships with businesses in your city, as well as new businesses that will be coming soon. Here in Dallas, for example, our simple partnership with the Dallas Visitors and Conventions Bureau has opened up so many doors for the Make Your Life Sweeter brand within Dallas. This past weekend, for example, our partnership with the DCVB helped us gain The NCAA as a new client, where we were hired to do all of the gifting for the NCAA Womens Final Four competition."

Yasmeen Tadia, CEO and founder of FluffPop, artisanal candy shop

Related:



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Hero Images | Getty Images

Ask most people if they would want to go back to high school, and the answer would probably be, "No, not for all of the money in the world." But teens, with their buying power and early-adopter tendencies, are the demographic in which companies most want to inspire loyalty. And just like in high school, they all want a seat at the cool kids table.

The brand team for consumer apps at Google has bestowed upon the world Its Lit: A Guide to What Teens Think Is Cool. Its a look at what brands have the most cache among the youth set.
TORONTO/SANTIAGO, April 4, 2017 /CNW/ - During the recent PDAC Convention in Toronto, Canada, the mining and investment community showed support for Chile as a premier destination for foreign investment. Chile is a strong, stable economy that is attracting investment and interest from across the world.

Chile's innovative culture and well educated workforce supports a strong and progressive quality of life and positions the country as a highly attractive destination for mineral exploration and mining investment. The quality and scale of the country's deposits attracts the world's premier mining companies including Glencore, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Barrick Gold, Teck, Antofagasta Minerals and Rio Tinto all with investments in Chile.

At the convention, Chilean Minister of Mines, Ms. Aurora Williams met with several of her counterparts from around the world as well as media and private companies to discuss key issues facing the mining industry including innovation, the environment and global trade. The Minister spent considerable time with stakeholders promoting the region and the strong mineral potential within Chile. With eleven key project offerings through The Chilean National Mining Corporation, ENAMI (more information can be found here), Chile remains a premier destination for exploration and mining investment.

Key Meetings at PDAC 2017 included:

The Honourable Jim Carr, Canadian Minister of Natural Resources

The Honourable Francois Philippe Champagne , Canadian Minister of International Trade

, Canadian Minister of International Trade The Honourable Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy & Mines ( British Columbia )

) Ms. Kim Rudd , Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Resources Canada

Minister Williams also met with other counterparts at

II Ministers of Mining Summit

Ministers of Mining of the Americas Summit

Ministers of the Pacific Alliance

Chile is consistently highlighted as one of the best destinations for foreign investment globally. In its World Investment Report 2016, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ranked Chile as the world's 19th largest destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2015, Chile ranked 7th among developing and transition economies with a total of more than US $20 billion dollars in Foreign Investment. Chile also leads all Latin American countries on several key indices including the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, The Global Innovation Index 2016, 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index, and Business Environment Rankings 2014  2018 as well as many others. Each of these points to a progressive economic and social climate that reinforces the country's stable and progressive environment.

SOURCE Government of Chile

For further information: Steve Virtue, President, HOWE&WYE, [email protected], 647.822.8202
MARKHAM, ON, April 4, 2017 /CNW/ - Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC), a leading child-focused international development organization, is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Canagasingham to the position of Chief Executive Officer.

"Patrick has devoted his career to transforming the lives of those experiencing suffering, poverty and injustice," notes Douglas Ellenor, Chair, Board of Directors, CCFC. "His significant leadership experience in international development includes diverse roles in the field working directly with communities, fundraising and with the international offices of Oxfam and World Vision. I am very confident Patrick is the right person to take our bold vision for the future forward as we seek to help ever more children and families in need."

In his previous position as Chief Operating Officer at Oxfam International, Canagasingham combined expert operational management, strategic planning and organizational leadership. Prior to Oxfam, Canagasingham held senior roles with World Vision, including, Vice-President, International Programs at World Vision Canada, where he was accountable for planning, implementing and evaluating the organization's international program commitments in close to 70 countries in conjunction with other World Vision offices.

The breadth of Canagasingham's experience includes practical and leadership responsibilities with humanitarian non-governmental organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. He also has corporate experience in the Canadian banking sector and played a key role in engaging the private sector to promote peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

"Patrick is a gifted communicator with a unique perspective on international development," says Ellenor. "He is a motivated strategic thinker with a record of building teams and driving effective organizational change. We're very excited to have him join our leadership team to guide the way at Christian Children's Fund of Canada."

"I'm very proud to be joining Christian Children's Fund of Canada as CEO," says Canagasingham. "I am motivated by the great work of CCFC and look forward to working with the team to help children, families and communities in developing countries thrive."

Canagasingham holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Rights from the University of London, U.K. and a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, from York University, Toronto.

About Christian Children's Fund of Canada:

Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) is a child-focused international development organization and a member of ChildFund Alliance. For more than 55 years, CCFC has been helping children and families of all faiths move from poverty to self-reliance. CCFC supports children and communities in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, and works to improve the lives of more than 700,000 people around the world.

SOURCE Christian Children's Fund of Canada

For further information: Adam Sanders, Strategic Objectives, (416) 366-7735, ext. 226, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.ccfcanada.ca


TORONTO, April 3, 2017 /CNW/ - Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. ("Sleep Country" or the "Company") (TSX: ZZZ) will hold a conference call on May 10, 2017 to review first quarter financial results for 2017. The results will be released after the market closes on May 9, 2017.

The details of the call are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 Time: 10:00 am Eastern time Toll Free (North America) Dial-in Number: (888) 231-8191 International Dial-in Number: (647) 427-7450

This conference call will be recorded and available for replay until May 17, 2017 23:59 ET. To listen to the replay, please dial (416)849-0833 or (855)859-2056 and use passcode 97252049.

The Company will be holding its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on Friday, May 12, 2017.

The details of the meeting are as follows:

Date: Friday, May 12, 2017 Time: 10:00am Eastern time Location: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg

155 Wellington Street West, 40th Floor Reception

Toronto, ON

About Sleep Country

Sleep Country is Canada's leading mattress retailer and the only specialty mattress retailer with a national footprint in Canada. Sleep Country operates under two mattress retail banners: Dormez-vous, the largest retailer of mattresses in Quebec and Sleep Country Canada, the largest mattress retailer in the rest of Canada. As at March 31, 2017, Sleep Country has 237 stores and 17 distribution centres across Canada. All of the Company's stores are corporate-owned, enabling it to develop and maintain a strong culture of customer service, resulting in a consistent and superior in-store and home delivery customer experience.

SOURCE Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc.

For further information: Robert Masson, Chief Financial Officer, 416.242.4774, [email protected]
The west coast city last hosted in 2009

TORONTO, April 3, 2017 /CNW/ - The JUNO Awards are heading out west as The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced today that Vancouver will host the 2018 JUNO Awards and the weeklong JUNO Week celebrations (March 19-March 25, 2018).



The 47th annual JUNO Awards will be broadcast live from the Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks, on Sunday March 25, 2018. This will be the fourth time that Vancouver will host Canada's Music Awards ceremony; shows previously took place in 1991, 1998, and 2009.



"British Columbia has a longstanding tradition of producing some of Canada's most accomplished artists and that continues to this day," said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards and MusiCounts. "We are thrilled to be bringing the JUNOS back to Vancouver and the province of BC."



"British Columbia is one of Canada's leading centres for music. With over 80 independent record labels and over 120 sound recording studios, our music sector is as diverse and vibrant as our province," said Premier Christy Clark. "The JUNO Awards are an opportunity to welcome fans and artists from across the country, show support for Canada's thriving music scene  and have a great party."



"I'm thrilled that Vancouver will be hosting the 2018 JUNO Awards, and we have the opportunity to showcase and celebrate homegrown Canadian talent," says Mayor Gregor Robertson. "We love every opportunity to share Vancouver's thriving arts, culture and music scene and as Mayor of the 2018 JUNO Awards' host city, I can't wait for Vancouver to put on an incredible show and support our local music community."

Full press release available here.

About CARAS

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/L'academie canadienne des arts et des sciences de l'enregistrement (CARAS) is a not-for-profit organization created to preserve and enhance the Canadian music industry and to contribute toward higher artistic and industry standards. The main focus of CARAS is the exploration and development of ongoing opportunities to showcase and promote Canadian artists and music through vehicles such as The JUNO Awards and other year-round initiatives. For more information on the 47th Annual JUNO Awards or The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) please visit www.junoawards.ca.



Web Links:

Official JUNO Awards website: www.junoawards.ca



Social Media:

The JUNO Awards: @TheJUNOAwards

SOURCE Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

For further information: about CARAS and THE 2018 JUNO AWARDS, contact: Michelle Easton, rock-it promotions, [email protected], 416.656.0707 ext.103; Zai Karim, rock-it promotions, [email protected], 416.656.0707 ext. 127

Related Links

http://www.juno-awards.ca


State Police have arrested a woman described as a major heroin dealer operating across state lines in Eastern New York and Vermont.

The Glens Falls Post-Star reported that Lesley M. Fontaine, 40, of Fair Haven, VT, was lured across state lines on Friday stopped by police at the intersection of Fox and Butler Roads in Middle Granville.

Police reportedly found 200 bags of heroin and 8 grams of crack inside her vehicle while taking her into custody.

The arrest was part of a lengthy investigation by State Police, the Vermont Drug Task Force and Washington County's Drug Task Force into allegations that Fontaine had sold drugs, including the powerful and potentially deadly painkiller Fentanyl, in both states.

Police told the Post-Star they believe Fontaine had re-supply connections in New York City for sales in Rutland, VT and in Washington County.

With Fontaine at the time were Tykesha Williams, 21, of Great Bend, NY and Neal Wilday, 36, of Granville, NY. (Fontaine, Wilday and Williams pictured left to right.)

Major heroin dealer arrested in Washington County https://t.co/KV4rgJeGl9 pic.twitter.com/uXEheCoaAG  The Post-Star (@poststar) April 3, 2017

Fontaine faces eight felony charges, including third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Wilday and Williams each face two felony counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

The trio was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail, and each of them faces nine years per charge in state prison.
NEW YORK MILLS, N.Y. -- A man from Spain was turned over to federal officials for deportation after getting into a dispute with another person in Oneida County, authorities said.

The New York Mills Police Department said officers were called to a domestic dispute between a man and a woman in the parking lot of Walgreens last Wednesday.

When officers saw the man, David Jimenez-Lara, 23, had a foreign photo identification, it spurred an investigation by local authorities and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers, police said.

Jimenez-Lara told authorities he lived in Massachusetts but had been staying with family in Yorkville, police said.

The investigation revealed Jimenez-Lara had been in the United States illegally since September 2014, police said.

New York Mills Police said Jimenez-Lara was arrested, but they did not report what crime he was charged with.

Federal officials stated Jimenez-Lara was in violation of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, police said. The program permits citizens of 38 countries - including Spain - to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa, according to a State Department web site.

Jimenez-Lara was turned over to deportation officers and taken to Syracuse to be processed for removal, according to authorities.

Officials with ICE could not be reached for comment.

Reporter Kira Maddox covers crime and safety for Syracuse.com. She can be reached by: Email | Facebook | Twitter
Chinas Bohai Shipyard has built a new large-scale plant to mass produce nuclear submarines.

Western production lines for the most part can only build one submarine at a time, and only the US is capable of building two submarines simultaneously, but China is now capable of building four submarines at one time.

China already has at least four type 094/094A ballistic missile submarines and at least five Type 093/093G attack submarines, so it is speculated that the new facility is to build the successor third-generation classes of Type 096 ballistic missile submarines and Type 095 attack submarines. The new submarines will be built using modular fabrication techniques. The projection is made that Chinese nuclear submarine production will double its rate within two to three years.

China currently has about three submarine production lines and can build 5 to 6 submarines at one time. This would mean in three years China could be building ten to twelve submarines at one time.

Type 094 submarine

The Type 096 submarine is a SSBN (nuclear ballistic missile submarine) being developed for the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force. Official specifications are unknown. The Type 096 may carry 24 SLBMs, double the number carried by its predecessor, the Type 094. According to analysts, it could also feature a hull similar to Western SSBNs. As of January 2017, the Type 096 has yet to enter service.

The Type 095 submarine is a proposed class of third generation nuclear-powered attack submarines for the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China.

It is anticipated that Type 095 submarines will have a substantially reduced acoustic signature, within an improved hull type and pump jet propulsion system. Compared to the Type 093, the Type 095 will have a more advanced nuclear reactor, VLS tubes and greater number of advanced sensors such as new active/passive flank array sonar and low and high frequency towed sonar array. Additionally, it is also speculated that Type 095 submarines may act as a potential undersea escort for any future PLAN aircraft carrier task forces.
The plan by President Muhummadu Buhari to return to his London doctors for further treatment is an act of corruption and a mockery of the Change begins with me campaign of his government.The Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Ngbo Diocese, Ezzamgbo, at the weekend, said he was not in support of the planned medical trip, especially as the country was in a period of economic recession.According to him, If we are saying that we are in economic recession, then going abroad for medical treatment by the president is corruption. The Change begins with me campaign should begin with the president because I see no reason why we should allow our hospitals to be in very dilapidated conditions and then we travel abroad.Bishop Chukwuma who suggested that the equipments used in medical treatments abroad should rather be brought to Nigeria, said the president should not only have confidence in the medical facilities in Nigeria but should also use the provisions of the 2017 budget for revamping the health sector, maintaining that it will be enough to fund it. He said anything to the contrary was a serious negativity against the Change begins with me campaign.On the order by the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), that people should stay at home on May 30th to mark Biafra day, the bishop said he was not in support as he cautioned that people should not deploy violence.Biafra is not for violence or confrontation. Rather, its for agitation. We are agitating for equal rights and justice. People should not misuse IPOB for secession. We are not seceding. Nigeria belongs to all of us. Everybody should know that what we are looking for is equal right.The Southeast is being neglected in many areas. Even the recent appointment of boards members, how many Southeast people are there? He reiterated that Igbos are being marginalized in many areas.The church had used the occasion to honour some outstanding personalities among who were former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a serving senator representing Ebonyi North, Obinna Ogba, the traditional ruler of Ngbo, Eze Simon Ali Ega among others who urged the church to continue to maintain peace and unity with host communities.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumes this weeks foreign exchange market intervention today with a disbursement of $240 million.Of the sum, $90 million is for invisibles  business/personal travel allowances, medical, school fees, among others, while $150 million goes to interbank wholesale auction window targeted at real sector operators.The move, meant to stabilise the interbank market and weaken speculators by strengthening the naira at the parallel market, would also help to return all rates to near convergence.CBNs Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the development, added that the apex bank had adjusted the planned sale of dollars to bureaux de change (BDCs). According to him, the bank now offers dollar auction to the BDCs only on Tuesdays to reduce logistical difficulties, while they will, from today, be offered $10,000 each for resale to end users.To ease access to customers, he confirmed that the CBN had directed banks to make cash available to desirous foreign exchange customers at over-the-counter transactions.Warning commercial banks and other dealers against sabotaging the efforts, he advised customers to report infractions to the CBN through 07002255226 or email to cpd@cbn.gov.ng, with the name and branch of the bank.The financial institutions had mid last week refused to sell dollars to some customers seeking to buy forex for business/personal travel allowances, medical and school fees, citing insufficient allocation. But the apex bank described the claim as false.The CBN has in the recent months made offers and releases to the inter-bank foreign exchange market in its bid to sustain forex rule supply to different categories of users.Meanwhile, the South Africa-based Renaissance Capital has insisted that the resultant convergence of the interbank and parallel rates, coming after six weeks of foreign exchange injections, was a precursor to a devaluation of the naira with the NGN350-390/$1.CBNs fixation on a stable foreign exchange rate implies it will need to sustain its interventions to contain the parallel market premium. We estimate reserves will begin to fall when the CBNs quarterly injections exceed $3.7 billion.We consider this convergence optics a signal that a naira devaluation is in the offing. In reducing the parallel market premium (N380/$ vs. N520/$), we believe the CBN is hoping the market is now less inclined to think the naira should be at NGN500/$.Nigerias oil receipts  the countrys biggest source of foreign exchange  by far, will be a key determinant of how much the CBN can inject into the market, while keeping reserves flat, the sub-Saharan Africa Economist at RenCap, Yvonne Mhango, said.However, based on assumptions of oil price projection of $55 per barrel for 2017 and the current level of reserves, the apex bank is reiterating its readiness to sustain efforts at stabilising the local currency and prices nationwide.
An Abuja High Court has acquitted former Minister of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, who is standing trial on a six-count charge of N1.97 billion contract fraud filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.Orubebe alongside the Assistant Director at the Ministry of Niger-Delta Affairs, Oludare Davis Alaba, and the Director of Contracts, Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nig. Ltd., Ephraim Towede Zari,Were standing trial for allegedly diverting N1.97 billion meant for the compensation of owners of properties on Eket Urban section of the East-West Road in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.Last December, the Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, in a letter signed by the Director of Public Procurement DPP, wrote to the Chairman of ICPC, informing him that the N1.97 billion being investigated was still in the coffers of the Federal government as the compensations haven't been released to the beneficiaries.Malami stated that the basis for the prosecution of Orubebe and others doesn't exist. In view of the above, the basis for the prosecution of the accused persons for misappropriation does not exist and thus, further prosecution cannot be justified.ICPC today withdrew the charges against Orubebe. The withdraw of the charges comes a day after the trial judge mandated the prosecution team to provide witnesses that would testify against Orubebe and others accused of committing the fraud. The prosecution team failed to provide any witness.Justice Adeniyi this morning struck out the case and acquitted Orubebe and the two others.
The scarcity of the needed vaccines to stem the growing epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) is causing more deaths and spread of the disease to more states.The new outbreaks are caused by new strains of CSM, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C (NmC), the vaccines for which are not commercially available and need to be acquired through a special process managed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).As the country does not have enough vaccine doses to deal with the deadly meningitis outbreak, and the drugs are too expensive at the cost of $50 (N18,000) per dose, more Nigerians may die from the disease. This is especially so since the means of livelihood of the majority of the citizens have been eroded by the current economic recession and the $50 which is the cost of the meningitis drugs per dose is the national minimum wage.The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, told The Guardian that the country urgently needed 1.3 million doses to meet its immediate targets but had taken delivery of only 500,000, which it plans to deploy in Zamfara State on April 7, 2017. Ihekweazu, however, said the country was expecting another batch of 800,000 doses this week. This means that the country needs to spend not less than $65 million (N23.4 billion) to meet its needs.Ihekweazu said the coordinating agencies would be meeting Monday afternoon to assess the situation and official statement would be released later in the evening.The last official figures from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and NCDC put the death toll in the current meningitis epidemic at 328 ( as at Saturday) from 278 on Thursday last week even as 2,524 persons were affected (as at Saturday) from 1,966 people on Thursday. Also, the epidemic had spread from six states on Tuesday last week to 16 states by Saturday, four days later.There is the fear that the epidemic might have spread to more states and killed many more Nigerians because of the delay in deploying the vaccines and the conditions of living in most communities in the country that encourage the transmission of the disease.According to the WHO, the bacteria are transmitted from person-to-person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from carriers. Close and prolonged contact  such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, or living in close quarters (such as a dormitory, sharing eating or drinking utensils) with an infected person (a carrier)  facilitates the spread of the disease. The average incubation period is four days, but can range between two and 10 days.Neisseria meningitidis infects only humans; there is no animal reservoir. The bacteria can be carried in the throat and sometimes, for reasons not fully understood, can overwhelm the bodys defences allowing infection to spread through the bloodstream to the brain. It is believed that 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the population carries Neisseria meningitidis in their throat at any given time. However, the carriage rate may be higher in epidemic situations.The most common symptoms are a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting. Even when the disease is diagnosed early and adequate treatment is started, five per cent to 10 per cent of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. Bacterial meningitis may result in brain damage, hearing loss or a learning disability in 10 per cent to 20 per cent of survivors. A less common but even more severe (often fatal) form of meningococcal disease is meningococcal septicaemia, which is characterised by a haemorrhagic rash and rapid circulatory collapse.Acting Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Emmanuel Odu, said $1.1 billion was required for the vaccination of 22 million persons in the states affected.Odu who briefed the Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases on efforts being made to contain the outbreak, said each vaccine could cost between $30 and $50.The committee declared that the spread across the country was caused by poor awareness campaigns of relevant government agencies. It promised to provide the necessary support to the Ministry of Health to contain and end the outbreak.At another meeting with Ihekweazu, the Senate committee chairman, Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North) lamented that awareness remained low across the country.If this had been detected early, then we would have had rounds of vaccinations and would not be having this epidemic, he said.Senate President Bukola Saraki has assured that the upper chamber would provide the necessary support to the Ministry of Health to end the outbreak.Saraki, in a series of tweets on his twitter handle, said he had spoken with the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, to assure him of the Senates commitment to help end the epidemic.As part of efforts to contain the spread of the disease and prevent deaths, the Lagos State government yesterday alerted members of the public to the dangers and urged them to report any suspected case to the nearest public health facility. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said that no case of CSM has been recorded in the state contrary to media report. However as a responsive government, we deem it fit to alert the public, he said.In a statement, Idris noted that though, seasonal meningitis outbreak usually affects the mainly Northern states that fall within the meningitis belt of the country, it is not impossible that outbreaks can occur in any part of the country, Lagos inclusive, in view of the phenomenal climatic change as well as the high human migration.The Kwara State government has deplored epidemiologists to all its local government areas in readiness for any outbreak of the Meningitis in any part of the state.At least two epidemiologists were sent to each council just as the government has rejigged its Notifications and Surveillance Unit in Ilorin, which at present is headed by the Commissioner for Health Alhaji Atolagbe Alege.
Rice farmers under the auspices of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, has assured Nigerians that in June 2017 a 50 kilogramme of ...

Rice farmers under the auspices of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, has assured Nigerians that in June 2017 a 50 kilogramme of rice bag will sell at N10, 000.This assurance was given by the National President, RIFAN, Aminu Goronyo, while speaking on the current development in the rice industry, which Goronyo disclosed that rice farmers under the association now have direct access to fertiliser.He said: Fertiliser was a very big challenge, but today it has become a history. We have signed MoU where the fertiliser is sold N5, 500 per bag of fertiliser, and is now a government policy. We have more fertiliser in the country and go direct to the hands of the farmers and is everywhere in the country.We have already achieved rice sufficiency in the last two years because all the rice we eat is grown here in the country. With the government through the Nigeria Customs Service on the land borders, including the high exchange rate no importer can go to other countries and import rice for profit. I assure you in the next three months a 50kg bag of rice will come down to N10, 000.The Anchor Borrowers Scheme was conceived through collective effort by the Central Bank of Nigeria, RIFAN and other relevant key stakeholders, and we are everyday meeting with the CBN reviewing the process.However, the rice farmers boss lamented inadequate rice seeds for his over 4.2 million registered members, which according to him said past governments, have failed to provide certified and quality seeds for over 30 years.Seed is the most essential component of any commodity that is going to be produced. We do not have rice seeds in Nigeria.The few companies we have in the country do not have the capacity to supply the quality and certified seeds we need. What we have is grossly inadequate and not up to one percent of the need by Nigerian farmers.I blame the previous governments because for the 30 years we dont have enough certified seeds. The government has played vital role in creating this problem for the farmers.The research centres are there and they are being paid but they are not doing what they are supposed to because government rely on them to come up with certified seeds, and we the end users, the farmers, we know that we are not getting then real certified seed.Even the current Anchor Borrowers Scheme that is going on we are just managing seeds from few companies that rarely have certified seeds.Most of the seeds that are being supplied are from the companies that do not have all it takes, and we do not have other options than to use what they are giving to us. The seeds released are not up to five percent of our total requirement, he stated.
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Nigerias first female Senior Advocate, Folake Solanke, on her 85th birthday.

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.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, on Monday appeared before the Federal High Court in Lagos for four companies which we...

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, on Monday appeared before the Federal High Court in Lagos for four companies which were convicted of laundering the sum of $15, 591,700 to which wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, had laid claim.The companies  Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited  had on September 15, 2016 pleaded guilty to laundering the money.They were arraigned before Justice Babs Kuewumi alongside a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa; a lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs; and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku.While Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty, four persons, who appeared in court as the directors of the companies, pleaded guilty on their behalf.The EFCC had told the court that it found the names of the four persons  Friday Davies, Agbo Baro, Bioghowri Frederick and Taiwo Ebenezer  listed at the Corporate Affairs Commission as the directors of the companies.On that grounds, Justice Kuewumi had on November 2, 2016 convicted the companies of money laundering accordingly but reserved the sentence till the final determination of the cases of Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku who pleaded not guilty.The judge also noted that Patience had filed a separate suit wherein she was laying claim to the $15m.At the Mondays proceedings, the EFCC sought to open its case by calling its first witness but Ozekhome appeared and told the court that the convicted companies had briefed him to defend them and urged the judge to allow him do so.Ozekhome questioned the legitimacy of the four persons who had earlier presented themselves as the directors of the companies and pleaded guilty on their behalf.But the prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, objected to the appearance of Ozekhome and insisted that the companies had already pleaded guilty and had been convicted.After entertaining arguments from the parties, Justice Kuewumi adjourned till May 10, 2017 when Ozekhome would appear as counsel for the convicted companies.The EFCC, in the charges, accused the four companies of conspiring with Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku to launder the $15m.The EFCC alleged that the seven accused persons conspired to forge Skye Bank mandate purporting that they were signed by Friday Davies, Kola Fredrick, Taiwo Ebenezer and Agbo Baro, to prejudice Skye Bank in their bid to launder the $15.6m.They were also accused of forging a Wema Bank Corporate Account mandate card, purporting that it was signed by Taiwo Ebenezer and Chima John to prejudice Wema Bank.The EFCC told the court that Dufada, Briggs, Bolodeoku and the four companies acted contrary to Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap. M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday, lifted the order barring Ozekhome from accessing his Guaranty Trust Bank account into which he received N75m 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 operating 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 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.
A High Court of the Federal Capital in Apo, Abuja, on Tuesday, struck out six charges involving alleged N1.97bn fraud preferred against a...

A High Court of the Federal Capital in Apo, Abuja, on Tuesday, struck out six charges involving alleged N1.97bn fraud preferred against a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe.Justice Olukayode Adeniyi struck out the case and discharged Orubebe and other defendants after the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, the agency which filed the case withdrew it on Tuesday.Orubebe was charged along with others including an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Oludare Davis Alaba.Other defendants were the Director of Contracts, Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nig. Ltd., Mr. Ephraim Towede Zari.The prosecution had alleged in the six counts that the defendants, including Orubebe, who was then the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs under the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, diverted funds meant for the compensation of owners of properties on Eket Urban section of the East-West Road in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.All the defendants had pleaded not guilty to the six counts and had been granted bail by the court.Trial was scheduled to commence on Tuesday.But at the resumed hearing on Tuesday, instead of calling its first witness, the ICPC, through its prosecuting counsel, Mr. Ekoi Akpos, applied to withdraw the case.Akpos informed the judge that the commission decided to terminate the case following an understanding from all the parties that the road construction project would proceed as originally planned with compensation paid to those whose properties were damaged.He hinged his application to withdraw the case on sections 492(3) and 355 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.Meanwhile, shortly after the defendants were arraigned last year, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had sent a letter to the Chairman of ICPC, Ekpo Nta, confirming that the N1,965,576,153.46, which Orubebe allegedly diverted, had not been expended.The letter with reference number, DPPA/MNDA/345/16, was signed on behalf of the AGF by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. U.E Mohammed.It confirmed that the money in issue has not been expended, but awaiting further contract decisions and directives from the Ministry of Niger-Delta Affairs.The letter dated December 16, 2016, added, In view of the above, the basis for the prosecution of the accused persons for misappropriation does not exist and thus, further prosecution cannot be justified.The prosecution had accused Orubebe in one of the withdrawn six counts of divrrting the sum of N1, 965,576,153.46 out of the sum of N2, 320,686,826.00 initially released by the Federal Government meant for the compensation of owners of properties on Eket Urban section of the East- West Road.He was also accused of conferring unfair advantage upon Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nig. Ltd, by circumventing the approval of the Federal Executive Council for the dualization of the Eket Urban road where the former minister`s decision to rehabilitate the road instead of dualisation falls contrary to the award letter No.WR14522/VOL.1/55 dated 28/09/2006 as approved by the FEC.
Ex- Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam was battling for bail yesterday after spending over one month in the custody of the Department o...

Ex- Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam was battling for bail yesterday after spending over one month in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS).It was learnt that the counsel to the former governor, Mr. J.B. Daudu (SAN), came from Kaduna to Abuja yesterday to press for his bail.The DSS is still investigating the ex-governor for alleged link with a militia leader, Terwaze Akwazza (a.k.a Gana) who has held three local governments captive in Benue State.The local government areas are Logo, Katsina-Ala and Ukum.The continued detention of the former governor is said to be for security reasons.The recent invasion of Zaki-Biam by unknown militia was said to have fuelled the decision of the DSS to hold on to Suswam.Some supporters of the ex-governor, however, suspect that he is being detained because of the forthcoming June 3 local government poll.Suswam has been battling for bail after spending one month and eight days in custody.A source said: Apart from responding to about six petitions, a major claim against Suswam is security reason. The rampaging activities of Terwaze Akwazza (a.k.a Gana) and his boys have been giving the state government a sleepless night.There are some intelligence reports that the ex-governor has a link with the militia leader and it might pose a grave security risk to release him.But the ex-governor, who has denied any relationship with the militia leader, said there was no way he could locate Akwazza.Suswams counsel, Mr. J.B. Daudu (SAN), has been shuttling between his base in Kaduna and Abuja to secure bail for his client.The battle for bail is in process but I dont think the DSS will yield grounds based on security reasons.With the evidence at hand, there is no way Suswam will not be prosecuted for fraud-related cases. The allegations against him are multi-dimensional, the source added.Some Benue State leaders are pushing for his release.Ex-Senate President David Mark wrote an emotional letter to Suswam, urging him not to be dispirited by the situation.Mark, whose letter was taken to Suswam by a former Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, asked the ex-governor to be strong and get closer to God.He said as a Catholic, he could only support the ex-governor with prayers with a caveat that with faith in God, it will soon be over.A source close to the family said: Suswam is already dejected in custody having been abandoned by his kinsmen and associates. But Mark and some other leaders from Benue State stood by Suswam. They include ex-Commissioner of Police Abubakar Tsav; Moro; a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Mzenda Iho; ex-PDP chairman in Benue State, Emmanuel Agbo; and the party chairman, John Mgbede . Some of them have visited the ex-governor in detention.The Benue State government referred the report of the Commission of Inquiry against Suswam and 51 others to the DSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and prosecution.The over 240 pages report alleged that Suswam and many of his appointees, including civil servants, mismanaged the resources.The panel recommended that 52 individuals and 10 corporate bodies should refund over N107 billion to the government.It also recommended deeper investigations and possible refund of over N44 billion from transactions it found not to be in compliance with the financial guidelines.The panel said N1. 21 trillion accrued to the state from about 27 identified sources out of which N802 billion was appropriated and N219 billion was expended but not appropriated.The former governor, a former Commissioner, a former Special Adviser on Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs and two former permanent secretaries, and a former accountant of the Bureau were alleged to have diverted local government funds amounting to N51, 559,859,968.00 into personal use.Suswam is facing trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged N3.1bn fraud relating to the issue raised by the Justice Kpojime-led probe panel.
In a desperate bid to repatriate a $550million loot traced to ex-Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha, the Federal Government is to resolve tw...

an application filed before a court by Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu and his wife; and

an action by a United States lawyer, Godson Nnaka, who is fighting to have part of the money.

Besides, the government is seeking political solutions to the conditions set by the Swiss government for accessing the loot.Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chair Ibrahim Magu, who returned from the US on Sunday, were said to have made progress in negotiating the last phase of the process for the release of the $550million.Pending legal cases in the U.S. by the two Nigerians and the conditions attached to the use of the loot have caused the delay in repatriating the $550million loot.The U.S. insisted on the removal of the legal obstacles before it could invoke the procedure for the release of the funds to Nigeria.Following likely loss of the $550 million, President Muhammadu Buhari has chosen to resolve the stalemate through political solutions.A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: The Federal Government is inching closer to the resolution of legal hurdles and the template for the release of the $550 million Abacha loot. We have spent close to 20 years pursuing the repatriation of these stolen funds; it is time to get over it.The source added: The government is trying to prevail on the Governor of Kebbi State, Alh. Atiku Bagudu and a U.S.-based lawyer, Mr. Godson Nanka to withdraw their pending matters in some courts in the U.S..The government has decided to plead with Bagudu and his wife, Aisha to withdraw their suit in the U.S., which is inhibiting the process of releasing the cash, which has been stashed in Switzerland.In the suit number 13-CV-1832 (JDB), Bagudu and his wife urged the court to reverse its judgment, which declared that the money attributed to them was illicit fund laundered into the U.S. and therefore forfeited to the American government.Relying on 18 USC 983 (a) (4) and Rule G (5) (a) of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Marine Claims and Assets Forfeiture Actions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Supplemental Rules), Bagudu said: I have a claim to and interest in the property alleged to be subject to forfeiture in this action.If we continue with this suit without a political solution, the $550 million will still be held up in the U.S..The President has asked AGF Malami to discuss with the governor and his wife to withdraw the matter in the interest of the country. I think Bagudu has agreed to do so.Also, a U.S.-based lawyer, Mr. Godson Nnaka, who was recruited in 2004 by the Federal Government to recover funds stolen by the late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, had instituted a case in a U.S. district court against the Federal Government.He has asked the court to declare that he is entitled to 40 per cent of the recovered loot. He also pleaded with the court to make him the funds exclusive attorney.He alleged that he was excluded from the fund recovery case after spending much time and money in tracing the looted funds.So far, we have no choice than to negotiate with the counsel. This is another legal challenge which the U.S. is using to delay the repatriation, the source said.A government source also made some clarifications on why the U.S. and Switzerland were involved in the loot recovery.The source said: The looted funds originated from the US jurisdiction to Switzerland. Many U.S.-based banks or financial institutions were involved in the wiring of the funds. They include Chemical Bank, New York; Commerzbank AG, New York; Marine Midland Bank, New York (now HSBC USA, NA; Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, New York (now JP Morgan Chase); ANZ Banking Group, New York; Bankers Trust Company, New York; Barclays Bank, New York; Citibank NA, New York; and Chase Manhattan Bank, New York.About $321million of the cash is said to be stashed in some banks in Switzerland. So, tracking the assets is an intertwined challenge between the U.S. and Switzerland.Asked to be specific, the source said the government had signed a pact with Switzerland.The pact, which is titled a Letter of Intent on the restitution of illegally-acquired assets forfeited in Switzerland, was signed by Nigerias Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Swiss Head of Foreign Affairs Department, Didier Burkhalter. The document reveals that $321 million acquired illicitly by the Abacha family was initially deposited in Luxemburg before being confiscated by the Swiss Republic Judiciary and Canton of Geneva following a December 11, 2014 forfeiture order.If the $321million loot is released, the total repatriation to Nigeria by the Swiss authorities will amount to $1.044billion in 12 years.The Switzerland government has released $723million to the country in the last 11 years.Well, as for the conditions set by Switzerland , the Federal Government regarded as an affront on its sovereignty. Some of the conditions include the use of the funds for projects that will benefit all Nigerians and that World Bank should  supervise the spending of returned assets by the Nigerian government.The government submitted five project proposals to the Swiss government bordering on social benefit projects for the 2016 budget but the looted funds were not released.The Federal Government and Switzerland last month signed an agreement on the return of the $321million.A rights lawyer Femi Falana(SAN) had asked the Federal Government to reject the conditions attached to the repatriation of the stolen funds in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.He said allowing the World Bank to supervise the spending of returned assets breaches international law principles and standards.
Gambia Bar Association, GBA, has protested against the appointment of four High Court judges.

Gambia Bar Association, GBA, has protested against the appointment of four High Court judges.The newly-appointed Nigerian judges are Justice Edward Ogar, Justice Mathias Olusegun Agboola, Justice Simeon Abi and Justice Matins U. Okoi.A statement signed by Secretary-General of the association, stated that the bar association shall proceed to file an action to challenge the appointments, to seek an order quashing same and to seek necessary prohibitive relief.The group said its members would commence a boycott of the courts presided over by the said judges until further notice.GBA however said it would engage the Judicial Services Commission and executive of the government, through the Minister of Justice, to continue the necessary dialogue and consultation for the development and protection of the administration of justice system.GBA has already filed a suit against the Judicial Service Commission, JSC, and Attorney-General, seeking the necessary orders from the High Court, including the suspension of the letters of appointments of the said Judges, pending the hearing of the application before the court.T he lawyers said they were saddened by the fact that their  hopes and aspirations that a transparent mechanism would be put in place for the appointment of qualified, eminent, independent jurists that The Gambian people have yearned for so long  , had not been respected.GBA warned that true justice and independence of the judiciary should not be sacrificed for speedy and superficial appearance of a functioning judiciary.
Two persons were killed in attacks on two villages in Kwande local government area of Benue state, on Sunday.

Two persons were killed in attacks on two villages in Kwande local government area of Benue state, on Sunday.The attackers are believed to be herdsmen who have wreaked havoc on different communities in the state.Two weeks ago, a village in Ukum local government area was attacked.Moses Yamu, police public relations officer in the state, confirmed the latest attacks to NAN.Yamu said the suspected herdsmen killed two villagers including a 65 old farmer.He said the police were yet to establish the motive of the attack but said investigations were under way.The police spokesman 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.Suspected herdsmen had recently attacked Tse Achia village near Kasar in the outskirts of Zaki-Biam in Ukum local government council where 3 persons were killed and houses burnt.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Monday said he wants President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election in 2019.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Monday said he wants President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election in 2019.Speaking to Bloomberg in South Africa, El-Rufai said, Because of the feeling that the president may not run for a second term, people are already gearing up.''''All of us are getting distracted by the coterie of ambitious presidential aspirants that are trying to kick-start the political process ahead of the normal timeline.Many of us that campaigned vigorously for him in 2015 are hoping that his health will improve and stabilize and that he will run again in 2019. We need the policy continuity and the stability in the political environment for the country to make progress.
Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose, says he will roundly defeat Kayode Fayemi, his predecessor, should he decide to contest against him in t...

Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose, says he will roundly defeat Kayode Fayemi, his predecessor, should he decide to contest against him in the 2018 governorship election in the state.Fayose also accused the minister of solid minerals development of boasting that the supreme court would be made to review its judgment of April 14, 2015, which validated his election.The governor said Fayemi and leaders of the All Progressives Congress were plotting to remove him from office through the back door.Speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, Fayose said: This was an election that was adjudged free, fair, and credible by both local and international observers, including the United States government. These renewed efforts are consequent upon the brick-walls he (Fayemi) has met on his plan to contest the 2018 governorship election as APC candidate.Having realised how difficult it will be for him to clinch APC ticket not to even talk of winning the election proper, Fayemi has opted to seek power through the backdoor, claiming that he already has the backing of three newly appointed justices of the Supreme Court, the DSS and other top organs of the Federal Government to force the Supreme Court to review its judgment on the Ekiti State 2014 governorship election.Fayemi and his cohorts are even boasting that they are only putting pressure on the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen to join them in the devilish plot. What unfinished business does Fayemi have with an election that I won fair and square, defeating him in all the 16 local governments of the state, including his home town of Isan-Ekiti?One is therefore concerned that people who go about parading credentials as democrats will be so vicious that they wont accept defeat, close to three years after they lost an election even in their own family house.If Fayemi tried, using Amaechi to approach Supreme Court justices to procure black market judgment then, nothing stops him from trying to do same now and we urge Nigerians to take note.We are therefore alerting Nigerians once again of this plot coming from Fayemi and his APC people who have proven over time that they are bad losers and will never respect the will of the people.The fact that I have more or less become the opposition last-man standing should not be made to become the reason an avoidable banana peel will be placed on the path of the Supreme Court and I urge our Supreme Court justices to be mindful of being rubbished by desperate politicians.If they are worried about my stance on national issues, they should do things differently in the interest of Nigerians that are hungry and suffering under the yoke of bad governance of the APC.They failed before, they will fail again. The harder they come against me, the harder they will fall. Another governorship election in Ekiti is around the corner and if Fayemi is a democrat, he should prepare to contest in that election rather than continue to shop for Oluwole and Jankara judgment that will return him to office through the back door.The power of the people is mightier than Federal might If they dare Ekiti, they will meet their nemesis. If they do not retreat and put an end to their diabolical plots, Ekiti will be their Waterloo.I have an unflinching confidence that the Supreme Court will not debase itself. On the 2014 Ekiti governorship election, the apex court has spoken and it has spoken so clearly. Day-dreamers like Fayemi can continue to hallucinate. As for me and the Ekiti people, our focus is on the 2018 governorship election. By Gods grace and the solid support and backing of Ekiti people, we will again give Fayemi and his political camp 16  0.
Professor Ishaq Akintola, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has condemned the attack on Catholic seminarian, Lawrence Ezeugwu, by m...

Professor Ishaq Akintola, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has condemned the attack on Catholic seminarian, Lawrence Ezeugwu, by masquerades in Nsukka, Enugu.The Catholic priest last week was beaten to coma by a group of masquerades popularly called Oriokpa who blocked the road at Ugwuoyia, Nsukka.MURIC lamented what it called wanton exhibition of religious extremism by traditionalists. It is crude, barbaric and symptomatic of thuggery and hooliganismThe Muslim group, in the statement, drew the attention of the Federal Government to the excesses of traditionalists particularly in Southern Nigeria.Even in the South West, the Oro cult worshippers behave as if they are above the law. Traditionalists impose illegal curfew without being challenged by the authorities.A good example is the curfew imposed by Oro cultists in Ikorodu, Lagos State, during the last Ramadan season which nearly caused a violent clash between Muslims and traditionalists.It is well known that Muslims shuttle between the mosques and their homes day and night during Ramadan. The imposition of a curfew during such a period was not only illegal but also provocative.Although the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Section 38 (i) & (ii) guarantees freedom of religion thereby empowering traditionalists to freely practice their faith, it does not allow one group to laud it over another.The right of traditionalists to religious freedom stops where it begins to encroach on others rights and vice versa.MURIC therefore appeals to the Inspector General of Police (IG) to ensure that the masquerades who attacked the Catholic priest are duly punished. State and local governments must also ban illegal proclamation of curfews by cultists.Anything short of these will be an invitation to chaos as citizens who are conscious of their right to freedom of movement as stipulated in Section 41 (i) of the 1999 Constitution may be tempted to challenge any illegal imposition of curfew and defend themselves.
Moms u guys didn't tell me the real gist.... Well bodies differs right .. We completed 40 weeks and 6 days .. I wanted freedom jezz.. So I and jasmine started Trying home induction and it worked .. If u hear labor .. Hmm not all these laborers carrying cement oh.. My sister labor started and escalated .. I thought someone was uprooting my soul with dagger .. Jasmine kept fighting .. Thanks to my supermom and my LOVELY converted sister R.. They held me .. Ok I gave up..I wanted a pain relieve yeah I was seeing my shadow leaving .. Wel same time they checked my longtime only 2cm dilated cvix ..That shit broke and it was already 9cm.. Yeah was like miracle .. Didn't finish there.. The birthing !the push !the fight !!the struggle !!!the delivery !!oh Lord I will buy keys for all my pants .. 
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) said on Tuesday that it was working towards re-opening of its Orientation Camp in Maiduguri follow...

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) said on Tuesday that it was working towards re-opening of its Orientation Camp in Maiduguri following return of relative peace to the State.Brig:-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, Director- General of NYSC, gave the hint while speaking with newsmen in Maiduguri.Kazaure said NYSC was eager to re-open the camp following the return of peace to the state ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.There is relative peace now in the state, so we will like to come back as soon as possible. Remember, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are still occupying the Orientation Camp, he said.Kazaure said the camp would be re-opened once the IDPs were evacuated from it.It is only in Borno that our corps members have yet to have their orientation camp in place.We are ready to start our orientation the moment the State Government releases our camp to us, he said.Kazaure commended the corps members serving in the state for their dedication and resilience.If you notice, I asked them about their morale and they responded by saying morale high. That is how we measure the psychological frame of the corps members.Minus the camp, every other thing is in place for them. This means that they are in good spirit, they are doing well, he said.Kazaure thanked the state government for providing enhanced welfare and security for the corps members.I am happy that the state government has been assisting in ensuring the welfare of the corps members.I thank Gov. Kashim Shettima for that and implore other states to emulate the gesture by ensuring adequate welfare for corps members serving in their localities, he said.Kazaure said the NYSC was working toward setting up six skills acquisition centers across the country to empower corps members with necessary skills.We identified lack of tradeing skills as the major problem causing unemployment among NYSC members.So we embarked on establishment of six skills acquisition centers in all the geopolitical zones of the country to help in training these young graduates to become self-reliant.W have almost completed work on the center in Gombe which will serve states in the North East.He said the NYSC authority was also working on five other centres and were near completion.The director-general said the essence of the innovation was to produce corps members that would eventually become job creators rather than being job seekers.
The Police Command in Kano State has arrested one Ibrahim Maikaji, the father of the girl who was circumcised by some local barbers at Sab...

The Police Command in Kano State has arrested one Ibrahim Maikaji, the father of the girl who was circumcised by some local barbers at Sabuwar Kaura village in Doguwa Local Government Area.The Public Relations officer of the command, DSP Magaji Majiya, disclosed this while briefing newsmen shortly after presenting the suspects to newsmen in Kano on Tuesday.Majiya said the command had also arrested the three traditional barbers who forcefully held her and used sharp objects to operate on her, thereby causing grievous injury to her.The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, had handed over the case to the Police Commissioner, Mr Rabiu Yusuf, after the girl was brought to the palace.We have arrested the father who mishandled his biological daughter to local barbers for genital mutilation.This operation was cruelly carried out and it caused grievous injury to the genital organ of the victim, the police spokesman said.He gave the names of the three suspected barbers as Shuaibu Wanzam, Muhammadu Garba and Aminu Ali.Majiya said all the suspects were undergoing interrogation for criminal conspiracy and causing grievous hurt and assured that they would soon be arraigned in court for proper prosecution.He warned parents to desist from such illegal acts as anyone caught would be arrested and prosecuted.
Behind closed doors and separately, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met with Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representa...

Behind closed doors and separately, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met with Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara in Abuja.Expectedly, the festering rift between the Presidency and the National Assembly took the centre stage.The President first met with the Speaker before meeting the Senate President for about 40 minutes each.It was learnt that the meetings also discussed Budget 2017, the amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 and other national issues.The Senate President and the Speaker, who spoke to State House correspondents after the meetings, said they had routine consultation with the President.Saraki told reporters that the relationship between the two arms of government remained cordial.His words: The relationship is very cordial; you cannot examine (the National Assembly) by one or two issues. That is the point Im making. You cannot examine (the relationship) based on NDDC or examine it based on EFCC.We have other issues like the ministerial (names) we are going to work on and the amnesty we will soon work on. We have the budget that is more important, we have INEC; we have the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill); we have so many things and I think it is a mixture of all that that should guide us. So, dont let us overheat the polity.On the six months suspension of Senator Ali Ndume, Saraki said he lacked the power to recall the former Senate Leader as being advocated by some individuals and groups.He said: 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 these powers that we have. Decisions that are taken in plenary are decision of all. But, I have a role to be able to convey the message.I will convey the message of the visit of the Governor of Borno and the Senate is one. We are all one family. There will be issues like that; there is nothing that is sacrosanct or rigid.He added that the National Assembly is working hard on Budget 2017.According to him, one of the reasons for visiting the President was to let him know how far the National Assembly had gone on the budget.He said: We are on course, as you noted last week, we did ask all the sub-committees to submit their reports to the appropriation Committee. All that has been done now. Its now collation and review. Then, hopefully, it will be passed very soon.On the suspension of screening of Resident Electoral Commissioners, he said: As I said, this is a routine meeting. There are many things that are important. But there are other things that are even more important to do, which is the budget.We talked also about the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Bill that we have passed. I took the President through some of the areas; very important areas. Because you know the President over many years is somebody that has gone to many elections. So, that was something he was really excited about. Some of the new amendments like electronic voting, talks about electronic process for collation. Those are landmark achievements that we hope that very soon, the House will concur and we will all come here for the President to assent.Some of these other issues will happen, but I dont think its a major issue. But we are still moving ahead and still consulting.On his views on the reconciliatory committee set up under the chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Saraki said: Good development. But like I said, there will always be issues on one or two things. It doesnt mean that it is the foundation of it.When you have an arm of government that has to do with confirmation, there will always befor example, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Bill. We rejected three people from NDDC. We keep on moving. We are all part of one government. That is why despite all these, still major decisions are taken.Like I said, we did critical amendments on INEC by Tuesday or Wednesday (today or tomorrow). For the first time in the history of the legislature, we are going to lay a report on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for consideration. It has never happened. For the past 20 years, it has not gotten to this stage. So, its work in progress in the interest of Nigeria.Dont let us get distracted by one or two infractions. Its bound to happen. Even America that we are copying, today as we are watching, see what is happening on the Supreme Court. These are things that happen in a democracy. But, I can reassure Nigerians that its just a drop in the ocean. It is not an issue that should stir the whole nation; be rest assured.Also speaking on the outcome of his meeting with the President, Dogara dismissed speculations that he was at the Villa over crisis between the executive and the legislature.The Speaker said: It baffles me when people see you visiting Mr. President, the assumption out there is that something is going wrong. Nothing is wrong. It is just a routine consultation.You might look at it as crisis but I dont look at it as crisis. You know I have always said this that as a government our value will be the problems we have solved.We cant be remembered for avoiding or running away from problems. It is only wheny we provide solution to some of the things you refer to as crises and we look at them as opportunities to begin anew that people will now remember us for putting down enduring legacies.On the proposed protest against the recent activities at the National Assembly, Dogara said Nigerians were free to express their views peacefully.He said: This is a democracy we are running and we have to open the space to civil society, to everyone who feels aggrieved to be able to air his grievances.So, if they have grievances against the institution of the legislature, we will take it.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has lauded the courage of south-east governors for calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, its lead...

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has lauded the courage of south-east governors for calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, its leader.Kanu is being tried for treason at the federal high court in Abuja.The call for the release of Kanu by the governors is sequel to a meeting that was held on Sunday in Enugu state.At the meeting, the governors resolved that they would meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the issue.Emma Powerful, spokesperson of IPOB, in a statement said this is the first time the governors would align themselves with the masses.The Indigenous People of Biafra and its leadership worldwide commend the south-east Governors Forum for summoning the courage at last to call for the release of our leader from illegal detention in Abuja, it read.This is the first time in recorded history that South-East governors have stood boldly to align themselves with the interest of the masses, which, in this case, is the call for Buhari to end the injustice against the people of Biafra by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader.If they had summoned the courage like Governor Fayose of Ekiti State, and former Anambra State governor, Dr. (Chukwuemeka) Ezeife, the South-East wouldnt have been in such a moral mess it is today.We hope this new-found boldness will extend to them speaking up for the victims of Fulani herdsmen attacks in our rural communities.
A New Jersey teenager, Santos Colon, has pleaded guilty to a plot allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis d...

A New Jersey teenager, Santos Colon, has pleaded guilty to a plot allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the US.The US Justice Department on Monday said 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 Africa Review reports on Tuesday.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 forgo 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 organisation.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 FamiliesColons home is in Lindenwold, New Jersey, just southeast of Philadelphia.
The impeached Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Yusuf Gagdi, has expressed his happiness over his impeachment.

The impeached Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Yusuf Gagdi, has expressed his happiness over his impeachment.According to him, he was happy that his removal was not linked to any fraudulent activity; saying he believed it was done in good faith.Gagdi, who represents Kantana constituency, stated this while commenting on his impeachment during an interview with journalists shortly after Tuesday sitting.Earlier during plenary, the Assembly impeached Gagdi, following a vote of no confidence passed on him.He was removed from office after the majority leader, Henry Yunkwap, read the impeachment notice signed by 18 of the 24 members of the House.The clerk of the Assembly, Ayuba Gongu, confirmed verification of the signatures of the legislators who signed the impeachment.Gagdi was immediately replaced by Sale Yipmong, a member from Dengi constituency, southern Plateau state.
Nigeria's Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday met separately behind closed...

Nigeria's Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday met separately behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari.The meeting which lasted for about 40 minutes each, had President Buhari first met with Dogara before Saraki. .The Senate President and the Speaker, who both spoke to State House correspondents after the meetings, said they had routine consultation with the President.Dogara dismissed the assertion that he was in the Villa over crisis between the executive and the legislature.Dogara said: It baffles me when people see you visit Mr. President, the assumption out there is that something is going wrong.Nothing is wrong. It is just a routine consultation. You might look at it as crisis, but I dont look at it as crisis.You know I have always said this that as a government our value will be the problems we have solved.We cant be remembered for avoiding or running away from problems.It is only when we provide solution to some of the things you refer to as crises and we look at them as opportunities to begin anew that people will now remember us for putting down enduring legacies.On the proposed protest against the recent activities at the National Assembly, Dogara said Nigerians were free to express their views peacefully.He said: This is a democracy we are running and we have to open the space to civil society, to everyone who feels aggrieved to be able to air his grievances.So, if they have grievances against the institution of the legislature, we will take it.
22411105-mmmain.jpg

Lockheed Martin's Q-53 mobile radar system for tracking rockets, mortars and artillery are assembled at the company's plant at Electronics Park in the Syracuse, N.Y. suburb of Salina. Some components are made in Morristown. (Lockheed Martin)

(Syracuse.com via Lockheed Martin)

Lockheed Martin has reportedly secured a $1.6 billion contract with the U.S. Army to make dozens of mobile radar devices that track incoming rockets, mortars and artillery.

Though the radars are assembled at Lockheed's plant in Salina, N.Y., some of their components are built at a plant in New Jersey, according to Syracuse.com.

The contract is the largest the Salina plant has received and will result in the production of at least 70 radar devices over the next five years.

Lockheed began designing the radar in 2007 to replace two older radars, the Q-36 and Q-37, which could only scan a 90-degree section of the sky at a time. The Army requested a new radar that could scan 360 degrees after troops in Iraq and Afghanistan reported that enemy forces were changing locations to take advantage of the older radar's limitation.

Other components of the Q-53 radar are manufactured in Clearwater, Fla. and Owego, N.Y.

Rick Moriarity of Syracuse.com contributed to this report.
hotblack 3.jpg

The estate tax is on the way out, but the inheritance tax remains.

(hotblack/morguefile.com)

Q. Where do inheritance tax monies go and how does it actually get there?

-- Curious

A. Ah yes, the infamous New Jersey inheritance tax.



The tax is payable to the New Jersey Division of Taxation, and it's added to the state's coffers.



The tax return and payment is filed by the executor of the decedent's estate, said Matthew Masterson, a certified financial planner with RegentAtlantic in Morristown.



He said New Jersey banks and financial institutions generally require a waiver to release the funds before they can be released to a beneficiary. The waiver is a written consent from the New Jersey Division of Taxation stating that assets can be released and is the process to ensure that payments are received.



Masterson said the inheritance tax is imposed based on the relationship of the person inheriting assets to the decedent.



The beneficiaries of assets are broken down into four different classes: Class A beneficiaries are spouses and their decedents, and they're exempt. Class C beneficiaries include brothers and sisters of the decedent, and others. Class D beneficiaries are a catch all, and include anyone not in any of the other classes. Finally, Class E beneficiaries include non-profit organizations which are exempt from the inheritance tax.



Below is a helpful chart from the State illustrating the tax rates imposed on each class.

A look at the inheritance tax.

Masterson said while New Jersey's estate tax is scheduled to go away beginning in 2018, there are no such plans for the inheritance tax.



"Currently, the taxes are structured to offset each other so that both are not paid but with the estate tax being eliminated, many more estates will be subject to the inheritance tax," he said.



Masterson said the tax can be quite burdensome for folks who wish to give assets to those outside their immediate family and can be difficult to plan around.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter.
CHERRY HILL TWP. -- For more than a year, P&T's Puppy Love Adoption Center in Cherry Hill has been adopting out only rescued dogs -- mainly puppies brought up from the southern states.

But the pet store-turned-adoption-center hasn't been able to find new homes for any of its 48 dogs since March 19 after the owners learned that at least several puppies had come down with parvovirus.

The highly contagious virus can kill puppies, and is often associated with dogs from puppy mills. In February, Puppy Barn in Springfield Township closed permanently after the SPCA started looking into reports of puppies with parvo being sold.

P&T's Owner Pat Youmans said he shut down his store after two people who adopted puppies informed him the dogs were being treated for parvo. The remaining dogs have been in quarantine at the store and were given a clean bill of health by a veterinarian Friday, Youmans said.

He is waiting for county health officials to give him the OK to re-open, but in the meantime, he faces an online firestorm from angry owners of sick puppies, plus the problem of determining where the virus came from.

They haven't figured it out for sure, but it is possible that the puppies carrying the virus came from a Georgia rescue with allegedly forged documents attesting to their health. That's according to Alan Braslow, an animal rights activist who convinced and helped Youmans transition from a breeder-fed pet store to a for-profit adoption center.

The person who runs the Georgia rescue organization allegedly faked a veterinarian's signature, Braslow said, representing that the dogs had been examined when they had not.

The Whitfield County Sheriff's Office confirmed that they were investigating allegations of forgery against the woman, but NJ Advance Media is not naming her because it wasn't clear Monday if she had been formally charged or arrested.

Braslow said it's also possible that the dogs were vaccinated for parvo but, as sometimes happens, came down with the virus anyway due to the stress of being transported across the country and then rehomed.

A spreading virus

Braslow said that when Youmans learned two puppies had parvo, he closed and called Braslow and other volunteers to help bathe every dog and scrub down every surface.

"No dogs were sick in the facility," Youmans said. He would never sell a sick dog, he said. "Why would anyone give anyone a parvo dog?"

No dogs were ever sick at Pat's Puppy Rescue, the store he opened in Tom's River last month, he said.

Youmans maintains that he called the owners of every puppy he believed could have been exposed to the virus. He spoke to a total of four people and three of them accepted refunds of their adoption fees, he said.

But when the store posted about the problem on its Facebook page, people who bought dogs that had fallen ill were furious.

Of the eight people who commented, several said they were never contacted, and one woman said staff told her that there was no problem with any sick dogs at the adoption center.

Another person said that the family "lost" the puppy, but Youmans said he has not heard that any of the puppies died. The owner did not respond to a request for comment.

Several owners are also demanding that Youmans pay their puppies' vet bills, which they said are in the thousands.

"Would I love to see Pat be in the financial position to cover those expenses? Yes," Braslow said. "But he's not."

Youmans said P&T's shop is run like a rescue facility, and it does not have a profit margin to pay for vet's bills like a puppy mill-fed pet store might. Youmans said the state's lemon law for dogs requires a pet store to pay vet's bills up to twice the price paid for the dog, but that doesn't apply to places that adopt out rescue dogs for a fee.

He said the best he could do was refund their $500 adoption fee and recommend they use the store's preferred veterinarian who would treat the puppies at a reduced rate.

While the parvo problem surprised both Youmans and Braslow, the latter acknowledged that rescue dogs sometimes have health problems like worms or parasites. Parvo is rarer, but there is no guarantee that a puppy that appears well one day won't be sick the next.

"It can happen, no matter how careful you are," he said.

Youmans said that all the dogs he adopts out are inspected by a veterinarian when they arrive at his store. He and Braslow both said that parvo testing is unreliable so it is generally not done in shelters or by veterinarians unless the puppies are already showing symptoms.

For now, Youmans said he is just waiting for the county health official to return and give them the all clear to reopen.

Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen said the county inspected the store after hearing from the state about a complaint. Youmans said the county official only showed up more than a week after he had already shut down voluntarily and after he had left numerous messages at the health inspector's office.

Keashen said the inspector found a "variety of infractions" and issued a cease-and-desist order, though he declined to be specific about the problems. He said state inspectors will also be "involved" when the county inspector visits to reinspect sometime within the next few days.

Meanwhile, Youmans said he cannot estimate what closing his business due to parvo problems has cost him.

"The money never bothered me," he said. Instead, he said he's more upset about the dogs that had to sit in the store for weeks when they could have been heading to their forever homes.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Looking for an exceedingly family-friendly beach this summer?

Head on down to Long Beach Island, suggests Family Vacation Critic, the website from Ewing-based TripAdvisor subsidiary The Independent Traveler. Each year, the site names its 10 best beaches for families, and LBI is the one beach from New Jersey to make the cut for 2017.

Other beaches picked for the unranked list include shores of all kinds (they need not be oceans) in Florida, Delaware, California, Oregon, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New York. All of the beaches on the list had to have lifeguards, nearby accommodations and activities for children.

Editors cited the Ocean County barrier island's "18 miles of shoreline for sandcastle building and boogie boarding, with lifeguards patrolling many areas" as a draw of LBI, along with the reopening of Beach Haven's Surflight Theatre on June 23 -- "Footloose" and a full slate of children's productions, starting with "Cinderella," begin that month -- and its ShowPlace Ice Cream Parlour.

The list also recommends Fantasy Island Amusement Park for children, given its variety of free music and magic shows.

Last year, Family Vacation Critic named the Wildwoods to the same list. LBI last made the list in 2013.

Here are the other locations from Family Vacation Critic's 10 Best Beaches for Families list for 2017:

Jones Beach State Park, Wantagh, N.Y.

Ponce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, Fla.

Rehoboth Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Coronado Beach, Coronado, Calif.

Balboa Beach, Newport Beach, Calif.

North Beach Park, Racine, Wis. (Lake Michigan)

Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, Mass.

Weirs Beach, Weirs Beach, N.H. (Lake Winnipesaukee)

Seaside Beach, Seaside, Ore.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
ben-&-jerrys-free-cone-day-2017.jpg

Ben & Jerry's has been hosting Free Cone Day every year since 1979. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Some ice cream giveaways promise small vanilla cones. Others, like Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's, a springtime tradition of nearly 40 years, let you take your pick of flavors. That is, until your favorite is all gobbled up. So here's some information to get you ahead of the pack (as of this writing, nearly 3,000 people have RSVP'd to the event on Facebook).

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day runs from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4 at all Ben & Jerry's locations.

The ice cream chain, founded in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, has been hosting the promotion since 1979 to thank customers for their support. Free ice cream enthusiasts can choose both the flavor and method of delivery they want -- cup or cone. The chain recently debuted several non-dairy options made from almond milk.

There are eight "scoop shops" in New Jersey -- Cape May, Beach Haven, Hoboken, Ridgewood, Newark Airport Terminal A, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, Riverwalk Edgewater and Englewood. If you're not sure about the location of your nearest Ben & Jerry's, consult the chain's location finder.

You can auto-tweet your flavor of choice at the Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day website.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
MAPLEWOOD -- As authorities are continuing to search for answers in the fatal shooting of a Maplewood grandmother in Newark last month, the woman's daughter is working to ensure her memory, and love for education, lives on.

Aiyanna Burton Anderson, a Texas obstetrician and graduate of Princeton University, has created a memorial fund at the school named for her late mother, Deborah Burton.

Just weeks after her mother's March 13 death, Anderson has officially formed the "Deborah Burton Memorial Fund" at Princeton.

Burton, 62, was killed in an early afternoon shooting on 3rd Street. Family members said the woman was in Newark after dropping her son off at work, but never returned to pick him up. Authorities say she was shot at about 1:15 p.m. They have not identified a suspect in the killing, or a motive.

Anderson, one of four children Burton leaves behind, called her mother a "math whiz," who graduated from Weequahic High School with honors. She studied electrical engineering at Union College before leaving to start a family. Anderson said Burton moved her children to Maplewood so they could focus on school.

"She came from a long line of strong women," Anderson said of her mother. "Education was so important to her. She wanted us to get good educations."

To remember that passion, Anderson said, she is working to donate $50,000 to her alma mater to start the fund, which is now collecting donations. Anderson said she hopes it can raise enough money, at least $250,000, to endow a scholarship.

"I will want it to be for need-based minorities, like my mother and I were, (who are) interested in STEM, also like my mother and I were," Anderson said.

The fund is accepting donations online, according to Erika Knudson, the director of development marketing and communications at Princeton University.

"We are very honored to work with Aiyanna and so sorry for the tragic loss of her mother," Knudson told NJ Advance Media.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so online by entering an amount, and writing "For the Deborah Burton Memorial Fund" in the comment section. Donations can also be mailed in, with a cover letter noting they are for the Deborah Burton Memorial Fund. Checks should be mailed to Princeton University, Alumni and Donor Records, Helen Hardy, P.O. Box 5357 Princeton, NJ 08543.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at

. Follow her on Twitter

. Find

.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A former Rutgers-Newark professor convicted of sexually assaulting a disabled man has appealed, arguing on Tuesday that a key expert barred from testifying would have convinced a jury the man could consent to sex.

The state, however, argued the judge's decision was just, calling the defense's expert the "godmother" of a "junk pseudoscience" that isn't recognized in the scientific field.

Anna Stubblefield, 47, of West Orange, is currently serving a 12-year prison term after being sentenced by Essex County Superior Court Judge Siobhan Teare in January 2016 for abusing a man with cerebral palsy in her Newark office in 2011.

The 36-year-old, identified only as D.J., is mentally and physically handicapped, and unable to speak beyond making noises.

Authorities said the former ethics professor had taken advantage of D.J.'s disability and raped him. In 2015, a jury agreed, convicting the woman on two counts of aggravated sexual assault after 45 minutes of deliberation.

The next year, an Essex County judge awarded D.J.'s family $4 million in damages.

But Stubblefield's lawyer, James Patton, argued before in state appellate court Tuesday morning that the jury, not the judge, should have been able to decide whether or not D.J. could communicate through the controversial typing method, "facilitated communication."

Patton said the judge overreached by ruling defense expert Rosemary Crossley's testimony be limited to a handful of questions during trial and not allowing the jury to view the taped session between the two. The video showed Crossley testing D.J.'s communication by spending 12 hours with him over three days.

Crossley posed hundred of questions to D.J. and determined he could communicate, according to Patton.

"The evaluation made by the judge should have been made by a jury," Patton said before the three-judge panel.

Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Kayla Elizabeth Rowe said the answers were not valid since the facilitator helps the person select answers, and knowingly or unknowingly moves toward the right answer.

"It has a Ouija board effect," Rowe said.

The American Psychological Association's Council of Representatives ruled in 1994 the method was "controversial and unproved communicative procedure with no scientifically demonstrated support for its efficacy."

Patton argued that the judge didn't focus on the evaluation's graded questions, of which D.J. only got two wrong.

"The statistical odds of doing that by chance are astronomical," Patton said.

Patton also argued that two other witnesses who knew and worked with D.J. should have been allowed to testify. In addition, Patton asked appellate judges to rule that mitigating factors in sentencing be reconsidered.

The appellate court now has 90 days to rule on whether to uphold the trial judge's decisions.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Bourbon Street homicide: Man in custody after body of longtime partner found in their home
Jacob Love, 28, gave testimony Tuesday (April 5) implicating himself and childhood friend Janero McBride in the fatal shooting of Toby Roche on May 13, 2015.
'No changes' to NOPD's consent decree after Jeff Sessions calls for 'review,' monitor says
Angola is not only a prison, but a very expensive nursing home
Kerry Myers, a former editor of The Angolite, the Angola Prison magazine, says in the Columbia Journalism Report that most of the media's crime reporting is shallow.(HANDOUT)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
The Council Bluffs Community School District will host an informational session on kindergarten Tuesday from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Educational Service Center located at 300 West Broadway.

The informational session will include a presentation by Julie Smith, the districts director of elementary education. Smith will share information about the school district, different day-to-day expectations, enrollment, what a typical school day for is like for a kindergartner and curriculum.

This meeting is targeted at an audience who has never had a child in school, Smith said. Well also talk about why attendance is important and the type of people parents and students typically meet and different contacts in the buildings.

This years kindergarten roundup event for Council Bluffs is set for April 20. At that time, parents can visit their neighborhood schools to register their children to attend school in the fall.

In order to start kindergarten in the fall, the student must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 15.

If a parent doesnt make the kindergarten roundup event then they can go to their neighborhood school anytime and work with the secretary to register their child, Smith said.

Lewis Central parents can attend kindergarten registration at Kreft Primary School on April 20 from noon to 3:30 p.m. or April 21 from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
The state senator who assigned a bill that would place some restrictions on public access to 911 calls says theres work to be done on the piece of legislation, but the intent is good.

The language is broad, which is not the best practice when it comes to public access, said Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs.

The bill, House File 571, would declare that audio, video and transcripts of 911 calls involving injured victims of crimes or accidents are confidential medical records and exempt from the Iowa open records law.

In addition, any calls involving juveniles younger than 18 years of age would automatically be confidential.

The House passed the measure unanimously this month, and a Senate committee passed it Thursday with some Democratic opposition. Dawson said hes not sure when a final vote will take place, noting the needed improvements to the bill and that other issues  first and foremost the budget  will take priority.

While the call is a public record, there is personal information, Dawson said. The overall concern is that theres medical information that people wouldnt otherwise be able to obtain.

Asked if the full audio would be restricted or just the parts that mention medical records, Dawson said thats one of the issues senators are hammering out.

Theres a history of redacting information, he said. Thats my inclination of where this needs to go.

Dawson said the bill aims to create consistency on juvenile records.

We need consistency in how this is applied. Most court records for juveniles are not available to the public, he said.

He noted the bill would restrict access to calls involving a juvenile crime suspect, but not calls made by juveniles as witnesses or victims.

We dont want information to be released that you couldnt get from a court document, he said. I think this bills a good bill. I dont think itll be hard to get it to the right spot.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker said he was still learning about the details of the bill. Attempts to reach Council Bluffs Police Chief Tim Carmody and Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

Rep. Dean Fisher, a Montour Republican, said it was crafted in response to last years release to The Associated Press of 911 calls that helped expose an unusual string of gun mishaps in Tama County. Two teenage girls were unintentionally shot and killed and a third teen and her mother were injured in a one-year span in the county of only 20,000 residents.

The calls revealed that one father had accidentally shot and killed his daughter  a fact that the police had never made public. The audio of another call showed that a fast emergency response by authorities helped save the life of an injured 14-year-old girl who was accidentally shot by her brother.

Tama County officials said they were at a loss on how to improve gun safety after what they called an unprecedented string of tragedies, which didnt result in criminal charges against anyone. Instead, at least one county official pushed to limit information about such cases going forward statewide.

Randy Evans, director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said the Tama County cases that generated the proposed legislation are spot-on to show why such information is in the public interest.

He said he can understand why lawmakers are concerned about medical privacy, but it appears they havent considered the unintended consequences of closing off access to 911 recordings involving injuries.

This bill would hamper the publics efforts to hold government officials or private citizens accountable for their actions, he said.

 Ryan J. Foley and Barbara Rodriguez of The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Its a battle for the ages.

In one corner: The Council Bluffs Police Department. representing Team Blue. In the other corner: The Council Bluffs Fire Department, representing Team Red.

The competition: To see who can collect the most hygiene and household products to benefit Boys Town Iowa.

Will the fire department retain their bragging rights and traveling trophy this year or will the police department snag the win?

This is the second year Boys Town Iowa has teamed up with local organizations and schools to host the competition that will benefit area families.

Last year, nine barrels were placed at different sites in the community, collecting 2,000 pounds of household and hygiene products  which is the equivalent of a fully-grown polar bear.

This year, more than 50 barrels have been placed in the community at 30 different sites. More information on drop box locations can be found online at boystown.org.

Organizations participating this year include Google, Mercy Hospital, Jennie Edmundson Hospital, Iowa Western Community College and 11 schools from the Council Bluffs and Lewis Central Community School Districts.

A representative of Team Red, Hoover Elementary hosted a kick-off event Friday morning during a school assembly.

Fifth-grade students in the talented and gifted program helped organize the event, dressing as different hygiene products and performing a skit on stage to help garner support and excitement from other students about the competition.

This project encompassed creativity and put them out of their comfort zone, said Rhonda Leffler, TAG curriculum specialist. Its an opportunity that they wouldnt have had otherwise.

Students will collect products all month. The class that collects the most will be awarded an extra recess. Students will also wear red on Fridays in support of the event.

I think its a great idea, said Dave Andersen with the fire department. Its good public awareness and helps with the community.

Items needed include shampoo, conditioner, unscented deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, lotion, disposable razors, toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaners, glass cleaner, rags and sponges, buckets, dishwasher detergent, bathroom cleaners, sanitizer, diapers and baby wipes, baby bottles and sippy cups, childproofing accessories, bug bombs and ant traps. Items donated must be full-size, new and unopened.

Boys Town Iowa serves more than 1,000 families and more than 2,000 children every year. The organization helps families and parents experiencing poverty by donating basic need items like hygiene and cleaning supplies to area families.

Many of our families are suffering from drug addiction or alcohol abuse, said Patrick Garcia, community engagement developer for Boys Town Iowa. In order to provide appropriate parenting to children  when were helping families learn those skills  we also help them to have the products available to help keep the children safe and healthy.

The competition will continue through April. A winner will be announced during a celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 4 at the Boys Town Iowa office, 1702 W. Broadway, Suite 17.

The celebration will be open to the public, and food and refreshments will be provided. A fire truck, police cruisers and the K-9 unit will be at the event.

Its pretty neat to see how the community actually got behind this, Garcia said. This week, more than 190 shirts will be delivered to community members and on the back it says, A community that makes a difference, and I truly believe thats what happened this year.
To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below.

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) The wife of a Taiwanese human rights advocate who is being detained in China said on Tuesday that she was no longer prepared to wait for information about her husband and would go to Beijing next Monday.
LINCOLN  Gov. Pete Ricketts is expected to sign a bill giving Nebraska drivers the chance to display Choose Life views on their license plates.

State lawmakers overcame a last filibuster Monday to pass Legislative Bill 46, introduced by State Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse.

The measure passed on a 35-5 vote. It now heads to the governor, who has five days to consider it. Spokesman Taylor Gage said he expects Ricketts will sign the bill into law.

If approved, the new plates would become available on Jan. 1.

The final vote came on LB 46 came after State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha mounted a last stand against the bill. Lawmakers voted 35-6 to end his filibuster, just as they had cut off filibusters during the first two rounds of debate on the bill.

Chambers argued that the plates represent state support of a particular political viewpoint.

The plates would feature a slogan that has become identified with opposition to abortion. Anti-abortion advocates have pushed for the bill.

Chambers and others said the idea of putting controversial political views on license plates could set a worrisome precedent. Whats next? asked Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, questioning whether pro- or anti-death penalty plates could follow.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln warned that it is not a good idea to start going down the road of state-sponsored controversial speech.

As introduced, LB 46 would have directed $5 from each numerical Choose Life plate and $30 from each personalized plate to the Nebraska Child Abuse Prevention Fund.

Lawmakers amended the bill to direct the funding to welfare benefits for needy families.

The measure drew support from Gov. Pete Ricketts and Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, as well as the Nebraska Family Alliance, the Nebraska Catholic Conference and Choose Life Nebraska, but opposition from Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and a number of abortion rights supporters.

The new plates would add to the rapidly expanding variety of license plates available in Nebraska.

A number of other states offer versions of a Choose Life plate.

Two years ago, Living Word Ministries, an anti-abortion group, attempted to gather enough applications to create a Choose Life organizational plate.

State law allows nonprofit groups that follow certain guidelines to get specialized license plates by collecting 250 prepaid applications for the plates.

Examples of such plates include the Union Pacific Railroad plates, Creighton University plates and Beef State plates. Henry Doorly Zoo plates were the latest addition to the list.

Although created by organizations, the plates are available to any driver.

Going that route, the plates would have cost $70 extra, with the money going to the highway trust fund and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Under LB 46, the plates will cost $5 extra for a basic letter-number combination or $40 extra for a personalized message.

Can't see the gallery? Click here.
Manly's meek capitulation to South Sydney in Round 2 has proven the catalyst for the club's three-game winning streak that has rocketed the Sea Eagles up the Telstra Premiership ladder.



Match Draw Widget

[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 6: Sea Eagles vs Dragons

After racing in three tries in the opening 12 minutes against the Rabbitohs at Lottoland, the Sea Eagles conceded an embarrassing six tries in just 60 minutes to by humbled 38-18 on their home turf.

It wasn't good enough, and the team knew it.

"I think it was [the wake-up call] after that game, everyone was very disappointed," fullback Tom Trbojevic said.

"We thought we started well enough to win that game, we kind of capitulated and that is something we obviously don't want to do and we talked about it during the week and I think that attitude we changed has been massive for us the last couple of weeks.

"All pre-season has been set up on defence, obviously Souths was one to forget. If we can keep defending well, we'll be likely to win [against the Dragons]."

Since that result, the Sea Eagles have conceded just 20 points in three weeks, including holding the Cowboys to eight points in Townsville and the Bulldogs to zero in a 36-0 shutout.

"The last three weeks our attitude has been real good, we've wanted to show energy, we've talked about things and we've gone on the field and done it.

"That is a massive thing compared to the first two weeks, we still have a long, long way to go."

While the Sea Eagles defence has improved drastically from the opening two rounds, there is no question the stability of Manly's spine is already hitting pay dirt.

From Hasler and Shearer to Toovey and Ridge, Orford and Stewart, Manly have been well served with their halfback-fullback combination and they have another pair who could take the club forward into an exciting future.

Already Daly Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic are combining to scorch highlight reels to start the 2017 Telstra Premiership season.

But Trbojevic was quick to baulk at the comparisons to some of the club's best.

"We have been working on that combination all off season," he said.

"Obviously the players you mentioned (Stewart and Orford) have obviously done a lot more than myself and are one of the best partnerships for this club.

"He (Cherry-Evans) often cops a lot of stick, but he handles it well, and the way he's been playing the last couple of weeks is unfair to give him any stick. He's been playing unreal and leading the team around and he is a big factor in that.

"I think everyone likes to push up as a team and be there and if there is an opportunity to offload, someone has to be there, because that is obviously a good play.

"It's all about recognises who is running the ball and if they have an offload you have to be there pushing and expecting the ball."



Uate re-finds killer form

Sea Eagles show centres can still combine

Stable spine has Manly thriving


We value your privacy.

Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy.
Job seekers, clear your schedule.

More than 60 employers are slated to attend Indiana University Northwest's 16th annual Job and Internship Fair in Gary this week.

The annual career fair, which is staged for the benefit of spring graduates but also open to the public, will take place 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday in the Savannah Center Gymnasium on the IUN campus at 3400 Broadway in Gary, according to a news release.

A slew of employers will be on hand, including Allstate Mercer Family Insurance, ArcelorMittal, Calumet Breweries, Centier Bank, Crawford Broadcasting, Dockside Services, Franciscan Alliance, Horizon Bank, Horseshoe Casino, Indiana State Police, Lake County Sheriff's Department, Oak Street Health, Peoples Bank, Planet Fitness, Polycon Industries, Primerica, Taco Bell, The Times, Trilogy Health Services and the Valparaiso Police Department.

Several school districts are hiring for teachers, including Campagna Academy, Goshen Community Schools, Monroe County Community School Corp., School City of Hammond, Thea Bowman Leadership Academy and Steel City Academy.

Representatives of organizations looking for part-time and full-time employees will take applications, interview candidates and provide information about their companies. Attendees also can learn about college opportunities at schools like DeVry, and temp opportunities at staffing agencies like Staff Source.

IUN encourages attendees to dress professionally and bring copies of their resume.

For more information, call 219-980-6650.
CROWN POINT  A criminal court judge granted a small bond reduction Tuesday for a 21-year-old Gary man accused of fatally shooting his cousin last month while dancing with a firearm.

Judge Clarence Murray reduced the $3,000 cash bond for Damon G. Hill to $2,500, but said he would not consider any further reductions.

The bond hearing was briefly interrupted after a woman in the gallery shouted during the defense's argument, "He is the devil."

The woman was escorted out of the courtroom by a bailiff.

Hill's mother, Tameka Howard, testified at Tuesday's bond hearing the family could raise only $1,000 for her son, who would live with family if released from jail.

The mother said that her son did not have an adult criminal record, but he got in trouble as a juvenile due to behavior problems.

Hill is charged in Lake Criminal Court with reckless homicide and criminal recklessness on allegations he accidentally shot Corey Brazelton March 21 at his mother's home in the 2500 block of Tyler Street, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Hill initially claimed his 18-year-old cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting, but he admitted he shot Brazelton after confronted with other witnesses' statements, the affidavit states.

Hill told police he and his cousin were smoking marijuana and dancing to music when a handgun he was holding discharged, causing a bullet to strike Brazelton in the chest, according to the affidavit.

Hill is next scheduled to appear in court on May 16.
GARY  A woman shot twice by gunfire walked into Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus early Tuesday, police said.

Gary police responded about 8:30 a.m. to the hospital upon hearing a 27-year-old gunshot wound victim walk-in, according to Gary police Lt. Thomas Pawlak.

Pawlak said the woman, from Gary, told police she was driving in the 1100 block of New Jersey when she heard a loud pop and thought she had a flat tire. When she exited her car to check on the tires, she told police heard about four more shots and fell the ground, Pawlak said.

She was shot twice  once in the left leg and once in the calf, according to police.

A person walking nearby stopped to help the woman into her car and drove her to the hospital for treatment, police were told.

Gary police checked the area where the victim said she was shot but were unable to locate a crime scene, Pawlak said.

Anyone with information should contact Gary Sgt. Dan Callahan at 219-881-7545. To remain anonymous, call the Gary Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Senate gave final approval Monday to Senate Enrolled Act 43, authorizing licensed state lawmakers and legislative staffers to carry handguns  openly or concealed  throughout the state capitol complex, including in the Senate and House chambers.

State Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, the sponsor of the measure, said it's needed because the General Assembly often works after dark and legislative employees are in danger walking unarmed to their cars at night in downtown Indianapolis.

At the same time, the proposal makes no provision for executive and judicial branch employees or Indiana citizens visiting the Statehouse, who often use the same nearby parking lots, to likewise bring their guns into the building.

Nevertheless, the measure passed the Republican-controlled Senate, 39-7, and the GOP-led House, 76-16.

So long as Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb doesn't issue a veto and instead signs the measure into law, as expected, it would take effect immediately.
Rain and possibly even snow late Wednesday and Thursday could be merely a prelude to wind and wave conditions on Lake Michigan similar to those that laid waste to Whiting Lakefront Park in October 2014, forecasters said.

North winds could gust up to 50 mph, and waves could be between 14 and 18 feet, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service has issued a lakeshore flood watch from Wednesday night to Thursday night for Lake and Porter counties in Indiana and Cook County in Illinois.

Persistent high waves could cause lakeshore flooding in Northwest Indiana and northeast Illinois, including the Chicago lakefront. Residents near the shore should protect their property and stayed tuned for weather statements or warnings, according to the weather service.

On Oct. 31, 2014, a storm unleashed wind that gusted at more than 70 mph and waves that towered more than 20 feet tall as they flooded the newly dedicated Whiting park.

The same storm caused flooding on Chicago's Lakeshore Drive, according to the weather service.

Rain this week will fall on ground already saturated with previous precipitation. A flood warning remained in effect until Sunday for the Kankakee River at Shelby, which was at about 10.1 feet Tuesday morning, according to the weather service.

In Lowell, recent heavy rain washed out a section of 171st Avenue on the town's north end, forcing the closure of the affected portion.

The road is closed from about 1,300 feet east of Morse Street to about 385 feet west of Castlebrook Drive.

The town already had been studying ways to repair or replace the culvert at McConnell Ditch when the area was washed out.

On Monday, town officials met with the engineers on the project to develop ways to temporarily repair the section so as to make it available for traffic again.

In the meantime, Lowell Town Manager Jeff Sheridan said motorists should find other routes to use.
Police officers cheering after making an arrest  a member of a group that monitors and takes videos of police says that is exactly what several officers did after they put him in handcuffs.



NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger has been following this story and has the recording.

Jose LaSalle, an activist who records police, played for NY1 audio that he says he secretly recorded. You can hear parts of it in the video above.



It was of cheers, he said, from NYPD officers who were happy he was arrested.

"It was like I was El Chapo, or the reincarnation of Bin Laden or someone that is like America's most wanted, because their faces were really full of joy," LaSalle said.

LaSalle told NY1 that the incident happened in August, when he was arrested by Bronx officers as he videotaped them as a member of the Copwatch Patrol Unit.

He also was charged with supposedly possessing a police radio. Five months later, the Bronx district attorney dropped the charges.

LaSalle said he has now decided to release edited parts of his secret audio because he believes housing officers from Police Service Area 7 falsely arrested him and tried to get him convicted of a felony.

Recording:

Oh, Jose LaSalle! Oh sh#@!



Now for him, filming is a crime, right?

It's a party, it's a party, hey!"

"I am a former prosecutor, I was outraged," attorney Jeffrey Emdin said. "I couldn't even speak, to be honest with you, when I heard what was on this tape."

LaSalle said that after he was released, police arrested him a second time because they realized he may have secretly recorded them at the station house during his first arrest.

LaSalle said the secret audio recording catches officers acknowledging that he had kept his distance while videotaping them.

Another activist said the recording is proof that police officers mistreated LaSalle.

"It puts it now at the hands of the police commissioner. What are you going to do?" said Dennis Flores of the group El Grito de Sunset Park. "Are these cops going to continue to be cops?"

LaSalle and his followers said they want the Bronx district attorney's office to indict all of the officers involved.

"There was a crime committed, absolutely," Emdin said. "They filed a false criminal complaint, they signed it under the penalties of perjury. They've tampered with evidence."

Recording:

We can't find like a felony charge for this thing. It's only a misdemeanor.

The Bronx district attorney's office said it is investigating the police procedures and activities surrounding LaSalle's arrest.
NEW YORK - A Con Edison worker is being hailed as a hero after his daring subway rescue in Manhattan was caught on video.

Con Ed Engineering Supervisor Jonathan Kulig was on his way to work Saturday night when he saw a man fall onto the tracks at the Third Avenue station on the L line.

Kulig jumped down and lifted the man back onto the platform.

A train pulled into the station just moments later.

The man who fell was taken to the hospital but his condition is unclear.
Travellers headed to Penn Station faced a rough commute after Monday's derailment of a New Jersey Transit train.

There's almost no room for error in the overcrowded Penn Station schedule, so all three rail services using the station are affected.



The MTA says 10 rush hour Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains are canceled for Wednesday morning, while 24 trains were either canceled or rerouted Tuesday evening.

Four more were being diverted to Jamaica, Queens, and one is being re-routed to Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens.

New Jersey Transit trains ran on a holiday schedule all day Tuesday.

NJ Transit buses, private carriers, PATH, and NY Waterway Ferries have been cross-honoring tickets.



Transit authorities say Amtrak crews are working around the clock to get the damaged track and switch up and running.

The repairs could take several days, but some commuters are staying hopeful.



Metro-North riders on the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines are urged to stay on their trains until they reach Hoboken, where they can take the PATH into Manhattan.

Amtrak will operate on a modified schedule between New York and Washington D.C.

Customers may see delays of up to 60 minutes during rush hours and 30 minutes or less during non-rush hours.

Five people suffered minor injuries Monday when a New Jersey Transit train from Trenton derailed as it pulled into Penn Station.

Crews are still working to repair the damage.

The derailment led to dozens of train cancellations, and delays that lasted into the evening rush.

This is the second train derailment at Penn Station in less than two weeks.

An Amtrak train clipped a New Jersey Transit train at low speed back on March 24.
Facing a growing attack on dissent around the globe, human rights advocates are engaged in a creative and critical fight to defend fundamental rights and freedoms. On April 13-14, 2017, the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law will host Defending Dissent: Human Rights and Civil Society in the Global Crackdown, a conference that brings together leading human rights activists, lawyers, and scholars from India, China, Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Turkey, and Egypt to share legal strategies to safeguard crucial spaces for dissent.

These strategies encompass litigation, legal empowerment, network building, and leveraging the Internet as forms of resistance. When democratic leaders openly deride institutions like the judiciary and the free press, there is an urgent need to build solidarity and learn from global activists and movements who have experienced similar challenges, said Sukti Dhital, deputy director of the Bernstein Institute.

Speakers include fearless and outspoken critics of authoritarianism like Zelalem Kibret, Ethiopian law professor and co-founder of the award-winning Zone 9 blogging collective, Yara Sallam, Egyptian feminist and human rights advocate, Xiao Qiang, legendary Chinese human rights activist and MacArthur genius, Olga Sadovskya, leading Russian human rights lawyer with expertise on torture cases, and Biraj Patnaik, Indian human rights activist and Amnesty Internationals South Asia Director. Panelists will spotlight lessons and tactics to counter the crackdown of dissent within their countries and regions, draw parallels to the current American political landscape, and offer strategies to counter the closing of safe space around the world.

With serious threats to civil freedoms documented in more than 100 countries in 2015, governments are engaged in a systematic attack on human rights values, institutions, and advocates. Maina Kiai, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association observes that the world is experiencing a democratic recession, with governments passing restrictive laws regulating the operation of NGOs, policing freedom of speech, and engaging in extra-legal forms of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders.

As government repression escalates, a resilient network of lawyers, activists, and academics continue to innovate to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, said Margaret Satterthwaite, professor of clinical law at NYU Law and faculty director of the Bernstein Institute. Defending Dissent offers a space to hear their stories of resistance and to build new collaborative efforts aimed at defending human rights in the face of rising repression.

The event takes place at Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012. Space is limited and registration is required.

Reporters interested in attending the event must RSVP to Michelle Tsai, NYUs Office of Public Affairs, at 212-998-6849 or michelle.tsai@nyu.edu.
Bicycle riding has become more popular, and with that popularity are more bicyclists on the streets and the need for more attention on safety, say organizers of a weekend event in Auburn that emphasized ways bike and car riders can share the road.

Professional and amateur cyclists rode through Auburn and learned about bike safety Saturday at the Auburn Bike Bash at Ogletree Elementary School.

The city of Auburn, the Auburn Bicycle Committee and Auburn City Schools hosted the annual event.

In Alabama, children ages 15 and under accounted for 26 percent of bicycle crash injuries in 2012, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation.

In 2014, there were 726 pedal cyclists killed and an additional 50,000 injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Administration.

Bash participants had the option of doing a 3-mile, 9-mile or 17-mile bike ride. There was also live music, bike inspections, activities and a cookout.

Auburn resident Julia Kennedy enjoyed riding with her family.

We wanted to get out and get a little Saturday morning exercise, Kennedy said.

For Auburn resident Elizabeth Bowersock, bike riding runs in the family. Her oldest son rode the 9-mile ride.

Were just trying to spread the love of riding with our son, Bowersock said.

Auburn resident Charles Thomas wanted to ride with his son.

We thought it would be fun to come out and ride with the rest of the community, Thomas said.

People who would like more information about bicycle friendly areas in Auburn can go to the citys website at auburnalabama.org.
Auburn will take a step forward in its search for a new city manager Tuesday night when the Auburn City Council votes on appointing a firm to perform an executive search for candidates.

Auburns former city manager Charlie Duggan retired in February after 28 years working for the city of Auburn, 10 of which were as city manager. Assistant City Manager James Buston has since taken the lead as interim city manager.

Buston has worked with Doug Watson, former Auburn city manager, and Human Resources Director Steve Reeves to find a recruiting firm to assist the council in its search for a new city manager. After reviewing 11 proposals submitted by firms, the group selected two and performed interviews, Buston said.

The committee then selected Colin Baenziger & Associates and is recommending the firm to the council for approval. The search is expected to cost $24,500 plus candidate travel expenses.

Colin Baenziger & Associates is a nationally recognized executive recruiting firm specializing in the public sector, Buston told the council in a memo. Reference checks with previous clients in Virginia, Florida and Arkansas were extremely favorable with each client contacted offering that they were very satisfied and would use Colin Baenziger and Associates again.

The council also will hear an update on the new public safety building at its committee of the whole meeting. Design work is about 35 percent complete for the new building that will be built on the site of Fire Station 1.

Buston will give the council an update for the first time since it approved a $1.2 million amendment to a contract with Seay, Seay & Litchfield, P.C. to begin design work in October.

The council will also:

 vote on an incentive package for an addition to the Auburn Industrial Park that will be announced at the Paris Air Show in June.

 vote on an action plan for distributing Community Development Block Grant funds in fiscal year 2017.

 vote on an emergency purchase of a temporary office trailer to relocate the Auburn Police Divisions detectives and narcotics section.

Buston will give an update on the new public safety building in the Development Services Building Conference Room at 171 N. Ross St. at 6:30 p.m. The council's regular meeting will follow at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chamber at 141 N. Ross St.

For a full agenda, visit www.auburnalabama.org/agenda.
Its easy to see why someone would want to make a documentary about Nick Mendes and his wife, Wendy.

They make a cute couple  loving and playful. Devoted to each other.

He keeps her laughing with his sense of humor, including side-splitting profane remarks. He wont let her feel down about anything. Theres no room for self pity or negative thinking with him around.

And what she does for him?

Everything.

If his nose itches, she scratches it. If he wants a drag from his vape, she holds it to his mouth. She bathes, dresses and feeds him. When damaged nerves cause his arm to shake uncontrollably, she gently but firmly places her hand on his to steady his tremors.

Nick, whose family calls him by his middle name of Drew, is a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. Wendy is his 24/7 care provider.

Hes 27; shes 43.

They live a quiet life off a bumpy dirt road in Murrieta, in a customized four-bedroom home built for them by a charity group in 2016. They share their house with his paternal grandmother and two of her three adult children from an earlier marriage. Oh, and six dogs and one cat  all but one of them rescues. His father, David Mendes, lives in Riverside and visits often.

Now the couple is in the spotlight as the subjects of a new documentary called American Veteran that screened this week at the American Documentary Film festival in Palm Springs and will be shown as a matinee April 23 at the Riverside International Film Fest. In May, the movie also will be part of the GI Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

The 75-minute movie is the work of New York-based filmmaker Julie Cohen, whose news pieces on military veterans have appeared on NBC and PBS. A teaser excerpt shared on Facebook has become a big hit, with more than 3 million views. Its easy to see why.

Even in that short clip, Nick and Wendy Mendes show how love conquers the ravages of war.

Says Cohen: Id like people to come away from American Veteran with a better sense of the challenges that confront severely disabled vets and their caregivers and hopefully a little bit of awe for how this one very cool couple has confronted and often overcome those challenges.

There are moments in the documentary to prompt tears. But theres also much joy.

As Wendy describes her husband in the film, You cant be in a bad mood when youre around him. He wont let you.

And you cant remain unmoved watching Wendys devotion to him.

She brings a lot of happiness into my life, he tells Cohen.

Cohen had been wanting to do a documentary on the young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She hoped to find a storyline from those two conflicts that was honest but not brutally depressing. Her research into a special all-terrain wheelchair for the disabled led her to Nick Mendes.

She also came across a 2011 story in the Orange County Register about the then-21-year-old Army sergeant who was injured in April of that year. Nick Mendes was on his second deployment  he had been to Iraq previously  when the blast from an improvised explosive device slammed his head into the roof of an armored vehicle a month after he arrived in Afghanistan. The impact broke several vertebrae.

His first-person newspaper account and photos taken of him at the veterans hospital in Long Beach  some of which are included in the documentary  were part of a series on 10 years of war in the post-9/11 era.

At the time of that interview, the young soldier talked about how he joined the Army in 2008 after dropping out of high school in Missouri and how he didnt know what war was going to be like but wanted to prove he could do it. It was hard but worth the sacrifice, he said, and he learned to not take life for granted. He was certain he would recover his ability to walk and be a regular person again.

Hooked to a ventilator and fed by a tube in his stomach, he longed to eat real food and do other things he enjoyed.

I want a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carls Jr., he said at the time. I miss playing video games. I miss women!

The woman who would help him enjoy all those things again  and more  walked into his life at the VA hospital.

The then-Wendy Eichler, an experienced in-home care provider, had come to see about being trained as part of a rotation to care for Nick Mendes. When he left the hospital, his primary caregiver would be David Mendes, who had dropped everything in his life in Visalia to be by his youngest boys side. They would live together for a year in military housing in San Pedro while out-patient care continued.

Wendy didnt end up getting the job; the agency she worked for wasnt on the military insurance providers approved list. But she asked if she could stop by for hospital visits.

He only had his dad there. I felt I needed to go back just so he had a friend there.

She was drawn by the way Nick Mendes remained so positive. Still is.

Every time I went, I laughed more and I ended up in a better mood than when I got there, she says, standing by her husbands side in the den of their home.

Nick Mendes sits in the wheelchair he propels by sipping and puffing on a tube; he steers it with movements of his head, hitting pads to the left or the right. At 5 feet, his wife is barely a head taller than his seated 61 frame. Before settling in to talk about their life together, she ran to put on makeup and decorate her hair with a floral head piece  something he couldnt resist remarking on with a tease.

She wont let me wear makeup, he says. How one-sided is that?

As for his initial attraction to her, Nick Mendes repeats what he says in the film: I thought she was hot from the first time I saw her. But Id just been blown up so I wasnt looking for a relationship like that.

But friendship and then love developed over time and when Nick left the hospital, Wendy continued visiting at the base housing. With their feelings deepening, Wendy says she gave intense thought to the commitment she would need to make, something beyond whats required of anyone in a serious relationship.

She would be his constant caregiver; she had to think about what that would mean years down the road. What if the relationship didnt work out?

I couldnt turn my back and walk away, she says. I had to be willing to be there for the long haul. I had to consider that pretty much from the beginning.

In 2012, Nick Mendes retired from the Army. They moved together in 2013 to a rented house in Corona. Thats where Cohen did much of her filming. That house was not as accessible for someone in a wheelchair as their current home, crafted to their needs by the Massachusetts-based group Homes for Our Troops. The organization has built a number of homes in southwest Riverside County for other injured veterans and their families, several of whom form a tight circle of friends with Nick and Wendy Mendes.

Giving Nick a shower, which Cohen shows in the film, is now so much easier for Wendy because their home is outfitted with a track for a mechanical hoist to travel along the ceiling that runs from their bedroom into their bathroom and branches off over the wide open shower area where Wendy can lower Nick into a special chair in the sling that also lifts and lowers him in and out of bed.

Advances in adaptive living have helped the couple to meet some of the challenges they face. For their oceanfront wedding in September 2014 on the U.S. Navy base at Coronado Beach, Nick rolled up in his dress blues aboard an all-terrain wheelchair known as a Tank Chair. They travel in a black Chevy Silverado truck that the VA outfitted with a hydraulic lift that draws Transformer comparisons from observers. Last year they made a month-long road trip to Indiana, visiting family.

But mostly what sustains them is their outlook on life.

I cant just be bitter about it, Nick Mendes says of his paralysis. Because I would just be bitter for the rest of my life.

His dad, who was divorced from Nicks mom when Nick was a toddler, says his third son was always a pocket of love and that I always knew of all my boys, he wouldnt be the one to leave me. Thats why he was so dedicated to taking care of him until Wendy was there.

Shes amazing, says David Mendes, 52, who runs a coffee shop in downtown Riverside with his boyfriend. Im pretty sure he was glad to get me off the nursing part of it.

Because of Wendy, hes happier.

Its still questionable whether Nick will ever regain any use of his hands or legs. But theres a chance. His spinal cord was severely bruised, not severed. Hes undergone stem cell treatments; after the latest injection, directly into his spine, hes started to sweat more and feel an achy pain.

People are like, Thats good. Im like, no, it (expletive) hurts.

His nerve pain has lessened, however, and where he once took 65 pills a day, his medications are about one-third of that now. He plays video games on his phone wielding a stylus between his teeth, handles all their bills and finances, and watches YouTube. Hed be happy being able to use his hands again.

It means Id be able to do something for myself, gain some independence back.

Like scratch his own nose or take a sip of water in the middle of the night.

Wendy, a deep sleeper, says with a smile: He wouldnt have to yell at me at night to wake me up.

Yeah, Nick replies, not missing a beat, I could just push her off the bed.

They both laugh.

This is the spirit that Cohen captured in making American Veteran, an experience she calls her favorite as a journalist and filmmaker.

People tend to think of injured vets in one of two ways: as mega-heroes or as damaged and broken. Maybe I thought that way too, she says. Spending so much time with Nick gave me the chance to get to know him as a three-dimensional person who fits neither of those stereotypes.

It was a really meaningful experience, and also a lot of fun.
Austin Brashears lived by a simple motto during his short, happy life: Do it for the story.

The concept captured the zest and sense of adventure with which the Huntington Beach native lived during his 21 years. And, of course, what made the adventures breathe and live on, and what keeps the memory of Brashears alive and vital five years later, was the sharing  the story.

Brashears was in New Zealand in 2012 studying abroad when a van he was in flipped over, killing him and two other passengers. To continue Brashears legacy, his family decided to launch a scholarship in his memory.

But its no ordinary scholarship. The $1,000 Do It For the Story award isnt based on grade-point averages, SAT scores or other typical academic achievements. Rather it is an award meant to spur recipients to go out and experiment, expand boundaries, try something new, seek adventure, and come back with a story.

It can be something as little as trying a new flavor of coffee or going underwater go-cart racing in his honor, organizers say.

The scholarship is open to graduating seniors from Marina High  the school Brashears attended  and the deadline for this years award is April 15. It is judged by a group of Austin Brashears friends, an aunt and a grandmother.

Most of the applicants, like the former all-A student, are high academic achievers, and often feel tempted to apply awards and scholarships to cover books or school fees.

This gives them permission to go out and be a little crazy, said Julie Brashears, Austins mother.

Over the past four years the family has given out three to four awards per year, which have been used for a variety of adventures. One winner went skydiving, another took flying lessons and others have gone on a variety of hikes, climbs and outdoor adventures, organizers say.

A website, austinbrashears.org, was created for applicants, friends, family and acquaintances to share stories and adventures.

One friend, inspired by Austin, posted pictures of herself traveling through Italy and posing with a placard that reads Do It for the Story.

Brashears was well-known for grabbing friends, acquaintances and sometimes even strangers and sitting them down for what he called life chats. During these free-flowing conversations he would often ask seemingly random questions about their bucket lists, secret identities, alter egos or favorite shake at the Harbor House. These are among the queries on the application.

Brashears graduated from Marina High in 2009 and was enrolled at Boston University when he was killed in the car accident.

He was among a group of students on their way see the active volcanoes of Mt. Ngauruhoe, the model for Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and to gambol on the slopes of Mt. Ruapehu, where scenes from the movies were filmed.

Brashears also played water polo, mentored incoming university freshmen and studied engineering. Boston University set a Brashears Leadership Award for students with integrity in character, genuine concern for the development of community and overall excitement of living.

The mens and womens water polo teams also created a tournament in his honor that is now in its fifth year.

As a parent, you always worry theyll be forgotten, Julie Brashears said of children who die young.

However, even now, Brashears says she periodically receives pictures from friends of her son and now friends of friends, wearing rubber bracelets or T-shirts with his name on them.

They continue to take him on their adventures, Julie Brashears said. People have great memories. Sometimes its overwhelming.

For information on the Do It for the Story Scholarship, visit austinbrashears.org
There is little doubt about who killed Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer in late winter, or how he died: Authorities quickly identified ex-convict Michael Christopher Mejia as the culprit, also suspected of killing his cousin and stealing the cousins car.

But there is plenty of debate over who and/or what is responsible for Boyers death.

Theres blood on the hands of Gov. [Jerry] Brown, trumpeted state Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford, in a press release two days after the incident. He blames Brown and other Democrats for early-release laws that ended in thepreventable death of Officer Boyer.

But the main law in question, Proposition 47, wasnt simply the work of Brown and his Democratic cohorts in the Legislature. Voters are ultimately responsible for its consequences  they passed the measure by a 59-41 percent margin in 2014, a landslide by anyones definition.

This law significantly reduced the penalties for many non-violent crimes, reducing all thefts to misdemeanors if they involve $950 or less worth of cash or goods.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell was among those blaming Prop. 47 and other prison reform and realignment measures, including last years Prop. 57, which accelerates releases for convicts with non-violent offenses. Because of these measures, he said, People who were previously in county jail are now out on the streets.

But Mejia was anything but a non-violent offender. Most recently, he spent two years in prison for grand theft auto and attempting to steal a vehicle. His latest incarceration was in the infamous Pelican Bay prison near the Oregon state line. Earlier he did three years time for a robbery. The difference in his treatment after the new laws, and what it might have been before, is that his most recent parole was supervised by county officers rather than the state prison system. State officials said Mejias prison time was not shortened by any recent laws.

None of the states recent criminal justice reforms impacted when this individual was released from state prison, said a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

That didnt assuage Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper.

We need to wake up, he said. Youre passing these propositions.  Its not good for your community; its not good for our officers.

Mejia had been held for brief periods before Boyers death for parole violations like a Feb. 2 incident where he ran from police responding to an anonymous 911 call.

Some critics of the prison system maintain the recent initiatives worsen the aggressiveness of convicts rather than leading them to reform.

By doing as much time as he would have before the reforms and going through brief revolving-door county jail stints for relatively minor parole violations, Mejia was a fairly typical denizen of the criminal justice system.

Knowing this, but wishing to assign blame somehow, politicians like Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Kathryn Barger  one a Democrat, the other a Republican  asked both the state and federal attorneys general to assess the case and review the effects of both 47 and 57 on crime. So far, state officials say there is no evidence of any crime increase due to either measure. Which could mean that Mejias alleged crime was simply a matter of chance: Some such episodes will occur every year no matter what the laws say.

This may be correct, but its a conclusion that wont satisfy any crime victims, and especially not anyone who knew the 53-year-old Boyer.

There are, of course, other ways besides crime statistics to measure the impact of the new prison-emptying laws. For example, Prop. 47 earmarks much of the money it saves prisons and jails for mental health and drug treatment programs, a plan intended to cushion the effects of making most drug possessions into minor offenses.

But enrollment in drug treatment programs has been down across the state since 2014, a sign many addicts no longer feel pressure to escape their habit because they know theyll never do significant time for using or for most crimes they employ to support their addictions. Mejia, for one, was caught with a small amount of methamphetamine in one of his parole violations.

So its apparent at least some provisions of the new laws are not working. But it remains highly debatable whether that means Boyers slaying and other recent cop-killings can be blamed on those measures.

Thomas D. Elias is a writer in Southern California.
Design an experimental house of the future that meets 2020 zero-net-energy building standards? Check.

Build it at the Orange County Great Park with high school students taking part in the construction? Check.

Put it on display for a year, disassemble it, move it to a permanent new location and put it back together again? Check, check and check.

Over the past six years, the ABC Green Home project has met almost all of its goals for building a home thats affordable, buildable with existing technology and certified as an energy- and water-efficient.

But one last item had yet to be checked off the list: Turn the keys over to a low-income veteran.

Until now.

On Monday, Southern California Edison turned over an oversized skeleton key to Habitat for Humanity, which has selected the projects first residents.

About a week from now, a former National Guard sergeant who served in Afghanistan will close escrow on the first of seven ABC Green Homes in the works.

The veteran and his family  his wife, their 15-year-old son, and daughters age 4 and 9  are buying the 1,700-square-foot, one-story house from Habitat.

The family buying the Santa Ana home will pay about $295,000, based on their ability to pay, not the homes appraised value. Their house payment will be just over $1,200 a month.

A second, nearly identical home recently was completed on that same lot, across from Washington Elementary School in south Santa Ana. Habitat will hold a dedication ceremony for the second home Saturday, although a family has not yet been picked to live there.

Meanwhile, in Fullerton, developers prepared for Thursdays grand opening of the next in a series of ABC Green Homes, which could be transferred to yet another veteran family as soon as mid-May.

Two other homes are planned for Fullerton, a sixth home is nearing completion in the San Gabriel Valley, and the seventh is in the planning stages in the San Bernardino County mountain village of Crestline.

The homes are part of an ongoing project to develop zero-net-energy homes, which produce as much energy as they consume.

To do that, you make it as fuel-efficient as possible, then you add some power generation to it like roof-top solar panels, said Marc Ulrich, vice president of customer programs for Southern California Edison, sponsor of the first ABC Green Home originally built at the Great Park.

Over the course of a year, this home and its inhabitants should essentially generate as much electricity as they use, Ulrich said. These are a lot of accomplishments in one home.

To meet those goals, the home has 24 solar panels on the roof, extra-thick walls filled with foam insulation, LED lighting, ceiling fans, energy-saving appliances and innovative technology like a heat pump that uses excess energy from the water heater.

To make sure the homes design and systems work as planned, Edison will monitor energy consumption for two years.

With Edisons backing, developers redesigned and rebuilt the first ABC Green Home in Santa Ana using items that could be salvaged and moved: light fixtures, cabinets and solar equipment.

Because the lot is big enough for two homes, Habitat built a second one next door with a near-identical design, using windows salvaged from the original Great Park home. The key difference is the Habitat-built home uses both gas and electricity, while the Edison home is, as one would expect, all electric.

The veteran family selected to buy the first home helped build the second home as part of their requirement to invest 500 hours of sweat equity.

Its a commitment, but the family is assuming a 0-percent mortgage, based on their income, not on the appraised value of the home, said Sharon Ellis, president and chief executive of Habitats Orange County chapter.

The family will own the home, but should they choose to sell, Habitat gets the right to buy it back based on how much the family invested in the home over time.

Habitat, meanwhile, has interviewed 63 families for the first Fullerton home, which was built on a city-donated lot near Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue.

The finalist is a retired, disabled Marine who would be sharing the four-bedroom home with his wife, their two children and his mother-in-law, who would live in a small multi-generation suite on the first floor.

Nick Slevin, publisher of Green Homebuilder magazine, chief developer of the ABC Green Homes, estimated the Santa Ana home cost about $210,000 in sticks and bricks, which doesnt include the value of the land or design and development costs. The Fullerton home, the second to be completed so far, cost about $250,000 to $300,000 to build, or about $100 to $125 per square foot, he said.

These are custom homes, Slevin said. Obviously, if youre building 50 homes, your costs drop like a rock.

In creating the three Eichler-inspired ABC Green Homes in Fullerton, developers changed the design slightly.

Both the Santa Ana and Fullerton homes reduce lumber consumption by using bigger studs spaced farther apart than in traditional homes. They create 9-inch-thick outer walls filled with insulation to reduce the amount of heating and cooling needed. Both have water-conserving landscaping and low-flow plumbing fixtures.

The Santa Ana house used the newest spray foam technology to insulate the walls. The Fullerton home used the same traditional blown-in insulation thats cheaper and been in use for decades.

Project designers also have learned the original home design is impractical for the building industry because its too small for todays market. Newer project designs call for bigger, multi-story homes to take greater advantage of high land prices.

Were building them to demonstrate best practices in the building industry, Slevin said. Referring to the Fullerton home, he added, This house is bigger, yet it uses less power. So the team is learning.

JeffCollins@scng.com, RegJeffCollins on Twitter
SACRAMENTO  California could dramatically change the way it pressures criminal defendants to show up for court, doing away with monetary bail for most and taking income into account for others to ensure poor suspects get an equal shot at freedom.

Instead of requiring suspects to post bail, county officials would decide whether to release them based on their risk to public safety and would use jail alternatives like home detention or monitoring bracelets that track their locations.

When a judge decides monetary bail is needed for suspects accused of serious or violent crimes, the amount would be based on defendants incomes instead of on a pre-determined bail schedule that varies in each of Californias 58 counties.

It fundamentally transforms a broken cash bail system that punishes poor people for being poor, said Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland.

He and Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, have submitted bills that would create the new system. Hertzbergs bill has its first committee hearing Tuesday.

The current system keeps many innocent people behind bars, disproportionately affects minority defendants and encourages some suspects to plead guilty simply to get out of jail, bill supporters say.

Bail is money or property that can be forfeited if suspects fail to appear for trial. When defendants cant post bail they often hire a bail company that puts up the money for a fee, typically 10 percent of the full bail amount. The company must pay the court in full if the accused do not show up.

The median bail in California was $50,000, the Public Policy Institute of California reported last year, and the $5,000 required to get a company to post bail is out of reach for many.

If a person is acquitted or the charges are dropped, bail money they put up themselves is returned.

But if they hire a bail company they lose the 10 percent. Thats what happened to Ato Walker, a 37-year-old janitor from San Jose.

He was jailed for five days nearly four years ago when his bail was set at $165,000 following a confrontation with police. It was reduced to $85,000 and his mother was able to pay $8,500 to a bail company to get him out of jail. The charges were dismissed eight months later but the $8,500 was gone.

The justice system is disproportionately punitive to poor people, Walker said. Its not fair, its not right.

The bail industry and some victim rights and law enforcement groups oppose the bills. They say the changes will allow dangerous people back on the streets, victims wont be able to object beforehand and suspects will be more likely to skip court dates.

I think its a mistake to substitute some risk assessment formula for what judges are already doing when they grant bail. I think were going to see more defendants who just dont show up, said Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for crime victims.

Corrin Rankin of the California Bail Agents Association said counties already have the option of freeing suspects without bail, but argued that having money at stake remains the best way to ensure that defendants show up in court.

Rankin, who runs the Out Now Bail Bonds company south of San Francisco, predicted counties wont save enough money to pay for the intensive pre-trial supervision envisioned in the bills.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye last week told state lawmakers that Californias courts already are testing 11 pretrial bail alternatives and developing a formula to help decide whether individuals have the ability to pay bail, fines and court fees.
SANTA ANA  A disbarred Newport Beach attorney made his initial court appearance Monday, April 3, on felony charges of stealing more than $300,000 from a client.

Patrick Lund, who was disbarred in October 2014, was arrested Friday on a criminal complaint filed in February, charging him with attempted theft from an elder adult, grand theft, attempted grand theft and theft from an elder adult.

Lund also faces sentence-enhancing allegations of property damage exceeding $200,000 and aggravated white-collar crime exceeding $100,000.

In the spring of 2013, Lund agreed to help a 73-year-old client facilitate the process of paying back a $290,000 loan, but instead pocketed the money, changed his phone numbers and moved to Arizona, Senior Deputy District Attorney Pete Pierce alleged.

Lund charged a fee of $12,500 to the client, Pierce said.

According to the State Bar of California, Lund misappropriated nearly $200,000 from another client for his own purposes in 2011. Lund paid back $130,500, but never gave back the rest, according to the State Bar.

In 2012, State Bar records show he was suspended for failing to perform legal services with competence.
In 2002, the City of Santa Ana changed its motto from education first to the spirit of change. Since then, the city has embraced the wrong spirit of change by prioritizing jail and police expansion at the expense of education.

Tuesday night, the Santa Ana City Council has the opportunity to change this history by refusing to contract with a company that promotes building new jails.

The city is considering a contract with Vanir Construction Management, Inc., to conduct a jail reuse study of the Santa Ana City Jail. Vanir has a track record of turning jail reuse possibilities into self-serving jail construction opportunities.

Vanirs jail reuse study for Los Angeles County resulted in five multi-billion dollar jail expansion options. Vanir made no recommendations for reducing the jail population or developing alternatives to detention. In fact, although the Vera Institute for Justice and the Chief Executive Office of Los Angeles County issued reports with recommendations on how to lower the jail population, Vanir did not even address these recommendations in its own report. Vanirs jail reuse study ultimately was a study on jail expansion.

In San Diego County, Vanir was the construction management company responsible for building the Womens Detention Facility in Santee, which is nearly triple the size of the old facility. In Indio, Vanir is currently at work constructing the East County Detention Center, which will add 1,273 new jail cells for Riverside County. Vanir also is building the new Tuolumne County Juvenile Detention Facility to incarcerate more youth.

Meanwhile, the city of Santa Ana is spending over $19.5 million dollars this year to arrest and incarcerate youth, according to a new report from Resilience OC. Education is certainly not first in Santa Ana. Although school suspensions, which directly correlate to the likelihood of a child ending up in jail or prison, were on the decline in Santa Ana last year, the city has experienced declining school enrollment.

The children of Santa Ana are literally disappearing. This is one reason why nearly 300 Santa Ana educators were handed pink slips last month, indicating potential layoffs.

The city of Santa Ana can do better than Vanir, but Vanirs expertise in jail expansion is perhaps exactly what city officials have always wanted.

In January 2016, Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) filed a multi-individual federal civil rights complaint against the Santa Ana City Jail for unlawful and degrading strip searches of immigrant women. CIVIC and local advocates in Santa Ana entered into a series of meetings with the City Managers office, educating city officials on alternatives to detention and incarceration and on how other cities have repurposed jails.

After a year of community input and discussions around repurposing the jail entirely, the city of Santa Ana released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in December for a reuse study on the Santa Ana City Jail. The reuse study was to include an evaluation of alternatives to detention and an evaluation of jail conditions. And two of the three reuse proposals were supposed to be for non-punitive facilities, such as a residential building or mixed-use offices.

Vanir, a company with no connections to the local community, responded. As a construction management firm, it was unclear how the company would effectively assess jail conditions for vulnerable prisoners and detainees at the facility. And with a flimsy track record, at best, on alternatives to detention, it was doubtful that Vanir could provide the city with an evaluation of alternative to detention options.

So, after the deadline to submit responses to the RFQ passed, the City of Santa Ana changed the scope of its RFQ to only focus on jail reuse, which the city now defines as including continuing jail operations. The city gave no notice of this change to the other bidder.

The other bidder was a group of four organizations: CIVIC, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), Builders of Hope, and Torti Gallas + Partners. Together, we have over 90 years of combined experience conducting reuse assessments on public and private buildings, running alternative to detention programs, generating cost effective alternative to incarceration strategies, and monitoring jails, including the Santa Ana City Jail.

The city of Santa Ana has a simple choice to make tonight. Santa Ana can either contract with Vanir, turning a blind eye to the growing community opposition in Orange County to public and private incarceration construction. Or it can embrace the spirit of change and welcome an innovative reimagining of these traumatic and oppressive facilities by reissuing the original RFQ.

Christina Fialho is the co-founder/executive director of CIVIC. Diana Zuniga is the statewide coordinator for CURB.
ANAHEIM  A construction worker suffered a minor knee injury while working on scaffolding at Disney California Adventure around 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 3 authorities said.

Firefighters used a harness to lower the man three stories from his working perch at the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride, Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.

Disney is in the process of converting its Twilight Zone Tower of Terror into a new ride based on the Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy  Mission Breakout! is scheduled to open next month.

Due to the injury, Wyatt said, the victim was unable to descend the scaffold on his own.
A Westminster doctor without any formal training in plastic surgery has been barred from doing liposuction or mini tummy tucks after he improperly performed those procedures, according to the state Medical Board.

Dr. Son Ngoc Truong agreed to settle allegations of gross negligence and dishonesty by accepting five years of board probation and the restrictions on his practice.

His attorney, Henry Lewin, did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

According to the medical board legal documents, Truong falsely claimed on his website that he had performed thousands of surgeries, had a celebrity client roster and an international reputation.

The documents mention three cases where he improperly performed liposuction. In one case, he also did a mini tummy tuck, which was not needed, and left a large scar. Mini tummy tucks are intended to leave a smaller scar than a regular tummy tuck.

In a second patient, the documents say, Truong used a laser and left a significant burn on the abdominal wall. He did not mention the complication to the patient or provide treatment, leaving her to discover the injury and seek treatment elsewhere, the documents say.

In the third case, Truong removed more than five pounds of fat tissue from the abdomen of a 101-pound woman, the documents say. Her blood vessels were damaged and three weeks after surgery she developed blisters on her stomach that took nine months to heal.

The unidentified patient visited a board-certified plastic surgeon for possible revision but he said too much fat had been removed and that the damage could not be fixed. The plastic surgeon filed a complaint with the medical board.

To view a doctors disciplinary record, visit mbc.ca.gov.
As if smokers in California dont get enough grief, on Saturday they started ponying up an extra $2 for a pack of cigarettes, bringing some brands closer to $10 a pack.

That represents as much as a 40 percent hike for a single pack. Cartons under the new tax would go up an additional $20. And, the tax applies to e-cigarettes.

Smokers can thank California voters, who on Nov. 8, voted yes on Proposition 56  the biggest tax on cigarettes since the state began taxing them in 1959. The money will be used to administer the tax, augment Medi-Cal and fund more doctors, prevention programs and research into tobacco-related diseases, according to the legislation.

Expected revenue is $1 billion to $1.4 billion in the 2017-18 fiscal year, although that may decrease over time, according to the California Legislative Analysts Office.

Yes on Prop. 56 garnered about 64 percent of the vote, or 9 million votes, versus 5 million no votes.

The extra two bucks comes on top of an existing 87-cent-per-pack state tax on cigarettes and an existing $1.01 federal tax that was approved in 2009 under the Obama administration.

But will the new tax hurt cigarette sales for retailers? Retailers say yes  but with a caveat.

Of course were going to lose sales, but maybe only for a while, said Doris Cruz, who manages a Circle K store in Placentia.

People who smoke will always smoke. They will try their best to cut down, she said, but eventually, theyll absorb the extra cost.

Cigarette sales could drop 30 to 40 percent for the first couple of months, said Medhat Abdelmessih, a cashier at Sams Smoke & Vape in Anaheim, but he believes theyll bounce back, as smokers work through a number of phases, not unlike denial or grief.

People will complain the first month, he said. By the second month, Theyll say, oh, Ive got to quit.  But then theyll realize the price has climbed consistently for years, and they never ended up quitting. So why quit now?

So I feel it doesnt matter. For my store here, it may decrease my sales a little bit, but eventually, it will be the same, Abdelmessih said.

Emad Nakla, owner of S & E Food Store & Liquor Store in Ontario, agrees.

My expectation for the customer, in the beginning, for sure he will decrease the dose, Nakla said. Lets say a customer smokes one pack of cigarettes a day. Then maybe once you surprise him with $2 more, he will cut it down a little bit, but hes not going to quit completely.

While other store managers measure the hiatuses in months,Nakla said he expects to see customers return in a matter of weeks. Credit reality.

Once (the smoker) gets under stress or gets mad, the first thing he will think about will be to smoke, Nakla said.

As Nakla was speaking, Wardell Moore, 47, of Rancho Cucamonga was buying a pack of Kools just days before the planned price hike. On cue, he went through the phases of cigarette taxation reaction.

Thats when Im going to stop smoking, Moore said of April 1. Aint no way in the world Im paying (nearly) $10 a pack.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group, claims that every 10 percent increase in cigarette prices could lead to as much as a 5 percent decline in cigarette smoking.

But Robert Kaestner, a professor of public policy and economics at UC Riverside, said research hes done doesnt bear that out.

At a 40 percent price hike, The quantitative effect is very small, Kaestner said. This $2 price hike is not really going to reduce the number of smokers that much. Our evidence suggested that a 100 percent increase in the tax would reduce smoking by at most 3 or 5 percent. It is a very small effect.

Kaestner said while much of the revenue will go to help support Medi-Cal, it will be on the backs of smokers, many of whom are in the low-income economic bracket.

Its going to save lives, but not as many as they claim, and it will be a regressive tax on low-income people transferred to Medicaid providers, he said. I dont see a lot of upside there.

Business expert Jay Prag, a professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, also was skeptical about the effectiveness of the tax  especially when consumers have options.

There obviously will be a certain amount of people who will stop buying legal cigarettes, the ones with the tax on them, Prag said. Thats not to say they will all quit smoking. Theyll find some place else to buy cigarettes out of state, or in the underground market and various other things.

What that will ultimately do is defeat two purposes of the bill. They wont get as much revenue from it, and they wont necessarily decrease the number of people smoking. People will simply find someplace else to buy them.

Switching to e-cigarettes wont help, because theyre also subject to the tax, which has Robert Sanchez, owner of Vape Warehouse in San Bernardino, irked.

If the laws continue like this, it will be detrimental to our industry, Sanchez said. Were trying to help people get off traditional analog cigarettes and if our industry is taken down by big tobacco, it will lead everybody back to smoking traditional analog cigarettes. (Its a concern) from a business standpoint, but also to the publics health.

Smoker Luis Sanchez, 32, is one who wont quit. The Yorba Linda resident was at the Cigarette King store in Placentia and said he doesnt plan on quitting yet.

And hes OK with the tax.

I have kids too. I dont want them to smoke, and I try to not smoke around them, Sanchez said. Whatever there is to offer out there for other kids or young adults that do want to smoke, if there are prevention programs to help them, I dont mind that my money goes toward that. Its an annoyance but if the money is going to a good place then I dont mind.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON Susan Rice, Barack Obamas national security adviser and the latest target for Donald Trumps embattled defenders, firmly denied on Tuesday that she or other Obama officials used secret intelligence reports to spy on Trump associates for political purposes.

Absolutely false, Rice declared.

The White House has seized on the idea that the Obama administration improperly surveilled the Republican during and after the November election  an accusation Democrats say is just another red herring thrown out to distract attention from investigations of Russian interference in the campaign on behalf of Trump.

Presidential spokesman Sean Spicer cast Rices handling of intelligence in the waning days of Obamas term as suspicious, although he did not detail what he found to be inappropriate.

The more we find out about this, the more we learn there was something there, Spicer said.

According to a U.S. official, Rice asked spy agencies to give her the names of Trump associates who surfaced in intelligence reports she was regularly briefed on. Rices official role would have given her the ability to make those requests for national security purposes.

Rice, in an interview with MSNBC, acknowledged that she sometimes asked for the names of Americans referenced in reports. She would not say whether she saw intelligence related to Trump associates or whether she asked for their identities, though she did say that reports related to Russia increased in the final months of the presidential election.

The Trump White House has been particularly incensed that intercepted conversations between national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russias ambassador to the U.S. surfaced in news reports before the inauguration. Flynn was fired after it became clear that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the content of those discussions.

Rice denied that she had leaked details about Flynns call, saying, I leaked nothing to nobody.

The U.S. official said Rices Trump-related requests were discovered as part of a National Security Council review of the governments policy on unmasking  the intelligence communitys term for revealing Americans identities that would otherwise be hidden in classified reports. The review was prompted by a belief that there were inefficiencies in the current procedures and concerns over a policy change made in the closing days of the Obama administration, according to the official, who insisted on anonymity in order to disclose the sensitive information.

In January, the Justice Department and intelligence officials agreed on new rules giving more U.S. agencies access to raw information picked up abroad by the National Security Agency. Privacy advocates have raised concerns that the new rules  which are yet to be fully implemented  would lead to the information being shared too broadly.

The unmasking review was led by Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the NSCs senior director of intelligence. Cohen-Watnick has clashed with the CIA and was on the verge of being moved out of his job until Trump political advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner stepped in to keep him in the role.

Cohen-Watnick raised his findings about Rice with the White House counsels office, according to the official. The counsels office ordered him to stand down because the lawyers did not want the White House to be running an independent investigation into the prior administration.

Still, the White House has appeared to find other ways to promote the idea that Obama officials were conducting improper surveillance of Trumps team.

In mid-March, House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes abruptly announced he had seen troubling information about spy agencies widely spreading the identities of Trump associates. The presidents advisers quickly embraced Nunes revelations, but did not acknowledge at the time that the congressman had viewed the information at the White House with the help of White House officials.

Its unclear if the information Nunes received is the same as the materials involving Rice.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, has called on Nunes to recuse himself from the panels Russia investigation. Schiff now has seen the same intelligence information as his Republican counterpart and has said nothing in it justifies such duplicitous conduct on the White Houses behalf.

The U.S. routinely monitors the communications of foreigners. The identities of Americans who talk with those foreigners, or who are discussed in conversations between two non-U.S. persons, are masked in intelligence reports.

Rice became a favorite target of conservatives after the 2012 attacks on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, when she was sent out to do television interviews with talking points about the attacks that later proved to be wrong. Even Republicans who have been critical of White House efforts to muddy the Russia investigations have said it is imperative to get to the bottom of her handling of Trump-related intelligence.

When it comes to Susan Rice, you need to verify, not trust, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

___

AP writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
SANTA ANA  Investors from across the country lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a securities fraud scheme allegedly operated out of Orange County by two Anaheim residents, according to court records obtained Monday, April 3.

Kevin David Grace, 51, and Madelynn Renee Jones, 58, are scheduled to be arraigned Friday on multiple felony counts, including charges of making an untrue statement or omission in connection with a purchase or sale, and failing to have a broker or dealer certificate.

They also face sentence-enhancing allegations of property damage exceeding $250,000 and aggravated white-collar crime surpassing $500,000.

Grace was arrested Feb. 5, and Jones on March 24.

Most of the allegations involve cold calls that were done to solicit investors for Neoteric Energy Inc., according to a motion to increase bail for Grace.

According to an affidavit for the bail-boosting motion, Orange County district attorney investigator Ernest Hu said Grace was listed as president of the company and Jones as treasurer.

One of the fleeced Neoteric investors was an 86-year-old Minnesota resident who lost $50,000 and another was an 80-year-old Arizona resident who lost $25,000, Hu alleged.

Total Neoteric investor losses were $294,200, which included a $199,200 investment made by a woman in Ohio, according to Hu.

Neoteric was described to investors as an oil and gas company that was developing and marketing game-changing technological advances for clean energy, according to Hu, who alleged that most of the victims money went to the defendants personal expenses.

Grace was not instrumental in developing the technological breakthrough advertised to investors, Hu alleged. The founder and president of the company that developed it said Grace initially helped him think up a broad concept for what would later become the product, Hu said.

Grace never had a role in developing or funding the product, Hu alleged in the affidavit.

The owner and president of the company that developed the product said it wasnt patented as investors were told, and he rejected a request to team up with the defendants, according to Hu.

During the investigation, Hu learned Grace has an extensive criminal history, including but not limited to misdemeanor convictions for drug charges (multiple), DUIs (multiple), hit-and-run, and domestic violence, and felony convictions for being an accessory to crime, grand theft, forgery and drug charges (multiple), including for which he is currently serving a three-year jail sentence, according to the affidavit.

The criminal history was not divulged to investors as is required, Hu said.

Neoteric wasnt the only scam Jones was involved in, according to Hu, who alleged that s she also tricked investors into sinking cash into other companies.

The 86-year-old investor from Minnesota lost a total of $235,000 in three other investments outside of Neoteric for which he was allegedly solicited by Jones, according to Hu, who said Jones is accused of ripping off investors out of at least $554,200.

Messages left with the prosecutor on the case, Deputy District Attorney Michelle Lipton, were not returned. A spokeswoman for the District Attorneys Office said a statement may be released closer to the Friday court date.
A six-bedroom, ocean-view home at the southern tip of San Clemente is the latest to hit the market on land once part of President Richard Nixons sprawling Western White House compound.

Built in 1991, the 6,526-square-foot, Mediterranean-style house at 4050 Calle Isabella sits on more than a half acre in the small, gated community of Cotton Point Estates.

The home, with 25-foot ceilings and marble floors, is topped with an ocean-view, rooftop deck.

A master suite and a family room are located on each level. The kitchen has been remodeled, plus theres a secondary kitchen. The wine storage holds nearly 500 bottles.

Outside is a 65-foot lap pool, as well as a cabana, fountains and a built-in barbecue. The house is a short walk to a private beach not far from the famous Trestles surfing spots.

The residence is priced at $5.32 million.

Jeremy Conrad and Bill Conrad of Conrad Realtors are the listing agents.

The home is owned by Stanley C. Brooks, former president of Brookstreet Capital, according to property and other records.

Brooks, 68, made headlines in 2012 when the Securities and Exchange Commission fined him and the company $10 million for securities fraud. Brookstreet was among the first financial companies to fall under the weight of collateralized mortgage obligations.

The house is in the same neighborhood as another one on the market at $17.9 million. That home, with 8,823 square feet of living space, includes a lighted tennis court.

In April 2015, a six-bedroom, Spanish-style estate next door to the Western White House owned by a retired builder sold for $7.75 million. It was the highest sale price for a house on the MLS in San Clemente in 10 years.

Nixon bought the home that would become the Western White House in 1969. He moved to New York in 1980, and the land around his estate was subdivided into lots for private homes.

The Western White House itself is for sale at $63.5 million.

Set behind private walls and fences, it has 15,000 square feet among all the structures, according to the listing, including a 9,000-square-foot main residence. The historic home is owned by retired Allergan CEO Gavin S. Herbert, who is selling the 5.45-acre estate after owning it for more than 30 years.

Did you miss?

Floating glass house in Laguna Beach hits market at $14.9 million
SANTA ANA An 84-year-old Santa Ana man with dementia who had been missing for hours was located Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

Tai Tu, who lives alone in the 900 West block of 1st Street, was not at home when a caregiver went to his apartment around 8:50 a.m., Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Video surveillance shows Tu leaving the apartment complex around 12:30 a.m.

Police say Tu fell and wound up tripping and falling not far from his home before 3 p.m.

A passerby called 911 and paramedics helped admit Tu to a local hospital; he was being treated for minor injuries sustained during the fall, county fire Capt. Larry Kurtz said.

He (Tu) is now recieving medical treatment and will be released once he recovers, Bertagna said.
Tuition rates are due for an increase at Californias public universities, but those who say its time for Sacramento to give more money to students  or even make college free  say their views are gaining momentum.

The reality has become so horrible that its impossible to ignore, said Stanton Glantz, a UC San Francisco medical professor and the co-author of a recent report contending free tuition is achievable.

Bernie Sanders put the issue on the table in a way that was much more effective than any of us pipsqueak faculty pushing from the bottom could ever do.

Sanders, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist Senator from Vermont, called for free college during his attempt to become the Democratic Partys nomination for president last year. Glantz doesnt anticipate free college will become law this year, but he sees Sanders advocacy and growing awareness of recent graduates debt burdens as factors that can sway minds in favor of free college.

The California Faculty Association and other unions working together as a group called Reclaim California Higher Education outlined their plan in a January report.

More recently, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and several other Democratic lawmakers backed a quartet of proposals they say will enable students to work their way through school without having to become debtors in the process. Those ideas include a new state-funded scholarship program they call Degrees Not Debt.

There are also at least two Southern California lawmakers  a Democratic assemblywoman and a Republican state senator  who have introduced more modest bills that would freeze tuition rates.

THE TUITION PUZZLE

But help from Sacramento wont necessarily come easily. Gov. Jerry Browns administration has urged fiscal caution. And state lawmakers are looking at other big money proposals, such as overhauling transportation funding and single-payer health care.

Indeed, the governor proposed eliminating the popular Middle Class Scholarship program even before the governing boards for the University of California and California State University acted this year to raise tuition for students who enroll in the next school year.

Legislators may not have the stomach for eliminating those scholarships, and it remains to be seen what Brown will ask for when he publishes his May budget revise.

What is known  absent a literal reversal of fortune for higher education funding  is that tuition hikes are coming for University of California and Cal State University students. The UC Board of Regents voted in January to raise undergraduates tuition from $12,630 from $12,294. CSU trustees acted in March to hike undergrads tuition from $5,472 to $5,742.

CSU officials, for example, have said existing financial aid packages result in some 60 percent of undergraduates being able to enroll without paying tuition. Tuition, however, is but one expense students have to pay. Individual campuses chargethere own fees and students need to buy textbooks and have food and shelter to stay alive.

Cal State Long Beach student Matthew Argame said he doesnt completely agree with the notion that going to a public university in California is all that affordable of a prospect when the cost of living in the Golden State is so high.

Argame, who is set to graduate this year plans to go on to medical school, is chief of staff for the Long Beach campus student government. Thats a paying job that he said he also supplemented with paid research work.

Other students, however, are not so fortunate as to find on-campus jobs that mesh with their academic goals.

Its kind of stressful, and you end up missing out on the academic experience, he said.

The average annual cost of college, including living expenses, textbooks and the like, is $32,800 for UC students and $20,600 for those at the CSU, according to proponents of the Degrees Not Debt plan. Those figures include amounts that can be defrayed by existing aid programs, and Degrees Not Debt proponents say theyre not trying to give students a free ride, but can reduce students annual costs to about $7,500.

DEGREES NOT DEBT

Assembly Democrats, led by Sacramento-area lawmaker Kevin McCarty and Parmounts Rendon, introduced what they call their Degrees Not Debt program earlier in mid-March. Their objective, they said, is to provide money that would help students pay for living expenses, textbooks and other costs beyond basic tuition charges.

Lawmakers backing this plan have insisted that its not a proposal for free college. Although they contend its possible to allow a California student to earn a degree while having virtually zero debt, their projections also show individual students needing to come up with about $7,500 annually to pay for school. If their numbers work out, students family members would not be expected to make additional out-of-pocket payments if they have household incomes of $60,000 or less.

Student debt isnt because of tuition, McCarty said in a telephone interview. Its housing. Cost of living.Its books. Transportation.

McCarty and other Democrats have proposed four things:

 A new publicly-funded Degrees Not Debt scholarship that would supplement Cal Grants and other existing forms of financial aid.

 Preserve the Middle Class Scholarship, a relatively recent addition to Californias financial aid offerings that Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed to eliminate.

 Allow new, full-time California Community College students to attend a tuition-free year of school.

 Expand the Success Grants program, which helps community college students pay for living expenses.

Supporters have put forth the proposal as something that may be relatively easy for Sacramento to afford, but their position assumes a more optimistic view of Californias economic future than the Brown Administration does.

The governors January proposal, which included the prospect of axing the Middle Class Scholarship, warns of a $1.6 billion shortfall. The administration is scheduled to update its forecasts and spending asks in May, but McCarty and other Democrats in the governors own party, dont think things are so dim.

They have the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office on their side. The LAO predicts the next fiscal year could end with $2.8 billion in discretionary dollars left over.

In McCartys estimation, eliminating the Middle Class Scholarship is a dead letter in Sacramento and hes confident in the Assembly backing the proposals to aid community college students.

Creating a new scholarship program may be more challenging.

Democrats backing the plan have projected the Degrees Not Debt scholarships could cost $1.6 billion at full implementation, but have also suggested phasing in the program over five years.

The Assembly Higher Education Committee has already passed a bill, A.B. 19, that would allow community college students to get a free year. McCarty, along with Assemblymen Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, and David Chiu, D-San Francisco co-authored that bill.

The Legislative Analyst projects a $31 million annual cost for doing so, although the bill could grow to the extent that free classes entice larger numbers of students to take classes.

That bill is moving on a separate track from the Degrees Not Debt and other plans announced in mid-March, McCarty said. The others are planned to be written up in trailer bills later in the budget process.

Earlier this year, the Legislative Analyst estimated the full cost of debt free college for students attending the UC, CSU and Community Colleges may cost the state $3.3 billion.

THE $48 FIX

Whereas the proponents of the Degrees Not Debt concept say theyre not calling for free college, thats exactly what the California Faculty Association is pushing for.

Reclaim California Higher Education argued in a January report called The $48 Fix: Reclaiming Californias Master Plan for Higher Education that lawmakers should raise taxes to make college free.

They dont expect to get their way this year, but Glantz said increasing public awareness of college students debt burdens and Sen. Bernie Sanders advocacy for free college during his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 have made the prospect of tuition-free college a more credible notion. Hes also finding less support for the idea that Californias recent methods of financing higher education.

I was shocked, shocked at how much everyone we met with realized thats not working, he said.

Data from The Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit advocating for more government aid for students aid, shows 54 percent of the Golden States 2015 crop of college graduates had debt obligations to go with their diplomas. Those graduates average indebtedness approached $22,200.

Establishing free college, according to the faculty groups their calculations, would cost $9.4 billion. The reports authors further contend Sacramento could do this by levying a surcharge to Californians income-tax payments.

Proponents call this plan The $48 Fix on the basis of their assertion that filers reporting between $39,000 and $39,999 in taxable income would be required to pay an additional $48 on their state tax returns.

The amount of the surcharge ramps up for those earning more: A taxpayer in the $40,000 to $49,999 range would pay about $70 in additional taxes. For high-income earners, such as someone earning $100,000 to $149,999, the extra charge would be $618. Anyone who earns $1 million or more per year would pay more than $50,200.

The faculty group also put forth oil severance taxes or an estate taxes as alternatives to a pure income tax.

Would anyone go for it? The Public Policy Institute of California reported in January that 48 percent of Californians would favor higher taxes to fund public universities, as opposed to 23 percent who preferred raising tuition.

That polling showed a stark difference along party lines. Among Democrats, 68 percent said they would be willing to pay higher taxes. Only 20 percent of Republicans  and 42 percent of independents  said the same.

TUITION FREEZES

Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Buena Park, and state Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Fountain Valley, have both introduced bills to reverse this years tuition increases and keep rates frozen for the next several bills.

Silvas measure, A.B. 393, would freeze California Community College enrollment fees and CSU tuition rates until after the 2019-20 academic year. Her bill would also overturn CSU trustees new tuition hike.

Her bill has been referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee. Silva is also backing the Degrees Not Debt plan.

I think theres just more interest by multiple legislators, she said.

Nguyens bill is a little different. S.B. 236 would freeze tuition rates for the UC and CSU from the 2018-19 school year through 2023. This proposal would allow both systems tuition hikes to remain in force, although Nguyen said shes worried the costs of public college are becoming impossible for some students to pay.

Its not even reachable, said Nguyen, who also said she worked three jobs while attending UC Irvine before her graduation in 2000.

Nguyens bill would also prevent the UC and CSU from allowing more than 10 percent of incoming undergraduates from hailing from anywhere beyond California while forbidding the UC and CSU to give publicly-funded aid to out-of-state students.

The UC admitted some 16,000 out-of-state students with lesser academic qualifications than California enrollees from the 2012-13 though 2014-15 school years, according to a March 2016 audit.

Nguyens bill is set for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee on April 19.
Sick of being taken for a ride by male car mechanics whenever she went to an auto repair shop, Patrice Banks became a certified mechanic herself. The ambitious woman is now educating other women on car maintenance and running an all-female car repair business in Philadelphia.

Born poor to a single mother, Patrice Banks has done very well for herself. She was the first in her family to graduate from high school and after engineering at Lehigh University, she went on to work as an engineer in a cellular analysis lab at DuPont for over a decade. Its safe to say that she was a very ambitious and confident woman, but there was always one thing that made her feel insecure  having to take her car to a repair shop. The mechanics would either try to overcharge her, be condescending or make her wait simply because she was a woman.

Then, one day, a mechanic tried to sell her an air filter, and she had a feeling that he was overcharging her, but she knew very little about car parts, so she couldnt be sure. Patrice ended up declining the offer, but the experience convinced her that there had to be an easier way for women to get their cars fixed without being looked down at by men. She went online and could only find five women who owned their own auto shop in all of the United States, none of them near Philadelphia, so she decided to fill this void starting with herself.

Patrice Banks started taking night classes in auto maintenance, while working at Du Pont during the day, and eventually became a certified mechanic. As she heard more and more complaints from women about their experiences at male-operated car repair shops, she decided it was up to her to change the status quo. She founded Girls Auto Clinic and started organizing a series of workshops and trainings for women who wanted to learn the basics of auto maintenance.

I was one of those women who hated taking my car to the dealership. Anytime I heard a noise or saw a light, Id ask a guy to come tell me what to do, Patrice told Oxygen. When I learned how to work on cars I realized wow this stuff isnt hard!! Women dont know that because theres nobody speaking like them. The industry is run by men.

It was an incredible opportunity to address these people who were being left out, not heard, and not having their needs met, she adds. I wanted to empower women to become sheCANics  to be savvy, empowered, not afraid to talk like a mechanic or take charge of their cars and lives.

But that was only the beginning for Banks. Soon after graduating, she quit her engineering job at Dy Pont and dedicated herself to Girls Auto Clinic. She held lectures, taught workshops, stated a blog and built a social media presence for her brand. But her crown achievement is the newly opened Girls Auto Clinic repair shop in Philadelphia. Its staffed exclusively by female mechanics but caters to both men and women.

Patrices woman-friendly auto repair shop not only offers quality services and guidance to female drivers, but also features a beauty salon, where they can have their hair and nails done while they wait for the mechanics to work their magic.

The ambitious entrepreneur still holds free monthly workshops where she teaches women the basics of car maintenance so that when they have to deal with a rude male mechanic they at least know how to talk to him. Shes also getting ready to launch her first book, The Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide, which she hopes will help women deal with many car issues themselves, instead of having a guy do it.

My ultimate goal with Girls Auto Clinic is to reach every woman driver, whether its through our products, services, or resources, Patrice said.

Girls Auto Clinic reminds me of Only Girls, the French all-female garage aimed at women tired of being ripped off by male mechanics.

Photos: Girls Auto Clinic/Facebook


Quayle Tees Off for Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf Fri., Aug. 26, 2022 Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures is representing Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf to protect the rights of professional golfers to play when and where they want. Ex-Congressman Ben Quayle handles the effort.


Rebuilding Trust Through Food Thu., Mar. 17, 2022 Trust in the food and beverage sector remains below levels we saw before the pandemic. Heres what the industry can do to win back trust and become effective drivers of positive change.
Agricultural News

Meet Beecher Owens of Mannford FFA, 2017 Northeast District Star in Ag Placement







During the month of April, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report will be spotlighting the twenty District Stars of Oklahoma FFA that are among the highest achievers in the organization. The stars come from the five districts in four categories- Star in Ag Placement, Star in Agriscience, Star in Agribusiness and Star in Production Agriculture. We are beginning our series of profiles of the District Stars with the five district winners in Ag Placement. The top individuals in this category have been employed within the agricultural community- and are judged on the success of their work program. The member's placement experience can include paid labor hours or directed laboratory unpaid labor hours.





Our first district star in Ag Placement represents the Northeast District- Beecher Owens of Mannford FFA. Owens has been employed by Pleasant Valley Farms and has been involved in both an Agri Tourism program as well as Forest Management and Products. In the second part of his SAE- the Forest enterprise is raising and selling Christmas Trees, which dovetails with the Agri Tourism efforts of the farm.





His work experience program has helped him polish his people skills- and he told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays that he has really enjoyed interacting with urban customers who come to their working farm for a real "farm experience."





After graduation from Mannford High School, Beecher plans to continue in the world of agriculture, planning to attend Oklahoma State University and major in Agribusiness or perhaps Ag Communications.





You can hear his conversation with Hays by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.





A complete list of the District Stars can be seen on the Oklahoma FFA website by clicking or tapping here.





Our salute of the 2017 District Stars of the Oklahoma FFA is brought to you by American Farmers & Ranchers, proud to support Oklahoma's youth. Visit the AFR website by clicking or tapping here to learn more on how AFR supports the young people of Oklahoma, and how AFR can provide you with quality insurance for you home, auto, farm, and life.















Ron Hays talks with Beecher Owens of Mannford about his Ag Placement program of work

WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady NSI

Top Agricultural News
BH Media Group of Omaha said Monday it has eliminated 289 jobs, including 108 vacant positions, to reduce costs because of declining advertising and circulation revenue.

BH Media is the newspaper division of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., parent company of the Omaha World-Herald and other publications. It now employs 4,450 people.

Terry Kroeger, president and chief executive, said in a memo to BH Media employees that some of the companys 31 newspapers are reducing other expenses, including the number of pages they print.

None of the job cuts were at The World-Herald or the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, although a few Omaha-based BH Media positions were eliminated.

Kroeger said in an interview that he told Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett last week about the cutbacks but said the decisions were made completely locally. ... His opinion was not sought or offered.

Kroeger said BH Media still considers buying newspapers that come up for sale, as it has in recent years under Berkshire ownership. Berkshire formed BH Media when it purchased a group of newspapers in 2012, shortly after acquiring The World-Herald.

In the memo, Kroeger said that without cost reductions, some BH Media operations would not be profitable.

And, like it or not, profitable news organizations are necessary to practice exceptional journalism, he said, adding:

While these actions are sad for all of us as colleagues, they are necessary to sustain the vital role our publications play in their respective communities.

Kroeger said the company is experiencing a critical moment as print newspapers have suffered from the growing popularity of the digital environment. Regional and national advertisers are being hurt by online retailers, he said, causing them to reduce their print advertising.

Kroeger said BH Media newspapers are the leaders in their markets and are investing in digital publishing to create as many connections as possible with our readers, non-readers, advertisers, non-advertisers and all consumers.

Newspapers owned by BH Media include the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Roanoke Times in Virginia; the Tulsa World in Oklahoma; the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina; and Nebraska newspapers in York, North Platte, Kearney, Scottsbluff and Grand Island.

The Richmond paper said it laid off 33 employees, including 13 in the newsroom, and is leaving other positions unfilled. Other changes in the paper will be announced later this week.

The Greensboro paper said it cut 36 staff positions and would consolidate its paper into two sections on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays; merge its Sunday news into one section; and drop the daily TV list, bridge column and horoscope.

And the Tulsa World said it eliminated 28 staff positions in news, advertising, finance, circulation and corporate services.

Figures on BH Media in Berkshires 2016 annual report show that the 31 daily papers weekday circulation was down 6.9 percent from a year earlier to a combined 674,000 copies.

The World-Herald is the largest in the group, with a weekday circulation of 99,100 and a Sunday circulation of 124,000, according to the 2016 report. Thats down 6.1 percent on weekdays and 7.3 percent on Sundays from figures in Berkshires 2015 report.
As state and city leaders shared congratulatory handshakes and posed for photos with shiny blue Facebook shovels Tuesday morning, construction was already beginning on the social media giants new data center south of Papillion.

We want to move fast, said Tom Furlong, vice president of infrastructure for Facebook.

Timing is key for Facebook when it comes to site selection, Furlong said after the announcement at Papillions City Hall. He was joined by Gov. Pete Ricketts, Papillion Mayor David Black and other state and county leaders, who took turns standing in front of a backdrop featuring Facebooks logo intermingled with the Greater Omaha Chambers We Dont Coast slogan.

Nebraska leaders say the deal was years in the making.

Its been a big team effort, Ricketts said during the press conference Tuesday morning.

The planned data center  Facebooks ninth data center worldwide  is massive, Furlong said. It will be Facebooks sixth data center in the United States and one of the most advanced and energy-efficient data centers in the world, he said.

The 146-acre campus will boast two 450,000-square-foot buildings at Nebraska Highway 50 and Capehart Road. The two buildings will be accompanied by a 70,000-square-foot administrative building. Construction will take about 18 months, Furlong said, and the data center is expected to be online in 2020.

Were terribly excited about the opportunity to have Facebook here and help us be able to grow our burgeoning data center industry here in Nebraska, Ricketts said.

Ricketts said in a press release that landing Facebook will be vital in expanding the burgeoning Silicon Prairie, which has been a priority for his administration.

Last year, Ricketts visited with executives at Facebooks headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in an effort to entice the social media giant.

Furlong said Sarpy Countys existing network of data centers helped catch Facebooks attention. Yahoo, Fidelity, Cabelas and Travelers already operate data centers in the county. Locating near other data centers creates an ideal ecosystem for tech companies to thrive, he said.

A deal with the Omaha Public Power District that will allow Facebook to power the facility solely through wind-generated electricity was also key, he said. Facebook has a goal of using 50 percent clean and renewable energy in its electricity supply mix for data centers in 2018.

Facebook data centers of this size usually bring about 1,000 temporary construction jobs and about 100 permanent jobs, said Lindsay Amos, a Facebook spokeswoman. Although Facebook does use some of its own contractors, construction labor will be mostly local. The company declined to discuss salaries for its permanent employees.

Once its online, the data center will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Papillion Mayor David Black said the Facebook campus, which is outside city limits but in Papillions zoning jurisdiction, would lead to infrastructure improvements that he believes will spur economic growth in the rural area of the county.

Capehart Road will be paved for the project, which will improve accessibility to the area, Black said.

The data center will also get its own sewage lift station. Facebook's connection fee will help pay for it to be installed.

Using the codename Project Raven, Facebook has already gone through multiple layers of approval from Papillion as well as finalized land negotiations. Property owners werent told in advance who was buying their land.

The Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation, which is part of the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership, represented Facebook in the approvals process. Andrew Rainbolt, executive director of the economic development corporation, said hes been working on the project since January 2016.

The Papillion site will be Facebooks first location in Nebraska. Organizers are not seeking tax-increment financing for the project.

Facebook currently has data centers in Prineville, Oregon; Forest City, North Carolina; Lulea, Sweden; and Altoona, Iowa. Construction on additional data centers is underway in Fort Worth, Texas; Clonee, Ireland; Los Lunas, New Mexico; and Odense, Denmark.
Prairieland Dairy of Firth, Nebraska, has sold its brand and its Lincoln distribution center to Hiland Dairy Foods, which will handle processing, sales and distribution of its milk.

Hiland couldnt say whether grocery shoppers still will see Prairielands cow-in-a-bonnet logo at local stores.

We have not determined the direction for the Prairieland brand at this time, Brian Breci, general manager of Hilands Nebraska division, said in an email.

Hiland retired another Nebraska milk brand name  Roberts Dairy  in 2013.

Prairieland milk will be processed in Omaha and Hiland will serve Prairielands existing customers, Breci said.

Hiland, based in Springfield, Missouri, processes milk in five states and distributes dairy products in the Midwest and Great Plains.

Hiland is a joint venture, dating to 1981, between the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative milk supplier and the Illinois-based Prairie Farms Dairy cooperative, which is the managing partner.

Prairieland now becomes one of many farmer-owners that supply milk from their herds to Hiland, Breci said.

Prairieland was founded in 2000 by four neighboring farm families.

General manager Dan Rice said as Prairieland looked to grow, it had to decide where it wanted to invest. Grocery retailers were demanding more products, like butter and sour cream, that Prairieland couldnt provide at its scale.

Growth would mean big investments in processing equipment and in distribution  a supply chain like Hilands.

They already have the infrastructure, Rice said.

Instead, the Prairieland farmers will focus on their dairy operations and on a smaller compost business, and still will use the Prairieland name. The farms have about 1,400 cows producing 15,000 gallons of milk a day.

Nothing will change on our end, Rice said. Our roots are in working with cows  thats what we know.

About 25 employees will remain with the dairy business, and 15 others were hired by Hiland, Rice said.

The deal was effective Saturday. Rice and Hiland declined to comment on terms.
Three Susie Buffett-led organizations are moving from midtown Omahas Kiewit Plaza  home also to Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway  to a piece of the downtown riverfront campus.

Buffett said she and the staff are excited about their future digs in a former Conagra building, which offers more than twice the space they occupy in the headquarters building of Kiewit Corp.

It was just perfect for us, Buffett told The World-Herald on Monday. Its beautiful. That area is nice: on the water, lots of trees.

Of course, the philanthropist and billionaires daughter conceded, there is a downside.

I am sorry to be leaving my father, she said, adding: Were trying to do the best job we can with his money and my mothers money.

The new home  about 60,000 square feet on two floors of 808 Conagra Drive  allows for future growth of the Sherwood Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after Susies late mother) and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund.

The collective team of about 60 employees is expected to relocate at years end.

In the meantime, architectural design and renovations will tailor the new space to the foundations needs, said CBRE/Mega President Bennett Ginsberg, who represented Susie Buffett in the search. Kiewit spokesman Bob Kula said vacant space in Kiewit Plaza is typically filled from within the company.

Buffett said she remains fond of Kiewit Plaza, 3555 Farnam St., where the entities she heads have been based since 1989, when they moved out of someones basement. We love Kiewit.

Space, however, became cramped, and Buffett expects further growth. We dont want to move again.

Now, instead of having the Oracle of Omaha as a neighbor, Sherwood and the sister groups will work alongside the Conagra Brands workforce left on the downtown campus after Conagra moved its corporate flag to Chicago.

Chris Kircher, Conagra spokesman, said the company was thrilled. Conagra will be the landlord of the space Buffett is leasing.

I speak on behalf of all 1,200 employees down there. We are excited to have them.

Perhaps most widely known of the three entities, the Sherwood Foundation, according to its website, promotes social justice initiatives that enhance the quality of life in Nebraska. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation funds student scholarships, teacher awards and a wide range of social causes, and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund aims to level the playing field for all children.

The Sherwood Foundation received money from the estate of Susie Buffetts mother, and each year her father donates Berkshire stock to the family foundations. Last year he donated $218 million to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and $153 million each to foundations run by his children.

With Susie Buffett as chairwoman, the three foundations are to occupy two floors of the structure known as Building 5, one of two buildings vacated by Conagra last year as it downsized its downtown workforce.

Steve Sheppard of CBRE/Mega and P.J.Morgan of PJ Morgan Real Estate worked on behalf of Conagra to market the pair of buildings on the northern end of the campus.

Together, the two buildings have more than 200,000 square feet of office space near the Old Market and the Heartland of America Park. They are connected by a tunnel system to three other main office buildings on the 30-acre, low-rise campus, built for Conagra in 1989.

The deal with Susie Buffett was cinched after she had looked west and in midtown, Ginsberg said. He said the sprawling Conagra campus, its proximity to the airport and on-site parking were pluses.

Tour activity by potential tenants remains high for other parts of the Conagra property still up for lease, Morgan said. He said hes talking to a different tenant about renting a smaller chunk of space in Building 5.

He and Sheppard expect the Buffett lease to spark more interest in the site.

We think this is a boost for downtown Omaha, Sheppard said.
A man armed with a shotgun entered a South Omaha barbershop on a February morning, threw down a bag and demanded money, a police officer testified Tuesday.

This is not a game, the would-be robber said, according to four witnesses inside the Fade Kings barbershop at 2907 Q St.

Then, gunfire ensued.

Lucas Ortiz will stand trial in connection with the Feb. 24 shooting, Douglas County Judge Darryl Lowe ruled Tuesday. Lowe also increased Ortizs bail from $300,000 to $500,000, meaning Ortiz would have to put up $50,000 to be released.

Ortiz, 23, is charged with 11 felonies  four counts of attempted robbery, five counts of use of a weapon to commit a felony, attempted assault and possession of a short shotgun.

Omaha Police Detective Johnny Palermo testified that Ortiz pointed his shotgun at barbershop owner Jesse Galvan. Ortiz fired, Palermo said, and a shotgun slug flew past Galvans head  missing it by inches  and hit a wall.

Galvan, who is a concealed-carry permit-holder, returned fire. Ortiz was hit twice in his leg. Officers found him across the street, Palermo said.

The altercation lasted about 10 seconds, Palermo said, according to witness statements and video surveillance.

Ortizs shotgun measured 25 1/2 inches long, the detective said. Nebraska law states a short rifle is less than 26 inches in length.

One of the barbers threw down his wallet when Ortiz demanded money, Palermo said, but most of the business transactions at the barber shop are completed online.

Ortiz was taken to the hospital for treatment of his gunshot wounds. When he was released from the hospital, he declined to speak with detectives.

He entered the courtroom on crutches Tuesday.
Interested in the Omaha Public Schools superintendent job?

Start polishing your resume.

OPS board members hemmed and hawed over the next steps for selecting an interim superintendent Monday night but ultimately decided to open up the process and accept applications from any candidates interested in the job.

Potential applicants will have a deadline of April 12 to submit an application, resume and cover letter for the interim job.

The board also decided that whoever is selected as interim superintendent will not be able to apply for the permanent superintendent job. Having an interim candidate in the mix could scare off future candidates for the permanent position, board members said.

The board voted 6-3 to start the application process, with board members Vinny Palermo, Lou Ann Goding and Matt Scanlan voting no.

Board members in favor of the application process said they were responding to community members who are clamoring for an open and transparent process after the districts superintendent search ended abruptly last month, with all three finalists dropping out of the search.

With no permanent hire in place, the board now has the task of hiring an interim superintendent for the 2017-18 school year.

I think we have a lot of work to do together, and the public wants to see us do that in the open, Amanda Ryan said.

Goding and Scanlan both backed extending the contract of current Superintendent Mark Evans. Evans announced in October that he would retire at the end of June so he could spend more time with ailing parents and in-laws, and so the board could unite around its next superintendent.

Evans has helped revamp the internal hiring process, led a successful bond referendum and has devoted more attention and resources to the districts lowest-performing schools, Scanlan said.

Weve been very successful the last four years under the leadership of Mark Evans, he said.

Board member Ben Perlman asked Evans point-blank whether he was interested in staying for another year.

I would like to ask yes or no, Perlman said. Is extension of your contract something youd like considered?

Evans said he is concerned with maintaining stability in the district but said he wasnt prepared to answer the question without knowing whether the board wanted to retain him.

I havent said a yes or no because I dont know what you or your collective body wants, Evans said.

Several board members said Evans can still apply to stay on as interim superintendent, but they said accepting applications would make the process more fair.

Other names that have surfaced include Deb Frison, a former Burke High principal who currently serves as a deputy commissioner of the Nebraska Department of Education, and Assistant Superintendent ReNae Kehrberg.

In a statement, Kehrberg said she is not interested in the interim superintendent job and plans to proceed with her already announced plans to retire at the end of July.

I could not be prouder of the OPS staff, students, family and community members that I have had the honor of supporting for 36 years, Kehrberg said. I am continuing with my plans to retire.

A large group of principals and the president of the teachers union had previously told the board they wanted Kehrberg to serve as interim, especially if Evans decided that he didnt want to stick around.

Frison told The World-Herald last month that she is interested in serving as interim superintendent.

At the meeting, close to a dozen parents, ministers and other community members shared their own suggestions with board members and asked them to be transparent when it came to picking an interim superintendent.

Some spoke out against extending Evans contract for another year.

We dont get stability by reappointing a superintendent who decided to quit in the middle of his contract, parent Alex Gates said.

Others, including a group of pastors from north Omaha, continued to throw their support behind Frison.

During her nearly 40-year career with the district, Frison has worked at schools in north and west Omaha, the Rev. Cedric Perkins said. She understands urban and suburban families and is now privy to the inner workings of the State Education Department.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Perkins and other speakers urged board members to work through their differences and get on the same page when it came to choosing OPSs next leader.

If you have two teeth in your mouth, they look better together than apart, Perkins said to laughs. And they dont just look better, they bite better.

Parent Gina Miller and the Rev. Portia Cavitt told the board to avoid the appearance that members were striking backroom deals. Dont shut the public out of the process of hiring an interim, they said.

We need a fresh start, Miller said. Lets do this right.

James Mason Jr., the executive director of 100 Black Men of Omaha, said he wouldnt tell the board whom to choose as interim. But its clear that the district has several qualified internal candidates, he said. Were not going to get someone from the outside, not with the mess youve made, he said. We have qualified people right here. We have people who have poured their hearts and souls into this district.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)  A rare case of leprosy has been reported in northwest Iowas Woodbury County.

Doctors say leprosy, also called Hansens disease, causes red skin sores and, if not treated, can cause hand and foot paralysis and blindness.

Tyler Brock of the Siouxland District Health Department said only a couple of cases have been recorded in Woodbury County during his 19 years with the department. The Iowa Department of Public Health said nine cases of leprosy were identified in the state from 1994 through 2015.

Brock would not provide details of the case, including whether it was related to immigration or travel. The disease is common in some countries.

Mercy Medical Center disease specialist Daniel Lamptey said leprosy isnt highly contagious and is curable if caught early.

Copyright 2017, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LINCOLN  Nebraska lawmakers gave first-round approval Tuesday to a measure aimed at helping ensure that pregnant and parenting students can finish high school.

Legislative Bill 427 advanced on a vote of 29-3, despite concerns raised by some senators that it amounted to an unfunded mandate on schools.

The measure, introduced by State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, makes clear that K-12 schools must accommodate student mothers who want to breast-feed.

The bill requires schools to provide an appropriate place for students to pump breast milk and store it. The bill would apply to all public, private and parochial schools.

An amendment added to the bill would require all public school districts to adopt a policy for accommodating pregnant and parenting students.

The bill requires the State Department of Education to put out a model policy that local districts could adapt.

At a minimum, policies would have to address student absences during pregnancy, provide for tutoring or other coursework alternatives for pregnant or parenting students, specify how districts would accommodate students who need to pump milk, and identify quality local child care providers if the district does not have in-school child care.

The amendment incorporates language from LB 428, also a Vargas bill.

Vargas said some schools already do well at encouraging pregnant and parenting students to stay in school, while others could do better.

I think were doing the right thing by standing by student mothers to make sure they can finish their education and provide for themselves and their family, he said.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, the Education Committee chairman, objected to the amendment, saying it addresses a problem that doesnt exist.

Rural schools handle such situations on their own, while larger ones already have policies, he said.

We take care of our children, we take care of our mothers, Groene said. We dont need mandates from on high.

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard objected to the amendment as well. He said the Nebraska Constitution only requires lawmakers to provide free instruction.

I dont know where its our obligation to keep pregnant and parenting students in school, he said.

But Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha argued for the amendment and the bill. He said some of the debate reminded him of the 1950s, when pregnant girls were not allowed to attend school.

There is a time and a place where we should mandate accommodations, he said.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln compared the debate about LB 427 and the amendment with Mondays debate about creating Choose Life license plates. The bill creating those plates said they were about protecting children.

This is hypocrisy, she said. This doesnt make any sense.

Vargas said statistics show that 70 percent of teen mothers leave school and do not return after having a child.

Currently Nebraska school districts have widely varied policies about pregnant and parenting students, according to surveys done by the ACLU of Nebraska.

Only 17 percent have formal policies that address the breast-feeding needs of students, although many work with students on a case-by-case basis, the surveys found.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln said schools have a legal obligation to accommodate those students. Federal Title IX, which requires gender equity in education, prohibits discrimination related to pregnancy and childbirth.

In addition, Nebraska law provides that women can breast-feed anywhere they have a right to be.

No one appeared in opposition to the breast-feeding bill or pregnant and parenting policy proposal during their public hearings. Both drew support from groups concerned about child well-being.
Facebook is gearing up for a big announcement Tuesday morning.

The company is holding a press conference at Papillion City Hall Tuesday at 10 a.m. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Papillion Mayor David Black and a Facebook representative will be in attendance, the media advisory says. It does not say the reason for the press conference.

The World-Herald reported in February that the social media giant was apparently looking at a 146-acre site on Nebraska Highway 50 and Capehart Road for a data center, according to documents submitted to the City of Papillion.

Facebook officials, economic development and city leaders declined to confirm Facebooks involvement at that time.

A data center project, using the code name Project Raven, has already gone through several layers of approval from Papillion.

The Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation has been working on Project Raven for a year. Representatives from the development corporation as well as from Facebook declined to comment ahead of Tuesday mornings announcement.
Scattered showers may continue to develop over parts of the region through tonight, including possibly the Omaha area, with a slight chance of more precipitation Wednesday and Wednesday night.

The brunt of any rain will be to the south and east of the Omaha area, said Ryan McPike, a KMTV meteorologist.

Sunshine should return to the region Thursday through Saturday, along with rising temperatures and a break from spring rains, the National Weather Service office in Valley said.

A few locations in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa may experience near-freezing temperatures Wednesday and Thursday nights, which could affect some sensitive early-spring vegetation.

Overnight lows in the Omaha area for Wednesday and Thursday will be in the mid-30s.

Today, look for mostly cloudy skies with a high in the upper 50s in the Omaha area, the weather service said.

There is a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday, with a high in the mid- to upper 50s. North winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Thursday through Saturday will be sunny with highs in the mid-50s to lower 60s and lower 70s, the weather service said.

The forecast does get better as we go out in the week, said McPike. As the sun comes out Thursday and Friday, temperatures will rise.

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms returns to the Omaha area Sunday, when a high in the lower 70s is likely.

Area rainfall in inches for the 24 hours ending at 7:30 a.m. today: Albion, .04; Beatrice, .19; Blair, .10; Falls City, .41; Fremont, .22; Lincoln, trace; Nebraska City, .37; Norfolk, .17; Offutt Air Force Base, .01; Eppley Airfield, .04; Millard, .06; Tekamah, .23; Valley, .21; Wahoo, .15; Wayne, .59; Council Bluffs, .02; Clarinda, .23; Harlan, .05; Red Oak, .07; Shenandoah, .02.
WASHINGTON  The head of U.S. Strategic Command renewed his pitch to lawmakers Tuesday for modernizing the nations nuclear forces.

Gen. John Hyten said that the countrys nuclear forces represent a ready, reliable strategic deterrent.

Even though our adversaries have modernized their nuclear capabilities, we still have an effective deterrent, Hyten said. The question is will we have an effective deterrent 10 years from now and 20 years from now? The answer to that has to be yes. Thats why we have to modernize and thats why it has to be a significant priority for this country.

Hyten is head of StratCom, which is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha.

His appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee comes as the Defense Department prepares a new nuclear posture review  the first since 2010  and debates spending priorities.

President Donald Trump has indicated he wants to devote more money to defense generally and nuclear modernization specifically. But theres always a great deal of competition for federal dollars.

Hyten acknowledged the hefty price tag that comes with modernizing nuclear weapons platforms but said it had to be done.

Deterrence is going to be expensive, Hyten said. But war is always more expensive than deterrence.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., was among members of the committee asking about modernization funding as well as Russias treaty violations in deploying nuclear-tipped, ground-launched cruise missiles.

Fischer said the Obama administration talked about potential responses to those violations but didnt follow through. She asked Hyten for his view.

I think every step that Russia takes has to be responded to, Hyten said. This is just the next step and we have to figure out, as a nation, how to respond. Its not necessarily a military response, but the nation has to figure out how to respond.

He said he couldnt get into more specifics in a nonclassified setting.

In response to other questions, he said a single one of those missiles does not represent a threat to the United States or its allies but that a significant number would in the future.

We have no defense for it, especially in defense of our European allies, Hyten said. That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, asked about challenges in the defense acquisition process and how thats affecting the U.S. ability to stay ahead of adversaries.

Hyten responded that those working in acquisitions now have too little authority  or accountability.

I think fundamentally we have to change that focus to let those great people that do that business every day focus on delivering those capabilities and then hold them accountable, he said.

Another member of the committee, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., skipped the hearing. He was speaking Tuesday morning at a religious conference in Indianapolis.
It was the choice between current Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and former State Sen. Heath Mello that brought voters to churches, schools and community centers Tuesday.

City Council candidates were also on the ballot. And there were three other candidates for mayor. But voters at polling places throughout the city said it was Stothert or Mello that grabbed their attention.

Voters in Tuesdays primary were narrowing the field of 28 candidates for seven City Council districts and mayor down to no more than two in each race, ahead of the citys May 9 general election. The citys elections are nonpartisan.

Voters who showed up at the polls said they didnt have to wait very long to cast their ballots. Many who did show up lamented the low turnout.

When a reporter walked into a polling place at north Omahas Urban League of Nebraska building at 30th and Lake Streets, a disappointed poll worker admonished him, saying You didnt bring us any voters.

By about 1:30 p.m., only 45 people had cast their ballots there out of the 1,200 people on the precincts rolls.

Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse predicted voter turnout of 23 percent, or about 65,000 votes.

It was low voter turnout during the November general election that inspired some to vote on Tuesday.

Several people said they were casting their votes for Mello, a Democrat, because they disliked Republican President Donald Trump. Stothert, also a Republican, wrote in Sen. John McCains name instead of voting for Trump.

Other people said they were voting for Stothert because she was a Republican and they were satisfied with how she runs the city.

At midmorning, Adrian Duran and Richard Payne cast their votes at churches in two different parts of town. Both said voting was a privilege and a civic duty.

Across the street from the polling place where Duran voted, Dundee Presbyterian Church, 5312 Underwood Ave., signs for Mello and Pete Festersen, the District 1 City Council incumbent, were planted in front yards.

Duran used alliteration to describe his feelings about Stothert: Disappointed. Disgruntled. Disgusted.

Payne voted at Mount Nebo Baptist Church, 5501 N. 50th St. He said he liked what the incumbents had done and plan to do for the community.

Gary Jarvis said there were several people ahead of him in line at the Lutheran Church of the Master at 114th Street and West Center Road around 11 a.m. in the west-central District 6.

Jarvis said that he thought the current mayor had done a good job and that he didnt feel the other candidates had much to offer.

At the same polling place, Kristin Knisley said she didnt have to wait in line. She wanted to vote for Mello because shes not a huge fan of Stotherts.

Knisley said she thinks support for the mayoral candidates in her neighborhood is pretty mixed. Her own family, she said, is split between the two.

World-Herald staff writers Christopher Burbach and Becca Mann contributed to this report.

Stay with Omaha.com for updates on this story.
BEIRUT  Suspected chemical attacks in northern Syria on Tuesday left at least 58 people dead and scores struggling to breathe as Europe's top diplomat said the Syrian government bore "primary responsibility."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring network, said a series of airstrikes in the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun appeared to involve a gas that caused people to choke, faint and foam at the mouth. The observatory said 11 children were among the dead. In the past, Syria forces have been accused of using chlorine-based weapons that cause similar symptoms.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports, but images from the area showed the bodies of at least a dozen men, women and children splayed across the ground between two houses. Video footage showed lifeless bodies wrapped in blankets and packed on the back of a truck. The youngest children were wearing diapers.

Following the attack, a makeshift clinic treating the wounded was also struck, adding to the casualty toll.

In recent months, Syrian government warplanes have launched heavy attacks across northern Idlib province, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are squeezed together among what remains of the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In Washington, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., challenged the Trump administration to take action against Assad's "war crimes." He noted that the latest reported chemical attack came "just days after Secretary of State [Rex] Tillerson said the Syrian people themselves would decide the future of their country."

Asserting that "Assad believes he can commit war crimes with impunity," McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the question now confronting Washington "is whether we will take any action to disabuse him of this murderous notion."

McCain added: "In case it was not already painfully obvious: the notion that the Syrian people would be able to decide the fate of Assad or the future of their country under these conditions is an absurd fiction. The recent statements by U.S. officials suggesting otherwise only serve to legitimize the actions of this war criminal in Damascus."

At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said President Trump is "extremely alarmed" by the attack, which Spicer called "reprehensible" and "intolerable." But the spokesman blamed Assad's actions on the "weakness and irresolution" of the Obama administration.

Doctors and activists in rebel-held areas have blamed the government for a sharp increase in chemical attacks since the end of last year. If Tuesday's attack is confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest chemical strikes since government forces dropped sarin gas on the Damascus suburbs in August 2013, killing hundreds and pushing the United States to the brink of military intervention.

The attack came as European diplomats gathered in Brussels for a flagship conference aimed at pledging billions of dollars for Syria's reconstruction, six years into a war that has shattered much of the country and caused refugees to pour out across the Middle East and Europe.

Blaming the deaths in Khan Sheikhoun on the Syrian government, the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, described them as a reminder that the situation on the ground "continues to be dramatic."

"Obviously there is a primary responsibility from the regime because it has the primary responsibility of protecting its people," she said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the attacks as a "disgusting act" and called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

A list of the dead compiled by local activists Tuesday included 70 names. They said that entire families were killed as they slept.

By midday, medics said that clinics and makeshift treatment points across the area were full. An hour later, one of those facilities was bombed, leaving a doctor in critical condition and the remaining medical services at a breaking point.

"We did our best, but we couldn't save people. Around 30 percent of those who were brought to us were dead on arrival," said a local doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for the safety of relatives living in government-held territory.

Although a nationwide cease-fire has technically been in place across Syria since late December, civilians and rebel groups now say it exists in name only.

"People are terrified. They don't know where to go," said Ahmad Rahhal, a 22-year-old activist. "They can't cross into Turkey because the borders are closed, but if they stay in their houses, they will be attacked by bombs. What can they do?"

As a displacement crisis burgeons on its southern border, Turkey has limited new Syrian arrivals to those seeking medical treatment, often in the wake of mass-casualty attacks. Reports Tuesday suggested that ambulances were lined up at the border crossing, ready to bring the next wave of casualties into Turkish hospitals.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)  St. Petersburg residents on Tuesday laid flowers outside the citys subway where a bomb blast a day earlier killed at least 11 people and wounded more than 40.

Thousands of miles to the east, authorities in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan identified one suspect as a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russias second biggest and Putins hometown.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner and window-sill at the ornate, Soviet built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

The entire subway system in this city of 5 million was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway on Tuesday morning looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

First, I was really scared, said Viktoria Prishchepova who did take the subway on Tuesday. I didnt want to go anywhere on the metro because I was nervous. Everyone was calling their loved ones yesterday, checking if they were OK and how everyone was going to get home.

Kyrgyzstans State Committee for National Security said in a statement that one suspect behind the bombing is a Kyrgyz-born Russian national it identified as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. The Kyrgyz intelligence agency said Russian authorities informed them about the man, aged between 21 and 22, but they were not aware of his specific role in the bombing. The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

Authorities have not specified whether the attack was a suicide bombing or whether the bomber got away. The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

Within two hours of the blast, authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, 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, like Moscow, is home to a large diaspora of Central Asian migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants in Russia have work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.

Patriach Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a service at Moscows main cathedral on Tuesday for those killed in the blast.

This terrorist act is a threat to all of us, all our nation, he said quoted by the Interfax news agency.

In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants. 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.
Legere, co-founder of the Policy Circle, lives in Wilmette, Illinois, with her husband, Todd Ricketts. Fox is director of government relations for the Platte Institute, where Chalek is executive vice president.

Regardless of which side of the aisle youre on, our country is entering a time of change, in which women need to take positions of leadership.

Thats easier said than done. In the 115th Congress, there are 104 women (78 Democrats and 26 Republicans). Thats 19 percent of Congress. Women represent 52 percent of the U.S. population.

In the Nebraska Legislature, 13 women serve as state senators, making up roughly 25 percent of the body.

In 1986, the Cornhusker State was the first to have two women as the major party candidates for governor. Republican Kay Orr won that race, defeating Democrat Helen Boosalis. Orr is the first and only female governor in Nebraska history.

As women and Americans, what can we do better to ensure we are intentionally heading in the right direction  in our family life, in our work life and as a country? How can we help our kids navigate life better than we did?

And then what do we do with that feeling that even though we are already doing it all, we need to do more to make a difference? How do we ensure we are good citizens, and how do we return civility to community dialogue?

Just two years ago, a group of neighborhood women in Wilmette, Illinois, gathered in a living room to learn more about the way the world works.

To prepare, they decided to read in advance the first four chapters of Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman and come ready to discuss what they thought and what they learned.

It was amazing. For two hours, women discussed public policy and how it impacts human creativity and initiative. The group felt energized and empowered simply by taking the time to discuss and learn from each other.

These women began the process of honing and strengthening their voices.

What started as a small group meeting has grown to become a network of more than 1,100 members in 17 states. The Policy Circle is a national movement. In living rooms across the nation, circles of women are coming together regularly, preparing for discussions by having read one of the Policy Circle Briefs on key issues.

By being part of a Policy Circle roundtable discussion where everyone is able to make a statement, we discover our own voice and capacity for thought leadership.

When we put what we think into our own words, we own our thoughts in a new, more powerful and confident way. We feel empowered to discuss, to ask and to connect. We build what Robert Putnam calls social capital.

At Policy Circle meetings there are no speakers, and we agree to set aside divisive social issues. We come from different starting points, but most of us do not start out as experts. We take the time to review multimedia policy briefs on key issues such economic growth, taxes, education, foreign policy, health care and American institutions such as the U.S. Senate and House.

State think tanks such as the Platte Institute in Nebraska provide snapshots enabling circles to focus on local issues. And weve seen that from there, the skys the limit.

The Policy Circle is a platform that you can make your own, to take the time to understand, connect and perhaps even engage.

Nebraskans are embracing this new beginning; we invite you to experience a policy circle here in Omaha on April 27 at the Corkscrew in Rockbrook Village, 10924 Prairie Brook Road, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Join the conversation.

For more information, visit ThePolicyCircle.org.
Aircel-Maxis: What is the case against P Chidambaram about

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court that it is probing all possible angles of allegations that the former finance minister P Chidambaram had illegally given clearance to the Malaysian firm Maxis to buy 100 per cent of Aircel.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had approached the court alleging that an illegality had been committed by Chidambaram in granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to the Rs 3,500 crore deal in 2006. Swamy had also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case known as the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Swamy had told the bench on Monday that he had received a letter from the CBI about the probe. He sought a directive to the CBI to file a status report on the probe.

The CBI said that it was probing the case from all angles and would inform about the progress in three weeks. The additional solicitor general also submitted to the court in a sealed envelope regarding the status of the probe conducted by the Enforcement Directorate against Chidambaram.

Swamy has alleged that the FIPB, of which Chidambaram was ex-officio chairman, had given illegal clearance to the deal to enable Mr Chidambaram and his son, Karti Chidambaram, to profit from it. It was also alleged that since the deal was worth over Rs 600 crore, it should have been placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs by the finance minister for clearance. This was not done, Swamy also alleged.

OneIndia News
Ajmer blast: Clean chit for Sadhvi Pragya, Indresh Kumar

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

In further relief to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the National Investigation Agency has given her a clean chit in the Ajmer Dargah blasts case. The NIA also cleared Rashtriya Swajamsevak Sangh leader Indresh Kumar in the case.

The closure report submitted in the NIA court said that there was not enough evidence to proceed against them in order to build a case. The report was also filed against two others -- Prince and Rajendra. The court would, however, take the final call on April 17 to decide on whether the closure report can be accepted or the NIA would have to proceed in the case.

The NIA court judge expressed displeasure that the agency was unable to arrest the three other accused, Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalasanghra and Suresh Nair. The trio has been absconding since the past 8 years. It is suspected that they may be in Nepal.

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

All-party meet on liquor vends suffers setback; Kerala to file petition in the apex court

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Thiruvananthapuram, April 4: The Kerala government's decision on an all-party meet to discuss the apex court's ban on liquor vends along highways has got a jolt, with the Congress-led UDF supporting the ban.

Following this setback, a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday morning, asked Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh to see that a petition is filed in the apex court.

The petition will seek three months' time to shift the 207 of the 850 retail liquor outlets owned by the state that come under the purview of the ban order.

The outlets have already downed shutters from April 1 in compliance with the Supreme Court directive of December 2016 banning liquor vends within 500 metres on either side of state and national highways.

"We are of the firm opinion that liquor is not good, but there are people in Kerala who have to consume it. If they don't get liquor, then they will be forced to drink other intoxicants, which could lead to their death," State Excise Minister G. Sudhakaran told reporters here, soon after the meeting.

"With this reality in mind before us, we will file the petition on Monday which will ask for three months' time to shift these outlets," Sudhakaran added.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters that the Left government is in a Catch-22 situation. The situation arose because they always opposed whatever the earlier government did, Chandy said.

"Our policy was based on the Udayabhanu Commission Report, that was appointed by K. Karunakaran, then A.K. Antony (1995) banned arrack," he said.

"When I was in office (in 2005) I decided to hit the road of total prohibition in 10 years time by reaching there in a phased manner," the Congress leader said.

But the Left, then in opposition, fought the UDF policy tooth and nail and gave an impression that "they had something up their sleeve", Chandy said adding "and now they are in dire straits".

"We are of the firm opinion that the apex court guidelines be followed and when a new retail outlet is opened, it has to be done where there is not going to be any opposition," he said.

It should not be done through confrontation, Chandy said, "As it's the women and children who protest the opening of the new vends".

State Finance Minister Thomas Issac is the one feeling the heat as the state stands to lose around Rs 10 crore revenue daily.

At least 1,749 places that used to sell liquor, beer, wine and toddy have not been able to carry on business since the commencement of the new fiscal.

"Things are tough on account of this revenue loss and hence we have to look for alternative revenues to make up for this loss," said Issac.

According to the latest estimates on account of the new order, around 24,000 workers have lost their job while another 10,000 indirect jobs have disappeared.

"Suicide is the only option left before me, as... with this new order I have lost my job. I have a family... if something does not happen quickly, then I really will have just one option," said an angry toddy shop worker.

On Tuesday, serpentine queues were seen in front of the remaining liquor vends and tipplers were up against this order.

"We need liquor everyday and if we don't get it, then we will start to distil our own brew. Let us see what will happen then," said an angry tippler.

Another innovative suggestion to end this impasse was to allow liquor to be sold through ration shops, as accountability would then be easy and streamlined.

IANS

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 16:16 [IST]
Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Bihar's Gopalganj by-poll to see a tough fight between BJP and RJD

BJP asks Nitish Kumar to sack Lalu's son Tej Pratap

India

oi-PTI

Patna, April 4: Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday demanded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sack his Environment and Forest Minister Tej Pratap Yadav for his alleged involvement in the soil purchase scam.

Modi, the former deputy chief minister, also asked the CM to order a probe into the alleged 'soil purchase scam', worth Rs 90 lakh.

"Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should order a high level probe into the 'soil purchase scam' in which Tej Pratap Yadav is involved. The CM should sack Yadav from his cabinet without making any delay," Modi said while talking to reporters in Patna on the sidelines of a 'Janata Darbar' at his official residence.

Modi charged Lalu Prasad Yadav's minister-son Tej Pratap of giving contract of Rs 90 lakh for earth filling work in Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park located in the state capital.

Tej Pratap's department, under whose jurisdiction the Park falls, gave away the contract of Rs 90 lakh to a company without following the tender process for construction of a pathway and beautification work in the park, Modi alleged.

"The entire episode smacks of misappropriation of public money...Politicians have too started reaping benefits by forming 'shell' companies in Bihar also," Modi said.

PTI
Alltech Innovation Competition comes to Bengaluru: 7 Indian universities to battle it out

CAG slams Himachal Pradesh for its failure to develop a biotechnoplogy park, despite grants

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Shimla, April 4: Himachal Pradesh has failed to develop a biotechnology park in Solan district with the Centre's assistance in 12 years despite incurring an unfruitful expenditure of Rs 2.07 crore and axing 897 trees, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said.

The park, yet to be established, was initially proposed to be commissioned by 2006-07.

The Central government had accorded approval for setting up the biotechnology park in March 2005 at a cost of Rs 38.66 crore under public-private-partnership mode, said the CAG report tabled in the assembly last week.

The Central government proposed to invest Rs 9 crore in the park, while the state committed to invest Rs 7.55 crore. The remaining amount was to be pooled in by the investor.

The project was to be implemented by 2006-07 and no funding from the Centre was to be released for the project beyond March 2007, the report said.

The Centre had released Rs 50 lakh as a token grant in March 2005 and the state government released Rs 2.21 crore during 2004-08.

However, the state department of industries could not involve any private partner for the proposed park that would have a biotechnology incubation centre and a biotechnology industrial cluster.

Initially, the biotechnology park was to be set up at Kotla Barog in Solan district but no investor came up for development of the project.

In February 2008, the project site was changed to Aduwal on the Nalagarh-Swarghat national highway.

According to the CAG, the department had released Rs 45.73 lakh in 2009 to a consultant for preparation of a feasibility report, business plan and selection of promoter for setting up the park at Kotla Barog.

However, the change of the project site resulted in an unfruitful expenditure of 45.73 lakh.

Later, the department in 2009 entered into an agreement with a firm -- at an estimated cost of Rs 43.93 lakh -- for the preparation of feasibility report, business plan and selection of promoter for the park at Aduwal.

It paid Rs 22.12 lakh for the feasibility report. However, the firm could also not select any promoter for the project and, ultimately, the work relating to the establishment of the park was transferred to the industries department.

Until October last year, the industries department was in the process of transfer of environment clearance and land in its name.

The CAG slammed the government for faulty planning in establishing the park that resulted in the expenditure of Rs 2.07 crore. Besides, the biodiversity of forest land diverted for the park had been changed by cutting 897 green trees, resulting in degradation of the environment in the heavily industrialised area.

IANS
Solution to India-China issues lies in talks, not military, says Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama blesses Mt Everest mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa

India

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Guwahati, April 4: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday flagged off Arunachal Pradesh mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa on her Mount Everest expedition.

Jamsenpa had a special audience with the Dalai Lama at the Radisson Blue hotel here on Tuesday. The spiritual leader blessed her before the flag off.

Jamsenpa, an experienced mountaineer, has already scaled the Mount Everest thrice, twice within a gap of 10 days.

[Also Read: Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit delayed]

"Your achievement is the testimony of your hard work, firm determination and a strong belief in yourself," the Dalai Lama said.

He also blessed her two teenage daughters Passang Droma and Tenzing Nyiddon with a personalized message which he wrote and signed himself.

"Meeting His Holiness The Living Buddha and getting his blessings in person is one of the most treasured and blessed day of my life. I shall cherish it life-long, especially the close warm hug," the mountaineer said.

"It will always motivate me and infuse strength to overcome all my struggles in life," she added.

The mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh is in quest to better her own national and international records.

[Also Read: How Dalai Lama arrived in India 58 years ago]

The Dalai Lama has addressed seminars and delivered talks at different functions. He is scheduled to visit Tawang and some other places in Arunachal Pradesh.

Although he was to visit Arunachal Pradesh by helicopter, he is likely to move to Bomdila on Tuesday by road due to inclement weather.

From Bomdila he would visit Dirang, Lumla and Tawang during his over seven-day trip to Arunachal Pradesh.

China has reacted strongly to the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing considers part of Tibet.

IANS
Solution to India-China issues lies in talks, not military, says Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama reaches Arunachal Pradesh

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday arrived in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh, after his visit to Tawang had to be rescheduled due to bad weather.

[Dalai Lama visit: India asks China not to interfere in internal affairs]

Dalai Lama was to reach Tawang in morning but the plans were changed due to extremely turbulent weather in neighbouring Assam.

The Dalai lama arrives in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh. (visuals) pic.twitter.com/Nd7ypO4wNp  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

The 14th Dalai Lama last visited Arunachal Pradesh in 2009, when given the green signal by then prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Hundreds of followers gathered in and around the entire Bomdilla daring rough weather and heavy rainfall to catch a glimpse of the Tibetan leader in exile.

China, meanwhile, has expressed its concern over Indian government's move to allow Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, saying it will impact bilateral relation between the two countries.

Earlier on Sunday, the Dalai Lama had an emotional reunion with one of the five Assam Rifles guards who escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet in March 1959.

On March 31, 1959, the Dalai Lama had escaped from China after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 17:55 [IST]
Delhi MCD Election 2017: Over 4,200 nominations filed

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, April 4: Over 4,200 nominations have been filed for the municipal polls due on April 23 as the last date for filing the papers ended on Monday, April 3, amid rush of candidates from all parties and independent contestants.

Among the major parties, the AAP has filed 1,033 nominations followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress with 565 and 544. Nominations also include duplicate entries for contingencies like cancellation of papers of the main candidate.

According to the data released by the Delhi State Election Commission late on Monday night, out of the total 4,240 nominations, 3,249 were filed on the last day today. The much-awaited polls will be fought on 272 seats. While North Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation have 104 seats each, East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64.

The erstwhile unified MCD was trifurcated in 2012 into NDMC, SDMC and EDMC, respectively. The BJP has been ruling the MCD since 2007. The last polls were held in 2012. Most of the nominations were filed today as a heavy rush witnessed at various offices of the returning officers.

While 678 nominations were filed in east Delhi, the north and south saw 1,346 and 1,225 nominations today. The nomination process had begun from March 27. Due to consecutive holidays on Saturday and Sunday, an extension of three hours was given to candidates.

The process was scheduled to close at 3 PM earlier. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 5. The rush was also due all candidates of the BJP and Congress filing their nominations on the last day. 1,439 candidates have also filed nominations as Independents.

Candidates of the BSP, the JD-U, the SP, the Shiv Sena, the NCP and few other political outfits, also in the fray, filed their nominations. The total number of electorate for the civic polls stands at 1,32,10,206, which include 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category, the state election commission said.

PTI
His arrival in India on a yak:

On March 17, 1959, the Dalai Lama left Lhasa in the night under dramatic circumstances and reached Lhuntse Dzong, the border between India and Tibet.

A rare letter from the Dalai Lama to Nehru

The Tibetan temporal leader wrote to the then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to seek refuge in India. However, Delhi took immediately measures to welcome the Tibetan leader and receive the party (his close family, four of his Cabinet ministers and some attendants and bodyguards) at the first Indian post at Chuthangmu, north of Tawang, then part of the Kameng Frontier Division.

Dalai Lama recalls his escape to India:

In 1959, Dalai Lama had escaped from Tibet and reached Tawang where he enjoyed freedom for the first time and started a new chapter in his life.

Indo-China relationship:

Dalai Lama escape to India marked a crucial point in the relationship between India and China. In 1959, along with thousands of supporters, the spiritual leader escaped from China and crossed over at the Chuthangmu post.

Dalai Lama's emotional reunion with guard

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama with Naren Chandra Das, a retired havildar of 5 Assam Rifles during Namami Brahmaputra festival in Guwahati on Sunday. Das is the lone survivor of the seven Indian personnel who received Dalai Lama on Indian soil when he escaped from Tibet in 1959.

China warns India:

The Chinese foreign ministry had warned India that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause serious damage to bilateral ties.
Talented, driven and great potential: President Putin is all praise for India and Indians

India, UK to set fund to finance green energy

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 4: India and the UK on Tuesday decided to set up a 240 million pound fund to finance clean energy projects, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

The Green Growth Equity Fund will be a sub-fund of NIIF.

"We have established the NIIF. Our first major step in the fund has been taken and there is going to be a sub-fund. With the NIIF participating in it, this is going to be a Green Growth Equity Fund where both are going to make a contribution of 120 million pounds and this will be financing the energy needs in India," Jaitley said.

India had in 2015 set up the Rs 40,000 crore National Infrastructure and Investment Fund to finance greenfield as well as brownfield projects.

"This is going to be the first a major beginning as far as the fund is concerned," Jaitley said while addressing the media after the 9th India-UK Financial Dialogue.

During the meeting between Jaitley and the visiting UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to invest up to 120 million Pound each in the joint fund which aims to raise around 500 million pound.

The fund will focus initial investments in India's rapidly growing energy and renewables market and a "fund manager would be selected by autumn".

"Progress will be accelerated by starting the process of appointing a fund manager now with early market engagement via the publication of a blueprint with the aim to identify additional and complementary sectors for fund investments," said the joint statement after the meeting of the two ministers.

PTI
ISI in damage control mode as Lashkar heads for a split

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is in damage control mode after a major falling out between Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the two top men in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The LeT, which is the ISI's most trusted proxy is heading for a two-way split after Saeed and Lakhvi fell out due to various reasons.

Saeed, Lakhvi at war: Is the Lashkar heading for a two-way split?

Lakhvi was unhappy that Saeed chose his brother-in-law to head the outfit after he had been placed under house arrest. Lakhvi was also unhappy with the planning of the Kashmir unrest. Saeed had nominated his brother-in-law, Abdul Rehman Makki to head the outfit.

The ISI has now decided to play the peacemaker. It has offered Lakhvi the role of heading the operations where Jammu and Kashmir are concerned. The Kashmir issue is particularly close to Lakhvi's heart. In fact, he has lost two sons while they were sent out to fight in Kashmir.

The ISI realises the gravity of the split. It has, in fact, deputed two very senior officers to ensure that the group stays united. It may be recalled that the ISI had undertaken a similar damage control exercise prior to the 26/11 attacks.

The LeT was heading for a split as most of its cadres under Lakhvi felt that they should join the al-Qaeda and Taliban in the war in Afghanistan. However, the ISI was not in favour of the same. In a bid to keep the operatives engaged, the ISI sanctioned the 26/11 attacks.

For the ISI, retaining Lakhvi is important. 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 ISI which nurtures the outfit has still not been able to find a solution to the problem, IB officials say.

OneIndia News
Jkhand: 4 poor children sleeping on road come under wheels of truck; driver absconding

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Ranchi, April 4: In a heart-wrenching incident, four children sleeping on a road were killed in an accident, after a truck ran over them in Palamu's Hariharganj, Jharkhand, on Monday night.

According to news agency, ANI, the deceased were children of workers engaged in a road construction. Since the labourers and their family members have no roof over their heads, thus they sleep near the construction site. The driver of the truck is yet to be detained by the police, as he immediately fled the accident site.

Jharkhand: Four sleeping labourers' children crushed to death by truck in Palamu's Hariharganj, last night, driver fled with truck. pic.twitter.com/SbeUKyGJP3  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

The bodies of the children covered with clothes remained lying on the accident site, while police registered a formal complaint. The accident brought back the memories of hit-and-run case where Bollywood actor Salman Khan's car crashed into men sleeping on a pavement outside a bakery in Mumbai's Bandra on September 28, 2002. One person was killed in the accident and four were injured.

According to statistics, every year, the number of road accidents in India increase by 8 per cent. If this trend continues, 2.6 lakh deaths will be reported by 2030. People aged between 15 and 29 are most vulnerable to mishaps.

Recently, the Supreme Court banned liquor shops within 500 meters of highways to restrict the number of cases related to drunk driving.

OneIndia News
Kashmir unrest 2.0: Kill the separatists, ISI order Lashkar

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Killing separatists in the Kashmir Valley is a new ploy of the ISI. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba has been asked to target the separatist leaders in the Valley and a kill list has already been drawn out, Intelligence Bureau officials say.

This is a ploy only to create more unrest in the Valley. The Kashmir Valley has been on the boil since July after the killing of Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen commander.

However there was a difference of opinion in the ranks in Pakistan about the extent of the unrest. Some felt that the unrest could have been planned better.

It was in fact Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba who had suggested better planning and making the unrest bloodier. However there were differences within the ranks and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba boss, Hafiz Saeed did not go with the plan approved by Lakhvi.

Now the ISI has stepped in to iron differences between the two top men in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The spy agency has decided to go with Lakhvi's plan and execute the killings of a few separatists in the Valley. The ISI feels that if this plan is executed then it would cause immense unrest in the Valley. An unrest of this nature could easily go on for over an year, the ISI also felt while approving the plan.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 18:51 [IST]
Why Punjab farmers burn stubble at this scale when others do not

Madras HC instructs TN govt to waive off loans of drought-hit farmers

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Chennai, April 4: The Madras high court in Chennai came to the rescue of drought-hit farmers of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. In its order, the court directed the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to waive off loans of all farmers in cooperative banks. Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government waived off loans of farmers who owned five-acre of land.

Madras HC directs TN Govt to waive loans of all farmers in cooperative banks;earlier TN govt waived loans of farmers owning upto 5acres land pic.twitter.com/4SGCLOKDKv  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Tamil Nadu is experiencing severe drought which led to the destruction of crops across the state. Because of the ongoing agricultural crisis, several farmers in the state, unable to repay loans taken from banks and private money lenders, committed suicide in the recent past.

According to an estimate, the crisis in the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu has reached a mammoth proportion. Since October last year, every day, two farmers are committing suicide in the state, say reports.

Since March 14, a group of 80-odd farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding financial relief as they have lost their crops and savings in the ongoing drought in the state. The peaceful agitation has brought a lot of attention as the farmers are protesting with skulls.

"We are going to continue the protest indefinitely until the Centre fulfils all our demands. The state government has sought Rs 39,565 crore as drought relief from the National Disaster Response Fund. But the central team has recommended a paltry sum of Rs 2,096.80 crore as drought relief. It is grossly inadequate. The state has witnessed an unprecedented drought in the last 150 years and the whole state has been declared drought-hit," South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association president P Ayyakannu who is leading the protest, said.

OneIndia News
Madras high court orders separate toilets for transgenders

India

oi-Anusha

The Madras high court on Tuesday passed an order asking civic authorities to build separate toilets for the third gender. In a first, the high court has ordered for toilets to be built for transgenders within the Chennai city corporation limits. A bench comprising Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice M Sundar had appointed R Devaprasad, an advocate, as amicus curiae, to assist the court in the issue.

The order was passed on a public interest litigation filed by, Devaraj, an activist seeking provision of separate toilets and bathrooms for transgenders in the state.

According to the petitioner, the 2011 census showed that there were around 10 lakh transgenders in Tamil Nadu but basic amenities were denied to them. "The society often ridiculed and abused them and they were sidelined and treated as untouchables. Apart from other challenges faced by them in education and employment, the important one was toilets exclusively for them," the petition said.

Devaraj had sent representations in this regard to the government authorities on September 12 and November 16, 2016, but there was no response, after which he filed a PIL in the Madras high court.

OneIndia News
Muslims should give up beef to honour Hindu sentiments: Ajmer dargah chief

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The chief of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah has advised all Muslims to give up beef. Zainul Abedin Khan, the diwan of the shrine said that Muslims must give up beef to honour the religious sentiments of Hindus. The appeal comes amid a lot of debate surrounding beef in the country.

The Ajmer dargah is considered to be one of the holiest Muslim shrines in India. Khan was speaking on the occasion of the 805th Urs or death anniversary of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty. He said that Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty strived for a peaceful coexistence of both Hindus and Muslims throughout his life. "We must all follow in his footsteps and give up eating beef to honour Hindu sentiments," he said.

He also commended the recent legislation in Gujarat which hands out a life sentence for those found guilty of killing cows. "This legislation would be a good deterrent for those involved in killing cows for meat," he said. He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the cow as India's national animal.

The diwan also said that the practice of triple talaq must stop. "The Quran and the Sharia do not permit it," he said while adding that the practice is inhuman and against gender equality.

OneIndia News
NDA or grand alliance: Nitish Kumar keeps everyone guessing

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continues to keep everyone guessing. While on one hand, he has been holding talks with some BJP leaders to return to the National Democratic Alliance fold, on the other, he speaks about a Bihar-styled coalition to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"Only a Bihar-styled coalition can take on the BJP," he told media persons in Bihar on Monday. He laid the emphasis on the Congress to take the initiative since it was the bigger party. "I have been holding discussions with the Left parties too," he said while adding that the formation of a 'grand alliance', was the only way to take on the BJP.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United had formed an alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and won the Bihar elections. However, since the past few months, there is talk that all is not well in that camp. Kumar, a prime ministerial aspirant, had walked out of the NDA after Narendra Modi was chosen to lead the coalition. However, in the past few months, Nitish has been singing praises and even commended the decision made by Modi on demonetisation.

Explaining why a coalition was needed, he said that in Uttar Pradesh the BJP won because there was no grand alliance. He said that the vote percentage of the Congress-SP alliance and the BSP together was at 10 per cent more that what the BJP had polled.

OneIndia News
Centre gives Assam Rifles power to arrest and search without warrant in 5 Northeast states

Railway extension in Northeast a challenge for engineers

India

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Agartala, April 4: The Northeast Frontier Railway has to confront many unique challenges in laying tracks in the mountainous northeastern region due to its topography and the danger of natural calamities, a top official has said.

According to Commissioner of Railway Safety Shailesh Kumar Pathak, the NFR gets to work at optimum pace for only four to five months a year as the region witnesses intense rain from March to end-October with the actual monsoon running from June to September.

"As the Himalayan region, specially the northeastern states, are siltation- and landslide-prone areas, the railways have to take additional measures to deal the natural adversities. A lesser working period makes the task more challenging for railway engineers and others," Pathak told IANS while on a visit here.

He said the per-kilometre cost of laying single-line tracks in the mainland states is Rs 7 crore and for double line tracks Rs 10 crore. "These costs are much higher in the northeastern region due to terrain, marshy land and various other hostile factors."

The CRS was in Tripura for inspecting the newly-laid 9.26 km Udaipur-Garjee section of the 114-km-long track that links Agartala with Sabroom in southern Tripura.

With Sabroom just 75 km from the Chittagong seaport in southern Bangladesh, the Rs 1,150 crore project, to be completed by 2019, will enable the ferrying of men and material from and to the landlocked northeastern states.

An NFR engineer said that due to the large number of rivulets and small rivers, many small, medium and big bridges, besides many tunnels, have to be built in the northeastern region.

He noted in this context that India's longest 11.55 km rail tunnel is now under construction as part of the 111-km-long Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal line that ends in the Manipur capital. This is longer than the the 11.2 km Pir Panjal tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund line in Jammu and Kashmir.

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain has said there are ambitious plans to connect, by 2020, all the eight capitals of the northeastern states.

In October 2008, with the extension of the metre gauge track up to Agartala through southern Assam, it became the first state capital in the northeast to be brought on India's rail map after the country's independence. Subsequently, the metre gauge was converted into broad gauge.

Today, Assam capital Guwahati (from pre-Independence times) and Imphal are also on the rail map.

"The NFR has converted all the metre gauge railway tracks into broad gauge. Metre gauge tracks have become history in northeast India," Gohain said.

The last 30 km metre gauge section -- Baraigram-Dullabcherra in southern Assam's Karimganj district -- has been converted into broad gauge and passenger trains began running on this section from Friday.

"As the century-old metre gauge railway track has now become history in northeast India and to display the other aspects ofIndian Railways I have a plan to build a rail museum in Nowgong (in central Assam)," the minister said.

IANS
Smart City Mission: Next set of 40 cities to announced by June end

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 4: The Urban Development ministry will announce by June-end the next set of 40 cities for Central funding under the Narendra Modi government's flagship scheme -- Smart City Mission.

Launched on June 25, 2015, the mission aims to develop 100 smart cities across the country in a five-year period. The government has earmarked Rs 48,000 crore for the development of these cities.

Under the programme, each selected city will be given Rs 500 crore over a period of five years by the Centre with the respective states expected to make the matching contribution.

So far, 60 cities have been selected for the scheme and the remaining 40 cities would be announced by June end, an official said.

The ministry is also preparing a report card on its Smart City Mission as the scheme is set to complete two years of its launch this June.

The government wants to ensure that about Rs 30,000 crore worth of projects, mostly from the first set of 20 cities, are under execution or ready for it, a ministry spokesperson said.

The ministry is compiling data under various heads like the number of projects completed and those being implemented.

The government has so far approved smart city plans worth Rs 1.33 lakh crore for the 60 cities. The first batch of 20 cities was announced in January, 13 cities in May and 27 in September last year.

As the last set of 27 cities were announced just about six months ago, it will take time for them to launch the various projects as procedures like bidding for works, need to be followed, the spokesperson said.

PTI
Soli Sorabjee: Kejriwal should pay Jethmalanis bill in defamation case

India

oi-Lisa

New Delhi, April 4: Former attorney general of India, Soli Sorabjee on Tuesday said that for defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the latter should pay the charges of his personal legal battel and not through the tax payers money.

Sorabjee had said, "It is a civil suit. Kejriwal has to pay on his own. How does the Delhi government come into the picture?" He added, "Delhi's taxpayer money can't be used, Kejriwal in his individual capacity has to pay the bill."

Sorabjee was also of the opinion that the case has been filed against Kejriwal and not against the CM of Delhi. BJP too has attacked Kejriwal for wanting to use citizens' money to pay his legal bills for a private defamation case.

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had sent a note to the Delhi law department seeking release of fees for lawyer Ram Jethmalani for appearing in the defamation case for Delhi CM.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had sought guidance of Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar in clearing the bills of Jethmalani. The law department had told Sisodia that LG's permission was required for clearing Jethmalani's Rs 3.8 crore bill.

Meanwhile, Jethmalani had said that he will fight the case Kejriwal for free considering him as one of his poor client if Delhi CM or Delhi government is not able to pay his fees.

OneIndia News
Pastor Vijay Masih arrested in UP for illegally converting Hindus to Christianity

UP ATS picks up two more accused in Al-Qaeda radicalisation case

SP-Cong scoff at Yogi cabinet's farmer loan waiver decision

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday lauded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet's decision to waive-off farmer loans worth over Rs 30,000 and urged Maharashtra CM to take a similar step.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that BJP has stayed true to its promises prior to the UP assembly elections.

"Promises made during elections fulfilled in first cabinet. It is a matter of pride. Maharashtra CM should do this too," Thackeray told news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party said the BJP had failed to fulfil its promise, adding that what was being announced was too less for the farmers of the state.

"Kadam achha hai, par ardh satya hai. Oont ke munh mein jeera, nahi hua vayda poora (it is a good step, but too little being done. The promise has not been fulfilled)," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said.

"Decisions made are laughable, people have been deceived," said SP leader Naresh Agrawal.

UP Cabinet on Tuesday waived off farmer loans worth Rs 30,729 crores. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting in Lucknow.

Earlier, a list of 1.5 crore loans availed by the farmers was finalised and sent to the Chief Minister 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 had earlier 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

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 21:36 [IST]
Nothing new for the MLA

Kumar says that staying in open places or cowsheds is nothing new for him. "I have stayed in open places while walking from Bengaluru to Tirupati in 2013. I have also stayed in such places when I undertook a padayatra to Dharmasthala and Sabarimala in 2015," he says.

Ditching comforts

"The party leaders had arranged for air-conditioned accommodation for me, but I decided not to take it," Kumar said. Kumar is surrounded by his well-wishers at the cowshed where he stays in.

Time to unwind

After a hectic day's campaign Kumar unwinds at the cowshed. He spends time speaking to his followers and also reading newspapers. Kumar is known for his wit and people flock around him to hear him speak.

Will win Nanjangud

Kumar represents the Rajajinagar assembly constituency in Bengaluru. He is in Nanjangud to campaign for the BJP's Srinivas Prasad who quit the Congress after being denied a cabinet berth. Kumar sounds confident and says that the BJP will win in Nanjangud. The by-election will be held on April 9.
Maharashtra govt sets up panel to study impact of liquor ban in Chandrapur

Goa Polls: Ban on sale of liquor from February 12-15, March 10

Dry days 2022: Delhi liquor shops within 100 m from UP border closed for 48 hours

Sale of liquor around Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura banned

To beat liquor ban, Rajasthan denotifies state highways

India

oi-Madhuri

In a bid to avoid the loss, the Rajasthan government on Tuesday has declared the state highways passing through populated areas as urban roads.

The state's public works department issued an order for denotification of 190 kilometres of 21 state highways passing through 16 districts and measuring 3,029 kilometres as urban roads or other district roads.

Rajasthan appears to have taken a cue from Chandigarh, where all city roads were declared as urban roads earlier this month for the same reason.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradsh, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have consulted the roads ministry to circumvent Supreme Court's liquor ban order at National and State Highways.

The Telangana government wants the deadline for closure to be extended until September end. There are about 1,400 vends and bars in state, located within 500 metres from highways.

The road ministry had pushed the idea of liquor ban on national highways more than a decade ago.

OneIndia News
Caught months later, man had robbed bank and got a new look

Bank holidays in November 2022: Here is the full list of non-working days

Brave bank employees foil robbery bid by armed men in Haryana

India

oi-Gulam Rabbani

Gurugram, April 4: Two brave women foiled a robbery bid by two armed men at a bank in Gurugram of Haryana recently.The two women surpassed the fear of the armed men and held them tightly with the help of other bank employees people.

The angry public brutally thrashed the goons later. The police reached the spot and took the alleged accused into the custody.

In a video that went viral on social media, it shows two men entering the bank and then one man takes out a pistol from his bag and later the duo closes the door and proceeds to attack the women in the bank.

The CCTV footage that recorded the whole scene also showed that one of the men has also hit one woman as both of them try to grab money.

#WATCH: Two women bank staff members foil robbery bid by armed men, who were later thrashed by people in Gurugram, Haryana pic.twitter.com/xlIOFuUxpJ  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

The women are seen holding the alleged accused from escaping with the help people in the bank. Finally, the angry public who was alerted about the incident thrashed the two who were later taken into custody by the police.
We cannot wait longer now: SC to hear Vijay Mallyas contempt case in January for final disposal

UK FM declines to comment on Mallya's extradition

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 4: British Finance Minister Philip Hammond on Tuesday refused to comment on the extradition of embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, saying the matter is sub-judice.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is in the national capital for the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, said the extradition request by India is before a court and so he would not like to comment on the issue.

"I believe in one of the cases concerned, an extradition request has been made, and that is sub-judice... I am afraid I would not be able to discuss and it would not be proper for ministers to discuss. It is a matter before a court," he said in a reply to a question regarding the extradition of Mallya and former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

He was addressing a press briefing alongside Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the talks.

Last month, the British government sent India's extradition request to a district judge, the first step towards a judicial decision that could bring Mallya back to India to face a court. Facing heat over Rs 9,000 crore loan default by his now defunct Kingfisher airlines, Mallya had fled to the UK on March 2 last year.

He left the country just as the Supreme Court ordered him to appear before it in person with his passport on March 30, 2016. India had on February 8 this year handed over a formal extradition request to the British government to bring back Mallya under the India-UK extradition treaty.

In January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against the absconding businessman in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. In November last year, an Indian court had also allowed the Enforcement Directorate to send a request for extradition of former IPL chief Modi.

PTI
Why have Delhi schools shut doors on terrorists children?

India

oi-Gulam Rabbani

New Delhi: The Directorate of Education recently laid down a revised code of conduct for students in which it denied permission for the children of banned outfits in Delhi schools, says a DNA report. The banned outfits, particularly the terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Babbar Khalsa International, Communist Part of India-Maoists and even several insurgent groups of North East.

The circular issued by the DoE said that any children associated with the banned organisation cannot be given admission in the state schools and can be suspended from school if found guilty of violating norms laid down by the ministry.

The DoE circular also said that the new rule is applicable for the kids aged from three which means a seat can be denied to the kids from nursery itself.

The main focus is to deny permission and the suspension of the kids from school is from classes VI to VII according to the revised code of conduct to the kids associated with banned outfits.

The DoE had also issued the revised code of conduct list to the schools in which the students, particularly the ones belonging to the banned outfits can be suspended or even rusticated from school if he/she found guilty in norms such as 'absence from classes' 'bullying', 'misbehavior with teachers' and 'moral vice'.

When asked about such step by the Delhi government, one person who refused to be named, said that the government is on the defensive.

Some of the school principals feel that the government should either go through the circular it has issued or explain it clearly instead complicating matters. Social jurist Ashok Agarwal says that DoE's move clearly says that either DoE has low or no vision at all. He asks how the government can be so insensitive towards children, especially as young as three.

A parent who was handed over the copy of the circular issued by the DoE told DNA that the government has put the parents in a fix and questions how it is even valid for 12-13-year-old students.

A principal of a reputed school in east Delhi says that the points laid down are not only confusing the parents but to the school as well and added that the DoE should give a clarification.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Tour Cancelled



Citing security issues, the Somalian-born activist calls off her scheduled Australian tour...







Australia deserves better than this.



Ayaan Hirsi-Ali [sic] Does Not Speak For Us





regarding our tolerant betters:Over the weekend, I swung by Judge Jeanine's show to talk about one of the most malign trends of our time: the ever more open refusal by one side to permit those on the other side to speak. As I always say, I don't care what side you pick on the great questions of the age - climate change, gay marriage, Islam, transgendered bathrooms, whatever - but, if you're on the side that says the other guy isn't entitled to a side,Ayaan Hirsi Ali is someone who fled genital mutilation and arranged marriage in a backward, barbarous society to come to the west and live in freedom. Her first stop was the Netherlands. But the director of the film she wrote, Theo van Gogh, was murdered in the street, and the man who shot him then drove two knives through what was left of his chest pinning to it a five-page death-threat promising to do the same to Ayaan. So she was forced to leave the Netherlands, and has lived with round-the-clock security ever since. Now she has to cross Australia off the list, too. Where's next? Can she speak in Sweden? Or Canada? Ireland or Germany? She left Somalia to live as a western woman, only to watch the west turn itself into Somalia, incrementally but remorselessly, at least as far as free speech is concerned.It began, as it always does, respectably enough. Four hundred Muslim women in Australia - academics, social workers, diversicrats, supposed "human-rights activists" - signed a petition objecting to her tour Down Under but all artfully crafted in the usual weaselly more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger shtick, concluding with Aww, that's so cute! Did you all tilt your heads in unison and group-furrow your brows into concerned expressions? The petition title's a doozy too:read on kids
Yogi Adityanath, Subramanian Swamy to discuss Ram Temple issue, unofficially

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Lucknow, April 4: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy is all set to meet newly-elected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Talking to media persons, Swamy informed that in an 'unofficial' meeting, the two BJP leaders were going to discuss the Ram temple issue.

"It is an informal visit. He is known to me and his guru was very closely known to me. We both are partners in Hindutva. When he was here he had hardly any time so he told me to come to Lucknow and we will have meeting. I will certainly discuss Ram temple but this is an unofficial meeting," Swamy told ANI.

He (UP CM) told me- come to Lucknow we'll have meeting. Yes I'll certainly discuss Ram temple but this is unofficial meet: Subramanian Swamy pic.twitter.com/d9MbeIxk6i  ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017

Swamy has also tweeted that he was going to spend Tuesday in Lucknow."I am spending today in my political birth place -- Lucknow or Lakshmanpuri."

I am spending today in my political birth place--Lucknow or Lakshmanpuri  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) April 4, 2017

Earlier, Adityanath said the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute should be resolved through dialogue between the two parties. "As the government is not party to it, 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 it," Adityanath said. He added, "We would request both the sides to re-establish dialogue and resolve the matter."

Last week, the Supreme Court refused to give early hearing to the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid case after litigants objected to Swamy's role in the case.

As the matter came up before the apex court, it said, ''We didn't know that you (Swamy) are a party to case." The apex court also asked Swamy to explain what is his locus standi in the case? We don't have time to hear you now, the top court said.

The firebrand BJP leader, who had filed the petition, had pleaded before the top court to hear the case on a day-to-day basis and pass an order favouring the immediate construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The apex court had earlier described Ram temple as a 'sensitive and sentimental' issue and called for an amicable settlement of the dispute by all concerned parties.

OneIndia News
Pastor Vijay Masih arrested in UP for illegally converting Hindus to Christianity

UP ATS picks up two more accused in Al-Qaeda radicalisation case

Yogi cabinet decides to waive-off farmer loans worth over Rs 30,000 crore

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet on Tuesday waived off farmer loans worth Rs 30,729 crores. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday.

"We have waived off farmer loans worth Rs 30,729 crores," UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh said at a media briefing after the cabinet meeting.

Earlier, a list of 1.5 crore loans availed by the farmers was finalised and sent to the Chief Minister 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 had earlier 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
America First: New H-1B visa policy by US spells 'doom' for Indian IT firms, professionals

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Washington, April 4: Following on US President Donald Trump's election campaign promise of creating more jobs for Americans, the US Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced steps to prevent the fraudulent use of H-1B visas, used by employers to bring in specialised foreign workers temporarily.

The H-1B work visas are the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals. Thus there is a large-scale fear among the Indian IT companies and workers that the tightening of visa rules by the US administration would substantially decrease the flow of Indian IT professionals from India to America.

A lot of entry or mid-level engineers from India dreaming to work in the US, now won't be able to get permission to work in America. The new visa guidelines state that only high-skilled workers from abroad would be given H-IB visas. Moreover, Indian IT companies operating in the US won't be able to hire native Indians at a lower cost for low and mid-level jobs.

The latest measures were said to 'deter and detect' what the US administration described as 'fraud and abuse' of H-1B work visas.

The announcement by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services comes on a day on which the federal agency started accepting applications for H-1B visas for the fiscal 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 H-1B visa fraud and abuse', the USCIS said the H-1B visa 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 programs is a priority for the USCIS," a statement said.

The H-1B 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, Trump had promised to increase oversight of our H-1B and L-1 visa programmes. The Indian IT giants are yet to issue any statement in this regard.

OneIndia News
How Hamas trapped Israeli soldiers in an online honey trap

International

oi-Shubir

By Shubir Rishi

Hamas operatives allegedly used fake online identities and photos of young women to lure the soldiers. "Just a second, I'll send you a photo, my dear," one 'woman' wrote on Facebook, according to an Israeli officer briefing reporters on how the alleged scam worked, the Nationalpost reported.

Hamas operatives created 40 profiles of 'young women', presenting them as veteran Israeli military personnel currently overseas, but soon planning to return to Israel. A friend request would be sent to the soldier, along with the photo of a beautiful woman, which could not be easily ignored.

If the soldiers insisted on a phone number, they were politely told by the 'woman' that they didn't have access to one, and hence, would ask them to install the piece of malicious software.

According to several reports, dozens of soldiers were lured into installing this app that controlled their microphones and phone cameras. This was because the 'woman' promised these soldiers that they would 'video chat' with them.

After the app was installed, the 'woman' would stop responding to the soldiers' messages, but the phone's contents would be left vulnerable to Hamas operatives, as they could now have access to photos, the GPS location of the soldiers, text messages and the phone book.

Such was the app designed, that it would not only lie undetected, it would also record the soldiers' personal conversations, take photos and install other malicious software - all without the soldier's knowledge.

To make it more convincing, the operatives used Hebrew slang so that it appeared their victims were indeed speaking to Israeli women.

The operation was blown when several soldiers of the same unit were approached by the same 'woman', leading them to report the matter to the data security team. Several operations had to be modified, or cancelled as a result of this, an officer told Bloomberg.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 15:15 [IST]
St Petersburg subway bomber identified as Kyrgyz man

International

oi-Shubir

By Shubir Rishi

The suspect behind Monday's deadly bombing at the Tekhnologicheskaya metro station has been identified as a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, according to an intelligence agency in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

At least 14 people were killed and 50 others injured on Monday when an explosion ripped through a subway train in Russia's second-largest city. "The suicide bomber in the St Petersburg metro was a Kyrgyz national Akbarjon Djalilov, born in 1995," a spokesman for the country's security services said.

"It is probable that he acquired Russian nationality," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown.

Meanwhile, the Moscow metro tweeted that it was 'taking additional security measures' as required by law in such situations, while NAK said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that security was being stepped up at transportation hubs and crowded spots across the country.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it was probing an "act of terror" over the blast that rocked the metro in the country's second city on Monday afternoon, but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

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 against the jihadists.

At least 7,000 nationals from former Soviet countries, including 2,900 Russians, have joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, mostly IS, according to Russia's FSB intelligence service.

With inputs from PTI
What does the US actually want in Syria?

Syria: Two air strikes hit hospital

International

pti-PTI

Khan Sheikhun, Apr 4: Two air strikes hit a hospital in northwestern Syria on Tuesday as doctors inside treated victims of a suspected chemical attack.

The strikes hit the building in Khan Sheikhun, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to deal with victims of an attack that reportedly killed dozens of people. Warplanes first bombed near the hospital then could be heard circling back before hitting the facility twice, an AFP correspondent reported.

A centre next door belonging to the White Helmets rescue organisation was also hit in the strikes.

White Helmets member Khaled al-Khatib on his Twitter account said the centre had been hit with five strikes. About 10 medics who had been treating victims for suffocation and other symptoms were able to flee.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said military aircraft hit near the hospital but could not confirm whether anyone was hurt or killed. Medics there had been treating victims of a suspected chemical attack that killed 58 people, including 11 children, the monitor said.

Another 160 people were wounded, suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Observatory said. The monitor said warplanes hit a residential part of Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwest province of Idlib, and released "toxic gas."

PTI
Haleys successor: Trump says he has 5 names in mind but names only Dina Powell

US to get involved in Indo-Pakistan peace talks, Nikki Haley

International

oi-Deepika

In an effort to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the President Donald Trump could play crucial role in downscaling the tension between the two South Asian Countries.

Addressing a press conference after assuming the role of president of the Security Council for the month of April, Haley made remarks that US will find its place to be a part in de-escalating tensions. US can make efforts to get India and Pakistan together for peace talks.

"The tension over Kashmir have risen, over a period of time. The Trump administration is really concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan. We want to see if something can be done on that part," she said.

"So, I think that will be something that you will see from members of the National Security Council participate and wouldn't be surprised if the president participates in that as well," she added.

The remarks were contradictory to the earlier stance of US government, where it had maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue between the two neighbouring states.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)
Doctor's at Delhi's DDU hospital go on strike alleging assault

New Delhi

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 4: Resident doctors at West Delhi's Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital on Monday went on an indefinite strike after one of their colleagues and hospital guards were allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient.

Three persons were arrested and it was found that one of the accused had served as a guard in the hospital before. He alleged that his wife was not attended by doctors in time. The strike affected the services in the hospital as the out-patient department (OPD) remained shut and 40 routine surgeries were cancelled.

Emergency services are being run by a few senior doctors with help of skeletal staff. The protest by doctors comes barely two weeks after the resident doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against a series of assaults on doctors.

President of the resident doctors' association at DDU hospital, Dr Sumit Paria said the incident occurred around 11 PM yesterday when a woman came to the emergency with complaints of abdomen pain.

"She was given primary treatment and was sent to the labour room for examination. As it was taking some time, the relatives of the patient demanded the doctors examine their patient first.

"They then suddenly started abusing the doctors and even assaulted the senior resident doctor on duty," Paria said.

According to Paria, the group of people appeared after few minutes and started beating the guards standing in front of the emergency door. When the senior resident doctor intervened, he too was beaten up.

"Other female doctors in the emergency department locked themselves in toilets and the room of chief medical officer. The door to the CO office was broken down by the relatives. We do not know the cause of the assault as the pregnant woman they were with had already been sent to the labour room," he added.

The protesting doctors are demanding enhanced security at the hospital premises.

"Their representation has been forwarded to the Health Secretary. The patient was attended and her problems were solve. So the reason for such an aggression is not known," Dr A K Mehta, the medical superintendent of the hospital said.

Paria said the doctors from other hospitals might also join the strike tomorrow which would in turn affect services at all government hospitals in Delhi. Police said a PCR call about the quarrel was received yesterday.

On reaching the spot, the investigating officer found two persons quarrelling with the doctors. Both the accused were controlled by the staff, said a senior police officer. Dr Sanjay, CMO, DDU Hospital has given a written complaint wherein he alleged that the attendants of the patient Pooja attacked and physically assaulted special security guard Vikram Chauhan and a senior doctor Shashank Srivastav while on duty.

The medical examination of the two victims has been carried out. The accused had also damaged the public property. A case was registered at Hari Nagar police station and three accused Amresh Kumar, Mukesh and Nirmal Kumar were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Amresh had worked as a guard at the hospital and he claimed that his wife was not attended properly.

PTI
 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd.

All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
Air Asia Taiwan Promotion 2017

Travel to Taiwan at your convenience. Air Asia is now offering 17x weekly flight from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei (from only RM249) and daily flight to Kaohsiung (from only RM199). This promotion is only available for booking from now until 9 April 2017. Travel from 29 June  30 September 2017. Terms and conditions apply. Limited promo seats available.



**Terms and conditions apply**

~Click here for more information~

~Click here for AirAsiaGo FREE Seats Promotion~

~Complete Online Survey and Get Paid in CASH~

Air Asia

Asias leading airline was established with the dream of making flying possible for everyone. Since 2001, AirAsia has swiftly broken travel norms around the globe and has risen to become the worlds best. With a route network that spans through to over 20 countries, AirAsia continues to pave the way for low-cost aviation through our innovative solutions, efficient processes and a passionate approach to business. Together with Air Asia associate companies, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia Inc and AirAsia Japan, AirAsia is set to take low-cost flying to an all new high with belief, Now Everyone Can Fly.

Other Ongoing FREE Samples Giveaway
by  Graham Pierrepoint



THE BOSS BABY

IMDb

Dir: Tom McGrath

Starring Alec Baldwin, Miles Bakshi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Tobey Maguire, Steve Buscemi, Conrad Vernon, James McGrath, ViviAnn Yee

2.5 STARS (out of 5)

DreamWorks story is an odd one  and its a long one we dont have time to go into today  but while Disney have generally weathered the past five or six years well (as have Pixar, barring one or two false starts), Jeffrey Katzenbergs former animation studio, originally partnered with exceptional talent such as Steven Spielberg, really has seen ups and downs in the quality of its output. They had a great 2016 in the form of the brilliant Kung Fu Panda 3 and the enjoyable Trolls, yet they also struck low points with efforts such as Home and Bee Movie (which, if nothing else, has been enjoying an extended life as a popular YouTube meme). This is without going into the once-appealing Shrek franchise and its various sequels (The Third being its absolute lowest point). Fans of animated cinema, therefore, were interested to see exactly where DreamWorks Animation would go next  and while a third movie in the fantastic How To Train Your Dragon franchise is forthcoming, we have been treated to another effort  The Boss Baby  in the meantime.

The Boss Baby, based on the childrens book by Maria Frazee, is centred around 7-year old Tim and his facing up to having a baby brother in his life  only, his new brother isnt as innocent as he may seem. Tims brother is The Boss Baby  an infant in a suit and armed with corporate buzzwords and a briefcase  and he just so happens to be a secret agent dispatched on a very special mission. The mission? To find out why puppies are getting more love than babies  and to try and tip the balance in what appears to be a battle to gain the most love from the adults of the world. But why is Tim and his family involved? His parents just happen to work for the company facilitating the puppy side of the battle.

If youve been keeping up so far, youll likely agree that the premise here is defiantly off-the-wall  its based off a childrens book, so DreamWorks staff are not completely behind the premise here  but, its a premise and a script that is both so bizarre and yet so contrived that its a creature rarely seen on the big screen. While the animation is slick and theres plenty here to appeal to younger kids, the story and the concept here read as if they are the fantasy of a young child  this is likely what the aim was here, of course, and there are certainly many moments within the film where the imagination of children is used to great effect  yet, unfortunately, it feels like it is based solely around the one joke of the baby acting like a boss. One this joke wears thin, theres little else to cling onto  and it really tries to build a world and a struggle around this idea with middling success.

The cast is made up of a number of big names, many with success elsewhere but all oddly put-together  they certainly try their hardest here and Alec Baldwin must be praised for his dedication to the character. Hes best known for sending up the US President on Saturday Night Live in recent months, and here he does well to bring an alternative businessman character to the big screen albeit with a large twist. There are many moments in the movie that do raise a smile and, on the whole, theres a fair bit of variety. However, none of this succeeds in raising the movie above its sole-joke centre, resulting in a piece of animation that feels rather stale long before its credits start to roll.

The Boss Baby - Official Trailer (Dreamworks)

The movie is host to the traditional DreamWorks quirks and irreverence, however, there lacks the heart and focus that have made other movies from the studio work so well. It is hard to imagine The Boss Baby as being in the same league as, say, How To Train Your Dragon or Flushed Away  movies with bigger variety and more focus on characters and plot than a perpetual central gag and eye-rolling moments  as such, its perhaps fitting to think that this movie could have worked better as a short, or as an animated series of Netflix. As a feature film, the premise is stretched extraordinarily thin, and it will likely fail to inspire anyone above the age of nine or ten. It may be a little more creative and a little touch more irreverent than the Smurfs movie which is also debuting, but we have seen far better material from DreamWorks.

The Boss Baby is not a poorly-made film  its just not brilliantly realised, nor is it a story or concept that requires the runtime. With an adaptation of Captain Underpants due from DreamWorks next, it will perhaps be some time before the studio veers away from flat-out comedy in the name of something a little more wholesome  but we will always be prepared for a surprise.
He may not have to travel through snow, rain, heat or gloom of night to deliver the local mail, but Plattsmouths new postmaster will ensure letters and parcels arrive at their intended destinations.

Postmaster Eric Tuttle started his position in Plattsmouth March 3, with 20 years of experience with the United States Postal Service already behind him. Although he was born in Des Moines, Iowa, he has lived in Nebraska the past 30 years. After graduating from high school in 1978, Tuttle attended Northwestern College in Iowa. He began working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1994.

I started in Omaha and was at Des Moines, Iowa, Sioux City and Ashland, Tuttle said.

Tuttle said he wanted to come to Plattsmouth to be closer to his home in south Omaha. Ive always liked Plattsmouth, he said.

While at Des Moines, Sioux City and Omaha, Tuttle said he dealt with the hustle and bustle of working in large post offices. I worked in two of the biggest post offices in Omaha, he said. Its a different challenge. Its an entirely different animal. Its more public. Its a small town. There it is more of a business. Here the post office is about the community. If there are problems here, people dont hesitate to tell you.

In Plattsmouth, he will be able to bring a more personal touch to the work. My job is largely administrative and dealing with issues with the public. Here, I am the face of the post office to the people, Tuttle said. Anyone with a complaint or concern should come to me.

Implementing change is the main challenge in Plattsmouth. Already, Tuttle has overseen the creation of a new dock at the back of the post office and new sidewalks around it. We put in the dock last week, he said. We will also be getting some brick work and remodeling done to the building.

Of course, there have also been changes in the type of mail being sent.

The changes in the last 20 years have been 180 degrees. The mail used to consist of letters, magazines and catalogues. Now its mainly packages. Parcels are huge for us, he said.

Each day, the Plattsmouth post office receives 800 to 1,000 parcels to deliver. These carriers take 30 to 40 parcels and 40 to 50 smaller packages each day, Tuttle said. I foresee that continuing as people get more isolated in their homes. I think the postal service will be on the forefront of it.

At Christmas, the amount of parcels and packages nearly triples. Its unbelievable. On Christmas, we will be working, he said.

Online purchases have driven the changes at the post office. The public can order something on Thursday from Amazon and they get it the next day, he said.

Tuttle is not the only new face at the Plattsmouth post office. Greg Parr joined him as the new supervisor.

Parr grew up in Roseland, a town of 250 people. He started working for the U.S. Postal Service at age 28. Before Plattsmouth, he was supervisor in Omaha and was in Ames, Iowa. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration and Marketing Management in 1997 and worked for Ameritrade until he joined the postal service in 2004.

Both men stressed that they are at the Plattsmouth post office to help people.

Give us a call. Were here to help address any issues the public has, Parr said.

Tuttle said his door is always open. I want people to know if they are having any problems, Im here. Call me anytime at the office, Tuttle said.
Newsy 23 Aug 2022

Watch VideoUkranians are calling it a parade of Russian tanks, but not, as they point out, the one Vladimir Putin..
NowThis 22 Sep 2022

Today is Black Womens Equal Pay Day  listen to this workplace and equity consultant break down how we can work toward closing..
Brown Bag

The next Brown Bag Program at Cass County Museum is noon Tuesday, April 11 , The program, Cass County and World War I" will be presented by museum curator Margo Prentiss. She will talk about some of the men who enlisted in the service 100 years ago and show documents and photographs from World War I that were recently donated to the Museum.

Coffee and cookies will be served. The brown bag series continues with programs on April 25 and May 9.

For additional information, contact the museum, 402.296.4770.

Museum Hours

Starting April 1, Cass County Museum returned to its summer hours of being open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. It will be closed Easter weekend, April 15 and April 16, but otherwise will only be closed on Mondays and Holidays.

Current exhibits include "Isaac Wiles and the Great Seal of Nebraska", "Plattsmouth in the 1860s" and "The Bill of Rights and You"

For additional information, contact the museum, 402-296-4770.

Spring Luncheon

Church of the Holy Spirit will be hosting its annual Spring Salad Luncheon 1e1 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in St. John the Baptist School gym, 500 S. 18th St.

The luncheon includes hot casseroles, a variety of salads and home-baked muffins prepared by women in the parish. There will also be a large selection of desserts along with piping hot coffee and ice cold lemonade.

Come spend your lunch hour with them and enjoy some good home cooking. You wont go away hungry.

Convention of States

Three Convention of States Nebraska information sessions are scheduled to help proponents enforce fiscal restraint, stop federal overreach and impose term limits.

Anyone who is interested is invited to Stans Bakery 7-8 a.m. Friday, April 7; 8-9 a.m. Saturday, April 8; or 9-10 a.m. Saturday, April 8, to learn more about it.

Fire and Rescue donations

William E. and Barbara A. Beck recently donated $100, and Floyd J and Garnet Kreifels donated $150 to Plattsmouth Emergency Medical Services.

Plattsmouth Volunteer Fire Department also received donations in memory of Clarice Frazier including $20 from Carol A. Gray and; $50 from Richard E. and Patricia J. Kellison.

Other donations to the fire department included $100 from William E. and Barbara Beck; $500 from R.J. Wehrbein Farms Inc. and Omaha Fish and Wildlife; and $1,000 from Emerson Wiles.

Plattsmouth Egg Hunt

Plattsmouth Police Department will be hosting the Annual Community Easter Egg Hunt at 10 a.m. April 15 at Rhylander Park. The hunt will be moved to the Plattsmouth Middle School if there is inclement weather.
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. The main difference between the two programs is that Medicaid covers healthcare costs for people with low incomes while Medicare provides health coverage for the elderly. There are also dual health plans for people who have both Medicaid and Medicare. The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as "a government insurance program for persons of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care."
Eurasia Review 27 Jul 2022

By Jonathan Power



When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo, a country the size of western Europe, in..
Codeta Casino Introduces New Games

Published April 4, 2017 by Brett C

Codeta Casino recently launched several major upgrades. It now features a brand new look, new games, and additional languages in its video tutorials.

Codeta Casino has launched multiple new games on its multivendor gaming platform. This popular online casino is increasing the quantity and quality of its games to attract more players in existing markets and new markets. As a leading live casino, Codeta Casino has injected plenty of energy into its brand for players to enjoy.

New Look Platform Enhances User Experience

Codeta Casino now features a sleek new design, showcasing bold banners and enticing logos. Along with the new games on offer, Codeta is benefiting from its partnership with NYX with increased access to other game providers in ELK Studios, NextGen Gaming, and Aristocrat among others. To commemorate its facelift and redesign, Codeta was awarded the Best Casino of the Month by New Casino UK. The award paid tribute to Codeta's excellence in live gaming and player satisfaction.

All Gaming Providers Chipping In

Codeta Casino runs a multivendor platform. The main software providers include NetEnt, QuickSpin, Microgaming, NYX Interactive, PlaySon and Play'N Go. Each of these casino game developers has added exciting titles to the new range of games at Codeta Casino. QuickSpin and NetEnt weighed in with two games between them: Leprechaun Hills and Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild respectively.

A mix of Asian-themed casino games like Matsuri from Play'N Go and Egyptian-themed titles like Treasure of Tombs: Hidden Gold from PlaySon are now available. Microgaming has added 5 new games to its platform, with titles such as Emperor of the Sea, Pollen Party, Golden Princess, Ming Dynasty and The Heat Is on. These video slots games offer interactive features, with Wilds, Scatters and Bonus Rounds.

Codeta Releases German Video Tutorials

Players at Codeta enjoy online video tutorials. As a result, this online casino recently launched German language subtitles for its video tutorials. More languages are slated to follow.
By: Richard H. Baker

Even in times of pressure, research shows that investors particularly institutional investors such as pensions, foundations and endowments continue to use hedge funds as tools to help meet their unique financial and risk management needs.

This is especially true in the U.S. According to independent data from Preqin, total industry assets are at record levels. Almost two-thirds of investors plan to maintain or increase their hedge fund allocations over the near term; over the longer term, nearly 70% of investors report the same.

So, why do these sophisticated investors continue to use hedge funds in the face of recent headwinds?

There are a variety of answers, but many institutional chief investment officers will tell you they rely on hedge funds to help dampen market volatility and provide returns that are risk-adjusted and uncorrelated to equity markets.

What that means in practice is that many hedge funds are designed to protect against losses when markets crash. An example would be the global financial crisis when hedge funds on average outperformed the U.S. stock market, which lost about 40% in 2008.

In other words, the goal is often more about managing risk than "beating the markets," as some critics suggest.

Of course, each investor and allocation is different, but the fact that the overwhelming majority of industry investors are sticking with hedge funds for the long term shows that they continue to see the value p......................

To view our full article Click here
Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:

The Senate Banking Committee has voted 15-8 to put corporate lawyer Jay Clayton at the top of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Clayton is currently a partner at corporate law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he has developed deep ties with the industry he is now expected to regulate. Sullivan & Cromwell has previously represented the likes of Barclays and Goldman Sachs as well as troubled Deutsche Bank, which is currently under regulatory scrutiny. At Sullivan & Cromwell, Clayton focused on capital markets and mergers and acquisitions clients.

Clayton is expected to go along with President Trump's plans for deregulation and looser enforcement of the rules that remain.

Clayton's nomination came under pressure from some Democrats on the committee who voiced concerns that Clayton's prior legal work left him hopelessly conflicted. In the end, four Democrats crossed party lines to vote to approve Clayton. Others including Senators Brown and Warren voted against, reiterating concerns about conflicts of interest.

As noted by the New York Times, in his statement to the committee, Clayton said he was committed to stopping fraud and other illegal behavior on Wall Street. Skeptics of his approach to enforcement will no doubt be looking closely at whether and when he recuses himself from SEC actions invol......................

To view our full article Click here
Opalesque Industry Update - Silverfleet Capital has hired Karl Eidem as Co-Head of the Nordic Region. Karl will work closely with Gareth Whiley, Partner who currently heads the region to further develop the firm's capabilities and help to build on Silverfleet's successful track record in Scandinavia, where the firm has made three investments and achieved one exit since 2013. Karl joins Silverfleet from Swedish national pension fund AP6, where he was an Investment Director overseeing the development of an international investment programme through mid to large cap private equity firms and co-investments. Prior to that, he was a Senior Principal at Doughty Hanson in Stockholm and London, responsible for origination of Nordic investments. Previously he was a Partner at Nordic investment bank ABG Sundal Collier and an Investment Banking Director in the Nordic and Industrial team at Lehman Brothers International. Karl began his career as a management consultant with Accenture in Stockholm. Karl has an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University in the US. He graduated with an MSc in Psychology from the University of Stockholm. Neil MacDougall, Managing Partner at Silverfleet Capital, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Karl to Silverfleet. He brings valuable experience to our team and will play an important role as we continue to build up our presence in the Nordic Region." Commenting on his appointment, Karl said: "I have admired Silverfleet's success in executing its buy-to-build investment strategy for many years and am excited to be joining the firm. I look forward to working with Gareth and the team to build on the firm's first class reputation in the Nordic Region." Since 2004, 23% of Silverfleet's new investments by capital have been in companies with headquarters in the Nordic region. In 2016 Silverfleet sold Cimbria, a Danish-headquartered manufacturer of equipment and processing lines for seed and grain, to AGCO Corporation for approximately 310 million. Existing Nordic investments include Copenhagen-headquartered Phase One, the leading provider of open-platform, high-end camera systems and solutions, and Masai, a Danish womenswear clothing brand.
Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales Market Report 2017

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=913523&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-cardiac-resynchronization-therapy-pacemakers-sales-market-report-2017.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/reports.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Industry 2017 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2017-2020.The report on the global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers market has been compiled to serve as an asset for companies wanting to make informed decisions for growth in this space, and also presents a figurative estimation of the future of the market. The report has been a result of primary and secondary research using proven market research methodologies such as Porters five forces and SWOTT analysis. The primary research formed the bulk of our research efforts along with information collected from telephonic interviews and interactions via e-mails. Secondary research involved study of company websites, annual reports, press releases, stock analysis presentations, and various international and national databases. The report provides market size in terms of US$ mn for each segment for the period from 2017 to 2021, considering the macro and micro environmental factors.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @For the estimation of the future lucrativeness of the global market for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers, the report studies various factors that are expected to positively influence the growth rate. It also analyzes the challenges expected to hinder the growth rate during the forecast period, besides highlighting the emerging trends and opportunities, which will significantly define the future scenario. The report also divides the global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers market into quantitative segments and studies the opportunities available in the regional markets based on geography. Growth rate for each of the product and geographical segment has been provided.The key feature of the report is the section on company profiles. Here, this report lists out some of the key players who are currently functional in the global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers market, providing details such as market share, product portfolio, recent developments, and strategies for the future.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales Market Report 20171 Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers1.2 Classification of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers1.2.1 Single cavity1.2.2 Double chamber1.2.3 Three cavity1.3 Application of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers1.3.1 Health Care Equipment & Supplies1.3.2 Household Products1.4 Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2017)2.1.2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2017)2.2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2017)2.2.2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2017)2.3 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2017)2.3.2 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2017)2.4 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume) by Application3 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Value (2011-2017)3.1.1 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)3.1.2 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)3.1.3 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)3.2 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Value (2011-2017)4.1.1 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)4.1.2 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)4.1.3 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)4.2 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Application5 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Value (2011-2017)5.1.1 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)5.1.2 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)5.1.3 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)5.2 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales and Market Share by Application9 Global Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Manufacturers Analysis9.1 BIOTRONIK9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Product Type, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Single cavity9.1.2.2 Double chamber9.1.3 BIOTRONIK Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Boston Scientific9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Product Type, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Single cavity9.2.2.2 Double chamber9.2.3 Boston Scientific Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 LivaNova9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Product Type, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Single cavity9.3.2.2 Double chamber9.3.3 LivaNova Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewList of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy PacemakersTable Classification of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy PacemakersFigure Global Sales Market Share of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers by Type in 2015Figure Single cavity PictureFigure Double chamber PictureFigure Three cavity PictureTable Applications of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy PacemakersFigure Global Sales Market Share of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers by Application in 2015Figure Health Care Equipment & Supplies ExamplesFigure Household Products ExamplesFigure United States Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure China Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Europe Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Japan Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Southeast Asia Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Market Report 2017

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=913474&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-blood-oxygen-sensor-sales-market-report-2017.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/reports.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Industry 2017 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2017-2020.A new intelligence study presents a comprehensive overview of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market, offering insights into the key growth factors and lucrative opportunities. In addition, the key regional segments, product segmentation, and the primary applications have been discussed at length in the scope of the research report. The research report, with a view to offer a clear understanding of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market, provides a detailed information regarding the key growth factors, current trends, recent developments, and the limitations faced by the prominent players operating in the overall market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The research report has furnished answers to several burning questions concerning the growth and development of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market. Some of them are given below:Which product segment is expected to lead in the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market?What is the anticipated growth rate of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market in the forecast period?Which regional segment is estimated to account for a massive share of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market?What are the primary driving factors of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market?What are the vital challenges faced by the prominent players in the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market?Which current trends are likely to offer promising growth prospects in the next few years?How is the competitive landscape of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market at present?Furthermore, the study offers a detailed overview of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market in terms of the competitive scenario. A list of all the leading players operating in the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market has been listed in the study, along with the key strategies that are being used by them in order to flourish and sustain in the market. Additionally, the company profiles, product portfolio, financial overview, SWOT analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and the latest developments have been discussed in the research study to offer a strong understanding of the global Blood Oxygen Sensor market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Market Report 20171 Blood Oxygen Sensor Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Blood Oxygen Sensor1.2 Classification of Blood Oxygen Sensor1.2.1 Disposable1.2.2 Other1.3 Application of Blood Oxygen Sensor1.3.1 Hospital1.3.2 Clinic1.3.3 Household1.3.4 Other1.4 Blood Oxygen Sensor Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Blood Oxygen Sensor (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2017)2.1.2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2017)2.2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2017)2.2.2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2017)2.3 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2017)2.3.2 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2017)2.4 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume) by Application3 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Value (2011-2017)3.1.1 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)3.1.2 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)3.1.3 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)3.2 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Value (2011-2017)4.1.1 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)4.1.2 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)4.1.3 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)4.2 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Application5 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Value (2011-2017)5.1.1 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2017)5.1.2 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2017)5.1.3 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Price Trend (2011-2017)5.2 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Market Share by Application9 Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Manufacturers Analysis9.1 Siemens9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Blood Oxygen Sensor Product Type, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Disposable9.1.2.2 Other9.1.3 Siemens Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Fairchild Semiconductor9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Blood Oxygen Sensor Product Type, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Disposable9.2.2.2 Other9.2.3 Fairchild Semiconductor Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Philips9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Blood Oxygen Sensor Product Type, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Disposable9.3.2.2 Other9.3.3 Philips Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.4 Ge Healthcare9.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.4.2 Blood Oxygen Sensor Product Type, Application and Specification9.4.2.1 Disposable9.4.2.2 Other9.4.3 Ge Healthcare Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2017)9.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewFigure Picture of Blood Oxygen SensorTable Classification of Blood Oxygen SensorFigure Global Sales Market Share of Blood Oxygen Sensor by Type in 2015Figure Disposable PictureFigure Other PictureTable Applications of Blood Oxygen SensorFigure Global Sales Market Share of Blood Oxygen Sensor by Application in 2015Figure Hospital ExamplesFigure Clinic ExamplesFigure Household ExamplesFigure Other ExamplesFigure United States Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure China Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Europe Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Japan Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Southeast Asia Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure India Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Figure Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Table Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales of Key Manufacturers (2011-2017)Table Global Blood Oxygen Sensor Sales Share by Manufacturers (2011-2017)For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Turn on the news or open up the paper today and theres a good chance you might see a story that says bipartisanship is dead in Congress. As someone who serves in Congress, I dont believe that to be so. For the past five years, Ive had success in working with my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to make meaningful progress for Nebraska families.

My working relationship with Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey is one example. Sen. Booker and I are different people and we represent different states. Hes a Democrat and a vegan from New Jersey. Im a Republican and a cattle rancher from Nebraska. When I was a Nebraska state senator, my legislative district was the size of New Jersey.

Despite our differences, Sen. Booker and I have developed a strong, bipartisan partnership in the Senate. I am the chairman of the Senate Surface Transportation Subcommittee; he is the top Democrat or ranking member. Together in this committee, weve had legislative successes on a wide-range of issues. Increasing pipeline safety and improving our maritime transportation system are two of them.

We also work together on new technology issues, particularly on the Internet of Things.

What is the Internet of Things? Its the rapidly developing, global network of connected technology that can change our lives. In fact, it already does. Fitbits can track our activity, refrigerators can tell us when we need more milk from the store, and thermostats let us control the temperature away from home.

Sen. Booker and I recently spoke together at an event on Capitol Hill on this topic. Specifically, our discussion focused on this central question: is government taking the right steps to make America a world leader in the Internet of Things?

We both agree Congress should do more to clear obstacles for the people who will make us that world leader.

Those people work in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the Haymarket District, and in Omahas Old Market, two cities where the tech industry is doing so well its called Silicon Prairie. They are the innovators, inventors, programmers, coders, and restless dreamers who like to solve technical problems. They are also the millions who support them, by rewarding their ingenuity, by buying their products or stock, and by keeping alive that spirit of innovative discovery.

To help clear the way, Senator Booker and I joined Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Cory Gardner of Colorado to reintroduce the Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act. The bill would facilitate a working group of federal agencies and private sector stakeholders. That group would then provide recommendations to Congress about how to plan for, and encourage, the Internet of Things. It gives those innovators a forum to make their voices heard, but it would also help Congress identify problems: like regulatory silos. It would ensure Americans can seize the benefits of this growing, global network.

The most important parts of the Internet of Things arent things at all. They are people. We care about the Internet of Things because of what it can do for our families, our children, and our world: Solving everyday headaches, like being stuck in traffic on our daily commute. Connecting people living in the vastness of rural America. Delivering new, potentially lifesaving treatments for patients.

I look forward to continuing my bipartisan work with Senator Booker on this very important issue.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
Pancreatic Cancer Therapeutics Market - Epidemiology Analysis, Therapy, Development and Demand Forecast to 2023

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/pancreatic-cancer-therapeutics-market

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/pancreatic-cancer-therapeutics-market/toc-sample

www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/pharmaceuticals

www.psmarketresearch.com

The global pancreatic cancer therapeutics market holds numerous opportunities for the key players, as pancreatic cancer is a highly challenging disease among all types of cancer, which has no specific treatment available for it, as of now. Also, growing incidence of cancer and technological advancements are supporting the growth of the global pancreatic cancer therapeutics market growth.Explore Report at:Cancer instigates uncountable growth of cells due to some abnormalities in the body. Some of the common symptoms of pancreatic cancer include weight loss, diarrhea, jaundice and abdominal pain. Cancer hampers the pancreas normal functioning, with smoking being the major risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Diagnosis of this type of cancer is done by patient history check and complete physical examination, followed by urine, stool and blood tests. Also, personal or family history of pancreatitis and BRCA2 mutation inclines a person to be affected by pancreatic cancer.A number of imaging techniques such as MRI, ultrasound and CT scan are used for the disease diagnosis. The most common form of treatment is chemotherapy done by medical practitioners and oncologists. The drugs approved for the pancreatic cancer treatment include, but are not limited to ONIVYDE (irinotecan liposome injection); 5-FU (fluorouracil); Gemzar (gemcitabine); and ABRAXANE (albumin-bound paclitaxel). Apart from this, FOLFIRINOX, a combination of three chemotherapy drugs (5-FU/leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) is commonly used in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Other emerging treatments involve chemotherapies for advanced pancreatic cancer, combined with agents already approved for use, which are being investigated in clinical trials.Request for Table of Content at:The investment in both segments of pancreatic cancers is significant. However, the growing prevalence and growing reach of novel techniques in the developing regions are the aspects likely to drive the growth of the exocrine category, throughout the forecast period.Presently, the global pancreatic cancer therapeutics industry is merged in nature, with only a few top companies seizing the major share of the market. Some of the top companies operating in this market are Celgene Corporation; Eli Lilly and Company; Amgen, Inc.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc.; Novartis AG; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.; Clovis Oncology; Pfizer, Inc.; and Merck & Co., Inc.Browse Other Related report at:Several companies are concentrating on the introduction of technologically advanced products, in order to obtain a significant share in the fast-growing medical devices area. Also, collaborations, mergers and partnerships with well-established players are the key approaches followed by top players to increase their market share, during the forecast period.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:347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Therapeutics Market - Epidemiology Analysis, Therapy, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2023

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/benign-prostatic-hyperplasia-therapeutics-market

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/benign-prostatic-hyperplasia-therapeutics-market/toc-sample

www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/pharmaceuticals

www.psmarketresearch.com

The global benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics market is expected to witness significant growth, as increased number of effective treatments are available for cancer. Increasing awareness regarding various cancer treatment drugs, technological advancements, and growing demand for safe and effective medications are acting as the major growth drivers for the benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics market. Globally, regulatory bodies are adding to the growth of the market with provision of funding, grants and designations. Thus, these regulatory bodies are amplifying the drug development process.Explore Report at:Benign prostatic hyperplasia is also known as benign prostatic obstruction or benign prostatic hypertrophy, is a disease state in men, caused by prostate gland enlargement. Prostate develops in dual phase in entire life - the first phase occurs in initial phase of puberty, followed by the second phase that usually begins at the age of twenty-four and remains for most of a persons life. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common problem in men aged above 50 years, and it occurs in the second phase of growth of prostate. However, the disease can also arise in men aged below 40 years, with the probabilities of its occurrence increasing with age.With the enlargement of prostate gland, the gland presses in and pinches the urethra, resulting in thickening of the bladder wall, due to which, the gland loses its ability to empty the bladder completely. Nocturia, urinary incontinence and frequent urination are the common symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. In its acute stage, benign prostatic hyperplasia can lead to bladder damage, kidney damage and urinary tract infection.Request for Table of Content at:Aging population is the major factor on which the benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics market is mostly dependent. Asia-Pacific and European markets for benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics are likely to observe significant growth rates, during the forecast period, due to increase in aging population in these regions. The Latin American and North American markets for benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics are also projected to observe strong growth rates, during the forecast period.Browse other Related Report at:Some of the key players operating in the global benign prostatic hyperplasia therapeutics market include Sandoz, Inc., Sanofi Aventis, Labopharm, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc.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:347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016
Senegal: Launch of 4G and Mobile Data Services to Drive Telecom Market Growth- MRH

Market Research Hub

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=904543

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/senegal-launch-of-4g-and-mobile-data-services-to-drive-telecom-market-growth-report.html

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/

https://twitter.com/MktResearchHub/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/market-research-hub/

https://www.facebook.com/MarketResearchHub/

MRH Report on the title "Telecommunications Market in Senegal" is estimated to be $953.0m in service revenue in 2016. The telecom services revenue in Senegal is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.9% during 2016-2021, driven by growth in mobile data and fixed broadband. Mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment in the telecom market. Going forward, operator focus on network upgrades, improving Internet connectvity and investments in 4G technology will provide opportunities for investors.Request a Free Sample Report:Key FindingsThe overall telecom service revenue in Senegal is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.9% during 2016-2021, mainly driven by data segment.- Operators are focusing on modernizing existing networks and launching new service offerings such as value-added services to increase revenue.- Mobile revenue will account for 81.3% of the total telecom revenue in 2021; mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment over 2016-2021.- The Senegal telecom market will be dominated by Orange Senegal. Operators will focus on offering VAS and improving network infrastructure to improve their market position.Synopsis"Senegal: Launch of 4G and Mobile Data Services to Drive Telecom Market Growth" a new Country Intelligence Report by Pyramid Research, provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Senegal today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2021. Published annually, the report provides detailed analysis of the near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics and evolution of demand by service type and technology/platform across the fixed telephony, broadband and mobile sectors, as well as a review of key regulatory trends.The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following:- Regional context: telecom market size and trends in Senegal compared with other countries in the region.- Economic, demographic and political context in Senegal.- The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, number portability and more.- A demand profile: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data.- Service evolution: a look at changes in the breakdown of overall revenue between the fixed and mobile sectors and between voice and data from 2016 to 2021.- The competitive landscape: an examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months.- In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.- Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in Senegal's telecommunication market.Browse Full Report with TOC:ReasonsToBuy- This Country Intelligence Report offers a thorough, forward-looking analysis of Senegal's telecommunications market, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format to help executives build proactive and profitable growth strategies.- Accompanying Pyramid Researchs Forecast products, the report examines the assumptions and drivers behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Senegal's mobile communications, fixed telephony and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares.- With more than 20 charts and tables, the report is designed for an executive-level audience, boasting presentation quality.- The report provides an easily digestible market assessment for decision-makers built around in-depth information gathered from local market players, which enables executives to quickly get up to speed with the current and emerging trends in Senegal's telecommunications market.- The broad perspective of the report coupled with comprehensive, actionable detail will help operators, equipment vendors and other telecom industry players succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Senegal.About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Follow Us on:Twitter:LinkedIn:Facebook :
Global Gypsum Fiber Board Market 2017 - Johns Manville, Saint Gobain, Georgia-Pacific, Eagle Materials, National

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/42871/request-sample

https://goo.gl/RJex3a

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

The report  Global Gypsum Fiber Board Industry presents an executive-level overview of the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market. The Global Gypsum Fiber Board market is expected to demonstrate a positive growth trend in the coming years. The market forces that will shape the growth of this market have been scrutinized in detail in this report.Download Free Sample Report @Comprehensive data related to the market trends has been included in this report. The market drivers that will fuel the growth of the market during the forecast period are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, the regulatory environment in the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market and its impact on the Global Gypsum Fiber Board industry performance has been assessed in this report. The restraining factors that will result in decline in popularity of certain product segments have also been covered in this report. The potential opportunities and their impact on the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market is also evaluated in the report.The key players are expected to tap onto these market opportunities to penetrate the market. Furthermore, the untapped opportunities in emerging economies will provide a considerable impetus to the small, medium, and large companies operating in the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market. These opportunities in turn are projected to have positive impact on the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market. Players in the market are focusing on innovation, which has resulted in a lot of mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships. The prominent market players are also focusing to offer a broader range of products. Competitors often are competing on the basis of the cost of the products in the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market.Access Full Report @Around the world, industries are focusing on incorporating green practices in their manufacturing processes. Moreover, products that are manufactured using these green practices or include more eco-friendly ingredients are popular among consumers. This consumer preference will help companies operating in the Global Gypsum Fiber Board market to include greener products and services to their offering.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
SBI Foundation Donates INR 88 Lakhs to Akshaya Patra

Akshaya Patra Receives Cheque

https://www.akshayapatra.org

Bengaluru: 4th April, 2017: The Akshaya Patra Foundation received a donation of INR 88 lakhs from SBI Foundation. The money is donated by the CSR wing of State Bank group. This donation will be invested towards 1250 Hot Insulated Vessels to keep food hot for 8-10 hours. The insulated hot boxes would be distributed amongst Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Nathdwara kitchens. The cheque of INR 88, 08, 400 was given to Akshaya Patra on 27 March, 2017 at ISCKON, Bangalore.Speaking on this occasion Shri Narottham Reddy, President & COO, SBI Foundation said We are proud to be partnering with Akshaya Patra which is working towards eradicating malnutrition in India, and happy that these Hot Insulated Vessels will be instrumental in delivering hot and nutritious meal to the children. We look forward to a long term association with the Foundation.Acharya Ratna Dasa, Chief Project Manager, Akshaya Patra said We are over whelmed by the support from SBI Foundation. We take pride in being the first NGO to receive aid by SBI Foundation and we profusely thank them for associating with us.About SBI Foundation: The SBI Foundation aims to be the leading institution for promoting growth and equality, responsive to the relevant needs of communities where it operates. SBI Foundation puts forth itself a larger aim of being a responsible Corporate Citizen, by contributing to nation building through CSR activities, in true letter and spirit.The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Bengaluru, India. The organisation strives to fight issues like hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the Government schools and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims not only to fight hunger but also to bring children to school. Since 2000, the organisation has worked towards reaching more children with wholesome food on every single school day. Akshaya Patra is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and inestimable support from many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools. Today, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the worlds largest (not-for-profit run) Mid-Day Meal Programme serving wholesome food to over 1.6 million children from 13,529 schools across 11 states in India.The Akshaya Patra Foundation#72, 3rd Floor, 3rd Main Road, 1st & 2nd StageYeshwantpur Industrial Suburb, Rajajinagar Ward No. 10Bengaluru  560022IndiaPhone: +91 80 3014 3400Fax: +91 80 2357 8626Web:
Global Timing Belt Market 2017 - Bando, Megadyne, ContiTech AG, Arntz Optibelt GmbH, Federal-Mogul Holdings

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/39680/request-sample

https://goo.gl/KmWxS5

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

Global market research report of Timing Belt 2017 mainly focuses on Production, means the output of Timing Belt and Revenue, means the sales value of Timing Belt in market. Timing Belt market research report studies Timing Belt in Global market, Timing Belt market report gives detail analysis of regions especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Global Timing Belt market report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with their Business perspective which consist of Timing Belt capacity, production, price, revenue and Timing Belt market share for each manufacturer.Download Sample Report @The research study Global Timing Belt Industry offers strategic assessment of the Global Timing Belt market. The industry report focuses on the growth opportunities, which will help the Global Timing Belt industry to expand operations in the existing markets or aid its development of the emerging markets. The study assess new product and service positioning strategies in the Global Timing Belt market. Furthermore, the new and evolving technologies and their impact on the market is analyzed in detail in this report.The leading players in the Global Timing Belt market have been profiled in this report. The key market players with their business overview, marketing strategies, strategic alliances and acquisitions are included in this report. In addition, the report includes the evaluation of the top market players, product and service offering and revenue analysis. The report features significant industry insights, market expectations and key developments, which will help firms operating in the market to make informed business decisions.Request For Full Report With TOC @The report also delivers a detailed segment-based assessment of the Global Timing Belt market. The segments along with their sub-segments have been analyzed in this report. Furthermore, the report evaluates the trends that will help to fuel the growth of the individual sectors. The key segments of the Global Timing Belt market along with their market forecasts both in terms of revenue and volume have been covered in the research study. The report also talks about the emerging geographical sectors in this market and the trends that will drive the industry across these regional segments.The report on the Global Timing Belt market is created using a data collection mix of supply side and demand side. For the purpose of primary research, information and statistics with regards manufacturers, product wholesalers and distributors and raw material suppliers from the supply side is analyzed. To evaluate the demand trends exhibited by the market, the report studies consumer surveys, application surveys and mystery shopping. The report also refers to information obtained from secondary data sources. Backed by extensive research, the report delivers valuable market forecasts and estimates.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
CedCommerce Already Adhering to Magento Imagine 2017 Agenda.

jet marketplace integration

Attending the Magento Paris 2017 was the boon for us. Not only we heard the experts take on all the burning topics that affect e-commerce industry but learnt important lessons on consumer behavior, and how to go about solving the problems.Therefore, were all excited about the Imagine 2017 as it starts from April 3rd in the dreamy city Las Vegas, Nevada, which earlier hosted Shop Talk successfully. Thence we wish that Imagine becomes a block buster success, and achieves all its goals in spirit and objectives.As experts, developers, product managers, industry leaders, CEO's and sellers gather at these events, and discuss the trends, break through technologies, hurdles and brainstorm the agenda, the penultimate customers  sellers are more informed and better aware than before with the commencement of such events.Also, as every event has their Agenda, Magento Imagine 2017, Las Vegas, has its own too. And we could not be more proud to inform to all our readers, were successfully following AND IMPLEMENTING all such moves that makes your Magento selling experience and increase your revenue streams.Cedcommerce Products Complying to Imagine 2017 agendaMobile App as a Sales Channel:The Magento Imagine 2017 has a session scheduled, named as Improving Mobile Conversion: The 50% Youre Missing where Jon Higby, Manager of Solution Engineering for Partners, PayPal and Ben Marks, Evangelist, Magento Commerce would shed light on why conversion on mobile remains painfully low despite exponential growth in customers shopping on mobile devices.From our exposure of developing solutions for Magento, we arrived at the same conclusion as the Agenda for the talk states, Improving checkout and conversion isnt just a design problem: its a consumer behavior challenge, where integrating the right technologies becomes critically important. Jon and Ben will walk through the data, the challenge, and solutions at your disposal.We have, in our Mage Native app: a turnkey solution to convert any Magento 1 or 2 store into app, have incorporated all such integrations. Although, faster check out do matter, but they dont entirely decide the fate of consumers buying journey. It is the journey itself which must be focused.And, the Mage Native app has been developed with the Redundant Purchase Journey where all the unnecessary pages have been killed. Search is smart and has the various filters; it supports all the Magento supported payment gateways; and also has faster checkout pages with the engaging, and simple interface and navigation. All aimed to compel your customers to take the decision.OmniChannel Solutions with Magento:Also, Magento Imagine 2017 includes as the session, Technical Deep Dive: Omnichannel Solutions with Magento Commerce Order Management where Mark Hatch, Director Product Delivery, Magento Commerce would be speaking on How Magento Commerce Order Management can adapt to the unique needs of your clients.We learned at the Magento Paris, 61% consumers expect click-and-collect functionality from the website they purchase, meaning they want to purchase online and pick the orders from nearest storeAnother intriguing analysis is 86% of the customers said, they want to buy online and return in-store.And we are soon to include Store Locator feature (as an add-on ) in our Magento Multi Vendor Marketplace Solution. Thus, enabling Magento Multi-Vendor Marketplace owners to approach Omni-channel selling with holistic approach.Also, to facilitate multi-channel selling (a term usually synonymous with omnicommerce but not the same), Cedcommerce has Jet Magento Integration And Walmart Magento Integration extension, that enables Magento sellers to offer their products at these leading marketplaces.Apart from these, critical-to-e-commerce success issues, other Agenda such as The fundamentals of the design thinking process and have effectively applied it to solutions developed by us.We follow the best industry practices when migrating your store from Magento 1 to Magento 2.Last but not the least, we couldnt agree more with the Agenda, Increasing Diversity in Tech and its statements that diverse teams perform better by increasing collective intelligence. Companies with the highest representation of women in leadership have seen a 34 percent higher ROI than those with few or no women. And were getting excited to hear Francesca Molinari, Chief Human Resources Officer, Magento Commerce, views on this who would moderate this talk.All in all, the next 3 days are going to be exciting for Magento store users and members of this robust and expansive community. We hope that this event grows more in stature and from strength-to-strength.The Magento imagine 2017 event to kick start from April 3, 2017 has set forth an agenda which has been implemented in our solution. Read blog to find out.1812 N Columbia Blvd, Suite C15-653026, Portland,Oregon, 97217, USA
Industrial Lifts Manufacturers- Technovision Engineers Pvt.Ltd.

http://www.technovisionengrs.com/contact.php

http://www.technovisionengrs.com

Industrial LiftsTechnovision Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Manufacturer & Supplier of a wide range of products which include Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor such as Two Post VRC, Four Post VRC, Cantilever VRC As a Similar Name is Industrial Lifts, Good lift, Material Lift, Multi Tier Lifts, mezzanine goods liftGeneral:Widely used to move the material from one floor to another floor with great safety. It is a self-supported free standing structure.Product Range:Series is available with lifting capacity up to 2500kgs-5000Kgs, carriage size is customized, travel height 30.0Mtrs.Structure:Modular design with MS tubular structure with vertical 'H' beams. Carriage is MS fabricated tubular structure with checkered platform. Carriage is covered with MS perforated sheet at non-operating sides, operating sides are provided with collapsible doors. Vertical structure has provided with MS bracing and can be also covered with MS perforated sheet optionally.Operation:Carriage lifting & lowering movement is controlled with SEW Fail Safe Motor and speed Reduction Gear Box with the help of Chain & sprockets mechanism.Safety:2 Nos. of spring loaded Safety cams are provided to arrest sudden fall of the carriage due to failure of lifting chains.Deck locks are provided for additionally safety at critical upper levelBottom Safety Limit Switch provided to prevent carriage from hammering the ground in case of failure of the level floor limit switch .Chain Tensioner Limit Switch provided to stop the carriage in case of the lifting chains are pulled out due to any external obstruction in the upward / downward movement of the carriage .Top safety counter weight limit switch provided to cut-off the main power supply in case the carriage does not stop due to the failure of top floor level limit switch.Landing station collapsible doors are interlocked with electro-mechanical limit switches.Common contactor is provided to cut-off the main power supply if the up/down contactor is failed.You Can Enquiry:About UsTEPL is one of the leading manufacturer of material handling equipment's. The core focus of the company lies in superior quality and excellent customer service. With expertise in the industry and constant innovation in the industry, the company also undertakes turnkey projects with design, manufacturing, supply, erection and commissioning activities. The company is one of the front runners in Lean Manufacturing Solutions in India with an ISO 9001-2008 certification. The production house has the capability to conduct in-house R & D and the company possesses exceptional talent for designing in terms of manpower, knowledge and technology. The company owns two manufacturing set-ups and total area of 28000 sq. ft. with all manufacturing and design equipment's. TEPL is known to deliver state of the art contemporary designs with their range of material handling equipment's.Contact UsTechnovision Engineers Private LimitedGat No. 1559-1560,Dehu Alandi Road, Shelarvasti, ChikaliPune, Maharashtra- 412114, IndiaPhone- 020- 66346500 / 513Email- contactus@technovisionengrs.comWebsite-
The urban environment in the Lipetsk region will become more comfortable

The urban environment

http://en.invest-lip.ru/

The national priority project "Building of the comfortable urban environment", directed to increase in comfort of residents of the cities and settlements, started in the region. In the nearest future programs of improvement, in which wishes of inhabitants will be considered, will be prepared in municipalities. The agreement that the Government of the Lipetsk region signed with Ministry of Construction of Russia became a basis for implementation of the project.The Lipetsk region will receive 170,6 million rubles under the terms of the agreement on support of the program of building of the comfortable urban environment. On the terms of co-financing the region will add 145,3 million more. Two thirds of the sum is planned to spend for improvement of the yards  for arrangement of places of mass rest.The learning seminar for administrations of municipalities is held by the employees of control of housing and communal services of the region within project implementation. The orders of provision of subsidies to local budgets will be approved till March, 31 and their potential receivers are defined. Till May 25 the municipal and city authorities will finally approve address programs of improvement.JSC Management Company "Investment Projects Fund" acts as the strategic tool for increasing of enterprise and investment activity in the Lipetsk region. Among our main goals are creation of new approach to development of territories and as a result improvement of investment climate of our region.We invite projects initiators and investors from all Russian regions and from abroad to mutually beneficial cooperation.JSC Managing company Investment Projects FundPhone: +7 (4742) 39-32-43E-mail: invest-lip@mail.ruAddress: 2 Slavyanova Street, Room 2, LipetskPresscontact: AnastasiaPhone: +7 980 262 32 46Web-site:
Global Weight Indicators Market 2017 - OHAUS, Dini Argeo, Gram Group, GIROPES, Cardinal Scale

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/32812/request-sample

https://goo.gl/PXV2sD

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

Global Weight Indicators Market 2017, presents a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Weight Indicators market globally, providing basic overview of Weight Indicators market including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Weight Indicators Market report provides development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Weight Indicators market size, share and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Download Sample Report @The report Global Weight Indicators Industry is an insightful reference for new entrants and established players in the Global Weight Indicators market. The data in the report presents a review of the most updated market trends. Furthermore, the report addresses the latest key industry events and their impact on the Global Weight Indicators market.The report is composed using inputs from an international team of leading experts to provide an update on the latest advances in the Global Weight Indicators market. The report also includes detailed instructions on strategies that will work in the developed market and the strategies that will work in the emerging market.A detailed geography-wise analysis of the Global Weight Indicators market gives readers a clear perspective of the most influential trends along with the regulatory scenario in the individual geographical sectors. In addition to this, the market size and shares of these regions along with forecast data included in the report are essential for companies to understand the investment viability in these regions.Access Full Report With TOC @Extensive data on the key players operating in the Global Weight Indicators market is covered in this report. This includes: Business overview, revenue share, product offering, service offering, latest events, and strategies of these players. In-depth evaluation of the key companies along with their strategic assets such as innovation, cost, and consumer satisfaction have been covered in the research report on the Global Weight Indicators market.The estimate of the Global Weight Indicators market share, whether based on revenue or size is a blend of fact and expert judgment that is supported by a sound research methodology. Readers are assured about the market estimates that are well supported.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Mobile Conveyor Manufacturers- Technovision Engineers Pvt.Ltd.

http://www.technovisionengrs.com/contact.php

http://www.technovisionengrs.com

Mobile Conveyormobile-conveyorTechnovision Engineers Pvt. Ltd. are a leading Manufacturer of Mobile Conveyor from Pune, India.We specialize in manufacturing qualitative range of Mobile Conveyor which find wide application in various fields to move diverse unit loads & bulk materials.The excellence of our organization lies in offering Portable Mobile Conveyor to our clients.We are one of the most popular type of material handling equipments .There is an excellent range of this conveyor available with us.These are versatile, reliable industrial conveyors light in weight for easy movability. These conveyors are endless belt made of PU, rubber, Plastic, moduller or PVC as per the requirement of material to be handled. This belt traverses between two or more pulleys and supported by idler rolls or slider bed. These conveyors find excellent use in flour mills, warehouses, sugar industries, fmcg, distilleries, chemical industries, food grains storages etc. where bulk quantities of bags, boxes are to conveyed for loading/unloading into trucks, containers or stacking/ de-stacking in warehouses. Mobile belt conveyors can move materials at variable speed or constant speed as per the client requirement. Mobile belt conveyors include flat belt, trough belt and metal/wooden slat stacker conveyors.Application:Mobile Conveyor widely used for loading and unloading of bags, carton boxes in various industries. Widely used in sugar industries, distilleries, pharmaceuticals , packaging industries, warehouses.Capacity:5 kg to 500 kgsFeatures:Very smooth conveyenceMan power reductionLess time consumptionEasy Towable TransportMany moreYou Can Enquiry:About UsTEPL is one of the leading manufacturer of material handling equipment's. The core focus of the company lies in superior quality and excellent customer service. With expertise in the industry and constant innovation in the industry, the company also undertakes turnkey projects with design, manufacturing, supply, erection and commissioning activities. The company is one of the front runners in Lean Manufacturing Solutions in India with an ISO 9001-2008 certification. The production house has the capability to conduct in-house R & D and the company possesses exceptional talent for designing in terms of manpower, knowledge and technology. The company owns two manufacturing set-ups and total area of 28000 sq. ft. with all manufacturing and design equipment's. TEPL is known to deliver state of the art contemporary designs with their range of material handling equipment's.Contact UsTechnovision Engineers Private LimitedGat No. 1559-1560,Dehu Alandi Road, Shelarvasti, ChikaliPune, Maharashtra- 412114, IndiaPhone- 020- 66346500 / 513Email- contactus@technovisionengrs.comWebsite-
Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales Market 2017 - Igloo, Coleman (Esky), Grizzly, Engel, Polar Bear Coolers

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/32299/request-sample

https://goo.gl/E58JII

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales Market 2017, presents a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market globally, providing basic overview of Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Convenient Camping Cooler Sales Market report provides development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market size, share and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Download Sample Report @Backed by extensive primary and secondary research, the report Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales Industry delivers valuable market insights. The report has been prepared using inputs from industry experts and features valuable recommendations from senior analysts. The report offers a comprehensive overview of the Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market.The reports includes market drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, investment potential, leading technologies, future roadmap, player profile, regulatory ecosystem, and strategies. The report also delivers market size forecasts for Convenient Camping Cooler Sales. The forecasts are further mentioned for the top segment of the Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market. This report comes with several charts, graphs, and graphics to make it an interesting read.The report also answers the key questions of the clients. These are:How big is the market opportunity?What are the forces influencing the Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market growth?What will be the Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market size at the end of the forecast?Which regions and sub-segments will grow at the highest rate?How will the regulatory scenario impact the Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market?What are the top strategies that the companies in the market are adopting?How will the patent expires shape the market dynamics?Access Full Report With TOC @The report profiles the top key players in the Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market. Furthermore, the detailed evaluation of these companies is available in this report. Focus on how these companies are targeting the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America has been covered in this report. In addition to this the latest strategic mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and collaborations happening in the Global Convenient Camping Cooler Sales market have been included in the report.A section of the report is dedicated for recommendations for new entrants and established players. The tactical recommendations from senior analysts give a clear perspective to clients as to which strategy will help them best to penetrate a market.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
United States Protein Labeling Market Research Report (2016) - MRH

Market Research Hub

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=852112

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/united-states-protein-labeling-market-report-2016-report.html

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/

https://twitter.com/MktResearchHub/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/market-research-hub/

https://www.facebook.com/MarketResearchHub/

Market Research Hub [MRH] Report on 'Biotechnology' Related Topic. This report studies sales (consumption) of Protein Labeling in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player.Request a Free Sample Report:Area CoveringThermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.)Merck KGaA (Germany)PerkinElmer, Inc. (U.S.)General Electric Company (U.S.)F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Switzerland)New England Biolabs (U.S.)Kaneka Corporation (Japan)Promega Corporation (U.S.)LI-COR, Inc. (U.S.)SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc. (U.S.)Table of Contents (Demonstration):United States Protein Labeling Market Report 20161 Protein Labeling Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Protein Labeling1.2 Classification of Protein Labeling1.2.1 Reagents1.2.2 Kits1.2.3 Services1.3 Application of Protein Labeling1.3.1 Cell-based Assays1.3.2 Fluorescence Microscopy1.3.3 Immunological Techniques1.3.4 Mass Spectrometry1.3.5 Protein Microarray1.4 United States Market Size Sales (Value) and Revenue (Volume) of Protein Labeling (2011-2021)1.4.1 United States Protein Labeling Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.4.2 United States Protein Labeling Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Split by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoReagentsKitsServicesBrowse Full Report with Proper TOC:Split by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Protein Labeling in each application, can be divided intoCell-based AssaysFluorescence MicroscopyImmunological TechniquesMass SpectrometryProtein MicroarrayAbout Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Follow Us on:Twitter:LinkedIn:Facebook :
Global Diamond Market  Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-diamonds-and-other-precious-stones-unworked-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-diamonds-and-other-precious-stones-unworked-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

www.indexbox.co.uk

IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Diamonds And Other Precious Stones (Unworked) - Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025" (This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global diamond market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the leading consuming countries, revealing opportunities opened for producers and exporters across the globe. The forecast outlines market prospects to 2025.Countries coverage: WorldwideProduct coverage: Precious stones (including diamonds, but not industrial diamonds) and semi-precious stones, unworked or simply sawn or roughly shaped.Data coverage: Diamond market size and volume; Diamond market trends and prospects; Global diamond production and its dynamics; Per capita consumption; Breakdown of production by region and country; Medium term outlook; Diamond trade (exports/imports); Prices for diamond; Profiles of the main manufacturers.The report will help you: Get a bigger picture of the market; Rewire your business around market trends; Devise your marketing strategy; Operate with increased effectiveness.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 KEY FINDINGS2.2 MARKET TRENDS3. MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 20254. PRODUCTION4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-20154.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY5. IMPORTS5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-20155.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY6. EXPORTS6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-20156.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERSDownload a free sample of the report now!IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. We conduct market research and publish reports.You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.We collect this data from hundreds of highly reliable sources, verify it and carry out market analysis, uncovering new business opportunities and empowering you with actionable insights.The structure of our reports is intuitive and clear. We do our best to allow you to make strategic decisions and take immediate action. If you want to go further and be a step ahead of the market, just tell us your goals and we will tailor a report to your needs.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QWWebsite:
Global Unified Communication as a Service Market 2017-2021 | Market Research Report

MRH

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1027848

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-unified-communication-as-a-service-market-2017-2021-report.html

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/market-research-hub

https://www.facebook.com/MarketResearchHub/

https://twitter.com/MktResearchHub

UCaaS is a cloud-based deployment model of unified communications (UC) technology such as enterprise audio and video conferencing, hosted VoIP, and cloud private branch exchange (PBX). UCaaS is implemented in enterprises to communicate and collaborate globally in a cloud-based ICT ecosystem.MRH analysts forecast the global unified communication as a service market to grow at a CAGR of 25.32% during the period 2017-2021.Request Free Sample Report@Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global unified communication as a service market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Unified Communication as a Service Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors8x8AT&TGoogleMicrosoftVerizon Enterprise SolutionsOther prominent vendorsAvayaBTCisco SystemsFuzeWest Unified Communications ServicesMitelPanTerra NetworksPolycomRingCentralShoreTelStar2StarTata CommunicationsTelefnicaTelstraVonageMarket driverIncreased requirement to comply with regulatory and compliance norms.For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeSystem integration and interoperability issues.For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendGrowing momentum of cloud brokerage services.For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Access Full Report with TOC@You can request one free hour of our analysts time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of Market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Follow Us on:LinkedIn:Facebook:Twitter:
Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Market(Industry), Industry Status & Growth Prospects, Projections & Estimations 2022

Market Research Report

https://goo.gl/Drch3O

https://goo.gl/VxcLWP

https://goo.gl/pbqr05

https://goo.gl/yu8C4v

In this report, the global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States EU China Japan South Korea TaiwanSample Report Available Here :Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCISCO Systems Electronic Environments Zoho Applied Math Modeling Data Centre Dynamics Future Facilities Innovative Research IBM Corporation Intel CorporationEnquire About Report :On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into CloudAnalyst GreenCloud NetoworkCloudSim EUSim MIDCSim SPECI TeachCloud ICanCloud OtherOn the basis of 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 Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools for each application, including Small and Medium Enterprises Big EnterprisesAlso, Request For Discount:Table of Contents Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Market Research Report 2017 1 Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Market Overviewo Product Overview and Scope of Data Center Modeling and Simulation Toolso Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Segment by Type (Product Category) Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022) Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016 CloudAnalyst GreenCloud NetoworkCloudSim EUSim MIDCSim SPECI TeachCloud ICanCloud Othero Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Segment by Application Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022) Small and Medium Enterprises Big Enterpriseso Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Market by Region (2012-2022) Global Data Center Modeling and Simulation Tools Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022) United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)Find More Reports:With the arsenal of different search reports, Big Market Research helps you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect :+ 1-503-894-6022Toll Free : + 1-800-910-6452help@bigmarketresearch.com
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=887815&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-eu-japan-china-india-and-southeast-asia-medical-aesthetics-market-size-status-and-forecast-2021.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Medical Aesthetics" to its huge collection of research reports.The Medical Aesthetics from the point of view of all its present patterns that are impacting it, is essential to comprehend so as to acquire the most adjusted answer for business procedures in it. These patterns are financial, topographical, monetary, political, buyer, and social, and their general impact on customer or purchaser inclinations will have a noteworthy say in how this market will frame itself in the years to come. These elements and the way they affect the Medical Aesthetics have been examined in supreme detail in the report. A definitive objective for the spread of this data is to make an unmistakable investigation of how these patterns could conceivably influence the eventual fate of the market inside the report's given forecast period.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @The report, similar to all reports added to this research repository, is a comprehensive and engaging perspective of the Medical Aesthetics. It explains available progression, extent of development in different regions and specific locations, and different parameters that have been so far compelling amid its extension regarding value and volume. This examination study is along these lines a quantitative and a subjective review for conferring a reasonable vision of every single conceivable circumstance in the Medical Aesthetics, and in addition the drivers that may exist between 2017 and 2022.The Medical Aesthetics is likewise introduced to the readers of this report as an all-encompassing preview of the competitive scene inside the given time frame. It displays a similar examination of the regional portions and player competitiveness, offering readers a superior comprehension of where territories in which they can put their current assets.Table of ContentsUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics Market Size, Status and Forecast 20211 Industry Overview of Medical Aesthetics1.1 Medical Aesthetics Market Overview1.1.1 Medical Aesthetics Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics 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 Medical Aesthetics Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 32 United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Medical Aesthetics 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 Cynosure3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Lumenis3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Syneron & Candela3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Alma3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Fotona3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Venus Concept3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Chromognex3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 GSD3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Sincoheren3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Wuhan Yage3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Medical Aesthetics Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.10.5 Recent DevelopmentsBrowse full table of contents and data tables of Report @4 United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.1 United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Medical Aesthetics Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.2 Potential Application of Medical Aesthetics in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Medical Aesthetics5 United States Medical Aesthetics Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Medical Aesthetics Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Medical Aesthetics Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Medical Aesthetics Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Medical Aesthetics Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Medical Aesthetics Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)7 Japan Medical Aesthetics Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Medical Aesthetics Market Size (2011-2016)7.2 Japan Medical Aesthetics Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)About UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Market : Latest Innovations And Upcoming Key Events In The Industry By 2016 - 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pediatric-interventional-cardiology-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12239

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/

Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Market: OverviewInterventional cardiology incorporates catheter based treatments for cardiac disorders and is performed by certified interventional cardiologists. Majority of the interventional cardiology procedures are considered to be minimally invasive as these do not involve the use of multiple instruments to enter the body or large incisions (open surgeries). These procedures involve the use of catheters inserted into femoral artery in the upper leg. Real time x-ray is used to guide the catheter towards heart or vascular area. There are several advantages of interventional cardiological procedures such as low risk of infection, short postoperative recovery times and avoidance of large scars.Obtain Report Details @Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Market: Trends and OpportunitiesCardiac catheterization, percutaneous valve repair, balloon valvuloplasty, embolic protection, use of stents, and atherectomy are some of the types of the interventional cardiology procedures. Disorders such as coronary artery disease, heart valve disorder and peripheral artery disorders are some of the conditions treated with the help of interventional cardiology procedures. Interventional treatment plans are recommended on a patient-by-patient basis and there are certain risks associated with interventional procedures. For instance, during angioplasty a patient may have a heart attack, coronary arteries can be damaged during the procedure and these can also lead to kidney damage and brain strokes. Complications of these procedures are blood clots, restenosis and bleeding.Cardiac catheterization procedures are instrumental in providing care for the pediatrics with congenital heart defects. Initially these procedures were performed as diagnostics that helped determine hemodynamic information and identify childs heart defects. However, advances in technology have altered the focus of cardiac catheterization procedures from diagnosis to treatment. Technological sophistication in devices such as catheters, balloons, stents and cardiac catheterization equipment and development of echocardiography to diagnose heart defects further support the use of these devices in enhancing the benefits of interventional cardiology procedures in children.Pediatric interventional cardiology market exhibits immense growth potential majorly due to increasing pediatric patient base and huge unmet needs of the same.Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Market: SegmentationThe market for pediatric interventional cardiology can be analyzed on the basis of several heart disease valve closure devices along with transcatheter heart valves and others. Heart closure devices comprises atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect closure devices, transcatheter valves are further categorized into transcatheter pulmonary and aortic valves. Angioplasty balloons, catheters, guidewires and catheters represent other interventional cardiology devices.The geographical landscape of the market includes the analysis for four major geographies namely Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and RoW. North America and Europe would account for the largest market shares, attributed to presence of technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure and increasing preference for minimally invasive procedures for correction of heart defects. However, with the increasing patient base and lucrative business opportunities in the emerging economies such as India and China would increase the growth of the market in these regions in near future.Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe factors influencing the growth of the market are continuous technological advances coupled with high degree of adoption of advanced technologies. In addition, increasing preference for minimally invasive procedures, increased investments in R&D by the market players towards development of novel devices and increased affordability of patients further fuel the growth of the market. On the other hand high cost of these procedures and presence of limited resources for effective diagnosis of heart defects might hamper the growth of the market.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @Furthermore, focus on development of biodegradable interventional cardiology devices along with impressive growth and uptake of transcatheter heart valves would provide lucrative growth prospects for the established and emerging players in this market. St. Jude Medical, Abbott Vascular, Cordis Corporation, GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation and are some of the key players competing in this market.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:
Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Research Report 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=899848&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-breast-cancer-screening-devices-market-research-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Breast Cancer Screening Devices" to its huge collection of research reports.The Breast Cancer Screening Devices has been expressively dissected in this statistical surveying that has been added to our frequently growing industry knowledge arrangement. The archive takes after an arrangement that gives a careful and scientific diagram of the Breast Cancer Screening Devices and moreover inspects the main sections, compelling components, and market components that administer the development rate of the market and its competitive and regional scenes.The report offers to its clients an all-encompassing 360-degree point of view of the Breast Cancer Screening Devices from the back to front, starting with the core values of the mechanical components, then proceeding onward to the examination of information on the different perspectives including as industry chain structure, groupings, industry diagram, arrangements, applications, and late advancements.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The data offered in the report has been accumulated through the assistance of various essential and auxiliary research strategies. Quantitative and subjective information appraisal for key market sections on the regional and the aggregate worldwide front have also been given in the report. The gigantic archives of information that have been sifted through by industry-best investigative techniques will give to the user the points of interest that matter the most.The report also gives a portrayal of the administrative situation of the Breast Cancer Screening Devices and gives points of interest relating to the more prominent arrangements, approaches, controls, and decides in that effect the numerous business related choices in the market. A point by point outline of the competitive scene of the Breast Cancer Screening Devices has additionally been given in the report, wherein itemized business profiles, SWOT examination, and numerous different insights about a portion of the real sellers in the market are incorporated.Table of ContentsGlobal Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Research Report 20161 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Breast Cancer Screening Devices1.2 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Breast Cancer Screening Devices by Type in 20151.2.2 Type I1.2.3 Type II1.2.4 Type III1.3 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Segment by Application1.3.1 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Application 11.3.3 Application 21.3.4 Application 31.4 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Breast Cancer Screening Devices (2011-2021)2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Breast Cancer Screening Devices Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 India Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)4 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.4 China Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.7 India Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @5 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.3 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Price by Type (2011-2016)5.4 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)6 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Consumption and Market Share by Application (2011-2016)6.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Breast Cancer Screening Devices Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Braster7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.1.2 Breast Cancer Screening Devices Product Type, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Type I7.1.2.2 Type II7.1.3 Braster Breast Cancer Screening Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.1.4 Main Business/Business OverviewAbout UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Market Report 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=890653&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-in-vitro-diagnostics-instruments-sales-market-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "In Vitro Diagnostics instruments" to its huge collection of research reports.Every key element that has happened so far in the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments has been represented in this widely inclusive report. A key portion of these market elements incorporate the key player profiles and the market's general competitive scene, as players are known to have what's coming to them of impact over it. Different courses of the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments announced in the report incorporate drivers, restrictions, and key open doors that influence a larger part of the players in it. To totally cover the competitive scene of the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments, a SWOT examination is jotted down for all players, new and old. This takes into account a clearer projection for the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments over the coming years. Extra analyses incorporated the player profiles are their budgetary structures and current vital production arrangements for all the key players in the market.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The In Vitro Diagnostics instruments is additionally investigated on the premise of its perfunctory chain, an entry that utilizes research and information in view of the utilization and production abilities introduced into the market currently. This segment likewise fuses the product depictions and cost structures of the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments. The report also offers a point by point investigation inside the market to determine its trademark qualities as far as upstream and downstream requests for raw materials are concerned, and in addition the import, and cost drifts that affect them.The report additionally gives the aftereffects of an exceptionally itemized review on the In Vitro Diagnostics instruments in view of its provincial divisions. For each key district expressed, the client is given statistical data points on the player pool and in addition request, alongside expectations for the same. This can be vital for regional players attempting to extend their points of view in the market.Table of ContentsGlobal In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Market Report 20161 In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of In Vitro Diagnostics instruments1.2 Classification of In Vitro Diagnostics instruments1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Application of In Vitro Diagnostics instruments1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume) by Application3 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Application4 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.3 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by ApplicationObtain Report Details @5 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.3 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Application6 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Value (2011-2016)6.1.1 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.2 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.3 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)6.2 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers6.3 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan In Vitro Diagnostics instruments Sales and Market Share by ApplicationAbout UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Good Friday Camp will return to Peace Lutheran Church on April 14 with a daycamp-style agenda of activities, music, crafts, lunch and Bible time.

The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and centers this year on Gods grace, through the work of Jesus. The community is welcome, and registrations are needed (for craft supplies) by Sunday.

Camper names and ages, preschool through fifth grade, can be registered on the church website, www.peacelutheranfremontne.com, or by calling the church at 402-727-7273. The suggested donation is $12 per camper.

For more information, contact Diane at marks14@midlands.net or call Peg at 402-727-5856. Peace Lutheran is located 1  miles east of Walmart, just south of U.S. Highway 30.
Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Market Report 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=889903&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-next-generation-sequencing-for-non-invasive-prenatal-testing-ngs-nipt-sales-market-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT)" to its huge collection of research reports.The Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) from the point of view of all its present patterns that are impacting it, is essential to comprehend so as to acquire the most adjusted answer for business procedures in it. These patterns are financial, topographical, monetary, political, buyer, and social, and their general impact on customer or purchaser inclinations will have a noteworthy say in how this market will frame itself in the years to come. These elements and the way they affect the Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) have been examined in supreme detail in the report. A definitive objective for the spread of this data is to make an unmistakable investigation of how these patterns could conceivably influence the eventual fate of the market inside the report's given forecast period.Get sample report @The report, similar to all reports added to this research repository, is a comprehensive and engaging perspective of the Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT). It explains available progression, extent of development in different regions and specific locations, and different parameters that have been so far compelling amid its extension regarding value and volume. This examination study is along these lines a quantitative and a subjective review for conferring a reasonable vision of every single conceivable circumstance in the Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT), and in addition the drivers that may exist between 2017 and 2022.The Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) is likewise introduced to the readers of this report as an all-encompassing preview of the competitive scene inside the given time frame. It displays a similar examination of the regional portions and player competitiveness, offering readers a superior comprehension of where territories in which they can put their current assets.Table of ContentsGlobal Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Market Report 20161 Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT)1.2 Classification of Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT)1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Application of Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT)1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume) by Application3 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.3 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by ApplicationBrowse Complete Report with TOC @5 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.3 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Application6 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Value (2011-2016)6.1.1 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.2 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.3 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)6.2 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers6.3 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Next-Generation-Sequencing for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NGS-NIPT) Sales and Market Share by ApplicationAbout UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Market Report 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=889901&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-methicillin-resistant-staphylococcus-aureus-mrsa-infections-sales-market-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections" to its huge collection of research reports.The Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections has been expressively dissected in this statistical surveying that has been added to our frequently growing industry knowledge arrangement. The archive takes after an arrangement that gives a careful and scientific diagram of the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections and moreover inspects the main sections, compelling components, and market components that administer the development rate of the market and its competitive and regional scenes.The report offers to its clients an all-encompassing 360-degree point of view of the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections from the back to front, starting with the core values of the mechanical components, then proceeding onward to the examination of information on the different perspectives including as industry chain structure, groupings, industry diagram, arrangements, applications, and late advancements.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The data offered in the report has been accumulated through the assistance of various essential and auxiliary research strategies. Quantitative and subjective information appraisal for key market sections on the regional and the aggregate worldwide front have also been given in the report. The gigantic archives of information that have been sifted through by industry-best investigative techniques will give to the user the points of interest that matter the most.The report also gives a portrayal of the administrative situation of the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections and gives points of interest relating to the more prominent arrangements, approaches, controls, and decides in that effect the numerous business related choices in the market. A point by point outline of the competitive scene of the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections has additionally been given in the report, wherein itemized business profiles, SWOT examination, and numerous different insights about a portion of the real sellers in the market are incorporated.Table of ContentsGlobal Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Market Report 20161 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections1.2 Classification of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections1.2.1 Vancomycin1.2.2 Linezolid1.2.3 Quinupristin/dalfopristin1.2.4 Daptomycin1.2.5 Tigecycline1.3 Application of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume) by Application3 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by ApplicationFor more information on this report, fill the form @4 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.3 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Application5 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.3 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Application6 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Value (2011-2016)6.1.1 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.2 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.3 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)6.2 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers6.3 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections Sales and Market Share by ApplicationAbout UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Urology Devices Market is expected to Generate Huge Profits by 2027: Vendors- American Medical Systems and Boston Scientific

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1120

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/urology-devices-market

Market HighlightsGlobally the market for Urology Devices is increasing rapidly. The factors that influence the growth of Urology Devices Market; increasing growth in advance healthcare devices patients with kidney diseases and find diseases faster and accurate and many others.Asia-Pacific represents the largest market worldwide for Urology Devices especially in U.S., U.K, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on report.Request a Sample Report @Key Players American Medical Systems (U.S.) Boston Scientific (U.K.) Olympus (U.S.) Coloplast (Denmark) Cook Medical (U.S.) C.R. Bard (U.S.) Endo Health Solutions Inc. (U.S)SegmentationBy Device Type - Dialysis Equipment, Urinary Stone Treatment devices, othersBy Application - chronic kidney diseases, urinary incontinence, othersBy Region  North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and RowStudy Objectives of Urology Devices 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 Urology Devices market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To Analyze the Urology Devices market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, 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- Americas, 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 Device type, by application and its sub-segments.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 60 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global Urology Devices Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027.Geographical RegionAmericas North America US Canada Latin AmericaEurope Western Europe Germany France Italy Spain U.K Rest of Western Europe Eastern EuropeAsia Pacific Asia China India Japan South Korea Rest of Asia PacificBrief TOC of Urology Devices Market1 Executive Summary2 Market Introductions2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the study3 Research methodologies3.1 Research process3.2 Secondary research3.3 Primary research4 MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints5 MARKET TRENDS5.1 Trends in Supply/Production5.2 Trends in Demand/Consumption5.3 Emerging Markets (Supply & Demand)5.4 Emerging Brands6 MARKET FACTOR ANALYSESContinuedBrowse full TOC, Tables, Figures and Companies mentioned @Regional Analysis of Urology Devices MarketNorth America dominated the Global Urology Devices market with the largest market share, accounting for $XX million and is expected to grow over $XX billion by 2027. The European market for Urology Devices is expected to grow at XX% GAGR (2016-2027). Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at CAGR of XX% from $ XX million in 2016 to $XX million by 2027.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
The Insight Partners: Global Satellite Transponders Leasing Market is projected to reach US$ 19,225.3 Mn by 2025

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/satellite-transponder-market-market

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000185

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/discount/TIPTE100000185

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPTE100000185

Satellite transponders are small chip size circuits that are integrated into satellites for the purpose of transmitting the uplink data/information to the downlink and vice-versa. The rising trend of advanced channel broadcasting has escalated the demand for satellite transponders across the globe. These transponders are provided on lease basis to various industry verticals that, whose operations are based upon the satellite transmission. Majority of these industries include, the media & broadcasting industry, telecom industry, research & development institutions, defense and military departments and government sectors. The banking businesses, retails and transportation industry also acquire certain shares in this market.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Global Satellite Transponders Leasing Market (20152025)With the emergence of internet across the globe broadband connectivity has become a vital source of information for each and every individual on this planet. Thus the telecom industries are looking forward to lease more number of transponders in order to provide broadband facility to the most isolated places on this globe. Additionally the rising number of video broadcasting subscribers are also driving the satellite transponders leasing market. Several private and public media organizations a authorizing the long term agreement for extending their transponder lease period, because they high growth opportunity in the broadcasting market. Advancement in the channel quality and evolution of high definition channels and UHDTVs is anticipated to fuel the growth of satellite transponders market. Also rising demand for FSS and HTS are expected to generate new opportunities for the market in the coming years. The satellite transponders leasing market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.43% during the forecast period of 2015-2025 and accounts for US$ 19,225.3 Mn in the year 2025.For the better understanding of the market, it has been segmented into three major categories, viz., types of services, bandwidths and application. There are three basic types of services in the market, namely, protected, unprotected and preemptive. The unprotected service is also known as non-preemptible services. Further the market is segmented into different application, which comprises of government and military, commercial, telecom, navigation, remote sensors and research and development. Here, the commercial application is expected to spur the growth of transponder leasing market in the coming years.Request Sample Copy @Geographically this market is segmented into five major regions, which are North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa. North America is currently dominating the market owing to its strong technological foundations. Followed by north America is Europe. Asia pacific in terms of leased satellite transponders is expected to take over the domination in the long term of this market. The tremendous advancement in the developing economies of Asia Pacific are expected to fuel the growth of satellite transponders leasing market in the coming years.The key drivers for this market include Growing demand for Fixed Satellite Services and Evolution in Ka-band and Ku-band services. Innovation and growth in HDTV and video broadcasting are also expected to largely contribute towards the growth of market in the coming yearsInquire about discount on this report @A detailed analysis on the growth trends, market shares on various dimensions, driving and restraining factors for satellite transponders leasing market, opportunities in the future for these services is provided in the report. A few leading players in the satellite transponders leasing services domain have also been profiled in the report. The profiling of the market players acquaints the reader with their financial information about revenues as well as segment revenues, a competitive SWOT analysis for each player and the recent developments by the player in the Satellite transponders leasing services domain. The key developments are related to the mergers and acquisitions by the players in the recent past.Global Satellite Transponders Leasing Market  By Services Protected Unprotected PreemptableGlobal Satellite Transponders Leasing Market  By Application Government & military Telecom Commercial Research & Development Navigation Remote SensingGlobal Satellite Transponders Leasing Market  By Bandwidth Ku- Band Ka- Band C-Band Others (S, L, X & K)Global Satellite Transponders Leasing Market  By Geography North America Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) Middle East & Africa (MEA) South America (SAM)Procure Full Report @About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.com505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
The Insight Partners: Global Software Defined Data Centers Market is projected to reach US$ 103.66 billion by 2025

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/software-defined-data-center-market

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000248

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/discount/TIPTE100000248

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPTE100000248

A software defined data center is an advanced data center that supports the requirements of upcoming applications and compute deployment models, which includes cloud, IoT, PaaS, SaaS and various other models that are soon expected to become mainstream. The global software defined data centers market is primarily dominated by North America, owing to the high penetration of data centers in the market and emerging demand to automate these data centers. Europe holds the second largest market for the software defined data centers, supported by its stable and robust economy. Whereas, according to the study APAC is the fastest growing software defined data center market during the forecast period. VMware Inc. IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation including others are few of the major players operating in the market.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Global Software Defined Data Centers Market (20162025)Global Software Defined Data Center Market is estimated to reach US$ 103.66 billion by 2025 from US$ 16.35 billion in 2015. The report include key understanding on the driving factors of this growth and also highlights the prominent players in the market and their developments.The software defined data center market is broadly segmented into solutions, services and industry verticals. The solutions segment is further bifurcated into Server virtualization, Software Defined Storage (SDS), Management Software/Platform and Software Defined Network (SDN). Here server virtualization dominates the software defined data center market followed by software defined storage solutions. Further the services market is segmented into integration & deployment and consultation & professional services. The integration and deployment services capture majority of the market, due to rising penetration of the software defined data centers market in the developing regions. Healthcare, BFSI, Retail and Telecom & IT are some of the industry verticals using the software defined data centers solutions and services.Request Sample Copy @Geographically this market is segmented into five major regions, which are North America, Europe, South America (SAM), Asia Pacific (APAC), and Middle East and Africa (APAC). North America is currently dominating the market owing to its strong technological foundations. Followed by North America is Europe.The key drivers for this market include improvised flexibility and scalability provided by the software defined data centers and proliferating big data applications are some of the key factors driving the market. Moreover, escalating demands for energy efficient and secure data center management systems across the globe are also expected to positively impact the growth of software defined data centers market.Inquire about discount on this report @A detailed analysis on the growth trends, market shares on various dimensions, driving and restraining factors for software defined data centers market, opportunities in the future for these services is provided in the report. A few leading players in the software defined data centers services domain have also been profiled in the report. The profiling of the market players acquaints the reader with their financial information about revenues as well as segment revenues, a competitive SWOT analysis for each player and the recent developments by the player in the software defined data center domain. The key developments are related to the mergers and acquisitions by the players in the recent past.The report segments the global software defined data center market as follows:Global Software Defined Data Center Market  By Solution Server virtualization Software Defined Storage (SDS) Management Software/Platform Software Defined Network (SDN)Global Software Defined Data Center Market  By Service Integration and Deployment Services Consulting & Professional ServicesGlobal Software Defined Data Center Market  By End-user Industry Banking Financial Services and Insurance Telecommunication & IT Healthcare & Life Sciences Retail OthersGlobal Software Defined Data Center Market  By Geography North America Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) Middle East & Africa (MEA) South America (SAM)Procure Full Report @About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.com505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
The Insight Partners: Optical Fiber Market is estimated to reach US$ 27.88 Bn by 2025

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/optical-fiber-market

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000234

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/discount/TIPTE100000234

http://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPTE100000234

According to a new market research study titled Optical Fiber Market to 2025 by Types (Step indexed optical fiber, Graded Indexed Optical Fiber), and End-users (Broadcast, Telecommunication & IT; Industrial; Defense; Medical and Others)  Global Analysis and Forecast, the global Optical Fiber market was valued at US$ 9.52 Bn in 2015 and is estimated to reach US$ 27.88 Bn by 2025. The report highlights the trends prevalent in the global Optical Fiber market and the factors driving the market along with those that act as deterrents to its growth.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Optical Fiber Market to 2025 @Government policies in India like the BharatNet project that is concerned with implementations of optical fiber cables in the rural areas have resulted in the higher growth of this market. A hugely populated country, India, is potentially a very big market for the growth of fiber optics. By the BharatNet project, the Government intends to connect 1 million gram panchayats by the end of March 2017 out of which almost 70% of the connections have already been laid. Objectives to improve broadband penetration in the remote parts of the country has helped to boost the implementations of optical fiber networks. Most of the projects have been Greenfield projects. That have allowed easy implementations without much costs.The Optical Fiber market has experienced high growth and adoption rate in the last few years and is also expected to experience a significant growth and adoption rate in years to come. One of the major reason for high adoption of optical fibers are, it provides end-users ease of deployment along with flexibility for high scalability. Developing digital ecosystem and high growth of data, as well as developing economies are providing ample opportunities for the players operating in the global optical fiber market. Digital ecosystem creates a splurge of huge amounts of data transfer that is possible only after the availability of higher bandwidths. Optical fibers on account of their high bandwidth provisioning capabilities become an ideal tool for data transfers.Request Sample Copy @The global Optical Fiber market has been segmented on the basis of type into step indexed and graded indexed optical fiber. Additionally, this market is also segmented on the basis of end-users into Broadcast, IT & Telecom, Industrial, Defense, Medical and Others. Geographically, the global Optical Fiber market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM).India and China are expected to witness rising adoption of optical fiber cables due to various government initiatives taken in these countries for the development of internet infrastructure. The key players profiled in the report are Corning Inc., Prysmian SpA, Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Co Ltd, Fujikura Limited, Sterlite Technologies, Finolex Cable Limited, OFS Fitel, LLC, Alcatel Lucent, Broadcom Limited and Amphenol Corporation.Inquire about discount on this report @The report segments the global Optical Fiber market as follows:Global Optical Fiber Market  By Types Step Indexed Optical Fiber Graded Indexed Optical FiberGlobal Optical Fiber Market  By End-user Broadcast, IT & Telecom Industrial Defense Medical OthersGlobal Optical Fiber Market  By Geography North America Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) Middle East & Africa (MEA) South America (SAM)Procure Full Report @About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.com505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors  A Silver Lining to Cancer Treatment: Competitive Landscape, Pipeline and Market Analysis, 2017

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=964541

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=964541

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Albany, NY, April 04, 2017: DelveInsights, PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors - Competitive Landscape, Pipeline and Market Analysis, 2017, report provides comprehensive insights about marketed and pipeline drugs across this Mechanism of action. Key objective of the report is to establish the understanding for all the marketed and pipeline drugs that fall under PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors.This report provides information on the therapeutic development based on PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors mechanism of action dealing with around 20+ active pipeline drugs. Report covers the product clinical trials information and other development activities including technology, licensing, collaborations, acquisitions, fundings, patent and USFDA & EMA designations details. DelveInsights Report also assesses the PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors therapeutics by Monotherapy, Combination products, Molecule type and Route of Administration. The report also covers the information for 20+ active companies involved in the therapeutic development of the products.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Scope- The report provides competitive pipeline landscape of PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors- The report provides the marketed drugs information including its sales, development activities and details of patent expiry- The report provides the insight of current and future market for PD and PD-L1 inhibitors- The report provides pipeline products under drug profile section which includes product description, MOA, licensors & collaborators, development partner and chemical information- Coverage of the PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors pipeline on the basis of target, MOA, route of administration, technology involved and molecule type- The report reviews key players involved in the therapeutics development for PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors and also provide company profiling- The report also gives the information of dormant pipeline projects- Pipeline products coverage based on various stages of development ranging from preregistration till discovery and undisclosed stages- Provides pipeline assessment by monotherapy and combination therapy products, stage of development and molecule typeReasons to Buy- Identify emerging players with potentially strong product information and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage- Complete MOA intelligence and complete understanding over therapeutics development for PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors- Identify the relationship between the drugs and use it for target finding, drug repurposing, and precision medicine.- Devise corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding PD-1 and PD-L1 Inhibitors pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics- Developing strategic initiatives to support your drug development activities.- Optimize your portfolio and keep you in touch with the rapidly changing pharmaceutical markets, and make the best decisions for your business.- Develop and design in licensing and out licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope- Provides strategically significant competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D development strategies- Modify the therapeutic portfolio by identifying discontinued projects and understanding the factors that drove them from pipeline- Gaining a Full Picture of the Competitive Landscape for Evidence based DecisionsEnquiry at: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:
Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales Market 2017 by Manufacturers - Bigtreefarms, Treelife, Franklin Baker, Holos Integra, Coco Sugar Indonesia

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/43092/request-sample

https://goo.gl/rBJxN5

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales Market 2017, presents a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market globally, providing basic overview of Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market including definitions, Classifications, Applications and Industry chain Structure, Organic Coconut Sugar Sales Market report provides development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market size, share and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Download Free Sample Report @The report Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales Industry provides a comprehensive analysis of the Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market. The report features industry insights from experts. A detailed segmentation of the Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market has been included in the report. Furthermore, the report also covers the sub-segments. The leading sector, the emerging sectors, along with their growth statistics have been mentioned in the report.After a brief overview of the Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market, the report analyzes the market dynamics. The top drivers supporting market growth and the key restraints hampering market growth are covered in this report. Additionally, the report also states the threats and opportunities that companies in the market need to look out for. The most influential trends that will shape the market during the forecasting horizon are also covered in this report. Current market development trends such as partnerships, M&As, collaborations, etc., have also been discussed in detail in the report. Moreover, the report elaborates on the regulatory scenario governing theOrganic Coconut Sugar Sales market and its potential effects on the market in the foreseeable future.Access Full Report @Detailed business overview, revenue analysis, strategies, and SWOT analysis of the key players has been included in the report. Players in the Global Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market are aiming to expand their operations to emerging regions. Further, companies in the Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market are focusing on innovation and positioning their products at competitive prices. An in-depth supply chain analysis in the report will give readers a better understanding of the Organic Coconut Sugar Sales market.To evaluate the market better, each market segment and its sub-segments are evaluated in the report with their market drivers, restraints, shares, and growth rates. Valuable forecasts and other market statistics in this research study make it an indispensable intelligence tool for companies operating in this market.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Mark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Philippines Fiber Cement Market 2017 - James Hardie Building Products, SCG, TPI Polene Public Company

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/11021/request-sample

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

The report begins with an overview of the Fiber Cement market and defines the trends that have shaped the global Fiber Cement market. The key market drivers, restraints, and opportunities that will shape the dynamics of the Fiber Cement market have been presented in the report. A detailed analysis of the key challenges the players in the market face has been also covered in the report. Key inputs from leading industry experts mentioned in the report address how these challenges can be turned into opportunities.A detailed segmentation analysis of the Fiber Cement market is available in the report. The key segments in the Fiber Cement industry along with their sub-segments have been covered in the report. The performance analysis of these segments and sub-segments has been included in the report along with detailed evaluation of the trends that will influence the growth prospects of these segments. Moreover, niche segments that demonstrate good growth potential and thus opportunities for new entrants and established companies in the market have been covered.Market forecasts and estimates for each key segment and its sub-segments are available in the report. All estimates and forecasts in the Fiber Cement market study have been verified by the exhaustive primary research with the KIPs (key industry participants), which include the markets leading participants, key consumers and clients, and client distributors and vendors. A detailed company-wise analysis of the leading market players has also been covered in the Fiber Cement market report.Get Free Report Sample @Analysis also covers upstream raw materials, equipment, downstream client survey, marketing channels, industry development trend and proposals. In the end, the report includes Fiber Cement new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, investment return analysis, and development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Fiber Cement industry. Here, we express our thanks for the support and assistance from Fiber Cement industry chain related technical experts and marketing engineers during Research Teams survey and interviews.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Automotive Telematics Industry Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=223646

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=223646

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Automotive Telematics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Automotive Telematics Market: OverviewThis market research study analyzes the automotive telematics market on global basis and provides estimates in terms of revenue (US$Bn) from 2016 to 2025. It describes the market dynamics affecting the industry and analyzes their impact through the forecast period. Moreover, it highlights the significant opportunities for market growth in the next eight years. The market is segmented on the basis of geography into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Thesesegments have been estimated in terms of revenue (US$Bn). In addition, the report has been segmented based on application, which includes, vehicle tracking, fleet management, satellite navigation, vehicle safety communication and others. By vehicle type the market is categorized into passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. For better understanding of the automotive telematicsmarket, the study comprises market attractiveness analysis, where vehicle types are benchmarked based on their market scope, growth rate and market attractiveness. Competitive rivalry is projected to be high among key players to acquire higher share of the market in the coming years.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Automotive Telematics Market: Trends and OpportunitiesTelematics in vehicles involves the receiving, sending and storing information with the help of telecommunication devices ensuring effective control on remote objects. In addition, vehicular telematics is the combination of applications of telecommunication and informatics in vehicles. Telematics is a versatile field, which includes vehicular technologies, telecommunications, road safety and transportation, instrumentation, wireless communications, sensors, internet and multimedia services in automobiles.In telematics, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), which is an integral part of automotive navigation systems offers integrated services with the help of computers and mobile communications.The growing demand for advanced telematics components in automobiles is driving the automotive telematics market currently. Navigation technology, telematics, audio-video solutions, WiFi, Bluetooth, safety and security and intelligent driving solutions are few of the advanced telematics solution largely being demanded by the consumers. In addition, tracking of vehicles, trailer and container tracking, wireless safety communications, satellite navigation, mobile data, emergency warning system for vehicles and auto insurance are the major applications of telematics, which is driving the demand for the usage of telematics in vehicles, globally.Global Automotive Telematics Market: Key SegmentsThe global automotive telematics market is fragmented with few medium and large companies. Entry into this market is not restricted as there is no monopoly of business and the market has huge scope and opportunity. However, setting up of manufacturing units for automotive telematics require huge capital and resource, which is not feasible for most of the small and medium sized companies. Increasing private equity investments and merger and acquisitions of companies in the automotive sector has been of great influence to the automotive telematics market. Significant growth in the automotive sector coupled with economic reforms in major developing countries has been able to bolster the growth of this market. Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America are key markets for the future and are expected to provide huge opportunities to the global automotive telematics manufacturers because of the growth in the automotive sector and increasing demand for infotainment and wireless vehicle safety communication in vehicles.Global Automotive Telematics Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also provides company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Acquisition is the main strategy being widely followed by leading market players. In case of an acquisition, the acquirer takes advantage of existing synergies. As a result, both companies are expected to emerge more profitable and stronger than before. Key players in the global automotive telematics market have been profiled and their company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments have been covered in the report. Major market participants profiled in this report include: Trimble, Inc., Masternaut Limited, TomTom International B.V., Telogis, Visteon Corporation, Continental AG, Airbiquity, Inc. and Agero, Inc.The global automotive telematics market is segmented as below:Global Automotive Telematics Market: By Application- Vehicle Tracking- Fleet Management- Satellite Navigation- Vehicle Safety Communication- OthersGlobal Automotive Telematics Market: By Vehicle Type- Passenger Vehicles- Light Commercial Vehicles- Heavy Commercial VehiclesGlobal Automotive Telematics Market: By Geography- North America- U.S.- Canada- Mexico- Europe- Germany- France- U.K.- Italy- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- China- India- Japan- Rest of Asia Pacific- Middle East and Africa (MEA)- Iran- South Africa- Rest of Middle East and Africa- Latin America- Brazil- Argentina- Rest of Latin AmericaThe report provides a cross-sectional analysis of by application segment and by vehicle type segment with respect to the above mentioned regions.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 @
Childhood is a time in many peoples lives where they can live in a blissful, care-free manner. The thought of riding their bikes, watching their favorite television show or hanging out with friends are some of the more time consuming thoughts they have to process.

But as children grow and mature into teens and young adults, more pressing thoughts occur. Like what they are going to do for the rest of their lives. And while 16, 17 and 18 year old students certainly dont need to have every next move thought out, its never a bad idea for them to take a little time to see what jobs are available in their communities.

Throughout the remainder of this week, students in the greater Omaha area and Fremont are participating in the inaugural CAREEROCKIT Week, an initiative aiming to connect local businesses and the educational community to meet current and future needs, information released from the Greater Omaha Chamber says.

The campaign, hosted by the Greater Omaha Chamber, is putting more than 80 businesses in contact with students encompassing a wide range of ages, exposing them to more than 10,000 career experiences with the goal of educating, exiting and inspiring workers of tomorrow, released information shows.

Barb Pierce of the Greater Fremont Development Council said during a Monday phone interview with the Tribune that Fremont was asked to participate in the festivities.

The Greater Omaha Chamber developed the CAREEROCKIT Week and asked their community partners to participate, Pierce said. So the Greater Fremont Development Council and the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce both worked hard to introduce CAREEROCKIT to our local businesses and education partners.

Some time ago, Pierce said the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon to introduce local companies and businesses to the concept of CAREEROCKIT.

The ones that took the time to put this experience together for our students really see the value in it, Pierce said.

Released information shows that approximately 10 local Fremont businesses are participating in the movement, offering Fremont Public Schools and Archbishop Bergan students 23 business experiences; essentially showing them the different areas of expertise within a company.

Businesses and organizations participating in this weeks CAREEROCKIT include: Fremont Health Medical Center, First State Bank & Trust Co., Fremont Contract Carriers, Fremont Creative Collective, Hormel, the Greater Fremont Development Council, the Omaha Symphony, Arps Red-E-Mix, Bozell, Hope Center for kids Fremont and Fremont High Schools CAREEROCKIT Business Blast Off.

Students could sign up for individual activities, and there were also time slots filled by whole classes, Pierce said,

The Business Blast Off is a Career Business Fair allowing Fremont High School and Archbishop Bergan seniors the opportunity to get involved with 25 local companies to learn the ins and outs of how they operate. In addition, the Thursday event held at FHS includes a Career Panel where students will hear from Hormel representatives about industrial engineering, and the world of construction from three local construction leaders, said Kellee Rasmussen, FHS School to Career Coordinator.

All of the different opportunities being offered will help students in the long run, Pierce said.

Its a phenomenal way to introduce them to the many great careers right here in their own community, she said. This is why we chose to participate in this.
Global Food Certification Market: Increasing Consciousness for Importance of Quality-tested Food Drives Growth, reports TMR

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/food-certification-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=6331

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

The global food certification market showcases an increasing degree of competition, notes a recent market study by Transparency Market Research. The stringent verification process for foods to receive quality certification is leading to the higher adoption of certified foods for health considerations. This trend has forced food manufacturers to receive certification, thereby intensifying the competition in the global food certification market.Obtain Report Details @Dekra SE, AsureQuality Limited, SGS SA, Bureau Veritas, Underwriters Laboratories Inc., and Intertek Group plc are some of the prominent players in the global food certification market. Key players in the market are focused on mergers and acquisitions for strengthening their position in the market. Large companies are also making investments for new laboratories to enhance their technological capabilities to stay competitive in the market.The global food certification market was valued at US$11.25 bn in 2015. The market is expected to reach a valuation of US$16.09 bn by 2021 displaying a CAGR of 5.3% between 2015 and 2021.Presence of Large Educated Population Benefits Europe Food Certification MarketIn terms of application, processed meat and poultry products, dairy products, organic food, beverages, and other packaged food are the segments of the market. Amongst these, the segment of other packaged food stood as the leading segment accounting for a share of 23.4% in the global market in 2014. Increasing adoption of branded foods and rising awareness about the importance of food safety certification are the major factors fuelling growth of the other packaged food application segment. Processed meat and poultry products and dairy products are also expected to emerge as significant application segments of the food certification market.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @Beverages is expected to emerge as a significant application segment in the forthcoming years. Quality certification on carbonated drinks provide a considerable degree of assurance to consumers regarding the health risks associated with these beverages.Geography-wise, Europe stood as the leading regional market for food certification in 2014 followed by North America. High consciousness among consumers about the quality of food that they consume combined with the rising living standards are driving the food certification market in Europe. Moreover, the increasing inclination of consumers for health-benefitting foods is expected to hold promise for the regional market of Europe. France, the U.K., and Germany contribute significantly to the Europe food certification market due to a large educated population.Asia Pacific is expected to display the fastest growth over the forecast period. The rising awareness about the importance of food certification among the urban population and the increasing purchasing power for branded foods is driving the growth of the food certification market in the region. The recent occurrences of food contamination that led to casualties and fatalities in large numbers have raised alertness among consumers about consuming certified foods.High Cost to Receive International Certification Challenges GrowthThe demand for food certification is being driven in response to the increasing demand for quality-tested and safe foods for health considerations. With changing lifestyle and increasing purchasing power in several parts of the world, consumers are spending generously on quality-tested foods for longer years of good health.Despite strong demand for quality-tested foods, the high cost of obtaining international certifications has dissuaded some manufacturers to look at long term business profits. This is challenging the markets growth.The review presented is based on the findings of the Transparency Market Research report, titled Food Certification Market (Type - International Organization for Standardization, International Food Standard (IFS), Safe Quality Food (SQF), British Retail Consortium (BRC) standard, Kosher Certification, Halal Certification, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS); Application - Processed Meat and Poultry Products, Dairy Products, Infant Food Products, Organic Food, Beverages, Other Packaged Food) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2021.The global food certification market is segmented as follows:Global Food Certification Market, by Type:International Organization for StandardizationInternational Food Standard (IFS)Safe Quality Food (SQF)British Retail Consortium (BRC) standardKosher CertificationHalal CertificationFood Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA)S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)OthersGlobal Food Certification Market, by Application:Processed Meat and Poultry ProductsDairy ProductsInfant Food ProductsOrganic FoodBeveragesOthers Packaged FoodGlobal Food Certification Market, by Geography:North AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the World (RoW)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.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Healthcare Assistive Robot Market to grow at 18.9% CAGR from 2016 to 2024

Global Market Insights, Inc.

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1114

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-assistive-robot-market

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1114

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/medical-biomimetics-market

https://www.gminsights.com

https://gminsights.wordpress.com

The medical industry report Healthcare Assistive Robot Market Size By Product (Surveillance & Security, Humanoid, Rehabilitation, Socially Assistive), By Portability (Fixed base, Mobile), By Application (Stroke, Orthopedics, Cognitive & Motor Skills, Sports), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2024 by Global Market Insights, Inc. says Healthcare Assistive Robot Market size is poised to reach USD 950 million by 2024.Growing worldwide incidence of strokes along with increasing aging population will drive global Healthcare Assistive Robot Market size. Favorable government funding and shortage of trained medical staff to take care of handicapped and elderly people will also stimulate business growth.Request for a sample of this research report -Advancements in robotic technology have enabled the development of accurately modeled robots that can be used in hospitals and home care facilities. Introduction of Intelligent assistive technologies have reduced the caregiver burden by compensating for specific physical and cognitive deficits in geriatric population.Rehabilitation robot market share was over 40% of the global industry size in 2015, with revenue slated to surpass USD 400 million by 2024. The use of rehabilitation robotics has made it possible to implement efficient training safely, along with reducing the time spent on supervision by the therapist. These products are used as treatment aids and can cater to a huge number of patients under the supervision of a single therapist.U.S. Healthcare Assistive Robot Market size was more than USD 70 million in 2015 with expectations to grow at over 18.5% from 2016 to 2024. Hospitals are adopting these devices to improve patient outcomes and implementing strategy of using robotic technology to attract more customers. Moreover, increasing funds to encourage new research for stroke rehabilitation, assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and improve guide wheelchairs will contribute towards business growth.Browse key industry insights spread across 200 pages with 64 market data tables & 10 figures & charts from this 2017 report Healthcare Assistive Robot Market in detail along with the table of contents at:Germany Healthcare Assistive Robot Market size was over USD 18 million in 2015 with high growth estimation in the coming years. This can be attributed to the favorable funding scenario, increasing aging population, and awareness regarding the use of assistive robotics. Development of robot-assisted exercise devices should tremendously improve recovery of stroke patients.China Healthcare Assistive Robot Market size was pegged at over USD 12 million in 2015, and expected to reach over USD 60 million by 2024.Increasing geriatric population, growing incidence of stroke and shortage of care givers and physiotherapists should boost technology demand in the coming years.UK healthcare assistive robot market size by 2024 is estimated to surpass USD 55 million, growing at 17.8% CAGR over the forecast period. Favorable government policies, improved R&D funding and growing awareness about benefits of robotics technology will stimulate the Japan healthcare assistive robot market size.South Korea healthcare assistive robot market is set to witness more than 20% growth from 2016 to 2024 to exceed USD 30 million by 2024. Favorable government initiatives such as Intelligent Robot Development and Promotion Act and increasing public and private fundings will propel regional industry growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Brazil healthcare assistive robot market was more than USD 6 million in 2015 and will grow faster than the global average owing to favorable government policies and increasing number of players entering the industry. South Africa Healthcare Assistive Robot Market is forecast to grow with over 17.5% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 due to increasing technology adoption and the presence of numerous manufacturers in the region.Entry of new players is restricted by high capital cost, long sales cycle and consumer preference for quality product at low cost. Some of the notable industry participants include KUKA, HONDA Motor, Cyberdyne, Hansen Medical, Hocoma, Kinova, Bionik, ReWalk Robotics, and GaitTronics.Table of ContentChapter 1. Methodology and Scope1.1. Research Methodology1.1.1. Initial data exploration1.1.2. Statistical modeling and forecast1.1.3. Industry insights and validation1.2. List of Data SourcesChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Healthcare Assistive Robots Market 3600 synopsis, 2012 - 20242.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Regional trends2.1.3. Technology trendsChapter 3. Healthcare Assistive Robots Industry Insights3.1. Industry segmentation3.2. Industry size and future growth prospects, 2012 - 20243.3. Industry dynamics3.3.1. Growth drivers3.3.1.1. Rapidly growing geriatric population3.3.1.2. Increasing incidence of stroke worldwide3.3.1.3. Rising funding for research on robotics technology3.3.2. Market restraints3.3.2.1. Functional limitations of devices3.3.2.2. High costs and maintenance requirement3.4. Key market growth opportunities3.5. Regulatory landscape3.5.1 U.S.3.5.2 Europe3.5.3 China3.6 Technology landscape3.6.1 Existing technology overview3.6.2 Novel technologies3.7. Porters analysis3.8. PESTEL analysis3.9. Competitive Benchmarking, 2015Browse Related Reports: Medical Biomimetics Market Size By Product [Cardiovascular, Orthopedic (Prostheses, Exoskeleton), Ophthalmology, Dental], By Application (Plastic Surgery, Wound Healing, Tissue Engineering, Drug Delivery), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Saudi Arabia), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2024About 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:
Microbiome Therapeutics Market Forecast to 2022

https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/request-sample.php?id=646

https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/market-reports/microbiome-therapeutics-market

The collective microbe genomes live in a person body and form communities, which, in turn, make up the human being microbiome. The full genetic complement of the virus, bacteria, and other microorganisms home on gums, skin, teeth, genital tract, and especially the gut. Presence of the gut microbiome is associated with good health of a human being. Hence they are used in combination with various pharmaceuticals for the treatment of various diseases and overall maintenance of the human health. The microbiome therapeutics market is anticipated to witness healthy growth during the coming five years, due to the rising awareness towards microbiome therapeutics.Download Free Sample:KEY PREMIUM INDUSTRY INSIGHTS1. The microbiome therapeutics market is mainly driven by the increasing demand in the emerging market.2. Furthermore, microbiome therapy is seen as a newly validated target which in turn many boost the market during the study period.3. Additionally, the growing need for the early diagnosis and detection of disease is driving the use of microbiome in molecular diagnosis, which may further propel the market growth.4. However, lack of expertise and stringent government regulations may hinder the growth of the microbiome therapeutics market during the study period.Browse Full Report:KEY MARKET PLAYERSKey players in the microbiome therapeutics market include:1. ENTEROME Bioscience.2. Seres Therapeutics3. Rebiotix, Inc.4. Eligo Bioscience5. Microbiome Therapeutics, LLCABOUT US:Scalar Market Research Inc. aspires to assist organizations from around the world to achieve their business goal with premium market research reports and consulting services. Our real-time industry tracking with the help of advanced analytics offers a crystal clear view of all the activities in niche markets. Our team, with thorough global understanding, works relentlessly to gather the necessary market insights, including customer analysis, competitions and global forecast.CONTACT:Moses Nakka8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave.,Suite 1300Chicago, IL 60631Tel.: +1-800-213-5170 (U.S./Canada Toll-free)Email: sales@scalarmarketresearch.com
Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities And Forecasts To 2017 - 2021

Market Research Report

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=670081

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=670081

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities And Forecasts To 2017 - 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Growth in the prevalence of diabetes among the population coupled with growing focus on technology has resulted in the rising of market for glucose monitoring devices globally.Global Glucose Monitoring Devices market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.52% during 2016 2021F, driven by the increasing number of diabetic patients as a consequence of sedentary lifestyles. As per capita healthcare expenditure is rising along with the growth in the disposable income, it has resulted in increasing healthcare spending including expenditure on diabetes.While blood glucose monitors are holding major market globally due to its prominence and affordability among the emerging nations, technological advancements have led to the growth of Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices which is expected to grow faster in the future. Among the regions, North America holds the major market due to the higher disposable income as well as insurance coverage. However, among emerging markets, Asia Pacific is expected to grow the highest due to the growth in aging population as well as per capita expenditure.According to Azoth Analytics research report, Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021F) Global Glucose Monitoring Devices market is projected to exhibit a CAGR of over ~6.52% during 2016 - 2021. In 2016, market for Continuous Glucose Monitoring is expected to grow at a faster pace due to the non-invasiveness as well as increasing adoptability mainly in developed regions.Scope of the ReportGlobal Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021) - (By Devices Type: BGM - Monitors, Strips, Lancets and CGM - Monitors, Transmitters and Receivers, Sensors; By Region-North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East; By Country- US, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, China, UK, Germany) analyses the following aspects of global Glucose Monitoring devices market:Global Glucose Monitoring device market size, Share & ForecastDevice Types - Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices and Continuous Glucose Monitoring DevicesTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Regional Analysis - North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle EastCountry Analysis - United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, China, United Kingdom, GermanyPolicy & Regulatory LandscapeChanging Market Trends & Emerging OpportunitiesCompetitive Landscape & Strategic RecommendationsResearch MethodologyHistoric market trend has been figured out by various paid databases which was further triangulated with inputs and insights from industry experts, companies and stakeholders, through primary research. Back-of-the-Envelope calculation for the market estimation has been made through proper understanding of the market as well as future business strategies of the companies operating in the market.Why You Should Buy This Report?To gain an in-depth understanding of global Glucose Monitoring device marketTo identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five yearsTo help industry consultants, Glucose Monitoring device manufacturers, suppliers and distributors align their market-centric strategiesTo gain insights on the prevalent market entry strategies in Glucose Monitoring device market for domestic as well as foreign companiesTo obtain research based business decision and add weight to presentationsTo avail limited customization in the report without any extra chargesMake 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 @
China Focus: Patient Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems Industry Forecasts 2017

Market Research Report

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=550476

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=550476

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "China Focus: Patient Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems Industry Forecasts 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.This study focuses on China's Patient Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems industry forecasts. In the two past decades, the industry has been growing at a fast pace. The dramatic expansions of the manufacturing capabilities and rising consumer consumptions in China have transformed China's society and economy. China is one of the world's major producers for industrial and consumer products. Far outpacing other economies in the world, China is the world's fastest growing market for the consumptions of goods and services. The Chinese economy maintains a high speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption and capital investment for over two decades. Rapid consolidation between medium and large players is anticipated since the Chinese government has been encouraging industry consolidation with an effort to regulate the industry and to improve competitiveness in the world market.Although China has enjoyed the benefits of an expanding market for production and distribution, the industry is suffering from minimal innovation and investment in R&D and new product development. The sector's economies of scale have yet to be achieved. Most domestic manufacturers lack the autonomic intellectual property and financial resources to develop their own brand name products.This new study focuses on industry trends and forecasts with historical data (2005, 2010 and 2015) and long-term forecasts through 2020 and 2025 are presented.The primary and secondary research is done in China in order to access up-to-date government regulations, market information and industry data. Data were collected from the Chinese government publications, Chinese language newspapers and magazines, industry associations, local governments' industry bureaus, industry publications, and our in-house databases.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Asia Market Info & Dev Co. is one of the leading sources for up-to-date market information and research on the fastest-growing Chinese markets. We have published over 1,500 reports focusing on the Chinese markets, industry forecasts and company profiles. We provide hard-to-find market data and analyses. Our publications are intended to help international marketers identify business opportunities and promote their product sales in the Chinese markets.Table of ContentI. INTRODUCTIONReport Scope and MethodologyExecutive SummaryII. PATIENT MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS SALES VOLUMES AND SALES FORECASTSOverviewPatient Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems Sales Volumes and Sales ForecastsBlood Pressure MonitorsPulse MonitorsTemperature MonitorsECG/EKGUltrasoundAnesthesia MonitorsCardiovascular Disease MonitorsCancer Treatment MonitorsDiabetes MonitorsOsteoarthritisRespiratory MonitorsMake 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 @
Baby Feeding Accessories Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Analysis For 2017 - 2025

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21890

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/baby-feeding-accessories-market.html

Baby feeding accessories market are showing significant growth over the years due to the fact that nutritional wellbeing of a child is both an outcome and an indicator of national development. Appropriate feeding has become a crucial factor for healthy growth and development of infant. Moreover, due to the factors such as changing lifestyles, rising population and growing health concern especially for children is further booming the market of baby feeding accessories. The growing number of population aged between 1-3 years in Asia Pacific (APAC) and Latin American countries, , is primarily driving the baby feeding accessories market in these regions. The growing competition amongst various feeding accessories segments is forcing the manufacturers to focus on product innovation and better marketing activities.Get Industry Details Information, Download PDF Brochure@Baby feeding accessories market are gaining interest owing to the increasing popularity of breast pump accessories worldwide. Therefore, the demands for baby feeding accessories growing significantly and is expected a steady growth during the forecast period. Good nutrition is essential to the rapid growth and development that occurs during the babys first year. Providing the babies with correct food will promote good health and provides opportunity to enjoy new textures and tastes that will help to establish good eating habits. Positive and supportive feeding techniques are thus crucial in allowing babies to eat well and to develop healthy attitudes.The key players of baby feeding accessories such as Mothercare, Artsana USA Inc., Philips Avent, Tupperware and Novatex Inc among others are focusing on product innovation to suit consumers preferences and also to provide their customers with healthier options for infant care.. Moreover the large number of untapped market in Africa due to the economic slowdown is major opportunity for the baby feeding accessories market.The global baby feeding accessories market segmented into by product type, by distribution channel and by region. On the basis of different types of baby feeding accessories market is segmented into baby bottles and nipples. On the basis of distribution channel the global baby feeding accessories market is segmented into online distribution channel and offline distribution channel. Offline distribution channel is further segmented by retail store, hyper market and super market, departmental stores, specialty shop and others.On the basis of geographic split the market of baby feeding accessories is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. The baby feeding accessories market also covers major countries in all the regions such as The U.S in North America, The U.K, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Rest of Europe in Europe. The Asia Pacific market covers major countries such as China, India, Japan and Rest of APAC. Brazil covers in Latin America and U.A.E., South Africa and Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) is Middle East and Africa. Developed nations such as U.S. and U.K. and others developed countries are expected to improve the industry in terms of volume and revenue. However, Asia Pacific is expected a high growth during the forecast period 2017  2025. This is mainly due to the increasing consumer disposable income, and changing lifestyle, especially in developing countries such as India, China and Japan.Browse Full Report@The global baby feeding accessories market is marked by some intense competition from the major players operating in this field. Frequent merger and acquisition joint venture and partnership product innovation and geographical expansion are some of the major strategies adopted by these players to ensure long term sustenance in this market. Global key participants in the global baby feeding accessories industry include Mothercare plc (Watford U.K.), Artsana USA Inc. (Pennsylvania, U.S), Philips AVENT (Sudbury, U.K.), Tupperware (Florida, U.S.), Novatex North America, Inc (Ohio, U.S.), Linco Baby Merchandise Works Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Pigeon Corporation (Japan), Mayborn Group (U.K), Munchkin Inc.(U.S.) and Handi-Craft Company (Missouri, U.S.) among others.About Us:-Transparency Market Research 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 ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

Market Research Reports

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=892014&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-eu-japan-china-india-and-southeast-asia-civil-helicopter-mro-market-size-status-and-forecast-2021.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/ict-market-reports-96.htm

Qyresearchreports include new market research report United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021 to its huge collection of research reports.This research report on the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO market provides in-depth and information on the key factors that influence the movements in this market. The prominent trends and the recent research and development in the field of Civil Helicopter MRO have been studied thoroughly and analyzed in detail in this market study.Researchers have employed efficient analytical tools, such as market feasibility and investment return analysis to determine the attractiveness of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Civil Helicopter MRO while performing this research. Based on these results, experts have analyzed the growth of this market over the years and provided a deep insight into the crucial strategies and plans of the leading participants in this market, which they can implement in the forthcoming years for the further expansion of their business. Researchers have also predicted the future status of this market on the basis of results achieved.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @The market study further analyzes the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO market on the basis of the availability of products. The manufacturing volume, the pricing structure, and the revenue garnered by these products are the prime factors, based on which the performance of this market has been determined. Moreover, it evaluates the manufacturing chain and the dynamics of demand, supply, and sales of Civil Helicopter MRO across the world. The government norms and policies, fueling the demand for Civil Helicopter MRO have also been explained at length in the report.At last, the research report presents an assessment of the competitive landscape prevalent in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Civil Helicopter MRO by reviewing the profiles of the leading participants and also lists key recommendations concerning the market from both, demand and supply perspective.Obtain Report Details @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Civil Helicopter MRO1.1 Civil Helicopter MRO Market Overview1.1.1 Civil Helicopter MRO Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Civil Helicopter MRO 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 Civil Helicopter MRO Market by Type1.3.1 Maintenance1.3.2 Repair1.3.3 Overhaul1.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Air Transport1.4.2 BGA1.4.3 Application 32 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Civil Helicopter MRO 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 GE Aviation3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Pratt & Whitney Division3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Honeywell Aerospace3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Rolls Royce3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Delta TechOps3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Civil Helicopter MRO Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments4 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size by Type and Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size by Type (2011-2016)4.2 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.3 Potential Application of Civil Helicopter MRO in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Civil Helicopter MRO5 United States Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)7 Japan Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)7.2 Japan Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)8 China Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)8.2 China Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)9 India Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)9.2 India Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)10 Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (2011-2016)10.2 Southeast Asia Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2016-2021)11.1 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (Value) by Regions (2016-2021)11.2 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size (Value) by Type (2016-2021)11.3 Global Civil Helicopter MRO Market Size by Application (2016-2021)12 Civil Helicopter MRO Market Dynamics12.1 Civil Helicopter MRO Market Opportunities12.2 Civil Helicopter MRO Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Civil Helicopter MRO Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Civil Helicopter MRO 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
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

Market Research Reports

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=892011&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-eu-japan-china-india-and-southeast-asia-adaptive-learning-software-market-size-status-and-forecast-2021.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/ict-market-reports-96.htm

Qyresearchreports include new market research report United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021 to its huge collection of research reports.This all-inclusive research report on the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software market carry out a detailed manufacturing and supply and demand and sales analysis of Adaptive Learning Software across the world and presents deep insights into the overall performance of this market in terms of both volume and value.This research report on the worldwide Adaptive Learning Software market deals with the historical data and information and the present statistics of this market and predicts its future growth on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of its overall performance. The market study concentrates on evaluating this market on the basis of a number of industry parameters in order to provide a clear picture of it to the readers.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @This research study has been based on the results obtained by employing several analytical tools, such as investment return analysis and investment feasibility analysis to determine the markets appeal. The SWOT analysis of the leading market participants has also been carried out to identify significant strategies adopted by them for the expansion of their businesses across the world.In this study, the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Adaptive Learning Software has further been assessed by carrying out an analysis of the prevalent industry chain and the government regulations, policies, and initiatives to promote the adoption of Adaptive Learning Software.Along with this, an in-depth study of the products manufactured in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Adaptive Learning Software, their production chain, and the pricing structure has also been provided in this report with a detailed list of key recommendations from the perspectives of both, demand and supply, for the readers.Obtain Report Details @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Adaptive Learning Software1.1 Adaptive Learning Software Market Overview1.1.1 Adaptive Learning Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Adaptive Learning Software 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 Adaptive Learning Software Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 32 Global Adaptive Learning Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Adaptive Learning Software 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 Apple Inc.3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Adaptive Learning Software Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 D2L Corporation3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Adaptive Learning Software Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Dreambox Learning3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Adaptive Learning Software Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Knewton3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Adaptive Learning Software Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Smart Sparrow PTY LTD3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Adaptive Learning Software Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments4 Global Adaptive Learning Software Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Adaptive Learning Software Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.2 Potential Application of Adaptive Learning Software in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Adaptive Learning Software5 United States Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)7 Japan Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)7.2 Japan Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)8 China Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)8.2 China Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)9 India Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)9.2 India Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)10 Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (2011-2016)10.2 Southeast Asia Adaptive Learning Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)11 Market Forecast by Regions and Application (2016-2021)11.1 Global Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (Value) by Regions (2016-2021)11.2 Global Adaptive Learning Software Market Size (Value) by Application (2016-2021)11.3 The Market Drivers in Future12 Adaptive Learning Software Market Dynamics12.1 Adaptive Learning Software Market Opportunities12.2 Adaptive Learning Software Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Adaptive Learning Software Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Adaptive Learning Software 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
2017-2022 Sheet Mask Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications

Market Research Reports

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1044088&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/2017-2022-sheet-mask-report-on-global-and-united-states-market-status-and-forecast-by-players-types-and-applications.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/retail-market-reports-137.htm

Qyresearchreports include new market research report 2017-2022 Sheet Mask Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications to its huge collection of research reports.The research report on the Sheet Mask market offers an accurate investigation of the market with an approach that brings out a critical analysis of single key elements impacting it. The research report offers a descriptive analysis of the Sheet Mask market, including the use of tables and figures that can supplement the statements with figures and facts. The report cannot be completed without the use of definitions, classifications, and descriptions of key character traits as displayed by the several segments and sub-segments of the Sheet Mask market. As such, the introduction to the market includes these details, therefore helping the reports users to observe certain trends and better understand the different end-users as well as competitors of the Sheet Mask market, along with the applications of its products and/or services.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @The research report has used secondary as well as primary research methodologies to dissect the dynamics that affect the Sheet Mask market. Furthermore, the report has made use of a SWOT analysis which helps in determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the Sheet Mask market, along with the Porters Five Forces analysis. This allows the details in the report to be fair and valuable during the evaluation of all elements and segments of the Sheet Mask market. The Porters Five Forces analysis provides an accurate assessment of the threat that new entrants can display, along with the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the overall competitive intensity.The report explores the progress of the Sheet Mask market in all its regional segments. This region-by-region analysis will aid the readers in knowing specific elements in the market, such as the diverse regional policies and socio-economic dynamics that affect the Sheet Mask market.Obtain Report Details @Table of Contents1 Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source2.1.1 Secondary Sources2.1.2 Primary Sources1.3 Disclaimer2 Sheet Mask Market Overview2.1 Sheet Mask Product Overview2.2 Sheet Mask Market Segment by Type2.2.1 Silk Sheet Mask2.2.2 Cotton Sheet Mask2.2.3 Polyester fiber Sheet Mask2.2.4 Mixed Fabric Sheet Mask2.2.5 Biological Fiber Sheet Mask2.3 Global Sheet Mask Product Segment by Type2.3.1 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Growth (%)by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.3.2 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share (%)by Types (2012-2017)2.3.3 Global Sheet Mask Revenue (Million USD)and Market Share (%)by Types (2012-2017)2.3.4 Global Sheet Mask Price (USD/Unit)by Type (2012-2017)2.4 United States Sheet Mask Product Segment by Type2.4.1 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Growth by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.4.2 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.3 United States Sheet Mask Revenue (Million USD)and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.4 United States Sheet Mask Price (USD/Unit)by Type (2012-2017)3 Sheet Mask Application/End Users3.1 Sheet Mask Segment by Application/End Users3.1.1 Supermarket/Hypermarket3.1.2 Retail Store3.1.3 Department Store3.1.4 Online Sales3.1.5 Others3.2 Global Sheet Mask Product Segment by Application3.2.1 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and CGAR (%)by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.2.2 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share (%)by Applications (2012-2017)3.3 United States Sheet Mask Product Segment by Application3.3.1 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and CGAR (%)by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.3.2 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share (%)by Applications (2012-2017)4 Sheet Mask Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1.1 Global Sheet Mask Market Size and CAGR by Regions (2012, 2016 and 2022)4.1.2 North America4.1.3 Asia-Pacific4.1.4 Europe4.1.5 South America4.1.6 Middle East and Africa4.1.7 United States4.2 Global Sheet Mask Sales and Revenue by Regions4.2.1 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share (%)by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.2 Global Sheet Mask Revenue (Million USD)and Market Share (%)by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.3 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)4.2.4 North America Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)4.2.5 Europe Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)4.2.6 Asia-Pacific Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)4.2.7 South America Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4.2.8 Middle East and Africa Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)4.2.9 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (2012-2017)5 Global Sheet Mask Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers5.1 Global Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)5.2 Global Sheet Mask Revenue (Million USD)and Share by Players (2012-2017)5.3 Global Sheet Mask Average Price (USD/Unit)by Players (2012-2017)5.4 Players Sheet Mask Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types5.5 Sheet Mask Market Competitive Situation and Trends5.5.1 Sheet Mask Market Concentration Rate5.5.2 Global Sheet Mask Market Share (%)of Top 3 and Top 5 Players5.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion6 United States Sheet Mask Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers6.1 United States Sheet Mask Sales (K Units)and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)6.2 United States Sheet Mask Revenue (Million USD)and Share by Players (2012-2017)6.3 United States Sheet Mask Average Price (USD/Unit)by Players (2012-2017)6.4 United States Sheet Mask Market Share (%)of Top 3 and Top 5 Players7 Sheet Mask Players/Manufacturers Profiles and Sales Data7.1 LOreal7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.1.2 Sheet Mask Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 LOreal Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Estee Lauder7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.2.2 Sheet Mask Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Estee Lauder Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Shiseido7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.3.2 Sheet Mask Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Shiseido Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 P&G7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.4.2 Sheet Mask Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 P&G Sheet Mask Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit)and Gross Margin (%)(2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewRead 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
Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Research Report 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=890859&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-medical-grade-ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene-market-research-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene" to its huge collection of research reports.The global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene is the core objective of examination in this research report recently added to our extensive database. The report to a great degree is a spellbinding and savvy archive that helps chalk out a careful and comprehensive investigative Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, covering all key classifications and their market segments, alongside the elements that have the capability of being powerful sooner rather than later. The report accordingly displays a 360-degree examination of the present condition of the Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene market to its reader.The market has been unearthed from a ground-up manner, where simple information and key, industry-particular meanings of the Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene components are portrayed in the outline. The report then moves into the complete examination of Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, adhering to viewpoints, including arrangements, industry chain structure, applications, approaches, industry diagram, and recent market improvements.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The enormous volume of market information incorporated into the report has been collected after some time with the assistance of various essential and optional research systems. This information is additionally limited to utilizing standard industry-based systematic procedures so that the vital areas of subjective and quantitative data are offered to the report's clients.The competitive and administrative scene of the Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene are also broken down and examined in the research report. The different levels of elements on the standards, controls, arrangements, and arrangements are likewise incorporated into the expansion to an investigation of their effect on the markets general development prospects. The report additionally incorporates a point by point inspection of the market players business profiles ranging in the top categories.Table of ContentsGlobal Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Research Report 20161 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene1.2 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene by Type in 20151.2.2 Type I1.2.3 Type II1.2.4 Type III1.3 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Segment by Application1.3.1 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Application 11.3.3 Application 21.3.4 Application 31.4 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (2011-2021)2 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Southeast Asia Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 India Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Browse Complete Report with TOC @4 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.4 China Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.7 India Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)5 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.2 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.3 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Price by Type (2011-2016)5.4 Global Medical Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)About UsQYReseachReports.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.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Delmar D. Driver, 70, of rural Ames, formerly of Missouri Valley, Iowa, passed away Saturday, April 1, 2017, at his home.

He was born May 30, 1946, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Leo and Bernice (Reese) Driver.

Delmar grew up in western Iowa at Council Bluffs, Honey Creek, Beebe Town, Iowa, and Missouri Valley. He then entered the U.S. Air Force and served during the Vietnam War. After retiring from 21 years in the Air Force he bought an acreage near Missouri Valley, and lived and worked as a letter carrier prior to moving to Fremont in 2000 and retiring after 20 years on July 31, 2008. Delmar married Cathy Jenkins on Nov. 8, 2000, in Fremont.

Survivors include: his wife, Cathy Driver of Ames; mother, Bernice Driver of Missouri Valley; sisters, Dorothy (John) Peterson of Tyler, Texas, Phyllis Rodemacker (Pete Vogel) of Sugar Grove, Ill., and Lenora Cunard of Missouri Valley; stepdaughter, Cindy (Randy) Starkey of Lusk, Wyo.; three stepgrandchildren; and mother-in-law, Dorothy Jenkins of Arlington.

Delmar was preceded in death by his father.

He was a member of Bluffs Trinity Lutheran Church near Fremont, American Legion Post 337 of Missouri Valley and National Association of Letter Carriers. He loved his church, family, country and Major League Baseball, especially his LA Dodgers. Delmar enjoyed helping others.

The funeral will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 7, at Peace Lutheran Church near Fremont. The Rev. Sean Tyler and The Rev. Carl Groh will officiate. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Thursday with the family receiving friends from 6-8 p.m., all at Moser Memorial Chapel in Fremont. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service on Friday at the church. Burial with full military honors will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Bluffs Cemetery near Fremont by the Fremont Honor Guard of Veterans of Foreign Post 854 and American Legion Post 20.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Bluffs Trinity Lutheran Church or the donor is asked to please extend a kind act for someone in need.

Online condolences may be left at: www.mosermemorialchapels.com.
Nuclear Waste Management Market is expected to rise at a remarkable CAGR By 2024.

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/nuclear-waste-management-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=11246

This research study analyzes the nuclear waste management market in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The nuclear waste management market has been segmented on the basis of waste type, nuclear reactor type, and geography. The regional segments have been further divided into 12 sub-segments that comprise nine countries which are major players in the global nuclear waste management market. For the research, 2015 has been taken as the base year while all forecasts have been given for the 20162024 period. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional as well as country-specific level for the 20142024 period. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in nuclear waste management services.Browse Market Research Report @ :The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the global nuclear waste management 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 analysis of the global nuclear waste management market 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 global nuclear waste management 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 report provides detailed insights into the nuclear waste management business globally. There are currently numerous drivers for the nuclear waste management market. One of the most prominent drivers is the stringent norms and regulations to reduce harmful emissions globally, mandating higher investments in nuclear power projects. Apart from this, nuclear waste management market would benefit from several planned nuclear decommissioning projects. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the nuclear waste management market on the basis of geography. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @ :Growth in the market for nuclear waste management can be attributed to high focus on increasing energy requirements and achieving power supply targets. The market has received further impetus from rising environmental concerns to reduce harmful emissions. Regulations related to usage of efficient fuels and environmental concerns are building the next wave of nuclear waste management services. These regulations would have a significant impact on the nuclear waste management market. Currently, the growth potential for nuclear waste management market is in Europe, followed by Asia Pacific. Both Europe and Asia Pacific have more number of nuclear reactors and thereby, generate significant quantities of nuclear wastes. This would drive the market for nuclear waste management in the next few yearsThe nuclear waste management market has been segmented in terms of waste type, nuclear reactor type and geography. By waste type, the nuclear waste management market has been segmented into low level waste, intermediate level waste, and high level waste. By nuclear reactor type, the market has been segmented into boiling water reactors, gas cooled reactors, pressurized water reactors, pressurized heavy water reactors, and others. The nuclear waste management market was analyzed across four geographies: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Europe, held the largest market share (41.3%), followed by Asia Pacific (30.1%) in 2015. Rising awareness about the need for nuclear power and huge investments in nuclear power projects are the primary drivers for the nuclear waste management market in Europe. The market in Rest of the World experienced sluggish growth in 2015.Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the nuclear waste management market. Key market participants in the nuclear waste management market include Areva SA, Augean Plc, Bechtel Corporation, BHI Energy, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc., Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stericycle, Inc., US Ecology, Inc., Veolia Environmental Services, and Waste Control Specialists, LLC.Nuclear Waste Management Market: By Waste TypeLow Level WasteIntermediate Level WasteHigh Level WasteNuclear Waste Management Market: By Nuclear ReactorBoiling Water ReactorsGas Cooled ReactorsPressurized Water ReactorsPressurized Heavy Water ReactorsOthersAbout 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.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Microgrid Technology Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=891832&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-eu-japan-china-india-and-southeast-asia-microgrid-technology-market-size-status-and-forecast-2021.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/ict-market-reports-96.htm

Qyresearchreports include new market research report United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Microgrid Technology Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021 to its huge collection of research reports.This is a clear and systematic research report on the distribution for those related with the worldwide Microgrid Technology advertise. The report offers a foreordained estimate period from Microgrid Technology to Microgrid Technology, the most recent portion of this exploration distribution stream. The report offers significant and precise bits of knowledge that will permit a client to accomplish a crisp point of view on the different sections existing in the Microgrid Technology. These incorporate the key components that expands its development rate and additionally the snags that are right now influencing its. The report additionally concentrates on the top patterns that right now influence the market and those that might be completed in the years to come. This incorporates full scale and small scale monetary elements that are influencing its improvement, and driving players and their exercises in the Microgrid Technology.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @A section based industry examination arranged utilizing feelings and bits of knowledge from industry specialists shapes the separating variable for the nature of this report. The customers can utilize these experiences to settle on their own choices and assess the locales and portions that are probably going to be productive to them over the given time frame.There are a couple of drivers that emerge from the group and this report uncovers their significance through a profound investigation of the different open doors that players may pick up from them. The report additionally explains the restrictions influencing the Microgrid Technology so they can device how the properties will influence the direction of the market and their general remaining in it. A course of events of late improvements that have specifically or in a roundabout way impacted the market, furnishing the reports clients with a superior base of information in the market for the given forecast period.Table of ContentsUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Microgrid Technology Market Size, Status and Forecast 20211 Industry Overview of Microgrid Technology1.1 Microgrid Technology Market Overview1.1.1 Microgrid Technology Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Microgrid Technology 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 Microgrid Technology Market by Type1.3.1 Grid-Tied Type Microgrid1.3.2 Independent Type Microgrid1.4 Microgrid Technology Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Application 11.4.2 Application 21.4.3 Application 3Order a copy of complete Research Report @2 Global Microgrid Technology Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Microgrid Technology 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 ABB3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 GE Electric3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Echelon3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 S&C Electric Co.3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Siemens3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 General Microgrids3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Microgrid Solar3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Raytheon3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Sunverge Energy3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Toshiba3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Microgrid Technology Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 NEC (A123 Energy Solutions)3.12 Aquion Energy3.13 EnStorage3.14 SGCC3.15 Moixa3.16 EnSync, Inc.(ZBB Energy)3.17 Ampard3.18 Green Energy Corp.3.19 Growing Energy Labs Inc.3.20 HOMER Energy3.21 Spirae, Inc.4 Global Microgrid Technology Market Size by Type and Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Microgrid Technology Market Size by Type (2011-2016)4.2 Global Microgrid Technology Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.3 Potential Application of Microgrid Technology in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Microgrid Technology5 United States Microgrid Technology Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Microgrid Technology Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Microgrid Technology Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Microgrid Technology Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Microgrid Technology Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Microgrid Technology Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)Read More @QYResearchReports.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.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States
Track African Fall Armyworm with Russell IPMs optimised Pheromone Lure

Fall armyworm caterpillars are destroying maize crops in Africa and the Americas

UK-based biorational pest control solutions provider Russell IPM has developed and tested an effective monitoring system against fall armyworm (FAW). FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a fast-spreading pest that has been damaging essential food crops in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.Russell IPM has responded to the demand for an effective monitoring system for FAW infestations. In February, trials were conducted in Africa in order to optimise the companys pheromone blend targeting the devastating pest. Six different formulations of the FAW pheromone were tested in Zambia and South Africa.According to Dr Al-Zaidi, Russell IPMs Managing Director, an effective monitoring solution has been identified. The trial results show that the highest trap catches were achieved by Russell IPMs four-components lure. This formulation, which is specific to the fall armyworm species currently present in Africa, showed the highest efficacy. The lure and traps are commercially available from our distributors in Africa.The lure is compatible with Russells Mothcatcher trap, and can be used as part of an IPM strategy to combat the invasions in Africa.Dr Nayem Hassan, Head of Research and Development at Russell IPM, recommends the following programme of treatment: For preventative FAW control, our microbial plant booster and soil enhancer, Recharge, can be mixed with the irrigation water and applied to the soil around the plant roots. FAW pupae will not emerge from the soil. For tackling larvae at first detection and before they bore into the stem of the host plant, farmers can alternate foliar applications of Biotrine, a microbial extract, and Antario, a synergised Bacillus thuringiensis formulation. Biotrines action is translaminar, so the active ingredient is absorbed only into the upper foliar surface. It targets larvae coming into contact with treated leaves, but the plant itself will show no pesticide residue.For further information, please contact:Elitsa Seymour, Marketing Manager, Russell IPME: marketing@russellipm.comT: +44 (0) 1244 281 333Headquartered in Flintshire, United Kingdom, Russell IPM designs, manufactures, supplies and consults on innovative biorational solutions for pest monitoring and control in agriculture and public health.Unit 45, First Avenue, Deeside, Flintshire, CH5 2NU, United Kingdom
Automotive Fabric Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/automotive-fabric-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22220

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Automotive fabrics are woven, nonwoven, knitted, coated, or composite fabrics that are flexible, elastic, soft, and lightweight in design. These fabrics provide seating comfort. The global automotive fabric market is driven by technology developments in advanced fabric materials, which are known to provide superior comfort qualities vis-a-vis other materials. The global automotive fabric market is driven by the rise in consumer demand for comfort. Increase in disposable incomes allows consumers to afford high-end luxury cars. Technological advancements in automotive fabric materials allows lower range cars to be optionally fitted with quality fabrics. These factors are estimated to boost the global automotive fabric market in the next few years. Increase in manufacture of passenger cars is also augmenting the global automotive fabric market.Browse Market Research Report @Fabric (body cloth fabrics, velvet, velour, and tweed), leather (such as genuine leather, synthetic leather, PU or artificial leather, and synthetic leather), thermoplastic polymers, and vinyl are the highly preferred automotive interior materials. Fabrics that are used in automobiles are generally polyester and rayon blends. Velour is an expensive fabric, which is used in high-end cars. Vinyl is the ideal alternative to fabric; it is available in various texture and colors. Vinyl is affordable and easy to maintain; however, the material gets heated when exposed to sun. Leather is a popular material used in automotive interiors. Synthetic leather is a largely used form of leather, as it is affordable and durable. However, genuine leather is the most durable form of leather, but it is expensive.Automotive fabrics are used in various applications such as upholstery, floor covering, pre-assembled interior components, tires, airbags, and safety belts. Floor covering accounted for the major share of the automotive fabrics market in 2015. The segment is expected to drive the demand for automotive fabrics due to the increasing usage of carpets in automobiles. Automotive fabrics used in carpets possess vibration and noise absorption properties, while being lighter and cost efficient at the same time. In terms of application, the airbags segment is expected to witness significant growth in the near future. Increase in demand for automotive fabric in airbags is driven by the implementation of stringent government regulations regarding safety of drivers/passengers.Additionally, automotive manufacturers are mandated to install safety devices in cars. With technological innovations, consumers are more inclined toward adopting automotive safety products in order to ensure safety and comfort.In terms of vehicle type, the automotive fabric market can be segmented into passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, and heavy trucks & buses. Passenger cars accounted for the major share of the automotive fabric market in 2015. The segment is estimated to witness significant growth owing to the increase in usage of these fabrics in various applications due to their high strength; elongation capability; and resistance to fire, water, and UV.Asia Pacific dominated the automotive fabric market in 2015. Growth of the automobile sector in Asia Pacific, led by the surge in production of vehicles in emerging economies of India, China, and Japan, is anticipated to drive the market in the region in the next few years. Additionally, establishment of production bases, expansion of manufacturing facilities, easy availability of raw materials, cheap labor, and low cost of production are estimated to propel the demand for automotive fabric in the region. The automotive fabric market in North America is projected to expand significantly, led by the strong domestic demand for comfort, safety, and luxury.Key players operating in the automotive fabric market include Lear Corporation, Adient Plc, and Sage Automotive Interiors Inc.For more information on this report, fill the form @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.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:
Anti-corrosion Nanocoatings Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/anti-corrosion-nanocoatings-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22211

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Corrosion is increasingly becoming a major issue for owners of industrial equipment and plants. Corrosion, which is mostly caused by a chemical attack, can lead to significant industrial losses. Corrosion, in its various forms, is estimated to cost the global economy US$3 Trn per year. The presence of corrosive chemicals can result in deterioration of a structure or equipment and is also a potential risk to personnel. It may also lead to permanent structural failure, which can be deemed costly in terms of repair. The corrosion phenomenon majorly affects economies of industrial companies. However, with the advent of innovative technologies, it is possible to eliminate corrosion in prior stages through anti-corrosion nanocoatings. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings consist of homogeneous thin films made up of alkoxides with chemically attached nanoparticles. Corrosion and high temperature oxidation can be reduced by coating materials made up of thin layer of chemically resistant oxides. Such films are primarily suitable for metallic surfaces. They offer various advantages such as low temperature processing, high purity, and control of the composition.Browse Market Research Report @Nanocoatings are materials manufactured by shrinking raw materials at the molecular level to form a denser product. Nanocoatings are preferred over traditional coatings due to their lower content of VOCs. Additionally, nanocoatings offer characteristics such as resistance to scratch, UV, and chemical; low maintenance; anti-corrosion; and color and gloss retention. Nanocoatings are classified as anti-fingerprint, anti-microbial, anti-fouling and easy-to-clean, self-cleaning (bionic and photocatalytic) and others (specialty coatings, etc.). Anti-microbial is a highly used nanocoating across various end-user industries. Anti-microbial nanocoatings are employed in end-user industries such as medical and health care, water treatment, food manufacturing, and packaging. Anti-fouling and easy-to-clean nanocoatings are also employed on a large scale in marine, food manufacturing, automotive, and electronics industries, etc. The anti-fingerprint nanocoatings segment is expected to expand substantially in the near future due to the increasing demand in electronics, automotive, and medical and health care industries. Other types of nanocoatings are used in building & construction, packaging, and textiles industries.The global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market is expanding owing to the high demand in medical and automotive coatings industries. Growth in the coatings sector, rising demand, and urbanization in BRIC countries has been driving the global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market since the last few years. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings are used in medical equipment and implants. The medical and health care industry is likely to expand significantly in the next few years. Energy and electronics are high-growth end-users of anti-corrosion nanocoatings. This trend is estimated to continue in the next few years. Furthermore, increase in usage of anti-corrosion nanocoatings in automotive to retain color and gloss of the surface is likely to drive the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market in the near future. Demand for nanocoatings is high in the building & construction industry, as they inhibit microbial growth, mildew, and algae. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings are also used in food manufacturing, packaging, textiles, and water treatment industries, among others.The global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market is expected to witness significant growth due to the ability of these nanocoatings to provide high degree of adhesion and excellent chemical and abrasion resistance to meet the regulatory requirement. North America and Europe are the major markets for anti-corrosion nanocoatings, driven by the implementation of stringent emission standards to comply with the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Growth in the medical and health care industry in North America is estimated to drive the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market in the near future. Currently, the demand for medical equipment and implant coatings is high in North America. It is projected to rise owing to the increase in development in technology. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a rapidly growing market for anti-corrosion nanocoatings in the next few years. Demand for anti-corrosion nanocoatings is likely to increase in Asia Pacific due to growth in automotive and electronics industries.Key players operating in the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market include Buhler PARTEC GmbH, Nanogate AG, and P2i Ltd.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this 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.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:
Low Noise Amplifier Market Value chain and stakeholder analysis

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/low-noise-amplifier-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22091

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Low noise amplifier is an electronics amplifier which is used to amplify the week signals likely those are received by different types of antenna. In addition, these amplifiers are able to receive different types of weak signals, from satellite. A low noise amplifier is commonly located close to detection device to reduce losses in feed line.At the front end of receiver, circuit manufacturers are installing low noise amplifier as a key component. Moreover, low noise amplifiers are using in different application such as cellular phone, cordless phone, Wi-Fi systems and GPS system among others to increase the operation efficiency of these products.Browse Market Research Report:Furthermore, increasing governments investment across the globe for development of smart cities and free public Wi-Fi networks zone in order to provide various services is the most important factor predicted to boost the demand for Low Noise Amplifier market during the forecast period from 2017- 2025.General purpose of low noise amplifier is to cater a wide range of applications such as mobile phone, Wi- Fi devices, and navigation systems among others across the globe.For providing detail overview, Low Noise Amplifier market has been segregated on the basis of type, end use industry and geography. On the basis of type, this market is fragmented into 3 MHz, 4 MHz and 10 MHz among others.In addition, most of the common application 10 MHz low noise amplifiers finds application in ISM radios, PCS handset and wireless LANs among others. Moreover, rising installation of low noise amplifier across various applications of Wi-Fi in different parts of the world such as America, Europe and Asia Pacific in order to receive the better signal is also predicted to trigger the demand of Low Noise Amplifier in the coming eight years.Furthermore, end use segment is bifurcated into industrial, commercial, automobile, medical and telecommunication among others. Increasing demand for automotive product such as remote keyless system and GPS for navigation across the globe is one of the primary factors anticipated to drive the demand of Low Noise Amplifier market during the forecast period.Commonly, low noise amplifiers are found in satellite operated system and it increases the receiving of week signal efficiency through antenna. Such beneficial features and increasing uses are creating the market demand which is expected to dominate the Low Noise Amplifier market during the forecast period.In addition, the low noise amplifier gains the antenna signal to compensate for the feed line losses linking the antenna and the receiver. Low noise amplifiers are coming out as an important part of wireless systems and increasing the demand of internet penetration is also predicted to increase the uses of these low noise amplifiers and thereby anticipated to drive the demand for Low Noise Amplifier market in the coming years..Such beneficial nature is expected to create a better market opportunities in coming years. However, falling growth rate of cord less phone and increasing in design complexity is predicted to hinder the growth of Low Noise Amplifier market during the forecast period. In addition, low noise amplifiers are using in scientific and medical band ISM radio to fulfill the requirement for communications.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market:Geographically, the Low Noise Amplifier market is majorly driven by Asia Pacific .Asia Pacific is estimated to be the significantly attractive market for low noise amplifier manufacturers primarily because of the large-scale development in this part of the world.Moreover, increasing focus on research and development activities by government initiative in telecommunication and defense sector is also acting as a driving factor in the growth of France, Russia, and the US market. Asia Pacific is predicted to witness the most promising market in the coming years, owing to increasing number of automotive and consumer goods manufacturersThe key companies in the market includes Low Noise Amplifiers market are Analog Devices, (The U.S)Toshiba (Japan), Infineon Technologies (Germany), KEMET (The U.S), Microchip Technology Inc. (The U.S), ON Semiconductor (The U.S), Panasonic (Japan), Texas Instruments (The U.S),Future Electronics (Canada), Atmel (The U.S), Bogen Communications, Inc. (The U.S), and Diodes Inc.(The U.S) among others.About TMRTMR 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Dry Coating Equipment Market Witness a Steady growth during the forecast period by 2025

Dry Coating Equipment Market ,Dry Coating Equipment Market share

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/dry-coating-equipment-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22124

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Dry coating equipment refers to the equipments which are required for applying as a free flowing dry powder. The major difference between dry coating and liquid coating is, dry coating does not need any kind of solvent for keeping the filler and binder part in the form of a liquid suspension. Dry coating equipment involves the application of powder electrostatic ally and then heat is applied for the powder to flow freely and form a skin. The powder which is applied through the dry coating equipment is mostly thermo set polymer or thermoplastic. Dry coating is usually done to attain a tougher coating than conventionally used liquid coating or traditionally used paints. The dry coating equipment is mostly used to have a coating on metals which are used in household appliance, drum hardware, aluminum extrusions, and bicycles and on a wide range of automobiles parts.Some of the key factors driving the dry coating equipment market include strict government norms which are focused towards solvent based coating and traditionally used liquid coating. Further, growing application of dry coating equipments across a wide range of industrial applications is expected drive the market over the next few years. There is a significant rise in demand for dry coating equipment in the automotive industry. Some of the factors which are making the dry coating technique over traditional methods include better reliability, enhanced transfer efficiency and easier to handle.Thus increase in demand for automotives and rise in number of manufacturing plants in Asia Pacific especially in countries like India and China are expected to drive the demand for dry coating equipments over the next few years. Further, some of the factors which are restraining the dry coating equipment market include high cost of the dry coating. A key challenge faced by the dry coating equipment market manufactures includes offering of dry coating equipment at cheaper rate especially multiple coating types.Obtain Report Details @The dry coating equipment market by type could be segmented into spray gun and others. The spray gun segment could be further segmented into Tribo gun and corona gun. The dry coating equipment market by end use could be further segmented into aerospace, transportation and automotive, industrial, building and construction. The industrial segment in the dry coating equipment market segmented by end use is expected to contribute for the largest market share over the next few years. There are wide range of equipments and machinery which are used across a wide range of industries, these machineries and equipment need to be protected from abrasion, corrosion and other types of threat.Thus the use of dry coating is essentially becoming a necessity, thus driving the demand for dry coating equipments. Further rapid industrialization in growing economies, rise in demand for new vehicles is expected to drive the market further. Moreover, mammoth growth in application of dry coating in the construction industry is expected to further drive the demand for the dry coating equipments over the next few years.Geographically the dry coating equipment market could be broadly segmented into North America, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe. Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share and is expected to grow at the fastest rate over the next few years in the dry coating equipment market. China is a major contributor for the dry coating equipment market.Make an Enquiry @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.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e 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, chemical, 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, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Ethernet Switches Market Value Share, Analysis and Segments 2025

Ethernet Switches Market, Ethernet Switches Market share, Ethernet Switches Market size

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ethernet-switches-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22133

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Switch is a particular device that is used in a computer network for connecting two devices electrically. It is being used to communicate between network devices by plugging in multiple data cables. Switches also helps in the flow of data through a network by transmission of network packet to multiple devices. A specific network address is maintained for identification of network devices connected to a switch helping in the regulation of flow of traffic thereby maximizing the security and efficiency of the network.An ethernet switch is a central hub that are wired to computers and network devices within an ethernet. It is the extreme temperature and high vibrations durability that has helped in the growing application of ethernet switches in industrial environment as well. The global market for ethernet switches has been segmented into type, applications and geography.The various types based on which the global market for ethernet switches has been segmented includes unmanaged switch, partially managed switch and fully managed switch. Automotive, healthcare and telecommunication among others form the major application areas based on which the global ethernet switches market has been segmented.Global ethernet switches market on the basis of geography has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa.Obtain Report Details @The rise in efficiency and effectivity of the transmission has been a major factor that has driven the demand for ethernet switches market globally. Use of ethernet switches helps in providing connection via a dedicated wire having a single transmitter in the collision domain improving the overall utilization. Reduction in usage of broadcast domains has also been another major driver that has positively impacted the demand for ethernet switches market globally. In addition to this, the benefit compared to the costs involved is quite high providing more number of ports as compared to routers at a cheaper cost. Moreover, use of switches provides changes in configuration along with adjustments in speeds that further helps in the rising demand for this market. Along with this, growth of IoT (Internet of Things) technology and increasing application of ethernet in process automation sector has also been some other major drivers that has a positive impact on the overall market. Considering all these factors that has positively impacted the demand for this market, there are also certain restraints involved that poses challenges to its growth.One such major limitation involved with the application of ethernet switches is the technological complexity involved that makes it vulnerable towards security attacks. Moreover, it is the complexities involved with the design and configuration of ethernet switches that poses challenges for transmission of multiple packets forming another crucial factor that restrains the growth for this market. It is the growing internet penetration in remote places will provide huge opportunities for this market in the coming years.Geographically, it is North America and Europe that forms the major markets for the ethernet switches market globally. Growing application along with rise in demand for quick transmission of data forms some of the major drivers that boosts the demand for ethernet switches in this region. Asia Pacific forms another major region that contributes to the growth of ethernet switches market with China, Japan and India being some of the major regions that boosts the demand. Growing internet penetration along with rising application of data transmission has been some of the crucial factors that has positively impacted the demand for ethernet switches market in this region.Make an Enquiry @Some of the major players operating in the ethernet switches market include Beckhoff Automation (Germany), Rockwell Automation (The U.S.), Siemens (Germany), Cisco (the U.S.), Schneider Electric (France), General Electric (The U.S.), Honeywell International (The U.S.), Eaton Corporation (The U.S.), Hitachi (Japan), Parker Hannifin Corporation (The U.S.), Omron (Japan) and B&R Automation (Austria) among others present in the market globally.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e 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, chemical, 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, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Exposure System Market Emergence of advanced technologies and global industry analysis 2025

Exposure System Market, Exposure System Market share, Exposure System Market Size

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/exposure-system-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22139

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

A photomask is a solid plate with transparencies or holes that let light to pass from one side to the other in a predefined pattern. Exposure systems usually project an image on the wafer by using a photomask. The function of the photomask is to block the light in some specific areas. Maskless lithography procedures direct a precise beam of light directly onto the surface of the wafer without using a mask.However, it is seldom used for commercial processes. Exposure systems falls under the semiconductor production equipment. The capability to draw a flawless image of a small pattern onto the surface wafer is maintained by the wavelength of the light, and the capacity of the lens system to follow diffraction commands from the mask. Advanced tools use deep ultraviolet light from lasers with wavelengths between 193 and 248 nm.Sustainable growth in the global semiconductor market is acting as a key driver for the growth of the overall exposure systems market. The upsurge in sales of consumer electronic devices and microelectronics is expected to fuel the global market. As the demand for semiconductor devices are increasing, so is the need for better speed and advanced integration methods.Obtain Report Details @Based on type, the global exposure systems market can be classified into contact system, proximity system, projection system, and other systems. In this type of printer, a photomask is placed in shortest contact (direct contact) with the surface on which it is applied on, or the wafer. A proximity exposure system leaves a small gap amid the wafer and photomask. In both the above mentioned procedures, the mask guards the wafer, and concurrently patterns every die. However, contact systems sometimes cause damage to the wafer and the mask.The proximity exposure systems segment is likely to grow at a significant rate over the forecast period in the global exposure systems market due to their ease of use and low damage risks. VLSI or Very Large Scale Integration process uses projection exposure systems. Contrasting to proximity or contact masks, that cover the whole wafer, projection masks or reticles show one dye or dies. The mask is exposed to the projection exposure systems multiple times after which the complete pattern is formed on the wafer. This segment held a significant market share in the global exposure systems market.By geography, the global exposure systems market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific held the leading share of the market followed by North America. Countries such as China and Japan manufacture and sell exposure systems on a large scale. They are considered the hub of electronics parts manufacturing.Make an Enquiry @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.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e 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, chemical, 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, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Fiber Optic Gyroscope Market Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2025

Fiber Optic Gyroscope Market, Fiber Optic Gyroscope Market share

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/fiber-optic-gyroscope-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22142

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

The Fiber Optic Gyroscope market is segmented on the basis of sensing axis, device, application and geography. On the basis of sensing axis, market is fragmented into 3-Axis, 2- Axis, 1- Axis. Various categories of fiber optics gyroscope on the basis of device market has been segmented into gyrocompass, inertial measurement unit, attitude heading reference system and inertial navigation system. Also, this market is segmented on the basis of application into defense and homeland security, aeronautics and aviation, robotic, industrial and remotely operated vehicle among others.Across the globe, demand of remotely operated vehicle products such as unmanned underwater vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned ground vehicle is increasing at a high rate. Rapidly, these remotely operated vehicle manufacturing companies are adopting fiber optics gyroscope technology in their products. Increasing demand for remotely operated vehicle are also predicted to drive the market growth of Fiber Optics Gyroscope market at an exponential rate in the coming years. Increasing demand for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a type of aircraft which has no onboard crew or passengers.Obtain Report Details @However, growing demand for advanced micro electro mechanical systems gyroscopes are using direction tracking as an alternative product of fiber optics gyroscope which is the important factor restraining the growth of Fiber Optics Gyroscope market. Moreover, higher complexity and time-consuming manufacturing process and high investment and low cost-benefit ratio restricted the entry of new players to manufacturer fiber optics gyroscope.Geographically, the Fiber Optics Gyroscope market has also been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America. In addition, geographically, Fiber Optic Gyroscope market is majorly driven by Asia- Pacific region. Asia-Pacific market for fiber optics gyroscope to grow at the highest rate in future.Major number of industrial product manufacturers are based out of APAC region. Across the globe China, Japan, Korea, India are most promising developing countries is expected to dominate the market share within next forecast period. North America is predicted to witness the most promising second largest market share due to adoption of advancement technology development. Europe is primarily driven by various automobile manufacturing facilities activities in countries such as, Germany and U.K. among others.Make an Enquiry @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.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e 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, chemical, 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, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
When kids in Nebraska think about Africa the first thing that usually comes to mind is the animals.

With access to lions, elephants, and giraffes at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, and popular childrens movies like The Lion King, the exotic animals are typically the first aspect of the continent that kids are introduced to.

While most kids know the animals that roam the savanna, very few know the people and cultures that make up the continent.

On Monday, in an effort to expose students at Clarmar Elementary to African culture, the school hosted African Culture Connection (ACC), an Omaha based non-profit organization that provides students with African cultural and artistic experiences.

Founded in 2006, the organization offers residency programs and performances led by professional artists, including master dancers, drummers and storytellers from the United States and abroad.

The goal is to educate young people about African culture using drums, dance, and visual art. At the same time we are here to tell them that Africa is home to more than just lions and elephants, there is more than just those wild animals. To me Africa and African culture is about respect, it is about loving your neighbors, and working together as one, Charles Ahovissi, Artistic and Executive Director of ACC, said.

After learning African drumming and dance at workshops during music class, students got the chance to see ACC perform several traditional dances in the gymnasium.

Each of these dances has an explanation because every aspect of life in Africa has a rhythm and a dance. For a long, long time people in Africa have used that in their daily life and activities as a way to tell stories and to communicate, Ahovissi said.

The workshops were led by teaching artists from ACC, where each class gathered into a large drum circle with each student getting their own percussion instrument. The teaching artists taught students different rhythms and techniques used in traditional African drumming and dancing.

They had 35 chairs in a circle in the music room, so each kid was able to have their own musical instrument, Clarmar Principal Heather Beekman said. The instructor had them in groups by where they were seated according to their instrument. He would teach one group their part, and then go on to the next group and just kept building until eventually all the groups were playing as one which was really cool.

In the drum circles, the students were taught several traditional African rhythms including the Kassa and Djole rhythms. Kassa is associated with harvest and Djole is traditionally played at large festivities including weddings and at the end of Ramadan.

Without programs like these, these kids will not understand African culture. The only thing they tell you when you ask them about Africa is about the animals, but Africa is about all of these beautiful cultures and different traditions. We are here to defend that, promote it, and share it with young people so when they grow up they have a better understanding of it, Ahovissi said.

Students also learned about the instrument used to create the traditional African rhythms and dances.

The djembe is a traditional West African drum that is rope tuned and played with bare hands.

According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying Anke dje, anke be which translates to everyone gather together in peace and defines the drums purpose.

Traditional African drumming and dance is an important tool in many African cultures because it is used to pass down stories from one generation to the next.

This is oral tradition and this is why we are trying to keep this alive, if we dont use our dance and our rhythm to share our culture there is no way to experience it. You cannot go to a library and grab a book to learn about these villages and these cultures, Ahovissi said.

The program was part of Clarmars annual Exploration Day which aims to explore different curricular areas like science and social studies.

It was very interactive and they were able to talk about their history and the countries where they are from in Africa, and the students were really just able to see that people are people just like us they just have a different cultural background, Beekman said.

Before founding ACC in 2006, Ahovissi toured the world as a member of the Ballet National of Benin, performing and teaching traditional African dance and drumming. He is an approved teaching and performing artist through the Nebraska and Iowa Arts Councils.

For more information about ACC visit their website at www.africancultureconnection.org.
Cell Cycle Analysis Market Research Report, Market Trends, Industry Analysis - Forecast to 2021

Cell Cycle Analysis

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/673

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cell-cycle-analysis-market

OverviewCell Cycle Analysis is commonly used in biomedical research studies and clinical diagnosis. It helps in distinguishing cells that are in different phases Of Cell Cycle and used to determine the cellular response to biological stimulations and various drug. Cell cycle analysis traditionally carried out though the sensitive fluorescence detection methods such as flow cytometry and laser scanning cytometry.The Cell Cycle Analysis market is expected to grow at high growth rate due to corporate & government support in cell-based researches, high prevalence of chronic genetic diseases, growing healthcare industry and increasing medical spending, rising incidence of cancer, and technologically advancements. However, high prices of automated cell cycle analysis instruments, and reluctance among researchers to use advanced cell cycle analysis techniques may restrict the growth of this market. Furthermore, the instruments used in cell cycle analysis are relatively expensive, and large in size. It also requires a considerable amount of maintenance, which is less likely to be feasible for small research groups. Hence it is difficult for the small research group to access to this equipment when required quick diagnostic results on site. Also, reluctance among researchers to use advanced cell cycle analysis techniques is another growth barrier for the market.The cell cycle analysis is performed through methods such as cytometry, cell imaging, cell counting, Microscopy, and others. Majority of these methods are based on florescence assays. Among these methods cytometry methods are expected to command the highest market share in 2015. The prominent players in cell cycle analysis market are Becton, Dickinson and Company, Merck KGAA, thermos Fisher Scientific, Inc., Danaher Corporation, GE Healthcare, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Olympus Corporation, PerkinElmer, Inc., PR omega Corporation, Affymetrix, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Miltenyi Biotech, and Nexcelom Bioscience LLC. These players possess state of art manufacturing facilities and strong sales and distribution network which have helped them to gain leadership position in the marketBased on the method the cell cycle analysis by product is divided into instruments, consumables, software and others. Consumables market is further segmented into assay, reagents & kits and other consumables. There is an incessant rise in the number of genetic disease worldwide which is expected to drive the growth of this market.Furthermore, based on the applications the cell cycle analysis market is segmented into diagnosis, therapeutics, research, and others. The research segment is expected to grow at highest CAGR due to rising government and corporate support for cell based research.Based on End users the cell cycle analysis market is further divided into Academics & Research Institutions, Hospitals and Diagnostic Laboratories, Pharmaceutical- CROs and Biotechnology Companies, and Other End Users. The rising incidences of cancer and genetic disease are expected to drive end users market for global cell analysis market.Based on region, North America accounted for the largest share in the global cell cycle analysis market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. The Asia Pacific market is expected to witness the highest growth owing to rising awareness regarding self-monitoring. Furthermore, various players are investing in the Asia Pacific market which is another major factor fueling the market growth.The cell cycle analysis market research report provides detail analysis of market in terms of value market. The report also provides the future outlook of the market till 2021. Moreover, the global as well as market share of various players based on methods is also analyzed in the report. Lastly, the report provides company profiles of major players in the market.Request a Sample @Scope of the ReportThis market research report covers the global cell cycle analysis market by product / methods, application, end user, and region.Global Cell Cycle Analysis Market, by Products / MethodIntroductionCytometryFlow CytometryInstrumentsConsumablesAssayReagents & KitsOther ConsumablesSoftwareImage CytometryInstrumentsConsumablesAssayReagents & KitsOther ConsumablesCell Imaging & Cell CountingInstrumentsHigh Content Screening (HCS)Automated Cell CounterConsumablesAssayReagents & KitsOther ConsumablesMicroscopyInstrumentsAssayReagents & KitsOther ConsumablesOthersGlobal Cell Cycle Analysis Market, by End UsersIntroductionAcademics & Research InstitutionsHospitals and Diagnostic LaboratoriesPharmaceutical- CROs and Biotechnology CompaniesOther End UsersGlobal Cell Cycle Analysis Market, by RegionIntroductionNorth AmericaCanadaEuropeGermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsiaJapanChinaIndiaRest of AsiaAccess this report@About Market Research FutureAt 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.About Market Research FutureAt 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.Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Europe : Heavy Construction Equipment Market to register high demand rate by 2027

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/679

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/heavy-construction-equipment-market

Europe: Heavy Construction Equipment Market Research Report, By Types (Earthmoving Equipment, Material Handling Equipment, Heavy Construction Vehicles, Others (Cranes, Excavator, Dozer)), By applications (Mining & Excavation, Earthmoving, Transportation, Lifting, Material Handling, Others), end users (Oil & Gas Industry, Construction Industry, Military, Mining, Agriculture & Forestry and Others) - Forecast to 2021European market growth is mainly depending upon the countries such as Italy, Germany, U.K, Spain and France and others.The European market is facing an economic slowdown in the recent years due to the unusual demand. Due to the market uncertainty and sovereign debt crisis the Western European countries are facing the restraints in the growth activities but Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden are likely to be safe from this crises and uncertainty. The heavy construction equipment market is expecting ainadequate growth rate forecast in both commercial and residential spending by 2027. Also there are many planned constructions site are planning on postponing their plan due to the crises.The spending on construction are likely to be stable and stagnant in in Western Europe with a very little growth expectations. Germany is considered to be a fasting growing region in Europe followed by Spain, Ireland, U.K, France and others. These regions will experience a decline growth rate till 2027.In the coming years, the Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Russia and others will be expecting positive waves of huge spending on constructions. Non- residential sector will be forecasted as the fastest growing sector.Huge investment from Asia-Pacific and North America has created a ladder of opportunity for the European market to grown in the coming years.Furthermore, the report offers broad analysis of industry overview of Heavy Construction Equipment which includes types, application analysis, end users, supply chain management and key regulations in various regions along with the heavy construction equipment distributor analysis.Get a Sample Report @Source: Market Research Future AnalysisNextly, the report covers geographical analysis of Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the report has been bifurcated on the basis of by types (earthmoving equipment, material handling equipment, heavy construction vehicles, others (cranes, excavator, dozer)), by application (mining & excavation, earthmoving, transportation, lifting, material handling, others), by end users (oil & gas industry, construction industry, military, mining, agriculture & forestry and others).The heavy construction equipment analysis market research report provides detail analysis of market in terms of value market. The report also provides the future outlook of the market till 2021. Moreover, the global as well as market share of various players based on methods is also analyzed in the report. Lastly, the report provides company profiles of major players in the market.Finally, the report provides trends, drivers and restraints along with the conclusion.Research MethodologyTo calculate Heavy Construction Equipment market size, we have considered revenue of top players in the market and to offer accuracy, our research is supported by industry experts who offer insight on industry structure and technology assessment, competitive landscape, penetration, emerging products and trends. Their analysis is based (80 to 85%)on primary &(15 to 20%) on secondary researchas well as years of professional expertise in their respective industries. In addition to analyze current and historical trends, ouranalysts predict where the market is headed over the next five to ten years. It varies by segment for these categories geographically presented in the list of market tables. Top-down and bottom-up are important strategies of processing the information and knowledge ordering, used in a variety of fields including humanistic, software and scientific theories and management and organization. Inpractice, they can be seen as a style of thinking, teaching, or leadership.Speaking about this particular report we have conducted primary surveys (interviews) with the key level executives (VP, CEOs, Marketing Director, Business Development Manager and many more) of the major players active in the market.Scope of the ReportThis market research report covers the Europe: heavy construction equipment analysis market by types, application, end users and region.Europe: Heavy Construction Equipment Market By Volume By ValueEurope: Heavy Construction Equipment Market, by Types Earthmoving Equipment Material Handling Equipmen tHeavy Construction Vehicles Others (Cranes, Excavator, Dozer)Browse Report @Europe: Heavy Construction Equipment Market, by Applications Mining & Excavation Earthmoving Transportation LiftingMaterial Handling OthersEurope: Heavy Construction Equipment Market, by End Users Oil & Gas Industry Construction Industry Military Mining Agriculture Forestry and OthersEurope: Heavy Construction Equipment Market, by Regions Western Europeo U.Ko Spaino Italyo Franceo Germanyo Rest of Western Europe Eastern Europeo PolandContact: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 Future Office No. 524/528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar Pune - 411028 Maharashtra, India
Mobile Applications for Melanoma Detection Market By Technological Development, Applications and Forecast 2022

https://goo.gl/QgRHKO

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Europe and Israel Mobile Applications for Melanoma Detection Market: SnapshotMelanoma is primarily linked to prolonged exposure to UV radiation during childhood and this preventable skin condition has been on a rise in recent years. A significant spike in the incidence rate of melanoma has driven the need for effective and swift detection tools and techniques. Early detection of melanoma is crucial for improved prognosis and this can be achieved by skin surveillance and screening. This growing need, coupled with an increase in efforts to improve the awareness levels about this skin condition, has spurred the trend of early diagnosis. This has, in turn, driven the demand for mobile applications used for the detection of melanoma in Europe as well as Israel.Download The Full Brouchre of Report:Impressive Performance of Greece Market despite Economic VolatilityRegionally, the market for mobile applications for melanoma detection is split into Europe and Israel. Europe accounts for the dominant share and the opportunity in this market is slated to be worth US$1.4 mn by 2022. While the mobile application market for melanoma detection in Europe is fueled by the surge in mHealth trends and rising incidence of melanoma, it is significantly driven by the performance of the market in Greece.Despite the economic volatility in Greece, the market for mobile applications for melanoma detection will continue to witness growth owing to the development of eHealth infrastructure in the country and rising number of melanoma cases. Growing smartphone penetration is also a key factor driving the Greece market for mobile applications for melanoma detection. In addition to this, a high doctor-patient ratio has enabled the establishment of a strong network of doctors dedicated toward the detection of melanoma through mobile health services.The Rest of Europe comprises several key markets for mobile applications for melanoma detection: Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.K., Norway, and Sweden. High internet and smartphone penetration and rising incidence rate and mortality rate of melanoma are the major growth boosters.Strong Penetration of Smartphones and Expanding 3G, 4G Networks Supporting Market in IsraelIsrael is anticipated to witness impressive growth during the forecast period, exhibiting a 61.2% CAGR from 2014 to 2022. The rising prevalence of melanoma has been the primary driving factor in this region, especially based on information provided by the Israel Cancer Association. The organization states that in 2012 alone, nearly 1,300 new cases of malignant melanoma were reported in the country. This has resulted in increasing awareness among the general population regarding self-screening and early detection of cancer.Rapid expansion of 3G and 4G networks and several government initiatives have also supported the development of the mobile applications market for melanoma detection in Israel. Google Inc.s research titled Our Mobile Planet finds that the smartphone penetration rate in the country crossed 56.0% in 2013. These factors are slated to drive the regional market to reach a value of US$77,765.3 by 2022.Some of the leading mobile applications for melanoma detection in Europe and Israel are Dermatology Planet, UMSkinCheck, Mole Check, Skin Tagger, Track-A-Mole, SkinVision, Spot Mole, Skin Scanner, NAvus, SpotCheck, Mole Monitor, Mole Checker, Mole Checker/Stroika, FotoSKin, Melanoma Watch, Skin Mole Analysis, YourSkinDiary, OnlineDermClinic, Dr. Mole, Mollies Fund, MoleQuest, Skin Analytics, Spot Mole Plus, Skin Cancer, Skin Doctor, Skin Of Mine, iSkin, MoleTrac, Mole Doctor, Skin Prevention, and LovemySkin.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:
Healthcare Mobility Solutions Market By Current & Upcoming Trends Analysis 2023

https://goo.gl/XoIJAc

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Focus on Reducing Healthcare Costs Drives Global MarketThe constantly growing and evolving medical needs have been the driving force behind the evolution of healthcare mobility solutions. The aim of these solutions is to reduce the healthcare costs and to provide the patients an optimum solution in the least possible time. The simplicity of this objectivity has been successfully achieved by the development of healthcare mobility solutions products and services such as mobile devices, enterprise mobility platforms, and mobile applications. The growing demand for medical attention and increasing usage of smartphones and other personal digital assistants have made the deployment of this technology possible. It has bridged the gap between patients and caregivers by facilitating help through technology.Download The Full Brouchre of Report:With this strong background, the global healthcare mobility solutions market touched a valuation of US$20.13 bn in 2014. Given the high-impact drivers, this market is expected to see opportunities worth US$148.66 bn by 2023, as the market is expected to progress at a CAGR of 25.50% from 2015 to 2023.Preference for Home Healthcare Services Keeps North America at the ForefrontNorth America held the leading share in the overall healthcare mobility solutions market, accounting for 53.0% of the total market revenue in 2014. The mHealth application is driving the flourishing healthcare mobility solutions market in North America as more and more patients are opting for home healthcare services.Furthermore, the increasing efforts to save on healthcare costs is also expected to propel the mHealth applications market, which will, in turn, result in the growth of healthcare mobility solutions across North America. Government initiatives along with efforts taken by private establishments across the U.S. and Canada to adopt convenient and cost-effective solutions is also likely to propel this market.Asia Pacific Shows Promise of Growth as Governments Encourage e-Health SolutionsMeanwhile, Asia Pacific is expected to surge at an unprecedented CAGR of 25.8% between 2015 and 2023. The growing government initiatives to increasing the adoption rate of e-Health solutions and mHealth across countries such as India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China are expected to drive this regional market. The growing awareness about mobile health options, clinical mobility, and convenience of home monitoring are expected to augment the Asia Pacific healthcare mobility solutions market.m-Health to Remain Leading Application SegmentAmongst the various types of applications offered by healthcare mobility solutions such as enterprise solutions and mHealth applications, the latter is expected to exhibit the fastest growing CAGR of 25.2% between 2015 and 2023. The spiraling usage of smartphones, tablets, and PDAs is expected to propel this application segment in the near future. Supplementing this growth will the rise of the mobile devices segment due to their affordability, accessibility, and convenience. The improving features of mobile applications and the streamlining of information feed and its assessment will work in favor of both these segments to help the overall market prosper in the coming years.The key players rendering the competitive landscape of the global healthcare mobility solutions market fragmented are Cerner Corporation, McKesson Corporation, SAP SE, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., and AT&T, Inc. The majority of the companies in this market are trying to explore the opportunities in the emerging economies of Brazil, Chile, and India to increase their geographical foothold.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:
Mortuary Equipment Market: Emergence of Advanced Technologies & Global Industry Analysis 2023!!

https://goo.gl/kr7Ppw

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

The increasing investment by healthcare units and mortuaries for the procurement of high-quality mortuary equipment in order to provide better preservation of cadavers is propelling the global mortuary equipment market significantly. The augmenting need for well-preserved cadavers for forensic tests as well as in academic and commercial research is fueling the demand for advanced mortuary equipment across the world. The technical advancements, boosting the usability of mortuary equipment, is likely to lead to a remarkable rise in their sales over the next few years.Download The Full Brouchre of Report:The global market is likely to witness a healthy rise in its valuation from US$173.4 mn in 2014 to US$306.0 mn by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 6.30% during the period from 2015 to 2023. Although the future of the worldwide market for mortuary equipment is projected to be teeming with opportunities, it may face hurdles due the high cost of technically advanced equipment.Refrigerators and Freezers to Exhibit Strongest DemandRefrigerators and freezers, cadaver lifts, cadaver trolleys, autopsy and dissection tables, and various other instruments are the main mortuary equipment used across the world. Refrigerators and freezers have been witnessing the strongest demand among all equipment since the last few years. In 2014, the segment accounted for a share of 34.0% in the overall market with a revenue of US$59.0 mn.Over the coming years, the segment is likely to continue to witness the highest demand, aided by the emergence of portable and advanced refrigerators. Alongside, various government mandates, enforcing hospitals and healthcare institutions to utilize refrigerators and freezers for the proper storage and maintenance of corpses are also expected to boost their demand significantly in the near future.Apart from this, cadaver lifts and trolleys are also expected to witness a significant rise in their demand in the years to come, fueled by the increasing sale of hydraulic autopsy carriers, portable cadaver scissor lifts, and automated cadaver lifts. Cadaver trolleys, specifically, is likely to register the fastest CAGR of 7.50% during the period from 2015 to 2023.Asia Pacific to Report Fastest Growth RateEurope, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Rest of the World are the key regional markets for mortuary equipment. Among these, North America acquired the leading position in 2014 with a total revenue of US$57.0 mn and was trailed by Europe, which earned a revenue of US$48.4 mn the same year. The continual advancement in technology has kept the demand for mortuary equipment high in this region and is expected to remain the same in the forthcoming years, ensuring the lead of this regional market.On the other hand, the untapped markets in emerging countries in Asia Pacific and Latin America are projected to fuel the demand for mortuary equipment in these regions in the years to come. The rapid advancement in the healthcare infrastructure in China and India is also anticipated to create potential opportunities for mortuary equipment manufacturers over the next few years.Mopec and Kugel Medical GmbH are the key manufacturers of mortuary equipment across the world. In 2014, both the companies held a share of more than 50% in the overall market. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Mortech Manufacturing Inc., LEEC UK, Flexmort, and Ferno-Washington Inc. are some of the other prominent players in this market.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:
Specialty Medical Chairs Market: Evolving Technology, Trends & Industry Analysis 2023

https://goo.gl/QcN0T4

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Increasing Geriatric Population to Drive Greater Uptake of Specialty Medical ChairsThe global specialty medical chairs market stood at US$3.80 bn in 2014 and the market is anticipated to progress at a CAGR of 6.5% between 2015 and 2023. The consistently rising geriatric population will be the primary growth driver for the global market in the coming years, states Transparency Market Research. However, the high cost of chairs and the option of refurbishing old ones is restraining this market to some degree. Though the cost of these chairs is a challenge to the markets growth, it also presents an opportunity to the manufacturers to reduce the prices and tap into the needs of the price-conscious consumers in the market.Download The Full Brouchre of Report:The growing investments in the healthcare sector, especially in the developing countries, are bound to increase the sales of specialty medical chairs, expects TMR. The introduction of technologically advanced chairs by players such as Invacare Corporation, Fresenius Medical Care, and Topcon Medical Systems, Inc. that offer customizations to cater to clinical complications of patients such as pregnancy, obesity, and cardiac problems amongst others, is also likely to create remarkable opportunities for the market. The global specialty medical chairs market is thus estimated to hold an opportunity worth US$6.75 bn by the end of 2023.Supportive Regulatory Framework Supports Growing Demand for Specialty Medical Chairs in North AmericaNorth America held the largest share in the overall market, accounting for 43.1% of it in 2014. A sizeable base of ophthalmic, ENT, and dental clinics across countries in North America have kept the investment sentiment positive in this region. Furthermore, supportive reimbursement policies for wheelchairs and bariatric chairs have also helped this market to achieve a significant growth rate in North America. Between 2015 and 2023, the North America specialty medical chairs market is expected to show a CAGR of 6.8%.Asia Pacific has been identified as the most attractive market for specialty medical chairs over the forecast period. The projected rise in the number of geriatrics and rising disposable incomes will be the underlining factors augmenting the specialty medical chairs market in Asia Pacific. Countries such as India, China, South Korea, and Singapore amongst others will be the focal points of the markets growth.Treatment and Rehabilitation Chairs to Witness Stable DemandThe increasing awareness about various medical conditions, growing access to medical assistance, and rising disposable incomes have expanded the end-user base for medical chairs. Against this backdrop, the investments and expenditure on treatment and rehabilitation chairs have soared in the past few years. The shifting preference of patients towards home health care and innovative business strategies adopted by players are also boosting the sales of specialty medical chairs, especially under the treatment and rehabilitation segment. The report states that the rehabilitation segment will exhibit a CAGR of 6.5% while the treatment chairs will have a CAGR of 8.1% between 2015 and 2023.Some of the key players operating the global specialty medical chairs market are Forest Dental Products, Inc., A-dec, Inc., Fresenius Medical Care, ACTEVAID, Inc., Invacare Corporation, and DentalEZ amongst others. To maintain a lead, companies will have to expand their distribution networks 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:
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Therapeutics Market Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Therapeutics Market - Epidemiology Analysis, Development and Demand Forecast to 2023

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia-therapeutics-market

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia-therapeutics-market/toc-sample

www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/pharmaceuticals

www.psmarketresearch.com

The global chronic lymphocytic leukemia therapeutics market is expected to create more opportunities in oncology due to promising pipeline and positive clinical data of drug candidates. The existing drugs for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the be most effective treatment. The American Cancer Society, and other regulatory bodies are supporting the chronic lymphocytic leukemia therapeutics market by providing funding and grants. The market is being driven by different factors such as rising awareness for the cancer treatments, high demand for safe and effective medications, technologies advancements, and increasing prevalence of cancer.Explore Report at:Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a type of gradually developing leukemia that affects the development of B lymphocytes (also known as B cells). On the other hand, B cells are specialized white blood cells, which produce immunoglobulins (also called antibodies) under normal conditions, and help to protect the human body against infections and diseases. In patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, lymphocytes undergo a malignant change and become leukemic cells.The stability of chronic lymphocytic leukemia varies form months to years in a person and shows its impact on their lifestyle and general health. It is estimated that around 30.0% of people, diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, do not need any treatment for their disease and can survive for many years despite their diagnosis. In some patients, the leukemic cells multiply rapidly in an uncontrolled manner making them unable to function properly. The abnormal cells get stored in the bone marrow, blood stream, lymph nodes, spleen, liver and other parts of the body for a long period of time. After an exceeded time period, a large number of lymphocytes deposit in the bone marrow and can impact the normal blood cell production. The bone marrow produces an insufficient number of red cells, whereas white blood cells and platelets are normal. This makes the patient more susceptible to anemia, recurrent infections and bruising and bleeding.Request for Table of Content at:The chronic lymphocytic leukemia is more prevalent in North America, making the region to be the largest revenue contributor, globally. The U.S. contributed the largest revenue to the North American market in year 2016, and it is expected to remain the largest market across the globe, during the forecast period.Browse other Related Report at:Some of the key players operating in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia therapeutics market are GlaxoSmithKline plc, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Celgene Corporation, Biogen Inc., AbbVie, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals Limited, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Novartis AG, and Johnson & Johnson.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:347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) Therapeutics Market - Epidemiology Analysis, Therapy, Development and Demand Forecast to 2023

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia-therapeutics-market

www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia-therapeutics-market/toc-sample

www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/pharmaceuticals

www.psmarketresearch.com

The global acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapeutics market is expected to witness considerable growth in the coming year since new drug formulations are proving to be the most effective treatment for cancer. An increasing awareness regarding cancer treatment, various technological advancements, high demand for safe and effective medications and high prevalence of cancer, are driving the growth of the global acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapeutics market. The regulatory bodies are also supporting the growth of the global market by providing funding, designations and grants to speed up the drug development process.Explore Report at:According to National Cancer Institute, which is a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, acute lymphocytic leukemia, also known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, is a cancer that starts from the early version of white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow (the soft inner part of the bones, where new blood cells are made). Leukemia cells usually invade the blood fairly quickly and can then spread to other parts of the body, including the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and testicles (in males). Other types of cancer can also occur in these organs and then spread to the bone marrow, but these cancers are not leukemia.The pipeline of acute lymphoblastic leukemia contains GRASPA (Erythrocytes Encapsulating L-asparaginase), a Phase I drug candidate of ERYtech Pharma, Inc. GRASPA is an encapsulated L-asparaginase product, using the companys proprietary ERYCAPS platform technology for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adults and children. GRASPA causes systemic degradation of asparagine and inhibits the growth and survival of cancer cells.Request for Table of Content at:Geographically, North America is expected to be the largest market for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, owing to a large number of research and development activities, high healthcare expenditure, and increasing prevalence of cancer. According to National Cancer Institute, estimated new cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia were 6,590 and estimated deaths were 1,430 in 2016, in the U.S. The U.S. contributed the largest revenue to the North American market in 2016, and it is expected to remain the largest market, globally, during the forecast period.Browse other Related Report at:Some of the key players operating in the global acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment market are Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ERYtech Pharma, Pfizer, Inc., Amgen, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.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:347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016
High Reliability Semiconductors Market - Comprehensive Evaluation Of The Market Via In-Depth Qualitative Insights

High Reliability Semiconductors Market,High Reliability Semiconductors Market share

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/high-reliability-semiconductors-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22151

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

High reliability semiconductor market globally on the basis of geography has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe and Middle East and Africa.It is the high duration along with probability of giving failure free performance across different conditions forms a major driver that has resulted in the rise in demand for this market globally. Application wise implementation of discrete high reliability semiconductors has also been another major factor that has led to the increase in applications along with providing huge growth prospects in future as well. Controlled resistance level in semiconductors has helped in its implementation across specific applications by performing the intended function under specified intervals and stated conditions.All these factors has helped the high reliability semiconductors market to grow globally. High reliability semiconductors also has growing space applications that has the capability to operate at higher voltages and temperatures providing better performance. Considering the following factors that act as some major drivers for the market, there are also some restraints that restricts the demand for this market globally. It is the high costs associated with the application of these semiconductors that act as a major restraint for this market.Obtain Report Details @It is also the technical and programmatic challenges that affects the insertion of these semiconductors that has negative impact on the desired reliability act as another crucial reason restraining the demand for high reliability semiconductors market. Opportunities across high end technologically advanced devices along with high-current/high-voltage configurations will further provide growth opportunities for the market in coming years.Geographically, it is North America that forms one of the major market for high reliability semiconductor market globally with U.S., Canada and Mexico being some of the major regions that are contributing to the growth in this market. Technologically advanced applications such as space and aerospace & defense has contributed to being one of the major reason for the growth of this market in this region.Asia Pacific region has been one of the fastest growing regions with China and Japan being some of the major players that has contributed to the growth of this market. Presence of large number of equipment and semiconductor manufacturers has been a major factor that has led to the rise in demand for high reliability semiconductor in Asia Pacific region.Make an Enquiry @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.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e 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, chemical, 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, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
foote creek.jpg

PacifiCorp is looking to add to its wind turbine fleet in Wyoming, which includes the Foote Creek wind farm in Carbon County.

((Courtesy of PacifiCorp))

PacifiCorp filed a new longterm resource plan Tuesday with regulators that leans heavily on near-term investments in renewable energy - mostly Wyoming wind power -- to meet customers' energy needs during the next two decades.

The initial $3.5 billion expansion plan would take place during the next four years. It includes "re-powering" about 900 megawatts of its existing wind turbines in Wyoming, effectively renewing its existing renewables by replacing the blades and using more efficient hub technology to increase the turbines' energy output in various wind conditions.

The utility also is looking to build or enter power purchase agreements for an additional 1,100 megawatts of wind energy, mostly in Wyoming, where the wind blows more reliably than on the Columbia Plateau. And it plans to build a 140-mile transmission line there to accommodate the new and repowered resources.

The plan comes at a time when utilities in Oregon are under significant pressure to limit new investments in fossil fuel plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. PacifiCorp is still heavily reliant on coal, but the new plan marks a big departure from its previous resource strategy.

Unlike Portland General Electric, which has been trying to persuade regulators and other stakeholders of its need for new thermal resources - likely natural gas-fired plants - to replace the coal plant it's closing in Boardman and meet other needs, PacifiCorp doesn't see the need for a new natural gas plant until 2029. Its need for gas resources jumps up quickly after that as the company's coal unit retirements begin in earnest. But with a long runway before then, the company said it would continue to evaluate alternatives.

PacifiCorp intends to retire more than 3,600 megawatts of coal plants by 2036 - about 60 percent of its coal fleet - starting at the end of 2018. The retirement strategy allows it to avoid heavy investments in new emissions controls. It also intends to add another 850 megawatts of wind energy between 2028 and 2036, and another 1,040 megawatts of solar over the same period. None of those investments or the gas plants are included in the initial price tag.

As opposed to its last resource plan, PacifiCorp's renewable energy investments are front loaded. The plan is to get the initial 2,000 megawatts of wind turbines and supporting transmission into service by the end of 2020 to capture the full value of federal production tax credits. Those credits are phasing down by 20 percent a year beginning this year, though utilities can still garner the full value if they work with project developers who have started construction or made safe-harbor investments in equipment before the end of 2016.

Early investment in renewables is also advantageous when it comes to complying with Oregon's renewable energy mandates, which require utilities to meet half of their customers' demand with renewable power by 2040.

The benefits of the federal tax credits are significant enough that PacifiCorp says customers would initially see only a minor increase in rates from the new investments, and cost savings after they come on line.

"These investments will significantly increase the amount of clean renewable energy serving customers and reduce costs at the same time," Stefan Bird, chief executive of Pacific Power said in a news release.

Utilities' resource planning is ultimately supposed to deliver the least-cost, least-risk set of resources for customers. The economics of this plan have yet to be scrutinized by ratepayer or environmental advocates. They will want to explore the tradeoffs of holding off on the Wyoming wind expansion until some of the utility's coal plants close. That could free up transmission capacity and potentially avoid the $700 million investment in the power line extension, according to Bob Jenks, executive director of the Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon.

"We don't know what the economics look like and whether it's cost effective," he said.

PacifiCorp is looking for regulators to give their blessing to the plan and to its request for proposals for the Wyoming wind projects by fall.

The company is making headway on emissions reductions sought by environmental groups. Its emissions were down 12 percent last year compared with the previous five-year average, it says. And the new plan would reduce emissions by another 21 percent over the first decade compared with its previous resource plan.

Bob Gravely, a spokesman for the company, said the Trump administration's rollback of the Clean Power Plan would have no affect on PacifiCorp's immediate strategy, as it was the "least-cost set of resources for customers" and was designed to meet regional haze regulations that remain in place.

- Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
portland powellz.jpg

A rendering of a Target store set to open in July 2018 at the site of AMF Pro 300 Lanes in Southeast Portland.

(Target)

A Southeast Portland bowling alley will be turned into a small-format Target store by July 2018.

The Minneapolis-based retailer confirmed Tuesday it had signed a lease for the building at 3031 S.E. Powell Blvd., currently the site of the AMF Pro 300 Lanes bowling alley. It will move in after a significant renovation.

The bowling company has told media outlets that it plans to remain open through the end of its lease and perhaps longer. But the owner of the site, Vancouver-based MAJ Development, says it plans to begin renovating the building in August.

Target said the 32,000-square-foot store would include groceries, a pharmacy and other typical departments, and that customers will be able to pick up online orders there. Renderings show the building's exterior with a sign intended to evoke the alley's retro "BOWL" sign.

It's the company's second small-format store in the Northwest, following the downtown Portland Galleria location. It has 35 such stores in total, and plans to open 100 more over the next three years.

The store also will make use of the building's 100-stall covered parking garage.

It's not the first bowling alley in the city to be converted into a store for a national retailer. In 2014, Hollywood Bowl in Northeast Portland closed so its building could be turned into an Orchard Supply Hardware.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
Like the chocolate chip cookie, the root beer float, or the sandwich itself, the torta ahogada was born, at least apocryphally, by happy accident. As told to terminal food magazine Lucky Peach, a customer stopping at Guadalajara's Tortas Ahogadas "El Guero" sandwich stand early last century asked for a regular carnitas torta with just a little spice. Instead, the juicy, pork-stuffed sandwich slipped from owner Luis De La Torre's hand (or, perhaps, his father's), landing in a bucket of dark red chile de arbol salsa.

As you might have guessed, the customer loved it, and this ahogada ("drowned") torta soon grew from a local specialty in Jalisco state to a sensation throughout Mexico. And here in Portland, the torta is the anchor of the expanded menu at the new brick-and-mortar Guero, Megan Sanchez and Alec Morrison's Northeast Portland sandwich shop.

"It's beyond a regional specialty, it's a point of pride," Morrison says. "Jalisco is the beating heart of a lot of Mexican culture and heritage. It's the birthplace of mariachi, tequila, revolutionary heroes, and the ahogada is a huge deal there. It feels like this food monolith, which is very intimidating, but in the end it's just a spicy, sloppy event."

For the past four years, the duo have made great tortas from a petite Silver Streak trailer parked three blocks to the south. At their new home, the former Tabla Pasta e Vino, they have room to experiment. And so that torta ahogada gets stuffed with tender carnitas and habanero slaw and doused in an achiote-tomato sauce. The new desayuno is a merry mess of a sandwich with salty braised beef, fried egg, pickled jalapeno and an oblong disc of griddled cheddar cheese. And Guero's reverse translation on the Mexican street hamburguesa has American cheese melted into its charred patty and that cheddar crisp below, with pickled jalapeno, habanero slaw and a tamarind-braised tomato on top for good measure. Give the cart a bigger kitchen, and they'll throw in the kitchen sink.

Order this

Esquites, the classic tequila-based margarita and any torta on the menu (if you don't mind a little mess, consider the desayuno, with braised beef and a fried egg, or that saucy ahogada).

Individual fillings have never been Guero's main draw. At the cart, the carnitas didn't always have that day-altering richness found at Tortilleria y Tienda de Leon's in East Portland, say, or Tienda Santa Cruz in St. Johns. That helps explain why there's no drop-off between the cart's meat and vegetarian options -- the refried bean sandwich with poblano-spiced crema or the one with a huarache-sized tongue of golden masa and potato are just as good as the citrus-marinated chicken. Instead, what elevates these sandwiches above the average Portland torta is the layering of flavors -- creaminess, tang, spice -- and textures -- especially the double internal crunch from beautifully griddled bread. If that makes you think the saucy ahogada is hiding its light under a bushel, you might be underestimating the depth of the achiote-tomato sauce. Still, you'll want to keep an eye out for a planned pambazo special: a chorizo and mashed potato sandwich that's similarly dunked in salsa then fried to a chile-dark crisp.

(Interestingly, Felipe Cabrera Hernandez, the third-generation baker who has long provided soft teleras rolls for the cart and has added firmer bolillos for the restaurant, is working with his wife, Graciella Rodriguez, to open a torta shop inside their Veracruz Bay Bakery, 3405 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver.)

Guero's guacamole tostada, part of the newly expanded snack menu

Snacks and sides have grown with the restaurant. The cart's irresistible esquites, a paper cup packed with creamy corn kernels, cotija cheese and specks of ancho chile, has been joined by a crunchy tostada slathered with guacamole and piled with ribbons of pickled carrot, and by a grainy pumpkin seed dip akin to Yucatecan sik'il pak, served with tostada and jicama wedges for dipping. There's a full bar, with a tight selection of Mexican spirits, and a handful of simple cocktails, including a fiery michelada and a mezcal margarita that didn't quite match the intensity of the food.

With the addition of Guero, it's tempting to think of Northeast 28th Avenue is the San Antonio Spurs of restaurant streets: For every Tim Duncan that retires, a Kawhi Leonard steps up. Stammtisch rises from the ashes of Spints. Anh Luu injects Viet-Cajun energy into Tapalaya, then buys the place outright. But while Tabla's time had come, Guero wasn't necessarily a slam dunk -- not every great food cart makes a good restaurant. Some struggle with setting prices, others with setting up service models or even setting the food on the plate. What looked good in a to-go box can look lost or lonely on a broad expanse of white.

That's not a problem at Guero, which has always had a flair for presentation. The new home is clean and bright, with fresh-cut lilies near the ordering station, glinting mezcal bottles behind the bar and hand-painted signage in the windows. Somehow, tortas and the ever-popular bowls are only a dollar or two more than they were at the cart, and the portions remain generous. Along a back wall, where Tabla once kept the complete Modernist Cuisine cookbook series, a projector screen is tuned to the Trail Blazers. If Portland can hold on to the No. 8 seed, Guero's back tables will be a great place to watch the playoffs.

Guero, lunch and dinner daily; 200 N.E. 28th Ave., 503-887-9258, gueropdx.com

-- Michael Russell
BX153_044D_9.JPG

(Andrew Selsky/AP file)

A bill introduced this week would change the formula for distributing marijuana tax revenue, shifting money from the Common School Fund to mental health and addiction treatment services.

The state imposes a 17 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana. Local governments may add up to 3 percent more in taxes. Since the state began collecting the tax early last year, marijuana sales have generated nearly $70 million for state coffers.

Tax revenue for schools was one of the arguments that proponents of the marijuana legalization measure made to voters in 2014. Sen. Jeff Kruse, R- Roseburg and sponsor of Senate Bill 845, said the amount that would ultimately funnel to schools would be relatively small.

However, the Oregon School Boards Association said the proposal would redirect about $20 million a year from schools. The estimate comes from a Legislative Revenue Office analysis, the association said Tuesday.

"That's $20 million away from Oregon kids and their educational futures," said Lori Sattenspiel, interim director of Legislative Services for the association. "That is simply unacceptable."

Kruse said he'd like to see pot taxes spent on mental health and addiction treatment.

"Quite honestly there is a nexus between marijuana and drug addiction and mental health," he said. "Services at the local level are woefully underfunded. This seemed like an ideal place to spend the money."

Currently, the marijuana tax revenue is spent on administering state regulation of the cannabis industry and what's left is supposed to be distributed according to a formula spelled out by law: 40 percent to the state's Common School Fund, 20 percent to mental health, alcoholism and drug services, 15 percent to Oregon State Police, 10 percent for city law enforcement, 10 percent for county law enforcement and 5 percent to the Oregon Health Authority for alcohol and drug abuse prevention, early intervention and treatment services.

Kruse said details of how much would go to local mental health and addiction treatment as well as marijuana enforcement still need to be worked out by the Finance and Revenue Committee.

"Drug money going to addiction services makes sense," he said.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
Denizens of the Portland metro area bought 3,039,000 grams of marijuana, almost 6,700 pounds, between January 4, 2016 and March 31, 2016, according to a new report from the Oregon Department of Revenue.

People in the rest of the state bought 1,958,000 grams, a little more than 4,300 pounds, during the same time period.

Those numbers reflect the fact that the Portland metro area has a population of almost 2.4 million, which means more than half of the slightly over 4 million people in the state of Oregon live in the vicinity of Portland.

But, it also shows a little bit of a higher gram per person ratio in the Portland metro area. About 1.3 grams were sold per person in and around Portland during that time period, while, in the rest of the state, 1.2 grams were sold per person.

(Theoretically, of course. Everyone in the state of Oregon did not buy a gram of cannabis during the first quarter of 2016, especially because 24 percent of those people are under 18.)

The prices of those grams varied. The cheapest place to buy flower is the region called "Central/Gorge/Northeastern," where it went for $8.19 a gram in the first quarter of 2016. The most expensive? The area surrounding Portland, where during that quarter it cost $9.42 a gram, a full dollar more than people were paying inside the Portland city limits.

But price didn't keep people away. The report shows that in that quarter, people in Oregon legally bought $43,766,000 worth of cannabis products.

The total tax liability for marijuana businesses in the state during that time period was $13,455,202. The tax liability is slightly different than the total amount of payments received, since, the report says, "retailers retain two percent of taxes collected as a reimbursement for the cost of tax collections" and also, due to the newness of the program, some payments were made after they were due.

According to the report, from February to November of 2016, the state of Oregon received $54,506,832 in tax payments from marijuana businesses, with the most lucrative month being October, when the state brought in $7,831,157.

Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug at the federal level. And while these numbers show legal recreational marijuana is bringing in a substantial sum of money for the state of Oregon, the Trump administration has signaled that it might be less accepting of legal cannabis than the Obama administration was.

According to a new survey from the General Social Survey, in 2016 57 percent of Americans said they believe it should be legal to use marijuana.

Last week, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced a legislative package they hope will "preserve the integrity of state marijuana laws and provide a path for responsible federal legalization and regulation of the marijuana industry."

And on Monday, Gov. Kate Brown joined governors from Alaska, Washington and Colorado, in sending a letter to U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The four governors from states that have legal recreational marijuana are asking the federal government to consult with them before making changes to cannabis policy.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
Cascade-Siskiyou13.JPG

Scene from the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon.

(Courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management)

By Michael C. Blumm

President Obama's expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was a long time coming.

In 2000, President Clinton designated the monument as the first and only national monument whose purpose was to protect an area of outstanding biological diversity. Because of its location at the crossroads of three ecoregions--the Cascades, Klamath-Siskiyou, and Great Basin--the Cascade-Siskiyou Monument is home to a unique mix of species. The area serves as a biological "land bridge," providing a gateway through and between these three ecologically distinct regions.

In 2011, an interdisciplinary scientific group concluded that population pressures, adjacent land uses, and climate trends made the current boundaries inadequate to safeguard the biodiversity the monument aimed to protect. This review culminated in a letter signed by 85 scientists calling for the monument's expansion. After more discussion, debate, introduction of Senate legislation protecting the area, more research, and public meetings, the Obama Administration finally expanded the monument's boundaries, although not to the extent recommended by scientists.

The expansion was welcomed by many in the local community and beyond. The mayors, city councils, and chambers of commerce in the two cities closest to the monument unanimously supported the expansion. So did the state legislators in whose districts the original monument was located, the Klamath Tribes, and Oregon's governor. Hundreds of people in four public meetings supported the proposed expansion, and public comments received by Senator Merkley's office ran three-to-one in favor of expansion.

This was not a "midnight monument" created without the participation of important stakeholders. But recently, this well-vetted and well-reasoned monument expansion has been attacked by the timber lobby, which has filed three lawsuits in federal court to overturn it. The timber interests argue the expansion is unlawful because some of the public lands are administered under the Oregon and California Lands Act of 1937. They claim these lands cannot be protected under the Antiquities Act, the law used by both Republican and Democratic presidents to establish national monuments for over a century. Instead, they maintain that these O&C lands must be used solely for logging.

This argument is critically flawed. The O&C Act's language, history, and interpretations from government lawyers of both political parties reveal that the federal government has sufficient discretion to manage the O&C lands for multiple purposes, not just timber production. The O&C Act identifies among its purposes "protecting watersheds, regulating stream flow, and contributing to the economic stability of local communities and industries, and providing recreational facilities...." The monument expansion is entirely consistent with these statutory purposes, and in fact, the federal Bureau of Land Management has already placed roughly half of the O&C lands within the expansion off-limits to commercial logging to protect these statutory purposes.

The timber lobby may want these lands managed solely for saw logs. But the law, the facts, and the vast majority of Oregonians do not support this attack on the monument. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument expansion is a gift to all Americans, the benefits of which will be enjoyed by both the present and future generations, and it warrants continued widespread public support.

Michael C. Blumm is Jeffrey Bain Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at Lewis and Clark Law School, in Portland.
Tuesday 4 April 2017 2:04pm



The 2017 Canon Scholarship recipients. Photo: Sharron Bennett.

Twenty four elite undergraduate commerce students from the University of Otago Business School have been awarded Canon Excellence Award Scholarships.

The scholarships are an annual award, presented to the top undergraduate students on the prestigious Deans List for the best BCom students in each year.

The students, who were presented with certificates at a ceremony at the University, will receive $1,000 towards their studies.

Professor Robin Gauld, Dean of the Otago Business School said the awards celebrate academic excellence. These students, some of whom also received the scholarship last year, are from throughout New Zealand, many combining their commerce studies with other degrees. They are at the top of their field; were proud to be recognising their efforts and in awe of what they have already achieved.

His advice to the students was to continue to use their skills to be a force for good.

Canon New Zealand Ltd National Sales Manager Tony Phibbs said Canon is thrilled to be acknowledging a passion for excellence.

The 2017 recipients are:

Alice Averill

Andy Black

Jacob Bird

Chris Brokenshire

Nick Brokenshire

Tom Caughley

Winson Cheok

Freddie Cleverley

Harry Flett

Anna Glier

Scott Herbert

Sian Horn

Ben Hurley

Hanlin Johnstone

Cam Keelty

Kate Kenna

Rohan Luthra

Hugh Mooney

Hugh Nixon

Moriah Osborne

Rhianne Price

Han Sun

Nicole Warren

Josh Watson
Tuesday 4 April 2017 2:06pm

Research led by the University of Otago, Wellington has found that a home-grown naturally occurring probiotic reduces the risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) and lowers fasting blood sugar.

The joint study by University of Otago, Wellington, and University of Auckland researchers, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, was published this week in the British Journal of Nutrition.

The probiotic (Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001), produced by Fonterra, which is used to make fermented milk products such as yoghurt, was given in capsule form to 194 women from early pregnancy, while 200 women received a placebo. Gestational diabetes was assessed at 24-30 weeks gestation.

Using the current New Zealand definition for gestational diabetes, 6.5 per cent of the women had diabetes in the placebo group, versus 2.1 per cent in the probiotic group. This is a 68 per cent reduction, says study leader Professor Julian Crane from the University of Otago, Wellington.

We found that the protective effects were stronger among older women and were stronger among women who had previously had gestational diabetes, Professor Crane says.

Fasting blood glucose was also significantly lower among women taking the probiotic compared to placebo.



This is an exciting result suggesting that this probiotic may be interacting with the normal gut bacteria in some way to reduce glucose levels in pregnancy, he says.



The researchers have previously shown that this same probiotic has effects on the immune system and reduces eczema by 50 per cent in infancy.

Professor Crane says that the next steps will be to investigate whether this probiotic can reduce the now increasingly common risk in the population of developing diabetes.

We have recently received funding from a partnership fund from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Ministry of Health and the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge to explore the use of this probiotic combined with a prebiotic to see if we can prevent the progression of pre-diabetes amongst adults at risk, Professor Crane says.

For further information contact:

Professor Julian Crane

Department of Medicine

University of Otago, Wellington

Tel: 64 04 918 5258

Email: julian.crane@otago.ac.nz
Northwood Universitys famed style show will return to the universitys Midland campus on Friday, April 7.

This years theme, Historic Hemlines, celebrates fashions from a variety of historic time periods incorporating fashion from icons such as Abraham Lincoln and Laura Ingalls Wilder, John F. and Jackie Kennedy, and Barack and Michelle Obama.

Historic Hemlines is intended to connect some of the worlds famous figures to the fashion trends of their era, said Ali Nasrallah, Northwood student and executive board member for the style show. Through vintage-aesthetic decor, lavishly-accessorized fashion and the execution and staging, we hope the show will bring history back to the present.

The student preview show will begin at 4 p.m., with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m. leading up to the 8 p.m. general admission gala show at Northwoods Hach Student Life Center.

Northwood students plan, design, prepare and execute all aspects of the show under the guidance of Fashion Marketing And Management Department Chair Melodie Bundrage-Davis. The shows executive board consists of 21 executive board members, 10 featured student designers and more than 70 student models.

Student designers create garments for student models to wear and, in addition, local department stores Yonkers and Marshalls actively support students by donating clothing to be used for the show.

Proceeds from the show benefit Northwood Universitys Fashion Marketing and Management Program. Group and individual tickets to the preview and show are available at www.northwood.edu/styleshow
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.

Monday, April 3

1:09 a.m.  A motorist was arrested in the 1800 block of South Saginaw Road for second-offense driving while license suspended.

Sunday, April 2

12:04 a.m.  Officers were sent to a report of a loud party in the 3300 block of Fairlane Street.

12:04 a.m.  A Kawkawlin man, 25, was arrested in Lincoln Township for driving while his license was suspended. The man was stopped for defective headlights.

2:52 a.m.  A Bay City man, 24, was arrested in Midland for third-offense drunken driving and driving while his license was suspended.

4:35 a.m.  A Midland man, 23, was arrested in Mount Haley township for drunken driving and fleeing from deputies.

9:50 a.m.  A deputy was called to a report of a disorderly 33-year-old man at a Larkin Township home. The man broke two doors, valued at a total of $200.

12 p.m.  Property was stolen from the 1700 block of West Wackerly Street.

1:32 p.m.  Police investigated a case of fraud in the 400 block of Waldo Avenue.

2:22 p.m.  Deputies investigated a report of trespassing in Mills Township.

7:27 p.m.  A deputy was sent to Jasper Township for a report of off road vehicles tearing up a roadway. There was no damage to the road.

8:29 p.m.  Police were called to an assault and battery in the 1100 block of Jerome Street.

8:32 p.m.  A deputy was sent to a report of a large burn in Homer Township, and found a large pile of brush smoldering. The resident was asked to burn brush in smaller piles.

9:49 p.m.  A Sanford man, 46, was arrested in Lincoln Township for driving on a suspended license.

Saturday, April 1

3:43 p.m.  A Wheeler man, 32, was arrested in Greendale Township for driving while his license was suspended and on a warrant.

8:08 p.m. A deputy investigated a report of dogs at large that were aggressive toward neighbors. The incident was forwarded to the animal control deputy.

8:10 p.m.  A deputy was called to Jerome Township to check a report of people tearing up a dirt road with their vehicles. The caller requested extra patrol.

9:33 p.m.  A Lee Township man, 58, was arrested in Lee Township for driving while his license was suspended. He was stopped for illegally tinted windows and was given a verbal warning.

9:39 p.m.  A deputy was called to a Homer Township address for a report of a disorderly and intoxicated 34-year-old woman.

10:45 p.m.  Gasoline, valued at $25, was stolen from a Greendale Township gas station.

Friday, March 31

10:10 a.m.  A Lincoln Township homes mailbox was damaged.

12:37 p.m.  An $80 trash bin was stolen from a Mount Haley Township home.

2 p.m.  Someone disposed of building materials at the Southtown Little League ball diamonds. There are no suspects.
Residents with a habit of texting while driving are in the sights of the Midland Police Departments latest traffic safety campaign.

For the month of April, the departments Traffic Safety Team in collaboration with the patrol division, will be focusing on distracted driving with a main focus on texting while driving.

The focus of this campaign is to raise awareness and to reduce the amount of distracted driving crashes.

April is recognized as national Distracted Driving Awareness Month. This event is being promoted and enforced all across the United States.

According to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, there were 7,516 crashes in Michigan during 2015 involving distracted driving, resulting in 28 fatalities and 3,472 injuries, a media release states. Cell phones were involved in 753 crashes, with three fatalities and 377 injuries.

Michigan law prohibits a driver from reading, manually typing or sending a text message while driving. There are exceptions in place for reporting crashes and crimes, medical emergencies, serious road hazards and situations where a person believes his or her personal safety is in jeopardy.

Also, state law prohibits Level 1 and Level 2 license holders under the Graduated Driver Licensing program from using a cell phone while driving. Violations are a civil infraction and fees and may be up to $240. No points are assessed on a driving record.

Voice-operated systems integrated into the vehicle also are exempt.

Distracted driving also can include eating and drinking, attending to children, grooming, reading  including looking at maps, talking to passengers and changing the radio.

Any questions can be directed to Community Relations Sgt. Chris Wenzell at (989) 839-4704 or Cwenzell@midland-mi.org
Japan Self-Defense Force members conducted bilateral training with U.S. Soldiers and Airmen March 14 and 16 to strengthen relations and increase readiness.



U.S. Army Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, demonstrated to the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces 5th Air Defense Missile Group and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces 15th Anti-Aircraft Regiment rapid Patriot missile battery equipment loading while fulfilling a deployment of U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs.



The 1-1 ADA is moving equipment via C-17 to another location to support operations off of Okinawa, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Dellinger, 1-1 ADA commander. At the same time, we are taking the opportunity to share the experience with our JASDF and JGSDF partners.



U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army transportation specialists calculated the weight and dimensions of the cargo before rapid transport to the awaiting aircraft. Upon arrival to the C-17, Air Force and Army transportation specialists guided the equipment onto the aircraft.



When the flag goes up and were needed to deploy we are ready, said Army Capt. Jonathon Craig, 1-1 ADA battle captain. We can mobilize, prepare, and load the equipment and personnel for transport within hours.



Craig said that the training was about not only building proficiency but also strengthening bonds with the JSDF.



We train with our JASDF and JGSDF counterparts often, said Dellinger. We have a very good partnership and an incredibly strong friendship with both the JASDF 5th ADMG and the JGSDF 15th AAR.



The Soldiers of 1-1 ADA have used every opportunity to train together with their JASDF and JGSDF counterparts for more than a decade and are dedicated to their partnership.



If there is a threat to Okinawa, the 1-1 ADA, the 5th ADMG, and the 15th AAR will defend Okinawa together, said Dellinger. None of us can do this mission alone and we will succeed by working together.
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.
BLOOMINGTON  Delays in the placement of mentally ill inmates in state hospitals shifts the burden for their care to county jails and denies defendants their right to a timely psychiatric evaluation, a McLean County judge said Monday after hearing that a woman has been waiting in jail for more than a month for a bed at a Springfield facility.

Anita Jumper was found not guilty by reason of insanity on Feb. 28 of the 2015 arson of her Bloomington apartment. State law requires that the 58-year-old be transferred to McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield for an evaluation that will be used to develop a treatment plan for her.

Jumper refused to leave her jail cell for a hearing Monday, according to defense lawyer Jennifer Patton.

Patton told Judge Scott Drazewski that the Illinois Department of Human Services has asked for an extension of its 30-day deadline to submit a report on Jumper's treatment.

The judge noted that he recently received a similar request for an extension in another case.

The state facility has a limited number of beds available, said Drazewski, "but this is putting the burden back on the county jails."

Longer waits in jail are not in compliance with state law, said the judge.

"Something needs to occur so the rights of the individuals under the statutes are being afforded to them," said Drazewski.

A May 12 hearing is scheduled to review a placement plan for Jumper  if her transfer and an evaluation are completed.

The flexibility to postpone compliance with the requirements of the law is not always offered to county jails, said the judge, citing notices IDHS sends to the county when an inmate has finished treatment and needs to be returned to jail.

As more mentally ill people cycle into jails, it's not uncommon for counties to be holding inmates beyond the 30 days the state has to file its treatment plan for inmates with behavioral health issues.

Not all mentally ill inmates are forced to wait in jail for a bed at McFarland.

Brian Petersen went from the McLean County courtroom to the Springfield hospital after a Feb. 27 finding that he was insane at the time he killed his parents, Nancy and Bruce Petersen. The 26-year-old also was allowed to stay at McFarland for ongoing treatment for almost all of the seven months his case was pending.

When asked in January by The Pantagraph why McFarland staff asked that Petersen remain in the facility that is chronically short of beds for treatment, an agency representative said such requests are rare and are made when doctors believe an extended stay is in the best interest of the defendant's care.
BLOOMINGTON  Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, but 66 percent of those assaults are never reported to police.

"This is unacceptable," said Hilary Pacha, YWCA McLean County senior director of prevention and empowerment services. "It is time for us, as a community, to say, 'No more.'"

Pacha spoke Monday on the west steps of the McLean County Museum of History to open Sexual Assault Awareness Month activities in McLean County. Several dozen people attended the event in the rain, including representatives of police agencies and Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner.

"Sexual assault happens in our community," Pacha said after the event. "It's ugly and nasty and it affects you."

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, Stepping Stones  McLean County's rape crisis center at YWCA  served more than 200 victims of sexual violence and their loved ones, accounting for about 3,000 hours of service, she said. In addition, Stepping Stones volunteers handled about 600 hotline calls during the past fiscal year.

Sexual assault affects not only survivors and their loved ones but also communities because sexual assault survivors are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, to be substance abusers, to be teen mothers, to attempt suicide and to be homeless, Pacha said.

"Having law enforcement here is huge," Pacha said. Among event attendees were representatives of the McLean County Sheriff's Department and Illinois State Police as well as Bloomington, Normal, Illinois State University, McLean, Danvers, Hudson and Stanford police departments.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), 66 percent of assaults aren't reported to police because victims fear retaliation, don't believe police will or can help, believe it's a personal matter or not important enough to report, didn't want to get the perpetrator in trouble or reported it to someone other than police.

"The police are here to show survivors and potential survivors that, in your community, you will be believed," Pacha said.

"We are here to show support for Stepping Stones and for victims of sexual assault and to get the message out that there are services available," McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said. "Victims don't need to hide. We can help."

Alex Wielbik, 23, an ISU senior and Stepping Stones trained volunteer, decided to get training after enduring deaths of five high school classmates over six years.

"What saved us (Wielbik and his friends) was genuine and sincere human interaction," he said.

When someone makes a sexually inappropriate comment, Wielbik urges listeners to tell them the comment is wrong and why.

Victims of sexual assault should call police at 911 and then call 309-827-4005 to be connected with a Stepping Stones trained volunteer, Pacha said.
STREATOR  Police are investigating a bomb threat made Tuesday at Woodland Elementary and Junior High School in Streator.

The building was evacuated and searched by police and classes are expected to resume Wednesday, according to a news release from the district.

A student found a piece of paper in the school that said Bomb at 11.

Students were sent to Streator High School while the Livingston County Sheriffs Department and Illinois State Police searched the school, parking lot and cars with dogs.

Police gave the all-clear signal around 3:20 p.m., and students and faculty were allowed to return to the building to retrieve personal items.

This is the second threatening message discovered at the school in two months. In February, a student discovered a calculator with a typed message that said, Bomb at 2.

District officials and police were unavailable for further comment Tuesday.

Anyone with information regarding the threat is encouraged to call Woodland District Superintendent Ryan McGuckin at 815-672-5974 or Livingston County Police at 815-844-0911.
Streator wins sewer grant

STREATOR  Streator will receive $450,000 to build sanitary and storm sewers as part of $15.3 million in federal funding going to 40 communities statewide.

The Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity grants are to help low-income communities undertake public infrastructure projects such as water, sanitary system and sewer enhancements.

MCCA gets Ameren grant

BLOOMINGTON  Mid Central Community Action has received $49,953 from Ameren Illinois to assist clients who are part of MCCAs Income Support Program.

The grant will provide direct client assistance and will fund energy efficiency educational programming and pilot program for low-income families planned in collaboration with the Ecology Action Center.
BLOOMINGTON  The polls are open throughout the Twin Cities and Central Illinois as voters cast ballots in a range of elections.

In the Twin Cities, there are contested races for mayor in both Bloomington and Normal along with races for city councils in both communities. In Bloomington, incumbent Tari Renner is opposed by Alderman Kevin Lower. In Normal, incumbent Chris Koos is being challenged by Marc Tiritilli.

At the Hanson Student Center polling place at Illinois Wesleyan University, there were three people voting at 7 a.m. but that number had risen to 56 by 8:10 a.m., said an election judge.

At several other polling places, voter traffic also was steady.

Polls will remain open until 7 p.m. Look to pantagraph.com for complete coverage after the polls close and in the printed newspaper on Wednesday. Use the hashtag #twincityvotes to let us know how our voting experience is today.

If you're not sure whether you are registered, or where you should cast your vote, contact your election authority.

In the city of Bloomington, that's the Bloomington Election Commission (www.becvote.org). Elsewhere in McLean County, including the town of Normal, it's the McLean County Clerk's office (www.mcleancountyil.gov/countyclerk).

This story will be updated.
When Rio de Janeiro hosted Carnival 2017 from 24-28 February, the city's hotels experienced a 12.1% occupancy decrease compared to the week of the festival in 2016 (5-9 February), according to data from STR. However, demand (actual number of rooms sold) increased 3.5%.

The steep occupancy decline was not shocking given the substantial amount of new supply that entered the market ahead of the Olympics, said Patricia Boo, STRs area director for Central/South America. Looking strictly at year-over-year occupancy performance does not always tell the full story. When you consider that Rios demand was higher for Carnival this year, you see just how much of an impact supply growth has had on this market.

According to Riotur, Rios tourism agency, the city expected more than 1.1 million tourists during Carnival, an increase from an estimated 1 million in 2016. Meanwhile, STR data for Rio showed a 17.8% year-over-year increase in hotel supply for February.

Looking at daily performance, Rios occupancy peaked on day three of the celebration (26 February: 77.8%) but fell short of the 2016 peak, which also occured on day three (7 February: 83.6%). Average daily rate (ADR), down 22.0% during Carnival 2017, fell in line with Brazils economic recession.

Even with lower occupancy and ADR levels than last year, Carnival once again provided a boost to local hotels. Rios occupancy during the five-day period was 43.5% higher than the average of all other days in February, and ADR was 84.6% higher.

While Rio is Brazils main attraction for Carnival, other key markets did see occupancy growth during the celebration. Sao Paulo hotels recorded a 7.1% lift in occupancy during the celebration. However, the markets actual occupancy level (37.6%) was still quite low. Also benefitting from the event was Salvador, with a 19.3% increase in occupancy for the month. Recife posted nearly flat (+0.2%) occupancy in February.

For the entire month, ADR was down across all key Brazilian markets: Rio (-21.2%), Sao Paulo (-9.2%), Salvador (-10.8%) and Recife (-1.6%).

Source: HNN
Free Fire

An illicit sale of firearms at a deserted warehouse on the docks of Boston in 1978 goes horrifically wrong in director Ben Wheatley's (Kill List) high octane bullet ballet. Cillian Murphy plays an Irishman paying for the firearms and Armie Hammer plays a dapper negotiator but a beef between two thugs causes a shootout that escalates wildly. Then two strangers show up and start firing at everyone. Like a Warner Brothers cartoon but with blood. Eventually everyone is riddled with bullets and continues blasting. "What side am I on?" someone questions when the gunplay stops momentarily. The whole cast is just sensational, including Sam Riley, Sharlto Copley and Brie Larson. Keeping something like this roaring along in such a confined space for an hour and a half is not an easy feat and Wheatley succeeds spectacularly--and adds his own sardonic dark humor to the mix.

Sleight

An appealing Jacob Latimore plays Bo, a young man raising his little sister (Storm Reid) after their mother's death. He makes money by performing magic on the street and his card tricks and acts of levitating objects are indeed a wonder. During one sidewalk performance he even meets a lovely girl (Seychelle Gabriel) with an unhappy home life. But he also supplements his income selling drugs for a fearsome hood (Dule Hill), and a screw-up puts his life, and his family, in extreme danger. He has to use his formidable skills of sleight of hand, and science, to defeat his enemies. Director J. D. Dillard's film crackles with energy and inventiveness, and the big dramatic showdown at the end is sheer magic.



The Transfiguration

Director Michael O'Shea tells the languid, ravishingly strange tale of a young African American boy named Milo (Eric Ruffin), living with his brother in the projects of Rockaway, Queens, who's convinced he's a vampire. Milo is outwardly shy and Impassive, but when alone he keeps detailed notebooks on the "rules" of hunting and drinking blood. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of vampire movies like Let The Right One In, Martin, and Near Dark. He meets and befriends a slightly older, self-destructive, white girl in the building--Sophie (Chloe Levine)--and when she encourages him to read the Twilight books he objects on the grounds that they probably will be "unrealistic." The reality for Milo is that he actually does troll the parks and men's rooms of the city searching for victims to exsanguinate. Those scenes are surprisingly chilling. There is a deadpan lyricism to the film that is just transfixing.

I, Olga Hepnarova

A disturbingly bleak, defiantly unsensational, black & white portrait of an infamous crime in Prague in the 1970s when a woman behind the wheel of a truck plowed purposefully into a group of strangers, injuring and killing many. Olga (the fantastic Michelina Olszanska) had a miserable, unhappy, childhood. She was placed in an institution as a teen where she was further attacked. She went to work as a driver in Communist Prague where she was bullied and vilified by co-workers. She smokes and reads incessantly. Even tries to enter a relationship with a woman that ends badly. She identifies herself as a lesbian but her social skills are nil. Hunched over with her hair in her face one man asks: "Are you angry?" To which she replies: "I always look like this." For her, the final act of terrorism is almost political in its reaction to years of bullying. Directors Petr Kazda & Tomas Weinreb have carved out an austere and incredibly affecting portrait of simmering rage and the scary consequences.

The Ticket

Dan Stevens has made some really cool choices after dramatically leaving Downton Abbey. And each one makes you realize how good an actor he really is. Here he excels in this bittersweet tale of a blind husband and father whose sight is miraculously restored one morning. His belief that everything will get better soon sours when he aggressively rises the corporate ladder at work, alienating his blind co-worker and friend (Oliver Platt) and distancing himself from his lovely wife (Malin Akerman). The unforeseen consequences of a granted wish should be familiar to readers of "The Monkey's Paw," as his miracle changes him--and not for good. Director Ido Fluk's film is so visually resonant from the first frames of blurry darkness to the hallucinatory greens of the foliage outside when he first regains his sight in this well-acted, emotionally charged film.

The Lost City Of Z

Based on the fascinating real life of British explorer and military officer Colonel Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), who courageously and repeatedly explored the uncharted regions of the Amazon along with Corporal Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson) searching for the mythical lost city of El Dorado in the early 1900s. Director James Gray's lush, evocative, slightly overlong epic captures the obsessive nature of this man, whose thoughtful scientific studies about the indigenous people he encountered during his travels were laughed off by the scientific community at the time, and whose long absences from home rightly strained the relationship with his wife (Sienna Miller) and children. The jungle sequences are ripe with beauty and terror as the movie tries to make sense of the mystery of what possibly happened to him 1925 when he disappeared during an expedition and was never seen again.
Supermodel and PAPER cover star Bella Hadid opened up about her father's immigration experience and her faith in a new interview with Porter magazine.

Bella and siblings Gigi and Anwar are the children of Yolanda and Mohamed Hadid. Yolanda is Dutch and Mohamed, now a real estate mogul, was born in Nazareth and lived in Syria and Lebanon before emigrating to the U.S. as a 14-year-old refugee.

"My dad was a refugee when he first came to America, so it's actually very close to home for my sister and brother and me," Bella said. "He was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim."

Bella and Gigi were spotted protesting against Trump's Muslim travel ban in February in NYC. At the time, Bella told Elle she marched because she has a "diverse background" and believes all people "deserve kindness and respect."

"We shouldn't treat people as if they don't deserve kindness just because of their ethnicities," she told Elle. "It's just not right. And that messageto be compassionate whenever possiblethat's so important to me."

[h/t The Cut]

Image via Griffin Lipson/BFA.com



Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Mohamed Hadid was born in Israel. He was born in Nazareth, which is now currently in Israel but was in dispute in 1948, the year Hadid was born. Hadid is Palestinian.
As you might have anticipated given the industry-wide boycott of Trump's modeling agency last New York fashion week, models signed to the piece of jerky currently inhabiting the White House are bailing left, right and center.

If you remember correctly, many pillars of the fashion community including casting agents, hair stylists and make-up artists refused to work with Trump models at NYFW in February. It also emerged, ironically, that most of those signed to Trump were, in fact, immigrants. Now it seems many high profile models and managers have left the agency to either re-sign or branch out their own.

The biggest blow has allegedly come in the form of agent Gabriel Ruas Santos-Rocha, who left to start his own company, Anti-management. His agency's mission statement claims "our models are our clients"  perhaps indicating the treatment of those signed to Trump was less than ideal.

"I did not start an agency with the intent of taking someone out of business," said in a statement last week. "Outside of that, I have no comments."

Although reports are yet to emerge as to how many models have made the shift, this is just one of the Trump family business ventures that seems to be flailing in the wake of Daddy Don's divisive presidency. As to what will suffer next, only time will tell.

[h/t Teen Vogue]

Image via Matteo Pradoni/BFA.com






Wow, this is niche. Very, very niche. Legendary director Gus Van Sant interviewed rapper Danny Brown for a behind-the-scenes video on the set of the Dretroiter's latest, mildly disturbing, Jonah Hill-directed visual for "Aint it Funny" in full sitcom glory  audience laughter and all.

In it, Van Sant asks Brown about the state of the world, to which the rapper responds that he feels as if he's living in a animated utopia, like "the president's like Bugs Bunny or something right now."

"I don't get involved with things like that," Brown says. "I like watching cartoons."

He also thinks My Own Private Idaho, Van Sant's critically-acclaimed 1991 classic, is a porno.

It's all magical, watch below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4dmk1d1Ywc&feature=youtu.be expand=1]
There's a health risk most pregnant women aren't aware of and it comes from a common virus. It's one that causes birth defects and health problems in babies, which parents only learn after the birth or in the child's early years.

The virus is called Cytomegalovirus or CMV and it doesn't manifest any symptoms, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus, however, is easily transmitted through saliva, tears, urine and breast milk among children, and sexual contact among adults.

A healthy person with a strong immune system keeps the illness at bay without problems, thus CMV often does not require any treatment. Babies in the womb, however, are susceptible to the virus and could develop life-long health issues due to the infection.

Such was the case for mom Kate Daly. One of her twins, William, contacted the virus which left him deaf and developmentally delayed six years ago. Doctors also diagnosed William with mild cerebral palsy, as per Stuff New Zealand.

Later on, the family learned William's twin, Emmaline, also developed a learning disability. Doctors pointed to CMV as the reason.

"I didn't understand why no one had ever mentioned CMV or told us there were things I could do to protect my children from this thing," Daly said. She remembered while she was pregnant with her twins, her then 4-year-old daughter often showered her with kisses.

Daly said she followed doctors' orders diligently while she was pregnant. She would have taken extra care, had she known about CMV.

Mom Kathleen Muldoon went through the same predicament with her second baby, Gideon. She thought everything went smoothly after his birth, but when Gideon's jaundice did not let up, doctors ordered a blood work. It revealed he had CMV, as per NPR.

Further test showed Gideon had brain damage, visual impairment, microcephaly and spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The virus caused severe damage to his health.

Some 40,000 babies contact CMV yearly in the U.S., as per National Institutes of Health. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends moms should regularly wash their hands after handling other kids' toys, drool or diapers. They should also refrain from directly kissing young children. Learn more about Cytomegalovirus or CMV in the video below.
Meghan Markle's sister announced her plans to release a tell-all book detailing her life with Prince Harry's girlfriend. Samantha Grant's news came after she relentlessly attacked and criticized her estranged younger half-sister ever since Markle ended up with a royal.

The former actress-model said the book, which has a working title of "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister," will be about a biracial family, as per Daily Mirror. Grant described the book's story as "candid, warm, personal" and socially relevant.

Grant, however, said her sister might not like some of the revelations in her book. She said, "Maybe when [Meghan] is more mature and reads the book she'll understand."

Grant, 52 and Markle, 35 share the same father, Tom Markle. Grant is a product of her dad's first marriage to Roslyn, while Markle is from his second marriage.

The older sibling lives in Florida while estranged from her own mother. In fact, Roslyn accused her daughter of cashing in on her half-sister's royal romance, as per Daily Star.

When news broke out Markle started seeing Prince Harry in October last year, Grant told the public her sister stopped helping out family a long time ago. In 2008, Grant learned she had multiple sclerosis and she claimed her sister did not help her out. She accused Markle, who's an actress in a popular TV series "Suits" and a humanitarian, of being a social climber.

Grant implied her sister's service for others was only a front. She also said her book will detail things the Queen's grandson will be appalled to learn, according to Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, Markle hasn't answered any of her sister's public accusations. As Grant's followers on Twitter accused the older sister of sibling jealousy, someone who knew Markle in middle school attested to her character.

"She was like the den mom, always looking out for people," Charisse Tran told People. "She was definitely really popular, but never gave off a mean-girl vibe at all," she said.
A teacher landed in trouble for telling her third-grade students "Adam and Eve" are fake. Nina Kossman, who taught English at the Razi School in Queens, infuriated the kids' parents and she's now facing disciplinary action.

Kossman also showed students a photo of naked "Adam and Eve," which further appalled the parents. The kids attend a Muslim private school and one of them told Kossman they weren't supposed to see naked people.

The incident stemmed from a discussion some of the students had about men and women. "One girl was trying to say that girls are as important as boys because without women there would not be any men," Kossman told New York Post.

A student then asked the teacher whether every person was born from a woman's belly. A young boy then chimed in and said Adam was the exception. Kossman, however, interjected and told the kids "Adam and Eve" existed as part of a myth, therefore they're not true.

Kossman then proceeded to show the kids the Wikipedia page for "Adam and Eve," which had their naked portrait. The teacher said she covered the photo with her hands after the children reacted upon seeing the nude image.

Kossman also said she taught educating the children about "Adam and Eve" would help "help build up tolerance." If there was one thing Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachings shared, it's using the story of "Adam and Eve" as a basis for the creation and origin of the world, as per National Geographic.

Parents stormed the school the next day complaining about Kossman's encounter with their children. Razi School officials relieved the teacher of her job and she's now reassigned at a Queen's Department of Education office to do paperwork.

On hindsight, Kossman said she shouldn't have discussed religion with the kids. The teacher has over 25 years' experience in different religious school. This was her first disciplinary action.
The latest ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report points out that in European cities, in 2016, the Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) experienced a modest growth (+ 0.7%) compared to 2015. With a stable Occupancy Rate (-0.1 point), growth is driven by the Average Daily Rate (ADR) up by 0.9%. These overall results hide great disparities between European destinations, some of them registering serious setbacks, while others grow at a fast pace.

Throughout 2016, many cities on the axis crossing Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy experienced a decrease in their RevPAR.

The aftermaths of the Brussels lockdown in November 2015 and the attacks of March 2016 have strongly impacted the performances of the Belgium capital, which saw its occupancy drop by 11.7 points and its RevPAR decrease by 17.6%. Antwerp and Ghent are also on a negative trend, with a RevPAR decline of 5.5% and 2.1% respectively.

In France, Paris and Nice, both hit by terrorist attacks, saw their Occupancy Rate and Average Daily Rates decrease considerably, leading to a RevPAR drop of 12.6% in Paris and 8.9% in Nice. Not all French cities reported a decrease: RevPAR went up in Lille (+12.6%), Lyon (+7.1%), Toulouse (+6.8%), Bordeaux (+6.4%), Biarritz-Bayonne (+6.1%), Montpellier (+5%), Marseille (+2.5%), Strasbourg (+2.9%) or Reims (+0.4%).

As for the Italian cities reporting negative results, they often experienced a decline due to the exceptionally good results registered in the previous year: Milan's 19.8% decrease in RevPAR has a lot to do with the excellent results registered during the World Expo in 2015. Turin (-0.1% in RevPAR) had exhibited its Holy Shrine in 2015 and the City of the Doges, Venice had hosted the Biennale di Venezia the same year (-5.5% in RevPAR).

The year 2016 has clearly been prosperous for cities located on the Iberian Peninsula.

In the Iberian Peninsula, arrivals grew under the combined effect of internal dynamics (improved economic context) and carryovers of visitors from Mediterranean destinations affected by terrorist attacks (Turkey, French Riviera, Egypt, Maghreb...). All cities in Spain (+12.4%) and Portugal (+11.1%) registered a strong RevPAR increase. This is for example the case with Barcelona, which hosted many international business meetings this year (MWC 2016, Smart City Expo, etc...) or Bilbao (SPAOM 2016, AMPLAP 2016, etc...). These two cities grew by 11.7% and 11.2% in RevPAR respectively. San Sebastian, European Capital of Culture in 2016, recorded the best RevPAR increase in Europe (+18.3%). As for Lisbon, it hosted several international medical congress in the last part of the year (EUGMS Congress 2016, IGCS 2016, etc...) and posted a RevPAR change by 7.5%.

Most central and Eastern European destinations also posted growth.

In Germany, RevPAR grew by 5% on average, with Dusseldorf, Nuremberg or Leipzig recording an increase by 17.8%, 15.6% and 8.8% respectively. In contrast, Cologne, Dresden or Frankfurt are on a down trend. Budapest, finished off the year on a 10.3% increase in RevPAR and outperformed Warsaw (+9%), Prague (+7.5%) and Vienna (+2.2%).

Last but not least, the  Brexit  did not turn visitors away from the United Kingdom.

Edinburgh and London kept registering the best Occupancy Rates in Europe (with 85.4% and 85.3% respectively).

All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report with all the graphs and analysis.
Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President, Apple Retail tweeted late this morning saying "We're getting ready for our newest store in UAE by celebrating local artists and entrepreneurs. Excited for Apple Dubai Mall!"

As Ahrendts was tweeting about the new Apple Store, the news was being reported on by Gulf News. The report noted that "The two-level shop will enjoy one of the best locations in the mall and is believed to be one of the biggest in the region, further cementing the brand's presence in the Middle East.

Set amidst an array of dining outlets, the new store will offer customers great views of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain, the world's largest dancing fountain.





The date for the outlet's grand opening has yet to be revealed, but the barricade surrounding the storefront has just been unveiled, giving mall visitors a hint of what's coming up.

With a concept titled 'Creativity. Connected', the barricade is a mural wall that seeks to showcase the creative community in the UAE, including start-ups, independent art galleries and local app developers to boutiques, cafes and food trucks.









About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Fed up with a program it says favors foreign workers at the expense of Americans, the Trump administration rolled out a trio of policy shifts. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency on Friday made it harder for companies to bring overseas tech workers to the U.S. using the H-1B work visa. On Monday, the agency issued a memo laying out new measures to combat what it called "fraud and abuse" in the program. The Justice Department also warned employers applying for the visas not to discriminate against U.S. workers.

Bloomberg's report further noted that "Trump campaigned on a promise to overhaul the immigration system, calling for companies to hire more Americans instead of outsourcing jobs to countries with cheaper labor or bringing in lower-paid foreign workers.

While tech companies will no doubt complain about the policy, there's also broad recognition that reform is needed, given several high-profile examples where American employees have been replaced by lower-paid foreign workers through the program. Advocates for immigrants' rights also argue H-1B workers are easily exploited because their legal status is tied to a particular employer

Outsourcing firms are considered the worst abusers of the system, an impression that the tech industry has been happy to encourage. Monday's USCIS announcement targets those firms, with the agency saying it will focus inspections on workplaces with the largest percentage of H-1B workers, and those with employees who do IT work for other companies. Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Infosys Ltd., Wipro Ltd. and Accenture Plc each slipped more than 1 percent on Monday.

The new guidelines released Friday require additional information for computer programmers applying for H-1B visas to prove the jobs are complicated and require more advanced knowledge and experience. It's effective immediately, so it will change how companies apply for the visas in an annual lottery process that begins Monday.

Ron Hira, an associate professor at Howard University, who has done extensive research on the H-1B program said that 'This is a step in the right direction in terms of tightening up the eligibility. You're going to have to beef up your argument for why you need this person.'





Technology and outsourcing companies are the heaviest users of the H-1B visa, which is the largest program for temporary foreign workers in the U.S. by a wide margin. 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. About half of the visas sought last year were for computer-related positions, she said."

In the coming days we're bound to hear the reaction from Silicon Valley's top players that is bound to be against the new rules.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Any time you make a definitive statement about spiritual matters, someone will challenge you. Sometimes these are skeptics or trolls who dont like what you have to say but who dont have the knowledge or the skills to make an intelligent rebuttal. Those are easy to ignore (or to delete, if theyre sarcastic and abusive).

Other times, people you know and respect make intelligent observations that force you to reconsider your way of thinking. This happened with last weeks post The Re-emergence of the Fair Folk in the Ordinary World. DverWinter of the A Forest Door blog (which, sadly, just went on hiatus) suggested that what I and others are experiencing are changes in our own awareness, not changes in the activities of the Fair Folk or in the boundaries between the worlds.

Could it be that instead of pointing towards any recent external shift in the spiritual energies of the world, your experiences are indicative of a change in consciousness within those who are also sharing those experiences  in other words, you and those you know are becoming more mystically-inclined, and therefore tapping into things that were always there?

Kim Kirner, an anthropology professor and a fellow OBOD Druid, left a longer comment that went into more detail, suggesting Im speaking universally about what may be limited to contemporary Western culture.

Many other cultures have never lost their connection to what might be loosely called the fae, and they have different ways of understanding that relationship, as well as our own alienation from the earth, each other, and the spirit world.

and

People have revived older worldviews and epistemologies, and they are shifting the acceptability of public discourse to include greater supernatural experience and explanation  We are waking up but not because of some woo-woo spiritual era, but rather because we are reviving and reconstructing worldviews that seek to re-enchant our world and to re-connect us to nature.

I like to say practice deeply but hold loosely  explore your unprovable beliefs passionately and diligently, rather than saying I cant know for sure so Im not going to bother. But always remain open to new experiences and new ways of thinking. Our internal models of how the world works should be under constant revision.

And right now I think I need to revise mine at least a little.

The Fair Folk Never Really Went Away

In 1926, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem titled Very Many People. It begins

On the Downs, in the Weald, on the Marshes,

I heard the Old Gods say:

Here come Very Many People:

We must go away.

The idea that Very Many People have driven the Gods and fae underhill is ancient. Human migration has displaced countless natural beings  its not much of a stretch to think weve displaced supernatural beings as well.

Yet when you read the available literature, its clear that people still experienced the fae and interacted with them continuously from ancient times right up through today. And there have always been people especially skilled in seeing, hearing, and feeling Otherworldly beings. On our trip to Ireland in 2014, I enjoyed listening to our very Catholic bus driver talk about how a road had to be re-routed around an old tree because the Fair Folk kept damaging construction equipment that was being used to knock it down.

Whether the fae have been less present in our world or whether we simply stopped noticing them is a question thats impossible to answer. But they never completely went away.

I Am Not Unbiased

Some people believe humanity is in the early stages of a mass consciousness raising where we will suddenly evolve (an idea thats a misuse of the theory of evolution) and become more spiritual  which is generally assumed to mean passive, peaceful, and politically liberal. I think thats wishful thinking at best. I see zero evidence our species as a whole is at the beginning of some great shift in consciousness  quite the contrary.

So when someone suggests that the reason more people are seeing high strangeness is that people are becoming more aware, Im inclined to dismiss them. To be clear, neither Dver nor Kim made such an argument  this is not a rebuttal to them. Rather, its a personal bias Im disclosing to you as a way of reminding myself of its existence.

Now, I have become more aware of spirits and Otherworldly activity. I had a few mild encounters as a small child that I can barely remember  like so many, I rationalized them away. It took decades for me to be able to see them again. I know Ive changed, so it stands to reason others have changed too.

So, is it possible the big changes Im seeing and hearing about are people changing their worldview in greater numbers, as opposed to a big shift in external reality? Absolutely. Is it the main reason? I dont think so.

Why I Think Reality Has Shifted

If it was just me, or just people like me who once were cement heads who now have first hand experiences of God and spirits and see things that dont belong in our world, Id be inclined to believe that were just lucky (or unlucky, depending on what were seeing  its not all bright and glorious). But its not.

Im hearing these same stories from people whove dealt with fae and spirits all their lives. People who didnt rationalize away their childhood experiences but who accepted them and explored them into adulthood. People whose skills in these matters are as far above mine as mine are above where I was fifteen years ago. Theyre telling me the Veil is shredded too (or at least some of them are).

Im also hearing these same stories from ordinary people living ordinary lives (i.e.  not Pagan, not magical) whove never experienced the first bit of woo until now.

I have a bias against a mass shift in consciousness and I have multiple confirmations that reality has shifted. So Im inclined to believe that reality has shifted.

But none of this proves anything.

The Problem of Limited Scope and Cultural Bias

The criticism that bothers me most is Kim Kirners comment that my post imposes a Western view on a purportedly global phenomenon. That certainly wasnt my intent, but shes not wrong.

We frequently speak of the world when what we mean is our world and our ideas about the way the world works. We ignore  and sometimes actively deny  the fact that other people in other places see and experience the world very differently. Sometimes one view is right and the other is wrong, but most times theyre simply different.

What would someone in another part of the world say about the increasing high strangeness? Id like to find people like me in places like China, India, Brazil, and Nigeria and ask them. What are they seeing and feeling? Is it the same as always? Or are they experiencing shifts in reality just as I am?

Even if they came back and said nope, business as usual all that would prove (to the extent anything metaphysical can be proved) is that reality hasnt shifted in their parts of the world. Its entirely possible the intersection of the ordinary world and the Otherworld has shifted in the West but has remained the same elsewhere.

I dont have contacts with people in those regions, and such a project is beyond the scope of my religious duties. But I would certainly be interested in hearing from them.

Good News For Those Who Want To See

The one thing thats most encouraging in these criticisms is the idea that more people are noticing fae, spirits, and general weirdness because theyre doing the kind of things that build such skills. Kim says Were shifting our cultural models, which changes our perceptual capacity and our ways of making meaning of our lifes experience.

While not quite the same thing, this isnt that far from the suggestions I made last year for beginning a devotional practice. If you do the right things in the right way, the results will follow. Change your worldview  your foundational assumptions about the way the world works and what is and isnt possible  and a whole new world will open up to you.

Toward a New Consensus Reality

Ill leave the question of whether or not there is an objective reality to the philosophers. What we commonly call reality is actually consensus reality  the metaphysical assumptions and cultural norms the wider society informally agrees are real and that mystics and heretics challenge on an on-going basis.

Thats how I came to the conclusion that the veil between the worlds is shredded. I experienced an increase in Otherworldly activity. I talked about it with some of my witchy and Pagan friends, who were experiencing the same thing. It seemed to match what many of us have experienced at Beltane and especially at Samhain, when the veil is said to be at its thinnest. We came to the consensus that the veil is now permanently thin, or in some places, simply gone.

Theres no way to prove  or to disprove  if this is objectively true. Proof isnt the goal which is a good thing, since such matters are beyond proof. Instead, the goal is to build a mental model of the way the world works. Such a model helps us understand the world and our place in it, but it is always a tentative model, subject to revision when new evidence and new ways of thinking emerge.

Im still convinced the Otherworld is becoming more present in the ordinary world, however you care to imagine that might work in practice. This model matches my experiences and the experiences of those I know and trust. I believe the world  or at least, the part of it I live in  is changing.

But I now have to expand my model to include the experiences of those who see changing worldviews and a rejection of consumer culture enabling ordinary people to see, hear, and feel extraordinary things. This trend is a good thing for the ordinary world, whatever it does or doesnt mean for the Otherworld.

So whats changing: the world or us? Ive been arguing its the world, but I now think its a combination of the two.

Is my revised model of the world right? No, but its a little less wrong.

And thats all we can expect.

Morgan Daimler  who knows far more about the fae and Otherworldly experiences than I do  is running a survey on Otherworldly Activity Experiences. Morgan says:
Patna: The four-day Chaiti Chhath came to an end on Wednesday when thousands of devotees took a dip in the Ganges and paid their obeisance to the rising sun at dozens of ghats in Patna amidst playing of folk songs associated with the festival.

Heavy crowd was seen at all the ghats in Patna where devotees bathed in the holy river before offering prayer to the sun and breaking their fast traditional food including rice, kadhi, and chane ka daal, among others.

As always, volunteers and private organizations stepped up to clean the roads and by-lanes leading to the Ganges.

Later in the evening, heavy rush was seen at all temples where devotees made a beeline to offer prayer to the Sun God.
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.
Patna: A day after he shot and killed a 13-year old Muslim girl in a fit of rage in Sasaram district, Janata Dal  U on Monday suspended its former legislator from Bikramganj Suryadeo Singh in an attempt to damage control before the opposition leaders made a big issue out of the whole sordid incident.

As reported, Singh on Sunday, reportedly enraged by some ongoing land dispute in his district, opened indiscriminate firing from his rooftop on children playing on the street. 13-year old Hazara Khatoon died of her wounds while four other, including three children and his 32-year old nephew Guddu Kumar, remain in critical condition.

A party spokesperson said that JD-U state President Vashisht Narayan Singh issued order of the suspension of Singh following his involvement in a criminal act.

The two-time legislator was arrested along with six others including his wife Kusum Devi who is accused of inciting her husband to open fire on Guddu Kumar. Police also recovered firearms from his home, including the gun used in the commission of crime.

All six were produced before a judge on Monday and sent to jail, reports said.
Mike Melchiors, from northern Arizona, sends us a weirdly eerie image of a room that was once full of payphones, but was completely emptied of them. Only the stools remain, as if they still had some meaningful purpose. I might be reading too much into it but to me the picture makes an almost profound impression. Blank spaces all around, as if no one has anything to left say to each other anymore, when nothing could be further from the truth. Its like an image of a world in the wake of some kind of communications apocalypse. This room, gone now, was at a truck stop on Interstate 40 in Holbrook, Arizona.

Related
Four Seasons Hotel Doha is hosting the years most coveted culinary experience: Dinner in the Sky, at the annual Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) 2017. Until April 8, 2017, food connoisseurs and adventure seekers alike are invited to soar to new culinary heights with an elevated three-course fine dining experience 50 meters (164 feet) above the festivals location at Hotel Park.

Arguably the worlds best seat in the house, Dinner in the Sky offers a 360-degree panoramic view overlooking the citys magnificent skyline and the Arabian Gulf, all complemented by Dohas finest cuisine prepared by Four Seasons culinary masters. As the festivals signature experience, Dinner in the Sky accommodates up to 22 guests at a time, for a 40-minute savoury sky tour.

Four Seasons Dinner in the Sky features a curated three-course menu including sweet lime chili marinated sea scallop, smoked salmon tartar with dill cream, beetroot moutabel and seasonal greens; grilled angus beef tenderloin with corn emulsion, baby vegetables and thyme jus; grilled baby chicken with spring vegetables and sage jus; vegetable lasagne with roma tomatoes and Grana Padano; and white chocolate passion fruit mousse with fresh berry, chocolate crumble, mango and raspberry coulis. The menu is priced at QAR 500. Whether at 50 metres in the sky, a private suite, or perhaps in an elegant desert safari  Four Seasons is able to recreate the Dinner in the Sky just about anywhere, making the sky not the only limit.

For those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground, Four Seasons Hotel Doha will also feature a QIFF stand, showcasing signature dishes from the Hotels award-winning restaurants, including Nobu, Elements and Il Teatro. The menu highlights include black cod yuzu miso, yellow tail jalapeno, beef dumplings, and branzino con zuppa di patate. The prices are between QAR 25 and 35, and is offered daily starting at 2:00 pm. Four Seasons will also feature a special QIFF Taste of Qatar menu at Elements, Il Teatro and the Pool Grill, through April 8, 2017. The Taste of Qatar menu starts at QAR 139.

Sip, savour and soar to new culinary heights at Four Seasons Hotel Doha Dinner in the Sky event. To book a dining reservation, please call +974 4494 8600
Hunger-Striking Political Activist Detained Without Charge Writes Will in Tehran's Evin Prison

04/04/17

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

After 24 days on hunger strike in Evin Prison in Tehran, reformist political activist Hengameh Shahidi, detained without charge and denied legal counsel since March 9, 2017, has written a will, her mother told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).



Hengameh Shahidi

"Hengameh called me today (Saturday, April 1) and she was in very bad shape," said Nahid Kermanshahi in an interview. "She has chest pains and doesn't have the strength to walk...She said she had handed her will to the interrogator."

"I told Hengameh to stop it because I couldn't bear it. But she said she had written a two-page will and told the interrogator to hand it to the family. She said, 'I told the staff in the (prison) clinic and the interrogator that they would be responsible for whatever happens to me. Those in the position of authority will be held accountable. Mr. President (Hassan Rouhani), the Intelligence Ministry and the judiciary will be responsible for my death.'"

Shahidi has been on hunger strike since March 16.

"Hengameh was talking to me in the presence of her interrogator," said Kermanshahi. "I don't know what he was telling her, but Hengameh said she didn't have the strength to walk and she had to drag herself on the floor. She said, 'Tell everyone all about what's happening to me and if you don't, you will be indebted to me. Tell everyone I was not allowed any visits...' She said, 'I haven't committed any crime and I won't accept anything.'"

The 41-year-old reformist senior member of the Etemad Melli (National Trust) Party is a former reporter for the party's Norooz newspaper and an adviser to opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, under extrajudicial house arrest since 2011 for publicly challenging the vote count of Iran's 2009 presidential election.

On March 9, security forces arrested Shahidi in the city of Mashhad, where she was helping arrange her grandmother's funeral. She was flown overnight to Tehran and transferred to Evin Prison's Ward 209, which is controlled by the Intelligence Ministry.

"Hengameh said her mouth would dry up while being interrogated for hours at a time and could not go on answering questions," Kermanshahi told CHRI after speaking to her daughter on the phone. She said, 'They are accusing me of a lot of things, but I didn't accept any of them."

Kermanshahi added: "Hengameh said she won't permit being attached to an IV. She asked everyone for forgiveness and told me to wear white and sing 'Dawn Bird' (Iranian protest song) at her funeral. I told her to stop all this talk. She said she cannot be held in detention for more than a month (without charge) and by then she will either be back home or in a cemetery. She said she wants to donate her organs."

In addition to being detained without charge, Shahidi has also been denied legal council, according to Kermanshahi.

"I just don't know what my daughter has been charged with," she told CHRI. "Neither does she. Her lawyer Mr. (Mostafa) Tork Hamadani wanted to follow up on her case, but he has been told that his credentials for the case have not yet been approved by the judiciary. That means she has no legal representation."

"I reminded Hengameh that I recently had an angioplasty procedure on my heart and now I'm feeling worse," she added. "I'm worried for her and I don't know what to do and there's no one who will give me answers."

In a letter posted on her Instagram page two days after her arrest, Shahidi wrote she was being targeted "as part of a project to arrest political activists and journalists before the presidential election (May 19, 2017) so that the designated candidate (of hardliners) could be guaranteed a victory, just like in the 2009 election."

"You were supposed to be a breath of fresh air for reformists after the oppressive years under (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, and not choke the air out of them to become president like he did," she wrote in a second letter published on March 15.

Since December 26, 2016, more than 22 journalists and rights activists-nearly all of them believed to be supporters of the centrist Rouhani-have been arrested by either the Intelligence Ministry, which answers to Rouhani, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which answers only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Shahidi was previously arrested on June 30, 2009 for supporting the peaceful protests against the disputed result of the presidential election that year and sentenced to six years in prison for "propagating against the regime," "acting against national security" and "insulting the president" by Judge Yahya Pirabbasi of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court.

In June 2012 she was granted conditional release on medical grounds.
Supporters Mark One-Year Anniversary of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Imprisonment in Iran

04/04/17

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Supporters Invited to Contribute to "One Day of Freedom" Campaign



Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's colleagues stand around her empty desk

Thomson Reuters Foundation's office in London





Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe never thought she would be detained by the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization when she and her 22-month-old daughter arrived at Tehran's international airport, on their way back home to the UK on April 3, 2016.

One year later, the 38-year-old employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation is in Evin Prison's Women's Ward in Tehran serving a five-year sentence for unspecified "national security charges."

On the anniversary of the forced separation, her husband Richard Ratcliffe asked supporters to describe their ideal "one day of freedom" on a Facebook page for the Free Nazanin Ratcliffe campaign, which has received nearly 900,000 supportive signatures.

"My fondest dream has always been to arrive at our home, you ask me if I want to have a cup of tea, then make me one," wrote Zaghari-Ratcliffe in a message for the event. "I just sit back and watch you two play. This is the image I had most when in solitary confinement."

"I would like to put a huge paper on the wall in our sitting room and draw a world in which there are no prisons, walls or fences," she said. "And let Gabriella (daughter) do the coloring."





Nazanin Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella



The postings will be turned into a book "to show and inspire Nazanin (and the other prisoners) when she is released...ways to rediscover life and all its maybes when freedom finally is returned," said Ratcliffe in a statement on April 2, 2017.

"It has been a long year of separation, a year of our lives interrupted," he added. "Rather than feel sad for us this anniversary-please lend us your enthusiasms, your 'happy to be alive' days, your ideas for the one days to come."

Despite being referred to a neurological specialist on February 19 after repeated bouts of fainting, panic attacks, headaches, and spinal disc pain, the prosecutor's office told the family that it is awaiting for a judge to approve her admission, said the statement.

She has also been banned from calling her husband in a reversal of a decision by the prosecutor's office allowing her to call him once a month.

Upon being arrested at the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport last year following a holiday visit with family, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's daughter Gabriella was placed in the care of her elderly Iran-based grandparents.

The authorities have blocked attempts to bring her back home to the UK. Ratcliffe has meanwhile not been able to travel to Iran for safety reasons.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has still not been told the alleged crime she was convicted of, even during the appeal process, according to the statement.

On April 3, 49 members of the European Parliament (MEP) released a joint letter calling for the release of EU citizens currently imprisoned in Iran, including Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The letter said the MEPs are "gravely concerned by the situation of dual EU-Iranian nationals being held prisoner in Iran on vaguely-worded charges, subject to unfair trials, as well as to inhumane conditions in prison, including the denial of medical care."

"In the context of the new emerging relationship of dialogue between Iran and Europe (following the nuclear deal signed in 2015), we urge you to release all of these prisoners, and in the meantime, guarantee them improved conditions of detention," added the letter.

Fellow Prisoners Imagine One Day of Freedom

Some of Zaghari-Ratcliffe's fellow inmates also contributed to the "One Day of Freedom" event.

"The biggest pain for a mother is to be away from her children," wrote prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, serving a 16-year sentence for her peaceful activism. "It's nearly two years now that I haven't seen my 10-year-old twins."

Fariba Kamalbadi, a former leader of Iran's persecuted Baha'i community serving a 20-year prison sentence for her religious beliefs, said: "I always wished to spend my whole first night next to my family members and watch them sleep, to make up for the time passed away so quickly when they came for a visit while I was in prison."

"I think of my children, my husband and my family," wrote fellow Baha'i prisoner of conscience, Mahvash Shahriari, also serving a 20-year sentence. "I think of my fellow prisoners, of prisoners of conscience. I'll float in my dreams. We'll hold each others' hands, with all the people around the world, like a rainbow of red, black, yellow and white colors, and sing a song of peace, and love is the only witness of our friendship."

Colleagues Lend Support

On April 3, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's colleagues at the Thomson Reuters Foundation gathered around her empty desk in the charity's London-based office, where she worked in the media development program.

"It has been one year since Nazanin was arrested, separated from her daughter and subsequently sentenced to five years in jail on unknown charges," said CEO Monique Villa in a statement released that day. "This unbearable situation has lasted way too long, and has caused Nazanin and her family unimaginable pain."

"Today we stand united in remembering Nazanin," she added. "I am totally convinced of her innocence. We continue to urge for her immediate release and hope for her swift return."

Judiciary's Attack

In an unsigned commentary piece titled "London's Suspicious Sense of Responsibility to Free Ratcliffe," the judiciary's official news site, Mizan, issued renewed claims against her and the charity organization.

"The primary mission given to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe by the Thomson Reuters Foundation was to advance media and cyber projects for the purpose of overthrow and espionage," said the article. "Why are they trying so hard to free a security convict?"

The judiciary's ongoing imprisonment of dual nationals, usually arrested by the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization or the Intelligence Ministry, reflects hardliners' efforts to prevent the engagement with the West that the Rouhani administration has sought to encourage.

Iranian-American dual citizen Robin (Reza) Shahini, held since July 2016, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison; Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, held since October 2015 and his Iranian-American father, 80-year-old Bagher Namazi, held since February 2016, have both been sentenced to ten years in prison; Iranian-Austrian dual citizen Kamran Ghaderi, held since January 2016, has also been sentenced to 10 years in prison; British-Iranian dual national Roya Saberi Nobakht, held since October 2013, has been sentenced to seven years in prison; and Iranian-British citizen Kamal Foroughi, held since May 2011, has also been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Iranian-born Swedish resident Ahmadreza Jalili, held since April 2016, and Iranian-American citizen Karan Vafadari and his Iranian wife Afarin Nayssari, held since July 2016, have not been sentenced yet.

*This story was updated on April 3, 2017 at 11:46 am eastern time to reflect the MEP's statement and the judiciary's article.
Iran's Aseman Airlines seals new $3B deal with Boeing for purchase of 60 planes

04/04/17

Source: Press TV

Iran has signed a new agreement with US aviation giant Boeing for buying dozens of the company's twinjet narrow-body passenger planes. The agreement involves the purchase of 30 Boeing 737 MAX planes as well as the purchase rights for an additional 30 planes of the same class. It was signed between Iran's Aseman Airlines and Boeing in Tehran, the country's IRNA news agency reported.



Photo by Aseman Airlines



This came after almost a year of negotiations between Aseman Airlines and the US aviation giant, IRNA added.



Boeing is to provide 50 planes of the same type to Iran's flag-carrier airline Iran Air through a similar agreement. The overall value of Iran Air's order that also involves 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft is estimated to be $16.6 billion.



The planes are expected to be delivered to Aseman Airlines from 2019. The Iranian airline is expected to receive at least five of the purchased aircraft during the same year.



Boeing 737 MAX planes - that would enter service in the second half of 2017 - have a passenger capacity of 130 people and are specifically adequate for domestic and regional flights, IRNA added in its report.



The planes that Aseman Airlines has purchased from Boeing would increase the company's passenger transportation capacity to above 8,000 seats, it emphasized.



Iran Air said in December 2016 that it had finalized an agreement with Boeing to buy 80 new planes. The company accordingly announced that Boeing would start to deliver the planes in 2018 and the deliveries would be completed within 10 years.



Iran has already received the first three of a total of 100 Airbus planes that it has purchased from the European company through an agreement worth around $18 billion. More deliveries are expected to take place over the next months.



Related News by AP:

Boeing Co. says it signed new $3B deal with Iranian airline - "According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, an aerospace sale of this magnitude creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States," Boeing said in a statement. "Boeing continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Iran's airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran's airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval."


Iran deal devised based on mistrust of U.S.: Foreign Minister Zarif

04/04/17

Source: Press TV

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says a multilateral deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries in 2015 was devised based on the Islamic Republic's mistrust of the United States.



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif



Speaking on Monday, Zarif reiterated concerns by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about the US's non-performance of the deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said such non-commitment had been predictable for Iran.



Thus, the Iranian foreign minister said, "the two sides proceeded based on mutual mistrust and devised numerous [contingency] mechanisms."



Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, reached the deal in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January 2016, resolving a long-running dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.



Under the deal, Iran has agreed to put certain limits to its peaceful nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions that had been imposed on the country over the program.



Zarif said the mechanisms worked out in the deal made it "much easier" for Iran, if necessary, to roll back the steps it had taken under the deal than for the other side to put the sanctions back on the Islamic Republic.



"If a moment comes when the Americans would not perform the JCPOA, our reversibility would be amply swift," Zarif said, explaining that, in such a scenario, Iran would take up more nuclear activities than it had before committing to the JCPOA.

He said that Iran had "enough guarantees," based on the mechanisms, to return to the pre-JCPOA era if the Iranian government determined one day that the American non-performance was at a level warranting that return.

Zarif said, however, that he believed such a scenario would be unlikely.





cartoon by Mohammad Tahani, Iranian daily Arman



While Iran has been steadfastly carrying out its commitments under the JCPOA, the US has been less strictly abiding by it. Washington has offered only verbal assurance to international institutions that they would not face US punitive measures if they restored their trade ties with Tehran under the circumstances provided following the conclusion of the deal. The shortage of concrete guarantees has caused some European banks to balk at resuming the transactions.



In his Monday remarks, Zarif also said that executing the accord was somehow taking more effort than negotiating it did prior to 2015, stressing that all the opportunities that had emerged following the deal had to be properly taken advantage of.
The notorious hackers behind a string of banking heists have left behind a clue that supports a long-suspected link to North Korea, according to security researchers.

The so-called Lazarus Group has been eyed as a possible culprit behind the heists, which included the February 2016, $81 million theft from Bangladeshs central bank through the SWIFT transaction software.

However, hackers working for the group recently made a mistake: They failed to wipe the logs from a server the group had hacked in Europe, security firm Kaspersky Lab said on Monday.

The logs show that the server had at one point connected with an Internet Protocol address from North Korea, an unusual sign given that the country has very limited internet access.

The IP address adds to the evidence that the Lazarus Group is tied to North Korea. Last year, security researchers also noticed similarities between coding techniques the group used in its banking heists and those used in the 2014 Sony hack, which the U.S. has blamed on North Korea.

That prompted speculation that North Korea was using the bank thefts to build up its foreign currency reserves.

In a blog post, Kaspersky Lab said the recovered server logs show a direct link between North Korea and a subunit within Lazarus that is devoted to hacking for profit. In addition to banks, the group has been targeting casinos, companies that develop financial software, and digital currency businesses.

The hackers probably failed to wipe the server because they had installed software to generate Monero, a cryptocurrency. The software so intensely consumed system resources that the system became unresponsive and froze, the security firm said.

However, Kaspersky Lab stopped short of naming the North Korean government as responsible for Lazaruss activities.

As researchers, we prefer to provide facts rather than speculations, it said.

Lazarus has been around at least since 2009, and it appears to be a large organization, according to Kaspersky Lab. For example, its been found pumping out new malware while avoiding the use of old tools. Doing that requires a large-scale operation.

The hacking collectives newest malware strains have been found infecting victims in at least 18 countries. It has spread the malware using watering hole attacks, which involve hacking websites that specific targets might visit.

All this level of sophistication is something that is not generally found in the cybercriminal world, the security firm said. It also means that the group needs a lot of capital to keep functioning.

U.S. investigators are also building a case that would accuse North Korea in the $81 million bank heist in Bangladesh, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday.
Wizz Air has a new route from Kosice to Cologne, in Germany. The new service will commence on 25 June, with a convenient schedule of two weekly frequencies, on Thursdays and Sundays, during the summer season, and on Mondays and Fridays, during the winter season.

Passengers planning their holiday or a weekend getaway to this great destination, can already book their tickets on wizzair.com from only EUR 19.99*.

Starting June, WIZZ passengers from Kosice can discover Cologne's fascinating history, iconic Dom and beautiful architectural buildings. For those willing to extend their trip in Germany, the Rhine River provides a vital link for some of the region's highlights: Dusseldorf, with its great nightlife and fabulous shopping, and Bonn, the hometown of Beethoven.

Wizz Air started its operations in Slovakia from Kosice in 2013 and since then has continuously invested in its ever-growing network, offering now five routes to three countries, bringing more lowest-fare travel opportunities for its customers. In 2015, Kosice airport became the 20th WIZZ base with one based new Airbus A320 aircraft and 42 local crew employees. Wizz Air started operations from Poprad and Bratislava airport in 2014 and 2016, respectively, further expanding its low-fare network from Slovakia.

Michael Tmej, CEO of Kosice International Airport, said: Opening of the Cologne route is a real milestone not only for the airport, but also for the city and whole Eastern Slovakia. This route will provide a vital link for both leisure and business travelers on both ends. I would like to thank all our stakeholders for the support and also a big THANK YOU to Wizz Air for the excellent cooperation.

Renata Lenartova, Kosice vice-mayor and chairman of the board of Kosice Tourism: Direct air link wuth Germany is another proof that international interest in Kosice is increasing. I believe that thanks to this route we will attract a lot of tourists. In addition, thanks to this route our partner city of Wuppertal is now much closer to us than ever before, as it is only 45 minutes driving time from the Cologne Bonn Airport.
The Norton Air Force Base Museums fourth anniversary celebration Saturday was almost like a trip back in time.

The Lindy Sisters performed Andrews Sisters tribute songs from the 30s and 40s, and there were many photos and stories that told the history of the former base.

The gala celebration also included displays of military trucks and vintage cars. Museum docents gave visitors guided tours of the museum, at 1601 E. 3rd St., and the Norton Veterans Monument.

Norton Air Force Base, which opened in 1942 and was named for Capt. Leland Norton, closed in 1994 as a result of a Base Realignment and Closure decision. The museum is filled with memorabilia commemorating the bases storied history.

For information about the museum, visit its website at nafbmuseum.org.

RELATED

Norton museum is a place where history soars

Museum to celebrate two years

Memories of Norton AFB
The Riverside County Sheriffs Department is asking for the publics help in finding 24-year-old Marlene Soto.

UPDATE: Missing at-risk Homeland woman is found safe

Authorities described her as being 48 tall and weighing 85 pounds. She has chin-length blonde hair and was last seen wearing a black tank top, tan shorts, and white shoes.

About 7 a.m. Monday, April 3, deputies responded to a report of an at-risk missing adult in the 25000 block of Avenida Valencia, which is in the unincorporated community of Homeland, according to a written statement from the sheriffs department.

Deputies found that Soto was last seen near her residence about 3 p.m. April 2, according to the statement.

Sotos family said she suffers from seizures and is without medication, officials said.

Deputies believe Soto could be in the Winchester area.

Anyone with information regarding Sotos whereabouts is encouraged to call the Perris Sheriffs Station at 951-210-1043 or dial 911.
A fire in the garage of a Perris home displaced two adults and a child Tuesday, April 4.

The flames were reported to Cal Fire/Riverside County firefighters at 9:23 a.m. in the 1400 block of Alta Palma Road, according to a news release from the Fire Department.

Firefighters arrived to find the garage of a two-story home aflame. The fire was contained about 9:45 a.m., the release said.

One person was treated for minor smoke inhalation but didnt require hospitalization, the release said.

The American Red Cross was called for a displaced residents.
A job fair sponsored by Mt. San Jacinto College and California Family Life Center is scheduled from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, April 7 at the MSJC Menifee Campus.

Employers expected to be in attendance include distribution centers such as Walgreens, Amazon, Lowes and OReilly Auto Parts, staffing agencies, retail businesses, RTA, Hemet Unified School District Transportation Department, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Probation Department, city of Temecula and Riverside County Office of Education.

The event, which takes place in parking lot C at 28237 La Piedra Road, is open to the public. Information: 951-639-5285 or 951-487-3285.
April 4, 1997, was a date that changed the small town of Beaumont forever, burned in the memories of Pass residents after 10-year-old Anthony Martinez was kidnapped outside his home.

The worst fears were realized when, after 15 days of intense searching, Anthonys body was found in a canyon outside Indio.

Martinez brother, Marcos Medina, at a ceremony Monday, April 3 marking the 20th anniversary of Martinez slaying and commemorating two officers who investigated the murder who have since died, said that day continues to haunt him and his family, who have since moved to Kansas. Still, they remain grateful to the community and Beaumont Police Departments commitment to the investigation and kindness after the fact.

I still remember seeing that man drive away with my brother, Medina said in tears before a crowd of about 100. But I also remember Lt. John Acosta and Lt. Mitch White, the care and dedication they had for my family.

Memories of the tragic event that drew the community together are refreshed frequently  every April, every time another child goes missing, when a Boy Scout plants flowers to spruce up a memorial site and when mention of the case brings back the childhood fears of those now grown and still living in the city.

Meanwhile, Joseph Edward Duncan III, 54, who years later confessed to killing Anthony, remains on federal death row in Terre Haute, Ind., for a rampage of kidnapping and murder in which he killed four people and molested a young girl in Idaho.

RELATED: Appeal seeks to overturn death sentence for child killer Duncan

Anthony mother, Diana Reed, didnt want to talk about how his murder affected her and her family during an interview Monday before the ceremony. What she did want to talk about was the outpouring of community support she received at the time of the incident and in the years after.

She said the support embodied the neighborliness that Beaumont used to have.

Back then there were like 10,000 people, and now theres more than 40,000, it was a lot smaller then, and very close, Reed said. It was surprising how much people were willing to sacrifice of their selves, their own lives, their time and their finances just to look for (Anthony) when he was missing and to support the search for the killer. Sometimes I wonder if we would have been able to continue if we didnt have that kind of support.

During the ceremony at the Beaumont Police Department, a plaque and memorial fountain were presented for Anthony, and Lt. White and Lt. Acosta. Hemet Valley Monuments donated the plaque, and Acostas family paid for the fountain.

In addition to Medina and Reed, Beumont Police Department Commander Greg Fagan and Chief Sean Thuilliez made statements about the officers efforts. Fagan is one of two officers still on the force who was around during Anthonys killing. He watched White and Acosta work around the clock to investigate the murder and to console Anthonys family, and said their efforts were inspiring.

Acosta died in 2008 and White died in 2013.

Acostas daughter, Alex Avery, and Whites brother, Craig, spoke of the officers dedication to the case, and joy that Anthonys killer was found during their lifetimes. Beaumont mayor Lloyd White also made a statement, and Beaumont Police Department Chaplain Jerry Westholder led the audience in two prayers.

Jan Leja, who was mayor of Beaumont in 1997, gets emotional talking about that time. For a recent interview, she pulled out a box of letters written to the city that she keeps in her garage.

That evening in 1997, Anthony was forced into a car at knifepoint and driven away. Four other children witnessed the abduction. Police immediately launched a search, and then-Police Chief Patrick Smith called in the FBI.

At least 200 law enforcement officers from throughout Southern California came to assist, Leja said. Tips to police came in by the minute. Volunteers from all over offered to help search, provide meals and assist in other ways.

It showed how a community would come together, she said. We knew it was a race at the clock to do everything we could to bring Anthony home.

Bruce Murrill, a Cherry Valley resident since 1985, was tapped to coordinate an estimated 1,000 volunteers over the two-week search.

The volunteers were ready to go. They were committed. We were going to find the little boy, he said.

Murrill knows he will hear from Leja sometime this month. They talk every April.

Leja also tapped the Rev. Walter Price to help.

Its sad, but tragedy brings people together, Price said. For me its not so much April, but every time I hear of an abduction of a child or anything like that, my mind goes back. It was just horrible. I have five children and they were young.

Price recalled, Everything about it makes you want to pull them tight and not let go. We know to trust the Lord.

Duncan confessed to Anthonys murder to the FBI in 2005 after he was caught in the Idaho kidnapping and murders. He received the federal death penalty three times over in the Idaho case, then was brought back to Riverside County for a trial and conviction here.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not set an execution date.

Duncans attorneys filed another appeal Feb. 28. Traci J. Whelan, assistant U.S. attorney and branch manager in Coeur dAlene, Idaho, wrote in an email that the government has until late July to respond.

Craig White, Lt. Whites brother, said during Mondays ceremony that White retired in 2006, shortly after Duncans confession. White was diagnosed with cancer shortly after his retirement, eventually dying in 2013.

Two days before Whites death, Craig, asked him, whats the biggest thing you can remember?

Just clear as a bell, with crystal clear eyes, he said having the Martinez case finally solved before I retired,' Craig said.

RELATED

Court rejects killer Duncans claim
The World Banks Vice President for Africa, Mr. Makhtar Diop, on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, paid a courtesy call on the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to extend the support of the Bank towards helping to address the numerous challenges confronting the Ghanaian economy.



At the meeting, which was attended by the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei Opare; and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta; Mr. Makhtar Diop noted the World Bank was concerned about one of the engines in the sub-region and was, thus, determined to help Ghana emerge out of her current situation.



Applauding the decision of President Akufo-Addo to stimulate private sector activity to be the instrument of growth for the Ghanaian economy, he explained that this decision was prudent, considering Ghanas high levels of indebtedness and the lack of fiscal space.



According to him, the financing needs that the economy must have to sustain the growth that is envisaged for Ghana cannot be attained through public financing, due to the high level of indebtedness that you inherited. So we need to help create all the conditions for the private sector to lead this process.



He, therefore, pledged the support of the World Bank  experience, technical and monetary  to helping the government of Ghana succeed.



Makhtar Diop added that the World Bank is also amenable to helping Ghana to process its cocoa, and depart from being a mere exporter of cocoa beans, akin to the support given to Cote dIvoire, which has received a $120 million facility to boost value-addition for its cocoa industry.



Your vision is very clear, and we are supporting it. We have discussed with your team the options from which we can help you address the difficult situations you are facing today. You can count on our full support to be with you and to work with you towards a lasting solution, he adde



Makhtar Diop congratulated President Akufo-Addo and Ghana on being an example in Africa on how democracy and political transitions can be held successfully.



On his part, President Akufo-Addo thanked Makhtar Diop for the gesture of his visit, and acknowledged the role he was playing in the global financial organization, adding that you have gained the confidence of your peers and the admiration of the continent.



The President was thankful for the commitment of the World Bank towards the realization of his vision of a private sector-driven economy, explaining that despite the promise of Ghanas economy being derailed in recent years, largely as a result of the mismanagement of the economy, he was confident of the return of the country onto the path of progress and prosperity.



Describing Ghana as a country of immense potential, with a people who are capable of working hard to produce a prosperous Ghana, President Akufo-Addo noted that his government is determined to create a conducive climate to stimulate private enterprise growth in the country.



The Asempa Budget, which has been passed by Parliament, he explained, contains policy initiatives that will create the needed fiscal space for government to implement its programmes, as well as spur on the development of the private sector.



It is only when we grow the economy that we will create jobs and prosperity for the people, he added.



The President also reiterated his commitment to protecting the public purse and dealing with corruption through the office of Special Prosecutor, which will be a creature independent of the Executive. It will have the mandate to deal with issues of corruption and allegations of corruption against public office holders.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/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.

Featured Video
Irans Aseman Airlines had signed an agreement with the American aerospace company Boeing to purchase 60 B737-Max passenger jets worth more than $5 billion based on catalogue prices. The deal is now pending a license from the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to the airline.

Boeing said it negotiated the agreement under government authorizations. However, there are still hurdles. Boeing will need the approval of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Relations between Iran and the U.S. have been getting worse under President Trump. Tehran slapped sanctions on 15 U.S. companies last month, in retaliation for American sanctions announced in February.

Will US grant approval for $5 billion aircraft order? If not, the airline is also in talks with Boeings European rival Airbus to add two A340s and seven A321s to its fleet that is the third largest fleet in Iran, after Iran Air and Mahan.

Aseman has three A320-200s, one A340-300, four ATR72-200s, two ATR72-500s, three B727-200s, one B727-200(F), two B737-400s and 19 Fokker 100s. Tehran-based carrier currently have flights to 40 domestic and 13 international destinations.
Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2017 Chatham House Prize to be awarded by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) of the United Kingdom.



A statement issued by Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, the Head of Communications of the EC, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said the Commission was delighted to make the announcement.



The statement said according to the Director of Chatham House, Dr Robin Niblett CMG, the nomination of Mrs Osei was based on her admirable supervision of Ghanas peaceful and transparent electoral process in December 2016.



The recent election consolidated Ghanas 24-year long democratic trajectory and was norm setting for Africa, the Commonwealth and beyond; your tireless efforts throughout 2016 were central to this success, according to Chatham House.



It said Mrs Osei was the only female and the only African to be nominated to the shortlisted 2017 Prize nominees.



It noted that other nominees were Mr Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, for formally ratifying a peace agreement with the FARC rebel group and bringing an end to the war in Colombia; and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, for steering NATO through one of the most complicated periods in its recent history.



It said past recipients of the Chatham House Prize include; former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,



Others were Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Democracy Campaigner and Leader of the National League for Democracy and, former US Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential candidate in last Novembers US elections, Mrs Hillary Clinton; and former US Secretary of State Mr John Kerry.



The statement said final winner of the award would be announced at the end of April, 2017.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
President and chairman of Groupe Nduom (GN) has called for the arrest and deportation of Chinese and Indian nationals engaged in illegal mining, popularly referred to as galamsey.



According to Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, insofar as these nationals respect the environmental laws of their countries, they must do same in this country. Ghanaians, he said, love their environment.



So if these foreign nationals love their countries and would love to protect their environment and laws, why should we as Ghanaians allow them to come and destroy our rivers and lands? It is not India or Chinese government that will stop or deport them from Ghana but rather Ghana government, he indicated.



Dr. Nduom made the call on Ghana, Great and Strong, a non-partisan interactive programme broadcast every Saturday from 7:00 p.m.,8:00 p.m., on GN media outlets spread across the country.



The programme has chalked 5 years since its inception in 2012.



Speaking on the topic: Galamsey, Our Land Our future, Dr. Nduom explained that I love Indians and Chinese, particularly the way they protect their countries way of life and environment. It is not all Indians or Chinese nationals in Ghana who do galamsey, but those who are actively involved in these illegal activities must be stopped.



The President of GN said Ghanas laws are made to be respected and adhered to.



He lamented the situation where citizens flout the countrys laws with impunity.



Dr. Nduom likened such a situation to a leaderless country.



He could not fathom why some Indians and Chinese would be allowed into the country only to destroy our livelihood when Ghanaians wouldnt even dare and definitely would not be allowed into those countries much less to engage in illegal mining.



He said that it is common knowledge in Ghana that those behind the financing and acquisition of the heavy equipment being used by galamsey operators are mostly the Chinese and Indians.



Against this backdrop, Dr. Nduom advised Ghanaians against misconstruing small scale mining and galamsey.



In his estimation, the Small Scale Mining Law PNDC Law 218 (1987) legalises operations of small scale mining and the Mining and Minerals Act 703 of the 1992 Constitution clearly spells out procedures for the issuance of licenses for small scale firms.



Small scale mining license, he said, are only issued to Ghanaians who are 18 years and above, adding that even in such circumstances they are subject to conditions such as a maximum of 1.2 hectares of land allocated to one person or a group of persons not exceeding four (4) in number.



So you must be a Ghanaian and you must be allocated certain acres of land before you are given the license, he further expatiated.



He urged Ghanaians to take the Mining and Minerals Act seriously and adhere to it.



He wondered whether a Ghanaian [be it a carpenter, trader or a galamseyers] could travel to India with the intention of going to engage in galamsey because there is deposit of gold or coal in that country.



so why should Chinese and Indians come to Ghana and purchase these heavy equipment just to destroy our rivers? Who gave them the permission to come here to engage in galamsey? he asked.



Are our leaders so blind that when a Chinese is coming we cant look through their eyes and ask what he or she is coming to do here and who invited him or her?



Dr. Nduom was also not happy about the whereabouts of one Madam Aisha, a well-known Asian woman, who he said engaged in galamsey and destroyed the environment including water bodies in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.



How can we survive without water and other water bodies, land to cultivate maize, cocoa, cassava when if all these water bodies are destroyed?



He partially agreed with those who argued that the youth must be given jobs, but quickly pointed out that jobs seeking should not destroy the countrys natural resources.



I can only talk about it, or tell people, the president, ministers responsible for the interior or environment. They are people we have entrusted them with power. Let them use the powers for our benefit. That is what we need and thats what we want. If this country is managed well we will have children who will go to school and when they go to school and come out, we will have jobs for them to do, he averred.





Source: Today









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Two lawyers on Monday clashed over the identity of a security man testifying in the Marwako Restaurant assault case at the Abeka District Court.



The security man, a third prosecution witness who gave his full name to the court as Yaw Asiedu informed the court in his evidence in chief that he was the one who assisted the victim Ms Evelyn Boakye to wash the pepper off her face.



However when Defence Counsel challenged him under cross- examination that it was one Daniel a security man at the Restaurant who assisted the victim and not him (Asiedu). Asiedu retorted that he was also known as Daniel.



When Defence Counsel, Mr Augustine Asarfo Adjei challenged him to produce documents to show that he was also known as Daniel, the witness said he had no Identity card.



Mr Francis Xavier Sosu, a lawyer who was watching brief in the matter informed the defence counsel to furnish the court with documents indicating the witness was not called Daniel.



According to Mr Sosu, the defence ought to prove to the court that witness was not known as Daniel adding we cannot do their case for them.



When the court asked Asiedu if he could get documents over his identity he said his parents could attest to his name adding; if you go to the school I attended you will know that I was called Daniel Yaw Asiedu.



When asked by the court over how he was employed, the witness told the court that Marwako Restaurant employed him.

The court however discharged Asiedu after Defence Counsel had subjected him to cross-examination.



Answering questions administered by defence , Asiedu maintained that he was the one who assisted the victim to wash off the blended pepper on victims face.



He disagreed with defence counsel that what was on the victims face was blended onion.



I saw pepper on her face and not onions. Whilst I assisted her, the victim cried out louder, Asiedu told the court.

Asiedu admitted that he was not present when the Jihad Chaaban, the accused person dipped the victim face into the blended pepper.



According to him he was not present when the incident happened and he only came into contact with the victim after the incident.



He further maintained that he was on duty at the Abelemkpe branch of Marwako Restaurant on February 26, this year, when the incident occurred.



Earlier, Yaw Asiedu who was led in evidence by Chief Inspector H. A. Hanson on the day of the incident, he assisted the victim, Ms Boakye to wash the blended pepper off her face.



According to him whilst on duty, at about 16:00 hours seated at the entrance of the gents dressing room he saw the victim heading towards the females dressing room.



I approached the victim and she narrated her ordeal to me. I did not see the accused person splashing the blended pepper into the face of the victim, he said.



Chaaban aged 26, is before the Court for allegedly dipping the face of Ms Boakye into a blender of blended pepper at the Abelemkpe branch of Marwako Restaurant.



Chaaban was charged with offensive conduct by calling the victim a prostitute, intentionally and unlawfully causing harm and assault.



Chaaban has pleaded not guilty to the charges.



He was on February 28, this year, alleged to have assaulted the victim Evelyn Boakye for fidgeting with a blender and working slowly.



Chaaban, a brother in-law of the owner of Marwako Restaurant at the Abelemkpe branch allegedly grabbed the neck of the victim angrily and dipped her face into a blender of blended pepper.



Hearing continues on April 6 before the court presided over by Ms Victoria Ghansah

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
NPPs Bernard Antwi Boasiako says the Ashanti Region got worse during the era of the immediate past government, National Democratic Party [NDC].



According to him, the region is yet to smile again with jaw-dropping developments by the current government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



The NPPs Ashanti Regional Chairman who is popularly referred to as Chairman Wontumi made this assertion after the president's recent visit to the region.



Asanteman is currently the happiest region ever. Since NPP won the last elections, the region is still rejoicing over Nana Addos presidency. The region has suffered a lot under the past government, he said.



Speaking on NEAT FMs morning show dubbed Ghana Montie the outspoken regional chairman recalled some bad policies he claimed was introduced in the region by the Mahama-led administration.



The NDC forced on us [Asanteman] all the bad policies they introduced. They [NDC] introduced some National Health Insurance program which wasnt right yet they brought that to Kumasi. We suffered a lot, he told host Kwesi Aboagye.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram Sam George says he has been vindicated by the release of a video which proves that the Minister of Education Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh insulted Tamale North Constituency, Alhaji Alhassan Suhuyini in Parliament.



Sam George released the video in which Hon Mathew Opoku Prempeh is seen gesticulating and pointing his finger to his head in anger as an evidence that Napo insulted Hon Suhiyini.



In a statement from Sam George, he said: Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has demanded a swift apology from me. I urge Him to embrace humility and decorum and publicly apologize to our colleague Member of Parliament, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini. I further advise him to also apologize for his uncouth and unparliamentary behavior to the Speaker of the august House and to His constituents for letting them down one more time



A near brawl occurred in Parliament after the Joe Ghartey committee presented its report. According to Sam George the misunderstanding was after Dr Opoku Prempeh described Hon Suhiyini as a fool.



A day after Sam George made the allegation, the Minister issued a statement categorically denying the claim and further asked the former to apologise. But the Ningo-Prampram MP who feels vindicated by the video says there is no need to apologise.



Read the statement from Sam George



MINISTER FOR EDUCATION CAUGHT ON TAPE INSULTING IN PARLIAMENT



My attention has been drawn to a statement on the official letterhead of the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South Constituency and Minister for Education, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh. I would have ordinarily ignored the said statement, but for the sake of posterity and clarity in the minds of right thinking Ghanaians. The Minister for Education is on the wrong path, he must rather apologize for his uncouth behavior and I wish to set the records straight:



1.That on Thursday, 30th March 2017, during proceedings in Parliament, tempers flared when the report ofthe Hon. Joe Ghartey Investigative Committee on the alleged Agyarko Bribery Scandal was being debated on thefloor;



2.That in the course of heckles and side commentary, the Member of Parliament for Manhyia SouthConstituency and Minister for Education, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh took issue with the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini and hurled invectives at the latter;



3.That I clearly heard the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South Constituency and Minister for Education,Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh call the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini madand described him in the akan language with the word nkwasiasem; and



4.That as I had stated earlier, on Friday 31st March 2017, on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Member ofParliament for Manhyia South Constituency and Minister for Education, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh triggeredthe angry exchanges in Parliament.



Notwithstanding these facts, I have read with shock in the third paragraph of the Minister for Educations statement, a wholesome denial of his unfortunate utterances in Parliament. In doing so, he adopts a weak excuse of Hansard records to seek escape from his misdeed.



In the penultimate paragraph of his statement, my factual reportage of the issues is described as scurrilous and unfounded allegations. The Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh again reminds that the people of Ghana have reposed utmost confidence in us . we must conduct ourselves with decorum to preserve the integrity of the House.



Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has rather damaged the integrity of Parliament. The attached footage aired by TV3 captured him vividly as he was busily insulting.



Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has demanded a swift apology from me. I urge Him to embrace humility and decorum and publicly apologize to our colleague Member of Parliament, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini. I further advise him to also apologize for his uncouth and unparliamentary behavior to the Speaker of the august House and to His constituents for letting them down one more time.



I stand to be guided by the truth and my conscience for there is no greater measure of integrity.



Hon. Samuel Nartey George (MP)





Below is the statement from Hon Matthew Opoku Prempeh



PRESS RELEASE: INSULT ALLEGATIONS BY HON. SAM GEORGE



My attention has been drawn to a news item on citifmonline.com, dated Friday 31' March 2017. The headline reads 'Napo triggered anger in Parliament, called Suyuhuni a fool- Sam George.



In the said news item, which was in relation to proceedings in the House yesterday Thursday 30" March 2017. the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Hon Sam George is quoted to have said that ...Napo |as I am known by many) had called him [Alhassan Suyuhuni] a fool. During the proceedings he called him 'kwasia' and that is what triggered the whole thing...four weeks ago he called me a fool on the floor of the House simply because I had asked the Speaker to ask him if he v/as wearing a school uniform or was properly attired to Parliament."



First I absolutely and unequivocally deny that I used that word on Hon Suhuyini during the proceedings or at any other time in Parliament yesterday. It must be noted that during yesterday's proceedings, only four Members of Parliament spoke. They are the Majority and Minority Leaders, Hon. Alban Bagbin and Hon. Ayarigah. In any event, whilst the Hansard (a verbatim record of proceedings) relating to yesterday's proceedings is not yet available, the proceedings were televised live. Clearly I would have been heard by viewers uttering those words if indeed Hon. Sam George heard them, as he sits on the other side of the House. No doubt the Speaker too would have heard and certainly would have swiftly ordered that I withdraw the word. No such thing occurred, as viewers of yesterday's proceedings would note.



In respect of the claims relating to four weeks ago. per Hon. Sam George, it is clear he was referring to the proceedings of Friday 10th March 2017, when the issue of my attire came up. As would be noted from the records of that day's proceedings, at no point did I refer to him in the manner he alleges.



I take grave exception to the scurrilous and unfounded allegations by my colleague Member of Parliament. The people of Ghana have reposed utmost confidence in us by electing us to represent them in the House. It is therefore important that at all times we conduct ourselves with decorum to preserve the integrity of the House and to justify that confidence.



I expect Hon. Sam George to do the honourable thing by swiftly apologizing for his unfounded allegation.





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.

Featured Video
Members of National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority side on the Mines and Energy Committee on Monday reacted to an unsigned report circulating the media suggesting fraud on their side in the power agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Africa and Middle East Resources Investment (AMERI) LLC.



They said they would not ordinarily have commented on the unsigned documents, but were compelled by the public interest and the truth to comment.



Dr Kwabena Donkor, former Minister of Power and Member of Parliament for Pru East supported by his then Deputy John Jinapor, together with former Energy Minister Emmanuel Armah- Kofi Buah led the group to react to the report at a press conference at the Parliament House, in Accra.



The caucus said the claim by the report that the VRA signed a Letter of Intent with AMERI Energy on 23rd December on sole sourced basis after meeting former President John Mahama and the Crown Prince of Dubai was not true.



Dr Donkor named Mr Philip Addison, the defeated parliamentary candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Klotte Korle Constituency in Election 2016, Ms Vicky Bright of the Office of the President and Mr Evron Rotschild Hughes of the Office of the Vice President, as the purported writers of the report.



Dr Donkor questioned the basis on the presence of Mr Hughes of the Addison Committee, in the face of a suit against Mr Hughes at the High Court to the Ameri project.



Citing that the unsigned report was politically motivated by the NPP, Dr Donkor said in a non-political environment, it would have been sacrilegious for this gentleman (Mr Hughes) to have been made a leading Member of a Commission to investigate the AMERI project.



Dr Donkor debunked claims by the Addison Committee charged to review, restructure and recommend areas of amendment of the Ameri power deal, of fraud by the then Government Team in 2015, after it emerged that Ghana was made to pay $150 million dollars extra in commission to AMERI for the construction a power plant.



In reaction to a claim attributed to the Addison Committee, that it had not sighted any document replacing APR with AMERI, Dr Donkors group said there was no such document because AMERI never replaced APR.



On the claim by the said report that due diligence was not followed, Dr Donkors Group stated that  the Ministry was happy to leave the due diligence to JP Morgan, the international financial giant that confirmed the Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC).



JP Morgan only agreed to confirm the SBLC after their own due diligence.



Parliament also probed the credentials of the AMERI and requested and received the appropriate documentation before approving the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). And it is important to note that the State of Ghana had no exposure to AMERI at this stage because the risk of procuring the turbines was on AMERI and not Ghana.



On the take or pay contract structure, which the supposed Addison Committee report put the fuel supply risk on the VRA/ Government of Ghana, the Minority Members on the Mines and Energy Committee said the fact that the Energy project is not Independent Power Producer (IPP), but in a partnership that would result in the takeover of the plant in five years.



This is not the first time fuel supply obligation has gone to VRA, Dr Donkor said, adding in Sunon Asogli Phase One, under the last NPP government, VRA was contracted to supply gas to Sunon Asogli, an IPP.



The Kwabena Donkor Group wondered why the supposed Addison Committee did not invite the then Minister in Charge of Power or his Deputy to provide relevant information that would help in its works, and registered its commitment to work with the Government in creating a robust and sustainable Sector to the benefit of Ghana.



They explained that power outages and their effects do not wear party colours

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Transport fares are very likely to go up, starting from next week.



There's credible information that the fares would see a 15% increment due to the fuel hikes.



Transport operators yesterday [Monday] announced a 15% increment in transport fares which is expected to take effect April, 6, 2017. According to a statement released, the increment is line with the Administrative Instrument on public fares.



The statement said, "the road transport operators have reviewed the prices of various elements that go into running of commercial transport services and have increased road transport fares by 15%." The increment the statement further indicated, cover the following transport operators; Intra-City (Trotro); Inter-City (Long Distance) and Taxi Cabs.



Following the announcement, some Ghanaians have expressed their displeasure and called on the transport authorities not to review the current fares.



Addressing the issue on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Kwesi Pratt believes the transport fare increment is in the right direction.



According to him, vehicle drivers deserve to have the fares reviewed upwards because of the hardships they are subjected to due to the economic challenges.



Mr. Pratt explained that the fares are a means of livelihood for drivers and if fuel prices and other commodities are going up, the nation shouldn't expect them to keep up with the current fares.



He noted that though the government has indicated that it will abolish some taxes, primarily taxes on spare parts; it however won't make any huge difference if the country's currency continues to depreciate as against foreign currencies.



To him, the government's decision to reduce taxes for spare parts dealers in the country, doesn't mean prices will go down because there are several factors that come into play so far as the economy is concerned.



Its not only taxes that make prices go high or low. There are several factors. Lets speak the truth. With the spare parts dealers, even if we reduce the taxes and the cedi still depreciates; by all means he cannot reduce the price. He likes the government. He likes the country. He wants his country to progress but the reality is that the cedi is falling. Its unpredictable. He cant reduce it.



Since drivers also rely on spare parts dealers to fix their vehicles, it means they will have to pay more and so should transport fares remain the same; they (drivers) will be adversely affected," Mr. Pratt further added.



He however wants government to look at the petroleum sector and the currency in order to stabilize the economy.



He advised the government not to keep allowing petroleum product prices to be determined by private petroleum dealers (Oil Marketing Companies - OMCs), explaining that as businessmen, they are interested in making profits even if it's to the detriment of Ghanaians.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/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.

Featured Video
Kobi Rana has clearly spelt out his rules to actors seeking to pick up roles in his movies and he placed No Fake Accents on top of the list.



The director and actor expressed his disgust at industry players who act speaking with foreign accents which most often than not, does not even sound original at the attempt.



In a letter he posted on his IG page to aspiring actors, he warned against the use of fake accents in Ghanaian movies.



Heres how Kobi put it, Dear actor who wants to be in my movies; Rule Number One - Never ever speak with an American or British accent in front of me. It is an African movie.



Speak like an African; unless the script asks for another accent. Even the highly talented British and American actor Idris Elba spoke purely African in "Beast of No Nation.



Because he knows the difference between an African movie and whatever you guys are trying to do on your screens. E dey bore me chakaaaa, especially these TV series actors.



I go sack you one time. Fake slangs s3n?

Source: asempanews









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Australia bloody loves an animal in non-animal places yarn, and the bulk of them come in the form of snake stories from Queensland.

But blessed Tasmania doesnt tend to busy itself with snake-related issues; the ones they have down there usually keep themselves to themselves. So instead, the island state has gotta get its displaced critter tales from other sources like uh seals. Yknow, that classic Australian animal constantly up to hijinx.

A 160kg fur seal decided to take up show in suburban Launceston earlier this morning, enjoying itself some glorious Tasmanian sun and generally being a heaps chill dude who didnt particularly want to be captured.

Hes really made himself at home. No name yet, but we do know hes about 160 kilos and loves to sunbake @ExaminerOnline pic.twitter.com/N0gaQPylVx  Melissa Mobbs (@melissamobbs) April 3, 2017

The big bloke took up the sunny bankside residence in the inner-Launceston suburb of Newstead. Seals are known to frequent suburban areas in Northern Tasmania, particularly at this time of year when they venture up the citys Tamar River in search of native fish.

Tasmania Police and parks & wildlife officials monitored the scene for about two hours before they were able to safely wrangle the seal and relocate him to a more suitable location.

One day hes running on the job, the next hes helping lift a seal @tomjohnson1991 the man of many talents. pic.twitter.com/NbsSfhPjkV  Melissa Mobbs (@melissamobbs) April 4, 2017

Theres no word on what the seal was intending to do on his brief little sojourn into Launceston.

Maybe he was keen to head down to the Seaport for fish & chips.

Maybe he heard there was a new tap takeover going on at Saint John.

Maybe, just maybe, he was a bit keen to trade the morning sun for some afternoon rays in the picturesque First Basin.

Either way, Tassies a weird place and I love it dearly.

Source: The Examiner.

Photo: Melissa Mobbs/Twitter.
The ACT Supreme Court has found a man guilty of causing $550,000 worth of property damage to a Canberra office building after drinking a fair chunk of his motel rooms minibar.

Chief Justice Helen Murrell ruled that although the man appeared to experience a psychotic episode as the result of drinking the alcohol, a lack of evidence that he suffered a chronic psychotic condition meant he was still liable for the damage:

Unfortunately for the accused, he cannot argue that his behaviour was involuntary because, to the extent that his conduct was involuntary, it was the product of self-induced intoxication.

Kevin Pahl was on a work trip in Queanbeyan in 2015 when he began drinking due to stress, despite having avoided alcohol for two years under the belief that it made him manic. Over the course of two hours, he drank four full-strength beers and two full 700mL bottles of wine (roughly $10,000 worth in minibar dollars  those things are fucking expensive).

After becoming concerned that he was being chased, he drove his Toyota Hilux ute into a parking ticket machine at the Canberra Airport carpark, where it became subsequently wedged.

He then fled on foot into an office building in Brindabella Business Park and turned on four fire hydrants hoping to catch the attention of someone that could help him, after which he hid under a desk as the hydrants did the bulk of the $550,000 worth of damage.

Police found him underneath the desk and took him to the ACT Watch House before removing him to hospital after he complained of chest pains. He then became agitated on the trip to the hospital, saying I fucked up, I fucked up.

He was charged with trespassing and three counts of reckless property damage and blew 0.154 in a blood-alcohol test.

His sentencing will take place later this month.

Source: Canberra Times.
Well, the governments legislation for their brand spanking new internship program hasnt even passed Parliament but the eager beavers are so bloody sure it will pass that theyve cracked along with it anyway.

You might vaguely remember through the accrued haze of nearly a years worth of excessive booze consumption that this was a point of contention at Budget time last year  with many people believing that the governments internship scheme looked a lot like a super easy way for businesses to get around that pesky problem of paying young workers. Such an unnecessary imposition.

please sir may i have some gruel (and reasonable monetary compensation)

Regardless, heres the lowdown on what Treasurer Scott Morrison and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash are planning with this crazy scheme.

What is it?





The program is called PaTH, which stands for Prepare, Trial and Hire  because clearly nobody in the Department of Employment & Workplace Relations could be bothered coming up with something that starts with A. Maybe they can find an intern to think one up.

Heres the vibe: the government is setting up a scheme by which people who currently receive Newstart will be ushered into internships, where they will work for 15-25 hours per week. In exchange for this work, theyll get an extra $100 a week on top of their usual Newstart allowance. The businesses in question receive a $1000 upfront payment.

This was what people had a problem with  when you break it down, that could work out to be as little as $4 an hour. And when you look at some of the internships the government themselves are using as examples, the value seems a little well, off.

Seriously, the examples of internships in the budget papers are for *waiting tables* and *working in a supermarket* pic.twitter.com/2Aj3zdwvgw  _robcorr (@_robcorr) May 3, 2016

The internships last up to12 weeks. After that, the employer has a choice of letting them go, or hiring them. If they do hire them, the government gives the business a $10,000 wage subsidy.





Wait, you said it hadnt passed through Parliament yet? As Rove McManus would say: WHAT THE?!





It has not. Scott Morrison told reporters today that hes bloody confident it will though. We are very confident of being able to take this through the Senate based on our record of getting things through the Senate.

note: the government does not have a good record of getting things through the senate

Theyre still giving it a red hot go, however. They can implement a large chunk of the program without passing any legislation at all, actually. What the legislation does is ensure that the fortnightly $200 payment does not get taxed as regular employment income. It also ensures that those who drop out of the program can go back onto their regular payments without having to reapply.

So, as per usual, the people who actually get fucked if the legislation doesnt pass are the workers themselves. Rock / hard place / etc.

Whats the response?





Predictably, businesses and business lobby are all for it. Why wouldnt they be? Its a huge pool of labour available to many industries that dont really have access to internships at the current time. Business Council chief Jennifer Westacott reckons itll give young people a foot in the door of jobs they otherwise wouldnt have, as well as giving them the opportunity to develop skills.

Cash, for her part, reckons that itll help 120,000 young people aged 17 to 24 enter the workforce, giving them the skills they need to get their foot in the door [] the opportunity to showcase their skills to an employer.

The unions arent so keen. ACTU secretary Sally McManus says that its exploitative of the young workers and also impacts older workers and other workers in the affected sectors. If employers can legally employ people on $3.22 an hour and the government pays, why would they hire a young person on the minimum wage? she asks.

Labor MP Ed Husic is also baffled by the money that gets handed to businesses in the process  both in the form of the initial $1000 payment and the wage subsidy. Providing subsidised labour to go into the private sector, it has never been done by Government before, Husic says.

So, is the legislation going to pass?





Well have to see. Labor and The Greens, as well as a few crossbenchers, say they wont vote for it. The annoying this, as above, is that the government will press ahead with implementing it anyway  itll just put a bunch of young workers in these internships in a much more financially precarious situation.

The long and short of it? It sucks being a young worker in a tough labour market with rampant underemployment. It sucks real bad.

Photo: Parks & Rec.
If you thought your day was going badly, spare a thought for the poor border officers in Melbourne, who inspected a box marked 2 pair shoes and instead uncovered a plethora of venomous snakes, tarantulas, and scorpions instead  some of them still alive.

Australian Border Force officials x-rayed an international mail consignment from northern Europe on March 14 this year, and found the nightmare fuckery version of 12 Days of Christmas.

The consignment included:

three ball pythons, also known as royal pythons

two hognose snakes

six vipers, identified as Wagler s temple vipers a venomous pitviper species native to South-East Asia

s temple vipers a venomous pitviper species native to two Colombian giant tarantulas

giant tarantulas five Mexican redknee tarantulas

redknee tarantulas two Brazilian salmon pink tarantulas considered to be the third-largest tarantula in the world

salmon pink tarantulas considered to be the third-largest tarantula in the world four Asian forest scorpions

Department Secretary responsible for biosecurity, Lyn OConnell, said the pandoras box was a clear attempt to get around Australias strict biosecurity laws.

No spider is a match for our biosecurity web, we get our tails up when there are scorpions in the mail and if you try send exotic snakesbeware if we find intentional non-compliance, we bite back with the full force of the law, she said (in-between spamming the office Slack for animal puns). The department works around the clock to enforce Australias strict biosecurity border controls12 million mail items and four million passengers were screened in the 2015-16 financial year, along with the assessment of a million cargo consignments.

This resulted in 3500 infringement notices and the uncovering of a range of items that posed a risk to Australian biosecurity, including plants and seeds, whole fresh fish, dried lizards, frogs and spiders.

Anyone who claims to be an animal lover and conceals reptiles or arachnids in small packages and sends them through the mail does not have the best interests of the animalsor Australiaat heart.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that all of the vipers, scorpions and some of the spiders had died in transit. A veterinary officer euthanised the animals still alive.

The matter of the package is now being investigated.

Photo: Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.
A Target store in the town of Bowen has apologised after a photo went viral on Facebook purporting to show a slab of bottled water being sold for $72 in the wake of floods in the area.

Customer Natalie Maher posted a photo to the Target Facebook page complaining of price gouging over a $72 price tag on a slab of water in the Bowen store after the cyclone:

Her post read:

Just got home from Woolworths after doing some shopping. Quickly popped into Target Country to get a few items and on the counter was a 24 pack of 600ml bottled spring water for sale, with a huge price stand in front of it. I thought the price was wrong and informed the check out chick that someone has placed the wrong price in front of the water. She informed me that No it is the correct price. How much was it you want to know? I hope your sitting down, $72. YEP $72. Talk about price gaugeing [sic] us while we are in need. Disgusting mongrels.

A Target spokesperson has responded to the image and claimed the price was a misunderstanding from an employee.

It was an unfortunate misunderstanding at store level. A worker thought they were helping the community by selling the water by the slab, she told News Corp. But we dont sell water by the slab, only individually.

She confirmed that no slabs of water were actually sold at that price. Its probably pretty easy to imagine an employee assuming that the price of a full, non-retail slab is just the individual bottle price multiplied by 24. That said, its not an ideal look  based on the comments on the Facebook page.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that individual bottles of water had been reduced to $1.

Source: News.com.au.

Photo: Facebook.
This is fun! This is a fun one.

For those unfamiliar with him, this is US hyper-conservative radio host Bryan Fischer.

This bloke has an overflowing greatest hits of mental gymnastic efforts that have manifested in a veritable War & Peace of head-scratching quotes. Take some of these choice cuts, for example:

On Black American and the welfare system:

[It has] destroyed the African-American family [by] offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock, which therefore encourages fornication rather than marriage, which in turn creates disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.

On Muslim people:

Every time we allow a mosque to go up in one of our communities, its like planting an improvised explosive device right in the heart of your city and we have no idea when one of these devices is going to go off.

On the LGBTQI community:

Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Hitler couldnt get straights to be vicious enough in being his enforcers. Homosexual soldiers basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict.

And on marriage equality:

6/26 [the date the US Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v Hodges and legalised same-sex marriage across the US] is now our 9/11 the day the twin towers of truth and righteousness were blown up by moral jihadists.

So, yknow. Hes a real gas at parties.

The latest series of words to fall out of his mouth has drawn particular ire and derision concerns cultural appropriation; namely, the idea that the pesky LGBTQI community has been at it again, and has brazenly stolen the rainbow from its rightful and just owner, God.

Yep.

Worst example of cultural appropriation ever: LGBTs stole the rainbow from God. Its his. He invented it. Gen. 9:11-17. Give it back.  Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) April 2, 2017

*clears throat*

Is that cultural appropriation?

Would you even believe that that statements had the ever-loving piss dragged out of it? Would ya even believe it?

@BryanJFischer oh no, the loathsome gays, theyre hoarding all the light refracted through water vapor in the entire world!!!  Nate Bethea (@inthesedeserts) April 2, 2017

Worst example of cultural appropriation ever: LGBTs stole the rainbow from Mario. Its his. He invented it. Super Mario Kart. Give it back. pic.twitter.com/YLqaN0hdnW  Joshua MacDougall (@FreakinClever) April 2, 2017

@BryanJFischer Also: Phoenix Suns stole gods sun!

Tampa Bay Lightning stole lightning!

Oklahoma City Thunder stole Thunder! omg when will the horror stop  Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) April 2, 2017

Course none of this is gonna do a dang thing to curtail the fountain of nonsense that inexplicably falls out of a real-life human beings mouth and into the public sphere.

But hey, sometimes youve gotta laugh at the bad things.

Because the alternative is ah not so great.

Source: Twitter.

Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty.
You havent experienced the very best bed has to offer unless youve slept on 100% linen sheets.

As a natural derivative of the flax plant, theyre a godsend for people with cooked core temperatures because, unlike polyester, their loosely-woven fibres encourage airflow. They also adapt to the body, meaning youll be warm in winter, cool in summer and juuuuuuust right on the nights in between.

Something else to consider: the very nature of linen means it looks x1 million better crushed to buggery. That means you can do away with the arduous task of ironing / neatly folding bedding and your partner / mum / housemate cant utter a bad word about it. Pull up the deliciously-crinkled duvet cover every morning, chuck on a decorative pillow and  et voila  your bedroom is a friggin catalogue.

Pls enjoy our edit of the Aussie brands slingin linen sweet dreams are made of.

IN BED





Bedside essentials at inbedstore.com Image @terencechinphotography for IN BED #inbedstore A post shared by IN BED (@inbedstore) on Feb 23, 2017 at 1:17pm PST

Not only do IN BED offer stupidly snuggly sheet sets in off-beat colours like peach and moss, it recently branched out into pjs  all made from the same scrummy linen. Good luck resisting the aprons, tote bags and tablecloths, too.

MAJOR MINOR

STRIKE GREY ???????????? #strikegrey #majorminorsydney #greylinen #linensheets #linensheetsets #berrymountain A post shared by MAJOR MINOR SYDNEY (@majorminorsydney) on Oct 4, 2016 at 1:47pm PDT

Major Minor is great for the linen lover who cant commit to one colour, because there are so many to choose from: cobalt blue, blush pink, pinstripe. The options are endless, so itd be rude to stop at one set.

CULTIVER





The simple things our olive and white is the best combination #cultiverlinen #olivelinen A post shared by C U L T I V E R (@cultiver_goods) on Sep 17, 2016 at 1:32am PDT

Whoever invented swimwear separates deserves a medal, but CULTIVER gets a big ol A+ for its mix n match bedding. That means you get four different colourways to play with for the price of two, giving your bank account the break it deserves without skimping on style. Plus, all Aussie orders ship for freesies.

IN THE SAC





This cheeky local label should be your go-to if earthy tones make your heart flutter. Not only are the fibres for IN THE SAC sheets grown and woven in the Netherlands, exclusively for them, the cute drawstring bags the sheets come in make for excellent portable makeup bags. Double win.

R & R BEDDING





Need a last minute engagement or wedding present? Our pillowcases can be monogrammed or personalised and shipped within 2 business days. A post shared by R & R Bedding (@randrbeddingbondi) on Jan 26, 2017 at 7:32pm PST

A brand new addition to the linen landscape, Bondi-based R & R Bedding takes 100% French linen one step further with matching personalised pillowcases, embroidered with whatever you damn well please. Options: your initials, a #motivationalquote, Yeezy Taught Me.

Sweet dreams.

Photo: R & R Bedding.
The internationally acclaimed Pink Martini will perform once again in Istanbul on April 15, 2017. Pink Martini will perform at Volkswagen Arena as part of their European tour of the new album titled "Je Dis Oui".

Pink Martini is a "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale. They draw inspiration from music from all over the world  crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop.

Featuring 10-12 musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand, South America and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonics Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Years Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Governors Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia; two sold-out concerts at Paris legendary LOlympia Theatre in 2011; and Paris' fashion house Lanvins 10-year anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012.

Click here to purchase ticket to the concert.
FILE -- In this March 7, 2017 file photo, the first of the large Boeing 737 MAX 9 models, Boeing's newest commercial airplane, sits outside its production plant, in Renton, Wash. Boeing Co. announced Tuesday, April 4, 2017 that it has signed a new, $3 billion deal with Iran's Aseman Airlines for 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Chicago-based Boeing said the deal includes purchase rights for an additional 30 737 MAX aircraft. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File )
Europes leading economy hospitality brand is opening a new franchised hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. ibis Istanbul Tuzla Hotel is a modern hotel with 200 rooms that is located 10 minutes' drive from Istanbuls second airport on the Asian side; Sabiha Gokcen Airport.

The hotels modern decorated rooms come with a flat screen TV, air conditioning, and free WIFI throughout the hotel. The hotel has also on site bar and restaurant.

The hotel is located 5 kilometers to Tuzla Marina, 7 kilometers to Pendik Marina, 15 km to Sabiha Gokcen Airport, 10 km to Tuzla Industrial Zone, 200 meters to Tuzla Shipyard, and 20 km to Gebze Industrial Zone.

ibis is one of the economy brands in the Accor Group, the worlds leading hotel operator (4,000 hotels in 95 countries to date). It has more than 138,000 rooms in 1,088 hotels in 65 countries so far and is constantly blazing new trails to take its three core values  modernity, comfort and convenience  to new heights. It has inter alia created a revolutionary bedding concept  the Sweet Bed by ibisTM , new shared areas, an up-to-the-minute food and beverage service  ibis kitchen  and nurtures each and every team members spirit of service. ibis is the first hotel brand to earn ISO 9001 certification  87.5% of its network is now certified  for its uncompromising professional standards and reliability. And 77% of the ibis network is also ISO-14001 certified, mirroring this brands environmental drive.

ibis was established in 1974 and has grown into Europes leading economy hotel brand and the worlds fourth-largest chain in its category.
Gregory Nield and his wife arrive at the Penticton courthouse for the first day of his trial in April 2017 on a charge of aggravated assault against a doctor.
Sarah Fontaine is shown in a Manitoba RCMP handout photo. Manitoba RCMP say they've located the missing younger sister of Tina Fontaine, an indigenous girl whose body was found in the Red River in 2014.Sarah Fontaine, who is 16, had been missing since last week.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Manitoba RCMP MANDATORY CREDIT
Senator Don Meredith leaves a Senate committee in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Sen. Don Meredith is facing a committee of his peers this morning as the Senate inches closer to deciding whether he should keep his seat in the upper chamber. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Booking hotel and buying a flight ticket is very easy today. What about getting from the airport to your hotel in the city center? An airport transfer bus could be the best option. Chances are, if youre an inbound or infrequent traveler, you will wonder where to search and book this last leg. Imagine if that was taken care of through your travel retailer, removing all the uncertainty and stress, just as you would book a flight.

This scenario can now become a reality. With market liberalization and growing competition, the bus is showing itself more and more to be a promising travel alternative. Now, its time to grow at full speed.

In a bid to make this travel option much more attractive, accessible and convenient, Amadeus is today announcing new partnership with Distribusion Technologies.

Distribusion brings over 300 airport bus transfer & intercity bus operators in 2.500 destinations to Amadeus travel seller network. A single gateway to all this content means travel sellers can easily broaden their offer, attract new types of customers and drive revenues, all while forgetting about costly one-to-one setup and commercial relationships. With content, search, booking, payment, ticketing and settlement capabilities covered, travel agencies can focus on adapting this new offer to travellers, and in turn, bus companies will be more visible to new customers in new channels, ultimately driving sales growth. Initially, Amadeus travel sellers in central, eastern and southern Europe will be able to access Distribusion bus content with more across the world expected to join soon.

Travelling by bus is an attractive choice for many, but could be for many more. Bus operators now have a complete package to unlock growth and make a significant footprint in the global travel industry. Our two partnerships with Betterez and Distribusion could not come at a better moment, when new entrants and market dynamics are pushing towards improving the overall offer and experience said Antoine de Kerviler, Head of Rail & Ground Travel at Amadeus. Imagine booking a convenient airport bus transfer on top of your flight and a weekend getaway by rail  all on the same itinerary through your travel retailer  this is door-to-door travel at its best.

Julian Hauck, Founder & CEO of Distribusion said Travel sellers are paying more attention to bus travel to continue enriching their offer to travelers, and have been longing to add this kind of content in a simple, standardized and effective way for some time. The combination of our market leading bus content with Amadeus travel seller network will open the door to new travelers. Were really looking forward to this new phase with Amadeus.
FILE - In this March 17, 2017, file photo, senior adviser Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump arrive for news conference with President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump can help shape foreign and domestic policies. TheyAove also built a business empire worth as much as $740 million that has ties around the world, newly released financial disclosures show. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)
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.
Oil prices fall Monday as Libyan production recovery weighs





NEW YORK

Petroleumworld 04 04 2017

Oil prices fell 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 lost 41 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $53.12 a barrel. That, however, was up 29 cents from Friday's close when May was still the front-month, making it the highest close for the contract in nearly four weeks.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, meanwhile, declined 36 cents, or 0.7 percent to settle at $50.24 per barrel.

Traders noted both U.S. and Brent futures retreated in intraday trade 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 Reuters.

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.

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.

"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.






Driving in Germany can be a delight: the scenery is beautiful and the roads are well maintained. And it is true that there are no speed limits on many sections of German autobahns. Here are the top 7 destinations in Germany for tourists exploring by car.

1. Munich

The gateway to some of the most stunning landscape in the world, the Bavarian capital of Munich is host to the world's largest Oktoberfest. The self-drive adventures are virtually limitless from Munich on a journey through the awe-inspiring Bavarian Alps, or to the area's storybook villages & castles are all within an easy days drive.

2. Frankfurt

Located along Germany's acclaimed Fairy Tale Road, Wine Route and one of the oldest touring roads in the world the Romantic Road, it's no surprise North American travelers choose Frankfurt as a top self-drive destination!

3. Berlin

A global city of politics, media, culture and science, Berlin is home to some of the world's most fascinating historic attractions, culturally significant monuments, and modern amenities.

4. Dusseldorf

Recognized as the center of German advertising and fashion, Dusseldorf has a lively energy that offers an exciting nightlife, fun carnivals, shopping, and trade fairs. From Dusseldorf, travelers can easily drive to explore Belgium and the Netherlands as well as other locations along the Rhine River.

5. Hamburg

This charming port town and Germany's second largest city, Hamburg offers travelers much to do & see and its location makes it the perfect launching off point for a European road trip.

6. Stuttgart

Stuttgart is a top-notch European city filled with amazing architecture, culture, dining, and art. It's also home to the Cannstatter Volksfest an ideal spot to enjoy traditional German Oktoberfest celebrations with less tourist traffic.

7. Nuremberg

The city is known for malty red-beer and a maze of sandstone cellars, Nuremberg's now revived urban center is perfectly situated between Frankfurt & Munich, making it an easily accessible driving destination.

The selection is based on the Auto Europe pickup location of reservations from late 2016 and early 2017 in combination with a review of global travel data.
Oil tanker drivers in Nigeria strike over pay





ONITSHA, Nigeria

Petroleumworld 04 04 2017

Nigerian oil tanker drivers launched a strike on Monday over low wages and poor roads which will threaten to choke off supply until the workers' requests are met.

The oil tanker drivers from Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), one of Nigeria's two major oil workers' unions, have not set an end date for the strike, Cogent Ojobo, a regional chairman for NUPENG, said.

"It is nationwide and compliance is total - all tanker drivers across the nation are involved," Ojobo said. He also said that the union had met with the Nigerian government on Monday and discussions were ongoing.

"At the end of the meeting today if talks fail then other members of NUPENG, like filling stations, will join and that is bound to increase the pump prices of fuel and other petroleum products," he said.

A spokesman for Nigeria's labour ministry said they had a representative at the meetings, but the discussions were coordinated by the oil ministry.

The oil ministry was not immediately available for comment.






Ecuador's Moreno victory with small margin and accusations of fraud may hurt governability

Ecuador backs ruling party with market seeing tough times ahead

QUITO

Petroleumworld 04 04 2017

Ecuador's Lenin Moreno proved that Latin America will still back left-leaning politicians after a wave of center-right leaders displaced populist governments. He'll now have to prove he can run the oil producing economy in lean times.

With 99 percent of ballots counted, Moreno had 51 percent of the vote and a 1.4 percentage point lead over Lasso. Moreno declared himself the victor and has taken congratulatory calls from regional leaders across the ideological spectrum -- from Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro to Peru's Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Meanwhile, Lasso has refused to concede defeat and plans to contest the results alleging that ballots were tampered with.

Investors who had piled into Ecuador's dollar bonds on the expectation that former banker Guillermo Lasso would win Sunday's runoff began to dump the notes when markets opened Monday even without an official proclamation from the electoral council. A narrow victory, allegations of fraud by the opposition and protests don't bode well for a smooth start to Moreno's rule.

The prospect of clashes between political groups, with some friction in congress may make it even harder for the Andean nation and OPEC-member to implement a series of fiscal reforms needed to rein in the country's widening deficit after 10 years of rule by self-declared socialist Rafael Correa.

"If the opposition does not recognize the legitimacy of the government, it is unlikely that Moreno will be able to forge a coalition," Torino Capital's chief economist Francisco Rodriguez wrote in a note on Monday. "The new government may not have the political capital necessary to implement the fiscal and external adjustments necessary to put Ecuador on a sustainable policy path."

Bond investors seem to agree. Ecuador's dollar bonds fell as much as 2.7 percent, pushing the yield on notes maturing in 2024 to 9.1 percent, the highest since December. The country's debt as a percentage of gross domestic product reached 39.6 percent at year-end 2016, twice the level at the end of 2010, according to the Finance Ministry. The nation, which uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency, is at high risk of a funding crisis given Moreno's plans to increase government expenditures, according to Nomura analyst Siobhan Morden.

Bumpy Road

"Moreno will try to send some positive signals to investors but shy away from needed structural reforms," Eurasia Group analyst Risa Grais-Targow wrote in a note Monday, downgrading Ecuador's near-term trajectory to neutral from positive. "Even if he is forced to moderate, the road to more pragmatic policies will be bumpy and signals will probably be mixed."

Under Correa, the government parlayed rising revenue from oil, the OPEC member's top export, to spend more than $350 billion on social programs, infrastructure, defense and local governments. Plunging prices for crude in 2014 and a devastating earthquake in 2015 prompted him to boost government debt to maintain spending.

Moreno is now pledging to increase public spending further, including the construction of 100,000 free or heavily subsidized housing units, a tripling of a monthly cash transfers to low-income families and the opening of 40 new technical universities.

"They'll have to show that they are committed to reducing the structural fiscal deficit and attracting FDI as well as improving competitiveness," Morden said. "That'll be difficult for an administration that didn't campaign on that platform or maybe even necessarily understand what needs to be done."






"The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride...
WASHINGTON  As Afghan security forces continue their military operations against the Taliban and Islamic State 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 countrys 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

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.

NATOs 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.

NATOs 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 Nicholsons call for additional troops, citing the countrys ongoing war on several fronts against different militant groups, which has stretched the countrys 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 countrys 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, Moen Faqir, 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.

-- Noor Zahid wrote this story for Voice of America
Something went wrong, please try again later.

Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.

Get the stories that matter to our community straight to your inbox with our Daily Newsletter

A leading Plymouth businessman is predicting up to 2,000 student flats could be empty when the new academic year starts in September  because the wrong sort of accommodation is being built.

Henry Hutchins, chief executive of Clever Student Lets, said students want shared facilities and companionship, not small self-contained bedrooms.

With several large-scale student flat towers being built in Plymouth, Mr Hutchins said he expects operators will struggle to fill rooms.

"They are not providing the quality that students require," he said.

"In September, if all the new builds come in, there will be between 1,500 and 2,000 empty rooms in the city.

"That will have a monumental effect on the private landlord sector."

He stressed: "Quite a substantial number will be in new-builds  because they have built the wrong type of property.

"They all build one-bedroom, self-contained units.

"The students do not want them, they are the last thing in the city that lets.

"They want four to six bedrooms with a shared kitchen and lounge so they can build a community."

Mr Hutchins did not name individual developments, but at least three huge blocks, currently under construction, are due to be open in September 2017.

The enormous Beckley Point block, at 23 floors the tallest building in the South West, will house 507 students.

The Armada Way skyscraper will feature combination of single en-suite studios, double bedroomed "twodios", and "clusters" where six bedrooms share a kitchen and living area.

Meanwhile, at the 14-level Crescent Point, behind the Reel Cinema and Plymouth Athenaeum, Block A, the taller of two buildings, will have 26 studio room modules, and 262 en-suite room modules.

And at the former Royal Eye Infirmary site, near Mutley, 165 rooms are being created, a mix of three-, four-, five- and six-bedroom clusters, but with some single studio rooms, about 14 per cent of the total.

In 2016, Mr Hutchins warned that student skyscrapers could become high-rise "ghettos" and likened the student skyscrapers to the UK's post-war council flat tower-block splurge, many of which were later condemned.

And he reiterated the point now, saying: "We've built tomorrow's ghettos, there is so much of it out there and the oversupply in Plymouth is vast."

In 2016, Plymouth City Council said there is enough student accommodation already, with more than 7,450 bed spaces either built or on their way, and

However, others in the student letting market said Plymouth still has room for more flats.

The company that owns Beckley Point said it is even keeping an eye on the city and considering whether to build more flats  as the city is expected to attract more foreign students.

GSA/The Student Housing Company said Plymouth still only has 5,000 students in purpose-built flats, from an overall population of about 25,000.

And Mark Slade, of property consultants Bruton Knowles, said Plymouth is now the fifth largest student city in the UK and Plymouth City Council should think again about restricting new planning applications for student accommodation.

He admitted opinion had turned against the idea of huge student blocks in Plymouth and other major UK cities.

But he stressed there is still demand for student accommodation in Plymouth, because the university is still growing and said having students living in the city centre adds to its "vibrancy" and will support businesses which may struggle without student spending.

Clever Student Lets and Santander Bank carried out a survey early in 201 6 which revealed the 31,654 students living in rented city accommodation or at home spent 33,951,103 every week during their nine-month academic year, in 2013-14.

That equated to 305,559,934 that year.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday said his administration would move forward with changes to the Chicago Police Department after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of federal agreements that have bound other cities departments to reforms.

In a two-page memo, Sessions said agreements reached previously between the department's civil rights division and local police departments  a legacy of the Obama administration  will be subject to review by his two top deputies, throwing into question whether all of the agreements will stay in place.

A federal investigation in Chicago began after the release of the video showing the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. The Department of Justice released a detailed report on Chicagos police in the days before President Donald Trump was inaugurated, calling for reforms.

The mayor signed an agreement in principle with the Obama Justice Department in early January to seek court oversight of department reforms, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Officer Randolph Holder of the NYPD was shot and killed in 2015 by Tyrone Howard. On Monday Howard was sentenced to life in prison for the murder. (Photo: NYPD)

Tyrone Howard, the man convicted of murder for shooting NYPD Officer Randolph Holder during a 2015 chase, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in a Manhattan courtroom filled with a sea of blue uniforms.

The courtroom erupted in applause and one spectator shouted, Hes a [expletive]. Burn in hell, as Howard left the courtroom in a suit and shackles following an emotional sentencing that included remarks from the father of the deceased 33-year-old Guyana-born officer, Newsday reports.

Randolph Holder Sr., the father, refused to use Howards name during his comments to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus, instead referring to Howard as that beast.

It has been a very hard and hectic year for my family because of that beast over there, Holder said.  . . . I prefer to call him a beast because he shouldnt have been on the street to do what he was doing. I think he should be put away for life.
Baytown, TX, police say this screen shot from a video shows the suspect's vehicle leaving after Chief Deputy Constable Clint Greenwod was shot. (Photo: Screen shot from Baytown PD video)

A Texas law enforcement officer murdered 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, an unnamed source told the Houston Chronicle.

"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.

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.

A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest. Also, the Baytown Police Department has released video of what is believed to be the suspect's vehicle.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

The slow drip of developments in the never-ending Russia scandal continued on Monday, with a new report from Buzzfeed showing that former Donald Trump campaign adviser Carter Page previously met with a Russian spy.

According to Buzzfeed, Page met with and passed off documents to at least one Russian spy at Moscows UN office in 2013. Two years after the meeting, in 2015, the same spy Page met with faced charges from the United States government as part of a larger spy ring.

More from the report:

The adviser, Carter Page, met with a Russian intelligence operative named Victor Podobnyy, who was later charged by the US government alongside two others for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The charges, filed in January 2015, came after federal investigators busted a Russian spy ring that was seeking information on US sanctions as well as efforts to develop alternative energy. Page is an energy consultant. A court filing by the US government contains a transcript of a recorded conversation in which Podobnyy speaks with one of the other men busted in the spy ring, Igor Sporyshev, about trying to recruit someone identified as Male-1. BuzzFeed News has confirmed that Male-1 is Page. The revelation of Pages connection to Russian intelligence  which occurred more than three years before his association with Trump  is the most clearly documented contact to date between Russian intelligence and someone in Trumps orbit. It comes as federal investigators probe whether Trumps campaign-era associates  including Page  had any inappropriate contact with Russian officials or intelligence operatives during the course of the election.

If this interaction was the only connection that Trump and his circle of associates had with Russia, it may not be such a big story. But this is just one of several ties between people in the presidents orbit and Moscow thats been revealed in recent days.

According to a Washington Post story also published Monday, a secret meeting between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and an associate of Vladimir Putin was arranged by the United Arab Emirates to develop a back-channel line of communication between Trump and Russia.

These are just two examples of connections between Trump and Moscow revealed in a single day. But this is before we get to Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Jared Kushner  all on the list of Trump associates with Russian ties.

Ultimately, no matter how often the president tries to deflect from this explosive scandal by spewing nonsense on Twitter or perpetuating tin-foil hat conspiracy theories about Barack Obama, this controversy isnt going away. There are clear connections between this president  who the Russians helped put in the White House  and Moscow.

Each day, those connections grow tighter and more apparent.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Ranking House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) isnt being distracted by President Trumps diversions on the Russia scandal. Schiff blew Trumps latest attempt to throw Congress off his trail to bits with the facts about intelligence collection.

In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, the ranking House Intelligence Committee member said:

If the White House had any concerns over these documents, or any other documents, they should have provided them to our committee weeks ago. Additionally, the White House has yet to explain why it attempted to conceal its role in the compilation of these materials. The White House is not a whistleblower and nothing that I was shown justifies such duplicitous conduct.

.

With respect to the issue of incidental collection, it is important for people to understand some basic facts:

First, whenever we are doing lawful surveillance for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence and the targets even mention U.S. persons or businesses, that can be considered incidental collection. Of course, incidental collection can also occur when a foreign party we are lawfully collecting on calls or writes to a U.S. person. Some incidental collection is unavoidable, and as long as proper procedures are being followed, it is fully lawful. It does not constitute either wiretapping or surveillance of Americans.

Second, when that incidental collection is included in an intelligence report, the names of the U.S. persons are masked. It may be possible, at times, to guess who the identities are even though they are masked. This, too, is neither uncommon nor improper. When it is necessary to unmask a name to understand the significance of the communication, there is a process for doing so, which is also lawful. Our committee routinely reviews whether our intelligence agencies are properly masking names and unmasking them as appropriate.

Its those basic facts that President Trump and the Republican Party dont want people to understand. Trump and the Republicans are intentionally and falsely equating incidental collection and legal unmasking with spying and leaking. It is the classic Republican tactic of making something legal that their opponents did look illegal to hide their own potentially illegal behavior.

Rep. Schiff was correct. There is a lot of shady behavior on the part of the Trump White House and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, but no one is fooling Schiff.

President Trumps worst nightmare is an intelligent and dogged prosecutor.

The more the White House tries to muddy the waters, the harder Adam Schiff comes after the facts about Trump and Russia.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

The Washington Post reports that Blackwater founder Erik Prince, acting on behalf of Trump, secretly met in January, just before the inauguration, with a representative of Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles.

According to the Post report, Trump supporter and Blackwater founder Erik Prince met with a Russian person close to President Vladimir Putin.

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 Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

The Post reports that the two men met on January 11, which was just 9 days before Donald Trumps poorly-attended inauguration. This revelation joins another report that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page met with a Russian spy.

Prince, 47, while having no formal role with the Trump campaign is an avid supporter of Trump, having donated $250,000 to his campaign, and,

[H]e 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.

It turns out that Prince has close ties to the power behind the Trump throne, Steve Bannon, and Betsy DeVos happens to be his sister.

This whole sordid affair explains her role in the administration. Theres President Obamas much-mocked guns and religion remark right there, as true as the day he spoke it.

Atlantic editor Norman Ornsteins reaction speaks for many:

Good God. Blackwater thug Erik Prince (Betsy DeVos brother) had Dec. secret back channel meeting in Seychelles w Putin surrogate. Horrible.

Prince is a Trump guy through and through. Which obligates Sean Spicer to protest,

We are not aware of any meetings, and Erik Prince had no role in the transition.

Right, and Flynn never met the Russian ambassador. Ivanka Trump was never going to have a security clearance or any official role in the administration either. The list goes on.

Official protests, whether from Trump or Prince, are obviously difficult to swallow given the administrations poor track record with facts.

The news left Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin asking,

Why would an administration with so many documented Russia ties require another channel to Moscow? And why so soon?

GOP strategist Rick Wilson used the news to take a shot at GOP whining focused on Susan Rice:

I'll see your Susan Rice and raise you. https://t.co/bymQKY6wdq  Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 3, 2017

The more Donald Trump claims this is about him being wiretapped or his team unmasked, the more we have to remember this is about Donald Trumps ties to Vladimir Putin, the man who helped him win the 2016 presidential election.

This report of yet another secret meeting between a Trump representative and Russia is obviously bad news for Trump.

Chess champion Garry Kasparov offered an answer to McMullins question: In the words of Bond nemesis Goldfinger,

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time its enemy action. Well beyond third.

Whatever the reason for the seeming redundancy of these meetings noted by McMullin, it is one more thread to the rope tightening around POTUS neck.

Weve gotten to the point where the most skilled liar in American history cannot lie fast enough to cover all the meetings between his people and Putins agents.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

In a statement released the following Donald Trumps signing of S.J. Res. 34, to strip away Americans internet privacy, Nancy Pelosi said,

Someone with as many hidden secrets as President Trump should have greater respect for the privacy of the American people.

She went on to state that,

President Trumps signature has unleashed internet service providers to sell your most intimate personal information  without your knowledge or your consent. This Republican measure is a breathtaking violation of Americans privacy in one of the most personal parts of their lives.

Republicans will do anything to keep President Trumps tax returns hidden. But theyve decided to sell Americans most personal and sensitive information to anyone with the money to buy it. Democrats will be fighting back to restore Americans right to basic privacy on the internet.

Trumps signing of S.J. Res. 34 was a big blow to the American people and a gift to big corporations, and handing over our money  and now our private information  to corporations has been the hallmark of the Trump presidency.

Nancy Pelosi is right that somebody with as many secrets as Trump, and as desperate to keep those secrets hidden, has no business giving away our private information for profit.

All Republicans can do in response is utter those magic words, What about Obama?

Ill answer them here: President Obama was the guy who tried to protect our privacy. Do try to keep up.

Fortunately, while Republicans are doing all in their power to sell us out to their corporate owners, Democrats are doing all in their power to protect us. The battle will not end here.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Forgetting, perhaps, his boss stance on Syria in 2013, White House press secretary Sean Spicer blamed former President Obama for the horrific gas attack massacre in Syria. Spicer told reporters on an off camera gaggle on Tuesday that the attack was a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution.

Todays chemical attack in Syria against innocent people including women and children is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world, Spicer said, according to Dan Merica of CNN. These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution.

However, Spicer continued to blast Obama for doing nothing, but at the time, Trump urged Obama to do nothing. Spicer said, President Obama said in 2012 he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act.

But in 2013 President Trump opposed President Obamas plan to attack Syria:

President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your "powder" for another (and more important) day!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2013

This was better than Trumps Secretary of State Rex Tillerson managed, so bonus points to Spicer for caring about Syria.

Heres Tillerson, who days ago said, the status of President Bashar al-Assad would be decided by the Syrian people, refusing to comment on Tuesday when asked for a response to the chemical attack massacre in Syria:

WATCH: Sec. Tillerson ignores questions about Syria chemical attack massacre. pic.twitter.com/AtTEKyHKim  NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) April 4, 2017

Tillersons total lack of comment is a mark of shame for this country that symbolizes the Trumpian decent of our standing in the world.

Trumps press secretary Sean Spicer seems to be operating in a world where an all-powerful, omnipotent President Obama is to blame for everything, even when Trump took the exact same position that Spicer is now criticizing.

Sure, thats to be expected on some level because certain policies of previous administrations really do impact events today. But since Trump has yet to take responsibility for his own policies and failures, the Trump White Houses knee-jerk blame Obama game is a tired, transparent dodge.

The Trump White House is doing nothing, Rex Tillerson didnt even comment on it.

What is happening in Syria is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and the way that Donald Trump is handling it is to blame Obama. Barack Obama isnt the president. Hillary Clinton isnt the president.

Donald Trump is sitting in the big chair, so the White Houses cowardice and failure in the face of an appalling chemical attack against innocent people is inexcusable.
CEU condemns Hungarys new higher ed law, plans legal action

Central European University (CEU) condemns the Hungarian Parliaments passage of amendments to the Hungarian national law on higher education today. The new law puts at risk the academic freedom not only of CEU but of other Hungarian research and academic institutions, the university, founded by Hungarian-born financier George Soros, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Related article

Hungary practically decapitates Central European University 04/04/2017 2:03pm

and the requirement that foreign institutions like CEU receive authorization from US federal authorities appears not to understand the US Constitution. US law clearly gives authority for higher education to the states," CEU said in a statement.It added that the university has operated since 2004 on just such an agreement between the Governor of the State of New York and the then Prime Minister of Hungary.CEU also regards the new legislation as ".

We will contest the constitutionality of this legislation. In the meantime, we call on the government to enter into dialogue to see whether an agreement can be reached to resolve the issue. Such an international binding agreement must allow CEU to continue its operations in Budapest and safeguard its academic freedom

, said CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff.In reacting to the new law, Rector Ignatieff said:

This legislation has been rammed through Parliament in a single week following a tide of defamatory attacks on the university and its degrees. These attacks have not succeeded.



CEU will continue its operation and maintain the continuity of its programmes in all circumstances," stressed Ignatieff at a press conference today.



We want to remain in Budapest we have done nothing wrong, Budapest is our home," he added.



We will challenge the constitutionality of this decision," he tweeted.

@M_Ignatieff : "We will challenge the constitutionality of this decision." #istandwithCEU  IAPSS (@iapss) April 4, 2017





Chairman of CEUs Board of Directors Leon Botstein said during the press conference they remain determined to serve the students and staff, adding that whatever occurs CEU is are going to continue its work, not allowing the politics of the Hungarian government to interfere with or close CEU.

Thank you for your continued support! #IstandwithCEU https://t.co/WIyeIyJYli pic.twitter.com/6Zp18fhZfs  Central European U (@ceuhungary) March 31, 2017

Immense support for CEU

We are deeply grateful for the support we have received from Hungarian faculty, students and institutions of learning," Ignatieff said.A map of the network of Tweets with the hashtag #IstandwithCEU shows public opinion feels the accusations are not just against CEU, but against academic freedom and higher education in Hungary as a whole, according to Milan Janosov, a doctoral student at CEU's Center for Network Science (CNS), and CNS Director Balazs Vedres."We collected all the tweets containing the #IstandwithCEU hashtag, using the official Twitter API, since the #IstandwithCEU hashtag's first appearance," Janosov said in a blog post "Academic freedom is the most significant node connected to #IstandwithCEU, and the topic is co-mentioned with other controversial issues, such as Brexit and the current events concerning higher education in Turkey and Russia."Based on the first 10,000 tweets with the tag, the researchers mapped a network of the most popular additional hashtags, also used in these tweets. On the visualization the size of each node (hashtag) is proportional to the number of tweets it appeared in, and the width of the edges represents the co-occurance frequency. Color encodes time, with blue tags being used the earliest, and grey tags entered the latest.

CEU also calls the governments attention to the wave of support for CEU and for academic freedom received from noted academics in Hungary, Nobel laureates, university presidents, the U.S. Department of State, academic organizations, student groups, and ordinary citizens in Hungary and around the world

, CEU said.It pledged to continue to maintain the integrity and continuity of its academic programs throughout this period and assures all current and prospective students that CEU will remain in continuous operation whatever the circumstances." petition to the save Central European University" was signed by more than 41,000 people from around the world.Expressions of support for CEU and condemnation of the legislation include:
Andrew Ross Scott was booked into the Charleston County jail the evening of Nov. 6 on the charge of second-degree domestic violence. The 37-year-old man, who has been employed with the Mount Pleasant Police Department since 2009, has been placed on administrative leave, according to Inspector Don Calabrese. Read moreMount Pleasant police officer placed on leave after domestic violence arrest
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.
South Carolina voters head to the polls Nov. 8, casting ballots in midterm elections that will not only determine the state's next governor but will also act as the first major referendum on the Biden era. Read moreYour voter guide to top races, key issues in South Carolina's 2022 midterm elections
If there is a more difficult job in the hospitality industry than being a server, I don't know what it is.

These men and women have to put on their best face all the time on the job. That means being pleasant, cheerful, polite and helpful.

They also have to not just take the orders but get them right, remember any special instructions from the customer, field complaints and, many times, be the liaison between the customer and the kitchen. Not only that, they usually are responsible for three to four tables.

Most restaurants, from Perkins to Pescara, require servers to complete training sessions, which can range from a day to a week. Newcomers then shadow an experienced server before being on their own. David Prom, a server at Chester's, explained some of the training.

"Here, it is pretty intense and lasts about seven days. During that time we try everything on the menu so we really know it and how the food is prepared (fried, poached, sauteed, broiled, etc.). We also taste the wines so we are knowledgeable about pairings. It's also important for us to be familiar with food allergies. Then we shadow a server.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I've been here for two years and just love what I do. There is a real feeling of teamwork," Prom said.

How are things tasting?

While restaurants have their own training programs, some essentials always are stressed. Once the hostess seats customers, the wait person should approach the table with the menu and take drink orders. Questions about the menu? The server should be well-versed on most of the items. Specials not on the menu should be explained and the price given. Does the chef have a signature dish that he is known for?

A good server also needs to observe tables from a distance  do water glasses need refilling; do they need another glass of wine; is the food satisfactory? The training also warns against coming to the table too often. Don't interrupt the dining experience or make the customer feel rushed.

Prom pointed out while most customers are respectful and appreciative, there are others who aren't.

"Maybe they are tired or had a bad day," Prom said. "Anyway, we are left to deal with that."

The hourly wage is near the bottom of the pay scale, and all servers count on tips to supplement their income. A general rule is 15 percent to 20 percent of the pretax bill.

Shout out

ADVERTISEMENT

We recently asked our Facebook friends to give a shout out to servers who especially impressed:

Eileen Zirbel: "Jason at The Porch  probably more of a host but makes sure seating and service is exceptional."

Nicole Diercks: "Lola Erdman at the Perkins near Civic Center Drive. She has been there for years and is always kind and friendly."

Allyson Riedel Holtz: "Nicole Liebl at The Thirsty Belgium. Amazing service and great recommendations, always."

Christy Blade: "Angela at Terza. She is amazing."

Abe Sauer: "Chau at Pho Chau."

Marjean Fahey: "We look forward to going to Wings in Dorchester, Iowa, and having Owen Blocker be our waiter. He is so helpful and always has a smile for his customers."

Lindsay Renfro: "Do bartenders count? (yes) Susan at the Apache Mall Applebee's. She's the best  super efficient, picks up everyone else's slack to get things perfect, remembers your name and the details of your favorite order."

ADVERTISEMENT

And from me: "Linda, who works breakfast at the Marriott's Salute restaurant. I recently helped friends, both in wheelchairs, going through Mayo. We stopped for a quick bite, and she could not have been more helpful in assisting with the wheelchairs, making lunch suggestions and getting them out quickly."
A 36-year-old man is lucky to be alive today after officials say someone fired 16 shots at him Monday night as he sat in a vehicle in northwest Rochester.

Multiple 911 calls came in at 9:42 p.m., sending police to a cul-de-sac in the 2700 block of 56th Street Northwest.

The victim told officers he'd just pulled up to an apartment building in the neighborhood when he looked to his right and saw a man standing under a tree in a nearby yard. As he looked, the suspect pulled out a gun and started firing, said Capt. John Sherwin.

The man in the SUV said he ducked down below the steering wheel and "waited until the shooting stopped," then was able to watch the suspect's route of escape, the report says.

He ran through the yards between homes toward 26th Avenue, where he got into a car that traveled south to 55th Street Northwest, Sherwin said. The vehicle turned west onto 55th Street; the victim said he last saw the car as it ran the stoplight at Bandel Road.

ADVERTISEMENT

The suspect was described only as wearing a blue hoodie, the report says; the description of the car he was in was too vague to be helpful, Sherwin said.

The weapon is believed to be a semi-automatic handgun; multiple rounds hit the victim's SUV all along the passenger side, also striking another vehicle in the cul-de-sac and one of the apartment buildings, Sherwin said.

"We don't believe this to be a random crime," he said this morning. "The suspect was on foot, and obviously knew (the victim) was going to be there."

The victim, who gave a Minneapolis address, was there to visit a relative, the report says.

The investigation is ongoing.
AUSTIN  A 26-year-old man accused of spanking a child so hard he left bruises has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Jordan Alvin Williamson, of Austin, entered the plea Thursday in Mower County District Court, where he's been charged with felony counts of malicious punishment of a child under 4 and third-degree assault of a child under 4, as well as gross misdemeanor counts of malicious punishment of a child, domestic assault and fifth-degree assault.

He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court Aug. 31.

The investigation began Jan. 29, when the child's father contacted Austin police to say he suspected Williamson had physically abused the child.

The boy was fine when Williamson picked him up at his father's home the afternoon of Jan. 27, the complaint says; Williamson pointed out the bruises to the boy's mother the next morning. When she asked the child what had happened, he told her he "fell," but didn't say where or how.

ADVERTISEMENT

The mother texted the boy's father that morning, asking if he knew the source of the bruising.

The boy's grandmother saw the bruises that evening as she got him ready for bed.

When the grandmother asked the victim what had happened, he said he was "naughty" and that Williamson had spanked him, court documents say; the child told his father Williamson had spanked him "really hard," and repeated that claim to a police officer.

The police report says the bruising "covered a large area of the victim's buttocks." The child's father took him to the emergency room Jan. 29; a medical report indicated the injury was "non-accidental" and the bruising "was consistent with a hand imprint."

Williamson and the boy's mother met with law enforcement accompanied by their attorneys.

The mother said Williamson was home with the victim and another child when she arrived at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27. She went out for a while that evening, leaving Williamson home with the children. She believed someone in the father's home had spanked the victim or that the victim had fallen "or something," the complaint says.

Williamson denied knowledge of how the victim had been bruised, but said he heard the boy's father "beats (the boy's) ass," the report says.
RED WING  Minnesota State College Southeast will host a career fair and community open house in Red Wing next week.

More than 30 area companies will be on site, and the college's programs will be open for tours and information.

And it's not just an event for students, according to the college, it's open to the public as well.

From 3-5 p.m. on Monday, April 10, the college's Red Wing campus, 308 Pioneer Road, will host the event.

Tours of new spaces, such as the applied engineering lab and the welding lab, will be available. The college will also have information about its health care, criminal justice, musical instrument repair and the new associate of arts degree option.

ADVERTISEMENT

For those interested in pursuing a four-year degree, representatives from the universities in the Southeast Minnesota region will be available.

Some of the 30-plus area employers that have confirmed they'll be attending include: Accra Home Health, of Red Wing; Augustana Care, of Minneapolis; Benedictine Health System, of St. Crispin, Red Wing; BIC Graphic, of Red Wing; City of Red Wing; EXIT Realty Rivertown, of Red Wing; Express Employment Professionals, of Red Wing; Knobelsdorff Electric Inc., of Goodhue; Manpower; Mary Kay, of Goodhue; Mayo Clinic, of Rochester; Minnesota Corrections Association, of Wyoming, Minn.; Minnesota State Patrol, of Rochester; Minnesota Workforce Center, of Red Wing; Minnesota Department of Corrections, of Red Wing; New York Life Insurance Company, of Red Wing; Northern Wisconsin Manufacturing Co., Pepin Farm Implements; Northfield Hospital & Clinics, of Northfield; Red Wing Family YMCA; Red Wing Healthcare Community; Red Wing Shoe Co., of Red Wing; REM River Bluffs, of Apple Valley; Saint Mary's University, of Winona; Samaritan Bethany, of Rochester; Slumberland, of Red Wing; St. James Hotel, of Red Wing; Treasure Island Resort & Casino, of Welch; Trinity Meyer Utility Structures, LLC., of Hager City, Wis.; Welchert, Realtors  Jewson Properties, of Wabasha; and Winona State University.
For Isaiah Grafe, who was born profoundly deaf, navigating everyday life with a disability is something he's used to.

The 21-year-old University of Minnesota Rochester junior drew on his own experience with auditory neuropathy for a project that will be on display throughout downtown Rochester over the next month. "Pull Back the Curtain on Disability Awareness" is a series of six installations that aim to show the prevalence of disabilities and help the public better understand them.

The project aims to shine a light on the one in five Americans who has a disability. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, a disability is any condition that impedes vision, cognition, mobility, self-care or independent living.

"I wanted to raise awareness of people with disabilities  hidden disabilities  these are things you wouldn't ordinarily see," Grafe said Monday.

The lifelong Rochester resident received cochlear implants from Mayo Clinic as a 4-year-old. Because he also struggled with a speech impediment he spent many hours learning to speak with a speech therapist.

ADVERTISEMENT

Growing up, he considered himself "a bit of an outsider," he said, but he slowly came out of his shell in high school and began joining clubs and becoming involved in leadership. The experience, he said, has made him more empathetic.

"The obstacles I've gone through growing up, it's not what most people go through," he said. "With that being said, I try to understand the other person's perspective and put myself in their shoes, and proceed from there."

Though his deafness has made him into the person he is today, he said, it doesn't define him or hold him back. The health professions major was recently accepted to UMR's radiography program.

"Afterward, I wanted to be able to spread the message behind disabilities, it's not that different from ordinary people," Grafe said. "My experience was a huge factor in the project."

The six portable displays  on mental illness, depression, ADHD, deafness, learning disabilities, and addiction  are each covered with a curtain, inviting people to "pull back the curtain" to reveal information about each disability.

Grafe came up with the idea in December and partnered with local service agencies to best represent each disability. Students at Rochester Community and Technical College carpentry students built the display boxes.

Most of the information for the project was provided by UMR's Office of Disability Resources Coordinator Shannon Zavada. Other local programs helped decorate the boxes, including the Learning Disabilities Association of Minnesota; Northern Voices; the UMR Health CORE Living Learning Community, the UMR Recovery on Campus Living Learning Community; and the UMR Student Activities office.
While 15 residents have applied to fill three slots on Rochester's Ethical Practices Board, a proposed expansion will open a window for more people to apply.

The board asked the Rochester City Council to consider expanding the body to seven members during Monday's meeting.

Earlier in the day, board Chairwoman Audrey Ericksen noted the group occasionally struggles to find meeting dates when enough members can attend.

Additionally, City Attorney Terry Adkins said finding a quorum in the existing five-member board could be challenging if members recuse themselves. He noted the last meeting, which was already short a member due to a resignation, had one member abstain from action, leaving a decision up to three members.

"I fear at some point there may be so many recusals on the Ethical Practices Board that essentially it will be rendered useless because there is nobody left," he said, noting the request also puts into play an option for temporary members, if needed.

ADVERTISEMENT

While council members supported the expansion, they asked to open a window for new applicants since the existing application period ended Friday.

Adkins said the delay would likely push filling those positions to another date. The board's appointing committee is slated to meet April 21 to review applications, but a public hearing on applicants is required to be held prior, with an opening available at the April 17 city council meeting.

Council Member Nick Campion requested a two-week window for applications, which could have squeezed additional candidates into the existing review plan, but council member Wojcik opposed expediting the ordinance change, pushing the proposed window back at least a week.

Council Member Ed Hruska noted the new window means additional residents can consider applying.

"At this point, it opens up opportunities for others that maybe didn't know about this," he said.
ST. PAUL  Despite calling it a "bailout" that benefits insurers at the expense of taxpayers, Gov. Mark Dayton announced Monday he will let a $542 million reinsurance plan become law.

The DFL governor said he has serious problems with the bill. For starters, it gives insurance companies money without requiring them to commit to lowering health insurance premiums for consumers.

"It's unwise to commit $542 million in taxpayer money to people who aren't willing to step up and promise they are going to fulfill what they are receiving the money for," Dayton said.

Nonetheless, the governor said he decided not to veto the measure. Instead, he would let it become law without his signature. The governor said he didn't want to risk more health insurers deciding to pull out of the individual insurance market if the measure didn't become law. The state's HMOs had set a deadline of April 1 for a reinsurance bill to pass so they could factor it in when setting 2018 rates.

"Without this legislation, we give the insurance companies the pretext to pull out of the individual market entirely," Dayton said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Supporters of the reinsurance bill say it is critical to help stabilize the individual insurance market. Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, sponsored the bill. Without it passing, he said the state's individual insurance market was at risk of collapsing next year.

"This is a bill to fix part of the disaster of the (Affordable Care Act), and I think people deserve that. And if it takes some taxpayer dollars, then that's what we have to do at this point," Davids said.

Approximately 5 percent of Minnesotans  or roughly 250,000 people  purchase health insurance on the state's individual market. In recent years, these consumers have been faced with soaring premium rates and fewer choices. No area of the state has been harder hit than southeast Minnesota, which has the highest health insurance rates in the state.

The reinsurance law helps insurance company with the cost of some expensive health insurance claims. The state dollars could be used to offset the cost of insurance claims between $50,000 to $250,000. State funding could cover between 50 percent to 80 percent of those costs, depending on what a state board decides.

The majority of the reinsurance law's funding will come from the Health Care Access Fund, which primarily funds MinnesotaCare  a health care program for low-income Minnesotans. The rest of the money comes from the state's general fund. Dayton said he disagrees with using those state dollars. He would rather have seen the program funded by a tax on the health insurance industry.

The governor is also dismayed that lawmakers were unwilling to consider his proposal for a MinnesotaCare buy-in. That would have allowed people regardless of income to buy into MinnesotaCare via MNsure, the state's health-insurance exchange. He said that would have gone a long way toward providing consumers with more options.

"I am concerned that people  especially in greater Minnesota  will only have one or two provider plans to chose from for their coverage next year," he said.

Davids said that the governor's MinnesotaCare buy-in was a "nonstarter." It would hurt health care providers because MinnesotaCare has very low reimbursement rates. He added that the bill does try to improve access for consumers. It does that by requiring health insurance companies that sell policies in a county to offer at least one plan that provides in-network access to more than one healthcare provider system.

ADVERTISEMENT

Davids said those plans "could cost more money, but at least it would be available so you could keep your doctor, you could keep your hospital, you could keep your clinic."

Jim Schowalter, president of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, said he understands the governor is frustrated that insurers can't offer guarantees about 2018 premium rates. But he said the reinsurance law means insurers will be able to offer lower rates than they would have been able to without the law.

"This is a big step for everyone who gets insurance on their own  especially if they are in high-cost areas or areas that have limited options," Schowalter said.

Rep. Tina Lieblng, DFL-Rochester, said she would have liked to have seen Dayton veto the reinsurance bill. She said it would have made more sense to use those dollars for premium subsidy relief that would directly benefit consumers. She said the reinsurance bill is essentially a subsidy for insurers.

Liebling added, "It's a very bad use of $542 million because it doesn't guarantee any help for any Minnesotans other than the ones that work for insurance companies."
ST. PAUL  A bill toughening criminal penalties for protesters who block freeway access cleared the Minnesota House on Monday despite fierce opposition from Democratic lawmakers.

Under the measure, protesters found guilty of blocking access to a freeway, airport or transit could be charged with a gross misdemeanor and face up to a year in jail and a fine of $3,000. Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to strip the provision out of a larger public safety finance bill via an amendment.

Critics say the measure goes too far, cracking down on people seeking to have their voices heard.

"We don't want to stop people in the future from feeling like they can protest when they think that things are wrong," said Rochester DFL Rep. Tina Liebling.

But supporters say the bill is about public safety. The measure's sponsor, Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, said he has heard concerns from people stuck in traffic during protests. He shared the story of a woman who had to wait 90 days to see a specialist at Mayo Clinic to treat a painful illness. On the way to the appointment, the Big Lake resident got stuck in traffic due to protesters who were blocking the highway. She missed her appointment at Mayo Clinic and was told she would have to wait another 90 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

"She called me in tears and in pain and at her wit's end because she didn't know what she was going to do," Zerwas said.

The amendment to get rid of the harsher protest penalties failed by a nearly party-line vote of 75-56. The larger public safety bill passed the GOP-led House by a vote 94 to 37. The Senate has passed its own public safety budget bill that does not include the protest penalty language. A House-Senate conference committee will work to come up with a compromise bill.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, DFL-Minneapolis, said concerns about ambulances not being able to get to protests are unfounded, while holding up a picture of protesters parting in order way to make way for an ambulance.

"We need to work on policies not out of anger, or because we are annoyed, but because they further a common good," she said. "This particular provision is created ... because there is a particular annoyance we have with a particular group of people who have decided to organize themselves."

In an interview, Rep. Duane Quam, R-Byron, said he supports the tougher penalties for protesters. He said he is concerned about past protests where police officers were injured. He sees this measure as a way to discourage troublemakers from joining in the marches.

Quam added, "Frankly, if we actually showed people we were serious, the bad behavior might be deterred."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ADVERTISEMENT
Cris Gastner

Senior vice president, Community and Economic Development Associates

Really, you could put just about anyone from CEDA's name and face here. The private, nonprofit corporation, which provides community planning and business development services, grant writing, small business assistance and administrative support among its many business-related functions, is probably best known as the region's for-hire economic development authority.

In fact, CEDA is the de facto EDA for 19 cities in Southeast Minnesota and four counties. The Chatfield-based company partners with Journey to Growth on events such as the regional development tour, which had its first incarnation in 2016 and will be repeated this summer.

Gastner, who is directly involved in the EDA for St. Charles and Wabasha, is part of the leadership at CEDA along with CEO and President Ron Zeigler and a host of people working in community development across the region. "We do cover a fair amount of communities around this area," Gastner said.

ADVERTISEMENT

We talked to Gastner about the role CEDA plays in the region.

Post Bulletin: There has been some growth and success regionally in the last year. Is this because of Destination Medical Center or would this have happened without DMC?

Cris Gastner: DMC has been that beacon of light to turn people's heads toward Southeast Minnesota. People who hadn't looked at us before are starting to look at us.

Knowing this was coming, we had conversations (in the communities we serve) about getting ready for that. A lot of those communities -- the city councils and the EDA boards -- had to make some tough investments in some tough times.

Look at the investment in the business park in St. Charles. That was a bold move by that council.

PB: How is CEDA helping communities take advantage of the opportunities that are coming?

Gastner: We're seeing a different energy in our communities. It used to be, you'd build an industrial park and try to sell that space to businesses. Now it's a broader concentration of cities saying we want to be a place where people want to live. What can we do about that?

PB: For smaller cities, it is all about maximizing the resources. How have the CEDA communities been smart with money?

ADVERTISEMENT

Gastner: We're looking at government as a partner. Rochester played a part with sales tax dollars (the half-cent sales tax) it extended to communities without putting a lot of strings on it other than it needed to be used in some way for economic development.

PB: A lot of cities used funds to fix their downtowns.

Gastner: There was a lot of downtown rehabilitation in small towns, fixing storefronts, signage. A lot of cities had one-to-one match programs. In St. Charles, they used $130,000 from the fund and got $800,000 in private investment. That's nearly a million dollars of investment in local businesses.

PB: Is CEDA's role changing at all? Are you getting more involved in things such as housing and workforce issues?

Gastner: I think as an organization we've gone through change in the last few years. We're the most visible we've ever been. And we have a responsibility to be involved in these conversations.

I do think we're starting to look at economic development differently. How you define and how I define it are a little different. We have to embrace and look at all those definitions.

PB: Will CEDA be involved in the regional tour again?

Gastner: The Regional Development Tour is in June. The bus is going to Eyota, St. Charles, Lewiston and Chatfield.

ADVERTISEMENT

Last year was the first year we did this. We got a great mix of commercial and real estate folks, academics, architects and engineers. We're going to work hard to keep that mix. We ended up having some great conversations across the aisle on the bus.
I have watched the evolution of Destination Medical Center through the eyes of both a politician and a private citizen. Some see DMC as scary, and others see it as a boon for southeastern Minnesota like nothing before seen in this area. I see it as both.

When I first started hearing about DMC -- it might not even have had a name at that time -- leaders at Mayo were concerned we make sure each and every visitor had an enjoyable visit. Didn't matter if it was a taxi driver, a waitress or a receptionist in the hospital, Mayo wanted these folks to help make the experience of the patient or visitor to be the best it could be. I remember some of us wondering how we could improve on something that was working.

In looking at the history of Mayo Clinic, one might point to the religious organizations that helped it become a world leader. The Sisters of St. Francis founded Saint Marys, and the Methodist church assisted in sponsoring Rochester Methodist. These religious organizations brought with them their faith in God and compassion to heal the sick. There is no doubt their faith helped shape the Mayo institution, though it's more secular now than before.

We also know one of the top reasons patients and others come back to this area is because of the people who live and work here. It's more than Minnesota Nice. It's a compassion for others. Tens of thousands come into Rochester every day to work. Couple this with the ones who live here and you have a workforce that is second to none. Most go the extra step to make sure visitors to Rochester enjoy their stay. I know this personally from when I went through chemotherapy for cancer back in 2004. I'll never forget the compassionate care I received.

So, why does DMC concern those of us who have lived here our whole lives? One reason is the DMC Corp. board, which has a major influence on how state money will be spent here, is made up of a majority not elected from this area. It is their vision that will influence where the money is spent, not the vision of the worker who hops on a bus in Preston or drives across Rochester to work.

ADVERTISEMENT

Too much of DMC is the vision of consultants and others who have no vested interest in the well-being of this area.

We should not forget it was the faith of the religious organizations and their compassion that healed the sick during the last 125 years and helped shape this area. It's also the great workforce in this corner of the state that has created an atmosphere that brings patients and visitors back.

Throw in the scenery and cornfields and you have a combination that can't be matched anywhere else. Don't mess it up.
Southeast Minnesota is beginning to feel the impact of Rochester's Destination Medical Center.

That's the consensus among people with their finger on the pulse of the economy and the impact of DMC on the region.

"Since DMC's inception, we've had a lot of people interested in the Stewartville area," said Joya Stetson, economic development director for Rochester's immediate neighbor to the south. "In terms of investment we are seeing things."

A lot of that interest is focused on the city's business parks, including Schumann Business Park, near Interstate 90, she said. The city also has opened a business incubator. New businesses will get an 18-month break on their rent as they start up at the incubator and move out.

The city and EDA are doing what they can to help grow business in the city, helping those fledgling businesses develop acumen in areas of core competency such as marketing, bookkeeping, legal and networking.

ADVERTISEMENT

"DMC is not going to be a passive endeavor," Stetson said. "All of us in the region will need to work at it."

Not only health care

As Stewartville keeps growing, residents have come to expect more amenities right in town despite the proximity to Rochester. "We're having a lot more families coming to town, and they are looking to make sure they have services available to them," Stetson said.

While DMC is tightly focused on Mayo and Rochester, the potential regional impact of the $6.5 billion economic development program is immense and across many sectors of the economy. "There will be ancillary jobs and businesses that come off the side of DMC," Stetson said. "People who come to visit, even for Mayo, are looking for something to do for the other 70 percent of the time they are here."

That is why shopping, supporting businesses and a broad range of growth is important, said Kevin McKinnon, deputy commissioner for economic development for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. "Any time you've got a center like that, you've got growth throughout a more rural environment," McKinnon said. "You need to offer the retail, the shopping, you need the schools, the construction."

Demand will be the driving force, he said, when it comes to retail or restaurant growth. Once the populations of smaller cities start to rise, there will be people to support those businesses.

In fact, he said, Southeast Minnesota is designed for growth with its strong presence in economic sectors ranging from health care to tourism, manufacturing to farming. "The Southeast is interesting to me because the ingredients for a variety of industries are already there," McKinnon said. "It shields you a little bit more than other regions. Certainly, the opportunities are there."

Still, plenty of hurdles need to be cleared to help move growth along in the region; most concern the needs of the expected expansion of the workforce. Along with education needs to develop that workforce, people will need a place to live.

ADVERTISEMENT

Immediate need: housing

With skilled workers in demand, bringing them to Southeast Minnesota requires quality market-rate and affordable housing. Talk to just about anyone in city or county government across the region and you'll hear the tale of the housing shortage.

"It's not just the southeast region facing this," McKinnon said. "There are regions all across Minnesota facing this, and I suspect other states as well."

Margaret Caplan, community development director for Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, said the state as a whole is still recovering from the pause in new construction that came when the economy slowed a few years back. Money is still tight, so the state is working to prioritize housing investment where it sees the biggest need.

"It's certainly an area we're paying a lot of attention to, trying to meet the needs of communities across the state," Caplan said. "The growth in Rochester certainly shines a spotlight on the region."

Megan Ryan, with MHFA, said it's an ongoing struggle to find money for projects needed all over the state, not just in our area. "If you can, I'd ask you to successfully articulate the need at the Legislature," she said. "The need far outweighs the available resources. There are great partners in the Rochester area working on developments, but it's not enough."

While DMC is centered in Rochester, MHFA realizes housing is an issue for a region, not a zip code. "Not everyone will be living in the city of Rochester itself," Caplan said.

In fact, the region is full of communities that are centers of employment, Caplan said, including Owatonna, Faribault, Dodge Center and Winona. Those places offer good jobs with modest wages. "You have to have the housing so people can afford to work and live in those communities," she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

A big part of that is going into the region and listening to the stakeholders talk about the needs in housing and plan strategies to fix the problem. In fact, a housing summit to discuss issues in Southeast Minnesota has been scheduled for May 15 in Rochester, Caplan said.

While not directly responsible for housing, McKinnon said DEED works with federal programs to help rehabilitate homes and rental properties. "The important part there is a lot of these communities are investing in their housing stock," he said.

Stetson said the goal should be to optimize the region in a way that attracts and maintains the talent base of employees and entrepreneurs who will help build growth. Housing is certainly part of that balance. One of the hurdles to optimizing housing is the regulatory costs of building, which according to some can be as much as a quarter of the cost of construction. To make things easier for builders, organizations such as Journey to Growth and Community and Economic Development Associates are working with government agencies to lessen the regulatory and tax burden.

That's what the city of Austin did last fall in a program showing some early success. Caplan commended the city on creating an ad hock committee to help tackle the need for affordable housing.

Austin City Administrator Craig Clark said that committee led to a tax-abatement program that gives new construction a break on taxes for five years from all three major local taxing entities: the city, county and school board. The abatement is for improvements above the value of the land, so it impacts new construction, giving developers a break. "We just enacted this at the end of 2016," Clark said. "I think we've got our sixth one, single family homes. We've had a lot of phone calls."

Keep Moving On

But as DMC grinds forward, cities around the area simply want to seize opportunities as they arise. Some say leaving aside the state's commitment to DMC, the area economy is fairly strong already.

"It certainly is helpful for the region," Winona City Administrator Steve Sarvi said of DMC. "But Minnesota in general, coming out of the recession, is doing very well."

Rochester's growth is helpful, but it's not seen as a savior for the region, he said. Among many examples, Winona has been working on its Main Street project, a development along the riverfront. The city is working to develop market-rate housing and attract other investment. Even the repurposing of the old candy factory is a step forward for Winona that was made by parties in Winona working to bring in business without relying on DMC.

McKinnon said the kind of investment being made by Mayo Clinic, private developers, the city of Rochester, Olmsted County and the state certainly is going to have a ripple effect across the region, but there are plenty of examples of communities moving forward on their own. "The St. Charles example is one," he said, referring to the new Envirolastech facility along I-90.

The region is full of strong businesses, from the Fortune 500 powerhouse Hormel Foods in Austin to strong employers such as Harmony Enterprises in Harmony. "They started their own day care for employees," McKinnon said, referring to the latter. "They saw a need, and they met it."

In fact, Southeast Minnesota is dotted with small towns that boast strong employers that ultimately are symbiotic parts of the region's growth.

"They, too, are going to ultimately continue to be built out to support that region," he said.
 I gather any day nowmaybe today, who careswe shall once again observe Equal Pay Day, when liberals will hector us about the wage gap between men and women. Kudos to Brent Scher of the Free Beacon for catching yet another example of liberal hypocrisy on this issue:

Elizabeth Warrens Female Staffers Made 71% of Male Staffers Salaries in 2016 The gender pay gap in Sen. Elizabeth Warrens (D., Mass.) is nearly 10 percent wider than the national average, meaning women in the Massachusetts Democrats office will have to wait longer than most women across the country to recognize Equal Pay Day. . . Women working for Warren were paid just 71 cents for every dollar paid to men during the 2016 fiscal year, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis. The median annual earnings for women staffers, $52,750, was more than $20,000 less than the median annual earnings for men, $73,750, according to the analysis of publicly available Senate data. When calculated using average salaries rather than median, the pay gap expands to just over $26,051, or about 31 percent.

This wont stop Thin Lizzy from her heavy metal hammering about inequality:

 Of course, this is nothing compared to the hypocrisy and lame improvisations of the left over the Gorsuch nomination. Its hard to pick out the best examples of this. Lets just start with Princetons Julian Zelizer, writing today at CNN that the filibuster against Gorsuch would be good for Democrats, while blaming Trump for putting up a non-moderate nominee. Heres the biggest howler of the piece:

If anyone was capable of making sure the process did not break down beyond repair it was President Trump. Had he demonstrated some genuine independence and sent a moderate nominee to the Senate, instead of a right-wing judge who pleased the evangelical right and anti-regulatory business conservatives, he could have made it difficult for Democrats to refuse the confirmation. A moderate nominee, even from this President, would have persuaded many Democrats to vote yes and brought along enough Republicans who would not want to suffer a defeat. Yet Trump made a different choice, tapping a nominee from the originalist camp unlikely to move this divided court to the center.

Translation: When a liberal says moderate nominee for the Court, it means someone without any constitutional principles who can be relied upon to uphold a liberal view of government power. There is no such thing as a moderate nominee. The most charitable construction you can put on judicial moderation is a judge who is confused and erratic. But Anthony Kennedy is already on the Supreme Court.

 Finally, the leftist mob has succeeded in preventing another speaker, this time Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was scheduled to speak soon in Australia:

Claire Lehmann reports at The Rebel:
This past Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that Judge Gorsuch would be confirmed to the Supreme Court this week. If put to a straight up or down vote, as he will be, Judge Gorsuch would win a majority for his confirmation. If Democrats rally 41 votes to support a filibuster  Senator McConnell didnt expressly say, but it was implicit in his vow  Republicans would be put to the trouble of invoking the Reid Rule to proceed with the confirmation vote.

Yesterday the Democrats reached 41 votes to support a filibuster blocking a vote on Judge Gorsuch. Politico reported the story here.

Mitch McConnell is no fool. I take him at his word. I infer that he has the votes to extend the Reid Rule to Supreme Court confirmations and will do so with the support of Senate Republicans on Friday.

The Democrats have no case against Judge Gorsuch. The pretext that the Democrats have to die on Mount Gorsuch is ludicrous. No serious observer buys it. Its a joke. See, e.g., the statement Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar gave to the Duluth News Tribune. No conceivable Republican nominee could pass muster under the I say its spinach test that she articulates.

It also departs from Senate tradition. No Supreme Court nominee has ever been blocked by a partisan filibuster. The filibuster of Gorsuch for no particular reason invites a united Republican response to invoke the Reid rule.

The Democrats filibuster is irrational from the perspective of the left. It belies their interests so long as a Republican administration remains in power by making it easier for a majority Republican Senate to confirm the next justice, whose confirmation might alter the balance on the Court to the right.

Republicans have never used the filibuster to block the confirmation of the likes of Ruth Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. If not them, who? Its not a device of great use to Republicans. By filibustering Judge Gorsuch, however, Democrats have made it easy for Republicans to do what is necessary to confirm him and prospective nominees who may move the Court in a direction congenial to conservatives.

In his excellent Washington Post column reviewing relevant history in some detail, Marc Thiessen derives some pathos, but Im not feeling it. I dont see a reason for conservative observers to feel any ambivalence about the extension of the Reid Rule to Supreme Court nominees.

Like Senator McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is no fool. He is a calculating man. He is now a calculating man performing an irrational act. He knows it and he doesnt like it. Yet Senator Schumer and his crowd  including, let it be noted, Minnesotas own Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken  have become the willing instrument of a deranged base.
He is not a man to be ignored at any gathering. He commands respect wherever he goes. Juju music legend, Evangelist Ebenezer Obeys soft, velvety voice and philosophical songs have endeared him to many Nigerians. For over 50 years, the chief commander as he is widely known, toured the world with his Miliki sound and commanded so much attention. Later in life, he became renowned for Christian spiritual themes in his music and has since the early-1990s retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry.

As he turns 75, PREMIUM TIMES chronicles his music career, his many achievements as well as his impact on the Nigerian music scene.

The beginning

He was born in 1942 at the Island Maternity in Lagos. Immediately after he was born, his mum took him back to Idogo in Ogun State where he spent his early childhood. His father was a carpenter while his mother sold clothes. Obey was born in peculiar circumstances, as his mother, Abigail Oyindamola Fabiyi was barren for about two decades as a married woman. Thrown out of her matrimonial home upon the counsel of her former husbands family, she was advised to go to Idogo village away from the face of agony and despair. She bore two children for her second husband: Ebenezer Obey and his late sister.

Personal life

He was married to Lady Evangelist Juliana Obey-Fabiyi for 48 years. They wedded in 1963. She was a frontline businesswoman and poultry farmer. Obey met her at his friends house  her brother. In an interview, he was quoted as saying that immediately she entered the sitting room, he told his friend that she was his wife. She passed on in 2011 at 67. Four of his children are pastors while two of them are musicians.

His foray into music

As a boy, Obey started his musical career in Idogo by singing on errands to cover distances. His mother enrolled him in the choir at the Methodist Church, Idogo, a move that inspired his music career. His musical talent was recognised early on when he was asked to lead the band at his Methodist Primary School. This was where he honed his music skills. He formed his first band in the 1957, called Royal Mambo Orchestra. He moved to Lagos and continued his music career with two elderly men, Akinyomi Savage and Bamgbose Jumoda, alias Abengo Mayana. His band mates introduced him to the late Fatai Rolling Dollar, who would become his bandleader for about six years. He formed a band called International Brothers, in 1964. Soon they had a hit juju single Ewa Wowun Ojumi Ri. The band played a fusion of highlife and Juju music. In 1966, Obeys chief juju rival, King Sunny Ade came on the scene, and they still maintain a friendly rivalry today. The band later metamorphosed into Inter-Reformers in the early-1970s, with a long list of Juju album hits on the West African Decca musical label.

A fulfilling music career

Ebenezer Obey, who debuted in 1964 and became famous with Olo Mi Gbo Temi (1966), further modernized juju by drawing on highlife, and his lengthy jams. Some of his notable tracks include Mo Tun Gbe De (1973), Operation Feed The Nation (1976), Adam and Eve (1977), Current Affairs (1980), Je Ka Jo (1983).

He has released over 100 albums while the ones that are yet to be released are uncountable.

Although he plays highlife juju music, his Miliki sound which he describes as a sound of enjoyment has set him apart from the pack.

Embracing Christ

Obey, however, is also renowned for Christian spiritual themes in his music and has since the early-1990s retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry. He is the general overseer of Decross Gospel Mission located in Iyana Ipaja in Lagos.

He heeded Gods call in early 1990s at the peak of his career. He birthed a Christian ministry and abandoned a prospering secular musical career to become an evangelist. He says his musical talent was for winning souls to Christ.

Recognition

In 2000, he was conferred with the national honour of MFR by the federal government.

In 2013, the Juju music legend was announced as the chairman of TheCopyright Society of Nigeria, COSON Music Foundations Board of Trustees.

In 2014, he was appointed a Professor Emeritus at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. Obey works as a visiting artiste in the institutions Department of English and Performing Arts.

The Ebenezer Obey Music Foundation and Training Institute was launched on Monday at a glamourous event to commemorate his 75th birthday. It will be affiliated to Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State. It is a youth empowerment and training institute

Partial discography

1964 Ewa Wo Ohun Ojuri

1965 Aiye Gba Jeje b/w Ifelodun*Gari Ti Won b/w Orin Adura

1966 Awolowo Babawa Tide b/w Oluwa Niagbara Emi Mi*Palongo b/w Teti Ko Gboro Kan*Oro Miko Lenso b/w Orin Ajinde*Late Justice Olumide Omololu b/w Iyawo Ti Mo Ko Fe

1967 Olomi Gbo Temi b/w Maria Odeku*To Keep Nigeria One b/w Awa Sope Odun Titun*Edumare Lon Pese b/w Omo Olomo*Ope Fun Oluwa b/w Paulina

1968 Ore Mi E Si Pelepele b/w Ajo Ni Mo wa*Ijebu Lade b/w Lati Owolabi*Col. Ben Adekunle b/w Ori Bayemi*Lolade Wilkey b/w Adetunji Adeyi*Gbe Bemi Oluwa b/w Olowo Laiye Mo

1969 Ode To Nso Eledumare b/w Pegan Pegan*Sanu-olu b/w KOluwa So Pade Wa*London Lawa Yi b/w Oro Seniwo*Isokan Nigeria / etc.*Eni Mayo Ayo / etc1969/1970*Emi Yio Gbe Oluwa Ga b/w Ise Teni

1970 Lawyer Adewuyi*Ala Taja Bala b/w Ohun Toluwa Ose*Ogun Pari / etc.*In London*On The Town

1971 Ija Pari (Part One) b/w Ija Pari (Part Two)*Esa Ma Miliki b/w Awon Alhaji*Face to Face b/w Late Rex Lawson*Oro Nipa Lace b/w Yaro Malaika

1972 Late Oba Gbadelo II*Board Members*Vol.4: Aiye Wa A Toro*In London Vol. 3*Odun Keresimesi

1973 And His Miliki Sound*The Horse, The Man and His Son*E Je Ka Gbo TOluwa*Adeventure of Mr. Music*Mo Tun Gbe De

1974 Inter-Reformers A Tunde*Eko Ila*Around the World*Iwalka Ko Pe

1975 Mukulu Muke Maa Jo*Ota Mi Dehin Lehin Mi*Alo Mi Alo*Edumare Dari Jiwon

1976 Late Great Murtara Murtala Ramat Muhammed*Operation Feed The Nation

1977 Eda To Mose Okunkun*Immortal Sings for Travellers*Adam and Eve

1978 Igba Owuro Lawa*Oluwa Ni Olusa Aguntan Mi*No Place Be Like My Country Nigeria

1979 In the Sixties Vol.1*In the Sixties Vol.2*Igba Laiye*Sky*E Wa Kiye Soro Mi*Omo Mi Gbo Temi

1980 Leave Everything to God*Current Affairs*Sound of the Moment*Eyi Yato

1981 Joy of Salvation*What God Has Joined Together

1982 Celebration*Austerity*Precious Gift

1983 Ambition*Singing for the People*Greatest Hits Vol. 3*Je Ka Jo*Thank You (Ose)

1984 The Only Condition to Save Nigeria*Solution*Peace1985*Security*My Vision

1986 Gbeja Mi Eledumare*Satisfaction*Providence

1987 Aimasiko*Immortality*Victory*Patience

1988 Determination*Vanity

1989 Formula 0-1-0*Get Yer Jujus Out

1990 Count Your Blessing*On the Rock

1991 Womanhood

1993 Good News

1994 I Am a Winner*Walking Over (1994 ?)

1995 The Legend

1999 Millennial Blessings

2000 Promised Land

2002 Ase Oluwa

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has given two weeks ultimatum to owners of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, storage tanks nationwide to certify their facilities or have them shut down.

A statement from the office of the Director General, SON, Osita Aboloma, which was posted on the agencys website, disclosed that SON had observed a sharp rise in the installation of LPG storage tanks in petrol filling stations across the country.

The agency, however, said that many of the filling stations have been unable to provide evidence of SON certification of the vessels.

The SON chief then directed all SON state offices to intensify the surveillance of all installed LPG storage tanks in their areas of coverage to ascertain those that have undergone SON certification before installation as required by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, regulation.

Mr. Aboloma disclosed that all imported and locally fabricated LPG storage tanks are required to undergo SON certification to assure conformity to the requirements of Nigeria Industrial Standard, NIS.

These, according to him, include safety and performance requirements.



He said locally manufactured vessels are also required to undergo certification under the SON Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme, while imported vessels are required to undergo the off-shore Conformity Assessment Programme certification.

The SON Director General, therefore, appealed to the public to be vigilant.

Mr. Aboloma also urged Nigerians to report any installation of LPG storage tanks in their vicinity to the nearest SON office for verification of compliance to standards requirement, in the interest of public safety.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to constitute the Nigerian Customs Service board.

This was sequel to a motion raised by Kingsley Chinda (Rivers-PDP).

He said since the powers exercised by the Customs, Immigration and Prison services Board to appoint, promote and exercise disciplinary control over staff of the Nigerian Customs Service, are vested in the Board, there is need to urgently constitute the board.

Absence of the Nigerian Customs Service Board is a contravention of the provisions of the Act and thereby affecting the effective functioning of the Customs Service, Mr. Chinda said.

He maintained that unless the anomaly in the non-composition of the board was urgently addressed, the essence of the Act would be defeated.

He expressed his displeasure over the continued failure by the Finance Minister to constitute the Board.

The house unanimously adopted the motion and resolved to forward the resolution to the Senate for concurrence and urge the finance minister to urgently constitute the Board of Customs.

The committee on Customs and Excise was mandated to ensure implementation and report back in four weeks for further legislative action.

President Buhari had at the inception of his administration, dissolved all Boards of Federal Government Parastatals leaving only those of tertiary institutions.

The president had in the past week constituted boards for some parastatals under the ministry of Information and Culture.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


United Bank for Africa, UBA, Africas Global Bank operating in 19 African countries, has announced the promotion of 3,000 staff members, reinforcing its commitment to human capital investment and career progression, at the current challenging operating circumstances.

Promotions were made across UBAs global network.

In a letter written on Monday to Group staff by CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, he said, Since my recent appointment as GMD/CEO, one of my priorities has been to address the needs of our people. I strongly believe that if we take care of our people, our people will take care of our customers  our ultimate employers.

Investment in our human capital is critical to our success. It is a product of our ability to invest for the long term and create an institution that is built to last. It is the bedrock of our determination to be Africas leading customer focused bank.

In addition to the Group-wide promotion, Mr. Uzoka unveiled a new Workforce Model and an extension of the existing Group car loan benefit, to 1000 previously ineligible staff. These policies are in direct response to staff feedback from the Employee Engagement Survey, which the CEO says has helped define current and future human capital investment. The revised Workforce Model democratises access to leadership roles and opportunities at the bank. All staff  regardless of track  can now aspire to leadership roles, if objective requirements are met. Reforming the Leadership and Service Tracks disparity, which had been a source of frustration for some staff who had to convert tracks to advance professionally, illustrates again UBAs commitment to creating an environment where talent and merit are rewarded.

Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, congratulated UBAs executive management, as he noted the current challenging business environment. He encouraged the industry to follow UBAs lead, in putting its workers first.

Promoting at this scale and creating career opportunities for staff at a time like this is an indication of industry leadership and worthy of emulation. It is no accident that this is occurring after the announcement of our strong 2016 results and as our shareholders receive dividends later this week. We want all our key stakeholders to share our success, he said.

The Chairman continued in praise of the banks equitable policy, I commend the bank for creating robust and meritocratic career opportunities for all staff at a time when some in our industry are downsizing or casualising staff. This is truly remarkable.

UBA recently announced N384 billion earnings for 2016, an impressive 22 per cent growth over performance in 2015 and also grew profit before tax by 32 per cent to N91 billion. The strong performance also reflects the imbedded culture of customer service, driven by high employee engagement and satisfaction.

UBAs commitment to its broader pan-African network was reflected in a series of awards, including five Bank of The Year awards for Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Senegal, Cameroon and Chad at the annual Bankers Award in London and the 2016 EMEA Finance Banking Awards by leading financial publication EMEA Finance Magazine.

Mr. Uzoka ended his letter on an uplifting note, urging UBA employees to continue to embody UBA core values daily  in our endless quest for Excellent ServiceDelivered!

This advice is timely as staff enter the final stages of preparation for the Group Chairmans Forum which commences on Wednesday April 5 and features a series of events, including the Group AGM and the highly-anticipated annual UBA CEO Awards. During the forum, the Banks senior executives will share and learn from best practices across UBAs 18 African subsidiaries and its operations in New York, Paris, and London, reflect on Group performance in the past year, and identify ways to enhance growth in the short, medium and long terms.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The UK Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling March 2017 granted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, a reprieve over a $100 million bank guarantee in a case involving it and an oil service company, IPCO (Nigeria) Limited.

The reprieve was the latest in the protracted dispute arising from the contract between NNPC and IPCO for the construction of the Bonny Export Terminal, BET, Project in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

IPCO had referred its claims to arbitration in Nigeria and obtained an Arbitral Award of $154 million in 2004, with annual interest running at 14 per cent, leaving NNPC with no option than to promptly challenge the award at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, expressed delight at the development, commending the efforts of the legal team that secured judgment in favour of the Corporation.

Mr. Baru said no stone would be left unturned to extricate NNPC from encumbrances that may impede its access to hard earned funds needed to execute developmental projects by the various tiers of government in the country.

He said the development was a significant decision, which discharged NNPC from the responsibility to sustain the additional security of $100 million in favour of IPCO.

The ruling further reaffirmed the finding of the English Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal that NNPC had a good prima facie case that IPCO procured the arbitral award by fraud.

The Supreme Court decision also clarified conclusively the limits of an enforcing Courts power to order security as a condition on the right to have a decision of a properly arguable challenge under the New York Convention 1958 and the English Arbitration Act 1996, Mr. Baru said.

Since 2004, IPCO has repeatedly sought to enforce the award in England prior to the conclusion of NNPCs challenge of the arbitral award in Nigeria.

In 2008, during one of IPCOs attempts to secure an order for the enforcement of the award in the UK, NNPC discovered evidence that IPCO had forged documents relating to the claims and the related arbitration in Nigeria.

Consequently, the parties agreed in 2009 to adjourn the enforcement proceedings in England, in order to await the determination of the fraud allegations in Nigeria.

In 2012, IPCO again applied to the English Commercial Court to enforce the award despite the agreement on the adjournment of the enforcement action.

IPCOs application was however, dismissed on March 14, 2014, holding inter alia that NNPC had made out a good prima facie case of fraud, thus giving NNPC a realistic prospect of proving that the whole award should be set aside.

IPCO however appealed to the UK Court of Appeal.

In 2015, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that the delays in the Nigerian proceedings required the English Court to lift the adjournment and to decide whether to allow enforcement following a trial of the fraud allegations in the English Court.

Both the Commercial Court and, the Court of Appeal concluded that the fraud allegations against IPCO were made bona fide, and that NNPC had a good case that IPCO practised a fraud on the Arbitral Tribunal, and that NNPC had a realistic prospect to prove the whole award should be set aside.

However, the UK Court of Appeal ordered NNPC to provide an additional security of $100 million, in addition to $80million previously provided, as a condition of being entitled to advance a defence that enforcement should be refused because the award had been procured by IPCOs fraud.

Subsequently, NNPC appealed to the UK Supreme Court to decide whether the English court, as an enforcing court, was empowered to require security for money payable under the award from a party resisting enforcement of such award as a condition for being entitled to advance a good and arguable defence that enforcement would be contrary to English public policy because the award was procured by fraud.

On March 1, 2017, the UK Supreme Court unanimously set aside the Court of Appeals order, allowing NNPC to advance its defence in the English Commercial Court free of any such conditions.

NNPC was represented by the UK law firm of Messrs. Stephenson Harwood LLP, and Nigerian law firms of Messrs. Babalakin & Co. and Messrs. Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Suspected Al-Shabaab militants kidnapped four World Health Organisation, WHO, workers in southern Somalia on Tuesday, police said.

A police officer said the four workers, all Somalis, were working on a polio vaccination exercise underway in Somalia for the UN health agency.

The officer, who did not want to be identified, said the four were abducted by militants in Gedo region as they were travelling in a vehicle near the town of Luuq.

They were abducted on Tuesday near the town of Luuq by suspected Al-Shabaab militants while travelling in a car but the reason for the abduction is not clear, the officer said.

He said negotiations were underway to secure the release of the workers by local elders who established contacts with the militants. There was no immediate comment from the WHO.

Al-Shabaab, which is fighting to topple the Western-backed government, has been targeting humanitarian workers for political gain, sometimes demanding ransom in order to free the hostages.

The humanitarian community says the volatile security situation continues to impact on civilian lives and create a challenging environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

(Xinhua/NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


RICEVILLE | The Riceville Food Pantry began in 1988 when the Riceville Ministerial Alliance, along with the assistance and cooperation of the various community churches, began the groundwork for a food pantry in Riceville. The area, as throughout much of Iowa, had been hit hard by the economic conditions related to the farm crisis. Howard County was particularly high on the list of counties needing assistance in Iowa.

The nearest food assistance efforts were in Cresco and Osage. For families struggling financially, the 40-mile round-trip to take advantage of food programs put additional pressure on already strained resources. Clearly, there was a need for a food pantry in Riceville and funding for it would come from several sources.

Today, the Riceville Food Pantry Board stays true to its initial mission with representation from each of the community churches (St Peters Lutheran, David Community, Riceville United Methodist, Saratoga Community, St Pauls Lutheran, Immaculate Conception Church, and United Church of Christ).

The Riceville Food Pantry is not part of the Mitchell County Food Bank but instead is in a contract with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, formerly known as the Cedar Valley Food Bank, in Waterloo. That organizations income guidelines are used to determine assistance eligibility. This contract allows the Riceville Food Pantry to purchase items from the Northeast Iowa Food Bank at a substantial discount. Generous donations from the local churches, organizations and residents provide additional support to the pantry.

The Riceville Food Pantry has not seen the need for assistance diminish in the last 28 years. A total of 9,660 pounds of food was dispersed to 464 individuals that included 129 children within 132 households in 2015. This year, the Riceville Food Pantry dispersed 19,156 pounds to 358 households of 768 individuals which included 234 children.

Food is distributed per the size of the household, with patrons allowed pantry visits twice a month. Each patron receives half of a pork loin monthly through the generous donation of Iowa Select Farms and a monthly voucher for milk and eggs at the Riceville Community Market. The food pantry was awarded a $1,500 grant from Shop on State in October to continue the milk and egg voucher program.

Although households served have increased over 250 percent, donations of food and money in 2016 was less than in 2015. This year, the pantry received $5,347.63 in cash donations and 3,603 pounds of donated food. The Food Bank was able to purchase 4,660 pounds of food at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank at a reduced cost. The pantry also received 10,332 pounds of food from the Mobile Food Pantry in Osage, which is held on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Some items the pantry can purchase at a lower cost through the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Items of vegetable beef soup, cream of chicken soup, hamburger helper, paper towels, pineapple, mandarin oranges, laundry and dish soap, personal care items of toothbrushes and paste, cake mixes, pudding and fruit cups, cereal, margarine, meat and cheese are purchased frequently by the pantry.

Church leaders, volunteers, and donors have made a significant difference in the Riceville community. Thanks to their commitment and contributions of time, money and food, a helping hand has been given to area families when it has been needed most.
The death toll from the bomb blast in St. Petersburg has risen to 14, Russian agency Ria Novosti quoted the countrys health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, as saying on Tuesday.

The blast which happened on a metro train has also injured almost 50 people.

The death toll had stood at 11 people on Monday.

In a related development, Russias Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the deadly bomb shows the need for joint efforts against global terrorism.

(This tragedy in St Petersburg) once again shows the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil, Lavrov said at a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldayev.

The attack is thought to have been carried out by a man born in Kyrgyzstan.

NAN reports that the St Petersburg television showed footage of the corpse of a bearded man they said was the perpetrator.

The body resembled a man captured on closed circuit television whom Russian media said was a suspect.

Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but had been defused.

Authorities closed all St. Petersburg metro stations.

The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.

The blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers.

France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.

(Reuters/NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The UN Security Council will meet at 1000 EDT (1400 GMT) on Wednesday to be briefed on the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.

NAN reports that a suspected Syrian government chemical attack killed at least 58 people, including 11 children, in the north-western province of Idlib, a monitor, medics and rescue workers in the rebel-held area said.

We obviously are very concerned about what happened with the Syrian chemical weapon attack so well be having an emergency meeting tomorrow morning in the open chamber, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told reporters.

The U.S. is president of the 15-member council for April.

The White House also on Tuesday blamed the chemical weapons attack in Syrias Idlib province directly on the government of President Bashar al-Assad and said the incident was reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world.

These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administrations weakness and irresolution, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a briefing.

President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.

Mr. Spicer declined to say what the Trump administration would do about the attack but he added that the president had spoken on Tuesday with his national security team about the issue.

A Syrian military source strongly denied the army had used any such weapons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack, believed to have been carried out by Syrian army jets, caused many people to choke, and some had foam coming out of their mouths.

All the children were under the age of eight.

This morning, at 6:30 a.m., warplanes targeted Khan Sheikhoun with gases, believed to be sarin and chlorine, said Mounzer Khalil, head of Idlibs health authority.

The attack had killed more than 50 people and wounded 300, he said.

Most of the hospitals in Idlib province are now overflowing with wounded people, Khalil told a news conference in Idlib.

The air strikes that hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the south of rebel-held Idlib, killed at least 58 people, said the Observatory, a British-based war monitoring group.

Warplanes later struck near a medical point where victims of the attack were receiving treatment, the Observatory and civil defence workers said.

The civil defence, also known as the White Helmets  a rescue service that operates in opposition areas of Syria  said jets struck one of its centres in the area and the nearby medical point.

It would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta near the capital in August 2013.

Western states said the Syrian government was responsible for the 2013 attack.

Damascus blamed rebels.

The Syrian military source on Tuesday denied allegations that government forces had used chemical weapons.

The army has not and does not use them, not in the past and not in the future, because it does not have them in the first place, the source said.

A series of investigations by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found that various parties in the Syrian war have used chlorine, sulphur mustard gas and sarin.

(Reuters/NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Justice I. E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross Rivers State has remanded the Chief Medical Director of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Thomas Agan, two other staff of the university and promoters of two companies in prison custody.

This follows their arraignment on Monday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a five-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, bid rigging, abuse of office and breach of due process contrary to the Procurement Act of 2007.

Two other staff of the Teaching Hospital arraigned with Mr. Agan are: Offor Jonan Offor, Head, Works and Engineering and Francis I. Utu, Chief Administrative Officer and Head, Legal Services.

The other two accused persons remanded in prison are Okocha Anthony and Emmanuel Etta Nkim, both owners of Anchor Industrial & Construction Services Nigeria Limited and Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited respectively. The companies were allegedly used to perpetrate the fraud.

Mr. Agan, a professor, and his two other colleagues were alleged to have used their positions to corruptly influence the award of the purchase of a Life Support Ambulance Vehicle and one Toyota Coaster Bus to Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria and Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited by inflating their costs and without following due procurement processes to the tune of N85, 062,000.00 thereby contravening the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

Count one of the charge read, That you Prof. Thomas U. Agan as Chief Medical Director, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Offor Jonah Offor as Head of Works and Engineering, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Francis I. Utu as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Legal Services, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Okocha Anthony being the alter ego of Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited and Emmanuel Etta Nkim being the Alter Ego of Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited sometime in the month of October 2015 in Calabar, Cross Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did conspire amongst yourselves to bid rig for the purchase of one Advance Life Support Ambulance vehicle and one Toyota Coaster Bus 30 seater to Messrs Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited and Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited contrary to Section 58(4) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.

When the charges were read to the defendants, they all pleaded not guilty.

In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, Kayode Oni, asked the court to remand the defendants in prison custody and to fix a date for trial. However, an attempt by the defence counsel, Mba Ukwenyi, to move an oral application for bail for his clients was refused by the judge who ordered that a formal application be filed.

Justice Ekwo adjourned the case to May 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 for trial and ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Nigerian government is set to begin online registration of unemployed Nigerians from April 5, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

A statement released, Monday, by the Deputy Director, Information and Public Relations of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, Edmund Onwuliri, said the registration was aimed at collecting up-to-date data of unemployed Nigerians.

Mr. Onwuliri said the registration was in compliance with NDEs mandate to obtain and maintain a data bank on unemployment and vacancies in the country.

The deputy director, according to the statement, said the exercise would enable the directorate to serve as a clearing house linking job seekers with existing vacancies in government agencies and the private sector.

The online portal which goes live on Wednesday April 5, 2017, is designed to capture the relevant details of any unemployed person, he said.

It will equally serve as a job exchange portal that will link job seekers and employers, he added.

The NDE chief also reiterated that there will be a practical demonstration of the workings of the portal at the NDE stand at the ongoing 28th edition of the Enugu International Trade on Thursday.

The directorate sees this initiative as a bold step toward deepening the effectiveness of its employment creation strategies and a critical input into the process of designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes and

schemes, he added.

Mr. Onwuliri explained that the online portal would henceforth serve as a meeting point for millions of job seekers and their prospective employers.

He also added that the initiative would go a long way to eliminate the cumbersome process of recruitment by employers of skilled labour in private and public sectors.

The address of the portal, the statement noted, is www.jobsforall.ng.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Thousands of protesters have blocked the entrance to the National Assembly in Abuja, demanding the immediate reinstatement of Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south in the Senate.

Mr. Ndume was suspended last week by the Senate for triggering investigations into allegations of forgery against the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and Kogi senator, Dino Melaye.

News reports accused Mr. Saraki of importing a Range Rover SUV without paying appropriate import duty, and attempting to clear the vehicle with falsified papers.

Mr. Melaye was accused of falsely claiming to have graduated from Ahmadu Bello University.

The Senate dismissed both allegations, and sanctioned Mr. Ndume by suspending him for six months.

There have been moves by Borno politicians to get Mr. Ndume reinstated.

Protesters arrived the National Assembly gate early Tuesday, with placards lambasting Mr. Saraki and the Senate.

Saraki is a curse, one placard read.

Many of the protesters said they were natives of southern Borno, Mr. Ndumes district, but mostly live in Mararaba and Masaka areas of Abuja.

A PREMIUM TIMES correspondent at the scene said the protesters did not immediately appear like the usual rented crowd.

More details later.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has said that the ongoing outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis is Gods way of showing his anger against Nigerians for turning their back on him.

Mr. Yari said this on Tuesday while speaking with journalists at the presidential Villa Abuja shortly after meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari.

Zamfara is the worst hit state since the outbreak of the disease, with over 200 persons killed and several others receiving treatment at various hospitals and clinics.

The Nigeria Medical Association in Zamfara had last weekend accused the government of Mr. Yari of failing to prepare for the outbreak despite warnings, and not responding adequately to the epidemic.

Some residents, who also spoke to PREMIUM TIMES over the weekend, accused the government of neglect.

Mr. Yari however said the outbreak might not be unconnected to the peoples total disregard of Gods commandments.

What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the type A virus. The World Health Organisation, WHO, has carried out vaccinations against this type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other states.

However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.

People have turned away from God and he has promised that if you do anyhow, you see anyhow that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.

There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured, the governor said.

Dispelling insinuations that his government failed to act accordingly, Mr. Yari said he called an emergency meeting comprising of all top state and local government officials and traditional rulers, adding that the meeting came out with a strategy to be adopted and the money required to deal with the outbreak and a lot of work is going on.

The Zamfara governor said relevant organisations across the globe had announced that there were only 5 million doses of the vaccine against the Type C virus. That is not enough for Zamfara people alone, not to talk of Katsina or Kano, he said.

He said Nigerias Federal Ministry of Health has only 50,000 doses of the vaccine, out of which 20,000 was given to Zamfara state because of the high rate of the disease in the state.

Our focus as a state now is to continue treating those who are infected with the disease, but as for vaccination, it has an international dimension.

We have information that Nigeria will get the highest percentage of the 5 million doses available now. Apart from WHO, other International bodies such as the Bill Gates foundation and UNICEF are also currently focusing on how to tackle the outbreak, he said.

The governor express the hope that the outbreak would eventually be tackled, but, hsaid the most important thing is for our people to know that their relationship with God is not smooth. All they need to do is repent and everything will be all right.

Asked if only the people need repentance and not leaders, Mr. Yari said leaders are doing their best by enlightening the populace and working assiduously for the good of all.

Your major assignment as a leader is to convey the message; you cannot go from house to House and arrest offenders for instance, he said.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The number of people who have died from suspected cases of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis in Zamfara State has risen to 215.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control had earlier on Tuesday said at least 336 have died from the disease across Nigeria.

Abdullahi Shinkafi, the Secretary to the Zamfara State Government, said the disease has claimed 215 lives in the last two months in the state.

Mr. Shinkafi, who is also the Chairman of the states Committee for the Control of Meningitis, made the disclosure at a news briefing in Gusau on Tuesday.

He said that the committee was mobilising communities in the state, through the Local Government Meningitis Control Committee, to create more awareness on the disease.

He said that additional 1,864 cases had been recorded in the state since the outbreak of the disease.

According to him, already 1,344 people have been trained as vaccinators and they have been divided into 224 groups of six people each.

He said that they would carry out vaccination throughout the state.

Mr. Shinkafi said that the state government, which required three million dosages of meningitis vaccines, only got 300,000 from the Federal Government.

We have to carefully prioritise the vaccination.

Mr. Shinkafi said that the vaccination would be concentrated on high density areas including key public institutions and schools to curtail further spread.

Earlier, the Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, said the outbreak of Type C CSM is Gods way of showing his anger against Nigerians for turning their back on him.

Mr. Yari said this on Tuesday while speaking with journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Nigeria Medical Association in Zamfara had last weekend accused the government of Mr. Yari of failing to prepare for the outbreak of the despite warnings, and not responding adequately to the epidemic.

Some residents, who also spoke to PREMIUM TIMES over the weekend, accused the government of neglect.

Mr. Yari, however, said the outbreak might not be unconnected to the peoples total disregard of Gods commandments.

What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus. The World Health Organisation, WHO, has carried out vaccinations against this Type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other states.

However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.

People have turned away from God and he has promised that if you do anyhow, you see anyhow that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.

There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured, the governor said.

Dispelling insinuations that his government failed to act accordingly, Mr. Yari said he called an emergency meeting comprising of all top state and local government officials and traditional rulers, adding that the meeting came out with a strategy to be adopted and the money required to deal with the outbreak and a lot of work is going on.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board, has suspended three senior Prisons officers, over the controversial release of former Adamawa governor, Bala Ngilari, recently jailed for corruption.

The affected officers are Peter Tenkwa, the controller of Prisons for Adamawa State and Abubakar Abaka, the Deputy Comptroller and John Bukar, a Superintendent of Prisons.

A statement by the spokesperson of Prisons, Francis Enobore, on Tuesday said the suspended officers were indicted for their roles in the issuance of an unauthorised medical report that helped Mr. Ngilari leave jail.

The governor was sentenced to a five-year jail term.

The letter dated 3rd April, 2017 and signed by the Director/Secretary of the Board, Sunday Ogu, approved the suspension of the officers pending the outcome of all necessary investigations into the matter.

Justice Nathan Musa of Yola High Court had last week granted bail to Mr. Ngilari on health grounds.

Shortly after the decision of the court was reported, Mr. Tenkwa had alleged that the letter used by the convicted former governor to secure the bail was fraudulent.

Mr. Tenkwa sais he was not aware of the letter and had communicated to the prison headquarters.

Meanwhile, the statement on Tuesday said a new Controller and officer in-charge had already been posted to take over the state command and Yola prison respectively.

A medical doctor was also deployed to oversee the prison clinic, the statement said.

 The officers have since resumed duties, the statement said.

The prison authorities were silent on the fate of Mr. Ngilari who is believed to have left Nigeria after the controversial release. Neither the prison nor the police have indicated any intention to either re-arrest the ex-governor or appeal his controversial bail.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Italian government has deported 40 Nigerians for committing various offences in the country.

The latest deportation comes less than a month after 37 Nigerians were deported from Italy on March 8. Two weeks before that, another 33 Nigerians were also deported from the European country on February 23.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the latest deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos on Tuesday night.

The deportees, who are all male, were brought back in a chartered aircraft with registration number EL-SMU/3737.

Joseph Alabi, the spokesperson of the Lagos Airport Police Command, confirmed the development.

Mr. Alabi, a deputy superintendent of police, said 39 of the deportees were alleged to have committed immigration-related offences while one of them was allegedly involved in drug dealing.

He said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, and the Police.

Also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

NAN gathered that the deportees were profiled by immigration authorities while those without serious charges were allowed to depart to their various destinations.

Thousands of Nigerians travel to Italy annually via Libya and the Mediterranean seeking greener pastures.

While some of the travellers make it to Italy where they are treated as refugees, many are trapped in Libya while some others die while crossing the Mediterranean.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The nongovernmental group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the Federal High Court, Lagos, for an order for leave to apply for judicial relief and to seek an order of mandamus directing and/or compelling the government to publish details of spending ofN388.304 billion London Paris Club Loan refunds allegedly diverted and mismanagedby 35 states.

In the suit number FCH/CS/523/17 filed yesterday SERAP is seeking an order to compel the Accountant General of the Federation Alh. Ahmed Idris, to compile and pass on to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubabar Malami, SAN, information relating to the release and spending of N388.304billion London Paris Club Loan refunds to the states.

SERAP is also seeking an order for theAttorney-General of the Federation to use the information on the spending by the 35 statesto initiate legal action against the States that allegedly diverted and mismanaged the funds with a view to compelling the states to widely publish, including on a dedicated website, details of spending of the funds by them.

According to the organisation, The orders sought are necessary to know exactly what happened to the Paris Club refunds, and the release of the information including on a dedicated website would be deemed incidental to the power of the federal government to achieve effective implementation of anticorruption legislation such as the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act, which is applicable in all states of the federation, and will not amount to interference with activities within the states involved.

The suit, filed on behalf of SERAP, by its deputy director, Timothy Adewale, read in part: The Applicant argues that allegations of corruption and mismanagement ofN388.304 billion London Paris Club loan refunds by states have undermined the human dignity of workers and pensioners facing difficult circumstances that deprive them of their capacity to fully realize their internationally recognized economic and social rights.

The allegations of corruption in the spending of the London Paris Club loan refunds have also exacerbated poverty, social exclusion, and violated the governments obligation to use its maximum available resources to fully realize the right of all persons especially workers and pensioners who are the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

The Federal Government has a constitutional and statutory obligation to contribute to the eradication of corrupt practices and abuse of power, ensure proper organization and maintenance of all information in its custody in a manner that facilitates public access to such information, and make readily this available to applicantswhenever it is sought.

Since the receipt of SERAPs letter dated 17th March, 2017, and up till the filing of this suit, the government has so far failed, refused and/ or neglected to pass on to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, information relating to the release and spending of N388.304billion London Paris Club Loan refunds to 35 States by the Federal Government for appropriate legal action against the states.

SERAP is seeking the following reliefs:

A DECLARATION that the failure of the Respondent to urgently compile and pass on to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, information relating to the release and spending of N388.304billion London Paris Club Loan refunds to 35 States by the Federal Government, so that the Attorney-General of the Federation can take steps to initiate legal action against the States that allegedly diverted and mismanaged the funds with a view to compelling the states to widely publish, including on a dedicated website, details of spending of the funds by them is unconstitutional and unlawful as it contradicts and in conflict with the duties and obligations of the Respondent under theConstitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information Act 2011.

AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS compelling the Respondent to urgently compile and pass on to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, information relating to the release and spending of N388.304billion London Paris Club Loan refunds to 35 States by the Federal Government, so that the Attorney-General of the Federation can take steps to initiate legal action against the States that allegedly diverted and mismanaged the funds with a view to compelling the states to widely publish, including on a dedicated website, details of spending of the funds by them.

Unless the reliefs sought are granted, the Respondent will not immediately compileand pass on information to the Attorney General of the Federation regarding the release and spending of the London Paris Club Loan refunds to enable him take steps to pursue appropriate legal action against states that allegedly diverted and mismanaged the loan refunds.

The suit was brought under Order 34 Rules 1(1)(A), 2, 3(1) and (2)(A), (B) and (C) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2009; Section 26(2) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000; Section 1(1),(2),(3); 2(7) , 4(A), and 20 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011; Section 15(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended); andthe inherent jurisdiction of the court.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


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.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) Chapter, has declared a one-week warning strike over illegal pension deductions, fractional salary payments and non-payment of supervision allowance.

The decision was taken on Tuesday at a congress convened by the union and presided over by its Chairman, Deji Omole.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members also complained about excessive deductions in their March salaries.

The management of the university was also alleged to have failed to declare the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile of the university.

According to Mr. Omole, the warning strike is, therefore, to compel the university administration to address the issues which ASUU said bordered on the welfare of her members who are being owed since 2010.

The congress of ASUU, UNIBADAN, at its meeting of 4th April, 2017, having received permission from the national body of the union, hereby, declare a one-week warning strike.

The warning strike will commence from 12:01 midnight of Tuesday, 4th April, to 12:00 midnight of Tuesday, 11th April, 2017.

The congress of the union maintains that the failure of the university administration to satisfactorily resolve all the issues, will force the union to proceed on a comprehensive and total strike, said Mr. Omole.

The congress, which was well attended, was also addressed by the national delegates of ASUU, which included Mahmood Lawan, from Kano; Tony Monye-Emina, from Benin and Bebe Sese, from Port Harcourt.

NAN recalls that the union had in a congress resolution in March warned the university management to address its grievances, bordering on reversal of illicit deductions and non-payment of promotion arrears.

The three non-academic staff unions of the institution had also been on strike since March 13, grounding administrative activities in the institution. (NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government to release N15billion appropriated for the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the 2016 Budget to enable the payment of five month arrears being owed 30,000 beneficiaries of the programme.

The House gave the advice following a motion on Tuesday at the plenary by its Minority Leader, Leo Ogor (Delta-PDP), in which he disclosed that the beneficiaries on Education Programmes (Onshore) were being owed the arrears.

The beneficiaries are paid a monthly allowance of N65,000 each.

Mr. Ogor said the beneficiaries in Nigerian universities are owing N1, 873,044, 700.00 as tution fees, in addition to a backlog of their unpaid In-Training Allowances amounting to N830,500,000.

He said 750 beneficiaries who are studying abroad have not been paid their In-Training Allowances for 2016 and 2017 totalling $4,200,000.00 (N1,332,000,000.00), while 350 of them are owing tuition fee amounting to $17,500,000.00 (N5,512,500,000.00).

Mr. Ogor added that 70 per cent of 637 students in 27 countries who are expected to round up their studies at the end of the 2016/2017 academic year may not be able to graduate due to non-payment of the tuition fees.

More than 80 per cent of them have been excluded from studies and if the tuition fees are not settled, it may lead to their having to repeat the whole academic session, thus compounding the financial burden Mr. Ogor said.

One hundred graduates are currently stranded in the United States of America, Malaysia, United Kingdom and South Africa, waiting for their October 2016 to January 2017 allowances to enable them settle their bills and return back to Nigeria, he added.

He said students in the United Kingdom were planning to hold a protest at the Nigerian High Commission over their unpaid tuition fees and allowances by the Amnesty Office, warning that such a protest would bring Nigeria to ridicule and opprobrium in the comity of nations.

Mr. Ogor attributed the challenges facing the Amnesty Programme to delayed and staggered release of funds from the 2016 Appropriation Act by the Federal Ministry of Finance, stressing that the paucity of fund has also made it extremely difficult for the Programme to meet its obligations to its workers and beneficiaries.

He said the failure by the Federal Ministry of Finance to release N15 Billion budgeted for the programme in the 2016 Appropriation Act was capable of truncating the Amnesty Programme, warning that tension and threats were already palpable in the Niger Delta Region over the development.

The Amnesty Programme was conceived by the Late President Umaru Musa Yaradua-led Federal Government to stem the tide of disaffection, agitations and militancy in the Niger Delta area, which had resulted to loss of lives, properties and oil revenues.

When Mr. Ogors motion was put to vote, the House unanimously agreed to call on the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, to release the balance of N15 Billion in the 2016 Appropriation Act for the funding of the Amnesty Programme.

The House also mandated its Committee on Niger Delta Ministry to investigate the circumstances leading to funding constraints affecting the Amnesty Programme, with a view to avoiding reoccurrence, and report back to the House within two weeks for further legislative action.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has confirmed that computers, vital documents and 10 offices of the control department were destroyed by Tuesdays fire at its Kaduna zonal office.

The council however said examination papers were not affected by the inferno, which erupted at about 9.50 a.m.

Fidelis Gayan, deputy zonal coordinator in charge of Kaduna office, told journalists that he was at the office when the incident occurred, and that no casualty was recorded.

He said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

Mr. Gayan told the News Agency of Nigeria that the fire probably started from an electrical spark or fault.

We are running on generator. When they restored electricity, we saw smoke all over the place, he said.

We are grateful that no life was lost because most of our staff members were out to their various examination centres.

He said that the incident will not affect the ongoing examination because the question papers were safe.

He commended the Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Air Force, State University and State Fire Service for responding fast to the situation.

We are grateful to all the fire service departments that responded very fast to the situation. Otherwise, the damage would have been more than this.

Deputy Controller of Federal Fire Service, Thompson Mohammed, reiterated the need for fire extinguishers to be installed in offices to reduce the rate of damages caused by fire.

I am sure if there were fire extinguishers here with trained men, the damage would have been minimal.

He urged them to liaise with the service to train their staff on how to operate fire extinguishers, adding that it is committed to discharging its duties effectively and promptly.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has issued a 24-hour ultimatum to prison authorities to release the 13 students of the University of Lagos currently remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos.

The student body, in a statement on Monday, threatened to invade the prison and relocate its headquarters if the government fails to accede to its demand within the stipulated time.

After a painstaking review of the circumstances surrounding the draconian ruling, we have resolved to demand and hereby demand the unconditional release of these students within 24 hours, Chinonso Obasi, the NANS president told journalists, according to a statement he released.

Consequently, we make bold to state that if at the expiration of our 24 hours ultimatum, these innocent students are not released without strings, we shall relocate the Headquarters of NANS to Kirikiri in solidarity with our members.

We also hope that the authorities would use the opportunity of the 24 hours ultimatum to either expand the facilities of Kirikiri prison or release our colleagues, as they can see we are serious and determined by offering them a fair choice.

The police last Saturday charged the students before a Special Offences Mobile Court for riotous invasion of TVC, a television station, as well as the main campus of the University of Lagos and disrupting normal activities.

The accused include Femi Adeyeye (who is currently rusticated for four semesters for criticising the University of Lagos management on social media), Tony Aina, Kodri Yaya, Asimi Oladime, Ismahim Olalekan, Segun Okesola, Abdulazeez Soneye, Idris Abogunloko, and Muyiwa Olaniyi.

The rest are Toheed Oladimeji, Joseph Akanni, Lukumon Olusegun, and Abiodun Agbeniyi.

They are standing trial before P.E Nwaka, a chief magistrate, on two counts of unlawful invasion and disruption of activities.

The students pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On Sunday, TVC refuted the police claims that the students invaded their station, insisting that they had come to protest the rustication of a student by the university management.

The TV station said the students protest was peaceful and they left our premises peacefully.

PREMIUM TIMES had learnt that the students were protesting the rustication of a visually-impaired student, Lawrence Success, for criticising the schools management.

The police arrested the students on Friday and charged them to a mobile court on Saturday.

The magistrate ordered their remand at Kirikiri Prison until April 6 when their bail application will be determined.

NANS criticised the magistrates decision to clamp the students into a prison facility for one week.

Being first time offenders, the Magistrate, if ever he was once a University student, would have handed down a stern warning and demand of good behaviour instead of sending them to prison for whatever reasons, said Mr. Obasi.

In saner climes, what the Magistrate should have done was to certify that the suspects are bonafide students and release them to their school authorities or student leaders. But rather than factor in the extenuating circumstances of their protest, the Magistrate apparently in a hurry to please some hidden forces, decided to blunt the proper socialization of 13 Nigerian leaders of tomorrow.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The #BringBackOurGirls group has drawn the attention of Nigerians to the silence of the federal government to a letter highlighting the groups key observations and suggestions on how to secure the return of the remaining 195 Chibok schoolgirls still in Boko Haram captivity.

The group claimed the letter was delivered to the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, with copies sent to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, following a guided tour of Sambisa forest in January by some of its members.

The group said since the letter was sent to the government, it has not received any reply from the government. It said the silence that has greeted the letter was in stark contrast to the fanfare with which the government extended the invitation to its members to tour the infamous stronghold of Boko Haram.

The Nigerian military successfully dislodged the terrorists from the forest last December.

Concluding on the basis of facts and evidence obtained from the Sambisa Forest tour, we conveyed a more pointed demand on the Federal Government to negotiate and bring back our remaining 195 Chibok Girls, the group said in a statement.

Since our letter was sent to the federal government over two months ago, our Movement has not received a reply from the Federal Government.

We consider it grossly objectionable that the Federal Government chose to be unresponsive to a letter that was addressed and delivered to the Minister of Information as well as copied and sent to the Vice President, the Chief of Staff of the President and the Minister of Defence, the statement added.

The group said in view of the governments continued silence, it has decided to publish the content of the letter so as to make it clear to the government that it cannot continue to scuttle public scrutiny and demand for accountability on the status of the girls still in captivity.

We request the rest of the Nigerian people and others around the world who have stood in empathy for the cause of our ChibokGirls to join our movement in prevailing on the Federal Government to act on our demand.

The Letter

In the letter dated 23 January 2017 and titled: Letter of Appreciation for Guided Tour of Sambisa; Next Step of Action, while acknowledging the sacrifices of soldiers of the Nigerian military to securing the country from the deadly Boko Haram sect, the group said it was disappointed by the conduct of the federal government and military establishment, which it said have failed in proving the troops with the necessary resources and equipment to excel.

Evidently since our Chibok Girls were abducted and our movement began advocating for their rescue, what the public sees  especially in the early years of the terrorist insurgency  is failure of leadership to appropriately prioritise, resource, guide troops, and make strategic decisions for their rescue.

The group said having seen the effort being made by the Nigerian Air Force to search and rescue the girls, it suggested that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration must urgently take strategic options decision.

The fierce urgency of such a strategic decision is to avoid our remaining 195 girls who are now 1015 days in the captivity of terrorists being there until Day 1100  that is three years since their abduction.

From what we gathered during the guided tour and data presented to us, it is evident that in the prosecution of the anti-insurgency war, the military pursues the following two options; (a) direct military activity which secures our territorial integrity, and (b)direct and indirect military activity which leads to the recovery of abducted citizens.

The group pointed out that three of the abducted Chibok girls and thousands of other abducted individuals have been rescued through direct or indirect military intervention.

It however explained that 21 Chibok girls were released through direct negotiation with their abductors. It added that since the release of the 21 girls, the federal government claimed it was working to secure the release of more girls.

Therefore the group said that this clearly shows that negotiation remained the best option to secure the release of the 195 girls still in captivity.

It is for this reason that our movement, while urging the military to further accelerate its counter-insurgency operations, must now specifically demand that the federal government urgently conclude negotiation for the release of the rest of our Chibok girls which the Minister of Information confirmed during our guided tour.

Our movement demands decisiveness on the part of the government on this matter considering how costly any further delays can be to the girls and our country.

The group also frowns at the secrecy of the the government rehabilitation programme the 24 freed Chibok girls were being subjected to. It wondered why the aim the programme seeks to achieve is not communicated even to their parents.

We as a movement had designed a global best practice system of Verification, Authentication and Reuniting of abducted citizens when rescued. The Verification, Authentication, Reunification System (VARS) is holistic for Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Resettlement of victims of abduction.

It was part of the package of solutions presented to the president during our meetings of July 2015 and January 2016. We request for an urgent meeting to receive a progress report on the rehabilitation programme of the Twenty-Four girls and to discuss how to achieve their quick restoration to wholesomeness in preparation for the return of the rest of their 195 school mates.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, has said that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, is pushing the nations domestic airlines to the edge of insolvency.

The Chairman, AON, Nogie Meggison, said this while speaking with journalists in Lagos.

While reacting to the recent ultimatum issued to the domestic airlines to automate their payment systems, Mr. Meggison accused the NCAA of discriminating against the domestic airlines because foreign airlines were not mandated to join the automation platform.

It is apparent that NCAA is preying on domestic airlines, which they see as an easy target, a cash cow and for cheap publicity, the AON boss said.

They are over-regulating domestic operators and pushing domestic airlines to the edge of insolvency and bankruptcy.

It is these kinds of policies that have reduced the lifespan of Nigerian airlines and consumed over 25 airlines in the last 30 years since deregulation in 1982,he added.

Mr. Meggison, therefore, called for the suspension of the automation of revenue remittance, adding that the process should be put on hold until the parameters which constitute the statutory five per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC) are clearly and properly defined.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the AOB chief also alleged that the ultimatum was given in `bad faith because the issues surrounding it had yet to be resolved.

AON has no problem with the NCAA going ahead to automate the collection and remittance of the said charges. However, the NCAA needs to give clarification on what constitutes the five per cent ticket and cargo sales charge, he said.

The five per cent TSC is only applicable on base fare, in compliance with industry practice and as currently applicable to international carriers operating out of Nigeria, Mr. Meggison added.

According to him, AON members are currently remitting the charges and it is on record that the NCAA introduced financial clearance process for services over the last few years.

He said despite the tax burden on airlines, the infrastructure and service level continue to deteriorate across all facets of the industry, under the same authority.

The AON president, however, appealed to the NCAA to focus its energy on being an enabler and to foster growth in the Nigerian aviation industry, in line with its mandate.

He added that while airlines in other West African countries operate 24 hours, Nigerian carriers are subjected to daylight operations only till 6:30 p.m. in most of the nations airports.

Yet the West African charges are almost a fraction of Nigerias domestic billing, the AON chief said.

Sadly also, Nigerian airlines are the only mode of transport paying the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Marine, road and rail transport dont pay, and even the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria are exempted from paying VAT in Nigeria and their home base.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), John Oyegun, has called for a ceasefire between the legislature and executive.

The chairman, made this known when the National Working Committee of APC visited the Senate Caucus of the party on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr. Oyegun, who spoke to journalists after about five hours of closed-door meeting, called on the Senate and the executive to cease fire over the recent misunderstanding between them.

He asked for mutual respect between the various arms of government to ensure sustainable development.

One appeal I have to make that is necessary is for all levels of government to maintain some level of respect and civility, he said.

And I appeal that as we start now the process of reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I will call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one institution of government or the other even principal parties of these institutions, he said.

He expressed optimism that though the meeting with the caucus was the first, such interactions would continue for the strengthening of the party and national development.

While commending the leaders of the National Assembly for speaking with one voice after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, he urged them to continue in that spirit for the entrenchment of democracy in the country.

He further commended the National Assembly for carrying out its constitutional duties in spite of the crises.

We have assurance that the budget is going on and is going on very well.

The report I get, or the briefing I get from the Minister of Budget is that the National Assembly has been very cooperative in the interactions between both his ministry and other ministries.

I want to pay tribute to the National Assembly for the degree of cooperation that they have been extending to the executive in spite of seeming differences on the surface.

Secondly, I want to say that we have now completed our consultations with the National Assembly and we are going to move forward from now.

Once that is done, I can assure you and assure the nation that in the next couple of weeks, we will have a new level of cohesion, cooperation and mutual respect between the different arms of government and the party, said.

The president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, called for mutual respect between the different arms of government.

Whether there are issues or not, regular consultations between the legislative arm of government and the party is important.

It is unfortunate, but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect this institution.

This institution is here now and is going to be there after now. So we should not allow our selfish interests to bring ridicule to the institution. The institution is what we have and we must ensure that we respect that, he said.

He said the Senate would not relent in carrying out its constitutional duties, adding that as I said yesterday, some of these issues are not important to our people.

The important issues are issues of budget. Despite all the noise you heard last week, we still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or seven years.

By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay the PIB which has never been done. We are focused on the major issues and we are not going to be distracted on that. We are still going to do our work.

Today we were talking about meningitis, looking at how we are going to find funding for that. So, none of these issues are distracting us from that and I think we have shown that over the last few weeks, he said.

Mr. Saraki declined comment on the suspension of Ali Ndume (APC-Borno) by the Senate. He said: Let us focus on national issues.(NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, said on Tuesday that it was working towards re-opening its Orientation Camp in Maiduguri following return of relative peace to the state.

Suleiman Kazaure, the Director-General of NYSC, gave the hint while speaking with journalists in Maiduguri.

Mr. Kazaure said NYSC was eager to re-open the camp following the return of peace to the state ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

There is relative peace now in the state, so we will like to come back as soon as possible. Remember, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are still occupying the Orientation Camp, he said.

Mr. Kazaure said the camp would be re-opened once the IDPs were evacuated from it.

It is only in Borno that our corps members have yet to have their orientation camp in place.

We are ready to start our orientation the moment the state government releases our camp to us, he said.

Mr. Kazaure commended the corps members serving in the state for their dedication and resilience.

If you notice, I asked them about their morale and they responded by saying morale high. That is how we measure the psychological frame of the corps members.

Minus the camp, every other thing is in place for them. This means that they are in good spirit, they are doing well, he said.

Mr. Kazaure, a brigadier general, thanked the state government for providing enhanced welfare and security for the corps members.

I am happy that the state government has been assisting in ensuring the welfare of the corps members.

I thank Governor Kashim Shettima for that and implore other states to emulate the gesture by ensuring adequate welfare for corps members serving in their localities, he said.

Mr. Kazaure said the NYSC was working toward setting up six skill acquisition centres across the country to empower corps members with necessary skills.

We identified lack of trading skills as the major problem causing unemployment among NYSC members.

So, we embarked on establishment of six skill acquisition centres in all the geopolitical zones of the country to help in training these young graduates to become self-reliant.

We have almost completed work on the centre in Gombe which will serve states in the North East.

He said the NYSC authority was also working on five other centres and were near completion.

The director-general said the essence of the innovation was to produce corps members that would eventually become job creators rather than being job seekers. (NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The Gombe State Government says it recorded 40 fresh cases of leprosy in 2016.

Mustapha Musa, the programme manager, Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Unit of the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Tuesday that the cases were detected in Nafada, Funakaye, Yamaltu-Deba and Kwami Local Government Areas.

He said out of the 40 cases, 12 were children, which means there was still ongoing infections in the communities.

We have embarked on contact tracing of the infections to pin down the sources, therefore, we are calling for more concerted effort among all the stakeholders, he said.

According to Mr. Musa, despite this development, the state has met the World Health Organisation (WHO) targets of leprosy elimination.

WHO define one case in 10,000 populations as elimination targets, he said.

According to him, leprosy is an air borne disease which can be transmitted through cough and sneezing.

Those that have the micro bacterium whenever they sneeze, anyone who is close to them inhales it, stands the risk of been infected, he said.

Mr. Musa appealed to the public to report to the nearest hospital whenever they noticed any skin discolouration and loss of sensation.

Leprosy is curable but when detected early, there will be no disability and the treatment is free of charge, drugs are available, he said.

The programme manager further said leprosy was categorised in two types; Multibacillary (MB) which treatment last for 12 to 18 months, and Poulcibacillary (PB) which treatment last for six to 12 months, depending on the level of infection. (NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


The District Head of Jeke in Suletankarkar Local Government Area of Jigawa, Alhaji Alassan, has banned Fulani local traditional wedding ceremonies and other festivities in the night in his domain.

The Information Officer of the local government, Daudu Sulaiman, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Tuesday.

Mr. Sulaiman said that Mr. Alassan, who is also the Dan Isan Gumel, gave the directive during a meeting with village and ward heads in his domain.

According to Mr. Sulaiman, the district head explained that the ban was to check unnecessary fighting during such ceremonies.

He said the traditional ruler said such quarrels among Fulani men usually led to lost of lives and property.

The information officer said the district head had also warned residents of the area to desist from attending ceremonies and other social gatherings as well as going to markets with weapons. (NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


FOREST CITY | Bryan Hughes has been named chief financial officer of Winnebago Industries.

He will be based in the company's Eden Prairie, Minnesota, office. Ryan succeeds Sarah Nielsen who will remain in the Forest City office to assist with a smooth transition, according to Michael Happe, president and chief executive officer.

Hughes has more than 25 years of financial management experience, including the past 20 years with Ecolab Inc., a company involved with water, hygiene and energy technologies and services with 2016 net sales of more than $13 billion, according to a Winnebago press release.

He began his career as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young before joining Ecolab in 1996 where he held many financial management positions including vice president of finance for the company's global institutional business.

Happe said, "Bryan brings an exceptional track record of public company leadership as well as strategic and financial expertise that will further enhance our leadership team and we continue to transform Winnebago Industries into a premier outdoor lifestyle company."

He also praised Nielsen for her service to the company of more than 10 years, including helping Winnebago "navigate a significant economic and industry recession" and her willingness to help with the transition.

Hughes said, "This is an exciting time to be joining the Winnebago team and I am honored to become part of the company's rich and proud history and very strong brand."

"I am excited to work with the entire team as we strive to deliver disciplined growth and value creation for our customers and shareholders."

 John Skipper
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Jigawa said it arrested 27 suspects, including six nationals of Niger republic, for allegedly burning down its office in Maigatari Local Government Area of the state.

The corps spokesperson, Adamu Abdullahi, confirmed the arrest to journalists in Dutse on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some suspected hoodlums had on March 30 razed down the NSCDCs office in Maigatari town.

As I told you the other time, we had identified those suspected to have participated in burning down our office in Maigatari.

So, yesterday in the night, we sent our men to the area and were able to arrest 27 suspects.

But six of them are from Niger Republic, while the rest are from Maigatari town.

Also, seven of the 27 suspects are juveniles, Mr. Abdullahi said.

He said investigation into the case had since commenced after which the suspects would be charged to court.

For these juveniles, after our investigation, we will decide whether to send them to juvenile court or invite their parents to sign undertaking, depending on the outcome of the investigation, he said.

(NAN)

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Angry protesters on Tuesday disrupted the investigative hearing on recent allegations of corruption and racketeering in payment systems by the Niger Delta Development Commission. Despite the disruption, however, the management vowed to uphold probity and accountability in its operations.

Following recent reports accusing the management of the commission of corruption in the conduct of its affairs, the Managing Director/CEO, Nsima Ekere, constituted a six-member committee to investigate the allegations.

Led by the Commissions Special Duties Director, Ekanim Princewill, the committee was asked to work with civil society groups, traditional rulers and the media, to get to the root of the allegations.

On Tuesday, angry youth stormed the venue of the committee at Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt few minutes after the opening to disrupt proceedings.

The youth said they were annoyed that they were not invited to be part of the hearing, claiming it was a meeting they suspected was called by the commission to share contracts to some people.

But, the NDDC said despite the disruption of the investigative committees assignment, its management would go ahead with the probe, since it believed in probity, transparency and accountability in its operations.

The new Governing Board and management are determined to restructure our balance sheet, restore our core mandate, reform all our governance processes and project implementation protocols, the managing director said in a statement.

We are determined to do what is right and proper at all times, to give this great region the Commission it deserves.

Mr. Ekere gave the assurance that the invasion of the venue of the investigative committee by irate youth would not deter, nor distract the commission from its earnest and honest commitment to get to the root of the allegations and clean up the system.

The Commission remains resolute in its desire to establish the core principles of probity, transparency and due process, while enthroning efficiency, excellence, and professionalism in all governance implementation protocols, he said.

He decried the disruption of the work of the committee, describing it as an unfortunate setback.

He, however, reiterated the resolve by the governing board and management of the commission to continue to reject corruption, saying they were committed to weed out all such traits, as exemplified by the invasion by the irate youth.

The commission reaffirms its commitment to conclude this very important investigation and will look into all memoranda and petitions already received by the committee, for a decisive conclusion, he said.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


An Osun State High Court has remanded a contractor, John Ojemuyiwa, in prison over alleged theft of about N97 million meant for the construction of an amphitheatre at the State College of Education, Ila-Orangun.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal office, on Monday dragged the accused alongside his company, Digitpro Engineering Technology Ltd, before the court in Ede.

Mr. Ojemuyiwa was charged with stealing and giving of gratification to public officers. He however pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge.

One of the counts reads: That you, John Ojekorede Ojemuyiwa, and Digitpro Technology Ltd sometimes in February, 2014 at Ila-Orangun within the Osogbo Judicial Division, stole the sum of N53,837,574.08 only from the sum of N112,810,952.20 advanced to you as mobilization fee for the construction of an amphitheatre by Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, Osun State.

The second count reads: That you, John Ojekorede Ojemuyiwa, and Digitpro Technology Ltd sometime in February, 2014 at Ila-Orangun within the Osogbo Judicial Division corruptly gave the sum of N43,093,694.36 to members of the Governing Council, Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, through one David Olayinka Olojede of De Capstone Ltd on account of the award of a contract worth N228,298,302.00 and the over payment of mobilization fee to you by the Governing Council and the Management of Osun State College of Education.

In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Oluwatoyin Owodunni, asked the court for a trial date while the defence counsel, Banjo Akinwande, made an oral application for bail. The prosecuting counsel opposed the oral application.

The judge, A.O. Oladimeji, ordered the defence counsel to present a formal application to help the court exercise its discretion on the bail application, in view of the antecedent of the accused person failing to honour the EFCCs official invitation twice.

Mr. Ojemuyiwas journey to the dock followed a petition to the EFCC in April 2016 by the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun, alleging a fraudulent conversion and diversion of N.3billion TETFUND approved for sundry projects at the Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter to May 2 for hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial, and also ruled that Mr. Ojemuyiwa be remanded at the Federal Prison, Ilesha, Osun State.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook


Ali Bazzi, principal of Star International Academy in Dearborn Heights, is in an elite group of five charter school educators up for a statewide award.

Bazzi is a finalist for the Michigan Charter School Administrator of the Year award from the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. MAPSA is the states charter school association.

We have some of the finest school leaders in the country, and these five finalists certainly represent the talent, innovation and demand for excellence that youll find in Michigans charter schools, said MAPSA President Dan Quisenberry.

The announcement of the finalists was the culmination of a long process. There are more than 1,000 charter school administrators in Michigan, and hundreds of nominations were received for this years award. The panel of judges whittled down the list to 10 administrator semifinalists, which were announced by MAPSA earlier this month. From there, the list was narrowed to the five finalists.

The school has a 98 percent re-enrollment rate for students, and much of that success comes from the welcoming culture, according to staff and parents.

Those numbers really hold true to what it is we do here and we build and empower  whether it be teachers, students, staff,  Bazzi said in his nomination video.

A united front is crucial to his formula for success.

If I come to him with a concern, he will make me feel like my child is the only child that matters at that moment, which Im sure he does with all parents, parent Fatemah Beydoun said in the video.

Bazzi is very visible throughout the school, according to fifth grade teacher Jennifer Hojeij.

Hes at the front door every morning, hes in the classrooms every single day, Hojeij said. That really makes the kids feel at home here.

Bazzi will find out if hes won the top award when the winner is announced during National Charter Schools Week, May 1 to 7.

There are more than 10,000 charter school teachers in the state and more than 1,500 administrators, so being named as a finalist for these awards is a significant accomplishment, said Buddy Morehouse, vice president of communications for MAPSA.
For many Francophiles  those with an affinity for French food, art, music, culture and more  the best time of year to visit that great seductress that is France is in the spring. And if youre planning on a visit to Paris specifically, April is unequivocally the month to go. I mean, it's gotta be, non? They wrote a song about it, after all.

Times being what they are, however, jetting off to Paris just because its April may not be a prudent decision.

But ahhh  wouldnt it be lovely to be sitting in a cafe, idly fingering a freshly baked croissant while a lovely glass of Bordeaux stood at attention nearby, torch songs in the background blaring Edith Piaf's trembling voice 

Excusez-moi. I digress.

Thing is, I adore gay Paris. All things French, in truth. I was lucky to have been there but once. And once, mon amie, is not enough.

So until I am able to return to the City of Light, the clever folks at the Somers Point Business Association created a three-day event, fittingly called April in Paris, just for moi.

And pour vous.

I came across a story in a Philly newspaper about a one-day thing where everything was French  restaurants got involved, art, music, says Nick Regine, board member of the business association. I just started thinking, spring is right around the corner, I bet we could pull it off here (in Somers Point). We could do art, French-themed menu items, music, French language lessons.

And it just snowballed.

That snowball effect caused Regine and his group to fully construct a complete, action-packed weekend-long event filled with everything French from live music to film to art exhibits (see more on Page XX) to special food items and more from Friday to Sunday, April 7 to 9.

Well have live gypsy jazz music by Ameranouche in the spirit of Django Reinhardt, and Jac & Co, direct from France, who will perform more traditional French tunes, says Regine, who is also on the board of the South Jersey Jazz Society. I also have a friend who teaches film at Atlantic Cape who will discuss and show a French film (Amelie), were planning a French onion soup competition, restaurants will hang French flags and play French music, Mainland Regionals French club will act as greeters at many places. It's just blossomed.

Regine, who unlike me has been to Paris a couple of times, claims that the conceiving this event was not driven by any special memories or sentimentality about the city.

I would be lying to you if I said I was trying to relive my times in France, he says. "It was just a great marriage between two different ideas  'April in Paris' and Somers Point. I really wanted to see if I could make it happen.

Plus Im retired and I need something to do.
Water pipes may be lead free, but local school officials are learning that old faucets and drinking fountain nozzles can still cause elevated lead levels in school water.

A survey by The Press of Atlantic City found that in 13 of the 26 local districts that completed state-mandated water testing, elevated levels of lead were found in at least one source of drinking water  either a water fountain or a sink. In many cases, the problem was traced to the faucet or bubbler.

We had an instance where in the same unit, the faucet tested fine, but the bubbler for drinking water was high, said Frank Vogel, superintendent of the Ham-ilton Township School District, which has completed testing and remediation.

We shut down the fountains and provided bottled water until they were remediated, Vogel said.

All public and charter schools in New Jersey are required to test for lead in water this school year after high levels were found in Newark and other schools. The regulations require all drinking water sources in every school be tested. Results must be posted on the district website and notices sent home to parents if elevated lead levels are found.

School districts have until July to complete testing. Most area districts not done are either in progress, waiting for results, or have testing scheduled for spring break.

The new testing includes an inventory of all sites in each school, and testing must be done after water has sat unused for at least eight hours. That has meant some early hours for water-testing companies.

Weve done Saturdays and 6 a.m. testing, said Tim Delp, of Cape Environmental. Logistically, its hard because the water has to sit first.

Water that sits too long can also issue a high lead reading. Some sites that have come back high are in areas that get little use. A procedure is in place to flush and retest those sites.

Egg Harbor Township schools reported high initial tests on several sites that dropped after flushing and retesting.

Testers have also run into locked doors and broken fixtures. The report for Pleasantville noted that 14 broken fountains could not be tested.

Marylee Morinelli, of Coastal Environmental in Hammonton, said it takes time to develop the inventory plan, which must be done before the testing.

Taking the samples is the easy part, she said.

Morinelli said, so far, sites she has tested that did have high readings have been relatively easy repairs.

In Lower Township, three of 45 samples at the David Douglas School tested above the 15 parts per billion, the state standard. So did 12 of 42 samples at the Maud Abrams School. Almost all high readings were at water fountains.

Wildwood Crest installed new fixtures in four sinks and turned off two sinks. All water fountains tested fine.

North Wildwood disconnected a sink/fountain unit and will replace it over spring break.

The goal is safety, said Superintendent Chris Armstrong.

Lower Cape May Regional had three of 67 samples test above the action level, all in the high school kitchen. The sites were disconnected and remediated with new lead-free faucet assemblies.

Upper Township installed Do Not Drink Safe for Hand Washing Only signs on sinks in science labs that tested high and added a filtration system in the home-economics room sink.

The state testing required action only above the 15 parts per billion, or ppb. Most nonaffected sites came back at less than 2 ppb. But some environmental activists say since no safe blood level has been identified, the standard should be zero.

The 15 ppb level was set as the action level by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that all sources of lead exposure be controlled or eliminated. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a level of less than 1 ppb.

Doug OMalley, of Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center, said the school test results show there is more lead in drinking water than anyone imagined.

He said the testing should indicate that more comprehensive testing needs to be done statewide in homes and businesses.

We shouldnt stop in schools, he said. Testing is the first line of defense to make sure we are not poisoning our kids inadvertently.

A few schools did remediate sites that tested below 15ppb but above 2ppb.

ENJ issued a report in March titled Get the Lead Out, which gave New Jersey a C-minus for its efforts to at least begin addressing the issue. Many states got an F.

A major concern is the cost. Gov. Chris Christie set aside $10 million in this years budget to cover the cost of school testing, but that does not cover any remediation.

Vogel estimates Hamilton Township spent a couple thousand dollars on repairs, but said a lot of the work was done by in-house maintenance. The district spent $9,412 on testing, according to the reimbursement request submitted to the state.

According to data provided by the state Department of Education, about 80 of more than 800 school districts, charter schools and eligible organizations have submitted requests for reimbursement totaling about $500,000.

District costs range from $330 at the small West Cape May School to a high of $65,520 submitted by Irvington. A typical sampling test costs about $50.

No reimbursements have yet been made. A DOE spokesman said the department will accept requests up to and beyond the regulatory deadline of July 12 but is cautiously waiting to receive more requests to determine whether the funds allocated are adequate enough to cover all reimbursement requests.

A bill approved by the state Legislature in March would also extend the reimbursement to nonpublic schools and schools that tested earlier in 2016 before the new regulations took effect. The bill has been sent to the Governors Office for approval.

Some local nonpublic schools, including Assumption Regional Catholic School in Galloway Township, already test every few years, and others, including Holy Spirit High School, are considering it in light of the public-school concerns.

There have been discussions recently to test, likely this spring, said Holy Spirit spokeswoman Sue Werner.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man who called 911 to report a burglary at his house was arrested when the officers found several bags of marijuana, but no burglar, inside his home.

Trey Richey, 23, was charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, a felony drug tax stamp violation and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Richey called police about 7:25 a.m. Sunday because he heard noises and thought someone was breaking into his residence at 1226 N. President Ave., said Mason City Police Lt. Rich Jensen.

He said officers dispatched to investigate the alleged burglary found no sign that anyone had tried to force their way into the red, two-story home, but smelled marijuana and found drug paraphernalia.

Investigators checking the residence for a potential burglar also saw several large bags of marijuana, a box of plastic bags and a digital scale with marijuana on it -- all in plain view, according to court documents.

Drug paraphernalia was allegedly found around the home, including in Richeys bedroom.

Officers walked out of the home Sunday morning carrying items in brown paper bags, as well as a television from the house.

They were at the scene for about five hours.

Police say they determined the house hadnt been broken into and nothing was missing from the home.

Richey remained jailed Monday afternoon on $10,000 bond.

His next court date is Friday in District Court in Mason City.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  A Stockton University poll says that while most New Jersey residents are not happy with President Donald Trumps first two months in office, Republicans are standing by their candidate.

The poll, released Tuesday, says 56 percent of New Jerseyans view Trump unfavorably, while 35 percent have a favorable view of the new president.

Meanwhile, 77 percent of Republicans in New Jersey have a favorable impression of Trump, and 65 percent say he is doing a good or excellent job, according to the poll. Two-thirds of the states Republicans believe the country is headed in the right direction.

The poll surveyed 705 adult residents between March 22 and 29 on both land lines and cellphones.

Although Trump lost to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in New Jerseys by a margin of 56 percent to 41 percent, his low ratings from the majority of the state are surprising, poll officials said.

People tend to give a new president the benefit of the doubt when he first takes office, even if they didnt vote for him, said Sharon Schulman, executive director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton. These are unusually low numbers of support.

A key issue in Trumps presidential bid was healthcare reform, specifically repealing and replacing President Barack Obamas signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. However, 53 percent of New Jersey residents disapprove of Congress handling of a recent attempt to dismantle and replace Obamacare, according to the poll.

Asked what they would like Trump and Congress to do on Obamacare, 71 percent want to keep the parts of the law that work and fix what doesnt work, while 12 percent say leave the law as is and 14 percent want Obamacare completely repealed.

Another major campaign platform for Trump, immigration reform, was met with similar opposition in New Jersey. Fifty-six percent oppose the presidents proposed travel bans, both of which were suspended by federal courts.

As Congress begins an investigation into claims of Russian interference in the presidential election, 67 percent of New Jerseyans are somewhat or very concerned, the poll shows, while 48 percent of Republicans are not concerned at all.

Overall, 54 percent of New Jerseyans believe the country is on the wrong track, while 37 percent think the United States is going in the right direction and 14 percent are unsure.

The complete poll results can be found at stockton.edu/hughescenter.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Obituaries Newsletter Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
MASON CITY | Francis C. Dunlavey (Frank), 84, of Mason City, died on April 2, 2017. He lived at Kentucky Ridge Assisted Living Facility.

A Funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 7, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mason City, with the Rev. Neil Manternach officiating.

Inurnment will be at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Mona, Iowa. Military Honors will be conducted by the Mason City Veterans.

Visitation will be held on from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, April 6, at Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapels, a scriptural wake will be said at 5:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Epiphany Parish St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapels, Mason City.
ALBERT LEA, Minnesota | Stanley S. Stover, 83, of Albert Lea, MN, formerly of Lake Mills, IA, died on Sunday, April 2, 2017, at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea.

Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22, at Salem Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, IA with Pastor Joel Guttormson officiating.

Visitation will be 9:30 until 11 a.m. at the church prior to the service.

Inurnment will take place at Salem Memorial Cemetery, Lake Mills, with military honors performed by Lake Mills Otto/Chose American Legion Post #235.

Services are being trusted to Mittelstadt Funeral Home, Lake Mills.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486601/Tadamitsu_Kishimoto.jpg )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486424/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Infographic.jpg )



Kishimoto, who is a Professor at the university's Immunology Frontier Research Center, and Emeritus Professor at Osaka University, Japan, was recognized with the prestigious prize for his prominent role in developing a novel biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases.

On the occasion, Prof. Kishimoto said: "The King Faisal International Prize deserves to be commended for encouraging efforts in the knowledge and research arena around the world. I am proud to be a recipient of this renowned prize, which has this year helped draw attention to the importance of immunology. This award will help further enrich research based initiatives to understand more about the human immune system."

A world-renowned immunologist, Prof. Kishimoto, through his work of more than 30 years, is responsible for discovering interleukin-6 (IL-6), its receptor and signaling pathways. He established the physiological function of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) pathway and its role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Subsequently, he developed an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor-blocking antibody into a biological therapy, leading the clinical development of this therapy towards the first approval for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto is also a recipient of the Order of Culture from the Emperor of Japan in 1998 and Royal Decoration from the Kingdom of Thailand in 2012, apart from several other honours.

Launched by the King Faisal Foundation and granted for the first time in 1979, the King Faisal International Prize recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in a number of key areas. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal International Prize have gone on to receive other prestigious awards in following years; for example 18 King Faisal International Prize laureates went on to receive the Nobel Prize, while 13 won the Gairdner Foundation International Awards, 11 received the American National Medals of Science, and 9 were awarded the Lasker Medical Award; among many other distinguished prizes.

Contact: Noura Sankour +971(0)568797444, nora@hadathgroup.com

SOURCE King Faisal International Prize
MAPUTO, Mozambique, March 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Sasol Petroleum Temane (SPT) received the award for Best Corporate Taxpayer for 2016 at the Mozambique's Tax Authority's annual event held on 22 March 2017.

The event acknowledged various corporate companies who received certificates of recognition from the Tax Authority Chairperson Amelia Nakhare. This is the second year that SPT has been presented with the award, having received the same award in 2015.

At the event, the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Company (ROMPCO) received first place in the IRPC (corporate income tax) payable on profit category, ROMPCO is a joint venture between Sasol, Companhia Mocambicana de Gasoduto S.A (CMG), and South African Gas Development Company (SOC) Limited (iGas).

Additionally, Central Termica de Ressano Garcia (CTRG) was awarded first prize in the overall best tax payer in the medium tax payers' group. The CTRG power plant is a partnership between the Mozambican state power utility, Electridade de Mozambique (EDM) - EDM holds (51%) and Sasol (49%) currently producing 175MW which benefits two million Mozambicans.

"We are honoured to have received this acknowledgement from the Mozambican Tax Authority and are proud to have played a pioneering role in the development of the country's gas industry," said Peter Manoogian, Acting Senior Vice President: Exploration and Production International at Sasol.

"Mozambique lies at the center of our growth strategy for Southern Africa, we remain resolute in nurturing our investments in the country and partnering with the Mozambican government and other stakeholders to help stimulate growth to improve the quality of life of Mozambicans," he concluded.

Sasol's commitment to Mozambique began well over a decade ago when, together with its partners, Companhia Mocambicana de Hidrocarbonetos CMH and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) developed the Pande/Temane natural gas project. This project pioneered the monetisation of the Pande and Temane gas fields which had been effectively 'stranded' for over 30 years.

To date, more than $1 billion was delivered to the government of Mozambique. This includes corporate taxes, royalties and social investments, as well as profit share and dividends paid out to state-owned entities by the upstream gas processing and midstream gas transportation projects.

About Sasol:

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages the expertise of our 30 100 people working in 33 countries. We develop and commercialise technologies, and build and operate world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product streams, including liquid fuels, chemicals and low-carbon electricity.

SOURCE Sasol Limited
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486418/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Daniel_Loss.jpg )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486424/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Infographic.jpg )



Prof. Daniel Loss has been honoured with the renowned Prize for his pioneering work in the area of spin dynamics and spin coherence in quantum dots, creating new areas of opportunity with practical applications for spin-based quantum computing. His initiatives have inspired several major experimental programmes, and opened up possibilities to develop powerful spintronic quantum computers with exceptional speed and storage capacity.

Prof. Daniel Loss shares the prize with Professor Laurens Molenkamp of the University of Wurzburg, Germany.

On the occasion, Prof. Daniel Loss said: "I thank the King Faisal International Prize for recognizing the massive possibilities in spin-based quantum computing, which highlights the prestigious award's focused efforts to encourage research based knowledge around the world. This is a great recognition for quantum physics that will help spark further interest among research teams worldwide in this major area."

Several research teams worldwide rely on Prof. Loss's theoretical contributions, which have become an integral part of the effort to create a quantum computer based on spin qubits in semiconductors.

Professor Daniel Loss has more than 400 specialist publications to his name and is one of the world's most frequently cited physicists. He is the Professor at the Department of Physics in the University of Basel; and Director of the Basel Center for Quantum Computing and Quantum Coherence at the University of Basel, Switzerland

Launched by the King Faisal Foundation and granted for the first time in 1979, the King Faisal International Prize recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in a number of key areas. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal International Prize have gone on to receive other prestigious awards in following years; for example 18 King Faisal International Prize laureates went on to receive the Nobel Prize, while 13 won the Gairdner Foundation International Awards, 11 received the American National Medals of Science, and 9 were awarded the Lasker Medical Award; among many other distinguished prizes.

Contact: Noura Sankour +971(0)568797444, nora@hadathgroup.com

SOURCE King Faisal International Prize
PALO ALTO, California, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), world leader in radiation oncology systems and software, is establishing a direct sales and service operation in South Africa to better serve the growing cancer population in the country. Varian's South African entity will be based in Johannesburg and will employ sales, service and support staff.

"It is now time for Varian to get closer to the market and provide direct sales and service support for the growing number of oncology departments in South Africa that provide treatments using our radiotherapy equipment and software," says Jean-Luc Devleeschauwer, president of Varian's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "We have always intended to operate directly in South Africa and we now feel the time is right to do so. This move will help us to meet the increasing demand for advanced systems needed to treat the growing number of cancer patients in South Africa."

Varian has historically sold and serviced its technology-leading radiotherapy systems to South African hospitals via a Johannesburg-based distributor, Tecmed Africa, but now intends to sell and service its systems directly starting this month.

Varian has installed more than 100 radiotherapy systems across Africa over the past 25 years, including 30 in South Africa. The company has also launched its 'Access to Care' educational program in the country in cooperation with Groote Schuur Hospital, providing training for radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiotherapy therapists from across the African continent.

About Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems focuses energy on saving lives and is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating and managing cancer. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Varian employs approximately 6,400 people at sites around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter

Press Contact

Neil Madle

Varian Medical Systems

+44 7786 526068

neil.madle@varian.com

Related Links

http://www.varian.com



SOURCE Varian Medical Systems
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 14th annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, a world class one-day conference, will gather more than 800 CIOs and senior business executives to discuss the challenges of digital transformation, talent shortages, executive advancement to the C-suite, and leading-edge research. The Symposium will take place on May 24, 2017, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the MIT Kresge Auditorium in Cambridge, MA. Registration is still open.

The Symposium will focus on the theme, "The CIO Adventure: Now, Next and Beyond," and will provide attendees with a roadmap for the changing digital landscape ahead. Panel discussions will be spearheaded by CIOs and MIT thought leaders, including Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, George Westerman, Barbara Haley Wixom, Peter Weill, Sandy Pentland, Stuart Madnick, Jason Pontin, Joi Ito, Nils Fonstad, Keri Pearlson, Kristine Dery, Tom Davenport, Paul Michelman, and Jeanne Ross.

"The CIO experience has become an uphill challenge of budgets, talent shortages, and digital transformations, and a downhill thrill ride of executive advancement to the C-suite and business leadership," said Lindsey Anderson, Chair of the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium. "Our insightful panels and discussions at the 2017 Symposium will help CIOs and senior IT executives navigate the challenges and opportunities of the CIO adventure and prepare them for now, next, and beyond."

The Symposium will feature more than a dozen interactive panel discussions with top leaders in their fields of expertise. The full agenda is available at www.mitcio.com/agenda. Highlights include:

Kickoff Panel: "Pathways to Future Ready: The Digital Playbook" will discuss a framework for digital transformation and facilitate a conversation on lessons learned from executives leading these transformations. Virtually every company is working on transforming their business for the digital era and this panel will provide a playbook for digital. Featuring Peter Weill, Chairman, MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR); Jim Fowler , Vice President & Chief Information Officer, General Electric; David Gledhill , Group Chief Information Officer and Head of Group Technology & Operations, DBS; and Lucille Mayer , Head of Client Experience Delivery and Global Innovation, BNY Mellon.

Fireside Chat: "Machine | Platform | Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future" will be moderated by Jason Pontin , Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of MIT Technology Review and feature Erik Brynjolfsson , Director, and Andy McAfee , Co-Director, of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE), discussing what they call "the second phase of the second machine age." This phase has a greater sense of urgency, as technologies are demonstrating that they can do much more than just the type of work we have thought of as routine. The last time new technologies had such a huge impact on the business world was about a century ago, when electricity took over from steam power and transformed manufacturing. Many successful incumbent companies, in fact most of them, did not survive this transition. This panel will enable CIOs to rethink the balance between minds and machines, between products and platforms, and between the core and the crowd.

Other panel sessions driven by key IT leaders, practitioners, and MIT researchers will include:

"The Cognitive Company: Incremental Present, Transformational Future"; "Cloud Strategies: The Next Level of Digital Transformation"; "The CIO Adventure: Insights from the Leadership Award Finalists"; "Preparing for the Future of Work"; "Expanding the Reach of Digital Innovation"; "Running IT Like a Factory"; "Navigating the Clouds"; "Winning with the Internet of Things"; "Talent Wars in the Digital Age"; "Who's Really Responsible for Technology?"; "You Were HackedNow What?"; "Measuring ROI for Cybersecurity: Is It Real or a Mirage?"; "Putting AI to Work"; "Trusted Data: The Role of Blockchain, Secure Identity, and Encryption"; and "Designing for Digital."

The Symposium will also feature this year's finalists for the prestigious MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award and conclude with The Innovation Showcase, which connects CIOs and senior business leaders with ten carefully selected early-stage technology companies that have the potential to impact CIOs' top and bottom lines through innovative technologies.

For more information about the 2017 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, please visit www.mitcio.com.

About the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the premier global conference for CIOs and digital business executives to become more effective leaders. In one day, CIOs and senior IT executives explore enterprise technology innovations and business practices, and receive actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today and the future. The Symposium offers a unique learning environment by bringing together the academic thought leadership of MIT with the in-the-trenches experience of leading, global CIOs and industry experts. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is organized and developed by the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association, the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE), and the MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR). For more information and to register for this year's Symposium, visit www.mitcio.com.

Editor's Note:

Journalists interested in press credentials should contact Caroline Legg ([email protected] 978-255-4488), or Sadie Smith ([email protected] 717-298-1865) at Warner Communications.

SOURCE MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

Related Links

http://www.mitcio.com


PHOENIX, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recently an Uber self-driving car in Arizona was involved in an accident. Immediately, Uber suspended its entire autonomous vehicle program until their investigation was completed. The investigation revealed the accident was caused by a human-driven vehicle that was making a left turn and failed to yield to the Uber vehicle.

In a recent blog post, we discussed the top 4 safety car devices every car should have. For more information, visit: http://zaneslaw.com/top-4-car-safety-devices-2017/

As a personal injury lawyer, this event got me thinking about driverless vehicles and the things that the general public may not be aware of.

Below are three things that you need to know about driverless vehicles:

Driverless vehicle technology is here now. The primary limitation is that it is extremely expensive to make driverless vehicles safe. One current obstacle to a world of driverless vehicles is the current inability to manufacture true driverless vehicles at price point that is affordable to most consumers. The current Google driverless car needs over $200,000 in equipment to be able to drive. It uses a Velodyne 64-beam laser to create a 3D map of the vehicle's surrounding environment, which is a must in order for the vehicle to be able to drive autonomously. The driverless car design that manufacturers seem to have in mind is a car without a steering wheel or pedals. As we saw last week with the Uber crash, a driverless car is unlikely to be able to avoid an accident with a car driven by human who makes a mistake. A human driver would make a decision. Are we as a society ready to accept the decision in this scenario being made by the manufacturer who programs it into the car's computer before you ever set foot in the vehicle? Driverless cars will initially make congestion worse. Simulations have shown that, until most vehicles on the road are driverless, driverless vehicles will create bigger traffic jams than we currently have. But as driverless vehicles become the majority, experts believe the consumer will eventually have an improved commute.

For more safety tips, visit: http://zaneslaw.com

The author of this article Is Doug Zanes. Doug is a personal injury attorney in Phoenix, AZ.

To contact Doug, visit: http://zaneslaw.com/arizona-personal-injury-attorneys/arizona-auto-accident-attorney/

Media contact:

Casey Hamm

1-520-382-5438

[email protected]

SOURCE Zanes Law

Related Links

http://zaneslaw.com


CHEYENNE, Wyo., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wyoming Office of Tourism (WOT) is looking for an adventurer who's ready to leave his or her regular life behind for six weeks of exploring Wyoming's epic landscapes as part of an experiential "Call of the WY" promotion this summer.

Part of the larger national "That's WY" campaign for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, the "Call of the WY" promotion includes a casting call that invites interested adventurers to apply at HGTV.com/CallOfTheWY, where they will be asked to tell WOT about themselves and share why they'd like to spend six weeks under Wyoming's big blue skies as they explore the state's wide-open spaces.

"For those of us lucky enough to live in Wyoming, we understand the things that make it so special. The wide-open spaces, the mountains, the outdoor recreation, the beautiful skies, the wildlife and most importantly the people," said Wyoming Governor Matt Mead. "Visitors to the state get a glimpse of this, but with the 'Call of the WY' promotion, those participating will get to experience the full breadth of why we choose to live in Wyoming."

Through the "Call of the WY" promotion, Wyoming and its diverse landscapes, activities and colorful characters will be highlighted through the eyes of the selected adventurer as he or she road trips around the state in a 200-square-foot tiny house.

"Wyoming is a destination that's ideal for adventure," said Diane Shober, executive director of Wyoming Office of Tourism. "We know that prospective travelers have Wyoming on their vacation radar because it's a place that remains wild and free and where anything is possible."

During the six weeks in the Cowboy State, the adventurer from the casting call will visit iconic locations and have authentic Wyoming experiences that include driving the Beartooth Highway and soaking in natural hot springs in Cody/Yellowstone Country, attending a pow wow in Wind River Country, stargazing near Pinedale and hiking in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

The "Call of the WY" will be hosted on HGTV.com/CallOfTheWY and the WOT website at TravelWyoming.com/Call-Of-The-WY, with commercial spots running on HGTV. In addition, it will have a strong digital presence on HGTV channels and a social media presence on WOT's channelsincluding Facebook, Twitter and Instagramwhile the selected adventurer from the casting call will be sharing first-person experiences at HGTV.com/CallOfTheWY and on his or her own social media channels.

"This promotion combines the three trends of tiny house living, road trips and authentic experiences," added Shober. "And there's no better way to have an immersive experience in the place we call home than to travel through Wyoming for six weeks."

About the Wyoming Office of Tourism

The Wyoming Office of Tourism is the only state agency charged with promoting and marketing Wyoming as a vacation destination to domestic and international travelers. The ninth largest state in terms of area, Wyoming is also the least populated state in the country with an estimated 550,000 residents. Wyoming is also home to many firsts, including the country's first national park (Yellowstone), first national monument (Devils Tower) and first national forest (Shoshone). In addition, Wyoming was the first government in the world to grant women the right to vote and will celebrate the 150th anniversary of this important milestone in 2019. These special places, along with other natural wonders like Grand Teton National Park and the Bighorn Mountains as well as Wyoming's heartfelt cowboy hospitality, welcome millions of visitors annually. To learn more about Wyoming, visit TravelWyoming.com.

SOURCE Wyoming Office of Tourism

Related Links

http://www.travelwyoming.com


TIRANA, Albania, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Albania's official Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) has released figures showing GDP growth for 2016 of 3.46%, fueled in part by a fourth-quarter export surge of 16%. Growth exceeded forecasts by both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

INSTAT reported that the growth was led by commercial trade, tourism, construction and energy production, all of which generated robust figures. Overall, the year's performance was the best since 2010 when growth was 3.7%.

In welcoming the encouraging data, Prime Minister Edi Rama said, "This is good news, but it's only the start of what we hope to achieve on the economy. My government's first term has focused primarily on institutional reform and improved governance. Now we are starting see the results -- in investment, business expansion and in job creation. Now we must pour all our efforts into economic expansion and generating rewarding jobs for our fellow citizens."

The Prime Minister highlighted major reforms to the power generation system which, in 2013, needed an infusion of US$ 135 million from the state budget merely to remain operational. The revamped grid, now almost fully replaced with new technologies, has reduced power losses to 28% from 45%. As a consequence of the reforms, electrical energy sector production rose 62% in the final quarter of 2016 alone, and 30% for the full year, Mr Rama said.

Restored confidence in the Albanian economy meant that foreign direct investment for 2016 reached a record EUR 983 million, a 10.5% rise over the previous year, according to the Bank of Albania. In the last quarter, FDI reached EUR 276 million, a full 70% rise year-on-year.

Commenting on the INSTAT announcement, Finance Minister Arben Ahmetaj said it confirmed an overall improvement in the Albanian fiscal situation. "Stable government debt, as one of the most vital indicators of the macroeconomic health in the country, is now in a much more favorable position than it was a few years ago," Mr. Ahmetaj said.

"After more than two decades during which, with a brief exception in 2010, the State Budget was operating at a deficit, now in 2016 the budget has been able to record a surplus. In the 2017 budget as well as in the medium term framework for the years to follow, a primary positive balance has been established as a target and will be adhered to, meaning another surplus, and a growing one. As a consequence, fiscal policy followed in the last few years has made it possible to halt and reverse the unhealthy trend of government debt since 2008."

A new fiscal rule, backed by legislation, mandates the government to decrease government debt every year until it reaches a stable maximum of 45% of GDP.

For further information: Endri Fuga, +355-4-227-7349 or [email protected] in Tirana or Zhenya Harrison, +44-(0)20-3397-2825 or [email protected] in London

SOURCE Government of Albania
The Berry family of Texas knows the impact of distracted driving first hand. As Josh and Robin Berry and their three young children headed home from vacation in 2011, a distracted driver hit their minivan head-on. The crash killed Josh and Robin and paralyzed their two sons. The children, Peter, Aaron and Willa Berry, have since been in the care of their aunt and uncle, and they along with their cousins, Noah and Misha, have started the organization One Life is Enough (OLIE), to help fight distracted driving. The family will join Allstate for its Reality Rides event today in Austin, Texas, where state lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 31, which proposes banning texting while driving for all drivers.

"No one should have to face the preventable, yet life-threatening consequences of a distracted driving collision," said Matt Berry, the children's uncle and guardian. "OLIE is touched by Allstate's contributions to end distracted driving. We hope stronger laws in Texas and nationwide will help move this important issue into action."

"Allstate has a history of leadership when it comes to helping drivers protect themselves and their loved ones, from driver education to advocating for auto passenger safety tools and promoting teen safe driving," said Julie Parsons, Allstate's senior vice president of vehicle product management. "Driving while distracted is reaching epidemic proportions, so we are expanding our educational tour and urging more people to get involved. We want everyone to think twice about texting, eating or engaging in other distractions any time they get behind the wheel."

The Reality Rides simulator is a stationary vehicle with virtual reality LED screens across the windshield, displaying animated scenarios drivers often encounter. Using the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, operators try to navigate those situations while also attempting to text message, answer phone calls or use in-car technology like GPS, all activities that frequently distract drivers in real life. Afterward, participants receive "traffic citations" that highlight real infractions they've committed during their simulations.

This year, Reality Rides also offers new features and enhanced technology, including touch-screen monitors that display distracted-driving facts and allow participants to take selfies to share on social media as GIFs. Also for the first time, Reality Rides will feature a virtual pledge wall displaying participants' photos, as a demonstration of their support for Allstate's X the TXT movement in which drivers pledge to not text behind the wheel.

Distracted Drivers, Deadly Consequences

Taking steps to prevent distracted driving is increasingly important, as motorists continue to log more miles, often with deadly consequences:

The National Safety Council estimates more than 40,000 people died in car crashes in the U.S. in 2016, making it potentially the deadliest year on America's roads since 2007. ii

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found Americans drove about 70 billion more miles during the first nine months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. iii

During a typical daylight moment in the U.S. in 2015, an estimated 542,000 drivers were using hand-held cell phones while behind the wheel. iv

NHTSA says distracted driving crashes killed nearly 3,500 people in 2015, an almost 9 percent jump from the previous year.v

Reality Rides Impact

Surveys of over 7,600 Reality Rides participants at more than 110 past eventsvi found the simulator has an impact that may change behavior:

Before trying it, almost half of participants surveyed said they text while driving and about two-thirds said they talk on the phone while driving.

After experiencing the simulator, nearly 60 percent of participants surveyed say they'll never text while driving.

More than half of Reality Rides participants surveyed say, after trying the simulator, they won't let others drive distracted.

Safety Tips

Allstate offers the following tips to help prevent distracted driving:

Put cell phones and other mobile devices out of reach prior to departing, to eliminate the desire to check them while driving.

Input navigation directions and send messages before getting on the road.

Use caution when choosing to listen to loud music or engage with passengers.

Keep both hands on the steering wheel and don't try to multi-task with other common distractions, like eating or applying makeup.

Visit Reality Rides on Facebook for more information about tour stops, distracted driving resources and to engage in the conversation and invite friends and family to participate in prevention efforts.

Other tour stops planned for this year include: Albany, New York; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Birmingham, Alabama; Boise, Idaho; Camden County and Monmouth County, New Jersey; Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbia, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth; Denver; Hartford, Connecticut; Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana; Knoxville, Tennessee; Las Vegas; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Oklahoma City; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Pittsburgh; Providence, Rhode Island; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond and Roanoke, Virginia; Salisbury, Maryland; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Toronto, Canada.

Survey Methodology

The onsite, multiple-choice Allstate Reality Rides 2013-2016 survey of more than 7,600 Americans age 15 and older was conducted from April 2013 through October 2016 via more than 110 Reality Rides events. Participants were surveyed before and after experiencing the distracted driving simulator. Gathered respondent data was normalized to ensure consistency between the pre- and post-simulation experience.

About Allstate

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life's uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass and Answer Financial brand names. Other growth platforms include predictive analytics company Arity and consumer-product protection plan company SquareTrade. Allstate is widely known through the slogan "You're In Good Hands With Allstate." Allstate agencies are in virtually every local community in America. In 2016, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $42 million to support local communities.

iAdvocates For Highway & Auto Safety, "2017 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws"

iiNational Safety Council, Motor Vehicle Deaths in 2016 Estimated to be Highest in Nine Years

iiiNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities For the First 9 Months of 2016

ivNHTSA, Driver Electronic Device Use in 2015

vNHTSA, 2015 Motor Vehicle Crashes: Overview

vi2013-2016 Allstate Reality Rides Survey

SOURCE Allstate

Related Links

http://www.allstatenewsroom.com/


SAN DIEGO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE: AMN), healthcare's leader and innovator in workforce solutions and staffing services, will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2017 financial results on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Company also expects to issue an earnings news release on Thursday, May 4, 2017 after the close of market at approximately 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time.

A live webcast of the call can be accessed through AMN Healthcare's website at http://amnhealthcare.investorroom.com/presentations. Please log in at least 10 minutes prior to the conference call in order to download the applicable audio software. Interested parties may participate live via telephone by dialing (800) 230-1092 in the U.S. or (612) 332-0720 internationally. Following the conclusion of the call, a replay of the webcast will be available at the Company's website. Alternatively, a telephonic replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on May 4, 2017, and can be accessed until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 18, 2017 by calling (800) 475-6701 in the U.S. or (320) 365-3844 internationally, with access code 421631.

About AMN Healthcare

AMN Healthcare is the leader and innovator in healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities across the nation. The Company provides unparalleled access to the most comprehensive network of quality healthcare professionals through its innovative recruitment strategies and breadth of career opportunities. With insights and expertise, AMN Healthcare helps providers optimize their workforce to successfully reduce complexity, increase efficiency, and improve patient outcomes. AMN delivers managed services programs, healthcare executive search solutions, vendor management systems, recruitment process outsourcing, predictive modeling, medical coding and consulting, and other services. Clients include acute-care hospitals, community health centers and clinics, physician practice groups, retail and urgent care centers, home health facilities, and many other healthcare settings. For more information about AMN Healthcare, visit www.amnhealthcare.com

The Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMN." For more information about AMN Healthcare, visit www.amnhealthcare.com, where the Company posts news releases, investor presentations, webcasts, SEC filings, and other material information. The Company also utilizes email alerts and Really Simple Syndication ("RSS") as routine channels to supplement distribution of this information. To register for email alerts and RSS, visit http://amnhealthcare.investorroom.com/emailalerts.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press 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. The Company based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and the industry in which it operates using information currently available to it. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and its other periodic reports as well as the Company's current and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Be advised that developments subsequent to this press release are likely to cause these statements to become outdated with the passage of time.

Contact:

Neil Thomas

Senior Director, Investor Relations

866-861-3229

Web site: http://www.amnhealthcare.com

SOURCE AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.amnhealthcare.com


SHEFFIELD | The fire that destroyed an apartment complex in Sheffield on Sunday started in the kitchen, an official said.

The blaze was reported just before 6 p.m. Sunday at Sunrise Homes.

Sheffield Fire Chief Dan Fields said everyone got out of the apartments, but one occupant was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters were on the scene for six hours.

The complex on South Second Street is restricted to the elderly or disabled.

Officials say four of the five units were occupied.

Gary Schonings father, Louis Schoning, 86, lived in one of the apartments.

He learned of the fire when people started calling him Sunday night asking if his dad was OK.

As he rushed into town, Schoning could see the fire over the top of the steel buildings nearby.

I could see the flames from 2 miles away, he said.

His father and several other residents were already outside watching the fire when Gary Schoning arrived.

The one-story, brick building was gutted.

Blackened rooms, charred wood and melted plastic were visible though broken windows on the homes on Monday morning. The roof had burned off and collapsed into the apartments.

Fields said the blaze started in a kitchen. It has been ruled an accident.

A member of Sunrise Homes board of directors said all of the residents were able to move in with family who lived nearby.

A local non-profit, The Sharing Shoppe, has offered to provide clothes and other items to the buildings occupants.

The Sheffield store collects donated items to give to people affected by disaster or other emergencies.

The complex is owned by Murphy Realty and Management of Algona.

Sheffield firefighters were assisted by Sheffield EMS, Franklin County Sheriff's Department, Franklin County Emergency Management, Hampton Fire Department and Rockwell Fire Department.
SYDNEY, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Appen Limited, a global leader in speech and technology services, announced today that it has signed an agreement to become a distributor for 40 speech and language databases developed by Nuance Communications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Appen has been selected as distributor for its EU funded databases in languages including Arabic, Japanese, Polish and Swiss German, and in database types ranging from telephone conversations to microphone speech for consumer devices, from pronunciation lexicons to speech data for text-to-speech development.

"Appen is committed to providing our customers with both breadth and depth of linguistic support," said Phil Hall, SVP Language Resources for Appen. "The distribution agreement with Nuance Communications allows us to continue that mission as we work with clients around the world to support the development of the next generation in speech-based solutions".

Robrecht Comeyne, Senior Manager Linguistic Resources from Nuance Communications added, "Appen's global reach and longstanding experience in production and distribution of speech databases make them an excellent distribution partner for our high-quality language databases."

To learn more about Appen's language catalog and to request a quote, visit appen.com.

About Appen

Appen is a global language technology solutions provider with capability in over 180 languages and 130 countries, serving global technology companies, automakers and government agencies.

Appen offers high quality large scale training data, linguistic models and consulting services to assist the development of technology products and services that rely on natural languages including smartphones, digital assistants, social media, content analytics, software, e-commerce platforms, automobiles, government security and intelligence, consumer electronics (game and TV consoles), cloud services and search technology.

About Nuance

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com .

Media contact: Jodie Ruby, VP of Marketing, +1 866 673 6996

SOURCE Appen

Related Links

http://appen.com


DALLAS, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. (NYSE: AHP) ("Ashford Prime" or the "Company") today announced details for the release of its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017.

Ashford Prime plans to issue its earnings release for the first quarter after the market closes on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, and will host a conference call on Thursday, May 4, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. ET. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (719) 325-4800. A replay of the conference call will be available through Thursday, May 11, 2017, by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering the confirmation number, 6083892.

The live broadcast of Ashford Prime's quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company's web site, www.ahpreit.com on Thursday, May 4, 2017, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately one year.

Ashford Hospitality Prime is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in luxury hotels and resorts.

Ashford has created an Ashford App for the hospitality REIT investor community. The Ashford App is available for free download at Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store by searching "Ashford."

SOURCE Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ahpreit.com


PALM BEACH, Fla., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago on April 6-7, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters will gather on Bingham Island, Palm Beach, to appeal to President Xi to end the 18-year long persecution of Falun Gong and to bring the architect of the persecutionformer Communist Party chief Jiang Zeminto justice.

TIME: April 6 & 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

LOCATION: Bingham Island, Palm Beach, Florida

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline which consists of moral teachings, meditation, and qigong exercises. Practitioners strive to live their lives based upon the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Falun Gong's popularity rose to 70 million practitioners by early 1999, and initially enjoyed the support of the Chinese government due to its health benefits. However, it made some Party members uneasy over the fact that it outnumbered the Communist Party membership. Its revival of traditional values and emphasis on spirituality were perceived by some communist hardliners as a threat to the Party. In July 1999, then-Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin launched an intensive, nationwide campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong, reflecting the Party's atheism and intolerance of independent, civil society groups.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained extra-judicially in labor camps, detention centers, black jails and prisons, where torture and abuse are routine and death often occurs. According to multiple sources, including Freedom House, the U.S. State Department and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Falun Gong practitioners constitute the largest group of prisoners of conscience in China.

Last June, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.Res.343, a resolution that condemns the Chinese Communist regime for harvesting the organs of living Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. A Feb. 2017 Freedom House report "found credible evidence suggesting that beginning in the early 2000s, Falun Gong detainees were killed for their organs on a large scale."

President Xi inherited this persecution from his earlier predecessor. Amid his anti-corruption campaigns, President Xi sacked several key perpetrators of the persecution, though ostensibly on corruption charges. While these steps were in the right direction, the persecution still continues. Since 2015, 200,000 Chinese have filed legal complaints charging Jiang with crimes against humanity. Practitioners appeal to President Xi to accept the will of the people to bring Jiang Zemin to justice and end this 18-year brutal persecution.

Among the victims of the persecution is Tampa resident Iris Lu, whose mother was recently sentenced to six years in prison in China for distributing Falun Gong materials. Ms. Lu and other victims of the persecution will be available for on-site interviews.

SOURCE Florida Falun Dafa Association
LONDON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Details

Road fatalities are increasingly high up the media agenda. The automotive industry also realises that emissions and vehicle deaths are their two Achilles heel in terms of brand image and sustainability as a product and means of mass transport. The automotive industry therefore has every interest in responding to the growing consumer demand for increased safety systems.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4595336/







This brand new report evaluates the current global market and future outlook for the automotive safety systems market. The report identifies the prevailing trends in the automotive safety system market and the drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges along with new business opportunities in the near future.



Safety is one of the major concerns for the driver and the passenger while travelling. Growing number of fatalities in car accidents, increasing awareness, and stringent government regulations has led to higher adoption of passive and active safety systems in vehicles. Automotive safety systems are equipment that helps in avoiding an accident, and in the event of accident, saves passengers and drivers from getting injured. The role of passive safety system comes into play during or after the accidents to minimize the damage from the collision whereas active safety systems prevent the risk of collision or accidents. Examples of these are Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS)



Visiongain's report keeps you informed and ahead of your competitors. Gain that competitive advantage.



This report answers questions such as:

- What are the prospects for the overall automotive safety systems sector?

- What are the factors driving increased adoption of automotive safety systems?

- Which automotive safety systems technology will prevail?

- In which regions are the growth opportunities for automotive safety systems?

- Who are the key players in the automotive safety systems industry?

- What are the demand and supply dynamics underpinning the automotive safety systems sector?



5 Reasons why you must order and read this report today:



1) The report provides detailed profiles of 10 leading companies operating within the automotive safety systems market:

- Bosch Company

- Delphi Automotive PLC

- Autoliv Inc.

- Denso Corporation

- Takata Corporation

- ZF TRW

- Continental AG

- Johnson Electric Holdings Limited

- Magna International Inc.

- Mobileye N.V.



2) Global forecasts of automotive safety systems from 2017-2027



3) Our overview forecasts and analyses the passive automotive safety systems technologies from 2017-2027 These are forecast at the global level as well as individually for each of the 4 regions and 11 national markets:

- Seatbelts

- Airbags



4) Our study also forecasts and analyses the 10 active automotive safety systems technologies from 2017-2027. These are forecast globally and also for each of the 4 regions and 11 national markets:

- Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS)

- Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)

- Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

- Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS)

- Blind Spot Detection (BSD)

- Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDW)

- Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)

- Adaptive Front-Lighting Systems (AFS)

- Night Vision Systems (NVS)

- Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS)



5) The study reveals where and how companies are investing in automotive safety systems. We show you the prospects for the following 4 regions and 11 national markets. Each country is also further segmented and individually forecasts each of the 12 automotive safety technologies.



Asia-Oceania

- China

- India

- Japan

- Rest of Asia-Oceania



North America

- US

- Canada

- Mexico



Europe

- Germany

- UK

- France

- Rest of Europe



Rest of the World

- Brazil

- South Africa

- Rest of RoW



Competitive advantage

This independent 180 page report guarantees you are better informed than your competitors. With 152 tables and figures examining the automotive safety systems. market space, the report gives you an immediate, one-stop breakdown of your market as well as analysis, from 2017-2027 keeping your knowledge that one step ahead of your rivals.



Who should read this report?

- Anyone within the automotive industry and supply chain

- Automotive OEMs

- Electronic component suppliers

- Software developers

- Companies looking to enter the automotive safety systems market

- Technological solution providers

- R&D staff

- Automotive organisations & associations



And also

- Executives

- Investors

- Business development managers

- Marketing managers

- Banks

- Government agencies



Don't miss out

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4595336/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This past month, Beacon Hill Technologies opened in New York, joining Beacon Hill Associates, Beacon Hill Financial, Beacon Hill HR and Beacon Hill Legal. With this addition, the Technologies division now operates in 28 Beacon Hill locations including Boston, Boston  West, Alpharetta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Chicago  West, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Madison, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orange County, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and now New York.

Leading the New York team is Samantha Ocampo. Ms. Ocampo joined Beacon Hill in 2011 as an Account Executive and grew within the organization to Lead Account Executive and ultimately Division Manager. Prior to relocating to New York City, Ms. Ocampo was part of Beacon Hill Technologies Fort Lauderdale where she was responsible for breaking into numerous key accounts and establishing a strong client base. She prides herself on being an instrumental staffing solution for all of her clients. Ms. Ocampo attended Florida State University where she earned her Bachelors of Science degree in International Business and Spanish.

"We are excited to expand our footprint and bring BH Technologies to New York City to join our established Associates, Accounting & Finance, and HR practices in our Bryant Park office," said Lindsay Reardon, Regional Director of Beacon Hill's Technologies Division for the Northeastern United States. "With Samantha leading the Technologies division in one of our largest markets, we look forward to seeing the positive impact our additional staffing services and IT consulting solutions will bring to our customers."

Beacon Hill Technologies places IT contractors in all 50 states by seamlessly coordinating recruiting resources in local and regional markets with Beacon Hill Technologies National Recruiting & Delivery, a dedicated national recruiting team that focuses exclusively on national accounts.

Beacon Hill Staffing Group's niche brands provide direct hire, executive search, temporary staffing, contract consulting and temp/contract-to-hire solutions to emerging growth companies and the Fortune 500 across multiple market sectors and all industries. Over time, office locations, specialty practice areas and service offerings will be added to address ever changing constituent needs.

SOURCE Beacon Hill Staffing Group

Related Links

http://www.beaconhillstaffing.com


"There is a spirituality about this album and these songs always meant the most to us," says Barry Gibb in his written introduction for the Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits package. "Although there are many other songs, these songs, I feel, are the songs that Maurice, Robin, and I would be most proud of."

Also on April 21, Capitol/UMe will reissue the remastered Saturday Night Fever soundtrack worldwide on 2LP vinyl in a gatefold jacket with faithfully replicated original artwork. 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark film and its legendary, Bee Gees-led soundtrack, which won the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year and was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2004. Paramount will celebrate Saturday Night Fever with a brand new Director's Cut restored in 4K from the original negative, arriving on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD for the first time ever on May 2.

On Sunday, April 16, CBS will air a new two-hour primetime special, "Stayin' Alive: A GRAMMY Salute To The Music Of The Bee Gees," at 8pm ET/PT. Presented by The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures, and CBS, the all-star special features performances of Bee Gees hits by Barry Gibb, Kelsea Ballerini, Andra Day, Jason Derulo, Celine Dion, DNCE, Nick Jonas, Tori Kelly, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Little Big Town, Pentatonix, Thomas Rhett, Tavares, Keith Urban, and Stevie Wonder. The memorable tribute special also features appearances by Cynthia Erivo, John Travolta, and Wilmer Valderrama.





The Bee Gees  brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb  have earned their stature as one of the world's most popular and bestselling groups of all time. Having recorded 22 studio albums and for numerous soundtracks, including the monumentally successful Saturday Night Fever, the Bee Gees infused popular culture with dozens of worldwide hit singles that featured their singular and highly influential three-part harmonies. They achieved nine Number Ones and 23 Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," and "Stayin' Alive" from Saturday Night Fever, and hit charts around the world with many other classics, including "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart," "I Started A Joke," "Lonely Days," "Words," and "You Win Again."

Among the honors bestowed upon the Bee Gees are five GRAMMY Awards, as well as The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award and Legend Award; five American Music Awards; a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music; and a Legend Award from the World Music Awards. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, BMI Icons, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and the Dance Music Hall of Fame. All three brothers were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire in 2001.

Preorder the Bee Gees' Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits: https://BeeGees.lnk.to/Timeless

Preorder Saturday Night Fever Original Movie Soundtrack (2LP vinyl): https://beegees.lnk.to/SaturdayNightFever

Bee Gees 'Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits' [CD, digital]

1. Spicks and Specks (1966)

2. New York Mining Disaster 1941 (1967)

3. To Love Somebody (1967)

4. Massachusetts (1967)

5. Words (1968)

6. I've Gotta Get a Message to You (1968)

7. I Started a Joke (1968)

8. Lonely Days (1970)

9. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (1971)

10. Jive Talkin' (1975)

11. Nights on Broadway (1975)

12. Fanny (Be Tender With My Love) (1975)

13. You Should Be Dancing (1976)

14. How Deep Is Your Love (1977)

15. Stayin' Alive (1977)

16. Night Fever (1977)

17. More Than a Woman (1977)

18. Too Much Heaven (1978)

19. Tragedy (1979)

20. Love You Inside Out (1979)

21. You Win Again (1987)

Saturday Night Fever (Original Movie Soundtrack) [2LP vinyl] SIDE A SIDE B 1. Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees) 6. A Fifth of Beethoven (Walter Murphy) 2. How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees) 7. More Than a Woman (Tavares) 3. Night Fever (Bee Gees) 8. Manhattan Skyline (David Shire) 4. More Than a Woman (Bee Gees) 9. Calypso Breakdown (Ralph MacDonald) 5. If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman)





SIDE C SIDE D 10. Night on Disco Mountain (David Shire) 15. Salsation (David Shire) 11. Open Sesame (Kool & the Gang) 16. K-Jee (MFSB) 12. Jive Talkin' (Bee Gees) 17. Disco Inferno (The Trammps) 13. You Should Be Dancing (Bee Gees)

14. Boogie Shoes (KC and the Sunshine Band)



SOURCE Capitol/UMe
MILWAUKEE, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- BloodCenter of Wisconsin, part of Versiti, announced the launch of a new assay which will more accurately measure von Willebrand (VWF) factor activity. The test, VWF GPIbM Activity employs patented technology previously not utilized in the United States. Precise measurement of VWF platelet binding activity is critical for making an accurate diagnosis of von Willebrand (VWD) disease in patients.

BloodCenter of Wisconsin is the first organization to make this test available in the United States in a clinical laboratory setting.

BloodCenter's VWF GPIbM Activity assay detects qualitative VWF defects, reducing variability and providing more precise, reliable and sensitive test results. Utilizing VWF GPIbM Activity, practicing hematologists can be confident that the results reflect the clinical scenario of the patient.

"As a physician caring for individuals with inherited bleeding disorders, this development is an exciting advancement in von Willebrand disease diagnostics," said Johnathan Roberts, M.D., Associate Medical Director, Bleeding & Clotting Disorders Institute, Peoria, Ill. "This assay will reduce some of the diagnostic challenges in caring for individuals with von Willebrand disease."

What is von Willebrand disease?

von Willebrand disease is the most common bleeding disorder affecting up to 1% of the U.S. population. It is genetic disorder caused by an alteration or deficiency of a blood-clotting protein called von Willebrand factor.

This disease may be difficult to diagnose because many people with VWD have mild signs and symptoms. Making the most accurate diagnosis is critical to identifying the most appropriate treatment to manage the disease. Though there is no cure, treatment can help prevent or stop bleeding episodes.

BloodCenter's Diagnostic Laboratories help physicians provide clinical care to patients worldwide, fostering better understanding and treatment options for patients with difficult-to-diagnose diseases. In addition, the laboratories collaborate with other institutions and industry partners to bring new diagnostic testing and treatment options to patient care.

About BloodCenter of Wisconsin

BloodCenter of Wisconsin, part of Versiti, is a not-for-profit organization that specializes in blood services, organ, tissue and marrow donation, diagnostic testing, medical services and leading-edge research. BloodCenter of Wisconsin is the exclusive provider of blood to hospitals in 30 Wisconsin counties as well as to hospitals and patients across the country. BloodCenter of Wisconsin advances patient care by delivering life-saving solutions grounded in unparalleled medical and scientific expertise. For more information, visit www.bcw.edu .

http://www.facebook.com/BloodCenterofWisconsin

http://twitter.com/#!/bloodcenterwi

http://www.youtube.com/bloodcenterwisc

About Versiti

Versiti is a strategic affiliation of successful healthcare organizations whose vision is to improve the health of patients as the national leader in innovative transfusion solutions for healthcare systems. Working together,

Versiti offers hospitals a more comprehensive range of services, including transfusion medicine, transplantation, stem cell and cellular therapies, hematology, oncology and genomics. At Versiti, they are passionate about improving the lives of their patients and hospital partners. Versiti's expertise and resources lead to new products, solutions and services to meet patient and hospital needs. For more information, visit www.Versiti.org.

Contact:

Fay Spano (414) 937-6124

[email protected]

SOURCE BloodCenter of Wisconsin

Related Links

http://www.bcw.edu


SAO PAULO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Having survived years of economic turbulence, Latin America is gradually shaking off its dependence on external forces like global commodity and oil prices. The stabilization of commodity markets has coincided with a rise in consumerism in Latin America, along with accelerated growth of economies such as Peru and Chile. In the next decade, the continent will witness a huge growth in digital inclusion, urbanization, middle and affluent classes and cities will have significant contribution to the economic pie. Additionally, declining dependency ratio, advancement of renewable energy capacity and high adoption of disruptive business models like sharing models will restore Latin America's status as a "next-generation continent."

To know more about Frost & Sullivan's research and to sign up for our Growth Strategy Dialogue, a complimentary one-hour interactive session with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders, please click here.

Latin America has a significant demographic advantage over regions such as the Middle East, Africa and emerging Europe, and will play a key role in attracting global investment. By 2025:

More than 70% of the population (489.6 million) will belong to the middle class , which will result in a change in consumption trends and increase in discretionary expenditures.

, which will result in a change in consumption trends and increase in discretionary expenditures. The middle class will account for more than 57% of the total consumer spending growth.

growth. Latin America will have the largest working age population , which will account for 61% of its total population.

will have the , which will account for 61% of its total population. More than 82% of the population will live in cities, making it the most urbanized region in the world.

in the world. Cities will propel Latin America's growth, with six Mega Cities accounting for more than 38% of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP).

growth, with accounting for more than 38% of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP). LATAM will have one in two women of working age in the labor force.

of working age in the labor force. The services sector will contribute to almost 65% of the GDP and employ more than 60% of the total workforce.

will contribute to almost 65% of the GDP and employ more than 60% of the total workforce. Emerging economies such as Panama , Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic will have the highest growth rates in the region.

Mega Trends in LATAM, Forecast to 2025, a part of Frost & Sullivan's Visionary Innovation (Mega Trends) Growth Partnership Subscription, finds that new governments in Latin America are expected to change previous economic paradigms marked by over-regulation, import substitution and state intervention. They will, instead, foster a favorable investment environment by creating an open market characterized by price stability, privatization, deregulation and fiscal discipline.

"A significant economy accelerator is the increasing level of mobile connectivity, availability and penetration, making Latin America the second-fastest growing region globally in terms of number of mobile phone lines," said Renato Pasquini, Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Consulting and Research Director. "This enhanced connectivity and relevance of Internet of Things will create opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as verticals such as ecommerce, smart factories, digital healthcare and digital governance," added Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Senior Research Analyst Malabika Mandal.

"The interest of the healthcare industry in information technology solutions has experienced a constant development. With current budget constraints and a growing focus on prevention, primary health care should gain prominence and reach sustainability thanks to mobile health and telemedicine technologies. The Brazilian mhealth segment is expected to reach $1.4 billion by 2020, with a focus on applications and devices that can revolutionize the market," explained Rita Ragazzi, Frost & Sullivan Transformational Health Research Manager.

Latin America's economic revival is not only a result of the steady growth of emerging economies and the region's strong service sector, but also China's substantial investment aid. Some of the significant current and future include:

As uncertainty over the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) looms, Pacific-facing countries like Chile , Colombia and Peru are expected to strengthen the Pacific Alliance for intra-trade and promote trade with China and Russia through new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

and are expected to strengthen the Pacific Alliance for intra-trade and promote trade with and through new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Chinese investment in Latin America had more than doubled from $10 billion in 2014 to $29 billion in 2015, whereas US investments have decreased over the past four years.

in had more than doubled from in 2014 to in 2015, whereas have decreased over the past four years. China will invest $250 billion in the region over the next 10 years.

will invest in the region over the next 10 years. While TPP fades, China takes this opportunity to develop the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) with Latin American countries.

"Furthermore, accommodative monetary policies, coupled with record low bond yields within G3 countries, have turned investors towards risky asset classes and opportunities in developing economies such as Latin America," concluded Mandal. "The declining long bear commodities market, ubiquitous mobile connectivity, a booming middle class and China's investments could make Latin America a $7.3 trillion economy by 2025."

To gain an exclusive and deeper insight on the topic, join us at our Growth, Innovation & Leadership Brazil 2017 event on May 11th, 2017 at the Unique Hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community.

Mega Trends in LATAM, Forecast to 2025

K015-MT

Contact:

Francesca Valente

Corporate Communications  Latin America

P: +54 11 4777 5300

F: +54 11 4777 5300

E: [email protected]

http://www.frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

Related Links

http://www.frost.com


CLEAR LAKE | A 16-year-old North Iowa girl suspected of running away from home was found safe in Mason City.

Clear Lake Police Chief Pete Roth said Tuesday morning that no one faces charges as a result of the incident.

Mikaylah Logston had been missing since she was last seen on Sunday in Clear Lake.

In announcing the teen's safe return, police thanked the public for its help spreading word of the search.

Officers received numerous calls and tips from the public and a message posted on the Clear Lake Police Department's Facebook page about the search for Logston was shared more than 2,700 times.

 Molly Montag

Update: Police say missing Clear Lake girl found safe

9 a.m. Tuesday update

CLEAR LAKE | The Clear Lake Police Department announced Tuesday morning that Mikaylah Logston was found and is safe. Her family has also been notified.

--Globe Gazette staff

Update: Police believe missing Clear Lake girl ran away from home

Monday's story

CLEAR LAKE | The Clear Lake Police Department is seeking a missing juvenile who is believed to have run away from home.

Mikaylah Logston, 16, was last seen in Clear Lake on April 2, according to the department. She was reportedly going to do laundry, according to Clear Lake Police Chief Pete Roth, and may have a backpack and laundry basket with extra clothes she could have taken with her.

The Clear Lake girl is considered a runaway but no foul play is suspected, Roth said Monday night. Police aren't sure where she is headed.

Logston is 5 feet, 6 inches; weighs about 125 pounds and has blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a black North Face hoodie, dark jeans, white and teal Nike summer sandals and colorful socks.

Since police believe Logston voluntarily ran away from home, Roth said an Amber Alert would not apply in her case.

Roth said police have received "really good information" after they posted on social media about Logston's disappearance. The post had been shared more than 1,600 times as of Monday night.

"We're appreciative of people who have shared the post so we can help locate her," he said.

People who have information about Logston's location are asked to call police at 641-357-2186.
SALT LAKE CITY, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BoomStartup will begin the first ever online accelerator program focused on EdTech startups on May 1, 2017.

The new program is designed to allow more flexibility than a typical accelerator. Much of the content is delivered online through a new platform BoomStartup has been beta testing over the past several months, which allows companies to move through the curriculum and milestones at a more personalized pace. With rolling monthly start dates, startups will have more chances during the year to join a cohort, and, unlike most accelerators, the online EdTech accelerator will accept companies from anywhere in the world.

"The most innovative part of the new program is the tiered structure," said Shaun Cunningham, Managing Director. "With the traditional accelerator program, BoomStartup used to be able to accept only about two percent of the companies who applied. Now we can offer at least some portion the online program to nearly all the startups who apply."

Startups accepted into a cohort receive seed funding based on their tier in exchange for equity. They also receive free and deeply discounted business services, such as hosting, marketing, legal, and financial services. During the program, founders hone their business models and create minimal viable products, with the goal of securing funding from private investors, angel groups, venture capitalists, banks, and others.

"We are extending the online program to other vertical focuses," said founder/CEO Robb Kunz, "however, EdTech is an area where we have deep expertise."

Participating startups are supported by an extensive mentor network of investors, serial entrepreneurs, subject matter experts, and EdTech advisors, including key executives from big names in education, such as Pearson, McGraw Hill, Instructure, and Western Governors University. Much of this expertise is in BoomStartup's backyard, as Utah is home to a healthy ecosystem of successful EdTech companies, including Pluralsight, Instructure, Mastery Connect, True North Logic, School Improvement Network, Agilix, Kimono, Western Governors University, and Degreed.

BoomStartup is a lean startup accelerator and mentorship-driven seed-stage investment program for technology-based startups, and a founding member of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN). BoomStartup was named the #12 accelerator in the US by TechCrunch, and has helped raise over $25 million in investment for its companies.

Contact:

Shaun Cunningham, Managing Director

801.599.1483

[email protected]

www.boomstartup.com

SOURCE BoomStartup
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedical, an industry leader in the development of next-generation cancer therapeutics designed to inhibit cancer stemness pathways, presented preclinical data from its research and development portfolio at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting held from April 1-5, in Washington, D.C.

Data from a preclinical study evaluating napabucasin in combination with an anti-PD-1 antibody, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, found that the combination was able to sensitize mice with colorectal cancer to checkpoint inhibitors. An additional preclinical study revealed napabucasin may overcome resistance to paclitaxel in stemness-high cells, further supporting that the compound can be effectively combined with this standard of care therapy. Napabucasin is an orally-administered investigational agent designed to inhibit cancer stemness pathways by targeting STAT3.

In addition, preclinical data of amcasertib was also presented. In preclinical models, amcasertib was shown to target Nanog via the STK33 pathway, and -catenin via the STK17A pathway. These data will provide important insights for advancing future research and development programs for these investigational compounds.

Preclinical data of a new program, BBI-801, was shown for the first time. BBI-801 is a gene-silencing investigational agent designed to inhibit cancer stemness pathways and promote anti-cancer immunity by targeting -catenin and PD-L1 to enhance anti-cancer activity across multiple tumor types. BBI-801 was designed through Boston Biomedical's proprietary asymmetric interfering RNA (aiRNA) technology and is being investigated in preclinical studies.

"The preclinical data presented at this year's AACR annual meeting exemplifies our commitment to apply cutting-edge science to pioneer potential therapies for patients battling cancer," said Chiang J. Li, M.D. FACP, President, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer of Boston Biomedical, and the Head of Global Oncology for Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Group. "We believe focusing on inhibiting cancer stemness pathways may lead to advancements in cancer therapies aiming to reduce recurrence, drug-resistance and metastases. We are looking forward to continuing to investigate our first-in-class compounds/programs in future studies."

Highlights of the Boston Biomedical poster presentations:

Abstract LB-023, Poster #9: STK17A, a novel serine threonine kinase, promotes cancer stemness phenotypes by phosphorylating -catenin

Taiki Kida , Harry A. Rogoff , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Cambridge, MA

, , .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Results of this preclinical study suggest inhibition of Serine Threonine Kinase 17A (STK17A), a novel member of the death-associated protein family of serine/threonine kinases, promotes cancer stemness phenotypes via -catenin and up-regulation of its target genes. Amcasertib was found to potently inhibit STK17A, leading to inhibition of -catenin phosphorylation at ser675.

Abstract LB-069, Poster #8: In vivo delivery of asymmetric gene-silencing RNAs targeting CTNNB1 and PD-L1 show a broad spectrum of potent antitumor activities in preclinical cancer models

Youzhi Li , Yuan Gao, Yuxin Wang , Jie Su , Eric Hsu , Ewa Wybieralska, Janet Huang , Keyur Gada , Jun Oishi , Xiaoshu Dai , Erina Koga , Wei Li , Xiangao Sun , Emily Brooks , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Cambridge, MA

, Yuan Gao, , , , Ewa Wybieralska, , , , , , , , , .; Boston Biomedical Inc., This preclinical study investigated the in vivo delivery and anti-tumor activity of BBI-801 encapsulating asymmetric interfering RNA (aiRNAs) targeting CTNNB1 and PD-L1. The study demonstrated BBI-801 achieved significant tumor growth inhibition not only in -catenin over-expressed colorectal tumor models, SW480 and APCmin, but also in the rest of -catenin normal-expressed tumor models. BBI-801 was well-tolerated.

Abstract LB-140, Poster #12: Inhibition of cancer stemness sensitizes colorectal cancer to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Yuan Gao, Youzhi Li , Eric Hsu , Yuxin Wang , Janet Huang , Emily Brooks , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Cambridge, MA

, , , , , .; Boston Biomedical Inc., This preclinical study demonstrated napabucasin in combination with an anti-PD-1 antibody sensitized mice to checkpoint inhibitors in colorectal cancer xenograft model. The combination therapy led to tumor complete response (CR) in all treated CT26 tumors with 40% of the mice remaining tumor-free for 30 days following treatment termination. Additionally, this combination had a synergistic effect on the influx of tumor infiltrating CD8+T cells, which likely contributed to tumor regression.

Abstract LB-142, Poster #14: Identification of STK33 as a cancer stemness kinase and regulator of Nanog function

Susan L. Tran , Yudai Furuta , Chen Zhu , Ao Yang, Xiangao Sun , Harry A. Rogoff , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Cambridge, MA

, , , Ao Yang, , , .; Boston Biomedical Inc., Results of this preclinical study demonstrated STK33, a pathway that directly interacts with Nanog and appears to promote its stabilization through phosphorylation, is a critical element in the signaling network that governs the stemness of cancer cells. The study suggests amcasertib may suppress Nanog by inhibiting STK33 and therefore, may be a potential therapeutic target for cancer.

Abstract LB-143, Poster #15: Identification of STAT3-NRF2-hypoxia as a novel reinforcing mechanism for promoting cancer stemness

Luz Elisa Tavera , Karen Simon , Juying Li , Katherine Geromini , Zhuo Zhang , Sarah Keates , Harry A. Rogoff , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA

, , , , , , , .; Boston Biomedical, Inc., This preclinical study revealed STAT3-NRF2-Hypoxia as a novel reinforcing regulatory mechanism for promoting cancer stemness and chemotherapy resistance. These findings suggest hypoxia is associated with STAT3, which promotes stemness and chemotherapy resistance, and napabucasin inhibits STAT3. Data demonstrated that in response to STAT3 pathway activators, NRF2 is up-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels under hypoxia and this up-regulation is STAT3 dependent.

Abstract 4777, Poster #15: Cancer stemness and resistance: Napabucasin (BBI-608) sensitizes stemness-high cancer cells to paclitaxel by inhibiting the STAT3-MUC1 pathway

Harry A. Rogoff , Juying Li , Chiang J. Li .; Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA

, , .; Boston Biomedical, Inc., This preclinical study showed that the MUC1 pathway may cause paclitaxel resistance based on a stemness-high culture system generated through the reporter activity of a SOX2-regulatory region constructed in MKN28 gastric cancer cells. The results demonstrated that napabucasin may overcome resistance to paclitaxel by decreasing MUC1.

About Cancer Stem Cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) possess the property of stemness  the ability to self-renew and differentiate into heterogeneous cancer cells. This allows the CSCs to act like seeds, causing a patient's cancer to relapse or spread within the body.i,ii Evidence suggests that these cells possess resistance to chemotherapy, radiation and targeted therapy as well as immunotherapies, so while such treatments can successfully shrink tumors, a population of CSCs may still survive.ii,iii

Boston Biomedical is leading the biopharmaceutical industry in the development of novel compounds designed to target cancer stemness pathways, with the goal of addressing ongoing challenges in cancer treatment.

About Boston Biomedical

Boston Biomedical was founded in November 2006 and is wholly owned by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Boston Biomedical's mission is to develop the next generation of cancer therapeutics by creating drugs designed to target cancer stemness pathways. Boston Biomedical's innovation in drug discovery has received a number of recognitions and awards in the United States, including the Frost & Sullivan 2010 North American Drug Discovery Technology Innovation of the Year Award, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer stem cell initiative grant award in 2010, and the 2011 Biotech Pioneer Award at the Alexandria Oncology Summit. The company also received the "Company To Watch" award in the 10th Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards in 2013. Boston Biomedical is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Additional information about the company and its product pipeline can be found at www.BostonBiomedical.com.

Disclaimer Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of information presently available, and involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Any forward looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice.

For general inquiries:

Boston Biomedical

617-674-6800

For media inquiries:

Sara Baker

CHAMBERLAIN PR

212- 849-9474

[email protected]

RELATED LINKS

http://www.bostonbiomedical.com

i Gupta PB, Chaffer CL, Weinberg RA. Cancer stem cells: mirage or reality? Nat Med. 2009;15(9):1010-1012.

ii Ajani JA, Song S, Hochster HS, Steinberg IB. Cancer stem cells: the promise and the potential. Semin Oncol. 2015;42(suppl 1):S3-S17.

iii Jordan CT, Guzman ML, Noble M. Cancer stem cells. N Engl J Med. 2006;355(12):1253-1261.

SOURCE Boston Biomedical, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bostonbiomedical.com


BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The I-PASS Study Group based out of Boston Children's Hospital has been named the recipient of the 2016 John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level presented annually by The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum (NQF). The award, presented during NQF's 2017 Annual Conference in Pentagon City, Virginia, is the foremost award in the United States recognizing contributions to patient safety.

Members of the I-PASS Study Group, led by Principal Investigator Christopher Landrigan, MD, MPH, Project Leader Amy Starmer, MD, MPH, and Pediatric Residency Program Director Theodore Sectish, MD , all at Boston Children's Hospital, designed I-PASS with the goal of improving patient safety through improved provider-to-provider communication. I-PASS is a multi-faceted intervention to standardize and improve handoffs that is built around the verbal mnemonic "I-PASS" (Illness severity, Patient summary, Action list, Situational awareness and contingency planning, and Synthesis by receiver), but also includes a series of training materials, introduction of computerized handoff tools, a faculty engagement and observation program, and a campaign to promote and sustain I-PASS.

"Because we know that miscommunications so commonly lead to serious medical errors, and because the frequency of handoffs in the hospital is increasing, there is no question that high-quality handoff improvement programs need to be a top priority for hospitals and providers across all disciplines," says Starmer. "It's tremendously exciting to finally have a comprehensive and rigorously tested training program that has been proven to be associated with safer care."

Medical errors in hospitals are a leading cause of death and injury in the U.S. An estimated 80 percent of the most serious medical errors can be linked to communication failures, particularly during patient handoffs. For example, a handoff-related medical error could occur if information about a critical diagnostic test is not communicated correctly between providers at shift change.

The group's initial research study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that across 9 hospitals, harmful medical errors (preventable adverse events) fell 30% following implementation of I-PASS. Subsequent research in more than 50 hospitals has found that I-PASS similarly led to reductions in handoff-related injuries to patients when used by nurses and doctors from across specialties, both in academic and community hospitals. Boston Children's Hospital has served as the lead site for the Study Group research and quality improvement efforts.

"Changing the way that doctors and nurses communicate is a cultural change that takes time and a sustained commitment to improve. As I-PASS evolved, we recognized that there was a need to create tools and processes that would help hospitals adopt safer handoff practices as efficiently and effectively as possible, across disciplines and units. To meet this need, we created the I-PASS Institute," says Landrigan. The I-PASS Institute has developed an immersive on-line I-PASS learning platform, tablet- and smartphone-based handoff observational tools, a system for quality improvement data tracking, and a web-based project management portal. Hospitals wishing to adopt I-PASS use these tools under the guidance of experienced I-PASS consultants, who take them through every step of the adoption, spread, and sustainment process. The I-PASS Institute is now working with hospitals to achieve institution-wide implementations.

"Handoffs of information between clinicians are one of the leading sources of medical errors in hospitals," said Jonathan Finkelstein, MD, MPH, and interim Chief Quality Officer of Boston Children's Hospital. "The I-PASS team has rigorously developed a proven handoff improvement program that has been shown in multiple single and multi-center studies to improve handoffs and decrease adverse events."

"Congratulations to the I-PASS Study Group for their significant and lasting contributions to improve patient safety and quality of care," said Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president and CEO, The Joint Commission. "Through new and innovative projects such as those implemented by the Eisenberg Award recipients, we can make great strides in reducing preventable patient harm and adverse events. Such quality improvement efforts help solve some of health care's most challenging issues to make a difference in the lives of all patients."

"The Eisenberg Award winners represent some of the best examples in the nation of how individuals and organizations are transforming care delivery, and making it safer and more effective," said Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, president and CEO, National Quality Forum.

The work of the I-PASS Study Group has been supported by the following sources of grant funding:

The Harvard Risk Management Foundation (HRMF) / Controlled Risk Insurance Company (CRICO), Boston Children's Hospital Program for Pediatric Safety and Quality (PPSQ), the Department of Health and Human Services (R18 AE000029), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (1K12HS019456, 1R18HS023291-01), the Department of Defense, the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, the Physicians Services Inc. Foundation, Pfizer, the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital Innovation Award, and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (CDR-1306-03556)

About Boston Children's Hospital

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 10 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 415-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more, visit our Vector and Thriving blogs and follow us on our social media channels: @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact:

Bethany Tripp

Boston Children's Hospital

617-919-3110 | [email protected]

SOURCE Boston Children's Hospital

Related Links

http://www.childrenshospital.org


"We're launching Inktale because there's serious room for improvement in the online marketplace industry. Today's popular platforms don't always offer the best margins, and they limit artists' control over their customers and products. We want to provide what Zazzle, Redbubble, Society6, and others are lacking," says Niks Evalds, co-founder of Inktale.

Unlike with most marketplaces and ecommerce platforms, there are no upfront or subscription fees  Inktale only profits when a sale is made as the product base price already covers the service fee and manufacturing costs. Inktale also offers the seller the rare chance to see who's purchased their work and communicate with them outside the platform. What's more, Inktale's artists can earn up to 6x more than anywhere else, even by selling their artwork on regular crew neck t-shirts.

In order to guarantee high product and printing quality, Inktale is partnering up with the print-on-demand drop shipping company Printful. Every order will be printed and shipped from one of Printful's two fulfillment centers in California and North Carolina.

As of today, Inktale is available for anyone to join  from artists ready to generate profit on a new and easy online marketplace, to consumers searching for unique, one-of-a-kind product designs. Future plans for the company include setting up an Instagram integration, expanding the list of available product categories and enabling advanced profile customization options.

SOURCE Inktale, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.inktale.com


DALLAS, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT), today announced the resignation of Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Tom Edwards, who is relocating to accept a role outside the restaurant industry and move closer to his family. This change will be effective April 7, 2017.

Joe Taylor, a 17-year Brinker veteran who currently serves as Vice President Investor Relations and Treasurer, will assume the role of interim CFO until a permanent successor is named. A search for Edwards' replacement is underway.

"Tom has been an invaluable member of our management team and we thank him for his many contributions to Brinker," said Wyman Roberts, Chief Executive Officer and President of Brinker International, Inc. "We are confident that with our strategic initiatives, experienced leadership team and Joe's deep knowledge of the company, we will continue to successfully execute against our long-term plans and drive value to our shareholders."

"It has been my great pleasure to serve as the CFO of Brinker and work with two outstanding casual-dining brands," said Tom Edwards. "I am grateful for the opportunities I had at Brinker and the chance to work with one of the most dedicated and driven leadership teams in the business."

Brinker International, Inc. is one of the world's leading casual dining restaurant companies. Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, Texas, as of the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 28, 2016, Brinker owned, operated or franchised 1,658 restaurants under the names Chili's Grill & Bar (1,606 restaurants) and Maggiano's Little Italy (52 restaurants).

SOURCE Brinker International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.brinker.com


BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Burns & Levinson has launched a new brand identity to reflect the client-centric, high-level legal services the firm provides for its regional, national and international clientele. The new visual identity  a deep purple circle  and typography represent the high-energy, full-service, hands-on, personalized approach every client receives from Burns & Levinson. The firm also unveiled a newly created website in conjunction with the unveiling of its brand.

Burns' new brand identity is built around the concept of "Amazing Clients," which echoes the firm's decades of serving clients who are amazing at what they do and Burns' ability to amaze clients with an intense focus on long-lasting relationships, high quality work, top-notch service, big firm know-how, and impressive results. The website features many of these collaborative "amazing client/amazing firm" stories.

The new website also highlights Burns' holistic and novel approach to serving clients in every facet of their business and personal life. The firm's practice groups are divided into two core areas  "Your Business" and "Your Life"  which reflects the firm's value added focus on meeting clients' business and personal legal needs.

Overall, the brand and website showcase Burns' singular focus on strong client relationships  not billable hours  and the firm's driving vision to always go above and beyond to ensure clients' success. As a Boston-based firm with over 125 attorneys, Burns is big enough to represent clients in complex and sophisticated matters, yet small enough to provide highly responsive, direct partner-level, proactive advice in a more cost effective and efficient way.

"At Burns & Levinson, we practice law differently. We offer clients a can-do entrepreneurial style of lawyering that we believe is unique to our firm," said David P. Rosenblatt, managing partner at Burns & Levinson. "Our client service model is partner-driven, which means that clients work directly with our most experienced and resourceful attorneys to find solutions to their most complex problems."

While many of Boston's top local law firms have embraced the "bigger is better" approach to practicing law, Burns has seized the opportunity to turn its client-centered approach, prestigious national recognition in its core practice areas, smaller and more personalized service orientation, and deep roots in New England into a competitive advantage.

"Our clients' personal and business success is always our top priority," said Rosenblatt. "We are thrilled that our new external identity more accurately matches who we are and how clients perceive us in the marketplace. It is exciting to bring that idea full circle and have it reflected in our new brand image and website."

Burns spent one year developing its new brand and website, and the process involved extensive market research as well as in-depth internal research of clients' experiences and the firm's client service standards.

About Burns & Levinson LLP

At Burns & Levinson, we provide high-level, client-centric and results-oriented legal services to our regional, national and international clients. We are a full-service law firm with over 125 lawyers in Boston, Providence and other regional offices. Our areas of expertise include: business/finance, business litigation, divorce/family law, emerging companies/venture capital, employment, estate planning, government investigations, intellectual property, M&A/private equity, probate/trust litigation, and real estate. We partner with our clients to solve their business and personal legal issues in a collaborative, creative, and cost-effective way. For more information, visit Burns & Levinson at www.burnslev.com.

Contact:



Amy Blumenthal

Blumenthal & Associates

617.879.1511

[email protected]



Kristen Weller

Director of Marketing & Business Development

617.345.3555

[email protected]

SOURCE Burns & Levinson LLP
SEATTLE, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Coldstream Holdings, Inc. (CHI), the parent company of Coldstream Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser, announced today that it has closed its merger with The Rainier Group, Inc., a Bellevue firm that offers investment advisory and mid-market business consulting services. Rainier Group Investment Advisory, LLC is now doing business as Coldstream Wealth Management, and Rainier Group Business Advisory continues to operate under the name and brand of The Rainier Group, Inc.

Rainier Group Investment Advisory, which managed $760 million in assets for over 325 clients, was founded in 1988 and embodied many of the same core values that contributed to Coldstream's success. With the addition of Rainier Group Investment Advisory, Coldstream Wealth Management now manages approximately $2.8B in assets for over 1,300 clients, and continues to offer affluent individuals and families financial planning, investment management, and comprehensive wealth management services. Coldstream continues to grow both organically and through mergers with other local, like-minded firms, and has offices in both Bellevue and Seattle.

Continuing to expand upon the "small firm values and big firm reach" that its tagline espouses, Coldstream is excited to welcome the skilled and dedicated professionals of Rainier Group. "We've known the individuals at Rainier Group for years and have tremendous respect and admiration for the firm they have built. Their team brings unique intellectual capital, resources, and energy to Coldstream," said Kevin Fitzwilson, Managing Shareholder, Coldstream Holdings, Inc. "Integrating our companies will enhance our offering and client experience, and provide even more growth opportunities for our key personnel."

Also based in Bellevue, Rainier Group sees this move as a natural progression and a smart step forward for its clients and staff. "We're thrilled to be a part of Coldstream, a firm we've known and admired for a number of years," said Mark Pellegrino, former Managing Director of Rainier Group Investment Advisory and now head of Coldstream Wealth Management's sixth client advisory team. "Our clients will receive great benefit from our shared investment philosophy, client-first service culture and core values, along with the robust resources we'll devote to shepherding their wealth."

Rainier Group's mid-market consulting business, Rainier Group Business Advisory, has also joined Coldstream's family of services, providing complementary solutions for clients who are business owners. David Roberts, the former President of Rainier Group will continue to lead the business consulting operation and will join CHI's Board of Directors. Roberts sees clear opportunity in this union: "I really believe this merger will be beneficial for our clients and employees. We have great respect for Coldstream and are excited to be working together to bring integrated services to our clients." Rainier Group's consulting services are now part of the Coldstream family which includes Fit Insurance, Ascent Capital, and Genesee Investments. Bob Gruber, former CEO of Rainier Group, and Skip Bell  both founders  expressed their excitement concerning the next phase of their company's journey and emphasized their enthusiasm to be an ongoing part of the combined organization.

ABOUT COLDSTREAM WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Founded in 1996 in Bellevue, WA, Coldstream was started with a higher purpose in mind  enhancing people's lives. As the firm grew, our vision began to take shape  to become the definition of excellence in our industry and with our clients. To achieve this, we defined a clear mission: providing peace of mind and strengthening relationships with insight, passion, and action  every client, every day. Clients choose us and stay with us because of who we are and how we work; we have small firm values with big firm reach. We are passionate about and dedicated to every relationship, and we drive results by working with you directly on what matters most. We build relationships with the generations of a family's wellbeing in mind. At Coldstream, we don't just listen  we hear you. Learn more about our sophisticated mix of financial services that include comprehensive financial planning, customized portfolio management, and personalized client services by visiting us at www.coldstream.com.

ABOUT THE RAINIER GROUP, INC.

Since 1988 The Rainier Group, Inc. has advised over 1000 affluent individuals, charitable organizations, businesses and business owners nationwide in the areas of wealth management and business transition. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, The Rainier Group has helped clients clarify complex issues, identify creative solutions, and implement strategies which put them on a path to achieve their business, family, and personal financial objectives.

Coldstream Wealth Management

One 100th Avenue NE #102, Bellevue, WA 98004  P: (425) 283-1600  F: (425) 283-5100

1200 Westlake Ave. N, #900, Seattle, WA 98109  P: (206) 281-7700  F: (206) 281-8930

500 108th Avenue NE, #2000, Bellevue, WA 98004  P: (425) 463-3000

www.coldstream.com

Leslie McCain, Marketing Specialist

Coldstream Wealth Management

[email protected]

SOURCE Coldstream Wealth Management

Related Links

http://www.coldstream.com


ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Converde Energy USA, Inc. ("Converde"), (OTC Markets OTC Pink: XFUL), is pleased to announce it has changed its name to American Energy Partners, Inc. ("AEPI") to rebrand itself into a diversified energy company. AEPI intends on filing this name change with FINRA.

Mr. Domitrovitsch, Chairman & CEO, said, "We have continued our efforts to structure and rebrand Converde into a diversified energy company by changing its name to American Energy Partners, Inc. We are only in the initial stages but feel confident about the positive direction in which we are moving."

American Energy Partner's group of companies focus on providing solutions in the space where energy production and water meet technology. Our subsidiaries are engaged in the energy sector as well as design, build and operate regional water treatment facilities that serve the industrial, energy and government sectors.

American Energy Partner's has begun its first capital raise and has set a target of $5M. The majority of this capital will be used to build out its infrastructure and purchase producing oil & gas properties where American Energy Partners can leverage its water resources and treatment methodologies. Please visit http://americanenergy-inc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/POM-12-28-16.pdf to view the Offering Memorandum.

About American Energy Partners, Inc. ("AEPI")

American Energy Partner's group of companies focus on providing solutions in the space where energy production and water meet technology. Our subsidiaries are engaged in the energy sector as well as design, build and operate regional water treatment facilities that serve the industrial, energy and government sectors.

Hydration Corporation of PA, LLC ("HCPA"), a subsidiary of American Energy Partners is engaged in the businesses of water exploration, water augmentation, and the treatment of impacted waters. Through its subsidiaries and partners, we design, build, and operate regional water treatment facilities. HCPA is a leader in water-neutral energy solutions, as well as providing waste water technologies specifically designed to improve the impaired water disposal process.



The Company's IP delivers one of the highest energy yields from a broad range of water-bearing assets, with one of the lowest capital expenditures of any other known water processes.



HCPA offers a range of low cost attractive modular systems or fixed facilities via its water conveyance methodologies, which produce low cost water solutions in partnership with select small to large-size industrial energy users, government agencies, and non-profit watershed groups in target markets.

For additional information Visit our website at: http://americanenergy-inc.com/

Safe Harbor

This press release contains forward-looking statements, particularly as related to, among other things, the business plans of AEPI, statements relating to goals, plans and projections regarding AEPI's financial position and business strategy. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "may result," "are expected to," "will continue," "anticipates," "expects," "estimate," "project," "indicate," "could," "potentially," "should," "believe," "think", "considers" or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements fall within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by these sections. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, involve known and unknown risks, a reliance on third parties for information, transactions or orders that may be cancelled, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in our industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties related to the fluctuation of global economic conditions, the performance of management and our employees, our ability to obtain financing, competition, general economic conditions and other factors that are detailed in our periodic reports and on documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements made herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. AEPI cautions readers not to place undue reliance on such statements. AEPI does not undertake, and AEPI specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statement. Actual results may differ materially from AEPI's expectations and estimates.

Company Contact:

Brad Domitrovitsch

[email protected]

+1-610-217-3275



SOURCE Converde Energy USA, Inc.
Lila Sparkling (NEW) Produced using a similar method as Prosecco, this Italian sparkler is full of refreshing citrus and tropical fruit aromas, mixed with a hint of honeysuckle and juicy nectarine. (11% ABV)

Lila Rose This rose is light, dry and refreshing with aromas of fresh red berries and orange peel, and a hint of minerality. (12% ABV)

Lila Pinot Grigio With a laid-back texture and aromas of tart green apple and citrus, this crisp Pinot Grigio makes for a perfect summertime sipper. (12.5% ABV)

Lila Wines was introduced by Latitude Beverage Company in the spring of 2016 and quickly gained distribution across the U.S. Over this past winter, the company made major changes to improve the overall quality of the product, including moving all production and canning to Europe within close proximity of the source wineries.

"By investing in improvements to our Lila production process, we are able to better preserve the quality of the wine, shorten production lead-times exponentially, and keep the product at a consumer friendly price point," says Kevin Mehra, CEO of Latitude Beverage Company. "Our mission is to provide consumers with the best wine for their money, and we're excited to reintroduce Lila Wines featuring higher quality and even better taste."

All Lila Wines are naturally gluten free, low in calories and carbs, and contain no added sugar, making them the perfect, guilt-free refreshment for any summer celebration. Lila Wines are packaged in specially developed, eco-friendly cans engineered to maintain the quality of the wine inside and to guarantee fresh taste. Lila Wines are now available at retail locations in nearly 40 states, and can also be purchased online with direct shipping nationwide.

Lila Wines are sold in four-packs of 8.4oz cans with an MSRP of $11.99. Each four-pack contains 33 percent more wine than a standard 750mL bottle of wine. For more information about Lila Wines, visit www.LilaWines.com, or follow the brand @LilaCannedWines on Facebook and @LilaWines on Twitter and Instagram.

About Latitude Beverage Company

Latitude Beverage Company is the innovative, Boston-based company behind a portfolio of national wine brands, including 90+ Cellars, Lila Wines, Iron Side Cellars, Magic Door Vineyards, and Mija Sangria. The company was founded in 2007 by Kevin Mehra who saw an opportunity to make high-end wine more accessible by purchasing oversupply from top wineries across the globe, bottling the wine under his own labels, and selling it to consumers at a lower price. This unique business model, based on the centuries old function of the negociant, became the foundation for 90+ Cellars. This same model has enabled Latitude Beverage Company to expand its portfolio with five additional labels, and the company is now recognized as one of the fastest growing wine companies in America. For more information, visit ninetypluscellars.com.

Product images here; lifestyle images here.

CONTACT: Andrea Salzman, [email protected]

SOURCE Lila Wines

Related Links

http://www.lilawines.com


MASON CITY | Work will begin this week on resurfacing of South Shore Drive, Cerro Gordo County supervisors learned Tuesday.

County Engineer Mary Kelly said the work will involve 3.63 miles from south of the Girl Scout camp to the Clear Lake city limits.

Milling will be done next week on the full width of the existing pavement. Then the shoulders will be excavated before repaving begins.

Kelly said the project will take about 50 working days, weather permitting, and will result in two 11-foot driving lanes with five-foot paved shoulders.

The estimated cost is $1.5 million.

In other business, supervisors

 Learned County Road B35 at Cedar Avenue will be closed temporarily because of issues with a sewer line.

 Certified costs of $11,959.52 for the Mason City special election of Marcy 7 on the capital improvements tax levy.

 Approved a payment of $1,500 to the city of Swaledale to assist with costs associated with RAGBRAI.

 Proclaimed April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

 Approved a tax abatement settlement on property on which taxes had not been paid since 1989, the owner of the property at that time is deceased and whose family members were not aware of the taxes owed.
"By partnering with such an amazing non-profit as Operation Smile, we are able to impact children's lives dramatically through the gift of a smile," said Quinn. "The work we help fund through Operation Smile goes well beyond fixing a cleft lip or palate for these kids  we're funding surgeries that give hope to the families for a better quality of life for their child. Our four days of fundraising helps create a lifetime of smiles."

Cydcor has raised nearly $900,000 in charitable donations for Operation Smile since 2010, and has sponsored five medical missions. Cydcor volunteers returned from the most recent medical mission to Guadalajara, Mexico, in March, where they helped provide assistance and comfort to families while their children received surgeries from the Operation Smile medical team. Cydcor's corporate philanthropy initiatives have previously helped fund medical missions to Brazil, Guatemala, Bolivia and Mexico, with this year's fundraising campaign expected to help sponsor additional medical missions in the coming months.

Cydcor and its network of independent sales offices throughout the US, Canada and the United Kingdom will be hosting a variety of fundraising activities through their annual Day of Smile event taking place May 20-24. Hoping to beat their previous best of $130,000 raised last year, Cydcor's charitable donations could top the $1 million mark of lifetime giving to Operation Smile this year.

"We are a people helping people business, and our annual Day of Smiles event is a perfect example of that commitment," added Quinn. "I'm most proud that this pledge of service to others has become a cornerstone of our company, and those who work with us."

A video from the founders of Operation Smile about Cydcor's corporate philanthropy and support for their ongoing work can be viewed here. Learn more about Cydcor on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or on the Cydcor blog.

About Cydcor

Cydcor is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, retail, energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of more than 350 independently-owned corporate licensee (ICL) sales offices, providing clients access to more than 4,600 sales professionals. The privately-held company is based in Agoura Hills, California. For more information about Cydcor, go to www.cydcor.com.

About Operation Smile

Operation Smile is an international medical charity that has provided hundreds of thousands of free surgeries for children and young adults in developing countries who are born with cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial deformities. It is one of the oldest and largest volunteer-based organizations dedicated to improving the health and lives of children worldwide through access to surgical care. Since 1982, Operation Smile has developed expertise in mobilizing volunteer medical teams to conduct surgical missions in resource-poor environments while adhering to the highest standards of care and safety. Operation Smile helps to fill the gap in providing access to safe, well-timed surgeries by partnering with hospitals, governments and ministries of health, training local medical personnel, and donating much-needed supplies and equipment to surgical sites around the world. Founded and based in Virginia, U.S., Operation Smile has extended its global reach to more than 60 countries through its network of credentialed surgeons, pediatricians, doctors, nurses, and student volunteers. For more information, visit www.operationsmile.org.

SOURCE Cydcor

Related Links

http://www.cydcor.com


CyMedica with its e-vive muscle activation product is relentlessly focused on technological innovation putting the patient's comfort, safety, and convenience first, giving them more control over the rehabilitation muscle strengthening processfrom pre-hab to rehab.

"This clinical trial will allow us to accelerate what we believe is an essential shift in the care model for total knee post-surgical rehabilitation," said Rob Morocco, President and CEO, CyMedica.

The first of its class, CyMedica e-vive wireless muscle stimulation device was designed to address the problems associated with strength induced muscle atrophy where patients can lose significant quadriceps strength after knee surgery.1 Post-surgical muscle atrophy can also cost up to $4,200 per episode due to additional rehabilitation, and a higher likelihood of readmissions.1

"As bundled programs and the healthcare models evolve, orthopedic surgeons will continue to be advocates for better post-surgical rehabilitation innovations that engage patients in their care and provide more efficient ways to provide these services. At Cleveland Clinic, we are constantly looking for options that allow doctors and their rehabilitation partners to put patients first. The goal of this research is to help the orthopedic and physical therapy communities give better care," said Carlos Higuera-Rueda, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon at Cleveland Clinic and Primary Investigator.

About CyMedica Orthopedics, Inc.

CyMedica Orthopedics, Inc. is a Scottsdale, AZ based medical device company that has developed the patented Cy-Motion  muscle activation and patient engagement system to speed recovery, reduce complications and lower healthcare costs related to strength induced muscle atrophy. The company has been awarded and recognized for its orthopedic innovations that have the potential to change the standard of care in knee surgery.

More details can be found at www.cymedicaortho.com

Media Contact:

Bryti Ketchum

760.310.5818

CyMedica Orthopedics

[email protected]

1. Chen, et.al. (2013). Journal of Pain research. 2013:6 595603.

SOURCE CyMedica Orthopedics

Related Links

http://www.cymedicaortho.com


The transaction allows majority owners, the Jewsbury family, who founded Custom Corned Beef in 1977, to exit the business. The Jewsbury family and John Birdsall , currently president of Custom Made Meals, acquired Custom Made Meals in 2009 from Maverick Ranch. Birdsall, who operated Custom Made Meals under the ownership of Maverick Ranch, will remain with Custom Made Meals as President and Board member.

"I'm extremely excited about our partnership with New Water," Birdsall said. "After meeting with several prospective partners over the past six months, we found New Water Capital to be the best fit for our company's goals. They believe in us, our company, our management team and staff, and are ready to help us take Custom Made Meals and Custom Corned Beef to the next level."

New Water partner Jason Neimark said Custom Made Meals is well positioned for growth and expansion into new markets. "The company has shown a steady trajectory at a time when consumer demand for convenient, ready-to-cook meals continues to grow substantially," Neimark said. "At the same time, rising labor costs and stricter health and safety requirements have made it less cost-effective for supermarkets to prepare ready-to-cook foods in-house, providing more growth opportunities."

"By investing in manufacturing infrastructure, new automation technologies, and management expertise to help the company streamline and optimize its operations, New Water will help Custom Made Meals expand its market share in this highly fragmented sector," said New Water partner John Disa. "It is an amazing opportunity for both companies."

Triton Capital Partners was exclusive financial advisor to the company with respect to this transaction. Private Bank & Trust Company provided the senior debt financing for the transaction.

About New Water Capital, L.P.

New Water Capital, L.P. is a private equity firm focused on lower-middle market companies in transition, in the consumer, retail and industrial manufacturing and services sectors, with revenues of $30 million to $300 million. New Water Capital's collaborative transaction and operating model is built specifically to support companies in transition. For more information, please visit www.newwatercap.com.

CONTACT: Bonnie Osborn

[email protected]

916-212-9110

SOURCE New Water Capital, L.P.

Related Links

https://www.newwatercap.com


NORTH CANTON, Ohio, and PADERBORN, Germany, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD) has been awarded the prestigious Red Dot Product Design Award for two of its self-checkout systems, the EASY Smart Pay and EASY eXpress. Internationally recognized as the authority for product design quality, The Red Dot Awards, presented by Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen, are evaluated by 40 independent designers, design professors and trade journalists. Diebold Nixdorf's systems were honored by the expert panel for their exemplary combination of functionality and design and the intuitive, fast and convenient operation.

"The Red Dot winners are pursuing the right design strategy. They have recognized that good design and economic success go hand in hand," said Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of the Red Dot Award. "This award by the Red Dot jury documents their high design quality and is indicative of their successful design policy."

Diebold Nixdorf's systems are designed to create seamless consumer experiences with solutions ideal for any retail environment. The EASY eXpress self-checkout solution can be used as an interactive kiosk or a payment terminal with a compact design that meets the industry's demand for a miniaturized footprint. The EASY Smart Pay self-checkout solution was designed for electronic payments and enables consumers to scan and bag their items and pay using a mobile app, credit or debit card.

"For Diebold Nixdorf, these awards are supportive of our strategy to define the future of connected commerce," said Thomas Fell, senior vice president, retail, Diebold Nixdorf. "Our solutions are developed with both the retailer and consumer in mind to challenge traditional design and drive the future of consumer transactions."

About the Red Dot Design Award

To reflect diversity in the field of design and ensure a professional appraisal, the Red Dot Design Award is broken down into three disciplines  Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept. The Red Dot Award is organized by Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen. Dating back to 1955, when the first jury came together to appraise the best designs of the time, it is now one of the biggest design competitions in the world. In the 1990s, Red Dot CEO Dr. Peter Zec came up with the name and trademark of the award. Since then, the sought-after Red Dot Award is a renowned international seal of outstanding design quality. Further information is available at www.red-dot.de.

About Diebold Nixdorf

Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce for millions of consumers each day across the financial and retail industries. Its software-defined solutions bridge the physical and digital worlds of cash and consumer transactions conveniently, securely and efficiently. As an innovation partner for nearly all of the world's top 100 financial institutions and a majority of the top 25 global retailers, Diebold Nixdorf delivers unparalleled services and technology that are essential to evolve in an 'always on' and changing consumer landscape.

Diebold Nixdorf has a presence in more than 130 countries with approximately 25,000 employees worldwide. The organization maintains corporate offices in North Canton, Ohio, USA and Paderborn, Germany. Shares are traded on the New York and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges under the symbol 'DBD'. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information.

SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf

Related Links

http://www.DieboldNixdorf.com


KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DST) will release its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 5:30 A.M. Central Time.

The Company will host a conference call the same day at 7:30 A.M. Central Time. The dial-in number for domestic callers is (866) 610-1072 and for international callers is (973) 935-2840. Callers should reference the access code of 89614766 or DST's First Quarter Earnings Release.

A telephone replay of the call will be available from April 27, 2017, at 10:30 A.M. Central Time through May 4, 2017, at 11:00 P.M. Central Time. The replay number for domestic callers is (800) 585-8367, and for international callers is (404) 537-3406, with the access code of 89614766.

Interested parties may listen to the conference call via a live webcast from the DST Systems, Inc. website (www.dstsystems.com). To access the webcast from the DST homepage, first click the Investor Relations link and then select the appropriate webcast. To begin listening to the webcast (at 7:30 A.M. Central Time), follow the provided instructions. The call cannot be accessed prior to 7:30 A.M. Central Time.

The archived webcast will be available in the Investor Center of DST's website until the subsequent webcast link is available.

About DST Systems

DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DST) is a leading provider of specialized technology, strategic advisory, and business operations outsourcing to the financial and healthcare industries. We enable clients to transform complexity into strategic advantage by helping them continually stay ahead of and capitalize on ever-changing customer, business and regulatory requirements in the world's most demanding industries. For more information, visit the DST website at www.dstsystems.com.

Contact:

Gregg Wm. Givens

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

DST Systems, Inc.

333 West 11th Street

Kansas City, MO 64105-1594

+1 816 435 5503

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131023/CG03088LOGO

SOURCE DST Systems, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.dstsystems.com


SEATTLE, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Panopto today announced strong demand for its Echo360 migration program. Since its announcement in June 2016, the company has migrated more than 15,000 hours of Echo360 recordings into new Panopto video libraries. The company is also engaged in more than 60 active migration discussions with academic institutions. In response to this growing demand, Panopto is offering new financial incentives for other Echo360 customers interested in making the switch.

"Last summer, Yale transitioned from Echo360 and Kaltura to Panopto," said John Harford, Manager of Collaboration Technologies, Yale University Center for Teaching and Learning. "Since the move, Panopto's video platform has received rave reviews from Yale administrators and faculty, and the support we've received from Panopto has been second to none."

"We were motivated to move to a single lecture capture software solution and have it hosted in the cloud," said Chuck Lenosky, IT Solutions Architect for Creighton University Learning Environments. "The university had both Echo360 and Panopto as on-prem capture options. Based on our evaluation criteria and their content migration program, Panopto emerged as the clear choice."

The Echo360 migration program includes Panopto's professional services for converting existing Echo360 video files, validating the integrity of converted files, and where possible, provisioning existing users, folder structures, and metadata within Panopto.

For universities who commit to migration before September 30, 2017, Panopto will waive the $3,000 professional services flat fee. In addition, customers transitioning to Panopto's cloud-hosted video platform will receive 1,000 hours of Echo360 video conversion at no cost. More information on the migration program can be found online at www.panopto.com/echo360.

About Panopto

Panopto helps universities and businesses create searchable video libraries of their institutional knowledge. Since 2007, the company has been a pioneer in video content management systems, video capture software, and inside-video search technology. Headquartered in Seattle with offices in Pittsburgh, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Sydney, Panopto has received industry recognition for its innovation, rapid growth, and company culture. For more information, visit www.panopto.com.

SOURCE Panopto

Related Links

http://www.panopto.com


HOUSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) (EOG) will host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2017 results on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at 9 a.m. Central time (10 a.m. Eastern time). Please visit the Investors/Overview page on the EOG website to access a live webcast of the conference call. If you are unable to listen to the live webcast, a replay will be available on the Investors/Presentations and Events page for one year.

If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Smith at 713-651-6472.

EOG Resources, Inc. is one of the largest independent (non-integrated) crude oil and natural gas companies in the United States with proved reserves in the United States, Trinidad, the United Kingdom and China. EOG Resources, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol "EOG." To learn more about EOG, visit the website at www.eogresources.com.

For Further Information Contact: Investors

Cedric W. Burgher

(713) 571-4658

David J. Streit

(713) 571-4902

W. John Wagner

(713) 571-4404





Investors/Media

Kimberly M. Ehmer

(713) 571-4676

SOURCE EOG Resources, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.eogresources.com


ATLANTA, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) will release its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2017, in a press release to be issued after the New York Stock Exchange closes on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. The press release will also be available at www.equifax.com.

Equifax will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, 2017 in which senior management will discuss financial and business results for the quarter. Please dial the appropriate number 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the call to complete registration. Name and affiliation/company are required to join the call.

Conference call numbers: U.S. and Canada: (800) 263-0877; International: (719) 457-1036.

Replay: A replay of the conference call will be available beginning April 27, 2017 at 11:30 a.m. ET and ends at 11:30 a.m. ET May 11, 2017. To access the replay please register.

About Equifax

Equifax is a global information solutions company that uses trusted unique data, innovative analytics, technology and industry expertise to power organizations and individuals around the world by transforming knowledge into insights that help make more informed business and personal decisions. The company organizes, assimilates and analyzes data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses worldwide, and its database includes employee data contributed from more than 7,100 employers.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 9,500 employees worldwide.

Some noteworthy achievements for the company include: Named to the Top 100 American Banker FinTech Forward list (2015-2016); named a Top Technology Provider on the FinTech 100 list (2004-2016); named an InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner (2014-2015); named a Top Workplace by Atlanta Journal Constitution (2013-2016); named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2011-2015); named one of Forbes' World's 100 Most Innovative Companies (2015-2016). For more information, visit www.equifax.com.

SOURCE Equifax Inc.

Related Links

http://www.equifax.com


LAS VEGAS, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sackett National Holdings, Inc. (SNH), a privately-held enterprise focused on investing in best-in-class technology and technology-enabled business services companies, today announced that Eric Ring has been appointed to the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) for SNH.

Eric Ring, CIO, Sackett National Holdings, Inc.

"I am pleased to welcome Eric to his new role as our company's Chief Information Officer," said Jevin Sackett, Chief Executive Officer of Sackett National Holdings. "As an experienced executive within the IT industry, Eric brings with him an impressive track record of successful leadership within the technology sector.

"Given the commitment of all of our portfolio companies to providing customers with state-of-the-art, cutting edge technology, Eric's proven managerial skills and technological acumen make him a significant addition to our Senior Management team," Sackett said. As SNH's Chief Information Officer, Eric will be responsible for partnering with the Executive Management of our portfolio companies in order to achieve maximum value creation and meet risk management objectives.

As an experienced IT industry leader, Eric brings with him an impressive professional background. Prior to joining SNH, Eric served as Senior Vice President of the Enterprise Architecture at CoreLogic. In that capacity, he drove product and technical architecture for CoreLogic's next-generation systems, and worked closely with their delivery teams to bring new product to market. Previously at CoreLogic, Eric oversaw and developed infrastructure operations and information security, and directed all aspects of computing and datacenter infrastructure and application support.

Ring's professional history also includes his tenure as Chief Information Officer at First Advantage Credco, a California-based consumer credit reporting service. In that position, he was responsible for Information Technology for First Advantage's most profitable division. In addition, Ring's professional experience includes tenures as Senior Vice President, IT Operations, at First American Credco, and Director of IT Infrastructure at Advanta, a San Diego-based financial services company.

As a seasoned IT industry leader, Ring is also a founding member of the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Information Management.

Ring said he looks forward to helping ensure that SNH portfolio companies continue to build upon their national positions as a leaders in innovative technology.

"SNH portfolio companies have an established reputation for providing customers with technologically innovative products and services," Ring said. "I look forward to partnering with the Executive Leadership of our portfolio companies in their mission to offer cutting edge technology and unsurpassed business services to clients nationwide."

About Sackett National Holdings, Inc.

Sackett National Holdings (SNH) is a privately held enterprise focused on investing in companies, and partnering with best-in-class management teams seeking to attain their full potential. SNH investments are concentrated in two strategic categories: Technology, and Technology enabled Business Services. SNH investments include a portfolio of businesses that focus on long-term value creation. SNH's investment philosophy combines strategic management, solid business analysis, and proactive decision-making in order to substantially grow sales, increase profitability and build long-term shareholder value.

Our deep industry knowledge and proven experience produces business and investment decisions that obtain optimal results, operational excellence and achieve maximum return on investments. SNH's portfolio companies include Sperian Energy, SettlementOne, National Credit Center, PeopleFacts, AimLogic, Type A Studios, Elevated Reach and Avendas. For more information, visit www.snhinc.com.

Media Contact:

Charlene Christman

Vice President, Marketing

[email protected]

702.757.2618

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Sackett National Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.snhinc.com


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EyeLock LLC, a leader of iris-based identity authentication solutions, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued U.S. Patent No. 9,613,281. The patent broadly covers the linking of an iris image with a face image acquired in sequence (during the same transaction) and represents the company's 45th issued patent.

"The issuance of our latest patent is very timely given the multi-modal biometric capabilities that have recently come to market on flagship smartphones," said Jim Demitrieus, CEO of EyeLock. "The patent is for a method in which images of the iris and face are tracked in a sequence that validates that both images are from the same, live person. The importance in the process is the real-time tracking that links the iris image to the face image."

As an example, Mr. Demitrieus noted that a mobile phone incorporating EyeLock's patented method would use iris authentication sequentially linked to facial imaging or recognition to provide a high level of assertion that the person conducting the transaction is real and not a machine or a hack.

The patented method is critical to the Internet of Things (IoT) framework by providing:

a mechanism against fraud by assuring that iris biometrics are obtained in real time from the same live person as the facial image, even if these images are captured by different cameras;

stronger authentication where both iris and facial images are used in multi-factor authentication;

capability for continuous authentication of a user (e.g., throughout a session) that switches between the use of iris and facial biometrics as they are available;

non-repudiation of biometrics used in a transaction by capturing and retaining a corresponding, recognizable facial image for the transaction that is retrievable as needed;

deterrence of fraud in a transaction authorized via biometrics by capturing and retaining a corresponding, recognizable facial image for the transaction that is retrievable as needed; and

an effective means for user redress in a transaction authorized via biometrics by capturing and retaining a corresponding, recognizable facial image for the transaction that is retrievable as needed.

This is merely one example of how EyeLock has achieved significant technological breakthroughs and solved integration challenges that have historically been a barrier to mass-market adoption of iris authentication technology. In addition, the Company's approach provides maximum flexibility by offering designs that have either on-board or host-based processing and illumination. Algorithm performance capabilities for speed and accuracy have been validated by Novetta, a leader in advanced analytics technology and independent biometric testing, as unmatched in the market. The EyeLock reference designs have working distances of up to 60 cm with a false accept rate of 1 in 1.5 million for single eye authentication and a false reject rate of less than 1%.

Click this link to read the patent application.

About EyeLock

EyeLock LLC, a majority owned subsidiary of Voxx International Corporation, is an acknowledged leader in advanced iris authentication for the Internet of Things (IoT), providing the highest level of security with EyeLock ID technology. Iris authentication is highly secure because no two irises are alike and the iris is the most accurate human identifier other than DNA. The company's significant IP portfolio, including more than 100 patents and patents pending, and proprietary technology enables the convenient and secure authentication of individuals across physical and logical environments. EyeLock's solutions have been integrated and embedded across consumer and enterprise products and platforms, eliminating the need for PINs and passwords. Corporations across the Fortune 500 recognize the level of security EyeLock provides due in part to its extremely low false acceptance rate, ease of use, and scalability. As a sponsor member of the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a safer and more secure digital presence for consumers, EyeLock is dedicated to advancing digital privacy and next generation security. For more information, please visit www.eyelock.com.

CONTACT:

Brian Levine

Game 7 Comms

561-866-9291

[email protected]

SOURCE EyeLock LLC
BEDMINSTER, N.J., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- FastTrack RTW Services & Solutions, a division of Kamine Technology Group, LLC, invites visitors to explore its new website www.fasttrackrtw.com.

FastTrack's goal with this new website is to provide visitors with an easier way to learn about the company and its outstanding suite of tools and services offered to the disability and life insurance industry. The new website is interactive and content automatically adjusts to the type of device being used for viewing. It provides better content including more detailed product descriptions as well as benefit summaries by management function. A client results section provides mini case studies which highlight the value and analytics created for select customers based on the product or service they have implemented.

Thanks to a clear, efficient menu structure and layout, site navigation is logical and intuitive  making it easy for visitors to guide themselves to exactly the information for which they are looking. A simple, clearly labeled menu runs across the top of the home page, along with highlighted topics graphically depicted across the center of the page, providing for quick selection of the most sought after items.

Paul Taylor, FastTrack's COO stated "We hope you find our new website with its fresh look, easy to navigate and clear explanations of our Best Practice offerings and services useful. I believe the improved user experience will help our customers, prospects and other interested parties better understand the value of our offerings and services. I would like to thank our partners at DCdesignsolutions LLC (www.dcdesignsolutions.net) for their help on this important project".

About FastTrack RTW Services & Solutions:

The FastTrack RTW Services & Solutions Division (FastTrackRTW.com) of the Kamine Technology Group, LLC is the only technology platform in the Life & Disability insurance vertical that automates critical elements of the claims adjudication process and helps claims organizations enhance the accuracy of benefit determinations while facilitating more timely return to work outcomes. Our goal is to help insurers make clear, objective and defensible benefit and employability determinations as well as to expand the palette of RTW options.

For further information, please contact:

Pat Megna

1-908-212-3627

[email protected]

www.FastTrackRTW.com

About DCdesignsolutions:

DCdesignsolutions LLC (www.dcdesignsolutions.net) is a full-service graphic design and consulting firm, specializing in providing clear creative solutions for small to mid-sized companies. Our clients come to us seeking a professional hand with their graphic design needs, including the desire to achieve brand consistency and market awareness across their marketing or advertising strategies. DCdesignsolutions LLC works as a collaborative team member to produce high-level informational and e-commerce web sites, marketing collateral for print and web, as well as online/social media graphics for strategic advertising campaigns.

For further information, please contact:





Daniel Capato

484- 678-2859

[email protected]

www.dcdesignsolutions.net

SOURCE FastTrack RTW Services & Solutions
ROHNERT PARK, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Financial Education Benefits Center, also known as FEBC, has begun to expand their business in all directions for 2017. California based Financial Education Benefits Center is a company that provides dozens of financial education products and discount benefits to their clients. From dental, vision, hearing and prescription savings, to discounts on food, groceries, shopping, and much more all clients of FEBC receive immediate access to everything upon becoming a member.

The Financial Education Benefits Center offers more focused benefits as well. Through FEBC clients receive express roadside assistance, identity theft protections, free personal tax preparation, and discount credit repair services.

FEBC also provides a slew of financial planning tools to help their clients. "When our clients enroll, they have immediate access to hundreds of proprietary tools," said Jennifer Martinez, a manager at FEBC, "Our goal is to educate and empower clients to take hold of their financial lives, get the tools they need, and save money all at the same time. We want to be the one-stop benefits solution for all our members and their families."

Right now, FEBC has hundreds of forms, documents, and calculators for their members to take full advantage of. Some of the categories include financial preparation, resume templates, small business legal documents, employment, and business finance. Users accessing the "Resources" area of the site can also find a credit card debt payoff calculators, insurance estimators, free credit reporting, and more. "We have a lot to offer, and the website, along with the service offerings, are only going to increase. We're working on streamlining the experience so our members can use all of the benefits to the fullest," Martinez said.

The Financial Education Benefits Center is looking to continually improve their customer user interface and increase their service offerings in hopes of attracting even more members. "We want our members to use these tools and benefits as much as possible. The customers we have seen who take full advantage of our services can save thousands. A lot of the time memberships like this are complicated to use, we want to make sure it is easy for our members to always take full advantage of everything being offered," Martinez said.

The company's website is going to go through a complete overhaul in 2017. The company wants to give their site an updated look as well as a more user-friendly way to navigate for its members. "The internet and user experiences are always changing and we want to have a clear and easy-to-use platform for our members. In fact, we just hired a team of developers who are getting to get to work on that immediately." Martinez said.

The company is also planning on expanding their service offerings for the 2017 calendar year.

"Our goal - the most robust benefit service offerings in the nation, all under one roof," Martinez said. "We really want to cover everything, for everyone. Each person has a different set of financial needs and goals, and we want to make sure each of those individuals is being catered to. The Financial Education Benefits Center will have them covered."

About The Financial Education Benefits Center

The Financial Education Benefits Center is located in Rohnert Park, California. The Company has already helped thousands of people save money and obtain the necessary education required to live a financially free life.

The Financial Education Benefits Center has partnered with several name brand third-party companies in an effort to expand the financial and educational products and services available to its members.

Contact

To learn more about The Financial Education Benefits Center, please contact:

Financial Education Benefits Center

5880 Commerce Blvd STE 105,

Rohnert Park, CA 94928-1652

1-800-953-1388

[email protected]

Related Links

www.febcp.com

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE The Financial Education Benefits Center

Related Links

http://www.febcp.com


By providing consistent detection of advanced threats across all of the major paths into an organization, Forcepoint can spot malware on one path and rapidly block it on all of the others, even when users are working remotely. The new Advanced Malware Detection service enhances Forcepoint's NGFW file filtering technology to more deeply analyze transmitted files to identify malicious code and rapidly block it before attackers can breach a network and steal critical data or intellectual property. In addition, networking and security teams can now more easily spot trends that indicate an employee's behavior and intent to stop bad cyber practices.

NGFW software update and cloud-based service deployed in minutes

The new Forcepoint NGFW 6.2 software release with support for Advanced Malware Detection service delivers additional innovations and benefits including:

Expanded offerings for MSPs  partners now can offer mission-critical application protection to their clients with Forcepoint Sidewinder Security Proxies, managed centrally by the MSP.

 partners now can offer mission-critical application protection to their clients with Forcepoint Sidewinder Security Proxies, managed centrally by the MSP. Automation of policy change management  customers can eliminate manual processes to boost efficiency and simplify audit compliance with policy change approvals built into the Forcepoint NGFW management console.

 customers can eliminate manual processes to boost efficiency and simplify audit compliance with policy change approvals built into the Forcepoint NGFW management console. Deeper, faster control of encrypted traffic  administrators now have granular control over the rapidly growing volume of encrypted traffic into and out of their networks, with high-performance inspection of HTTPS connections, command-level control of SSH/SFTP applications, and dynamic enforcement of user privacy mandates.

administrators now have granular control over the rapidly growing volume of encrypted traffic into and out of their networks, with high-performance inspection of HTTPS connections, command-level control of SSH/SFTP applications, and dynamic enforcement of user privacy mandates. Automated scalability in virtualized data centers  operations and security teams can automatically provision and control hundreds or thousands of virtual firewalls in VMware NSX environments with support for Open Security Controller (OSC).

 operations and security teams can automatically provision and control hundreds or thousands of virtual firewalls in VMware NSX environments with support for Open Security Controller (OSC). More than a dozen workflow enhancements  IT personnel can even more efficiently deploy, investigate and remediate firewalls and IPSs across their network with numerous automation and user experience improvements in the Forcepoint NGFW Security Management Center (SMC).

The Forcepoint NGFW software release 6.2 and Forcepoint Advanced Malware Detection service are available immediately from Forcepoint's global network of channel and service provider partners. The new malware protection will also be added to Forcepoint cloud access security broker (CASB), Web and email security services in the third quarter 2017.



Additional resources

About Forcepoint

Forcepoint is transforming cybersecurity by focusing on what matters most: understanding people's intent as they interact with critical data and intellectual property wherever it resides. Our uncompromising systems enable companies to empower employees with unobstructed access to confidential data while protecting intellectual property and simplifying compliance. Based in Austin, Texas, Forcepoint supports more than 20,000 organizations worldwide. For more about Forcepoint, visit www.Forcepoint.com and follow us on Twitter at @ForcepointSec.

Join Forcepoint on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForcepointLLC/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/forcepoint

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/forcepointsec

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forcepoint

Media contact

Liem Nguyen

[email protected]

512-498-8821

SOURCE Forcepoint

Related Links

http://www.forcepoint.com


WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The highly controversial Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is a monumental failure for the public purse and a "windfall of corporate welfare for compliance industries" warns Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group and Co-Founder of the Campaign to Repeal FATCA.

The full text of Mr. Green's Wall Street Journal commentary can be found here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-corporate-welfare-bonanza-for-tax-compliance-firms-1491163938

Citing research from William Byrnes, a law professor at Texas A&M, Mr. Green debunks the IRS claim that it has helped to collect $10 billion since 2009 from "taxpayers coming back into compliance." In his report Byrnes, as Mr. Green notes, believes FATCA's net recovery could be as low as $100 million and the law could "soon cost more than it brings in".

"That isn't enough to fund the federal government for more than half an hour. It is far less than was expected at Fatca's enactment, since the law was scored as bringing in $800 million a year, writes Mr. Green. "That meager gain must be weighed against the law's costs. Fatca adds one more onerous and expensive reporting obligation for American taxpayers who hold any asset abroad."

Mr. Green further points out the duplicative nature of FATCA, as its reporting mandates are similar to the Report of Foreign Banks and Foreign Accounts, and its draconian penalties for error.

In his op-ed, Mr. Green also references a 2014 Thomson Reuters survey of 300 financial institutions, which found "27% expect their spend on FATCA compliance in 2015 to cost between $100,000 and $1million." The Wall Street Journal, as Mr. Green notes, reported that the five largest banks in Canada spent nearly $700 million on initial FACTA costs.

An estimated 250,000 foreign financial institutions are impacted by FATCA's reporting requirements according to a citation in his report. One representative of a large Spanish bank decried the high costs of compliance could range from $8.5 million for a local bank branch to $850 for a global financial institution. Estimates of the costs to U.K. financial institutions range from $1.1 billion to $1.9 billion, with annual costs ranging between $60-100 million.

"Thus there are plausible projections that the law's aggregate global cost is anywhere from $60 billion to $170 billion," stated Mr. Green. "That money comes out of the pockets of consumers, depositors and perhaps shareholders."

Last month, Mr. Green warned $1.5 million U.S. citizens in East Asia may renounce their citizenship according to a poll conducted by deVere Group and its Hong Kong division Acuma.

For more information on FATCA and the Campaign to Repeal FATCA, contact GSCG, below.

www.RepealFatca.com

Twitter @RepealFatca

See also: "Dumping Obama's faux foreign tax legislation should be high on Trump's to-do list" http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/306446-dumping-obamas-faux-foreign-tax-legislation-should-be-high 11/16/16

George Prior

[email protected]

UK: +44 207 1220 925

SPAIN: +34 636 978 880

@PriorConsults

Darren Spinck

[email protected]

+1-202-669-4418

SOURCE Campaign to Repeal FATCA
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The credibility of autonomous vehicle policy issued last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was completely undermined when former NHTSA chief Mark Rosekind announced he has taken a job with robot car developer Zoox, said Consumer Watchdog today.

Consumer Watchdog called on the Senate to refuse to confirm the next nominee for NHTSA administrator unless the nominee pledges not to work as an employee or consultant to the auto industry or developers of self-driving car technology for at least seven years after leaving the position.

"Consumers can have no confidence that NHTSA's autonomous vehicle guidance was developed with public safety in mind when Administrator Rosekind was shopping his resume to potential future employers in the robot car industry while the policy was being drafted," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director.

NHTSA's Federal Automated Vehicles Policy was issued last September. A key provision is a voluntary 15-point safety assessment, instead of enforceable regulations including new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards consumer advocates have called for before companies are allowed to deploy autonomous cars on public roads.

Last May Consumer Watchdog called on Rosekind and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to "slam the revolving door" and pledge not to work as an employee or consultant to developers of self-driving autonomous vehicles for at least seven years after leaving their respective positions. They refused.

After their refusal, Consumer Watchdog, Consumers for Auto Reliability, the Center for Auto Safety and former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook in July called on President Obama to ask Foxx and Rosekind to make the pledge. He did not.

Consumer Watchdog said the ongoing revolving door between top NHTSA staffers and the auto industry they supposedly regulate is not only unseemly and unethical, but fundamentally undermines public trust in the agency's rules and regulations.

Zoox is a relatively secretive Silicon Valley company developing autonomous self-driving technology. It is one of 27 companies that have permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test robot cars on public roads.

"It's simply outrageous that companies using our public streets as their private laboratories are playing by rules crafted by people who end up working for them," said Simpson. "Who is protecting our safety?"

Rosekind's job at Zoox will be to lead the company's efforts to "safely develop, test and deploy autonomous vehicles," the company said. He is not the first Obama Administration top NHTSA staffer to join the industry the agency supposedly regulates.

General Motors hired NHTSA's chief counsel, Paul Hemmersbaugh, in January to serve as policy director with a focus on "transportation as a service." Hemmersbaugh's resume describes him as the principal author of the NHTSA federal automated vehicles policy, according to Reuters.

"Selling out to industry for a well-paying job has become standard operating procedure and benefit for top NHTSA employees. NHTSA is like a job fair for the automakers," said Simpson.

Consumer Watchdog's call to Rosekind and Foxx to end the revolving door was made on the eve of NHTSA's second public meeting on autonomous vehicle technology. That's when it was revealed that former NHTSA Administrator David L. Strickland would serve as counsel and spokesman for the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, comprised of Google, Lyft, Uber, Ford and Volvo.

Ron Medford, former Deputy Director of NHTSA, is Director of Safety for Waymo, Google's self-driving car company. Chan Lieu, who served as Director of Government Affairs, Policy and Strategic Planning at NHTSA, is at Venable, LLP, like Strickland and lobbies for Google. Daniel Smith, who ran NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Safety, is now a Google consultant.

NHTSA's revolving door is not a recent development, Consumer Watchdog noted. From 1984 to 2010, according to USA Today, the Department of Transportation inspector general found that 40 officials left the safety agency for jobs with automakers, their law firms or auto industry consultants. The group included four administrators, two deputy administrators, seven associate administrators and two chief counsels. In addition, 23 auto industry executives moved into top NHTSA jobs from 1999 to 2010.

"This ongoing abuse has got to end," said Simpson. "If the public is to have any trust in government rules, the regulators simply cannot go to work for the companies they once regulated."

Read Consumer Watchdog's May 2016 letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrfoxxrosekind051816.pdf

Read th consumer groups' July 2016 letter to Obamahere: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrobamaav071316.pdf

Visit our website at www.consumerwatchdog.org.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

Related Links

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org


BETHESDA, Md., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) has selected David M. Sabatini, M.D., Ph.D., to receive its fifth annual Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences for discovery of the mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) cellular pathway as a key regulator of growth and metabolism in response to nutrients. Dr. Sabatini is a pioneer in the study of nutrient sensing and the impact of caloric restriction on health and lifespan. The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences will be presented to Dr. Sabatini at the FNIH Award Ceremony hosted by CNN's Wolf Blitzer on May 17 in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Sabatini is a Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research identified the specific protein components of the mTOR pathway, including mTOR and two large complexes that contain it called mTOR Complex 1 (mTORC1) and Complex 2 (mTORC2), and documented how mTOR regulation and dysregulation affects normal and diseased physiology. As caloric restriction is associated with the slowing of cellular aging, Dr. Sabatini's research suggests that one day, the mTOR pathway could be manipulated to trick the body into mimicking a fasting state even under nutrient replete conditions, and thereby protect against age-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes.

"We are delighted to honor Dr. Sabatini with the 2017 Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences for discoveries related to the mTOR nutrient sensing pathway," said Maria C. Freire, Ph.D., President and Executive Director of the FNIH. "Dr. Sabatini's research is seminal, innovative and impactful  attributes that are the hallmark of all Lurie Prize awardees."

The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences recognizes outstanding achievement by a promising scientist aged 52 or younger. Dr. Sabatini was selected by a jury of six distinguished biomedical researchers, chaired by Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., Distinguished Service Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology & Psychiatry, The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and Vice Chairman for Science of the FNIH.

The prize includes a $100,000 honorarium, donated by philanthropist and FNIH Board Member Ann Lurie. Ms. Lurie is President of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation, which she founded with her late husband Robert, and the President of Lurie Holdings, Inc.

"We are proud to recognize Dr. Sabatini for his discovery of the mTOR pathway's role in disease and aging," said Ms. Lurie. "The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences was designed to empower young biomedical researchers so they can make further advancements that lead to life changing discoveries. Dr. Sabatini's work has the potential to do just that, by revolutionizing how we treat age-related diseases."

Dr. Sabatini earned an M.D., Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed undergraduate work in Biological Sciences at Brown University. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

"I am truly honored to receive the 2017 Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences and to be recognized for our discovery of mTOR and its roles in growth control and nutrient sensing. Inhibitors of mTOR are already used in the clinic for various reasons, including to treat cancer and block organ rejection, and my hope is that our work will lead to new generations of drugs with wider impacts, such as in treating age-related diseases," said Dr. Sabatini. "I am very grateful to all my lab members whose dedication, creativity and perseverance has led to our discoveries and this award is a recognition of our accomplishments."

Previous recipients of the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences are Jeannie T. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (2016), Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., from Stanford University (2015), Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., from the University of California, Berkeley (2014) and Ruslan M. Medzhitov, Ph.D., from Yale University School of Medicine (2013).

The FNIH is grateful to Johnson & Johnson Innovation for being a Visionary Sponsor of the 2017 FNIH Award Ceremony. Johnson & Johnson Innovation seeks to positively impact human health and has a longstanding history of support for excellence in scientific innovation and advancement that improves people's lives.

For more information about the FNIH Award Ceremony and a complete list of sponsors, visit fnih.org/awardceremony.

About the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health creates and manages alliances with public and private institutions in support of the mission of the NIH, the world's premier medical research agency. The Foundation, also known as the FNIH, works with its partners to accelerate biomedical research and strategies against diseases and health concerns in the United States and across the globe. The FNIH organizes and administers research projects; supports education and training of new researchers; organizes educational events and symposia; and administers a series of funds supporting a wide range of health issues. Established by Congress in 1990, the FNIH is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For additional information about the FNIH, please visit fnih.org.

SOURCE Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

Related Links

http://fnih.org


SUGAR LAND, Texas, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) (Juno Beach, Florida) on March 15 awarded engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) contracts to Blattner Energy Incorporated (Avon, Minnesota) and Black & Veatch (B&V) (Overland Park, Kansas) to build eight 74.5-megawatt (MW) solar generation facilities in Florida. The four projects awarded to Blattner will be completed by yearend 2017 while the four projects B&V will build are scheduled to be operating by March 2018.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the www.industrialinfo.com "Contact Us" page.

Brian Ford

(713) 980-9393

SOURCE Industrial Info Resources, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.industrialinfo.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- FrontStream, a leading provider of software for nonprofits and employee engagement, announced the launch of Panorama, the smart, one-stop fundraising platform.

Panorama is for nonprofits of any size and integrates FrontStream's fundraising products including: FirstGiving and Artez for peer-to-peer and online fundraising, BiddingForGood's online and mobile auctions, and the newest release of its donor database, GiftWorks Cloud. Panorama provides comprehensive insight into donor behavior with a single donor ID across all engagement touchpoints. All the data flows into a single analytics and reporting warehouse powering Panorama, simplifying reporting & analysis and making it easy for fundraisers to have a complete view of all their engagement activities.

"Panorama is the first truly integrated fundraising platform and brings together our leading products to work as one," said Bill Wood, CEO of FrontStream. "Panorama is 100% SaaS-based and enables fundraisers to coordinate and analyze all of their constituent touch points on a single system. The integrated platform eliminates something I like to call 'data chaos' that charities struggle with when they must use different products for different fundraising initiatives. Panorama changes everything."

Panorama abandons old-school pricing and allows for unlimited records, enabling charities to track all of its prospects, volunteers, donors, members, activities, and touch points. In addition to FrontStream's new GiftWorks Cloud donor database that comes with the platform, Panorama can integrate with back-end CRMs such as Salesforce. Customers activate only the areas of the platform that they need, when they need them. Panorama comes with a no cost, self-serve online training curriculum and a knowledge base of best practices to help users launch, or improve, fundraising activities.

To learn more about the Panorama go to: www.frontstream.com/panorama.

About FrontStream

FrontStream is revolutionizing fundraising through its Panorama integrated platform and unified data warehouse. FrontStream is the trusted provider of fundraising, engagement, donation process and payment services to over 30,000 charities and corporate customers across the globe that rely BiddingforGood, Artez, FirstGiving, Truist and GiftWorks to impact lives and strengthen communities.

For information about FrontStream, go to: http://www.FrontStream.com

Contact:

Mark Sutton

Chief Marketing Officer

781-710-0532

SOURCE FrontStream

Related Links

https://www.frontstream.com


SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fundbox, the leading cash flow optimization platform for small businesses (SMBs), and Zoho, the leading cloud-based business operating system, today announced a partnership in which Zoho will offer Fundbox to its user base in the U.S. Under the partnership, Zoho will provide access to Fundbox's technology to streamline and automate the business borrowing experience within the Zoho ecosystem.

Fundbox addresses one of the biggest pain points for small businesses and freelancers: cash flow. A recent Fundbox study revealed that 64 percent of small businesses are adversely affected by late payments. Over 80 percent of small business invoices are over 30 days due. This integration will allow Zoho customers approved for Fundbox Credit to advance funds tied up in their receivables so they can focus on business growth.

"Cash flow is the lifeblood for many small businesses. The ability to accurately track their finances and project working capital needs is a fundamental advantage when using Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice," said Raj Sabhlok, president of Zoho Corp. "Now, our customers can not only recognize cash flow gaps, but get the cash they need from Fundbox in a few clicks and keep their businesses running smoothly."

"We are thrilled to extend our reach to Zoho's customers in the U.S. and enable them to solve their cash flow gaps," said Prashant Fuloria, chief product officer, Fundbox. "Fundbox addresses an immediate need: paying small businesses for the work they've already done, and is dedicated to providing them with previously unimaginable financial options."

Launched in 1996, Zoho provides all the necessary applications to run a business entirely from the cloud and an easy-to-use, online accounting software designed for small businesses to manage their finances and stay on top of their cash flow.

Fundbox has developed a tech-powered tool that employs advanced underwriting algorithms and deep learning capabilities to advance funds tied up in outstanding invoices, helping business owners eliminate their cash flow challenges and grow their business.

For more information, please visit www.fundbox.com.

About Fundbox:

Fundbox is the leading platform for small and medium-sized businesses to manage and optimize cash flow. Through its advanced data science and analytics capabilities, Fundbox taps into numerous data signals to assess customers for risk automatically and right away. Approved small and medium-sized business owners are able to access capital with a single click - funds show up in their bank account as soon as the next business day. Leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, finance veterans, and venture capitalists, including Spark Capital Growth, Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment arm of Jeff Bezos), General Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, former CitiGroup CEO Vikram Pandit, and other prominent investors back the company. Fundbox makes capital available to businesses through business loans and lines of credit made by First Electronic Bank, member FDIC, in addition to invoice-clearing advances, business loans and lines of credit made directly by Fundbox.

About Zoho:

Zoho is THE operating system for business  a single cloud platform with all the necessary applications to run a business entirely from the cloud. Businesses can acquire and manage customers using Zoho's marketing, sales and customer support applications  Campaigns, CRM and Desk  and can then empower employees to create, store and distribute content on the cloud with Zoho's productivity and collaboration applications  Office, Mail and Docs. Additionally, businesses can run their own operations on Zoho's finance and human resources applications  Books, People and Recruit.

More than 25 million users around the world across hundreds of thousands of companies rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses  including Zoho itself. A business can choose to run the entire Zoho suite or just a single application. Zoho applications are available directly through zoho.com, or through an ecosystem of hundreds of worldwide Zoho partners.

Zoho is a division of Zoho Corp., a privately held and consistently profitable company with more than 4,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, with international headquarters in Chennai, India, and offices in Austin, Texas; London, U.K.; Yokohama, Japan; and Beijing, China. For more information, please visit https://www.zoho.com.

*Subject to Fundbox approval, terms and conditions.

Media Contact:

Tracy Rubin/ Jill Fox

JCUTLER media group

323-969-9904

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Fundbox

Related Links

http://www.fundbox.com


ATLANTA, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK) will release results for first quarter 2017 on Tuesday, April 25th before the market opens. The same morning, the Company will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. eastern time to discuss first quarter results. To access the conference call, please go to the Investor Relations section of the Graphic Packaging website: http://www.graphicpkg.com and click on the audio webcast link. For those who need to call in from within North America, dial 800-392-9489 at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference call (Conference ID #61299851). Replays of the call will be available for one week following the completion of the call and can be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056.

The Company has also set Tuesday, July 25th, 2017 as the preliminary date for the release of second quarter 2017 results.

About Graphic Packaging Holding Company

Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is committed to providing consumer packaging that makes a world of difference. The Company is a leading provider of paper-based packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer product companies. The Company operates on a global basis, is one of the largest producers of folding cartons in the United States, and holds leading market positions in coated unbleached kraft paperboard and coated-recycled paperboard. The Company's customers include many of the world's most widely recognized companies and brands. Additional information about Graphic Packaging, its business and its products is available on the Company's web site at www.graphicpkg.com.

SOURCE Graphic Packaging Holding Company

Related Links

http://www.graphicpkg.com


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Handshake, a leader in B2B Commerce technology for manufacturers and distributors, today announced the appointment of Paul McCarthy as the company's first Chief People Officer (CPO). As CPO, McCarthy will be responsible for People Operations and Strategy, managing the employee journey by establishing the infrastructure and programs to attract, retain, and develop Handshake's successful team of talent. McCarthy will report directly to Glen Coates, CEO, Handshake.

"Handshake's biggest advantage has always been the talent and camaraderie of our team. Achieving our mission of developing the mobile-first B2B Commerce platform that makes it easy for every product to get to every shelf in every business is only possible if we keep that edge our people give us," said Glen Coates, CEO, Handshake. "Paul's proven leadership and unique approach to creating People Operations organizations that drive business success was what I was looking for in a CPO. I am excited for him to help us continue to make Handshake a great place to work as we scale and stay true to our most important core value: we only hire'em if we love'em."

A native of New York City, McCarthy brings over 15 years of senior management experience in people operations, community building, and communications to his new role. Immediately prior to joining Handshake, McCarthy was Vice President, Head of People Operations at Magnetic. In that role, he established People Operations after Magnetic's acquisition of MyBuys, successfully managing the integration of the combined companies. Prior to Magnetic, McCarthy was Vice President, Global Head of Talent Management at LivePerson, where he revitalized the recruiting function by implementing and executing a comprehensive new strategy for sourcing, candidate experience, and employer branding. During his seven-year tenure at LivePerson, McCarthy held three leadership positions as the company's global workforce grew 300% and was a significant driver of transformative culture and talent initiatives that resulted in several New York City Best Places to Work awards.

"I believe that a company's most valuable assets are the connections that employees make with each other and the organization. What really attracted me to Handshake is the lack of hierarchy and the focus on working together as a team," said McCarthy. "I am committed to retaining this culture while preparing Handshake for the future by strengthening our people processes, growing the team's capabilities, and ensuring everyone feels represented at all times."

About Handshake

Founded in 2010, Handshake is the B2B Commerce platform that helps manufacturers and distributors grow their business by making it easy for their customers to order the right products from them, in-person and online. Handshake Rep is a mobile sales order entry app that allows sales reps to write orders faster and gives them the product and customer information they need to have more strategic customer conversations. Handshake Direct is an omnichannel B2B eCommerce solution that complements field sales reps by giving buyers the convenience of 24x7 ordering and product education through a custom B2B eCommerce portal and B2B mobile commerce app. For more information, visit https://www.handshake.com/.

Media Contact: North 6th Agency, Inc. (For Handshake)

212-334-9753, [email protected]

SOURCE Handshake

Related Links

https://www.handshake.com


Collaborating with senior leadership to bring human capital insights into strategic discussions is critical to driving business success. This program will introduce HR executives to current and former CEOs who will provide an inside look at issues that typically arise in executive committee meetings. Participants will expand their ability to analyze issues and collaborate with peers and CEOs, and will return to work with an action plan designed to apply key takeaways in their organizations.

"The most successful businesses manage their human capital as carefully as their financial capital," said Frances Frei, UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management and Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education at Harvard Business School. "Human resources executives who are prepared to anticipate strategic needs and recommend bold moves alongside other senior leaders can be one of their firm's most valuable assets. This program sets HR executives on a path to future success."

The program curriculum establishes the foundation for assuming a more central role in important business decisions and strengthening leadership and teamwork capabilities. Participants will learn through case study analysis, faculty presentations, simulations, small group discussions, and close interactions with guest CEOs. Topics of study include the challenges of expansion, assessing and improving operations and service, and creating an effective senior management team.

"Business leaders are increasingly asking human resources executives to join in the strategic decision-making process, and it is important to be prepared to fill that seat at the senior leadership table," said Mark Maletz, Senior Fellow, Executive Education and faculty chair of The HRExecutive Suite Connection. "This program helps HR executives become more effective leaders who are able to anticipate, diagnose, and mitigate issues in collaboration with senior leaders. With new perspectives, skills, and insights, participants will return to work better equipped to contribute to their firm's success."

The HRExecutive Suite Connection is designed for chief human resources officers and other senior HR executives, or senior executives who are on track to become heads of HR for medium-to-large companies from any industry or country. The ideal participant is an HR executive who reports directly to the CEO, but the program creates value for HR leaders in any reporting structure.

As with other HBS Executive Education offerings, The HRExecutive Suite Connection will rely on research from leading HBS faculty, discussions with industry peers, and learnings from real-world case studies from successful global companies.

Program Details:

The HRExecutive Suite Connection will take place from July 1619, 2017 on the Harvard Business School campus. Please visit https://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/hrcx/ for complete curriculum and to apply.

Faculty:

Bharat N. Anand, Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration.

Frances X. Frei, UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management; Senior Associate Dean, Executive Education.

David G. Fubini, Senior Lecturer, Henry B. Arthur Fellow.

Mark Maletz, Senior Fellow, Executive Education and faculty chair of The HRExecutive Suite Connection.

Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program.

About Harvard Business School:

Harvard Business School Executive Education, a division of Harvard Business School, is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston, Massachusetts. In fiscal year 2016, HBS faculty developed and delivered 64 open-enrollment Executive Education programs and 59 custom programs for leading organizations worldwide. More than 10,000 business executives attended programs held on campus in Boston as well as classrooms in Mumbai and Shanghai. With global research centers in eight key regions, HBS faculty continue to develop groundbreaking research, forge powerful alliances with global organizations, and fulfill the mission of educating leaders who shape the practice of business and innovation. Learn more at www.exed.hbs.edu.

SOURCE Harvard Business School Executive Education
NOVI, Mich., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hino Trucks is proud to introduce the latest group of dealers that have been selected as "Certified Ultimate", Hino's dealer excellence program. From new products and services to training and dealership presentation, Certified Ultimate Dealerships are setting a new benchmark in the industry. Hino customers can expect an Ultimate Ownership Experience that delivers higher standards at every touch-point throughout the lifecycle of product ownership at these locations.

To be considered for certification these dealers are exceeding exceptional performance goals and are fulfilling stringent customer total support requirements in the areas of Facilities, Business Processes and Personnel Training. The locations below have gone through the extensive process of certification and now join our current group of seven Hino Trucks' Certified Ultimate dealerships.

H.K. Truck Services, Inc South Plainfield, New Jersey Bentley Truck Services, Inc. New Castle, Delaware Lynch Truck Center Waterford, Wisconsin Matheny Motor Truck Co Mineral Wells, West Virginia Industrial Power Truck & Equipment* Ft. Worth, Texas



*Second Certified Location



Tim Matheny, President of Matheny Motors had this to say about being selected, "The Matheny Hino Team is excited to become a Hino Certified Ultimate Dealer. As a Certified Ultimate Dealer, extensive training and additional standards for our parts, sales and service department allows our employees to be more engaged and invested in improving the customer experience. Through the process of becoming Certified Ultimate, our [dealership] environment has become more safe, organized and customer focused."

About Hino: Hino Trucks, a Toyota Group Company, assembles, sells, and services the most environmentally friendly lineup of Class 4-7 conventional and cab-over commercial trucks in the United States. Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, Hino boasts a network of over 200 dealers nationwide committed to achieving excellence in customer service and support. Hino Trucks is the premier medium duty nameplate in the United States with a product lineup that offers a fully connected vehicle with low total cost of ownership, superior fuel economy, unmatched reliability and maneuverability, and the most comprehensive bundle of standard features in the market. For more information, visit our internet home page at http://www.hino.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

SOURCE Hino Trucks

Related Links

http://www.hino.com


FRESNO, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- I Accident Lawyer represents drivers who are victimized in car, truck, or motorcycle accidentsand sometimes, that means motorists who have been involved in semi collisions. In one recent case, a Las Vegas driver sustained major injuries after being hit by a semi, but the representation of I Accident Lawyer helped him secure a significant financial settlement. I Accident Lawyer has issued a new statement to the press, celebrating this major win.

"We are here to fight passionately for clients, especially those whose injuries make it hard for them to fight for themselves," I Accident Lawyer says in its press statement. "We will never stop advocating for those involved in highway accidents."

In this most recent case, a Las Vegas driver was in his Honda Civic when he got hit by the massive force of a semiand though he was wearing his seatbelt, the injuries to his neck, back, and upper torso were all significant. Liability was hotly contested, but I Accident Lawyer made his case and ultimately won a settlement of $1,000,000.*

More information about the expertise of I Accident Lawyer, the top car accident attorneys in Las Vegas, can be found at iaccidentlawyer.com.

*This does not constitute a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of your case and results include that of independent associated counsel. In the event of a loss, you may be obligated to pay the opposing parties fees and costs. We are not affiliated with any public agency. Nothing on this site or any site that brought you to this one, is to constitute an inference or implication that we are the "best" (or similar word) attorneys in comparison to other firms, but rather states our opinion. In the event that you fill out any forms or request a case evaluation, this does not guarantee that you: (a) do in fact have a case (b) that we will become your legal representation (c) does not guarantee a response from one of our attorneys (d) enter into any type of relationship with the firm. It is at our discretion to call you or take you on as a client. The Accident Attorneys' Group makes no claim or representation regarding, and accepts no responsibility for, the quality, content, nature or reliability of third-party web sites accessible by hyperlink from the site, or web sites linking to the site. This website, postings, articles, upkeep, and general online presence is controlled by a marketing team and is not necessarily the views, opinions, or writings of any Attorney(s) at The Accident Attorneys' Group.

ABOUT I ACCIDENT LAWYER

The accident attorneys at I Accident Lawyer offer personal injury representation to individuals across California, Nevada, and Colorado, and especially to those seriously injured in auto collisions. Over 25 years, the firm has won more than $150 million in settlements. More information is available at www.iaccidentlawyer.com. The I Accident Lawyer team can be reached directly at:

I Accident Lawyer in Anaheim

2400 E Katella Ave #800

Anaheim CA 92806

800-920-0810 (Toll Free)

I Accident Lawyer in Fresno

8050 N Palm Ave

Fresno, CA 93711

800-920-0810 (Toll Free)

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE I Accident Lawyer

Related Links

http://iaccidentlawyer.com


Select comments from Globe Gazette stories and opinion pieces posted on our Facebook page:

CAFOs

Sorry just my opinion, but the small family farm couldn't maintain or stay with the pork demand. The reason for CFO's is cost affective way to produce and maintain the demand for pork.

Chris Waters

Cost effective for the producer! The actual cost is paid by the surrounding neighbors in decreased property values, rising health problems, and reduced quality of living...

Jodi Hardy

Muslims in America

There is nothing wrong with keeping our country safe. What's wrong is he spouted off about a Muslim ban constantly throughout his campaigning and is now attempting to dress it up as an overhaul of the vetting process to keep terrorists out until that's done.

If he were actually looking to do that, why wouldn't he ban immigration from any country with confirmed terrorists in large numbers?

Bill Martin

Trump's muslim ban was designed to aid Russia in it's conquest of the middle east which will in turn probably cause more radicalization...

Chuck Cummings

Pre-mall Mason City

Who puts a mall in the middle of a highway/main drag, Mason City!! I mean it was awesome in its day but the rent became to high and stores left. Then they started building out west. The theater left and they built a better one. Look at where Sears use to be, that use to be full, now an eye sore. Mason City has big city dreams with a council that holds them back, no jobs to offer and they will never be prosperous.

Stacey Cunningham

Total disrespect for Mason City. I have never seen a town the size of Mason totally torn apart, all the history, buildings, and layout changed to build a mall. If they wanted a mall so bad, fine, but why change a whole city layout for it. NOW we are on to a hotel, really, think it thru. "If you build it, they will come" is definitely not working.

Robin Hart
BOULDER, Colo. and GREENWICH, Conn., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "I and love and you," one of the fastest-growing premium dog and cat food brands in grocery stores across the U.S., today announced that it has received a significant growth investment from L Catterton, the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world. L Catterton's investment will be used to further accelerate growth and expansion of "I and love and you" nationally. The investment was made from L Catterton's Growth Fund. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"I and love and you" offers a full assortment of natural dog and cat food products that are among the highest quality in the industry. Both of its flagship lines of kibble  Naked Essentials and Nude Food  have earned the coveted five-star rating from DogFoodAdvisor.com, the preeminent independent authority on pet food, and the company is the first pet food brand to receive recognition as "Best In Class" by a new report from the Clean Label Project, a national nonprofit focused on health and transparency in labeling on consumer products. "I and love and you" recently launched its first national print advertising campaign in top consumer magazines and plans to further bolster its offering later this year with the introduction of a number of exciting new products never before available in the grocery channel.

"As pet parents place an increasing focus on the health, safety, and wellbeing of their pets, it's important that we stay at the forefront of the industry," said Kevin Hall, CEO, "I and love and you". "This investment from L Catterton will enable 'I and love and you' to continue to be a leading innovator and voice in the premium pet food category. L Catterton's unparalleled experience building leading consumer brands  including in pet food made them the ideal partner as we further our marketing efforts and continue to extend our reach with millennial consumers and new retailers."

"We are excited to partner with the outstanding team at 'I and love and you,' which has built a remarkable line of premium pet food products with a differentiated and emotive brand positioning that deeply resonates with consumers," said Howard Steyn, Partner, L Catterton Growth Fund. "We see a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the company's growth and help the brand achieve national scale, making these unique high-quality products available to pet parents across the country."

L Catterton has significant experience investing in the pet care and pet food space, with current and past investments including Ainsworth (the parent company of the Nutrish brand), Nature's Variety, Wellness Pet Food, Lily's Kitchen, Inspired Pet Nutrition and PetVet Care Centers.

Other initial investment partners of "I and love and you" include Winona Capital Management, which provided the company a round of financing in 2014, and Revelry Brands, an investment group that has supported the company's growth since the brand launched in 2012.

About "I and love and you"

Based in Boulder, CO, "I and love and you" makes super-premium pet food and treats that contain everything pets need to be happy and healthy, and none of what they don't. All products are made with real meat, fish, or poultry and contain no grains, fillers, or anything artificial. All food recipes are approved by a holistic veterinarian for uncompromising quality. "I and love and you" symbolizes the deep bond of love between a pet and pet parent and everything we do helps nourish that love. "I and love and you" is lovingly made in the USA with handpicked ingredients from around the world and can be conveniently found at your local grocery store or online.

About L Catterton

L Catterton, formed in 2016 through the partnership of Catterton, LVMH and Groupe Arnault, is the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world, operating multiple funds out of seventeen offices across five continents. Since its founding in 1989, Catterton has leveraged its category insight, strategic and operating skills, and network of industry contacts to establish one of the strongest private equity investment track records in the middle market. L Catterton builds on this heritage and the strong track record of LVMH and Groupe Arnault's existing European and Asian private equity and real estate operations, conducted under the L Capital and L Real Estate franchises. L Catterton invests in all major consumer segments, including: Food and Beverage, Retail and Restaurants, Beauty and Wellness, Fashion and Accessories, Consumer Products and Services, Consumer Health, and Media and Marketing Services, as well as real estate projects anchored by luxury retail. L Catterton's investments include: Peloton, Restoration Hardware, CorePower Yoga, Sweaty Betty, Outback Steakhouse, Plum Organics, CHOPT Creative Salad Company, Mendocino Farms, Noodles & Company, PIADA, Hopdoddy, Vroom, Snap Kitchen, Frederic Fekkai, PIRCH, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Wellness pet food, Nature's Variety pet food, Kettle Foods, Odwalla, P.F. Chang's, Ba&sh, Sandro & Maje, CellularLine, Vicini / Zanotti, Cigierre, Gant, Nutrition and Sante, Pepe Jeans & Hackett, 2XU, Charles & Keith, Marubi, Bateel, Sasseur, Emperor Watch and Jewelry, Miami Design District and G6 in Ginza  Tokyo, to name a few. More information about L Catterton can be found at lcatterton.com.

About Winona Capital

Winona Capital provides acquisition and growth capital in lower middle-market consumer and retail companies that have attractive revenue and brand enhancement opportunities. Winona partners with high energy, passionate executives who have a shared focus on building great brands with sustained growth over long-term investment horizons. Winona Capital manages more than $300 million on behalf of its family office and institutional investors. For more information, please visit www.winonacapital.com.

"I and love and you" Contacts:

Brianne Dezzutti / Erika Kuzmicz

CRC, Inc.

646-205-3573

[email protected]

[email protected]

L Catterton Contacts:

Andi Rose / Julie Oakes

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

212-355-4449

SOURCE L Catterton

Related Links

http://www.winonacapital.com


DENVER, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As of April 4, 2017, InnovAge has acquired Kissito PACE of Roanoke in Roanoke, Va. The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is as an alternative to nursing homes and is designed to keep seniors living in their own homes and communities for as long as safely possible. Participants in PACE are primarily dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The new InnovAge program will be known as InnovAge Virginia PACE  Roanoke Valley.

"Our passion and mission at InnovAge is to provide services to the most vulnerable seniors to help them age in their own homes with dignity," said Maureen Hewitt, president and chief executive officer at InnovAge. "For more than 20 years, PACE has been the core of our business. We are very pleased to be able to serve the Roanoke Valley's frailest seniors, and we look forward to expanding the number of older adults currently benefiting from PACE."

"We are excited to be working with InnovAge, an experienced PACE provider who shares our commitment to quality care and focus on the participant," said Josh McGilliard, executive director of the InnovAge PACE Center in Roanoke. "InnovAge's experience with PACE will allow us to reach even more eligible seniors in the Roanoke area."

InnovAge serves approximately 3,600 PACE participants and is the largest PACE provider in the U.S. based on participants served. The company has nine PACE centers across Colorado, California, New Mexico, and now Virginia. Based in Colorado, InnovAge offers a broad range of services for seniors in need of care and support to remain independent in their homes and communities. InnovAge services include in-home care services, healthcare and day programs, care management, memory loss programs, and affordable senior housing. The company has a strong record of innovation, quality and sensitivity to the needs of staff and participants.

Kissito PACE of Roanoke opened in 2013 and currently serves 106 participants, with many potentially eligible participants living in the program's service area.

About InnovAge

As a leader in senior care, InnovAge is committed to empowering seniors and caregivers by creating a personalized roadmap for aging based on an individual's unique and evolving needs. InnovAge is the largest provider of the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) based on participants served. The company is committed to keeping seniors independent and vibrant for as long as possible in their own homes for as long as safely possible. InnovAge has supported and cared for thousands of seniors since 1991 and currently operates in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia, with more than 1,000 employees. InnovAge is headquartered in Denver, CO. For more information, visit www.MyInnovAge.com.

SOURCE InnovAge

Related Links

http://www.MyInnovAge.com


STAMFORD, Conn., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Beverage (US Beverage) today announced the upcoming launch of Malibu Beer, a first-of-its-kind product aiming to redefine the Summer beer landscape bringing more flavor and more fun to a growing consumer space. This refreshing golden lager is flavored with a hint of natural coconut for a light tropical note and features 5% ABV. The product is slated for a select market roll-out beginning May 1st 2017 in Miami/Fort Lauderdale (FL), San Diego (CA) & Ann-Arbor/Lansing (MI). Produced in the Caribbean, Malibu Beer will be imported into the U.S. market by United States Beverage under exclusive licensing from the Malibu brand.

Malibu Beer is launching May in the US

The introduction of Malibu Beer was based on extensive research done over the past several years that identified consumers' desire for a mainstream lighter-bodied beer with flavor. "Research confirmed that a beer that embodies the flavor and fun personality traits of the Malibu brand is an innovative concept that appeals to the US beer consumer," said Justin Fisch, VP/ General Manager at US Beverage.

"Consumers love the idea of Malibu Beer! The Malibu brand name has the credentials to appeal to consumers within the beer category. Beer's share of Malibu's Summer Drinking Occasion is almost 50%, so there is an enormous potential for Malibu to win in that space," said Jean-Baptiste Viton, Global Innovation Director for Malibu.

Consumers can expect to see, feel and taste Malibu Beer through a mix of in-store displays, sampling, events, digital media and more. The product will be available in Miami/Fort Lauderdale (FL), San Diego (CA) & Ann Arbor and Lansing (MI). Malibu Beer is imported from the Caribbean and will be sold in 6-pack, 330ml bottles.

For more information, please see Media Contacts below.

About Malibu

Malibu is the world's biggest flavored rum brand. The United States is Malibu's largest market where the brand enjoys high awareness and a strong, consistent association with Summer. Malibu is part of Pernod-Ricard, co-leader of the global wines and spirits industry representing 91 million cases of spirits and 25 million cases of wine, and owning 19 of the world's top 100 brands.

About United States Beverage

United States Beverage (USB) is a premium craft and imported beer sales and marketing company located in Stamford, Connecticut. USB provides a national distribution network for a portfolio of premium brands including: Moosehead Lager & Moosehead Radler from Canada; Innis & Gunn from Scotland; Super Bock from Portugal; Sonoma Cider from Healdsburg, CA; the Grupo Damm portfolio of brands from Spain: Estrella Damm, Inedit Damm, and Daura Damm; Czechvar and Czechvar Dark from the Czech Republic; Tona Cerveza from Nicaragua; Kalik from the Bahamas, 1911 Cider from Lafayette, NY, and Empire Brewing from Cazenovia, NY. 2017 commemorates United States Beverage's 20th anniversary of representing premium craft and import brands. www.unitedstatesbeverage.com.

Media Contacts:

United States Beverage

Name/Surname: Georgia Homsany, Brand Director

email address: [email protected]

Tel number: 203-978-6429

SOURCE United States Beverage
BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Disciplined Value Mid Cap (JVMAX) is an Investor's Business Daily 2017 Best Mutual Funds Award Winner, in the second annual ranking by the investment publication, announced last week. The John Hancock fund was ranked third overall in the U.S. Diversified Equity category, #1 in the Mid Cap category, and #2 in the Blend category.

Funds named to IBD's list were chosen because they have outperformed the broad market over the past one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods. In order to make the list, funds in 12 categories must have outperformed in all four time periods. IBD makes its selections from 2,813 mutual funds that meet the criteria of having at least $100 million in assets and 10 years of operation.

"We're honored that our Disciplined Value Mid Cap Fund has been recognized in this way by IBD, and we congratulate the portfolio management team at Boston Partners," said Andrew G. Arnott, president and CEO of John Hancock Investments.

"This fund exemplifies our goal of consistently delivering strong risk-adjusted performance to our shareholders. And our long-standing relationship with Boston Partners shows the benefits of our managers of managers approach, whereby we seek to hire the very best investment managers from around the world to manage our funds, and then we apply our oversight and risk management process on a daily basis."

John Hancock Disciplined Value Mid Cap Fund is managed by a team of portfolio managers at Boston Partners, part of Robeco Investment Management, Inc., led by Steven L. Pollack, CFA and Joseph F. Feeney, Jr., CFA.

Launched as a John Hancock fund in 2010, the Disciplined Value Mid Cap Fund was closed to new investors in 2014. "The decision to close the Fund was made in the best interests of our shareholders, as we believe, with Boston Partners, that capping the fund's assets would preserve the integrity of the investment process," Mr. Arnott said.

To view IBD's complete list and analysis of the Best Mutual Funds 2017, please visit: www.investors.com/mutualfundawards.

About John Hancock Investments

John Hancock has helped individuals and institutions build and protect wealth since 1862. Today, we are one of the strongest and most-recognized financial brands. We serve investors globally through a unique multimanager approach: We search the world to find proven portfolio teams with specialized expertise for every strategy we offer, then we apply robust investment oversight to ensure they continue to meet our uncompromising standards and serve the best interests of our shareholders. Our approach to asset management has led to a diverse set of investments deeply rooted in investor needs, along with strong risk-adjusted returns across asset classes.

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife

John Hancock Financial is a division of Manulife, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, our group of companies offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were $977 billion (US $728 billion) as at December 31, 2016. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife 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, investments, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

A fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses should be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the fund. To obtain a prospectus, contact your financial professional, call John Hancock Investments at 800-225-5291, or visit our website at www.jhinvestments.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money.

The stock prices of midsize and small companies can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large companies. Value stocks may decline in price. Foreign investing, especially in emerging markets, has additional risks, such as currency and market volatility and political and social instability. Large company stocks could fall out of favor, and illiquid securities may be difficult to sell at a price approximating their value. Please see the fund's prospectus for additional risks.

MF361201

SOURCE John Hancock Investments

Related Links

http://www.johnhancock.com


SAN MATEO, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kensington, a worldwide leader of desktop computing and mobility solutions for IT, business and home office professionals and The Professionals' Choice, today introduced its new ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock. The new lock offers all the strength and one-click convenience and keyless engagement of the original ClickSafe lock, in a smaller, uncompromised design to protect sleeker laptops, POS systems and a wide variety of other devices.

As the industry leader in physical device security for 25 years, Kensington provides the most comprehensive line of laptop security solutions designed for the rigorous demands of Fortune 500 companies, government, financial, healthcare, and education customers. With 20 million locks sold stretching more than 132 million feet  enough to circle around the equator  global brands like Acer, ASUS, HP Inc., and Lenovo trust Kensington to provide the anti-theft protection users need to secure their devices and the valuable data kept on them.

The ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock offers the broadest level of compatibility of any security lock, as its CSAs or Anchors can be attached to virtually any device. The lock features the smaller 5mm keying system used in other Kensington products for common keying systems and worry free administration across Kensington's range of locks. With anti-pick Hidden Pin Technology, the ClickSafe lock head snaps onto the ClickSafe Security Anchor after it has been installed into the Kensington Security Slot found in most laptops. A carbon steel cable deters cutting attempts and the pivot & rotate hinge prevents awkward angles when inserting the key.

Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock

Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock (SU# K64435)

Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock  Master (SKU# K64436M)

Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock  Supervisor (SKU# K64436S)

Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock  Like (SKU# K64436L)

Key features of the Kensington ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock include:

Smaller, Uncompromised Lock Head - Designed to fit sleeker laptops, POS systems and a wide variety of other devices, the fully rotating head provides all the strength and anti-theft features you'd come to expect from the industry leader in physical device.

- Designed to fit sleeker laptops, POS systems and a wide variety of other devices, the fully rotating head provides all the strength and anti-theft features you'd come to expect from the industry leader in physical device. 5mm Keying System - A central pillar of Kensington's industry-leading locking solutions, the exclusive keying system is common across all of Kensington's latest locks. The 5mm Keying System's unparalleled custom management options provide flexibility, and the patented anti-pick Hidden Pin Technology offer complete peace of mind. Now IT directors will only have one keying system to manage across devices and across their organizations.

- A central pillar of industry-leading locking solutions, the exclusive keying system is common across all of latest locks. The 5mm Keying System's unparalleled custom management options provide flexibility, and the patented anti-pick Hidden Pin Technology offer complete peace of mind. Now IT directors will only have one keying system to manage across devices and across their organizations. ClickSafe Locking Technology - After the ClickSafe Security Anchor featuring a T-Bar has been securely mounted inside the industry-standard Kensington Security Slot  on the device, the ClickSafe lock head can be attached in a single click with one hand, providing an unparalleled combination of security and convenience for higher employee compliance.

- After the ClickSafe Security Anchor featuring a T-Bar has been securely mounted inside the industry-standard Kensington Security Slot on the device, the ClickSafe lock head can be attached in a single click with one hand, providing an unparalleled combination of security and convenience for higher employee compliance. Carbon Steel Cable - Offering the same level of cut-resistance and theft-resistance as thicker cables, the carbon steel cable with plastic sheath offers security and greater mobility with 1.8m (6 ft.) of cable.

- Offering the same level of cut-resistance and theft-resistance as thicker cables, the carbon steel cable with plastic sheath offers security and greater mobility with 1.8m (6 ft.) of cable. Pivot and Rotate Cable  A special hinge creates great freedom of movement, eliminating awkward angles and allowing users to insert their keys with complete ease.

 A special hinge creates great freedom of movement, eliminating awkward angles and allowing users to insert their keys with complete ease. Register & Retrieve  - Kensington's online key registration program that allows for quick, secure and easy key replacement if it ever gets lost or stolen.

- online key registration program that allows for quick, secure and easy key replacement if it ever gets lost or stolen. Custom Keying Options  Keying options include Master Keyed, Supervisor Keyed and Like Keyed for greater flexibility.

 Keying options include Master Keyed, Supervisor Keyed and Like Keyed for greater flexibility. Verified & Tested - Engineered to Kensington's rigorous specifications and third-party standards in torque/pull, foreign implements, lock lifecycle, corrosion, key strength and other environmental conditions.

"Laptops have become an extension of both our professional and personal lives and as such, the need to keep them, as well as other valuable devices, protected from theft is paramount," said Brian Knauss, Global Product Manager, Security, Kensington. "In addition to accommodating smaller, thinner devices, Kensington's 5mm keying system allows IT administrators to protect multiple devices  from laptops to projectors  across environments with one single key, making it a much easier process to manage. And with our unmatched custom keying options, IT administrators have the flexibility to implement the best possible locking solution to meet their requirements."

All of Kensington's newest locking solutions are designed with the 5mm keying system, including the NanoSaver Keyed Laptop Lock, MicroSaver 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock, MicroSaver 2.0 Keyed Chassis Lock, and Desktop PC & Peripheral Locking Kit 2.0.

Digital images of all Kensington products designed with the 5mm keying system are available for download at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/YoL3Vn.

See the ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Lock animation at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ0apfoVFqY

See the MicroSaver 2.0 Keyed Lock animation at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkwIks9uiDo

Tweet this: [email protected] ClickSafe 2.0 Keyed Laptop Lock protects smaller, sleeker devices from theft http://goo.gl/WL1UBY #CyberSecurity

Follow Kensington on:

About Kensington

Kensington is a leading provider of desktop and mobile device accessories, trusted by IT, educators, business and home office professionals around the world for nearly 35 years. Kensington products empower people to dynamically interact with content, creating a better working experience for productive performance. In both office and mobile environments, Kensington's extensive portfolio of award-winning products provides trusted security, desktop productivity innovations, and ergonomic well-being. Our core competencies in engineering, industrial design, product quality and responsive customer support make Kensington The Professionals' Choice.

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Kensington operates as the technology division of ACCO Brands (NYSE: ACCO), a world leader in branded office products, with products marketed in more than 100 countries across the globe.

Kensington is the inventor and worldwide leader in laptop security locks, the acknowledged leader of Trackball innovation and offers a broad range of premium-branded desktop productivity solutions.

ClickSafe, Kensington and MicroSaver are registered trademarks of ACCO Brands. Hidden Pin, Kensington Security Slot, Kensington The Professionals' Choice, NanoSaver, Register & Retrieve are trademarks of ACCO Brands. All other registered and unregistered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 2017 Kensington Computer Products Group, a division of ACCO Brands. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Kensington

Related Links

http://www.kensington.com


To score the trucks, TFLtruck editors took to the notorious Eisenhower Pass "Ike Gauntlet" located outside Denver with a loaded gooseneck trailer in tow. The grueling climb reaches elevations in excess of 11,000 feet with increasing grade near the peak. At the end of the haul, the Ram 3500 Heavy Duty excelled.

"The 2015 Ram 3500 Heavy Duty was loaded with a 21,600-pound trailer for Gross Combined Weight of nearly 31,000 pounds," said Andre Smirnov, technical editor at TFLtruck. "The Ram dually came out on top based on its confident downhill performance, consistent uphill climb and leading observed fuel mileage among the competitors."

The Ike Gauntlet drive is not the sole criteria to determine the winner in each category. The Ram 3500 Heavy Duty also was judged on its overall performance unloaded.

Gold Hitch Award-eligible trucks include 2017 model-year pickups (or trucks from previous model years that have not significantly changed for 2017). Trucks are only eligible for the award if they were tested before March 1, 2017.

About TFLtruck

TFLtruck is the most popular online video reviews, news and views publication. Nearly 2.5 million truck buyers watch TFLtruck video reviews and tests every month. This includes the signature "TFL Ike Gauntlet" extreme towing test, which challenges the trucks to the absolute maximum of their performance capability. Simply put -TFLtruck is All Trucks All The Time.

About Ram Truck Brand

Since its launch as a stand-alone division in 2009, the Ram Truck brand has steadily emerged as an industry leader with America's longest-lasting line of pickups.

Creating a distinct identity for Ram trucks has allowed the brand to concentrate on core customers and the features they find valuable. Whether focusing on a family that uses a Ram 1500 day-in and day-out, a hard-working Ram 3500 Heavy Duty owner or a business that depends on its Ram ProMaster commercial van every day for deliveries, Ram has the truck market covered.

In order to be the best, it takes a commitment to innovation, capability, efficiency and durability. Ram Truck invests substantially in its products, infusing them with great looks, refined interiors, durable engines and exclusive features that further enhance their capabilities.

Ram continues to beat the competition in the most sought-after titles:

Longest-lasting line of pickups

Highest owner loyalty of any half-ton pickup

Best-in-class ride and handling with exclusive link coil rear and auto-level air suspensions

Best-in-class fuel economy and longest range with exclusive EcoDiesel  29 mpg and 754 miles with Ram 1500

Best-in-class gas towing  16,320 pounds with Ram 2500

Highest snow plow rating  Ram 2500 and 3500

Most interior space with Ram Mega Cab

Most capable fullsize off-road pickup  Ram Power Wagon

Truck customers, from half-ton to commercial, have a demanding range of needs and require their vehicles to provide high levels of capability. Ram trucks are designed to deliver a total package.



Follow Ram and FCA US news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.fcanorthamerica.com

Company website: www.fcanorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.fcanorthamerica.com

FCA360: www.fca360.com

Ram Truck brand: www.ramtrucks.com

Ram Zone blog: www.ramzone.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RamTrucks and https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/

Flickr: www.flickr.com/RamTrucks and www.flickr.com/ChryslerGroup

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ramtrucks and www.pinterest.com/FCAcorporate

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ramtrucks and www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RamTrucks and www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA

YouTube: www.youtube.com/RamTrucks and www.youtube.com/pentastarvideo

SOURCE FCA US LLC

Related Links

http://www.fcanorthamerica.com


(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486450/King_Faisal_International_Prize_2017.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486424/King_Faisal_International_Prize_Infographic.jpg )

The King Faisal International Prize honours exceptional achievements in a number of key areas, including Arabic Language & Literature, Medicine, and Science. Among the winners in the 39th session of the award this year were four scientists and researchers.

Giving away the award, King Salman commended the efforts of the scientists and researchers in creating a better world. The King also appreciated the King Faisal International Prize for its key role in enriching knowledge and encouraging initiatives for the development of mankind.

King Salman handed over the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine to Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto of Japan for developing a novel biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases. Kishimoto is the Professor of Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University.

King Salman also gave away the King Faisal International Prize for Science; shared this year by Professor Daniel Loss and Professor Laurens Molenkamp, physicists from Switzerland and Germany. Professor Daniel Loss is the Professor of the Department of Physics, University of Basel, while Professor Laurens Molenkamp is Professor and Head, MBE Unit, University of Wurzburg.

Professor Daniel Loss won the award in recognition of his work on the theory of spin dynamics and spin coherence in quantum dots, which has practical applications in spin quantum computers. Professor Laurens Molenkamp was honoured for his work in the experimental field of spintronics.

Professor Ridwan Al-Sayyid of the University of Lebanon was recognized for his specialized publications and research that have enriched the Arabic Library.

Launched by the King Faisal Foundation and granted for the first time in 1979, the King Faisal International Prize recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in a number of key areas. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal International Prize have gone on to receive other prestigious awards in following years; for example 18 King Faisal International Prize laureates went on to receive the Nobel Prize, while 13 won the Gairdner Foundation International Awards, 11 received the American National Medals of Science, and 9 were awarded the Lasker Medical Award; among other distinguished prizes.

Contact: Noura Sankour +971(0)568797444, [email protected]





SOURCE King Faisal International Prize
NEW BERLIN, Wis., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Landmark Credit Union today announced changes and additions to staff in its business department, promoting Adam Newman to Senior Vice President/Business Lending, and adding Jay Cashmore as Assistant Vice President/Business Lending.

"The promotion of Adam Newman recognizes the tremendous success of our business department since he joined Landmark in 2012," said Jay Magulski, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Adding a highly-qualified professional like Jay Cashmore to our business team positions us well for future growth."

Prior to joining Landmark, Newman spent 16 years at TCF Bank where he most recently served as a Vice President in Commercial Banking. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lawrence University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Jay Cashmore comes to Landmark with over 20 years of commercial banking experience, focusing on serving the needs of family-owned, privately-held companies and commercial real estate investors. Cashmore most recently worked for Johnson Bank.

Landmark Credit Union is Wisconsin's largest credit union, with $3.2 billion in assets and 615 employees, who serve over 290,000 members at 31 locations throughout Southern Wisconsin. www.landmarkcu.com



SOURCE Landmark Credit Union

Related Links

http://www.landmarkcu.com


TORONTO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LDA Technologies, an FPGA product design and manufacturing firm, announced the release of LDA NeoMux, a new ultra-low-latency 10G muxing solution that achieves unprecedented 42ns wire-to-wire, thus cutting 40% off the latencies currently available on the market.

NeoMux is created on LDA e4 platform which in its turn furnishes the product with lowest Layer 1 replication latency due to very short traces. Naturally, the solution also inherits all e4's perks such as ultra-fast startup time, low power consumption, and so on.

LDA Neo line of products

"LDA e4 is a board-agnostic platform that gives the flexibility to choose the technology best suited for solving the problem at hand," said Vahan Sardaryan, CEO of LDA Technologies. "For NeoMux we chose Xilinx Ultrascale FPGA architecture to take advantage of its I/O and fabric routing to transceivers which results in a much better latency."

NeoMux can also be paired with LDA NeoFilter add-on: an ACL-based filtering solution with under 70ns wire-to-wire latency. In various environments such as multitenant networks, where the use of Layer 1 replication is limited due to security reasons, adopting these products together will bring your "exchange data in  filtered data forward  order out" roundtrip time to unprecedented 110ns.

"Until a certain level, latency differences might be lost in the infrastructure and are not worth the hassle of upgrading," Sardaryan said. "Not 40% though! One cannot possibly have a system so suboptimal as to throttle 40% difference in data delivery speed. If you are not a lucky user of an infrastructure where each trading node is sitting on a dedicated line, LDA Neo series products will bring you closer to the exchange than you have ever been."

LDA NeoMux comes in several configurations: NeoMux25, NeoMux25+, NeoMux31, and NeoMux48 based on the port density. LDA NeoMux25 and NeoMux25+ are available for ordering and evaluation now.

NeoMux is the first in a series of LDA Solutions to be released by LDA Technologies this year.

LDA Solutions are off-the-shelf products featuring cutting edge IP Cores pre-integrated in the LDA e4.

LDA e4 is the first of its kind FPGA board enclosure that is a solid general-purpose platform for FPGA networking products.

LDA Technologies is a privately held company headquartered in Toronto, Canada specializing in high-performance FPGA-based networking solutions. LDA Technologies has been manufacturing products and providing consultancy services for customers since 2010.

If you would like more information about this product, please visit our website at http://www.ldatech.com or E-Mail us at [email protected]

Contact:

Maria Sukiasyan

LDA Technologies Ltd.

800-738-8163 x101

[email protected]

www.ldatech.com

SOURCE LDA Technologies
Lockton will offer LegalZoom's new LifePlan service to business clients, and Mylo will offer it to consumers. LifePlan is a comprehensive employee benefit that helps members confidently navigate the major and daily life events their families face including marriage, home purchase, childbirth, retirement and end of life planning. LifePlan brings the right combination of legal and financial professionals and resources to provide immediate help.

"The LegalZoom LifePlan is built around engaging with our members when they truly need counsel," said LegalZoom CEO, John Suh. "Providing a high tech, high touch experience at the times in our members' lives when it matters most creates real value. We are proud to work with Lockton to provide this great employee benefit to even more people."

LifePlan's offering will include services from Lockton's digital broker, Mylo. Mylo's licensed agents will provide expert counseling on the best insurance options for each member's life situation. This currently includes advice on health insurance and personal lines insurance, such as home and auto, from a number of national and regional carriers.

In addition to Mylo's integration into LifePlan, they will provide LegalZoom's business clients advice on coverage, and access to multiple insurance carriers.

"Mylo connects individuals, families and small businesses to the largest breadth of coverage lines and carrier relationships in the industry," said Mylo President David Embry. "This allows us to recommend coverage that's truly customized to each individual, family or small business's specific needs."

LegalZoom and Mylo believe in giving consumers instant access to high value counsel that equips them to protect what matters most. LegalZoom, Lockton and Mylo will continue to collaborate to create new and more innovative ways of empowering consumers.

About LegalZoom



LegalZoom is a trusted platform of people and technology that gives the world access to consistently high quality legal solutions. As the nation's leading provider, LegalZoom empowers millions of people to protect what matters most to them. Whether it's helping small business owners or families, LegalZoom is at the vanguard of efficiently delivering high touch, high service legal help. Since its founding over 15 years ago, LegalZoom has serviced nearly 4 million customers in the US and the UK, and is now over 1000 employees strong. For more information, please visit www.LegalZoom.com.

About Mylo

Lockton's fast, friendly and convenient digital shop lets individuals and businesses instantly compare top-rated coverage options from trusted providers in one easy-to-navigate spot. Tapping into Lockton's 50+ years of insurance expertise and the best carrier relationships in the business, Mylo delivers an easy way to shop, compare and purchase the highest value insurance products online or on the phone with expert licensed agents. Mylo compares plans and narrows down options so consumers can make the most informed choice with confidence. For more information, visit www.ChooseMylo.com.

About Lockton

More than 6,000 professionals at Lockton provide 50,000 clients around the world with risk management, insurance, employee benefits consulting, and retirement services that improve their businesses. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, Lockton has attracted entrepreneurial professionals who have driven its growth to become the largest privately held, independent insurance broker in the world and 9th largest overall. For eight consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." To see the latest insights from Lockton's experts, check Lockton Market Update.

CONTACT: Monica Wilkens, Chief Marketing Officer Mylo, a Lockton Company, [email protected]

SOURCE Mylo

Related Links

http://www.lockton.com


INDIANAPOLIS, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine will soon join Eli Lilly and Company's (NYSE: LLY) innovative rotation program for aspiring physicians. Launched in early 2014, the program provides students with hands-on experience in a range of pharmaceutical business activities, from drug discovery and development to bioethics and patient safety.

The Heritage College is one of four medical schools to partner with Lilly on its Medical Student Rotation Program, joining Indiana University School of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, and Washington University School of Medicine. Jacob Koopman is the first Heritage College student accepted to the program.

"Our third- and fourth-year medical students have a tremendous opportunity for first-hand experience in a world-renowned pharmaceutical company through this program," said Laura Rush, Ph.D., executive director of the Heritage College Clinical & Translational Research Unit. "We are very excited about this important partnership with Lilly and to hear about Jacob's experience with his physician mentors and other members of the drug development team."

The Medical Student Rotation Program is a four-week experiential learning program. Through real-world projects and workshops, students become directly involved with various departments within Lilly, such as research, clinical trial development, medical affairs, regulatory, bioethics, and patient safety. Students also have the opportunity to meet and network with Lilly leaders.

Learning about drug development, healthcare careers

The rotation program is designed around the student-centric curriculum and is guided by experienced, knowledgeable mentors at Lilly who help students explore drug development and diverse career options in healthcare. Through these experiences, students learn about the pharmaceutical industry and its place in the practice of medicine.

"We are pleased to welcome Heritage College as a partner who shares our goal of providing future physicians with a comprehensive educational experience," said Yolanda Johnson-Moton, director of external relations for Lilly's U.S. Medical team.

"As the many facets of healthcare become increasingly interdependent, it will be important for practitioners to have a good working knowledge of the scientific and medical phases of drug development," she said. "By providing a holistic view of our company and its operations, we aim to provide students with valuable insights into the complexity and collaboration involved in moving a concept from the bench to market, including the valuable role that physicians play in this process."

About the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine



The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is a leader in training dedicated primary care physicians who are prepared to address the most pervasive medical needs in the state and the nation. About 50 percent of Heritage College alumni practice in primary care and nearly 60 percent practice in Ohio. The Heritage College is where tomorrow's primary care physicians and specialists learn, grow and go forward. Trained to treat the whole patient. Ready to serve every population. And fully prepared to heal the whole state of medicine. To learn more, please see www.ohio.edu/medicine.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels. C-LLY

Refer to: Linda Graham Caleca, [email protected]; 317-677-4204

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company

Related Links

http://www.lilly.com


SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium Technologies today announced that the 2017 Lithy Awards are now open and submissions will be accepted through April 26, 2017. For the seventh consecutive year, the Lithy Awards will honor Lithium customers who have demonstrated excellence in digital CX (customer experience) and achieved quantifiable business results. This year, Lithium added two new categories to the annual awards program to recognize brands that are providing excellent social customer service and brands that are going above and beyond to deliver impactful, engaging content to their customers. [CLICK TO TWEET]

"Every year, our customers look forward to submitting for the Lithy Awards and the submissions just get bigger and better. Last year, we received a record-breaking number of entries and expect to be even more impressed this year," said Katy Keim, Chief Marketing Officer at Lithium. "We are exceptionally proud of the success and achievements of our customers and look forward to honoring them once again for providing awesome digital customer experiences."

Lithium customers can submit their entries on the Lithium Community. The categories for the 2017 Lithy Awards are:

Digital CX All-Star: Recognizes a brand that creates consistent, frictionless customer experiences across digital touchpoints.

Social Marketing Champion: Recognizes a social campaign that has successfully acquired customers, served customers and grew a customer base.

Social Support Champion: Recognizes a brand that has executed excellent social customer service/support at scale.

Surprise & Delight: Recognizes a brand that goes the extra mile to "surprise and delight" customers on social media and generate a positive impact on a local, national, or global level leveraging social media.

Digital Design Excellence: Recognizes a brand with the most impressive and engaging design on digital, as well as a beautifully designed UI with consistency across devices and networks.

Support Savings Titan: Recognizes a brand that has best demonstrated significant bottom-line cost efficiencies and support savings for their business.

Topline Titan: Recognizes a brand with the most impactful topline business results across community and other social platforms.

Regional Star: All submitted entries will be automatically nominated for the Regional Star award. There will be a winner for North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Submissions will close on April 26, 2017 at midnight PT and the prestigious winners will be celebrated and announced in June 2017. For inspiration, see the winners of the 2016 Lithy Awards and their entries on the Lithium Community.

About Lithium:

Lithium builds trusted relationships between the world's best brands and their customers, helping people get answers and share their experiences. Customers in more than 34 countries rely on Lithium to help them connect, engage, and understand their total community. With more than 100 million monthly visits over all Lithium communities and 750 million online profiles scored by Klout, Lithium has one of the largest digital footprints in the world. Using that data and the company's software, Lithium customers boost sales, reduce service costs, spark innovation, and build long-term brand loyalty and advocacy. To find out how Lithium can transform your business, and to share the experience enjoyed by 300 other leading brands around the world, visit www.lithium.com, join our community at community.lithium.com, or follow us on Twitter @LithiumTech. Lithium is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco.

The Lithium logo is a registered Service Mark of Lithium Technologies. All trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Lithium Technologies
By law, insurance companies and HMOs file yearly financial reports March 1 and April 1. The Council's analysis combines data from the two reports and adds numbers from people who get insurance from large employers. These data provide the most complete and up-to-date picture available on health insurance in Minnesota.

"While information throughout last year pointed to some financial problems, $687 million is a much bigger number than I expected," said Jim Schowalter, Council president. "Yet our medical bills got paid, just like they should."

Overall, revenue from premiums increased 4 percent over the prior year to nearly $25.9 billion, while expenses increased 6 percent to $26.6 billion. State public programs accounted for more than half of the overall red ink, followed by continued losses in the individual market. Insurance employers provide remained steady. On average, health insurers paid $763 per second for care. To pay those bills, insurers withdrew nearly $560 million from state-mandated medical reserves.

Gap between premiums, expenses remains for Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own

For the third straight year, premiums fell short of expenses for Minnesotans who do not get insurance through work or government-supported programs like Medicare or Medicaid. In 2016, individual market expenses were $275.3 million more than premiums paid. This loss was reduced to $222.7 million through federal help that pays some big medical bills. That help ended for 2017, making this the first year that premiums had to include all expected medical expenses. The number of Minnesotans who bought health insurance on their own last year decreased 18 percent. On Dec. 31, 2016, about 4 percent of Minnesotans or 236,824 people bought policies directly.

Medical reserves pay $374 million in care for Minnesotans with public insurance

Expenses for people in state-funded health insurance exceeded revenue as well. Payments from the state for care needed by children and families ended the year $356.7 million short of expenses. Other state-supported insurance for people who are disabled or elderly and need extra help increased the shortfall by $17.4 million.

For 2016, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) changed how it bought health insurance for children and families, announcing $450 million in savings through competitive bidding. In the new contracting arrangement, health insurers hired by the state continued to be responsible for all expenses as in the past, but 2016 payments from DHS fell far short of paying expenses.

"The state wanted to save money and it did," said Schowalter. "The aim for the future should be working together so that taxpayers, businesses owners, individualswhomever is paying the billsaves money, too. Those savings require finding ways to reduce the actual expense of care we need."

Results drive past, future decisions effecting 4.8 million people

Numbers released today provide the context for difficult decisions of the past year that effected both Minnesotans who buy insurance on their own and those who get it with help from the state.

Schowalter cited fewer choices for individuals when choosing insurance, painful 2017 premium increases, and longer drives to get care for some Minnesotans. These changes prompted action at the beginning of the year by Gov. Dayton and legislators to pay 25 percent of the premium for many people who are buying insurance on their own in 2017 and take steps to help ensure these Minnesotans can get insurance and care closer to home in 2018.

While decisions coming from St. Paul and Washington, D.C., may still affect 2018 health insurance for some Minnesotans, employer-sponsored insurance for more than 3.2 million people is expected to be less effected. Employer insurance was the first to benefit from payment changes that reward wellbeing over the number of tests or procedures done. They have also experienced the success of partnerships with high-value networks of hospitals and clinics, as well as insurers' support of start-ups that offer new ways to get people the care they need. Health insurers are using what they learned from work with employers to make excellent care less expensive for all 4.8 million they serve, no matter who pays the medical bills.

The Minnesota Council of Health Plans brings our country's top health insurance companies together to solve problems. We work in a space where our insurers put aside competitive concerns to work together with partners across the state to make medical care more effective and less expensive for everyone. The seven local health insurance companies that work with the Council serve local policyholders, not shareholders on Wall Street.

SOURCE Minnesota Council of Health Plans

Related Links

http://mnhealthplans.org


ORLANDO, Fla., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) was successfully released from a U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

The jettison release of the first LRASM from the Super Hornet is used to validate the aerodynamic separation models of the missile. This successful test event paves the way for flight clearance to conduct captive carry integration testing scheduled for mid-year at the Navy Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, California.

"The first time event of releasing LRASM from the F/A-18E/F is a major milestone towards meeting early operational capability in 2019," said Mike Fleming, Lockheed Martin LRASM program director. "The program is executing the integration and test contract, maturing subsystems and proving flight worthiness."

LRASM is designed to detect and destroy specific targets within groups of ships by employing advanced technologies that reduce dependence on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, network links and GPS navigation.

Once operational, LRASM will play a significant role in ensuring military access to operate in open ocean/blue waters, owing to its enhanced ability to discriminate and conduct tactical engagements from extended ranges.

LRASM is a precision-guided, anti-ship standoff missile based on the successful Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range (JASSM-ER). It is designed to meet the needs of U.S. Navy and Air Force warfighters in anti-access/area-denial threat environments. The air-launched variant provides an early operational capability for the Navy's offensive anti-surface warfare Increment I requirement to be integrated onboard the U.S. Air Force's B-1B in 2018 and on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2019.

For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizations of every size in every vertical market are grappling with one universal challenge today: Defining what "digital transformation" means to them and mapping a strategy that is flexible and dynamic enough to achieve it while simultaneously supporting their current business model. Three significant issues are at the heart of this need for change: (1) The traditional, legacy computing infrastructures most organizations have in place are simply not agile enough to meet today's fast-paced business demands; (2) organizations are increasingly developing their own applications in house, yet legacy infrastructure cannot keep pace with development efforts; and (3) today's business users have consumer-like expectations for the availability of IT services that is putting significant pressure on IT. While there's no single solution that will work for every organization, Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), says composable infrastructure may provide an answer for many.

"What businesses need is a single solution that can address today's bimodal IT model on the same platform at the same time  and composable infrastructure can do that," says Perry Szarka, Solution Architect, Logicalis US. "One of the most significant advancements in this area that we have seen is HPE's Synergy, a composable infrastructure that brings together software-defined compute resources, software-defined storage and software-defined networking into a homogenous package with a single management interface. By completely abstracting the hardware, Synergy delivers the necessary compute, memory, storage and networking resources to accommodate individual applications automatically, without the involvement of multiple IT personnel."

"When properly implemented, a solution like Synergy can help propel an organization forward in its digital transformation, making it a truly service-defined enterprise. The key, however, is in determining if composable infrastructure is the best way to meet the business' needs," says Brett Anderson, Senior Director, HPE Solutions, Logicalis US. "To help our clients decide, Logicalis first develops a thorough understanding of the client's business, then provides a deep level of consulting, application rationalization, and an analysis of what is working and what isn't so they know where their own gaps exist. No matter who the solution provider is, this should all be taking place before any decisions about infrastructure are made. You have to start with the vision so you know where you are going and can map the best route to get there."

Five Questions Help IT Pros Explore Composable Infrastructure

Sometimes thought of as "software-defined in a box," a composable infrastructure virtualizes the entire compute environment and manages its resources as if they were services. This makes a composable infrastructure both flexible and agile enough to deliver true digital transformation, yet allows IT to continue to manage legacy applications from within a single architecture. While this may seem like an answer to all of an IT pros' headaches, Logicalis' experts warn there is no silver bullet. To help CIOs decide if a composable infrastructure may be right for their organization, Logicalis suggests asking the following five questions.

Is IT holding your business back? To compete successfully in today's fast-paced business environment requires agile compute solutions designed with speed and accuracy in mind. If you find that your legacy IT solutions are holding you back from becoming a digitally enabled competitor, yet you still need those legacy apps from time to time, a composable infrastructure may provide the best of both worlds.



Are you fighting a battle with stranded assets? One of the most common problems CIOs face is over- or under-buying of infrastructure to support the business' fluctuating demands. Most err on the side of caution and over-buy, which leaves them with too many stranded assets on the balance sheet  and an uncomfortable meeting with the CFO when explanations are required. Because a composable infrastructure creates a pool of resources that are automatically configured as the business' compute needs change, there is no need for over-provisioning, something which puts CIOs and CFOs on the same side of the table.



Do you develop your own applications in house? To avoid over- or under-provisioning during the DevOps process, organizations that are developing their own business-building apps in house are often asked to use hand-me-down legacy infrastructures for development and quality assurance, then switch to another more agile environment for production where resources can be carefully allocated and monitored by IT staff; the use of two environments, however, often slows the entire process. Optimally, to make the most of advanced DevOps tools like Chef, Puppet, Mesosphere and Docker, internal developers need the ability to control and rapidly model their own application environment without having to hit the "pause" button and rely on IT to allocate resources for them. Because a composable infrastructure's resources are pooled, they can be both shared as services and allocated without IT intervention, which makes a composable infrastructure uniquely positioned to meet the DevOps needs of internal application development teams.



Are you making the best use of your IT talent? Nearly everyone in IT today has at least talked about the 80/20 principle  the fact that nearly 80 percent of IT pros' time is spent on mundane "lights on" activities and only 20 percent on more valuable business-building projects. While the goal has long been to flip those percentages upside down, this has proven to be easier said than done. The kind of automation and orchestration built into composable infrastructure solutions, however, may finally make this possible, allowing talented IT professionals to refocus their efforts on more strategic and creative activities.



Is your current infrastructure future ready? As copper wire nears its maximum capacity, a light is being shined on the science of photonics, technology slated to be the replacement for copper wire in the not-too-distant future. Instead of transporting gigabits of information, with photonics, computing systems will need to be ready to handle terabits of data, something composable infrastructures like HPE's Synergy are already equipped to do. So, while there's no such thing as a future-proof environment, there is such thing as one that can be future ready, and a composable infrastructure may be the first step in that direction.

Want to Learn More?

If composable infrastructure isn't the right fit, what kind of infrastructure is best  traditional, converged or hyperconverged? http://ow.ly/vIMu30a7VZT

Do you have a blueprint for IT transformation? In this video, Logicalis CEO Vince DeLuca explores the transformation journey organizations are on today: http://ow.ly/jhDb30a7WGP.

explores the transformation journey organizations are on today: http://ow.ly/jhDb30a7WGP. Download a white paper that explains why every CEO wants to lead a service-defined enterprise and why the CIO needs to make it happen: http://ow.ly/yIqL30a7WTw.

About Logicalis

Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.

Our customers cross industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,000 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization.

We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the LSE, with revenues of over $6.5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

Business and technology working as one

To learn more about Logicalis activities through a variety of social media outlets, click here.

Media contacts:

Karen Franse, Communication

Strategy Group for Logicalis US

[email protected]

866-997-2424 x222

www.gocsg.com

Arthur Germain,

Communication Strategy Group

for Logicalis US

[email protected]

866-997-2424 x101

www.gocsg.com

SOURCE Logicalis US

Related Links

http://www.us.logicalis.com


These complete solutions include everything professional users need to complete projects successfully with drones. Developed specifically for surveying and mapping, mdMapper packages integrate robust Microdrones quadcopter aircraft with advanced sensors and software to improve the efficiency, safety, and accuracy of geospatial projects.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer these systems to our customers," said Mike Minick, Martin Instrument Vice President. "Microdrones UAS can help companies improve the way they perform jobs and add new services to the scope of work they can provide."

Available immediately, Martin Instrument is offering the following products:

mdMapper200  Compact, complete, and competitively priced, mdMapper200 is a great option for companies seeking the easiest possible drone to transport or a smaller drone to add to their fleet.

Compact, complete, and competitively priced, mdMapper200 is a great option for companies seeking the easiest possible drone to transport or a smaller drone to add to their fleet. mdMapper1000  Extra-long flight times and resistance to harsh environmental conditions make this complete mapping system an excellent choice for applications like surveying, mapping, inspection, and construction.

Extra-long flight times and resistance to harsh environmental conditions make this complete mapping system an excellent choice for applications like surveying, mapping, inspection, and construction. mdMapper1000DG  The benefits of mdMapper1000 plus the power of direct georeferencing combine to produce the best possible accuracy and time savings with no ground control points. This system enables highly efficient corridor mapping.

The benefits of mdMapper1000 plus the power of direct georeferencing combine to produce the best possible accuracy and time savings with no ground control points. This system enables highly efficient corridor mapping. Optional accessory packages  Add-ons like inspection accessories, multispectral, thermal, and soon LiDAR and methane gas detection accessory bundles add flexibility and functionality to the platform.

"Our clients' customers are asking for UAV services and an mdMapper package is a great way to get started," explained Minick. "Microdrones UAS offer long flight times, superb stability, flexibility in the field, resistance to harsh weather and environmental conditions, and they are easy to learn and operate."

As Martin Instrument begins selling these products, Microdrones will support them with training, marketing, and product support.

"Martin Instrument is a great group of people that is all about personal relationships. A lot of teams say that  but with Martin, it's the truth. We want to assist them in any way that we can to ensure their customers succeed and have a great experience doing it," said Chuck Dorgan, Microdrones Sales Director in North America.

To support dealers like Martin Instrument, Microdrones recently developed an online Dealer Toolbox complete with presentations, images, logos, and sales tools to help dealers reach their customers. "The Dealer Toolbox will continue to expand with a Microdrones clothing and merchandise site, as well as sales primers and camera-ready ads," said Mike Dziok, Marketing Director for Microdrones. "We want to make it easy for dealers to explain the technology because, well, when you can do that, it sells itself."

To find out more about Martin Instrument's UAS offering, visit https://martininstrument.com/dronedemo.

About Martin Instrument

Serving customers since 1992, Martin Instrument provides equipment, technology, and services for the surveying and construction industries. Located throughout Texas, Martin is dedicated to building relationships and providing outstanding service that will help their customers be successful.

To learn more about Martin Instrument, visit www.martininstrument.com.

About Microdrones

Founded in Germany in 2005, Microdrones developed the world's first commercial quadcopter and the company still leads the industry with their professional UAV solutions.

By pairing robust drones with cutting-edge sensors, Microdrones offers advanced turn-key solutions that make it easy for businesses to start using UAVs for surveying, mapping, construction, inspection, precision agriculture, mining, and other commercial applications. A heritage of quality German engineering, extra-long flight times, resistance to environmental challenges, and technology like direct georeferencing make Microdrones solutions exceptionally safe, efficient, and cost-effective choices for commercial users.

Recently expanded into North America, Microdrones serves markets around the globe. To learn more about Microdrones, visit www.microdrones.com.

SOURCE Microdrones

Related Links

http://www.microdrones.com


SANTA ANA, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Banc of California, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: BANC) today announced that Mary Curran and Bonnie Hill have been appointed to its Board of Directors (the "Board"). Both Ms. Curran and Dr. Hill also have been appointed as a director of Banc of California, N.A., the Company's subsidiary bank (the "Bank"). Both appointments to the Board will become effective at the conclusion of the Company's 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on June 9, 2017.

Ms. Curran has over 30 years of banking experience, including previously serving as Executive Vice President and Corporate Banking Chief Risk Officer for MUFG Union Bank. Ms. Curran currently serves as Chair of San Diego State University's Campanile Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors for Hunter Industries. Ms. Curran previously also served as Chair of the California Bankers Association.

Dr. Hill has over 25 years of experience serving on numerous corporate boards as well as a wide-ranging career in business, government and education. Dr. Hill currently is President of B. Hill Enterprises, LLC, a consulting firm focusing on corporate governance, board organizational, and public policy issues. Dr. Hill also serves as a Director of California Water Service Group and is a faculty member of the National Association for Corporate Directors Board Advisory Services Program. Dr. Hill previously served as Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs for the Los Angeles Times, and prior to that role, served as Dean of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Dr. Hill previously also served on the Board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation and was a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Investor Advisory Group.

"We are excited to have Ms. Curran and Dr. Hill join the Board. Both bring tremendous experience and diverse backgrounds to the Company," said Robert Sznewajs, Chairman of the Board for Banc of California. "We heard from our stockholders that they would support an expanded Board and the addition of individuals who together bring banking and risk management experience and governance expertise. With the addition of Ms. Curran and Dr. Hill, we have found two outstanding professionals with broad experience that will benefit the Company. We continue to seek meaningful dialogue with our stockholders and are focused on bringing a fresh perspective to the Company and its governance."

The appointments accompany the Board's announcement that Eric Holoman has declined to stand for re-election and has submitted his resignation, effective upon the conclusion of the Company's 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on June 9, 2017. Mr. Holoman, who is the Operating Partner of Magic Johnson Enterprises, has decided to leave the Board at the end of his term due to the increased demands placed on his time as a result of his recent appointment as Chief Executive Officer of EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, a $17 billion life insurance company acquired by Magic Johnson Enterprises in 2015.

"Eric has made substantial contributions to the Board since he became a director in 2013. During that time, Eric made it his personal passion to focus on the Bank's efforts to address the needs of the underserved populations in the communities where we operate and, as a result of his efforts, the Bank was recognized by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2015 for its 'Outstanding' rating under the Community Reinvestment Act. We intend to partner with Eric after his term of service has expired to continue to work on the important community development activities that he has championed," said Robert Sznewajs, Chairman of the Board for Banc of California. "Eric's commitment to our communities throughout California was a driving force in the creation of many of the community programs and initiatives the Company has created since 2013. Eric was also a contributing member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee that worked to make the Company a more stockholder-friendly organization than it was in the past. We wish Eric the best in his future endeavors and look forward to his continued involvement with many of the Company's community development programs."

Mr. Holoman said, "I am honored to have been a part of building Banc of California from a small community bank into the premier franchise it is today and I feel confident the Company is well on its way toward fulfilling its vision of being California's Bank."

The announcements regarding Mr. Holoman and Ms. Curran and Dr. Hill are also accompanied by changes adopted by the Board of Directors in the Company's bylaws that facilitate stockholder nominations and proposals, and conform the majority voting standard for electing directors more closely to the advisory motion approved by stockholders at the 2016 Annual Meeting. The bylaw changes are detailed in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Banc of California, Inc.

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) provides comprehensive banking services to California's diverse businesses, entrepreneurs and communities. Banc of California operates 37 offices in California. The Company was recently recognized by Forbes for the second straight year as one of the 100 Best Banks in America for 2017.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "Safe-Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are necessarily subject to risk and uncertainty and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to various factors, including those set forth from time to time in the documents filed or furnished by Banc of California, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and Banc of California, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date on which the forward-looking statement is made.

Investor Relations Inquiries: Media Inquiries: Banc of California, Inc. Abernathy MacGregor Timothy Sedabres, (855) 361-2262 Ian Campbell / Joe Hixson / Kristin Cole (213) 630-6550 [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Banc of California, Inc.

Related Links

http://bancofcal.com


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc., (OTCQB: JMDA) (the "Company" or "Jerrick"), and Maven Pictures today jointly announced their new scripted television series about the life of Penthouse Magazine founder, Bob Guccione and the many beautiful but misunderstood women in his life, as reported in Variety. Executive producers for the project are Jerrick's founders Rick Schwartz (The Departed, Black Swan) and Jeremy Frommer (Till Human Voices Wake Us, Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story) and Maven Pictures founders Trudie Styler (Freak Show, Snatch) and Celine Rattray (Novitiate, Still Alice).

Jerrick's first foray into the world of Bob Guccione is Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story, produced by Barry Avrich and Jerrick Media. The film premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Filthy Gorgeous is available online here.

Currently in development, the series details Guccione's humble beginnings as a struggling artist and cartoonist in London in the 1950's, through to the hugely successful launch of Penthouse and the media empire that resulted from its glossy, soft focused aesthetic. Though Guccione was generally presumed to be misogynistic, the show will explore the fact that in real life, Guccione was actually the exact opposite. Spanning 30 years, the project will be shown through the eyes of the many beloved women in his life.

Jerrick co-founder Rick Schwartz stated, "Penthouse founder Bob Guccione was an incredibly successful, complicated, and larger than life media mogul. We're looking forward to collaborating with Maven Pictures on a scripted TV series that tells the story of this amazing, misunderstood man and all of the brilliant, beautiful women in his life."

Jerrick intends to include additional detail regarding the Guccione Series in a President's Letter updating the investment community on the Company's recent developments, which will be provided on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shortly.

Celine Rattray, co-founder of Maven Pictures added, "We are happy to work with Jerrick on a project that intimately explores a man through the complex lens of the women in his life and look forward to sharing the finished product."

Maven Pictures has previously produced THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Their other producing credits include BERNIE starring Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, GRACE IS GONE starring John Cusack, FILTH starring James McAvoy and Jamie Bell. In 2016 Maven produced the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winner AMERICAN HONEY, directed by Andrea Arnold, starring Shia Labeouf (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Fury) and Sasha Lane. FREAK SHOW, based on James St. James' best-selling novel and the directorial debut for Trudie Styler, premiered at Berlinale in 2017 to a sold out crowd of 1,000 viewers. Freak show stars Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game, Departure), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland), and Bette Midler (Beaches, The First Wives Club). Also released early in 2017 was NOVITIATE directed by Maggie Betts and starring Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo, which premiered at Sundance and was bought by Sony Classic Pictures. Arriving this year is thriller WILDLING directed by Fritz Bohm and starring Bel Powley and Liv Tyler, and NOVITIATE directed by Maggie Betts and starring Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo.

About Jerrick

Jerrick is a digital media content publishing house. Core to Jerrick's unique capabilities is Vocal, a proprietary technology and content distribution platform, programmed to deliver a robust long-form, digital publishing platform organized into highly engaged niche-communities capable of hosting all forms of rich media content. Vocal maximizes scalability, speed, simplicity, and adaptability to create an unparalleled user experience - algorithmically designed to bridge media-rich long-form creative content with effective monetization. Each niche-community site is overseen by a dedicated team and culture, whose primary focus is on revenue conversion of all published material via digital arbitrage. All content is meant to challenge, inspire, and enlighten.

For more information please visit https://jerrick.media

For press inquiries contact [email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements that are not historical facts and that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, indicated through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimated," "intends," "plans," "believes" and "projects") may be forward-looking and may involve estimates and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution that the factors described herein could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements we make and that investors should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of such factors. Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our results of operations or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. This press release is qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Investor Relations:

Vivian Cervantes

PCG Advisory

D: +1-212-554-5482

[email protected]



SOURCE Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc.
"From its open design to its sweeping, unobstructed panoramic views stretching from Downtown LA to the Pacific coast, this property is a true work of art that embodies modern living in Los Angeles," says Mercer Vine founder Adam Rosenfeld, who shares the listing with Mercer Vine's Kyle Giese. "We wanted to reach new audiences by taking a highly creative approach to marketing this property to some of the most discerning buyers."

As a leader in the luxury real estate industry, Mercer Vine has distinguished itself in its approach to creative marketing through imaginative branding and a closeness to the arts. Working alongside award-winning choreographer Jacob Jonas, founder of Jacob Jonas The Company, the Mercer Vine creative team has composed a one-of-a-kind, choreographed film to showcase the property's breathtaking design. Directed by Emmanuelle Pickett, Mercer Vine's creative director, two professional dancers move throughout the modern home, unveiling white oak matte floors that flow seamlessly from the interior to the massive outdoor deck and infinity pool. The dancers' movements perfectly complement the angles of the structure, combining both the art of dance and the art of design.

"My goal with the creative branding for Mercer Vine is to always point to something else, something more transcendent," says Pickett. "Collaborating with Jacob Jonas and his incredible dancers allowed us to explore the intersection of dance and architecture and make the viewers feel like they are actually there for a moment, on that balcony overlooking the whole city. Instead of just seeing images of a house, hopefully this film can show them a potential new beginning."

The four bedroom, two bathroom home is situated on 5,950 square-feet in the heart of Beverly Hills. Other key design elements of the 1420 Laurel Way listing include:

A screening room, two bedrooms and a junior master suite overlooking downtown LA that complete the first floor;

A floating staircase that provides a pathway to the master suite, which occupies the entire second level and includes a sundeck, sitting room, dual walk-in closets, and a luxurious bath with city views; and

A versatile basement with natural lighting, bar, full bath and a 40-foot sliding door that opens to the LA skyline.

To view the home or film, visit www.1420Laurel.com. For more information or to schedule a tour, contact Rosenfeld at [email protected] or Giese at [email protected].

About Mercer Vine:

Mercer Vine is a leading Los Angeles-based real estate firm created to reinvent how luxury homes are bought and sold in Southern California. The firm's non-traditional brokerage model focuses on creating a collaborative environment between clients, agents, and colleagues alike. Mercer Vine's agents are dedicated to serving as more than advisers, instead acting as ideal neighbors who have an innate understanding of the areas in which their clients want to build their lives. For more information, visit mercervine.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alicia Mistry, [email protected]

Kent Barrett, [email protected]

The Hoyt Organization, (310) 373-0103

SOURCE Mercer Vine

Related Links

http://mercervine.com


MILWAUKEE, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC), the nation's first private mortgage insurer, announced today the availability of mortgage insurance through PreApp 1003, a cloud-based mortgage pre-qualification system.

PreApp 1003 customers can now price loans with MGIC mortgage insurance without leaving the system. This integration  unique to PreApp 1003 and MGIC  allows loan officers to provide their borrowers accurate, real-time mortgage loan rates that require mortgage insurance. This automation helps improve the point-of-sale experience of the loan origination process by saving time and increasing precision.

"PreApp 1003 just got even more efficient for a loan originator to pre-qualify a prospective borrower from a mobile device," said Dru Brents, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PreApp 1003. "With MGIC mortgage insurance now embedded in the system, loan originators can work DTI ratios more quickly and accurately."

"PreApp 1003 is the best tool out there for both the client and loan officer experience," said JP Hussey, Producing Branch Manager at GMH Mortgage. "Data has also shown that 35% of all applications this year will be from millennials, who work on the go, just like loan officers. Having quick, mobile access to accurate MGIC mortgage insurance rates in PreApp 1003 is a critical part of this pre-qualification process."

"Our integration with PreApp 1003 addresses the need for quick pricing in the mortgage loan pre-approval process," said Margaret Crowley, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience at MGIC. "This partnership demonstrates our continued dedication to offering automated solutions to our customers."

About MGIC

MGIC, the principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corporation, this year celebrates 60 years of serving the mortgage finance industry. As the founder of modern private mortgage insurance, MGIC is committed to providing products and services that make originating affordable low-down-payment mortgages safer for the financial institutions served. Fulfilling this vital role helps families achieve homeownership sooner. At February 28, 2017, MGIC had $182.9 billion of primary insurance in force covering approximately 1 million mortgages.

About PreApp 1003

Founded in 2015, Houston-based PreApp 1003 was created to fill a growing need for mortgage loan officers to easily and securely prequalify mortgage applicants from the convenience of their mobile devices. Being a cloud-based, text-initiated system, PreApp 1003 helps from the point of referral, to obtaining credit, calculating ratios and funds to close, to issuing closing cost worksheets and conditional pre-approval letters. It is simply the most efficient way for a Mortgage Loan Originator to pre-qualify a prospective borrower all from a mobile device.

SOURCE MGIC Investment Corporation

Related Links

http://www.mgic.com


MILL VALLEY, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Equal Pay Day, Glassdoor, one of the world's fastest growing job sites, today recognized the more than 3,100 employers that have taken the Equal Pay Pledge on Glassdoor, showcasing their commitment to pay equitably for equal work and experience. Further, to make it easier for organizations to determine if they have any notable wage gaps Glassdoor Economic Research today released a free step-by-step guide for employers to statistically analyze their payroll data.

According to Glassdoor Economic Research, on average, women earn 76 cents for every dollar men earn in the United States, a 24 percent gap. Adjusting for factors such as age, education, years of experience, location, job title and employer, that gap shrinks to 5.4 percent -- an apples to apples comparison of similar workers.1

With nearly two in three U.S. employees reporting they would not apply to work for a company where they believe a pay gap exists2, the Glassdoor Equal Pay Pledge provides an important signal to employees, candidates and other stakeholders. Companies across all industries and sizes have taken the Equal Pay Pledge including Apple, Facebook, Staples, Travelers, Visa, Care.com and more.

Employer Guide: How to Analyze the Pay Gap

Glassdoor chief economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain has authored a new technical guide to help companies analyze their own pay data to determine if any unadjusted or adjusted wage gaps exist: How to Analyze Your Gender Pay Gap: An Employer's Guide. The free guide includes access to an algorithm and code that can statistically measure gaps across an organization. This technical guide is accompanied by a resource for HR practitioners, available at Glassdoor for Employers.

"Unfortunately, progress in closing the wage gap has been painfully slow. Through Glassdoor's Equal Pay Pledge, employers are showing employees, candidates and other stakeholders that they are committed to doing their part to close the gender pay gap," said Dawn Lyon, Glassdoor vice president of corporate affairs and chief equal pay advocate. "The reality is if employers haven't done the work to truly analyze their pay data, they will have a hard time knowing if a wage gap exists. Our experience shows pay gaps don't result from overt discrimination, they result from years of unintentional bias that can creep into an organization over time. Analysis is far more involved than printing out a spreadsheet and eyeballing it -- you need to go deep and control for a variety of factors to get the real story."

Understanding Fair Pay

For employees and job seekers, understanding personal worth in the market is important to help get fair pay. For employers, basing compensation data on the role, not the individual's past history, can help level the playing field between men and women.

While seven in 10 (68 percent) people report that salary and compensation are among their top considerations before accepting a job3, less than one in 10 online job listings include pay data in the job description4. Through greater salary transparency and tools like Know Your Worth by Glassdoor, people can gain insights to better understand if they are being paid fairly. The personal pay data generated helps people determine if they should attempt to negotiate their current salaries and/or explore better paying jobs based on current market hiring data and other personal worth factors like education, relevant experience, etc.

For employers: To learn more about the Glassdoor Equal Pay Pledge, visit the Glassdoor Blog. Download the 5 Steps to Addressing the Gender Pay Gap and the step-by-step technical guide to analyze your payroll data.

For job seekers and employees: To use the Know Your Worth tool or to read tips and advice on fair pay and how to better negotiate, visit the Glassdoor Blog. Pay transparency can help people better understand if they are paid fairly for their role at their own company and in the local labor market. Any employee can contribute an anonymous salary report on Glassdoor.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is the world's most transparent job and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines job listings with anonymous reviews, ratings and salary data to help people find a job and company they love. This level of transparency, in turn, helps employers attract the right candidates for their company and culture at a fraction of the cost of other channels. Glassdoor offers employers job advertising,job posting and employer branding solutions in addition to robust talent analytics. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has job listings and data for more than 640,000 employers in 190 countries and is available on iOS and Android platforms. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For career advice and job-related news and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog.

1 Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap, Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, March 2016 2 Glassdoor Global Gender Pay Gap Survey, February 2016 3 Survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Glassdoor from December 21-23, 2015 among 2,031 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. 4 Glassdoor Internal Data, January 2017

Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

SOURCE Glassdoor

Related Links

http://www.glassdoor.com


KETTERING, Ohio, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Naked Lime Marketing continues to deliver quality leads to automobile retailers through its full-service suite of dealership marketing, advertising, and web services.

"What we're hearing consistently from dealers is Naked Lime's services are delivering tangible results that they see reflected in their bottom line," said Chris Walsh, vice president at Naked Lime. "With the help of our dedicated specialists, dealers using our services are better able to grab the attention of their audience, build stronger customer relationships, and increase sales."

Walsh pointed to specific examples of dealer feedback:

"If you're looking at Naked Lime and you don't have any type of marketing setup, they can help you from the ground floor," said Sandy Austell, general manager of Lexus of Riverside in Riverside, California. "If you've got things that are already set up, it's just going to be a huge enhancement for you."

"One of the great things we have with Naked Lime is our monthly meeting," she added. "We can actually pinpoint customers we need to communicate with, whether via a specific model, a specific year, etc. I love Naked Lime!"

Focusing on Naked Lime's targeted marketing service, in which specialists can send personalized, data-driven messages to customers on dealers' behalf, another Naked Lime customer explained the boost to his dealership's bottom line.

"We saw an increase of more than $37,000 in service revenue between our two stores in just one month," said Dave Tedder, internet director of Sanderson Ford in Phoenix, Arizona. "The SEO and Social services have increased unique visitors by 1,500 a month."

"That's almost a 17% increase," he added.

In addition, dealers also highlighted the benefits of using XtreamService to generate sales.

"The XtreamService approach is now how we get our day started," said Adrian Burone, general manager of Bert Ogden Toyota in Harlingen, Texas. "Sometimes at 8 a.m. we already have four or five deals working. We tend to make a lot more money on those leads because we have more control over the deal."

Walsh concluded: "In 2017, we're continuing our mission to provide the best digital marketing, advertising, and web services for automotive retailers. We believe we're well positioned to do so through the breadth and depth of the services we offer and the talents of our experienced team of specialists who carry out those services."

At Digital Dealer Conference & Expo

To learn more, Naked Lime invites dealers to stop by Booth #516 at the Digital Dealer Conference & Expo, April 11-13, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. (http://info.nakedlime.com/digital_dealer/)

About Naked Lime Marketing

Naked Lime's Naked Truth: Deliver fresh and innovative full-service marketing, advertising, and web solutions and services that help automotive dealers turn the heads of consumers and inspire consumer loyalty at every point in the retail process.

SOURCE Naked Lime Marketing

Related Links

http://www.nakedlime.com


WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has signed a patent license with Genesis Engineering Solutions Inc. of Lanham, Maryland.

This license will allow Genesis Engineering Solutions Inc. to manufacture and sell space-based processors based on Goddard's SpaceCube 2.0 designs, with the goal of providing 10 to 100x improvements in on-board computing power while lowering relative power consumption and cost. This also will benefit NASA by providing a qualified supplier from which to purchase systems from in the future.

"Licensing our technology to American companies is a prime example of how NASA supports the innovation economy," said Dan Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA Goddard's SpaceCube 2.0 is a reconfigurable multi-processing platform based on Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and couples it with an integrated upset detection and correction architecture to provide improvements in computing power over traditional fully radiation-hardened flight systems.

The SpaceCube technology is one of thousands of NASA technologies made available for use by industry through the agency's Technology Transfer Program. NASA has more than 1,000 patents available for license and more than 1,000 software programs available for use by industry, academia and other government agencies.

NASA's Technology Transfer program is managed for the agency by the Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program ensures technologies developed for missions in exploration and discovery are broadly available to the public, maximizing the benefit to the nation.

For more information about SpaceCube 2.0, visit:

https://spacecube.nasa.gov/Introduction.html

For more information on NASA Goddard's Strategic Partnerships Office, visit:

http://spo.gsfc.nasa.gov

For more information on NASA's Technology Transfer Program, visit:

http://technology.nasa.gov

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; OTCQB: NTCXF; Frankfurt: 8NT) has signed a joint development agreement with Coveme spa, the Italian company that is a leading innovator in the manufacture and conversion of polyester films.

Natcore has recently developed the Natcore Foil Cell, which combines a revolutionary laser process with a novel metallization strategy, thus enabling high-efficiency cell architectures at low cost.

The key feature: metallization of the cell by direct attachment of a bilayer aluminum foil laminate. The concept simplifies the fabrication of several silicon-based, all-back contact cell architectures, allowing for high-speed, low-cost manufacturing methods.

Importantly, it also eliminates the need for silver, one of the highest-cost components of a conventional solar cell.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Natcore and Coveme will collaborate in order to assess and develop high throughput methods to produce laser-processed all-back-contacts on silicon solar cells.

Founded in 1965, Coveme treats, coats, heat-stabilizes and laminates polyester film for various industrial applications, such as photovoltaic modules, biomedical sensor strips, electrical insulation, automotive uses and flexible packaging. The company is based in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, and has production sites in Gorizia, Italy and Zhangjiagang, China.

"We developed the technology behind the Foil Cell in our Rochester lab," Says Chuck Provini, Natcore President and CEO. "But we need additional expertise to help take it to the next level. Nobody is better equipped than Coveme to provide that expertise. Coveme will help us develop a full-scale prototype and ready the cell for production."

"Natcore will develop their foil all-back-contact process to be compatible with foil designs and samples provided by Coveme," says Gian Paolo Fedrigo, Coveme's CEO. "They will construct devices using their own technology along with foil samples from Coveme. We will give them information regarding foil contact structures, and we'll design and fabricate foil samples for their use in constructing test solar cells."

The Project Managers will be David Levy for Natcore and Matteo Racchi for Coveme. Dr. Levy is Natcore's Director of Research and Technology.

The all-back-contact solar cell is generally recognized as a very efficient structure. Indeed, a cell of this type holds the world record for silicon cell efficiency at 25.6%. In November, Natcore announced that they had achieved efficiencies of 19.4%. At that time, Dr. Levy said "Considering the rapid achievement of these good results, prior even to serious optimization of this new approach, we expect to announce devices soon with efficiencies considerably over 20%."

Statements herein other than purely historical factual information, including statements relating to revenues or profits, or Natcore's future plans and objectives, or expected sales, cash flows, and capital expenditures constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in Natcore's business, including risks inherent in the technology history. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements awill prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except in accordance with applicable securities laws, Natcore expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein.

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.

Contact: Chuck Provini

585-286-9180

[email protected]

SOURCE Natcore Technology Inc.
"Chances are that over the years you've accumulated lots of digital clutter that can impact your cybersecurity posture. It's critical to remember that just as you shred sensitive paper documents before discarding, you should properly destroy important electronic data," said Michael Kaiser, NCSA's executive director. "By following a few easy-to-use digital spring cleaning tips, you can be significantly safer and more secure online. In addition, you will have a renewed peace of mind that you are helping to protect yourself, your family and the community at large. NCSA and BBB want everyone to enjoy the internet's extraordinary benefits with increased confidence."

"Just as we urge people to safely shred old paper records, BBB is also urging consumers and businesses to make sure that electronic files are properly disposed of when no longer needed," said Bill Fanelli, chief information officer with the Council of Better Business Bureaus. "Old hard drives, data sticks, cell phones, tabletsanything that contains sensitive data should securely destroyed. Digital spring cleaning also means deleting old files, updating passwords and taking other steps to make sure your private information stays private." Many BBBs are hosting Secure Your ID Day shredding events in April.

Refreshing your online life is a relatively simple process. NCSA has identified our top, trouble-free tips that everyone should follow this spring.

Keep a clean machine: Ensure all software on internet-connected devices  including PCs, smartphones and tablets  is up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware.

Ensure all software on internet-connected devices  including PCs, smartphones and tablets  is up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware. Lock down your login : Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media. Begin your spring cleaning by fortifying your online accounts and enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device.

Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media. Begin your spring cleaning by fortifying your online accounts and enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device. Declutter your mobile life: Most of us have apps we no longer use and some that need updating. Delete unused apps and keep others current, including the operating system on your mobile device. An added benefit of deleting unused apps is more storage space and longer battery life. Actively manage your location services, Bluetooth, microphone and camera  making sure apps use them appropriately.

Most of us have apps we no longer use and some that need updating. Delete unused apps and keep others current, including the operating system on your mobile device. An added benefit of deleting unused apps is more storage space and longer battery life. Actively manage your location services, Bluetooth, microphone and camera  making sure apps use them appropriately. Do a digital file purge: Perform a good, thorough review of your online files. Tend to your digital records, PCs, phones and any device with storage just as you do for paper files. Get started by doing the following: Clean up your email : Save only those emails you really need and unsubscribe to email you no longer need/want to receive. Back it up : Copy important data to a secure cloud site or another computer or drive where it can be safely stored. Password protect backup drives. Make sure to back up your files before getting rid of a device, too.

Perform a good, thorough review of your online files. Tend to your digital records, PCs, phones and any device with storage just as you do for paper files. Get started by doing the following: Own your online presence: Review the privacy and security settings on websites you use to be sure that they remain set to your comfort level for sharing. It's OK to limit how and with whom you share information. Here are some user-friendly tips to help with the safe disposal of electronically stored data. Prep your data in advance of participating in BBB's Secure Your ID Day:

Review the privacy and security settings on websites you use to be sure that they remain set to your comfort level for sharing. It's OK to limit how and with whom you share information. Here are some user-friendly tips to help with the safe disposal of electronically stored data. Prep your data in advance of participating in BBB's Secure Your ID Day: Know what devices to digitally "shred": Computers and mobile phones aren't the only devices that capture and store sensitive, personal data. External hard drives and USBs, tape drives, embedded flash memory, wearables, networking equipment and office tools like copiers, printers and fax machines all contain valuable, personal information.

Computers and mobile phones aren't the only devices that capture and store sensitive, personal data. External hard drives and USBs, tape drives, embedded flash memory, wearables, networking equipment and office tools like copiers, printers and fax machines all contain valuable, personal information. Clear out stockpiles: If you have a stash of old hard drives or other devices  even if they're in a locked storage area  information still exists and could be stolen. Don't wait: wipe and/or destroy unneeded hard drives as soon as possible.

If you have a stash of old hard drives or other devices  even if they're in a locked storage area  information still exists and could be stolen. Don't wait: wipe and/or destroy unneeded hard drives as soon as possible. Empty your trash or recycle bin on all devices and be certain to wipe and overwrite: Simply deleting and emptying the trash isn't enough to completely get rid of a file. You must permanently delete old files. Use a program that deletes the data, "wipes" it from your device and then overwrites it by putting random data in place of your information  that then cannot be retrieved. Various overwriting and wiping tools are available for electronic devices. For devices like tape drives, remove any identifying information that may be written on labels before disposal, and use embedded flash memory or networking or office equipment to perform a full factory reset and verify that no potentially sensitive information still exists on the device.

Simply deleting and emptying the trash isn't enough to completely get rid of a file. You must permanently delete old files. Use a program that deletes the data, "wipes" it from your device and then overwrites it by putting random data in place of your information  that then cannot be retrieved. Decide what to do with the device : Once the device is clean, you can sell it, trade it in, give it away, recycle it or have it destroyed. Note the following: Failed drives still contain data : On failed drives, wiping often fails, too; shredding/destruction is the practical disposal approach for failed drives. Avoid returning these drives to the manufacturer; you can purchase support that allows you to keep it  and then destroy it. To be "shredded," a hard drive must be chipped into small pieces : Using a hammer to hit a drive only slows down a determined cybercriminal; instead, use a trusted shredding company to dispose of your old hard drives. Device shredding can often be the most time- and cost-effective option for disposing of a large number of drives.

: Once the device is clean, you can sell it, trade it in, give it away, recycle it or have it destroyed. Note the following:

Events and Resources

#ChatSTC Twitter Chat: Refresh Your Online Life With a Digital Spring Cleaning , Thursday, April 20 , 3 p.m. EDT / noon PDT  NCSA and the BBB encourage everyone to make digital spring cleaning an annual ritual to help protect their personal data. Join @STOPTHNKCONNECT for a Twitter chat on simple steps consumers and organizations can take to be more #CyberAware this spring and all year round. We'll also share NCSA's latest digital spring cleaning tips. Use #ChatSTC to join!

,  NCSA and the BBB encourage everyone to make digital spring cleaning an annual ritual to help protect their personal data. Join @STOPTHNKCONNECT for a Twitter chat on simple steps consumers and organizations can take to be more #CyberAware this spring and all year round. We'll also share NCSA's latest digital spring cleaning tips. Use #ChatSTC to join! BBB Secure Your ID Day, Saturday, April 22 , various locations across the United States  BBBs across North America will host this helpful identity theft prevention event featuring FREE on-site shredding, electronic recycling, plus tips to protect your identity. Click here to find a list of participating BBBs.

 BBBs across will host this helpful identity theft prevention event featuring FREE on-site shredding, electronic recycling, plus tips to protect your identity. Click here to find a list of participating BBBs. NCSA  Here's a handy list of digital spring cleaning tips: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/resources/do-a-digital-spring-cleaning-and-clear-out-cyber-clutter

 Here's a handy list of digital spring cleaning tips: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/resources/do-a-digital-spring-cleaning-and-clear-out-cyber-clutter NCSA  Help others get their houses in order by hanging posters around the office: staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/posters/

 Help others get their houses in order by hanging posters around the office: staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/posters/ NCSA  Check your privacy settings: staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/check-your-privacy-settings/

 Check your privacy settings: staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/check-your-privacy-settings/ NCSA  Keep a clean machine! Use these free security checkups to learn how: staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/free-security-check-ups/

 Keep a clean machine! Use these free security checkups to learn how: staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/free-security-check-ups/ BBB  Check out bbb.org/secure-your-id-day for more information on shredding events and tips on what to save and for how long. Businesses should check out bbb.org/cybersecurity for "5 Steps to Better Business Cybersecurity."

Check out bbb.org/secure-your-id-day for more information on shredding events and tips on what to save and for how long. Businesses should check out bbb.org/cybersecurity for "5 Steps to Better Business Cybersecurity." U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  The Protecting Your Digital Home Tip Card: Many of the items in our homes  our thermostats, coffee machines and music speakers  are now connected to the internet and store sensitive, personal information. As you go through and clean your house this spring, take note in each room which devices or appliances are connected to the internet. In this tip card, DHS provides five simple steps you can take today to secure your digital home and devices to protect you and your family from online threats.

About The National Cyber Security Alliance

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is the nation's leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NCSA's Board of Directors, which includes representatives from ADP; Aetna; AT&T Services, Inc.; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackBerry Corporation; CDK Global; Cisco; Comcast Corporation; ESET North America; Facebook; Google; Intel Corporation; LifeLock, Inc. (a Symantec company); Logical Operations; Mastercard; Microsoft Corp.; NXP Semiconductors; PayPal; PKWARE; Raytheon; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; Salesforce; SANS Institute; Symantec; TeleSign and Visa Inc. NCSA's core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October); Data Privacy Day (January 28) and STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the global online safety awareness and education campaign co-founded by NCSA and the Anti Phishing Working Group, with federal government leadership from DHS. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/.

ABOUT BBB

For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2016, people turned to BBB more than 167 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review and industry self-regulation.

SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance

Related Links

http://www.staysafeonline.org


IRVINE, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Netwrix Corporation, provider of a visibility platform for user behavior analysis and risk mitigation in hybrid environments, announced today that Netwrix Auditor has been selected as a finalist in both the Best SME Security Solution and Best Risk Management/Regulatory Compliance Solution categories for the SC Magazine Excellence Awards 2017 Europe.

The mission of the SC Awards Europe is to honor the achievements of companies and information security professionals striving to safeguard critical data in the UK and Europe. Competitors for all categories are voted on by a panel of independent and objective industry leaders who were invited to participate by SC Media's editorial team. The awards honor both cybersecurity professionals and vendors that offer products and services to address cyber security challenges.

"We are extremely proud to be recognized by SC Awards Europe experts for the second year in a row. Cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, and companies need complete visibility into user behavior to address security and compliance needs in a timely manner. Gaining a deep understanding of what is going on across the IT infrastructure will help IT professionals mitigate the risk of data breaches and ensure continuous compliance," said Michael Fimin, CEO and co-founder of Netwrix.

"We are delighted to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of Netwrix Corporation as an Excellence Award finalist," said Tony Morbin, Editor in chief, SC Media UK. "The security risks and challenges facing private and public sector companies these days are constant and complex. Netwrix stands out among those facing this challenge head-on, fending off the many potentially devastating attacks."

The winners will be announced at the SC Awards Europe ceremony to be held in London on Tuesday, 6 June 2017.

About SC Media UK

SC Media UK provides IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Media UK enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies. Besides the Guide editions and daily website, the brand's portfolio includes the SC Congress and Expo series (London, New York, Chicago, Toronto), SC Awards, Roundtables, Webinars and SC Newswire.

About Netwrix Corporation

Netwrix Corporation was the first vendor to introduce a visibility and governance platform for hybrid cloud security. More than 160,000 IT departments worldwide rely on Netwrix to detect insider threats on premises and in the cloud, pass compliance audits with less effort and expense, and increase productivity of IT security and operations teams. Founded in 2006, Netwrix has earned more than 100 industry awards and been named to both the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 lists of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. For more information, visit www.netwrix.com

CONTACT:

Erin Jones

Avista PR for Netwrix

P: 704.664.2170

E: [email protected]

SOURCE Netwrix Corporation

Related Links

http://www.netwrix.com


IRVINE, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Neudesic, a nationally recognized business and technology consulting firm, today announced that it is launching a new DevOps roadshow event series to help enterprise clients nationwide accelerate digital automation and innovation. Neudesic is an industry leader in providing data-driven insights to organizations actively moving toward the cloud and digital business models, with DevOps practices being a key part of enabling broad scale enterprise innovation.

"As the enterprise digital shift continues to accelerate, we have seen a significant increase in client inquiries about continuous delivery and DevOps which effectively enable and fuel this shift," said Chad Thomas, Director of Technology at Neudesic. "This new event series is a perfect forum for us to amplify our DevOps-enabled strategy for innovation, which focuses on blending the right tools, technology, and cultural practices for enterprises to create their own innovation delivery pipelines."

The roadshow series kicks-off its first event in Rosemont, IL on April 11th, and will visit a variety of markets from coast-to-coast, including Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, and more.

"We're excited to bring this new event series to the market in partnership with AWS and Docker," said Mark Jones, Neudesic's chief marketing officer. "It furthers our ability to guide our enterprise clients nationwide toward leading-edge cloud technologies to enable their digital evolution."

More information about the full DevOps roadshow event series is available at http://www.neudesic.com/DevOps2017.

About Neudesic

Neudesic is the trusted technology partner in business innovation, delivering impactful business results to clients through digital modernization and evolution. Our consultants bring business and technology expertise together, offering a wide range of cloud and data-driven solutions, including: custom application development, comprehensive managed services, and business software products. Founded in 2002, Neudesic is a privately held company headquartered in Irvine, California, and is celebrating its 15th Anniversary in 2017. For more information, or to consult with Neudesic to explore enterprise digital evolution, visit www.neudesic.com.

Media Contact: Mike Graff Senior Marketing Manager, Solutions Neudesic (949) 754-4599 [email protected]

SOURCE Neudesic

Related Links

http://www.neudesic.com


The long and eventful reign of Vladimir Putin began in 2000. In October 2017, he will turn sixty-five, while his country observes the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution that toppled tsarism and eventually swept the Bolsheviks to power.

Amidst these milestones and with Putin poised to retain his leadership role after the 2018 presidential election, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences invited a multidisciplinary group of authors with expertise in modern Russian history, politics, and society to share their views on what Putins Russia represents todayand what the future may hold for Russia and the international community after he leaves the scene.

The Spring 2017 issue of Ddalus on "Russia Beyond Putin," guest edited by George W. Breslauer (University of California, Berkeley) and Timothy J. Colton (Harvard University), begins by asking: Is fundamental change in Russia possible? Would it overhaul the system, or modify or improve it without transforming it? And if change were to occur, will it necessarily be change Western observers would approve of?

"From day one, the declared priority of Russia's second presidentit is no exaggeration to call it a sacred priority for himwas to engineer political and social stability," writes Timothy Colton in his essay, "The Paradoxes of Putinism."

With systemic stability, Putin has achieved economic and demographic recovery. But societal growth has been juxtaposed with the state's growing rigidity and control-mindedness. Colton explores Putin's tenure through several core paradoxes, including that Putin's personal popularity has not always been matched by confidence in his policies and that Russia backs the global trend that links social and economic modernization to political democratization.

In her essay, The Next Mr. Putin? The Question of Succession, Fiona Hill (Brookings Institution) argues that Vladimir Putin, the person and the president, is the wild card in Russian politics. Moreover, after what could be a quarter of a century in power by 2024, Putins departure could be utterly destabilizing.

Russias political problem is determining who or what replaces Putin as the fulcrum of the state system in the decade ahead. Hill examines whether Putins Russiaa hyper personalized presidency supported by informal elite networkscan be transformed into a depersonalized system rooted in formal institutions with clear, predictable mechanisms to mitigate the risks of a wrenching presidential transition.

In Russian Revanche: External Threats & Regime Reactions, Keith A. Darden (American University) explores the origins of Russias renewed distrust of the United States and apparent military belligerence, and connects them with Russias increasingly authoritarian domestic rule. Darden explains that since the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Russian elites have increasingly seen the United States as a distinctly threatening power seeking to exploit civic organizations, ethnic groups, and other forms of domestic pluralism to overthrow unfriendly regimes. And with each new crisis in U.S.-Russian relations, Russian leadership has tightened controls over society, the press, and the state. Darden asserts that the aggressive U.S. promotion of democracy abroad has produced the opposite effect: successive Russian governments pursuing greater military and intelligence capacity to intervene abroad, and exerting authoritarian controls at home to prevent foreign exploitation of the internal pluralism that emerged in the wake of the collapse of Communism.

While post-Soviet law is highly consequential in contemporary Russia, its use tends to be arbitrary, expedient, and instrumental, rather than predictable and principled. But Russias legal regime is unlikely to undergo major revolutionary change and may outlive Putins tenure. In her essay, Putin Style Rule of Law & the Prospects for Change, Maria Popova (McGill University) suggests that if positive change were to take place, Russia would inch toward authoritarian constitutionalism. But if Putins regime weakens, the politicized use of the courts against both dissidents and political competitors within the authoritarian coalition will increase, and Russia could revert to the legal nihilism that characterized previous periods in its history.

Despite the hope of Russia evolving into a liberal democracy after the collapse of Communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Putins regime, after Gorbachev and Yeltsin, came to represent a de-democratization or authoritarian consolidation. A democratic breakthrough toward the rule of law is now seen as highly unlikely in the coming decade. In his essay, Images of the Future, George Breslauer (University of California, Berkeley) presents a range of alternative futures to liberal democracy (rule of law), including the possibility of continued authoritarian constitutionalism (rule by law), patronal authoritarianism (expedient use of law), or Russite or imperial fundamentalism (legal nihilism). He concludes the issue by combining the diverse arguments presented by the authors in this issue with his own judgments and beliefs about Russias future.

Other essays in the issue explore the ability of the Russian system to maintain political stability in the face of prolonged economic hardships; the types of Russian nationalist actors and their potential as facilitators of change; and the potential role for the silovikiRussian security and military personnelin challenging Putins rule or transitioning to a new form of government.

Essays in the Spring 2017 issue of Ddalus include:

Introduction by Timothy J. Colton ( Harvard University )

( ) The Prospects for a Color Revolution in Russia by Valerie Bunce ( Cornell University )

by ( ) Russian Patronal Politics Beyond Putin by Henry E. Hale ( George Washington University )

( ) The Next Mr. Putin? The Question of Succession by Fiona Hill (Brookings Institution)

(Brookings Institution) The Russian Siloviki & Political Change by Brian D. Taylor ( Syracuse University )

( ) Putin-Style "Rule of Law" & the Prospects for Change by Maria Popova ( McGill University )

( ) Ideas, Ideology & Intellectuals in Search of Russia's Political Future by Elena Chebankova (University of Lincoln )

Political Future by (University of ) Is Nationalism a Force for Change in Russia ? by Marlene Laruelle ( George Washington University )

? by ( ) The Atlas That has Not Shrugged: Why Russia's Oligarchs are an Unlikely Force for Change by Stanislav Markus ( University of South Carolina )

( ) From Boom to Bust: Hardship, Mobilization & Russia's Social Contract by Samuel A. Greene (King's College London)

Social Contract by (King's College London) Russian Revanche: External Threats & Regime Reactions by Keith A. Darden ( American University )

( ) Images of the Future by George W. Breslauer ( University of California, Berkeley )

Print and Kindle copies of the new issue can be ordered at: http://www.amacad.org/publications/daedalus.

NOTE: Please credit Ddalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, when citing this editorial material.

http://www.amacad.org

Twitter: @americanacad

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanacad

SOURCE American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Related Links

http://www.amacad.org


TORONTO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold") (TSX:NGD) (NYSE MKT:NGD) today reports that on the afternoon of April 3rd a contract worker supporting the Peak Mines in Australia indicated he was feeling ill while working underground. The individual was brought to surface and treated by the mine's emergency response team before being transported by ambulance to the Cobar hospital where he later passed away.

"We are tremendously saddened by the passing of a member of our extended Peak team," stated Hannes Portmann, President and Chief Executive Officer. "On behalf of all of us at New Gold, and particularly the close-knit team at Peak, we extend the deepest condolences to the individual's family and friends."

Operations at the Peak Mines have been temporarily suspended to allow for further investigation of the incident.

ABOUT NEW GOLD INC.

New Gold is an intermediate gold mining company. The company has a portfolio of four producing assets and two significant development projects. The New Afton Mine in Canada, the Mesquite Mine in the United States, the Peak Mines in Australia and the Cerro San Pedro Mine in Mexico (which transitioned to residual leaching in 2016), provide the company with its current production base. In addition, New Gold owns 100% of the Rainy River and Blackwater projects located in Canada. New Gold's objective is to be the leading intermediate gold producer, focused on the environment and social responsibility.



SOURCE New Gold Inc.

Related Links

www.newgold.com


LEBANON, Ohio, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Palarum, LLC, a new healthcare IoT technology company, announced it has achieved its goal of securing $3.4 million dollars in non-brokered private funding. The financing will fund the ongoing development and market testing of Palarum's proprietary technology platform designed to enhance patient safety protocols in acute care healthcare facilities.

Led by healthcare expert and former UC Health executive Patrick Baker, Palarum plans to offer an integrated solution that monitors patient movement through the use of a patented smart textile fabric enhanced with various IoT (Internet of Things) technologies. Palarum's new solution, named PUP, will provide healthcare facilities an enhanced monitoring, notification, and data capture platform designed to improve the care and safety for patients determined to be a potential "fall risk".

"The research shows that between 700,000 and one million people fall in a healthcare environment every year." says Patrick Baker, President and CEO of Palarum, LLC. "And while most facilities have tried to address the issue with traditional motion detection systems, room sitters and enhanced training, it continues to be a quality of care and cost issue.

"At Palarum, we want to help healthcare staff with their capabilities to anticipate, detect, and more quickly respond when a "fall risk" patient may need assistance. Additionally, our system will gather data that can be used by management to optimize both staff and equipment resources."

About Palarum

Based in Lebanon, Ohio, Palarum, LLC joins the rapidly growing marketplace of new healthcare artificial intelligence start-ups using smart technologies and predictive analytics to improve patient care. While Palarum's current focus is to deliver a solution specifically targeted to the hospital environment, the company plans to expand the use of their patented technologies to other healthcare applications.

This media release shall not and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities. The securities offered and sold in the private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration, or an applicable exemption from registration under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

Media Contact:

Chris Baker

Phone: 617.513.7003

Email: [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Palarum, LLC
CARLSBAD, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nortek Security & Control LLC (NSC) a leader in the security, home control, and wellness technology markets, introduced the 2GIG Rely Security System. Rely is the industry's smallest self-contained, aesthetically pleasing, Do-it-Yourself Security System. Now, DIYers, renters, 2nd homeowners and no-contract consumers can have security with style. They can secure their homes with a sleek and discrete system that works with their home decor, window decorations, as well as door and window operation, unlike over-sized competitor offerings.

NSC's Rely is part of the 2GIG family of security and home automation systems that more than three million customers trust countless times of day. Rely will be sold and supported by a network of security dealers and monitoring service providers with extensive national, regional and local presence in numerous communities  an option not available from Internet-only vendors. Additionally, Rely is easy to install and re-install, making it a system that can move with the consumer from home to home. Rely expands the market to include younger and style-conscious consumers living in apartments, as well as established homeowners and vacation property owners looking for solid security system for their investment.

"Every day our dealers meet prospective customers who don't fit the traditional mold, whether its highly mobile lifestyles or overall system and monitoring expense; they still want stylish and discrete security, backed by local dealers and professional monitoring," said Dan Geiger, Sr. VP of Sales for NSC. "Rely gives our dealer and service provider partners a solution easy enough for anyone to purchase and install that includes a sleek keypad and proven 2GIG sensors that don't look like the circa-90's jumbo wireless sensors they may see from other vendors."

Rely includes a simple to use app, which gives the end-user the ability to see status and remotely arm/disarm the system. The app was developed to easily walk the consumer through system installation with embedded instructional videos, after a Security Dealer programs the system by scanning QR codes. The Rely App also offers customizable event notifications.

NSC also announced enhancements to the flagship 2GIG GC3 all-in-one security and home automation EZ Touch system. Powered by firmware release 3.0.2, the GC3 now supports four additional keypads, user-replaceable LTE cell radios, and the new 2GIG SP-2, a tablet-based secondary keypad. This new release also supports additional Z-Wave devices, like the popular GoControl Garage Door Controller, as well as Yale and Schlage door locks.

In May, NSC expects to release GC3 firmware version 3.1 with support for both the SP-2, announced above, and the new SP-1, a secondary touch screen that mirrors virtually all the GC3 main panel security and automation capabilities. Firmware version 3.1 also supports full broadband connectivity via WiFi or Ethernet, French language support, as well as additional Z-Wave and security sensor devices.

"With these releases and new touch screen options, the GC3 offers a superset of features, and is significantly easier to install than its predecessor. Moreover, the GC3 is powerful enough to accommodate future upgrades," said Robert Beliles, NSC Sr. VP of Marketing and Product Management. "The introduction of the sleek DIY Rely system and the GC3 enhancements further demonstrate NSC's commitment to making security and home automation easier for dealers and users."

The Rely system is expected to ship in late May. The GC3 system is available now with firmware version 3.0.2. Firmware version 3.1 as well as the SP-1 and the SP-2 secondary touch screens will be available in May. These and many more products will be on display in a model home environment at NSC's ISC West Booth #20031 from April 5-7 in Las Vegas.

Nortek Security & Control LLC

Nortek Security & Control is a world leader in smart connected devices and systems for the residential, security, access control and digital health markets. Through its family of brands including 2GIG, GoControl, Linear, and Numera, Nortek Security & Control designs solutions for a diverse customer base that includes national telecoms, big box retailers, OEM partners, service providers, security dealers, and consumers. With over 50 years of innovation, Nortek Security & Control is dedicated to addressing the lifestyle and business needs of millions of customers every day.

Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Nortek Security & Control LLC is a subsidiary of Melrose Industries PLC a global, diversified company whose many market-leading brands deliver broad capabilities and a wide array of innovative, technology-driven products and solutions for lifestyle improvement at home and at work. Please visit www.nortekcontrol.com for more information.

Copyright 2016 Nortek Security & Control LLC. All rights reserved. The Linear, 2GIG and GoControl, Numera, Libris and EverThere logos are registered trademarks of Nortek Security & Control LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Other names or brands may be claimed as the property of others.

SOURCE Nortek Security & Control LLC

Related Links

http://www.nortekcontrol.com


LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OneLegacy is joining millions of Americans in April to celebrate Donate Life Month with a series of activities that will take place in seven Southern California counties. Donate Life Month was created to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and honor those who have been touched by the gift of donation.

Organized by the staff, volunteers and community partners of OneLegacy, the non-profit, federally designated organ, eye and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area, these local events range from flag raisings and educational programs, to city proclamations and the largest run/walk of its kind in the country. Participants include more than 45 hospitals and transplant centers, seven counties, over 115 cities, and thousands of organ, eye and tissue donation advocates, who are dedicated to supporting the program.

"We are grateful to our hospitals, city officials and community partners, who join us every year to stress the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation," said Tom Mone, CEO of OneLegacy. "Thanks to their continuous support, we have been able to increase donation awareness every year, with more than 35,000 life-saving transplants performed in the U.S. in 2016, helping save and heal the lives of many. Still, there is much work to be done."

FLAGS ACROSS AMERICA: LOCAL FLAG RAISING CEREMONIES

Joining dozens of organizations around the country, OneLegacy is participating in the Donate Life "Flags Across America" initiative, which began in 2009 as a symbol of unity and hope. This initiative honors and celebrates donors and recipients whose lives have been affected by organ, eye and tissue donation, rallying every donor hospital and transplant center, as well as all recovery agencies, to collectively fly the Donate Life flag during April. OneLegacy has partnered with 20 Southland hospitals and organ donation partner organizations to raise flags across Southern California.

BLUE & GREEN DAY AND EDUCATIONAL EVENTS

On April 21, Donate Life's trademark colors will be present at local DMV offices, transplant centers, and hospitals, as well as throughout social media channels, who will join OneLegacy to celebrate National Donate Life Blue & Green Day. Dozens of local DMV offices participate in a contest to show their commitment to donation, dressing their locations with blue and green and reminding the community to register when applying for their California driver's licenses or ID cards. OneLegacy's partnership with the DMV includes ongoing educational sessions to staff, special events and recognition to their staff and leadership, and their continuous support has resulted in 95 percent of the state's nearly 14 million designated donors who have joined the California registry. Local hospitals, transplant centers and other organizations and businesses also participate in educational sessions and encourage their staff to wear blue and green on April 21.

CITY OFFICIALS' PROCLAMATIONS

Starting in late March, and all through April, OneLegacy Ambassadors and Embajadores  committed volunteers who have been touched by donation and transplantation and who every day share their stories of life and hope with the community  will receive proclamations from seven counties  Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura  and over 115 cities. Each proclamation of "Donate Life California Month" confirms our community's commitment to supporting organ, eye and tissue donation. OneLegacy volunteers will also share their stories at educational booths at various Southland hospitals during the month of April.

DONATE LIFE RUN/WALK AT CAL STATE FULLERTON

Continuing a tradition that started in 2003, this year's Donate Life Month celebrations will conclude with the 15th annual Donate Life Run/Walk and Family Festival at Cal State Fullerton on Sat., April 29. This year's event will gather over 12,000 donation advocates, with over 222 donor family teams, 42 hospital teams, and dozens of other groups and organizations who will participate in the largest event of its kind in the country. Started by the Hosterts, a family touched by living organ donation, and now in its 15th year, this non-competitive event helps stress the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation and encourage people to register as donors.

OneLegacy is the non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in the seven-county greater Los Angeles area. With more than 200 hospitals, 11 transplant centers and a diverse population of 18.6 million, OneLegacy is the largest organ, eye and tissue recovery organization in the world.

For more information visit www.OneLegacy.org, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Donate Life Run/Walk information, registration and updates are available at www.DonateLifeRunWalk.org and through our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To register to become an organ, eye, or tissue donor, visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

Contact:

Tania Llavaneras

(213) 503-9285

[email protected]

SOURCE OneLegacy

Related Links

http://www.OneLegacy.org


RARITAN, N.J., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (Ortho), a global leader of in vitro diagnostics, today announced it will sponsor five author presentations and four poster presentations at MEDLAB Asia Pacific Exhibition & Congress 2017, on topics that include markers for heart failure and acute kidney injury as well as total lab automation and transfusion medicine. The conference will be held April 3-5 in Singapore. Ortho will also host a two-day customer seminar, immediately following the conference for laboratory leaders across the region, titled "Reimagining What's Possible in the Asia Pacific Laboratory Landscape." The seminar will be held from April 6-7 at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore.



"At Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, we are committed to supporting our laboratory customers in the diagnosis of serious conditions such as heart failure and acute kidney injury as early as possible," said Iris Lin, vice president of Ortho's Asia-Pacific region. "We do this through the development of innovative assays, and also by automating systems in order to make labs more effective and efficient. We look forward to presenting our latest findings in these areas at MEDLAB Asia Pacific and at our customer seminar afterward."



Ortho-sponsored speaker presentations are:

Acute kidney injury: Prevalence, mortality, cost and challenges of managing this silent killer

Author Presentation: April 4 , Cardiac Marker Track  16:30-17:00

, Cardiac Marker Track  16:30-17:00 Presenter: Professor Salvatore Di Somma , Professor of Medicine, Chairman and Director Emergency Medicine "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy

Leveraging Total Laboratory Automation for Performance and Productivity

Author Presentation: April 4 , Clinical Chemistry Track (Session 3)  15:50-16:15

, Clinical Chemistry Track (Session 3)  15:50-16:15 Presenter: Dr Anthony O. Okorodudu , Director, Laboratory Services, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Texas , Houston , United States .

Endogenous Antibody Interferences in the Chemistry Laboratory: Trouble from the Inside

Author Presentation: April 4 , Clinical Chemistry Track (Session 2)  12:45-13:10

, Clinical Chemistry Track (Session 2)  12:45-13:10 Presenter: Dr Sutirtha Chakraborty , Chief of Clinical Biochemistry and Consultant, Peerless Hospital & B K Roy Research Centre, Kolkata, India

Natriuretic Peptides in Heart Failure: Clinical Utility and Important Challenges Laboratories Need to Be Aware of

Author Presentation: April 4 , Cardiac Markers Track  15:30-16:00

, Cardiac Markers Track  15:30-16:00 Presenter: Dr Fernando Chavez , Global Head of Medical, Clinical & Scientific Affairs, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, New Jersey , United States .

Defining the Future of Transfusion Medicine

Author Presentation: April 5 , Haematology Track - 15:50-16:15

, Haematology Track - 15:50-16:15 Presenter: Dr Kifah Shahin , Lead Network Discipline Scientist for Transfusion, NSW Pathology West, Australia

Ortho-sponsored posters are:

ORTHO VISION  Analyser - Results of Field Application Trials conducted at 2 major centres

Performance of the VITROS NephroCheck  Test*on the VITROS 3600 Immunodiagnostic System

An Evaluation of Performance of the VITROS  Immunodiagnostic Products HIV Combo Assay** at Two European Trial Sites

Comparative Study of Six Sigma Assay Performance on VITROS Systems

Products showcased in Ortho's booth K10 at MEDLAB Asia Pacific 2017 will include the company's transfusion medicine offering, The ORTHO VISION Platform as well as Ortho's flagship Integrated Clinical Chemistry and Immunodiagnostic System and the Nephrocheck Test*.

Another highlight of Ortho's presence at the meeting will be an in-booth virtual reality lab automation visualization station. Using the latest 3D technology, visitors will work with Ortho's design team to custom build their own dream laboratories. They will then tour the creations via virtual reality, learning how proprietary Ortho technology allows labs to grow and change as their needs do.

For more information on Ortho's two-day seminar for laboratory leaders, which immediately follows MEDLAB Asia-Pacific, please contact Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.



* Product has not been submitted for regulatory approval and is not yet approved for sale in Singapore, Philippines, Australia, India and Thailand.

** Product has not been submitted for regulatory approval and is not yet approved for sale in Singapore, Philippines, Australia and Thailand.

NEPHROCHECK is a trademark of Astute Medical, Inc.

About Ortho Clinical Diagnostics



Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is a global leader of in vitro diagnostics serving the clinical laboratory and immunohematology communities. Across hospitals, hospital networks, blood banks and labs in more than 120 countries, Ortho's high-quality products and services enable health care professionals to make better-informed treatment decisions. For the immunohematology community, Ortho's blood typing products help ensure every patient receives blood that is safe, the right type and the right unit. Ortho brings sophisticated testing technologies, automation, information management and interpretation tools to clinical laboratories around the world to help them run more efficiently and effectively and improve patient care. Ortho's purpose is to improve and save lives with diagnostics, and it does that by reimagining what's possible. This is what has defined Ortho for more than 75 years, and it's what drives Ortho forward. For more information, visit www.orthoclinicaldiagnostics.com.

SOURCE Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Related Links

https://www.orthoclinical.com/en-us/home


AUSTIN, Texas, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CodeLathe, a leading provider of enterprise file sharing and sync platform, today announced that Pacifica Enterprises, Inc. has chosen FileCloud to deliver remote file access and collaboration solution for its employees as they win and execute real estate and construction projects. FileCloud not only offers a simple to use remote file access, sync and sharing solution for Pacifica employees but also delivers robust administrative controls and automated backups to make life easier for Pacifica's IT department. FileCloud's experience in providing solutions to leading companies such as D.R. Horton, Stewart Title, and Hutton in real estate and construction industry provided additional reassurance to Pacifica that FileCloud was the right choice.

Pacifica Enterprises Selects FileCloud for Secure Remote File Access

Pacifica Enterprises has more than 20 years of experience in providing a broad range of specialized real estate services to both investors and institutional partners. Its activities include investment, development, leasing, construction, and property management, mainly in the United States.

"Timely investments and prompt information access and management are critical success factors for our company," Francesco Scinico, Director of Information Technology at Pacifica, explains. "Secure remote access to the latest versions of files with project, design, and financial data is part of that. Our employees know what they want in terms of functionality, user interface, and usability. FileCloud was the one solution that offered all the features we were looking for."

Pacifica's Francesco Scinico says both the superior FileCloud features and the preferences of Pacifica users motivated them in selecting FileCloud. Remote PC-to-PC solutions lacked ease of use and were not favored by users, while other cloud-based file management offerings were more expensive and did not offer seamless integration. With FileCloud, Pacifica Enterprises has now gained several significant benefits:

Remote site productivity  Executives, project managers, and other Pacifica personnel often spend a large proportion of their time working remotely, meeting with clients, and assessing real estate investments. In each case, they need the most up to date files and information available. FileCloud offers them seamless file access and collaboration on mobile computing devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

Security, confidentiality, and integrity  Investors and stakeholders are reassured when they know FileCloud security allows only authorized people to access and modify Pacifica documents. If needed, Pacifica's IT team can also enforce stricter access privileges on certain confidential documents to restrict download or sharing.

Flexible file access, as needed  Pacifica works with a variety of partners, such as construction contractors and property management firms, as well as service providers like insurance, settlement and title agencies. With FileCloud, the company can easily provide each partner with the appropriate level of access, enabling collaboration while maintaining suitable overall security.

"Businesses are looking for a faster way to bring remote access, file sharing and sync capabilities to their existing files," said Amar Kanagaraj, Chief Marketing Officer of FileCloud, "That's why FileCloud is now increasingly popular in the real estate and construction sector, as well as with businesses in general. For example, Pacifica Enterprises can now roll out its own Dropbox or Box.net style of solution with easy integration with its existing systems, robust security, and end-user satisfaction, all thanks to FileCloud."

About FileCloud

FileCloud is the fastest growing enterprise file share, sync, and mobile access solution. FileCloud is developed by CodeLathe, a technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. FileCloud is used by thousands of organizations around the world including Fortune 500 companies, governments, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and managed service providers. FileCloud can either be self-hosted or subscribed to as a SaaS, giving customers the flexibility to pick a cloud deployment model that is perfect for them. For more information or try FileCloud for free, please visit www.getfilecloud.com .

About Pacifica Enterprises, Inc.

Pacifica Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1995 to provide a broad range of specialized real estate services including investment, development, leasing, construction, and property management to select high net worth investors and institutional partners. PEI manages a diversified portfolio with an asset value of $800 million.

Media Contact:

Amar Kanagaraj

[email protected]

1 (888) 571-6480

SOURCE CodeLathe
NEWARK, N.J., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America (Panasonic), a leading provider of advanced mobile technology, video evidence capture and management solutions for the public sector, will be announcing at ISC West 2017 its next generation Arbitrator Body-Worn Camera (BWC) MK3.

Incorporating feedback from law enforcement agencies around the country, the Panasonic MK3 camera is designed to be rugged and reliable in any situation. The new version of this product has the following upgraded features: industry-leading battery life, durability, and system compatibility.

"Law enforcement and other organizations operating in harsh conditions and with no tolerance for equipment failure or inferior video have turned to Panasonic for rugged quality for years," said Panasonic Business Security Group Director Greg Peratt. "The new MK3 is designed to deliver the same tough reliability Panasonic is famous for, and is engineered to exceed law enforcement expectations for a body-worn camera."

New features of the Arbitrator BWC MK 3 include:

Battery Life More than 12-hour battery life

Durability & Reliability IP67-rated design that makes the body-worn camera resistant when exposed to dirt, drops, water submersion and other environmental conditions Rugged IP67 and MIL-STD-810G architecture

Compatibility: Compatible with Panasonic's Enterprise-Level Evidence Management Software and In-Vehicle recording systems



The MK3 will be available through Panasonic's reseller network in the Spring of 2017.

The MK3 will be on display at ISC West in Las Vegas from April 5-7, 2017.

Learn more about the Arbitrator mobile evidence capture solutions (arbitrator360.com).

Follow Panasonic Solutions for Business

Panasonic Solutions for Business can be followed on social media channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Panasonic Solutions for Business blog.

Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, delivers reliable technology solutions for government and commercial enterprises, nonprofit organizations, creative professionals and SMBs. Learn more at us.panasonic.com/business-solutions/.

About Panasonic Corp. of North America

Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good. Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to the Electric Vehicle revolution. Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news.

SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America

Related Links

http://www.panasonic.com


TOPEKA, Kan., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Payless ShoeSource ("Payless," "the Company"), the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere, offering a range of everyday and special occasion shoes and accessory items at affordable prices, announced today that it has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization pursuant to Chapter 11 of the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code to facilitate the financial and operational restructuring necessary to strengthen its balance sheet and position the Company for long-term success. The Company's North American entities, as well as two foreign Hong Kong-based entities involved in logistics (CBL) and supply chain (DAL), are included in the restructuring, which has been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis. Payless is also filing for recognition of the U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings under Part IV of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Payless will continue to operate its business in the ordinary course in terms of its customers, vendors, partners and employees.

In conjunction with the restructuring, Payless has entered into a Plan Support Agreement (PSA) with parties who hold or control approximately 2/3 of its first lien and second lien term debt to reduce its debt load by almost 50%, materially lower its annual cash interest costs, access significant additional capital and provide a path to an expedited emergence from Chapter 11 with a sustainable capital structure for the future. The PSA demonstrates the strong support of our senior lenders for a consensual restructuring and their conviction in the future of Payless, as well as providing a clear path to emergence on an expedited basis.

Under this agreed plan with its lenders, Payless intends to use the Chapter 11 process to accomplish specific objectives:

Strengthen its balance sheet and restructure Payless' debt load;

Invest in specific areas that Payless believes will provide sustainable growth including omnichannel expansion; product and inventory initiatives; and international expansion in Latin America and elsewhere; and

and elsewhere; and Optimize its store footprint, with the immediate closure of nearly 400 underperforming locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and work to aggressively manage the remaining real estate lease portfolio either by modifying terms, or evaluating closures of additional locations.

W. Paul Jones, Payless Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify. We will build a stronger Payless for our customers, vendors and suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders through this process. While we have had to make many tough choices, we appreciate the substantial support we have received from our lenders, who share our belief that we have a unique opportunity to enable Payless -- the iconic American footwear retailer with one of the best-recognized global brands -- to remain the go-to shoe store for customers in America and around the globe."

The Company is promptly seeking immediate relief from the Court though the filing of customary first day motions that will allow the Company to smoothly transition its business into Chapter 11, including, among other things, granting authority to pay pre-filing wages, salaries, benefits, honor customer programs, and pay vendors/suppliers in the ordinary course for all goods and services provided on or after the filing date. Additionally, the Company has negotiated agreements with certain of its existing lenders to provide Payless access of up to $385 million of debtor-in-possession financing, which includes access to $305 million of ABL financing and up to $80 million of new term loan financing. In total, the debtor-in-possession financing will provide Payless with access to up to $120 million in incremental liquidity during the Chapter 11 cases. This incremental liquidity will ensure that suppliers and other business partners/vendors will be paid in a timely manner for authorized goods and services provided during the Chapter 11 process, in accordance with customary terms. The $80 million of new term loan financing will also ensure the Company has the exit financing required to emerge from Chapter 11 well positioned for future growth and profitability post-restructuring.

"We are confident that this process will also enable us to leverage Payless's existing strengths to succeed," continued Mr. Jones. "These strengths include our ability to produce significant free cash flow and, even last year, flat EBITDA despite unprecedented challenges and in contrast to many retailers; our portfolio of strong proprietary brands, along with unique licensing agreements with premier brands and partners; our best-in-class design and sourcing capabilities that enable the Company to offer customers high quality products at a significant discount to peers; our strong and growing Latin American business, and a lean and scalable franchise model for other markets."

Consumers will have full access through the Payless corporate website www.paylesscorporate.com to information about the location of stores at which they can shop if their current store is being closed, as well as information about going-out-of-business sales.

The Company has also established a call center for questions: 844-648-5574 if calling from within the U.S. or Canada, or +1 347-505-5254 if calling from outside the U.S. or Canada.

Related to these activities, Payless has retained Kirkland & Ellis as its legal advisor, Guggenheim Securities as its investment banker and financial advisor and Alvarez & Marsal as its restructuring advisor.

About Payless

Payless ShoeSource is the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere, offering a wide range of fashionable shoes and accessory items at affordable prices for every member of the family. The company's mission is simple: Become the Go To, Get More, Payless shoe store for our customers. Payless has approximately 4,400 stores in more than 30 countries and was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kan. where its global headquarters remains today.

For media inquiries:

Meghan Spreer

[email protected]

785-295-6004

Cristi Allen

[email protected]

785-559-5503

This document contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "continue," "intend," "plan," "path," "emerge," "conviction," "future," "growth," "ensure," "commit," "should," "will," or "would" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or other comparable terminology and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the effect of the Chapter 11 proceeding on creditors, customers, vendors, suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders, the amount and uses of financing expected to be secured, and any and all matters relating to the Company's emergence, if any, from Chapter 11 and the Company's financial results and business performance thereafter. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this document may not in fact occur. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

SOURCE Payless ShoeSource

Related Links

http://www.paylesscorporate.com


Ava Clastics applies the latest data and ideas from academia to clastics reservoir modelling, and optimizes the transformation of geological analogues into parameters for facies modelling algorithms. It is the first of a portfolio of geoscience software-as-a-service (SaaS) products developed by PDS. Each of FAKTS, SMAKS and DMAKS will support clastic geomodelling in its target sedimentary environment while the ability to utilize all three-databases in combination will provide an integrated modelling platform across environments.

"Users of Ava Clastics will have seamless access to a rich set of analogues, delivered via user-friendly, commercial software. This will enable them to interrogate the data intelligently, asking contingent "what if" questions to improve geomodelling accuracy," said Professor Bill McCaffrey, Director, Turbidites Research Group, University of Leeds.

In June of 2016, PDS and the University of Leeds entered into the initial collaboration agreement that supported the creation of jointly developed technology, GeoCypher logic, the proprietary transformation engine within Ava Clastics that supports parameterisation of the analogues contained in the FAKTS database. The Ava Clastics commercial release was also announced at this year's AAPG Exhibition and Conference, and represents the first output from the collaboration between PDS and the University.

"Collaboration between academia and industry partners is vital for the acceleration of technology application in upstream E&P workflows, and we are very excited to represent all three of Leeds' world-class, clastic databases. Augmenting and enhancing them with intuitive workflows will help E&P operators improve their ability to predict what lies between their wells, reducing uncertainty through geologically-grounded facies modelling algorithms," commented Steve Daum, Group Managing Director of Petrotechnical Data Systems.

For journalists visiting AAPG in Houston who would like to interview or ask questions about the collaboration or the new Ava Clastics software, we will be hosting a Meet and Greet for friends of the media at 4:30 p.m. (CDT) on the PDS booth #1300.

To learn more about the collaboration or Ava Clastics, visit www.pds.group/ava-clastics

About PDS

Petrotechnical Data Systems is a leading provider of petrotechnical software solutions to the petroleum industry. For twenty-five years, PDS has delivered innovative software technologies, R&D and consulting services to the petroleum industry from technology centers in The Hague, Houston, London, and Sofia.

SOURCE Petrotechnical Data Systems

Related Links

http://www.pds.group


COMPTON, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pembrook Capital Management LLC ("Pembrook") provided a $7.57 million first mortgage loan to complete the development of Alondra Villas, a 29-unit townhouse development located at 950 West Alondra Boulevard, in Compton, California. Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County (NHS) purchased the partially completed project approximately 18 months ago from the City of Compton. The Pembrook loan will allow NHS to complete the construction of the project over the next nine months and sell the units to low and medium income (LMI) buyers.

NHS is a not-for-profit agency committed to providing housing to low income families throughout Los Angeles. They currently are the largest non-profit affordable homeownership provider in Southern California and since inception in 1984 NHS has developed and rehabilitated over 21,000 housing and commercial units, placed 4.4 million families on the path to home ownership, and invested more than $4.7B back into Los Angeles County's toughest neighborhoods.

"Pembrook shares the sponsor's dedication to bringing quality affordable housing to the neighborhoods they serve, and we are pleased to provide financing for a project that will have an immediate impact on the Compton community," said Stuart J. Boesky, CEO of Pembrook. "Despite a high demand for housing, there has not been any substantial new construction of homes for sale in this area for many years. The borrower is taking a site abandoned since the recent financial crisis and bringing an affordable homeownership opportunity to area residents that will also help revitalize and strengthen the neighborhood. This is the kind of transaction Pembrook is proud to finance and we look forward to seeing the completion of the development."

Pembrook partnered with Banc of California to provide the financing for Alondra Villas. "Banc of California is committed to serving the needs of LMI residents throughout Los Angeles and looks forward to doing even more with community partners," stated Gary Dunn, Executive Vice President of Community Development.

Mr. Boesky added, "Pembrook's ability to participate in high impact transactions such as Alondra Villas is made possible through our impact investment partners. We would like to express our gratitude to Banc of California for providing the support necessary to make this investment possible."

The Alondra Villas development will consist 29 units. The overall unit mix of the property consists of 22 three-bedroom units (1,600 SF each), five four-bedroom units (1,900 SF each) and two four-bedroom units (2,000 SF each). The property also includes 58 covered parking spaces with an additional seven guest spaces.

Pembrook is a real estate investment manager that provides financing throughout the capital structure. The firm has originated or participated in investments totaling over $1 billion since it began investing in 2007.

About Pembrook Capital Management, LLC

Founded in 2006 by Stuart J. Boesky, Pembrook Capital Management invests in and originates commercial real estate debt to finance all parts of a capital structure including first mortgages, mezzanine, bridge loans, note financings, and preferred equity across the United States. The firm invests in most commercial real estate property categories, including multifamily, office, retail and industrial. http://www.pembrookgroup.com/

Media Contact

Great Ink Communications, (212) 741-2977

Tom Nolan ([email protected])

Eric Waters ([email protected])

SOURCE Pembrook Capital Management

Related Links

http://www.pembrookgroup.com


SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Perr&Knight, a leading provider of actuarial consulting and insurance operations solutions, announces today the integration of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) and Perr&Knight's cloud-based StateFilings.com software solution. StateFilings.com is a revolutionary, customizable and easy-to-use platform designed to help insurance companies manage, document and streamline their state filings processes and procedures. Integration with SERFF further automates filing activities and documentation by eliminating the need for certain data input, which materially reduces work effort and the associated risk of human error.

"We're thrilled to partner with the NAIC. The integration of SERFF within StateFilings.com is an important step forward in the evolution of our platform and adds many valuable new capabilities," said Tim Perr, chief executive officer of Perr&Knight. "This partnership marks the continuing development of StateFilings.com as the industry standard for managing and documenting the filings processes in the insurance industry."

StateFilings.com enables insurance companies to:

Manage all filing projects, filing documents and policy forms on a centralized cloud-based platform

Improve productivity and reduce errors by automating project management activities

Provide a best practices solution to minimizing regulatory risk with respect to filings

Simplify and centralize workflow and communications

Gain valuable insights into internal projects and processes by utilizing robust and flexible dashboards and reports

Access ongoing and historical statutory filing information quickly using powerful search tools

Easily migrate older filings from SERFF into the StateFilings.com platform

For additional information or to schedule a demonstration and free trial of StateFilings.com, please visit www.perrknight.com/products/statefilings-com/ or contact us via phone or email.

CONTACT: Scott Knight

Managing Principal

Perr&Knight

310-889-0947

[email protected]

www.perrknight.com

About Perr&Knight:

Founded in 1994, Perr&Knight provides insurance consulting and software solutions to the property & casualty and accident & health industries. Services include actuarial consulting, product development, insurance policy and forms consulting, regulatory compliance, state filings, licensing, technology consulting, statistical reporting, data services, and predictive analytics. Software includes StateFilings.com, a leading cloud-based state filings management solution. With offices in Santa Monica, Boca Raton, the New York Metro Area and Fort Worth and more than 100 insurance professionals, Perr&Knight is among the largest independent actuarial and insurance consulting firms in the United States.

About the NAIC:

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Through the NAIC, state insurance regulators establish standards and best practices, conduct peer review, and coordinate their regulatory oversight. NAIC staff supports these efforts and represents the collective views of state regulators domestically and internationally. NAIC members, together with the central resources of the NAIC, form the national system of state-based insurance regulation in the U.S. For more information, visit www.naic.org.

SOURCE Perr&Knight

Related Links

http://www.perrknight.com


SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) will hold a conference call for members of the financial community on May 2, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its first quarter 2017 results. The public can access the conference call via a simultaneous webcast. The link is provided below and will also be available from the PG&E Corporation website.

What: First Quarter 2017 Earnings



When: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time



Where: http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx



How: Live over the Internet  log on to the web at the address above

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the call will be archived at http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx.

Alternatively, a toll-free replay of the conference call may be accessed shortly after the live call through May 16, 2017, by dialing (866) 415-9493. International callers may dial (205) 289-3247. For both domestic and international callers, the confirmation code 3245# will be required to access the replay.

Please contact Investor Relations at (415) 972-7080 if you have any questions.

PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a Fortune 200 energy-based holding company, headquartered in San Francisco. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, California's largest investor-owned utility. PG&E serves about 16 million Californians across a 70,000 square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.pgecorp.com.

SOURCE PG&E Corporation

Related Links

http://www.pgecorp.com


TUCSON, Ariz., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Photometrics announces that its Prime 95B Scientific CMOS camera has been recognized by the judges of the annual Vision Systems Design Innovators Awards program. The judging panel consisted of esteemed experts from system integrator and end-user companies. Photometrics was honored with a gold-level award for its Prime 95B, the first and only CMOS camera to leverage backside illuminated sensor technology for an unprecedented 95 percent quantum efficiency. Prime 95B is three times more sensitive than previous Scientific CMOS cameras and was designed to meet researchers' need to maximize light collection in low light microscopy techniques such as single molecule fluorescence, confocal imaging and super-resolution microscopy.

Photometrics Prime 95B Scientific CMOS Camera with 95% QE Recieves Vision Systems Design 2017 Innovators Award

"Prime 95B represents the next giant leap in imaging solutions for the life science community. By leveraging cutting edge technology, we developed a camera with unprecedented sensitivity and signal detection capabilities for low light microscopy," said Rachit Mohindra, Photometrics product manager. "We're honored to receive this recognition from Vision Systems Design which validates our commitment to deliver innovative products to our customers."

Alan Bergstein, publisher of Vision Systems said, "This prestigious program allows Vision Systems Design to celebrate and recognize the most innovative products and services in the vision and image processing industry. Our 2017 Honorees are an outstanding example of companies who are making an impact in the industry."

The Innovators Awards are judged based on the following criteria:

Originality

Innovation

Impact on Designers, Systems Integrators, End Users

Fulfilling a need in the market that hasn't been addressed

Leveraging a novel technology

The 2017 Visions Systems Design Innovators Awards Honorees are featured in the June Issue of Vision Systems Design magazine as well as on http://www.vision-systems.com.

Additional information about the Prime family of CMOS cameras is available at https://www.photometrics.com/prime.

About Vision Systems Design

Published since 1996, Vision Systems Design is a global resource for engineers, engineering managers and systems integrators that provides comprehensive global coverage of vision systems technologies, applications, and markets. Vision Systems Design's magazine, website (www.vision-systems.com), email newsletters and webcasts report on and analyze the latest technology and business developments and trends in the worldwide machine vision and image processing industry.

About The Vision Systems Design 2017 Innovators Awards program

The Vision Systems Design 2017 Innovators Awards program reviewed and recognized the most innovative products and services in the vision and image processing industry. Honorees were announced at Automate 2017 held in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Criteria used in the Innovators Awards ranking included: originality, innovation; impact on designers, systems integrators and end-users; fulfilling a need in the market that hasn't been addressed, leveraging a novel technology, and increasing productivity.

About Photometrics

Founded in 1978, Photometrics designs and manufactures high-performance CMOS, EMCCD and CCD cameras for life science research. The original architect of the world's first scientific-grade microscopy EMCCD camera, Photometrics continues to lead the industry with state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation for the scientific community. Photometrics also offers comprehensive OEM support, including fully characterized, cost-efficient imaging systems and components. The company is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. Additional information is available at www.photometrics.com.

 Copyright 2017, Photometrics. All rights reserved. Photometrics and the Photometrics logo are registered trademarks, and Photometrics Prime and Prime 95B are trademarks of Photometrics. All other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Product Management Contact: Press Contact: Rachit Mohindra Cyndy Nawrocki Product Manager Marketing Communications Director Photometrics Photometrics [email protected] [email protected] +1.520.547.2576 office +1.520.547.2745 office +1.520.889.9933 main +1.520.889.9933 main

SOURCE Photometrics

Related Links

https://www.photometrics.com


Goldplat plc / Ticker: GDP / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining & Exploration

4 April 2017

Goldplat plc ('Goldplat' or 'the Company')

Rand Refinery Dispute Update

On 11 July 2016 Goldplat announced a dispute with the Rand Refinery over a binding memorandum of understanding entered into with Rand Refinery to process a batch of silver sulphide material (the 'Silver Contract'). Further updates were provided in subsequent operational updates, most recently the Company's interim results announcement of 20 February 2017. Despite the final report from the independent metallurgical expert ('Independent Expert'), who was appointed jointly by both parties, having been completed, the two parties have not been able to reach a settlement. Rand Refinery has subsequently offered a settlement whereby they expect Goldplat Recovery (Pty) Ltd ('GPL') to pay a net amount to them. This proposed settlement is completely unacceptable to Goldplat.

In Goldplat's opinion, the Independent Expert's final report further strengthened the Company's contention that it fulfilled its obligations according to the terms of the Silver Contract, has acted in good faith and taken due care at all times. The Boards of Goldplat and GPL remain of the strong opinion that they should ultimately recover in full the money which is owed to the Company by Rand Refinery, of circa ZAR13.5 million (approximately 780K). Goldplat will be instigating legal proceedings against Rand Refinery.

Goldplat has taken steps to mitigate what has been referred to as "single refiner risk" and would like to re-assure shareholders that regardless of any consequences of a legal dispute, there will be no material effects on the Company's ability to have material processed and metals refined.

Gerard Kisbey-Green, CEO of Goldplat commented: "It is disappointing that after completing a thorough independent investigation into the project, we are still unable to reach agreement with Rand Refinery. We cannot accept a settlement proposal which implies that we owe Rand Refinery anything and will therefore be initiating legal proceedings immediately. We will continue to keep the market informed as to the progress of the dispute over time. In the meantime, the management of Goldplat are focussed on continuing the progress being made in all other aspects of our business, which are performing in line with expectations, and expect to report further progress following the drawdown of the recently secured loan facility."

** ENDS **

For further information visit www.goldplat.com, follow on Twitter @GoldPlatPlc or contact:

Gerard Kisbey-Green CEO Goldplat plc Tel: +27 (71) 8915775 Colin Aaronson / Jen Clarke / Daniel Bush Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100 Andrew Raca / Justin McKeegan VSA Capital Limited (Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20 3005 5000 Charlotte Page / Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd

(Financial PR) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

About Goldplat

Goldplat plc is an AIM quoted gold producer with two market leading recovery operations in South Africa and Ghana and an operational gold mine in Kenya. The Company produced 37,666oz gold FY 2016, and 21,317oz for H1 FY 2017, with expansion plans underway to further increase production.

The Company's strategy is focussed on utilising cash flow generated from its flagship gold recovery and mining operations to self-fund the sustainable growth and expansion of its niche gold recovery business model. The Company also has a small exploration portfolio in Burkina Faso and Ghana and is evaluating various opportunities to create value or monetise these assets.
LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- First 5 LA released the latest edition of the Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS), highlighting the impact quality teachers, nurturing environments and interactive and tailored approaches to learning have on children, in particular for dual-language learners from Spanish-speaking households.

The multi-year UPCOS study covers over a decade of First 5 LA's investment in Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) preschool programs and has implications in the areas of workforce development, dual language learners, and the quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). The findings underscore the need for multiple education and training opportunities for Early Care and Education (ECE) teachers and caregivers at all levels.

In Los Angeles County children under 5 years old are predominantly Latino, and many are dual language learners, suggesting not only the need to recruit bilingual teachers but to help English-only speaking teachers understand how best to support the early child education and development of this population.

"The UPCOS study highlights how components of quality may affect children with different background characteristics differently. A key finding shows children who speak Spanish particularly benefit and excel with emotionally supportive teachers," said First 5 LA Commissioner Marlene Zepeda, PhD., a former preschool and elementary school teacher, whose current work focuses on dual language learning in Spanish-speaking preschool children. "The study spotlights that a healthy socio-emotional climate in early education environments is a critical building block for young dual-language learners' future academic achievement."

One key finding indicates teachers with more years of education and higher levels of teaching permits significantly affect the quality of a child's learning in his or her formative years before entering kindergarten.

The level of quality affects outcomes in a child's early learning. For example, Spanish-speaking, dual language learners benefit from nurturing teachers who acknowledge a child's feelings and emotions. Children in emotionally supportive classrooms exhibit a more expansive and expressive vocabulary in a shorter timeframe. Poor quality hinders a young child's education development.

More precise ratings of quality result when each classroom is measured individually, as opposed to adding them together and assessing the average level of quality.

"This report highlights how important early education is, especially for dual language learners. We need to make sure all kids are able to start kindergarten ready to learn, and this study shows that for children who speak languages other than English at home, early education is an essential support. We need to make sure all children, dual language learners, have access to these important services," said California State Senator Ricardo Lara, author of the California Multilingual Education Act, which will give California public schools more control over dual language acquisition programs.

According to the research, the report sheds light on a demand for multiple education and training opportunities for Early Care Education (ECE) teachers and caregivers at all levels.

"This research further validates what's been learned across the nation: implementing a quality rating improvement system positively impacts children and propels them onto a successful academic path. With our partners, we are striving to increase the number of early learning programs participating in QRIS, so these beneficial outcomes can impact more and more families throughout L.A. County and California," Scott Hippert, LAUP chief executive officer, said.

In 2004, First 5 LA founded Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) as an independent nonprofit organization with a mission to improve access to, and the quality of, early education for children in Los Angeles County. Since then LAUP has leveraged First 5 LA's initial allocation of $580 million to help more than 130,000 children in over 800 preschools prepare for success in kindergarten and beyond.

To support, evaluate and learn from this investment, First 5 LA commissioned the Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS). UPCOS is a multiyear study of LAUP programs and child progress conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in collaboration with First 5 LA and LAUP. The findings and lessons learned from this study have been used to continually improve programs and document outcomes.

To view UPCOS brief, click here.

ABOUT FIRST 5 LA

First 5 LA is a leading early childhood advocacy and public grant-making organization created by California voters to invest Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenues in Los Angeles County. In partnership with others, First 5 LA strengthens families, communities, and systems of services and supports so that all children in L.A. County enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life. Please visit www.first5la.org for more information.

ABOUT LAUP

Guided by research, LAUP works to improve the quality of early learning programs; to strengthen the engagement between the parents of young children and their teachers and caregivers; and to advance public policies that invest in the future of America by putting children first.

SOURCE First 5 LA

Related Links

http://www.first5la.org


DUNBRIDGE, Ohio, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Principle Business Enterprises (PBE), Inc., a technology leader in moisture management products, announces the acquisition of the business assets and operations of Absorbent Products Company, Inc. of Bowling Green, Ohio. "The acquisition of APCI is consistent with our mission, by allowing us to enter new markets and expand our ability to provide the highest quality products and services to our customers and business partners," says Chuck Stocking, Co-CEO of PBE. "APCI employs a technical workforce with skills that complement the current PBE team. They also have valuable production machinery that is needed to fuel PBE's current growth in the incontinence and personal care marketplace." Stocking adds "This acquisition is also great for Northwest Ohio because it keeps at least 35 jobs in the area that might otherwise be moved out of the state or possibly out of the country."

PBE is widely recognized as the leading manufacturer of high-performing adult incontinence products under the brand name Tranquility. The company also serves Medicaid Managed Care organizations with its best-in-class Select brand of incontinence products. The high quality of these products has been shown to drive waste and cost out of healthcare, improve clinical outcomes, and uplift the quality of life for users and caregivers dealing with incontinence. Building on 30 years of success in the healthcare sector, PBE has recently expanded its moisture management technology to wound care. The company's absorbent and wound cleansing products marketed under the brand name NovaGran have demonstrated the highest effectiveness in accelerating healing of the most difficult-to-heal wounds.

PBE is headquartered in Dunbridge, Ohio where it manufactures its moisture management products. "Our mission is to uplift, enlighten, and enrich the lives of those we serve, including our associates, customers, business partners, and the surrounding community," says Chuck Stocking.

APCI, founded by Paul and Amy Rankin, is a highly-respected producer of private label absorbent products as well as incontinence products marketed under the brand name Compaire. APCI's absorbent pads, lab tray liners, and specialty dressings have proven effective in the trapping and disposal of undesirable fluids. Chuck Stocking says "Paul Rankin has built a respected company with an excellent team that we are honored to preserve as an ongoing business operation."

Contact: Andrew Stocking

Daytime phone: (800) 467-3224 ex. 222

Email: [email protected]

Release Date: April 4, 2017

SOURCE Principle Business Enterprises, Inc.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has announced the winners of the 2017 Human Exploration Rover Challenge, held March 31 to April 1 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Ramon Quinones Medina High School of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, won first place in the high school division, with a time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds. The University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Team 1 won the college/university division with a time of 4 minutes, 21 seconds. Both teams had the fastest race times in their divisions, with the fewest on-course penalties.

The event requires student teams to design, build, test and race human-powered rovers, driven by one male and one female. The obstacles throughout the nearly three-quarter-mile course simulate terrain found on Mars, as well as other planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system.

This year's race had a new, optional feature called the "Drive Train Technology Challenge." Teams developed reliable systems such as belts, drive shafts or direct drives to replace commonly used chains.

Nearly 100 high school and college teams took part in the competition, coming from 23 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as several different countries, including Brazil, Germany, India and Mexico.

Rover Challenge highlights NASA's goals for future exploration to Mars and beyond. Inspired by the lunar roving vehicles of the Apollo moon missions, the competition challenges students to solve engineering problems, while highlighting NASA's commitment to inspiring new generations of scientists, engineers and explorers. It is hosted by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and is managed by Marshall's Academic Affairs Office.

For more information on Rover Challenge, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html

Replays of the race are available on the Marshall Ustream site:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

The complete list of award winners is provided below.

2017 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge Awards

High School Division

First Place: Ramon Quinones Medina High School of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico , with a time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds

of Yabucoa, , with a time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds Second Place: Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology of Reno, Nevada , with a time of 5 minutes, 9 seconds

, with a time of 5 minutes, 9 seconds Third Place: Teodoro Aguilar Mora of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico , with a time of 6 minutes, 20 seconds

College/University Division

First Place: University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Team 1, with a time of 4 minutes, 21 seconds

Team 1, with a time of 4 minutes, 21 seconds Second Place: Rhode Island School of Design of Providence , with a time of 6 minutes, 45 seconds

of , with a time of 6 minutes, 45 seconds Third Place: University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, with a time of 7 minutes, 14 seconds

"On to Mars" Sample Return Challenge Award

High School Division: Virginia City High School of Virginia City, Nevada

University Division: Purdue University Northwest Team 1 of Hammond, Indiana

Neil Armstrong Best Design Award

High School Division: Parish Episcopal Team 1 of Dallas

University Division: University of Colorado Denver

Technology Challenge Award

Rhode Island School of Design

Drive Train Technology Challenge Award

Middle Tennessee State University Team 1 of Murfreesboro

Featherweight Award

High School Division: Ramon Quinones Medina High School

University Division: University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Team 1

The Telemetry/Electronics Award

Pittsburg State University Team 1 of Pittsburg, Kansas

Crash and Burn Award

Drexel University Team 2 of Philadelphia

Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award

High School Division: Colegio Santa Terezinha of Brazil

University Division: Tech de Monterrey Cuernavaca of Mexico

Team Spirit Award

Purdue University Northwest Team 1

Rookie of the Year Award

High School Division: Ramon Quinones Medina High School

University Division: University of Colorado Denver

Jesco von Puttkamer International Team Award

High School Division: Colegio Santa Terezinha

University Division: Tech de Monterrey Cuernavaca

Best Report Award

Parish Episcopal Team 1

Most Improved Award

High School Division: Huntsville Center for Technology of Huntsville, Alabama

University Division: University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

The System Safety Award

High School Division: Pana High School of Pana, Illinois

of University Division: Middle Tennessee State University Team 1

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Questback, the global leader in enterprise feedback management, announces CEO Frank Mllerop will present at the Young Jewish Professionals' CEO Cloud Computing, Digital Payments and Cyber Security Symposium in New York City. The symposium represents a unique offering for today's top leaders as it brings together CEOs, Presidents and other C-level executives to create a collaborative and innovative environment for executives to engage in productive, in-depth conversations.

Questback CEO Frank Mllerop

With a high-caliber speaker lineup including Slack, MasterCard, SAP, Wyndham Worldwide and Morgan Stanley, Mllerop will discuss cloud computing, data privacy and the journey towards a server-less public cloud. "Data privacy and security are foundational layers in creating and protecting your most important relationships, both customers and employees," states Mllerop. "At Questback, we follow a strict privacy by default and by design strategy, making data privacy central to all of our operations." Handling an untold amount of data around the world, Mllerop has an extensive history with privacy, security and, most importantly, protecting the hard-won trust of customers.

Underscoring the symposium, a key tenet to innovation is fostering a dynamic, continuous conversation  continuous feedback. "While most think innovation is synonymous with new products or services, it is truly implementing new ways of doing the same tasks," states Mllerop. "Transformation is the new constant in business. Innovation embodies and catalyzes the transformation needed, and required, today." While creativity - imaging new ideas - is a starting point, it is through implementation that new ideas are realized. As such, the symposium not only focuses on ideation, but also operational execution and success in overcoming challenges facing today's executive leaders.

With a track record for complying with the most stringent privacy standards internationally, Questback enterprise feedback technology continues to be transformative through its innovative solutions. Combining customer experience, employee engagement and business metrics (such as financial performance), Questback delivers a continuous feedback loop, enabling business to spark the dialogue required to truly innovate, and in doing so, improve the methods with which they operate their business. Continuous innovation requires continuous feedback - to gather ideas, evolve ideas into action, and bridge the gap between strategic planning and operational execution.

ABOUT THE YOUNG JEWISH PROFESSIONAL'S 2017 CEO CYBER SYMPOSIUM

The Young Jewish Professionals is a non-profit New York City-based organization focused on providing business, educational and social networking opportunities for the new generation of Jewish business leaders. In today's ever-evolving business landscape, a company's success is contingent on high levels of innovation and the establishment of strong relationships and networks. YJP's CEO Cloud Computing, Digital Payments & Cyber Security Symposium will serve as a powerful catalyst to develop new strategies and ideas, solutions to challenges and fuel collaborations so that participants can return to the companies they lead better equipped to ensure success.

ABOUT QUESTBACK

Questback is a global leader in enterprise feedback management solutions, allowing businesses to reach out, gather insight, take action, and continuously improve the way they operate. More than 5,000 companies worldwide, including one third of the Forbes Global 2000 such as DHL, John Lewis, General Mills and Swiss, rely on Questback solutions. As businesses merge historically separate disciplines, bringing together employee and customer insight to enable better business decisions, Questback is uniquely positioned to deliver an actionable view of businesses' ability to build long-term bonds of loyalty with both employees and customers for sustained performance. People matter. Get their insight.

Learn more at www.questback.com.

Contact:

Roslyn Sakaguchi

8324828003

[email protected]

SOURCE Questback

Related Links

http://www.questback.com


KIRCHHEIM/TECK, Germany, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A total of 123,719 people participated in the 2017 "auto motor und sport" best brand readers' choice poll, in which they chose their favorite brand. In the end, the result was overwhelmingly clear: In the sport seats category, more than 89.7 percent of the votes went to Recaro Automotive Seating, a full 72.3 percent points ahead of the second-place finisher. Adient's product group thereby achieved the best result across all of the categories.

The result of the "Motorsport aktuell" readers' choice poll was similarly impressive. About 3,000 participants voted for their favorites in each of the sixteen categories within the automobile racing field. The final result: In the sport seats category, 79.6 percent of all votes were cast for the Recaro brand, the best result across all areas rated and 41.9 points ahead of the second-place finisher. In the selection of the best "racing seat/shell," Recaro Automotive Seating was able to attract 70.2 percent of the vote, a 36.3 point lead over its closest competitor.

Recaro Automotive Seating was also many lengths ahead of its competitors in the opinion of "Auto Bild" readers. The victory in this readers' choice poll, in which about 60,000 readers participated, rounded out the series of wins. With 87 percent of the votes, Recaro Automotive Seating took the top spot on the winners' podium in the sport seats category. "We are very proud of these results, especially as we were able to decisively win all four polls with an exceptionally clear margin," said Markus Kussmaul, executive director of the Adient specialty seating group and the person responsible for the worldwide business of Recaro Performance Car Seating. "This success confirms our strategy of never resting on our laurels, but rather continuing to search, day after day, for even better solutions for our customers. The top spots in best brand readers' choice polls from these renowned German industry publications represent yet another motivational boost for our entire team."

About Recaro Automotive Seating:

Recaro Automotive Seating is a product group of Adient. At eight locations in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Japan, Mexico, and the USA, we design, manufacture, and market complete seats representative of our core competencies of design, ergonomics, craftsmanship, robustness, lightweight construction, and first-class workmanship, under the brand name Recaro. Recaro Automotive Seating consists of two units: While Recaro Performance Car Seating offers passenger car seats for OEMs and the aftermarket, Recaro Commercial Vehicle Seating focuses on commercial vehicle seats in the OEM and aftermarket segments.

About Adient:

Adient is a global leader in automotive seating. With 75,000 employees operating 230 manufacturing/assembly plants in 33 countries worldwide, Adient produces and delivers automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, the company's expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Adient's integrated, in-house skills allow it to take products from research and design all the way to engineering and manufacturing  and into more than 25 million vehicles every year. To learn more, please visit adient.com.

Press releases:

www.recaro-automotive.com/en/press/news

SOURCE Recaro Automotive Seating

Related Links

http://www.recaro-automotive.com


RAMQTT, Red Lion's MQTT client, simplifies implementations with pre-configured profiles for AT&T  M2X, Amazon  AWS IoT, AutoDesk  Fusion Connect and Telenor Connexion. Customers can connect using a simple drop-down menu to select their cloud platform of choice. Also, using the RAM Software Development Kit (SDK), connectivity can be enabled with additional platforms, including LEC IQ Web SCADA, Set-Point IPwebcontrol, Skkynet Skkyhub, and Telit deviceWISE.

"Our RAM products deliver reliable, secure and scalable connectivity to several leading IIoT cloud providers, giving customers different options and the ability to rapidly establish communications and push data to the cloud," said Colin Geis, Director of Product Management, IIoT Red Lion Controls. "This gives customers a fast and easy solution for collecting, monitoring and controlling remote assets using MQTT. By adding RAMQTT to the existing Modbus and DNP3 communications capabilities of our RAM products, we are providing customers with even greater flexibility to interact with a broad range of IIoT cloud platforms."

In addition to cloud integration and cellular connectivity, RAM products also provide a powerful event engine and an integrated I/O database which streamlines the creation and storage of data tags. The combination of cloud connectivity, reliable cellular communication and easy-to-connect cloud support provides customers with a seamless IIoT solution.

Red Lion's RAM products also offer multiple serial and Ethernet ports and optional I/O, Wi-Fi and an active GPS to securely monitor and control remote devices over 4G LTE cellular networks. By providing data visibility, control and real-time notifications on field-deployed equipment and processes, the RAM platform enables organizations to take advantage of the benefits of IIoT.

For more information on Red Lion's Sixnet series RAM industrial cellular RTUs, visit www.redlion.net/RAM.

About Red Lion Controls

As the global experts in communication, monitoring and control for industrial automation and networking, Red Lion has been delivering innovative solutions for over 40 years. Our automation, Ethernet and cellular M2M technology enables companies worldwide to gain real-time data visibility that drives productivity. Product brands include Red Lion, N-Tron and Sixnet. With headquarters in York, Pennsylvania, the company has offices across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Red Lion is part of Spectris plc, the productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company. For more information, please visit www.redlion.net.

2017 Red Lion Controls, Inc. All rights reserved. Red Lion, the Red Lion logo, Sixnet and RAM are registered trademarks of Red Lion Controls, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Rebecca Cressler

Red Lion Controls

+1 (717) 767-6961 x6904

[email protected]

Stephen Oakes

LEWIS

+1 (781) 418-2472

[email protected]

www.redlion.net

SOURCE Red Lion Controls

Related Links

http://www.redlion.net


Titled 'Flyer 1' and 'Flyer 22' respectively, the naming of each vehicle acts as a deeper representation to shed light on a community coming together as ONE in support of the 22 veterans that take their own lives each day. Built originally in the 1990s by Raceco International (Flyer Group) as a vehicle optimized for both speed and cross-country capability, the 'Flyer 1' uses Baja-proven race technology to maximize performance.

To document the passion and purpose behind this project, Revant Optics is producing a short-form video series, Mission: One for 22, highlighting the veterans who will be driving 'Flyer 1' and 'Flyer 22' and giving viewers an exclusive look inside the Warfighter Made garage to experience the buildout of the 'Flyer 22'.

"Partnering with Warfighter Made is a tangible way Revant can show our gratitude for the men and women who have served our country. We have a lot of veterans in the Revant community, and they have noted how much they appreciate us giving them the ability to bring new life to the sunglasses they wore in the service. We love hearing these stories, and this partnership with Warfighter Made gives us the opportunity to further support our veterans," says Jason Bolt, Revant Optics Founder and CEO. Eyewear is one of the few items that can transition from service uniform to civilian life, and it is the goal of Revant Optics to revolutionize the eyewear market, giving new life to old sunglasses and restoring confidence in users who are tough on their eyewear but are not looking to spend a fortune on replacement lenses. Starting April 4th, 2017 Revant Optics will be donating 1% of sales for 22 days to Warfighter Made as part of the initiative to support our veterans.

During the upcoming NORRA Mexican 1000, the 'Flyer 1' is registered to drive by Racing4Vets SoCal team, also friends of Warfighter Made, including retired LT SEAL Brian Trotter, retired RADM USN Mike Shatynski, retired CPL USMC Cody Elliott, USA veteran Martha Tansy, USA veteran Sean Sullivan and retired CWO4 SEAL Tim King. Operated by Warfighter Made, 'Flyer 22' is registered to drive with retired MSgt USMC Rob Blanton, Sgt USMC Juan Mendez, retired Sgt USMC Kirstie Ennis (combat wounded single leg amputee), retired Sgt USMC Marcus Cischilly (combat wounded single leg amputee), retired SSgt USMC Narayana Devone, retired LCpl USMC Jesse Williamson (combat wounded double leg amputee). Together, the integrated team looks to carry on the unified messagestanding as 1 to STOP 22. See the full story unfold via www.revantoptics.com/warfighter-made and view Episode 1: Mission ONE for 22 HERE.

About Revant Optics

Established in 2010, Portland, OR-based Revant Optics (@revantoptics) is a leading provider of premium aftermarket replacement lenses. By selling directly to consumers at fair prices and putting a strong emphasis on customer experience, they have served over 500,000 customers in 150 countries and were named Inc. magazine's 500/5000 list of "America's Fastest Growing Private Companies" in 2014, 2015 and 2016. To learn more about Revant, visit www.revantoptics.com.

About Warfighter Made

Warfighter Made is a non-profit organization that adapts and customizes combat wounded Veteran's vehicles. Through organizing off-road events and outdoor adventures, their team works to provide recreational therapy to ill and injured Veteran's. Warfighter Made proudly partners with other like-minded non-profits, businesses, and individuals to ensure Veterans get the best support and experience possible. For more on Warfighter Made please visit www.warfightermade.org.

SOURCE Revant Optics

Related Links

http://www.revantoptics.com


WESTPORT, Conn., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- REX Shares, LLC (REX) today announced its short volatility fund, the REX VolMAXX Short VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMIN), achieved a total return of +187.20% (NAV) from its launch on May 2, 2016 through March 31, 2017. Though the VIX1 performance over the same time period was 15.74%, the fund generally benefitted from rolling short VIX futures contracts. REX also today announced that VMIN will issue a special dividend to its shareholders of record as of April 17, 2017.

As the first ETF of its kind, VMIN seeks to provide exposure to movements in the VIX Index by maintaining a weighted average time to expiry of its investments in VIX contracts of less than 30 days at all times. VMIN gains exposure to VIX Futures Contracts, which are considered commodities, by investing up to 25% of its total assets, as measured at the end of every quarter of the Fund's taxable year, in a wholly-owned and controlled Cayman Islands subsidiary. As a result of the earnings and profit achieved by the Cayman Islands subsidiary over the course of the taxable year, VMIN will issue a special dividend to its shareholders of record as of April 17, 2017. Important dates for this special dividend are as follows:

Declaration Date: April 4, 2017

Ex-Date: April 12, 2017

Record Date: April 17, 2017

Pay Date: April 18, 2017

For more information visit www.volmaxx.com.

About REX

REX Shares, LLC ("REX") creates intelligently engineered alternatives ETFs that help investors navigate turbulent markets and preserve wealth. REX was founded with a focus on gold and volatility based investment strategies. REX is based in Westport, CT.

The market price return for VMIN was 188.88% from its inception through March 31, 2017. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Performance quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so you may have a gain or loss when shares are sold. Current performance may be higher or lower than that quoted. Short term performance is not a good indication of the fund's future performance, and an investment should not be made based solely on returns. Shares are bought and sold at market prices and not individually redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. NAV is calculated using prices as of 4:15 PM Eastern Time. The closing price is the Mid-Point between the Bid and the Ask price as of the close of the exchange. VMIN's expense ratio is 1.45%.

1 The Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated ("CBOE") Volatility Index (the "VIX") seeks to measure the market's current expectation of 30-day volatility of the S&P 500 Index, as reflected by the prices of near-term S&P 500 Index options.

Disclosures

Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risk factors, charges and expenses before investing. This and additional information can be found in the Funds' prospectus, which may be obtained by calling 1-844-REX-1414. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

The Funds should be utilized only by investors who (a) understand the risks associated with seeking short term investment exposure, (b) are willing to assume a high degree of risk, (c) understand the risks of shorting and (d) intend to actively monitor and manage their investments in the Funds.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. These Funds are actively managed and there are no guarantees investments selected and strategies employed will achieve the intended results. Active management may also increase transaction costs. The Funds expect to invest primarily in VIX futures contracts, which are considered commodities. VMAX and VMIN are not benchmarked to the VIX Index, which is calculated based on the prices of put and call options on the S&P 500 Index. As such, both Funds can be expected to perform very differently from the VIX Index. Although VMIN seeks to provide "short" exposure, the Fund does not promise or seek to provide any specific negative multiple of the performance of the VIX Index or VIX Futures Contracts over any specified period of time.

The use of derivatives, such as futures contracts, swap agreements and options, presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, rate or index. Gains or losses in a derivative may be magnified and may be much greater than the derivative's original cost. The derivatives may not always be liquid. This could have a negative effect on the Funds' ability to achieve its investment objective and may result in losses.

The Funds will invest in exchange-traded notes and exchange-traded funds, and will be subject to the risks associated with such vehicles. The Funds' performance will be directly related to the performance of those investments.

The return for investors that invest in VMIN for periods other than a full trading day will differ from VMIN's stated daily inverse investment objective. During periods of high volatility, VMIN may not perform as expected and may have losses when an investor may have expected gains if VMIN is held for a period that is different than one trading day.

The Funds are non-diversified. Indexes are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index.

Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC serves as the investment advisor and Vident Financial serves as sub advisor to the fund. The Funds are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (One Freedom Valley Dr., Oaks, PA 19456), which is not affiliated with Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC or any of its affiliates.

SOURCE Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC

Related Links

http://www.exchangetradedconcepts.com


Throughout the three-part, three-hour series, Coulson examines the role of innovation, the universal search for educational excellence and  for better or worse  the application of the profit motive. School Inc. will be available to PBS stations starting April 4. (Check local listings.)

In episode one, The Price of Excellence, Coulson explores the educational establishment, its history and the politics that sometimes impede the growth of good schools, effective teachers, as well as the involvement of entrepreneur educators.

He begins his journey in a one-room 19th century schoolhouse in Easton, Maryland. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century, inventions like New England's automated textile mills give rise to innovations that are quickly replicated, but not so in the education field, notes Coulson.

Horace Mann (1796-1859), the lawyer and legislator who became America's first head of a state board of education recognized this lack as a significant problem in education. As Mann put it, "if any improvement in principles or modes of teaching is discovered in one school, instead of being published to the world, it dies with the discoverer Now if a manufacturer discovers a new mode of applying steam power, the information flies over the country at once, the old machinery is discarded, the new is substituted."

Through Mann's efforts to put education into the hands of state-appointed experts and state-trained teachers, universal public education was born.

From New England, Coulson travels to East Los Angeles, CA, to tell the story of Jaime Escalante, a math teacher at Garfield High, and the educational excellence he created in the classroom, a story which would became the subject of the Hollywood film Stand and Deliver.

Episode one concludes in Seoul, South Korea, where students eagerly enroll in afterschool tutoring programs called "Hagwons," and we meet teachers who are considered rock stars in education, one professor disclosing his annual salary is more than a million dollars.

In episode two, Push or Pull, Coulson investigates why excellent private schools in America such as Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield, MI, have not "scaled up" to replicate their excellence on a larger scale, and ultimately, serve more students.

But is there some place where scaling up excellence is happening? To answer the question, School Inc. looks at America's charter schools like the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Academy in Austin, TX, part of the highly successful KIPP network of schools; the Sabis School in Springfield, MA; and the American Indian Charter School in Oakland, CA.

Even though some charter schools are highly successful, when they are seen to compete with public schools, some public school districts have voted to shut down the charter school. But not every charter and public school encounter has a negative outcome. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city's charter schools provided the facilities and services the other schools needed.

Coulson ends this episode in South America with a comparison of how the success of Chile's wine industry set the scene for the growth of the country's successful school networks.

In episode three, Forces and Choices, Coulson examines the success of for-profit education traveling to private schools in Sweden, India, and London, where the resistance to education as a business has lessened.

In Sweden, where all private schools are fully tax supported and parents can choose between these "free" schools and the local public schools, Coulson pays a visit to two different private schools. At the International English School, strict rules on student behavior are extolled and there is a high degree of student-teacher interaction. At Kunskapsskolan he learns about the profit motive and the school's expansion not only in Sweden but also in London. Peje Emilsson, administrator at Kunskapsskolan says, "all entrepreneurs who succeed are being driven by the goal to change something. Profit is a receipt to show that you've done it in a successful way, but the primary goal is not to make a lot of money."

In India there are private schools that serve poor students and parents at little more than a dollar a week. Internationally acclaimed educator James Tooley, who has spent 10 years in India studying both the private and free public (or government) schools, comments on the abuses in the government school system contrasted with the achievements of these private schools.

The series comes full circle back to the English countryside where the Industrial Revolution began and reiterates the premise that education is the only field in which successful entrepreneurship is not celebrated.

"What if we allowed all education entrepreneurs to put their own money on the line in an effort to better serve us, gaining or losing just as entrepreneurs do in other fields," says Coulson "And what if we made sure that everyone had access to that wide-open market place? Would we then see excellence scale-up in education?" Coulson, an education policy analyst, was passionate about his work and prior to his death in February 2016 made arrangements to ensure School Inc. would be completed.

Andrew Coulson, who died shortly after completing initial production on this series, was trained in mathematics and computer science at Canada's McGill University. He began his first career as a Microsoft software engineer in 1989. But in January 1994, troubled by the fact that teaching and learning were being left behind by the relentless progress in other fields, he left the computer industry to pursue his love of education. He was the author of Market Education: The Unknown History, the only book to address contemporary education policy questions by drawing on case studies of recorded human history. His 2009 paper for the peer-reviewed Journal of School Choice was the most comprehensive review of the worldwide scientific literature comparing alternative education systems. In 2011 he conducted a statistical study titled "The Other Lottery: Are Philanthropists Backing the Best Charter Schools?" He had testified before the United States House and Senate on the state of American education and co-authored amicus briefs for the United States Supreme Court.

School Inc. is a production of Free To Choose Media in association with THIRTEEN Productions, LLC for WNET. Andrew Coulson is creator/writer/director. Kay Krewson is associate producer. Leigh Anne Sides is producer and supervising editor. Thomas Skinner and Bob Chitester are executive producers.

Major funding for School Inc. is provided by the Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation and Prometheus Foundation. Additional funding is provided by Gleason Family Foundation and The Steve and Lana Hardy Foundation.

About WNET

WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21 . WNET also operates NJTV , the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature , Great Performances , American Masters , PBS NewsHour Weekend , Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math , Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US , the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS , Theater Close-Up , NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus , the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person , and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill . In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport .

SOURCE WNET

Related Links

http://www.thirteen.org/


Oslo, Norway, 4 April 2017: The Board of Directors of Targovax ASA (the "Company") has resolved to grant 172,000 options to subscribe for shares in the Company to employees under the Company's long term incentive program.

Each option, when exercised, will give the right to acquire one share in the Company. The options are granted without consideration. Pursuant to the vesting schedule, 25% of the options will vest 12 months after the day of grant (as long as the option holder is still employed). Thereafter, 1/36 of the remaining options will vest each month as long as the option holder is still employed, with the first 1/36 vesting 13 months after the day of grant. The exercise price is equal to the volume weighted average trading price of the shares of the Company on Oslo Brs on the date of the grant. Options that have not been exercised will lapse 7 years after the date of grant.

Primary insiders in Targovax ASA have received the following options grants, according to the terms

described above:

Chief Financial Officer Erik Wiklund has been granted 150,00 share options, each with a strike price of NOK 21.16 (equal to the share price on 31 March 2017). Following the grant, he holds no shares and 150,000 options in the Company.

Investor Relation Renate Birkeli has been granted 22,00 share options, each with a strike price of NOK 8.01 (equal to the share price on 8 August 2016). Following the grant, she holds no shares and 22,000 options in the Company.

###

For further information please contact:

ystein Soug, CEO

Phone: +47 906 56 525

Email: oystein.soug@targovax.com



This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.


NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brunswick Group, a leading corporate advisory firm, announced today that Scott Patrick has joined as a Partner. Based in New York, Scott will work with clients across the U.S. and globally. With over twenty years of experience in investment banking, Scott will focus on supporting clients during M&A and other financial situations.

Scott also has deep financial industries experience, with specific expertise in financial technology, having joined Brunswick from GCA Advisors where he was a Managing Director covering Financial Technology, an area he also specialised in at Evercore. At Evercore, Scott was as an original member of the Financial Institutions Group, helping to build it into one of Evercore's largest practices. Scott began his career at Morgan Stanley where he was for 12 years.

Susan Gilchrist, Group Chief Executive, said: "We have seen global M&A become increasingly complex for our clients. Having someone with Scott's background and deep investment banking experience will bring a new dimension to our M&A and broader financial situations offer. In addition, his financial technology expertise, which is such an exciting and fast growing area, will further strengthen the firm's Financial Industries Group. We are delighted he has joined."

On joining, Brunswick Scott Patrick said: "I am excited to start this new chapter of my career at Brunswick. I was attracted by the strength of the culture and quality of people at the firm. Brunswick also has a fantastic range of clients, and I am looking forward to combining my experience with that of the strong team already in place to be able to support clients on major financial situations."

Brunswick topped Mergermarket's global M&A rankings in 2016 and has worked on many of the largest and most complex transactions of recent years, including for 21st Century Fox on their bid for Sky, for Bayer on their bid for Monsanto and for AB InBev on their acquisition of SAB Miller.

Biography

Scott Patrick

Scott Patrick has more than 20 years of experience covering financial technology and financial services firms as both an investment banker and an equity research analyst. He joins Brunswick from GCA Advisors, where he was a Managing Director in the Financial Technology Group. During his time at GCA and Evercore Partners, where Scott previously worked for over 10 years and most recently served as Head of Payments investment banking, he advised on a broad range of mandates spanning M&A advisory, private and public capital raises, JV formation, and strategic review assignments. In addition to both traditional payments and emerging payments technologies, Scott's sector expertise includes exchanges, alternative trading platforms, online brokers, interdealer brokers, high frequency trading firms, and post-trade services providers.

Prior to joining Evercore in 2005, Scott worked at Morgan Stanley for 12 years, most recently as the firm's lead equity research analyst covering the financial technology industry. He was also a member of the Asset Management & Brokerage research team, ranked No. 1 in the Institutional Investor poll for four consecutive years (2000-2003). Before joining Morgan Stanley's equity research department in 1999, Scott held roles in both M&A and investment management at the firm. He earned a B.A. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from Williams College.

About Brunswick Group

Brunswick Group LLP is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. Founded in 1987, Brunswick is an organically grown, private partnership with 23 offices around the world. For more information, visit: www.brunswickgroup.com.

Contact

Cecilia Arradaza

Tel: (202) 393-7337

[email protected]

SOURCE Brunswick Group

Related Links

http://www.brunswickgroup.com


OREM, Utah, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Many businesses still struggle with PCI compliance, making them vulnerable to data attacks. According to SecurityMetrics' latest forensic data, the average merchant, at the time of data compromise, wasn't compliant with at least 47% of PCI DSS requirements.

The SecurityMetrics 2017 Guide to PCI DSS compliance demonstrates recent forensic data to show where many businesses are not compliant.

Key forensic takeaways from the guide include:

The average organization was vulnerable for 1,021 days

39% of organizations were breached through insecure remote access

56% of organizations had memory-scraping malware installed on their system

The 2017 guide also reviews the 12 PCI requirements and gives tips on how to achieve compliance with each requirement. It includes insights from experienced QSAs and refined individual checklists that provide needed information to reach compliance.

"We specifically designed this document as a reference to help merchants and service providers address the most problematic issues within the 12 PCI DSS requirements," says VP of Assessments Gary Glover.

Additional elements from the guide include:

Details on data breach predictions for 2017

Information on recent guidance supplements published by the PCI SSC

Tips to creating a working PCI DSS budget

Download the 2017 SecurityMetrics Guide to PCI DSS Compliance:

http://info.securitymetrics.com/pci-guide

To learn more about SecurityMetrics or PCI DSS compliance, contact 801.705.5665, email [email protected], or visit www.securitymetrics.com/pci.

For press inquiries, contact 801.995.6516 or email [email protected].

About SecurityMetrics (www.securitymetrics.com)

SecurityMetrics protects electronic commerce and payments leaders, global acquirers, and their retail customers from security breaches and data theft. The company is a leading provider and innovator in merchant data security, and as an Approved Scanning Vendor and Qualified Security Assessor, has tested over 1 million payment systems for data security and compliance. Among other things, SecurityMetrics offers PCI level 4 compliance programs, PCI audits, mobile device vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and forensic analysis. Founded in October 2000, SecurityMetrics is a privately held company headquartered in Orem, Utah, USA.

SOURCE SecurityMetrics

Related Links

http://www.securitymetrics.com


ATLANTA, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Restaurants are a driving force of the Southeast's economy. They provide jobs, build careers and play a vital role in communities for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the region. According to the National Restaurant Association, Georgia will see restaurant sales of nearly $20 billion in 2017. Significantly contributing to this trend is Shane's Rib Shack, which is experiencing its second year of highest average unit volume (AUV) since it started franchising, as well as sustaining an above industry unit increase year-over-year. While other brands look to increase store counts, Shane's Rib Shack has experienced success through a strategic focus on increasing its AUV, which is a model that has resulted in sustainable growth.

"Trends are here today and gone tomorrow. We are staying true to what we have always done, which is provide customers with real authentic BBQ and a memorable dining experience," says Shane Thompson, president and founder of Shane's Rib Shack. "Our AUV increase is a result of our laser focus on simplifying operations, improving food quality and providing excellent customer service."

Shane's Rib Shack's relationship with local suppliers, distributors and community members allow for new and existing franchisees to share the benefits of joining a regional franchise company. Specifically, in 2017, Shane's Rib Shack signed an advantageous contract with its pork producer which has put the brand in a great position to succeed and avoid raising prices. Additionally, customers have responded well to the brand's all-natural menu offerings, such as its antibiotic and hormone-free chicken and fresh vegetables. New Shane's Rib Shack locations such as Montgomery, Ala., Rock Hill, S.C. and Gastonia, N.C. have benefitted and are experiencing record sales.

Fan Favorite Event Gets Bigger for the Company's 15th Anniversary

As a thank you to its loyal fan base and the communities in which the restaurant serves, Shane's Rib Shack will host its eighth annual Rib Giveaway on Saturday, April 29. The first 101 guests at participating locations will receive a free half rack of slow-smoked baby back ribs, a 20-ounce beverage and special edition numbered Rib Giveaway t-shirt to kick off summer BBQ season. The line will begin at 8 a.m. at each location and participants must be 13 years or older to qualify.

"Our loyal fans are why we want to celebrate along with 15 years in business. The Rib Giveaway was designed to recognize how much the fans mean to us," continues Thompson. "We've come so far as a brand since we started in a tiny shack in McDonough, Georgia. On Saturday, April 29, we will take a step back, say thank you to our fans and soak in all that we have accomplished these past 15 years."

As a special celebration for Shane's Rib Shack's 15-year anniversary, the first 101 at each participating location will be eligible to enter for a chance to win one of five $2,500 cash grand prizes. The winners will be announced by 5 p.m. EDT on April 29 and participants must be 18 years or older to qualify.

For more information or to find a nearby participating location, visit www.shanesribshack.com.

About Shane's Rib Shack

Shane's Rib Shack is a true American rib shack, known for its slow-cooked ribs, hand-chopped chicken and pork, and many southern sides to complement each plate. The original shack was founded in 2002, in McDonough, Ga. by Shane Thompson, who started the restaurant with his grandfather's secret BBQ sauce. Since becoming a franchised restaurant in 2004, Shane's Rib Shack has grown to become the country's model fast-casual barbecue concept. In 2015, Shane's Rib Shack was featured in the Wall Street Journal and in 2011, Shane's Rib Shack was recognized as a Top 100 Movers and Shaker from FastCasual.com. Shane's Rib Shack currently operates 74 locations. For more information, visit http://www.shanesribshack.com.

Media Contact

Jason Gilbreth

Trevelino/Keller

[email protected]

404-214-0722 x114

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Shane's Rib Shack

Related Links

http://www.shanesribshack.com


HAMILTON, N.J., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sparta Systems today announced the release of Stratas 3.0 featuring TrackWise Intake. The new capability is a web interface powered by Stratas 3.0 that enables a company to collect potential quality or compliance issues anywhere at any time from non-TrackWise users.

TrackWise Intake leverages the Stratas platform to extend the reach of TrackWise through a web-based form that can be used to submit any type of quality events by those who don't normally access a company's quality management system (QMS). Companies have been searching for a means to effectively capture the information needed to investigate issues that would otherwise go unreported. The new capability empowers employees to contribute to company-wide quality initiatives while fostering a culture of collaboration and transparency. It also supports the shift towards an automated, all-digital approach to quality management processes.

Stratas is a rapidly deployable QMS software platform that helps companies create, track, manage, and report on quality-related activities without the need to manage IT infrastructure. Stratas also enables companies to collaborate with suppliers on quality issues and provides full visibility throughout the supply chain. Additionally, suppliers and other partners can interact directly, leading to greater transparency, reduced risk, and improved control throughout the global supply chain.

In addition to powering the TrackWise Intake feature, the Stratas 3.0 release expands administrator functionality, allowing greater control of user access and assignments throughout quality processes. It also adds new quality event workflows for partner-related activities, optimized for industry best practices.

"As the Quality Business Network expands into a truly global ecosystem, it is incredibly important that all stakeholders create their own company culture of quality," said Eileen Martinson of Sparta Systems. "The TrackWise Intake feature introduced alongside this Stratas 3.0 release will help organizations accomplish this goal by giving employees the power to easily take action and report potential issues, regardless of their role."

To learn more about the Stratas and TrackWise QMS software platforms, visit http://www.spartasystems.com/products

About Sparta Systems

Founded in 1994, Sparta Systems is the world's premier provider of cloud and on-premise quality management software. We offer the solutions, analytics, and expertise that speed up quality and compliance. Our solutions help to lower risk, increase efficiency, and keep consumers safe while allowing manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to collaborate in a seamless and integrated environment. Sparta is privately owned and headquartered in Hamilton N.J, with offices across Europe and Asia. We support close to 1 million users across 700+ implementations, in more than 30 countries. Companies in life sciences, consumer products, discrete manufacturing and more, rely on Sparta. Learn why at www.spartasystems.com

Media Contacts

Michael Bord

Sparta Systems, Inc.

[email protected]

Dave Heffernan

SHIFT Communications for Sparta Systems

[email protected]

SOURCE Sparta Systems

Related Links

http://www.spartasystems.com


AUSTIN, Texas, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (NYSE: INN) (the "Company") today announced that Jonathan P. Stanner will join the Company as Executive Vice President & Chief Investment Officer effective April 17, 2017. Stanner will be an integral part of the Company's investment, acquisition, and capital markets strategy.

"Jon is an accomplished lodging and real estate professional with an impressive reputation in the industry," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel P. Hansen. "Jon's extensive knowledge and experience in the public markets and lodging industry make him an ideal addition to our senior leadership team," commented Mr. Hansen.

Most recently Mr. Stanner served as Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc., which was publicly-traded until being sold to the Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII fund in 2015 in a high profile transaction valued at approximately $6 billion. Stanner held increasingly senior positions with Strategic Hotels & Resorts since he joined the company in 2005, including Director of Corporate Finance, Senior Vice President - Capital Markets, Acquisitions and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Mr. Stanner was an investment banking analyst with Banc of America Securities.

Mr. Stanner earned a Bachelor of Science in Management and a Master of Business Administration, both from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

About Summit Hotel Properties

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust focused primarily on owning premium-branded, select-service hotels in the upscale segment of the lodging industry. As of March 31, 2017, the Company's portfolio consisted of 82 hotels with a total of 11,095 guestrooms located in 23 states.

For additional information, please visit the Company's website, www.shpreit.com, and follow on Twitter at @SummitHotel_INN.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are "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, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "intend," "expect," "seek," "anticipate," "estimate," "approximately," "believe," "could," "project," "predict," "forecast," "continue," "plan," "likely," "would" or other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and can include future expectations, future plans and strategies, financial and operating projections or other forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, not all of which are known to the Company and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the state of the U.S. economy, supply and demand in the hotel industry, and other factors as are described in greater detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Unless legally required, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

For information about the Company's business and financial results, please refer to the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" sections of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed with the SEC, and its quarterly and other periodic filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no duty to update the statements in this release to conform the statements to actual results or changes in the Company's expectations.

SOURCE Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.shpreit.com


MINNEAPOLIS, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arcserve, LLC, whose breakthrough data protection and availability solutions deliver enterprise power with small team simplicity, today announced that multi-practice healthcare system, Compass Health, selected Arcserves award-winning data protection solution, Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), to protect its most critical patient data and enable the seamless transition to an entirely virtualized environment. Subsequently, the organization has unified its disparate backup systems, whereby greatly reducing its data loss risk, backup labor time by 15 percent and storage footprint by 70 percent.



An emerging medical care provider, Compass Health, serves patients in specialties ranging from oncology and neurosurgery to urology and dermatology. After experiencing rapid growth, the organization was saddled with managing several IT infrastructures, million-dollar electronic medical records (EMR) systems, and disparate legacy backup solutions that rendered it vulnerable. Further, the IT team was tasked with standardizing its backup processes and supporting the migration to a fully-virtualized environment.

In its search for a more sophisticated data protection offering, Compass Health considered Acronis and Veeam, among others; however, chose Arcserve UDP, which it deployed via Arcserves appliance modality. I was pretty much sold right from the get-go, said Carl Seabold, Director of IT, Compass Health. Nothing in my mind could top what Arcserve could do with our virtualized environment. Acronis didnt have the tech that I was looking for and Veeam had issues doing granular data recovery.

The Arcserve UDP Appliance now protects data across Compass Healths nine virtual servers at its primary data center, as well as virtual hosts at most of its remote clinics. Compass Health must protect the integrity and availability of our patient data to ensure continuity of our business, Seabold shares. Arcserve UDP Appliances enable data recovery at the most granular level, and support efficient and effective protection of virtualized data at a price our medical clinics support. This gives us the confidence that our most important information is safe so we can spend less time managing the backup process and more delivering high-quality, patient-centered care.

Since implementation, Compass Health has seen a dramatic reduction in time spent managing its backups, eliminated the complexity of protecting its virtual servers, and reduced IT costs by shrinking its overall storage footprint. Ill spend a couple hours on a Sunday evening testing one of the virtual machines, making sure I can do a full recovery, and thats pretty much the extent of it, Seabold continues. As I change or upgrade servers, Ill take a peek at the dashboard. But, usually I just check a checkbox to make sure the new server is getting backed-up as soon as its deployed and thats itits ready to go.

Follow Arcserve

About Arcserve

Arcserve is a leading provider of data protection and recovery software that provides organizations with the assurance that they can recover their data and applications when needed. Launched in 1990, Arcserve provides a comprehensive solution for cloud, virtual and physical environments, on premise or in the cloud, backed by unsurpassed support and expertise. Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), available on Arcserves appliance or your hardware, drives a full range of highly efficient and integrated data protection capabilities through a simple, web-based user console. Arcserve has a customer base of 45,000 end users in more than 150 countries and partners with over 7,500 distributors, resellers and service providers around the world. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices around the world. Visit www.arcserve.com.

About Compass Health

Compass Healthcare is an independent multi-specialty medical group committed to providing compassionate, comprehensive healthcare for its patients. The organization advances the health of its patients and communities through a culture of physician driven and directed care, with an emphasis on cost-effective, high-quality and easily-accessible healthcare services. Visit www.mycompasshealth.org.
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE: SHO) announced that it will report financial results for the first quarter 2017 on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 after the market closes. Management will hold its quarterly conference call the next day, on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (9:00 a.m. Pacific Time).

A live webcast of the call will be available via the Investor Relations section of the Sunstone Hotel Investors website at www.sunstonehotels.com. A replay of the webcast will also be archived on the website. Alternatively, investors may dial 1-719-325-2310 and reference conference ID 3979750 to listen to the live call.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors:

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that, as of the date hereof, has interests in 27 hotels comprised of 13,225 rooms. Sunstone's hotels are primarily in the upper upscale segment and are generally operated under nationally recognized brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt. For further information, please visit Sunstone's website at www.sunstonehotels.com.

For Additional Information:

Bryan Giglia

Chief Financial Officer

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.

(949) 382-3036

SOURCE Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sunstonehotels.com


YUBA CITY, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- For over 100 years, Sunsweet has been supporting and inspiring consumers to eat right and enjoy a healthy and well balanced lifestyle. In celebration of its monumental birthday, today Sunsweet launches #Sunsweet100Celebration  a social media-driven content series that will run for 100 days, highlighting key Sunsweet milestones, innovations, surprising facts from Sunsweet growers, vintage advertisements, and more.

"This is such an exciting time for all of us here at Sunsweet," explains Jeff McLemore, Vice President of North America Marketing for Sunsweet. "It really all started in 1917 as a prune and apricot co-op in California and today we are 250 growers strong, producing 40,000 cases of high quality fruit and juice every single day!"

In tandem with the #Sunsweet100Celebration social media campaign, Sunsweet has created a historical infographic that celebrates the heritage and innovation of the brand over the years. Sunsweet's history and commitment to its customers is rich  from where it all started with the "father" of California prunes, Louis Pellier, importing prune orchard stock from France to California, to the moment when Sunsweet first introduced the pitted prune to the market, to the latest paramount research that links prunes and bone health in postmenopausal women1.

Founded in 1917 as the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association and later changing its name to Sunsweet Growers Inc., today Sunsweet is a leader in providing prunes to 25 percent of the global market. Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes are an all-natural source of fiber, with 3g of fiber per serving, and only 100 calories. In fact, research shows that eating 5 to 6 prunes a day can help maintain bone mineral density in women. Prunes contain potassium, magnesium and vitamin K, all of which play a vital role in bone health.

All Sunsweet dried fruit products are available nationwide in grocery stores, in the dried fruit aisle or baking aisle.

About SUNSWEET

Sunsweet Growers is a grower owned Prune Cooperative based in Yuba City, CA. For 100 years we have been committed to providing the highest quality products around the globe. Sunsweet strives to help make it easy to for consumers to make healthy choices by offering a full range of delicious dried fruit and juices. Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes and Prune Juice are favorites around the world providing the nutrition you need, to keep your body feeling good and energized. Enjoy The Feel Good Fruit! For more on Sunsweet products, visit www.sunsweet.com.

1Hooshmand, et al. The effect of two doses of dried plum on bone density and bone biomarkers in osteopenic postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis Int. 2016. Jul;27(7):2271-9. doi: 10.1007/s00198-016-3524-8

SOURCE Sunsweet Growers

Related Links

http://www.sunsweet.com


"The ability for our customers, regardless of size, to be able to add their own branding to these apps is a game changer," said Shannon McShane-Reed, President of Symbility Health. "For far too long, Third-Party Administrators and Payers tried to build their businesses while having to give out access to apps and web portals that carry large carriers' branding. We're excited to be providing these hard working TPAs and TPPs with the tools that will make them look better in their customers' eyes, while growing their brand and their businesses."

Symbility Health's mobile application also features patented technology for real-time claims processing with automatic fraud detection, a first in the Canadian market. Leveraging Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Artificial Intelligence, the app automatically detects oddities and flags claims for human review. This layer of automation and protection creates efficiencies in the adjudication process and enables TPAs, TPPs, or even Insurance Carriers to gain a distinct competitive advantage.

"We are excited to be able to offer this new fully branded app to our clients. Not only does it look great having the app fully branded to our company, but the powerful user experience will change how our members approach submitting claims," commented Paul Gillis, President and CEO of Union Benefits, a Third-Party Administrator. "Submitting claims easily and quickly from a mobile phone not only changes how members will think about their insurance but keeps our firm at the forefront of innovation as well as saving our plans money and reducing errors."

While the new Symbility Health Mobile Claims has many advantages for TPAs and TPPs, the real benefit will come to their employee groups using the app. The new design puts convenience and ease-of-use front and center. With easy to read dashboards to monitor health benefit spending and remaining balances, the ability to securely make claims by taking and uploading photos of receipts, and storage for easy retrieval of health card information, there has never been a more simplified and connected way for people to use their health benefits.

"Sirius Benefits is excited to be able to offer our own app to our members. It's great to see our branding on a forward thinking tool that is so user friendly," said Ed Melna, Owner and President of Sirius Benefit Plans Inc. "In the past, submitting a claim seemed like a chore because of the process and time involved. Now claims can be quickly submitted and reviewed right from a mobile phone; our members will certainly appreciate the improved service."

The all new Symbility Health Mobile Claims is now available for iOS through the iTunes App Store and Android through Google Play.

For more information on Symbility Health Mobile Claims visit symbilityhealth.com/mobile-benefits or view our video here.

ABOUT UNION BENEFITS

Union Benefits is a premier third-party administrator of Member pension, health benefits, vacation pay, supplementary unemployment benefit and productivity bonus plans with offices in Waterloo and Halifax. Union Benefits is owned and operated by the 35 participating Trust Funds it serves, Union Benefits proudly cares for about 10,000 Members from 17 different Locals in the construction and technical trades. Combining our unique "volume purchasing programs" with our "at cost" services model, Union Benefits provides Trust Funds and Members with the best possible service at the lowest possible cost.

ABOUT SIRIUS BENEFIT PLANS

Established in 1996, Sirius Benefit Plans is a national industry-leading Third-Party Administrator (TPA) and Third-Party Payer (TPP), providing comprehensive employee benefit programs of small and medium-sized companies located across Canada and currently administer over $40 million in annual premium.

Sirius Benefit Plans offers two distinct options for group benefits coverage. The Totally Sirius program, a 100 percent pooled program, designed specifically for groups with less than 10 employees. For groups with 10 or more employees, Sirius has designed a Total Solutions program, which is individually rated and customized to suit any group's unique needs. For more information, please visit www.siriusbenefits.ca

ABOUT SYMBILITY

Symbility (TSX.V: SY) believes in creating world-class experiences that simplify business and improve lives. With a history in modernizing insurance claims solutions for the property and health industries, Symbility has established itself as a partner that puts security, efficiency and customer experience first. Symbility PROPERTY brings smarter thinking to property insurance. Symbility HEALTH helps benefits professionals build their brands and businesses. Our strategic services team, Symbility INTERSECT empowers a variety of businesses with smarter mobile and IoT product development strategy, design thinking and engineering excellence. With our three segments pushing industries forward, Symbility proves that change for the better is entirely possible. symbilitysolutions.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

All trade names are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Symbility Solutions Inc.

Related Links

www.symbilitysolutions.com


PHILADELPHIA, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- More than a decade after the private family struggle to save Terri Schiavo's life escalated into a public battle, the far-reaching positive effects of her fight will be commemorated on Friday, April 7 during an internationally broadcast special mass. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia will celebrate mass on EWTN (Eternal World Television Network), appearing live at 8am EDT. The service will be rebroadcast at Noon EDT and 7pm EDT. The mass is being held in observation of Terri's Day, an annual national day of prayer and outreach that celebrates Terri's life, with a focus on medically vulnerable and at-risk patients and families who must fight for their right to proper care. Numerous prayer gatherings will be held simultaneously around the country. www.lifeandhope.com/terrisday

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia will celebrate an internationally televised special mass on EWTN on April 7 in observation of Terri's Day, an annual national day of prayer and outreach that celebrates Terri Schiavo's life with a focus on medically vulnerable and at-risk patients and families who must fight for their right to proper care. In 1990, Terri Schindler Schiavo, at age 26, collapsed and was diagnosed with a profound brain injury. A national debate unfolded when her husband lobbied successfully to have her feeding tube removed amidst pleas from her family to allow them to provide care (Terri pictured with her mother). She died 13 days later from dehydration. Terri's family created the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network to foster education, prayer and activism regarding discrimination against the cognitively disabled.

Archbishop Chaput will visit the EWTN studios in Birmingham, Alabama, where he will speak to its international viewing audience on the issues impacting America's medically vulnerable. During the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, both Pope Francis and Chaput spoke publicly on issues of human dignity and the fundamental value of every individual's life. Chaput will elaborate on these issues during the April 7th mass.

"My sister Terri became an accidental hero to the medically vulnerable," says Bobby Schindler, President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. "She was an everyday person who, because of her defenseless situation, touched the hearts and minds of millions around the world." Terri's family has kept her fight alive by establishing the Life & Hope Network to protect the medically dependent who cannot advocate for themselves. Bobby will participate in a one-hour televised interview with Father Mitch Pacwa of EWTN to discuss the fate of individuals who are treated as being less worthy of care and medical treatment by the healthcare industry, and how the Life & Hope Network is providing advocacy, resources and support.

"A growing number of laws put life-and-death treatment decisions into the hands of hospital boards, ethics committees and healthcare professionals," says Tom Shakely, Executive Director of the Life & Hope Network. "Many people aren't aware that receiving food and water via feeding tubes is classified as artificial life support, and that it's legal in all 50 states to remove them in cases of patients with a cognitive disability. Often that decision is made by a physician rather than a family member. In light of President Trump's intention to overhaul the healthcare system, we are advocating for a renewed national conversation to assure that every patient retains the right to receive proper basic care, including food and water. Terri's case remains the litmus test for insuring people receive these basic rights."

Background: In 1990, at age 26, a healthy Terri Schindler Schiavo collapsed and was admitted to a St. Petersburg, Florida hospital where she was diagnosed with a profound brain injury. When her husband Michael eventually lobbied successfully to have her feeding tube removed, even though her family pleaded to provide for her care, a national debate unfolded. In response to the urging of hundreds of thousands, Governor Jeb Bush advocated to keep Terri alive, and Terri's Law was passed in 2003. The law enabled feeding to be resumed, but was later overturned. In 2005, with an overwhelming majority, Congress passed a bill signed by President George W. Bush allowing a federal court to intervene and continue food and water, but the effort was overturned and Terri's feeding tube was removed. She died 13 days later from dehydration. www.terrischiavo.org

Terri's Day was established in 2007 and is celebrated each spring to remember Terri and foster education, prayer and activism regarding discrimination against the cognitively disabled, and also to advocate for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced. www.lifeandhope.com

Terri, who is listed alongside Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, and Mother Theresa in USA TODAY's 25 Lives of Indelible Impact, was named in 2007 among those who moved us most in the previous quarter-century.

Contacts:

Media: Ellen Langas, NouSoma Communications, 610-658-5889, cell 610-256-2946, [email protected]

Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network: Tom Shakely, Executive Director, 855-300-4673, [email protected]

SOURCE Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

Related Links

http://www.lifeandhope.com


DENVER, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Thing of a Widget from SimplyCreate launches on crowd-funding site Kickstarter. Thing of a Widget is a highly-engineered aluminum to titanium thing that acts like a widget. The Thing of a Widget design team states, "We know it is the thing that you were just talking about."

You may view the Thing of a Widget Kickstarter campaign page here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/164361939/thing-of-a-widget

What is a Thing of a Widget?

The Thing of a Widget is a bottle opener, screwdriver, wrench, pry bar, phone stand, cat toy, amazing fidget toy, and all around fun and sometimes useful widget. Currently, tests are being conducted to see if the Thing of a Widget can be used for other tasks including a bomb diffusion apparatus, glass blowing tool, signal generator, self-defense instrument, artist master tool (painting/wood), safecracker, cooking utensil, Saint Bernard toy, the device your uncle can't stop talking about, and "you know, that thing." An update will be provided on the Thing of a Widgets capabilities, based on the samples that have sent out to various third-party labs.

The Thing of a Widget is a highly-engineered device with lockable linkages that allow the user to change and manipulate the shape. This product was designed to be small and lightweight so that it can fit on any standard tabletop or in a jean pocket.

Ben Skupsky, creator of Thing of a Widget, explains, "We are very excited to release a product that can be semi-functional and just super distracting. Perhaps we should have stuck with our cat toy concept, but we decided to double down and make a product that we personally like and would use. After months of designing and testing, we are proud to release a high quality manufactured product with high-quality materials which is designed and made locally in Colorado."

The Thing of a Widget team likes to have fun but also thinks the product is seriously really cool!

Specification:

Overall Dimension: 2''x 1'' x 0.375'' (50.8 mm x 25.5 mm x 9.525 mm)

Weight (depending on material type): 1.235 lb (0.45 kg) (0.2 lb on moon)

Materials: Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Titanium

You can back Thing of a Widget on SimplyCreate's Kickstarter page starting now. The price scale begins at $35. The Thing of a Widget is designed, assembled, and produced in the USA.

For more information please visit:

Website

Email

*The Thing of a Widget team openly acknowledges that industry competitors make a very good product. In order for the Thing of a Widget not to get lost in the tall grass while hiking in Colorado, the product will not be made in emerald green.

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image3.jpg

image4.jpg

Related Links

Campaign Link

Website

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE SimplyCreate

Related Links

https://www.thingofawidget.com


PORTLAND, Maine, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Auto Europe, one of the industry's first global car rental companies, reveals the top 7 destinations in Germany for North American tourists exploring by car. Destinations are based on the pickup location of reservations from late 2016 and early 2017 in combination with a review of global travel data.

#7 Nuremberg

The city is known for malty red-beer and a maze of sandstone cellars, Nuremberg's now revived urban center is perfectly situated between Frankfurt & Munich, making it an easily accessible driving destination.

Top 7 Destinations in Germany

# 6 Stuttgart

Stuttgart is a top-notch European city filled with amazing architecture, culture, dining, and art. It's also home to the Cannstatter Volksfest an ideal spot to enjoy traditional German Oktoberfest celebrations with less tourist traffic.

# 5 Hamburg

This charming port town and Germany's second largest city, Hamburg offers travelers much to do & see and its location makes it the perfect launching off point for a European road trip.

#4 Dusseldorf

Recognized as the center of German advertising and fashion, Dusseldorf has a lively energy that offers an exciting nightlife, fun carnivals, shopping, and trade fairs. From Dusseldorf, travelers can easily drive to explore Belgium and the Netherlands as well as other locations along the Rhine River.

#3 Berlin

A global city of politics, media, culture and science, Berlin is home to some of the world's most fascinating historic attractions, culturally significant monuments, and modern amenities.

#2 Frankfurt

Located along Germany's acclaimed Fairy Tale Road, Wine Route and one of the oldest touring roads in the world the Romantic Road, it's no surprise North American travelers choose Frankfurt as a top self-drive destination!

#1 Munich

The gateway to some of the most stunning landscape in the world, the Bavarian capital of Munich is host to the world's largest Oktoberfest. The self-drive adventures are virtually limitless from Munich on a journey through the awe-inspiring Bavarian Alps, or to the area's storybook villages & castles are all within an easy days drive.

"Germany has always been one of the top destinations for our clients," said Imad Khalidi, CEO of Auto Europe. "It is a welcoming country with rich history and beautiful castles that are easy to explore by car."

About Auto Europe

With over 60 years of experience in the rental car industry, Auto Europe specializes in helping travelers find the best car rental rates in Europe and other popular destinations around the world. Auto Europe's deep understanding of the complexities of renting cars abroad paired with their knowledgeable team of rental specialists (available 24/7) allows Auto Europe to provide travelers with the highest quality service in the industry before, during and after their rental. To find the best rate on a car rental for your next trip abroad or to learn more about renting a car in Europe visit www.autoeurope.com.

Media Contact:

Meghan Donovan

207-842-2038

[email protected]

SOURCE Auto Europe
Canada's premier exchanges team up to promote public VC as a complementary growth path

TORONTO and LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) are kicking off a five-city U.S. Public Venture Capital (VC) Roadshow today in Santa Monica, California. Hosted today by Expert DOJO, one of Southern California's largest accelerators, and by GSVlabs in Redwood City on Thursday, April 6, these events are designed to bring together a community of entrepreneurs to explore the value and merits of public venture capital as a viable source of funding for early-stage companies.

"TSX and TSXV are committed to supporting the capital raising and liquidity needs of high growth businesses throughout the Americas and globally " said Ungad Chadda, President, Capital Formation, Equity Capital Markets, TMX Group. "The goal of our U.S. roadshow is to engage the next wave of aspiring U.S. companies and make them aware of the benefits TMX offers through our unique and proven exchange ecosystem. A key part of this series is connecting leading bankers and advisors from the Canadian capital markets directly with local growth companies. We want entrepreneurs and business owners based in the epicenter of innovation in the U.S. to be apprised of how a listing on TSX or TSXV can supplement and accelerate their growth plans and capital markets strategies."

The roadshow events feature an informational seminar on the benefits of listing on the Exchanges with advisors from leading investment banks, accounting firms and law firms, and provide an overall understanding of how Canada's equity markets can be a growth platform for U.S. businesses. The events also facilitate one-on-one meetings covering cross-border legal, accounting and banking considerations for companies reviewing their financing options.

"Expert DOJO works with early stage startups throughout the United States to help scale growth. In many cases this means exploring new financing alternatives as current vehicles are very inflexible," said Brian McMahon, Founder, Expert DOJO. "Canada's equity markets offer a very important alternative to entrepreneurs who want to build quickly with the backing of the public markets. As such, Expert DOJO is a big supporter of this financing method for our companies."

TSX and TSXV are home to over 120 U.S. companies, more than any other exchange group outside of the U.S. More than $6 billion has been raised by U.S. companies on the Exchanges since the start of 2012. Every year, hundreds of U.S., Canadian and international companies raise billions of dollars in public VC funding on TSX and TSXV.

TSX and TSXV will visit three additional cities as part of the U.S. Public VC Roadshow, including Seattle on June 6, and Boston and Phoenix in the fall.

About TMX Group (TSX:X)

TMX Group's key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets and clearinghouses for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income and energy. Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange, The Canadian Depository for Securities, Montreal Exchange, Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, NGX, Shorcan, Shorcan Energy Brokers, AgriClear and other TMX Group companies provide listing markets, trading markets, clearing facilities, depository services, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto and operates offices across Canada (Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver), in key U.S. markets (New York, Houston) as well as in London, Beijing and Singapore. For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at http://www.tmx.com. Follow TMX Group on Twitter: @TMXGroup.

This news release is not, nor should it be construed as, an inducement for US persons to effect or report transactions on TSX or TSXV. Listing on TSX or TSXV does not guarantee the future performance of a security or an issuer.

SOURCE TMX Group Limited
VANCOUVER, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSX, NYSE-MKT: TMQ) ("Trilogy Metals" or "the Company") is pleased to report its first quarter results for the period ended February 28, 2017. Details of the Company's financial results are contained in the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis which will be available on the Company's website at www.trilogymetals.com, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. All amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.

First Quarter Fiscal 2017 Highlights:

Strong working capital position of $12.5 million with cash on hand of $6.4 million .

with cash on hand of . Cash flow used in operating activities of $1.4 million for the three months ended February 28, 2017 .

for the three months ended . Loss for the three month period ended February 28, 2017 of $3.0 million , including an unrealized loss on held for trading investments of $1.2 million .

of , including an unrealized loss on held for trading investments of . Significant milestone reached with the publishing of the Notice of Intent ("NOI") for the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project ("AMDIAP") by the Bureau of Land Management on February 28, 2017 . The NOI initiates the permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") on the AMDIAP. This notice initiates the public scoping process for the EIS with comments due by May 30, 2017 .

. The NOI initiates the permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") on the AMDIAP. This notice initiates the public scoping process for the EIS with comments due by . Considerable progress on pre-feasibility level engineering studies incorporating field results from the past two seasons which will form the basis for a pre-feasibility study announced in March to be completed on the very high-grade polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") Arctic deposit.

Selected Results

The following selected financial information is prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

in thousands of dollars,

except for per share amounts Three months ended Selected expenses February 28,

2017 $ February 29,

2016 $ General and administrative 370 346 Mineral properties expense 639 532 Professional fees 125 136 Salaries 239 213 Salaries  stock-based compensation 395 282 Unrealized loss on held for trading investments 1,239 - Loss from continuing operations for the period 2,996 1,523 Loss from discontinued operations for the period - 172 Loss and comprehensive loss for the period 2,996 1,695 Basic and diluted loss per common share $0.03 $0.02

For the three months ended February 28, 2017, Trilogy Metals reported a net loss of $3.0 million (or $0.03 basic and diluted loss per common share) compared to a net loss of $1.7 million for the corresponding period in 2016 (or $0.02 basic and diluted loss per common share). This variance was primarily due to an unrealized loss on investments of $1.2 million classified as held for trading for which movements in the fair value of the investments are recorded through the statement of loss. The investments consist of common shares and warrants in GoldMining Inc. ("GMI") acquired as consideration for the sale of Sunward Investments Limited and its Titiribi gold-copper exploration project in Colombia. A gain on the sale of 410,000 common shares of GMI sold during the period of $3,000 was recognized during the three months ended February 28, 2017. There are no comparable amounts for the three months ended February 29, 2016 as the Company acquired the investments in September 2016.

Adjusting for the unrealized loss on held for trading investments, a loss from continued operations of $1.8 million for the three months ended February 28, 2017 is comparable to the loss from continued operations of $1.5 million for the three months ended February 29, 2016. The increase is due to an increase in mineral properties expenses and stock-based compensation. We incurred $0.6 million in mineral properties expense for the three months ended February 28, 2017 compared to $0.5 million for the three months ended February 29, 2016. The increase in mineral property expenses in 2017 is attributable to several ongoing engineering studies, specifically an updated 3D geology model and resource estimate for the Arctic deposit, metallurgical test programs on the Arctic and Bornite Projects, completion of a pre-feasibility level slope geotechnical and hydrology study on the Arctic deposit, and a review of the hydrogeological conditions at the Bornite property. Waste characterization is also continuing on the Arctic Project which began in 2016. The increase in stock-based compensation is due to a higher share price contributing to an overall greater fair value for option grants in the period compared to the prior period. General and administrative expenses, salaries, and professional fees continue to be at comparable levels in the periods presented.

Outlook

Our 2017 program has a budget of $7.1 million to be expended during the fiscal year to advance the Arctic Project to pre-feasibility. The pre-feasibility study ("PFS") will be supported by information collected during the 2015 and 2016 field seasons as well as additional information to be collected during the 2017 summer field program. We will be completing geotechnical drilling, hydrology installations, and test pits for site facility locations and mine design, and geophysical ground surveys to evaluate ground conditions. A significantly expanded environmental baseline program will be underway in 2017 to further the ongoing baseline data collection at the Arctic Project. Aquatics, avian and large mammal surveys will be continued and expanded, water balance programs will be expanded, and collection of data from the existing meteorological station will continue. Surface water quality testing will continue the programs initiated in earlier years and groundwater quality monitoring will begin. Previous wetlands delineation information will be analyzed during the year for submission of a jurisdictional determination application. The completion of the 2017 field program will complete a staged three-year site investigation program where the first two years focused almost exclusively on collecting data in and around the proposed Arctic open-pit, and the third year focuses on infrastructure and mine design.

The completion of the field program in 2017 will support the prefeasibility study on the Arctic Project expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

About Trilogy Metals

Trilogy Metals Inc., formerly NovaCopper Inc., is a metals exploration company focused on exploring and developing the Ambler mining district located in northwestern Alaska. It is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic VMS deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high grade copper mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler mining district - the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within the Company's land package that spans approximately 143,000 hectares. The Company has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a Regional Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler mining district in cooperation with local communities. Our vision is to develop the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to the future operating or financial performance of the Company, planned expenditures and the anticipated activity, including with respect to the 2017 field program at the UKMP Projects, and the potential timing and preparation of a PFS on the Arctic deposit, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties; exploration plans and budgets; mineral reserves and resource estimates; work programs; capital expenditures; timelines; strategic plans; market prices for precious and base metals; or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the uncertainties involving the need for additional financing to explore and develop properties and availability of financing in the debt and capital markets; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests and the estimation of reserves and resources; the need for cooperation of government agencies and native groups in the development and operation of properties as well as the construction of the access road; the need to obtain permits and governmental approvals; risks of construction and mining projects such as accidents, equipment breakdowns, bad weather, non-compliance with environmental and permit requirements, unanticipated variation in geological structures, metal grades or recovery rates; unexpected cost increases, which could include significant increases in estimated capital and operating costs; fluctuations in metal prices and currency exchange rates; and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2016 filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and in other Company reports and documents filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The Company's forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

SOURCE Trilogy Metals Inc.

Related Links

www.trilogymetals.com


To help manage costs, TCA will provide a custody fee offset on all participating ETFs, automatically applied to assets held in the products on the trading platform.

"TCA's ETF platform will ensure investors receive greater levels of diversification through exposure to a wide array of asset classes," said TCA's president and CEO Joshua Pace. "What sets ETF Custody Advantage apart is its transparency, allowing advisors to know exactly what returns their clients are receiving, giving them a greater amount of flexibility. In addition, the tax efficiency and investment options advisors will have through this will be a game-changer."

TCA's ETF Custody Advantage enables advisors to provide their clients with:

Significantly lower expense ratios than most mutual funds

Greater investment flexibility through intraday trading on a regulated exchange

A higher level of transparency than mutual funds of securities held by the investment

The potential for greater tax efficiency through low portfolio turnover rates and greater control over the timing of tax consequences

TCA's ETF sponsors, Guggenheim Investments and Global X, will provide advisors and their clients with ETF educational resources, including white papers, commentaries, sales ideas and fact sheets. In addition, TCA plans to add to its lineup of ETF providers throughout the year.

"As a money manager with conviction that active investment management strategies can add greater value over time, our firm turns to ETFs for low-cost global diversification needed to help our clients meet their goals," said Horizon Investments president and CEO Robbie Cannon. "We're excited that TCA has created this new program to help us take advantage of cost savings for clients and also tap into additional resources from leading ETF providers like Guggenheim and Global X."

For more information on the ETF Custody Advantage program, please call 1-800-955-7808 or email [email protected].

About Trust Company of America

Since 1972, Trust Company of America (TCA) has been a champion of Registered Investment Advisors, dedicated to helping them realize their full potential. TCA is the only independent RIA custodian offering fully integrated real-time technology, consultative services and back office support built exclusively for RIAs. TCA partners with advisors to provide them the technology and support they need to manage their practices and clients' financial futures. Learn more at www.trustamerica.com.

SOURCE Trust Company of America

Related Links

http://www.trustamerica.com


Finnish English

Tikkurila Oyj

Stock Exchange Release

April 4, 2017 at 1 p.m. (CET+1)

Decisions of the Annual General Meeting and the Board of Directors of Tikkurila

Matters relating to the Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Tikkurila Oyj approved today the Financial Statements for 2016 and decided to discharge the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability. The Annual General Meeting approved a EUR 0.80 dividend per share for the financial year 2016. The rest will be retained and carried further in the company's unrestricted equity. The dividend will be paid to a shareholder who is registered in the company's shareholder register maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on the dividend record date, April 6, 2017. The dividend will be paid on April 13, 2017.

The Annual General Meeting decided that the Board of Directors consists of six members. Eeva Ahdekivi, Harri Kerminen, Jari Paasikivi, Riitta Mynttinen, Pia Rudengren and Petteri Wallden were re-elected as members of the Board of Directors until the end of the next Annual General Meeting.

Furthermore, Jari Paasikivi was re-elected as Chairman and Petter Wallden as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The Annual General Meeting decided that the annual remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors will stay at the current level. The annual remuneration to the members of the Board of Directors will be as follows: EUR 64,000 for the Chairman, EUR 40,000 for the Vice Chairman and the Chairman of the Audit Committee, and EUR 32,000 for other members of the Board of Directors. Approximately 40 percent of the annual remuneration will be paid in Tikkurila Oyj's shares acquired from the market and the rest in cash. The shares will be acquired directly on behalf of the Board members within two weeks from the release of the business review for January 1 - March 31, 2017. Furthermore, a meeting fee for each meeting of the Board and its Committees (excluding decisions without a meeting) will be paid to the members of the Board of Directors as follows: EUR 600 for meetings held in the home state of a member and EUR 1,200 for meetings held outside the home state of a member. If a member participates in a meeting via telephone or video connection the remuneration will be EUR 600. Travel expenses will be paid according to the travel policy of the company.

The Annual General Meeting decided that the Auditor's fees will be paid against an invoice approved by the company. KPMG Oy Ab was re-elected as the company's auditor until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, with APA Toni Aaltonen nominated by KPMG as the principal auditor.

Authorization to repurchase own shares and to decide on the issuance of shares

The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to decide upon the repurchase of a maximum of 4,400,000 company's own shares. The shares may be repurchased to be used for financing or implementing possible mergers and acquisitions, developing the company's equity structure, improving the liquidity of the company's shares or to be used for the payment of the annual fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors or for implementing the share-based incentive programs of the company. The repurchase authorization will be valid until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, however, no longer than until June 30, 2018.

The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to decide to transfer company's own shares held by the company or to issue new shares limited to a maximum of 4,400,000 shares. The company's own shares held by the company may be transferred and the new shares may be issued either against payment or without payment. The new shares may be issued and the company's own shares held by the company may be transferred to the company's shareholders in proportion to their current shareholdings in the company or in deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive right through a directed share issue, if the company has a weighty financial reason to do so, such as financing or implementing mergers and acquisitions, developing the company's equity structure, improving the liquidity of the company's shares, settling the payment of the annual fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors or implementing the share-based incentive programs of the company. The authorization will be valid until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, however, no longer than until June 30, 2018.

The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available on Tikkurila's website as of April 18, 2017, at the latest.

Decisions by the Board of Directors

Pia Rudengren was elected as Chairman and Eeva Ahdekivi and Riitta Mynttinen as members of the Audit Committee.

Jari Paasikivi was re-elected as Chairman and Harri Kerminen and Petteri Wallden as members of the Remuneration Committee.



Tikkurila Oyj

Antti Kiuru, Group Vice President, Legal



For further information, please contact:

Antti Kiuru, Group Vice President, Legal, tel. +358 400 686 488, antti.kiuru@tikkurila.com



Tikkurila is the leading paints and coatings professional in the Nordic region and Russia. With our roots in Finland, we now operate in 14 countries. Our high-quality products and extensive services ensure the best possible user experience in the market. Sustainable beauty since 1862.

www.tikkurilagroup.com
HUDSON, Ohio, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aris Radiology, a national radiology practice and leading provider of on-site and remote radiology services to hospitals nationwide, has been tapped to provide 24/7 pediatric teleradiology coverage to 302-bed Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, California, and 279-bed Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, California.

Aris will provide both hospitals with around-the-clock access to its nationwide network of pediatric radiology subspecialists. Because Aris radiologists contract to progressive subspecialty service-level standards for turnaround time and clinical quality, the agreement will ensure timely delivery of diagnostic radiology reports while supporting the hospitals' ongoing quality and performance improvement efforts. Aris is the largest pediatric teleradiology provider in the country.

With more than 250 radiologists who interpret an estimated 2.5 million studies annually across 300 client sites, Aris offers 24/7 access to one of the nation's largest networks of subspecialized radiologists. The company also maintains a robust IT platform that helps increase the speed with which both attending physicians and patients receive results.

"As hospitals assume greater risk for their patients' clinical outcomes and satisfaction, the need to partner with highly specialized and engaged radiologists has never been greater," said Aris President and CEO Carl Kozlowski "Aris understands that need and offers a demonstrated level of service that will support our partners' efforts to continue raising the bar on quality and satisfaction."

About Aris Radiology

Founded in 2007, Aris Radiology is one of the nation's most established providers of professional radiology services. As a national radiology group, Aris works with hospitals across the country to help transform imaging departments - creating solutions that elevate performance and deliver lasting results. The group's unique approach enables hospitals to take advantage of its network of board certified, US-based, subspecialty radiologists, as well as a dedicated on-site team of general radiologists, providing expert care regardless of the hospital's size or location. For more information, visit arisradiology.com.

Contact: Rebecca Kirkham

Lovell Communications

615.297.7766

[email protected]

SOURCE Aris Radiology

Related Links

http://arisradiology.com


"Crews are working to clean up downed trees and powerlines," U-Haul Moving & Storage at MacArthur Drive general manager Dwight Farr said. "We are already seeing heavy flooding in some of our neighborhoods. It's pretty bad."

Thousands of residents are without power.

"As a strong member of these communities, U-Haul is pleased to offer a helping hand in times of disaster," U-Haul Company of Northern Louisiana president Warren Iles said. "Residents in need deserve a safe place to store their possessions."

Families seeking more information about the 30 days free self-storage assistance or needing to make storage arrangements should contact:

U-Haul Moving & Storage at MacArthur Drive

2901 S. MacArthur Drive

Alexandria, LA 71301

(318) 448-3651

U-Haul Storage at Holsum Bakery

3400 MacArthur Drive

Alexandria, LA 71302

(318) 787-0262

The Holsum Bakery location is open 24/7. Customers can rent a self-storage unit anytime with any mobile device. Go to https://uhaul247.com/ to reserve a self-storage unit.

With U-Box containers, you can conveniently pick up our custom-designed trailer and take your U-Box with you. U-Haul also can store your U-Box container in our secure warehouses or pick up and deliver it to a location of your choice.

U-Haul stores offer needed supplies to help with storm recovery like boxes, tarps, propane and propane tanks. U-Haul urges customers to ensure their tanks are topped off since propane is good to have in the event of long-term power outages.

U-Haul is the industry leader in do-it-yourself moving and self-storage with more than 21,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to its 30 days of free self-storage assistance, U-Haul is proud to be at the forefront of aiding communities during times of disaster as an official American Red Cross Disaster Responder.

Contact:

Andrea Batchelor

Jeff Lockridge

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 602-263-6981

Website: uhaul.com

SOURCE U-Haul
NEW YORK, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ugam, a global leader in managed analytics, announces its upcoming Ugam Customer Summit, "Analytics to Accelerate Digital." The two-day event will take place on April 56, 2017 at the Ritz-Carlton in Half-Moon Bay, California.

The summit brings together an exclusive group of senior leaders from some of the top retailers and manufacturers to network and discuss curated content on analytics success in a digital world. Some of the topics include:

Analytics, Machine Learning and AI: State of the Art and Future

Digital Disruption in the Beauty Industry - The Evolving Role of Analytics

Evolution of Marketplaces

Design Thinking for Digital Transformation

"Retail is undergoing tremendous change, which is evident in evolving shopper behavior. In this environment, it is pertinent for retailers and manufacturers to embrace data-driven decision making," said Sunil Mirani, Ugam CEO. "The diverse lineup of industry experts and the interactive format of the summit will ensure that every attendee leaves with relevant and applicable takeaways to accelerate their digital strategies."

About Ugam

Ugam is a global leader in managed analytics that helps retailers, brands and market research firms transform big data into valuable insights. The company's unique managed services offering combines a proprietary big data technology platform with deep domain knowledge and analytics expertise to empower clients to make decisions that improve their business. For retailers, online marketplaces and brands, Ugam supports better merchandising, marketing and channel management decisions through the use of analytics. For market research firms and insight-based consultancies, Ugam offers a portfolio of solutions, including end-to-end research operations, technology transitioning support, and data warehousing, visualization and reporting that enables them to better serve their clients. Five of the top 10 U.S. retailers, four of the leading Australian retailers, many of the world's largest brands and online marketplaces, and 13 of the top 25 market research firms work with Ugam because of its ability to deliver high-quality insights with unmatched customer experience.

Contact:

Veera Fernandes

Ugam

[email protected]

SOURCE Ugam
WASHINGTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Imagine an aircraft structure that can change its shape in flight to reduce the sonic boom noise produced by supersonics airplanes. Or imagine an airliner that can take-off and fly with a quiet and energy efficient electric propulsion system.

These are two of five examples of the transformative system-level aviation innovations NASA has selected for potential awards to university teams that will have them spend as long as five years exploring novel ideas for improving aviation, all in support of the agency's strategic research goals for aeronautics.

"These awards further enhance the strong relationship we have with our university partners," said Jaiwon Shin, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics. "We expect the awards will spur the Nation's leading universities to take a larger leadership role in advancing the revolutionary ideas needed to transform aviation and further advance U.S. global leadership in the aviation community."

Total value of the five research awards from NASA Aeronautics' University Leadership Initiative (ULI) over five years is expected to be no more than $50 million.

"Potential outcomes of the research could include revolutionary technologies, operational concepts, design tools, models, or other advancements we can't even begin to characterize today," said Doug Rohn, director of NASA's Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program.

One key idea in the selection process was that NASA did not specify the research topics or disciplines for the schools to pursue, which distinguishes ULI from a standard NASA research award. Instead, universities were asked to come up on their own with the most compelling investigations, so long as that technical challenge addressed one of the agency's main aviation research goals.

In addition to the technical challenges, another goal of ULI is to develop the ability of these university researchers to lead diverse, multi-disciplinary teams. In many cases, the teams include members from academia and industry, including those who may not have an aviation background, but whose expertise offers the potential for technology convergence. In addition, teams are encouraged to reach out broadly to universities that serve underrepresented student populations. These diverse partnerships are expected to bring different perspectives that contribute to novel, innovative approaches.

"With ULI we want to provide a forum for U.S. universities to show their leadership in innovation to contribute to our nation's aviation community," Rohn said.

The university teams selected for negotiations leading to a potential award are:

University of South Carolina for research into advanced, wireless communication networks to enhance the safety and efficiency of air traffic management with both piloted aircraft and drones.

for research into advanced, wireless communication networks to enhance the safety and efficiency of air traffic management with both piloted aircraft and drones. Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, for research into designing commercial supersonic aircraft that could modify their shape during a flight to help minimize noise from sonic booms.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville , for research into designing an ultra-efficient aerodynamic wing that could enable significant savings in fuel or energy consumption.

, for research into designing an ultra-efficient aerodynamic wing that could enable significant savings in fuel or energy consumption. Ohio State University , for research into electric propulsion, including areas of battery and energy storage and thermal management, among others.

, for research into electric propulsion, including areas of battery and energy storage and thermal management, among others. Arizona State University , for research into safely integrating the complex set of data sources that will drive future air traffic management systems.

For more information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/aero

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


DAYTONA, Fla., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When it comes to four key performance factors tied to customer satisfaction, American-based airlines appear to be heading in the right direction, according to preliminary results of the Airline Quality Rating (AQR), the longest running, most comprehensive study of the performance quality of the 12 largest airlines in the United States.

Full results of the 27th annual AQR, which is conducted by researchers Dr. Dean Headley at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and Dr. Brent Bowen of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Prescott, Ariz., campus, will be announced at 9:30 a.m. EDT April 10, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Key findings so far show that all four AQR factors  on-time performance, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled bags and customer complaints  improved for the airline industry in 2016.

"Some exciting news emerging from this most recent AQR is that airlines are listening to their customers and addressing the issues they care about," said Dr. Headley, Associate Professor of Marketing Research at Wichita State. "There is across-the-board improvement in key factors directly impacting the traveling public's interaction and experience with airlines."

This year's report also reveals the lowest rate of bumped passengers for the industry and the lowest rate of mishandled baggage for the industry since the AQR started in 1991.

The AQR findings cover the 2016 calendar year and rate the following airlines: Alaska, American, Delta, ExpressJet, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, SkyWest, Southwest, Spirit, United and Virgin America (last year's No. 1 overall airline). In 2016, Virgin America announced a merger with Alaska.

"It will be interesting to see how the Virgin America-Alaska merger will pan out moving forward," said Dr. Bowen, Embry-Riddle Prescott's Dean of the College of Aviation. "But in the end, airlines with a solid commitment to their customers and those key experiences, like making sure your flight is on time or that your baggage isn't lost or damaged, will always come out on top."

As the most established measure of airline quality, researchers use a combination of performance-based data that allows comparison of actual performance among airlines most used by the public. This year's announcement will be streamed live via Facebook at facebook.com/ERAUPrescott/. Full results will be available April 10 at airlinequalityrating.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

- Melanie Hanns, (386) 226-7538; [email protected]; Joe Kleinsasser, (316) 978-3013; [email protected]

SOURCE Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Related Links

http://www.erau.edu


DENVER, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BLAZE Public Relations announced that Urban Mattress has joined its roster of lifestyle brands. The health and wellness retail franchise provides customers nationwide with a perfect night's sleep. This partnership with one of the leading boutique PR agencies in Los Angeles will increase the public's awareness and future growth of the brand.

"Urban Mattress commits itself to wholesome wellness and personalization in order to transform the way you sleep," said Billy Williams, Urban Mattress Founder and CEO. "The recent launch of our new website has enhanced the unique, Urban Mattress experience and continues to set us apart. We're confident BLAZE will help us to separate from our crowded category."

BLAZE will secure opportunities that increase buzz and build customer brand loyalty through media outreach by building strong relationships with local and national media as well as leading influencers.

"We're honored to work with a client that is invested in the health of our community and dedicated to providing an individualized experience for every customer," said BLAZE PR President Matt Kovacs. "We're looking forward to developing a strategy to communicate the Urban Mattress vision and develop their reputation as a brand that redefines quality."

Urban Mattress uses an online algorithm to select the best match for you and offers a distinct selection of mattress, which are available for purchase in-store and online. For more information and to access the complete line of products, please visit: https://www.urbanmattress.com/.

ABOUT BLAZE PR

BLAZE is the go-to partner for lifestyle brands hungry for a real piece of the marketshare. Fresh and seasoned, our boutique agency is comprised of veteran practitioners who stay one step ahead of trends and will not rest on the laurels of past successes. We have done it all before, failed, prevailed, and we know the difference. At BLAZE, we put strategy back in PR. Our media strategies are meaty, creative and on-point because they're backed by a thoughtful process that considers the particular world of each brand.

Media Contact:

BLAZE PR / Matt Kovacs

[email protected]

310-395-5050

SOURCE BLAZE Public Relations

Related Links

https://www.urbanmattress.com


MILL VALLEY, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/-- According to job site Glassdoor, the annual median base pay in the United States grew 3.0 percent year over year in March 2017 to $51,336. The Glassdoor Local Pay Reports show pay growth is up slightly from the 2.8 percent revised pay growth recorded last month, and is tied with January 2017 for the fastest pace of pay growth in the past three years. In addition to Glassdoor's personal salary tool Know Your Worth, which helps people understand their current earning potential in today's local labor market, the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports provide a unique view into the country's wage picture with salary estimates for 60 job titles across multiple industries and year-over-year (YOY) pay growth trends in the United States and five major metros: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco1.

"The positive wage growth is a sign of today's hot U.S. labor market; March's year-over-year increase shows that wages are stable and steadily increasing, especially among jobs where there is high demand for workers. The Glassdoor Local Pay Reports 3 percent wage growth matches January of this year as the fastest pace of pay increase in the three years we have recorded data," said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist of Glassdoor.

Houston, San Francisco Wage Growth Below National Average

Despite steady growth across the U.S., both Houston and San Francisco's wage growth rates have fallen below the national average. Houston had the slowest pay growth among the five metros, with the median base pay rising only 1.3 percent YOY to $54,435 - nearly 2 percentage points less than the national average and down more than 1 percentage point from February 2017 (2.2 percent). Houston's wage growth has decelerated in February and March so far in 2017. Houston has had below average wage growth for 15 of the past 16 consecutive months, primarily due to continued weakness in the energy sector.

San Francisco saw a slight increase from February 2017 with wage growth of 2.7 percent YOY with a median base pay of $67,032 in March, compared to 2.5 percent in the previous month.

Los Angeles' pay growth ticked up in March to 4.4 percent YOY, the fourth straight month of pay acceleration for the metro. This increase brings the median annual pay to $59,772. Chicago also saw growth in wages: median base pay rose by 3.8 percent YOY to $56,107, up slightly from the revised 3.7 percent pay growth last month.

Healthcare, Retail Jobs See Strong Pay Gains; Tech Pay Slows

The Glassdoor Local Pay Reports show strong pay gains in retail roles like store manager, which saw an increase of 7.9 percent YOY for March, which may be due to the large number of open retail jobs today -- approximately 797,600 job postings in retail are listed on Glassdoor across the U.S. Similarly, the reports show strong pay growth among warehouse associates, who are key employees for fast-growing online retail giants; median base pay for this job increased 6.3 percent to $40,390.

Jobs in the healthcare industry experienced higher than average increases in wage growth. Emergency medical technician jobs rose 5.2 percent to a median base pay of $35,135. Registered nurse wages were also up 4.5 percent YOY in March to $66,006. Chamberlain noted the strong growth in healthcare may be due to the shortage of workers in the field -- there are more than 794,300 healthcare job openings nationally on Glassdoor -- and employers are paying more to fill these important roles.

Pay also rose significantly for recruiters, up 7.4 percent YOY in March. According to Chamberlain, "Recruiters are in high demand because unemployment is down in the U.S., at 4.7 percent we are near full employment. In this environment, employers have to rely more on passive candidates, and with fewer unemployed workers, recruiters become more important."

In addition to a slowdown of wage growth in tech-heavy San Francisco, the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports show that some tech salaries leveled off or even fell slightly YOY. For example, web developers salaries declined -0.9 percent to $61,767 nationally and -1.20 percent to $95,579 in San Francisco. Salaries for java developers remained flat nationwide at $74,520, and data scientists saw a sluggish 1.2 percent pay growth to $95,400 compared to last year.

To see the five jobs with the biggest gains and declines, visit the Glassdoor Economic Research blog.

Highest and Lowest Paying Jobs

In addition to the biggest gains and largest declines in wage growth, the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports track the highest and lowest paying jobs each month. In March, the jobs with the nation's highest median base pay included physician ($242,235 per year), attorney ($99,758 per year), and data scientist ($95,400 per year).

The jobs with the lowest U.S. median base pay in March included cashier ($27,860 per year), bank teller ($28,409 per year) and restaurant cook ($28,792 per year).

For a list of the top and bottom five, visit the Glassdoor Economic Research blog.

The full data sets for the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports can be found on the Glassdoor Economic Research site, along with report methodology and Frequently Asked Questions.

To read more trends and insights from Chamberlain on this month's report or his predictions regarding the March BLS Employment Situation Report, visit the Glassdoor Economic Research blog.

Any individual can also keep tabs on their personal worth in their local job market through Know Your Worth by Glassdoor. Visit Glassdoor or download the Glassdoor Job Search apps for iPhone or Android.

To speak with Dr. Chamberlain regarding the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports or his predictions for this month's jobs report: [email protected].

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is the world's most transparent job and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines job listings with anonymous reviews, ratings and salary data to help people find a job and company they love. This level of transparency, in turn, helps employers attract the right candidates for their company and culture at a fraction of the cost of other channels. Glassdoor offers employers job advertising, job posting and employer branding solutions in addition to robust talent analytics. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has job listings and data for more than 640,000 employers in 190 countries and is available on iOS and Android platforms. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For career advice and job-related news and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog.

Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

Know Your Worth and Salary Explorer are trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

1For full methodology of the Glassdoor Local Pay Reports and how salary estimates are compiled, visit: https://research-content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/12/LocalPayReports_Methodology.pdf.

SOURCE Glassdoor

Related Links

https://www.glassdoor.com


Movin'On will bring together experts and visionaries from a broad cross section of stakeholders in transportation, including automotive, rail, air, truck, bus, bicycle, shipping, academia, government, NGOs and non-profit organizations for break-through innovation workshops and collaborative sessions that aim to drive actions to address mobility challenges for growing urban areas.

Speakers for Movin'On 2017 include:

The Honorable Marc Garneau , Minister of Transport ( Canada ).

, Minister of Transport ( ). Shigemoto Kajihara , Vice Minister for Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of the Environment ( Japan ).

, Vice Minister for Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of the Environment ( ). Bertrand Piccard , Initiator and Pilot, Solar Impulse.

, Initiator and Pilot, Solar Impulse. Jean-Dominique Senard , CEO, Michelin Group .

, CEO, . Jean Todt , President, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Special Envoy for Road Safety, United Nations.

, President, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Special Envoy for Road Safety, United Nations. Jun Yu , General Manager, GAC Group .

Movin'On presenters will also feature:

Patrick Bass , CEO, ThyssenKrupp North America

, CEO, ThyssenKrupp North America Barry Einsig , Global Automotive and Transportation Executive, Cisco Systems

, Global Automotive and Transportation Executive, Cisco Systems Ursula Mathar , Head of Sustainability and Environmental Protection, BMW Group

, Head of Sustainability and Environmental Protection, BMW Group Gregoire Olivier , Director of Mobility Services, PSA Group

, Director of Mobility Services, PSA Group Franck Rinderknecht , CEO, Rinspeed

, CEO, Rinspeed Alexendre Taillefer , Associate Principal, XPND Capital

, Associate Principal, XPND Capital Jose Viegas , Secretary General, International Transport Forum (ITF) at OECD

, Secretary General, International Transport Forum (ITF) at OECD Details for additional speakers available here

Movin'On attendees can experience the latest vehicles and technologies  some never seen before  from leading innovators in mobility:

Tesla will demonstrate its latest fully autonomous vehicles.

will demonstrate its latest fully autonomous vehicles. BMW will unveil two new models in its Mini Cooper line.

will unveil two new models in its Mini Cooper line. Solar Impulse 2: see the mock-up of the solar aircraft that completed a 25,000-mile trip around the world.

see the mock-up of the solar aircraft that completed a 25,000-mile trip around the world. Roborace: see the first driverless fully electric race car that will compete in this new motorsports series.

see the first driverless fully electric race car that will compete in this new motorsports series. Proterra: see the zero-emission electric bus that will revolutionize urban transit fleets.

see the zero-emission electric bus that will revolutionize urban transit fleets. Lito Green Motion : experience the luxury design and power of the new Sora electric bike.

Movin'On will assemble a diverse and open ecosystem of partners in sustainable mobility, including:

Movin'On, presented by Michelin in association with C2, continues the 20-year tradition established by Michelin Challenge Bibendum as the world's premiere and longest-running forum for sustainable mobility. Announced in December 2016, Movin'On 2017 in Montreal invites more than 3,000 participants from 35 countries to engage in a range of dynamic forums, including an exhilarating 360-degree technological platform for plenary sessions and other experiential presentations. Movin'On will also host collaborative workshops, master classes and labs that feature cutting-edge innovation and disruptive technology. Instead of a traditional exhibit hall, Movin'On will feature an Innovation Center and "Village Start-Up," a forum where dozens of start-up companies will present concepts for the future of mobility.

Partnerships for Movin'On are available for select Michelin collaborators and key innovators in the transportation industry. See movinon.michelin.com for more information. Movin'On is also open to the general public to attend. For pricing information and to register see movinon.michelin.com/en/buy-now/.

About Movin'On

Presented by Michelin in association with C2, Movin'On is the international summit for action in sustainable mobility. Movin'On 2017 will be held at the Arsenal in Montreal, Quebec, June 13-15. The symposium experience will feature inspiring keynote presentations, hands-on collaborative sessions, networking opportunities and technology exhibitions. Participants from business, government and academics will collaborate and explore new actions to resolve global challenges that will define the future of mobility. For tickets or more information, please see movinon.michelin.com.

About Michelin Group

Michelin, the leading tire company, is dedicated to enhancing its clients' mobility, sustainably; designing and distributing the most suitable tires, services and solutions for its clients' needs; providing digital services, maps and guides to help enrich trips and travels and make them unique experiences; and developing high-technology materials that serve the mobility industry. Headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Michelin is present in 170 countries, has 111,700 employees and operates 68 production facilities in 17 countries which together produced 184 million tires in 2015. (www.michelin.com)

About C2

C2 is a global convener on a mission to transform executives and organizations that are ripe for change  whether they know it or not. In a collaborative context specifically designed to provoke collisions and spark new ideas, C2 gets leaders to challenge their biases, shift their perspectives and explore completely new ways of doing business. C2's reinvention of the international conference experience started with the annual C2 Montreal event, which has been described as "challenging conventions" by The Economist and "a business conference unlike any other" by the Harvard Business Review. After Zurich, Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Rome and San Francisco, C2 is now expanding its reach across all continents. See c2.biz for more information.

SOURCE Michelin

Related Links

http://www.MichelinMedia.com


BETHESDA, Md., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- WealthEngine (WE), the leading provider of predictive marketing, analytics, and audience development services, continues to expand its presence in the financial services industry through partnerships with financial services institutions and financial advisors and solutions that best fit the industry's needs.

The WealthEngine Platform provides powerful wealth intelligence to financial advisors through its search and prospecting solutions. With over 240 million consumer profiles, each with 1,500 attributes, nearly a half trillion data points are leveraged to provide powerful marketing intelligence. With WealthEngine, financial advisors can:

Find new wealthy prospects by creating actionable custom prospect lists

by creating actionable custom prospect lists Pre-qualify incoming leads based on net worth, income, and current assets

based on net worth, income, and current assets Grow their book of business by gaining access to clients' connections for referrals

by gaining access to clients' connections for referrals Strengthen relationships by better understanding clients' lifestyle and affinity

WealthEngine has taken steps to position itself as the premier partner for all financial service institutions:

Integrations with Key CRM and Marketing Automation Platforms

WealthEngine has continued to gain momentum in the financial space as a complete solution that can integrate with technology financial services organizations are using. In 2016, the organization integrated with two significant technologies  Industry Leading Financial CRM and Marketo.

WealthEngine extended the capabilities of Industry Leading Financial CRM through its wealth scoring, predictive analytics and precision prospecting tools. The organization also integrated its powerful wealth intelligence data with the Marketo platform.

Industry Leading Financial CRM and Marketo are commonly used by those in the financial service industry. Integrating WealthEngine into these powerful platforms helps to empower advisors to build deeper, 1-to-1 client relationships, be more productive, and engage more holistically with clients anywhere and on any device. It also enables customers to gain new insights, more precisely target prospects, and engage audiences in ways that improve conversion.

Engagement with RBC Correspondent Services and RBC Advisor Services

WealthEngine has recently started to work with RBC Correspondent Services and RBC Advisor Services, a full-service clearing, custodian, and brokerage firm for independent broker dealers and Registered Investment Advisors, to bring wealth intelligence to its advisors through RBC Marketplace. The collaboration deepens WealthEngine's penetration of the industry as a resource for financial institutions.

"Our clients are interested in using real-time data to not only define their ideal client before cultivating a relationship, but to also identify assets held elsewhere by existing clients," said Brett Thorne, Head of RBC Correspondent and Advisor Services. "Having access to prospecting intelligence needs to be one of our solutions to help clients achieve their business goals and become their clients' primary advisor."

Release of Wealth Management Solution

WealthEngine has designed and released a Wealth Management Solution to fit the needs of any financial services organization. The solution is specifically designed for the financial services industry and contains product components best suited to your goals, whether you are an independent RIA looking for a starter package or a large financial institution looking to execute complex prospecting campaigns. The solution contains components of the WealthEngine Platform, including the ability to search for individuals, build ultra-segmented prospect lists, find connections amongst current and prospective clients, and much more.

"We understand the challenges financial advisors face," said Mark Logan, President and CEO at WealthEngine. "In such a competitive industry, the importance of understanding your audience and finding ideal prospects to build your book are key. We are excited to help individuals within the financial services industry overcome these challenges with our world-class suite of products that are the perfect complement within an advisor's tool belt to help find new clients and increase their wallet share."

About WealthEngine

WealthEngine, Inc. is the leading provider of predictive marketing analytics, audience development and wealth intelligence services to nonprofit organizations, financial services, and luxury brands. Named a Cool Vendor in Data-Driven Marketing by Gartner, marketers and fundraisers use WealthEngine's comprehensive insights to understand what drives consumer decisions and when best to engage them. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, WealthEngine serves both the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit wealthengine.com.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. RBC is one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. RBC has over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com. 

SOURCE WealthEngine

Related Links

http://www.wealthengine.com


LINCOLN, Neb., April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes initiative, a program focused on alleviating hunger and helping Americans become more food secure, joined forces with B&R Stores, the parent company of Russs Market and Super Saver, to donate more than 30,000 pounds of protein to Food Bank of Lincoln. The donation, equivalent to more than 120,000 servings, will help families fight hunger across Southeast Nebraska where more than 60,000 individuals are food insecure.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1cce37d1-29bd-4870-af2f-6feb0047b108

We are grateful for this large-scale donation from Smithfield and B&R Stores, which will provide countless meals to people in our area, said Scott Young, executive director of Food Bank of Lincoln. Many of the families we serve struggle to find their next meal. Now, with this donation, we are able to provide support to our neighbors in need.

Smithfield and B&R Stores representatives presented the donation to Food Bank of Lincoln at the event this morning. Members from all three organizations discussed food insecurity in the local community and the significance of this donation in helping the hungry in Southeast Nebraska, including more than 20,000 children.

B&R Stores is honored to take part in this donation and continue to support our community members in need, said Pat Raybould, president of B&R Stores, Inc. We remain focused on raising awareness of hunger and food insecurity in our area, and salute Smithfield for their similar passion.

Smithfields donation to Food Bank of Lincoln was a part of the Helping Hungry Homes 2017 nationwide donation tour. Throughout the annual tour, Smithfield will provide large-scale protein donations to more than 50 food banks across the country. This donation adds to the more than 65 million servings of protein donated since 2011.

At Smithfield, were proud to support the many communities we call home, and were providing the Food Bank of Lincoln with nutritious protein to feed the many people it serves, said Dennis Pittman, senior director of hunger relief for Smithfield Foods. With help from B&R Stores, this donation will feed thousands of families throughout Southeast Nebraska.

Following todays event, Helping Hungry Homes will visit Omaha, Nebraska. For more information about Helping Hungry Homes and a list of upcoming donation events, visit helpinghungryhomes.com.

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $14 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour, John Morrell, Cook's, Kretschmar, Gwaltney, Curly's, Margherita, Carando, Healthy Ones, Krakus, Morliny and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com.

About Food Bank of Lincoln

Since 1982, the Food Bank of Lincoln has worked to address food insecurity. The mission of Food Bank of Lincoln is to alleviate hunger in Southeast Nebraska. More than 60,000 people in the Food Bank of Lincolns 16-county service areaincluding an estimated 20,940 children under the age of 18lack consistent, reliable access to enough food to lead an active, healthy life. To learn more, visit http://www.lincolnfoodbank.org.

About B&R Stores, Inc.

B&R Stores, Inc., a Lincoln, Nebraska-based, employee-owned company, was founded in 1964 by Russ Raybould. Since then, the company has grown to include four store concepts (Russs Market, Super Saver, Save Best Foods and Grand Central Apple Market) located in seven cities across Nebraska and Iowa. For more information, visit brstores.com.
SILICON SLOPES, Utah, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Workfront, the leading provider of cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solutions, today announced that Illumina has been awarded a Workfront Lion Award for their achievements within their first year of product implementation. IIllumina is a global leader in DNA sequencing and improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome. The company gained impressive results from its Workfront implementation by adopting best practices for user adoption.

The Illumina task force knew that if they were going to get strong results from Workfront, they needed the full team on board using it. The team hosted product demos and social events, including an ice cream social, and a campus-wide beach-themed launch party. They also followed up with weekly pre-launch updates via email and developed training programs for each team and functional area. One month after functional training was complete, the participation numbers from the new system were identical to those from the legacy system.

"We immediately got 100% engagement," said Lynn Carrier, associate director of content process and technology at Illumina. "Equal numbers demonstrated to us that the move was seamless. That's both a testament to the way we built it out and how easy Workfront is to use."

Post implementation, Illumina regularly communicated with employees and partners with Workfront support for services. They also designated Workfront ambassadors for each functional team to help answer questions, they hosted weekly open house meetings, and sent weekly post-launch resolution emails addressing any issues that might have come up.

"Workfront has been an amazing partner throughout our journey," added Carrier. "I've benefited from learning how different groups adopt best practices, forming relationships across teams, and helping construct a better way for our whole organization to work together."

Prior to implementing Workfront in 2016, ease of use, workflow, and reporting challenges with an existing marketing resource-management solution led Illumina to search for a system replacement. To address the current and future needs of strategic and execution roles across marketing, the company established an internal employee task force supported by a steering committee of high-level directors. The task force oversaw the requirements gathering, selection, training, implementation, and ongoing troubleshooting of a new work management solution. The team selected Workfront and incorporated best-practice implementation strategies to provide complete visibility into integrated campaign projects, improved cross-functional collaboration, and increased project-reporting capabilities.

Since implementing Workfront, Illumina has seen the following benefits:

Successfully managed over 1,200 marketing projects from start to finish and have seen these projects completed 25% faster than before.

Project templates have streamlined cross-functional handoffs and reviews and have also ensured that they provide their partners a consistent experience. Project templates have also allowed the marketing team to adapt quickly if the data reveals inefficiencies in processes.

Communications on projects have moved out of email and they have decreased project status meetings by 50%.

Ease of reporting allows the team to answer questions about productivity, identify bottlenecks, and ensure their activities align to corporate priorities in ways they were not able to do so previously.

Illumina will officially be honored at the Workfront Leap 2017 User Conference, being held from April 10 to 13, 2017 at The Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City's premier five-diamond hotel.

To read the complete case study, visit https://resources.workfront.com/case-studies/illumina-case-study. To learn more about how Workfront can help your team, visit https://www.workfront.com.

Follow us on social:

Follow @Workfront_Inc on Twitter

Like Workfront on Facebook

About Workfront

Workfront is a cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solution that helps marketing, IT and other enterprise teams conquer the chaos of excessive email, redundant status meetings and disconnected tools. Unlike other tools, Workfront Enterprise Work Cloud is a centralized, easy-to-adopt solution for managing and collaborating on all types of work through the entire work lifecycle, which improves team productivity and executive visibility. Workfront is trusted by thousands of global enterprises, like Cars.com, Cisco Systems, Comcast, iProspect, Schneider Electric, and Trek. To learn more, visit www.workfront.com or follow us on Twitter @Workfront_Inc.

Contact: Shelbi Gomez

[email protected]

801-477-9813

SOURCE Workfront

Related Links

https://www.workfront.com


CINCINNATI, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Private businesses have a new resource to help them develop their own brand of the American dream.

YourBoard is an interactive experience that offers entrepreneurs advice and counsel to help grow their companies and sustain profitability.

In essence, YourBoard is a virtual board of directors, giving members 24/7 access to a single source for experienced guidance from a diverse range of business professionals. YourBoard.us gives business owner access to support, advice and information for all industries and all sizes of companies. YourBoard members will benefit from an array of specialized content:

Business Solutions Media Library: Videos, podcasts and implementation plans for business topics such as leadership and strategic vision; constructing a high-profit business model; and building a bridge to your targeted customers.

Videos, podcasts and implementation plans for business topics such as leadership and strategic vision; constructing a high-profit business model; and building a bridge to your targeted customers. Portals to Expert Support: Connect directly to business experts for specific advice on topics such as benefit solutions, process improvement and conflict resolution, human resources and digital marketing.

Connect directly to business experts for specific advice on topics such as benefit solutions, process improvement and conflict resolution, human resources and digital marketing. Live and Interactive Solutions: Monthly advisory board meetings, industry peer groups, Q&A sessions and guest speakers allow entrepreneurs to work on their businesses, not just in them.

Monthly advisory board meetings, industry peer groups, Q&A sessions and guest speakers allow entrepreneurs to work on their businesses, not just in them. Conquering Business Challenges: Select from more than 250 videos to provide in-depth employee education, training and testing.

Select from more than 250 videos to provide in-depth employee education, training and testing. Benchmarking: Confidentially compare your organization's compensation and performance.

YourBoard is led by Jim Foley, a businessperson with more than 40 years' experience, who has served as a senior executive with multiple private and family-owned businesses.

Through YourBoard, Foley hopes to draw upon his own experiences and a vast network of business connections to advise and support entrepreneurs and business leaders as they pursue their goals.

"YourBoard is the fulfillment of a personal dream," Foley says. "This new venture lets me continue to support the unique professional needs of owners, leaders and management teams of the private and family-owned businesses that represent the driving force of our economy."

Matt Messersmith, Signet Screening president, knows the effect Foley's mentorship can have on a growing business.

"Jim's influence has been tremendous for Signet," Messersmith says. "There are many challenges you encounter when you're trying to grow your business, and Jim has been through it all before. The advice and guidance he offers through YourBoard.us has been invaluable."

You can take a virtual tour of YourBoard at YourBoard.us, or check out Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to learn more.

SOURCE YourBoard

Related Links

http://www.yourboard.us


SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zerez Holdings Corporation (OTC PINK: ZRZH) announced a 70-day Miracle today by posting their 2016 4th Quarter and Annual Reports to otcmarkets.com. The company reported 2016 Annual Revenues of $225,059, compared to 2015 Annual Revenues of $62,676. Annual Profits for 2016 are $63,774, compared to Annual Losses of <-$23,626> in 2015.

According to President John Taylor, "We are very pleased that we turned a quarterly profit and made the company's net 2016 results profitable after just 70 days on the job." Not included in the company's Quarterly Income Statement is the $900,000 deal signed in November 2016, which started producing $15,000 per month in January 2017. In addition, the company has recently announced several signed deals that are expected to be completed, paid for and reported in their 2017 1st Quarter Report due on, or before, May 15, 2017.

According to Zerez Vice President Don Smith, "Don't ever let anyone tell you that it's easy to take over a money-losing company, change both its management team and business plan, and turn it into a profitable company. To do this usually takes years, if it ever happens at all. And yet, we've done it, and we've done it within 70 days. We've worked for this moment for over 8 years. The reports we've posted are the result of knowing our business, recruiting a talented team, offering great products, and capitalizing on a once in a lifetime market opportunity in cannabis and advanced agriculture."

The company's main revenue was contributed by its subsidiary Next Generation Farming, Inc., a leading manufacturer of smart greenhouse systems based in Northern California.

Other exciting news for Zerez Holdings Corporation is that it recently filed with the SEC and FINRA to formally change its preferred name to SMART Cannabis, Inc. The change is being made to more accurately reflect its most immediate target market and expansion business plan. The process is expected to take approximately 60 days. No further details are available at this time.

About Zerez Holdings:

Zerez Holdings Corporation (OTC PINK: ZRZH) is a public equity corporation focused on the advanced agriculture and cannabis industries with plans to grow through acquisition, strategic alliances, and proprietary intellectual property. The company's wholly owned subsidiary Next Generation Farming Inc. provides turnkey commercial greenhouses and automation systems that improve yields and decrease water consumption for cultivators of organic food and cannabis crops. The company's websites are http://zerezholdings.com and http://nextgen.farm.

Disclaimer: The Company relies upon the Safe Harbor Laws of 1933, 1934 and 1995 for all public news releases. Statements, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The company, through its management, makes forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. It is impossible to identify all such factors. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the company include, but are not limited to, government regulation; managing and maintaining growth; the effect of adverse publicity; litigation; competition; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the company's public announcements.

Contact:

Zerez Holdings Corporation

Don Smith, Vice President

(424) 732-7646

SOURCE Zerez Holdings Corporation

Related Links

http://www.zerezholdings.com


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoned Properties, Inc. (OTCQX: ZDPY), a strategic real estate development firm whose primary mission is to identify, develop, and lease sophisticated, safe, and sustainable properties in emerging industries, including the licensed medical marijuana industry, today announced Irvin Rosenfeld has stepped down as a director in connection with his appointment as a Senior Advisor to the Company. Effective April 1, 2017, the Board appointed Derek Overstreet, PhD, to fill Mr. Rosenfeld's Board seat. The Company will continue to be governed by a five-member Board of Directors, a majority of which is independent.

Mr. Rosenfeld, founder of My Medicine Consulting, has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the past 3 years and has been instrumental in the Company's strategic development. In his role as Senior Advisor, Mr. Rosenfeld will advise Zoned Properties on a range of issues including new business development, U.S. capital markets and trends in the licensed medical marijuana industry. Mr. Rosenfeld has nearly 30 years of experience in the financial industry, is the author of "My Medicine" (2010), and is a leading advocate of the medical marijuana movement. He has appeared on dozens of television news programs and is one of two remaining members, and the longest standing survivor, of the Federal Medical Cannabis Program.

"Irvin has been instrumental in the development of our business model and was a leading voice in our strategy to focus on licensed medical marijuana developments within the emerging marijuana industry," commented Bryan McLaren, Chief Executive Officer of Zoned Properties. "He gained deep industry knowledge spanning several decades through his own personal journey as a patient in the Federal Medical Cannabis Program. We will continue to utilize Irvin's industry knowledge, insights and first-hand experiences as he transitions to this advisory role in serving our company."

"I am extremely proud of what Zoned Properties has accomplished over the last several years and am honored to continue to serve the Company in an advisory role as the team works to extend its strong track record of conservative and methodical project development in the medical marijuana space," stated Irvin Rosenfeld, Senior Advisor to Zoned Properties. "By consistently and intentionally avoiding the more risky and volatile recreational sector of the industry, management is positioning the Company to best serve the interests of its shareholders over the long-term, and I look forward to being a part of their continued success."

Derek Overstreet, PhD, joins the Board as an Independent Director. Dr. Overstreet is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Sonoran Biosciences, which develops new sustained-release pharmaceutical formulations for applications including orthopedic infection and postoperative pain management. Dr. Overstreet holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University. His expertise is in the development of novel polymer-based materials for medical applications including drug delivery. He has authored 11 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 2 patent applications. We believe that Dr. Overstreet's experience navigating the scientific field of pharmaceuticals and drug delivery will be instrumental in assisting the strategic development and implementation of the Zoned Properties' business model.

"Our intentional focus on the medical sector of the licensed marijuana industry has enabled us to lead with integrity and take a longer-term view in the emerging medical marijuana industry," continued McLaren. "While recreational marijuana gets a lot of attention from the media, we are steadfast in our focus on the licensed medical marijuana sector as our primary business, and will continue our development efforts in support of this agenda. Our decision-making, from the location of our corporate office in Arizona to our recent expansion into the medical sector in Colorado, is tightly aligned with this vision for our company."

About Zoned Properties, Inc. (ZDPY):

Zoned Properties is a strategic real estate development firm whose primary mission is to identify, develop, and lease sophisticated, safe, and sustainable properties in emerging industries, including the licensed medical marijuana industry. The Company acquires commercial properties that face unique zoning challenges and identifies solutions that can potentially have a major impact on the cash flow and property value. Zoned Properties targets commercial properties that can be acquired and re-zoned for specific purposes. Zoned Properties does not grow, harvest, sell or distribute cannabis or any substances regulated under United States law such as the Controlled Substances Act.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press 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 statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

SOURCE Zoned Properties, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.zonedproperties.com


NEW YORK, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (Northern Dynasty or the Company) (NYSE:NAK) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 17-cv-02437 is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Dynasty Minerals securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Northern Dynasty securities between September 16, 2013 and February 13, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until April 17, 2017 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Northern Dynasty engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties in the United States. Its principal property is the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mineral project (Pebble Project) located in southwest Alaska.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Pebble Project carries a negative net present value; (ii) the Pebble Project is not commercially viable; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, Northern Dynastys public statements, as well as Defendants statements about the Companys business, operations and prospects, were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On February 14, 2017, Kerrisdale Capital Management released an article about Northern Dynasty alleging that the Companys main asset, the low-grade Pebble deposit, is not commercially sustainable, that the Pebble project has a negative present value, and that for several years the Company has been concealing this information from the investing public.

On this news, Northern Dynastys share price fell $0.68, or 21.38%, to close at $2.50 on February 14, 2017.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com
HOUSTON, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Willbros Group, Inc. (NYSE:WG) announced today that it is consolidating the roles of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its Canadian operations. Effective April 7, 2017, current COO Jeremy Kinch will also assume the role of President of the Canada segment.



In naming Mr. Kinch to this position, the companys President & Chief Executive Officer, Mike Fournier said, Efforts to make the business units in Canada more self-sufficient have proven successful and allow us the opportunity to adjust segment level staff positions. I want to thank Andrew Jack for his significant contributions to our Canadian operations. He was instrumental in growing our Construction & Maintenance business and, in recent years, building client relationships while leading our Canadian management team as President.

Mr. Kinch joined Willbros Canada in 2008 and previously has held positions as Vice President, General Manager, Pipelines and General Manager, Field Services. Mr. Kinch holds a B.S. in Geological Engineering from Queens University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

About Willbros

Willbros is a specialty energy infrastructure contractor serving the oil and gas and power industries with offerings that primarily include construction, maintenance and facilities development services. For more information on Willbros, please visit our web site at www.willbros.com.
New Delhi, March 29 : The Enforcement Directorate has attached Rs 17.73 lakh recovered from three Jammu and Kashmir residents who are alleged to have received funding from terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen for terror activities in the state.

The financial probe agency attached the amount from Irshad Ahmad Qureshi, Irshad Ahmad Hajjam and Firdous Ahmad Wani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an official said on Wednesday.

Qureshi and Hajjam were arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on March 10, 2009 from Srinagar while Wani was held later.

Qureshi told the investigators that he works as a private school principal and in November 2007, he came in contact with a terrorist Bashir Ahmad Aijaz, who offered him a proposal for distribution of money for terror acts on five per cent commission.

"Qureshi used to get money into his bank account in a Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Srinagar and subsequently distributed it among the people as per the instruction of Aijaz," an Enforcement Directorate official said.

The official said Qureshi later brought in Hajjam and utilised his services for distribution of the money at a commission of two per cent. Hajjam has admitted his involvement in the crime.

Both Qureshi and Hajjam, told the investigators that they collected the money from Firdous Ahmad Wani, the third accused.

"Wani stated that the seized money was the share of sale of his ancestral house, which was meant for his brother settled in Pakistan. However, he could not justify the recovered amount as sale proceeds," the official said.
Manila, March 30 : A Philippine MP on Thursday filed a fresh impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged "betrayal" of the country in a territorial dispute with China.

Congressman Gary Alejano appended it to the first impeachment complaint filed by him on March 16 to start impeachment proceedings against Duterte for his alleged involvement in murders and other crimes, Efe news reported.

The opposition lawmaker, in his fresh complaint, accused Duterte of failing to keep his promise on the Scarborough atoll issue and signing secret agreements with China, according to the document showed by Alejano after presenting it to the lower house of Parliament.

The complainant said Duterte "has permitted China to trample upon our country's rights and interest, and those of our people, apparently because he is afraid to offend his Chinese friends and/or because he has already made secret deals with them, to the grave and utter prejudice of our nation".

The complaint comes after Duterte, who has strengthened his relations with Beijing since taking power in June, admitted he cannot stop Beijing's activities in the South China Sea, disputed by six countries in the region.

Duterte was also criticised for refraining from claiming sovereignty over the Scarborough atoll, an area where Philippine fishermen have traditionally worked and which is now occupied by China, despite the Arbitration Court in the Hague ruling in Manila's favour last year.

The fresh motion is unlikely to garner much support as out of the 292 MPs, at least 267 are allies of Duterte.

In the original complaint, the opposition lawmaker sought Duterte's impeachment on the grounds of the alleged murders ordered by the President when he was the mayor of Davao as well as more than 7,000 killings as a part of his war on drugs.
Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), March 30 : Amidst countless victims of "Talaq" abuse and the current din to make it illegal, now another case has emerged where a pregnant woman in Uttar Pradesh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleging her husband had verbally divorced her by pronouncing a triple talaq.

The woman in her letter alleged that her husband did so as he feared she is carrying a baby girl in her womb, police said on Thursday.

The carrying women, mother of two girl children was pressurized by her three brother-in-laws and allegedly beaten up by her in-laws forcing her to abort the baby.

Saharanpur police chief Love Kumar told IANS that the woman, Shugufta, registered a complaint against her husband, Shamshad and in-laws of Budhakheda village in the Uttar Pradesh district on Tuesday.

Shugufta was married to Shamshad five years ago and the couple has two four-year and 18-month old daughters.

She has written to Modi and Yogi Adityanath, seeking their intervention to save her daughters and yet-to-be-born baby, Kumar said.

"In her complaint, she has alleged that her husband feared she would give birth to one more baby girl. He wanted a baby boy and asked her to terminate the pregnancy. She refused and now, he has divorced her and kicked her out from home." The police officer said Shamshad had pronounced talaq to her verbally thrice and divorced her -- a controversial Muslim practice in the sub-continent that has been debated and is being challenged in the Supreme Court.

The apex court is likely to take up the matter whether or not to ban the practice on May 11.

The officer said Shugufta has also named her brothers-in-law -- Naushad, Zaffar Ali, Illyas -- for pressurising her to abort the three-month-old foetus.

"She alleged she was beaten up by the in-laws," Kumar said, adding they had also been seeking dowry from her.

The officer said a case under sections of causing miscarriage without a woman's consent and subjecting woman to cruelty has been registered and police were awaiting a medical examination report of the woman.

"We have formed a special team to investigate the matter. But nobody has been arrested as yet."

-- With inputs from IANS
Kabul, March 31 : At least 33 militants were killed by security forces in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, a military officer said on Friday.

"The forces launched operations in Chaparhar and Pachiragam districts on Thursday night and so far 33 militants have been killed, six injured and 22 others arrested," the official told Xinhua news agency.

The victims included key militant commanders, the officer added.
Washington, March 31 : US Senate Republicans, aided by Vice President Mike Pence, voted to undo a rule preventing states from blocking funding for family planning clinics that also provide abortions, a media report said.

Thursday's vote was one of a string of showdowns to reverse former President Barack Obama's administration regulations, but this one unfolded with all the drama of numerous past conflicts over abortion funding -- with Pence casting the tie-breaking vote in his role as President of the Senate, the New York Times said in the report.

"The Congress is sending a resolution to President (Donald) Trump ensuring that states are not forced to fund America's abortion giant, Planned Parenthood," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of a prominent anti-abortion group.

Taking money away from Planned Parenthood, the bill's target, has been a longstanding goal of congressional Republicans, but earlier efforts were blocked by Democrats and President Barack Obama.

Senate Democrats all voted against the bill, as did two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Collins and Murkowski have long opposed attacks on funding Planned Parenthood, which they argue provides services for women in areas with scarce health care options.

Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, who returned after two back surgeries, was cleared by his doctors to travel for one day only to help pass the measure, but it took the final vote of Pence to break the 50-50 tie, the New York Times report said.

"Historically low teen pregnancy rates did not happen in a vacuum," said Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan.

The measure, he said, "will disproportionately hurt people in rural and underserved areas where these clinics are more often than not their primary source of health care."
Jammu, March 31 : A soldier was killed on Friday in a mysterious incident of firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

Police sources said Sepoy Kulwant Singh was found dead with a bullet wound in Balakot sector in the morning.

"It is not known whether the soldier's death was a suicide or due to firing from across the LoC," an official said.

The LoC divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Panaji, April 1 : Even as Goa's Excise Department on Saturday did not renew the licences of over 3,000 liquor vends dotting the national highways, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar assured that efforts would be made to ensure that the livelihood of affected traders is not compromised.

At a meeting chaired by Parrikar and attended by Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and top excise and finance department officials, a possibility of relocating liquor businesses from the close proximity of national highways to the interior areas was also discussed.

"It is one of the alternatives. After discussions, a proper policy will be worked out for relocating affected businesses," sources said, adding that for now existing excise laws allow bar and liquor store owners to shift their unsold stock to new premises.

The state government is also considering the legal option of filing a revision petition in regard to the Supreme Court's Friday order, which banned bars from close proximity of highways.

"The option is always available. We will exercise it if necessary," sources said.

Meanwhile, the state Excise Department on Saturday did not renew over 3,000 licences, which cover bars, liquor retailers and wholesalers, which fall within 500 metres of the National Highways, as per Friday's Supreme Court order.

According to Excise Commissioner Menino D'Souza, the department's teams were implementing the order by visiting bars and liquor outlets which have been slotted for closure.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Parrikar, lawyer for the Goa Liquor Traders Association Amit Palyekar said that an assurance has been given by the Chief Minister to resolve the issue with the least possible damage to the affected liquor traders.

"Filing a revision petition is also an option before us, but we will do it in consultation with the state government," Palyekar said.

The apex court, by its December 15, 2016 order, had banned the sale of liquor within 500 metres on either side of the national and state highways. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice L. Nageswara Rao, however, relaxed the ban by reducing it to 220 metres in respect of municipal/local bodies with a population of 20,000 or less along the highways, while also exempting Sikkim and Meghalaya from the above restrictions.

One of the most popular tourism destinations in the country, Goa is well known for its liberal liquor regime, where alcohol is taxed less as compared to other states. There are over 11,000 licensed liquor vendors in the state, including bar and restaurant licence holders and more than 3,000 such outlets are facing the axe following the apex court order.
New Delhi, April 1 : In one of its biggest crackdowns on shell companies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted simultaneous countrywide raids on around 110 premises and 300 shell companies that were suspected to be involved in dubious and illegal transactions during demonetisation, officials said.

The operation was carried out across 16 states with multiple teams of the agency raiding the premises of about 300 shell firms in prominent places like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru among others.

"Several top business houses were searched in various cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata," the official told IANS.

The raids were carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate instances of money laundering and illegal foreign exchange transactions.

"Investigations had revealed that certain entry operators and fraudsters were using a network of companies, some of which have been used repeatedly while some others were discarded after use or kept dormant for a long period," an Enforcement Directorate official told IANS.

The official said that some of the companies were involved in major money laundering cases related to Maharashtra-based politician Chhagan Bhujbal, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, former chief engineer of Noida Yadav Singh, National Rural Health Mission, AGS Infotech, Rajeshwar Exports and others.

He said that some other entities were found to have been used for laundering demonetised currency after the November 8 banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The official said that certain shell companies remitted huge amounts to other countries for imports but no imports had been made, thus causing loss of foreign exchange.

"These companies had either produced forged bill of entry or not submitted any bill of entry. A sum of Rs 20 crore was found available in bank account of one entity and the same will be considered for attachment."

In a case relating to Kolkata, the official said more than 50 companies had the same registered address which on verification was found to be vacant residential premises.

"The landlord of the premises has stated that he had let out his home to a private individual around three years back who disappeared in three months. He had then subsequently received loan recovery letters against two companies registered on the address.

"These two companies are already under investigation," the official said.

During investigation, the Enforcement Directorate said it arrested one person named Jagdish Prasad Purohit who has admitted to having formed around 700 shell companies using 20 dummy directors, and 130 of the companies are still in existence.

"He had also provided accommodation entry to the tune of Rs 46.7 crore to Chhagan Bhujbal," the official said.

The official said the agency officials recovered the photograph of a fake ID card of a special agent in the anti-terrorism division, Interpol, in the name of one Chetan Shah during a raid at a house in Mumbai.

"The entry operator connected to Rajeshwar Exports company was also searched. The company had made remittances to the tune of Rs 1,476 crore for import of diamonds, which were grossly overvalued," the official said.

The official said a chartered accountant at Barakhamba Road in Delhi had formed more than 200 shell companies and had given accommodation entries to a number of persons in Uttar Pradesh.

"He was also found to be involved in conversion of black money into white for some of the sand mafias of Uttar Pradesh."

In another case, the Enforcement Directorate investigators found a shell company which has exported carpets to its sister concern incorporated outside India.

"The export proceeds were never realised and the person behind these companies had applied to RBI (Reserve Bank of India) for write off of the outstanding export proceeds," the official added.

Official sources said the action is part of the mandate given to the ED under a Special Task Force created by the government last month on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office.

The task force was created under the co-chairmanship of the Revenue Secretary and Corporate Affairs Secretary to monitor the actions taken against shell companies by various agencies from regulatory ministries and Enforcement Agencies.

In a statement, the Finance Ministry said last month that harsh punitive action will be taken against shell companies, including freezing of bank accounts, striking off of names of dormant companies and invoking Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.

Shell companies are companies that exist only on paper, and can be used for money laundering.

The statement said there were about 15 lakh registered companies in India and only six lakh of these file their annual returns.
Ghaziabad, April 2 : The man accused of raping and murdering five-year-old girl in this Uttar Pradesh district, adjoining Delhi, was still at large despite extensive searches, police said on Sunday.

Tension prevailed in Indirapuram area after the body of the girl, the daughter of a priest, was found in a half-constructed house on Friday midnight with marks of brutal rape and murder. A heavy police contingent has been deployed there.

The girl was missing since Thursday.

Three persons, including the accused Afroz's father, brother and another man identified as Alam were detained and a police team was sent to Khagaria to arrest him, said Superintendent of Police (City) Salman Taj Patil.

Several raids were conducted at his house, Patil said.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report confirmed the child was raped before being killed.

The residents were angry over police apathy for tracing the abducted child despite timely information.

"The crime is grave and we will arrest the culprit at the earliest. He is a drug addict and still away from family," the SP said.

"He does not use mobile phone otherwise we would have arrested him by putting his mobile on surveillance," he added.

Afroz, a mason by trade, had stayed in the priest's house as a tenant but was asked to leave after a spat. According to the residents, Afroz, who had moved to a nearby house, has committed the crime to avenge the humiliation.

Meanwhile, Noida legislator Pankaj Singh, the son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, met the family members of the victim. He also talked to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and sought the financial help to the family.
Panaji, April 3 : 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.
Tehran, April 3 : Iran has expressed its reservations regarding the appointment of former Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif (Retd.) as head of the Saudi-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, saying it was not "satisfied" with the coalition.

"We are concerned about this issue... that it may impact the unity of Islamic countries," Iran's Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Honardoost as saying that Pakistan had contacted Iranian officials before issuing the no-objection certificate (NOC) to Gen Sharif to lead the Saudi alliance.

"But that does not indicate that Iran is satisfied with this decision or it has accepted the same," the envoy said.

The ambassador said Iran had conveyed its concerns to the Pakistani government.

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 is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the "Muslim Nato", this month.

The government had issued an NOC for Gen Sharif to join the alliance after an understanding was reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the matter, Maj. Gen. Ijaz Awan (Retd.), a defence analyst and close associate of the former army chief, had told Dawn.
Singapore, April 4 : An Indian Imam will be fined and deported back to his native country for his remarks against Jews and Christians in his sermons, media reports said.

Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, 47, was fined 4000 Singapore dollars ($2864) on Monday and will be deported to India after a video of one of his sermons showed him reciting a text that included the supplication, "God help us against the Jews and the Christians", Haaretz news reported.

The text read out during Friday prayers at Singapore's Jamae Chulia mosque in January was not a Quranic excerpt, but rather has been described as an old Arabic text that originated from the Imam's native village in India.

In an effort to make amends, the imam paid a visit to Singapore's Maghain Aboth Synagogue on Sunday morning in order to apologize to the community.

The community leader Rabbi Mordechai Abergel accepted his apology, thanking the Imam for his visit saying that it "sends a message that these bonds are not affected, and we share so much more than what divides us."

Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs released a statement on Monday saying that "any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actions."

"Under 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 said.
Washington, April 4 : US President Donald Trump donated the first quarter of his presidential salary -- a total of $78,333 -- to the National Park Service, the White House announced.

At his daily press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer displayed the cheque with Trump's donation and handed it to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Efe news reported.

The National Park Service, which celebrated its centennial last year, is tasked with protecting and maintaining the country's national parks and monuments, including US battlefields and Trump is "proud" to contribute part of his yearly salary to that "important mission", Spicer said.

The White House had announced in March that Trump was going to fulfill his promise to donate his salary as President, which amounts to a gross of $400,000 per year.

During the election campaign, the mogul promised that if he won last November's presidential balloting, he would either donate his salary or return it to the Department of the Treasury.

Trump's fortune amounts to as much at $3.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Warsaw, April 4 : Prosecutors in Poland have accused Russia of "deliberately" causing a plane crash which killed the Polish President and 95 others, claiming they have "proof", media reports said.

Poland's national prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the 2010 crash, which happened in Smolensk, Russia, was due to the behaviour of a Russian official in the control tower, Dailymail online reported.

Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek added 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 the deliberately caused accident.

Polish investigators have said they want to question the men but cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens.

The plane crash, which took place on April 10, 2010, killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 people, many of who were top Polish state and military leaders.

There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia.

While 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, the Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers.

A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin has rejected the accusation saying "the circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied" and "we cannot agree with such conclusions".
Mumbai, April 4 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has praised actor Akshay Kumar's support to the Open Defecation Free (ODF) programme of the central and state governments.

Earlier this month, Akshay, who is working on a movie titled "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", took time out to dig a toilet in Khargone Madhya Pradesh.

Chouhan on Monday night shared a a few photographs of himself along with Akshay and captioned: "Appreciate Akshay Kumarji's support to ODF program of Centre and MP Govt. His contribution will inspire the youth for Swatch Bharat Mission."

Akshay re-tweeted Chouhan's comment and thanked him for the compliment.

"Thank you Sir, for your kind words and commendable efforts towards the mission," Akshay tweeted on Monday night.

Akshay's "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" is reportedly inspired by the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The film's poster was launched on social media on Thursday. The film also stars Anupam Kher and "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" famed Bhumi Pednekar.
Los Angeles, April 4 : A judge here has rejected Oscar-winning filmmaker-actor Roman Polanskis plea to resolve his 40-year-old rape case.

Polanski's plea was heard on Monday, reports variety.com.

In a 13-page ruling, judge Scott Gordon found that Polanski cannot put the case behind him so long as he refuses to return to the US and submit to the court's jurisdiction.

"Polanski cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it," Gordon wrote.

California courts have repeatedly held that Polanski cannot litigate the case from afar.

The famed director fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl. His attorneys have said that judge Laurence Rittenband engaged in misconduct by revoking on a pledge not to sentence Polanski to prison time, variety.com said.

Polanski is a citizen of France and is not subject to extradition there. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has repeatedly sought to extradite him when he travels to other countries but without success.

Resolving the case would allow the 83-year-old director to travel more freely and to return to the US.

The director didn't attend the 75th Academy Awards in 2003 when he was given the Best Director honour for "The Pianist".
Manila, April 4 : Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sacked his Interior Minister over corruption allegations, a top official said on Tuesday.

Duterte dismissed Ismael Sueno on Monday over "loss of trust and confidence", said Presidential Office spokesperson Ernesto Abella.

"The President had earlier asked a few questions of Sueno but the summary dismissal served as a warning that Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet," Efe quoted the spokesman as saying.

Philippine media reports say the allegations against Sueno originated in a letter sent to Duterte by three junior aides of the now former minister.

The three accused Sueno of running illegal hotel and transport businesses in South Cotabato and of receiving money from illegal gambling.

Sueno had denied the allegations, stressing he has always said no to corruption but seems to have failed to convince Duterte.

The President, who pledged to uproot crime, drugs and corruption from the country, has previously sacked his former election campaign chief for supposed illegal activities.
Karachi, April 4 : A Pakistani money changer known for his ties with Indian don Dawood Ibrahim has been jailed for 68 months in the US for conspiring to commit money laundering, it was reported on Tuesday.

Altaf Khanani, who has already spent over a year in a Miami jail, was also fined $250,000 by a Florida court, Dawn online reported. He was sentenced on March 29.

The remaining 13 counts of committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution for Khanani's cooperation in the probe.

According to the US Treasury Department, his clientele included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian crime groups and designated terrorist organisations.

"Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the Treasury Department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Indian security agencies say Ibrahim, originally an Indian, lives in Pakistan now as a Pakistani citizen. Islamabad denies this.

Khanani agreed to plead guilty and "make a full, accurate and complete disclosure... of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.

The agreement said the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing as Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.

The probe involved coordination from six law enforcement agencies from three countries -- the US, Australia and the UAE.

Khanani and Kalia International (KKI) was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world.

Khanani has intimate knowledge of the bank accounts and intermediaries used by the groups whose money he was moving.

The court committed Khanani to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, with a recommendation that he serve his time in a local facility in Florida.

Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

Khanani was in June 2015 indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a $250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.
Agartala, April 4 : The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has to confront many unique challenges in laying tracks in the mountainous northeastern region due to its topography and the danger of natural calamities, a top official has said.

According to Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Shailesh Kumar Pathak, the NFR gets to work at optimum pace for only four to five months a year as the region witnesses intense rain from March to end-October with the actual monsoon running from June to September.

"As the Himalayan region, specially the northeastern states, are siltation- and landslide-prone areas, the railways have to take additional measures to deal the natural adversities. A lesser working period makes the task more challenging for railway engineers and others," Pathak told IANS while on a visit here.

He said the per-kilometre cost of laying single-line tracks in the mainland states is Rs 7 crore and for double line tracks Rs 10 crore. "These costs are much higher in the northeastern region due to terrain, marshy land and various other hostile factors."

The CRS was in Tripura for inspecting the newly-laid 9.26 km Udaipur-Garjee section of the 114-km-long track that links Agartala with Sabroom in southern Tripura.

With Sabroom just 75 km from the Chittagong seaport in southern Bangladesh, the Rs 1,150 crore project, to be completed by 2019, will enable the ferrying of men and material from and to the landlocked northeastern states.

An NFR engineer said that due to the large number of rivulets and small rivers, manysmall, medium and big bridges, besides many tunnels, have to be built in the northeastern region.

He noted in this context that India's longest 11.55 km rail tunnel is now under construction as part of the 111-km-long Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal line that ends in the Manipur capital. This is longer than the the 11.2 km Pir Panjal tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund line in Jammu and Kashmir.

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain has said there are ambitious plans to connect, by 2020, all the eight capitals of the northeastern states.

In October 2008, with the extension of the metre gauge track up to Agartala through southern Assam, it became the first state capital in the northeast to be brought on India's rail map after the country's independence. Subsequently, the metre gauge was converted into broad gauge.

Today, Assam capital Guwahati (from pre-independence times) and Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar are also on the rail map.

"The NFR has converted all the metre gauge railway tracks into broad gauge. Metre gauge tracks have become history in northeast India," Gohain said.

The last 30 km metre gauge section -- Baraigram-Dullabcherra in southern Assam's Karimganj district -- has been converted into broad gauge and passenger trains began running on this section from Friday.

"As the century-old metre gauge railway track has now become history in northeast India and to display the other aspects ofIndian Railways I have a plan to build a rail museum in Nowgong (in central Assam)," the minister said.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Baghdad, April 4 : The US-led international coalition on Tuesday bombed Islamic State (IS) positions in Iraq's Mosul city, killing four key commanders, military officials here said.

According to a statement issued by the Military Intelligence, the coalition airstrikes hit several positions in the al-Tanak neighbourhood in western Mosul, Efe news reported.

The warplanes of the international coalition resumed bombings on Tuesday after a 16-hour suspension of operations due to bad weather.

On February 19, Iraqi security forces began an offensive in western Mosul, two weeks after concluding operations to expel IS from the eastern section of the city.

The IS seized Mosul in 2014.
Ottawa, April 4 : Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, will on April 12 address Canada's parliament and officially receive the honorary Canadian citizenship bestowed upon her in 2014, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said.

Trudeau, in a statement on Monday, said: "I am pleased to announce Malala Yousafzai's upcoming visit to Canada. Yousafzai's courageous response to those who threatened her life, and her advocacy for girls' education, has inspired many millions of people around the world.

"Her story is one of determination and dignity, and Canada is proud to call her an honorary citizen of this great country. I look forward to attending the upcoming ceremony and witnessing the historic moment when she becomes the youngest person to address the Parliament of Canada."

Trudeau will meet Malala to discuss girls' empowerment through education and how they can actively contribute to the sustainable development of their communities and countries.

Malala was targeted by Taliban militants after she became an outspoken advocate for the right of girls to learn and to attend school.

She has since become an international spokesperson for girls' education and the rights of women and girls.

In recognition of this work, she was named a co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.

"The people of Canada are leading the world in their response to the refugee crisis. I am honoured by the parliament's invitation and look forward to visiting this great nation of heroes," she said.

The House of Commons in October 2014 unanimously supported bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship upon Yousafzai to recognise her bravery in the fight for the rights of women and girls.

Yousafzai is one of just six people to receive honorary Canadian citizenship. The others are Raoul Wallenberg, Nelson Mandela, the 14th Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Aga Khan.
Bangkok, April 4 : People with Type 2 diabetes are likely to have poorer control over their blood glucose levels if they are working in night shifts, researchers say.

The study revealed that night shift workers had an average glycemic count of 8.2 per cent, significantly higher than the 7.6 per cent count for daytime workers and 7.5 per cent count for participants who did not work.

Most people with diabetes should strive for an A1C level below seven per cent, according to the Hormone Health Network.

"Our study data raise awareness of the difficulty in diabetes control among night shift workers," said Sirimon Reutrakul, Associate Professor at Mahidol University in Thailand.

Further, the sleep restriction and circadian disruptions caused by night shifts may also increase the risk of developing diabetes as compared to those who work in the daytime or are unemployed.

For the study, presented at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting ENDO 2017, in Orlando, the team studied 260 individuals -- 62 night shift workers, 94 daytime workers and 104 unemployed individuals -- with Type 2 diabetes in Thailand.

The night shift workers reported having shorter sleep duration, higher daily intake of calories and higher body mass index (BMI), than did the other two groups.

"Diabetic individuals who work at night should pay special attention to managing their disease through healthy eating, regular exercise and optimal use of medications prescribed by their physician," Reutrakul recommended.
New Delhi, April 4 : In the face of China's protest over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday that no political motive should be attributed to the Tibetan spiritual leader's trip to the northeastern state.

"India has always been non-interfering in the neighbours' internal affairs in our approach," Rijiju told reporters here.

"In the same manner, we expect the same from our neighbours," he said.

"When Dalai Lamaji is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement and he is not there with any political motive."

Rijiju, who himself hails from Arunachal Pradesh and is scheduled to go there on Wednesday to meet the Dalai Lama, said India has never questioned China's sovereignty and "has respectfully adhered to the one-China policy".

"So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters," he stated.

Asserting that Arunachal Pradesh is not a disputed territory, the Minister said: "We have certain issues with regard to delineation of the boundary on the spots, on the ground along McMohan Line because it is not being demarcated on the ground. That is why there is a talk between the special representatives of India and China and the people of Arunachal Pradesh hope that an amicable solution can be reached in the foreseeable future time."

Rijiju's remarks came after India's official statement earlier in the day that no "additional colour" should be given to the Dalai Lama's visit this month.

"The government has clearly stated on several occasions that HHDL (His Highness Dalai Lama) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," it said.

"The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh."

China in March said ties with India would be hit if New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Beijing was concerned over India permitting the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the northeastern state of India.

Geng said China was strictly opposed to the impending visit by the Dalai Lama.

"China is strongly opposed to the Dalai Lama visiting disputed areas," he told a regular press briefing.

Geng said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it South Tibet. Besides, it accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activities in Tibet.

According to the Dalai Lama's office, from April 5 to 7 he will give teachings at Yiga Choezin in Tawang. On April 10, he will offer teachings at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang.

A day later, the Dalai Lama will be at the Buddha Park in Bomdila and on April 12 he will talk at Thupten Gatsal Ling in Itanagar.

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is home to one of the most sacred Buddhist monasteries.

The Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled into exile in 1959. Moreover, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century.
New Delhi, April 4 : An Indian Engineering Services (IES) officer has been arrested for sexually assaulting and stalking a Jawaharlal Nehru University student, police said on Tuesday.

Rakesh Meena, 26, was arrested on Monday night from Said-ul-Ajaib area in south Delhi after the victim registered a complaint against, Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chinmoy Biswal told IANS.

Meena is employed as an Assistant Executive Engineer with the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.

The victim, 22, a resident of south Delhi, said in her complaint that the accused had been stalking and sexually assaulting her since 2012 when she was a minor and had also threatened to kill her, police said.

As the incident began when the victim was minor, Meena has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for criminal intimidation, stalking and sexual assault, Biswal added.
Gurugram, April 4 : Police on Tuesday released CCTV footage showing two women fighting off armed men that averted a bank robbery here.

Vimla Devi (45) and Poonam (28), employees of State Bank of India's money transfer branch in Badshahpur, overpowered Deepak (25) and Mohit (25) when they tried to loot the bank.

Police Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said the two women would be rewarded and honoured.

The footage showed the thieves entering the bank on Monday afternoon and pulling out pistols from a bag. They tried to take on Vimla and Poonam at gun point.

At the time of the incident, the women were alone in the branch. Instead of surrendering, they snatched the pistols and raised an alarm.
New Delhi, April 4 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has arrested two persons in separate cases for running shell companies and funnelling funds abroad.

"G. Dhananjaya Reddy, an engineering graduate from Bengaluru, was arrested for floating more than 20 shell companies and obtaining loans through dubious means," an agency official told IANS.

Reddy was arrested for defrauding United Bank of India of Rs 70 crore by "submitting forged or fake documents and by impersonation".

"He submitted forged documents of several immovable properties as third-party collaterals to the banks and got loans sanctioned in the name of various shell companies.

Reddy has three money laundering cases registered against him.

He routed the money to shell companies abroad and did "round tripping of funds" to evade taxes.

Reddy was presented in a Bengaluru court dealing with Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases and sent to two days' ED custody.

In the second case, K. Liakath Ali was arrested from Chennai under the PMLA Act for remitting foreign exchange through shell companies by using fake documents.

"He was involved in cheating Indian Bank, Thousand Lights Branch, Chennai, using eight shell companies and remitted $11,778,120 (Rs 78 crore) out of India, against forged Bill of Entries without effecting any actual imports," the official said.

Ali was arrested following a bank alert and a subsequent raid at his house by customs officials.

The official said Ali and his brother Eliyas Peer Mohamed masterminded the fraud by opening fictitious accounts in the names of shell companies like Galaxy Impex, Green International, and Snow City and Company.
St. Petersburg (Russia), April 4 : As Russian investigators on Tuesday probed the previous day's twin blasts in a St. Petersburg metro, the death toll from the bombing rose to 14, authorities said.

The blast in a train carriage on the runway between the Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) metro stations on Monday also left 49 persons injured in the country's second largest city, TASS news agency quoted Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova as saying.

Moscow has termed the blast a "terrorist attack".

Meanwhile, metro stations in St. Petersburg, which were closed after the attack, have began working in usual manner, TASS news agency reported.

Kyrgyzstan identified the suspect in the twin explosions as "a native of our republic", the country's National Security Committee spokesman Rakhat Sulaimanov said.

According to Sulaimanov, suspect Akbarzhon Jalilov also had Russian citizenship.

He said that Kyrgyzstan's special services were "closely working with their Russian counterparts" in investigating the explosion.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was not in contact with Bishkek on the Kyrgyz native's role in the attack.

"Not through the Kremlin," Peskov told the media when asked whether Moscow had contacted Bishkek in connection with the attack.

Peskov also said Russia will continue its tough approach against terrorism.

He said Russia could turn to other countries for help in investigating the attack.

"Our investigators will make a decision. If necessary, of course, one cannot exclude the fact that Russia could resort to someone's help if it is needed in the interests of the investigation," Peskov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavorv on Tuesday dismissed as "vile and cynical" media reports saying the bombings were carried out as revenge for Russia's actions in Syria.

"As for ... speculation, reasoning by some media that the terrorist act is revenge against Russia for our policy in Syria is cynical, vile," Lavrov said.

Authorities in St. Petersburg have declared three days of mourning for the victims, the BBC reported.

President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city when the blast occurred, visited the scene on Monday evening and laid flowers at a makeshift shrine.

"Certainly, we will consider all variants, common, criminal, first of all, of a terrorist nature," RT News quoted him as saying.

US President Donald Trump spoke with Putin by phone to express condolences over the deadly bombing, the Kremlin said.

According to the Kremlin, no other topics were raised during the conversation.
New Delhi, April 4 : The Congress on Tuesday hoped the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh will waive off loans of farmers to the tune of Rs 92,000 crore at its first cabinet meeting as part of its election promise.

Congress communication department in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that 79.45 per cent of farmers in Uttar Pradesh were marginal while 13.01 per cent farmers were small and they had great hopes of getting relief from the Uttar Pradesh government.

In a series of tweets, Surjewala hoped the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government will also provide relief to sugar growers.

"The UP cabinet is meeting today. There are great hopes about loan waiver. Will the promise be fulfilled or it will be a damp squib," he asked.

Surjewala said there were 2.33 crore farmers in Uttar Pradesh and 64.14 lakh had pending loan of Rs 86,241 crore from commercial banks and Rs 6,000 crore from cooperative banks.

He said marginal farmers had an average land holding of 0.44 hectare and small farmers had average land holding of 1.43 hectare.

He said all these farmers were expecting help.

"The BJP has waived off loans of Rs 1,40,000 crore of big industrial houses and industrialists. Will it waive off loans of Rs 92,000 crore of UP farmers," he asked.

He hoped that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath will fulfill the promise of paying arrears of sugar farmers in 14 days.

He said the arrears were Rs 153 crore in 2014-15, Rs 599 crore 2015-16, and Rs 6,561 crore in 2016-17.

The BJP had promised loan waiver to marginal farmers in its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the decision on loan waiver will be taken at the first meeting of the state cabinet.
Pyongyang, April 4 : North Korea on Tuesday denounced Japan for distorting history and instilling false ideas in Japanese children's minds through textbooks for school students.

The daily Minju Joson (Democratic Korea) said Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology "opened to public the results of screening of textbooks for high schools", which said Tok Islets of Korea are part of the territory of Japan and that they were illegally occupied by others.

"Japan has long pursued the ambition for militarist overseas expansion and Korea is the primary target of overseas aggression and Tok Islets are like the gateway to invading Korea," Xinhua news agency cited the article as saying.

"Hence, the Japanese reactionaries are working so hard to grab the islets in a bid to create favourable conditions for overseas aggression.

"The Japanese reactionaries are keen to imbue the younger generation with the distorted view on history and use them as a shock brigade for overseas aggression which their forefathers failed to realise," it said.

"It is a crime to implant into their minds the view on history peppered with lies, distortions and reactionary ideas," it added.

Japan has been claiming sovereignty over the Tok Islets which both North and South Korea say are historical territory of Korea.

Japan forcibly annexed Korea in early 20th century and enslaved Koreans for nearly 40 years during its brutal occupation and colonial rule of the peninsula.
New Delhi, April 4 : India and Britain on Tuesday agreed to jointly set up a fund with corpus contributions of 120 million pounds each to finance Indian infrastructure projects, it was announcement.

"In a major step taken today (Tuesday) on the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a sub fund with UK and NIIF participation was agreed upon," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.

It came after the ninth India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue here with the British delegation led by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.

"The Green Growth Equity Fund will have contributions of 120 million pounds from each participant to finance energy needs in India," he added.

The joint statement at the end of the talks said the "joint fund aims to raise 500 million pounds by also leveraging private sector investment from the city of London to finance Indian infrastructure projects."

India set up the NIIF in December 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.

While the government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF, the remaining would come from private domestic and foreign investors who can invest in the umbrella fund or smaller sector or project-specific funds within it.

Last year, the government announced that it is in the process of setting up two sub-funds under NIIF -- one in clean energy, which will primarily focus on renewable energy, and another with focus on highway projects.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 4 : People in Kerala for the past two days are facing a severe shortage of currency notes.

State Finance Minister Thomas Issac on Tuesday said the crisis is severe and it has come to a stage that even the payment of salaries and pensions through state treasuries is being affected.

While most state government officials and pensioners are dependent on state-run treasuries, Tuesday saw large crowds waiting anxiously in front of many treasuries in the state as close to 110 state treasuries were not able to source money from the banks which supply currency notes to them.

"We have been waiting since morning and it's been several hours. The treasury officials say they have not been able to get adequate currency notes," said a group of women pensioners in Kochi.

The worst affected have been the people who draw money from various State Bank of India ATMs in the state capital.

"There is a limit to putting people to trouble, as for the past two days, I have been visiting numerous SBI ATMs. If there is no currency, why can't they put a board, stating that there is no currency," said a working woman, who has still not been able to withdraw her salary.

At the height of the shortage of currency notes in the wake of the demonetisation in November and December, money was flown to the state capital. But this time, the banking industry appears to have failed to make alternate arrangements, leaving people hapless.
Bhubaneswar, April 4 : At least five persons were killed and several injured on Tuesday when a bus collided with a tractor in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, police said.

The accident took place at Rairangpur near Kherana forest in Mayurbhanj district, sub-divisional police officer Mohanpani Karua said.

The bus was on its way to Rairangpur from Jashipur.

Residents from nearby villages rescued the injured and rushed them to Rairangpur hospital.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of the deceased.
Kabul, April 4 : At least 16 militants from the Taliban and the Islamic State terror group were killed in clashes in Afghanistan, said a military statement on Tuesday.

Nine militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group were killed and two arrested after clashes erupted in Achin district of Nangarhar province, Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying on Tuesday.

A weapons cache of IS militants was also destroyed during the operations, the police said.

In another incident, six militants were killed and 18 injured in fighting that erupted between security forces and Taliban militants in Chimtal district of Balkh province on Monday, an Afghan army statement said.

One militant was killed and another wounded as security forces repelled enemy forces' attack on security checkpoints in Kunduz province, the statement said.

The clashes came two days after over 200 rebels affiliated to Taliban surrendered to the government in Chimtal.

The Taliban and the IS, active in Achin, Batikot and Nazian districts in Nangarhar province, were yet to make comment.
Shimla, April 4 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday accused the centre government of harassing and destablising the state government, alleging that central agencies like the ED and CBI were being misused against political opponents.

Terming the action being taken against him as a "well-planned conspiracy" to destroy his public image in the run-up to the assembly polls, he said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was concealing facts and giving out a "concocted" value of the assets seized by it just to "sensationalise" the matter.

"The Centre had been using its full might to harass and destablise a duly elected government and the ED and the CBI were being misused to probe 'bogus' charges, even though nothing incriminating had been found so far," Singh said in a statement.

Noting one could expect political opponents to distort facts to derive mileage, he said it was a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency was behaving in such a manner.

The ED on Monday attached the Rs 27.29 crore Delhi farmhouse of Singh in a money laundering case.

The ED's move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 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.

The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister said that the farmland in question was purchased for only Rs 1.20 crore by the company Ms Mapple, promoted by his son Vikrmaditya.

According to the statement, Virbhadra Singh had given Rs 90 lakh to his son from his personal account through proper banking channels and the remaining amount was paid from his personal accrued funds. "His family took friendly loans amounting to Rs 5.90 crore from V Chandersekhar and the amount had been paid back in full with interest long time back and accounted for tax appropriately," it said, adding that the said property was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore but the ED gave its value at Rs 27 crore.

"It turns out that an officer Ajay Singh, whose wife is a BJP MLA from UP, was assigned the duty of assessing Maple as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi... instead of assessing the revenue, he made malafide conclusions that the property was worth Rs 27 crore. He was supposed to assess the incomes. Now the ED was using the baseless revenue assessment figure of Rs 27 crore to sensatonalise the matter to malign and defame him (Singh)," the statement said.

Singh said that all this was a matter of record yet he and his family members were being harassed and persecuted using multiple central agencies since 2013, and the "extent to which these agencies were being misused could be judged from the fact that even marriages of daughters and helping son to build a legitimate career was being construed as a criminal offence and draconian laws were being made applicable in matters which were of revenue nature and non-cognizable".

Singh said that he would take appropriate legal remedies to contest all persecution and not only come out clean but also politically victorious as the people of Himachal had full faith in him.
New Delhi, April 4 : With reports of US President Donald Trump offering to personally get involved to resolve India-Pakistan issues, New Delhi on Tuesday reasserted that its position for bilateral redressal of all issues between the two South Asian neighbours has not changed.

"Government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

"We, of course, expect international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," he said.

Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, said on Monday that the US was concerned about the state of India-Pakistan relations and President Trump himself might get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian antagonists.

"This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said.

"I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that (process," the former Governor of South Carolina state said She added, "And also wouldn't be surprised if the President participates as well."
New Delhi, April 4 : Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the government has started to implement the new liberalised visa regime from April 1, 2017.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 30, 2016, approved various measures for liberalisation of the visa regime.

"Multiple entry tourist and business visas for a period of five years will now be available to nationals of most of the countries," Sitharaman said in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

The new regime had sub-divided e-Visa into three categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa -- for nationals of 161 countries to enter India through 24 airports.

"E-visa facility extended to Cochin, Goa and Mangalore sea-ports (to benefit cruise tourism) soon also at Mumbai and Chennai sea-ports," Sitharaman tweeted.

"Upon urgent requests, business visa and medical visa will be granted within 48 hours of application."

The minister pointed out, "Separate immigration counters and facilitation desks to assist medical tourist at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengluru and Hyderbad."

The government has also introduced a new category of visa for film production in India -- (F) Visa -- which has a maximum duration of one year with multiple entry facility.

"Another new: Visa titled Intern (I) Visa rolled out w.e.f 1st March, 2017, to foreigners for internship in companies, educational Institutions and non-government organisations (NGOs)," the minister added.
New Delhi/Beijing, April 4 : India-China diplomatic tensions rose afresh over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, with New Delhi asserting on Tuesday that no political motive should be attributed to the visit and asked Beijing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

Beijing in a fresh salvo slammed the Dalai Lama as an "anti-China separatist" and attacked New Delhi indirectly for its support to the Tibetan leader.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, said that no political motive should be attributed to Dalai Lama's trip. "India has always been non-interfering in the neighbours' internal affairs in our approach," Rijiju told reporters in New Delhi. "In the same manner, we expect the same from our neighbours," he said.

"When Dalai Lamaji is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement and he is not there with any political motive," he said.

Rijiju, who is scheduled to go to Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday to meet the Dalai Lama, said India has never questioned China's sovereignty and "has respectfully adhered to the one-China policy".

"So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters," he stated.

His comment came as the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Dalai Lama has visited the state six times earlier and no "additional colour" should be given to his visit starting from April 5.

Reacting to the visit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry told Efe news: "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 government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities," read the statement without alluding directly to India.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama arrived by road in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh, after inclement weather forced him to call off the scheduled visit by helicopter.

The Tibetan spiritual leader "arrived safely in Tenzingang Tibetan settlement, Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh", the Tibetan Central Administration said in a statement.

In Bomdila, the Dalai Lama was received by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and members of the Tibetan community.

BJP Chief Minister Khandu posted a tweet showing him meeting the Dalai Lama, and thanked him for deciding to travel by road to Tawang. "His Holiness @DalaiLama accorded warm welcome today at Thubchog Gatsel Ling Monastery, Bomdila. Blessed by his visit." Khandu was accompanied by BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal.

From Bomdila he would visit Dirang, Lumla and Tawang during his over seven-day trip to Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh holds a special significance for the Tibetan leader, as it was the first territory -- then called the North East Frontier Region -- in India he entered while fleeing Chinese troops in 1959 before moving to Dharamsala, where he now resides.

Asserting that Arunachal Pradesh is not a disputed territory, Rijiju said: "We have certain issues with regard to delineation of the boundary on the spots, on the ground along McMahon Line because it is not being demarcated on the ground. That is why there is a talk between the special representatives of India and China and the people of Arunachal Pradesh hope that an amicable solution can be reached in the foreseeable future time."

China in March said ties with India would be hit if New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing as part of South Tibet.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China was strictly opposed to the visit.

Geng said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.
Singapore, April 4 : A Singapore court has fined an Indian Imam 4,000 Singapore dollars ($2,860) and he will be deported to India for making offensive remarks against Jews and Christians.

The Straits Times reported on Tuesday that Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, 46, will have to leave Singapore.

A court on Monday fined him for making the remarks which he knew were "prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between religious groups and was likely to disturb the public tranquillity" in the island state.

Nalla admitted to committing the offence on January 6 at the Jamae Chulia Mosque on South Bridge Road where he was the Chief Imam.

After the Friday sermon that day, he recited a prayer on his own in Arabic which said: "Grant us help against the Jews and Christians."

The Straits Times quoted the court papers as saying: "The accused knew what the words meant and knew that the phrase may also be interpreted as asking God to grant Muslims victory against the Jews and Christians."

The Imam issued a public apology and met leaders of various religious groups after the offensive remark went viral in February, triggering a police probe.

Nalla could have been jailed for up to three years, or fined, or both.

His lawyer Noor Mohamed Marican told the court that the Imam recognised that his actions were wrong, he had expressed remorse and apologized to Jewish and Christian leaders as well as to the Muslim community and the public.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur fined him after considering the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case.

"Having lived in Singapore since 2010, you would have been aware of the fact that Singapore is a multiracial and multi-religious society and that it was necessary for you to be sensitive and not to say anything in your sermons that may undermine the harmony that exists among the different races and religions," the judge said.

"This incident demonstrated that comments made, albeit irresponsibly or thoughtlessly, to a small group of people, can easily be uploaded onto the Internet that provides access to a potential audience of thousands and sometimes millions," she added.

"Your strong sense of remorse and the active steps that you have taken to contain the harm caused are compelling mitigating factors."

The Imam, who turned up in court with Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist leaders, was calm when the sentence was read, the newspaper reported.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the Imam would be repatriated. The phrase he recited, it added, "was and is unacceptable in a multiracial and multi-religious society".
Lucknow, April 4 : The Samajwadi Party's women's wing chief Shweta Singh resigned from the party on Tuesday.

In a letter to party President and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, she said she was resigning as she was hurt by the behaviour of certain party leaders.

Shweta Singh is considered close to former Samajwadi Party state unit President and Akhilesh's paternal uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

She was initially fielded by the SP from Lucknow (East) but was denied the ticket by Akhilesh in the middle of her campaign. Akhilesh's close aide Anurag Bhadauria finally got the party ticket for the seat.

Shweta Singh's mother is a veteran Samajwadi Party leader and a three-time corporator in Lucknow.
Bhubaneswar, April 4 : Ahead of the BJP National Executive meeting to be held here in Odisha, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Tuesday said some leaders, including members of Parliament and assemblies of other parties, are willing to join the saffron party.

The two-day meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive, a decision-making forum of the party, would be held in Bhubaneswar from April 15.

"The BJD is going through a serious internal conflict. We are not interested in breaking and destabilise other political parties. After our victory in four states in the recently concluded assembly elections and stupendous performance in Zila Parishad polls, leaders from other parties want to join the BJP," Oram told media persons here.

He said leaders from other parties, including members of Parliament and assemblies, and former members of Parliament, are in touch with the BJP.

However, the senior BJP leader's statement was pooh-poohed by the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). They said none from their parties would join the BJP.

"The statement of the Union Minister is a mere media fiction, which has no basis. He is trying to appeal, through media, to the leaders of other parties to join the BJP. But, no one from our party is joining the BJP," said BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb.

Senior Congress leader Sarat Rout said even though the Congress has internal strife, no leader from it would join the saffron party.
New Delhi : He made only seven films in an over two-decade career, where he also had to contend with his homeland's authoritarian regime (which had resources beyond pliant censor boards to squelch 'undesirable' content), but still Soviet Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky rose to become one of the most influential filmmakers ever.

Widely considered the greatest Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Tarkovsky (1932-86), whose 85th birth anniversary is on Tuesday, is one of the few directors whose name serves to describe their unique style.

In his case, Tarkovskian denotes his penchant for spiritual and metaphysical themes, with self-reflection a major component, and lack of conventional dramatic structure. It also includes images of rare, natural beauty and motifs such as water (either sight or sound), wind, dreams, memories (usually of childhood) and bells and candles, which have gone to influence the likes of Iran's Majid Majidi and many others.

"All art, of course, is intellectual, but for me, all the arts, and cinema even more so, must above all be emotional and act upon the heart," noted Tarkovsky at the beginning of his career. He also once said that children understood his films better than adults.

Son of poet Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky, he grew up an industrial town in Russia before moving to Moscow in 1939 where he was enrolled in school. He subsequently studied Arabic at the Oriental Institute in Moscow, and though doing well initially, did not finish the course, beginning work as a mineral prospector. It was while on an year-long research expedition to Siberia, he decided to go into films.

Admitted to the film-directing programme at the State Institute of Cinematography in 1954, Tarkovsky was lucky that this period of his study coincided with the "Thaw" of the Khruschev years, allowing him to see the works of the Italian neorealists, French New Wave, and of directors such as Akiro Kurosawa, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson and Andrzej Wajda.

He was an admirer of the films of Kurosawa and Bergman, who would eventually praise Tarkovsky's own films, with Bergman lauding him as "one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream".

Tarkovsky, who made three student films - "The Killers" (1956, 19 minutes), "There Will be No Leave Today" (1959, 46 minutes) and "The Steamroller and the Violin" (1961, 46 minutes) - achieved fame with his first film "Ivan's Childhood" (1962).

Set during the Second World War, the harrowing tale of a young boy, who has experienced the horrors of war and is determined to make his own contribution to the fight against the Nazi invaders enjoyed widespread acclaim, winning the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.

His next "Andrei Rublev" (1965) about the life of a 15th-century Russian icon painter, however raised the hackles of the Soviet regime, and after a solitary screening in Moscow, was never shown till a heavily censored version finally came out in 1971. Shown at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival at 4 a.m. on the last day, in order to prevent it from winning a prize, it won one nonetheless.

Tarkovsky then followed the lead of many Soviet authors who told stories they knew would rub the establishment the wrong way through the medium of science fiction, with two of his subsequent films, "Solaris" (1972) and "Stalker" (1979) in the same genre. However his semi-autobiographical "The Mirror" which also poems recited by his father, again was not welcomed much including by outside critics though it is now thought one of the greatest films ever.

Going to Italy in 1979 to shoot documentary "Travel in Time" about his groundwork for his next film, joint Italian-Soviet venture "Nostalghia" about a Russian writer travelling there to research the life of an 18th century Russian composer Tarkovsky saw his country pulling out midway and decided never to return home again. The film was eventually completed with Italian and French backing.

He spent the last four years of his life in Europe, where he did only one more film "The Sacrifice" about an intellectual who seeks to bargain with God to stop nuclear war. It went on win an unprecedented four prizes at Cannes.

Tarkovsky died shortly afterwards of lung cancer, and there are rumours that the KGB was behind it. An aide however says it was possible that the chemical plant where "The Stalker" was shot could be responsible as his wife Larisa and actor Anatoly Solitsyn, who acted in most of Tarkovsky's films, died of the same cause.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
Agra, April 4 : If the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had given permission, the climax scenes of film "Blue Mountains", scheduled for release on Friday, would have been shot at the Taj Mahal, the producer has said.

The film's producer Rajesh Jain told IANS: "I had seen the Yanni show back in 1997 behind the Taj Mahal and I was so fascinated with the ambience that I somehow wanted to film some scenes of 'Blue Mountains' at the Taj Mahal. But that was not to be. But I am sure my next film definitely will be shot in and around the Taj Mahal."

Jain, a handicrafts exporter, is entering the Hindi film industry with his maiden venture, which features Gracy Singh, Ranveer Shorey and Rajpal Yadav. A musical, the film revolves around a small town from where a youngster suddenly grabs the limelight through a reality show on TV but some traumatic situations change his whole life.

Jain was in Agra to look for locations for his next venture with associate director Piyush Pandey.

Pandey said there is a timely message in the film for the youngsters -- more important than victory, it is the participation in a competition that should matter.

The film has music by Aadesh Shrivastava and Monty Sharma and songs have been sung by Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher and Shaan.
Kolkata, April 4 : An initial investigation by the Kolkata civic body on a batch of alleged "artificial eggs" did not find any abnormality, an official said on Tuesday.

Allaying fears of the public over the "artificial eggs" issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday had said a probe is on in the matter but exhorted the public to consume eggs produced in the state without any apprehension.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has reiterated the same.

"The shells had calcium carbonate. This means they were regular eggs and were harmless. We are awaiting the results of the tests that were ordered by the state government," said Mayor In Council (Health) Atin Ghosh.

The artificial eggs controversy came to light after a woman lodged a police complaint alleging she was sold "fake eggs" that had a strange "plastic-like quality" when they were spread out on a pan.

A shopkeeper was arrested in connection with the case.

A team from the civic body headed by Ghosh raided various city markets and seized similar samples of artificial eggs. According to Ghosh, the eggs sold by the arrested shopkeeper were procured from a wholesaler in the city's Muchipara area.

Banerjee said action will be taken if something is discovered.
Islamabad, April 4 : Pakistan remains committed to its policy of non-interference in the conflicts of Muslim countries and the Saudi-led military alliance was not against any country, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said on Tuesday.

Janjua was deposing before a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs which discussed the issue of clearance given to former Army chief General Raheel Sharif to lead the 41-nation military alliance being dubbed as "Muslim NATO", and Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"The Islamic (military) alliance is against terrorism, not any (specific) country," Janjua was quoted by Dawn as saying in response to a question by committee chairman Awais Leghari.

She was addressing concerns that Islamabad's decision to send Sharif to lead the alliance will complicate the already fraught Pakistan-Iran ties.

The Foreign Secretary said Pakistan was making efforts to reduce the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"It is difficult for Pakistan to maintain equal relations with both countries but Pakistan will not go against Iran's interests," she assured the panel.

Raheel Sharif will not act against Iran as the head of the military alliance, she assured the committee.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed concern that the Foreign Office's statements regarding the Saudi military coalition were contradictory and said that Pakistan must make careful decisions regarding the Islamic alliance.

The Foreign Office has avoided an immediate reaction to media statements by Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost, who expressed reservations about Pakistan clearing General Sharif to lead the alliance put together by Saudi Arabia.

The government had issued a No-Objection Certificate for Sharif to join the alliance after an understanding was reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the matter, Major General (retd) Ijaz Awan, a defence analyst and close associate of the former army chief, told Dawn.
Lucknow, April 4 : Farmer leaders in Uttar Pradesh welcomed the state government's move to waive off loans but said the cap of Rs one lakh left them feeling cheated.

Farmers unions said the cap and limitation to crop loan would confine the benefit.

"We welcome the gesture and it will help many, but very few small farmers apply for crop loans, so it won't help all... Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised during elections to waive off the entire loan and not a fixed section," Dharmendra Singh from Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) told IANS.

Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also termed the announcement as a betrayal.

"Promise was to waive the entire loan... farmers are feeling cheated as the government fixed a limit of Rs one lakh. The poor farmers have been betrayed," Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.

Umesh Chandra Pandey, another farmer leader based in Sitapur, said that while small and marginalised farmers deserve help, the condition of big farmers in Uttar Pradesh is not very good either.

"We hope this government would think of others as well," Pandey told IANS.

According to the state cabinet decision, loan worth Rs 36,359 crore will be waived. The decision is supposed to benefit small and marginal farmers, about 1 core 15 lakh out of total 2.30 crore farmers in the state.

Loan waiver of the small farmers was among the election promise of the BJP, which came to power last month.
New Delhi, April 4 : The Sri Lankan government has released 38 Indian fishermen, the External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday.

"38 Indian fishermen, released by Sri Lanka govt with efforts of HCI (High Commission of India), left KKS (Kankesanthurai) Naval Stn," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a tweet.

He said that the released fishermen would be handed over to the Indian Coast Guard at the International Maritime Boundary Line.
New Delhi, April 4 : Unhappy at the Supreme Court ban on sale of liquor on highways, owners of hotels and restaurants have raised concerns over the hundreds of thousands who stand to lose their jobs as a consequence of the decision.

"It is the saddest day for the food and beverage industry... the worst day of our lives. There are millions of employees small and big who stand to lose their jobs, many will have to mortgage their houses, not to say anything of the loss to the industry, which will be huge," President of National Restaurant Association of India Riyaz Amlani told IANS.

He called the move "especially sad" given the promises made to big commercial centres that have come up lately near the airports and other places on highways with big hopes.

"What about places like Aerocity with so many 5 Star hotels? They had come up with high aspirations, even the government claimed that it will be the biggest commercial centre in South Asia. Who will come to such places when you are not even able to serve liquor to your customers," Amlani said.

He added that there's "no hope" against the decision and they will have to live with it.

Another prominent restaurateur said that there could have been other ways to tackle the situation instead of a ban.

"We respect the Supreme Court decision which we believe has always worked for the welfare of the country at large. However, the injunction against the restaurants and hotels is wrong since the court specifically made the ruling against 'liquor vends' where you buy alcohol and leave, and not hotels where you are not allowed to leave with the bottle," Zoravar Kalra, Founder and Managing Director of Massive Restaurants, told IANS.

He said the decision to impose a ban on hotels from serving liquor on highways and 500 metres away from them is hardly prudent, and anyone who is even moderately willing can find his drink 1,000 or 2,000 metres away.

"I think the better way to handle the situation of drunken-driving is by enforcement of existing laws with stricter measures... Indians are one of the most law abiding people in the world. I have not seen them breaking any law in Dubai or other foreign countries. It's because of fear of repercussions, which is a bigger deterrent than a ban," Kalra said.

"We, the entire hotel industry condemn drunk-driving, we hate it. But we would still have wanted a more reasonable approach to the situation, instead of a ban which will cause loss of jobs to millions and loss of at least one lakh crore rupees in revenue," he added.

One restaurateur resorted to social media to make light of the ban and posted a couple of sarcastic barbs.

"A man falls asleep behind the wheel of his car after having a heavy lunch of 'parantha and lassi' and meets with an accident on the Highway...Supreme Court to hear plea to ban all Dhabas serving Paranthas and Lassi on the highway," Priyank Sukhija, owner of Warehouse Cafe and Open House Cafe, wrote on Facebook.

"Every time I pick up the newspaper .. there is a question in my head ... what's the new ban today? Why doesn't the government ban all bans .. food for thought," he wrote in an other post.

The Supreme Court order on March 31 reaffirmed its earlier decision (December 15, 2016) to ban liquor vending along the national and state highways in a bid to curb accidents caused by drunken driving.
Shillong, April 4 : Meghalaya's powerful Khasi Student's Union (KSU) on Tuesday asked the Central government and the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) to stop persuading the people to allow them to mine uranium in the state.

"They (government authorities) have already known that there has been a strong opposition against uranium mining, but they keep persuading the people," KSU supremo Lambokstarwell Marngar said addressing the gathering while observing April 4 as "Sngi Kyrsiew Ri" or Khasi National Awakening Day.

The Khasi National Awakening Day is observed across Khasi-Jaintia hills to commemorate the day freedom fighter U Tirot Sing Syiem waged a war in 1829 against the British.

"Therefore, if violence breaks out in the state because of this (uranium) issue, the Centre, state government and UCIL and Atomic Minerals Directorate will be held responsible," Marngar warned.

Observing the awakening day under the theme "say no to uranium mining", thousand of KSU activists marched took out a protest march to AMD office here, voicing out their vociferous opposition against the plan to extract uranium deposits from South West Khasi Hills district.

The activists also burnt down effigies of AMD and UCIL as mark of protest.

"For the past 27 years, the UCIL has been making attempt to mine uranium in Meghalaya, but they have failed to achieved their plan as the people are against the mining of this highly radioactive mineral which will annihilate the indigenous people of the state," said North East Students' Organisation (NESO) chairman, Samuel B. Jyrwa.

"Had we not agitated since that time, we do not know what will happen now. They have used all sorts of tactics to convince the people. Now they should realise that uranium is a forgotten issue," he added.

He also cited how the indigenous people at Jharkhand's Jadugoda have suffered due to the ill-effects of uranium mining.

Last month, a team of UCIL officials led by their Chairman and Managing Director, C.K. Asnani held a closed-door meeting with five anti-mining groups seeking their views and opinions on Kylleng Pyndengsohiong Mawthabah (KPM) uranium mining project that has been stalled for over two decades.

However, the leaders of the various groups, including the KSU asked the UCIL officials to scrap the proposal, saying they will not allow anyone to mine this radioactive mineral in Meghalaya UCIL had proposed to set up an open-cast uranium mining and processing plant at Mawthabah. Meghalaya has an estimated 9.22 million tonnes of uranium ore deposits.
Mumbai, April 4 : Actor Suniel Shetty will be back on the small screen as a host with an upcoming reality TV series, "India's Asli Champion Hai Dum!"

The actor, who hosted "Biggest Loser Jeetega" in 2007, is looking forward to hosting the show -- which is produced by Colosceum Media Pvt. Ltd. and slated to premiere soon on &TV.

"I am thrilled to be part of 'India's Asli Championa' -- a show that thrives on inspiration and perseverance," Suniel said in a statement.

He added: "It will test the contestants' will power to go that extra mile when their physical strength gives up."

The show will see contestants performing tasks designed to judge not just their physical fitness but also their grit and determination.

Talking about the show, Rajesh Iyer, Business Head of the channel, said: "We are glad to have the flagbearer of fitness, Suniel Shetty himself on board as the host! His knowledge, experience and passion for fitness makes him an apt choice to lead the show."
Lucknow, April 5 : The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday denied any "overzealous" crackdown by authorities on abattoirs in the state and stated there would be no compromise on illegal slaughterhouses.

Health minister Siddharth Nath Singh, who briefed the media after a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, said that action will be taken against all illegal abattoirs in the state.

"It has been made clear in the past and is being reiterated again that action against slaughter houses which do not adhere to the guidelines prescribed by the National Green Tribunal in letter and spirit," he said.

The government also made it clear that no harassment will be done of people involved in the meat trade who are following guidelines and have valid licenses.

There has been a massive crackdown against slaughterhouses across the state ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power last month.

The BJP had promised to shut down all illegal slaughter houses in its state assembly elections manifesto. The action created a furore among meat eaters in Uttar Pradesh with the meat traders downing their shutters.
Moscow, April 5 : A Russian citizen of Kyrgyz origin was identified as the perpetrator of the terror attack that left 14 dead on the St Petersburg metro, Russian authorities announced.

The spokeswoman for the chief Russian investigators Svetlana Petrenko on Tuesday, said the assailant was identified as Akbarzhon Jalilov using genetic analysis and security camera footage of Monday's attack, Efe news reported.

She said criminal investigators found traces of his DNA on the explosive suitcase that had been left behind in the Ploschad Vosstania station, which was deactivated by police before it could be detonated.

On Monday, Jalilov allegedly detonated an explosive on the St Petersburg metro between the central Sennaya Square and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations, killing at least 14 persons and leaving over 50 injured.

The Kyrgyz and Russian Foreign Ministers met on Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the attack.

Abdyldaev said it could not yet be determined whether or not the assailant was a member of the Islamic State terror organization.

The 22-year-old Jalilov, who worked at a garage in St Petersburg, was born in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, but obtained Russian nationality in 2011.

To prevent further attacks, Russian authorities have reinforced security measures across St Petersburg and Moscow at public transport stations, public buildings, squares, schools and kindergartens.
ODU AMC BREAK-AWAY

ODU, a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing high-performance connector solutions and cable assemblies is launching to the US market its cable assembly rapid manufacturing for ODU AMC connector solution portfolio.

ODU AMC product portfolio offers: up to 70% smaller and lighter connectors, high data transfer capability (USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0 and Ethernet CAT5+CAT6A), IP68 water protection with an option for submersion up to 20M, high shock and vibration resistance, non-reflective and RoHS compliant surfaces, flex terminated solutions, metal robust housings, high reliability and easy handling, and extensive power (SwaP) capabilities.

ODU-USA cable assembly rapid manufacturing capabilities include: custom turnkey solutions, rapid prototyping and product development, thermoplastic injection molding design & fabrication, bonding and laser etching, private labelling, factory direct and an ITAR regulated facility. The off the shelf prefabricated cables are available for most ODU AMC connector shell sizes and configurations.

Additionally, ODU provides also an advanced portfolio of product assembly technologies and services such as: one stop shop, solder, crimp and PCB terminations, overmolding with TPE, TPU and PVC, customizable overmolding turn-key solutions, EMC-compatible assembly, 100% final inspection.

For more product information go to: http://www.odu-usa.com

ODU Group: global representation with perfect connections

The ODU Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of connector systems, employing 1,650 people around the world. In addition to its company headquarters in Muhldorf am Inn (Germany), ODU also has an international production and distribution network throughout Europe, North America and Asia. ODU combines all relevant areas of expertise and key technologies including design and development, machine tooling and special machine construction, injection, stamping, turning, surface technology, assembly and cable assembly. The ODU Group sells its products globally through its eight subsidiaries in Denmark, England, France, Italy, Sweden, the US, China and Japan, as well as through numerous international sales partners. ODU connectors ensure a reliable transmission of power, signals, data and media for a variety of demanding applications including medical technology, military and security, eMobility, energy, industrial electronics, and measurement and testing.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Dana Stoica - Head of Marketing, North America

Phone +1 (805) 484-0540 Fax: +1 (805) 484-7458

Email: dana.stoica(at)odu-usa(dot)com
On April 16, 2017, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) will present the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism to the Spanish non-governmental organization Proactiva Open Arms in support of their ongoing efforts to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest monetary awards for human rights in the world, this $100,000 cash prize is granted annually by ALBA and the Puffin Foundation to honor the nearly 3,000 Americans who volunteered in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to fight fascism under the banner of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

The past two years have seen the largest migration crisis since World War II, says ALBAs executive director Marina Garde. The failure of world leaders to address this crisis and the growing intolerance in the United States will only push more refugees to undertake dangerous journeys to find safety. The work of Proactiva Open Arms in protecting refugees and highlighting the injustices they face, has never been more important. ALBA is proud to honor this group.

Originally Proactiva was a maritime service company, specializing in commercial lifeguard and rescue services. In September 2015, after seeing media coverage of drowned children in the Aegean Sea, Proactivas director Oscar Camps travelled to the island of Lesbos with one member of the company to see if they could help. As they witnessed refugees landing on the beaches, they decided to stay in Lesbos and rescue people coming ashore. We started out using our own money and our arms and fins as the only resources but have greatly expanded our operation since then, thanks to donations from civil society, explains Oscar Camps. Proactiva Open Arms now has rescue teams on the beaches of Lesbos and a ship patrolling off the Libyan coast. Over 17,000 people have been rescued by Proactiva Open Arms since July 2016 in the Mediterranean Sea.

This cause is important to Spanish history and to ALBA. The Spanish Civil War led to one of the first large scale refugee disasters of the twentieth century. When the fascist forces triumphed, five hundred thousand Spaniards fled the dictatorship. In a haunting echo of today, most of the world refused to take in any of these refugeeswith the exception of Mexicoand many were sent back to suffer under Francos regime or turned over to the Nazis.

The ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism is an initiative to sustain the legacy of the experiences, aspirations, and idealism of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. It supports contemporary international activists and human rights causes. The Award was created by visionary and philanthropist Perry Rosenstein, President of the Puffin Foundation, which established an endowed fund for this human rights award in 2010.

Award Ceremony  Sunday April 16th at 4:45 pm. Reception to follow.

Museum of the City of New York

1220 5th Avenue

New York, NY 10029

BACKGROUND

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives: http://www.alba-valb.org

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBAs work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Drawing on the ALBA collections in New York Universitys Tamiment Library, and working to expand such collections, ALBA works to preserve the legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as an inspiration for present and future generations.

Other recipients of the ALBA/ Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism include investigative journalists Lydia Cacho and Jeremy Scahill; Judge Baltaser Garzon; Kate Doyle and Fredy Peccerelli, who work to expose human rights violations in Guatemala; United We Dream, a national network of youth-led immigrant activist organizations that fight for the rights of millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and public-interest lawyer Bryan Stevenson.

The Puffin Foundation: http://www.puffinfoundation.org

Since it was founded in 1983, the Puffin Foundation Ltd. has sought to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender, or social philosophy. The Puffin, a species whose nesting sites were endangered by encroaching civilization, were encouraged to return to their native habitats through the constructive efforts of a concerned citizenry. The Foundation has adopted the name Puffin as a metaphor for how it perceives its mission, which is to ensure that the arts continue to grow and enrich our lives. In so doing it has joined with other concerned groups and individuals towardachieving that goal. The Puffin Foundation is also a long-standing supporter of ALBAs educational mission.

Proactiva Open Arms: http://www.proactivaopenarms.org

Proactiva Open Arms is a NGO whose mission is to rescue refugees crossing to Europe to escape wars, persecution, or poverty. Born from a commercial lifeguard service, they specialize in aiding and rescuing migrants and refugees who need help in the Aegean and central Mediterranean Sea, as well as raising awareness about mass migration and injustices those migrants face.
"NAMM members are the heart and soul of our organization, and offering an elevated, seamless booking experience is important to us." - Cindy Sample, NAMM Director of Operations

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has selected EventSphere (EVS) as its official housing partner for the associations two annual events: The NAMM Show, in Anaheim, California and Summer NAMM, in Nashville, Tennessee. The combination of shows represents over 100,000 attendees from the U.S. and abroad comprising all sectors of the music products industry. Through utilizing high-touch customer service and innovative technologies, the partnership between NAMM and EVS will lead to a fluid hotel booking experience for attendees and exhibitors.

NAMM members are the heart and soul of our organization, and offering an elevated, seamless booking experience is important to us, said Cindy Sample, NAMM Director of Operations. EventSphere offers a very customized and customer centric approach, which is a perfect fit for NAMM.

Every imaginable music-related product is represented at The NAMM Show, including all aspects of the music industry from guitar, drums, and synthesizers to recording equipment, DJ gear, and music technology. The event, which takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center, hosts over 1,700 exhibitors representing over 6,000 brands each year.

In 2016, Summer NAMM gathered 14,000 music professionals. This year, the event will be held July 13-15 and EVS will be working alongside the organization to ease and provide a high-touch service experience for the many industry professionals that will attend.

Im thrilled to bring all that EventSphere has to offer to the table in supporting a seamless Housing experience for NAMM members, said Todd Lambert, EventSphere CEO. Our company thrives when working in an environment where we can be a true partner. Our custom approach to housing will elevate NAMMs current process.

In the new partnership, EventSphere will be offering an array of services to NAMM both high tech and high-touch over the next five years. Having experienced a diverse and successful tenure in complex events, along with the recent awarding of the Lanyon Luminary Company of the Year-Passkey Citywide, EventSphere is positioned to completely overhaul the housing experience for NAMM members.

Were looking forward to utilizing all of our service and technology platforms for both shows, said Kim Parnell, EventSphere Managing Director of Operations. Having the opportunity to be creative and introduce new ideas is something that is truly going to set NAMMs future housing process apart.

About NAMM

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is the not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry. NAMM is comprised of approximately 10,300 members located in 104 countries and regions. NAMM events and members fund The NAMM Foundation's efforts to promote the pleasures and benefits of music, and advance active participation in music making across the lifespan. For more information about NAMM, please visit http://www.namm.org, call 800.767.NAMM (6266) or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About EventSphere

Founded in 2010 by industry veterans, EventSphere specializes in delivering state-of-the-art travel and reservation administration in the meeting and events industry. Services include site selection, hotel contracting and concession negotiating; event management; marketing and advertising services; onsite fulfillment and VIP program services; and attrition management.

The staff at EventSphere works to understand each clients needs and craft effective programs and solutions to streamline the meeting planning and organization process.

EventSphere is headquartered in Atlanta and serves clients across the country and internationally. For more information about EventSphere, visit http://www.eventsphere.com.
Channeling vibrant tropical house vibes, Booyah Riots 2 AM is a treat for any EDM lover.

The groups third original release spreads like an ear-pleasing virus. Channeling vibrant tropical house vibes, Booyah Riots 2 AM is a treat for any EDM lover.

This lyric-focused track shows a softer side of this Miami-based group. It describes a woman that a guy cannot get off of his mind. Sadly, she only reciprocates the feelings when she has had a few too many. She relies on him for late-night love, but he wants much more of a relationship: Cause youre a sight for sore eyes and I can't keep mine off you.

Soft keys lead in with crisp vocals that move the song forward. Once the bass drops tropical percussive elements come together for a vibe that can brighten up any room. Vocal manipulation and handclaps send the listeners mind to a summer pool party.

2 AM is available for streaming along with all of Booyah Riots releases on:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/htyuKfbMkIk

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7lFwcU7LRHVOfvhXkYZIww

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/booyahriot/2am/s-mZvJ4

Though they have only been working together for a couple of years, Gio, Kong, and Wilemind have been making waves throughout many EDM circles. This latest track is further proof that Booyah Riot can please a variety of audiences. Infiltrating DJ booths and headphones in Miami and around the country, these jokesters are on the rise in a major way.

About Booyah Riot

Three guys from Miami that got together to create Electronic Dance Music inspired by many different genres. The group is made up of Jovany Gio Black, Mitchell Kong Domenech, and Lewis Wilemind Farsedakis. Their sound melds pop, future and house. Check them out at http://www.BooyahRiot.com.
Dr. Jeff Segal & Scott Zeitzer "Government regulations do impact healthcare provider marketing, but it can be done safely with proper training and expert guidance." - Dr. Jeff Segal, Founder/CEO eMerit

Join board-certified neurosurgeon and founder/CEO of Medical Justice and eMerit, Jeff Segal, and Scott Zeitzer, president of Mudbug Media and P3 Inbound, April 26th for a live webinar about how doctors can embrace online marketing and comply with HIPAA, the FTC, and other regulatory boards.

The increased use of electronically stored health data, cloud services, and online marketing along with new regulatory requirements make it easier for healthcare providers to unknowingly break the law. Just one mistake in managing protected health information can result in large fines and/or lawsuits. New legislation has toughened enforcement of rules related to patient privacy and communication and HIPAA audits are underway. Dr. Segal and Mr. Zeitzer are experts in helping doctors navigate these regulatory guidelines so they can legally and effectively use the internet and social media to grow their practices.

This webinar will advise doctors about common marketing tactics that risk compliance including responding to positive or negative patient reviews, utilizing a texting platform to communicate with patients, and hiring third party vendors to manage social media.

Doctors need not be slaves to compliance, noted Dr. Segal. Government regulations do impact healthcare provider marketing, but it can be done safely with proper training and expert guidance.

How Doctors Can Avoid 5 Marketing Landmines that Risk HIPAA & Regulatory Compliance Webinar will run for 30 minutes.

Click link to register.

About Jeff Segal, MD, JD, founder/CEO of Medical Justice and eMerit

As a board-certified neurosurgeon and founder/CEO of Medical Justice and eMerit, Jeff Segal, MD, JD, has established himself as one of the countrys leading authorities on medical malpractice and online reputation. Medical Justice creates a practice infrastructure to prevent, deter, and respond to frivolous medical malpractice suits. A complement to the medico-legal protection services of Medical Justice, eMerit provides a comprehensive platform for managing online medical identity. eMerit fully embraces the social media revolution shaping the healthcare industry, and is dedicated to helping both doctors and patients safely and efficiently navigate the constantly changing internet landscape  all while maintaining HIPAA and regulatory compliance. Visit http://www.eMerit.biz to learn more.

About Scott Zeitzer, president of Mudbug Media and P3 Inbound:

Scott Zeitzer, has been in the healthcare industry for his entire adult life. After earning a masters in biomedical engineering from Tulane University, he sold medical devices to orthopedic and neurosurgeons for nearly 10 years in the New York metropolitan area. He returned to New Orleans in 1998 and started Mudbug Media to provide web and application development for a wide range of companies, from single physician practices to Fortune 500 companies. He also heads P3 Inbound, a marketing and web development company helping medical professionals create an effective online presence. Scott enjoys interacting with clients and providing realistic, targeted solutions to meet business goals.
Park Township joins MITN Purchasing Group Because we arent the only agency posting and distributing bids, the MITN Purchasing Group provides Park Township more vendor competition, which we hope will help cut costs.

Park Township has officially joined the MITN Purchasing Group, one of BidNets regional e-procurment solutions, providing vendors throughout Michigan easy online access its upcoming solicitations. Park Township invites all vendors to register online at http://www.MITN.info.

The regional purchasing group connects local governments with vendors looking to do business with public agencies. On the MITN Purchasing Group, vendors seeking business with 172 participating agencies can register online to gain access to a single point of entry for opportunities throughout Michigan. By posting upcoming bids and RFPs on the MITN Purchasing Group, Park Township ensures an entire community of vendors can view their solicitation, download documents, and receive notification of addenda. The vendors self-register and ensure their contact information is up to date.

Because we arent the only agency posting and distributing bids, the MITN Purchasing Group provides Park Township more vendor competition, which we hope will help cut costs, said Howard Fink, Township Manager of Park Township when asked why their department decided to join the MITN Purchasing Group. We also like that it can help our current vendors expand their business opportunities.

Park Township invites all local vendors to visit http://www.MITN.info and register to receive access to its upcoming solicitations as well as the upcoming bids and RFPs from 171 other public agencies participating on the MITN Purchasing Group. Registered vendors have the option to upgrade their service to receive customized bid alerts, notification of term contract expiration, and notification of a real-time addendum.

About Park Township:

The Township population as of the 2010 Census was 17,802 making Park Township the fifth largest unit of government in Ottawa County. A seven-member board elected at large, consisting of the Supervisor, Clerk, Treasurer and four Trustees governs the Township. Land use is primarily residential and agricultural with a small amount of commercial. The Township has no industrial zoning district. Recreation is an important element in the make up of the Township. The Township contains a variety of park facilities and has a bike path system of approximately 52 miles.

About MITN Purchasing Group:

MITN Purchasing Group is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies. With years of input from Procurement Professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs regional purchasing groups throughout the country used by nearly 1,100 local government agencies. To learn more about the features and module available to government agencies, please visit http://www.SourceSuite.com
agiles logo By partnering with NAV-X, we will better equip our current and future agilesWorkflow partners to support and meet the needs of end-customers, said Christian Sega, the agiles Group CEO

Beginning April 1, German-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner, the agiles Group, commences its partnership with New Jersey-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV ISV, NAV-X, to directly serve the North American Dynamics NAV partner community. NAV-X was chosen to be the master VAR for the agiles productivity suite, which includes agiles Workflow, a business process automation tool for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. NAV-X will specifically deliver pre-sales and deployment services, webinars, trainings and all marketing-related activities, including representation at NAVUG Summit and Directions North America.

By partnering with NAV-X, we will better equip our current and future agilesWorkflow partners to support and meet the needs of end-customers, said Christian Sega, the agiles Group CEO, From my experience, it is clear that, if youre not close by and cant react quickly to support your partners, you cant be successful in any market.

NAV-X and Agiles are both focused on providing the Dynamics NAV community with business competitive solutions. We have worked with Agiles for over seven years and are excited to be able to enhance their support to partners and end-customers in North America, said Thomas Falteich, CEO of NAV-X. Business Automation is a competitive advantage for Dynamics NAV customers in North America. We are happy to support them and their partners in obtaining that advantage.

Additional details include:



NAV-X has been a trusted regional partner of the agiles Group since 2010.

NAV-X will offer services for the agilesWorkflow on-premise solution, both as perpetual and subscription license.

Full product responsibility will remain with the agiles Group, both teams will work closely together to fulfill partner and end-customer needs.

About the agiles Group

Specialized in consumer goods trading, the agiles Group provides expertise in the domestic and international food and non-food trade business. Its professionals offer a full range of services to integrate and support ERP software and tailored solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, O365, and the Microsoft cloud portfolio. The agiles Group is based in Hamburg, Germany and has been a Gold-Certified Microsoft partner since 2005.

About NAV-X

NAV-X is a publisher of functionality commonly required by distribution and manufacturing business, but unavailable in native NAV. This functionality is offered through partners for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and direct on Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials. To serve its customers and partners and assist in successful implementations, NAV-X offers a full range of professional services including training, implementation assistance, and support around its full product line.

Contact

To learn more about this new partnership, please contact info(at)nav-x(dot)com or visit our website at http://www.nav-x.com.
Crow Shooting Supply is now offering the full line up of Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, rifles and Smith & Wesson Performance Center models. Crow is also now selling Smith & Wesson magazines, grips and other parts.

Firearms in-stock and shipping today include the newly-released Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 (multiple models available), the Smith & Wesson M&P Sport II OR, the famous 629 .44 Magnum, and many more.

The name Smith & Wesson inspires a sense of Americana; its among the most iconic brands in the world, said Steve Crow, Founder and General Manager of Crow Shooting Supply. We couldnt be more proud to offer their full line of firearms to our dealer customers.

Smith & Wesson is excited to add Crow Shooting Supply as a distributor partner, added Sue Cupero, American Outdoor Brands Corporation Director of Independent Distributors. We look forward to working with their team of professionals and having our brands represented as their premier line.

Those interested in partnering with Crow Shooting Supply can learn more by visiting http://www.crowshootingsupply.com or by calling 800-264-2493 to speak with a member of their professional sales team.

About Crow Shooting Supply

Crow Shooting Supply is a family-owned, national wholesale distributor of firearms, ammunition reloading components and shooting accessories. Proudly serving retail gun shops, major sporting goods stores, gun clubs, shooting ranges and government agencies for 30 years, Crow is a full-line supplier of more than 100 of the worlds premier shooting industry manufacturers. For more information, or to inquire about partnering with Crow Shooting Supply, call 800-264-2493 or visit http://www.crowshootingsupply.com.

About Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson Corp. is a U.S.-based leader in firearm manufacturing and design, delivering a broad portfolio of quality firearms, related products, and training to the U.S. consumer and law enforcement markets, as well as global military and law enforcement customers. The companys firearm division brands include Smith & Wesson, M&P, Performance Center and Thompson/Center Arms. For more information on Smith & Wesson, call (800) 331-0852 or log on to http://www.smith-wesson.com.
Dynamic Wiring in Rack Configurations | Axonom Manually connecting cables to rack components is time consuming, expensive, and prone to errors. Powertrak Dynamic Wiring reduces that process from days-to-seconds. - Mike Belongie at Axonom

Axonom, a global provider of visual configure-price-quote CPQ software, today unveils Powertrak Dynamic Wiring, software automation for connecting complex wiring systems in racks and data center facility designs, at Data Center World Global 2017 in Los Angeles, CA.

Dynamic Wiring is an advanced feature in the Powertrak Visual Product Configurator suite that simplifies the selection of wiring cables, ensures accurate connections and configurations, and speeds the quote-to-cash process. It saves consumers with little-to-no technical knowledge both time and money by connecting ports between devices, and calculating cabling type, length, and cost in both a singular rack configuration and the entire data center layout design.

Manually connecting equipment in a rack with a clearly defined and organized cable pathway is time consuming, expensive, and prone to errors, said Mike Belongie, COO at Axonom. For some, it takes one or two business days to define, lookup, and measure required cables for server, storage, and power supply products. Powertrak Dynamic Wiring reduces that process from days-to-seconds.

Data Center World 2017 exhibitors and attendees are invited to booth 742 for full participation in designing a data center rack using Powertrak 3D Product Configurator, then experiencing it in virtual reality. The immersive VR experience, powered by Powertrak VRoom, transports users into a virtual data center environment where they can interact with rack equipment using the HTC Vive, visualize how components are connected, and explore the rack layout in the environment.

We welcome attendees to experience a data center rack in virtual reality and move servers, storage, and power components from slot-to-slot. They will experience first-hand how equipment relocation or removal affects the pricing of the cabling package, said Belongie.

Data Center World 2017 is the global conference for data center, facilities and IT professionals. Conference attendees will find Axonom and over 140 other exhibitors in the expo hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday, April 5, from 12:00pm-6:30pm, and Thursday, April 6, from 12:00pm-4:45pm.

About Axonom

Axonom is a worldwide leader in marrying Visual Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) software with Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. Established in 2002, the developer of Powertrak 3D Product Configurator and VRoom enables sales, channel partners, and customers around the world to visually build products and design environments, then experience it in virtual reality.

Enriched with mobile extendibility, the Powertrak solution suite includes: Configure-Price-Quote, 2D/3D Visual Product Configurator, Guided Selling, Virtual Reality Mobile Showroom, and Web Portals. By delivering more transactions more efficiently through channels at a lower cost, Powertrak helps customers achieve greater profit potential. For more information, please visit http://www.axonom.com.

About Data Center World

Data Center World is the global conference for data center, facilities and IT professionals. It offers premier education, abundant networking and the broadest access to best-in-class vendors. Designed to help data center and IT infrastructure professionals with challenging issues, Data Center World presents top-quality knowledge without bias toward a specific vendor product or service. Data Center World will be held April 3-6, 2017 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, visit datacenterworld.com.
We are excited to extend Merchant e-Solutions platform and processing solutions to our valuable network of merchants.

Merchant e-Solutions, a U.S.-based provider of end-to-end global payment solutions, and a company of Cielo S.A., today announced that it has been chosen as a Select Technology Partner by Magento, the worldwide leader in commerce platform innovation. This enhanced relationship will allow deeper integration of Merchant e-Solutions multi-channel payment offerings with Magentos flexible commerce platform.

The newly announced collaboration will expand Merchant e-Solutions current array of solutions and services to promote an enhanced payment processing relationship, which will allow merchants to support business growth with payment acceptance from any channel: in-person, online, and on the go.

Our industry-leading technology platform provides B2B and B2C merchants with the tools necessary to improve the payment experience, wherever commerce happens, said Tom Bell, CEO, Merchant e-Solutions. This strategic relationship with Magento demonstrates our commitment to continually enhance our solutions to meet the dynamic needs of omni-channel businesses."

Secure and robust payment processing is a core tenet of commerce, said Mark Lenahrd, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth at Magento. We are excited to extend Merchant e-Solutions platform and processing solutions to our valuable network of merchants.

Representatives from Merchant e-Solutions will be attending Magento Imagine 2017. In its seventh year, Magento Imagine will bring together more than 2,500 merchants, partners, developers, and commerce experts from over 45 countries to network, exchange ideas, and build relationships.

Magento Imagine 2017 will be held at the Wynn Las Vegas on April 3-5, 2017.

For more information regarding Merchant e-Solutions offerings for the Magento platform, email Jonathan Newall at magento(at)merchante-solutions.com.

About Merchant e-Solutions

Merchant e-Solutions helps merchants accept payments anywhere and easily manage all on one platform. Merchant e-Solutions provides a global network and enables merchants to securely do business in multiple channels including in-person, online, and on the go. Our industry-leading technology platform, flexible and customized reporting, and world-class service provide customers, banks, partners and developers with the most comprehensive payment services in the market.

Merchant e-Solutions is based in Atlanta Atlanta, GA and is part of Cielo S.A., Latin America's leader in electronic payment solutions.

To learn more about Merchant e-Solutions, please visit http://www.merchante-solutions.com

Merchant eSolutions, Inc. is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, CA

Merchant eSolutions, Inc is a registered ISO/MSP of Synovus Bank, Columbus GA

NOTE: Magento and the Magento logo are registered service marks of Magento Inc.
As specialists in network hardware for Edge data connectivity, B+B SmartWorx has forged a technology alliance with OSIsoft, a market leader in operational intelligence, for a connectivity solution that delivers data directly into the PI System from remote industrial assets. This alliance will bring new data streams into PI and gives users a more unified view for asset monitoring.

The new alliance will streamline data management and ultimately pave the way for a more agile, asset portfolio by making it easier for users to see and utilize the edge-of-the-network data generated by legacy devices and connected sensor systems in the context of their overall operations. OSIsoft unveiled its strategy for collaborating with partners to bring PI System technology to edge devices at the 2017 OSIsoft Users Conference in San Francisco.

Harnessing data in existing industrial assets is expected to contribute up to 85% of the value in Industrial Internet of Things applications according to a 2015 McKinsey Global Institute report. The report further identifies up to $930 Billion in business value to be realized from asset data in remote, industrial applications.

Bringing PI System technology to edge gateways is designed to give both brownfield and greenfield systems easy access to PI resources and features, near or at the very edge of the network, serving as a local sensor and application hub. B+B SmartWorx has over 30 years of experience in network connectivity products for applications with inconsistent power, little or no local network infrastructure and remote or demanding environmental conditions. In combination today, OSIsoft and B+B are delivering a more reliable, resilient and responsive edge network in mutual markets like Utilities, Water/Wastewater, Oil & Gas, Alternative Energy and Environmental Compliance.

Multiple internal customers now have access to an expanded range of edge data and intelligence. This creates much greater potential and improved ROI for applications such as EMIS, OEE, MES, and asset monitoring. The PI System open infrastructure connects sensor-based data, operations, and people to enable real-time intelligence. Worldwide, PI System servers manage over 1.5 billion sensor-based data streams.

B+B SmartWorxs partnership with OSIsoft is an exciting opportunity to combine our connectivity technology with PI, an outstanding Operational Intelligence platform, said Jerry OGorman, CEO of B+B SmartWorx. System Integrators and OSIsoft partners will be able to bring data streams from sensors and other remote field assets into the PI System to help customers realize improved machine monitoring and operational efficiency objectives.

Process data is a valuable, but often underutilized, asset. The passion and creativity were seeing in this space is truly remarkable, said Aaron Pratt, Director of Global Channels at OSIsoft. Collaboration with B+B Smartworx is one more step in reducing the roadblocks toward digital transformation.

About B+B SmartWorx, Inc.

Founded in 1981, B+B SmartWorx designs and manufactures intelligent M2M and IoT connectivity solutions for wireless and wired networks. Specializing in intelligent connectivity at the edge of networks in remote and demanding environments, the companys product solutions use Ethernet, serial, wireless, cellular and USB communication technologies. In 2016 B+B SmartWorx became part of Advantech, a leading global provider of trusted and innovative products, services and solutions in industrial automation and embedded computing across diverse industries and applications. Together, Advantech and B+B SmartWorx work to enable and intelligent planet. B+B SmartWorx is headquartered in Ottawa, Illinois, USA with EMEA operations based in Galway, Ireland and the Czech Republic. Additional engineering locations are based in California. To learn more, visit us at http://www.advantech-bb.com.

About OSIsoft, LLC

OSIsoft is dedicated to helping people transform their world through data. Our PI System captures operational data from sensors, manufacturing equipment and other devices and turns it into rich, real-time insights to reduce costs, optimize production or make critical business decisions. The PI System can be found at work at offshore wind farms, oil refineries, mining sites, pharmaceutical facilities and control rooms around the world. More than 1.5 billion sensor-based data streams are managed by the PI System. Founded in 1980, OSIsoft has over 1,200 employees and is headquartered in San Leandro, California. For more, please visit http://www.osisoft.com.
Ryan White Letters project He would say Mom, Im not fighting this alone. All of these people are fighting with me. For me, as a mom, to see this reaction so many years later, it is like he is still alive and still touching people. I couldnt be more proud.

The recreated bedroom of Ryan White was packed at The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis today as his mother told a story of triumph.

It has been 27 years almost to the day (April 8, 1990) that the Indiana teenager who became internationally known when he contracted HIV/AIDS passed away. But today, his mother talked about the courage Ryan had in the face of adversity and shared a message of hope for others who may be facing a deadly disease or ridicule.

Jeanne White Ginder told the crowd how the archive of nearly 6,000 letters Ryan received before he died will now be made public through a digital learning project. The Childrens Museum plans to build upon its permanent exhibit, The Power of Children: Making a Difference, by creating a series of digital educational programs and a research archive using a collection of letters Ryan White received (most of them from children).

By engaging students who are close in age to Ryan when he faced such difficult challenges, we hope to give todays youth a voice to encourage acceptance and understanding of the extraordinary challenges faced by many. With that voice, they each have the power to transform the world, said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis.

Ryans mom couldnt agree more, It was a highlight of Ryans day to receive those letters in the mail  sometimes 50 a day, said Jeanne White Ginder. He would say Mom, Im not fighting this alone. All of these people are fighting with me. For me, as a mom, to see this reaction so many years later, it is like he is still alive and still touching people. I couldnt be more proud.

Some of the letters are already on display within The Power of Children exhibit. The rest are in the process of being scanned. The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis received a Museums for America grant of $102,370 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create The Ryan White Letters project. The digitized collection will offer significant cultural information related to the AIDS epidemic, the perspective of children, and related issues of tolerance, education, and inspiration as well as a window to popular culture of the 1980s.

Only a handful of AIDS archives exist today, and none focus on a childs perspective, making this a unique resource for anyone with an interest in the topic of AIDS, social change, and the experience of children. The Ryan White Letters project is one way for scholars to use the information as part of their research regarding the misunderstood disease and for the museum to share the legacy of Ryan White for generations to come through unique lesson plans.

If you or anyone you know wrote a letter to Ryan White, the museum would love to hear about it. Please send a message to tcmarchives(at)childrensmuseum(dot)org and include your name, contact information, and anything you remember about what you sent to Ryan. The museum will contact you to be a continuing part of the project. The digital collection should be available at The Childrens Museum in the spring or summer of 2018. Names of the letter writers will be redacted unless the museum receives consent.

Video of Ryans letters being scanned for the digital letter project along with more high resolution images are available upon request as well as more video of Jeanne White Ginder visiting with children and families at The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis.

About The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. For more information about The Children's Museum, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Instagram@childrensmuseum, YouTube.com/IndyTCM, and Facebook.
We will continue to enhance our digital oscilloscope product line to offer an impressive array of measurement capabilities along with a reduced form factor.

GAOTek presents its ultra portable and versatile Digital Oscilloscope with Auto Zero Calibration that can capture, store, analyze and replay up to 40 waveforms. This lightweight oscilloscope is perfect for technicians and engineers on the move. Its auto calibration feature protects the integrity of your measurement and research, preventing errors such as offset error.

Digital oscilloscopes have served as important tools used by technicians, researchers and learning institutes alike, as they provide a graphic visualization of signals during voltage fluctuations with precise timing and shape of the pulses. This important attribute is at the center of GAOTeks digital oscilloscope with auto zero calibration. Weighing just 1kg and with an overall dimension of 200mm  135mm  52mm this is an incredibly handy device.

A memory capacity of 40 waveform record as a DSO and 400 data groups as DMM, extreme ease of use and portability, 78 mm  58 mm display and an AC voltage bandwidth of 20 kHz make this a powerful tool for field engineers. The oscilloscope can simultaneously display maximum, minimum and current value on one screen. It boasts of a user friendly one button design for waveform display, and allows panel calibration without having to open the meter.

GAOTek has been viewed as one of major players in the global oscilloscope market by leading industry research providers such as Registrar Daily and MRS Group to name a few. This oscilloscope is one amongst the many market winning products by the company in this product line.

With the digital oscilloscope market growing at about 5% CAGR globally, we expect a consistent growth in this product line in the coming years. Our expertise and industry experience enable us to innovate and provide cutting edge products. We will continue to enhance our digital oscilloscope product line to offer an impressive array of measurement capabilities along with a reduced form factor, said Dr. Frank Gao, CEO, GAO Group.

The product is available on http://www.GAOTek.com, as well as some leading e-commerce marketplaces.

GAOTek Inc. now offers one of the world's largest selections of advanced fiber optics Instruments, fiber optic transceivers, telecommunication testers, electronic measurement instruments, video surveillance, general test and measurement equipment, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and other engineering products that satisfy the needs of global technical professionals.

GAOTek serves customers from more than 50 countries. GAOTek is known for the high quality and the good value of its products. Its strong technical support team provides excellent support for its products.

GAOTek Inc. is a member of GAO Group of Companies, headquartered in Toronto, Canada with a strong global presence. GAO Group consists of GAO RFID Inc. (http://www.GAORFID.com), GAOTek Inc., and GAO Research Inc. (http://www.GAOResearch.com), all being leaders in their respective markets.
Hudson Holdings, National Historic Preservation Real Estate Property Developer, Clears Derelict Buildings to Commence Gulfstream Hotel Preservation Project, City of Lake Worth The renovation of the historic Gulfstream Hotel will serve as a catalyst to the revitalization of the downtown business community," says Steven Michael, Co-Founder, Hudson Holdings, a national historic real estate development company.

Palm Beach Court Ruling Clears Way for Historic Gulfstream Hotel Renovation

The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, (Case #: 4D16-3084) on Friday, March 31st, 2017 issued an order denying a petition seeking to prevent Hudson Holdings from proceeding with the companys plans to renovate the six-story historic Gulfstream Hotel building located on the east end of Lake Avenue, overlooking Bryant Park and the Intra-Coastal Waterway.

According to Steven Michael, Co-Founder of Hudson Holdings, a national historic preservation real estate development company located in Delray Beach, Florida, a neighboring city just south of Lake Worth, this frivolous, nuisance lawsuit caused nearly two years worth of delays, but we believed in the merits of the project and felt it was worth the time and effort to pursue this, were glad we did.

City of Lake Worth Mayor, Pam Triolo: Gulfstream Hotel Major Catalyst for Downtown

Also glad that Hudson Holdings chose to persevere is Pam Triolo, Mayor of the City of Lake Worth. This final decision by the court is a validation that the city must follow a mandate from Tallahassee, said the Mayor, just hours after the court decision was announced. We always believed that the restoration of the Gulfstream Hotel would be a major catalyst for the downtown business district, we thank Hudson Holdings for hanging in there and sticking with the project.

Lake Worth City Commissioner, Scott Maxwell added similar sentiments about Hudson Holdings and the he courts ruling. The city is anxious to see this project happen, I couldnt be happier, said Maxwell. The lawsuit was a cloud hanging over the project, were glad its resolved, expectations are high for the community and we look forward to its progress. Mayor Triolo added, I cant wait for my friends and family to stay at the renovated Gulfstream Hotel, its exciting for the city, the residents and the business community.

Hudson Holdings, Restores Lake Worth Gulfstream Hotel to Former Glory

The Gulfstream Hotel is an exquisite building and our intention is to restore this historic structure from its current vacant condition and bring it back to life showcasing the glamour of the 1920s and 1930s, says Steven Michael. Sitting on nearly 2-acres of property, the hotel rests right at the lip of the bridge that leads to Palm Beachs barrier island. The six-story grand dame hotel, with 90 spacious rooms has extraordinary views, with the bulk of them overlooking a community park with amphitheater and the intra-coastal waterway.

The Gulfstream Hotel, like our other major historic projects, will be restored using, among other financial devices, the Federal Historic Tax Credit, says Michael, who points out that the restoration complies with the most rigorous standards. The State Historic Preservation Offices and the National Park Service review the rehabilitation work to ensure that renovations comply with the Secretarys Standards for Rehabilitation.

Gulfstream Hotel  A Roller Coaster History will Make a Come-Back

A testament to old world Mediterranean Revival architecture, the Gulfstream Hotel opened for business and the first guests paraded through the grand hotel lobby with uniformed bell-hops at the ready and a squadron of valet attendants poised to help guests on December 9th, 1924. On January 11th, 1983, the Gulfstream Hotel became the city of Lake Worths first listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In the ensuing decades, buffeted by whirling economic climates and a roller-coaster of hard times, the building was shuttered. After years of neglect, Steven Michael, co-founder of Hudson Holdings, whose company specializes in historic national renovation projects purchased the building in 2015.

Lake Worth, A Dynamic City, Poised for Explosive Growth

Lake Worth is a dynamic, multi-cultural city with a strong social and environmental consciousness, says Michael. We believe that this project will serve as a catalytic spark for the revival of the downtown district of the city, says Steven Michael whose company, Hudson Holdings, specializes in the restoration and preservation of historic properties of significance around the country.

Hudson Holdings Removes Derelict Structures, Clears Way for Gulfstream Hotel Renovation

The demolition of the derelict structures on the neighboring property is the first step in clearing the way for this project, says Michael. According to Michael, the renovation includes restoring the main building lobby and public areas to its original glory. Of course, the exterior of the building will be receive a complete restoration, resuscitating the building to its original majesty, says Michael. The first floor will also feature a wine and spirits tasting room which will open out to the Lake Ave porch. An expanded 1st floor restaurant will serve both hotel guests as well as the community. The restaurant will open up to the East side of the building where patrons will have a direct view of the adjacent park and Intra-coastal waterway. The rooftop will include a stylish sky bar lounge.

Gulfstream Hotel  New Plans, Project Addition, Annex

We have fantastic new plans not just for the Gulfstream Hotel itself, says Michael, but we are creating a beautiful functional new complex that will make for a wonderful visit or convention. A new addition is planned for the south side of the original hotel structure that will house the kitchen for the expanded restaurant, and support back of house services for the hotel. The second level will be the elevated pool deck and terrace that will connect the Historic Gulfstream Hotel and the New Gulfstream Hotel. We thought long and hard and careful about every aspect of the design, says Michael. This feature will allow patrons of both hotels to access one common terrace and pool. The infinity edge pool will face the ocean, it will be magnificent, says Michael.

About Hudson Holdings

Hudson Holdings is a mixed-use developer based in Delray Beach, Florida. Our primary focus is the acquisition, development and adaptive reuse of retail, residential, hotel and office properties. Our current slate of projects across the country comprises nearly 5 million square feet of space valued in excess more than $1.2 billion. The majority of Hudson Holding's property portfolio is historic, commercial buildings in strong, downtown markets. Our current projects include ground-up construction, renovation, and adaptive use of residential, retail, office and hospitality assets. Hudson Holdings uses various methods to increase asset value including adaptive use, ground up construction, repositioning and rehabilitation. The companys developmental strategy also utilizes tax credits such as Historic, Brownfield, New Market, and TIFs.

Hudson Holdings Website: http://www.HudsonHoldings.com

Media Contact: Jeff Mustard | http://www.TheBambooAgency.com | 954-801-8263 | jeff(at)thebambooagency(dot)com
This latest addition to our network visibility family provides a path for our customers to scale their monitoring architectures while maximizing their existing security tool investments.

APCON, a leading provider of intelligent network monitoring and security solutions, announced the expansion of its IntellaFlex network visibility family with the industry-leading high-density 40G blade, offering 20 ports of 40G Ethernet connectivity for aggregation, load balancing and any-to-any multicast connections to security and network analysis tools.

Growing security threats and network bandwidth demands are inevitable with the significant increase in data from mobile devices, the Internet of Things and distributed work places, said Richard Rauch, president and CEO of APCON. Companies need network visibility to identify and protect against security breaches and achieve compliance. This latest addition to our network visibility family provides a path for our customers to scale their monitoring architectures while maximizing their existing security tool investments.

Enterprises are moving to 40G connectivity speeds to meet the growing high-speed demands of next-generation data centers. The IntellaFlex high-density 40G blade maximizes existing tool efficiency by enabling the aggregation of 40G links from SPANs and TAPs throughout the network. This new blade load balances the data, which can then be sent to other APCON blades for further processing, ensuring only critical data gets to monitoring tools such as Intrusion Detection Systems and other security tools.

The IntellaFlex high-density 40G blade is a part of APCONs premier network visibility family offering 1RU to 14RU chassis and specialty blades with advanced features such as deduplication, NetFlow and pattern matching for traffic optimization, analyzing flow data and supporting security and compliance policies. The high-density 40G blade is easily configured and managed using APCONs WebXR, the industry-leading graphical user interface.

The 20-port 40G Ethernet blade is available immediately for purchase. Any media representative who wants to schedule a product demonstration may contact the APCON public relations team at 503-682-4050.

About APCON

For more than 20 years, APCON has consistently delivered smart, stable and scalable technology solutions that provide an unparalleled level of confidence to service providers and businesses seeking total data center visibility and security. Its customers range from midsize companies to Fortune 1000 enterprises in more than 40 countries. APCON assures superior network monitoring while supporting traffic analysis and streamlined network management and security. For more information, visit http://www.apcon.com or follow us on Twitter @apcon.

###
Kevin A. O'Donnell has be promoted to Sr. Director of Student Mentor Services for Give Something Back Kevin has played a key role in spearheading efforts to recruit and train volunteer mentors and manage our mentor program, said Bob Carr, founder and chairman of Give Back.

Give Something Back, a national organization devoted to mentoring and college scholarships for students facing economic adversity, has announced the promotion of Kevin A. ODonnell to Sr. Director of Student Mentor Services. ODonnell is responsible for coordinating and providing oversight for Give Backs mentor program, which currently serves 200 students.

Kevin has played a key role in spearheading efforts to recruit and train volunteer mentors and manage our mentor program, said Bob Carr, founder and chairman of Give Back. As our organization continues to expand  we have partnered with 17 colleges, universities and trade schools in five states  the need for quality mentors to support and guide our high school scholars who will attend these institutions is greater than ever. Kevin has demonstrated that he can maintain our mentor program, as well as ensure that it develops as our needs grow.

ODonnell has a bachelors degree in social work and a masters in leadership studies. He has more than 20 years of experience in working with students at the college level, from his time as a Campus Minister, Director of Young Adult and Youth Ministry, and as a professor at both Elmhurst College and Lewis University in Illinois.

For more information about the Give Something Back mentoring program or to volunteer as a mentor, visit http://www.giveback.ngo/mentors/

About Giving Something Back

Give Back awards scholarships to academically driven students of modest means who might not otherwise attend college. Pell Grant eligible students are selected in the ninth grade and mentored through high school. After graduation, Give Back scholars attend one of its partner universities or colleges in Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. It is the focus of the organization to help students graduate college in four years, without debt for tuition, fees, and if applicable, room and board.
We strive to create a workplace where employees truly enjoy what they do and can benefit from one another. We empower our employees through a collaborative culture, incentives, training, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

MarketSource has been awarded a 2017 Top Workplaces honor by The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The company placed 19th in the large workplace category. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Several aspects of workplace culture were measured, including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.

The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume its all about fancy perks and benefits. said Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics. But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every daythe employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that whats most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how its going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together. Claffey added, Without this sense of connection, an organization doesnt have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.

We were thrilled to place in the top 25 for the third year in a row, said MarketSource President Rick Haviland. We strive to create a workplace where employees truly enjoy what they do and can benefit from one another. We empower our employees through a collaborative culture, incentives, training, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Reaching a milestone like this means were getting it right.

An Allegis Group company, headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., MarketSource has been in the field sales and marketing business for 43 years and employs more than 9,000 people nationwide. MarketSource designs and delivers go-to-market services, including assisted or outsourced sales, training and advocacy, and marketing solutions for business-to-business and retail companies.

###

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, Pa., WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in more than 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces campaigna program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. Workplace Dynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.
greenlight.guru's New Offices at The Union 525 Building Were very proud of the fact weve been able to help device makers all over the globe, as well as right here in Indiana, replace those systems with sophisticated, cloud-based, modern quality management software exclusively for medical device companies

Greenlight.guru, a modern quality management software company, announced today it has expanded its operations in a new office for high-growth technology companies in downtown Indianapolis. As part of its growth, the company plans to create up to 120 new, high-wage jobs by 2020.

Indiana is the emerging tech hub of the Midwest, Governor Eric J. Holcomb said. To really make our state a magnet for jobs, we must continue to support companies like greenlight.guru by maintaining our pro-business tax climate and making funding available to jumpstart their efforts and fuel their growth.

Greenlight.guru is investing $651,022 to move into a 7,200-square-foot office at Union 525, a new 122,000-square-foot hub for tech businesses in Indianapolis. The new space is nearly 50 percent larger than its former office in the Stutz Business Center. The company, which has grown its revenue by more than 350 percent annually since 2015, moved into its new office yesterday to support its continued growth developing quality management software exclusively for the medical device industry.

The companys new office is at Union 525, a facility which has previously served as a technical school and the original home of Emmerich Manual High School, and will help support Indiana's thriving tech ecosystem. Total employment at central Indiana tech companies has increased 68 percent since 2006, and Forbes ranked Indianapolis fifth in the nation for cities creating the most tech jobs. To continue this momentum, Governor Holcomb has committed to make $1 billion available over the next 10 years to establish Indiana as the national capital of innovation and entrepreneurship.

What we saw when we looked at the medical device market was that the industry was stuck on a bunch of legacy systems and paper quality systems that were holding them back, said David DeRam, chief executive officer of greenlight.guru. These systems were not designed for medical device companies and were not allowing them to innovate and be efficient. So were very proud of the fact weve been able to help device makers all over the globe, as well as right here in Indiana, replace those systems with sophisticated, cloud-based, modern quality management software exclusively for medical device companies enabling them to bring safer, life-changing products to market faster with less risk.

Greenlight.gurus workforce has doubled in size annually since its founding in 2013. To continue this growth, the company is now hiring for sales and software development positions. These positions are expected on average to pay salaries more than 75 percent higher than the state average wage. Interested applicants may apply online at http://www.greenlight.guru/careers.

Greenlight.guru provides an innovative, easy-to-use software, which is designed exclusively to help medical device companies automate quality processes to bring new devices to market faster. With the companys platform, companies can decrease their development costs and improve the quality of their regulatory submissions to government regulators. Over the last two years, greenlight.guru has served clients in more than 270 cities, 26 countries and five continents. The company is nominated for Scale-up Company of the Year and Tech Service of the Year at the 2017 Mira Awards, and winners will be announced later this month.

We cant imagine being better positioned to continue to help device markers improve the quality of life and are thrilled to be entering this next phase of growth right here in Indianapolis. It was important for us to find an ideal space to accommodate significant growth and maintain fanatical customer support, said DeRam.

The IEDC offered Soladoc LLC (dba greenlight.guru) up to $1,550,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on the companys job creation plans. These incentives are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The city of Indianapolis supports the project in partnership with Develop Indy, a business unit of the Indy Chamber.

Todays announcement marks an exciting moment not just for greenlight.guru, but for the continued growth of Indianapolis tech sector, said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. I am proud to see greenlight.guru highlighted for their leadership and success, and look forward to their expanded footprint in our city  proof that Indianapolis is a place where innovation happens.

Greenlight.gurus medical device clients have a significant impact on Indianas economy, with life sciences companies making a $63 billion economic impact across the state. According to BioCrossroads and the Indiana Business Research Center, 56,198 Hoosiers work at 1,687 life sciences companies in Indiana, exporting nearly $10 billion in products, which is the second highest export level in the nation.

About greenlight.guru

Greenlight.guru is a modern quality management software platform used by medical device companies in over 25 countries to bring new products to market faster while simplifying regulatory compliance and reducing risk. Device makers across the globe are replacing their outdated paper-based and general purpose legacy quality systems with greenlight.guru. Being the only modern industry specific, cloud-based eQMS, greenlight.guru is easier to implement, easier to use and simply fits medical device processes better allowing companies to innovate faster and be more efficient. For more information, please visit http://www.greenlight.guru.
Mobile Top Up prize in the contest addressed to expats worldwide, on MobileRecharge.com Facebook page 30 seconds to send a recharge to someone! Too Easy. If only all transactions were this simple. (Lee-Annon on Trustpilot.com)

MobileRecharge.com, the website dedicated to expats worldwide, launches a simple Easter contest based on comments. The giveaway is a mobile top up for someone in the winner's family or a friend, living abroad. The only thing participants need to do is leave a comment, sharing briefly what they like about Easter. Comments are expected between April 4-11, 2017. The winner will be picked randomly and announced on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MobileRecharge.Fan/

The prize will consist of a free mobile top up for someone in one of the 135 countries available on MobileRecharge.com. Such mobile credit transfers are usually used by expats to load their relatives' or friends' mobile phones in the motherland.

There are several reasons why expats prefer to send mobile credit online with MobileRecharge.com:



The top up is instant or just takes few seconds, no need to stand in the queue. So, expats save time.

It saves money, since the processing fee is the smallest on the market thanks to lower costs of online business.

The transaction is 100% safe; the service is verified and secured.

It spares family or friends living in remote places of traveling to the store to credit their phones.

A top up makes a quick and practical gift for people back home.

Many expats use the service to support families and friends on a regular basis.

The Facebook contest addresses not only expats, but also travellers who want to recharge their own mobile in countries they pass by, or temporarily live in. If expats buy mobile credit for their families and friends in their countries of origin, travellers use MobileRecharge.com or MobileRecharge app to recharge their own mobile phone, in the country where they travel or temporarily work. It costs nothing to open an account, as well as it costs nothing to get the offers by email or in the News Feed on Facebook.

The new contest before Easter is MobileRecharge.coms way to make Easter a personal celebration, as well as gather the expat community around a widespread holiday. Anyone can participate, Christians as well as those who celebrate Easter as part of their new home-country custom.

The Facebook community hosts regular contests for its fans. Also, on MobileRecharge.com there are daily promotions on top ups worldwide, especially to the Caribbean, Latin America, and the African countries. The extra credit amounts to 700% bonus on a minim $5 order.

Existing customers who share their opinions on review platforms like Trustpilot.com for example, explain the benefits that keep them loyal to MobileRecharge.com:



Top ups can be made directly on the website in less than 1 minute, or using an app that is free to install from Play Store or App Store.

MobileRecharge app is also available in Spanish for Latin Americans.

The online ordering form is very easy, for both experienced and inexperienced PC or smartphone users; the service has been created per expats' feedback.

The processing fees that apply with MobileRecharge.com are the lowest on the global market.

Customer Support is very responsive on chat and email.

Payment is possible in any currency, no matter the country where one lives.

Paypal is accepted besides all major credit cards.

Transactions are secured, and the service is BBB accredited, along other customer satisfaction authorities.

World Top Up Day offers surprises every year and praises them as a special category of givers that no one else see.

Expats can find specialists who talk their languages, if they have a question or need an explanation.

MobileRecharge.com is a website dedicated to expats worldwide, travellers or professionals who live abroad temporarily, or independent mobile top uppers. MobileRecharge.com is also the initiator of the first World Top Up Day in history, dedicated to top up givers worldwide as a generous social category. The website is a brand of KeepCalling, with more than 10 years of experience on the global market. The mother company is a telecommunications business registered in 2002 in the USA, listed by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the USA for 5 consecutive years. Presently, KeepCalling provides its services to hundreds of thousands of consumers, with a focus on customer satisfaction.
Quantum Spatial We are extremely excited to be teaming up with PDXWIT to share with attendees how exciting the geospatial world is to not only live in but also to work in, said Daniele Joudene, senior director, Human Resources at Quantum Spatial.

Quantum Spatial, Inc., the nations largest independent geospatial data firm, announced today that the company will be hosting Portland Women in Tech (PDXWIT) on April 5, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. PDT for Visualizing the World in 3-D, a special free event that introduces attendees to professional opportunities for women in remote sensing and the geospatial analytics industry, across all technical and management realms. The event is open to the public but space is limited and online registration is required.

We are extremely excited to be teaming up with PDXWIT to share with attendees how exciting the geospatial world is to not only live in but also to work in, said Daniele Joudene, senior director, Human Resources at Quantum Spatial. There are many different career paths and job opportunities for women in this field and we are looking forward to discussing the diversity of backgrounds that brought us here.

WHAT: Visualizing the World in 3-D

An event to learn more about geospatial analytics and remote sensing technology led by speakers from Quantum Spatial (QSI).

WHEN: Wednesday, April 5, 2017

5:30 p.m.  7:30 p.m. PDT

WHERE: 421 Southwest 6th Avenue, Suite 800

Portland, OR 97204

REGISTER: The event is free to attend, but registration is required.

DETAILS: Presentations by QSI employees include:

What is Remote Sensing? - Heather Borunda-Ferguson, production manager, will provide an overview of the remote sensing industry and Quantum Spatial products, as well as share how this science applies to dozens of applications and offers opportunities for women from a variety of educational backgrounds.

Utilities Analytics and Geospatial Software - Camille Westlake, a solutions developer who helps design new products for utilities, will discuss how utilities use geospatial data to help manage issues and how we create software to help manage that data.

Machine Learning - Kris Barkume, PhD, a project manager who oversees production of QSIs energy sector products, will show how QSI uses machine learning algorithms to help turn massive, challenging data sets into actionable solutions for its clients.

Applying Developer Skills to Business Intelligence - Heather Ann Bromell, a business analyst, will explain how her team integrates data across disparate data sources into a coherent framework for real-time reporting and detailed analysis.

GIS and Private Contracting - Emily Bray-Nash, specialist, will talk about her non-traditional approach getting into the geospatial industry, starting her own GIS consulting business tailored to non-profits performing habitat restoration in the Upper Klamath Basin of Oregon. Emily is now an analyst specializing in utility analytics.

A Beginners Approach to Tackling Python Scripting - Liz Johnson, a technician, will offer an interactive presentation showing some of the ways QSI uses Python to automate mundane tasks and integrate the ArcPy packages into geospatial analysis and data processing.

Thermal Modeling of Stream Systems - Annie Trambley, a technical specialist, is part of a team that uses ArcGIS, TTools and Heat Source numeric modeling software to analyze ortho-photographs, stream flow, LiDAR and thermal infrared radiometry (TIR) data. Shell explain how these technologies combine to perform thermal modeling of stream systems.

Ground Modelling with LiDAR Technology - Lisa Schmidt, a remote sensing technician, will explain ground modeling with LiDAR - the process and its applications to everyday life that many are unaware of, even within the technical industry.

Field Operations: Survey and Sensor Operation - Anna Stifter, analyst, will talk about the field positions available at QSI, walk through a typical day of operations and discuss the field culture Quantum Spatial cultivates. Plus, youll have an opportunity to get hands-on experience with various survey equipment.

About PDXWIT

PDXWIT is a community-based non-profit organization. Our purpose is to strengthen the Portland women in tech community by offering: educational programs, partnerships, mentorships, resources and opportunities. We are unifying a supportive environment for current and potential women in tech, all of whom are committed to helping each other. Our goal is to bring together and empower women in tech and to encourage others to pursue tech careers. This is our step towards reducing the gender imbalance in the industry and addressing the current negative effects of that imbalance on women. For more information, visit http://www.pdxwit.org.

About Quantum Spatial, Inc.

Quantum Spatial, Inc., (QSI) the nations largest independent geospatial data firm, provides geographic insights to the largest government and corporate organizations that need geospatial intelligence to mitigate risk, plan for growth, better manage resources and advance scientific understanding. A pioneer in advanced mapping technology, QSIs end-to-end solutions and services deliver the industrys highest data quality and accuracy, while leveraging the widest array of technologies for analyzing all types of terrains. Customers use the companys acquisition, processing, analytics and visualization solutions in a range of technical and scientific disciplines  from geology and biology, to hydrology, forestry and civil engineering. Utilities, oil and gas producers, engineering and construction firms, as well as the military and major government agencies, are QSI customers. QSI has multiple offices around the country. For more information visit quantumspatial.com, join us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter @QuantumSpatial.
Hanley Wood is committed to expanding Metrostudys data and information platform in order to serve our construction-related audiences and customers, said Peter Goldstone, CEO of Hanley Wood

Metrostudy, a Hanley Wood company and the leading provider of primary and secondary market information to the housing and related industries nationwide, has acquired Templeton Demographics, LLC, a Texas based data and consulting firm providing demographic and planning services to school districts. As part of the acquisition, Bob Templeton, founder, will continue to lead the firm.

Hanley Wood is committed to expanding Metrostudys data and information platform in order to serve our construction-related audiences and customers, said Peter Goldstone, CEO of Hanley Wood. The acquisition of Templeton provides an expansion into an important public sector niche that will benefit nationally from the Metrostudy data set.

Based in Southlake, Texas, Templeton Demographics has worked in collaboration with Metrostudy over the past decade to serve school districts in Texas. This prior partnership has created a dominant school district demographic data and consulting firm in Texas. The acquisition now enables the expansion of school districts services throughout Metrostudys national footprint.

We are continually evolving our business to deliver end-to-end data and research services to our customers, noted Chris Veator, President of Metrostudy. The acquisition of Templeton advances this effort significantly by allowing us to deliver a new range of tools in this important segment. Its a big win for both Metrostudy and Templeton Demographics customers, who will now have access to the deepest bench of housing industry resources.

In our collaborative partnership with Metrostudy, we have admired their data quality and coverage for many years, Templeton said. This acquisition will provide a platform for us to accelerate our expansion and to better serve our existing customers with Metrostudys vast array of data and consulting products and services. We are excited at the opportunity to join with Hanley Wood and Metrostudy.

About Metrostudy

Metrostudy is the leading provider of primary and secondary market information to the housing and residential construction industry. Metrostudys actionable business intelligence informs investment decisions that mitigate risk and grow revenue for builders, developers, lenders, suppliers, retailers and manufacturers. Its the construction industrys only integrated data intelligence solution supported by the most extensive U.S. geographic coverage. Learn more at Metrostudy.com.

About Hanley Wood

Hanley Wood is the premier company serving the information, media, and marketing needs of the residential, commercial design and construction industry. Utilizing the largest analytics and editorially driven Construction Industry Database, the company provides business intelligence and data-driven services. The company produces award-winning media, both digital and print, high-profile executive events, and strategic marketing solutions. To learn more, visit hanleywood.com.
NooBaa storage uses machine learning to increase agility, offering hybrid and multi-cloud support. We chose NooBaa over the others because they could deploy in our existing infrastructure, were much easier to manage, and the licensing model means theres very little financial risk... It was an easy decision to go with NooBaa.

NooBaa today announced worldwide availability of the NooBaa Enterprise Edition product offering. NooBaa is a software-based object storage solution that greatly improves infrastructure and business flexibility by enabling dynamic hybrid and multi-cloud data management. The NooBaa solution allows enterprises to consolidate unstructured data management across multiple locations and cloud environments in a simple and elastic manner by pooling datacenter capacity resources with public cloud capacity in a single namespace. The Enterprise Edition provides full scale-out and high availability, public cloud integration, and a pay-as-you-go subscription license. Along with the new release, NooBaa Customer support is now available across Americas and EMEA regions.

One customer who recently deployed NooBaas Enterprise Edition is Clouditalia, a Cloud and Telecommunications Services Provider that provides Cloud and Telecommunications broadband services from datacenters in Milan, Arezzo, and Rome. Seeking to offer an object storage solution that would form the basis for storage-as-a-service and cloud archival needs, Clouditalia is deploying NooBaa across their datacenter network. According to Marco Iannucci, CEO of Clouditalia, Its critical for a cloud business to have a strong object storage offering. We chose NooBaa over the others because they could deploy in our existing infrastructure, were much easier to manage, and the licensing model means theres very little financial risk for us as our market for storage grows. It was an easy decision to go with NooBaa.

NooBaa is an easier solution for supporting the uncontrolled growth of unstructured-data workloads such as backup, archive, and new digital workloads, where customers are sensitive to costs and need to preserve flexibility for cloud adoption initiatives. Traditional scale-out storage solutions have high startup costs, are complex to deploy, have rigid networking limitations, and have steep learning curves. For applications such as backup, the ability to start small and leverage efficiency features like dedupe are critical capabilities not available in all SDS architectures. NooBaas novel architecture dramatically improves resource flexibility, reduces start-up costs, and eliminates lock-in for customers.

NooBaa can start small and scale seamlessly over time as capacity needs grow. The system can be deployed across any capacity resources available in the organization, minimizing unnecessary capex or infrastructure configuration. NooBaa is capable of clustering diverse storage resources include bare-metal Windows and Linux servers, VMs, object storage, and public cloud storage providers including Amazon and Microsoft. By capturing host, storage, and networking properties of the various systems in real-time, the system dynamically adjusts data placement policies, and accommodates the introduction of new capacity and new technologies with no application disruption.

According to Yuval Dimnik, founder and CEO, The future of infrastructure - including cloud adoption - is harder to predict today than at any other time. For customers who need to retain large data-sets, the lock-in and constraints of traditional storage are huge obstacles to flexibility. We knew if we could accommodate any customer infrastructure, consume resources anywhere, apply aggressive dedupe and compression, and use automation for things like tiering, we could help IT organizations reduce risk and deliver more agile services.

The announcement of NooBaas general availability as a low-TCO, multi-cloud data management solution builds upon the early-adoption momentum of their Community Edition product, which was introduced at VmWorld in 2016, and gave customers an easy way to evaluate the product. According to Eran Tamir, NooBaas VP of Product, The days of massive 6-month vendor-led evaluation projects are over. Were making it amazingly easy for customers to run POCs and build familiarity with the product. Even with the Enterprise edition, customers typically use existing physical infrastructure and cloud accounts to get started in less than 15 minutes.

About NooBaa

NooBaa is the industrys most flexible scale-out data management and storage platform, enabling cloud providers and enterprises to more easily manage large-scale data archival and retention of unstructured data. Co-founded in 2013 by leading storage and security experts Yuval Dimnik and Guy Margalit, NooBaa has offices in Israel and San Francisco. Privately-held, NooBaa has received venture capital funding from JVP, OurCrowd and prominent industry leaders. NooBaa is a partner of Commvault, Veritas, Rubrik, Splunk, Microsoft, Amazon, Milestone, Cloudberry Lab, Qstar, and other solution vendors.
4TelecomHelp Logo Juvos Four Cornerstone approach to telecom management focusing on inventory, contracts, operations and expenses aligns perfectly with ours, Jill Plouffe, 4TelecomHelp President.

4TelecomHelp announces their new 4T-Titan platform. The fully integrated SaaS platform developed by Juvo Technologies will streamline the technical foundation for its telecommunications consulting services.

Juvos Four Cornerstone approach to telecom management focusing on inventory, contracts, operations and expenses aligns perfectly with ours, Jill Plouffe, 4TelecomHelp President, says. With all the consolidation and exits in the TEM industry, we saw the opportunity to make an investment that would allow us to take advantage of the untapped market opportunity to be a premier US-based managed services provider for the mid-to large size enterprise. So many of the platforms were developed more than a decade ago or were pieced together ad hoc over time. Having worked behind the scenes with many of the different platforms, we had unique insights that let us develop our own requirements with a list of best practices for end-to-end telecom management. In addition, companies are starting to expand their telecom to include things from IoT, such as sensors and connected machines. We wanted to be forward thinking about where this could all go and how a company will want to manage anything telecom-related in one central location. We looked at all of the available options and were thrilled when we met JuvoTech through TEMIA.

4TelcomHelp has been helping customers manage their telecom environment since 1999 and have witnessed a lot of changes in IT and telecom including the consumerization of IT that led to the boom of BYOD and CYOD (Choose Your Down Device) in the enterprise. While the reliance on traditional dial up and landlines has diminished, the telecom environment has grown more complex as companies become digitally connected and the reliance on that infrastructure becomes more critical and costly. Today, companies of all sizes look to outside vendors to manage the complexity and the costs so that they can focus on their core competencies. Industry estimates from leading researchers indicate continued double digit growth over the next two to three years.

We are delighted to be partnering with 4TelecomHelp, says John Schroder, Juvo Technologies CEO. Jill and her team bring many years of deep knowledge and hands-on experience working with complex telecom environments that we can use to further develop our integrated platform in the cloud.

The companies met through the industry association, TEMIA. Joe Basili, Managing Director for TEMIA said, This partnership shows the value of TEMIA meetings and collaboration among our member firms. As I understand it, the alliance goes beyond software licensing. 4TelecomHelp and Juvo are leveraging the strengths of their partner to create better capabilities.

About 4TelecomHelp

4TelecomHelp, Inc. is a telecommunications consulting and outsourcing firm created to assist businesses of all sizes with every aspect of their telecom services. 4TelecomHelp specializes in the management of all voice and data communications services including in telecom auditing, telecom installation management, wireless cost management and telecom expense management (TEM). Follow on Twitter: @4Telecomhelp
FreeConferenceCall.com, the most recognized conferencing brand on the planet, is now available in India. Users can access international conferencing services to communicate with family, friends, customers and colleagues in India  absolutely free.

FreeConferenceCall.com provides callers in India with instant local access to its reliable and secure conferencing and collaboration services. Conferencing within India includes: high definition audio, screen sharing and video with up to 1,000 participants at no cost. Customers recently ranked the FreeConferenceCall.com web conferencing software the highest amongst its competitors for usability. By following a few simple steps, users can teach, manage projects, conduct religious meetings, work remotely or connect and reunite with family anywhere in the world.

Were excited about this new geographical extension of our services into one of the largest and most dynamic telecommunications markets in the world, said Josh Lowenthal, president of FreeConferenceCall.com. The Indian diaspora is rich with communities and businesses that can benefit from streamlined access to conference calling services. We look forward to helping the Indian population connect and collaborate at home and around the world.

India currently has the second largest telecommunication market, with the third highest number of internet users in the world. According to the latest UN survey on international migrant trends, Indias diaspora population is the largest in the world with 16 million Indian people living outside of their country in 2015. India itself hosted 5.2 million migrants in 2015.

Whether conducting collaborative business meetings or speaking with family and friends, people across India can now use conference calling without limits. Users gain simple and free access to high-quality audio conferencingno downloads or purchases required. In addition, the ability to host and join calls with others around the world using this full-featured mobile audio conferencing service will revolutionize the way people in India communicate while on the go.

At FreeConferenceCall.com, we are dedicated to bringing free and easy-to-use international group calling services to all corners of the earth, said Lowenthal. We are delighted to add India to our ever-growing list of countries that we serve. India is an amazing market and were proud to provide free high-quality conferencing solutions. We are truly offering the Indian population with the means to transform the way they communicate and connect across multiple destinations around the world.

For more information or to sign up for a free account, visit FreeConferenceCall.com.

About FreeConferenceCall.com

FreeConferenceCall.com is the most recognized conferencing brand in the world with users in more than 800,000 businesses, including nearly all Fortune 500. Service offerings around the globe with unlimited use include: high-quality HD audio conferencing, screen sharing, video conferencing, audio and visual recordings, customized greetings, security features, desktop scheduling and mobile applications. Mid-market and enterprise customers can take advantage of FreeConferenceCall.com For Business: high-quality, reliable and secure conferencing and collaboration services complemented by 24/7 customer support, enterprise account management teams, consolidated billing, customized user analytic reports, employee rollout and training and white-label services.

FreeConferenceCall.com was founded by David Erickson in 2001 and is based in Long Beach, California.
The announcement comes as the insurance industry undergoes massive technological transformation, driven by the need for simple, data-driven, and engaging customer experiences.

Wellthie  the insurance technology company offering leading broker and carrier shopping tools to simplify insurance distribution for small businesses and individuals  received $5 million in a Series A round of financing. IA Capital Group led the investment round with participation from existing and new investors, including Aflac Ventures and top insurance industry executives. The company will use the funds to accelerate its nationwide growth and product development. Andy Lerner, Managing Partner of IA Capital, joins Wellthies Board of Directors along with Mike Battaglia, former Chief Consumer Officer at Humana.

Bridging a broad array of medical and ancillary plans, Wellthie provides a next-generation technology and e-commerce platform for insurance brokers to quote, guide, and enroll customers in choices that best serve their specific preferences and needs. Wellthies intuitive software incorporates advanced algorithms - enabling forward-thinking brokers and carriers to deliver highly personalized, modern shopping experiences that optimize client satisfaction and dramatically increase sales across multiple insurance lines. To date, Wellthie has successfully partnered with national and regional carriers, while its tools power progressive brokers across 20 states, and its scalable platform has generated hundreds of thousands of quotes.

Small businesses today represent 90% of U.S. enterprises and nearly 55 million employees. 80% of small businesses rely on the expertise and advice of insurance brokers to optimize their insurance offerings to employees, including medical, ancillary, and other value-added health and financial products. In virtually every other area of their purchasing, small businesses and their employees are accustomed to convenient, smart, and customized shopping experiences. Today, they expect no less when purchasing insurance.

The announcement comes as the insurance industry undergoes massive technological transformation, driven by the need for simple, data-driven, and engaging customer experiences, as well as the elimination of the historically paper-based, complicated, and inefficient insurance distribution processes.

IA Capital Group is a pioneer in investing in innovative technologies to transform the insurance industry. Their deep expertise and relationships across the insurance industry will be invaluable as we accelerate our growth and expansion, says Sally Poblete, Founder & CEO of Wellthie.

Wellthie has a unique combination of entrepreneurs with deep insurance domain expertise, leadership in e-commerce technologies, and demonstrated outcomes within a gigantic industry ripe for change. Their core focus on intuitive customer experience and data analytics is exactly what the industry needs now, says Andy Lerner, Managing Partner, IA Capital Group.

About Wellthie

Wellthie is a leading provider of next-generation technology solutions to help insurance carriers and brokers thrive in the retail age. The companys cloud-based e-commerce platform modernizes the way brokers sell insurance to small businesses and individuals. http://www.wellthie.com.

About IA Capital Group

Founded in 1992, IA Capital Group has managed fintech and insurtech venture capital funds under the Inter-Atlantic name since 2000. IA Capital is based in New York City and invests throughout North America. http://www.iacapitalgroup.com. @iacapgroup
Mike has extensive industry experience that includes a consistent record of sales achievement, which will be a great benefit of our clients."

Caliber Public Safety is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Martin as the Sales Account Manager for a territory that includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Mr. Martin has over 20 years of experience in the public safety software industry having previously marketed an extensive range of state-of-the-art public safety solutions to a broad range of municipalities in the Middle Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. His background in corporate information technology and consulting is conveyed to the clients as he brings in-depth product knowledge and a sharp focus on long-term client relationships. Mike has successfully built and supported a client base of over 100 public safety agencies over the course of his career.

Mr. Martin brings the talents of a seasoned professional to our sales team, said Faysal Tay, Vice President of Sales for Caliber Public Safety. Mike has extensive industry experience that includes a consistent record of sales achievement, which will be a great benefit of our clients. We are confident that his unique industry perspective will contribute to Caliber's future success. Mike joins us at a time when our overall organization is growing to keep up with demands from the public safety community.

About Caliber Public Safety

Caliber Public Safety offers enterprise solutions in the areas of Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management Software (RMS), Mobile, and Offender Management Solutions (OMS). Through strategic partnerships we have expanded our scope and reach, positioning our division to provide innovative products for agencies of every size throughout the United States.

Caliber Public Safety is committed to creating reliable software with unique information sharing ability that provides instantaneous access to critical, relevant information across multiple agencies. We combine industry best practices with our state of the art suite of products to deliver a client experience that is second to none. The full line of Caliber Public Safety software delivers the critical edge to frontline responders when seconds count.

Caliber Public Safety is a business unit of the Harris Operating Group of Constellation Software, Inc.

Harris Systems USA, Inc. is a member of the Harris Operating Group and is one of the legal entities that markets and distributes software products and services under the Caliber Public Safety platform.
Summer of Love, San Francisco

Its the Summer of Love, baby! Getting into the 50th anniversary spirit, Extranomical Tours today announced that it was inviting San Francisco visitors to tune on and turn in to a moment in time that launched a cultural revolution.

Wed like everyone to get on boardliterallyfor our new San Francisco Summer of Love tours. Wouldnt it be remarkable to sit next to someone who was there in 1967? said Gary Lillian, CEO of Extranomical. Guests will enjoy a delightful three-hour tour of San Francisco, and theyll be part of the experience.

Our Then and Now promotion will be a spectacular kickoff to the many Summer of Love activities in San Francisco this year, said Linda Bauer, Director of Marketing at Extranomical. Its really simple. The first 1,000 guests to post a photo of themselves in 1967-era attire on Extranomicals Instagram, Facebook or Google+ with #ExtraSoLove will enjoy this amazing new tour complimentary.

Extranomical Tours will begin operating its two Summer of Love edition tours on April 19th; reservations can be made starting today. The first, San Francisco Treasures, picks up guests three times a day and shows off 15 city landmarks including: Embarcadero, Fishermans Wharf, Coit Tower, Palace of Fine Arts, Chinatown and more. The tour includes a special Golden Gate Bridge view and a stop to probe the origins of the Summer of Love among the Beats and poets of North Beach.

The second itinerary, called San Francisco Parks & Coast, departs twice a day to explore the historic Presidio, the citys daunting coastline, the diversity of the Mission and Castro districts and culturally rich Golden Gate Park, where many Summer of Love events happened. Guests will see the Jimmy Hendrix Red House, Grateful Deads legendary pad and learn all about the Beats, rock stars and hippies who walked the streets of Haight-Ashbury 50 years ago.

Applicants for the complimentary tour should post their pictures on Extranomicals Instagram, Facebook or Google+ with #ExtraSOLove. All are welcome, added Mr. Lillian, because this city cant have too many dreamers.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Summer of Love celebration, inspired by the California Historical Society and San Francisco Travel, looks back at the events that led tens of thousands of young people to converge in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury district during the summer of 1967. The growing number of exhibitions and events from May to September will explore the music, art, events and happenings that made San Francisco the center of a social revolution that exploded across the country, then the world.

About Extranomical Tours

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Extranomical Tours is a leading sightseeing and tour company to destinations across Northern California. Since 2002, the company has offered a selection of highly-regarded tours, including: the city of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, Sausalito, Muir Woods, the Wine Country, Yosemite National Park and Monterey as well as a variety of combo packages that feature multiple destinations. More information is available at http://www.extranomical.com

Social Media:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/extranomical

Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+Extranomical

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/extranomicaltours
Brand Delta-V: The NewSpace Marketing Company We have proven that targeted marketing efforts can be a major competitive advantage for these [space] companies, helping them land the next big contract or close a funding round.

Brand Delta-V, a new marketing company serving the global NewSpace industry, opened its doors today.

We believe that leveraging the power of world-class business-to-business marketing will be critical in the success of NewSpace companies and the entire commercial space industry, explains Jeff Valentine, creative director at Brand Delta-V. It was for this simple reason that Brand Delta-V was born.

Brand Delta-V is the first marketing company exclusively dedicated to what many describe as the NewSpace paradigm -- a new wave of up-and-coming commercial space companies that are developing an off-world economy. Brand Delta-Vs mission is to deliver to its NewSpace clientele marketing strategies that increase sales, communications tactics that increase investment, and public engagement campaigns that amplify awareness.

After nearly a decade of working with space startups, weve found that marketing is consistently treated as a dirty word in the NewSpace industry, comments Meagan Crawford, Brand Delta-V managing partner. Consequently, entrepreneurs often fall short in sharing their vision with investors and customers. Brand Delta-V is changing this. We have proven that targeted marketing efforts can be a major competitive advantage for these companies, helping them land the next big contract or close a funding round.

Brand Delta-V is the first full-service marketing agency dedicated to NewSpace, offering customized solutions to meet the external communications needs of this unique group of enterprises. More detailed descriptions of the companys premier services and world-class team can be found online at BrandDeltaV.com.
The updated status reaffirms Rightpoints leadership and demonstrated expertise in Microsoft competencies.

Rightpoint, a leading national digital agency, has announced the renewal of its Gold Certification in the Microsoft Partner program in five categories. The updated status reaffirms Rightpoints leadership and demonstrated expertise in Microsoft competencies including cloud productivity (Office 365), cloud platform (Azure), application development, data analytics and collaboration and content.

Microsoft has awarded Rightpoint with Gold Certification in the five listed categories for as many as six consecutive years, recognizing Rightpoints ability to consistently deliver quality solutions in specialized business areas and meet customer needs.

To receive Microsoft Partner Gold Certification, Rightpoint participated in a rigorous evaluation process that included a thorough assessment of technical expertise, performance and customer evidence both in terms of service obtained and technologies used for each project.

"We are delighted to be recognized by Microsoft as a valued partner," said Chris Crombie,Senior Vice President of Sales and Alliances of Rightpoint. "Attaining Gold Certification in multiple competency areas underscores our ongoing endeavor to foster an omni-channel customer journey by creating accessible, scalable, digital platforms that touch every part of an organization."

Microsoft Gold Certified Partners receive a rich set of benefits, including access, training and support, giving them a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In addition, with its elevated partner status in cloud solution competencies, Rightpoint receives unlimited signature cloud support, providing added value to its clients.

About Rightpoint

Rightpoint is a customer experience agency with technology at its core. Serving Fortune 1,000 companies, Rightpoint is the only agency driving transformational change from the inside out. Founded on the belief that great customer experiences are fueled by the people who deliver them, Rightpoints mission is to remove barriers and uncover new possibilities to connect companies with their customers across every touchpoint. From web, mobile and social to IoT, eCommerce and cloud, Rightpoint brings a holistic point of view that enables exceptional experiences with lasting impact. With a client base of more than 250 companies, Rightpoint was named to Forbes 2014 list of America's Most Promising Companies and Crain's 50 Fastest Growing Companies in Chicago in 2016. For more information, visit rightpoint.com and follow @Rightpoint.
Armstrong Teasdale, a law firm with offices across the United States and in China, proudly announces the addition of Intellectual Property partner Tracey S. Truitt and of counsel Kelley A. Schnieders. The two attorneys have extensive experience in intellectual property matters related to agribusiness and food, biotechnology and life sciences.

Tracey S. Truitt

Truitt has nearly 20 years of experience in intellectual property law and serves clients of all sizes across industries including agribusiness, food, health care, biotechnology and life sciences. He counsels clients on patent and trademark acquisition, licensing, enforcement issues, due diligence, prosecution, litigation and other general business matters.

A testament to the quality of his work, Truitt has been serving many of his clients for over a decade. He is dedicated to gaining in-depth knowledge about each clients invention and the technology surrounding it. This enables him to develop strategies and arguments that will impact their bottom line and drive success throughout their product portfolio.

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, Truitt was in private practice at another firm in Kansas City. He earned his J.D. and masters in intellectual property from the Franklin Pierce Law Center and B.S. from the University of Nebraska. Truitt is admitted to practice law in Missouri, and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Kelley A. Schnieders

With over 10 years of experience, Schnieders serves clients on intellectual property matters related to the biological arts, chemical arts, medical technology, food science and other health care-related technology. She is skilled in both U.S. and foreign patent prosecution and primarily handles opinion work and patent strategy for her clients. Schnieders also assists in the development, maintenance and protection of both foreign and domestic trademark portfolios.

Her practical lab experience and background in genetics enable her to better relate to clients and make her an invaluable asset when protecting their inventions. She also has extensive experience in the animal health industry.

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, Schnieders was in private practice at another firm in Kansas City. She also previously served a judicial externship under the Honorable Scott O. Wright in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Further, Schnieders has experience as a legal intern in the Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property and Commercialization Department at the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

She earned her J.D. from the University of MissouriKansas City and B.S. in genetics from the University of Kansas. Schnieders is admitted to practice law in Missouri, Kansas and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Truitt and Schnieders are based in the firms Kansas City Office.

About Armstrong Teasdale: With lawyers in offices across the United States and in China, Armstrong Teasdale LLP has a demonstrable track record of delivering sophisticated legal advice and exceptional service to a dynamic client base. Whether an issue is local or global, practice area specific or industry related, Armstrong Teasdale provides each client with an invaluable combination of legal resources and practical advice in nearly every area of law. The firm is a member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 independent law firms with locations in more than 100 countries, and the United States Law Firm Group, a network of 18 law firms headquartered in major U.S. cities. Armstrong Teasdale is listed in the Am Law 200, published by The American Lawyer, and the NLJ 250, published by The National Law Journal. For more information, please visit http://www.armstrongteasdale.law.

###
Continuing to expand on its ever-growing line of maple-inspired food and beverage offerings, Crown Maple, a leading organic, artisan-quality pure maple syrup brand, enthusiastically announces the launch of Horseshoe Brand Maple Cayenne hot sauce today.

This small-batch creation was born out of a partnership with Horseshoe Brand and Crown Maple to create a tantalizingly sweet, yet bold and spicy hot sauce that is the first of its kind, said Horseshoe Brand owner, Ryan Fleischhauer. As two Hudson Valley based artisan brands, this partnership has allowed Horseshoe Brand and Crown Maple to come together to create a new, high-quality hand-crafted hot sauce.

The Horseshoe Brand Maple Cayenne hot sauce is made with hot red cayenne pepper and rich, smoky chipotle for a classic, fire-y flavor. However, the addition of organically crafted Crown Maple syrup and sugar add a new and dynamic layer to the sauce, creating an entrancing hot sauce with the welcoming flavors and sweetness of maple coupled with a substantial, long-lasting level of heat. A crowning touch for all types of foods, the Horseshoe Brand Maple Cayenne hot sauce pairs particularly well with pork and seafood, as well as classic dishes such as chicken and waffles, or even just a simple cracker.

We believe maple syrup is such an exciting and diverse work horse in the culinary world, and we want to continue sharing Crown Maples pure, rich products with consumers that demonstrate maples capabilities far beyond your classic breakfast table, said Mike Cobb, CEO of Crown Maple. Partnering with Horseshoe Brand to create a hot sauce  well, how many maple syrup brands can say theyve done that? Combining our sweet syrup with contrasting hot and spicy ingredients packs a unique and powerful punch that we know youll enjoy.

To help introduce this new product to store shelves, a release party celebrating Horseshoe Brand Maple Cayenne hot sauce will occur on April 8, 2017 from 12pm-5pm at the Crown Maple Estate. A $5 admission fee provides attendees a tasting flight of three hot sauce-inspired food bites paired with a choice of three local craft beers or wines. Live music from local artist Steve Black will also be featured from 12:30pm-3:30pm. Reservations are highly recommended and can be made at CrownMaple.com.

This limited-time, small-batch Horseshoe Brand Maple Cayenne hot sauce will be available for purchase for $7.95/bottle at the Crown Maple Estate or online. For more information or to purchase online, visit: CrownMaple.com and HorseshoeBrand.com.

###

About Crown Maple

Crown Maple is Quite Possibly the Purest Maple Syrup on Earth and sets a new standard of excellence for maple. Established in 2010, Crown Maple has been carefully crafted from the ground up to become the preeminent maple syrup brand. By pairing the best from nature with artisan craftsmanship and breakthrough state of the art proprietary production technology, Crown Maple creates an exceptional maple experience. Crown Maple syrup and sugar products are estate-produced, certified-organic and provide a superior and distinctive taste and performance that elevates Crown Maple beyond a sweetener and into a defining ingredient.

The Crown Maple Estate is based in New Yorks Hudson Valley and has quickly become New Yorks No. 1 maple syrup producer. Open to the public on weekends, Crown Maple invites guests to visit the estate, experience the sustainable maple grove firsthand, and learn about the maple production process. The on-site maple-infused cafe also offers a variety of innovative maple foods and craft beverages to further inspire guests.

In an effort to continually push industry boundaries, Crown Maple regularly collaborates with an array of nationally-known brands to incorporate maple syrup into a variety of sweet and savory foods and beverages that go well beyond the pancake platter, and the brand is the syrup of choice served at top restaurants, resorts, and culinary institutions nationwide. Crown Maple products are available for purchase from coast-to-coast at select grocery stores, natural retailers, specialty stores, and foodservice distributors. Crown Maple products can also be purchased online at http://www.CrownMaple.com.

About Horseshoe Brand

Horseshoe Brand is an all-natural, handcrafted sauce company founded in New Yorks Hudson Valley. Horseshoe Brand currently produces a portfolio of unique hot sauces with different heat levels to satisfy a variety of tastes and food applications. Using only the highest quality peppers from around the world, Horseshoe Brand is committed to delivering a fresh, high-quality hot sauce with the perfect unity of heat and flavor. To enjoy the Horseshoe Brand experience, please visit http://www.horseshoebrand.com.
One of the hottest trends in coffee today is ice cold, infused with nitrogen gas under pressure, and dispensed from a tap. And, thanks to a joint effort by Columbus roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea and Heidelberg Distributing Company, Nitro cold-brewed coffee is joining the taps of some of the citys hottest bars and restaurants.

Demand has skyrocketed since we introduced Nitro cold brew to Columbus in 2014, said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert. This effervescent iced coffee has the texture and mouth feel of a fine milk stout  making it a perfect non-alcoholic addition to bar taps.

The partnership with Heidelberg Distributing Company was a natural fit. Nitro coffee is up and coming. Its a growing area that ties in with our craft beer sales, said Dan Diem, Heidelbergs general sales manager for beer. Crimson Cup is a leader in central Ohio, and we felt a partnership with Nitro would be mutually beneficial for both companies.

Since Crimson Cup began working with Heidelberg Distributing last October, Nitro has infiltrated the tap systems of Average Joes Pub, Bodega, The Brass Tap, Condado Tacos, Condado Tacos II, Hadleys Bar and Kitchen, The Hills Market Downtown, Julep Columbus, Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center, Red Brick Tap & Grill and World of Beer.

We are looking at exponential growth with this product, Diem added. Currently we are selling to a dozen or so accounts, and we anticipate that number increasing dramatically.

Because Crimson Cups Nitro cold brew starts with a concentrated, hand-brewed base of fine craft coffee, it packs a harder caffeine punch than a standard cup of Joe or espresso-based beverage, Ubert noted. The nitrogen bubbles create a visually intriguing drink with a rich, creamy texture and natural sweetness without the need to add milk and sugar, he said. It makes the perfect morning pick-me-up or cap to a night on the town.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches, which it sells directly to consumers and as wholesale coffee beans. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 29 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the companys own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com.
AMSOIL INC. announces company founder and Chairman of the Board Al Amatuzio passed away on Friday, March 31, 2017 at nearly 93 years of age. His life was a classic David vs. Goliath illustration of the American Dream. He was raised poor in a rough neighborhood, achieved distinction in military service and toppled giants on his way to forever changing the lubrication industry. Amatuzio touched many lives through his business ventures and charitable endeavors. In fact, whether they know it or not, Amatuzio has affected the lives of nearly every driver in the world, for it was his vision that brought synthetic lubrication to the automotive market.

It was during his time as a fighter pilot and squadron commander that Amatuzio conceived the notion that cars, trucks and other land vehicles could benefit from synthetic lubricants. They all thought I was at altitude too long without oxygen, Amatuzio would joke. The naysayers were many, but Amatuzio had developed an unmatched tenacity through years of trials.

As a child in the Great Depression, Amatuzios entrepreneurial nature emerged. He peddled newspapers, sold magazines, collected scrap iron and devised any number of ventures to help support the family through difficult times. But his real love was flying. Every day he would wait to watch the white Sikorsky mail plane fly overhead on its way to touch down on the St. Louis Bay just off of Lake Superior. He would wave to the pilot and dream of the day when he, too, could take to the air. His dream was realized when, at age 12, his father bought him a one-dollar ticket for a short ride in a Piper Cub. Amatuzios dream became ambition.

After graduating high school in 1942 Al attended Naval Air Corps training. But just as he was making his mark as a trainee pilot the Navy announced it had overestimated its need for pilots and closed the Program. Disappointed and uninterested in another type of Navy career, Amatuzio joined the Merchant Marine. It was aboard the SS Fisk Victory that he survived the great Okinawa storm that sent 42 ships to the ocean floor.

After the war and eager to renew his pilot training, Amatuzio joined the Air Force, now recently separated from the Army and reorganized into its own distinct branch of the armed forces. He was a natural and made a profound impression on his instructors. Amatuzio earned his wings, then fate pulled him in another direction. His mother became ill, and he had to leave the service to run the family-owned Gitchinadji Supper Club.

Still burning with desire to fly, Amatuzio joined the Duluth unit of the Air National Guard. He served 25 years as a fighter pilot and squadron commander and was twice honored as our nations top pilot by winning the prestigious William Tell Air-to-Air Shootout Competition and the Earl T. Rick Competitive Shootout.

It was then that Amatuzio became inspired by a new challenge. Armed with the knowledge that every jet engine in the world could survive only with synthetic oil, he reasoned that the same performance benefits could be applied to the vehicles and equipment people depend on every day for work and fun.

At the time, oil quality was poor and engines did not last long. Then-modern oils were susceptible to breakdown in high heat and contributed greatly to hard-starting in cold weather. Amatuzio had a vision to bring a better option to market. The skeptics didnt just think it was impossible, they thought it was unnecessary. They had a good enough attitude, and they considered conventional oil to be good enough.

Amatuzio ignored the skeptics. He wanted to do something for the little guy. In 1963 he began an intense period of research and development. By 1966 he had formulated his first synthetic motor oil, and throughout the sixties he continued development and sold synthetic oils under a variety of names. In 1972 AMSOIL synthetic motor oil became the worlds first synthetic motor oil to meet American Petroleum Institute service requirements. Al Amatuzio had single-handedly changed the entire automotive lubricant industry.

The concept was foreign to the lubricant and automotive manufacturers of the time. They did not want synthetic oil and didnt believe cars needed it. They resisted what they viewed as a disruptive product. Amatuzio was ridiculed for peddling his fake oil. After they began to recognize the superiority of the product introduced by the unknown man from northern Minnesota, they went on the attack. Falling back on the instincts he developed growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood and through military training, Amatuzio fought major corporations and Big Oil companies in multi-year lawsuits. Through sheer determination and relentless fight, Amatuzio beat the odds to build a company widely regarded today as a technological leader in the field.

Amatuzios affinity for the little guy and his drive to bring consumers a better choice led to the formation of the AMSOIL Dealer network. When he was finally able to get his new synthetic motor oil in stores, it languished on the shelves next to its much cheaper conventional-oil counterparts. Consumers hadnt heard of synthetic oil and didnt understand its benefits. That all changed with the founding of the Dealer network in 1973. Amatuzios Dealers were able to convey the benefits of synthetic lubricants much better than simple product labels, and the company grew exponentially. They were little guys, just like him, and they helped build AMSOIL.

In 1994, Amatuzio was formally recognized and honored as the pioneer of synthetic lubrication with his induction into the Lubricants World Hall of Fame. In 2005 he was again honored with the Nachtman Award from the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA). The Nachtman Award is ILMA's highest honor, recognizing the achievements of those who have made unique and significant contributions to the independent lubricant manufacturing industry.

Today, the company he founded carries on with Amatuzios vision  to provide consumers with a better option, to be the best and to support the little guy. What the critics deemed unnecessary and ill-conceived when AMSOIL was founded is now required by many vehicle manufacturers. Because of Amatuzio, consumers have improved choices from Big Oil, their vehicles last longer and advanced automotive technologies that would have destroyed yesterdays motor oil are possible. Because of Amatuzio, thousands of little guys across North America have the opportunity to make money selling high-end products. Because of Amatuzio, the world is a better place.

About the Company: AMSOIL has been the recognized leader in synthetic lubrication since 1972. For more information about AMSOIL or AMSOIL products contact your nearest AMSOIL distributor, or contact AMSOIL INC. at (715) 392-7101 or http://www.amsoil.com.

News Contact:

Erica Danielski

Director of Marketing

edanielski(at)amsoil(dot)com

715-392-7101
West Line Village, Denver, CO We listened to todays buyer in this area, and they are looking to purchase new homes, attainably priced, with a high level of design with easy access to transit.

DIRC Homes and Trailbreak Partners announced their plans today for West Line Village, a transit oriented development (TOD) that includes 134 new rowhomes located at W. 10th Avenue and Depew Street in Lakewood, Colorado. Adjacent to Sheridan Station, the phased development will include nine distinctive floor plans ranging from 800 to 1,750 square feet, including studios, 1, 2, and 3 bedroom homes, 1 and 2 car garages, as well as a front or back yards to enjoy the Colorado sun.

West Line Village is named after RTDs W Line, the 12 mile light rail line that runs between Denvers Union Station, Lakewood, and Golden. The new community capitalizes access to multiple modes of transportation and easy connections between Downtown Denver and the west.

West Line Village brings much-needed new housing to the West Side of Denver, said Paul Malone, President of DIRC Homes. We are able to create a great sense of community since we have such a large site here. We listened to todays buyer in this area, and they are looking to purchase new homes, attainably priced, with a high level of design with easy access to transit.

The stylish simplicity of West Line Village includes pitched roofs and the use of minimalist materials. Every home is street-facing to provide a strong sense of community. Innovative streetscape design combines varied colors and textures, and the landscaping for each home creates individuality within the neighborhood.

Buyers can enhance their homes with a range of upgrade options, including: balconies, gas fireplaces, hardwood floors, appliance and finish upgrades, and storage solutions.

To execute the project, DIRC Homes is leveraging its experience with urban infill new home construction by uniting with Trailbreak Partners, a Denver-based urban redevelopment firm and T.O.D. Properties, whose focus is transit close properties. The group tagged RHAP architecture + planning based in Boulder, CO as the architect. Daniel Rotner, AIA and Ryan Hanneman, NCARB, have over 40 years combined architectural experience, undertaking commercial and residential neighborhood development, new construction and remodels.

Our idea is to create a community that leverages the metropolitan areas investment in mass transit, said Doug Elenowitz, Principal of Trailbreak Partners. Whether you want to commute by bike, train, or bus, the whole idea is to create a neighborhood where you are close to downtown, have easy access in and out of town, and really capitalize on the opportunity for thoughtful infill development.

The West Colfax area is seeing dramatic changes along its western corridor. Major recent changes to this up-and-coming area include the West Line and Sheridan Station, the St. Anthonys redevelopment (SLOANS), improvements to the Dry Gulch area, and many retail additions. The population growth of Denver and resulting traffic is at an all-time high, so living west of I-25 saves time getting out of town to the mountains; residents are 5 stops to Downtown Denver, 7 stops to Golden.

West Line Village broker, Jeff Plous of ONE Realty added, With inventory for homes in the secondary market and new construction market so low, Im excited to be a part of bringing this community to life. Being able to offer thoughtfully designed, well built homes for prices that havent been seen in several years is exciting. More and more of my clients are moving to Denver and want to use Light Rail as their main mode of transportation. West Line Village is the neighborhood so many Buyers have been waiting for.

We think West Line Village presents a terrific opportunity for buyers who have been unable to find opportunities in the market. It features high design, is well located, and its a neighborhood; not just a one-off project. Most importantly, we are able to deliver these homes at accessible prices. The opportunity to own a new home at these prices without being in the suburbs is almost unheard of, said Elenowitz.

---

About DIRC HOMES

Coming up on their five-year anniversary, DIRC Homes LLC is a full service residential development and home building company focusing on Urban Infill Developments in the greater Denver area. The Company offers a wide range of services including: general contracting for local real estate developers, custom home building, residential development, consulting, and pre-construction services.

For more information visit http://www.dirchomes.com

About TRAILBREAK PARTNERS

Trailbreak Partners is an investor in predominately off market value add commercial properties and a developer of urban mixed use real estate in Colorado. The principals have unique expertise in successfully managing the complexities of urban development including entitlements, environmental issues, infrastructure, and public finance.

For more information visit http://www.trailbreakpartners.com

About T.O.D. PROPERTIES

T.O.D. Properties specializes in the development, investment, and brokerage of properties in close proximity to existing and future light rail stations and transportation nodes in the Denver Metro area.

For more information visit http://www.todproperties.com

Agency Contact: DB Marketing | Doug Backman | 303.468.3974 | doug(at)dbmarketingltd(dot)com

West Line Village Sales Contact: ONE Realty | Jeff Plous | 303.317.5758 | Jeff(at)MakingDenverHome(dot)com
Today, SkillSurvey, the provider of cloud-based reference checking solutions that deliver faster, more reliable insights, announced that it experienced a 46 percent growth in bookings in 2016 from the prior year in the higher education sector. Tens of thousands of job candidates were entered into SkillSurveys online reference checking solution by educational institutions in 2016.

Colleges and universities are turning to SkillSurvey to add efficiencies to their hiring process, learn more about the candidates theyre hiring, and source new and more diverse candidates for their talent pipelines, said Ray Bixler SkillSurvey CEO. Whether theyre hiring for faculty, staff, or administrative roles, they know that soft skills such as problem solving, interpersonal skills and the ability to embrace change are critical. These are the skills that support the diverse student populations who will become our future workforce.

We are committed to a culture of respect, inclusive diversity and dynamic responsible growth. In order to accomplish this, we need to be sure we are hiring faculty and staff with the skills to support, mentor, and grow our student population, said Dr. Venkat Reddy, Interim Chancellor, University of Colorado Colorado Springs. SkillSurvey gives us insight beyond what we see on a curriculum vitae or during an interview. Understanding our candidates past performance, as observed by those who have worked with the candidate in the past, is key to predicting their future success.

On average, clients using SkillSurveys online reference checking receive detailed feedback from 4 references in just over one business day. SkillSurveys team of I/O psychologists developed a library of job-specific surveys numbering in the hundreds to allow references to provide feedback on candidates on the skills and behaviors that relate to success for each job role. Some of the surveys for higher education-specific roles are Academic Advisor, Academic Dean, Faculty, Admissions Officer, Campus Public Safety Officer, and Residence Hall Director, to name a few.

We just completed a search for a senior level executive; and, as always, the SkillSurvey report was key! said Dale Cochran, Assistant Creative Director and Director of Design and Digital Services for the Office of Creative Services at Clemson University. Having the SkillSurvey reference report available before we conduct final interviews is critical, because we can explore inconsistencies in the way the references view the candidate versus how the candidates present themselves.

SkillSurvey has a 30-day Free Trial program to demonstrate how it has streamlined and transformed what is typically considered a time consuming and labor intensive reference-checking process. Organizations can experience a scalable, online, automated process that delivers in-depth, job-specific feedback from references on a candidates soft skills that are critical for success. Organizations can sign-up at http://www.skillsurvey.com/reference-free-trial.

About SkillSurvey

SkillSurvey is the leader in online reference checking, sourcing and credentialing, providing immediately useful insights to help employers make better hiring decisions. SkillSurvey speeds hiring for commercial, higher education, healthcare, and staffing and recruiting organizations. Its cloud-based referencing, sourcing and credentialing solutions answer vital questions that help organizations hire the right people for every role.

Pre-Hire 360 provides insight into past job performance and is proven to predict future turnover, hiring manager satisfaction, and performance ratings. An unmatched library of scientifically-designed surveys produces job-specific data employers can trust. SkillSurvey SourceTM, an extension of Pre-Hire 360, helps recruiters source, engage and manage a more robust candidate pipeline through references and referrals. SkillSurvey Credential OnDemandTM provides healthcare organizations with a credentialing engagement solution that simplifies and enhances the credentialing experience for all participants. SkillSurvey makes the referencing, sourcing and credentialing process more efficient and effective  helping employers save time and money, grow revenues, and bring employees onboard faster.

Visit SkillSurvey at http://www.skillsurvey.com, and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

SkillSurvey, and Pre-Hire 360 are registered trademarks and SkillSurvey Credential OnDemandTM is a trademark of SkillSurvey Inc. or its affiliates and are registered in the U.S. and other countries.

SkillSurveys Pre-Hire 360 is a patented solution. For more information, see ww.skillsurvey.com/patents.

 2017 SkillSurvey Inc. and its affiliates.

Media Contact:

Stephanie Sabath

Sloane & Company

(212) 446-1873

ssabath(at)sloanepr9dot)com
Angel Island Beach & City Skyline Its a great opportunity for families to get outside and spend time together doing something different," says Donna Doran, General Manager of Angel Island.

In need of Easter ideas for kids in the Bay Area? Head out of the city with the whole family for the Angel Island Spring Celebration on Saturday, April 15th and Sunday, April 16th, 2017. With plenty of activities for all ages, as well as stunning views of the bay and beyond, its sure to be an Easter you wont forget!

The Spring Celebration will kick off with a massive Easter egg hunt, starting at 11:30AM on the Public Lawn. Kids will be divided into age groups: 4 years and under, 5-8, 9-12, and 13 and above. For those with a competitive edge, there will be a special prize for whoever can nd the golden egg!

While the kids are busy hunting, parents will have a chance to slip away to the Angel Island Cafe for a Rombauer Wine Tasting. Taking place from 12PM-2PM, youll have plenty of time to relax, soak up the sun, and enjoy the live band. Then meet up with the kids and choose from a delectable assortment of snacks, drinks, craft beer and more or order from Angel Island Cafes Spring Brunch Menu.

Its a great opportunity for families to get outside and spend time together doing something different," says Donna Doran, General Manager of Angel Island. "From Easter egg hunts and wine tastings, to bike rides, nature walkseven Segway toursthere is something for everyone. Plus, you can't beat the view," she adds.

Dont sit around the yard this Easter, head into the great outdoors and see why Angel Island is one of the most popular spots for families in the Bay Area. Ferries depart throughout the day from San Francisco and Tiburon.

ABOUT ANGEL ISLAND

Angel Island is an island in San Francisco Bay offering expansive 360 views of the SanFrancisco skyline, the Marin County Headlands and Mount Tamalpais. The entire island is included within Angel Island State Park and is administered by California State Parks. With a rich history, great hiking trails, and many other recreational opportunities readily available, Angel Island is truly a hidden gem in the midst of the urban Bay Area. For more info, visit http://www.angelisland.com

ABOUT ROMBAUER VINEYARDS

When founders Koerner and Joan Rombauer moved their two children, two horses and ve dogs to Napa Valley in 1972, they arrived armed with an appreciation for the intimate relationship between food and wine. Appreciation bred passion, and Rombauer Vineyards was established in 1980. With just three head winemakers in their 35-year history, they have achieved consistency of styledistinctive, fruit-driven wineswhile continually rening and improving their winemaking practices. For more info or to plan a tour, visit http://www.rombauer.com

MEDIA CONTACT

Kelly Lam

Director of Marketing

(925) 462-1400

klam(at)calparksco(dot)com

Graphic: http://angelisland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Spring-Festival.pdf

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/calparksco/albums/72157629469510946
InDemand is committed to supporting behavioral health professionals in bridging the communication gap with their limited English proficient, Deaf and hard of hearing patients,

InDemand Interpreting, a technology-enabled language services performance improvement company and a leading video remote interpreting (VRI) provider within Healthcare, will be exhibiting at the NatCon Conference, the unifying voice of Americas community mental health and addiction treatment organizations dedicated to ensuring all Americans have access to comprehensive, high quality care that affords them every opportunity for recovery and full participation in community life.

InDemand Interpreting immediately connects clinicians and healthcare professionals to medically qualified interpreters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in more than 200 languages, including American Sign Language (ASL) and Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDIs). VRI technology enables clinicians to provide greater access to care for their limited English proficient (LEP), Deaf and hard of hearing patients.

InDemand recently introduced a new telehealth application that enables behavioral health clinicians and telehealth application providers to seamlessly add live, medically qualified interpreters into telehealth sessions on demand, making it possible for telehealth programs to better serve the needs of behavioral health patients who may be Deaf, hard of hearing or have limited English proficiency.

InDemand is committed to supporting behavioral health professionals in bridging the communication gap with their limited English proficient, Deaf and hard of hearing patients, said Cecil Kost, Chairman and CEO, InDemand Interpreting. Through our highly qualified, medically trained interpreters and best in class video technology, we ensure that every individual, regardless of language, cultural background or disabilities, has access to high quality healthcare.

InDemand recently partnered with Dr. Marlene M. Maheu, Executive Director for the Telebehavioral Health Institute, to present the webinar: Telebehavioral Health and Interpreting Services for Underserved Populations: 21st Century Behavioral Health.

InDemand Interpreting will be exhibiting InDemand Clarity Connect and the new telehealth interoperability solution at NatCon in booth #1316. For more information, visit: http://www.indemandinterpreting.com.

About InDemand Interpreting

InDemand Interpreting was founded in 2007 with the vision of ensuring that every patient receives the highest quality healthcare, regardless of language, cultural background or disability. By delivering the most experienced medical interpreters and highest quality video technology InDemand Interpreting provides doctors, nurses and clinicians the language access they need to provide the best possible care. Visit InDemand at http://www.indemandinterpreting.com
Wheaton Divorce Lawyer Appointed to Illinois ARDC Hearing Board As panel members of the ARDC Hearing Board, Williamson and Witkowski will promote the organization's mission of advancing and protecting the integrity of the legal profession at the direction of the Supreme Court.

The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C., a Wheaton-based family law practice, is proud to announce that attorney Brett T. Williamson and its firm administrator, Justine A. Witkowski, have been appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court's Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) Hearing Board. As panel members of the ARDC Hearing Board, Williamson and Witkowski will promote the organization's mission of advancing and protecting the integrity of the legal profession at the direction of the Supreme Court. The ARDC and its leaders achieve these goals through attorney registration, education, investigation, prosecution, and remedial action.

Wheaton divorce lawyer Brett T. Williamson was reappointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the ARDC Hearing Board and will serve another term extending through February 2018. Williamson resumes his position on the Hearing Board where he will sit on a 3 Judge Panel as an attorney member presiding over the hearings of disciplinary, disability and reinstatement cases of attorneys registered to practice law in the State of Illinois.

Williamson earned his law degree from The John Marshall Law School and his Bachelor's degree from Butler University. He focuses his practice on family law cases relating to high-asset divorce, child custody (or the allocation of parental responsibilities), child support, and property division. Williamson is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the DuPage County Bar Association, the Will County Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association.

Most recently, Williamson was named a "Top 40 Under 40" attorney from The National Trial Lawyers and a "10 Best Under 40" attorney by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys. He also received a Rising Star award from the Super Lawyers organization for 2016 and 2017.

Firm administrator Justine A. Witkowski was reappointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the ARDC Hearing Board for a fourth term extending through February 2018. Witkowski resumes her position on the Hearing Board where she will sit on a 3 Judge Panel as a non-attorney member presiding over the hearings of disciplinary, disability, and reinstatement cases of attorneys registered to practice law in the State of Illinois.

Justine A. Witkowski has been with The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C., for over 20 years, beginning her career as the office receptionist. She earned her paralegal certificate from MacCormac College in 1997 and was soon promoted to firm administrator.

Witkowski is responsible for managing the administrative operations of The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C. She evaluates and maintains the firms operating and information systems and oversees all of the firms finances. Additionally, Witkowski negotiates and executes all contracts on behalf of the firm with vendors and works to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with clients and vendors throughout DuPage County and the surrounding areas. She is responsible on a day-to-day basis for evaluating, managing, and supervising all staff members of the firm.

As one of the firms certified paralegals, Witkowski provides backup legal support to the attorneys and staff by drafting legal documents and conducting legal research on behalf of their clients.

About The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C.:

The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C. is a prominent family law office located in Wheaton, Illinois. In 2013, the firm received the award "Law Firm of the Year" for logging over 500 hours of pro bono service in the local DuPage County area. For more than four decades, the firm has provided high-quality legal services in DuPage, Cook, DeKalb, Kendall, and Will Counties, and all throughout Northern Illinois. For more information or to schedule a consultation with a qualified attorney, call 630-462-9500 or visit http://www.stogsdilllaw.com or http://www.kanecountydivorcelawyers.com.
Let's help save lives one lipstick at a time

FERAL COSMETICS  A leader in the beauty industry and well-known for its cruelty-free products, announces the launch of LIPSTICK WITH A CAUSE

WHAT IS FERAL?

Feral Cosmetics is a line of cosmetics that screams bold, beautiful, and wild just like the Feral Cat. Daring enough to take a stand against animal cruelty, and bold enough to be beautiful while doing. None of our products are ever tested on animals. We have made a commitment to use only vegan ingredients in all our products and believe this is why we have emerged as the beauty line for a new generation of fierce individualists. Feral has begun to earn quite the cult following among the millennial set as well as many celebrity clients who prefer our bold color line and our commitment to all vegan cosmetics. As professionals with fierce beauty initiatives, we care about not only the products that carry the Feral name, but also the community and environment in which we live and work.

LIPSTICK WITH A CAUSE  ROSE BY GOAR

Starting April 4th when we launch the newest collection of our lippies, "Rose by Goar," we will be donating one lipstick for every lipstick purchased to one of the Cancer organizations listed below. Our initiative to partner with some fantastic charitable organizations who support Cancer victims, survivors, and their families, has been more than successful in the past so we have decided to make it a tradition. The need to give back has been part of our ongoing mission and a cornerstone of our philosophy of community first so we dont intend to stop any time soon. With your support, we will be able to bring smiles to those in treatment and recent survivors who deserve a beauty pick-me-up. Its the least we can do after all the community has done to support Feral Cosmetics.

Please visit our Instagram Page @feralcosmetics for the latest updates and we thank you fiercely for your love and support!

Purchase a lipstick April 4th-April 15th and empower those in need! Please let us know which foundation you think we should support next.



Fighting Pretty

The Pink Agenda

She Sparkles On

Exclusive to FERAL COSMETICS through April 15, 2017 - LIPSTICK WITH A CAUSE will launch Rose by Goar scheduled for roll-out on April 4, 2017. Please call 818-835-3020 for more information on this or any of our lippies or email us at help(at)feralcosmetics(dot)com. Also please follow us on Instagram @feralcosmetics.

For more information, please visit http://www.feralcosmetics.com Liquid Matte Lipstick

ABOUT FERAL

Hovik & Arpine Akopyan are the genius husband and wife duo behind Feral Cosmetics. A blend of beauty and community giving - in just a short time Feral Cosmetics has gone from a small mom & pop company to a cult-favorite  practically overnight. Highly favored among the millennial set as well as many of Hollywoods elite, the beauty line is an industry leader in cruelty-free, organic cosmetics that still deliver bold and fierce color! With deep roots in charitable organizations and the beauty industry, the team has been perfecting their brand while working with the community for almost a decade. As a mother of two and known for having a heart of gold, Arpine is the quiet grace behind Feral. Arp has shown a rock-solid determination and commitment to not only cruelty-free beauty, but also womens charitable causes and giving back. However, it was not until she donated bone marrow to a three-year old girl who had leukemia and was fighting for her life that Arpine decided she had to make a fundamental difference in how money is raised and donated to charitable organizations. The idea of Feral was born. The theme on the lips of all who help to make Feral a success can always be summed up in one line, Lets help save lives one lipstick at a time.
The Tire Rack's Sprawling Headquarters in South Bend, Indiana We feel an even stronger commitment to the One Lap and ensuring it can carry on the legacy of Brock Yates.

Tire Rack, Americas largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories, celebrates its 15th year as the title sponsor of the One Lap of America (http://www.onelapofamerica.com), a charitable street-legal road rally race started by the legendary auto writer, Brock Yates, 34-years- ago.

The 2017 Tire Rack One Lap of America begins May 5th at Tire Racks state-of- the-art 11.7-acre test facility in South Bend, Indiana, and returns there for a final test eight days later on May 13th. During that week, drivers will race at storied iconic and new tracks alike such as Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia; Gingerman Raceway in Michigan; the new road course at Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia; and the historic Sebring Raceway in Florida. This year, close to 100 teams will be covering over 3500 miles during the nine day competition.

Tire Rack is excited to welcome the One Lap for a fifteenth year. A partnership that began with Brock Yates Sr. continues with his son Brock Yates Jr., said Matt Edmonds, Vice President, Tire Rack. With 4 decades of experience in the tire and wheel industry, we feel passionate about continuing to support and educate drivers from all experience levels about the capabilities of their tires and how proper maintenance, traction, safety and durability can be maximized on and off the track. With the passing of Brock Sr. last year we feel an even stronger commitment to the One Lap and ensuring it can carry on the legacy of Brock Yates.

The Tire Rack One Lap of America is a high level driving competition lasting 24 hours each day and features a selection of the fastest street-legal cars run by all types of drivers from pros to rookies and everyone in-between, as long as theyve had some racing experience (and/or two drivers' schools). The event, as it always has been, is one of endurance and vehicle preparation. No support crews are allowed and teams must manage their tires to finish on the same set on which they started. That means frequent checks of air pressure, tread depth and wear and tear for damage.

At each scheduled race track entrants are put through a series of timed lap trials including wet and dry skid pad challenges. Even though scoring is based on performance at the race tracks, the vehicles and their drivers bragging rights truly kick in when they survive the long distance of driving miles required throughout the competition.

RACING FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Outside of its performance panache, Tire Rack One Lap of America also attracts people from around the country and all walks of life, driving cars as varied as their personalities, for a good cause. The official charity of the Tire Rack One Lap of America is The Brock Yates Memorial Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit. The Brock Yates Memorial Fund, through the Alzheimer's Association, was created in 2013 to raise money and awareness Alzheimers. Having suffered from this disease, legendary automotive and racing veteran journalist Brock Sr. dedicated his life to all the car enthusiasts around the country and the Memorial Fund aims to honor him for all that he has given to the world of the automobile.

All funds raised by the Memorial Fund go directly toward supporting the Alzheimers Association mission. The Memorial Fund, will once again be competing in the Tire Rack One Lap of America with the Tribute Funds heavily customized Ariel Atom piloted by Jack Beachem and Victor Leo.

ABOUT TIRE RACK

Tire Rack, family-owned and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, is Americas largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories. Their team of over 100 test drivers (their sales team) tests tires from every major tire manufacturer on the companys state-of-the-art, 11.7-acre test facility. The findings are then posted on the companys website, http://www.tirerack.com, where consumers can make an educated decision on a tire, wheel or performance accessory purchase.

Tire Rack has also collected results from nearly 150,000 consumer surveys representing over 2.5 billion miles of real-world tire data, the largest known cache of such information anywhere. In addition, various testing and informational videos are available online in their Video Center at http://www.tirerack.com/videos. Since 1979, Tire Rack has grown from a single-point retail store in Indianapolis to encompass over 2.5 million square feet of space in nine distribution centers across the country. A diverse and broad in-stock inventory from 24 major tire and 63 wheel brands can be delivered anywhere in the country, most in one business day. A national network of over 7,500 independent Recommended Installers is available to assist customers with installation of their purchases.

ABOUT THE ONE LAP OF AMERICA

The Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports Magazine is the modern day version of the Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash of 1970. Created by Brock Yates and popularized by the movie Cannonball Run, todays One Lap of America challenges its participants to endure long transit drives of over 400 miles daily and to compete on 12 of Americas most challenging racetracks in 9 days. This years One Lap begins on May 5th, 2017 and runs through May 13th, 2017. The current event is headed by Brock Yates, Jr. and will be celebrating the 34th running of the event. The full schedule is available online at http://www.onelapofamerica.com and on Facebook.

Media Contact:

Solomon A. Rosenthal

Media Director

solomon(at)hbmadv(dot)com

215.432.1667
Bob Hoffmans proven experience in this role will ensure our clients success is a number one priority at FinLocker.

FinLocker (http://www.FinLocker.com) today announced they have hired Bob Hoffman as VP of Customer Success, where he will oversee management of all customer delivery, support, and on-going client success. Bob has over 25 years of technology delivery, platform integration and customer engagement focused in financial services. Bobs proven experience in this role will ensure our clients success is a number one priority at FinLocker, said FinLocker CEO, Peter Esparrago.

Bob was VP and Senior Business Leader over technology product, operational delivery and systems development at MasterCard, leading initiatives ranging from large scale platform buildouts to pointed mobile solutions in key markets. Bob was also Engagement Director at Pivotal, transitioning strategic customers to Cloud and Big Data technologies. Additionally, he led application delivery and technology integrations at Accenture. Bob is a longtime native. of St. Louis.

About FinLocker

FinLocker is a secure financial data and analytics platform that reduces costs and expedites the loan approval process by electronically capturing and analyzing consumer data, such as employment, income, assets, credit, taxes and other information. FinLocker captures machine readable data from the source, analyzing the data with its configurable rules engine and algorithms to validate and highlight issues for the lender. FinLocker provides the consumer a re-usable financial locker to utilize for mortgages, auto loans, student loans, small business loans, and other consumer transactions. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information, visit http://www.FinLocker.com.
BETTER. FASTER. SMARTER. DOSS is offering a FREE proprietary CRM to every REALTOR in the country.

In preparation for their National Launch, DOSS is currently getting ready to onboard Partner Agents throughout the country to receive what they believe will become the real estate industrys best buyer and seller leads. They have launched a National REALTOR Open Enrollment site (http://www.askdoss.com) with a countdown ticker to begin signing up Partner Agents on May 1st. This enrollment round will only be open for 90 days and the first 20,000 REALTORS that qualify.

In the pursuit of raising the bar in real estate, to qualify to become a DOSS Partner Agent a REALTOR must have at least three (3) years of experience and have closed a minimum of 20 transactions the previous year or $12M in volume. REALTORS will be able to apply to receive leads in a particular zip code. However, to be approved for that zip code, the REALTOR must have closed at least two transactions in the desired market. There will be NO upfront cost for these leads. However, DOSS expects each Partner Agent to pay an industry standard 25% referral fee for the lead when the transaction closes.

If you dont qualify to receive their smart leads, dont fret! For every REALTOR in the country DOSS is offering a FREE proprietary CRM to better manage your data base of clients. By leveraging an IBM Watson powered platform with the best technology in the industry, every REATLOR in the country will be empowered to actively engage their clients, monitor their behavior, and convert more closed transactions by leveraging their Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Predictive Analytic tools. REALTORS will also be able to upload forms to easily manage their transactions in the DOSS CRM.

With a motto of being BETTER. FASTER. SMARTER. DOSS is in the pursuit of giving every real estate practitioner in the country a superior alternative solution that is designed to lower cost, increase revenue, and save time. As a response to the D.A.N.G.E.R. REPORT, DOSS is an ecosystem that has found innovative ways to execute the basics. To be a DOSS Partner Agent in your desired zip code or to get your FREE CRM, dont forget to put May 1st on your calendar!
Explore the interactive dashboard! A strong employer commitment to participatory approaches to OSH, supportive worker organisations within or outside establishments, and well-trained, well-informed worker representatives are key to effective worker representation.

This comparative study is based on in-depth interviews with management and worker representatives from 143 establishments, of various sizes and from different sectors, situated in seven EU Member States. The findings provide the most complete picture to date of how workers OSH interests are represented in establishments across Europe.

EU-OSHAs Director, Dr Christa Sedlatschek, emphasises that despite contextual differences between Member States, one thing is clear: a strong employer commitment to participatory approaches to OSH, supportive worker organisations within or outside establishments, and well-trained, well-informed worker representatives are key to effective worker representation.

Examples of such worker-centred representation could be found in all of the countries studied, particularly in establishments in Sweden, and, to a lesser extent, Belgium and the Netherlands. However, even in these countries, highly effective practices for worker participation in OSH were seen in only a small number of the establishments surveyed, suggesting that good worker representation is far from the norm.

All workers in the EU have an entitlement to OSH representation, so why does practice in workplaces appear to diverge from statutory provisions? The answer is complex, but it is at least partly due to the legislative measures in place on the representation of workers on OSH. Many of these measures are facilitatory rather than compulsory, and the evidence indicates that regulatory inspectors rarely enforce worker representation in establishments.

The findings also indicate that there has been an increase in the use of management systems approaches to OSH across Europe, with a manager or specialist responsible for safety and health management. While some examples of good practice were found, there were many examples of worker representation becoming less effective in these situations, as worker representatives found they were less able to be autonomous, acting instead as the eyes and ears of safety managers.

Several contextual factors influence worker representation practices, including the nature of national statutory requirements, workplace size and sector, the collective bargaining arrangements in place, and the wider societal and economic conditions. In Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, where trade unions and other organised labour institutions continue to have a strong presence, establishments with effective worker representation practices were more prevalent. In Sweden, for example, the fulfilment of statutory obligations is monitored by inspectors who have regular contact with worker representatives. In Greece and Spain, where the recent economic downturn has had a particularly detrimental impact, there is evidence of reduced resources for OSH and a perception among interviewees that worker representation is, at best, a low priority.

Links:

Read the report, summary and seven country reports

Explore the findings of the enterprise survey with the survey dashboard

Notes to editor:

1. The second edition of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2) collected responses from almost 50,000 enterprises on occupational safety and health (OSH) management and workplace risks, with a particular focus on worker participation and psychosocial risks.

For the first time, agriculture and fishery enterprises and micro enterprises of 5-10 employees were included. Questions were addressed to those who best knew about OSH management in the organisation. Respondents answered questions on the major risk factors in their enterprises and reported on how and why they manage them, as well as identifying barriers to prevention.

The report Worker participation in the management of occupational safety and health: qualitative evidence from the second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2) presents the findings of a qualitative study of worker representation on OSH in the European Union, a follow-up to ESENER-2.

The study focuses on the representation of workers interests in safety and health as experienced by representatives themselves, by their fellow workers and by their employers and managers. It is based on in-depth interviews with these participants in 143 different establishments in seven EU Member States: Belgium, Estonia, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The large majority of the cases are establishments that were surveyed in ESENER-2. They were drawn equally from three main sectors (the private production sector, the public sector and the private services sector) and three size classes (small, medium and large). The analysis was supported by a review of the literature and additional interviews with informants in key organisations, as well as by a further quantitative analysis of relevant ESENER-2 data.

2. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) contributes to making Europe a safer, healthier and more productive place to work. The Agency researches, develops, and distributes reliable, balanced, and impartial safety and health information and organises pan-European awareness raising campaigns. Set up by the European Union in 1994 and based in Bilbao, Spain, the Agency brings together representatives from the European Commission, Member State governments, employers and workers organisations, as well as leading experts in each of the EU-28 Member States and beyond.

Now you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or subscribe to our monthly newsletter OSHmail. You can also register for regular news and information from EU-OSHA via RSS feeds.

http://osha.europa.eu
unbound logo We're not afraid to talk about innovation. While the term is arguably over-used, genuine innovation is worth celebrating. Past News Releases RSS Unbound Global Returns with Biggest...

The acclaimed unbound event series returns for 2017, with Southeast Asias innovation festival innovfest unbound running in Singapore on 3rd and 4th May, followed by unbound London on 19th and 20th July. The inaugural event for the Latin American market, unbound Miami, launches on 1st and 2nd November.

Over 18,000 founders, entrepreneurs, investors, brand marketers, innovators and influencers will attend unbound events this year to share knowledge, collaborate and forge relationships. They will join speakers from pioneering companies such as Hyperloop, Razer, Pinterest, Bayer, Huawei, MasterCard, TomTom, M&S Venture Lab, Channel 4, Boiler Room and many more.

Daniel Seal, founder and CEO of unbound, says: We're not afraid to talk about innovation. While the term is arguably over-used, genuine innovation is worth celebrating. Our events have been developed as regional hubs to bring together the most forward-thinking businesses and investors with the most exciting digital pioneers. The technologies previewed at our shows will shape our lives over the next decade and beyond.

We want to look at tech holistically to understand how different market segments can work together for the greater good. After all, for every problem there is a solution  and a business opportunity for an entrepreneur.

Over a thousand speakers have presented at unbound events to date, including WPPs Sir Martin Sorrell, entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, Viacoms Joanna Wells, and the Duke of York. The 2017 conference agendas promise to be equally eclectic - a whos who of the biggest names in tech - with innovators, founders and decision-makers representing businesses from Autodesk to Yamaha.

Singapores innovfest unbound leads with keynotes from Dirk Ahlborn, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Hyperloop, and Min-Liang Tan, CEO and creative director of gamer lifestyle brand Razer, who has guided the company from start-up to Unicorn status. Other senior figures from companies such as BAE Systems, BNP Paribas, Fujitsu, Fuji Xerox, Kantar, PayPal, Riot Games, SAP, and Telenor will share their vision of how technology innovation can drive growth in the region.

unbound Londons keynotes include Corinne Vigreux, co-founder of TomTom, and Elizabeth Varley, founder & CEO of global entrepreneurship community TechHub. They will be joined by speakers from Boiler Room, Channel 4, Copa90, Deutsche Bank, Google, the M&S Venture Lab, Pinterest, Twitter, and Virgin Startup, with more to be announced.

The unbound events examine how emerging technologies are transforming the way we live and work and the commercial opportunities each represents. Sessions cover broader themes such as fintech, retail, media, health, and transport in relation to the most disruptive areas of tech, such as Virtual and Augmented Reality, AI and robotics, fintech, IoT and smart cities.

Dolly Jones, Digital Strategy Director at Conde Nast, says: (unbound) has a reputation for bringing together some of the most cutting edge new ideas and so you feel you get a chance of having your finger on the pulse by turning up here.

There are numerous opportunities to make contacts face-to-face in a friendly and informal setting. Start-ups are able to pitch to leading brands through challenges and hackathons.

unbounds Daniel Seal concludes: There are two streams of thought when it comes to technology: either its going to free us or its going to destroy us. There seems to be a deep vein of pessimism about where the world is heading at present and this is reflected in how the mainstream media reports on technology.

Where there's so much to be excited about when it comes to the likes of IoT and autonomous cars, we're instead told how easily that technology could be hacked or will take over our jobs. However, unbound is more interested in showing the positive power of innovation. Our loyal and growing audience demonstrates there are a great many people who share our enthusiasm and wish to embrace it.

For more information about the upcoming innovfest unbound and unbound London, including the latest speakers and sessions, please visit http://www.unbound.live

Ends

Notes to editors

innovfest unbound, the anchor event of Smart Nations Innovation Week, is the biggest single event in Singapore's tech calendar and attracts start-ups, investors, brands and government agencies from across Asia and further afield as a technology showcase for the region. Over the course of two days, innovfest unbound will bring together over 8,000 delegates from more than 50 countries. It also includes four satellite event focus on particular themes:



converge  aimed at global marketers, brands, media owners and creative agencies

futurenow  a technology showcase for universities, corporations and start-ups

arise  addressing how trends in AI will impact upon society

fintech360  looking at how technology is shaping the regions financial ecosystem

https://unbound.live/innovfestunbound2017/ #innovfestunbound

unbound London celebrates its fifth anniversary in July, and in that time has established itself as more than just another tech event. It is a celebration that captures the energy and fun of Europe's start-up scene, having built up a supportive and inclusive community that makes it a greatly anticipated fixture in the calendars of thousands of brands, corporates, founders and entrepreneurs.

https://unbound.live/london2017/ #unboundLondon

The inaugural unbound Miami is set to run 1st and 2nd November 2017 at Soho Studios, Wynwood, forming the bridge between brands and corporates from across the Americas and LatAms digital and tech pioneers. unbound Miami will gather decision makers and entrepreneurs from all major Latin American hubs, showcasing the opportunities to bridge the Americas.

https://unbound.live/miami2017/ #unboundMiami

Press contact

Andy Riley, pr(at)unbound(dot)live

About unbound

unbound connects brands and corporates with disruptive technology, products and services, in order to fuel their innovation and growth.

unbound festivals are a global series of events that celebrate innovation and showcase ground-breaking products and services that are leading digital disruption. The events are specifically designed to connect brands, corporations and investors with start-ups. Organisations use unbound festivals to build their own platforms, connect with key audience members, and deliver their strategic objectives. For start-ups, the events offer an opportunity to meet individuals crucial to their future success: investors, clients and partners.

unbound labs use our global network to connect brands and corporations with start-ups to help them solve the digital transformation challenges they face, and thus build for the future. Labs is the link between brands and corporations seeking to innovate quickly and the start-ups that can provide them with the disruptive technologies, products and services they require.

unbound insights is a quarterly journal that examines how digital is transforming organisations and the critical influence played by start-ups. Written by senior advisory editors, it explores the most disruptive innovation taking place around the world to helps keep executives up-to-date on how this technology disruption will shape their decision making.

For more information, please visit http://www.unbound.live or follow on Facebook & Twitter, @unboundglobal.

unbound is a part of Stylus Media Group (SMG).

Stylus Media Group helps businesses strengthen their innovation and create capabilities that fuel growth.

Through our range of products and services and cross-industry approach, we connect businesses around the world to the people, establishments, thinking, tools and processes they need throughout the innovation lifecycle.

Other businesses within the Group include: Stylus, Decoded Fashion, Creative Business Cup and Stylus Curve.

For more information, visit: http://www.stylusmediagroup.com/
i2i Population Health, a national leader in population health management (PHM) technology, adds four new sales team members to meet the growing needs of the healthcare market. Four industry experts including Dawn Berg, Scot McCray Jay Wilkes, and Adam Ackerman have joined the i2i Growth Team. i2i is ramping up at a climactic time as the healthcare segment advances adoption of population health solutions beyond electronic health record (EHR) systems.

We continue to see the market evolve from managing the health of patients, one patient record at a time, to coordinating personalized care for a community of consumers, who want and need healthcare to be easy and effective. Meaningful consumer population health management cannot be accomplished with rudimentary EHR technology, says Justin Neece, president. With Dawn, Scot, Jay and Adams healthcare technology experience, we have the talent in place to truly accelerate i2is mission and vision of delivering meaningful population health in all ambulatory markets.

Berg, McCray and Wilkes will report directly to Kili Chivers, the companys chief growth officer. Berg, based in North Dakota, has over 20 years of executive experience working with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) across the United States. She served as chief executive officer for three different federally qualified health centers the past ten years. Scot McCray, prior to founding his own consulting firm, comes from CAMcare, a Patient Centered Medical Home and FQHC in Camden, New Jersey, where he was the chief operating officer and interim chief executive officer. He will continue to be based in New Jersey. Wilkes comes from athenahealth, where he was focused on selling health IT services for more than 200 hospitals nationwide. He will be located in Franklin, Tennessee.

Berg and McCray will leverage their vast experience in the FQHC and community health center segment for i2is population health management platforms. Wilkes will target non-FQHC ambulatory clinics and health systems.

Adam Ackerman joins i2i from Relatient, a patient engagement platform. He will serve as director, client development, and focus on all clients needs specific to advancing the adoption of i2iTracks and PopIQ. Adam is located in Franklin, TN.

About i2i Population Health

A KLAS Leader in the delivery of actionable population health, i2i Population Healths integrated Population Health Management and Analytics solutions have proudly served healthcare organizations for more than 16 years. The company offers a depth of experience gained from over 2,500 U.S. healthcare delivery sites across 36 states supporting over 20 million lives. With i2i, healthcare providers optimize the clinical, financial and operational success of physician group practices, community health centers, health center controlled networks, hospitals, health plans and integrated delivery networks. i2is flagship product, i2iTracks, is PCMH NCQA pre-validated to ignite real-time, proactive care management. i2i Systems big-data platform, PopIQ, delivers a cloud-based comparative analytics toolset to leverage multiple customers data sets and provide cross-population views into global population health management.
One of the most interesting aspects of Ningxia is that they have some of the most enthusiastic and young wine makers, who are open-minded, international and love to embrace innovation, explains Zhang Jinglin.

On Wednesday, April 12th from 1:30pm during Vinitaly, Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) will hold a tasting seminar on wines from Ningxia, China lead by VIAs scientific director Dr. Ian DAgata, and Ms. Zhang Jinglin, a Vinitaly International Academy certified VIA Expert. It will be the first time VIA will present a seminar on Ningxia wines during Vinitaly.

Ningxia wine region, situated 1000km west of Beijing, right beside the Gobi desert in central China, is rapidly gaining an international reputation as the Bordeaux region of China. In fact, in recent blind wine-tasting competitions, the Ningxia wines have done even better than Bordeaux Wines in the same price bracket. This tasting will showcase the diversity and potential of this regions still red, still white and sparkling wines, in addition to its famous Bordeaux Blend style reds.

Zhang Jinglin explains, Within China, Ningxia has the best terroir for wine production, compared to Xinjiang where the sugar accumulates too fast and Yantai where grapes struggle to ripen. Ningxia offers the climatic condition that helps to achieve the best phenolic ripeness while avoiding the sugar level going too high. The biggest advantage is the absence of phylloxera, thus there is no need to use American rootstock, which restrains the expression of grape characters. There is the hope of being able to produce the most terroir driven wine here without the pressure from pests and diseases. The western wineries admire us for this condition.

As a matter of fact, there is an immense amount of investment pouring into Ningxia, both from China and abroad. For example, Domain Chandon Ningxia Moet Hennessy is a joint venture between the giant Moet Hennessy and the local Ningxia Agronomic Group. Starting from scratch, the local group succeeding in making their original sparkling wine with the guidance from the Australian team of Moet Hennessy. Now they own an immense amount of land in Ningxia, foreseeing more wine consumption in the domestic market in the near future.

Ningxia has just entered a phase of rapid development in the past 7 years, and the numbers of wineries have increased from several to 180. It seems that Ningxia never lacks investment at the moment, thanks to the support from the government and talents from abroad. However, the rapid development was not without challenges, confirms Jinglin, The lack of advanced equipment, labour intensive vineyard management and less than perfect infrastructural conditions are some of the challenges weve had to face and in doing so Ningxia is embracing a brighter future.

China has always been regarded as a potential wine market but what can not be missed is that it has also become the 5th largest wine producing country in the world, and Ningxia is undoubtedly the fastest growing and promising area within the country. That is exactly why we are doing this tasting of Ningxia Wines, confirms Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International. China is the future market for Italian wines. It is important to understand the local wines in order to fully embrace the market.

One of the most interesting aspects of Ningxia is that they have some of the most enthusiastic and young wine makers, who are open minded, international and love to embrace innovation, explains Jinglin. For example, Bona Baifu made the first natural wine in China and all their production is biodynamic. Their wine makers are a young couple graduated from Burgundy. In fact, Ningxia has the ideal condition for biodynamic wine making: dry climate, low humidity and zero pollution because it is a very underdeveloped area. Facing harsh viticulture conditions, with the support of the local government and inflowing wine talents, Ningxia wine is exploring and defining its unique style.

The presence of Ningxia Wines during the Vinitaly International Academy seminars at Vinitaly confirms, once again, the Academys commitment to excellence in wine education. Since 2014, the Academy has certified 6 Italian Wine Experts and 55 Italian Wine Ambassadors from around the world. The Vinitaly International Academy Executive Seminars, including Spurriers talk, will take place in the new Vinitaly International headquarters, also the home of Vinitaly International Academy, wine2digital. wine2digital is a multifunctional space for educational initiatives, wine showcases, and office space located in the PalaExpo of Veronafiere. It is also a shared community whose mission is to facilitate the communication and promotion of Italian wine abroad in an innovative and digital way.

About:

Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine and spirits fair in the world. During its 50th edition Vinitaly counted more than 4,100 exhibitors on a 100,000+ square meter area and 130,000 visitors from 140 different countries. The next edition of the fair will take place on 9 - 12 April 2017. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.operawine.it) Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, will unite international wine professionals on April 8th in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the second edition of its Certification Course and today counts 55 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 6 Italian Wine Experts.
ForexBrokers.com has published its first annual forex broker review. The review included 20 internationally regulated forex firms.

Steven Hatzakis, Global Director of Research, Forex & Futures, commented on the milestone, Our findings provide traders and investors with critical insights for selecting the right forex broker. With eight months worth of research now complete, I couldnt be more pleased with the final report and am excited to be sharing it with the international forex community.

All FX broker participants were assessed on 255 different variables across seven core areas: Commissions & Fees, Offering of Investments, Platforms & Tools, Research, Customer Service, Mobile Trading, and Education. In total, 5,239 data points were collected.

Best in Class awards were presented to brokers across all seven core areas. A Best in Class designation means finishing in the top five brokers for that category. There were also a total of 14 Industry awards, including #1 MetaTrader Broker, #1 Social Trading, and #1 Most Regulated, among others.

The full review, including overall rankings, can be found at:

https://www.forexbrokers.com/annual-forex-review

About ForexBrokers.com

ForexBrokers.com, an industry-leading source for forex brokers, is wholly owned by Reink Media Group, a Michigan-based company founded in 2009 that owns and operates multiple finance-based websites. The organization strives to provide pertinent resources, tools, and education for successful self-directed investing. For more information, please visit the companys website at http:http://www.reinkmedia.com.
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) will host Lifestyle Medicine 2017, October 22-25 at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, AZ. This CME-accredited conference is the nations premier medical education event focused on lifestyle used as a therapeutic intervention to rein in the chronic disease thats driving 80% or more of all healthcare spending.

Speakers and workshops will focus on the clinical practice of lifestyle in medicine, and examples that back the growing evidence that lifestyle medicine can redefine and transform healthcare.

"The world is experiencing an epidemic of lifestyle-related chronic disease, said ACLM President George Guthrie, MD, MPH. Data shows that lifestyle, even more so than genes, is the primary determinant of health or disease. Unfortunately, our existing healthcare system emphasizes pills and procedures  which have many side effects  as the solution, enabling the management of symptoms, as opposed to identifying and eradicating the cause of disease. The time for change is now!

Lifestyle Medicine 2017 keynote speakers will include: former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH; Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD, director of the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute; Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey; Kim Williams, Sr., MD, immediate past-president of the American College of Cardiology ; Michael Greger, MD, author of the NYT bestseller, How Not to Die and founder of NutritionFacts.org; Brenda Davis, RD, best-selling author and international speaker; and Hans Diehl, DRHSC, MPH, founder of the Lifestyle Medicine Institute and clinical professor of Preventive Medicine at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.

This years keynote speakers will highlight the power of lifestyle medicine to create a real paradigm change in healthcare, said Lifestyle Medicine 2017 Planning Committee Chair Amy Mechley, MD. Well also feature exceptional presentations about how to make lifestyle medicine a feasible and practical business model, as well as update attendees about the latest science. As we learn how to better care for others and ourselves, there will be ample time to take advantage of the stellar fitness amenities at the Westin La Paloma. We will be surrounded by the natural beauty of Arizona, feel the sun in the day and cool breezes at night! As a community of dedicated Lifestyle clinicians, we will enjoy and learn from the delicious food as medicine that will be served. Your body, brain and mind with be nourished!

Poster presentations will be showcased as part of the conference. August 1 is the submission deadline.

Pre-conference workshops on creating a lifestyle medical practice, injecting lifestyle medicine into the workplace and cooking for disease prevention and treatment are scheduled for Saturday, October 21. Pre-conference workshops continue Sunday, October 22, featuring sessions on defining, detecting, defying and defeating diabetes, running lifestyle medicine group visits and positive emotion as a lifestyle medicine tool.

Lifestyle Medicine 2017 kicks off Sunday evening October 22 with a Burger Bash and keynote, and runs through noon on Wednesday, October 25, followed that afternoon by the first American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) board review exam. Post-conference activities on Thursday, October 26 include the inaugural ABLM Lifestyle Medicine Certification Exam and a training session on lifestyle medicine practice success. For information about Lifestyle Medicine 2016, visit http://www.lifestylemedicineconference.org.

About the American College of Lifestyle Medicine:

ACLM is the professional medical association for those dedicated to the advancement and clinical practice of Lifestyle Medicine as the foundation of a transformed and sustainable healthcare system. More than a professional association, ACLM is a galvanizing force for change. ACLM addresses the need for quality education and certification, supporting its members in their individual practices and in their collective desire to domestically and globally promote Lifestyle Medicine as the first treatment option, as opposed to a first option of treating symptoms and consequences with expensive, ever increasing quantities of pills and procedures. ACLM members are united in their desire to identify and eradicate the cause of disease. Learn more at LifestyleMedicine.org. Join the movement!
I partnered with KWizCom because of the many various tools to make Intranet Systems powerful without own coding solutions. All KWizCom solutions are very easy to handle for my customers, employees and myself Past News Releases RSS KWizCom Announces Partnership with...

KWizCom Announces Partnership with...

KWizCom Unveils Convert To...

KWizCom, a leading developer of SharePoint Forms and Mobile Solution, as well as numerous other powerful SharePoint web parts, add-ons and apps for Office 365 (SharePoint Online) is pleased to announce that Christian Lapacka is the newest member of KWizComs Global Partner Network. Christian Lapacka is now part of the prestigious group of System Integrators, VARs, Distributors and Consulting Firms with proven expertise in Microsoft Technologies that have joined KWizCom's partner program.

Christian Lapacka is a consulting services company based in Austria. Christian Lapacka is a consultant in the area of Microsoft SharePoint and all its associated systems such as Microsoft SQL Server and so on. The many years of experience and numerous implementation and migration projects make Christian and his team one of the most outstanding and knowledgeable service providers in the DACH Region.

I partnered with KWizCom because of the many various tools to make Intranet Systems powerful without own coding solutions. All KWizCom solutions are very easy to handle for my customers, employees and myself, advises Christian Lapacka, the CEO of the company.

Christian Lapacka and KWizCom will work closely to deliver Microsoft SharePoint based top-notch add-ons and apps for Office 365 for joint customers.

We are very pleased to welcome our newest Austrian partner, Christian Lapacka, and look forward to the joint opportunities that lie ahead, mentions Nimrod Geva, the Product Group Manager of KWizCom Corporation.

Partnership with KWizCom facilitates reaching new customers with innovative leading edge products achieving increased sales and profits for both companies. KWizCom Partners benefit from joint activities, a special discount program arrangement with sales incentives, training, licenses to KWizCom add-ons for internal use, technical support, sales and marketing support, and much more. KWizCom has a standing partnership invitation and any interested parties are encouraged to inquire further by visiting the KWizCom website.

About Christian Lapacka

Christian Lapacka is an Austrian consulting company in the area of Microsoft SharePoint and all the systems it is associated with, such as Microsoft SQL Server, etc. The multiple years of experience and many implementation and migration projects make Christian Lapacka and his team the excellent service providers in the DACH Region.

About KWizCom Corporation

Since 2005, KWizCom has provided innovative solutions and services to make SharePoint even better for over 7,000 companies worldwide. KWizCom's solutions and services expand Microsoft SharePoint out-of-the-box capabilities, streamline workflow, maximize efficiency and enhance over-all productivity for hundreds of thousands of users. KWizCom, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Please visit http://www.kwizcom.com to find out more about KWizCom's clients, people, partners and solutions.

Follow KWizCom on Twitter @KWizCom

Join KWizCom on LinkedIn www(dot)linkedin(dot)com/company/kwizcom

Become a fan of KWizCom on Facebook: www(dot)facebook(dot)com/KWizCom

Contact a KWizCom Account Specialist at +1-905-370-0333/+1-855-KWIZCOM or info(at)kwizcom.com
Attorney N. James Turner, founder of the Law Offices of N. James Turner, recently won an undisclosed amount for client Brian Abiyah Ayangwo (plaintiff) in a lawsuit (Case no. 6:16-cv-01661-RBD-DCI filed in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida) filed against Regional Acceptance Corporation (defendant). Turner filed the lawsuit under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act.

The lawsuit alleged that Ayangwos 2007 Dodge four-door sedan was repossessed by Regional Acceptance Corporation based upon an alleged default on a loan for which the plaintiffs automobile was security. Court documents state that Ayangwo was present at the time and place of the repossession and presented the Regional Acceptance Corporation agent with an original certificate of title. However, notwithstanding having evidence of his unencumbered ownership of the vehicle, the agent continued the repossession. As a result of the repossession, Ayangwo was without his vehicle from September 16-19, 2016.

The consumer is a self-employed entrepreneur and having access to his motor vehicle is an integral part of his business, said attorney for the plaintiff Turner. Furthermore, he is married and that motor vehicle is his familys sole source of transportation.

During the time of the repossession, according to court documents, Ayangwos spouse was scheduled to report for training for a new job but was unable to due to not having a vehicle. She was subsequently informed by her employer that the next training available to her was not until October 31, 2016.

About N. James Turner

Attorney N. James Turner has extensive legal experience in both state and federal court at both the trial and appellate levels. He provides professional services for consumer debt relief, wage and hour disputes, overtime and minimum wage matters, and other legal services for residents in Orlando, Kissimmee, and throughout the Central Florida area. For more information, please call (888) 877-5103, or visit http://www.njtlaw.com.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Broadleaf Commerce Brings eCommerce to OSCON 2017 Were excited to share our highly customizable, developer-friendly eCommerce framework with attendees and discuss how were innovating.

Broadleaf Commerce, the leading digital experience platform (DXP) for customizable commerce solutions will showcase at the 2017 OReilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Austin, Texas. From May 8 through May 10, more than 4,000 attendees will gather at the Austin Convention Center. OSCON provides an environment for developers, innovators, architects, and investors to discuss the latest trends in open-source technology.

OSCON is a great opportunity to meet other developers and architects to discuss how theyre leveraging the most popular technologies in the industry, stated Kelly Tisdell, VP of Professional Services at Broadleaf Commerce. Were excited to share our highly customizable, developer-friendly eCommerce framework with attendees and discuss how were innovating.

Broadleaf architecture experts will be on site at booth 516, discussing technology solutions utilized by enterprise-level retailers, including open-source technologies like Java, Spring, and Hibernate. Attendees are also welcome to demo the latest release of the eCommerce framework, which includes configurable products, enhanced promotions, and targeting based on customer segments.

Broadleaf provides robust B2C, B2B, Multi-Site, Marketplace, API Commerce, and Multi-Tenant/SaaS Enablement Platform solutions to support leading brands, including OReilly Auto Parts, The Container Store, and ICON Health & Fitness. To schedule a private demo with Broadleaf, contact info(at)broadleafcommerce.com.

About Broadleaf Commerce, LLC

Broadleaf Commerce provides B2B and B2C eCommerce platform solutions to simplify the complexities of multi-channel commerce and digital experience management. As the market-leading choice for enterprise organizations requiring tailored, highly scalable commerce systems, Broadleaf is fully customizable and extensible. Trusted by Fortune 500 corporations, Broadleaf provides the framework for leading brands, including OReilly Auto Parts, The Container Store, and ICON Health & Fitness. For more information, visit: http://www.broadleafcommerce.com.
Police accountability activist Jose LaSalle has released portions of audio secretly recorded inside an NYPD precinct last summerrecordings that, according to LaSalle, prove police officers tampered with evidence and fabricated charges against him because of his work monitoring police activity.

The audio was recorded on LaSalle's phone in August, after he was arrested while filming what he says was an improper stop-and-frisk carried out by three plainclothes officers outside the Patterson Houses in Mott Haven. He was initially charged with possessing a radio that could transmit over police frequencies, though LaSalle maintains that it was a legal two-way walkie-talkie.

In excerpts of recordings from those devices, voices can be heard apparently celebrating the arrest of LaSalle, who founded the South Bronx-based group Cop Watch Patrol Unit in 2011. As several people congratulate the people who LaSalle says are the arresting officers for busting LaSalle on a felony, someone chants, "It's a party, it's a party, it's a party, hey!" Another voice asks, "Now for him, filming is a crime, right?"

The Bronx District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case, and LaSalle was released the following day, with his two cell phones and GoPro.

Following his release, LaSalle went to a diner on 161st Street with fellow cop-watchers, some of whom tweeted that he had evidence suggesting the arrest was illegal. About 30 minutes later, witnesses say, four police officers showed up at the diner to re-arrest LaSalle. Video of the encounter shows one officer receiving directions by phone, then telling the other officers, "We need his personal effects."

LaSalle was then brought to a holding cell, where he claims officers demanded that he unlock his cellphones. He refused to do so, and was released a few hours later, this time with an order to appear in court for an unspecified crime. The new charges, he would later learn, were obstructing governmental administration, harassment, and disorderly conduct. His recording devices, from which he had not yet obtained the audio, were reclassified as evidence and confiscated.

About an hour after his second arrest, LaSalle says that he received an email from an app on his phone alerting him that someone had attempted to unlock it with an incorrect passcode. Screenshots of the alert shared with Gothamist show that the attempt was made in the vicinity of the Police Service Area 7 station house, where LaSalle had been jailed. Since the officers didn't have a warrant, the failed login could qualify as an illegal search, according to LaSalle's attorney.

"They wanted to intercept this audio," LaSalle said. "They'd rather tamper with the evidence, which they did, and have this audio erased, than have this go out into the community. Guess what. They screwed up."

In January, prosecutors dismissed the second round of charges against LaSalle, and a few weeks later he was permitted to get his devices back. Many of the files stored on the GoPro had vanished, he said, but to his surprise, some audio from after the arrest remained on one of the locked phones.

In addition to the recording of the officers seeming to cheer the arrest, the phone had also picked up a conversation that seems to be between the two arresting officers, discussing whether they could charge LaSalle with a felony for possessing a certain type of radio.

One voice says, "That's a misdemeanor, bro. What the fuck?" and another responds, "There's no felony charge option? It's a misdemeanor. Maybe you could see like a felony charge." The first voice replies that it's a Class A misdemeanor, and that LaSalle should technically receive a Desk Appearance Ticketwhich would allow him to be released directly from the precinct without having to go through Central Booking and a court arraignment. The other officer ultimately tells him to process the arrest without issuing a DAT.

In a different portion of the recording, officers can be heard discussing how far away LaSalle was while filming their interaction at the Patterson Houses. One voice suggests that he came close"about like ten feet"while another disagrees, pointing out that a different officer told him to stay away.

The recordings seem to contradict the various charges brought against LaSalle, and to support his claim that he was targeted by officers for his activism. It remains unclear what happened following the initial arrest that would have justified the additional charges. LaSalle's attorney alleges that cops deceived Bronx prosecutors into believing that LaSalle threatened a police captain over the radio, though the attorney declined to provide evidence for the allegation.

A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment on the allegation or whether the officers involved will face discipline.

One of the arresting officers, Elvis Duran, was sued in 2011 along with 10 other officers. A man named Juther Perez accused Duran and the others of falsely arresting him on drug-dealing charges when he went to check on his father, who was being arrested. The cops allegedly strip-searched Perez without cause, held him for two days, and pursued the bogus charges for three months before prosecutors tossed them. Perez was beaten to death with a hookah pipe during the litigation, but a jury ultimately upheld the false arrest claim and awarded his family $40,000. The city agreed to pay his lawyers $225,000 in fees.

Another officer involved in the arrest, Sergeant Miguel Frias, was sued the same year. He and another officer allegedly barged into a Bronx familys apartment without a warrant and claimed that it was an abandoned apartment where drugs were being sold. When the woman who lived there with her husband objected, they allegedly maced her, and arrested her sons and husband on felony assault charges when they tried to intervene. Prosecutors later dismissed the charges. The city settled the case for $60,000.

Outside of One Police Plaza on Monday, LaSalle, flanked by fellow cop watchers, families of people killed by the NYPD, and his attorney, announced that he's planning to sue the officers involved in his arrest, and called on Mayor de Blasio and police Commissioner James O'Neill to launch an investigation into the precinct. He also noted that a second event will be held outside the Bronx DA's office on Thursday, where he plans to release additional excerpts from the recordings.

"When you're filming police and documenting police activity in communities of color and putting it out there so other people can see, they see that as a threat, and they want to eliminate that threat," LaSalle said. "I think that audio is going to be something that shows people exactly how the police department acts when they feel threatened by someone."

At the press conference, LaSalle began to explain how exactly he was able to record inside the precinct, but his attorney quickly interjected, and he declined to elaborate further.

Update: A representative of the Bronx District Attorney's office has told Gothamist that the DA's Public Integrity Bureau is investigating the police procedures and activities surrounding the incident.

Additional reporting by Nathan Tempey
Simon Isaac, Managing Director at Zero Above We were able to develop a seamless solution that will drive global marketing data through the CRM, straight to the right person, wherever they are in the world. This type of innovation gives Gilbarco Veeder-Root a real competitive advantage

Gilbarco Veeder-Root is the worlds largest provider of integrated technology solutions to the retail petroleum industry, with its headquarters in the USA and offices, manufacturing and research centres in every continent in the world.

Known for its innovation, Gilbarco Veeder-Root was looking for a partner who would emulate its own ingenuity in delivering a strategy and solution that would enable seamless marketing communications and campaigns across six continents and multiple languages.

In 2016, Gilbarco Veeder-Root appointed the award-winning digital marketing agency Zero above, based near its European headquarters in Basildon, Essex. It was a challenging project for the development team, explains Managing Director Simon Isaac:

Gilbarco Veeder-Root has a really strong brand message, but is aware that there are important nuances between countries, particularly with message translation. We worked closely with both the headquarters and local teams to ensure quality and clarity of delivery in design and campaign messaging in seven languages.

Zero Above also developed interactive marketing solutions that would integrate across Gilbarco Veeder-Roots multiple locations.

One of the biggest challenges was data assimilation, explains Simon Isaac. We needed communicate effectively and cohesively across geographically disparate locations, and also to develop one solution to integrate across multiple third party providers software. We were able to develop a seamless solution that will drive global marketing data through the CRM, straight to the right person, wherever they are in the world. This type of innovation gives Gilbarco Veeder-Root a real competitive advantage, and we are delighted with the outcome of our collaboration so far.

James Shields, Outbound Marketing Executive EMNEA at Gilbarco Veeder-Root said, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Europe has presence in many countries with multiple audiences and cultures to consider when planning and executing marketing activities. Zero Above understand the complexities of the European market and have been invaluable in their approach to the complicated campaigns they have executed for Gilbarco Veeder-Root. Zero Above always go the extra mile to ensure the creative and campaign executions are of the highest standard and are on message. They also work in a truly collaborative way, ensuring all stakeholders are involved and the end result delivers on the brief really well.

About Zero Above:

Zero Above is a multi-award-winning, Essex-based sustainable design agency, which has been carbon-balanced from its creation two and a half years ago. Set up by its working partners, each sharing a vision for sustainable business, the agency offers comprehensive services for brand and marketing strategy, digital marketing, design and print, web design and development, exhibition and signage, and mobile App development.

Zero Above approaches every project as a unique piece of work for its clients, and with the skills, commitment and experience in the team, they are able to offer a multi-disciplinary service designed to deliver great results every time.

"We call it Develop-Design-Deliver - and we can deliver the whole process from start to finish, or any stage in isolation depending on your needs."

Visit http://www.zeroabove.co.uk or tweet @zeroabove for further information.
With Kancy, users are in control of their home appliances and can easily make their appliances talk to one another. Its simple, efficient and truly cost-effective.

A Canadian startup has launched a crowdfunding campaign for their newest gadget, Kancy. The smart home device serves as a universal controller for virtually any home appliance. Kancy is easily controlled using the gadgets smartphone app. Incredibly versatile, Kancy is smart, easy-to-install, cost-effective and the ideal solution to remotely control and monitor a users home. Now, consumers can make any electrical device in their home a smart device.

Our team has worked hard to develop Kancy over the past few years, said Noor Hijazi, founder of Kancy. With Kancy, users are in control of their home appliances and can easily make their appliances talk to one another. Its simple, efficient and truly cost-effective.

Each Kancy model can be controlled through the mobile app using WiFi or local control. To use Kancy, consumers can download the app on their mobile device and register as a new user. From there, the app can organize a users living spaces. Within each living space, Kancy will connect to each registered appliance and control them from the app. Users can also grant roommates, family members and guests access to control appliances, or only select appliances. Once appliances are registered, users may then schedule or program if-then tasks with simple, pre-defined steps. These tasks can be scheduled on a daily, weekly, monthly or custom occurrence. This option allows for more sophisticated scenarios. For example, if a user would like the kitchen lights to turn on at 6:30 a.m., then the coffee pot can begin brewing at 6:15 a.m.

Kancy is available in four models. The first model, On/Off, simply turns appliances on or off using the smartphone app. Users may also monitor the watt usage throughout their home or office to determine which appliances use the most electricity. Kancys Dimmer model adjusts the brightness in a room. As with the other models, Kancy can be programmed to dim lights or turn off at certain times throughout the day. Kancy Servo can connect with garage doors and blinds to automatically open and close. The last model, Kancy Plug, can be installed and, using its USB ports, can be used as a charging port for users electronic devices. With its smart GPS locator, the Kancy app can be programmed to open or close garages or blinds, or even arm a users home based on when a user leaves or arrives to their home or office.

The team has turned to the Kickstarter community to bring Kancy to mass production. So far, the team has raised over $21K. Backers can take advantage of early bird deals starting at just $59. For more information, visit the campaign at bit.ly/KancyKS.

About Kancy

Founded by Noor Hijazi in 2014, Kancy is a universal smart home controller that works on virtually any home appliance. After extensive research, Hijazi and his team set out to develop a small, standalone and wireless device that can essentially turn any device smart. The team currently has a working prototype with plans to ship Kancy out in December 2017. For more information, visit the campaign at bit.ly/KancyKS.
Domestic violence is the scourge of any healthy community, and we want to take positive action to help local women and children who are living in unsafe situations. We hope everyone will join us in supporting the crucial mission of Case de Misericordia.

Duterte Insurance Group, an insurance and financial services provider serving the families and businesses of Laredo, has announced the latest beneficiary of their thriving community involvement program. The new campaign fundraises in support of Casa de Misericordia on behalf of local women and children who have survived domestic abuse. Donations to this worthy cause are now being accepted here.

For almost 20 years, Casa de Misericordia has been working toward the empowerment of women and children victimized by domestic violence in the community, as well as for the accountability of the perpetrator. Operating out of the belief that women can reclaim their lives if given consistent, long-term support, they offer more than just 24-hour emergency shelter, food and clothing. The compassionate staff and volunteers also provide comprehensive information and referral services, counseling and support groups, advocacy and intervention services, and assistance in the development of plans for lifelong safety and brighter tomorrows.

Said Keefe Duterte, owner of Duterte Insurance Group, Domestic violence is the scourge of any healthy community, and we want to take positive action to help local women and children who are living in unsafe situations. We hope everyone will join us in supporting the crucial mission of Case de Misericordia.

The team at Duterte Insurance Group has mobilized to vigorously promote the initiative through a variety of channels, including shining a spotlight on the cause in this months issue of their community magazine. Our Hometown is a dynamic print and digital publication which is delivered to thousands of households in and around Laredo every month. Current and past issues may be enjoyed at http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_41.

The agency is so passionate about their community cause that they have pledged to donate $10 to Casa de Misericordia for each and every referral they receive for an insurance quote for the duration of the campaign, making it so simple for caring donors to get involved. Readers wishing to pitch in and have the agency make a donation in their name may recommend friends and family for no-obligation quotations at http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/A-Place-to-be-Heard-a-Place-to-be-Helped_30_community_cause.

Duterte Insurance has made an ongoing commitment to positively impact the communities it serves by vigorously seeking out and supporting local worthy causes as part of their celebrated Agents of Change movement. To stay in the loop on whats happening in the community by keeping tabs on past and future causes, readers are encouraged to bookmark http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/community-cause. To submit ideas for future campaigns, readers may visit http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/Add-Community-Cause_45.

About Duterte Insurance Group

A full-service insurance and financial services firm serving Laredos families and businesses from offices in Alta Vista, Duterte Insurance has a simple mission: to provide the finest insurance and financial products in the industry while delivering consistently superior service. Keefe Duterte and his dedicated team of caring professionals focus on helping clients to protect the things which are most important to them (their families, homes, cars, businesses and more) and on developing financial planning strategies to fulfill long-term goals. To learn more, visit http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/. To speak with a caring expert, please call 956-726-4649.
The American Academy of Thermology (AAT) is the premiere organization in North America for the scientific development, health care training and clinical application of medical infrared imaging. In two separate but related announcements, the AAT has also updated its list of guest speakers for the event.

The American Academy of Thermology (AAT), the premiere organization in North America for the scientific development, healthcare training and clinical application of medical infrared imaging, announced today that its 2017 Annual Meeting & Scientific Session has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The AATs 2017 Annual Meeting & Scientific Session will take place on September 16-17 in Greenville, SC at the Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital campus at the Bernadine Center. A pre-meeting Physicians member certification course will be held at the same location on September 15.

In accordance with ACCEMEs Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council, and with the joint providership of the South Carolina Medical Association and the AAT, the 2017 Annual Meeting & Scientific Session has been designated a maximum of 6.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians must claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

In two separate but related announcements, the AAT has also updated its list of guest speakers for the event, and added a new workshop:



Joining the roster of guest speakers are Marcos Brioschi, MD, Christine Horner, MD, and Michael Myrick, PhD, respectively.

A special thermographers workshop open to all attendees entitled How to Build and Grow Your Thermology Practice will run on September 17 at 8:00am. Topics will include: marketing, promotion, communication tactics, overcoming office practice issues, website development, and more.

More information on the AATs 2017 Annual Meeting & Scientific Session is available at https://aathermology.org/annual-session-program.

AAT members and non-members who plan on attending can find directions, recommended hotels, and special discounted rates (limited inventory available) at https://aathermology.org/annual-session-program/hotel-travel.

For additional information, interview requests or media inquiries, visit http://aathermology.org/contact, email info(at)aathermology.org or call (864) 235-1834.

About the American Academy of Thermology

Founded in 1971, The American Academy of Thermology (AAT) is the premiere organization in North America for the scientific development, health care training and clinical application of medical infrared imaging. The AAT provides a forum for those who have interest in medically-related conditions that involve the autonomic nervous, peripheral vascular and immuno-inflammatory systems. The organization also holds annual conferences for the presentation of scientific and professional papers, and serves as the voice of its members in medical practice, health care finance, legislative and regulatory related matters.

Learn more at http://aathermology.org
Every year, thousands of impoverished Israelis struggle to feed their families. The dedicated team at Yad Eliezer works tirelessly to alleviate that struggle and combat poverty in Israel. The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles is proud to support.

Passover is fast approaching with Jews across the world preparing to celebrate with their families. Yet in Israel, with more than 21% of the population including 775,500 children living beneath the poverty line, a family celebration can be beyond their reach. Even the costs of basics such as matzah, grape juice, eggs, fruits and vegetables is beyond their reach without philanthropic help.

Yad Eliezer is the proud recipient of a generous grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles helping us meet our goal of distributing over three million dollars in nutritional aid to families in need as the holiday approaches.

Thousands of orphaned children and 750 widows will receive generous stipends to insure that they can purchase the necessary foods and clothing to allow them to celebrate the holiday despite their personal losses. 2,500 IDF soldiers from disadvantaged backgrounds will be able to come home like heroes with vouchers to purchase holiday essentials for their families at local supermarkets. 750 divorced single mothers wont need to carry the burden of providing for their children alone, with the help of Yad Eliezer and the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, they too will be able to make their holiday purchases with food vouchers - the very same types of vouchers that are distributed as gifts by employers, such that nobody needs to know how dire their financial circumstances are.

Marvin I. Schotland, president & CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, reflected on this, Every year, thousands of impoverished Israelis struggle to feed their families. The dedicated team at Yad Eliezer works tirelessly to alleviate that struggle and combat poverty in Israel. The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles is proud to support Yad Eliezers vital work by helping them provide additional food and resources to Israeli families at Pesach.

Sori Tropper, who works at American Friends of Yad Eliezer shares, As passover approaches, part of my way of expressing my gratitude for the freedoms I enjoy is to share with others in need. Im grateful to the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and to all of our partners who help us put smiles on the faces of needy children and contribute so much to the joys of the holidays by providing food.

Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles manages more than $1 billion of assets entrusted to it by over 1,300 families. The Foundation partners with donors to shape meaningful philanthropic strategies, magnify the impact of giving, and build enduring charitable legacies. Over the past 25 years, The Foundation has distributed over $1 billion in grants to thousands of nonprofits across a diverse spectrum.

Yad Eliezer was founded on the premise that every Jew in Israel is entitled to a life of dignity, self-reliance, and self-respect. Established in 1980 with the single objective of delivering monthly food baskets to hungry families, Yad Eliezer has grown to encompass nineteen economic and social service programs that impact on the lives of over 18,000 families each year.
We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today
The 54th Bologna Childrens Book Fair got off to a quiet but steady start on Monday with agents and publishers noting the continuing popularity of middle grade, as well as books featuring distinctive voices, tackling topical issues, and offering outside-the-box perspectives.

Theres been a good energy at the fair, though Im not sure [activity] is at the same level as it was in years past, said Lerner CEO and publisher Adam Lerner, who was busy making introductions on behalf of the companys new editor-in-chief Andy Cummings. When the recession happened, people had to scale back, and theyve realized that they can make do with less, he said. No one takes anything for granted in this market.

Several agents, including Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management and Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary, noted ongoing attention to middle grade, something that has been evident during recent fairs after years with YA dominating the spotlight. Middle grade is continuing to do well, said Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management. The more interesting and off the beaten path a book is, the more people light up.

Describing the first day as positive, Ortiz mentioned a continuing openness to genres that had their heydays in years past. People might say theyre not looking for fantasy, but theyre looking for fantasy. Just different fantasy.

To wit, Helene Ferey, senior rights manager at A.M. Heath, noticed German publishers seeking out epic fantasy for middle grade readers. Four years ago, we had a lot of [these books], but their lists were full, she said. Now, Ferey explained, publishers want these books again. Other trends she noticed include an ongoing interest in contemporary YA and love stories. Back on the fantasy side, Ferey had been pitching a series opener, The Last Duchess, the first YA novel from middle grade author Laura Powell, which she described as Downton Abbey with dragons.

Lori Benton, v-p and publisher of Scholastic Trade Publishing, pointed out a micro-trend shed noticed: on the first day she was shown three books about bees going extinct. One was YA, one was nonfiction, and the third was a picture book, she said. From three different countries. Its clearly a global concern.

I think multicultural has finally taken hold in Europe, said Neal Porter, publisher of Roaring Brooks Neal Porter Books. And Im seeing a lot of displaced refugees in picture books as well as novels. Its hardits well-intentioned, but it all comes down to the story. Another observation by Porter about the picture books hes been seeing at the fair: So much poop. A mountain of poop. It used to be just Germany but now its all over the world.

DreamWorks development executive Damon Ross flew into town on the heels of an enviable feat: Boss Baby, which his company produced and which opened last Friday, was the #1 movie in America over the weekend, edging out the blockbuster Beauty and the Beast. Were so thrilled, so proud of the movie, he said. DreamWorkss adaptation of Captain Underpants will follow soon, on June 2. Family movies are consistently working, Ross noted. And more is on the horizon: last week DreamWorks Animation snapped up film rights for How to Train Your Dragon author Cressida Crowells new fantasy series, The Wizards of Once.

Bologna has been great for us, particularly as it is the first [children's fair] after the Netherlands was guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year, said Agnes Vogt, childrens book specialist at the Dutch Foundation for Literature. There were 350 Dutch [adult and childrens] books translated into German last year, and since more people can read German than Dutch, naturally we are seeing a lot of interest in those books here in Bologna. Vogt noted strong interest in literary and narrative nonfictionGerda Dendoovens Stella, Star of the Sea, the story of a refugee, has been nominated for the Woutertje Pieterse Prijsas well as a trend noticeable in the U.S. market: childrens and YA adaptations of popular adult nonfiction titles, such as We Are Our Brains by D.F. Swaab.

This is my first time at the fair and it has given me a lot of confidence, said Rocio Barros, digital publisher and editor at Chilean publisher Pehuen. Before I got here I felt that Chile must be so different from everywhere else in the world, she said. That opinion changed after Barros attended the Dust or Magic masterclass for app developers on Sunday. Hearing from so many people that they were happy to be surviving, I understand that we are all the same. ... What I realized is that the digital world is a local world, and content really has to be local. If I want to sell books to schools, which I do, those books have to be distinctly Chilean and distinctly local.

New Yorkbased teacher and author Monica Edinger, taking advantage of a sabbatical to attend the fair for the first time, was simply taking it all in. Its pretty overwhelming, in an amazing way, to see the expansiveness and the beauty of these childrens books from all over the world.

On Monday night, the winners of the BOP Prize, awarded to top childrens publishers in six territories, were announced: Ganndal (Republic of Guinea) for Africa, Borim Press (South Korea) for Asia, Babel Libros (Colombia) for Central and South America, Orecchio Acerbo Editore (Italy) for Europe, Kids Can Press (Canada) for North America, and Berbay (Australia) for Oceania.
Four years after being elected to head the Catholic Church, Pope Francis continues to fascinate; a whopping 87 percent of American Catholics expressed favorable opinions of the pope in an early 2017 Pew Research Center poll. Since U.S. Catholics number 67 million, thats a lot of fans and potential readers. Catholic publishers are certainly trying to make the most of the popes popularity, with dozens of books by and about him already published, and many more planned for the spring.

The market is full and competitive, so publishers must vie for their distinctive share of it. Some are choosing particular themes of Francis papacy to develop; others are aiming at specific audiences. Enough material exists to prompt serious theological examination as well as light inspiration.

Bernadette Price, associate publisher at Orbis Press, the publishing arm of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, said that Francis, with his informality, has broken the mold of papal expectations. As the first pope from a non-European background, much of what he has said and done in his first four years surprised people and the press, she said. Orbis has collected sermons delivered at the daily Mass he offers in a series called Morning Homilies. Three volumes in the series have so far sold a total of 13,000 copies since 2015, according to the publisher, and a fourth is due April 20. This may be the time to dig deeper into the sources and implications of his theology, Price said.

Our readers want to go to the next level of really understanding Pope Francis, said Kelly Hudson, director of marketing at Franciscan Media. Three books by or about the pope are among the houses bestsellers, and its top seller this spring is The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek (Jan.), a collection of homilies and prayers for devotional reading during the Christian penitential season. The combination of the Lenten season and Pope Francis is powerful, Hudson said. Pope Francis books really sell themselves. The press added a push with advertising in the Catholic family magazine St. Anthony Messenger, also owned by the company that owns the press. On April 21, the publisher will highlight the popes devotion to Mary in a book intended to draw readers who are mothers, Mother Mary: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis by PW contributor Alicia Von Stamwitz.

With themes of mercy and ministry to the marginalized already established in Francis papacy, Loyola Press sees room for application of the popes teaching in Embracing the Way of Jesus: Reflections from Pope Francis on Living Our Faith (Jan.). Readers can get straight to the heart of his message and see what they can do differently in their own lives today, said Andrew Yankech, business development manager.

Because the pope speaks so often, from daily homilies and speeches to a variety of official church pronouncements and teachings, he has generated plenty of material. The apostolic exhortation, The Joy of Love (2016), has been among Paulist Presss bestsellers, selling more than 10,000 copies, according to the publisher. Paulist is also pursuing the strategy of targeting small, distinct markets with two August publications by the pope: Tell the Prisoners I Pray for Them is aimed at prison chaplains and prisoners, while The Heart of the Good Shepherd and the Heart of a Priest is aimed at priests and seminarians.

The popes popularity extends beyond Catholics. Hampton Roads, which publishes mind-body-spirit titles, has sold 20,000 copies of Pope Francis Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings compiled by Andrea Kirk Assaf (2015) according to the publisher. The second installment, Pope Francis Little Book of Compassion: The Essential Teachings, released in March. (The little books are put together for Hampton Roads by HarperCollins U.K.)

Secular publishers are also adding to the list of books on Pope Francis this year. Independent publisher Seven Stories Press is releasing Francis: The People's Pope by cartoonist Ted Rall in July, calling it the only graphic biography of Pope Francis from a mainstream press.

While Francis is generally popular with the people in the pews, he has managed to raise eyebrows and hackles in the more traditional corners of the Catholic Church. The popes ministry to contemporary families, including contentious issues about divorce and family forms, has gotten some pushback from a few cardinals questioning points in The Joy of Love.

There has been much discussion and even rancor about what Francis is or isnt doing to church teaching there, said Barry Hudock, publisher for the parish market at Liturgical Press. Given the interest in the papal exhortation, the press released Reading, Praying, Living Pope Franciss The Joy of Love: A Faith Formation Guide by Julie Hanlon Rubio (Feb.), an ethicist at St. Louis University. Liturgical is also examining the personality, convictions, and gifts of the pope in Will Pope Francis Pull It Off? The Challenge of Church Reform by priest and sociologist Rocco DAmbrosio, slated to publish on April 15.

The conservative opposition to Pope Francis makes its case in The Political Pope: How Pope Francis Is Delighting the Liberal Left and Abandoning Conservative Catholics by George Neumayr. The book will be published by Hachettes secular imprint Center Street in May with a print run of 25,000.

Given the popes popularity and the volume of material he generates, works about the Holy Father are not expected to cease any time soon.

I think he will continue to inspire the world, said Loyolas Yankech.
Police are looking for a guitar-toting man accused of exposing and touching himself in front of a subway rider inside a Harlem subway station last month. The victim was able to take pretty clear photographs of the suspect.

Cops say the incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on March 1st at the 145th Street 1 train station. According to the NYPD, a 31-year-old woman was walking on the southbound platform "when she was approached by an individual who asked for directions in Spanish. The victim soon after realized that the individual was using his hands to touch his exposed private parts at which time she ran away from the individual in an attempt to seek aid."

The victim was able to take his picture, and the man fled on a southbound 1 train, police say.

The suspect, who is wanted for public lewdness, is described as being about 45 years old, 130 pounds and 5'5", with grayish black hair. He was last seen wearing a dark jacket, blue jeans and dark shoes with a light blue shirt and blue tie and playing a dark colored guitar slung across his chest.

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.

If you see or experience sexual misconduct in the subway (this includes seeing a masturbator, being groped, being grinded on, etc.), you can report it to the MTA and police on this website. There's also a place for you to upload photos and/or video. Don't let the perverts win.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  The majority of the 41.5 million chickens and 10.5 million pigs sold each year in Indiana are raised in confined feeding operations (CFOs). About 2,000 CFOs are currently operating in Indiana, and the farms are regulated by standards set by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). Where exactly a new CFO can locate within a specific county also can be dictated by the countys zoning ordinance.

In response to the growing interest about CFOs, Purdue Universitys Department of Animal Sciences launched a new website to serve as a portal for information about CFO standards and regulations in Indiana.

The CFO website, which is located at https://ag.purdue.edu/cfo, will provide updated information for people who are involved in CFO regulation, including county plan commission members, boards of zoning appeals, and planning professionals. It also will be of interest to environmentalists, Purdue Extension educators, and the general public who want more information about CFOs, according to Paul Ebner, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences in Purdues College of Agriculture.

The comprehensive website includes descriptions of county and state regulations pertaining to CFOs in Indiana, tools for planners involved in CFO siting or ordinance development, and information on current issues related to CFOs. The site also contains new research conducted at Purdue that analyzes and compares CFO ordinances across all 92 Indiana counties.

Purdue has a lot of information about CFOs and weve provided a centralized resource for that information. This also helped us identify gaps in CFO knowledge and where we need new or additional research, Ebner said. In the end, we hope that Hoosiers can use the information on the site to make informed decisions on matters that impact their communities.

To visit the website, go to https://ag.purdue.edu/cfo

Writer: Shari Finnell, sfinnell@purdue.edu, (765) 494-2722

Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415;

Shari Finnell, Manager/Media Relations and Public Information, sfinnell@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
This newsletter provides alerts and analysis of major inter-company pricing issues and related developments from around the world.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. Friday, deputies responded to a report of a home invasion with shots fired on 180th Street North, according to a sheriff's office news release. Witnesses said four armed men forced their way into the home and robbed several party-goers of personal possessions before leaving, the release says.
An Ohio man was arrested April 1 in Henry County on cannabis-related charges.

Tyler J. Sweeney, 26, of Mentor, Ohio, appeared Monday in Henry County Circuit Court on charges of Class X felony cannabis trafficking, Class X felony possession with intent to deliver and Class 1 possession of cannabis.

He was arraigned by Judge Dana McReynolds, who set bond at $200,000 and appointed the public defender's office to represent him. A preliminary hearing is set for April 10.
Today's elections will bring one of the largest changes ever in local government leadership.

Between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. today, Illinois residents will cast votes on a lengthy list of city, village, school, township, library district and fire district candidates, as well as a number of ballot initiatives.

Throughout tonight, the DispatchArgusQCOnline.com will share election results at QCOnline.com, as well as on Twitter with #2017election and Facebook.

Five of the six largest communities in Rock Island County may have new leaders after Tuesday's vote. Only Milan Mayor Duane Dawson is guaranteed to retain his post since he is running unopposed.

It's been 12 years since anyone but Mayor John Thodos led East Moline. On Feb. 28, however, he lost a primary to the city's former police chief, Reggie Freeman, who now is unopposed.

Rock Island will have its first new mayor in eight years. Mayor Dennis Pauley is not seeking re-election; in the running for the job are Ald. Stephen Tollenaer, 4th Ward; former Ald. Terry Brooks, 1st Ward; Andy Rowe, former U.S. Rep. Phil Hare's economic development director; and Mike Thoms, former co-owner of Thoms Proestler Co.

In Silvis, Mayor Tom Conrad chose not to seek re-election, setting up a race between Ald. Matt Carter and the Rev. Scott Culley. Coal Valley Mayor Emil Maslanka left the race on March 1, leaving Mike Bartels unopposed.

Moline Mayor Scott Raes is the only seated mayor among Rock Island County's largest communities seeking re-election. But in the Feb. 28 primary, the first-term mayor finished second to Ald. Stephanie Acri, At-Large, whose write-in campaign outpaced his vote tally 2,984 to 799.

Two other first-term mayors in the county also face opposition.

In Cordova, Mayor Dean Moyer is being challenged by the man he beat in 2013, Robert VanHooreweghe, as well as James Boone, who dropped out of the 2013 mayoral race. In Port Byron, Mayor Kevin Klute is being challenged by Dr. Bruce Peterson, a village trustee for the last six years who was a Moline alderman from 1989 to 2000.

In Cleveland, Mayor Richard Lindell is being challenged by former acting mayor Steve Ballegeer, whom he beat by five votes in 2015 for a two-year term. Two-term Andalusia Mayor Curtis Morrow faces village Trustee Pamela Einfeldt, who unsuccessfully challenged him four years ago. In Rapids City, current Trustee Harold J. Mire Jr. is facing Richard Fiems, a former Port Byron mayor.

Rapids City voters also will decide if video gaming will be allowed, Hampton voters will weigh in on backyard hens, and East Moline and Port Byron voters will determine if future municipal elections will be nonpartisan.

Residents in parts of Rock Island, Henry and Whiteside counties will vote on issuing $13,843,500 in bonds for work on Erie School District buildings. Voters in the Cambridge and AlWood school districts will decide if the two should consolidate -- as well as which seven of 12 candidates would serve on the new district's first board.

Other local races worth watching:

-- In the Black Hawk College board race, current chairman David L. Emerick Jr., former chairman Steven Spivey and Jon A. Looney, the school's former IT director, are fighting for two seats.

-- Aldermanic races in Rock Island have three candidates in Ward 1, three candidates in Ward 3, two candidates in Ward 5 and two candidates in Ward 7.

-- The Moline alderman at-large race has four candidates.

-- The Silvis Ward 2 race has three candidates.

-- In Aledo, Mayor Chris Hagloch is being challenged by Ryan Maynard.

-- The Rock Island-Milan School District has 12 candidates seeking four four-year terms.

-- The Moline-Coal Valley School District has eight candidates seeking three four-year terms.

-- The United Township School District has five candidates seeking four terms.

-- South Rock Island Township has eight candidates seeking four four-year trustee terms.

-- Coe Township has eight candidates seeking four four-year trustee terms.
EAST MOLINE -- A debate about dogs and more chatting about chickens have been tabled until new council members are seated May 1.

Three citizens addressed the council Tuesday, all opposed to a suggestion to muzzle and leash all dogs weighing more than 40 pounds, after an earlier incident involving police needing to kill a dog that attacked another while being walked by young boy.

Ald. Ed DeJaynes, Ward 2, had asked his colleagues meeting as a committee-of-the-whole to discuss the proposal, but then tabled the issue to give new Mayor-elect Reggie Freeman and other new council members getting elected today a chance to participate in the discussion.

East Moline resident Kayla Dusslierre suggested it was a "knee-jerk reaction" and asked the council to consider forming a committee designed to better educate pet owners on how to handle their dogs.

Fellow residents Christa Mosher and Melinda Womack complimented Ms. Dusslierre for her comments and echoed similar sentiments.

Ald. DeJaynes told the women that the issue would be "put on hold until May 1."

City administrator Darrin Girdler said the same was true for continued discussions about a proposed chicken ordinance.

Ald. Humberto Aguilar, Ward 5, arrived at the meeting a minute before it was scheduled to start, giving the board a four-member quorum. The meeting was chaired by Mayor Pro-Tem Ald. Robert Cheffer, Ward 6, who filled in for Mayor John Thodos.

In other action, council members agreed to:

-- Contract with "Recover Asset Network" company seeking to claim $216,754.50 of unclaimed money, payable to the city. The network will get a 10 percent finder's fee if it recovers the money.

--Approved recertifying Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund qualifications for the elected offices of mayor and city clerk, as allowed by statute for positions requiring 600 hours or more per year.

--Agreed as a committee-of-the-whole to pay $43,221 as its share to consolidate 911 dispatch centers to be known as QCOMM911. Money will cover the city's share of initial costs of a new director's salary, engineering fees and radio equipment at the new center. Consolidating centers was required by the state. East Moline, Moline, Milan and Silvis agreed to consolidate in December 2016. East Moline is responsible for 22 percent of the total $196,458 costs to prepare to house the new center in Milan.

--Recommended adding the phrase "alternative nicotine products" to its list of products considered illegal to sell to minors and to increase its tobacco dealer's license fee from $50 to $100 per year, effective May 1, 2018. Alternative nicotine products include vaporizers, vape pens, hookah pens, electronic cigarettes, e-pipes and all other ENDs, as defined by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

--Tabled a discussion about creating a River Eagle No. 2 Tax Increment Financing District that would aim at redeveloping East Moline Metals and possibly the McLaughlin property. Ald. DeJaynes was the sole opposing vote to table the matter.

--Approved a recommendation to let the fire department join a Texas purchasing cooperative that could save about $33,300 off its next fire engine purchase and discussed the possibility to buy a new fire truck for about $475,000.

--Listened to Ald. Cheffer read a proclamation made by Mayor Thodos, proclaiming it Motorcycle Awareness Month.
State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, heard concerns and discussed business in Springfield with more than a dozen residents at a meet-and-greet Monday at Milltown Coffee in Moline.

"Are we ever going to get a balanced budget?" asked Dale Allensworth, of Silvis, referring to the nearly two-year impasse between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic leaders that has hammered state funding of programs.

"I'm always optimistic," Rep. Halpin replied. "People are hurting."

Meeting with small groups and individuals, Mr. Halpin heard concerns and discussed legislation. Among bills he's introduced recently is the Keep Illinois Business Act, which would "ensure that corporations and companies that receive taxpayer incentives, state-funded incentives, have to give that money back if they later move their operations out of state," he said.

The bill, which has 23 co-sponsors, is out of committee and waiting for a House floor vote, Rep. Halpin said.

That bill is part of a Democratic legislative package announced last week and instigated by rank-and-file members of both chambers called the "Illinois Comeback Agenda." The package is meant to counter Gov. Rauner's "Turnaround Agenda."

The governor's agenda consists of policy proposals aimed at attracting business retention that he insists be approved beforer a budget deal. Democrats contend some of the agenda items would hurt working families and don't directly address the budget.

The Democrats' comeback agenda is meant to show that Democrats have their own policy priorities and aren't defined by opposition to the governor's agenda.

"That's the motivation behind it," Rep. Halpin said. "I think it's not any different than what we've been doing, it's just putting a name on it. We've always fought for these kind of programs, and now we're just putting a name on it to make sure the message gets out, and it's not just the governor's choices or preferences versus nothing. We have our agenda, we have our priorities and we're willing to pursue them."

Other Illinois Comeback Agenda items include a measure for a graduated income tax to ensure that the wealthy pay higher tax rates, increasing subsidies for child care and a Democratic version of redistricting reform.

"I haven't looked at the full list of bills to know if I support the entire package, but I think it's a good idea," Rep. Halpin said.

"I've said from Day One when I campaigned, I don't think it's fair to require the other party to do one of your personal projects in order to agree on a budget," Rep. Halpin said. "... These aren't, 'meet our demands or we're not passing a budget.' That is not the approach we're taking. That is not the right approach."

Rep. Halpin spent time chatting with Moline High School junior Alexandria Diehl, 17, answering questions on how he's getting acclimated during his freshman year as a legislator. Ms. Diehl, captain of the school's debate team, has political ambitions herself and appreciated having the legislator's ear.

"It's an opportunity to talk to an elected official from my area," Ms. Diehl said. "He was well informed and a good listener. You're acknowledged, and your words are being heard. You hope he goes back and thinks about them."

"We're the next generation," she said. "There are so many issues we should be paying attention to." A newspaper fan, she added "Every morning, I read a lot."

Rep. Halpin applauded her interest.

"It's always great to see young people who want to be involved in the process, want to start voting, what to be active," he said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Grilled by lawmakers, the Department of Veterans Affairs insisted Tuesday it was well on its way to fixing problems with its suicide hotline and largely brushed aside the worst criticisms in an internal watchdog report released two weeks ago.

A March 20 audit by the VA inspector general had found that nearly a third of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line as recently as November were bounced to backup centers run by an outside contractor, as well as other problems including weak leadership and inadequate data to measure the quality of calls. The rollover calls happen when phone lines are busy, leading to possible waits of 30 minutes or more.

It was an early test for new VA Secretary David Shulkin, who has made suicide prevention a signature issue at the troubled agency, riven with scandal in recent years since reports of delays in treatment at veterans' hospitals.

Approximately 20 veterans take their lives each day. Testifying before a House panel, Steve Young, VA's deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, pointed to a dramatic turnaround in calls answered by the hotline since November. He said it was now a "rare instance" that calls are bumped to a backup center and that calls are answered by live counselors within 8 seconds, on average.

The crisis hotline "is the strongest it has been since its inception in 2007," Young told the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

But pressed by lawmakers, the VA acknowledged it was still working to make other improvements it had promised to do by last September. It pledged to beef up quality control and hire a new permanent director as soon as possible.

"Fulfilling the IG's recommendations is a key step in raising the bar," Young said.

Shulkin, who previously served as VA's top health official, has previously described the issue as resolved. "Fixing the Veterans Crisis Line was a critical step in keeping our commitment to veterans," he said in a March 21 statement.

Lawmakers were unconvinced.

Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, the top Democrat on the House panel, pointed to "re-occuring issues we see time and time again at VA." For more than a year, the crisis hotline has operated without a permanent director and has yet to issue a policy handbook.

"I would be very careful in saying you fixed the problems," Walz warned.

Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., a physician who chairs the House committee, questioned whether the VA intended to fully implement reforms after repeated promises. "There is very clearly a need for more to be done  and soon  so that we can be assured that every veteran or family member who contacts the VCL gets the urgent help he or she needs every single time."

According to internal VA data, calls to the Veterans Crisis Line that rolled over to backup centers steadily declined from 31 percent in early November, to just 0.1 percent as of March 25. That came despite growing workloads in which weekly calls to the hotline jumped from 10,558 in November to 13,966 last month, the VA said.

As recently as mid-December, when the IG was finalizing its audit, the share of rollover calls had declined close to the VA's goal of 10 percent. That figure dropped to less than 1 percent by early January, according to the VA.

VA inspector general Michael Missal said he cannot confirm the most recent VA data, and stressed that it was vital that the Veterans Health Administration follow through on proposed reforms dating back to February 2016. "Until VHA implements fully these recommendations, they will continue to have challenges," Missal said.

Launched in 2007, the crisis hotline has answered nearly 2.8 million calls and dispatched emergency services more than 74,000 times. Featured in a documentary that won an Oscar in 2015, it later received negative attention after its former director reported frequent rollovers due to poor work habits. Last year, Congress passed a law requiring that all calls and messages to the hotline be answered in a timely manner.

The most recent problems appear to stem from the VA's opening of a second call center last October.

Spurred by veterans' complaints, the IG said the department launched a follow-up review to its February 2016 audit. Instead, it found many rollover calls, due in part to the VA's decision to divert some staff from its upstate New York call center to help train new workers in Atlanta.

The IG suggested the Atlanta center was slow in becoming operational, but the VA says that rollover calls in fact began to fall significantly as workers became trained.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars organization said it worried the VA sometimes focuses too much on metrics  the number of calls received and handled.

"The VFW believes that while the number of calls going to backup centers decreasing at such a rapid rate is a positive, it is not a sign of the quality of work being provided," said Kayda Keleher, VFW's legislative associate.
BEIRUT (AP)  A chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. The Trump administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syria's patrons, Russia and Iran, bore "great moral responsibility" for the deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year civil war.

Tuesday's attack drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including President Donald Trump, who denounced it as a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilized world." The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

In a statement, Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for "weakness" in failing to respond aggressively after the 2013 attack.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said. "President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack."

Trump left it to his top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to assign at least some blame to Russia and Iran, Assad's most powerful allies. Tillerson called on both countries to use their influence over Assad to prevent future chemical weapons attacks, and noted Russia's and Iran's roles in helping broker a cease-fire through diplomatic talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

"As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the cease-fire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths," Tillerson said.

In a statement, the Syrian government "categorically rejected" claims that it was responsible, asserting that it does not possess chemical weapons, hasn't used them in the past and will not use them in the future. It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Khan Sheikhoun residents were exposed to toxic agents from a rebel arsenal hit by a Syrian air strike.

The ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement early Wednesday that Russian military assets registered the strike on a weapons depots and ammunition factory on the town's eastern outskirts. Konashenkov said the factory produced chemical weapons that were used in Iraq.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, located south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pickup trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a U.N. investigation said used sarin gas.

Faced with international outrage over that attack, Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed.

But member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesday's attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors were struggling amid extreme shortages, including of the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem.

Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals, Tennari said. "If they got to the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

Dr. Mohammed Tennari, a radiologist and AbdulHaj Tennari's brother, said Tuesday's attack was more severe than previous ones in the province, most of which used chlorine cylinders.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe," he said. The doctor, who testified before the United Nations in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell after Tuesday's attack, but it was mixed with another unknown "toxic gas which causes poison and death."

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in the nearby town of Sarmin, where some of the critical cases were transferred, said doctors there also believed it was likely more than one gas. "Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions," he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

"There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth," he told The Associated Press.

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said by email that the agency was gathering more information about Tuesday's incident. The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, also said it had sent inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awakened by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m., and when he arrived at the scene he found entire families inside their homes unable to move, with their eyes wide open and their pupils constricted. He put on a mask, and he and others took victims to an emergency room. He said he later felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

The province of Idlib, which is almost entirely controlled by the opposition, is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chlorine gas attacks on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months of the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200. A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three additional attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas, and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.

Late Tuesday, Abu Hamdu, a rescue worker in Khan Sheikhoun, said people were still searching for their family members, nearly 12 hours after the attack.

"People are still very lost," he said.
Go To The Polls And Pull The Lever

We hope everyone turns out to pull the lever next Tuesday (Nov. 8). Actually, new voters wont know what we are talking about, as the...

Letters To The Editor

Street Closure Dangers Neighbors, Friends, Citizens of NYC/QUEENS: Many may not know that NYC has decided to close off miles of streets to cars in...
Whether you want to rally in support of immigrants, advocate with women seeking economic justice and reproductive rights, or help make some plans for May Day or the People's Climate March, there are plenty of ways to actively participate in democracy this week. Oh, also, a dance party, because you could probably use a break.

Beyond The Moment Teach-In

A number of economic, sexual and racial justice coalitions will sit down and talk to confront their differences and figure out how they can build a movement that encompasses all of their voices. You could be there too, if you want to learn or have some ideas.

FREE, Tuesday, April 4, 6 p.m., 25 West 18th Street



Rally to Save the EPA

Critics of President Trumps proposal to slash the Environmental Protection Agency by 31 percent say the cuts could hinder superfund cleanup sites like the Gowanus Canal and Newton Creek. On Tuesday, a litany of NYC environmental groups will rally outside of Chuck Schumers office in midtown to demand that the Senate Minority Leader lead the charge in protecting the EPA. Worth remembering: hordes of shouting constituents has so far proven effective in getting Schumer to oppose the Republican majority.

FREE, Tuesday, April 4, 12 p.m., Office of Chuck Schumer, 780 3rd Avenue

Lunch At Cuomo's-Rally for Reproductive Rights



Last month, the Women's Health And Reproductive Rights (WHARR) committee announced that theyd be hosting a weekly lunch at Governor Cuomos NYC office until the Reproductive Health Act is voted on in the Senate. As that hasnt happened yet, the committee keeps on lunch-ing. Join them on Wednesday to help rally for the bills passage and inform New Yorkers about the current inadequacies of abortion law in the state.

FREE, Wednesday, April 5, 12:00 p.m., Office of the Governor, 633 3rd Avenue (between 40th and 42st)

Banner/Art Making for May Day

May Day is going to be a big one this year, with a large protest in the works at Foley Square, and in preparation, the Mayday Space in Brooklyn will be hosting a banner and art making session for queer activists. All are welcome, and bring supplies if possible!

FREE, Thursday, April 6, 4 p.m., Mayday Space, 176 St. Nicholas Avenue

Ladies First: A Dance Party Celebrating Badass Women of Music

With all the protesting and rallying and organizing you're doing out there, it could be good to dance things out. Don't go to just any dance party though. Go to the one that will have songs almost exclusively from legendary women in the music business, and in which every penny will go to Planned Parenthood.

$7/$10, Friday, April 7, 10:30 p.m., Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street

Action Item Fair

If you're all wound up and don't exactly know what to do with all that energy of yours, hit up the Action Item Fair. There, you'll learn about the movements you can join, pick up a few skills you'll need for your activism ahead and meet other people you can work with to help make the world a better place.

FREE, Saturday, April 8, noon, ThoughtWorks, Inc., 99 Madison Avenue

Protest Anti-Immigrant Lawsuit #RescindOrResign!

Rather than wait for a court to rule on the issue, protesters are heading to Staten Island today to demand Assembly Members Nicole Malliotakis and Ron Castorina drop their lawsuit demanding the city not delete its IDNYC data like it promised to. Beyond calling for an end to the lawsuit, the march will also be against the Trump administration's anti-immigrant agenda in general.

FREE, Saturday, April 8, 1 p.m., Greencroft Playground, Greencroft Avenue between Ainsworth Avenue and Redgrave Avenue

People's Climate March Organizing Meeting

The Climate March (taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 29th) will be here sooner than you know. If you want to be involved in some of the nitty gritty, or just have a handle on what organizers are planning for down in D.C., you can hear from representatives from the march and from Food and Water Watch, who'll give the lowdown.

FREE, Sunday, April 9, 5 p.m., The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center 208 West 13th Street

No Ban / No Wall Vigil

Hosted by Amnesty International, this Borough Hall vigil will show solidarity with the approximately 180,000,000 Iranian, Syrian, Libyan, Somalian, Sudanese and Yemeni citizens impacted by the Presidents second Muslim Ban. Get there by sundown, when organizers plan to light 1,800 candles, each representing 100,000 individuals of the six countries, to illustrate the human cost of the ban.

FREE, Sunday, April 9, 6:30 p.m., Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

Additional reporting by Jake Offenhartz
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 Trans-Africa Locomotive is designed for operation on southern Africas 1067mm Cape-gauge network and can be used on all types of railway, including lines with low axleloads, as well as for shunting. The underframe, superstructure, bogies, body, and locomotive control system are designed to withstand the African climate and operating conditions.

The single-cab locomotive was designed and assembled at Transnets production facility in Koedoespoort, east of Pretoria, and is currently being tested.

The locomotive is evidence of the strides we are making in transforming Transnet Engineering into an original equipment manufacturer for locomotives, a move designed to restore our position as a catalyst for African innovation, industrialisation and critically, intra-African trade, says Mr Siyabonga Gama, Transnet group chief executive. Gama says the Trans-Africa Locomotive should offer a cost-effective solution for many of southern Africas railways.

Once in production, the locomotive is expected to grow and maintain our revenue streams across the continent and beyond, Gama says. Transnet has, for many years, built and supplied railway stock for clients both within and outside South Africa, but has never owned a product, from design to assembly.
Dutch infrastructure manager Prorail handed over the line to Rotterdam Electric Tram (RET), Rotterdam Municipality, and Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Region (MRDH) on April 1 to allow work on the 312m five-month conversion project to begin.

The work involves renovating the seven existing stations, raising the height of platforms to make them level with train entrances, and making the stations accessible to disabled passengers by installing lifts and guideways for the blind. Two new stations will be built at Maassluis Steendijkpolder and Hook of Holland Beach. The latter will replace the existing station and will require a 900m extension to the line, which will be completed in 2019. A temporary station will be provided in the meantime.

A temporary station will also be provided at Schiedam Nieuwland until early 2018. as reconstruction of the existing station is too big a job to be completed in five months.

The overhead electrification will be converted from 1.5kV dc to 750V dc and two movable bridges on the line will be electrified. Diesel-hauled freight trains will continue to operate on part of the line during off-peak periods by installing staggered rails in the centre of the double-track sections through stations.

Infrastructure works are expected to be completed by the end of June, to allow commissioning to take place in July and test running in August.

Metro services will begin on September 1. Trains will run through from Hook of Holland via the centre of Rotterdam to Nesselande in the east with a 10-minute frequency provided between as far as Maassluis Steendijkpolder. RET expects a 40% increase in passenger traffic as a result of converting the line to metro operation.

A new station is proposed near the Maeslantkering, the giant Port of Rotterdam sea defence gates.

For more information on metro projects around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here.

OK
1. Fill in your name or an alias. Do not leave blank or use the name 'guest' or 'anonymous'.

2. No Nivul Peh. Profanity will be deleted.
Congress and new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are focused on providing more local control over education and ensuring that states have freedom and flexibility to innovate within their education systems. But the focus on local control could keep states from recognizing or acknowledging opportunities to collaborate, pool resources and work as allies to support students.

Teachers have already recognized the potential for states to share resources. According to our research, teachers in nearly every state are using EngageNY curriculum materials, a free online trove of sequenced units and classroom lessons at each grade level developed by New York State in 2011 to help its teachers address state standards for mathematics and English language arts. The popularity of EngageNY among teachers across many states suggests that they recognize the commonalities between New York standards and standards in their states. Why can't states recognize these commonalities as well?

The Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in late 2015, was intended to give local leaders and educators plenty of room to support and grow local innovations. Unlike its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act, the new education act gives states more leeway to pick their own indicators of student success and academic progress. DeVos recently noted that the new, streamlined accountability requirements in the act would give states the freedom and flexibility they deserve, and she has repeatedly celebrated the importance of local innovation within states.

Innovation within states can move the needle in terms of student success. Research conducted by our RAND team in Louisiana suggests that state department of education strategies are improving teaching. Other research, including a recent American Institutes for Research study in Massachusetts, has documented state innovations that led to improvements in student achievement. But meaningful, big improvements are far more likely if states work together to develop shared resources for educators and learners.

States often focus on what is unique to a state when making changes to education. But the truth is that most states agree on the content that students should be taught, and could potentially agree on sets of instructional materials or professional development that addresses that content. As of 2011, most states voluntarily adopted most or all of the K-12 academic content standards that are part of the Common Core State Standards, which were a bipartisan effort to establish more rigorous and challenging goals for what all students should learn. Many of those states call their content standards by another name (such as the Georgia Standards of Excellence or the Ohio Learning Standards) or included some additional goals for what students should learn. But they still retain most of what Common Core lays out. Some states that have not formally adopted Common Core, such as Alaska and Indiana, have integrated many of its content standards.

If most states value and emphasize the same content standards for what students in elementary and secondary grades should know, why would policymakers want to work in 50 separate silos to develop curriculum materials that largely overlap? There is some consensus in the research community that current state standards and testswhich are aligned with the Common Coreraise the bar for what students must learn. The Common Core also places greater demands on teachers. They need more and better resources to address new standards thoroughly in the classroom and ensure students can meet the bar set by those standards. Independent reviews indicate that many commonly used textbooks are not aligned with Common Core, with the exception of a handful of resources that include those provided by EngageNY. Yet even teachers who use EngageNY have told us that it doesn't always meet their needs.

States have an opportunity to provide better instructional materials to teachers hungry for more resources aligned with state standards. By focusing on what they agree students should learn, states could work together to build curricula and shore up other key supports including professional development and formative assessments that give teachers essential feedback on how students are doing. States should be able to set homegrown education policies for their own students while leveraging their similarities as they share knowledge to give students the best education they can.

Julia H. Kaufman is a policy researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. V. Darleen Opfer is director of RAND Education.

This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on March 31, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Judgment in Gagiyevs extradition case postponed indefinitely by Vienna court

MOSCOW, April 4 (RAPSI)  The Land Court of Vienna has postponed issuing of judgment regarding Russian Prosecutor Generals Office request to extradite Aslan Gagiyev, an alleged leader of the organized-crime syndicate, for indefinite period, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.

Gagiyev, who was arrested in Austria in January 2015, faces life sentence in Russia.

On March 3, 2016, the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters released Gagiyev after paying bail of 100,000 euros already returned to Gagiyev since then. Austrian courts reviewed the request for Gagiyevs extradition three times and the last time Austrian authorities asked Prosecutor Generals Office for additional guarantees for Gagiyevs prosecution to be conducted in accordance with the law.

Bulgarian authorities have also requested Gagiyevs extradition in document forgery case but prosecution against the defendant has been stopped.

Russian investigators claim that Georgian-born Aslan Gagiyevs gang has been operating since 2004 and includes over 50 members. Members of the gang committed more than 60 counts of murder in Moscow, Moscow Region and North Ossetia including murders of officials, law enforcement officers and businessmen. Some members of the gang have already been convicted and are serving long prison terms.
Now that Betsy DeVos has taken office as the new secretary of education, the next major education issue, aside from funding levels, may be whether President Trump moves to eliminate the cabinet-level department. Legislation to do that was introduced in the House the day after DeVoss confirmation. Taking that direction is not the right approach. Instead, we need to create a Department of Lifelong Learning and Career Development.

From the start, the education department has been far too narrow in scope to serve as a model for what states and communities must do to meet societal needs. The issues today -- lifelong learning, early childhood development and education, dealing with the complex issues of poverty, preparing young people for life -- require multi-dimensional solutions based on solid research and data. Todays bureaucratic structures are inadequate for those tasks.

From 1953 to 1980, education was a part of the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). In 1978, Jimmy Carter was presented with options to create a new agency that would have made Head Start, as well as several Department of Labor job training programs, part of that agency. He proposed nothing like that for fear of constituency backlash.

In fact, leaders like Al Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, Marion Wright Edelman, president of the Childrens Defense Fund, and Richard Lyman, President of Stanford University, all opposed the creation of a separate agency.

In the House Committee on Government Operations, chaired by Jack Brooks (D-TX), the bill to create a new department was blocked in the 95th Congress by a bipartisan coalition led by Rep. John Erlenborn (R-IL) and Rep. Leo Ryan (D-CA). (Ryans aide was Jackie Spear who later went on to be elected to Ryans seat; I was on loan from the Republican staff of the education committee to support Erlenborn.)

After the November 1978 election, Ryan traveled to Guyana to visit a commune headed by a fanatic named Jim Jones. Jones had been successful in bringing hundreds of followers with him, many from Ryans San Francisco Congressional district.

On November 18, as Ryan tried to leave with several Jones cult members who wished to depart, they were ambushed at the airstrip and Ryan was killed while Spear survived. Jones ordered his followers to drink the Kool-Aid, laced as it was with cyanide. Over 900 died, including more than 300 children, in what was, until 9/11/2001, the largest loss of civilians in American life in a single incident.

When the 96th Congress convened in January, Brooks again worked to pass the Carter proposal. Finally, on May 2, 1979, the bill passed the committee by a 20-19 vote. Five weeks later the bill passed the House by a vote of 210-206 in what was definitely not a party-line vote. If Ryan had lived, it is unlikely that the bill would have become law.

After a contentious conference, the bill finally reached the president and was signed on October 17, 1979. Within two weeks, Carter nominated Patricia Hufstedler, a federal judge with no education experience, to be the first secretary and on May 7, 1980, the department became operational.

As noted earlier, the issues of today require that there be an agency that has a much more coherent mission than that created in 1979, one that can knit together the resources and creative ideas to provide research (not direction!) to the states on issues from child development and education to the need for the training and retraining of adults. The concept of education today is much too narrow. States, communities and families all need help if they are to meet the challenges of this and the next century. The definition and purpose of education cannot be confined to what takes place in a school or on a campus. We are all learners every day. Bureaucratic silos built on the old model must come tumbling down; states must be given resources, not just federal direction.

Department of Labor programs and initiatives that provide support and resources to create and support jobs should become part of a newly created department, as well as the National Institute for Child Health and Development and the National Science Foundation directorate to advance science education. Together these investments will create more knowledge than each would do in their current silos, which are often buried in many layers of bureaucracy.

Instead of two federal agencies  Labor and Education  let us create one. Yes, that would mean shifting some activities like OHSA (Occupational Health and Safety) to HHS or Commerce and moving student loans to Treasury, but shaking up long-standing levels of complacency and providing a common mission to improve opportunities, enhance learning, grow the economy and assist in meeting the workforce needs of the future would be revitalizing. Programs such as those that serve disadvantaged children and those with special needs would be better informed regarding what we are learning about issues like development of the human brain.

The opportunity now exists for Congress and the president to not just deal with an up or down vote on the question of a Department of Education, but to show creative leadership by calling for a thoughtful dialogue about new approaches to the issues of the future, not simply replaying the battles of the past. The federal government must not direct states and communities; however, it should lead the nation with research, data and the funding of innovation, as well as assuring that individual rights are protected.

Why not a Department of Lifelong Learning and Career Development?

Christopher T. Cross is the Chairman of Cross & Joftus, former Republican staff director of the House Education Committee and a former assistant secretary of education.
Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

Search Real Estate
Porterville, CA (93257)

Today

Periods of rain. High 58F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 47F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
From The Red & Black staff, each editor gives their tips for starting off the new school year on the right foot.
This is almost like demonetisation and is overwhelming, says a bar-owner.

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.

But not all are as fortunate as Pasrija. Rahul Singh, founder and chief executive officer, The Beer Cafe, a restaurant chain known for its brew, had to shut down his bar in five of his properties.

This is almost like demonetisation and is overwhelming. We are now working with the stakeholders on the issue, he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a ban on the sale of alcohol in restaurants, hotels and liquor outlets within 500 metres from national and state highways.

Restaurant owners are looking at options to keep intact their businesses, which would suffer massive losses if the ban continues. Many are now scouting new locations in commercial areas away from the highway.

There are people who have hurriedly applied for new licences and are moving their bars to new spots. There is a frenzy to find new spots that are away from the highway, said Ashok Bansal, general secretary, Hotel Association of Chandigarh.

While there have been reports of some five-star hotels changing the entrances to their bars that are a few metres from the prohibition point, not everyone has been able to do so.

There is no leeway, no solution for us. We had to suddenly tell our guests that we would not be able to serve liquor to them. Our hotel as a whole falls in the red zone, we cannot just change the spot for the bar, said Manoj Thapa, general manager, Four Points By Sheraton, New Delhi.

According to the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, the industry will take a hit of around $30 billion against an annual revenue of $60 billion, following the Supreme Courts order.

Tourism creates jobs. Why kill it? The highway liquor ban verdict may hit one million jobs, Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer, NITI Aayog, had recently tweeted.

According to Technopak's India Food Services Report 2016, commissioned by the National Restaurant Association of India, the food services sector alone provides direct employment to 5.8 million people and indirect employment to another 7.5-8.5 million, and the two are likely to rise to 8.7 million and 9.5-10.5 million by 2021.
UP is estimated to account for more than half of the country's $4-bn annual buffalo meat exports, says Ajay Modi.





IMAGE: India earns more foreign exchange from buffalo meat exports than basmati rice ($3.48 billion in FY16). Photograph: Parivartan Sharma/Reuters.

In the late 'nineties, an entrepreneur from the minority community faced a strong backlash from Hindu religious groups while trying to set up a meat-processing unit in western Uttar Pradesh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was in power then, as it is now.

Kalyan Singh, the former chief minister of the state and the current Rajasthan governor, got the district magistrate concerned to issue demolition orders on the half-constructed unit.

The entrepreneur ran for help to a top BJP personality at the Centre.

Asked about the development, Singh informed the central leader that this plant would apparently slaughter thousands of cows daily. The central leader finally managed to pacify Singh by telling him that cows could not be exported in matchboxes.

The plant, which processes buffalo meat for export, eventually came up after a delay.

Now, it is facing a fresh crisis.

Operations have been disrupted completely for the past few days because of an atmosphere of fear across the supply chain, since the BJP formed the government in the state after winning a historic mandate, with Yogi Adityanath as chief minister.

One of the partys election promises was shutting down illegal slaughterhouses.

So far, allegedly illegal meat shops have been shut down in Lucknow, Varanasi and Ghaziabad.

On March 21, at least three meat shops owned by Muslims were burned down in Hathras.

UP is estimated to account for more than half of the countrys $4-billion annual buffalo meat exports. Its big markets are Vietnam, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

In fact, India earns more foreign exchange from buffalo meat exports than basmati rice ($3.48 billion in FY16).



Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attacked the United Progressive Alliance government during his 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign for promoting a Pink Revolution by encouraging meat export. However, the BJP government at the Centre has not taken any action to discourage these shipments.



Sirajuddin Qureshi, chairman and managing director of Hind Group, which owns two buffalo meat-processing units in the state, has been busy meeting his industry peers to evaluate the situation.

We have no concern if it is just about shutting down illegal slaughter units. But there must be adequate clarity and communication so that the organised sector is not targeted, he said.

The bulk of the buffalo meat processed in the state gets exported.

According to the commerce ministrys agricultural and processed food product export development authority, UP has around 180 buffalo meat-processing units, more than other key states such as Maharashtra and Punjab.

Sirajuddin said the government should also introduce a system to let those who operate without licences apply for one if they comply with requirements. Illegal slaughterhouses have come up, as there were hardly any government-owned facilities.

Hind Group is not the only one facing problems.

Kanpur-based Rustam Foods has been unable to convince suppliers to bring buffaloes to the unit.

They are scared. They apprehend harassment if they bring supplies, said Saleem Qureshi, the owner of Rustam Foods.

Till now, there is no official order from the government to close slaughterhouses, and Chief Minister Adityanaths actions are understood to be aimed at discouraging smuggling of cows.

However, the sector is wary that crusaders would keep harassing even those dealing in buffalo meat legally.

Some believe the crackdown had been initiated because most owners of slaughterhouses were Muslims. But others said this was a misconception.

There are packaging, administrative and technical staff at plants. Not all can be Muslims. There are a large number of transporters who are usually non-Muslims, said a source.

Industry executives said India had built an image of a reliable supplier of buffalo meat globally, emerging as the largest supplier in international markets after overtaking Brazil.

The world is watching whatever is happening in UP. This could impact orders, said a source.

Indian buffalo meat is preferred because of its competitive cost. It is especially sought after in West Asia and regions with a high Muslim population, since buffaloes are slaughtered here following the halal method specified by the Quran.



Many end up confusing buffalo slaughter and export with cow slaughter.

Like agriculture, the slaughter of animals is a state subject. So, while cow slaughter is banned in most states, Kerala and West Bengal allow it.

There is no ban on buffalo slaughter or its export, though globally this meat is also called beef. In India, only cow meat is known as beef.
Sebi's roadshow assumes significance after Indias move to ban high-value notes and a spate of changes in tax treaties with countries such as Mauritius, Singapore, and Cyprus, had unsettled FPIs investing in the country

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will embark on overseas roadshows next month to meet large foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) with an aim to tell them about the reforms undertaken by the regulator in the last few years and get feedback.

The regulator will visit countries such as the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and South Africa, and meet the securities regulators of these countries. The team will be led by whole-time member G Mahalingam.

The roadshow assumes significance after Indias move to ban high-value notes and a spate of changes in tax treaties with countries such as Mauritius, Singapore, and Cyprus, had unsettled FPIs investing in the country.

This will be an opportunity to meet large investors one-on-one and listen to their concerns, although the regulator may not be able to address all of them, said an official familiar with Sebis plans.

Although not entirely unexpected, the changes in tax treaties have made several FPIs reassess the structures through which they invest in India.

There has also been uncertainty surrounding Indias tax treaties with European jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, which provide for capital gains exemption on transfer of shares.

With the new tax treaty with Singapore and Mauritius coming into effect from April 1, inflows through participatory notes (P-notes) are expected to see a sharp drop.

Going by Sebi data, nearly 90 per cent of P-note investments are routed through Singapore and Mauritius.

Last year, Sebi had tightened Know Your Client and anti-money laundering rules for P-notes, bringing them on a par with those for onshore investors, besides issuing curbs on transferring P-notes from one foreign investor to another.

The bulk of the FPI money flowing into India comes from the US, Mauritius, and Singapore.

In November and December, FPIs had pulled out nearly $4 billion from Indian equities following Indias demonetisation drive, changes in its tax treaties, as well as a surprise win by Donald Trump in the US presidential elections.

Things have looked up, however, for FPIs this year. For one, the demonetisation drive did not make too much of a dent the December quarter earnings of India Inc, as much as it was feared.

For another, the Union Budget included an exemption from the provisions of indirect transfer tax for Category-I and Category-II FPIs, somewhat soothing investor nerves.

The Budget proposed steps to ease the business environment and operational flexibility for FPIs by introducing a common application form for registration, opening of bank and demat accounts, and issuing of PAN (Permanent Account Number), among other things.

The recent win by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Assembly elections has also raised hopes among FPIs that the government will push ahead with reforms.

Over 2,800 new FPIs have registered with Sebi in the first 10 months of the current financial year.

Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters
The start-up story appears to be losing its sheen due to corporate misgovernance, financial mismanagement and gender discrimination. Sangeeta Tanwar and Ritwik Sharma report.

IMAGE: One of the most shocking developments in the start-up world has been the sexual harassment allegations levelled against TVF founder Arunabh Kumar.

The Indian start-up story appears to be losing its sheen with recent cases of companies struggling with issues related to corporate governance, financial mismanagement and gender discrimination.

One of the latest instances involves alternate stay aggregator Stayzilla, which faltered on account of non-payment of dues to vendors. An apparent case of financial imprudence took a turn for the worst with the arrest of the firm's co-founder Yogendra Vasupal.

An equally shocking development has been the allegation of workplace harassment by female employees of online content company The Viral Fever against its founder Arunabh Kumar.

Also, social media was abuzz with news of ShopClues co-founder Radhika Aggarwal being accused of professional and personal wrongdoing by her estranged husband and one-time co-founder Sandeep Aggarwal.

These incidents follow the unruly boardroom battle that played out in full public view not long ago between Housing.com founder Rahul Yadav and the investors.

The question is, what makes start-ups so vulnerable?

How best can they promote transparency, adopt sound corporate policies and put in place human resource (HR) practices to avoid crises?

Rishab Gulshan, partner and director, Boston Consulting Group, says most start-ups in India suffer from the "curse of the known".

What this essentially means is that entrepreneurs by their very nature are driven by the need to change the status quo. That is where their ability to change comes from. But at times they take it to extremes.

He explains, "While you can disrupt with technology, there are areas or functions where one can safely follow existing processes. In such cases, there is no need for a start-up to expose itself to risks by innovating."

For example, if a start-up is building a sales team, there is no point in reinventing the wheel. Rather it pays to take advantage of the experience and best practices available elsewhere while adapting them to its context. They can get things first time right without exposing themselves to unnecessary risks.

Start-ups are based on ideas, but it takes a lot to build organisational processes like workflows, goals, deadlines, investments and reviews.

"Start-ups are far more likely to succeed if their founders understand, admit and compensate for their personal limitations -- they must build teams of talented, experienced and energetic next-level leaders who have specialised knowledge," says Kunal Sen, senior vice-president, TeamLease Services.

Many, including Aloke Bajpai, CEO, ixigo, believe that the story being sold by the start-up world is that of accelerated growth at any cost. But such a culture has its own downsides -- it created unprecedented pressure and takes the focus away from inculcating values that can outlive the founders.

"There is no point in creating a false impression about the firm doing well at a time when the business is not in a good shape. At times of crisis, be honest and truthful in sharing the right information with different stakeholders. Promoting transparency goes a long way in building trust with employees, which comes in handy during a crisis," says Bajpai.

He recalls the global financial crisis of 2008 when the online hotel and travel aggregator had to take tough decisions including downsizing staff. With trust in the management, a large number of people took a pay cut and stuck with ixigo and survived the turbulent times.

It is critical to keep channels of communication open as it helps build trust, transparency and security among employees during a crisis, says Zishaan Hayath, founder, Toppr.

He adds that compliance with the law of the land is the first step towards building a good, safe and progressive culture. Start-ups should focus on it without any compromises. The starting point for this could be hiring an experienced chief financial officer and HR head who will be quick to point out any financial irregularity and discriminatory practice at the workplace.

A huge majority of start-ups in India are less than five years old and are still establishing work cultures and processes.

James Agrawal, managing director, BTI Consultants, says, "Start-ups are working under severe pressure as they are yet to show return on investment to investors. The HR in most start-ups primarily focuses on recruitment. The emphasis on talent development and culture building is limited. This needs to change and the focus has to be on talent development."

Being process-oriented and ensuring all sub-unit goals are aligned with organisational goals go a long way in mitigating risks, says Abhishek Agarwal, senior vice-president, global delivery, Judge Group.

Lack of clarity in goals and measures to achieve them are the biggest challenges for young companies, he adds. Most start-ups end up firefighting because of this.

They also carry a reputation of hiring talent with bloated packages -- paid out of investor's money. Being cost-conscientious is critical in order to avert financial crisis.

The best way to deal with gender discrimination, Bajpai feels, is to ensure the cases get reported. Also, the management should ensure it doesn't hurt the wronged person more and the investigation has a tangible impact.

Nearbuy (a coupon company), for instance, follows a zero-tolerance policy. "The last sexual harassment case was reported two years back when a senior was fired within 24 hours of the issue being reported and found to be true," says CEO Ankur Warikoo.

Unlike other industries, start-ups appear to be a victim of their own success, attracting a lot of media attention. In all of this, what is worrying is an attitude to soft-pedal on regulations, which can be detrimental to the sector's growth.

"Any start-up which has taken money from institutional investors should be as much accountable for corporate governance as any other publicly listed company. If they have taken money, they are legally bound. There should be laws to this effect, just as in case of publicly listed companies," says Warikoo.
The average home prices in Mumbai have touched Rs 12,000 per sq ft

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC's) plan to levy a one per cent surcharge on the sale and purchase of properties is expected to hit the residential property market further.

The country's most expensive property market, which was going through a prolonged slowdown for the past four years, was just coming out from the impact of demonetisation.

"Property developers are already making losses and authorities think real estate is the best industry to levy all the taxes. It is a very bad sign," says Vijay Wadhwa, chairman of Wadhwa group, a prominent Mumbai developer.

Amit Bhagat, chief executive of ASK Property Investment Advisors, agrees that the government and municipalities are overloading taxes on the sector.

"Affordability is already low in Mumbai. Any new levy will bring it down further," adds Bhagat.

The average home prices in Mumbai have touched Rs 12,000 a sq ft, making even a 500 sq ft apartment to cost Rs 60 lakh.

According to sources, property sales are 25 to 30 per cent down from last year's levels in Mumbai.

"It (surcharge) is not going to help sentiments in the market," says Shishir Baijal, chairman of Knight Frank, a UK-based consultant.

The ticket size of new launches of residential units across the top eight cities saw an average decline of 14 per cent on a year-on-year basis in 2016, according to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). Mumbai saw a decline of 30 per cent in ticket sizes.

Restricted new launches and reduction in effective cost of their property by the developers were the prime reasons for the decline in ticket size, Cushman said.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters
While a lot of TN farmers are indeed in a very bad condition, the agitation at Jantar Mantar doesn't seem to be apolitical, says Sudhir Bisht.

A group of farmers from Tamil Nadu has been protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for the past several days, demanding a loan waiver from the central government.

Media reports showed some of them wearing a 'garland of skulls', apparently of their brethren who committed suicide in Tiruchirappalli, Karur and Thanjavur districts of Tamil Nadu.

I had gone to the protest site to speak to the leader of the agitation P Ayyakannu last week.

When I reached there at around 3 pm on Friday, Ayyakunnu was eating his lunch: a frugal meal of rice and with little daal. I waited for him to finish and looked around meanwhile.

There were around six bare-bodied men with only a green lungi draped around their waists. A larger number of men, around 20 in number, wearing sparkling white dhotis and white cotton shirts were also there. I was told that they are also poor farmers from the drought affected regions of Tamil Nadu.

I also saw at least five men wearing black trousers and black coats in 38C and quickly recognised that they were lawyers who were supporting the farmers.

In addition, there were several young boys and girls accompanying or supporting the agitating farmers.

The general atmosphere at the protest site was one of moroseness and despair. It could be due to the heat coupled with the sense that the agitation was not expected to yield any significant result.

Ayyakannu had, meanwhile, finished his meals and was ready to talk to me. I expressed my sympathy for the misery that has befallen upon farmers of India in general and farmers from Tamil Nadu in particular due to the severe drought in the state.

I asked him what were his major demands. First of all, he said, he wanted a loan waiver for all farmers. Secondly, the Centre should release about Rs 40,000 crores to Tamil Nadu towards drought relief. Lastly, he wanted the Karnataka government to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

It was his second demand that struck me the most. I told him he should be mainly concerned with the loan waiver, why is he concerned about how much money the Centre gives the state towards drought relief?

To this question, Ayyakannu didn't give a specific reply. He kept on saying that the state government has done its best and that the responsibility of giving a relief of Rs 40,000 crores to Tamil Nadu was on (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.

I was a bit surprised by his rigid stand. I asked him why he was not asking the ruling party in Tamil Nadu to take it up with the Centre. His reply was again evasive.

He said the Union government wanted the farmers to suffer and eventually leave farming so that their lands can be given away to multinational companies for mining or other purposes.

He further said that while the salaries of MPs and MLAs and even peons have gone up by more than 200 times, the minimum support prices given to farmers for paddy has gone up by only 20 times in the last 40-45 years.

I agreed with him on this point and asked him if he was hopeful that the central government will agree to his demands.

The farmer leader said he was sure that the prime minister would never agree to his demands as he wanted the MNCs from abroad to come and take over all the land of the farmers.

"Take away the land for what?" I asked.

"For mining or for oil extraction. I know this is what he has promised to the MNCs," said Ayyakunnu in English.

He said since Karnataka assembly elections are slated for next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party will not push Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

Ayyukannu kept on saying that the prime minister and the Union finance minister have no time for the farmers, especially those from Tamil Nadu.

While I have no doubt that a lot of TN farmers are indeed in a very bad condition, I couldn't convince myself that the agitation at Jantar Mantar was really apolitical.

Also, what intrigues me is that these farmers are protesting even when their leader says he has little hope of getting any favours from the Centre. What is the use of the agitation, then? Is it to embarrass the government or is it that a hidden political entity is merely testing the waters for a larger agitation in the future?

The human skulls that the farmers wore on the opening day of their agitation were missing. I asked the gentlemen who appeared to be lawyers about the veracity of the claim that the skulls were of farmers who died of starvation or committed suicide. They kept mum.

Perhaps the skull show was only to add a bit of sensation as protests at Jantar Mantar have become commonplace now.

I left the protest site feeling sorry for the agitating farmers. I could be wrong but I think some political organisation is playing with the sentiments of the poor.

IMAGE: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi with Tamil farmers who are agitating for loan waiver and compensation for crop failure at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo.

Sudhir Bisht, author and columnist, tweets at @sudhir_bisht
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived at Bomdila in West Kameng district on Tuesday evening, marking the beginning of his nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived by road as his chopper could not take off from Guwahati due to inclement weather.

He was accompanied by Chief Minister Pema Khandu besides other high-ranking police and civil officials.

The Dalai Lamas visit to the state comes eight years after his previous visit in 2009 which was exactly 50 years after he had passed through the town on his way from Lhasa in Tibet to India.

WATCH: Bomdila welcomes Dalai Lama wholeheartedly

He is scheduled to give a discourse at the Buddha Park in Bomdila on Wednesday.

On April 6, he will impart teachings at Dirang and confer the Avalokiteshvara Permission at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in the morning.

From April 8-10, the Dalai Lama will deliver discourses in Tawang. He will reach Tawang on April 11 and give a discourse the next day.

Amid persistent Chinese objections to the Dalai Lamas trip to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Tuesday said no artificial controversy should be created around the Tibetan spiritual leaders visit.

IMAGE: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama arrives at Bomdila in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo
India on Tuesday made it clear that its position of bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues has not changed, in a veiled snub to the United States which suggested that it may find its place in efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions.

The governments position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasnt changed.

We, of course, expect international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said.

He was responding to a query on remarks of US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the American administration was concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward.

Haley, a senior Indian-American member of the Trump Cabinet, said she expects that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be a part of that (de-escalating tensions).

Its absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward, she said, signalling an apparent change in the US stance of not engaging in Indo-Pak disputes.

The remarks are the first time that Haley, as a member of the Trump Cabinet, has addressed tensions between India and Pakistan.

The previous administration under US President Barack Obama had maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue between the two South Asian neighbours.

Former state department spokesman John Kirby had said that the issue of Kashmir was for the two nations to work out and the US had no role to play in it.

The US had also said it was for India and Pakistan to determine the pace, scope and character of talks on the Kashmir issue.

India has strongly maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue with Pakistan and has ruled out any third party mediation, including either by the UN or the US.

Pakistan, on the other hand, constantly raises the Kashmir issue at various UN fora and was ready to have interlocutors from both the world body as well as from Washington to resolve the issue.

Watch Nikki Haley's statement HERE
The minister of state for Home said that China should not interfere in India's internal affairs.

India on Tuesday hit out at China over its objection to the Dalai Lamas trip to Arunachal Pradesh, saying no artificial controversy should be created around the visit and asked Beijing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

China has kept a close watch ahead of the Dalai Lamas visit, starting Tuesday, and the Chinese foreign ministry had warned India against the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, saying it will cause serious damage to bilateral ties.

However, unfazed by the Chinese warning, India asserted, No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India.

It also reiterated the governments position that the Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader who is deeply respected by the Indian people.

The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the external affairs ministry said in a press release.

Reacting sharply, Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju asked China not to interfere in Indias internal affairs and asserted that New Delhi respects the One-China policy and expects Beijing to reciprocate.

He said, There is no political angle behind His Holinesss visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It is completely religious.

Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India and China should not object to his visit and interfere in Indias internal affairs.

-- An epic journey: The day the Dalai Lama came to India

India has never interfered in Chinas internal affairs and it expects China to reciprocate, the minister said.

The minister, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the border state is not a disputed territory and is part of the Union of India and is a full-fledged state.

There may be some differences of opinion between India and China over the boundary. But China has no locus standi over Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

Rijiju said talks between New Delhi and Beijing on the boundary dispute are going on and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are expecting that the issue will be soon resolved.

I appeal to China not to rake up the Arunachal Pradesh issue unnecessarily as status of the state cant be questioned, he said.

During his visit to the northeastern state, the Dalai Lama will hold religious discourse with devotees in Tawang, Bomdila and other areas.

Rijiju said the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal Pradesh at the invitation of the people of the state and will confine himself to only religious discourse and he will not make any political statement.

As a democratic country, India cant interfere in religious affairs of any community, he added.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has accorded state guest honour to the Dalai Lama and is making arrangements for his stay there, Rijiju said, adding the Tibetan spiritual leader will also visit his (Rijijus) village in West Kameng district where he will inaugurate a Buddhist monastery.

The Dalai Lama had last visited Arunachal Pradesh in November 2009.

He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh want good neighbourly relations with China and want reopening of trading points along the McMahon Line which have been closed since 1962.

The trading points were beneficial. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are looking toward cooperative attitude from China, he said.

The external affairs ministry also referred to the Dalai Lamas website which mentions that he has visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions.

Photograph: Anuwar Hazarika/Reuters
Presence of terror safe havens in Pakistan, aggressive Chinese behaviour and the Afghanistan situation dominated last month's meeting between United States Defence Secretary Gen (retd) James Mattis and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, according to an American defence official.

"They talked a lot about China. The concern about China sometimes bullying some of its neighbours in the region. There was concern about that," a US defence official said about the Mattis-Doval meeting at the Pentagon on March 24.

This was the highest-level interaction of Mattis with a top Indian official after becoming the defence secretary.

China is also very important to the US with regard to the North Korea situation, said the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan and Afghanistan were the two major topics of discussion between the two leaders, the official said.

"They talked about Pakistan," the official said, adding that Doval "talked more" on the issue than Mattis.

"There was not a whole lot specifics. We have a number of concerns with respect to Pakistan...counter-terrorism, nuclear weapons. They talked a little bit about that. It is obviously a concern of India's and it is an important player in the region and the world," the defence official said.

The US would like to see Pakistan in a situation with it where they can have a productive relationship, the official said.

"They talked a lot about Afghanistan...and the need to try to get it...just finish it (the war). It has been going on (for) too long," the defence official said.

The official explained that this meant "finish the operations and leave (Afghanistan) in a stable state".

While successive US administrations have praised India's developmental assistance in Afghanistan, some recent media reports both in India and the US have referred to Trump administration's desire of enhanced military role of India in the war-torn country.

The official said he "did not recall" any such conversation during the Pentagon meeting.

Reflecting on the meeting, the official said the defence secretary is "very keen on India".

Mattis "recognises the important role that it plays in the region and the world and It's unique position vis-a-vis Pakistan, vis-a-vis China," said the defence official.

Secretary Mattis wants to have a solid defence relationship with India, the official said.

The secretary was interested in listening from the NSA what India's perspective was on most of these issues, both regional and global.

"I think, the NSA probably did most of the talking. It bodes well for the future. I think, he (Mattis) wants to have a solid defence relationship with India," the official said in response to a question.

Doval made a quite visit to the United States for a few days around March 20, during which he also met the Homeland Security Secretary Gen (retd) John Kelly and US National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster.

According to the defence official, there was unlikely to be any major change in the US assistance to Pakistan when it comes to funding it for counter-terrorism operations.

"I do not see it changing. The way that counter-terrorism aid works that they (Pakistan) have to show progress. We give it to them in parts and pieces. They have to demonstrate certain progress when we reach the next level," the official said.

Doval, during his visit, also met Senator John McCain, Chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

This was his first visit to the United States after Donald Trump became the 45th president of the US in January.

Soon after his election in November, Doval had made a trip to the US during which he had met the then NSA-designate Gen Michael Flynn, who resigned a few weeks after he took over the job due to the controversy surrounding Russian diplomats during the transition period and the election campaign.

Flynn was quickly replaced by McMaster, who according to the officials, has a very positive view about India.

Doval and McMaster during their meeting at the White House "committed" to work together as partners to "combat the full spectrum" of terrorist threats, affirming that both great democracies stand together in the fight against terrorism.

IMAGE: NSA AJit Doval with United States Defence Secretary Gen (retd) James Mattis. Photograph: US Department of Defense
A 24-year-old college student died after allegedly jumping from his suite on the 19th floor of the luxury hotel Taj Lands End in the suburban area of Mumbais Bandra West, on Monday evening right after going live on Facebook with a tutorial on committing suicide.

Arjun Bhardwaj, who hailed from Bengaluru, was studying at a college in suburban Vile Parle, a senior police official said.

According to the police, Bhardwaj, a student of Narsee Monjee college in the suburbs of Mumbai, booked a suite on the 19th floor of the hotel around 3 pm and then around 6.30 pm hurtled himself off the building.

According to the police, Bhardwaj had posted a video on Facebook about steps to kill oneself before taking the extreme step.

Im a drug addict I dont want to live anymore and hence committing suicide, the official said, quoting the suicide note purportedly written by him.

The suicide note was found from the hotel room.

In the video posted by him, he recorded a video on five steps to killing oneself.

The video, which is 1 minute and 44 seconds in duration, he lists five steps  write notes to people, get drunk, eat, check out the view and die.

The video ends with Bhardwaj smiling and saying goodbye.

The hotels security personnel said they heard a loud thud on the premises and soon rushed to the spot where they found Bhardwaj lying in pool of blood.

He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

Bhardwaj had submitted proper documents before checking in, which helped the officials identify him.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police tweeted urging youngsters to reach out to them. Deeply bereaved with suicide of a young boy in the city. We urge the youngsters to reach out to us #WeAreListening, tweeted the Mumbai Police.

-- With inputs from PTI

Image: Arjun Bhardwaj, who hailed from Bengaluru, was studying at a college in suburban Vile Parle.
The Supreme Court has introduced the Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society, where the lawyers fees are capped. But there are certain conditions, reports Tinesh Bhasin.

To make litigation more affordable, the Supreme Court has introduced a scheme called Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society.

Those earning up to 60,000 a month, or 7.5 lakh a year, can approach the society and hire a lawyer at rates much lower than what an advocate would otherwise charge to fight a case in the SC.

Its not just about the cost of litigation; many dont know whom to go to and how to proceed if they have to fight a case. With judges of the SC on its governing body, approaching this society ensures that a litigant gets the right advice at a minimum fee, says Ritu Bhalla, senior litigation partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co.



While the schemes objective is to help individuals, some lawyers feel that the rules need to be more stringent.

The apex courts announcement says that if the advocate is found to be negligent, he is only required to return the brief and fee.

Before Abhilash Panickar, founder of Entrust Legal Services, became a lawyer, his mother was fighting a court case. She took help of a similar government-run programme in Mumbai. Almost all lawyers demanded a separate fee despite the scheme being free for women.

Whenever she complained to the governing body, the latter would allot her a new lawyer. But the new one again demanded money, says Panickar.

In this case, the charges are capped: The society not only makes the fee affordable, it also standardises rates. A lawyer can only charge 10,000 for drafting and filing a special leave petition or writ petition and other applications such as bail or stay exemption.

If you are not going to a lawyer through the society, the charges start at 50,000-1 lakh for such petitions.

The more renowned the lawyer is, the higher would be the demand.

The fee for the hearing of the case is 3,000 a day, but its capped at 9,000 if there are several hearings.

A SC lawyer charges a minimum of 5,000-10,000 for each hearing. Each time he comes to the court room, this fee has to be paid.

In the Indian judicial system, there are two classes of lawyers -- senior counsel and others. Courts usually give preference to the hearing of cases that have senior counsel involved. Many lawyers and law firms, therefore, engage senior counsel in their cases.

A Supreme Court lawyer charges a minimum of 5,000-10,000 for each hearing. Each time he comes to the court room, this fee has to be paid.

But the fee of the senior counsel could be exorbitant.

The apex courts legal aid scheme even caps the fee of senior lawyers.

In fact, the SC notification even fixes charges for the stenographer, photocopies, print outs and other fees that a lawyer can charge the client.

When you approach a lawyer, there are no standard rates. Some may quote you a fee like the Supreme Court has structured. But mostly, they demand money for every hearing, every application or on incremental developments. In addition, they may also have consultation charges.



Not all cases accepted: Once you file an application to avail the service of the society, its secretary assigns the documents to an advocate-on-record.

An applicant can choose his advocate and give up to three names.

The advocate-on-record will first go through the documents and will see whether the case is fit to be admitted in the SC or not. Only after the advocate is satisfied will the society provide you with the legal aid.

If he feels that its not a fit case for SC, the society will refund the money after a deduction 750 as service charge.



What to expect

Many competitive lawyers undertake pro bono (voluntary service without payment) cases to help sections of society that cannot afford litigation costs. You would find such lawyers empanelled with the SC legal aid society.

An individual should not worry about the quality of service. If a lawyer has taken up a case at a much lower rate, it doesnt mean he or she will lower the quality of work depending on the cost, says Nishit Dhruva, managing partner, MDP & Partners.

If you are assigned a lawyer who asks for fee beyond what is prescribed by the SC, you should not give in.

It starts with small amounts and then the demand increases as the case progresses, warn lawyers.

In such a case, the individual should give a written complaint to the society so that your lawyer is changed.

If the society finds that the existing advocate negligent, it will strike his name from the empanelment.

Photograph: Mohit Singh/Wikimedia Commons.
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.
Malaysia: Decision to review mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking must be first step towards wider reform

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 3 April 2017 Reference ACT 50/6004/2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Malaysia: Decision to review mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking must be first step towards wider reform , 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e251a44.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 decision of the Malaysian government to allow judges discretion in sentencing in drug trafficking cases is a step in the right direction, Amnesty International said today. However, while the move could result in a significant reduction in the use of the death penalty, the Malaysian authorities should not limit reform to drug trafficking offences or the mandatory death penalty. They should go further and immediately establish a moratorium on all executions, as first steps towards full abolition of the death penalty.

On 23 March 2017 Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and de facto Law Minister Azalina Othman Said stated in response to a parliamentary question that on 1 March the cabinet had tasked the Attorney General with the preparation of amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1952. The Minister stated that the measure is supposed to include in Section 39(b) "additional clauses to give discretionary power to the courts to bestow other sentences, besides the mandatory death penalty, in certain situations".

Amnesty International welcomes the decision to move forward with the reforms, first announced in October 2012. Figures shared by the Minister in March 2017 indicated that 799 people on death row were convicted of and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking, including 416 foreign nationals.

However, the proposal as described does not go far enough, as it only involves the offence of drug trafficking and could also restrict sentencing discretion to specific circumstances, potentially retaining some elements of the mandatory punishment if these conditions are not met. Similar legislative changes became effective in neighbouring Singapore in 2013 in relation to the mandatory death penalty for murder and drug trafficking offences. However, Singapore has nevertheless seen continued use of the mandatory death penalty in such cases as a result of these reforms.

Amnesty International encourages the Malaysian authorities to take the opportunity of this legislative reform to abolish the death penalty fully, and to refrain from introducing clauses that would further violate international law and standards.

The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that "the automatic and mandatory imposition of the death penalty constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life [] in circumstances where the death penalty is imposed without any possibility of taking into account the defendant's personal circumstances or the circumstances of the particular offence". International law also states that, in countries where the death penalty has not yet been abolished, its imposition must be restricted to "the most serious crimes", meaning intentional killing. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has specifically underlined that "the death penalty may not be imposed for drug-related offences unless they meet this requirement."

In Malaysia the death penalty is the mandatory punishment for 12 offences, including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism-related offences when these result in death, and some firearms offences. Judges have discretion to apply the death penalty for 10 other offences, including treason, kidnapping and rape when these result in death, and trafficking of firearms. The majority of death sentences are imposed for murder and drug trafficking.

An issue of further concern for Amnesty International is the retention of the presumption, under Section 37 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1952, that defendants found with specified amounts of certain drugs, or even simply in possession or in control of objects or premises in which prohibited substances are found, are guilty of drug trafficking. In those circumstances, the burden of proof is shifted onto the defendant, in violation of the presumption of innocence and fair trial rights.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally as a violation of the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. As of today, 141 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice; in the Asia Pacific region, 19 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and a further eight are abolitionist in practice.

The announcement of reforms to the mandatory death penalty comes only weeks after the family of Shahrul Izani bin Suparman received the good news of the commutation of his death sentence, which had been mandatorily imposed in 2009 after he was caught in possession of 622 grams of cannabis six years earlier his first criminal offence. This followed the announcement in early February that the King of Malaysia had commuted the mandatory death sentence imposed on Nigerian national Osariakhi Ernest Obayangbon. He had been diagnosed as having schizophrenia before his appeal in 2007 and has been receiving treatment since then.

These cases go a long way in illustrating the critical importance of prompt reforms to Malaysia's death penalty laws. Amnesty International renews its calls on the Malaysian authorities to immediately halt all executions and join the majority of countries that have abolished the death penalty once and for all.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Title Recommendation CP(2017)2 on the implementation of the Council of Europe Conventionon Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Latvia

Publication Date 3 April 2017

Country Latvia

Cite as Council of Europe: Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Recommendation CP(2017)2 on the implementation of the Council of Europe Conventionon Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Latvia, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e25c314.html [accessed 8 November 2022]

Comments Adopted at the 20th meeting of the Committee of the Parties on 10 March 2017
Title Report submitted by the Macedonian authorities on measures taken to comply with Committee of the Parties Recommendation CP(2014)13 on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings

Publication Date 8 July 2016

Country North Macedonia

Cite as Council of Europe: Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Report submitted by the Macedonian authorities on measures taken to comply with Committee of the Parties Recommendation CP(2014)13 on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, 8 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e25d664.html [accessed 8 November 2022]
Title Report concerning the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Malta

Publication Date 16 March 2017

Country Malta

Citation / Document Symbol GRETA(2017)3

Cite as Council of Europe: Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Report concerning the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Malta, 16 March 2017, GRETA(2017)3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e25f734.html [accessed 8 November 2022]

Comments Adopted on 2 December 2016
Russia: Trial for studying religious books begins

Publisher Forum 18 Author Victoria Arnold Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Forum 18, Russia: Trial for studying religious books begins, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e38c364.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.

Eleven Muslims charged or on trial for meeting to study Turkish theologian Said Nursi's works face up to six years' imprisonment if convicted. The trial of three men began in Dagestan, while another continues in Blagoveshchensk. Two Jehovah's Witnesses also remain on criminal trial.
Kazakhstan: Lawyers now face trial for defending client

Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as Forum 18, Kazakhstan: Lawyers now face trial for defending client, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e38c9f4.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 two lawyers for a Jehovah's Witness now on trial in Astana are themselves under criminal investigation. The KNB secret police investigator accuses them of "revealing information from a pre-trial investigation" by appealing to President Nazarbayev for the case against their client to be halted.
Bangladesh: 5 Years On, No Justice for Aminul Islam

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Bangladesh: 5 Years On, No Justice for Aminul Islam, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e39f5c4.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 Bangladeshi authorities have failed to make measurable progress in investigating the April 4, 2012 abduction, torture, and killing of prominent labor rights activist Aminul Islam, including allegations of links to state officials, Human Rights Watch said today. International donors and global brands sourcing from Bangladesh should press the government on the need for accountability for Islam's murder.

"After five years, neither Aminul Islam's family nor the public know the truth about what happened and who killed him," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. "The authorities seem have washed their hands of the entire incident by suggesting that his death was due to a private dispute - without investigating the serious allegations of security forces involvement."

Following national and international pressure, the Bangladeshi government had pledged a high-level speedy investigation into his murder. But five years on, while police have filed charges against a missing suspect, a former garment worker, there have been no apparent efforts to investigate allegations that members of the Bangladeshi security forces were part of the conspiracy to kill the labor rights activist.

Islam, 39, was a trade union organizer with the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS), a local nongovernment organization that supports the rights of factory workers in the garment and seafood industries. He disappeared on April 4, 2012. His body was discovered two days later, almost 100 kilometers from where he was last seen, and showed signs of torture under circumstances that raise concerns of involvement by Bangladeshi security forces.



Human Rights Watch has long called for the authorities to establish an independent body to lead the investigation into Islam's death, particularly considering Bangladesh's long history of protecting its security forces from any accountability.

In November 2013, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed charges of murder against a former garment worker, Mustafizur Rahman. Rahman's whereabouts have been unknown since Islam's disappearance, with Bangladesh authorities claiming that he is hiding somewhere in India.

Police photographs of Islam's body indicated signs of torture. His right leg had injuries under the knee, his toes had been smashed, both knees had coagulated blood, and there were several bruises on the body. The Ghatail police chief, Mahbubul Haq, told journalists at the time, "He [Islam] was murdered. His legs had severe torture marks including a hole made by a sharp object. All his toes were broken."

Islam's work as a labor organizer for BCWS often brought him into conflict with garment factory managers. Before his disappearance, he reported receiving frequent threats and being under surveillance. BCWS helps garment factory workers form trade unions to ensure decent work and wages, and safe working conditions. However, workers who try to form or join labor unions have told Human Rights Watch that they often face harassment and threats from factory managers. BCWS staff have long faced harassment, including at one point sham criminal charges being filed against BCWS founder Kalpona Akter that carried the death penalty.

Despite reforms to labor laws since the Rana Plaza building collapsed in April 2013, killing and injuring over 1100 garment factory workers, the authorities continue to intimidate workers and labor leaders, with dozens alleging that they are facing unfair or apparently fabricated criminal cases after wage strikes in Ashulia, an industrial area outside of Dhaka, on December 2016.

"The Bangladesh government's failures to protect labor organizers like Aminul Islam should put it in the international spotlight until this case is solved and all the perpetrators are found and brought to justice," said Robertson. "The government has continually failed to ensure labor rights protections for garment workers, but one way to turn that around would be to set up a credible, independent, and transparent investigation into Islam's death."



Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Belarus: 'Freedom Day' Crackdown

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Belarus: 'Freedom Day' Crackdown , 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a1144.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.

Authorities across Belarus arbitrarily detained at least 700 people in March 2017 in connection with peaceful protests, Human Rights Watch said today. The majority, including more than 100 journalists and 60 human rights activists, were detained in connection with peaceful protests marking Belarus' annual Freedom Day on March 25.

Police punched, kicked, clubbed, and otherwise abused many of the detainees. On March 27, courts in Minsk and other cities swiftly sentenced 177 people, including journalists and human rights activists, to fines or detention on fabricated misdemeanor charges. Hours before the March 25 rally in Minsk, riot police raided the Human Rights Center "Viasna", one of the country's leading human rights groups, detaining 58 people.

"Belarusian authorities led a shocking, all-out assault on peaceful assembly around the Freedom Day protests," said Yulia Gorbunova, Belarus researcher at Human Rights Watch. "They should immediately release everyone who was detained in connection with the protests and investigate allegations of police mistreatment."

A Human Rights Watch researcher interviewed 19 journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and released detainees and attended court hearings in Minsk.

Freedom Day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918. For years, the political opposition has held rallies on March 25 to protest President Aliaksander Lukashenka's rule. This year's protests were the largest outpouring of public discontent in years, and the government crackdown was the broadest since police violence against protesters in Minsk in 2010.

In February and March, there were unprecedented mass demonstrations in 13 Belarusian cities protesting a new tax on unemployed people, the so-called "social parasites" tax, which Lukashenka had imposed by decree in 2015. In early 2017 people began to receive notices to pay the tax for the previous year.

An estimated 2,000 people came out to central Minsk on March 25. On March 26, a smaller group protested the detentions of protesters the previous day. Participants in that protest were also detained.

The majority of those detained in connection with the March 25 protests were later released without charge. The rest were charged with offenses such as hooliganism, resisting arrest, or participating in unsanctioned protests.

"There were more detentions of journalists in one day than through all of last year," Andrei Bastunets, head of the Belarussian Association of Journalists, an independent group, told Human Rights Watch, referring to journalists detained while covering the March 25 rally.

One journalist was detained three times in as many days, and several told Human Rights Watch that the police had beaten them. Authorities repeatedly harassed another journalist, including threatening twice to take away her child unless she stopped covering protests. A human rights activist with Viasna had to be hospitalized for a concussion he sustained due to police mistreatment.

"The authorities brazenly prevented journalists and human rights monitors from simply doing their job covering the protests," Gorbunova said. "They made little attempt to hide their contempt for Belarus' commitments on media freedoms."

On March 27, the 177 people were fined or sentenced to detention for up to 25 days in swift, pro forma administrative proceedings. Only one person was acquitted. Many did not have timely access to lawyers and could not call defense witnesses.

Belarusian authorities should respect freedom of assembly, Human Rights Watch said. Under international law everyone has an inalienable right to take part in peaceful assemblies, assemblies should be presumed lawful, and no person should be held criminally or administratively liable just for organizing or participating in a peaceful protest, even if the authorities deem it unlawful. International standards provide that the right to peaceful protest should not require prior authorization, and that any prior notification procedure should not function as a de facto request for authorization. Failure to notify authorities of an assembly does not make it unlawful, and should not be used as a basis for dispersing the assembly, or imposing sanctions such as fines or imprisonment on organizers.

Physical assaults, including punching, kicking, or using batons on detainees are never a legitimate use of force and violate the prohibition against torture and inhuman treatment. When policing assemblies, the use of force by law enforcement should be exceptional, and assemblies should ordinarily be managed with no resort to force. Any use of force should be the minimum necessary in the circumstances and only directed at individuals using violence or to avert an imminent threat.

The crackdown drew condemnation from the European Union, which in 2016 had lifted human rights-related sanctions previously imposed on Belarus, as the government and the EU sought to realign their relationship following Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Belarus' international partners, including the EU and its member states, should make clear to President Lukashenka that greater political cooperation between Belarus and the EU would be conditioned on the government making systemic changes, including allowing critics to freely express themselves in Belarus. The EU should also work for the renewal of the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on Belarus at the June 2017 session of the Human Rights Council.

"None of Belarus' international partners should be under any illusions about any real change in the government's contempt for its human rights commitments," Gorbunova said. "They should keep up the pressure on Belarus to release detainees and respect fundamental freedoms."

Freedom Day Arrests and Police Mistreatment

Two of Belarus' leading human rights groups  Viasna and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee  told Human Rights Watch that the Minsk city authorities did not respond in time to the organizers' request to hold the March 25 rally in central Minsk. At the last minute, the authorities suggested an alternative site, which the organizers rejected. On March 24, the mayor announced that any gatherings on March 25 would be considered unlawful.

On March 25, large numbers of riot police blocked off the area around the Academy of Sciences on Independence Prospect, the planned rally site. Police brought water cannons, prisoner transport vehicles, armored vehicles, and other equipment for dispersing crowds.

The Minsk rally was scheduled for 2 p.m. Between 12:30 and 4 p.m., riot police arrested hundreds of people, including peaceful protesters, journalists, and passers-by who were either in the area or tried to approach it beforehand. "They were arresting everyone in sight, even people who were just standing or simply walking by young, elderly  didn't matter," one witness told Human Rights Watch. A British journalist who witnessed detentions near Victory Square, 2.3 kilometers from the Academy of Sciences, and was later himself detained, said, "It looked as if these riot squads were literally "people hunting"  these men were not motivated, they were possessed; randomly grabbing and throwing people, anyone, that came their way, into police vans."

Police on Independence Prospect used a loudspeaker to order the crowd to disperse, but there was no way for people to leave because the entire area was blocked off. A third witness said: "They told us to get out, but there was nowhere to go  the only way out was into the police vans, which were everywhere."

Numerous witnesses reported seeing police beat people during arrests, in police transport, and at police stations.

Valery Schukin, 75, said that five riot policemen arrested him on the street about a kilometer from the rally and ordered him into a police van. When he refused, they hit him on the leg with a baton and threw him into the van, which already contained about 100 people. The police took them to the Zavodskoi police station, where they were ordered to stand for several hours facing the wall. Shukin said that he saw policemen hitting and kicking men who tried to turn around or sit, and refused detainees' requests to use the bathroom. Schukin refused to stand and was forced to sit on the cold, wet pavement for three hours. After he started feeling sick, he was taken to a hospital, where doctors said his blood pressure had spiked. He said he had trouble walking for three days afterwards because of the pain in his leg.

Court Hearings

Viasna said that the majority of people detained on March 25 and 26 were later released without charge, leaving 177 to face trial on March 27. Of 144 defendants in Minsk, 56 were sentenced to up to 25 days of administrative detention, 80 were fined, and one was acquitted. Two cases are ongoing, and human rights defenders were unable to confirm the outcomes of five. In the regions, 18 people were sentenced to detention, 13 were fined, and activists were unable to confirm the outcome of two cases.

Many detainees were unable to see their lawyers until very shortly before hearings, Viasna reported. Anastasiya Loika, a human rights lawyer who monitored trials in Minsk, said that the police and courts either refused to provide information, or provided unclear or contradictory information about which police stations people had been taken to or where hearings would be held. As a result, defense lawyers were often unable to reach detainees in time or were able to see their clients only minutes before their hearings. Judges denied most defense motions, including requests to call witnesses.

For example, court staff posted accurate information about the location of a hearing for Ales Lahvinets only at the last minute. He was able to meet his defense lawyer only 10 minutes before the hearing and his family was able to get there only minutes before it started. Despite the lack of timely public information, the judge refused to allow the defense to call witnesses who were not already present in court during the hearing. During the March 27 court hearing, two policemen who detained and beat Lahvinets testified that Lahvinets caused the injuries to himself by "banging his head against the car seat." The judge found Lahvinets guilty of a misdemeanor for allegedly swearing in public and sentenced him to 10 days' detention.

"The courts were simply rubber-stamping the decisions," Loika said.

Harassment, Beatings, Detention of Journalists

Authorities detained, beat, harassed, and issued official warnings to at least 107 journalists, both foreign and domestic, in the lead up to and during the Freedom Day protests. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, police beat seven journalists and in three cases damaged or destroyed their photo and video equipment. Eight journalists were sentenced to up to 15 days in detention on charges of participating in an unsanctioned gathering and hooliganism. One was fined and more are awaiting trial.

On March 26, police also detained journalists who covered the smaller demonstration on Oktyabrskaya Square, among them Belsat journalist Ales Zalevsky. Traffic police stopped the car from which Zalevsky and his cameraman were live-streaming the protest and ordered them out. Minutes later, riot police arrived, forced them into a police van and took them to the Maskauski district police station. Zalevsky said:

I saw two more police vans arriving [at the station] right after us, full of people. The police told everyone to face the wall and spread their legs wide. We had to stand like that for three hours. If anyone as much as moved or tried to turn around, the police would hit them. They also kicked and hit those who they thought didn't have their legs spread wide enough.

After three hours, Zalevsky and his cameraman were released without charge.

Police also detained Zalevsky on March 24 and 25. On March 24, Zalevsky and several other journalists  from France24 television channel, Ukraine's Novoye Vremya, and Radio Liberty  went to the office of the Green Party, where the families of people detained in connection with the anti-tax rallies could get assistance. The police went to the office, detained the journalists and took them to the Maskauski district police station, where the police checked the journalists' documents and eventually released them without charge. On March 25, two riot police detained Zalevsky as he was on his way to cover the Freedom Day rally. With no explanation, they threw him into a minivan with several other people. Zalevsky was allowed to leave the minivan before it drove off, after he told one of the riot policemen that he lived nearby and showed his residence registration.

On March 25, riot police detained and beat a British freelance journalist, Filip Warwick, and held him for over six hours. Warwick told Human Rights Watch in a Skype interview that the police threw him into the police van, where a riot policeman kicked him in the thigh and in the head. The police took him to a station, searched him, and checked his documents. In a written communication to Human Rights Watch, Warwick described what happened:

They twisted my arms behind my back, which resulted in great pain, flipped me upside down, threw me onto the floor, stood on my ankles, while one of the men applied his knee onto my spine. This resulted in crushing my rib cage onto the floor, for a couple of seconds I could not breathe, nor catch my breath, and I started to choke. This brought about some considerable laughter among these men. With handcuffs applied they threw me against the wall, kicked my feet aside, and forcefully went through all my pockets.

Warwick was released over six hours later, apparently without charges, and left Belarus the next day.

Catarina Andreeva, a Belsat journalist, was arrested together with her assistant, her cameramen, and another local journalist on March 25. Andreeva said that her cameraman, Alexander Borozenko, was arrested at about 3 p.m. while filming the rally, but that she and her other colleagues managed to walk away. Andreeva, her assistant, and the other journalist  who is her husband  then went to take photographs at Oktyabrskaya Square, where armored vehicles, water cannons, and other security vehicles were parked that day. Four masked men dressed in black and armed with batons immediately surrounded them. The insignia on their sleeves were covered up. Andreeva said:

They literally appeared out of nowhere. They didn't say who they were, just started grabbing and pushing us. I screamed that I was a journalist and pulled out my press card. One of the men took the press card, rumpled it, threw it on the ground and said: "It's fake." Another man yelled: "Drag her! Drag her into the van!"

Andreeva and her colleagues demanded to know if they were being detained, but the police did not respond. Andreeva said she needed to use a bathroom and quickly walked into a nearby public building. Within minutes, two policemen followed her in, grabbed her by the arms and dragged her outside. A policeman wearing metal knee guards kneed Andreeva in the stomach. While two policemen were dragging her outside, she saw another policeman grabbing her colleague by the neck from behind and pushing him on the ground face down. A few minutes later police released them, without explanation or apology.

Police charged the cameraman, Borozenko, with hooliganism, alleging that he was swearing and "waving his arms" in public. During the court hearing, which Andreeva attended, Borozenko's lawyer said that Borozenko could not have been waving his hands because he was holding a camera. The court found Borozenko guilty and sentenced him to 15 days in detention.

Authorities also pressured and harassed journalists in connection with anti-tax protests earlier in March. On March 17, a court in Homel fined Larisa Shchiryakova, a local journalist, 150 Belarusian rubles (approximately US$80) for participating in an unsanctioned protest, which she was covering as a journalist for Belsat. The next day, police stopped Shchiryakova on her way to another protest, in the city of Mozyr, 144 kilometers from Homel, and detained her for eight hours, she told Human Rights Watch in a phone interview.

On the same day, plainclothes policemen came to Shchiryakova's parents' home when she was not at home and warned her parents that authorities would take her 10-year-old son away unless she stopped reporting on the protests. On March 26, an official from the Homel Municipal Department of Children's Services asked Shchiryakova to meet with him. During their conversation, he told her that she spent "too much time" covering protests and "not enough time" looking after her son, and warned her that social services could take her son away. "They are trying to pressure me in every possible way," Shchiryakova said.

Police in Orsha, 220 kilometers northeast of Minsk, detained Andreeva, the Belsat journalist, and a Radio Liberty journalist, Galina Abakunchik, on March 12, when they were covering the protest there against the "social parasite" tax. Andreeva told Human Rights Watch that she had spent five hours in a solitary confinement cell at the Orshansky police station without a phone or access to a lawyer. After that, the police charged her with "participating in the work of unregistered media," under article 22.9 of the administrative code, and transferred her to a pre-trial detention facility. Andreeva spent the night without food or water in a cold cell, sleeping in her coat. At 9 a.m., the police took Andreeva to a court hearing. She first met her defense lawyer minutes before the hearing began. The court found Andreeva guilty and fined her 540 Belarusian rubles (US$287).

Police Raid at Viasna, Arrests of Rights Defenders

On March 25, police raided the office of the Viasna and detained 58 people, mostly Belarusian human rights activists, as well as journalists and a protection coordinator from the international group Frontline Defenders. Aleh Hulak, the chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee was also detained.

Aliaksei Loika, a Viasna staff member, told Human Rights Watch that at around 12:30 p.m., 12 armed and masked riot policemen came to the office. They threw Loika on the concrete floor face down, causing him to hit the right side of his head, which caused a concussion, for which he was later hospitalized. A policeman then put his booted foot on Loika's head and ordered him not to move. Loika said:

I laid still for ten minutes, until my arm, caught under me, became numb. I tried to move and he [the police] hit me in my kidneys.

All detainees were taken to the Pervomayski police station, where the police photographed and searched them and took down their passport details. They were released approximately two hours later without charge.

In Minsk and other Belarusian cities, several human rights activists were detained and in some cases sentenced to administrative detention on trumped-up charges in connection with the March protests:

Vitebsk: On March 26, authorities detained Pavel Levinau, from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee while he was observing a protest. He has been hospitalized with hypertension under police surveillance. No information about any charges against him has been made available. The same day, authorities arrested Kastus Mardzvintsau and Leanid Svetsik from Viasna, who were also observing the protest. A court sentenced them to 15 days of administrative detention the next day;

Biaroza: the police charged Tamara Shchapiotkina of Viasna with "conducting journalistic activities without accreditation." She is awaiting trial;

Polack: on March 25, authorities in Polack arrested a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Yury Belski, who was on his way to a protest in Minsk. On March 27, a court sentenced him to two days in detention on trumped up hooliganism charges; and

Molodechno: on March 28, police arrested a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Eduard Balanchuk, in connection with his monitoring peaceful protests in Molodechno on March 10. On March 28, a court sentenced him to 15 days of detention for participating in an unsanctioned gathering.

On March 26 in Minsk, at about noon, police detained Tatsiana Revyaka, a board member of the Viasna, while she was observing the rally on Oktabryskaya Square. Revyaka told Human Rights Watch that riot police detained her and about 20 other people at the square and took them to Minsk Central district police station, where they were forced to stand facing the wall, with arms raised above their head for two hours. Revyaka was then released without charge.

Criminal Case

On March 21, 2017, President Lukashenka stated that Belarusian security services detained "literally hours ago" ... about two dozen "fighters," who were allegedly planning "armed provocations" in Minsk. Starting that evening, and through March 22, authorities arrested 27 people as suspects on criminal charges of "organizing mass riots."

At least 14 of those arrested are former members of White Legion, a Belarusian nationalist organization that disbanded in 2008. Another six are activists with the Youth Front, an opposition youth movement.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that delays in allowing those arrested access to counsel amount to due process violations that will undermine their right to a fair trial.

Among those arrested is Miroslav Lozovsky, deputy director of a Belarusian-language publishing house Knigosbor and a former member of White Legion.

Human Rights Watch spoke with Nina Shydlouskaya, a social activist and a close family friend and colleague of Lozovsky.

Shydlouskaya said that on March 18, someone set up a fake Telegram account under Lozovsky's name and used it to send messages to some of Lozovsky's contacts calling for protests on March 25. Several people who received the messages contacted Shydlouskaya, and she immediately contacted media and wrote on social media that the information was fake, intended to set Lozovsky up.

She said that on March 21 at about 8 p.m. two masked armed men dressed in black uniforms brought Lozovsky to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, who was home when police arrived. Shydlouskaya, who had spoken with Lozovsky's girlfriend, said that Lozovsky was handcuffed, his face covered in blood, and had a large red spot on the back of his head that was visible on his shaved head. The police told Lozovsky to sit on the chair facing the wall and searched his apartment. After a two-hour search, they took Lozovsky away. The next day, Belarusian state television STV aired a report allegedly about Lozovsky's detention. The report claimed that the police discovered an AK-47 in the trunk of his car during a search.

Relatives of people detained told Human Rights Watch that lawyers representing the 27 people held on criminal charges experienced problems with access to their clients. Some had to wait for hours to see their clients in custody. Staff at the facilities where they were being held gave various arbitrary pretexts for the delays. Sometimes lawyers had to leave police/detention facilities without seeing their clients. In several cases, the detention facility staff told defense lawyers they had to wait for additional passes or other signatures from staff who were consistently unavailable. Some lawyers had to attend interrogations at irregular hours.

Lozovsky's defense lawyer was not able to see her client in the first 24 hours of his detention. The first time she was allowed to be present at an interrogation, it took place in the middle of the night and ended at 3 a.m.

Between March 31 and April 3, authorities released eight of those detained and charged 14 with "organizing mass riots," (article 293 part 3 of the Criminal Code), punishable by up to 3 years in jail.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Hungary: Law Threatens Independent Universities

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Hungary: Law Threatens Independent Universities, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a1e44.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 law endangers academic freedom and the future of CEU, which has educated a generation of leaders in Central and Eastern Europe," said Lydia Gall , Balkans and Eastern Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The president should not sign a law that seems motivated by a desire to silence critical voices in Hungary."

The law comes amid a wave of government criticism of independent groups and institutions in Hungary. It particularly targets those, like CEU, that have received funding linked to George Soros.

The law presented by the government on March 28, requires universities registered outside Hungary to have their operations approved though a "contract" between the Hungarian government and the university's state of origin, in the case of CEU between Hungary and the relevant United States authorities. It also requires the university to establish a campus in the country in which it is registered, which in CEU's case will mean opening a new campus in the US. The law will reinstate work permit requirements for non-EU citizen university staff teaching at the campus in Hungary, a requirement currently waived for CEU. These changes will impose significant costs that could jeopardize the university's continued operation.

Some of the provisions appear to be directed at CEU specifically, including the requirement that universities originating from non-EU countries need bilateral contracts between governments for operations. The law also prevents the American and Hungarian entities from sharing the same name, meaning that the Central European University  a direct translation of the Hungarian Kozep-europai Egyetem  may no longer operate under that name.

The law also prevents Hungarian universities, like the Kozep-europai Egyetem, from offering programs or degrees from non-EU universities, like CEU, which is an American higher education institution in partnership with the Hungarian Kozep-europai Egyetem.

The draft law drew wide condemnation from abroad, including the US Department of State, which in a media statement urged the Hungarian government to avoid taking legislative steps that would compromise CEU's operations or independence. It has also prompted public demonstrations in Hungary.

CEU, founded by the philanthropist George Soros in 1991, has a 26-year history in Hungary. It is one of only few universities that offer both American and Hungarian degrees to students from over 129 countries. Several current Hungarian government officials are CEU graduates.

This attack on CEU is the latest in a series of attacks against nongovernmental organizations receiving funding from Soros, including the human rights and anti-corruption organizations Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, and Transparency International Hungary. The government has stated that it intends to create regulations to effectively target such groups, but has yet to publish draft legislation.

The government's hostility toward independent groups was manifest in a new "national consultation" announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in February under which the government has sent a questionnaire to every household in Hungary. The government said it wants to determine the people's will on what it terms "the five threats" facing Hungary.

The questionnaire includes skewed questions about whether the government should clamp down on foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations operating in Hungary and whether to "punish" international organizations encouraging "illegal immigrants" to commit illegal acts. The last is likely a reference to groups that defend the rights of asylum seekers and migrants who are caught on Hungarian territory and pushed back, sometimes violently, to the Serbian border.

"The Hungarian government's contempt for critical voices in society and academic freedom is unworthy of an EU member state," Gall said. "The European Commission and Hungary's European partners should press the government to end its intimidation of independent civil society organizations, reverse the law, and work with CEU and other universities affected to preserve their independence."

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Turkey: Understanding the Constitutional Referendum

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Turkey: Understanding the Constitutional Referendum, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a2274.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.

Human Rights Watch examines, in a question-and-answer document released today, what proposed constitutional amendments that would expand presidential powers could mean for human rights and the rule of law in Turkey.

Voters in Turkey will decide in a referendum on April 16, 2017, whether to approve constitutional amendments that would change the structure of governance in the country from a parliamentary system to a presidential one, greatly increasing the powers of the presidency.

"The constitutional referendum has far-reaching implications for Turkey," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The more information people have about it, the better."

The document includes information about the difference between a presidential and parliamentary system for human rights protection; the changes voters in Turkey are being asked to approve; the role of the parliament and the prospects for independence of the courts under the proposed new system; the assessment of international legal experts on the changes; and the timing of the vote.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Croatian nationalists want Serbian minority newspaper to close

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Croatian nationalists want Serbian minority newspaper to close, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a39d4.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.

Concerned about media diversity in Croatia, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns a campaign of lawsuits and verbal attacks that Croatian nationalist groups have been orchestrating for several months against Novosti, the newspaper of Croatia's Serbian minority.

Published by Croatia's Serb National Council, Novosti is a left-wing weekly with a reputation for professional journalism that contributes to media pluralism in the once troubled region. Serbs constitute about 4% of Croatia's population.

The latest hostile initiative by Croatian nationalists is the complaint that a group of veterans based in Split have brought against Novosti journalists Boris Dezulovic, Victor Ivancic and Milorad Krstulovic over a series of articles that the newspaper began publishing last year.

The complaint accuses them of inciting hatred and in particular of "promoting intolerance towards the Croatian people and the Croatian state." The veterans group has also called on the authorities to cut off Novosti's public funding. This would lead to its closure because the newspaper survives on subsidies.

In February, an ultra-conservative nationalist group called "In the Name of the Family" held a news conference outside parliament at which it accused Novosti of inciting hatred against the Croatian people and called on the Council for National Minorities to suspend its funding and thereby force it to close. It also launched a petition for Novosti's closure.

Other organizations have come out in support of Novosti and have condemned the newspaper's stigmatization by nationalists as an "enemy of the state."

"The articles by these journalists pose no threat to the Croatian nation, as these groups would have us believe," said Pauline Ades-Mevel, the head of RSF's EU-Balkans desk. "On the contrary, it is the campaign to silence the journalists that endangers democracy in Croatia. This campaign of intimidation and stigmatization inflicts grave harm on the freedom to inform and on media pluralism."

Ever since a coalition led by the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has been governing in Croatia, journalists' associations have voicing concern about the state of media freedom in the country and have been calling for an end to attempts to throttle independent media outlets.

Last year saw an increase in violence against members of the Serbian minority in Croatia, which is ranked 63rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
Journalist on hunger strike now in critical condition

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Journalist on hunger strike now in critical condition, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a41c4.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) condemns the irresponsibility of Iran's most senior officials in refusing to release Henghameh Shahidi, a journalist who has been on hunger strike since her arrest on 9 March.

In a short phone call to her mother a few days ago, Shahidi said she was not eating anything at all and was no longer able to walk as a result of the hunger strike. In a letter published shortly after her arrest, she announced that she would continue the hunger strike "until my release or my death." She is currently in solitary confinement in Section 209 of Tehran's Evin prison.

"We hold judicial authority chief Sadegh Amoli Larijani, Tehran prosecutor Abass Jafari Dolatabadi, justice minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi and intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi responsible for the survival of Henghameh Shahidi, who is now in a critical condition and could die as a result of this hunger strike," said Reza Moini, the head of RSF's Iran/Afghanistan desk.

Shahidi is not the only victim of the inhuman and degrading treatment that the Iranian regime reserves for prisoners of conscience, especially journalists and citizen journalists. Going on hunger strike is the only method available to them for protesting against arbitrary arrest and prison conditions.

In 2016, at least ten imprisoned journalists who were ill and were denied medical treatment went on hunger strike to demand appropriate care.

RSF calls for an immediate reaction from Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, to the real danger to the lives of these journalists. RSF thinks Jahangir should demand a clear response from the Iranian authorities to the situation of these prisoners and above all Shahidi's state of health.

Journalists and citizen journalists continue to be summoned and arrested in Iran. The latest victims include Morad Saghafi, the editor of the magazine Goft o Gu ("Dialogue" in Persian) and Ramin Karimian, a journalist and translator. They were arrested on 16 and 18 March respectively and were taken to an unknown location.

Ranked 169th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index, Iran is one of the world's five biggest prisons for media personnel, with a total of 30 journalists and citizen journalists detained.
Tunisia: Draft law on the elimination of violence against women contains vague provisions threatening free expression

Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 4 April 2017 Cite as Article 19, Tunisia: Draft law on the elimination of violence against women contains vague provisions threatening free expression, 4 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e3a5264.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 draft law on the elimination of violence against women in Tunisia, which is currently being discussed by the Committee of Rights and Freedoms of the Assembly of People's Representatives, contains provisions that may be used to restrict freedom of expression, ARTICLE 19 said today.

"As much as our organisation appreciates the efforts of the Tunisian state to seek to eliminate violence against women, we express our deep concern about vague provisions of the bill that criminalise expression in a blanket manner and call upon Parliament to review it and amend these issues before it is ratified," said Saloua Ghazouani, director of ARTICLE 19 in the Middle East and North Africa.

The bill, prepared by the Ministry of Women, Family and Children and approved by the Council of Ministers since July 2016, proposes a two-year prison sentence for "verbal" sexual harassment and a one-year prison sentence for anyone who "verbally" harasses a woman in a public place.

ARTICLE 19 calls on the authorities to conduct a partial review of the bill to make it conform to the obligations of Tunisia under international law with respect to the right to freedom of expression.

"The bill contains vague and ambiguous terms that can lead to broad readings and interpretations, and leaves a great discretionary power to law enforcement officials who may abuse it to restrict freedom of expression," said Ghazouani.

In this regard, we are particularly concerned about the wording of Article 3 of the draft law, which defines "moral violence" against women as "any verbal assault, such as defamation, insult ... and other acts or statements that undermine the human dignity of women, or are intended to intimidate or control them", without specifying precisely these "acts" and "statements" include.

According to the current wording of this chapter, any statement or speech can be construed as constituting a "verbal assault on women or an attempt to "control" or "intimidate" them.

Therefore, in order for the bill to conform to international standards on freedom of expression, we call for the clarification and narrowing of the threshold of what constitutes, in practice, violence against women.

"The law should also provide sufficient guidance to those charged with its implementation, to enable them to understand the types of expression that are subject to restriction and those which are not," added Ghazouani.

ARTICLE 19 considers that the use of vague and ambiguous terms such as "acts, signs or words" that "impair the dignity or decency of others" makes the definition of sexual harassment, especially verbal, overly broad and contains concepts that cannot be defined legally and which open the door to multiple interpretations and potential abuses in the application of the law.

According to Article 16 of the draft law, "Anyone who deliberately harasses a woman in a public place shall be punished by imprisonment for one year for any act, statement or sign that would impair her dignity, honour or shame her."

This Article defines harassment in a broad and unclear manner. Unless vague terms such as "impair her dignity" or "shame" are defined, this article will be difficult to apply and will be open to arbitrariness in application.

ARTICLE 19 proposes that the definitions in the draft law be more precisely defined to avoid abuse, particularly in light of the one-year prison sentence imposed by Article 16.

Article 11 of the bill states that "public and private media shall be aware of the dangers of violence against women and methods of combating and preventing it, and prohibits the dissemination and publication of information materials containing stereotypes, scenes, statements or acts that are offensive to the image of women or promote violence against women or make violence seem trivial.

First, it is not clear how both the obligation and the prohibitions contained in this article will be applied. Prohibiting the publication or dissemination of information materials containing "stereotypes", "statements or actions" that are "offensive to the image of women" or "devoted" to violence against women poses a problem with the broad definition of the concept of "violence against women".

Second, none of the important elements of this chapter have been defined, which opens the door to many interpretations of what constitutes, for example, a "stereotype" and what acts are included in the subjective categories of "promotion" of violence against women or "offensive".

In the opinion of ARTICLE 19, it is necessary to rephrase the provisions of this article to specify its content. Legal consequences for violating this Article should also be clarified.

Background to International Standards

The right to freedom of expression is not an absolute right and can be restricted by international standards, but only provided that such restrictions are defined by a legal text that is sufficiently precise so that the individual can control his conduct accordingly.

According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, such restrictions can only be imposed on "respect for the rights or reputations of others and the protection of national security, public order, public health or public morals." The restrictions must be "necessary and proportionate".

The requirement of necessity requires that there is an urgent social need for such restrictions and that the State demonstrates a direct and immediate link between the expression and the public interest to be protected.

The requirement of proportionality means that in the case of a less arbitrary procedure allowing the same result as the more arbitrary procedure, the less arbitrary procedure must be adopted.

Read our legal analysis of the draft law here.

Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19
Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/04/2017 --Dr. Scott Thompson is one of 500 doctors worldwide to receive the RealSelf 500 Award, a prestigious award honoring the top influencers on RealSelfthe most trusted online destination to get informed about elective cosmetic procedures and to find and connect with doctors and clinics.



In 2016, more than 82 million people visited RealSelf to research cosmetic treatments and connect with local medical professionals. The RealSelf 500 Award honors the top rated and most engaged board-certified aesthetic doctors who consistently demonstrated a commitment to patient education and positive patient outcomes throughout 2016. Winners of the award excel at sharing their expertise, free of charge, with tens of millions of RealSelf community members actively searching for information and the right provider.



Dr. Scott K. Thompson, along with his partner Dr. Douglas K. Henstrom, own and operate Utah Facial Plastics with two locations near Salt Lake City, Utah. His specialties include facelift, rhinoplasty, eyelid, ear, brow and hair transplant surgery along with non-surgical procedures including skin resurfacing, Botox, Juvederm and other injectable treatments, and he has been a facial plastic surgery practitioner for nearly 20 years. Utah Facial Plastics is considered Utah's leader in facial rejuvenation and hair restoration.



"These 500 doctors are part of a select group of top influencers on RealSelf who collectively answered more than 300,000 consumer questions in 2016 alone," said Tom Seery, Founder and CEO of RealSelf. "Our research shows that more than 95 percent of patients expect a practice to engage with them online. These doctors are leading the way in terms of their online engagement and focus on empowering patients with good information."



Dr. Scott Thompson is an expert contributor to RealSelf, and to date has posted many answers to questions on RealSelf. Dr. Thompson also maintains a patient star rating of 4.9 out of five stars in RealSelf reviews.



For more information on Dr. Scott, please visit http://www.utahfacialplastics.com, and for the full list of RealSelf 500 Award winners, visit https://www.realself.com/RS500.



About RealSelf

RealSelf is the largest online destination to get informed about elective cosmetic procedures and to find the right doctor or clinic. More than 9 million people visit RealSelf each month to find out which treatments and providers live up to their promise of being "Worth It." RealSelf is powered by unbiased experiences shared by consumers for hundreds of treatments, ranging from simple skincare to highly considered cosmetic surgery. Offering millions of photos and medical expert answers, RealSelf has become the essential resource and service for those seeking to find the right doctor or clinic.
Voting on Tuesday? Check here to get the information you need

With the arrival of the general election, voters across Morgan County will be casting ballots for a number of elected positions.
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan on Tuesday criminally detained a pastor from an unofficial Protestant organization on illegal immigration charges.



Cao Sanqiang, of the "house church" network China Ministries International, was formally detained by police in Yunnan's Menglian county on charges of "organizing the illegal crossing of a national border."



He is currently being held in the Menglian Detention Center, according to a fellow pastor who carries out missionary work across the border in northern Myanmar's Wa state.



"A colleague told me that he was initially charged with personally crossing a border illegally, but that now he is being charged with organizing illegal border crossings," the pastor said.



"We will file a lawsuit about this; we have already hired a lawyer," he said.



Cao had been engaged in missionary and poverty relief work across the border in northern Myanmar, until his work was disrupted by recent military conflict in the region, the pastor said.



"Cao Sanqiang was in Wa state helping them to build a school, and he was involved in other poverty reduction projects," the pastor said. "But the border was recent closed completely because of the fighting."



A colleague of Cao's surnamed Wu at the Chinese Ministries International network said he had been working as a teacher and child-minder as well as building a school and carrying out missionary work for several years.



"He'd been there a long time; several years," Wu said. "They had a school there."



Dozens have been reported killed in recent skirmishes between Myanmar government troops and regional ethnic militias that have driven more than 30,000 people to flee to safety, mostly to Yunnan, where the Chinese government and aid groups are housing them in refugee camps.



Calls by the Chinese government for an immediate cease-fire and the restoration of order along the border area have been ignored.



Border crossings



Cao was initially detained on March 5, his mother confirmed to RFA.



"[But] I don't know the details, like whether or not the lawyer has managed to see him," she said. "It has already been [nearly 30 days] ... but there's nothing to report yet."



A Protestant church member from Yunnan's Dehong autonomous prefecture said Chinese nationals usually make repeated border crossings using a pass issued by the Yunnan authorities, but occasionally fall foul of the police.



"I had a friend who escorted four or five people out of ... Myanmar to do manual work in Simao township on this side of the border, but they were detained, and he was sentenced to seven years in jail," the church member said.



"He was a manual worker out of Myanmar, but he was eventually caught and given a seven-year jail term as a snakehead," he said, using a slang term for a human trafficker.



The church follower, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Chinese authorities crack down more harshly on illegal border crossings than the authorities in Myanmar do.



"If they organize illegal border crossings in Myanmar they don't get caught; it's only when people cross from Myanmar that they get caught, and there has been a big crackdown ever since last December," he said.



"That's when Pastor Cao got into trouble, during the crackdown."



Repeated calls to the Menglian county police department rang unanswered in March.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The relatives of China's detained human rights lawyers have written to U.S. President Donald Trump calling on him to raise Beijing's human rights record during his forthcoming summit with President Xi Jinping in Florida on Thursday.



"We now know that they have been tortured, and we worry about whether they will live or die," the relatives said of their loved ones. "We want to know how they are looking, and why they haven't been allowed to meet with a lawyer for a year and eight months now."



"We have never given up trying to find out the whereabouts of our loved ones, nor trying to help them," the letter, addressed to President Trump at the White House, said.



"We have been detained several times ... and beaten up by police because of our activities," it said. "We have sent hundreds of letters and paid hundreds of visits, but it has all been to no avail."



"We are writing to you, Mr. President, ... because we know that under the present reality, there is no hope of a fair trial."



Sixteen out of more than 300 human rights lawyers, activists, and law firm employees detained since July 2015 are still facing trial, while two have already been handed harsh sentences.



Request for demands



Jin Bianling, the U.S.-based wife of detained rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, said she had penned the letter, dated March 31, on behalf of all of the relatives of lawyers detained across China in a nationwide police operation since July 2015.



"This week, Trump will meet with Xi Jinping, so we are hoping that Trump can make some demands on China, such as releasing all of the innocent rights lawyers and other citizens detained in the July 2015 crackdown," she said.



Jin said many of the relatives of the detained lawyers are themselves in dire straits as a direct result of the crackdown.



"Their children have been unable to get schooling, and there is no way they can live normal lives," she said. "They are frequently forced to move house, and they have been threatened, followed, and held under house arrest."



"The human rights situation in China right now is extremely dire ... and so we call on Trump for help as a last resort," Jin said.



Continuing crackdown



Since President Xi Jinping assumed power in March 2013, his administration has launched an ongoing campaign against peaceful dissent, freedoms of expression and religion, and the rule of law, the New York-based Human Rights Group said in a recent report.



In Washington, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) called on Trump not to overlook the estimated 1,400 Chinese political prisoners during talks.



"As President Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi to Florida, we cannot forget the men and women who languish unjustly in prison, the family members who do not know the fate of their loved ones, and the professionals who have disappeared for simply doing their job," CECC Chair Marco Rubio said in a statement.



"These people are not statistics, they are booksellers and pastors, writers and Nobel Laureates, lawyers and rights defenders," he said. "It is unacceptable for President Xi to get a pass on human rights."



He said Trump should press for the unconditional release of jailed dissidents on the basis that it chimes in with the U.S. national interest in the rule of law and individual freedoms.



"The President has the historic opportunity to change the failed policy assumptions of the past, increased trade and prosperity have not brought political liberalization to China," Rubio said.



'Not a major topic'



Pan Lu, a founder member of the China Human Rights Observer group, said he expects North Korea's nuclear program to take precedence over human rights.



"Human rights aren't a major topic at these talks, because ... solving the North Korea problem will help liberate 20 million North Koreans from long-term oppression," Pan said.



"China and the U.S. ... want to avoid major upheavals and stop the situation even turning into all-out war," he said.



U.S. officials have already indicated that North Koreas nuclear program and U.S.-China trade relations will top the agenda in talks at Trump's lavish Mar-a-lago resort in Florida.



"Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published online Sunday.



Trump has campaigned against what he describes as unfair Chinese trade policies, as well as raising hackles in Beijing by taking a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, in violation of China's preferred "One China" policy.



But Trump also appeared hopeful of some kind of bargain with Xi.



"I have great respect for him. I have great respect for China," Trump told the FT. "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."



Clashes, conflict likely



U.S.-based Chinese studies expert Xie Xuanjun said talks later this week between Xi and Trump are more likely to result in conflict than constructive dialogue, particularly over rising tensions in the Korean peninsula.



"China has no bargaining chips left to play with the U.S., because North Korea won't do as it says," Xie said, adding that Sino-U.S. ties are now at their coolest level in several years.



"There are some similarities between the personalities of Xi Jinping and Trump," he said. "They both want to play the strongman, so it's likely we'll see some clashes at this meeting."



Reported by Yang Fan and Xi Wang for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Goh Fung for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




In settling a diplomatic crisis following the assassination in Malaysia of the North Korean leaders half-brother, Kuala Lumpur had little choice but to agree to send the victims body and three suspects to North Korea in exchange for nine Malaysians who had been blocked from leaving Pyongyang, analysts told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Malaysias government was pushed into a corner where it had to put the welfare of its nine citizens, who were trapped in North Korea for more than three weeks due to an exit ban, above other considerations, some international relations analysts suggested in assessing the Malaysian decision.

A six-week-long crisis came to an end last week when Malaysia agreed to hand over the body of Kim Jong Nam and three North Koreans initially identified by Malaysian police as among at least seven North Korean men wanted in connection with Kims assassination by poisoning at a Kuala Lumpur area airport on Feb. 13.

Malaysia made the trade although its police chief had vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and the prime minister had, during the height of the crisis, accused North Korean government agents of being behind the assassination.

Just what other outcomes do people expect? At stake was the liberty and possibly the lives of nine Malaysians, including children, Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst in the Foreign Policy and Security Studies Program at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, told BenarNews.

Nobody couldve gauged how far the North Koreans were willing to go, how much pain theyd be willing to endure, to get what they wanted. What would you do in such a situation? Would you take chances? The results might be sub-optimal, but welcome to the real world, he said.

Ahn Sang Wuk, an associate professor at University Malayas International and Strategic Studies Department, voiced a similar opinion.

The Malaysian governments top priority had been to bring its citizens home, said Ahn, who is South Korean, likening the recent crisis to a hostage situation.

If North Korea is not holding Malaysians hostages, then Malaysia will not consider suspending its diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

Wake-up call

Kim was killed with an internationally banned nerve agent, according to Malaysian police, and the question of who could claim custody of his body was a flashpoint in the dispute that shook relations dating back to 1973. During the dispute the two countries expelled their respective ambassadors, froze mutual free-entry visa programs and imposed exit bans on each others citizens.

In a joint statement last week, the two countries announced that the crisis was over, saying they had agreed to lift reciprocal exit bans and to discuss re-instating their mutual visa-free programs.

Since then, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said bilateral relations remained intact and, over the weekend, his deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, announced Malaysia would keep its embassy in Pyongyang open. He said he hoped Pyongyang would reciprocate. However, on Tuesday it remained unclear whether Malaysia would send its ambassador to North Korea back to Pyongyang.

Shahriman said the episode around the murder of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on Malaysian soil was a wake-up call to Malaysia on the risks of maintaining ties with North Korea, a country under global sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.

The episode also did much damage to bilateral relations, he suggested.

Dont confuse diplomatic niceties for actual policy. The fact of the matter is that Malaysia-North Korea relations have crossed a point of no return, Shahriman said, referring to the joint statement that announced an end to the crisis.

But Abdul Muein Abadi, a political scientist who lectures at the National University of Malaysia, was optimistic about the future of Malaysian-North Korean ties, saying he expected them to recover in stages.

It is clear that the solution is for the long term. The travel ban on Malaysians has also been lifted. It is an early and positive sign that bilateral ties will recover, he told BenarNews.

He said mutual trust could be expected in the future because the Malaysians who were stranded in North Korea for three weeks said they were treated well by the authorities in Pyongyang.

Left behind

The crisis may be over but, after the government agreed to send Kim Jong Nams body to North Korea along with the three men, Malaysian authorities no longer have access to any of the North Korean suspects.

Four of the suspects are believed to have fled Malaysia on the day of the assassination and another North Korean suspect, a trained chemist, was released and deported earlier because of insufficient evidence, police said.

Now, police are left to deal with only two suspects, an Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman who have been charged as co-assassins in the Kim murder.

When BenarNews contacted them separately, the lawyers for both women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, declined to comment on how Malaysias decision to allow North Korea to take custody of Kims body and release the three North Korean suspects would affect their clients cases.

Gooi Soon Seng, the lawyer for the Indonesian woman, said it was too early to see the implications.

Naran Singh (co-counsel) and I are doing the best we can to [represent] our client, and we believe she has a good defense, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, an attorney representing the Vietnamese woman, told BenarNews.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party won only nine of the 19 seats in national and regional parliaments contested in by-elections held in Myanmar on April 1 to fill vacancies left by incumbents whom the government picked for ministerial posts. The election saw the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) make impressive gains in Shan State, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) picked up a seat some 18 months after the military-backed party lost major national elections. Aung Theinka of RFA's Myanmar Service interviewed NLD Spokesman Nyan Win to get the party's view on Saturday's outcome.

RFA: The NLD contested 18 seats in 19 constituencies in the by-elections and won only nine seats. Are you satisfied with the result?

Nyan Win: Eight seats out of 19 were in Shan State. It is normal for ethnic people to vote for their ethnic parties. Even though they voted for their ethnic party (SNLD), the NLD won a seat in Shewnyaung. It is the result what we expected. We learned a lesson from this by-election. We noticed that we need more preparation for future elections.

RFA: People are saying that it is not good sign for the NLD that more ethnic people have supported/voted ethnic parties than the NLD. What do you say to that?

Nyan Win: We believe in democracy and elections are the most important thing for a democratic country. Political parties contest in elections and we understand it. We dont think the NLD has been harmed because ethnic people voted for ethnic parties.

RFA: Did Aung San Suu Kyi issue any directives for the lost seats?

Nyan Win: There were no directives, but what she said is that the by-election result is not very different from what we had expected.

RFA: The USDP won in Chaungzon constituency, where NLD won in the 2015 election. What is your opinion on the fact that NLD lost in this constituency?

Nyan Win: Daw Khin Htay Kyawe was the candidate for this place in two previous elections. The candidate changed in this constituency for the 2017 by-election and NLDs unity in Chaungzon was weak. Thats the undeniable reason for our loss.

RFA: Is that related with problems surrounding the naming of Choungzon Bridge?

Nyan Win: It might be related a little, but it is not the major reason. Although Chanugzon is in Mon State, most people who live in it are Burmese. As I told you before, ethnic people want to vote for their own ethnic party. The USDP won in it because the NLD candidate changed and the Burmese people in this place voted USDP as it is a Burmese party, I think. For example, Burmese political parties win in places like Yangon where the Burmese people are the majority. It is normal. It is the right of people in a democracy, but that kind of thinking is not good.

RFA: People are criticizing the current governments pace of work. What do you think of this criticism?

Nyan Win: It is not weak, it is slow. There is a bureaucratic mechanism in government, but the NLD government and that mechanism are not compatible yet and that is normal. We are trying to get better in dealing with this this mechanism and we will be OK soon.

RFA: People say the NLD government cant do what it wants because of the 2008 constitution.

Nyan Win: Thats exactly correct. The 2008 constitution was written to make the next government face difficulties. The current government is working on the economy and the economy is going to be getting better soon. We have to wait until the right time comes.

Translated by Khet Mar.
Nguyen Van Dai displays his face after he was beaten by masked assailants in Nghe An province, Dec. 6, 2015.

Detained human rights attorney and activist Nguyen Van Dai will receive an award from the German Association of Judges on Wednesday, making him the first Vietnamese awarded the honor for his work in human rights, RFAs Vietnamese Service has learned.

A representative of Nguyen Van Dai will accept the award from the group known in German as Deutscher Richterbund (DRB), which is the largest professional organization of judges and public prosecutors in Germany.

Every other year, the organization bestows a human rights award on a judge, public prosecutor, or other lawyer for outstanding merit in the defense of human rights.

Former prisoner of conscience Pham Van Troi, a democracy activist and member of the Vietnam-based Brotherhood for Democracy, called Dais selection wonderful news.

Dai and other formerly jailed dissidents created the online group in 2013 to coordinate human rights activities across Vietnam and host forums in Hanoi and Saigon to mark International Human Rights Day.

I think lawyer Nguyen Van Dai deserves this award, Troi told RFAs Vietnamese Service. This is also a positive sign to promote democratization in Vietnam in the near future.

Troi went on to say that human rights awards from German and American organizations have had a positive impact on Vietnamese human right activists, who are routinely subjected to harassment, beatings, and detentions by government authorities in the one-party, communist country.

This can indirectly encourage activists inside Vietnam, he said.

In addition, such awards also send strong messages to the government of Vietnam, letting it know that other countries are paying attention to the human right situation in Vietnam, he said. The government of Vietnam must reconsider its actions towards democracy activists.

Dais former colleague Le Thi Cong Nhan told RFA that the award is a huge encouragement for Dai.

It recognizes the example of a brave democratic human rights activist in Vietnam, said the well-known dissident and lawyer who has represented protesters persecuted by the government.

He has participated in a number of movements in Vietnam and has always been brave, she said. Im glad to hear this news.

Arrests and convictions

Dai and Nhan were both convicted a decade ago for misinterpreting government policy on trade unions and laborers in Vietnam, participating in the democracy movement and the progressive party, teaching courses on human rights, and possessing and disseminating documents propagating democracy and human rights.

Dai received a four-year prison sentence and four years of house arrest, while Nhan received a three-year prison sentence and three years of house arrest.

Authorities took Dai into custody again in December 2015 after he left his home in Hanoi to meet with European Union representatives who were researching human rights issues in Vietnam.

Plainclothes officers stopped him before he arrived at the meeting and took him back to his home where a police camera faces the front door and authorities monitor the movements of everyone who enters and leaves.

They confiscated three computers and USB sticks and later charged Dai with conducting propaganda against the state under Article 88 of Vietnams penal code, a provision that rights groups say is used to imprison peaceful activists.

Dais arrest came soon after masked assailants beat him and other activists in what he said at the time was retaliation for his work educating Vietnamese people about human rights.

In December 2016, Vietnamese authorities extended Dais time in prison until April of this year, marking the third time the government had added time to his jail term.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Taliban forces in Afghanistan plan to extend their control of provinces in which they already have a heavy presence in the upcoming spring offensive, a spokesman told the German dpa news agency in an interview.

Zabihullah Mujahid on April 3 said the militants will press their advantage during the campaign in the provinces of Helmand and Oruzgan in the south, Farah and Faryab in the west, and Sar-e Pul and Kunduz in the north.

U.S. military officials say the Western-backed government in Kabul controls less than 60 percent of the country.

Mujahid said the Taliban will form provincial commands instead of having units operating across several provinces as part of a new strategy.

He said the Taliban will focus on capturing provincial capitals.

Meanwhile, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told dpa that Afghan forces will focus on pushing insurgents out of their strongholds.

Part of that effort will include increasing the strength of the armys elite special forces. He said the force should be doubled in size by 2020.

Top U.S. military commanders have said the war against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has ground to a stalemate.

Some 8,400 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan since most NATO forces withdrew in 2014, leaving security mainly to Afghan forces.

Based on reporting by dpa
An anonymous bomb threat closed St. Petersburg's Sennaya Ploshchad metro station on April 4. It came a day after it was closed by a blast that killed several passengers on a metro train. As people laid flowers at a memorial outside, several emergency vehicles arrived and passengers were evacuated from the metro station. (Reuters)
So terror has again struck Russia.

It struck in Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, which, until now, had been immune from the attacks that have plagued Moscow and other cities.

And it struck while Putin was in town, holding talks with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

At least 14 people are dead, dozens are injured, and a city of 5 million people is traumatized.

And our thoughts go out to the victims, to their families, and to the city of St. Petersburg.

So what happens now?

Will Putin's Kremlin honor the victims by conducting a thorough and transparent investigation?

Or will it exploit this tragedy for its own political advantage, as it did following the Nord-Ost theater siege in 2002 and the Beslan massacre in 2004?

Will it use yesterday's attack to stoke fear, encourage intolerance, and squash dissent, as the ultranationalist Aleksandr Prokhanov suggested on state television?

We'll see soon enough, and history doesn't provide much cause for optimism.

But in many ways, yesterday's tragedy in St. Petersburg also brought out the very best in ordinary Russians.

They assisted the injured and the frail in the chaos immediately following the blast.

With the city's public transportation paralyzed, taxi drivers offered free rides and private drivers mobilized on social media to get stranded commuters near the blast area home safely.

It was a civic outpouring that was inspiring to watch.

And Putin's Kremlin would do very well to take a cue from its own people.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said those behind a suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held town in Syria must be held accountable. She was speaking at a news conference in Brussels on April 4 at the start of a two-day international conference aimed at shoring up the Syrian peace talks. The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, described the attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun in Syrias northwest province of Idlib as "horrific." (Reuters)
Kyiv's forces have repelled several waves of Russian attacks in the Donbas, the Ukrainian military says, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the heavy losses sustained by the Russians on a daily basis highlighted the "madness" of Moscow's strategy of attack.

In the southern city of Kherson, Ukraine accused Russia of looting empty homes and occupying them with troops in civilian clothes in expectation of a Ukrainian offensive to retake the city that was the first to fall to Moscow's forces at the start of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff said in its daily update that Russian troops in the east continued their attacks on Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Novopavlivka, the focal points of Moscow's offensive in Donetsk in recent weeks.



At the same time, the military said, Russian troops continue to shell critical infrastructure and civilian objectives in various regions of Ukraine.



In his regular video address, Zelenskiy on November 7 called the intense combat in the Donetsk region "the epicenter of the biggest madness of the occupiers."



"They are dying in hundreds every day," Zelenskiy said. "The ground in front of the Ukrainian positions is literally littered with the bodies of the occupiers."



Zelenskiy also said that Russian soldiers in the Pavlivka area had complained to the governor of their region in the Russian Far East.



CNN reported on November 7 that in a letter purportedly sent from the front lines to Primorsky region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako, the men of the 155th Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet Marines say they were thrown into an "incomprehensible battle" in the Donetsk and had lost about 300 men, dead and wounded, in four days, while also losing 50 percent of their equipment.



Zelenskiy said that in response to the letter, Kozhemyako had said that the losses were "not that big" and they were "exaggerated."



In Kherson, the only pocket of Russian-held territory on the west bank of the Dnieper River that bisects Ukraine, Moscow has ordered civilians out of the city in anticipation of a Ukrainian assault to recapture the city.



Kherson, with a prewar population of nearly 300,000, has no power or running water, both sides said.



Russian-installed officials blamed Ukrainian "sabotage," while Ukrainian officials said the Russians had dismantled 1 1/2 kilometers of power lines.



Ukraine's military said Russian forces, "disguised in civilian clothes, occupy the premises of civilians and strengthen positions inside for conducting street battles."



Russian forces were "involved in looting and theft from residents and from infrastructure sites and are taking away equipment, food, and vehicles to the Russian Federation," it said in an update late on November 7.



The Ukrainian military reported hits on a Russian antiaircraft facility, ammunition dump, and the destruction of Russian armor in the Beryslav district of the Kherson region, in its November 8 statement. It said 32 Russian military personnel were killed.



The information could not be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy said the escalation of Russian missile strikes against critical infrastructure in his country has only resulted in the world responding with new aid to Ukraine.



Ukraine has received "new systems that significantly strengthen our air defense," Zelenskiy said on November 7 in his nightly address. Kyiv will do everything "to ensure that as many countries as possible join this aid," he said.



He added that the protection of the Ukrainian sky was "not 100 percent, but we are gradually moving toward our goal."



Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced earlier on November 7 that Ukraine had received a shipment of NASAMS and Apside air defense systems to help it defend against Russian missile and drone attacks across the country.



"These weapons will significantly strengthen #UAarmy and will make our skies safer," he said on Twitter. Reznikov did not specify which countries the systems were from, but in the tweet he thanked "our partners: Norway, Spain and the U.S."

With reporting by Reuters and CNN
Populists' recent successes at the polls in the West have increased fears of instability in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia against a backdrop of setbacks for democratic governance, democracy monitor Freedom House has warned.

It says that over the past year, the United Kingdom's "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union, Dutch voters' opposition to an EU Association Agreement with Ukraine, and political outsider Donald Trump's election as U.S. president "all raised fresh doubts about the fragile post-Cold War order."

The findings are published in the New York-based group's latest annual Nations In Transit report, subtitled The False Promise Of Populism.

"Brexit and the new administration in the United States have emboldened antidemocratic populists in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans," Nate Schenkkan, project director of Nations in Transit for Freedom House, told RFE/RL.

"Now, a critical mass of leaders in this region are openly rejecting the idea of liberal democracy and this populism is increasingly combining with crude ethnic nationalism in a way that threatens peace in Europe, Schenkken told RFE/RL.

The report asserts that a populist "revival" has been under way in Europe since Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010 and "eviscerated" checks and balances in that EU member state, and continued with attacks on civil society and the press in the Balkans and "nativist fear-mongering over migration across Europe."



Schenkkan says that "leaders and ordinary citizens need to respond to the direct challenge to democracy by speaking up for its principles: diversity of opinion and identity, constraints on the will of the majority, and checks on executive power."

Freedom House calls 2016 a triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who for the past decade "has backed populists in Europe and the United States as part of a covert effort to destabilize the transatlantic order."



The report says that despite Russias continuing economic stagnation, Putin "seems tantalizingly close to his goal of a new division of Europe into Western and Russian spheres of influence."

The Nations in Transition report covers 29 postcommunist countries of the former Soviet Union and in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The report says 18 of them suffered declines this year in their so-called democracy scores, leaving more "consolidated authoritarian regimes" in the region than "consolidated democracies."

Freedom House compares the slippage to a drop in 2008, when the global financial crisis stalled political reforms.

In Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, "years of populism and corruption have eroded once-promising democratic institutions," while in Eurasia, "personalist authoritarianism has gone from a burgeoning trend to an entrenched norm," Freedom House says.

This year, Kyrgyzstan, which ousted a Soviet-era president in pro-democracy unrest in 2005, fell back into the Consolidated Authoritarian Regimes category.

Kyrgyzstans backsliding leaves only four former Soviet states outside the Baltics -- Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine -- ranked above the category of Consolidated Authoritarian Regime.

Freedom House says constitutional referendums in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in the past two years each helped "entrench the presidents' parties and an oligarchic elite even further."

The group called Ukraine, Kosovo, and Romania "bright spots" in the Nations in Transition 2017 report.

In Ukraine, corruption is still widespread and the ongoing military conflict in its eastern regions undermines the countrys economy. But despite the setbacks, it says, there have been "significant changes" as civil society in Ukraine -- with the backing of the United States, European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- has kept pressure on the government.

As part of Ukraine's reforms, the parliament approved wide-ranging judicial reforms, including items that required constitutional changes, and put in place a comprehensive anticorruption framework modeled on EU best practices, the report says.



"In our survey, we saw Ukraine continuing to make progress in 2016, but at the same time there are seriously troubling signs that an old guard resistant to building an accountable state could still defeat reforms," Schenkkan said. "What is needed is that Ukraines international supporters continue the 'tough love' approach of the last three years supporting local civil society."

In the Balkans, Kosovo moved up from a Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime to a Transitional/Hybrid Regime this year.

"Kosovo started at the lowest starting point in the Balkans in our survey and, over the past decade, it has made progress towards consolidating statehood and building its own institutions," Schenkkan said.



"But it only gets harder from here," Schenkkan warned, adding that "the countrys government and political parties need to enforce accountability for corruption and they have to make difficult policy decisions on issues like minority representation and European integration."

Elsewhere in the Balkans, Serbias score for democracy reached its lowest point since 2003, despite its progress in EU accession negotiations.
Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine.

But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown.



The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes  dual-use technology.

The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case.

The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war.

At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products.

But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States.



A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers.

These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components.

The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.

Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU.

"Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL.

In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24.

"Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

Chinese Cameras, California Chips

Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets.

Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media.

"The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019.

The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components.

One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone.

Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers.

Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military."

The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology.

Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone.

Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication.

Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone.

Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran."

"TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said.

Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions.

"This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes.

AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

'No Authorization'

Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).

The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia."

"As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. .

But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020.

The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries.

The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine.

BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward."

The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes.

"For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations."

BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines."

Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a rebel-held town in Syrias northwest province of Idlib was hit by a suspected chemical attack. Activists for the Britain-based monitoring group reported air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhun on April 4 by Syrian government or Russian jets. They said the attack killed several people and caused others to suffer from respiratory problems. Russia said that none of its planes were involved in the attack. The Syrian government has consistently denied the use of chemical weapons. (Reuters/social media) WARNING: this video contains disturbing images
When Aleksandr Kaverin heard a "bang" as he steered his train through an underground tunnel in central St. Petersburg, 15 years of training and experience as a subway driver kicked in.

"I contacted the dispatcher and told him about the situation," Kaverin, 51, told Russian media. "At the same time, people were relaying strange messages via the passenger-driver intercom," Interfax quoted him as saying. "I decided to act according to instructions laid out by the subway for such situations. I decided to drive on to the next station."

Kaverin is now being feted for that decision, which authorities say likely saved lives after a bomb tore through a car on his train on April 3, killing more than 14 people and injuring dozens of others.

The carnage might have been much greater had Kaverin frozen amid the confusion as his damaged train traveled between two central subway stations at around 2:40 p.m., a spokeswoman for Russia's main investigative agency said.

"The driver made the absolutely right decision not to stop the train and to drive to the next station, which allowed immediate evacuation and assistance for the victims," Svetlana Petrenko of the federal Investigative Committee was quoted by Interfax as saying.

"It's quite possible that this helped prevent even more deaths," she added.

Photographs and videos taken after Kaverin pulled the train into the Tekhnologichesky Institut station showed injured or dead people splayed on the platform.

Images showed a train door blown out and the interior of the car destroyed.

Kaverin told reporters on April 4 that there was "no time to think about fear."

"It was time to work. There was no panic," he said.

Kaverin said it was fortunate that three subway-driving instructors were at the Tekhnologichesky Institut station when he called in from the tunnel. He said his colleagues immediately came to help rescue passengers as he pulled in.

The head of the St. Petersburg Metro praised Kaverin for keeping his cool.

"This person made the only correct decision when it counted," Vladimir Garyugin told Russian media on April 4.

A metro spokeswoman said following the deadly explosion that Averin would be honored with an award for saving passengers, "because in a closed area, the number of victims could have been greater."

Kaverin, who was born in Soviet Central Asia and later lived in Russia's southern Orenburg region, told reporters on April 4 that he did not stay at his home the previous night because of a media stakeout at his apartment.

He did not appear to appreciate the attention.

"I have family, minor children. [Journalists] were ringing the doorbell at 11 p.m. to find out something from my wife," he said. "This is just unacceptable in this situation. I did not spend last night at home because of this. I did not go [home] to my family and children just because journalists were sticking around."
MOSCOW -- Migrant advocates are warning foreign workers in St. Petersburg to lie low as increased police document checks stoke fears of a wider crackdown on Central Asian and Caucasus migrants following the identification of a Kyrgyz-born Uzbek man as the chief suspect in this week's subway attack.

The Russian Investigative Committee on April 4 identified Akbarjon Jalilov, 22, as the leading suspect in the April 3 bombing that killed 14 people and injured 50.

Some rights activists in Moscow have predicted a clampdown targeting migrant workers, particularly those from Central Asia. They point to what they say was negative stereotyping when Russian media twice published photographs wrongly identifying men from Muslim former Soviet regions as being the organizers of the attack.

REN-TV first published a picture and then video of a bearded man in dark Islamic garb near the site of the explosion widely circulated online. After learning of the accusations from the media, the man later turned himself in to a police station to clear his name and was released after being questioned.

He was identified as Andrei Nikitin, a trucker from the central region of Bashkortostan and a retired paratrooper of the Russian armed forces.

Nikitin told the website Islam News on April 4 that he was flying from St. Petersburg to Moscow but couldn't take his connecting flight to Orenburg when fellow passengers refused to fly with a man they believed was the organizer of the attack.

The St. Petersburg news site Fontanka.ru on April 3 strongly suggested in a report that 22-year-old Maksim Aryshev, a citizen of Kazakhstan, was the chief suspect, but the Kazakh Foreign Ministry later denied this, instead saying he was a victim.

Ali Charinsky, a Moscow-based activist, decried the stereotyping in an emotional post on Facebook: "The conclusion is obvious that Muslims are going to suffer whoever carried out this [bomb attack]."

Millions of migrants from the former Soviet regions of Central Asia and the North and South Caucasus -- where jobs are often scarce -- work in Russia, often in low-paying jobs and often without authorization.

In the past, Russian authorities have carried out targeted crackdowns in what analysts have seen as an effort to respond to rising nationalist, xenophobic sentiments in the country.

Migrant Warnings

Azamat Mamyshev, an aide to the honorary Kyrgyz consul in St. Petersburg, said there had not been uptick in violence by skinhead radicals or others so far.

"But our [citizens] are calling, and are worrying about their jobs," he told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. "We are warning them not to go outside more than they have to, for them not to walk around on their own, for them not to get held up late. There are currently ramped up [police] checks, the times are not calm."

On April 3, one Twitter user posted an image, alleging that riot-police officers had entered a movie theater in St. Petersburg and were leading non-Slavic looking people out. That report could not be confirmed.

Karim, an Uzbek community worker who asked not to be identified by his surname, told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that he had witnessed police checking passports of citizens of Kyrgyzstan. "People from Central Asia are considered of particular concern," he said.

According to official statistics, 13,000 Kyrgyz migrants work in St. Petersburg, although the real figure is thought to be nearer twice that.

"We are warning [citizens] to constantly carry documents with them, and not to associate with suspicious groups," Raimkul Attokurov, head of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Moscow, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. "In the metro, in public places where there are lots of people, they [the police] are checking people of non-Slavic appearance. I've seen it for myself."

In comments to RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, Mahmud Mamadmuminov, an Uzbek journalist living in St. Petersburg, noted that Kyrgyz citizens required less documentation to work legally in Russia. "Now I'm concerned that security services will intensify operations inside our communities," he said.

Bakhrom Khamroyev, a Moscow-based migrant rights worker for the human rights group Memorial, said there were already stepped-up police checks around the country and that he expected a further clampdown. "Even I feel the pressure and I feel the mood of the people," said Khamroyev, who is an ethnic Uzbek.

He recounted an incident from April 4 when on the subway he witnessed a drunk Russian man accost an ethnic Armenian man carrying a bag, demanding he open it -- insinuating he might be a suicide bomber. "This is how events are going to develop with this fake information from the authorities and the Russian media," he said.

At The Mosque

At Moscow's new central mosque, which was opened by President Vladimir Putin to great fanfare in September 2015, Rasul, 37, said he had only just arrived from Kyrgyzstan and had not yet had time to find a job.

Speaking in broken Russian, he said after the explosion one of his first thoughts was "that they're going to start checking all migrants."

Akhmed, 23, who traveled with his brother to Moscow where they are working as builders to earn money for a sick relative back home, was at the mosque on April 4 to eat at the local cafe.

He said he was "deeply pained" by the attack, but that he immediately wondered if a crackdown on migrants would follow. "Yesterday, of course I had that thought -- that there could be something from the law," he said.
Following the deadly explosion on the metro in St. Petersburg, Russians expressed shock about the bombing and suspicions about what was behind it. On the evening of April 3, people expressed their views to RFE/RL's Russian Service.
The governor of Russia's Udmurtia region has been detained on suspicion of taking some $2.5 million in bribes.

The Investigative Committee said on April 4 that Aleksandr Solovyov was detained and escorted from Udmurtia's capital, Izhevsk, to Moscow for questioning.

The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin had fired Solovyov due to "loss of trust." It was later announced that Putin had named Civic Chamber head Aleksandr Bechalov as the republic's acting head.

The Investigative Committee said that Solovyov was suspected of accepting bribes from construction companies working on infrastructure development in the region in 2014-16.

He has been indicted on two charges of taking a large-scale bribe.

He has been governor of Udmurtia since September 2015.

Some 53 percent of the 1.5 million residents of Udmurtia, a republic in Russia's Volga Federal District, are ethnic Udmurts.

The Udmurt language is of the Uralic stem that also includes Finno-Ugric languages.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Several thousand protesters have taken to the streets of Belgrade for the second straight evening to protest the election of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as president on April 2.

Protesters blew whistles and chanted, "No to dictatorship!" outside the Serbian parliament on April 4. The crowd periodically blocked traffic.

Vucic won 55 percent of the vote in a solid victory. Opposition candidate Sasa Jankovic came in second with just 16.4 percent.

Some protesters have alleged that the election was rigged, but the demonstrations have not put forward any demands.

Vucic has vowed to continue Serbia's pro-European Union course while, at the same time, working to maintain ties with traditional ally Russia.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
The URL has been copied to your clipboard

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

United Nations war crimes investigators have opened a probe of a suspected chemical attack in Syria's Idlib Province that left at least 58 people dead.

The UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria said on April 4 that it had opened the probe in a statement condemning the attack.

The statement also condemned the alleged targeting of a medical facility where victims of the attack were being treated, saying both actions "would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights law."

UN Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura told journalists in Brussels that all indications were that "it was a chemical attack and it came from the air."

The United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency session on April 5 to discuss the incident.

International outrage at the apparent attack continued to mount throughout the day.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement saying the attack was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored." He blamed the "heinous" actions of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the "weakness and irresolution" of his predecessor, Barack Obama.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Russia and Iran -- as Assad's main allies and guarantors of the Astana cease-fire process -- "bear great moral responsibility" for the Idlib attack. He called on Moscow and Tehran to use their influence and ensure that no more similar attacks occur.

French President Francois Hollande also said Assad bore responsibility for the "massacre" and called on "those who support this regime[to] once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic, and moral responsibility."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that if it was proven the Syrian government carried out a chemical attack, it would be "unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account."

WATCH: EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says those behind a suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held town in Syria must be held accountable.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack as an "inhuman" strike that could endanger peace talks. Turkish presidential sources said Erdogan made the comments in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The Syrian government has denied that it carried out a chemical attack, saying that it destroyed a "terrorists' chemical-weapons depot" in the town of Khan Shekhoun. The government statement said the attack was carried out using Russian-made Sukhoi Su-22 fighter bombers, which are not capable of deploying chemical weapons.

The Syrian military also denied using chemical weapons.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Union of Medical Care Organizations said the death toll in the attack could be as high as 100, with up to 400 injured. Many of the injured are reportedly suffering respiratory problems.

Earlier, the observatory said symptoms among those affected by the attack included fainting, vomiting, and foam coming out of their mouths. It was unknown what chemical was used in the attack, but local medics were quoted as saying they suspected it was the nerve agent sarin.

The reported chemical attack came ahead of an April 5 international conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

At least 300,000 people have been killed and millions displaced by Syria's 6-year-old civil war. A UN-led investigation has concluded that the Syrian government used chlorine as a weapon at least three times in 2014 and 2015.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and TASS
Hoping to reduce the number of wrongful convictions in Montana, a former district judge has proposed changing the way prosecutors disclose the use of jailhouse snitches.

Sen. Nels Swandal, R-Wilsall, said the rules would help protect innocent people from being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

The use of jailhouse informants and other incentivized witnesses is a demonstrated cause of wrongful convictions in this state, he said, referencing studies that have shown false snitch testimony to be the leading cause of wrongful convictions in capital cases and a significant reason innocent people are incorrectly found guilty in lesser crimes. The purpose of this bill is to get the best, most reliable and credible evidence and to make sure the conviction will stand.

Some wrongful convictions in Montana, including some possible exonerations still under consideration in state courts, were the result of jailhouse informants telling police they had information about a crime committed by a cell mate or acquaintance that they would share in exchange for a deal on their own charges.

In January, for instance, District Judge Ed McLean vacated the conviction of Cody Marble, who spent 14 years in prison for a rape that never occurred. The case relied heavily on the testimony of three people in jail, who later admitted they had invented the story as a way to leverage prosecutors for lighter charges in their own cases. Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst wrote in a motion to dismiss that a host of law enforcement officers testified that the crime could not have happened; there was no adequate window of opportunity; (and) the other inmates concocted a set-up.

Marble appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to urge the passage of Swandals SB249.

Its no secret that what happened to me was entirely the result of a fabricated jailhouse story, he said. I dont think what happened to me wouldve happened if a law like this was in effect at the time. To me, it just lets a professional fact finder, a district judge, look at it first and evaluate it.  Ive watched judges require way more foundation for scientific evidence, so why not this too? Its one of the least reliable types of evidence.

Senate Bill 249 would require prosecutors to tell defendants that they plan to use an incentivized witness and the terms of the deal made in exchange for testimony. It also would allow defense counsel to request a pre-trial hearing where a judge can weigh the credibility of the testimony and if there is enough other evidence to corroborate the witness story. The judge could then choose to bar the testimony as inadmissible or issue a jury instruction, similar to how courts currently review the credibility of some scientific witnesses before a trial starts.

An original version of the bill approved by the Senate earlier this year was opposed by law enforcement groups and prosecutors because they believed it might inadvertently bar the use of informants in drug investigations or require them to disclose the names of confidential sources. Those same groups testified Tuesday that they would support the measure with some clarifying amendments that Swandal introduced to the committee.

The House committee took no action on the bill Tuesday.
Tajik police have arrested two men in connection with an explosion near a military court in the country's south that left one person dead, authorities say.

Interior Ministry spokesman Umarjoni Emomali on April 4 declined to identify the suspects or provide further information, saying the investigation into the blast was ongoing.

Emomali added that the incident was being treated as an act of terrorism.

Earlier, police said a 67-year-old man -- identified as Hasanboi Rahmonov, an ethnic Uzbek -- was killed in the explosion near the regional military court in the city of Qurghon-Teppa on the evening on March 12.

Media reports at the time said it was possible the man, who worked as a guard at a nearby school, had detonated the explosives himself.
ON MY MIND

It is tempting to suggest, as many have on social media, that yesterday's attack in St. Petersburg is convenient for Vladimir Putin.

It's tempting to suggest that it will allow the Kremlin to change the conversation and shift the focus of public discourse away from protests against official corruption.

It's tempting to expect the Kremlin to use yesterday's tragedy to further stifle dissent.

It's tempting because the Kremlin has done this in the past (see Mikhail Tishchenko's piece featured below) and, judging by some comments on Russian state television yesterday (most notably, remarks on Channel One by Aleksandr Prokhanov), it appears to be considering doing so again.

It's tempting, but this time it might not be the case.

Because as Vedomosti notes in an editorial featured below, attacks like yesterday's pierce the Kremlin's carefully crafted aura of omnipotence and omnipresence.

Yesterday's attacks may not turn out to be as convenient for the Kremlin as many of the conspiracy theorists are suggesting.

IN THE NEWS

The death toll in a bomb blast on a subway train in St. Petersburg has risen to 14, and authorities in Kyrgyzstan say the main suspect is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that exempts Russians who are under Western sanctions from paying taxes in Russia if they are registered as taxpayers abroad.

The governor of Russia's Udmurtia region has been detained on suspicion of receiving some $2.5 million in bribes.

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.

The prime minister of Russia's Tatarstan region, Ildar Khalikov, has resigned and is taking a job at a power company.

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has signed a memorandum on cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, part of his push for closer ties with Moscow.

Populists' recent successes at the polls in the West have increased fears of instability in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia against a backdrop of setbacks for democratic governance, democracy monitor Freedom House has warned.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has urged Germany and other European nations to spend more on their defense.

The far-left German Linke party says NATO should be replaced by a new alliance that includes Russia.

Polish prosecutors have accused two Russian air- traffic controllers and a third Russian official of deliberately contributing to  2010 plane crash that killed the Polish president.

A flight by Tajikistan's Somon Air to Moscow has been suspended after Russia announced it was barring the airline from flying to the Russian capital.

The International Monetary Fund has approved a $1 billion loan payment to Ukraine.

WHAT I'M READING

The St. Petersburg Attack

In Republic.ru, Mikhail Tishchenko looks at how past terrorist attacks have changed life in Russia.

Meduza looks at St. Petersburg in the aftermath of the attacks and also looks at the theories about who was responsible.

An editorial in Vedomosti argues that "terrorist attacks are becoming part of the political agenda in Russia, and that agenda is increasingly not controlled by the authorities."

Mark Galeotti of the Institute of International Relations in Prague offers his snap analysis on the attack.

In the Daily Beast, Anna Nemtsova looks at some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the St. Petersburg bombing.

In Politico, Colin Clarke of the RAND Corporation explains how and why Russia became the jihadists' main target.

And Newsweek has put together a timeline of terrorist attacks in Russia under Putin.

Lithuanian Fears

Lithuania's intelligence service says Russia now has the ability to launch a Baltic attack in 24 hours.

The End Of NATO?

In Foreign Policy, Jeremy Shapiro, director of research at the European Council on Foreign Relations, looks into the future and speculates about "how NATO ends."

Repression In Belarus

In New Eastern Europe, Andrei Yeliseyeu, a research fellow at the Warsaw-based Eurasian States in Transition Center, takes a look at Belarus's measured repressions.

How To Not Cover Lies

Natalia Antelava has a piece in Coda on the lessons that can be learned from Ukrainian journalists about dealing with disinformation.

The Fake News Ecosystem

Kate Starbird has a piece in Medium looking at the "ecosystem" of "alternative media" and how it promotes disinformation.

Trump And The Russians

Adrian Karatnycky, co-director of the Ukraine in Europe Initiative at the Atlantic Council, has a piece in The Wall Street Journal on How Trump Became A Russia Skeptic.

Putin The Omnipotent

In Intersection magazine, Vladislav Inozemtsev looks at how Putin has created an aura of omnipresence and omnipotence.

The Russian Economy

In his column for Bloomberg, political commentator Leonid Bershidsky argues that "Putin is up, but Russians are feeling down."

Lenin The Strategist

In The New York Times' Red Century series, Tariq Ali, author of the book The Dilemmas Of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire, Love, Revolution, looks at Lenin's thinking as the Russian revolution unfolded.

SRB Podcast

The latest SRB Podcast, hosted by Sean Guillory of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies, features Mark Steinberg, a history professor at the University of Illinois and author of the book Proletarian Imagination: Self, Modernity, And The Sacred in Russia, 1910-1925.
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 Ukrainian peninsula, has been adjourned until April 18.

The cause of the latest delay was not immediately apparent.

Semena's attorney, Emil Kurbedinov, told RFE/RL on April 4 that two officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the man who initially alerted Russian law enforcement officials to Semena's article about the status of Crimea, and an individual who read the article testified at the trial on April 3.

Shortly after the proceeding initially got under way on March 20, the presiding judge adjourned it until April 3 in order to grant a defense request to move the trial to a larger courtroom.

Semena is being prosecuted for a 2015 article he wrote for RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website criticizing Moscow's 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Semena, 66, faces up to five years in prison if convicted. He denies the charges.

The United States, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and international media watchdogs have expressed concern over Semena's case, which activists say is part of a Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea.
ELKRIDGE, Md.  Howard County police have arrested a Virginia man who is accused of trying to run down two police officers with his car.

Twenty-six-year-old Thomas Howard Barr of Culpeper was arrested Saturday morning after an overnight search after he was spotted walking in a commercial area in Elkridge.

Police first confronted Barr at a convenience store after being called about a man who appeared to be unconscious in a vehicle.

After officers broke a vehicle window, Barr woke up, became combative and drove away, striking several parked cars before hitting a dead end, police said.

Police say that as two officers approached the vehicle, Barr accelerated directly at them. The officers fired at the vehicle but did not strike Barr, who fled on foot.

Barr is facing charges of attempted murder, assault and other offenses.
[PORTSMOUTH] The largest container ship ever to dock along the East Coast will be stopping at the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that the COSCO Development will arrive May 8. The ship is about 1,200 feet long  250 feet shy of the length of the Empire State Building and longer than a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier by about 100 feet. It can carry more than 13,000 cargo containers.
A few years ago Capital High School's ACT scores were, frankly, nothing to brag about.

The CHS graduating class of 2014 scored in the cellar  second from the bottom  in writing, compared to peer AA Montana high schools when they took the college and career readiness assessment in 2013.

But Capital High School has done a major turnaround in a few short years, and this year it was honored with the Montana ACT College and Career Transition Exemplar Award for 2016-17 and is now competing for top national honors.

This years CHS graduating class had the second-highest ACT writing score in 2016 compared to other Montana AA schools.

They won (the exemplar honor) based on improvement overall of ACT scores and the work theyve done with students with socioeconomic challenges and also work in their career area, said Helena Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Greg Upham. Approximately one-third of CHS students, 33.7 percent, qualify for free and reduced lunch, which often refers to low-income students.

CHS improved its college and career readiness offerings in all capacities, said Upham.

Our writing remediation rate was 16 percent, said CHS Principal Brett Zanto, referring back to the 2013-2014 period. This was the percent of CHS students entering the Montana University System required to take writing remediation classes.

The remediation rate last year was so low it was considered zero, said Zanto.

During those same years, 2013 to 2016, CHS juniors ACT reading scores moved from the lower end of achievement to the higher echelons, said Zanto.

Math and science ACT scores have also climbed steadily.

Zanto, who was named CHS principal in 2013, credits CHS achievement to the great hard-working staff and students at Capital High School.

Teachers have focused on what do students need to learn to be successful, in light of Montana state standards.

Zanto also notes teacher collaboration and cooperation, which is fostered by their Monday afternoon meetings as Professional Learning Communities.

Its just a great hard-working staff focused on student learning. Were fortunate to have great students who want to excel.

As ACT scores have climbed, so too have advanced course offerings  such as dual credit courses through Helena College and expanding Advanced Placement classes, where students can earn college credit upon successful completion of a national exam.

Even as more students have been taking AP classes, they have been scoring high on AP exams. Between 2012 and 2016, CHS saw a 16 percent increase in students taking the AP exams.

And once again this year, Helena Public Schools was named to the AP Honor Roll, said Zanto.

The Honor Roll honors districts that expand access to AP classes, while simultaneously increasing the percentage of students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams, which indicates a student is qualified in a particular college-level or college-prep course.

The Montana ACT Council selected Capital for their exemplary efforts preparing all students for college and career readiness, said Savanah Schott, a district manager for ACT state organizations.

The ACT Council is looking at coursework, after-school programming, and partnerships, such as dual enrollment programs as best practices for high schools to prepare students for what comes after high school, said Schott.

Some of the Capital programs that stood out ... were their robust dual and concurrent enrollment offerings, she said. CHS offers 15 dual credit courses in cooperation with Helena College University of Montana.

It also offers certificate programs for students who enroll in the Health Careers course, who can earn a Montana certified nursing assistant license.

Much of CHS Career Technical Education coursework is developed in coordination with Helena College through an effort called Big Sky Pathways Initiative, providing for a seamless transition from high school to college that reduces tuition costs and time to complete a college degree.

CHS also has a series of academic and behavioral interventions for all students, reducing discipline office referrals for the past four years, said Schott.

CHS is now competing to become one of four National Semifinalist high schools, said Schott. A national exemplar high school is to be named in May.
Frequently, employees will require additional time off after their protected leave under the Family Medical Leave Act expires.

A recent case from the 7th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals provides helpful guidance to employers regarding their legal rights to terminate an employee that fails to provide adequate documentation to support the need for continued leave.

In the 7th Circuit case, an employee originally sought a two-week leave under the FMLA because of her recurrent back pain.

She then sought an additional three and a half months of leave. Her employer granted only six additional weeks because of the exhaustion of her time under the FMLA (she had taken prior leaves during the year).

The employee failed to return to work after her leave expired, but the employer had a policy whereby she could request 30 days unpaid. The employee sought about 90 days, but only 30 were granted consistent with company policy.

At the conclusion of her 30-day unpaid leave, the employee did not return to work, but submitted two doctors notes - one of which said only, medial leave of absence until 11/17/10, and a second, dated 11/12/2010, that stated only, medical leave of absence until 12/17/10.

When the employee failed to provide additional documentation as requested by the employer, she was fired - after which she sued under the public sector equivalent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In upholding the termination, the court recognized that, for purposes of the ADA, regular attendance is an essential function of many jobs. Indeed, as recognized by the court, if one is not present, he is usually unable to perform his job.

In this case, the employee stated she would eventually have been able to perform her essential functions so long as she was provided additional leave to allow her to recover.

The court disagreed, stating that the employee did not offer any evidence regarding the effectiveness of her treatment or the medical likelihood of her recovery.

It stated that the medical notes she provided did not explain whether (she) was even receiving treatment, let alone the likely effectiveness of the treatment.

Simply put, her medical documentation failed to demonstrate that had she received additional leave, she would have been able to return to work on a regular basis.

For employers, it is frustrating and disruptive when an employee continues to seek additional leave that then becomes an indefinite leave of absence.

Employers can require that employees who seek additional leave beyond the FMLA provide the following information from medical providers:

 Describe the patient's medical condition prompting the need for this accommodation, when the condition began and how long it is expected to last.

 Outline the impact of the medical condition on the patient's major life activities or bodily functions.

 Describe the need for leave as a reasonable accommodation that would assist the patient in performing their essential job functions.

 Describe the amount of leave and type of leave required (i.e., intermittent or continuous).

 Note any reasonable accommodations other than or in addition to leave that may be effective in enabling the patient to perform the essential functions of their job.

 Is the patient receiving treatment?

 What is the likely effectiveness of this treatment in enabling the patient to return to work and perform their essential job functions?

 What is the medical likelihood that this leave would enable the patient to return to work regularly?

We know from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent guidance that an indefinite leave of absence is not a reasonable accommodation.

Thus, an employee who cannot provide medical documentation of reasonable certainty for a return to work need not receive the additional leave as an accommodation.

In addition, employers should consistently require the medical documentation when an employee seeks leave as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.
Local workers for the nations largest federal call center contractor announced their pledge to go on strike Tuesday morning. Roughly 200 of the companies employees participated. They are demanding better pay, relief from back-to-back calls and protection from abusive callers. The physical strike was planned to take place from about 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Roughly three years after signing on with the Ashland Town Council, the towns vice mayor is resigning and heading to Blue Devil territory.

James Murray said he is stepping down from in July to attend law school at Duke University in the fall. Murray, a media specialist at Randolph-Macon College, was elected to the Town Council in 2014 and was appointed vice mayor in 2016.

Murray, 29, said the decision to leave Ashland for law school wasnt an easy one.

Its been a tough choice but one Im very excited about, Murray said. I hate the thought of leaving town, but Im excited about what the future will hold.

Murray said the Town Council likely will appoint someone to serve out his term that ends in June 2018 and take applications from eligible voters in Ashland who would like to be considered to be appointed.

Mayor James Foley said Murray would be missed but that he is leaving for a good opportunity. Asked about Murrays replacement, Foley said he values diversity and hopes Ashland can add different perspectives to its local governing body. Foley said the Town Council is nonpartisan and focuses on local issues.

Murray said a top priority for his future replacement would be the possibility of a third rail being added through town as part of a national railroad project.

It continues to be the biggest single threat to town, Murray said. That above everything else is the biggest challenge.

Murray said Ashland has a number of major projects on its plate that cant afford to be mishandled. Those projects include renovations on the Ashland Theater, expanding internet service and renovating Town Hall.
A presentation of Hanover Countys finances gave rise to questions about road projects, suburban density and traffic Monday night.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Angela Kelly-Wiecek gave a roughly 30-minute presentation on Hanovers proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year at Pearsons Corner Elementary School. More than 30 people showed up to listen, question and air their grievances.

After sharing highlights on the proposed budget, including $5.4 million for the schools five-year technology plan, Kelly-Wiecek talked about Hanovers transportation funding challenges.

Kelly-Wiecek said changes in the way the state doles out funding to localities for road projects has meant that Hanover has seen less money coming from the state.

Our challenges are significant, Kelly-Wiecek said. Its not that the state is stingy, but they have diverted these funds elsewhere.

Kelly-Wiecek said Hanover has been considering a new vehicle tax, as well as meals and property taxes, as ways that could increase the amount of local money used for road projects.

Elizabeth Pace kicked off the question-and-answer part of the night, criticizing Hanover for lowering the cash proffers that developers had to pay to build residential developments. Pace wanted to know how much money was lost because of that decision.

My roads arent being repaired, Pace said. The roads being replaced are not my roads.

Kelly-Wiecek replied that it was unfortunate that Hanover reduced the proffers, and added that legislation passed by the General Assembly has made it hard to collect proffers.

The rules do tend to keep changing, Kelly-Wiecek said of state regulations.

Tom Walsh wanted to know whether there would be more opportunities for the public to comment on the plans for The Villages at Taylor Farm, a 42-acre subdivision proposed for the intersection of Honey Meadows and Atlee Station roads.

The citizens feel like the supervisors approve developments too quick without enough public comment, Walsh said. Its a one-way street.
The reach of substance abuse is broad and indiscriminate.

Its a problem that defies race and walk of life. It touches people old and young, including at least two graduates who died in the past year from Mills E. Godwin High School, where Attorney General Mark R. Herring delivered introductory remarks on Monday night ahead of a documentary showing and panel discussion about the heroin and opioid epidemic that has devastated communities nationally.

I want to be crystal-clear about this  there is no typical heroin or opioid abuser, Herring said to an auditorium of about 200 people. This is not a white problem, a black problem, an Asian problem, a Latino problem. Its not a rich or poor problem. This is not a rural, suburban or urban problem.

Herring said his office is prosecuting drug traffickers and dealers in greater numbers. But the effort in Virginia to ameliorate what Herring dubbed one of the biggest threats to public health and welfare has arisen from all facets of the community, including schools, law enforcement and places of faith and medicine.

I have seen a real bipartisan commitment across the field to get this problem turned around and to save lives, he said before introducing the documentary Heroin: The Hardest Hit, which Herring produced.

Mondays event, an effort among Godwin, Douglas S. Freeman High School, the county and Herrings office, took place amid escalating heroin and opiate deaths in Henrico County that parallel a state and countrywide trend. Overdose deaths in the county rose from 24 in 2013 to 37 in 2015  Henrico was one death shy of that total in the first nine months of last year.

It was part of what Henrico schools spokesman Andy Jenks said is a willingness to publicly confront a difficult issue.

He pointed to the school districts involvement with a countywide task force and a recent survey conducted in some schools where students shared perceptions toward legal and illicit drugs.

We want our students to know that they can feel comfortable and safe turning to an adult at school, Jenks wrote in an email.

A proposed county budget for the fiscal year that begins in July designates $200,000 for a heroin task force made up of health, law enforcement and school officials. In February, FBI Director James Comey was the keynote speaker for a summit on heroin and opioid abuse after being courted by the county.

Godwins principal, Leigh Dunavant, said in an interview before Mondays event that the school has referred greater numbers of students to resources for heroin and opioid abuse  an indicator, she said, of either rising drug use or the schools heightened attention to the issue.
Chesterfield Countys Hispanic population grew 234 percent between 2000 and 2015.

During that same period, its Asian population increased 83 percent and its African-American population, 61 percent. The population of individuals who claim two or more races grew 152 percent. The white population, in contrast, grew only 13 percent.

The countys school district fall enrollment of more than 60,000 students is nearly 49 percent minority, according to the Virginia Board of Education. If these trends continue, Chesterfield County Public Schools will soon be majority-minority.

This is not the old Chesterfield. You dont need to be a demographer or a soothsayer to see the countys future.

But recent comments by the chairwoman of its Board of Supervisors suggest some old-Chesterfield mindsets and a state of denial.

Supervisors Dorothy Jaeckle and Steve Elswick recently urged school leaders to put funding for class-size reduction toward regular classes rather than classes of English-language learners.

Jaeckle, the boards chairwoman, represents the countys Bermuda District, where some of the countys most impoverished and diverse residents live.

I understand the impacts of (English-language learners) because my district of course has a lot. And I think thats another thing that needs to be raised to a state level, she said at a budget work session last month.

This is where we are. This is what is creating the division. Its not that people dont like immigrants. But its when people send their children to school, and they find themselves in a classroom where nobody speaks English, they say, Well, Im not gonna. You talk about what attracts people to Chesterfield schools. Its not that theyre prejudiced against them, but they want their child to be in a classroom thats more English-speaking.

Jaeckle created some division with a barb toward the nationwide A Day Without Immigrants, a Feb. 16 endeavor to highlight contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and culture. That day when the immigrants held their children home, teachers said it was so nice to have a whole class that understood English, she said.

Last week, a representative of the Chesterfield NAACP branch called for Jaeckles resignation. The president of the Chesterfield Education Association criticized the chairwoman and any teacher who would say such a thing.

Thankfully, the Chesterfield County School Board rejected Jaeckles advice and put class-size reduction funding toward classes for English-language learners. The superintendent and board chairman noted that enrollment among students who speak other languages has grown dramatically in the county.

On Monday, Bob Holsworth, a veteran commentator on Richmond-area politics, said in an interview that Jaeckle took a legitimate debate about school funding priorities and made it appear as if Chesterfield should prefer one kind of child over another. And that was unfortunate.

She said it was misinterpreted, she didnt mean it, (but) it deflected from the seriousness of the argument that I think she wanted to raise because it ultimately comes off as saying one type of child is more important to us than another. And I dont think anyone really wants to defend that point of view, Holsworth said.

Thanks to growth fueled largely by incoming minorities, Chesterfield is the most populous jurisdiction in the Richmond region. Holsworth attributes this minority influx to the countys relatively low taxes, reasonably priced housing and quality schools. But this influx has also included low-income residents, spiking the countys poverty rate.

Jaeckle has also been dismissive of census data showing poverty growing and spreading in Chesterfield.

Census data often causes a lot of consternation because sometimes the data is harsh, said John Moeser, a professor at the University of Richmond. But to simply dismiss it is not dealing with reality. And the inability to deal with reality does not bode well for dealing forthrightly with the great need that citizens, our own neighbors, face  whether in Chesterfield, Henrico or Richmond.

None of this is a good look for the largest jurisdiction in the region. The relative silence of other elected officials amid this ESL controversy  save School Board Chairman Javaid Siddiqi, the son of an immigrant  does little to dispel the perception that Chesterfields leadership is less than inclusive.

Elected officials have a particular responsibility to serve all of their constituents, particularly in this divided climate, said Jonathan Zur, president and CEO of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.

Whether intentional or not, Mrs. Jaeckles quoted comments imply that immigrant and non-English speaking students are a burden on the school district and the county. That is not a spirit of welcome or inclusion that I would hope to see from those in positions of power and influence, Zur said.

I applaud the Superintendent and School Board for moving forward with a plan that serves the unique needs of immigrant and non-native English-speaking students. Locally and nationally, the schools that are most successful and effective are ones that meet every childs unique needs, and the school districts decision in this case reflects a commitment to that proven principle.

In this divided climate, some politicians are unapologetic in assailing political correctness and embracing a form of blunt-speak. Were also witnessing national proposals to reduce services to the marginalized.

But as Zur said, this board has a responsibility to serve all of its constituents. The Board of Supervisors must acknowledge their needs and embrace change as it catches up to the reality of the new Chesterfield.
"We have been working to better understand the facts of these situations and, importantly, both the intent and impact of these events on members of our community," the provost says.
Dax Schieffer had his latest platelet transfusion on Friday. The four-year-old boy with dyskeratosis congenital is preparing for a bone marrow transplant in May.

Later this month, he'll have to travel to Seattle with his parents beforehand to undergo chemotherapy.

In all, his family will spend about four months in Seattle preparing him for the procedure and then helping him recover from the transplant.

A group of supporters named Team Dax has organized a fundraiser to assist Dax Schieffer and his parents.

"They saw the opportunity to send us off to Seattle with big hugs and good spirits," said his mother Chantel Schieffer.

Team Dax had already raised $8,000 as of Monday. That's especially impressive considering the event isn't until Wednesday.

The event will be at the Montana Club, 24 Sixth Avenue. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and will go until 8:30 p.m. The fundraiser will include live and silent auctions along with drinks and appetizers. A $25 donation is suggested for entry.

"I've been surprised by the level of support," Chantel Schieffer said. "Along the way, I've been surprised every day by the extreme level of support we've seen from across the state."

Organizers are hoping to raise $60,000. The money will go to expenses not covered by insurance, such as housing during the treatments.

The Schieffers lived in Bozeman but have major supporters in Helena, including Jen Hensley, who is considered the head of Team Dax.

Chantel Schieffer said Hensley approached her with the idea for a fundraiser. The longtime friend knew she would at first be resistant to any financial support, she said.

"They're our wonderful and very gracious friends," she said.

Hensley approached Helena nonprofit Lost & Foundation to help facilitate the event. Their partnership also allows donations to be tax deductible.

Live, silent and online auctions are featured. The online bids will transfer into a live auction via proxy bids.

"People from across the country can bid," Hensley said.

Hensley said she has been overwhelmed by the support so far. She is especially impressed by the items donated for the auctions.

"Folks are just giving amazing items," she said. Items include private ski lessons in Big Sky, artwork and horseback rides.

"It's going to be fun," Hensley added.

For more information, email dollars4dax@gmail.com.
A group of state lawmakers will decide in a closed meeting Wednesday whether the state should study marijuana decriminalization this year as requested by a key legislative leader.

The executive committee of the Virginia State Crime Commission will meet in Richmond to discuss several pending requests for studies, according to commission staff attorney Colin Drabert. Once the study plan for the year is finalized it will be posted on the commission's website.

Just a few years ago, the issue of marijuana decriminalization wasn't on the legislature's radar.

Legislation in the General Assembly to change the punishment for small amounts of marijuana from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil penalty had not made it out of committee. But last year, officials and activists in the city of Norfolk began pushing for decriminalization.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, said he supported a state study of the issue. Norment is a member of the commission, whose chairman is Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle. Norment wrote a letter to Bell requesting that the Crime Commission undertake a study about whether Virginia law on small amounts of marijuana should be changed.

The executive committee that meets Wednesday consists of Bell, Norment, Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, Del. Charniele L. Herring, D-Alexandria, Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax and Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Rockingham.

Members of the public won't be able to hear their discussion, however. Since at least 2000, meetings of the State Crime Commission have been exempt from Virginia Freedom of Information Act requirements - one of about 175 exemptions in the law.

"The meeting is not open to the public," Drabert, the commission lawyer, said in an email.

Cindy Cutler, who is co-founder of a group called Decriminalize Norfolk, said it's time for lawmakers to move toward a vote in full state House and Senate on decriminalization. If they did, she said, decriminalization would pass.

Minorities receive disparate treatment for possession of marijuana, she said, and the social cost of filling jails and giving someone a criminal conviction for marijuana doesn't make sense.

"Let's move this forward," she said.
Do you see what I could do to you?

Look at me while you are dying.

The only way you are leaving me is in a body bag.

They sound like chilling lines from a horror film, but for victims of strangulation by an intimate partner, these words are all too real, an expert said at a recent conference on domestic violence in Lynchburg.

Domestic abusers at their most violent often turn to choking their spouses and partners to the point of unconsciousness and death.

Almost always, authorities can blame the perpetrators quest for the ultimate life-or-death power and control they exert over a victim, said Kelsey McKay, a Texas prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence.

Sometimes the fatal damage is done, but the victim doesnt even know it, she said. A person can drop dead of a stroke caused by a torn carotid artery more than four months after an apparently nonlethal choking takes place.

These realities about the deadly danger of strangulation came to the forefront at the conference, which took place Friday at the Kirkley Conference Center.

Its not just some other form of abuse, McKay told the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 24th Judicial District, sponsor of the annual meeting. Theres a reason its elevated to a felony in most states.

The offense is a felony in Virginia.

Prosecutors, police and others in law enforcement learned more about strangulation and the legal intricacies surrounding the issue. The conference was designed for judicial and law enforcement officials.

McKay, the keynote speaker, has expertise in strangulation and domestic violence, traveling the country to speak about the problem.

Since local authorities started tracking the offense about four years ago, data show strangulation has emerged as a concern in Lynchburg.

From 2013 to 2016, according to data from the Lynchburg Office of Commonwealths Attorney, local prosecutors opened an average of 46.75 strangulation cases per year.

Last year there were 40 such cases in the city. From the start of this year until the end of March, 10 new ones have been opened.

While some cases may not be linked to domestic violence, predominantly the cases counted in those numbers are dating- and family-related, the prosecutors office said.

Strangling is viewed by experts as a prelude to even more violent behavior. Studies have shown first-time victims of domestic partner strangulation to be seven to nine times more likely to be eventually killed, McKay said.

Serial killers use strangulation in many cases, and people who kill police often have a history of domestic incidents, including choking  all of which shows the violent tendencies associated with choking, she said. Serial killer Ted Bundy, for example, liked to strangle his victims repeatedly, she said.

McKay, who prosecuted cases in Travis County, Texas, for 12 years  half that time focused on strangulation cases from sexual assault to capital murder  said most state laws against choking acts only have been on the books for a few years.

One reason the offense has been recognized as so serious is that the neck is anatomically different, and strangling poses a greater medical risk than other types of injuries often caused by domestic violence, McKay said.

Its a very specific tool of violence and manipulation that abusers use, she said.

McKay said she favors prosecutors in dealing with strangling cases moving toward evidence-based cases against abusers, meaning they can prove the offense in court without the victims cooperation. Thats because she said victims usually recant their accusations; in many cases, they are even grateful to the abusers for letting them live, she said.

This tendency of the victim is part of the control aspect of the crime and also feeds the abusers ongoing behavior, McKay noted.

As a result, prosecuting cases faces numerous obstacles.

Michael Doucette, Lynchburg commonwealths attorney, said Friday afternoon his office takes the prosecution of strangulation quite seriously.

Doucette pointed to the statistics McKay cited regarding first-time victims of domestic strangulation and violence against police.

Strangulation often causes internal injuries that dont manifest themselves until days or months later, he said. These cases are different and more difficult to investigate and prosecute and so that is why we get all the training we can on the topic.

Rarely does a victim end up cooperating fully with authorities, McKay said, which is one of the top challenges in dealing with strangling crimes. In 99 percent of cases, the strangler is a man, but men sometimes are victims, and McKay said she had encountered the crime in all types of partner relationships.

Since strangling can be a precursor to homicide, McKay noted it has been put in the checklist for the Lethality Assessment Program, used by trained responders across the United States to determine the risk of a situation growing deadly.

McKay urged prosecutors and police to develop protocols, train personnel and to require officers to fill out a special form detailing the alleged strangulation.

A participant in the domestic violence meeting  held just before National Crime Victims Rights Week, April 2 through 8  said McKay had provided valuable insight into the long-term effects of strangulation.

Brittany McGeoch, Childrens Services Act coordinator for Campbell County, said she looked forward to learning more about emotional impacts.
Almost five years after parole was abolished in Virginia, a jury that thought it was still in effect recommended a 70-year prison sentence for Jerome D. Cooper.

Cooper, now 36, was 19 years old in 1999 when the Newport News jury convicted him and fixed his prison terms at 60 years for murder, seven years for attempted robbery and three years for a related firearm charge  with at least some of them mistakenly thinking he would be eligible for parole in 20 to 30 years.

His lawyers have filed a petition with Gov. Terry McAuliffe seeking a conditional pardon for Cooper based in part on the jurys misunderstanding and asking for some sort of reduction at the governors discretion.

Anne Kajeckas, one of the jurors, said at Coopers sentencing, The general feeling of not all but many of the jurors was that we did not want, essentially, a life in prison sentence. She said several jurors felt that if he is eligible for parole in 20 years, hell be about 40, hell have the opportunity to, you know, start a new life.

Thats how we arrived at that decision, Kajeckas explained, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Nevertheless, the judge sentenced Cooper to the 70 years recommended by the jury. Now Cooper is asking McAuliffe for help in the form of a conditional pardon, arguing that 70 years was not the jurys intention.

Parole was abolished in Virginia for crimes that occurred on or after Jan. 1, 1995.

Juries, however, even if they asked a judge about parole, were told to not consider what might happen after a sentence has been imposed. Then in a June 9, 2000, decision in Fishback v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court changed all that.

The justices held that juries had to be told parole had been abolished out of concern that jurors  as they did in Coopers case  might factor in some form of early release when determining punishment.

The problem for Cooper and several hundred other s tried by juries from 1995 to 2000 is that the ruling was not retroactive and did not apply to prior cases.

In each of the past two sessions, the General Assembly considered but did not pass bills that would allow for new sentencing hearings in such cases.

State Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, chair of the House Courts of Justice Committee, said one of the problems with the proposal was the burden of a new hearing in cases 20 or more years old in which victims, witnesses and others may be deceased or otherwise no longer available.

In any case, Albo said, they dont need a bill. If the governor thinks there has been a real problem, the governor can do it on his own. Told of Coopers case, Albo said, He can present that to the governor and the governor can take care of that if the governor thinks its a problem.

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Brian J. Moran said, We refer to these cases as Fishback inmates, due to the name of the case. We have encouraged the parole board to review these cases for potential conditional pardons by the governor.

Moran said he has instructed the parole board to start reviewing the cases of nonviolent Fishback offenders.

Among other things, Coopers petition, filed by Richmond-area lawyers Joe Morrissey and Paul C. Galanides, also questions the case for Coopers guilt, which they describe as weak.

They contend the evidence was only sufficient to prove that one of three people  Cooper among them  could have murdered Cory Sterns. Sterns, 19, was shot to death during an attempted robbery on Dec. 10, 1998.

Coopers petition says that all 12 jurors said they thought parole was still in effect, some of them believing it meant an inmate might serve as little as a third of a sentence.

Kajeckas, one of the jurors questioned at Coopers Nov. 9, 1999, sentencing, said that had she known parole had been abolished, she would have sought a 20- to 30-year sentence.

I would say that at least five others, five or six, four or five other people in addition to myself would take a similar view as to sentencing, she said, according to the transcript.
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.
CHARLOTTESVILLE  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 wait-list 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 U.Va. as the advancement office), sought meetings with Sean Kirk Jenkins, a special assistant to President Teresa 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  U.Va. favors wealthy families in the admissions process.

U.Va. 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 U.Va.

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 persuade 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 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 U.Va. 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. U.Va. 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 U.S. concentrated in a few families.

The mission of universities  particularly state universities like U.Va.  is to 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 U.Va. 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 U.Va., while bright students from other schools are denied, Thomas said.

The author said he did not believe that the Collegiate School could be the only school in that position, so we could deduce that U.Va. 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-Augusta, and chairman of the House of Delegates Education Committee, said he is 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 does not seem to affect the offices decisions.

Goodwin said he has personally tried to recommend applicants for admission, but he does not think he has ever changed Roberts mind.
A month ago, President Donald Trump claimed Barack Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped. The claim was absurd, and no evidence ever surfaced to support it. But new evidence has come up about another matter.

Liberals howled with derision at the very idea that the Obama administration would ever stoop so low as to spy on its successor. Well. Comes now word that Susan Rice, she of Benghazi infamy, ordered the unmasking of several Trump associates who were swept up in intelligence reports. And liberals have rushed to the barricades to insist that this was perfectly legal, entirely appropriate, and even necessary for the national security of the United States.

So much for the talking point that the previous administration didnt spy on anybody.

As we pointed out on Sunday, ferreting out the truth about Russias meddling in the November election places a heavy and solemn burden on those to whom the duty falls, such as Virginia Sen. Mark Warner. Legitimate questions about that need answering  including questions about whether any Trump associates were involved in, or aware of, such meddling.

Nevertheless, the knee-jerk defense of Rices behavior stands in sharp contrast, as they say in the mainstream press, to Democratic attitudes back during, say, the Bush admnistration.

Imagine how it would have gone over if another Rice  Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice  had asked for the unmasking of Obama transition officials. Somehow we doubt many would have dismissed such behavior as a non-issue because she was just doing her job.

No, the latest news does not support Trumps claim about wiretapping, as so many have hastened to point out. But that does not empty the issue. What Obama did and what others in his employ did are two separate issues.
By Kevin Martin and Herbert Daughtry

Fifty years ago today, a year to the day before he was murdered, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called us to overcome the giant triplets plaguing our society  racism, militarism, and extreme materialism  in his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence address at Riverside Church in Manhattan. In his speech, King decried our descent into a thing-oriented society. One wonders what he would think of our current, thing-oriented president.

In the remarkable speech, co-written with the late Vincent Harding, King also exclaimed, (a) nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Unfortunately that is even more relevant today, as military spending consumes well over half the federal discretionary budget, and President Trump is advocating a nearly 10 percent, $54 billion increase, equivalent to the entire annual military budget of Russia, for the Pentagon and severe cuts to foreign aid, diplomacy, and social and environmental programs.

King also powerfully, and accurately, linked violence in U.S. cities to our foreign policy, especially the terrible war in Vietnam (noting the Vietnamese must see Americans as strange liberators,) and acknowledged the pressure put on him by civil rights leaders to keep silent about his opposition to the war, which he of course could not do. Yet for many, the giant triplets rubric still resonates most powerfully today among all the words of wisdom King and Harding imparted in the speech.

Racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are still inextricably linked, and still prevent our societys becoming anything close to Kings beloved community. Of the three, militarism may be the one about which Americans are most ignorant or most in denial.

No serious person could say we have overcome racism, or dealt with the extreme materialism and economic injustice and unsustainability of our thing-oriented society. However, the pervasive equating of patriotism with support for war, charges of being soft on communism, terrorism or defense, and cynical, coercive support the troops displays (when the best way to support them would be to stop our incessant wars) seemingly prevent any serious examination of U.S. militarism.

How many Americans know the U.S. has been at war for all but a relatively few years (fewer than 20) of our history since 1776? Or that the U.S. has more than 900 foreign military bases? (China has one and is about to build a second, near ours in Djibouti.) Or that we maintain nearly 7,000 nuclear warheads  all tens, hundreds or even thousands of times more destructive than the Hiroshima bomb that killed 140,000 people? Or that the U.S. conducted more than 1,000 nuclear test explosions, and under President Obama, recently embarked on a 30-year, at least $1 trillion scheme to upgrade our entire nuclear weapons arsenal (unsurprisingly, every other nuclear state is now doing the same, sparking a new arms race)? Or that the U.S. military is the biggest consumer of fossil fuels on the planet?

Ignorance or denial about these facts is dangerous, to our society falling behind in nearly every indicator of social and environmental health as we continue to invest in the war machine, and to the people on the receiving end of our bombs. How many countries are we bombing right now?

At least seven we know of: Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. And as King claimed that the bombs we dropped on Vietnam also exploded in American cities, the blowback to the U.S. from all the anger we sow and enemies we reap today in these countries and around the world will surely harm our country.

So what is it about the United States? Are we in the grip of what President Eisenhower warned us about: the military-industrial complex ? Weapons contractors make a killing, but they dont really help the economy. Military spending is about the worst way to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Education is the best, creating 2.5 times more jobs than military spending, according to economists at the University of Massachusetts.

We doubt anyone has any satisfactory answers to why our country is so uniquely militaristic, yet seemingly oblivious to the consequences. Perhaps peace and social justice activists and political leaders have for too long failed to integrate the struggles to overcome the giant triplets.

If that is the case, Martin Luther King Jr. still points the way toward a solution, 50 years after he first called out to us. Is it too late to hear his wisdom and change course?

As the impressive grassroots resistance to Trumpism continues to show up for racial, economic, social and environmental justice, we must also show up for peace and disarmament if we hope to one day realize Kings beloved community.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A bill that would ask voters if the right to hunt, fish and trap should be stated in the state constitution is continuing to divide a coalition of sportsmen groups against Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and other sportsmen groups despite an amendment aimed at assuaging concerns.

Senate Bill 236, brought by Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, amends the constitution to say that citizens of Montana have the right to hunt, fish, trap, and harvest wild fish and wildlife, including with customary means and methods. Citizens performing those activities would be the preferred method of fish and wildlife management.

The amendment would further include language aimed at maintaining the state and Legislatures authority to regulate hunting, fishing and trapping, and clarify that private property rights are not superseded.

During a Senate hearing the bill drew opposition from trapping opponents, but also FWP and several sportsmen groups concerned about unintended consequences from the bill. Concerns centered on the ability of FWP and the Legislature to regulate hunting, fishing and trapping if it is guaranteed as a right.

SB236 underwent an amendment to remove absolute language, which Fielder said addressed the concerns of a portion of the sportsmen opponents. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which legally reviewed the amendment, switched from opposition to support.

While not addressing the concept of the bill, Senate Democrats mostly argued against its passage on the grounds that the amended bill was too far removed from the original addressed in the hearing.

A Monday morning hearing in the House Judiciary Committee showed support from several sportsmen groups, but concerns about unintended consequences from SB236 persist.

Jeremy Maus with Montanans for Wildlife and Public Land Access, a group that opposed a ballot initiative to ban most trapping on public lands last year, described the effort to raise $500,000.

That money couldve went a long ways towards conservation, he said. We support legislation to protect our heritage and use the money for conservation in the future.

Walleyes Unlimited of Montana, RMEF, the National Rifle Association, the Montana Woolgrowers Association, Safari Club International and the Montana Trappers Association voiced support as well.

FWP continued to oppose the bill Monday, citing multiple concerns with the legal ramifications. Chief legal counsel Becky Dockter told the committee that similar protections in other states have triggered litigation surrounding management decisions challenged as in conflict with the right to hunt or fish.

In each case we have to ask ourselves if its worth the risk, she said.

Former FWP legal counsel Bob Lane offered his legal opinion that SB236 would invite challenges to Montanas policy of charging more for nonresident hunting and fishing licenses or giving preference to residents for licenses.

When that happens, itll be too late, he told the committee.

Hertha Lund, an attorney who practices in private property law, said the bill elevates hunting, fishing and trapping as a right in the constitution, while private property rights between citizens, such as trespassing, is held in statutes. That legal dynamic could be a blow to the private property owners she represents, she told the committee.

Organizations including United Property owners of Montana, The Montana Bowhunters Association, Montana Audubon and Trap Free Montana Public Lands also voiced opposition.

Fielder defended the bill, saying it affirms rights already held by Montana citizens. Language protects private property and case law allows the state to charge different fees for resident and nonresident licenses, she said.

SB236 has some fairly simple goals and any attorney can complicate things if theyre paid to do so, she said.

A referendum needs votes from 100 lawmakers to go to the ballot. With 30 senators voting in support of SB236, if the bill clears committee, 70 representatives would have to vote yes for the bill to pass.
In September 2015, the Battle of Norwich picture looked a bit different than it does today.

The conflict is about some land, roughly seven acres along the Roanoke River in a long-neglected area . Its owned by Walker Machine & Foundry, a local company that employs about 60 workers.

Roanoke City Hall sought an easement across the foundrys land, to build a key link in the Roanoke River greenway. Walker refused to sell and practically dared City Hall to file a condemnation lawsuit for the acreage.

The foundry hired the top eminent domain lawyer in Virginia, a guy whos been known to squeeze big money out of land-seeking government entities. It erected defiant signs and offered press tours of the almost century-old foundry. The company portrayed itself as the little guy, trying to hang on to its livelihood, up against big, bad, City Hall.

The company put no trespassing signs along some Norfolk Southern tracks that run right next to its plant, between the foundry buildings and the riverside land the city coveted.

The foundry folks argued the greenway would put them out of business. It was unthinkable, they added, for the linear park to pass within a long stones throw of their plant. Recreation and metal fabrication were absolutely incompatible, they declared. The presence of a greenway would ultimately cause them to lose their air quality permit, and without that theyd have to shut down.

Of course, Walker was willing to discuss selling the whole site, provided the city also bought the company a new site. City Hall demurred. That would have cost millions of taxpayer dollars, way more than anyone was willing to spend.

It seemed like Walker had the law and a certain amount of public sentiment on its side. And it also seemed the company had the city over a bit of a barrel. Millions of dollars in federal grant money could be lost if the city didnt begin construction by spring 2016.

Nothing happened for more than a year. The city never filed a lawsuit. It found other ways to spend the greenway grant funds, so they wouldnt be lost.

And then, a few weeks ago, the landscape in this simmering dispute shifted suddenly and dramatically in the citys favor. Now City Hall appears to be holding the upper hand. And the reason is that set of abandoned railroad tracks directly adjacent to the foundry.

Behind the scenes, the city worked a deal with Norfolk Southern for that right of way. Now the city has an agreement to buy it. The railroads undertaking a formal federal process of abandoning the half-mile stretch of track. The transfer could be concluded as soon as the end of April, City Engineer Phil Schirmer said Monday.

And when that happens, the roles in this saga will be totally reversed. Suddenly, the foundry might be the party interested in purchasing an easement.

Since the 1940s, foundry workers have been crossing those tracks to get access to the companys riverside parcel  the place where the city wants to put the greenway. The company stores sand it uses in metal castings there. Its always had the railroads formal, written permission to cross those tracks.

Foundry President Glenn Muzzy has referred to that permission as an easement. But thats not precisely what it is, Schirmer said. Rather, its merely a letter from the railroad granting Walker permission to cross. The letter specifically notes the railroad can revoke that track-crossing permission at any time, Schirmer added.

The citys agreement with the railroad requires Norfolk Southern to revoke Walkers permission to cross the tracks before the city purchases them, Schirmer said. When the sale concludes, the city will be able to prevent Walker from getting to its riverside land.

And thats when the dealing may begin.

My desire has always been to work with Walker Foundry to get a greenway as close to the river as possible, Schirmer told me.

The city could build the greenway on the abandoned tracks, fence them off and then Walker would have no access to its riverside land. Or the city could trade the tracks to Walker in exchange for Walker granting a greenway easement along the river.

The latter solution is the obvious one. Because if Walker doesnt deal, it could lose access to its own land.

Thats a little disturbing to me, Walker President Glenn Muzzy told me Monday. In a written statement, he added:

A recreational use in the middle of our property is inconsistent with heavy industrial use such as Walker Foundry. Walker Foundry has been here since 1920 and it is unreasonable for the city to threaten the Foundry or its employees in this manner.

Roanoke City has decided to solve the greenway problem in Norwich without contacting Walker or obtaining Walkers input. For almost 100 years we have provided jobs, paid our taxes, and shipped products throughout the country. We certainly dont believe the city is treating us fairly.

Of course, thats the way the city felt when the shoe was on the other foot. Back then, some officials privately seethed.

Now the city seems to be in the drivers seat.

Its yet another example of that old saying, What goes around comes around.

Theres a shorter, more succinct term: karma.
NEWPORT  Giles County sheriffs deputies, state troopers and other heavily armed law enforcement officers searched houses and wooded slopes Tuesday after two officers reported being shot at  but no shooter was found.

Sheriff Morgan Millirons said Tuesday evening that sheriffs deputies will continue extra patrols.

Tuesdays incident, which for several hours locked down county schools and part of the Newport community, began with a gunshot. But Millirons said that the results of the long search left him unsure how significant that shot had been.

Its not uncommon to hear gunshots in a rural area  We dont know if it could have been unintentional  it could have been a stray  we just dont know, Millirons said.

State police are now leading the investigation into the shooting, according to a release sent at 9:15 p.m.

In a statement released shortly before 5 p.m., while the search still was going on, Millirons said that soon after 2 p.m. Tuesday, two sheriffs deputies had driven up to a residence in the 100 block of Lucky Lane, which runs off U.S. 460 in the Newport community. They were there to follow up on an ongoing investigation, Millirons said.

As the two officers exited their unmarked vehicles, a gunshot was heard and debris from the gravel driveway kicked up nearby, the statement said. The two deputies immediately took cover and called for assistance.

There were no reported injuries, Millirons said.

Soon after the shot was reported, officers set up a perimeter and teams began searching an area along Lucky Lane, then between Winding Way and the Newport post office. Two Virginia State Police armored cars arrived and a state police helicopter circled overhead. Officers carrying rifles and wearing helmets and body armor assembled in the parking lots of the post office and the Super Val-U Grocery. At one point, about 20 emergency vehicles crowded the lots and parked along the road, including ambulances and squad cars from several jurisdictions.

A woman who answered the phone at Giles High School said that the school had been locked down during the afternoon and students held after dismissal. Some students who live in Newport were kept at the school even after other students were allowed to go home, she said.

After the search concluded, Millirons said that officers had located residents who also had heard the gunshot. But no one knew who had fired it. Millirons asked that anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Giles County Sheriffs Office by dialing 911.

Those with information can also contact state police on their cellphones by dialing #77 or by emailing questions@vsp.virginia.gov.

Millirons thanked other responding agencies including the state police, officers from Pearisburg, Pembroke, Radford, the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the U.S. Marshals Service, and members of the Newport Rescue Squad.
Representatives from three counties in Virginias coalfields region are supporting Gov. Terry McAuliffes budget amendment blocking transfer of funds from a local economic development authority for creation of an international marketing initiative.

Boards of supervisors from Tazewell, Russell and Buchanan counties have praised McAuliffes actions and are encouraging Virginia lawmakers to let the change stand during Wednesdays veto session in Richmond.

McAuliffes amendment reverses a previous budget plan that would have diverted $500,000 annually for three years from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority to the Lenowisco Planning District Commission.

The funds were designated for creation of a marketing initiative to draw more jobs to the coalfields region. A portion of those funds would have gone to a hire an executive director for the new entity.

VCEDA Chairman J.P. Richardson and the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance, which holds a seat on VCEDAs board, have also supported McAuliffes revised budget plan.

Creation of a new marketing group will increase administrative costs, which will decrease funding to bring in jobs, Richardson said in a statement. VCEDA has opposed the $500,000 funding request since Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, and Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson, introduced the budget amendments during the recent General Assembly session.

While VCEDA and the Southwest Virginia legislators have a shared vision of increased economic diversity, VCEDA believes that this goal can best be materialized by assuring that the portion of coal and gas severance tax dollars directed toward economic diversification is spent responsibly, Richardson said.

Carrico, asked about McAuliffes budget amendment last week, said the governor was turning his back on Southwest Virginia, a struggling region that faces numerous hurdles when trying to attract new businesses.

Lenowisco, which serves some of the coalfield localities, submitted a funding request to VCEDA last year for creation of the same marketing entity. The VCEDA board was poised to reject the funding request when Lenowisco representatives pulled the application. Then coalfields legislators revived the funding request during the General Assembly session, where the $500,000 budget item ended up in lawmakers final budget.

Coalfields legislators would sit on the board of the new marketing initiative and have a say in how it allocates its funds.

These legislators, who include Kilgore, Carrico, Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, Del. Todd Pillion, R-Washington, and Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, do not have a say in how VCEDA doles out its funds.

Those legislators, except for Morefield, also nixed two of McAuliffes appointments to the VCEDA board during the session to send a message that VCEDA wasnt doing enough for economic development. McAuliffe has not yet named replacements.

VCEDA was created in 1988 to help the economy in the eight-locality region in far Southwest Virginia. Since its inception, it has brought more than 20,000 jobs and 285 projects to the region, according to its website.

The entity is funded by a locally collected severance tax paid out by regional coal and gas producers, but that money is dwindling as the coal and gas industries have struggled in recent years.

Representatives from Russell, Tazewell and Buchanan counties, which benefit from VCEDA, all stressed the importance of getting the maximum for their funding as the coal and gas tax revenue declines.

Representatives from Norton and Scott and Lee counties, other localities within the coalfields region, have not taken formal action in support or against the governors actions.

County administrators in the two other coal counties  Wise and Dickenson  that benefit from VCEDA did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

Every dollar removed from those funds will have a great impact on our economic development projects, said Lonzo Lester, Russell County administrator.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has emerged as a leader of the Democratic Partys progressive wing after his unsuccessful presidential campaign, has endorsed former congressman Tom Perriello in the Virginia governors race.

Perriello is competing for the Democratic nomination in the June 13 primary against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who is backed by nearly every Democrat in the state legislature, congressional delegation and statewide office.

We need to elect progressives at every level of government if we are going to beat back the dangerous agenda of the Trump Administration and its Republican allies, Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. Tom is committed to fighting the rigged economy and income inequality. He was the first major statewide candidate in Virginia to run on a $15 minimum wage and the first to say two years of community college should be tuition-free.

Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with the Senate Democrats, is the first national Democratic Party figure to endorse Perriello. In the Super Tuesday presidential primary last year, Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in Virginia by nearly 30 points.

Perriello has embraced an economic populist message in his gubernatorial campaign. Northam and his allies challenge his progressive credentials, noting conservative stances he took in Congress on social issues.

Both Northam and Perriello have rejected comparisons of their primary to the contest between Sanders and Clinton, but the endorsement further fuels that perception.

Perriello also has been endorsed by former top political aides who worked for Clinton and Barack Obama, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. His gubernatorial campaign is managed by Julia Barnes, the former national field director for Sanderss presidential run.

Sanderss endorsement comes as Perriello tries to overcome Northams deep network of support in Virginia. Within minutes of the endorsement, Perriellos campaign sent a fundraising email invoking Sanders.

Perriello and Northam are competing to run against the winner of the GOP primary race among former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, state Sen. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach and Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
RICHMOND  Sen. Mark Warner announced Monday that hes joining fellow Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine in opposing the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday approved Gorsuchs nomination on an 11-9 vote and the full Senate is expected to vote later this week. Gorsuch would replace the late Antonin Scalia on the court.

Democrats are trying to block a vote and force Republicans to change longstanding rules in order to confirm him.

Despite his impressive academic credentials, Judge Gorsuchs record and evasive responses  even refusing to answer questions regarding his views of cases like Roe v. Wade and Citizens United  do not give me confidence that he possesses a judicial philosophy that will serve the American public well, Warner said in a statement released by his office.

At the same time, I have grave concerns about any attempt to change Senate rules on confirmation of Supreme Court nominees. These changes would have severe and lasting consequences on our Supreme Court, which I believe should remain above the current hyper-partisan environment rather than being shaped by it.

I have hoped that bipartisan efforts would result in a better way forward, instead of Republicans threatening to impose the nuclear option. But such a threat is not alone reason enough to support a nominee who has not provided the Senate with sufficient assurances regarding his approach and judicial philosophy. Consequently, I plan to vote against cloture and against his confirmation.
While viewing websites of United States senators and representatives, I am dismayed to learn that many of them do not publish their work email addresses, nor do they allow anyone outside their own state to contact them via their website contact tab.

I understand that it must be inconvenient for our representatives and senators to receive thousands of emails daily, but hearing feedback electronically from citizens should be part of the job. Our congressmen/women serve on committees and vote on issues that affect the whole country. These representatives and senators do not limit their interviews to their local district or state news media. They freely grant interviews with reporters from national news outlets. These elected officials work in our nations capital and their titles always begin with the initials U.S. I acknowledge that citizens can call or write their senators and representatives, although mail delivery is slow due to security concerns.
Business News Wto Creates Panel To Decide On China Eu Trade Flap | RobinsPost News & Noticias

China is increasingly becoming a tough competitor for the European Union as it seeks to gain influence in the world, including Africa, Asia and Latin America, the blocs foreign policy ... Read More BERLIN: Decoupling from China is not an option for companies in the European Union, said EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis according to prepared remarks of a speech in Berlin on Tuesday ... Read More Liao's decision came as global tensions and their impact on trade, and the strict policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping, made doing business in China less predictable. For Liao, the idea of ... Read More The World Trade Organization's leader wants an overhaul ... rjm/vog/rox The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This story was produced by AFP. Read More The EU has no good cards to play as China rapidly ups the ante in its economic hit job against Lithuania. As Lithuania sought to deepen diplomatic ties with Taiwan over recent months, Beijing has ... Read More Numerous traders and bankers interviewed by the news ... at Chinas once-top copper importer Maike Group, which is struggling to resume its business after major miners halted trade with the ... Read More EU Is Leaving 'Naivety' Behind With China, Dutch Foreign Minister Says BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Monday that the EU is leaving behind naivety when it comes ... Read More European Union leaders held talks on ties with China on Friday, seeking to avoid outright confrontation with Beijing, while recognizing the threat it poses, European Council chief Charles Michel said. Read More A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel has condemned the tariffs imposed by Colombia on imports of frozen french fries, siding with the EU  but the years-long spat between the two sides on the ... Read More World trade is expected to lose momentum in the second half of 2022 and remain subdued in 2023, as multiple shocks weigh on the global economy, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a statement. Read More The anchors of Fox Business Network have long delivered the latest business headlines. Now some may be getting ready to debate them, too. We have had a ton of success on Fox News side with ... Read More
Health News Federal Judge Blocks Abortion Ultrasound Mandate In Indiana | RobinsPost News & Noticias

A judge heard arguments ... That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Read More The supreme court took over the case after a county judge ... That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the US supreme court eliminated federal abortion ... Read More The court said in the order that it was taking over appeals of a ... That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal ... Read More Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, speaks with reporters Oct. 14, 2022, in Indianapolis after arguing before a Marion County judge over ... Court eliminated federal abortion protections ... Read More
Politics News Florida Governor Takes Prosecutor Off Murder Cases For Death Penalty Stance | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Florida prosecutors are demanding execution for Mark Wilson, who was convicted of brutally killing brothers Tayten Baker, 14, and Robert, 12 in August 2020. Read More Florida is poised to change how it imposes the death penalty following a jury's decision to recommend life without parole for the gunman who killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland. Read More
Elections News Mutharika Likely To Win 2019 Elections Predicts Uk Economist Intelligence Unit | RobinsPost News & Noticias

The research unit of London-based The Economist Magazine had said in 2018 that the PDP will win the 2019 election. With the vote likely ... fake news. We have all read that the intelligence ... Read More Further analysis by Newsweek found that, of the 48 in tight contests, 18 are more likely than not to win ... He told NBC News: "There's no question they rigged the election." ... Read More Russia was trying to influence how Americans vote in this election  Moscow [will] pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win. Read More To really understand an election, you have to understand ... Is there a conflict there, and which party might win out? They are 13% of likely voters and their current vote is a bit more Republican ... Read More The UKs last general election was held in December 2019. This was a snap election called ... This election saw a landslide win for the Conservative Party, with Boris Johnson remaining Prime ... Read More Fox News' Power Rankings predict Republicans are likely to win a majority in the House of Representatives. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Fox News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report. Read More could be sitting on an indictment until after the November elections. He said that an indictment was likely in part because the former president had been "making admissions in his public ... Read More The survey asked respondents if their party did not win control of Congress in November, how likely would that outcome be due to election fraud? Four in 10 Republicans (39%) and one in four ... Read More Unless an announcement is made, the next general election is not set to happen for a while. Thats because Boris Johnson called the last snap general election in December 2019 and each term is ... Read More With every seat up for election, Republicans would need to win five more races than they did in 2020 (213) to gain a majority (218) in the House. Historical trends and numerous polls have ... Read More
Potus News China Squeezes N Korea As Trump Xi Meeting Looms | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Xi is poised ... between China and North Korea, and "make a great contribution to providing two countries and their people with greater happiness and defending peace and stability in the region and ... Read More Xi expressed willingness to strengthen the relationship between China and North Korea ... the region and the rest of the world, North Korea state news agency KCNA said. The reported expression ... Read More Chinese leader Xi Jinping underscored the significance of enhancing bilateral strategic communication and cooperation between China and North Korea in light of complex international and regional ... Read More Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touting the importance of boosting the two allies strategic communication, unity and cooperation amid a serious ... Read More Xi expressed willingness to strengthen the relationship between China and North Korea ... the region and the rest of the world," North Korea state news agency KCNA said. The reported expression ... Read More China's President ... (SOAS), told CBS News partner network BBC News. "We need to pay a lot more attention as to what happens in China. China is the real McCoy. Xi Jinping will make Putin look ... Read More BEIJING (AP)  President Xi Jinping ... at a party meeting that starts this weekend. The only question, economists and political analysts say, is whether Chinas economic slump might force ... Read More In Letter to North Korea's Kim, China's Xi Calls for Communication ... in the region and the rest of the world," North Korea state news agency KCNA said. The reported expression of support ... Read More Xi expressed willingness to strengthen the relationship between China and North Korea ... the region and the rest of the world," North Korea state news agency KCNA said. The reported expression ... Read More
Potus News Trump Son In Law Top Us Officer Meet Iraq Kurd Leaders | RobinsPost News & Noticias

He claims he wants to be close to me but refuses to address the concerns of his wife, daughter and son-in-law. It's reached the point that I try to avoid my in-laws when they visit, including ... Read More The world has changed in dramatic ways. But the law that authorized the Iraq War remains on the books, a living relic of America's Forever Wars. It is past time that Congress repeals this outdated ... Read More Former President Donald Trump refused to condemn rapper Kanye Wests anti-Semitic rant against son-in-law Jared Kushner and ... new interview with right-wing news host Larry OConnor. Read More Trump wrote. Trump, whose daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism, has long touted his 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner ... Read More Former President Trump says he enjoyed rapper Yes recent sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson, the top rated prime-time host on Fox News ... about your own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and ... Read More OConnor, a commentator for Salem News, pressed Trump about Wests comments on Kushner. Hes been saying some really offensive things lately about your own son-in-law, Jared Kushner ... Read More Fox News contributor Lara Trump ... million United States taxpayer dollars to anyone who could confirm these outrageous, disgusting and disparaging allegations against my father-in-law. Read More UINTAH COUNTY, Utah  Police say two people are dead after a man shot his father-in-law in Uintah County early Thursday morning before shooting himself. The Uintah County Sheriff's Office ... Read More He said his meeting with the sheikh wasn't secret, saying he discussed it with Colony Capital officials and with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign chief Paul Manafort. A meeting with ... Read More "I want to be clear, not all of these witnesses were thrilled to be talking to us. Some put up quite ... a good thing, Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law who worked in the White House ... Read More
Product Reviews Find And Dominate New Roads In The Hydrogen Powered Colorado Zh2 Roadshow | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Google updated the documentation on how to write product reviews to add examples of kinds of product reviewers and to tighten the focus of the documentation with more precise wording. Overall ... Read More Search Engine Land  SEO  Google adds more example categories of sites that may be impacted by the product reviews update Google has added three new examples to the top of the how to write ... Read More Google has added three examples of the type of product review pages and who can write them to the "how to write product reviews" help document. Google added these three examples for the type of ... Read More Google's Danny Sullivan told us that the Google product reviews update primarily evaluates product review content on a page-level basis, but not always. Danny added "for sites that have a ... Read More This would be a great product but was ... Some people even find this version offensive, if for different reasons: What, no V chip? Youd think, with all of the new anti-obscenity laws ... Read More Aggressive driving fatal crashes in Colorado have nearly doubled 03:20 Ask anyone on the street, and most will say it seems like tempers are running higher on the roads than ever before ... Read More Chinas existing by-product hydrogen projects usually involve a filling station attached to the production facility, to supply local demand. Those filling stations are frequented by local ... Read More U. MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. - Air Products & Chemicals Inc. plans to invest about $500 million to build a plant to produce environmentally-friendly hydrogen in northern New York state. The plant will be ... Read More The LOreal Paris Glycolic Skin Brightening Serum was the other product I tried. The formulations is non-sticky and light. One of its main ingredients is niacinamide, a form of Vitamin B3. Read More The vehicles will now be able to undertake customer trials on public roads commencing January ... The Company is designing and building hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered light commercial demonstrator ... Read More The Pat Miller Show is BACK from our hiatus to collaborate with three great callers and get after questions that might be facing you. OnMilwaukee wants to help your small business grow. Read More
Science News Nasa Analyzes Storms That Caused Deadly Colombia Mudslides | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Tropical Storm Julia ... northern coast of Colombia with isolated areas getting as much as 15 inches of rainfall. This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in Central ... Read More Victims of a huge mudslide set off by a storm in a coastal Philippine village that had once been devastated by a killer tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming and ran to higher ground ... Read More Its clouds are laced with deadly glass shards. During colossal storms of 5,400mph these will brutally slice you into pieces. "Its death by a million cuts on this slasher planet!" Nasa said. Read More In Central America, Tropical Storm Julia brought intense rainfall to regions already saturated by weeks of heavy rains, triggering flooding and mudslides that killed at least 28 people in ... Read More The InSight mission on Mars is currently waiting out a continent-size dust storm that has caused ... with no science benefit, said Chuck Scott, InSights project manager at NASAs Jet ... Read More The spacecraft will pass 220 miles above Earth's surface on Sunday morning, according to a news release from NASA. And some lucky observers will be able to spot Lucy from Earth, says NASA. Read More NASA's Earth ... of seven Earth science instruments on the International Space Station giving us more information about how our planet is affected by climate change." EMIT analyzes light reflected ... Read More 21 (UPI) --NASA announced Friday the ... engine maneuvers back in September caused the craft to spin out of control for nearly a month. Science News // 5 days ago NASA's InSight spacecraft on ... Read More A handful of southwestern Florida counties impacted by Hurricane Ian are experiencing a potentially harmful algae bloom a month after the storm. Science News // 3 days ago NASA probe back on track ... Read More Victims of a huge mudslide set off by a storm in a coastal Philippine village that had once been devastated by a killer tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming and ran to higher ground ... Read More
Technology News Banking Hackers Left Clue That May Link Them To North Korea | RobinsPost News & Noticias

The Lazarus Group, a hacking outfit associated with North ... bank. This time at least three employees clicked the link, according to Symantec cybersecurity expert Eric Chien, giving them access ... Read More North Korea on Tuesday described its record-breaking blitz of missile launches last week as a "just counteraction" to the biggest-ever US-South Korea air exercises. Last week, many of North Korea's ... Read More He may also want to use them as a bargaining chip to get diplomatic and economic concessions from the U.S. and its allies. Under American-led U.N. resolutions, North Korea has been banned since ... Read More They also say if North Korea launches multiple missiles from different sites simultaneously, it would be more difficult for the allies to spot liftoffs in advance and shoot them down. South Korean ... Read More North Korea was believed to have last tested a missile launch from a submarine in May. The South Korean and Japanese militaries assessed that the missiles flew about 217 miles and reached maximum ... Read More Whatever the intentions are, North Koreas repeated ballistic missile launches are absolutely impermissible and we cannot overlook its substantial advancement of missile technology, Hamada ... Read More South Korea says North Korea has fired artillery shells near the rivals sea boundary in its latest weapons test SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired artillery shells near its sea boundaries ... Read More 2022 World Train crosses North Korea border into Russia after arms report, think tank says, article with image November 5, 2022 China may soon shorten COVID-19 quarantine requirements for inbound ... Read More North Korea Says It Will Not Overlook Any Kind of ... spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. "In the future, too, our army will never allow any provocation ... Read More SEOUL, Oct 15 (Reuters) - North Korea on Saturday warned that it would ... said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. "In the future, too, our army will never allow ... Read More
BILLINGS  Police have arrested a man who is suspected of leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase and then engaging in a four-hour-long standoff along the bottom of the Rims on Tuesday.

Around 4 p.m., the man told officers he had no weapons, and officers moved in to confirm that before arresting him, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said. Some officers wore tactical vests and carried rifles and a shield.

Prior to the man's arrest, St. John said that police cleared the truck, which was stolen.

The man led law enforcement on a pursuit before walking away from the truck to find refuge at the base of the Rims.

Police said the suspect initially claimed he was armed with explosives.

At one point, Billings Fire Department personnel lowered down a hose, which sprayed water like a sprinkler into the area of the suspect. That led the man to come out from behind a large rock.

He eventually heeded the police negotiator's requests and began moving down the rocky hill with his hands raised. Officers moved in and arrested him without incident. A few onlookers clapped from the neighborhood below.

St. John said medical personnel checked the man upon arrest.

A SWAT team and the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office also responded to the incident.

School District 2 locked down all schools in Billings briefly as a result of the chase. Billings parochial schools, including Central Catholic High School, were notified via a shared resource officer, said Central High School Principal Shel Hanser.

Connor Cranston, an Uberbrew brewer, said he recognized the truck Tuesday afternoon as his. He had reported it stolen to police Sunday morning.

"I was in the back cleaning some tanks, and a server came back with a customer's phone saying, 'Connor  is this your truck?' It's a crazy situation."

A downtown resident, Cranston said he's getting by walking to work.

"I walk everywhere anyway," he said. "The way it's going, it looks like it might be a while before it gets back to me."

A standoff with law enforcement continued Tuesday afternoon along the bottom of the Rims after a man said he was in possession of explosives.

Police have identified the man but are not releasing his identity at this time. It also was not confirmed the man was armed with explosives.

We dont know if its real or not, but until we know we treat it as real," said Billings Police Department Capt. Jeremy House.

Police urged the public to stay away from the scene until further notice. The standoff was occurring near the base at the rims at North 15th Street.

Capt. Bill Michaelis of the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office said the man was also possibly in possession of a stolen vehicle. Law enforcement pursued the man in the suspected stolen vehicle to the base of the Rims.

A SWAT team has also responded to the incident.

School District 2 locked down all schools in Billings briefly as a result of the chase. Billings parochial schools, including Central Catholic High School, were notified via a shared resource officer, said Central High School Principal Shel Hanser.

Meeting mid-day with reporters, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said police are working to "isolate and stabilize" the situation to "buy time" to allow negotiators to do their jobs.

The suspect may have a weapon, but police aren't certain, St. John said. That's why police have not moved closer to the man's location, he said.

Connor Cranston, an Uberbrew brewer, said he recognized the truck Tuesday afternoon as his. He had reported it stolen to police Sunday morning.

"I was in the back cleaning some tanks, and a server came back with a customer's phone saying, 'Connor  is this your truck?' It's a crazy situation."

A downtown resident, Cranston said he's getting by walking to work.

"I walk everywhere anyway," he said. "The way it's going, it looks like it might be a while before it gets back to me."

More information will be reported as it becomes available.
Technology News Amazon Announces Its First Nordic Aws Data Centers Coming To Sweden In 2018 | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking to expand its data center footprint in Northern Virginia with a new development in Loudoun Countys Stone Ridge. First reported by BizJournal, AWS is planning ... Read More AWS last month opened its first cloud data center in UAE and announced plans to setup a local hub in Mexico to boost bandwidth for clients. Since 2020, AWS has launched 10 Amazon cloudfront edge ... Read More The Arlington center, located near where Amazon is building its second headquarters, will debut Tuesday. It is the company's second such facility; the first ... technology to AWS cloud essentials ... Read More In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giants hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime ... sports and entertainment venue. For the first time, Amazons technology is being deployed ... Read More Loudoun County is scheduled to meet with Amazon's representatives, including architect Gensler, Wednesday to discuss its ... related news, Kuhn affiliate JK Land Holdings LLC and data center ... Read More Nationwide, Amazon One devices have been deployed in more than 100 stores that also feature Just Walk Out tech. This is the first time the palm-recognition payment option is being deployed ... Read More Oct. 14, 2022  Neo4j, a leading graph data platform, announced today that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Data and Analytics Competency status. This designation recognizes that Neo4j has ... Read More Amazon is adding a local version of its hit 'LOL' franchise in Scandinavia, alongside new reality formats 'Good Luck Guys' and 'Pranked,' scripted series and a major film licensing deal. Read More In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giants hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime ... year as the league and Amazon announced plans for the first-ever Black Friday game. Read More NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The National Football League (NFL) announced its first-ever "Black Friday" game will stream on Amazon Prime ... Trust Principles. Technology Twitter says 50% of ... Read More Japan will become the third Asian region to have Google data centers after Taiwan and Singapore. Googles main services in South Korea, such as the Play Store, YouTube and Gmail, are delivered ... Read More
Travel News Hawaii Injunction Against Travel Ban Goes To Appeals Court In May | RobinsPost News & Noticias

The state of Hawaii ... preliminary injunction pausing the travel ban was issued within a week. Trump appealed the injunction to the Ninth Circuit, which refused to reinstate the ban. The Trump ... Read More The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling will bar people from six Muslim-majority countries included in the travel ... ban cant be enforced against people who have those relationships ... Read More A federal appeals court ... injury the MDL courts injunction inflicts upon 3M, Clement wrote. 3M has the constitutional right to make this argument against preclusion to the Minnesota ... Read More The appeals court said the trial court erred by limiting its analysis only to the attorney general's request to lift the injunction issued after Roe was handed down and refusing to consider the ... Read More The state Court of Special Appeals issued its order a day after prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed in ... 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events ... Read More LAS CRUCES  A New Mexico court has granted an injunction against an armed paramilitary ... Provance initially told the Sun-News he planned to appeal, citing the court's requirement that the ... Read More A U.S. federal appeals court recently ruled that the Deferred Action ... Check out our Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning ... Read More Wade abortion rights decision, in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., May 14 ... of Pima County Superior Court's ruling on Sept. 23 that lifted an injunction on the ban. The appeals court said the abortion ... Read More SALT LAKE CITY  The Utah Supreme Court has declined for now to lift a judge's injunction on the state's near-total abortion ban ... by FOX 13 News, the justices granted an appeal by the ... Read More Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian ... meaning the injunction ruling and the present appeal deal only with the injunction against the ban, not its constitutionality. Read More The Hill (Jared Gans) reports: The Arizona Court ... ban, but the state judge ruled that Roe was the only reason the injunction was in place, so the law could be enforced. The Court of Appeals ... Read More
Travel News Suriname Travel To The Unknown Destination | RobinsPost News & Noticias

This week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has moved this Caribbean destination up to the avoid travel to ... And Suriname went from Unknown, because of lack ... Read More Travel bloggers, adventure lovers and prominent influencers discovered the destination upon arrival ... Flying into the Unknown was an awesome idea as a content creator and an outstanding ... Read More There are nine different travel ... aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today. Lufthansa is not the only airline to be offering flights to unknown destinations. Read More Wizz Air Abu Dhabi recently took passengers from the UAE to an unknown destination as ... two nights accommodation, and travel insurance. The destination was revealed to be Kutaisi, one of ... Read More However, there is one landmark that is more unknown, a waterfall that is not only beautiful, but upside down. It might sound like its straight out of a science fiction movie, but the underwater ... Read More Paul Corkrey, of Fan Embassy Wales, called the tournament a trip into the unknown and urged fans to bookmark the FCDO travel advice ... covers them for all destinations, medical needs ... Read More Editor's Note  Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and ... Read More A popular summertime destination in Massachusetts is also one of the best fall getaways in America, according to Fodors Travel. The publication released a list of the 11 best U.S. destinations ... 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 ABTA is delighted to announce that Bodrum, Turkiye will be the destination for the 2023 Travel Convention. The Convention, which Turkiye previously hosted in Antalya in 2012 and in Istanbul in ... Read More On November 11, 1920, the first Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in London. Across the Channel on the same day, a second memorial was unveiled in Paris. The following year, the United ... Read More
Travel News Romania S Travel Tech Firm Dcs Plus Raises Undisclosed Funding To Expand Across North Africa | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Theres a theme ... up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding. Please email Travel Tech Reporter Justin Dawes at [email protected] if you have funding news. Read More US-based travel tech ... s valuation increases] in a down market, which tells you a lot about the strength of our business right now. TripActions said in a statement that the funding will ... Read More South Korea and Taiwan in the north. The WTTC's report expects continued gains to Asia-Pacific's travel industry in 2023, followed by another year of positive growth in 2024. By 2025, it estimates ... Read More Table Mountain has officially earned yet another international award  Africas Leading Tourist Attraction 2022  for the fourth year in a row at last weekends World Travel Awards ... Read More Editor's Note  Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and ... Read More Enterprise Holdings' brands will be available in South Africa for the first time through a new franchise partnership, the car rental company announced Wednesday. Enterprise's Alamo, National and ... Read More bolttech, a Singapore-based insurtech company, raised an undisclosed amount in Series B funding. The investment ... Asia and Europe and all 50 U.S. states, the platform provides businesses ... Read More Editor's Note  Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the ... to West Africa's Republic ... Read More Travello, a Brisbane, Australia-based online travel agency ... to travelers between the ages of 18 and 36, will use the funding to expand further in Australia and New Zealand as well as make ... Read More Byjus said Monday it has raised $250 million in new funding from existing backers as the Indian edtech giant looks to navigate the market downturn that has forced the firm to postpone its ... Read More Metalenz, a Boston, MA-based provider of metasurface optics for high-performance 3D sensing solutions, raised $30M in Series B funding ... The companys metasurface technology provides complex ... Read More
Travel News Travel Trouble Malaysia Airlines Changed My Flight Where S My Refund | RobinsPost News & Noticias

In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched an Aviation Consumer Protection website that lets fliers know what they're entitled to when their flight is significantly delayed or ... Read More Q: I booked four Lufthansa tickets from Brussels to San Francisco through Kiwi.com in 2021. Lufthansa canceled the flight. Kiwi.com offered to request a refund. We have received two automated ... Read More From the early days of flight and the 'golden age of travel', to modern-day budget airlines and the recent restrictions and regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel has changed a lot ... Read More Most of the flights are reinstated ones, but Scoot's adding ... Staffing problems were blamed for the travel chaos in Europe and North America last summer  a problem Asian airlines don't ... Read More If youre worried your travel plans might involve American Airlines ... your flight has been delayed, dont panic. If theres a severe enough delay that your flight needs to be changed ... Read More There are still a few ways you can save on holiday travel, though. Book tips when the flights are less expensive. Most U.S. airlines use dynamic award pricing, so if the cash price is lower ... Read More There are still a few ways you can save on holiday travel, though. Book when the flights are less expensive. Most U.S. airlines use dynamic award pricing, so if the cash price is lower ... Read More
Travel News Hottest Travel Destinations Of 2017 Beaches In Asia And Cities In Colombia | RobinsPost News & Noticias

From megacities to remote islands, Asia's top travel spots offer ... of attractions in each destination, along with traveler feedback, U.S. News ranked the best places to visit in Asia. Read More Editor's Note  Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations ... some of the destinations in Asia with the most strict Covid policies are finally ... Read More From beachfront escapes to city oases, here are six incredible places to stay to explore the best of South-East Asia. Relax in the ... in advance for long haul. Travel restrictions may apply. Read More In the picture, from left to right: Bogota (Eastern Andes); Guatape, Antioquia (Western Andes); Colombian Pacific Coast; Guejar Canyon (Amazon Orinoco); Cartagena (Greater Caribbean) and Tatacoa ... Read More Those in the upper echelon of wealth value travel like the ... The Mexican destination is home to the famous Lovers Beach (Playa del Amor), which sits between the Pacific Ocean and the secluded Sea ... Read More Editor's Note  Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening ... happy to recommend the city's best beaches for basking in the Spanish ... Read More This week in travel: some of the destinations in Asia with the most strict Covid policies are finally reopening, an annual ranking of the world's coolest neighborhoods provides inspiration for ... Read More This week in travel: some of the destinations in Asia with the most strict Covid policies ... and some of the best nightlife in the western hemisphere, said Time Outs James Manning. Read More
Travel News Family Travel With A Social Conscience The One Thing Travel Should Teach Our Kids | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Bridget does have one ... kids in the airport and rush anyone along. Favorite Aspect Of Solo Travel TravelAwaits: What is your favorite part of traveling solo? Bridget: Besides traveling with my ... Read More R Family Vacations, the LGBTQ-focused tour operator run by luxury advisors Kelli Carpenter and Gregg Kaminsky, have rebranded to KelliGregg Travel. The rebrand comes as the company evolves, moving ... Read More What does the CDC's change mean and how should people ... modes of international travel. A cruise where thousands of people are freely associating while maskless with one another is very different ... Read More Travellers and travel ... on day one: no taking photos of children, unless you can obtain the permission of their parent or guardian. That's a rule that every traveller on every trip should ... Read More Travel is a beneficial activity for your mind and your soul. However, the act of getting on a plane or heading out for a long car ride can do a number on your body. That's why medical ... Read More Are you interested in purchasing one of the above travel insurance ... Ultimately, though, you should try to buy travel insurance as soon as possible. Waiting could end up costing you in the ... Read More That's when travel insurance can help. Travel insurance can give you peace of mind and protect your wallet in the event of an emergency, unforeseen event or situation. And the options are vast. Read More What should us budget-conscious travelers do? Throw up our hands and party like ... The truth is that nobody knows. Yet travel bookings differ from investments in one crucial way: They can often ... Read More Should you be? It's been 2.5 years since the madness started. Now we don't even flinch when *** stick goes up our nose ... That's good news for those looking to travel. Also, Quarantine times ... Read More What precautions should they take ... different modes of international travel. A cruise where thousands of people are freely associating while maskless with one another is very different from ... Read More
Us News Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Mississippi State Flag S Confederate Symbolism | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Editors' Blog / Analysis & Opinion News Live ... (AP)  A black Mississippi citizen is taking his case against the states Confederate-themed flag to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read More Editors' Blog / Analysis & Opinion News ... symbolism of our flag, which belongs to all of us, presents the people of our state an opportunity to consider a new banner that represents Mississippi ... Read More SPARTANBURG  A massive Confederate battle flag raised over Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County has been taken down and replaced with a South Carolina state flag, though the county still intends to ... Read More A petition was filed Friday with the US Supreme Court asking the Court to review the constitutionality of the felon disenfranchisement provision of Mississippis 1890 Constitution. The plaintiffs, Roy ... Read More The Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday upheld the dismissal of lawsuits against two county governments over the removal of Confederate monuments on public property. The justices ruled that various Sons of ... Read More A Mississippi State University student and ... of our students diminishes all of our students  and all of us at Mississippi State feel the impact of Sam Westmorelands death, University ... Read More U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Trump Request Over Seized Documents ... by the FBI from his Florida home as part of his legal battle against investigators probing his handling of sensitive government ... Read More Former president requested independent arbiter to vet more than 100 documents marked classified seized from his Florida home The US supreme court on Thursday rejected Donald Trumps bid to let ... Read More The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday morning it filed a federal disrimination lawsuit against the parent company of the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City. According to a news release ... Read More A student's class-action lawsuit against Ball State University stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic has been revived by the Indiana Court of Appeals ... Douglas Walker is a news reporter at ... Read More High Court Rejects Trump Plea to Step Into Mar-A-Lago Case By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald ... Read More The US Supreme Court handed former President Donald Trump a loss in his fight over records the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate, refusing to intervene and reinstate a special masters ... Read More
Us News Assemblyman Dov Hikind Condemns Pro Nazi Homework Assigned At New York School | RobinsPost News & Noticias

DEPUTY BOROUGH PRESIDENT OUT, REPORTS DAILY NEWS: Brooklyn Deputy Borough President ... chains $140 million capital investment across New York City. We are always seeking enthusiastic ... Read More Its not normal to us." Smash-and-grab crimes increased during the pandemic and continue to trouble police. Former New York assemblyman Dov Hikind in ... Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter ... Read More A New York school ... Baker High School in Baldwinsville, about 13 miles northwest of Syracuse. Photos and videos of Thomson crowd surfing have circulated on social media and local news outlets. Read More FILE PHOTO - A sign similar to what is to be placed in the Times Square "gun free zone" is seen after a news conference with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams ... Read More A father of four shot and killed his wife and mother at different locations in New York before killing his father and himself at a shooting range while his children were in school, authorities ... Read More An Orthodox Jewish school in New York state will pay $8 million after ... allocated for schoolchildren in need of meals," said US Attorney Breon Peace in the statement. The prosecutor said the ... Read More Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, condemned an epidemic of gun violence. In the US this year ... in Buffalo, New York, and 21 at a school in Uvalde ... Read More The Nyack, New York-born artist first visited the city on family outings as a child. After high school ... s coming to us not all at once, but in sections, which is great news. Read More NEW YORK-- New York City students could soon have ... five days and families who celebrate usually pull their kids out of school. "It'll be a day off, and they will know it. And we can actually ... Read More Diwali, the Hindu celebration known as the Festival of Lights, will be a public school holiday in New York City starting ... the light that is within us, the light that clearly can push ... Read More New York Road Runners released the following statement in response to the petition: "NYRR  continues to strongly condemn Russia's devastating and unjust invasion of Ukraine. NYRR has not ... Read More NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Diwali will be a New York City public school holiday starting next year in 2023. Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks announced ... Read More
Us News Pennsylvania Man Who Eluded Manhunt Goes On Trial In Trooper Ambush | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Pennsylvania Man Charged With Threatening to Kill Jan. 6 ... "You & Joe Biden soon will face death for the wrongs you've done to US." U.S. Capitol Police who investigated the threat found the ... Read More A man who had eluded a police manhunt earlier the same day was apprehended Saturday afternoon, police said. Sheriffs Maj. Shawn Kimmitz said Deputy C.T. Richardson went to the 2200 block of ... Read More A Pennsylvania man was indicted for allegedly threatening ... but U.S. Capitol Police later told Fox News on Thursday that it was merely a stain. "Im going to kill you! I will make you feel ... Read More A 29-year-old man forced his way into an Adams County home after a crash and then wrestled with Pennsylvania State Police while they Tasered him multiple times as they took him into custody. Read More A local recovery counselor in Kensington, Pennsylvania, said spending an hour ... struggling with substance abuse to "zombies." "Go down to downtown PhiladelphiaI see a little bit in Pittsburgh ... Read More EPHRATA TOWNSHIP, Pa.  A Pennsylvania man is facing a host of charges after taking a naked ice bath at an Ephrata Township convenience store. Witnesses told police that 35-year-old Jonathan ... Read More According to court records obtained by WPXI, Eric Rumbaugh, 51, purchased a beagle with his estranged wife last year. Rumbaugh claimed he and his estranged wife got into an argument Tuesday night ... Read More The US government has charged Barrack, whose trial began last month in New York, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent  lobbying Trump on the Emirates behalf, over several years ... Read More Sheriff's deputies fatally shot a man during an exchange of gunfire outside his home in a remote area north of Phoenix after his wife warned in a 911 call he might try to ambush them, the Yavapai ... Read More REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo Oct 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury has indicted a jailed Pennsylvania man for threatening ... the wrongs you've done to US." U.S. Capitol Police who ... Read More (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury has indicted a jailed Pennsylvania man for threatening to kill the ... face death for the wrongs you've done to US." U.S. Capitol Police who investigated the threat ... Read More
MISSOULA  Calling the little Roxy Theater on Missoulas Hip Strip a cultural icon of statewide importance, Gov. Steve Bullock announced a $167,605 award in tourism infrastructure and community development grant block money to fund the restoration of the historic movie theater.

Were here to celebrate a great partnership of public and private resources united by that common goal to restore, enhance and preserve one of Missoulas  and indeed one of Montanas  great treasures, Bullock said. The Roxy really does represent more than just what you all think of as your community theater. Its sort of that intersection of art, culture and history  all important parts of our entire states identity.

The nonprofit theater, celebrating its 80th birthday this year, will use the money to renovate the facade back to its 1930s Art Deco glory. There will be a new ticket booth facing Higgins Avenue, a new neon sign and a new paint job. The Montana Department of Commerce, which awarded the grants, expects the restoration to increase visitation to the theater by 20 percent in the first year.

Roxy Theater executive director Mike Steinberg said the theater provides the community a place for people to see films they might not otherwise see, as well as film festivals, poetry, art, plays and comedy.

Our goal is to return the aesthetic of the theater to its original Art Deco style, as a way to be a beacon for whats going on inside, he said. Thats what the Hip Strip is in a lot of ways in my mind. Its a unique special place, and we want to return the theater to that. Theres been a lot of support for that and the state has been remarkably generous, as have a lot of individual donors.

Steinberg has said he imagines tourists being so enamored with the look of the Roxy that theyll have to stop and take pictures. He said the board of directors decided in the last year that they want to continue to reinvest in the look of the building.

Theres only one Hip Strip in the whole universe, he said. And one thing that became clear in talking with stakeholders is that we should steward this building forward. Theres a lot of excitement around what were doing, and the original eye-popping Art Deco style is a way to announce the excitement of whats going on in here.

The Roxy announced that it had received $67,605 of the money in the form of the tourism infrastructure grant back in February, and now the $100,000 community development block grant will greatly aid in the efforts. In addition to the grants, the Roxy has been fundraising privately for the work, which will cost around $200,000 total. The states Office of Tourism and Business Development Tourism Grant Program targets projects that can improve the economy through local tourism.

Bullock said that 1.5 million tourists stayed at least one night in Missoula last year, part of the state's $3.5 billion tourism industry that supports tens of thousands of jobs.

Investing in our downtown neighborhoods will continue to build vibrant community gathering spots that entice visitors and engage residents, Bullock said. The Roxy Theaters restoration project will create jobs, fuel downtown growth, and ensure the Missoula landmark is around for future generations to enjoy.

The Roxy has 18 year-round full- and part-time employees and seven seasonal positions.

The grant presented today reflects the value of the Roxy as an asset both to your community but also an asset to the promotion and economic impact of tourism across the state, Bullock told a crowd that gathered in one of the Roxys three theater rooms. These are gathering spaces for the community and the Roxy is certainly no exception. Its been that landmark in downtown Missoula for nearly 80 years. Its a place where friends and families gather to share their love of the arts.

The Roxy was destroyed by an unsolved arson in 1994, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1998 as a dollar theater. It closed again in 2000 when the owners died, but the International Wildlife Film Festival bought the building in 2002. That event will celebrate its 40th anniversary when it is held at the Roxy from April 15-22.

The Roxy is a historic asset in Montana that requires preservation and ongoing investment, said Steinberg said. Our restoration effort emphasizes the Roxys dedication to making Montana a unique destination that will serve audiences of all ages.
Us News Teen Punches Shark To Escape Attack Off Florida Coast | RobinsPost News & Noticias

The 50-year-old woman suffered leg wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening while swimming with a companion about 100 yards from shore near the terminus of 17th Street. Read More A South Florida teen who says he was ... and he knows better now. As for the teen, he says he learned his lesson. But the baby shark attack wont stop him from doing what he loves. Read More Three fishermen survived a deadly shark attack after they became stranded ... soon Nguyen found himself having to fight off a shark before the US Coast Guard finally rescued them after more ... Read More And he fired off that text message with that screenshot and said something about how his boat sank. Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today. Get the latest military news ... shark attack. (U.S ... Read More That was critical in us ... shark and then I tried to push his nose. That didnt do anything. So, I stuck both of my thumbs and jabbed him in the eyes and it took off. When the U.S. Coast ... Read More A fishing trip turned into a rescue mission over the weekend when three people became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for more than a day after their boat sank, with two of them fighting off shark ... Read More A spearfisher nearly lost his arm in a shark attack off Australia's west coast on Friday, officials and local media reported. In a news release, Western Australia's Department of Primary ... Read More Shark attacks are relatively rare  last year there were fewer than 75 worldwide that were reported as unprovoked, disproportionately in Florida ... and it took off. Coast Guard officials ... Read More It kind of happened so quickly. Trainor said he somehow landed back on his board during the attack. He said he didn't know it was a shark at the time, but he fought back by kicking it in the hea ... Read More
World News Russia Belarus Settle Dispute Over Oil And Gas Shipments | RobinsPost News & Noticias

However, Russia has been steadily reducing supplies. Over the summer, it drastically cut the amount of gas it supplied through ... like London to insure oil shipments. President Putin has ... Read More Russias seaborne crude oil exports spiked to a five-month high last week as buyers scrambled to get their hands on as much cheap Russian crude oil as they could ahead of the sanctions that go into ef ... Read More The European Union has just approved new sanctions against Russia ... up global oil and natural gas prices, causing spikes in inflation worldwide and, ironically, reducing the worlds access ... Read More The Druzhba pipeline, which in Russian means "Friendship," is one of the world's longest oil pipelines. After leaving Russia, it branches out to bring crude to points including Belarus ... Read More RUSSIA could use Belarus to launch nuclear strikes as the world enters what could be the ... when he baselessly accused Nato of mulling over a nuclear attack on Minsk - a comment many see a ... Read More Russia has removed Exxon as a shareholder from the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project and transferred its stake to a Russian business entity. Exxon said this amounted to expropriation and that it had ... Read More Russia has armed neighboring Belarus with dozens of Iranian ... Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news. Get all the stories you need-to-know ... Read More Israel and Lebanon have ended their longtime dispute over where to draw their border ... The matter in dispute was who gets natural gas fields off the Mediterranean coast. One is in disputed ... Read More 24 (UPI) --Russia's finance minister said he's expecting a substantial amount of revenue from oil and natural ... of human rights." World News // 1 day ago More natural gas found off the coast ... Read More Belarusian Sport and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk spoke about the current state of the world and Belarusian ... Sport without the athletes of Belarus and Russia is just fitness, regional ... Read More
World News Singapore Orders Indian Imam S Expulsion For Remarks Against Jews Christians | RobinsPost News & Noticias

this has to be weighed against the cost of remaining unvaccinated. "Come December, we don't know what kind of variant will come up or what kind of variant will arrive in Singapore. If it's ... Read More Singapore's government filed bills in parliament on Thursday ... there would be a "significant risk" of future legal challenges against laws and government policies related to marriage. Read More The last time a permit was shortened was when action was taken against ... of mens magazine FHM in 1998 and womens magazine Cleo in 2008 over featuring sex and nudity. Singapore has ... Read More Our coolest street of the year might be Everton Road, but for the all-mighty accolade of Singapores coolest neighbourhood ... neighbourhoods in the world, and Little India has ranked a solid ... Read More A Singapore ... s phone. Low was later released on bail under the condition that he would not access his OnlyFans account. In court Tuesday, prosecutors said Low had breached that order and ... Read More The current wave of COVID-19 infections in Singapore ... News Asia reported. First detected in August, it has been found in more than 17 countries, including Australia, Denmark, India and Japan. Read More WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's recent comments that American Jews have offered insufficient ... UTC United States U.S. Powerball worth world-record $1.6 billion in Saturday night ... Read More Former President Donald Trump attacked Jews ... World, could easily be P.M.! he continued. It is unclear what prompted the post. Trump has issued similar remarks in the past about U.S. Jews ... Read More White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing that Trumps comments on his Truth Social website were "antisemitic" and "insulting" both to "Jews and to our Israeli allies." ... Read More Finding room for green spaces is a challenge in any city, let alone the world's most densely populated ones. So in downtown Singapore, anyone looking for a new park to stroll in may need to turn ... Read More 9 (UPI) --Pope Francis on Sunday called the treatment of migrants seeking refuge in Europe "criminal" in unscripted remarks in ... Britain's Home Office said. World News // 12 hours ago Martin ... Read More who open their campaign against arch-rival Pakistan on Sunday. Rohit, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli make up the top three of India's batting line-up but it will be the middle order of Suryakumar Yadav ... Read More
World News Afghan President Says Refugees Off Australia Visit Agenda | RobinsPost News & Noticias

U.S. Navy veteran and Afghan refugee Lyla Kohistany co-founded Honor the Promise to help support former members of the Afghan military. Read More U.S. Navy veteran and Afghan refugee Lyla Kohistany co-founded Honor the Promise to help support former members of the Afghan military. Read More With travel to Qatar surging for the World Cup in November, airlines are adding more flights to the region. The airport's refugee assistance ... fleeing from Afghanistan, he says, for having ... Read More Analysis: Many Afghan Refugees Are Still Without a Place to Call Home Many Afghan Refugees Are Still Without a P... | View Comments () Thousands of people who fled the Talibans takeover of ... Read More While many have tragically grown accustomed to the Talibans stranglehold on war-torn Afghanistan, for the thousands of LGBT+ Afghans who still remain trapped, life is more dangerous than ever. Its ... Read More its really hard for us all that was involved and the training especially the forces, he says. One way Shaeed has been able to cope is to be there for new Afghan refugees, people like Sayed ... Read More Five days after the Afghans arrived in the U.S., they say Mast  custody papers in hand  took her away. The Afghan woman collapsed ... Related Articles World News | Opinion: All veterans ... Read More Afghans in UAE Facility Are 'Psychologically Suffering,' Canada Refugee ... Afghan refugees in the facility staged demonstrations this week to demand clarity on their future. The protests were ... Read More I am just waiting to die and leave this world ... refugees arrived from Afghanistan in 2021 and 2022 so far, despite the governments promise. The Government of Canada website says ... Read More Brazil has approved about 6,000 humanitarian visas for Afghan refugees since late ... 10:53 AM UTC United States Biden says Twitter spews lies across the world, article with image 2:50 AM UTC ... Read More With travel to Qatar surging for the World Cup in November, airlines are adding more flights to the region. The airport's refugee assistance agency ... in Brazil on Tuesday after fleeing from ... Read More
World News Arrests In Iran Show Rouhani S Difficulty Shielding Reformists Ahead Of Vote | RobinsPost News & Noticias

In Iran, no one who expresses dissent against the ruling theocratic system, including the famous, is safe from being caught in the dragnet of a crackdown that has seen hundreds arrested in more ... Read More Iran Arrests 14 Foreigners, Including U.S. Citizens, Over Unrest -Fars DUBAI ... the semi-official Fars news agency said on Wednesday. Iranian officials have yet to comment. Read More The news came as the commander ... As many as 200 refinery workers have been arrested since their protests started a fortnight ago. The Writers Union of Iran issued a statement about the crackdown ... Read More VOA requested a comment from Irans mission ... from news outlets operating outside Iran. The few independent journalists in Iran face persecution in the form of arbitrary arrests and very ... Read More Iranian journalist Niloofar Hamedi was the first to break the news of Mahsa Amini's hospitalisation to the world. Her arrest, thereafter, was no shock. But when news broke out of fire in Iran's ... Read More Iran Arrests 10 Agents Working for Israel - Fars News Agency DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran has arrested 10 agents working for Israel in west Azerbaijan province, Fars news agency reported. These people ... Read More DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A weekend fire at Iran's notorious ... of the state's systematic crushing of dissent  remains unclear. Online videos purport to show chaotic scenes with ... Read More Some arrests were made at the Asalouyeh plant in the province of Bushehr, also home to Irans sole nuclear power plant, according to the governor, Ali Hashemi. He confirmed that workers had ... Read More 24 (UPI) --Security forces in Qatar have arbitrarily arrested ... to Italy in a show of new Italian Premier, far right wing leader Giorgia Meloni's immigration policy. World News // 10 hours ... Read More International footballer Hossein Mahini was arrested for supporting the protests, while ex-football legend Ali Karimi, believed to be living outside Iran, has been charged over his social media ... Read More DUBAI, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces have arrested ... World  November 5, 2022 Iran for the first time acknowledged a "small number" of drones it said it sent before Russia's ... Read More An international footballer, an influential tech-blogger, a woman who was merely eating her breakfast without a headscarf. In Iran no-one who expresses dissent from the ruling theocratic system ... Read More
World News How Putin Has Gained Power From Terrorism In Russia | RobinsPost News & Noticias

The Russian President is facing dissent within the Kremlin as Moscow's leading powers begin to turn against Vladimir Putin amid the disastrous invasion of Ukraine. Read More Throughout the war, Russian fighters have frequently been able to launch radar-homing air-to-air missiles at Ukrainian fighters from over 100km away. Read More It was one of the sharpest, most sweeping rebukes in the recent history of the United Nations. On Oct. 12, 143 countries led by the U.S. and its allies voted to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine ... Read More VLADIMIR Putins hands appear to be turning black and may suggest hes very ill, a former British Army chief said. Putins health has long been the source of speculation, with ... Read More Vladimir Putin is using multiple tactics to pressure Ukrainians into defeat, including attacking their energy infrastructure. Just how far will he go to win? Read More Russia on Wednesday claimed that the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict, accusing the West of provocation. Read More WESTERN leaders have condemned Russia for the suspension of the UN-brokered Black Sea grain agreement, as the Kremlin blames Ukraine for the decision. The agreement was brokered earlier in ... Read More Australia may still be an ally, but the world does not need another Germany, willing to appease Russia for commercial or ideological gain. Read More The attack comes barely a few days after Kyiv and surrounding areas were struck by kamikaze drones on October 13 in a series of deadly assaults across Ukraine in which at least 19 people were killed ... Read More Russia certainly appears to be planning to leave the first and only major population center it has managed to seize control of in its eight-month war. For weeks now it has been systematically ... Read More Latest updates as Russia claims it repelled drone strike in Crimea; Russian journalist killed in shooting accident in annexed region; Moscow removes remains of 18th century statesman in Kherson - ... Read More
World News Hungary Passes Law Targeting Soros Founded University Thousands Protest | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Hungarys President ... signed into law Monday night a controversial amendment that would in effect lead to the closure of the Central European University, an institution founded by U.S. financier ... Read More Thousands of Hungarians including teachers and students marched through Budapest on Sunday to protest against the government ... in December as the budget law, approved in July, forecast growth ... Read More Thousands of Hungarians including teachers and students marched through Budapest on Sunday (October 23) to protest against the government, demanding higher wages for teachers and a curb on surging ... Read More BUDAPEST - Thousands of Hungarians including teachers and students marched through Budapest on Sunday to protest against the ... in December as the budget law, approved in July, forecast growth ... Read More With supermarket cashiers paid more than most teachers, thousands ... she said. Hungarian teachers are the lowest paid of any EU member in the OECD at just 60 of other Hungarian university ... Read More Viewers were asked to guess if the remarks came from Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Hungarian leader's men ... still held up over EU Rule of Law and corruption concerns. Read More Hungary Government Expands Scheme That Caps Mortgage Rates - Govt Decree BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government has expanded its existing scheme that caps mortgage rates effective Nov. 1 to ... Read More Thousands of Hungarians, including teachers and students, marched through Budapest on Sunday to protest against the government ... in December as the budget law, approved in July, forecast ... Read More Protesters demand higher wages for teachers Orban faces big challenge with inflation topping 20% Pledges economic stability amid slowdown, soaring energy prices Orban was reelected in April ... Read More BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Thousands of Hungarians including teachers and students marched through Budapest on Sunday to protest against ... in December as the budget law, approved in July, forecast ... Read More
World News Somalia S Al Shabaab Takes Town After Ethiopian Troops Leave Official Says | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Somalia's army and allied clan militias have killed at least 100 al Shabaab fighters in heavy clashes in the central Hiran region, the defence ministry said on Friday, days after twin bombings killed ... Read More Hostility to foreign troops ... tool. After Ethiopia withdrew forces in 2009, Al-Shabaab shifted its focus to the expulsion of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The mission's role ... Read More Two car bombs exploded in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on Saturday, leaving at least 100 people dead, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said. Read More It is the new weapon of choice in the 16-year effort to eradicate al Shabaab ... says Brigadier General Keith Katunji. Hes the commander of ATMIS Ugandan troops and has been stationed in ... Read More BOSASO, Somalia (Reuters) -The U.S ... to take the fight to the insurgents after three years in which his predecessor, consumed by political infighting, took little action against al-Shabaab. Read More In the first explosion just near the main bridge to Jalalaqsi town where Djiboutian military's Forward ... southern Somalia. Separately, six people were killed on the main bridge connecting Buloburde ... Read More A suicide attack by the Islamist rebel group Al-Shabaab killed two people including a soldier in central Somalia on Wednesday, a local military official ... partners. After Mohamud's election ... Read More The group's nationalist stance against foreign troops in Somalia has been a theme throughout its evolution. After 15 years of conflict, Al-Shabaab remains a significant threat to stability in ... Read More
World News Topics Judge Blocks Indiana Mandate Requiring Ultrasound Hours Before Abortion | RobinsPost News & Noticias

Owen County Judge ... before 10 weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly. Indiana's seven abortion clinics ... Read More Court order keeps ban on hold while judges consider whether Republican-backed effort violates state constitution The Indiana supreme court issued an order Wednesday that prevents the state from ... Read More Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, speaks with reporters Oct. 14, 2022, in Indianapolis after arguing before a Marion County judge over claims the state's abortion ban violates plaintiff's ... Read More INDIANAPOLIS (WISH)  The latest question surrounding Indianas new abortion law: Does it violate the religious freedom of some Indiana women? A Marion County judge will have to settle that ... Read More An Ohio judge has ... effectively banned abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June. In July, an 11-year-old victim of rape was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion ... Read More A top Indiana lawyer on Friday questioned the validity of a lawsuit brought by a group of residents who argue that the states abortion ban violates their religious freedoms. A judge heard ... Read More A top Indiana lawyer has questioned ... by a group of residents who argue that the state's abortion ban violates their religious freedoms. A judge heard arguments Friday for about an hour in ... Read More
World News Topics House Measures Rebuke North Korea For Belligerent Behavior | RobinsPost News & Noticias

SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea on Friday launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters and flew warplanes near the border with South Korea, the Souths military said, further ... Read More North Korea has one of the largest stadiums in the world, and it was crammed with thousands ... Republicans remain favored to take over the House in next months elections, while the battle ... Read More More info Japan has announced they will impose additional sanctions against North ... Measures Act (SEMA). These sanctions include an import and export ban and a ban on all new investment in North ... Read More Threat to peace, security': North Korea's law on nuclear first strike sparks concern The recent launches were "the just counteraction measures ... news from Australia and around the world direct ... Read More North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un has recently made headlines for his overtly aggressive behavior following ... a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news. 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 North Korea Says It Will Not Overlook Any Kind of ... spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. "In the future, too, our army will never allow any provocation ... Read More North Korea has been consistently developing and advancing nuclear weapons capabilities and is now threatening not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think there is nothing North ... Read More North Korea has fired another missile over Japan in its seventh projectile test in just a fortnight. The move, thought to be tied to an upcoming visit to Thailand by US Vice President Kamala ... Read More Tokyo says North Koreas seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks may have been launched from submarine North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters ... Read More 8 (UPI) --North Korea on Saturday defended its latest ... while rekindling cooperation between Japan and South Korea. World News // 2 hours ago Twitter advertises new $8 monthly verification ... Read More
BILLINGS  Steve Lehenbauer started noticing them in February, when ice jams started slowly clearing near his property at the confluence of the Yellowstone River and the Clarks Fork.

Since then, more dead cows have appeared.

On Saturday, two decomposing carcasses could be seen from his property, which is about where River and Thiel Roads meet between Laurel and Billings.

Four more were laid up in the center of the Yellowstone on a dry patch, which could be seen just to the east of the bridge. Three more lay along the shores near the Sundance Lodge Recreation Area.

Lehenbauer believes the cows didn't die where they lay on Saturday and that they came from up on the Clarks Fork.

"They floated downriver and got caught up," he said.

One of the carcasses lay just yards from Lehenbauer's property line, approachable by foot with the river's current flow. He said he's called multiple agencies, but no one seems to know where these cows came from or who will remove them.

Mike Honeycutt, executive officer for the Montana Department of Livestock, said that while it's not a routine occurrence, cows tend to wander from riverside ranches to meet their demise in the water.

He didn't get back to The Gazette Monday afternoon with any information from his brand inspectors but said that if there was evidence of a criminal offense, department officers would contact the sheriff's office.

Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said he has deputies on the case after taking a couple reports on the cows.

"We haven't been able to track down an owner on them yet," he said. "That's where we're at right now  see who they belong to."

The loss of nine cows could cost a rancher thousands of dollars, but apparently none have stepped forward.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has fielded a few complaints about the carcasses as well. A spokeswoman for the agency said they also haven't identified an owner.

"It is the owner's responsibility to remove the cows, so we ask for identification of the cows (brand, tag)," said Kristi Ponozzo, DEQ public policy director, in an email. "This is often difficult to attain, and we have not received identification information."

While there are many factors at play, Ponozzo added that the decomposing animals may produce "limited pollution."

Lehenbauer guessed that the cows may have wandered out onto an upriver ice field months ago and became trapped. In a month or two, he expects the increasing water level to wash the remains downriver if nothing else happens.
World News Topics California Senate Oks Statewide Immigrant Sanctuary Bill | RobinsPost News & Noticias

For the first half of Sanctuary City, Martyna Majoks emotionally charged barnburner now at Arena Stage, a pair of young immigrants navigate the margins of an unwelcoming America in time-hopping ... Read More
World News Topics Soros S University Becomes Democracy Battleground In Hungary | RobinsPost News & Noticias

There is a hoax going around that financier George Soros was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, its not true ... most popular fake news publishers in the world. Read More Wealthy philanthropist George Soros is the subject of one movie claiming ... have been rejected by the Parler team. The Fox News host claimed that financial backing from the two billionaires ... Read More Its the latest loss for Budapest before ... targeting the Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, who funds pro-democracy activism across the globe. It requires NGOs operating in Hungary who ... Read More Its no longer liberal versus conservative. Its become authoritarian versus anti ... Unlike the United States, Hungary, in Boghossians funhouse-mirror telling, is a country that ... Read More George Soros ... there's someone on the other side of the transaction who is buying. The people on the buying side during recessions are the Warren Buffett's and Seth Klarman's of the investing world. Read More Soros' Democracy PAC II, a federal committee bankrolled ... One Georgia Inc. did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Fox News Digital's Jessica Chasmar contributed to this ... Read More which Fox News has labeled a Soros Takeover. Some of Mambis hosts have cited his links to the sale in their decision to resign. And this month, an unsolicited text blast from a ... Read More The family of a man brutally killed in Austin, Texas, told Fox News Digital that the county's Soros-backed progressive ... "it appears that Garza has now become more of an advocate for the ... Read More campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital show. Soros' Democracy PAC II, a federal committee bankrolled by $125 million from the financier, sent the cash to One Georgia Inc. on Sept. 30, ... Read More He cautioned that this would have far-reaching political consequences, and had already played a large role in the election of Donald Trump. Hungarian born billionaire investor George Soros ... Read More And right-wingers should also be praising George Soros, another one of their undeserved ... ideal in American government. In whats become a stylized ritual, Republican senators lined up to ... Read More (Bloomberg) -- Everton FC is drawing takeover interest from a US special purpose acquisition company co-led by George Soross nephew ... from the EPL, the worlds richest football league. Read More
World News Topics Congress Can Learn From Rhode Island S Medicaid Miracle | RobinsPost News & Noticias

But qualifying for it can require making some tough choices. That was the case for one Rhode Island ... s Yuki Noguchi has her story as part of our ongoing series on medical debt with Kaiser ... Read More This level of transparency shows that Rhode Islands elections are an open process that voters can ... in Congress because I want my son Max and every child to grow up in a world where ... Read More Fung would be the first Asian American elected to represent Rhode Island in Congress. And hes part of a small cadre ... men and independents? You can go anywhere in the country and ... Read More Called Improving Rhode Island's K-12 Schools: Where Do We Go From Here ... Were trying to deal with the realities of our culture and what we can get done with a broad consensus. ... Read More In August 1790, America was a new nation with a new constitution and a new government, one unlike any other conceived in world ... Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Rhode Island ... Read More Prior to running for Congress, Magaziner chaired Rhode Island's school building task force, leading a statewide school construction initiative that created jobs and repaired over 200 schools. Read More Politics Updated on Oct 13, 2022 5:04 PM EDT  Published on Oct 13, 2022 12:01 AM EDT South Dakota, one of a dozen states that has strict limits on who can qualify for Medicaid, could vote in ... Read More Control of Congress ... hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections. And follow the APs coverage of the midterms at https ... Read More You can check out all of Rhode Islands scores here. Below is a look at how all the New England states compare, along with the national averages. The highest possible score is 500. Get Rhode Map ... Read More But qualifying for it can require making some tough choices. That was the case for one Rhode Island woman who struggles with getting care for Rose, her 9-year-old. NPR's Yuki Noguchi ... eligibility ... Read More
Letters 11-4-22 A Vote For Tom Sullivan Dear Editor: On Election Day, I will be proudly voting for Colonel Thomas P. Sullivan for State Assembly. A proven leader, and financial professional. A vote for Tom Sullivan is...

Letters 10-28-22 Thanks, Stacey Dear Editor: I would like to recognize Stacey Amato for the tireless work she has done in our community. She responded to every call I have ever made to her office with results....
BUTTE  Mike and Katie Brotzman and family had privacy at the now-closed Butte Rescue Mission, but their family will now be split up.

They plan to stay at the Motel 6 in Uptown Butte for the next week, but after that, their living arrangements are up in the air.

A friend is helping us, said Mike Brotzman. He paid for a week just for the two of us.

On Monday, the shelter, 1204 E. Second St., shut down for good because of serious fire and safety code violations. The Butte zoning board voted 4-2 a week ago to not allow it to use the Madison School. The once single-family dwelling swelled with up at times to 40 homeless folks per night.

The Brotzmans grown daughter Jessie, son-in-law Jansen, and their baby  who stayed at the mission with them  are searching for their own place.

Fighting a wind chill and brisk mid-30s temperatures, a dozen former mission employees and volunteers worked fast Monday to carry out mattresses, office and kitchen supplies, dining furniture, and any personal items former residents left behind.

Most supplies were stored right across the street to the west in a main-level and basement storage space. Even freezers and refrigerators were moved there to house leftover food  at least until Director Rocky Lyons finds another location for a dedicated meal service.

It is very heartbreaking, said head cook Donna Berry, who once lived at the shelter for nearly four months. Weve become big friends and family.

Dorvan Schuck, 57, worked as dorm attendant and assistant cook, a paid volunteer through Montana Experience Works, a low-income employment service for seniors. He lived at the shelter, too. But he found a place.

I got a two-bedroom apartment at Silver Bow Homes and moved in yesterday, said Schuck, who has a roommate to split costs.

I understand the stigma of alcoholics and drug addicts coming here, but thats not true, Schuck added. There are people who get out of prison, pre-release, or who are just coming into town who already have a job lined up and are looking for a place to stay. But now these people dont have a place to stay.

Lyons was busy moving her office to the Butte Rescue Mission Thrift Store, 123 E. Park St., where she will continue the shelters mission.

She was uncertain how many homeless folks had secured places to live as of Monday.

I dont have the numbers, said Lyons Monday afternoon. I dont have any of that information in front of me; all that information is packed up and in transit to the new office.

Lyons is determined to keep the mission in forward motion as she plans to offer case management at the thrift store.

The missions not going anywhere  the mission will still have a very large presence in Butte, Lyons added. The shelter runs on a Christian faith-based philosophy, but Berry emphasized that staff was strict about enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol.

ACTION INC. HELPING

As Action Inc. scrambles to find housing for two more homeless households, social service agencies are working hard to make the transition quicker due to the cold spring weather.

So far, Action Inc. found housing for 14 previously homeless households, said director Margie Seccomb on Monday.

Nine homeless individuals chose to relocate  and they have been provided with bus tickets and are gone, said Seccomb. Two individuals were referred to Volunteers of America for veterans services.

While a community coalition, including Action Inc., continues to serve emergency meals at regular We Deliver drop-offs three times a week, social workers have not let up with the shelter closing.

This has been super challenging, and our team is dead on their feet, said Seccomb. Our service advocates have been pushing hard to get everyone at the mission taken care of. We have a couple more to house, but most everyone has either relocated to a shelter in Missoula, Billings, Helena, or Great Falls or is housed.

She said the food gap is covered until the newly organized food service starts this month with several agencies collaborating.

We are scraping together funds to cover housing for everyone and to make sure we have funds through the summer, added Seccomb.

DEDICATED EMPLOYEES

Karen Turnbull, mission office manager, said she fell in love with the thrift store when she worked there as a cashier before Lyons hired her as an assistant office manager. She quickly moved up to manager.

Turnbull, supervising transport of items to storage on Monday, took an optimistic tack  even in the face of uncertainty.

Its time for a new beginning, she said. But its sad and its bittersweet that we wont be able to house anyone anymore.

Last week, neighborhood residents opposed relocating the mission to the vacant Madison School, near Rowe Road and Montana Street in the Flat. They testified before the zoning board, which ultimately decided not to allow a special-use permit for the shelter to use the Madison School.

In February, the mission tried unsuccessfully to buy a building at Main and Quartz streets owned by Action Inc. because of public outcry from the board, residents, and Uptown businesses.

Action Inc. was previously known as the District XII Human Resources Council. The private, non-profit organization was incorporated in Montana in 1965 as the Butte Anti-poverty Council.

WHERE TO GO?

The Brotzmans, formerly of Utah, came to Butte on New Years Day after striking a patch of black ice near on a highway near Cardwell.

He laid the truck on its side, gently, said wife Katie. Nobody got hurt.

But it was enough for the Brotzmans to check into the Butte Rescue Mission on Jan. 1, where they stayed until Monday. They have a truck, but thats about it.

Brotzman said he has applied for housing with Butte-Silver Bow Homes and public housing in Anaconda. He seeks work as a master mechanic. Katie said she can do office work but not a job that requires standing due to bad knees.

No one showed up for breakfast, the missions last meal, on Monday. Former residents seemed scattered to the wind.

But taking it day by day, the Brotzmans hope to get their full family back intact soon.
MISSOULA  The Missoula Police Department is investigating a report that a 7-month-old infant was bitten repeatedly on the face by a toddler at a drop-in child care center on Friday.

Tracy Blinov said she and her husband dropped their daughter Eliana off at Busy Hands Fun Center on Friday evening around 7 p.m.

About an hour and a half later, she said they got a call saying their daughter had been bitten by another child.

Just based on the tone of the staff member, they didnt sound like my kids face was mauled. They made it sound like it was just a light incident, Blinov said, adding the call didnt leave them thinking they needed to rush over.

Her husband picked Eliana up later that night and found the side of her face covered in bite marks, with the other side showing fingernail marks, she said.

Blinov said they took their daughter to the emergency room because her face was bleeding where at least one bite had broken through the skin.

On Saturday afternoon, Blinov said, the owner of Busy Hands called her in to view video footage that showed a minute and 29 seconds of the toddler climbing into Eliana's bouncy chair and biting her.

All you can see is her on my childs face and her legs flailing around, Blinov said.

Blinov said the video shows her daughter was unsupervised at the time, with the only staff member on the floor in another room with some of the older children.

Busy Hands owner Dawn Wahl said Monday that the employee went over as soon as she heard the infant crying.

"Our first priority is to keep children safe and it's heartbreaking when a situation like this happens," she said.

She also read a statement by the staff member, which she said included allegations that her husband had threatened the staff member when he picked up Eliana. Wahl said she couldn't comment, saying she had heard "conflicting stories."

Blinov said that when her husband picked up their daughter, he wasnt upset at all. Were the parents of two kids, we understand things happen. We just wanted to know how this happened."

A post on Busy Hands Facebook page, which has since been removed, said the center learned after the incident that the toddler had previously been removed from a different center for biting a child. Wahl said a space on Busy Hands' registration form asks if there is any information about a child that staff should be aware of, but the previous incident wasn't disclosed when the toddler was dropped off.

Blinov said she doesnt blame the other child or her parents.

This situation is not their fault. Two-year-olds are crazy and they need a lot of supervision, she said.

Sgt. Travis Welsh said the Missoula Police Department was called to Busy Hands on Friday night, initially for a report of a disruptive parent. He said the alleged biting is under investigation by a detective. Welsh said in order for probable cause of a crime to be established, the investigation would likely have to show either intent to harm the infant, or criminal negligence on behalf of a staff member.

Jon Ebelt, spokesperson for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said as a drop-in child care center, Busy Hands is not required to be licensed and is not bound by the same regulations as licensed child care centers.

Wahl said Busy Hands voluntarily abides by state regulations, and said they will be changing policy to increase the staff-to-infant ratio from one adult per four infants to one per two. She said they will also be limiting the hours when infants can be at the center.

"Anybody that knows us, they know that we take care of the kiddos," she said, adding she was grateful for the people who have reached out in support since the incident.

Ebelt would not comment on whether the states Child and Family Services Division was involved in the investigation at Busy Hands, but said local law enforcement usually involves CFS when there's a criminal investigation of violence against a child.

***

Kelly Rosenleaf, executive director of Child Care Resources, said despite the lack of licensing for drop-in care centers in Montana, they are an important part of the child care system, especially for parents who have variable work schedules or who need a place to take their kids on short notice.

Child Care Resources provides training, support and consulting for child care centers in Missoula, Ravalli and Mineral counties. It also maintains a database to help parents find child care, and administers a scholarship to help low-income families afford child care.

While the City-County Health Department has implemented some regulations that affect drop-in centers, like mandatory background checks and sanitation standards, they are not mandated to have a certain staff-child ratio or have all employees go through the same pre-service and annual training as licensed locations, Rosenleaf said.

Child Care Resources reached out to Busy Hands on Monday about the incident, and Rosenleaf said one of her staff members has gone over to the center to talk about options for training Busy Hands staff on ways to deal with young children who have a tendency to bite. Rosenleaf said that might come in the form of in-person training or encouraging them to complete Child Care Resources online class on the subject.

This business of biting is a common thing; a lot of kids bite. We cant teach them not to, so we train adults to be more vigilant, she said.
Petra suspends operations at Williamson after wall breach at tailings storage facility Petra Diamonds says the eastern wall of the tailings storage facility at its 75%-owned Williamson mine in Tanzania was breached, resulting in flooding away from the pit into certain areas outside of the mine lease area. Petra said mine production...

De Beers develops new diamond verification tool De Beers Ignite division has developed a new diamond verification instrument, which is set to be launched early next year. The new instrument, part of the automated melee screening range, will enable automated and rapid verification of up to 3,600 diamonds...

Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo achieved CHF 4,083,500 / USD 4,092,075 for the George Daniels Spring Case Tourbillon The unique Spring Case Tourbillon in yellow gold, by the founding father of independent watchmaking, appeared at auction for the first time. After a three-minute bidding war, the watch soared above its pre-sale estimate of CHF 1 million, eventually selling...

UAE to Chair Kimberley Process in 2024 DMCC has announced that the UAE will be appointed Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2024, assuming the role as Vice-Chair in 2023. The decision follows the deliberations at the Kimberley Process Plenary meeting in Gaborone, Botswana that concluded on...
Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners Endiama and Rosas & Petalas have recovered a 92 carat diamond from new Mining Block 28 at Lulo, in Angola.

The diamond had been recorded as a D-colour Type I diamond on the Yehuda colorimeter, it said in a statement.

Lucapa holds 40 percent of the alluvial diamond mining operations and was the operator of the project.

The company and its partners recently recovered a 227 carat diamond from Mining Block 28. The recovery of the 92 carat stone marked another production milestone for Lucapa and its partners with the total weight of all special diamonds (individual stones weighing more than 10.8 carats) recovered from mining operations at Lulo now exceeding 10, 000 carats, said company managing director Stephen Wetherall.

Meanwhile, Lucapa said it would commence drilling priority targets at Lulo having fully commissioned its new track-mounted drilling rig.

The company and its partners seek to identify the kimberlite source or sources of the high-value alluvial diamonds being recovered through current mining at Lulo.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




DiamondCorp said all of its employees at Lace diamond mine in South Africa will be retrenched starting Monday.

It said discussions between Association of Mining & Construction Union (AMCU) and the Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) ended without a settlement being reached on a collective agreement to allow care and maintenance to commence.

Consequently, effective April 3rd all employees will be retrenched, it said in a statement Monday.

As a further consequence of the retrenchment, the senior secured status necessary for the effectiveness of the post commencement finance pursuant to the IDC Agreement is no longer available for new funding, as in a liquidation priority is given to amounts due relating to employment.

DiamondCorp said it would likely be placed into administration unless there was an accelerated plan and route for funding in place which can be completed by mid-May, including a significant restructuring of all debt, and successful exit from the business rescue process.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




A ring featuring an old European brilliant-cut 6.32-carat diamond, GIA-certified as VVS1-clarity, fancy vivid yellow, set between two old-mine brilliant-cut diamonds, with a pre-auction estimate of $400,000-$600,000, will headline the Bonhams New York Fine Jewellery sale on April 24.

The Bonhams sale will also feature a fancy coloured diamond and diamond necklace by William Goldberg estimated at $350,000-$550,000.

Originating in a turn of the century Tiffany & Co. six-prong solitaire ring, this old European cut diamond is a rare example of 19th century cutting technology. This old fashioned cutting style, rarely found in todays market, epitomises old world charm, brilliance and, above all, depth of colour,  said Bonhams Vice President and Director of US Jewellery Susan Abeles.

The auction will also feature signed jewellery from noted brands including Cartier, Rene Boivin, Tiffany, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels and Verdura.




The Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF) is introducing to the market a new system for scanning both single and multi-strand pearl necklaces. Called PearlScan, it is able to count large quantities of pearls on strands, and measure their dimensions. Consisting of an A4 scanner, computer and proprietary software, the system offers the pearl industry a new and efficient way of documenting pearl necklaces.

Developed in collaboration with CSEM (Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology) and supported by a prestigious CTI grant from Switzerland's Commission for Technology and Innovation, PearlScan provides its users with effective and easy solution for counting and measuring large quantities of pearls on strands in relatively short periods of time.

The PearlScan software incorporates a complex algorithm that enables the detection of different strands, and a count of the pearls while measuring the diameter of each one and distinguishing them from other elements. It also calculates a roundness factor for every pearl, and measures the length of each strand.

"We have found that PearlScan greatly supports analytical and documentation procedures in our own laboratory at SSEF. We are glad to be able to offer now this new and easy-to-use solution to the trade and pearl industry," stated SSEF Director Dr. Michael S. Krzemnicki.




Dominion Diamond Corporation has updated a technical report for the Diavik Diamond Mine with an effective date of January 31, 2017.

According to the report, mine life has been extended to 2025 from 2023. Between 2017 and 2025, 46.0 million carats are forecast to be recovered from the processing of 16.3 million tonnes of ore. Production will be sourced from three existing pipes at A-154 South, A-154 North and A-418, with production from the A-21 pipe, which is currently in development, commencing in 2018.

Operating costs over the remaining life of the mine are forecast to total approximately $2.8 billion. Development capital, which totals approximately $173 million including contingencies, relates to the development of the A-21 pipe that is forecast to enter production in 2018. Sustaining capital over the life of mine is forecast to total approximately $216 million.

Dominion expects that 46.0 million carats will be recovered between 2017 and 2025, an increase of 6.3 million carats or 16%, from the previous estimate for the comparable period.

Forecast total revenue of approximately $9.0 billion and total operating cash flow of approximately $3.7 billion between 2017 and 2025, an increase of 22% and 32%, respectively, from the previous estimates for the comparable period.

The updated life of mine plan for Diavik extends the mine life, increases carat production, and grows future revenues and cash flows, while maintaining operating costs and capital expenditures at levels that are consistent with earlier forecasts, said Jim Gowans, Chairman of the Board of Directors.



Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels




Infrastructure Ontario

The province of Ontario is moving forward with plans to redevelop the Kipling Station into a transit hub that will integrate subway, regional rail and inter-regional bus services.

The redevelopment includes the area around the Kipling GO Station and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Kipling subway station. The station will integrate the subway, GO train and local and regional bus services, including GO, TTC and MiWay services, into a single mobility hub through a new inter-regional bus terminal.

These upgrades will also allow for increased GO rail service on the Milton GO corridor and will support the provinces GO Regional Express Rail project, which will provide faster and more frequent service on the GO Transit rail network and is the largest commuter rail project in Canada.

A Request for Proposals has been issued for the project from three pre-qualified bidders that include Bird/Kiewit JV, EllisDon Infrastructure Transit and Kipling Infrastructure Partnership. The successful bidder is expected to be announced this fall.
MTA board awards contracts to begin next phase of 2nd Avenue Subway project, enhance train stations in Queens, shorten Canarsie Tunnel closure Written by Maggie Lancaster, assistant editor









MTA/Patrick Cashin

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board on Monday voted on measures to improve service for millions of New Yorkers who use subways.

Initiatives include the next phase of the 2nd Avenue Subway and enhancing train stations in Queens as part of a large-scale plan to overhaul more than 30 stations in the system in the 2015-19 Capital Program and a contract to shorten the 2019 Canarsie Tunnel closure by three months starting in April 2019.

The board voted to award a contract for outreach services for the next phase of the 2nd Avenue Subway project, which advances north to 125th Street and will feature new stations at 106th and 116th Streets. The $7.3-million contract, awarded through a competitive procurement process to East Harlem Community Collaborators JV (a joint venture formed by Spectrum Personal Communications and Sam Schwartz Engineering DPC), will lead to the opening of a staffed Community Information Center (CIC) for the project at 69 E. 125th Street this spring. The CIC was previously located on Second Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets.

On New Years Day 2017, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo celebrated the successful on-time launch of Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway by opening three new stations on Second Avenue at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets, and an expanded 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue station. Phase 2 preliminary design and engineering work, as well as environmental studies, have already commenced. Once completed, a project schedule and budget will be established.

The board also voted to award a $150-million contract for the second set of stations in Gov. Cuomos ongoing Enhanced Station Initiative (ESI) to create new and dramatically improved subway stations throughout New York. The stations, which are all elevated, are located on the Astoria Line (N & W) in Queens, including the Broadway, 30th Avenue, 36th Avenue, and 39th Avenue stations. They will be renovated using a single-contractor, design-build method to cut construction time and save money.

The board voted to award an expedited contract to accelerate the rehabilitation of the Canarsie Tunnel, which carries L train riders under the East River, by three months. Judlau Contracting and TC Electric were selected in a joint venture for the $492-million project. Judlau successfully completed similar work on the Montague Tunnel in 2013 following Superstorm Sandy ahead of schedule. Penalties for any delays call for fines of $410,000 a day.

To keep up with MTA projects and contracts and other projects, visit IRJ Pro.
Panera Bread has announced that the fast-casual chain will provide information in the fountain area about the added sugar and calories in each beverage, starting April 5.

Panera says that it is the first national restaurant company to post this nutritional information. This information would help customers to make healthier decisions when purchasing food and drink items.

"With up to 75 grams of sugarjust one 20 oz. soft drink contains more than the recommended daily amount of added sugar," Ron Shaich, Panera founder, chairman and CEO, said. "While we won't tell people what they should drink, we want to provide real options and real transparencyand we're challenging the industry to join us."

For alternatives, Panera is launching a new line of non-carbonated teas, lemonades and frescas, which are made using fresh daily and with less sugar. The new beverages include Iced Black Tea and Plum Ginger Hibiscus, Tea

Prickly Pear Hibiscus Fresca, Passion Papaya Green Tea, Blood Orange Lemonade and Agave Lemonade.

The new beverages are free from sweeteners, preservatives, flavors or colors from artificial sources.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The New Zealand dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday.

The NZ dollar fell to nearly a 4-1/2-month low of 77.23 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 77.78.

Against the euro, the kiwi edged down to 1.5254 from yesterday's closing value of 1.5209.

Against the Australian and the U.S. dollars, the kiwi dropped to 1.0871 and 0.6692 from an early 1-week high of 1.0829 and a 5-day high of 0.7022, respectively.

If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 76.00 against the yen, 1.55 against the euro, 1.10 against the aussie and 0.68 against the greenback.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Forex News
European stocks were mixed on Tuesday, as declines in banks and automakers were offset by gains in commodity-related stocks.

Underlying sentiment remained somewhat cautious as investors awaited this week's crucial summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with trade issues and North Korea's nuclear development expected to be high on the agenda.

Markets eye the latest French presidential election debate later in the day, with polls showing centrist presidential contender Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen taking the top two spots in the first round on April 23.

U.K. also remained in focus after Prime Minister Theresa May's claim that "no deal is better than a bad deal" has been criticized as unsubstantiated by a parliamentary committee.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was marginally lower at 379.30 in late opening deals after losing half a percent in the previous session.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index were little changed with a negative bias while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was moving up 0.4 percent amid persistent pound weakness.

Automakers BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Peugeot and Renault fell 1-2 percent after U.S. auto sales figures for March came in below expectations.

Banks also moved lower, with BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank falling 1-3 percent after U.S. Treasury yields hit a five-week low overnight.

South Africa-exposed Old Mutual and Investec fell over 2 percent as S&P downgraded the country's credit rating to sub-investment grade with a negative outlook, citing heightened political and institutional uncertainties.

Swiss engineering firm ABB rose half a percent after announcing the acquisition of Austria -based machine and factory automation company Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH for an undisclosed amount.

Commodity-related stocks such as BHP Billiton, BP Plc, Glencore, Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto and Total SA rose between 0.3 percent and 1 percent.

Imagination Technologies climbed 7.5 percent on bargain hunting after plunging over 60 percent on Monday following Apple's announcement to ditch the graphics chips designed by the company.

In economic releases, Eurozone retail trade volume grew more than expected in February largely reflecting higher clothing and footwear sales, data from Eurostat revealed.

Retail sales climbed 0.7 percent month-on-month in February, faster than the revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January.

Separately, survey results from IHS Markit showed that the U.K. construction sector growth slowed slightly in March. The headline PMI dropped to 52.2 from 52.5 in February.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Boeing Co. (BA) confirmed Tuesday the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement or MOA with Iran Aseman Airlines, expressing the airline's intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes with a list price value of $3 billion. The agreement also provides the airline with purchase rights for 30 additional 737 MAXs.

Deliveries would be scheduled to start in 2022.

Boeing said it negotiated the MOA under authorizations from the U.S. government following a determination that Iran had met its obligations under the nuclear accord signed in 2015.

Boeing will look to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval to perform under this transaction. The company noted that it continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Iran's airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran's airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, an aerospace sale of this magnitude creates or sustains approximately 18,000 jobs in the United States.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Crude oil futures were higher Tuesday, holding above the key $50 a barrel mark for the fourth straight session.

Crude oil May delivery rose 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $50.46, despite renewed production from Libya. The nation's oilfields are back on line after fighting between militants was quelled.

Traders are looking forward to U.S. inventories data over the next two days.

The American Petroleum Institute is out with its report later today, followed by the Energy Information Administration's official numbers tomorrow morning.

The Commerce Department's international trade data for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. Economists are looking for consensus of a deficit of $44.5 billion, an improvement when compared to a deficit of $48.5 billion in the previous month.

Factory Orders for February will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of one percent, slightly down from 1.2 percent growth a year ago.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Canadian stocks were set to open lower Tuesday, following global into the red despite higher crude oil prices.

Traders are expressing some risk aversion amid concerns about high valuations ahead of U.S. earnings season.

The Bank of Canada says the nation's sector is optimistic and ready to boost hiring, but keeping a close eye on developments related to the Trump administration.

"Nevertheless, firms remain wary in an environment of elevated uncertainty about potential U.S. policy changes," the central bank said in its quarterly business outlook survey.

Crude oil May delivery rose 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $50.46, despite renewed production from Libya. The nation's oilfields are back on line after fighting between militants was quelled.

Gold was also higher, rising to $1260 an ounce.

Power Metals Corp. (PWM.V) announced the appointment of Brent Butler as CEO and Director of the Company. He succeeds current CEO Johnathan More, who will be moved to Chairman of the Board.

The TSX Composite Index was up 36.65 points, or 0.24 percent, to 15,584.40.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., lashed out at the Trump administration's policy towards Syria on Tuesday following news of a suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held Syrian town that killed dozens of people.

In an interview on CNN's "New Day," McCain pointed to recent remarks by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicating that the status of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.

"Bashar Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what Americans say," McCain said. "I'm sure they took note of what our Secretary of State said just the other day that the Syrian people would be determining their own future themselves -- one of the more incredible statements I've ever heard."

"I'm sure they are encouraged to know the United States is withdrawing and seeking some kind of new arrangement with the Russians," he added. "It is another disgraceful chapter in American history, and it was predictable."

McCain, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wants President Donald Trump to say he will arm the free Syrian army and dedicate the U.S. to the removal of Assad.

The hawkish senator said he is not calling for U.S. troops on the ground in Syria but noted the U.S. is known to help people who want freedom and democracy.

McCain claimed the Trump administration has not provided a clear foreign policy doctrine but expressed confidence in the president's national security team.

"I hope they will develop a strategy, stand up and give the President the advice and counsel I believe he needs and could get from that team," McCain said.

McCain accused the Assad regime of committing war crimes on a scale that is almost unmatched since Nazi Germany or Cambodian dictator Pol Pot.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Japan will on Wednesday see March results for the services and composite PMIs from Nikkei, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In February, their scores were 51.3 and 52.2, respectively.

Nikkei also will release March results for the Taiwan manufacturing PMI and the Singapore PMI.

Australia will release March numbers for the Performance of Service Index from AiG; in February, the index score was 49.0.

New Zealand will see March figures for commodity prices and job ads. In February, commodity prices were up 2.0 percent, while job ads added 0.4 percent.

South Korea will release February numbers for current account; in January, the current account surplus was $5.28 billion.

Malaysia will provide February figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In January, imports were worth 65.5 billion ringgit and exports were at 70.2 billion ringgit for a trade surplus of 4.7 billion ringgit.

The Philippines will release consumer price data for March, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.4 percent on year - up from 3.3 percent in February.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Supreme Political Council approves renaming of the President and members of the National Defense Council

SANA'A, April 04 (Saba) - The Supreme Political Council held on Tuesday a meeting under the chairmanship of Saleh Ali Al-Samad, the President of the Council, in the presence of Dr. Qassem Lubazah, the Vice-President of the Council.



The Supreme Political Council condemned the practices aggression forces in the areas under its control, including the island of Socotra aimed at changing the national identity of it.



It stressed that the Yemeni people, especially Socotra's sons, understand the despicable colonial objectives that stand behind these despicable practices of the forces of invasion and occupation and will stand together to thwart them.



The Supreme Political Council approved the renaming of the chairman and members of the National Defense Council established by Law No. 62 of 1991, as follows:



1 - President of the Supreme Political Council as President



2 - Vice-President of the Supreme Political Council and members of the Supreme Political Council as its members



3 - Speaker of the House of Representatives as a member



4. The Prime Minister a member



5. The Minister of Defense a member



6. Minister of Foreign Affairs a member



7. The Minister of the Interior a member



8. Minister of Information a Member



9. Minister of Finance a member



10. The Chairman of the General Staff a member



11 - Advisor to the Presidency of the Republic for military affairs as Rapporteur

The meeting discussed urgent measures at the economic level that would alleviate the suffering of citizens as a result of the aggression and siege imposed on Yemen led by Saudi Arabia.



The Supreme Political Council reviewed its work plan for the coming period, stressing the need to activate the role of the regulatory bodies and activate them to carry out their role in monitoring and follow up the implementation of the decisions of the Council.



The Council directed the Government and various ministries and government institutions to comply fully with the Council's decisions and directives, particularly with respect to the appointments.



The meeting touched upon the military and security developments and the heroes of the military and the popular committees for the great victories to deter the aggression and its continued escalation on all fronts.



Saba

Facebook Facebook

Twitter Twitter

Whatsapp Whatsapp

Telegram Telegram

Email Email

Print Print

[04/April/2017]
By SA Commercial Prop News- I-Net Bridge

Murray & Roberts CEO Henry Laas said in June that it wanted to be the leading diversified engineering and construction group in selected emerging markets by 2020.



JSE-listed construction and engineering firm Murray & Roberts said last week that all conditions for the disposal of its Construction Products Africa subsidiary had been met.

The unit consists of companies that supply goods such as asphalt, manufactured concrete products and clay bricks.

The transaction is effective from October 31, with R1.15bn of the R1.325bn total sale price to be received on this date. The group says negotiations for the sale of its remaining Hall Longmore business  which makes large-bore welded steel pipes, piling and structural steel  are continuing.

Murray said in June that it was very pleased with the value achieved through the Construction Products Africa disposal. It said there was a limited strategic fit between these businesses and the groups growth aspirations in engineering and construction.

Divesting from the manufacturing businesses also allowed it to reduce debt on its South African balance sheet and invest in markets that had the best long-term financial growth potential to shareholders.

The disposals followed the sale of its steel business last year and that of the Union Carriage & Wagon rolling stock manufacturer early this year.

In November, it will add Mozambique to the list of African countries where it has a permanent presence. This follows the recent opening of operations in Ghana and Zambia.

Expansion in Africa forms part of Murray & Robertss long-term growth plan. CEO Henry Laas said in June that it wanted to be the leading diversified engineering and construction group in selected emerging markets by 2020. To this end, it was consolidating operations to take advantage of core global and African growth areas, including mining, energy, oil and gas, infrastructure and building.

Group communications executive Ed Jardim said on Friday that the groups Africa strategy was not linked to the Construction Products Africa disposal. We see opportunity in Africa and have adopted a hub and spoke approach with our bases in Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. Mozambique was added due to the possible opportunity of the coast, he said.

The group also has a 61.6% shareholding in Australian engineering and construction group Clough. It recently announced its aim to buy the rest of Clough, to leverage oil and gas opportunities in Africa.

The market is still a little flat locally, thus we are investing in our international operations (such as) Clough, Mr Jardim said.

A general meeting to vote on the Clough shareholding would be held on November 6. Clough shareholders would vote on November 15.

But Murray & Roberts said this would not dilute its presence in SA, where it saw growth in the oil, gas and energy sectors, and opportunity in the governments R4-trillion infrastructure plan over 15 years.

Mr Jardim also said the group had not discussed the possibility of a secondary listing.
By SA Commercial Prop News

Daniel Levine, Consumer trends, Avant-Guide Institute



Consumer trends guru Daniel Levine of the Avant-Guide Institute in New York will speak at the 16th annual SA Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) Congress at the Durban International Convention Centre next month, sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance.

Levine will be addressing not only powerful social trends that drive retail spending patterns, but also the strategies retailers can employ to capitalize on them.



It is a rare brand that is large enough, skilled enough or lucky enough to influence social trends all by itself. More commonly, companies and brands follow trends, he says.



Thats why its powerfully important for retailers to understand them.



He adds that he and his team at the Institute help businesses understand what trends are motivating buying patterns, and how to develop innovative marketing strategies in response.



The Institute has a sizeable team of trend-spotters in SA who feedback information on all kinds of products, services and experiences that are new, unique or unusual in some way.



Some of the innovations we see coming from SA  like cardless ATM withdrawals via mobile phone  are far ahead of the rest of the world, says Levine.



SA has a tradition of leadership, especially in Africa, and this is robustly exemplified in the world of trends.



As for global trends, Levine points to online shopping as something that bricks-and-mortar retailers across the world are facing.



Whats frustrating for traditional retailers is that online buying behaviour is often accompanied by show-rooming where customers go to real stores to see and handle products, before actually buying them online, he elaborates.



Levine promises to offer effective and innovative counter-trends that retailers can use to retain and build their customer base during his presentation in Durban.



Ken Reynolds, Regional Executive: Nedbank Corporate Property Finance Gauteng, echoes Levines comments, while consumers have the option of online shopping, retailers should capitalise on their buying behavior which requires them to visit the store, by paying attention to factors such as design, layout and most importantly, the service provided. This applies to the centre as a whole which we, at Nedbank Corporate Property Finance - amongst other criteria - take into consideration when granting finance for retail development.



Delegates at the SACSC Congress this year will be among the first in the world to experience the Institutes new user-generated trends web portal, WikiTrend.



The 16th annual SACSC Congress will be held at the International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa from 19-21 September 2012.
By SA Commercial Prop News - I-Net Bridge

Government officials and environmental experts went on the defensive at a panel discussion on Tuesday when asked if the potential for "green economy" in South Africa had been oversold.

While they all conceded that thus far there had been more talk than action, several also argued that it is almost impossible to overstate their case.

"Are we promising too much and delivering too little? Where are the green economy jobs?" challenged policy expert Crispian Olver. "I'm not convinced there's enough on the table."

Ravi Naidoo from the Development Bank of Southern Africa agreed that there has been "a lot of talk and there needs to be more action," but also said investors need to take a long-term approach.

"We have to position ourselves in the long run, and that means environmental goods and services, and those aren't going happen in the next five years," Naidoo said. "We shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking if we don't do it in the next five years, [then] we should give up."

SA should leverage off of massive infrastructure projects instead of waiting for international funding, he said.

University of Stellenbosch TK Mark Swilling raised the bar further, saying the coming green revolution wasn't just about jobs or one industry sector but a "completely new development paradigm". To invest in non-green technology would be a "gross misapplication of capital", he said.

"If you're going to spend money on technologies like coal-fired power stations, what you're effectively doing in crowding out investments that stimulate innovation," he said. "It's a bit like saying in 1980: 'Listen, we really don't think this microcomputer revolution is going to drive an information technology revolution. We're very happy with our slide rules and maybe one or two big mainframes, so we're going to sink all our money in that.'"

Andrew Donaldson of the National Treasury said that while the green economy isn't oversold, "green finance" is.

"There is an enormous flurry of innovative financing arrangement internationally, most of which will never work," he charged. "The very big promises of money are likely to deliver 10% of what they're offering."

Green innovation as an economic driver is also oversold, he said, suggesting instead that investors should better employ "old-fashioned principles in planning and resource use."

Another government official, Guy Preston from the Department of Water Affairs, said that contrary to over-selling, "we've been very poor salespeople of the enormous logic" of green economic investment.

Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO of the Water Research Commission, agreed that the green experts had failed to communicate the potential beyond its own community.

"We have the potential of seeing a revolution that is not dissimilar to the end of sailing ships and horse-drawn carriages into the motorized space," he said. "That is the kind of revolution that is available to us."

SA could capitalise on the green revolution regardless of a weak economy, he said, citing Korea's move to a knowledge-based economy during a recession as an example.

Olver challenged the experts during a panel at a biodiversity conference sponsored by the Grasslands Partners Forum.
Hundreds thronged the RBI here with old demonetised notes to grab new ones on the last day of official exchange on Friday but most people returned home disappointed.

Hundreds thronged the RBI here with old demonetised notes to grab new ones on the last day of official exchange on Friday but most people returned home disappointed.



Bank officials and security personnel turned away many because the facility was only for those who were abroad during the demonetisation as well as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).



Even many eligible claimants failed to reach the bank counters as they could not produce the required documents.



A senior citizen, A.S. Sahani, fumed that he was not aware of the documents the Reserve Bank of India was demanding.







"I came back from the Middle East a few days ago. I have come to exchange some old notes. But I have been told by the security personnel that I can't go inside as I do not have a certificate from the Customs which I was supposed to get when I landed. However, I was not told about it when I landed," Sahani said.



Ngahhoikim, a working professional from Manipur, was in Europe for about a year. When she came back to India, she too was not told about the Customs certificate.



"I showed them my passport, visa, tickets. However, the bank officials want the Customs' certificate. How can I get it now? Should not passengers be informed about it on their arrival?"



As there were hardly any officials to communicate with the crowd, the situation outside the RBI turned chaotic. People openly expressed their anger and desperation with one another and with media persons.



Despite persuasions and warnings by security personnel, people were not ready to vacate the place -- in the faint hope that they may secure entry into the bank.



Kapil Gupta and Navin Garg angrily asked RBI officials if they should burn the old notes since the bank was not accepting them.



"After my grandmother died, we found a few old notes in her cupboard. The bank is not ready to accept them. What am I supposed to do?" one of them asked.



Following the commotion, RBI officials announced that the facility to exchange the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was available only for those who were outside India during the note ban as well as NRIs.



But many kept pleading with the security and bank officials to get their old notes exchanged.



A senior citizen, Nasreena, had come from Faridabad in Haryana to exchange old notes totalling Rs 14,000.



"I could not exchange the notes earlier as my husband and I were not keeping well for long. If the bank does not allow me to exchange, I will lose all my savings," Nasreena complained.



At one point, a senior RBI bank official pleaded with the people to go home.



"The bank cannot exchange their notes any more," the official said.



At 3 p.m., the entry of NRIs was halted as their deadline to exchange old notes expires only on June 30. From then, only those who were outside India during the note ban and had valid documents were let in.


The Punjab Police on Tuesday denied the arrest of Rakhi Sawant following an arrest warrant issued by a court here. But a spokesperson for the TV and Bollywood actress said she has surrendered.

The Punjab Police on Tuesday denied the arrest of Rakhi Sawant following an arrest warrant issued by a court here. But a spokesperson for the TV and Bollywood actress said she has surrendered.

"Rakhi is with the police. She has surrendered," spokesperson Parul Chawla told IANS on telephone from Mumbai, claiming she had a Whatsapp conversation with the controversial actress.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner of Police Dharuman Nimbale said a police team which had gone to Mumbai to execute the arrest warrant against Rakhi was returning as they failed to find her at the given address.

He said the Ludhiana police will seek fresh directions from the court for further action.

The court in Punjab had issued the arrest warrant after the actress failed to appear before it on March 9 in a case filed against her for allegedly making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki.

The complainant had accused Rakhi of hurting the religious sentiments of the Valmiki community. The case will be next heard on April 10.

_

_SHOW_MID_AD__
Motorola Mobility, a Lenovo brand on Tuesday launched its Moto G5 smartphone in India.

Priced at Rs 11,999, consumers can buy the G5 on Amazon.in starting midnight April 4.



The 5-inch full-HD display carrying G5 has splash proof design and equips a finger print sensor.



G5 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM and houses 2,800mAh battery.







The device comes with 13MP rear camera with phase detection auto-focus, a 5MP wide angle selfie camera and has quick capture, beautification and pro modes.



Consumers can get Rs 1,000 cash back with HDFC bank credit card, free Sandisk Ultra 16GB micro-SD card. The offers are valid for April 5 and April 6, the company said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the death of renowned Indian classical vocalist Kishori Amonkar.

"Demise of Kishori Amonkar is an irreparable loss to Indian classical music. Deeply pained by her demise. May her soul rest in peace," the Prime Minister tweeted.

Demise of Kishori Amonkar is an irreparable loss to Indian classical music. Deeply pained by her demise. May her soul rest in peace.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 4  2017

He also shared the film "Bhinna Shadja" that is based on the unparalleled contributions of Amonkar.





"The works of Kishori Amonkar will always remain popular among people for years to come," Modi said.



The works of Kishori Amonkar will always remain popular among people for years to come. https://t.co/iGFxmy8Mlj  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 4  2017

Amonkar,84, passed away in Mumbai on Monday night after a brief illness.



In her singing career spanning seven decades, Amonkar was revered as 'Gaan-Saraswati'. Belonging to the Jaipur Gharana, she was conferred the Padma Vibhushan and Sahitya Akademi Award among many others.


A Pakistani money changer known for his ties with Indian don Dawood Ibrahim has been jailed for 68 months in the US for conspiring to commit money laundering, it was reported on Tuesday.

Altaf Khanani, who has already spent over a year in a Miami jail, was also fined $250,000 by a Florida court, Dawn online reported. He was sentenced on March 29.



The remaining 13 counts of committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution for Khanani's cooperation in the probe.



According to the US Treasury Department, his clientele included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian crime groups and designated terrorist organisations.



__SHOW_MID_AD_



"Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the Treasury Department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.



Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Indian security agencies say Ibrahim, originally an Indian, lives in Pakistan now as a Pakistani citizen. Islamabad denies this.



Khanani agreed to plead guilty and "make a full, accurate and complete disclosure... of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.



The agreement said the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing as Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.



The probe involved coordination from six law enforcement agencies from three countries -- the US, Australia and the UAE.



Khanani and Kalia International (KKI) was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world.



Khanani has intimate knowledge of the bank accounts and intermediaries used by the groups whose money he was moving.



The court committed Khanani to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, with a recommendation that he serve his time in a local facility in Florida.



Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.



Khanani was in June 2015 indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a $250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).



He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.
India and Britain on Tuesday agreed to jointly set up a fund with corpus contributions of 120 million pounds each to finance Indian infrastructure projects, it was announcement.

"In a major step taken today (Tuesday) on the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a sub fund with UK and NIIF participation was agreed upon," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.



It came after the ninth India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue here with the British delegation led by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.







"The Green Growth Equity Fund will have contributions of 120 million pounds from each participant to finance energy needs in India," he added.



The joint statement at the end of the talks said the "joint fund aims to raise 500 million pounds by also leveraging private sector investment from the city of London to finance Indian infrastructure projects."



India set up the NIIF in December 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.



While the government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF, the remaining would come from private domestic and foreign investors who can invest in the umbrella fund or smaller sector or project-specific funds within it.



Last year, the government announced that it is in the process of setting up two sub-funds under NIIF -- one in clean energy, which will primarily focus on renewable energy, and another with focus on highway projects.
A Singapore court has fined an Indian Imam 4, 000 Singapore dollars ($2,860) and he will be deported to India for making offensive remarks against Jews and Christians.

The Straits Times reported on Tuesday that Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, 46, will have to leave Singapore.

A court on Monday fined him for making the remarks which he knew were "prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between religious groups and was likely to disturb the public tranquillity" in the island state.

Nalla admitted to committing the offence on January 6 at the Jamae Chulia Mosque on South Bridge Road where he was the Chief Imam.

After the Friday sermon that day, he recited a prayer on his own in Arabic which said: "Grant us help against the Jews and Christians."

The Straits Times quoted the court papers as saying: "The accused knew what the words meant and knew that the phrase may also be interpreted as asking God to grant Muslims victory against the Jews and Christians."

The Imam issued a public apology and met leaders of various religious groups after the offensive remark went viral in February, triggering a police probe.

Nalla could have been jailed for up to three years, or fined, or both.

His lawyer Noor Mohamed Marican told the court that the Imam recognised that his actions were wrong, he had expressed remorse and apologized to J ewish and Christian leaders as well as to the Muslim community and the public.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur fined him after considering the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case.

"Having lived in Singapore since 2010, you would have been aware of the fact that Singapore is a multiracial and multi-religious society and that it was necessary for you to be sensitive and not to say anything in your sermons that may undermine the harmony that exists among the different races and religions," the judge said.

"This incident demonstrated that comments made, albeit irresponsibly or thoughtlessly, to a small group of people, can easily be uploaded onto the Internet that provides access to a potential audience of thousands and sometimes millions," she added.

"Your strong sense of remorse and the active steps that you have taken to contain the harm caused are compelling mitigating factors."

The Imam, who turned up in court with Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist leaders, was calm when the sentence was read, the newspaper reported.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the Imam would be repatriated. The phrase he recited, it added, "was and is unacceptable in a multiracial and multi-religious society".
A group of women activists on Tuesday demanded immediate disbanding of the "anti-Romeo squads" in Uttar Pradesh and withdrawal of FIRs and complaints against Advocate Prashant Bhushan, filed over his tweet involving Lord Krishna.

In a joint statement, they said that these squads were a threat to women's freedom, and added that the serious issue of violence against women and routine sexual harassment of women in Uttar Pradesh "cannot be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads".

"We demand that the anti-Romeo squads be immediately wound up by the U.P. state, and women's groups that have been engaged with issues of ending sexual harassment and violence against women for long periods of time be consulted to develop mechanisms to end such violence," said the statement issued here.

The group of over 20 women activists who sought disbanding of the anti-Romeo squads included Aruna Roy of the National Federation of Indian Women; Syeda Hameed of the Muslim Women's Forum; Indira Jaising, a lawyer and human rights activist; Dipa Sinha of the Right to Food Campaign; Vrinda Grover, Advocate, human rights activist; and Arundhati Dhuru of the National Alliance of People's Movement.

Anti-Romeo squads were introduced by the recently-installed Yogi Adityanath government in the state to curb instances of eve-teasing, which was one of the poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"It has already come to light that in many cases, these anti-Romeo squads have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men, which has even been acknowledged by the DG Police, U.P...," reads the statement.

These activists said the so-called anti-Romeo squads were being encouraged by a state, which "reneges on its own obligations to maintain law and order".

They alleged the FIR against Prashant Bhushan was "a clear case of abuse of power" and demanded it to be squashed.

"Curbs on freedom of speech is not just intolerance, but in violation of the fundamental rights," the statement said.

Bhushan had tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve-teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"

However, he later apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna.
The gloves are finally off in the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was badly mauled by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent state elections. Although he sidelined both his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Singh in the run-up to the polls, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav now finds himself in the line of fire with more and more voices in the party questioning his leadership.

While party founder Mulayam vent his anger against Akhilesh at a private event last week in the family bastion Mainpuri, saying that one who could not be loyal to his father cannot be loyal to anyone, Shivpal Singh has now targeted his nephew for his "arrogance".



A former PWD Minister, Shivpal had maintained a studied silence since being sacked as the state unit chief and also being called names by Akhilesh during the poll campaign. But he has now voiced the opinion that "people who do not respect their elders never flourish".



Insiders in the party say that whispers have already started about bringing back 'neta-ji' (Mulayam) as the national president, a post usurped by Akhilesh on January 1 at a party convention.



"The electoral outcome has shown that neta-ji and mantri-ji (Shivpal) were better at handling the organisation than bhaiyya-ji (Akhilesh)," said a former minister. While party veterans are coming to the table on this issue, Akhilesh is learnt to have refused to budge and give up the party post in favour of his father.



Still belligerent, the younger Yadav barred the 47 party legislators from going to a dinner hosted by Mulayam last week, forcing its eventual cancellation. Leaders in the party have privately begun to admit that Akhilesh was not only "still brash" but was also behaving "immaturely" despite the poll debacle that saw the party's tally in the assembly dip to an historic low.



Mohd Azam Khan, former Urban Development Minister and the go-between between the two warring sides, has also begun maintaining a distance from Yadav junior after he was sidelined and Ram Govind Chowdhary was named as Leader of the Opposition in the assembly.



The anger of Azam Khan can be gauged from the fact that he and his son Abdullah -- a first-time legislator from Swar -- have so far not taken oath as legislators even as most of the members have done so. Sources say Azam Khan is also of "changed opinion" that the party needed "veterans in the thick of things" if it was to salvage its lost pride.



Ahmad Ali, an old party hand, told media that the SP was "heading from one disaster to another and if the leadership is not changed fast, the remaining faith of the minorities would slip away".



The SP's decision to contest the civic polls in the national capital has also not gone down well with the rank and file, which feel that at the time "you should be introspecting at the debacle" any further embarrassment at the hustings could intensify the internal rumblings.



Akhilesh, for now, has announced a new membership drive to be taken up from April 15 and has said that the election process of the national president will be completed by September end.



Meanwhile, Akhilesh's younger brother Prateek Yadav and his politically-ambitious wife Aparna Yadav being spotted in public with new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on two occasions has set the grapevine buzzing with people speculating a "possible crossover from the SP to the BJP". Aparna had unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls from Lucknow Cantt.



Shivpal Singh Yadav, meanwhile, is learnt to be readying a plan to float a new outfit, as announced in the run-up to the state assembly polls.



Sources say in the past one week he has held closed-door meetings with party loyalists and is itching to break free from the SP and to "chart his own political course". The party's television face, Gaurav Bhatia, once considered a member of the Akhilesh Yadav brigade, has also joined the BJP accusing the SP of digressing its laid out principles. Many are likely to follow suit.





On Monday, Sudhir Singh, a member of the SP's state executive, fired a salvo at Akhilesh, charging him with being arrogant beyond limit. Warning him to sober down, the SP leader, in a two-page letter asked: "Ghamand to Ravan ka nahi raha, aap kya cheez hain (When the arrogance of demon king Ravana did not last who are you?"



"We have suffered a humiliating defeat in the assembly elections, but there are no signs that lessons are being taken," he further stated.



Sudhir Singh also termed SP Rajya Sabha member and Akhilesh mentor Amar Singh a 'shakuni' (spoiler) who destroyed the party. "People around you misguided you into believing that you are very popular in the masses but result tells it all," he added.



With just a handful of young MLCs like Udaiveer Singh, Sanjay Lathar and Sunil Singh with him, party leaders admit the aura of the 43-year-old former Chief Minister was fast fading.
Communal tension gripped a town in Bihar on Tuesday after religious posters were torn by anti-social elements a day ahead of the Ram Navmi festival on Tuesday, police said.

According to police, security forces have been deployed in the town and the situation is under control.



Hundreds of people on Tuesday morning blocked national highway 31 to protest and demanded action against anti-social elements involved in tearing religious posters in Nawada town, about 150 km from here.



The situation took a communal colour when some youths of another community pelted stones at those demonstrating near Sadbhavna Chowk in Nawada.





"Both slogan shouting groups clashed and pelted stones at each other. They broke the glasses of vehicles and set a few shops ablaze," Superintendent of Police Vikas Barman said.



"When the situation went out of control, the police opened fire to disperse the mob," he said.



Barman said the situation is tense but under control now. "The district administration is fully alert."



According to a police official, union minister Griraaj Singh, who is the BJP MP from Nawada parliamentary constituency, was present in the town at the time of the incident.





"Soon after being informed about the incident, Singh reached the site and appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony," he said.



Nawada district magistrate Manoj Kumar said a preliminary inquiry suggests the dispute was a result of a report that religious posters were torn by some anti-social elements. It took a communal turn later.



"The administration has begun a probe into the matter and deployed adequate security forces at all sensitive places," Kumar said.



Communal tension erupted in Nawada in 2013 after an altercation between a group of kanwarias (Hindu pilgrims) and another community over the menu of a roadside eatery.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 36 crore of suspended Chhattisgarh official B.L. Agrawal, who allegedly laundered money through fake bank accounts, an officer said on Tuesday.

Agrawal, an Indian Administrative Service officer then Principal Secretary (Higher Education) in the Chhattisgarh government, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 21 on charge of trying to "settle" a case being probed by the central agency against him.



"ED has attached assets worth Rs 36.09 crore under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act)," an ED officer told IANS.



The attached property belongs to Agarwal and Raipur-based Prime Ispat Ltd, a compnay owned by his brothers.







According to the Directorate, Agarwal laundered money amassed by him through various fake bank accounts.



With "active connivance of bank officials", Agarwal is alleged to have opened 446 benami bank accounts in the names of villagers in the Union Bank of India, Raipur.



"The cash deposited in the accounts was channelised to shell companies as share application money and thereafter, the shell companies invested the said money as equity at a large premium in Prime Ispat Ltd," said the agency.



"These equity shares belonging to the shell companies were purchased, in the end, by sister concerns of Prime Ispat Ltd, thus leaving the control of the entire tainted money with Babulal Agrawal and his brothers," it said.



The money was also used for investing in factory building, land and machinery and other immovable properties of the company.



The agency said that the funds were moved from the benami bank accounts to 13 shell companies operated by Agrawal, by way of investment.



"In total, the 13 shell companies received investment in its equity to the extent of Rs 39.67 crore," it said.



The ED so far has attached Rs 4.40 crore worth of land, Rs 23.89 crore worth plant and machinery, Rs 7.07 crore worth of factory building as well as a vehicle and residential building belonging to Agarwal.



The CBI had in 2010 registered cases against Agarwal on charges relating to impersonation, cheating and disproportionate assets. The Chhattisgarh Police, too, had registered a disproportionate assets case against him.
An Indian Engineering Services (IES) officer has been arrested for sexually assaulting and stalking a Jawaharlal Nehru University student, police said on Tuesday.

Rakesh Meena, 26, was arrested on Monday night from Said-ul-Ajaib area in south Delhi after the victim registered a complaint against, Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chinmoy Biswal told.



Meena is employed as an Assistant Executive Engineer with the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.

The victim, 22, a resident of south Delhi, said in her complaint that the accused had been stalking and sexually assaulting her since 2012 when she was a minor and had also threatened to kill her, police said.



As the incident began when the victim was minor, Meena has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for criminal intimidation, stalking and sexual assault, Biswal added.
Rajasthan has denotified around 21 state highways as urban roads apparently in a bid to circumvent the Supreme Court order on liquor sale ban within 500 metres of highways.

Though the state government officially denied it and called it a routine exercise, official sources said this will save at least 500 liquor vendors.



"We usually do this exercise and there is nothing new in it. We have only denotified roads, which are passing through villages, towns or cities and have a by-pass," Shiv Lahri Sharma, chief engineer Public Works Department told media.



According to government sources, excise is the major contributor to the state exchequer, which earned Rs. 6,500 crores in 2016 through excise duty.



The Congress flayed the state government's move.





"The move is completely improper," Sachin Pilot, State President of the Congress said.



He said the move is against the apex court order, which aims at curbing road accidents.



"It should be a priority of the state government to save human lives."
Lawyer-politician Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday apologised for his remarks on Lord Krishna in relation to the formation of anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Hindu organisations are up in arms against the Swaraj Abhiyan founder after he said that he opposed the anti-Romeo squads as they violated the spirit of love and had questioned if the Uttar Pradesh government would even harass Lord Krishna, whom he termed a "legendary eve teaser".



Bhushan on Tuesday tweeted: "I realise that my tweet on Romeo squads and Krishna was inappropriately phrased and unintentionally hurt sentiments of many people. Apologize and delete it."



Bhushan on Sunday tweeted: "Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?"



While a demonstration was held outside his residence in Noida, protests also took place in Pratapgarh, Firozabad and Hathras.



Police said they have stepped up vigil and would not allow anybody to take law in their hands.





Security has been beefed up following a threat from a Bajrang Dal functionary in Firozabad who announced a Rs 1 lakh bounty on the head of the eminent social activist and lawyer.



City coordinator of Bajrang Dal in Firozabad Aachman Upadhya said he will give Rs 1 lakh to anyone who brings the head of Bhushan.



Sadhus in Mathura have filed a complaint against Prashant Bhushan in Govardhan and have staged a protest in Vrindavan.



Office bearers of the Hindu Jagran March who met senior police officials in Hathras said they will not tolerate such a comment against Hindu gods.



The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has threatened to launch a stir in Allahabad against the lawyer and VHP workers burnt an effigy of Bhushan in Pratapgarh.



A case has also been filed against Bhushan in the CJM court in Maharajganj under sections 295 A and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. May 20 has been fixed as the date of hearing.


Two men were involved in the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl here in Uttar Pradesh and one of them has been arrested, police said on Tuesday.

Police arrested Shakti Khan at Indirapuram on a tip. He admitted to his involvement in the crime, Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar told the media here.



The officer said Khan admitted that he and Afroz raped the girl before Afroz murdered her. A court has sent Khan to judicial custody.



__SHOW_MID_AD_



The girl, who went missing on Friday, was found dead in a house under construction on Saturday night.



Afroz was a tenant of the girl's family but had been asked to vacate his accommodation. Residents said Afroz shifted to a nearby house but held a grudge against the family.
Washington will take the lead in getting sanctions imposed on terrorists or look for other ways to take action if faced with Security Council vetoes, according to US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley.

Haley, who assumed the presidency of the Security Council for April, was asked at a news conference on Monday about terrorist attacks on India and, having said that she "would take names," what would she do about a permanent member's veto on imposing sanctions on certain terrorists.



Describing the US administration as "more aggressive," Haley, who has a cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's government, said that to fight terrorism "the administration is very much looking at all these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list".



"We want to make sure that we are calling out those that we want to call out. We want to make sure that we are leading towards a result and not sitting back and allowing things to happen," she added.



Haley said: "You are seeing a more aggressive administration because we feel that in order to lead we need to act, and in order to act, we need to make sure we have those conversations."

As permanent member of the Security Council China has used its veto to protect Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who was behind the attack on an air force base in Pathankot, from being included in a list of terrorists who face UN action.



China also provided cover for Pakistan, when it released on bail Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lakshar-e-Taiban commander who masterminded the 2008 attack on Mumbai which killed more than 160 people. He was already on the UN list of those facing sanctions as terrorists.



Haley did not name China in her remarks. "Are we going to have people who veto certain issues," she asked and answered, "Yes."



"But that doesn't preclude the US from acting and it certainly doesn't preclude us from seeing if we can change that as well," she said.



"So our goal," Haley said, "is to get more done together, then we do separately, and if we cannot get it done separately, then we move in another direction and still get the same things done."


Even as China protested ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Tuesday said that the Tibetan spiritual leader has visited the state six times earlier and no "additional colour" should be given to his visit starting from April 5.

"The government has clearly stated on several occasions that HHDL (His Highness Dalai Lama) is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.



"No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India," it said.



"The government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh."



China in March said ties with India would be hit if New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing.



China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Beijing was concerned over India permitting the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the northeastern state of India.



Geng said China was strictly opposed to the impending visit by the Dalai Lama.



"China is strongly opposed to the Dalai Lama visiting disputed areas," he told a regular press briefing.





Geng said India knew the sensitivity of the border issue between both countries and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh would damage its ties with China.



China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it South Tibet. Besides, it accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activities in Tibet.



Citing the Dalai Lama's website, the External Affairs Ministry statement said that the spiritual leader has visited the northeast Indian state six times earlier - in 1983; in 1996; in 1997; twice in 2003; and again in 2009.



According to the Dalai Lama's office, from April 5 to 7 he will give teachings at Yiga Choezin in Tawang. On April 10, he will give teachings at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang.



A day later, the Dalai Lama will be at the Buddha Park in Bomdila and on April 12 he will talk at Thupten Gatsal Ling in Itanagar.



Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is home to one of most sacred Buddhist monasteries.



The Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled into exile in 1959. Moreover, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century.



The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule over Tibet. The government-in-exile is based at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. It is not recognised by any country.



The spiritual leader is already in the northeast where he attended the Namami Brahmaputra river festival in Assam that started on March 31.
After spending more than a year in a Miami jail, a Pakistani money changer has been sentenced to 68 months in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering, the media reported on Tuesday.

Altaf Khanani was also fined $250,000 by a Florida court, Dawn online reported. He was sentenced on March 29.



The remaining 13 counts of committing money laundering were dismissed at the request of the prosecution for Khanani's cooperation in the probe.



He agreed to plead guilty and "make a full, accurate and complete disclosure... of the circumstances surrounding the relevant offence conduct", according to the plea agreement signed in October 2016.



The agreement said the prosecution will recommend leniency during sentencing as Khanani "has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution" of his crime.



The probe involved coordination from six law enforcement agencies from three countries -- the US, Australia and the UAE.



Khanani and Kalia International (KKI) was one of the largest and most sophisticated exchange companies in Pakistan, running a global network of franchises that could move "billions of dollars" around the world.





According to the US Treasury Department, its clientele included Chinese, Mexican and Colombian crime groups and designated terrorist organisations.



"Khanani is known to have had relationships with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the Treasury Department said in November 2015, a few months after his arrest in the US.



Khanani has intimate knowledge of the bank accounts and intermediaries used by the groups whose money he was moving.



The court committed Khanani to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, with a recommendation that he serve his time in a local facility in Florida.



Upon his release, he will be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.



Khanani was in June 2015 indicted on 14 counts of money laundering, each carrying a 20-year jail term with a $250,000 fine, following a sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).



He was arrested in September 2015 and has been in jail ever since.
At least 58 people, including 11 children, were on Tuesday killed in a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Syria, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the attack struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, Efe news reported.

According to medical teams, the victims showed symptoms of asphyxiation.

Meanwhile, the High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian opposition on Twitter claimed that around 100 people were killed in the attack. It was unclear if the planes involved in the attack were Syrian or those of government ally Russia.

In a Facebook post earlier on Tuesday, it said that four thermobaric bombs containing chlorine gas were dropped.

The reported gas attack comes at the start of a two-day conference on Syria's future hosted in Brussels by the European Union and the United Nations.




Just a few days before the new season for H-1B visas for skilled workers started, the US authorities have tightened the norms for hiring computer programmers, putting a squeeze on Indian IT companies.

On March 31, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a clarification that computer programmers, to be eligible under the H-1B visa norms, must prove that theirs is a speciality occupation. Merely obtaining a computer degree may not be enough.



In its policy memorandum USCIS has mentioned: "Based on the current version of the Handbook, the fact that a person may be employed as a computer programmer and may use information technology skills and knowledge to help an enterprise achieve its goals in the course of his or her job is not sufficient to establish the position as a specialty occupation.



US Embassies around the world started accepting next year's H1-B visa petitions from April 3. Indian techies are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visas -- obtaining around 70 per cent of such visas -- with companies posting thousands of employees to the US. The visas allows work in the particular area for six years, extendable after that. It's also the route to a US permanent residency or US Green Card.



The memorandum says that "a petitioner may not rely solely on the Handbook to meet its burden when seeking to sponsor a beneficiary for a computer programmer position. Instead, a petitioner must provide other evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation..."

The US Congress has set a cap of 65,000 H-1B visas per fiscal year. Additionally, 20,000 such visas are given to those with master's or higher degrees from the US.



At the same time, the immigration services have moved to detect H-1B visa frauds in the US by taking a "more targeted approach" on site visits across the country aimed at finding out if employers were evading their obligations to make a good faith effort to recruit US workers.



"Too many American workers who are as qualified, willing and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged," says a press release issued by the USCIS on Monday adding that "protecting American workers by combating fraud in our employment based immigration programs is a priority of USCIS."



The immigration services warned employers that they would not be allowed to "abuse the H-1B program" which it said affects US workers negatively, decreasing wages and job opportunities. A position that US President Donald Trump has often endorsed.


DECATUR  A decision on whether to terminate a $2 million agreement to design the Brush College Road overpass across the Norfolk Southern Track Yard was delayed Monday.

Decatur City Council members asked for more information about the impact of the proposed changes as contractor AECOM objected to the termination. The changes would have diverted the money to focus on acquiring right-of-way at the intersection of Brush College and Faries Parkway, which City Manager Tim Gleason would aid progress on the Macon County Beltway project.

We have never been given a notice to proceed on the contract, said John Schwalbach, AECOM vice president. The funding has been available. We've been ready and continue to be ready to begin work on this contract.

The contract was awarded in 2015 with plans to utilize grant money received through the Illinois Jobs Now! Program, Gleason said.

Schwalbach said designing an overpass would lead to being able to alleviate a concern from drivers about the safety of what is currently a narrow tunnel. The overpass would be part of an expansion of Brush College to four lanes, Schwalbach said.

Gleason said shifting the funding would put the city and county in a better position to receive federal funding. He said it is not a reflection on AECOM.

The city was turned down last summer for a $20 million federal grant that would have gone toward the project. City officials were told by the U.S. Department of Transportation the project was not far enough along to compete against other applicants for grant dollars.

The Brush College and Faries intersection is closer to the beltway, Gleason said. He said semi-truck traffic patterns could change once the beltway is constructed.

The underpass becomes less of a concern, Gleason said. We do not have the accidents the community thinks we might have. We're dealing with a very real perception.

Schwalbach said funding is currently not available for the federal grants the city is seeking and it is uncertain whether those would be offered again.

One thing we know for sure it's not in the budget now, Schwalbach said.

Councilman Pat McDaniel said he remained confident at least some money will be available.

Schwalbach said right of way acquisition shouldn't proceed without a design plan in place. He said no design plan is currently in place for the Brush College and Faries intersection.

Council members asked for information from the city's transportation consultant, Ann Schnieder, the former Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary. Schneider did not attend the meeting and will be invited back along with Schwalbach so council members can talk to both at the same time.
Pacific Capacity Building Workshop on Implementing National Qualifications Frameworks (N.Q.F) at Programme Level: The use of learning outcomes matched against level descriptors of N.Q.Fs





The Pacific Capacity Building Workshop on Implementing National Qualifications Framework at Programme Level brought together more than 30 regional and local quality assurance experts from around the Pacific last month at the Tanoa Tusitala hotel.

Co-hosted and organized by U.N.E.S.C.O and the Samoa Qualifications Authority (S.Q.A), the workshop focused on capacity building for quality assurance of lifelong learning systems in the Small Island Developing States (S.I.D.S).

The workshop was a golden opportunity to local participants to attend a high caliber meeting that they would not have had the chance to participate in if it was held abroad.

In opening the workshop, Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi encouraged high standards of education within the Pacific countries.

Throughout the workshop, participants were able to share and discuss research, insights, and strategies on how to effectively implement and monitor National Qualification Frameworks (N.Q.Fs) at national, institutional, and programme levels so that learning outcomes are quality assured.

The discussions helped to further promote and effectively monitor quality lifelong learning based on N.Q.Fs throughout the Pacific.

Participants were able to get a wider understanding of the significance of complying with quality assurance to raise standards of education and fostering collaborative work with authorities like S.Q.A.

There was also emphasis in articulating evidence based N.Q.Fs as part of an overall Quality Assurance system and ensuring data collection is done in coordination with providers and authorities.

The workshop is the first activity of a new two-year initiative under the Pathways to Empowerment- Building Capacity for Quality Higher Education and T.V.E.T. in Pacific Island Countries. It was funded by the Malaysia Funds-in-Trust and Korea-Funds-in-Trust.

Efforts of S.Q.As Chief Executive Officer, Lemalu Lafi Sanerivi was also acknowledged for pushing to have the regional workshop held in Apia.








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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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

ALSO

Credits can boost a refund beyond the taxes paid  and keep millions out of poverty

California Legislature votes to raise gas taxes, vehicle fees by $5.2 billion a year for road repairs and transit

They paid a bogus tax for years. Now, fairgrounds trailer park tenants will get some money back

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.
Del Mar took another tentative step this week toward forming its own police department, after a new city report said the move could save money and improve public safety.

On Monday, the City Council agreed to accept the report and requested a workshop, probably in the next month or two, to discuss it further and listen to public comments.

For the past few years, the council has flirted with the idea of ending its contract with the San Diego County Sheriffs Department and forming a small police force that would serve the seaside town.

Advertisement

With just a little more than 4,200 residents, city officials have long complained that the one-size-fits-all protection provided by sheriffs deputies is inadequate for the countys smallest city.

A city police department would allow foot patrols, event staffing, and park and beach coverage more characteristic of a small town, the report states. Officers would spend all their time in the city, instead of responding from outside the community.

The report found that one-time start-up costs would range between $2 million and $3 million, and the city would recover those costs in five to seven years.

The next appropriate step is to engage the community to digest this, said Councilman Dwight Worden. The good news is the system isnt broken. We can take our time to make a decision.

Areas of concern include costs, response times, a lack of patrols in Del Mar, and the frequent turnover of Sheriffs Department personnel in the city, states the report, based on an evaluation of law enforcement service over the past four years.

The Sheriffs Department has about 4,000 employees countywide and provides law enforcement services for all unincorporated areas, as well as nine cities: Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach and Vista.

In August, Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said Del Mar is getting exactly what it pays for under its agreement with the county agency.

We provide the services to the city of Del Mar that they contract for, Caldwell said. If the city would like more of a law enforcement presence, we would be happy to work with them on a contract for more deputy sheriffs.

At Mondays Del Mar Council meeting, only Councilman David Druker said he opposes forming a police department, though he agreed to schedule the workshop.

Del Mar has a very low crime rate, Druker said, and there is no guarantee a police department would make it lower, or that it would reduce response times, or that the officers would do a better job of becoming part of the fabric of the community.

We can put in on the ballot, but I think it will just be defeated, he said.

Included in the staff report were more than 60 letters the city has received on the topic, almost all from residents against forming a police department.

We are opposed to the cost, bureaucracy, and distraction from critical city issues that such an effort would insure, said a letter from Connie and Chuck Jaffe.

Still, most council members said the proposal deserves to be investigated further.

We are overwhelmed with information, said Councilwoman Sherryl Parks. We need to hold a council workshop first, and then see would our next step would be.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
DECATUR -- In the wake of the murder of a 6-month-old baby girl in Decatur last week, the annual Macon County CASA and Child 1st wreath lighting at the Macon County Courthouse on Monday took on an especially somber tone.

"This isn't one of the happier things we do, but it's something sad that we have to deal with -- the trauma that these children have to deal with," Macon County CASA Executive Director Steve Miller said. "But part of our mission is to alert the community and have them recognize their responsibility for our children."

In observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, five speakers addressed a small crowd on the steps of the courthouse in intermittent rain, hoping to spread the word about the importance of reporting any sign of abuse.

The event fell less than a week after 6-month old Daniya Lewis of Decatur was pronounced dead on March 28, her cause of death listed as consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Duan L. Lewis, 23, has been jailed on a charge of first-degree murder in the case.

Especially here in Macon County, with a 6-month-old passing away due to the fault of a parent -- no child should ever have to go through that, CASA Program Director Camille Cochran said. But, unfortunately, it continues to happen.

CASA volunteer Crystal Evans said the entire community needs to address the problem.

Theres more abuse going on that people are aware, Evans said. If you see something, report it. We need to be a community thats aware and involved. And we can always use more volunteers. Were open to anyone whos willing to help. There are a lot of kids out there who need our help -- a lot of families.

CASA, which works with the court system to provide advocates for abused or neglected children, serves more than 600 children in Macon County, with 198 new cases in 2016 alone.

Crossing Healthcare Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dana Ray, also a member of the Decatur City Council, said every time she hears about child abuse, her heart breaks.

To hear that there are 600 active cases in the community should bring us all to a moment to where we pause and really wonder what were doing as a community, Ray said. If we all stopped and realized there are family members who are struggling and reached out with a helping hand toward them, maybe we could see some of this abuse subside and intervene at a time thats crucial for these children. And if we took the time to reach out to our own family members, wed see a decline in the community.

Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott said he and some other community leaders met with local legislators to try to get stiffer penalties for people who cause catastrophic injuries to children, but was told nothing would be done at the state level.

"Our local legislators were very supportive and receptive, but when it went to the higher-ups in Springfield, it got shot down," Scott said. "We were told they wouldn't be increasing penalties any time soon in Illinois, even on cases with innocent children receiving injuries they'll have to deal with the rest of their lives."

Jennifer Morse of Decatur Macon County Opportunities Corporation said the community needs to be there not only for children, but also parents.

"We need to educate these parents and help them understand that the violence, the drug abuse, the domestic violence ... everything that's going on is not helping the kids one bit," Morse said. "The kids act out what they see at home."
It has been named Door to the Americas  a massive red steel structure by one of Mexicos best-known contemporary artists, with a design intended to evoke the countrys pre-Hispanic origins.

A Mexican think tank on Tuesday unveiled the latest plans for the 160-tall piece of art that it hopes will rise amid the southbound vehicle lanes at Mexicos El Chaparral port of entry. The setting is crucial  where Latin America begins, on the busiest crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border.

 SEBASTIAN, A RENOWNED MEXICAN SCULPTOR, PLANS TO CREATE A 157-FOOT-TALL PIECE OF ART.. JUST SOUTH OF THE SAN YSIDRO PORT OF ENTRY. THE IRON SCULPUTRE WILL BE CALLED PUERTA DE LAS AMERICAS. . .DOOR TO THE AMERICAS. IN A MEETING TUESDAY MORNING, THE

Advertisement

With this sculpture we are going to establish a new message for all of the Americas, not only for the U.S. and Mexico, but for all the continent, that we share the same destiny and we need to collaborate more, Tonatiuh Guillen, president of the government-funded Colegio de la Frontera Norte, said during a presentation at Tijuanas federal Cultural Center, known as Cecut.

As the U.S. border fence has become increasingly fortified over the past two decades, the artwork can offer a contrasting message, Guillen said. The Colegio has been spearheading the project, which would be funded entirely through donations and cost close to $1 million, he said.

This is a piece that will be seen for kilometers, said the sculptor, known as Sebastian, as he presented the latest version of a piece first unveiled in 2012. The sculpture is a way of calling attention, saying, Traveler, you have arrived at the beginning of the other Americas,  he said.

The 66-year-old Sebastian, whose birth name is Enrique Carbajal Gonzalez, has produced massive sculptures that have become part of urban landscapes across Mexico, from Mazatlan to Ciudad Juarez. His best-known piece, El Caballito, is on display on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

But his work has also transcended borders, with pieces on display in Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, Switzerland and Japan.

In the United States, a bright orange Sebastian sculpture, named Torch of Friendship, became a landmark in downtown San Antonio, said Edward Hayes, Jr., assistant curator at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.

He is perhaps the Mexican sculptor best known in the entire world at the moment, said Pedro Ochoa, director of the Cecut.

Sebastian belongs to a generation of sculptors that emerged in Mexico in the 1960s, said Cristina Scorza, education curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

His pieces are primarily abstract works, Scroza said. He tends to offer something representative of the city where hes working.

Sebastian said that with Puerta de las Americas, my idea is to create a welcome for people who come from the other side of the border to Mexico. Its saying, from this point, at this moment, we are in a space that has profound pre-Hispanic roots.

The piece is inspired by the Aztec calendar, the artist said, with a tall base and an elaborately designed upper part that includes four cones that are the four corners of the universe. A pair of spirals have to do with the serpents that are part of the Aztec calendar, he said. A central sphere, makes us think of quantum geometry, he said, while expressing migration in all directions.

Thats what I wanted to create, a contemporary, modern piece that is deeply rooted in the symbols and signs of the pre-Hispanic world.

As with the other Sebastian sculptures, the pieces of Puerta de las Americas will be formed at the artists studio in Mexico City. It will be assembled in Tijuana, he said.

To raise funds for the piece, the artist is generating donations through limited replicas: The smallest are under eight inches tall and cost about $600; the largest, 4.7 feet, are being offered to those donating more than $30,000.

Despite his widespread recognition, Sebastians work is not admired by all. At Tuesdays presentation, the artist found himself answering a question from audience member Mavi Robles Castillo, who said she is an activist and poet. She questioned the cost of the project, and criticized the artist for incomplete works or others that have taken years  including the Ciudad Juarez artwork Equis, which was completed in 2013, seven years after it was launched.

If there are funds, or no funds, I take the gamble, Sebastian said. Remember me when I say, that it will be completed.

About a third of the funds necessary thus far have been raised, said Guillen of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte  and construction would start once half the funds are in hand.

This is a piece that will show who we are, said Guillen. We are also the future, we are also development, we also have aspirations. We shouldnt hide who we are, but we are also this.
Twelve people have been identified as victims in a series of attacks in San Diego last year that left four people dead, most of them homeless men.

Some of the victims were injured while they were sleeping or struck in the head from behind, a prosecutor said Tuesday during a brief court hearing. A couple of the men who were killed had been injured with railroad spikes driven into the head or chest.

Two of the victims were set on fire.

Advertisement

Jon David Guerrero, 40, was arrested last summer in Golden Hill after an intense manhunt that lasted 12 days. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges including murder, premeditated attempted murder, arson and assault in what could become a death penalty case.

The District Attorneys Office has not yet determined whether it will seek Guerreros execution if he is convicted or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On Tuesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser ordered the defendant to be held in county jail on a no-bail status while his case is pending.

A preliminary hearing was tentatively scheduled for July 11, when a different judge will be asked to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Guerrero, who was raised in Coronado and has a history of mental illness, was initially expected to be arraigned shortly after his arrest in July, but criminal proceedings were suspended when his lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Dan Tandon, raised questions about the defendants mental competency.

Guerrero was sent to a state mental hospital in San Bernardino County until doctors determined he was able to understand the court proceedings and assist in his own defense.

A judge ruled last month that the criminal case would resume.

At the arraignment Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey explained that the charges against Guerrero stemmed from a series of attacks that began in February 2016, earlier than had been reported previously.

The first attack, on Feb. 8, 2016, occurred when a victim who had been asleep on a sidewalk awoke to being stabbed in the face and neck with something sharp, the prosecutor said. The victim chased the attacker, who dropped a flashlight.

Guerreros DNA is on that flashlight, Harvey said.

On June 28, two men were attacked by an assailant on a bicycle who struck each of the victims in the back of the head. Their injuries were not fatal.

Less than a week later, on July 3, the body of Angelo DeNardo, 53, was found under a freeway bridge in Bay Park. A railroad spike had been driven into his head and chest. He was then lit on fire.

Another man, Manuel Mason, 61, was found injured in the Midway District on July 4. He had a railroad spike driven into his sinus cavity. He survived his injuries but was blinded.

The body of Shawn Mitchell Longley, 41, was found in Ocean Beach on July 4. Dionicio Derek Vahidy, 23, was injured on July 6 but died days later.

Michael Papadelis, 55, was found screaming and bloodied on July 15. He survived.

Guerrero is also charged in the death of 83-year-old Molly Simons, who was attacked July 13 while she walked to a bus stop in North Park. She had been on her way to a YMCA where she volunteered several days a week.

The prosecutor said Guerrero rode by on his bike and struck Simons in the head, knocking her to the ground. Simons died at a hospital about three weeks later as a result of her injuries, which included a skull fracture and a brain bleed.

The names of the remaining assault victims have not yet been released.

At the time of Guerreros arrest on July 15, police recovered a backpack they said belonged to the defendant. In it, they found a mallet that appeared to have blood on it and three railroad spikes, Harvey said.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
A Superior Court judge rejected a request for a restraining order against a San Diego teacher on Monday, but also said the students and parents had a point in their complaints.

You did the right thing, Judge Tamila Ipema said to the parents and students who had sought a restraining order against Marcus Salazar, a sixth grade math and science teacher at Longfellow School. You felt desperate. You felt like school officials were not listening to you.

After hearing hours of testimony from six children who said Salazar was insulting, bullying and had laid hands on them, Ipema was sympathetic but said the incidents did not meet the legal requirements for a civil harassment restraining order, which involve specific physical acts or threats.

Advertisement

Ipema said she had heard the school district is investigating Salazar, and she advised parents to talk to an attorney if they were not satisfied with the resolution.

The 11- and 12-year-old daughters of Beatriz Silva and Teresita Martin had sought the restraining order against Salazar, and dozens of other parents and students had complained about his behavior last month at a San Diego Unified School District board meeting.

At the hearing Monday, Ipema heard testimony from several students that Salazar had yelled in class, pushed one student out the door, stepped on the fingers of children sitting on a rug and often bullied and insulted them.

Testifying before the judge, Salazar said he has been a teacher for 22 years and 10 months and had never heard such complaints before.

I think theres a concerted effort from parents to make it seem like this is a constant problem in class, he said. Salazar also said he keeps a professional demeanor in class and does not raise his voice or lose his temper.

Salazar has been at Longfellow for 16 years but is on leave and hasnt been at the the K-8 Spanish-language immersion magnet school for weeks.

Longfellow Principal Diana Sanchez testified that she had received 15 to 25 complaints against Salazar this school year, while she usually receives one or two about a teacher.

Sanchez said a letter of reprimand had been sent to Salazar after a student complained he had pushed her out the classroom door. When the judge asked her why the school had not done more about the continued complaints, Sanchez said the complaints were going through a process that involves many steps.

Its kind of concerning to me that the school would take such a long time, Ipema said. She asked how many complaints it would take before a school decides, This is not a good teacher?

Thats a good question, Sanchez said.

In making her decision, Ipema said she was shocked at the school districts inaction in resolving the complaints against Salazar.

It is a shame that school officials feel afraid to take action in this case, and I dont know what theyre afraid of, she said. But it should not take this long.

The judge also said schools cannot push issues like this onto courts, but should handle it themselves.

I have to say, mistreating these children and being disrespectful to them and bringing them down, humiliating them in a classroom before their peers, is a very serious problem and school officials have to take these things very seriously, she said.

After telling Silva and Martin that they had not met the burden of proof needed for a restraining order, Ipema turned her attention to Salazar.

Sir, it is really not OK in this day and age to place hands, even if its gingerly, on children, she said.

Recalling that one student who testified said she only wanted fairness and respect in the classroom, Ipema said that was a good lesson for Salazar himself.

Your job is to teach them about fairness and respect so that when they grow up and become part of society, theyll be fair and respectful to others, she said.

I hope you have learned a huge lesson here by listening to these children, she continued, adding that there are no bad children and he must learn to listen to them better.

Twenty two years you have been involved with children, she said. I shouldnt be the one telling you this.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
A much-anticipated report on a sewage spill in Tijuana that has sparked tensions with San Diego County gave mixed findings Monday.

The investigation, by a panel of U.S. and Mexican officials, said a damaged sewage collector spilled about 28 million gallons of effluent in early February into two rivers that cross the international border. While thats still a substantial number, its far smaller than the original estimate of 143 million gallons.

But the probe also said in January and February, a period of heavy rainfall, as much as 256 million gallons of sewage and wastewater from Tijuana didnt make it to the designated treatment plant. Much of those flows may have contaminated beaches from Rosarito to Coronado, and its the latest reminder that Tijuanas sewer system still needs comprehensive upgrades despite decades of binational efforts to improve the infrastructure.

Advertisement

The report seems to indicate that (Tijuanas) system was overloaded by wastewater and rainwater, said Dave Gibson, executive officer of the San Diego County Regional Water Quality Control Board. The system desperately needs an infusion of capital if were to avoid these type of spills in the future.

Representatives of the Mexican agency that manages Tijuanas sewer system didnt respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

The investigation was launched by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees water treaties between Mexico and the United States, among other things. The commission started looking into the spill after elected officials from San Diego County demanded answers following complaints by residents on both sides of the border about an intensely foul sewage smell.

People who live in coastal Tijuana and South County quickly suspected a sewage spill. Thats because while international projects have reduced the amount of untreated or under-treated effluent flowing across the border since the 1990s, Imperial Beach continues to grapple with bacterial contamination linked to that cause. The city must frequently close its beaches because of that problem.

In this case, the international commission said it based its initial estimate of 143 million gallons on the date of the first residents complaints, the volume of effluent likely spewing out each day from the damaged sewage collector and the time weeks later when Mexican officials said they finished fixing the collector.

The commission also said its calculations were complicated by Mexican officials failure to immediately notify their U.S. counterparts about the spill, then their refusal to promptly respond to U.S. inquiries in the subsequent weeks. It also mentioned that Tijuana didnt explore options for borrowing equipment that would have enabled it to better manage the spill, including equipment offered by Imperial Beach.

In a recent interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune and again in the new report, Tijuana and Baja California leaders acknowledged a breakdown in communication and promised to follow whats intended to be a stronger set of guidelines for binational notifications about sewer troubles.

They have said while the damaged collector took weeks to repair, non-diverted sewage spilled into the Tijuana and Alamar rivers only for a handful of days.

Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, whos also been a veteran environmentalist in South County, has long pushed for water-quality improvements in the Tijuana River Valley. On Monday, he was unsatisfied with the international commissions revised spill estimate.

The (commissions) report on the massive February sewage spill illustrates that officials still dont know the extent of the spill and the source of the odors.  It is clear that it will take extreme vigilance by the (commission) to make sure its recommendations to improve pollution and increase monitoring are taken seriously and actually carried out, Dedina said.

Experts on sewer systems across Mexico said Tijuanas is one of the best in terms of being able to both collect and process sewage. At the same time, they stressed that Tijuanas system is aging and in need of extensive shoring up.

Tijuana officials recently said the Baja California governor intended to declare a state of emergency for their citys sewer system, which would funnel more funding to it. It was unclear Monday whether the declaration had been made.

In addition, there are plans to retrofit a beleaguered wastewater treatment plant on Tijuanas coast and a strategy for using some of Tijuanas treated wastewater for agricultural purposes.

Mondays report recommended the following steps:

*That Tijuana purchase better equipment for dealing with sewage spills or at least find places where it can borrow such machinery.

*That both the U.S. and Mexican governments increase their efforts to gauge sewage flows and track water quality at designated spots in and around the Tijuana River Valley.

*That the agency handling Tijuanas sewer system actually follow its existing procedures for making sure a pipe rupture or other trouble doesnt get out of control and harm the environment.

*That both countries sign on to the commissions recommended communication protocols, which go into great detail about everything from the number of hours an agency should take to notify others about a spill to what email list-serves should be established.

*That all sources of domestic and international funding should be explored for upgrading Tijuanas sewer network.

*That U.S. and Mexican officials determine a stronger standard for water quality in the Tijuana River, then jointly work on ways to collect related data and share it with each other so they can target the right fixes.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
A mother and daughter who led reclusive lives in their Mission Hills home were found dead after a fire destroyed the property Tuesday morning.

Their names were not released officially, but neighbors and public records indicate they were Elizabeth Longueuiel, 68, and daughter Persephone Longueuiel, about age 47.

Fire officials described semi-hoarder conditions inside the Craftsman-style house on Fort Stockton Drive, between Sunset Boulevard and Stephens Street.

Advertisement

The owner of a nearby liquor store said he has kept an eye on the two women and helped them in many ways over the years. He said both were disabled and the mother hadnt been seen outside for some time.

They wanted nobody to be in their house; they had no friends. They didnt want to leave this place, said Sam Shammas, owner of Mission Hills Liquor & Deli. This is not the end I wanted to see.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Battalion Chief Jeff Mitchell said it appears the blaze smoldered and burned quite a while before neighbors saw flames and called 911.

The heat was too intense for firefighters to attempt any rescues, he said.

Elizabeth Weems, who lives across the street, said she saw the daughter almost every day, walking with the aid of a walker, and talking to herself.

Weems said her husband took their dog outside shortly before 5 a.m. Tuesday and heard the noise of the fire, and children yelling. A family of five from Atlanta, staying at the house next to the one in flames, got out quickly and called 911, she said.

Ive never seen a fire like that, she said. It was huge. I know the people in there werent particularly mobile.

It took fire crews six minutes to reach the house, and by then it was too late to save the structure or anyone inside. About 30 firefighters drenched the house for nearly an hour from the front, both sides and from above, using an aerial ladder hose.

Crews couldnt fight the fire from inside because part of the roof and ceilings collapsed. Its pretty easy for them to be trapped in such dangerous conditions, the battalion chief said.

The fire damaged the roof of a house next door, and heat broke windows at a two-story house on the other side of the burning home. Trees also were blackened, and the womens car, parked in the driveway, was heavily damaged.

Firefighters hauled burnt and soggy belongings out of the house, piling it in the front yard as they started searching the inside. A fire official said the first body was found in a front room about 6:45 a.m., and the second body was found in a back room, near the back door, about 8:15 a.m.

The cause of the fire was not determined.

Shammas said the mother and her late husband owned the house, and the house next door, for many years. They rented out the second house for an income.

The husband, Daniel Longueuiel, was an artist and one-time art director for DArcy Advertising Co. His art and his household pranks on family and friends were occasional grist for San Diego Union editor Frank Rhoades columns in the 1960s and 70s.

In one notable 1964 prank, Longueuiel seated a female mannequin in a living room chair, introduced neighbors to her and watched as they either ignored her or tried to talk to her. Two weeks later, he invited the neighbors back and introduced them to a woman sitting stiffly in the same chair  then surprised them with the fact she was real.

At some point after the husband died in 1977, Shammas said, he helped the widow sell the second house and she and her daughter lived on the proceeds.

I offered to get them a lawyer, get them help, but they refused because they didnt want anyone to see the house, Shammas said. I knew it hadnt been taken care of.

He said the mother fell and hurt her hip about six months ago, but wouldnt let him take her to a doctor. She and her daughter drank and smoked heavily, he said, but they did it in their own home. They never hurt anybody.
A teenage boy who was stabbed in the back turned up at a Oceanside fire station Monday night, police said.

The teen was hospitalized with wounds that were not life-threatening, Oceanside police Lt. Ignacio Lopez said.

A motorists reported a fight involving four to six males on College Boulevard near Mission Marketplace, just north of state Route 76, about 7:15 p.m. The 911 caller told police someone in the group had been stabbed in the back, Lopez said.

Advertisement

The group was gone when officers arrived.

A short time later, a 17-year-old stab wound victim was driven by friends to a fire station on North River Road near College. Medics treated him, then took him to a hospital.

The boy and his friends were tight-lipped about the circumstances of the stabbing, and police believe the attack may have been gang-related, Lopez said.

Police had not identified a suspect.

Breaking News

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
CBS 8s Kyle Kraska nearly died two years ago after being riddled with bullets by a deranged shooter who ambushed the sportscaster as he was leaving for work.

When the veteran broadcaster stepped to the microphone Monday night at the 28th annual Candlelight Tribute for Crime Survivors, he told the audience that the trauma of that day did not make him a victim. Rather it was a catalyst for him to be a stronger and kinder person.

His story, he said, is one of gratitude and celebration.

Advertisement

I shouldnt be here, but I am, so Im going to celebrate that, he said

The tribute was part of National Crime Victims Rights Week, observed across the nation in an effort to support crime victims and their families, and recommit to enforcing their rights and seeking justice on their behalf.

The vigil, sponsored by a number of law enforcement and victim advocacy organizations, was attended by roughly a hundred people at the San Diego Police Officers Association Hall in Kearny Mesa.

We are here to stand together, we are here to never forget, said San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, the events keynote speaker. Please know we will always be here for you.

Alejandra Sambrano said she did not have the luxury of support from counselors or victim advocates after her son, Javier Garcia, was killed in Imperial Beach in 2009.

She endured the pain of her loss a with help from family and friends.

We did it alone, Sambrano told the crowd, fighting back tears. In the toughest of nights and toughest of days, we did it.

And six years later she joined Mothers with a Message to help other families of homicide victims through the grief. The community group also works with youth at risk of leading a crime-filled life.

For me, its just another way to keep my sons legacy alive, Sambrano said. To let it be known his death will never be in vain.

An estimated 5 million people were victims of violent crimes across the nation in 2015. Thats more than 13,500 victims a day, according to Bureau of Justice statistics.

In San Diego County that year, more than 74,000 people became crime victims. At least 11,000 of those crimes were violent, based on statistics compiled by the San Diego Association of Governments.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Summer Stephan, who oversees the Victim Services Division, said events like the vigil help remind crime survivors they arent alone.

Its a way to let them know the community does care about them and that were here to help, she said.

Too often when violent crimes are committed, its the tragic details of a case or information about the suspect that steal headlines, Stephan said. Victims and their family members are left to process their grief in the shadows.

Charlie Nelson, director of the Crime and Trauma Recovery Program, a counseling program for crime victims, said events like Mondays vigil, where victims get to commune with people who know their struggle, can be healing for survivors.

They find out they arent alone and thats very warming to know, he said. When they can hear from someone else who has been through this enormous trauma in their life and how they got through it, then they may come to believe they, too, can.

Kyle Kraska now says he is living on bonus time. Time in which he focuses on how thankful he is for the people around him, on being happy and joyous. And positive.

I dont think about the negative.

He also said he refuses to give in to hate and to fear. What kind of quality of life would I have?

Instead he wakes up every day and thanks God he is alive.

My message is that life not only goes on, it can get better, he said.

For more than 20 years, Marisa Ugarte has been an advocate for men, women and children exploited or trafficked. As executive director of the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, she works together together with law enforcement agencies and organizations in San Diego County and Tijuana.

Monday night she received an award for her advocacy work.

She accepted in tears, telling the audience that for her, being an advocate means feeling for the victims with whom she works.

Feeling her heart, her pain, her anger, Ugarte said.

She vowed to continue working relentlessly for those victims.

And she warned law enforcement agencies: Im going to continue knocking on your doors so you can help me with my victims. And if you dont, Im going to knock harder.

The candlelight vigil ended with a slideshow of photographs of the victims killed last year.

Family and friends walked up to the microphone, announced the name of the loved one they lost and lit a candle.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
UC San Diego scientists are disguising themselves as empty car seats to study how other motorists and pedestrians react to the sight of their driverless research vehicles tooling around campus.

The academic ghost drivers wear head-to-knee seat covers that hide their bodies. The so-called seat suits are pulled on like a catchers vest.

So far, the scientists have done limited test runs that elicited smiles, pointing and long stares. But theyre seeking the schools permission to broadly experiment on campus and may later ask to drive on the streets of La Jolla.

Advertisement

The undertaking is similar to research thats been done at Stanford University, and is part of a rapidly growing effort nationally to develop safe, autonomous cars and trucks.

We want to know how people react to cars that have no drivers, said Don Norman, who has nurtured the project as director of the UC San Diego Design Lab. So were testing cars that appear to have no driver.

We need to know how everyone reacts, not just other motorists. We need to look at pedestrians, skateboarders, people on bicycles. People who use the roads.

Norman is a renowned engineer and psychologist who served as director of research at Apple Computers in the 1990s. He also has spent years advising automakers like Toyota and BMW on how to make their vehicles safer and more consumer friendly.

Norman founded the universitys Design Lab in 2014, partly with the intent of making it a national leader in the study of automated vehicles. He has partnered with other prominent scientists, including Jim Hollan, a UC San Diego cognitive scientist who is leading the ghost rider research on campus.

How road users (pedestrians and others) will interact with autonomous cars is a complex and important research issue, Hollan told the Union-Tribune.

Just as important is how autonomous cars communicate their intent to other road users as well as to passengers. Many of the same issues about how people and robotic systems communicate arise in domains ranging from the surgical suite to controlling devices in your home.

We are interested not only in communication but also in trust. One wants an appropriate level of trust. Both too much and too little are problematic.

Norman said, At first we thought the car should signal to pedestrians OK, you can cross. No, no, Im going wait. We realized that would never work. Its fine if there is one car and one pedestrian. But not when there are many cars and many, many pedestrians.

So instead we have recommended, very strongly, that cars should signal their intention; Im about to move, Im stopping, Im about to turn left or right.

The Hollan team recently discussed its work with Wendy Ju, a Stanford professor who carried out a similar experiment in Palo Alto in 2015.

Stanford put together a so-called Wizard of Oz experiment  a study in which people interact with computer systems that they think are autonomous, but which are not. The computer was a vehicle driven by a researcher disguised by the car seat costume.

The Stanford vehicle carried signs and equipment that clearly identified it as an autonomous car.

The vehicle had interactions with 67 pedestrians, most of whom later said they they thought the car was driverless.

Of 67 observed interactions only two people clearly tried to avoid getting in front of the car by walking around it, Ju and her colleagues said in a research paper. This was on the second day when the car was driving a bit jerky (re-starting after it had come to a full stop.) These two people looked for a driver to communicate with him or her and resolve confusion about the cars behavior.

Colleen Emmenegger, a researcher at UC San Diego, noticed some similarities when she wore the seat suit and drove on campus.

We received a lot of smiles, pointing and long stares, said Emmenegger, who helped a colleague create the suit in a garage.

However, one surprising observation was that so many pedestrians and drivers did not even notice there was no driver in our car and went about their business as usual. This was very exciting to us.

How did they not notice? Are they not looking at the driver behind the wheel of a car they are crossing in front of as much as we hear? Maybe just a quick glance at the motion and position of the vehicle itself?

Norman thinks he knows what happens.

We have noticed that on campus the students feel the own the streets, said Norman. They just walk without looking, while reading their cellphones. Its useful because thats real life. But we know people would react differently in the streets of La Jolla or downtown San Diego. We want to study that.

At the moment, UC San Diego researchers are getting used to the confines of the seat suit.

It does get warm because not only am I wearing the seat suit, but I also have my hands and arms covered with black material, Emmenegger said.

The only thing that keeps me comfortable while driving with the suit is having the air conditioner on high and pointed directly at me!

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

Twitter: @grobbins

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
Cattle that escaped from St. Louis slaughterhouse are headed to animal sanctuary

Six steers that ran amok on the streets of north St. Louis last week after escaping from a neighborhood slaughterhouse have a new lease on life  and a possible future grazing on the lush pasture of a Tennessee animal sanctuary.

The steers  including Chico, who dodged police and animal control officers during a dramatic five-hour bid for freedom that included a crash through an iron fence  were picked up Monday morning from the slaughterhouse, Star Packing Co., and taken to an area farm.

They had been waiting at the slaughterhouse in limbo since late Thursday as a stampede of sometimes-feuding groups tried to save them from slaughter after their recapture.

The infamous six will stay at an area farm for a couple of weeks before making the trip to an animal sanctuary. That will likely be a Tennessee property owned by The Gentle Barn animal sanctuary, said Gentle Barn co-founder Jay Weiner.

(And yes, Weiner said, the animals are steers  neutered males  not female heifers, as the meat packing plant repeatedly told media last week. The steers are less than two years old and have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years, when not headed to a slaughterhouse.)

"They're scared," Weiner said of the animals after they were delivered to the St. Louis-area farm. "They've gone through a lot. But they are destined for good things."

The Gentle Barn has animal sanctuaries in southern California and Tennessee. According to its website, the organization rescues animals from severe abuse and neglect that are "too old, sick, lame, or scared to be adopted into homes. The Barn is home to horses, donkeys, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, llamas, peacocks, emus, cats and dogs who are allowed to live out their lives in peace.

The Gentle Barn also works with disadvantaged children on its ranches, and uses animal husbandry as part of its therapeutic healing philosophy. So Weiner said the organization will work with the steers to ensure that they are comfortable with humans and can be cared for by youth and adults.

He said it is the organization's intent to keep the steers for this mission either at its Tennessee farm or a new one. If that's not possible, the cattle will stay together and go to another quality animal sanctuary, he said.

Their rescue came with the help of a crowd-funding page started by Adam Brewster of Chicago. As of Monday, Brewster had raised more than $16,500 to help the animals.

He said Monday he donated the money to The Gentle Barn to purchase all six of the steer for an undisclosed sum from the slaughterhouse and help transport them to their final location.

Brewster said he came under pressure from the animal rights group Farm Sanctuary, which demanded the owner of the slaughterhouse donate the steers to a sanctuary. The group opposes the purchase of animals for rescues, accusing slaughterhouses of charging inflated ransoms on animals and further supporting the for-profit slaughter of animals.

Brewster said Monday he decided the most efficient and easy way to keep all six steers together was to arrange a quick purchase through The Gentle Barn.

I just really want to separate our cause from theirs, he said of Farm Sanctuary.

Weiner said he flew to St. Louis to oversee the transfer of the steers along with Brewster. He said the steers were penned together at the meat packing facility, but were clearly frightened, breathing deeply and backed into a corner.

The steers were taken to an area farm and unloaded into stalls to help them further decompress. There were plans to later let them out into a field to graze.

There was some doubt the cattle would stay together. On Friday, Kelly Manno, the initiator of another crowd-funding site supported by Lynn Backes, wife of St. Louis Blues Captain David Backes, thought she had negotiated the $1,800 purchase and delivery of Chico to a private farm in Lincoln County. She had directly witnessed the capture of Chico on Thursday and said she felt compelled to save the renegade animal.

But Manno waited in vain Friday night for delivery of the animal. In text exchanges with the owner of the slaughterhouse, she was told all the steers would be spared and remain together.

She said Monday she was disappointed that Chico never arrived, but delighted the animals were saved and were going together to a sanctuary. She said she has already decided to donate her $2,738 in crowd-funding donations to The Gentle Barn.
CBS 8s Kyle Kraska nearly died two years ago after being riddled with bullets by a deranged shooter who ambushed the sportscaster as he was leaving for work.

But when the veteran broadcaster steps to the mic tonight at the 28th annual Candlelight Tribute for Crime Survivors, he will tell the audience that the trauma of that day did not make him a victim. Rather it was a catalyst for him to be a stronger and kinder person.

The tribute is part of National Crime Victims Rights Week, when a multitude of agencies come together to support crime victims, and recommit to enforcing their rights and seeking justice on their behalf. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman is also a speaker at the event, held at the San Diego Police Officers Association Hall.

Advertisement

Kraska was pulling out of his driveway Feb. 10, 2015 when Mike Montana, a disgruntled house painter, pulled up behind him and boxed him in. The next thing he knew, Montana walked up to the car and opened fire from just four to five feet away. He continued to fire as he walked around the car and unloaded the magazine of the 9mm gun.

Shot after shot after shot, said Kraska who was hit six times and left with a perforated liver and collapsed lung. Struggling to breath, bleeding profusely and unable to call 911 with his bullet-shattered cell phone, he crawled to an intersection where he found help.

He spent six days in a coma. His heart stopped twice on the operating table. Yet he walked out of the hospital nine days later.

The life-threatening experience left him with profound gratitude for everyone who saved his life, for the San Diego community that rallied around him and for the justice system that found Montana guilty and handed him a life sentence.

It was that help, and support which still continues to this day, that gives him the strength and the incentive to recover and move on.

I realize I shouldnt be here anymore and I am thankful to some really heroic people in my life, he said.

So many things happened that day  so many little miracles he calls them:

The bullet stopped by his cell phone which could have been the fatal shot.

His friend and San Diego police officer who heard the gunfire and ran toward the danger.

The emergency medical techs in the ambulance who kept him from suffocating by piercing his chest with a needle.

The doctors, the nurses, his friends, family and strangers alike, all offered up a tidal wave of support and well wishes. Even now people come up and offer him hugs.

Kraska now says he is living on bonus time. Time in which he focuses on how thankful he is for the people around him, on being happy and joyous. And positive. I dont think about the negative.

He calls Montana the real victim, saying his bullets may have hit their mark but they did not kill his spirit.

I choose to live my life, and I choose to love my life and be thankful for my life, he said. I am going to take this and try to be a better person for it.

He also said he refuses to give in to hate and to fear. What kind of quality of life would I have?

Instead he wakes up every day and thanks God he is alive.

My message is that life not only goes on, it can get better, he said.

RELATED

 During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Kyle Kraska faced the man who allegedly shot him several times back in February.

619-293-1710

debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com

twitter.com/Debbi_Baker
In 2004, 83 percent of California voters approved Proposition 59, which had been placed on the state ballot by unanimous votes of the state Senate and Assembly. The Sunshine Amendment was intended to be the most forceful formal endorsement in California history of the paramount importance of government openness and transparency. It guaranteed public access to the meetings of government agencies and boards. But it also offered landmark guidance: It held that statutes and rules furthering public access shall be broadly construed, or narrowly construed if limiting access. In other words, government officials  if they have what they perceive as close calls on disclosing information  should always come down on the side of openness.

Thirteen years later, unfortunately, Proposition 59s admonition is routinely ignored by California government bodies large and small. A perfect example is a recent San Diego Union-Tribune Watchdog report that found several local agencies routinely paid board members to attend ad hoc and advisory meetings, apparently without public notice. The culprits: the San Diego County Water Authority, the Sweetwater Authority water board, the Regional Solid Waste Association and the Encina Wastewater Joint Powers Authority. All these agencies should regularly issue public notice of any meetings in which board members receive stipends for doing public business. The report also raised worrisome questions about some of the procedures used by the San Diego Association of Governments Regional Transportation Commission.

Advertisement

Any dubious practices are unacceptable. Proposition 59 obliterates the notion that there are gray areas in openness laws. It says when in doubt, disclose. This isnt a recommendation. Its a state law.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: UTOpinion
Why pension problems will be never-ending

Heres why the citys pension deficit will never go away (City still plagued by pension debt, April 3)  before any payment is made to reduce that $2.5 billion deficit there must be a 7 percent interest payment made on said deficit. $2.5 billion times 7 percent interest equals $175 million, so out of a $325 million payment to be made, only $150 million remains to be paid against the deficit.

We have Jack McGrory, Susan Golding, plus Toni Adkins, Scott Peters and their peers on the City Council for this eight-ball well be pushing for many years into the future. And where are they today?

Lou Cumming

Advertisement

La Jolla

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Pension demands require best returns

Recent letters to the editor have criticized a U-T editorial (Dont use pension agencies for posturing, March 22) for pointing out the hypocrisy of CalPERS recipients demanding divestiture of investments in sectors such as tobacco and, soon, companies building Trumps wall, while planning to enjoy their full pensions.

We now have two classes of citizenry  public sector current and future retirees, and the rest of us who have to pay their benefits. The day of reckoning is coming when bankrupt entities (first California cities, later dark blue states like Illinois) are told by the U.S. Supreme Court that outrageous pension obligations are no more sacred than bonds sold to the public. Allowing or even demanding CalPERS investment advisers pursue the very best market returns might delay that day of reckoning onto a future wave of retirees.

Gene Polley

San Diego

Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
A horrific suspected chemical attack in the Syrian province of Idlib killed dozens of people on Tuesday and left many other injured, and as photos and videos of the aftermath spread, world leaders are being called on to respond.

Trump administration spokesman Sean Spicer called the attack reprehensible and said it cannot be ignored by the civilized world.

Advertisement

So what will the civilized world do in response?

We decided to look at the reactions from world leaders for clues.

The U.S.

President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama and pretty much left it at that.

JUST IN: Pres. Trump calls Syrian chemical attack "a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution" in statement. pic.twitter.com/57ORsMMA7k  ABC News (@ABC) April 4, 2017

After condemning the attack, Spicer also blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and then said it was a consequence of the Obamas administrations weakness and irresolution.

President Obama said in 2012 he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing, Spicer said.

Another prominent Republican leader is blaming the Trump administration, however.

Another vicious chemical attack in #Syria - how do the Syrian people determine their own future while they are being slaughtered? pic.twitter.com/GfgVtklHxO  John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 4, 2017

Arizona Sen. John McCain says Assad and his friends, the Russians take note of what America says and that Secretary of State Rex Tillersons recent comments carry weight.

On a recent trip to Turkey, Tillerson said the long-term status of Assad will be decided by the Syrian people, indicating that the U.S. wouldnt be getting involved. McCain ripped the Trump administration.

Im sure they are encouraged to know the United States is withdrawing and seeking a new arrangement with the Russians, he said. It is another disgraceful chapter in American history and it was predictable.

About the possibility of regime change Syrian regime change, Spicer said it wasnt a a fundamental option as far as the U.S. is concerned because of political reality.

The United Nations

The attack came just ahead of the opening of a planned international meeting of U.N. members, European Union members and some financial institutions throughout the world to discuss the current state and future of Syria. The governments of Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar and the U.K. are leading the meeting, according to CNN.

Both France and Britain have called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in addition and the group is now expected to meet on Wednesday.

The U.K.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Assad would be guilty of a war crime if any evidence comes forward that his regime was responsible.

Bombing your own civilians with chemical weapons is unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account, he said.

Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the use of chemical weapons and echoed Johnson.

If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime, she said.

She also went as far to call for the removal of Assad.

Im very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria  which is representative of all the Syrian people  and I call on all the parties involved to insure that we have a transition away from Assad, she added in an interview with BBC News. We cannot allow this suffering to continue.

Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he was shocked and outraged.

I call on the international community to fulfill its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria, he said in a press conference.

Video: PM Netanyahu condemns the #ChemicalWeapons attack the Syrian regime waged near #Idlib, calls to remove these weapons from Syria. pic.twitter.com/m7nt99OmfG  Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) April 4, 2017

Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted on Tuesday that the attack was a crime against humanity. He also appeared to point to Tillersons recent remarks about the people deciding Assads fate.

Idlib attack is a crime against humanity.Those saying Syrian people will decide Assad's future: no people will remain if attacks continue.  Mevlut Cavusoglu (@MevlutCavusoglu) April 4, 2017

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
McNugga Lubba Dub Dub!

Last Saturdays surprise Rick and Morty season premiere episode on Adult Swim, The Rickshank Rickdemption, was the April Fools Day stunt that no one was expecting. And it may just not be arguably the best April Fools Day stunt ever, but also the inspiration behind a new movement.

The episode, which streamed on Adult Swims website for the entirety of April 1, featured a brief joke about McDonald's 1998 promotional tie-in with Disneys Mulan release, Szechuan McNugget sauce. Rick Sanchez, a mad scientist, has a flashback in which he goes to a McDonalds drive-through to order the sauce.

via GIPHY

Later in the episode, Rick announces, Im driven by finding that McNugget sauce. I want that Mulan McNugget sauce. Thats my series arc, Morty. If it takes nine seasons, I want that McNugget Szechuan sauce.

Rick and Mortys Twitter account jumpstarted the quest for Szechuan sauce with a profane tweet that said please let us gain enough cultural influence to force McDonalds into bringing back that [expletive deleted] sauce.

Viewers on Twitter were rightfully curious about Ricks obsession with a seemingly obscure promotional tie-in: Was it real? Is the sauce really that good? Did it measure up to other epic movie-fast-food tie-ins like Dennys Fantastic Four burger or Del Montes steamy (and perhaps, delicious?) Casino Royale Daniel Craig popsicle?

Turns out, according to the Rick and Morty Twitter account, the reference was no bluff nor April Fools joke.

While the sauce was part of a short promotional campaign nearly two decades ago, McDonalds Mulan nugget sauce now has a bizarre cult fan base on the internet. On eBay, old McDonalds Szechuan sauce containers  both open and closed  are being bid for hundreds of dollars, and even photographs of the sauce are going for $100. Various online retailers have already started selling shirts with Bring Back Szechuan McNugget Sauce emblazoned on them.

With the affirmation that Szechuan sauce was, indeed, a real McDonalds promotion in 1998, fans have found a new cause to rally behind. A Change.org petition asking McDonalds to bring back the sauce took off shortly after the episodes premiere on Saturday, gathering nearly 20,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. Other users have even started using the hashtag #BringBackTheSauce to get McDonalds attention.

On Tuesday morning, YouTubes Binging with Babish, a pop-culture cooking show, released a video showing impatient fans how to make their own McDonalds Szechuan nugget sauce.

It seems like the fans hard work might be paying off. Mike Haracz, the manager of culinary innovation at McDonalds, responded to the enthusiastic push to bring back the long-lost sauce.

And, with a new live-action Disney remake of Mulan  which may or may not be a musical  looming on the horizon, some fans have much to hope for. Maybe they won't have to wait nine seasons to get what they want.

Twitter: @anthonyberteaux
President Obamas national security adviser, Susan Rice, found herself Monday at the center of an online debate about White House leaks and the ongoing Russia investigation thanks, in part, to a new report about her efforts to uncover the names of Donald Trumps associates in intelligence documents.

The report, broken by Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake on Monday morning, led to sensational headlines and wild accusations on Twitter. At least one top Republican senator declared Smoking gun found! on yet-to-be-proven allegations that former President Obamas administration spied on Trump.

Smoking gun found! Obama pal and noted dissembler Susan Rice said to have been spying on Trump campaign.

https://t.co/SHJ41vhQu7  Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 3, 2017

Advertisement

Update: On Tuesday, Rice went on MSNBC to deny the suggestion that she sought to unmask the identities of Trumps associates for political gain or that she was responsible for leaking information out of the White House.

I leaked nothing to nobody and never would, Rice said.

MITCHELL: Did you leak the name of Mike Flynn?



SUSAN RICE: "I leaked nothing to nobody. And never would." via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/WTJYwHUs7S  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 4, 2017

The report cites two U.S. officials as saying that Ezra Cohen-Watnick, senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, found out that Rice had made multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities.

The intelligence reports, according to the story, summarized surveillance communication on foreign officials who incidentally came into contact with Trumps associates. Such incidental collection that involves U.S. citizens typically comes with names redacted to protect their privacy, many U.S. officials have said.

The legality of Rices attempts to unmask those identities was not questioned, but the implication that Rice played a role in a messy controversy about unauthorized leaks coming from the White House gave fodder to Trump and his supporters who say leaks are a bigger problem than the Russia investigation.

Trump jumped on Twitter to suggest that the report, repeated by the Fox & Friends show, vindicates his unproven allegation that Obama had his wires tapped.

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

Later on Tuesday morning, Trumps supporters continued to push the story on Twitter to prop up reporting from another more-obscure source and rail against the mainstream media for its lack of coverage about Rice. The push was hard not to notice.

Right wing botnets pushing Susan Rice story propagated by @Cernovich https://t.co/X8giGQNIgc   (@Anthony) April 3, 2017

That same morning, other prominent voices including former CIA analyst Nada Bakos jumped in to downplay the report, saying there was nothing illegal or controversial about Rices actions. Nothing to see here, they said.

unless there is evidence Rice requestd unmasking for reasons other than #natsec, there is nothing to see here  John Schindler (@20committee) April 3, 2017

The obvious follow-up to this: What was the nature of the conversations Rice was unmasking? https://t.co/KQaUZJfQgI  Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) April 3, 2017

2. When US persons are picked up in foreign intercepts, names are masked. Rices job is to understand the intercepts https://t.co/dSSVkpMaOv  Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 3, 2017

4. Unmasking is also NOT ILLEGAL OR UNETHICAL. This story is that Susan Rice was doing her job https://t.co/dSSVkpMaOv  Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 3, 2017

But the implications of Rice allegedly looking to reveal the identities of U.S. citizens in incidental monitoring prompted a broader debate on mass surveillance. Former presidential candidate Evan McMullin, a former CIA agent, and Bloomberg Views Lake went back and forth on this issue.

This line, buried in the 9th paragraph (!!), says it all. This is what you do when you don't have a story, but you wish you did. pic.twitter.com/kRqKgdvPbg  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) April 3, 2017

I would rethink this. https://t.co/J58VOqw1oP  Eli Lake (@EliLake) April 3, 2017

selective leaking of monitored comms of US persons however is a police state tactic.  Eli Lake (@EliLake) April 3, 2017

Such leaks have long been an issue and you've argued in their defense. Does that make you an extension of the police state? https://t.co/I1c9VYIdNz  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) April 3, 2017

What Lake story failed to prove was whether was a connection between Rices efforts to unmask the identities in intelligence reports and White House leaks that have embarrassed the Trump administration repeatedly. To say that Rices actions are a smoking gun is a stretch as of now, but its likely to raise new questions about where the Russia-Trump controversy will go next.

Was there something nefarious about Rices actions? Share your thoughts with me.

Have some thoughts to share?

Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

UPDATES:

12:10 p.m.: This article was updated with reaction from Susan Rice to the Bloomberg Report and other reports suggesting she was responsible for leaking information out of the White House.

This article was originally published on April 3 at 1:20 p.m.
Two fledgling political action committees that support allowing some illegal immigrants to become citizens are raising more money than their immigration-control counterparts, signaling a possible fundraising shift ahead of next years congressional races.

Immigrants List and ImmigrationPAC, both established less than four years ago, have raised $100,000 combined this election cycle. Thats a relatively small amount in the influential realm of PACs but still more than established groups that back enforcement-only policies, who have seen donations slow to a trickle.

Even a small amount of pro-immigration reform PAC money, pro-immigration muscle, makes it a two-sided debate, said Tamar Jacoby, who heads ImmigrationWorks USA, a federation of mostly small and medium businesses that support a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants and streamlining the employment visa process.

Advertisement

The power of PACS goes far beyond their direct contributions to candidates. They also wield power by bundling smaller donations from individuals nationwide and directing those funds to politicians sympathetic to their causes.

The PACS  formed by immigration lawyers and other immigrant advocates  are among pro-immigrant groups seeing donations on the rise. Large foundations are donating millions to nonprofits that work with immigrants, although that money cant be used for campaigns.

Allen Brandstater, head of the PAC Americans Against Illegal Immigration, acknowledged the changing mood. His group, which raised $850,000 during the 2008 election cycle for mostly issue ads and mailers, the most of any of the immigration PACs, is pretty much dormant right now, he said. Brandstater blamed the lack of support on the weak economy and on President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress, which he believes are more likely to back legalization.

Brandstater also lamented that some donors have grown wary about associating themselves with his organization because of what he said was negative publicity in 2008.

In the last election, you were called racist if you wanted to protect the sovereignty of our borders, he said.

Miami-based immigration attorney Ira Kurzban co-founded Immigrants List, the nations first major PAC to support legalization and other efforts to help U.S. residents and asylum seekers, in 2006. Kurzban says he looked around and saw nearly half a dozen political fundraising groups dedicated to enforcement-only immigration policies that appeared to have the ears of lawmakers.

Two years later, immigrant advocates in Illinois started ImmigrationPAC, now run by the Raben Group, a New York-based lobbying firm.

So far this election cycle, Immigrants List and ImmigrationPac have raised $81,000, compared to about $71,000 by three enforcement-only committees, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. Thats minuscule compared to the National Rifle Associations PAC, which has $7.4 million in the same period, or to the financial might on both sides of the health care debate.

Still, Jacoby said she is seeing growing cash support from businesses. And major donors such as the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and liberal financier George Soros Open Society Institute have also allocated more to immigrant advocates and their allies.

Maria Teresa Rojas, who manages the Open Society Institutes immigration portfolio, said her foundation alone has allocated an extra $15 million to be spent over the next three years to take advantage of what looks to be a historic opportunity to reform our immigration system. She cited the combination of a Democratic president and Congress.

Kurzbans group would like amnesty for those already in the U.S.; waivers for laws that automatically bar illegal immigrants from returning to the U.S.; statutes of limitation on some low-level crimes; overhaul of the visa system to accommodate changing demand (such as allowing India to have a few more spots than Switzerland); permission for illegal immigrants married to U.S. residents to adjust their status; and greater judicial oversight of rogue immigration agents.

Winning on any of those points will be a challenge. Enforcement-only PACs have been operating in Washington since the early 1990s. And theres no clear sign that the Democratic-led Congress has the stomach for a tough immigration debate any time soon, though the Obama administration has signaled that it wants to take up the issue next year.

Amy Novick, who heads Immigrants List, said she is preparing for a long fight. Most of the initial donors to the committee were immigration lawyers. Now the group is looking to take a page out of the Obama campaign playbook, tapping into small, online contributors.

There are tens of thousands of people in the U.S., citizens and residents, who have been touched by the immigration system, Novick said. Their spouses, siblings, children may be here legally but may be stuck in the backlog and need relief.
SAN DIEGO - El Camino High School junior Korey Dufek alreadyknows he wants to go to law school, and on Wednesday he learned howto get there.

View A Video

Advertisement

The 17-year-old acquired his newfound knowledge at a NationalCollege Fair at the San Diego Convention Center. Hundreds of NorthCounty students joined peers from throughout the region at theevent, which offered teens a chance to bone up on theirhigher-education options.

It was very helpful, said Korey, whose school is in Oceanside."I mean, it really kind of guides you through the whole process ofenrolling in college. It tells you, Youre a junior; heres theGPA scores youll need.  heres the classes you should be takingas a senior.

More than 250 colleges and universities from throughout theUnited States and several foreign countries had representatives atthe one-day fair, which was free to students, parents, teachers andschool counselors. High schools as far south as Calexico and as farnorth as Murrieta and Riverside County chartered buses to ferryteens to the event, as did some middle schools.

Other students arrived on their own, often with parents orfriends in tow.

Inside the convention center, visitors found a cornucopia ofbooths manned by recruiters and admissions advisors from higher-edcampuses of all types and sizes. Both public and privateinstitutions were represented.

The long list of U.S. colleges that participated included LynnUniversity in Boca Raton, Fla.; Regis University in Denver; HawaiiPacific University; the University of New Haven in Connecticut;Loyola University in New Orleans; and Southern OregonUniversity.

Australias Bond University; Le Cordon Bleu International; theUniversity of British Columbia; and Torontos York University wereamong those providing a foreign element. Students could also checkout such technical schools as Californias Brooks Institute ofPhotography and military institutions like the United States NavalAcademy in Maryland.

Brochures full of information about the college campuses,academic programs and extracurricular offerings were available atevery booth, and school representatives were available to answerquestions about admissions, tuition, housing or any other aspect ofstudent life the visitors wanted to know about.

Three hours into the fair, Poway High School student Lily Roachehad a plastic bag stuffed with information about multipleuniversities.

Its been really helpful just seeing what different schoolsoffer and their majors, said Lily, who searched out culinaryschools at the event with the help of her mom, Janet Roache, andPoway High classmate Candice Warner.

The girls, both 15, said their counselors suggested they attendthe college fair even though, as sophomores, the two are juststarting to think about life after high school.

Im just finding a lot more information than I ever really hadat one time, said Candice. Its helping me sort out through allof the college confusion.

The fair also offered workshops on selecting a college, gettingfinancial aid and similar topics. Students could also sit down at acentral area where volunteers helped explain the mysteries ofadmissions tests and how to search out scholarships and otherfinancial help.

Torrey Pines High School students Vanessa Winn and JessicaSandoval, both 17, said they liked the opportunity to do one-stopcollege shopping even though both are focusing on schools close tohome.

We learned the (admissions) requirements and got moreinformation about the school environment, Vanessa said. Itseasier to talk to an administrator from that school than lookingonline.

El Camino Highs Brittney Boublil, 16, said being able to checkout multiple schools without leaving home made it easier to whittledown her list of college options.

Its much less confusing than trying to drive for hours andtrying to tour all the campuses, she said.

For their part, recruiters said area teens were making all theright inquiries.

The No. 1 question is, What is your average GPA?  said UCSanta Cruz representative Cecilia Medina. The No. 2 is mostpopular majors and the third is location -- Where are you?  Ivebeen doing this for six years, and these are probably the mostprepared (students) Ive seen.

- Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 oramoss@nctimes.com.
It was an honor to be invited to spend a few days on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University to speak to the students on money matters, specifically, the loans many of them will take away as part of their college experience.

Remember the days when to get a loan you had to qualify and prove you had the capacity to repay the debt? Well, for college students, those days are history. They do not need to have a job or a co-signer to get huge amounts of money in federal student loans. From what I discovered on my visit, students (and in many cases, their parents) are more than willing to accept as much as they can get in federal student loans because these days that's just the normal way to pay for college.

But here's the good news: These young adults are willing to listen to advice from someone who's been around the block with debt. Seizing the moment, here is what I told them:

Accept the least amount of help possible, not the most available help. Just because you can borrow enough money each semester to pay for tuition, room and board and books doesn't mean you should. You'll never believe how difficult it is to pay back. Check yourself out of governmental outpatient care. Get a job. And get two or three in the summer. Finish your degree as soon as possible instead of taking it slow and easy. Make your own way as soon as possible and you'll reap the benefits for the rest of your life.

Understand what entry level means. There's a pervasive attitude among college students that really great jobs await those with degrees. Yes, your lifetime earnings will surpass what your peers without degrees can expect to earn but not in the beginning. You must plan to start at the bottom. This is called the entry level. There are no really great-paying jobs at the entry level. Teachers, attorneys, doctors, stockbrokers -- all professions require entry at the bottom. That means the lowest pay. If you think you had to scrape and scrimp in college, consider that a rehearsal for the real world. Do not fantasize about making the big bucks from the get-go.

'Tis easier to borrow than to repay. For every dollar you borrow to pay for college, the typical repayment plan will require that you pay back at least two dollars. You can reject that plan if you work twice as hard in your first three years out of school, even harder than you worked in college. Double up on your payments. Work as many jobs as possible. Delay starting a family if possible. Don't buy a new car or dive headlong into a big house payment. Concentrate on wiping out your student debts as quickly as possible. That's a gift you can give yourself that you will never regret.

Enjoy these years in college. Even with all the pressure of paying for your education while keeping up your good grades, make sure you learn all you can, do all you can and pay all you can now. That's the way to make these the best years of your life.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/04/2017 -- Transparency Market Research states that the leading players in the Africa small hydropower market are Siemens AG, ESKOM Holdings, and Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers. As of 2015, these players held a dominant share of about 34% in the overall market due to a major stake in government projects. Product differentiation along with a high brand value will determine the success of players in the market in the coming years. The diverse competitive landscape in Africa small hydropower market is likely to be affected by the new entrants in the market. However, the new entrants will have to acquiring proprietary technology to make a mark, which will continue to be their toughest challenge in the near future.



Browse Market Research Report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/africa-small-hydropower-market.html



Zambia and Ghana to Drive Africa Small Hydropower Market



According to the research report, the capacity of the Africa small hydropower market is expected to reach 49,706.1 MW by 2024 from 9,752.9 MW in 2015. Between the years of 2016 and 2024, the overall of market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 19.2% due to the emerging countries that are working toward reducing their carbon footprint.



Regionally, Zambia and Ghana are projected to dominate the Africa small hydropower market. The report indicates that Zambia small hydropower market will surge at a CAGR of 20% between 2016 and 2024 while Ghana's total capacity is expected to account for 10% of the overall market during the forecast period.



Pressure to Reduce Carbon Emissions Ups Demand for Small Hydropower



The surging demand for small hydropower in Africa is attributable to the excessive pressure on the region to cut down on its carbon emissions. Despite this pressing need, the region continues to be in a great need for power as majority of the countries are still trying to find their footing in the world economics. Thus, the need to reconcile the problem of demand for energy and regulatory reforms that press for greener solutions has turned the region's focus toward small hydropower. Today, small hydropower holds an instrumental position in the renewable energy mix as they make no difference to the water flow. In addition, they do to lead to rise in temperature or contribute to depletion of oxygen levels in the water.



Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=18839



The Africa small hydropower market is also expected to flourish in the coming years as it's a reasonably affordable source of renewable energy. Several energy companies are investing in installing small hydropower capacities as it requires relatively low capital investment as compared to other renewable energy plants. Analysts project that the adoption of off-grid power generation is expected to become an emerging trend in the region as it is the most feasible way of solving the energy crisis problem. Thus, the installations of off-grid small hydropower plants in remote areas of Africa are expected to benefit the overall market.



Lack of Technological Advancements and Adaptability to Hamper Market Growth



Despite the strong market drivers, the Africa small hydropower market faces a few restraints such as remote locations and paucity of technological adaptability in several countries. The region's energy sector is largely affected by the inaccessibility to basic technologies along with absence of infrastructure that will support the uptake. Collectively, these reasons are expected to hold back the growth of the Africa small hydropower market in the near future.



Key segments of the Africa Small Hydropower Market



Africa Small Hydropower Market: Country Analysis



Ghana

Nigeria

Tanzania

South Africa

Morocco

Zambia

Rest of Africa



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency 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. TMR's 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, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.
Black Insomnia, a coffee company based in Africa exceeds the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) - recommended 400mg per day limit of caffeine. The coffee contains 702 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce cup surpassing Death Wish coffee with 660mg.

Black insomnia coffee therefore over 1.7 times the recommended daily caffeine limit. According to Forbes, the caffeine limit pertains to the point at which an individual experiences side effects such as insomnia ( a basis of the coffee's name), peeing, upset stomach, headaches, diarrhea, heartburn, nervousness, anxiety, increased heart rate, and abnormal heart rhythms.

Black Insomnia and Death Wish coffee are not the only companies competing for the most caffeinated coffee. Companies such as Biohazard, Killer Coffee, Banned Coffee, Shock Coffee, Bone's Coffee High Voltage and Perk Coffee are also playing on top. Coffee is taken by millions of people for stimulation, alleviating fatigue, and improving concentration and focus.

Up to 400mg of caffeine is safe for healthy adults, which will account to four cups of brewed coffee. Black Insomnia, therefore, is not recommended to individuals suffering from underlying diseases such as hypertension, gastro-esophageal reflux disorder (GERD), ulcer and arrhythmia. Caffeine is safe for adults but not with children.

As reported by Coffee and Health, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) advised that caffeine intakes from all sources including coffee and cola should only be limited to 400mg per day. Furthermore, 100 mg of caffeine may increase sleep latency and reduce sleep duration in some adults. In recent years, concerns were raised regarding the caffeine consumption especially in coffee among adolescents.

Cases of caffeine overdose prompted the FDA to raise warning regarding intake of caffeine in some beverages. In the first half of 2015, the case of overdose summed up to 1,675 involving energy drinks with close to two-thirds in the population of individuals aging 18 years and younger. On the other hand, coffee has also some benefits as it is considered to be an antioxidant fighting free radicals in the body.


The year has already offered a lot to the gaming geeks. Superlative gifts ranging from high-level titles to magnifying GPU sets have been revealed by various tech makers from all around. Now Taiwanese tech giant Asus has something more to be added along with this year's gaming stakes. As per the latest insight, the company is about to release its newest contributions to the gaming fever: two new advanced gaming monitors namely, ROG Swift PG27VQ and ROG Strix XG27VQ.

According to Digital Trends, the first element among this lineup ROG Strix XG27VQ comes with a curved 27-inch front panel coupled with 1080p HD resolution. It offers a top end refresh rate of 144 Hz and it also supports Nvidia G-Sync for ensuring the perfect balance between gaming audio and visual sync. The monitor has been equipped with RGB LEDs on the backend of the display for right sync rate.

As per another revelation by The Tech Report, the next quotient is even more powerful in terms of its features. ROG Swift PG27VQ comes with curved QHD display with highest resolution capacity up to 2560x1440. It has been equipped with even greater refresh rate at 165 Hz. For perfect evolving of high-level gaming on screen, the monitor uses a newly designed quantum dot technology.

This 27-inch gaming stunner supports Nvidia G-Sync alongside Asus's very own Aura sync. Moreover, Asus has placed attributes to run 4K contents on it which is marked by a flashing LED Backlights for HDR mode. What is more attractive apart from all these, the PG27UQ utilizes the backlight technology capable of up to 1,000 cd/m peak brightness whenever crucially required for higher-end operations.

Though Asus has already uncovered the ROG Swift PG27UQ at the Consumer Electronic Show 2017, but the company has not yet revealed any words about both the magnetic gaming monitors' price and availability. It is expected to be launched any time by the next quarter of 2017.
Scientists have developed a high-powered laser just like the Star Wars' Death Star sci-fi laser, in which the power of multiple laser beams is conveyed into an intense output beam that can be pointed to a target. This newly developed laser could be applied in defense.

The creation was described in Laser and Photonics Reviews. It was led by world-leading scientists from Macquarie University. They have developed a system that could magnify the laser power using diamond, according to Phys.org.

Associate Professor Rich Mildren, the co-author of the study, said that scientists are creating high power laser to fight threats to security from the propagation of low-cost drones and missile technology. These powered tools could also be applied in space such as powering space vehicles and undertaking the space junk problem that looms the satellites.

The high-powered beam is achieved using an ultra-pure diamond crystal at the point of merging. The crystal transmits the power of the multiple beams into a single strand while preventing the beam distortion problems. The new high-powered laser beam begins to have a new color during the merging, according to UPI.

The beam in convergence with the diamond could change the color of the laser beam. This process is of unique advantage and has been tested in other parts of the world. Likewise, diamond is said to be essential for high power.

Dr. Aaron McKay, the lead experimentalist, said that this new creation is technologically significant as the lasers researchers are fighting with rising power beyond a certain level because of the challenges in managing the heat buildup. He further said that merging beams from multiple lasers is one of the most engaging ways to considerably elevate the power barrier.
Lieutenant/Corporal Kenneth M. Small of Florence County, received the South Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper of the Year award. Small, who resides in Florence, was chosen from among 10 other nominees from around the state. Small, assigned to Troop Eight/Safety Improvement Team, was alerted to an unresponsive child during a traffic stop on November 10, 2016, and performed CPR, saving the childs life.

TCO Bradford D. Lee is recognized for his work ethic and his assistance in helping a trooper apprehend a drunk driver. On July 1, 2016, TCO Lee was working the Horry radio. He was serving as a call taker/dispatcher for a call where he stayed continuously on the telephone with a complainant reporting an intoxicated driver until a trooper could make the traffic stop on the vehicle. TCO Lee also serves as an officer with the Civil Air Patrol and he serves his local community as a firefighter with the Floydale Fire Department in Dillon when he is not on duty. TCO Lee is a Florence native, currently residing in Dillon with his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters ages one and five
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois Senate Democrats, contending that immigrants are hiding in their homes because of aggressive actions by President Donald Trump's administration, promoted legislation Monday that would bar law enforcement from entering state-supported schools or health facilities without a warrant looking for immigrants in the country illegally.

Senate President John Cullerton's said his "TRUST" act is a response to growing anxiety in immigrant communities because of federal raids and anti-immigrant rhetoric from the new Republican president. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on Chicago's northwest side last week led to the shooting of a man by an agent.

"We're drawing a bright line between do's and don'ts for police," Cullerton told a Chicago news conference hosted by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

A crackdown on illegal immigration has been a cornerstone of Donald Trump's presidency. He has pursued a promised wall on the U.S-Mexican border, threatened to withhold funds from so-called "sanctuary" cities, and immigrant advocates have questioned whether ICE has carried out more raids in cities. It all spells anxiety for immigrant communities, said state Sen. Iris Martinez, who noted the sudden abandonment of commercial districts in neighborhoods such as Rogers Park and Albany Park.

"The last three or four weeks, those areas are very isolated and that is because people are not coming out to shop," the Chicago Democrat said. "And that is because of the fear; they've seen ICE walking around."

California adopted the nation's first "TRUST" act in 2014. Andy Kang, director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice and a primary author of the Illinois adaptation said Oregon, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont have similar laws. New York and Maryland are considering versions.

The measure has four main tenets. First, it creates "safe zones," barring law enforcement authorities from entering state-supported school or health facilities without a warrant. In addition, no local officers can be deputized as federal officers for an investigation without a warrant.

Cullerton stressed that the measure would not keep police from investigating crimes or apprehending suspects.

"But the prevailing criteria to detain an individual should not be based on someone's citizenship, immigration status, background or beliefs, but by the blind exercise of the rule of law," Cullerton said.

The plan would also set deadlines for police to complete paperwork for immigrant crime victims who cooperate in an investigation. Those who cooperate are eligible for special visas that allow temporary residence, but police are often slow or negligent in completing them.

And expanding on the sanctuary city idea  places such as Chicago, Evanston, and Urbana where immigrants in the country illegally are largely left alone  Cullerton's legislation would ban local participation in any sort of registry based on religion, race or immigrant status. Currently, there is no such registry, and Sheldon Nahmod, a constitutional scholar at Chicago-Kent School of Law, said no president would have an easy go in such a registration law being declared constitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court has found that Washington can't withhold funding as a punitive measure, said Kang. He said it's unlikely a local police department could find itself losing federal dollars for skirting cooperation with the feds.

The legislation will have a hearing Wednesday in the Senate Executive Committee. House Democrats have introduced some similar measures to limit local police cooperation and bar immigration authorities from schools, churches or hospitals without warrants. Republicans have raised objections.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis would not comment on whether the governor supports Cullerton's initiative, but said, "Illinois is a welcoming and diverse state and the governor believes in comprehensive immigration reform."
On April 5, 2017, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the direction of Hadrut region, near Karakhanbeyli.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Michael Olaru (Moldova) and Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova), as well as staff-member of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Farrelli (Ireland).

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.
Seadrill has reached agreement with its banking group to extend the maturaties on $2.85bn in debt as its continues negotiations with banks, potential new investors and advisers to its bondholders on a comprehensive restructuring.

Although the restructuring plan is yet to be completed Seadrill issued a stark warning of substantial impairment, dilution or losses for its investors.

Based on stakeholder and new money investor feedback, as well as the company's existing leverage, we currently believe that a comprehensive restructuring plan will require a substantial impairment or conversion of our bonds, as well as impairment, losses or substantial dilution for other stakeholders

As a result, the Company currently expects that shareholders are likely to receive minimal recovery for their existing shares, it warned.

Seadrill added it was preparing for a substantial restructuring that likely involved schemes of arrangement or Chapter 11.
The U.S. just recently crossed 35 pounds of cheese per person on a per capita basis, stated Mark Stephenson, speaking to those attending the Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum held on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on January 19, 2017. That is an elite number among all nations of the world.

However, we still have room to grow cheese, the ag economist went on to explain. While the U.S. eats 35 pounds per person, Germany and France are over 50 pounds.

There are a number of ways to measure dairy product consumption. In order to compare all dairy products on a level playing field, milk equivalent basis can act as another gauge.

On a milk equivalent basis, we add almost 2 pounds per capita a year, said Stephenson, noting that Americans eat or drink about 630 pounds of milk either as beverage, cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream, or other dairy products.

Also adding to our growing dairy sales is the fact that we add almost 3 million people to our population each year, he said.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2017
A gala event recognising individuals and companies for their outstanding achievements and contributions to Asias maritime industry, Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia is proud to annouce the guest host and judging panel confirmed for the night.

Guest hosted by Anita Kapoor, a well-known media personality, international travel and lifestyle presenter, the black tie gala event is expected to be attended by leading maritime professionals and executives. The call for entries has begun and 12 competitive award categories will be adjudicated by an independent panel of judges who are all industry stalwarts with decades of trade experience.

In addition to the competitive categories, Seatrade will also be presenting three special awards - Seatrade Young Person of the Year Award, Seatrade Personality of the Year Award and Seatrade Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the exceptional contributions by individuals in the regions maritime industry. Past recipients of the Seatrade Lifetime Achievement Award include influential industry heavy-weights like Lui Tuck Yew, former Singapore Minister for Transport and George Chao, President, Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings Ltd.

Marcus Hand, Seatrade Maritime Review Asia Editor and Chairman of the Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia Judging Panel, comments, It is with great pleasure and anticipation that we are returning to Hong Kong this year for the the 10th edition of Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia In times of such challenging market conditions, the resilient characteristic of our maritime industry clearly exemplify through the award submissions we received. Winning an award is a recognition of excellence and success that will position the winners at the forefront of the regions maritime industry.

Widely acknowledged as one of the region's most prestigious industry awards, the Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia is strongly supported by the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) and promises to be a night of networking and celebration as hundreds of top maritime professionals gather to laud outstanding performances in the industry.

Visit http://www.seatradeasiaawards.com to find out more on how you can join the night of celebration.
The three major players signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to study the feasibility of developing an integrated maritime city on Carey Island, MMC Corp and Sime Darby said in a joint press release.

The maritime city is to support the proposed development of a new port on a greenfield site on Carey Island, they added.

Simultaneously, MMC Ports and Adani Ports have signed a separate MOU to explore the feasibility of the Carey Island Port Project as an extension of Malaysia's current major port at Port Klang, currently the world's top 11th container port.

MMC Ports, the ports arm of utilities and infrastructure group MMC Corporation, and APSEZ will collaborate with Sime Darby Property, the property arm of Sime Darby to study the feasibility of developing an integrated maritime city which will support the new port.

Malaysia is very strategic to APSEZ global strategy and with the Straits of Malacca being a global shipping route it helps us to drive our global transhipment strategy further. With Vizhinjam port on one side Carey Island port on the other we will be able to give transhipment solutions to global shipping lines," said APSEZ ceo Karan Adani.

APSEZ is India's biggest private sector port operator. Apart from developing and running its s biggest private port at Mundra the firm also operates container handling facilities on both India's major markets, at Hazira Port and Mundra on the west coast, and at Kattupalli near Chennai on the east.

The port and maritime city could spur further development along southern Selangors industrial belt and Sime Darby Property is well positioned to support this vision with its strategic landbank in the area, said Sime Darby president and group ceo Mohd Bakke Salleh.

He noted that the development of the Carey island area is a strategic fit into the Malaysia Vision Valley Development which will be spearheaded by Sime Darby.

MMC Corp group md and MMC Ports director Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said: MMC Ports, Adani Ports and Sime Darby bring with them the necessary expertise to make this project a success.

Our ports are strategically located right in the shipping lane and all ships must pass through Malaysian ports regardless, which makes the country a suitable regional centre for the logistics hub, he added.
Lam Son Joint Operating Company (LSJOC) a joint venture between units of Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) and PetroVietnam awarded the bareboat charter contract for an FPSO to PTSC Asia Pacific in 2012, and was for a fixed primary term of seven years starting June 2014. The early termination leaves the contract has four years left to run.

PTSC Asia Pacific, is a joint venture between Yinson and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PTSC).

The FPSO PTSC Lam Son has been operating in the LSJOC-operated Lam Son Field offshore Vietnam since June 2014.

The contract cancellation, due to be effective on 30 June 2017, is due to the liquidation of LSJOC, which is scheduled to occur on the same day, Yinson reiterated.

It added that it is entitled to an early termination payment (ETP) in the terms of the contract, but said the exact quantum of the ETP would be determined based on the terms of the bareboat charter.

Yinson also pointed out that the project was still ongoing and there was still a requirement for the asset. Notwithstanding the receipt of the notice, PTSC had informed PTSC Asia Pacific that Vietnam Oil & Gas Group (PetroVietnam), the ultimate holding company of one of the shareholders of LSJOC, has the intention for the petroleum operations to continue at Lam Son Field despite the liquidation of LSJOC. It is the intention of PetroVietnam to continue to utilise FPSO PTSC Lam Son for this purpose, it said.

Yinson said PTSC Asia Pacific reserved its contractual rights and remedies pursuant to the bareboat charter.

Accordingly there is no material adverse financial impact to PTSC Asia Pacific, Yinson will continue to work together with PTSC on future developments during the transition period, the company added.
They are (pictured left to right):

Tuomas Riski (38), ceo of Norsepower, a late addition to the finalists after his companys Rotor Sail Solution - a modernized version of the Flettner rotor  was selected for trials aboard a Maersk product tanker;

Christine Spiten (26), co-founder of Norwegian company Blueye Robotics, provider of drones for underwater exploration sold to the global consumer market, who recently took part in a marine litter mapping exercise;

Patrik Berglund (34), ceo and co-founder of Norwegian company Xeneta, an ocean freight pricing benchmarking and intelligence platform which aims to transform the shipping and logistics industry with data analytics; and

Joel Spark (28), co-founder of US company Spire which proposes a constellation of nano-satellites to provide accurate and cost effective AIS tracking, weather data and sea state awareness solutions.

All of these entrepreneurs have identified key challenges and opportunities within maritime, before addressing them with potentially game-changing innovations, notes Nor-Shipping director Birgit Liodden. They are combining simple ideas with often complex technologies to deliver products and services that deliver real value to their respective markets.

Winner of the award will be announced mid-April, with the presentation ceremony taking place on the opening day of Nor-Shipping in Oslo, which this year runs from 30 May to 2 June.
The four aframax tankers will operate in the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe transporting crude oil and petroleum products.

The ice-classed, dual-fuelled tankers are scheduled to come into operation beginning in the third quarter of 2018 and will be among the first LNG-fuelled vessels with variable and flexible routes.

As part of the agreement, Shell will refuel the vessels from a specialised LNG bunker vessel that will load at the Gas Access to Europe terminal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and a second supply point in the Baltics.

This is an important next step for gas as part of the energy mix, said Maarten Wetselaar, integrated gas and new energies director at Shell.

We are proud to work with SCF Group to make these LNG-fuelled aframax crude oil tankers a reality. This is another marine segment embracing the benefits of LNG fuel, making it clear that LNG will play a key role in helping the shipping industry meet new emissions regulations.

Sergey Frank, president and ceo of Sovcomflot, said: SCF Group and Shell have an extensive and successful track record of collaboration and technical innovation, and at the heart of our joint aspirations is the shared desire to play a major role in delivering a cleaner and safer maritime environment.

This is why SCF Group and Shell decided to pilot this breakthrough initiative to switch the principal fuel of Aframax tankers, the workhorse of the global tanker industry, to LNG.

More ship owners and operators are choosing LNG fuel over traditional marine fuels to respond to sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions regulations, including the IMOs recent decision to implement a global 0.5% sulphur cap in 2020.
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Handwritten Notes

Dispatch from Crame Number 54 and 55

Dispatch from Crame No. 55 - On proposals to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility

4/14/17

Like the death penalty, my opposition to the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) is unflinching and unqualified.

Let's not punish our minor delinquents. Let's punish the adult criminals and syndicates who lure and exploit them and the parents who wantonly neglect them.

In keeping with human rights principles, children who run afoul of the law ought not to be treated as criminals, but as victims themselves.

The solution is not the lowering of the MACR, but the full effectuation of the language and spirit of the Pangilinan Law, a beautiful law. No excuses this time, the favorite being the paucity of resources esp. at the LGU level.

You and I, the government and our society bear the collective responsibility to ensure that the next generation be spared from a bleak future.

Let's start by ending the prevailing culture of bloodbath, lies and impunity. For the sake of our children and theirs.

Leila de Lima

*****

Dispatch from Crame No. 54 - On President Duterte's latest tirades against former President Aquino

4/4/17

Looking for scapegoats from his increasing woes - international condemnation for his murderous war on drugs, internal divisions and bickering and corruption issues hounding several of his agencies - seems to be Duterte's favorite pastime nowadays.

This President's latest rap threats versus the former President is just that. A convenient scapegoat. A diversionary ploy. An old, reprehensible tactic.

It's a mark of deviousness.

Leila de Lima
Press Release

April 4, 2017 Philippines Prioritizing Legislation to Combat Socio-Economic Inequities - PIMENTEL While the Philippines is working on a shift to federalism, its legislature is prioritizing the passage of laws to address the gap between the rich and the poor in the country. This according to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, who at the 136th Interparliamentary Union Assembly lamented that "this dichotomy in Philippine society, where there are the haves who are living in abundance and abandon, and the have-nots who are very poor and have been left behind, is an unpleasant reminder, for a legislator like me, that in our country, economic growth has only benefitted the already wealthy." Pimentel said that Congress under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, while waiting for the benefits of federalism, has "begun to address some problems which promote or perpetuate inequality with policy changes." The lawyer and former Bar topnotcher told legislators from all over the world that the Philippine government was in the process of passing laws to provide free tertiary education, to promote investments, to ensure job security, and to reform the country's income tax system-all with the end in view of combatting social inequity. Pimentel, a law graduate of the University of the Philippines, the country's premiere state university, said that the government believes that "education is the great equalizer" and that beginning 2017, tuition in the Philippines' state universities and colleges would be free to deserving students. "To promote the ease of doing business in the Philippines and give micro and small businesses a chance to compete with bigger ones," said Pimentel, "we will cut red tape, make government-issued documents more reliable and trustworthy so that there should be no more need to get repetitive documents from numerous government agencies, and impose an ambitious 72-hour deadline for all applications with government." The Mindanao-born legislator added that the Duterte Administration would also plug loopholes in the country's labor laws which prevent the regulatorization of employees through an arrangement called "contractualization". "We will put an end to this unlawful form of labor-only contracting." Workers in the Philippines will also get much-needed tax relief, said Pimentel, as Congress updates tax brackets so that the country would have "a truly progressive system of income taxation, which should be fairer to all." Pimentel urged his fellow legislators to push for laws that would provide opportunities for everyone, rich or poor, regardless of the difficulties involved in passing such laws. "My fellow parliamentarians, the process of change will be hard and difficult but we should never give up. Let us embrace a sense of urgency in this battle to eliminate inequalities in the world and in our societies."
Press Release

April 4, 2017 Federalism to solve inequities and longstanding problems in the Philippines - PIMENTEL With social and economic inequity rising in the Philippines, Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III told legislators from all over the world that the Philippine government was eyeing a major structural reform to ensure that all Filipinos enjoy the fruits of the country's economic growth: the adoption of federalism. Addressing participants of the 136th Interparliamentary Union Assembly, the Senate President said that the country's "chosen weapon to fight the inter-generational problems of poverty, inequality, and the societal instability that result therefrom, is not merely policy change but structural change-structural change in the form of the adoption of the Federal System of Government." The senator from Mindanao, who gave a speech on the assembly's theme, "On Redressing Inequalities: Delivering on Dignity and Well-Being for All," explained that the Philippines, like the rest of the world, was also grappling with "the wealth gap." "Reports indicate that GDP and GNP Growth rates in the world have been rising. Yet, despite these rising rates, serious inequalities on income, economic opportunity and political inclusion still persist, threatening to jeopardize economic sustainability, reverse the progress on poverty, and affect world security," lamented Pimentel. "The Philippines," stressed Pimentel, "is too familiar with this wealth gap, especially the gap which exists within the country. Last year, our economy again posted a strong 6.6% growth in GDP, following steady growth in the previous years-but it has yet to be truly felt by the majority of our citizens, especially the poor that still comprise a little more than 1/4 of our population." Pimentel said that contributing to this problem was the fact that the Philippines is a unitary state, with more than 60% of its GDP generated in Metro Manila and the areas near the national capital. Pimentel admitted that "the poorest and least developed areas of the Philippines are found in the far south of the capital, in the island called Mindanao." "In short, the richest areas in the Philippines are the capital and those closest to it. The poorest are those farthest from the capital." The election of President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2016, explained Pimentel, was the electorate's response to this longstanding problem. One of the major thrusts of Duterte, the first President from Mindanao, is the country's adoption of federalism. "We believe that by federalizing the Philippines, we immediately obtain the following benefits: we involve the regions in national decision making; we accelerate the economic development of the regions as the regions will be free to determine their over-all direction," said Pimentel. The 1990 Bar topnotcher revealed that under the proposed federalism plan of Duterte, the country will be divided into eleven regions, thereby resulting in "eleven centers of power." According to Pimentel, the shift to federalism would also encourage the preservation of the culture, language, and other practices and beliefs of our the country's numerous ethno-linguistic groups. While Pimentel emphasized that the adoption of a federal system of government would take time as this involves the revision of the Constitution, it would result in peace in Mindanao, "as some rebel groups therein have been clamoring for decades for some kind of autonomy rule." "Let us be open to challenging the status quo and make the attitudinal change of entertaining outside of the box solutions to inter-generational problems."
Jim Mone/Associated Press

Sonny Gray is inching his way back toward starting for the As later this month.

The As ace, who has been out for a month with a lat strain, said that he will throw a bullpen session Tuesday at the Coliseum. It will be his first time throwing off the mound since being shut down last month.
Construction of BARTs next extension into Silicon Valley is on track to be completed by the end of the year, but the transit system may not have enough rail cars to fully serve the two new stations it will serve.

BART has ordered new cars to expand and replace its existing fleet, but it needs at least 30 to 40 more cars to serve the extension. Its contract with Canadian rail manufacturer Bombardier calls for 35 cars to be delivered by the end of the year. So far, BART has received just 10, and problems discovered during testing have already led to delays in delivering the rest of the cars.

Meanwhile, work on the 10-mile, two-station extension from the newly opened Warm Springs/South Fremont station to the Berryessa neighborhood of San Jose is at least three months ahead of schedule. Work is 94 percent complete on the extension that was originally expected to open in spring 2018, said Stacey Hendler Ross, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

VTA, as it is known in the South Bay, is building and paying for the extension then turning it over to BART to operate. But the combination of speedy construction and a delay in rail car deliveries could spell trouble.

It is going to be close, said Paul Oversier, BARTs assistant general manager for operations. But we think we can count on it.

Whether BART riders can count on it as well remains to be seen. BART already struggles to keep to its schedules with a current fleet of 669 rail cars, some more than 40 years old. And delivery of even the first 10 new cars was problematic.

The transit system already suffers from a car shortage, as anyone whos crowded onto a packed BART train knows. During a typical commute, BART doesnt have the ability to run trains with as many cars as it needs. And it cant even come close to the dream of running 10-car trains, the maximum length, on all lines during the busiest times of day. Without enough cars, passengers are left to stand aboard overcrowded trains  or wait on platforms for the next train that has room to crowd aboard.

The lack of rail cars has prompted BARTs decision to limit service to the Warm Springs station. The result is that some riders have to transfer on trains to or from Warm Springs.

We just need more cars, said Robert Raburn, a BART director from Oakland.

Bombardier is under contract with BART to deliver 775 new rail cars within five years. As the cars are delivered, theyll be added to BARTs existing fleet, which will be slowly retired. The new rail cars will be used throughout the system, not just on the new extension.

The first 10 of the new cars arrived five months late. Theyve been undergoing rigorous testing in BARTs Hayward yard and throughout the system in the early mornings to find and fix problems before BART officially accepts them and Bombardier fires up the production line at its Plattsburgh, N.Y., plant for the remainder of the cars.

BART officials said they hope to give the go-ahead in June and put the new cars to work.

Under its agreement, Bombardier is scheduled to deliver 25 more cars by the end of 2017. Original plans called for 60 cars but troubles discovered during testing of the cars that had been delivered caused BART and Bombardier to extend the tests before the go-ahead to the manufacturer for more new cars.

Since the tests began last spring, BART has discovered a number of problems, including the failure of an on-board electrical system that powers lights, air conditioning, heating and part of a braking system. That problem was fixed but more glitches, mainly with software, have emerged repeatedly.

Among those problems are issues related to train control and propulsion, including getting the new cars to stop within 1 foot of the black boarding marks on station platforms. Existing cars have a 3-foot margin.

BART spokesman Jim Allison said software fixes are time-consuming because programming changes need to be made, tested in a lab, tested on the train, then tested on a train in operation. Once one software glitch is fixed, another is often found, he said.

The new BART cars are also overweight. It doesnt affect how they operate, Oversier said, but does exceed standards in the contract and could accelerate wear and tear on the system. Solving the weight problem could mean the loss of some features that make the trains heavier: extra arm rests, stronger window frames, thicker seat cushions. Or BART could increase the weight limit.

According to Oversier, specifications allow the cars to weigh 64,500 pounds empty and 100,000 pounds carrying a crush load of passengers. The cars meet the fully loaded threshold, he said, but are 1,000 to 1,500 pounds too heavy when empty.

BART officials have been testing the 10 rail cars early in the morning after regular service is shut down. Testing has been going well, Oversier said, and should soon move to daylight hours. Test trains will run between scheduled trains, and arent yet allowed to carry passengers. But that could happen by June, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said.

At that point, Bombardier will start producing cars at a faster pace. While fewer new cars will arrive this year than first planned, more will come in 2018. By the end of that year, BART should have 166 new rail cars. Delivery of the new BART cars is scheduled to continue through 2022 with at least 341 cars in service in 2019, 529 at the end of 2020 and 721 at the end of 2021. All of the remaining cars are scheduled to arrive in 2022.

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.

As BART has been meticulously testing its new rail cars, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has been ahead of schedule building the first phase of what it has labeled Silicon Valley BART. The extension will head south from Warm Springs/South Fremont to stations in Milpitas and Berryessa in East San Jose.

Ross, the VTA spokeswoman, said she was not aware that a shortage of rail cars could affect the start of BART to and from San Jose.

Its their show once we finish the lines and stations, she said.

Allison said that BART and VTA hold regular meetings to discuss the progress of the extension and how to coordinate plans for starting service. But he said he doesnt know if the matter of having enough rail cars has been discussed.

In any event, Allison said, its too early to start making contingency plans.

Bombardier spokeswoman Maryanne Roberts said BART can count on having all 35 cars by the end of the year.

Oversier said he, too, is optimistic that BART will have enough cars.

Well be ready, he said.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
SACRAMENTO  California took another step Monday toward a showdown with the Trump administration over sanctuary policies when the state Senate approved a bill that would prohibit local police officers and sheriffs deputies throughout the state from enforcing federal immigration laws.

The bill essentially would force all city and county law enforcement departments to follow the type of sanctuary policies that many of the more liberal cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, embrace. The legislation passed the Senate with a 27-12 vote and now heads to the Assembly.

This is about making our communities safer, not less safe, said Senate President Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, author of SB54. De Leon said Trumps policies have caused fear in immigrant communities to such a degree that some people are afraid to report crimes.

De Leon said the bill requires the state to protect its immigrant communities and would ensure that people living in the country without documentation know they can call police to report a crime or take their children to school without fear of being deported.

SB54 would bar police agencies from enforcing immigration laws, including arresting or detaining people in the country without documentation for immigration violations unless a judge issues a warrant. The agencies would be prohibited from asking about someones immigration status or providing information to federal immigration officers.

The bill also would prohibit local law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on task forces, such as on drug and human trafficking cases, if the primary focus is immigration enforcement.

Lawmakers made several amendments to make the bill more palatable to police agencies, including a provision allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE before a felon convicted of a serious or violent crime is released from prison or jail so the person can be deported.

The action comes as the Trump administration hardens the countrys policies on illegal immigration, which includes beefing up border security and immigration enforcement. Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said states and cities with sanctuary policies will lose federal Department of Justice funding.

The tough talk is all rhetoric coming out of Washington, de Leon said. We are going to be punished or they will strike back at us? We are the great state of California. We dont grovel or put our hand out so we can get a little budget money so we can buy a police car.

But state Republican lawmakers lashed out at Democrats over SB54, saying the majority party is putting California at risk of losing billions in federal funding by antagonizing the president and that the bill will put residents in danger by allowing criminals to remain in the state.

Dont get caught up with I hate Trump fever, said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-San Diego, as he urged lawmakers to oppose the bill. SB54 is the wrong direction.

Democrats, who have a supermajority control of both houses of the Legislature, pointed out that studies have shown that immigrants, including those living in the country without documentation, commit crimes at lower rates than people born in the country.

Last week, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye criticized federal immigration officials for conducting raids at courthouses, saying it would have a chilling effect in communities as people worry they cant seek protection because they will see the court as a bad place. And I worry that crimes will go unreported and communities will live in fear.

De Leon said the Senate met with its outside legal counsel, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and is confident that the state has a strong legal basis to move forward with the statewide policy.

The gun-to-the-head method to force resistant cities and counties to participate in Trumps inhumane and counterproductive mass deportations is unconstitutional and will fail, he said.

Before the vote, lawmakers introduced the family of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, who was taken into custody by U.S. immigration agents in February while driving his daughter to school in Los Angeles. Avelica-Gonzalezs arrest made national headlines after his 13-year-old daughter recorded it on her cell phone between sobs.

This bill is about people who are just trying to live their lives; people who are living in fear because of the political atmosphere, said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. People who need to be able to trust their government.

Republicans gave their own examples, including the 2015 shooting death of Kathryn Steinle along San Franciscos Pier 14. Steinles alleged assailant was a man who was not authorized to be in the country and had been released despite immigration officials requesting the city hold him.

Im not saying an illegal alien is more likely to commit a crime, said Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula (Riverside County). What I am saying is that an illegal alien who commits serious and violent crimes should not be protected the way this law would protect them.

The Senate also approved SB6 by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, which would create a $12 million state-funded program where the state would pay for lawyers at nonprofit organizations to represent people facing deportation. People who have been convicted of a violent felony would not be eligible for the free legal services. SB6 passed 27-10 and now heads to the Assembly.

Supporters of the bill say immigrants who have an attorney representing them in deportation cases are three times more likely to win the right to remain in the country.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
For being one of the most hated men in San Francisco, Trevor Adams is a really nice guy.

Of course, it doesnt seem like it when hes slapping a pricey ticket on your windshield for parking at an expired meter or stopping in a bus zone. As one of the citys 275 parking control officers  the term meter maid is so passe  hes reminded on a daily basis that people really, really dont like him.

After all, hes the easily identifiable symbol of a packed city where it can be a headache-inducing venture just to drive to your destination, find a parking space and afford the small ransom the city charges for it. If, as some drivers say, San Francisco is waging a war on cars, Adams is on its front line.

Ive been hit with cars, had my foot run over, been spit on, the 33-year-old said with total calm. Theres a lot of swearing. Ive been called every name in the book.

One irate woman returned to her car to find Adams writing a ticket, jumped inside and sped off, running over his foot. A man who was ticketed for stopping in a bus zone followed Adams, cut him off, got out of his car and started shaking Adams little white Interceptor vehicle. The man demanded that Adams get out so he could beat him up, screaming obscenities the whole time. I asked Adams what the man yelled, which proved a pointless question since none of it is printable in a family newspaper.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2017

My heart was pounding, Adams recalled. Im thinking hes going to break my window any second.

Adams pressed his vehicles emergency button to call police, who quickly arrested the belligerent man. Adams also carries pepper spray, though he rarely uses it.

Its not even just people receiving a ticket who have nasty words for him. Its mainly people in passing, just who see me out there doing my job, yelling obscenities, telling me to get a real job, he said.

Asked whether those screamers are more likely to be a particular age, gender or race, Adams said no. San Franciscans of all types hold certain shared beliefs: The only acceptable temperature is between 60 and 75 degrees, the Giants are our religion and parking control officers are not good people.

Ive been cursed at by old ladies, Adams said, shrugging his shoulders.

But after tagging along with Adams for part of his shift on a recent morning, I began to see past the thick stack of tickets just waiting to ruin somebodys day.

Adams is passionate about his job, and hes kind about it. Yes, he handed out many tickets up and down Chestnut Street in the Marina. But he also said hed void one when John Tudal, owner of Tudal Winery, returned to his black Range Rover to find a $71 ticket for parking at an expired meter.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

Tudal explained that he had tried to pay via an app on his phone, but had inadvertently skipped the last step. (Im a Luddite, a country boy! Tudal said.) He showed his phone to Adams, who told him how to use the app properly next time. There was some hand-shaking and back-slapping, and everybody left happy.

Elizabeth Lomeli, a caregiver for elderly people, happened to walk by and said she doesnt hold any ill will toward parking control officers.

Hes just trying to make a living, she said. You just have to read the signs carefully. Read the signs, thats the key!

Adams grew up in the Western Addition, the son of a stay-at-home mom and a disabled veteran. His identical twin brother is an elevator mechanic, and their younger sister is a cosmetologist. Adams graduated from Washington High and followed his cousin into working as a parking control officer at age 23.

He now lives in Richmond with his boyfriend, whos in the Coast Guard, and their two dogs, Ava and Sylvester. Parking control officers now start at $51,740 a year and make $66,664 after seven years.

Asked whether he thinks its true that San Francisco is waging a war on cars, Adams said no. His employer, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, agrees. The agency says the city has 10,478 registered vehicles per square mile  the highest density of cars of any city in the country. A parking lot big enough to hold all of them would be twice the size of Golden Gate Park.

To Adams, thats crazy. He said if he lived in the city, he wouldnt own a car.

Id belong to two car shares, have the Lyft app and a bus pass, he said. There are a lot of options to get around.

As a mom whose older kids elementary school is in one neighborhood, younger kids preschool is in another and workplace is in a third, I can say there arent always good options for avoiding your car. But point taken.

The SFMTA also says there are 443,283 publicly accessible parking spaces in San Francisco. With an average length of 17 feet, SFMTA says that if you lined up all those parking spaces end to end, theyd stretch more than 1,400 miles  longer than the West Coast of the United States.

If there are that many parking spaces, why is it so hard to find one?

Adams said the citys traffic would be even more nightmarish without parking control officers.

It would be complete and utter chaos, even worse than it is now, he said.

He added that he and the others often serve as the very first of the citys first responders, regularly calling 911, using their vehicles fire extinguishers and responding to car crashes.

So how does he do good work while fending off all the ire directed at him? Two words: Tough skin.

If I let everybody get my blood pumping and steam coming out of my ears and everything, I wouldnt be sitting here talking to you, he said. Id be in a crazy house.

Instead, hes just on the crazy streets of San Francisco.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Tuesdays and Fridays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
Aileen Rizo has studied engineering and complicated calculus. She has two masters degrees. But it still wasnt enough to bring home the same paycheck as her male colleagues.

The 42-year-old consultant, who worked at a Fresno County office training math instructors in dozens of school districts, was on the fourth-step of the offices 10-step wage scale. Her four-year anniversary had just passed in 2013 when someone new was hired. The man had less experience and less education, but he started on the ninth step of the scale, making $13,000 more than Rizo, because his salary at his last job was higher than hers.

Supervisor Mark Farrell will introduce legislation Tuesday that would ban employers in San Francisco  including San Francisco city government  from asking job applicants how much money they made at their current or previous positions, a question that lost Rizo thousands of dollars off her yearly salary. The office where she worked based salary offers on the applicants previous pay. Her lawsuit, claiming that the pay disparity violated the federal Equal Pay Act, is still under way.

At first I convinced myself it was a mistake, said Rizo, of Fresno. I was completely devastated when I realized it wasnt. When you see injustice, you have to make a change. I dont want the end of the road for my daughters to be sitting next to a man who makes more than they do just because of the figure he was making at a past job. How long do women have to fight to prove theyre worth a fair salary compared to their male counterparts?

Farrells legislation would take prior pay out of the equation altogether.

Especially in the era of Donald Trump, we need to be increasingly vigilant about a number of issues, in particular womens rights, that are under a serious threat of being degraded at the national level, Farrell said. Equal pay has been an issue for a long time. Its something everyone, both men and women, should stand for.

Females tend to start at a lower salary than their male colleagues, a disparity that compounds as they rise through the workforce and receive new salaries based on what they previously made.

Nationally, women make 79 cents for each dollar earned by men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In San Francisco, women make slightly more, at 84 cents to every dollar their male peers make. Ideally, Farrells legislation would help close the wage gap between women and men by creating an equal playing field.

In January, Philadelphia became the first city in the nation to pass a pay parity law, and Massachusetts is considering similar legislation. But there has been pushback from the business community in those places. They say the law would impose more restrictions on employers, drive away businesses and do little to bridge the wage divide.

An official from the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy organization, declined to comment on the proposed legislation. But the groups Best Practices Resource Guide stresses that women who have been underpaid in previous jobs tend to be offered wages that perpetuate the wage gap. The guide encouraged businesses to advertise base salaries for open positions.

Jim Lazarus, vice president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said the law could be positive but voiced concerns about its potential to complicate local businesses hiring process.

There are concerns about the efficiency, not about the fact that an applicant should and must be paid for equal work, he said. It helps to know expectations. The range of what the job pays sometimes does not match the range of what the applicant expects. I also understand that sometimes applicants might leave money on the table in negotiations by not knowing what other salaries are. There are two sides to it.

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.

Small businesses would also have to tweak their hiring processes and create new documents for applicants. Many of those small shops currently use forms downloaded off the Internet  but the box asking for previous salary is still on those documents  said Gwyneth Borden, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which lobbies City Hall on behalf of restaurants.

Its definitely going to be a change in practice, she said. For small businesses, it will be more of a hardship. Most of them dont create their own materials and dont have the capability to make new ones. It also gets more complicated because applicants will have to think about what they want to ask for salary-wise. We overall support the intent, but it will impact businesses.

Californias current standard allows employers to consider previous pay when making a salary offer to an applicant  but it cannot be the only factor. In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown signed one of the toughest pay parity laws in the nation, stipulating that employers could not pay women less than men for doing similar jobs. Women are paid less than men in 99.6 percent of occupations, data show.

Under Farrells legislation, employers would be banned from contacting an applicants past job for a salary figure. But if that number is available online, as it is for city employees, they can still look it up.

Existing information, or if a potential candidate volunteers the information  those are all still acceptable, Farrell said. There are going to be many instances where that information comes out regardless. We simply want to make sure that past salary  where women are statistically and historically at a disadvantage  is no longer institutionalized as part of the hiring process.
Does the world need another way to swipe your way to hot food? DoorDash, Postmates, Grubhub, Caviar, Yelp Eat24, UberEats and Amazon Restaurants already dispatch legions of couriers to pick up and deliver prepared meals from local restaurants.

But entrepreneurs still see an appetite for on-demand food. While Americans spend $500 billion a year at restaurants, including $210 billion in takeout food, just $11 billion goes to online food ordering, according to Morgan Stanley.

Now two Bay Area startups, Santa Claras JoyRun and San Franciscos Tapingo, are offering new twists on food delivery. Both use college campuses as their testbeds  an approach famously pioneered by Facebook.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Colleges dense campuses and captive audience of resident students, many of them without kitchens, create a natural environment for delivery services. Colleges are a great breeding ground, said Jeremiah Owyang, founder of Crowd Companies, an organization which helps large corporations become more innovative.

JoyRun is trying to link food delivery to social networks. Its more akin to your college roommate telling you shes off to pick up a sandwich and asking if you want anything. A similar kind of scenario at a JoyRun founders office inspired the company.

The core idea is, everyone in the community helps each other, said Manish Rathi, JoyRuns chief executive officer. He co-founded the company with his wife, Shama Pagarkar, now the companys product head, after she noticed how often her co-workers did food runs for one another.

JoyRun is now seeking to open on campuses nationwide after a year-long trial at about 50 colleges. Each campus will need 25 people to sign up to unlock the app. (Facebook employed a similar tactic of waiting for a critical mass of students to sign up before opening at a university.)

JoyRun lets users easily switch roles between ordering food and being the runners who pick it up. In startup parlance, its a peer-to-peer network. Runners can pick up food for free as a favor to friends (who in turn may reciprocate on the next run) or can charge up to $5 per person. The app includes a chat feature for runners and customers to communicate. People who order food can tip via the app or in cash. JoyRun takes a cut of the delivery fee. While JoyRun can pick up from any restaurant, it gets a percentage of the order amount when it has a partnership with a restaurant, essentially acting as its delivery service.

Owyang said JoyRuns approach and social component are innovative. Crowdsourcing multiple orders and getting people to chip in on them ties together ... on-demand food and group payment systems, he said. JoyRuns multiple orders also let couriers make more money picking up more things.

Jimmy Phu, owner of the Lazi Cow in Davis, which sells bubble tea, snacks and desserts, said JoyRun generates about $4,000 to $6,000 a month in business from UC Davis students on top of the restaurants existing $40,000 to $50,000 in sales. That extra cushion pays my rent and helps me a lot, he said. I didnt think they would bring in that much, but all their promotions and marketing really pays off.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Alli Rita, 20, a UC Davis sophomore, has been doing JoyRun deliveries for about a year. She does three or four runs per day, posting on the app that shes about to go to Chipotle or Panda Express, for instance. She generally gets up to five customers per run, which typically takes 40 minutes to an hour, and makes $20 to $25, including tips. She hasnt broken down how much she spends on gas and maintenance for her Mini Cooper, but said the restaurants are all just a few minutes from campus, while her customers meet her curbside for their orders.

Her boyfriend Brijido Serros also delivers for JoyRun, and theyll coordinate their runs, with one picking up at McDonalds and the other next door at Starbucks, for instance.

Its pretty much the perfect situation as a student for something that works with my schedule, she said.

JoyRun last week said it has now raised $8.5 million on top of an initial $1.3 million in seed funding.

We wake up latent demand and supply, Rathi said. Or put less formally, we drive me too behavior  meaning when someone hears that their roommate is getting Thai food, they want to get in on it.

Tapingo, a 3-year-old company with $60 million in venture capital backing and almost 100 employees, lets college students order food to pick up in a store, bypassing the line. That is available at almost 200 campuses. The company processes almost 100,000 orders a day.

Pay in advance and pick up is a proven business model, Owyang said. Lots of retail stores and restaurants offer it.

Tapingo added a delivery component at 50 schools and will expand that to 100 by fall. So far it has 10,000 students doing deliveries. It charges about $3 to $4 per order for delivery, and about 40 to 50 cents for pickup. Couriers make $10 an hour or more.

We become part of peoples daily lives, then we add on delivery, said Jeff Hardy, Tapingos chief business officer. Order-ahead-and-pick-up is a much higher engagement category than delivery. People do ordering ahead every day; delivery maybe once or twice a week.

Tapingo integrates into on-campus food services so students can use the order-ahead feature with their meal plans. It has also partnered with food-service operators like Aramark and Sodexo which operate the dining programs for about 500 U.S. campuses. It will be the mobile ordering partner at those campuses within 12 to 18 months, the company said.

Tapingo becomes a habitual buying process, said Cameron McIntosh, a junior at the University of Kentucky, a 30,000-student school where Tapingo has been available since January. McIntosh likes that he can use his meal-plan dollars to pay for Tapingo at campus coffee shops and dining establishments.

Order pick-up has its own viral appeal, Hardy said. If youre waiting in a 10- or 15-minute line and see someone walk in and pick up their order without waiting, you start to ask, How can I do that? he said.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Steven G. de Polo / Getty Image

Police are searching for suspects in the stabbings of two people early Tuesday along the Guadalupe Trail in San Jose, officials said.

The stabbings occurred about 12:15 a.m. at Woz Way and Locust Street, near the Childrens Discovery Museum, said Sgt. Enrique Garcia of the San Jose Police Department.
San Franciscos new schools superintendent says hell spend his first few months listening  to teachers, parents, staff, students and community members. Vincent Matthews grew up in the city, but he moved around quite a bit as he built the resume he needed to return.

Its incumbent on me to come in and listen and learn, he said, to talk to as many people as possible.

Matthews, 55, whose appointment is expected to be made official Tuesday night, knows San Franciscans arent shy about speaking up. Hes anticipating hell be be doing some talking, too, answering questions about his past, which includes years promoting and running charter schools and training at the Broad Center, which emphasizes corporate-style leadership as well as school choice and charters.

Were optimistic that those things dont mean hell take us in a direction we dont want to go, said Kevine Boggess, director of policy for Coleman Advocates, a community group that works with low-income and working-class families. The people in the classroom need to be the ones at the center of this conversation.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Peter Prato/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Peter Prato/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Peter Prato/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less





Matthews is expected to start sometime in May. The school board is scheduled to vote on his contract Tuesday night. Details of his compensation have not been released.

While the new superintendent wants to spend 90 days getting to know the city, he has a head start. He grew up in the bell-bottom 1970s of Haight-Ashbury, attending public schools from preschool through his doctorate at San Francisco State.

Grattan Elementary, Hoover Middle School, although it was Hoover Junior High back then, and McAteer High School, he said, ticking off his transcript.

And he worked in a few city schools as a teacher and principal. Hes also a Niners, Giants and Warriors fan and partial to Motown music, admitting that he has a karaoke machine at home and that his go-to song is the Temptations My Girl.

District officials said Matthews connection to San Francisco and his 30 years of experience were among his biggest selling points.

We searched for a superintendent that would be dedicated to SFUSD and its students for the long haul, said school board President Shamann Walton.

When we interviewed Dr. Matthews, it was clear he lives and breathes this work, said board Vice President Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell. And it was clear we were bringing someone home.

Home is relative, however. Matthews lives in the East Bay with his wife of 27 years, Yolanda. He has three grown children. He maintained his residence even as he took his current job as state administrator of the financially troubled Inglewood district in Los Angeles County. Its unclear whether Matthews will move to San Francisco.

Its not a requirement of the (school board), but obviously would be preferable, said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe.

Matthews will be jumping into the crisis over teachers and staff members who increasingly cant afford to live in the city. And he will start the job in the midst of teacher contract negotiations.

Matthews is confident about settling the contract, relying on his experience from San Jose Unified, where he was superintendent for five years before taking the Inglewood job 18 months ago. In San Jose, Matthews negotiated a contract that included a novel evaluation system, which included teachers evaluating their peers. He sought, with the unions support, a state waiver to extend the teachers probationary period from two years to three.

Prior to the South Bay job, Matthews was the state administrator in Oakland, overseeing the district as it sought to regain local control after requiring a $100 million bailout from Sacramento.

He has the years of experience when it comes to dealing with budgets, curriculum and personnel, said former school board member Noel Gallo, now an Oakland councilman.

Perhaps the most controversial entry on Matthews resume came in the early 2000s, in San Francisco, when he was principal of Edison Charter Academy, a for-profit school, and vice president for the charter operator, Edison Schools. Edison was an experimental model, launched in the late 1990s with a corporation running public schools and answering to stockholders.

During Matthews time at Edison, the San Francisco school was accused of discriminating by pushing out disadvantaged and special-education students to boost test scores. Matthews denied the accusations.

The San Francisco school board investigated and found the school discriminated against black students and transferred special-education students. The school was ordered to correct the issues.

Former school board member Jill Wynns remembers Matthews and the battle over the Edison academy, which later broke ties with the for-profit company.

A superintendent who grew up in the community can be an asset to the school district, she said Monday. I wish him well. However, I hope that he understands how much skepticism there is in San Francisco about the corporately driven, so-called reform agenda.

Matthews noted that in his 30-year career, he spent five years working with charter schools and 25 in traditional schools. He believes charters have a role to play in public education, by providing something otherwise unavailable in public schools.

But most charter school operators arent going to do that, he said, which is why of the six or seven applications for charters he received in Inglewood, he supported only one  a renewal.

Matthews emphasized that he is a product of the citys traditional schools who grew up in the Haight but spent a good deal of his youth in Hunters Point, where he went to church.

If you grew up Baptist in the 60s, you spent a lot of time in church, he said.

He found his calling in education after tutoring high school friends so they could maintain the grades they needed to play sports. Many of those friends were bused to McAteer during the citys forced desegregation era. Matthews saw that they grew up very differently than he did, and this realization formed the foundation of his work in education.

Your ZIP code shouldnt determine the quality of a school, he said, but it does.

He said he has spent 30 years trying to change that and wants to continue the work in San Francisco. While the average superintendent sticks around for less than three years, he said he has no desire to take a job anywhere else.

This is not where I want to be, but where Im going to be, he said. I want to retire in this district.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Charly Zukow and John Ferrara are just back from New York, where they saw War Paint, a musical about the rivalry between Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. One scene shows Arden trying to support troops during World War II, saying, The whole world must stop that bully! Zukow says the audience erupted in spontaneous applause and cheering.

Facebook posting from a college student friend of Ted Weinsteins: Honestly, my main goal in life is to make enough money to afford my own health insurance by the time Im 27.

Strolling on Clarion Alley in the Mission, Nancy Lipsitz was taken with a mural that quoted the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis: We may have democracy or we may have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.

Eleni Kounalakis, stalwart supporter of Democrats and ambassador to Hungary during the Barack Obama administration, has been exploring the idea of running for lieutenant governor. She says she hasnt made a final decision but has been talking to a lot of people about it, including Hillary Clinton, whom she first had backed for the presidency against Obama. She knows me very well, said Kounalakis. She was my secretary (of state). Basically, she was my boss. ... I had the opportunity to serve in the Obama administration, and I would have hoped to serve in the Clinton administration.

Daughter of Sacramento real estate developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, Kounalakis was president of his company, AKT Development, when she was tapped to be ambassador. The family has long been involved politically. The best way to find out how shed do in an election, she says, is to stand up and declare myself a candidate.

Shes almost there, but not quite. Its a big decision, especially for a statewide office. ... I understand the challenges. I feel very motivated to stand up and do whatever I can in this environment of Donald Trump in the White House to make sure that California values are protected.

She says shell make a definite decision sometime in the next few weeks.

Uber founder Travis Kalanick may be the target of public criticism for temper tantrums and for presiding over a corporate culture that includes alleged sexism, but hes still getting the VIP treatment. Kalanick was spotted with the Warriors brass in courtside seats at a recent game against the Houston Rockets.

The Generation Theatre company production of Couple, a play in French, is at the Exit Theater until Saturday, April 8. An announcement of this two-person play notes: It is in French, and not suitable for children (although I guess it would ironically be suitable for children who dont speak French).

In Ashland, Ore., when Susan Meek offered a bag of dog cookies to a panhandler with a dog and a sign that said anything helps, he asked her if they were wheat-free.

If Sandra Bullock and Brad Pitt are an item, as Gary Hanauer has read they are, will their couple name be PittBull?

Adding to the familiar and lengthening string of identifying letters, Lucy Vogel suggests LGBTQNOYB, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer None Of Your Business.

At a recent Castro Theatre showing of When We Rise, rainbow flag designer Gilbert Baker (who died last week) told Tom Ammiano he was thinking of adding a lavender stripe to the colors of the spectrum on the flag. The color, of course, used to have a pejorative association with gays; it was later adopted. Nowadays, says Ammiano, Id worry about the orange scare.

SFMOMAs April 26 celebration of the first anniversary of its reopening will include Judy Chicagos Be No More, described as an immersive dry ice environment in the Howard Street Corridor that will be illuminated at dusk by dozens of road flares, creating a visual metaphor for a new reality.

To create this work, the Jessica Silverman Gallery is looking for event assistants who will pitch in to use 40 tons of dry ice to create five structures. Those assistants have to be trained by the artist, in sessions at the Jessica Silverman Gallery on April 25, the day before the installation actually takes place. The building of the installation will be on the 26th between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.; the lighting will be done twice, once in early evening and once later.

Assistants will be given commemorative hats and safety apparel; also lunch. If you want to participate, contact jennifer@jessicasilvermangallery.com.

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @leahgarchik

Public Eavesdropping

I woke up hours later with the iPad on my chest and you on the speakerphone next to me.
Even before rents soared and tech became a dominant industry, San Francisco experienced a decline in its onetime role as a center of food production. The waterfront was once filled with fruit-canning lines, sugar and flour mills, breweries, wineries, chocolate factories  and a great many coffee companies, including MJB, Folger and Hills Bros. In warehouses, workers boiled, ground, fermented and roasted raw matter into processed foods to feed a growing West Coast population.

Coffee roasters are in many ways the sole survivors of that long-gone era. In the process of transforming astringent green coffee beans into something toasty brown and delicious, they continue the citys storied food manufacturing tradition. Just as the Gold Rush before it, the technology sector is fueling a coffee roasting resurgence, both through corporate sales and by creating a customer base with money to burn on the latest seasonal Honduran espresso.

Coffee in general is still not saturated in the U.S. Theres still room for growth, even in San Francisco, says Randall Stowell, founder of Front, a coffee roaster in the Mission, which recently relocated one block from Tartine Manufactory, which has its own coffee brand, called Coffee Manufactory. Were a coffee-freaky culture.

While Coffee Manufactory and many other roasters have moved roasting operations to Berkeley, Oakland and other locations with lower rents, more than a dozen continue to operate within city limits. Including both San Francisco and the East Bay, at least 18 specialty coffee roasters have opened since 2010. They follow a wave of roasters from the early 2000s  the generation of Ritual Coffee Roasters, Blue Bottle, Four Barrel Coffee and Sightglass Coffee  that created a demand for lighter roasts and more origin-specific beans.

But with coffee roasters reproducing like bunnies, you have to wonder: Just how many $4 macchiatos can one 7-by-7-mile city drink?

As Lauren Crabbe and Michael McCrory discovered, quite a few. The couple did not expect to have three locations and a staff of 41 just three years after opening a coffee shop, named Andytown Coffee Roasters, on Lawton and 43rd Avenue, a corner thats quiet even by Outer Sunset standards. But they had several years experience working at Blue Bottle and Java Beach, respectively, and the coffee McCrory roasted in their sliver of a space was soon discovered.

Wholesale accounts at stores and restaurants like Lazy Bear quickly grew, to the point that they were asked to open a freestanding cafe within the San Francisco headquarters of Square, the mobile payment company. They considered moving their roasting operations to an industrial part of San Leandro or Richmond, but as Crabbe puts it, that didnt seem right when they had a coffee blend called Wind and Sea with an image of a snowy plover from Ocean Beach on the bag.

You lose some of the magic of roasting in the city, says Crabbe, 27, who lives with McCrory and their toddler son a few doors away from the original cafe. Plus, she says, We wanted to make our neighborhood better. A lot of that is creating good jobs for ourselves and our employees.

Last month, they opened their new roasting facility in an abandoned grocery store, also in the Outer Sunset, on a section of west Taraval Street, one of San Franciscos few underdeveloped commercial districts. Seven blocks away, between 46th and 47th avenues, is an additional cafe.

The Andytown team encountered some permitting obstacles in the city, since the roasting process releases volatile organic compounds and particulate matter in the environment. Because the new roaster is within 1,000 feet of a school, Crabbe and McCrory had to give public notice in the process of applying for a Bay Area Air Quality Management permit, although they use a cleaner-burning roaster from the Santa Rosa company Loring.

Buffy Maguire is in the process of applying for one of those permits so she can move her roasting back to San Francisco from East Oakland. The owner of Beachside Cafe and two locations of Java Beach Cafe, also all in the Outer Sunset, she started roasting for the cafes in 2007 and soon got hooked on the process. That was when she bought a vintage Probat, a German cast-iron roasting machine popular with many contemporary roasters because it retains heat without being too intense.

I love cast-iron roasters. I have a little bit of a problem, says Maguire, who has since traveled to Germany to buy two more.

When Maguire started roasting for Java Beach, she decided not to change the darker roast profile too much, for fear of offending her extremely loyal customer base, so she kept it closer to a cup of Peets than Blue Bottles lighter and brighter style.

Java Beach is a bridge between the old San Francisco and the new San Francisco, she said.

Yet Maguire was still excited about microlots, or small batches of coffee from specific farms or coops, and in experimenting with lighter roasting styles that can bring out more distinct flavors. So in 2011 she started a new line of coffee she now calls Lady Falcon Coffee Club, which she serves at Beachside Cafe and from a vintage truck.

While Lady Falcon Coffee Club is more of a passion project, other roasters have gotten a boost from tech money. Front gets 50 percent of its sales from technology companies, including Google. Other coffee companies have set up fully branded cafes within corporate offices, like Wrecking Ball at GitHub, which complements its Cow Hollow cafe.

Because coffee roasters usually combine manufacturing and retail in one place, compared to other industries, its more advantageous to stay in urban areas.

Coffee roasters are a strange bunch, says Pierre Coeurdeuil at the industry group SF Made. They have to be close to the main place where their coffee is going to be consumed, so they will stay in the Bay Area because they have active consumers and are close to the high tech.

Funded by the city and corporate sponsors, SF Made promotes manufacturing  meaning the main alteration of the product is done within city limits, and the product is sold packaged and wholesale  in large part to promote a diverse employment base. The six coffee roasters who are members each employ an average of 26 full-time and five part-time employees.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Theres also the cachet of making things in the city. Coffee Manufactory emphasizes its industrial roots in its name, while Four Barrels Valencia Street location has a cadre of roasters who toil in back, bent over their machines like the iron workers who used to craft streetcar rails on the waterfront.

Manufacturing is pretty sexy these days, and people are really interested in seeing how its made, Coueurdeuil says.

Yet despite good intentions to serve the community, coffee roasters can spearhead gentrification. In the near-decade since Four Barrel Coffee arrived on a once-quiet block of Valencia across from public housing, it has become surrounded by upscale boutiques and salons. Meanwhile, its sister cafe across town, the Mill, will be forever associated with gentrification, San Francisco-style, after popularizing its ultimate symbol: $4 toast.

Those same societal changes make it hard to keep employees. Eileen Hassi, founder of Ritual Coffee Roasters, which has about 75 employees and four San Francisco cafes, dreams of somehow offering discounted employee housing. At one point, over 10 percent of her San Francisco employees were facing no-fault evictions, she says.

Housing is the biggest threat to your latte being $5 or less, she wrote in an email.

Most of San Franciscos coffee roasters  including Cafe Reveille, which has added three locations in the past several years  still congregate in the eastern side of town, perhaps taking a cue from MJB, Hills Bros., Folgers and those other long-gone 19th and 20th century food and drink companies. Not all have weathered the citys changing tastes. While the oldest still in existence, Graffeo, has been in North Beach since 1935, the 53-year-old Capricorn Coffee lost its South of Market lease last year, and may reopen in Petaluma.

For Coeurdeuil and others who believe cities are more vibrant when they provide opportunities to people at all levels of income, it will continue to be an uphill battle to make things in San Francisco, even coffee.

A lot of the interesting companies are moving to Oakland and further east. Same as artists, Coeurdeuil says. What does that say about the life of the city tomorrow?

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
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.
SACRAMENTO  California took another step Monday toward a showdown with the Trump administration over sanctuary policies when the state Senate approved a bill that would prohibit local police officers and sheriffs deputies throughout the state from enforcing federal immigration laws.

The bill essentially would force all city and county law enforcement departments to follow the type of sanctuary policies that many of the more liberal cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, embrace. The legislation passed the Senate with a 27-12 vote and now heads to the Assembly.

This is about making our communities safer, not less safe, said Senate President Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, author of SB54. De Leon said Trumps policies have caused fear in immigrant communities to such a degree that some people are afraid to report crimes.

De Leon said the bill requires the state to protect its immigrant communities and would ensure that people living in the country without documentation know they can call police to report a crime or take their children to school without fear of being deported.

SB54 would bar police agencies from enforcing immigration laws, including arresting or detaining people in the country without documentation for immigration violations unless a judge issues a warrant. The agencies would be prohibited from asking about someones immigration status or providing information to federal immigration officers.

The bill also would prohibit local law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on task forces, such as on drug and human trafficking cases, if the primary focus is immigration enforcement.

Lawmakers made several amendments to make the bill more palatable to police agencies, including a provision allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE before a felon convicted of a serious or violent crime is released from prison or jail so the person can be deported.

The action comes as the Trump administration hardens the countrys policies on illegal immigration, which includes beefing up border security and immigration enforcement. Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said states and cities with sanctuary policies will lose federal Department of Justice funding.

The tough talk is all rhetoric coming out of Washington, de Leon said. We are going to be punished or they will strike back at us? We are the great state of California. We dont grovel or put our hand out so we can get a little budget money so we can buy a police car.

But state Republican lawmakers lashed out at Democrats over SB54, saying the majority party is putting California at risk of losing billions in federal funding by antagonizing the president and that the bill will put residents in danger by allowing criminals to remain in the state.

Dont get caught up with I hate Trump fever, said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-San Diego, as he urged lawmakers to oppose the bill. SB54 is the wrong direction.

Democrats, who have a supermajority control of both houses of the Legislature, pointed out that studies have shown that immigrants, including those living in the country without documentation, commit crimes at lower rates than people born in the country.

Last week, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye criticized federal immigration officials for conducting raids at courthouses, saying it would have a chilling effect in communities as people worry they cant seek protection because they will see the court as a bad place. And I worry that crimes will go unreported and communities will live in fear.

De Leon said the Senate met with its outside legal counsel, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and is confident that the state has a strong legal basis to move forward with the statewide policy.

The gun-to-the-head method to force resistant cities and counties to participate in Trumps inhumane and counterproductive mass deportations is unconstitutional and will fail, he said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Before the vote, lawmakers introduced the family of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, who was taken into custody by U.S. immigration agents in February while driving his daughter to school in Los Angeles. Avelica-Gonzalezs arrest made national headlines after his 13-year-old daughter recorded it on her cell phone between sobs.

This bill is about people who are just trying to live their lives; people who are living in fear because of the political atmosphere, said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. People who need to be able to trust their government.

Republicans gave their own examples, including the 2015 shooting death of Kathryn Steinle along San Franciscos Pier 14. Steinles alleged assailant was a man who was not authorized to be in the country and had been released despite immigration officials requesting the city hold him.

Im not saying an illegal alien is more likely to commit a crime, said Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula (Riverside County). What I am saying is that an illegal alien who commits serious and violent crimes should not be protected the way this law would protect them.

The Senate also approved SB6 by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, which would create a $12 million state-funded program where the state would pay for lawyers at nonprofit organizations to represent people facing deportation. People who have been convicted of a violent felony would not be eligible for the free legal services. SB6 passed 27-10 and now heads to the Assembly.

Supporters of the bill say immigrants who have an attorney representing them in deportation cases are three times more likely to win the right to remain in the country.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
In signing an executive order to dissolve Obama administration environmental regulations, President Trump characterized the action as rebuilding our nations energy production  particularly coal. The president declared a week ago that: Together, we are going to start a new energy revolution, one that celebrates American production on American soil.

Yet during the years of the Obama administration, our nation became the worlds leading producer of crude oil and natural gas while still aggressively addressing climate change. So what are the dire economic and energy circumstances that the Trump action is going to fix?

Today, the United States ranks first for natural gas production, overtaking Russias lead of eight years earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The United States also leads the world in oil production, surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia in the past eight years. In other words, U.S. domestic oil production nearly doubled during the Obama years, yet Trump has repeatedly gone to oil- and coal-producing states and lambasted the former president for allegedly killing the nations energy industry.

When the story turns to coal, there, too, the facts run counter to the presidents political spin. Not only did he promise to bring back hundreds of thousands of coal industry jobs on his watch but he invited coal miners to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offices to witness the signing of the regulation rollback executive order. Youre going back to work, Trump told miners.

Robert Murray, the CEO of a major coal company and Trump political ally, attended the event, telling the media that President Barack Obama was the greatest destroyer that America ever had.

The U.S. Energy Information Administrations statistics clearly dispute this: In 2008, just before the Obama administration came to power, U.S. coal production was 69.9 quadrillion Btu, and the nation consumed 98.9 quadrillion Btu of coal; in 2014 (the most recent statistics), U.S. production had increased to 82.01 quadrillion Btu, and consumption was about the same as six years earlier (98.3 quadrillion Btu).

This brings into question another contention, which also does not have much basis in fact, from former Oklahoma attorney general and Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, that cutting EPA regulations will improve national security and energy independence.

America already is energy independent. If not for global market forces  not Obama administration environmental regulations  world oil and gas prices would be higher, and U.S. production would be soaring even more.

Even though he is messing with serious environmental issues, Trumps actions at the EPA were all political theater. His rhetoric is a payoff to supporters; tens of thousands of new coal industry jobs will not be coming back, and the nations economy and energy supplies are stronger than they have ever been.

We still dont know what the full environmental consequences of the new presidents order to pull back on environmental protection actions. We do know some of those questions will have to be settled on legal, not political, grounds.

Richard Nemec writes from Los Angeles on the oil and gas industry.

By the numbers

Production rankings:

Natural gas

1. United States

2. Russia

3. Iran

Oil

1. United States

2. Saudi Arabia

3. Russia
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
The Hoover Tower rises high above Stanford University, but many students dont know about the treasures housed inside.

While doing research in The Chronicles archive for another project, I came across amazing photos of the tower and its secrets that hadnt been seen for years.

The Hoover Institution that resides in the tower named for former President Herbert Hoover is a public policy think tank, generally thought of as conservative. The librarys vast collection contains materials from World War I and World War II, including the former presidents collection of documents that he began acquiring at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Want to visit? For $4, visitors can take a tour of Hoover Tower at Stanford University and see the observation platform on the 14th floor, along with the carillon of 48 bells. Look for the inscription on the largest bell of the original 35: "Uno Pro Pace Sono," which means, "For peace alone do I ring." See More Collapse

The first set of photos that I found showed the 1957 unveiling of seven 500-pound crates of dossiers, letters, telegrams and instructions to agents of the Russian czars imperial secret police. Called Okhrana, and based in Paris, this organization actively spied on revolutionaries. The Russian ambassador to Paris, Basil Maklakoff, sent the documents to the Hoover Library in 1926 despite telling the Russian government that they had been destroyed. To protect Maklakoff from retribution, the cache of secrets were stored unopened until after his death in July 1956. Dossiers on major players of the Russian Revolution were part of this prized treasure.

The second batch of photos that I turned up were of the carillon that occupies Hoover Tower. This set of 35 bells was donated in 1940 to former President Hoover in gratitude for his effort to aid Belgium during World War I. The $100,000 carillon was at the Belgian exhibit at the New York Worlds Fair and was delivered by ship to the West Coast. The bells arrived at Stanford in January 1941, with the largest weighing 1,500 pounds and the smallest 25 pounds. The library would bring in an expert, Kamil Lefevere, of the Riverdale Church to oversee the installation and tuning.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The bells would be used by various carillonneurs over the years until 1999, when 23 of them were lowered by crane from the tower and shipped to a foundry in the Netherlands for repair. They would return in fine form three years later, along with 13 other bells, the largest weighing 2.5 tons. The new arrangement sounded different, though Stanford carillonneur Tim Zerlang admitted, The average listener may not pick up on the new range.

Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicles vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay.
Getty Images

A 41-year-old San Jose father was identified as the driver who was killed when he crashed into a big rig with his 10-year-old daughter in the car, authorities said Tuesday.

Bornking Moseley was pronounced dead a the scene of Fridays crash near the intersection of Park Avenue and McEvoy Street in downtown San Jose, according to the Santa Clara County Coroners office.
Rallies and protest events are a part of political life in the Bay Area. Heres a roundup of whats happening.

Wednesday

Peace vigil: A Peace banner to be unfurled above the Montgomery BART Station in San Francisco near Sen. Dianne Feinsteins office, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 1 Post St. For information: http://bit.ly/2o5FGkj.

Growth politics: Fixing the Bay Areas Growth Politics, a conversation on issues affecting the Bay Area, including environmental quality and social justice. The free event is at 6 p.m. at SPUR Oakland, 1544 Broadway. For information: www.spur.org/events/2017-04-05/fixing-bay-area-s-growth-politics.

Discussion on Medicare: Medicare for All in California presented by Dr. Paul Song, co-chair of Campaign for a Healthy California, at the San Mateo County Democracy for America meeting. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Woodside Road United Methodist Church, 2000 Woodside Road in Redwood City. Admission is free. For information: www.smcdfa.org.

Thursday

ACLU event: A fundRAGER party to support the American Civil Liberties Union, from 8 to 11 p.m. at PianoFight, 144 Taylor St. in San Francisco. For information: http://bit.ly/2oyloAT.

Friday

Womens meeting: Hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a meeting on how women can resist in the Trump era. The event is from 7 to 9 p.m. at 2969 Mission St. in San Francisco. For information: www.facebook.com/events/1340041482749520.

Saturday

Town halls: Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove (Sacramento County), to host a town hall at 10 a.m. at Del Oro High School, 3301 Taylor Road in Loomis.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, to host a meeting at 10:30 a.m. at Nick Rodriguez Community Center Theater, 213 F St. in Antioch.

Immigration seminar: Know Your Rights, a presentation and training for pro bono attorneys and others to help immigrant communities. The event, hosted by Canal Alliance Communication, is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Guzman Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave. in San Rafael. For information on tickets, contact Sara Matson at saram@canalalliance.org or (415) 306-0429.

Dark-money talk: Hosted by the California Clean Money Campaign, a discussion on local actions to help pass the California Disclose Act, which calls for political ads to show its top three funders. The event is from noon to 2 p.m. at the Sycip conference room of the San Francisco Library Main Branch, 100 Larkin St. For information: www.cadisclose.org.

Flash mob: A flash mob at at 1 p.m. at the cable car turnaround, 1 Powell St. in San Francisco, to sing the song I Cant Keep Quiet by MILCK. For information: http://bit.ly/2oazyIG.

Monday

Comedy: Benefit performance at the Punch Line Comedy Club for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization that supports abortion rights, birth control and paid parental leave. Tickets are $20. The event is at 7:30 p.m. at 444 Battery St. in San Francisco. For tickets: http://bit.ly/NARALPunchLine.

April 13

Sign-making event: Sign-making event for the April 22 March for Science in San Francisco. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Public Library of Science, 1160 Battery St. in San Francisco. For information: http://bit.ly/2nYqXr4.

Education discussion: The Lamorinda Democratic Club hosts a conversation on how federal funding will affect public education. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Lafayette Library and Community Center, 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd. For information: www.ldclub.org.

April 15

Tax march: Protesters will march to demand that President Trump releases his tax returns. A San Francisco march will start at 1 p.m. at 11th and Market streets. For information: http://bit.ly/2m5xWOA. In San Jose, a march is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For information: http://bit.ly/2nSMxO7.

Pro-Trump rally: The event is to promote free speech. Noon to 4 p.m. in Berkeley. Details are being confirmed. For information: www.facebook.com/events/185364111955870/?active_tab=discussion.

Anti-Trump protest: A family-friendly event where attendees will use their bodies to spell out an enormous challenge to President Trump. The exact message has not been finalized. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. and attendees are asked to meet 300 yards south of the Cliff House Restaurant, 1090 Point Lobos Ave., in San Francisco. For information: www.facebook.com/events/214702565673803.

April 19

ACLU event: The League of Women Voters hosts a discussion with Jay Laefer of the American Civil Liberties Union on safeguarding the rights of our entire community. The event is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Woodside Road United Methodist Church, 2000 Woodside Road in Redwood City.

April 22

Town hall: Hosted by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, at 10 a.m. at the gymnasium of Canada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd. in Woodside.

Science march: Marches marking Earth Day. In San Francisco, a march begins at 11 a.m. at Justin Herman Plaza, Embarcadero Center at Market and Steuart streets, and ends at at Civic Center Plaza. For information: http://bit.ly/2nAcLkN. In San Jose, a march will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Details to be confirmed. For information: http://bit.ly/2oV8oSu. In Walnut Creek, a march is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will start at the Civic Park, 1375 Civic Drove. In Hayward, a march is from 10 a.m. to noon and begins at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, 4901 Breakwater Ave. For information: http://bit.ly/2n7oonY.
With all three major U.S. indexes trading near all-time highs after posting solid gains in recent months, some investors are getting increasingly wary about investing in stocks right now. While a few stocks can no doubt prove risky at such lofty valuations, there are several "safe" ones that should help you sleep through volatility and safeguard your capital in the long run regardless of where the markets are.

With that in mind, three of our contributors have identified International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), and Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) as safe stocks you can consider today. Here's why.

Value, growth, and income

Tim Brugger (IBM): Considering its stock price is up 15% over the past year, IBM may not be the first name that comes to mind as safe. However, despite its solid year, IBM has all the makings of what makes a relatively safe stock: It's undervalued, has strong growth potential, and possesses a dividend yield that's one of the best in its sector.

CEO Ginni Rometty is laser-focused on IBM's "strategic imperatives," which include the cloud, cognitive computing, mobile, and data security, and it's paying off handsomely. IBM acquired a total of 15 companies last year, most of which were designed to bolster its strategic imperatives offerings.

Last year, IBM generated $79.9 billion in total revenue, down 2% year over year. Thing is, $32.2 billion of those sales were from IBM's strategic imperative units, led by a whopping $13.7 billion in cloud-related revenue. Rometty set a target a few years ago of driving 40% of revenue from strategic imperatives sales by 2018. Last year's impressive gains in those key areas equaled 41% of total revenue, meaning IBM's transformation is a year ahead of its self-imposed schedule.

As for value, IBM is currently trading at a minimal 14-plus times earnings, which is on the low end compared to its peers. The better news is that IBM stock is valued at just 12 times forward earnings, making it one of the least expensive tech stocks around. Add to that a 3.2% dividend yield and IBM is hands-down one of the safest stocks to buy right now.

Essential products and a great dividend

Keith Noonan (Procter & Gamble): When it comes to safe and dependable stocks, I'm a fan of companies in the consumer essentials space that are backed by strong brands and great dividends. Procter & Gamble is a standout on both of those fronts, and, even trading at roughly 23 times forward earnings, it still looks like one of the safest stocks on the market.

P&G has a wealth of products and brands that make its business well-equipped for managing economic volatility. During periods of economic stress, people will naturally cut back on spending, but the need for cleaning and hygiene products is likely to remain relatively consistent, and the company's stable of trusted brands should help it retain customer loyalty even if purse strings tighten. P&G makes category-leading products including Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent, and Bounty paper towels, and it currently has 22 brands that generate over $1 billion in annual retail sales.

On the returned income side of things, P&G boasts an attractive 3% yield and one of the best dividend histories of any company on the market. It's raised its payout for sixty years running, so it's reasonable to expect that the company will continue increasing and distributing its payout even if economic conditions take a turn for the worse. Dividend-paying stocks help to insulate an investment portfolio against downward volatility by providing reliable income generation, and few companies have better dividend profiles than P&G.

With its great product lineup and strong dividend, Procter & Gamble looks like one of the safest stocks you can buy.

Diversification and safe returns

Neha Chamaria (Illinois Tool Works): If you're looking to buy a safe stock today, I'd urge you to give serious thought to industrials heavyweight Illinois Tool Works.

Illinois Tool Works is neither a purely defensive nor a purely cyclical company. It's a conglomerate with a hugely diverse portfolio that comprises seven business segments: automotive OEM, food equipment, welding, test and measurement and electronics, polymers and fluids, construction products, and specialty products. As you might've guessed, the company serves several key industries, and it is this diversification -- though the company has simplified its business structure considerably in recent years -- that has helped Illinois Tool Works keep its head above water even during recessionary periods, pushing its earnings and share price higher all along. That's exactly what you'd expect out of a "safe" stock.

To top that, Illinois Tool Works has an incredibly strong dividend history, having increased its dividends every year for more than five decades now. Thanks to a hefty 18% hike last year, the company has now grown its dividends at a compounded average clip of 14% since 2012. Having a stable dividend to fall back on is great during volatile times.

In fact, management even issued a growth guideline for all kinds of economic scenarios recently, where it expects its organic growth to be at least 200 basis points more than the market and total shareholder returns to be within a range of 8%-10% even in a low-growth environment. That's the kind of security investors need in today's uncertain times.

10 stocks we like better than IBM

When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and IBM wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017

Keith Noonan has no position in any stocks mentioned. Neha Chamaria has no position in any stocks mentioned. Tim Brugger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Illinois Tool Works. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Manny Torres Gimenez is coming back.

Two years after a fire cost him his Mission restaurant The Palace, the wide-smiling chef known for his Venezuelan cooking and affordably priced tasting menus is going to reopen the space as Francisca's, a restaurant specializing in seasonal California cuisine.

(See Jonathan Kauffman's big 2015 profile on Torres Gimenez.)

He said the location is going through final inspections and the plan is to have it open sometime in the next month or so.

Francisca's will have a la carte menu (offered in the dining room)and a 10-course tasting menu (only at the bar) with dishes like pasta and fish.

Right now, Manny Torres Gimenez and his wife Katerina De Torres are hosting an Italian-style pop-up at Oakland's Spice Monkey, serving lunch and dinner. The pop-up's four-course tasting menu goes for $50 and $25 for wine pairings.

The news bookends a vow the chef made last year to reopen a concept in the Palace once repairs were completed, although at the time he didn't specify what it would be. He told Inside Scoop the old Palace space at this point has been completely redone from top to bottom, including upgraded equipment.

More for you No money, no problems: How Manny Torres Gimenez makes it work

"It's going to look really nice. We did a really good job. We've been making everything new again. New floor and bars new kitchen. Everything is going to be new," he says

About a year ago, once the work got underway,the couple hit the road, traveling through Aruba, Italy, France, and Spain, looking for food inspiration as much as they were simple adventures.

The new restaurant will feature some of the dishes he discovered while traveling the world. The vacation, he said, gave him a more relaxed perspective on creating dishes.

"In the U.S., European food gets cooked with so many rules. There are rules for everything. In Europe, there are no rules. Nobody follows rules and it's just much more relaxed," he says.

Francisca's: 3047 Mission St.; Opening sometime soon; Tuesday through Saturday; Hours will be: breakfast from 8-10 a.m., lunch from noon-2 p.m., and dinner from 6 p.m.-10 p.m.; 415-374-5747.

Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON  Democrats on Monday claimed the votes they needed to block President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, but the victory was fleeting, setting up a historic showdown with Republicans who intend to rewrite Senate rules and muscle Neil Gorsuch onto the high court.

The coming fight was assured as the bitterly divided Judiciary Committee voted 11-9, along party lines, to send Gorsuchs nomination to the full Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has vowed he will be confirmed on Friday.

Short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, McConnell is ready to lead Republicans in a unilateral voting change so significant in the rules-conscious Congress that its been dubbed the nuclear option, lowering the confirmation threshold to a filibuster-proof simple majority in the 100-member Senate.

On Monday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; and Mark Warner, D-Va., indicated that they would oppose Gorsuch and vote against cloture  or the motion to end a filibuster that is required to hold a final up-or-down confirmation vote.

Coons also emphasized that Republicans treatment of former President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, left lasting scars after they denied him a hearing following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year.

The long-term consequences of the coming confrontation could be profound, as the rules change Republicans intend to enact would apply to future Supreme Court nominees, too, allowing them to be voted onto the court without any input from the minority party.

For Republicans and Trump, Gorsuchs confirmation will be a moment of triumph, a bright spot in a troubled young administration thats failed on the legislative front with the health care bill and is under investigation over Russia connections.

Gorsuchs confirmation will also be vindication for McConnells strategy of refusing to fill Scalias seat last year, instead leaving it open for the next president, even though few imagined then that the president would be Trump.

The showdown over the nuclear option, expected on the Senate floor Thursday, is likely to be accompanied by hand-wringing from senators bemoaning the decay of the chambers traditions of bipartisanship and comity.

But both parties are to blame. When the Democrats were in the majority, they removed the 60-vote threshold for lower-court nominees in 2013 when Republicans were blocking Obama picks to a critical federal court. Republicans said then that Democrats would regret it.

Gorsuch will be confirmed and he should be, the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said during Mondays debate. If Judge Gorsuch is unacceptable to our Democratic colleagues, there will never be a nominee by this president that you will find acceptable. Never.

Gorsuch now counts 55 supporters in the Senate: the 52 Republicans, along with three moderate Democrats from states Trump won last November  Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. A fourth Senate Democrat, Michael Bennet from Gorsuchs home state of Colorado, has said he will not join in the filibuster against Gorsuch but has not said how he will vote on the nomination.

Democrats say the Republicans treatment of Garland was worse than anything they ever did, and with Trump in the White House, they are under intense pressure from liberal voters to oppose the president on every front. That gives them very little leeway to let Gorsuch onto the court unchallenged, even though all the current justices were confirmed without filibusters, aside from a halfhearted effort against Justice Samuel Alito.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.

Erica Werner and Mary Clare Jalonick are Associated Press writers.
WASHINGTON  Ever since he seized power in a military takeover nearly four years ago, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has been barred from the White House. But President Trump made clear Monday that the period of ostracism was over as he hosted el-Sissi and pledged unstinting support for the autocratic ruler.

We agree on so many things, Trump said as he sat beside el-Sissi in the Oval Office. I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President el-Sissi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.

In that one moment, Trump underscored a fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy since he took office. While his predecessors considered authoritarians like el-Sissi to be distasteful and at times shied away from them, Trump signaled that he sees international relations through a transactional lens.

If Egypt can be a partner in the battle against international terrorism, then in Trumps calculation, that is more important to the United States than concerns over its brutal suppression of domestic dissent.

El-Sissi arrived from Cairo with a list of financial, security and political requests, but effectively he got what he really wanted in the six minutes that news media photographers were permitted in the Oval Office to record the visit that President Barack Obama had denied him. The picture of the general-turned-president in the White House, hosted by a U.S. leader lavishing praise on him, was the seal of approval he had long craved, the validation of a strongman on the worlds most prominent stage.

That big hug was just what el-Sissis government sought, said Eric Trager, a scholar on Egypt at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It wants to see the White House legitimate it, and set it on a new course.

The scene provided a powerful counterpoint to el-Sissis many critics, in Egypt and abroad, for whom he is known as the leader of the military coup that removed an elected president from power, oversaw a vicious security operation in which hundreds of protesters were gunned down in the streets of Cairo and has cemented his authority by filling prisons with his opponents while strangling the free press.

It was the first visit by an Egyptian president to Washington since 2009, when the guest was the autocratic former President Hosni Mubarak, then in the waning years of his rule  an era now viewed by many Egyptians as a time of relative freedom, prosperity and security.

Mubarak was pushed out in 2011 by a wave of street protests and succeeded, in a democratic election, by the Muslim Brotherhoods Mohammed Morsi. Taking advantage of popular discontent with Morsi two years later, the military, led by el-Sissi, then a general, took power and el-Sissi became president in a pro forma election that awarded him 97 percent of the vote.

Peter Baker and Declan Walsh are New York Times writers.
WASHINGTON  Grilled by lawmakers, the Department of Veterans Affairs insisted Tuesday that it was well on its way to fixing problems with its suicide hotline and largely brushed aside the worst criticisms in an internal watchdog report released two weeks ago.

A March 20 audit by the VA inspector general had found that nearly a third of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line as recently as November were bounced to backup centers run by an outside contractor, as well as other problems including weak leadership and inadequate data to measure the quality of calls. The rollover calls happen when phone lines are busy, leading to possible waits of 30 minutes or more.

It was an early test for new VA Secretary David Shulkin, who has made suicide prevention a signature issue at the troubled agency, riven with scandal in recent years since reports of delays in treatment at veterans hospitals.

Approximately 20 veterans take their lives each day. Testifying before a House panel, Steve Young, VAs deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, pointed to a dramatic turnaround in calls answered by the hotline since November. He said that it is now a rare instance that calls are bumped to a backup center and that calls are answered by live counselors within eight seconds, on average.

The crisis hotline is the strongest it has been since its inception in 2007, Young told the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

But pressed by lawmakers, the VA acknowledged it was still working to make other improvements it had promised to do by last September. It pledged to beef up quality control and hire a new permanent director as soon as possible.

Shulkin, who formerly served as the VAs top health official, has previously described the issue as resolved. Fixing the Veterans Crisis Line was a critical step in keeping our commitment to veterans, he said in a March 21 statement.

Lawmakers were unconvinced.

Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, the top Democrat on the House panel, pointed to reoccuring issues we see time and time again at VA. For more than a year, the crisis hotline has operated without a permanent director and has yet to issue a policy handbook.

I would be very careful in saying you fixed the problems, Walz warned.

Hope Yen is an Associated Press writer.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

San Francisco has its share of gorgeous, generally crowd-pleasing mix of tourist activities, widely-acclaimed restaurants and iconic landmarks.

For Millennials  those Snapchatting, selfie-taking, theoretical ruiners of everything  those run-of-the-mill spots just won't do.

The touristy "Bubba Gump" crowd will gleefully spend most of their time near Fisherman's Wharf while these young partiers may even have a more nocturnal perspective of our city by the bay, with late nights spent sipping crafted cocktails at bars and clubs that usually require passwords.

However, studies looking at Millennial travel patterns show significant shifts in vacation priorities several no longer even seek a "party-animal" atmosphere, according to Forbes.

Millennials love Instagram-worthy destinations and experiential travel  they want beautiful vistas such as Twin Peaks or Kirby Cove and activities that make them feel like a local, such as an untraditional SF walking tour or an "artisan foraged cocktails" class (yes, that's a real thing).

Ever-connected Millennials rely heavily on social media throughout their travel experience  97 percent will post while traveling and 75 percent will post once a day, according to an Internet Marketing Inc study.

And even though Millennials will swear that their "brand" is anything but cookie-cutter, there are quite a few San Francisco activities this generation are more likely to have on their bucket list (#lifegoals).

STORY CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO

We asked our SFGATE and San Francisco Chronicle newsroom colleagues to compile the above slideshow looking at how Millennials visit SF. We also looked at studies analyzing Millennial travel habits, such as Hipmunk's 2016 traveler poll results, to understand why Millennials may gravitate toward certain experiences  like those impossible-to-miss Go Cars you see darting around the city.

Whether you love to hate Millennials or you're a twentysomething pumped for your upcoming San Francisco visit, the above slideshow includes some pretty chill activities. We also incorporated some Millennial slang, such as "chill," into some of the captions  see how much you're familiar with.

Jessica Mullins is an admittedly old and out-of-touch Millennial and wouldn't have been able to do this project without her colleagues' help. She's not even a true local  she's only been in the Bay Area for a mere 9 years. You can throw shade at her on Twitter or e-mail her at jmullins@sfchronicle.com
A prostitute who injected a Google executive with a lethal dose of heroin in 2013 while aboard his yacht in Santa Cruz harbor and spent more than two years in jail was taken into custody by federal immigration agents as soon as she was released, officials said Monday.

Her sentence served, Alix Tichelman  who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 51-year-old Forrest Hayes  was released by the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, said Sgt. Chris Clark, a spokesman for the sheriffs office.
The #NoSnowflakes hashtags are coming down soon and in their place a local construction company will be use a new slogan: #RegretNothing.

West Salem-based Brickl Brothers put up two print and five digital billboards in the region as part of a spring hiring campaign for construction workers. The campaign uses nearly a dozen hashtags including #TrueGrit, #LifeSkills or #BoldlyForward, to highlight the kind of tough and hard-driving candidates the company is looking to hire.

The hashtag #NoSnowflakes was used on billboards located on Third and Jackson streets and along Interstate 90. Business Development Manager Greg Brickl said that hashtag will come down on those billboards Monday and #RegretNothing will take its place. He said the change is part of a rotation that will continue with #BoldlyForward before returning to #NoSnowflakes.

The #RegretNothing hashtag is meant to convey that choosing a career in the construction trades is likely to reward an individual with useful, marketable skills and will definitely appeal to a candidate who desires frequent, strong and durable feelings of accomplishment, Brickl said. People who cannot build admire and need those who can build, and thats something of which to be proud.

The term snowflake is a disparagement of spoiled, lazy millennials, and is often applied to political liberals, college students and professors. The term got its pop culture start in the 1999 cult film Fight Club, in which the Tyler Durden character tells his crew of anarchist thugs, You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.

Thomas OGuinn, a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and expert on branding and advertising, said using the hashtag could result in a smaller applicant pool or even a loss of liberal customers if the campaign rubs enough people the wrong way.

Thats hasnt been a problem, Brickl said.

Weve had a huge outpouring of support from many influential, high-profile people across the Coulee Region and beyond, and particularly strong support amongst our client base and from other construction-related business owners, Brickl said in response to coverage of the hashtag campaign.

Of course, we have had some blowback from those on the political left who mistakenly believe our hashtag was politically motivated ... Its unfortunate that many of those folks seem to have no intention of accepting or even hearing our intended meaning, but I guess thats the environment in which we live today.
1847 at the Stamm House in Middleton restaurant has an astonishing 170 year history that may or may not include serving as a stop on the Under
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The owner of a granite company in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood was sentenced today to one year of home detention and three years' probation in the 2014 deaths of two workers who were crushed by falling slabs of granite.

Meng Peng, a Hillsborough resident, was sentenced after pleading guilty in January to two felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and three labor code violations in connection with the deaths of two of his employees on Feb. 17, 2014.

Philip Marich, 53, of South San Francisco, and Hector Vazquez, 46, of Oakland, were removing large slabs of granite from a shipping container at Galaxy Granite at 1525 Cortland Ave. when slabs fell on them around 10:15 a.m.

Both men were extricated from the shipping container, but Marich was pronounced dead at the scene and Vazquez later died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Defense attorney Brian Getz said his client felt remorse and regret that he will "carry with him for the rest of his life."

"He genuinely is remorseful and accepts responsibility for what he did," Getz said. "He would do anything to undo what he did."

Peng, who listened to proceedings in court with a bowed head, said through a Mandarin interpreter, "I feel terrible about everything that happened."

Assistant District Attorney Greg Alker urged Judge Charles Crompton to give a higher sentence of two years in prison, noting that while Peng was now remorseful, he had initially denied involvement or awareness.

A later investigation determined that Peng was aware of safety issues and had failed to enforce precautions such as the use of an A-frame to support the metal slabs inside the shipping container, Alker said.

"I understand that he is now remorseful and wants this situation to move forward, but I ask the court to consider not just what would be best for Mr. Peng but for San Francisco and the community," Alker said.

Crompton chose to sentence Peng to one year of jail, which can be served as home detention, and three years of probation to run concurrently, as well as community service and compensation to the victims.

He noted that Peng had no previous criminal record and had already paid some compensation to the victims' families.

Outside of court, Alker described the sentence as "a little light" but said he appreciated that the judge had included jail time.

"Hopefully we're sending a message to all the construction companies that they have to do things safely and comply with OSHA regulations," Alker said.
JUNEAU  A 48-year-old Juneau woman, who is accused of neglecting her children, was ordered not to have contact with her underage children after being released on a signature bond.

Anna Marie Lloyd, currently listed with a Juneau address, is charged with two counts of physical abuse of a child and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a child.

Lloyd appeared before Dodge County Circuit Court Commissioner Steven Seim released Lloyd on a $10,000 signature bond. She may not go on the premises of the home where she resided in Reeseville. She may not have contact or communications with the two children, 10 and 17. She may not have contact or communications with her 2-year-old child without supervision. She may not use, possess or control any controlled substance without a valid prescription or drug paraphernalia nor be in the presence of anyone who does.

According to the criminal complaint, the Dodge County Sheriffs Office received a report from Dodgeland School about Lloyd abusing her children on Nov. 3. Lloyd had three children living with her at the time, ages 2, 10 and 17. The 10-year-old who was reportedly not in school or being home schooled, and was unable to read and spent most of her time caring for the youngest child.

Lloyds other children were removed from her home and her rights were terminated when she was in Oklahoma.

According to the complaint, Lloyd would ignore her children, had struck the 10-year-old in the past and would threaten her to gain compliance. A witness also saw the 2-year-old eating cat feces from a litter box.

The 17-year-old boy in the home was questioned, and he told authorities that he lived with Lloyd now, but had been born and raised in a cult in Arkansas and had received his education there until the fourth grade. The boy said that Lloyd had removed them from the cult and the cult was raided in 2008. The 17-year-old was sent to live with another family member and was sent to live with Lloyd in 2016.

The 17-year-old told investigators that he witnessed the toddler eating cat poop and the dishwater tablets as well as drinking out of the toilet. According to the criminal complaint, the boy told investigators that Lloyd had slapped the toddlers hands for breaking her cigarettes. The boy said Lloyd had otherwise ignored the child and was unaware of the toddlers behavior.

The boy told investigators that Lloyd would pull the 10-year-old to the couch by pulling her hair and that the child was unable to read, write or count past 10. The boy allegedly said that his mother was bi-polar and self-medicated with marijuana.

Neighbors and a mother of one of the boys friends also made statements about Lloyd abusing the children.

Police removed the children from the home in November.

Lloyd attended a hearing Nov. 15. According to the criminal complaint, Lloyd admitted to smoking marijuana and said she may have marijuana in her system. She admitted to hitting the girl in the head and said she was aware of her youngest child eating from the litter box once. She also said she was aware another one of her sons had sexual contact with the 9-year-old.

Lloyd told investigators that she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder for having a child later in life. She also allegedly said that she became delusional and had her own reality after her older children came back in her life.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for May 25.
RACINE  A Racine man is facing attempted first-degree intentional homicide charges after he allegedly drove a vehicle in which a passenger was shooting at the drivers ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend last week.

Alondro Pratt Jr., 21, of the 500 block of 3 Mile Road, is facing 19 charges, including disorderly conduct with the use of a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and stalking with the use of a dangerous weapon.

On March 26, Pratts ex-girlfriend was reportedly at her home with her new boyfriend when Pratt reportedly started banging on her window, yelling obscenities and throwing up disrespecting gang signs. During the incident, Pratt allegedly damaged the womans window and Pratts exs new boyfriend came out and got into a physical altercation with Pratt.

On March 28, police responded to the 400 block of Ninth Street after six to eight gunshots were reportedly fired. Police learned that a shootout had taken place between a white Ford Explorer, allegedly driven by Pratt, and a group of pedestrians, with Pratts ex and her new boyfriend in the group. While Pratt was allegedly driving the vehicle, a passenger in a pink or red hoodie allegedly began shooting.

Pratt is facing 19 charges, including three felony charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, as well as two felony first-degree recklessly endangering safety charges.

Pratt remained in custody as of Monday night at the Racine County Jail. His next appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 12 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

Darius Harris, 26, of the 900 block of Hamilton Street, was charged Thursday with felony possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the March 26 incident.
The president's son says the man who promoted the lie that a child-sex ring operated underneath a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor deserves a Pulitzer Prize for "breaking" a story about Susan Rice.

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, "Congrats to @Cernovich for breaking the #SusanRice story. In a long gone time of unbiased journalism he'd win the Pulitzer, but not today!"

@Cernovich is white nationalist blogger and media personality Mike Cernovich, who penned "Gorilla Mindset" (endorsed by former national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn). Cernovich repeatedly tweeted during the election campaign that Hillary Clinton was dying. He' has also said "diversity is code for white genocide," that "date rape does not exist" and that "misogyny gets you laid."

The unattributed story reported by Cernovich was that former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice "unmasked" the names of incoming Trump administration officials who were not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but were caught up in foreign surveillance. Cernovich alleged that Rice then sent the unmasked names to a few top intelligence officials.

Carolyn Kaster/STF

Bloomberg also reported the story, citing anonymous U.S. officials as sources:

"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."

Rice today denied ever leaking classified information to the press. Nor did she ever request to unmask the identities of U.S. individuals in intelligence reports for political purposes, she said.

"I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would," Rice told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.

The Rice allegations come as House and Senate intelligence committees are investigating any ties between Trump associates and a Russian influence operation against Hillary Clinton during the election.

Rep. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted that Rice's "unmasking" of Trump campaign officials was the "smoking gun" proving Obama administration surveillance.

Even though Rice denied unmasking Trump campaign associates, national security experts say that she had every right to do so if her goal was to determine the extend of Russian interference in the presidential election.

"If she's asking for specific names to be unmasked in order to understand what Russia may be doing to influence the U.S. political system and influence our elections, presumably in a way they thought would benefit them, she's doing her job," former federal prosecutor Rebecca Lonergan told Talking Points Memo. Lonergan has handled foreign surveillance cases.
AMMAN, Jordan  Jordans King Abdullah II will be able to deliver an Arab consensus on Mideast peace when he meets with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after a recent summit hosted by the monarch renewed an Arab offer of recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood.

Could the revived Arab plan, coupled with Trumps stated eagerness to strike a deal, signal an opening for restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks?

At their annual summit last week, Arab leaders renewed an offer they first made to Israel in 2002  recognition by dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in exchange for allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Israel has balked, among other things, at the envisioned scope of withdrawal from the lands it captured in 1967 and unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the initial proposal.

With the summit declaration to back his case, Jordans king will be able to tell Trump that Arab leaders are serious about achieving what Jordans foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, described as the historic reconciliation between Israel and the whole Arab world.

But the king will couple the enticing prospect of regional peace with a warning. Jordan argues that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the root of regional turmoil and that, if allowed to fester, it will undercut the Trump administrations Mideast goals of containing Iran and defeating Islamic State extremists.

For now, Trump envoys are trying to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction on war-won lands and ease economic restrictions on Palestinians  a traditional U.S. move when trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Karin Laub is an Associated Press writer.
MOCOA, Colombia  Lines of people quietly walked the streets of Mocoa, followed by hearses carrying coffins to a cemetery where open graves waited.

The survivors of the deadly flood that washed through this city in southern Colombia were burying their loved ones after authorities began to release the remains recovered from a disaster that has shaken the country.

Colombian authorities said at least 273 people were killed when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed and sent a wall of water and debris surging through the city over the weekend.

The death toll was expected to rise since many more were missing and bodies are still being found.

Danilo Garzon Garcia, a 22-year-old resident of the city, had spent the previous day searching with other family members for his young sister. They finally found her body at the local hospital, able to recognize her battered remains because of her underwear.

It is better this way, better to know, Garzon said as he walked alongside the car carrying her body to the cemetery. At least we know where she is.

The Colombian Red Cross said it has received 374 requests for help from families unable to locate loved ones, people whose whereabouts were still unknown three days after the disaster.

Much of the provincial capital in the southern mountains of the country was still strewn with rocks, tree limbs, and brown muck. Search and rescue teams continued to probe piles of debris whenever someone heard a possible sound of movement.

Many in the city of around 40,000 people still seemed in shock from the flood, which poured through the town after a punishing rainfall as people slept late Friday night and early Saturday.

We do not like to create false expectations but where there is a possibility of life we will do everything possible, said Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of Colombias National Unit of Disaster and Risk Management.

Many victims were young like Garzons 14-year-old sister. She had gone to sleep at a friends house. When we got to where the house was we didnt find anyone, he said.

As he walked calmly in the funeral procession, his mother sobbed and screamed in grief: Leidy! What did you leave me? Leidy, my girl. Her son then put his arm around her as they made their way to the cemetery.

President Juan Manuel Santos and other officials pledged emergency relief and said that Mocoa would be rebuilt, including a new water system to replace the one damaged in the flood and new homes for those in the 17 neighborhoods hit hardest by the surging water.

He said he had spoken by phone with President Trump, who promised assistance, as have other nations including China and Venezuela.

Santos also declared an economic, social and ecological emergency, a designation intended to speed reconstruction efforts.

We are not going to stop until everyone affected by this natural disaster receives help, Marquez said.

Alba Tobella is an Associated Press writer.
BUDAPEST, Hungary  Lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbans Fidesz party on Tuesday approved a draft education bill that critics say targets a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The move prompted thousands to protest outside the Central European Universitys campus in Budapest and drew swift criticism from the top U.S. diplomat in Budapest.

The bill modifies rules regulating the 28 foreign universities in Hungary. CEU says parts of the bill directly target it, and could force it to close.

The bill requires the governments of the U.S. and Hungary to agree on new terms for the universitys operations within the next few months.

If a deal doesnt materialize, CEU would be banned from enrolling new students after Jan. 1, 2018, and would have to conclude its educational activities by 2021.

The United States is disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting Central European University, said a statement from David Kostelancik, the charge daffaires at the embassy.

The United States will continue to advocate for its independence and unhindered operation in Hungary.

CEU rector Michael Ignatieff said the institution would appeal to President Janos Ader to review the legislation, which it considers to be a violation of Hungarys constitution, the Basic Law.

Ignatieff has said the bill sought to send a chill through Hungarian higher education and eliminate one of the few remaining institutions in Hungary that can stand up to the government.

Orban, a former Soros scholarship recipient, has been increasingly critical of the Hungarian-born philanthropist, accusing him of trying to influence Hungarian politics.

Orban said last week that CEU was cheating because it did not have a campus in its country of origin and because it issued diplomas recognized both in Hungary and the United States. CEU is accredited in New York state but does not have a U.S. campus.

Orban insists that the future of the Soros-funded institution should be negotiated with the administration of President Trump.

Pablo Gorondi is an Associated Press writer.
1 Displa ced residents: The United Nations says about 300,000 people have been displaced by the U.S.-backed Iraqi operation to drive the Islamic State from Mosul, the countrys second-largest city. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday that a total of 392,000 people have fled their homes since the offensive began in October but that 94,500 have since returned. The International Organization for Migration puts the number currently displaced at 302,400. Many of the displaced live in large refugee camps just outside the city. Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul fully liberated in January but heavy fighting is still under way in the more densely populated western half.

2 Vatican decree: Pope Francis has taken another step to bring a breakaway traditionalist society back under the Vaticans wing by decreeing that its priests can celebrate marriages that will be recognized by Rome. The measure announced Tuesday follows the popes decision in 2015 to allow priests of the schismatic Society of St. Pius X to validly hear confessions. The permissions come amid continuing negotiations to regularize the status of the Swiss-based society, which split from the Vatican over the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the St. Pius X society in 1969, opposed to Vatican IIs outreach to other faiths and its call for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin. In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and four other bishops after Lefebvre consecrated them without papal consent.
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.
VOROKHOBINO, Russia  A dedicated pacifist who has never even held a gun, Andrei Sivak discovered that his government considered him a dangerous extremist when he tried to change some money and the teller suddenly looked up at me with a face full of fear.

His name had popped up on thebureaus computer system, along with those of members of al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other militant groups responsible for shocking acts of violence.

The only group the 43-year-old father of three has ever belonged to, however, is Jehovahs Witnesses, a Christian denomination committed to the belief that the Bible must be taken literally, particularly its injunction Thou shalt not kill.

Yet, in a throwback to the days of the Soviet Union, when Jehovahs Witnesses were hounded as spies and malcontents by the KGB, the denomination is at the center of an escalating campaign by the authorities to curtail religious groups that compete with the Russian Orthodox Church and that challenge President Vladimir Putins efforts to rally the country behind traditional and often militaristic patriotic values.

The Justice Ministry last week put the headquarters of Jehovahs Witnesses in Russia, an office complex near St. Petersburg, on a list of the bodies banned in connection with the carrying out of extremist activities.

Last month, the ministry asked the Supreme Court to outlaw the religious organization and stop its more than 170,000 Russian members from spreading extremist texts. The court is scheduled to hear  and is likely to rule on  the case on Wednesday.

Extremism, as defined by a law passed in 2002 but amended and expanded several times since, has become a catchall charge that can be deployed against just about anybody, as it has been against some of those involved in recent anticorruption protests in Moscow and scores of other cities.

Several students who took part in demonstrations in the Siberian city of Tomsk are now being investigated by a special antiextremism unit while Leonid Volkov, the senior aide to the jailed protest leader Aleksei Navalny, said he had himself been detained last week under the extremism law.

In the case of Jehovahs Witnesses, the putative extremism seems to derive mostly from the groups absolute opposition to violence, a stand that infuriated Soviet and now Russian authorities whose legitimacy rests in large part on the celebration of martial triumphs, most notably over Nazi Germany in World War II but also over rebels in Syria.

Andrew Higgins is a New York Times writer.
Auditor Unloads on Northern NM College

Citing scores of deficiencies in purchasing practices, a former employee who appears to have stolen $200,000 and a former president who apparently took 744 hoursworth a whopping $87,000of questionable leave, the state auditor released a scathing report on the Espanola college. State police are already investigating the theft. The school's new president took over last fall.

A Week of Waiting

The governor has until high noon Friday to act on bills sent to her in the 2017 legislative session. Those, of course, include the budget. The

is too high in Susana Martinez' opinion. Signing it would also require her to approve some revenue-raising options given to her by lawmakers. There's little chance of that. The governor could line-item veto enough programs to make up the difference, or she could call a special session. She's only threatened one of those things.

Workers' Comp Bill Signed

The governor did sign a bill to change the rules behind the state's workers' compensation program. It lets employers fire former workers' comp beneficiaries for something unrelated to the injury claim. It also penalizes injured workers who refuse a legitimate offer to return to work.



How Does it Feel?

Rolling Stone magazine highlights a New Mexico bill that's sponsored by the House's top Republican and waiting for the governor's signature. As Steve Terrell explains, the bill would add opioid addiction to the list of conditions for which a medical marijuana prescription is allowed. The article points out it's uncertain if the governor will sign it.

In T or C, No One Can Hear You Scream

So sayeth the senior citizens who had to give up their activity center as a launchpad for now-canceled tours to Spaceport America, which is a launchpad for yet-to-come Virgin Galactic flights into space, which is apparently where New Mexico's massive investment return floats, weightless and free, waiting to return back to Earth.



Mine Spill Damage Claims Reduced

Law firms representing those who took an economic hit from the Gold King Mine Spill have dropped the amount of their claims from $1.2 billion to about $420 million, says the Associated Press. The environmental impact, which may be harder to measure, is ongoing.



We're Crafty

An international study of craft beer's economic impact says what many people have already tasted in New Mexico: a delightfully robust local brew scene with distinct overtones of profitability. The survey hints at more than $75 million in growth in the industry's economic impact since 2013.



This Poll Ain't Big Enough for the Three of Us

Taos, Madrid and Cloudcroft are among the hamlets in the running for USA Today's Best Small Southwestern Town poll. It's a reader poll, so you can vote. The newspaper includes California and Nevada towns, which means somehow Carmel-by-the-Sea is in the Southwest. Go ahead, Clint. Make our day.



Thanks for reading! The Word apologizes for the low-hanging-fruit Clint Eastwood reference. Also, that was 30 years ago. Man, we're old.



Subscribe to the Morning Word at sfreporter.com/signup.

Santa Fe Reporter
Lani Hagaman continued to assert that all she initially wanted from Labour Party leader Andrew Little was an apology on the second day of defamation proceedings brought against Little by Hagaman and her husband Earl.





The Hagamans issued proceedings last June over statements Little made about a hotel management contract in Niue that was awarded to Earl Hagaman's company Scenic Hotel. The contract was awarded a few weeks after her husband donated $101,000 to the National Party during the 2014 election campaign.





"I wanted our name cleared, I did not want to be called shady, murky and stinking to high heaven," she told a judge and jury in Wellington's High Court.





She accused Little of airing his opinion in the media rather than doing any investigation: "I would suggest that Mr Little did not have the facts."





Little's comments had been picked up in at least 90 news items in the days after he made them which "slurred our name and connected us to corruption," she said. While the media's interest may not last, the articles "stay on Google. They stay around forever," she said.





Little called for the Auditor-General to look into the matter, something Hagaman said she fully supported. "I was happy for it (the investigation) to be done," she said, adding there was no connection between the donation and the awarding of the contract.





In September last year, the Auditor-General said that from the information available, there had been a "standard procurement process, with reasoned and documented analysis for the selection of Scenic Hotel Group as the hotel operator for the resort and for the subsequent investment of New Zealand international development assistance funds in expanding the resort."





On Tuesday, she reiterated that she requested a "suitable" public apology that would "clear our name." According to Hagaman, Little initially said he would "promptly" respond after the Auditor-General's findings. However, he didn't respond until Christmas, three months later.





In March, Little said he had "made a serious effort" to resolve the issue with the Hagamans over the past three months, but his offers of an apology and redress had been rejected. In that statement, he said he wanted to "publicly apologise unreservedly to Mr Hagaman for any hurt, embarrassment or adverse reflection on his reputation which may have resulted from my various media statements." He reportedly also increased a settlement offer from $26,000 to $100,000.





At the time, Hagaman responded by saying it was a surprise and that "Mr Little has had 12 months to apologise, and in the interim weve spent more than $200,000 in legal fees preparing for this case, which is now only one week away."





On Tuesday, Lani Hagaman said they had not been able to reach an agreement on the terms of the apology, something she insisted had to completely clear her husband's name.





The Hagamans are seeking a maximum of $2.3 million between them from Little, according to media reports. On Tuesday, Newshub quoted Little as he will pick up the bill should damages be awarded to complainants in a defamation case.





"I am meeting my costs. The offers I have made to settle, had they been accepted, would have been fully funded by me personally," he said.





(BusinessDesk)

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FSF - Results announced for the 2022 Fonterra Elections

Heartland 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting

a2MC commences on-market buy-back of up to NZ$150 million

TradeWindow enters trial agreement with GSBN

November 8th Morning Report

OCA - Notice of Half Year Result Announcement

Westpac 2022 Full Year Financial Results Announcement

David Mair Announced as Newest Board Member for Sanford

HFL - Financial results for the year ended 31 August 2022

November 7th Morning Report


South-central Wisconsin will see the vagaries of early spring weather over the next several days, going from chilly rain mixed with potentially several inches of snow to sunshine and highs pushing 70, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service said another strong low pressure system will move northeast into the middle Mississippi River valley later Tuesday night into Wednesday, then into Ohio Wednesday night and Thursday, bringing portions of southern Wisconsin a mix of rain and snow Wednesday into Wednesday night.

The mix may change to all wet snow for a time and become heavy from mid-morning into mid-afternoon Wednesday, especially along and south of a Monroe to Milwaukee line, the Weather Service said, adding that several inches of accumulation are possible in these areas, with lower amounts elsewhere.

Gusty northeast to north winds are forecast for Wednesday into Thursday across the area, with the strongest winds of up to 45 miles per hour near Lake Michigan.

The Weather Service said the precipitation means a few rivers may reach minor flood stage over the next few days.

In Madison on Tuesday, theres a 90 percent chance for rain, mainly before noon and amounting to less than a tenth of an inch, cloudy skies, a high near 55 and north winds at 5 to 10 mph.

After an overnight low around 38, theres a 60 percent chance for precipitation on Wednesday, possibly mixed with snow, becoming all rain after 3 p.m., with snow accumulation of around an inch possible. The high should be near 39 under cloudy skies, with northeast winds at 10 to 15 mph, gusting as high as 30 mph.

Overnight Wednesday into Thursday, theres a 20 percent chance for rain and snow as the low falls to around 32 and north winds blow at around 15 mph and gust as high as 35 mph.

The Weather Service predicts a warming trend to follow, with quiet weather until theres a 40 percent chance for rain Sunday night and 30 percent chance Monday.

Skies over Madison should be partly sunny Thursday, sunny Friday and Saturday, and partly sunny Sunday and Monday, with highs near 47, 53, 60, 67 and 66, and lows Thursday night through Sunday night around 31, 34, 47 and 52.

27 Storm Track meteorologist Branden Borremans forecasts for Madison light rain ending mid- to late morning Tuesday, light rain possibly mixed with some snow mainly in Dane County and to the south and east on Wednesday ending in the evening, a warming trend starting Thursday, and showers Sunday night.

Borremans said skies over Madison should be increasingly sunny Tuesday, cloudy Wednesday and Thursday, sunny Friday, mostly sunny Saturday, mostly cloudy Sunday, increasingly sunny Monday, and partly sunny next Tuesday, with highs near 56, 42, 47, 55, 64, 67, 71 and 50, and overnight lows around 38, 33, 30, 32, 48, 53, 40 and 32.

Mondays high in Madison was 52 at 1:05 p.m., the normal high and 24 degrees below the record high of 76 for April 3, set in 1956.

Mondays low in Madison was 44 at 11:59 p.m., 13 degrees above the normal low and 36 degrees above the record low of 8 for April 3, set in 1886.

Officially, 0.33 inches of precipitation was recorded at the Dane County Regional Airport on Monday, boosting Madisons April precipitation total (rain plus snow converted to liquid) to 0.37 inches, 0.06 inches above normal. The meteorological spring (March through May) total rose to 3.2 inches, 0.69 inches above normal. The 2017 total rose to 7.9 inches, 2.71 inches above normal.

Madisons record precipitation for April 3 is 1.4 inches in 2007.

With no snow on Monday, Madisons April total stayed at zero, 0.5 inches below normal. The meteorological spring total stayed at 8.3 inches, 0.8 inches above normal. For the snow season (since July 1), Madison has received 44 inches, 4.6 inches below normal.

Madisons record snowfall for April 3 is 1.4 inches in 1982.
NEW DELHI: 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.

Read Also:

Modi Advocates Use Of IT For Speedy Delivery Of Justice

U.S.-Based Foundation Launches Livelihood Programme In Kerala
Chris Drosner Chris Drosner writes the Beer Baron column for the Wisconsin State Journal. Follow Chris Drosner Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Boulevard is back.

As long rumored and often delayed, Kansas Citys most famous brewery this week resumed selling its beer in Wisconsin again after a roughly seven-year hiatus.

These days, Boulevard Brewing is part of an international brewing concern, albeit one with considerably less baggage than, you know, some other ones. In 2013, Boulevards 60-year-old founder sold the brewery to Duvel Moortgat, a 142-year-old Belgian brewer that already owned Brewery Ommegang in New York state. At the time it joined Duvel, Boulevard was already a pretty big deal, producing about 185,000 barrels of beer, selling it in 25 states and ranking 12th on the Brewers Associations list of the largest craft brewers.

Since then, it has continued to grow, to 220,000 barrels of production last year. This time around, Wisconsin is Boulevards 38th state. Duvel Moortgat USA is now the 12th-largest brewery overall in the United States, a list that includes all brewers and avoids the slippery craft definition.

In 2015, when I wrote on Duvel Moortgats partnership/buyout of Californias beloved Firestone Walker, I noted that Duvel had been a pretty good steward of its two other American holdings. Perhaps its just semantics or beer romanticism, but Duvel hooking up with American breweries that already had a Belgian bent feels very different than Anheuser-Busch purchasing Goose Island or Golden Road.

Again, perhaps its naive, but I read it as being more about the actual beer than market strategy and distribution networks.

And while Boulevard does have a broad portfolio with all-American easy drinkers galore, its signature beer is right at home in the Duvel family. So lets talk beer.

Get Tank 7ed

Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale is widely acclaimed as one of the best American saisons, and for my money its the most market-changing beer in Boulevards portfolio. Wisconsin brewers are warming to saisons, but theyre still underrepresented for such a diverse and delicious style.

Named after the cantankerous fermentation vessel that held the experimental batch when the brewers finally locked down the recipe, Tank 7 is a big (8.5 percent ABV) beer that borrows the best of the original Franco-Belgian and modern American interpretations of the saison.

The hazy gold Tank 7 has a bright aroma that is loaded with citrus and floral character and a gentle cut-grass note that all carry through to the flavor, along with a modestly sweet maltiness. Its light in body for such a big beer and finishes dry with an ample bitterness that lingers a bit on the palate. Saisons are excellent companions to many meals, and Tank 7 is particularly well suited to herbed and/or roasted chicken, pork or fish.

Available year-round, Tank 7 comes in four-packs of elegant, Belgianesque 12-ounce bottles or single 750-milliliter bottles. Also, there are Tank 7 socks.

From the other tanks

Boulevards portfolio runs quite a gamut, from approachable beers like the American-style Unfiltered Wheat Beer to Bourbon Barrel Quad, a heavy, complex Belgian style that the brewery manages to kick out year-round.

Its been quite a while since I had much Boulevard beer aside from a snitch or two at the Great Taste of the Midwest. (Unfortunately the brewerys Rye on Rye on Rye, one of my bizarre highlights from last years festival, was a February limited release.) As such my other hot beer takes are limited to samples Boulevard was kind enough to send in advance of the Wisconsin launch.

Ginger Lemon Radler: I generally like the combination of lemonade or soda and light beer, though a bold-flavored adjunct seems to be just the kick a radler or shandy needs to keep from being boring. (Exhibit A: Leinenkugels Grapefruit Shandy.) Boulevards summer radler  it offers Cranberry Orange Radler in winter  gets this formula darn near perfect. The ginger adds a zesty, exotic spiciness to the usual light, drinkable profile, and the citrusy, modestly tart finish delivers on the radlers promise of refreshment. Year-round, six-packs of 12-ounce cans, 4.1 percent ABV.

Tropical Pale Ale: This subtle take on a fruited hop-forward beer has passion fruit juice and grapefruit peel and juice introduced relatively early in the brewing process. As a result, Tropical is balanced, with a touch of acidity and the fruit character accenting the citrusy, slightly piney hops and sturdy malt. At 5.9 percent ABV and with a moderately full body, Tropical isnt exactly the summer crusher you might expect from the package. Year-round, six-packs of 12-ounce cans.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A convicted arsonist who broke into two homes, including the residence of former district attorney candidate Joan Illuzzi, has a new residence upstate.

Brett Hayward, 34, was sentenced Monday to concurrent prison terms of seven years for the thefts.

Hayward burglarized Illuzzi's Grasmere home on Dec. 29, 2014, court documents said.

Afterward, police pulled over a Cadillac Escalade -- which Hayward was driving on Hylan Boulevard -- for excessive tint.

When Hayward couldn't produce a license, police found a gold Movado watch that belonged to Illuzzi's husband, John Orbon, wedged between the driver's seat and the center console, said court records. An officer also found five glassine packets of heroin beneath the driver's seat.

Police contacted Illuzzi's family, who returned home to find the place ransacked. Jewelry and watches belonging to her daughter and husband were missing, as were a number of silver certificate U.S. bills.

While out on bail on Oct. 8, 2015, Hayward and an alleged accomplice, repeat felon John Catullo, 48, broke into a Clifton Avenue home in Rosebank and swiped jewelry and cash, said authorities.

Officers arrested the pair when they tried to flee, authorities said.

Catullo, of Brooklyn, a repeat felon, previously pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and was sentenced to 42 months to seven years behind bars.

Another co-defendant, borough resident Scott Todaro, 47, was accused of being the wheelman in Hayward's two jobs. He pleaded guilty last month to two counts of third-degree burglary and is scheduled to be sentenced April 27 to concurrent terms of two to four years in prison.

In February, Hayward, of Rocky Point, N.Y., pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to two counts of second-degree burglary.

Besides seven years in prison, Hayward, who previously served a one-to-three-year sentence for an unrelated arson conviction in Brooklyn, was sentenced to five years' post-release supervision.

Lance Lazzaro represented him.

Special prosecutor Jennifer Nocella is handling the 2014 case; Assistant District Attorney Jane Grinberg is prosecuting the 2015 case.

Illuzzi, a career prosecutor, ran on the Republican ticket for district attorney in November 2015. She lost to Democrat Michael E. McMahon.

Afterward, she returned to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

In a capstone moment, Illuzzi, earlier this year, secured a murder conviction in the retrial of Pedro Hernandez, a former convenience store clerk, arising from the May 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

The boy vanished as he walked to a bus stop near his Manhattan home. His body has never been found.

Want to discuss this report? Visit the comment section to join the conversation.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- A 21-year-old man from Staten Island allegedly had pot with him when he was arrested during a traffic stop in upstate Woodbury.

Matthew Domina, 21, was driving the car when it was pulled over by the New York State Police for a vehicle and traffic violation on Monday at about 4 p.m. on the New York Thruway (I-87) in the Town of Woodbury, according to a news release from the police.

Domina allegedly was found to be in possession of 9.9 ounces of marijuana, according to police.

Police charged Domina with two felonies, criminal possession of marijuana and tampering with physical evidence.

The suspect was arraigned before the Town of Woodbury Court and remanded to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $1,500 cash bail or $3,000 bond.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- He came out through the bathroom window, so now a thief is going into prison through the front door.

Edward Hunter, 46, of Jersey City, was sentenced Tuesday to 42 months behind bars for breaking into a West Brighton home last year.

Authorities said Lt. Matthew Harrison of the 120th Precinct was on patrol around noon on April 21, 2016, when he was alerted to a burglary in progress.

However, the message didn't come from a dispatcher over his cruiser's radio, as usual, police said.

Rather, Harrison got word on his department-issued cellphone of a possible crime occurring on Castleton Avenue, just a few blocks away from his location, a police spokesman said. The smartphone receives instant notifications the moment a 911 call is placed from the vicinity, said the spokesman.

According to the spokesman, Harrison arrived at the residence moments later and was flagged down by a woman who said a man had climbed through her window and was inside the house.

As Harrison approached, he confronted Hunter, who, police said, was trying to escape out of the bathroom window.

On seeing the officer, Hunter scrambled back into the house and tried to run out the front door.

Harrison grabbed the defendant and arrested him after a brief chase, the spokesman said.

The NYPD spokesman said Hunter might have escaped if the new smartphone technology hadn't alerted Harrison to the crime in progress.

In January, Hunter pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to second-degree burglary, the top charge against him.

Besides prison time, he was sentenced Tuesday to 42 months' post-release supervision.

Assistant District Attorney Brooke Baranoski prosecuted the case.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If you scream for ice cream, head for a Ben & Jerry's. They'll be serving up free ice cream cones between noon and 8 p.m. Tuesday as part of their annual "Free Cone Day."

We can't contain ourselves, so excited that #FreeConeDay is finally here! pic.twitter.com/KFH7E9lbaD  Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) April 4, 2017

The Vermont-based company has been handing out free ice cream since 1979, as a way to thank loyal fans. The giveaway became a statewide tradition in Vermont and has since grown into a global event. Last year, in fact, Ben & Jerry's handed out more than a million ice cream cones around the world.

And if one cone doesn't satisfy, customers can come back for a second or third helping, although they'll have to wait in line again.

Free ice cream enthusiasts can choose both the flavor and method of delivery they want -- cup or cone.

Ben & Jerry's adding three new flavors to it's ice cream lineup for 2017.

The company is also rolling out three new non-dairy flavors, too: Non-Dairy Caramel Almond Brittle, Coconut Seven Layer Bar, and Cherry Garcia.

According to Ben & Jerry's, the non-dairy flavor creations are made with almond milk; are 100 percent certified vegan, and come "loaded with chunks and swirls."

You can auto-tweet your flavor of choice at the Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day website.
Republican lawmakers and crime victim advocates introduced a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday that would provide crime victims with a host of rights, including the right to have their personal information sealed in police records and allow them to speak out at more court proceedings.

The Wisconsin Constitution and state law already provide victims with a list of rights, including the rights to privacy, to be treated with dignity, to attend court proceedings and to protection from defendants, as well as the opportunity to make a statement during sentencing, restitution and compensation proceedings.

The proposed amendment, authored by Rep. Todd Novak, of Dodgeville, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, of Racine, largely duplicates existing language but takes it a step further in several areas.

In addition to the right to privacy, victims would have the right to have information or records that could be used to locate them or disclose confidential information sealed.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said Wisconsin law already allows record custodians to redact information about crime victims if they decide the victims privacy outweighs the public interest in the information.

I would hope this does not shift the official standard from having a good reason to needing no reason, Lueders said.

The proposed amendment also gives victims the right to be heard in plea, parole, revocation, expungement and pardon proceedings in court and allows victims to opt out of direct requests for interviews, depositions or discovery from defense attorneys. Discovery is the process in which one side in a case turns over all of its evidence to the other side.

Current state law allows victims to refuse interviews or depositions with defense attorneys in criminal cases. Prosecutors are automatically required to turn over their evidence to defense attorneys in criminal cases, so theres no need for the defense to demand discovery directly from a victim in a criminal case.

The amendments provision, however, could block criminal defendants from launching lawsuits against victims because victims wouldnt have to give up any information.

Our focus needs to be on caring for and protecting ... victims, not coddling criminals, Wanggaard said in a news release announcing the amendment.

Attorney General Brad Schimel, who supports the proposal, appeared at a news conference with Novak and Wanggaard.

Were really not talking about giving new rights to crime victims, Schimel said. Were talking about the stature theyre given in the courtroom.

A constitutional amendment in Wisconsin must pass two consecutive legislative sessions and a statewide referendum before it can become part of the document. Spokeswomen for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald didnt immediately return an email inquiring about support for the measure.

Tony Cotton, president of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, didnt immediately return a message.

A number of other states, including California, Illinois and both Dakotas have adopted similar victim rights constitutional amendments. Oklahomas House voted unanimously Tuesday to send a similar amendment to voters.

Supporters have dubbed the amendments Marsys Law for California college student Marsalee Marsy Nicholas, who was killed by an ex-boyfriend in 1983. Her brother, Henry Nicholas, a retired California technology company executive, has bankrolled an effort to implement such amendments across the country.

The amendment has caused confusion in North and South Dakota. It has caused some law enforcement agencies to limit public information about crimes, including the locations of crimes and the identity of victimized businesses and the names of car crash victims.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley convened a task force in December to figure out how to interpret the amendment.

Prosecutors in North Dakota have said they think the amendments provisions are vague and could slow the justice system down because victims have to be notified of all proceedings relating to a defendants release and sentencing, including bail hearings. Defense attorneys in that state have argued the amendment tramples defendants rights.

Brian Reisinger, a spokesman for Marsys Law for Wisconsin, a group promoting the amendment, said Wisconsin will fare better than other states that have adopted it, because the state already recognizes victim rights.

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
A man who was not happy his cellphone couldn't be repaired allegedly threatened a store employee by showing a gun, with the man arrested a few hours later on the South Side.

Michael Young, 51, no permanent address, was arrested on a tentative charge of disorderly conduct while armed, Madison police said.

The incident happened at about 3 p.m. at Boost Mobile, 1903 S. Park St.

Young and the 28-year-old male employee got into an argument when the employee told Young it wasn't possible to fix his cellphone.

"The suspect left and reappeared, displaying a gun while remaining outside," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. "The employee could see him through a window, and the suspect wanted the employee to come out."

The employee called 911 instead, giving a description of the suspect and his car to arriving officers.

"A couple of hours later, the car was spotted, still in the area," DeSpain said. Young was arrested and a facsimile firearm was recovered.
After its long history on Williamson Street, Madison Teachers Inc. is selling its building and moving into the Wisconsin Education Association Council headquarters on Madisons Southeast Side, MTIs leader said Sunday.

About a year ago, MTI officials learned the building had structural problems that were causing water leakage and the estimates to repair the problems seemed cost prohibitive, said Doug Keillor, executive director for MTI, which represents Madisons public school teachers.

So, for the last year weve been debating what to do, Keillor said. Whether we want to relocate, whether we want to redevelop the property.

Around the same time, Keillor was talking to Bob Baxter, WEACs executive director. It turns out, WEAC was planning on selling its building and relocating. So the two men commiserated about the challenge of dealing with the building problems on top of their regular workload.

At some point, a light bulb clicked, and he asked whether MTI was interested in moving into the WEAC building with WEAC, Keillor said.

Keillor and others from MTI went and looked at the space and jumped on it, he said.

Selling the building and relocating with WEAC is going to give MTI a larger meeting space for its members and a better parking situation. It will also help MTI better connect with WEAC and its state and regional partners in the same building, Keillor said.

The building is on the market, and putting it there was a bit emotional for Keillor, who was assistant to the executive director for Madison Teachers, before he took over from his professional mentor, John Matthews, last year. Keillor worked alongside Matthews for 25 years.

Weve been on Willy Street since the late 1980s. Its kind of part of our identity, Keillor said. The staff who work at MTI love working where we do, and the neighborhood, and the proximity to lakes and Downtown, and all that it has to offer.

But, it seems like nows the time, he said. Its been 37 years.

MTI listed the building for $550,000 and is entertaining offers. They had two as of Friday, and expect more. MTI is hoping to make some decisions by next week.

The concrete-block building at 821 Williamson St., a former print-shop, is owned by the MTI Building Corp., made up of the leaders from MTIs different bargaining units. The corporation is going to meet Tuesday and decide which offers they want to consider.

Our hope is that we can get as much value for our building as we can, but in an ideal world, it would be great to do that and also have someone who purchases it that we thought was going to be an asset to the neighborhood, Keillor said.

Former MTI president Peggy Coyne called the move bittersweet because people so closely associate MTI with the Willy Street location. With its We Teach the Children sign, its become a neighborhood landmark, she said.

In the long run, its a good move to work closer with our affiliates, said Coyne, who still works part time for MTI. I guess its time to move on.

Being in the WEAC building will give MTI an opportunity to expand some of its services and have classroom and conference room space it doesnt currently have, she said.

Between the small rooms and the small footprint in our parking lot, weve kind of outgrown the Williamson Street location.

The plan is to move out sometime between now and July 1, Keillor said.

MTI currently has a staff of nine.

WEAC is at 33 Nob Hill Road in the Rimrock area, not far from the former Badger Bowl and Badger Rock Middle School. The building is on top of a hill on a frontage road.

One of the personal losses for us is not being connected to a neighborhood, Keillor said.
By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent.

Agree
An incumbent and two challengers are facing off for two open seats on the Wisconsin Heights School Board. The terms are for three years. (I) i
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Wisconsins election support for President Donald Trump means he should help confirm Trumps U.S. Supreme Court pick  even as Senate Democrats set up a showdown by touting the votes needed to filibuster, or block, confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch.

Johnson, R-Oshkosh, made the comments in a statement released late Monday.

He declined to say if he supports Senate Republicans invoking the so-called nuclear option to remove the filibuster in order to seat Gorsuch on the high court. Political observers say the move could trigger a historic shift in how the Senate operates, making it less consensus-driven and more partisan.

The voters in my state of Wisconsin spoke. They voted their 10 electoral votes in support of President Trump, and they voted to elect me to confirm President Trumps nominee to this Supreme Court vacancy, Johnson said.

Johnson, in his statement, urged his Wisconsin counterpart, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, to not join Senate Democrats in the filibuster. The Democrats say they have the 41 votes to keep Gorsuchs nomination from getting an up-or-down vote in the full Senate.

 Mark Sommerhauser
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02337b8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0724990)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02337b8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0724990)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612e63c6820)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0724990)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0724990)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63cc5b0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f058d5f0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f058d5f0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Airport staff working in restricted areas despite holding convictions for serious crimes pose a major risk to passenger safety, a senate inquiry has found.

The Senate Transport Committee heard that as many as 20 per cent of airport staff with security clearances held criminal convictions for offences as serious as drug trafficking and assault.

Criminals hired to work at Australian airports pose a major threat to security, a new report has found. Credit:Patrick Scala

These staff, typically subcontractors for private companies, operated behind the customs barrier and had access to passengers' luggage, the inside of aircraft and other secure areas.

In the report, Senator Nick Xenophon highlighted a number of "unacceptable" shortcomings in airport security.
Business has returned to usual at Civic's Phoenix pub after it was shut for almost a week due to fire hazard concerns. The owners took to Facebook to thank the community for its support over the "last few days of chaos," before re-assuring everyone that the pub was re-open as of Monday, April 3. Regulars of Canberra's popular Phoenix bar were devastated to hear of its temporary closure. Last Wednesday, a notice taped to the window of the bar at 27-29 East Row informed patrons that the club would be closed for the forseeable future. Some pub-goers expressed relief that the venue's music and beers would live on, while others joked the temporary closure was a bad April Fool's prank.

The property manager Stephen Royds earlier said the lease had been terminated at 23-25 East Row because the venue was not compliant with fire regulations. "The owner of 23-25 East Row has terminated the lease due to works conducted by the tenant causing the building to be non-compliant with the current fire regulations," he said in a statement. "The tenant has been aware for some that that his actions would result in the non-compliance. But the issue appeared to be resolved by Monday, when the venue owners posted of Facebook, "It's back to gigs as usual at the pub, thanks again to everyone for all the phoenix love over the last week!" It seems relieved regulars were quick to catch up on their missed dose of live music, with the pub buzzing again by Monday night.
Good morning, Canberrans.

Get your fill of caffeine, bring over your breakfast and listen (or read). It's expected to be another dry one today with only a five per cent chance of rain, and the temperature is forecast to reach 21 degrees. The rest of the week is also expected to be dry, reaching 22 on Thursday and 23 on Friday.

Now to today's main headlines.

Rare land sale

It's the first time land has been up for sale within the Parliamentary Triangle, home to some of Australia's most prominent buildings. Two of the area's original buildings, East Block, home to the National Archives of Australia, and West Block, will be sold in a landmark privatisation within Canberra's original public service precinct. East and West Block will be protected from demolition through provisions in the Crown lease and sale documentation to preserve the heritage values of both buildings. They'll be sold off as soon as mid-2017.
Two of the Parliamentary Triangle's original buildings will be sold in a landmark privatisation within Canberra's original public service precinct.

Finance minister Mathias Cormann on Tuesday confirmed East Block, home to the National Archives of Australia, and West Block would be sold off as early as mid-2017.

Brett Odgers, convener of the ACT chapter of the Waler Burley Griffin Society, in front of the National Archives of Australia in East Block. Credit:Jamila Toderas

It will be the first time land has been up for sale within the Parliamentary Triangle, which takes in some of Australia's most prominent buildings including Parliament House, Old Parliament House, the High Court and the National Gallery of Australia.

The announcement comes months after the sale was flagged of two other ageing Commonwealth office blocks, Anzac Park East and West.
A groundbreaking international study is seeking Canberra volunteers to help unravel the genetic triggers of depression.

Believed to be the largest depression research project ever undertaken, the study is aiming to survey 200,000 participants across the globe in the next two years.

Volunteers from Canberra are being sought to help with a groundbreaking study into the triggers of depression. Credit: Jaime Monfort

Australian researchers collaborating on the Genetics of Depression Study are hoping to contribute 10 per cent of this sample, or 20,000 participants.

Lead investigator Professor Nick Martin, from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, said the study could revolutionise the way depression is diagnosed and treated.
A man who set off fire hydrants inside a Canberra office building during a drunken rampage has been found guilty of causing more than half a million dollars worth of damage after a judge said his antics were sparked by a minibar binge and not mental illness.

The offender believed he was in a trance and being chased when he smashed through a window of the Brindabella Business Park building before he turned on four fire hydrants, racking up $550,000 of destruction, and hid under a desk.

Kevin Pahl was under considerable professional stress when he checked into a Queanbeyan motel for work in February 2015.

He had avoided alcohol for two years because he thought it made him "manic", but one night drank his way through four full-strength beers and two 700 millilitre bottles of wine from the motel room's mini-bar over two hours.

Court documents said he had little memory of what happened next but remembered being in a carpark fearful of being chased.
Ian Narev's Commonwealth Bank has worn a mountain of criticism over its financial planning and CommInsure scandals, but it is good to hear stories emerging of Narev's willingness to personally meet victims even while the CommInsure storm was still raging.

CBD was told of how Narev agreed to meet with one of the bank's former customer services representatives, Matthew Attwater, in May last year.

For those who remember back to Fairfax Media reports at the time, Attwater was told to "ill-health retire" in 2013. But when Mr Attwater tried to claim on the CommInsure total and permanent disability insurance he held through his CBA-specialist super fund his application was refused.

Attwater took up the bank CEO's offer of an apology in person.
It's no secret that the German discount supermarket Aldi does not provide single-use plastic bags at the checkout.

Instead the supermarket offers large multi-use bags for 15 cents a pop, in line with its support for "a complete ban on single use plastic bags."

On the surface it is a responsible policy, which goes one better than those of rivals Coles and Woolworths, who still issue complimentary single-use bags with every purchase.

But as any Aldi shopper would know, the push away from plastic does not extend storewide.
When Hazelwood shut it became the tenth coal generator since 2010 to close. The closures took 5 gigawatts  more than three Hazelwoods  out of the grid. Conversely, nearly 4 gigawatts of wind turbines have been connected, 5 gigawatts of solar rooftop panels installed and 3 gigawatts of gas-fired plants built since 2009 to cover peak demand. These new sources are not a like-for-like replacement. Where coal plants run 24-7 and are inflexible, wind and solar energy are variable and need a flexible system in which different technologies are called on when needed. That's where the grid is headed. But it's not there yet. The pressure on the regulator  Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)  to make the right calls about who will supply the power and where it is needed most during a hot day is immense.

There have always been occasional blackouts, but the febrile political climate is such that a loss of electricity will have nasty political ramifications for state governments. If things go wrong, governments will be quick to pass the buck. And the market operator  which went out of its way to stress that in an emergency there was more than enough spare capacity to cover the loss of Hazelwood  is likely to cop the blame. Knowing this, and fresh from being accused of not doing enough to prevent blackouts in South Australia in 2017's summer, the market operator took extra precautions. It urged generators not to schedule maintenance at peak times, and told two baseload gas-fired plants mothballed in northern Tasmania and Brisbane to help fill the gap left by Hazelwood. Both are up and running. As demand rises, the regulator will also turn to "peaking plants" to supplement the generators that run every day. Hydro power and open-cycle gas (which differs from baseload gas) can ramp up quickly when a boost is needed in supply  and there is a willingness to pay a hefty price for the extra generation.

Victoria has a stack of peaking plants. Gas is expensive and the east coast supply is overwhelmingly being exported, but there is enough fuel for these plants to come online during a heatwave. To help ease demand, some big industrial plants that use a stack of electricity have agreed to reduce their production to help keep the lights on. Aluminium smelters use more than 10 per cent of power generated in NSW and Victoria. All things being equal, that should do the job. But there are other risks. Some power plants won't be available. Power plants are not compelled to make their generators available. During South Australia's 2017 blackouts one gas plant ran at about half its capacity.

That same summer also saw 2000 megawatts of coal, gas and hydro capacity out of action in NSW during a heatwave. In this instance, the market operator faced the difficult decision in relation to who would lose power. It angered the Victorian government by warning that power in Ballarat and Bendigo could be cut to keep NSW connected, though in the end it didn't act on it. As the heat rises, such decisions may have to be made if fossil-fuel plants fail or the wind doesn't blow. Worse, the ever-present bushfire threat could knock out transmission lines or affect generators. What's the extreme scenario? That all the risks arrive at once and blackouts, whether planned or forced, hit in some areas. Victoria's Hazelwood power station in Gippsland shut in March. Credit:Getty Images The short-term fixes Assuming the system is managed better than it has been in recent times everything should be fine, but experts also warn decisions made now will be crucial in ensuring reliability in the years ahead as more coal plants close.

The scenario above is the picture today, but it will almost certainly have changed again by next summer. The energy industry has been acting as though on fast-forward in recent weeks, and shows no sign of slowing down. The Clean Energy Council says there is more than $5.5 billion worth of renewable energy projects under construction. Last week, it was announced work would start this year on a $1 billion solar and battery plant in South Australia. Billed as the biggest of its type in the world - it includes a 330 megawatt solar farm and 100 megawatt battery system  proponents say it could fix South Australia and Victoria's supply issue this summer. This is independent of the the SA government's quick tender for Australia's first large-scale battery system that could  if Tesla mogul Elon Musk is to be believed  be built in 100 days. Tesla batteries connected to distribution circuits at Southern California Edison's Mira Loma substation.. Credit:Jake Michaels

Less headline grabbing is SA Premier Jay Weatherill's assurance that there will be 200 megawatts of emergency back-up in place. Almost certainly, it will be met by bringing in diesel generators. This was the path Tasmania took when its hydro dams were running low and the Basslink cable to Victoria was broken last year. It might seem antiquated, but it works. The Victorian government has also promised a battery tender, aiming to have 50 megawatts  enough to power a couple of regional cities for four hours  before Christmas. Another 50 is expected to follow in 2018. Batteries and diesel can help deal with peaks, but Hazelwood's daily output is likely to be mostly replaced by increased generation at NSW's black coal plants, which have been running at about 50 per cent capacity. Other promises  including Malcolm Turnbull's proposal for a $2 billion expansion of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, and South Australia's pledge to support new plants to run government agencies and to build further gas-fired back-up  will take longer to be realised.

The Snowy Hydro Scheme at Talbingo, NSW. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Unanswered questions The big, unaddressed question is what will the response be when the next large coal power plant closes  and the next one after that, and so on. Australia has 23 remaining coal generators. As the federal government acknowledges, several more may shut over the next decade. According to modelling for the Climate Change Authority, all would need to be gone and replaced by cleaner technology by 2035 if Australia is to play its part under the Paris deal to keep global warming below 2 degrees.

That notional deadline rarely gets a mention in public debate, but a campaign is in full flight for a bipartisan national energy and climate policy to set the pace for the transition to cleaner plants. Businesses are worried that ageing coal plants will otherwise continue to shut abruptly  Hazelwood's closure was announced just five months out  without there being time to build replacements. The federal government has rejected their preferred model, an emissions intensity scheme, and has offered no alternative. Reviews into electricity security (by chief scientist Alan Finkel) and climate policy are under way, but the government is fundamentally divided on the need to do anything. It is hard to see where it lands. Nationally, the only significant large-scale policy designed to drive energy investment beyond this decade is Victoria's ambitious and contested renewable energy target, which aims to build enough wind and solar farms to deliver 40 per cent of the state's electricity needs by 2025. The ACT also has a renewable target, but in other states the goals are purely aspirational. Steam billows from the cooling towers at Victoria's Yallourn coal-fired power station.
Preliminary results of an autopsy show that James Prem, 60, of Springfield, died Monday night from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a report from the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office.

Prem died about 9:30 at a residence in the 5400 block of Kalesey Court, the report said. That is the address for Don's Mobile Manor, a mobile home park just off Highway 12 south of Springfield Corners.

Prem was found near a piece of gas-powered maintenance equipment, the report said.

The victim had been using a small engine power washer and a heater in an enclosed area with no ventilation, leading investigators to believe he died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a Dane County Sheriff's Office report.

Dane County Sheriff's Office deputies who arrived at the scene performed lifesaving efforts but the man was pronounced dead, said spokeswoman Elise Schaffer

The death remains under investigation by the sheriff's office and medical examiner's office.

State Journal reporter Bill Novak contributed to this story.
As NSW gaming authorities conduct a probity check on James Packer ahead of his planned return to the Crown Resorts board, the news from overseas is not getting any better for the billionaire casino mogul.

An Israeli investigation into lavish gift giving to its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been extended as the police have been unable to interview key figures including Packer, according to reports from Israel.

Reports state the graft investigation, which was meant to be completed by now, will continue for another two months as some judicial inquiries abroad still haven't been carried out. This includes setting a date to question the globe-trotting Packer.

Mr Packer declined to comment on the reports, and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.
In Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the cash economy accounts for about 1.5 per cent of GDP, or about $21 billion. Michael Andrew is finalising his recommendations to the federal government on strategies to combat the black economy. Credit:Louise Kennerley Of that Mr Andrew estimated about $10 billion is untaxed and another $4 billion to $5 billion is money that should not have been paid out as welfare payments because people did not correctly report their income. Hidden cash-only payments were widespread across cafes and restaurants, hair and beauty industries and building and construction, but Mr Andrew said the worst sector for black economy activity was labour-hire companies. Illustration: Ron Tandberg

The taskforce had also uncovered cases of local government agencies denying legitimate businesses contracts because their wages were too high in comparison to businesses that were operating in the cash economy. Mr Andrew has delivered his interim report to government for consideration as part of the May federal budget, and will hand down his final report to the government in October. It's unclear what budget measures will be immediately implemented. A lot of them are innocent parties, but a lot of it is outright cheating as well. Michael Andrew Some of the recommendations in his interim report include education programs aimed at helping the public better understand their tax obligations and greater co-operation between local, state and federal government agencies to avoid having duplicate and confusing regulation stifling business. Complexity in regulation and modern awards had made it hard for ordinary Australians to comply with the law, he said. "The system is beyond the capability of the average person," Mr Andrew said.

"You have to fill out 48 different government forms and have 72 licences just to set up a restaurant in NSW ... that's causing people to lose confidence in the system." Mr Andrew referred to the case of almost 200 staff at celebrity chef George Calombaris' restaurants being underpaid $2.6 million over the past six years, due to the "poor processes in classifying employees" as an example of modern awards being too complex. Ban cash payments Long-term the federal government could consider putting a limit on cash transactions, as other countries have, he said. For example, France has banned citizens making payments of more than 1000 in cash, partly as way to fight financing of terrorism. While eftpos and credit card usage is climbing, cash remains the most important payment method for low-value transactions in Australia  70 per cent of payments under $20, and is widely used for payments around $50.

Mr Andrew said the popularity of sharing economy services such as Uber and Airbnb had pushed more traditional industries to cut wages, and seen a rise in labour-hire services operating under the radar. "I am really worried about them," he said. "They have mobile workforces turn up for jobs such as cleaning, fruit picking and on abattoirs and they are undercutting everyone." "We have a terrible situation with 457 visa recipients being taken to farms and charged extortion rates for accommodation so that their take-home pay ends up being virtually wiped out." Another area where cash-economy activity was rife was for child care services, with backpackers increasingly taking on jobs as nannies, he said.

Phoenix companies rife The problem of phoenix companies was also growing and resulting in lost revenue. This occurs when a company's directors strip cash and assets from it that they hide, liquidate the company and then restart it, usually under a different name. This is done to deny creditors, often the Australian Taxation Office, money. Mr Andrew said the ATO often wasn't aware until 18 months later when it was too late. "It's costing us about $2 billion to $3 billion in lost revenue," he said. Businesses incorrectly claiming GST credits and those classifying workers as contractors rather than employees to avoid paying them superannuation entitlements were other areas of concern, he said. The majority of referrals about suspected tax evasion to the ATO from members of the public relate to businesses paying cash-in-hand wages to avoid paying tax and super.
The employee declared that the comments were made on a social media account with all the privacy settings switched on, and the Fair Work Commission ordered that the employee be reinstated as the comments were made in the manner of an employee "letting off steam". Moreover, the FWC was critical of Linfox for not having a social media policy in place.

The case progressed to the Full Bench of the FWC, where Linfox's appeal was dismissed, as was its subsequent application before the Federal Court for a judicial review into the matter.

For the FWC, it all comes down to a question of context. Did the employee deliberately set out to damage the employer's reputation, or was the employee just "letting off steam"? People like to vent and a social media account with the privacy settings turned on is meant to be circulated only among a closed network.

Then again, one has to ask if the comment were circulated more widely, would it damage the relationship between the employer and employee? But taking this into account, the perception of it being damaging is not necessarily enough to discipline or dismiss an employee.

So what's the answer? For starters, every company needs to not only devise a social media policy, but also a general employee behavioural policy that protects its legitimate interests. Devising such a policy is a careful balancing act, though.
About 1600 hair and beauty salons in NSW, Victoria and Queensland will be randomly audited over the next 12 months after previous audits showed more than half of salons failed to comply with workplace laws.

The retail, hair and beauty salons will be targeted by Fair Work inspectors because they employ high numbers of young people and workers from migrant backgrounds.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James: a campaign in 2013 identified an overall industry non-compliance rate of 55 per cent. Credit:Arsineh Houspian

"In 2013, the Fair Work Ombudsman released the results of a national hair and beauty campaign, which identified an overall industry non-compliance rate of 55 per cent," Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell said said.

"Victoria recorded the highest rate of non-compliance, with almost three quarters of salon operators audited not meeting their obligations under workplace laws."
The underpayment of $2.6 million in wages by celebrity chef George Calombaris' company has caused major ructions with his new business partner, Radek Sali, who could be forced to bail out the embattled hospitality empire.

Mr Sali, the former chief executive of Swisse vitamins, took a 33 per cent stake in Calombaris' company Made Establishment last year, valuing the restaurant group at $20 million.

Mr Sali and his co-investors said they were "prepared for a few potholes in the books" when they invested, but they were not made aware that up to 200 staff had been underpaid for up to six years.
It is little wonder employees, investors and consumers have hit zero tolerance on wage fraud issues.

With convenience store giant 7-Eleven so far forking out $83 million in compensation to thousands of employees and Domino's embroiled in wage fraud allegations, along with Caltex, it is little wonder worker exploitation has moved from being an ethical issue to an investment risk.

The spectre of tough new laws, beefed up penalties and the heightening interest of short sellers has made a lot of companies  and industries  nervous.

Not surprisingly, it has prompted a number of super funds to raise concerns with fund managers that invest their members' money in companies that have been caught up in underpayment scandals.
Although many ACT residents remain ambivalent about light rail and the development of thousands of new apartments along the Northbourne Avenue corridor it is time to acknowledge they are now realities which will transform inner Canberra over the next decade.

The imminent migration of tens of thousands of new residents into the heart of the city is actually the best thing that has ever happened for Haig Park, the 1.8km long, 143 metre wide underutilised green belt that stretches from the foot of Black Mountain to the foot of Mount Ainslie.

The 19 hectare, heritage listed, informal memorial to Australia's World War 1 dead is regarded as a no go zone after dark by many locals thanks to an unfortunate history of crime and substance abuse.

One murder, three assaults, two sexual assaults and four robberies are just some of the unpleasant occurrences reported amongst the pine groves since 2011.
The draft airport plan is for a single runway catering for up to 10 million passengers each year and Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher says it will be operational by 2026. In reality, we don't know what the future holds. We don't even know who is going to build and operate it.

In December the federal government cleared the metaphorical runway for take-off. "All the approvals are now in place," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. "We can now get on with building the airport." If only it were that simple.

Badgerys Creek airport is cleared for take-off, but it's not clear who will own and operate it. Credit:Rob Homer

After decades of wrangling, backtracking and false starts, not much can be said with certainty about a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek, except that it will happen and it's a good thing for the city and the state.

When the federal government under John Howard sold the Mascot airport operation to Macquarie Bank for $5.6 billion in 2002, it gave the new owner first right of refusal for 30 years to develop and run any new airport within 100 kilometres. That clause inflated the 2002 price, but the deal looks a lot less bright for the taxpayer now that the monopoly operation at Mascot is worth about $15 billion.

In December the federal government set the clock ticking for Sydney Airport Corporation to exercise its right to build the next airport  or not. SAC is the listed company that owns the airport; Macquarie Bank exited by selling its shares back to shareholders. The proposed contract offered by the government under its December notice of intention includes no further taxpayer funds towards the cost of building and operating the airport, beyond the billions it is already spending on roads, planning and regulatory approvals.

Since 2002, governments and taxpayers have become more sceptical about locking in monopoly rights to infrastructure agreements with governments that can be costly for consumers. In 2015, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that SAC's first right of refusal over Badgerys Creek would "provide little relief to airlines and other airport users".

According to a recent ACCC report, SAC's profit of $331.5 million last year amounted to a profit margin of 46.7 per cent. That's great for shareholders, but what about customers? On the car park operation, the profit margin was an astronomical 73 per cent.

The risk for consumers is that if Sydney Airport takes up its right to build the Western Sydney Airport, it will simply extend the monopoly that allows profits untrammelled by competition. As the ACCC said in 2015, if the second airport were to have a different owner, "it could provide airlines with greater bargaining power [and] encourage each airport to lower prices and increase the quality provided".
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 member of Bill Shorten's frontbench team has been drawn into a corruption inquiry into dodgy political donations but says he has nothing to hide.

Labor immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann has been called to appear as a witness at a Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission public hearing later this month.

Labor frontbencher Shayne Neumann has been called to appear at a corruption hearing because of his support for Ipswich City Councillor Kylie Stoneman. Credit:Facebook

The hearings are part of Operation Belcarra, an investigation into the conduct of candidates involved in a series of local government elections - in Ipswich, Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast - in March last year.

Mr Neumann supported one of his staff members and close friend Kylie Stoneman to run for Ipswich City Council.
This time last year, actors Chris Evans and Jenny Slate made a very flirty appearance together on Anna Faris' podcast "Anna Faris Is Not Qualified". Evans said of Slate, "Oddly enough, I've only known Jenny for a few months, which is insane to say because we're like the same animal." Slate was a bit more blunt: "He's a giant man with huge muscles. He's Captain America."

The chemistry was undeniable and the internet went wild. A month later it was official  the pair were dating. Captain America and an indie comedy darling! It was too good to be true. We studied every Instagram snap and gushed over every vague but cute compliment. It was like we were a part of their burgeoning love.

But suddenly, after nine months, they broke up. The internet was devastated. The split was said to be amicable and "not dramatic", which is lucky because the pair are on a media blitz to promote Gifted, the film they were making when they met. Awkward.
The fashion industry is freaking out. Like a middle-aged divorced bloke in a Lamborghini, it seems to have no idea where it's headed as it speeds along, hoping no one has time to notice that it's out of control.

Except we have noticed, haven't we? The old ways of running the show don't work any more. It's time for a change. Enter disruption, fashion's new favourite word.

Surfer Dave Rastovich out of his comfort zone at a garment factory.

Technology is disrupting everything. Diversity is disrupting modelling. "See now, buy now" is messing with the old seasonal fashion week calendar. And fast fashion, which once disrupted high fashion, is now itself being disrupted,as labour and material costs climb.

Meanwhile Paris is no longer the be-all and end-all. Designers from obscure fashion schools (or no fashion schools) are storming couture's barricades. Vetements, the hottest label du jour, just shifted its atelier to Zurich of all places. The future belongs to those cutting weird, unexpected new paths.
The former principal of Punchbowl Boys High, Chris Griffiths, is pursuing legal action in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission after he was suddenly removed from his position last month amid concerns that the school had "lost its way".

Mr Griffiths and his deputy, Joumana Dennaoui, were removed from the school on March 2 after the department undertook an "appraisal" of the school's "policies, practices and procedures".

There is no formal department policy around appraisals.

Mr Griffiths and Ms Dennaoui have launched legal action against the NSW Department of Education in the Industrial Relations Commission, alleging procedural unfairness in their removal from the school.
NSW Labor has raised safety and privatisation concerns about a proposed overhaul of management of the state's rail assets.

The proposed changes, introduced into Parliament last week by Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, would move rail assets such as tracks, trains, stations and land owned by RailCorp into a state-owned corporation with a commercial focus.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says his bill would enable a more "commercial" approach to the management of transport assets. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Rail operators such as Sydney Trains and NSW Trainlink would remain owned and run by the government.

But the opposition says the changes, contained in amendments to the Transport Administration Act, could help facilitate the future privatisation of rail services.
At 14, Alex* has already endured some of life's hardest knocks. Abused as a child, he went on to sexually harm others. Unable to live with his biological family or a foster carer, he has ended up in a therapeutic residential care program south of Sydney where he reports his behaviour is "much better".

Billy*, 15, has just left the program after 18 months of intensive support for his sexually harmful behaviour and is now talking about finishing high school and getting a job.

These two young people are the so-called "hard cases", among the most vulnerable in the state's child protection system.

Proposed reforms to the out-of-home system promise to improve therapeutic treatment for traumatised young people but a restructure of providers has put Alex and Billy's care facility on the chopping block.
The state's new Attorney-General, Mark Speakman, will announce a $6 million rescue package for community legal centres to fix a federal government funding shortfall that was set to plunge the sector into crisis. In one of his first decisions in his new role, Mr Speakman will announce the two-year funding boost on Wednesday. NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said 73 per cent of criminal cases in the District Court were resolved with a guilty plea. Credit:Louie Douvis Community legal centres, which provide free legal advice to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, were facing a wave of job losses and closures from July 1 as federal funding was set to be slashed by 30 per cent. In NSW, this translated to a cut of about $3 million a year.

Mr Speakman had urged the federal government to "rethink its position" before the May budget but had not received a commitment from his federal counterpart, George Brandis. The funding package is expected to save 30 lawyer positions in Sydney and across the state, and prevent the closure of community legal centres in Katoomba and Tweed Heads. Under the first year of the deal, funding for legal centres will be maintained at existing levels so that no centre is worse off as a result of the federal cuts. A review will be conducted during financial year 2017-18 to determine how the second year of funding is distributed between legal centres. Mr Speakman said the package was "a major win for vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the state who rely on CLC lawyers for free advice on critical issues ... ranging from domestic violence and victims' support to debts and tenancy disputes".
The man hired to cast his ethical eye over the land titles registry privatisation is the same person who once declared former mining minister Ian Macdonald had "acted within [his] powers" when he gave a lucrative exploration licence to a friend.

Fairfax Media can reveal the probity adviser on the Berejiklian government's 35-year lease of Land and Property Information (LPI) is Rory O'Connor, managing director of professional services firm O'Connor Marsden and Associates (OCM).

Mr O'Connor, known as "Mr Probity" on Macquarie Street, has scrutinised several controversial deals of Labor powerbrokers, including the sale of Currawong union retreat and the Blackwattle Bay lease.

He attracted media attention after OCM concluded in a 2010 report for the Labor government that Mr Macdonald had "acted within the powers afforded to him" when he granted, without tender, an exploration licence to Doyles Creek Mining, a company chaired by union boss John Maitland.
A 43-year-old mother died trying to save her children after her car crashed off a slippery road and sank into the Tweed River on Monday, police say.

Stephanie King, 43, was driving along Dulguigan Road, Tumbulgum, with her three children - Ella Jane, 11, Chloe May, 8, and Jacob, 7 - in the car when their vehicle veered off the road and slid into the swollen river just after 1.40pm.

Chloe May somehow managed to escape from the vehicle and ran to a nearby farm screaming for help. Her mother and siblings were not able to get out of the car. Police recovered their bodies on Tuesday morning.

"I can tell you the mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away  she was with the child, holding the child," said Superintendent Wayne Starling.
One week on from being thrashed by Cyclone Debbie's 163km/h winds and more than 240mm of rain, the Whitsunday Islands continue their long road to recovery.

Tourism operators who were preparing for the school holiday and Easter trade now have limited or no capacity for guests.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the damage bill for Cyclone Debbie's trail of destruction in Queensland was expected to run into the billions.

The Whitsunday Islands were one of the areas worst hit by the category four storm, along with Airlie Beach, Bowen and Proserpine.
Nguyen knew the girl was only 15 and that her brother had died of an overdose, Justice Roslyn Atkinson said in jailing the 37-year-old.

He visited a "trusted friend's" Brisbane home in November 2015, and smoked heroin in front of the girl, referred to only as NL to protect her identity.

Tri Minh Nguyen was found guilty last month in a Brisbane Supreme Court of supplying a dangerous drug to a minor, whose brother had died of a heroin overdose and did not want to smoke it.

A Brisbane father who forced a friend's 15-year-old daughter to smoke heroin has been jailed for a year.

He knew her father, a single parent, was doing his best to bring up his two kids, NL and an older brother studying at university.

NL was struggling a bit at school but her father was still doing a "fine job bringing up those two children on his own," Justice Atkinson said.

"You entered the house which you were able to do as a trusted friend, smoked heroin in the presence of NL and then encouraged her in spite of her reluctance to try the heroin by smoking it," she said, in sentencing.

"Eventually, she agreed, saying that she tried not to inhale.

"This is a dreadful thing to do and, fortunately, it has had no long-term impact on NL because, fortunately, her brother found the heroin."
There are renewed calls for a crocodile cull in Queensland after a pet dog was snatched from a family property in the state's far north.

Purebred one-year-old Kelpie pup Rusty was playing near a creek when he was grabbed and devoured by a crocodile at the Horton family home at Belvedere, north of Innisfail, last weekend.

The crocodile was spotted with the remains of the family's kelpie in its mouth.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks. Last month a teenager was bitten on the arm in the Johnstone River in Innisfail and a spearfisherman was also killed in a suspected croc attack south of Cairns.

Katter's Australian Party MP Shane Knuth said he and his colleagues would draft legislation to allow for the controlled culling or relocation of crocodiles in populated areas across the state.
A new name for one of Queensland's electorates would be better suited in a Chipmunks movie than Parliament, an MP has quipped.

The LNP politician's comments were among a staggering 1546 objections to the Queensland Redistribution Commission's proposed boundary shake-up, which would also add four new seats to the Parliament.

Member for Albert Mark Boothman said residents would be confused by renaming the Logan and Gold Coast electorate of Albert to Theodore, named after former premier Edward Granville Theodore.

Mr Boothman said "Albert" had a history in the region since 1888 and Mr Theodore had little association with the area.
The Melbourne pop-up store sells iced tea at $5 a cup at events such as the St Kilda Festival and the Queen Victoria night market. Those Girls iced tea is also wholesaled to a growing number of retailers across the country.

Lauren Davie and Elena Andoniou of Those Girls iced tea "couldn't be more thankful" for the constant hot days this summer.

Those Girls Beverage Co. experienced phenomenal growth of 150 per cent on the back of the relentless summer heat. Their earnings were just under $500,000 last financial year, but that figure will be significantly higher this financial year thanks to the sales generated during summer.

The business was launched three years ago by lifelong friends Lauren Davie and Elena Andoniou, both 30. It started as a hobby, but an appearance on Shark Tank opened their eyes to the possibility of substantial growth opportunities, prompting them to quit their day jobs to focus on the business.

Funky Trunks had a 40 per cent increase in sales over summer.

It's a major operation. The pair have a small fleet of vans, a commercial kitchen, have set up home offices to handle bookings and manage nine casual staff. Preparing for an event takes a few days, with the teas brewed the day before an event and stored in a cool room.

"We couldn't be more thankful for the constant hot summer days. It's fuelled massive sales for us, and has given us the courage to invest in our business in the lead-up to next summer," Davie says.

However it's not all beer and skittles. The mercury dipped on the day of the Yarraville Festival in February, meaning that the more than 60,000 people who attended weren't that keen on purchasing a refreshing iced tea, Davie says.
Global cyber-security firm Intel Security has been renamed McAfee and now operates as an independent company, completing a split from Intel that was flagged in September.

Intel continues to own 49 per cent of the new entity, which was valued at $US$4.2 billion ($5.5 billion). Private equity investors TPG and Thoma Bravo own the remaining 51 per cent.

McAfee's Brian Dye described cyber security as 'the most pressing technical issue of our time'. Credit:Bloomberg

Widely known for its antivirus software, US-based McAfee has more than 200 million customers and detects more than 400,000 new threats a day.

McAfee is installed on 300,000 devices across a range of Australian government agencies.
A food festival booking blunder has caused heartache for a grieving family who have been forced to delay the funeral of their grandmother.

Vanessa Guerra was told she could not lay her 96-year-old grandmother to rest at Melbourne General Cemetery in Parkville due to a historical food tour being held as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival on Friday.

Melbourne General Cemetery

Food enthusiasts are invited to the cemetery for a "historical cemetery tour of Melbourne's culinary past" on April 7.

The tour, which costs $123 per head, will take culinary connoisseurs to "the final resting places of Melbourne's finest foodies, pausing at notable grave sites to taste signature dishes ... with a background of charming Italian music".
That's it for Melbourne Express for today. Thanks to contributors Kane, Gayle, Jamie and our Mystery Melbourne guesser Bill Donnelly.

I'll be back after Easter and leave you in the capable hands of Craig Butt and co.

Check you then.
Seaford residents have been asked to check their yards for a shoe and a pair of women's jeans left behind after a vicious sexual assault at the weekend.

The brazen attack occurred about 3am on Saturday, moments after a 19-year-old woman got off a train at Seaford station.

Sergeant Brendan Butland said the woman was walking home along Railway Parade in the bayside suburb when she was pulled to the ground in a church car park.

Police are confident someone saw the attack, which lasted only minutes but left the woman injured and traumatised.
Here are two schools, from two sectors, that are two kilometres apart.

They serve the same diverse community in Cranbourne and enrol students from similar backgrounds.

But according to the latest data, the state school Cranbourne Secondary College received $10,954 in state and federal funding per student while the Catholic school St Peter's College Cranbourne received $12,765.

It's a scenario that plays out across Victoria, according to new analysis that has been released as hostility over the future of school funding deepens.
For the past six years, Doreen McKay has wanted to build a driveway so she can safely cross a blue-stone gutter in front of her Coburg house.

The 88-year-old says Moreland City Council has twice rejected her proposal because of heritage protections.

Doreen McKay has been unable to gain a permit to build a driveway on her property. Credit:Eddie Jim

Just three streets away, one of Australia's largest private hospital operators has recently won approval for a big extension of the John Fawkner hospital.

Healthscope's victory came after it overturned a covenant that has protected the Coburg heritage precinct from development since 1912.
Tram services will be slashed on some of Melbourne's busiest routes next month, leading to longer wait times and increased crowding.

Tram frequency will be reduced on six of Melbourne's busiest tram routes when the timetable changes on May 1. Public transport advocates and the Opposition have slammed the move by the Andrews government.

There has been an increase in the number of serious injuries on Melbourne's trams. Credit:Joe Armao

The government has issued no public warning about the looming cuts, which will hit night-time services hardest, but also includes the loss of some services in the morning peak.

A press release issued by Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan on March 28 claimed there would be "no reduction in services to Brunswick and Coburg", but The Age can reveal routes to those rapidly growing northern suburbs do face cuts.
When Malcolm Turnbull announced plans last November to launch a scheme to compensate victims of abuse in state-run institutions, Victoria was open to the idea.

But now Victoria fears the Commonwealth may not contribute much to it, as the Turnbull government delays work on details of the national redress scheme.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter says work continues on design of the scheme. Credit:Andrew Meares

The last Victorian parliament's landmark Betrayal of Trust report into sex abuse in religious and non-state care  a precursor to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse  recommended a system of redress be set up in the state for victims.

Victoria had begun work on the scheme, and even held talks with other states about how it would work, before last November's announcement by Social Services Minister Christian Porter that the Turnbull government was setting up a national redress scheme to be funded by institutions, churches and states.
A cognitively impaired Aboriginal man jailed for killing a 21-year-old man in Western Australia's north claims he gave a false confession because his lawyer said he'd get a longer jail term if he pleaded not guilty.

Gene Gibson, who is from the remote desert community of Kiwirrkurra and speaks the Pintupi dialect, is serving seven-and-a-half years behind bars for fatally striking Josh Warneke from behind as he walked home from a night out in Broome in 2010.

An apprentice carpenter, Josh Warneke led a simple life, says his mother, Ingrid Bishop. He just wanted a girl, a dog, a ute, and to build his own home. Credit:Courtesy of Ingrid Bishop

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 he suffered a miscarriage of justice because he did not have the cognitive ability or language skills to understand what was happening.
Beijing: Young Australians aren't the only ones feeling locked out of a red-hot housing market that seems unfairly skewed towards their parents' generation.

Beijing median housing prices, which outstrip those in Sydney and Melbourne, have prompted not only a government crackdown on new home buyers, but a viral song lamenting the lost housing dream of the young.

Called My Mother-in-law Keeps Shouting at Me to Go and Buy a House, the video has been rapidly shared on social media in China.

The song laments that old "hutong" neighbourhoods are just wishful thinking for young families, because a second-hand home in Beijing costs 5.95 million Chinese yuan ($1.1 million).
The Trump administration informed Congress on Monday that it had terminated US funding for the UN Population Fund, the world's leading provider of family planning services, including contraception, to women in at least 155 countries.

The United States is one of the top donor nations to the UN, and the denial of funding was one of President Donald Trump's biggest moves yet to reduce financing for family planning.

The Trump administration has withdrawn funding from the UN Population Fund. Credit:Bloomberg

While the administration had signalled back in January that it was adopting a tougher stance toward family planning services that provide abortion counselling, the move was nonetheless a stunning piece of news to advocates for women's and children's health, particularly in the developing world.

In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the State Department's Bureau of Legislative Affairs said it had determined that the Population Fund "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation," a reference to the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, a 1980s-era law enacted in response to evidence of forced abortions and involuntary sterilisation in China.
Washington: US President Donald Trump moved to reset US relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-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. 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.
Madrid: Spanish police raided properties belonging to relatives of Bashar al-Assad as part of a money laundering investigation into a criminal organisation which may include several members of the Syrian leader's family.

Police searched 15 properties in the Marbella area belonging to Rifaat al-Assad, President Assad's uncle, and some of his children.

Judge Jose de la Mata has also moved to block 16 bank accounts held by individuals suspected of being connected to Rifaat al-Assad and deposit accounts belonging to 76 companies. Investigators believe that more than 250 million ($411 million) in Syrian public funds have been siphoned into these accounts.

The judge ordered the seizure of more than 500 properties owned by President Assad and his relatives, a court statement said. Real estate belonging to Rifaat al-Assad and his relatives in Spain is estimated at almost 600 million, including parking spaces in garages to villas, luxury apartments and country estates, virtually all in Marbella and nearby Puerto Banus, a glitzy marina development.
Moscow: Investigators have named a man who they believe blew up a St Petersburg subway car, killing 14 people in the worst terrorist attack in a major Russian city in years, and said he also planted a bomb found at a second metro station.

The remains of Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who marked his 22nd birthday on Saturday, were recovered from the scene of Monday's bombing and matched DNA found on a bag containing the other explosive device that was defused at a nearby station, Russia's Investigative Committee said Tuesday. "The conclusion from this genetic material and CCTV cameras give investigators reason to believe that the person who committed the terrorist act in the subway car left the bag with the explosive device" at the second station, the committee said in a website statement.

A woman lights a candle at an entrance to Sennaya subway station after an explosion in St Petersburg subway on Monday. Credit:Yevgeny Kurskov

The suspected suicide bomber was a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, according to a spokesman for the Kyrgyz government's Committee for National Security, adding that his agency is working with Russian officials on the probe. The Interfax news service quoted the agency as saying that the bomber came originally from the Kyrgyz city of Osh.

Investigators suspect he was linked to radical Islamist groups and carried his improvised device in a backpack. Officials in Kazakhstan said they were cooperating with Russian authorities in the probe, although it wasn't clear if there was an additional suspect from that country. There's been no claim of responsibility for the terrorist attack.
The deadliest chemical weapons attack in years in Syria killed dozens of people in northern Idlib province on Tuesday morning, including women and children, and sickened scores more, according to medics, rescuers and witnesses in the rebel-held province, who said the gas had been delivered by a government airstrike.

A few hours later, according to several witnesses, another airstrike hit one of the clinics treating victims, who had been farmed out to smaller hospitals and maternity wards because the area's largest hospital had been severely damaged by an airstrike two days earlier.

It was the first major atrocity attributed to the Syrian government since President Donald Trump took office. Only on Friday, administration officials stressed that ousting Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, is no longer a priority, and that Washington's main goal is to fight the Islamic State group.

On Tuesday, the White House blamed the Syrian government for the attack, which it called a "reprehensible" act "that cannot be ignored by the civilised world", but also lashed out at the former Obama administration.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Sint Maarten / Saint Martin Annual Regional Tradeshow SMART will be held at The Westin Dawn Beach. This was released this last week by the four organizing parties L'Association des Hoteliers de St. Martin (AHSM), St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) in conjunction with the Saint-Martin Tourism Office and the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau.

An agreement has been signed with The Westin Dawn Beach. Both Tourist Boards, as well as AHSM and SHTA, look forward to using the high standard facilities of Westin for its three-day meeting.

The Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa, Sint Maarten is one of the largest hotels on the island, featuring 317 luxuriously appointed guest rooms including 15 suites, each with French doors leading to a balcony with an ocean or island view. Located at Dawn Beach, one of St. Maarten's most beautiful beaches, the four partners see the location as a perfect business card for visiting companies. The Westin Dawn Beach Resort and Spa itself has shared its enthusiasm for hosting the event as Westin clearly knows the benefits of the tradeshow for the island economy.

Both sides have always closely cooperated on this regional Sint Maarten / Saint Martin trade event, but this will be the first time both sides will co-host at the same time. Due to its binational character this year, locations and activities will be spread over both sides of the island.

SMART 2017 kicks off on Wednesday June 14th, 2017 when delegates have the opportunity to meet and mingle with their peers at the Welcome Reception, before a full day of business where participants have set up appointments with travel partners and wholesalers as well as hotel and excursion operations for one-on-one discussions on potential business ventures.

Although an impressive and memorable Farewell party will be held on Thursday evening the venue will stay open through Friday with workshops and guest speakers.

Next to Sint Maarten / Saint Martin, other islands attending this event have included Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saba, St. Barths, Statia, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Barbados. This way, over the 15 years SMART has grown to become the most reputable Tradeshow of the northeastern Caribbean.

As last year SMART was canceled due to various tradeshows occurring at the same moment, the organizing parties requested the Caribbean Hotel and Trade Association (CHTA) to coordinate Caribbean marketing events to make sure all destinations have the ability to showcase their hospitality and trade.

Registration forms and details will be available on the SHTA website www.shta.com or by contacting the

St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 1-721-542-0108, during office hours 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
Amsterdam/PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister Plenipotentiary Doran-York, organizes Informative Session for Sint Maarteners at Cabinet.

H.E. Mrs. H. Doran-York, Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten, on Saturday, April 1st, 2017, hosted the Sint Maarten population in the Netherlands at her Cabinet.

The program for the event consisted of various educational and motivational segments, and also the formal introduction of the Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten, Mr. Hasani Ellis to Sint Maarteners in the Netherlands.

The event saw a full house, and those in attendance included students, young professionals, middle-aged and older persons.

The first segment of the event saw dozens of Sint Maarteners and some friends of Sint Maarten, being welcomed to the Cabinet with johnny cakes and saltfish, and some warm soup. This continued with them having the opportunity to get acquainted and exchange information, followed with Her Excellency, Minister Doran-York, officially introducing His Excellency, Deputy Minister Hasani Ellis.

In his first official address to those in attendance to Sint Maarteners in Holland, the Deputy Minister reflected on the fact that there are still many in the Netherlands when asked about Sint Maarten, have limited or even no idea where Sint Maarten is. He explained that the best form of bringing about our island was through Sint Maarteners advertising our island throughout The Netherlands. He made mention of being extremely honored to serve his Country in the Netherlands. He further encouraged all the Young Professionals and students to continue to maintain close contact with the Cabinet and to utilize their expertise for the building of a strong nation.

The Minister Plenipotentiary Henrietta Doran-York, when planning this event, picked four Sint Maarteners to give interactive informative sessions on various topics.

The first speaker was Nerissa Cornelia, who as a student, was invited to speak on Student Life in the Netherlands. During her presentation, she encouraged students to stay the course and never to give up, no matter the hurdles that they may encounter on their way, as it will be worth it all in the long run. She also actively engaged the attendees on the topic the history and the meaning their names, to which they interacted with great enthusiasm.

The second presenter, Suzette Moses centered her inspirational talk around the will on following one's dream or calling actively and passionately. Using her own experience in becoming an internationally renowned advocate for better understanding, treatment, and cure for those living with HIV-Aids. Suzettes presentation was very intense, as it taught those in attendance to learn to accept others around them, no matter their misfortune, and to never discriminate.

The third presenter, Tishelle Daniel, an advanced medical student, who will soon be graduating, made here power point presentation on the risks of alcohol and smoking addiction. The powerful message brought forward was followed with many seeking information on how to curb the addictions and the ramifications associated with these forms of addiction, and a great deal of interaction among those in the crowd.

The last presenter of the afternoon was Edwina Hodge also a student, whose presentation dealt with Budgeting. Patrons were involved in doing budget related multiple choice quizzes, which in turn showed their spending and saving patterns. This presentation was a very active one and closed with everyone standing on their feet and participating in a budget-related game.

Minister Plenipotentiary Doran-York as well as all those in attendance, were extremely proud of four speakers and expressed her gratitude on behalf of herself, the Deputy Minister and her staff.

"It is the intention to organize more of these educational events for ourselves and our people here in The Netherlands, several times a year", Doran-York said.
Claim: An enterprising college student solicited one-cent donations to finance his education. Rating: About this rating True

Advertisment:

Some lads are more clever than others.

Mike Hayes of Rochelle, Illinois, long ago proved he was one of the more clever types. Back in 1987, while a chemistry freshman at the University of Illinois, he came up with a novel idea to solve his tuition and college expenses problem. Figuring that just about anyone could spare a penny, he brazenly asked everyone to do it.

He wrote to Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene, asking him to request each of his readers send Hayes a penny. The notion tickled the veteran columnist's fancy enough that he was willing to go along with it, writing:

No one likes being used, but in this case I'm willing. It sounds like fun. Mike Hayes, 18, is a freshman science major at the University of Illinois in Champaign. He is looking for a way to finance his college education, and he decided that my column is the answer. "How many people read your column?" he asked me. I told him I didn't know. "Millions, right?" he said. "All over the country, right?" I said I supposed that was true. "Well, here's my idea," he said, and proceeded to explain. I'll break it down simply: Mike Hayes wants every person who is reading this column right this minute to send him a penny. "Just one penny," Hayes said. "A penny doesn't mean anything to anyone. If everyone who is reading your column looks around the room right now, there will be a penny under the couch cushion, or on the corner of the desk, or on the floor. That's all I'm asking. A penny from each of your readers."

You wouldn't think a scheme like that would be wildly successful. But it was.

In less than a month, the "Many Pennies for Mike" fund was up to the equivalent of 2.3 million pennies. Not everyone was content to send merely a penny (hence the "equivalent" statement above)  many sent nickels, dimes, quarters and even more. There's something lovable about a kid who asks you for a penny. Ask Debra Sue Maffett, Miss America 1983. Not only did she send a cheque for $25, but her donation was accompanied by a letter saying she admired him. "She even signed the letter 'Love,'" Mike said.

Donations came in from every state in the United States, plus Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. Yes, he ended up with the $28,000 he'd set out to get.

But 1987 was a long time ago, you say. Whatever happened to this lad?

He went on to earn his degree in food science from the University of Illinois. As for why this scheme worked: "I didn't ask for a lot of money," Hayes said. "I just asked for money from a lot of people  2.8 million people [of Chicago]."

Perhaps the last word is best left to the lad's father, Bill Hayes: "When Mike first told me about his idea, I just laughed and said that I thought it was dumb. Which shows you that he's smarter than I am."
From head to toe focused on image processing

The embedded box PC TANK-870-Q170 from ICP Deutschland is literally, from head to toe, focused on image processing. This is supported by a compact design, a high transfer rate and a redundancy for securing sensitive data by the RAID function of the two 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s ports. An extended power input 9VDC~36VDC and temperature range from -20C to +45C/60C as well as a vibration protection according to MIL-STD-810G enable a direct placement of the TANK-870-Q170 at the machine itself. There is also the option to connect up to four IP cameras with max. 15.4W each port via the PoE Ethernet expansion card IPCIE-4PoE. Its computing power is obtained from an Intel Skylake CoreTM i7 or i5 processor and two DDR4 SO-DIMM memory (max.64GB). The lead out I/O interfaces at the front includes four USB 3.0 / 2.0, four RS-232 (2.5KV isolation protection), two RS-232/422/485 and GbE LAN each as well as one 8-bit digital I/O. The connection of three independent displays is enabled via one HDMI+DP combo port (4K UHD), one VGA and one optional DP (display port). In addition, the TANK-870-Q170 offers its users maximum expansion flexibility in terms of four backplane variants from 2 slot to 4 slot for PCIe x8, PCIe x16, PCI and half-size/Full-size PCIe Mini Card. As Ready-to-Use system the embedded box PC is optimized for industrial image processing due to compatible components and immediate readiness.

ICP. Industrial Computer Products by people who care!
OKI Europe to Showcase Revenue Boosting Graphic Arts Solutions at FESPA 2017

Posted by Publisher Hardware

From business cards to billboards  and beyond, OKI Europes portfolio of Graphic Arts printers will be on show in Hamburg 8-12th May and includes a device for every print professional

Egham, 4th April 2017  OKI Europe Ltd has today announced its presence at FESPA 2017 (Stand B5-A52), where it will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of revenue-generating innovations for graphic arts professionals, producing everything from business cards to billboards. A Gold Partner of this major event, OKI Europe will be showcasing a dazzling spectrum of products including its recent addition to the renowned ColorPainter range, the E-64s.

OKI Europe will also be taking the opportunity at FESPA to unveil an exciting new white toner printer, in its popular and award winning Pro Series Graphic Arts portfolio, designed to offer creative and graphic arts businesses the added agility needed to meet evolving market demands.

We are excited to be a Gold Partner of FESPA this year and the OKI Europe booth will be packed with ideas and inspiration for every type of printing business, from large format specialists printing vehicle and building wraps, to small print shops looking to branch out into garment printing or take advantage of our ground-breaking 5-colour, white toner or neon capabilities. says Pamela Ghosal, General Manager Brand and Marketing Communications, OKI Europe Ltd.

Since the acquisition of the ColorPainter large format portfolio eighteen months ago from Seiko I Infotech Inc., a subsidiary of Seiko Instruments Inc, OKI Europe now has an unrivalled graphic arts portfolio which benefits from OKIs experience, technological innovation and insight.

OKI has recently expanded the ColorPainter range and one of the key highlights at the OKI stand will be the award winning, ColorPainter E-64s which opens up the possibilities of large format to a wider audience. Like other models in the range, this provides premium performance with a high level of precision on many different types of media. It will demonstrate how OKIs high-pigment ECO solvent SX ink enables printing for both indoor and outdoor applications, providing a new versatility for sign writers and graphics print shops.

Visitors to the stand will also experience OKIs unique technology innovations and applications spotlighting OKIs pioneering 5-colour, white toner and neon capabilities, including a new addition to this range which will be launched at the show. These fast, affordable solutions, unlock creative and commercial potential, combining digital LED with award-winning white toner / 5 colour (CMYK+1) technology, providing a level of performance traditionally only achievable with expensive production equipment.

Vibrant and innovative designs can now be printed for use on almost any type of material  from fashion accessories and garments to indoor and outdoor signage on demand, helping towards differentiating a business, and opening up new markets while lifting the bottom line.

We anticipate a busy and fulfilling few days talking to businesses from all sides of the graphic arts printing industry and we look forward to demonstrating on our stand how OKI can help businesses to generate new revenue by capturing opportunities which previously were often unattainable, concludes Ghosal.

For further information, visit www.okieurope.com/events
Tower One Wireless Acquires Cellular Site Acquisition Company

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA  (Marketwired)  04/04/17  Tower One Wireless Corp (CSE: TO)(OTCBB: TOWTF)(FRANKFURT: 1P3N) (Tower One or the Company) announces it has acquired a 90% interest in an established Telecom services and site acquisition company (Service Company). The Service Company currently provides site acquisition and licensing to the Telecom Industry in Colombia. Since the Service Company was established in 2005, it has successfully completed the lease/purchase of over 300 Cellular Sites (Real Estate), and has been contracted by all the major Telecom operators in Colombia. This strategic acquisition gives Tower One additional extensive experience in an area essential to its core business.

Alex Ochoa, CEO of Tower One, states: Tower One will build its international real estate portfolio utilizing the expertise of the Service Companys team. The Service Company has assisted major telecom operators in the acquisition of over 300 sites. Tower One is also happy to add the 5 current Build to Suit opportunities to our pipeline of projects while we await the result of significant tower bids weve made earlier this quarter.

Site Acquisition is a vital component of all Build to Suit (BTS) cellular tower opportunities. This will allow Tower One to expand its business to physical real estate that is an extension of the tower infrastructure in place at tower construction sites. These contracts are similar to the tower lease contracts in that the real estate under the towers will be subject to long-term leases. The real estate model commands high yields relative to the acquisition cost, allowing Tower One another revenue stream within the industry. Current competitors account for over 10% of revenue coming from this component of the tower business. Real estate is traditionally 1515 square metres or custom to the tower base size needed to support vertical infrastructure.

The current notable value of the Service Company are as follows:

The Services Company carries no liabilities.

About Tower One Wireless Corp

Tower One builds, owns, and leases a portfolio of wireless infrastructure assets to wireless carriers on long term contracts. Tower One is the only publicly traded small cap entry into the tower and wireless infrastructure industry; It is operated by a team of Telecom and finance professionals with a long history of success in the telecom and wireless infrastructure business. Management voluntarily placed 30 million shares into a complete 3 year lock-up with no shares to be released during this period. Tower One Wireless is currently focused on 4G & 5G LTE infrastructure expansion in Latin America.

We seek Safe Harbor.

The CSE has not reviewed, and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the United States, as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, forward-looking statements), including those identified by the expressions anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, should and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

All information in this press release concerning Tower One Wireless Corp has been provided for inclusion herein by Tower One Wireless Corp. Although the Company has no knowledge that would indicate that any information contained herein concerning Tower One is untrue or incomplete, the Company assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any such information.

Contacts:

Tower One Wireless Corp

Robert Nick Horsley

Director

(604) 559-8051
BERNINA of America Introduces Bernina 350 Special Edition Cotton+Steel Sewing Machine

Posted by Publisher Software

AURORA, IL  (Marketwired)  04/04/17  BERNINA of America, the premier manufacturer of sewing, embroidery and quilting machines, is pleased to introduce its new BERNINA 350 Special Edition Cotton+Steel (B 350 SE) sewing machine with two unique faceplate options. BERNINA partnered with Cotton+Steel (C+S), a contemporary fabric design company, to design two faceplates, Hello Lovely and I Love Sewing for the new B 350 SE sewing machine. The Hello Lovely faceplate features a bright colored floral design with two flying birds. The I Love Sewing faceplate features a colorful design with scissors and thread, perfect for any sewist. The B 350 SE sewing machines are now available at BERNINA Dealers, nationwide with an MSRP of $1,899.

Our partnership with Cotton+Steel has enabled us to provide not only a quality machine for sewists but one that showcases creative faceplate designs inherent of the sewing and quilting world, said Paul Ashworth, President of BERNINA of America. Additionally, the machine is not only eye-catching and fun, it comes with seven of BERNINAs full-shank presser feet to provide the sewist with an array of sewing and options.

In addition to the two custom-designed faceplates, the B 350 SE sewing machine comes equipped with a slide-on extension table, the BERNINA Free Hand System, and seven BERNINA full-shank presser feet. The seven BERNINA presser feet include the Reverse pattern foot #1, the Zipper foot #4, the Blindstitch foot #4, the 3-Groove pintuck foot #30, Patchwork foot #37, the Buttonhole foot with slide #3A, and the Walking foot #50 with three soles.

Other features include 191 total stitch patterns, a maximum sewing speed up to 900 stitches per minute, and a stitch width up to 5.5 mm. The B 350 SE also has a direct-selection function that allows sewists to switch quickly between 18 utility stitches and 63 decorative stitches, including 11 quilting stitches. Additionally, a high-precision buttonhole function with two programmed buttonhole styles gives users the ability to sew buttonholes of the exact same length every time. Theres also enough memory space to permanently store up to 30 stitches as well as a bright LED sewing light. For more information, visit .

Cotton+Steel (C+S), a division of RJR Fabrics, was founded in 2013 on the ideas that there is strength in collaboration and value in good design. C+S strives to honor the traditions of creativity, resourcefulness and innovation innate in the sewing and quilting world. The four contemporary designers who designed the colorful and fun faceplates include Melody Miller,

Rashida Coleman-Hale, Alexia Abegg, and Sarah Watts. For more information, visit .

Founded in Switzerland more than 100 years ago, BERNINA is the worlds premier manufacturer with a proven reputation for offering quality state-of-the-art sewing, quilting and embroidery machines, overlockers, and embroidery software. BERNINAs leadership is marked by an impressive number of ambassadors, industry leaders, influencers and bloggers who chose to partner with the company. BERNINA products are sold in the United States through a network of over 400 fully trained independent dealerships that also offer support and education. Select BERNINA and bernette machines, and BERNINA software can also be purchased online. BERNINA products are designed for beginning to advanced sewists and priced to meet a variety of budgets, with new products being introduced every year. You can follow BERNINA on Facebook: , Instagram: , and Pinterest: , and read BERNINAs WeAllSew blog at . To learn more about BERNINA and to find a Dealer, visit or call (630)978-2500.

Image Available:

Lia Antonetti

(312)780-7218

Joanne Tedesco

(312)780-7210
What you need to know about Powerball's $1.9 billion lottery jackpot
This story was updated April 4 at 12:24 p.m. EDT.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, but why is that?

To answer this question, "we need to go back to the Big Bang," said May Nyman, a professor of chemistry at Oregon State University.

The Big Bang created the elements on the periodic table, building blocks that help make up the universe. Each element has a unique number of subatomic particles: protons (positively charged), neutrons (neutral) and electrons (negatively charged). [What Are the Ingredients of Life?]

Hydrogen  with just one proton and one electron (it's the only element without a neutron)  is the simplest element in the universe, which explains why it's also the most abundant, Nyman said. (However, an isotope of hydrogen, called deuterium, contains one protron and one neutron, and another, known as tritium, has one proton and two neutrons.)

In stars, hydrogen atoms fuse to create helium  the second most common element in the universe, according to Encyclopedia.com. Helium has two protons, two neutrons and two electrons. Together, helium and hydrogen make up 99.9 percent of known matter in the universe, according to Encyclopedia.com.

Even so, there is still about 10 times more hydrogen than helium in the universe, Nyman said. Oxygen, the third most common element, is about 1,000 times less abundant than hydrogen, she added.

In general, the higher the atomic number, the less abundant is the element is, Nyman said.

Earth's composition, however, is different from that of the entire universe. For instance, oxygen is the most common element by weight in Earth's crust, followed by silicon, aluminum and iron, according to HyperPhysics, a site run by Georgia State University.

In the human body, the most common element by weight is oxygen, followed by carbon and hydrogen, according to HyperPhysics.

Hydrogen has a number of key roles in the human body. Hydrogen bonds help give DNA its signature twist, and it helps the stomach and other organs maintain the correct pH, or how acidic or basic it is, Nyman said.

"If your stomach gets too basic, hydrogen will be released to what it's bonded to," she said. "If it's too acidic, [hydrogen] will bond to something."

In addition, hydrogen allows ice to float on water (H20) because the hydrogen bonds push the frozen water molecules apart, making them less dense.

"Usually, substances are more dense when they're solid than when they're liquid," Nyman said. "Water is the only substance that is less dense than when it's [a] solid."

However, hydrogen can also be dangerous. Hydrogen gas reacting with oxygen led to the Hindenburg blimp catastrophe that killed 36 people in 1937, according to Airships.net. Moreover, hydrogen bombs can be incredibly destructive, although they have never been used as a weapon, "just demonstrated by the United States, USSR, Great Britain, France and China in the 1950s," Nyman said.

Hydrogen bombs, like atomic bombs, use a combination of nuclear fusion and fission reactions to cause destruction, and release both radiation and mechanical shock waves when detonated, she said.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include information about hydrogen isotopes and to say that H-bombs can release radiation.

Original article on Live Science.
Arianespace is a multinational company with headquarters in France. It was the first commercial firm to offer launch services. Its current launch vehicles are the heavy-launch Ariane 5, the medium-launch Soyuz-2, and the light-launch Vega. A new heavy launcher, Ariane 6, is under development and expected to start operations around 2020.

The company was founded in 1980 with these three goals, according to Arianespace:

Giving independent access to space for Europeans;

Aiming for leadership in commercial space transport;

Offering a wide range of space-based applications, including telecommunications, science, navigation, technology demonstrations and Earth observation.

As of early 2017, the company has sent more than 550 satellites in space. Arianespace is a subsidiary of Airbus Safran Launchers, which has 74 percent of the share capital. The remaining 26 percent is held by 18 shareholders in the European launcher industry.

Companies based in France own the most shares (64.1 percent), followed by German businesses (19.85 percent). The balance is held in small quantities (3.4 percent, or less) by shareholders in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Arianespace launches missions from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

An Ariane 5 rocket launches two communications satellites on Feb. 14, 2017. (Image credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE/Optique Video du CSG  S. MARTIN)

History

The company was created on March 26, 1980. Its first commercial launch services contracts were signed in 1981 with U.S. company GTE Spacenet (now a subsidiary of SageNet, a telecommunications company). By 1984, Arianespace flew the first increased-lift Ariane 3, and also began its commercial space transportation line with the launch of the Spacenet-1 telecommunications satellite.

Preparatory work on the Ariane 5 launcher began in 1985, and development began in 1987. Also around that time, in 1986, France's Spot 1 Earth observation satellite was the first Arianespace mission sent to heliosynchronous orbit, meaning that the orbit has the same period as the sun's rotation.

By the end of the 1980s, the Ariane 1, 2 and 3 launchers had all flown their last missions. Arianespace was opened up to new European partners in 1990. Ariane had its 50th flight in 1992, during the joint launch of the French Telecome 2B and Inmarsat II-F4 telecommunications satellites. The first reconnaissance satellite carried by Ariane, called Helios 1A, flew in 1995.

While Ariane 5's first flight in 1996 ended in failure, a second attempt in 1997 was successful and it was qualified for commercial operations in 1998. Its last failure was in 2002, when the Vulcain 2 main cryogenic engine failed. (As of February 2017, Ariane 5 has flown 91 times with two complete failures, and has flown without a complete loss of the rocket for 15 years.)

Some major milestones in the 2000s include the last flight of Ariane 4 (2003), the launch of the Rosetta comet mission (2004), the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) launch to the International Space Station (2008) and the launch of the Herschel Space Telescope (2009).

Since 2010, Arianespace has launched spacecraft for Europe's Galileo satellite positioning system, debuted the Vega and Soyuz rockets, and completed the ATV launches to the space station. As of February 2017, Vega has flown nine times (all successfully) and Soyuz 42 times (with 41 successes.)

Additional resource
At Space Launch Complex 41 of Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, engineers test the Emergency Egress System - a zip line escape system - that will be available for astronauts riding on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  United Launch Alliance (ULA) has installed a 1,350-foot-long (410 meters) zip line on its Atlas V launchpad in Florida, but the company hopes the new system will never have to be used.

Rather than joyrides, the zip line is intended to give astronauts a superfast way to escape during a launchpad emergency. The system is similar to the slide-wire baskets NASA once used for space shuttle crews.

ULA, which will provide launch services for crews riding aboard Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsules, mulled over several different options, including tracks and a gondola, before settling on a zip-line system and a partner to build it. That partner, Terra-Nova, has designed and built some of the most challenging recreational zip lines around, including an 8,350-foot (2,545 m) ride over Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico, the worlds longest zip line. [Check out more photos ULA's astronaut zip line]

At Space Launch Complex 41 of Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, engineers test the Emergency Egress System - a zip line escape system - that will be available for astronauts riding on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets. (Image credit: NASA)

This week, officials with Terra-Nova, ULA and Boeing gathered with reporters at the edge of the Royal Gorge canyon, southwest of Colorado Springs, where thrill seekers can take a 40-plus-mph (64 km/h) ride on a Terra-Nova zip line suspended 1,250 feet (380 m) over the deepest canyon in Colorado.

To design a launchpad escape system, Terra-Nova built a launch tower mockup at its Utah headquarters and started testing how to adapt its patented system to accommodate the special needs of astronauts, who may be escaping in smoky or other hazardous conditions.

View from the top of United Launch Alliances new zipline emergency-escape system at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

"The ride we understand. It was interfacing the astronauts into the system that was the challenge," said Terra-Nova founder and inventor Eric Cylvick.

The biggest differences between the new zip line at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Pad 41 and Terra-Novas recreational systems are the seats, which are larger to accommodate the astronauts pressurized flight suits and bright orange, so they can be more easily seen.

The company installed five lines at Pad 41, each of which has four seats. So as many as 20 people can escape from the launch complex if necessary. In addition to a typical four-member astronaut crew, Boeing and ULA expect that about six technicians will be on the launchpad to assist the crew into the capsule and close the hatch.

The goal is to be able to evacuate everyone from level 12 of the Crew Access Tower, located 172 feet (52 m) above the launchpad, to the ground, in 90 seconds.

United Launch Alliances emergency zipline system at Floridas Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will allow astronauts to get from the tower to the ground in 90 seconds. (Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

"In a lot of ways, its actually easier than the (shuttle) slide-wire system," said Chris Ferguson, a former NASA astronaut who now oversees Starliner crew and mission operations.

The slide-wire system required three or four people to climb into a basket before it would release and glide to the ground, which made for some complicated logistics, Ferguson said. "This is going to be a whole lot easier."

ULA and Boeing declined to release the systems cost.

NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to begin flying astronauts to the International Space Station in late 2018. When the private spaceships start flying, they will break the monopoly on crew transportation that Russia has held since the space shuttle's 2011 retirement. SpaceX, which plans to fly crew from NASAs Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, has not yet unveiled its crew escape system.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Proximal Drive

NASA/JPL-Caltech

After 13 years of orbiting Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will take a suicidal plunge into the planet on Sept. 15, 2017.



To celebrate the spacecraft's accomplishments and illustrate the mission's final moments, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory created a video animation of Cassini's final months. Here we celebrate some of Cassini's greatest moments in the past, present and future.

Launch

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Cassini-Huygens launched on Oct. 15, 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Huygens was an atmospheric entry probe that Cassini dropped off at Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 2005.

Orbit Insertion

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The spacecraft arrived at the Saturn system on June 30, 2004.

Huygens Landing

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The European Space Agency's Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan on Jan. 14, 2005 after hitching a ride on the much larger Cassini spacecraft.

Iapetus & Saturn

NASA/JPL-Caltech

A view of Saturn from the surface of its third-largest moon Iapetus

Titan

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Cassini has also captured some amazing photos of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

Enceladus Plume

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has also been thoroughly inspected by Cassini over the years. The spacecraft flew by Enceladus 22 times throughout its mission and passed through plumes of liquid water spewing from the moon's surface.

Backlit Saturn

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The sun peeks around Saturn's southern hemisphere in this view from Saturn's shadow. Cassini has returned some of the most incredible close-up views of Saturn to date. [Latest Saturn Photos From NASA's Cassini Orbiter]

Ring Dive

NASA/JPL-Caltech

This illustration shows NASAs Cassini spacecraft about to make one of its dives between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission's Grand Finale.

Ring Crossing

NASA/JPL-Caltech

In November 2016, Cassini kicked off its "grand finale" with the first of 20 ring dives.

Into the Ring Gap

NASA/JPL-Caltech

During Cassini's ring-grazing orbits, the spacecraft will get closer and closer to Saturn and its iconic ring system.
Testing the System

NASA

The United Launch Alliance will use a novel zip line to move astronauts away from the launchpad in case of an emergency with their Atlas V rocket or Boeing Starliner CST-100 spacecraft. See how it works in photos.

This Photo:

Hang Tight

NASA

The Emergency Egress System at Space Launch Complex 41 recently conducted its final test. The system is designed so that in case of emergency, each individual on the Crew Access Tower rides a seat on a slide wire over 1,340 feet to a safe area.

The Ride of a Lifetime

NASA

Each seat on Space Launch Complex 41's Emergency Egress System are connected to wires located on level 12 of the tower, about 172 feet about the pad deck.

Taking Turns

NASA

Space Launch Complex 41 will launch Boeing's CST-100 Starliner atop a ULA Atlas V rocket. The mission to low-Earth orbit includes flying astronauts to the International Space Station.

Recording the Process

NASA

On level 12 of the Crew Access Tower, two engineers prepare for a ride on the Emergency Egress System in order to evaluate how it's working. They will ride on seats connected to a slide wire to a safe area at Space Launch Complex 41.

A Ground-Up View

NASA

From the ground, the cables compose the Emergency Egress System created by United Launch Alliance and Boeing at Space Launch Complex 41. ULA and Boeing prepare the pad to host missions sending the manned Boeing CST-100 Starliner to low-Earth orbit atop a ULA Atlas V. These missions are part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Near the End

NASA

After an almost 1,340 foot ride from level 12 of the Crew Access Tower at Space Launch Complex 41, two engineers evaluate the Emergency Egress System. The system allows for a safe exit from the tower for crewmembers in case of an emergency.

Ride from the Sky

NASA

United Launch Alliance and Boeing continue safety modifications at Space Launch Complex 41 in preparations for launching a CST-100 Starliner atop a ULA Atlas V for missions as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. These two engineers are completing a test of the Emergency Egress System for crew on the Crew Access Tower.

Sliding into Safety

NASA

From atop the Crew Access Tower at Space Launch Complex 41, two engineers ride in folding seats on slide wires to a safe area on the complex as a test of the Emergency Egress System.

Safety Seats

NASA

The final test of the Emergency Egress System at Space Launch Complex 41 was recently completed. These seats, which are part of that system, hang from slide wires on level 12 of the Crew Access Tower. Crew will sit in these seats, in case of an emergency, and ride over 1,340 feet to safety.

Safety and Strength

NASA

The cables that comprise the Emergency Egress System at Space Launch Complex 41 reach nearly 1,500 feet from the top of the Crew Access Tower to a safe area at the complex. The Pad will be used to launch the manned Boeing CST-100 on a ULA Atlas V for missions as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement
Optimization

Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should?

Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

STAMFORD  A trade association is calling on the city to amend an agreement requiring organized labor for the build-out of the New School at Strawberry Hill after just two bids were received.

The bids also exceeded estimates by nearly $17 million, each coming in at roughly $66 million.

Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut blamed the union-only project labor agreement, or PLA, for the lack of competition and cost overruns.

If Stamford wants to attract more competitive bids and bring the project back on budget, they should remove the PLA from the job and rebid the project immediately, Chris Syrek, CT ABCs president, said in a news release.

PLAs are discriminatory contracts designed to discourage open competition and ensure that only union contractors bid on the project, he wrote. There are zero non-union bids on this job and now Stamford taxpayers will be left holding the bill for a school that is over budget.

Proposals for the third  and costliest  phase of the project were due March 31. Its part of an estimated $77 million expansion of the New School at 200 Strawberry Hill, an interdistrict, magnet school that opened last fall as an extension of Rogers International Baccalaureate program.

The project, which is partially funded by a state grant, involves construction of a new wing south of the main building designed to house classrooms, offices, a gym, cafeteria and media center.

Its not clear whether the city plans to negotiate with the existing bidders, cut items from the budget or seek additional funding to increase the projects budget.

Mayor David Martin acknowledged in a statement Tuesday the bids are substantially higher than the cost estimate.

We remain committed to this project and are already working to bring the bid numbers in line with our available funds, he said. There are several different steps we are considering. Right now, we are carefully analyzing the bids as well as our cost estimate to determine what factors might account for the differential. Once we have additional details and information, we will make a determination about how to proceed.

According to a document obtained by The Advocate, a bid by O&G Industries came in at $65.6 million and another by Bismark Construction came in just short of $70 million.

State Sen. Carlo Leone, D-27, said Tuesday he was concerned by those price tags, but was still digesting the information and had not yet discussed it with city officials.

The most important question is to find out why that is, he said. When we secured funding for the city, it was based on the numbers the city gave us. ... Anything more than that might not even be realistic at this point in time.

Martin and Leone would not address Syreks concerns regarding the non-union agreement.

Syrek said his association has been advising the city against the use of PLAs since last year. He said such agreements come with mandates that make it almost impossible for a non-union contractor to bid on a project.

We basically laid the case that these agreements are designed to steer the work and make sure that all the work is done by union labor, Syrek said.

CT ABC wants Stamford to void the agreement and rebid the project. Otherwise, Syrek said, the city will have to cut items from the project or increase its budget.

Either way, the taxpayers of Stamford will end up being the losers, he said.

A public information session scheduled for Thursday to provide an update on the project was canceled Monday morning.

In a February interview, City Engineer Lou Casolo said he hoped a contract would be awarded in April so construction could start in the spring.

The goal is to move students to the new wing when the addition is completed in the summer of 2018. The original 1925 structure would then undergo renovations and the adjacent 1964 building on the north side would be demolished to make room for a new auditorium.

All three structures will be connected once the project is complete. A new grade will be added each year until the school serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade by 2023.

Sharon Beadle, a spokeswoman for Stamford Public Schools, said district officials would not comment because the project is not under their jurisdiction.

noliveira@stamfordadvocate.com, 203-964-2265, @olivnelson
At the IMA Financial Group in Denver, public relations manager James Williams knows firsthand the value of a great intern.

Related: 3 Ways to Make an Internship Invaluable, Regardless of Pay

Last summer, Williams and his office got to enjoy treats an intern made as an expression of that young woman's passion for gluten-free baking. When an IMA sales rep asked for out-of-the-box pitch ideas, Williams, inspired by the intern's recent creation, asked, Why dont we shoot a video analogy about how making gluten-free banana bread is kind of like picking an insurance broker?

Williams and his intern then wrote a script comparing each ingredient to a different component of the complex broker decision. The intern subsequently baked two loaves of bread: one for the video and one for the presentation.

We got the account, with the interns expertise, Williams told me. We highlighted her skills by using them in a way that would benefit the company, our team and her future. She used the example for her portfolio to help her get a job working for an ad agency specializing in organic food brands.

Related: 8 Ways to Create a Strong Internship Program for the Summer

Still not convinced of the value interns can bring to growing companies? Here are five reasons you should see these young up-and-comers as more than mere coffee fetchers:

1. Create a reliable talent pipeline.

When the opportunity arises, Circa Interactive in San Diego often hires past interns into full-time positions.

We know that if they are a good fit culturally, and thrive in their position, it wouldnt make any sense to go outside and hire someone without any experience or training with our company, Caroline Khalili, public relations manager at Circa Interactive, told me. Its a win-win situation.

Build a lasting relationship with your own interns from the beginning. Check in with interns throughout their experience; ensure they are gaining value from their internship. Keep track of interns post-grad goals to help attract them to a full-time position when one opens that aligns with those goals.

Tools like Phenom People can help create this pipeline by building candidate profiles so hiring managers can target and nurture top talent, which may well include past interns.

Also, keep in touch with interns who go back to school so theyll be excited to return full-time after graduating. Reaching out on a regular basis with company insights, full-time job opportunities and exclusive information can give you an effective way to keep former interns in the pipeline.

2. Develop employees at all levels.

Full-time employees can also develop leadership skills by managing interns. This means its not just the students who are learning, but also employees who work for the company already.

Ive had an employee who was at the company for eight months, leading four interns on a project, and he really thrived in the leadership role, Steve Benson, CEO at Badger Maps in San Francisco, told me. I wouldnt have known to fast-track his career in the same way if I hadnt seen him do so well as a leader -- and he wouldnt have had the opportunity without the internship program.

When shaping an internship program, think about how to use it to develop both the interns and the employees leading them. Create growth opportunities for full-time employees who dont typically lead projects, by allowing them to do so with a team of interns. Creating a new chain of mentoring will strengthen the skills of everyone involved.

3. Bridge the skills gap.

As talent becomes increasingly difficult to find, companies can leverage internship programs to groom candidates for those in-demand positions.

A March 2016 PayScale survey of about 64,000 managers and 14,000 recent grads found that while 87 percent of recent grads said they felt prepared for a full-time job, only 50 percent of managers felt the same about them.

Implementing an internship program allows you to secure candidates early on and help them develop the skills they need to succeed in your company, Joyce Russell, president of Adecco Staffing USA in Charlotte, N.C., told me.

Pair interns with a mentor in their desired career path to effectively develop them more directly. Ask the mentors to evaluate what skills the intern currently doesn't have but will need to be successful. Identify these gaps and opportunities at the start of the internship program to make sure these people get the most out of their experience.

4. Innovative problem-solving.

Its good for us to see what the younger generation is capable of, as well as to prepare them to be great future leaders, who may one day come back to us for jobs right out of school, Terence Chatmon, CEO of FCCI in Atlanta, told me.

Because Chatmon's company influences other companies, its staffers strive to help future leaders understand whats important to their careers. They teach their interns that their early jobs are about not only the bottom line, but about forming strong relationships and other core values.

We love to plant seeds for future leaders to share a different perspective on how a company can be led, Chatmon said.

Present interns with challenges similar to those that full-time employees do, and ask them to come up with new solutions. Alternatively, ask the interns to identify a problem they think they can solve. Then, ask them to develop, execute and present their solution to the team.

Giving interns a more open-ended project, in addition to their day-to-day tasks, can spark innovation.

5. Helps your bottom line.

All sales interns at Seismic have a quota. They need to make their numbers just as the full-time inside reps do, Ed Calnan, co-founder and president of Seismic, in Boston, told me.

With this goal in mind, Seismic teaches interns the tactical parts of an effective sales strategy, how the company functions and what the full sales process looks like. Interns then have the same motivation to perform and hit their quotas as full-time employees do.

Interns at Seismic who are successful tend to be those who have a knack for sales; they'll then often end up with an offer to work full-time at the company, which was recently ranked 18th by Entrepreneur for company culture.

Weve structured the program so interns can make a sizable impact to the bottom line and have their efforts felt, Calnan said. Weve had a full summer internship program for three years, and already interns have sourced $500,000 in new revenue for the company. The program pays for itself.

The lesson here? Dont be afraid to give interns responsibilities that impact your bottom line. Most interns, especially recent graduates, look at their experience as not just a resume-builde, but also a way into the workforce.

Related: 5 Reasons You Need Interns to Build Your Business

They're willing to handle the work of a full-time employee -- so let them.

Related:



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
A sos boss Nick Beighton has attempted to draw a line under a row over conditions at its Barnsley warehouse, saying he expected no further steps after a visit from MPs.

The online fashion firm has been targeted by unions after reports alleged Barnsley staff work in highly pressured conditions and often go without regular loo or water breaks.

MPs promised to investigate and Beighton said he hosted six politicians at the premises a fortnight ago. As far as Im concerned there is nothing to resolve, so there are no next steps that I am expecting.

Asos has been pushing its ethical credentials, taking the rare step of publishing the factories that it uses worldwide, and Beighton said it had doubled resources dedicated to tackling supply-chain issues.

Asos reported a 37% leap in revenue to 911.5 million in the six months to February 28, and pre-tax profits rose 14% to 27.3 million. Margins were dented as it cut prices abroad and absorbed the impact of the weaker pound. Beighton said Asos would do its utmost to hold prices for UK customers.

The company lifted guidance for full-year sales growth to between 30% and 35%, but high expectations and the lack of a similar upgrade to profits appeared to hit shares, which fell 306p, or more than 5%, to 5674.9p.
T wo of the worst taxes in our fiscal universe are levied against real estate occupiers and purchasers. Business rates and stamp duty. Both should be changed radically or abolished.

Business rates penalise business and do not correlate directly to their original purpose or intended use. They are unfair and inefficient. The appeal system is time consuming, inaccurate and expensive to operate.

Stamp duty is simply an anti-investment, equity tax, which makes no sense, as it has to be cash funded by a purchaser of a new house.

The previous governments foray to increase stamp duty on expensive houses was for political gain but sacrificing future investment and putting the dream of housing-for-all back a decade or more.

Combined with the planning system delaying development at scale and layering costs on the developer at the same time, any realistic chance of Sadiq Khan achieving the housing targets he has set himself in his first term as Mayor has disappeared.

This is an industry that is one of the most socially responsible business sectors and employs hundreds of thousands of people across all geographies and demographics in construction, management, design, finance, consultancy and manufacturing. It also takes substantial risk in delivering regeneration. The sector is facing real challenges from the stamp duty rise.

So why is increasing stamp duty such a big issue? After all, it is the wealthy purchaser that pays, not the developer. To stimulate investment, there has to be a low barrier to entry and healthy demand. The problem is that the tax reduces liquidity and weakens investment.

This tax manifests itself most noticeably in London, especially as the capital, with only 13.4% of UK housing transactions, accounts for 46.1% of all stamp duty receipts.

A large and unexpected increase in a purchasers cost of acquisition (that cannot be financed by borrowing) exponentially diminishes the desire of the purchaser to buy, it slows residential sales, slows realisation of profits and, in some cases, reduces the sales price achievable.

Implement this change in the middle of a new construction project where developers capital is already committed and the developer is writing down profits and is deterred from building again.

Where this becomes more political than financial is the social impact. With every new development local authorities secure additional benefits as part of the planning permission, including new affordable housing units. New residential schemes underwrite a very significant proportion of affordable housing units in London.

The industry data experts Molior reported a 25% fall in residential development starts across inner London in 2016 versus 2015, a decline that coincides with the recent hikes in stamp duty.

That also means a substantial reduction in the delivery of associated affordable housing units that are desperately needed.

There is little prospect of these being started soon because the developers are unclear as to what fiscal plans the government might have, whether Khan will impose more stringent rules on planning, whether the local authorities will be able to permit anything without a call in from the Mayor or a judicial review and how long it will take to get through a punishingly slow planning system.

Leave it too long and the undersupply of new housing will fuel more house price growth, exactly what the government wishes to avoid.

So this is what the politicians need to do:

Change business rates to a tax that is predictable and fairly reflects the costs of services provided by local government to local business;

Abolish stamp duty;

Let the markets find their feet;

Concentrate on strategic policy that empowers;

Make it a good Brexit;

Allow investors to invest with certainty of the fiscal outcome.

If the politicians reduce these hurdles, the houses will come and so will the tax revenue. It is a massively capital-intensive process with extended timescales (due largely to planning delays) that stretch investors ability to manage risk to the limits.

Taxing individuals equity on transactions is going to reduce pace and volume of delivery. Taxing developers through a commitment to build more affordable housing is the way forward.

Our property industry can help to solve the housing crisis, just as it is intent on solving youth homelessness through LandAid, the property industry charity. Just give it room to function, acknowledge its massive investment, its deep expertise and support its growth while securing a tangible commitment to deliver ambitious housing targets. Dont tax investment.

Mike Hussey is chief executive of West End property developer Almacantar
A s the April 5 deadline looms, make sure youve invested your money in a savings account thats right for you

You have until the end of tomorrow, Wednesday 5 April, to take advantage of your Isa allowance for the current tax year. But there may not be a need to panic as you have a new tax-free Isa allowance starting on Thursday  and its almost a third higher.

The amount of money you can stash in an Isa is climbing from 15,240 for the 2016-17 tax year to 20,000 for 2017-18.

If you have a sizeable chunk of cash to invest that means you could use an Isa to shelter more than 35,000 worth of funds and shares from tax demands in the next few days, but you will need to move fast to claim the current years allowance.

The deadline is midnight tomorrow, although youd be wise to start a few hours earlier than that to ensure your application can be processed by the deadline.

Whether or not you feel you need to act by tomorrow, its a good time to take stock of your Isa holdings, assuming you have a stocks and shares Isa. If youve invested in previous years, have another look at the funds you chose: are they still on track for you and performing well?

Mark Taylor, of investment platform Selftrade, reckons its important to identify any underperforming funds and switch your savings out of them.

These are not funds that have had a rough few months, but ones that are consistent bad performers against their benchmark year-on-year, and more tellingly, against their peers, he advises.

It can be difficult to ditch favourite funds in the hope they recover, but as Taylor says: Sometimes in a drought, its best to seek water elsewhere.

It could also be a time to go back to basics and consider what type of investor you are. Understanding your own risk appetite and tolerance is a key part of a successful investment plan, says Brian Dennehy, of FundExpert.co.uk.

He suggests starting with a blank piece of paper and writing down what you think about risk.

For instance, if youve only ever been comfortable with having savings in a bank or building society but now want better returns, Dennehy says youre a cautious investor and should tread carefully with low-risk funds or bonds.

If you understand the nature of stock market fluctuation and risk then he reckons youre a relaxed investor and could think about equity income funds and investments in major global stock markets.

But if youre prepared to take greater risks and have experience of market falls as well as rises then youre an adventurous investor and could consider emerging market funds or specialist areas such as China.

Recognising what type of investor you are is difficult, but its crucial to ensure you invest in the right type of funds, he adds.

Case study: The Londoner eyeing a lifetime ISA

Paul Surtado, of north London, opened a Help to Buy Isa when they were launched in 2015. Since then, the account assistant has saved 2,000 a year in the account eager for a 25% government bonus when he buys a home.

But now hes looking forward to the launch of the Lifetime Isa on Thursday. He plans to switch his Help to Buy cash Isa with the Halifax into a stocks and shares Lifetime Isa with Nutmeg.

There are two main reasons, Surtado explains. First the limit on the amount you can put into a Lifetime Isa is higher than a Help to Buy Isa.

The annual limit on the new Isa is 4,000, compared to the 2,400 on the Help to Buy Isa.

But second, Im conscious that stock market gains can be larger than interest on savings and as Im planning to save for another five years, I reckon I can get better returns with an equity Isa, he adds.

Hes right, but theres also the risk that shares could struggle, meaning savings may not grow as much as you hope and could even shrink.
P anmure Gordon chief executive Patric Johnson on Tuesday warned that the competitive environment for small and medium-sized City brokers is the toughest for more than 30 years.

As his firm swung dramatically back into the black and readied itself for a takeover from a Bob Diamond-led investment vehicle, Johnson wondered how long rivals could keep going.

With costs going up because of tighter regulations and clients on a cost- cutting drive, brokers are locked in one of the most competitive landscapes I have seen the City of London face in the past 35 years, broking veteran Johnson said.

A shake-out in the sector has long been predicted. It never ceases to amaze me how many firms are hanging on by a thread, said Johnson.

Panmure itself looks stronger. It turned a profit of 1.1 million for 2016, compared with a loss of 16.7 million for 2015. Johnson has cut staff numbers from 130 to 100, but hopes that it is the end of the cull.

If your performance is good, there is nothing to worry about. We had to put a little bit of pressure on individuals, he said. Asked what staff bonuses were for the year, he replied: Interesting.

City traders say there is rising anger at many firms that banks are making big profits but that bonuses are being kept low.

At Panmure, revenue per employee rose from 181,000 to 207,000.

Over the year, Panmure helped clients to raise 700 million. Corporate finance fees rose 41% to 18 million, trading fees rose 22% to 28 million.

Panmure has accepted a 100p-a-share offer from Atlas Merchant Capital, founded by former Barclays boss Diamond, once dubbed the unacceptable face of banking.

That offer values the firm, a 140-year-old City stalwart that once employed David Camerons father, at 15.5 million. The Qatari royal family will maintain its 43% holding.

Johnson couldnt say much about the deal today beyond: We are excited about the recent offer.

Chairman Andrew Adcock said the deal opens an exciting chapter for the company that will make it easier to raise capital to grow the business and aid clients.

Panmures future is to focus on quality clients and move to a partnership-style structure internally to encourage staff, says the chief executive.

There are some pretty serious challenges ahead he told the Standard. We are likely to see some firms falling by the wayside.

Though the year has started well, the firm warned of a continued decline in trading volumes and the backdrop of Brexit which will ensure that the coming two years will remain challenging.

Panmure has been involved in nine deals in the first quarter and says its pipeline for commission and trading income was progressing well.
I t makes you proud to be British, doesnt it? Our buccaneering ministers have scrambled across the world this week, scanning the distant shores beyond Europe and planting the flag in capitals from New Delhi to Manila.

The Chancellor is busy pushing the case for British fintech in India, the trade secretary is off to Malaysia and the Philippines. Theresa May herself is in the Gulf.

Its enough to make you start humming the Dambusters March and hankering after the days of Empire.

Im glad theyre out there trying to do business. But lets not forget that this is a spin job, a piece of clunking choreography for the aftermath of the triggering of Article 50 last week. When facts intervene, the picture is less comfortable. Lets take a look at the countries our cabinet ministers are visiting.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 1.5% of the UKs exports last year, and India 1.2%.

As for Malaysia and Indonesia, they clock in at 0.5% and 0.2%. The Philippines isnt even big enough to register in the Office for National Statistics top 50 UK export destinations.

So whats happening here is ministers banging the drum in destinations accounting for less than 4% of our exports; that is, less than half the amount we sell to Germany (10.9% of exports alone) and well below our other European Union partners in France, the Netherlands and Ireland (all more than 5% of our export sales).

Theres no great magic in this, simply the fact that economic common sense dictates that you tend to trade more with countries that are nearer. Its cheaper for starters. How much more business will we have to do with these tiny trade partners thousands of miles away to make up for hobbling ourselves on our own doorstep with the EU?

The sooner we get on with it the better, then, hardened Brexiteers might say. But on the other side of the coin, our own appeal as a business destination is on the wane.

In the eyes of overseas firms, weve fallen from first to fifth in the international rankings on tax competitiveness, according to an extensive KPMG survey.

More worryingly still, KPMG finds the number of companies looking to move parts of their business into the UK, a crucial source of foreign direct investment, has dwindled this year.

The results point to a possible net outflow of activity from the UK in 2017 and beyond and falling business investment.

Thats understandable when firms have no idea what the UK tax, trade, regulatory and employment landscape will look like after March 2019.

And its a problem that will take more than a few tokenistic trade jollies to solve.
L ondoners will feel acute sympathy and solidarity with the people of St Petersburg in the wake of the Metro bombing: it killed at least 14 people, injured 49 and might have been even worse if security officers had not found and dismantled a second, bigger device.

The 7/7 Tube and bus bombings have left their mark on us, and if we needed a reminder of the terrifyingly arbitrary character of modern terrorism, the Westminster attacks last month  even lower tech than those in St Petersburg  provided it.

The list of victims is heartbreakingly random  a mother who sacrificed herself to protect her daughter; a teenager visiting from Siberia; a doll-maker.

It appears that the suspect (there may also have been an accomplice) was an Islamist from Kyrgyzstan who had acquired Russian citizenship. In Russia, terrorism has a double face; it may involve individuals from former Soviet republics, usually Chechnya, or jihadists linked to Islamic State, or both.

This attack seems to have had an overtly political aspect, being timed to coincide with a visit by Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, to his home city. Jihadists have a continuing grievance against the Russian state for its involvement in the conflict in Syria, which includes fighting Islamic State in its Raqqa stronghold.

President Trump has called the Russian President to express his sympathy following the bombing; they agreed on the urgency of defeating terrorism.

Yet this atrocity reminded us of two truisms about it: that intelligence is crucial (it appears the secret services may have been monitoring the phone calls of suspected jihadists prior to the attack) and that any big city is hugely vulnerable, not least its public transport system. St Petersburg is susceptible for the same reason as London: because it is big, busy and open.

The alternative, to have ubiquitous security screening, is inimical to our way of life. We must all be vigilant now: it is the price of living in a great, global city.

Getting tough on diesel

It is by now abundantly clear that the Government was wrong in the early years of the last decade to incentivise drivers in cities to buy diesel cars.

Today Sir David King, Tony Blairs chief scientific adviser, has admitted as much, arguing that lab tests carried out by the car industry gave a misleading impression of engine emission levels. Worryingly, he suggests that a large number of diesel-fuelled vehicles on Londons roads emit pollutants up to 12 times the permitted limit.

Given all this, it is absolutely right that the Mayor has decided to bring forward the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone to April 2019.

The scheme, which will see drivers of highly polluting vehicles pay a 12.50 daily surcharge, will be restricted to central London initially but should quickly expand.

Drivers of diesel-powered cars may feel hard done by as a consequence of the early introduction of the initiative  but time is of the essence if we are to stop pollution from cutting more lives short.

2012 revisited

The opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics set the tone for the glorious Games which followed, displaying the best of British culture in a dazzling production by Danny Boyle.

Now Boyle is reuniting with the choreographers he worked with in 2012 under the banner of a new BBC and Arts Council-backed project, Culture UK, which aims to unite Britain once again through cultural engagement.

With questions of national identity to the fore, this is a timely reminder of the power of the arts to express it.
T he row over Gibraltar is blue on blue. If you had to create Brexit Utopia, it might look a little like Gibraltar. Union Jackwaving, obsessed by sovereignty, expert on financial services. It is Nigel Farage in geological form.

Except awkwardly, Gibraltars main market is Europe, so it voted massively Remain.

Romantic Brexiteers hope we are about to see a return of the Elizabethan age and it certainly looks as if we may need our navy after all.

Tory patriots are calling for a re-commissioning of Britannia as a symbol of our island race.

If we dont patch things up with Spain we might call for the full Armada. In other ways the country feels Elizabethan. Women head the country.

The royal family has been dispatched to make alliances around Europe, just as the Government is smashing them up.

Meghan Markle is a lovely girl but have we considered Princess Elisabeth of Belgium at this delicate juncture? On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this year, we are once again upturning foreign powers.

Once we had the Lollards, now we have Douglas Carswell, both eventually tamed into the Anglican Church and the Conservative Party.

We are as keen on chocolate and coffee as we were in the Elizabethan age and we still perform Shakespeare.

This is also an age of exploration, although technological rather than territorial. I have tried various ways of getting along with Brexit, as a Remain voter.

The first is that this was a democratic vote and wed better make the best of it. Slightly pursed tone, no? Next, that the metropolitan elite was heading for a pasting so this is a period of re-balancing. A bit mean-spirited.

My latest mood is one of Elizabethan adventure. I have no idea where Brexit will take us but it will be interesting to see how historians classify the age that we are in.

This sentiment is best expressed as: sod it. It is in keeping with the times that the Gibraltar issue hit us apparently from nowhere. The next years will be full of surprises.

As Douglas Carswell argues in his new book, Rebel, politics has never been so unpredictable. A local restaurateur shrugged to me that he expects to forfeit some customers but that authenticity will prevail. The tide will take out the scum, he said.

Carswell al so talks of taking down the banksters, seeing off the oligarchs, tackling the parasites and cleaning up capitalism. Who knows what Liam Fox-Drake will bring back from his trade tours. He may come back with treasure or empty-handed. We are taking a gamble (something Gibraltar knows all about).

If this is an age of buccaneers we need not worry too much about governmentto- government relations.

Carswell writes: The engine of our own progress sits within ourselves. In other words, in the new Brexit world we will have to make our own luck.

We may even produce a second Shakespeare.

Stress is going right down the working chain

In June, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, is bringing out his much-anticipated report on the British workforce post-Brexit.

How do we learn to become more productive? An unforeseen consequence of immigration  Tony Blairs Gibraltar, if you like  was the debilitating effect it has had on employment.

A throwaway workforce left us undeveloped apart from the London rocket.

One detail gives us a glimpse of the changing nature of work. Stress used to be associated with high-end jobs.

To call work stressful was a validation of its status and a justification for a big salary.

This is now being addressed and conversations about work-life balance are common in boardrooms.

According to Taylors research, stress has travelled down the professional scale.

It is most prevalent among the working poor, in the new gig economy. Look out in Taylors report for good practices, and companies which boast a contented workforce.

After years of attention to shareholder value, everyone is going to be talking about human capital.

Caligulas boat set the bar for todays superyachts

Caligulas party boat is to be raised from Lake Nemi, giving us clues to the orgies held on it between AD 37-41.

The boat is described as the first luxury cruise ship and was praised by Suetonius, a kind of Roman Peter York, as featuring, ten banks of oars...the poops of which blazed with jewels.

It makes our own yacht class seem like Quakers. If only Caligula had had access to Instagram. Imagine what a hit he would be.

Intent and tone needs to be considered over David Moyes comments

A late relative used to entertain us with a little ditty: A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be. I am not sure of the origin of this tripartite proverb but I dont think it would fly nowadays.

The policing of language is punitive.

When I read about Sunderland manager David Moyess remarks to BBC reporter Vicki Sparks  You might get a slap even though youre a woman  I was as indignant as the rest.

Was he threatening her with violence for doing her job? Then watch the video  Moyes and the reporter are laughing (though perhaps there is a hint of anxiety in her laughter?).

He is teasing her about a question.

There is a deeper theme to the language of violence towards women because  as one Scottish woman writer put it  women always dread the sound of footsteps behind them on a dark road.

But intent and tone must be considered.
W elcome to Londons new police chief, Cressida Dick, who takes over next week from Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. As such she must understand that she is leaving the police service and entering politics. She must therefore decide who is her boss  the Home Secretary or the people of London.

Met chiefs tend to alternate between hard cops and soft cops.

Hogan-Howe was regarded as hard. Dicks private- school and Oxford background risk her being seen as soft. But her long commitment to the London force and her popularity within it gives her a good start.

Can she drag the force into the 21st century? Could she be the first chief since Sir Robert Mark in the Seventies to take on the Mets heavy mob and beat it? He said he would reform the corrupt CID to put a stop to bank robberies, and did both.

The Met has become a para-political Praetorian Guard, seeing its duty as service to the career of the Home Secretary of the day. In return its pay and archaic practices are protected. Its bosses live in a world of headline targets, glamour operations and blackmailed resources.

Theresa May was fierce with the provincial police but did little to the Met beyond ease some targets and deny it a few water cannon.

Nothing better illustrated this than the numbers hurled by the Met at the recent Westminster stabbing and its aftermath. Gun-toting cops sprouted across the capital, supposedly to reassure the public. A machine gun nest appeared outside Kensington Palace.

Central Westminster saw what might have been a Police Federation convention. Within hours the police were demanding more money, on top of the 25 million awarded after the Paris and Brussels attacks of last year. Yet May was still able to declare: We are not afraid.

Policing a big modern city is a tough job but we have no sense of the Mets priorities for the two worst performing areas of crime

Policing a big modern city is a tough job but we have no sense of the Mets priorities for the two worst performing areas of crime, gang violence and computer fraud.

Many London communities are appallingly vulnerable to an upsurge in knife violence and gang warfare. Last Septembers school-on-school battle by 100-strong teenage gangs in Bexley was treated as almost commonplace.

And there was no sign of Westminster-style policing last week in Croydon, when a dreadful attack took place by a gang on a Kurdish-Iranian refugee.

This sort of race-based neighbourhood collapse was once associated with New York. It is rife in parts of London.

While statistics are notoriously hard to read, the evidence is that knife and gun crime is rising and unaffected by periodic high-profile operations such as Trident, whose macho titles conceal a marked lack of results. Home Office research last year found no correlation between knife crime and stop-and-search policing.

The Met seems at a loss against the 200-odd London gangs, merely applying a sticking plaster over each successive catastrophe. The 2015 Shield scheme, aimed at getting inside the culture of the gangs, received less money, 200,000, than the Met devoted to exonerating its own staff in the Andrew Mitchell Plebgate affair.

As for computer fraud, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Tom Winsor, recently came close to ridiculing the Met for a lack of competence.

He offered an image of PC Plod waving a night-stick and handcuffs at his computer. This new area of crime, said Winsor, does not need a traditionally trained cop, more a back-office nerd. The same goes for most modern white-collar crime.

The truth is that such crime wins no headlines. Over the past decade the Met has instead been fixated with high-profile marquee operations, as budget-draining as they are bizarre. Some 30 million was blown on tracking down journalists phone-tapping.

A similar sum went on the ludicrously implausible Nick and his celebrity sex fantasies. The Met makes periodic gestures to curb so-called illegals, such as last weeks incarceration of shop worker Stojan Jankovic, a Kentish Town resident for a quarter of a century. It is still hunting for Madeleine McCann at public expense.

Scotland Yards multifarious specialist units, reportedly 107 of them, are depicted by Winsor as insular, protective and defensive. Some are like the private armies in The Night Manager.

When David Cameron tried to stand down Tony Blairs whistling police outriders, they claimed they were indispensable to protect not just him but his bodyguards.

Another paramilitary outfit called Operation Hercules staged a private photo-call in Hyde Park last year, clad in camouflage and dripping with weaponry. They are as much use against terrorism as Lord Carringtons bodyguard, who gets to kill the chap who kills me.

In other words, Dick is taking over an empire ill-structured to police a modern city. She must redirect its attention from its political clients to the communities and people of London.

An early test will be whether she can meet the challenge of a previous chief, Sir Paul Stephenson, and get single-patrol officers back on the beat. She may have to respond sensibly to pressure to legalise drugs, and pressure to police the internet. She can no longer ignore Londons gang culture or its proliferating money launderers and financial crooks.

Above all, she must fight her way through the Mets maze of accountability

Above all, Dick must fight her way through the Mets maze of accountability. Stephenson complained that he had 20 separate bosses. As public services continue to decline, local police officers are having to take on ever wider community responsibilities, from family breakdown to mental health issues. Barely 10 per cent of their time is spent on crime.

Public faith in the police has fallen from 82 per cent in 2003 to 65 per cent last year. The Mets love of guns, cars and headlines will not restore that faith.

Dick has to lead her regiments back into their communities, which is where all crime and social misery begins. That is her job, and it wont be easy.
Review at a glance









E ach work in Queer British Art conveys some sort of experience of sexual difference. Some of the artists were gay, some may have been and some werent. The shows time limits are 1861, the lifting of the death penalty for sodomy, and 1967, when sex between consenting men over 21 was decriminalised in England and Wales.

The first couple of rooms feature late Victorian Neoclassical scenes. This kind of art, with its crisp outlines, anatomically accurate drawing, complex geometric compositions and magnificently designed gold frames, is likely to be impressive anyway. But it is delicious to realise, as well, that chosen examples are not about the highest and noblest ideals only. They are also about lightly hidden buggering and snogging.

They have fabulous titles such as Hope Comforting Love in Bondage, and Aurora Triumphans. The first of these was created by a man, Sidney Harold Meteyard, the second by a woman, Evelyn De Morgan. There is no evidence that either of them was gay though each depicts unusual longing.

Meteyards picture, exhibited in 1901, shows a pseudo-classical scene, actually made up by the artist. A rejected female looks quizzically at a male whose face is turned away. This is Eros, a beautiful young man with a sad expression who is decorated with flowers but restrained by severely tight bonds. Its the famous love that darent speak its name.

De Morgan, on the other hand, trumpets it to the heavens in a picture of dawn gently slipping from the bonds of night. A goddess in dark drapery represents Night while Dawn, also female, is radiantly nude. Further strapping goddesses blast-off a morning symphony on golden instruments.

De Morgan used a model called Jane Hales. She was hired as nursemaid to De Morgans sister in 1866. By the time of this painting, 1878, Hales was still in the De Morgan household and had been painted naked by De Morgan many times.

De Morgan was married but it is possible that the figures of Dawn and Night stand for a long-sustained love affair between mistress and servant (Dawns bonds are light and flower-strewn and she stares across the painting at Night). Surprisingly, an upper-echelon wife with female lovers wasnt an unknown arrangement in this period. An essay in the catalogue reveals that the wife of Edward Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883-96, went in for it.

Britain Queer exhibition opens at Tate Britain

William Blake Richmonds The Bowlers, 1870, was criticised for being over-sexy heterosexually as well as for its offensively homosexual intimations. Of the 15 figures depicted, most are nude or semi-nude. Homosexuality is subtly present in the way women are confined in one pictorial zone and men another.

A more obvious element is in the bodily actions: two males bend over suggestively and there is even a youth posed besides one of them to suggest the dominant sexual position. The figures are displaced spatially so its a hint not an outright statement.

Some of the poses in The Bowlers would be recognisable by Victorian viewers from classical statues seen in museums in Europe. Classicism is loaded in Victorian art where there might be an undercurrent of sexual drift. This is because knowledge of the culture of antiquity had two contradictory associations for Victorians. One, as the catalogue puts it, was the foundations of British civil culture: philosophy, law, morality, even aesthetics itself. The other was aberrant sexuality.

That the latter was present in The Bowlers was complained about in dainty language. A critic spoke of a certain indulgent state of mind. Dismay at excessive sexiness  simply too much nudity  was expressed directly. Lady Frederick Cavendish described the painting as depicting ancients playing at bowls with nothing on, which I cannot appreciate.

A painting of the birth of Venus by Walter Crane, from 1877, seems a typical male fantasy since all the figures in it are naked women. But male fantasies of a different kind pertain, since the model for the goddess of love was actually a famously beautiful youth, Alessandro De Marco. His androgynous appeal was recognised by another painter, W G Robertson, who wrote: Shes a fine upstanding slip of a boy.

Throughout the 1860s Simeon Solomon was one of the most successful artists in Britain, even though he was criticised for unwholesomeness and effeminacy. His picture here from the middle of the decade showing Sappho embracing her lover Erinna is intriguing precisely because it wasnt controversial. Art representing same-sex love between women was harmless if there was a classical context. Legally, male homosexuality was outlawed but female wasnt, because it just couldnt possibly exist, it was considered, from the point of view of the common people. Or if it did exist it was thought that having a law about it might give it too much attention.

Solomons career crashed because of his homosexuality. His first arrest was in 1873 in London for soliciting in a public lavatory, followed by another in Paris for the same thing. (In London he was charged with attempted buggery and in Paris for indecent touching.) The papers reported that his sexuality was an illness. The show includes works from the last period of his life but during it he was a social outcast. The art world was semi-bohemian but after the scandal of his imprisonment he could not be allowed to re-enter it.

Something wrong  exhibition-wise rather than psychosexually  sets in after this initial rewarding section. Gender-bending experimentation comes across in myriad ways but with diminishing returns. The curators get lost in Modernisms stylistic variety.

That is not to say there is nothing visually intense on display  magnificent oil paintings and gouaches by Keith Vaughan from the early Sixties in particular stand out  but no works by individual artists ever seem to be visually enhanced by other artists works in the same room. Or by the many documents and relics featured. Because the show loses visual focus the rooms get more and more tiring.

The last one is mostly devoted, with underwhelming results, to a couple of works each by David Hockney and Francis Bacon. Suppressing yawns by this point, few viewers will be likely to care when the explanatory wall label announces that a Bacon exhibition in 1955 was investigated by police for obscenity, and that Hockney once called his early work propaganda for homosexuality. Sadly the show tears itself apart between a narrative and an aesthetic experience.

Queer British Art 1861-1967 is at Tate Britain, SW1 from tomorrow; tate.org.uk
A stellar roster of super-chefs boasting more than 40 Michelin stars have signed up to work in a London community kitchen for vulnerable people.

Some of the biggest names in Londons culinary world including Monica Galetti, Michel Roux Jr, Jason Atherton, Clare Smyth, Angela Hartnett and Nuno Mendes have volunteered to work a shift at Refettorio Felix this summer.

More than 30 chefs will cook lunch for homeless and vulnerable people using surplus food from supermarkets sourced by the Felix Project charity. Each will improvise menus based on what ingredients are available on the day, and work from 8am until the lunch sitting is finished at 2pm, when they will sit down and eat with volunteers.

The aim is to serve more than 2,000 meals using five tonnes of food. The idea was conceived by Italys three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura. It is based on similar refectories set up by his Food for Soul charity in Milan and Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Bottura will be the chef in the community kitchen when it opens at a still undisclosed location on June 5. Each of the other volunteers will run the kitchen for a day through to early July.

The second day will be supervised by one of the worlds most decorated chefs, Alain Ducasse, along with his executive chef at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, Jean-Philippe Blondet.

Other confirmed names include Ashley Palmer-Watts of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal; The Ledburys Brett Graham; Claude Bosi, who ran Mayfairs Hibiscus until last year; and Daniel Boulud, the restaurateur who runs Bar Boulud in Knightsbridge.

The Felix Project, inspired by Felix Byam Shaw, is backed by the Evening Standards campaign to tackle food waste and hunger.

It will supply the ingredients, which otherwise would have ended up as waste, to Refettorio Felix.

Volunteer Francesco Mazzei  who is chef patron at Mayfairs Sartoria and opens new venue Radici in Islington this month  said: One of the first things you are taught when learning to cook is not to waste food so this is something I take very seriously. The war against waste is a fight we should all be involved in  not just chefs but everyone of all backgrounds and ages.

Atherton added: Its great to work with Massimo and support his vision for Food for Soul. Food waste is a big issue across our industry and this pro-ject will tackle it in a practical way.

Bottura said: I believe we, chefs, can illuminate the most pressing issues facing society. Cooking is a call to act.

After the month-long festival Refettorio Felix will continue to serve meals, prepared by two resident cooks with assistance from more guest chefs.
P ergola on the Roof, set atop the former Television Centre in White City, has become a west London summertime favourite. Now a sister site is launching in Paddington.

Pergola Paddington Central, set over two floors overlooking Paddington basin, will open in May. With the capacity to host up to 850 people for lunch, dinner and drinks, it will become west Londons largest alfresco drinking and dining space.

Read all the latest restaurant news and reviews

The food offering will include burgers from Patty & Bun, also a fixture of the original, Beijing-style dumplings from Mamalan, Mexican from DF/Mexico, and Louisiana-style dishes from Decatur.

For those of a cleaner eating disposition, Raw Press will also be offering a range of healthy vegan and gluten-free salads and juices.

Each restaurant will create a special menu for the duration of their 19-week Pergola residency with dishes capped at 12 to ensure it stays affordable.

There will be plenty of drinks available, along with regular live DJs. The main area will also feature a transparent roof, helping to make the space semi-waterproof in case the summer gets a little bit British.

For those familiar with the queues at many of Londons summer street food spots, the best bit may just be this: you can reserve a space here.

Visit pergolaontheroof.co.uk.
E ver heard of Victor Bouffort? Unless youre the geek to end all geeks, the answer to that question is almost certainly no. And thats a shame, because Bouffort was at least one definition of a genius and a visionary whose output was as eclectic as it was prescient.

The recent Retromobile show in Paris tried to shine on a light on Boufforts achievements. It was a low-wattage light in one of the smaller upstairs rooms, and many showgoers would have walked straight past it, but it was a nice gesture for the family of the publicity-shunning engineer.

By the time he was 20, in 1932, Bouffort had built his own aeroplane. As a wartime supply driver, he concealed many Jewish children in his truck and took them to safety in Switzerland.

After the war, he resolved to build his own cars. All his designs were linked by the common themes of ingenuity and affordability. In response to a commission for a lightweight all-conditions vehicle, he produced a kind of motorised wheelbarrow, the Fardier. This Citroen-powered utility vehicle predated many similar designs by many decades.

After that, Bouffort created the Chenillette, a small tracked vehicle, followed by the larger Bison. His battle to resolve urban congestion started in the 1960s. By 1968 he and his friend Henri Viard had come up with the concept for the Minima, a two-seater city car that was so small, it could park at right angles to the kerb. A working prototype was launched in 1973 but it was too far ahead of its time: there was zero interest from the industry and the project was shelved.

Present on the Retromobile stand were a Bouffort monkey bike, a collection of miniature military vehicles, a three-wheeled racing car concept that was thought to have been lost, and a bright orange Minima thats still owned by Boufforts family.

Tragically Victor Bouffort died around twenty years ago, largely unrecognised but known to those in the know as a very creative and dynamic engineer devoted to improving the lot of his fellow man.

Follow Evening Standard Motors on Twitter and Facebook.
S teeped in history, Soho House Berlin sits in a fascinating building with a bold vision for the future...

Where is it? In the hip Mitte district, close to the coolest restaurants, bars and shops.

Design details: Set over eight floors, the building is awash with neon signs, graffiti style artwork and that signature Soho House rustic charm.

Comprising 65 bedrooms and 20 serviced apartments in a range of sizes and styles, there is something to suit every taste.

There are also four vast lofts  a favourite with the regular celebrity clientele. Velvet fabrics create a sumptuous ambience with a navy, green and blue colour scheme running throughout the property.

What's the history? The Grade II-listed building has a complex past. Designed in the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) style by architects Georg Bauer and Siegfried Friedlander, it began life in the late 1920s as Jonass & Co. a seven-storey department store with a rooftop restaurant. When the store relocated to Alexanderplatz, the vacant building was sold to the Reich Youth Leadership and served as the organisations headquarters under Artur Axmann during the Second World War.

In 1945, the Allies handed control of East Berlin to the Soviet Union and 1 Torstrasse became the seat of the Communist Partys Central Committee, home to party top brass such as Walter Ulbricht and Wilhelm Pieck. In the late 1950s, the ruling SED party moved to a more central Berlin location and the building was converted into the Institute of Marxist-Leninism, its cavernous spaces housing the Central Party Archive.

With the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the descendants of the original Jewish owners succeeded in having the building returned to them under the reparations act. The building then lay vacant for almost a decade. Soho House Berlin opened in 2010.

Which room? The retro style of the 50 sq m 'Big' bedrooms is irresistible. A Twenties inspired shell-like headboard on a king-sized bed, vintage armchairs and a trolley stacked with Cowshed products are among sumptuous touches.

There is also a walk in steam shower, separate freestanding bath and a vanity desk. You will leave feeling pampered and fabulous.

On the menu: a stay at Soho House Berlin includes access to the rooftop members' club. Overlooking Berlin, this is the ideal spot for breakfast.

Pop back up in the evening when the restaurant and bar area turns into a cocktail destination. Lunch at Cecconi's on the ground floor is another must.

Is there a spa? Yes, the lower ground Cowshed spa is home to five comfy manicure and pedicure chairs, private treatment rooms, relaxation pods, a sauna, steam room and a spacious Hamam with basins and a fountain. We suggest booking in for a Cowshed facial.

An enthusiastic therapist will closely examine your skin before deciding on the best treatment. If you are feeling fit, check out Cowshed Active with Technogym equipment and don't forget the rooftop pool.

Best for: a weekend uncovering Berlin's restaurants, bars and cultural scene.

When to go: Berlin comes alive in the summer and the rooftop pool is a must.

How do I book? visit sohohouseberlin.com.

Follow Amira Hashish on Twitter @amiranews and Instagram @thedesigneditor
A child is fighting for life in hospital after being bitten by a dog in Kent.

The child was rushed to a London hospital following the incident in the Jenkins Dale area of Chatham on Tuesday evening.

Police said that two people have been arrested in connection to the incident, while the dog was shot dead to ensure the safety of the public.

The force appealed to members of the public who may have footage of the incident to contact police and not to share it on social media.

Neighbours said they heard a shot fired and saw a child covered with a blanket being carried to an ambulance.

Jaspreet Uppal said: "First I heard a gunshot, there was a dog on the floor. A few officers carried out a child from the back area of the flats. There is a little park there. I could not see the child, they were covered. I think they were quite small."

Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said on Twitter: "Horrible news from Chatham this evening. My thoughts and prayers are with the child and their family tonight."

A Kent police spokesman said: Kent Police was called at 5.26pm on Tuesday 4 April 2017 to an incident where a child had been bitten by a dog, sustaining life threatening injuries, in the Jenkins Dale area of Chatham.

Officers, including firearms officers, attended and to ensure public safety the dog was shot dead.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Service also attended and the injured child has been taken to a London hospital in a critical condition.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the incident and they have been taken into custody while enquiries into the incident continue.
E ight people including a 15-year-old boy appeared in court today following an alleged hate crime attack which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for life.

Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and attacked while at a bus stop with two others in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

He was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleed to the brain, and is now recovering after being placed in an induced coma.

Liam Neylen, 19, Ellie Leite, 19, Kyran Evans, 23, all from Croydon, and James Neves, 22, of Beckenham, south-east London, spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, where they were charged with violent disorder.

Liam Neylen, 19, (right) leaves a hearing at Croydon Magistrates' Court. He is charged with violent disorder / PA

Ben Harman, 20, from Croydon, was charged with violent disorder and dangerous driving.

A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl - both from the Croydon area - were charged with violent disorder.

James Neves, 22 (centre), leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court, where he is amongst a group charged with violent disorder / PA

A third youth, a 17-year-old boy from the Croydon area, was charged with violent disorder and wounding with intent.

All eight defendants were granted conditional bail and magistrate Terry Carpenter sent the case for trial at Croydon Crown Court on May 2.

It takes the total amount of suspects accused of involvement with the attack to 13, after five people, including two sets of siblings, appeared in court on Monday.

On Tuesday, District Judge Robert Roscoe amended an order from Mr Carpenter banning the identification of the victim following representations from the media.

Kyran Evans, 23 (right), leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court, where he is among a group charged with violent disorder / PA

On Monday, Daryl Davis, 20, his sister Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and his brother Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, appeared in court charged with violent disorder relating to the same incident.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and the Davis siblings were released on conditional bail.

Ben Harman, 20, leaves Croydon Magistrates' Court, where he is amongst a group charged with violent disorder / PA

George Walder was remanded in custody.

They will appear at Croydon Crown Court on May 1.

Additional reporting by PA.
A teenage asylum seeker who was beaten by up to 20 thugs in an alleged hate crime attack had told a friend just 30 minutes earlier how lucky he felt to be in the UK.

Reker Ahmed, 17, suffered a fractured eye socket, fractured spine and blood clot on his brain after attackers stamped on his head during the late-night assault at a bus stop near his foster home in Croydon.

The Kurdish Iranian teenagers two friends, Dilshad Mohammed and Hamo Mustafa, escaped with minor injuries after the attack which is believed to have started after the attackers learned the trio were asylum seekers.

One of them today told the Croydon Advertiser: "He told us about half an hour before that when he was back home [in Iran] he was wishing to get to this country, to England, and he was thinking, 'that's all my wishes coming true, I'm here now'.

"He was an open guy, he made his friends happy.

Investigation: Police search the bushes for evidence / London Live

Speaking through a translator, he told the paper that he and the other friend managed to escape the attackers and called the police.

Once they decided it was safe to return to the bus stop, on Shirleys Shrublands estate, they found their friend on the floor unrecognisable from his injuries.

Mr Mohammed, who lives in Hounslow, added: "None of us are going to go back there to that place. We came here to be safe in this country, not to die.

Cordon: The attack happened outside a pub / London Live

"If I'd have known the UK was like that I wouldn't have come."

Mr Ahmed remained in hospital today in a serious condition as police continued to hunt a dozen or more suspects.

Five people appeared at Croydon magistrates court yesterday charged with violent disorder, with one also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Today the Met said a further eight people had been charged in connection with the incident and were due to appear in court. The eight included a boy, 15, and girl, 19, who were charged with violent disorder.

Members of Croydons Kurdish community said the victim had arrived in the UK less than a year ago. Mohammed Qardi, 22, had seen Mr Ahmed at the Middle East Shisha tea house in West Croydon. He said: Hes a quiet person, hes not really talking to everybody. You can see people from their face  hes not a bad guy, hes not looking for trouble.

He was going to college, coming back, going home. Or sometimes he would come here, play some dominoes, drink something and then go.

Were not happy with what has happened to him. They have to sort this out because maybe more people will get racist about refugees coming here.
T wo 14-year-old schoolgirls were rushed to hospital after a double stabbing on a quiet road in east London.

Police and paramedics raced to the scene of the incident in Dagenham on Monday evening after receiving reports of two females with stab injuries.

The girls  both believed to aged around 14  were taken to hospital.

One had been knifed in the hand and the other in the foot, Scotland Yard said.

Both were treated in hospital and have since been discharged.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: Police are investigating to establish the circumstances.

There has been no arrests.
A jeweller accused of murdering her boyfriend said he was obsessed with Charles Bronson and would mimic the notorious prisoner during bouts of domestic abuse, a court heard.

Elizabeth Hart-Browne, 27, allegedly stabbed to death partner-of-six years Stephen Rayner with a large kitchen knife after a string of rows about him having an affair.

However, the mother-of-two, giving evidence at the Old Bailey, told jurors Mr Rayner was an abusive boyfriend who subjected her to violence and death threats.

Hart-Browne described an incident in October 2015 when she said Rayner adopted the voice of Charles Bronson while trying to kick his way into her home in Acton.

He had a fascination with Charles Bronson, he liked his attitude, she said.

Notorious: Prisoner Charles Bronson / Rex

He is Britains most notorious prisoner and he liked his aggression  there were a lot of stories about him in prison attacking other prisoners and prison guards.

He tried to take on that persona sometimes when he was angry, his whole accent changed, his whole body changed.

I wouldnt get through to him no matter how hard I tried.

Hart-Browne said she refused to let Mr Rayner into the home after he had turned up drunk and demanded to take her children out for the day.

He was kicking the door, punching a window, being verbally abusive, shouting he is going to kill me when he gets in, she said.

She summoned her mother to help, and then called police after Mr Rayner started throwing rocks at the windows.

My mum tried to calm him down and he started to threaten her as well, she said. My mum really believed that if he got into the house he would kill me.

Hart-Browne, who was the assistant manager at Ernest Jones flagship jewellery store in the Westfield shopping centre, stabbed Mr Rayner three times - including a fatal blow to the neck - on September 17 last year, after returning from a party where she had been drinking champagne.

She told jurors she fell in love with Mr Rayner after they met in a bar in 2010, and insisted she was happy in the relationship despite detailing a catalogue of domestic abuse.

Earlier, she revealed she had taken out a life insurance policy in 2015 because of quite routine abuse from Rayner, including an incident in January 2015 when she says she was punched and bitten on the nose.

"Stephen got very angry. He was punching me and then he bit my nose. He had his hands around my throat, she said.

"I pushed him and scratched his face to get him off me. He just got up and walked out."

She said she took out the insurance policy because I got increasingly scared for my safety adding: I believed I was in danger of him killing me and I didn't want my kids to be left with nothing.

Hart-Browne, of Nightingale Road, Acton, denies murder.

The trial continues.
T his was the moment police boarded a plane to arrest two barbaric thugs who poured boiling water over an elderly couple in a terrifying raid on their home.

Footage shows police gaining access to a plane at Heathrow to arrest them as they returned from a shopping trip in Dubai after their 50,000 raid.

Their luggage was found to contain more than 18,000 of luxury goods.

Kacey Adams, 33, and 32-year-old Daniel Wallace smashed their way into their victims' home in Halstead during the robbery.

Kacey Adams and Daniel Wallace were arrested on a plane at Heathrow after a huge spending spree in Dubai / PA

The men subjected their victims to a near-two-hour ordeal in which they beat them poured a kettle of boiling water over them.

The pair tied up John Buswell, 66, and his wife Janis, 64, before repeatedly assaulting them and demanding money.

Both men were described as highly dangerous, ruthless professional criminals prepared to use serious violence", by Judge Charles Gratwicke, sentencing them at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.

The men both admitted aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent at an earlier hearing at Maidstone Crown Court.

They were also sentenced for a tit-for-tat drive-by shooting after they were found guilty of conspiracy to murder following an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Adams, formerly of Covert Road, Hainault, Ilford, London, and Wallace, of no fixed address, were both sentenced to life in prison.

And they must serve 12-and-a-half years before being considered for release.

The pair were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court after subjecting an elderly couple to a two-hour ordeal / PA

Each defendant was given three life sentences, with a minimum jail term of 12-and-a-half years for conspiracy to murder, and seven-and-a-half years for both aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

All sentences will be served concurrently.

The two defendants poured two kettles of boiling water over Mrs Buswell and threatened to sever her fingers and gouge one of her eyes out, the court heard.

The judge also heard how they repeatedly punched Mr Buswell in the face and threatened to cut his ears off, and poured one kettle of boiling water over him.

They also threatened the couple with a knife and a hot iron.

Judge Gratwicke said Adams and Wallace had used "gratuitous violence for no reason at all".

Adams and Wallace, together with a third man who has never been caught, made off with around 50,000 on April 26 last year.

The two defendants jetted to Dubai on a spending spree after the raid, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Kacey Adams, 33, left, and Daniel Wallace, 32, right, were given life sentences after they broke into the couple's home and tied them up / PA

Judge Gratwicke said: "You left having ruined the lives of those two pensioners.

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Buswell said: "What these criminals did to me was barbaric."

A fourth man, 27-year-old Drew Morris, of Downhall Road, Rayleigh, Essex, admitted to being the getaway driver.

But he said he did not enter the house or know what was going to happen.

He admitted simple burglary at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to four years and three months in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Adams and Wallace were also sentenced for a drive-by shooting in Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex, in May 2016 which their victim survived.

They were convicted of conspiracy to murder along with a third defendant, 25-year-old Edward Dooley, of St Edwards Way, Romford.

Judge Gratwicke said Dooley was "not involved in the actual shooting" but was an organiser.

He jailed Dooley for 16 years, of which he must serve half before he is considered for release on licence.
A murder investigation has been launched after a pensioner died following a fight on a bus in east London.

The victim, believed to be in his late 60s, got into an altercation with another man on a route 488 bus in Bow on Monday evening.

Both men stepped off the bus in Parnell Road, less than 1km from the Olympic Stadium, before continuing the fight on the residential street, according to police.

The victim then collapsed. He was rushed to an east London hospital in an ambulance but later died.

A Met spokesman said a 73-year-old man was arrested near the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. He remained in custody on Tuesday evening at an east London police station where he was being questioned.

Police were initially called at 8.45pm on Monday to reports of two men fighting in the road.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command are now appealing for anyone who witnessed the fight on the bus or in the road to come forward.

Formal identification and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course, while police are also in the process of notifying the victims family.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Incident Room on 0208 345 3985 or via Twitter @MetCC. Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A prosecutor in Florida has been removed from nearly two dozen murder cases after she said she would no longer seek the death penalty.

The states Republican governor Rick Scott announced he was reassigning all 21 of Aramis Ayalas murder cases because her stance sent an unacceptable message.

Ms Ayala sparked an outcry after she refused to pursue execution for any of her cases, including against Markeith Loyd, who is charged with killing an Orlando police officer and his pregnant ex-girlfriend.

But some civil rights and faith groups have praised her and a rally was held in her support last week in state capital Tallahassee.

Mr Scott took the Loyd case away from Ms Ayala last month and reassigned it to neighbouring judicial circuit state attorney Brad King.

Ms Ayala, a Democrat covering Orlando, cited legal chaos as the reason for refusing to pursue the death penalty. If you look at these cases they are horrendous cases, Mr Scott told The Associated Press. And so Im going to continue to think about the families and thats how I made my decision today.

In a statement, Mr Scott added that 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.

Ms Ayalas spokeswoman said Governor Scott never notified her office about his order and that the prosecutor instead learned about it through the news media.

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, said Eryka Washington.

Ms Ayala has said she plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the governors action stripping her of the Loyd case.

Democratic state representative Sean Shaw, of Tampa, called Mr Scotts actions a gross abuse of his power.

The governor is attempting to set dangerous precedent that would destroy the idea of independence for state attorneys throughout Florida who must now fear political retribution by the states most powerful politician if they make a decision he disagrees with, he said.

Loyd is accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon in December and Orlando Police Lieutenant Debra Clayton in January.
A n asylum seeker who was left critically injured after being attacked by a mob can no longer recognise his brother following the ordeal.

Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and attacked while at a bus stop with two others in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.

He was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleed to the brain, and is now recovering after being placed in an induced coma.

Met Police believe more than 30 people could have been involved in the alleged hate crime attack which has left members of Croydons Kurdish community worried and shocked.

Police officers pass the bus stop in Croydon where a teenage asylum seeker was allegedly attacked / PA

His brother Hadi Ahmed, 23, said he visited his brother, who is being treated at London's King's College Hospital on Tuesday, and only found out on Monday he was the victim of the assault after seeing his picture in the news.

He said that his brother did not recognise him when he visited him in hospital.

"When I saw him the first time he was like 'are you my brother?' and I said 'what do you mean?... yeah I'm your brother what are you talking about?'," Hadi Ahmed said of the hospital visit.

"It was like that, just shocked. I was just hugging him saying 'you're my brother'.

"I didn't recognise him as well when the first time I see him... he didn't have any affection. He didn't want to hug me."

Cordon: The attack happened near to a pub / London Live

He added: "It was horrible. I started crying.

"It's really bad, I feel really gutted and disappointed about the situation that happened."

Reker was set upon at a bus stop in Shrublands Avenue with two others, in what police have described as a brutal attack.

He was left in intensive care with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain following the assault.

So far officers have arrested 16 people in connection with the incident, on suspicion of offences including attempted murder and violent disorder.

A total of 13 people have been charged in connection with the suspected hate attack, including a 15-year-old boy.

Detectives are also trying to trace the driver and the occupants of a white hatchback with a black roof that stopped at the scene.
A teenage asylum-seeker who was left fighting for life after being beaten by up to 20 thugs in an alleged hate crime attack is a nice quiet kid who never causes trouble, friends said today.

Reker Ahmed, 17, suffered a fractured eye socket, fractured spine and blood clot on his brain after attackers stamped on his head during the late-night assault at a bus stop near his foster home in Croydon.

The Kurdish Iranian teenagers friends, Dilshad Mohammed and Hamo Mustafa, escaped with minor injuries after the attack which is believed to have started after the attackers learned the trio were asylum-seekers.

Mr Ahmed remained in hospital today as police hunted the occupants of a small white hatchback car with a black roof that was seen leaving the scene, outside the Goat pub in Shrublands Avenue.

Five people appeared at Croydon magistrates court yesterday charged with violent disorder, with one also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Police officers pass the bus stop in Croydon where a teenage asylum seeker was allegedly attacked / PA

Members of Croydons Kurdish community today expressed their horror at the attack and described the teenager as a quiet and polite college student who had arrived in the UK less than a year ago.

Mohammed Qardi, 22, said he had seen Mr Ahmed a number of times at the Middle East Shisha tea house in West Croydon.

He told the Standard: Hes a quiet person, hes not really talking to everybody. You can see people from their face - hes not a bad guy, hes not looking for trouble.

He was going to college, coming back, going home. Or sometimes he would come here, play some dominoes, drink something, and then go.

An 18-year-old who did not want to be named said Mr Ahmed had been studying English at a language college in Croydon, and that he had seen the teenager at the boroughs Refugee Council branch.

The aftermath of the attack in Croydon / London Live

He added: Hes new, hes maybe just got two or three friends. Hes a nice guy, hes not showing off or causing trouble.

Mr Qardi, who came to the UK seven years ago, said the local Kurdish community had been angered by the attack, which took place at 11.40pm on Friday.

He said: Were not happy with what has happened to him. They have to sort this out because maybe more people will get racist about the refugees coming here.

Hes 17, hes not grown up, hes just a kid. He doesnt speak English.

When we first come here we dont speak English properly so they know we are foreigners or a refugee, so they swear at you or say go back to your country.

Danyelle Davis, 24, was released on conditional bail after appearing in court charged with violent disorder / PA

Hes living near the pub. I heard from his friends they ran away because there more cars coming and more people were coming from every direction. Then they hit them badly, and some people were watching.

Patson Ngoma, the landlord of The Goat, today condemned the attack after Scotland Yard said it was investigating whether some of the suspects had been drinking in the pub earlier that evening.

He told the Standard: On the day all of us were having a nice time. It was just a normal day like any other day. We didnt hear anything, we didnt know anything.

This is a neighbourhood where everybody knows everybody. The customers are shocked. They dont really want to talk about it. Its a horrible thing to have to talk about, these people you have known all these years.

Mr Ngoma, who took over the pub almost two years ago, added: Im an immigrant. I came here when I was 19 from Zambia.

Being a foreigner in the different land, Im the same as the person was attacked. This is why it is more personal.

Court apperarance: Daryl Davis, 20, was one of five charged with violent disorder / Steve Parsons/PA

Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said Mr Ahmed would be scarred for life following the assault, and revealed police were still trying to track down the teenagers family in Iran.

She said: Im delighted to say the boy is starting to make a recovery and we hope he will come out of the intensive care unit. Hes going to be scarred for life.

This is a small minority of people, its not reflective of this community who are absolutely appalled by what has happened.

Youve got a difficult mix of youth, the time of night, alcohol, and it only takes one person to say something to spark off something massive which is what I think has what happened on this evening.

I think if you were to see the footage, no matter what anybody was to do there is no provocation for what happened.

This was the most extreme type of violence when you have individuals who are stamping on a persons head. There is no provocation for that.

The sergeant said officers were looking for the driver and occupants of the white hatchback as a priority.

Cordon: The attack happened outside a pub / London Live

On Monday five people, including two sets of siblings, appeared in court charged with violent disorder.

Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses during the short hearing.

George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Potts, Jack Walder and siblings Danyelle and Daryl Davis were released on conditional bail.

George Walder was remanded in custody.

All five defendants will appear at Croydon Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on May 1.
A total of 13 people have been charged in connection with the alleged hate crime attack on a Kurdish Iranian asylum seeker in south London, police said today.

Student Reker Ahmed, 17, suffered a fractured spine and a brain haemorrhage, when he was set upon and beaten attacked by a gang as he waited at a bus stop in Croydon with two friends.

He remained in a serious condition in hospital today as police continued to hunt as many as a dozen or more suspects who are through to be still at large.

Detectives believe up to 30 people were involved in the incident in Shrublands Avenue near the teenagers foster home at around 11.40pm on Friday.

A police cordon at the scene of the attack / London Live

Five people appeared at Croydon magistrates court yesterday charged with violent disorder, with one also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Today the Met said a further eight people had been charged in connection with the incident and were due to appear in court today.

The new charges came as members of Croydons Kurdish community described the victim as a quiet and polite college student who had arrived in the UK less than a year ago.

Mohammed Qardi, 22, said he had seen Mr Ahmed a number of times at the Middle East Shisha tea house in West Croydon.

To date 16 people have been arrested in connection with the investigation / London Live

He told the Standard: Hes a quiet person, hes not really talking to everybody. You can see people from their face - hes not a bad guy, hes not looking for trouble.

He was going to college, coming back, going home. Or sometimes he would come here, play some dominoes, drink something, and then go.

The attack happened at a bus outside a pub / London Live

He added: Were not happy with what has happened to him. They have to sort this out because maybe more people will get racist about the refugees coming here.

Another teenager said the 17-year-old had been studying English at a language college in Croydon.

Detectives say they are still trying to trace the driver and the occupants of a white hatchback with a black roof that stopped at the scene near The Goat pub during the frenzy.

Patson Ngoma, the landlord of The Goat, today condemned the attack after Scotland Yard said it was investigating whether some of the suspects had been drinking in the pub earlier that evening.

He told the Standard: On the day all of us were having a nice time. It was just a normal day like any other day. We didnt hear anything, we didnt know anything.

Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said Mr Ahmed would be scarred for life following the assault, and revealed police were still trying to track down the teenagers family in Iran.

She said there was no provocation for the attack saying : This was the most extreme type of violence when you have individuals who are stamping on a persons head. There is no provocation for that.

Among those charged yesterday were siblings Daryl Davis, 20, and Danyelle Davis, 24, as well as brothers George and Jack Walder, 24, who appeared with co-defendant Barry Potts, 20, at Croydon magistrates court yesterday charged with violent disorder.

The five, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names and addresses. George Walder was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.
T he co-founder of one of London's most respected nightclubs has died after losing a cancer battle.

Amanda Moss, co-founder of Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle, lost her fight against ovarian cancer on Monday.

Tributes for the dignified and beautiful Ms Moss, whose fundraising page reached more than 50,000, poured in on social media.

A joint statement from her close family read: Amanda was courageous, dignified and beautiful to the end and wanted everyone to know how much your support and generosity meant to her during her illness.

Amanda Moss died after a battle with ovarian cancer

She felt very loved by you all and it goes without saying that she will be greatly missed.

She was particularly praised for the work she did helping south Londons club scene to expand.

Corsica Studios is a small venue located in railway arches at the south London station that plays host to up-and-coming DJs.

Staff at other major clubs in London paid tribute to Ms Moss. A statement from Fabric said: "Were incredibly sad to hear about the passing of Amanda Moss.

As a founder of Corsica Studios she created one of the most important venues in London.

Over the 12 years its been open, the south London space has homed a staggering range of independent music and art events and given the city a vital hub for this community to come together.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.

Meanwhile Brixton's Phonox tweeted: "Saddened to hear of the passing of Corsica Studios co-founder Amanda Moss. Always championing creative talent coming from South London. RIP".

Those who knew Ms Moss took to social media to share their memories and pay tribute to her.

One message read: Thank you for the brilliant nights. Thank you for my Thursday nights.

Thank you for creating the loveliest and most passionate community.

Thank you for all the vivid and immaculate memories. Thank you for making music so central in my life. Thank you so very much Amanda Moss.
M ore than 20,000 has been raised for the teenage asylum seeker who was left fighting for his life after an alleged hate crime attack in Croydon.

Money has flooded in to help 17-year-old Reker Ahmed, who suffered a fractured spine and blood clot on his brain after being beaten at a bus stop near his foster home.

Within just three days the JustGiving fundraising campaign has seen its target met more than six times over as people continue to give money.

Donations will be held in a trust until his asylum claim is complete and he turns 18, or the funds will be used to help pay for his recovery.

Bridey Watson, who set up the page to support the boy, said: "The public is giving a clear message that this young man is welcomed, loved and supported in the UK.

Police officers pass the bus stop in Croydon where a teenage asylum seeker was allegedly attacked / PA

Your support lets him know that hes not alone as he starts the long journey to overcome this horrific attack both physically and mentally.

"Feeling valued and loved is a very basic need that we can all be part of, all of us have an opportunity to make a difference for this young man.

This will go a long way to ensuring he sees the best after witnessing the very worst."

Exceeded: The original fundraising target has been met six times over.

On Tuesday she added: Wonderful to wake up to over 21k, you are all wonderful.

By 10.30 on Tuesday morning, more than three days after the attack which happened on Friday night, more than 23,000 had been raised.

The total is likely to continue to rise, with donors writing messages of support in the wake of the horrible crime.

The boy, who is Kurdish Iranian, remains in hospital as he recovers from his injuries, sustained outside the Goat pub in Shrublands Avenue.

Five people appeared at Croydon magistrates court on Monday charged with violent disorder with one also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.
T he family of a retired window cleaner killed in the Westminster terror attack said they wanted his attacker to live so that he could suffer.

Leslie Rhodes, 75, was one of four people who died after the attack carried out by Khalid Masood on March 22.

The former window cleaner, from Clapham in south London, was critically injured as killer Masood ploughed a Hyundai Tucson into dozens of pedestrians on Westminster at 70mph during his rampage.

Mr Rhodes died the next day in hospital when his life support machine was switched off.

Medics treat the injured on Westminster Bridge at the terror attack / Alex Lentati

Mr Rhodes, who was travelling home from a hospital appointment at the time of the attack, was described as "lovely", by his niece Amanda Rhodes.

She said her uncle was an angel and had acted as a father when her own dad died.

In an interview with Sky News, she said of Masood: "I think he should have suffered, the way that all the families now are suffering, through this one man deciding to do what he did. Sick, individual man.

Floral tributes outside Parliament / REUTERS

She added: "Pity he got shot. Should have let him suffer. Maybe one of us should have got in a car and run him down."

American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and Aysha Frade, 44, also died when the Muslim convert drove at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

The 52-year-old attacker was shot dead by armed police after fatally stabbing Pc Keith Palmer, 48, in the Palace of Westminster's cobbled forecourt.

A multi-faith Service of Hope is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday, two weeks after the attack.
T wo police officers who rescued a man hanging from a railway bridge were among London cops to be given top awards.

PCs Michael Athow and James Whitfield, from Enfield, were given the honour after saving the life of a man who had planned to commit suicide.

They are among more than 30 officers who received awards from the Royal Humane Society to reward dedication to the public.

Also awarded were a group of four police officers who charged into a burning tower block in 2015 to save trapped residents including a pregnant woman, a frail pensioner and a baby.

Smoke was billowing out of the entrance of the block of flats in Bermondsey when Southwarks PC Tim Andrews, PC Pierce Madden, PC Jack Wilber and Inspector Daniel Marshall, arrived.

The officers found a man threatening to kill and douse petrol onto the buildings exits. The man punched one of the PCs before being detained.

The four policemen broke into the building with a paving slab before storming into the thick black smoke and rescuing 10 people.

Along with the other hero cops, the four officers were presented with the award by acting commissioner Craig Mackay in front of family and friends at a ceremony at the Empress State Building on Monday.

Ealing PC Adam Smith was awarded after bravely running into a building which was on fire to save people trapped inside.

PC Melissa Allen-Turner, also in Ealing, was given an award for saving a five-year-old girls life by performing CPR when she stopped breathing while two others, PC Holly Herlihy and PC Lindsey McDonald from Barking and Dagenham, saved a man's life.

PC Holly Herlihy and PC Lindsey McDonald were each awarded for helping a man who stopped breathing. / Met Police

Police officer Garry Peck, from Tower Hamlets, helped save the life of a cyclist who was hit by a speeding van while PC Aaron Geeves, from Richmond, also helped a cyclist who had stopped breathing.

Others were awarded for rushing to the aid of people who fell ill, had heart attacks or were planning to commit suicide.

Acting Commissioner Craig Mackey said: "These officers are truly remarkable and it is with pride and thanks that I commend them for their actions.

They are all fantastic examples of the values we hold dear within the Metropolitan Police Service and I believe we should all be very grateful to them for their quick thinking and bravery which has resulted in so many lives being saved."
B usiness confidence among London firms remains precarious even though initial nerves following the Brexit vote have abated, an influential report warned today.

Mayor Sadiq Khan was urged to put pressure on ministers to come up with a clear set of principles to underpin their negotiations and ensure the capitals economy continues to thrive.

The London Assembly economy committee said more must be done to minimise the risks to the capital, which produces almost a quarter of the UKs economic output. It set out a must-do list of principles, including seeking the simplest possible access to the European single market and transition periods to prevent companies from facing a cliff edge at Brexit.

The report was released as Mr Khan met German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel at City Hall to stress that London would remain open to investment, talent and visitors.

Fiona Twycross, chairwoman of the economy committee, said: Businesses in London continue to experience a great deal of uncertainty and despite the triggering of Article 50 last week, we are no closer to knowing what the future will be for them. It is essential for the UK as a whole that the capitals economy continues to thrive. The Mayor must ensure the voice of London business is clearly heard.

The committee called for greater clarity on Britains negotiating position and special consideration to be given to Londons financial sector so it could retain access to the single market.

The report, EU Exit and Londons Businesses, also said there should be better coordination between the Department for International Trade and City Hall.
S oho office workers will be able to order a glass of champagne for their desks at the touch of a button in a new 100 million five-star development.

The planned at desk champagne buttons will allow the hedge fund workers expected to be its occupants to order a celebratory drink after a good day at the office.

The buttons were inspired by one of Kylie Minogue and Tamara Ecclestones favourite restaurants, nearby Bob Bob Ricard, where every table has a press for champagne button.

Workers will be able to order cocktails or caviar, as well as bubbly, from the ground floor SticksnSushi restaurant. They will delivered to the relevant office floor by dumb waiterstyle lifts running through the building.

Fizz: 40 Beak Street will feature champagne on demand

Other planned features at the development on Beak Street include spa-style washrooms modelled on the bathrooms at the Kardashians favourite Manhattan hotel, The Gansevoort Park Avenue, as well as uniformed valet staff and private terraces and balconies.

London's coolest offices

The office, in a former police station, is being fitted out at a cost of 550 per sq ft, a level of spending normally associated with luxury flats rather than utilitarian workplaces.

Simon Lyons, chief executive of developer Enstar Capital, said it will be the finest office complex in Soho, built to last 100 years and the largest construction project currently taking place in the locality.

The buttons were inspired by one of Kylie Minogues favourite restaurants, nearby Bob Bob Ricard / Dave Benett

Michael Stiff, director at architects Stiff + Trevillion says: The design of 40 Beak Street is steeped in the heritage of Soho. Everything from the glazed brick elevation to the door handles will be unique to this building. We know Enstar Capital want their developments to be exemplary: 40 Beak Street is no exception, set in the heart of Soho. We have sought to produce a piece of architecture that celebrates this unique location. Enstar Capital have commissioned sculptor Lee Simmons to create a site-specific cast aluminum frieze and window surround for the new building.

Mr Lyons said his firm is also a joint owner of adjoining 1-3 Upper James Street, which could be transformed too to include food lifts.

The plan marks the latest extravagant build for Enstar, which hit the headlines in 2015 with its new office on Brook Street in Mayfair, whose washroom and toilet walls are lined in floor-to-ceiling gold mosaic.

The Beak Street scheme is scheduled for completion in March 2018 and the 15 million construction work has already started on site.
A rare Chinese tea set from the Qing dynasty has been seized from a top Mayfair art gallery because it was partly made from African elephant ivory.

Customs officers took possession of the silver set in October 2015 as it was shipped into Heathrow from Hong Kong, when they discovered there was no valid import licence.

The manager of Mayfair Gallery, James Sinai, appealed for the six-piece set to be returned, arguing it is an item of cultural and historical importance which had been seized on a technicality.

But a judge, sitting at the first tier tribunal, has now ruled that the tea set was lawfully seized and should not be returned to the gallery.

Arguing his case, Mr Sinai said the tea set was only one per cent ivory and it would be a tragic loss to the art world and Chinese cultural heritage were it to be condemned.

When the items arrived in a crate at Heathrow without a valid import permit required by the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES), the gallery, in South Audley Street, Mayfair, blamed a shipping company for the error and said it had done everything in its power to comply with the law.

It argued that accidents and mistakes are a fact of life and pointed out that the tea set included a very small amount of ivory.

But Judge Rupert Jones pointed out two other shipments belonging to the gallery had been seized by customs in the previous 12 months, including a pair of 145,000 Louis XIV console tables imported from Switzerland and inlaid with ebony and tortoiseshell.

UK Border Force agreed to return those items to the gallery for a fee, along with a guarantee that the gallery owners would tighten up their importation procedures. However, when the tea service arrived, customs agents decided to seize it.

Dismissing the appeal, Judge Jones said there were no exceptional reasons why it should be returned to the gallery and added that the business should be on high alert as an importer of art and antiques from around the world for the last 40 years.

Ultimately, the gallery is responsible for importations and its compliance with all laws and regulations. It cannot delegate this responsibility to third parties, he said.

James Sinai, owner of the Mayfair Gallery, told the Standard: Its a tragedy. That tea set is a piece of history and has cultural value - its 120 years old and its a work of art.

We respect the law. We absolutely agree that something needs to be done to stop the slaughter of elephants.

"The last thing we want is to see is these animals becoming extinct  it would be tragic for the world.
T alented migrants who cannot access student loans are being given the chance to go to university.

A new scholarship programme from University College London will support six undergraduate students  two a year over three years  by paying their tuition fees and maintenance grants through their course.

The 500,000 Access Opportunity scheme was created after a youth-led organisation, Let Us Learn, contacted leading universities to raise awareness of its Young, Gifted and Blocked campaign.

A group of UCL staff and students had been set up to discuss how the university could overcome any implicit or explicit barriers faced by migrants trying to access education.

Hundreds of young long-term migrants have been prevented from going to college because they are not officially recognised as home students. Instead they are charged substantially higher international fees.

They include many seeking asylum in the UK who have only been granted limited leave to remain, rather than permanent status.

Some universities, including SOAS, Kings College and Goldsmiths, have already expanded their scholarship eligibility criteria to explicitly include Let Us Learn migrants as a result of the campaign.

Ash Talwar, student funding manager at UCL, said: It is hoped this opportunity will change the lives of the scholars and their families by providing a way of maximising their potential and rebuilding their lives.

Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, UCLs staff and student support for refugees coordinator, added: It is an invaluable step towards ensuring that our university is truly accessible to, and welcoming of, people affected by conflict and displacement.

Let Us Learn project worker Dami Makinde said: I cannot express enough of our gratitude to UCL for rewarding two ambitious and talented young people with scholarships.

We are extremely pleased and have been jumping for joy since reading the email.

The deadline for applying to UCL courses which start this September is July 28.
L ondon doesnt seem to be in a hurry to show solidarity with St Petersburg. Yesterday, a terrorist attack killed 14 people in Russias second city. Remembering that landmarks including the London Eye, right, and Tower Bridge were lit up in tribute to Paris after attacks in the French capital, The Londoner wondered why the same wasnt true of another European neighbour, St Petersburg.

So we called the London Eye to ask. We havent got any plans yet, they said. There is no hard-and-fast rule and we havent heard anything from the Mayor or No 10 at this stage. Over to No 10 who said they werent in charge. Its not our call to make, said a spokesman, directing us on to the Mayor. The Mayors office said it was the Department for Culture, Media & Sport who directed protocol on behalf of No 10 and Buckingham Palace.

But DCMS avoided taking charge too. We dont issue directives on the lighting of buildings, said a spokesperson. We are in charge of the lowering of flags. Like a set of Russian dolls.

For all of today's Diary click here.

Follow The Londoner on Twitter and Facebook here.
T he UK will come off worse than the European Union if it leaves without any agreement, Germany's foreign minister warned.

Following talks in London with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Sigmar Gabriel said there was no desire to "punish" the UK for voting to leave the EU.

But while he said that both sides would lose out if there was no deal, it would be the UK that suffered most.

"Having no deal is not the best idea for Britain and the European Union," he said. "It would bring a burden on both sides, for the Brits as well as the Europeans.

Deal: The German minister said he wanted to see a deal which would keep the UK close to the EU / REUTERS

"My personal opinion is that the burden for the Brits is higher than for the Europeans."

Mr Gabriel said that Germany wanted to see a deal which held Britain "as close as possible" to the EU.

However, he stressed that the UK could not expect to enjoy the same advantages after Brexit as it did as a member.

Article 50 triggered: What happens now?

"Of course we want to see negotiations about Brexit being fair," he said. "Fair for Britain, but also from our point of view, fair for the remaining 27 members of the European Union.

"No-one should be left with the impression that the advantages of membership of the European Union can be used by people who are not members of the European Union."

Mr Gabriel acknowledged that the negotiations would be "difficult" but said he was "very optimistic" that they could achieve a successful outcome.

Brexit: Article 50 Triggered - In pictures 1 /26 Brexit: Article 50 Triggered - In pictures Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Common PA Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images European Council President Donald Tusk holds a news conference after receiving British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter in notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters Prime Minister Theresa May takes her seat after announcing in the House of Commons PA The time 12:20pm shows on Big Ben on March 29, 2017 in London, England. The British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the Houses of Parliament as Article 50 is triggered and the process that will take the United Kingdom out of the European Union begins Carl Court/Getty Images D-day: pro-EU protesters outside of the Houses of Parliament today as Theresa May prepares to trigger Article 50 AFP/Getty Images EU Council President Donald Tusk holds British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter which was delivered by Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow (not pictured) that gives notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters PMQ's in The House of Commons PA Jeremy Corbyn speaking at PMQ's in The House of Commons Sky News Theresa May leaving for the House of Commons Jeremy Selwyn Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the headquarters of Vivendi in Paris where he took part in TV interviews to discuss the imminent triggering of Article 50 by the UK to leave the EU Stefan Rousseau/PA Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow arrives at the EU Council headquarters for as meeting before hand delivering British Prime Minister Theresa May's notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow arrives at the British representation of the European Union in Brussels Aurore Belot/AFP/Getty Images A giant headed Theresa May in Parliament Square, London during a protest by Avaaz after PM signed a letter to trigger Article 50 that starts the formal exit process by the UK from the European Union David Mirzoeff/PA British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walks down Whitehall Jack Taylor/Getty Images Britain's PM Theresa May signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50. AFP/Getty Images

"The objective has to be to work for a good relationship because we will need to relay on each other in the future," he said.

"Our economies are closely interlinked. We need to rely on each other because we want to maintain the friendship and partnership that we have developed over the years."

He said that the remaining member states would need to stand together in the Brexit negotiations.

"This is why we will be focusing on ensuring the cohesion and unity of the 27 member states of the European Union," he said. "Of course we want to ensure that the 27 stand together and stand united."
L ondon's housing crisis is set to worsen unless more young Britons train to become builders ahead of Brexit, Labour warned today.

The number of construction apprentices has declined by 25 per cent in four years and almost half of all builders in London come from outside the UK.

Shadow housing minister John Healey said the figures are a wake-up call for ministers and bosses to encourage more young people into the industry.

He said: Not enough has been done to train up young Brits to work in the building trade and the risk now is that Brexit will leave us without the skilled workforce to build the homes that the capital needs.

Article 50 triggered: What happens now?

New figures from the Mayors Housing in London report show that of the 348,000 construction workers in the capital, 55 per cent are from the UK, 27 per cent are from the EU and 18 per cent are from elsewhere.

Former prime minister David Cameron promised three million apprentices nationwide by 2020 but government figures show the number people taking up construction training in London has dropped from 730 apprentices in 2011/12 to 560 in 2014/15.

Mr Healey said: To help tackle Londons housing crisis we need action from ministers now, starting with an urgent assessment of the Brexit risks to the industry and a fresh focus on funding the training of young Londoners.
T he BBC no longer has a duty to broadly balance its coverage of Brexit, according to Today host Nick Robinson.

It comes after more than 70 MPs wrote to BBC director-general Lord Hall complaining about the apparent pessimistic tone of its coverage of Britains exit from Europe.

In response to the MPs, Lord Hall insisted that the corporation goes "to great lengths to ensure that we balance our coverage and address all issues from a wide range of perspectives.

But Mr Robinson, in a column in the Radio Times, said he was tired of Leavers  and Remainers  monitoring the BBCs coverage with stopwatches and calculators.

Article 50 triggered: What happens now?

He said those who accuse it of provide skewed coverage find it hard to accept that on the BBC they will often hear people they disagree with saying things they dont like.

In the column, which begins: Welcome to another week of moaning about the BBC, said the broadcasters duty to provide such clear balance on the issue was over.

Mr Robinson explained: The referendum is over. The duty we broadcasters had to broadly balance the views of the two sides is at an end.

Why? Because there are no longer two sides, two campaigns, two rival sets of spokespeople reading out those focus-grouped slogans.

The BBCs job is not to look over its shoulder wondering whether a report, interview or discussion will provoke letters of complaint or a tide of tweets from Remainers or Leavers - who, like fighters who emerge after months of hiding in a bush, seem not to accept that the war is over.

Our job, instead, is to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the audience as a whole People who would not dream of defining themselves by how they voted in the referendum.

Though he did add: We must, of course, ensure that we display no bias. The bias I worry about most is the bias against understanding.

In the letter to Lord Hall, MPs last month expressed fears that the future of the broadcaster will be in doubt if it is not seen as impartial.

But a counter letter, which was signed by 85 MPs and MEPs, defended to corporation  calling on it to defend its independence.

It warned of "an authoritarian attempt to force people to accept a single version of events".

Labour MP Pat McFadden, who coordinated the response, said: "This letter is a strong statement of support for the BBC to be free to do its job to report fearlessly and impartially.
T heresa May has been accused of backing away from a key Brexit promise to sign a trade deal with the EU before the UK leaves.

The Prime Minister appeared to concede that a trade deal with the EU cannot be signed until after the two-year Article 50 process is completed.

Speaking during a visit to Jordan, Mrs May said she expected an outline of the future trade relationship to be clear to everybody by Brexit Day in March 2019.

But the PM appeared to accept that the signed deal will have to wait until after the UK has left the bloc.

European Council president Donald Tusk left no doubt in his draft guidelines for negotiations, released on Friday, that EU rules state that trade deals can only be done with non-members.

Mrs May speaks to troops as she arrives in Ammam, Jordan / PA

He said the most the UK can hope for prior to Brexit is an "overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship".

Mrs May insisted it will be possible to reach clarity on the deal within two years.

But asked if the deal could be finalised in that timescale, she told Sky News: "There's obviously a legal situation in terms of how the EU can conduct trade negotiations.

"I'm clear that by the point at which we leave the EU, it's right that everybody should know what the future arrangements, the future relationship, that future partnership between us and the European Union will be.

"That's the sensible thing, it's the pragmatic way to look at this, and I believe that's what we will do."

Labour said that Mrs May's comments amounted to a "significant retreat" from the Government's previous position that a trade deal could be done within the two-year deadline for withdrawal negotiations set down in Article 50 of the EU treaties.

The party's Brexit spokesman Paul Blomfield said: "It is less than a week since the Prime Minister triggered Article 50, and it seems every day brings another broken promise from the Government.

"First they said immigration may go up after Brexit. Now they are backpedalling on trade deals.

He said Labour would hold the Government to account on the pledges made to the British people during the referendum campaign and since.

Mr Blomfield added: "Now, as they face reality, they are trying to downplay expectations. They need to spell out the transitional deal that will be in place, to stop the economy falling off a cliff edge without new agreements in two years' time."

Labour MP Owen Smith, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said: "Bit by bit, the main planks of the Prime Minister's Brexit strategy are falling away. Today, she has admitted that we will not have the time to agree a trade deal with the EU before the Article 50 period is finished."

Leaving without a trade deal would mean "our economy will go off a cliff edge, hitting our businesses with punishing tariffs and putting jobs at risk", said Mr Smith.

He added: "Ministers have to prevent this hardest of hard Brexits by at least agreeing a transition deal with the EU that would keep us in the single market before a new trade deal can be signed."
T heresa May today insisted Britain can agree the shape of a new EU trade deal within two years despite warnings from European leaders that the timescale may be too tight.

The Prime Minister struck the upbeat note for her attempt for an agreement to give UK firms free access to the single market.

Mrs May appeared to stop short of saying a full deal could be agreed by March 2019.

However, on a visit to the Middle East, she stressed: Im clear that by the point at which we leave the EU, its right that everybody should know what the future arrangements, the future relationship, that future partnership between us and the European Union will be.

Thats the sensible thing, its the pragmatic way to look at this, and I believe thats what we will do.

Asked if she believed this can be done within two years, she replied: Yes.

The June 23 vote to leave the EU effectively meant also quitting the single market, she argued.

Speaking to Sky News in Jordan, she added: Our relationship with the single market will be a different one in future.

"But that does not mean it cannot be a really good trade relationship that will enable our firms to have free access to the single market and continue to trade in ways that they have done in the past.

Ministers have made clear there may be transitional periods beyond 2019 for certain industries.

Mrs May has also stressed that a customs systems may be part of a phased process of implementation.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has talked of limits on Britains access to the single market, arguing that it can only be free if the UK is signed up to the freedom of movement of people.

Ms Merkel and French president Francois Hollande have also insisted the terms of the separation, including the so-called divorce bill, must be settled before they can move on to discuss a new trade relationship.

However, following the bust-up with Spain over Gibraltar in recent days, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was today seeking to build bridges with Berlin, rejecting talk of a divorce between the UK and the EU.

He was meeting German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel in London, who has cast doubt on the possibility of completing the laborious endeavour of a trade deal within two years.

Mrs May was visiting Saudi Arabia today and stressed that she would raise the issue of humanitarian suffering in Yemen.

The kingdom has been accused of failing to do enough to avoid civilian casualties in air raids in Yemen which is being ravaged by civil war. Some of the bombs used are British-made.

But the Prime Minister defended the Governments dealings with the Saudi government, insisting it is better to engage with countries over human rights issues than to snipe from the sidelines.

She also stressed that anti-terror co-operation with Riyadh had saved many lives in Britain.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond was today on a trade visit to India seeking to drum up business for the City ahead of the EU split.

Speaking in Dehli as he met Indias finance minister Arun Jaitley, he stressed Britains aim to strengthen our relationship with India and make the UK Indias financial partner of choice.
T heresa May branded the National Trust "ridiculous" in a row over the name of an Easter egg hunt.

Chocolate maker Cadbury's is set to run 300 hunts at National Trust sites, but removed the word 'Easter' from the name of the event.

The events are being billed as the "Cadbury's Great British Egg Hunt".

But the Prime Minister hit out at the branding, telling ITV News: "I'm not just a vicar's daughter - I'm a member of the National Trust as well.

Criticism: the Prime Minister waded into the row / AP

"I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know what they are thinking about frankly.

"Easter's very important. It's important to me. It's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world. So I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous."

The Archbishop of York - the second highest church leader in the UK - was the first to slam the chocolate brand for spitting on the grave of its founder John Cadbury, who was a religious man.

Dr John Sentamu criticised Cadbury and the National Trust for their jointly-organised Easter egg hunt, which he claimed was devoid of references to Christianity.

But the National Trust said the claims were simply not true and any suggestion it was downplaying Easters religious significance was nonsense.

Row: Dr John Sentamu has been embroiled in a row with Cadbury and the National Trust. / PA

Cadbury, whose founder Mr Cadbury was a Quaker, said that people from all faiths and none are invited to enjoy their seasonal treats.

Dr Sentamu told the Daily Telegraph: "To drop Easter from Cadbury's Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury."

Three hundred Easter egg hunts are being planned at National Trust properties this year. The National Trust's website page about the hunts make several references to Easter.

Cadbury's website also mentions "Easter fun" when describing the hunts.

A National Trust spokesman said: "It's nonsense to suggest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year.

"Our Easter events include our partnership with Cadbury's, which has been running Easter egg hunts with us for 10 years.

"They've proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadbury's will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns."

A Cadbury spokeswoman echoed the trust's denial and said: "It is simply not true to claim that we have removed the word 'Easter' from our marketing and communication materials.

"Each year our Easter campaigns have a different name and this year our seasonal campaign is called the Cadbury's Great British Egg Hunt.

"It is clear to see that within our communications and marketing we clearly state the word Easter and include it in a number of promotional materials, including our website, where we do also promote our partnership with National Trust at this seasonal time of year."

Easter is the biggest festival in the Christian calendar and marks when Jesus was said to have resurrected from the dead following his crucifixion.

Last month Cadbury was forced to correct scores of angry customers who cited fake reports that the recipe for chocolate Easter eggs had been changed to be halal.

Far-right groups had spread claims the chocolate had been made according to Islams religious law, without realising chocolate does not contain slaughtered animals so is naturally suitable for those who eat halal.
P rince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Rome today for the second leg of their official visit to Italy.

The couple, who will travel to The Holy See later to meet the Pope, flew up from Florence, where they have spent the past five days.

They travelled on an RAF jet dubbed 'Heir Force One'- an A330 Voyager refuelling aircraft converted into a private plane for use by the Prime Minister and royal family on overseas visits.

The plane was ordered by former Prime Minister David Cameron when he was in office.

The royal couple pose next to a plaque commemorating their visit to the British School of Rome / AFP/Getty Images

Charles and Camilla's trip - which has also taken in Romania and will end in Vienna later this week - is seen as an important salvo in the Government's efforts to maintain good relations with Europe amid Brexit negotiations.

Ministers say they want to utilise the royals, with several further trips to the continent being lined up.

Significantly, Europe minister Sir Alan Duncan arrived in Florence yesterday and plans to 'piggyback' on the prince's meeting with the Pope and the Italian President.

He said yesterday that the Royal Family were the country's best ambassadors and the UK's great natural resource.

Charles and Camilla arrive in the Italian capital on the royal plane / Getty Images

In a speech in Florence last night, Charles urged EU countries not to turn their backs on Britain.

Although the heir to the throne deliberately chose not to use the word Brexit, his appeal to countries such as Italy was clear.

He described the partnership between the two countries as a 'force for good in the world' and highlighted Britain and Italy's roles as global peacekeepers.

The couple first visited The British School at Rome, which was founded in 1901 as a school for research into archaeology and Italian studies. It received its Royal Charter in 1912.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, greets Prince Charles at the Venerable English College in Rome / Getty Images

Today the school serves as a 'bridge' between the intellectual and cultural heart of Rome and Italy, and academic researchers from Britain and the Commonwealth.

It welcomes around 600 visitors a year, across the whole range of arts, humanities and social sciences.

After being greeted by Professor Christopher Smith, Director of The British School, Charles and Camilla were given a brief tour of the building - it was designed by the legendary architect Edwin Lutyens - and viewed artworks produced by several of its artists in residence.

Camilla - wearing an elegant cream and gold coat and dress by one of her favourite designers, Anna Valentine - met Catherine Parsonage, 27, from Birkenhead, who is studying at the school for 12 months as a Sainsbury's Scholar.

Camilla, whose daughter Laura worked in the art world and is a keen amateur dauber herself, said she was very envious of the experience.

"I just dabble, really. I love painting but I am really not very good, she said.

Asked if she had ever exhibited any of her work, she laughed and said: You must be joking!

Although I did sell two of my paintings for charity at a village fair. Thankfully no-one will ever get to see them.

Before they left, Charles - along with the minister Alan Duncan - will also get the chance for what has been described as a brief tete-a-tete with Angelino Alfano, the Foreign Minister.

Also present were representatives of INTBAU, an international educational charity which, under the patronage of The Prince of Wales, promotes traditional building, architecture, and urbanism.

Its Italian Chapter was established in Milan in 2008.
T he Duchess of Cambridge painted the town red as she dazzled the West End for a musical opening night.

Kate shone in a maroon Marchesa gown on the red carpet for Broadway classic 42nd Street.

She was the star guest at the glittering production, raising moneyfor a children's hospice.

And Ollie Duell,12, a patient at East Anglia Children's Hospice (EACH), presented Kate with a programme.

Royal arrival: Kate attends the opening night of West End musical 42nd street / PA

Starstruck Ollie, who has complex, undiagnosed stomach problems, said: "I feel very good about meeting Kate Middleton.

"She's very pretty and I want to talk to her about the hospice and how I like going there.

"I also want to tell her about Pokemon."

Caring Kate bent down to chat to the lad, from Cambridge, as flash guns lit up the red carpet last night.

Other stars included Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman.

Kate attends opening night of 42nd Street 1 /21 Kate attends opening night of 42nd Street The Duchess of Cambridge accepts a gift of tap shoes from producers Michael Linnet, Michael Grade and director Mark Bramble during the Opening Night Royal Gala performance of "42nd Street" in aid of the East Anglia Children's Hospice at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Dave Benett The Duchess of Cambridge waves during the Opening Night Royal Gala performance of "42nd Street" in aid of the East Anglia Children's Hospice at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Dave Benett The Duchess of Cambridge on stage during the curtain call on the opening night of the musical 42nd Street, in aid of East Anglia's Children's Hospice at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London Steve Parsons/PA The Duchess of Cambridge arrives on the red carpet Peter Nicholls/Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge on stage during the curtain call on the opening night of the musical 42nd Street, in aid of East Anglia's Children's Hospice at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London Steve Parsons/PA The Duchess of Cambridge accepts a gift of tap shoes at the Opening Night Royal Gala performance of "42nd Street" in aid of the East Anglia Children's Hospice at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Dave Benett The Duchess of Cambridge dazzled in a maroon Marchesa gown Dave Benett The Duchess of Cambridge dazzled in a maroon Marchesa gown Joanne Davidson/SilverHub/Rex The Duchess of Cambridge arrives for the opening night of the musical 42nd Street Lauren Hurley/PA The Duchess of Cambridge arrives for the opening night of the musical 42nd Street Steve Parsons/Pool/Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to guests on the opening night of 42nd Street Steve Parsons/Pool/Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge dazzled in a maroon Marchesa gown Steve Parsons/Pool/Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge is greeted at the opening night of 42nd Street Steve Parsons/PA The Duchess of Cambridge is greeted at the opening night of 42nd Street Steve Parsons/PA During the show Kate sat in the theatre's royal box between Lord Grade and executive producer Dr Johnny Hon Heathcliff O'Malley/The Daily Telegraph/PA The Duchess could be seen smiling broadly and clapping enthusiastically Heathcliff O'Malley/The Daily Telegraph/PA

Each has been allowed to include an advert calling for donations in the show's programme.

The charity has already received a 250,000 donation as a result of the partnership.

The Broadway revival - at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - is helping raise money for a new purpose built hospice in Norfolk called The Nook.

The Duchess - who became a Patron of the charity in 2012 - smiled broadly as the show kicked off with a rousing tap dance routine.

Co producer Lord Grade said: "The Duchess expressed an interest in coming which is fantastic.

"It adds to the sense of occasion."
P rince Harry has urged the world to keep his mother's promise to rid the globe of landmines.

In a passionate speech that signalled his determination to continue the legacy of his mother's campaign, he called for the world to become free of landmines by 2025.

The Prince revived memories of the last months of her life when he introduced two victims whose plight was first shared with the world by Diana, Princess of Wales 20 years ago.

He said: "My mother had been shocked and appalled by the impact that landmines were having on incredibly vulnerable people and on children in particular. She did not understand why more people were not willing to address the cause of so much suffering. She refused to accept that these destructive weapons should be left where they were, just because they were perceived as too expensive and difficult to remove."

Prince Harry visiting a mine clearance site in Angola / PA

His speech at Kensington Palace on International Mine Awareness Day came as the international development secretary announced that the government was tripling the money it spends on landmine clearance to 100 million.

However the emotional core of the evening came as Harry introduced to the audience two men - one Muslim, one Serbian - who met Diana as boys after they both lost legs to mines in Bosnia.

"She shared their stories with the world, and helped campaigners  many of whom are in this room  to change history," he said.

"Those two young boys, Malic and Zarko, are now grown men and are with us today. 20 years on, they both still struggle with their physical and emotional injuries and with the high costs of replacing their prosthetics.

"When my mother said goodbye to Zarko that August, just weeks before her untimely death, she told him he would not be forgotten. Please help me keep her word to Zarko and Malic, and other people like them throughout the world, who still need us to finish the job and rid the planet of landmines. Collectively we have the knowledge, skill, and resources to achieve it, so let's make future generations proud."

Princess Diana touring a minefield in body armour during her visit to Angola / PA

Malic Bradaric, 34, said he remembered everything of the day he met Diana. "She still lives in our hearts today," he said.

Ken Rutherford, a landmine victim and campaigner who hosted Diana in Bosnia, said she was the first global celebrity to take up the issue. "Harry is carrying on his mother's work. I think she would be extremely proud of what he is doing," he said.

Priti Patel, the international development secretary, joined the prince to announce that the Department for International Development (Dfid) was trebling its support for landmine clearance to 100 million over three years.

Landmine charities have estimated that it will cost 822 million to clear the accessible parts of the world - excluding the likes of Korea and Iran - of mines by 2025.

Harry, who has visited minefields in Angola and Mozambique and is a patron of the landmines charity HALO Trust, said his mother's work was not always popular. He added: "At the time, the attention my mother brought to this issue wasnt universally popular; some believed she had stepped over the line into the arena of political campaigning  but for her this wasn't about politics; it was about people."

The reception took place at Kensington Palace in London / Getty Images

The Landmine Free 2025 reception, which also marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel mines, was hosted by the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the HALO Trust and attended by foreign ministers and philanthropists.

Ms Patel, whose department currently gives 10 million a year, agreed the change in policy after the two charities successfully lobbied development minister Rory Stewart. Mr Stewart, a former private tutor to Princes William and Harry, was a senior coalition official in Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War.

Describing landmines as a global scourge that destroy opportunity and hope, Ms Patel said it would allow Britain to clear 150 square kilometres of contaminated land in countries including Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan and Cambodia and help 800,000 people.

In 2015 almost 5,000 people were injured and over 1,600 killed by landmines or other explosive devices left behind by conflict. More than a third were children.

We cannot and will not accept this, said Ms Patel. We have a moral duty to act - and it is in our national interest to act.

Major-General James Cowan, chief executive of the HALO Trust, said the funding marked the start of a countdown to a mine free world.

He said: As with the eradication of smallpox, a mine-free world is not a pipe dream but a real possibility, but only with the right financial support.

Dr Jane Cocking, chief executive of MAG, said: The UK is setting up and demonstrating leadership which we hope will be emulated by other governments. Without others coming in with similar generosity we will not be able to reach that target globally.

The announcement comes after a series of damaging headlines for Dfid, including this weeks report by MPs that contractors employed by the government to implement aid projects overseas routinely indulge in profiteering and overcharging.

There has also been sustained criticism of the way the UKs 11 billion aid budget is handled, including the 285 million airport on St Helena which failed to take the wind into account. Yegna, a pop group seeking to change attitudes to women that was dubbed the Ethiopian Spice Girls, had its funding withdrawn after critical articles in the media.

The success of the lobbying campaign is a remarkable turnaround for two charities which used to be bitter rivals.

In 2011 Halo Trust, the charity supported by Diana, reacted furiously after it lost a multi-million Dfid demining contract in Cambodia to MAG, one of the landmine clearance groups awarded the joint Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Recently they have patched up their differences. Dr Cocking said: Whatever the rights and wrongs of the argument at the time, right now everybody has far more to gain from being mutually supportive than from public or private squabbles.
A n armed Spanish gunboat has been ordered to leave British waters off Gibraltar amid heightened tensions over the Rock due to Brexit.

The patrol boat Infanta Cristina was told to exit the area by the Royal Navy unit stationed in the small British overseas territory  home to just over 30,000 people.

A Gibraltar government spokeswoman said: "The ship entered British/Gibraltarian territorial waters. It was met by the Gibraltar Squadron and invited to leave."

She was unable to say if Gibraltar would make a formal protest to Spain over the incident.

The Spanish vessel (left) in British territorial waters / @maggieyorks

The Spanish naval incursion follows the country's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis telling the UK to calm down after former Tory leader Lord Howard suggested Prime Minister Theresa May might be ready to go to war to keep Gibraltar British.

Tensions increased after an EU document suggested that Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements governing the Gibraltar.

This prompted Lord Howard to say he believed Mrs May would defend the Rock as Margaret Thatcher did the Falklands.

While the EU Brexit negotiating guidelines released by European Council president Donald Tusk last week made no reference to Spain's claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, the decision to give Madrid a key role in deciding if a trade deal will apply to the Rock caused deep unease in Whitehall.

Incursions from Spanish ships in British territorial waters are a regular occurrence, as the Spanish dispute Gibraltars claim to the waters.

The Rocks residents are patriotic supporters of their British identity, but questions were raised after Gibraltar voted 98 per cent for Remain in the Brexit referendum.
B ritish airline bosses are avoiding paying millions of pounds in compensation by claiming that strikes are an extraordinary circumstance, it was alleged today.

Under European law airlines are exempt from the usual compensation rules when delays or cancellations of flights are beyond their control.

But Adeline Noorderhaven, UK manager for compensation specialists EUclaim, said British carriers are using the get-out clause to refuse legitimate claims.

She said: Airline bosses have the power to end strike action. However you cut it, it is within their control. The law is flimsy and inconsistent.

Cancelled and delayed flights in Europe were at a record level in the first three months of the year.
P ope Francis today urged the Prince of Wales to work to bring peace in the world when the pair met in Rome for the first time.

The Pontiff received Charles and Camilla, who are coming to the end of a nine-day European tour, for a papal audience in the heart of the Vatican City state.

During the traditional exchange of gifts, that followed the private meeting that last almost half an hour, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church told the heir to the throne "Wherever you go, may you be a man of peace" and the prince replied "I'll do my best".

Charles had given the Pope a large hamper of produce from his Highgrove estate and framed photos of himself and his wife, while the Pontiff presented him with a bronze olive branch - signifying peace - and copies of his writings on climate change bound in red leather and other papal writings.

Greeting: Charles and Camilla arrive at the Vatican to meet the Pope / AFP/Getty Images

This is the second hamper of food the pontiff has received from the British monarchy, with the Queen giving him a wicker box of produce that included honey from Buckingham Palace and shortbread and whisky from Balmoral when the pair met in 2014.

The atmosphere between the pope and his royal guests appeared cordial and warm with all three taking interest in the presents they received.

Pope Francis told the prince the bronze olive branch was a "symbol of peace" and when he turned to his writings, bound in six red leather books and embossed with his coat of arms, he said, through the interpreter, "these are works of mine,"

They shared a light moment when Charles asked if they were in English and the Pope insisted to smiles "in English".

Among the works was the pontiff's encyclical - or papal document - on ecology, Laudato Si, which states climate change is real and mainly a result of human activity.

In response to the gifts Charles said "you're very generous" and added "a great treat".

Pope Francis' reputation as a Pope with the common touch and a taste for simple living has seen him dispense with some of the formality and trappings of his position.

And in keeping with the relaxed nature of the meeting the duchess did not wear black, or a mantilla - a lace veil, for the meeting, as she did when the royal couple met Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, but a gold silk Anna Valentine dress.

A Vatican spokesman man said: "Things have become more relaxed over the last few years there are no hard and fast rules."

The private audience took place in a study within the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall building in the Vatican, a modern structure used for papal meetings.

Royal visit: Charles and Camilla meet the Pope at the Vatican / AFP/Getty Images

It is close to the Casa Santa Marta the guest house home of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church who refused to move into spacious papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace.

The pope was waiting at the door of his study for his guests and after shaking their hands he sat one side of a table for the discussions while the couple took seats opposite him.

The royal couple spent 20 minutes with the leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis, who blessed them in the Vatican.

Earlier Charles and Camilla toured the Vatican's secret archive and examined original documents relating to the Catholic Church and Britain.

The rare manuscripts, not open to the public, are kept in Sala Sistina of the Vatican Library.

On arrival at the archives they were met by Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, Segretario Generale, Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.

Charles and Camilla toured the Vatican's secret archive / REUTERS

The royal couple were shown a number of original rare letters including the last letter ever written by condemned Mary Queen of Scots on 8 February 1587 before her execution for treason.

They were shown a letter written in 1555 by England's Tudor Queen Mary 1st and King Philip II on Spain about the restoration of the Catholic Church in England.

There is a letter by Pope Paul IV condemning Thomas Cranmer, the leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VIII and briefly under Mary I, who put him on trial for treason and heresy. He was eventually executed.

They were also shown a letter by King Charles I approving his ambassador in Rome.

They were also escorted by Reverend Monsignor Sergio Pagano, Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives and Reverend Monsignor Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Library.

The Vatican Secret Archive is the repository of all the Acts promulgated by the Holy See, state papers and other documents accumulated by Popes throughout history.

The word Secret in this context means personal, implying that the documents belong to the Pope of the day, rather than to the Holy See.

Some academics studying specific areas of Papal history are granted permission to look at particular documents relevant to their area of study.

The Vatican Library was formally established in 1475 but is actually much older.

The Vatican Library now preserves over 180,000 manuscripts, including 80,000 archival units, 1,600,000 printed books, over 8,600 incunabula - printed documents dating from before 1501 - over 300,000 coins and medals, 150,000 prints, drawings and engravings and over 150,000 photographs.
P resident Donald Trump has donated the first three months of his salary to a government agency which conserves Americas parks.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer held up a cheque for $78,333.32 in front of reporters, the first quarterly chunk of the US leaders salary.

The money will go to the National Parks Service, a government body that manages all of the countrys parks.

Making the announcement to media, Mr Spicer said: I wanted to give you a quick update on something. I know in the past there's been several questions about the President donating his salary to charity. I've got an update for you on that.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer displays the first quarter check of US President Donald Trump's salary. / AFP/Getty Images

"To that end the President has spoken with council and made the decision to donate his first quarter salary in total to a government entity and he has chosen, this quarter, to donate it to the National Parks Service.

"The Parks Service has cared for our parks since 1916 and the President is personally proud to contribute the first quarter of his salary to the important mission of the park service which is preserving our countrys national security.

But critics pointed out the gift was going to an agency whose funding the President wants to cut by $1 billion.

President Trump, who has promised to donate his $400,000 annual salary, yesterday hosted Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the White House.
A mother has died with two of her children as she tried to rescue them after their car plunged into a swollen river in Australia.

Stephanie King, 43, was driving in the flood-ravaged New South Wales town of Tumbulgum when the vehicle veered off a muddy road and into a river yesterday afternoon.

Her eight-year-old daughter Chloe May was able to escape the sinking vehicle but Ms King, her seven-year-old son Jacob and 11-year-old daughter Ella Jane drowned.

Local police superintendent Wayne Starling said: Ive got no doubt whatsoever that that woman is a hero.

Shed be alive today if she wasnt trying to save the children.
A nightclub has been shut down after a DJ played a remix of the Muslim call to prayer, officials say.

Video shared on Sunday shows clubbers at the Orbit Festival in Tunisia dancing to music that included the call to prayer  the religious act that Muslims perform five times a day.

Two European DJs  including British-born Dax J  played on Friday night as part of the music festival in Nabeul.

The footage has sparked outrage on social media sites and an investigation has been launched.

The governor of Nabeul, Mnaouar Ouertani, said that the club would "remain closed" until further notice.

He said: "After confirming the facts, we decided to close this nightclub", adding that the club's manager had been detained "for violation against good morals and public outrage against modesty".

"We will not allow attacks against religious feelings and the sacred," Mr Ouertani said.

The organisers of the Orbit Festival apologised in a post on the event's Facebook page on Monday, but said they did not accept responsibility for the music.

They said that Dax J is English and played the track recently in Europe and did not realise it might offend an audience from a Muslim country like ours."

Dax J also issued an apology.

He said: "I want to offer my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been offended by music that I played at Orbit Festival in Tunisia on Friday.

"It was never my intention to upset or cause offence to anybody.
R ussian officials have named a suspect in their investigation into the bomb attack on the St Petersburg Metro which claimed the lives of 14 people.

Authorities say Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov played a role in the bombing.

No official group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Kyrgyz intelligence agency said Russian authorities informed them about Dzhalilov, who they believe to be either 21 or 22.

A mangled train door in the aftermath of the attack in St Petersburg

However they state they are not aware of his specific role in the bombing.

The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation.

Tribute: A woman lights a candle at an entrance to Sennaya subway station / AP

It is not clear if Dzhalilov was killed in the attack or whether he managed to leave the scene.

Authorities believe he was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

A second bomb was found two hours after the fatal blast which took place underground between two central stations on the St Petersburg Metro system.

14 people were killed and 50 were injured in the bombing.

Loading....

The United Nations Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack".
A rocket struck a hospital after dozens of people were killed and scores more were injured in a suspected chemical attack in Syria.

The suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held Idlib province killed 58 people on Tuesday including 11 children, opposition activists said,

And just hours later, a small field hospital in the region was struck and destroyed by a rocket, a civil defence worker in the area said.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone was killed in the second attack.

Attack: A civil defence member breathes through an oxygen mask / REUTERS

The Syrian Coalition, an opposition group based outside the country, said government planes fired missiles of poisonous gases on Khan Sheikhoun, describing the attack as a "horrifying massacre" and saying it was the worst since the start of the war in 2011.

Makeshift hospitals were soon crowded with people suffocating, they said.

Gas: A Syrian man is taken by civil defence workers to a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman / Mohamed al-Bakour/AFP/Getty Images

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the city of Idlib, show limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe; others appear foaming or bleeding from the mouth.

The Idlib Media Center published footage of medical workers treating an unresponsive man stripped down to his underwear and hooking up a little girl foaming at the mouth to a ventilator.

Attack: A crater is seen at the site of an airstrike / REUTERS

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes occurring in the area around the same time.

The hospitals had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack early on in the Syrian uprising. 

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.

Mask: rescue workers described a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib / REUTERS

He told how he found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move.

Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water. He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

Tuesday's report is the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria.

It came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini.

There was no comment from the government in Damascus in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Following a gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in 2013, President Bashar Assad agreed to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention.

But there have since been questions raised as to whether President Assad had declared all weapons.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.
T heresa May has called for an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria which killed dozens of people.

The Prime Minister condemned the atrocity as she called on Russia to ensure Bashar Assad's regime is brought to an end.

Opposition activists claim that dozens of people died in the attack in a town in the northern province of Idlib, with the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights putting the death toll at 58, including 11 children.

Mrs May said: "I'm appalled by the reports that there's been a chemical weapons attack on a town south of Idlib allegedly by the Syrian regime.

"We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances.

The PM condemned the atrocity in Syria / PA

"If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime, and the UK has led international efforts to call to account the Syrian regime and Daesh for the use of chemical weapons and I would urge the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate this incident as soon as possible.

"I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad.

"We cannot allow this suffering to continue."

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson denounced the attack as a "war crime" and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

It would be "unbelievable" to think that president Bashar Assad could play a role in the post-war government of the country if his regime is found to be to blame, Mr Johnson said.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. There was no immediate comment from the government in Damascus on the alleged incident, which comes a day before a conference on the future of Syria co-hosted by Britain in Brussels.

Boris Johnson: If chemical attack in Syria is verified, we must go to UN

Speaking in London, Mr Johnson - who will represent the UK at Wednesday's summit - said: "If this were proved to have been committed by the Assad regime, it would be another reason to think they are an absolutely heinous outfit.

"Bombing your own civilians with chemical weapons is unquestionably a war crime and they must be held to account.

"It is unbelievable to think that in the long term, Bashar Assad can play a part in the future of Syria, given what he has done to his people."

France's foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the "atrocious act".

The Syrian activists had no information on what agent could have been used in the assault on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which they blamed on an air strike carried out either by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.

Idlib province is largely opposition-controlled and is home to around 900,000 Syrians displaced from their homes elsewhere in the country.

Labour's shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said: "This was a shocking and barbaric attack, and our thoughts are with all the victims and their loved ones."

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting at 3pm UK time on Wednesday to discuss the reports from Idlib in Syria of chemical attacks. This meeting is at the request of the UK and France.
C arrie Fisher will play her last ever TV role in the series finale of Channel 4s Catastrophe.

The Star Wars actress appears in her final scenes during Tuesday nights episode, in which her character Mia attends the funeral of her sons father-in-law.

Writer and star Sharon Horgan recently said that Fishers role in the finale would be bigger and chunkier than in the previous episiodes.

The first series and even the second series we didn't have her for very long: she flew in and did her bit over a day or two and, of course, we wanted to get to know her better, she said.

Carrie Fisher - In pictures 1 /29 Carrie Fisher - In pictures Carrie Fisher poses for cameras as she arrives at the European Premiere of Star Wars, The Force Awakens in Leicester Square, London in December 2016 Paul Hackett/Reuters Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Princess Leia and Han Solo (Carrie Fisher & Harrison Ford) kiss in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Hans Solo (Harrison Ford) in Star Wars: A New Hope Lucasfilm Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds hold their baby daughter, Carrie Frances Fisher in 1957 AP Actress Carrie Fisher in 1977 Getty Images Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) Lucasfilm Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) Lucasfilm Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi (1983) Lucasfilm Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi (1983) Carrie Fisher and singer Paul Simon stand together at their apartment in New York during their wedding reception on 16 August 1983 Mario Suriani/AP Legendary actress Debbie Reynolds poses with her daughter Carrie Fisher after Reynolds star in the live theatre and stage category was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during ceremonies in 1997 Reuters Debbie Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movie, joining a Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper character as they arrive for the premiere of 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' in Washington on 12 May 2005 Mike Theiler/EPA Actress Carrie Fisher and director George Lucas pose at the 33rd AFI Life Achievement Award after party at the Highlands on 9 June 2005 in Hollywood, California Vince Bucci/Getty Images Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley during the filming of the Graham Norton Show at The London Studios in 2015 So TV/PA John Boyega and Carrie Fisher embrace as they arrive at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Hollywood, California on 14 December 2015 Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Carrie Fisher attending the World premiere of Absolutely Fabulous The Movie held at Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square in 2016 Ian West/PA Carrie Fisher returned to the role in 2015 for The Force Awakens Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher attend the Midnight Mission's 100 year anniversary Golden Heart Gala held at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on 30 September 2014 in Beverly Hills, California Araya Diaz/Getty Images Carrie Fisher at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' film premiere David Fisher/Rex Carrie Fisher and dog Gary attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square on 16 December 2015 in London Dave Benett

She was part of the gang and we really feel very privileged and honoured."

Horgan added: She was funny all the time and incredibly witty company and loved saying a****** things to everyone but also was just a kind, lovely, supportive person.

Co-creator Rob Delaney added: She was the only cast member Sharon and I would let improvise.

Fans pay respects to Carrie Fisher and mother Debbie Reynolds at joint memorial

We're a bit despotic and inflexible with our dialogue because we're insane, but Carrie was more insane and would always, always make it funnier and better.

Fisher died of cardiac arrest just days after finishing work on the British sitcom in the UK.

The iconic actress was on board a flight between London and Los Angeles when she suffered a heart attack.

A day later her mother, Singin' In The Rain star Reynolds, 84, died after a suspected stroke.

Catastrophe concludes tonight at 10pm on Channel 4.


D aniel Craig is reportedly set to return as James Bond for one more film after being persuaded by producers.

The British actor, who previously joked that hed rather slash his wrists than play the secret service spy again, is thought to be in talks with Barbara Broccoli about a new script.

According to Page Six, Craig was finally convinced to step into 007s again after working with Broccoli on his hit off-Broadway production of Othello.

Daniel was very pleased with how Othello went and the great reviews. Now Daniels talks with Barbara are going in the right direction, said a source.

Daniel Craig - In pictures 1 /62 Daniel Craig - In pictures No Time To Die (2021) PA Wire The World Premiere of No Time To Die in London REUTERS Daniel Craig emerges from the waves in Casino Royale in 2006 Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz Getty Images Footage featured during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games starring Daniel Craig playing James Bond escorting The Queen through the corridors of Buckingham Palace An early publicity shot ahead of Casino Royale's release Lashana Lynch, Daniel Craig and LAa Seydoux attend the No Time To Die World Premiere at Royal Albert Hall in 2021 Getty Images No Time To Die AP Daniel Craig speaks onstage during The New Yorker Festival 2016 Getty Images Spectre - Royal World Premiere (2015_ Dave Benett Daniel Craig kisses his actress wife Rachel Weisz while they attend The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund's Royal Film Performance 2015 of the 24th James Bond Adventure, "Spectre" at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images In one of Spectres (2015) set-piece action scenes, Bond chases the villains down a mountain in a plane, crashing it into their vehicle. As you would Seducing Lucia moments after saving ehr by dispatching a Spectre hit-squad Bond meets an old friend, Mr White as he pieces together Spectre's plot With Madeleine Swan (Lea Seydoux) Skyfall saw a new and younger Q (Ben Whishaw) The End? Bond at the climatic end of Spectre before he drives off with Madeleine 'Enjoying death' - Bond starts 2015's Spectre in a mask at the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico Being fitted with a tracker by Q Daniel Craig takes a selfie with fans as he attends the German premiere of the new James Bond movie 'Spectre' Getty Images Naomie Harris and Daniel Craig ose during an event to launch the 24th James Bond film Spectre at Pinewood Studios at Iver Heath AFP/Getty Images Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci attend the Royal Film Performance of 'Spectre' at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images With the mysterious with Severine (Berenice Marlohe) Bond went to his family home, Skyfall, in his bid to save M (Judi Dench) from Silva Daniel Craig and his wife Rachel Weisz attend "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" premiere in Madrid Getty Images Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz take a romantic walk hand-in-hand to lunch in 2012 at a Japanese restaurant in NYC Splash News Bond in shadow as he stalks his prey in the opening of Skyfall in 2012 Face to face with Skyfall's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) Ready to pull the trigger with Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) watching in the background MGM Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions Fighting Patrice (Ola Rapace) on top of a moving train On the move in a motocycle chase scene Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig in 'Dream House (2011) Daniel Craig takes a bow during opening night curtain call for the broadway production of "A Steady Rain" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 29 September 2009 in New York Getty Images Daniel Craig in Defiance (2009) On the hunt for the organisation responsible for Vesper's death in 2008's Quantum of Solace arriving with Camille at an airfield in Bolivia Bond with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) Fighting Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace final battle With Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) In the opening pre-title chase scene of Casino Royale (2006) Seducing Solange (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Battling Le Chiffre across the card table at Casino Royale With Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Venice near the end of Casino Royale Daniel Craig with Sienna Miller in 'Layer Cake' (2004) Daniel Craig in 'Layer Cake' (2004) Daniel Craig in 'Layer Cake' with Colm Meaney (2004) Daniel Craig during the photocall of his film 'Road to Perdition' at the 59th International Venice Film Festival in 2002 PA

They have a script  screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert are writing and theyll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit.

Craig is currently the second-longest serving Bond in history having officially starred as the spy for over 11 years.

Pierce Brosnan: Daniel Craig's 007 can be the rock of agents

Speaking about returning to the franchise back in 2015, Craig said: Now? Id rather  slash my wrists.

No, not at the moment. Not at all. Thats fine. Im over it at the moment. Were done. All I want to do is move on.

Other stars rumoured to be in the running for the role include James Norton, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston and Aidan Turner.
H arrison Ford will not lose his pilots licence and has escaped a fine after his plane narrowly avoided hitting an airliner earlier this year.

The Star Wars actor, 74, will face no repercussions following a full investigation into the incident at John Wayne Airport in California back in February.

Ford was flying his own plane and accidently landed on a taxiway instead of a runway, passing over the top of a Boeing 737 carrying 110 passengers.

They conducted a full investigation into the matter. They interviewed Mr. Ford, they looked at all of the audio and video and computer evidence regarding the landing, said Fords lawyer Stephen Hofer.

"I'm a schmuck" - Harrison Ford audio recording of plane blunder released

After reviewing all of that they determined that no administrative or enforcement action was warranted. He retains his pilot certificate without any restrictions. He has been advised and is very happy about it.

Audi and video footage of the incident were released following the incident, with the actor describing himself as a schmuck.

Yeah, hi, its Husky Eight-Niner Hotel Uniform. I'm the schmuck that landed on the taxiway, he can be heard telling the control tower.

The 30-second clip, filmed on February 13, shows the 737 taxiing slowly on the tarmac as Fords yellow, single-engine Aviat Husky comes into shot from the right of the frame.

The shadow of Fords plane is seen on the fuselage of bigger plane as he flies above it.

The video then shows the same landing shot from behind, looking down the runway as Ford attempts to land.
P ierce Brosnan has declared Daniel Craig should keep playing Bond into his fifties, but said there is an age where he must say enoughs enough.

The former 007 actor said Craig was brilliant in the role and urged him to continue, amid doubts over his future with the franchise.

Brosnan, now 63, was 49 when he last played Bond in 2002 film Die Another Day  the same age as Craig is now.

Asked if there was an age limit to play Bond, Brosnan said: There is a definite point where you have to say enoughs enough, for sure. Im not going to put a number on it.

Daniel Craig - In pictures 1 /62 Daniel Craig - In pictures No Time To Die (2021) PA Wire The World Premiere of No Time To Die in London REUTERS Daniel Craig emerges from the waves in Casino Royale in 2006 Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz Getty Images Footage featured during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games starring Daniel Craig playing James Bond escorting The Queen through the corridors of Buckingham Palace An early publicity shot ahead of Casino Royale's release Lashana Lynch, Daniel Craig and LAa Seydoux attend the No Time To Die World Premiere at Royal Albert Hall in 2021 Getty Images No Time To Die AP Daniel Craig speaks onstage during The New Yorker Festival 2016 Getty Images Spectre - Royal World Premiere (2015_ Dave Benett Daniel Craig kisses his actress wife Rachel Weisz while they attend The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund's Royal Film Performance 2015 of the 24th James Bond Adventure, "Spectre" at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images In one of Spectres (2015) set-piece action scenes, Bond chases the villains down a mountain in a plane, crashing it into their vehicle. As you would Seducing Lucia moments after saving ehr by dispatching a Spectre hit-squad Bond meets an old friend, Mr White as he pieces together Spectre's plot With Madeleine Swan (Lea Seydoux) Skyfall saw a new and younger Q (Ben Whishaw) The End? Bond at the climatic end of Spectre before he drives off with Madeleine 'Enjoying death' - Bond starts 2015's Spectre in a mask at the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico Being fitted with a tracker by Q Daniel Craig takes a selfie with fans as he attends the German premiere of the new James Bond movie 'Spectre' Getty Images Naomie Harris and Daniel Craig ose during an event to launch the 24th James Bond film Spectre at Pinewood Studios at Iver Heath AFP/Getty Images Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci attend the Royal Film Performance of 'Spectre' at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images With the mysterious with Severine (Berenice Marlohe) Bond went to his family home, Skyfall, in his bid to save M (Judi Dench) from Silva Daniel Craig and his wife Rachel Weisz attend "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" premiere in Madrid Getty Images Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz take a romantic walk hand-in-hand to lunch in 2012 at a Japanese restaurant in NYC Splash News Bond in shadow as he stalks his prey in the opening of Skyfall in 2012 Face to face with Skyfall's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) Ready to pull the trigger with Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) watching in the background MGM Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions Fighting Patrice (Ola Rapace) on top of a moving train On the move in a motocycle chase scene Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig in 'Dream House (2011) Daniel Craig takes a bow during opening night curtain call for the broadway production of "A Steady Rain" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 29 September 2009 in New York Getty Images Daniel Craig in Defiance (2009) On the hunt for the organisation responsible for Vesper's death in 2008's Quantum of Solace arriving with Camille at an airfield in Bolivia Bond with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) Fighting Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace final battle With Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) In the opening pre-title chase scene of Casino Royale (2006) Seducing Solange (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Battling Le Chiffre across the card table at Casino Royale With Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Venice near the end of Casino Royale Daniel Craig with Sienna Miller in 'Layer Cake' (2004) Daniel Craig in 'Layer Cake' (2004) Daniel Craig in 'Layer Cake' with Colm Meaney (2004) Daniel Craig during the photocall of his film 'Road to Perdition' at the 59th International Venice Film Festival in 2002 PA

On Craigs future as Bond, he added: Its his for the taking. Go for it man. Hes brilliant.

Craig recently overtook Brosnan as the second-longest serving actor to play Bond after Sir Roger Moore. But Craig said after shooting 2015 film Spectre that he would rather slash my wrists than reprise the role.

Since quitting as Bond, Brosnan has appeared in 2008 musical Mamma Mia! and 2010 political thriller The Ghost Writer.

He is now starring in his first television series in 30 years, playing the lead the role in western drama The Son, based on the Pulitzer prize finalist novel from Philipp Meyer.

Brosnan plays patriarch Eli McCullough, kidnapped as a child and raised by the Comanche Native American tribe.

At the shows LA premiere, the Irish star said many of the issues addressed in the series remained problems today under President Donald Trump.

Not much has changed really. Borders are still drawn. There is still ugly racism in our life, he said.

The Son begins its run on AMC on Tuesday, April 18, at 9pm.
T here are many Londons, and Wembley-born Riz Ahmed has passed through most of them.

Most British cities are a real mix of different kinds of people, he says with a flash of the thoughtful intensity that defines his on-screen charisma.

I dont just mean different races, I mean different subcultures, different scenes. Youve got the back alley, down-and-out world and youve got the posh, bottle-service clubs, you know?

And then there are the tumbledown Brixton terraces where much of his new film City of Tiny Lights was shot; the multicultural melee celebrated on his 2016 Riz MC mixtape, Englistan; the Houses of Parliament, where he gave a speech last month, and the plush sofa of a Soho hotel, where were seated today to talk it over  all London, all arenas in which Riz Ahmed has, in the past decade, learned to feel at home.

City of Tiny Lights spans several of these cities-within-cities. Adapted from Patrick Neates 2005 novel, it tells the story of Tommy Akhtar (played by Ahmed), a private investigator who is employed by the mysterious Melody (The Good Wifes Cush Jumbo) to look into a young womans disappearance.

City Of Tiny Lights - Official Trailer

Akhtars investigation embroils him in Islamic terrorism, shady property deals and high-end prostitution but also forces him to reconnect with his own past, a familiar haze of alco-pops in the park, boys with curtains and The Streets first album.

Last years Evening Standard Theatre Awards Best Actress winner Billie Piper co-stars as Shelley, Akhtars childhood sweetheart, who resurfaces in his life just as things begin to get complicated.

Film noir references hang in the air almost as thickly as the cigarette smoke and Ahmed says thats part of what attracted him: We were talking about what would happen if you did a Wong Kar-wai film in Brixton, you know?

"Really embracing those nocturnal, melancholic, neon nightscapes. He pauses for a moment: I think there is that kind of bittersweetness in a city like London. Theres an old heartbreak on every corner.

Its a fittingly Chandler-esque line to describe a film that traces its style back to the Bogie and Bacall films of the 1940s.

Ahmed shows a particular flair for reinvigorating lines of double-edged dialogue with a fresh London lilt.

Does he, like Akhtar, typically walk into a newsagent and greet the shopkeeper with a cheery Alright, boss? Standardly! he laughs. A lot of people call shopkeepers boss! And cab drivers call you boss, you call them boss Boss is very London.

Londoner: Riz Ahmed feels at home in all of the city's arenas

Its been a while since 34-year-old Ahmed has been able to use his own accent or reflect on the essence of his hometown in the course of a job.

Recent gigs have included playing a timid murder suspect in the HBO hit The Night Of, Hannahs surfer-dude lover in the current series of Girls, an imperial pilot-turned-rebel-fighter in Star Wars prequel Rogue One and a Zuckerberg-like tech guru alongside Matt Damon in the latest Jason Bourne instalment.

Each major role has come with its own round of US chat show appearances, magazine cover shoots and red-carpet engagements, yet long before Ahmeds star rose hed already built a body of challenging and respected work.

His debut in Michael Winterbottoms docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo (2006) was followed up with micro-budget crime thriller Shifty (2008) and Chris Morriss post-9/11 jihadist satire Four Lions (2010).

Ahmed has been an exciting talent for over a decade but the past 12 months have undoubtedly kicked it all up a gear.

While Ahmeds name can broker meetings, close deals and open movies in Hollywood, the man himself remains steadfastly rooted in London.

He still visits his parents in Wembley every week, he says, which is more than most young Londoners manage. What do they make of his success?

What my mum thinks about my success is: Did you eat today? Literally. Thats what she thinks about anything. And my dad thinks its not too late to become a banker. Yeah

Comic turn: Riz Ahmed made a cameo alongside Lena Dunham in Girls

He makes eye contact and smiles mischievously: Maybe I need to take a leaf out of the book of your new editor?

In fact, Ahmed needs no role model when it comes to either being politically engaged or managing a busy portfolio career.

His parliamentary speech on diversity and representation last month demonstrated a fearless interest in change-making, and 11 years after his rap track Post 9/11 Blues was briefly banned from British radio, he maintains a successful, critically acclaimed music career alongside his acting one.

Unfortunately, though, erstwhile pop poppet Piper probably wont be among his upcoming musical collaborators: Get her manager to return my calls! Do you know what I mean? Ive been trying to get her to rap a 16-bar verse on the new Swet Shop Boys for a while now.

Ahmeds propensity to speak his mind has hardly stood in the way of his success, but has it ever occurred to him that if he practised a studied insipidity, as many actors do, he might be even more enthusiastically embraced by his industry?

He doesnt see it that way. I think you have no choice but to talk about your reality. I mean, our subjective experience is the only thing that we can offer to the collective conversation.

"So thats all Im doing. Im doing the same thing as other actors who might come from a totally different background. Theyre talking about their point of view based on their experiences.

"Its just that certain peoples experiences are labelled political because were just not used to hearing them.

What is most striking about Ahmeds way of talking is not any political agenda but the consistent effort he makes to imagine what the world might look like from a different perspective.

This Olympic-standard imaginative empathy is what makes him a great actor, of course, but it also manifests in his conversation as unexpected analogies or redirected questions. Its the same with renewable energy, he tells me, when describing his ideas on screen diversity.

You need to incentivise innovation sometimes, because people are stuck in old habits, but long term, if you stick to those, they become a liability, they stop you from growing. Its the same in any industry really.

Is City of Tiny Lights his way of putting these principles into action? As much as Id like to think that one British indie film can change everything, I think it falls to everyone to make their contribution in their own way, whether its a journalist like yourself, bringing your own perspective, or whether its commissioners or MPs deciding to step in.

He is most animated when describing people: family members, old friends or colleagues hes enjoyed working with.

If its someone hes particularly fond of, like his The Night Of co-star and frequent Coen Brothers collaborator John Turturro, hell throw in an impressively accurate impression to boot.

Turturro is the Brooklyn, Italian-American uncle I never had He has a lot of wisdom to share and usually gets it across through metaphors about cooking, dancing or making love.

Lena Dunham is a phenomenonshe runs the set like a fairy godmother, just like giving everyone amazing vibes and making me crack up with her improv... I would work with her again in a heartbeat.

So what if there was a scheduling conflict between a second series of The Night Of (possible) the next Star Wars instalment (rumoured) and Girls: The Movie (all-but-confirmed), which would he prioritise?

Ahmed gives the matter some consideration: Theres got to be a way for Paul-Louis to travel between dimensions or something, he says finally, slipping back into his Girls characters beach-bum drawl.

Thats what I think. I reckon if he gets stoned enough, he can kind of like pass through, like, an intergalactic porthole.

City of Tiny Lights is released on Friday
T om Hiddleston has been snubbed from playing James Bond as he is too smug, according to reports.

Hiddleston, 36, was among the rumoured names in the running to succeed Daniel Craig as the 007 agent, but a source told Page Six that producer Barbara Broccoli is not a fan of the British star.

The source said: Barbara Broccoli doesnt like Tom Hiddleston, hes a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond.

Craig is said to be back on board with the franchise, despite previously joking that he would rather slash his wrists than play the secret service spy again.

The name's Bond: Daniel Craig as the 007 agent

According to Page Six, Craig was finally convinced to continue his tenure after working with Broccoli on his hit off-Broadway production of Othello.

Daniel was very pleased with how Othello went and the great reviews, said a source. Now Daniels talks with Barbara are going in the right direction.

They have a script  screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert are writing and theyll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit.

Pierce Brosnan: Daniel Craig's 007 can be the rock of agents

Pierce Brosnan  who last played Bond in 2002 film Die Another Day  encouraged Craig to take on another outing as the British spy.

Its his for the taking, he said. Go for it man. Hes brilliant.

Hiddleston was the bookies favourite to take over from Craig, with Coral suspending betting on the Night Manager star after a large bet was placed.

It came days after he was reportedly spotted meeting with Bond movie director Sam Mendes and Broccoli.

Other stars rumoured to be in the running for the role include James Norton, Idris Elba, Jamie Bell and Aidan Turner.
Concerned patrons in the Gering school district brought forth some issues to Gering Board of Education in a special meeting on April 3 to discuss the possible closure of Cedar Canyon Elementary.

Some of the issues brought forward for the school district to consider were the lack of promotion the school has received, the need for small class sizes, and the cost of having an empty building in the school district.

Brian Copsey, Gering Public Schools Board of Education president, said the meeting was a chance for those present to give their input on elementary schools, specifically Cedar Canyon Elementary.

Bob Hastings, superintendent of Gering Public Schools, said that when he came to the school district several years ago he wanted to encourage people to provide their input. The public being part of that process.

Many people did share what they thought of the board weighing closure of the school.

Among those were Becky Fitts, who said the school district is losing students to rural country schools. She said she sees and hears radio announcements to bring students to those schools for state dollars.

Amy Davies, a mother with a kindergartner at Cedar Canyon, said she chose Cedar Canyon because of the smaller class sizes.

We requested a smaller school size for learning purposes, Davies said.

Her child was originally placed in Northfield, but she requested a change. She listed many benefits to students from having smaller class sizes, and noted one study that said students get extra months of learning, over time, with smaller class sizes.

We can afford smaller class sizes and we should, Davies said.

Hastings said there has been a discussion recently about finances and efficiencies which have to be balanced in the education world.

I want to make sure everyone understands. This is not a conversation about quality. Cedar Canyon is a high-quality school, Hastings said.

Joni Cowan, a Cedar Canyon parent, said at first she was not excited about going out to Cedar Canyon. After being there for 10 minutes on the first day, she fell in love with it.

All of the teachers know all of the kids by name. Its a big family, Cowan said.

Cowan said her daughter has excelled because of the small class size and quality teachers.

Over the past four years, there has been a 9 percent decrease in elementary school enrollment, according to data from Sept. 30, 2016. Among the schools hit hardest is Cedar Canyon Elementary. The average for the lower elementary class size is 18-20. The upper elementary grades is 20-24 students.

There are currently 48 students at Cedar Canyon Elementary.

Mary Kay Haun, principal at Cedar Canyon Elementary, said half of the students are from neighborhoods close by the school and the others have a farther trip to the school.

Haun said its a small community and there is a family feeling.

Its a small environment. The student-to-teacher ratio is small. Students get a lot of one-on-one time with their teacher, Haun said.

Haun has been at Cedar Canyon for three years. When she first came to Cedar Canyon, the school district switched it to a K-4 school.

Fitts said the enrollment three years ago was 120 students. She part of the reason for the drop in enrollment is students leaving with their fifth- and sixth-grade siblings because parents want to have their children at one school.

Cowan said if enrollment gets back to 90 students, the cost per student would be $8,581 which would be in line with other schools in the district. Currently, the cost per student is $15,386.

I believe if this school is promoted and fifth grade is moved back to Cedar, a total of 90 students is an attainable goal, Cowan said.

According to Cowan, who received data from the Nebraska Department of Education, the cost per student in Scotts Bluff County averages over $10,000. She said the cost per student in Gering is the lowest in all of the county.

B.J. Peters, Gering Public School Board of Education member, said he appreciated everyones passion. Its a beautiful facility that has served the community for a number of decades, he said. He brought up how 10 years ago there were 41 rural schools in the Panhandle, and now only four remain.

Thats a reality. Its about efficiency. Its about bodies, basically, Peters said. Out of 18 school districts in the Panhandle of Nebraska, only three have grown in the last 10 years.

Peters said the school district has to think about sharing resources as equally as possibly with the 2,000 students in Gering. There are not many children in the valley of Cedar Canyon and not that many parents who want to send their children from town on the bus to Cedar Canyon, Peters said.
Last week President Donald Trump signed an order to allow TransCanada to build the rest of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline is an issue which has created a lot of controversy in our State, so today I would like to address some of the most important questions surrounding the pipeline and clarify why this pipeline will be good for our State.

What will flow through the Keystone XL pipeline? Some people are confused about what will be flowing flow through the KXL pipeline. First, oil flowing through the pipeline will not be 100 percent Canadian crude oil. Crude oil from Montana will enter the pipeline at Baker, Montana and crude oil from Nebraska will also enter the pipeline at Steele City, Nebraska. This will be good for oil producers in our State.

Second, crude oil, especially the kind from the Canadian tar sands, cannot flow through the pipeline in its raw form. So, the crude oil is mixed with Bitumen in order to form a product known as Dilbit. Bitumen is diluted with one or more petroleum products, usually natural gas, in order to liquefy it for transport through the pipeline. The crude oil of the KXL pipeline will be the same kind of crude oil which currently flows through the Platte pipeline, which runs east and west through Nebraska near the Platte River.

Where will the KXL pipeline go? Crude oil from the KXL pipeline will be transported to refineries in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas. At no point will the KXL pipeline run through the water table of the Ogallala Aquifer. Instead, the pipeline will travel over the Ogallala Aquifer. If the pipeline were ever to spring a leak over the Ogallala Aquifer, the viscosity of the Dilbit would cause it to stop seeping into the ground once it reached soil with a ground temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Last year the Canadian government produced a study which showed that diluted Bitumen floats. So, even if the oil ever reached the water table of the Ogallala Aquifer, we now know that it would float on top of the aquifer.

Who owns the Canadian tar sands? Answer: the Canadians. However, Koch Industries is the largest foreign investor in the Canadian tar sands. Koch Industries is an American company run by the Koch Bros., who hold the lease on 2,000,000 acres of Canadian tar sands. Conoco Philips and Shell Oil follow behind the Koch Bros. as the next largest foreign investors. China is considered a small player in the industry because they hold the lease on only 5% of the Canadian tar sands.

TransCanada has agreed to 57 special conditions for building the Keystone XL pipeline. So, what are some of these conditions? A few that I would like to highlight are these six: 1) the pipeline must be able to withstand a 65 ton excavator from breaking through it; 2) the pipeline must have a cover of four feet of topsoil, except in rocky areas, where it must have three feet of topsoil; 3) the pipeline has to be inspected every two weeks; 4) all pressure rated fittings and components (including flanges valves, gaskets, pressure vessels and pumps) must be rated for pressure ratings commensurate with the Maxwell operating pressure of the pipeline; 5) TransCanada must limit mainline pipeline overpressure protection to a maximum of 110% of operating pressure during surges; and 6) Pipeline markers must be installed and maintained for line of sight markings, except in agricultural fields.

How much property tax will be paid after the Keystone XL pipeline depreciates for income tax purposes? The KXL pipeline is said to depreciate in 15 years. Beginning in year 16, property taxes will continue to be assessed on the KXL pipeline according to centrally assessed standards. For example, the Platte pipeline, which was completed in 1953, and runs through Cheyenne County, pays an estimated $42,000 per year in property taxes.

Will lands in Nebraska be seized by eminent domain? TransCanada is not using eminent domain to seize our precious farmland. The KXL pipeline will be just like any other water, sewer or utility line crossing someones property. The landowner shall always retain ownership of the property, and once construction is complete, they will continue to possess economic right to the surface. The landowner shall always be able to use the land for agricultural activities. Easements and agreements will only provide for the right to access the pipeline during construction and for maintenance.

Will the KXL pipeline be safe for the environment? The Keystone XL pipeline will be one of the safest pipelines in the United States. The Platte pipeline has been in existence since 1953 and has never had a spill. The Platte pipeline pumps the same product as will the Keystone XL pipeline. The United States Department of Transportation has determined that transporting oil via a pipeline is 451 times safer than transporting it by rail or by truck. So, the KXL pipeline will provide us with the safest way to move all of this oil.

Finally, will the Keystone XL pipeline be good for all Nebraskans? Once constructed the KXL pipeline will free up space in the Platte pipeline so oil in western Nebraska can be pumped through the Platte pipeline, making our oil production more competitive. It is very expensive to transport oil by rail or by truck. The KXL pipeline will help us reduce these costs. The construction of this pipeline will come at a time when our State needs increased revenue due to a downturn in the economy. The Keystone XL pipeline will give us some relief by paying property taxes to those counties through which it passes.
With one hand holding a bottle of champagne and the other an oversized certificate declaring him the winner of $1 million from Publishers Clearing House, Bruce Saunders stood on the front porch of his western Davie County Monday and rattled off a list of things he plans spend his spend money on  medical bills, fixing his lawnmower and helping family members.
By MARK EVANS STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD Scott Schmieder, county road and bridge foreman, reported to the county commission last Thursday that temperatures are getting too cold at night for much more asphalt work to be done. He said potholes had all been patched. His crews were working on Bodine Road and made call-ins to locate
Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (440) Jan 2014 (544) Feb 2014 (475) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (441) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (579) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (921) Nov 2015 (801) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (946) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sep 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (737) Nov 2022 (165)
The prevention law tries to eliminate the perception of invasive control, this being the first step towards the next stage, which is the trust stage, Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship Alexandru Petrescu stated on Tuesday at the forum regarding the "Start-Up Nation- Romania" Programme.

"The Prevention Law tries to eliminate the perception of invasive control. It tries to eliminate the individual who sits in front of your business door and says 'Let's see what we find today.' This is what it tries to eliminate. I don't claim that this law will bring a level of total peace and everybody from now on has to avoid or pass the compliance with the law on the second line of activity. This is not what it should happen. It's a first step towards getting to the next stage, the one which is the trust between relevant players of Romanian business: the entrepreneur and the control authority," Alexandru Peterscu explained.According to him, the Prevention Law rests on two pillars. One is informing, this is why a year after the adoption of the law, all the ministries must transmit the pieces the information through the minimum general conformity conditions, these following to be uploaded on a website. Also there, information regarding the best practices of the control bodies can be found, so there will be an intuitive perception of uniformity regarding the act of control, the Minister added.The second pillar in represented by the reasonability area, namely what are the conditions for which a business must be closed or a trader blocked, because, for instance, one doesn't have the label of a product in accordance with what the representative of the control body considers.The Minister added that in case there will be recommendations in respect to one of the contraventions included in the law annex, these will be taken over and redirected to the ministry that proposed them, and the ministry will have to re-substantiate or withdraw the contravention.Petrescu mentioned he intends for the ministry he leads to take over the Public-Private Partnership Law from the Finance Ministry, these being laws without which the business environment cannot grow and investments cannot materialize.

Agerpres
The Government will set up a public agency for cloud and digital services under a public-private partnership, Communications Minister Augustin Jianu told a specialist conference on Tuesday.

"We will set up a public agency for cloud and digital services which, under a public-private partnership, will take care of the project, of building the cloud infrastructure for providing such services. If we succeed, then the government, the public administration, will get the speed to evolve with the economy, and then all this will be reflected in the citizens' pockets," said Jianu.

He added that Romania should transform itself from an emerging country in terms of digital economy into a transition country.

"We must be able to capitalise and turn from an emerging country in terms of digital economy into a transition country, so that we may reach maturity as soon as possible. To this end, all the players, including the private ones, as well as the public administration have a lot to do. I believe that in a longer term, Romania has a lot of potential as far as added value in the digital economy is concerned. Romanians are highly creative; it is something in their cultural DNA. Romanians have always very well understood how systems operate and how to take a side step. We can capitalise on that because what is happening now is us building a cyberspace. Currently, we need cyberspace builders; we cannot build without thinking from the onset about system security," added Jianu.

agerpres.
The draft law on the uniform pay will be signed on Thursday at the Social Democratic Party's (PSD) National Executive Council (CExN) meeting, which will take place in Sinaia, party chairman Liviu Dragnea announced on Monday.

He pointed out that this draft is currently completed, and the law will be signed as a parliamentary initiative, the debate on it going to take place in Parliament.

"On Thursday, we'll sign the law, as parliamentary initiative. The Prime Minister and Mrs Labour Minister told me and Mr Tariceanu that the best option is to turn it into a parliamentary initiative, not in a gov't legislative initiative, in order to save time. (...) Today, the draft of the uniform pay law is ready. On Thursday, or even tomorrow, the Labour Minister will go to Parliament to start collecting the signatures, for those who want to be co-initiators to this law, and on Thursday it will be signed by the coalition leaders and parliamentarians. I invite [Senate] President Tariceanu on Thursday to come to Sinaia to sign this draft law together," Dragnea told Antena 3 private television broadcaster.

According to him, all interested Romanians will see, in the debate interval, "all the anomalies in the current public pay system of Romania."

"Everything started from Law 284, the uniform pay law [...] and social categories of the public system got their wages increased. The situation was reached in which an accountant at a ministry has a higher wage than the same accountant at a different ministry, with the same experience and duties," the PSD leader maintained.

He pointed out that two institutions make an exception to the draft law - the National Bank of Romania (BNR) and the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF), a principle about which "the European Commission said it was all right."

"Also discussed is the salary ratio - between the lowest and the highest salary in Romania. Not it is 1 to 15. The social partners have been long asking for 1 to 13. We decided it at 1 to 12. Namely 1 means the minimum wage per economy, 12 means Romania's President's salary. If we discuss on the principle of the most legitimate man in the country - be that Klaus Iohannis today, be that Radu Tudor tomorrow, he must have the highest wage. This is what hierarchisation means. [...] This is what legitimation means. [...] After the president, comes the prime minister, the Senate president, the Chamber speaker and the ICCJ [Supreme Court] president. The ICCJ president's salary today is high. [...] There is another discussion - ministers are placed on the same level with parliamentarians," Liviu Dragnea detailed, and mentioned that 1 represents 1,420 lei.

Risking to be "unpopular", the Deputies' Chamber Speaker showed that the debated indices for parliament members are 7, 6, and even 5.

At the end of the PSD governance, he mentioned, the minimum wage per economy will be 1,750 lei.

agerpres.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) "firmly" condemns the attack on Monday at the St Petersburg metro, resulted in several dead and injured, reads a MAE release sent to agerpres on Tuesday.

MAE sends condolences to the victims' families and voices hope for the fast recovery of the injured persons.

"In these difficult times, the Foreign Affairs Ministry reiterates the condemnation of all acts of this kind, regardless of the reason and form of manifestation," the release underscores.

In a report published on Monday evening, the anti-terrorist services of Russia informed that following the blast occurred in the St Petersburg metro 11 people died and 45 injured are hospitalised.
To combat an escalating opioid epidemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration trained its sights in 2011 on Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals of St. Louis, one of the nations largest manufacturers of the highly addictive generic painkiller oxycodone.

It was the first time the DEA had targeted a manufacturer of opioids for alleged violations of laws designed to prevent the diversion of legal narcotics to the black market. And it would become the largest prescription-drug case the agency has pursued.

Ultimately, the DEA and federal prosecutors would contend that the company ignored its responsibility to report suspicious orders as 500 million of its pills ended up in Florida between 2008 and 2012  66 percent of all oxycodone sold in the state. Government investigators alleged in internal documents that the companys lack of due diligence could have resulted in nearly 44,000 federal violations and exposed it to $2.3 billion in fines, according to confidential government records and emails obtained by The Washington Post.

But six years later, after four investigations that spanned five states, the government has taken no legal action against Mallinckrodt. Instead, the company said it has reached a tentative settlement with federal prosecutors. Under the proposal, Mallinckrodt would agree to pay a $35 million fine and admit no wrongdoing.

The case shows how difficult it is for the government to hold a drug manufacturer responsible for the damage done by its product. DEA investigators appalled by rising overdose deaths said they worked for years to build the biggest case of their careers only to watch it falter on uncertain legal territory and in the face of stiff resistance from the company.

They just werent taking this seriously, and people were dying, said a former law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is pending.

In a statement, a Mallinckrodt spokesman said the company has worked hard to fight drug diversion.

Mallinckrodt has long been a recognized leader in developing and sharing best practices related to the prevention of opioid diversion and misuse, and has continuously invested significant resources to address this serious drug epidemic, the statement said. We are proud of the programs and initiatives weve developed to ensure appropriate use of pain medication and, most importantly, to deter such medications from ending up in the wrong hands.

Officials at the DEA declined to comment for this article. The U.S. attorneys office in Detroit, which is handling the case, issued a statement. Our office works diligently to use all the legal tools available to us to hold corporations responsible for their actions, acting U.S. attorney Daniel Lemisch said. This is particularly true in a highly regulated industry such as the manufacture of opioids. As this case is still in settlement negotiations, we cannot comment on the specifics of the matter.

Under federal law and DEA policy, pharmaceutical companies such as Mallinckrodt are required to know their customers and monitor the pattern, frequency and amounts of drug orders. When suspicious orders occur, companies must immediately notify the agency or risk losing their DEA licenses to sell or manufacture controlled substances, as well as face civil and criminal penalties.

According to the documents and sources familiar with the settlement talks, Mallinckrodt was willing to acknowledge its responsibility to report suspiciously large orders placed by its customers, a network of wholesale distributors. But the company said that it should not be held responsible for what happens to its drugs once the distributors send them to their customers, such as doctors and pharmacies.

Mallinckrodt contended that the DEA has never required manufacturers to know their customers customers and that the agency provided the company with conflicting advice about its responsibilities under the law.

Mallinckrodt took unprecedented steps beyond the legal obligations of a manufacturer. Mallinckrodt began monitoring downstream sales between wholesalers and pharmacies, and proactively informed both its customers and the DEA of its findings, said Brien OConnor, a lawyer for the company.

The proposed $35 million settlement comes as the nations prescription opioid epidemic continues to worsen, with nearly 180,000 lives lost to overdoses since 2000.

The Mallinckrodt case was an aggressive attempt to hold a drug manufacturer accountable.

Mallinckrodt was founded 150 years ago in St. Louis. Now based in the United Kingdom after corporate acquisitions, Mallinckrodt is one of the nations largest manufacturers of oxycodone, a powerful opioid made from the natural painkiller found in poppies.

When you get to the manufacturing level, its hard to prove that they knew what was happening, another law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said. But they were making the product, they were selling it to the countrys largest distributors, and they had a responsibility under the law to detect and report orders that were suspicious. These orders were beyond suspicious.

Tablets linked

to Florida

On July 7, 2009, members of a Tennessee drug task force in a sting operation seized several 100-tablet bottles of Mallinckrodt-made oxycodone. Task force agents alerted Mallinckrodt.

Three days later, Mallinckrodt responded that the oxycodone had been prescribed by Barry Schultz, a doctor who ran a medical clinic in Delray Beach, Fla. The company said that one of its distributors, Sunrise Wholesale of Broward County, Fla., had sent 20,400 tablets of oxycodone to Schultz in the previous year.

The Florida Department of Health had just issued an administrative complaint against Schultz. His medical office had become a thoroughfare for those seeking easy access to drugs, records show.

On July 27, a Mallinckrodt security director told DEA Supervisor Paul Pete Kleissle in St. Louis about the Tennessee connection. Kleissle recommended that Mallinckrodt conduct an audit of Sunrise and the company agreed, government documents show.

At the time, the DEAs Diversion Control Division was ramping up enforcement efforts against the nations wholesale drug distributors  including Sunrise  warning them and drug manufacturers that they would be held accountable if they failed to report suspicious orders.

In 2010 and 2011, DEA investigators in several states started to see large amounts of Mallinckrodts oxycodone being sent to Florida.

By then, Mallinckrodts blue 30-milligram oxycodone tablets had become so popular among drug users and dealers that they had a street name  Ms, for the companys distinctive block-letter logo.

Floridas lax laws, dishonest doctors and unscrupulous pharmacists had turned the state into ground zero for the nations prescription opioid crisis.

One distributor that caught the attention of the DEA for sending drugs to Florida was KeySource Medical, a regional company based in Cincinnati. In 2010, it sent 41 million tablets of Mallinckrodt-made oxycodone to Florida, documents show. That was nearly 2.5 pills for every man, woman and child in the state.

The DEA accused KeySource in June 2011 of trying to conceal the amounts of drugs it was shipping by splitting its orders and told the company to halt its oxycodone shipments.

Mallinckrodts oxycodone cropped up again when the DEA looked at one of the nations three largest drug distributors, Cardinal Health, which was sending vast quantities to four pharmacies in Florida.

On Aug. 23, 2011, DEA supervisors met with Mallinckrodt executives at the agencys headquarters in Arlington, Va. DEA officials showed the company the remarkable amounts of its oxycodone going to distributors and the number of arrests being made for oxycodone possession and distribution on the street, according to one participant in the meeting who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is pending.

There were a lot of follow-ups, and they said they would adjust their practices, the participant said.

But the DEA would later learn that in the six weeks after the Tennessee task force alerted Mallinckrodt to the drugs found in the 2009 sting operation, the company had shipped another 2.1 million tablets of oxycodone to Sunrise, the Florida distributor.

The DEA also discovered that Sunrise, over an 11-month period, had sent at least 92,400 tablets to Schultz, the Delray Beach doctor who prescribed the pills found in Tennessee. In one day, he had prescribed 1,000 tablets to one patient.

Eventually, under pressure from the DEA, Sunrise surrendered its license to distribute narcotics. Schultz was charged with drug trafficking and manslaughter because one of his patients died of a drug overdose. Schultz was later convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Mallinckrodt knew through law enforcement reports that Barry Schultz was diverting controlled substances, and that the diverted oxycodone was supplied by Mallinckrodt through Sunrise, prosecutors later wrote in an internal document sent to the company.

Company records sought

In 2014, Mallinckrodt, notified its shareholders that it was under investigation by the federal government and had received subpoenas for documents.

But the company said it believed that the ultimate resolution will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In fiscal 2016, the company posted $3.4 billion in revenue and a $489 million profit.

Prosecutors in an internal summary prepared Aug. 7, 2014, noted that the DEA had provided conflicting guidance to Mallinckrodt about its responsibilities to report suspicious orders from retailers such as Schultz.

For example, Kleissle, the DEA supervisor in St. Louis, had told the company in 2010 after the Tennessee sting that it had a responsibility to keep close tabs on its customers, the distributors, as well as the distributors customers, the pharmacies and doctors.

But that same year, a DEA investigator in New York, Heather White, told Mallinckrodt that no one in her region had heard anything about know your customers customer and that the regulations do not reflect such a requirement, according to the prosecutors summary. White declined to comment for this article.

Mallinckrodt pushed back against the governments contention that it was responsible for the acts of downstream retail customers such as Schultz.

The company said during discussions with prosecutors that it was impossible to monitor all of the 55,000 retail outlets where its drugs are delivered. Mallinckrodt also said that the DEA was aware of the companys increased sales of oxycodone and could have acted by reducing the amount of narcotics the company is permitted to sell. The DEA sets quotas for the quantities of controlled substances that can be manufactured. The company also complained that the DEA has not provided guidance on how to track suspicious orders.

Despite the billion-dollar figures bandied about, prosecutors eventually proposed settling the case for $70 million. They cited the litigation risk they faced if the case went to trial, Mallinckrodts previous legal arguments and the size of other recent settlements with drug distributors.

Now, the proposed fine is $35 million, and some of those who worked on the case said they are deeply disappointed.

For a company the size of Mallinckrodt, a $35 million fine is chump change, one government official said.

The problem you have is this was new ground, and it had never been done before, said another former law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. There was a lot of back and forth over whether we could pull this off. Is it ideal? No. Is this a number that everyone wants to see? No. People would probably like to see more. But this is about more than money. Its about holding a manufacturer accountable, and it will put the industry on notice.

The Washington Posts Alice Crites contributed to this report.
Hyderabad: Congress on Monday help protests across Telangana expressing support to red chilli farmers and demanded a market invention by the State government. Congress alleged that the red chilli farmers incurred huge losses as the government failed to set up a reasonable support price. They demanded that the government facilitate procurement of chillies through State market institutions and organise a consultation with the farmers.

While seeking transparent procurement system, with daily flow of information on prices and procurements, the party also sought the government to facilitate chilli exports through Spices Board. A delegation led by M Kodanda Reddy, Chairman Kisan and Kheth Mazdoor Congress, along with V Hanumantha Rao, former MP, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, former TPCC president and D Sudheer Reddy, former MLA met the Chief Secretary, S P Singh in the Secretariat.

Earlier during the day, Kodanda Reddy also led protests at Malakpet market yard. Meanwhile, farmers led by Alampur MLA, S A Sampath held protests in front of Agriculture Commissionerate over the issue of spurious seeds.

The MLA called off the protests, after Agriculture Minister, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy assured to hold a meeting with farmers. The Congress leaders across the State also represented the issue with Revenue officials after holding protests.
UPDATED at 2:30 p.m. with ID of victim.

Officers called to a car crash in north St. Louis County early Tuesday found two shooting victims inside the vehicle.

Khiry Taggart, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, near New Halls Ferry Road and Greengrass Drive. Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville said Taggart was a student there and a native of Chicago.

A 19-year-old woman who was also riding in the car with him was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound. Police say she was stable.

The female driver of the car was not injured, police said.

The car crashed at about 12:45 a.m. in Florissant. But since police determined the actual shooting was in unincorporated north St. Louis County, St. Louis County police will be handling the homicide investigation.

St. Louis County Police spokesman Benjamin Granda did not release a possible motive for the shooting or say if police had any suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 636-529-8210 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477.
ST. LOUIS  Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said that six St. Louis-area home health care workers billed Medicaid for services provided when they were actually gambling, vacationing or working elsewhere.

The six are all now facing charges of making false statements to Medicaid. Prosecutors say they claimed in Medicaid time sheets that they were grooming, feeding, cleaning or assisting patients with medicine when they were not.

Prosecutors said that Regina Brown, 58, and James Smith, 75, falsely claimed that Brown was receiving home health care from Smith, when Brown was actually on a New Orleans vacation and a cruise ship.

Benita Bell, 46, and Tammara Bell, 28, were accused of falsely claiming that Benita Bell was receiving services when she was actually gambling at local casino or employed as a caregiver for others.

Nova Paden, 50, and Demagio Smith, 27, were working elsewhere when they claimed to be either receiving or providing home health care services, prosecutors said. Smith was in New Jersey and California part of the time, the U.S. attorney's office said. Paden was also lying about her income and falsely receiving disability payments, they said.

"Home health care is not only a more convenient alternative to skilled nursing facilities, it also saves tax dollars because it is less expensive," said William Woods, head of the local office of the FBI, one of the agencies that investigated the case, in a prepared statement. "People who abuse and cheat the system siphon money away from those who truly need the services."
CHESTER, Ill.  The wake of a police officer killed in the line of duty last November could end up costing the Chester, Ill., School District over $20,000.

On 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 Thursday 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.

The amount the district stands to lose 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.
JEFFERSON CITY  Although its prospects of reaching the governors desk remain in flux, a proposal that would finance a taxpayer-funded buyout of homes near a smoldering North County landfill is inching forward in the Missouri Legislature.

Under the proposed program, which is sponsored by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, any homeowner who owns a home within the Spanish Village subdivision near the Bridgeton Landfill could apply to sell their home for a fair market rate to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The annual payout is capped at $12.5 million, but Chappelle-Nadal said she hopes budget writers will include up to $4 million in the states spending plan to jump-start the buyouts.

Not every family is going to want to do this, Chappelle-Nadal said.

Residents for years have complained of obnoxious smells burning off the Bridgeton Landfill that lies near the subdivision, located north of Interstate 70 and west of Interstate 270.

Nearby is the West Lake Landfill, where uranium used to fuel nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project was dumped decades ago.

During a hearing on the legislation earlier this spring, BrieAnn McCormick told lawmakers that she hadnt known about the Superfund site next door to the house her husband owned when they married.

She told the panel that she keeps her children inside when it smells.

Moreover, theyve had to evacuate when the Environmental Protection Agency or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have tried to mitigate the pollution. She said she now lives in fear of the rare cancers and other sicknesses nearby residents have long blamed on the radiation.

"They say cancer can take up to 20 years to develop after exposure to radiation," she said during the February hearing. "Will we be one of the unlucky ones?"

Chappelle-Nadal has spent more than a year crisscrossing her Senate district to spread the word about the legacy of radioactive waste at sites throughout the St. Louis region.

She puts the number of presentations she's made at over 65.

For now, funding for the buyout affecting as many as 90 homes is not included in the states proposed budget.

The legislation, which received a green light from senators, would still need an OK in the House before it heads to Gov. Eric Greitens desk.

The proposal is pared down from a version Chappelle-Nadal introduced last year, which sought to include the more than 63,000 homes within three miles of contaminated Coldwater Creek at an estimated potential cost of $7 billion.

The current legislation is Senate Bill 22.
JEFFERSON CITY  The fight over a controversial measure that would make it harder for Missourians to sue for workplace discrimination continued in a House committee Monday afternoon.

The proposal, which would require people to explicitly prove their race, sex or other protected status actually motivated their boss or colleague to mistreat them to win cases like wrongful termination, overcame a heated Senate filibuster last month.

Currently, Missourians need only prove their status was a "contributing factor" to prevail in court.

For example, if a black plaintiff was fired from a job for tardiness, but white employees routinely showed up late and weren't fired, the black employee could ask a jury to compare the treatment and contend that race "contributed" to the boss's decision.

But if the new measure is approved and signed into law, such an employee would need to meet a higher standard  he or she would have to show that race explicitly motivated mistreatment through, for example, documentation of racist comments.

The new measure also would preclude suits against other employees, instead forcing suits against companies themselves. It would cap damages for successful plaintiffs and curb protections for whistleblowers.

Romine and representatives from business groups described the measure as a sensible solution for an out-of-control court system entertaining frivolous claims that extort companies. They also said it would bring Missouri in line with federal standards.

Dan O'Keefe, an employment attorney at Bryan Cave in St. Louis, cheered them on at the hearing, saying current practice was empowering "derelict employees who are themselves causing problems." He recalled one particular time when an employee being disciplined for harassment turned around and sued the company for harassing him with punishment.

"And with the contributing factor standard's low bar, there's almost nothing an employer can do," he said. "So you find yourself in a position where you've got to pay out either a large sum to your attorney to defend the case and to plaintiff to settle it, all of which is useless."

But Democrats, plaintiff's attorneys and civil rights groups said the proposal's high standard of proof would effectively shield bad businesses from the consequences of discrimination.

St. Louis-based employment lawyer Jonathan Berns said a contributing factor standard makes sense given the way people operate; He rarely finds clients with an explicitly racist email or other smoking gun because harassers know to keep that out of writing.

"'No one really says, 'I'm not hiring her because she's a woman,' because that's illegal," he said. "So we have to rely a lot on circumstantial evidence."

State NAACP president Rod Chapel, whose mic was cut off by committee chairman Rep. Bill Lant the last time he testified on a similar bill, said by raising the standard too high, lawmakers were depriving people of a fundamental right to justice when they've been treated unfairly.

"What kind of Americans would be we be to pass a measure that would say that you no longer have that right?" he asked.

Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, cross-examined Romine like a prosecutor, grilling him on a pending racial discrimination lawsuit filed against his furniture store chain in southeast Missouri two years ago.

The suit alleges that a supervisor at the chain's Sikeston store used racial slurs against a black account manager and that Romine declined to address complaints.

Romine dismissed the implication that he was trying to help himself out and added that he was sued despite the Missouri Human Rights Commission ruling the claim to be without merit.

"That's part of the problem we're dealing with this system," he said. "It's a very frustrating process when the commission can't do their job and be honored for the decision that they make."

Former Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed similar legislation in 2011 and 2012.

But new Republican Gov. Eric Greitens has prioritized making Missouri courts friendlier to business, and Romine's measure is one of dozens of proposals catering to his wishes this session.
JEFFERSON CITY  For the fourth time in four years, the Missouri House gave initial approval to a plan to establish a long-sought prescription drug monitoring database Wednesday, but attempts to change it foreshadowed fierce resistance ahead in the Senate.

Sikeston Republican Rep. Holly Rehder's plan, which still needs another vote in the lower chamber, would end Missouri's tenure as the only state that doesn't track the prescriptions of controlled substances like opioid painkillers.

Doctors and medical experts say a database would be a key tool in combating addiction to painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin that have swept across the country in recent years.

The problem is clear: Sales of prescription painkillers and deadly overdoses on opioids, including heroin, both quadrupled nationwide from 1999 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2015, more than 15,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids.

And right now, Missouri doctors say without a uniform way to see what medications a patient has been prescribed outside of their office, they're virtually helpless against "doctor shoppers"  people who visit multiple doctors for the same prescriptions to feed a habit or illicit business.

Having a database would allow doctors to identify potential addicts and intervene before it's too late, said Brandon Costerison, a spokesman for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuses chapter in St. Louis County.

"They could catch someone early and talk to them about mental health and refer them to a specialist for help," he said, "instead of of just inadvertently contributing to the problem."

Costerison conceded that opponents of the measure were right: a database won't solve every problem. But, he said, it will help lower the amount of painkillers going out unnecessarily and serve as a foundation for other efforts.

Two years after Florida started a database, began regulating pain clinics and stopped providers from dispensing painkillers from their office, the state saw its oxycodone overdose deaths drop by more than 50 percent, according to the CDC.

Kentucky required doctors and pharmacists to use its database and saw doctor shopping cut in half within less than three years.

But House opponents maintained there were other ways to solve the crisis without infringing on Missourians' privacy and they pointed out that Rehder's bill would not require doctors to use the database, a vital element in the most dramatic reductions in other states.

They didn't have the numbers to mount a serious challenge, but nevertheless offered protest amendments.

One amendment tried to keep the state from funding the database, forcing it to apply for grants or raise private money. Another took the measure to an extreme, mandating doctors drug test everyone they give opioids.

Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, offered an amendment creating a registry that would only include names of people who voluntarily admit they need help with their addiction.

"At some point, most people who get addicted to opioids try to get help," he said. "At that point when they're trying to get help, they can place their names on this registry and doctors can check the registry and see if the people they think are doctor shopping have a drug problem."

All of them were rejected. But they highlighted the reason why Rehder's victory will likely be short-lived.

Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, has killed several prescription monitoring databases on privacy concerns in recent years  including Rehder's measures the past two years  and has vowed to filibuster again.

He's offered his own plan, but it insists not giving doctors direct access to patients prescription histories, as the rest of the country does. Instead, prescribers would submit a patients name to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, which would grant access only if it determined the patient was a potential abuser.

Rehder has said those compromises are too much. Schaaf has maintained it's as much as he's willing to compromise.

The impasse in the legislature hasn't stopped local efforts. A group of 12 counties led by St. Louis County plan to launch a database in April. The city of St. Louis and Kansas City will also participate.
Apprehensions at the southern border continue to fall dramatically, according to new numbers from Customs and Border Protection -- a drop that experts attribute to President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement policies.

There were roughly 12,000 total apprehensions at the southwest border in March, according to numbers obtained by CNN that are expected to be released this week. That represents a 35% drop from February and a 63% drop from March 2016.

In 17 years of CBP data, apprehensions had never dropped from February to March, typically rising slightly.

Former Acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner David Aguilar said Tuesday at a hearing in front of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee that through the end of March, immigration officials have seen a 67% drop in illegal crossings from Mexico as compared to the same period last year.

Aguilar attributed the drop to Trump's hardline position on immigration -- a focal point of his campaign and the first few weeks of his presidency.

"This has happened before when -- as it relates especially to immigration -- when the US stands strong and takes certain actions," Aguilar said. "This administration said we're going to address illegal immigration. ICE has started working in the interior unlike other times. So that message resonates."

CNN was told by current CBP officials on Tuesday that southwest border migration numbers are still being finalized and will be posted at a later date.

Attempts to enter the US illegally can vary based on a variety of factors, often referred to as push and pull. Violent, dangerous or desperate conditions in Central America, where a majority of migrants originate, can push individuals to make the journey north through Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Kelly has talked about the importance of working with Central American countries to cut back on violence as another element in combating illegal immigration.

Trump's strict position on immigration is seen as affecting the so-called "pull factors" that attract would-be immigrants. The idea is that word of mouth and media coverage of Trump's low-tolerance policy for undocumented immigrants can be a deterrent to individuals considering making the journey.
I have known Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch for 36 years. We met when we were 13 and transplanted to a high school in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. We had similar stories: Our parents had uprooted us from our lives out west so that they could serve President Ronald Reagan in his new administration.

I was born in Joplin, Mo., and my family ties run deep in Carthage, Neosho and Granby. I spent my childhood years in Pittsburg, Kan. The Midwestern values that my grandparents instilled in me are the very ones I try to teach my children every day: Be humble, treat people the way you want to be treated, get a good education and work hard. Back in Colorado, I believe that Neils grandparents inspired similar words of wisdom.

Our shared situation and values helped us bond quickly, and we have stayed close: From high school, college and graduate school to first jobs, weddings and baptisms, we have been there for each other. I was best man at Neil's and Louises wedding in 1996 and he is godfather to my two young sons. My wife Grace and I were honored to sit behind Neil and Louise at the Senate confirmation hearings last week. I think everyone watching saw for themselves what I have known for more than three-and-a-half decades: Neil is a kind, humble and compassionate person.

They also saw that Neil knows the Constitution and history of our laws better than just about anyone, and that he is an incredibly independent and fair judge. In his decade serving on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, he has heard over 2,700 cases. His panels decisions were unanimous 97 percent of the time and he was in the majority 99 percent of the time. Twelve judges serve on these panels: seven appointed by Democrats and five appointed by Republicans. Simply put, he is a mainstream judge.

At the confirmation hearing, he answered questions for more than 20 hours under bright lights, with a group of swarming photographers in front of him, beside him and behind him. Yet Neil never lost eye contact with the senator with whom he was speaking. He never lost his train of thought or asked for a question to be repeated. He listened carefully and responded thoughtfully, respectfully and often with humor.

The press that followed the hearings was overwhelmingly positive. There was praise for his performance from the media, from Republicans and Democrats. Letters of support flooded in, including one from his childhood hero John Elway. (Chief fans, please dont hold this against him, Neil is from Denver after all.) Former Democrat Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey said on MSNBC, Id probably vote for him. And commentator Joe Scarborough of MSNBC said, If Ronald Reagan had ever had a confirmation hearing, it wouldve sounded a lot like that.

But back in Washington, Senate Democrats are seeking to block a vote for him with the filibuster. They say it is payback for how Republicans treated Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas nominee. Let me just say that my friend Neil has the utmost respect for Judge Garland and as reported, Judge Garland was the first person he called after his nomination.

But there is a guideline in the Senate that should a Supreme Court vacancy occur once the political season is underway in the last year of a presidency, we should allow the American people to have a say in their next Justice by how they vote in the November election. This idea was put forth by then-Sen. Joe Biden in 1992, the last year of the Bush administration.

Well, the people did decide. President Donald Trump won the state of Missouri by 19 points last year. And exit polls showed that a fifth of voters said the Supreme Court was the single most important issue for them when voting for president.

Fifty-four percent of Americans say Senate Democrats should allow a confirmation vote for Judge Gorsuch, according to a recent NBC News/Survey Monkey Poll. Its probably safe to assume that the majority of voters in Missouri support his confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, Sen. Claire McCaskill has chosen to appease the far left of her party rather than represent the people of Missouri who elected her. At a minimum, she should support an up-or-down vote for Judge Gorsuch, instead of playing politics at the bidding of the senator from New York.

Michael Trent is a former technology executive with four Fortune 500 companies and now lives with his family in Marietta, Ga.
Two goals of a democratic election are to ensure that the will of the majority prevails, and to facilitate people coming together post-election. But the winner take all method used recently in St. Louis mayoral and aldermanic primaries failed those tests  badly.

Consider the Democrats mayoral primary. Alderwoman Lyda Krewson won a slim victory against six Democratic challengers, with only 32 percent of the popular vote and an 888 vote margin. That means more than two thirds of voters picked another candidate.

Was Krewson really the candidate preferred by a majority, meaning more than half the voters? Nobody really knows. Winning with such a low plurality undermines the mandate of the winner and contributes to breakdowns in city unity. But a simple change to the electoral method would have resulted in a winner with majority support.

For example, the city could have held a second election among the top two finishers, with the winner of that runoff guaranteed to have majority support. However one of the downsides of holding a separate runoff election is that it is expensive  taxpayers have to pay for a second election, and the final candidates have to raise a lot more money, giving an advantage to those who are deep-pocketed and well-connected. Also, it can be difficult to get voters to turn out a second time.

A better method than a separate runoff is called ranked choice voting (RCV), which uses an instant runoff to elect majority winners in a single election. RCV is used in a number of major U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, Oakland and San Francisco, as well as in the city of London.

Instead of picking only one candidate for mayor, voters would have the option to rank the candidates. You put your favorite candidate in the top spot, and then you rank other candidates who are your backup choices. If no candidate has a majority of first choices, the backup rankings from the voters of candidates with less support are used to determine a majority winner in a single election.

Using RCV, taxpayers save the cost of a second election and the candidates dont have to raise money for two elections. Voters and organizations can maximize turnout by mobilizing for one election.

But RCV has another attractive feature thats particularly valuable in party primaries  it provides incentives for candidates to reach out across the usual battle lines and find common ground by seeking backup rankings from supporters of other candidates. It changes the incentives of the election from one of you against me and mudslinging to that of building coalitions with the rankings to attract a majority.

This becomes especially important in any city that is divided, whether along racial, partisan or economic grounds. RCV helps to reduce the division and polarization that can too easily creep into our politics.

In the mayoral primary, many commentators noted that the winner was white while five of the other candidates were black. If RCV had been used, might the second-place finisher, city treasurer Tishaura Jones, been able to make up the small vote difference by picking up the backup rankings from the supporters of other candidates?

Or would Krewson have successfully reached out to the supporters of the other candidates, winning their backup rankings? She might still have finished first, but this time with a popular majority, which would have resulted in less division and a stronger mandate.

It wasnt just the mayors race in which these dynamics occurred. Five out of 11 aldermanic primary winners did not gain a majority of the vote. Three of these races were close; in District 3s Democratic primary, the winner had only 29 percent of the vote and a slim 58 vote victory margin.

A similar dynamic occurred in the GOP primary for governor last year. In a four candidate field, winner Eric Greitens garnered barely a third of the popular vote; almost two-thirds of voters picked another candidate.

In all of these races, we cant be certain that the most popular candidates actually won. Only by using a majoritarian runoff method, such as ranked choice voting, can St. Louis and Missouri voters have confidence that the winners are preferred by the most voters.

Fortunately, bills have been introduced in the state legislature that would encourage the use of ranked choice voting, including in cities like St. Louis. This offers the promise of majority rule and less divisive elections.

Steven Hill is a senior fellow at FairVote and author of 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited UK Ministry of Defence on Monday and held separate meetings with UK Chief of General Staff (CGS) General Sir Nick Carter, UK Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach and US Resolute Support Mission (RSM) Commander General John Nicholson.

Matters of mutual interest including regional geo-political environment with special reference to Afghanistan came under discussion. The UK leadership and RSM Commander appreciated and acknowledged positive role played by Pakistan and Pakistan Army towards peace and stability.

Gen Bajwa reiterated that Pakistan is a peace-loving country and shall continue to play its positive role in bringing about enduring peace and stability in the region. The COAS emphasized that peace in Afghanistan is a shared interest; Pakistan will continue its positive role and is ready to work closely with Afghanistan.

#COAS in UK. Met UK Chief of Defence Staff, UK Spec Rep for Afg & Pak and US Resolute Sp Msn Commander. pic.twitter.com/OfTcY4LCql  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 3, 2017

He further said Pak-Afghan bilateral border security mechanism is critically important and both countries need to formulate this at priority. He shared various border control/management measures which Pakistan has undertaken and urged the requirement of similar measures on other side of the border to defeat common enemy.

Gen Bajwa also highlighted that CPEC should be viewed as an economic maneuver since it aims at fostering inclusive development in best interest of the region and beyond. COAS also thanked UK leadership for their assistance during war on terror.
Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force Air Marshal G N Davies praised the professionalism of Pakistans Armed Forces, according to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Air Marshal G N Davies, who is on an official visit to Pakistan, made the remarks on Monday.

He had called on General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee at Joint Staff Headquarters, Rawalpindi, on Monday.

The two discussed matters pertaining to regional security and bilateral cooperation during the meeting.

Chief of the Royal Australian Air Forces also acknowledged the sacrifices of Pakistans Armed Forces in battle against terrorism.
Pakistan and Afghan military officials established hotline contact on Tuesday, the first communication of its kind between the two, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The ISPR statement added that hotline communication took place between Chief of Staff, Southern Command, Pakistan Army and Lieutenant General Daud Shah Wafadar, Commander Afghan National Army 205 Corps.

Both sides discussed issues related to Pak-Afghan border, expressed satisfaction over the establishment of hotline communication and vowed to continue such interactions in future, the statement concluded.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to include the Kalasha religion on the national census form prior to the second phase of the exercise starting April 25.

A two-judge bench of the PHC announced the order while hearing a writ petition filed by members of the Kalash community. The government was represented in court by the deputy attorney general.

Sabir Awan, the petitioner's lawyer, informed the court that the Kalash people subscribe to one of the oldest known religions of the region, and that their members continue to live in three remote villages in district Chitral.

Awan cautioned that exclusion of the religion from the census form would be an injustice to the community and a violation of law, which guarantees equal rights to all its citizens. He pointed out that almost all major religions were included in the form except Kalash.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court directed the government to include the Kalash religion on the census form before April 25.

Members of the Kalash community present at the court appreciated the decision.

"It's a landmark decision and is a victory for the people of Kalash," Wazir Zada, a member of Kalash told media.

Earlier in February, the people of Chitral had threatened to boycott the census for omitting the Kalasha religion and 13 other languages being spoken in the district from the enumeration form.

Representatives of the Kalash community were reported to have warned that the tribe was already endangered and their exclusion from the census database would create further complications, especially with regards to their size and strength.

Currently, the Kalash tribe is estimated to be around 3,500-4,000 strong.

Described as an anthropological enigma, the Kalash community is more than a magnet for local and international tourism.

Dwelling in the folds of the stony Hindu Kush mountains, the tribe draws its lineage from the ancient Middle East or even from soldiers of Alexander the Great's army, academics have speculated.

Kalasha, the religion followed by Kalash community, lies between Islam and and an ancient form of Hinduism.

Their ritualistic ceremonies serve as a potent reminder of the region's pre-Islamic past.

However, in recent years, there has been a sense of existential insecurity surrounding the tribe and its cultural identity.
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could not trick inhabitants of Sindh through false promises of development.

Do not expect any good from these rulers. The (federal) rulers development is limited to advertisements only. The people of Thatta and Hyderabad do not need your promises. They recognize your false promises, he said while addressing a gigantic crowd at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to observe 38th death anniversary of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He said the rulers were busy in protecting their own assets. They were not worried about national security, but they were worried about Panama Leaks case.

The chairman PPP questioned that if progress was made then why national debt was increasing, why people wanted to get rid of you, why factories and mills were being shut down, why labourers were forced to sleep empty stomach, why was gas loadshedding being carried out after electricity loadshedding.

Why was Bhutto hanged? This question still persists. Bhutto is not just a name of a human being only but it is an ideology, it is a name of struggle, he said.

He said April 04 was the darkest day in the history of Pakistan. This day the man who got passed a constitution with consensus was executed, he said.

He said Bhuttos crime was true love for his people. This is dismal that we could not yet get justice in this case.

Bilawal Bhutto also demanded justice into murder case of PPPs Punjab leader. I ask the servant of Punjab, When will the family of Babar Butt get justice?
Human Rights Watch has denounced Israel for "systematically" banning the international group's researchers from entering the blockaded Gaza Strip to document Tel Aviv's abuses.

In a 47-page report released on Monday, the New-York based rights group said the restrictions have been imposed by the Israeli regime since 2008, adding that only one exceptional permit was granted to the foreign researchers last year.

HRW also questioned Tel Aviv's claims that it was conducting its own probes and that there was no need for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate serious Israeli crimes against Palestinians over the past decades.

"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/Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

The rights group also criticized Egypt for barring it and the UK-based Amnesty International from entering Gaza through its territory since 2012.

Bashi urged all parties to "change their policies to protect the vital work of human rights groups."

Since 2007, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza which has one of the worlds highest unemployment rates and where poverty is widespread.

Israel has also launched several wars on the enclave, the last of which began in early July 2014. The 50-day military aggression killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children. Over 11,100 others -- including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people -- were also wounded.

Human Rights Watch, the UN and local and international human rights organizations have already said Israels latest war on the besieged Gaza Strip amounted to apparent war crimes.

The Israeli military frequently targets the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main victims of such attacks.
Russia has opposed a US bid to hold a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on human rights as a major cause of global conflicts later this month during the American presidency of the 15-nation body.

On Monday, the Security Council approved Aprils agenda without including the Washington-proposed debate on human rights, with Russias Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Petr Iliichev saying the Security Council is not the venue for such discussions.

The Russian diplomat argued that just a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by human rights violations is not true.

He further argued that other UN bodies, including the General Assembly and the UNHRC already deal with human rights.

Why are we taking everything to the Security Council?, he asked. Then those bodies should be dismantled.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley, whose country holds the councils rotating presidency this month, later insisted that Washington 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.

It will be a broad debate, not intended to single out any countries, but more just to talk about the topic and how that relates to conflict and if there are things that we can be doing going forward, Haley further told UN member states on Monday.

Washington has accused the UNs Geneva-based Human Rights Council (UNHRC) of being biased against the Israeli regime. The US ambassador also questioned whether the body served any value except for this that sit on it that protect themselves.

The development came a day after the administration of US President Donald Trumo hinted that it would not publicly criticize Egypts human rights record during President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisis Monday visit to the White House.

Meanwhile, UN diplomatic sources said China has also expressed reservations over the debate, which would be the centerpiece of the US council presidency, along with a meeting on peacekeeping to be held Thursday and another one on North Korea on April 28.

When asked about the proposed meeting, Chinas Permanent UN Representative Liu Jieyi said, We are trying to work that out.

Iliichev has also said Moscow would call for a rare procedural vote to block the move should the US fail to reach an agreement with Russia and China and presses ahead with the meeting.

A procedural vote needs nine votes for passage, and vetoes cannot be cast by Permanent council members -- Russia, China, the US, France or Britain.

Washington has threatened to quit the UNHRC, while Haley stated on Thursday that her team was reviewing what the body had done well and everything that they've done thats just absurd.

If we dont see changes, then yes well pull out. But I think they deserve to know what we expect of them, she added.
The Bay of Plenty is being put on high alert for thunderstorms as the MetService issues a watch for the region.

Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula and the Waikato also have watches issued.

Over northern New Zealand, that is from Northland through Auckland to northern Waikato and across to the Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty, there is a moderate risk that significant convection or slow moving rainbands could bring localised downpours of 25 to 45mm/hr, with or without thunderstorms, says the MetService.

Rainfall of this intensity can cause flash flooding, especially about low-lying areas such as streams, rivers or narrow valleys, and may also lead to slips.

Driving conditions will also be hazardous with surface flooding and poor visibility in heavy rain.

Note

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are favourable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.

People in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening weather conditions and monitor for possible Severe Thunderstorm Warnings.
Zespris lucrative new gold kiwifruit varieties G3 and G9 may be growing illegally in China.

A police investigation is underway in New Zealand to establish how the plants got there.

Zespri is working with the police regarding a possible breach of Zespris plant variety rights to Gold3 (Zespri SunGold) and Gold9 (Zespri Charm).

The two varieties are subject to plant variety rights owned by Zespri in New Zealand and other jurisdictions.

Twelve months ago, Zespri received information about potential plantings in China and immediately began an extensive due diligence process.

The reports were confirmed late last year, which then led to the investigation by the authorities in New Zealand.

Although we are now able to communicate some basic facts of the case, please note that the ongoing investigation limits the level of disclosure we can provide at the present time, says a Zespri spokesperson.

In responding to the case, Zespri is working with a number of parties to resolve the issue and we will update the industry in due course. We do not believe that the situation has any material impact on our outlook for Gold3.

Zespri Chief Operating Officer Simon Limmer says Zespri is taking concerted action to protect and control its intellectual property.

We are seeking action to protect our plant variety rights in New Zealand and deter any future breaches.

Zespris plant variety rights are important intellectual property, developed through extensive investment over many years. Although the plantings may be relatively small scale in this specific case, we have zero tolerance for any breaches that we identify, wherever they happen.

Licences to grow the varieties are granted by Zespri to growers on a country-by-country basis, and can only be transferred within the same country subject to the rules of each licence.

The purported sale of a licence from one jurisdiction to another by a third party is a breach of Zespris licences and plant variety rights, and potentially could give rise to allegations of fraud or misleading conduct.

In this case, Zespri suspects that several years ago plant material was transferred and planted in China on a relatively small scale.

"These allegations are very concerning, any illegal activity surrounding a breach of Zespri plant variety rights is a serious issue," says NZKGI CEO Nikki Johnson.

"While there is an investigation underway concerning the alleged breach of Zespri plant variety rights, there is little that we can comment on at this stage.

"NZKGI fully supports Zespri in taking any necessary action to prevent illegal activity and protect plant variety rights on behalf of New Zealand growers."

New Zealand kiwifruit orchardists growing the new gold varieties pay a significant sum in licence fees to Zespri but in return, achieve high returns for their fruit from international markets.

Zespri is expected to shortly call for tenders for G3 licences for a further 400 hectares of land in New Zealand.
Two local firefighters were recognised for achieving an impressive 25 years service each, at the recent Tauranga Fire Brigade honours night.

Kerry Gordon and Mike Williams each received Gold Star awards for their long service.

Many of their colleagues also received awards at the evening held at Trinity Wharf Hotel on Saturday night.

Station officer Bruce Nilson, who received his own award for 35 years service, says making it to the quarter-century mark is a great achievement.

Only five per cent of New Zealand firefighters achieve that milestone, so its very significant.

He says both Kerry and Mike work throughout the Bay of Plenty.

Graeme Easton presenting gift to Gold Star recipient Mike Williams for 25 years service.

Kerry is a volunteer support officer, who provides administrative assistance to brigades from Waihi down to Maketu. Hes also a volunteer firefighter at Greerton. While Mike is one of the career firefighters who moves around between Tauranga, Greerton and the Mount, and Kawerau district.

Other service awards on the evening included the three-year certificates, and silver medals for those who had served five years.

Every two years after that you get a silver two-year bar to go on the ribbon, until 25 years, when you receive the Gold Star, says Bruce.

He says there were almost 200 guests, including people from brigades outside the district.

We had people there who were just recruits starting out, right up to a guy who has done 53 years service. It was a great night.

United Fire Brigades Association deputy chairman Glenn Williams presenting station officer Bruce Nilson an award for 35 years service.

Graeme Easton presenting station officer Malcolm Ward with a life membership medal.

Close-up of the Gold Star medal.
A dual Filipino/New Zealand national has been sentenced after pleading guilty to 284 charges involving multiple fraudulent work visa applications submitted by Filipinos seeking work in the New Zealand dairy industry.

Loraine Jayme was sentenced at the Hamilton District Court to 11 months two weeks home detention and 180 hours community work.

INZ Assistant General Manager Peter Devoy says the prosecution resulted from painstaking work by immigration officers.

The officers involved did a fantastic job in gathering evidence which led to the prosecution.

"Jayme systematically ripped off vulnerable migrant workers. Although these charges are very serious we believe they only represent the tip of the iceberg of Jaymes offending.

Jayme was charged in October 2015 after an Immigration New Zealand (INZ) investigation uncovered her involvement in fraudulent visa applications.

The investigation began after staff verifying visa applications identified anomalies in visa applications and a Southland farmer reported migrants claiming he had offered them work without his knowledge.

Although the investigation was far reaching, the prosecution focused on five non-existent dairy farms and fictitious employers created by Jayme through a complex series of forged documents, submitted to both INZ and other New Zealand agencies.

She fabricated job offer letters and Employment Agreements, including false farm vacancy requests sent to Work and Income in order to obtain letters confirming the unavailability of suitably qualified New Zealanders.

Jayme subsequently pleaded guilty to extensive charges of forgery, using a forged document, deception and supplying false or misleading Information to an Immigration Officer.

More details of the circumstances that led to the charges being laid are contained in the attached summary of facts.
A fungal disease which could be a threat to pohutukawa and Manuka trees in New Zealand, has been found in trees on Raoul Island.

The Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Conservation are working together to address a confirmed find of the fungal plant disease myrtle rust in Kermadec pohutukawa on Raoul Island.

Myrtle rust (Puccinia psidii), also known as guava rust and eucalyptus rust, is a fungal infection that could have serious impacts on a wide range of plants in the myrtle family.

If it were to enter mainland New Zealand, it could affect iconic New Zealand plants pohutukawa, kanuka, manuka and rata, as well as commercially-grown species such as eucalyptus, guava and feijoa.

MPIs Director Readiness and Response, Geoff Gwyn, says myrtle rust spores can carry long distances on the wind, however, the Raoul Island location is very remote from mainland New Zealand.

Its more than 1000km to the northeast of Northland and access to the island is strictly controlled and only by permit. Those visiting Raoul Island are mainly scientists and maintenance people, mostly working for DOC.

DOC staff discovered the small number of affected trees and safely transported samples back to New Zealand for testing, following strict biosecurity protocols.

Our focus right now is to do what we can to protect the unique Raoul Island ecosystem from this disease, and to prevent the further spread of the fungus to mainland New Zealand.

Were working closely with DOC, iwi and local authorities on a range of options and will do everything feasible. We will be taking the advice of a number of technical experts in this field, including in Australia where they have experience in dealing with myrtle rust.

Strict precautions are in place to make sure people, equipment and samples being brought back to mainland New Zealand pose no risk of transmitting infection.

New Zealand already has stringent biosecurity measures to protect against myrtle rust introduction, including a complete ban on imports of cut flowers and foliage from myrtle species from New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

Myrtle rust is well established along the eastern seaboard of Australia and in New Caledonia.

Anyone believing they have seen myrtle rust on plants in New Zealand should call MPI on 0800 80 99 66. Do not attempt to collect samples as this may aid in the spread of the disease.

Individual myrtle rust spores cannot be seen with the naked eye; however large amounts of spores grouped together are visible as yellow rust bodies.

The identifying signs of myrtle rust are purple/black splotches or patches (lesions) with yellow dots on leaves and stems. These can appear as bright yellow powdery eruptions on leaves.

Leaves and stems especially when young can become buckled or twist and die off. Severe infections can kill infected plants.

By the time lesions are visible, spores are already dispersing. This makes eradication difficult as the disease is already spreading by the time it can be seen.
Work has started on a three year Phosphorus Mitigation Project to understand how detainment bunds can help prevent phosphorus moving from farm land to Lake Rotorua.

The project has been initiated by local farmers who are keen to trial new ways of minimising nutrient losses because too much phosphorus and nitrogen can cause water quality problems in Lake Rotorua and other lakes and streams.

This project may have positive implications for farmers working in bettering water quality outputs from their farms, says Phosphorus Mitigation Project project manager John Paterson.

Funding support has come from Ballance Agri-Nutrients, the Governments Sustainable Farming Fund and three regional councils. Massey University is providing the lead science supervision with additional support from Waikato and Lincoln University staff. NIWA is also a project partner.

A research project in 2013 provided proof of concept for detainment bunds. Farmers were keen on the idea and 22 have now been built on farms in the region. The new project aims to take that knowledge to the next level and quantify just how much phosphorus can be captured and how best to operate these structures.

Unlike nitrogen which leaches down through the soil profile, phosphorus does not readily leach but can be carried away by surface water runoff during high intensity rainfall events.

These events only occur for a few hours at a time and usually just five to six times per year, so it makes good sense to target them for phosphorus treatment.

The project research is led by Brian Levine, a Massey University PhD student from the USA.

Its very important to measure the volumes and phosphorus loading of storm water both entering and leaving the detainment bund structures so that quantifiable results can be obtained for the amount of phosphorus that is removed by the detainment bund treatment process.

Weve just built a low timber weir upslope from one of the trial bunds so we can measure inflowing storm water.

A detainment bund is a shallow temporary ponding area created by building a low earth bund across a valley floor. During high intensity rain events, the bund retains storm water runoff which carries sediment and phosphorus.

After two to three days of ponding to enable particulate phosphorus particles to settle, the water is released slowly by pulling a drain plug installed in the base of the bund. Pasture in the ponding area can be then returned to full productive use without suffering significant damage from being flooded.

To prevent the bund from being over-topped, a concrete riser on the upstream side connects to a culvert laid under the bund. The riser skims the surface layer of the ponded water after it has built up during a rain storm.
A number of roads have been affected with slips and flooding in the Thames Coromandel area, as rain continues to fall in both the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

A slips is blocking the eastbound lane of State Highway 25, near Kopu. A traffic management system is in place and people are being warned to drive with extreme care.

Motorists are also being warned of flooding in the Hikuai area.

Flooding has blocked both lanes of SH25, about 1km north of Hikuai Settlement Road, at Duck Creek.

NZTA reports there is also a slip on SH25, between Whalebone Bridge and Ruamahunga. This road is closed.

SH30, Tikitere, in the Eastern Bay is closed due to a large slip

Grenada Street in Tauranga is closed due to flooding.

Tauranga City Council closed the road yesterday and is expected to review whether or not it will open the road today.

Last night, MetService issued a severe weather and thunderstorm warning for the Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty, with heavy rain until this evening.

A deepening low pressure system over the Tasman Sea approaches northern New Zealand on Tuesday, then crosses the country during Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a ridge of high pressure on Friday.

This deep low should bring heavy rain to many parts of the country, especially from central North Island to the top of the South Island from Tuesday to Thursday, with strong winds at times.

Flooding in Papamoa. This image was sent in from Manda Brown of flooding at her front door in Bell Road.

Road Closures for the Thames Coromandel area:

SH25 just north of Waiomu is currently closed between Whalebone Bridge and Ruamahunga due to a slip.

SH25 Tararu to Kereta  slip - ONE LANE OPEN

Hikuai Settlement Road flooding  road impassable

SH25 Prescotts Garage flooding - road impassable

SH25 Manaia  flooding  but said to be clearing with traffic passing through now

Wade Road, Whitianga  flooding - was impassable around 3.30 this morning - any updates appreciated

Road in Waikawau blocked by trees.

Slip just after the campground in Oamaru Bay blocking most of the road.

SH 25 2km South Of Blackjack Rd, Kuaotunu - Fallen tree across highway

School Closures:

We have been advised that the Hukuai School is closed today.

Mercury Bay Area School is open, parent teacher interviews have been cancelled. The following buses will not be running today due to flooding and slips:

Mill Creek

Tairua/Coroglen

309 Road

Moewai Park

Kuaotunu

Please check with your school for closures and changes to bus routes and timetables.

Power Outages:

Power has been restored to Coromandel Town and no further outages have been reported.

To check for outages and report faults see www.powerco.co.nz/power-cuts

Tide Times:

Thames:

Wednesday 5 April - High 14:07 3.7m

Thursday 6 April - High 02:41 3.7m

Thursday 6 April - High 15:10 3.6m

Whitianga:

Wednesday 5 April - High 14:05 2.0m

Thursday 6 April - High 02:40 2.0m

Thursday 6 April - High 15:06 2.0m

River Levels:

All river levels are rising, to check current levels see the Waiato Regional Councl website www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/services/regional-services/river-levels-and-rainfall
Floyd County Supervisors Monday approved calling for a referendum to establish a four percent meals tax on dining out in county restaurants.

The vote calls for a public hearing to seek comments on putting the referendum on the ballot during local and state elections in November. Four Supervisors voted for the meals tax; one, Board chairman Case Clinger, abstained.

The four percent would be added to the existing Virginia sales tax of 4.3 percent on county residents outside of the town limits of Floyd, which already has a meals tax in place.

Changes in Virginia law now allow counties to seek a meals tax through a ballot referendum or by gathering a signatures of at least 10 percent of registered voters on a petition. Floyd County went with a referendum to let voters make the call.
Q-53 radar 1.JPG

Lockheed Martin's Q-53 mobile radar system for tracking rockets, mortars and artillery are assembled at the company's plant at Electronics Park in the Syracuse suburb of Salina.

(Lockheed Martin)

Salina, N.Y. -- A $1.6 billion Army contract for a mobile radar that tracks incoming rockets, mortars and artillery will help solidify Lockheed Martin's workforce at Electronics Park in Salina, a company official said Monday.

Rick Herodes, program director of the Q-53 radar system, said the contract, the largest single contract in the Salina plant's history, means the company will be making at least 70 more of the radars for the Army over the next five years.

In addition, Lockheed will be making the radars for foreign military customers, Herodes said.

Lockheed has already built 100 of the radars and has four more to go under previous contracts with the Army.

The company said last week it did not anticipate any immediate hires resulting from the new contract. However, Herodes said the new orders will support the approximately 1,600 existing jobs in Salina. The facility has 50 job openings currently, many of them engineering positions, he said.

Lockheed began designing the radar in 2007 to replace two older radars, the Q-36 and Q-37, which could only scan a 90-degree section of the sky at a time. The Army requested a new radar that could scan 360 degrees after troops in Iraq and Afghanistan reported that enemy forces were changing locations to take advantage of the older radar's limitation.

The radars can detect rockets, mortars and artillery as soon as they are fired, allowing the Army to quickly fire back on their source.

The radar is carried on trucks and can be operational within five minutes of the trucks stopping.

"It moves as fast at the Army moves," Herodes said.

Components of the radar are made in Owego, Morristown, N.J., and Clearwater, Fla., and shipped to Salina for assembly. After assembly, the radars are taken to Yuma, Ariz., where the Army tests them by firing rockets, mortars and artillery. If the system successfully tracks the rounds, it is shipped to the Army.

Herodes said Lockheed is hoping to also sell the radars for defense against unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones.

In addition to radars, the Salina plant also makes sonars for the military.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man died Monday night after being shot on Syracuse's Near West Side.

Naqual Bloodworth

Naqual Bloodworth, of Syracuse, was shot around 10:40 p.m. in the 500 block of Gifford Street, said Sgt. Richard Helterline, a Syracuse Police Department spokesman.

Bloodworth was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where he died shortly after, Helterline said. He was 21 years old.

"Detectives are currently investigating this incident, and at this time there is no additional information available," Helterline said.

The fatal shooting marks the city's third homicide of 2017. Before Bloodworth's death, 83 days passed in the city without a homicide -- the longest stretch in five years.

Two teenage brothers were killed in Syracuse's first two homicides of 2017.

Ismael Diaz-Marrero, 19, and Daniel Diaz-Marrero, 17, died after they were shot in the 300 block of Grant Avenue. Three suspects have been charged in the double homicide.

Police asked anyone with information about Bloodworth's death to call (315) 442-5222. To submit anonymous tips, police said residents can send information to the SPD Tips app or call the homicide tip line at (315) 442-5223.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse police knocked on neighbors' doors and hung layers of police tape across their front yards Monday night as officers investigated a shooting in the 500 block of Gifford Street.

A man who stood watching said his brother had been shot and killed. Friends of the brother also were posting on social media that the brother had died.

Police had not yet confirmed if anyone was fatally shot.

Officers were called to a report of shots fired on Gifford Street at 10:41 p.m., according to the Onondaga County 911 website.

Shortly after officers arrived, the 911 website showed the shots fired call was upgraded to a shooting. American Medical Response ambulance also was called to the scene, although it was not immediately known if anyone was transported to a hospital.

More than a dozen officers gathered inside yellow "do not cross" police tape, which was hung on both sides of the street from outside Michael Urdianyk's home at 546 Gifford St. to the intersection of Gifford and Oswego streets.

Police shined flashlights on the dark, wet streets as it rained. Officers asked neighbors if they had heard or seen anything, but police declined to comment on what had happened.

As Urdianyk, a 61-year-old life resident of Syracuse's Near West Side, talked about how his street has become "the wild, wild west," with frequent shootings, several police officers gathered on the front step of a neighbor's house across the street.

"It's like target practice out here," Urdianyk said. "This is usual. It's the new way of life."

Urdianyk said he was asleep in a chair inside his house when the shooting happened. He woke up to police lights outside, then briefly talked to two officers who questioned him on his porch.

"I used to sit out here on the porch and relax," he said after the officers left his home. "Now you can't relax. It's always gun play."

Police seemed focused on a neighbor's house at 523 Gifford St., but would not say why. Officers referred all questions to the Syracuse Police Department's public information officer, who did not respond to inquiries.

As of Monday,

in the city of Syracuse -- the longest time with no homicides since 2012, records show.

The city's first two homicides of 2017 occurred Jan. 10.

There were 31 homicides in Syracuse in 2016, the most in the city's history.

Check back for updates about Monday's shooting.
BEIRUT (AP) -- A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria's rebel-held northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country's six-year civil war.

Eyewitnesses said the attack was carried out by jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments, but both Moscow and Damascus denied responsibility.

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, which lies south of the city of Idlib, the provincial capital, show limp bodies of children and adults. Some are seen struggling to breathe; others appear foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pickup truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.

Warning: Photos and images of the attack's aftermath are graphic and disturbing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll from the gas attack at 58, saying there were 11 children among the dead. Meanwhile, the Idlib Media Center said dozens of people had been killed.

The media center published footage of medical workers appearing to intubate an unresponsive man stripped down to his underwear and hooking up a little girl foaming at the mouth to a ventilator. It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes occurring in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, the site of Tuesday's alleged attack.

Tuesday's reports came on the eve of a major international meeting in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region, to be hosted by the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini.

France's foreign minister condemned the "atrocious act" and both France and Britain called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting over the suspected attack. The Security Council will meet Wednesday morning

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that President Donald Trump is "extremely alarmed" by reports of the attack and said it was "reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world."

Spicer also laid blame on the "weakness and irresolution" of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying that Obama "did nothing" in the wake of previous chemical attacks in Syria.

Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said this was the worst incident since the 2013 toxic gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians. That attack, which a U.N. report said used sarin gas, was the worst in Syria's civil war.

In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons amid international outrage.

Those weapons have been destroyed, but member states of the OPCW have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything in 2013. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead.

A statement by the Syrian government said it "categorically rejects" using any chemical or poisonous agents in Khan Sheikhoun today and says it did not and will not use them in any place or any time in the past or future.

It held rebels responsible, saying they attacked their own territory in order to distract from their losses across the country. The Russian Defense Ministry also denied any involvement

Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of patients in the Tuesday attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

In a Skype interview, he said doctors are struggling to deal with the victims, amid a shortage of facilities and medical supplies, and the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem, is in short supply.

Most of the fatalities, died before they reached hospitals. "If they got the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died," he said.

Mohammed Tennari, AbdulHaj's brother and a radiologist, said Tuesday's attack was more severe than previous chemical attacks his province has witnessed, most of them using chlorine cylinders.

"Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe. There were no deaths, not in those numbers," he said, adding the final number is unclear given the chaos that has prevailed. The doctor, who testified before the U.N. in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell but it was mixed with other things, "toxic gas which causes poison and death."

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency is contacting health providers from Idlib to get more information about Tuesday's incident.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in opposition-held territory, said it had sent a team of inspectors to Khan Sheikhoun and an investigation was underway.

The Syrian activists claimed the attack was caused by an airstrike carried out either by Syrian government or Russian warplanes. Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating, they said.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin -- also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred -- said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.

"There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth," he told The Associated Press by phone.

Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. "Chlorine gas doesn't cause such convulsions," he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.

Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.

He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.

He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

A Turkey-based Syrian man whose niece, her husband and one-year-old daughter were among those killed, said the warplanes struck early, as residents were still in their beds. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for the safety of family members back in Syria.

The province of Idlib is almost entirely controlled by the Syrian opposition. It is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrians, according to the United Nations. Rebels and opposition officials have expressed concerns that the government is planning to mount a concentrated attack on the crowded province.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months in the battle for Aleppo last year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine gas and that the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one, involving mustard gas.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- The first flood warning of the week has been issued for Upstate New York.

The Chenango River is expected to reach minor flood stage today in the Chenango County town of Sherburne, and could go even higher later in the week as a second storm system arrives.

The river is already at 7.4 feet, and flood stage is 8.5 feet, the National Weather Service said.

"The river is expected to rise above flood stage by 5 p.m. today, and crest near 9.0 feet around 2 a.m. Wednesday," the weather service said.

After a brief drop below flood stage, the river will likely rise even higher on Thursday and Friday, causing moderate flooding. If the river reaches 10 feet, the weather service said, 2 feet of water could cover Main Street and nearby streets in Sherburne.

A second flood warning has now been issued, this one for the Mohawk River just below Delta Dam, north of Rome, in Oneida County. The Mohawk River could crest about a foot over flood stage before retreating by Friday morning, the weather service said.

Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251
Welcome, DISH customer! Please note that we cannot save your viewing history due to an arrangement with DISH.

Watchlist and resume progress features have been disabled.

ACCEPT
Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
In a move that caps off its gradual embrace of open source in a bear hug, Microsoft last week announced that it would shutter its nearly 11-year-old CodePlex project site and migrate its library of work to GitHub.

Microsoft has invested in Visual Studio Team Services as its One Engineering Project for proprietary projects and exposed many key open source projects  such as Visual Studio Code, TypeScript and the Cognitive Toolkit  on GitHub, noted Brian Harry, vice president for cloud developer services at Microsoft.

The company has been forced to deal with a couple of major issues, such as a 2015 spam epidemic and a substantial decrease in usage, he said, with fewer than 350 projects getting a source commit over the past 30 days.

Microsoft disabled the ability to create new CodePlex projects on Friday. By October, projects on the site will be read-only, and the site will be shut down completely by Dec. 15.

Project Archive

A final complete backup will be taken before decommissioning and shutting down the existing site and servers, and a read-only, lightweight archive will be available. Users will be able to browse through all published projects, including their source code, downloads, documentation, license and issues. Archived files will be available for download in JSON and Markdown formats.

Git users can migrate source code via hosting services like Visual Studio Team Services and BitBucket. Mercurial users also can use the latter to migrate.

Github is working with the CodePlex team to streamline the experience of importing projects said Senior Product Manager Sara Ford, and GitHub will continue to support clients who prefer to stick with Subversion [SVN] rather than Git.

Open Source Evolution

Microsoft has made significant contributions to open source on GitHub over the years, claiming more than 16,000 open source contributors, which is more than any other organization.

The company made the right decision in shutting down the Codeplex site, said Peter Christy, research director at 451 Research.

In the time since CP was created, the open source world has evolved enormously, and GitHub is clearly the sharing site of choice, he told LinuxInsider. If a project was very MS-Centric, the change might be slightly negative, but the broader direction of OS is to be platform-agnostic, I think.

When Codeplex made its debut, Microsoft was a great deal more protective of its intellectual property, and the company management had a pretty open disdain for open source at the time.

Bite the Bullet

The transfer from Codeplex to Github was inevitable, observed Al Gillen, group vice president for software development and open source at IDC. After taking the helm at Microsoft in 2014, Satya Nadella adopted a more pragmatic approach toward embracing the open source community.

Steve Ballmer was ceding ground to supporting open source software within Microsoft where it was necessary, but when Satya Nadella took over the helm, the willingness to work more collaboratively with open source communities and technologies accelerated pretty dramatically, Gillen told LinuxInsider.

Ballmer and Nadella came from very different backgrounds within Microsoft, and Nadella did not have the same not invented here bias that Ballmer did, he pointed out.

Microsoft released open source Visual Studio Code for multiple .Net languages and the non-.Net language Go, and it open sourced the Azure Container Language, SQL Server and Powershell.

Concrete actions matter more than words, said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Microsoft is backing up its recent statements and attitudes toward open source, he told LinuxInsider.

In an important symbolic move, Microsoft joined The Linux Foundation as a platinum member, which it announced last year during the Microsoft Connect conference. John Gossman, architect of the companys Azure team, joined the board of directors.

Long term, this means that GitHub continues to be a central technology used broadly within the industry, said IDCs Gillen, and it is incrementally more credible today than it was a week ago.
There are more than three dozen previously unknown flaws that pose a potential threat to consumers using some Samsung TVs, watches and phones, a security researcher reported Monday.

Hackers could exploit the vulnerabilities found in Samsungs Tizen operating system to gain remote access and control of a variety of the companys products, Amihai Neiderman, head of research at Equus Software, told Motherboard.

Neiderman presented his findings at a security conference sponsored by Kapersky Lab.

Tizen is running on some 30 million smart TVs, as well as on Samsungs Gear smartwatches and on phones in a limited number of countries, including Russia, India and Bangladesh, according to the Motherboard report.

Samsung plans to have 10 million Tizen phones in the market this year and has announced the OS will be installed on its new line of smart washing machines and refrigerators, it added.

Store App Vulnerable

While all the vulnerabilities in the software allow a hacker to take control of devices running Tizen, a flaw Neiderman found particularly disturbing compromised the software used to install software through the app store for the OS.

Although the TizenStore software authenticates apps before theyre installed on a device, Neiderman exploited a vulnerability that let him gain control of apps before they could be authenticated.

Neiderman contacted Samsung months ago about his findings, he told Motherboard, but he received only an automated email message in response.

The company apparently has approached him about his research in recent days, however, and he has shared some information with the firm.

Samsung Electronics takes security and privacy very seriously. We regularly check our systems and if at any time there is a credible potential vulnerability, we act promptly to investigate and resolve the issue, Samsung said in a statement provided to LinuxInsider by spokesperson Danielle Meister Cohen.

We continually provide software updates to consumers to safeguard their products, the company maintained. We are fully committed to cooperating with Mr. Neiderman to mitigate any potential vulnerabilities.

Reinventing the Wheel  Badly

With Tizen, which is an open source operating system based on Linux, Samsung is trying to offer an alternative OS to a market dominated by Googles Android and Apples iOS.

Its trying to reinvent the wheel and doing a bad job of it, said Patrick Tiquet, director of security and architecture at Keeper Security.

It sounds to me, too, that they cheaped out on their software development team, he told LinuxInsider. You cant do that when youre taking on Google and Android.

Tizens programming is the worse code Neiderman has ever seen, he told Motherboard, noting there are mistakes in the software similar to those programmers made 20 years ago.

It appears that no one who understands security was involved either in the writing of the code or in reviewing it, he said, resulting in everything going wrong that possibly could go wrong.

Botnet Bonanza

Consumers should be concerned about the vulnerabilities Neiderman discovered in Tizen, maintained James Scott, a senior fellow with the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology.

Previously unknown, or zero day, flaws are found in all software, he acknowledged.

That said, consumers should be very concerned by the sheer number of zero day vulnerabilities discoverable by a single researcher, Scott told LinuxInsider. Other pen testers, researchers or attackers may be able to discover tens or hundreds more exploitable zero day vulnerabilities.

Shipping devices running software that puts consumers at risk violates a tacit agreement between a company and its customers, said Michael Patterson, CEO of Plixer International.

Technology consumers have an unspoken trust that new technology purchases are shipped from the manufacturer with the latest security features and functionality embedded, he told LinuxInsider.

If Amihai Neidermans findings are accurate, it is alarming that Samsung is shipping smart TVs, smartwatches and mobile phones with many serious security flaws, Patterson continued.

Given that Tizen is currently running on 30 million devices and that Samsung plans to have 10 million Tizen phones this year, the potential for these devices to become members of the next big botnet is very real, he warned.

Eyeballs on Security

One of the pillars of open source software is that the many eyes of the community will catch flaws in a projects code. That apparently hasnt been the case with Tizen.

I havent seen a lot of interest in Tizen from developers, and it hasnt been widely deployed  so you dont have the interest in it that youd see in something like Android, Keeper Securitys Tiquet said.

If there are no eyeballs looking at the source code, he noted, then you dont have the security or the review that you would have with a more popular open source project.

Tizens problems are familiar, said Chris Clark, principal security engineer for strategic initiatives at Synopsys.

When Linux came out, the same comments about terrible code, poor security, and other more colorful explanations flowed freely, he recalled.

Now that Linux is more mature, these issues are harder to find, although they still exist, Clark told LinuxInsider. This is not a simple problem. TV manufacturers must focus on testing automation and development methodologies to minimize successful attacks.
Verizon on Monday confirmed reports that it will rebrand its AOL and Yahoo businesses under a new entity called Oath. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong delivered the message via a tweet.

Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36

 Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017

The rebranding is part of a plan to reinvest millions into the legacy digital content companies with the aim of creating a major new platform.

The Yahoo and AOL names will not disappear, but their operations will continue under the overarching Oath brand, Armstrong later said in CNBC and Fox Business interviews.

Growth Plans

Once Verizon closes its US$4.5 billion Yahoo acquisition, it plans to make major investments into the newly combined entity. It will have more than 25 brands, ranging from The Huffington Post to Build Studios and Makers, according to Caroline Campbell, senior vice president for brand and communication at AOL.

So yes, AOL and Yahoo brands will not only remain, but a core tenet of Oath will be to deeply invest in those growing brands, she told TechNewsWorld. Oath is the umbrella, and the portfolio of brands will comprise Oath  a house of brands structure.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will not be part of the combined company, according to Recode, which originally reported the Oath branding designation.

Armstrong reportedly is close to deciding which top Yahoo executives will remain.

AOLs Campbell declined to comment on Mayers status or executive leadership at the new entity.

Verizons deal to buy Yahoos core operating business has been the subject of intense scrutiny. It renegotiated its original acquisition price by $350 million earlier this year, amid concerns about the impact of a cyberbreach that compromised the data of more than 1 billion Yahoo users.

The renegotiated deal valued the Yahoo acquisition at $4.48 billion, giving Verizon access to Yahoos more than 1 billion users, of which 600 million use mobile devices.

Yahoo agreed to be responsible for 50 percent of the liabilities related to non-Securities and Exchange Commission government investigations and third-party litigation related the breach, and to assume 100 percent liability from shareholder suits and SEC investigations.

Brand Blowback

Verizons branding decision is odd, said Rick Edmonds, business media analyst at Poynter.

Still, many reacted similarly to the Exxon brand upon its creation, he recalled.

In terms of the core business proposition, Edmonds doesnt see much in the way of a growth strategy.

Im also not seeing an obvious path to improved performance, he told TechNewsWorld, but its worth remembering that CEO Tim Armstrong has a great record selling digital ads at scale, which is the task at hand.

The initial response to the new branding strategy seems to be characterized more by confusion and doubt than anything else.

The reaction so far has been decidedly negative, said Zach Fuller, an analyst at Midia Research.

The likelihood is given the platforms diminished status for the mainstream online user, Oath will simply go through a period of managed decline, he told TechNewsWorld.

Verizon is transforming itself into a marketing company that uses its wireless assets to reach customers, noted telecom analyst Jeff Kagan.

Verizons decision to create a new overall brand for its content business was a logical next step, he told TechNewsWorld.

After all Verizon was not interested in the AOL or Yahoo business, Kagan said. They are only interested in their users.
When the smoke clears on Verizon's buyout of Yahoo and combines it with AOL, the resulting entity will be called "Oath" according to a new report from Business Insider.

When asked to comment, an AOL spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the name but told Business Insider that in the summer of 2017, you can bet that they will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital.

Verizon last summer announced plans to purchase Yahoo's core Internet business for roughly $4.8 billion. The landmark deal was nearly derailed in late 2016 with the disclosure of a pair of devastating hacks on Yahoo years earlier but the two sides were able to adjust the sale price by $350 million and keep the train on the tracks.

It was revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in January that the bits and pieces Verizon isn't buying - including its 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba - will be renamed to Altaba. The company will also retain a 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, a joint venture between Yahoo and SoftBank.

The Verizon deal is expected to close sometime in the second quarter and perhaps in the coming weeks. As Business Insider notes, if the deal isn't wrapped up by April 24, the involved parties can either call for a three-month extension or back out completely. The latter seems unlikely, however, given the recent $350 million discount.
Google has introduced a patent licensing initiative called the Android Networked Cross-License Agreement that it hopes will foster peace in the often litigious world of technology-based intellectual property.

The initiative, dubbed PAX for short (the word pax is Latin for "peace"), is free and open for anyone to join. Jamie Rosenberg, VP of Business & Operations at Android and Google Play, said in announcing PAX that members will grant each other royalty-free patent licenses covering "Android and Google Applications" on qualified devices.

The idea, Rosenberg said, is to ensure that innovation and consumer choice - not patent threats - will continue to be key drivers of the Android ecosystem. Specifically, it'll free up time and money for members (fighting off patent trolls is expensive and time-consuming, after all) who can then dedicate said resources to creating new ideas and products.

A number of major Android players including Samsung, LG, Foxconn, HTC, HMD Global and of course, Google, have already signed up. Collectively, Rosenberg said members own more than 230,000 patents - a figure that'll only grow as more companies join on.

Other high-profile patent initiatives that Google has helped create include the License on Transfer (LOT) Network and the Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge.

Those interested in joining are encouraged to visit the PAX website for more information.
Rising demand from online shopping is forcing the United Parcel Service (UPS) to make one of the biggest changes in the company's 109-year history.

The courier recently announced it'll be adding Saturday ground pick-up and delivery service to its repertoire, expanding a pilot program launched last year in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. UPS said it'll be bringing the service to 15 additional metropolitan areas including Boston, Chicago and New York this month.

By November, Saturday delivery will be available in nearly 4,700 cities and towns across the country and more than 5,800 markets come 2018.

Teresa Finley, UPS's chief marketing officer, said the addition of another ground operations day more efficiently utilizes their existing delivery network and offers customers an even faster ground delivery solution.

Likewise, Saturday service should benefit online retailers as they'll be less likely to miss out on a sale due to abandoned online shopping carts. In its Pulse of the Online Shopper study, retailers reported to UPS that 46 percent of customers abandon an online shopping cart for reasons that include the shipping time taking too long.

What's more, a sixth day to ship and receive will allow retailers to turn inventory faster, utilize space more efficiently and increase productivity as the planned expansion is expected to create more than 6,000 new jobs nationwide.
A teenage boy is dead while at least 14 other people have been hospitalized because of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, where the victims were found unconscious around the indoor pool of a hotel in Michigan.

According to the police, the carbon monoxide leak that happened Saturday, April 1, can be attributed to a broken pool heater.

Details Of Apparent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

The 14 victims were brought to different local hospitals in Niles, a town situated north of the Indiana state line.

The police department identified the dead as 13-year-old Bryan Douglas Watts. Eight other children, on the other hand, were transported to South Bend, Indianas Memorial Hospital, with three already released by Saturday evening and the remaining ones reported to be fine by Sunday noon. The five kids found unconscious alongside the pool range from 12 to 14 in age, police added.

Police responded to the hotel at about 10 a.m. ET. When they arrived at the scene, first responders evacuated the children before taking them to nearby hospitals. It was unclear how long the victims were unconscious before they were found by hotel staff.

"When we first went in with our [air] monitors, the monitors went off. All the responders took a little bit more risk, but we had to get those kids out of there and into fresh air for their best chance at survival, said fire department caption Don Wise in a media briefing.

They went through every hotel floor to evacuate remaining guests or staff, during which a family member of one of the victims alerted them to a child in a first-floor room who was not breathing. The girl in question was able to eventually respond to the officers and walk toward an ambulance, police recounted.

The hotel, which had about 24 rooms booked during the incident, was evacuated and has remained closed for investigation.

Carbon Monoxide Reading: Off The Charts

Police revealed that when they arrived, carbon monoxide levels in the building were 800 parts per million (ppm), way above the 50 ppm maximum set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace exposure in healthy adults. U.S. standards, too, dictate only 35 ppm for a one-hour exposure.

A faulty pool heater is blamed for the incident, with the ventilation system, according to the police, having issues such as a malfunctioning exhaust. It is also unclear whether the hotels pool area has a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas created when fuel is burned. Too much of it in the air can replace ones oxygen in red blood cells and lead to tissue damage or even death.

Every year in the United States, more than 400 deaths are blamed on CO poisoning that isnt linked to fire. More than 20,000 people are brought to the emergency room for this cause.

Families and establishments are thus advised to make sure that fuel-burning vented equipment is vented to the outside in order to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, as CO is produced when fuel burns incompletely. Safe heating tips can also prevent similar accidents when the temperature drops.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASAs Earth sciences program is not exactly in the Trump administrations good graces, with grim funding prospects as revealed by a blueprint of the White Houses 2018 requests. Based on the document, it will receive $1.8 billion, a cut of $102 million or about 5 percent from its 2016 budget level.

Despite the proposed budget reduction, however, NASA officials are confident that the Earth sciences program is still a go, with no major disruptions in sight.

De-emphasizing Planned Cuts

The blueprint, also dubbed the skinny budget, harbored plans to terminate four missions currently under development, namely the ocean-monitoring PACE satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 instruments for the International Space Station, the Deep Space Climate Observatory, and the CLARREO Pathfinder for measuring heat levels in our atmosphere.

But at a March 30 NASA Advisory Council meeting, NASA acting administrator Robert Lightfoot was quick to acknowledge the planned cuts while putting emphasis away from their possible effects.

Overall, Id say science funding was stable at the topline, although some missions in development will clearly not go forward in the Earth science arena. We continue to be committed to study our home planet, he said, as reported by Space News.

The U.S. space agency will reshape its focus based on available resources, Lightfoot added, saying the lower budget still fits their planned activities concerning Earth science.

At a previous gathering, NASAs Earth science division director Michael Freilich also seemed to play down the planned cuts, saying that while significant, the impact is not existential.

Freilich also delved on the lack of language about the division in the NASA authorization act recently passed by Congress and signed by Trump into law. Earth sciences omission in the bill, he said, led to some conclusion that the said programs were no longer authorized.

Planned Science And Health Budget Cuts Under Fire

While the missing Earth science provisions in the act is not one of the matters that Freilich said he worries about, the planned budget cuts in different areas of science and health received great criticism from scientists and advocates.

In March, planetary scientists decried the proposed cuts on Earth science missions. During a March 20 event in Texas, scientist Nancy Chabot dubbed it short-sighted to be pleased with the planetary science budget and not mourn the cuts on the other field.

Planetary science does not live in isolation, Chabot said.

Without directly mentioning Trump or the proposed budget, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson also railed against science and health budget cuts that could make America sick, weak, and stupid.

Earth science is not the only NASA program on the chopping board. It finds company in the NASA Office of Education, which is aimed to be eliminated when it received $115 million in 2016. The said office is engaged in conducting internships, scholarships, and camps and enrichment programs for future scientists, as well as support provision for women and minorities in STEM fields.

The biggest portion of the agency funds ($3.7 billion), on the other hand, will go to NASAs human exploration division for the famed Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System jumbo rocket intended for planet Mars.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 poised to launch later this year could have some highly anticipated features such as a dual rear camera and an in-display fingerprint authentication, among the highlights.

While there's no clear evidence to support this claim, the theory makes sense nonetheless. In the months prior to the big Galaxy S8 unveiling, rumors kept piling up in anticipation and the smartphone was expected to have an even bolder design than it does in reality.

Dual Rear Cameras

A number of smartphone makers including Samsung's archrival, Apple, have equipped their top-notch flagships with dual rear cameras and Samsung was expected to follow suit and launch its Galaxy S8 with such a camera layout. Subsequent rumors, however, indicated that the company had dropped such plans and indeed, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ launched with single rear cameras.

Even if the change did not materialize with the Galaxy S8, Samsung likely had at least one prototype of a smartphone with a dual rear camera layout so it should have some of the groundwork already handled. That said, although it didn't implement the new camera layout on its latest flagship, it could introduce it with the upcoming Galaxy Note 8.

In-Display Fingerprint Authentication

Another huge feature rumored for the Galaxy S8 is an in-display fingerprint authentication, although it didn't make it to the final design either. Samsung had been working with Synaptics to implement an in-display fingerprint authentication, since it was removing the physical home button from the Galaxy S8.

Just a couple of weeks before the Galaxy S8 became official, however, a report out of Korea revealed that Samsung and Synaptics actually ran out of time with the implementation and rather than equipping the Galaxy S8 with a fingerprint scanner embedded onto the screen, it would go for a rear-mounted fingerprint reader instead.

That rumor turned out to be accurate as well, as the Galaxy S8 does indeed have an oddly placed fingerprint scanner on its back, right next to the camera. The placement is slightly annoying since users could accidentally smudge the camera lens trying to use the fingerprint sensor, but that's that.

Since Samsung and Synaptics already started working on the in-display fingerprint authentication but just ran out of time with the implementation for the Galaxy S8 release, it would make perfect sense to save the technology for the Galaxy Note 8 set to hit the scene later this year.

A Vietnamese website recently posted a set of images and a video showing purported Galaxy S8 prototypes and some of them featured a dual rear camera layout with a fingerprint scanner right below it. None of the alleged prototypes had a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, which seems to bolster the presumption that it had other plans for the smartphone's design.

Samsung could build on one of those prototypes and by the time the Galaxy Note 8 is ready to debut, it could have enough time to perfect the in-display fingerprint authentication technology with Synaptics.

It would be highly unlikely that Samsung would just abandon these design plans but may just shelve them for later, especially since the Galaxy Note 8 will need some extra oomph to wash away the Galaxy Note 7 shame.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could rock the bold design the Galaxy S8 was rumored to have, including a dual rear camera setup and a fingerprint scanner embedded into the display.

Nevertheless, since it's all just speculation at this point, take this with a hefty grain of salt. As always, we'll keep you posted as soon as we learn more.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Equal Pay Day is marked this year on April 4 and is symbolic for how long into the year women have to work to match the salaries men in the same field of activity earned in the previous year.

In the United States, women's average salary is 20 percent lower than the paycheck of their male counterparts, the gender pay gap being even wider in the case of ethnic minorities  black women earn 37 percent less, while Hispanic female workers count on a 46 percent smaller income.

This means ethnic minorities have to hold off a while longer to celebrate Equal Pay Day, particularly until July 31 for black women and Nov. 2 for Hispanic women.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and founder of LeanIn.Org, believes gender equality can't be achieved in the absence of equal pay.

"This issue speaks to how we value women's labor, knowledge, time, training, and so much more. In short, it's about women's worth," she said in a statement.

20 Percent Discount Campaign For Women

To promote a sense of appreciation for the female workforce, Sandberg partnered up with several companies to start a national retail campaign for women.

Eloquently called the #20PercentCounts campaign, the initiative aims to offer a 20 percent discount to female (and, in some cases, male) shoppers for many of their purchases.

The idea inspiring this campaign, which enlisted the participation of 300 local businesses in 25 cities, is that, since women earn 20 percent less, they should be charged as such when they go shopping.

Among the local shops that will be implementing the 20 percent discount, USA Today cites Panbury's Pie Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia; Found Coffee in Los Angeles; Builders' Hardware in East Lansing, Michigan; and Wiley's Comedy Joint, in Dayton, Ohio.

AAUW Work Smart Workshops

To organize the campaign, Lean In engaged the support of the following companies:

 LUNA, which is granting the 20 percent discount for all online nutrition bars purchases between April 3 and April 11.

 Lyft, which is donating 20 percent of ride revenues from April 4 to women's charities.

 Procter & Gamble, which is offering partial refunds for some of its products.

 Salesforce, which decided not to charge for graphic design and online advertising services and will also be participating in local public events.

According to Business Wire, LUNA also plans to make a considerable donation, in the sum of up to $100,000, to finance a series of workshops focused on salary negotiation.

Organized in collaboration with the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the activities bare the name AAUW Work Smart and aim to empower women when negotiating their wages and benefits packages.

In addition, the company released a gender equality video featuring actress Gina Rodriguez, as a testament to women's strength and determination.

"Together with LUNA, we're raising awareness for equal pay, and empowering women everywhere to never settle for the status quo," said Rodriguez, who is also LUNA's Equal Pay Day spokesperson.

What 20 Percent Less Looks Like: A Campaign Video

To spread awareness of the gender pay gap and provide more insight about the #20PercentCounts campaign, Lean In created a website dedicated to this event, where companies can find the proper tools to ensure employees are paid according to equal standards.

The website also posted a campaign video designed by Funny or Die and Hulu, describing how a woman's day would look like with 20 percent less of everything, from coffee to haircuts to phone battery life.

As Lean In explains, setting lower salaries for women reduces how much money they can spend for daily purchases as well as their long-term savings. The gender pay gap deprives women of up to $530,000 throughout their individual careers.

Sandberg stresses the gravity of salary inequity and how it impacts the lives of average women, who are otherwise similarly skilled and trained as the men that earn better wages. Bridging the gap would result half the number of women living in poverty, she adds.

Through this campaign, Sandberg  who mentions Facebook regularly conducts audits to verify the women it employs are paid the same as the men  hopes the notoriety of the #20PercentCounts slogan will lead to more action and possibly changes in legislation regarding the federal minimum wage.

"Two-thirds of minimum-wage workers are women. We need better public policy. We need businesses to do the audits they should be doing," says Sandberg.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Researchers at RMTI University, in Melbourne, Australia, have found a solution to the reduced storage capabilities of current technologies used to deposit solar energy.

Following an intricate design already occurring in nature, the scientists developed an electrode prototype that can greatly enhance the accumulative potential of solar cells.

According to a university news release, the new type of electrode made out of graphene  a highly conductible material  increases storage capacity by 3,000 percent and is tailored to be used with supercapacitors. These are far superior to ordinary batteries and can load and release energy a lot quicker.

In the past, supercapacitors have been incorporated in solar power technology but, up until now, weren't considered a reliable storage option due to their restricted capacity. The new graphene-based electrode, however, expands their storing capacity by 30 times.

Fern-Inspired Electrode

For this project, researchers drew inspiration from a North American fern.

Prof. Min Gu, head of RMTI's Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence Nanophotonics and one of the scientists who created the electrode, explains the western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) has a very elaborate structural design that offers the answer to effective storage.

Its leaves are packed with tiny veins, arranged in a self-repeating pattern called a fractal, which allows the plant to store energy and transport water and nutrients in a highly efficient manner.

"Our electrode is based on these fractal shapes - which are self-replicating, like the mini structures within snowflakes - and we've used this naturally-efficient design to improve solar energy storage at a nano level," said Gu in a statement.

The newly-developed prototype was featured March 31 in the journal Scientific Reports.

The Future Of Solar-Powered Technology

Study lead author Litty Thekkekara believes the grapheme-based electrode could be combined with existing solar cells to develop flexible thin film solar technology.

"The most exciting possibility is using this electrode with a solar cell, to provide a total on-chip energy harvesting and storage solution," said Thekkekara.

Unlike the rigid and bulky solar cells, thin film technology could be used virtually everywhere. With the help of boosted supercapacitors, the fractal graphene electrode could hold the stored charge for longer and with minimal leakage.

This offers long-term reliability, as well as a quick-burst energy release  making it feasible even on cloudy days, when it's normally difficult to recharge.

This could have endless practical applications, potentially leading to "fully solar-reliant, self-powering electronics." From smartphones, laptops, and smartwatches that don't require batteries to entire solar-powered buildings and hybrid cars that eliminate the need for charging stations.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A company in Sweden is tapping on a relatively new technology to give their employees the ability to do things with just a wave of the hand. The technology also has the potential to track what employees do.

Swedish company Epicenter offers to implant its workers with microchip the size of a grain of rice. Injecting the microchip that functions as swipe card for opening doors and operating printers with a wave of the hand has become so popular among Epicenter workers they hold parties for those who are willing to get implanted.

Epicenter started to implant employees in 2015, and it now has 150 workers who have the implant.

How The Microchip Implant Works

The implant uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which is also used in contactless credit cards. Once a reader activates the device from a few centimeters away, electromagnetic waves transmit data between the two devices. The implants contain information that can be read by other devices but cannot be read by the chips themselves.

Getting Implanted

Workers at Epicenter hold monthly events where attendees get the option of being chipped for free. Jowan Osterlund, a self-described "body hacker" working at Biohax Sweden, performs the operation.

The process, which lasts just a few seconds, involves injecting the tiny implant using preloaded syringes into the hand's fleshy area just next to the thumb.

"The next step for electronics is to move into the body," Osterlund said.

Convenience Of Getting Chipped

Employees who get chipped are like cyborgs that can electronically manipulate things. The implanted device allows them to control things they would normally have to manually do.

At the moment, those who have been implanted with a microchip use it to access doors and photocopiers, but Epicenter, which has an extended family of over 300 companies, including Microsoft and Spotify, said that the microchip comes with more features.

Epicenter executive Patrick Mesterton said that the biggest benefit this technology offers is convenience. Mesterton, who also had a grain-sized microchip implanted into his hand, said the technology can simplify life and replaces things such as communication devices, credit cards, and keys.

"You can do airline fares with it, you can also go to your local gym ... So it basically replaces a lot of things you have other communication devices for, whether it be credit cards, or keys, or things like that," Mesterton said.

Downside

The convenience of getting implanted with the microchip, however, comes at a price since use of the technology could mean that a person has to trade off an amount of privacy. The data that the chips contain can reveal how often an employee goes to work, if he is taking toilet breaks, or what he buys, and unlike with swipe cards or smartphones that can generate the same data found in the implanted chip, people cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.

The downsides, though, do not seem to discourage some people from getting chipped. Sandra Haglof, an employee at events company Eventomatic, said she wanted to get chipped because she wanted to be part of the future.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Construction sites that opened in Miami as part of the county's second building boom refuel concerns about the deadly Zika virus, since they are known to attract mosquitoes and become flourishing breeding sites.

County inspectors voice their worries that construction dumpsters, elevator shafts and the five-gallon plastic buckets popular with contractors may once again lead to a surge in mosquito populations, renewing the Zika threat.

Although officials haven't yet confirmed the presence of Zika mosquitoes in the Miami area, preparations are already being made to curb the potential reemergence of the virus by way of spraying aerial pesticides.

"Construction sites are a major breeding source," Paul Mauriello, deputy director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management, said in a statement.

Mauriello warns that, in the prospect of the upcoming rainy season, water pooling all over these areas (as well as in bromeliad leaves) is still an important concern, as it creates the perfect conditions for mosquitoes to thrive. He added authorities have already begun removing bromeliads growing on public property.

Zika Prevention Measures Already In Effect

Miami is the first U.S. county to report Zika transmission in 2016. In an effort to avoid last year's chain of events, which resulted in a Miami-Dade full-on outbreak, officials have already set up this year's first mosquito control workshop, organized at the beginning of this week.

The workshop is part of an ongoing public awareness campaign aiming to keep virus-carrying mosquitoes in check and proactively designate Zika zones before the start of the summer rains. On April 3, county officials met Builders Association of South Florida representatives to distribute literature about mosquito control.

One of the preventive strategies discussed at the workshop is increasing code enforcement for property owners that disregard water accumulation on their premises.

"We're going to be a lot more aggressive about it," reassures Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade County Mayor, who is determined to limit the possibility of active transmission zones.

In view of the recent yellow fever outbreak in Brazil, Gimenez is adamant about curtailing mosquito populations to avoid the potential confrontation with yet another mosquito-borne virus.

Miami-Dade has assigned a $10 million budget for the purpose of suppressing the mosquito danger, with county officials already monitoring 130 traps and spraying larvae-killing pesticide.

An additional 90 traps are to be set in the near future, with preventive efforts doubled by the intensified surveillance of carrier insects, which  according to Chalmers Vasquez, head of Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control Operations  are now being screened for the dengue virus and chikungunya as well.

Trucks dispersing larvaecide are still patrolling four local neighborhoods where Zika mosquitoes were most prevalent last year, and the country has replaced the chemicals that proved ineffective in previous insect control tactics.

Ground Zero

Last summer, Wynwood neighborhood in Miami was declared the nation's first Zika transmission zone. Health officials continue to caution pregnant women against traveling to Miami-Dade.

Vasquez believes county authorities are better equipped to deal with the possible virus transmission than in 2016, when Miami-Dade initially deployed traps for generic marsh mosquitoes, which are not among the species that carry the virus.

This is the reason why mosquito inspectors are now targeting unfinished homes and buildings, since construction sites played a big part in Zika transmission. A clear example is the Miami Beach site, associated with the virus and placed under multiple warnings from August to December.

Even though construction workers on the Brickell Avenue site tested positive for Zika in 2016, the area wasn't declared a virus transmission zone.

"They had five elevator shafts that were breeding mosquitoes that we had to treat on a regular basis until they sealed the construction site," said Vasquez.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Remember how Australian scientists have been recruiting amateur astronomers in the search for the elusive ninth planet thought to orbit the solar system?

Thanks to this campaign, the team is now eyeing four unknown objects that could be Planet Nine candidates.

Citizen Search In Action

The planetary search, launched on BBCs Stargazing Live broadcast, harnessed thousands of images captured by the Australian National Universitys SkyMapper telescope in New South Wales. From there, around 60,000 eager stargazers worldwide had classified more than 4 million space objects as part of the search.

Lead researcher Brad Tucker reported that the probe is now taking a specific direction.

"We've detected minor planets Chiron and Comacina, which demonstrates the approach we're taking could find Planet Nine if it's there," Tucker said in a statement. "We've managed to rule out a planet about the size of Neptune being in about 90 percent of the southern sky out to a depth of about 350 times the distance the Earth is from the sun.

The citizen scientists have flagged four specific objects for follow-up in the search for Planet Nine, which calculations from January 2016 suggest may be orbiting the sun. The hypothesized planet is believed to be around 10 times Earths size and 800 times its distance from the sun.

Astronomers will now use the telescope at Siding Spring as well as others around the world to investigate the four objects and see if theyre viable planetary candidates. Even if they dont turn out to be likely prospects, the team celebrated achieving four years worth of scientific analysis in under three days.

In fact, Tucker shared, a volunteer by the name of Toby Roberts made an impressive 12,000 classifications under this citizen-search program.

The search for Planet Nine, which involved the citizen-science website Zooniverse.org, is now officially on. Take note, though, that the publicly open aspect of it has ended. ANUs citizen search however continues via www.planet9search.org.

The Fuss Over Planet Nine

In 2014, astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo first proposed Planet Nines existence, broaching the discovery of space body 2012 VP113 and its shared orbital traits with the dwarf planet Sedna and other objects.

According to the two, the similarities could be answered for by a massive, unseen perturber that lurks in the outer spans of the solar system and tugs on the said objects.

This was bolstered by astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown in 2016, dubbing the perturber Planet Nine and thinking it could be sculpting more distant objects orbits.

Scientists, according to Tucker, concluded from here that Planet Nine existed after they studied Plutos orbit. This orbit could have been affected by another planets gravity, the same way Neptune was actually predicted.

At present, the solar system currently has eight recognized planets, after Plutos planetary status was stripped in 2006. Science, however, can be expected to keep looking  a group, for instance, put forward a new way to classify planets that could likely bring the planet count to more than 100.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
President Donald Trump's support and a whopping $19.5 billion funding for NASA seem to have bolstered the space agency's morale and enthusiasm. NASA is reportedly looking to unleash some new technology on Martian soil to scout for signs of life.

To facilitate human exploration on Mars, engineers and scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center are developing an aerial drone. The project, dubbed Mars Electric Flyer, will search parts of the planet, which are not conducive to human exploration.

Mars Electric Flyer: NASA'S Unmanned Drone

The Mars Electric Flyer is being made keeping in consideration Mars' thin atmosphere. NASA will not only deploy the unmanned drone to scour difficult-to-reach locales on the planet, but also to seek out areas for possible human habitation.

The autonomous aircraft will work in tandem with ground-based rovers, which will lend researchers greater flexibility in terms of exploration. The electric-powered drone will be constructed using lightweight materials.

Researchers are looking forward to sending the drone to explore highly inaccessible areas on Mars, such as the planet's deep canyons and lava tubes.

The engineers at Langley have also prepared a concept video of the unmanned drone, which will help people understand its capabilities better.

"Imagine being able to survey more parts of another planet like Mars than ever before. Orbiters and rovers have been successful so far but engineers keep looking for new ways to gather information. One way may be by using an unmanned aerial vehicle like this Mars Flyer concept," notes the description of the drone concept video on YouTube.

Features Of Mars Electric Flyer

The Mars Electric Flyer will take off and land vertically. It will autonomously navigate itself using visual odometry and SLAM, or Simultaneous Linearization and Mapping, algorithms that Langley researchers are developing. For the drone to take up long-range mission on Martian climate, the UAV will be equipped with state-of-the-art battery and motor technologies.

The drones will also deploy a remote sensor system, as well as advanced mapping technologies to fuel smooth navigation and assist in site detection.

Imagine being able to survey more of another planet like Mars than ever before, via a new concept, the Mars Flyer, a robotic aerial vehicle pic.twitter.com/8BMnu4Bfvb  NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2017

The Mars Electric Flyer will be transported to the Red Planet aboard a NASA rover. A robotic arm of the rover will release the drone on the planet's surface.

Mars Electric Flyer: Possible Hurdles For The Drone

The primary concern and hurdle that the engineers have to tackle is getting the drone to fly on Mars, which has different atmospheric conditions compared to Earth.

Considering Mars has 3/8 the gravity of Earth  as well as the fact that the Red Planet's atmosphere is quite thin  lifting off the drone may prove to be a challenge for NASA engineers. Moreover, the Mars Electric Flyer will also have to grapple with the harsh climate and environment.

Currently, the UAV is in the prototype stage and is being examined in chamber flight tests at Langley.

Watch the concept video of the Mars Electric Flyer below.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Animal rescuers in Orange County in Southern California are looking out for a gray whale, which became entangled in what is guessed to be a metal fishing gear or frame.

The whale was spotted in this condition at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, outside the Dana Point. As of April 4 morning, the tangled mammal was not spotted by rescuers keeping a steady watch.

Gray Whales

Gray whales are famous for the distance they can cover for the purpose of mating and giving birth to calves. These particular species of whales grow up to a length of 49 feet and can weigh up to 79,366 pounds.

These whales derive their name from the gray patches and mottling, which adorns their dark skin.

Entangled Whale In California

The distressed gray whale was first spotted by Capt. Frank Brennan, about 2 miles off Dana Point. Brennan saw the creature while conducting a whale-watching tour. Initially, because of the presence of too many boats around it, the whale was evasive.

However, Brennan saw the whale again off Laguna Beach the same day. It appeared that the whale's head had somehow gotten stuck in the metal frame of a fishing gear, which had fishing lines attached.

Brennan followed the whale from Laguna Beach till Main Beach before Capt. Dave Anderson could take over at 6 p.m. Anderson runs Captain Dave's Dolphin Safari and also leads Orange County's whale disentanglement team.

Brennan also alerted Justin Viezbicke, network coordinator at marine mammal stranding network of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The last time the entangled gray whale was spotted was outside Newport Beach Harbor at sunset. Anderson avoided sending his tracking buoy after the whale because he was not quite sure how the head of the whale was trapped in the metal bar.

"We felt very uncertain about what damage it would cause to the whale with this unusual entanglement. With darkness closing in, we thought it was best to document the last location and hope for the best tomorrow," said Anderson

Viezbicke, along with other rescue groups, is trying to create a plan to remove the metal frame from the whale's head. The rescuers are trying to determine whether the metal frame is a piece of a fishing gear or some other machinery.

The rescuers urge people with any information on the entangled gray whale to contact NOAA's entanglement reporting hotline (877) 767-9425.

Whale Entanglement Numbers Rise

Anderson expressed his worry and stated that this is the fourth entangled whale he has spotted in the past two months.

Back in 2016, 71 cases of whale entanglement were reported along the coasts of California, Washington, and Oregon. However, the West Coast tops the chart in terms of whales getting caught in crabbing gears.

Photo: Ryan Harvey | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Venezuela and Colombia resumed air operations on Monday with an inaugural flight departing from Caracas to Bogota after more than two years of suspension, said the Caribbean country's... | Read More
Channel 4 News has announced that Head of Foreign News Nevine Mabro has been promoted to Deputy Editor.



As Head of Foreign News over the past five years, Mabro has led the programmes foreign output. Most recently, she led the programmes Aleppo coverage with Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab.

Nevine Mabro said: I am delighted to be given this incredible opportunity at Channel 4 News  a programme that I love for its unrivalled journalism and fearless editorial approach to reporting on what is happening in Britain and the world.



Editor Ben de Pear said: Nevines stewardship has seen the most compelling stories told on television about Syria  all managed with real class and care, whilst still running all our other foreign coverage. Her abilities have massively enhanced the reputation of Channel 4 News and helped drive our incredible digital success. Much of this programmes DNA is intertwined with that of Nevine Mabro.

Mabro joined Channel 4 News in 2005 as a foreign producer, covering stories in Gaza, Libya, Israel, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico and the United States. During this time, she secured the first interview with the Lockerbie bomber in Libya after his release, obtained exclusive pictures of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 and produced an award-winning film on grooming and women trafficking in Mexico. She steps into the role vacated by Shaminder Nahal, who recently left the programme to join Channel 4s Specialist Factual Commissioning team.



In another editorial promotion, Chief Programme Editor Ollie King has been appointed to the newly-created role of Head of Output co-ordinating and overseeing Channel 4 News content.

King has produced much of Channel 4 News major programming of recent years including BAFTA award-winning coverage of the Paris attacks and Asian tsunami. He joined ITN as a runner working his way through the newsdesk to become Elinor Goodmans Political Producer for eight years starting in 1998. After the 2005 election, he spent a year as the Guardians Online Political Editor before returning as a Programme Editor.

Share this story
Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal smiles as he leaves the US District Court in Shreveport, La after he was found not guilty on all of the four counts he was being charged on.
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber and 21 other groups Tuesday urged state lawmakers to approve an increase of at least $500 million per year for roads, bridges and other transportation needs.

"While a variety of sources have been considered, the bulk of funding must come through an increase in the state gas tax," according to position papers released during a news conference.

A gasoline tax hike of about 17 cents per gallon would be needed to raise $500 million more per year if it is the sole source of new funding.

---

Not seeing the video below? Click here.

---

In December, a study group named by Gov. John Bel Edwards recommended a $700 million annual increase in road and bridge spending, part of which would be aimed at trimming Louisiana's $13 billion backlog of rank-and-file needs. That would require an increase of about 23 cents per gallon.

Another $16 billion would be needed for a wide range of "mega" projects, including a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, long a chamber priority.

The groups spelled out their aims six days before the start of the 2017 regular legislative session, where transportation is expected to be a key topic.

"If a major new revenue source is not passed this year, our next opportunity will not come until 2021," Adam Knapp, president and CEO of BRAC said in a statement. "Frankly, that is not an option."

Two of the next three years will be nonfiscal sessions and 2019  the next fiscal session  is an election year, which means any tax increases are unlikely.

Higher taxes require the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate, always a high hurdle.

In addition, state services face another projected budget shortfall of about $440 million, which will complicate efforts to raise new revenue.

Others in the coalition include Blueprint Louisiana, New Orleans Chamber, Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission, Greater New Orleans Inc., SWLA Economic Development Alliance and the North Louisiana Economic Partnership.

Also, the Louisiana Chemical Association, West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, I-49 South Coalition and CRISIS, a Baton Rouge area transportation advocacy group.

"This coalition demonstrates strong support from every single region of our state for increasing transportation revenues," Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of One Acadiana, a chamber group based in Lafayette, said in a statement.

"This is a way to create a better way of life for our people," he said, a reference to increased spending on roads and bridges.

Shawn Wilson, secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development, said last week he expects a handful of bills to be filed to boost Louisiana's gasoline tax, all around 17 cents per gallon.

Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, has said he plans to file just such a bill.

Officials of the groups cited a recent poll by LSU that showed support for more road and bridge spending. That survey said 57 percent of respondents said they would back increased taxes for transportation. The report was done by the LSU Public Policy Research Lab.

The groups said the state has more than 3,000 bridges that need to be replaced; ranks in the bottom five for every measure of road conditions and ranks 42nd nationally for its gas tax rate.

The coalition, called Build It, will be represented during the session by former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Michot, a lawmaker for 16 years who lobbies with The Picard Group.

Motorists pay 38.4 cent per gallon, including 20 cents in state taxes.

Just over 4 of those 20 cents are used to pay off borrowing costs for a 1989 statewide transportation plan called TIMED.

The group's acronym, BUILD IT, stands for Businesses United for Improving Louisiana's Development by Investing in Transportation.

Each penny of the state's gas tax raises about $30 million.
The biggest question hanging over the upcoming legislative session is whether this is the year lawmakers finally tackle Louisiana's structurally unsound tax code.

But that's not the only question. Also on the agenda, thanks to a couple of newly filed bills, is whether this is the year lawmakers finally tackle Louisiana's structurally unsound college scholarship program.

The two issues are closely related. In introducing his plan to overhaul taxes last week, Gov. John Bel Edwards mentioned the popular Taylor Opportunity Program for Students four times. His message was clear: If the state wants to keep offering free TOPS scholarships to students who meet certain criteria, it has to get its fiscal house in order.

Of course, even if lawmakers pull that off, it's probably too late to go back to the days when Louisiana could be so generous to so many people. For the first time this academic year, the state couldn't fully fund the program and students were left scrambling to come up with about 30 percent of their tuition. And there's certainly no indication that the budgetary pressure will ease any time soon.

So expect the conversation about restructuring to intensify. One idea is to raise academic standards, by increasing the TOPS Core Curriculum GPA to qualify from 2.5 to 3.0. That's the gist of the two pre-filed bills, one by Democrat Gene Reynolds and one by Republican Franklin Foil. Critics of this approach are already speaking out, arguing that it would disproportionately impact low income families and that it would remove an important incentive for students for whom the higher standard would be out of reach.

A competing idea is to consider the students' financial needs, so that the scholarships are targeted to those who might not otherwise be able to attend college.

Neither these nor a long list of other proposed tweaks have gained much traction over the years, for obvious reasons. Just like changing the tax code, altering TOPS would create winners and losers.

So really, the overarching question this session is whether lawmakers can muster the courage to act responsibly  even it means they have to deliver bad news.
Tom Benson to sell majority stake in WVUE-TV, promises 'some very big plans' in N.O.

Tom Benson to sell majority stake in WVUE-TV, promises 'some very big plans' in New Orleans
The head of the Bruce Hall Alumni Association says some devastated former residents will never return to the Australian National University after the Federal Court gave the green light for demolition to begin on the residential college.

A temporary stop work order granted on Saturday to prevent weekend works ahead of this week's court hearing was overturned by Justice Michael Wigney in Sydney on Tuesday morning.

Projections of what the new Bruce Hall residential towers at the Australian National University will look like.

An ANU spokesman said: "ANU will now proceed with its plans in accordance with approvals granted by both the National Capital Authority and the Department of Environment and Energy.

"The development will provide accommodation for 800 students and is expected to open in 2019."
Developer TOGA and real estate investor Qualitas have transformed the former Addison Hotel in Kensington in Sydney's east into pop-up accommodation for vulnerable youth, after donating the vacant building for a minimum of 12 months while it awaits development approval.

Set to house more than 42 at-risk youngsters, The Addison Project will be operated by community housing provider My Foundations Youth Housing.

The former Addison Hotel will house the The Addison Project, pop-up accommodation for about 42 vulnerable youths. Credit:Ray White

Under the scheme, OzHarvest will open the first rescued food supermarket on-site.

TOGA managing director Allan Vidor said he hoped the initiative would inspire others to make similar decisions with their vacant properties.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has intervened in the debate over tax ahead of the May budget, blaming the tax arrangements for property investors as well as lax bank lending standards for the explosion in Sydney and Melbourne home prices.

In remarks addressed to a private dinner between Reserve Bank board members and the Melbourne business community to which television cameras had been invited, Governor Lowe said too many loans were being made "where the borrower has the skinniest of income buffers".

In some cases banks were "assuming that people can live more frugally than in practice they can", leaving little for them to live on if things went wrong.

Close to 40 per cent of housing loans (and 60 per cent of investment loans) were interest-only, not requiring the scheduled repayment "of even one dollar of principal at least in the first years of the life of the loan; only interest".
For the three years I have lived in North Richmond, every time I catch the tram near the corner of Lennox and Victoria streets I know what I will encounter. I will walk down a street lined with syringes and come across either a drug exchange, a person injecting themselves or find someone laying barely conscious on the footpath.

I work at the local pub around the corner from my house and on a weekly basis we have someone come in attempting to shoot up. The regular punters know to put their foot against the door when someone suspicious walks past - to stop them from entering. The number of fatalities is a constant conversation amongst patrons and concerned residents living in the area.

The corner of Lennox and Victoria streets in north Richmond. Credit:Eddie Jim

Since the end of last year, I have had to call triple zero numerous times for people who have overdosed in the streets around my area. It is not uncommon coming home to sirens at any time, whether it be day or night.

Last week police attended to a stabbing right across from my house. That same week, I walked down my street where I looked into a parked car and saw two men in hi-vis shooting up.
Martin Luther King jnr, one of the most respected people who ever strode the earth, was slain by an assassin's bullet 49 years ago, on April 4.

He was only 39 years old, but his inspiring leadership on human rights had already made the world a better place, a reality reflected in his receipt of the Nobel peace prize four years earlier.

Martin Luther King jnr shares his dream with 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. Credit:AP

King's influence was amplified by his gift as a writer and speaker. His phrases soared. Anyone unfamiliar with his "I Have a Dream" speech should read it or, better still, listen to and watch it, and those who are familiar with it would do well to experience it anew.

His eloquence in that historic moment, and in the many other speeches he gave, uplifted millions, helping staunch the racism inherent in the segregation policies and general prejudice that so blighted the US, the supposed land of the free.
I wish the government knew how harmful it is to have such constrictive narratives of minority groups in the media. At present, there are two dominant narratives surrounding Asian people: the "pushy and rude" Asian and the "shy and nerdy" Asian. Both these portrayals are huge generalisations, incredibly restrictive and, to a degree, have negative connotations. When I was younger I use to struggle a lot with my heritage. I would feel ashamed and embarrassed because Western media told me I would grow up to be someone who was seen as rowdy and insolent. Showing multifaceted stories of minority groups in society is vital in breaking the homogenous mould currently given to us.

The Australian Youth Representative to the UN, Paige Burton, has been asking young people across the country "What would it mean if young people were seen by the government as being as complex as they are?" Here is what six young people from NSW had to say.

Ella Clarke Credit:UN Youth

I wish the government knew how many kids are being left behind in the foster care system.



I have a nine-year-old foster brother who came to my family at four months old and we were his third foster care home. The scary part is he's a rare case and an idealistic example of what can happen to a child in the foster care. The reality is most are moved from home to home, split up from siblings, and a devastatingly large portion of these kids are Indigenous.



It's not good enough for kids to be a case file or for the government not to consider assessing a child's circumstances a priority until they tick enough bureaucratic boxes.



I wish the government saw the true value of investing in the proper protection of children and early childhood programs. I wish they knew that getting it right at this stage would change the entire trajectory of someone's life and that every dollar invested in early intervention saves $17 down the track.

Michael Sun, 19:

Michael Sun Credit:UN Youth

I wish the government understood how debilitating mental health issues can be for young people, not just socially but financially.



By cutting funding to crucial health services, the government is forcing me  and those like me  to choose between seeking professional help that month or affording our next meal. This is not a dilemma that any young person should be cornered into, and yet too many cases of mental illnesses are being swept under the rug not for a lack of awareness, but for a lack of finances.



The right to exist in day-to-day life free of mental illness should not be a right that lies only with the privileged.
The proposed Adani coal mine, which will be Australia's biggest, has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear will drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin.

According to a copy of Adani's water licence signed last Wednesday and obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts under a permit that runs until 2077.

The mine  one of nine proposed for the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton  can conduct its own review of its groundwater model without independent or government oversight.

There are also no impact levels specified that will trigger a halt to mining, and the company is able to offset any significant water loss elsewhere, the licence shows.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen is on a collision course with his own party over the push for Labor to adopt the "Buffett rule", an anti-tax avoidance measure that forces high income earners to pay a set minimum level of income tax each year.

Mr Bowen was quick to rule out taking the policy to the next election when Fairfax Media first revealed sections of the Left of the ALP were determined to put it on the agenda to counter the populist appeal of One Nation.

Crucially, it has gained the support of Mr Bowen's predecessor, former treasurer Wayne Swan, an influential member of his own Right faction.

Despite Mr Bowen's resistance, the idea is not yet dead, buried or cremated.
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.
Malcolm Turnbull will travel to Papua New Guinea this weekend - but has already copped an extraordinary spray for the "insensitive" and "dangerous" timing of the trip ahead of local elections.

PNG's former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta on Tuesday accused Mr Turnbull of interfering in the domestic politics of Australia's neighbour barely two weeks before the country's caretaker period begins.

Former prime minister of Papua New Guinea Sir Mekere Morauta. Credit:Mike Bowers

Mr Turnbull has not travelled to PNG since taking over the top job in 2015 and Mr Morauta said the government in Port Moresby would "spin" a visit so close to the election as an endorsement of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

"That is a very dangerous position for the Australian Prime Minister to put himself in, especially with the prospect of a new Government just around the corner," Mr Morauta said in a statement.
The former NSW education minister, Adrian Piccoli, will deliver guest lectures in public policy and education as part of a new role as honorary professor at the University of NSW.

Mr Piccoli, who was education minister for six years but was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle in January, will also work on a range of programs in the School of Education, including the outreach program ASPIRE, which works with students across NSW to access tertiary studies.

In a statement, the university said Mr Piccoli's "advocacy for quality teaching, needs-based funding for schools and improving the performance of rural and remote students see him regarded as one of the best education ministers in Australia".

UNSW's vice-chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs said Mr Piccoli had shown great commitment to public education in his political life.
A private school student who allegedly raped a teenage girl who had passed out at a house party while another boy filmed it has moved interstate.

The 15-year-old boy, who was a student at the exclusive Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill at the time, allegedly raped the 15-year-old girl at a party in Bellevue Hill on March 4.

A 15-year-old boy from Rose Bay Secondary High School allegedly filmed the assault on a mobile phone.

The Cranbrook boy was only charged three weeks later after the footage had allegedly circulated between scores of students in a private Facebook messenger group.
A new initiative to encourage compassion and support young people dealing with mental health issues has been launched in memory of teenager Stuart Kelly.

Stuart was found dead on Sydney's northern beaches in July 2016, four years after his brother, Thomas Kelly, was senselessly killed in a one-punch attack in Sydney's Kings Cross.

On Tuesday, the Stay Kind Day initiative was launched by the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, with the support of the National Rugby League, to encourage "all our youth and the general community to care for one another".

It will be held on July 23.
A Gold Coast father is in hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in the throat after chasing down a teenage girl who police say had been breaking into cars.

About 4am, the 45-year-old man and his son, 25, disturbed a group of people allegedly breaking into cars on Monterey Keys Drive in Helensvale.

A 45-year-old man has been stabbed in Helensvale. Credit:Nine News

The father chased down a 15-year-old girl and caught her but she stabbed him in the throat during a struggle, police alleged.

The men detained the girl and police arrested a 17-year-old male nearby after a search.
At the house at the end of Bayes Road in Logan Reserve the flood has certainly left its mark.

The water is gone but the muddy high tide mark sits halfway up the roof across the solar panels.

Jacinta Huch was busy on Tuesday morning clearing out the home for her stepfather Roger, and said everything had to go.

"Beds, couches, white goods, everything's gone  you just can't get the smell or the mud out of those things."
Large parts of Rockhampton are expected to be underwater for two days after the bulging Fitzroy River peaks early Thursday morning.

On Tuesday, the predicted peak remained at 9 metres, slightly down on original forecasts, and was expected to inundate more than 200 homes and more than 100 businesses in the central Queensland city.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said more than 2300 properties would be affected in total by ex-Cyclone Debbie's latest impact.

She said 767 homes across the state - including almost 140 in south-east Queensland - had already been declared uninhabitable.
The training regulator has deregistered a private training college and forced another to restrict its course offering after finding non-compliance at the institutions, which have benefited from tens of thousands of dollars in government student loans.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has deregistered the Hawthorn-based private training provider Asia Pacific Training Institute, and restricted courses at Franklyn Scholar, after audits were commissioned following complaints about the providers.

The colleges are linked to vocational education company Acquire Learning, where former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou held an advisory role until late last year. Credit:Josh Robenstone

The colleges are linked to vocational education company Acquire Learning, where former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou held an advisory role until late last year.

The Asia Pacific Training Institute received $49 million in VET FEE HELP loans for 3000 students in 2015. It reported a unit pass rate of 40 per cent that year.
The regional town of Thorpdale is in mourning after its publican was killed in a fire which destroyed the community's historic pub overnight.

Locals in the tight-knit Gippsland town praised John "Johnny" Bantock, the owner and manager of the Traveller's Rest Hotel, as a generous and popular man.

John 'Johnny' Bantock inside his Thorpdale pub. Credit:Twitter/@SharnelleVella

Mr Bantock inherited the hotel, which had been in his family for 109 years, from his father Frank.

Tributes flowed for the much-loved, fourth-generation publican on Tuesday, as many locals and patrons from further afield remembered the man, who loved spinning a yarn behind the bar.
Five armed men in balaclavas have robbed a jewellery store in Elsternwick.

It is the 10th jewellery store robbery in Melbourne in eight months - the second time the Elsternwick store has been raided this year - and a pattern is emerging.

The male offenders are often in groups of four or five, and are armed with hammers, bats or guns. They smash the stores' glass cabinets to steal jewels in lightening-quick raids before driving away.

Witnesses said the Elsternwick raid at H&H Jewellery store in Glen Huntly Road was over in 20 seconds.
The man charged with murdering Mohammed Haddara has criticised the slow progress of his court case, after lawyers and a magistrate took almost a full day to rule on suppression orders before any evidence was given.

"Is this guy for real?" the accused man said from the dock in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday as a lawyer for Victoria Police finalised the details of a proposed suppression order.

Altona North drive by shooting victim Mohammed Haddara.

"It's like communist (sic) here. What is it, Russia? I had to wake up at 4.30 today and come from (prison in) Geelong."

The accused man, who is alleged to have fatally shot Mr Haddara in Altona on June 20, 2009, cannot be named for legal reasons.
An IT expert has testified that Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney paid him to install a recording device at the family home before Corryn Rayney's murder, but cannot remember the details.

Timothy Pearson testified in Mr Rayney's multimillion-dollar defamation trial against the state that he brought "everyday household tools" to install the device at the house weeks before the mother of two was found buried in Kings Park in August 2007.

Lloyd Rayney flanked by daughters Caitlyn and Sarah in Perth. Credit:Anne-Louise Brown

Mr Pearson also transferred recordings on to a disc, the WA Supreme Court heard on Monday.

But under questioning from counsel for the state Terrence Tobin, Mr Pearson could not provide some details about what he did.
Major Crime detectives have charged a man with the murder of a 25-year-old man in Perth's south east on Monday night.

Police and St John ambulance officers were called to a house on Karri Way in Ferndale about 9:30pm where they found a man with critical injuries.

He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital but died a short time later.

A 45-year-old Tom Price man, who was known to the victim, has been charged with murder and will appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The identity of a former WA school teacher who indecently recorded several dozen children can finally be revealed after a suppression order on his name was lifted.

Christopher Ryan Jones, 31, entered guilty pleas earlier this year to 62 charges, including 57 counts of indecently recording a child.

Christopher Ryan Jones has been jailed for five years.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing and producing child exploitation material.

Most of his offending relates to the indecent recording of children both inside and outside of schools. The children were aged between 6 and 15.
Col. Kristin Goodwin quietly made history this month when she was appointed to become the commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Goodwin would be the first openly LGBT officer to occupy that positionand only the second woman to do so.

But there has been loud opposition to her historic appointment from the anti-LGBT fringe.

On March 21, Air Force Times first reported Goodwins appointmentwhich must go through a routine Senate confirmation firstand took stock of her credentials.

In addition to serving as the senior military assistant to the secretary of the Air Force, she was the first female commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing, an Air Force Global Strike Command unit based in Louisiana. At the end of the piece was the detail: Goodwin has a wife and two children.

That biographical detail should not be controversial. Goodwin is just one of an estimated 70,000 plus service members who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual, according to a Williams Institute estimate. But her sexual orientation has since drawn the ire of a small but vocal handful of socially conservative organizations, activists, and media outlets.

BREAKING, the LifeSiteNews headline declared on March 30, a full nine days after Air Force Times reported the appointment. Lesbian with wife and two kids selected to lead U.S. Air Force Academy. The term wife never appeared outside of quotation marks in the article, which relayed the head of the Pray in Jesus Name Projects complaints about Goodwins appointment.

And the popular far-right website WorldNetDaily trumpeted a letter from the chief of an Alabama organization called the Foundation for Moral Lawwhich, according to its About page, exists to restore the knowledge of God in law and governmenttelling President Trumps new Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that Goodwin does not set a proper moral example for youth and claiming that she demeans the institution of marriage because she is a lesbian who is married to another woman. (Again with the scare quotes.)

There is no indication, of course, that this opposition will have any effect on Goodwins appointment.

During his confirmation hearings, Mattis said, I have never cared much about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with. Goodwin also has outstanding service and leadership credentials, as a U.S. Air Force Academy spokesperson told the Air Force Times. And Dont Ask, Dont Tellthe policy prohibiting open military service by gay men, lesbians, and bisexual peoplewas repealed well over five years ago.

Goodwin has certainly made no secret of her spouses gender over the course of her career.

In a brief 2015 profile of Goodwin for the Houston-based LGBT magazine OutSmart, Col. Terrel S. Preston recalled that, when Goodwin took command of the Second Bomb Wing at a Louisiana base in 2014, her wife Kelly was beaming with pride at the ceremony. The married couple moved into the commanders quarters, Preston noted, with a sign on the curb reading Col. and Mrs. Goodwin.

But the opposition to Goodwins new appointment from the religious right appears to be especially urgent because the Trump administration has not been systematically purged LGBT officials.

As The Daily Beast reported in February, the State Departments decision to keep Randy Berry, the Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons under the previous administration, angered anti-LGBT groups on the religious right who perceived him as a holdover of Obamas homosexual agenda.

Trump has earned praise from the religious right for rescinding Obamas transgender student guidance but he has been sorely criticized for keepingor even considering the nomination ofopenly LGBT officials.

Goodwins appointment is being perceived as a continuation of that trend. (In March, President Trump nominated Goodwin for the rank of brigadier general, which has historically been held by U.S. Air Force Academy commandants, as a Department of Defense press release noted.)As the LifeSiteNews article noted: President Obama put a high priority on appointing open homosexuals and transgender (gender confused) individuals throughout his government, including the militarya practice social conservatives hoped would come to an end or at least be dramatically slowed down under Trump (despite the latters campaign boasts about being pro-LGBTQ).

Goodwins position at the Air Force training academy also seems to have struck a nerve, based on the concerns that WND reported about the moral example she will set for youth. As Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Goodwin will oversee 4,400 cadets.

USAFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attacks on Goodwins appointment.

Matthew Thorn, executive director of OutServe-SLDN, an advocacy group for LGBT service members, praised Goodwins appointment in a statement to The Daily Beast.

Col. Goodwin is an accomplished Air Force officer and is an excellent choice to become commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy, he said. Sexual orientation has no bearing on Col. Goodwins job performance, career success or selection for this post and it shouldnt. She was selected because of her qualifications, accomplishments in the Air Force and the drive that every service member brings when he or she joins the military.
At this point, it appears that Michael Flynns request for immunity in exchange for testimony about the Trump administrations ties to Russia has been rejected by Congress. But the mere fact that he asked for it in the first place has led to wild speculation about both the extent of his own guilt and what he might know about President Trump.

On his Late Night show Monday night, Seth Meyers stressed that there is no evidence connecting the dots that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to help him win the election. But, he added, there are so many dots.

We are covered in dots, Meyers said. The Trump presidency is basically a 6-year-old with chicken pox. And the rest of us are so fucking itchy.

One of those dots is Flynn, and his request for immunity has raised a lot of questions. Does it mean Flynn is worried about criminal prosecution? Meyers asked. Or is he just afraid he cant get a fair hearing? Theres a lot of conjecture swirling around. And I just wish someone would tell us straight up: What does it mean when youre given immunity?

Cut to Michael Flynn on Meet the Press last September saying, in reference to members of Hillary Clintons staff, When you are given immunity, that means you have probably committed a crime.

Great. Thank you, Mike Flynn, Meyers said in response, before playing a clip of Trump himself declaring that same month, If youre not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for?

Of course, youll be shocked to find that Trump has had a change of heart when it comes to immunity, Meyers said. Now he thinks its great and shows youve done nothing wrong.

Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt, Trump tweeted on Friday. That prompted Meyers to warn Flynn against taking legal advice from the president, who has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits. To give his viewers a sense of what 3,500 looks like, he showed a photo of Trumps inauguration crowd.

Trump is clearly bothered by the mounting questions about his potential ties to Russia, Meyers added later. And so, as usual, hes lashing out about completely unrelated fake controversies, including a tweet Monday morning about Hillary Clinton receiving answers to the debate.

Well, first of all, she received questions in advance and it was during a Democratic primary debate, not the general election, Meyers said, correcting Trump. Second of all, if someone did give her the answers, you should thank them. Because maybe you forget, but she didnt pass.

With that, he put up an image of the 2016 Electoral College map. And as it turns out, Trump still won.
The New York Times is playing such a vital role in reporting the news from Washington that it seems ill-timed to point out how much it is cutting coverage devoted to another great city  its hometown.

As The Times plans further trims to its New York metro coverageless incremental is the phrase they are using  it is worth noting that there has already been a startling reduction in it over time.

A check of coverage for the week starting on the last Sunday of January finds that the paper ran 48 metro stories. This is less than half of the tally for 2009 (102) and less than a third of the 153 stories in the same period in 2001 (a figure that doesnt include metro stories in the additional Sunday suburban sections published then).

The Times is not alone in cutting down its coverage, of course. Rather, it is a high-profile example of a market-driven trend that threatens local news coverage in many places: Not only are local news staffs shrinking because of falling advertising revenue, but priorities are shifting away from local reporting to tasks that might be more profitable.

There is simply more potential web traffic in a story of national or international interest than in one targeted locally, even if local means a city as big as New York. Newsroom resources are moving accordingly, and The Times is eagerly courting a worldwide digital audience.

Executive Editor Dean Baquet has tried to make a virtue of the reduced metro desk output, saying the paper is shedding unnecessary stories in favor of bigger ones. The Times will continue to run less incremental New York news coverage, he said in an interview with the papers public editor, Liz Spayd.

Or, as Times metropolitan editor Wendell Jamieson told me in an interview, A big investigative hit is worth 100 smaller stories.

The metro staff has indeed responded with some blockbusters, but those stories havent protected the section from being the target of further potential cutbacks. Baquet hinted as much in a memo to the staff last May, declaring that the paper had to find out what makes sense given that fewer than half of our readers live in New York.

City taxpayers, though, have a reason to resent their paper of records retreat from local coverage: The Times is receiving a hefty 29-year package of tax incentives to pay for its 52-story headquarters across from the Port Authority bus terminal on 8th Avenue. Its subsidy could eventually be as much as $106 million. The biggest chunk stems from an $80 million reduction in property taxes to subsidize the cost of buying land, according to city records released under the Freedom of Information Law and reported on here for the first time. The paper is also eligible for an additional $26 million in city tax breaks, and has so far collected about a third of that.

The subsidies were premised on the economic benefit the city would accrue from the development, not on any promise to cover the city thoroughly.

There were some 85 New York metro reporters back when The Times proposed the 2001 deal for its new headquarters. That allowed the paper to offer a Sunday city section filled with sprightly, well-written tales from neighborhoods in all five boroughs, and five zoned Sunday suburban sections brought Times expertise to bear on the surrounding region. On a weekday, there could be 25 metro stories in the paper  three or four times what usually appears now. Even a Saturday paper could have 15 or more stories.

But the newspaper industry headed into a prolonged advertising slump and while the deal with the city helped the paper remain in the crossroads of the world, Times Square, named for it, the number of reporters dedicated to covering New York has since been halved, to about 42.

As the metro staff began to shrink, coverage of the suburbs started to disappear. The Times sought to hold off reporter layoffs, but the newsroom was hit in 2008. Thats when the paper dropped its stand-alone weekday metro section, folding it into the back of the A section. Supposedly, the space for city news was going to be maintained. It wasnt.

Arthur S. Brisbane, then the public editor, wrote in 2011 that after the stand-alone metro section was eliminated, the space for metro news dropped by almost a third on weekdays and two-thirds on Sunday, and the zoned Sunday regional sections had been combined into one.

Jamieson, the metro editor since 2013, has said he has focused on quality over quantity as the resources dedicated to the city have continued to decline.

Various Times staffers I spoke with told me that Jamieson (a colleague of mine when we both worked at New York Newsday in the 1990s) has responded to the dismal hand that Times management is dealing to him as well as possible, given the circumstances.

In 2014, he created a metro investigative and projects team. The following year, The Times metro desk produced three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, including one entry shared with the non-profit Marshall Fund on violence against inmates in state prisons.

In-depth reporting on the criminal justice system has been exceptional. A series called The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York States Prisons last December led Gov. Andrew Cuomo to order an investigation of whether black inmates were more likely to be punished than white ones for the same infractions. A 2013 series by William Glaberson, who has since left the paper, exposed extreme dysfunction in the Bronx courts. Two reporters, Michael Winerip and Michael Schwirtz, won a Polk award for their reporting in 2014 on violence against detainees in the city jails, coverage that led to a Justice Department crackdown. And during the past year, a series of articles on the 40th Precinct in the Bronx highlighted the longstanding inequity in how the Police Department deploys detectives, favoring precincts in Manhattan over squads in some of the citys most crime-prone neighborhoods.

When the metro desk offers such stories, or when a local story of national interest breaks, space is opened up. But on a typical weekday, there is not all that much local news from the nations largest city  six or seven stories, not counting what has always run in other sections such as business, food, arts and sports. There arent any brief items to make note of lesser stories, and few videos are produced for local stories. Last year, The Times killed its regional arts and restaurant coverage , a serious blow to many suburban culture programs and businesses.

Jamieson told me that when he started at the paper in 2000, it ran 34 columns of news in the metro section, which now has 18 columns. But, he suggested, in the past there were only 18 really good columns and that there was a lot of dutiful reporting  Weve tried to be more selective.

Its strange to argue to The Times that its stories are more important than its editors say they are. But I would not underestimate the power that even a marginal Times story carries in the news ecosystem; it tells assigning editors that the subject is important.

But something has to give when a staff is cut in half, and Jamieson acknowledged that there is a risk of missing some stories if the staff is concentrating on finding the big ones. For example, he said that not all courts are staffed, and that a smaller group of reporters circulated among them.

Its something Ive seen firsthand; The Times is far from a daily presence in any of the citys courthouses.

Youre not going to be there every time a bailiff runs in and says somethings happening in courtroom 3B, Jamieson said.

I told Jamieson that I had compared the previous days Times, which had seven metro stories, to one produced on the same date in 2001. It had 21 stories and 17 brief items. Some of the stories beyond the top half-dozen seemed like good ones to me, such as a piece in advance of what was expected to be a massive police rally against Mayor Rudolph Giuliani the following day.

He told me that a long list of stories wouldnt work well on smartphones  and much of the audience is getting its news via the mobile platform.

After we spoke, I looked more closely at some of the back-of-the-book stories published in the days when The Times covered the city more thoroughly.

Some were forgettable, as yesterdays incremental news often is. But it was probably interesting to know in 2009 that the South Ferry subway station couldnt open after a $500 million upgrade because the gap between platform and train was too wide, or that costs had ballooned for promised new parkland to replace parks that were removed to make way for the new Yankee Stadium, or that a robbery suspect was allegedly singling out Asian victims in East Harlem.

The downside to the Timess big-story approach is seen in coverage of a fire that killed two toddlers in a Bronx public housing project last April. Spayd, the reader representative who has applauded Baquets strategy, built a column around it in August.

Jamieson had pointed to it as an example of the kind of story that The Times might no longer cover. It was a provocative comment, and Spayd added her own: why should a newsroom that just announced lofty international ambitions spend resources covering news of no interest to readers in Beijing and London?

The answer is that in pursuing such lofty ambitions, The Times might miss a story about a systemic hazard to the safety of the hundreds of thousands of people who are tenants of the nations largest public housing agency  a city within the city thats home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers  and maybe as many as 600,000, with unofficial residents included, nearly the population of Baltimore. For that is what happened in this case.

City investigators learned that a NYCHA maintenance worker at Butler Houses had been in the victims apartment only four hours before the fire, knew that the smoke alarm was broken but falsely reported on a work order that it was functioning. Such false reporting occurred often at the Housing Authority, they determined.

Times coverage of the fire contained a tantalizing hint of what the investigators later found: a story noted that the Fire Department said there were no working alarms in the unit, but that a Housing Authority spokesperson said they were working earlier in the day when a maintenance worker was in the apartment. The Times said that investigators were trying to determine what happened, and left it at that.

The city Department of Investigation issued a 34-page report on this fire in October. The Daily News and DNAInfo.com reported on it; The Times did not (except for stories that routinely appear in wire-service feeds on its website).

By all means we should have done that, Jamieson said. There are no doubt risks to this approach.

(Part two of a two-part series. Read part one, In New York City, Local Coverage Declinesand Takes Accountability With It, here.)

This article was reported with the support of the Urban Reporting Program of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. CUNY-Brooklyn College journalism students Brennen Johnson, Jhodie-Ann Williams and Aleah Winter contributed research.
Early in the evening on Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions Justice Department sent an important signal to police officers around the country: Their relationship with Washington is going to change. During the Obama administration, Justice took unprecedented steps to push troubled police departments, like those in Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri, to change their practices. Now, with Sessions at the helm, its approach will be different.

At about 7 p.m. on Monday, Justice Department attorneys asked a federal judge to give them 90 more days to negotiate an agreement designed to keep the Baltimore Police Department from violating residents civil rights.

The DOJ and the city first made that agreementwhich isnt finalizedwhen Loretta Lynch was Attorney General, in the wake of Freddie Grays death. That initial agreement, announced just a week before President Donald Trumps inauguration, would have had a community oversight task force and an independent federal monitor keep tabs on the department. It also would have mandated that officers receive instruction about implicit bias, as NPR reported at the time.

In a court filing, the DOJ lawyers said any court-enforced agreements must promote officer safety and morale and respect local control of law enforcement, while protecting citizens safety and civil rights. The attorneys also said consent decrees shouldnt hinder efforts to recruit new officerssuggesting that Baltimores might have that effect.

The federal judge overseeing the negotiations could ignore the DOJs new request and sign off on the agreement as it was originally negotiated under Lynch. But regardless, the signal from Main Justice is clear: Trumps DOJ will intervene less, and differently, in the inner workings of local police departments. With this filing, changes are in motion.

Vanita Gupta, who helmed the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division for the final two years of Obamas presidency and worked to negotiate the Baltimore agreement, said Sessions changes could hurt the city.

The request for a delay is alarming and signals a retreat from the Justice Departments commitment to civil rights and public safety in Baltimore, she said in a statement. This is a document that was cooperatively negotiated by career DOJ lawyers with the City, following extensive input of community members, the FOP, and the BPD, in order to address serious constitutional violations that had undermined trust and public safety in the city.

The new filing cited a memo from Attorney General Sessions dated March 31. That memo, released publicly just two hours before the Baltimore filing, went to U.S. Attorneys and the heads of the Justice Departments different sections. It directed its recipients to review all Department activities to make sure they promote police morale and help bolster public respect for officers, while protecting Americans civil rights.

Local control and local accountability are necessary for effective local policing, the memo read. It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.

Sessions then directed his subordinates to review all DOJ activities, including current and contemplated court-enforced agreements with police departments, to be sure they further those goals.

The DOJ lawyers cited that memo in their filing about the Baltimore consent decree.

During Obamas presidency, the Justice Department took steps to significantly increase federal oversight of local police departments. A string of high-profile shootings of young African Americans by police officers generated significant attention in the DOJs efforts to improve relations between communities of color and police. The DOJs Civil Rights Division investigated a number of police departments, including those in Ferguson and Chicago. After investigations, the department negotiated court-enforced agreements with some of those citiescalled consent decreesand had federal judges sign off on them, giving them the force of law.

Civil rights advocates praised those efforts as essential to holding local police departments accountable. They also argued that without DOJ oversight, departments wouldnt reform themselves. But many conservativesnotably Heather Mac Donald, of the Manhattan Instituteargued these agreements were part of Obamas War on Cops, stigmatizing police officers as racist predators. Mac Donald and other critics of consent decrees also argue that theres scant data showing that departments who enter them actually improvea charge supporters of consent decrees say is a reason to increase research, but not to roll back oversight.

During his Senate confirmation hearing to be attorney general, Sessions also expressed skepticism about the value of consent decrees.

I think there is concern that good police officers and good departments can be sued by the Department of Justice when you just have individuals within a department that have done wrong, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. These lawsuits undermine the respect for police officers and create an impression that the entire department is not doing their work consistent with fidelity to law and fairness, and we need to be careful before we do that.

As Attorney General, Sessions is now acting on those concerns. And things are changing.
NYPD Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters was notified of the bombing in the St. Petersburg subway at 8:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday.

That first report was accompanied by the possibility of a simultaneous or near-simultaneous attack such as terrorists have favored in the past. Waters considered the threat in terms of the municipality he has been protecting against terrorism for 14 years.

The middle of rush hour in New York City, he noted afterward to The Daily Beast.

He immediately called Deputy Chief Scott Shanley, head of the Critical Response Command, which is composed of more than 500 highly trained and heavily armed cops who are perpetually poised to be wherever they might be needed in minutes.

You tracking on this? Waters asked, by his account.

Yes, were already tracking, Shanley responded.

Waters and Shanley had both noted that the attack in Russia had been on a transit feeder hub.

Were already moving, Shanley further reported.

Okay, fine, Waters said.

CRC cops were racing toward similar hubs in New York: Grand Central, Penn Station, Times Square, Union Square, Rockefeller Center.

We want to get there as quickly as we can, Waters later said.

The cops arrived at the hubs with vapor wake detection dogs capable of detecting a bomb on the move up to 10 minutes after it has left the vicinity and then tracking it down.

Displacement of the air off a bomb or a suicide vest, Waters said.

Waters had total confidence in Shanley and the CRC second in command, Deputy Inspector Eugene McCarthy, both of whom had done this many times before and were continually training and refining without losing the essential intensity.

Theres an adrenaline rush that runs through us; we have to get this right, Waters said.

CRC cops also deployed to the Russian mission to the United Nations as a possible terrorist target.

You just dont know, Waters said.

Waters remained ready to expect the unexpected. He considered the possibilities and the accompanying contingencies.

All these things rapidly race through my mind each and every time this happens, Waters said.

He confirmed to himself that everything that should be done had been done and that he and his cops were ready to do whatever else might suddenly need doing.

You always have to stop and do the self-check, Waters said. No matter how smart you are, no matter how experienced you are, you have to do that check.

In the meantime, the NYPD counterterrorism analysts had focused on the situation in Russia and were sure to pass on anything pertinent the instant they determined it. Images of the carnage in St. Petersburg served as a reminder of the importance of remaining vigilant.

The morning rush in New York passed without event. Waters joined Shanley and McCarthy in the afternoon at CRC headquarters on Randalls Island across the East River from upper Manhattan. The three stood in the brightness of an April day as glorious as that September day back in 2001 when our longest war began.

At 2 p.m., Police Commissioner James ONeill arrived for a pre-scheduled press conference to announce that the NYPD had achieved another record low in crime. Mayor Bill de Blasio was of course there to join in proclaiming the latest good news in the continuing tale of the safest big city in America.

Back in the bad old days, this facility had been the headquarters of the Street Crime Unit, which led the fight against gun violence in the city. Those who died in the effort included Police Officer Kevin Gillespie, shield 4503, whose locker has been preserved just as he left it on the night of March 14, 1996, when he was shot to death while stopping a stolen BMW in the Bronx.

Killed in performance of duty, says a plaque next to the locker, to which is affixed a cross fashioned from palm fronds, a symbol of that greatest love, those who sacrifice all for others.

Gillespies murder was one of 1,353 homicides that year. The continued efforts of his fellow cops reduced the annual carnage to 335 in 2016. A ceremony last year at what is now CRC headquarters marked the 20th anniversary of Gillespies death. His widow and two sons were in attendance. Former chief of department Louis Anemone spoke, recalling how Gillespie had signed a letter proposing a program to increase safety for plainclothes cops.

See you in the street.

The cops were still out in the street and the statistics that ONeill announced on Monday showed that violent crime had continued to decline in the first quarter of this year, to an all-time low. ONeill did not fail to mention Gillespie and to point out his locker and to say that his memory made the facility a sacred place for the NYPD. A Marine Corps sticker affixed to the outside of the locker attests to Gillespies military service during the Gulf War. Gillespie no doubt would have been among the first to join the NYPDs fight against the new threat of terrorism had he survived to witness 9/11.

Waters has been in that fight without stop for year after year after year after year. He was standing off to the side as ONeill spoke to the press of the importance of the CRC in protecting New York against attacks such as the one in St. Petersburg. ONeill said that upon hearing of the bombing in Russia he had immediately contacted Waters about extra safeguards in the New York subways.

I called up Jim and he said, Its already done, ONeill reported.

Last month, ONeill had warned that in cutting $190 million in homeland security funding to New York, the budget proposed by President Trump would rip away the backbone of our entire counterterrorism apparatus.

This funding is absolutely critical, ONeill had added. It is the cornerstone of preparedness and prevention against terrorist threats, and enables us to do what we can do to keep the city secure.

Monday morning had demonstrated that counterterrorism funding in action. And that was only the most visible part of New Yorks capability. The city also has a host of intelligence experts as well as cops who work deep undercover, some for years at a time.

We always have to be prepared, ONeill said. Thats the reality of life in New York City.

He also said, Not only do we have to keep people safe, we have to keep them feeling safe.

ONeill departed. Waters and Shanley and McCarthy continued with their unflagging efforts to counter terrorism amidst talk of budget cuts by a president who seems willing to put his hometown in jeopardy even as heavily armed cops protect his tower around the clock.

As the officers come and go from CRC headquarters in the days ahead, Gillespies locker will keep vigil there, made holy by duty and sacrifice, six feet of steel painted dark police blue that by truest measure stands taller than any tower in the city.

However much the budget is or is not cut, the locker will remain a shrine to the spirit that is New Yorks untiring protector, be the threat a pistol on a Bronx street corner or news of a bombing on a St. Petersburg subway that comes in at 8:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on a sunny Monday.
A veteran Australian politician has stoked outrage and derision in equal parts Tuesday morning after he gave an interview stating that gay people can become straight, and that they should be applauded when they do so.

Senator Eric Abetz was being interviewed by Sky News about an Australian campaign for marriage equality that is being spearheaded by the home-share company Airbnb.

The campaign is asking all Australians to wear a specifically designed acceptance ring until same-sex marriage is legalized.

In the course of an interview with Sky News Australia, Abetz, who has been an elected member of the the Australian senate since 1994 and has long been vocal in his criticism of the LGBT community, was asked by journalist Samantha Maiden if he believed that society should celebrate someone deciding they are not gay anymore.

After initially attempting to debunk previous reports of his position as fake news, Abetz said that indeed, he did believe exactly that: What I asked for was the media to treat people in exactly the same way. So somebody who was in a straight relationship then goes into a gay relationship, we are told that they are honest, they have come out, they are being truthful and open about their true identity.

Now you and I would be aware of people who have done the opposite, and they are basically never talked about. When they give evidence at senate committees, their evidence is never reported. So what I was seeking was balance from the media to report both sides of this phenomenon.

Maiden then appeared to lose patience with the politician, and asked, OK, but do you personally believe that gays and lesbians could pull up their bootstraps and show a bit of discipline and become heterosexuals? Do you actually think they can stop being who they are?

Abetz replied, The evidence that has been given to senate committees, where people who have been in gay relationships, have then gone into heterosexual relationships... he began, until Maiden interjected, Thats a different question. Im asking you if you think gay people should try not to be gay?

Abetz answered: It is up to the individual as to what they want to be, and how they want to express themselves in a free society. That is up to them. My complaint has been that when people say they have moved from a gay relationship to a straight relationship, they are never reported. Yet when people say they are in a straight relationship going into a homosexual relationship, that is all that is reported.

Abetz, who has previously drawn links between abortion and breast cancer, has spent the hours since the interview being widely mocked and lampooned on social media.
He famously said hed rather slash his wrists than play James Bond again.

However, sources tell Page Six that Daniel Craig is mulling a return to the iconic role one last time, amid reports that franchise producer Barbara Broccoli has decided Tom Hiddleston is too smug and not tough enough for the role.

It is widely rumored that Hiddlestons brief, high-profile romance with Taylor Swift hurt his image, as did his irritating Golden Globes speech praising his work in his trip to South Sudan.

Still, a return to 007 will be quite an about-face for Craig.

In 2015, Craig was asked if hed do the role again after finishing a difficult Spectre shoot, and replied, Id rather slash my wrists. Im over it at the moment.

When asked who should take over the role, he added, Look, I dont give a fuck.

Hiddleston was widely tipped for the role, however, a source told Page Six: Barbara Broccoli doesnt like Tom Hiddleston, hes a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond.

More importantly for Bond-watchers, it appears that Broccolis decision to dedicate herself to the financially thankless task of producing Craigs Off-Broadway version of Othello has paid off. The show, starring Craig and David Oyelowo, won critical acclaim and earned Craig props for his serious acting skills.

As a result he is now, according to Page Six, getting closer to another big-bucks Bond role.

A Hollywood source told Page Six: Daniel was very pleased with how Othello went and the great reviews. Now Daniels talks with Barbara are going in the right direction. They have a scriptscreenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade [whove penned several Bond movies] are writing and theyll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit.

Another source added, Daniel had such a good time in Othello, produced by Barbara, that hes ready to do a final Bond.

Screenwriter Wade recently said the new film would be different from Spectre. Youve got to say something about Bonds place in the world, which is Britains place in the world. But things are moving so quickly now, that becomes tricky. With people like [Donald] Trump, the Bond villain has become a reality.

Reps for Craig and Broccoli didnt comment.
ISTANBUL, TurkeyDays ago, in Ankara, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that the U.S. had no quarrel with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, a man Tillersons predecessor compared to Adolf Hitler after he slaughtered more than 1,000 people with poison gas in 2013.

The longer-term status of President Assad, Tillerson said, will be decided by the Syrian people, a euphemism used by Damascus, Moscow, and Tehran to indicate that he isnt going anywhere.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer used almost identical language the next day, saying, Well, I think with respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now.

But the gas, it appears, is raining down once again on civilians.

In a video made Tuesday, Dr. Shajul Islam showed the camera a young man lying on a gurney with a catatonic expression on his face. His pupils were shrunk to the size of pinheads. This is not chlorine, he said. We do not smell chlorine on this patient. The industrial chemical has often been used as crude weapon on the Syrian battlefield.

Perhaps this time it was organic phosphate, another easily acquired chemical.

But other Syriansand outside observerssay that its more likely the Assad regime dropped sarin gas on civiliansa much more sophisticated odorless and colorless nerve agent that Damascus was supposed to have gotten rid of as part of a U.S.-Russian-brokered deal in 2013.

If its what it looks like, its clearly a war crime, said a senior State Department official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity.

"It has the fingerprints of a regime attack," added a U.S. intelligence official. "If the Assad regime was indeed responsible for perpetrating the attack, the reported casualties figures would make it the biggest incident like this since the Syrian regime's August 2013 sarin attack against the Damascus suburbs."

As ever in the six-year civil war, the death toll depends on whom you consult. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts it at 58. The White Helmets, on-the-ground first responders, at first said the figure was closer to 50. Other estimates are upward of 100 dead, with probably about 300 more injured.

The poisonous gas, as one Syrian activist put it, was dropped by helicopters in a series of airstrikes in the city of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province, one of the last enclaves of rebel control in the area, mainly administered by al Qaeda and other Islamist groups.

But videos on social media do not show jihadis lying as waxy corpses in makeshift hospitals. They show children. In one image, published by Al Jazeera, a half dozen are laid out in a row under a blanket in the back of a pickup truck. Boys on the left, girls on the right, their ages probably as young as 3.

Dr. Firas Jundi, health minister for the opposition interim government, told The Daily Beast he had the names of 60 people killed in the gas attack. He said the death toll was bound to rise as there are 300 wounded, many in critical care hospitals and clinics throughout the province.

The number of victims was an indication that this is not chlorine gas, he added in a Whatsapp conversation from Idlib, where the interim government is located. "Usually chlorine doesn't kill such big number.

He said the signs of trauma suggested a nerve agent like sarin was used in the attack, but testing was needed to say for sure. He said local authorities have recovered parts of the rocket that carried the gas canisters and are ready to turn them over to international investigators.

What I noticed about the victims was they had difficulty breathing, many had lost consciousness and the pupils of their eyes had narrowed, he said.

If there are pinpoint pupils and convulsions, its likely nerve gas. The number of deaths is too high for chlorine for an outdoor attack, said Andy Weber, former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs under the Obama administration.

Pinpoint pupils is diagnostic for sarin, said Ambassador Laura Holgate, who was the Obama White Houses senior director for weapons of mass destruction. Sarin kills you with a drop on your skin, though its lethality depends on how its delivered, and the weather conditions when its dispersed.

There was never any indication that we didnt get all the sarin in the 2014 elimination project, said Holgate, who was part of the team that negotiated the disarming Syria of its chemical arms in 2014, together with Moscow. If he has sarin, it wasnt declared or destroyed as it should have been, as part of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-monitored operation.

We may have gotten all of it, but they may have made more, said Weber, who was part of the same Obama administration disarmament mission. Its a chemical synthesis process they obviously know how to do. Their entire [chemical warfare] program was indigenous.

You dont have to have tons of it to deliver a few small bombs, he added.

The only way to know definitively what was used is for the OPCW to gather its own tissue samples from survivors, which is difficult to do in hot zones that are still under fire. Otherwise, both former officials said, you have chain of custody issues in that you are trusting a human-rights group or other a local militia groups account on exactly where and when a sample was taken.

Youre taking their word for where they got it, she said. Thats why the U.S. government was always leery to lend its credence to the claims.

Nevertheless, there are early and strong indicators of the Idlib attacks perpetrator. The fact that it was air delivered means it was definitely the regime that did it, said Weber, who is now senior fellow at the Belfer Center.

The airstrikes started at around 6:30 Tuesday morning.

A hospital treating patients of the alleged chemical attack was also bombed, according to AFP, which was reporting from the location.

This was not the only attack on civilians Tuesday. The people in Idlib are terrified, Jundi said. A hospital was bombed in Salqin, killing 15 people, he said. Everyone here is waiting for death.

Othman Al Khani, a Khan Sheikhoun resident who lives about one mile from the area targeted, said it was residential, and there were no military installations or personnel stationed there. At least half the residents were internally displaced families from Hama province.

Last night was very long and tiring for the people of Khan Sheikhoun, he told The Daily Beast. We were under bombardment until late at night, and then when people slept they slept very deeply. That is why when the gas started to leak into the houses people didn't notice it. They were deep in sleep.

But Khani was awake and listening to rebel radio warning there was a Sukhoi combat plane flying in the vicinity.

I heard the sort of small explosion of the type that occurs when a missile doesnt blow up, he said. The plane flew another 15 minutes and carried out three more strikes, he said.

The first strike turned out to be the most lethal. The local first responders from the Civil Defense had come ill-equipped and were all affected by the gas, he said.

Later in the day, he witnessed the Khan Sheikhoun hospital and the Civil Defense center coming under attack. I was there, inside the Civil Defense center, he said. The Center, like the hospital, is located in a cave area out of the city. The warplane kept maneuvering above us for half an hour and hit the two places with more than ten strikes, he said. But they were well protected by big boulders, and only the equipment and cars outside the two locations were destroyed.

Idlib province has become a frequent drop zone for chemical agents. A year-long study conducted jointly by the United Nations and the OPCW found last year that regime helicopters dropped chlorine-filled bombs on the towns of Talmenes and Sarmin, the former in late April 2014, the latter in mid-March 2015.

Chlorine is also a common industrial chemical. Its most familiar use is to keep water clean in swimming pools. But it was also one of the first chemical weapons used in World War I more than a century ago, and it is banned as an agent of warfare by the Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria signed on to that treaty in 2013 as part of a deal to acknowledge and relinquish its stocks of sarin, VX, and mustard gas. The alternative was to be U.S. intervention in the conflict.

The regime had used sarin that year in East Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, against opposition forces. Around 1,400 people were killed in that attack, according to the U.S. government, in the deadliest chemical weapons use since Iraqi dictator Saddam Husseins gassing of Kurds in Halabja in 1988.

Even after the OPCW judged that 99.6 percent of all declared chemicals in Syria had been removed from the country, it still found victims who had been exposed to sarin, a substance that is neither easily handled nor easily weaponized.

Last December, the regime reportedly used sarin again in eastern Hama, a day after Islamic State terror group fighters recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra. More than 90 were killed and 300 were hospitalized.

"I'm appalled by the reports that there's been a chemical weapons attack on a town south of Idlib allegedly by the Syrian regime," British prime minister Theresa May said in a statement.

"If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime... I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad," she added, using language that could not have been more different from the Trump administration's earlier statements.

But by Wednesday afternoon, the Trump administration had begun to shift that accommodationist tone, blaming the Assad regimeand President Obamafor the attacks. "These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution." Spicer said.

"It is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism," Tillerson said in a statement. "Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable."

"Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions," Tillerson added.

He neglected to mention his own tacit support of Assad, voiced just days ago.
When Clint Watts, a counterterrorism expert and fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week about Russias propaganda machine, it got me thinking about the messages pushing a toxic and divisive brand of white identity politics during the election. After Nov. 8, they miraculously disappeared. Was this a coincidence?

Although these tweets never changed my political opinions, I found them dispiriting. I had always assumed there was a small percentage of people on the right who held these unseemly views. Butbased on what I began seeing during the 2016 election cycleI had to reassess this estimation. The information coming across my Twitter timeline suggested there were far more of these trolls than I had thought.

The reason, I assumed, was the rise of the alt-right, a heretofore anemic movement that even after Trumps win managed to attract a mere 300 followers to its Washington, D.C., conference.

Maybe this pernicious ideology had lain dormantunenthused and unexploitedonly to be awakened by Donald Trumps candidacyand then to recede after his victory.

There seemed to be a perfectly rational reason that Pepe the Frog disappeared from my timeline right after Election Day; in mid-November Twitter purged some high-profile alt-right accounts.

Then I heard Clint Watts on Meet the Press this Sunday, and he said that while we are focused on hacking and leaking, what Russia really did was to create information nuclear weapons that were spread over social media to undermine trust, create divisions, and foment chaos. This involved the use of bots, he said, to create what look like armies of Americans.

It wasnt till 2015 they really turned towards the U.S. election, Watts explained.

Coincidentally, 2015 is the year I started noticing this trend, which I documented in a column titled Twitters Right-Wing Civil War. Watts has said this was in full swing during the presidential primaries and that they pushed for Bernie Sanders at times too. Sen. Marco Rubio told the committee that his former presidential staffers had been hacked.

Its impossible to prove (even Watts and his highly-credentialed comrades, Andrew Weisburd and J.M. Berger viewed this investigation as a hobby) but I am convinced that at least some of the tweets I was seeing during the 2016 election cycleperhaps many of themwere the Russian propaganda products. I suspect that part of their job included trolling opinion leaders and working the refs, if you will.

During a phone call on Monday, Watts told me that Active measures deliberately go after journalists and media personalities that are anti-Russian. During our talk, Watts and I also discover a similar observation. There was always a delay in time between when we tweeted something and when the pushback came (and by pushback, were talking about dozensor hundredsof tweets). Watts speculates that offending tweets would be marked and placed in a queue to be targeted later. If the attacks were organic, they would either be spontaneous and immediate or the result of some publicity (for example, lets say a media outlet or blog highlighted a tweet you sent). That wasnt the pattern.

This, of course, was not the total extent of Russias interference in our elections. Former Vice President Dick Cheney recently said Russias meddling in our elections could be considered an act of war. The New York Post claims the Russians tried to push conspiracy theories to Donald Trump, via Twitter. And according to Sen. Angus King of Maine, they also pushed and probed into state election systems around our countryregistration rolls, voting machines.

Luckily, Russia wasnt able to hack the election in America via voting machines, although they might well have tried. But they still used our own freedom and technology to advance their propagandistic aims. According to one colleague who covered this issue, Twitter could very, very easily eliminate all bots almost instantly with Captchas. But then theyd lose maybe as much as 20 percent of their daily active users, which they cant afford as a business. They seriously, at any moment, can cut off a pipeline in a worldwide disinformation campaign, but wont.

Therein lies the ultimate irony. Whether it was cable TV covering Trump rallies live for the ratings, websites operating as useful idiots by posting fake news for clickbait, or Twitter declining to take the issue of bots as seriously as they should, all of these decisions make sense in the context of the medias profit motive. America spent decades battling the Soviet Union, in part to preserve free expression and capitalism.

Now, employing a bit of jiujitsu, Russia is turning both against us to undermine our faith in democracy.
It was a startling claim from a YouTube star with 3 million subscribers and 40 million viewers in the last month: Evidence that WSJ used FAKE screenshots.

That was the title on Ethan Kleins H3H3Productions YouTube video last week. The video itself didnt pull any punches, either. In it, Klein claims The Wall Street Journals Jack Nicas fabricated screenshots that showed YouTubes algorithm failing to block big-money advertisers from appearing before racist videos.

Seems like some simple fact checks couldve gone onto it before you completely demonized and destroyed a platform and the income of all their users, Klein says. Send this video to Wall Street Journal. Send this video to YouTube. Send this to other news organizations and brands. This is the smoking gun.

But Kleins smoking gun that Nicas fabricated screenshotsa separate screenshot from an uploader of one of the racist videos showing the user hadnt made any money on the video, titled Chief Keef dancing to Alabama N---er, for monthswound up to be entirely incorrect. Ads had been running on the video all along, even from sponsors like Coca-Cola.

All Klein had to do was send the video to YouTube and ask if the video was being monetized.

Sources familiar with YouTubes ad systems at the company confirmed to The Daily Beast that ads did, in fact, run on the video. So did several users who later debunked the video and forced Klein to pull it down on Sunday.

Ads ran on the racist video in question, but due to a copyright claim, the revenue went to a rights holder of an equally racist song, called Alabama Ner, that was edited into the background and flagged by YouTubes copyright claim algorithm.

Still, by now, the gloves were off. The video became the top video Sunday on Reddit, accruing more than 71,100 upvotes. The top comment: I hope Google takes WSJ to court. The one underneath it: Youtube has a very real case to sue for billions in lost income here if this is shown to be defamation.

Then one with 267 upvotes by the user DrapeRape: If WSJ is literally sued for fake news Im going to be so happy.

Despite No witch-hunting and No personal information rules on the communitys subreddit, the post remains live on Reddit. Nicas, whose face and Twitter account appear repeatedly on Kleins video, was inundated with threats.

You are literally about to die because of H3H3 new video, wrote one Twitter user. Better stop this shit man.

Die with @WSJ so we are happy again, wrote another.

Kleins video explaining why he took down his initial video accrued about 25,000 upvotesor about one-third of the amount received by the original post. Kleins initial tweet garnered over 19,000 retweets. His retraction received only 700.

Klein did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

The antipathy largely stems from anger over a Wall Street Journal report about YouTubes biggest star, gaming vlogger PewDiePie, from February. Disney severed ties with the YouTube star after the report detailed PewDiePies repeated use of Nazi imagery, including a video in which two men using the website Fiverr hold up a sign that reads Death to All Jews at his request for cash.

The report triggered an exodus of advertisers who sought more control over where their ads were being shown on the platform.

That advertiser backlash led fans of YouTube stars like Klein and PewDiePie, along with Reddits Videos subreddit, to question the motives of The Wall Street Journal, and begin to accidentally align with pro-Trump outlets that frequently decry newspapers as fake news.

Gateway Pundit, a pro-Trump news outlet that received press credentials into the White House Briefing Room in January, posted a story Saturday morning titled WSJ Lied and Used FAKE Screenshots to Push Narrative that YouTube Allowed Racist Headlines. The story remains live and uncorrected on its website.

Late Sunday night, alt-right personalities began piling on.

Whoa! WSJ was caught photoshopping ads onto offensive videos to attack YouTube, but its fake. ALL FAKE! tweeted Mike Cernovich on Sunday. Cernovich spent Monday claiming he helped identify Susan Rice as an Obama administration official who requested intel unmasking of Trump officials, a talking point that was repeated by President Trumps Twitter account Monday morning. His tweet about The Wall Street Journal has not been deleted or retracted.

InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson went on a tweetstorm Sunday night, tagging Nicass Twitter account and asking for his response to the claim that you are faking screenshots to pressure advertisers on YouTube.

The WSJ is a failing entity read by geriatrics, he wrote. If they think they can win an infowar with the YouTube community, theyre delusional. He has yet to retract or delete the tweets.

When reached for comment, Nicas directed The Daily Beast to a Wall Street Journal statement that was released Sunday night.

The Wall Street Journal stands by its March 24th report that major brand advertisements were running alongside objectionable videos on YouTube. Any claim that the related screenshots or any other reporting was in any way fabricated or doctored is outrageous and false. The screenshots related to the articlewhich represent only some of those that were foundwere captured on March 23rd and March 24th, the statement reads. The Journal is proud of its reporting and the high standards it brings to its journalism.

Still, on Twitter, some users didnt get the message.

I'm not sure what's worse, you being aware of what you're doing or you being unaware, one user wrote to Nicas account late Monday night. Either way, you're not far from Goebbels.
There is still a way to avoid the nuclear option and solve the Senates Supreme Court stalemate: Confirm two justices at once.

Heres whats going to happen in the next few days. Democrats now have at least 40 votes to filibuster the confirmation vote for Judge Neil Gorsuch. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to have 50 votes to change two centuries of Senate precedent and ban the filibuster for Supreme Court nominationsnuclear option. If enough Republicans go along, Gorsuch will be confirmed mostly on party lines.

No one wants this to happen. Certainly not Republicans; as Senator John McCain told NPR, Im very depressed. Were all arguing against it, but we dont know any other option. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, dont really want to filibusterbut Senate Republicans unprecedented decision last year not to give a hearing to President Obamas SCOTUS nominee has left them no choice. If Democrats go along with Gorsuch, the cheaters win.

And so the slow-motion runaway train rumbles toward the cliff edge. No one likes where its going, but no one can do anything about it.

Except they can. If the Senate and the White House really want to solve this problem, theyll cut a deal. Two justices at once: Gorsuch for Scalia now, and Garland for whoever comes nextprobably Justice Kennedy, who is said to be considering retirement. Best of all, its the institutionalist centrists of both parties who can bring this deal to pass.

Think about it. Judge Gorsuch is eminently qualified and, judging by the rave reviews hes received from the Heritage Foundation, the Judicial Crisis Network, and the Religious Right, hes a deep-red conservative like the late Justice Scalia. Seating Gorsuch in Scalias seat basically returns the Court to where it was 14 months ago.

For Democrats, the real crisis comes with the next vacancy. Unless one of the Courts three youngish conservativesChief Justice Roberts, Justice Thomas, or Justice Alitowere for some unlikely and unforeseen reason to leave the Court, the next vacancy will move the Court rightward. The shift will be either somewhat rightward, if its Kennedy to leave, or far rightward, if its one of the four liberal justices to do so.

And thats what Democrats cant stomach. Its not just that the Republicans stole this seat, they say, by not giving Judge Garland so much as a hearing. Its that, if the Democrats do nothing, that theft will transform the Supreme Court for decades. This isnt about vengeance or pettiness; its about consequences.

Republicans dont really have an answer to that. Sure, some Democrats had talked about not confirming a justice in the summer or fall of an election year. Others had talked about filibustering Alito or Roberts. But none of that ever came to pass. And a vacancy in February isnt the same as a vacancy in July. In their hearts, Republican senators know they did something new in 2016.

But Republicans were facing the same prospect of a realignment as Democrats are now. If Justice Scalia had been replaced by a moderate like Garland, that wouldve represented a huge shift. And remember, no one expected Trump to win, so its a shift that would have been cemented in the years to come.

Which brings us to the mess were in now, with no satisfactory options for anyone. And thats why the Two for One deal makes sense. Replacing Justices Scalia and Kennedy with ideological siblings basically maintains the status quo. It protects Justice Scalias seat for conservatives, but because it protects Justice Kennedys seat for moderates, it doesnt reward the shenanigans of 2016. It basically admits that the system is broken right now, and needs a reset before it can function again.

Now, whats to stop Democrats from filibustering President Trumps future picks? Well, for one thing, theyd have no real justification. As many have noted lately, Justices Scalia and Ginsburg were confirmed with more than 95 votes each. Ideology should not be the test of confirmation; qualifications should be. Had the Garland debacle not taken place, Democrats would have no grounds for filibustering Judge Gorsuch. And after the Two for One deal, with the reset accomplished, theyd have no grounds for filibustering whichever arch conservative President Trump picks from his list for the vacancy after next (like Justice Ginsburg).

Obviously, there are many reasons Two for One wont happen. Trump seems more inclined to go nuclear, and his negotiation style is generally mostly intimidation. The rumors may be wrong about Justice Kennedy. Finally, Democrats and Republicans would actually (gasp) have to trust one another.

But there are also some reasons why it should happenin particular, the institutionalists of the Senate, Republican and Democrat alike, who take the long view of the Senate as a legislative body and dont want to see it further degraded. They, not Trump and not McConnell, actually hold the keys right now, because if just three Republicans refuse to vote for the nuclear option, it wont happen. (Three, not two, since Vice President Pence would break a 50-50 tie.)

The institutionalists, in other words, are in control of what happens next.

But that doesnt mean that its reasonable to expect Republicans institutionalists to just fall on their swords and allow an obviously qualified conservative to be blocked. And anyway, what comes next? Another filibuster? How does an endless confirmation stalemate serve the institution of the Senate? Noinstitutionalists have to get something in return. They have to get Gorsuch.

Theres another reason to like Two for One. With the Senate and the FBI investigating President Trump, Democrats have a strong claim that his Supreme Court nomination should not proceed. But institutionalist Democrats also have to worry about the effects of long-term vacancies on the Court. The truncated 2015-16 term was marked by weird compromises, 4-4 deadlocks, and missed deadlines. Even if you think Trump should be impeached, youve got to worry, too, about the functioning of the Supreme Court. Indeed, precisely because Trump is in office, we need the judiciary functioning as smoothly as possible.

On the other hand, if youre on the Trump Train, a grand bargain on the Supreme Court would represent a much-needed victory right now, coming in the wake of the health care debacle and in the midst of the Russia investigation. It would show that Trump really can make deals where others have tried and failed. And while the Christian Right obviously would be unhappy with a Kennedy-Garland-style moderate on the Court, theyll have a blank slate when the next vacancy arises. And anyway, with Garland, 64, hed be older than three sitting justices.

Again, so far, Trump has aligned himself with a maximalist, scorched-earth position. But if he really knows the art of the deal, now is a great time to show it off, especially if institutionalist senators leave him with no better alternative.

Finally, theres a nice irony to Two for One. Precisely by admitting that the process is broken, such an agreement would also be a major step in mending it. Getting it done would take coordinated action among all three branches, bipartisanship, and a desire to make a deal rather than score points by not making one. It would turn the worst example of partisanship into the best example of rising above party for country.

Senate institutionalists, all eyes are on you. Centrist Republicans and Democrats can, together, restore a bit of faith in our democracy. We need it right now. We need a deal.
Tuesday night, Jake Johnson will appear in what may or may not be the series finale of New Girl. Whether or not the Fox sitcom that made him famous returns for a second season, one thing is clear. Hes ready to become a movie star.

After stealing scenes in 2015s box-office bonanza Jurassic World, this summer Johnson will co-star with Tom Cruise in a reboot of The Mummy. But first, he is taking on a very different type of leading man role in Win It All, a film he wrote with frequent collaborator and fellow Chicago native Joe Swanberg that will be available on Netflix starting Friday.

The genre-defying film, which premiered at the South by Southwest festival last month, is hard to define. Its a story about gambling and gangsters that isnt particularly violent. Its an improvised comedy that is also incredibly dark. More specifically, its a bag of money movie in the tradition of Sam Raimis A Simple Plan, the Coen brothers No Country for Old Men and even Dumb and Dumber.

Its the beauty of being able to do an indie movie. Because if its a studio movie, they would say, is this a tense movie or is this a comedy? Johnson told fans at a Q&A following the films premiere in Austin. Making it where its a small crew and its just us and theres nobody telling us what to do, we wanted both. We wanted people to be tense, but I dont want to watch a movie for an hour and a half and not laugh. And on set, we like to joke around, so we didnt want to be joking around and then they call action and were not having fun. Especially since they were paying for it themselves.

After working together on Drinking Buddies and Digging for Firetwo fully-improvised filmsJohnson and Swanberg decided they should try to actually write a real story for once. They decided to craft a three-act structure with an inciting event and all the cheesy stuff, Johnson tells The Daily Beast in a joint interview with Swanberg the next morning. In this case, that event is the bag of money that an acquaintance gives to his character, a compulsive gambler named Eddie Garrett, to hold onto while hes serving out a prison sentence.

Before starting the project, Johnson remembers asking himself, Could we do a Joe Swanberg movie, with me in it, that had that device in it? That had Joes style of naturalism and feeling real and moments you believe, but have turns and twists? Is the audience going to roll their eyes and go, Fuck you, this is not what I want to see when Im seeing this kind of movie? But for me personally, this is more the type of movie that I like.

Johnson says he originally set out to be a writer, but nobody wanted any of my writing. Instead he started getting cast in TV commercials before he eventually found fame and success as Nick Miller on playwright-turned-showrunner Liz Meriwethers New Girl. The sitcom started as a star vehicle for Zooey Deschanel but transformed into an often-hilarious ensemble comedy thanks to Johnson and co-stars Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris.

His creative relationship with Swanberg, a beloved indie director who most recently created the anthology series Easy for Netflix, has allowed the 38-year-old actor to stretch beyond the type of comedy that he makes look effortless on New Girl. Nick has done some messed-up things over the course of six seasons, but he has never sunk as low as Eddie does in Win It All. Over the course of the film, we see his reckless behavior leave him deeper and deeper in debt to a criminal who wants his money back a lot sooner than expected.

Asked which of them has the gambling problem in real life, Johnson deadpans, Both of us, before half-joking, Mine is cards, his is movies.

My mother used to play cards, my cousins a professional card player. I played a lot, he continues, noting that he even worked in a casino for a while, where he encountered gamblers like the one he plays in the film. I was always the PG version of it, he insists. Joe gambles on his movies, and he always has in a very real way.

Over the past 12 years, Swanberg has written and directed an astonishing 17 feature filmsseven of which were made in a single yearnot including Win It All. This is the first one that will be released exclusively on Netflix, with no plans for a theatrical release.

As an old-school theater-goer, Swanberg says there is something that he will miss about not having his film open in the traditional way. But as a producer and filmmaker, he says, Ive never had a better experience than making something that went up all around the world on the same day and people saw it.

If people loved the theatrical experience so much, where were they on Drinking Buddies? Swanberg asks. I know where they were: iTunes. For anybody who ever asks me that, Im like, where were you? Why didnt you buy a ticket? That film, released in 2013 on a one million-dollar budget, made less than $20,000 in its opening weekend, but took on a life of its own once it hit online platforms, spending 10 weeks in the top 25 most-downloaded films on iTunes.

If any of my films had succeeded theatrically, I might have a different feeling about it, Swanberg continues. But youve got to remember, I spent 12 years banging my head against a system that was like, Nah. And I went to this other system, which was like, millions of people will see this within hours of its release. So Im like, alright, these two systems, one of them makes a lot more sense to me than the other one.

Ive done the studio movies where we do the big push, Johnson adds, hinting at projects that didnt succeed as much as he had hoped they would. With this one, we didnt show it to anybody but Netflix. This is where we wanted to go, because, although I think there is something to doing the indie release and going city to city and beating the drum and getting people out and maybe it catches fire, maybe it doesnt, Im like, who cares? We make a movie, why dont we just absolutely love the movie and let people watch it any way they want. If you want to watch it in bed, if you want to watch it on your phone, however you want to enjoy the movie.

Im going to have to wrap my head around that, Swanberg says in response to the idea of someone watching his newest project on their phone.

But Johnson is unfazed. Its what the world has turned into. We can fight it all we want, he says, but its not going to change. Its something hes experienced firsthand on New Girl, which is geared towards a demographic that is now younger than he is. When the show started, he says he was blown away to find out that the biggest fans didnt even own televisions. They were watching it alone on their phones, or friends would get together and prop up an iPad.

So were sitting there on set, and a set designer is freaking out because the curtains look weird, he says. Youre spending two hours on the fucking curtains, Im telling you, the kids are watching it like this! he says, holding up his phone as a prop. Just get the story right, get the jokes right.

Thats the ethos that both men decided to apply to Win It All, setting themselves up to succeed partially by not overthinking every little detail. The result is a solid film that probably wasnt going to break any box-office records but will make an ultra-satisfying Netflix viewing experience for years to come, whether youre watching it on your phone or a giant TV screen.

It also gives Johnson his first real chance to carry a film on his own, something that, with any luck, hell get to do a lot more of in the near future.
A month after Donald Trump falsely accused his predecessor of illegally wiretapping his phones, a smaller, quieter drama in Brooklyn federal court showed what happens when those allegations have merit.

On Monday, a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney tearfully pleaded guilty to charges of illegally intercepting communications of her ex-boyfriend and a colleague.

Tara Lenich admitted her guilt in court and left red-faced, without talking to reporters.

I knew that conduct was illegal and I just want to say, she said as she broke down in tears, Im so sorry for my conduct and [to] any people that might have been affected.

Lenich had tapped the phone of Jarrett Lemieux, a detective whom she had dated, and a fellow prosecutor at the Kings County DAs office named Stephanie Rosenfeld-Vais. Lenich allegedly believed the two were romantically involved. Lemieux was reassigned after allegedly threatening Lenich, though his union denied wrongdoing to the New York Post.

Our detective is purely a victim in this situation and is not accused of any misconduct, Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino told the Post. So I expect a quick restoration to full duty once the department expeditiously concludes some precautionary steps.

Lenichs charging papers read like a rom-com gone rogue.

Lenich began forging judicial orders authorizing the wiretapping of certain cellphones in mid-2015. To do so, Lenich took scissors to paper and physically cut out judges signatures from real orders, only to tape them to the fraudulent ones she was intent on getting. When the 30-day wiretap ran out, shed submit more forged paperwork to extend it again, for two cellphones, according to a criminal complaint.

She submitted seven cut-and-paste judicial orders for one phone and 17 for another.

Lenich lied to colleagues, telling them the intercepts were part of a confidential law enforcement investigation that she was conducting, and instructed them not to listen to, read, or otherwise review the communications transmitted, according to the complaint.

Sentencing guidelines suggest that Lenich serve between eight and 14 months for the two counts of illegal wiretaps. But her attorneys say that the sentence can also be assigned to house arrest, or a halfway house.

We take comfort in knowing the judge will consider Ms. Lenichs otherwise exemplary professional and personal life when shes sentenced, her attorney, Morris J. Fodemam, told reporters. From the beginning, Ms. Lenich has wanted to fully accept responsibility for her actions in this case and wanted to plead guilty at the first opportunity.
During a segment on InfoWars today, Roger Stone, who was previously an adviser during the early months of President Trumps campaign, claimed to host Alex Jones that Trumps own son-in-law Jared Kushner was leaking information to MSNBCs Joe Scarborough.

Jared Kushner, perhaps the one presidential aide who cannot be fired, is now in regular text message communications with Joe Scarborough, Stone claimed. Many of the anti-Steve Bannon stories that you see, the themes that you see on Morning Joe, are being dictated by Kushner. And while Mr. Kushners plate is very full with Middle Eastern peace and the China visit, and so on, in this case I think he is disserving the president.

Stone did not respond to a subsequent text and email from The Daily Beast seeking clarification on this claim.

There is no question now that sources tell me that the presidents son-in-law enjoys a very lively text exchange with Joe Scarborough, Stone continued. Joe Scarborough is no friend of the president, he revels in passing fake news. He himself has more scandals than you can shake a stick at.

Scarborough has oscillated between criticizing the president on air and maintaining a friendly relationship with him, for instance recently meeting with Trump prior to his address to Congress. Trump, in turn, has claimed over and over again that he no longer watches the show.

Stone said that his information has not hit the news and was breaking on InfoWars.

Jones responded that he didnt want to run Jared down because he looks like a smart guy, good looking guy. But he was adamant that, in his mind, leaking to Scarborough was a bad idea.

Stone would not go into detail about the claims he made.

This is far from the first time that Stone has made these sorts of salacious remarks on InfoWars.

In December, while former presidential candidate Mitt Romney was under consideration for the job of Secretary of State, Stone claimed that Trump was only dangling the position in front of him in order to torture him.

Trump inevitably picked former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for the job.

More recently, Stone has turned his attention towards an ongoing investigation into alleged ties between Trump officials and Russia during the campaign. Last month, he told Alex Jones that someone attempted to kill him by t-boning his car. Stone went on InfoWars before going to the hospital.

I am a consistent critic of the Deep Statethat's why I think I'm targeted," Stone said on the show.
The presidents son said Tuesday a man who believes there is an child-sex ring literally underground at a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant should win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting.

Congrats to @Cernovich for breaking the #SusanRice story, Donald Trump Jr. wrote at 8:41 AM. In a long gone time of unbiased journalism he'd win the Pulitzer, but not today!

Hes talking about Mike Cernovich, a pro-Trump writer who catapulted to online infamy with the publication of his book Gorilla Mindset, (endorsed by Mike Flynn) and his #HillarysHealth tweets during the election to assert that Hillary Clinton was dying.

The Pulitzer-worthy story  in Trumps eyes  is where Cernovich asserted that former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice was unmasking the names of incoming Trump administration officials in U.S. surveillance reports. Bloomberg subsequently published a similar story, this time quoting sources, saying it was Rice.

Former national security officials have reportedly described the unmasking process as routine and far from illegal or even improper, but Cernovichs story was big enough and widely shared enough that it provided a counteroffensive against consistent damaging stories about investigations into potential ties between Trump officials and Russia.

The praise for Cernovich was perhaps made easier by his recent appearance on 60 Minutes, which was praised by counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway. She tweeted a Medium post on Monday written by Cernovich that included the transcript of his entire 60 Minutes interview.

A must-see ratings bonanza: @cernovich @scottpelley @60Minutes: Watch this entire exchange or read full transcript, Conway tweeted.

When asked about the tweet, Conway told The Daily Beast that she was simply interested in the topic of the conversation.

The high ratings of the 60 Minutes piece caught my eye, so I looked for both the full clip and the full transcript, Conway said in an email to The Daily Beast. I tweeted both (using all handles) because this entire discussion about fake news is topical. (Apparently, the viewing audience agrees). I made no comment on the content of the interview. The transcript was not particularly flattering.

I dont know him. I dont recall ever meeting or speaking with him, she added.

As for Trump Jr., hes no stranger to wildly hypothesizing about conspiracy theories on his Twitter feed. During the campaign, he tweeted an InfoWars story that questioned whether Hillary Clinton was wearing an earpiece during a forum.

Update, 4:05 p.m. ET: This piece has been updated to include a comment from Kellyanne Conway.
After The New York Times revealed three previously unknown sexual-harassment cases settled by Fox News host Bill OReilly, companies have begun to pulling their ads from his highly rated primetime program.

According to the Times report, Fox News and O'Reilly cumulatively paid around $13 million in settlement money to five female colleagues whove accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior. Two of the cases, Andrea Mackris and Juliet Huddy, were previously known; but the Times unearthed three others from former Fox Business Network host Rebecca Diamond, former OReilly junior producer Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, and ex-anchor Laurie Dhue.

Additionally, a former frequent guest on OReillys show, Wendy Walsh, came forward in the expose with her own accusations of the cable-news king making unwanted sexual advances and retaliating against her when she rebuffed him.

OReilly, of course, vehemently denied all the charges and suggested hes been targeted solely because of his celebrity status.

In response to the mounting controversy, however, more than two dozen companies, including several major automakers, pharmaceutical companies, financial and insurance firms, and others have publicly stated that they have suspended advertising campaigns during The OReilly Factor, cable newss highest-rated program and Foxs primetime centerpiece for the past 20 years.

The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we dont feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now, Mercedes-Benz said in a Monday statement announcing it had reassigned its ads with the show.

BMW and Mitsubishi both said on Tuesday that they will suspend their ads with OReilly. Hyundai, too, released a statement saying it will pull its upcoming spots because of the recent and disturbing allegations. After initially telling media that it was assessing the situation, Lexus on Tuesday confirmed that we have asked our media-buying partners to move all Lexus ad inventory out of the program. Subaru joined its fellow automakers on Wednesday.

We regularly evaluate our media buys to ensure alignment with our corporate values, and in light of the recent allegations we have decided to pull our upcoming ads from The OReilly Factor, global financial firm T. Rowe Price said in a statement to The Daily Beast.

Ainsworth Pet Nurition, which owns the Rachel Ray-backed Nutrish dog-food brand, removed its ads because of the allegations; so did pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, and Sanofi. The Wonderful Company, Credit Karma, Orkin, Esurance, UNTUCKit, Coldwell Banker, the Society for Human Resource Management, TrueCar, Wayfair, Ancestry, LegalZoom, H&R Block, Invisalign, Vision Works, Pacific Life, Old Domnion Freight Line, Advil, Touchnote, Carfax, Reddi Wip, Progressive, and Stanley Steemer also publicly stated that theyve discontinued their ads.

Email-marketing firm Constant Contact notably said that while it still has advertisements with The Factor slotted through Tuesday, it suspended them thereafter. "Based on the recent allegations and our strong commitment to inclusion, respect and tolerance in the workplace, we have decided to pull [our] ads from The O'Reilly Factor," a spokesperson said in a statement.

Liberty Mutual insurance told The Daily Beast that they do not normally advertise with the show, and that one of their ads inadvertently ran during Monday evenings broadcast in certain markets. We are addressing this with our media partners, the company said.

Several major companies issued statements denouncing sexual harassment while refusing to comment on whether theyd pull their advertisements.

Jenny Craig, the famed weight-loss company, said it "condemns any and all forms of sexual harassment. The company added in typical corporate-speak: We are constantly evaluating our media buys to maximize the efficiency of our corporate investment and effectively reach our target audience. (UPDATE: On Wednesday afternoon, the company reversed course and confirmed that it has, indeed, pulled all its ads from The OReilly Factor.)

Quincy Bioscience, which aired an ad during Mondays night Factor for memory supplement Prevagen, said in a statement: We dont publically [sic] comment on our advertising. As a company we condemn all forms of sexual harassment. Specialized garment company SCOTTeVEST, which also ran an ad Monday night, said: We are in the process of getting more information before making any decisions. We are, however, optimistic that Fox will take the appropriate actions if these allegations are true.

The crowdsourced business-reviewing website Angies List outright told The Daily Beast: We do not have plans to change our ad buy. The spokesperson continued in a statement: We place ads across a wide spectrum of venues intending to reach as many viewers/listeners/readers as possible without taking a position on the viewpoints of the venues themselves. Just as we trust members to make their own hiring decisions, we trust them to make their own media consumption decisions.

This isnt the first time advertisers have backed out of a right-wing media broadcast en masse in response to misogyny.

In early 2012, Rush Limbaughs talk-radio show lost an estimated 45 sponsors after he called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a prostitute and a slut for her comments on mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives.

The boycott didnt successfully bring down his show, however, as Clear Channel reaffirmed its support for its top radio host and ultimately renewed his contract just last year. Similarly, Bill OReilly signed a new deal with Fox News even while the cable giant knew of the ongoing Times investigation.

Monday evenings broadcast of The OReilly Factor contained ads from several dozen other major companies, including Microsoft and John Deere.

The Daily Beast has reached out to those companies for comment, as well as 30+ others who advertised during the program.

UPDATE: In a statement, Fox News EVP of Advertising Sales Paul Rittenberg wrote, We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the OReilly Factor. At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs. And this article has been updated throughout as more companies join the boycott.
Its been called a blind date. In the two-day event that starts Thursday in an ornate resort along Floridas Gold Coast, Donald Trump must save his faltering presidency; Xi Jinping hopes to assure his increasingly dictatorial rule.

They meet at Mar-a-Lago. There, the leaders of the worlds two most powerful countries shake hands for the first time, and just about everything is on the line.

Most meetings of American and Chinese leaders are planned well in advance and highly scripted. This summit is anything but. And it is more important than any since Richard Nixon went to Beijing four decades ago.

The worst outcome this time, at least from Americas long-term perspective, is what most everyone seems to want: that Trump and Xi develop good personal chemistry, issue joint statements, speak of long-term cooperation. But the United States has much to lose with more talk of friendship.

In short, its time for Trump to dump policies that sound good to the ear but no longer work. Instead, he should ignore convention, disrupt settled Sino-U.S. ties, and even raise tensions.

Yes, raise tensions.

The mantra in Washington has always been to do the opposite. In the George W. Bush era, the goal was a relationship that is candid, constructive, and cooperative. In the Obama years, the objective was to find common ground and manage differences. The idea has always been, whatever the formulation, that Americas relations with Beijing were too big to fail.

As a result of this perception, the U.S. did not confront Chinese actions that could only be described as dangerous and unacceptable. Naturally, Beijing saw a green light to continue such conduct.

Take Chinas relations with its only formal ally, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Sometime around the beginning of this decade, a Chinese enterprise affiliated with the Peoples Liberation Army supplied North Koreas military with at least six transporter-erector-launchers for the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile. The Obama administration raised an inquiry with Beijing, and the Chinese said they merely provided the chassis for the TELs, as the missile carriers are known. The explanation was implausible as the Chinese vehicles are wider than most of the roads in North Koreas logging areas.

Supplying the TELs was significant. The KN-08 is Pyongyangs first long-range missile that is, practically speaking, a usable weapon: the Chinese vehicles mean the KN-08 can hide before launching. The Norths other long-range missiles take weeks to transport, assemble, fuel, and test and as a result can easily be destroyed while still on their pads.

Beijings proliferation, unfortunately but predictably, has continued. China is the most likely sourceeither directly or through one of its client statesof the plans for its JL-1 submarine-launched missile. The solid-fuel missiles North Korea tested Aug. 24 and Feb. 12 appear to be modeled on the Chinese one.

Chinese enterprises have in recent years also sold uranium hexafluoride and componentsvacuum pumps, valves, and computersfor the Norths nuclear weapons program.

In short, China has provided technology, equipment, and components to a regime that continually threatens to launch nukes against the American homeland. In these circumstances, it is hard to see how there can be common ground with Beijing.

Trumps response to China, as he told the Financial Times, is to take unilateral actions to end the threat. Nonetheless, he is still holding out the possibility of working with Beijing.

Every new administration seeks Chinas help, and most everyone agrees with that approach. A lot of the problems between China and the U.S. have no solution really, Gal Luft of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security admitted to Hong Kongs South China Morning Post. But they can be managed.

Should they? Americans believe good relations with a nation are friendly relations. Thats wrong. Good relations are those that protect Americas interests and those of its allies and friends. As James Fanell, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer with the Pacific Fleet, tells The Daily Beast, America should have a results-oriented relationship with China.

President Trump must make it unambiguously clear that Chinas behavior is unacceptable and will be challenged by the full weight of the United States and the rest of the international community, he said, commenting on the upcoming Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Telling that to Xi Jinping undoubtedly will upset him, but his feelings are not our concern. What is our concern is that the U.S. is running out of time when it comes to, say, North Korea. Within perhaps as few as four years, the Kim regime will have a missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead to the lower 48 states. As Charles Burton of Brock University told me last week, The most challenging issue in Mar-a-Lago for Trump is North Korea.

But Korea is not the only item on the agenda of course. The U.S. is also running out of time when it comes to other areas of disagreement, such as Chinas building garrisons on three of the islands it reclaimed in the Spratly chain in the South China Sea. Moreover, last month it ordered an American B-1 bomber to leave international airspace over the East China Sea, an act tantamount to claiming sovereignty over that body of water. Chinas unsafe intercepts of the U.S. Navy and Air Force in the global commons are continuing at a fast pace.

For commercial purposes, China and Russia are cyberattacking in tag-team fashion American corporations, taking hundreds of billions of dollars a year in intellectual property. Beijing is allowing its banks to participate in money-laundering and other nefarious activities.

China is increasingly closing off its internal market to American companies with its Made in China 2025 initiative and its new Cybersecurity Law, and it is, with predatory intent, flooding the world with subsidized steel, aluminum, and other exports, devastating industries around the world, including those in the United States.

Bad actors never want to be opposed, confronted, or contained. They always promote cordial relationships with their victims and bystanders so they can achieve their aims. Trump raising tensions, therefore, is the right direction even if it is not by itself a strategy.

He made the right strategic moves in December and January by boosting the status of a friendly free society. He accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen and in subsequent interviews said he did not feel bound by Washingtons One-China policy.

In February, unfortunately, Trump backed down from that groundbreaking and resolute stance. In a phone call with Xi he said he accepted that policy after all. Americas China watchers and policymakers were relieved that the new president, by acceding to Beijings demands, was making a meeting with the Chinese leader possible.

I think both leaders recognize theyre dealing with probably the most important country from each sides standpoint, said former American diplomat Stapleton Roy. Therefore, if things go wrong, it has very serious potential consequences.

Agreed. But at this late date going wrong from the American perspective is the Florida meeting ending in smiles, talk of mutual respect, and continued Chinese bad acts jeopardizing the U.S. and the international community.
For internationally recognized painter Leng Jun, his work is more than the paint, the brush or even the techniques that he employs. At its core, it is a way to channel his spirit onto the canvas.

Jun performed a live painting demonstration -- his first in the U.S. -- before an audience in the Wright Gallery on the Texas A&M University campus Monday. He spent nearly nine hours creating a portrait of visualization major Bailee Wilson.

Associate professor Yu Xiao, who sponsored Jun's visit, said Jun is considered a "national treasure-level artist" by his native China.

"I wanted students to be able to see how you could be able to see a portrait painted live in a day," she said. "I want people to see this Chinese artist that can reach this really high level of skill. ... He is so accurate at mixing the colors and knowing where to put each stroke."

While Xiao said Jun is widely recognized for his technical skills, she said it is his passion that she believes sets him apart.

Jun, with the aid of translation from Xiao, said he views his work as a mix of Eastern and Western painting styles. By taking each of the methods back to their essence, Jun said he is able to blend the techniques of Western painting with the meditative approach of eastern tradition.

"As he sees it, the Western painting doesn't have that element of Eastern painting that comes from Daoism and Buddhism, that you have to practice and meditate at a higher level," Xiao said. "He [sees his work] as merging that spiritual level of understanding to the painting itself. It's just a blend of Western and Eastern traditions."

He said the approach is like a spiritual act, letting the quality of each stroke represent himself as he "leaves a part of himself on the canvas."

For the students and community artists who came to the demonstration, Jun said he hopes that by being able to see the process from start to finish, they will be able to separate the history behind the style from the work itself.

"Western-style painting has been around since the Renaissance, so it has a long history," Xiao said. "He wants to take out the history. ... It has been expanded and developed so much, so he wants to return to this essence of painting. Just like a religion, you always want to return to the source to figure out how it is done."

Xiao said Jun was invited for the event by the nonprofit Education Advancement Fund International and hosted by Texas A&M's College of Architecture.
Texas A&M's Mays Business School is set to honor the 25th anniversary class of Outstanding Alumni on Thursday.

Three former students will be recognized during the 2017 Outstanding Awards Dinner, along with the business school's namesakes, Peggy and Lowry Mays, who will receive the inaugural Peggy and Lowry Mays Impact Award.

The three honorees are Gregory M. Cokinos, class of '79; Cydney Collier Donnell, class of '81; and Carri Lynn Baker, class of '84.

To learn more about the invitation-only dinner or this year's outstanding alumni, visit mays.tamu.edu/alumni/outstanding-alumni-award.
The TEA has notified the Hearne school board that it will be replacing trustees with a board of managers.

The school district has the option of contesting the decision by April 13. If the decision is upheld, the Texas Education Agency will open applications in the community for a board of managers, which will resume the responsibilities of the board.

The board will then be responsible for replacing superintendent Adrain Johnson. In the meantime, Hearne ISD monitor Patricia Hayes has been moved to the position of district conservator.

The decision comes after the TEA Special Investigations Unit found various infractions during an on-site investigation last year. The investigation process began last year after the TEA received complaints about the management of the district.

The board responded to the initial report, however, in the letter notification sent to the board and Johnson Monday, TEA commissioner Mike Morath said the final report still found the board of trustees and the superintendent failed in working together, the district failed to collect criminal history information, the district lacks internal controls in the business office and trustees act in their individual capacities on behalf of the board.

The letter also notifies Hearne that its accreditation status for the 2015-2016 year will be lowered to Accredited-Warned.

In the letter, Morath said, Given the board of trustees inability to govern the district, this sanction is necessary to protect the best interests of the districts current and future students.
December 21, 1931 - April 2, 2017

Patricia Arnim Bludworth Wickes, attended by family, passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, April 2, 2017. She was born in San Antonio, Texas on December 21, 1931. Her parents, both from Flatonia, Texas, were Fay Arnim Bludworth and John B. Bludworth.

She was preceded in death by her son, Edward Scott Wickes. She is survived by her husband, Henry G. Wickes, Jr., daughter, Melissa Anne Wickes Pilcher (Von) of Corpus Christi, Texas, granddaughters Erin Pilcher of Temple, Texas, and Elsbeth Wickes of College Station, Texas , and by two nieces.

She attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas and the University of Texas in Austin, Texas where she began a lifelong study and appreciation of art, music, and history. She was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and also maintained a membership in the Alamo Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution for 65 years. Prior to marriage she enjoyed working in San Antonio as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and Trans Texas Airlines.

Her loves of family and of history were combined in her ardent support of the preservation of the Arnim & Lane store building in Flatonia, built by her grandfather E. A. Arnim, Sr. in 1886 and owned by Arnim family members ever since.

Funeral arrangements are pending at the Smith Funeral Home in Flatonia, Texas.
Most of the NBTs proposed utilise old-style GM processes and techniques. [ ] They appear to include any type of GM application or technique that had not been commercialised by 2001, the year of the EU directives on GMOs. It includes for example 'zinc finger nucleases' [ ], a genome-editing tool first reported for plants in 2005 that relies strongly on old GM processes.

The use of 'oligonucleotides' to make small alterations in genomes has been around as a technique even longer, yet no commercial product was developed until quite recently. Though the herbicide tolerant CIBUS oilseed rape is available in the US, within Europe it is held up in the courts in Germany.

CRISPR - new, but not a breeding technique

Clearly new (2012) is the genome-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, which is basically a readily programmed set of molecular gene scissors. It is comparatively cheap and easy, and is used by many researchers to make changes of a few letters of DNA at specific places of interest.

It is a tool of synthetic biology but is also referred to as a 'New Breeding Technique'. Still newer (2015) is CRISPR/Cpf1, which works on the same principles as 'Cas9', but is a bit smaller and cuts through the DNA strands somewhat differently.

It is important to remember that a change of one single nucleotide in a gene can be sufficient to cause major malfunctioning of an organism, such as haemophilia (bleeding disorder), cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia in humans.

A single 'point mutation' can knock out or modify gene functions, resulting in missing or malformed proteins. Therefore even small 'edits' can have wide-ranging consequences.

If the CRISPR/Cas technique is used repeatedly, or to make many small alterations at once in parallel, or combined with other GM techniques, it is possible to make increasingly profound changes. This versatility makes it difficult to say whether the application of a particular technique will give rise to greater or smaller effects, and therefore involve greater or smaller risks.

The term 'breeding' is misleading here, since it is usually applied to reproductive processes, such as mating or controlled pollination and selection. However, none of the techniques put forward as 'NBTs' are actually 'breeding' techniques. Rather, they are genetic engineering techniques (NGETs), each bringing its own set of risks and uncertainties. [ ]

Precise and predictable?

With genome-editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas it is now possible to pre-determine to a high level of efficiency where to cut the DNA on a particular sequence of nucleotides in the genome in order to make a change.

This usually results in the loss or substitution of a few nucleotides at the cutting site, and hopes are that it will soon be possible to substitute or insert whole genes. Proponents suggest that this level of efficiency eliminates the unpredictability of old-style genetic modifications and resulting impacts.

Target precision is thus equated to predictability and safety of outcome. Wrongly so. Whilst this tool may cut at the target site, it may also cut 'off-target', disrupting other gene sequences. The resulting 'off-target effects' are by definition neither safe nor predictable. Furthermore, even the intended genetic change may give rise to other, unintended effects.

An accurate shot may intentionally 'knock out' the function of a gene, but the effects and repercussions of such knock-outs are yet to be fully understood. Another example: After the DNA is cut, so-called 'templates', introduced to direct the cell's own repair mechanism, may accidentally insert themselves into the genome.

These unintended effects, and the inability to accurately anticipate the behavioural change resulting from altering a certain DNA sequence, mean that precision in determining the target site does not entail predictability in terms of biosafety outcomes.

So why not call it genetic engineering?

Proponents of genetic engineering are keen to circumvent the public scepticism surrounding GMOs. They want to avoid the term GM in relation to gene- and genome-editing techniques in particular, hoping that such modified organisms will be excluded from GMO regulation.

Clearly, this would be completely inappropriate, since these resulting GMOs would then not be subject to risk assessment, detectability and labelling rules. It would mean giving up the scientific safeguards of the precautionary principle and exposing citizens and the environment to unpredictable risks.

Genetic engineering, whether it's called GM, Synbio or NBTs, involves the application of an engineering mindset to the natural world. It means that living things are seen as composed of parts that may be disassembled and reassembled in an 'improved' or novel form.

Living organisms are being re-imagined as data and software platforms. They may be added to or removed from an ecosystem, [ ] be reshaped or reprogrammed - without taking into account what impacts such changes have on the whole system.

Proponents claim that GMOs, including the new techniques, are essential to help feed a growing global population, develop plants that can withstand climate change and replace fossil fuels with better alternatives.

However, what would be the consequences of such approaches? Moreover, none of these promises have so far been fulfilled in over 20 years of GMO crop research and development. [ ] Proponents respond that we (society) need to reduce or remove regulation and increase the speed of application.

The problems predicted by GMO critics, on the other hand, have to a large extent materialised. These include the contamination of non-GM crops; the emergence of pesticide-resistant pests and secondary pests (in response to pesticide-producing GM crops), requiring ever more pesticides; and the development of herbicide-tolerant persistent weeds, sometimes in invasive proportions (in response to herbicide-tolerant GM crops).

These have all had negative impacts on farmers and communities, including serious health impacts from the multiple spraying of toxins (herbicides and pesticides), eg Argentina. [ ]

Now we need effective regulation more than ever!

Our ability to make ever greater changes to the genetic makeup of living organisms should not blind us to the reality: our incomplete knowledge of these organisms and their interactions, and the dangers involved in trying to adjust nature to our needs and 'improve' it by engineering it.

This is why the first step should be to use clear and applicable language rather than misleading terminology.

Secondly, the EU should clarify that existing GMO law applies to these new GM techniques. The European Court of Justice is likely to do so as a result of a recent referral from a French court.

Thirdly, the EU - and Britain, post Brexit - should adapt its GMO risk assessment procedures to the intricacies of the new GM techniques, which are likely to require more rather than less scrutiny.

Helena Paul is co-director of EcoNexus >and> has worked for 25 years on issues including indigenous peoples' rights and tropical forests; oil exploitation in the tropics; biodiversity, including agricultural biodiversity; patents on life and genetic engineering (GE); climate change and geoengineering; and corporate power.

Dr Elisabeth Bucking> is a biologist, trained in Molecular Biology. She has worked on mycorrhizae and soil fungi in the Forestry Research Institute of Baden-Wurttemberg/Germany. She is a founding member of the "Gene-ethical Network" and serves presently as an adviser to farmers' associations.

Dr Ricarda Steinbrecher is a biologist, geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus. She has worked on GMOs since 1995, especially UN-led processes on Biosafety, the risk assessment of genetically engineered organisms and synthetic biology. She's a founding member of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility and works with civil society and small-scale farmer groups world-wide.

References

. Legal Briefing Paper: 'The regulatory status of plants resulting from New Breeding Technologies'. NBT-Platform 2013.

. Spranger TM. 'Legal Analysis of the applicability of Directive 2001/18/EC on genome editing technologies'. Commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. October 2015.

Kramer L. 'Legal questions concerning new methods for changing the genetic conditions in plants'. Legal analysis commissioned by Arbeitsgemeinschaft bauerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL), Bund fur Umwelt und Naturschutz (BUND), etc. September 2015.

IFOAM EU et al. 'Joint Position: New techniques of genetic engineering'. February 2017.

. Econexus December 2015. 'Genetic Engineering in Plants and the "New Breeding Techniques" (NBTs) - Inherent risks and the need to regulate'. Technical Briefing, by RA Steinbrecher.

. A 'zinc finger nuclease' (ZFN) is a designed protein that has two functional components: i) a DNA recognition and binding domain, and ii) a DNA cutting domain, cutting one strand only. The genetic instructions for building such a ZFN is inserted into an organism as a transgene via genetic modification. See also Econexus NBT briefing.

. Econexus December 2015. 'Genetic Engineering in Plants and the "New Breeding Techniques" (NBTs) - Inherent risks and the need to regulate'. Technical Briefing, by RA Steinbrecher.

. Gene drives are designed to alter or eliminate whole populations, engineer ecosystems by altering species in it, or eradicate whole species all together.

. J. Heinemann et al. (2014). 'Sustainability and innovation in staple crop production in the US Midwest'. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 12(1): 71-88 and J. Heinemann et al. (2014). 'Reply to comment on sustainability and innovation in staple crop production in the US Midwest'. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 12(4): 387-390.

D. Hakim, 'Doubts About the Promised Bounty of Genetically Modified Crops', New York Times, October 29, 2016.

. Vazquez M, Maturano E, Etchegoyen A, Difilippo F and Maclean B (2017). 'Association between Cancer and Environmental Exposure to Glyphosate'. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8, 73-85. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2017.82007.

'Declaration of the 3rd National Congress Of Physicians In The Crop-Sprayed Towns'. Oct 2015.
Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy